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 after a long long Long hiatus. Holy cow.

You know you guys already heard us last week on the last podcast. That was We weren't here. We haven't been here a couple of months No we were kind of sitting at home waiting for the the damage to be repaired from the From the tornado that ripped through thank you to everybody that contributed to the fundraiser That's right donated any amount of their time to get this thing back up and running and now we have this beautiful studio Absolutely beautiful studio Thanks to Ron and all the guys in the crew that have been working around the clock to get this place back in order It's not a hundred percent done yet, but almost there and usable once again when we finally get the cameras going Everybody will be able to see it.

Yeah, so It's been a while since I see you and put on weight or what? I don't know I don't know Touche Yeah, well now that we're both sitting here fat what what should we do I think we should talk to the guests that we have in the studio. Sounds good. Who's here here today? We have members of the Eric case band.

We have Eric case himself right across from me What's up, and we have Aubrey Aubrey? What are you doing the band by the way? I sing you sing. Yeah, just saying that's it Well, it's a some mean tambourine. Oh Stick or electric.

I think acoustic. Yeah, what about the tambourines? Electric tambourine No, I bet you anything I bet you we can get one of those I don't even know how you pronounce it Uh, is it a piezo? Yeah a little little sticker those little sticker things You can stick on a tambourine and plug it in and you couldn't you imagine that no She would annoy the shit out of everybody Amplified tambourine sounds like a stuff of nightmares. Yeah.

Yeah, I was slow to warm up to the tambourine. So we Yeah, boy, I've never heard that one before it seems like that's the thing everybody wants to play Precisely why I was against it at first actually. Oh really? Okay.

Okay. There's some yeah Unresolved issues around tambourine tambourine. I have a feeling we're gonna be working through some problems Oh, we might know we're gonna have a couch put in now that we have everything.

There you go I wonder if they have like lessons for tambourines and schools, you know music and everything I'll probably do because I know there's quite a few people that have to learn how to clap on the one and the three and It's true in the four depending on the song or yeah friends. Don't let friends clap on one and three No, they should actually I'm fine. Yeah, it's kind of I mean, that's kind of odd.

Don't you think? So Eric how this whole thing start. I mean since your name is on it, you know, yeah how this whole thing start Well, let me see I started the Eric case band back in Florida. So I lived in a lot of different places lived in Chicago a couple different times and played music most of my life mostly on electric guitar playing for other people and I started an original band in Tallahassee, Florida, which is where I lived before we came back here and it was very collaborative and very creative and and did some cool stuff, but The creative part was so stressful and when I got done with that band I was like, I never want to be in that stressful as a situation again.

And so I decided to just do something under my own name and And just kind of let it be wherever it wherever my nose went is where the the music was gonna go And so stressful to me was Too many people had a say in what was going on. Yeah, I mean, that's what made it so great but it was like it was all original and and everybody Had equal say and like creating music It was just took so long, but but it pulled the best out of us, but it just got to be so exhausting Too many cooks in the kitchen. Yeah.

Yeah, and and the thing was is like that's the way it was formed So it wasn't like a surprise and and and that's not the reason it ended It just ended because people's lives, you know, people had more important priorities to take care of But I was kind of just in a place where I'm like, I don't I don't want to do that again So, let me just that's why bands like the Beatles say yeah, you know, just just Paul and John are gonna do the writing Yeah, maybe you never know, you know, I mean it could be brutal, you know And and the other thing was like I I had moved to Tallahassee from here So I was kind of a new guy in town and I didn't and I just met some really great musicians but there wasn't like that searching, you know, sometimes you search out and you're like Well, you search that you talk about like who are your influences and what are you like? None of that was these are just great the best musicians I could find and so everybody was coming from different places Creatively and we're trying to find something in the middle, you know that common ground That was the other reason it was just it was so times just excruciating but it was fun too Are you originally from Florida or were you originally from now? so I was I was born in Western, Pennsylvania and a little town like just about an hour north of Pittsburgh and steel steel mill town and then Moved to Texas and spent like 20 years in Texas left Texas came up here Moved lived here for a while then moved to Florida and then recently came back about four years ago That kind of explains the whole I guess influence of country music Yeah, I've been I've been around a bit so and and and plus just growing up with my dad was a big country music fan so I think that was the other way just kind of Soaking it in when I was a when I was a youngster. Yeah. Yeah that Pennsylvania country music.

