WEBVTT - Matthew Ramsey 0:00:08.640 --> 0:00:12.680 Welcome, Welcome, Welcome back to the Bob Left six podcast. 0:00:12.920 --> 0:00:17.640 My guest today is Matthew Ramsey of Old Dominion. Matthew, 0:00:18.000 --> 0:00:19.320 Are you Matthew. 0:00:19.000 --> 0:00:22.720 Or matt either one? It's fine. It depends on who 0:00:22.760 --> 0:00:26.680 you are. Sometimes sometimes it's Matthew, sometimes it's matt. I 0:00:26.720 --> 0:00:27.320 answered it both. 0:00:28.120 --> 0:00:30.640 Well, you the kind of person like you grew up 0:00:30.800 --> 0:00:33.599 is matt and now as you're an adult, you're Matthew. 0:00:34.680 --> 0:00:38.879 Well, it's a it's a funny story I grew up with. 0:00:39.159 --> 0:00:41.600 I guess. My parents called me Matthew a lot. My 0:00:41.640 --> 0:00:45.960 grandparents called me Matthew. My friends called me Matt. As 0:00:46.000 --> 0:00:51.720 I was kind of beginning my musical career, I was 0:00:51.760 --> 0:00:55.200 going by matt Uh. And then I got to a 0:00:55.240 --> 0:00:58.800 certain point where I had like a you know, a 0:00:58.840 --> 0:01:02.240 website and a MySpace page and all that stuff that's 0:01:02.280 --> 0:01:07.760 Matt Ramsey. And I started getting these emails from other 0:01:07.840 --> 0:01:11.920 people that were looking for a different Matthew Ramsey who 0:01:12.000 --> 0:01:15.640 was the adult film industry or different Matt Ramsey. So 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:19.840 I changed it professionally to Matthew. 0:01:20.800 --> 0:01:24.640 Okay, Old Dominion is going on the road. What should 0:01:24.640 --> 0:01:25.680 the fans expect? 0:01:27.520 --> 0:01:32.920 Oh man, they should expect to see us having the 0:01:32.959 --> 0:01:36.480 time of our lives. And that's really the biggest comment 0:01:36.560 --> 0:01:41.920 that we get is how much fun we have on stage, 0:01:42.200 --> 0:01:44.479 and that is the truth. No matter what's going on 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:48.080 in our lives, when we step on that stage, it 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:50.600 wipes it all away and we just truly have a 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:54.040 great time. We've really learned over the past couple of 0:01:54.120 --> 0:01:58.760 years really what our relationship is with our fans, and 0:01:59.760 --> 0:02:03.200 we like to be inclusive. We take requests, we open 0:02:03.280 --> 0:02:06.160 it up the set list to them, and you know, 0:02:06.200 --> 0:02:08.760 we have a set list, but there are sections in 0:02:08.800 --> 0:02:10.600 the set where we just say what do you want 0:02:10.639 --> 0:02:14.120 to hear? So every show is different and we we 0:02:14.200 --> 0:02:17.680 play for a good couple hours. So it's a fun time. 0:02:17.840 --> 0:02:20.400 And how about production? How much production do you carrie? 0:02:21.520 --> 0:02:24.360 Good bit of production. We actually start rehearsals tomorrow, so 0:02:24.360 --> 0:02:28.240 I haven't seen I'll see it in its full glory tomorrow, 0:02:28.360 --> 0:02:33.680 but lots of lots of screens, lots of video content. 0:02:33.960 --> 0:02:37.800 You know, we have our lighting director. He's been with 0:02:37.880 --> 0:02:42.520 us since the very beginning, and once we kind of 0:02:42.639 --> 0:02:47.079 started getting into arenas and and really doing the kind 0:02:47.080 --> 0:02:50.880 of big stuff, we had added some you know, show 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.560 designers and set designers before that we'd worked with, and 0:02:54.200 --> 0:02:55.800 it was it felt like it was time to step 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:58.560 it up, and so we were doing lots of different 0:03:00.400 --> 0:03:05.280 presentations that people were giving us, and our lighting director said, 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:07.560 I would like a shot. I think I know you 0:03:07.600 --> 0:03:10.080 guys pretty well, so I'd like a shot to present 0:03:10.160 --> 0:03:15.280 my ideas, and he hands down one won the design 0:03:15.400 --> 0:03:19.000 for sure and ended up getting nominated for awards and 0:03:19.000 --> 0:03:22.840 stuff for it. So it's a good bit. It's less 0:03:22.880 --> 0:03:27.480 than we've carried in twenty twenty three because we're doing 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:30.200 an EMP theater tour, so it's a little bit different, 0:03:30.720 --> 0:03:33.280 but it's still it's a big show. 0:03:34.240 --> 0:03:37.680 Okay, you're playing a Memorial Day weekend, you're playing after 0:03:37.760 --> 0:03:42.000 a car race the six hundred. Have you done that before? 