Hey, this is Paul Martin. And Ray the Roadie. For the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast.

How are you doing today, Ray? I'm doing real swell. Weather's out nice outside. You're swollen? Spring has sprung.

What's that? You're swollen? Swollen? No, spring has sprung. Oh, I see. I thought you said you were swelling.

Well, you know what? My thumb is swollen. Oh, what happened? My dog took, almost took off, tried to get away and I somehow got my thumb caught under his harness. And when he pulled it, man, he, he must've bent it all the way back.

It is all swollen. It hurts. And no, it wasn't a, it wasn't a pretty sight.

I almost, I almost fell over on the porch. Well, maybe it'll help your golf game. Oh, you know, I don't think so.

I don't think I could even hold a club right now, but you know what? Maybe it would. Maybe it would. I'll just swing on my left.

I won't, I won't even use my right. So who are we talking with today? Today we're talking to Pino Farina of the Pino Farina Band. Okay.

Of what band? The Pino Farina Band. Pino Farina Band. That's right.

And Pino, Pino is, it's actually kind of a, kind of a success story, isn't it? Yeah. Big time. It's a very in depth there.

A lot has happened to him. He's such a nice guy too. Such a great guy.

Yeah, he is. Very, very nice and very polite and very nice for him to come on our show. So let's talk to him right now and find out what Pino Farina had to say about, about, about everything, about music business and, and where he's been, been and where he's going.

Alrighty. Let's go. Hey everybody.

Welcome to the show. Today we're talking with Chicago singer, songwriter, Pino Farina. How are you Pino? Hey Pino.

What's up guys? I'm well, and I'm very happy to be here and happy to be part of your show. Thanks for inviting me on. No problem.

Thanks for coming on. So tell, tell us a little bit, let's go back, let's start off with your early days and set out how you got, how you got involved with music and in the story of Pino Farina. All right, well yeah, so I grew up like kind of in between Buffalo Grove area in the Northwest suburbs of Chicago.

And then I spent a lot of time at my grandparents' house in the Lincoln, Lincolnwood area. So, you know, North side of the city, but you know, as far as music goes I started in high school. My brother was a drummer and he played a little bit of dabbled in guitar.

And so he kind of showed me the ropes, you know, the older brother kind of thing. And since he was the drummer, always the band practice would be at our house, right? So I'd be sitting in the back, just kind of watching all these long hair dudes come over and jamming and stuff like that. So I just kind of learned by watching all those guys, you know, like right up close, just kind of sitting there and watching how they played and how they performed and everything and just kind of got the bug.

So my brother actually is the one who taught me how to, you know, play my first Metallica riff and stuff like that. You know, got to learn some James Hetfield if you're going to learn how to play guitar, I guess. But, you know, so and, you know, my parent, as far as music in our family, I mean, stems back from my grand, my grandfather's an Italian immigrant who came here to the country.

And he just had such a passion for like old, you know, we're from Naples. Like that's the part of Italy that my family's from. And he was just, he was born singer, man.

Like he just had a voice, like, I just remember him belting it out all the time, loved it. And just the old Neapolitan songs from his old country, and he would explain to me the lyrics and stuff like that of the music, you know, from the old school songs like that. And then from there, my grandfather's son, my uncle, Tony Spavone, who is a well-known singer in the Bloomingdale area in Illinois here, he's been performing and he has a restaurant in Bloomingdale for many, many years.

What's the name of that restaurant? It's Spavone's. It's in Bloomingdale on Lake Street. Yeah.

I've been there. I've heard him sing. Yeah.

He's been around forever and he's been, you know, I grew up listening to him sing, you know, and I'd be, you know, sleeping on the booths in the corner of the restaurant when everybody's partying and, you know, having a good old time. So today's podcast is brought to you by Spavone's on Lake Street in Bloomingdale. There you go.

There you go. So yeah, man, like, so it's just like in the blood, you know, and then my, my father and my mom owned a restaurant for a while in Glenview, which is no longer there. That was called Spavone's Seven Hills, which was kind of with my grandfather.

And my dad used to love doing karaoke in the bar and all that stuff. So, you know, just, it was just, it's always been around me music, you know what I mean? From the time I was a kid and we had a piano in the, in the house growing up. So, you know, I, I never really took any lessons.

I'm kind of a self-taught self, you know, just learn everything by ear, you know, just figure something out on the keys or on the guitar or whatnot, and kind of kept, kept the passion going with throughout high school and out of high school, just kept playing with this band for a little while called Poonsepaya. That was our first like band that sort of, it was basically like my learning how to be in a band and how to write songs with other people and collaborate and stuff like that was these three other guys, which are all still part of what we're doing now, which is the Pino Farina band. So I'm very loyal and very family oriented type of group of guys.

