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 a hot Hollywood Mike I mean temperature. I didn't I didn't know you cared or not like Studley way or anything like that.

Do you really you're gonna let that go you or do you want to ask Polly to edit that part? Did you know no? You just leave it in there. It's what are you coming from the beach or what? Yeah. No, actually I'm coming from up I'm coming from Naperville today and On the bike.

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, you know what so I brought it in look at this. Let me see.

Oh Look at look at your vest. I've been promising, you know, so it's official. That's why everybody has to call me Hollywood That's right.

Once you have it on your motorcycle best. That's that's it. You're out right for us to your life Wait, I think it says Holly we Know it definitely says Hollywood does it? Hi? Well, okay.

Yeah, my old my old eyes Yeah, it definitely says Hollywood there. So did you get your invite my invite the invite to? Check this out. I just got this today.

It came to me from Dean Schultz Dean Schulte Schulte. Yes for the Hall of Fame inductions You know, I got a little squirrely connection here with my Headphones, I can't move around too much. Yeah.

So yeah, he sent it to me I got it by way of Dean and it is for the rock and roll induction Ceremony on September 17th. I think I have to go to it this year. It's at the Rialto.

Yeah, it's a good lot of fun Good spot. Yeah, we'll have to get some more details and tell some people about it Everybody out there needs to get tickets to go. I think Ron would appreciate it if we promoted it Yeah, let's let's sell it out.

Maybe we can get some of our thousands of listeners in India. So yeah Thousands yes. Yeah.

Yeah as we get the as good we get the lineup. We'll start talking about a little bit I thought that was pretty neat to get that today. So very cool Yeah, so we got some of your friends here tonight.

We got some legends to be they might be inducted in the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you know one day themselves. Well Let's talk to him. Oh, yeah, we got shook in in the Ramblers here Yeah, they brought their fans with them I hear you from India, yeah, they're all hanging outside right now, yeah, that's right That's right.

So so tell all of our listeners about you guys well We formed I started writing a lot of the songs that we play Well first, why don't we explain who you are? Well, my name is Matt Shook and I That's that's a good starting point leader of the Ramblers. Absolutely. Yes.

Yes I play the guitar and I sing and I am the principal songwriter of the group and A lot of these songs I've wrote, you know for years and I never really had my own Outlets to release them. I've been playing in bands for you know, most of my life, but it's always been I've never been the guy really doing much of the writing or sort of being in the forefront Aside from a couple endeavors, but I met these guys right right out of the pandemic and We just kind of gelled and we've been playing we've been together for coming on about three years now. So yeah Yeah, so remind my old mind.

Okay. I think the first time we met is when you were hosting the open jam what was that place on Ogden Avenue and in Lyle that was Dylan's in Lyle. Yes Dylan's.

Yes, that's right. That's exactly it was that before or after the pandemic? I can't remember that was before that was a I was like 2018 2019. I guess something like that Well, so it's been a few years that we've known each other there.

You were hosting that place. Yeah, that's right I remember there was man. There were still guys like a well Herman Hines was there quite often Yeah, we we still had twist Ferguson showing up.

Yeah once in a while I think so. Yeah, that definitely was pre pandemic. So I've known him for a while.

He was this Young guy long hair playing a black and white Dan Electro guitar. Yeah My first thought is who plays Dan Electro guitar Yeah, no and I still see the pictures of and you plug the thing in and played the shit out of it That's my workhorse. I like to beat it up, you know, yeah Yeah, and I think at the time you I think at the time you said it's not that expensive You don't care if you drop it or something like yeah, right and it turned into the kind of thing that now You're just like playing it all the time.

That's it, right? You know, that's it. I bought it a Chief at a guitar store I just I was shopping for an acoustic guitar actually and then I saw that thing and I was like I gotta buy it Yeah, that's kind of cool put a little bit of work into it. But it's um, it's it's still holding up.

So right, right Right, so I didn't mean to interrupt. No, go ahead and Finish up with who you are and how this whole thing got together. Well, yeah, I mean I've been playing in bands for a long time And I still am a part of the Black Bolts, which is my good friend Henry's group and I play guitar in that group as well But he's been focused on some other stuff so we've been focusing on our stuff Last three years, but this year we've really been picking it up quite a bit and we just got the master for our first single It's coming out relatively soon.