0:03:42.080 --> 0:03:42.920 What's that like? 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:48.880 We have done that once, I think once or twice. 0:03:49.320 --> 0:03:52.320 Those are always interesting shows. You know, people there for 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:56.080 the race and stick around for the show after. But 0:03:56.120 --> 0:03:58.680 it's not anything we're not used to. We've played every 0:03:58.760 --> 0:04:01.000 kind of show that you could possibly imagine, as I'm 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:05.160 sure you can imagine. So we've played, you know, next 0:04:05.160 --> 0:04:08.480 to livestock, and we'll played next to race cars. So 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.640 it's pretty cool to be in the infield, and lots 0:04:11.680 --> 0:04:14.080 of times we get to go down there and stand 0:04:14.120 --> 0:04:16.800 on pitt Row and watch the cars come in and stuff, 0:04:16.839 --> 0:04:18.039 and then we go do our show. 0:04:18.720 --> 0:04:22.039 Okay, you're playing in Europe. If you played in Europe. 0:04:21.800 --> 0:04:26.279 Before, Yes, we have played in Europe a good bit. 0:04:27.800 --> 0:04:33.320 We started that pretty early, trying to build a fan 0:04:33.360 --> 0:04:37.680 base over there, and then COVID obviously kind of killed 0:04:37.680 --> 0:04:41.520 our momentum there for a little bit. But so this 0:04:41.560 --> 0:04:44.440 will kind of be our well. Really, our first toe 0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:46.840 back in the water was playing C two C Festival 0:04:47.760 --> 0:04:50.600 two years ago, and we'll be back there to do 0:04:50.640 --> 0:04:52.320 a proper tour this year. 0:04:53.520 --> 0:04:57.560 Well, a lot of country acts have never toured Europe, 0:04:57.600 --> 0:05:00.160 not right now, and I want people are going. But historically, 0:05:00.600 --> 0:05:04.760 so what's the reaction for your music overseas as opposed 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:05.440 to the US. 0:05:06.839 --> 0:05:10.839 It was surprising to us. I kind I can understand 0:05:11.880 --> 0:05:15.960 why some artists don't go over there, especially once you've 0:05:15.960 --> 0:05:20.080 reached a certain level in the States, you kind of 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:23.720 have to start over over there. You know, you're building 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:27.720 a whole new fan base they don't have where they 0:05:27.760 --> 0:05:32.719 typically didn't have country radio over there. It's just it's 0:05:32.800 --> 0:05:35.280 just a catch all radio that plays your music. Now 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.280 they're starting to get some country stations, so it's a 0:05:37.320 --> 0:05:42.920 little bit easier, but we were very surprised. There's there's 0:05:42.960 --> 0:05:46.320 nothing quite like hearing your music sung back to you 0:05:46.360 --> 0:05:48.960 in a German accent, you know that to show you 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:52.560 how far your music has gone. Uh. And and they 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:56.200 also they really dig into the entire catalog, so we 0:05:56.240 --> 0:05:58.520 can play whatever we want. They know every word and 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:01.480 you know, it's pretty fantastic. 