And we're just, we've just got a really great connection, you know, so we've just kind of taken that from like many years back and now we're just kind of, kind of just doing it all over again, which is pretty wild. Now you toured quite a bit with Poonsepaya, didn't you? Yeah, yeah, we did. We did like Weekend Warrior kind of stuff, you know, we would just, we would leave on like a Wednesday night and come back on a, you know, Monday morning or a Sunday night kind of thing and just drive, you know, as far out as we could get and have shows booked.

And, you know, a lot of times, listen, we're an original band playing mostly original music. You know, a lot of times we'd, we'd play to like empty bars and stuff in the middle of nowhere, you know, playing to like the bartender and the manager and the door guy, you know, kind of thing. And then, but then we would have some really great experiences like, you know, in like up in Michigan or, you know, in Wisconsin and stuff.

We kind of started to develop a bit of a following, you know, within, you know, the three state radius I would say, you know, and, and yeah, we had some great opportunities playing, you know, like at the Metro downtown and, you know, had a lot of great gigs in the city like the double door and the elbow room and so many other clubs down there. I'm totally blanking right now. The subterranean was another one kind of across from, from the double door right there.

You know, just some great, great venues and great part of Chicago history that I'm just so fortunate to say. So yeah, we, we did, we did, we did, we did what we could, you know, when we were young and trying, you know, and then we just kind of took, took a big long break is what we did. So I'm not supposed to buy, I have any, any, any songs out or you said he was all mostly all original stuff, right? Yeah, I was pretty much yeah.

All originals. Did you have any, any music out that you recorded? We did have like an EP was a self-titled EP a long, long time ago. We recorded that at gravity studios with Doug McBride, if you know any part of that history of the recording guys in the city.

Great talent. But so we had some good experiences working there with him. We recorded an album called prepare to qualify, which, you know, this was all before social media and stuff.

So, you know, we didn't it's not, I don't even think that's available on iTunes or anything. You can find some tracks I've put out on my YouTube page and stuff like that, but we're kind of need to revisit that and see if we can push that back into some kind of digital thing. But we were able to actually with that album, we won in 2006, I want to say, or 2005, the Chicago music awards actually acknowledged us and gave us like the rock album of the year or something like that when it first, when it came out.

So that was really neat, you know, to be part of that ceremony, because it was like, it was wild, you know, it was like at the Field Museum or somewhere in downtown where they had the ceremony that year in like, you know, this big hall. And you know, it was all walks of life from from rap country, like everything it was, it was just like really localized, you know, like Grammys or something. I was like, wow, this is cool.

You know, and yeah, so we actually were up against I don't know, four or five other artists at that time, and somehow they voted for us, which was wild. So we went up there and accepted the the award and everything. It was pretty wild, pretty wild stuff, you know, that's pretty cool.

Yeah, I have it. I think the the guitar player, Mike, Mike has that still in his studio somewhere. Yeah.

But I've got like commemorative like pictures that we took and stuff like that, that I actually have up on my little studio wall here that I keep just for old keepsake, you know. So you said you took some time off, right? And what was the reason for that? Well, quite a bit of time. When was that, too? Yeah, so we well, I want to say like in 07 maybe or 08 is when I is when I stopped.

So I so we went from Puntzapaya and then we actually like changed the name of the band to Dearborn. And we then recorded another album with a producer named Larry Sturm, who has actually passed away now. He was a really, really sweet guy, talented dude.

And we we had a great, great experience recording with him as Dearborn. We released that album, which is available. What's that album? It's called Always in Disguise.

So that one you can find on like Spotify and iTunes and stuff that's out there where people can check it out if they wanted to. The direction went a little bit different than the way I as a singer songwriter that I would have gone like they kind of went a lot more like heavier, kind of heavier metal kind of ish sound. They would take like a song that I had written on an acoustic guitar and then it was produced with like distortion and all kinds of stuff.

It was very different for me, you know, but I was going along with it. I was young and we had a lot like a. I'll be just happy to get your music out there. Right.

You know what I mean? Yeah, so we had an independent record label and they were supporting us and providing the funds to have this album recorded and everything. So, you know, there was a lot of chefs in the kitchen, so to speak, as far as like we should do this and that and the other thing. And then by the time we're done, it's like, wow, OK, this isn't quite the way I would have done it myself, but it is what it is.

And I'm still proud of it. You know, the songs are there and I could still play those songs on my own or with the band and we can play them how they were originally written and stuff. So, you know, they're always there.

But so after shortly after that album was released, the Dearborn album, we were able to play a like an album release party at the Metro, which was really exciting because it was one of the only times I've actually been able to I think that was the only time I ever played there. And that's, you know, playing in the coming up in the burbs of Chicago and going to see all these shows at the Metro when you're like a kid coming up and then actually to be able to get up on that stage was, you know, just such a tremendous like feat. You know, I was like, man, like we've made it.

You know, we made it. We played the Metro. You know, so that was a really exciting time for us, you know, and everything.

