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.

Hollywood Mike. Mr. Ray, how you doing, man? I'm doing good, how you doing? You know, I couldn't be better. I'm living the dream.

Good for you. What dream is that? Well, I don't have to report to a day job until January, well, 14th. Yeah? Yeah.

Awesome. I'm done. I'm done.

That's good. I'm trying to get them to leave me alone. Did you get fired or? Nope, absolutely not.

No? I just decided I'm done for the year and I'm not coming back until. You have that much power at your job? You can tell them to do that? Nope. No.

But I did, but I did. This is an experiment. We're going to see what happens.

Oh, let's see when you get back January 14th and they say, Mike who? Yeah, that's right. Well, that's the way it's going. Well, what are you going to do until then? Absolutely nothing.

Nothing? No, nothing. But I might hang out here and do some podcast interviews. That sounds good.

And hang out with you and drink bourbon. That's good. Because it is Wednesday.

It is Wednesday. That's what we have to do. Wednesdays are good.

So what we got going on? Tonight we got Honeydew Squeeze. Honeydew Squeeze. Yeah.

Wow. That's a sultry sounding kind of name. It sure is.

That means two things. I want to know where that name came from. I do.

I want to know what that does too. And who's here representing? My name's Tony. I'm the drummer.

And I'm Josh. And I'm the lead guitarist and vocalist. And Tony's also a vocalist too.

Sometimes. All right. Yeah.

And I'm John. Bass and vocals. No, no glockenspiel.

No glockenspiel. We're still trying to find the glockenspiel. We're going to find one.

It's been two years now. We can't find a glockenspiel. You guys did.

I listened to your podcast with- That was you? No, with Freakquilibrium. You guys talked about it. Oh, that's right.

He was the guy that listened. He was the guy that listened to that. Wow.

I was wondering who that was. One listen. One listen.

Dude, I called you up. Dude, somebody listened to it. Seriously, you listened to the Freakquilibrium? Wow.

I sure did. Our keyboardist who's not here, he's actually buddies with them. So I was looking through your podcast.

I saw Freakquilibrium, but I figured I'd give him a listen. So that's what it is. So it's there.

There was a connection. It's not like he just randomly came across our podcast and goes, shit, I'm going to listen to it. Yeah.

All right. I knew there had to be something like that because we're not that good. I thought we were.

Okay. We are. No, we're actually pretty good.

I think so. And once we get the video cameras going on, they'll know how handsome we are too. That's right.

That's right. People could tell me I've got a face for radio. No, you don't even have a face for radio.

You have a face for a podcast. That's right. They've got to pre-record it and then edit it.

It's going to look good enough for radio. So Honeydew Squeeze. What do you guys do? Where does that, and also where did this name come from? It's a good question.

I'd like to know where it came from too. No, it's, I mean, the band's been going on for quite a bit. Did you start the band? Yeah.

So it started in Kalamazoo, Michigan when I was in college out there at Western, go Broncos. You know, and I think it happened just like any good band name happens. We're just all sitting around drinking, doing other things and, you know, throwing a bunch of stuff at the wall, see what sticks.

I think someone shouted out, maybe me or somebody else, you know, Honeydew. How about something with Honeydew? Like, okay, that's on there. We're going to write that down.

Now we need something else. Honeydew what? You know, a million different things and Squeeze came out. Somebody said melon, didn't they? Oh, probably.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. So yeah, it was just something that the stars aligned and something cool came over. Yeah.

Right. Yeah. Yeah.

You know, I, you know, I have to apologize to you, because I totally know what you were trying to do at the beginning of the interview. Oh, thank you. With the Honeydew Squeeze and stuff.

And I had time off and you were trying to get me to say Honeydew List. But I've been drinking bourbon and I just wasn't. That'll happen.

Yeah. Bourbon will make you lose your mind a little bit like that. That's right.

Can we start the whole thing over again? No. No? No. Okay.

All right. We'll walk out and walk back in. So how'd you put this together? What was your first phone call? You decided, okay, I'm going to put this thing together and we're going to start a band.

