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 coming to you from Joliet, Illinois. I Don't know why I said that I have no idea but the Route 66 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum Yeah, that's not really what it's called.

But well, that's what it is today today. It is. Yes tomorrow will be something else Yeah, yeah, so what's going on? Oh, man.

I don't know. I'm just kind of Kind of chillin, you know, just chillin. Yeah, it's been kind of a slow week, which is a good thing That's always a good thing.

Yeah, I'll tell you what though My amp saga continues does it? Yeah, I was actually able to get on the telephone and talk to somebody from Badcat and now they know who I am and they know that I have one of their amps and stuff and I'm having a good Time with it. So now you're VIP. I'm absolutely, you know, I learned a lot of tricks and I am absolutely loving the amp now Awesome.

Yeah, so if anybody's out there in here, you know, I love to do reviews of amps, you know If anybody wants to send me one, I'd love to do that All right, or you could do a podcast about amps or we could you know, we could do that to do that You know, or maybe they could sponsor this podcast. Yeah. Yeah, they advertise here.

Yeah, they can make the sacrifice since you have this in I'm Appointing you the ambassador of getting us some money. I'll take that on. Okay, you know, that'll be my sacrifice your sacrifice.

Yeah I Sometimes we just go off on a tangent we Kind of forget you're sitting here And no, let me let me explain right now. We are in no way professional radio. What's new? This doesn't even resemble professional radio whatsoever.

So yeah, so how you guys doing man? We're doing well Where'd y'all come in from? Are you local, like real local, or are you all over the place? Yeah, we're local. I'm in Southside. I'm Tinley.

Woodridge. Oh, okay. I live in Oswego.

Okay. I came from Oswego today. I had to be here today at 6 o'clock.

The traffic sucked coming from Oswego. Yeah, sorry. Believe me, I know.

Every day I know. Did it take you like all the way up 30 or something? No. Actually, today, long story short, after work, I work in justice.

Oh, okay. So... Oh, you're a police officer. Yeah, all right.

Or a lawyer. I'm a machinist. I'm a machinist.

That's first dad joke. But anyway, I go to my parents that live in Payless Hills when I know I have to go like the Southside instead of going all the way to Oswego, then all the way back. Right, right.

So, no, I didn't take 30. No, you were good. It was only like a half hour from Payless Hills.

I thought you said long story short. Yeah. And that's the end of my story.

Thank you. Yeah, yeah. So, why don't we go around? Actually, we should already know everything about you since you've been here before, but why don't you tell everybody again who you are and what you're doing in the band? Nobody knows who I am.

Nobody knows who you are. Oh, that's right. No, I am the faceless man.

Okay. By the time this comes out. Is this your coming out party? Is that what the plan is? I don't like it called that, but... Is there another way to say that? No.

I guess I'm coming out. So, you're the newest member of the band then? I am. Alrighty.

And you are? I am Chad Van Dam. Chad Van Dam, yes. Just like Jean-Claude.

I know, I know. I just wanted to hear you say that. Because we had a discussion about that the last time we was here.

We did. Yeah, yeah. Because, wait, no, and there was somebody else in the band, in the other band.

Julian Balboa. That's right. We had Van Dam and Balboa sitting at the table.

That's right. We duked it out live. Yeah, they did.

Next, let's go on down the line. I am Brian, and I play the drums. You play the drums, alright.

John Hellman, guitar, and I bring the great heritage band. Okay. Or lack thereof.

He's the one with the He-Man arms. I'm Brad, bass player, and I probably do the backups to cover in the areas where Chad needs to breathe and get a little breather every now and then. Right, right, excellent.

And you guys do what? Tell everybody listening. Oh, we do a Creed tribute called My Sacrifice. That's right, that's right.

I was just thinking to myself, I'm sure everybody can figure it out by the name. That's what I did. But let's make it official.

Being the drummer, wasn't it kind of like toward the end of the whole Scott Stapp thing the first time around, wasn't it the drummer that they couldn't keep in the band? Because at the end of that, for the album, My Sacrifice, wasn't it just like three of the original members? Wasn't it the bass player that left? I think the drummer stuck it out. Okay, it was the bass player that left. I think.

Nobody said they're going to be asking questions about the real band. You didn't ask me anything about Metallica or Megadeth, I got you. We have to see their knowledge of the band that they're paying tribute to.

Come on, man, all right? I'm pretty sure the drummer was the guy that stuck it out along with Tremonti and the bass player. We have a pretty interesting history of how the band happened. John and I were actually in a version of this band about 20 years ago when Creed was on their initial run, their heyday, and they were, you know, they peaked.

They were probably one of the, you know, close to the nearest one of the biggest bands at the time before Stapp had his breakdown. And it was strictly a side gig. It was, you know, having fun, making some money, and we had a singer that looked like Scott Stapp.

