Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. What's up, Ray? I'm cooking myself up a meal. You are? What are you cooking? I'm making a ginger soy salmon.

It is wonderful. Little ginger, little soy sauce on the grill. Yummy.

Wow. On the griddle? No, on the grill. On the grill.

Yes, I'm an epicurean. You are? I'm sorry to hear that. Yeah.

Is it catchy? I like to cook. Oh. And ginger is one of my favorite spices.

Is it? Wouldn't it be your chef then? What's an epicurean? It's a chef. It's like a person that likes to cook. Oh, okay.

So, and I like to cook with ginger. No, well, who wouldn't? Yeah. That's right.

That's right. Yeah. Which leads us to this week's interview.

We spoke with some redheads called gingers who rock, redheads who rock. They also cook. They're cooking up some rock and roll.

And we talked with the gingers, a man from Chicago and some great gals. And we talked with Chrissy and Debbie and Carrie and Emmy. And then we also talked with John.

Big bad John. Big bad John, that's right. And we found out about the gingers.

They haven't been playing much with this COVID thing going on, but we wanted to get their name out there because they're a rocking band from playing a lot of 70s and 80s music. Just a lot of good old rock and roll. Good old rock and roll.

I love good old rock and roll. Me too. Me too.

Well, let's get to it and see what they have to say. Let's hear from the gingers. Everybody, welcome to the show.

Today we have the redheads that rock the gingers. How are you? We've got the gingers from Chicago. We've got Chrissy Olstad and Carrie Jane, Emmy Fukuda and Debbie Seelan.

Is that right? Seelan? You got it. First time. And John Sweeney, drummer.

How are you guys? We're doing good. Good to see you guys. All right.

Thanks for having us. How long have you redheads been rocking? Wendy, how did the band get started? And tell us a little bit about that. Well, Chrissy.

I'll tell you a little bit. You guys chime in. I believe it was 2015-ish and Debbie, myself and John were doing another cover project and looking for a bass player.

Along came Miss Carrie and she joined us. And then shortly after, Emmy joined. So 2015, we've been rocking.

We saw Emmy playing at a show and we're like, oh, we like her. Yeah. And we always knew about Carrie because we always saw her around.

She was in a lot of different things. Carrie's an icon. On every bathroom wall.

Debbie and I saw John rocking at the Haymakers reunion because Debbie used to be in the band Bitch, who also was at the reunion. And we saw John there and we're like, oh, yeah, we got to get that guy in our band, man. He plays a lot of drums and he's a gong.

You can drop a stick and not lose the beat. Yeah, there you go. Chrissy, I'll start with you.

Tell us about your history a little bit and where you started from and what got you singing and playing guitar. Well, back in the old days, I've always just jammed in bands. And Debbie and I met up like way in the 80s.

And we started a band called Licit and that band had many different versions. And Debbie and I have been singing for a number of years. We've been rocking since way back then.

So Licit was a band we were in together, was in many different formations and different members. And then we were in a band called Who's Ginger for a while. Several different incarnations of that band.

Um, what else, Deb? Chime in. Come on. Help me out here, girl.

Um, well, like the man said, when did you start playing guitar, Chris? What inspired you? When did I start playing guitar? Yeah. I'm still waiting to start. No, I'm waiting for that first guitar too.

No, it's the original. The original Licit, I played guitar. Was that the first band you played guitar in, Licit? No, I was in bands before that, you know.

Yeah, gotta start somewhere. You know, then for a while I didn't play guitar, you know, when we got like better guitar players than me and I concentrated more on my front person kind of personality and singing. But now I'm back to playing guitar.

But now that we've got Emmy in the band, she's so multi-talented. I can hand her the guitar. She's playing keyboards.

I hand her the guitar. She'll play that. You know, it's just, it's great.

This year coming up, we're just going to like surprise Emmy with an instrument on stage. Uh-oh. And we're just going to hand it to her and say, Emmy.

We'll set it on fire first. So I know you and Debbie were in a band called Gina's Bouquet. Is that right? Yes.

Yeah. Oh, how could I forget about that one? Yeah. Gina's Bouquet.

