Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray DiRodi for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. What's up? What's up, Ray? Spring is almost here, you know that? It is. That's why I brought my umbrella out today.

You did? Mm-hmm. Why? Is it raining? I heard something about possible rain today, so I brought my umbrella. Oh.

It's a beautiful day, though. It is. It was a beautiful day.

Sixty degrees. Oh, man. I'm going to open the pool, I think.

There you go. There you go. It's almost like it's April.

Almost like April. You know, it always rains in April, too. Yep.

April showers bring May flowers. Is that what they say? That's what they say. March comes in like a sea monkey and goes out like a, like a... A mollusk.

I was going to say a muskrat. A muskrat. Okay.

Yeah, but seeing that, you know, it is raining out and April's coming, we should maybe talk to April's rain? Good idea. I thought so. Good idea.

I thought so. I'm always thinking, you know. Yes, you are.

I love how you put that together. I've got just tons of ideas. So let's talk to them.

Okay. Both of us, or just you? Well, you can talk to them. Okay.

I can talk. All right. Let's talk to them.

All right. Let's do what they have to say. Let's do it.

Hey, everybody. Welcome to the show. Today, we're talking with April's rain.

We've got Jeff and Tony and Darren and, of course, Susie. Hey. Lead singer.

How are you? Great. Doing good. Good.

Hello. Good. So, so tell us, tell us how the band, how did you guys get started, first of all? I know you guys have been through some changes over the years and, but tell us, tell us how did you get the name and how did you get started? Well.

Do you want to take that? Well, I initially, I had never been in a live band before, and I worked at TGI Fridays right by Midway Airport. Okay. In 66th and Cicero.

And a girlfriend of mine, she was a waitress and she, I was a waitress as well. She said, hey, you know, my, my buddy's got a, my boyfriend has a band. He's looking for a singer.

She's like, I know you sing like R&B. She goes, but would you ever sing rock? And I'm like, I don't know. Yeah.

Sing karaoke. Right. Sure.

And so I met with a gentleman named Tom Maycheck and Jeff Gordon and Tom Maycheck said, we met at his apartment. He's like, this is the audition. Like, oh, okay.

Yeah. And he started playing a song and I sang it and he's like, you're in. I'm like, oh, okay.

That's great. Cool. So initially.

No live experience of ever playing, singing with anybody live. No, no, no, no. I was like, all right, I'll just walk into this.

At the very beginning, we were Anxiety Society. So it was with Tom Maycheck, Jeff Gordon, Billy McCarthy was the drummer and Billy came in and he's just, Billy is Billy. We just did a podcast with Billy.

Did you really? Yes. Oh, he is something else. Yes.

He is larger than life. Yes, he is. If you talk to him at eight in the morning, he's the same.

He's on 10. Yeah. At all times.

As we evolved. Now, was this before he was in the mall, the malls? This was after, way after. Because at that time, I'm going to say this was about early 2000s.

Okay. And I didn't know who Billy was. I didn't know.

Right. I mean, he told me, I got to know. I was like, oh, wow.

Yeah. You know, brilliant person. And eventually, as we do know that bands, you know, they form and then they, things transgress, people change.

Tommy left the band for whatever reason. We got a different guitar player. Billy McCarthy is always in about a hundred different projects.

He's always doing something. He wakes up, he's doing something. He's going to bed.

He's thinking about doing something. He's continuing to do something. We got another drummer.

That didn't last long. But eventually, we got to Tony Berg, who is here today. Hi, Tony.

Hello. It's kind of fuzzy for me. Well, I had been in a band with Ed Switzer.

You know, Eddie. Yes. Yes.

And the Eddie Orbit Band. We had a singer. We played for about two years.

Had a singer, Angelo Negrete. Really good singer. Rest in peace.

Yep. Yep. Recently passed away.

But yeah. Yeah. It was a pretty good band.

We played for a while. And then I, my wife and I had my first son. My only kid.

What year is this? This is probably 05, 06. Something like that. And we took a little break.

In fact, the bass player, at the same time, his wife had a baby. So we took a little break. And then we were going to get back together again.

And Angelo was busy with another project. So we reformed me, Ed, his brother Johnny, and Dan Greeney on bass. And we just all switched, you know, shared the singing duties in that band.

And then at the same time, we got that together. I think somebody had left your, had left Anxiety Society. If I hadn't, it's all a blur sometimes.

I've been trying to think about this for two weeks. I'm like. I think your guitar player, Tommy.

How the hell did we get to this? Well, somehow they needed Ed to fill in. Ed and Jeff. And we, you know, the people she was with.

You talk about all these bands. These are people that, you know, I grew up with. You know, a whole group of people.

