Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. How are you today, Ray? I'm doing wonderful. I'm about to color my hair.

That's good. Yeah. I got some Clairol here and I got some other dyes and stuff.

And I'm thinking of going blonde. Oh, that's cool. Yeah.

I thought maybe you'd go pink, put some pink in it. I thought about pink, too. Thought about pink, too.

But, you know, I do dye it the silver fox color. Otherwise, it would be all brown. So I thought I'd just change the color a little bit before it turns brown again.

Yeah. Yeah, I'm going to just dye my hair. Well, you know, it actually looked blind a couple of weeks ago.

It did look blind. I don't know why. It was kind of strange.

Maybe that's why I want to do that. Yeah. Could be.

Well, it's funny you say that because today we're talking with Beyond the Blind. Beyond. Beyond the Blind.

My wife asked me, she says, who are you interviewing today? I said, Beyond the Blind. And she says, well, you live that every day. I do.

I do. Because she's a blonde. Yes, she is.

Yes, she is. But so Beyond the Blind, we talked to Charity and we talked to Bobby, the guitar player, and we got some info about them. They do a lot of pink and they do Gwen Stefani and they do Lady Gaga.

No doubt. And a few other ladies of the 80s, too. What's that? I said, no doubt.

Oh, no doubt. Yes, they do. Yes.

That's right. So let's talk to Charity. Let's talk to Bobby and see what they have to say.

You can talk to me, too, if you want. Oh, yeah, well, you can talk, too. All right, let's go see what they have to say.

OK. Hey, everybody. Welcome to the show.

Today we're speaking with Beyond the Blind. We're speaking with Charity and Bobby, the guitar player. How are you both doing today? Doing well.

Very good. Thank you. Good.

I'm doing good, too, Paul. Good. I raise here to you.

Thanks for asking. Yeah, no problem. So tell us a little bit about the band.

I know you haven't been together very long and you do a certain type of music, right? You do ladies of the 80s kind of thing, but three of them in particular, right? So we actually were a tribute to Pink, Gwen Stefani and Lady Gaga. But within that right now, we throw in some other music. So right now we're focusing on, quote unquote, ladies of the 80s.

So how did the band get together? Bobby? Charity joined my previous band and was a singer in that band for about three years. And then when that band kind of ended, we took on this new challenge. What's that? Do we want to mention that band? Who was that? It was called C Factor.

OK. That was my old band. So that's about all I'll say.

OK. What kind of music? It was a cover band that did everything from classic to current. You know, the typical Journey, ACDC, Neil Diamond.

And then we did some of the stuff we're doing in Beyond the Blind. You know, that type of stuff. So when did you get together with the Beyond the Blind? When did you start that band? So actually, it's been.

I was in talks about it in like last, I think, August. I just figured this out now. I totally forget.

And it started as a joke, kind of this whole concept, which blew up into this. I always get compliments on when I sing pink. And everyone is always like, you should sing more pink.

So somebody else had said to me, like, hey, we should do a a pink tribute. So what started as just something like just doing pink? I kind of like my wheels started spinning and I started talking to other people about the idea and talk to Bobby about it. And I wasn't sure how he was going to feel about it because I was in his band.

And he gets really weird when you like try to do other things. Oh, rumors, rumors. So, yeah.

And then I had had a couple conversations with some people in the music business. And one person in particular was like, you want my advice? And I'm like, yeah. And he's like, don't do it.

And I'm like, I wasn't expecting that, you know. And he's like, don't do it. You don't want to do just one artist.

You know, he goes, because when people come to see a tribute to an artist, they want to see that artist, basically. You know, they want to see what they do on stage. They want you to do that.

He's like, so you would have to totally step into it. You have to chop your hair. You'll have to like start doing aerial and stuff like to really work.

I was going to say, I've started doing the aerial thing, right? Yeah. Yeah. It might be tough at some clubs.

Yeah, yeah. And even like him telling me like the haircut thing, I was like, I don't know if I can do that. Yeah.