But then I think what happened was I think the direction of the band, just like I said, as far as the sound went like that sort of like changed and I had a lot of personal stuff going on with my family, my family. I've got now two kids. My daughter was just born at the time we had a mortgage that, you know, and it was around the time of like the the market, the housing market crash of like 2008 ish somewhere in there.

And I was trying to avoid like foreclosing and all that stuff, you know. And so things just kind of went a little weird because, you know, we were I had this day job that it was very stable. And then you had this like original music job or passion, which was, you know, listen, we could drive around and maybe make, you know, 50, 100 bucks at a gig somewhere three, four hours away, just trying to get our name out there.

And it just you know, it just wasn't sure panning out. It didn't pan out for me, you know. And I remember one of the guys in the record label was telling me to just give my kids like grilled cheese sandwiches.

And this kid, this guy didn't even have like this guy didn't have kids and stuff. And so I know, you know, but anyway, I was just like things got a little weird, you know. And I was like, I don't know, guys, like I think I got to step back from this a little bit, you know.

And I I think it was a tough decision for me. And it was a decision that sort of like definitely created a lot of, you know, like I want to say I don't want to say bad blood, but, you know, like we kind of all grew up together and we all had this like one goal, this one vision of like making it in the music industry. And we had just spent all this time and effort and money from the label recording.

And then like less than six months later, I kind of was had to pull the plug a little bit, if you would. So and then I spent the next like eight, nine years just being a dad and I'm an electrician by trade. So I was really just focusing on making making ends meet, if you would, you know, and then being here for my kids, you know, nothing wrong with being a dad.

Yeah. Got to do it. So what was the reason behind the name change? A lot of it had to do with marketing and stuff.

I mean, you know, like we had tried Punta Paya and, you know, number one, you know, I can't tell you how many times we would play at the double door or something. And, you know, the name would be up on the marquee. It would be either spelled wrong or, you know, or like the club owners didn't wouldn't even know how to pronounce it.

They would see this like long name on a piece of paper and they would just murder it. You know what I mean? It was it was a difficult name for for promoting and and it kind of was a unique name. And I remember we would open up for we would play at the House of Blues.

So we got really fortunate to play at the House of Blues a few times and we opened up for like the Whalers, you know, Bob Marley's the Whalers band and stuff like that. And really, I mean, we had some really wonderful, wonderful experiences that I will always cherish, you know. But I remember like one of the guys that worked at the House of Blues, he's like, oh, I saw your guy's name.

I thought you were like this like new world kind of like world beat band kind of thing. And so and we, you know, come out there with a couple of electric guitars and we're just like a rock band, you know, and I think it was just kind of misleading in a few ways. So so we decided to change it.

And Dearborn was, of course, the Dearborn Street in Chicago and the Dearborn, the history of, you know, Fort Dearborn and stuff like that. And so we just went with something a little more like Chicago based and easy and just very simple to kind of just put the principle, I mean, it's you know, it's kind of a long story. Yeah, it's well, it's a friend of the band's at the time, I guess, had a dream.

I know it's kind of a long, not great story, but it's somebody's last name, essentially. So it's like a Rook Puntzapaya, the guy's first name was a Rook. It was just kind of a long story, but it's not a great story.

So, you know, yeah, sorry. It's still a pretty cool name. It was neat.

Yeah, it was a neat name. And, you know, it was, like I said, very unique. So when you did see it like that was OK, that's that that's that band, you know.

And so there was no mistaking it. But yeah, I think it was just with the label that I mentioned, the independent label at the time. And it just seemed to make sense to try to do something to make it less of an obstacle if we were trying to make it.

So let's make this less difficult for everybody and try to make just, you know, just try to make it as smooth as possible to get to another level. When you started up again, was what, 2017, 18, something like that? I mean, listen, I'll tell you right now, guys, the starting up for me is like this year. It's post-COVID.

Right. What happened in 18, 19 really was I would take my kids and we would go out to like the village squire in Elgin or whatever. And I'd be sitting there eating dinner and there'd be this guy like playing guitar in the corner playing some cover songs and, you know, just having a good time, tip jars getting full.

And I'm like looking at my wife like, babe, I I can do this. This is easy. Like there's no spotlight.

You're just like this dude in the corner just playing because you're just having a good time. And that's like so I was very interested in doing that. I like all of a sudden got this bug, you know, I'm like, man, like, I feel like I could do that.

You know, that's easy. It's low key. It's just maybe like a side job kind of thing on the weekends, make a couple extra bucks.

So I sort of like pursued that a little bit. And I tried to make that happen. And I got a couple gigs at a couple places in.

So I live in Huntley area. So, you know, pretty West Northwest. And I found this place.

I had a good friend who had a membership at a place called the Anvil Club in West Dundee. And it's like a like a like a private membership kind of restaurant thing, which now they went public. But this is 18, 19.

So they kind of gave me my first gig. You know, the guy, the manager's like he kind of hired me, like not even hearing me or anything. He just, you know, my buddy was like, hey, you know, this guy plays if you ever want to hire somebody.

