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 once again another happy Mike you wrote your bike again I did I had to that's two shows in a row. You rode your bike Well, there's all this damn traffic that's going out Yeah, I'm here with this road construction and pulling the water mains and everything There's no way I was gonna be able to well, it's summertime park the truck out front here That's what we have here winter and construction.

That's that's what it is. That's right. You know, I can't complain though You know, no, why should you everything looks better on the back of a Harley? That's right.

It does Definitely. So who we got with us today? Who do we have with us today? We got half-life crisis So is half-life crisis is that it are we calling this a project? Are we calling this a band? It's more of a more of a project. It's a project with the potential It's a project with a potential to become a band when the time is right I spent a lot of time Wearing every head and making the wrong Choices as an alcoholic and I had to put that behind me to actually realize instead of being the bassist and terrible agent I was that I wanted to focus on being known as a guitarist producer and Yeah, that's the goal You know as a musician and producer just got a lot of work to do but a lot of interesting things are making that more Reality every day.

So what's the revelation that happened that caused you to take well, actually, let's go back before that You were you were you said you were a bass player and stuff So you were obviously playing with bands and everything Yeah doing that for a little while tell us tell us tell us a little bit about that experience in that background for sure Okay, as far as relevant bands, I mean I started off in an alternative kind of metal asked and called dark arch back in high school, I Was in a band called born of ash for a brief period of time Maybe a year. We played a hot dogs day and nothing of any significance and yeah, we had one garage show so And this is while you were in high school This was just high school was dark arch and then born of ash was 2012 and it was short-lived ultimately a waste of time. I mean I learned from it, right? Sure Fast forward.

I was in dear deadly and played the Ford which is across the street as you know 2017 Mm-hmm is based in that I was you know, and I left off a whole year and a half There was a time I was doing double duty for an alternative band called downfall society and the reverb nation days If you remember that right before the advent of a Spotify It's still going strong the last band we had in here they are so dependent upon reverb nation everything that they were and this and this is a This was a band that has been touring since the 80s They've opened up for every hair metal band and I mean they were just talking about the talking about to us about how they opened up for Tesla and Dockin and Yngwie Malmsteen and they use reverb nation to get their stuff out there I mean, it's cutlass episode 208. Yeah, it was yeah It was I'm I might look into that because I'm looking for innovative ways. I handle all the marketing everything myself Unfortunately here with my friend and at this point colleague Kyle viral youtuber who It's been taking the load off of me as far as content, you know, right I just don't like and I admit the problem was probably me in the past with bands Because I was drinking and just hard to deal with for lack of a better term But I feel like because all that wasted time it's on me to make it on my own and frankly There's plans of like doing a mini tour at some point She would likely be the drummer Kyle I Have a tentative band of people who know I have no set timeline But if I hit them up and they're free they might be a band, you know what I'm saying? You know judging from the names of the bands that you mentioned It sounds like I'm just taking a wild stab and you know Some some dark like industrial type metal stuff that you guys were playing Dear Dudley was closer to like bullet for my valentine sort of stuff.

Oh, yeah Sure, right, right the singer passed of AIDS in the past year Which is crazy as news ever very talented individual. Yeah, you know, that's actually almost shocking because you it's not publicized anymore Wow, that's that's terrible. This is dumb.

But like I literally didn't believe that was a real thing as dumb as that sounds I don't trust the government. I never met a soul with AIDS. I know Had it and then all of a sudden three people are affected by it in a year that I met.

It's just that's weird Yeah, good they got it treatable right, right. I don't discredit. It's real.

You know what I'm saying, right? Yeah, no We're both significantly older than you are that the AIDS Epidemic. Mmm was kind of like well, it was kind of like the COVID thing, but you know, you know for us It was you know, it's like, you know, but people our age have experienced this before Let's just put it this way and it was AIDS. Everybody freaked out and then yeah, it went away And so when you hear about you know, when I hear something like yeah, he just died of AIDS last year I was like, oh my gosh, cuz yeah, I haven't heard of that in probably a decade or two.

All right Well, I'm Wow crazy. I mean it was at one point every day. You're hearing somebody's man.

Yeah. Well God God rest him We don't want to you know, talk a little about anybody, but that's surprising. So definitely I mean did that have an effect on you? Yeah, I was like in the throes of depression which derailed my music You know, can I just say an aside the name half-life crisis? I don't know what it started to mean I was constantly drunk on stimulants stoned all the time and like I had this ploy I'm just gonna leave it brief where like I had a loose connection to Motley Crue So I figured since the whiskey was free like open on my birthday I was gonna try to use that connection to get Motley Crue there because that's logical right right a drunk mind Pills right see half-life.