So lo and behold, between that and like this kind of like figuring out like what we could do that was different, we started, you know, Bobby and I kind of started like brainstorming. And I mean, the three of the biggest names really in the industry, it just made sense, you know. So we don't try.

I don't try to be an impersonator by any means. I just try to bring the essence of each girl to each set that we do. Now, you said it was last August, right? Now, it was 2019, right? So you got to play a little bit, obviously, before COVID hit, right? No.

No. We actually, no. So we started talking about it in August.

I think it was August. It might have even been September. I might be putting it, pushing a little bit too far back.

And then we actually did not start auditioning other band members until it was like October, October, November. This past year or during the pandemic? Oh, during the pandemic. Okay.

Yeah. Like right before it hit. No? No.

So 2019. Oh, it was. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah. Our first show was about four weeks after the shutdown.

So we were all ready to go. The first show got, first show and like the next five got canceled. Yeah.

Until August of last year. That was our first official show. You got some shows in, right? Yeah.

I mean, I mean. So we've had four shows or three shows. Our fourth one is coming up.

No, we've had four. Okay. Oh, yeah.

I'm bad at math. I'm just a guitar player. See why my other band didn't do well? I couldn't add.

You only got to count to four though. Right? The rock and roll, that's all you got to do is count to four. You didn't get to play much during the pandemic.

But so now who else is in the band that, how'd you go about recruiting them? So we actually have typical band drama in the short time we've been together. We found our drummer. We actually, we were really lucky with drummers.

The drummers that we auditioned were good. They were great. All of them.

And the one, the guy that we went with, I actually found him on Band Mix. And he is unbelievable. Like unbelievable.

You know, he's like, we'll drop a stick, everything. He does not skip a beat. Like he's just, he's unbelievable.

And he's so, he's so chill and laid back. And he's just like, go with the flow. Like, yeah, it's cool.

It's whatever. You know, he's just, we love him to death. So, and then bassist, that's been another story.

So we've actually had two and we're working on three right now. I noticed you had an ad out there on your Facebook page. Yeah.

For a bass player. You haven't found one yet? No, we've had quite a few inquiries and we're in talks with a couple. And then we're just going to, we have a couple coming to see us this Saturday.

So we're just, we're confident it's just going to work out. That's good. Now, you mentioned a drummer.

What is the drummer's name? Oh, I thought, I thought you, I thought Bobby was going to talk. His name is Dan. Dan Webster.

Okay. And what's his history? Where did he come from? Has he, like, I know you said you find him on BandMix or whatever. He play with any other bands that we might know of or anything? Um, so I, God, Bobby, do you remember the names? I don't, I'm so bad.

Um, he's, he does some original music. He's in like a Neil Diamond tribute band that plays like once a year. He's in like, um, yeah, he like this, this guy can, he can do anything like, and he, and he juggles everything.

And, you know, so, and we don't have an issue scheduling wise with him at all. So, um, but he's been in the scene for a long time too. He's been playing for a long time and this, this was totally different for him.

And, uh, and we were just talking about this the other night. He said it was just, he goes, it was something different and something kind of cool, you know, to do, you know, very different than what he had been used to doing. I think it was for all of us, really.

What about you Charity? Now you said you played in Bobby's band, um, um, prior to this, but, uh, have you, have you played around town for a while or? So I actually was retired. I did original music and I was in bands, um, years and years and years and years ago, and I do musical theater. So that was just, I did it for a long time and I just, I got burnt out, like burnt out.

I mean, the stuff that I was doing and I was a single mom and going to school. So I was trying to juggle everything and, um, I was like losing my sanity. So I kind of like, I also kind of lost some of that, that passion for some of it too, because now it was just becoming, you know, a problem, like trying to juggle everything.

And I'd stepped away and I was, I was away from it for like, um, over eight years. And then, uh, I hit a certain age and I started like getting this itch. I was like, man, like something's missing in my life.

Like, you know? And, uh, and I was like, man, I just, you know, I don't know what it is. Like, I want to do something again. And my, my, I was like, I think I want to get back into a band, but I don't want to do original music anymore.