Yes. So always playing music. I was the worst of three guitarists growing up.

So they made me play bass as it goes. But then once I got to college, I didn't have a band. So I just started playing guitar, figured that out.

And I had a buddy who was also a musician. So we started gigging out. We played on a couple radio stations for the college as well, which was a lot of fun.

What college was that? Western Michigan University. Western Michigan University. Western Michigan.

Go Broncos. That's right. Brown and yellow.

Kind of like a gold. Yeah. No, it's yellow.

I'm sorry. My son and I did the college visit there in the Hobbit and we saw it. And my son's like, yeah, these colors aren't in my color palette.

I can't, I can't do the brown and the yellow. It's a loss. It's a shame.

Yeah. We started out there and, you know, we were going by, I think at that time it was like Johnny Laulea and Urk. That was, uh.

That was the name of your band? That was the name of this band. Initially it turned into a little brother in Technicolor. Then I found out that was a rap artist or a hip hop group from way back in the day.

So I was like, okay, pivot, pivot. Then we became Smudge and we got a mandolin player and an auxiliary percussionist. Then we finally found a saxophonist, auxiliary percussionist, bass player, guitarist, drummer.

We were five beats. No glockenspiel. No, that comes later.

And then we came up with Honeydew Squeeze, gigged around Kalamazoo, all over the place. Did that for a couple of years. And then when I graduated, took a little break, moved back out here.

I grew up around this area and started jamming with a couple other guys. And we started a band called, uh, what was it? It was Psychedelic Breakfast. And then that turned into Heavy Mellow.

And then we were like, you know what? We have already so many songs that are Honeydew Squeeze. Why don't we just take the name, revamp these tunes, started jamming. I actually played at like the Drunk Donut.

That was our first gig out here. And then we found Josh, thankfully. And, uh, what was that? 2017? Somewhere around there.

I mean, we were a three-piece acoustic band for a while. Thank God that Josh came along because if one more weird name popped up, I didn't know what I was going to do. So we've clearly figured out what the talent of this band is.

It isn't playing music. It's coming up with band names. Yeah, branding.

That's what it is. Yeah. So if you need a band name, you know, hit me up.

But yeah, we found Josh and we were a three-piece acoustic band. And I was playing guitar still. And then a year later, we found Tony.

And at that point, he was playing auxiliary percussion for us. We had a bass player that jumped in, a different drummer, Josh on shredding lead guitar, me on rhythm guitar, all of us singing a little bit here and there. And then just earlier this year, our drummer and bass player at the time ended up going a different direction.

We found our keyboardist, Brennan, who's not here. But then the four of us have been jamming since probably around April. Sounds about right.

So you were an auxiliary percussionist at first. Yep. And then they promoted you to full-time drummer.

Yeah, by default, because the other drummer left. So what was the auxiliary percussion? So I played congas, like a bunch of shakers, tambourines, pretty much anything that I had laying around, just playing drums all the years. I just kind of put up a set together and just went with it.

All right. Be honest. Was there ever a time where you're like, this dead sucks.

I need to be the real drummer? Oh, yeah, all the time. Yeah. No, it was cool what we had for a while.

It was like a new learning experience for me, because I had dabbled in hand percussion in college, too, but never really took it to the next step. So it was kind of like a cool four years playing that. But I did miss the kit.

So it was an awesome time to switch back to that. Yeah. No, I could totally see that.

You're just sitting there over. I mean, that can't be fulfilling. Well, hey, he got pretty good at the harmonica while he was doing that, too, though.

Well, that's cool. Yeah. So he's our harmonica player, as well.

Yeah. So you really don't have a lead singer. You all just kind of sing a little bit.

Is that the way it goes? Yeah, I mean, I would say I probably sing maybe like 60% of the time, and then the rest is kind of divvied up between everybody, I would say. Is that kind of fair? Yeah, that sounds right. Yeah.

All right. All right. And so how long has the band been together, then? So this really, I mean, this iteration of the band with our keyboardist and us three, only what? Eight months.

