Unknown: Want to get cowboy boots, like work boots. You play
in cowboy boots? Ever? I've never played in cowboy boots. I
don't, yeah.
In fact, there's a band I play with regular regularly, the cow
pokes, and we have kind of a dress code where everyone has
the same boots that me, yeah, and they bought me a pair, but I
don't want to get used to playing in high heels. And now
I've tried the shoes on, and they hurt my feet, yeah, so I
just don't wear them. And
yeah, looks like they're playing in high tops. You got to have
some dexterity in the ankle, right? Yeah, yeah.
I've known a couple of guys that played barefoot, yeah? And I've
tried that and that, Oh, that's weird. That's hard, even
with socks, I can't do it, yeah? You got to have some sort of
traction, some
sort of a Chuck. Chuck Taylor has been my modus operandi. The
best shoes
I've ever played, and I never went back to him, wrestling
shoes.
Oh, I could see that. Yeah, they were amazing. Well, I could see
wrestling too, yeah, pinning guys whispering in their ear
from
behind. This
is the rich Redmond show.
What's up, folks? Yep, it is that time. It's time for another
exciting episode of the rich Redmond show. We talk about all
things like music, motivation, success, and today, yet another
brave, daring drummer has made the trip to Spring Hill,
Tennessee, my new home for the last five months. Jim McCarthy,
dude, I love it. It really
is. Have you been to the New Mexican restaurant?
El something Elle, something el mocha hectare. It's
in the old car dealership. I haven't tried it yet. What do
you think we had lunch there today? Courtney and I was it
good? Does it kind of just tastes like Mexican food?
Well, that's good because we do have a lot of Mexican
restaurants in time
and mattress stores, yeah. And
what are the other things? I just
like that, all the stuff, the Publix, my bank, the Walgreens,
the cigar shop, everything is less than a half a mile
that cigar shop is. Is just world class, world class. I was
there last night. Yeah, don't mind me. I'm actually fixing the
background while we're Oh yeah, don't, don't
worry about that. So, so Jim, what is, what has been happening
with you since we talked an hour ago. Oh, do you want to get
deep? Okay,
sure. Yeah,
you know this. You know, need to make money and all that fun
stuff. Oh, yeah, it
is a sad part of life that is, you know, money isn't
everything, but we do need it, and it does make things a little
basic needs, yeah, yeah. It's always being in that situation
of trying to cover your basic needs.
It's fun, but you're a hard worker. I don't know anyone that
works. I don't know how you multitask and juggle the things
that you do. Insanity. Yeah, we get a good hey, we're gonna have
another great conversation today. A maniacal edge. Hey,
this gentleman is a staple of the Nashville community. I mean,
if you if there's a drum set, he's going to be playing it. I
see him all the time the last 28 years, playing down on lower
Broadway. He plays with a variety. He's a world class
musician hailing from Phillipsburg, Pennsylvania. He's
a graduate of the Berklee College of Music. He's called
Nashville home since 1988 currently playing drums for
Emmy, Lou Harris, Don McClean, but he's also worked for let me
put on my readers. These are just a few of the names. Raul
malo from the Mavericks, Rodney Crowell, Steve Cropper, Hank
Williams, the third bombshell. How Ketchum, Shannon, Lawson,
Rosie Flores, buddy, Jewel Mandy, Barnett, Chuck Meade. I
mean, this list goes on and on and on. We're talking about our
friend John McTighe the third What's up, Buddy Rich, how are
you? Dude? I am so happy to have you sitting here, because all
the years of knowing you, knowing of you, knowing of your
work, seeing you play, we have never been able to have a
conversation longer than sound great, man, I'll see you just
waving.
Yeah, no red door. Time. Nothing. Yeah, I spent
way too much time mixing business pleasure at a little
watering hole called the red door. And I don't know if you
have a watering hole, but I would never run into John there.
No,
I used to run into Henry go all the time there, who
is a big week at KHS music now, yeah, running sonar, really,
yeah, picked, I guess, yeah, yeah, very cool. I love
him so. And you were, in addition to all this, you were a
founding member of Brazil, Billy, that's right now is, is
that band still happening or? No, it's
still happening. Okay, still happening? Yeah, it's, it's
completely different than it used to be musically. Before it
was probably 85% Latin or Cuban grooves, yes, with traditional
country music, and now there's almost none of that.
So it was a mix of almost like Latin rockabilly,
yes, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Hence Brazil. Bill, yeah, that's
great, man, yeah, it's fun. Very cool. Yeah,
you know what? And a lot of the playing that you do downtown, I
don't know, you might work some of the other rooms, but I always
see you at Roberts. And Roberts is the one place when I go down
there that is, like, top of the list. It's my favorite place.
And when tourists come to town. And let's face it, they're all
coming, and they're like, where should I go? I was like,
Roberts. You can get the crinkle fries and the fried baloney. You
can get a Coors and a can, and the band kicks ass, and they're
wearing their Pearl snap shirts. And it's music from the 1950s
It's traditional. You're gonna love it.
Yes, the quintessential traditional country music, Honky
Tonk, yeah, number one in the world. Got a baby? Yes, right.
Never gone there. You haven't 20 years living here. I've never
been
there. Jim, we're gonna do a guys night, and we're just gonna
go to Roberts, yeah, just on any weekday. I mean, there's always
a killer band come
down on Wednesday, late shift, 10 to two, okay, yeah, I'll be
there. That's your
shift. These days, that's my
shift. Yeah, these days, with the cow pokes, traditional
country music band, we started a thing on Tuesday nights that
we've moved up to the east side bowl in East Nashville, yeah,
and that's worked out really well, but we've been doing
Wednesday nights at Roberts for six or seven years now. Oh, wow,
it's fun. Yeah, I think you dig it. Yeah, yeah, it's,
I can't believe you know, it's because you, you kind of have a
an avoidance these days for
downtown, lower, broad, it can be a hassle parking and
tourists, tourists, and, you know, it thinks you can get kind
of crazy.
Woo girls, yes,
the cabs, but the
tips have gotten better. You
can make a living now you could. Yeah,
yeah. So, I mean, years ago, well, you know, I don't know if
I would ever want to play this much. I mean, I love my
instrument, but you would probably be bordering on
burnout. But you know, if you work that scene down there and
you get the right rooms on the right days, their guys are
making six figures playing down there, that's true. I mean,
that's crazy. That is, yeah, that's a lot of schlepping.
That's a lot of Yeah. Bon Jovi, what does that mean? You know,
it's like Roberts is one of the few rooms where you're gonna and
maybe laylas, maybe legends, where you're gonna hear the
traditional stuff, 5060s, 70s, country, right? And everything
else is going to be a bunch of guys with in ear monitors and
iPads and rolling kits, and they're playing very current
stuff, and a lot of just rock and roll, yeah, like Bon Jovi
place. It's got that multi, he's got the big stage, and it's,
like, the, you know, the sneeze guard, and a big double bass
Kent, and just everyone's got in ears. And just, they're just
rocking,
yeah, yeah. They're playing, like, all the Bon Jovi hits and
stuff like that, yeah, just
top down journey rock, classic rock stuff. And we went
down there on a Monday afternoon. Yeah, it was Monday
or Tuesday, and my brother had come to town, yeah, and my
brother's a musician from he's in Detroit. He's been there for
last 2530 years, but he's been playing keys since He's seven
years old, no, even earlier than that. But he, he basically, it
was like a dog hanging out the window enjoying the air. How
bad? On a Monday, Tuesday afternoon. And I said, dude, and
this is the afternoon shift. Yeah, you know, there is
no place on Earth, right, like there. I think there's 60 clubs
or something down there. It's, it's a lot. Yeah,
there's nowhere like Nashville to be able to do it is unique.
What people do to make money downtown, yeah, it's one of
those things like you could have Vegas. Vegas is known for, you
know, I'm the gambling is not even the the number one draw
anymore. It's all the entertainment. It's a city of
entertainment, yeah, but Nashville definitely has a
niche. I mean, it's a unique experience, for sure. For sure.
