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.

How you doing? I'm doing good, Mike. You're a little down and out last week, huh? I was a no-show. Yeah, absolutely.

I apologize for that. No problem. You sent me that link to that norovirus or something else.

You got that? I saw that. Yeah, I texted that to you. I swear to God, that had to have been what I had.

I'm glad the download worked. Yeah, absolutely. When you talk about download, are you talking about the condition that I was in? I guess I forgot to send you the remedy for it.

Yeah, what's the remedy? I don't know. I still got it on my phone. I didn't send it to you to download yet.

It wasn't bourbon, believe it or not. Really? I thought bourbon cured everything. You know, I thought it did too.

Once the germs are in you, no, never. Four roses doesn't do anything. Larceny.

I'm a larcenist lately. Yeah, absolutely. The larceny with the hot water and the honey and the lemon.

Yeah, that was real good. After I was able to keep stuff down, that was really good. Awesome.

Very good. At least it made me forget how I feel. Good.

That's all you need. That's what I recommend, everybody. So the people from Larceny Distillery, if you are listening to this, we're looking for sponsors.

We are looking for sponsors. We'd be happy to talk about larceny all the time. Absolutely.

And drink it and tell people what it tastes like. Tell them what it tastes like. Exactly.

Absolutely. But in other areas here, we have to do a podcast. We do.

Yes, we got some guests here sitting here staring at us like, what the hell are these guys talking about? I thought they wanted us to talk. Yeah. So I guess we should let them do that.

Yeah. So joining us tonight is the band Arclight. How are you guys all doing? We are good.

Excellent. Good, good, good. I'm going to start this out like I normally start out recent podcasts of the day is we're going to play like you're in third grade, first day at school, and you're going to tell us your name and what do you do? All right.

Well, I'm Apache. I'm the lead singer for Arclight. And I am Big Al, drummer.

I'm Rich. I play guitar, electric guitar. And they saved the best for last.

I'm Johnny Gringo. I play bass and sing. All right.

You didn't save the best for last because we have one more person in the room. She's the manager. She doesn't count.

That's horrible. Well, it's a shame that Arclight is no longer together. Yeah, that kind of sucks.

Yes, I'll be doing my solo show next Friday. Man, does she have your sound guy's phone number programmed into her phone right there? I am the sound guy. You are the sound guy.

And the bass player. Oh, OK, I see. I see how this goes.

So where did this all come together? Oh, Nikki, band manager. Oops, sorry about that. Yeah.

She's also my wife as of September. OK. Oh, congratulations.

Congratulations. Yeah. Since just this past September, just a few months ago.

Wow. And you guys are still together, huh? The whole band? The whole band, I mean. They're still in mourning.

So where'd this name come from, Arclight? That's pretty interesting. That came from me, the drummer. I was just driving around and I'm thinking of names.

And I thought of Noah's Ark, you know, and I said, OK, we're going to keep the Ark. And then I'm looking up in heaven and I see I'm thinking of light, the light of heaven. So we kept the Ark and the light.

You didn't go towards that light, did you? Not yet. OK. Not yet.

I want to make sure. Yeah. Because I mean, I immediately started thinking Tesla when I heard Arclight and I was thinking electricity or something like that is what I thought.

But yeah. But no, that's different. I'm glad I didn't make fun of it because it has a very spiritual meaning behind it.

Yeah. Speaking of them now, there's those Starlink satellites are flying over us. Yeah.

Tonight. And Chinese balloons. And yeah, that's right.

I hope nobody shoots out that Starlink, right? Yeah, yeah. So where do you guys hail from? Where'd you come? Where'd you travel from today? We're from all over the place. I'm from the south side of Chicago.

Originally Brighton Park neighborhood. OK. Now just 20 minutes down 80 here and in the South Burbs.

All right. Not too bad. No, I'm from Berwyn.

OK. All right. Chicago via New York via California, but in Chicago now.

Wait, going back. Somebody's got to do it. Berwyn.

And I'm from Logan Square in Chicago. Gotcha. Gotcha.

So who started this band? Was the first person that picked up the phone? That would be the drummer. Big Al. All right.

That would be Big Al. Big Al, tell us how this all came about. Many years ago, I was in a hair band in the 80s and there came a time to give it up.

So I gave it up for 30 something years. And then 30 something years later, I got an itch to play again. And I recruited at Apache over here.