We're connected to Darren for probably decades now through other musicians. So, you know, we were always, it was a whole group of us always, you know, in and out of projects. So I think Jeff had called Ed, our guitar player, to see if he could fill in when you lost your guitar player.

Tom Maycheck, yes. So Eddie Switzer. So he went and played with you for I don't know how long.

It was very short-lived. Yes. But, you know, Ed said, hey, you know, I got this band, Anxiety Society.

They're looking for a guitar player to help out to fill in. Do you guys mind? And we didn't care. We were like, yeah, that's fine.

Sure. And, you know, both bands going at the same time. And then your band imploded.

My band imploded. Anxiety Society imploded. A band imploding.

Imagine that. That's really unbelievable. So I remember Ed called me up one day and he said, hey, you know, this girl Susie, you know, this band is over and done with.

He said, I'm going to ask her if she wants to join our band. And I said, yeah, that's fine. I'm good with that.

So that's not how it was brought to me. Do you want to join my band? But I digress. But yeah, so so I told Ed, I said, yeah, why don't you ask her, see if she wants to come out and join the band? I think that would, you know, and he evidently, you know, obviously got ahold of you.

Well, and don't forget, by that time we had already changed the name from Anxiety Society. That's correct. To April's Rain.

Okay. During the time before the implosion of Anxiety Society, we had had a drummer and his name was Jeff. For a little while, he was in the band.

He likes to say that he made up the name of the band because his daughter's name was April. That is not true. His daughter is a lovely, lovely woman.

But I honestly said, because I always thought of myself when I was younger, I thought of myself as a princess, right? I'm a princess of rock, right? Okay. You still are. Well, I'm a little bit.

You're a queen now. I'm a queen. Damn it, I'm a queen.

So at this point, I was like, you know, I want something reminds myself of me because I'm a lead singer. Everything I want to remind me of me, right? And I wanted a simple name that someone would remember. Not like, you know, I thought April was a pretty name that people would remember.

Oh, April, April. And I thought rain, like a queen, like rain. I rain over the band.

There you go. April's rain came to pass. We were, it did implode.

We had Gordy Lorenzell in the band at that time. I'm sorry for going back and forth. I'm a horrible storyteller.

I saw you once at the Coliseum. Yes, yes. And Gordy was in the band then.

Gordy, amazing, amazing keyboard player, amazing piano player, amazing songwriter. He also left the band. So people were just in and out.

And it was just me that was just sticking around. Eddie joined the band. And it really, it wasn't unusual for that.

I mean, like I said, we all, a bunch of us all grew up like Gordy. I mean, I've known Gordy for, you know, probably 40 years. He had done projects with him, you know, years ago with that original stuff.

So, you know, guys floating in and out of bands. I think it's that area, right? Evergreen Park, Orleans, that whole southwest suburb area. It's like all you rock guys know each other.

Right, right. Involved in projects at various times, yeah. Yeah, so.

So I don't know how long April's rain before you came with us, that short-lived, probably? I would say maybe three, two, two, three years, maybe? Okay. It was, it was a while. I mean, we were, we were gigging every place, everywhere.

In God's green earth of the southwest suburbs of Chicago. But she evidently agreed to at least come out and check it out, so. Yeah, well, Eddie, Eddie did not tell me that I was joining his band.

It was kind of like, we're, okay, we're going to do this. You're coming, we're, we together collectively are going in this direction. All right, you know, I'm just a girl.

I'm just a girl. Let's go. Let's sing.

I just wanted to sing. Right. You know? And I, I am not like a managerial person, so I'm like, where do I show up on Saturday night? But you brought the name April's rain with you.

I did, because we had already established it, you know? It was the girl with the big hair. Right. She's in April's rain.

And I think we had talked about that, you know, and that, you know, we all, again, know each other. Ed was tighter with, you know, Jeff than, you know, than the rest of us. And I think he got Jeff's blessing, if that was even necessary.

To continue to use the name. And, you know, we were, you guys were booking through Joey DeMarco at the time. Absolutely.

And I think, I think Joey agreed. You know, Ed had talked to him about what the best course was to take with the name. And, you know, he agreed to, that was probably the best thing to do.

Probably still booking with Joey too. And still booking with Joey. Yeah, you know.

Everybody does. Everyone does. The infamous Joey DeMarco.

Yes. So, but yeah, we, you know, that's how it all came together. We, you know, the first, the first night.

What year was it? Probably 06, that's what I'm thinking. Gosh. Yeah, 06.

I was like 10. I started working at Blue Chip in 06. Well, we.

Started playing there shortly after that, right? Yes. Yeah, well, I still say that's the first gig we had with her, I know. Yeah, and I know Ed will listen to this at one point and disagree with me.

