WEBVTT - L.A. Reid 0:00:01.720 --> 0:00:13.640 R and B Money. We take valti. We are the authorities. 0:00:15.320 --> 0:00:19.360 R and B ladies and gentlemen. My name is Tank, 0:00:19.960 --> 0:00:20.959 I am jave allent. 0:00:22.120 --> 0:00:28.320 This, this right cheer is the R and B Money Podcast, 0:00:29.160 --> 0:00:30.200 the authority. 0:00:30.440 --> 0:00:35.120 Come on, come on, come on, all things. 0:00:36.360 --> 0:00:40.360 R and B today. We're gonna get a drummer son today. 0:00:40.920 --> 0:00:41.840 Yeah like that. 0:00:42.040 --> 0:00:47.880 Yes, we're gonna give the motherfucking drunk listen, come on, 0:00:47.960 --> 0:00:49.120 come on, come on. 0:00:50.200 --> 0:00:55.200 There are people and then there are pillars. 0:00:58.600 --> 0:01:05.440 There are foundings in foundational building blocks that this thing 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.880 is set upon. There is a gate with platinum and 0:01:09.920 --> 0:01:10.959 gold bars. 0:01:12.560 --> 0:01:13.080 Get in there. 0:01:13.760 --> 0:01:18.919 There's a man that stands at this gate as a keeper. 0:01:20.240 --> 0:01:24.240 Quality control. Before Q see shout after my God, shout 0:01:24.280 --> 0:01:29.640 out this man. This legacy. 0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:39.280 Is the reason why we are here one hund. I 0:01:39.319 --> 0:01:43.760 won't label before you long I could intro could take years. 0:01:45.080 --> 0:01:47.360 We want to get into the information and the method 0:01:47.440 --> 0:01:48.960 of the madness of the man. 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:59.400 Mister l a read Wow, yeah, wow, you're a good 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:09.720 waiting this way. I'm all the buzz and the pillars 0:02:09.760 --> 0:02:12.240 and the one thing I can say that. 0:02:14.680 --> 0:02:18.000 Was so good I was shaving. And then the man 0:02:18.160 --> 0:02:22.840 is the man of a man You're important. Thank you, sir, 0:02:22.960 --> 0:02:26.200 Thank you. This is important being here with y'all, this 0:02:26.280 --> 0:02:28.960 is important. This means everything to me. Thank you for 0:02:30.240 --> 0:02:34.679 I have to say, like, you know, I can't overstate 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:43.119 your importance, your contribution to all of us, like we 0:02:42.840 --> 0:02:47.919 we we were all babies. I don't even know if 0:02:47.960 --> 0:02:52.720 I had a dream of of being that, Like it 0:02:52.880 --> 0:02:56.840 was so far away what you were doing with you guys, 0:02:56.880 --> 0:02:57.200 it was. 0:02:57.360 --> 0:02:58.079 It was just like. 0:03:00.120 --> 0:03:04.200 You just watching Amazement and say, I don't even know 0:03:04.240 --> 0:03:06.320 what that is. I don't even know if I'll even 0:03:06.840 --> 0:03:08.720 get to that, s I don't even know if I'll 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:14.000 ever attain. But it gave us. It gave us levels, 0:03:15.360 --> 0:03:18.079 you understand, I'm saying. It gave us inspiration, That gave 0:03:18.160 --> 0:03:21.560 us things to aspire too. It gave us the senses 0:03:21.639 --> 0:03:25.200 I spoke before, a sense of quality, like we're being 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.200 seen for what we are. 0:03:28.639 --> 0:03:33.760 True artistry, yes, sir. Like knowing that that was there 0:03:34.120 --> 0:03:36.160 and what it accomplished. 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:40.240 Keeps us pushing to know that we can still accomplish 0:03:40.280 --> 0:03:45.880 that no matter what the algorithm says, no matter how 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:48.000 far they try to go away from. 0:03:47.760 --> 0:03:52.920 It, it is possible. Because you did it, then you 0:03:53.000 --> 0:03:56.520 keep doing it and we can keep doing it. I 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.400 love what you just said. I love that regardless of 0:03:59.400 --> 0:04:04.200 what the albem rhythm says. I absolutely love that. The 0:04:04.320 --> 0:04:09.080 algorithm is people. It's people pressing a button a certain 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:13.840 amount of times, right, and now we have the power 0:04:14.680 --> 0:04:18.080 to get to those people. We have the power to 0:04:18.200 --> 0:04:21.679 give them a choice, an alternative. I don't knock anything. 