And we worked in my garage for many, many months looking for people to join the band. And then Richie and Gringo came about. Yeah.

OK. And Apache, are you just the lead singer? Do you play an instrument as well? Or you're just the singer? I'm just a singer right now. I do play a little bit of rhythm, but I will not get on stage to play that.

Right, right, right. Trying to get him to play keys. At least keys.

Right, right. That's our goal. Have you considered tambourine? He's got a cowbell.

I do a mean cowbell, let me tell you. Or did you see the Super Bowl commercial with the triangle? I did. Oh, that was absolutely hilarious with the triangle.

We have a lot of cowbells left, though. So how does a drummer decide that the first person they're going to bring into their band is the lead singer? Because normally that doesn't happen that way. That seems almost counterproductive in some people's minds.

We go back in history. We have known him many, many years. And you hired him anyway.

I did. I did. I did.

Mr. Apache here in his heyday was a salsa singer for many, many years touring Europe, Japan and all that. And then it came time for him to slow down as well. But then I asked him to try this project.

And so far, it's worked out. Now, that's interesting. I honestly don't think we had had anybody on the podcast that has salsa experience.

Eating it. Eating it. How about polka? Oh, we did.

Every now and then we bust out a polka on the shows. Apparently you don't listen to our podcast. So tell us about that.

How did that all come about? How long did you do that? Yeah. So, I mean, I've been in music all of my life since I can remember. My earliest memory was with my dad.

He's always been in the business as well. I'm talking about three years old. I was up on stage with him.

So back in the late 80s, early 90s, we formed a 13-man salsa orchestra when it was really hot in the day. And salsa was really going on back then in Chicago. I'm talking about, I don't know if you guys know these places, but Tropicana de Gachet and Hanks, all over Chicago.

Of course, the Green Dolphin. Right, right. So I played for many, many years with them, about four or five years.

Then we recorded our own stuff and headed out on tour, man. We had some really good players, man. So Wendell Brenner was just an amazing trumpet player, man.

And these guys jammed. And, you know, it's all about the music. So we loved it and we enjoyed ourselves.

And then it kind of like died out. The scene kind of died out. Right, right.

You know, back during that time, I was just starting to play in bands as well. And it seemed like salsa got that boost because a bunch of people went and saw the movie Dirty Dancing. I think that's what it was.

Yeah. And said that, boy, this looks like a lot like salsa. Don't put Apache in a corner.

And it looks, yeah, it looks like a lot of fun. And the next thing you know, there's salsa bands coming up everywhere. There's clubs all over the place that are featuring salsa nights and everything.

Because I think people started to realize that dirty dancing is almost something that they made up for Hollywood, but salsa actually exists. So let's go that route. It was an excellent time.

I mean, I had so much fun doing it and recording and some beautiful people, man, beautiful friends. I met a lot of people around the world and it was just time to do something different. And believe it or not, when Big Al came to me and told me, hey, you know, I kind of hear you in the background singing some of this rock, man.

And I think you got to try some of this. And it was kind of weird for me, only because I'd never sang rock before. At first, he had to learn English.

I had to learn English, right? Right. And it's still not that good. Still not that good, right? So what happened was, you know, he kind of convinced me, he said, let's just do it.

Let's see what's going on. So I said, yeah, let's try it out. And believe it or not, before I went to anywhere on stage to sing salsa, I was a lead singer on there as well.

And I would listen to my Walkman, if you will, back then. To ACDC, Rat, things like that. You know, so that's what would hype me up to go do salsa.

Oh, OK. Yeah. Yeah, no, that makes total sense.

Kind of weird. I know. But and then so when he told me that, we said, let's just get it started.

You know, we started just for fun. About months later, we met Richie and Gringo, Johnny Gringo. And we got to tell them why you call them Gringo.

Because they can't see us on the radio. Right. For those of you listening, I am the only non-Latino member of the band.

So Gringo, everybody thinks I'm the translator. Yeah. He's actually the most fun on stage, man.

You should see his getups, man. That's insane. I like to wear stupid stuff.

I like to wear stupid stuff on stage. I absolutely love it. I love it.

People here with their eyes, you know, if you're up there and you look bored, then the audience is bored. And no, absolutely. And it's boring and it's not a good show.

Right. No, absolutely. I firmly believe in that.