I mean, you're stopping the charts Huh, dude, you'd be surprised man. Like my my my relatives are we I mean we lived out in the middle of nowhere, man You know everybody we had tractors and cows and everything so What about you everywhere you from the Chicago suburbs actually I was born and raised in the Chicago suburbs and Straight a little bit lived in New York City for a spit in college But otherwise just from here from the Chicago suburbs. So you went to college in New York.

I for a little bit On the Upper West Side of Manhattan for about eight months, okay doing musical theater Oh, well, and then came back to Chicago and finished my degree at one of the universities in the city And yeah, did you get a degree in musical theater? Just music actually mainly cut like just a Bachelor of Arts in music because it was just time to graduate, right? I don't care what it says Whatever piece of paper. Yeah, really. Nobody cares what my degrees anymore I just had this conversation with my son too.

He's like just get the piece of paper. You're done, right? Get the piece of paper so you can get out with your life. It was fun.

Like it was fun to go And I love living in New York. It was so much fun That's how I knew when I came home like it was I was gonna be in the city at least right, but yeah Geez Louise, I needed to be done with college. Yeah.

Yeah, I understand that completely. Yeah. I spent too much time in college, too There was there was reasons for that, but we won't go into that right now Well, you know New York City also, you know Mecca for country music, you know It's there's Eddie rabbit is from New York.

So I mean, you know, it couldn't be all that Yeah. Yeah. So let's talk about this Americana thing You know, I yeah I perused all over your website and stuff and I saw that you described as you know The bank kind of like Americana and everything, you know, that's kind of a new that's kind of a new genre Yeah, maybe it's not a new genre It's an it's an old genre comprised of several different things, but all of a sudden people started calling it Americana.

Yeah, right Yeah, give me your thoughts on that. What do you what do you think about this Americana thing? Yeah to me like Americana the reason I like it is I think you it takes parts of country music And then but what it also incorporates are things like R&B, you know, so literally I've heard some artists talk about like it's literally like the best of American music so you can go anywhere from mountain music you know bluegrass but also Motown like we were talking Memphis and and things like that to me. It's like soul music, you know, it's my it's my soul music So if we want to do something that's got some flavor to it, that feels a little bit more R&B But there's this that's what kind of holds the whole thing together, right? You know, I mean and what is exactly soul music? What's soul music? You were given a list of questions No questions, I mean I think for me It's what I like about the music that we do and the music that Eric writes is it's music that tells a story That isn't a cheap story.

It's a deeply meaningful story. Yeah So to me that's soul music answer. Yeah, I mean, I mean to me the way I would say it It's like soul music is just like it's about me sharing my heart, you know And if it connects with something in your heart or your heart like that's soul music like it just comes I've heard I heard somebody wants to scribe it this way and I like it.

It's like Soul music is when you decide to reveal and not hide. That's good So like when you're willing to be honest about something even if you're hurting, you know, like that's the blues, you know We're feeling good. That could be like Motown, you know, but that's to me that's soul music.

Yeah, right It's like comfort food for the soul. Yeah But I mean I brought it up because so many times soul music is associated with the traditional genre of R&B Yeah, and it's in it and it isn't necessarily that I think it's yeah exactly about you know What it is that you're talking about which kind of bleeds in and transfers over into the whole Americana thing. Yeah hundred percent Yeah, so who's the one artist that you'd think I mean think back, right? Who's the one artist that came out and everybody said man, this sounds different, you know, it's not country.

It's not Rock and roll. It's you know, it's this whole other thing I mean My first reaction is Willie Nelson. Oh, wow.

Yeah, I mean cuz when you look at his career, he starts off in Nashville He's writing songs and he releases an album Stardust memories of like big band tunes and everyone's like how does this work? How is this? you know and then he's Got like a live thing. That's kind of a jam band thing. And then he just literally follows wherever he goes He can't be defined by any genre, you know, and he's written somewhere along the line of like 2,500 songs I don't even know what the count is anymore.

You know, he's probably written another one just well since we started Yeah, it's like he sneezes Yeah, so I think so I think like that that's what that's what I think of is is just a he's just a guy Who just literally he just wakes up and he's like what I want to do today What kind of music do I want to do today? And somehow it all just comes out sounding like him, right? I love that. It's crazy. What was your draw? Adele actually came to mind really? Okay, I think or I think about artists who like They have an old soul.