So it might by the time this podcast comes out. It'll probably already be out So that's you know, let's use this as promotion for that sort of It's just you know, it's exciting. We're getting the ball We're finally getting the ball rolling after getting tight and getting comfortable and sort of moving it forward.

So right What's the name of the single it's called the water, okay Yeah, people can get it where it'll be on Spotify and you know The all the stuff and we'll probably we'll probably we'll see it We might I don't know if people listen to CDs anymore, but we were thinking about having some CDs to give out But you know, okay that shows you a little bit about the age gap because we're sitting around here going I wonder if people are listening to vinyl anymore. Yeah, he's like, I wonder if people are listening to CDs anymore. I Collect records myself.

So I got a vast collection of vinyl records and finals making a comeback. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah Yeah, I got rid of all their CDs a few years ago they can't even buy a CD really I didn't even know that Yeah, none of that stuff.

So oh, well, they're lost. That's right Time rolls. So who you got with us? This is well, this is the band.

This is the the core band right here We got we got Rob Kletzky Rob Kletzky who plays the upright bass Is that Mike not for let's find out what guys coming through check one two Let's take time Rob, I'm playing the bass the big bass the little bass I base it up slapping the bass man And my name is Dan Tamelo. I'm the drummer for the Ramblers All right. I noticed you didn't bring an instrument with you today.

I got a few, you know percussion instruments in the backpack He's got some he's got some tricks in the tambo. He's right some tricks of the sleeve, you know, excellent As long as you're hitting things, you know Stomp on the floor a little bit, you know, right, right So if you guys known each other for a while and he decided to get together and start making music together How'd that come around? well initially This is how I remember it Well, I've known Rob for several years prior. We've done a couple things here and there And then I met Dan because he was playing in another group the banknotes Yeah, yeah shout out banknotes, they're not around anymore But you know And then we just we just all ended up at this it was like the first open mic that any of us possibly could have gone to after the all the the lockdown and all that stuff and It was an outdoor thing and I had known Rob and he had the upright bass and then Dan was there and I was just like Hey, you know you guys might just try to play some of these tunes that I have And I just threw a couple original songs at them that they had never heard before in their lives And then we just kind of did it and it felt cool You know, I was like, all right, we got something going here.

Maybe we should pursue this. Yeah, it was easy. Yeah Really natural it.

I mean it took a probably a month or two to actually get the ball rolling on that But it was um, you know, it was great. It was like lightning in the bottle. Yeah, it was very It was a very uh Felt good in the moment, you know, so it's like well, let's explore this and see what we can do with it So, uh, so do you guys have a song entitled lightning in a bottle? No, but that's a great idea Not yet.

That's the answer not yet We'll see Yeah, absolutely. By the way, you can you heard it first here on the rock and roll chicago podcast This is where that it's more lightning in a bottle inspiring the lightning in the bottle, right? You know, right? Yeah I mean you don't have to you don't have to lean over and like you don't have to like lean over him or whatever you Can grab hold of that thing and and move the microphone wherever you need to Yeah, it doesn't really have a lot of handling noise or anything involved in it. So So the whole bit so what makes a uh, what makes a young man such as yourself decide that you know I'm gonna go out and i'm gonna buy this giant upright bass And i'm gonna start doing that because nobody else is doing that right now Yeah, well some of it is nobody else is doing it right now.

So that was i'm, you know I'm a big fan of anything novelty. I like weird things. Um, but I was i've been playing upright bass for a little while uh more of I was more of a jazz guy at the time that matt and I had ever gotten together and um Playing with him a little bit and hearing his original songs and wearing some of his influences come from this like old world rock and roll things have this kind of Swing or shuffle sort of feel it just it's a thing.

I wanted to do this kind of rockabilly vibe with it Um, it just lended itself so well Right, and uh, I remember when I first got that instrument and brought it to a rehearsal These guys were like what what is this? You know, what are we doing and then just started smacking away at it, you know thumping my heart out And he's talking about music. Okay, right He's talking about me and the bass also Right And uh, it just it just kind of worked really well and so we've just kind of been rolling on it and and i've been uh Fixing this thing up to be more and more electric worthy, you know, kind of kind of try to bring some of that back We've been rolling on it. We've been standing on it.