Somebody relatively famous said to me, he goes, you know, everybody should know you're in the band from the second you walk through the door. And it's not because you're carrying a thousand pounds worth of gear. You should dress intentionally.

That's it. And you should turn heads and everybody should know that guy must be in the band because of the way they're dressed and the way they present themselves. And I heard if you dress like the crowd, you shouldn't be on stage.

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. So Big Al, you were back in, like you said, like hair metal and stuff like that.

Right. Did you hang out at the Thirsty Whale at all? Played there many times. The Rusty Nail Haymakers.

Yeah. All them clubs. Yeah.

J.J. Kelly's. Yeah, there was a lot of them out there. What band were you in back then? White Plague.

White Plague. Right. OK.

It was all original. Maybe that's what you had last week. Good day.

I'm going to Google that. Yeah. I'm just going to keep my I'm going to keep the comment that I thought about in my head in my head.

Tell us and then edit it out. We ain't going live, are we? We're just going through an edit booth or what? So that was an all original band that you were in then? And White Plague playing at the Thirsty Whale. Yep.

Man, no kidding. We had the Lounge Puppets in a few weeks ago. And all those guys were playing the Thirsty Whale at about that time as well.

I bet you we've all met and crossed paths at one point in time. I opened for the Lounge Puppets at the Whale. I was like 14 years old, I think.

Wow. And they seemed old then. They're good guys, though.

But they've been around a long time. They're still doing it, man. So good.

God bless them. Yeah, they've been they've been around for a while. And Pete's still one of my favorite vocalists.

The guy can sing his ass off. So yeah, he's fantastic. So who was next after we got our lead singer? Who came next? Yeah.

And what was the appeal about this guy? I can't answer that question. I still can't figure it out. You two can't figure it out, right? What was the appeal about this guy? So when did you come along? When did you join? How long have you guys been playing? We auditioned a few guitarists and stuff like that.

And, you know, some of them were like airheads and stuff like that. And just not what we were looking for. And then Richard came about and he leans more towards jazz and stuff like that.

But throughout the year or since we've been around, a year and a half, he's progressing to rock and heavy metal. So it's not his forte, but he's getting it together. Yeah, my strings got thinner.

I had to relearn, reteach myself how to bend. I hadn't been for the leads. Yeah, actually, on the way here, I was listening to a video of you guys.

I think you were doing, I think you did, Boys Are Back in Town is what I was listening to. And I totally made note that boy, that sounds like a really warm sounding guitar tone. You know, it didn't sound like the guitar tone that you're expecting to hear in a song like that.

So that would explain it. It's the jazz influence. It was probably the hollow body too.

I think that one has half-wound strings. So hollow body, what kind of guitar? That was the D'Angelico hollow body. Okay, nice, nice.

How long have you been playing? 30 years. Be 30 years probably next year. So for a little bit.

I started when I was like 10 or 11. Just for a little bit. Yeah, I'll be 40 next year.

So I started when I was about 10 or 11. So I studied at Chicago Academy for the Performing Arts. And then at Roosevelt, CPI Roosevelt.

So yeah. Wow. Okay.

Did you ever do anything like big band style or do anything like... In school, not after that. I mean, we had like small combos and big band. So outside of Roosevelt, no.

Everything I did after that was actually more leaning towards, I don't know if you know Elastic Arts in Logan Square. It's like avant-garde free jazz. Oh, nice.

Okay. So that was most of what I did. I lived in Logan Square for 10 years.

So that was also the scene that I was in. Gotcha. I was living in Logan Square.

So what were you doing during the time where you get the phone call to come in and audition? What were you doing during that time? I just moved back to Illinois probably two months before that. I mean, this was COVID and I was going through some health issues. So literally, I just moved back to Illinois and I just wanted to start playing out again.

So I hadn't played a show in probably, you know, since you have two years because of COVID. All right. And I actually just wanted to play loud music again too.

So not only do I want to play live music, but I want to play loud music. Gotcha. Something else that I get to do.

And boy, did we get loud. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, that's good.

That's good. So we've been told that Gringo is not going to stop talking. We're going to have to turn off his microphone.

So we kind of saved it. We got everybody else in here, right? And then we got Gringo coming in here. All right.

All right. Here we go. Let me put on my radio voice for you.

How you guys doing out there in radio land? All right. I did find your Polka episodes. Episode 70 is Eddie Carrozza Jr. And episode 73 is Frank Rossi.