Like I, you know, I auditioned for a couple of different ones that I was just like, wasn't really feeling it. And then a girlfriend of mine knew, um, well, actually we both do. I was actually friends with an old drummer of Bobby's.

So there was like a connect. It was really weird how, like, we have all these like connections. And so it was like, almost like we were destined to end up together.

But yeah, so I found out, I found out about him and Bobby and I were like messaging back and forth and I went in and auditioned and then they had me come in again, like the following week. And then that was, that was all she wrote. And then I, I joined C factor.

And how long were you with them? Um, almost three years, like two and a half years. And you said you did original music before that. Were you writing the music then? Yeah.

So I had a very interesting, like I wrote the lyrics, like I'm more of a lyricist and like I'm very unconventional on how I would write. And I actually had my old bass player, we wrote everything together and we worked really well together. Like I say this, I'm like, I don't know if I could write any more with anybody because we had this weird way that just worked.

But, um, but yeah, no, I don't like, or sometimes like, and I don't play, I don't play an instrument that I wouldn't, but like, I played instruments over the years, but like, I'm not a guitarist. I'm not, you know, I don't play keys. Like I don't, you know, so like sometimes like this, a melody will like pop in my head and I'll like start humming it.

And then like, he would take it and run with the rest. And we let, you know, it was really weird how we wrote music, but it worked, you know. And as long as it works, you know, that's what counts, right? Right.

So that was all original you guys did in your previous bands? Yeah. Yeah. Because so the funny thing is, is so my, I always tried to get my old, like my old band, I always like, we need to do covers.

We need like, you know, I'm like, because no, you know, it's just going to be better for us. It's going to get us more gigs. It's getting, you know, people are going to be more familiar with, and my bass player specifically, he's like, absolutely not.

We are not doing covers. We're not playing somebody else's music. We might as well go sing karaoke.

Like it was like, it's not happening. So I kind of like, that was like in my head almost like, I'm like, oh, I can't sing. Like, that, like, I almost looked like this sounds terrible, but like, I almost at the time, like looked at it, like, if you're a cover band, then you're like, you're all right.

Like you're singing someone else's music. Like, that's kind of how I looked at it at the time, you know, What was the name of the band? Jetless. So you guys must have did most of your gigs up North? Up North.

We did a lot of traveling and we did festivals and stuff. I mean, the things that I did in the places that I went to as a single mom, like looking back and I'm like, terrible, terrible. So Bobby, tell us a little bit of your history.

Well, I pretty much was with C-Factor for 15 years. So like that was, it was some high school buddies and it was basically our high school band, just the older version of it. We as well started off as an original band.

Um, and then kind of noticed when we did Journey or Neil Diamond, people seemed to like it a lot more. So we just started adding more and more to that. And then we were a three piece.

Then we added another member and just became a five piece, got a female vocalist and it kind of took shape with that. And that was the formula for 2002. I think it started with the, with the five piece and then it ended in 2012, but it was, it was all always the same, you know, you know, classic to current, you know, whatever was popular, we would, you know, try to do and, you know, do our best at it.

And it was fun. It ran its course. And then, uh, we took on Beyond the Blonde as the next challenge.

So it's, uh, it's been fun. Original music. What's that? Have you ever written any original music? Yeah.

C-Factor was original. Oh, they were? So, so yeah, that was, we, um, we did a CD, you know, at the time when we first started out. Um, so that was fun.

I like that, but I was a lot younger. So now I don't really have, I still like playing music. I just don't have the desire to write music.

I wrote all the music and lyrics and then, uh, I presented to the guys and then the, you know, we jam out the songs and I still like to hear it once in a while. You know, it was, it was fun at the time with age comes the cover band world. Yeah.

So it's more, it's more fun to play to people that can sing along and dance, you know, that's kind of what this band's about, which is, which is good. This is Paul Martin and Ray the roadie. And we're here to talk to you about GHS strings.

That's right, Ray. Whether you play electric guitar, acoustic bass, or even banjo, mandolin, or ukulele, then GHS has the strings for you. GHS strings are easy to play with a rich, full balance tone available in many different gauges.