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:25.240 Everybody does anything that anybody else does, I never knock it. 0:04:25.600 --> 0:04:28.000 I salute it. If you can get off that bench 0:04:28.040 --> 0:04:29.840 and get in the game and get some points up. 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:33.359 God bless you, God bless you who, God bless you. 0:04:34.080 --> 0:04:36.520 It ain't easy easy to talk about it. Oh my 0:04:36.520 --> 0:04:37.960 God out there and be about it. 0:04:38.200 --> 0:04:39.160 Yes, that's right. 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:43.640 But I absolutely have an affinity for those who are 0:04:43.760 --> 0:04:52.719 well versed, well studied, prepared, rehearsed, God gifted, like for 0:04:52.800 --> 0:04:55.680 those who are different, for those who feel like they 0:04:55.680 --> 0:04:59.240 are not seen and very seldom celebrated, have an affinity 0:04:59.279 --> 0:05:01.279 for them the ship that you do. 0:05:01.960 --> 0:05:05.000 Thank you, thank you. So that was my long thank 0:05:05.040 --> 0:05:09.720 you well received and I appreciate it and thank you. 0:05:13.440 --> 0:05:15.400 I have to start at the beginning because there's so 0:05:15.440 --> 0:05:18.600 many pieces that I want to we want to get 0:05:18.640 --> 0:05:22.680 to because We just want to understand your mind on 0:05:22.680 --> 0:05:25.360 on decisions, on on music, on business. 0:05:26.839 --> 0:05:28.880 But where does where? Where did this? Where does this 0:05:28.920 --> 0:05:34.320 even start? Where? Where do you start building into? Wow? Man? 0:05:34.760 --> 0:05:42.960 My career starts with my love for music and more importantly, 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:48.200 my love for seeing a set of drums for the 0:05:48.240 --> 0:05:50.760 first time in my life and feeling like I saw 0:05:50.880 --> 0:05:56.400 God like right, and everything about me just just sparkled 0:05:56.400 --> 0:05:59.560 with excitement. What was the brand? And it was Ludwig 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:03.240 and it was my uncle's right and he had them 0:06:03.240 --> 0:06:06.000 in these cases and he opened the case and I 0:06:06.040 --> 0:06:08.520 saw those things, man, and it's just and I must 0:06:08.520 --> 0:06:12.160 have been like eight nine years old, but I saw God, man, 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:15.640 It's like what there it is? I had never played, 0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:18.680 had never paid attention to anything like that, but I 0:06:18.720 --> 0:06:22.360 saw that, and in that moment I was I was gone, 0:06:22.560 --> 0:06:23.680 and I've never been back. 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:29.279 My cousin had a red Tama Thomas, Yeah, and he 0:06:29.320 --> 0:06:32.000 went to Berkeley College of Music and he would come 0:06:32.040 --> 0:06:34.480 home during the summers and he was set up in 0:06:36.480 --> 0:06:39.040 his mom's attic, Auntie Betty's attic, who taught us all 0:06:39.040 --> 0:06:41.080 how to say, and he would just be up there 0:06:41.120 --> 0:06:43.520 ship sneak. 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:48.080 Up into the attic and just watch them. 0:06:48.200 --> 0:06:50.840 You know, like you said you saw God in the drums. 