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 here is a very happy Hollywood Mike. I thought you were very happy Yeah, so you ride it on your steel horse.

Well number one, that's the reason why it's beautiful out and do it Plus you can't park out here. No, it's easy to park that. Oh gosh.

Yeah. Yeah Yeah, there's no way I was putting the f-150 in a parking spot Exactly, I brought the bike but you know, I want to I want to take a second. I'm gonna do this and You know, we don't do this very often.

Mm-hmm. I want to give credit to where credit is due to somebody Oh go ahead. I'm gonna if you guys don't mind here I'm gonna talk real quick and talk talk about a real quick conversation that I had with somebody, you know Over the course of the past several weeks.

I have been talking about my quest for a guitar amplifier Yes, and I think everybody out there knows that I decided on a bad cat. Mm-hmm, right? Well, let me tell you something I brought it to an open jam a couple of weeks ago and somebody accidentally Accidentally walked across the front of the amp and kicked the guitar cable while it was still in the input It broke the plug off in it and everything broke the input and they know it Wow, you know and so I called up bad cat and Left a message for somebody and told them what it happened, you know, and it's under warranty They said it covers accidents and stuff like that, right? So, uh, so I guess so I finally get a call back from somebody and I'm talking to this person on the phone and He starts saying things like okay This isn't just a bench technician that you know fixes in projects because he's saying things like, you know like let me check with my quality control guy and he's saying things like do me a favor check the serial number on the Transformer for me because we had a couple of bad ones and I want to make sure you didn't get a bad one and stuff Wow like that. So finally I said you guys say John I said What do you do at the company there he goes, well, I'm the owner of the company.

Oh, wow And I spent you know, like 30 minutes after we finished talking about the amp He was asking me how I liked it and everything and and telling him what I liked about it something that I would change on It he was, you know, you know, very appreciative of the critique and I absolutely love the amp, right? Yeah But we talked about and then we just then we spent like 15 minutes just talking about music in the whole bit and I just thought How cool was it that you know, this guy did not have to call me, you know To help me fix an input jack and an amplifier He by all rights could have sent that off to one of his technicians and he didn't I actually talked to the owner I'm getting a tingling. I'm getting a tingling. Are you gonna tell me we got a sponsor? No But I am telling you though that I have sent them some videos Playing that amp and one of my friends that hosts the jam with me also bought a bad cat Like mine so much then I think you should call him back and get him to sponsor our and we're gonna send him a copy of this podcast, okay, I Think we should That was a shameless plug.

Well, yeah, definitely most definitely but that's that's quite all right But that was that was freaking awesome that awesome that that he did that, you know There's somebody ringing the shit out of her. I know I know how about you get these guys going and all right And I'll go see what's going on over there. Yeah, well joining us tonight Is is a band called cuddle ass What oh shit, there's a space between the L and the ass, I'm sorry cutlass we used to cuddle ass But it's probably gonna be for the retirement home, but you never know Well, you guys are professional.

So I'm not gonna have to remind you to speak into the microphone. Yeah, you do So how you doing guys? All right, you want you to introduce yourselves tell everybody who we're talking to you tonight, I'm Scott couch I'm the drummer one of the founding members of this band to my right here is Bobby Sinatra the bass player and I'm Vic Vasquez another founding member of the band. Okay, all three of you are finding members Yes, sir.

Awesome. So who's not with us tonight tonight? Not with us is Jeff Heimdreiser and Eric Johnson Okay, Jeff Heimdreiser is a vocalist Eric Johnson is a guitar player, okay, and they're not with us tonight due to personal reasons, but They might chime in. We'll see what happens.

All right. Are they original members? Also Jeff Heimdreiser is okay. Yes All right, cool.

Very cool. Sorry for the interruption everybody. Oh, that's quite all right I mean the flatbed Ford's former guest.

Yes, the show are rehearsing in the rehearsal space tonight Yeah, and they're slowly arriving. Well, I say I guess they're fearless leader is not here yet to let them in I guess I know everything's that was down there. Everything's now.

Oh, yeah So we might hear that doorbell ring a few more times. I'm sure hopefully hopefully Jimmy comes up in answer So when you left I made an error. I said it was cuddle ass a cuddle Yes, I'm so excited about that on my notes here.

There's a space between the L and the ass won't so I was mistaken It's cutlass. Oh, oh, I thought it was cut ass. Oh, no.

