Coming to you from the studios at the Illinois rock and roll museum on route 66. It's the rock and roll Chicago podcast Hey everybody, it's Ray the roadie and this is Hollywood Mike, how you doing today Ray? I'm doing pretty good. How are you? Yeah, I'm doing fantastic.

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, you know continuation from a couple weeks ago. Yeah, I did it I pulled the trigger.

Did you I bought a new I bought the the bad cat black cat amplifier you did Yeah, I did Wow, you know what I I went and I that's the only one I couldn't play I went to Chicago Music Exchange and they had They had the the jet black there and they had a couple other models there But that black cat right now is like the hot amplifier didn't have one So I was like, you know what if I actually want to play one I got to buy one so I bought it and I got 45 days of return it if I don't like it But I have a feeling I'm gonna like it. You played it. I haven't played.

Oh not yet. No. No, it'll be delivered Friday Okay, maybe we'll see it Sunday Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, if I like it if I don't like it, I'm not gonna bring it but if I like her we yeah We'll have it on Sunday. Very cool.

Yeah, we're gonna mess around a little bit. Very cool So that'll just mess up everybody because Tom sent out a text everybody kind of giving them a stage plot Oh and to let the guitar players know Yeah yeah, and I gave Tom a couple of options of what I would normally bring with so I'm gonna show up with a With the with the bad cat. Yeah, and it is mess everybody up.

That's right It'll be more fun that way. Yeah These guys are sitting here looking as like I thought you invited us to talk to us not to talk to each other Yeah, who we got we got foco How you doing guys? Excellent. Good sir.

Awesome. Yeah, I want to go ahead and introduce yourself Tell the folks who you are and what you do in the band. I am Julian Balboa.

I play guitar And I've been a member. I don't know about the three years now We brought Chad in about a year or two ago and Chad I'm Chad Van Damme. I'm the new guy about what is a year a year just over First gig was December 23.

Well, that's 24 22. Oh, we got we got Balboa. Yeah and Van Damme And you guys probably get booked just because of that yes sure yeah, you know you do I know you do Years and years ago when I was a much younger man, I was in a I was in a hard rock band and People booked us because I looked like Dwayne the rock Johnson I could see that and I mean my hair was different in the whole bit and everything and we got booked because literally I can't Tell you how many times people said wait, is that the rock? Yeah, he's in our band yeah, no that was it That's good, though But we did have that one interview with that one band or the it was a country band Yeah, and they're the one member.

His name was Mark Tater. Yeah Mark Tater. Yeah, that's it.

That's it. So we got Balboa and Van Damme. That's awesome.

That's awesome So tell us about tell us about your stuff. What do you guys do? Well, I guess I'll start off Foco was developed mainly for our love of foreigner and You know the tribute scene here in Chicago is pretty good But We kind of were getting booked for shows that were a little longer than your typical Foreigner show would be about two hours, right? So we quickly realized we needed something else and we were also big fans of Bad Company Oh, yeah, so we Took foreigner and Bad Company and we said man. This is a great combination You know you get the best of two good bands from the 70s and then We wanted to add just a little bit more of something that could spice it up and I'm Sound engineer myself, and I've been working the festival for the Beatles fans for the last 11 12 years And you guys probably know that Badfinger was supposed to be the new Beatles It was supported by Paul McCartney and those guys And I got an opportunity to meet Joey Moland and Some of the other guys from Badfinger and the audience just went crazy for their four or five big hits, right? Right, right, and we're like hey four or five big hits.

That's just enough spice to add it So right so Foco is mainly foreigner Bad Company and the four or five big Badfinger hits right and we play those songs and Occasionally we we go a little longer We we've designed a two-hour show or a 60-minute show or a 90-minute show But a lot of the clubs like a three-hour show and just to break things up We do what's called the Foco plus and that is the plus songs which are Just some of our favorite stuff from that kind of same era It's got to be in that same era head east is one of the songs never been any reason never been any reason Flat as a pancake. Yeah, we do stealing by Nice Again, just a little bit of variety But the majority of the fans know what they're gonna get when they walk in the door It's gonna be foreigner Bad Company and Badfinger easy sell. Yeah.

Yeah. Oh, yeah They were my favorites when they were out back in the 70s loved them. Yeah, you've got me I mean any any blues based rock and roll is up my alley.

That's awesome And at Badfinger they came out on the Apple record label, you know And I know people were talking about that. They're saying that that it is the Beatles, right? You know, nobody knew who they really were but they weren't the Beatles. Yeah, they weren't the Beatles.

