0:00:01 - (Mike Rhyner): Hello, it's Mike Reiner of your Dark Companion here wanting to thank you all for joining us on patreon.com throughout the year or that portion of the year that we've been doing this. Also, don't forget to check out the Sunset Lounge. There you can find podcasts such as the Clubhouse. The Clubhouse is your one stop shop for all things sports, pop culture, entertainment, pro wrestling. Who knows what else these guys might get into. I love these guys.
0:00:31 - (Rob Ervin): They're great.
0:00:32 - (Mike Rhyner): Since 2010, they brought their knowledge and passion for these subjects and so much more to the Internet in a way that is entertaining and engaging. Their show is family friendly, so it's okay to sit down with grandma and be a part of all their shenanigans. They are the Clubhouse. They're at the Sunset Lounge. Nobody would have thought that I would be the one. Reiner, Sports talk. Baseball, baseball, baseball, baseball.
0:01:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, with the big mic. Oh, okay. All right. Yeah, okay, now I get it. We got a lightning strike, boys. What happened over there, Grego? We had a little lightning strike right outside the window. The Texas Rangers win the World Series.
0:01:21 - (Guitarslayer): All right, all right.
0:01:22 - (Mike Rhyner): Here's a tip for all these Americano league teams. Don't.
0:01:25 - (Guitarslayer): Wait, you said tip?
0:01:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, tip with a P. Keep jamming the ticket colon. Nothing but a big Gen X jerk off session. This is a cool night or what? Although somebody would hear that.
0:01:38 - (Guitarslayer): Go. Bullshit.
0:01:39 - (Mike Rhyner): I'm back. And as if two episodes of your Dark Companion yesterday were not enough, we are back today with another. How about that? Good day to you, wherever you may be, no matter how or when or even why you may be consuming this podcast transmission, it is another episode of your Dark companion. This number 149. It is the 4th of September, and we're gonna talk a little guitar today. We're gonna talk a little music, a little guitar with a local guitar slinger who's making a little racket for himself these days.
0:02:35 - (Mike Rhyner): This is Justin Lyons. Now, if you are familiar with Machine Gun Kelly, could very well be that you've seen him plying his craft with them. But he's got stuff out there. He's making big racket wherever he goes and we're gonna get into all that. He can probably explain it. Well, there's no probably to it. He can explain it to you a lot better than I can. And we're going to to have him talk about just what it is he is up to. How are you, man?
0:03:10 - (Guitarslayer): Man, I'm extremely blessed, man. How are you doing?
0:03:14 - (Mike Rhyner): I'm doing great.
0:03:15 - (Guitarslayer): Awesome. Thanks for Having me on your. On your set, man, I love it.
0:03:18 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, thank you for doing it.
0:03:19 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, indeed.
0:03:20 - (Mike Rhyner): I got to tell you, I'm not overly familiar with what you're doing, but once I started reading your credits, looking over the resume, I thought, okay, this is a guy we got to get in here. We got to find out about this, man.
0:03:36 - (Guitarslayer): I appreciate that.
0:03:36 - (Mike Rhyner): I'm humbled because you emanate from right here in our Fairburg. Not only from our Fairburg, but from Oak Cliff.
0:03:44 - (Guitarslayer): Oak Cliff, Texas. Indeed.
0:03:46 - (Mike Rhyner): Now, as an Oak Cliff guy myself.
0:03:48 - (Guitarslayer): Okay.
0:03:49 - (Mike Rhyner): I must know. What part of Oak Cliff did you come from?
0:03:53 - (Guitarslayer): Highland Hills, actually. Yeah. Right off of Simpson Stewart area, you know?
0:03:58 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:03:58 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. Just grew up in the south, so. Yeah. And my. And my upbringing is just the Dallas community, the Dallas arts. A lot of OGs that I've looked up to right here in my hometown, you know?
0:04:15 - (Mike Rhyner): Like who? Some of your OGs.
0:04:18 - (Guitarslayer): Some of my OGs, where I started, my dad. My dad is an awesome guitarist.
0:04:22 - (Mike Rhyner): Really?
0:04:22 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. He's like my version of B.B. king growing up. Ah. Yeah.
0:04:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Kind of blues guy.
0:04:27 - (Guitarslayer): Very bluesy. Gospel. My background being that of gospel.
0:04:31 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:04:32 - (Guitarslayer): You know, and then my mom hipping me to a cassette tape. The thrill is gone. B.B. king.
0:04:38 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah, sir.
0:04:39 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. At the age of like, five and six years old.
0:04:42 - (Rob Ervin): Well. And I saw something on your bio.
0:04:44 - (Guitarslayer): Okay.
0:04:46 - (Rob Ervin): That you couldn't afford guitar lessons, so your mom had you sing the melodies to help you learn how to play them on guitar.
0:04:57 - (Guitarslayer): Well, my mom that.
0:04:58 - (Rob Ervin): Cuz I thought that was really interesting.
0:04:59 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. So we couldn't, though, back in the day, Brick Mays was. Was a thing. You know what I'm saying? Shout out to Barry Pearson, who was one of the guys that believed in me as a young kid as well. But he was one of the sales rep there at the time, a family friend. But we went to Brick Maze, and my mom was just crushed that 75 for 30 minutes, like, yo. And at that time, five years old, like, it was just a lot, you know?
0:05:26 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:05:26 - (Guitarslayer): For her. And I never forget just grabbing her hand as a. As a young one and saying, hey, mom, don't worry, I'll learn. I remember very distinctly like, mom, don't worry, I'll learn. And from those little. Just believing in myself, getting in prayer line. My grandparents have a church, so I was always the kid that was going up to the prayer line and asking God to bless me with a. With this gift. And he did.
0:05:53 - (Guitarslayer): So as I started developing in music, my mom would sit behind me at church, and she Will hum to me what notes to play. And she always gave me this one valuable tool that I take everywhere with me. She said, never take your eyes off the person singing the song and directing the song. And so now that just keeps me laser focused and I, I miss nothing.
0:06:16 - (Rob Ervin): And that reminds me a lot of the story of one of my personal favorite current guitars. Gary Clark Jr.
0:06:23 - (Guitarslayer): Yes.
0:06:24 - (Rob Ervin): Same way.
0:06:24 - (Guitarslayer): That's a good friend of mine where he just.
0:06:26 - (Rob Ervin): I just. He listened to Lenny Kravitz just all. Yeah, and you got your. You saved up and got your first guitar from Toys R Us.
0:06:34 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, my mom got me a Toys R Us guitars. This little white guitar with a little knob on it.
0:06:40 - (Mike Rhyner): How old, how old were you?
0:06:41 - (Guitarslayer): I was five.
0:06:42 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, this, this all happened when you were five?
0:06:44 - (Guitarslayer): Yes, sir.
0:06:45 - (Mike Rhyner): By the way, I was very remiss here. Rob Irvin of the Clubhouse, that's the other voice. He's joining us today.
0:06:52 - (Rob Ervin): Always happy to be here with you, sir.
0:06:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Always glad to have you, especially for situations like this.
0:06:59 - (Rob Ervin): Well, you know, music is my bag, so. Especially with what we were just playing here just a little bit ago with one of his tracks that leave. Oh, so amazing.
0:07:11 - (Guitarslayer): Thanks for jamming that, man.
0:07:12 - (Rob Ervin): It just, it's. You know, I have your stuff on Tidal. You can get it on Spotify pretty much anywhere you can listen to music. Look it up right now. Three albums or is it four now.
0:07:25 - (Guitarslayer): Well, Bus Chronicles, Lost Believe, which is the new one? Yeah, three and then just some singles. You know, I'm working on a new single now. Working on a new project now. All of that. Yeah, I'm excited about it.