Yeah, and Robert's Western world, I would say definitely my
favorite, totally, for if you want to get you know where the
locals go,
Yeah, John England and the Western Swingers, that's one of
the best western swing bands on the planet, yeah, for sure. You
know, yeah. And what was the scene like in 1988
Well, I played down the first time in 93 Yeah. And it was with
Gary Bennett from br 549 right before br 549 and I'll put it
this way, I I went down there, I said yes to a weekend's worth of
gigs, and I never went back till 95 because it was like the worst
place you would ever want to be. It was all pawn shops, sex
shops. Uh, prostitutes, drug addicts. You're kidding, like
Times Square in the 70s, yeah? And like there were no lights.
There were no arc lights. They were either shot out or they
just didn't work. And you could park right in front of the club,
wherever you were playing, yeah? And there was a across the
street where rippies is. There was a club called the turf, and
that was the worst place that was, like, the kind of place
where people actually got murdered in the club.
I'm sorry, but I mean, but yeah, before the tornado of exactly
what was 2010
No, that was the flood
98 Okay, yeah, and that it was the, it was the tornado of 98
took out a lot of that stuff on the wolfies Rippy side. Remember
wolfies? Wolfies was killer, but there was, and there was, like a
little club next to to wolfies, Music City, the Music City
lounge in
between that and the turf. Yeah, I have a brick from the turf.
Was it thrown at you? No, it was after the tornado hit the
building. Oh, wow, yeah.
Remember hearing about that tornado. I used to play at
wolfies with, uh, buddy Spiker, yeah, you had to play. So, so,
yeah, he liked it that way for sure. So soft it was, it was a
good challenge.
I remember seeing Dirks Bentley play there,
yeah, man, yeah. And it's so funny that that side of the
street never seemed to have the cache or the success as the side
with tootsies. You're
exactly right and all that. Yeah, I don't know why strange
deal with that. I have no idea, but that is so true.
And kid rocks was a place called Shauna Ki, yeah, and somebody
got shot in the face outside that club.
Wow. I did not know that. Yeah. I remember that club. I played
there a couple times with a blues band. And then after that,
it became like cowboy. It was like a cowboy dress in drag.
Wow, kind of theater, yeah, that didn't go over very well. Oh,
wow. That ended quickly, yeah, can't imagine why, yeah. And
then it is what it is now, yeah, man and all
the shootings have moved up to Opry mills.
No, that was not what I wanted.
There we go. Nice, Jim, thank you. Completely
ruined it. Should I do a take two? No, well,
you know, and there's also, there was, you know, Virginia's
market there, across from the old Omni in Midtown, murder
Mart, the murder mark, yes. And
so there's a theme going on in this episode. People were
shot in front of that place. Yeah, how about
the Kroger east side, the murder Kroger. The murder Kroger.
There's T shirts you can still find that have that now,
which now? What street is that? On Gallatin road. It's
on Gallatin road, and it's the first Kroger you would pass on
the way out of town towards Madison. Yes, that was
considered the murder Kroger, because somebody was murdered in
the parking lot. Oh
my gosh, this is dark. It's really dark, right? But now,
so Nashville is a little bit more new and shiny now. I mean,
it really is. Yeah, it's beautiful. They kind
of wonder, if you compared the numbers from then and now, are
they still the same? Murder
wise. Murder wise. You know, I don't know. No, we're not
Memphis, and that's not,
we're not Memphis. That's good. Robbery Mills, yeah,
let's pepper things with kids, yeah. So, so you, you're the
rare, one of the rare guys that graduates from Berkeley. But
when do you start playing music? Do you have a musical family,
because you are the third in a lineage,
which means rich, yeah, I come from money. Jim, that's right. I
want
you to know that John McTighe, the
third, not much money, but it's money.
Good Irishman, right? Yeah, yes, 100%
English and Irish. My mom was full blood English, yeah, yeah.
Dad, Irish, yeah. His father, I never met, but apparently he was
a cement Mason and also a boxer. Wow, tough guy, yeah, and he was
a smaller guy, and my dad was my size larger, and my dad was a
cement Mason most of his life,
wow, yeah, most drummers are hugging the earth. What is it
like up there? I mean, you get to see if people are losing
their hair. There's all sorts of things.
You know, concerts, better positions, you can see, you
know, more people better air, yeah, yeah. And, of course, how
tall are you? More expensive clothes, though, you guys, I'm
six, four
more fabric, more fabric. Yeah, and you like the dress, what I
do? Like? I like the fact that you put lots of thought into
what you wear. It's very nice.
Oh, well, thank you. Yeah,
you never tell me that part of it. Well, you're on a car heart
kick now, which is great, man.
You're so full of it. No. I think Rich is like, whenever I
get, you know, he'll if he if he doesn't like what I'm wearing,
he goes, it's a new shirt.
Their hoodies are big and athleisure. They're very just,
you know, you just sink into them when you're watching TV.
It's nice. I'm more
of the Steve Jobs. Okay, just simple. I don't want to think
about it. Just put it on and go,
Yeah, but no, you actually look very well constructed. You got
the dark denim with the black boots and, yeah, man,
the very stylish shoes. Yeah, yeah. I want to get cowboy
boots, like work
boots. You play in cowboy boots. Ever? I've never played in
cowboy boots.
I don't Yeah. In fact, there's a band I play with regular
regularly, the cow pokes, and we have kind of a dress code where
everyone has the same boots, but me, yeah. And they bought me a
pair, but I don't want to get used to playing in high heels.
And now I've tried the shoes on, and they hurt my feet, yeah? So
I just don't wear them. And yeah,
looks like they're playing in high tops. You got to have some
dexterity in the ankle, right? Yeah, yeah.
I've known a couple of guys that play barefoot, yeah? And I've
tried that and that. That's weird, that's hard, even
with socks, I can't do it, yeah, you got to have some sort of
traction some summer
of a Chuck. Chuck Taylor has been my modus operandi, the
best shoes I've ever played, and I never went back to him,
wrestling shoes. Oh, I could see that. Yeah, they were amazing.
Well, I could see you
wrestling too. Yeah, pinning guys whispering in their ear
from from behind. They were,
you know who Neil Pierre used to play in was dancing shoes. Okay?
He would tuck his pants, I guess he would. He would wrap them or
bungee them to his ankles so they wouldn't get caught out of
the pedals. Yeah, and, but he says, because you know, you're
pretty much dancing and you wore dancing shoes,
wow. And Steve Gadd was a great tap dancer. I heard that. I
heard he, he
studied tap Yeah. And Troy,
look at it. Is a good roofer.
What now, I know he is, no, I made that came up
really, yeah, he does roofing. Doesn't he live in Murfreesboro?
Um, he used to or something. Yeah, Troy's always moving
around. Where is he living now? Um,
I love those odd stories, though. Yeah, come in these, you
know, that came out of that, that that episode with him, and
I was like, What dude, you guys should get up on roofs and
everything is,
like, that's hard work. It
is hard work. I think he's got crews of people now. He's just
bossing around. Hey, I want this done by five. Oh, yeah,
slacker, what is like, you know? And that kind of brings up that
kind of a notion, even though you spent a majority of life
playing, what was something else that you might have done, that
you were like, Okay, this could be something, if the drumming
didn't work out,
that I would have been interested in, yeah,
you know, I've had some day jobs years ago, and one of them was
making vinyl tilt in windows. Oh, wow. I found that
interesting, huh?
Yeah, manufacturing them, yes,
yeah. Well, the thing, and the funny thing is, is that you're
known as a, you know, roots country, Americana drummer, you
know, mostly, um, but you studied 20th century
composition, yeah, which is so interesting, you know, because I
I love that too. I mean, I have, I'm an over educated rock
drummer. I have my masters and in percussion and music
education. But, you know, I mean, I love various and I love
Stravinsky, and I love, you know, forward thinking, you
know, avant garde music, yeah, you would never be able to tell
from, you know, the gigs that we get called that we like this
stuff. That's true, but it's in there. It's baked into the cake.
It's part of the the root, yeah, you know, you're right, yeah,
absolutely. What did you have to do to get that degree? Did you
have to create compositions? Yes,
yes. We had to do fugues, motets, Choral arrangements,
string quartets, yeah, a symphony. Piece, a piece for a
symphony, writing,
we're scoring for a symphony. Wow, yeah, big job. Did you get
to hear it performed?