No. He says it was Bourbon Street, but no, it was, it was the Blue Chip. It was, we billed it the Eddie Orbit Band with special guest Susie Castillo.

And the plan was we were going to play half of the material we were doing, you know, all sharing the singing duties, mostly Ed, but, and then you were going to come up and, and do some songs. And if I remember correctly, you just spent the whole night on stage. I was going to say, I got kind of shafted on that because I did the whole fucking thing.

Nobody told me you guys are doing half of it. It's kind of bullshit. So we, yeah, we, we kind of hit the ground running.

That was when the Blue Chip was doing that late band deal. There was a, there was a headliner and then another band that come up and play like midnight to three. Right, right.

And we did that for quite a while, but we hit the ground running right from there on. I mean, she really literally came out and rehearsed with us. It wasn't even really an audition.

I mean, it was more. All right. We were in Ed's garage.

He said, she's coming over. She came over. She walked in.

She, we probably sang about eight or nine songs and she's like, okay, it's good to go. And we said, all right. And, you know, we had the set list and, you know, it's like most of the songs we played, you know, for years anyway.

So Ed is in Oklahoma. Ed is in Arkansas. Yeah.

I was close. Arkansas. Yeah.

Health issues. And, you know, just, you know, I think that that was a better location for him with, you know, being up here at the, you know, the rough winters and stuff like that. And his parents had relocated down there too.

So I see. So he went down there and we, you know, and then, you know, like Susie said, these, you know, bands, you know, you evolve, you go through guitar players. We had, you know, Luke Caruso for a while.

Yeah. Rest in peace. Another.

Yeah. Luke Caruso, the great Luke Caruso. And, you know, Tony Passantia.

Who else? I can't even think. It's been a whirlwind. Yes.

I feel like Tony Berg and I are like, he's like my work husband. Yeah. Because I've been with him for a long, long, long time.

Well, that is true. We probably are, you know, probably the longest surviving members, I guess you could say. Yeah.

Knock on wood, Jesus. What do you mean longest surviving? Yeah. Because we had, you know, we went through a couple of bass players before we got Darren.

Right. And, you know, one of the greatest bass players around in the area. Well, you know, it's strange.

I've known Darren, what? Probably for half my life because of my stepfather, Ron Derby. He's here like best friends with them. And he, you know, now that's a different rock circuit.

Right. That's like the city of Chicago, South Side. Right.

Those guys all know each other, too. Everybody, everybody from the South Side of Chicago who plays a rock instrument knows each other or have been in a band together. We had so many connections between other people.

We all, you know, I mean that, you know, everybody knows somebody that knows. Oh, I know them. I know.

Yeah. Yeah. So we did.

We also I forgot to mention, you know, we had Gary Carboni at one point as a drummer before you. Rest in peace as well. He has also passed.

Crazy. Another brilliant musician as well. He was in there with us for a while.

But yeah, so many, so many different. And then you had Johnny, who was Eddie's brother. Yeah.

Johnny and Eddie were in the band for the longest time. And then Johnny got involved in some other projects. And we that's when we brought Tony on.

And he was with the band for a couple of years. And then he left the band and we got Johnny back. And then again, Johnny was busy in other projects, too.

So that got to be it's kind of was tough for him to dedicate his time. And then that's when. And now you have Jeff.

Jeff, I understand you knew Johnny. So everybody knew somebody, right? Everybody knew somebody. Yeah.

I've known. I knew Johnny for probably 10 to 12 years. And I've seen April's Rain before.

And I was playing. I came here from Detroit in the late 90s. Were you playing Motown after? I was not playing Motown.

I was a heavy metal guy. We were doing. I was sort of playing in bars when I was 14 years old.

In Detroit. You can do that in Detroit. Yeah.

I don't know if you can do it anymore. But yeah. I came here.

And I did some original music. And then one of my friends. She was a great singer.

Another one who's passed. And she talked me into joining her cover band. So that was my first cover band.

Who was that? Her name was Sandy. She was a great singer. She was a very good friend of Kimi Hayes as well.

She was a great singer. So she got me. She talked me into joining a band called My Headphone World.

Cool. And we were playing around in the suburbs. I learned all this stuff.

Then I eventually went into a band called Reckless. And that lasted several years. Just until about the pandemic.

It was starting to not get fun for me. Playing the type of music that we were doing. So it was kind of like a mutual thing.

So we kind of parted ways right before the pandemic hit. And I think they did like one more show after. And then I was looking for... I reached out to Johnny for something.

I hadn't talked to him in probably like five years. Johnny Switzer, right? Johnny Switzer. And we were always just talking.

There was something else besides music I reached out to him for. And then I asked him, are you guys doing any music? Are you guys playing now? He said, well, you know, I'm just kind of... He sounded like he was sick of... I don't know. Just the grind and getting home at three in the morning like we all do.