0:07:40 - (Rob Ervin): Mike, you and I were talking just in pre show about this gorgeous guitar.
0:07:45 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:07:45 - (Rob Ervin): Sitting right between you. You're a PRS guy.
0:07:47 - (Guitarslayer): I am.
0:07:48 - (Rob Ervin): My guitar player is a PRS guy.
0:07:49 - (Guitarslayer): Really? Yes. Oh, that's cool.
0:07:51 - (Rob Ervin): So tell. I mean, can you tell? First of all, we have to tie. You know, I'll let you talk about the tie ins locally, sports wise. Which ties into this guitar.
0:08:04 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, this guitar. Well, I am a. In The Dorsey with PRs shout out to my guy Win Krozak, who's one of the most amazing artist reps and. And Bev as well. But this guitar they sent, it was a. It was a big. It was a big ordeal with just getting it all together. But my guy, White T, we call him White T. He was like the, the middleman of making all of this happen. He linked up with Sean over at Complete Customs and then another.
0:08:37 - (Guitarslayer): These are all Dallas people, by the way. So I just wanted to Make a big impact with using Dallas people, et cetera, et cetera. You know, because this was for the Dallas Mavericks. So Weston Broncos, the one who designed the. The layout of it and complete custom Sean. They. They designed it. They. They put it on there and yeah, I used this for the NBA finals for the Dallas Mavericks. I did not only the national anthem but the intro song that they come out. I produced it and then it's front. Yeah.
0:09:10 - (Rob Ervin): By the. A classic. By the who.
0:09:11 - (Guitarslayer): Classic, yeah.
0:09:12 - (Rob Ervin): And you now did you lay it. I was a little. It was a little ambiguous when I was reading research. Did you lay something on top of it and it just be kind of came a thing or did you do it live? Because Mike and I were talking about that in pre show of how that happened.
0:09:25 - (Guitarslayer): Rory imaged it. So I took what they already had and then I just scaled it back and I just re amplified it and I just dumped a bunch of rock guitar on it just to give some different energy because I know the players like it's a lot of young players on there. So like part of it was trying to bridge the rock the rock world with. With entertainment. I feel like musicians are athletes anyway. You know, that's my stance on it.
0:09:52 - (Guitarslayer): But I just put a bunch of rock guitar on it and gave it some. Some high octane energy and they loved it. And then they asked me to do it live. So I was able to do it live for the actual NBA playoffs. And it was awesome. It was really awesome that my city got behind me in that we even. They even made merch for me. We sold out in stores everywhere. It was. It was a. It was an amazing run.
0:10:17 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, this is a fantastic guitar. But you were talking a minute ago about, about, you know, what happened when you were 5 and how your mom was singing notes to you and everything. How did you translate notes sung to you into coming out of that when you're fine, man.
0:10:38 - (Guitarslayer): Man, that's that part where I just credit God so much, man. That's why my faith is so important to me. Because where I am right now today on all of the biggest stages with all of the biggest like the A list artists and I'm from Oak Cliff, Texas with no school training. It's God. There's no way I could have did it. You know, I didn't even go to school for. I got accepted to go to Booker T. Washington but to play bass.
0:11:05 - (Guitarslayer): But they didn't have a basketball team so I didn't want to go there because I wanted to do sports, you know. So. But. And I think because I was going to church so much, like we had Sunday, Wednesday, Friday, tell it Saturday services. So I was already playing enough, you know, to where I didn't feel like I need to go to school to play too. So all through high school, none of my classmates even knew I was into music like I was.
0:11:33 - (Mike Rhyner): And you went to high school where?
0:11:34 - (Guitarslayer): Life, at the time, it was called Life Charter. Now it's just called Life School. Yeah. Oak Cliff.
0:11:41 - (Mike Rhyner): Okay. Once you get past Kimball and Carter and South Oklahoma, you kind of lose me a little bit.
0:11:47 - (Guitarslayer): No, for sure it was a charter school. It was just a different route that my. My mom wanted me to take. It's right off of 35 in Ann Arbor.
0:11:54 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, okay.
0:11:55 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. The big church school sitting right off.
0:11:58 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah, yeah.
0:11:59 - (Guitarslayer): Okay.
0:11:59 - (Mike Rhyner): Okay. I know what you're talking about.
0:12:00 - (Guitarslayer): Yes, sir. Yes, sir. So my mom just wanted, you know, wanted me to go into a different direction. You know, she was just looking out for the best of us, you know, and so it was a. It was a leap of faith. We went. It was. It was a great start to just character development all the way around.
0:12:15 - (Rob Ervin): Well, then you transition into the genesis, I guess you could say, of something that I don't think anybody on this side of the ocean saw coming in. Just the explosion of K Pop. Like, the biggest movie right now on Netflix is K pop Demon Hunters, which I have on my. In my queue to watch, because I'm at the point of now of I need to know what this phenomenon is.
0:12:40 - (D): No joke, guys. I'm into K pop all of a sudden. As of the last, like, three months, I'm totally into K pop.
0:12:46 - (Rob Ervin): When BTS showed up on snl, I'm like, okay, this is now a thing.
0:12:50 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, right.
0:12:51 - (Rob Ervin): But you. You were working with some of the biggest acts. Even, like, some of them I don't know that people over here would recognize off the bat. But you say the name Blackpink and you have the attention of an entire cross section of humanity.
0:13:06 - (Guitarslayer): Yes, sir.
0:13:07 - (Rob Ervin): We were also talking in pre show that someone that you kind of worked with a little bit, but you were working with Blackpink, so you couldn't have worked with Lil John at the time he made headlines. Lil Wayne. I'm sorry.
0:13:18 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. Well, I actually did them at the same time, which was.
0:13:20 - (Rob Ervin): Okay. Yeah, because Lil John, it was a little John, Lil Wayne, one of them came in third in a bodybuilding contest on Muscle beach yesterday.
0:13:28 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, wow.
0:13:29 - (Rob Ervin): And I was like. I had to read the headline twice. I was like, is that. That's a thing.
0:13:33 - (Mike Rhyner): I think that was Lil Wayne. I saw something about that. I think it was Lil Wayne.
0:13:37 - (Guitarslayer): Wow. I'm not surprised. He's ripped, though, so I'm not surprised.
0:13:40 - (Rob Ervin): It's just, you know. Yeah. What is one of those sentences you have to read multiple times? Did I read that right? But what got you to number one to Korea, but then number two to. Because you had been touring for five years with a band that you had, Connect four.
0:13:56 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:13:57 - (Mike Rhyner): Wow.
0:13:57 - (Guitarslayer): You're taking me back, man.
0:13:59 - (Rob Ervin): I got to do my research.
0:14:00 - (Guitarslayer): I love it, man. I love it. And all of that was just brewing right here in Dallas, Texas. Yeah, I had a band by the name of Connect4, but before the K Pop, during the Connect4 era, I was doing stuff with like, Vivian Green, Eric Roberson, Gino Young, who are Dallas artists. Carmen Rogers.
0:14:19 - (Rob Ervin): Another one big here too, that I'm about to put underneath in the bed. Little Erykah Badu.
0:14:23 - (Guitarslayer): Yep. Erykah Badu. Yup. And I was being groomed by this old poetry lounge here in Dallas. It was right in South Dallas called Sankofa. And it was where you go and you just express your art, whether it's rap, poetry, singing, whatever it may be. And my band ended up being like the band for that, for X amount of years, you know, you were like.
0:14:46 - (Mike Rhyner): The house band there.