And the guy's name was Jack Pender. He's unfortunately no longer with us. But it was many, many years ago.

We used to actually, like, go on little mini tours, East Coast. We did really well. People loved them.

And then Stapp had his meltdown, and immediately, you know, things just kind of fell off. Did that affect you guys at all? From that, it did. It did, but it actually skyrocketed things because we got a call from The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Okay. They did a skit called Creed Isn't Good. So they were looking up tribute bands.

Right, right, right. Because once that thing went down with Stapp, there were two guys that were at the concert that sued him for millions. Right, right.

And so The Daily Show wanted to do a thing about it. And that whole thing went down in Chicago, if I recall correctly. At Allstate.

Yeah, it did at Allstate. Yeah, it did. And actually, our singer, Jack, because he looked just like Stapp, we found out he was in the parking lot pasting cards with flyers for our shows.

Yeah. And somehow, we caught wind of what was going on, and we called him up and we said, Get out of there. Yeah.

Get out because everyone's upset. But yeah, with The Daily Show thing, they wanted to do a skit. They called us up, asked if we wanted to do it, came in, filmed it, filmed the other guys.

Right. After that, we got calls from all over the country. So you were actually on The Daily Show.

Yes. Yeah, Jon and Jack were. The premise of the episode was that Creed wasn't available for comic.

Okay. So they found a guy that looked like Scott Stapp 10 years from now, and that was basically Jack. Jack looked just like him, just a few pounds heavier.

But anyways, we wrote it out, and again, it just fell apart. Everybody stayed in touch, but obviously, how many years has gone by? And Jon and I have always stayed friends. Yeah, yeah.

Harper's got a really, really good resume. Want to tell them who you've been partying with for the last 10, 15 years? Since 2009 to 2019. Good Lord.

I drum for Hairbangerz Ball. Oh, yeah. Hairbangerz Tribute.

Yep. And that was my life for 10 years. Know them well.

Yeah. That was my main source of income. It was a lot of fun.

A lot of freaking fun. Did you wear the wigs? Yes. For a few years, yes.

And then I grew out of Mohawk, and they're like, all right, that's cool. All right, that's cool. You can do that.

It's better than always got to wear the eyeliner. You got to represent. Just about to say.

Right, right. Yeah, you got to wear the eyeliner. You got to look the part.

But no, that was so much fun. Right. I would never take that back.

You were known as who? Kid Chaos. There you go. Because at the time, I was the youngest person in the band.

At the time, I was the kid, so that's why they called me that. Right. But again, the tribute bands have always been kind of a forte.

They're fun. Nobody here is trying to be the band. We're just paying tribute to a really good band.

We started looking at the markets and who's not being covered. It's a little bit, not really confusing, but we had another band that we still do called Voodoo, and it's a Godsmack tribute. Oh, nice.

And we just went through a few players over the years. We had about seven years in that project, and the three of us had gotten together after a few member changes. And our singer, recently after seven years, he was the one singer for both bands.

Right. So he was pulling double duty and had some personal issues come up. We just had our last show with him right across the street at The Forge just Saturday.

That was with Freak on a Leash and just a great group of just new metal bands. But about three months ago, we actually had a show with one of Chad's other bands. It was like a co-headliner up at the Sundance Saloon.

I think it was December. Yeah. Yeah.

And we had actually had a show before that at Basecamp. That was the first time you and I had started collaborating and just talking, getting to know each other. And we ended up, we did the Voodoo show at Basecamp, and then we did My Sacrifice at Sundance Saloon.

And you had just, he basically called me and said, man, I want that gig. He goes, I want that gig. He goes, I am perfect for that gig.

And our singer was great. And it was just timing. It was just literally fate.

And it was like we were in the middle of knowing that our singer was going to be stepping down. And Chad stepped in, and it just lightning struck. I mean, within a month, month and a half of rehearsals, he's crushed our 90-minute set.

Right, right. He just emulates Stapp. You know, kind of even looks like him.

It's amazing. Yeah. Just everything, everything about him.

He's just a welcome addition. He's reinvigorated the band, and we're really excited to get back out there. I'm going to start crying.

Yeah. He really is. You're coming to our party, and you're going to be in tears.

So that was a short story long. No, no. Don't worry about that.

But again, it's kind of a mishmash of history. Everybody out here, again, all the musicians, everybody kind of knows everybody. Right.

And the one thing we made sure we wanted to do was to find someone that, you know, wasn't just someone that's bouncing around from band to band to band. And Chad, like legit, I have no idea how I've never known him before this, as long as he's been on the scene and I have. We've never crossed paths.

I mean, he's out in Aurora. We're down here. Right.