We've been beating the heck out of it It's also good. It also makes for a good prop. Yeah, it's a great percussion instrument, too Oh, yeah, absolutely.

Absolutely. So what is it about that rockabilly style and and I Opening this up to anybody what is it about that rockabilly style that kind of speaks to you? Um, well, so it's not i'm not world's biggest rockabilly fan. I just like the instrument So I kind of part of my motivation is I kind of want to take this What is typically thought of as you know from a different era from a specific genre? And start pushing it into like who says like an upright bass can't be in heavy metal, for example Yeah, or anything like that.

It does everything that the electric bass can do, you know, right? It just does it differently and it's and it's a different sound and it's a different approach to all this stuff So right, um, that's that's some of my motivation is kind of take it out of that stigma If you will we have a running joke or that we're a rockabilly band that doesn't play rock We don't really play rock. We have a sort of a rockabilly setup and we have rockabilly influence But I would not consider our genre or the the stuff that we produce rockabilly music. Okay I love, you know, carl perkins and like a straight cats and all that stuff Influences on me but We sort of take from a lot of different places and try to sort of Mesh it all together and make our own thing out of it and we're gonna hear that momentarily.

Absolutely. Yeah, sure Were you about to say something? I think I interrupted. Oh, no, I was thinking that we're you know, he already hit on it But just saying, you know, we we look like a rockabilly band.

We don't play rockabilly So it's it's kind of funny though because it lends pretty easily to uh, you know For us to play like car shows and things like that You know people always like they see the upright bass and a bunch of vintage cars and you know, we're right in there so it's like it really kind of helps with uh, Just the the image too. It looks cool, you know all that all that kind of stuff. So right We're very adaptable.

We can play any event you want us to you know, right, right, right, right No, just wrote tall put a flute to rock and roll. Yeah, right Cello to rock and roll. Oh, yeah, I mean it'll work.

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

Jeez. Uh, What's uh, robert randolph put a put a pedal steel guitar to rock and roll, you know an instrument that's traditionally a country instrument That's right. Everybody thinks you got to figure out how to work it in there.

Absolutely. So you guys are all from this, uh, You know from this western Slash southwestern type suburb area of chicago. Yeah, and of course you got connections and routes to chicago Otherwise you guys wouldn't be here.

But of course so what's your favorite thing about actually being a musician in this area? Hmm well i'd say the blues well, yeah, yeah chicago and the blues go hand in hand man, you know, but um I was just gonna I was gonna say it's just there's there's so many different And uniquely talented individuals in this area and I feel like I feel like you don't get that everywhere I feel like um, I mean, you know just from from my experience of traveling Just you know some places it doesn't seem like it's as tight-knit as it is around here And I feel like a lot of people are very supportive and everybody sort of is doing Everybody's connected, but they're doing their own thing. You know, everybody's got room for their own thing and I really think that's cool yeah, we've all been in yeah, many different acts different styles like I was in a Like a funky ska band i've been in a metal band i've been in um cover bands country band, you know And like I feel like it's it's cool because there's a place for all that stuff, you know diverse Yeah, you got a little bit of everything anywhere you go, right, right Yeah, you know, you know so often you go other places and you think okay I saw this guy playing rock and roll. So he's a rock musician or I saw this person playing country That's country musician and but just around here in this area.

It seems nope. He's a musician period Yeah, that's all it is and you can do whatever the heck it is that you want to do. That is true That is true.

I have noticed that and I think that's really cool Yeah, that's something that's very that's very unique. Look at all the people that we all know that you know They play in all different kinds of bands. Oh, yeah, you know and you know, they always give a generic answer They're like why are you playing with this band this week? You know you were with this band last week and then you know in this the stupid generic answer out of everybody's mouth is inevitably Well, you know whoever's paying but you know But but you know, that's not the truth really because I mean, what are you getting paid 150 bucks, you know, maybe yeah I mean is is that worth? You know not having a good time.

