Coming to you from the studios at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66, it's the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast. Hey everybody, it's Ray the Roadie. And this is Hollywood Mike.

Ho, ho, ho. It's Christmas time. Well, almost Christmas time.

No, we have a whole holiday we have to get through first. We have to get through Thanksgiving. Oh, we do? We do.

I thought you, I thought the whole Christmas thing started like right after Halloween. Well, it does, but you know, yeah, I can't do that. Yeah, I went into my local Menards.

Okay. November 1st. Okay.

And it was already set up for Christmas. Really? Yeah, there was nothing that indicated anything about Thanksgiving. You know that American holiday that we celebrate? Which one? Thanksgiving.

Oh, that one, yeah. Yeah, see, apparently he doesn't know about, yeah, yeah, that one. Yeah, we just skip right over that one nowadays.

You know, I think, you know, the funny thing is I have a friend that lives in London and he knows that we have a short work week, or most of us have a short work week, and he calls it the practice for Christmas. He goes, what do you guys, he goes, what do Americans do with that practice thing for Christmas? We eat a lot. Yeah, that's pretty much what we do.

Yeah, I do like to eat. Oh, I, yeah. Quite a bit.

I like to eat as well. That's right. We're going to be doing that at your house too.

Yes, we are. Did you buy any Christmas stuff at Menards? No, I did not. I refuse to start any Christmas shopping or doing anything like that until Thanksgiving is over and done with.

Then you get on Amazon, you're done. Funny, last year, my, my kids came home from college and my son and I, we went out the day before Christmas Eve and we did all of our Christmas shopping in like an hour and a half. Nice.

That's very nice. You know, I think I remember you telling me that. Yeah.

I remember you telling me that. Yeah. You know, we, we sat down, we, we sat down, we, we, we came up with our list and we're like, oh, I have to get this for this person and, you know, go all the way down the list.

And the way he and I shop, we walked into the store, we, okay, you go there, you get that, we'll meet back here, you know, five minutes, five minutes in a Walmart, we're out of there. It's like express shopping. That's exactly right.

Kind of like our guests tonight. How, how's that? It's the Storm Express. He caught me off guard.

I did catch you off guard. That was, that was, that was just horrible. That was terrible.

That was bad, wasn't it? That was bad. How you guys doing? How you guys doing? Good, how you doing? All right. Why don't you introduce yourselves? Tell everybody who you are, what you play.

Sure. My name's Dave Malinowski. I'm a lead guitarist.

My name is Nick. I'm the drummer. My name is Dawn Weber.

I'm the singer. My name is Rob. I'm Dave's brother and we're the band Storm Empress.

Empress? Empress. I thought it was Express. Everyone keeps messing that up with Storm Chasers or something.

Alrighty. Empress. I'm sorry about that.

So now we have to go back and do that segue all over again. Oh no. I could, I could not do that again.

It's Storm Empress. Empress. How do people, I mean, I guess we should ask Ray.

How do people confuse Empress and Express? I don't know. I don't know. I may have had a little bit of bourbon when I found it.

It's autocorrect. That's all it is. Yeah, probably.

It probably is. It probably is. Did you hear that the guy who invented autocorrect just passed away? Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. The funnel is tomato.

Now we have Mike practicing comedy. Stand up. Thank you.

Thank you. I'll be here all the way. Thank you.

Try to be here. Alrighty. So tell us about Storm Empress.

Well, basically about seven or eight years ago, my brother and I actually went to go, go to a band up in the North said they're called Unleash the Archers. They're like a Canadian, like a, like a power metal band. And we were just, you know, we grew up with Iron Maiden and Judas Priest and Black Sabbath and Zeppelin, all that good stuff.

And when we saw this band live, because we were more in traditional heavy metal rock bands before, we're like, wow, it would be so neat to have a band like this with a lady singer. You know, this is like a newer thing. It's becoming more popular the last few years.

And my brother and I started a band. We want to, we started a band with some other members at one time. It was in 2016.

Yeah, 2016. And we had a different bass player, a different singer and a different drummer. And we did a few shows and we built like, you know, kind of a following at that time.

But about two, three years into it, right before the pandemic happened, our drummer, unfortunately had to move to Seattle. Our singer had to move to Indiana. And our bass player, I think, just had other plans.