Not that piece. Some of the other ones I have, yeah,
yeah, well, there's still there's still time. I mean, that
would be really cool,
yeah, if I could find a symphony to hire. Yeah, yeah,
it's Prague. Prague.
They're cheaper. You know what? When I first came to Nashville,
I had a friend that knew some people at the Nashville
Symphony, and they were doing local composers pieces, and he
approached me about having my piece played. And I was like,
totally into it, and I started writing out parts, and it took
me about a month to finish all the parts, and in the meantime,
the symphony went bankrupt. I. Completely, Oh, wow. This is
before the skirm a horn, that whole deal. And so when I
approached him again, he was like, man, we're not doing that
anymore. We're sticking to Beethoven Mozart, you know, we
got to make money
give the people what they want. Yeah, that was a
little discouraging at the time, yeah, yeah,
yeah, man, but that's so do you remember all of the, you know,
the ins and outs of the, you know, the ranges of the
instruments, the clarinets and all. It gets rusty if you don't
use it, it
does. It really does. Yeah, yeah. Nobody likes a rusty
clarinet,
the rusty trombone, rusty trombone. Yes, it's a big
one in San Francisco. Anyways, give me a Get up.
Damn Jim label, those things that a good one. Damn
we have one of Johnny at one time going Shazam my drum tech
from the last 14 years,
I have that on another machine. Yeah, I might have, I
have that road caster in a box at my place, you know. But since
I come and you push all the buttons, that's great. Do I sell
it?
So what was the first job you got when you moved to town?
First music job, first drumming job.
Let me see,
it was probably with Gary Bennett, yeah, before. Br, five
Yeah, and it was on Broadway. Now
explain to the listeners, so somebody's lit in Des Moines,
Iowa, and they don't know the legacy of br, 549
okay? Br, 549 was a band that started playing at Roberts
Western world, and this would have been early 90s, yeah, and
young guys playing traditional country music and dressing like
the traditional country music stars dressed back in the day,
and they were doing this downtown Broadway in Nashville,
which was the one place you would never want to ever be at
that time, it was very dangerous. And I think that's
what made it kind of exciting, yeah, because because of the
music and the way they looked, people of all ages, sizes, uh,
rich, poor would go down to this weird little club to hear this
crazy little band do this music that you you couldn't find
anymore. Yeah, they created a scene. They did, and they those
guys, as well as Greg Gehring, uh, changed the face of
downtown. That was the, yeah, the nucleus. That was what
started it,
yeah. Man, yeah, yeah. It's kind of like, you know, our, our
engineer that has done all the Aldean records, Pete Coleman. I
don't have you ever worked with Pete Coleman over at treasure
Isle, but he was, you know, he was the guy. He actually
recorded my Corona for the knack. And, you know, at the
time, you know, the knack was playing around. La, this was
probably 8081, um, six nights a week, they were so sharp, and
they were so tight, and all the celebrities and the hipsters and
Hollywood would go see them, and it was a scene, man. And that's
what I kind of park into that, yeah, yeah,
it was fun. It's a really cool thing. Yeah, it's exciting, one
of a kind. It doesn't happen every
day. No, it's a hard thing, and you can't force something like
that.
No, it just happens. Yeah, yeah. You can't really create it. You
just do your thing. And this evolved out of that, yeah, yeah.
Now you're
currently doing dates with Don McClean, bye, bye, Miss American
Pie. That's correct, wow. Long song, like seven or eight
verses, eight
minutes and 21 seconds. That was our bathroom song in radio. I
used to play in a band called uh, you know, I used to play in
a band called uh, Frito pie, and we would in then that became
Eskimo pie was in college, and we would pass out freeze dried
Eskimo pies to all the drunks at the clubs. And we would do,
like, songs by a lot of one hit wonders. But, I mean, this was
kind of, this was, I'm sure Don's got some other things, but
he is so known for that,
yeah, iconic, icon standard. Yeah, that's
so when I got in the radio, when I was a jock, back in the day,
we were transitioning from actually pulling CDs and
stacking your hour to everything going automated. So at that
point, you know, you could, we had 40 minute long sets of I 95
rock. You had entire time just to goof off. You didn't have to
really fire anything off. But typically that song, or knights
and white satin, okay, was was the song? Wow, yep, by the Moody
Blues. So
he's got to
be a good number two,
fun guy to work for, or very interesting. So Jerry Kroon was
playing with him. Yeah. And now, for those folks that don't know,
I. Uh, in 1998 I took a studio Nashville studio drumming
workshop with Tommy wells God rest his soul and Jerry croon.
And it was, like a month long course. I mean, we go, like
twice a week, and we'd talk about tuning and playing house
kits and the Nashville Number System and scribbling out your
own charts. And just it was really fun. Wow, yeah, yeah. So
I got to know Jerry croon a little bit, and I haven't seen
him much really since, yeah, you know, yeah. So how'd you get the
call? Who's in the band? All that fun stuff.
Tony migliorne was the band leader, yeah, and I had played
with Tony through Mandy Barnett, yeah, and Brad Albin was the
bass player. And I played with Brad regularly, and had been
playing with him for 21 years. And Brad would always say to me,
like many times, he's like, man, if Jerry ever needs a sub, he
would be perfect. And I've, you know, of course, I was like, Oh
man, let me know that'd be great. And then Jerry needed a
sub and but at the time, Brad was not playing anymore with
Dawn, so Tony approached me and said, Brad, always said, you'd
be great for this. You know, I've worked with you, with
Mandy, and I went to one of their shows at the Ryman because
I had never met Jerry, and I watched the show. And when they
were finished, I went up to Jerry. I said, Hey, I introduced
myself. He's like, Oh yeah, you're Brad's friend. He's like,
look, I've got some stuff coming up. I need a sub. And Brad said,
you'd be perfect. Would you be interested? And I said, Sure,
yeah. So that's kind of how it started. That's
awesome, yeah? And something tells me, You guys play those
delightful, you know, on the square of a downtown theater
seats 1500 people, kind of a thing, yeah, yeah, a lot of
those. I love that kind of touring, because the bus pulls
up right to the theater. You're on this beautiful little
downtown square, and you you could support the local economy.
There's the indie record shop, there's the mom and pop coffee
shop. I can go over here and get a martini, and it's all right
there. It's all walking distance.
Yeah? You get to see these cool little towns and have more of an
experience. Yeah, you know to take with you, because
the sheds that we do, you know, with Aldean, are always 30 to 40
minutes outside the city limits, and you know, to do anything,
you know, you got to get a runner. And it's the whole
thing, you know, not complaining, but that seems like
it would be a delightful kind of touring. Yeah, it's fun. Very,
very cool. And so you have more dates coming up with him. Yes,
we do. And one thing I really like about your playing, because
I, you know, when I try to research all my guests and kind
of consume stuff they've played on, I look, looked you up on
YouTube, and so there's videos of you out there. Um, you play
very controlled, like you let the mics do the work, and
everything's just really you got spot when you play your crashes.
It's like this little whipping motions This is great. You know,
that's fun. It just makes me, like, want to play like that
sometimes, and say, Wow, up here, like, must destroy drum.
It's just, yeah, you just got tons of dynamic control and a
great feel. And
thanks. You're very kind, man. I appreciate that. Oh, yeah, very,
very,
very enjoyable. And, well, let's look at this list here. And if,
as I'm naming some of these people that I named before, you
know, the Rodney crows, the Steve Cropper, Hank Williams,
the third I did that job in 1999 Okay, yeah, and it was what I do
remember about. This is a this is bosephus son. That's correct,
yeah. So you know both Cephas. Where did that come from? Monday
Night Football. How did he get that name? I do not know,
because they actually,
I think when Sammy joined Van Halen and it was on the live
without a net VHS, their first live video. He calls him Alex
bosephus mode, heylon, huh, did you not? Did you ever catch
that? I didn't catch that, man, yeah, if we ever get Sammy on
the show,
I'll have to ask him that dude, Sammy, yeah, he seems like a
very approachable guy, 58 years old, killing it crazy. Wow, I
know. Well, he goes. I mean, he was in Montrose. Yeah, that was
Sammy man, going way back. What a voice? Yeah, he's like a Paul
Rogers, where it's like, God, Paul Rogers, you've been around
forever, like David Coverdale, they like he was in rainbow
before, White Snake, yeah,
yeah. Did you ever, did you guys see that? You, I know you didn't
go see them, but did you see uh, Sammy, when he came through here
in the summer, it was in August. No, no, what a show was Kenny?