0:06:50.839 --> 0:06:53.240 I like I saw Jesus playing the drums that God 0:06:53.400 --> 0:06:53.880 gave me. 0:06:54.040 --> 0:07:00.960 I was like, this bit me and it's crazy, right, Yeah, 0:07:01.000 --> 0:07:03.640 that that killed me. Man, It was like, my god, 0:07:03.800 --> 0:07:05.800 this is not I said it wrong. Didn't kill me. 0:07:06.200 --> 0:07:09.520 It brought me to life. It birthed me, you know. 0:07:09.840 --> 0:07:11.560 And by the way, I'm not that good. I was 0:07:11.680 --> 0:07:16.480 never that good, right, that's not really the point. I 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:18.640 was never I was like. 0:07:18.680 --> 0:07:20.640 Well, you get to your drums and its production. 0:07:20.760 --> 0:07:24.160 So that's a that's a tough thing to say. 0:07:24.160 --> 0:07:33.240 Because record, yeah, no record all right, an actual drummer. 0:07:34.560 --> 0:07:36.960 Yeah, there was things I just could never do. But 0:07:37.120 --> 0:07:38.960 still it was my love and that's what brought me 0:07:39.000 --> 0:07:44.920 into the game. And and that just led me. That 0:07:44.960 --> 0:07:47.200 took me places, you know what I mean. That took 0:07:47.320 --> 0:07:52.560 first around the neighborhood in Cincinnati everybody else who did music. Like, 0:07:52.800 --> 0:07:55.480 just being a drummer led me to everybody that made music. 0:07:56.200 --> 0:07:58.960 And one person leads you to another person leads you 0:07:59.000 --> 0:08:02.000 to another person, and you you know how this goes, right, Yeah, 0:08:02.040 --> 0:08:03.440 but that was that's where it started. 0:08:04.120 --> 0:08:09.200 So were you clearly focused on becoming an artist in 0:08:09.240 --> 0:08:10.720 the beginning, or did you just want to play in 0:08:10.720 --> 0:08:11.119 the band. 0:08:12.120 --> 0:08:15.600 I wanted to do anything around the band. Like my 0:08:15.680 --> 0:08:19.720 first gig was like carrying the drums and carrying amps 0:08:19.760 --> 0:08:22.240 for somebody for another I don't even know who they were. 0:08:23.160 --> 0:08:26.480 And at the time, James Brown was like on fire, right, 0:08:26.560 --> 0:08:29.560 James Brown was like the godfather soul, and he used 0:08:29.600 --> 0:08:31.240 to drop down on one knee and they put the 0:08:31.280 --> 0:08:34.880 cape over right. So my first gig was putting the 0:08:34.920 --> 0:08:37.160 cape over this guy who's James Brown, you know what 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.360 I mean. So it was just about being a part 0:08:39.400 --> 0:08:41.920 of it band. It wasn't It didn't matter to me. 0:08:42.320 --> 0:08:44.960 I didn't know the difference between you know, being a 0:08:45.120 --> 0:08:49.400 utility person or being a performer making music or setting up. 0:08:49.520 --> 0:08:50.960 I didn't know to just want to be around it. 0:08:51.000 --> 0:08:51.680 Just had to be in it. 0:08:51.800 --> 0:08:56.200 Yeah, I love that love of service. We always it 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:58.520 always goes back to that. Yes, the people who have 0:08:58.920 --> 0:09:02.960 who've gotten to these higher levels, at some point you 0:09:03.040 --> 0:09:04.920 had to be of service, that's right, and you still 0:09:04.960 --> 0:09:07.440 got to be of service, but in the beginning, you 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:10.880 got to start somewhere. I think people are you know, 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:14.559 we try to fast forward instead of actually going through 0:09:14.600 --> 0:09:17.640 the experiences of Like you said, I don't even remember 0:09:17.679 --> 0:09:19.840 who I was putting the cape on, but it was like, 0:09:20.480 --> 0:09:21.240 that's what'all needed. 0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:25.800 To do exactly. I'm a leisure let's go my pleasure. 