No, absolutely, you know At the end of the day, you know It all comes from the passion to do it and just just wanting to wanting to get out there and and and be a part of It I think you know, right for me personally, you know, you know totally and like is it just you know Speaking for myself as a drummer, um, you know, probably a lot of other drummers too Kind of comes from necessity just whatever people need You know what I mean? Like I was never looking to be like I want to be in this type of band It would be like oh i'm friends with these people and we're doing this thing and i'd be like Well, I guess it's you know, my time to try on my ska hat or whatever Good good chance to kind of explore some different stuff that maybe I wouldn't do um, you know naturally and that's what I like so much about this group actually this trio that we got going is I feel like um You know, it's diverse enough in the rock genre But like we kind of get to play what comes naturally to all of us and I think that's why it works so well is because no one's really trying to do something that they You know need to fit this band or anything like that. I feel like just that we all just do this very comfortably, right? Yeah, right. Well, I think we should see an example of that.

I think we should hey That's real thing. That means three, right? Yeah. Okay.

I think I believe so Just want to make sure no, it means tree in spanish. Oh, that's what I was thinking I thought I thought you're talking about some kind of spanish tree. So thanks for clarifying that for me yeah, we got a little uh live music coming up, uh sit back relax go grab a cold beverage coffee While they set up this is a song called no canteen Well, I wanna see my Me But you can't walk Me Just the way it goes Oh You can't walk You can't walk So Excellent, thank you That had a snappy rhythm that That freaking rocked.

Yeah, it did. Yeah, and you know what? It's so funny I mean you play rockabilly music. I'm, sorry.

Yes, there's elements of it that well that song in particular That song in particular leans more towards that we have a lot we have I feel like every song that we that i've written is Leaning towards a style, you know, and that's definitely within that element. Yeah, for sure. Absolutely.

Absolutely They've said oh we don't play rockabilly music I hear that riff and i'm like Yeah, no, they don't. Yeah swamp billy rock and roll without the upright bass. It would be the blues.

Yeah, you're right I may or may not have been listening to a lot of hubert sunland At the point that I wrote that yeah That one you guys haven't recorded yet that one is recorded We're not, uh, we're not probably going to release that one for a couple of months But we had we were working on it right now. We just recorded it right now. We have a recording of it right now We've got we've got the exclusive.

Yes, this is the exclusive. That's right We can put it on any internet and market is market it as an import remember back in the 80s Yes, everybody used to run down to the record stores Oh, there's this new import that came out and all it was was a shitty recording of something that was already out You guys got you guys got the the first official rambler was bootleg here. Yeah, that's that's what it is The official bootleg.

Yeah, the official bootleg. That's right. Yeah.

Yeah So you said you were listening to a lot of hubert sumlin. Yeah when you wrote that song. Yeah Yeah, it was howling wolf howling wolf's guitar.

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely What else was the inspiration for that? That sounded that sounded like you were going for something at the time Oh, yeah.

Well, it's just you know, it's reflective It's uh, you know, it's kind of the whole the whole idea of it is if you're walking Through a desert and you don't have any water to drink then You're probably not going to make it well And it can go a little deeper than that, you know, uh on many levels So that's kind of but that's you know, take that for what that is and uh, you know It's good to have people in your corner, you know That's kind of what I mean by that I envy people that can write lyrics that are So poetic like that all the time because i'll write like 25 songs or something like that and then one of them I'll read the lyrics and go. Oh, those are good. The rest of them suck.

Yeah Well, I you know, that was pretty poetic I go through bouts where it's I get some good stuff and then I write a lot of really bad stuff and then Nobody hears that so Yeah, those are going to be your uh, your remastered tapes after you're long gone. There you go. Yeah the the vault, right? but you know some of that stuff that It's not happening right now.

You put it away for a while a few years later You listen to it again and you read it again. Now suddenly you got something to put to it. That's true That is you know Never think that it's it's it's bad Maybe it just doesn't fit into what's going on right now the way that I look at the songwriting process is a lot of it is like um like a puzzle And it's you know Say you come up with this riff or this melody or this line here and this lyric here and this part here and that part There and then maybe dan will have a beat or something and then rob will come up with an idea And then it's this it's all these different things at different times and then sometimes it all clicks together, you know I mean, so it's like, you know, sometimes i'll be going back i'll be listening to stuff i've recorded I'm like what what happened to that? What did I why didn't I ever do anything with that and then I bring it back in the mix and it'll be fresh, you know Yeah, yeah, so that's just wasn't meant for that time period precisely.

