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

How are you doing today, Ray? I'm doing good, Paul. I'm just sitting here replaying some of our old podcasts. Boy, we got some good stuff out there.

Yeah, yeah, we do. Yeah, we do. I wish people people give it a listen and share it on Facebook and do all that good stuff that they do in order to get get the word out there.

I'm telling you, you know, it's and once you've got it, you download it to your thing. You can replay it over and over. I mean, just replay and replay and replay.

You really get to enjoy them. I see where you're going with this. I see what you're doing.

Yeah. Yeah. Now, you're a pretty sharp cookie.

Yes, I am. Because this week we have the band Replay. Get out.

Nope. Nope. Oh, man.

I thought I was just a really wise guy. Well, you are. So who was on there? I think it was Jim, Joe and Kevin we met with.

Yes, we did. And and Bill, I guess the the bass player couldn't make it. Was it Bill? Yes, Bill.

Unfortunately, he couldn't make it. But that was fine. We had a good time with the guys.

Yes, we did. Yes, we did. And we learned we learned a lot about about them.

And let's get to it right now and see what they have to say for themselves. Let's go. This is Paul Martin and Ray the Roadie for the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast.

Today we're eating with Joe, Jim and Kevin of Replay from the Heights. We're eating with them. Eating? Meeting? Oh, I said we're meeting.

We could be eating. We could be eating too. We're drinking.

But again, it's Replay from the Heights. How you guys doing? Good. Great.

Glad to be here. Great. We're glad to have you.

Glad we can get together today. Yeah. Well, we got stuck with that.

The Heights part of our name, too. Originally, we like to be called Replay, but there are so many replays out there. We had to add on the Heights and we don't even we spell it the old Italian way with the D and the A because of the guys in the band.

So we got we got stuck with Replay from the Heights. Nice. I like it.

It's kind of a throwback. So tell us a little bit about how you guys got started with your band. Oh, geez.

We've known each other for a long time. Matter of fact, I used to be in a band in the 70s called Peppermill. Jim used to come and see us play.

I was underage, too. Wow. Are you showing his age? Is that what you're doing? Oh, my Lord.

I didn't know he was that old. And then when that split up after a few years, the bass player went with Jim. It was Magic.

That was the name of the band. It was Magic that he went with him? No, it was Magic. The name of the band.

Magic's been around for, that name's been around for a year. Southside. About 20 years.

Very well known name. And then Jim would run sound for them. Yep.

You know, the old places, Rathskeller and Park Forest and Demetri's. Before the drinking age changed, right? Right. So what year are we talking? 78, 79, right around there we had gotten together.

Fairly early. And then Ed Heath, our old bass player, joined in 82. And then we kept it going until, what, late 90s? Oh, my Lord.

Yeah, it went for a while. I was just running the sound at that point. We didn't know you played keyboard.

No, I had a sound company and worked for so many different music stores. Started out at a guitar center and worked with Guitar Shack for years. These guys came into Guitar Shack and recruited me from another band that I was working with at the time, Emerald City.

And they said, hey, we want you to come run our sound. And I was a young pup back then, you know, had a lot of learning to go on. And then did them for a while, and I'm from a band called No Quarter.

We were a big Zeppelin tribute band in Chicagoland for the longest time, on The Loop and WMET. Yeah, I was the keyboard player. So I was trying to juggle between running their sound and doing No Quarter.

And I finally got out of that and started, we ended up with a band called Taboo. And that's when I first became the keyboard player with Jim. Kind of reformed into Taboo and Ed.

And then Joe became our sound guy at that point. So we were swapping hats here, left and right, you know. But we know each other for a long time.

Oh, it's like brotherhood. And we put Replay together in 05, I think it was. I didn't start with Replay, though.

No, Jim and I and another fellow, Jim Roos, from Homewood. We put it together with our old bass player, Ed. Two guitars, bass.

Two guitars, bass and drums. Yeah, no keys. Same thing we're doing now.

Classic rock, but not as good, not as well. Well, Jim will be glad to hear that. Thank you.

Well, put it this way. Just with the addition of another keyboard, or a keyboard instead of the guitar, it opens up so much more. Sure, sure.