0:09:26.280 --> 0:09:29.240 Yeah, right, Like you know, you've had these conversations we 0:09:29.320 --> 0:09:31.720 have as well where you meet, you know, the new 0:09:31.720 --> 0:09:34.200 people that just want to be in a business, but 0:09:34.240 --> 0:09:36.080 they don't want to do all the things that they 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:40.160 need to do that's available to them at that point, 0:09:40.160 --> 0:09:42.040 because everything is not available to you when you first 0:09:42.040 --> 0:09:44.160 get in, you know what I mean, you can't sign 0:09:44.160 --> 0:09:46.520 the checks when you first get in. That's just not 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:47.200 where you are. 0:09:47.559 --> 0:09:50.640 Well to me, those people who are not the thing 0:09:50.679 --> 0:09:54.640 that I got naturally, and I'm assuming that you guys 0:09:55.480 --> 0:09:58.160 feel the same way about it and being of service. 0:09:58.240 --> 0:10:02.360 The people who are willing to give, if anything, are 0:10:02.480 --> 0:10:06.400 are setting themselves up in a really positive way to 0:10:06.480 --> 0:10:08.840 receive many many things. People that want to jump over 0:10:08.920 --> 0:10:12.240 the cheating themselves, right, That's how I feel like you 0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.560 can't jump over it, Like you gotta do the service 0:10:14.600 --> 0:10:18.439 part first. It can't be about you first. It can't. 0:10:18.480 --> 0:10:20.439 If that's the gig then I mean I get it. 0:10:20.480 --> 0:10:23.440 But you know, that's not what I teach my kids, 0:10:23.760 --> 0:10:26.520 you know, like like, let's just do it for everybody else. 0:10:27.120 --> 0:10:29.400 You know, to this day, I'm still of service. I 0:10:29.440 --> 0:10:31.400 love that. I think I love that more than anything. 0:10:32.679 --> 0:10:34.160 I love for an artist to call me and say 0:10:34.200 --> 0:10:36.240 I need X, I need this, I need help with 0:10:36.280 --> 0:10:38.640 this and help with that. Nothing makes my day more 0:10:38.679 --> 0:10:40.720 than to be able to say I don't know if 0:10:40.720 --> 0:10:42.599 I can accomplish it, but I'm damn sure going to 0:10:42.640 --> 0:10:45.640 pick up the phone and try. M hmm right. That's 0:10:46.320 --> 0:10:49.120 that's everything to me, you know. So yeah, man, So 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:50.800 my existence is all about being. 0:10:50.640 --> 0:10:53.440 Of service to the artists, you know, to give me 0:10:53.480 --> 0:10:58.040 to the where's the break, where's the like? Okay, my 0:10:58.200 --> 0:11:02.440 service has been rendered in so many areas and with 0:11:02.559 --> 0:11:07.960 so many people to where now it's being recognized and 0:11:08.080 --> 0:11:13.640 seen on a higher level on the industry, a professional level. 0:11:14.400 --> 0:11:15.520 When does that happen for you? 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:17.360 Oh? 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:24.320 Man? I had the great fortune of being in a 0:11:24.400 --> 0:11:29.920 band that you're familiar with, the Deal and Babyface Kenny Edmunds. 0:11:30.800 --> 0:11:36.760 I met in Indianapolis, and we ended up being in 0:11:36.800 --> 0:11:39.360 the band together, right, and we ended up writing and 0:11:39.400 --> 0:11:45.360 producing stuff together. But the real breakthrough for me was 0:11:45.440 --> 0:11:48.880 meeting him, was meeting Babyface right when he was Kenny 0:11:49.040 --> 0:11:53.960 Edmunds and being the guy that he called every morning 0:11:54.000 --> 0:11:57.040 to listen to the song get written. That was life 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.000 changing for me. Right, I feel like that was the 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:03.000 greatest honor ever. I heard damn near every song that 0:12:03.040 --> 0:12:06.280 man wrote before the world did. Right, So you know 0:12:06.400 --> 0:12:07.240 that felt wow? 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:09.760 And did you even realize. 0:12:09.240 --> 0:12:13.840 That, Oh no, no, no, no, I didn't. 