That was the second show that Kenny did. Nobody was the first,
either the way Kenny had the sub with 24 hours notice, yeah, for
a two and a half hour show, wow.
Well, he's the guy to do it. He can thrive. Is on that. He loves
that kind of stuff, but I do remember Hank Williams the third
not never wanting to rehearse. He's like, no, that's just gonna
mess us up. Yeah, let's just keep it raw and real, baby.
Never rehearsed. Never rehearsed. No. And he would
record every show, and then we'd listen to it on the bus. Oh,
wow,
yeah, that's nice, yeah. Well, so when did you work with him?
If I played with him in 99 it would have been like 97 part of
98 Oh, yeah. He seems like he was going, going through
drummers me at that
time. It seemed like it's funny because he he listened back to
every single show, yes, wow, yeah. That's crazy. You don't
hear that too often, yeah, but it's almost like, uh, you know,
Aaron Rodgers, quarterback. He watches all his game tape. Game
tapes. Oh, really, after every game, yeah, that's how you get
better. It is good. That's
true. I get sick of myself. You ever get sick or something?
You're like that. Phil, again, yeah, damn.
Anymore. Are there any original fills anymore?
But the ones that don't get you fired and are appropriate? Are
there's only a couple of you got
to use the standards. You can
put your little little slant on them. You can add a drag here,
or a flam there. That's true, but Dutch Ducato is always going
to work, right? Yeah, I've been
actually employing the floor tom crash,
okay, oh, the floor tom with
a China is a nice color too.
Yeah, right, yeah. What
was that in the Huey thing, where he Jim's
in a gym, is in a Huey lose tribute band, and they're gonna
play the city winery on May 28 we
don't do your the housekeeping. Oh, we
didn't do the housekeeping because it towards the end,
yeah. Was it towards again, sure, but
in heart and soul, yeah, here we lose in the news, there's a
there's a breakdown in the middle of the song, and it's
like a got a hand clap going over, and it's and he goes like
that. You know, into the mic. I hit the China on that. I'm
hitting the cowbell, and they
see this Jim, because I've never, you know Jim and I talk
drums, interview drummers. I've never seen him play in a musical
setting. Get
ready to be disappointed.
Gotta be self deprecating. Somebody has to.
It's fun. Humility is a good thing. That's right, yeah. I'm
just trying to think of any expectations, any fun stories
from working with the, you know, the rosy Flores, I mean, legend
Mandy. I'm curious
about the Raul. Yeah. Here's the thing is that I wasn't really
familiar with the Mavericks up until recently. My in laws have
friends, and these people are die hard. I mean, they, they,
they're borderline doing the Grateful Dead thing and
following the band around. Wow, you know, I never realized that
existed, that people had such fervor, you know? And I just
it's probably my naivete, but, you know, it is just
because you've been calling me out on my SAT words I've been
using. That was really good buddy.
So what was it like with him? I mean, he's, he's a prolific
artist, you know, yeah, yeah.
It was a lot of fun. He's great to work. Great musician, yeah,
phenomenal bass player. I mean, he can play drums, keys,
obviously, guitar, and there's no better singer. Yeah, he's
probably one of the best singers I've ever worked with in my
life. Yeah, and just the music that he does, I've always leaned
towards the Latin, yeah, right grooves and stuff and so. And I
think he recognized that right away. So we did a lot of that
stuff. My first gig with with him was at the skirm a horn and
it was with an 11 piece band. He had brought out a lot of the
trumpet players and some of the players from the Mavericks, not
the main core of the band, but like the horn players and
percussionists and so it was, it was cool. It felt really good.
And super guy nice to work with. Lot of fun. And when we
traveled, man, he knew, like the best local restaurants in every
city to hit. So, man, we got to check out some amazing places.
Just by his memory. Was he Googling them? No, by memory,
really? Yeah, this is like, before cell phones, before Yelp,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, you
worked with him before cell phones, yeah, so I got my first
cell phone in 99
I started working with him in oh six, wow, I don't think we had
cell phones,
yeah, in 1999 I had one of those Verizon flip phones, the star
tech,
okay, yeah, I might have had one of those. Yeah,
yeah. Remember the first time you were able to get your email
on your phone? Yeah? I thought it was the
coolest thing with my little Blackberry. Yep, you had her
pagers. Oh, yeah, I remember all the pagers.
The codes used to if you had a like Courtney and I were dating
at that time, and she she found it challenging to say, I love
you, but she was good with saying it through the pager. And
it was done by saying 143,
Wow, I love you. Oh,
one letter, four letters, three letters, oh yeah. They're like,
the t9 texting, yep, oh yeah, yeah. You ever see that
documentary on the death of the Blackberry? Yes, pretty good. It
was pretty it was interesting. Yeah, yeah. I mean, I mean, they
had the world by the, you know what, and then Apple came
around, Steve Jobs came and just crushed them.
But I think they had, there's a lot of hijinks that went on too,
right, yeah, lot of corruption stuff like that. Because it was,
who was it come it was a Gosh.
I liked my Blackberry because it was tactile. Yeah, I remember
the first time I got the iPhone. I was like, This is awkward,
yeah, because there's not real buttons. Now the kids are like,
and
you still miss the buttons, yeah, yeah, you know, because
they're virtual. But the blackberries, I think you came
when you and I were beginning to be friends. You were in the
production studio at the radio station. You had just got the
BlackBerry with the roll ball on it, yeah? And you described it a
certain way. I was like, this is not, yeah, no, you liked it
because it was, it was a kin, yeah, God, the man in the boat,
right? Yeah, you were flicking the beam
the man in the boat.
Jeez. I was like, that's really descriptive.
Hey, so you got, you got something there is, then you
take us a trip down memory lane with your invention, yes, oh,
the webs, yeah, so that. So we were both Johnny Rab artists in
the early 2000s and you created a product that would allow you
to play brushes, but very loud,
very loud, yes, is where you could do rim shots and crash
cymbals. Is one of the first brushes, I believe, with like a
heavy wooden handle, yeah. And it was great, like working on a
snare drone, doing a groove, like for train beats and
shuffles, you could get more volume, you know, out of the
brush. And one thing, when I played with Brazil Billy, I
would tune my snare like a Tim Bali, Oh, yeah. And when I
played these brushes on that snare, it made you sound like
you were an old recording while you played like it sounded like
an old record. While you were playing, the sound you were I
was getting, yeah, and that's one of the things that I think
Johnny Rabb thought was cool. He was playing next door at laylas.
He would come over on break, and he heard me playing, you know,
these these these songs, with these brushes and more of a
homemade version, yeah, yeah. I started making them myself, you
know, with, like, milk cartons, pieces of plastic, yeah. And,
you know, he was like, Hey, man, what are you using? I said,
Well, I'm making my own brushes. And he wanted to get together,
and I was doing, like, a certain type of technique. He's like,
Man, I want to, want you to show me that technique. But we never
did get together for that. But at one point, he's like, Man,
I'm putting together my own drumstick company, and I'd like
to make your brush. And so over a few years, we ended up making
that happen together. It
does take a little bit a while to bring these things to
fruition. Oh, yeah. So did it come to you one night you woke
up in a cold sweat, plastic brushes, giant wood handle, no.