But it's amazing to me that, you know, 25 years of playing around Chicago, and I've never met him until now. Yeah. So, yeah, we're going to have a hell of a run.

We're really excited. The first time I met these guys, actually seen these guys, was at Q-Bar. I went up there to see this other band, Phobia, who we'll be playing with here May 4th.

That's right. This is further in the future, right? Yeah, that was really a good show. That place was packed.

My God. I had the best time of my life. It was frigging awesome.

The crowd was going nuts. It was insane. Yeah.

Crazy. My son was born there that night. It was wild.

Your son was born there that night? Yeah. Yeah. He's 18 now.

Oh, that'd be kind of difficult, because, I mean, I only heard dudes in that audience. I mean, that was... One couple got engaged on stage, and I think three got divorced. Wow.

Wow. Wow. Yeah.

But, yeah, I started a Breaking Benjamin tribute band. Okay. And so I wanted to go see who this Phobia band was, and my sacrifice was there.

I was impressed. Yeah. Yeah.

Why, thank you. Yeah, of course. There's a comedian that does this bit, and I can never remember the guy's name, but every time I see this bit, I stop and watch it.

He starts talking about... He's talking about Creed and Nickelback. Right? And he wasn't a Creed fan, right? So he's like, you know, Creed was this whiny, you know, new metal band back in the early 2000s and stuff, and, you know, whatever. And I was so glad to see them go, and then all of a sudden this Nickel band comes around, and then everybody was like, yeah, call Creed again.

Right? And honest to God, that seems to be kind of the way it went, because, you know, truth be told, back in 98 to about 2001, I was in a band where we started off as a Creed tribute band. And then we went into some Pearl Jam, and then we expanded it into Stone Temple Pilots. I wasn't a guitar player.

I was just the singer in that band. And then when Creed crashed, that band crashed and burned as well. It did.

It did. And, you know, because unlike you guys, we didn't have anybody calling us to do something on The Daily Show. Right.

Right. And it was actually probably about a year beforehand. It was when people started to lose interest in them for their last album is when it started to fall apart in the whole bit.

So did anything like that after The Daily Show, did anything like that happen to you guys where you had to kind of take a hiatus a little bit and then come back to it? Well, things fizzled out, of course, you know, after a while. And then it was just, you know, when it's time to move on. Right.

Do something else. When we brought this back playing, it's amazing now because we have played shows where we get done and you're looking in the crowd and people are crying because now it's bringing everybody back 20 years to nostalgic times and making them think of memories and all that. And we've had people crying, singing that just touched me.

The music, you know, and it's amazing. So it's it's it's a different kind of thing now. You can have another child.

Yeah. Yeah. You know, they keep kind of flirting with their and teasing everybody saying that they're coming out with another album.

That's yeah. Yeah. It's in the works.

Yeah. And it makes this a perfect time. Well, it does.

And again, you asked if it hiatus. I mean, nobody ever really stopped. I mean, it was I've done original music for 30 years.

We've always dabbled. If you're a musician, you'll always play. You take a break.

It's always there. You can always come back to it. Right.

And that's what it is. It's you know, there's a lot of tribute bands out there that just bring things to the table. Just drama, unnecessary crap.

Like we're just out to have a good time. You know, we found a band that we respect. You know, again, a lot of people creeds this and Nickelback's that.

You know what it is? I feel like they they were so every song they write is just good. And I think there's almost like an animosity towards the fact that they just write good tunes. They just do simple tunes and they sell.

And even if people say I hate them, I guarantee that the haters, they know 10 to 15 songs by Nickelback, by Creed. They know. And I mean, it's we've gotten to the point I'm actually trying to work with Ed Rosbery to put together a special event called the Banjo Love to Hate Tour.

Yeah. And we're looking at us, Five Finger Death Punch. We're looking for Nickelback Tribute.

I mean, we're trying to find the main five bands that everybody I hate them. I hate them. I hate them.

And I guarantee it. I think when we said we were great show. Oh, that's what we're working on.

It's something we want to do like every six months. And when we put out that we were putting this Creed tribute back together. And again, it was John and I ended up in the same band voodoo.

And we asked Harp and Harp's like, yeah, I love Creed. And then our singer was like, and it just kind of happened. You know, Frank Mastralar's over at the Forge and just people that we know in the scene had just talking, had hinted that they had heard that Creed was talking about a comeback.

Right. So it was like, man, perfect timing. And if you notice, like on your podcast, Creed's showing up.

Yeah. And if you're listening, they're just showing up in rotation kind of the way like Guns N' Roses did. Yeah.

And then everybody before you know it, everyone's wearing G&R. And I was in Night Train tribute band. We got a good seven, eight year run out of that.

You know, it turned into festivals and it just peaked because of G&R's comeback. And we kind of feel that Creed is going to be the year of 2024 is going to be Creed. Yeah.