0:06:02.880 --> 0:06:05.720 Okay, do you ever get tired of playing break up 0:06:05.760 --> 0:06:06.120 with Him? 0:06:08.200 --> 0:06:15.479 No? Actually, hear artists talk about that sometimes. For me, 0:06:17.040 --> 0:06:20.880 if it gets the crowd excited, I have no problem 0:06:20.880 --> 0:06:24.320 playing it. You know, it used to we spent a 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:28.480 long time playing full sets of music that no one knew. 0:06:29.880 --> 0:06:33.200 So when you get a hit, it's a blessing and 0:06:33.320 --> 0:06:35.320 it starts to you know. That was the one for 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:37.880 a long time where we knew, no matter what we 0:06:37.880 --> 0:06:39.560 were playing, we knew that was a moment we were 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.240 going to get them and we would get their attention. 0:06:42.520 --> 0:06:46.839 And so still now to this day, that song creates 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:51.719 a reaction. And anytime anytime a group, you know, thousands 0:06:51.720 --> 0:06:56.280 of people are singing something that you created. How can 0:06:56.279 --> 0:06:57.000 you get tired of that. 0:06:57.320 --> 0:06:58.919 So how do you decide where to put it in 0:06:58.960 --> 0:06:59.640 the set list? 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:08.359 It's usually these days pretty high up. We like to 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:11.040 start the song or we like to start out the 0:07:11.120 --> 0:07:14.000 set with some hits. We're lucky enough now that we 0:07:14.040 --> 0:07:17.040 can build a set that there's hits all the way through, 0:07:17.240 --> 0:07:21.600 so so we typically try to put that one up 0:07:21.600 --> 0:07:26.600 towards the top, just to kind of, you know, for 0:07:26.640 --> 0:07:29.520 around people who we are and get them excited about 0:07:29.600 --> 0:07:31.600 the hit songs that they're coming here later. 0:07:32.440 --> 0:07:35.520 Okay, this is audio only, but you wearing a Bruce 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:40.400 Springsteen in the East Street Band shirt. You are seen 0:07:40.440 --> 0:07:44.040 as a country artist. So where are you on the 0:07:44.080 --> 0:07:46.360 spectrum in terms of rock and country? 0:07:47.200 --> 0:07:54.040 Yeah, Birce Springsteen is is my biggest influence personally as 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:59.880 far as you know. Obviously is a songwriting influence, but 0:08:00.040 --> 0:08:04.480 as a performer too. I really look up to his 0:08:04.600 --> 0:08:07.880 body of work. I don't think we would ever call 0:08:07.960 --> 0:08:11.080 ourselves a traditional country band. I think the thing that 0:08:11.160 --> 0:08:14.800 makes us country is our songwriting. You know, we certainly 0:08:15.640 --> 0:08:20.200 try to focus on the storytelling aspect and and pack 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:22.920 it full of hooks and you know, get people singing along, 0:08:23.000 --> 0:08:25.800 and you know, I grew up in a really small 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:30.080 town in Virginia, so you know, I certainly have a 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:35.240 country background, but musically, the five of us are. Our 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.720 influences are so all over the map, and they include 0:08:39.760 --> 0:08:42.920 just as much rock as they do country. So our 0:08:42.960 --> 0:08:45.280 show tends to be more of a rock show than 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.440 a country show. Lots of jumping around and running around. 0:08:49.400 --> 0:08:51.120 So how'd you get turned on to Bruce? 0:08:53.600 --> 0:08:57.640 My dad had a record collection and he had the 0:08:59.520 --> 0:09:04.920 Live from seventy five to eighty five album and he 0:09:05.000 --> 0:09:09.760 used to play that and I remember always loving it. 0:09:09.800 --> 0:09:15.920 But it wasn't until I was probably, I want to say, eighteen, 0:09:17.760 --> 0:09:24.840 that I heard Rosalita and it sounded so fresh to me, 0:09:25.040 --> 0:09:31.000 and just his cadence and just the pictures that he painted. 