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:16.720 I just just my guy playing me some song. 0:12:16.880 --> 0:12:20.520 Yo, this guy's playing me this song, and he wanted 0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:22.680 to know what I thought, and he wanted to know 0:12:23.360 --> 0:12:26.920 is it complete? Is it right? And and somehow I 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.600 knew the answer to those questions. And I didn't know 0:12:29.640 --> 0:12:32.600 how I knew the answer to those questions, right, but 0:12:32.679 --> 0:12:35.040 I was like, no, right, here needs to go to 0:12:35.080 --> 0:12:38.040 a bridge, and it used to do this, or it 0:12:38.080 --> 0:12:41.160 needs to do that, or you know, I knew how 0:12:41.160 --> 0:12:44.040 to coach it. And I didn't even know where that 0:12:44.080 --> 0:12:46.160 came from, but it was all. You know what it is, 0:12:46.160 --> 0:12:48.480 it's memory. It's like the music you listen to, the 0:12:48.559 --> 0:12:51.040 music you grow up on. What you're really doing is 0:12:51.080 --> 0:12:55.480 you're really trying to do what you've heard create. And 0:12:55.480 --> 0:12:57.959 so if a song does a certain thing, you want 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:00.839 your song to do that thing that you're favorite song did. 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.240 And so I was like I was in touch with that, 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:07.160 and so I could tell him, you know, I could 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:10.200 give him advice about it, just based on being a 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:12.839 connoisseur of music. Music, Like I really listened to a 0:13:12.880 --> 0:13:15.280 lot of music. I still do. I listened to tons 0:13:15.360 --> 0:13:20.920 of music. So I keep that muscle, you know, intact, 0:13:21.240 --> 0:13:23.160 you know what I mean. But anyways, that's what it was, man, 0:13:23.160 --> 0:13:23.960 that was the breakthrough. 0:13:24.280 --> 0:13:26.719 He told us that, uh you said he had to 0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:28.800 get he had to be more breed though, Oh. 0:13:28.760 --> 0:13:30.880 Yeah, yeah, that was That was it to get in 0:13:30.880 --> 0:13:31.240 the band? 0:13:31.320 --> 0:13:33.040 Yeah yeah, that was that was like the thing. 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:36.320 It was like he wasn't breed enough, Like we were 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:40.000 a Breed band. You know what breed was bread? You know. Okay, 0:13:40.040 --> 0:13:44.520 great man, I'm I'm in the room with y'all. You know, man, 0:13:44.880 --> 0:13:47.080 you know what it is. You have to whip that up. Man. 0:13:47.280 --> 0:13:49.720 You know what the craziest thing about Breed is so 0:13:49.720 --> 0:13:50.960 so so so. 0:13:50.880 --> 0:13:55.480 The crown Prince of Breed is prince yes, yes, and 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.600 he knew that we were all his disciples without meeting us, 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:05.319 right and just like that, even treat us like that. 0:14:05.440 --> 0:14:06.960 The first time I met Prince, he was looking at 0:14:06.960 --> 0:14:08.720 it like, yeah, I know exactly who you are. Yeah, 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:11.720 I knew you before you had those classes and your 0:14:11.760 --> 0:14:15.320 little suit and right, and he was just son us 0:14:15.480 --> 0:14:19.840 because he knew he was the crown Prince of Breed. Right. 0:14:20.160 --> 0:14:22.960 So anyway, yeah, so that's how we start. Anybody ever 0:14:23.000 --> 0:14:23.720 cussed him out. 0:14:27.040 --> 0:14:27.560 You started? 0:14:32.280 --> 0:14:37.040 No, No, I argued. I did argue with him though. 0:14:38.000 --> 0:14:40.960 So was that a like Breed? 0:14:41.240 --> 0:14:45.760 Was that a just a regional thing that was just 0:14:45.880 --> 0:14:49.280 like if we're from this place, this is what we 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:50.200 must tap into. 0:14:50.760 --> 0:14:51.440 You know what it was? 0:14:51.480 --> 0:14:51.720 It was? 