And so they would have like piano players and different people playing in their bar. And so the guy gave me a shot. And, you know, once I got to do that a couple of times, I remember being extremely nervous to get back out, you know, even just like in this little bar, you know, with maybe like maybe 10, 20, 30 people in there, maybe, you know, like just all, you know, hanging out, having a good time.

And so that was really how I got my feet wet again, kind of just getting back into performing and like picking up the guitar and saying like, hey, I could do this. Like, I'm not trying to make it anymore. You know, like those days are kind of gone.

Is that right? And I'm just I just want to play and sing for people and just, you know, just want to send your blood. It's hard to get out. Right.

Yeah, it really is. You know, yeah. And so, yeah, I just kind of pursued that as and it started to sort of like snowball a little bit here, a little bit there and started getting pretty busy with that before COVID happened, you know, just started playing as many different places.

You know, first my wife and I were like, OK, we're going to do like one a month. I'm going to do one a month. That was kind of the plan, you know, and then it turned into like, you know, a couple times a month and then it turned into like a couple, you know, maybe like once a week.

And then it was like, oh, man, I'm getting all these, you know, it's kind of nice to get like different job offers and stuff like that in in that world, you know. And so, yeah, but I feel like I was just doing it just to to fulfill like this inner need to just to play, you know, and in the 10 year break, I will say, I mean, I was still like, you know, I've got a home studio and I would write songs with friends and collaborate, writing songs with, you know, other musicians and stuff like that. I mean, I kind of always kept that going, but for no real reason other than it was just part of who I am, you know, as a musician, you know what I mean? I didn't plan on having an audience.

I didn't really think I would have an audience. I just kind of just did it because it was my version of going out in the in the garage and like, you know, working on the car or something like that. Or, you know, you know, I mean, just people have hobbies.

So that was mine. It was just writing and playing and stuff like that. So I never gave it up.

I just slowed down and just didn't I gave up the notion of, like, thinking that I could be some like successful, you know, musician, you know what I mean? Like where you you got the stars in your eyes when you're like 20 and you're just like, want to take over the world, you know? So when did you get the guys in the band back together? When did you call them, say, we're getting the band back together? You know, isn't that funny? It's funny. Well, I did try like before before last March, when COVID hit and the pandemic and everything, I was gearing up for I was like, OK, guys, like I'm getting all these gigs now as a solo guy, like in the bar, I was like, I would love to try to make this a little bit something more, you know, band thing, you know, and but the guys were busy, like the guitar player of my band, Mike Pupko. He's he was very busy with his job, but he's he's a gigging musician.

So like he was in like a Larry King Orchestra, which is a very, you know, they were very established, you know, corporate and wedding kind of like events and stuff like that. He was making a living, you know, as a musician, which I'm just you know, I love the fact that he was able to do that. Like for all the 10 years I was off like doing electrician stuff like he found a way to make a living with music.

And I I just find that so amazing, you know, that there's folks out there that do that. I just I never thought that was possible. I don't know why.

I just never equated playing making music and playing music and making money. I just never equated the two together. It was just like it was just never worked out in my past that way with my experience.

So I was like, that's not happening. So I got to do something else. And then my other the bass player, John Swick, he was in a couple of cover bands.

He was like working with Double D booking and stuff like, you know, he was doing some really good, you know, festivals and different kind of like, you know, band stuff. And he was, you know, doing it. So he was busy, too.

So I was trying to like get these guys together. And they were like, sorry, man, like, you know, can't do it. Can't do it.

I'm already booked. I'm already booked. And then this perfect storm happened in this in this terrible global pandemic.

I don't know what happened. But I went from just, you know, trying to get those bar gigs going and stuff. And then we were all just all of a sudden the pause button hit.

We're stuck in the house. You know, what are we doing? Everybody's just stuck at home. And and then social media was like, what's going on with this? I'm kind of new to social media.

I, I joined Facebook, like maybe an 18 ish somewhere, you know, like I didn't have it for the longest time. So when actually the time when, you know, your kids are the cutest and the most precious ages, like I wasn't even there to share all those pictures. So that's, you know, what are you going to do? But I didn't even know what it was at the time.

But it's it was just this weird thing where like, all of a sudden, this like, you can live stream now or something, you know, like, I didn't even know what I was very scared about live streaming. And it was always just such a foreign concept to me to do that kind of thing. But then when everybody was just quarantined, it was like, you know, I would it just that was just seemed like a natural progression for a musician of what I do to just sort of like, turn your phone on and just go live, especially as a solo artist.

Right? Yeah. You know, I mean, there's a lot of guys out there like, you know, my bass player, like, I'm sure he would love to go live. But what, you know, yeah, it's a dude playing the bass, you know, so or whatever, or a drummer, like I've seen some drummers do some cool stuff.

And, you know, but yeah, a guy who can sing and play like that's a gal who can sing and play or who can play the piano and sing, you know, whatever, like just a one man show kind of thing. That's kind of like really where things took a different turn, I think, for a lot of folks in that situation. So let's take a time out.