You know, it's just so much more versatile. Right. And then Jim quit, I want to say, what, six years ago when we grabbed Kevin? Yeah, Vince and I were just for a short time.

We were ready for a little bit. We were ready for two jobs. Oh, okay.

That's shorter than I thought. Yeah. And then they asked, he couldn't do it.

He couldn't do it. So they asked me to come in. And we told them, sure, so we meet maybe once or twice a month.

That's it, man. Oh, Lord. Yeah, this month we played seven times.

They go, okay, are you going to join the band? I go, yeah. I go, okay, we just got a gig that's in 30 days. You've got to learn 30 songs.

Are you kidding? That's a solid day. And get it down tight. So I worked my butt off and down in my dungeon and learning tunes for these guys again and trying to get my chops back up.

And then we took off from there and we started to make changes, which was the key. You know, I noticed what their song list that they had. Song list is everything.

You could play for yourself and learn songs on flip sides that you like doing or you could play for the crowd and get the crowd to cheer. That was the key for us. So I looked at their song list.

I said, okay, let's get rid of these songs and start putting in some newer type tunes. And it really helped us out. It really got us going.

We started doing Toto, Hold the Line. We're doing Sledgehammer. You know, we got Blinded by the Light from Manford Man that a lot of people don't play.

And I said, you just don't want to be, you know, a copy band that does everybody. The blast band in that club did the same songs, you know. So we try to come out with something a little bit different, doing sticks tunes, you know, some hometown grown stuff.

But still make it so everybody knows. Yeah. Right.

Yeah, it's got to be what the people know. So within the first couple chords, they go, boom, we know that tune, you know. And that made a change.

We started our clubs increased, festivals increased, and we noticed an upswing here. And we're four guys. Right.

And we don't do, we're 100% real music with four guys. You know, I've seen bands, six, eight, ten guys up. But we're four guys pulling off, you know, doing Sledgehammer, you know.

No tracks. No tracks. I don't believe in that.

I mean, if you want to go hear karaoke, fine. You know, there's your tracks. But when I go out, if I were to go see Sticks, and it was just Tommy Shaw and the drummer, and the rest were tracks, I'd want my money back, you know.

So I expect the band to play as a band and be real about it. So that's what we base it. And we're just four guys producing real music, big sound for what we're doing.

Yeah. We get compliments on our sound all the time, you know. The guys are, oh, my God, the vocals and everything sounds great.

We, basically, Jim and Joe are the lead singers. They share 99.9% of this band. They are the backbone of this band.

Jim, you play what? Guitar player. Guitar player, yeah. And you're the drummer, right? Yeah.

And then the rest of us do all vocals. So we do all the backups, and when we do hold the line, we got all the harmonies there. So everybody sings.

Love is an always on track Love is on track Love is an always on track It was about, what, a year and a half ago that our bass player, Ed, just, he was having a lot of medical problems. And he just couldn't do it anymore. And he's been a musician all his life.

That's what he geared for. I mean, he lived to play bass and sing. Right.

And he did it well. And he just couldn't do it anymore. So Bill had played with Jim.

That's Bill Turbo. He's our newest bass whiz. This guy is phenomenal on the bass.

Unbelievable. He went to Berkeley, I think. Berkeley.

So he knows his stuff. Yeah. Bill is a terrific bass player.

He's added a lot. I'm sorry, what? He's added a lot to the band. I don't think we could be doing half the stuff we're doing without him.

That's how good he is. And he was in Magic for a little bit. He was in Magic for a little bit.

He shares time with a group called Ripley Street out in Indiana. But they play maybe six times a year. Right.

So, you know, it's mostly with us. So we're glad to have him. We're keeping him busy.

He gets a little testy sometimes. Because we're, you know, like this month we had six gigs. Yeah.

In August. Seven. Seven gigs? Seven gigs.

I got corrected there. Well, one of them was a private party, but I'm talking about to the public. You know, normally we like to keep it between two and three.

Right. Because you've got family time, you know. But things pop up and you're like, wow, let's take it.

It's our foot in the door. Like Willow Fest. We got done with Willow Fest that day.

You guys are coming back. You know, cheering. So that's what we're talking about with this band, is improving, pleasing the people, getting back into the clubs again.