0:14:47 - (Guitarslayer): Yes, sir. And that's how we started just kind of getting even more groomed with the city. The city learning our sound, our style. And I was being, you know, in a leadership position and making sure we were paid, making sure we was looking nice. Hey, guys, let's wear this tonight. You know, just. Just big picture guy, you know, and that's what started like grooming all of those elements, man. And fast forward K Pop, the K pop thing.
0:15:15 - (Rob Ervin): Now what? Give people like the timeline who, when you get into that, that genre, it was again, it was before it came here. So what.
0:15:23 - (Guitarslayer): What?
0:15:24 - (Rob Ervin): It was right around the pandemic, if I'm not mistaken.
0:15:27 - (Guitarslayer): So it was actually 2011.
0:15:29 - (Rob Ervin): Okay. So even longer before. So you were so far ahead.
0:15:32 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, we were ahead of it. We. We were brought in to cultivate a new sound for the K pop music itself, for their live entertainment itself, you know, and shout out to Gil ap, Benny, Omar, all of those guys. Dante, those are. Those are our guys. We were the man six. So we were brought over there to just cultivate a new sound, man. And my first time going to LA was in 2012 to prepare for this particular tour. Again, it was a faith leap.
0:16:06 - (Guitarslayer): I got hit up on Twitter and I saw. I saw a message stating, hey, I'm looking for African American guitars for overseas opportunity. I could have been afraid, you know, but I was, I responded and I said, hey, I do it. I have my passport right now. And mind you, at this time, being a musician, it has always been kind of a struggle. Reason being is because the pay scale is just not there to help a musician to have a lifestyle that it. Right. You know what I'm saying?
0:16:40 - (Mike Rhyner): The pay scale is largely a moving target.
0:16:42 - (Guitarslayer): Anyway, it sucks and I can't wait to change that. That's one of my goals, to change the pay scale that music get here in the city of Dallas, you know. But it was $100 to play for four hours. And it's like, yo, and it's still that today. And that was when I was 17 years old, you know. But long story short, had hit some struggles as a musician. And me and my roommate at the time was like, man, I think it's time for us to move back home with our parents or something.
0:17:15 - (Guitarslayer): Figure something out with all of this. And that tweet came.
0:17:18 - (Mike Rhyner): He was a player too.
0:17:18 - (Guitarslayer): He was a drummer. Yeah, yeah. And he was my good friend. He's the one that really triggered me in a different level of my faith. Cause he was paying rent and just doing drums all day, all week. I was like, wow, how are you doing this? You know?
0:17:32 - (Rob Ervin): You made a literal leap of faith.
0:17:35 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, man. And I saw that he was able to do it. So I took that leap because I was doing green cards, man. I was working a 9 to 5. I was a barber at the same time. And I had my own band. So juggling those three, I was tiring myself out, man. To where lunch break is only 30 minutes. I would take a. A lunch break nap. And yo, I didn't slept for an hour and a half, you know. And those things started just messing up like the macare. I didn't want that on my name like that, you know what I'm saying? So I just had to take a break.
0:18:06 - (Guitarslayer): I was doing a club gig at Memphis in Addison.
0:18:10 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:18:11 - (Guitarslayer): And yeah, it's a spot that a lot of musicians go through. But I'll never forget being on stage this one time and I was just doing too much. I was just drinking and I was just loaded with just so much pressure, man. And I heard this voice say, man, sit down before I sit you down. And I was like, yo. And it was very distinct to me that, yo, that was God talking to me, you know? And I Sat myself down for an entire year.
0:18:42 - (Guitarslayer): And in that year of me being off, like, what I was learning in that is God gave me a gift, and he didn't want me to taint it, you know, he didn't want me to, like, diminish it by being influenced by alcohol or drugs or anything like that. So I set out for a whole year, man. And that.
0:18:58 - (Mike Rhyner): That year, when you say you sat out, I said you didn't.
0:19:01 - (Guitarslayer): Gig I didn't get for an entire.
0:19:03 - (Mike Rhyner): Year working at a job or anything.
0:19:05 - (Guitarslayer): I was still at my. I was still at my immigration office.
0:19:08 - (Mike Rhyner): But you just didn't g. Just got away from that entire scene.
0:19:12 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. Because if God told me he'll sit me down, I could only think the worst.
0:19:16 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:19:17 - (Guitarslayer): You know, So I still had dreams and aspirations to travel the world, and I didn't want him to put me in a wheelchair, you know, that mean I'm done, done, you know? But I sat out for a year. Everyone was calling me and asking me to, you know, do their shows, and I said, I don't play no more. I was like, what do you mean? I don't play anymore. I'm sorry. I'm stepping away. So long story short, they can get.
0:19:41 - (Mike Rhyner): Kind of weird when you tell them that, you know.
0:19:44 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:19:44 - (Mike Rhyner): But I mean, did they understand or did they get it or.
0:19:47 - (Guitarslayer): I think they did because of just all of the. The. Just the grind I had already put in. I had already put a lot of years in. In my city, you know, with a different artist, so they just kind of understood that maybe Justin needs to take a minute.
0:20:02 - (Rob Ervin): Is it hard when you tell that story that you actually had to say those words when you look back now?
0:20:07 - (Guitarslayer): No, I think it's awesome.
0:20:08 - (Rob Ervin): I'm not playing.
0:20:10 - (Guitarslayer): You know what? Nah, it's. I think it's a testament. I think it encouraged somebody because we all need balance at the end of the day, you know what I'm saying?
0:20:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:20:19 - (Guitarslayer): And I was. It was overkill for me at that time. I was young, I thought I was strong, and I can do everything and anything, and I needed balance, man, or I was gonna kill myself, you know?
0:20:28 - (Mike Rhyner): And, you know, you can get out there in that music scene and that scene that you were in, and before you know it, you start to get overwhelmed, but you're not even aware of it, you know?
0:20:39 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. Yeah. Because stress, I mean, it's happening to.
0:20:41 - (Mike Rhyner): You, and you don't catch up to it until it's a lot of time too late.
0:20:47 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, you're right. You're Right, yes, sir. And I had to. I had to do that. And no. No telling how that saved my life. So in that. In that span of coming back, I got laid off of my job because they was doing cutbacks. And I was like, okay, what do I do now? I got a call two weeks later, and they were like, hey, can we hire you to do a show? We got an artist coming in from New York. So I said, give me a second. I stepped away. I asked myself the question, am I ready to come back?
0:21:15 - (Guitarslayer): Can you handle it this time? And I was like, yeah. Cause I missed what it felt holding my guitar. I missed the energy of setting the atmosphere as a musician. I just, like, God was just bringing all of those things back to my remembrance, you know? So I accepted the gig, man, and I've been touring ever since. Roll around. A year later from that is when I got the call about the K Pop. I saw the tweet, and they said, looking for African American guitarist.
0:21:43 - (Guitarslayer): And I accepted. I said, hey, man, I'll do it. I have my passport on me right now. I'll go to the airport right this second. And they were impressed with my answer, that I was ready and I was available to go right this second. I would have left clothes, I would have left everything behind just to embark on another opportunity, you know, so. And that changed my life. And I've been involved with K Pop. My first K Pop group was Big Bang, who is the. The godfathers of the K Pop, you know, for the millennial. You know, they are who BTS modeled themselves after.
0:22:21 - (Guitarslayer): So when I see people jumping on the BTS way, I'm like, ah, y' all don't know.
0:22:26 - (Rob Ervin): Let me. Let me show you this over.
0:22:28 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. You know, but it's been. Yo, it's changed life. It's changed my life. Being a kid again from Oak Cliff, Texas, going to Korea, going to Seoul, taking on a whole different world. The crowds are different crowds, food, respect levels, interactions, everything, man, it just. Man, it blew me away. I started changing. I started advancing. I was coming back to Oak Cliff, and people were looking at me like, dude, who are you? Like, what do you got on? What are you wearing? Like, I was just being cultivated. I was.