So we're like, well, we want to keep this band going. So we got our drummer, Nick, that we used to play in a band 20 years ago plus. And we just had to finish off and get a new singer and a bass player.

And this is where we got Don. And your bass player isn't here tonight. He couldn't make it.

And that's who? His name is Eric. He actually lives here right in Joliet. Yeah.

I wish he was here, but maybe he went for a drink or something. Yeah, he was busy working tonight. He's a fantastic player, fantastic person.

We're great to have him. Really, really happy to have him in the band. So is that the music that you guys are playing as you're doing heavy metal? Pretty much.

I guess what you would consider like traditional heavy metal. It's hair metal and girl rock. That's pretty much what we're doing.

Yeah, you're right, Nick. We would do like Pat Benatar, you know, all that kind of stuff. You know, we're trying to branch.

So anything that I guess rock music pretty much through the 70s, 80s and 90s for the most part. I mean, we have dabbled in like Evanescence, you know, because Dawn, she likes Evanescence. So yeah, that's kind of what we started.

Most of our music is that type of genre. So who's picking the music? Are you leaving that up to the singers? Are you guys all just? No, we had a pretty decent sized set loader already before we started with Dawn. We already had a lot of songs.

Then since Dawn came on board, we have cut some songs out. We've had a new one. She liked it.

She would want to play as well. So we all can contribute what songs we want to do. There's no set rules and, you know, who's going to pick what songs.

We all get to have a voice in that. Now, the singer before Dawn, was it another female singer? Yeah, it was a lady named Billie. And she had maybe a little bit different persona, but the same voice, the same, you know, drive to want to be in the band and be on stage and just enjoy playing the music, really, you know, and Dawn has that same fire, basically.

So she left because she moved to Indiana. Yeah, she had. And Dawn, where do you live? Indiana.

To be fair, it takes me only about 40 minutes here. She lives like. By Fort Wayne.

Oh, OK, by Fort Wayne. Which I do believe she's in another band now. I believe out in Fort Wayne area.

So she's still doing music. That'd be one hell of a commute. Yeah, it would be.

Yeah, I just thought it was kind of funny. What city are you in? In Highland, Indiana. In Highland, Indiana.

OK, across the border. Yeah, that's not too bad. There's a couple of nice places to play out there, too.

Do you guys play out in Indiana? We're trying. Yeah, yeah. All right.

So was this your preferred genre of music before you joined the band? Are you just like, I don't care, I just want to be in a band? No, I'm more like with Pat Benatar and heart and those kind of genres of music and evanescence. But I do like when I joined their band, it's like it made it put me in another area that I didn't know I can do. So that's what I was excited about, because I do like doing Iron Maiden.

Right, right. Dio and Black Sabbath. OK, something fresh, something different keeps you interested.

I don't think it's more of a karaoke song, but it would be more. Well, let's hope not. It's great with the band.

It's good when I sing it with the band. Good. That's good that you have that stuff going on.

So how is she? What do you guys think? Awesome. Yeah. Oh, she's fantastic.

Yeah, I mean, we've been working together. We're growing together as a unit. We're definitely enjoying each other's company.

And that's, you know, not that they have a large history in bands, but from anecdotally from the bands I've been in, a big part of it is you got to be able to get along with each other. Of course. If you don't get along, if there's someone in there who's going to cause a headache, then hey, it's not going to work out long term.

And the five of us are all getting along great right now. We're having a fantastic fun time. It's real.

It's real fluid between all of us. We all have our own personalities, our own characteristics. And when we come together, we make music.

Then that's what it's all about. And having a good time. And when we play a show, when the audience is having a good time, we're having a good time.

That's what it's all about. Right. It's important that you have a good working relationship.

I've been in many bands where we never hung out, you know, outside of the band, but that's OK because we rehearse once a week and then we play together once a week. So I, you know, I'm seeing these people, you know, twice a week. Right.

But we were never hanging out at each other's houses or anything like that. But, you know, we were friends. It was it was a good situation.

Sure, sure. Yeah, that's happened. Like what? What? Because we've known Nick, we've known each other for probably like 25 years already because we've been in previous bands together.

