It's Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. What's happening, Ray? Not a heck of a lot. We got another new band coming to join us this evening at the studio at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66.

Cool, cool. Who we got? I want to say it's a new band, but it's not a new band. It's the third generation of Mockstar.

Mockstar. Yep. Cool.

Gotten back together. Jack Cole is the lead member of the band and he's putting it back together. He's the lead singer, too.

He took a little break. The band broke up a number of years back and he decided he wanted to put this back together and he got some great musicians to back him up. Mockstar is coming to a theater or festival near you.

Good, good. I hope so soon. Definitely.

They're working right now and putting the show together and getting all their songs in order. And hopefully they'll be out soon to see, to rock for everyone. That's right.

So let's check them out, see what the first generation was like, what the second generation was like and where the third generation is going. Okay, let's do it. Hey, everybody.

Welcome to the show. Today we're speaking with Jack Cole and Scott Lyston from the band Mockstar. How are you guys doing today? Doing well.

Thank you. How are you guys? Appreciate you having us out. No problem.

Thanks for making it, especially in this stormy weather. From Chicago, man. There's no other weather besides, you know, it's either hot or cold.

There's no in between. So we're all good. That's right.

So tell us a little bit about the band. Somebody who has never seen the band or knows anything about it. What can they expect from the band? Nothing.

Mockstar has been around for a little while. This is actually my third creation of this band. The first creation we had, I think it was in 2008.

So Jack, you started a band? I actually, Mockstar was my idea, but it wasn't me putting the band together in the first aspect of it. The first aspect of it, some of the best musicians in Chicago from, there was John Dobbs and Dean Maltese from Radical. There was John Craig from Odette, which is now in the Lounge Puppets.

And there was Bobby Sinatra from Cutlass. And they had a cover band they were doing. They didn't have a singer at the time.

And I've known John and Dean for years. I used to roadie for them. They were my first break into the scene, I guess you can say, when I was about 20.

I came to their practice and I started singing and John stopped everything. He goes, you didn't tell me you can sing. I said, you never asked me.

And so I became their new singer and we were searching for a name for the band and some names were thrown around like Mock5 and all this other stuff. And I'm like, I got a razor, Mock5. I don't want to be known as that.

And so I went home that night and I was watching- You're actually in shape. I try to be, it makes me look younger. You're still using that Mock5.

Yes, I'm still using the Mock5 because I need to look younger. And so I went home that night and I was watching Mark Wahlberg's Rockstar. And it was a very good movie.

A lot of people in that movie that I've met through the years of doing what I do. And I'm laughing going like, yeah, we're going to be mocking that stuff. That's kind of funny.

And then it just hit me, Mockstar. And so I went back to rehearsal the next week and I said, guys, I found the name for the band and I showed them the paper and they're like, that's it. So we did a few shows with them.

I'm sorry that it didn't pan out so well. Every musician in there is probably one of the best that I've known. So the band splits and I took a little bit of a break and then Scott Couch from Cutlass got a hold of Pete Greco, who was my best friend at the time, and said that he wanted to put together an 80s hairband and needed the vocalist and saw me and thought I would be perfect for it.

So he called me up, we talked. The second version took me two years to put together, to find the right people for this band. And I finally found them.

Mike Zott is a phenomenal, probably one of the best bassists I've ever seen. He's an infinity right now. Eric Johnson was a lead guitar player.

Not the Eric Johnson, but Eric Johnson and phenomenal. And he's in Night Snake right now with Scott. The band was going well for a while and then things happen and that goes.

So I took a break for a while. I kind of retired for about 10 years. Just saw everything that was going on.

COVID came, of course, and that was kind of a big downfall, but got that itch back and found the perfect guys for this rendition of the band. And here we are. So you put the band together since COVID or while COVID was happening? While COVID was happening, I was talking to people.

It was really hard to get together with people at that point because just with the crazy world that was going on. But I've known Scott, God, almost 30 years. I've known this man.

And I met the Wizard of Oz. Shout out to you, brother. He's our drum player over at Sound Hammer Studios.

So if you want things done the first time right, go to Sound Hammer Studio in DeKalb. Shameless plug. I'm sorry, guys.

Sean, our lead guitar player. Wish you guys were here. But I found these guys.

I found Sean just flipping through Facebook and saw one of his videos. I can't wait to introduce him to everybody because nobody knows who he is, but they're going to. I can't wait just to get out there and just show the world what we're doing now.

Even as a guitar player, I look at him in awe sometimes. It's amazing how he's local here and not someplace else. He's that good.

So what kind of music are you doing and what can somebody expect if they come out and tell you? We are a tribute to 80s hair bands. What you can expect when you come out and see us is there's no tracks, there's no gimmicks. What you see is what you get.

I try my best to emulate every band that I cover. Like when I sing Skid Row, I try to sound like Skid Row. When I do Queensryche, I try to sound like Jep Tate.

It's not an easy thing to do. I try to transcend the audience back to what I feel is the best decade ever, which is the 80s. You're not going to find music like that anymore.

Nobody sings or plays like that anymore. I try to make it when you come to a mock star show that you're taken back in time, that this is what it was like to be in an arena rock show kind of a thing. One of the big things we wanted to do, we didn't want to be a band just playing music up on stage.

We wanted a full show experience, lights, you name it, we're going to do it. It's going to be almost like you're at a mini concert back in the 80s. That's our goal.

Yeah, I mean, there's a lot of bands out there right now and I tip my hat to every single one of them because it's not easy going up on stage doing this. If it was, everybody would be doing it. I tip my hat to them, but I'm sorry.

I mean, I know a good plethora of the bands are out there. I know. And I'm going to apologize now because Moxar is coming out to kick your ass and I'm not going to hold back on anything.

I'm not going to hold my vocals back anymore. I'm not going to hold. I'm kind of like a cross between David Lee Roth meets Bret Michaels.