They're going to this, you know, the summer tour is just, you know, the numbers at the end of it are just going to be huge. They'll be here in Chicago too. And they're going to be here in Chicago.

We'll go into that. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, you know, probably the smartest thing that they did was kept the core guys together and formed Alter Bridge because, you know, that kept everybody's palate wet a little bit for, you know, for the band to come back together again. And Alter Bridge is just, they're just so amazing that the thought of them going back 20 years to the stuff that, you know, like to hear Tremonti go back to playing stuff that is so simple. It's going to be interesting to see how he kind of goes backwards.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

And I mean, the singer in Alter Bridge, was it Miles? Miles Kennedy. Miles Kennedy. Yes.

Amazing. He's amazing. He's got, he's got probably one of, if not the best voices in rock and roll.

I would agree. He really does. He's fantastic.

Steel Dragon. Yeah, man. Steel Dragon.

Yeah, that's right. I'll play the drums. That's, that's why, that's why you don't give a microphone to a drummer.

You never give a microphone to a drummer. We made that mistake. Do you have the seven second delay on this? So when was it, so after the lull kind of ended, when, when was it that this, it was actually back together again in full force for you guys? Oh, we really started up, um, right around end of summer in, uh, January of last year.

And, uh, again, it's been a, it's been a slow crawl because people at that point were still like, you know, creed. And then as you, you know, you just go on social media, they just think they're popping up and, uh, what they had that one channel or they had that commercial on, uh, what a paramount or whatever. I'm trying to think where they're up on the hill.

Um, what was the baseball team that was, uh, the Rangers that, that got, it just put them front and center again. I guess that was their good luck thing. They were, uh, playing creed before every, uh, playoff game.

And they were talking about it where they were playing, uh, talking about that in the locker room. Uh, and so that made news and, and it's just kind of steamrolled. Um, John and I went and saw, uh, uh, where did we go see, uh, Scott staff, Scott staff on, uh, which, uh, it was at the time and it was like, let's go see what he's doing.

And I'm telling you the guy, he, he was, he was unbelievable. Um, he looked fabulous. He sounded fabulous.

He was in great shape, the support band he had with him. And this was when he was on his solo tour. And I'm like, Holy shit.

He, and the place was packed and people were screaming and singing and you know, everything John had said. And I'm like, we kind of looked at each other. We like, we got to put my sacrifice back together and just jump on, you know, take advantage of this.

And, uh, you know, we're just hoping to get a good three, you know, four or five year run and, uh, you know, see what happens and just do what happens. Yeah. Yeah.

I think I said, I saw on a series XM there's a creed channel. Yeah. Oh yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty cool.

They're just a good hearted band. And you know, the music, like John was saying, you listen to those tunes now and they just mean something differently to everybody now after the 20 years of life that we've all lived and people are remembering, you know, like these songs are just hitting people. They're just connecting.

Yeah. And we do a really, really excellent job of doing that. Oh, you're also seeing like the younger kids are, are into it as well.

So it's not just, you know, the older people that were around back in the heyday. Yeah. That was my next question.

I was like, are your crowds a bunch of 40 somethings or who you seen out there? They are. It's, it's a mix, but people are bringing their kids out to the all ages shows. And the exciting part is the, the bands that want to play with us.

Um, it's, we very quickly went from more of a support act and now pretty much everything we're doing is, is headliners. Yeah. Um, and, and it's as Creed grows, you know, hopefully, uh, the opportunities will as well.

I'd love to see this turn into a festival band. What I like about Creed is, uh, they're like, people don't think they're heavy and it's like, have you ever, have you ever heard what if, I mean the song's heavy as hell. To this day, what if is one of my favorite songs to sing.

I love singing that song, that and torn. Those are the two songs, man. Those are the two songs that I absolutely love.

Yeah. And Chad just, he just emulates everything that, that, that staff does. And then he puts, uh, his own personal stamp on it and just, uh, you know, we, the backup sound great.

Harper kills the drums. John's tones, everything. And we just, we, it's a really, really good representation.

Uh, again, we're not out there pretending that we're them, but for people that love Creed, uh, you know, the bands that want to, that want to play with us and like coach, coach, co-headline and you know, whatever, just, you know, we'll, we'll play with anyone as long as it makes sense. Yeah. Yeah.

There's a, there was a couple of things. There was a, I think, uh, the appeal of the band for, for me. And I think for a lot of people, um, you kind of hit the nail on the head a little bit.

Yeah. They're a heavy band, but they're like a sneaky heavy band because they're also very melodic. There's a lot of peaks and valleys, a lot of ups and downs and stuff in their music.