No, no That would be the now that was a rip ass Correct After we stop for burritos So tell us about cutlass no Tell us about cutlass that well you guys started you're introducing everybody. Okay, so the band was founded in 1986 by us three here and Writing original music we were brought a lot of our influences our classic rock Black Sabbath deep purple white snake rush that we all come up with all that and then as the 80s evolved when we put this thing together we moved on to Badlands lynch mob and in docking and Warrant and Motley and all those bands So we did all that and when we were coming up as opposed to now where the scene is inundated with cover bands when we were Coming up it was original bands So when we were playing the whale in the circuit if you were playing cover songs you unless you did like one in your version Of it at the end of the night You got ridiculed because you weren't writing your own music. So that's how we were groomed and that's how we came up moving forward in 1991 we won Circus magazine's best unsigned act of the States the whole country What year was that? 91 91.

Mm-hmm And that was off of a song called everything reminds me of you that we submitted to them and lo and behold we get a Call one day from a guy named Barry Waterman who was managing us at the time and said I he goes he goes sit down I go, what do you mean sit down? He goes you guys won. I did we do what one? Every it's like these guys were in printing Jefferson printing and it's like We won everybody stopped and then that night we convened at Bobby's house and that was and then after that it was it was pedal to the metal and Also, I'm sorry if you want remember we were also put in the star search. Yes Yeah Yeah Yeah, we drove to we drove to New York and auditioned at SIR Studios Which was in those days it was crazy because we had to play the tape So when I got there the drum set was all dumbed up just rubber you hit it You're nothing the guitars were not live Was vocals? Yeah, and you had that's how you'd ran the audition and you're in your singers pretty much singing to karaoke's Exactly Exactly.

That was the addition. We've been very fortunate in that we've played in recent history We played we just played the whiskey in 2019, which was a bucket list item Michael Shanker Michael Shanker, right? We've played the house of blues probably ten times and we've we were been able to support or open for most of our influences So yeah, no Yeah when when I sit back in my chair and go, you know, you really threw yourself at this what have you done and I look at And then I combined with all the original music that we have then still that we haven't even released That's starting to come out now. I'm very proud of us.

Very very proud of us You guys been at this for a long time then I mean if you were talking about you know in the 80s and stuff getting in is Has it always been the same members of the band? it's always been us three and Jeff and then the other guitar player that was on the front of No explanation necessary is Nick Cox. Nick Cox is in seventh heaven. Yes.

Yeah. He's actually recorded on In the songs and he has some some co-writing credits and an amazing talent, right? And then as you know is when you in a band that long you have ebb and flow, right So you're busy then you're not busy. Like we we went through that whole Coming up into the 80s and then nirvana broke and we were like now what the fuck now Fucking kidding me.

I gotta listen to this guy Tell me just to fall in love with doing less and we're trying to do more. Yeah, so we've been through that whole thing and we went through the whole grunge era and we went through so much of that and we're still here and Very pleasing to see now We just did a show with with with seventh heaven at Sundance Saloon two months ago month ago Yeah, and Nick was there to watch was in support us and it was just like we've Managed to have somewhat of a following and it's it's it's been really really we've done man cow Several times we've done Kevin Matthews Jeff is friends with Stephen was their friends with Stephen Gary and we got mentioned about when they were on the beach and one of Their radio show. Yeah, so we've we've done some stuff.

I'm pretty proud of it over 30 years. So, you know, right, right, right so take me back to that early area when When you guys were in the 80s, right? And what year was it that you guys formed? We started 86 86 first shows were in 86 Jeff joined the band in 87 Were you guys high school age about how old were you? No, we were all in our 20s. Okay.

I wasn't Okay. Yeah, I had to get this. I had to get the stamp on my hand Yeah, right, right, right, right, and then you got to leave immediately, right, right So yeah, I mean you were barely on ice.

I mean, yeah, yeah You were you but you were still around that that are there Okay All right And it's in like you said your influence at that time in the whole but we come up into the grunge era, right? Did you guys find that you had to compromise your music a little bit to stay relevant, you know? You know, what's crazy if you take the time out of your day to either YouTube cutlass Or to go and scroll down our Facebook page. You can hear the evolution You can hear the songs that were released in 87 88 and 89 You can hear the song that won the circus magazine thing, right? And then as we got into the 90s, if you go on the Facebook page right now There's a song called gift of nature. We morphed we morphed the these guys these guys went Okay, it's our tones need to be fatter, you know, they would drop you know what I mean, right time to drop D We just and we started singing about more in-depth issues as opposed to girls and getting laid and having fun in cars and drink Yeah, right.

