Hey, this is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. How's it going today, Ray? Pretty good. Pretty good.

How you been, Paul? I've been good. Been really good. How you been? Can't believe we've got episode 34 coming up.

Yes, isn't that something? It's crazy, man. And who have we got at episode 34? This week we're featuring Burning Bridges from the Joliet Plainfield area. We talked with Bob and Debra, the drummer and bass player.

Respectively. Respectively. Respectfully.

Which one is it? It's respect... Now you got me confused. I don't know. I think that was one of the words on my calendar last week, too.

Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

I should go check it. I think it threw it away, though. Yeah, that calendar comes in handy, doesn't it? It does.

I learned so many great new words. Okay, so Burning Bridges. Burning Bridges.

It winds up that Bob and I, we had to have crossed paths somewhere along the road but never knew it. That's true. Yeah.

But let's find out what they have to say for themselves. How's that? Sounds good to me. Okay, here we go.

Hey, joining us today is the band Burning Bridges. We're talking with Bob and Debra. How you guys doing? Great.

Great. Oh, great harmonies. Great harmonies.

Yes, yes. So how's it going? Well, so tell us a little bit about the band, like where did it, you know, when did you get started? What brought it together? Well, I moved back from Florida and started a band, Burning Bridges. And Mark, our lead singer, and I have had several renditions of the band.

And Debra and Mike were in the 45 RPM band. And Bob Zak had some medical issues with being able to play the drums anymore, so they kind of broke up. And it's been a year this month that Debra and Mike have been with the band.

So it's been a really good mix of two bands, so to speak. And I kind of named the band Burning Bridges because I guess I burned a lot of them unintentionally. So Debra, what's your history with, prior to being with Burning Bridges? I started gigging in around 2004, and I had my own band with a partner and did that for a while.

And then after that, I joined Cougar, which is an all-girl band, obviously. Oh, okay. Not John Mellencamp.

Yeah, no. Not that one. John Cougar, John Mellencougarcamp.

Cougarcamp, that's it. And then I, what did I do after that? Now, what are Cougars? I've heard Cougar. Where'd they play around? Up north a bit.

Okay. We played Shark City. Oh, okay.

Sure. All the unfamiliar places up north for me. Joey DeMarco book you in there? Tony Shark managed the band.

Oh, okay. And he booked it, and he was friends with Joey, so that, and I think, yeah, that was pretty much it. So what, in your history, Bob, what gives a little insight into your past performances? Okay, well, before I moved to Florida, I grew up in Plainfield and had a band called Probe, and we had a couple renditions of that band.

The last rendition had Frankie Sullivan, who later went on to Survivor, and Fergie Fredrickson, who's since passed away. He went on to Toto, and I joined the Shadows of Night and played with Jimmy for about four years. Now, what year was this? What year did you play with Jimmy? Jimmy was in the late 70s.

Okay. So it's been a long time ago. Sure.

So kind of got out of the music business when I moved to Florida and started really wanting to get back into it. I had an all-original band in Tampa called The Proper Villains, and we recorded our own album, all-original. It was an all-original band.

And Jimmy happened to move to Florida, so he was still coming to play with us from time to time. So Jimmy and I have been friends ever since the 70s. And Jimmy comes to perform with Burning Bridges every once in a while.

And back in 2013, I moved back to the Plainfield, Joliet area and started Burning Bridges. And we've gone through several renditions. A lot of the musicians we had in the band were full-time.

And to be a full-time musician nowadays, you have to be in three or four bands. So it was pretty difficult to schedule any gigs because everybody was trying to herd cats, so to speak. So when 45 RPM broke up, I immediately got a hold of Debra.

Her and I have been friends. I think we met at the Uptown one night when I was back from Florida for a visit. And we both had neck braces on.

We both had the same neck surgery. So we kind of bonded as a rhythm section way back. So it was pretty fun.

We were both recovering from neck fusions. I see. I see.