Like she seems like she should have been singing with Frank Sinatra, but she's in our time or like Chris Stapleton where you're like you're doing something that has like feels So familiar, but so really knew that nobody else is doing right now and now everyone's trying to copycat it You know ding ding ding ding ding because I think that's the name that everybody would probably Think I am. Mm-hmm. Yeah, I I think that it kind of been coming along slowly You know when he hit the scene, it was like, oh everybody wanted to sound like Chris tape Yeah, and they do yeah And also before that was Jack White after Jack White left the White Stripes and he just started doing his own stuff Yep, everybody wanted to sound like Jack White.

There are so many people out There's so many bands out there that almost stole his sound. Yeah, the Alabama Shakes Yeah, you know, what's that band out of Ohio that Black Keys the Black Keys all of a sudden? It's like man, they all started sounding like Jack White. Yeah, kind of the same thing I think one of the pioneers out there too was Garth Brooks.

Hmm. Yeah country guy that came out and he was like a rocker Yep. I mean he was rocking it out.

He changed the game. Yeah, completely completely Actually put on a performance. Yeah, you know, yeah, my wife was a huge Garth Brooks fan and she dragged me about four of his concerts.

I shouldn't say that she I went to the first one willingly But after I've seen somebody once it's like I'd rather yeah Yeah, go see someone else what we kept going to his concerts and it's a combination of Billy Joel the who and Willie No, yeah, exactly. Yeah, did you like there was this one thing he did? I think it was probably like I don't know six years ago He came out like for one of his encores just him and an acoustic guitar and he just took requests from the audience For like 45 minutes, they would just shout out whatever tune whether it's his or somebody else and he was just play it Yeah, you know amazing. Yeah.

No the last the last concert I saw he did the same thing But he didn't take requests from the audience He had three songs that he played and the last one that he played was Unanswered prayers. Mm-hmm. He started strumming the intro to the song.

Yeah, and then and he didn't sing a single Yeah, yeah, yeah the entire arena saying this Yeah, it was it was actually a very moving thing It was that it was the days when people could still kind of sneak outside and smoke a cigarette now That's there were just lighters in the air. Yeah Cellphones, I don't think cell phones had flashlights at the time Those real lighters and stuff like that, but now it was a it was a good business for sure. That's awesome.

Yeah. Yeah, man, so Tell me why do you think all of a sudden this? this kind of like reemergence of this I Don't even know what I'm trying to say The electronic music has seemed to have fallen by the wayside. Mm-hmm, and there's more and more Artists and bands that are coming out where they're actually playing real instruments and not only are they just not only are they playing guitar And bass and drums, but they're thrown in mandolins and they're throwing cellos and they're throwing steel guitar and different types We have a pedal steel guitar in our I know I saw that I saw that I was listening to all the music hoping to Hear it a little bit Wow, that's great.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah So what do you attribute to this reemergence of that type of music? Why are why are youngsters now listening to? Yeah, the quote-unquote Americana music now because it's it's it's so popular now.

Yeah. Yes. Yeah.

Well, I think I think From my perspective There's a couple of things going on. I think people are always hungry for something real, you know and I think we live in we live in a society that moves so fast and and Everything is commoditized and commercialized and and everything feels the same like, you know, you can get the same Latte here that you can get in, you know, Helena, Montana, you know, but I think that That's what pop culture is. But I think there's always a group of people there It's like man, there's what about something deeper and real and that moves a little bit slower And I got a couple kids of my own and they're both Musicians and man, I remember like seven eight years ago We would all be hanging out and they'd be taught they we listen to this music and it was like instrumental kind of jazz Fusion and I'm like, what is this and it was this band? I don't know if you guys have heard this band Wolfpack and it's like all instrumental.

Mm-hmm. No lyrics No electronics like five guys just playing Groovy tunes and I'm like, wait a minute. You guys are supposed to be like the digital generation.

That's all yeah you know and and like and and so even then I saw that just come in my own kids eyes of just like they're still and There's still a hunger for something real and I think there's an appreciation for people who can really play their instruments Like like there's especially if they grow up around music. I think people are like man Those guys can really play like that's inspiring. You know, these are actual people that are Learned to play their music and that said on the computer and watched Tabs they might have I mean, however, they learned it.