0:09:31.320 --> 0:09:36.640 I was driving, I was driving from Brisbane, Virginia to Charlottesville, 0:09:37.120 --> 0:09:39.840 and I heard that song come on and it was 0:09:39.960 --> 0:09:42.560 just it just lit me up. I just couldn't believe it. 0:09:42.600 --> 0:09:46.760 And I went home and pulled out that record that 0:09:46.840 --> 0:09:51.600 my dad had, and it was covered in mold, and 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.560 you know, it hadn't been pulled out for years, and 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:56.320 I tried to clean it off, and I was just 0:09:56.360 --> 0:09:59.640 sitting in my room and listened to that those concerts 0:09:59.679 --> 0:10:02.679 over and over and over again, and then and then 0:10:02.720 --> 0:10:04.280 I was just obsessed from that point on. 0:10:06.240 --> 0:10:09.400 Okay, you see, you come from a small town Virginia. 0:10:09.440 --> 0:10:12.080 What is that town and where is that in Virginia. 0:10:13.840 --> 0:10:16.959 It's called Buckannan, Virginia. It's spelled Bucannon, but everybody there 0:10:17.000 --> 0:10:20.440 calls it Buckchannan. It's in the southwestern part of the 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:27.440 Appalachian Mountains. So it's about i'd say about half an 0:10:27.440 --> 0:10:33.439 hour forty minutes from Roanoke, Virginia, in between Roanoak and 0:10:33.440 --> 0:10:39.440 and Charlottesville, Virginia, about nine hundred people. Uh, just no 0:10:39.600 --> 0:10:41.920 stop light, just a tiny little town. 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:47.440 Okay, Charlottesville is a college town. Roanoak's like the first 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:51.160 town in America. So you know, I talked to dway 0:10:51.240 --> 0:10:55.000 Yoakum about this. So you say it's Appalachia. He goes 0:10:55.040 --> 0:10:57.080 on that no one pronounces it that way, but you're 0:10:57.120 --> 0:11:02.520 from there, and he's actually from Ohio. So to what 0:11:02.800 --> 0:11:07.000 degree is it backwoods holler or at this point is 0:11:07.040 --> 0:11:08.240 that paradigm done? 0:11:10.040 --> 0:11:14.080 No, you can find that very easily. It's definitely still there. 0:11:15.160 --> 0:11:19.439 You know, My hometown was, like I said, it's very small. 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:23.640 It was a big deal when they put a burger 0:11:23.720 --> 0:11:28.560 king in the gas station, you know. But there are 0:11:28.760 --> 0:11:31.360 there are hollers, for sure. There's one in particularly called 0:11:31.360 --> 0:11:34.880 Wildcat Holler that is that is very close by, and 0:11:35.840 --> 0:11:40.880 it's it's a pretty poverty stricken part of the country. Obviously, 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:44.720 the the opioid crisis is running rampant through there, and 0:11:44.840 --> 0:11:47.880 a lot of it, you know, came out of that 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:51.160 came out of that area. You can watch all the 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.520 documentaries on on all of that. And there's a lot 0:11:54.559 --> 0:11:58.400 of Rono Virginia in that area. So it's pretty downtrodden 0:11:58.480 --> 0:12:03.440 at times, but it is a beautiful part of the country. 0:12:04.040 --> 0:12:05.679 So what did your parents do for a living. 0:12:08.280 --> 0:12:14.880 My dad worked for the railroad for about eighteen years 0:12:15.520 --> 0:12:18.520 when I was a kid, so he was traveling a 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:23.760 good bit until he ended up taking a buy out 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:27.960 and got a job working in the local in the 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:31.400 office of the there's a local factory in town that 0:12:31.520 --> 0:12:36.920 made like silicone and rubber products. And then my mom 0:12:37.040 --> 0:12:39.400 was a teacher. My mom was a math teacher. 