Yeah, we morphed right right along with it, right and as far as you know that I We have a lot of friends in this business We have a lot of friends that were in original bands that we're still friends with and I look at them as writing teams And these two gentlemen right here hook and groove are they are their middle names? I think that might be yeah Hook and groove my are there they come with some of the best Runs and rhythms that I've ever heard. They're just timeless It's like Ozzie said about about Tony I owe me that he is he writes the best books. Mm-hmm These guys write great hooks.

I was really good shit, right, right? So I was gonna add a lot of the grunge Plus the lack of a scene, you know around in our surroundings like we were talking earlier Before the show like the thirsty whale closing down. I mean there was an actual back then there was a place to go and Showcase your music, you know, and once places like the Avalon thirsty whale I can't wait theater Vic theater House of Blues. Oh, yeah, it's not hosting a lot of original bands.

It's kind of Everything changed especially with you know web and everything that comes along. It's all yeah You know the one thing I'm going to say about the grunge thing that I think that we were all prepared for that move Is that we already listened to Black Sabbath, right? So we We already knew how to do that right in a garage when we were 14 So I think that helped us in like what Scott was saying is to morph into the kind of a little bit happier Thing but um, but I mean, I don't I don't look at is that we compromised at all. I think that you have to be You have to be a horse in the race, right? And so having said that You want to make sure that you're giving your best you want to make sure you're putting out as much as everybody else is putting But at the end of the day that the irony of it all is is that I think that is that the grunge thing It just kind of was detuned guitars, which takes you back to the 70s, right? You know, right.

We had a lot of electronic tuners and oh, yeah Yeah, so but I think we were prepared for that. Yeah Now would you would you say that you're that you're that you're more? Truly went into some type of a form of grunge or did you just or did you stay true to yourself and just kind of? Change the tone a little bit. I I Think for us one of the things that we've always hooked on is is melody harmony vocals, right? Yeah, we're not we're not going We're not none of that.

You know what? I mean? There's pitch and there's keys, right? Luckily for for cutlass. I have some very we have some very talented singers So I don't know that we morphed in the I think we just kind of Ripped off some guitar tones, but kind of stay true to our philosophy. Yeah guys is the way I would kind of put that There's always that kind of energy the the nice thing about us being together as long as we have and still showing as much as We do we only go out now maybe twice a year.

Maybe there be more just a pending, right? Yeah, but when we do when we write that set list, it's all cutlass Yeah, there might be one we'll do it like we did in the day. We'll come out We'll play one cover at the end of the night. We'll play far behind from candle box.

That's what we'll play. Nice Yeah, we've gone up there at Joe's live. We've opened for winger.

I don't here's a crazy story. We open for winger maybe three four times and I can remember we open for them at tailgaters and we put crying in the rain in the set and The lead passage and crying in the rain this gentleman here and red beach comes out of the dress room And he's watching us play crying Rod Morgenstein is watching us play crying in the rain. You want to my pressure? We were we were playing at a place called Bob was in the place on Irving Park Road Got the before the six corners IRL no, no, no, no We were playing a bar in Chicago And we're performing and this tall guy walks in this tall guy walks in with a canvas guitar case And I I'm looking at Bob and Bob's playing and I go look and he goes We can Billy Sheehan.

Oh, yeah, Billy Nightcaps nightcaps was nightcaps. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, so we we you know, we've we we've shared company with with a lot of these guys and they've turned out to be Most for the most part really nice people that were you know, Billy Sheehan is an amazing human being. Oh, yeah.

I talked to him I've actually talked to him. He's a really nice guy a lot of George George Lynch is depending on the day Depends on the day Sometimes he's all in sometimes he's like no I ain't got no time for you right now, right? Now you opened up for George Lynch. Yes.

Yes, you did Oh, yeah, we open so so fast forward. We start in 86 We're rolling rolling through House of Blues Michael Yerke used to book the Avalon nightclub Michael Yerke got a hold of me He goes I'm now the talent buyer at the House of Blues He goes would you guys like to open for docking and I'm just like wow and this House of Blues this was like Third date in if they just opened the doors. I think Dan Aykroyd was involved at the time.