It's come to mean like the half-life of pills I Spent 19 months of where phobic gave up on music on life. I somehow was working two jobs and then Agoraphobic. Oh, yeah scared to leave the house man.

Really? I was there you couldn't tell now but like back then yeah, it was I Couldn't even listen to music of that period so it's like the half-life of these medications the time that it stays in your system, right? It's like okay. You're in a crisis and you need an antidepressant now You're more depressed and like the half-life of that being in your system just progressively worsening it You know, right, right. Um mental health.

I mean if you need help get it, that's all I can say It's like a hell of a journey, but like it's worth it when you find the right cocktail I think I'm in the clear finally, right, right, right, right Wow So music is it fair to say music is a way of healing. It's medicine to you in that period no, but like since yes, right like Yeah, I just wouldn't wish that upon my worst enemy and you know, I canceled obligations I was hosting a show once where I as the promoter didn't even show up because of the depression I was sitting at home drinking myself stupid, you know, right right coming up soon. It's two years without it, right, right We're good for you.

Yeah. Yeah. Congratulations.

Thank you. That's good. We applaud that for sure.

Yeah Oh, and hopefully you found a path forward Seemingly, yeah, that's good. That's good. Tell us about this loose connection to Motley Crue.

I know people be interested in that You guys might be familiar with players guitar. Oh, yeah, absolutely Go in there tomorrow with him. I'm actually giving him lessons, which is very new to me Never taught anybody.

So I just know theory. I just didn't think I'd be doing him a service, you know, but Mike from players guitar, you know used to he knows Nikki six very well. He used to joke when I was a bassist Why are you playing the tool of ignorance? You know Nikki six gives them Can we swear on this? Sure.

I'm trying to be mindful. I don't want to censor myself Anyways, so Nikki six gave the dude a fucking model of a base That was like gonna be a custom series and like eventually became one but it was before it hit the market he ends up picking up the damn thing and calling it the tool of Excellence and starting Motley to and I'm wearing the pick for that band that I got off the street of Bourbon Yeah, I'm tangent here. I'm sorry The loose connection was thinking that since he was friends with him because of what I just said that report that I could somehow like convince them to just play a show for my birthday because As I suffer through three shows when Vince wasn't in good form, you know, right, right, right, right And my first band I didn't mention was the lost souls Okay, right, which is a Motley Crue tribute band that you couldn't tell because the name made no sense They don't have a song called the lost souls But the bassist who's literally responsible for me being with my fiance Thought he was Nikki six back in the day would always do heroin and tease his hair looked apart But like it went nowhere right Motley Crue's also why I'm this messed up because of that book the dirt Oh, wow life-changing.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I just yeah I mean you saw the movie too many times my only my only regret about that movie is they got machine-gun Kelly to play Tommy Lee I just didn't think he I just didn't think he portrayed him Properly.

I don't know. It's a big room. I was looking at it as I don't know and I guess passable and I'll tell you I guess what I'm comparing it to because if you remember at the Approximately the same time there was that There was that show.

I think it was on Netflix or maybe in Hulu. It was a What was it called? It was their names. It was I think was called Pamela and Tommy Where Tommy Lee's dick was a claymation was it was a claymation prosthetic on there So Rogan was in there with the actor that played Tommy Lee in that movie was amazing.

I mean Tommy Lee's That's what I got dude. I just got backstage My boys were opening he was doing a DJ set and I knowing his books from a being a kid and reading time like hey It's paparazzi. What do I do? I'm back.

There were two guys stone to shit. I'm Tommy fucking Lee Like this he gave me the courtesy of a handshake and just kept walking Yeah, then Steven Brower told me to get the fuck out of there Wow Wow, that's interesting Tommy literally like covered his face. Yeah, but he cuz no he literally hates paparazzi and everything about how I conveyed Myself with some fanboy asshole, and it's like I should have just been like a man good set Oh, yeah, like go back to your band because you shouldn't DJ but like no He's trying I'm kidding.

I'm kidding. Yeah, whoa, man. No, like go on.

I'm sorry. No, no No, I was just imagining Tommy Lee like he was covering up like this But what he was doing was was more like in case there's cameras around. Yeah.