If you want to check out some Polka. I have a friend, Danny Donuts, who was very good friends with Eddie Carrozza. I am not.

I am not. Danny Donuts. Look him up online.

I was in his movie all about, he did a spoof on Sergeant Pepper. And I played the shyster crooked lawyer character in the movie. So it's pretty good.

All right. But okay. Getting back to musically.

Getting back to music. Well, I'm in all aspects of show business here. So when did you join the band? I joined the band about 10 months ago.

I was the last piece of the puzzle. All right. I was playing in another band with Rich.

And he asked me one day, he says, you want to play bass in this band? And now if you think Rich doesn't fit this band, I'm going to tell you what my background is. And you're going to be like, how in the hell did these guys ever get together? My background, I play bass. I play guitar.

Started playing bass. I was a pop guy. Right.

Grew up in the 80s. My favorite bands were the Bangles, Duran Duran. Everything from the 80s.

And started playing guitar because I lost a coin toss. And me and my good friend, Bill, we were both bass players. And we wanted to start a cream tribute band.

Somebody had to play guitar. And we argued about it for weeks. And finally, he's like, I'll flip you for it.

And we flipped. I lost. I became a guitar player and became a guitar player.

And I played. I've been playing 40 years since I was about 39 years since I was about 11 years old. And played all over the country.

Played with a lot of famous people. It's been a great ride. And I'm getting old now.

Not as old as Al and Apache. But slowing down, I guess. I'm not playing out six, seven, eight nights a month anymore.

But it's fun. And like Rich said, I had stopped playing for a little while. And just wanted to get back out there and start playing again.

I'm a ham. I love it. We all have to be.

So you switched over to guitar. How long were you a guitar player or considered yourself to be a guitar player? I played guitar from the age of, let's see. I started playing bass.

I was about 11. I started playing guitar. I was about 14.

And then when did you switch back to bass again? I always played bass throughout the years. Everybody would always, hey, I need a bass player. Hey, I need a bass player.

And guitar wise, I'm a one trick pony on guitar. I was in a Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute band for like 30 years. I was Stevie Ray Vaughan in the tribute band.

I'm not too versatile on guitar. But bass, I can pretty much. I've played everything from polka to metal.

So you never abandoned the bass guitar? No, I never, you know, no, never abandoned it. I probably won't. It's it's probably what I prefer to play.

I find it more fun, right? Works, you know, like I said, I'm more versatile with it. OK, but how many shows have you guys played? Oh, wow. Last year, last year long.

I mean, this is like our first year. I think we kind of like 45 shows the first year. Not bad.

Not bad at all. We didn't think we I mean, we didn't even know it was going to be one show. Yeah, right, right.

We just started for fun. Right, right. Where do you mostly play? Like where can I guess where can people find you most of the time? A lot of mostly up north.

But I mean, up until the last few months, we started coming out to the south side a little bit. OK, so as the word got out, you know, a little bit more than we started growing our fan base or whatever. So we've gone like to village in Moni to Moni.

We've our first show who gave us our first shot. And I heard you guys mentioned this in another podcast was Pub 78. That was our first shot.

Yeah, yeah. Last year. And we went back a year later and did an anniversary tribute with them.

Oh, nice. He listens to the podcast. He listens to the podcast.

Absolutely. Yeah, yeah. I like him.

Yeah, a friend, a friend of ours. Kelly Ott is the host of their. Yeah, she's amazing.

Open Jam. She's fantastic. I absolutely love it.

And so other, you know, Nikki, we've just been so blessed with having her as a manager. She does all the legwork for us. And she got us in almost everywhere.

Let me tell you, EPI, Waterworks, you name it, wherever we can go. That's when Rosemont Horizon. Yeah, right.

So Poplar Creek, that's how he's showing him. He's showing his age because it's not the Rosemont Horizon anymore. And Poplar Creek is Cabela's now.

Yeah, Poplar Creek hasn't been there for a long time. 30 years. Yeah, actually, it's actually it's not even Cabela's.

It was on the other side of the highway. I grew up, I grew up in the Schaumburg area. And what what is now Cabela's was the some other arena, but it wasn't the outdoor arena.