Stuff like that. And he says, well, you know, it sounds like they're right up your alley. What do you think? I told him two weeks ago that I was done.

So if you want the audition, I thought about it. I think I would like that. So here you are.

Here I am. Yeah. I don't even know if they auditioned anyone.

I think it sounded like it was kind of like Suzy's thing. You're in. Yeah, I mean, I went there and I knew like 20 some songs that kind of overlapped with my old band.

We kind of played together and everything gelled. I think the main thing with Jeff was, do you prefer Detroit-style pizza or Taffy-style Chicago thin crust? We did have them discussions. Squares or triangles? That's the thing.

I am a square pizza or deep dish. So Chicago, deep dish. But it did work out great, really, because, you know, Johnny and it was everything was cool.

You know, Johnny, like Jeff said, Johnny was, I think, just burnt out, you know, running his own painting business and gigging, you know, with us. And, you know, that, you know, getting home at three, four in the morning and, you know, it was just kind of tough. And, yeah, within a matter of, you know, just a couple of weeks, he had called me and said, hey, I know this guitar player.

He, you know, like you said, it might be, you know, right up your, you know, what you guys need up your alley. And I said, yeah, great. And called Jeff.

In fact, I think I was on vacation. I was in Michigan. Yeah.

And I called him from the balcony of our hotel and we chatted for a little bit. And I said, yeah, when we come back, let's get together and see what happens. And, you know, from the day he came out, it worked out really well.

And we've been together ever since. Probably since April. Probably, yeah.

Probably about a year, about a year now. Cool. Yeah, I was just saying, the way it had before my friend Jeff, he kind of got off light.

I do remember. That is true. It was November 2014.

I remember this well. I'll never forget it. Tony and I have been, you know, been friends for a long time.

As well as me and Susie, you know, so you know. But anyway, I remember it was second week of November of that year. And all of a sudden, I get a text from Tony.

I'm at work. I go on lunch. I get a text from Tony.

You want to join the April train? I'm like, are you shitting me? He says, yeah, you want to join the April train? I'm like, yeah, okay, when? Now? Sure, all right. He goes, okay, I'll send you the set list. So he sends me the set list.

I said, all right, great. When do you want me to have this ready by? This Friday and Saturday? This was a Tuesday afternoon. Yeah, I remember it was a Tuesday or Wednesday.

You're right, yeah. We had lost our bass player at one of them last minutes, just crazy, you know. Again, some drama surrounding bands that's a story for another day.

Thank goodness I knew the majority of the set list. There was a few that I didn't know. So I would work 12-hour days, come home, and just cram sessions like the rest of that week on stuff that I didn't know, which obviously paid off.

But I do recall that Friday night was at Niko's. We played Niko's on Friday, and we played the Blue Chip on Saturday. I remember the first time you came in the Blue Chip, and I says, who's this left-handed monster? He says, you play left-handed.

You play bass left-handed. And I says, you're a powerhouse. It took me maybe two or three shows to get comfortable with all the arrangements and such, but he was like, OK, we got Niko's Friday and Blue Chip Saturday night.

I just started sweating bullets. I'm like, oh, God, yeah, put me on a set. But it went great.

Obviously, great bass player. I've had the honor to play with some really good bass players in this area. Dan Graney, one of them, and Darren, another.

Two really monster bass players. But he came in and knocked it out of the park. I remember playing and just looking at Johnny like, oh, my God, where did this guy come from? I had known Darren, but never played with him.

Never jammed with him, but to be on stage with him and see how good he was and just how much better he made us. No rehearsal. No rehearsal, nothing.

Went in cold. And again, hit the ground running, gigging every weekend. You think this left-handed bass player needed any rehearsal? No, no, no.

He's a badass. He's very unassuming, though, right? He's like, I'm going to just chill here. And then he comes out and he just blows the fucking water.

It's everything out of the water. We go places and then there's people just staring at him playing the bass. I'm like, all right.

That's cool. All right. Excellent, excellent bass player.

He knows what he's doing. He's the pride of the South Side. So, Jeff, you've been in since COVID, right? Since we started playing again after COVID, right? Yes.

How did you guys survive through COVID? Did you guys do any live streaming stuff or anything? Or did you just rehearse? Or were you able to rehearse? We weren't even really able to rehearse. Every day I thought that the world was going to end and we were going to die. I was sitting in my house in my basement crying and eating.

But it was pretty difficult. We didn't know how to do we practice or do we not rehearse? Will we play again? Yes. It was kind of depressing, right? We didn't have any contact with other people to play and to interact and shows.

For me, it was depressing. I went on a crash diet because I was eating everything every night. It was pretty tough for me.