It's like if they can play it live, you know that that's what matters But I think there's a lot of yeah, I think I mean, I'm sure there's a lot of people out there who can really play but I think in this in this Genre, you know, I mean like we don't run tracks for anything when we play live and and that's that's something that I really like I like when a band is live and and that's what it is. What you're hearing is what is what's being played and And I think there's so you can't hide like there's there's less places to hide and and if you're gonna you're gonna screw up You're maybe you're gonna be royally screw up. But hey, I mean I've seen I've seen arena bands screw stuff up before You just go you just go on and you know, it's part of life, right? Any thoughts on that, I mean, I think I think about the fact that music actually Communicates on that soul level on a deeper level and when it's all been constructed by a machine or a computer you might get a Product that is musical that even has the building blocks of music because music is also very mathematical I mean being a music major remember like man, I'm good in my theory classes because I'm good at math Yeah, but I knew people who were fantastic at music theory and horrible performers Yeah, and we all graduated with the same degree and we've all played with people like I think they're I mean for sure generationally when you like generational research the emerging generation Loves their AI but also is looking for pockets of things that they can like Put their toes into you know There there's like you can buy these pads now that you can stand on that are like earth grounding pads Because it like helps ground your whole body if you stand on something that feels like the earth It's that same concept of like They don't want to do away with their smartphones They don't they don't want to do away with any of that But they are looking for places where they connect with something that feels real and fresh and human Yeah, and that's why I think this genre of music is so popular my girls all this I have little girls 810 and 5 they love listening to pentatonix the vocal jazz group Wow love pentatonix.

That's pretty cool Specifically Christmas music so we listen to Christmas music in August, but it's fine But it's the same thing like you can't it's not Digitized it's Real voices doing real things. Yeah, ma'am. What do you think about these guys? Yeah, I think I think the last genre of music that Has really been blended with this with electronic music the most is of course country music And then now we're seeing things like like I just saw today like I apparently post Malone and jelly roll They're supposed to be doing some kind of show together, and then they're they're kind of marketing this thing as a country Performance or sure or whatever and I'm sorry Nothing about post Malone says country music to me Little jelly rolls as country to me all right.

I mean what about that stuff. Yeah like so I Mean I give a lot of props. I mean I've had a lot of you know post Malone like he's I don't have any face tattoos Obviously I'd be laughing yeah But I've heard a lot I've heard a lot about the guy, and I think the guy's legit He's a great musician you know and and so for me.

I'm like it doesn't it doesn't connect with me It doesn't but but I also understand that that it connects with a lot of other people And I don't I Far be it for me to ever Declare like whether something is or isn't country because a lot of people could look at what I do and be like that's not country But you're not saying that it is well I'm just saying I'm saying it probably Yeah, I guess so I mean to me like I said that the whole bleeps and blips and the finger and a finger snaps on Two and four that's that's just not my thing like I would prefer something much more raw and and snaps on the one and three snaps on the one of course We're working on that's next after the tambourine by the way You got to have her hit the tambourine on the two and the four and snap Yeah so I mean I You know I I've watched like this you know I guess like this whole like I just really like country music is a huge river and and and Art always moves forward and and so for me. I'm like I don't get it It's not my thing, but I'm not gonna sit here and say that That it is or it isn't something. I just say for me You know I try to I try to keep my antenna up for what connects with me and and and I don't want to cast shade or throw shade on anybody who's doing their thing because There's a lot of good people trying real hard to do to do good music.

There's room for everybody There's room for everybody. I was just curious about yeah, because some people are really you know that are into the genre Yeah, it's Americana rock or whatever there They've got a really rigid stance on all that shit's not country music or that's not southern rock music No, I think I think for me man I think what it comes down to is like I think a huge thing and I think Aubrey would would agree with is like I Love live music. I love them real live music where something unexpected can happen so for me You start flirting with all the electronics bleeps.

I know how to I know how to do it I know how to make music like that. I could just I've produced records, and I've done other things But to me it's like anything that limits the creativity of a moment of what a live band can do like Don't hem that in like like I want the freedom to take a song in a hundred different places You know and and so some of that electronic stuff Just structures me in too much for stuff like that Yeah for like it's to me I might be the most eclectic musically in the band where I like a little bit of this a little bit of that I want to listen to this that day and that that day And I like a good bass beat for a dance party at home like I like but I'm not gonna I'm probably not gonna go out and perform that kind of music right right so somebody says do you? What's your what's the favorite song of yours? What's your what's that? I think? Yeah, that you sing in the band. What's your favorite? I do my church by Mary Morris That's a cover.

