Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. What's new, Ray? We're back here at the studio at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66. Yes, and I'm over here by the bakery here and I'm proofing some dough.

You are? I am. I'm going to make some bread. Okay, you're proofing it? I'm proofing it.

You're poofing it? Proofing, yes. It's something that bakers do to dough. It's called proofing.

They put it in some sort of a stove and I guess it warms up before it becomes bread. Does it poof up? Is it poofing? I think it does poof. Like a bouffant.

I see. A bouffant or something like that. I hear that it's a valid thing that proofing the bread is a valid thing.

What about whiskey? Whiskey? Whiskey proofing is really good. Yeah? Yes, I always wanted to be a whiskey proofer. Have you done any of that? I have proofed it a few times, yes.

You've tasted it? I have tasted it, yes. It's very tasty. Yes, it is.

Yes, it is. So, we've got valid proof today. We do have valid proof.

Amazing how that all works out. Yes, it is. Yes, it is.

So, it's valid proof. It's a band from Will County. Will County, Joliet, New Lenox area.

Where else? In beautiful Illinois. Yes. Yes.

Just outside Chicago, there's a place called Illinois. Yes. And there's a county called Will and that's where they're from and they do a lot of gigs out this way, which is where we are right now.

We're in Will County. We are in Will County at our studio at the Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66. So, let's get to it and find out what, we talked with AJ, the youngest member of the band.

The youngest, but the newest was a man named Ray. Ray Rowe. Not Ray the roadie, but Ray Rowe.

Right. Right. And we talked to Russ and we talked to Mickey, the lead singer, and Russ is the guitar player and they had a lot of information to share with us.

And so, let's talk to them and see what they have to say. Let's do it. Hello.

Welcome to the show. Today, we're speaking with Valid Proof. How are you guys doing? We've got AJ.

We've got AJ and Russ and Mickey and Ray and we're missing, not you, Ray, not you, Ray. We got a different Ray. And who are we missing? Rich.

Rich. We're missing Rich. What happened to Rich? He has a doctor's appointment.

Did he call? Well, that's a shame. He's going to miss out on those wonderful parting gifts we have, little Pontiacs that are parked out back that we're giving to everybody who had a chance today. You get a car and you get a car.

You get a car. Rich don't get a car. Rich doesn't get one.

So, tell us a little bit about Valid Proof. What's the, how long has the band been together? When did the band get started? Yeah, Mickey and I go back, Mick what was back in the early 70s, 70s, 70s playing together. The Valid Proof model of this run, I guess, of iteration of things probably started back in the early 80s, I would guess, with Valid Proof.

And we're primarily a cover band, did some original stuff early on. But Mick and I have been playing back and forth. We've gone through bass players, drummers, Rich, the guitar player, who's not here today.

I think we started playing together when we were 15 or 16. All Wolf County kind of guys, you know, if you will. Okay.

I took my first guitar lesson at Otto Motte's guitar shop down the street years ago, if you're from this area. But, so we've been playing in and out of bars and events and benefits and the like for more seriously in the last, last 10, 15 years. And you're Russ, you're Russ, just so people hear, recognize the voices.

Yeah. And you play guitar. I do.

He's lead. I do. Plays lead.

I do. So, so Mickey, tell us your story. How did you, Well, I, I started out in a, in a band when I was about, I don't know, 12 or 13 years old.

I started playing drums and then this kid from the neighborhood came over and he was listening and he got behind the drums and he was fantastic. So I was no longer a drummer. So then I started singing.

Oh, you're the drummer that became the lead singer, right? Yeah. Right. Okay.

So I know a few of you guys. And then I was in a band in Aurora called the, the Fabulous Debonairs and we were together for oh, five or six years. And we were played out all the, the big nightclubs around there in the seventies, like the Studio One and Lottery.

Melos? Pardon me? Melos? Melos? No. I never played that. Melos and Bacon.

Our claim to fame back then was opening up for a Gary Puckett and the Union Gap. Did you guys all dress the same too, didn't you? No, not really. So you really weren't Debonair.

No, we weren't that Debonair. But we worked pretty, pretty continuously. So I just wonder how many people are out there now looking up Debonair on their history.