Yeah, probably didn't play a lot for that whole time. We got together maybe socially because we know each other and stuff, but probably didn't play for quite a while. Thankfully, everything kind of came around again now.

We basically stayed in contact through text. Play-wise, we really didn't get together until the following year. It was tough.

It's been a tough time, obviously, the last couple of years for bands and a little entertainment. It's been a struggle. I felt like it was difficult for Jeff because it's like, hey, you're in April's Rain.

Yeah. All right, now we're not going to do shit because there's a fucking pandemic going on. It was hard for us to connect collectively as a band, really connect until after I don't know, maybe six months ago.

Pretty much as soon as I got in, you guys had booked something. You're asking me, is that all right? I'm like, sure. Then again, through the whole thing, I wasn't really playing as much as I should be.

My calluses were gone on my fingers. I had to do some serious woodshedding to learn another 40 songs on top of the 20 that I already knew. I had to do a lot of serious practicing, spend a lot of hours dialing everything in.

You said that you play in an original band. Have you guys ever toyed with any original music? We have from time to time. Sometimes we change.

We have in the past, but then I think through some band changes and never really put anything down. We talk about it. It's hard because when you change band members, then they're like, well, that's my song.

You kind of don't want to play something that someone else who's not in the band any longer has written because then it just gets a little hairy. We're bad when it comes to ... It's like six playing Lady or something. It's like anything.

You try to make the time, but we've got families. Suzy's got a couple kids. Now I've got my kids.

She's 18. Busy with work. It's just really hard to get together.

We say we're going to do this. We talk about originals every now and then. Well, I wrote this.

I wrote that. What do you think? Probably obviously spent more time with the cover material and playing shows, but I never rule anything like that out. Jeff, you write songs, right? I do.

I'm still playing in an original band at this time, but most of my time is focused on all the cover music because I have to keep going over. We don't do the same set when we play, so I have to keep going over, keeping everything fresh, keeping the guitar solos fresh and all the scales. You guys work off a set list, don't you? We do.

We try to change it around, but we're trying to refine it now and add some stuff and try to put together a nice little package. I remember Suzy yelling out a song. We're doing this one next.

We're doing that one next. You know damn well it's on that set list. Yes.

I like when people are like, could you play a country song? I'm like, you know what? Why not, right? Let's look on the set list and see if there's a country song we're going to play. Yeah. That's what we've been doing now just lately.

It's just, like I said, refining the set list and adding some stuff and trying to cater to what we do. You've seen the band, so you know. Yeah, I've seen the band.

I've seen the band a few times. Many times. For somebody out there who hasn't seen the band, how would you describe your music? What do you guys do? That's a good question.

Cross all genres. Just a little bit of everything. Obviously playing off of Suzy's charisma and stage presence and singing ability.

Some Janis. Janis Joplin, Bruno Mars. We try to be a fun casino type.

Play the kind of music that people know and recognize. Stuff that people want to dance to. I think we're trying to bring more of that into the set just to get people out and get people dancing.

That's what the club owners and people want to do. Absolutely. You want to know something, though, Paul? When I first joined the band, when I first joined a live band, I imagined that I was going to be like Heart.

I was going to be like... I could see my big hair blowing in the wind and I would just play like... I was going to be like Stevie Nicks and I was just going to be like... I was going to be just... And then I ended up singing like Guns N' Roses and Led Zeppelin. It turned into way better than I ever dreamed of in my life. Sweet Child O' Mine.

Just stuff that I never initially thought I would be singing and I'm there singing... Take me across the world. I'm singing Stealing by Uriah Heath. I thought it was... I just didn't think it was going to go the way it did.

I mean, I'm blessed. I thank God that it did because there's some music that I never, ever would have been just thought of or learned. Put yourself in into that type of music.

Because I'm a female, I think a lot of people would be like, why the hell is she singing that song? And they're like, this is fucking cool. It works. It worked out.

I like to challenge myself to do stuff that nobody would ever think that a chick would be up there singing. You get the crowd going, stealing when you should have been buying. When you should have been buying.

Yeah. I think we got a nice mix of tunes like that where people just go, wow. We play a lot of the standard stuff, but we do pull some stuff out.

People are like, wow, okay. But yeah, it's been a fun ride. I would think 16 years is a pretty long time for a cover band to survive in this area.

We're still having fun. Still at it. Still knocking them dead.

Now trying anyway. Absolutely. In my life, I think this is the most stable thing I've ever done in my entire life.

The thing that has stayed the same in my life. This is it. That tells you the life of a person.

Even with all the ups and downs, like you said, the band drama and your typical, I'm sure every band goes through stuff like that. We've been through a lot. But listen, I'm a female.