Yeah Yeah, I didn't even think yeah, that's exactly what it was. Yeah. Yeah, he wasn't covering like he felt he needed to defend himself He was you know, you know cameras cameras might be around.

Yeah. Okay. All right.

Yeah. Well tell us a little bit about your music That's what I'm interested in for sure I call it genre fluid jams. I've been rolling with this I don't know how long that's gonna be the case because it's I encompass my what I do is I collab with my friends in Their style I was scared to be a singer for a long time So I found it easier for the first couple of releases to get for example Wayne Wiginton from a st.

Tragedy based in Kenosha She's the vocalist at an alternative metal song called oblivious from my old band It was the first song I ever wrote that came out in 2020 the song that preceded that was written at Eminem's old mansion in a Place that like he still uses as his party mansion. Like I took a picture in front of this place Yeah posted it the owner wasn't in it. The cops were there.

It's that you know what I'm saying security So I put out that song catching lightning In fact, it was literally inspired by Jesse from 10 years when I was working at the forge is like a stagehand more or less I was on an errand with him to get a bus Part for his tour bus and he told me to make it in the music industry We have to catch lighting in a bottle. So I told my friend Jason plus who's the artist that go? He's goes by schizo friendly artistically I told him this concept of like yo this guy said this so he came up with the leader or the singer of the band Ten years said to me something. I didn't know Two weeks ago.

They played the forge and I told him got his phone number is the craziest shit I just wanted to get that off my chest seven years ago. You inspired the song, you know so that But like what the music is that is a pop song and there's a rapper on there That was just hanging out in the studio was smoking me up He's like, can I be on this song and I'm like sure well, you know and in that moment I don't know if you guys know Tony Baker and the broken robots. They're doing really big things They'd be a great guy.

It's just throwing it out there. Um He said to me he's uh I'm just sitting there looking at him like probably wasting his time in the studio being a space cadet and I'm like, what do you want me to do? He's like I want you to produce so in that moment it clicked what producer means of just a term that was I was aware of but like aloof to the actual meaning right and it just clicked and by bringing house in that's being a producer and my approach to producing that is On a session musician too. So it's like I try to get the best sound out of the product.

Mm-hmm Trying to take on clients. Hopefully we'll have some by the time this airs, you know, right, right I had a few bad engineers mess plans up but uh, and then anyways the other songs I just put out a rap rock song, which I admittedly Should have done a better car test on Okay, I had to rebrand it as a demo According to my producer always get radio quality. Like that was actually embarrassing.

I'll admit I Have a blues rock song coming out soon by the time this airs. It should be out recording. It's But is it August 31st with Joe Brunker of primal moon and we just decided I Know Joe.

Yeah, it's great guy. Yeah, okay. Okay.

I He just cut my grass the other day. Oh, did he read over like we were writing this song and I had to stop him With a bong that said stop. Yeah, I've done enough bro.

It's humbling to be honest, right? I've done so much more musically than me There's a collab down the line when I can afford to that's the biggest problem if I could be in the studio 24-7 I would be I just can't afford it right now, right? Right. I just got a very good position that should change that soon and I will be colliding with MC Lars I don't know if you're familiar with that name I've heard of his music got me through depression at a shitty job man like 10 years ago this song Look it up three million streams and some change, you know He was freestyling on Facebook one day and I just commented. Hey, dude, we should collab and that long story short He freestyled his email address and typed it in for me.

Well, and then for three years lack of funds, right? Bullshit, you know, um, it's gonna happen as soon as it can happen, right? Right. Nice. Nice.

Yeah, you know, you Yeah, so like different genres you seem know you you seem to have you know I Guess I guess a pretty large knowledge of different types of music different types of genres in the whole but you're not really pigeon Hole-in-yourself and the one specific genre you also have I mean I'm hearing you and you've you've mentioned several like near-brushes with fame or near-brushes with stardom and I have a feeling there's probably more than what we've actually just talked about and I'm Curious as to how did you find yourself in that situation? Was it a case of being in the right place at the right time or or who do you know? Who helped you out to get to that point? I guess it's just a culmination of knowing music is all that I meant to do and Just failing a lot, yeah, you know, well, how did the failing? introduce you to all of these people that you're Talking about the Forge is a prime example of realizing that national bands come to these small venues sometimes and they're reachable by just going I Don't want to give away a secret that everybody knows if you want to meet the band at the Forge You just go to the side after fucking soundcheck, you know, right, right, right Almost he talked me out of damaging my reputation with the Forge just for a selfie with Sebastian Bach a few days ago I got slave to the grind tattooed right here, you know, right? I had to Google myself to find out skid row fucking shared that eight months later They should the actual band without Sebastian Bach did right? I just wanted just like hey, dude Like I cover your song like I've seen you live. You're a huge inspiration And then I'd be whatever man, you know, yeah, and then the next thing, you know, it's like get the hell out of here We're calling the cops or no Security approached and they saw me scouting it out because I was just trying to time you right didn't waste his time at all But I simply said hey, man, I want a selfie. And by the way, I got a Ted just something like I Understand people on that calibers time is valuable.