Oh, yeah. We have like a, I think for like, you know, the 70s, the 80s, the 90s, the 2000s. Yeah, that was in the 90s.

So Debbie and I come from, you know, songwriting. We wrote songs and did originals and all that. And until, um, what was it like 2008 or something like that is when we started doing like the cover stuff.

You know, we were kind of done with that. We just want to play it. We like to play and we like to perform.

One of the things that I, it was so fun to play in a cover band because I was so busy always in original bands. It was really fun to play all the songs that I love. My whole life and never got a chance to play.

Yeah. So that was really fun. And we're kind of still going with that.

We haven't done any original stuff, although we've been tinkling with the concept of doing some, but. Well, I was going to ask you if you did any originals. Not currently, but, you know, never say never, you know, people just really want to hear the songs that they know and love.

And we like to play the songs they know and love. So we're playing them. We have a great time.

I mean, everybody in the band is just so much fun and we're just crazy nuts. We're all just crazy. We have a great time.

Now, Debbie, you said you played in Bitch, right? Yeah, I was one of the I wasn't the actual one of the actual original original members, but I was one of the original members that actually played at a show. It was a good guitar player before me that apparently got booted out before they even played the first gig. Because I broke the first gig, actually.

What was that? At the Rusty Nail in Chicago. Oh, I remember that. Yeah, I snuck in there when I was 17.

Our second show was Rock Around the Dock, which which turned into Pace to Chicago, Chicago Fest. Yeah, the beginnings. Oh, I think pretty much like a lot of bands in Chicago really had a a little chip on the shoulder because we like had these amazing gigs before we were ever on the scene.

So I can sympathize. How long are you guys together? I played in the band for about two, two and a half years, and they continued on for another week, maybe. Sure.

And then to Tough Love. Oh, OK. And then that spiraled off and then there was Maud.

I don't know. You have to spin off. Now, Carrie, I know you from Libido Funk Circus, obviously.

Yes. Yeah, we were down there in Indiana all the time. Yeah.

Yes, you were. So now tell us your history a little bit. Where did you where did you first start out? Oh, God, let's see.

1993, I was drunk at Smart Bar and I lied and I told a friend of mine that I played really good bass. And I didn't. And but she passed me on as a referral to a band of guys from Ireland, and they felt sorry for me.

They said I was too enthusiastic to turn away. So they let me join the band. And you are that you are the only enthusiastic.

And we did really well. We had a single on WXRT and then they all got deported. Their visas ran out.

So that's the end of that band. What was the name of that band? That was the Nomads. The Nomads.

I never heard of them. It was 1993. Then I joined Eternal Lux and Hot Heels and Sister Soleil.

Oh, God, I feel like there was more. Yeah, it was a blur. It was all original.

So we were playing, you know, the Metro, Double Door, Empty Bottle, you know, all those places. And then in 2001, I saw Dia DeMarco and Adam Heisler playing in an original band called Lila Stone, and they blew me away. They were so good.

And they decided at that point, she met me and said, I don't want to play bass anymore. Why don't you get that chick to play bass? And so I joined Lila Stone. And then Dia wanted to reform the Fabulous Janes about a year later, and I joined my first cover band.

It was the Fabulous Janes. Cat Fight and Libido Funk Circus and who else? Oh, Cat Fight, sure. I remember Cat Fight.

That was fun, yeah. And then, so Chrissy was always my idol. And so one day, I'm sitting at my desk at work, and she sends me this email and goes, hey, man, could you sub in, you know, for a couple bass gigs? I'm like, here's my chance.

I'm going to get in this band. She's never going to get rid of me. So she did it.

She fluently let me show up, and then she never got rid of me. Yay, and I'm glad about that. Yeah.

And you're still hanging around, right? Still hanging around. She won't get rid of me. How about you, Amy? Me? Well, so I've always loved music, and I started just like learning guitar when I was 18, just for fun, like different covers that I know.

And then about 10 years later, I joined like a one-off band with a friend playing rhythm guitar. But our bass players never showed up to practice. We had like four or five practices, no bass player ever.