0:23:05 - (Guitarslayer): I was embracing absolutely everything in that moment, you know?
0:23:09 - (Rob Ervin): And then we get to MGK.
0:23:12 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, man. Almost 10 years later. Wow.
0:23:18 - (Mike Rhyner): Before you get into that wow.
0:23:20 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:23:20 - (Mike Rhyner): Let me touch on one more Oak Cliff thing.
0:23:23 - (Guitarslayer): Okay.
0:23:24 - (Mike Rhyner): You're bound to be aware of the line of guitarists that have come out of Oak Cliff. You know, everybody looks at The Vaughn Brothers, Stevie Ray and Jimmy, they came from there. They probably sit at the top of it. But the guitar player for the Emerald City Band, Adam Palma, is o' Cliff guy, and there have been Rocky. Athos is another really good guitar slinger who's come out of Oak Cliff, and there probably are a couple more that I'm not even thinking of right now, but, man, the line is long over there and the talent pool runs deep.
0:24:00 - (Guitarslayer): Yo, Dallas has a lot of heat, man. Dallas just guitars, musicians, songwriters, singers. I think I put us up against anybody in the industry, in any city, state. I've. I've been around and went to jam sessions and especially, like, la, and, man, I'll be so, like, underwhelmed. No disrespect, but just what Dallas brings. Yeah, we just got it.
0:24:24 - (Rob Ervin): And it's not something you can define. It's a. It's a vibe that's like. It's the only way you can say it. Yeah, it's just so. Especially for people that don't live here. Like, Deep Ellum is its own vibe. Oak Cliff is its own vibe. Bishop Arts is its own vibe. But it's all good. That's the thing. Like, it's almost like we're spoiled in this town from a music standpoint.
0:24:50 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. Yeah. You know what? I. I can see that spoil. And. And that also stunts your growth, too.
0:24:58 - (Rob Ervin): Okay, talk more about that. I'm interested.
0:25:00 - (Guitarslayer): Well, because you can just get so used to. You can just get used to being spoiled that you'll just stay. All right, let me just stay here. You know, when it's good to go out and just cultivate something else or add something else to you.
0:25:17 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, I feel you here because I've known a lot of guys who stayed in one place. They got really good at what they did, but what they were doing was a lot like what a lot of other guys were doing, too. And they were all kind. Kind of. They'd all kind of boxed themselves in a little bit. And from everything I've heard and from what you're saying here, you did not do that. I mean, that was. It was important to you not to do that.
0:25:46 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. Yes, sir. It was. It was. I was fearful in the beginning, you know, but brave. I feel like I had already had all of the tools in terms of my musicianship. You know, I've been on Guitar Center, Blues Offs. I lost all of those things. I had so many journeys. You know, I haven't always won every bout, but I've been resilient. In all of it, you know.
0:26:13 - (Mike Rhyner): Now let's see. Let's.
0:26:15 - (Guitarslayer): Let's.
0:26:18 - (Mike Rhyner): Rewind or wind up the tape a little bit to 20, 24. When you played the national anthem for a Mavericks game, how did that come about?
0:26:30 - (Guitarslayer): Well, that came about just relationships. Like, I credit my man T a lot for just seeing like a super cool vision in me and seeing where we can just bend the rules on this thing, you know, it started out with them first seeing or hearing me do the national anthem with the Dallas Stars. I think my first one with the Dallas Stars was like Black History Night or something like that. So I just wanted to do something cool, my own rendition.
0:27:01 - (Guitarslayer): I study, like the ones that I looked up to in that regard, from the Whitney Houstons, the James Browns, all of them. Just to see how they brought like some soul to the national anthem. And then of course, Jimi Hendrix version, you know. So knowing that these greats before me have done it, I wanted to leave a lasting impression. So the Dallas Mavericks were stoked. And as I mentioned before, they were like, man, we hate that we didn't get you first, you know, which is all fun and games between just two organizations of my hometown. But it's amazing that my hometown messes with me like that, you know.
0:27:39 - (Guitarslayer): So did the national anthem. They loved it. And it was going right into like the cuffs of the playoffs.
0:27:47 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:27:48 - (Guitarslayer): And it was like, yo, we got to get that guy back. Like, can we get them back? And they got me back. And then that's when the, the question came about, hey, we have this intro. Do you mind touching it or do you mind, like, do you think that you can do that? I was like, of course. Send it to me. You know, And I was, I was thrilled to take on that challenge.
0:28:10 - (Mike Rhyner): And that was Eminence Front.
0:28:11 - (Guitarslayer): Yes, sir. Eminence by the who.
0:28:15 - (Rob Ervin): Yeah, there's something about that. So you can't sit still when that song plays.
0:28:18 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, man. And you can even hear in. In the, in the arena as soon as it comes on. Like, cuz everybody know that it's a part of the Dallas Maverick history.
0:28:27 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:28:27 - (Guitarslayer): You know, so me now being.
0:28:29 - (Mike Rhyner): Starting lineup to it.
0:28:30 - (Rob Ervin): Yeah.
0:28:31 - (Mike Rhyner): All the games.
0:28:31 - (Guitarslayer): Exactly.
0:28:32 - (Rob Ervin): You know what time it is.
0:28:33 - (Guitarslayer): You know what time it is.
0:28:36 - (Rob Ervin): You've worked with some great, great people that I've seen. There's one I want to ask about specifically.
0:28:41 - (Guitarslayer): Okay.
0:28:42 - (Rob Ervin): I see, you know, Chrisette Michelle. I see Bobby Brown, I see En Vogue. I see Tank.
0:28:47 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:28:48 - (Rob Ervin): A guy that just released his new album two weeks ago in LaCrae.
0:28:54 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, that's Throwback.
0:28:56 - (Rob Ervin): He is. He is one of my personal favorites.
0:28:58 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:28:59 - (Rob Ervin): You know, he and Toby Mack. That's. That's your. That's Christian hip hop right now, for sure.
0:29:03 - (Guitarslayer): For sure.
0:29:04 - (Rob Ervin): And for. Toby has been 35 years. But Lecrae is just. He. He's unapologetically who he is, and I love that about him. What was it like to work with him?
0:29:14 - (Guitarslayer): Man, you know what? I was so much younger at the time, and at the time, my Christian hip hop was still a new venture at the time, you know, and it.
0:29:25 - (Rob Ervin): Was still kind of mainstream. I think, like, Craig kind of took it to that. That place. Hey, there's other stuff here that you can listen to.
0:29:31 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, well, it was underground.
0:29:33 - (Rob Ervin): Yeah, it really was.
0:29:34 - (Guitarslayer): It was still underground.
0:29:35 - (Rob Ervin): The whole 116 thing hadn't happened yet.
0:29:37 - (Guitarslayer): Right, right. And then, like, my. My. One of my cousins had me hip to, like, another Christian hip hop rapper by the name of Dooney at the time. But that's throwback.
0:29:47 - (Rob Ervin): I think there was a couple that are part of that are from here, too.
0:29:50 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, all. All Dallas, you know, so. Yep, all of them. Yeah. Trip. Yes. And so Lecrae is, like, now he's like the godfather of, like, the Christian hip hop community, man. His new. His new work that he's doing.
0:30:03 - (Rob Ervin): I haven't heard the new record yet. I'm.
0:30:04 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, all of it is amazing. I'm looking forward to working with him in the future, man. I'm putting that out there.
0:30:09 - (Rob Ervin): What album did you work on with him?
0:30:11 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, I don't even know. I don't even remember what album it was. It was. I got called in by a producer at the time named Cheese Cheese Beats, you know, and that was. That was an awesome time.