No. Yeah, not even close I mean that was kind of weird to say that they were gonna be like the next Beatles But I never even saw that that was like two different things to me Yeah, and in such, you know as with many rock and roll bands a lot of tragedy in that band Yeah, you know, so it's a shame. They didn't stick around for the Period of time the Rolling Stones did That's just crazy and they just came out with a new That's that is unbelievable.

Oh my god. Yeah Where are they finding the energy and they were they were they were actually together before the Beatles. Oh, of course they were.

Yeah Yeah, I mean, so you're talking to 61 62 until now. Yeah. Yeah, the Beatles are quitters.

Yeah Yeah Yeah, I'd still like to have their money But there's just so many different places that you can take that because you know, I mean you're talking about you're talking about bad company I mean you can assume you can associate Zeppelin because didn't bad company first record on the physical graffiti label Yeah, what was that label name? Well, I mean that was the same label at Jimmy Page one song swan song Swan song was it? Yeah, they they first recorded on swan songs, I believe Jimmy Page produced that first album or two Yeah, right and yeah, just great songs overall. I mean you could go down I mean, this is the kind of thing where you could go down a musical rabbit hole. Okay, we're doing bad company Okay, let's do Zeppelin.

Okay. Now, let's do some yard birds. Okay, you know, I mean you can just go down a musical rabbit Hole, right and that's and when it comes to the plus songs, that's kind of what we do.

You know, we're doing free because What's the name Paul Rogers was free, so there's an offshoot there at the last show we do we were just goofing around with Cashmere like hey, man, we gotta add that to the set. All right, right What was that Jimmy Jimmy Page band in the early in the firm the firm? Yeah Radioactive we've talked about We're not big fans of that one, but yeah, it's exactly the idea that we're but you know, people would love that song though I mean they would I'm not a fan of it either But I think people from that era would hear that song and be like, oh my god high school Yeah, because nobody plays it, right? Yeah, if you came out with that people would be like freaked Well, that's what we've that's what you know You've just hit on art the key of what the magic of Foco is is You know you go see some local bands and they may play Rock-and-roll fantasy. Yeah, but nobody plays jukebox hero.

No, no deep cuts Ballads we do that This just blows me away like the audience can bob their head and sing along You can see it all happen to men. We hit the ballads the dance floor is all slow dancers Right and they seem to love it, you know and those songs nobody plays those songs No, no, no, especially not the ballads because they're they're too hard to play. I want to know what love is.

Yeah Yeah, I mean, I mean they're fast. They're faster upbeat songs were fantastic But I mean they made themselves they made a name for themselves with the ballads, you know in the in the late 80s Everybody loved those, you know, and that you know, not the sad thing But you know, I listened my my my musical moped is yacht rock. Oh, yeah Love it, you know when I like be Nicoladas, oh gosh, you know what? You know, I'll tell you what it's you know I didn't I never in my life bought any of those albums by any of those bands But you put on the yacht rock station on Pandora or Spotify or whatever and you know the words to every one of those songs And you hear a lot of those foreigner songs on the yacht rock station But but that's not a bad thing though.

I mean I am radio in the 70s That was yacht rock, yeah, that's right Now that the firm because Paul Rogers was the singer of that band and Jimmy Page was the guitar player in that band Who's the bass player and the drummer in that because I think I think that song would kind of tie all your stuff together Because I think you had a member from every one of the bands we named And that are you pushing us to do is yacht rock is that? No, no big scene in Chicago. Not yacht rock not yacht rock, but but something by the firm I think would be cool. Okay, yeah, but but yacht rock is a big scene because I can't tell you how many times The Ron Burgundy's I've been called so many times by people saying hey, can you available to do a yacht rock gig? No Thankfully, I've got my own my own band as a gig that night But I would totally do it if I had the time available because those guys were good musicians.

What so who's not here in the band? Well, we're a six-piece band the other four members are Amy Bananthi he plays keyboards, okay, and shaker and percussion and Gino Fontana is our drummer. All right, we got Tom Quinlan is our other guitar player and Rob Farina is our bass player his player Okay, and you're the leads lead vocalist. Yes.

Excellent. Okay. All righty, man That's are you the only vocalist does anybody else sing everybody sing it? Everybody sings? Well, that's good It's not the drum guy like the drummer and the keyboard player don't sing the bass player does little singing But the two guitar players do a lot of harmonies.

I'm talking lead singer though. I mean, does anybody else sing lead on? Tom Quinlan does some okay. Oh, yeah, you guys do a couple do a ceiling and never been any reason to do what yeah Okay, two men singing to each other You can stare into each other's eyes you can't cross the swords So You're doing like 30 songs a night by yourself or whatever it is for the most part welcome to the club brother I feel your pain So you're not doing very many three in a rows then are you guys No, usually it's once once a week.

Yeah, if that yeah. Yeah. Yeah It'd be nice if it was once a week, but yeah, it's actually about every four weeks.