As far as stage show goes, I like to be in your face. I like to move around. I'll jump off the stage and go straight to the back person and make them feel like they're up front.

And it's just, I love to sing and I love to perform and it's going to come across when you come and see us. And don't let him fool you. Jack's got an incredible range for a singer.

Jack should have been singing in the 80s. He should have been with one of those bands because I bet you there's some vocals that he'll pull off that are better than some of the studio recordings. So don't, don't let them, you know, minimize what he's talking about.

The man could sing. I think I got the 20 bucks in my pocket. But yeah, I mean, Moxar is just, we're a high energy show, great musicianships, great bunch of guys, you know, we have fun on stage together and that's going to come across hopefully to the people that come out.

So you haven't done any shows yet? We did one, we did a pre-warmup show. We did a show for the Savage Ladies of Metal, which are my best friends, Fran Le Savage and Amy Stefan. We did their birthday bash, kind of like a pre-warmup show, you know, kick the cobwebs off kind of a thing.

Savage Ladies of Metal. Yes. They are a unique bunch of ladies is what I can say.

Very, they just, they love music and they try their best to help bands locally, mostly, but across the country, help you get heard, help your music get heard, help support you in any way they can. Promoting shows and bands and just really loving the music and loving the concept of everything that they do. They're just great people and they're great to be around.

So it was, it was a fun show. It wasn't bad. How long ago, how long ago was that? Two weekends ago, I think it was.

We were planning, Moxar was planning on not coming out until like September, maybe October. Cause again, I wanted to make sure everything was perfect before we did. There's a lot of competition out there that we have to go up against.

And a lot of bands have been around 15, 20 years, 25 years, whatever that we're going up against. And again, you know, I love every one of them and I know mostly all of them, but we're not trying to duplicate what they're doing. We're trying to do your own thing, right? Yeah.

We're trying to add our own little twist to it. We're trying to add our own little show, our own little gimmicks, our own, you know, we got, I don't want to give away everything, but I mean, don't share too much. Our lead guitar player, Sean looks like Joe Santorani.

So we have a part of the show to where he goes off stage and turns into Joe Santorani and comes back out and starts playing Joe Santorani, whatever, just having fun. Now I'm sitting in a lounge chair watching him. I got a fruit drink with an umbrella and it's just waiting for him to get done kind of a thing.

Yeah. It's just to have fun. You know, we don't take it as serious.

I mean, a lot of bands take it serious and you have to, to a certain degree, but we just want to have fun. People want to come out and be entertained. They want to have fun.

They don't want to see you just standing there playing your guitar. They don't want to see you looking at the floor at your shoes, entertain these people. If these people are coming to see you and spending their hard earned money to see you entertain them.

Right. Because if not, they're going to think it's a waste of their time and chances are they're not coming back to see you again. Right.

And then kind of the unique thing with this year too, this summer and stuff, a lot of the venues are honoring contracts from last year they had with the band. So there's not a lot of openings to get in there. Yes.

And that's, that's the hardest part for us right now that we're finding is, you know, like I said, we just got the, the management company, the agency and everything. So that's going to be good. I hope they open some doors for us, but you're right.

A lot of the places I've reached out to myself, cause I do most of, you know, the bookings and the talking to people and whatever, before the management company came in and the hard thing. We ride your coattails. And the hard thing with it is like you said, you know, well, we're sorry, but we already got our bands from last year.

And a lot of it is the same bands get the same opportunities and play the same clubs over and over and over. So it's really hard for somebody like us to come up and say, Hey, you know what? We're take a look at us. We're just as good.

Maybe in some cases we're even better. Right. But for them, they're going to keep booking the band that they've had.

That's making them their money. That's bringing in their draw. That's getting them their bottom line.

So it's really hard for us to, but I'm not going to let that determine me. I'm still very determined to get out there and show people what, who we are, what we can do. And hopefully they like it.

So, so besides the two of you, there's Sean, what's his last name? Sean Williams. Who plays guitar. He's already a guitar player.

And what about bass and drums? Bass is John McCollum and drums is Azumaro. We call him the wizard of Oz. He's kind of short, you know, kind of needs a crate to stand up.

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain. Basically. His drum kit is pretty killer though.

It's, it's pretty amazing. That's kind of how I found Oz. I was flipping through Facebook because we had a drummer at the time named Gabriel Anthony, and he's amazing.

He's probably one of the best drummer Chicago has. He's a very great guy. Very amazing boy.

Yes. And he's just has so much going on, you know, it's really hard for him to take the time out to focus on us. And I talked to Dave Shankle, you know, cause he plays with him as well.

And Dave wished me the best and we're going to do some shows hopefully together. And so when Gabe, when we parted ways with Gabe, wished him all the best, he wished us the best. I was flipping through Facebook and I saw this drum set.

That's the epitome of the eighties. It was just starts from here and goes all the way around to here. And then you see the short little guy standing in front of it.

So I messaged him going, Hey dude, I just got a question. Is that really your drum set? It's just a backdrop. And he goes, no man, it's mine.

And I play it and dah, dah, dah. And we started talking and the rest is history, I guess. So you can say, so how did, and obviously you weren't, you weren't playing before COVID or you weren't, uh, no, were you playing any during the COVID time? It was pretty quiet across the board.

I mean, before, before COVID before that, yeah, I was in a band called Skullcandy, which was taken off pretty good. And that's, well, four years ago now, I think a lot of guys had to move out of state. So unfortunately work commitments got in the way of that, but that was more of a classic rock band than it was more of a, um, an eighties tribute band.

Uh, my passion perfectly is, is in the eighties, you know, hair metal, glam metal, you know, stuff that you want to call it. That's, I think that's all of us in this band collectively have a passion for this music. Um, I think the riff writing in the, in the music, I think the lyrics, they just don't duplicate it anymore.

And that's where our passion's at. And that's why we love doing this. Go ahead.