And as far as Scott staff as a vocalist, what I think that did for a lot of young vocalists out there, they came along right at the tail end of hair metal and, you know, and stuff like that, screamer vocals, screamer vocals and stuff like that. And, and male vocalists said, you know, I can be in a hard rock band and not, and not be a tenor. I can be a baritone and be in a hard rock band.

And they're one of the, they're one of the first bands that, that really did that and put it together. And if you, if you listen to a lot of the stuff that comes around nowadays, it's this melodic heavy stuff, what I call the sneaky heavy stuff. I mean, they, they definitely had their mark in the different types of music.

Like what, what's some of the challenges that like, it comes, it seems to come so easily to you. And I know that, that you put in the work behind the scenes and then at rehearsal, it just, it's, it just seems like it's so natural. And then you swear that it's like, that you're, it's just, it's my more natural voice.

I do the, um, focal, um, should be foreigner and stuff. So, uh, that's definitely a different warmup going to the head voice, mixed voice, uh, now down to the full throat for, for Cree. Yeah.

It's a different, different process. Oh, for sure. Yeah.

And you're talking about the melodic music. When we put our sets together, we like to, we like to put them together. So we're kind of bringing you on a journey.

Yeah. You know, we're going to start you out. Yeah.

It's hard having them. We're going to bring you down a little bit, but just where it's just, it's following. We're pretty methodical about when we make our set list and what's going to flow and what's going to emotionally get to people.

It's a rollercoaster ride. You know, again, and we, and that's one of our thing, like dead air is our enemy. We're all about, you know, beginning of the show to the end of the show, it's a show, you know, you're, it's the people coming to see you, you know, they can go anywhere.

And the fact that they're choosing to come and bring their kids even, and they deserve, you know, whatever cover they charge, they pay, they deserve 150% from us at every single show. Yeah. And that I think is what's helped us get to.

I'm a 101 out of 150 as well. You just deal with that. You do what you can.

You do what you can. Like you were mentioning about, you know, people, that's one of the biggest things we hear for people that come to see us after the end of the show. One of the biggest is like, I never knew Creed was that heavy.

That's one of the most common things that were said. So it's nice to be able to, you know, put out all the hits and then we'll throw in a few sneaky tunes here and there and catch people off surprise, you know, by surprise. And they're just like, you know, it's, you know, it's not like Creed needs our help.

Right. But it's, you know, we've turned them on, you know, I think at least in this area, you know, Chicagoland area to a lot of people that otherwise would have just said, ah, you know, screw Creed. 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 nineties. I needed an outlet to talk about the cases that have haunted me for a very long time.

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Yeah, we just wanted to remind you about the fundraiser for the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66, which is taking place on October 27th at the Renaissance Center in downtown Joliet. You'll be able to get tickets at Cadillac Groove shows. If you see Mike or myself somewhere, we'll have tickets.

You can get them at the museum. They're only five dollars. Also at Cadillac Groove dot com, you will be able to purchase them online as well.

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And for your ten dollars, we will give you two more additional tickets, as well as some Cadillac Groove swag. And the lucky grand prize winner will win the band Cadillac Groove. And winner must be present to win.

So remember that. And Cadillac Groove will play for whatever event it is that you would like for us to play for. You know, conditions do apply.

That's true. We do have to get out there and get your tickets right away. Hi, I'm Rick Anthony.

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Do you only play Creed music in this band? Yes. Right now. Yeah.

But we're talking about throwing in a few Alter Bridge, you know, Alter Bridge tunes. And we get a couple of requests for that. And we're actually looking at some of the Staps solo stuff.

OK. Again, we want to be really smart about it. You know, you know, Nickelback.

No Nickelback. Not yet. No.

Because, you know, I'm thinking. So they had they had what they had one, two, what did they have? Three albums, I think. Is it three or four? You're the album guy.

My Own Prison, Human Clay. Then there was my sacrifice. Weathered.

Weathered. And then Full Circle. Full Circle.

Yeah. Full Circle. That's right.

That's right. So it's four. Yeah.

Full Circle is a sneaky good album. Yeah. Yeah.

So yeah. So you is there enough music just right there? Like if somebody said, we want you all night long, three one hour sets, we want you all night long. It's a great question.

We actually to to get over that because to ask any singer to sing for three hours is just in my opinion, just crazy. You're risking. We do it, though, don't we? You do, and sometimes we do it four nights in a row.

That's right. We actually put together a concept with both bands because until Chad joined and we actually got a new singer for the Voodoo Man, it's a little thing we do called Creed Smack. So it's an hour, and it's 90 minutes of Creed and 90 minutes of Voodoo, which is God Smack, and then two different singers that cover that.

Our singer from before did do that, and he said out of the gate that he could do it, and three hours was just very, very straining on him, and it's not worth destroying your voice. It's just not, and even whatever, you're making a little bit of money, it's just not worth anybody getting hurt. But people are loving the Creed Smack idea.