So tell us, who's in the band now? Who's all in the band? Right now, it's Debra Sweet, Mike Griffin. On bass? On bass. Mike Griffin on lead guitar and vocals.

And Mark Scherf on lead vocals and second guitar. Mark, as Debra said, can sing the phone book. Great singer.

Yeah, he's got a great voice. We do a lot of varied material. We try to pick songs that aren't played regularly.

They're familiar to you where you know you've heard them, but you probably can't remember the name. Right. That's what our objective is, so to speak.

And we've been playing locally now for a year with Debra and Mike. And we just finished our promotional video. We filmed it at Tailgaters.

And I just finished the mix with Larry Millis at Jim Peterik's studio. Oh, nice, okay. Got a real good mix out of it.

Larry does a great job. I've worked with Larry. Yeah, I used to record with some of my old bands at Larry's old studio, Tanglewood, many years ago.

So it's kind of funny getting back with him again today. So he's fabulous. So what are some of the influences of Burning Bridges? We've been going from older songs to the 90s to some newer stuff.

We like the Goo Goo Dolls. Of course, we all love Zeppelin. Collective Soul.

Alice in Chains. Mark's son occasionally comes, and he plays bagpipes. And we do a bagpipe medley of ACDC songs and a Dropkick Murphy song.

So that usually goes over real well, playing the bagpipes. Because I was going to ask you what your genre was, but it kind of covers a little bit of everything. Yes, we were playing more 60s and 70s, but the crowds we're playing for are a little younger, so we've kind of moved the genre up a couple decades.

We even have a few songs that were written recently. Yeah, recently. The Miracle Pill by Goo Goo Dolls, and another one that was written in the last 10 years.

Any originals? We're working on a few right now. Well, with us just being together a year, Deb and I have been working on a couple songs, and our next goal is to record some originals when we get there. The first one will be, we're working on a song called Burning Bridges.

Trying to put the lyrics, he gave me some lyrics, and we're going back and forth with that. And I have a few chords for it, but it's a work in progress. How do you play guitar as well? Very little bit of guitar.

Enough to figure some stuff out there, right? Yeah, I can get a few chords out. That's good. Maybe you can incorporate that I-80 bridge over the Des Plaines River.

I think we burnt the old one. That's a falling bridge, I'm sorry. Collapsing, yes.

Collapsing bridge. So you're playing a lot of the local clubs in this area, around the Joliet, Plainfield area? Yes, we're pretty much trying to stay in this area. We've taken some Chicago gigs, and by the time you get home, we're two or three in the morning.

Back in the 70s and 80s, that was fine, but now that we're a little bit older, it's nice to get home a little bit earlier. So we pretty much concentrated in the Joliet area, Plainfield. There's quite a few nice places to play, so we've had a good time.

We've got a great following. When we play close, we have a lot of people come out, a lot of local. You get a good following from the locals.

Oh, yeah, and so if we were to play an hour away, people don't want to drive. Right, and you've got a whole new set of people there. You've got a ton of entice there.

Right, and the club scene has changed so much since when clubs were great, like beginnings, and now it's how many people can you bring. Right. The crowd's already built in.

I know that, yeah. So we just try to stick close, and it's mainly a hobby for us. We're not trying to go on the road and load up the van and take off.

We're all established here in this area. Matter of fact, all of us live in Plainfield right now. It makes it convenient for rehearsals.

Oh, yeah. We rehearse at a Route 66 museum. It's just a private museum, and it's a great place to rehearse.

We have a lot of fun and a lot of room. Nice. I see.

That's cool. So are you playing on a regular basis, a couple times a month? Yeah, anywhere. Usually the minimum is once a month and sometimes up to three, but usually once or twice a month is what our goal is.

All right. So tell me, we were talking about some songs earlier. You were on the cover story for the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum, correct? Yes.

And what song did you do there? I think it was Audioslave. Audioslave, yes, that's correct, an Audioslave song. Yeah.