OK, yeah, but it was over there somewhere, right? It was it was it was over there somewhere, but it was on the other side of the highway. OK, yeah, I know that because for my 17th birthday, a bunch of friends of mine took me to the Elton John concert at Poplar Creek. And they didn't they didn't tell me where we were going.

And along the way, we get into a car accident and and we end up at this bar on where Higgins and Gulf Road. Yes, I know. Yeah.

And there was a bar there called Hugging on Higgins. And here's a bunch of 17 year olds knocking on the door of a bar. I think it was a biker bar because the door just wasn't open.

So here we are knocking on this door saying, yeah, we just, you know, cars over there, we need to call our parents. Right. As I'm hearing the Elton John concert across the highway, on the other side of the highway, on the in the cornfield over there.

Yeah, that's I learned the hard way where it was. But so who do you work with? Nikki, do you work with any booking agents or do you do it all completely yourself? I just do it all myself. It started off with knowing bar owners and bartenders, and then it just kind of grew from there.

And I do all the cold calling. Any suggestions that guys give me, I call, I email, I Facebook, you name it, I do it. Cold calling our bar owners actually answering the phone out is sometimes you'd actually be surprised.

It depends on what time of the day it is. If it's earlier in the day or if it's later in the evening, they're there. OK, otherwise, you know, it's usually like a bartender.

I give my name, my number, let them know who we are, what we're about. And if I don't hear back, I just, you know, kind of call again a week later. You just wear them down until they're finally like, yes, here, just take this date.

Yeah, no, it's that's that's good to hear, because, you know, most places you go to a website and you find out how do you book your band? And it says, you know, go to this spot on the website and, you know, you're lucky if you get an email back or something like that. Well, they have to sift through like 4000 emails a day, right? Everybody's Bon Jovi tribute band wants to play at the bar. You know? Yeah, absolutely.

Comments on the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast do not reflect the podcast itself. Yes, they just they reflect Johnny Gringo's opinion. That is all.

Everything I say is my opinion. It does not reflect the band or this podcast. Right, right.

My lawyers will be in touch with you guys. So since you started this band, Big Al, give us the 32nd elevator pitch. Tell everybody about this band, what you do, what you're all about.

We're about classic rock, 90s alternative music. We play everywhere. Give us a call.

We'll play. So far, we've only done two shows this year and we're still looking to play out there. So if you know anything, give a manager a call and let's rock and roll.

So I'm sorry. Go ahead. I just could say, speaking of play, I noticed that somebody brought a guitar in with them.

Oh, is that is that rich? Is that indicative of possibly hearing a little music? They made me do it. So so what were you going to perform if this is how we do it all the time, man? You know, I never played or sang with him on acoustic. OK, sometimes we get on stage, guys.

Sometimes we get on stage and we say, let's do this song. We haven't even practiced it. OK.

And it just works. Well, it's going to work right now. That's right.

We're going to see we're going to see what happens right here. Because he had that look like, I hope they don't ask about the guitar. Please don't say anything about the guitar.

If I close my eyes, they won't see it. I don't think he saw it. I believe this is where we get to go to the bar.

Is the bar open? Yeah, the bar's open, guys. Give me back a shot, please. So you guys do any anything original or anybody? No, it's come.

It's come to in conversation that maybe we should try it. But so far, nothing has happened with that. All right.

What do you got in mind? Seems like it seems like everybody's original materials when they were younger. And then as you get older, you know, I mean, I stopped writing like probably 20 years ago because I just thought it was, you know, my still got to stuff. Is it good? And I kind of stopped telling people about it.

I just wrote it for me. So who knows? I may be sitting on like a billion dollar hit. You might.

I don't even know it. You could do a YouTube video. And before you know it, you're you're you know, I've been around with Bieber.

If I if I can get if I can get blunt here for a moment. I always said if if if Instagram and YouTube were around 30 years ago and I had breasts, I'd be famous. Yes, times have changed.

Yes, they yes, they have. You get some of these girls on Instagram who can barely play, but they're up there shaking their stuff. And, you know, some things never change.

Right. That's disgusting. It is.

It is. And ladies, if you're listening, you can reach me at johnnygringo.com. Teach him some YouTube. You need a guitar pick? I do actually.

Oh, thank you. It would actually be johnnyjohnnycalifornia.com. That was my. Johnny California.

That's my stage name. And it turned into Johnny Gringo when I joined this band, because like we. Johnny California.

Any relation to Hollywood, Mike? No, no, no. Right, right. All from the same area.