No. And that's the reason why it's like, I want to make this as perfect as we can get it because I want the band to sound as close to the originals as possible because you know, the majority of people that come and see you, that's what they're used to. That's what they're used to seeing.

If I don't hit a certain note and a certain song, they're going to let me know that if the guitar player don't hit a certain riff or if he doesn't play the chords, right, they're going to let us know that. So it's really, you know, I know a lot of bands, they, you know, they fall off a little bit and they want to add their own flavor. They want to improvise and do their own thing, which is great.

But a lot of people just, I want you to come to a show and close your eyes and think if you're hearing Skid Row, close your eyes and think Skid Row is up there. And that's how close that we get. And that's what we try to do.

What about keys? Yeah. What about keys? That's a good question. Yeah.

Miss you Reese. Uh, we had a keyboard player, uh, when we started, it didn't go the way we were hoping. Uh, keys are a lot.

I saw a big part of the 80s music. Yeah, it was where we're actually looking for a keyboard player right now, actually. Uh, there's a couple of people that we're talking to, so we'll see how that pans out.

Uh, but yeah, keyboards are, were a big staple of the 80s. You know what? Every Bon Jovi song had it and, you know, winger striper, whatever you want to go. Everybody's got a keys, you know, great white and Europe and all the bands that we call for.

But yeah, it's, it's going to turn out. Well, like I said, we got somebody in the wings and yeah, he's going to take us to a whole new level when he comes through. Oh, so it's Moxar's actually, uh, I don't want to say he's going to be untouchable, but yeah, that's the goal.

That's what we're striving for. Yeah. Just need to come out and see for yourself.

Any bookings at all right now at the moment? No. Um, like I said, I'm trying to get everything tightened down. We have a couple of irons in the fire and they're pretty big ones.

I don't want to jinx anything at the moment, but we're talking to some people. We're talking to some national bands and hopefully things work out. And I'll talk to you guys more about off the air maybe, but right now I'm just not going to let the cat out of the bag at the moment.

I want to give a shout out to, you know, Brian Durbin, hairbangers ball, you know, uh, Jen, Jennifer Remus. She actually gave me my start in this, back in this crazy world. I had, I had a band in 96 and that lasted for maybe a year.

Hi guys from there without warning. It took some time off for a while. Uh, I did a Bon Jovi tribute back then, uh, called Slippery When Wet.

So I did that for a little bit. Uh, there was another Bon Jovi band out there called Bad Medicine and I knew Bob Irvine who played there. And he asked me to come out to, um, I think it was Penny Road Pub to sing a song with them.

So I did, there was a guy in there named Brian, um, Brad Detmer that was out there. Phenomenal guy, phenomenal drummer. He plays for Sunset Strip in Rockford.

He saw me sing, got ahold of the people at hairbangers. Cause I guess they were going through transitions of the lead vocals, whatever. And he said, you got to hear this guy.

So they brought me out for an audition. I sang a song, they put me in. So I did some shows with hairbangers ball while they were trying to find their permanent singer, so to speak.

So she's the one who gave me my start in that. Then she hired me to do hairbangers too, which was the touring band for hairbangers because hairbangers was so busy. They couldn't be everywhere.

Uh, so I got to sing for hairbangers too, for a while. We toured and did some stuff with that. Uh, so this is why we don't have shows yet.

This is how our practices go. We listened to Jack talk for a good hour, hour and a half for like 15 minutes. He's got stories, you know, he knows more people than most of us have forgotten.

So where did a hair bringers to go? I mean, throughout the Midwest. Yeah. Yeah.

We went out through the Midwest and everything. We did a couple of shows in Vegas. You know, we did, uh, the opening at the Orleans theater when Van Halen was there or Van Hagar, whatever you want to call them at this point.

Um, you know, we did a lot of stuff and the second version of mock star, even we played rock, Oklahoma twice. We opened for skid row, Warren Lynch, mob docking. Uh, we did a bunch of stuff with them.

Uh, it's just a fun thing to do. And that's kind of why I'm back. I kind of missed it and just wanted to get back out and have some fun.

And, you know, there are, we've talked to a couple of different bands that have, uh, uh, started another band because their first band was too busy. So that's kind of what Yeah. Yeah.

That's basically what it was. I mean, instead of turning the gig down, just plug in your other band. Yeah, basically.

And that's how it went. I mean, I did a lot of shows with hair bangers and I, and I think Jennifer room is for the opportunity to do so, because she put me in front of sold out crowd everywhere. We went was basically sold out and I wasn't at that point yet at that time.

And so, yeah. And then hair bangers too, came along and we did the touring to sold out crowds everywhere we went. So, I mean, it was really fun to do and I had a great time and Brian Durbin, I got to me and he's a phenomenal man and a great vocalist and showman and guitar player, songwriter.

I mean, you know, the kids got, I call him a kid because, you know, I'm a lot older than he is, but the kid's got it going on. I wish him the best. I wish her bangers the best and, uh, you know, high infidelity.

I want to say hi to Tyler and Dave from high infidelity. Great guys. I've known them for about 18 years.

Uh, phenomenal, just blow you away. If you ever go out and see these guys, I know Bobby's come at you from yes. Come at you.

He had the keys on there. Yup. We, we just saw them at two brothers roadhouse this past weekend and Ronnie Platt showed up from Kansas, the ex singer from Ara actually.

Right. And, uh, so it was a great night. We had a good time and I'm going to go see them again this weekend.

I know, I know COVID killed a lot of, uh, kill. I actually killed some bands and it was the end of a lot of bands. Uh, but what about, what about, uh, your guys in, in the, in the, uh, it's Sean and, and as, and if, were they playing in, in, in, in, in other bands and want to be migrating to your thing or what? It's hard to say.

I know everyone collectively had their own, um, you know, gigs and stuff going on. I don't think anything was solid and secure for, for those gentlemen that were talking about Sean Oz. I mean, as he fills in for a lot of guys, he does own this studio.