Yeah, Creed Smack, it's pretty cool. It's fun, and we kind of leave it up to whatever club or private party, like which band would they rather be, the headliner, and I hate that term, so that would determine which plays first, which plays second. We utilize double-sided scrims, double-sided kick drum heads, and we take a 20-minute break, just flip everything around, we change, clean up a little bit, come back out, and then rock out the other, makes it easier to travel as well.

We get on other festivals, because it's just expensive. That's a show I'd go and see. Yeah, yeah, it's fun.

It's really, really fun. We've had three under our belt so far, and hoping that the idea takes off. A lot of people, oh, it's different.

Oh, it is different. You gotta take the risk. But it's cool, and it fits.

There's continuity there. It's not like you got ABBA and Godsmack. You might be on to something, but no.

Yeah, ABBAsmack. ABBAsmack. Yeah, ABBAsmack.

Sounds like some baby's being born at that show, y'all. When is the first Poopies play? Poopies, oh, I gotta go poopy? You gotta go poopy? You go poopy? Yeah, so the first Creedsmack show is gonna be at Poopies. You at the helm will be in Savannah.

In Savannah, Poopies in Savannah? June 14th, it's a Friday. That happened already. That was a great show, too.

I was there at that show, too. I rode, we rode our bikes up there. Yeah.

2026. Yeah. You know, I love that vintage Huffy you were on, too.

Nah, I think I'm gonna have to ride, I'm gonna ride out to Poopies for that one, I think. Poopies is fun. Nah, Poopies is a lot of fun.

Yeah, we're looking forward to it. Never been there, looking forward to it. Yeah, it's gonna be a blast.

I went there when they didn't have anything in the back. It was just an open field. Yeah, it's for sale, if I have heard correctly.

I don't know if that's, they're entertaining offers, last I heard. Okay. Things change, so you never know.

It's gotta be a cyclical business, because they do all of their business in the warm months. Yes, they do. Because it's all bikers that go there.

But it's a restaurant and a bar, too, so they go there in the winter. Or a tattoo parlor. In a tattoo parlor, and they got this huge merch shop.

Yeah, but it's kind of out in the middle of nowhere, though. That's the problem. That's the problem.

If you live there, it's not in the middle of nowhere. That's true. Have you ever been to Savannah? Yes, I've been to Poopy's.

I've been to the Iron Horse. I've been to all them places. I think about 100 people live there.

For them, it's home. Yeah, it is. No, it's a beautiful area, though.

I absolutely love it. They were the club that stayed open and defied the shutdown. And that's what kind of put them on the map.

And they've got nationals, mid-level nationals coming through, and they can handle it. The place has the capacity for it. I think it's just strictly outdoor.

I don't know if they got an indoor or outdoor stage. Yeah, it's outside. So it's strictly outside.

I think they do have a small stage in the bar. They might, yeah. But not like they have outside.

Outside's huge. But that's our goal. Like you were saying, Creedsmack is really cool because Godsmack kind of follows that same as Creed.

Some people say they're too heavy. Some people would say they're not heavy. They straddle that line.

So the hardest thing about playing heavier music is especially in this area, there's maybe five or six places that will entertain that. Whereas both of these bands, whether they're together or separate, they have enough hits on the radio. They've been around long enough.

Like you said, you might hate them, but I guarantee you know 10 of their songs. You just do. For sure.

And because they straddle that line of are they too heavy, are they too light, people don't know whether to like them or hate them. But if you go out there and put on a good live show, kick them in the ass, and if they spend 10 bucks to get in, then you entertain the shit out of them. They walk out happy.

That's them. ♪ When you're there, I'm diving to and a hard way ♪ ♪ Trying to tell you I'm here to stay ♪ ♪ I pray you'll stay, so let's go and I'll stay ♪ Nah, I mean, you're talking about two of my favorite bands. I absolutely love Godsmack.

Godsmack is a, you know, I guess the term heavy is always kind of relative because yeah, you can call it heavy, but name another band like Godsmack where people are out there and you just freaking, you can dance to it. Yeah. You know, like the song Keep Away, right? With that driving beat like that.

I see people out there dancing to that song the exact same way they would be dancing to some, you know, pop song. It's kind of driving, you know, rhythm like that. We have yet to see that.

Oh, it's great. I would pay to see it. Can you do it? It's like funky metal.

If you got a video of it, I'd love to see it. We get the occasional mosh pit. They're usually pretty lame.

Nobody's ever gotten hurt. It's a safe mosh pit. It's more of like a- It's a 40-something mosh pit.

It's more of like a, how you doing? It's like a, how you doing mosh pit, yeah. They run to the middle, stop, and then high five. That's pretty much how it goes.