I think if you so I think you're going to need the microphone there so you can sing and you don't need to sing right. And we've had some people in here. You can back away from it.

If you're going to sing a little bit, just kind of put that right over there and that that'll pick up the guitar pretty well. We had another guy in here a few weeks ago that brought in an acoustic and it sounded fine. Oh, now we had a group that brought in electric.

Electric and a snare drum. Yes. So well, we can go get some I can go get a bass from out there and you got that big amp in the hallway.

What the hell? Well, actually, that's small compared to my ears. I might take that out with me because I need a small amp. Yeah, still use it.

You still use the big ones. Oh, yeah. Little combo.

All right, let's get started. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Arclight Acoustic. We're going to do some Paul Anka.

Here we go. So the summer has come and passed. The innocent can never last.

Wake me up when September ends. Like my father's come to pass, Seven years has gone so fast. Wake me up when September ends.

Here comes the rain again, Falling from the stars. Wrenched in my pain again, Becoming who we are. As my memory rests, But never forgets what I've lost.

Wake me up when September ends. Just a little verse, just a little verse. I think it's the wrong button.

Thank you, thank you, thank you. The wrong button. That wasn't the wrong button.

I've never played. That's it. We're trashing this place on the way out.

I was like, where's this giggle snore tell sound coming from? No, very good, guys. It's good. Good Green Day cover.

I like that. Yeah, real good. So, you know, we do a lot of classic rock and alternative rock, which is actually classic rock now.

Yeah. So it's all classic rock. Classic rock is like oldies now.

It's like oldies now, right? And what are oldies? Real oldies. Yeah, real oldies. Dusties.

I'm a guitar teacher also, so some of my students are like, youngest one I think is five. One of my nine-year-old students, I was actually talking about Green Day a few months ago, and I was like, oh, yeah, this Green Day song, great for you to learn. He's like, isn't that that really old band from like, oh.

Oh, that's great. Don't tell him about Elvis. Actually, I have a really big Elvis fan now, seriously.

He's like, I think he's going to grow up to be an Elvis fan. He's a five-year-old, huh? Yeah. I mean, yeah, I love him to death.

He's like, he's a five-year-old, though. Teaching you ukulele, it's a challenge. Yeah.

So you guys have anything on the books for the year, or are you looking for some gigs? What do you guys have coming up in March? Let's pull up the calendar, shall we? Let's pull up the Rolodex. Rolodex. I don't put anything in my phone.

I'm old school, and I write it all down on a calendar. And I have a calendar book at home, which I don't have with me. But I do know they have a potential gig for a venue March 24th or 25th.

March 25th, I think. And then we also do private events, too. So we also have a family that would like them to do a birthday party, which I'm also discussing with them as well.

So potential, too. But then for April, for sure, they will be at Fat Daddy's, which is in Summit, Illinois, on Sunday. Fat Daddy's in Summit? Yes.

Oh, okay. Yes, not the one out in Ottawa. I think it's the same owner.

It is not. Oh, it's not? Oh, it's not? Oh, okay. Different city, different owner? Yeah.

Yeah, okay. But as of right now, I'm trying to book them at least one gig a month and kind of go from there. And so far, I've been doing pretty booked at least once a month playing.

But they have room for more. That's what last year started. This is a bad time.

It's always slow this time of year, though. And we had just recently lost a bunch of gigs due to some drama with booking agents. Yes.

I saw that on your Facebook page. Yes, no kidding. So unfortunate.

That's all we'll say. Yeah, we don't want to badmouth anybody. But all of a sudden, just the gigs were there and all of a sudden the gigs weren't there.

Five shows? More like, yeah, possibly like five shows, five, six shows. And not to mention, you know, the future of the venue. Yeah, future gigs as well.

Yeah. That's the nature of the beast here, you know? Yeah, that happens. So you guys do Green Day.

I saw you guys do some Santana. We do. You do some Thin Lizzy.

Yep, Ozzy. As well. You do some Ozzy.

You do some Stones. What other kind of music are people going to hear if they go out and see you guys? Deep Purple. Wow.

OK. Blue Oyster Cult. Blue Oyster Cult.

Right. Who's playing your keyboards? You know what? That's the thing. When we started the band, we originally said, you know what? We're going to keep it to four no matter what.