So then we're like, what are we going to do? Gig is next week. I was like, well, I'll buy a bass, and then we'll just make it happen. Fell in love with bass from there.

Played in some like kind of unknown original projects, like progressive rock kind of stuff, ranging to like folky kind of sounding things. And then I formed a cover band called Skirt Steak. When was that? About 10 years ago.

And we play like 90s covers and like more like party dance kind of stuff. It was a lot of fun. So that kind of pulled me into the covers thing.

And then I added synth into my rig at some point in there. So that kind of led to the transition into becoming more of like a keyboard player, multi-instrumentalist for the Gingers, I guess. Very good.

Very good. So how long have you been with the band? About five, six years now. Yeah, same as me, pretty much.

Yeah, she joined, like we played a couple gigs. And then, you know, we had played a show with Skirt Steak as Hag, I believe. Or was it three? No, it was as Hag.

And I always remembered you girls and loved you girls. And then I'm like, I wonder if I saw her playing keyboard. I wonder if she'd do that and then do some guitar.

So I called her up and she's like, yeah. OK. So of course, you went out and bought a keyboard, right? Yeah, I did.

I learned all these songs. Well, first, I was trying to help you find a keyboard player. But we couldn't find one.

So I was like, well, I'll buy one and I'll try out with you guys. Yeah, I mean, she's just she's so versatile that it just it's great. You know, there's never a dull moment.

And Carrie on stage always says, you know, how many instruments is she up to now? She's always 19, 40 instruments, you know. And it's true. So, John, how'd you get hooked up with these crazy chicks? Well, like Chris said, I've been playing a little bit longer than all of them.

I was doing gigs in late 60s and 70s. But no, seriously, we were doing a reunion for One Armed Bandit at Haymakers. And they were there that day.

And in fact, I've seen a video of it. I'm playing the stage set. I drop a stick, but manage to grab another one, finish the role, stay in time, look at the bass player and go, yeah.

And they go, I like him. And so I joined them in 2012. And realistically, the funny thing is they asked me if I wanted to join them as their second drummer because the drummer that they had at the time had other commitments, couldn't make all the shows they wanted to play.

So would you like to try out? I came down, we jammed, had a great time. They said, what do you think? I said, let's do a show, see how we like it. We did a show.

I said, awesome. Anytime you guys need me, just give me a call. Two weeks later, Chris calls me up.

We got a show, such and such. You want to play? I said, oh, yeah, sure. But what happened to your number one drummer? Oh, you got promoted.

I've been the drummer ever since then. But yeah, I came back from the 70s playing in Star Trooper. I was known to the city doing fire drum solos.

And then I played with a band called Ravage on Mike Barney's shrapnel records label. We did tours. I've got an opportunity in my life to open for a lot of people and tour a lot.

But you know something? I'm having a ball right now. I have now can honestly say after nine years with these girls and five with the other two, I've never had more fun in the band because I have yet to see us have an argument, a fight. It's we go up, we play, we enjoy each other's company.

We have a ball and the crowd. One of the biggest compliments we get. You guys look like you're really having fun.

I said, we are. And if you aren't, you're losing out. There really is a ball to play with these ladies.

There really is. Now you played with street kids, too, right? Yes, I did. The list.

Neon Cat, One Arm Bandit, Star Trooper, Thief, Ravage, Bad Influence, Street Kids, Holy Moses, Bone Sugar, Thief and a few others. I mean, I've been playing. I started playing at seven years old and I will play till the day I die.

So you've been a busy, busy guy, huh? Yes, I am. And like I said, though, I haven't had more fun. I've been in original projects.

I've recorded. I've done cover bands. I've done a lot of things.

This one is just plain. Every time we play, it's fun. That's all.

And the crowd loves it. Why are we doing it? So we don't enjoy music and we're doing it. And it seems that people were playing for it.

Enjoy it, too. About a year ago, we did one of your partners, Mark Dawson, did a show with him. Oh, yeah.

OK. I have to admit, I've got an opportunity to play more nice clubs that are now closed than are even open today. This scene around here was beautiful.

And Debbie was talking about beginnings and stuff and Haymakers and Monopoly and God, just there were so many places to play. I used to play seven days a week. We were on a rotation coming to bars every six weeks, seven weeks.