And we have, again, we have similar hobbies, similar interests, you know, movies and all that fun stuff, you know, things like that. So we kind of gel together when it comes to playing music. You know, it's like an hour of just banter and bullshit for like a first, you know, before practice practice and then another more hours and have fun.

And they've seen our podcast before, which is it's like 20 minutes of banter and bullshit. That's that's pretty much before we even get going to actually start talking to everybody. Right.

Usually, yeah. Usually sitting here saying, aren't they supposed to be interviewing us? Right. Right.

So so your group, your your your quintet, there's yes, is you guys been together since 2016? Yeah, that's right. 2016. In this formation right here that we're that we're looking at.

No, no, this formation, I'd say it's within maybe the last year to two years, two years. Yeah. OK.

Yeah. Or three. Because we I started with you guys right before COVID.

No, that was it. It was after COVID. Oh, wait, wrong band.

Are you cheating on us, Dawn? Come on. And it comes out. Stay tuned next week where we're going to have Dawn's other band.

You're right. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You're not because we're not together.

All right. OK, well, I think that I think it's that time. I think it's time for you guys to grab the guitars that you brought along with you and play something, play something for the for the folks listening.

Yeah, this is like the acoustic version of what we do, basically. Yeah, that's fine. I'll be right back.

You're listening to the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. I'm Christy from Crime Cave podcast. I've had a huge interest in true crime since my days of watching marathons of snapped back in the mid 90s.

I needed an outlet to talk about the cases that have haunted me for a very long time. With each episode under 20 minutes, I shine a light on some of the most bizarre cases in the last 50 years. Join me in the crime cave.

Hi, I'm Rick Anthony. I'd like to thank my radio brothers, Ray, the roadie and Hollywood Mike, for allowing me to tell you about my podcast, the someone you should know podcast. We spotlight musicians, authors and interesting people.

And we like to say we're making a difference one artist at a time. The podcast is heard twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. And you could check it out on your favorite streaming platforms and on the Web at someone you should know podcast dot com.

That's the someone you should know podcast with me, Rick Anthony, making a difference one artist at a time. Ready for the first time tonight. Storm Empress.

All right. How are your fingers? How are your fingers feeling after playing those songs? I wasn't ready for that at all. It's our first time ever doing it this way.

Get a tourniquet. I think he needs a tourniquet and a bandage. He's got some blood on his fingers over there.

That was not meaning on the fly. That was on the fly. He's going to be he's going to be gluing calces back on his fingers.

Acoustic guitars playing that stuff. Iron Maiden on an acoustic guitar. Who'd have thought that? So do you guys so you guys obviously don't do that song acoustically very often.

No, no, no, no. Forever, I think. Yeah, I think that's like like the first time we've done it that way.

So, you know, it almost seems to me like that if you're in the kind of band that's going to do Iron Maiden and stuff like that, that just for shock value every once in a while, you just have to show up with acoustic guitars and do it. Yeah, that would really make a difference. He's shaking his head over there, right? Yeah, I know.

I got a whole plan ready to go. No, yeah, you have to. You know, it's like I was in a band years ago and we were just a pop band, you know, Maroon 5, you know, Matchbox 20 kind of stuff.

But we closed the second set with something by Sabbath. Yeah, you pick it. There's like, wow.

OK, really, they're going to do this, right? Yeah, right. You have to. You know, you have to.

But no, that sounds like it'd be a lot of fun. I think I would do that. So, I mean, how many people are coming out to your shows, I guess, is a question.

Because let's start there, because then we're going to help you figure out how we're going to do this acoustically. OK. I'd have to say just in this recent iteration of the band, I'd have to say probably like maybe 50 to 100 people.

Nice. On a typical evening. OK, and how often are you playing? Well, we try to play once a month.

I mean, we actually last month it was unusual. We did two shows a week apart, which is kind of unusual for us because we'd like to Dawn's been really reaching out to different places to play and we're trying to figure out, OK, well, which can we play here? Can we play there? And some say yes, some say no. And it's just how it went, you know.

Right. But ideally, once a month, we think is a good thing to do because it gives us time to learn a couple of new songs because, you know, if you were say you came out to a few of our shows and you heard the exact same set over and over and over again, you'd be like, OK, can you guys do something different? You know, so like next, next, next, you'd be absolutely shocked how that doesn't happen as often as you think. Really? Wow.