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:59.800 It was an era that in black music. It was 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:05.560 it was the closest thing to rock and roll. Like 0:15:05.680 --> 0:15:07.880 that was edge at that time, I got to say, 0:15:07.920 --> 0:15:11.280 because it grew beyond, yes, just where it was. It 0:15:11.360 --> 0:15:13.920 turned into phenomena, It turned into a thing. But it 0:15:14.000 --> 0:15:16.640 was it was the edge, like there was a there 0:15:16.680 --> 0:15:22.680 was a certain there was a certain normalness and normalcy 0:15:22.800 --> 0:15:25.800 about R and B and R and B artist at 0:15:25.800 --> 0:15:29.280 that time. And everybody could sing and everybody can play. 0:15:29.320 --> 0:15:32.320 We just saw talented people, right, and so the thing 0:15:32.320 --> 0:15:37.040 that would separate you was where did your edge come from? Right? 0:15:37.200 --> 0:15:43.320 And so breed was really androgyny? Mhm, it was this. 0:15:43.560 --> 0:15:46.120 It was the black it was it was the black 0:15:46.480 --> 0:15:51.120 take on what David boy was doing or artists like that, right, 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:55.280 Billy Idol at the time and Prince sort of introduced 0:15:55.320 --> 0:15:58.200 it and we all just basically copied prints. But it 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:01.000 was a way to have edge, you know, uh, and 0:16:01.040 --> 0:16:03.320 the way to to have just to have a little 0:16:03.800 --> 0:16:07.560 just a little a little danger. And in your presentation, 0:16:08.080 --> 0:16:08.840 you know what I mean. 0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:10.640 Did you feel more dangerous? 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:16.360 He I ain't have no heels listen, Jay, I didn't 0:16:16.400 --> 0:16:17.360 have no heels on. 0:16:21.280 --> 0:16:25.360 Hey, I'm feel tough in his T shirt. 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:30.840 But in this plus you don't get kniced up in 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:33.040 here when I throw this on. This interview is over. 0:16:33.160 --> 0:16:41.560 This is crazy, no, but but you you know what. 0:16:41.520 --> 0:16:46.840 It was like. It was the girls. Man, They always 0:16:47.040 --> 0:16:52.520 do girls always always. They knew the difference. They knew 0:16:52.960 --> 0:16:56.520 oh my god, yeah, they knew the difference, the difference, right, 0:16:56.640 --> 0:16:59.320 And that that was that's you know, that's always the 0:16:59.400 --> 0:17:10.440 unfortunate leader of decisions that we make. How you because. 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.960 If a woman jump ten men is going to replicate 0:17:14.040 --> 0:17:18.600 that process. They replicate that process there you go. 0:17:19.080 --> 0:17:22.520 So I met face he wasn't breed, and we talked 0:17:22.560 --> 0:17:25.280 and he wanted to join the band. And he was 0:17:25.440 --> 0:17:28.879 so gifted though, And that was the only reservation because 0:17:29.000 --> 0:17:31.840 at that point we were we were me and the 0:17:31.880 --> 0:17:36.680 guys in my band were focused on we'd already done 0:17:36.680 --> 0:17:40.480 the club circuit, the chitlin circuit. We've been playing for years, man, right, 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:42.200 and now we need to break. 0:17:42.160 --> 0:17:43.520 So we've been playing for years. 0:17:43.600 --> 0:17:46.000 Yeah, yeah, we've been doing it for years. Yeah, we played. 0:17:46.520 --> 0:17:49.640 We used to play clubs. Uh, six nights a week, 0:17:49.680 --> 0:17:53.320 four shows a night and hour hold hold on, yeah, yeah, 0:17:53.320 --> 0:17:57.439 that's how we grew up. What Yeah, we played clubs. 0:17:57.160 --> 0:18:00.840 No no, no, no, no, I get to that. Six days, yes, 0:18:00.880 --> 0:18:05.879 six days ago, four hours a night, our show fours. 