Okay That's okay. How long you guys been together? well the band kind of started with Rob Freena as far as I know the only original member and There was a singer and a drummer who recruited some other musicians and ultimately came to me to play guitar and then we kind of started to replace people with more seasoned Musicians so that is part of a foco challenge is Everybody is a very seasoned musician. We're all in different bands and our the music business so we typically like to play once a month, but You know that can be anywhere from six to twelve times a year usually higher, you know profile gigs But they're all really seasoned musicians.

So what Chad was alluding at is we rarely practice, you know You know, it's like we have to bring that up Yeah, we do have to bring that up But because we we place it seems the less we practice the better we play And the truth to that is is that you know, it's on the record So go home and practice and show up at the gig and all your stuff and right And apparently the police are coming Yeah, I don't like the fact that we don't practice. Yeah, they're coming to get you. I'm gonna get us no practice, but yeah So, I mean it's not that we don't practice together or play I mean, we're I'm every one of us is on a gig usually every week, right? So Again, it's just season guys just show up and play and we really have a good time together That's why we keep doing it despite the fact that we don't spend much time together during the week, right? Right, but that's okay, though.

Who are you? Yeah, but you but you you definitely have a point because it but in my opinion It kind of elevates everybody's musicianship. I play in a band. We don't rehearse we rehearse we get together Maybe eight times of the of the year and go over new music that we're gonna add for the year But we play like 65 70 gigs a year.

So who's got time to rehearse, right? You know, yeah, every gig is a rehearsal We get you know, and it forces you to listen to each other Yeah, you know you have to you have to do it that way and that's you know, that's the best That's the best way. I think it builds everybody's musicianship for sure. Yeah, you guys all have other projects going on.

Oh Don't you start with what you got? Oh Well, I wasn't lights out Chicago. Okay. Yeah as UFO.

Yep. Yeah, and You're not you're not with them anymore or you or no. No, okay No, and I formed a new band ashes of Eden.

Okay, which is a breaking Benjamin tribute band. Oh, wow Okay, and recently joined my sacrifice Creed. Yeah.

Yeah, no kidding Wow Not to be mean or hasn't been announced Hello, yeah, not right now this one this will be going on on April 23rd So so so make sure you make sure you got all your bridges covered in burn Believe I'll be in the Mediterranean in April 23rd. So hopefully the Internet is every You know, I have to say this I Can't believe that there's still a crew tribute band Wow, there's two I believe There's a second Because unfortunately Creed has good Creed has got so much shit I mean so and undeservedly I in my opinion because I was a huge creature Creed fan But then all of a sudden for some reason when Scott staff had his meltdown which happened here in Chicago Right and the band kind of broke up and fell apart Everybody gets crapped on them and it's like get rid of Creed We don't want to hear anything and I mean literally all of their songs everything on the radio gets disappeared and went away forever It's coming back. Yeah, they're they're getting back together.

Yeah, they're doing a tour and they're recording a new album. Yes Yeah, yeah, they are. They are I heard there was a comedian I I was in Kansas one time and I can't remember this guy's name But because he was a toto no kind of an up-and-coming comedian And he's talking about Creed he goes Creed was his band from the 90s You know That was kind of like this whiny rock and roll right and then all of a sudden Nickelback came around and Creed disappeared and everybody heard Nickelback and then after they got sick of Nickelback they said Okay, call Creed But but I liked Creed I really did I'm glad to hear they're getting back together again, so wow, that's interesting So you guys been rehearsing for that project? Yes.

Yeah. Yeah, they actually rehearse when When you taking that on the road It'll be the first show is officially at Hobart Art Theater Okay, nice place and then here in Joliet Wow what we're at the porch. Oh nice right across the street Be I noticed there will be headline in there.

That's excellent. Nice. Excellent.

You're gonna be there with a few other bands in yes Corduroy and stone type thing. So that's got to be a stone temple pilot. Yeah, I've been in sadness.

Okay. Yeah Wow, okay, when's the day that you know me 18 12 12 or 18. Yeah, I have to look it up So the owners of the Forge if you are looking to dump some money into a podcast no answer or sure We would love to have you come right across the street right across the street We can get together next door Juliette's and drink some bourbon This deal out you can come over and drop your check off for your advertising on the show Piece of cake.

Yeah, no kidding. Wow. Wow, that's interesting.

I'm gonna have to check that out 18 May 18th. Yeah, I'll be in Florida lucky you Now I gotta go to a wedding. So what do you have going on? Well, I got a couple of things going on One of the one of the original are not the original but one of the Subsequent from the original drummers and foco was a guy named Hugo Ayala Who was I was in several bands with and he is now moved on to the hillbilly rock stars I don't you guys know that.