It was absolutely great. The scene's different. We do more festivals and stuff now because, well, one, we enjoy them and the crowd seems to like them.

And I'd rather be out in the sunshine playing or in the night air than in a bar. Yeah, well, I know I come from that era, too. Same era you do.

And but I remember back in those days that people wanted to, people used to come and they used to encourage you to play original music as opposed to copy stuff, cover stuff. And I mean, and that's what they wanted to hear was your own material, you know? Right. And like you said, you could play seven days a week.

You know, you go see Cheap Trick or Broadway or something on a Tuesday night somewhere. So, yeah, it was way different. You know, you know, even when I started, you know, I was just maybe just a little bit after that.

But, you know, it still was way different back then because, yeah, I mean, people wanted to hear original music and it's just so different now. I mean, good thing we really like the music that we're playing now. Oh, sure, sure.

Because what really I'm sorry. Go ahead. What really surprised has changed that I miss in the 70s and 80s was the fact that your popular bands, if they weren't playing on a particular night, they'd show up at another bar supporting another band.

You would see two or three well-known bands there. And then sometimes on the third set, you'd get eight, nine, ten people on stage from three different bands jamming and just having a ball. Now, nobody does that.

If they don't have their own gear or it's not the perfect environment, they don't want to do it. I'm like, just get up there and play. Have fun.

But you see, you see more guys jabbing and more and more musicians jabbing themselves out nowadays, I think, than you did back then. Back then when you had a band, I mean, it was your band and that was it. But nowadays you see, I mean, I remember when I worked, I mentioned I worked at the Blue Chip Casino and I'd have a guy come in and he's playing guitar in the Six O'Clock Band and then all of a sudden he's moving to the other side of the stage and he says, I'm jabbing.

I'm playing in the 1030 Band too. I'm like, oh, you know, you see a lot of that. It's a gig.

Yeah, it's a gig. So you got to play by the rules now and then, you know, kind of just take what you can get as long as we're having fun and getting along and just really all having kind of the same mindset really helps. You know, it's like, you know, we're not trying to be famous.

We just want to play and have fun. Those days are gone. When is the last time you guys played? What? I think it was Leap Day, February 29th.

Yeah. Was it? Where was it? Where do we play? Foundation Room, wasn't it? Yeah, or Foundation Tavern. Or Irving Park.

Old Nightcap, but they changed it. That was such a fun gig too. It was a fun gig, you know? I remember playing and like, it was going way past the time we needed to stop and like, someone was telling me, let's just keep playing.

Let's just keep playing. Boy, I must have known something. They have to last for a while.

But it was like, yeah, it's been a long time since we rock and rolled. You haven't gotten together to rehearse or anything, huh? No, we've, you know, we've gotten together on Zoom calls and, you know, but yeah, not yet. Do you have anything, are you booking anything for this year? Well, we do have some gigs booked in July.

Which, you know, fingers crossed, those still happen. So we're putting together a plan to like, you know, get back to rehearsals and all that. To work our way up to that.

You know, we're just going to follow and see, you know, what's going on, what people are safe to do and we'll do it. Yeah, I know it's tough. You want to book a job, but then you don't want to, you don't want to have to cancel it once it's booked, you know? So I mean, you're kind of caught between a rock and a hard place.

Do I book the job and then have to cancel it? Or do I just wait and not book it and, you know? Right, yeah. I've seen a few bands doing that on Facebook. They'll post a date and then weeks later, they cancel.

And then they post it again and then they'll go, date canceled. It's a lot of work. You don't want to have to keep doing that.

So, OK, we'll see you when we can see you. Right, but overall, everybody wants to play. You know, that's I think most of these people are doing that because they want to play.

And if they got a gig, they're going to they're going to do it until it gets canceled. Right, yeah. Something to look forward to, right? Well, I got to get my drums out of here.

They're getting dusty. I'm doing remodeling, so I'm creating a lot of dust. And then I come look at my drums that I've been writing my name on myself.

Boy, I got so many things. Yeah, I've got to get a bass amp out here in Arizona. I don't have an amp.