0:30:23 - (Rob Ervin): And he was. I mean, he's out of Atlanta.
0:30:25 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:30:26 - (Rob Ervin): And he's. He's a guy that. His charity, I think, is fantastic. But I see. I see his name on something, and I have to ask.
0:30:33 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, man. Yeah. Now you're going to have me looking to see, like, what record was that again?
0:30:38 - (Rob Ervin): You know, I want to say I've got all of his stuff except the new album.
0:30:42 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, yeah.
0:30:42 - (Rob Ervin): You're like, really underneath you're here. And it's a song he did with KJ52, which is called they Like Me, which is probably one of my. It's got one of my favorite lyrics that he says. He goes, I don't play black music. I don't play white music. I play fight music unified in Christ.
0:30:54 - (Guitarslayer): Let's go.
0:30:55 - (Rob Ervin): That.
0:30:55 - (Guitarslayer): That alone.
0:30:57 - (Rob Ervin): I was like, all Right. I'm in. I don't care. Anything else you want?
0:30:59 - (Guitarslayer): I'm already in for sure, man.
0:31:00 - (Rob Ervin): But yeah, I'm just such a big fan, I had to ask.
0:31:02 - (Guitarslayer): Come on. DJ Rob in the house. I love it, man.
0:31:05 - (Rob Ervin): What I can.
0:31:07 - (Mike Rhyner): He's a multi talented guy over there.
0:31:10 - (Guitarslayer): N. He knows his stuff, man. I'm impressed.
0:31:13 - (Mike Rhyner): I try to do what he does.
0:31:14 - (Rob Ervin): You know, we have. Especially if I got to sit in a room with that guy, I gotta be on my toes because, you know, when you're in a room with legends, you know, I'm just. I'm just a guy that's happy to be in the room.
0:31:24 - (Guitarslayer): Hey, man, if you're in the room with legends, man, I mean, you're a legend too. That's how I look at it. Come on.
0:31:29 - (Rob Ervin): I appreciate that greatly.
0:31:31 - (Mike Rhyner): So what's your rig look like these days, man?
0:31:34 - (Guitarslayer): I am rocking offender Tone Master lately. I was always using. You're familiar with Kemper? Oh, yeah, yeah, Kemper. They changed the game on amp modeling. You know, I feel like a lot of companies before them were trying to figure it out, but Kemper came and brought something special. But this latest device and I use Kemper like the past three, four years with MGK and for that like tickets and mainstream sellout. I think it worked and translated for those particular records, you know, because we were able to use the sounds from the actual records.
0:32:16 - (Guitarslayer): But now with this newer album and it being so musical and it. All of the guitars just breathe different. I feel like I'm getting nerded out right now.
0:32:25 - (Rob Ervin): No, I'm. I'm fully here for this. I know Mike's a guitar player too, so. Yeah, we're all in right now.
0:32:31 - (Guitarslayer): Right. So you understand we're hearing the. It breathes like just the strum has to like breathe a certain way. But the Fender Tone Master, they did something very special with this new device that they've come out with without modeling, man. And the way the tones just sing. And I'm super excited about it, you know. So that's. That's my rig and I have like hundreds of amp rigs to choose from. Yeah, you know, I actually, I brought it with me, but maybe when we're done I could. I could show it to you. So you can.
0:33:06 - (Mike Rhyner): I'd love to see it.
0:33:07 - (Guitarslayer): Yes. A beautiful piece of equipment. I traded in my camper for it. I was like, yo, here, you can have this camper. Give me, give me this new device. And. And I've. I've been enjoying it, man. Every Day I pick up my guitar and play again. I've been tone searching for so long, trying to find what would make me excited to play again. You know, of course I can just pick up the guitar and just jam with. No Amber, when you got something that sounds really good to you.
0:33:36 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. It just makes it sweeter, you know.
0:33:38 - (Mike Rhyner): You show me a guitar player that is not a tone fiend.
0:33:42 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:33:42 - (Mike Rhyner): And I'll tell. I'll show you a guitar player that's not taking it very seriously.
0:33:46 - (Guitarslayer): There you go. Okay. I love that. That's so true.
0:33:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. I mean, every guy that I've ever known who has been any good and who I've thought, who I've respected, they're all about the tone. They're all about tone, man. Tone is everything.
0:34:01 - (Guitarslayer): Everything, man. Everything. That's why tone matters. With. Even how. With talking and communicating with people. Tone matters.
0:34:09 - (Mike Rhyner): That's right.
0:34:10 - (Guitarslayer): How you say it, how you deliver it matters.
0:34:12 - (Mike Rhyner): That's right.
0:34:13 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:34:13 - (Mike Rhyner): You can say one thing, but if you got another tone, then it could be easily mistaken.
0:34:18 - (Guitarslayer): Exactly.
0:34:19 - (Mike Rhyner): So what was working within Vogue? Like, if we may flip around a.
0:34:23 - (Guitarslayer): Little bit, man, Invoke was cool, man. At that time and in that era of Tom.
0:34:29 - (Mike Rhyner): I'm kind of a fan. That's why I'm asking.
0:34:31 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, really?
0:34:31 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:34:31 - (Guitarslayer): No, they. They're cool, man. They're legends, man. And I think for me at that time, me being so much younger, when I was playing with these artists, like them and New Edition and stuff like.
0:34:42 - (Rob Ervin): That, I was like, new Edition?
0:34:43 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, no, for sure. I was just like, yo, I'm. I'm sitting here with these legends right now. Like, I grew up listening to them. I grew up watching their music videos when. When we had the box. I don't know if y' all remember.
0:34:56 - (Rob Ervin): I'm from South Florida. I know the box. The box was out of Miami.
0:35:00 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:35:00 - (Rob Ervin): It was a station. It was. It was like an alternate mtv, but it was user driven.
0:35:05 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:35:06 - (Rob Ervin): So you called a 900 number, you paid like a buck, and you put in a three digit code and you would see it on the screen.
0:35:12 - (Guitarslayer): Yes.
0:35:13 - (Rob Ervin): And they would cue that video up. So There were no VJs. It was just they. You played. They played what people called in and asked.
0:35:19 - (Guitarslayer): And it was cool because you get to see your song coming up next. You're like, oh, our song Come.
0:35:23 - (Rob Ervin): Yeah, it was great because it was out of Miami. Because a lot of people don't understand back then music was so regional. You would get stuff like if you lived in Dallas, you would see stuff out of Miami months.
0:35:35 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:35:36 - (Rob Ervin): Before Dallas radio would even have it. When I first moved here, you know, I saw the video for Quad City DJs. The train on the Box for real. Immediately went out, got the single, because I'm like, this is gonna be huge. Three months later, I've already got it. So if I'm playing a gig, I've got the single and it hits Dallas radio and people are losing their minds. The Box. Absolutely. Please keep going.
0:36:00 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, that. That was just the era I grew up on, you know.
0:36:03 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, now wait a minute. You guys are telling me that there was a video channel of some kind that you could request to see videos?
0:36:17 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:36:17 - (Rob Ervin): Yep. It was called the Box and it was. It was a cable channel.
0:36:21 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:36:21 - (Mike Rhyner): I have never heard of this.
0:36:22 - (Rob Ervin): Yeah. And you could tell when somebody is requesting a video because a little phone receiver would show up on the screen and it would open and close. And that meant somebody was putting a code in and you saw what number they were typing. So. And then it would, like you said, would tell you up next and you see what video will be playing next. And you could just sit on the box for hours and hours and hours.
0:36:44 - (Rob Ervin): Well, see amazing stuff because it's stuff that your mainstream either wasn't playing yet or didn't play.