So we need to span out our horizons a little bit, maybe travel a little bit more, because we've been centrally located down here in the south suburbs a lot, northwest Indiana. But we're starting to spread out a little bit more now because of our demand. So it's just great for us.

So since when you brought Bill on, did you add more songs to your? Oh, yeah. Just because he's such a dynamic bass player that he's able to do things that, you know, a normal bass player can't do. I mean, Billy's that good.

And, yeah, because now we listen. Instead of listening to a song and going, man, I don't think we can pull that off, we listen to a song now and go, all right, how are we going to make this happen, you know? It's completely different. Completely different mindset.

Good motivation for us. Yeah, he elevates us. Right.

It's great. Unfortunately, he couldn't be here today, so. Yeah, he's the working man, Bill.

Somebody's got to do it, right? And keep his family happy. So now if you used to run sound, and then you ran sound, Joe, then now who's running your sound? Well, that's the key. In the small clubs that we're doing, I got so proficient at it, I run it right from stage.

Yeah. You know, I get help from Jim's son, Jim Jr., he helps us out. He's a young kid, picked up his dad's talent.

Thank God he doesn't play guitar, he's a drummer, he's excellent. But he knows music, this kid does, and he'll say, I need a little bit more guitar, I need a little, and I make a quick adjustment. But when we start, I mean, we're better than most bands that have a full-blown PA company out there when we start.

I mean, it just sounds... We're pretty much locked in. We're locked in. From the beginning, we'll do a quick check.

Drum check is kick, okay, got it. Snare, got it. First time, a little bit more.

Second time, and we're done. Owners are like, your sound check's done? Yeah, we're done. We come on, we perform, and I'll tell you, we're 99% right there.

I think sound check's overrated anyway, so my sound's great. It changes once everybody comes in, and the volumes go up. But we're known, we've been getting compliments on our sound when we play.

Well, you know Kevin. It's all he's been doing. It's all I care about.

I designed the system. He bought it all. Bought it all, wired it all, figured out everything that needs to be mapped out on it, and dialed it in, and it's dialed in for us.

It makes life easy going to clubs. I just don't trust sound guys. These sound guys nowadays... Well, I'm not saying Paul, but I'm going out to concerts, and I'm like, this guy is not helping the band.

Well, no. He's turning his head, he's getting a corn dog. I'm like, what are you doing? We talked about this in our last My Kiss, and we said that sound man can make a break.

Oh, yeah. Oh, he's definitely part of the band. Yeah.

And I know, personally, I feel every song is different. I mean, it's not just one overall sound, it's every song, right? You have to adjust for that song to be beat, right? And you have to move around a little bit. You can't be under your tent, lay there all night, you know? Yeah.

That's where the people are, and you have to move around. We get a good rapport on our sound, and we're not, you know, another thing, we're not too loud in clubs. We got a good volume.

Most of the times we don't get yelled at. The owners are like, man, you are a pleasure to work with. And what sort of places are you playing? Well, like, coming up we got, where are we at? Smoky Joe's in Crete.

You mentioned Vince Grimini, is that the same Vince Grimini that owns the place? Yeah, okay, I thought so. That's his place. So he played with you for two gigs, now he owns the place, right? Yeah.

Yeah. Well, you know what? His mom had owned it before, and then she, right when he was with us, she passed, she got real sick, she passed away. He had to run the place.

What does Vince play? He's a keyboard player in the studio, but yeah, he does a good job. They play in there every now and then with a little band he's got together. But, like, we're playing Alta Grill Friday out in the Cook.

We do Buddy and Pals. Alky, Buddy and Pals. The Buddy and Pals joints.

We've done... Thirsty Beaver coming up. Yeah, that's a new club that should be fun. Did you hear that, Paul? No.

Thirsty Beaver. No, it looks like I was in there to give them some promo. It looks like a fun club to play at.

You know, I like it when the audience, put them right in front of me. Get a chair, sit, you want to see me play? Sit right in front of me. I don't like it where they have a huge dance floor and the people are way set in the back.

I'll give me the audience right up front. We're doing the Blue Chip, which you're familiar with. We play there.

There? Yeah. They have us back all the time. The sound guys love us over there.