I mean, there's a lot of bands out there that have been playing the same set for years and their fans just absolutely love them. But I just think it would be so cool if all of a sudden you guys did a show and, you know, and you have to pick your you have to pick your medalist, you know, venue. And it's like like set two is acoustic.

Oh, man. That would be so wicked. That would be wicked.

Yeah. It'd be like you're playing like Led Zeppelin three on stage all like what mandolins and stuff like that, you know? Yeah. Because like what you guys just did, I think that would be a crowd pleaser because nobody does that acoustically.

That would be like maiden at a coffee shop, you know, kind of thing, you know? Yeah. Potbelly. Yeah.

And I'm sure that's happened before because they're all English, you know, it's that tea time thing. Oh, you know it. You know, no, you need to do that for sure.

They'd be like, oh, yes, let me get my chai latte. And now here's some wasted years for you. The potbelly crowds are actually very surprising.

You'd be like what surprise what you can get away with. I used to do Jay-Z there a long time ago. Yeah.

And they were like, oh, yeah. Yeah. Especially on State Street.

Oh, man, they couldn't get enough of the rap. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Either that or you have to do something crazy like just right after one of the heaviest songs you play, you do a Taylor Swift.

Oh, my God. Or a metal version of Taylor. Yeah.

You know, yeah. Well, that's kind of like if you want to go back to a little bit of history many years ago, Nick, Dave and I and another member actually in a different band called All Things Considered. Right.

And at the time, not only we all used our own influences like we like Nick likes the Beatles. And he still has the thing in a draw. See that now that should go in the museum right now.

This is the rock and roll museum that should go in there. What is that? What is it? That's actually his snare drum from the older band we were in. What I was getting at is that.

Does it have the name of it? I can't see. All Things Considered. Yeah.

Oh, no kidding. Yeah. And we actually wrote, you know, a few songs that we actually had a demo.

We actually sent it to the Library of Congress. So so long after we're dust, it'll be there, you know, I hope. But and that's what it was.

We were playing all kinds of different music at that time. You know, you could take Beatles or Maiden or U2 or The Police or anything. And then we were making originals and we just kind of formed it together, you know.

And ideally, that's what at least how I would like to think that we're playing this band now with Dawn and Eric. And we're playing covers because right now, you know, you want to be at a bar and people love hearing tunes they they want to hear, you know. But ultimately, ideally, in time, I would like to have us as a band write our own music and add at least a few originals into the set.

Like, hey, surprise. Here's here's something else we could do, you know. So I mean, so your cover genre is that hair metal, you know, or whatever, the chick rock and the whole bit.

But what would you actually write if you were writing your own material? What would it be? I guess that would be at the... We would probably talk about it and then we would probably feel like, well, what do we feel like right now? And that's how we used to write back then. One of us would come up with a riff and just start jamming. Nick would come up with this beat and stuff, you know.

And I'll throw this in here and then Dave will throw this in here. And then Dawn will be like, hey, no, no, no. I want to do this instead.

OK. All right, then let's morph it into this, you know. Right, right.

And, you know, I think nowadays you have to take the marketing into consideration a lot more than than you did like 25 years ago. Yeah. Because, you know, there's all this, you know, for lack of a better term, you know, we're living in like an age of cancel culture.

Right. So if all of a sudden you just start, you know, I'm going to write a song. It sounds like an Iron Maiden song.

Right, right. Well, 25 years ago, you'd be rebels, right? Yeah. They fit you into like an underground, you know, group of musicians.

Now they're just like, yeah, they suck. Yeah, it's a shame. Yeah.

But I mean, it's generational is really what it is. And that's what it is. You know, I mean, now Black Sabbath is like grandpa rock, unfortunately.

I mean, I don't want to sound bad like that, but it's from that generation. Yeah. Yeah.

There's a there's a there's a small group of people that still, you know, up and coming musicians. When I say small group of people that appreciate Black Sabbath. Yeah.

They really do, because what are they getting into? They're getting into more like modern metal and stuff like that. That's true. That's popular nowadays.

You know, in the 70s, the 50s and 60s are considered the oldies. Yeah. Yeah.

So you got to figure Black Sabbath in the 70s. That was new. In the 90s, they're considered the oldies.