0:36:50 - (Guitarslayer): And the music video quality was such a epic moment in that era. Like how they was making, like, movies out of the. The music videos now. The music videos now. I don't know what's going on sometimes.
0:37:04 - (Rob Ervin): You know what now for invoke was that the three era that you worked with them was this. I would. I would assume, post Funky divas.
0:37:10 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, yeah, yeah, it was, man. I was. It was way out.
0:37:13 - (Rob Ervin): So would that have been. That was time of like.
0:37:17 - (Guitarslayer): And they was just doing classic records, like their classics.
0:37:21 - (Rob Ervin): I know they did the song from the Set it off soundtrack.
0:37:23 - (Guitarslayer): Yep. Yeah, of course. That's a favorite.
0:37:24 - (Rob Ervin): Yeah. And so I was wondering, was it that era that you were working with them or was it after that?
0:37:31 - (Guitarslayer): No, it was out again. I'm only 40 years old, you know, in a few weeks shade out of his teens.
0:37:38 - (Mike Rhyner): Look at it.
0:37:39 - (Rob Ervin): And it's probably seen more than you and I combined.
0:37:43 - (Guitarslayer): It was like 20. It was saying this out loud. Sounds crazy. It was 20 some years ago.
0:37:48 - (Rob Ervin): So that's. That's. Yeah. Mid aughts, Right? Yeah, that sounds about right.
0:37:52 - (Guitarslayer): And it just came by way of a friend knowing, like, hey, they need a guitarist. They got. They're coming in town. Like, hey, you're the guy. Can you do it? Can you learn these records? Cool.
0:38:01 - (Rob Ervin): Is that the same way the MGK thing happened?
0:38:03 - (Guitarslayer): Well, the MGK thing happened by way of having a relationship with the Travis Barker. I met Travis Barker during the era of me playing with Lil Wayne because Lil Wayne and Blink182 were on a concert lineup together, and I was Lil Wayne's guitarist. But Travis Barker would come out periodically and watch our set. And one day he came up to me just like, yo, dude, I've been coming out and watching you, dude, you're. You're awesome. Where are you from? I'm like, I'm from Dallas.
0:38:34 - (Guitarslayer): He was like, dude, I've never seen you before. I'm like, Well, I spent 10 years in Korea, so nobody knew who I was, you know, because, like, when I would go out on the K Pop tours, we'd be out for like a year long tour.
0:38:47 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:38:48 - (Guitarslayer): Never home.
0:38:49 - (Mike Rhyner): You pretty much had to live in Korea.
0:38:50 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, basically. Basically, yeah. They'll put us up in nice apartments and we'll just be out there to get the work, get the shows done.
0:38:58 - (Mike Rhyner): But I'm sure we get to come back stateside for a few weeks or something.
0:39:01 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, we would. But, man, I was missing so much of family, man. I come back and my nephew was this little. And I come back, he's a grown man. I'm like, wow. Like, part of that hurt, though, because I was just missing so much out on life. And to me, I always said I knew what it felt like to be dead, as crazy as that sound. Wow. Because when you go over there and you're forgotten about, you know what I'm saying? Or life goes on. When you want your family to be thinking about, hey, nobody's calling, like, hey, where y' all at? Friends, everybody's doing their thing. It make you feel like you're not thought of.
0:39:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:39:37 - (Guitarslayer): But in reality, like, I just needed to be present where I was.
0:39:41 - (Rob Ervin): Who's on the list right now? Because the list of people you've worked with, like, that's an hour show alone.
0:39:46 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:39:47 - (Rob Ervin): Who's on the list right now that you haven't worked with that you're like, this is the. This is who I really, really, really.
0:39:52 - (Guitarslayer): Want to work with, man. I would love to do a mashup album with Gary Clark Jr. He's one of my favorite guys.
0:40:00 - (Rob Ervin): One of the most underrated musicians.
0:40:03 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, there's no doubt. There's no doubt about that.
0:40:05 - (Rob Ervin): I don't understand how he's not bigger. Because that dude, he's he's got a great voice, and he can play.
0:40:11 - (Guitarslayer): He can really play. He can really play. I think at the end of the day, with all of the. The milestones that he has conquered, I think it's just up to him how much further he wants to push it or not. Or he might be cool where he's at, you know, I don't know. But I would love to work with him. I would love to share the stage or record with Lenny Kravitz, for sure. One of my guys he's now passed away that I was just hoping to meet and play with was Prince, you know, But I did get to meet him in my dream, you know.
0:40:44 - (Guitarslayer): You know, if that counts for anything. I talked about that on the Howard Stern show, just how before he passed, he visited me in a dream and gave me a hug, and when I looked up and noticed it was him, he vanished. The next morning, I wake up and on the news, you hear that he real.
0:41:05 - (Rob Ervin): It was the next day.
0:41:06 - (Guitarslayer): The next. The very next day. Yeah.
0:41:08 - (Mike Rhyner): Was it like being on the Howard Stern Show?
0:41:11 - (Guitarslayer): You know what? It was cool. I think for me and where I am now, my career, I'm always excited about the gadgets and everything again, it was one of those things of walking in there, seeing how the studio build is and seeing just his legendary energy. It was great. Besides the 4am show called Every year to do, you know, and we were all tired, but performing on their live was great. It was cool. He's. He's a awesome host, for sure.
0:41:44 - (Mike Rhyner): I had to ask because everybody who does what we do or does what I used to do or anything like that, if anybody says that they were not influenced by Howard Stern, they're lying.
0:41:58 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, for sure.
0:41:59 - (Mike Rhyner): They're absolutely lying. And they should no longer be taken seriously by anybody.
0:42:05 - (Rob Ervin): I mean, his show went head to head with snl.
0:42:07 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:42:08 - (Rob Ervin): When I was in high school, and it was. And was keeping up with the ratings in SNL in the late 80s, early 90s, which was really the second boom of that show. But you're absolutely. And it was on E. Yeah. So you had to be a cable person, and you're still keeping up with those, right?
0:42:23 - (Guitarslayer): Very true.
0:42:23 - (Rob Ervin): That's insane.
0:42:24 - (Guitarslayer): Very true.
0:42:25 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, I want to ask you about this because this is something that I always listen for in every soul or rhythm and blues record that I ever hear.
0:42:36 - (Guitarslayer): Okay.
0:42:38 - (Mike Rhyner): What does playing rhythm guitar mean to you.
0:42:45 - (Guitarslayer): Man? I think playing a rhythm guitar is a beautiful way to marry the percussion. I think that is how I make me, personally, my Personal take on rhythm guitar. Making the people feel funky.
0:43:08 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:43:09 - (Guitarslayer): Like the rhythm, like. Like my studying of James Brown's music. And he'll say, stay there, don't move, Stay funky. Like, it's about making the person feel the rhythm, you know, feel the. The other beats that the drummer is not catching the in betweens, you know? And yeah, I love rhythm guitar. I love lead. I love the lead perspective of guitar, but the rhythm makes it just feel good. And I think that's what you. What a. Guitars probably acquires more when they get a little older.
0:43:44 - (Mike Rhyner): The guy that I think sets the tone for that better than anybody that's out there right now. Maybe better than anybody ever.
0:43:52 - (Guitarslayer): Okay.
0:43:53 - (Mike Rhyner): Is Nile Rogers.
0:43:54 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, yeah, sir. Big time. Big time.
0:43:57 - (Mike Rhyner): I mean, when you hear a chic record, you know, everything that you know intellectually about the music tells you that there's gonna be an instrumentalist jumping out here, and there never is. And it's great. It works. It's just all together, the bass guitar, drums, whatever they have, whatever else they might have on the record, it just. It just does this.