Yeah, that's exactly it. It's never a failed song It was just ahead of its time. Yes, exactly And you needed to wait for time to catch up to it That's you had some kind of inspiration to write it, but it just wasn't all together yet So you guys just wait if anybody ever finds my notebooks, they're gonna I mean, they're gonna make a fortune Hell yeah So, you know my uh, my songwriting process has changed a lot over the years It used to be I would literally write the music and the words at the same time because I couldn't I couldn't seem to get to the end of some type of a musical phrase without having some type of a Verbal phrase to go along with it and I would just be stuck there forever And uh over time what's eventually evolved evolved is I can't come up with words because to me words are expressing how the song how the music is making you feel So if I don't have the music first and it doesn't make me move Then I just I just don't even bother with the words I know that i've got something if i'm if i'm playing it over and over again and next thing You know subconsciously.

I don't even realize but my foot's tapping. Yeah, and that's that's how I know I've got the the music that I need then I go back and I put the yeah With the instrument or you know, the the melodic phrasing or the riff whatever that i'm the same way, you know, right Those are the first pieces of the puzzle, right? Matt you're the you're the key songwriter But I mean how much of your stuff actually ends up becoming a collaboration between the three of you? Well, um I think all of it because these guys have I mean they've taken some of the stuff that I brought to them I mean a lot of the songs that we have right now and we've written some subsequently But a lot of the stuff that I brought to him is stuff that I had written Over the years, like I said, and I really had no Outlet is just me strumming on an acoustic guitar and doing my own thing. I had a couple of you know Demos that I had recorded on my own Um, but when I brought it to these guys the the changed entirely, you know It was like just the the rhythm dance certainly the arrangement Yeah, the arrangement dance the way that dan approached the rhythm the way that rob would would do the do the bass on it You know, it was just something that I didn't I never even possibly could have fathomed in my head And now that's what brought the song to life, you know what I mean? So right? Um, and and we do you know, we we work.

Um, we're working with some people that are helping us with arranging stuff as well you know, so that's that's um, you know, so we've rearranged a lot of stuff and um, but I think you know, we we don't often have Moments where we like just spontaneously collaborate and jam and like oh, that's a song we've had a couple moments where we spawn something like that out of it, but a lot of it, you know, i'm not a Like you said the some of the best songs that I ever wrote are songs where I don't know if I had the lyrics But I at least had the melody right and then I could go in and fill in the blanks afterwards, right? Exactly. Exactly Um 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 can check it out on your favorite streaming platforms And on the web at someone you should know podcast.com That's the someone you should know podcast with me rick anthony making a difference one artist at a time Now, how do you guys work together as the rhythm section? You know you guys come up with a song Are you coming up with your own parts by yourselves or are you getting together and talking about it? First of all, this drummer's a rock.

So he's driving everything easy. He's driving the bus all into him. Thank you.

Thank you Thank you. Um, I mean, I feel like we kind of feel it out. Uh, you know I guess just speaking from experience that like since we've started just like matt.

I usually bring something Um, you know, I don't really work super melodically or anything. I play a little bit of everything but you know, definitely drum focused um, so, you know, i'm always thinking about like transitional parts or um You know starting simple and then kind of building from there and then obviously we're playing off of each other You know, I mean like if rob's got a cool idea I usually will base my kick pattern off of something similar to what he's doing Uh, and once we kind of land on like something You know generally groovy or whatever it is. Um, you know, we can kind of fill in the the smaller details from there So I kind of think big picture first Let's play simple let's play functional and then once we feel like we got something going we can kind of like embellish and and you know figure out like Oh, let's put a pause here.

Let's uh, right Let's uh, you know, why don't we go to the bridge there instead of this or you know? Add a few bars, whatever it is So right at least that's kind of how my brain works and I feel like it's it's always like a really good Kind of conversational thing, right? Right. I like that break in the middle of that song That was actually kind of a surprise. That was really cool The way that went sounded like an ending it sounded like the song was done.