0:12:40.440 --> 0:12:42.280 What did your father do for the railroad? 0:12:43.760 --> 0:12:45.600 He was a brakeman, so he was he was on 0:12:45.640 --> 0:12:48.960 the trains, so he would His run was from Roanoak 0:12:49.080 --> 0:12:51.920 to Winston Salem, North Carolina, so he would just take 0:12:51.960 --> 0:12:56.079 trains down to North Carolina, unload them, hook him back up, 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:59.880 bring them back. That was kind of the family business. 0:13:00.200 --> 0:13:03.719 Was his dad did it, his granddad did it. It 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.200 was like all the men leading up to my dad 0:13:06.240 --> 0:13:07.760 were all railroad people. 0:13:08.360 --> 0:13:13.040 Okay, the factory, the silicon factory. Is that still there 0:13:13.120 --> 0:13:14.079 or did that close? 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:16.120 It's closed? Now? It's closed? 0:13:16.160 --> 0:13:17.720 Now? How long would it close? 0:13:19.400 --> 0:13:24.959 It sold a few times probably I'd say ten years 0:13:24.960 --> 0:13:30.040 ago and then ended up shutting down probably I'd say 0:13:30.160 --> 0:13:31.559 probably six years ago. 0:13:31.800 --> 0:13:34.160 So was your father or retired or did he lose 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:34.640 his job? 0:13:35.520 --> 0:13:37.839 No, he was, he was at that point. They kind 0:13:37.880 --> 0:13:41.040 of they kept on selling it and and they would 0:13:41.120 --> 0:13:46.360 keep him. So he survived a couple of different sales 0:13:46.440 --> 0:13:49.560 and then and transitions, and then they kept him on 0:13:49.920 --> 0:13:51.439 until he finally retired. 0:13:52.200 --> 0:13:56.120 And then when the factory finally went under. How did 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.079 that affect the economics of the town. 0:14:01.040 --> 0:14:03.560 The town didn't have a whole lot of economics. It 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:08.960 definitely killed some jobs, for sure. It's now been turned 0:14:08.960 --> 0:14:16.559 into a brewery and an apartment complex, which I haven't seen, 0:14:17.640 --> 0:14:20.440 but I hear is doing well. The thing about that 0:14:20.560 --> 0:14:24.680 little town that's drawing people there now is the river 0:14:24.800 --> 0:14:28.240 runs right through it, and obviously the Appalachian Trail runs 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:32.960 pretty close by to so it's a big outdoors destination 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.280 now that people like to come in and in the 0:14:35.280 --> 0:14:38.960 summertime and float the river, and that now they go 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:40.560 grab a beer at the brewery. 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:44.080 So your father's a break man. How does he meet 0:14:44.120 --> 0:14:44.640 your mother? 0:14:46.200 --> 0:14:51.440 They met in college. They went to Shepherd University, and 0:14:53.360 --> 0:14:56.840 I think the story is he was showing up to 0:14:56.920 --> 0:15:00.600 date to take my mom's roommate on a day and 0:15:00.800 --> 0:15:04.000 uh and something fell through and he ended up taking 0:15:04.040 --> 0:15:07.320 my mom on the date. Uh and that they've been 0:15:07.360 --> 0:15:08.200 together ever since. 0:15:08.640 --> 0:15:10.360 Okay, So how many kids in the family. 0:15:11.400 --> 0:15:13.840 I have one older brother, and what is he up to? 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:20.360 He is a rock star in his own right. He 0:15:20.360 --> 0:15:23.480 he works with It's stuff that's way over my head, 0:15:23.480 --> 0:15:27.600 but he works with GPS systems and drones. 0:15:36.200 --> 0:15:39.640 So you've had some great success in the music business. 