Yeah. Yeah, we don't have any originals for me yet. Okay.

I only do the cover What's your favorite song that the band does? An original song. What's your favorite original song um things break down, but because we Kick into some really cool grooves in that song. It's about what's happening musically not so much I mean, I like what I sing alongside of you, but fast tempo slow tempo That kind of goes between halftime and full-time, so it's kind of got so much my question is okay You guys you have a record deal or a distribution deal.

They call them nowadays normally up there don't really have a record deal And they walk in and they say you know the producer thinks is fantastic You got a great album going on here. You got three hits on the album. That's exactly what they're looking for but We got to throw up.

We got to throw a rapper in on one of these things Steel solo instead of this guitar solo right here. We're gonna have a guest rapper. He's also under our contract with us Yeah, we want to do a very tasteful little like rap part in the center, and what's the answer to that request I? mean talk to Eric that's I mean let's try it.

I don't know could be cool, but he's like no no no no no He's like no, that's like putting an anarchy diaper on my baby. I mean I Mean like yeah, I mean like I don't do this for money if I did if I did it for money. I'd be Really up laughing so I'd be worse off than I am now, but like but um And again like I love hip-hop.

I have favorite hip-hop records, but but to me. It's like I'm trying to do something and I I don't think too preciously of anything that I do But I do have my limits where I'd be just like sorry bro like that's just not that's just not what I know well Just in case there's some people listening to have no clue what we're talking about. Yeah, maybe it's time for a little song Hey, yeah, maybe it is time for a little already So why don't we take a little break, and we'll be right back sounds good.

You're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast 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 What if I went for the coast Well, I kept Things you miss the most Well, I saw my secret I Know I Think better kids never Hey God I'm craving a drink What if I just stop the car You stand down over the brain It's a long way I don't care Oh Wow, very nice excellent very well done guys fantastic. I really like yeah, very nice.

Thank you very Robert Plant Dallas and crashes Yeah, that was that's I Like that kind of a kind of the driving beat that they tend to a tab and that's the amazing thing No, Robert plant not American, but his music nowadays, so totally Americana style Yeah, you know hooking up with Allison crowd man. I remember when she first came on the scene She she admitted that she hated her own voice and she won the Emmy and everything for like best song of the year And I think she won album of the year and everything and she stood up at the podium at the CMA Awards with his look on her face like what the heck Out of champagne, Illinois, yeah, exactly. I know that's amazing.

Yeah, that is amazing Fantastic, and you know, and it sounds like I created this segue, but I did not On this day in music history in 2019 She was given an American Artists Award it's the highest award that is given to an American citizen by the United States government and and I don't know what you know Federation of the Arts or whatever the heck it is. So she's actually come a long way On this day, which is that's really awesome. I'm a surprising that you guys are in here I need to something like that.

It's a tidbit of information is brought to you by nobody by Siri Yeah So that's like that that's like probably one of the newest tunes that we've written So it's not like I think the goal is to get that out released in 2025, but it's not been recorded yet Yes, it has just now We would like we would like the you know production rights and So I'll tell you what there is one song there's a song that I would like to talk about because Reading the bio and everything on you guys and you talked about all the different influences and things like that The very first song on your list. What is it? It was um Jordan I listened to I Listened to all of your all of the music on your website Yeah and I thought that was the one song where I heard every single one of the Genres and artists and different influences. I heard them all in one song.

Tell me about Jordan Tell you about George. So I don't I don't remember all the influence I listen, but I'm a pretty huge Black Crowes fan Okay, and so Jordan and Jordan was started off with the band. I was mentioning in Tallahassee So that was a collaborative thing and I just wanted to write a tune that was from a guitar But that was an open G. It has some swagger to it.

That was like some kind of Black Crowes thing and And so it went through a couple different iterations as a lot of my tunes tend to do and then somewhere along the line I just picked up this idea of From the from the Old Testament in the Bible, there's this story of You know Moses he does the whole thing in Egypt and he guides his people all through the desert but then when it comes time the Jewish people are going to go into the promised land and Moses doesn't get to go. He doesn't get to go He doesn't get to cross over Jordan So like I don't know that that was always like really evocative story like he goes through all of this stuff and he's like really I'm the guy that gets left out of this And So I took a little little bit of storytelling Liberty with with kind of maybe what he was feeling at the time So yeah, okay. Yeah, I get that.