Oh, yeah So they play all the time now, how's it going guys? And he has a little bit less time for the three or four bands that we were in but one of them that has survived It's called rat pack and it's a rat tribute band. Oh, absolutely Yeah, I get to play Robin Crosby in that nice yeah, we're red leather pants and Long blonde wigs and grows his hair out. I still have mine.

I still have my red leather pants Yes, many of our listeners out there interested hillbilly Hillbilly rock stars is episode 66 of the rock and roll Chicago podcast. Look at that Red leather pants and the and the the mesh You know muscle shirt and stuff like that. You get to wear that stuff.

Yeah I usually wear a vest and show off the cannons, but Gunshow, right? Yeah, and then so I'm in foco and that's the two bands. I'm in but I run sound for a Fairly large local band called Aura. Oh, yeah, I just had them in here.

Yeah, I remember seeing something about that In fact, Kevin was just calling me about some dates I'm the primary sound guy for them. There's a couple other guys to fill in when I can't make it Wow okay, and I do some work for the old lead singer of our Pete Greco and We had in here a few months ago. Yeah Yeah, so those guys take up the majority of my dates, okay, so we need to find good spots for Foco to play which our next show by the way is it's gonna be in April.

What is the April 6th? That'll be before this is put out. Oh, yeah This is coming out to 23rd of April. Yeah Well, if you were at that show It's just like the fish that I caught that was Yeah, we had a good time there Mike yeah, it was a great show it was fantastic Open bar.

Yeah, that was fantastic. It was awesome. It is, you know topless optional.

It was Go and check these guys out And We got you know some dates we do tend to play more North although I'd love to get into the forge although this drive was a little bit much for me, but a Lot of times we're up at Sundance Saloon or the broken or seems to be a couple places. We play quite often Yeah, you guys from up north basically is where you're from. Yeah, the Gilbert's area for me Gilbert's Wow.

Yeah, you did come a long way. Yeah. Well, I work in Sugar Grove, which is close to where he lives Okay, don't sir.

I'm in Aurora. Okay. Well, that's what's our right near Sugar Grove.

Yeah, okay That's not that that's not too bad. But geez, yeah, you guys are out there and that's alright, but still not the farthest though No, you're not the furthest still not the furthest who wins that trophy we we had a band in here as two brothers and another guy trio and The gun brother lives in Green Bay Who he drove down from Green Bay and I asked him after at the end of the you know night as if so You're gonna stay your brothers tonight. Oh, no.

No, I'm driving home. He drove down like a five-hour drive He says anything for the band. He does it for the band.

It's about about three and a half to four hours both ways Yeah, he did the whole thing great band though, man. They were fantastic three three-piece band I sort of got their singer was great. They sounded like Queensryche Really good band.

Yeah. Yeah with three guys. Yeah, it was meltdown episode 118 meltdown.

Yeah. Yeah, they were they were excellent good band So well, yeah that that is out there now We can help you figure out how to get some folks down here and get some gigs around here Sure, that's a cool place over there for sure. Yeah, I want to see pictures of him in a blonde wig Yeah with the red leather pants we can make that happen.

Oh, he's gonna make that happen because because when I was uh, I graduated from high school in 1988 and Back then My I had long hair my hair was about as long as the age Yeah, yeah, my hair was about as long as yours, but I have naturally curly hair So everybody said I looked like Vito Brana from White Lion. I wore leather pants. I even had a hot pink washburn guitar It had to be hot pink or it had to be that crackle paint job or something Some two pictures because this one doesn't have any pants on it.

Well, it's not that I'm not worried I'm just a Chest up shot. I'm not even look under the table that wait wait Can I yes, let me say this? Who is that with you? That would be my wife. Oh She looks very familiar to me Her name is Tracy.

Okay. She grew up in the Elmhurst area and We're I mean you're okay. You had divulged your age to us, which I'm not gonna share But we're very close in age and she's my same age yeah, no, you know if anything else not she looks very familiar to me the More than likely because you mentioned a couple of places that I play quite frequently So maybe that maybe that's where I've seen her before.

Here's here's the red leather pants in the Wow you folks in podcast land are really missing Actually, actually you should send him send me the pics and I'll put them up for sure. That's an armadillo, by the way Well, that's pretty cool You're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast I'm Christy from crime cave podcast I've had a huge interest in true crime since my days of watching marathons of snapped back in the mid 90s I needed an outlet to talk about the cases that have haunted me for a very long time With each episode under 20 minutes. I shine a light on some of the most bizarre cases in the last 50 years Join me in the crime cave Hi, I'm Rick Anthony I'd like to thank my radio brothers Ray the roadie and Hollywood Mike for allowing me to tell you about my podcast The someone you should know podcast we spotlight musicians authors and interesting people and we like to say We're making a difference one artist at a time The podcast is heard twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays and you could check it out on your favorite streaming platforms and on the web At someone you should know podcast.com. That's the someone you should know podcast with me Rick Anthony making a difference one artist at a time So here's a here's a question.