What had happened was
br five was playing Roberts and Brazil Billy was warming up for
them. And the owner of Roberts, Robert Moore, older gentleman,
when we were playing, there would be nobody there yet, and
so you had to play soft, yeah, you know, he wanted to hear
country music, and that's what we were doing. And by the time
br five was getting ready to play, the place would be packed,
and brushes were not enough. You were lost. And so I was
thinking, Man, how can I make this happen? How can I make
these louder? So I just started messing around with stuff at
home and bringing it in and trying it and it, you know, it's
like, wow, I can be heard, yeah. And I remember Donnie heron, the
fiddle player, steel player for br five. He would sub with us
sometimes, and after a while, he's like, Man, those brushes
need to be heard. You need to mic that. So I started putting a
mic on it. And, you know, I think that's what attracted
Johnny, because you could hear this sound. Yeah. It was
distinctive,
yeah, I man, so, uh. With them not being, you know, Johnny Rab
went out of business, unfortunately. So with them not
being manufactured anymore. Do you have, like, a nice cachet of
them where, you know, you got them still? I
have a few. I don't have a huge supply. Talk about the rhythm
songs, uh, no, the webs, okay, yeah, yeah. Are you looking to
kind of bring them back? I
would love to do that, because you went to ProMark after that
for a little pro Mark approached me, said, We love your brush. We
don't want to make it. We want you to make it. We want to
distribute it. Yeah, and so I did that for a few years, and
then that that kind of ended, and I haven't done it since, but
I would like to do that again. What
would be a good angle is there is this musical drumming,
auxiliary product distribution company, Big Bang distribution.
So if you they don't do a lot of manufacturing, but if you have a
niche product like that, they'll distribute it. So they might be
the guys to talk to.
I need a man of manufacturer, yeah, sure, yeah,
yeah. Who do you like? Who, gosh, where do you begin with?
Is
it a China thing? I
think so China.
Well, then you got the tariffs to worry about. Oh, god, that's
right,
yeah, that's true, yeah. Nowadays.
I mean, is there a market for it? And was there any sort of
proof and proof of concept?
Did it sell? Well, it was Johnny RABs best selling accessory
product. Look at that really, yes. And, and Greg could affirm
that. Greg Lowman, yeah, he was just in here? But anyhow, and
I've seen videos of like Harry Stinson playing them with Marty
Stewart, Johnny Barber, I don't know if you remember him. Sounds
familiar. He played with Loretta Lynn, and I supplied him
throughout his entire life. Rest in peace, but he loved them.
Yeah, yeah. I
think it's a great thing. And I've got some somewhere, because
I I always take, you know, Lee Howard Stevens, the marimba
player. He's always got these in these giant mallet bags, right,
that you would hang on the bottom of the marimba. So, so I
stick all of my keltnerism type, shaker, brush, hybrid things
into this bag. And I always shows up at the session. And
usually the, you know, the stuff I get called for, it never gets
on opened, but it's there, yeah, if you need it, which is, it's a
great thing. They're awesome. Man, congratulations. Thank you.
Yeah, I think you could, you know, the thing with
manufacturing is, is, is the wood being the wood part being
assembled somewhere, and then is the plastic coming Great, or is
it? How does that like manufacturing? Just it's so
mysterious. Yeah, I learned a little bit about it from my gal,
because she's a fashion designer, and so she was always
over in China and sourcing fabrics. Oh, wow. And then Los
Angeles, downtown, Los Angeles, has tons of factories, you know,
making, you know, overpriced T shirts. Right now, you could
probably find a place. Lewisburg seems to be turning into quite
the manufacturing hub. Oh, yeah, really, yeah, yeah. There's a,
there's a company we use for a bunch of our products down there
that they do, fabricating aluminum stuff like that. Yeah,
okay. But you know, for this, you you'd need some sort of a,
you know, plastic manufacturer with the wood combo. You have it
here, yeah, yes, it looks good. You want to take it out of the
bag.
You could actually, I'm sure you could buy, like I used to buy
the plastic separate, and I used, I had a die cut made to
punch out this plastic. But you know, you could buy your plastic
at one place, get your wood from another place, and just have
someone to put them together. Yeah.
Where'd you? Where'd you get them done last when Johnny was
doing his thing, you said it was south.
Johnny had a company. They did them. Yeah, was he actually
doing?
He was doing he was doing his own manufacturing.
No, he he had a guy in tune Tennessee that owned a lumber
yard, right? And that's where they got all the wood from, and
they hired people to put to do the rhythm saws and put these
things together. Yeah, they're hard to get out of this bag.
Yeah,
man, it's worth the wait. Need to get a case for him. Yeah,
look at that. Yeah, that's
great, man. It's
funny upon like, just seeing it almost like
a got a nice double stroke roll. Jim, that's right, yeah, see,
that's what happened. That's what he did with his youth
practices. Rudiments,
yeah, they're great, man. I mean, I have to say, even though
I invented them, they did a good job at making these at Johnny's
company, and they last a while, and it's something, you
know, kind of unique. I think you put that on the to do list
to like, you know. Don't abandon that, because I think it's a
really great thing. And, you know, there's just so many fun
little bells and whistles. Now, everyone's attaching things to
their drums and muffling their drums in so many different ways.
Now, yeah, you know, it's
so crazy just to try and, you know, introduce a product into
the marketplace, because you see a lot of them at the Music City
drum show coming up in July. That's
right, Jim is going to be there on the Saturday, and I'm going
to be there on the Sunday. We're going to have a little booth.
It's going to be awesome. Yeah, we're going to sell you stuff.
Have you been to the drum show in the past? I have,
it's the one suggestion I have. And I've told the powers that
be, Landon and JC, I, you know, I just said, when you do the
clinics, you got to have a more moratorium on all the booth
noise, yeah,
because they're going to do that, yeah, because, uh, if I
was doing a clinic and all that was going on, I would have a
really hard time. It's a cacophony.
Just like, anyways, this part right here, come up, young man,
I want to show you this. Like,
it's like, oh my God, it is pure white noise.
Yeah, have you? Have you gotten into the clinic thing? Ever have
done it? An interest in it? I haven't
gotten into it. Yeah, still, you should,
because you have so much to share. Oh, much knowledge, so
much experience.
I would be into talking about stuff. You know, do you have
such? Do you have endorsements time? I do have a few. I don't
have as many as guys like yourself. Yeah, that I've got,
like, stick drum head. Yeah,
those are the what do they? Call them? The Expendables, the
consumables, consumables.
I would love to have drum and symbol, and I've tried before,
years ago, uh, but I'm not, I don't really chase that.
Well, what drum manufacturer Are you passionate about? Like a
Ludwig or
I like sonar, okay? And I like Ludwig. There you go. I like old
Ludwigs. Yep, that I like sonar and and I like Pisces symbols,
feisty. There is something to Pisces, man, yeah, yeah.
Well, we know all the people. It's pretty easy. It's just to
be an introduction. You're like, Hey, this guy has been here for
since 1988 crushing it. You know what I mean. He's playing, he's
playing American pie with Don McClain, like Hello, because if
you crack a symbol and you don't have any support, you know, it's
400 bucks. 500
bucks. Man, yeah, you know, well, if you can help a brother
out, yeah.
I mean, Ludwig is, is very and sonar is like, Chris McCue just
signed up with sonar. Matt Nolan, who's coming in from
Lainey, Wilson band is with sonar right now. Todd Superman
near Z, they're having another gigantic resurgence. I mean, and
their stuff is wow. I mean, I've had the I've had the S Class,
I've had the SQ twos, I've had the delights. I've had the all
the different series, and it's just such well made stuff. Yeah,
it really is, yeah,
that one kit you had that was a red and black sparkle, yeah,
gosh. I think it was a beast. I know. Yeah, those are tubs. They
were
good. And the SQ twos it was, I it was a 26 inch bass drum. It
was supposed to go to Mickey D with, with Motorhead. And he
some, he's like, I know he didn't like it, so they ended up
giving it to me. It was 26 Wow, by 20,
how much did that weigh? People were, like, compensating.
But, I mean, it's like, it's a cannon it.
I had a huge case made for it, with all the lining, and you put
it in there, and then, you know, it had like, stereo knobs, like,
like, dot you dial really?
Yeah, to tune it very unique. Oh,
yeah, that's right, because they had little instead of drum keys.