Yeah. Yeah, like But you know there's there's two sides to that coin though because we we talk about this on on the show here all the time there are some people that you meet and You think you just made a look, you know, you think you just met a living saint, they're so gracious they're so nice, you know the last people that we talked about we're in here talking about how how nice and hospitable the members of Tesla were you know About Frankie Hannon pulled out his entire guitar collection and started talking about it. What's that? That's their guitar Yeah, that's and I don't mean to cut you off.

I just people don't talk about Tesla enough man. Oh, I know Me I'm not joking. It's probably the best law I've ever heard of my life.

That's Tesla, but nobody says that's right Right. It's Eddie Van Halen We could do an entire podcast just we're getting guys in here and talking about Tesla because it Every time I mentioned the name Tesla something like his abs we go off on a tangent there They're they don't get the credit that they deserve but I know it was Jekyll. Oh, yeah No, not and those guys are great to believe me.

I We big general fan talked earlier. Yeah, right. I ride a Harley I go to a lot of bike rallies and stuff and Jekyll is always involved with with different bike rallies and they they're they're riding and hanging out with everybody and Drinking a couple of beers and then they get up on stage and rock the place and they finish and they get back down And they're just hanging out with they got no security around them.

No, nothing No, there's regular guys that just hang out with people Those are the great people that you want to meet and then you hear stories about you know, Sebastian I was like that, you know that he'd be just like I Was in the green room two seconds like every other time I met the fucking Ford Yeah, yeah now Sebastian Bach kind of has that that reputation. He's kind of got that diva reputation So it doesn't surprise me that you had that experience with him. I guess I guess don't take a personal I guess Is the takeaway from that thing personal man? That's why I It's cutthroat.

Yeah, but when you see, you know from from his standpoint though I mean, this is your one night you're going back there to try to meet him and he has this Every-fucking-night every where he goes and you know that gets old, but it really gets old I just want to do my stuff come back and relax and get the hell out of here That's all I want. It's a job. It becomes a job.

Yeah. Yeah, it does and it can absolutely they can so I'm interested Let's I'm ready to hear some music Already, that's what we should do. Why don't we take a short break and no, I'll be right back 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 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 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 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. We'll 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 that is that you would like for us to play for you know conditions do apply.

That's true We do get out there and get your tickets right away And for the first time tonight Wes Jeffery of half-life crisis, oh the four is mine, okay So I'm gonna do Depending on how time lots. I'm gonna start with a cover That was like the first song somebody ever showed me on an acoustic, and then I started singing so I figured why not sing it It's an Alice in Chains song you probably know it so this is nutshell Or something like that yeah, and I will use this disclaimer seeing it's not something I want to be known for but as somebody doing it all by yourself Yeah, what option do I have well? Well? It wasn't something like that. It was like that that was pretty good Nervous as hell singing dude.

I hate it Not a lot of things scare me, but that Well, you know you got to work. You're working through it. You seem to be doing fine.

Yeah How long have you been doing it? I started going to Johnny Blitz and like really Johnny Blitz, huh Wow and that Because they're primarily a blues club now were you just were you going there just to hang out. It was an open mic Okay Of course I do me and him were just on my new boat that my mentor who called the cops on me And this gentleman few days ago is a viral YouTube video now He gave me a boat during my lunch break. We went out and did a photo.

That was the funny part Yeah, like I didn't expect to get the cops called on us like the cops just came because of my camera Sorry, okay now that you inserted yourself. Why don't you talk about what you do really quick? Well, I'm a youtuber nice to meet you guys, my name is Kyle, sorry He's been mentioning my name this whole time and you guys like I've been seeing a guy randomly in the room you guys who the Hell is the guy so yes, my name is Kyle. I thought you were our ghost.