This is a question I don't think we've ever asked before and somebody said, you know You should ask people in your podcast and I was like know what and they said Yeah, that sounds like a good idea. So we're gonna ask when you see what happens Alright perfect stranger You never met this person before I don't care of it male female doesn't matter. You're at a gig, right? They walk up to you and you're sitting at a table maybe having a drink or something in between sets and they sit down and they just literally sit down right at your table and They start talking to you and saying all you guys are great.

That's fantastic. It's great. I'm glad you're here.

I love your music This is awesome. Where does the conversation go from there? What do you how kind of conversations are you having with your fans out there? See, yes, wow, I stopped. Oh, well, I mean there's a lot of different ways I could answer that But generally it's it's you know, it's a Gratitude, you know, yeah.

Hey, thanks a lot, man. You know, we put a lot of time into this and you know, do you have any? Follow-up questions because you know, you know, we're usually distracted We're thinking at 50 different things during the gig and in between sets We're trying to figure out we did wrong and how we can fix it and why our monitors aren't working So you need a sound guy? Yeah. Well, of course Yeah, guess who that is So, I mean, you know sometimes, you know they'll ask a question that'll be more of a technical question or Maybe even a historical question about the bands that you know, and you can engage with them I'm generally not asking them too many questions other than what maybe brought you here tonight, right? Well We just played a gig at Sundance where we opened for seventh heaven, okay and they a lot of the fans were there for seventh heaven, but Lot of them said they came because we opened for them too.

They wanted to see us at the same time So right we were kind of asking him what what brought you here, you know, all right, so That's probably the most common question. I would fire back with I Came here to seven heaven Yeah Yeah, well, they're not here yet, so Stick around for some Fogo, right? Right, right So when you're when you're sick, so you've got very specific music that you're playing that we've just talked about So when you're singing, do you think that you sound like these singers? Do you try to sound like these singers or I do try? Mm-hmm. I think I was pretty spot-on in most cases, but I mean like all singers you have your moments.

Yeah, so Still working on those moments. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah I'd imagine Paul Rogers is probably the hardest to sound like it's probably the easiest for me. Is it really? Yeah, yeah, yeah, cuz he's got those moments of gravel in his voice He's got moments where he really doesn't have the gravel in his voice. He almost sounds like two different singers sometimes My baby Yeah, well, you know to circle back around to who we could play didn't Paul Rogers play with Queen for a while, too Yeah, he did.

Yeah. Yes, he did. So you can change it up.

It's a Yeah, it just goes to show his range, you know, yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Yeah What so what what's the hardest song you think we do for you to sing? I Just takes over the podcast I can tell you the easiest song is feels like the first time but since it's the last song of the night It's the hardest. Oh, yeah, it's tough at that time. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, you know I'm a vocalist as well. And I always used to do things like I wanted to put the harder songs Toward the beginning of the set because I figured by the end of the set I'm gonna be worn out and I'm not gonna be able to sing them Well, and then somebody had the brilliant idea at a gig when they said, you know We have a lot of people here that have seen us for like the past ten gigs in a row Let's just play everything in reverse So it sounds like it's new to them and I put the harder stuff at the end of the set I found out that I was more warmed up and I sang it better So now we do it that way is it does that work for you I like a curve Yeah, easy at the beginning a little harder in the middle and then softer at the end.

That would make sense, too But I usually don't have a choice. Yeah Setlist was made before me. Okay, follow the routine.

Come on. You're the lead singer dude. The world revolves around you You can change it up a little bit.

Yeah, so prior to this and the Project other projects you're doing what other bands have you guys played with? Oh, geez second day You know some of the band's names get Recycled over the years and I think this band name has been used more than once in the Chicagoland areas But pop rocks was one. Mm-hmm. It's mostly I mean it was it was Somewhat of a wedding band without any of the slow stuff It was all the dance stuff for the wedding band and then there was a band called run for covers There was I do remember it.

Yeah, we used to play, you know on the way down and I'm like, oh my god I'm going on the casino. You know, we played at the casino quite a bit, right? Right and that band had a multi instrumentalist that played the sax Well, I think ironically Andy plays sax too, but he plays a we call it the sex. It's the sex We need more sex.