Wow, that's right,
we'll have that drum. No, I, I was with I stayed with sonar for
about a decade, and then when I moved over to dw, I kind of
cleared house and I kept one drum set, the s, the s class kit
that I recorded with Kiefer and Shauna on that, are you gonna
kiss me or not? Song from 2011 I was like, Wow. I was a little
piece of, you know, country music history. Let's keep the
kit, right, you know. But I thought
you'd use the one you gave me on that was that not it? Did I give
you a sonar kit? No, you it was the the one for the spasmatics,
oh, that was a
little mom and pop operation called DMR custom neuron. That's
right, that's right. They're good sounding room. Yeah, they
are, dude. They really are, you know, ever I think a lot of
these companies are getting their wood from a lot of the
same places. So it's really Keller shells and stuff. Yeah,
it's just kind of what they do with the the number of plies and
the wraps and
you gotta, what does it make a difference?
You know, you can take a pearl, you know, vision or a entry
level $600 drum
set. It sound like a million. Sounds. Great. Yeah. What
is the. Kit. What's the house kit at at Roberts sonar? That's
sonar kit. Really look at that. Yeah,
of note, like a good one.
Yeah, it's the, is it the vintage series? So
it's a more it's a newer kit. Yes, okay, because you remember,
you know, all of lower Broadway would go through a phase where,
for a while, like all the clubs had may picks, then they had
tie, and then they had, let's see Pearl, and then now we're on
a
is sonar supplying drums for
a lot of the a lot of the places, yeah,
they're really, they're going on the offense.
They're going to, yeah, man, right. And then, of course,
we're here to take back some market share. There's a bunch of
Roland kits, and I'll end the corporate then the corporate
clubs.
No, weren't the D drum kits. Back in the day when they made a
coup, they weren't bad. Have you tried the D drum kits?
I don't think they were good,
no, but they weren't bad. Yeah, they were good value. They were
definitely a good value. Yeah, yeah, no. But kind of like how,
you know, PDP makes a good it's a value priced kit, but it's
like, when you're buying a PDP, are you really? Are you buying?
Gosh, I don't what, what's the metaphor we can use? I think the
thing with PDP is they're making them they I don't want to speak
out terms of production. I think that they're, they're more
product, and they might make them
in Mexico. Okay, yeah, that's the only real legacy. I mean,
dude,
I have a PDP kit with the wood hoops, so affordable, so sexy,
and it's just got a gorgeous, warm sound. It's be great for
Americana singer songwriter, because it's got the wood hoops,
you know, it's just mellow. It's want to
hear something so like, pathetic that I could never wrap my head
around makepex drums. They make gorgeous drums. They I think
they were the first ones that kind of spearhead the bird's eye
maple. I like the Saturn series, right? Yeah. And every kid I've
played that maypex, I can't get the name, just sounds so cheap.
And I actually put that up on a Facebook like one of the
Nashville drummers, somebody was talking about kits, or maybe I
even put the post up, I said, I said the same thing. And I got a
lot of, you know, hate for it, but it was, it was one of those
things. But I just, is it me? It
resonates either the company and the product resonates with you,
you know, or it doesn't. But that was one of the, also one of
the, also one of the companies. So there was a tie period, there
was a pearl period, there was a maypex period, and now we're
running this sonar kick with all the clubs downtown, yeah,
even, uh, the East Side bowl has two or three sonar kits.
Wow. The sonar is, like the Mercedes. It's German, yeah? So
well made you kind of look at, you know, dw is, I guess, a BMW,
yeah, right, sure. Sonor kind of like, you know, getting into
that exotic level. As far as price point, you know, Tama and
Pearl was like your Ford and Chevy for the longest time,
right? Jim was in car sales for a while there. But that's, I put
that equation on it because you have luxury to, you know,
baseline and stuff like that. Sometimes
the baseline is the workhorse. You know what I mean, if you
just, like, sometimes you play, like, budget kits, or like the
midline I sometimes I prefer the sound of those.
Yeah, yeah. That happens, yeah.
But I mean, a lot of these guys, their marketing game is getting
the that, that brand logo, and DW did that in the 90s. I mean,
they just crushed it and got their drums. And everything is
getting on television as much, television movies, movies the
whole night, all the award shows. Because you remember when
they first came out with drums? You're like, all right, you
know, yeah, that's and
then 40 something years later, you're rocking.
They're the 50 years later, yeah. But, I mean, they were,
they were a hardware company. They made the pedals, yeah, they
were known for, and then they started making the drums. And it
was one of those things where it was like, you know, when I first
saw them advertised in Modern Drummer, I was like, okay, you
know, it's like, when Remo made drums, oh, they were like, I had
those.
Did you ever have any of those, the acoustic cons? Yeah,
I remember seeing those. I never had any. Well, what
do you show up to the studio? Say you got a recording session?
What do you take it to the to the studio? It's
funny, everyone has their own house kit, so I don't take show
up snare drums and, yeah, I bring some snares and some
percussion stuff and just use whatever they have, because
usually they have it tweaked in, yeah, but I have a Yamaha cherry
wood recording, custom, beautiful that I like to use a
lot if I'm going to take a kit, yeah, but it depends, like, if
you know if it's something like, if they want the music to if it
calls for vintage drums, I'll take something different, like
that. But yeah, yeah, what rooms
do you find yourself in? A lot there a couple of rooms where
you're like, you're on the call list. A lot you had you end up
in these certain spaces. No, no, no. It's the luck of the draw.
Luck of the draw. We're just waiting for this thing to go to
light up.
You're just, like, free flowing through life in a way with that.
I mean, you kind of, you're not planning anything. You just
things just happen, because it's a great way
to live. Last Yeah, I was 88 let's do the math. That's, uh,
35 that's you've been here 37 years? Yeah, I've been here 28
years. Happens fast. That's a lot of presidencies. It is. I
you know what? But I never thought of it. But we are, we
are we're Hashtag blessed. I mean, we are Hashtag blessed.
Uh,
very thankful, yeah, yeah, for sure,
I'm kind of digging the conversation about the drum
manufacturers, though, yeah, do you
remember PV drums? Yeah, yeah. Bobby rock.
Bobby rock. They had the suspension like that that,
yeah, he had the Sistine Chapel painted on his shells of his
kit, yeah? But
they had the, they were like reinforcement hoops around the
edges, yeah, yeah, that we're supposed to give the shell more
reverberation, yeah. And then we forget about, you remember
premiere, Premier? Premier's a, you know, a British drum
company, and they were always known for having slightly
smaller diameters, like you could put a 22 on there, but it
would just be, there would be a little bit more overlap. Ah,
wow. Did you know that?
No, but premiere, it didn't, didn't Keith Moon play Premier?
Yes, and then who else, I think maybe Rod morganstein with the
Dixie Driggs,
okay? And, and winger, yeah, all right, but you have Premier and
all these different things like tama, they need to make a
comeback.
Yeah, they've got their their marquee guys, your Kenny's and
your Simon Phillips's and your Charlie Ben
says, All metal guys. And even knowing Pearl, back in the 80s,
I remember just coming up, and Pearl was just the pinnacle
crazy icon, the best reason to play drums. I never liked the
hardware first. I know that was the fan either, yeah, yeah, the
tube that stabbed into the yeah drum,
you know, it's, it's, you know, it's, uh, you find your thing,
but yeah. Man, you should, you should have some drums and
cymbals.