That was like the classic rock of the 90s. Yeah. Kind of.

And that's how it was like when we grew up, like our parents would put on Dick Biondi with Magic 104, you know, and that'd be on day in and day out, you know? Right. Right. So, yeah.

Yeah. And, you know, like what you were saying is, you know, like guys that we grew up with, you know, they play John Mellencamp on the oldie station now. And I'm like, wow.

I'm like, F you. No way, man. What's really scary is I'm starting to hear my music in like Jewel.

Yeah. It's like, wait, how did that show up? You know? Yeah. Boston? More than a feeling? Yeah.

And it's really just scary when you think about like how like music and time keeps progressing. And it just seems like when we were younger, if you heard something from say 20 years prior, oh my God, that's so long ago. And oh, that's the oldie music.

And the funny part is you listen to something. If you listen to like, I don't know, Vertical Horizon or something. Now that's like the oldies because that's 20 years old.

But it's like your perception. Shut up. I know, but it's like that, you know? Oh my God.

The sad thing is that that 20 years is now like, oh, it's Blink-182. Yeah. Yeah.

That's true. That's the oldies now. Wait a minute.

Hold on. That's the scary part. Oh my God.

That's so scary because back in 1999 and 2000 to 2001, I was in a band where we were covering stuff like Puddle of Mud and stuff like that. Oh my God, you're right. That's 20 years ago.

Korn, Deftones, you know, stuff like that. The new metal at the time, you know? Yeah, right. And then the new metal nowadays, I mean, like you just played an Iron Maiden song, right? When I listened to the original recording of that song, I mean, that's like, that's like pop rock compared to some of the metal that they're calling metal now.

Well, now metal is like stuff beyond Cannibal Corpse, but it's even more modernized and streamlined. Remember Fear Factory? Oh, yeah. Yeah, I mean, we love Fear Factory, but that's industrial metal.

Right, right, right. That's a different genre. I loved Soil.

Remember Soil? God, I love Soil. You know, I loved those heavier bands like that. Let's tune our guitars to H-flat.

Typo negative. Peter Steele, you know, stuff like that. Right, right, right.

Let's tune our guitars so low that the strings don't even pull tension on the neck anymore. They just go blub, blub, blub, blub, blub, blub, and that's it, yeah. Yeah, and that's exactly right.

Then the singer emulates it. Pretty much, yeah. We're not making fun of it.

I'm just saying. That's how it sounds. But it is.

It is. In layman's terms, that sounds pretty good. Hey, I've done it before.

Yeah, I can imagine. I've done it. There were many.

I've been just a singer in bands. Yeah, you're kind of scaring me now. Many times, and yeah.

I miss the days of just showing up with a leather bag and a microphone in it. There you go. And then, like, when we show up, it's like 10 tons of this old antique equipment where it's like our bags are getting worse.

I'm like, oh, God, why are we lugging this? Right, right, right. You'll learn. You'll learn.

Yeah. It's like, let's just get that little tiny amp. You know, that's fine.

We'll use that instead, you know? Right. So what's your favorite song to sing, Dawn? Actually, Pat Benatar. Which one? Well, I don't know.

Which one do you think is? You think it's Heartbreaker? I think so. Really? I don't know. Yeah, I think it is Heartbreaker.

I think you guys need to whip that out then. We can do an acoustic Heartbreaker. We can do Heartbreaker.

We can do that. All right, well, let's hear it right after this. I don't think we're going to give them a choice, are we? No, no, we're going to take a little intermission here.

And when we come back, we'll have some Heartbreaker. That's right. Be right back.

All right. You're listening to the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. I'm not going to be satisfied until there's blood on a guitar neck.

That's right. Next, I would like you to play Cult of Personality. That would be a cool one to learn.

Actually, it would be. Yeah. Yeah, it wouldn't happen on acoustic guitar tonight.

I'll tell you that. No, I don't think so. And here we go again with Storm Empress bringing you Heartbreaker.

All right. Pat Benatar. I loved Pat Benatar.

I loved Pat Benatar when I was younger. Me too. Yeah.

I still love her. Yeah, yeah. That woke me up.

Have you seen her recently? She's still got it. She's still got it. Yeah.