Do you actually play the sax in some of your songs? No, Andy does Oh, yeah, he's the keyboard. Well, I was just pointed at him Forget he's interviewing him now, that's right. Yeah You know Andy plays a controller that's a you know a wind controller, okay So we he in the songs that there is sex he gets up and plays the wind controllers, right, right, right It's pretty amazing.

Yeah, it's kind of cool. Yeah, that is a neat little instrument. That is pretty cool I actually have respect for keyboard players that can do that because we one of the things that we talk about on this podcast all The time are bands that play with a lot of tracks So there's four guys on stage and then you hear a saxophone solo and you're looking around for the saxophone player And there's nobody there But at least if you have somebody that can simulate that who's actually playing it I kind of have respect for that But yeah, we are no tracks.

I know that's a big topic that comes up But usually more with musicians than anybody else, right? It seems the fans are unaware. They don't have a clue you know, it's really a shame because I get why bands do it and You know if they're if it's done, well, it can be good, right? I know Van Halen did it so that's one of my favorite bands and if they're good doing it It's hard to judge other people for doing it And he'll have an iPad out front. Do you see no? No, I bet Well, you know, that's not fair because a lot of times the iPad for me is to control the sound in my ears I'm not looking at the lyrics or the music.

I'm controlling the sound of my ear so just to Throw that blanket statement out is a little unfair to some of the people that are a little bit more technically savvy and can remember The song right, right, right and people have asked me I always have I always have an iPad on my microphone stand and people think I'm reading lyrics But I'm not that controls my inner monitor exactly. I've got I've got I've got an image of the mixer board right there, right? Yeah, I can put this guitar in I could put the bass in we've got a four-piece horn section Can't hear the saxophone. You know, yeah, I can do all that stuff That's exactly what I'm talking about now in those people's defense If you go down to Nashville and you got one solo guitar player and he can play just about anything by looking up You know guitar guru or whatever the right software is he's using and pull off the song For the crowd to be happy because you know, that's how they're gonna make their money is off a tip So, oh, yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, but yeah, I make fun of those people too. Yeah Yeah, we all do but you know, we all cheat we all got to do it a little bit sometimes Yeah, you know that people, you know, they a lot of times you'll hear, you know, the cover bands, you know Oh, they're just covering another band.

Well, you know when you go to Italy go to art school Guess what you paint the masters. That's how you learn. Yeah, that's right, right You know, so I you know, I feel it's unfair for people to judge based on the fact that you just play covers It doesn't mean you're a bad musician because you don't write your own music.

It'd be right, you know Chicago Symphony Orchestra doesn't write their own music either Yeah, right, and when we've had a number of bands in here You know do original stuff and it's a tough business doing original stuff clubs. I don't want that The fan unless you know your fan base understands it but people never heard you before they don't want to listen to that stuff Well, the irony of Seventh Heaven is is they've done that right, right? They they play a mix of covers and then they throw in an original and if that original is good They keep playing and if it's not they bury it. Right, right.

That's that's you're exactly right and they've had stuff played on the radio I mean you can drive down the road and hear Seventh Heaven on the radio doing an original song You know, they've done a good job of it and they don't they don't What's the word they're not trying to be an original band they're trying to be a Band that entertain entertainers and they throw their own music in every once in a while and they've been fortunate enough to have some songs On the radio, so they've got a little bit of both worlds going on Yeah, that's that's you know, he's good for me. You can't fault them for that at all. So so Chad your background My background, you know your other other bands you played with and over the years and boy, that's a long story You got time I'm gonna be you know, I gotta be at work by six o'clock tomorrow morning chance.

Oh Well, it all started. I was just playing piano at home and singing along and I joined my first band at 16 Night child and we played out in Detroit. I was from me.

I'm from Detroit. All right So from there that went on I moved to Lansing and ended up in a original band called concrete jungle And then we started learning some covers and stuff and we started playing out and I did that for a while and did a little touring band with a kingpin We toured around mostly the Midwest And then I got tired of that because I was sleeping on people's living room floors. I didn't make any money How am I gonna eat tomorrow kind of thing and I sat in front of a TV and then be all you can be came on Yeah, and I went and beat all I could be beat all you could be For about seven years.

Okay. Yeah. Yeah, so I just started up doing this again During Kovac.

Okay. Yeah. Thank you for your service.

Yeah Wow, so you've only been doing this since you started it up again been doing this since Kovac you said yeah So you you got out of the army? Oh, no, I got out of the military got my degrees. Oh gotcha. Okay Comfortable living.

Okay guys, I'm not sleeping on floors, right? Right, right, right, right. What's your day job? I'm an engineer engineer Yeah, all right. It's one of the big three Railroads Charlie was his name we hear So he's a smart guy over here, what do you do what's your day job Jesus that's worse that's more assorted than my musical career I mean, you're a little old for a stripper And next on the pole That's Okay, so this is a funny story.