Now, what's the connection with Audioslave to Illinois? I was looking it up, and I saw that one of the guitar players. Yes, Tom. Tim Morales? Yeah, he's from Illinois.

I think Libertyville. Oh, okay. All right.

That's the connection there. That's the connection, yeah. We were trying to find a song in our genre that someone was from Illinois, so that was the only song we could find that we did.

It was really nice. We recorded it actually live at our rehearsal space. Oh, okay.

It really came out well for being a homemade audio. I listened to it. I got the CD.

It's really good. I mean, actually, all the songs on there are really good. Yeah, there's so many great bands from the Joliet area.

I mean, I grew up with a lot of the bands, the Saints and Sinners. I mean, we've been friends since back in high school. We played together, and we both bought our sure PAs from this.

Was it Wurlitzer Music? Uh-huh. So it was pretty funny. But, yeah, a lot of the bands, and all of us kind of grew up together, even the Chicago musicians.

At the bigger clubs, we would have three or four bands play a night, so we all knew each other, and it was great. Sure. Now, you said you worked with Mark Dawson, right, in the past? We talked earlier, right? Mark and I were in Street Kids together, and that lasted for a few years.

And I retired to become a police officer, and Mark went on to, I can't remember the band he went on to, and then we met up again. Dreamer. Dreamer, right.

Yes. He went on to Dreamer. Right.

And I met up with Mark again. He had moved to Orlando when I was in Tampa, so we were jammed together once in a while when he was in Florida. Right.

Now he's with the Grassroots. The Grassroots. And Street Kids got a little notoriety on the WKQX Hometown album.

Yes, correct. It was the first track on Side A. Yes. Were you in it? No, I was not.

I joined the band right after that, unfortunately. It was a good event. Yeah.

But that was a very good band. We were with the same management as Trillian. Oh, right.

And Dennis Ferguson, who you mentioned, Fergie, sang with Trillian too. Yes. He left our pro-bar band and went on to Trillian.

Right. Fergie had an incredible voice. Yeah, if he went on to Toto after that, then… Yes, he went on to Toto after that.

Not too bad. There's got to be something special there. Yeah, incredible voice.

It's a shame he's passed. So you said you're working on some new material. How soon do you think you're going to have something out? We'll probably do an EP in the next six months.

Okay. I've already talked to Larry about recording at Jim's studio, so we'll be getting two or three songs done and do an EP just for the fun of it. Okay.

That's always fun to get out. Yeah. I've always been primarily in original bands.

This is the first 90% cover band that I've ever been in, so it's kind of different for me. It's a little easier. You just have to learn the song.

Yeah, it's a lot easier. Get them kind of close enough for rock and roll. So you're from the area too, Deborah? You grew up in the Joliet Plainfield area too? I grew up in Bolingbrook.

Okay. That's not too far away. That's close enough, yeah.

Yeah. Went to Romeoville High School, so I was out this way a little bit. So when did you start playing bass? I played bass a very little bit in college.

I picked it up because somebody said, you know, you should play bass. There are not enough bass players out there for bands. Unfortunately, in college I was working and going to school, and I couldn't find time to practice, so I only took two lessons and gave my bass away.

Oh, no. And I played guitar when I was much younger and flute. Oh, okay.

But I didn't come back at this until I was older. You decided to pick it up again, and now you're playing. Yeah.

I was trying to manage and start up a band, but I was not playing. This was back in 2003, I believe, and the bass player disappeared. Oh, gee.

And then I said, you know, I want to play bass. I took two lessons in college, and they just sort of rolled their eyes. And on the way home, when the bass player didn't show up, I actually went and bought my Ibanez from the Guitar Center in the city.

Oh, nice. And I started playing. Of course, it took me a while to play more than two strings.

And then I realized how competitive it was over the next few years playing, and decided I have to really put my work in to be out there performing. You still play an Ibanez? You still play the Ibanez? I do, but I just got, I love my Ibanez, but I just got a Fender Precision light. Oh, nice.