So he's doing a lot of sound work at the studio and so on and so forth. Uh, but I don't think there was anything that was a long-term gig. Um, when the opportunities arose, as I said, I think me and Jack were, um, um, he reached out to me or we kind of just kind of fell back into it when he was got the itch to get back into the music business again.

And, uh, I said, well, if you're, if you're looking, I'm available. You got to thank your wife for that. She's only saw that.

Jack's looking, you want to go look, I mean, are you sure about the power of Facebook? We do know who Jack is, but, uh, no, we haven't looked back since. And then we just started adding the pieces from there. It just kind of been flowing.

So Oz actually had a side project going. I'm not going to name the name or anything of it, but he was actually in a band and he had his project going and he goes, you know, basically, what can you do any different than what I'm doing? And so we all came out and I hit a couple of notes and he quit the other band that he was in and joined up over here. And, you know, that's pretty much that at that point.

So you said you have a management company who's managing you now? Chicago Entertainment Agency, Star Events. Okay. Is managing us now.

Um, there's a couple of other agencies that have reached out to me. I'm not the kind of guy that wants to spread it around. I don't want to spread the band around too thin or whatever.

I'll give you an opportunity to see what you can do for us. Right. And if they can do stuff for, I mean, Star Events is a pretty big name in Chicago.

So I'm hoping, I'm looking forward to great things. I'm sure they work with other agents and- Yeah, probably. So, I mean, I'm just- Sometimes you want to get into a certain club, you've got to, you've got to go through a certain agent.

For sure. Yeah. Yeah.

I've learned that the hard way years ago. So, uh, but you know, the one person who pretty much has his hand on the pulse of Chicago, I've talked to, and he's, we've reached out to and he's basically telling me, just let me know what dates you have open and I'll fill them for you. So, I mean, the opportunities are there and the shows that are coming are going to be, you know, great shows.

I just want to make sure that it's right because I want everybody to come out and have a good time. You know, the main thing with this band is I love the guys that I play with because if I didn't love or even like the guys that I play with, if I didn't trust them, I wouldn't go on stage with them. You know, I'm not going on stage to look stupid for anybody.

So you have to trust a band that you're with, or it's just sing karaoke for the rest of your life. If you want. It's fun, but we still take it serious.

Yeah. Do you have a target date of when you want to start playing? I wouldn't mind coming out to play at the end of September, although I know that's not going to happen. Uh, so we're more looking forward towards October.

How many, how many, uh, how much, how many hours of music do you have? Um, as of right now, almost two hours as of now, by the time we come out in October, we'll probably have close to three or four. So, I mean, We had some keyboard songs that we were working on with a previous good keyboardist, but now we have to obviously drop those songs out. So they're there, they're in the background.

So we probably got closer to two and a half, three, if we add some of those. The thing I'm trying to do with the band right now is like, I don't want to headline anywhere right now. Even if you were to ask me right now, Hey, do you guys want to headline, you know, such and such? My answer is going to be no, because this band is just being reformed and we're just getting back together.

And I feel that if we headline now, we're going to shoot ourselves in the foot. You have a practice area, practice space for you? We practice out in the Cal that, uh, Soundhammer studios. Oh, okay.

So we got a sweet spot out there. I just want to be an opening band for right now, get our feet wet, get our name back out there, build our fan base back up. So if there's any bigger bands out there, you know, seventh heaven, high infidelity, you know, infinity.

Hey, you guys, yeah. You know, we're a great opening band for you guys, but it'd be fun. I hope to see you guys out there.

And then you get on and do 40, you don't need to do 45 minutes. You polish those tunes and yeah. Right.

For sure. I mean, let me do about an hour and 20. We did about, we did a little over an hour and 20 when we played two weekends ago and we still had songs on the list that we had to take off because we just running out of time.

So yeah, we got, it's, it's all good. We got the look down. We got everything pretty much running the way we want it.

I just, I'm a perfectionist, so I'm still waiting to just tweak it a little better than one of those. And, um, What about a sound engineer? Scully, our, our friend Scully is our sound man. Shout out to Scully.

Shout out to Scully. He makes it sound even better. Yeah.

Scully is amazing. He does some of the bigger bands out there. He's an added member of the band really.

He gets paid more than I do. So, I mean, you know, he's, he's a great member of the band and he makes money. The band hasn't made money yet, but he does.

So a nice part about Scully is on top of just being an incredible sound engineer and just knowing the sound he's known Jack for a long time. So he really knows how to work the sounds for Jack to get better. He's also a super talented musician on top of it.

So now you have somebody who actually understands music, you know, guitar or piano, you know, you name it, he knows it. So it's, he seamless fit in and makes it sound even better. And it was Scully's wife that I've known for a long time.

I met Scully through Leslie, through his wife. So that's how I met Scully. But Scully's a great guy.

And he's like, you know, the sixth Beatle of this band, so to speak. So. What about original material? You know anybody, right? I do.

And I'm sure a lot of other guys in the band do. The problem that we have, I've written probably about a hundred songs in my time. But the hardest thing about it is if you're not a signed band, no club really wants to give you a chance.

Nobody really wants to hear what you have, what you have to say, because their bottom line is, okay, am I going to put this original band in here and have 10 people come through my door? Or am I going to put this cover band in here and have 800 people come through my door? So it's like all the, all the people that are out there in cover tribute bands now, at one point we're in an original band. They love music. They still love the right.

And I'm sure they probably still right on the side. But if you want to get your, if you want to get out and be heard, have your name out there somewhere like Seventh Heaven just does it perfect. I've never seen a better band probably than Seventh Heaven.

They do a plethora of covers or whatever, but they also throw all their originals in there too. Right. They mix them in.

Yeah. And the crowd loves it because they're at that point, they're at that point in their career to where they're not going to lose the crowd. And they're going to stay no matter what.