Hey, Ray, what are you doing? I'm getting my bluegrass on. I'm playing my banjo, except there seems to be something wrong with the strings. Well, you know, Ray, GHS makes strings for all types of instruments, electric and acoustic guitar, bass guitar, mandolin, ukulele, and even banjo.

Then I'm getting new GHS strings and my banjo will sound better. I don't think it's the strings, Ray. GHS are easy to play with rich, full, balanced tone available in many different gauges.

Great for all musical styles. So if you play, play with the best, play GHS strings. You have a new album coming out or one that you put out already? So, yeah.

So before the pandemic time, well, actually, no, it was before that. Yeah, the band, I mean, we did a couple shows together. We did do a couple of shows together before quarantine.

But it wasn't really like a train that was rolling. You know what I mean? It was just like a one-off, like, you know, one show here, one show six months later kind of thing. It was never really.

But so we did put out an album called Start Over Again, which was kind of a combination of songs, some from the Poonsapaya days and some from songs that we had recorded over the 10-year span that I sort of like taking a break. And I was just writing here at the house and stuff like that. So it's kind of named.

Yeah, yeah. And there was a song that I had written actually 10 years ago that never made the album. It was called Start Over Again.

And so we I just it seemed appropriate at the time. Hey, let's so that was the title track and probably not the best song on the album, but it was just so appropriate, you know, for the for the title. So I used it.

But so that's out there right now on iTunes and Spotify and, you know, YouTube. It's kind of wherever if you type in, you know, Pino Farina Band and Google, that would be the album that you find. And then since then, we've released maybe two singles, which are also all available on all the platforms, which is cool.

We just released one called Shiver, actually, which was just a few maybe like a month ago. We released that song, which was written, you know, as a band. We had never even played it live before.

We, you know, nowadays with file sharing and everybody's got home studios and everything, the song was basically like recorded in the studio. And then we released it. And then it's like, OK, guys, we got to learn how to play this song together.

You know what I mean? And so it was kind of this weird thing, like almost like learning a cover song and like playing it together as a full piece band is like, OK, you know, so so that's, you know, it's been interesting to do stuff like that, to put stuff out and then have to, you know, learn how to play it kind of thing. But yeah, you know, they're really talented group of guys. And so and we've got a lot of chemistry together, like I said, since we played together for so long that, you know, it's kind of just easy, you know, you just get together for rehearsal and everything just kind of locks into place a lot of times, which is we're very fortunate to have that kind of thing.

Can you hear something new coming out too? Yes. So we have another single that's going to be coming out July 2nd. In fact, I just uploaded everything, the artwork from our very good and close friend of the band's Terry Murphy.

She's an illustrator and an artist who's an incredible supporter of the band and part of our family at this point. But she created the artwork for helped create the artwork for Shiver, our last single. And then this new song called Runout, which is coming out on July 2nd.

So I just uploaded everything up on the CD Baby distribution platform. And so on July 2nd, we'll be rolling that out. So hopefully we'll have, you know, some creative ways to kind of promote that as we get closer to that date and maybe have like a live show planned or something like that.

So how would you describe your music for someone who's never heard it? Hmm, well, I think, you know, I was having a conversation with somebody recently who's seen us at a show. And they kind of said, I mean, we're, you know, we're tried and true. We're like a rock band.

You know what I mean? We're still like the four guys just rocking out in the garage kind of thing. You know what I mean? And we're just, you know, I play acoustic guitar a lot more these days than I used to back in the Poonsapaya days. So a lot of the tracks now are like acoustic driven or, you know, it's like acoustic driven rock with, you know, also vocally driven, right? Because I feel like my vocals are a real big part of the sound of, you know, we could have two completely different style songs.

But like, I feel like the vocals are sort of what makes it all make sense. You know, like as far as the track sort of like, even if they're kind of not the same genre, let's say, but at least there's like this cohesion of my vocals sort of like making it all the same sound or the same band, you know? So I don't know if I even answered your question. It's like vocal acoustic based rock with a killer, you know, rhythm section.

And, you know, listen, my influences are like U2, like Bono, you know, really strong vocalists. You know, Eddie Vedder, Mike Patton, Jeff Buckley, just really vocally driven kind of bands, you know, that are really like, you know, without that vocalist, without Chris Cornell and in Soundgarden or without, you know, like, it's just that's kind of like Lenny Kravitz, even, you know, I just love that guy. And Tom Petty, songwriting wise.

So, you know, we sort of pull from all those type of bands and, you know, we are what we are. I don't know if we sound like anybody, really, to be completely honest with you. And it could be a bad thing, you know, for Poonsapaya back in the day.

Maybe that's why things didn't really take off for us. Maybe for Dearborn, maybe that's why things didn't really take off for us. I don't know.