Oh, really? I have an acoustic bass, but we last year I bought an electric bass just for Arizona. So I'm going to get another Fender Rumble and just practice as soon as Christy sends us that list. Something small to practice on, right? Yeah, just a little guy.

I'm a drummer. Anything that gets within my reach becomes something I can practice on. I hit everything.

Yeah, I know my calluses have kind of gone away. I got a little more at it, you know. Got to build them back up.

They will come back. They will come back. It's like riding a bike, right? Hey, Ray, Ray, what are you doing? I'm getting my blu-rays 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.

Have you guys ever considered or written anything original as the Gingers? We have not. Nope. Pregnant pause, no.

We did play. I made you guys play one of my original songs. It was, well, because we were playing at a place that does a little country.

So my song was a little country song. And it was awesome. So we did it.

It was fun, but you know. It was a great song. What was the name of that song? Wichita Twister.

Yeah, that was a good one. So we did actually do one original song. Yeah, because we were playing Fire Walk.

Yeah, in 1901. And they wanted us to play country. Yeah.

And then as it turned out, they wanted to just hear the rock anyway. So yeah. That's because I sang Red Solo Cup and then they didn't want to hear it anymore.

So Chrissy, you do all the singing. Are you lead singing? Yes. Yes.

Yeah, I'm lead singing. I would say 90 blah blah percent of the songs. But then we will sing some songs.

And Carrie, too. We're trying to get her once in a while. Once in a while.

Yeah. And Emmy does an awesome Fat Bottom Girl. And they don't put a mic within 10 feet of me.

That was my next question. I was going to say, what do you sing, John? I used to in previous bands. But we've got four people that vocalize well together.

I just sit back there and hitch it. And Debbie is 100 percent lead guitar. She does do background vocals as well.

But she doesn't want to do lead vocals. So OK. Fine, Debbie.

So do you guys go out with a set list? Or do you kind of wing it or call it? Do one of you call the songs on stage or read the crowd or something? We start with a set list and then Chris takes over. Sometimes we're just wailing. We're doing this.

OK. I try to read the crowd, you know, and you just kind of you kind of know after a while like what's going to go over. Whoa, whoa.

That's not going to go over. Let's do this one. You know, you kind of feel it out a little bit depending on the crowd.

Right. Yeah. Right.

Yeah. I know. Sometimes sometimes set lists aren't always etched in stone.

Yeah. But they're there. You need them.

You do need the set list. And I would say we stay on it a lot. But depending on the club we play at, we sometimes have a guest come up or so.

Yeah. Because it's too crazy. But in the club stuff, we have some we still have some friends left.

So then it's like thinking, OK, what song? What song? OK. This one. A Doors song or a Blues song? Or a Doors Blues song? Yeah.

Let it roll, baby. Roll. Oh, yeah.

There you go. There you go. Now, you guys, I predominantly do 80s rock, right? No, 80s and 70s.

Oh, 70s and 70s. But a lot of 80s. But mostly 70s.

Yeah, we're mostly 70s. Yeah. And we do a lot of medleys where we'll medley together.

Like, for example, Jethro Tull. We'll medley like three songs together a little bit. There's so many good songs.

And it's like, well, you only have so long in your set. So we just pull out the best of. And you're not throwing in any new stuff, shut up and dance or anything like that, right? No, we try to just keep it to the 70s and 80s.

Yeah. I mean, unless, you know, has there been any times? I don't think we've really thrown anything in. We might have thrown in a 60s song.

Oh, there you go. We did a whole couple of those when we were doing the country songs for that one show. But other than that, we stay in our 80s.

Yeah. And that's what people expect from us, too. Right.

And, you know, that's what they like to hear. And we want to keep delivering. And we try to play things that other people don't play.

And Chrissy, who will not toot her own horn, likes to step. She likes to step out of the mold. And she sings a lot of songs that men typically sing.

And she puts a female spin on them. And it's amazing. You know, like Led Zeppelin.

Who the hell covers that? By Chrissy. The Deep Purple medley, too. Yeah.

Who the hell sings Deep Purple? Chrissy. Chrissy does. Yeah.