0:44:26 - (Guitarslayer): Yes. And it's supposed so great. Yes, sir. It's supposed to.
0:44:29 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:44:30 - (Guitarslayer): Supposed to complement the drums. It's supposed to complement all of the other. It's like the glue to everything. If you take that. That rhythm out.
0:44:37 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:44:38 - (Guitarslayer): You just gotta.
0:44:38 - (Rob Ervin): I would challenge people that haven't is go down the Nile Rogers rabbit hole.
0:44:43 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, big time.
0:44:43 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah, yeah.
0:44:45 - (Rob Ervin): Like for you younger kids.
0:44:47 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:44:48 - (Rob Ervin): He's responsible for get lucky.
0:44:50 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:44:51 - (Mike Rhyner): Oh, yeah.
0:44:52 - (Rob Ervin): One of the biggest bangers of the last 10 years.
0:44:54 - (Guitarslayer): Yes, sir, indeed.
0:44:55 - (Rob Ervin): You know. Yeah. I fall down that. Just look at all the things he's done. You know, of course, you and I automatically go to chic.
0:45:02 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:45:03 - (Rob Ervin): Because that's. That, that. That sound revolutionized everything.
0:45:07 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah. Because with Chic, you also get Bernard Edwards, which is pretty awesome, too.
0:45:13 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah.
0:45:13 - (Rob Ervin): Do you remember the first time you were starstruck?
0:45:16 - (Guitarslayer): I haven't been yet.
0:45:17 - (Rob Ervin): Okay.
0:45:18 - (Guitarslayer): I haven't been. Yeah, I've been hoping to be, but I don't understand fandom.
0:45:23 - (Rob Ervin): How about the first time you stepped on a stage and just went, whoa. When you saw maybe it was the size of a venue or a crowd that was just hotter than fish grease? Or has there ever been that moment where you just kind of had that one like, this is fixing to happen?
0:45:40 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, every time I'm on stage, that happens.
0:45:43 - (Rob Ervin): You know, softball. Take it out of the podcast.
0:45:47 - (Guitarslayer): You know what I'm saying? Every time. Because every time it's a New experience. Even when it's the smaller, intimate crowds, I'm like, oh, it's about to happen. All right, Jay, get ready. Get.
0:45:55 - (Rob Ervin): You said that earlier. You dictate that energy.
0:45:58 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:45:59 - (Rob Ervin): And there's. There's. There's nothing in the world, like. And Mike says it's like you. Mike plays Petty theft. Like, there's nothing in the world like that energy from a crowd.
0:46:10 - (Guitarslayer): Oh, man. And the intimate ones are the scariest.
0:46:13 - (Rob Ervin): Oh, yeah. Because when you. It's like they're right there.
0:46:15 - (Guitarslayer): They're right there. And it's like you just got to be up close and personal. But, you know, when it comes to guitar, man, I do like personal interactions. You know, even when I'm on the grand stage, I try to connect with one person, make eye contact with them so I can see just where they are, man, you know, in life. And. And that has definitely pushed me into, like, a new era of understanding and trying to relate to people more, getting into, like, the mental health lane of life and music creating and stuff like that, man. Because there's a lot of people hurting in the world right now.
0:46:48 - (Guitarslayer): And I strive on my instrument being my healing tool, you know? Yeah, I know. Music is a healer, you know, when. Whenever you want to feel any kind of way, you're going to play a particular record, and it's gonna set that tone for you. If you want to feel angry, you're gonna play something angry. If you want to feel love, you're going to play some loving, you know? So I know with my. With my instrument, you know, I'm healing, so.
0:47:14 - (Guitarslayer): But the one memorable. Two memorable moments. Even though every moment on stage is a wild moment, I'll never forget my first show with Big Bang in Seoul, Korea, and we were behind a curtain, so we didn't even know what people were there or what was the energy going to be. But they dropped that curtain, and we saw all of these light sticks, and we had in ears. We had our inner monitors in, and it was like, it didn't help.
0:47:46 - (Rob Ervin): Wow.
0:47:46 - (Guitarslayer): That's how loud and roaring the energy was. It was like, whoa. This Korean energy is a different kind of energy. And then when we started touring Japan and their. Their domes were holding about 80,000 people in one sitting, playing for that many people. And it wasn't a festival. It was just our show three nights back to back, 80,000 people a night. Just taking that in, it's like just the. Just the rows, the waves of people.
0:48:17 - (Guitarslayer): It was something I take with me every time, you know? Wow.
0:48:21 - (Rob Ervin): Again, there's just nothing like that.
0:48:23 - (Guitarslayer): It's nothing like that. But we've had some massive, amazing energies with MGK where we. Some festivals were like 200,000 people there.
0:48:31 - (Rob Ervin): Just a sea of humanity, just crazy.
0:48:34 - (Guitarslayer): And then Kels, just being the awesome performer that he is, he starts to climb up on the light poles and hanging upside down, performing, I'm like, yes, sir. You know, it's dangerous. I'm like, please just, you know, because we all just want you to be safe and, you know, we all want to keep working and everything too, but, like, his. His energy, man, just to just push all of the. The limits, man, is inspiring every day.
0:49:01 - (Mike Rhyner): It says you played to as many as 485,000.
0:49:05 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. Oh, man. Like, my first year touring with the K Pop, like, the numbers of the tour was 1.5 million in that one year alone. So, like, no telling where I'm at in the numbers game and crowds now, you know, and we got stuff out with like, our mainstream sellout that's out on Apple, Apple TV and stuff. So you can always go tune and watch that concert live. And we just did Jimmy Fallon a couple of weeks ago with the new album, so. Yeah, man, it's just. It's just going to be.
0:49:38 - (Rob Ervin): He's got a nice little house band over there.
0:49:40 - (Guitarslayer): No, he does. Yo, and I. And I. And I had a chance to meet Captain Kirk, the guitarist for the Roots, and he's an awesome guy. He came up to me like, yo, man, you're bad, man. I've been watching you, man. You're a bad man.
0:49:50 - (Rob Ervin): I'm like, do you know who you are, sir?
0:49:54 - (Guitarslayer): Yo. But he's cool.
0:49:56 - (Rob Ervin): Walks in the room. I'm done.
0:49:57 - (Guitarslayer): Like, that's the guy for sure. No, they. They're. They're awesome people. Another one of my favorite guys and I look forward to working with is Rafael Sadiq. Oh, yes, sir. And they'll be here september nineteen.
0:50:08 - (Rob Ervin): Oh, really?
0:50:08 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, man. If you haven't went to one of his. The Majestic.
0:50:12 - (Rob Ervin): Love that.
0:50:13 - (Guitarslayer): So you have to. You have to catch that, man. I look forward to working with him too, man. I. I want him to embrace me.
0:50:18 - (Rob Ervin): Either just in town or he's come into town too. That you've worked with before.
0:50:22 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, I. I don't know where he's at in the world, but it was awesome working with him.
0:50:26 - (Rob Ervin): He's doing a tour, I think. I want to say they're playing a fair park.
0:50:29 - (Guitarslayer): Okay.
0:50:30 - (Rob Ervin): There's like four or five different groups. It's one of those R B Tours.
0:50:33 - (Guitarslayer): Gotcha. You.
0:50:33 - (Rob Ervin): But I saw his name on it. When I saw.
0:50:35 - (Guitarslayer): I was like, oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
0:50:36 - (Rob Ervin): Are there any venues, areas of the world that are still, like, on your list to play that you haven't to play?
0:50:49 - (Guitarslayer): I'm not sure to visit. I still want to go to Italy just to. Just to visit, take in just the. The energy there. I feel like me going there, and. And I always travel with my. My recording gear because I love producing. So when I'm out on the road, I'll just take my. My stuff with me and. And just set up shop and just record wherever I'm. Wherever I'm at in the world, you know?