And as long as that music is in the same genre. I mean, yeah, obviously you're not going to go out and do country music if you're a rock and roll band. Exactly.

And Rich, he just, Rich Hoffner is probably one of the smartest businessmen I've ever met in my life. Nick Cox, their guitar player I've known since the theater days, an amazing talent. Adam is probably one of the best showmen I've ever seen.

And they got their drummer, Frankie, who I just, your jaw drops when you see this guy, you're just like, why ain't you playing for me? Frankie, he's an awesome drummer. He is. He's amazing.

He marked the bases. I mean, the band is just so tight of a unit, but they're also friends and you can see that on stage and that's what makes a difference. And that's what I'm trying to get us to be.

And NTD actually managed Mockstar, my second version of it. Rich is just an amazing man. He treats his bands right.

He treats you with respect and he makes sure you have everything you need and you can use his sound guy and just everything. I mean, he's just, he's a great guy. I wish there were more bands out there like that.

Instead of sitting there, you know, being, I'm out for me, me, me. What can I get? What can I make? What kind of money am I going to make this night? Screw the opening band. They're going to set up in front of us, have this much of a stage and that's it.

You know, Rich isn't like that. Rich let us have the entire stage and here, use our drum kit. Just, it was, I've never met a band that treated their openers so well.

Hey, look me up. But I mean, we'll make sure and send this directly to him. Rich, I'm sorry, man.

I had nothing to do with this. Sponsorships are available for the rock and roll Chicago podcast. There you go.

And that's, there you go. I mean, it's just, you know, if you want to talk about bands, I mean, even hairbangers, we went to go see hairbangers not too long ago and I haven't seen them God, since I haven't, since I stopped singing for them. And it's just, it's amazing.

I mean, like I said, Brian Durbin puts on a great show. Jen Polly pants still knows how to work the crowd and get, get all the boys, you know, riled up and everything. And Claire crush and everybody they have there, they got a new guitar player now who shreds like a mother and just, they're really talented.

They're just very good, good bands. Uh, you know, they do, they do. And that's, you know, people are sitting there saying, well, aren't you trying to compare a Mox on the hairbangers? No, you know, they're more of the glam side of it.

We're more the rock side of it. So, I mean, even though we might cover some of the same songs, we just do it differently. Uh, I would love to do a show with them opening for them, you know, with us doing like the B size that we do come, you know, compared to, you know, the hits and stuff that they put out.

I think that'd be a great show for everybody. I don't know, man. Just, I, I try to support everybody.

Can somebody else talk now, man? Cause I feel like I've just been talking for so long. I've just listened to it. I hear this stuff all the time.

I got stories, but I don't want to, I don't know how long your podcast is. Well, well, I heard you mentioned theater before. Now you said you worked for theater.

I used to be a roadie for them. Yeah. Now is that same theater that, uh, like from the late seventies? No theater was from the seventies, actually.

No, I, I don't think, I mean, no, no theater is Pete Greco, Bob Irvine, Ron Boyles, Frank, uh, Frankie lands, uh, Nick Cox. Uh, they were an original band, uh, phenomenal. They were probably one of the best bands in Chicago at that time.

They were out there with Chicago has a great, great music scene or used to. Oh yeah. And back in the day you had radical, you had theater, you had a tribe of none.

You had enough's enough. You had all these just phenomenal bands that were coming out of there. And then just music took a turn.

I don't know if grunge came around and killed everybody, but it just, it turned and you know, so these guys all went their ways. And now a lot of the guys I've known for back then, like I said, like the wrong way down at one way shade. I think is what happened.

Yeah. Yeah. Seventh heaven was around.

Seventh heaven has been around for 25, 30 years. Right. And back then seventh heaven, rich hat and rich man has a long hair and can shred.

And he was just, but I mean, it's just, the scene has changed, right? You just don't get a whole lot of that anymore. But I think that's why everybody is gearing towards more of the eighties hair metal music because it's a revival of sorts. It's just, nobody plays guitar like that anymore.

Nobody sings like that anymore. No, no bands today. I'm not a big rap guy.

Never claimed to be, never will claim to be, you know, songs today, everybody's trying to, you know, country music. And, you know, I lost my truck. My dog died.

My wife went and raved the mailman and I drank beer, you know, rap music is like, you know, it's good. Don't get me wrong. There's some, there's some great rappers.

There's a great music all the way around. But to me, the eighties were the epitome of just the seventies and the eighties, which is the eras of just great, great music songwriting. And just, and I miss that.

And, you know, I, I wish all genres of that music, you know, seventh heaven does, and I don't keep meaning to bring up seventh heaven. I'm just trying to get a show with them. I mean, they do, they do an amazing thing that I've never seen any band do is 30 songs in 30 minutes or 40 songs in 30 minutes or something.

And it's phenomenal. And each one is a hit. There's not a, there's not a bad song anywhere.

And they have a rock one that they do, and they have a pop one that they do, you know, and it's just, it's seamless. I've seen them do it. And they go from one song to another and you can't even tell.

No. All of a sudden, whoa, they're playing something different, you know? And you can't, I mean, I'm like, it's the guy breathing because I don't see his stomach breathing here. How's he? It's just, it's amazing to see.

And I wish more bands would take the time out to be like that, just to kind of entertain the people that come out. Like I said, you know, I've seen more and more bands doing that now doing more bands are copying. Yes, because everybody's starting to realize something that's been around for 20 years.

There's a formula to do all this and the formula works. And with it, like with, like with us, with an eighties hair band, yeah, there there's a lot of other eighties hair bands out there that you can go and see. So I'm not going to sit here and claim that we're the best.

I'm not going to sit here and claim that we're better. I'm not going to sit there and say, you'll get more money for, you know, more show for your dollar. If you come see Mockstar, I'm not going to say that to you.

My, my thing is come out and just judge for yourself. Every band out there is doing the exact same setlist right now because it's a formula. It works.