Oh, yeah No, and it was docking original lineup. So it was Pilsen. It was it was right was George It was all of them Wow, and Nick was with us at the time and I can remember the day of the show He fucking called me at home.

He goes you getting ready. I go. Yeah, I go.

Why what's up? He goes they're sold out. I went really? Yeah, he goes. Yeah, they're sold out fucking awesome.

Of course Yeah, I can ask mainstage House of Blues opening for docking. Yeah, it's pretty cool Not not to mention They treated you like somebody it didn't matter where you who you were your status they gave you the same treatment no matter what band you were as far as Green room green room. Oh, I know.

Yeah, that was one of my favorite places to play It was House of Blues you load you load up your underground you're under the you're under the street and they've got the big they got the Big elevator and stuff and just like a crew of people come up from the house Thing they they unloaded my car for me and even took my suitcases in my overnight bag and threw it into the green room for me I was like, wow Yeah He demanded that yeah you treat musicians You know and because you're trying to pay their dues right and you fast-forward to 2019 and believe it or not the people at the whiskey were the same damn way They didn't help but they we played house gear there. So we didn't really have a lot of stuff Guitars and cymbals, but the sound check the guys were like you comfortable feeling good. This is good because it you get there That's like for us.

That's a Mecca, right? Right, and it doesn't hit you till I'm counting four in and I'm like, wait a minute Alex Van Halen's drums were right here Yeah, any Van Halen was standing right there. She had this Joplin Everybody. Oh my god.

It was like, holy shit. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah I don't mean it about him, but we also supported the Kings X and Yngwie Malmsteen and St. Louis St. Louis called the metals edge zone bar by the Mississippi River. Yeah Yeah, is that still there? I don't know couldn't tell you but Kings X guys were just excellent human beings What a man Yngwie on another day He was a little eccentric right, right, right Yeah, the Kings X guys couldn't have been nicer Well, you know We had a guest on the show who also had the his band also had the opportunity open for Yngwie And I think he said it best, you know, he is a genius. Oh, you know and and Sometimes geniuses, you know, like you said depending on the day you can you know Sometimes their social graces are elsewhere because they've got something else on their mind and that's perfectly okay Because look at everything else that Yngwie's given to us You know, he can be an asshole every once in a while, you know Yeah, we've had we've had I mean, like I said, we've played New York a couple times.

We've driven down there We played um, believe it or not We got a debt offered a demo deal and I maybe I don't even know what year it was 2009 with retrospect records. We got it invited to Rock, Lahoma No, wow, we got down to Rock, Lahoma, right first first year setting. Yeah, this is when they were having it in July So it's hot as balls So bad We're in the we're in the ready room tent and the band up before us is playing and there's storm clouds coming in and we Can see there's it looked like the Wizard of Oz and what was funny is there was a farm across from Rock, Lahoma That had all this cattle and the cattle was like lined up along the fence All of a sudden I look in the cattle was all huddled together Faces to face.

I'm like, yeah, why are they doing that? Well, we're in the ready room. They knew Tornado come pertaining or thunderstorms whatever was high winds. So I took the stage down to our stage They Didn't have it anchored very well, and it took the stage down So we didn't get we drove all the way down there.

Yeah right before our show. We didn't get to play Oh, wow, so we go back to the rooms We're gonna go. We're just gonna go home tomorrow, you know spent the night blah blah, but we get a call in the morning They go.

What are you guys doing? I'll go. Oh, we're kind of packing up to go get back here. You're gonna play What yeah, what that community went to us on the same land and Threw together pieces and parts of stages that had been destroyed Put the put gear on those stages.

So the bands that travel down there to play got we got the play Wow Now the interesting part was it rained so bad right in the storms and all that that we literally had to take our shoes off Walk in the mud to the stage wipe our feet off put our shoes back on play the show Walk back to the same thing and do the same thing. Oh, wow. Wow.