0:51:15 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:51:16 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. So Italy. I want to go to Italy now. That's. That's top on my. Yeah, you too. Okay.
0:51:20 - (D): Oh, yeah. That's, like, high on the list.
0:51:23 - (Rob Ervin): I was. I was talking to a guy recently. One of my side hustles is like, do Q and A's at Comic Cons. And I was talking to Andre Saluzzo, who's a big voice artist guy, and he and his wife will just go to Italy a couple of times a year because they're foodies, and he's got family in, like, the small villages over there. And I'm like, dude, you are living your best life right now. We'll go in there, and we'll just go on a food tour for two weeks.
0:51:45 - (Guitarslayer): Wow.
0:51:46 - (Rob Ervin): I'm like, your life does not suck, sir.
0:51:48 - (Guitarslayer): That is awesome.
0:51:48 - (D): Actually, I would really like to just buy a house out there on top of the house here and be like, oh, I'm just gonna go to Italy and hang out. My house that I bought for a thousand dollars.
0:52:00 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, Yeah. I hear the. The market out there is like, that.
0:52:03 - (D): Is one of my guilty pleasures, looking at European real estate.
0:52:07 - (Rob Ervin): It's that sequence with the Godfather where Michael has to go to Italy in that little village he lives in. I'm like, yeah, I like. I want to go there.
0:52:14 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, it's beautiful. Anywhere on that side of the world is really beautiful. Even my time in Barcelona was just breathtaking. You know, Spain is. Yeah.
0:52:24 - (Rob Ervin): Gorgeous.
0:52:25 - (Guitarslayer): Spain is.
0:52:25 - (Rob Ervin): So I went to Madrid when I was 16, and it just. Nothing can compare you for spending time in. In Spain.
0:52:33 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, nothing like it, for sure.
0:52:36 - (Mike Rhyner): You know, you're going all over the place, playing all these fantastic gigs and everything like that. How do you keep your head right? I mean, you made a reference to that a little earlier, and I wanted to. Yeah, I wanted to get into that a little bit.
0:52:51 - (D): I was actually curious, like, how do you keep your faith in a thing that is very much sex, drugs, and rock and roll?
0:52:58 - (Guitarslayer): Right.
0:52:59 - (D): Like, how do you.
0:52:59 - (Guitarslayer): How do you.
0:53:00 - (D): Like Mike said, keep your. Keep your head right. But also, how do you keep your faith in those kinds of situations?
0:53:06 - (Guitarslayer): Well, first, I remember I am, you know, gifted by God. So for me personally, it can be a challenge. But I understand that it's mission work. That's how I look at it. It's mission work. Yes, sir. Every. I only have a moment with a person, you know, and I probably never see them again. But that moment, I have to leave a lasting impression, or they might leave a lasting impression on me, but that interaction just helps me stay grounded. And because I look at musicianship like an athlete, I. I still go to the gym every morning. I still eat right. Because I gotta have longevity for my body. I gott longevity on stage.
0:53:48 - (Mike Rhyner): Yeah.
0:53:48 - (Guitarslayer): I got to be able to throw my leg up and flip and all of those things, you know, so I can, you know, just. But eating right and reading and all of those things help me to just kind of stay at a grounded place. And when I come home, I still go visit, like, my family, church. Those things keep me grounded. I go hang out with certain friends. Those things keep me grounded and just balance, you know what I'm saying?
0:54:14 - (Guitarslayer): I don't ever want to get, like, too Hollywood or forget where I come from.
0:54:20 - (Mike Rhyner): You come from Oak Cliff, man.
0:54:21 - (Guitarslayer): I come from Oak Cliff, man. So I do a lot of praying, man, a lot of reading, and, man. And I eat. I eat okay. And the reason why I say I eat okay is because I. I'm not like the best eater in the world, but I'm very conscious of what I'm putting in my body. So based off of again, nerd. Now, what you put in your body, it just triggers things chemically for you.
0:54:43 - (Rob Ervin): And you go to certain places in the world where you're like, I. I have to have this because I'm here.
0:54:47 - (Guitarslayer): True.
0:54:48 - (Rob Ervin): You don't go to Memphis and not stop by somewhere like interstate or rendezvous. You don't go to Austin and not, you know, there's certain places that you go to. Like, I have to do this because this is what they're known for. True. But you do have a normal basis.
0:55:01 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, true. And having discipline, man. And I'm such a catalyst on controlling my mind and not my mind controlling me. And those things help me stay at a very grounded space because it is a dark. Or the entertainment world can be very dark. But I am aware that I bring light so that's what makes it mission and that's what keeps me pretty solid, you know? Thank you.
0:55:26 - (Mike Rhyner): I really enjoyed this.
0:55:27 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah, thank you.
0:55:28 - (Mike Rhyner): I really enjoyed getting to know you. And I gotta tell you this, you're. You're a very unique individual, and I mean that in the best way, man.
0:55:39 - (Guitarslayer): Blessings to you. Thank you. I appreciate that. I love your energy too, man. Just sitting here watching your swag, man. You just chilling, man. Yo, you so sorry. I want to be like that when I'm. When I'm your age.
0:55:49 - (Mike Rhyner): I'm just trying to hang in there for an old guy. That's all I'm doing.
0:55:52 - (Guitarslayer): I mean, you're still here, you're still living. You still. Well, all your toes work, all your works. So we're. We're all blessed in here, you know? We are, yeah.
0:56:01 - (Mike Rhyner): Indeed.
0:56:02 - (Guitarslayer): Yeah. And don't take it for granted, not one bit.
0:56:04 - (Mike Rhyner): Thanks for doing this, man.
0:56:05 - (Guitarslayer): And blessings. Thank you all.
0:56:06 - (Mike Rhyner): All right, that is Justin Lyons. Before we go, we probably do need to do the mid show ready, do we not? At the end of the show. So let us do that.
0:56:17 - (Rob Ervin): It's your world. We're just paying rent, man.
0:56:19 - (Mike Rhyner): Well, what if I told you you could free yourself of pain, anxiety, sleepless nights, and you could do it naturally. There is a way. The CBD House of Healing is here for you, man. They only carry products from their lab. They are made to meet the highest quality and purity standards you can possibly imagine. Find your relief from the aches, the pains, the emotional stress and drain of this world, and sleep again.
0:56:50 - (Mike Rhyner): Shop online. CBD House of Healing is at cbddallas.com or you can find them at 8550 Plano Road. There you can grab a slushie. Those are fun. At Suite 101 in Dallas, the northeast quadrant, the burgeoning intersection of Plano Road and Northwest Highway. Begin your healing at the House of Healing. And effective now, all vape products will be sold online only. Go to CBD Dallas Die or@cbddallas.com Another thing we need for you to do is remember this. You can find all episodes on our Patreon page. You can also find us on YouTube, Spotify, those of us who swim in the waters of the podcast.
0:57:48 - (Mike Rhyner): And while we're at it, if you're feeling what we're doing, throw down a nice review. Those mean everything to us. If you're by the channel on Spotify or Apple podcasts, help others find us by leaving a review. Thanks to Ashley. Thank you, Rob, for helping out today.
0:58:05 - (Rob Ervin): Thank you for having me.
0:58:05 - (Mike Rhyner): Sir Justin. Pleasure, man.
0:58:08 - (Guitarslayer): Such a pleasure. Thank you.
0:58:09 - (Mike Rhyner): Really glad to have you and get to know you and have this chat with you. This has been your Dark Companion. Thank you for watching. Bye. All right, I'm gonna go take my pants off. Your Dark Companion is a stolen water media presentation.