So that that did come from kind of a dark place a little bit. Yeah, I Definitely I mean I think I think my my I mean, yeah I mean we all have stories right and and I think a lot of times as a songwriter You know some of my stories and and my story is far from perfect Right, and so a lot of that stuff just bounds to it squeaks out in lyrics here and there and that riff I'd have to probably retune. Oh, is it really a it's a it's an alternate tuning and I mean, I'm you know, Keith Richards black crows.

I mean, I mean, I'm a huge fan. So yeah, so it's like Lower drone that yeah gives it the heavier. Yeah to it.

Yeah. Yeah, and then I've been wearing worn-out shoes Been 40 years with the killing blues Well, the bitter of the sacred songs Roll the night away I Loved it now that you're saying black crows. Yeah that I am totally hearing the black hairs and that right there, but man I heard I heard Blues traveler in that song.

Okay, you know, yeah the climbing, you know triads and stuff in the middle of the song Yeah, a lot of like like like like modern metal and stuff like that. Yeah It was a little bit of everything in that song. I actually really liked it.

I listened to that song several times Yeah, and then I think the end the fun part about that tune is we recorded that it was all Self-recorded but we we tracked part of the studio We were tracking in had a big warehouse and so I think that big that big outro that just like, you know It's just a done. No, he keeps going on at some point Our drummer had like a metal trash can full of chains that he's just like I Don't know where it got mixed but but it was a great It was like one of those great moments in recording wasn't really a metal trash can it wasn't it was a metal trash can In fact, I've got a you got a picture a picture of it somewhere. Yeah Yeah, no, I really loved it I heard that song and the rest of them were just like Sometimes I'm like Because the very next track then is like a kind of a Slower like yeah, who's that? Yeah type of songs.

We went from here to here Yeah, yeah, but it was great because it I think the first three songs on your website Which you know kind of demonstrated? What your sound yeah is really is. Yeah while we're talking about it. Tell people the website real quick.

Yeah, it's Eric case band.com www.eric eric case casey band B and e Truth. Yeah, go listen to those go listen to the songs on their website. Yeah, really so a live performance of you guys Is it do you include all of the original music or what are you guys doing? It depends on the gig, you know So I don't we never we never play a gig where we don't play some tunes But we recognize a lot of people they don't they're not coming if they don't know us They're not coming to a club to hear us, you know play an hour and a half of our tunes So we play, you know We we got a lot of cover tunes that we enjoy and then we just kind of throw these little mini sets of original tunes in there Just because and and to tell you the truth, they get they get good reception you know, I mean like we're pretty good at what we do and and And I think it's a good balance of like letting people have a good time Here's here songs that they recognize, you know, and and we try not to play anything that we don't like, you know Like which is so it's which is a nice thing nice position to be in and then and you know Every set throw in four or five songs that that you know, just say hey like this is available You can go listen to it and and they listen that's nice, you know, that's good You know, and you know most people that go out to see a band play and especially they're with friends and they're hanging out You know having a good time You know, unfortunately, they only listen to about a third of what's actually going on stage So, you know, they're gonna hear they're gonna hear the song that catches their attention You know my church like you were saying right but then It just so happens that the next two minutes that they listen to might be an original song Yeah, you know So I really don't think people Minded that much at all, you know throw it in there as long as you like you said as long as you've got something to Keep your attention and you stick a few of them in there once in a while Yeah, and I think sometimes people think oh, yeah, I've heard that song before when they never had.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, that's always nice.

You know, like we're you know, who wrote that song? You know and whatever, you know Conversation too. Yeah, there was one song on here. I can't remember which one it was.

I think it may have been um, I want to say it was kind of like Maybe it was brother. I Don't know but one of them really sounded like a Tom Petty Oh, yeah, or or or maybe even like a Traveling Wilburys type kind of a song and I think somebody would say something like Oh, that was a pretty cool. You know Petty song must have been one of his b-sides.