But, you know, we're just we just make music that we feel, you know, sounds good for us. So it's all mostly self-produced, you know, the stuff that we're putting out now, it's all self-produced. So, you know, we're really proud of it.

And, you know, we just hope people like it, really, you know, and if they don't, it's OK, because, you know, it's art, you know, and as long as we're able to do what we love to do and it's not mainstream, like, you know, we learned our lesson back then. Like, it's OK. It's not a big deal.

We still have our families and our jobs and stuff. So it's OK. So I see you have a keyboard and you have a guitar.

What do you like to write on? Well, primarily an acoustic guitar. That's really where, you know, where I find the most comfort. You know, that's really where it starts for me personally.

The last song that I wrote was actually collaborative. I mean, John, our bass player, sent me a rhythm track of a bass line that he had written. And so I started on acoustic and then I ended up just going to the keyboards, which I'm not a strong keyboard player at all.

Like, I'm very limited. You know, I play it like a guitar, you know what I mean? Like, I just play chords, you know, like John Lennon would, you know, or something like that. I mean, granted, he's a much better keyboard player than I ever would be.

But but, you know, I just kind of noodle. I noodle, you know, I don't know how to play. So primarily the guitar, I would say.

And but there's a lot of collaboration going on, you know, like between the band as far as all of our songs go. So I would never take credit for being like the primary songwriter of the band. We all share riffs and ideas and collaborate all the time.

I do maybe harness a song as far as like a structure goes, because I am the vocalist and the lyricist. So I might be like, OK, this is going to be the chorus. This is going to be the the verse, you know, and I write pretty much most of the lyrics and the bass player, John Swick, has he wrote the lyrics for Shiver, which is the song we just discussed, and a couple other songs that he's, you know, brought to the table.

So, you know, we it's a very collaborative, family oriented thing. Like I said, you know, we're we're not all, you know, as far as just to get into it a little bit deeper, as far as like songwriting, like distribution, right? Like you have ASCAP, BMI, like songwriters, you take credit for different songs and stuff like that. For us, we kind of go like the Lennon-McCartney way where we're just like, you know what? We're just going to split it four ways.

Like, I don't care who wrote what or whatever. We're just it's all even because we're really not making any money on it anyways. Let's be honest.

But let's just say we win the lotto and something happens like a song to take off. Even it's just an even thing. You know, it's just an even split.

There's nobody's making more than anybody else. Sure, a song could easily take off. You never know.

You never know. But, you know, if you guys had any opportunity to get together to rehearse, we did. So we did just a few last week.

In fact, we had this really incredible experience at a place called the Lincoln Farmstead in Huntley. It's a big barn that's actually rented out for like wedding venues and stuff. And we had this about 14 song set that we wanted to do for this event that was put on mostly in part by a guy named Bryant, who works with Huntley Fall Fest.

You know, he puts on this festival every year for the village of Huntley, and he does some other things. But he's also started his own company called Gravity Presents. And so he's been really he's been behind the band.

He's been behind me and the band and creating like some cool things to happen for us. And so this we did this live stream event where we sold tickets. We sold 30 tickets.

So that was in this place is huge. You could probably have like 500 people in there. We sold 30 tickets to, you know, friends and family, friends, family, all that stuff, whoever was willing to buy a ticket.

And then we had the production crew there, which was lighting, sound, you know, audio guys, you know, video guys. Yeah, like everything. So we put this incredible production together and we were able to get together to rehearse for that, which because we were like, hey, this is getting filmed and recorded.

So we really better be tight with this. So we did get together and rehearse here at my place in the basement and shook the kids bedrooms, I'm sure for about an hour and a half, two hours at a time. But yeah, so we were fortunate enough to do that.

And we've got a couple we've got a ton of shows lined up coming up through the summer, which I'm really excited about. I mean, with COVID that happened and the vaccine that's now coming out and bars and restaurants are starting to open and gigs opportunities are starting to open up again for bands and stuff. I mean, you know, we're going to be at the Hideaway Beer Brew Garden in Hoffman Estates on the 15th of May.

We're going to be at Broken Ore on the 16th of May up in, was it Port Barrington or something? Sundance Saloon is coming up. My uncle Tony's restaurant actually in Bloomingdale. We're going to play there, the full band.

And of course, my uncle is going to get up and sing a couple songs with us because that would just be crazy if he didn't, you know? Of course, he'd have to, yes. You know? So yeah, so we get to do that coming up. I've got another show coming up in May with Gina Gonzalez, who is another really established singer songwriter in the area.

I don't know if you guys are familiar with her, but she plays with Gary Sinise and the Lieutenant Dan Band. So she tours the country and plays with him in his band. But you know, when they're not busy, she's here and she's got her own band called Gina Gonzalez and the Wingmen and stuff like that.

So she's really talented. So we're going to do a show at the end of May at a local brewery here at my place in Huntley called So Hopped. So yeah, there's just a lot of opportunities coming up, you know, since the world is opening up again.