Yeah, what what what what city in Oklahoma is that was in? Now it's outside of Tulsa, but prior, Oklahoma prior, Oklahoma, but it's it's that Tulsa area over there And then and then they would then they moved it. They do it every year now It's run by a EG AMG and if they do it every year now In in Memorial Day time before it starts getting so hot down there because they were having people dropping from heat stroke Oh, sure. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, I mean we're Bobby and I are old enough to remember being at Kaminsky Park Watching he said it right to Ted Nugent Ted Nugent heart journey Beck Bogart in a piece and it was so hot. There was the Grand Slam Jam, right? Was there yep, and some jerk-off was throwing fireworks on top of the roof it and at the grandstand set the roof on fire People were scrambling out of the grandstands It was so hot in the infield or the baseball field that the fire department was blowing Water over the side of the stadium to wet the people in the field. Yeah Wow, and and I was trampled I was trampled underfoot up in the grandstands People panic they panic I didn't know what was going on a couple beers And you know that season is that season is coming, you know, I don't you know We pretty much don't play any, you know indoor gigs again until like late September Whatever a man those summer months when it's 95 degrees and 95% humidity and oh, you know You don't you don't take that into consideration till you start running through your summer and you start looking at your time slot Yeah, as opposed to where is the Sun gonna be during that? Is there a roof we go? Is it coming down this way? Because when you're when you're half an hour in and the Sun is beating on your back or on your face and there's no wind Right, you remember that right? Oh Yes, you do.

Yes, you do. Yes, you do. Yeah.

Yeah, you sure I think it's about time to heat things up a little bit and get our song in. Yeah, we'd love to hopefully more than one I'm sure more than one but one one at a time. They've been around since 1986.

They gotta have morning one song All right, we'll be right back, all right You're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast. 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 I'm Christy from crime cave podcast I've had a huge interest in true crime since my days of watching marathons have 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 And now for the first time tonight cutlass Oh Very nice and let me tell you know, I am NOT bullshitting you I have heard that song before somewhere Yeah, it sounds so familiar to me it's not a familiar It's like there was a bunch of what there was like as you were singing.

There was a bunch of words It's like, okay. I know what's coming next When was it when was that written? Oh my I was when you were living with me. Yeah, and That little kid fell off the projects Window at the Robert Taylor.

Oh, yeah. I do remember that. Yeah, and we um, our singer was out of town Okay, so we were just kind of messing around stuff right and and I saying it and then when he came back He was like, why don't you sing just sing it and that kind of became a thing a really cool thing for this band Oh, yeah that there's there's other songs that I sing like back in the day that we can you know It's not one-dimensional right, you know, and when we had Nick Cox from 7th Heaven in the band He sings some songs.

So it's been kind of like that what I what I wanted to add is when we write or I write I come up with an idea we look at it as like a hot dog and One guy does this catch up mustard and then you get your song kind of thing But having said that if I write there sometimes I go this fits his voice better than it would him and I write Around him or I'll write around the other guy, right? I mean, I don't I don't do the singing but you get that that that painting in your mind You got your easel and you're like, okay, that's for him. Yeah, you're here. You're hearing the voice He's got that raspier deeper soulful.

How long have you been hearing this a voice and did you get? Nobody I lived with him so Yeah, yeah, whatever and that's how they came up with the name cuddle ass Exactly I stopped him from shooting a dog. So So you could have been called shooting the dog True story. That's our new album.

Oh, yeah, that's a true story shot stopped you from shooting a dog I don't know if we should even go there. I don't Know Okay, so but there is one important question Because of the car or the sword, okay, are you two living together? Actually, it's a Bottomline it's a real quick story and that is I didn't have a key to our rehearsal room Okay So while these guys were I'm waiting on these guys, of course see when you book practice you tell them eight when you really mean Right, so I'm sitting out there and then this just we at the time we were called Tundra Okay, okay, and this 440 to cut this came up and it was at the light. It was doing that like Like beginning a hopper teacher I Told them I was like they're gonna they're gonna hate it, you know Yeah, and and it stopped and then we also got great at free advertisement because you know over the years We didn't have Facebook.

We didn't have all this other stuff, right? All right So people would be like Oldsmobile colors and I'm thinking people at home drinking a beer going. I wonder what they're doing. Yeah So it started from the car But then when we took it over we kind of made the tease into it like is the logo on the shirt We kind of made them into Short curve swords.

Okay. Yeah, right Right. Oh, so it's both.

Yeah, but none of you have a cutlass on your arm. I see tattoos, but no cutlass tattoos He's only got one but it's like It says cuddle ass Joe's Joe's Bar and Grill. Yeah, I'm gonna get tired.