Yeah Yeah Somebody somebody once said when I think it was before the band up here really got going but but somebody who asked I had a friend of mine was playing he played like guitar with with me in the band and I went and he was like he's like dude, you know what your music sounds like I was like what he's like It's like if Tom Petty and Led Zeppelin had a baby Because I love Petty there's no sex tape on that one. No, I don't want to see that Especially but Yeah, like I love Petty but the swagger of Zeppelin and the big riffs I mean, I mean I came with I came that's the way I play electric guitars I Like to play aggressively, I guess I would say you guys do any duets go out and perform together Not yet, no, I think it's something weird something we're looking to do But I think that part is just kind of taking shape in 2025 I'm starting to do some acoustic stuff and I think it's something that we could do really well Seems to be a lot more and more places opening up with little little stages. Mm-hmm, you know for do I to get up there? Yeah, you're saying and yeah, yep, and that's great, too.

I mean again, it's it's almost it's almost It's like it's almost more fun for me to do stuff like that because if I'm doing stuff by myself I mean, I I probably don't even have a set list I just kind of go wherever and I mean, I've listened I listen to so much music and there's so much stuff I love from Elton John to the Beatles to you know, Chris Stapleton and just yeah I'm like just get up there and just follow my nose, you know, let's see what happens So you guys got another one for us? Yeah. Yeah, I was gonna do better things So the cool thing about the cool thing about this tune is My Favorite part of any gig is Eric trying to talk while he's tuning his guitar that there's absolutely glad you're getting to witness that right now No, it's not just him. It's every guitar player If you want to have a conversation with the guitar player, do not let them pick up a guitar Because because it's newly and you ask him a question and it's like in the delay.

Uh-huh. Yeah Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah So So what I'll say about this song is this song is kind of interesting because the lyric is really old the lyrics probably 20 20 years old and and but it's just kind of sat around and So I moved back up here in 2020 and right, right in the little cove it everything shut down, you know, and and slowly start to get this band put together and In introduce them to some of my tunes and they're really open They want to play some of the tunes, but I'm still trying to find like a couple people I got a bass player. I got a drummer, you know, and then but I Really want first. I think the first person I met is like I found this young youngster on Facebook Who is a pedal steel player in the city? And I was like, hey, man, you interesting.

He's like sure. I'll come on Okay, cool. And then and then Aubrey and I worked together and I really wanted a female singer in the band just because I grew up singing harmony with my Sister and so there's always something about that that just clicks so hard with me And so we're on a work trip together and I'm like, hey, do you know any singers? She's like, oh, I might be interested and I was like, no seriously Do you know any singers because I thought no way produce live events to like, you know, it's like yeah, but I know a lot Yeah, she's got great connections.

And so the point being like a lot. I also Also have some really great friends who are really gifted in variety of technical arts And I had a friend who is like a videographer like a video director and he's like dude Let me make a music video for you for free. I was like, okay, so we so we scout this location We found this like a hundred and fifty year old warehouse in Batavia.

Just big vacant vibey warehouse It's cool. And so they're gonna do and so like how long were you like you two weeks? Maybe you were in the band Like totally. Yeah, so I was like, hey, you want to come be in the band? By the way, we're doing a video shoot in two weeks By the way, there's like original tunes like you get the fact that the way I like auditioned for the band was Come to a gig and sing the first conversation.

Do you know anybody? Do you know anybody? Well, yeah, I know a lot of vocalists like I may be no like for real. Do you know anybody? Okay, and then a week later like hey, were you serious about that? Yeah. Yes.

I was serious Okay Well, we have a gig in three weeks So you want to just learn these three songs and just like hop up on stage and sing with us? Yeah, and we're a miniskirt Me and then I thought But it was fine it was great Yeah, so so there's a video on our website. We did a music video play the band played live We just sat up we set up everything up in this warehouse Mic'd everything up Had barely been a band and we're like we're gonna do a live recording and a live video shoot and we're just gonna see what happens and so it was a song better things and Yeah, so yeah before you start by the way, that was actually an actual ad that that was in one of the local music publications band in search of female who owns miniskirt to sing in rock band You're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast I'm Christy from crime cave podcast I've had a huge interest in true crime since my days of watching marathons of snapped back in the mid 90s I needed an outlet to talk about the cases that have haunted me for a very long time With each episode under 20 minutes. I shine a light on some of the most bizarre cases in the last 50 years Join me in the crime cave Hi, I'm Rick Anthony I'd like to thank my radio brothers Ray the roadie and Hollywood Mike for allowing me to tell you about my podcast The someone you should know podcast We spotlight musicians authors and interesting people and we like to say we're making a difference one artist at a time The podcast is heard twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays And you could check it out on your favorite streaming platforms and on the web at someone you should know podcast calm That's the someone you should know podcast with me Rick Anthony making a difference one artist at a time.