And thank goodness. Yeah. Oh, man, like we just needed it so much.

You know, we all needed it. Just we need to feel normal again for sure. That's really the silver lining to this whole thing, guys, is, you know, before COVID, before live streaming, before the access to social media, where, you know, really, that was the only way people could access any kind of live entertainment for a while.

I think my fan base and my audience base and just the power to be able to reach so many people with being able to sing into my phone, you know, it grew. It grew in the last year. It grew.

And here I am talking to you guys on the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. I mean, I don't think you guys would have even known who I was before last if the quarantine didn't happen. You know what I mean? And so I appreciate you guys asking me to join you here.

But well, how much success did you have off of the off of the movie? The Johnny ballgame put out the Johnny ballgame covered. That's another thing we didn't talk about. Right.

Covered 41. Oh, my gosh. Yes, I have that.

Well, if this was a if we were doing a video, I would show you he's gave me the poster framed over there. I've got it right there in the corner. Nice.

I would definitely hold it up and promote that. But were you there at the premiere? I was. Yeah.

Were you guys there? I was there. Yeah. Oh, cool.

Okay, cool. I know he's got some other showings coming up this month. I think I'm going to try to get to the one on May.

I think it's May 20th, but he's got another handful of premieres coming up. But he's so that one was in Oak Brook that that one that we did there. I was there for that.

I'm sorry, I didn't see you there. There's a lot of folks there that night, right? That was a big party in Johnny ballgame fashion, you know? Yes, it was. Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Yeah, it was a neat, neat experience to be there and to see all those folks, all those musicians all in that theater together. It was wild. It was so crazy.

And then the fact that Johnny like featured one of our original songs, Station, which I can I can send you that maybe. Maybe you can play that as part of this podcast. Oh, yeah, he actually like made a full length video of my song, an original song on there, which blew my mind because really the movie was about, you know, it's called Cover 21.

It's like about mostly the Chicago cover bands in the scene that, you know, he's grown to know and love over the last, you know, decade and stuff like that. And he reached out to me and then included me in the film. So I was really, really appreciative to be a part of that for sure.

It's really great. He's a good dude. Good dude.

Fun guy. The list is it's over like 30 bands, probably that he included in that at least, you know, and it was really, you know, well done. I mean, it was entertaining.

You know, it was funny. There was one line that Adam Blair, I think is Adam Blair's the singer from Seventh Heaven. He was being interviewed and like he kind of stopped the interview and he's like, everybody, can we swear on your show? Oh, yeah, yeah.

So Adam's like, hey, guys, this is all bullshit. He goes, this movie isn't about the Chicago cover band scene. This movie is about Johnny ballgame.

Let's all be honest about it. It was such a funny moment, you know, because I mean, you know, the reality is it's like, yeah, he featured everybody. But, you know, I mean, he was the star of the of the movie, right? Let's be honest.

It was about his going through his his depression, as he called it, or his lack of being able to go out and see bands and and have a good time because it's I mean, that's what he did every weekend. Exactly. No, I mean, that's a part of listen, that's a lifestyle.

You know, it's a lifestyle for the bands. And it's a lifestyle for the fans that go to all those shows every weekend and support, which is, you know, it's like this ecosystem. You can't have one without the other, you know, it's like, you know, so it's I said to him at the time, I said, I said, I understand your feelings.

But imagine how the bands feel and how many bands are out there that are that are experiencing that and and suffering through the same thing, you know? Oh, 100%. Yeah, 100%. Well, it's good to hear.

It's good. I mean, I'm sure the COVID was the demise of many bands that we we don't even know about. But yes, but it's good to hear a story like yours, where the COVID actually helped help give you a chance to get your band together and you guys and for you guys to rehearse and something productive come out of it.

Yeah, no, it's it's really been like a silver lining, like I said, and it's almost been like a catapult for us to really go from like, I keep saying to my friends, and we're going from like zero to 100. I feel like really, I really feel that way. I mean, you know, I was like we our schedule is booking up like crazy right now.

And to think that like a year ago, even before COVID, like, the band wasn't really happening, you know, it wasn't happening. It was a lot of the duo stuff I was doing with my drummer guy and my drummer, brother, John Shills. You know, we were doing the duo thing because the full band wasn't really available because everybody was busy doing their own music gigs.

So, you know, somehow, it's a perfect storm of things that happened for me and for for the band. And so we're we're just trying to see we're going to see what happens, you know, and we're going to have a freaking good time and try to just embrace everything and just, you know, meet all these folks that we've met virtually over the last year, and hopefully see some some familiar faces when we go out to play shows, you know. So that's good to hear.

And where can people find where you're going to be playing on Facebook? You've got your Facebook or your Instagram? Yep, yep. So I've got yep, I've got Pino Farina Band dot com is our is our website. And so all of our shows are listed there.

Anything that comes up, we do put on there. So that's definitely like a primary spot to go with Facebook. It's weird now because my Facebook page, my music page is called Pino Farina Music.