She's aging gracefully. Yeah, yeah. You know, I was referring to her, you know, music, musical prowess, but.

I was referring to both. Okay. No, I do.

I do admit I had a poster of her on my bedroom wall. Did you? No, I'm lying. I had a poster of her on my ceiling.

On your ceiling. That's right. Waiting for the tape to give out.

Yeah. Float towards you. Come to me.

That's where I had my, that's where I had my Farrah Fawcett poster. Yeah. I'm sorry, Dawn.

Yeah, you're just going to have to pretend you're not here for a moment. Guys are talking locker room. I'm having deja vu.

Deja vu. I'm having a dream about this. Did you really? You know what that means? They say it's a glitch in the Matrix.

Could be. Could be. Wow.

Did you really? You had a dream about this? Wow. Tell us about the rest of the dream. Well, it was just that we were talking about her.

About we're sitting in the room talking about. Wow. Wow.

That is your first original song. The dream of Pat Benatar. The song is entitled something like Pat Benatar deja vu.

Yeah. Deja Benatar. That would be awesome.

We have to get a writing credit though. Yes. He gets the writing credit for coming up with the song.

There you go. And you have to include some kind of lyric in there about the poster on the ceiling above the bed. Just waiting for the tape to fail.

Whoa. This is getting intense. And then we're going to actually print a limited edition signed CD or, you know, 1080 gram vinyl and ship it out.

You know. There you go. I need a pen and paper.

Wait, you got some? So where are you guys playing? What kind of venues do you guys hang out at? Yeah. So for this calendar year, we just got Eric this year. So this current iteration is as of, I think, March, I want to say, or April.

So in July, we played at Brick Tavern in Chicago Ridge. And then we played at Base Camp in August out there in Lyle. We opened up for Damage Justice.

They invited us to open up for them. It was a fantastic time. Amazing venue.

Very, very big place. So we were so happy to play there. Great people.

And then in September, we played a second time at Q Bar Darien. We performed there. And then we played in October back-to-back shows.

One at Thirsty Beaver in Crestwood. Oh, yeah. And Irish Rebel in, is it Alsep? Chicago Ridge also? Chicago.

Or was it Oak Lawn? No, Chicago Ridge. Okay. Yeah, Chicago Ridge, right.

Yeah, so we played two shows back-to-back there on the south side. And then we're going to be playing for Dawn's birthday at Tailgaters, I believe, on December 8th, right? No kidding. Wow.

Nice, nice. So you guys have been fortunate enough to play a couple of places that actually have house sound and everything. So that's pretty good.

We do have our own PA system and we can do it our own as well. And we do have, let's see, we have three hours of music now? About three and a half hours of music. So we can do a full night.

Yeah. We also have a sound guy. His name is Jerry Marquette.

He's very, very good. He's actually with the band Meltdown, too. So sometimes we use him.

Meltdown Chicago. I want to make sure it's... Yeah. Well, it is Meltdown Chicago.

There's this one guy that lives out in Green Bay. Oh no, it was Meltdown with an E. Yes, it was Meltdown with an E, that's right. This is with no E. This is with no E. Okay, so it's Meltdown, not Meltdooned.

Yeah, not the Irish band. I mean, Scottish. Whatever it is.

He's made us sound really good. Yeah, he's wonderful. Well, that's good.

That's good. That's good. And yeah, we actually have done, we did a jam session once at Bailey Doyle in Downers Grove.

Okay. And then we did a jam session out at Brower House, which, you know, tons of bands play up there, too. Yeah, it wasn't a jam session.

It was actually our first show. Oh yeah, that's right. That's right, Don.

That was the first show. Yeah. You tell him, Don.

You set him straight. That's right. And then we have a show coming up at the Thirsty Beaver on February 25th.

Okay. Yeah, we know those guys over there at Thirsty Beaver. My band plays there quite a bit, too.

We have a lot of fun there. Who's your band? I'm in a band called Cadillac Groove. Oh, you're Cadillac Groove? Yeah.

Oh my God. Oh my God. I can't believe it.

Don knows every band out there, pretty much. I think I have you on Facebook. Oh, okay.

Wow, no kidding. Wow. Yeah, so Don is really- Just not on a poster above.