They go, oh my God, you guys are nice and obedient on stage. Which left do you play in there? We, you know what, we choose Sunday at 12 o'clock. Sunday? I love it because we're the first band there.

Right. We take our time setting up. We get a good sound check in.

We don't have to rush. There's a good crowd there. And when we get done.

I didn't think there would be, but they're always. Yeah, good crowd. The Bloody Mary crowd.

Yeah, exactly. We've gotten other gigs from being, Alta Grill that we're playing this Friday in McCook is, the guys heard us out there and said, we want you. Yeah.

And then we got Willow Fest from Alta Grill. Yeah. The people in Willow Springs heard us at Alta Grill in McCook and said, we want you for that.

So, you know, it piggybacks. It's nice. It's real nice that way.

I had to talk to people after Willow Fest we just did because they asked about our band playing at their festival. So it's a great thing. It's a domino effect, which is very pleasing to have.

You make it more than two or three gigs a month. We may have bent that a little bit. Yeah, right.

But we enjoy it. Going up to McCook, you're starting to head north. Right, right.

Going up a little further north and further west. It's funny, in the 70s, like I said, I was in a group called Peppermill. We did the Nickel Bag, the Thirsty Whale, everything way up north.

Stuffing Aurora, Malos. Yeah, we got the Haywires, Haymakers back then. Beginnings.

Then down here, remember Rob Roy? Sure. Rob Roy, Jimmy D's in Park Forest. Don't forget Luigi's.

I didn't do Luigi's. I did Luigi's. The home of rock.

There was more tape than carpet on the floor. I did Luigi's plenty of times. We were watching you.

It was fun over there. 19. Yeah, it was great over there.

Well, I was only 20 at this time. I know. You were healthy and young back then, huh? First bar I could get into.

Glad to come hear you guys. Luigi would play the bottles after, right? Yep, ring that bell, play the bottles. He was a character.

Yeah. I miss him. It's a good place.

Those were the times. You told me I was a good master of cemeteries when I was back there. Okay.

That's it. What? Master of cemeteries. Okay, thanks.

I thank you. That's great. Good old days.

So you guys got any original stuff you do? No. No, you know what I mean. We put a few out and tried it.

We're just entertainers. We're entertainers at this point. I mean, at our age, we're not going to start hitting the road.

Those days are gone. It'd be our wheelchair tour if we did. Our main goal is to please the crowd, play some favorite classic rock and roll, and have the crowd respond and have a good time.

That's what it's all about for us at this point. Music is so big in our lives right now. I don't think we could do it cold turkey and just give it up.

So, you know, we're happy playing the classics and not worrying about becoming big rock stars at one point. I think we're beyond that. Yeah.

A long time ago. Yeah. Our days are over with.

But it's enjoyable to at least get out on a stage and play and have a good time. If we look at it this way, at our age, we're doing something we love. Yeah.

I mean, how many people can say that? That they're still able to do something they really love and enjoy and get paid for it? Right. It's not a fortune, but it's, you know. Exactly.

There's more work involved than what we get paid, definitely, in any band, especially us. I didn't know that. Yes.

A lot of us, us three right here, a lot of times we get to a club, for example, we've got Cousins coming up soon and a few other ones. We'll get there early, set up when we don't bother people, go home, relax, everything's dialed in, show up a half an hour before we've got to play, hit the on switch and do our show. Right.

You know, club owners love it because we're not bothering and bringing equipment in while people are trying to have a good time, eat and drink. So it helps to be... At our age. I mean, the general public doesn't see that part of it.

No, they don't. The set up and the take down. They just show up and it's, oh, it's there.

And we're back and forth and all together. It is. And next week it's a different set up.

Yeah. So... I always hear, do you guys have roadies that do that for you? You're looking at it. Yeah, we did.

Those are over with. But we do what's needed to be done and we enjoy doing it and the clubs love having us. Let's see, you haven't recorded any of your covers or anything? No, and we need to probably, but we have a little promo video.

Maybe, what did you put on there? You know what? That was at the Blue Chip. Yeah, I sent you that one. That was from the Blue Chip.

That was just done on an iPhone. I did see that. It's just little snippets and I put it together on some software I just took up where I try to avoid getting people up dancing where I just had the band there and just put a little thing together, what I could pick out.