Oh, maybe places on it. I heard something But yes, my name is Kyle, I'm a youtuber I have like 30,000 subscribers and My friend Wes he actually is a very good mentor He actually showed me a lot of Connections in the music industry that I wouldn't have expected to you know Encounter at this such a young age because I am only 22. I'm about to be 23 in September.

So it's a quite a drastic change to see a Point of view of everybody's minds collectively in the music industry. Mm-hmm sure is so what was the story about the boat? Just me and BCA Yeah on a boat took a few pictures today. Yeah.

Yeah, I know him He used to he used to come up regularly to a jam that I host on Sunday evenings He's come up pretty regularly. I played with him many times. He's the shit.

Yeah, you know So like Johnny Blitz, I went up and I did what I got by sublime I Don't do that anymore because Mel flowers that I sound angry when I do it. I know Mel very well my producer now Oh, really? We work together with my booze recently. I was the event.

I love now Mel Mel Mel was the Mel was the bartender on Sundays when I hosted the jam over there and at the studio in Lockport Yeah Yeah, I know Mel say hi to her. I haven't seen her in a while. I know.

Are you gonna watch the podcast? Hi, Mel Hi. Yeah So there was a boat story. Yeah.

Yeah, there was a boat story. I Yes, so like me and get back here First he tells me to go away and now he wants me back make up your mind Wes. Come on It's like I don't have like an ex-wife She comes back I don't like bands, but as I already disclosed if I had when you'd be in it, so I really don't give that much Well, of course.

Yeah. No, I get it. No you all you already said I was gonna be your drummer So without even me is saying yeah He just said you're hired when I was hosting an open mic at my booze This fucker was on the stage making me wait to start it.

Yeah, did he want to sound? Yeah, I just respected the balls instantly that he was holding up my bike to tune that shitty house You know because that kit was fucking disaster. I fucking sat on the kid I was like, what is this be? You know the meme where the cat is going like yeah Yeah, that that was me when I got behind the kid. I was like, what in the actual city fuck Hey, hey, did you but did you know that when the Rolling Stones? Recorded sympathy for the devil.

Uh-huh. Charlie Watts did that beating on cereal boxes? No way Did you know? Roses because of their cover of that they went against his wishes Rerecorded the guitar and then he said fuck off a lot of Guns and Roses. No more.

Axel. Is that what happened? Yeah Yeah, but no go and listen to the recording Rolling Stones sympathy for the devil It's you know, it's got that it sounds like congas and kind of rhythm But just but just listen you hear some real Congress in there But then you hear a lot of stuff that's just like thugs and the rumor rumor is it was just like like Quaker oats Boxes and stuff like that to produce that sounds Back then recording artists. You had to get creative.

Yeah, you have to be we did I was in a band one time and we we did a we did a cover of of rooster, right And we didn't have a megaphone or anything like that and we wanted to have kind of that sound So we literally took a cereal box and cut the ends of off of it and we put the microphone inside of it So it kind of gave you know, there's kind of a sound You had to get creative and that's exactly what they did It's a cereal boxes the to play drum part. That's so you need there was no drum in the room That was gonna give them the sound during Aerosmith. Um, I think walk this way.

He breaks the Zylo slap and yes, you can hear it. You can hear it breaking the recording Also use their high school stolen gong or some shit on a living on the edge. That's like it's not a gong But it's a drum.

I think it's just a kick drum, right? No, right, right and you can and you can hear it It's it's a it's amazing what people have done in the studio see stuff This is gonna sound far-fetched, but like, you know, you're talking about the noises they use to like create the sound as a producer, right? That's like I'm fascinated by that kind of stuff and that actually gave me something to think about as a producer in the future in The budgets there, but it's crazy as it sounds I think you know, screw that you you mentioned you're a musician, too Oh, yeah. Yeah, wait, did I did I doze off? No, I Think I think I we didn't talk about the boat. We haven't gotten to the we still Know I actually think I dozed off Well, then yeah musicians also basically back to the boat story.

I'll finish it now Nobody's say another thing because it's like waving something shiny. I swear to God. So basically, um we were filming a YouTube video for my youtube channel lunatic dad and basically We were going having a film shoot shooting him basically talking about half-life crisis enjoying the you know nature around Wilmington because that's where we were And it was a beautiful sight to see a beautiful nature.

But yeah, so Wes decides to park Horizontally like an asshat like this. He parks Diagonally to where half his cars on another dudes property half of it's on the street So this guy's like what the hell am I gonna do? So then he just goes I'm gonna call the cops So he calls the cops bring Cops come but not right away. You would think they would come right away, right? No, it came fucking 30 minutes later So what? Oh, so what if something were to actually go down like what if somebody were to have a knife or you know a gun? And or you know, somebody was losing their shit, you know, but none of that thankfully happened But basically you didn't call 9-1-1 though.