Man, you need some drums and cymbals. John, we
gotta get Ludwig on it, man, yeah, yeah, you
scream Ludwig. You know what? I mean, like, yeah, vintage, you
know, okay, you know the psychedelic, oh yeah, that'd be
cool. The
finish, yes, yeah,
and the VISTA lights, I haven't
I have a set of those. Oh yeah. Which ones? Clear? Just totally
clear. Yeah, I used to take them out with Raoul. One of the
things I loved with Raul was he loved vintage drums. So every
tour we did, I would take a different kit nice. And for
Christmas, I would take the VISTA lights, and we'd put
lights in them, ah, and he would bring, like, vintage Christmas
lawn ornaments, like these trees from the 50s. They're worth a
fortune now. And we, you know, we'd have the stage full of this
stuff. Wow, yeah, it was, it was really cool. I
think it'd be cool to hear him sing Christmas music. You got to
bring your sleigh bells. Bing, Oh, yeah. The thing, yeah. Now
we can't not talk about this amazing solo record. Do you This
is really inspired me. John McCarthy, the third it's about
time tell us about this awesome project. Alex
man, I,
this is a few years ago. I was, I was playing somewhere, and I
started thinking, like, Man, why did I get into this in the first
place? And I just thought back when I was young, like I liked
playing drums. I liked getting together with other people when
I was a kid. And it didn't matter if you were in a band or
not, just you'd find somebody else in the neighborhood that
played something, and you'd, you know, go over to their basement
or whatever, and jam, and you you weren't even good enough to
play cover tunes. You would just make up songs, yeah, and you'd
memorize them, and you'd do them all the time, and it was fun,
yeah, man,
that's, I mean, that's going way back, right? And,
and I was, I had a conversation with Kenny Vaughn about that,
and I said, Man, I would like to do an album, and I would like to
capture that on the record. Would you be into it? And he's
like, yeah, man, that's a great idea. And so some time went by
and I was doing another gig with Kenny, and he approached me.
He's like, dude, what about that idea you had to do this record,
and what's going on with it? And I was like, oh, man, you know, I
I'm looking for a studio. I'm trying to find something on the
east side that I can afford. And he's like, dude, Dave Rowe, I'll
call him today. And Dave's bass player had a great studio out in
Gallatin, and I'd played with Dave for years. And so can he
call. Them, made the arrangements, and we started
recording there. And most of the album is built off of duets, and
it's between myself and another artist, and I always liked old
school blues, like Hound Dog Taylor T bone or T model Ford.
Or is this like a guitar player that sang and a drummer, yeah,
and so I based the whole record off of duets, and I got
different people that I played with over the years, that I
admired, that I thought had the right energy to go in and do
this. And then some of it is completely arranged, string
arrangements where I'd play a drum pattern to a song that I
wrote, like a piece that I would write. And one of them, one of
the pieces on there, Billy Contreras played. He brought in
four different fiddles and basically did a string quartet
arrangement that I had completely written out to a drum
part, yeah,
yeah. And the one that seems like the biggest, if I was a
record company suit with my cigar, keeping time, ah, with,
uh, Tim Carroll, yeah, I love his rock and roll. Man, me too.
His, his ver, his version of rock and roll. He, it's just
great. Yeah, that's a cool tune, man, the cool video. Thanks.
Very, very cool. So how long did this take to do it? You just not
like you just went into the studio for a week and locked
yourself. You just did it over slowly, yeah,
probably took like, a year and a half doing bits and pieces here
and there, yeah, but, uh, and you mentioned
Dave Rowe, God rest his soul. This was right before he passed.
Right, yes, yeah, yeah.
And it was kind of ironic to do this, you know, I went out, we
went out there to do to start recording, and Dave's a bass
player, and it's like, Hi, Dave, I want to, I'd like to come to
your studio and do a record with no bass guitar. What do you
think now? And he was totally cool, yeah, yeah. I used some of
the drums that he had, like the house drum kit that he had
there, and supplement it with some of my gear. But yeah, and
he was, he was, when it was finished, he was kind of proud
of it. He's like, Man, this, this ended up really being a
nice record. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So
it's definitely a publicist stream, because there's such an
interesting story there was it? Were you able to get some nice,
like, reviews and good magazines and stuff
I did the Wall Street Journal? Holy, did it write them? Holy,
wow, yeah. And it's like, I'm a drummer. I'm not even on a label
that is great press. It's kind of unheard of, yeah, wow. So
your publicist, she's good Karen, like Zeger. She opened
some doors there. She totally did. That's great, yeah, and had
a lot of other nice The thing is, it's like, because I'm not
Springsteen or Elton John, they're not going to write
anything bad about me. If they don't like it, they're just not
going to not gonna say anything. So for them to say anything at
all, that's like a good thing. And I think we there were
probably, like, 10 or 12 magazines that said something
about it. Very nice. It's very cool. Yeah, congratulations.
Thank you. Thanks, Rich. And who knows, there might be some more
down the line that is true. Um, for sure. I've got one that's
finished, and it's going to be released the end of May. Okay,
yeah, and yeah, and I like how you did music videos for all the
tracks. Thanks. Yeah, very cool. Whoever that video videographer
was, I noticed it was the same videographer in all the videos,
I guess. Joshua Smith, yeah, put all that together. Very good,
different footage that I had, some that he would get off the
internet,
like, like,
stock footage. Yes, exactly. Very cool, yeah. Jim,
yeah, I was thinking about going to the Fave Five. The Fave Five,
yeah, you
want to do the the, like, new questions, like we did in the
last one. You want to stick to what you want to
stick to? My old boy, to my old, boring ones. Then you hit them
with the new ones. The new ones.
Okay. What's your favorite color? Blue.
We are on a Why are we so surprised 10
drummers in a row? But for a while, we are getting the
weirdest things. You know, Indigo. Yeah, we're getting some
strange stuff. Oh, wow. What's your favorite food or dish?
Pizza. You can't screw it up, right? Even the Red Baron is
gorgeous, yeah,
yeah, you know what I mean. Like the frozen pizza, bread, cheese,
sauce, sauce, yeah. Do you think they cover complicate pizza
sometimes? Well,
yeah, I don't. The meat lovers is like, that's gross. I don't
want all an amalgamation of me, amalgamation, yeah. What is the
what's your favorite? Like, what's your go to for pizza in
Nashville? Yeah, five points. Yeah. There's also another
place, Roy's tavern. It's a newer place. It's by the
Inglewood post office, and they have killer square cut. You.
Pizza.
Oh no, is it like Detroit style, where it's like a It's
not super thick, yeah, but it has air pockets, oh, and crispy
crust, like flaky. And my favorite there's the tavern.
It's like a sausage and gardenia, so it's a little
spicy. Oh, wow, yeah, it's really cute. It's kind
of like a pasty sound edge. He's got pockets. It's got air
pockets, nice.
Or Sapiens Sabians have that too. Sapiens,
no, the pasty sound edges they had, like the little, yeah,
I have a set of hats like that. Yeah, that's, those are
cool. What is your favorite drink?
Uh, you talking alcohol or, I mean, it's usually more fun. But
yeah, anything I like matcha. Oh yeah, like a matcha tea, yes.
Can you make that at your at your house? Like, yeah, okay,
yeah, boil water and you get the mix,
yeah. And I use almond milk, oh yeah. And
I'm highly lactose intolerant. That's, I don't know. I say, do
you do it for health reasons. The almond milk,
yeah, it's just, I think it's better than regular milk, yeah,
yeah, yeah.
Now this is a tough one favorite song of your lifetime, or at the
moment,
it's a John Lennon song.
What's it called? I was just thinking of it the other day.
I just saw Ringo Friday. So all Oh, did you go to the Ryman or
Grand Ole Opry? Grand Ole Opry, yeah. So right now I've got,
with a little help from my friends, in my mind, yeah, this
is another song by John Lennon. Oh, in my life, okay, yes,
amazing. Love that song. And
so what is it about it that resonates with you?
Just, I think the lyrics, yeah, what he's saying, yes, and the
fact that he's passed away, yeah, makes a difference, yeah,
yeah. Are you a lyricist? Do you like to write lyrics? First song
I do, but I don't do a lot of that. Yeah, I
don't know if you ever jump into the deep end of the pool and CO
write for you know, traditional lyric songs.
Do you not do that? But on my next record, there's a song that
I have written with lyrics, and I'm singing, oh, that's I was I
was about to ask, it's my debut.
So are you nervous about this, or because it's something?
No, it's something that I like to do. And I'm making records
because I like to do this stuff. Yeah, if somebody else doesn't
like it, or, you know, doesn't sell a million copies like it
should. It doesn't matter. It's it's fun for me. And I like
making music, creating things, so I think it's cool to do
something, to be able to do that. Yeah, I feel very again,
blessed.
I'm very motivated because I, it's Jim, this has been on my to
do list. It's like, I, you know, I did a 120 high definition
videos as a part of a training course, you know, for drummers.