0:18:05.280 --> 0:18:07.720 To night and on Saturdays we had a matinee. So 0:18:07.800 --> 0:18:09.520 it was like two sets in the daytime and for 0:18:09.760 --> 0:18:13.879 the night time. Right, And that's how we grew up 0:18:13.920 --> 0:18:17.040 and polished. Yeah, we learned how to play. Yeah you know, 0:18:17.119 --> 0:18:19.879 but you can also as much as that sounds like 0:18:21.640 --> 0:18:26.600 a great, uh stage for polishing, we actually became complacent 0:18:26.720 --> 0:18:30.800 doing it. Go we stopped growing. We started doing that 0:18:31.000 --> 0:18:33.200 and just got stuck in that cycle for like three 0:18:33.320 --> 0:18:38.080 or four years. We lived in Indianapolis, Indiana. Indianapolis had clubs. 0:18:38.520 --> 0:18:40.919 It had the Zodiac Lounge. You had to mark for 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.360 Ricky's Lounge, the night flight. It was just clubs, man 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:48.560 and every club higher bands and the bands will stay 0:18:48.960 --> 0:18:52.640 for weeks on weeks, like having a residency, except chitting 0:18:52.680 --> 0:18:57.520 a circuit residency no money and no money and you know, 0:18:57.560 --> 0:18:59.560 you could do some original material, but you had to 0:18:59.600 --> 0:19:04.040 do cover. So you're doing covers four shows at night, 0:19:04.520 --> 0:19:09.960 six n four shows a night. Yeah, it is it, okay? 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.200 Is it where people come to the club, you just 0:19:13.240 --> 0:19:16.840 take a fifteen minute break and you just get back 0:19:16.880 --> 0:19:21.360 up running the cycle. Yeah. Yeah. We just had four 0:19:21.359 --> 0:19:23.680 different sets, you know, and we had the opening set. 0:19:23.720 --> 0:19:26.159 We had the set that hat like the hits in it, 0:19:26.400 --> 0:19:29.239 you know what I mean. And we just pasted so 0:19:29.640 --> 0:19:33.880 for all intensive purposes. You guys were the DJ. Oh 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:36.320 there was no DJ at the time. This is three DJ. 0:19:36.880 --> 0:19:39.760 The DJ was the change exactly. Actually, you know when 0:19:39.800 --> 0:19:43.480 the DJs came, that's when disco kicked in. Gotcha right, 0:19:43.720 --> 0:19:45.919 I'm really aging myself, I know, but that's when disco 0:19:46.040 --> 0:19:49.400 kicked in in the eighties like really right, like seventy eight, 0:19:49.480 --> 0:19:53.520 seventy nine, eighty disco kicked in right, really really heavy, 0:19:53.640 --> 0:19:56.680 and that was the difference. But before that it was 0:19:56.720 --> 0:20:00.600 the band. It's the band stand a lot of live musicians, 0:20:00.800 --> 0:20:03.040 you know, able to make a living, and the DJ 0:20:03.200 --> 0:20:03.879 kind of changed that. 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:09.960 You're taking me back to watching ray right and them 0:20:09.960 --> 0:20:12.480 in the club like full sets. 0:20:15.040 --> 0:20:18.920 Yeah, so how long does it? Okay? So once Kenny 0:20:18.920 --> 0:20:24.399 gets into group, is now the focus make these records? 0:20:24.760 --> 0:20:27.960 Get a record deal? Yeah? We we we switched our 0:20:27.960 --> 0:20:31.919 focus right before meeting Kenny. We had come tired of 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:35.960 playing clubs and we started saving up some of our 0:20:35.960 --> 0:20:39.520 little club money and buying machines, buying take recorders like 0:20:39.960 --> 0:20:43.320 two track or four track reel to real. U took 0:20:43.359 --> 0:20:45.760 our mixing console from the live show, brought it into 0:20:45.800 --> 0:20:48.520 a room and we started recording, and we started making 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:51.520 demos and really getting serious about it. And that's kind 0:20:51.520 --> 0:20:57.439 of how we ended up. Like making the transition, the 0:20:57.480 --> 0:21:00.240 focus was let's make the best songs we can make 0:21:00.720 --> 0:21:03.240 and figure out how can we get them to Solar Records, 0:21:03.280 --> 0:21:05.240 Like we only wanted to be on one record label. 