I'm not the one with the drama. Ironically enough, I am not the one that's got all this drama going on. Everyone always has a stigma about the woman, the female in the band, that she's difficult.

Probably true. I am late to everything. I am late to every show that I've ever had in my life.

However, I don't think I cause problems. I think the drama we've had in the band is probably not any different than a lot of bands. I always said that the book that could be written about April's Reign would be very interesting.

I don't know how many people would want to read it. I mean, it's chock full of we've lost a band member to suicide. That was horrible.

We've been through child births and different... Tony has given birth many times. But I'm just saying, we've run through so many different scenarios. Paul, do you remember seeing me eight months pregnant at the Blue Chip? It was a challenge.

I thought I was going to give birth on stage. But one thing about the Blue Chip, it's like... There's a lot of paramedics there. There's a lot of paramedics, thank God.

But there's also a family there that everybody knows everybody. I felt like I didn't feel uncomfortable weighing 450 pounds up there and ready to give birth. Everyone was genuinely like, there's Suzy.

She's going to have a baby. Maybe on stage tonight. Right, right.

There's her water breaking. When you had your first, I think the last gig we played was two weeks before. It was two weeks before.

And then we played the next gig we played after you had the baby was two weeks after. It was interesting. I was like, let's see how I do this.

Is this really going to happen? Look, her water broke when they were doing Bridge Over Troubled Water. Wow. Was that planned? Yeah.

I know with your second baby, with Roman, we had booked a show, a corporate show, and it was close to your pregnancy. Yeah. I'll never forget the look of horror on the general manager of the company's face when we walked in to play this gig and she was eight and a half months pregnant and she just was horrified like something was going to, you were going to give birth on stage.

Listen, listen. I'll tell you one thing, guys. One time my first pregnancy the band decided that they were going to get a temporary singer to fill in for me while I was... That's what the fuck they thought.

Me being the petty woman that I was, I was like okay, yeah, fuck you. Go ahead. Go ahead, get another singer.

Probably, I would think in the history of the band, one of the biggest mistakes we ever made on this calculation and I think that was because we had some gigs booked and I think Joey thought it might be a good idea but I mean really when you look at April's Reign she is April's Reign and we realized that but I think at the time we were worried about the couple of shows we had booked but it didn't go well. So you did have someone else. They did, Paul.

And I remember playing a gig a bar owner hired us up in, I don't know if Crystal Lake or somewhere and we walked in and he's looking around and we went up on stage and he came up to me and came up to Ed and where's the girl? She's right there. No, that's not the same girl. Damn right that's not the girl.

Pregnant or not, it doesn't matter, I want her here. You know when you want to go out and do something and your wife doesn't want you to and she says, sure. Go ahead.

And you know you shouldn't do it. You know it's going to be fucked up because she does not want you to do it. That's what I said.

I said, go, go. Obviously looking back in retrospect, I mean at the time we probably should have just canceled a couple of shows. You bastards.

I'm not over it. Obviously I'm not over it. Who's causing the drama now? And really I got to give you credit because that was when you had come back and I think we did fulfill the commitments we had and you, that was when we played up until right when you had the baby.

Yeah, so you certainly could have told us to go pound when we asked you if you could come back and play those couple of shows. Bastards, bastards. But yeah, that was an interesting time, I'd have to say.

It was interesting for me. I was like, go ahead, let's see how this train wreck fucking goes. But you can see that.

I mean that's what, you know, I think that. But you stayed home, right? You didn't go to the show. Hell no.

And I remember the day the girl, I guess the girl came to see the show and Eddie thought I was going to be friends with her or something. I ignored her. I was like, no, I don't know who this bitch is.

But it's not me and I'm not talking to her. The way it was going to go in our mind, it was not the way that it went down. But the good thing about April's Reign is, like I said, I mean, Susie, you know, she's the face of the band and you know, I always kind of described our band as she's kind of like the female Elvis.

She's out there. You know, she's out there and then, you know, we're in the back there, you know. Wearing a gym suit.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. And then we're, you know, kind of the backing band. I never really looked at us as that, but you know, I think it always worked because, you know, that never bothered us that she got all the attention and was the face of the band.

We were, you know, just happy playing and having a good time and, you know, grooving on that, you know, getting, you know, the chemistry that we have, me and Darren and now Jeff. And it works like that. I think that, you know, the couple of people that we've had in and out of April's Reign that might have had problems with her, you know, as far as an ego standpoint or something.

They're not in the band. What? Well, you know, they're obviously not in the band anymore. Right.

But no, so far so good. There was one person that was in the band, and I won't say who, but he was strange. He said that I didn't appreciate him.

I don't know. What did he say? I know you don't want to go there, Tony, but I'm going there. Well, that all goes back to, like I said, the people that don't.