Great for all musical styles. So if you play, play with the best, play GHS strings. So now, uh, now charity, uh, um, I know you do pink, uh, Gwen Stefani and Lady Gaga.

Which one is your favorite? Oh, you said, you said you did pink very well, which I think I personally, I think peak is a great artist and a great rock artist, you know? Yeah. Unbelievable performer, like just to see her performance on it's crazy. Her athleticism that she has is crazy.

But honestly, like if I had to pick between all three, it would definitely be one. I've been a huge fan of hers. Like I saw no doubt in festivals when there was like 15 people standing there watching them, like before anybody knew who it was, like I was in high school.

That's how, I mean, it was a long time ago. Um, and I've always just, I was a huge, huge fan of no doubt in her because, you know, she was a female front that could just rock out and just her energy on stage was just insane. Probably, but I, I mean, I like all three and to be quite honest with you, like I didn't get that as much respect for Lady Gaga until this, like I did like some of the songs, but it wasn't until this.

And I started like looking at more of her stuff and like listening to her, like vocally, like she's way more talented than some people realize. Oh yeah. She's very talented, very talented.

Her vocal arrangements are very, very different, you know, even at the, at the, uh, uh, the recent inauguration, uh, where she sang, uh, she sang this song and, and I saw a thing on YouTube where how it changed time. And, and I mean, but she's, she's just so talented timing and the song changes, uh, different than, than the original version, you know, and it was just amazing what she, what she can do. Absolutely.

Do you find, um, you get yourself into their kind of persona when you're singing their songs? I, I, I mean, I do a little bit and there, and I kind of try, I, I shouldn't say, I don't really try to, like, there's like, because of their style of music, it's almost like a, it's a different way to move or like every set. And I've had quite a few people tell me, like, it's like, I'm like, I'm going with each artist. Like, I'm kind of like, not, not transforming into them, but like, I've got certain like moves or certain like things that I do on stage that will kind of bring you to whoever that artist is, you know, whether it's pink or, or Lady Gaga or Gwen, like there's certain specific things that they do that I'm kind of like echoing, you know, and, and so I've been told that I don't, again, I don't try to be an impersonator.

And like, that's not our goal because then people will be very disappointed. Like if they come and they're like, okay, we want to see this. And like, that's not going to happen.

And we try to make that clear that, you know, and I still, like, I really, all my costumes other than one, um, all my costumes, I don't want replicas of their costumes. I want just something that's like, oh yeah, it's totally one. Or, oh yeah, that's, you know, that's totally Gaga.

Um, pink doesn't really have a, um, a, like a distinct look. So it's easy with me, with her, like to, you know, what I wear. Um, but that's it.

So, so you change outfits, obviously for the, now do you guys, do you guys do a set of each or do you mix them up or how do you do it? Go ahead, Bobby. You can talk now. I can talk.

Yeah. So we do, um, three sets with each artist. And then within those sets, we're doing the, and more, so we'll put, we'll do like seven songs of pink and then we'll throw in a Madonna song or, um, heart, you know? So within it, we kind of like add a little bit to each set.

Obviously she's not going to change the costume for that. But so like the first set we'll come out, we'll do, she'll dress up like pink or in the style of pink. We'll play about half hour of pink and then do a couple other artists and then finish the set out with pink.

And that's kind of the structure of, and then the same for the other two artists. Usually you use the same, same setup every time pink and then who Gwen and with Lady Gaga or what? Yeah. So far that's been the winning formula.

So we, we, every show, we kind of switch it up a little bit and we're, we're almost there to where we have it in, you know, I haven't dialed in, but it's, we're trying to, we're trying to see two, like the crowds reaction. And that's kind of like, you know, we knew it was going to take us probably a good six, seven, maybe even eight shows before we kind of see like, all right, this is it. Like, this is what's going to work.

We've tried the first three shows. We had three totally different shows, you know, how we, how we did it just because we were just kind of playing around and seeing like, what were the, what would the crowds reaction be to this or, you know, so. So besides, besides the three ladies that you do some, you'd say you just throw in some other stuff, right? Some heart and stuff.