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:44.160 You know, people have success and they buy their parents 0:15:44.280 --> 0:15:49.040 cars or houses. Did you do any of that? I have. 0:15:50.240 --> 0:15:54.120 I've certainly handed down some cars to my parents. I've 0:15:54.440 --> 0:16:01.240 I've definitely Uh, given my dad a truck, and I 0:16:01.240 --> 0:16:02.880 I definitely try to take care of them. I haven't 0:16:02.920 --> 0:16:05.840 bought them any houses or anything, but I certainly try 0:16:05.880 --> 0:16:10.400 to spread the spread the wealth a little bit. For Christmas, 0:16:10.400 --> 0:16:13.800 I bought them. My definition of success was always I 0:16:13.840 --> 0:16:18.400 remember telling someone I just wanted to be successful enough 0:16:19.560 --> 0:16:24.040 to see my family whenever I wanted, without having to 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:26.880 save up or worry about how much the plane ticket 0:16:26.960 --> 0:16:31.560 costs or whatever. So now that I've reached this level, 0:16:31.800 --> 0:16:34.560 I definitely I gave a credit card for Christmas and said, 0:16:35.520 --> 0:16:37.920 whenever you want to come, this is your plane ticket. 0:16:38.200 --> 0:16:40.320 You know, don't don't worry about how much it costs, 0:16:40.360 --> 0:16:41.280 just get here. 0:16:42.560 --> 0:16:45.640 Okay, So you're going to school. Did you go to 0:16:45.680 --> 0:16:47.840 the same school your mother was a teacher at. 0:16:48.920 --> 0:16:52.720 She wound up teaching there right after I left. When 0:16:52.760 --> 0:16:56.560 I was in I guess elementary school. There was a 0:16:56.600 --> 0:16:59.160 couple of classes that she was that when I was 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:02.200 in elementary school. She was going to school to get 0:17:02.240 --> 0:17:06.600 her degree, so she would come in and do like 0:17:06.640 --> 0:17:10.240 teacher's aide stuff sometimes when I was small. But then 0:17:10.280 --> 0:17:15.080 she wound up getting a job in natural Bridge, Virginia, 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:19.560 which is about probably fifteen minutes away, so she taught there. 0:17:19.800 --> 0:17:22.280 She didn't move to the high school until after I 0:17:22.320 --> 0:17:22.600 was going. 0:17:23.359 --> 0:17:24.760 So what kind of student were you? 0:17:25.960 --> 0:17:30.760 Not a great one? My brother was a really good one, obviously, 0:17:30.800 --> 0:17:33.720 he's an engineer and does all the high tech stuff. 0:17:33.800 --> 0:17:39.080 I was that was not into school, man, it was 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:40.760 not my thing. I really didn't. 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:43.280 But you went to college, it couldn't have been too bad. 0:17:44.119 --> 0:17:49.560 I went to college, but I wasn't even sure. I 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.600 just kind of had reached a point. College was an 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:58.440 avenue out of that town for me. I just I stayed. 0:17:58.600 --> 0:18:01.600 After I graduated high school, I went community college for 0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:04.880 a year because I wasn't sure what I wanted to do. 0:18:05.880 --> 0:18:09.439 So I went to community college and realized pretty quickly 0:18:10.400 --> 0:18:12.760 I didn't want to be there anymore. I wanted to 0:18:12.800 --> 0:18:16.520 do something else, and the only thing I was good 0:18:16.520 --> 0:18:23.000 at was art and music to some degree. But I 0:18:23.040 --> 0:18:28.800 was better at art, so I thought, well, maybe I'll 0:18:28.840 --> 0:18:31.119 try to go to art school, and that's when I 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:35.800 ended up doing a degree in illustration from BCU. 0:18:36.600 --> 0:18:40.240 Okay, is there music in the house growing up? 0:18:42.640 --> 0:18:45.119 There was a lot. My dad is a huge fan 0:18:45.480 --> 0:18:51.000 of music and has a lot of a varied taste, 0:18:51.480 --> 0:18:54.919 but he's not a musician. He would have a harmonica 0:18:55.000 --> 0:18:59.280 sometimes and would play that for fun, but other than that, 0:19:00.480 --> 0:19:03.640 we had a piano that was just sitting there. And 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:10.360 I was drawn to the drums first. So I think 0:19:10.400 --> 0:19:13.200 when I was probably in fifth grade, I really wanted 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:18.399 to play drums. And so they told me, Okay, if 0:19:18.440 --> 0:19:20.880 you want to play drums, we want you to take 0:19:21.080 --> 0:19:27.120 piano lessons. Okay, that was the deal that they made. 