I digress In the band pop rocks We did own a stripper pole and and that was the most magical thing ever for a cover band Just just saying I've seen pop rocks many times you were in pop rocks. I really cool. Yeah I was in a band years ago and we opened up for you guys What was the name of that man Pop rocks we opened up for pop pop rocks I can't think of the year but the band that I was in was called static and I'm trying to think of where it was We played at 191 a lot of times which is something different now we played at the casino a couple jammers live It's called yeah Jamos live.

I know is that what it is. Yeah, really? I didn't realize Will be this Sunday There was another name somewhere in there, too. I can't remember what that was Anyway, it was I always wanted to be a guitar player and my dad frowned upon that.

So he made me go to college And I was on the six over seven year plan ultimately got a degree in aviation maintenance and Spent about eight months working on airplanes and then decided that's not what I really wanted to do for personal reasons Which are now legal ironically But so so then I Took a job in a steel business and I worked in the steel business and I was kind of help the department that sold to the aviation division and then I got married and I ended up Having to change jobs for a personal relationship that happened even before I knew my wife again. This is way too much information, but I ended up in the finance business something called factoring And I did that for about 10 years and then I got divorced from my first wife and I decided I'm gonna do what I Wanted to do right? So I had gotten a home inspector license So I was doing home inspecting freelancing and then I ended up starting to work for a sound company They're called a key track solutions are now on a Elk Grove village. They do a lot of larger productions during the summer Big fests and things like that and I did that all the way up to last year as a part-time job but then my I also got into doing Conditional collateral inspections for different types of vehicles trucks stuff like that I mean, I ended up having my own company from about 2006 and just kind of did my own thing and made my own way and made my own money, right? then the wife had a bug to go move to Florida and All these things didn't really Translate well to moving into a new state with no contacts So we went to go do a photo shoot just before Chad joined us And I decided to call some of my friends that were still in the aviation business And I kind of lucked out right but I called the other guitar player Tom and in the car with Tom was this buddy of his who His daughter was dating the son of a president of an air charter company And they happened to have a Learjet that we could use to take band photos with It was fantastic the photo shoot went great and then three guys left the band We scrapped those photos Yeah, I guess you could Photoshop yeah, yeah, but at the time that the president of the company showed up for the photo shoot You know, this is the shoot and he found out I had an A&P license Which is a license to work on airplanes and he offered me a job nice.

So Yeah knowing that my wife wanted to move forward and I could walk on almost in the airfield if I just had a little bit of Experience back in the field. I went back in the aviation. Yeah December they had a little bit of a reduction in force and I ended up over at a Place called Rev Aviation in Aurora.

Yep, which is a maintenance facility that what they call part 145 that that's a Hence the Rev on your shirt. That is correct What I asked when I came here came right from work and that here's your I took me a while to answer that question But yeah, yeah, I thought I know I'd story. Yeah, mine's not not that long I asked that question I get more me of the No, I I asked that question because I mean that's kind of the point of this podcast that people go out and see you You know all the time.

They know who you are on stage, but I found that you know a lot of our You know call them fans. I don't like calling them fans. I like to call them friends They want to know what you do when you're not standing on stage because they don't get a chance to see you or talk To you and you know, or you know anything they just think that you're a guitar player and people You know when people find out that I have a day job They're like you do yes I mean I play a lot and they see me around and everything and I tell them what I do for a living and I Usually get I usually get this look He's moving his head up and down I with a with a really cuz I guess I don't look smart They think you do this seven days to play guitar seven days a week or you're a wrestler, yeah I Think you're married.

You have two kids. Wow, you have two kids in college. It's great.

Oh my god. How do you do that? Just playing guitar Sometimes sometimes I go with it, you know, I'm just hey, you know, it's tough life, babe Yeah, it is If that's all you're doing it sure is yeah, so so what do you guys have coming up on the calendar? I guess toward May mid mid to end of May. We got July 12th right now at the Broken Ore.

Okay, and Again part of the challenge of having these guys Being consummate musicians in a lot of different bands. Yeah, and then we also have personal lives pretty much April in May we're all on vacation and or other gigs and or Just not available for reasons or not You know where you guys would do well and you should you should totally check this out There's a bar on this side of town in Juliet right off the I-55 that is very similar to the Broken Ore It's called the Big Basin. It's right on the Des Plaines River It's the same kind of place people come up with their boats and their jet skis and and they've got an outdoor stage in the whole Bit is that yacht rock music? Oh, no No, it's actually an I-55 when you take that big trestle bridge over the river.