No, I didn't call that. Yeah 9-1-1 wasn't called. It was just kind of like the non-emergency.

No, probably. I mean the police showed up. So technically 9-1-1 came but yeah, I did, you know, they treated it like okay, there's some Domestic drunk asshole or something like that.

We'll get there. Let's give him time to pass out whatever it is. Yeah Yeah so but they were actually more concerned about my cameras because they saw the sling that I had a Sling on my camera and they thought it was a gun So that's what they were really calling the cops on Yeah, so I was like really called the cops and he's like, yeah, the cops are coming I'm like no shit like for real.

He's like, yeah, they're coming. I'm like, oh I was Yeah, well cuz I I can't get in trouble. I already got in trouble with the law, you know, I'm technically on court supervision so I Was not supposed to be in trouble with the law at all.

So I'm just like oh man here we fucking go I've been trying to be a good boy. So I have to ask. Where's the boat? Anyways the boat So what happened was we just started shooting the shit with this guy Ended up becoming friends smoked some weed with them exchanged numbers and then I had mentioned that there was a boat launch in the area that we Discovered and he said I'll give you a boat and as of today he was repairing it yesterday He gave me a fucking canoe and I just thought why not go take some photos in it with the guitar because why not? I don't know Go literally said he was gonna just fix it for us just to give it to him.

Let's get the shit out of him, dude Wow So you have this canoe now? Yeah. All right, cool. I don't know what I Said Dude we went like 10 feet out on the water not even and like almost flipped it because of the weight distribution No, the first thing BC asked like, how are your sea legs? I'm like, I think they're okay that we took on water, but We didn't we got what we needed Damn, crazy.

Mm-hmm. Yeah canoes are the most stable things Do not stand up. So we jumped away from there.

You have aspirations to be a producer Yeah, what's I mean, we just kind of briefly talked about do whatever you got to do to get the right kind of sound What's your philosophy when it comes to that? I mean, are you looking to are you looking to set up a digital studio? You're looking to do analog combination. What's your interest there? I mean, all right. So here's my approach.

I do not engineer I can make a half-ass garage band demo I pay somebody to make it sound good because I suck right but I could tell the engineer like this is the vision for example, if he were to bring me a song for his band right and like I Would just give it a listen and then I would look for nuances I could add like for example radio chatter at the beginning the drumming techniques you were talking about with them Adding a subtle track of guitar that he would have noticed. Maybe the bass could be slightly different Oh, I'm having trouble trying to figure out what to do But why don't you do this and that and then like your solution? well, really I would just encourage I'm not to overthink because that's what I found is What we're thinking is that you know with music You know this do probably, you know, I still deal with it sometimes but um, but I mean But that would qualify you as a producer, right? That's what a producer does the producers the guy standing behind the engineer with his hands on his shoulders telling him what he's doing wrong It's pretty it's pretty much what it is This is probably far-fetched, but I think Rick James is the best producer of all time. That's not far-fetched Have you ever heard the album love gun? Oh, yeah fire it up.

I'm sorry No, I haven't heard fire. It was the first album where he said I don't need a fucking Industry or a record label producer went on his own and each song the contrast is just brilliant The nuance is like he orchestrated the female singing then There's drums like kettle drums or something just drum that I'm you don't hear on typical things But that was his mind heading that drum track on top of the drum track. That was already there, right? And in the crazy baseline that he did he probably played the guitar that dude, oh, no, he definitely did I'll tell you More needs to be learned about him because how did he get famous people say Rick Rubin? It should be rigging.

Yeah Yeah, yeah. He yeah, he Rubin's never impressed me like oh as an artist. I wouldn't have thought of it No, right never no all-time Rick, you know Rick James made himself famous by doing this this poppy danceable, you know Disco kind of stuff, you know super freak and he had a couple of a couple of other songs like that and everything But his musical talent and his knowledge and his know-how and everything that he did Extends way beyond that like it shocks people to find out that at one point in time Rick James was in the same band with Neil Young the mind of Wow Yeah You know why that band broke up because he went to jail for draft dodging because I wanted to tour the United States and what? Happened was he served his sentence.