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.800 They wanted me to learn to to to read music. 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:34.680 I guess I'm not sure why, but I just said 0:19:34.720 --> 0:19:39.320 okay and that stuff for maybe three lessons until I 0:19:39.480 --> 0:19:41.320 dropped that and kept on the drums. 0:19:42.560 --> 0:19:44.840 What was the motivation to play the drums? Did you 0:19:44.880 --> 0:19:47.800 see something on TV? Or we always rhythmic kid? 0:19:47.920 --> 0:19:54.119 I mean I saw I saw at a at a 0:19:54.400 --> 0:20:02.479 middle school talent show, one of my brother's friends played. Uh. 0:20:02.600 --> 0:20:04.879 I think he played like wipeout or something. You know, 0:20:06.560 --> 0:20:08.720 that's the thing you played, of course trying to learn 0:20:08.720 --> 0:20:12.840 the drum. Yeah, yeah, so but I just saw the 0:20:12.920 --> 0:20:16.399 whole gym light up when he did that, and I 0:20:16.440 --> 0:20:18.440 was and it was so powerful to me. I was like, WHOA, 0:20:18.560 --> 0:20:22.280 what's happening here? So and my brother I remember right 0:20:22.320 --> 0:20:27.320 around that time. You know, he's four years older than me. Uh, 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:31.720 and he was in middle school and and he decided 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:34.719 he and his buddies wanted to start a band, and 0:20:34.760 --> 0:20:37.080 so they were and it but my brother played trumpet 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.800 and like, so it was like a horn section and 0:20:39.920 --> 0:20:43.080 this drummer and uh. They came over to the house 0:20:43.080 --> 0:20:46.520 and that lasted probably a monk, but they came over 0:20:47.280 --> 0:20:50.600 once to practice. And now all the drums were set 0:20:50.680 --> 0:20:52.840 up in our basement and they took a break and 0:20:52.880 --> 0:20:54.560 I just went down there and was like touching the 0:20:54.640 --> 0:20:58.800 drums and I was just really drawn to them. And 0:20:58.840 --> 0:21:01.840 then I was in led me to be in you know, 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:05.680 uh the school band playing and playing drums, and then 0:21:05.800 --> 0:21:07.920 later into the marching band. I was in the drum 0:21:07.960 --> 0:21:12.760 line and did all that stuff. So first, for whatever reason, 0:21:12.800 --> 0:21:14.399 that was really calling to me. 0:21:14.760 --> 0:21:18.399 Okay, did you take lessons? 0:21:19.200 --> 0:21:23.479 No, we had a you know, a band director that 0:21:24.480 --> 0:21:26.560 didn't really know anything about the drums. 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:27.680 I just. 0:21:30.119 --> 0:21:34.200 I just, uh, everything everything I did was self taught. 0:21:34.280 --> 0:21:37.160 I had the I pretty much lived in our basement, 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:40.960 so I would stay down there in our basement. I 0:21:40.960 --> 0:21:43.000 had a drum kit down there. I had guitars and 0:21:43.040 --> 0:21:45.240 ants and stuff down there on one half of the basement, 0:21:45.560 --> 0:21:48.400 and the other half of the basement was all canvases 0:21:48.480 --> 0:21:53.320 and paints and and art supplies. So I would I 0:21:53.320 --> 0:21:57.159 would always be down there, either painting or listening to 0:21:57.280 --> 0:21:59.560 music and trying to figure out what they did and 0:22:00.160 --> 0:22:00.760 try to play it. 0:22:01.640 --> 0:22:04.080 So you played the piano to get drums. Did your 0:22:04.080 --> 0:22:05.399 appearance buy you a kid? 0:22:07.520 --> 0:22:12.119 Eventually? Yes, I started with a snare and there was 0:22:12.160 --> 0:22:14.399 a big moment. I remember, my dad was never a 0:22:14.440 --> 0:22:19.320 big He's not known necessarily for being a spontaneous person. 