It says Joe's Bar and Grill I've actually I I've been telling that I've been telling that joke for years in the way the way I originally heard it Yeah, it says it says choke When I have an erection it says Chuckie's Bar and Grill Chattanooga, Tennessee So what since since 86 or whatever how many songs you guys got no boy so we have First release was a six-part song cassette second release was a six-song cassette Yeah, third release was how kiss your ass how many songs and kiss your six Um, I believe there are a third release was an eight song cassette CD Fourth release was no explanation fourth release was no explanation necessary full-length CD and that was the last official release and then the retrospect records released kind of like a compilation CD montage And then the stuff that we are releasing now was written in The 90s that we never released and we're putting them out one at a time and we have a new one in the can called Trash talk which we're finishing the final we've been working on that damn thing forever But as we get older our tastes get more refined So we keep hearing things in the mix that need adjusting that make us comfortable because we kind of do it that way we kind Of rule by committee if everybody gives it the thumbs up then it flies if one guy's got an issue We either talk about it or we've get it fixed. So trash talk. Oh, I hope to release By maybe 30 days and that that'll be brand new.

So we have a lot of music I mean, there's so much unreleased stuff that we did and mostly kind of a three-piece like writing stuff that We're just kind of now rediscovering and the cool part is that it just it's at least to me and I you know, I'm the inside looking out but Still seems relevant. Mm-hmm, you know, where'd you guys grow up Chicago? Chicago proper Northside north north cubs getting north north side down the street from the jewels Guys that's right These guys have been together forever they went to school together They did like Bastille Day and all sorts of crazy shows and I happened to be with a singer that I was friends with and went to school with and he introduced me to them and And then it just went from there I mean it was kind of a really cool fix too because it was they were doing rush and Sabbath and some of these things and Myself and the singer were doing more like hair bangs, you know I mean you combine the two and it was a pretty cool little, you know mashup if you will Writing yeah right away It's a thought process the whole nine yards for writing and stuff I mean, but it also it you know It's one of those things too for I think for both of us that it's like week. We're so ADD We can't even be together in the same room because they're our head.

We all yeah All the ideas like we're like, oh wait, I got this. But no wait, what if I just let's finish this one? Let's finish first Honestly, I go through my phone on the little things that we record when we just get together with us three There's probably ten things and they're not finished right and they're all really good And I was like, I'm just hoping that we can eventually start Picking away at those things but in the meantime, like Scott was saying we have a bunch on release music That's already recorded that we want to put out right and you also have the cell phone Which when I'm driving when I was driving the semi I was I'm a teamster, you know Of course, I guess I did. Yeah, but I get it.

I get a rhythm going and I'm gonna forget this I'm trying to switch. Yeah, if you look at that nowadays that that is possible in the old days I needed to find a cassette player. That's right.

It was batteries left. That's right I hope to try to get that across I said, I'll do one better miles apart I had the rhythm and I called my my answering machine. Yeah.

Yeah Dude when you get home you gotta do this. Yeah, but first you have to pull over and find the people Find a dime. Yeah, yeah be 20 minutes, but I assembled my bag phone.

Yeah So is this your music available to people anywhere purchase or well the so the It's available to listen on YouTube It's available to listen on review reverb nation and it's available to listen on Facebook as far as selling it goes We haven't really put up anything to iTunes or Apple pay or any of that Because we just feel like so much of that gets pirated anyways, it's hard, you know, so What we try to do is get it on the platform on the platforms That's the thing that's changed for us since we started. Yeah, you know now Now people can just go to it Would we would would we stream it? Sure. We would we just haven't just haven't evolved that way.

We're just I Some of us are I don't know man. We're just not We just have so much to release that I don't even know how to play that drag I think what Scott's trying to say is we're all still trying to fix that blinking 12 on our VCR. Yeah Plus, you know, but you're you're right.

Sometimes it's not even worth the effort You know, I I've had songs on all of those platforms before I've had like 10,000 downloads and they send me a check for 30 cents It's not you know, it's not even it's not even worth I mean you're gonna waste more gas Well, that's you don't have to you don't have to drive to the bank anymore But at the time I'd waste more money and gas to drive to the bank to cash that check, you know Yeah, it was it really is ridiculous streaming fees are terrible. Yeah, it is They are terrible and and and even as far as the the post I've been seeing on the deals that live nation has been giving The live entertainment themselves every it's it's all live age night live nations game. Yeah, they call the shots You're right.

I mean, oh, yeah, there was look at some of that. So I mean It's it's really hard in in the old days you wanted to sell your music to make money You wanted to make new music to sell the music to play concerts. Now, you got to perform.