So now what we have to do is, okay, well, we're doing the same songs that these bands are doing. How can we do it better? How can we make this better? You know, the musicians I got is going to do that. The show that we're putting on is going to do that.

You know, I might hit a note here and there that can do that. So, I mean, it's just, um, come out and judge it for yourself is all I can say. It probably takes a little time to, to get the whole thing jiving together.

Yes. You know what I mean? Yes. That's the secret we have though.

We have, uh, we have five guys that got together pretty quickly and we got really, really well. And you know, Jack was talking about going out and playing on stage is a whole different thing too. It is.

And it's nice when you can go put your arm around somebody, just play and have a good time. And I think that's the camaraderie that we have built up already. And it just, it just continues to grow.

So it's, yeah. I mean, we're not just band members. We're friends.

And that's the most important part. If I just saw these guys once a week at rehearsal and just had a night that we're doing the show, the show's not going to come off on that great. Right.

Cause people are going to tell the more fun you have on stage together as a band, as a group, as friends, the more fun the people are going to have that come to see you. Right. And that's just what we're trying to do.

It's just quit texting me all the time. You get a hundred texts in like two hours with these guys. I know I'm at work going, don't you guys have jobs? Why are you still texting? You know, our tagline, Mockstar are the most fun you can have with your clothes on.

It's just basically how it is. It's just, it's one big, you know, freaking party and just have fun and just, well, there was that time with the assless champs. Oh, we'll do that for another.

That's a whole new session. You know, our gimmick is come out to a Mockstar show because you never know who's going to be a Mockstar for that night. Anybody can be a Mockstar.

I can pull you guys up when you come to a show and have you do a song with me or with the band and you're a Mockstar for the night. So it's an experience. Anybody can do it.

So Scott, tell us what kind of ring you play? What kind of guitar you play? So what kind of ring? I got, I don't know, God, I got so many guitars now. He's got like 150 of them. I have quite a substantial collection.

I was a collector. I love them. I like finding rare guitars that, you know, it could be a garage sale.

It could be anything. I just like seeing what they are. So I have an extensive collection from, you know, anywhere from the seventies, eighties, nineties and new guitars for this band though, you know, with the hair metal scene, I'm playing mostly Jackson guitars for this particular band.

We like the flamboyancy. So I like the colors, you know, stuff like that. Sure.

I kind of bring it back. Still trying to get him to get a purple one. He wants me to get a purple one.

I do have an original vintage 1984 Kramer that we'll make it out on stage at one point. Midnight blue. So he doesn't like it because it's the wrong color, but that's it.

You know, I'm a Seymour Duncan pickup guy. I think it works really good for, for this style of music. If we, you know, we tone it down a little bit, we do some more ballads.

We start throwing there, you know, I got Fender Stratocasters I'll bring out for those. I'm a tone driven type of guy. I do like working off of a half stack or we'll work our full, you know, full stack, depending on, you know, the venue and where we're at.

I'm a line six guy for a long time. I've I've done such a diverse range of music with different bands. Line six had a lot of it encapsulated within it already.

So I could mimic just about any cabinet or style that I wanted through that line six. So that's, that's what I'm kind of playing with now. It's all over the board.

I'll bring different guitars out for different shows and intermix it and try to make an experience and a show out of it. I think that's the most I've heard him talk since he's been in the band. I'm like, wow.

Well, I can't get a word in edgewise. So how did you get started playing guitar? Actually, to be honest with you, I started playing guitar late. Me and Jack is a funny story.

Go back, you know, we don't, we won't date ourselves, but a long time. And I knew Jack, he was actually the guy that was always the Bon Jovi singer at the karaoke bars back in the day. And this was, you know, when we're younger.

So we always knew each other. Then we hung around a lot back then, knew each other, you know, lives go on and we kind of separated. And then the opportunity came up and, and I've seen Jack shows before.

I've seen him with hair bangers back in the day. And obviously I've seen him with Mockstar back in the day. And when the opportunity came up, I just wanted to jump on it.

So we, I don't know, we just kind of hit it off since then. And we kind of have the same vision. I mean, let's not, let's not joke about this.

It's Jack's band and we're all fine with that. And we're all members of it. We all have the equal say in it, but this is a big passion of Jack's and we, you know, we take it serious and we all love this music.

So that's what we're building on. So I think I didn't really answer your question. But I did, I did start late in life.

I've always played music, I guess, as a child and stuff like that, but I didn't pick up guitar until, well, geez, I'm going to say about 17 years ago. So I won't date myself and tell me the exact thing, but, uh, I, I self-taught myself how to play. And six months after I picked up my guitar, I played my first band, okay.

Easier stuff. It wasn't on this level. It was more pop rock stuff, you know, train and things of that nature, kind of easy strum patterns to do, but I haven't looked back.

So predominantly I play mostly rhythm guitar. I do a lot of leads. I like to try to fill in background vocals when I can.

So that frees me up to do that. But I've played just about every genre really out there with the passion in this music. So when this opportunity came up, it was a, it was a no brainer.

If there's any background singers out there that, you know, like this kind of music, hit me up. I need some, uh, I need some help here. No, I'm kidding.

Um, you know, he's, you know, Scott, he's, he's always been a great guy and we've always gotten along. And I knew when I was reforming the band again, this time when, uh, he called me up after his wife showed them, thank you, Dawn. Um, I knew he was the right guy for it because again, we're not just band members, we're friends and I have a band of friends and that makes a world of difference.

And you can ask any band to whether it's just, you have to have that. It doesn't feel like work when you're friends. It feels like, you know, like a little break from reality, some fun and, and, you know, get together.

It's not work. And that's what we're trying to avoid. Now, when you, uh, when you learn something, when you learn a song or something new to, uh, do you guys decide on it? Do you decide on it? Or do you tell them, Hey, this is what we're going to do.