And it worked out fine. It was an iPhone recording. But I've seen some bands, I go to their websites and I watch their promo and I'm hearing recorded music but with a live shot and it doesn't sync up with their mouths and everything to make it sound good.

Then you go hear them live and you're like, that doesn't sound like they're recording. This is what the band really sounds like live. So we try to do things live.

Definitely a band is going to give you their best recording or studio recording, whatever, to a club owner. Yeah, sure. I think the better way would be go live.

Yeah, let them hear what you're doing. Go live, this is what you're going to get. I want to hear an hour's worth of music too.

I mean, you know, five minutes and they know what they're writing. They're probably not going to listen to it. Right, right.

Yeah, they got short time on it. A few seconds. So that's worked out for us.

But most of ours has been people coming and seeing us and saying we want you for a party, we want you for a private event, we want you for our club and it's worked out good. Who does all your bookings? Yeah, we all do. We all share.

You all share. Yeah. You deal with Joe DiMarco a lot.

I deal with Joey a lot. He's helping us out. He does the lead drum for us.

You get to know him all. I've got a lot of experiences with a lot of the bands we've talked about. It's usually the drummer.

Oh, is it really? Well then, Joe, there's your new hat. Out of the three of us, I probably do the least. Jimmy and Kev do most of it.

But every once in a while, I'll have someone go, hmm, and they'll talk to me. You know, it's funny, it just winds up, who do they come up and talk to? Right, right. And we go from there.

Right. And the drummer's way in the back and they don't usually get to you. And when you're done, you jump off the back and run away.

Run away, right. My back is getting a little tired because I'm not getting a lot of help from these guys, but I do most of it. Here it comes.

Here it comes. Get the violin out. That's because, I won't mention any names, but when someone says, hey, we'll set up at 12, and you get there at 12 and he's been there since 11.

I already got the PA set up and ready to go for these guys. Well, I gotta load up my keys and the PA in my van and unload them when I get home at two in the morning. Here comes the violins now from the guys.

I get a pat on the back every once in a while from these guys, but it's not too often. Now they're taking it for granted that they get there, oh, the PA ain't set up all the way yet? What's the matter with you? I'll wait. I'll wait down there.

I'll watch. Is he done yet? Yeah. He knows when to show up at the club.

Right, right. Kevin's got the last wire plugged in. Time for me to walk out with my guitar.

Are you guys booked through the next few months? We're booked to the end of the year. Are you? Oh, yeah. Great.

Oh, yeah. We maybe have possibly two more events we could fit in. We're gonna take a little bit of time off in September.

Our bass player, Bill, needs some time off with family, which is fine. And then we're gonna do a few things with our family and we'll get back at it at the end of September. Very heavy in August.

We didn't plan on August being this heavy. You'll get whatever you're not getting. Yeah, it worked out fine.

You can't turn it down if it comes, you know. Right, exactly. No, if the gig's there, you gotta take it and grab it.

Right, right. Bring the family along. Right? Yeah, why not? You know, it's fun.

The Italian Fest that we had on just this past Thursday and then we did the Willow Fest on Sunday, so we normally don't like to put clubs or parties together. Usually on the weekends, of course, we give our voices a chance to chill out and do what we do, but, you know, as an institution. And then the month, we had the Thirsty Beaver Friday and then Two Bills on Saturday.

Yeah, the back-to-backers are a little tough. Getting in, you know, you're getting home at 2, 3 in the morning and then you gotta go wake up at 10 in the morning and set up again, so. I'm laughing at the back-to-backers.

Oh, I thought you meant I did one this weekend and I did one the following weekend Two weekends in a row, I did, yeah. Those aren't as bad as when you do, we did a Saturday night and then a Sunday morning. Oh, yeah, yeah.

Oh, that was just brutal. Yeah, yeah. That's brutal.

You walk in there all fairly awake and, you know. But the thing there, you know, put a PA on it. Right.

My back appreciates that. That worked out great. You're up in 15.

Yeah, right, drums. Yeah, I used to play a couple of things. Right.

We love playing there. Oh, yeah, and they're great people. Take care of you.

Yeah, yeah. So where can people find you guys? Facebook? We have a Facebook page. It's called Replay from the Heights.