It's less than eight pounds. Yeah. So with having this neck fusion, having the guitar on my neck all night, it's so light, so I've been playing that one.

Nice, nice. It's got a different sound to it, too, I'm sure. Yeah, it's not as loud, you know, because it is a light.

Right. So I have a big amp. There you go.

What kind of amp do you use? Everybody's going small, she's going big. What kind of amp do you use? I have a Markbass 15. Oh, okay.

And just added two 10s to it. Nice. What kind of drums do you play, Ben? I usually use my DW set.

Oh, nice. I still have my 1975 100th anniversary Sonar set that I did all the touring with the Shadows with, and that I kind of keep at home, and then I picked up a Bonham set, a 26-inch kick, a Ludwig set, and a Green Sparkle. I really like that, too.

Nice. DW is just the best sounding set. Yeah, DW has a nice sound to it.

Yeah, just a great sound, easy to tune, you stay tuned. Yeah, yeah, that's cool. Very good.

So do you have any gigs coming up in the near future, or everything booked? Yes, we're going to be playing out at McBride's out on Caton Farm Road February... 29th. Thank you. And we're working with Kraft.

There's only 28 days in February. Yeah. We never played that gig for a long time.

We always play on the 28th. And then we're going to be playing back at the Uptown on the 25th of April, and we're working on a couple other things to fill in March. Going to hit up this festival season this summer? We're hoping so.

That's why we're working on this promotional video, like when we filmed it, Greg Pissarro and his Jaffe Films recorded us with five cameras, so we're going to do the mix down on that next week. So hopefully we'll have all that out in a promo, and we're going to do about 12 songs on the different demo for our site. So what song off your recent recording did you go, wow, that really came out good? I mean, is there one that you went, wow? I think, well, Psycho Killer by Talking Heads came out really well.

Shine by Collective Soul came out real well. And then Debra sings One Way or Another by Blondie, and that came out really well. I mean, they all came out.

Now you don't sing, you said, right? No. My son says I sing, but not well. I haven't heard you.

You might be able to sing. It's too complicated playing the drums and trying to sing. Drummers aren't supposed to sing, are they? No, not this one anyway.

It's not the easiest thing to do. So where can people find you? Do you have a website or? No, we're on Facebook, Burning Bridges, one word. Somebody else has the other Burning Bridges with the space in it.

Oh, okay. It's Burning Bridges, one word, on Facebook, and we have all of our dates on there. Right now I think we have about almost 1,600 followers, so it's pretty good.

And we keep our dates on there and post some videos and just information on the band and how we can be reached. And if anyone wants to book us, you can check that site out. My number's on there.

It's the Burning Bridges with the logo, the flame, to help you find us. Yes. Yes, I was on your site yesterday looking at some of your stuff.

Do you have any old stories from back in the day, some good stories? Probably none that I can tell. Oh, sure you can. This is a podcast.

This is a podcast. This is on the Internet. You can even swear.

Oh, okay. Jimmy would be mad at me if I probably relayed any of his stories. No, but we used to play with, we played at Joliet Junior College with Cheech and Chong.

Really? They were really nice guys. They were so funny. They were funnier offstage than they were onstage.

That was with the band Probe. Like I said, we all played in the Red Lions in Bloomington. We used to play with Ario and Cheap Trick and Styx.

They were just starting to make it with their first albums. I'm surprised we never crossed paths or something along the way. I know.

It's surprising. We probably did. We probably did.

That's true. My brain doesn't go back that far back. I can't even remember what songs we're doing now without my list here.

Well, I know you mentioned a night gallery, and I was like, oh boy, up in Waukegan. Yeah, it was in Waukegan. Gurney or wherever it was up there, somewhere up there.

Yeah, that's what I was saying. We backed up Tom Petty there. Not really.

We had done a gig at Mother's on Rush Up and got done at midnight or something. And then Tom Petty was on at midnight at the night gallery. I think that's when they opened.