And you guys come with you, with your parts. But let's be honest though, when it comes to it, it's going to come down to a combination of two things. Can the singer sing it and can, you know, whether it's a lead guitar player and a drummer, can the musicians actually play it? I mean, most of us, as Jack has said numerous times, we're all talented enough where we could play.

I think there's about any music that's out there that we want to, it's going to come down to what Jack's comfortable with singing. We don't want him blown out of vocal cord. Uh, cause he does hit some pretty incredible notes.

He's got a pretty wide range of stuff. Uh, so when you load up too much, so we do defer a lot to him, we'll throw a lot of suggestions out to him. Great song, great song.

We all love it. Can it work for you? Will you be able to do it? What will fit in the set? It will work for the crowd too. And that's the thing.

I mean, I've had some of my friends in some of the biggest cover tribute bands, Chicago names, I won't name, but told me their best advice they gave me was run your band like a business. This is your band. It's your name, your choice, your decisions, blah, blah, blah.

I'm not that kind of a guy. I mean, if I have to crack the whip, I will. If I have to make an executive decision that nobody wants to make or is not comfortable with what I say goes and I got the scars to prove it too.

So, but I do try to get everybody's opinions and I do try to take into consideration their ideas and suggestions, but it does come down to song selection of what I can cover. Cause for me, if I can't, if I'm on stage, if I can't sell the song, I'm not going to do it because it's going to make me look stupid and it's gonna make the band look stupid. So each song that we put on our list and we got some pretty, you know, we got some still hard on there.

We got some stuff, but if I couldn't hit those notes, I wouldn't be putting them on the list. So I I'll ask for their suggestions and their opinions. And that's pretty much how we build a list together.

It's just what I'm comfortable doing. You know, I told Sean, he can't put the set list together anymore, you know, cause he wants to start off with those notes that just shatter glass. And like, I'd kind of like to work myself up to that.

Cause I've never taken a vocal lesson, which is a great, it's a God gift. Thank you very much. So I don't warm up before a show.

I don't, you don't see me in the back going, I don't do any of it. I just come out and I hit it. But I do like to warm myself up.

Cause then when I get down three or four songs, now I'll shatter your glass or whatever, but I have to build myself up to that. Like a rollercoaster. Everyone should be a rollercoaster.

Bring them up, take them down, bring them up, take them down. Have fun with it. I don't like the rollercoaster.

I like to bring them up and keep them there until the show is over. You know, I don't want to come down. You know, I don't want to take a break.

You know, like when we start headlining, a lot of clubs want you to do two 60 minute sets. I'd rather just do it all straight through. Because the minute you take a break, now everybody else is going to take a break.

And if they decide to walk away to go get a drink or to go hit on a woman or man or whatever it is that they do, it's going to be hard to get them back. Or even, or even leave. Yeah, exactly.

It's getting, it's getting that. But if you keep them going, you keep the party going straight. Chances are 90, 95%, they're going to stick around to the end.

So going out to both of you, each of you gets this question, favorite song that you guys do. That's a tough one. I was kind of hoping he asked, what's your least favorite song you want to do? Yeah.

The least favorite song we can answer it pretty easily. I can't, I don't know about everybody else. Favorite song.

I don't know. I can't really come up with a favorite. I mean, I think, I mean, I meant what I said.

We all are just big fans of this genre and, you know, and we're doing everything from, from Motley Crue to Poison and Warren. I mean, you name it, Def Leppard. We're all over the board in that genre.

I mean, and we truly, really like a lot of the songs that we do. There's nothing that you really look forward to. Oh, we're going to play this.

There's a couple songs on the list that I really like doing. I mean, I love doing skid row. That's kind of where my wheelhouse is, but I love singing hard lines, hot sherry.

I love doing that one. I love George Smooth Opinion by Bullet Boys. That's probably one of my favorites to do.

Never Enough by LA Guns. I mean, yeah, those are pretty much my favorites. You know, we just added some other songs in there that I'm sure given time will probably be up there on the list, but I think those are pretty much my favorites.

Yeah. I think Bullet Boys has been one of our bigger hits too. A lot of people, he sings the piss out of it.

So yeah, you guys do, like you said, more of the B-sides, right? Or, or the, or maybe not, not the quite so much, but hit this. Is there another song? Yeah. I mean, we do do the hits.

That's the nature of the beast. You just have to do as part of the formula. You have to, but I do pride that this band that we do do a bunch of songs that not really a whole lot of bands cover either because either they can't cover it or they're covering it, but they're not covering it well.

And I mean, don't disrespect anybody when I say that, but we pride ourselves in throwing in some rattlesnakes that nobody really else is doing. And I think that's, what's, it's going to separate us from the other plethora of bands that are out there that are doing what we're doing is because we do do songs that a lot of bands will do. And truth be told, we pick a lot of those because he could sing them.

I think a lot of people can't. And that's the big thing. I mean, you could, you can name a bunch of songs that half the, half the musicians in the city could probably play pretty easily, but they're not going to be able to pull it off and sing it.

Right. So, you know, that's, that's the nice mix that we have. Skid Row is a perfect example.

Hopefully all the people out there listening, when they come see him sing the Skid Row, you're going to think you're looking at Sebastian Bach. I mean, they're going to think you hear Sebastian Bach. That's how close that to me.

That's, that's Jack's wheelhouse right there. In my honest opinion, I think that's one of his best, but. God, my whole check is going to go to you this week.

I know he didn't even pay me yet. I'm still singing you praise. I don't know why.

The disheartening thing for me in the Chicago music scene right now, there's really no support or camaraderie anymore between bands, every band, some of the bigger band, not all, but some, uh, they just, they forgot that somebody somewhere had to give them a start. Somebody had to give them a break. Somebody had to help them up the ladder or whatever.

So now that they're these big headlining bands, well, we don't need an opener. We're too good. We're too big.