Yes Got it. You absolutely have to you got to play live and you know, and there you know There's another Avenue that I've actually been investigating lately You know, there's so many independent recording, you know studios around here Just unknown people right do a search find one, you know find somebody that just maybe they've got a studio in their basement They're gonna charge you like 25 bucks an hour and the guy's pretty decent right and then have some CDs printed Just get a box of them I don't know, you know Whatever it's gonna cost you and put them up on your website and say hey you want to help out a local band you really? Want to do buy one? We'll send it. Yeah, we'll sign a picture and everything because because now you're getting you direct to you Yeah, the money is going direct to you.

Even if you're just breaking even on it It's not going to somebody else and then you're given recognition to some independent, you know, you know producer somewhere That's trying to build this business. You can help each other out Let me ask you this now like I I heard advertisements for the last for the last Winger album and the new Bon Jovi album. I think they released in all three formats cassette CD and vinyl and I have I don't think You know, I mean vinyls huge nowadays.

It is I heard a came a Walmart was saying that out vinyl is actually outsold CDs Mm-hmm. Well a lot of places even quit selling CDs. I got rid of it years ago So if you're gonna go do that on your own website, what what do you try to sell? You know what format, you know, I'd do it in vinyl I you know, that's you know, and I think the reason for that is, you know, you think about it What do you need to play a CD you need a CD player, right? And then you got to plug that CD player into some type of an amplifier, right? Well, if you need a device to play something that gets plugged into another device you might as well cuz he's fucking phone Right because you can do the same thing with the phone Yeah, but it's it's this nostalgia thing Well, you know to have a turntable and have a vinyl record and call it a record again You know, I read an article where Jimmy Page There's a picture Jimmy Page at the record store And he says I never stopped buying vinyl because when you drop the needle on a vinyl record You never get the same bottom end off of any other product than a vinyl record.

That is true we can all remember the days of The WXRT artists of the month card that kind of stuff WLS they had the list, you know playlist but They would like Jethro Tull they would say we're coming out with an album They would come on a certain date. You go to flip side get your album Yeah, you get you and you go to the flip side get your tickets. All of a sudden you'd open up that album It was a mystique To it you'd read.

Yeah what they had going on, you know, it's like, uh, yeah, it was a beautiful thing No, we talked about that all the time. Yeah Listening parties with your buddies, right one one guy goes out and buys the album Then you all hang around in his bedroom laying on the floor and you listen and you pass around the album cover. Yeah Yeah The sleeves the sleeves were even part of the story, you know, oh, yeah Yeah, well there's yet to hire an artist and everything to do that stuff for you and a shitty album cover There's a band that I work with I'm in a rush they just came out with an EP and Did it on vinyl sold over a thousand copies or any really was it expensive to produce? Do you know? well They hooked up with a recording company out in Colorado.

So it's I mean it wasn't super expensive but right, you know It cost something right no, I get that well I get the interesting fact on the vinyl thing and this is coming pretty much full circle this conversation is that we have not done well, yeah, and To put out a new thing on vinyl. There'd be something pretty special. That would be very it is it is So it is coming back.

There are bars Well, I travel a little bit for business I've yet to find one in the Chicagoland area But I'll tell you what's really big around Around the Midwest now is you go into these bars and they're kind of like these this now these Nostalgic bars. There's one in Columbus, Ohio that I like to go to called Hudson's and you walk in this place and it it's it's Like route 66 in the 1960s. That's the decor in cool.

There's no jukebox There's no nothing but the bar behind the bar. The bartender has access to this giant shelf which is vinyl records my and there's a turntable behind the bar and They've got you know a menu of what they have on vinyl. Oh, come on, and they put on a record and Everybody has their chance to go up there and put this record on for me.

I mean, that's literally That is cool in the place. We should open a place like that that yeah, that sounds like a fantastic idea It doesn't know but I'll tell you I did an experiment myself You know, I was it was about 1989 or so Some people, you know, if you had a lot of money you were shifting over toward a CD player, you know Cuz they were still like 400 bucks and a lot of money in 1989 So I had my vinyl collection and then I had my favorites and since I went out and I bought a CD player I wanted to get CDs of my favorite records because I figured eventually these things are gonna get scratched and You got to have the CDs now. That was the thing right? The quality is great.