Well by that time You know young was already in cars with skills national young. Yeah, right. It's feasible anymore At least you know, right but no his knowledge of music is great I mean, it's it's it's not shocking that you that you would say that he's a good producer because he really is Yeah, I mean and what was his second biggest hit? I bet you you don't know.

What was his second biggest hit? What was the second biggest thing? I'm pretty sure it's the second biggest thing he ever did I'm gonna probably know when you tell me yeah, Sam. He produced that record that Eddie Murphy recorded I have a party all the time. Really? Yeah In the studio man in a blizzard and like basically he helped Eddie Murphy find his singing voice because He was interested in singing turns out he had a great fucking singing voice if you have it That actually actually started off even even better than that one because I saw the interview with Eddie Murphy So here's something that nobody knows you can go on YouTube.

You can find this Richard Pryor Before he became a stand-up comic was a singer and Richard Pryor can sing his ass off You'll find old black-and-white movies old black-and-white videos of Richard Pryor singing with no mustache, you know The whole bit we're in a tuxedo and he can sing he had a voice like an angel Wow, and so, you know Eddie Murphy becomes friends with Richard Pryor, right? Uh-huh, and one thing leads to another where Richard Pryor said something like yeah, but you can't sing and he's like, oh, yeah I want to make a bet and they actually Made a bet and they made the bed Eddie Murphy get Eddie Murphy gets And it becomes Eddie Murphy ends up with that song was like number one in the charts for like weeks So there's two crazy origin stories to that fucking song when I started half-life crisis the Motley Crue with the soundtrack the whole time was Party all the time. My friend David All the fucking time. Yeah so then I just put out a song called welcome to the shit show was originally gonna title my first full-length album that And then, you know, I just as I really said it's a demo I just didn't give a shit about the song anymore But the weird thing is after I doubled down on the name welcome to the shit show was brought to my attention that my friend Randall Ritter Hoff Who since left us? She what was I gonna say he actually had the idea for an album He wanted me to co-produce called welcome to the shit show.

I swear to God I forgot that until I'm talking to Andrew Messiah. If you know the dude who owned Cairo ale house that place kicked. Oh, wow Good friend one of my favorite mentors He was saying that like, you know, that was his and that I was a holy shit So the album cover is actually a prison jumpsuit that was given to me by that guy who passed as an homage to him But he also gave me a copy of party all the time Yeah on vinyl so I have it from this guy.

So twice in the history of half-life crisis You know, it's pretty cool. Yeah, you can Rick James actually sings backup on that song, too You know as you get towards the end you but you hear Rick James singing back up and you know He's got a distinctive voice Definitely Definitely. Yeah interesting.

So let's let's you said you got a couple of originals. Yeah. Yeah.

I'd love to hear some original music. All right The song I'm gonna do is called baby girl at one point before my depression destroyed It was gonna feature Steiner rock from Nigeria. It was originally label Contracted thing an independent label nonetheless, but Depression got the best of me.

I wasn't able to put the song on how I intended This version on all streaming is Ricky bar goofy a friend of mine my old roommate. He's the vocalist We wrote the song in like 20 minutes on fake adderall and non-alcoholic beers fake adderall You know, yeah, right, right So, yeah, you're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast So And Nice very nice. Nice.

I like that rhythm. I caught myself fucking up more than I'd like to admit there It's actually like one of my favorite songs by him that's very that's very good song actually that very well-written song when I do like When I listen to it on Spotify like it sounds really good. Yeah.

Yeah, that was that was good. That was good So, how can people find your stuff? You can type in a half-life crisis on any streaming service. That's three words FH a LF Li FB crisis You have a website or anything I don't have a website Wes can you say it better into the mic? Oh, yeah You know what? Yeah, half-life crisis if you didn't hear you probably did I'm just being redundant but half-life crisis three words all streaming services Those are gonna say I focusing on getting better content on Facebook at the moment.

I Am considering tick-tock Maybe with his mentorship and YouTube, you know, I might expand into YouTube I don't know. I mean everything's on YouTube right now. Yeah, don't don't overlook Facebook.

I'll tell you that's the one conversation That we have a lot. That is still the best social media site for Promoting bands promoting shows promoting your music. It really is Really is it is? Yeah, it is.

Absolutely So too many platforms. I've had Instagram in the past for a previous endeavor when I was an agent, right? You know what? I'm not gonna give that a hand. I don't want people seeing that shit anymore Yeah Yeah, I don't know there's just too many damn ways to be connected, you know, absolutely the same time paradoxically disconnecting because you're focused on you Goddamn phone, right? Off your phone people.