Some of that stuff's pretty challenging to sing though, isn't it? Oh, yeah. It's very hard. It's very hard on the guitar.

So now you've, you said this Saturday, you were, you're, you're trying on a new bass player or something. Yeah. And is your other bass player sticking with you until you, until you find somebody? So our bass player is actually, he's going to stay with us until we have a show at the beginning of April.

And then this other opportunity that he's going to needs him. So he can only give us till then. So we're lucky.

We actually got somebody to fill in because we have a bunch of May dates. And we, I have somebody, God, this is gonna sound crazy. He's actually driving from Wisconsin and not, I'm not talking like Milwaukee, like over the border.

He, it's in from Appleton. Like he's driving three and a half hours to come fill for us. Like, yeah.

So we got May covered. And then in the process, we're just trying to see if we can find someone that's, you know, ability and fits in, you know, with our personalities, me, Bobby and Dan, we're all pretty like low key. We don't like drama.

We just, you know, we don't, we don't argue a bicker. Like, you know, we can give each other constructive criticism and nobody gets, you know, but heard about it. You know, it's like, it's pretty, we all, we just get along.

So that's, we want someone else to, that can fit into that. Well, Dan is a big part of that. I'm sure being a, being a drummer has to, has to approve the bass player, right? It's the backbone of the band, right? We let him think so.

We told him he gets final approval. Yeah, Dan's out here to defend himself. Give me a go-to, well, a go-to song that, that you guys love to do from, from each, from each Pink, Gwen and Lady Gaga.

Bobby, we'll start with you. Start with me? Yeah. Oh, I didn't hear, I'm sorry.

I didn't hear you. A go-to song from each of them. For Pink, I think Pink, it would be So What.

It's probably, I like that one a lot. And Trouble. Those kind of like are my, my, they have little guitar leads, so they're fun.

For, for Gwen, I like Sunday Morning. I think that one. And for Lady Gaga, I, I like Stupid Love.

Her, her latest one. I think that's, that goes over, it's been going over well, and it's, it's a fun song to play. Those are the ones that I, of the three that I like the most, I think, to play.

How about you, Charity? So, um, Pink, I'm kind of like, I don't know, like there's, there's a few, and there's a few that we haven't done yet that I want to do. But as of right now, what we're doing, I think, go a little crazy. So I think You in Your Hand is fun.

Like, it's really fun for me to do. It's, I like, I like, and I love songs that I can kind of play with the crowd too. So it's, it's fun.

Gwen, same thing. Like, I love Sunday, like anything, no doubt for me. I love, so Sunday, yeah, Sunday morning, I love.

But there's also, there's one, it's one of her solo ones called Make Me Like You. And it's kind of, it's like, just fun to do. And Lady Gaga, Hands Down, which I love to do, is You and I. It's got like that rock feel, like vocally, I just, it's like me.

Like, you know what I mean? I have a rock background. Like, I actually, yeah, I guess you could say I struggled a little bit. Because I'm like, I don't know if I can do some of this.

I mean, some of it's rock, but it's very poppy. And like, vocally, it was just very challenging. So I actually started, again, after years and years and years, I started taking vocal lessons again.

And in the past year, I mean, people that have been hearing me sing the last few years, like the last few, you know, handful of times, even acoustically, Bobby and I play acoustically together too. And people will be like, yeah, and people will be like, wow, is your voice strong? Like, so I've definitely built up strength in my voice in the past year. I wouldn't say so much, I haven't built up a range yet.

But definitely, my voice is really strong. So what do you guys do? How do you work it out acoustically? Just the two of you? You run a guitar and charity singing, right? Yes. That's cool.

Have you done some shows like that? Yeah, that was the first thing that, once the quarantine kind of calmed down, was easy to get into. Because the bars would let two people, they didn't want full bands. So we do, but it's not like beyond the blonde acoustic.

It's, we play like one song of the artist, but we'll do Journey, you know, Neil Diamond. It's Lizzo, yeah, it's all over the place. It's just, you know, the Beatles, you know, stuff like that.

I see. You know, it's kind of hard to do poker face acoustic. Yeah, yeah.