But I haven't done a solo record. I gotta do a song. I
gotta do it. Yeah, you've totally inspired me. What's your
favorite movie of the moment or of all time?
I don't know about all time, it is a tough question, but I like
how you're just facing it bravely, and you're just like,
because a lot of people are like, Oh man, you really caught
me off. You're just like, I got it.
Give me a second. Well, there's a there's a movie with Anthony
Hopkins, and I can't think of the Thor, hmm. Thor, no, but
this is about the ninth train. It's, it's kind of a dark thing.
It's a, it was a he. It was a story about a gentleman. I can't
even think of his name right now, but he was helping children
escape during the Second World War, and there was a had gotten
away with eight trains, and the ninth train didn't make it. And
it's, I saw this the last time. I was flying to a dawn gig, and
it's like, wow, this is heartbreaking, but a beautiful
movie.
Well, he's such a great actor. Oh my god, and he's composer, is
he? Anthony Hopkins, has written symphonies.
I did not know that, really. And he paints,
you know what movie became, the prominence in what silence of
the layer?
Yeah, fava bean, that's right.
Yeah. So Jim, ask your new questions that you got going
on, okay, what's the most useless talent you have? Useless
talent.
I'm very good at growing vegetables. Maybe that's not
useless.
Useful. That's great in your backyard. You got a little
garden? Yeah?
Nice. Yeah. I'm really good at it.
I guess that's not useless. Yeah. Know, I don't know about
useless,
tough question. Yeah, I don't know what I would ask or answer
with that. Oh,
so if you had to play an attribute band, if
you had to play in a tribute band for the rest of your life,
you couldn't do anything else, and you had to play the same
songs over and over and over again until your dying day, what
band would you be covering? Rush? No, wow, that was out of
left field.
So you're a rush coach.
I was, yeah, I was, so
you went from the idea of a lot of drums, now you and I play
four piece drum sets. Yes,
a lot of that because is because you have to carry it, or you
used to, yeah, now all the clubs and the studios have their own
kit so, but, man, when I first, when I was younger, I would
bring every drum I owned. I'd bring a Glock and spiel, you
know,
yeah, it's and why would why did we do that?
Because we admired guys like Neil Purdon, yeah, you know, I
had a pearl red satin Neil pert Kitt, even though I don't think
he had ever used pearl at that point. But it was like, from the
666, inch tom down to a 16, yeah, one bass drum. So you
had, you kind of had the nickel Mcbrain kind of thing going on,
I guess, yeah, yeah, from Iron Maiden. But he's just retired.
He just retired. Yeah, he's done the Yeah. That's, I had a pearl
export, similar setup, and it was, I didn't have a six inch
drum. I had an eight, 210s, 12, 1316, looked like a roller
coaster. Yeah, yeah, wow, yeah, I would, I would bring it
around, and I packed every single drum of that kit I
probably had like nine symbols on it, wow, into a Suzuki
samurai. I think
my favorite record of theirs was signals. Okay, I like that,
subdivisions and all that. Yep, boom. Just great stuff in the
press role, man, yeah, great. I
like power windows. Yeah, that was a good album. I
forgot to ask you, who did you study with at Berkeley? Who was
the teacher back then private
lessons? Yeah, I started with Bill Coffman first year, and
then John Ramsey, the restaurant. Ramsey, yeah, John
was the shit, yeah,
yeah. And I love that you love Latin rhythms, because it's
like, who says that a good English Irishman can't play Cha
Chas song goes Samba, Bossa novas.
Man, when I was in Berkeley, I would come home and I my parents
were great dancers. They didn't play instruments, although my
dad, when he was young, I guess he wanted to play drums, and his
mom bought him pieces of kits, wow. And he would try, yeah,
nothing ever happened. But they were dances. And I used to ask
her, like, Did you guys ever listen to Latin music? Because,
for some reason, I have this heartfelt thing for it. It's
like, it's, it's very distinctive towards this kind of
music. And she's like, No, we were ballroom dancers. And, you
know, your daddy likes a little bit of swing, but not even
hardcore jazz. So I don't know where that came from, but it's
there. Yeah,
my dad loved that. Gene Krupa, yeah. And then my grandparents
would go, and they would dance at the Savoy Ballroom in New
York City, really, to Gene Krupa. Glenn Miller, Tommy
Dorsey, Chick Webb, wow. Yeah. Where are you from? I'm
originally from Connecticut, okay. And then when I was 11, I
moved to El Paso Texas, and so, you know, I played in cumbia
bands, and, you know, kind of kicked around. Got my education
in Texas, and I moved here in 1997
crazy. What was your nickname you played with the guy who
called you certain. Oh, yeah, thunder.
Thunder, right? Yeah. He was a, he's a Puerto Rican coro Tim
Bali guy, and he said, I solo, you play time. And I was like,
you know, it's like, 19 years old. It was the summer between
my freshman and sophomore year of college, and I just wanted to
get some real work experience. And man, did I get it. It was
like, he's like, stay out of the way. Too complicated, simple
play time was like, wow, it was good, yeah, it was good for me.
You know, yeah, really was.
He didn't break the cycle, huh? He didn't break the cycle.
I had a great time. Man. Is anything else you want to
discuss in a public forum that'll be captured for all
time? No pressure forever. You wanna say anything to your ex
girlfriends or anything out there? No,
I certainly do not. Yeah,
kids that you may or may not have. Yeah, no,
I don't think, I don't think I have any unknown children. Yeah,
I don't have any children, do
you No, I've been so busy doing this thing. Yeah, you know,
yeah. Takes
time. To do this, I always
pull out, okay, Jim mark, that we got to get rid of that. But
no existing is all encompassing. It's really,
it's hard, you know, it's not that I've avoided that. It just
hasn't happened,
yeah? You know, never seen ever, yeah, yeah, man,
it's never too late. It is never too late. But I met a chapter in
my life that I I don't I don't think I would want to chase a
kid around a house. I want to slow down, if I can. Yeah,
I know what you mean, just a little bit. You know, smell the
roses. Be comfortable. I get so much joy
with my cup of coffee in the morning. It's the I just look
forward to it so much, the smell, the aroma, the ritual
that is my time. Love it.
I totally understand. Sure,
yeah, what's that like?
Jim wakes up to a house of just screaming
energy. No, we're weird. It's pretty chill. Just, you know,
got to get off to work. There's a lot going
on. Yeah? Well, you know how they say, try to, you know,
ground yourself, put your put your feet on grass or in the
dirt. Try to meditate. A little bit exercise every day. Read a
couple of pages of book of every, you know, a couple of
pages of a book, you know, just for your mental health. So,
like, if I can in the morning, and I don't have to go running
out to get drum sounds at nine in the morning, I'm gonna have
the coffee and just a couple of pages of a book. You know, yeah,
nice, yeah. And
I'm watching adult cartoons right now. I highly recommend
primal on
so you probably shouldn't say that publicly. HBO, Max adult
cartoons, wow,
yeah, I'm like, Adult Swim. Adult Swim. It's totally
an adult room cartoon.
Okay, yeah, wow. It's weird. Jim,
thank you, as always for You're welcome for your natural
inquisitiveness
and big vocabulary. Yeah, you hit me
with two big words today, buddy. Now, what were the issues I
don't forget, but ambiguity. He said regularly, yeah. He did
several times. And that's
a tough word for him. That's a bane of my existence. That word,
okay? John McGee, the third.com
Yes, everybody, check that out. And then do you go? Do you do
the Facebook, Instagram thing? Yes, okay, yeah. We're probably
friends. We are, yeah, see, it's like, no these 5000 people that
follow you around for the rest of your life. It's pretty
amazing. It really is. But hey, thanks for doing this, man,
thanks for having me. I'm really glad we got to chat, and I think
that the record is fantastic and correct. Congratulations. Thank
you so much. And bring those things back. Good to meet you.
It's a pleasure. Jim, yeah, thanks for having me.
Thanks. John, thanks, Jim. Hey to all the listeners. We really
appreciate you guys and gals. Be sure to subscribe, share, rate
and review. It helps people find the show, and I mean it. Please
take the time to leave us a nice five star review. It really does
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