What is Debonair? That's good stuff. That's good stuff. So yeah, I just, I've been singing for, I don't know, 50 years.

All right. AJ, you seem to be a, you're not, you haven't been in the band for 50 years. I know that.

No. So tell us your, tell us your story. So my grandpa is the lead singer in the band.

Okay. And their drummer that they had moved, and the drummer before that passed away. So.

That was Rich's brother. So. Seems like it's a family affair type of thing, right? Yeah, somewhat.

I got the drummer who passed away. I have his drum set. Okay.

Yeah. And they needed a drummer. So, and I've been a drummer for a long time.

I've been playing drums since I was like three. Yeah, I put him on drums when he was in diapers. I bought him a set of drums when he was three years old.

That's what you do to grandkids. Yeah. Send them home with the drums.

He was going to all of our gigs, you know, and he was fascinated with Chuck, our drummer. So, that's where it took him. I started out playing the blues, and I'm playing the blues now.

Right. So the band is basically blues or rock and roll or what? Yeah, we like to, if you had to put us in a genre, it would be 70s blues rock for the most part. You know, it's always a trade-off between the music you grew up with and love.

And wanting to play that, and also being respectful of what the audience wants to hear. So we even dabble into some of the 80s and 90s stuff a little bit. I wouldn't have been known to throw a country song on there right now and then for people hooting and hollering.

But I would say, by and large, over a period of time, we're almost an all-my-brother tribute band and did a lot of that work. I think AJ was around, and he knew all the songs by heart, which was really easy for him to make the transition to the band, which is great. But to this day, yeah, we play a pretty cross-section of music all the way across.

Danceable music as well as stuff you've got to listen to. Seriously. Hi, Ray.

You're up, Ray. Oh, not me. I'm sorry.

I've been playing for, I started out on guitar originally and about four years after playing, the drummer that I was playing with started playing with a, or started working with a guitar player who was an inspiration of mine and got me started four years earlier. And he said that the guy would be interested in coming and checking us out to play with us. So I thought, we didn't have a bass player at the time, so I thought, well, maybe I'll give bass a shot and see how it goes.

So I didn't have a bass at the time, so I borrowed a friend's bass. It only had three strings on it. I don't know which strings they were at this point in time.

But the guy came over and he played with us and he complimented. He said, you're good on that. So I've been playing bass pretty much ever since.

Have you graduated to four strings now? I went to four strings. Yeah, okay. And then I've been playing with a number of bands throughout the area, through Shorewood and Joliet, Lockport and down south, Braidwood, Wilmington.

About a year ago, I got a call from Mickey through a mutual friend asking me if I'd do some jobs with them. And I said, sure. So we practiced twice and went out and did our first job.

And then we did a couple more. And I'm really glad I got with them. They're a great bunch of people.

And I'm really impressed with the drummer. So AJ's the youngest, but you're the newest member? Is that what it is? See, I'm kind of a bourbon and scotch connoisseur, so I'm kind of liking the whiskey. So I'm assuming that Vela Proof has got a whiskey connection.

There is, and probably some other things as well, too. But by and large, yeah, whiskey works for us. I think it's funny.

I would guess if you go to the Wayback Machine and went back 20 years ago, you'd see more of that than you see now. We're pretty much like everybody else, a little bit more reserved than we were in the early days. We're in the past.

So where did the name come from? The backstory on Vela Proof was we had several of the guys, the drummer we passed away earlier, a couple of them were Caterpillar. The bass player? Yeah, and a bass player. And one of them got in trouble and basically ran some disciplinary measures or something with work.

And they said, you lacked valid proof for whatever the excuse was of that day, whatever involved with that job. So the name kind of stuck, and that was probably going back 30 years ago, I guess. Okay, kind of like a rip on the boss.

Yeah, a little bit, and it worked. And there has been that relationship between that and proof with liquor. That's not a bad analogy either, especially with our crowd of people.

They obviously like to have a good time, and we became a bunch of a party band for the most part, which is good. So how'd you guys do during COVID? We didn't do too... We practiced. We didn't go out and do many gigs.

Yeah, everything pretty well shut down. Everybody was in the same boat. We were able to get in and do some quasi-studio work and put some stuff up on YouTube that we wouldn't have probably gotten a chance to do.