OK. So people expect that. So everybody at the same time now, what's your favorite song? Is this your favorite band from that era, let's say? Same time? No, you don't have to do it at the same time.

I say all of them. All of them. I can't pick.

I can't really. Led Zeppelin, because I like bottoms. Do you guys have a favorite song that you like to do? Oh, God.

I mean, you guys are out there performing. You're up on stage. And there's that one song that you just love to do.

What is it? God, there's so many. I like our clothes. I like Rosie, because it's energetic.

It's how we end a lot of our shows. Yeah, a whole lot of Rosie. That's a great one.

And the Deep Purple medley, because it really gives John a chance to stretch out. That's cool. Yeah, I like the medleys a lot.

Yeah, I know it was a good sale. When we get done and I need oxygen. You carry a tank for John.

Yeah, well, I love the festivals, though, because we finish. We got to rip our stuff off stage. And I'm back there going like.

I just wailed my butt off on drums. Now I got to move them. Darn it.

That's when I wish I played bongos. Well, you know, travel light is my motto. Travel light.

Well, I do. My touring set in the years past when I had drum techs was a 12-piece set in flight cases. It was monstrous.

I had two guys moving it. I move my stuff in my car now. It's half the size and it's DW and it kicks butt.

Right, right. No more flame drum solos, huh? No, no. You got to bring those back, John.

Come on. Yeah, that's $10,000 worth of drums. I'm not going near it with a match.

Plus, I have no hair on my arms anymore because of the old days of doing the fire solo. So is there anywhere on YouTube I can find that? No, unfortunately, we didn't. The funny thing is, though, people who remember me or talk on some of the forums, one of the funniest jokes back in the 70s was you could tell where Star Trooper played because my road crew got lazy.

We used to take beer cups, plastic ones, fill them halfway with water, duct tape them over the sprinklers over the stage so I wouldn't trigger them. Well, when we were playing so steadily, the guys got tired of putting them up, taking them down, so they just left them. So you'd go into a bar and you'd look over the stage, oh, Sweeney's played here, because there's like five cups hanging on the sprinkler systems.

Safety last, right? Wow. So what kind of bike you ride, John? Harley. I know.

What kind? An 05 Ultra. Bought it brand new. I have 184,000 miles on it.

Nice. I have an 04 Road King. Excellent, dude.

How many miles? About 120. Ride more. Yeah.

That's my second best love, playing drums and riding. I just love to death. Both of them give me a lot of joy and let me get my head straight.

You know, it's cool. Well, I noticed that on your website, it says, John, you play drums, gong, and Harley, you know? And some of the others go, Chrissy, yours is voice, guitar, and hair, you know? I bring you the hair. Debbie, your answer is antics.

What kind of antics do you bring? I'll hang around to find out. Debbie's always got a joke up her sleeve. Yeah, she brings the great jokes.

Come on, hit us with one, Debbie. Hi, from Zanies, it's Debbie. Debbie, drum like gingers.

No, all the inappropriate jokes are running through my head right now. I can't do it. It's a podcast.

You can go ahead. Yeah, you can say anything on a podcast, right? No, no, no, no, no, no, no. Put her on the spot.

Carrie, you're such a fat bottom girl. That's obviously a reference to your bass playing, right? No, it's my COVID butt. But only my butt, nothing else got bigger.

I gotta say, yeah, I can't wait to get back to that aerobic set that we do. Oh, my God, right? Sitting around is not good. I think you have to work out.

I still gotta take my costumes out a little bit, I think. Oh, boy. Don't put them on and just walk around the house? Oh, yeah.

I take mine out hiking. Yeah. But I know it can be a workout.

It can be a workout playing, especially the older you get. I could vouch for that, you know, that the older you get. We're not getting older.

I'm only 21. Yeah, I'm 23. I guess so, whatever.

What's that, Debbie? I'm sorry. I find this really ironic, because when we were younger, I think most bands we were in, we had roadies. And now that we're older, we're moving our own equipment.

That's why we have muscles. Yeah, see? Yeah, look at us. It's a little bit smaller these days, too.