We've had, you know, members drift in and out of April's Reign, obviously, over the years. And I think they, I don't know what they want. I don't know what they expect from Susie.

I've always said that I think that there's some kind of weird dynamic where they, I think they want her to be the same person she is on stage, away from, there's some weird thing there where... Nobody is, right? No, no, he had a persona about you that you, that kicks into gear when you go on stage. Yeah, nobody's the same. Yeah, and I do remember him and I having this conversation about Susie, and you know, a lot of just, you know, questioning, you know, I don't know.

She doesn't respect us. She doesn't talk to me. She doesn't do that.

And she doesn't, you know, we're not, you know, I don't feel like we're friends. I don't feel like we're friends. Just weird, you know, weird.

You know, my whole point was, you know, I said, hey, you know, dude, this is a great band. I mean, I don't see what the problem is. I don't quite understand where you're coming from.

It's weird. It was just an odd, you know, I don't know. I try to be respectful to my bandmates.

They make me sound good, right? I don't, I'm just some girl on stage singing if I don't have good musicians behind me. Right, right. And he was a great musician.

He was a really good player. He wanted me to kiss his ass or something. It was very odd.

I mean, it got to the point to where he was, you know, demanding meetings and band meetings. And I said, well, I go, I said, well, first of all, we're a cover band. I said, so, you know, you got to keep in perspective.

I said, but it's a great thing. I mean, we're gigging at places we never played before. She's a great singer.

You know, it's a, you know, everything's, it's a great show. I mean, we're having a lot of fun. I don't know why we get, you know, mired down in all this nonsense.

I could never figure out what that, you know, but I guess that's just, you know, some musicians are built. And I don't know necessarily if he had an ego, but I just think he, I think he was expecting a different relationship with you and the band when we really were just bandmates. I mean, at the time.

Some people you get closer to in a band, right? You gel with and you, and then some people, you just don't have the same interest. It's not a big deal. Right, right.

It doesn't mean you can't get on stage and play together. Exactly. Yeah.

Well, you see, you know, Susie on stage is very animated and, you know, does a, got a great stage presence. It's nothing bad. Right.

But she's got a great stage presence and all that stuff. And I think part of it with him was he would be frustrated that that didn't drift off like when we were off stage. And I'm like, well, she's not that, she's different.

That's a different person on stage. I go home and I have a cat and I want to read books and drink coffee and not see people. There's nothing wrong with that, right? No.

I don't know. It's funny how you mentioned that you have a different persona when you go on stage, because I was told when I strut my bass on, it's like I can, I become a completely different person. You know, and it's like, you know, I'm like, stay away from your whatever, you know, I'm here to do a job.

Well, I mean, most people do become somebody different. Sure. I always try to cater to, like, why would anyone want to watch you on stage if you're not entertaining them? It's not about you, what you want.

It's not about me as an entertainer of what I want. It's what that crowd wants. They don't want to sit there and look at you and, I don't know, just singing, standing there, not moving around.

They want to see a show. They want you to interact and it's somebody's birthday. Hey, acknowledge that.

People come to be entertained. And forget about their problems for a couple hours or whatever it might be. And the entertainment part of it is what you provide.

You want to make eye contact. Sure. Let them know, like, hey, I'm not just up here thinking I'm the shit.

Like, you're the shit. Because you're here, I'm having a good time on stage. I love being on stage.

You're very personable offstage. I mean, I know you make a lot of friends wherever you go. Yeah, I mean, I try to.

You know, why not? Give me free drinks and stuff. No, I'm just kidding. Free coffee.

Yeah, but I've been trying to challenge Susie on stage. I've been known to wander around and jump up on the bars and whatever. Jeff is a different guitar player.

Jeff is like a cat. Like, he jumps on things. He jumps on stages and he jumps on bars.

Amplifiers. So he's just, yeah, he's like a cat. I'm going to say that.

Yes. It's very interesting. And I do enjoy the interaction with Jeff because he makes eye contact with me.

He's right there. Like, I know Darren is busy playing his motherfucking bass. And I'm not messing with him.

He's a lefty. I am a lefty too, so I get him. He's in his right mind, though.

Exactly, yes. And Jeff is, he's into the show. He's playing his guitar and he's doing his thing, and I appreciate that because he's making the show better.

I'm not the one up there just doing cartwheels. He is too. So it's awesome.

So, go ahead, Tony. And then I was going to say, I'm in the back with all the hardware and artillery and furniture in front of me. The drum set.

So I'm protected by all that. Tony's back there. He's got his bald head, his badass biker bald head.

And he looks like a badass back there. He's running a marathon every day. Right, yeah.