0:22:21.119 --> 0:22:23.840 But it was just he and I out One day 0:22:24.280 --> 0:22:27.160 we were going to get some lunch and we walked 0:22:27.200 --> 0:22:30.440 by this uh it was just I don't like a 0:22:30.520 --> 0:22:33.679 junk store, and there was a drum kit sitting in 0:22:33.720 --> 0:22:37.480 them in the window. And we walked by and I 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:40.679 was like, oh wow, look at that thing. And he said, well, 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:42.560 let's go look at it, and we walked out of 0:22:42.560 --> 0:22:45.000 there with it. I was my mind was blown, like 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:47.520 I could not believe that he was He just bought 0:22:47.520 --> 0:22:52.639 me this drum kit. And they weren't musical, but they 0:22:53.600 --> 0:22:57.440 they supported me in every musical avenue I went down, 0:22:57.520 --> 0:23:02.159 they they didn't always understand it. Uh. And throughout the 0:23:02.200 --> 0:23:05.639 course of of my adolescence, when I would get things 0:23:05.960 --> 0:23:09.160 taken away from me for acting like an idiot, they 0:23:09.200 --> 0:23:13.040 never took away that. They never took away anything musical 0:23:13.080 --> 0:23:15.280 from me, So I would sometimes that was all I 0:23:15.359 --> 0:23:15.960 had to do. 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:20.800 Okay, drums can make quite a racket. Yeah, you were 0:23:20.840 --> 0:23:22.920 in the basement, but they ever say stop. 0:23:23.720 --> 0:23:25.879 Oh yeah, there was a light switch. There was a 0:23:25.960 --> 0:23:28.719 light switch. The light switch for the basement was upstairs, 0:23:29.320 --> 0:23:31.639 so I'd be I'd be down there playing and all 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:33.639 of a sudden it would just go completely dark, and 0:23:33.680 --> 0:23:35.120 I'd be like, Okay, time to quit. 0:23:38.280 --> 0:23:44.240 Okay, you're playing in the school band in a drum line. 0:23:45.280 --> 0:23:46.679 You know? Is that cool? 0:23:47.400 --> 0:23:48.280 Not cool? 0:23:48.520 --> 0:23:50.040 What was the experience like? 0:23:52.600 --> 0:23:56.080 That was cool for me? You know, I don't think. 0:23:56.320 --> 0:23:58.800 I don't think people think marching band is the coolest 0:23:58.800 --> 0:24:03.280 thing in the world, But for me, I loved I 0:24:03.320 --> 0:24:06.679 loved every second of it, especially too, because it was 0:24:06.760 --> 0:24:08.760 kind of cool that we had a band director that 0:24:08.920 --> 0:24:12.320 wasn't didn't know much about drums. He just sort of 0:24:12.400 --> 0:24:15.199 let us come up with our own parts. So we 0:24:15.200 --> 0:24:18.520 would listen to to the pieces and we would we 0:24:18.560 --> 0:24:21.800 would circle up and come up with our own parts, 0:24:21.840 --> 0:24:23.960 and he would he would help guide a little bit, 0:24:24.040 --> 0:24:28.520 but he didn't know the rudiments much and so it 0:24:28.560 --> 0:24:31.720 was there was complete creative freedom there. So I really 0:24:31.920 --> 0:24:32.680 really loved it. 0:24:33.640 --> 0:24:35.639 And tell us about the drum line. 0:24:37.440 --> 0:24:40.280 Well, pretty rinky dink. So you know, just a couple 0:24:40.359 --> 0:24:42.560 of snare drums that was a guy playing the quads 0:24:43.359 --> 0:24:45.560 and a couple of bass drums, and that was about it. 0:24:47.240 --> 0:24:51.600 And ultimately that's how I ended up starting my first 0:24:51.640 --> 0:24:56.240 band because we were such good friends and we all 0:24:56.240 --> 0:24:58.240 wanted to be in a band, but we all played drums. 0:25:00.800 --> 0:25:03.760 So one of the guys was like, well, I have 0:25:03.800 --> 0:25:09.040 a guitar, and another guy was he could play piano 0:25:09.160 --> 0:25:13.320 pretty well, and I said, well, okay, I'll borrow a 0:25:13.320 --> 0:25:16.840