Let's try to make those songs that we can't do with, you know. We've changed the arrangements a little bit. Obviously, they're guitar heavy.

Yeah. Right, right. I have an old 90s Digitech that I use for all the keyboard sounds.

So you get a little synth sound and stuff out of it. I do my best. Yeah.

Again, being that my background is just, you know, hollow body straight into like a Fender. So pedals are really new to me, but it's been a lot of fun shopping for pedals, trying to figure out how to make stuff sound like a 70s, 80s synth. Right, right, right.

What's your nightly closer? Oh, that's. Should I stay or should I go? No, that's our. No, that's our.

Our closer is the Trower tune. Robin Trower. Yeah.

Day of the Eagle. Day of the Eagle. Can you guys do that and sing us out? Sure.

Oh, that's. Look at Trower. Trower.

Wow. That's OK. Yeah.

Why don't you guys? Why don't you guys take us out, everybody? No, no. To the bar. Oh, yeah.

Oh, oh, oh. It's right next door. Well, that's simple.

Yeah. Fortunately, it's not open tonight. We heard that last.

That's right. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

I saw a light just up ahead But I could not see the rhythm of my head I'm not alone, and yet I am A superman, that won't fall in love There's been a day of the eagle, eagle not the dove It's like the bee, that brings me down And when I move, I'm on the ground I'm in the night, with the soul Watch for the love, living in the day of the eagle, eagle not the dove This is usually where we go ahead and introduce the band at times. Yeah. Yes, that song should never be played acoustic, ever.

No, I don't. I don't. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Let's hear it for Yuki Valadez on the guitar in Apache. It sounded great. It sounded good.

There's no reason why it shouldn't be played acoustic. So that's Arclight, everybody. That's Arclight.

Thanks for coming out, guys. Thank you for having us. Thank you.

Thank you so much for having us. And once again, real quick, how can people find you? You guys are on Facebook. Do you have your own web page? Yeah.

Yeah, we got a billboard off of I-55 and Cass Avenue with naked pictures of Al. It's quite popular, actually. Very popular.

Yeah, you can look. Well, go ahead. Yeah, we're all over social media at Arclight Chicago.

All right. Arclight Chicago. All right.

Thanks a lot. Thank you. Thank you.

See you guys later. Thanks so much. Yes.

And there you have it. Arclight. Our first salsa-inspired singer.

And we had no chips. We didn't. No, no.

I had a lot of salsa yesterday with the Super Bowl. Yeah. Too much of that crap.

But yeah, these guys are good. Yeah, no, they're pretty good. Absolutely.

Crazy influence, though. Yeah. You know? Salsa, jazz, that was surprising as well.

Exactly. Yeah. And now they're rockers.

Yeah, absolutely. Sounding good. I hope you guys go out and see them somewhere.

It sounds like they're all over. North, south. Yeah.

Anybody that'll have them. Moline, I saw on their website. Moline.

Wow. You got to want to play if you're going all the way to Moline. I don't think The Groove has played Moline.

I don't think we have. Huh? I think the farthest you guys have been is Dwight. No, we've actually done things like the Blue Chip Casino and stuff in Indiana.

Okay. But I'd say Dwight and Blue Chip are about the same. Yeah.

I guess that's about the same. Well, maybe they'll hit those big times. Yeah.

We got some winery coming up this summer that's supposed to be a couple hours away. So that's in Indiana as well. We'll see what happens.

Sounds like fun. All right. So I hope everybody enjoyed tonight's show.

Today's show, I can't say tonight because who knows when you're listening to it. It could be in the morning, in the afternoon. It could be in the middle of the night because you can't sleep and you listen to the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast because it puts you to sleep.

So I hope you enjoy the show and check us out next Tuesday with another exciting, adventurous episode of the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. We'll be featuring Grace and John. I can't wait to ask them how they came up with the name.

Yeah. We'll find out next week or two weeks from now or whenever it is. Maybe we'll get surprised and neither one of them are Grace or John.

Maybe. Maybe it's like George Burns. They idolize George Burns' wife, Gracie, and John Lennon.

That could be it. There you go. Stranger things have happened.

Okay. This is kind of getting kind of weird. So just check us out next Tuesday.

See ya. Catch you later. The Rock and Roll Chicago podcast is edited by Paul Martin.

Theme song courtesy of MNR Rush. 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.

Rock and Roll Chicago.