And drink a Truly. He just lost it right there. God, that's kind of funny.

That's funny. Oh my gosh. Who'd you play with back in the day? Oh gosh.

The band that I'm originally talking about, it was called Days of Freedom. Don't remember, unfortunately. We weren't together a long time at all.

And from there, I ended up in a band called Static. And we were also a heavy band. And that's where we did a lot of Godsmack and stuff like that in there.

And I've done everything from metal to country and everything, and so I've gone through different evolutions. I've only been in two bands, actually three bands, if you count my own side project. I've only been in two bands over the course of the past 20 years.

It's like after I hit mid-30s, the maturity level is different, and it's no longer about the girls and stuff like that. It's actually about the music and hanging out with guys that you like. So I've been in, you know, literally three bands for 20 years.

You all right, John? Yeah. I am single, ladies. Yeah.

Yeah. Yes, he is. So what's next for you guys? What do you guys got coming up in like August and stuff like that? We're just still booking right now.

Just looking to fill up the schedule. We've got a lot of good booking guys. We're looking to try to lock down management, because we're doing everything ourselves.

It'd be nice to be able to work with someone to take some of that burden off of us so we can concentrate more on just the music. As of right now, though, we're doing everything ourselves. You know, we got one good help, like a roadie.

I hate calling him a roadie. He's a member of the family. But we just wanna keep growing the show.

You know, the lighting show. I don't think we're gonna do smoke anymore, because smoke keeps setting off all those smoke detectors, all the fog. And singers hate that crap.

And they do, which is great, doesn't it? I love it. Do you really? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We could go fire.

Fire? Fire would be good. Yeah, nice. The big thing now is the ice blasts.

You know, that's the big thing. Well, Saturday, they had the fire department out. Oh, did they really? Yeah, because the one being brought new fog machines.

Extra fog. Yeah, and the place was full of it. It was full of fog.

It was full, where the fire department was out and everything. Yeah, yeah. I hate the smell of fog juice.

I just hate the smell of that stuff. It depends. There's like different variations of that.

Yeah, you know, put some scent in it. Put some cherry flavor or something in it. I don't know.

And as a drummer, yeah, it's usually behind me, and it's blowing into my fan, and it's blowing into my face. That's where they go. Yeah, sometime about halfway through the set or whatever, just put on the fog and everything, and get the smell of weed out of there for a little bit.

Yeah, there you go. I don't know what you're talking about. Load it up with Air Wick.

Family show. Or a fog machine that smells like weed. I was just gonna say.

There you go. Put the weed behind my fan and then blow it. Or, there you go.

Or put the weed in the fog machine. Now you got a weed vaporizer. There you go.

You might be onto something. That's a whole nother show over there. Write that down, Ray.

That's right. Let's invent that thing. Yeah.

All the crowd's gone, though, because they're all getting munchies. You know, how do you lose everyone? Yeah, yeah. I don't know.

Eric's our sound guy. Eric, you know, you're pretty inventive like that. See if you can put weed in the fog machine.

And we gotta start an infectious groups tribute. You know, something. What do you think? You know, maybe? Think anyone will come to that? If we're blowing weed smoke out in there, I'm pretty sure that the place would be packed.

Yeah. I think so. That's wild.

They'll care what we play. Well, I'll tell you what. They'll be there.

I'll tell you what, guys. I love the idea of your band. I love the fact that somebody's out there doing a Creed Trivia band again.

That's pretty cool that you guys decided that you're gonna pick it up and do it again. Yeah. That's definitely something I wanna see.

I definitely wanna see the Creed Smack Show. That's fun. Yeah, you're invited.

That sounds pretty awesome. You guys are both awfully invited. Yeah.

And truth be told, I was a Creed fan, man. I saw Creed, Three Doors Down opened for him over here in Tinley Park. It's happening again.

Yeah. Three Doors Down's opening for him? August 16th. And Daughtry, I think.

Daughtry. Yeah, Daughtry's with him as well. Daughtry, Three Doors Down, and Creed.

Wow. Yeah, it's a hell of a lineup. We're just dragging a whole bunch of people out here.

Yeah, we are. I don't wanna say grave seller, I guess. Wow.

So Three Doors Down, Daughtry, and Creed, man. That's pretty cool. It's a good show.

I think I'm gonna have to go and check that out. Well, we're beyond excited to be bringing this back. Yeah.

And now we have the missing piece here, so to speak. He called you a piece. I am coming out.

It's a big guy. I'm the famous man. Oh, gosh.

But we're just beyond excited, and we know it's gonna be busy. Yeah. It's gonna go.

Yeah, well, I wish you guys luck. I hope everything goes as planned. I definitely wanna get out and see you guys.