For the most part, I think I'm the only one who still... Did a couple biker parties. Biker parties that were there. The people who were defiant.

It's kind of hard to sing with a mascot. It doesn't work well. Yeah, so COVID's got a bit of a reset.

The people that we were playing with, other venues have called us back, said, look, we're open for business again. I think we're excited about coming up and doing 22, seeing a lot of that same activity for the weekends and the bike rallies and things we used to do a lot of. Yeah, I know there's a lot of... Not even big bands.

I mean, National X. Totally wrote off 21 and said, we're just going to wait and go out in 22. And I think you're seeing more of that now. I just heard the Eagles are touring.

Yeah, we saw some people at the last couple gigs we did that the crowds were pretty damn big and they're hanging around. And I think there's a pent-up energy there that says, look, we want to get out, we want to go to the venue, we want to see things. And I think live music might be back again a little bit from a venue standpoint.

Right, I certainly hope so. Well, they just had over 200,000 people up to Phoenix Open this past weekend. That's a lot of people in one... on one hole.

And look at the Super Bowl. Right. So you guys hail from Will County, you said, right? Yeah.

You pretty much stick around Will County and play? Yeah, we go down to Kankakee and we'll go anywhere. We'll play anywhere. Southern Cook.

If the price is right, we'll play. You said you had some original material years ago. What was that? It was like a blues rock or something? Blues rock for the most part.

I mean, we all kind of grew up, I think, in that era where you had British blues rock or you had the Three Kings, right? I mean, we all listened to that and grew up on that and listening to WGLD and listening to the good rock music that came out of Chicago late at night, especially. And I think a lot of us liked playing that music, so we did that. So some of the stuff that we did were kind of along the lines of blues rock.

And I mean, there was also a period of time that there wasn't a lot of interest in that. I mean, we saw the 80s hairband period come and go. We saw a lot of female singers out there singing.

And here we are still playing the kind of music that we kind of grew up listening to. And that's that whole balancing act of how do you put stuff together that people like as well. Are you still playing any original music or no? Not too much.

They want to be able to get out and dance. Matter of fact, we have front and back sheet on our set list and depending upon what the crowd is, we had a gig Saturday night. Flip it over.

That's where all the dance songs were. And we hope nobody got hurt on the dance floor. So what's a favorite of one of your originals? You know, it sounded a little bit like Muddy Waters music, kind of a slow, up-paced blues song.

It had built some dynamics through it, but at the same time it's a nice solo work. Memories of you. I mean, I suppose the lyrics were original, but if you looked at the music you probably could find that same one, four, five blues in a lot of different songs.

But it was fun. It had some dynamics as well. Well, that's what the blues are, right? One, four, five.

And sometimes they'll throw some other things in. For the most part, you're right. Pretty much, you just change the words and it's a new song.

Throw in a seventh chord. A good model. But if it didn't work, they wouldn't be doing it, right? That's so right, so true.

So I think we're looking forward to an upcoming 22, getting out and playing some more. As a matter of fact, we played this summer at a gig with some people that was out towards Kankakee I think. And people came up to us and said, look, he goes, man, thank you for taking me down memory lane.

We're hearing songs that I grew up with that I used to drive around in my car and listen to. And he goes, you guys brought me back again. And so I think obviously AJ's with us because he grew up listening to that.

Obviously, I don't think he drove around listening to that music and Ray, but it kind of fits that groove and we have a great time when we come out. I was going to ask AJ, how did you get into it? He introduced me to the music, but that's only music I listen to. I don't listen to any new music because it's not music, basically.

Good answer. I like this kid. He's an Elvis fanatic, too.

Really? There you go from a 20-year-old. Yeah. Well, he grew up listening to Elvis.

He didn't like the Super Bowl, the halftime Super Bowl. Hated it. Yeah.

I cleaned my sock drawer at that time. American's Funniest Videos were on the other. Yeah.

You know, I mean, there's no haters. I think it was American's Funniest Videos were on their channel. I'm just not into rap.

I never was. So you guys got anything scheduled coming up for this year yet? We just played Saturday night. We played over at Joliet Moose.