We'll work on that. Yeah. No, really, Don is really spearheading a lot of our efforts to reach out to places to perform at, and we're all giving it a shot, but Don's doing a lot of heavy lifting for us in recent months, and we really appreciate it.

Nice. She knows a lot of folks in the business and a lot of the bars that she goes to, so we're making a lot of connections, a lot of networking. There's a lot of large places we'd like to play at one day.

Bourbon Street would be a wonderful place to play at one day. 20 MPH in Crown Point is on the radar right now. I think there's a Livewire still in Berwyn, right? Is that what's still there? Are they closed? Oh, man.

Wow. Do you guys have anything on the calendar for what, like- January, February? Yeah. Well, February.

You said February 25th. February 25th, right. Yeah, nothing specific yet, unless something pops up last minute in December, but just right now, there's one in December and there's one in February.

Because like I said, we needed just some extra time, because you know how January is. It could be a snowstorm and no one's going to want to go out, you know? So it's hit or miss, you know? So, Bob, you know- We're working on new songs, too. That gives us a chance to work on new songs and work on some of the others.

Yeah. And we were talking about maybe going into the studio, maybe over Christmas, maybe for one day, just to try to record a couple- The Pat Benatar song. Cover songs, just to knock them off, yeah.

Totally. I had been sick for a couple months, so I'm like, I mean, that was the first time singing for a while. Yeah, okay.

Yeah, even- Well, actually, I'll have to also give a shout out to Dawn's boyfriend, Steve Burns, because unfortunately, when we had to do a show in- Well, it wasn't unfortunate, but we did a show at Q-Bar in September. And unfortunately, I got hit with, unfortunately, COVID again. And on the day of the show, I had 101 fever.

So Dawn's boyfriend, Steve, was happy enough. I said, please fill in for me. Just take the stage, have fun with it.

And it worked out for everybody that we didn't miss a gig then. I just missed it, but that's not the end. And the music, like, within a couple hours.

Yeah, yeah, because he's a great guitar player and stuff. So he was happy to just, hey, I'll come and do it, you know? Great, yeah, good, good. So you guys have a backup.

So booking agents and folks, if they want to find you and book you for their venue, how can they find you guys? On social media and other places? Facebook? Is that your main, is that the main source? Yes, we don't have a website yet. I'm hoping we can work on that. Yeah, yeah, one day we'll probably come up with some kind of website.

But just for the time being, we just have a Storm Empress on, you know, it's on Facebook. That's our main, you know, announcement page, basically. Not Express either.

Yeah, not Express. Storm Empress. I'm the Empress.

No, just kidding. That's right. That's right.

Yeah, we are working with some booking agents currently for some of the shows we've gotten. But we also work directly with clubs as well. They just have their own booking protocol.

Right, yeah. I work with Amy Cassander. She does the Bieber, Thirsty Bieber booking.

You know Amy? Not personally. I have not worked with her. The Tom Dixon, who's the drummer in our band, he books about 90% of our shows.

So I'm sure, I'm sure he's spoken to her. Joey DeMarco. Sure, yeah.

Tom Harmon, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Those are a couple of names that a few people have heard of.

Well, thanks for coming out, guys. We really appreciate it. Sounds real good.

Thanks for having us. Thanks for bringing the guitars and playing a little bit in the studio. We enjoyed that.

Yes, we did. Alrighty, take care. Thank you, gents.

So there you have them, Storm Empress. Empress, not like me that said Express. No, just Storm Empress.

I guess I was just in a hurry. Yeah, so some old school heavy metal. And they surprised me with the Iron Maiden.

Yes, I was not expecting Iron Maiden to come out of them. Not acoustically. Definitely not acoustically.

And then some 90s Chick Rock. That's right. Sounds like a combo that works to me.

I think so. Yeah, go out and see them, folks. People are liking it.

They're enjoying doing it. They seem to have some cohesiveness amongst themselves. And they're definitely having fun.

I mean, you can tell that they absolutely love each other. Yeah, that's the best part of it. You got to have fun.

If you're not having fun, it's like work. Right, yeah. And when it becomes too much like work, I'm not doing it anymore.

No, no more. So thanks to Storm Empress for coming out tonight. And as usual, keep listening every single Tuesday when we bring you another exciting, a very exciting episode of the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast.

See ya.