We got plenty of material. We don't need anybody. I understand you don't need anybody, but it's cool to support somebody else, especially your local, your local bands, your friends, even.

Right. Yeah. We always talked about that too, that we're going to make sure that we give those opportunities back to people when we get to that point.

I have no doubt in my mind that Moxar is going to hit the point that I want it to hit. I have no doubt in my mind, but I'm also not going to be that guy that's going to sit and go, I don't need an opening band. I don't need you.

I'm going to sit and go, okay, let me hear what you've got. And if I think you're good, Hey man, come on up. I'm not going to put a band in front of us.

That's going to suck. I mean, you, you don't want to do something like that. So, so if anybody wants to find that about more about Moxar, how do they, how do they do that? Yeah, I don't know.

We got to talk to figure that one out. Um, normally, I mean, I would, if anybody, you know, Facebook pages in progress. Yes.

And I have my own personal Facebook page. And a lot of people who know me will come on my page and see what I'm posting or whatever. Uh, the, the Facebook page is in the works.

Hopefully it's going to be done soon. The demo is going to be done soon. The EBK is going to be done soon.

Um, their website. I'm trying to decipher because websites aren't really what they used to be anymore. Not a lot of people hit you.

Yeah. Not a lot of people go on somebody's website anymore. It's either Facebook or Twitter or Instagram or whatever stuff that I'm an old, I'm old school.

I don't have anything to do with any of that. So, uh, so I, I, the Facebook page will have, and you know, when it's ready, we'll have the pictures of the tour dates and the stuff that we got coming up and the demos and everything's going to be on there. Uh, if I decide to do a website and you know, of course we'll do that, but we just don't want to half-ass anything either.

We want to make sure it's right. So we didn't want to put out a partial product and just have it look bad. So it's at that finishing touches right now.

That's why I appreciate you guys having a sign. I mean, cause I mean, I gave you some stuff, but not a whole lot because I didn't have a whole lot to do. Right.

But I figured, you know, this is a great stepping stone and we appreciate what you guys are doing, uh, for the bands and for Chicago and everything else. And we're very thankful and grateful for that. It's a lot of fun.

We've gotten to meet a lot of people and learn, learn a lot. And, and, and it's fun getting the backstories and, and, and some of the, uh, some of the side side stories that people don't, people who would come and see you don't get, they would come see the band and go, the band's great, blah, blah, blah. I'll go see them again next time.

But they didn't know what the story is behind the band. And that's kind of fun. They don't know exactly what goes into putting on that show.

Right. They come to see a show and go, Oh man, my mind was blown. But they don't know what you had to do to get to that point.

Countless and countless of hours of practice and rehearsing and learning songs and getting this wrong and having your fingers bleed playing guitar and busting drumsticks and popping your chords because you're trying to hit a note higher than what you did the last time. Right. And it's, they don't see all that.

They just see the, the put together product. Right. So it's kind of cool.

Even an hour opener for, for most musicians, you're, you're still working three or four hours just to do that one hour set. You know, by the time you pack up, you, you know, load up, drive to the gig, unpack, set up, you know, and musicians know that, that feeling. And that's why it's cool for guys like you, for us to come in here and, and just hang out and talk.

And it's like talking to friends. It's not like talking to somebody that, you know, Hey, and just kind of going through, you know, this is what it takes to put on a good show. And any band would tell you, it's not just go up there, put on your instrument singing, Hey, we've been doing a lot goes into that.

Right. And, you know, I think the more people know of what it takes to actually put on a show like that, probably the more appreciative they're going to be to come out and see it and stick around for it and watch it. If you're going to go see a great band, a big opening band, I mean, a big headlining band, whatever, come early, see the opening band.

Cause they worked just as hard to get out and get their name out there and try to entertain you and, you know, support local music. I mean, I'm all about that. And that's why I'm starting to go back out and see some friends again, see some other bands and just support as many people as I possibly can.

You know, what my time allows and my job and my family and everything, and just, um, well, you know, get it done. Well, we wish you the best of luck when, uh, once you get out there and start playing, we'll be watching for you. Thank you.

And, uh, we got to come to a show. We're going to hold you to it. Oh yeah.

We definitely will. Just let us know. Let us drink on Scott all night.

I'll definitely buy it for you. Cool. Thanks guys for joining us.

Thank you so much for the time. Thank you so much. Appreciate it guys.

So that was max side. That was Jack Hall and Scott Lyson, uh, of, of Mac star coming soon to a, uh, to a venue near you version 3.0. That's right. That's right.

And, uh, they sound like they're, uh, they're ready to rack to get the, they're getting everything in order. And, uh, hopefully, hopefully they get out there soon. I'd like to go see them.

Yeah. They said they'd, uh, they're shooting for September into September now. So looking more like October, but hopefully, uh, they'll get out there.

Yes, indeed. I'm looking forward to going to see them. Yes.

Yes. As I am as well as I am as well. The, uh, they sound like they're going to be, uh, a powerhouse.

Definitely. Definitely. And, uh, hopefully their Facebook page will be up soon so you can track them.

And, uh, if we hear anything, we'll let you know. Yes, we will. In the meantime, I want to thank the Illinois rock and roll museum and route 66.

Uh, what's, what's the, what's the route 66 route? Uh, and, um, and what's the website? It's road to rock.org. There you go. That you can actually go there, check out the website and you can actually join and be a charter member of the museum. Okay.

I'll do that. And wait, I did dinner. Yeah, you did.

So did I, we're already charter members, but we can always use more charter members. All right. All right.

Sounds good. Sounds good. Well, thanks for listening to everybody.

Uh, be sure and check out mock star. If we get a lot of people, it'd be like a magna charter. Wouldn't it? It would be like large, lots of people on magna charter.

Okay. All right. Okay.

What were you saying? I was saying, uh, be sure and check out max there. They'll be out in a venue near you soon. Very soon.

Until then, we'll see you next week. Thanks everyone for listening. Rock road.

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