Yeah, the bar is underneath underneath the bridge I think I've been there. We used to ride our motorcycles there. Yeah, I mean it is still I mean It's a biker bar you go there on a on a Saturday afternoon or a Sunday afternoon when the bars are playing out there on The on the deck.

I mean, they'll be you know, be 200 300 bikes in the parking lot, you know in hot rods So it's like the Broken Ore. Just like the Broken Ore. Go and go and check that place out My band's regular sound guy are the 10th member of our band.

He's got the house system there Well, and so I got a hookup for you, but you guys do great there They would absolutely freaking love you guys at the Basin or check it out good with bikers Oh, yeah, all any of that stuff any of the stuff that I do would go well Yeah, I mean if you guys do well at Broken Ore, you'll do good at the Basin. Yeah, so Jess I know you're listening to this podcast So, I mean right now that's the only thing we have on the calendar and I mean a lot of the clubs are actually booking Already So some of the things we have on the radar that we're very close to getting dates is the Four Winds Casino in Michigan That was our first show. That was our first very first show is the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo.

Yeah Go out of state in case you sucked That's a big gig if that is for your first gig to play Four Winds Casino, that's a big deal Yeah, well it was his first gig let's let's clarify I got you They're gonna have tribute nights on and Fridays in the fall and they're asking us for dates for that No, it's just a matter of nailing down a couple of dates that we can send to them We got well, you know guys, I'm sure you're aware of what's happening with the Brower house. Yeah. Yeah.

It's now Yumo. Yeah, you most smokehouse Yeah, so they've contacted us they've asked us for dates in May with we were only able to give them one day yeah So now they're also asking for September so I mean right now we're kind of booking for later in the year which seems to be You know Kind of what goes on for we play a couple dates in the summer upside. We'd love to hear from these guys What was the name of the bar you son? Oh The big base of the big basin.

Yeah contact. Just Bruno. Just Bruno.

Yeah Excellent. Yeah, we'll get that information before how can people find you you guys got a web page. Yeah, it's We have a web address It's a foco Chicago band comm let me make sure that's what that is cuz it's name that so you can never find it.

Yeah If of course Chicago, but I think if you search focal it goes to some Tupperware Yeah, and where did this name come from Well, that's another good story for a bad company. Well. We we decided that when we go when we first When we first got together we decided to call ourselves a foreigner and company Okay, and that got us a little bit in trouble Because people thought foreigner was playing with their friends And So we we decided we needed to change our name and What we came up with is just shortening the names you know the foco and then I don't really have a lighter with me But this is kind of the logo Okay, kind of kind of borrowed from the original bad company.

Yeah, right logo and That's where we came up with that okay When I first said focal I thought they were saying folk ho and I was like you know folk ho They do a bunch of I don't know We thought you know it's not a bunch of hoes were coming in. Yes. I'm like that.

Yeah, we call ourselves the focus you know Yes, the mother is the mother of all co-band.com is our URL so it's Foco band.com, but that really just brings you to our Facebook page because You know do you need more than that? No you don't you really don't so Facebook Facebook is king for inviting people to shows Inviting people shows showing them old videos. Yeah, give me a bio information I mean, it's it's pretty much a whole website sharing your podcast when it comes out absolutely Promoting you guys yeah Well alright guys, thanks guys. Yeah, thanks a lot for coming out.

You know you had a bit of a drive We really appreciate it. Yeah, well. I'm sorry.

We didn't get to ask you more questions Maybe we'll start another podcast Now that you've talked to about a thousand different cover What can you tell us to help us? Yeah, yeah, we really appreciate it. Thank you guys for having us. This has been a great experience and You know we really look forward to building up our fan base and and having a good time playing some foreigner and some bad company And a little bad finger Thanks a lot.

Thanks a lot guys Well that was interesting. Yes. It was I'm telling you a foreigner Bad company yeah, I love that finger.

I love that me. I do too. Yeah, that's from my time man Yeah, I'm gonna have to see where I can find them.

Yeah, I mean It's it's some unique music and people don't play that stuff anymore. No never hmm No, you've never heard of tribute bands with those three bands before no but you know Most tribute bands are like within the last 10 20 years or so not going back to the 70s Yeah, you know and in I can tell just by talking to them that they're both really good musicians Mm-hmm. I mean the people that they know yep.

Yeah, you don't hang out with those guys. No Yeah, unless you're unless you're unless you're really good, and so yeah go check them out everybody Yeah, definitely as go check out everybody that we interview please so otherwise like always Thanks for listening. See you next week every Tuesday for another exciting episode of the rock and roll Chicago podcast See ya the rock and roll Chicago podcast is edited by Paul Martin theme song courtesy of M&R Rush the rock and roll Chicago Podcast does not own the rights to any of the music heard on the show the music is used to promote the guests that are featured