Okay. Got a couple of coals in the fire now. We just basically started getting out about four or five months ago.

Okay. I think we had a call from a gentleman from Indiana where we got lined up and, of course, we got a couple things in the summer. Sunday afternoon bike crowds that go out.

There's a place out by Seneca that will be... Yeah, Fat Daddy's. TJ Cars. Yep, TJ Cars.

Kind of our haunts. Is that outside of TJ's? Yeah, it is. So they must have rebuilt that stage since last time I was there.

It's a different truck that you're on than it used to be. It's a better, more modern truck that you're playing. Yeah, they used to have some really nasty stage there.

Yeah, yeah. But, I mean, when you play our kind of music, you're typically going to find people our age and, you know, not really. Look at AJ, look at some of the other people.

They really like that genre of music. And they come out and listen to you and, to be honest with you, you're going to have a good time. And most songs they know, right? I've heard them before on the radio at least if they're at all hip, right? You get carded when you go into these places, AJ? Uh... No.

I'm with the band. He does get the look from some of the women though. I mean, that's a cool look.

I'm sure you guys get the looks too, right? The singer does a lot. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what places do you usually play now? Well, like I said, we play anywhere.

We've even played outlaw clubhouses. We've done a couple of gigs for the outlaws which were a great bunch of people, man. I mean, they waited on us.

You know, they sent the waiters up to the stage with drinks and the money was right there. Everybody was friendly and we had a good time. Yeah, I think the music that we play... Yeah, the Allman Brothers and Skinner and stuff they like.

Do you have any favorite venues you like to play at? You know, I like to play at Longshot's. It's a nice venue. We've played it here as the casinos around a couple of those have been okay.

We played the Triple Play in New Lenox and we opened up for Kansas and Blue Oyster Cult a couple years ago. That was a nice venue. I mean, we like venues where you don't have to bring sound, right? Right.

Do you guys have a sound guy? We've used a few over the years but we just brought our own equipment so we tweak it ahead of time. I see. Rich is our sound guy.

Yes. I just say because a sound guy can make or break a band. A few gigs we've hired sound guys.

Depending on the venue and the size. With the lights and they bring the... crap. But then that takes a big portion of your take.

Yeah, a big portion. A bigger portion than we make, probably. Yeah, yeah.

But sometimes it's well worth it. Yeah, clearly I think everybody in this band, we're doing it because we love it and we love to play and love to play out and love to get through action with the crowd. We're not in this, we have no unrealistic expectations about a long journey to some place.

You don't want to be a millionaire, rock and roller? No, no. It's overrated, I understand. Just want to party, that's all.

Just make enough to buy a bus to drive around. It works. It works.

So no distance playing, huh? No, not really. No. Mostly around Chicago area, south suburbs up around Aurora.

And again, with Sunday afternoon crowd it's typically down south and eastern Washington. It's smaller locations. Well, it's gone away.

Well, it's gone. Well, it's gone away. You know you've done me wrong.

Ray and AJ probably have had some other experiences with them other bands too. Traveled a lot more. So AJ played with another band? I played with two other bands.

My one band that I was in we played mostly around here and stuff. But the other band we went to we played in Chicago a lot. We played at The Bean.

We played at Reggie's. Oh yeah. Reggie's is a nice club.

We also played, we did a lot of Bella bands. What kind of music did you play? Classic rock. Nice.

Like Zeppelin and stuff. I've played across the street. The Forge? Before it was The Forge.

We played there when it was Mojo's and when it was The Tree. But we were the last band that played there so this place didn't want to book us because they didn't want our bad Mojo or something. You were the last band for both? The last time it was The Tree.

They closed down and our banner was still hanging on the stage. Wow. I've been playing classic rock and blues for my whole life.

And he still plays across the street when they have something called 815 where she has young talent on Sunday afternoons. He's the house drummer over there. Once a month.

Very cool. When does that happen? This Sunday actually. It's like the second Sunday of the month.

Yeah. So what's your typical set What's his stuff? I mean try a song list. Almond Brothers Whip and Post, One Way Out, stuff like that.

We do some Neil Young Bad Company Eric Clapton ZZ Top Elvis Dwight Yoakam We do it all. Like Russ was saying, we used to do a lot of Almond Brothers stuff. People thought we were Almond Brothers tribute band 10 years ago.