It absolutely has gotten smaller, except for John's drum kit. Right, no, it's still half the size. Because I've had some of my old drum techs that saw the DWs and said, you bastard, where was that set when I was moving your stuff? Because, you know, my set was monstrous.

I got pictures back at the amphitheater and stuff. And it was just a gorgeous set. But it was four toms, two men in the middle, two or four toms, double bass, 11 cymbals, gong, you know, the whole spiel.

And in flight cases, and they look at my set now, and they go, I hate you. Yeah. Because it fits in my escape.

Yeah, I was going to say your Prius. But... No, no, no, no, no, no. But you drive a... You're right in the Highlands.

Prius should be shot. I get all my stuff into my Mini Cooper, so... Yes. Yeah, I mean, Debbie and I always had those tube amps with the 412 bottoms.

And then we switched to 212 bottoms. And now we're playing, like, little, you know... Cubes. Cubings.

Yeah. And they sound pretty cool. That's all you need, though.

I love it, though, because they don't see the wall of sound. They see a controllable amplifier. Right.

Yeah. I mean, it's feasible now. It works now.

And they've come a long way, obviously. Yeah. Small, small ramps.

Right. You know, it doesn't work on a giant stage. That's true.

We played the Harley stage for the anniversary. Here's this massive stage and here's our gear. You see, that was funny, too, because back in the 70s, we were carrying a lot of dummy cabinets because like a lot of bands, impressive.

We had the big square or cabinets for the guitar and for the rhythm and for the bass. But, you know, we don't we plug one cabinet in. So the road crew used to get ticked off.

We play places like Hooker Lake Inn, which had stairs or Huey's. And, you know, no others. And they're carrying all this.

You're not even going to plug this stuff in. Yeah, but it looks good. Yeah.

And they just really mad at us. Hooker Lake Inn, holy cow. That brings back memories to play.

Yeah, that was an awesome place. So, I mean, I mean, I couldn't decide. I didn't mean to leave you out, but you're in the Jeopardy, right? Yeah, I just enjoy watching Jeopardy.

So you must be a little sad that Alex Trebek is gone, right? Yeah, very sad. Yeah. Yeah, it's a shame.

He's a pretty smart, smart cookie there, wouldn't he? Yeah, that's it. Who do you want to be the new host? You have a choice. I don't know.

It's like I don't know who can replace him. That's tough. So I don't really have a a top runner, I guess.

They may go through a couple of people before they settle on the final. Probably. That's like replacing Paul on our podcast.

I mean, I don't know what I would do. Oh, yeah, right. You have a bigger picture of yourself.

This is would be gone. That's right. Oh, yeah, it's true.

Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, thanks, guys.

And now now who how do we find find you on the web or on Facebook or Instagram or where were you located? We are everywhere. Our website is gingerschicago.com. But we're on Facebook. Ginger Chicago, I believe.

We got videos on YouTube. Well, I don't know where else we are. We're everywhere.

Instagram. Bathroom walls. That's right.

That was a big thing in the old days, going into the girls' bathroom while the crew's setting up to see if your name was on the wall. Yeah, John's always was. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

If it wasn't, you put it up. My wife doesn't want to hear that, even though she knows she doesn't want to hear that. They're probably still there, Jen.

Yeah, probably. Well, like I said, most of those bars are now gone. Yeah.

Yeah. It's a shame to see some of them go, isn't it? Yeah, it was. It was like the girls said, it was a fun time.

And you were saying to go out any night of the week and see top notch bands on a Tuesday, on a Thursday, you know, and people went out and did it. Illinois Entertainer had a month schedule of a bar. And it's seven nights a week.

There was somebody playing. You can go. You know, you got a free Tuesday.

Go. You know, you got somewhere to go. Now I see pictures of a concert with 100000 people.

And it's one DJ up there with lights in it. And I'm like, what are you doing? I don't understand. Well, the festivals that we play, though, you know, people really love their festivals and.

Oh, yeah. You know, and it's like people just so look forward to it, which was so like last summer, like we had some really cool stuff lined up. But then, you know, so I'm really looking forward to that just opening up again, you know, and cross for our July shows.