You know, I don't know how she can do it, but, you know, I don't have the ability to play guitar like that. So it's, you know, it's a whole different band that, you know, we don't even market it with Beyond the Blonde. So it's... There's no name for the duo? It's called Gotcha Covered.

Okay. So, you know, and I guess it's... So you sing too, Babby? Um, I try. I do backups.

I can sing Mellencamp. That's like, and I can sing country. Ironically, I don't even like country music.

But those are the two, I guess, fit my range well. What, do you got a twang in your voice when you sing? I guess, I don't know. Yeah.

You guys must hit some deep cuts. If, I mean, if you do, if you're doing a whole set of Pink, a whole set of Gwen, a whole set of Lady Gaga, I mean, you must hit some of their deep cuts then, right? I mean, some stuff that people may go like, who is that? You know? Not yet. Um, right.

Our focus, our goal right out the gate was like, we're doing all the big hits, all the things, all the radio played songs, all the songs that everybody knew. Um, but looking into the future, there are going to be probably a handful of songs that you would only know if you're truly a fan and have the album, you know, but still fun songs. Sure.

But yeah, I figured it'd be some deeper cuts though. I didn't, I didn't, I guess I didn't realize maybe that they have that many hits all together. You know? That's what I said when this first started.

I go, they got like three songs each. And then the more you listen, I'm like, oh, I've heard this one. It's, you know, we're playing seven songs, an artist, I think seven, eight songs.

And, you know, once we got going, I'm like, I know all of them, but one, you know, that I've actually heard on the radio. So it's surprisingly, there are more than, you know, raise your glass for pain, you know, so it's, they're all recognizable, which is good. Go ahead, Ray.

So when the, when the band gets back out there beyond the blind, you guys intend to keep a gotcha covered going to. Oh yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. It's just, it's something on the side that, you know, we have fun with that, you know, with that too. Now, if we're, if we have a busy month with beyond the blind, then that'll be, you know, that'll be put on the back burner.

And our, our focus will always be beyond the blind. So like in May, we've got like quite a few shows booked. So we probably won't do anything acoustically.

You know, in May, but yeah, our focus is definitely the full band, but we still, we'll still keep doing the acoustic stuff here and there. And, you know, it's fun. So, so Bobby, you have, I mean, with just a three piece, I mean, basically you just have a guitar, bass and drums, right.

In the band. Yeah. No keys or anything.

I mean, you must be, you're either a really busy guy playing a lot of parts or, or what's the deal there? Because I mean, some of the stuff, he's got keys and sounds and all kinds of going on. Well, we, we have, we do the, we've sold our souls and we play with tracks. Oh, okay.

So we, we, we auditioned, we didn't want to do it, but we auditioned a few keyboardists and it just wasn't working with just the amount of, you know, of sounds that between the three, it's, it's hard for, you know, a keyboardist, you have to, you know, I don't know how that stuff works, but I know with guitars, you know, I wouldn't want to lug 17 guitars. So it just, it was hard for, we can get a pink keyboardist. We could have gotten a, a no doubt keyboardist and a Lady Gaga, but to have all of the, the sound effects and just, you know, and someday we might, you know, we might, we have, we have a long distance idea of a larger scale production, I guess you could say, where it's keyboard player, backup singers, you know, and have like, you know, Aerial effects.

Ironically, she has a friend that can do that. So I already talked to her about that. So if we, and I said, if we ever got to play like a theater, I'd have to look into insurance policies.

But I said, I would, I would have a friend swinging from the, from the ceiling. So, you know, who knows? If you know what I mean. As both Ray and I play guitar, but as guitar players, what's your go-to guitar, Robbie, if you don't mind me asking? For Beyond the Blonde, I use a Line 6 Vari-Ax.

I don't know if you're familiar with that, but it's great. And I even used it in C-Factor because I can go from a Stratocaster to a 12-string acoustic to a Les Paul to a banjo. You know, and, but my, I have... I don't see a lot of those out there, but... What's that? I've seen them, but I don't see a lot of them out there.