So can we get stuff on YouTube or can we get some copies of some stuff? Can you interject some music in here at times? We've got a couple of Daughters songs We've got a Yoakam song on there. We've got some Almond Brothers on there. Tom Petty So far they haven't taken those down.

Actually they've worked out a deal where they monetize that so I think we're good to go. B.B. King Are you going to keep doing Neil Young or are you going to pull them from music? I like Neil Young As a matter of fact when we played Saturday night we mentioned we're going to get some Neil Young and there's some moaning in the crowd and we're going to see any masks here so it's okay. I think it's good stuff Neil Young does He's got some great tunes Some nice harmonies for us that work well for the vocal which is good.

You guys do background singing or do you guys take turns? I sing too Russ and A.J. do background Mick is like a Paul Rogers range if you can kind of envision It's pretty good for him for his stuff. Ray won't sing I'm trying to get him to sing but he won't How about now Ray? You got a little tune in you? I might have one More country type vocals I want to start singing some You heard that didn't you Russ? We've got it on tape now we've got it recorded so we'll hold them to it Yeah So you played in a country band? I did play in a short-lived country band and we played probably about we practiced for a couple months and we started to do some jobs and I had a lot of potential I think but the guitar player, he met a girl and two weeks later he was getting married, sold his equipment His dog died and his pickup truck got stolen We tried a couple other people out but then it kind of fizzled out and went away In the 70's I was playing with a rock band, Amsterdam we was playing a lot around here, Lockport and Joliet, Shorewood You guys remember the Oedipus? Oedipus? Oh yeah, we played there It's like name a bar and we probably Remember the Mist? The Shore Club? Shore Club I remember 18th Amendment Well that was the Shore Club I saw Cheap Trick out there before they really went big and they were doing a full show Where? At the Shore Club? I don't know what it was called at that point but it was right before they made it big Yeah I saw a lot of small venues baked in I thought these guys were going to go somewhere and they did You hit it right in the head And then there's bands out there that should have gone somewhere and didn't I remember the Oedipus I remember it was just a small little club and smoke filled Of course nowadays none of them are smoke filled but we'd walk in and there was a lighter smoke about yo hi You got knocked down with heat Yeah Although it made the lights look cool Yeah and bands were playing there It was a little loud but it was good Yeah I'm trying to think of some other clubs I can't The Mist Remember the Mist? Broadway Street? No I don't remember that one I remember a place in in the It's a mall down here in Larkin Oh yeah what was it Golden Fox? I forget what the name of the place was It was kind of around the back Yeah it was in the back It was pretty popular during the disco period Yeah Hot spot I know I was there for a party one time and they did the love train and somebody went around outside the building did a love train came back closed the door and wanted to come back in Pay another cover charge There you go Good deal We don't want you to get an impression that all we did was go to bars but I mean mostly we went to bars That's where the money was Typical bar band We did some of the good owners The bad owners The people who paid The people who didn't pay You boys all drank more than you guys So what's your gear of choice? What do you like to play Ross? I've got a lot of guitars I've been playing since I've been 10 or so so I've accumulated quite a few but I've got my good stuff I keep it on and stuff I gig with I've got an old SG that I play with with nice electronics in it If you switch to Freedman amps just not long ago but I've got a lot of vintage Fenders It kind of depends on the size of the venue and where you're at I've flirted with some digital stuff a little bit Kemper but I keep coming back to good tube amps If you can find one that's no printed circuit board point to point wiring Nice warm sound I've got an ES-175 I use old Gibsons and Les Pauls and sometimes you bring those out Telecasters Yeah Mick, how about you? I don't play You don't play nothing? No, I sing He's got a nice Sennheiser I play a little harmonica Acoustic harmonica or electric? Acoustic How about you AJ? I have I gig a Red Ludwig jump set but I just recently got a custom snare from a company in Nashville that I am going to buy the rest of the jump set for it and I'm probably going to start gigging that AJ also runs a charity I run a 501c3 non-profit it's called Recycled Rhythm I collect used percussion or any instruments and I refurbish them and I give them to kids and adults with special needs Very cool Do you have any cards with you AJ? We have a Facebook page and Instagram Recycled Rhythm on Facebook