I can see you playing that live Yeah, exactly. And I was like the crowd starts applauding you're like nope. Uh-uh.

Nope On the recording you'll hear on the recording of that when it comes out that I insisted that at when we come back in On that first hit I play the vibra slap And that's my favorite part of the song. Yeah, okay We didn't have we didn't have like layered rain sticks, but we decided we decided against the rain sticks There's a running joke that every recording studio has at least one rain rain stick. Yeah, right And they want to make sure that nobody finds it, you know, right, right For me for the uh, sorry for me for the that was that was funny.

He was like luring him like a fish I was gonna say in terms of the back to the writing process real quick is like i'm just kind of weird and I like weird shit and In terms of this ensemble, there's only three of us So there's a lot of space to be had. Um, and so a lot of times especially You know most of what we have currently as our material stuff that matt already Has you know at least a concept or right? So whatever i'm thinking of is like what is what is matt not doing what is dan not doing, you know, right? What's something opposite ish? What's constant contrast that I can do because there's all the space in the world to do it, you know So that's that's that's my idea in terms of arranging and writing with these guys, you know when you're in the studio um Are you doing any extra guitar tracks or are you just pretty much recording it the way you're going to make it sound live? Um, well column a column b Yeah, I mean the approach that we had with this and we're probably going to every time we do a session We're probably going to try something a little different. Um, but with this particular Session of songs that we do we have five tracks and then we're going to track a sixth acoustic for it um With this approach what we did is we we gave dan a click track in his in his Headphones, and then we just all played live right and we just ripped it like we would a show and he was keeping the time Yeah, the rest of us with no click.

Yeah, we wanted that we wanted to capture What we might sound like yeah, you know if you came to the club Keep a few mistakes in there. Yeah, exactly and then um and and also just having them thinking about like playing off what i'm doing and like listening to the drums as they would live rather Than having the you know, not that they're off or anything like that. Yeah, that's other mistakes It's just like I feel like it's a little more organic uh, you know when they're playing and thought process if they're not hearing the Right, you know like something that's something that i'm like that is annoying I appreciate that i'm like yes I want to hear that as loud as I can while you know We're recording or something, but it kind of helped it give it a little bit more organic feel Yeah, you know robotic rather right and then um as far as overdubs go I did on a couple of tracks I did overdub a handful of guitars.

There's I think the single that we're putting out the water there's a lot of guitar tracks just because we're trying to fill out a lot of sound but some right some of it was doubled from the The scratch track is there somebody singing outside? Yeah, that's what it sounds like. Yeah Get them in here um but the um Yeah, so like there's the there's a couple songs where there are a lot of overdubs. I did overdub a few of the leads As well, um, and then I overdubbed I did the when we were playing live I used scratch vocals I overdub the vocals as well.

Gotcha Okay But we try to do as much as we possibly could to make it feel as raw and live as possible, right? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that's good. Yeah, because I One of the things that I hate is is you know Like a song then you go to see the band live and then it doesn't sound anything.

Yeah, it's totally different I would prefer that you recorded it the way it's going to sound live because I yeah I like if there's if it's a three-piece band and there's only one guitar player and I love the fact that the rhythm guitar drops out what that guy rips a solo and you Because it becomes interesting all of a sudden the bass player and the drummer have to kind of pick up That space a little bit totally totally and it it makes it I mean it tells a better story 100 Really, you know really does it feels like you're there in the room almost right? Exactly. Exactly And then uh, we did have we did have some keys and vocals Um overdubbed as well, and we actually have a key we we hired for a few shows coming up We got a keyboard player playing with us, too So that's a new thing for us our friend our good friend. Jake francis filling in nice for some shows in the in the near future so Um, just to kind of add a little bit more texture, you know, right? Yeah, so that's um We've been we've been messing with that.

We've always talked about having having a different instrument and initially it was like Oh, well, should we get another guitar player? It's like well, let's get something completely different. Let's get something. That's a completely different texture, you know so we've had occasional sax player hop up or You know another horn or something like that kind of like in a live setting hop up play a few songs that kind of thing And you know definitely plan in the future like any other recordings we might do maybe a song needs a sax So sure that you know kind of lends itself to it You know always kind of keeping it open to those options because you know three pieces Sky is the limit.