And, you know, our wives hate that. They hate that, duh. Well, they're not from there.

Well, I go Simpsons and go, doh. Replay from the Heights. Like you said, from the Heights.

It's got to be from the Heights. There's something that goes, some videos on there, pictures, our schedule's all on there. Our promo's all on there.

You know. We do a lot on Facebook, promo. It's great.

It's great having Facebook, you know, a lot different from back in the old days. We had the mailer and all that. You'd get together and, you know, put them out.

But now, it's free. The update line, the catcher line. Right, update dog.

We had one of them, too. Starby Dictaphone. Oh, yeah.

Oh, geez. Wow. Wow.

Really going back. I heard about it. I'm like, oh, yeah, yeah.

So you said you had a website, right? You said you had a website. No. Just Facebook for now.

Just Facebook for now. It's easy, it seems like it's easier for people to find. Yeah.

Because so many people are on Facebook. Right. You know.

Oh, yeah. We used to have a MySpace page. Oh, my God.

People still have them. You know they're out there. Nobody visits them anymore.

Three guys talking to each other. And we get a lot of feedback on the Facebook page, too. It's nice because as opposed to a regular website, you know, people, you get their likes, you get people posting reviews, which is nice.

You find out after you do a gig and then the day after, you'll get five, ten. We really pick up clientele from the, that we get to see on Facebook. You know, you're getting people and people are.

Sure. Right. You know, that means you're doing something right, I guess.

You know, if you keep getting the likes and new people. So, thank God for Facebook. Let's just, they don't mess it up.

So, you've got some gigs coming up, like you said. So, be sure and get out there and see these guys. And we have Thirsty Beaver on the 30th.

Two Bills Tap out in Crown Point on the 31st. Yeah. I'm glad you know all this.

Yeah. I'm getting prepared. I have to check the Facebook page to see where I'm playing.

Where am I going? I put up, I do all the computer work, so I get all the promo up and running and I send it to these guys and they put it out in masses to all our people and we do the little footnote on there and it's got all our dates up on there. For the month. Yeah, it's very heavy for this.

But, like I said, we're going to chill out a little bit in the beginning of September. I got some yard work to do. I got to get caught up on.

And then we're going to get back at it again for the fall. So, once again, it's Replay from the Heights. Right.

And thank you guys for coming and spending some time with us. Thank you. Paul, Ray, appreciate it.

Thanks a lot. We'll see you guys real soon out there. Sounds great.

Thank you. Thank you, guys. Hey, Ray, that was fun meeting with those guys.

Those guys are a ball. That was pretty funny. I tell you, just like I said at the beginning of the podcast, this one's going to be worth replaying.

Yes, it is. So, we learned about the band and how they got started. And Kevin, how Kevin did sound.

And then he went from sound man to keyboard player. He did sound for you. Yeah, he did.

For you and Evan R. Rush. My God. That's like ages ago.

It is ages ago. That's when he had the paper cups with the strings. That's right.

He had a whole bunch of them set up. That's right. It was individual sound right then.

And then we learned how Joe went to do sound for them and then come back as a drummer. So, they kind of traded hats there for a while. Yeah, that was pretty cool.

It's funny how things just all of a sudden work out, you know? Yes, it is. You know, they come together and definitely people got to get out there and check them guys out. They're all over the south side here, man.

Yes, they are. They're all over the south side and working their way north, it seems like. That's right.

They're trying to get up that way and I'm sure they will. I'm sure they will. You got to go out and see them.

They're pretty good. I saw them a few weeks ago. A lot of fun.

Good. All right. Well, don't forget to share our podcast and don't forget to check us out on Monday nights at six o'clock on the on the Road to Rock radio internet show.

Just go to Road to Rock radio and you'll find us there every every Monday night at six o'clock and you'll find a lot of Illinois music there. Illinois music played on that station. So be sure to check it out or some tie to Illinois anyway.

Some kind of tie. Yeah. And make sure you check us out on Facebook.

Visit our website rockandrollchicago.net Check us out on Spotify, iHeart, iTunes, wherever you can get a podcast you can get us. All right. Thanks for listening.

We'll see you next week. See you next week. Bye.