and Instagram Are you looking for donations for instruments? We're looking for donations people do donate the drums too because with Covid no one wanted us to be in their house donating drum sets so it was on hold for a long time so we're just trying to get it back up and going Is it just drum sets? No I've gotten trumpets, trombones, guitars clarinets Harmonicas? Yeah I got a harmonica That sounds like a great organization Good for you And Ray I have a number of basses but the one I prefer is an Ibanez It's a neck through I bought it and it had a light G string so I took it back It wasn't equal Those kind of bars So I took it back and told the guy the G string is light and he said we can change the pickups out with Ibanez pickups but he said I would recommend going with EMG so I said okay let's do that so he switched the EMG pickups in it and I've been using that pretty much ever since it's my main bass but I've accumulated a number of them other kinds but that's the one I prefer and for my amplification I use Mark Bass I got a couple 210 cabinets that really sound nice I also have a single 12 I'm thinking about bringing those in just to get a little more depth No stacks, no full stacks or anything Travel light I had some one amp it was really nice but when I bought it they said it was 65 pounds and when I got it, it was approaching 100 it sounded so good that I went out and bought a dolly and used that for a number of years and then I thought, ah, it's heavy so I found the Mark Bass works real good It got heavier as the years went on I find that too No custom equipment with the tuck and roll I see you had a Rickenbacker in one of your videos That was the other bass player I used the Rickenbacker Ernie Flanagan had one and I got to play a couple songs and he had a strap on it that was way too long so I had to sit down on the stage to play it So what do you guys got coming up as far as gigs? Is he in the next month or so? They want to book us again over here at the Moose I think we're going to be playing at Long Shats probably within a month or so over here off at Jefferson Street We had another gig coming up in Indiana So that's the beginning and then the summer months will be typical Sunday afternoon Do you do most of the booking? Uh, Russ and I Yeah, just whatever comes across the phone lines You go out and look for stuff They don't sound like serial killers So where can people find VeloProof out in the social world? Right here We've got a Facebook site, obviously it's Facebook VeloProof Band and YouTube is a VeloProof Band as well too Both of those are out there Subscribe to that, become a friend and follow us and find out where we're going to be playing It's like as deep as we go with that, a little bit of Instagram but not a great deal No website? No website, just using Facebook Just Facebook, right? Alright, so if anybody wants to get a hold of you that's where they can find you Alright Thanks guys for joining us Thanks for having us We'll see you out in the Come out and listen to us if you see us I don't usually have anything going on on the Sunday afternoons Sunday, you can go over there and listen to AJ That's Sunday, go see AJ Alright you guys, thanks So that was VeloProof, that was Russ and AJ and Ray and Mickey and they've been playing around for quite a while and doing a good job of it Many years, all the way back to the 70's Do you remember the 70's, Paul? Barely Most of us don't If I do, that means I didn't have a good time That's right, it was not a good night then It was not a good one at all So that was some good stories from them guys Especially from AJ I'm very impressed He's got that little foundation thing going Recycled Rhythm Where he collects musical instruments and refurbishes them and gives it to people with needs Special needs So that's a great thing he's doing You should check him out Facebook is Recycled Rhythm Inc on Facebook Check him out If you've got any gear you're looking to donate to get rid of, get a hold of him Very cool Young kid is doing stuff like that He should be on TV Dateline should be doing a show about him Yes Dateline does a lot of shows about people being murdered That's true, maybe not Dateline Maybe something else 2020 CBS Sunday Morning with Jane Pauley That's a good show That would be perfect for him to be on there Actually you turned me on to that show I like that show It's very good It's always valid proof Be sure to check them out next time you hear them being at a club or a venue or a festival near you And a cool thing is they do a lot of Sunday afternoon gigs Sunday afternoon gigs are kind of fun During the summer, it's nice outside Nothing to do, head out somewhere and check out some music Get your drink on early and then go home and rest and go to work the next day That's right And you're sober by the time you get up for work That's right So valid proof, we appreciate those guys coming in and spending some time with us here So be sure to check them out And thanks for listening everybody We'll talk to you soon See you next week, bye bye