Yep. It's time to get text. I like really life happens three inches above that little shitty screen.

Yes Yeah, go, you know go for a walk drink some water go hug a tree do something go in a canoe Can you any plans to any plans to take the show on the road or at least play some shows and and things like that? All right. So the plan has been this I was originally gonna do The plans have all changed I was gonna have an album out called welcome to the shit show and then I was gonna follow that up a double dose and Ideally, that would be the same length or double the length of the first and then I was gonna do one called half-life crisis Right, and it was gonna be the band at that point see where? Maybe a 10 song album goes, you know, release them all as singles waterfall method that people are doing now and then Have a band and just like I have a guy that you know, fortunately pays me Well, I haven't been in the band since 2019, but that connection is still there Yeah, right, right and you probably know who it is But it's besides the point the clue is nobody's ever met the fucker in person, but everybody gets paid from them Oh Joey DeMarco. Yes 100% I Tried getting that for the dinner reason I almost gave to there, you know, it's I've I actually met him once Yeah, I met him once at What do they call the place now over in Lyle? Base camp.

Oh Yeah No, I met him and at the time I don't know if they're still partners anymore But at the time he had a partner by the name of Barry Mannheim and I met both of them in one night I was in a band called I was in a band called forget Hannah and they showed up about I was about 15 16 years ago, and I did didn't meet them. Yeah, he looks he looks exactly like you think you would Italian Are you still in a band? Oh, yeah many are you in a band as well? No, I let me know about your next show Sure, like I support them. I just want you to know that I want to see your show We'll talk we'll talk about me off the program.

That's that's perfect. That's all we ever do is talk about I've learned that I talk about myself too much. I'm trying.

No, that's You're here. That's one. That's one thing.

That's the one time. It's acceptable. Yes, it's extremely acceptable and you've done it You've done extremely well.

It's been a very good process. We've got a lot of we got a lot of time here What I think we should do I think we're at the point right now where we just have you you have us we have you sing us out man Hmm, you got one. You got one more to To close out the show why not? I mean all this shit I talked about Molly crew I'm gonna do a shorter version than they do of don't go away man.

Go ahead And I got the right pick to mommy too. 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 And for one one more time tonight we have a West as the half-life crisis project They did seasons they change separate paths Separate ways if we blame it on anything Let's just blame it on the rain.

I knew it all along I had to write this song Too young to fall in love Yes, we do it all along Yeah, that's all right Yeah, that's okay We were marching through some youth ♪ Smile and do something, yeah, that's all right ♪ ♪ Yeah, that's okay, let's turn the page ♪ ♪ Friends called at midnight from L.A. ♪ ♪ They were shooting pool all night and sleeping half of the day ♪ ♪ They said I could crash if I could find my own way ♪ ♪ And I told them, you're on a bus leaving, time to go away ♪ ♪ Yeah, that's all right, yeah, that's okay ♪ ♪ Have my dreams in my hands, remember what I say, girl ♪ ♪ And it goes this way, yeah, girl, just go away ♪ ♪ Just go away, oh, just go away ♪ Or something like that. Very nice. Thanks for stopping by.

Thanks for coming out. Thanks for having us. Thank you for the opportunity, gentlemen.

Absolutely. We'll see you out there. Well, there you have it, Half-Life Crisis featuring Wes.

Yeah, Wes, he's Half-Life Crisis. He is. And it's very interesting that he, it seems like he aspires to be a producer more than he himself wants to be a musician.

Exactly. I mean, he wrote a pretty good original song. Right, right.

You know, and that's something that you need. Sometimes you need a, sometimes you need a guy that can write the song and your band goes in there and then this guy tells you how to record it. Exactly.

Yeah, it seems like he's got a talent for that. Yeah, he knows what he wants to hear and he's gonna tell you how he wants to hear it. Yeah, kind of interesting stories, too.

I bet you there's way more stories with these near brushes with fame. I'm sure, you know, we only give him so much time, you know, some of these people we talk to, we could probably talk for hours, you know. We sure could.

But yeah, he seems to have it all together. He's going places. Right, he sure is.

And that's a good thing. In a boat. Yep, in a canoe.

That's right. It might take him a while to get there, but it might. It might, it might.

But as always, thanks for listening to the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast and check us out every Tuesday for another exciting new episode. See you next week. The Rock and Roll Chicago podcast is edited by Paul Martin.

Theme song courtesy of MNR 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.

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