0:21:05.280 --> 0:21:07.320 We didn't want a record deal. We wanted a record 0:21:07.359 --> 0:21:12.639 deal with Solar, that's it. We wanted that because because 0:21:12.680 --> 0:21:16.000 my music teacher from Cincinnati was signed to Solar. My 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:19.000 music teacher's name is Terry Brown, and he had a 0:21:19.000 --> 0:21:22.240 brother named Gerald Brown, and they moved from Cincinnati to 0:21:22.520 --> 0:21:25.919 LA and they had a group called the Soul Train Gang, 0:21:26.320 --> 0:21:33.320 which morphed into Shalamar. Okay, So, so the only thing 0:21:33.359 --> 0:21:37.200 I three and Jeffrey. It was Jeffrey, Jody and Gerald 0:21:37.240 --> 0:21:40.040 at first, and then it became Jeffrey, Jody and Howard. 0:21:40.600 --> 0:21:42.399 So my eyes were set. 0:21:42.600 --> 0:21:44.200 But they were all they were so trained dancers. 0:21:44.200 --> 0:21:47.560 They were so all so trained dancers. But my music 0:21:47.600 --> 0:21:51.320 teacher came out here, left left high high school and 0:21:51.440 --> 0:21:55.160 came out to UH to join Don Corneis and Dick Griffy, 0:21:55.840 --> 0:21:58.760 and so I'm sitting in Cincinnati like, yeah, I want 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:02.960 to be there too, And so my mind was just stuck, stuck, 0:22:03.119 --> 0:22:07.000 focused on solo records, and I sent my first demo 0:22:07.080 --> 0:22:08.960 to them. I got a rejection letter, and I thought 0:22:09.000 --> 0:22:10.320 that was the greatest thing ever. 0:22:10.440 --> 0:22:13.560 The letter was the letter, just getting a rejection. They're 0:22:13.640 --> 0:22:19.160 talking to me, had the logo on it, had records. Yeah, Okay, 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:20.800 I'm getting get a better song. 0:22:22.200 --> 0:22:24.159 But now that I know you listening, Now I know 0:22:24.200 --> 0:22:38.480 that you're listening, and you know what, it's crazy job. 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:40.680 And we ended up getting signed to show our records. 0:22:40.760 --> 0:22:44.560 What was the song they did it? Body Talk? You know, 0:22:44.680 --> 0:22:47.359 the song no Body Talk by the deal is the 0:22:47.400 --> 0:22:50.040 first song we made, not the first song we made it, 0:22:50.080 --> 0:22:52.280 but it was the first single that we had as 0:22:52.320 --> 0:22:56.439 a group. And I wrote it. I co wrote it 0:22:56.440 --> 0:22:59.720 with a couple of other guys and and it worked. Man, 0:23:00.480 --> 0:23:03.040 got us the record deal. Next thing I know, we 0:23:03.080 --> 0:23:05.720 were on tour with Luther Vandros opening for Luther and 0:23:05.920 --> 0:23:10.520 the de Barge. Life changed. That's what I love about 0:23:10.520 --> 0:23:13.280 what we do. Man. One song can change your life. 0:23:13.400 --> 0:23:15.960 Lottery the lottery. 0:23:15.640 --> 0:23:17.879 One song that was your lottery ticket. 0:23:18.200 --> 0:23:20.639 We went from being in the chicken circuit man eating 0:23:21.440 --> 0:23:25.560 hm Popeyes, you know, on tour with Luther. Popeye is 0:23:25.640 --> 0:23:28.680 on credit, by the way, huh yeah, because I went 0:23:28.720 --> 0:23:32.000 to the Popeyes guy that ran Popeyes. Okay, I gotta 0:23:32.000 --> 0:23:34.879 feed my band. I can pay you at the end 0:23:34.880 --> 0:23:35.320 of the month. 0:23:36.160 --> 0:23:38.159 You was getting Popeyes on credit. 0:23:38.320 --> 0:23:41.359 My man was like, all right, I trust you. I 0:23:41.400 --> 0:23:43.400 failed my band Popeyes. The end of the month came. 0:23:43.440 --> 0:23:46.240 I paid him. Next month. I was like, I gotta 0:23:46.280 --> 0:23:50.520 do it again. I'm about to go to chick. 0:23:50.320 --> 0:23:50.600 For le. 0:23:53.520 --> 0:23:56.960 Man, like, I see if I can pay at the 0:23:57.080 --> 0:23:57.879