Like you said, for nostalgic reasons. I'm still gonna go see Nickelback. Yeah.

I actually, I like Nickelback and Creed. I like them both. I do have a friend who's starting a Nickelback tribute band right now.

Oh, really? Yeah, they're looking for a singer, so. Really? Yeah. Wow.

Yeah, yeah. Wow. The last really cool show I saw was Shine Down in Godsmack.

Over here. Was that a 10-week? Yeah, it was a 10-week show. Was that the show? Was that with you and Humphrey, I think? It might have been.

Two summers ago? It might have been. Something like that. I don't remember.

Was it a little bit too much weed fog machine? Yeah, when the folks got fog machines going around. Sully. But no, that was a good show.

Yes, a second drum set rose up from the bottom, and Sully got behind it, and they did a drum duel. That was pretty awesome, man. Who the heck knew he could play like that? I believe he recorded the first album.

Did he really? On drums, yes. Yeah, well, that was all kind of his brainchild. That wouldn't surprise me at all.

Kind of like a Dave Grohl. Yeah, right, right. So how can guys find you? What's your website and all that stuff? Just basically on Facebook.

Just look us up, MySacrifice. You're gonna see our cool little logo up there, and that's pretty much our only, that's where everybody is. You know, I'd love to branch out more websites, things like that.

People just, they don't have the attention span for it anymore, they really don't. Yeah, and it's an unnecessary expense. You pay for it and a whole bit, and nobody goes to it.

Yeah. I went down that road. It was worthless.

Yeah, it doesn't help. It just doesn't help. Just pretty much, you know, Instagram, you know, that kind of thing.

Just, you know, we try not to be too aggressive. You know, just a little post here and there. You know, if you follow us, like us, you're not gonna get 10 posts from us a day.

We realize people have lives. Right. You know, it's a good way to lose fans.

Right, right. But, yeah, no, we invite everybody just to look us up. That's MySacrifice, spell that with an I, because I still spell it wrong.

And just, you know, find us on Facebook, send us a like, and you'll get all our event information. MySacrifice with an I? With an I, so it's M-Y-S-A-C-R-I-F-I-C-E. Oh, okay.

He's been known to put an A in there, so we can all agree. You know how you spell sacrifice. Okay, so it's how you spell sacrifice? You guys say it graphically, so.

At first I was thinking, I was thinking M-I-S-C-R-I-F-I-C-E. That's what I thought too. I'm like, M-I, I'm like.

If you can't spell it, just do the short, MySac. That's what I think that's what you should do. MySac, there you go.

It's chat, everybody. MySac will be on stage everywhere. Everywhere, yeah.

At the Eclipse the other night, that was God. I think that's God's sac. I did see that, yeah, yeah.

I had to share that with my family. It is a good one. I sent you the video.

You guys saw the video. I seen it. It was a special Eclipse video.

Okay. Yeah, where the sun is blotted out by. Oh.

By MySac, yes, the MySac. Boy, this conversation going. Yeah, we just took a whole.

Yeah. From the inventor of MyPillow, he brings you MySac. Hello, my friends, we meet again.

It's been a while. It's been a while. I know where to begin.

Yeah, where do we begin? All right, fellas. All right. All righty, guys, thanks for coming out.

Thank you very much for having us. Thank you, guys. Yeah, it's great, man.

We'll catch you guys out there. Crowd goes wild. That's right.

Still, there's still a bunch of guys. Yeah, it's dudes. Yeah.

It is dudes. I don't hear any. It is all guys.

It's all guys. No chicks, yeah. It's 2024.

Yeah, we have to upgrade our applause. Yeah, we do. We sure do.

Thanks. Thank you. Thanks, guys.

Thanks. My sacrifice. Your sacrifice.

Yes. Yes. Sometimes this is my sacrifice.

It's your penance. Yes. I tell you what, I want to go and see, I want to go see Creed's Mac.

That's a great idea. That does sound like it'd be fun. That was, I think, in June.

Well, it wasn't June. It wasn't June. Yeah, we went.

It was awesome. They rocked. It was awesome.

That show was awesome. Man, your kid was born there. Yeah, that's right.

You came out. My sack on the stage. No, not my sack.

Your sack. No, I don't know. Buy him, buy the sack.

Yeah, my sacrifice. That was freaking awesome. That was good.

Yeah. I think that'd be a lot of fun to go see them. Interesting guys.

I know when you're listening to this, it's after the fact, but I don't know. Can't tell you to go because it already happened. So, all righty then.

It's time for bourbon. That's right. Good time.

Good seeing them guys. And thank you all for checking out the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. Check us out every Tuesday for another exciting new episode.

See you next week. Hey everybody, it's Ray the Roadie. And this is Hollywood Mike of the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast.

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