They're never gonna scratch it They're gonna sound fantastic the first two CDs that I bought was Tesla's Edison's medicine album and Empire Queen Queen Monumental records both. Yes, and so I I played the I played the record the vinyl record, right? Tesla because they're my favorite band to this day, right and then I turned that off and I put the CD on and I could tell the difference Immediately, I mean the difference in the warmth and the bass in the mid-range. I didn't mind though Yeah Little caveat on Tesla so Tesla is very special to us Oh, yeah, really special like so special like we would go see Tesla.

It played the Vic of the arrogant I would cry like a baby because I was just rooting for him fast forward four years ago. Yeah, we opened for him at bands in the sand Right after Colvin. Yeah.

Wow. That was crazy time for you. Oh, that was and you know what that's freaking awesome These guys I mean, they didn't they didn't miss a beat.

I mean and they had a back screen for so like modern-day cowboy Yeah, like videos or whatever But the coolest thing was that um, our other guitar player Eric is a guitar kind of suey, right? Yeah flying bees and Gibson's and sure enough man This guy just took them and was showing them all Frankie Hanna came out and so now what is yours? Let me show you my yeah. Yeah. No Frankie has cool cool guys all the way Frankie Hannon is so cool You know probably he deserves way more credit than he gets he really does Frankie Hanna's is is wonderful when I The first guitar that ever bought for myself.

I bought it because Frankie Hannon had one that looks like it It was a it was a hot pink Washburn with an EMG humbucker and one knob That was like his white Charvel was like that wasn't it It was like one pickup no now just one now Right, right, right, right. Yeah, that was all it was. That's all it was.

Yeah, but yeah, I absolutely love Tesla We could talk about them all day long, but that was a great experiment. So So how what is the website? How can people find you? Www.cutlass.net is the website, right? Right Facebook is cutlass cttla. That's Band Chicago, yeah cutlass band Chicago's band Chicago.

Yeah, and and then on YouTube You just got a certain you got to search the band. You're gonna have to be patient because it crosses with the car Okay, yeah It different than they do because we add a few letters, but it crosses in into sure So sure sure that's how you find us. You guys got anything on the calendar for like October November You know the the end of this year the next show we have is Friday August 2nd It's Sunday and saloon in Mundelein with another huge local band called paradox.

Okay. Yeah, and so we co-bill with them Yeah, we were at that show weren't we we were at that show rocked. They rocked and that rocked it.

Yeah What do you guys have come all the way back to August? Okay, so everybody's gonna have to check your website Facebook page or whatever yeah, see where you're playing, okay All righty guys, thanks for coming out this was a lot of fun Great song great music guys pleasure meeting you guys. Thank you So there you have it cutlass. I mean cutlass that was that was cut that was cutlass that was cutlass You know, I'm surprised I haven't heard more of them, but I swear I heard that song someplace It sounded familiar to me, too I I don't know and then you know And of course after the cameras in the in the and we and we stopped recording in the whole bit We were out there, you know They were buying t-shirts and everything to find out that you know, two of us like grew up in the same area.

Oh, yeah So there's got to be some kind of connection to some sort of connection I I know I've seen him someplace because I forgot I forgot what his name was The guy who was singing that was uh, I Don't have my I don't have my seating chart in front of me anymore But but when he told me the story about how his day job He's actually a baker where they make these gourmet dog treats, right? I knew I met him somewhere before and I had that conversation with him Now I need to figure out where it was that we met before now interesting. Yeah, it was interesting. But anyways, it was great Yeah, well, that was great talking to them.

And as usual, thanks for listening to the rock and roll Chicago pad kit podcast and Check us out every Tuesday for another exciting episode. See ya Hey, it's Ray and Mike and we got some great information for you 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 will have tickets you can get them at Museum, they're only $5 also at Cadillac groove calm You will be able to purchase them online as well. Very good.

They're gonna cost you $5 a ticket There's gonna be a $10 cover charge to get in the day of the event and for your $10 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 and 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 to apply. That's true We do have to get out there and get your tickets right away Hey Everybody it's Ray the roadie and this is Hollywood Mike of the rock and roll Chicago podcast if you've been joining our weekly program We have great news for you Just tune in to road to rock radio on Mondays at 7 p.m. Central time and you can hear a rebroadcast of one of our past episodes then again on Thursdays at 7 p.m. You can hear our most current episode brought to you by the Illinois rock and roll museum on route 66 So go to road to rock org scroll down and click on radio station That'll bring you to the road to rock radio a station committed entirely to the great music from, Illinois From Chicago blues born on Maxwell Street to today's rock and roll and everything in between 24-7 all music with its roots in, Illinois 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