You know what I mean? So have you ever considered the glockenspiel? I've thought deeply about the glass Most of our conversations are about that actually There's a possibility we might see one on one of your live performances on one of our recordings that will come out soon I'm playing banjo on yeah, we just grab on the banjo. Well, thanks for the warning. Yeah, I appreciate that You can avoid that one Bluegrass, yeah Like I said, we like to touch on a lot of different things.

Um, I I suggested musically he's talking about that Yeah, musically musically let's preface with that. Um I uh, I suggested a kazoo solo once and nobody wanted me to do a kazoo solo. Yeah Yeah You know what? I'll tell you what a nod to my uh, my good friend.

Uh, tommy slab tommy I hope you're out there and I hope you listen to this and I hope you're doing well um, but uh, he does these uh Solo performances and he wears a kazoo around his neck and it's so cool He's in the middle of doing his solo performance and he sticks the kazoo in his mouth and he just does a good kazoo solo It's freaking awesome. Everybody knows tommy slab for the guy that plays the kazoo It came out to stillins like a more than more than a few times. I remember seeing him out there and doing that Yeah, that was really cool.

Absolutely. Absolutely. That's cool.

I heard I heard he's not doing he's he's uh, he's ill right now So i'm best wishes to him and I hope everything's all right with that. Absolutely. Absolutely his wife has been uh, you know Updating everybody on facebook and things like that.

It's good We won't talk about it on the podcast or anything But the people that know tommy well know what's going on and you know, we're all we're all hoping for the best for him. Absolutely Uh, but uh, hey, uh, let's let's hear the water. Yeah, let's see.

I'm gonna take it the water and canteen i'm noticing a well A moisture-based thing. Yeah, like we like our water. Yeah, it's moisture pop.

Yes It's moist moisture pop it's moist moisture park we actually we um, we came up with a name for our genre H2o ability. Um, we're actually we're gonna call it an outlaw jangle spank Oh, okay Oh, these guys are really into spanking and slapping moist It's rock and roll, man. That's a rock and roll All right, so this is going to be the single that we're releasing.

Uh, and this is called the water you boys ready? Yeah, should I do a count off now? Yes, sir. One, two, three People say Is Is So Can't you say Me He's Is Hey So Hey Ooh I'm giving them my own applause. I'm not hitting that i'm not hitting that button Applause that was awesome.

Thank you. Thank you. Fantastic.

Yeah That's gonna be your first uh single release. That's the first thing we're releasing. Yep of the not rockabilly band.

Yes. Yes The somewhat rockabilly adjacent band Rockabilly adjacent is rockabilly. Okay, that's fair.

That's fair. So we had canteen we had water now Get something with hops and barley. Yeah, we do have a song about drinking whiskey.

It's a blues. It's a blues tune But that's something that we know a little bit about yeah, we do a little bit whiskey or the blues Oh, yeah, there you go. There you go.

Yes Someone some would argue as to you know, which is more and which is less but you know, yeah, that's true. That's true No, that was that was absolutely spectacular. Thank you.

Thank you. I'm so glad you guys came in here and did that And did you uh, did you see the the message that I sent you on facebook, yeah, yeah Yeah, you brought the stuff in that was awesome, please please please bring it bring a guitar Yeah, yeah, and and for the future everybody else that comes on to this podcast, please Please bring your acoustic stuff bring your acoustic instruments and do exactly what these guys do. Yeah, it's a lot of fun in here Oh, absolutely good time so much more fun when we just have to listen to you know, ray and I talk that's right.

That's right This is fantastic. We're happy. We're happy to play whenever people want us to so, you know, here we are Yeah, so where can people find you social media wise and Um, we are on facebook and instagram as shukin and the ramblers Um, I have a i'm we are currently working on launching a full website But I do have a press kit page for us on my website at matt shukin.com s h u s h u k I n yes and the ramblers and of the ramblers and not one of those little symbols.

No ampersand No ampersand. No ampersand. It's not shucking.