And then we started at 4 a.m. I used to come out of that place and the sun would be up. There was another club in Stone Park. I know which one.

Fire Alarm? I don't remember the name of it. Fire Alarm was in Cicero. Oh, was that in Cicero? That was on Ogden in Cicero.

I don't remember the name of it, but it was a late-night club, too. You started at 1 or 2 in the morning and played until the sun came up. Well, Mother's was late.

Mother's was the same way. Same way. We used to play there.

I remember carrying gear up the stairs there, and it was the sunlight. It was daylight, yeah. I think we were there.

Wasn't Mr. T the bouncer there? Oh, wow. Yeah, he was the bouncer. Yeah, he was.

Yeah, when we played there, he was there. And I know one night when we played there in a group, Alice Cooper came in, and he was somewhat involved in drinking that night, and we had a keyboard player that was pretty well intoxicated, and they did leg wrestling on the dance floor. Nice, nice.

Alice Cooper flipped him over every time. It's pretty funny. Yeah, we had a gig there, and Thin Lizzy came in.

Oh, really? Yeah. So, you know, the place was known, I guess, by everybody. Mother's, I'm talking about.

Yeah, everybody went to Mother's. Yeah, they all went to Mother's. It was such a nice place, clean.

Yeah. Oh, yeah. Yeah, and the back stairs.

Now, the front stairs was a straight shot, but the back stairs curved and went down. Carrying the B3s downstairs. Oh, yeah.

Or upstairs at Rock Shop. Yeah, or Huey's. Oh, yeah.

We used to play at Huey's, too. Huey's was another place that had a lot of stairs, right? Yep. Yep.

Good old days of rock and roll. Yes, it was. Yes, it was.

Well, that's kind of what this is about, you know, and that's why we love getting bands in like you guys and talking to you and just finding some insight and getting some stories along the way, you know. And plus, some people like to know that you're still around. I mean, there's people out there that knew you back in the day.

Yes, yeah. Lost touch, and you're still here. I'm still kicking.

Literally. All righty, then. Well, thanks for coming in today.

Yeah, we appreciate it. We hope people get out and see you guys playing at the clubs and hopefully some festivals this summer. There's a lot of opportunities out there.

Well, thank you, guys. We really appreciate it. Thank you.

Thanks for coming out on this chilly winter afternoon. Yeah, it's not too bad out there today. It's pretty lucky.

It's not hot out. It's 49 degrees. It's a balmy 56.

Thank you, guys. Thanks a lot. Thank you.

So that was Burning Bridges. Yes, it was. Good talking with Bob and Debra.

And Bob goes way back and played back in the 70s. And it winds up to, I guess we did cross paths somewhere along the way. I suppose you did.

And it's pretty cool that Debra took up playing the bass in college and got away from it and got back into it. That's pretty cool. Yes, it is.

And she said she had a bass player that left her bad that she was managing, and she fell into bass playing, I guess. How about it? You're on your way home. You stop at Guitar Center, pick up a bass, and now I'm going to do this.

Yep. Good for her. Very good.

People should be able to see them out and about around the Plainfield, Joliet area this spring and summer. Looking forward to it. Got to get out and see them.

Okay. Well, thanks for listening, everybody. Be sure and check us out on the Road to Rock radio.

Every Monday at 6 p.m. Yes, sir. And make sure you check out the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66. Join now.

Become a charter member. As a matter of fact, they're having their Hall of Fame Inductions on March 29th, the first annual Hall of Fame Inductions. At the Renaissance Center in Joliet.

Check out the website, get your tickets, check it out. And there's also a gospel brunch coming up on the 23rd of February. Go to the Illinois Rock & Roll Museum on Route 66 website, which is roadtorock.org, and check out all the details for that gospel brunch.

I think I'm going to be there. Okay. All right.

Pray for me. I will pray for you. Okay.

Thank you. Thanks for listening, everybody, and we'll see you next time. Talk to you soon.