All right things rigged out I've been searching for a new direction Lately I'm not sure Surely Paradise Seem so Lately Digging in the dirt for inspiration Lately, I'm not sure how to stop Seem to rise From the bottom way up to the top And I believe, I believe in better things for you And me Oh yeah Oh yeah Yeah, very nice again, you know, I think people are gonna listen to this and they're gonna want to go out and see you guys See you guys you guys harmonize extremely well together Thank you. I was hearing Jimmy Buffett in there a little bit a little bit Yeah, and that never minded me a little bit of walk away Joe by by Don Henley and Trisha. You're Yeah, the way the harmonies yeah, yeah see you guys around there's a lot of stuff Yeah, thank you.

That's what I think it is. I think somebody's gonna find a little bit of Something in all of the music that that you guys play. That's what we do it for man Yeah, just like to share what share what we what we do and have help have people have a good time And yeah, so where can people go to fall in love with you? Where can they see you right now? Yeah I'll tell you what We have a probably the next show that we have coming up is the end of January January 31st at Carol's pub in On the north side this thing.

Yeah, so it's our first time there and and we're it's gonna be a great bill Got a great singer-songwriter opening the night and then Our pedal steel player plays in another band They're gonna hope they're gonna play the second band and then he's gonna turn around and do a set with us. So awesome Yes, that'd be a great night. And we do have some like I said looking to release some more music in 2025 I've got a recording date coming up just in a couple weeks and maybe lay some tracks down So right yeah doing that and then if you just stay with us on the socials and Instagram and Facebook You'll see more stuff coming out.

We keep the website up to date as well So good idea a lot of places a lot of you know, people don't do that. You go to the website. It's like from three years ago Yeah, all right final thought You've got ten seconds to say whatever you want to say to the hundreds of thousands of listeners out there, man I'm so grateful that this podcast exists.

You guys have talked to everybody I'm honored to be a part of this, you know, this conversation live music matters and And it's important so keep coming out to see live music even if it's not us excellent excellent When you're at a venue when you're at a bar and someone plays something you like clap for them Make it known So often artists are in those venues and they're working their tail off Trying to bring great music and I think there are a lot more people in that space that actually appreciate what they're doing But they're chatting with friends and do it pause the conversation Clap give a yell just show appreciation of like I like what you did or say something afterwards like exactly just tell them Yeah, it's not an ego thing. It's just like a hey affirmation Like maybe I'm marching in the right direction with what I'm doing here. Yeah, man Come up and say hi to us that that happens all the time.

It's like I'll hear weeks later Oh, we saw you guys so-and-so. Well, why didn't you come up and say hi? Yeah, you know, yeah Yeah, just you know, I'm your neighbor. I live right down the street, you know, you're not gonna be you know Jumped by my entourage Say hi, let's have a beer, you know Yeah, well, thanks for coming down I know I had a little bit of a trip and it's actually snowing for the first time I couldn't believe that when I looked on my window today and saw snow I know I freaked out but it is almost December.

Yeah, it is So, thanks again for coming out and we hope to see you guys real soon. Yeah. Thank you guys.

Thank you. See you later There we go. Eric case band Eric case band just in case band.

Yeah, you know, they were really good They were good. Very good, you know, and I really enjoyed their music on the website Mm-hmm hearing them just do it as a as a duet here kind of gave it a little bit of a different different feel But yeah, they're a really good band really a big sounding band Listen to the recordings in the whole bin go on see me like I said some great music, you know There's some home Americana trend and stuff. Yes.

I like it. Yeah. Oh, absolutely I mean, you know, but I've always kind of likes a lot of folky music and stuff like that and you know now that's Got its own genre now.

Yeah. Yeah rock and roll and and but they're putting different types of Instrumentation into it, you know mandolin and cello and yeah, you know some horns and stuff into it Nobody ever thought about that and like you said every song you hear something else you hear somebody different in there You hear this guy hear this guy heard Jimmy Buffett in that last song, you know, it's pretty cool, right? That's pretty cool. Well, it's been great being back.

Hope all you guys haven't missed as we shouldn't have y'all had a bunch of Episodes so we didn't really miss anything. But as usual I hope you're enjoying the rock and roll Chicago podcast and join us every Tuesday for another exciting episode. See you next week 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