Yeah, it was, when I bought it, it was hard because you couldn't even try one out. No guitar stores had them. The wife let me get it off online.

I bought it from Sweetwater and I've had it for three years and it's awesome. You know, I was shocked. It came in tune.

I took it out of the box. It was tuned up. It was, you know, so it's a workhorse for what we do.

And I even use it for our acoustic shows. I just put the acoustic patch on and I can do a 12-string and a 6-string. And it's, you know, it's a fun toy.

But I have a Jackson, I have a Les Paul, an Ovation acoustic, you know. I like the Les Paul out of all of my guitars, but they're kind of heavy. And for what we were playing, it didn't, you know, it was limited.

So it must be an older one, right? Um, I got it used. So I got it, I bought it in 90, 1990. Oh yeah, well that's an older one then.

Yeah. It's not chambered or anything. We're going to make them lighter now.

Yeah, no, no, it's, yeah, it's, it's, uh. Yeah, good old Les Pauls. Yeah, sounds great.

You know, it looks good. It's just playing, you know, a three-hour set. I'm kind of old now.

Yeah, well, yeah, I know. I've got bat crabs because I used to play a Les Paul. But, uh.

What kind of amps are you using? Um, I don't use an amp. I have a Firehawk, which is like, I call it a baby Helix. So, but I, I used to use a Marshall 50 watt half stack.

And again, lugging that was a pain. Plus some of the venues we played, you know, it's either too loud or too big. So I just use the Marshall patch for my chunk and I use like a, um, a Roland.

Yeah, I think a jazz amp or something or in a box for the clean channels for it. It's nice. You know, it's sound guys like it because you just go direct in and.

Travel light. Yeah, yeah, this is true. So, uh, so where can we find you guys on, um, on, uh, on Facebook or on the web? So our website is beyond the blonde band.com. And you can find us on Instagram and Facebook the same way beyond the blonde band.

All right. Well, thanks guys for joining us tonight. We appreciate it.

And, uh, and, uh, I appreciate the, uh, I mean, I hope, I hope you, hope you find a bass player soon and get like sending bass players out there. You're listening to this. That's right.

Get ahold of them right away. Hurry up. Yeah.

So, uh, well, thanks guys so much for joining us. Thanks for having us. Thanks for having us guys.

I'm going to walk. I'm going to wash that gray, white, right. Out of my hair.

I'm going to walk. Oh, sorry. I didn't know we were done.

I was, I was just doing my hair. Oh, okay. Sorry.

Are you done with your hair now? I'm done with the hair and we're done with the interview. Yes, we are. Yes.

Yeah. There was charity and Bobby from, uh, beyond the blind. Uh, they're looking for a bass player.

So any bass players out there, you know, that's right. Get on the stick boy. Join this great band.

That's right. Give him a shout out. That's right.

Good opportunity there. They get the, they have a unique, a unique style of music there. Yes, they do.

They play pink and Gwen Stefani, no doubt. And, uh, Lady Gaga and some other ladies of the eighties too. They throw in there.

That's right. So it's, uh, I think that's going to be very, very popular. Yes, indeed.

And they've got some shows coming up. Yes. Yes, they do.

So be sure to check them out. Uh, check them out on Facebook and, uh, or their website. And, uh, be sure and, uh, get yourself some GHS strings.

Thanks to GHS strings. That's right. I got them from my banjo and my banjo sounds much better.

Good, good, good, good. Yeah. Maybe, you know, if there are any bass players out there, GHS makes great strings for bass.

Oh, yes, they do. This is a GHS boomers. Yes.

Yeah. So you guys, you only bass players out there that are going to be contacting, uh, contacting charity and Bobby, make sure you change those strings over to, uh, GHS. So you sound wonderful like I do now.

There you go. And don't forget to check out the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on routes 66 in, uh, beautiful downtown Joliet. And they go to their website.

They go to their Facebook page, find out what's happening and when they're going to open and be ready to go there as soon as they do. And sign up to be a charter member. So you get right in the door.

Okay. All right. Sounds good.

Thanks for listening, everybody. See you next week. Bye.

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.