And yeah, Instagram. So Pino Farina Music on Facebook. Pino Farina Band is the website.

And Pino Farina just my name is on Instagram. So those are the three main things. And then, of course, on Spotify, if you type in Pino Farina Band or on iTunes or, you know, whatever on I've got a YouTube page that has I'm blessed to say that I have over like almost 280 people on YouTube, which is cool, you know, following me, which is awesome.

So anytime I make a little video or something like at least it gets, you know, a little traction, nothing crazy, but it's it's fun. You know, it's cool to to have that audience. And so, you know, just trying to see where this this whole crazy music thing is going to take me.

I don't know. You know, we'll find out. Well, we hope it takes you to something successful.

Yeah, no, I got to say, definitely. I'm leaps and bounds over where I ever thought I would be right now. I honestly there's this this venue in in West Dundee called the Rock House.

It's this beautiful, historic venue. And I get to play there this weekend. So this will be when people are listening to this.

The show will have already happened, unfortunately. But I get to play with some really talented vocalists who were on The Voice this last season and on American Idol this last season. So it's those two folks, Amber Fiedler and Kevin Ferris.

And then I'm actually headlining there. I'm going to play last. I'm going to play like an hour and a half worth of mostly original music.

I'm just me and myself and my guitar on a stage on a really beautiful stage in a beautiful venue like that is a music house venue. It's not like a restaurant. It's not.

It's like a venue, you know, legit. I mean, for me to say that I'm doing that, like I've I'm done, dude. Like I'm done.

Come on. You know, let's hope that, you know, but yeah, man, it's fun. And just talking to, you know, you guys and just having the opportunity to be out and, you know, it's all it's it's all just bonus.

It's all bonus, you know. So everything that happens from now on is just bonus. And I just appreciate everything that's happening, any opportunities that I'm able to get.

So we wish you the best of luck. Thanks, guys. Hope to see you out there this year sometime.

Heck yeah. Heck yeah. I'll be in we'll be in Lombard on Saturday, actually, which is a bit further south, but still not south side.

But we're playing. We're opening up for Rock Brigade, which is the Def Leppard tribute band. So that's going to be a fun, you know, rock that just they're going to rock the roof right off of the place, I'm sure.

So we get to play before them. And yeah, man, so many opportunities. Lombard would be like near north for us.

Hopefully we'll catch up with you sometime soon. That'd be great, man. Thanks a lot, Pino.

Appreciate it. Thanks, guys. Yes.

Thanks for joining us today. Absolutely. My pleasure.

See you soon. Cool. So that was Pino Farina from the Pino Farina Band.

Ladies and gentlemen, Pino Farina Band has left the venue. Yeah, yes. Thank you for coming.

Head for the exits. But it's really a great story that because of COVID, he's actually kind of gotten his band back together. Most definitely.

I mean, they're out there riding the storm out for many, many years, trying to make it in the industry. And then they took a break from that. Had to take a break.

You know, family life comes first, which it always does. You got to take care of the family. Yes.

And then to have the pandemic come by and spark something inside of him to start playing again. Yeah, it was very cool. And he's like you said earlier, he's just such a great guy.

He's such a nice guy. And we appreciate him coming on our show. And so any of you Northsiders may want to check him out because he seems to be up north, northwest suburbs quite a bit.

But you can find out where he's going to be by just going to Pino Farina Band, his website. That's right. Or Facebook or Instagram.

He's everywhere. That's Pino, P-I-N-O, Pino Farina. So just like you can find the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast everywhere.

That's correct. Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter. Oh, man, my head spins.

Your head is spinning right now. It is. See, I thought that was the exorcist thing that was happening there.

Yeah, well, sometimes it does. Sometimes I float. Whoa, whoa, whoa.

That's right. That's right. Now my head's spinning.

Yeah, that kind of got off on a tangent there. Yeah. So anyway, don't forget to check out the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum.

Where? On Route 66, rotorock.org. That's right. Check out their website. Sign up to be a charter member today.

Get yourself some GHS strings while you're at it. If you're a guitar player, if you're a mandolin player, bass player, ukulele, whatever string instrument you might play, get yourself some GHS strings. I want to thank them all for being sponsors.

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They're perfect for any morning, any coffees, for teas, for soup, some chicken noodle soup when you're not feeling good. You know what else is good? Bourbon. Bourbon's good.

Bourbon's good. It tastes great out of that Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. It sure does.

It sure does. So hey, contact us either from our website or on Facebook if you're interested in one. And we'll see you about getting you one.

Okay. All right. Sounds good.

For a nominal fee, of course. I think I'm gonna go have me a bourbon right now. Oh, sounds good.

Me too. Okay. See you next week.

Thanks for listening, everybody. We'll catch you next week. Bye-bye.

The Rock and Roll Chicago podcast does not own the rights to any of the music that's played on this podcast. The music is used to promote the band or musicians that are interviewed.