Although shucking into ramblers. That sounds like really rockabilly Yeah, it's like it's like, uh, you know everybody thinks we get a lot of apostrophes on the end of it people think we're shucking oysters or like I've gotten shunken shunken in the ramblers. I've gotten Some I was once listed.

I played a like a biker club and they listed me as andrew. I don't know where they got that from andrew s h o o k e n Wow, at least it was phonetic really correct, but So So, uh, but yes sh u k i n that is shukin and the ramblers and uh, we're on yeah, we're on social media. Um And we got some music coming out soon.

That will be on spotify and all the all the other big things coming soon Yeah, big things coming soon as all the local bands say. Yeah Yeah, so we're you know, we're on all the all the basic stuff and um, yeah So where uh, where you playing? Say, uh, what is it going to be some more around mid-august? Yeah, maybe mid-august. Yeah What are you going to be around mid-august? Well our next um, we're doing this is going to be uh irrelevant at the point in time, but we're doing uh, Taste of westmont this saturday And then we're playing a homegrown arts and music festival the following saturday But I believe uh, you got a calendar up there rob If I didn't have a calendar, I wouldn't know what i'm doing.

Our next big thing would be uh, I think september We're doing all kinds of all kinds of local clubs and stuff, but the next big one Is it's called the widow's harvest widow's harvest festival. Yeah, okay it's this So you like harvest widows and stuff? It's a very roots rock and folk based festival We're gonna we're gonna blow them out of the waters with our drums and our giant amplifiers and it's gonna be great But it's it's uh, like kind of arts and music festival camping And there's actually people from all over the country coming out It's not a huge event, but everybody is there for the same Reason and it's an amazing event. This will be our third time playing it and it's it's one of the coolest things that we've ever Done and it's just everybody there is very cool.

Everybody is friends. Everybody is supportive and it's a great crowd. It's a great time And it's just yeah, we get there's uh acts coming in from colorado and uh, I think from minnesota, you know, st Louis, so it's you know, it's a very it's a very cool small festival.

This this guy keith is cultivated And uh, we're really looking forward to doing that. It's always fun. Awesome.

Yeah, I was gonna say shout out to keith Yeah, absolutely. He's done a great job with that thing and you know, uh, just always a pleasure to play there It's like one of our favorite shows. It's very right, right All righty guys.

Well, thanks a lot for coming out. I know uh, at least one of you had a little uh, A little trouble getting here. Oh, yeah, you know Gas leak in the car i'll figure it out.

It's not a big deal worst thing that can happen. Don't worry about it Yeah, you're perfectly fine. Oh, yeah It's all cool, man.

It's all cool, baby Well, thanks for coming out guys yeah talking to you thank you so much for having us we appreciate you guys very much Thank you. Thank you. Yeah, we'll see you.

Yeah, so that's the ramblers, you know I used to own a rambler a long time ago. You did didn't you I did own a little rambler? Yeah They became amcs and then they came out with those gremlins and the racers right some fine cars man. Oh, yeah But yeah, but these were Shooken not shucking.

No shooken shooken ramblers. These guys sounded awesome shooking in the ramblers Yeah, they were fantastic really really good. I really enjoyed that.

I could have just sat here all night. Wasn't it? Absolutely I absolutely loved their sound. Yep Upright bass.

I mean it's got a very distinctive sound. I don't care who you are You know when an upright bass is being played Rather than uh, you know than uh, and when you walk in you see it up on stage right away. It's like boom Yeah, there's whoa.

What's going on here? There's an upright bass, you know? Yeah. Yeah outside beer garden fire pit. Yeah cigar That's right.

Ramblers. That's right We'll get out there and see them folks there. I mean you just heard them on the show.

They sound awesome Their uh, their new song wow should be out by now Yeah, it should be out should be out to get out to spotify and check them out and water it's your water canteens water and Kool-aid, but this one's just called water just water just water It's all righty then well Thanks again for uh listening to another fine episode of the rock and roll chicago podcast and we'll see you next week later The rock and roll chicago podcast is edited by paul martin theme song courtesy of mnr The rock and roll chicago podcast does not own the rights to any of the music heard on the show The music is used to promote the guests that are featured Chicago