And, you know, yeah. I mean, I know a lot of bands are just like itching to get out. So a lot of people are itching just to go party.

Right. The festival is going to be the big thing. The first thing for people to come out.

I think that a lot of people are still going to be wary about going into clubs. They're right. Going inside will work better than inside outdoor.

But, of course, in this area, we're going to have to wait till at least maybe May before we see any decent weather, you know, to go outside and be an optimist. Oh, that's right. Yeah.

Next next week, it'll be eighty five here. Yeah, I think I was right. It's all right.

Every month of the year and I got two days in January, so it better ease up in February so I can get my bike out because I got to keep my record going. Yeah. Put some snow tires on there, Jim.

There's a chain chain, studded tires with chains. Well, I thank you guys for joining us today. It was it's been a lot of fun.

Yeah. Thank you very much. It's been a ball.

Thanks for having us. Yeah. Like how did you even even hear of us? Like, so we we have it's like, hey, that's cool.

We have our way. We have our ways. You have your ways.

And I didn't and I didn't even use a ginger and Marianne joke. Oh, come on. Oh, man.

I feel kind of like nobody's ever done that before. Well, like you said earlier, Ray came up with this idea. And it's just been fun.

It's been fun learning, learning the kind of behind the scenes stuff of some of the bands and some of the musicians that we talk to. And hopefully it's that way for your fans, too. But, you know.

Yeah, that's what it's about. We want to promote you guys and, you know, to get out there, you know, so people know who you are. It's ones that haven't known, haven't seen you or heard of you.

And those that have, you know, they get a little back story about you. You know, most of the time you're on stage, you play. People don't really know the inside story of you.

You know, you're just you're you're you're an image. You're the gingers. You know that people like to hear the back story.

And you don't get to talk that off, because when you get off stage, you got eight people trying to talk to you and you're trying to be polite with each one. But you can't spend any quality time with anybody. You're getting it from all directions.

I got to get my drums down. Excuse me. You know, get me get these damn things out of the way.

OK, fine. Sorry. Well, thanks, guys.

Appreciate it. Thank you. Thanks for having us.

Thank you so much. Hopefully see you soon. Yep.

Yes. Oh, thank you. Bye bye.

Bye bye. Bye bye. So that was Chrissy and Debbie and Carrie and Emi and John, better known as the gingers from Chicago, a rock and 70s band, the the gingers.

What else can I say about the gingers? I don't know. They are spectacular. Yes, they are.

However, they have not been able to play in quite some time. Yeah, I know. It's a shame.

But but a lot of bands are in this situation right now. But that's why we're here to keep it alive. That's right.

That's right. We want to keep the word out there. Hey, these bands are still here.

They're they have not gone away. They're just hibernating. That's right.

And just think about how much pent up energy all these bands have, the gingers and everybody else. And when they come out on stage, they are going to be giving you one of the best shows you've probably ever seen. Yeah, well, they said they might have something booked in July.

So we'll keep an eye out for them. You can check out the the website gingers, Chicago, that cat or that cam, I believe it was, right? Yes, it was. And you check them out on on Facebook.

I believe it's a ginger Chicago on Facebook. Also, look for their schedule, see where they're going to be playing, when they're going to be playing. And definitely, I mean, they're a great, great bunch of people.

Yes, indeed. Including Big Bad John. Big Bad John.

All right. Well, thank you very much. Well, I think GHS once again for sponsoring the show.

And don't forget to visit the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66. And Juliet, if as soon as they get open anyway, soon as they get open, make sure you're there. Yeah.

You know what? Even before they're open, go online at the road to rock dot org and sign up for a charter membership. Get all kinds of cool benefits. Yeah, it's pretty cheap, too.

It's only 30 or 35 dollars. I think it's like five dollars. I'm a charter member.

Yeah. Yeah. And it's it's for a great cause to keep Illinois music alive.

And exactly. Kick it. Exactly.

And hopefully once this whole thing's over, we'll be back at our studio at the museum. That's right. Hopefully.

Hopefully. That's right. Thanks for listening, everybody.

We'll see you next week. Thanks a lot. See you next week.

And you have some ginger. OK, I will. 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.