I especially love the blue chip behind the glass shield. I get asked by so many people about that. What is that? What do they use that for? Why is there something in front of that? Everyone asks.

Everybody asks about that. They're just amazed at that drum shield. It's a spit shield.

Well, I always tell them it's just to protect me from them throwing things at me for Yeah, look at me out there. I used to tell drummers, I said, but when the lights hit you, you can see your reflection. You look really good playing those drums.

Damn right. That is true. You can see myself.

Big bald head. Many, many blue chip shows under our belts. Actually, I mean, one of our favorite places to play.

I mean, wouldn't you? I mean, the friends we've made out there and we've been playing out there ever since the inception of the band and that place is just a blast. It's a lot of fun. It's definitely become one of my favorite places to play.

Yeah, it's a lot of fun. This podcast brought to you by the blue chip you see here. I was just going to mention that.

A lot of blue chip going on. Call their advertising department. Be there again soon.

Actually, yeah, we are coming up. You guys do have gigs booked up right now? Yeah, we're the next show is Fergie and Foz in Summit next to Fleetwood Roller Rink. That's on the 11th and then the 25th of the blue chip.

I just booked a show in April at Finnegan's Pub. I think that's in Dyer. I'm a recent transplant out to Indiana, so I've been trying to work on some shows out there post pandemic and stuff.

What date is it for? That is April. I can't remember the date offhand. I know.

I just booked it the other day. Being that it's April, you guys should be busy the whole month. Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely. Every single night somewhere. But yeah, you can check it out on our Facebook page, April's Rain Band.

We update it when we book it. Do you have a website too? We did for the longest time and then really honestly, I mean, wouldn't you agree, Susie? Most people seem to gravitate towards the Facebook page. We made a decision to just keep Facebook.

Yeah, it just seemed to work out better for us. Any other social media? Instagram. We're on Instagram as well.

But for the most part, just mainly Facebook. That's about it, I think. April's Rain Band on Facebook, yes.

And then we're all on there in our own profiles. Yeah. Which is cool.

Well, it's been fun, guys. Yeah, it's been all right. Thank you very much.

Oh yeah, it's been great. Thanks for coming out and joining us on this nice warm evening. And we got a quick tour of the museum here and it's going to be great.

I'll have to charge you a cover. It's going to be fantastic. Ron, if you're listening to this, don't pay attention.

Shut it off right now. It does look great. If it's any consolation, I was late, so I didn't get the tour.

That goes well. I'll give you the tour in a few minutes. All right.

Thanks for joining us. Have a good one. Thank you.

Good thing I brought my umbrella, see? It was April's Rain. Yes, it was. Yes, that was April's Rain.

It was new guitarist Jeff and old drummer Tony. I don't mean old. He's called Tony Old.

That's not really nice. He's been the drummer for a long time. Because he's the elder.

Yes, elder statesman. And we had Darren on bass guitar and Queen Susie. Queen Susie.

Yes, indeed. Susie Q. She is the face of the band. I'll bet you most people think that her name is April.

Probably you're right. They probably do, and she really is the face of the band. Just like they're saying, it's a brand, and she is the brand.

She is. That's what people think of when they see her. They did that one gig without her, and the guy's like, where is she? You can't replace Susie.

Nope, not at all. So it was good talking with them and getting some of the backstory on April's Reign. I can't believe they've been together that long.

That's a long time. Yes, they have. And her good friend Billy McCarthy was a drummer for them? That was wild.

I didn't know that. That was pretty cool. You may need to write a book about that.

Maybe. Well, Susie said she's going to write a book. She's going to write the whole bio of April's Reign.

Yeah, but she couldn't remember the timeline, I don't think. Yeah, maybe not. You always make it up.

Who would know? Except the people that were actually there. Yeah, I'm glad to see that they're out again. Got some gigs coming up.

Yep. Right into April. I crack myself up sometimes.

Cracking me up. I'm glad. Good thing.

Cracking me up, Sam. So, once again, we're here at the beautiful Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 in our beautiful studio here. And make sure you check them out at RoadToRock.org. Sign up to be a charter member.

They're going to be opening up soon. I don't know exactly when, but it's getting closer and closer from opening date. You know what else they can check out? What's that? They can check out the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast, dot net or dot com, either one.

Either one. And they can find out some of the other bands that we've interviewed, too. That's right.

We're hitting three digits. Yes. Three digit episodes.

That's crazy. Who are we? I don't know. I don't know.

I didn't think I could put up with you for more than maybe a dozen. Yeah. I'm still here.

Still got me. I'm not drinking anymore. I'm not doing drugs.

I'm still doing the podcast. I must be having fun. That's good.

That's good. I guess we'll see you, talk to you soon next week. Talk to you next week, people.

Take care. Thanks for listening. Bye.