Eight months, maybe. Wow. But the band, you know, here and there, starting and stopping, different members coming in, all that since 2014.

So it's just kind of like our 10-year anniversary this year, which is kind of nice. Wow. 10-year anniversary.

All right, decade. So you literally started it while you were in college? Yeah. Yep.

You did. Okay. All right.

So what do you consider to be like your home base? If somebody, where are you located, if somebody says that? Yeah, I would say probably now New Lenox, New Lenox, Illinois. Okay. Yeah.

So have you played a lot of gigs recently? Yeah, we play, we try to do at least once or, yeah, once or twice every month. So that's been pretty consistent since COVID ended. Right.

Okay. All right. You know, I noticed on your band mix page, you're looking for some additional... Is that still up? Josh, what the hell? Yeah, I mean, it says you're seeking accordion, acoustic guitar, background singer, bagpipes, banjo, bass guitar.

I don't see the glockenspiel in there. Well, that's really why we're here. Accordion, you guys, do you guys play accordion at all? No, no.

No, but Ray plays the skin flute. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Oh, however, we did have a band in here a couple months, a few months ago.

Yeah. That it's Gotham Ramblers. They've got an accordion player.

They do have an accordion player. Yeah. Yeah.

I can play the nose whistle. Yes. I mean, it sounds like we would fit in.

Yeah. Skin flute and nose whistle. Come on.

I like it. I mean. Yeah.

Okay. New band name. Yeah, right.

Skin flute and the nose whistles. John, what do you think? I said it first. I said it first.

I think that was John. Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast is currently auditioning for a new co-host. Well, that's really funny, too, that you brought up that website, because that's where we found our keyboardist.

Yeah. Yeah. I was looking around.

We didn't know where to look. But, you know, I found Band Mix, and I guess it's still active. So I'm actually getting some emails.

So I should probably delete that. But yeah, that's where we found Brennan. We're pretty lucky because, I mean, he's a heck of an artist.

I mean, if anyone out there is listening and you're looking, if you lost a member, I mean, definitely try that site. I mean, it worked for us. Yeah.

It's been around a long time. I think I still have a profile on Band Mix, and it's probably been up there for close to 20 years. Wow.

But I actually played in a band one time where the entire band was assembled from Band Mix. Wow, that's awesome. No, but you have to go through about 300 emails before you find one person that you would play with because there is a lot of like, you know, hey, I've been taking lessons for six months, and all my friends say I'm great.

I mean, there is a lot of that stuff on there. We must have lucked out because we only went through one, right? Yeah. Wow.

Yeah. But even that was strange. It's like we don't know this person.

You know, he was considerably younger than us. And it was like, you know, do we bring him over to the house? Do I just give him my address right from the jump here? Like, you know, what do we do here? But yeah, we lucked out, especially it came at a great time because we had just separated like we were saying from our drummer and our bass player at the time. So, you know, I jumped over to bass.

Tony jumped over to drums. And it was we were a three piece and we've always been a five piece. So it was like, where do we go from here? And, you know, I am I will admit it.

I am not a big fan of jamming with keyboardists. I have we've jammed with a couple in the past and they're great good people, but I'm a singer songwriter at heart. And so are most keyboardists.

So it's like we're just butting heads when we're playing, you know, shows. So Brennan, he's just man, he just fills a gap that we I didn't even know we had, really, which is awesome. Yeah, but I've never heard anybody say I don't like jamming with keyboard players.

Really? I don't know what it is. Yeah, I think it's just that singer songwriter mentality. Huh? I don't know.

Well, maybe you're finding keyboard players that are singer songwriters. That's maybe what the problem is. Yeah, because the key, no pun intended, is literally to find a keyboard player that has no idea he has a left hand.

Really? Yeah, really. You know, because then they start clashing with the bass player and everything else. And that's where it kind of clashes with other people.

Yeah, but I'm completely opposite. It's like I don't ever want to be in a band ever again without one. I don't think me either.

Honestly, now that I've jammed with a good one. Yeah, well, see, that's that's that's just it. Yeah, that's just it is a lot of your keyboard players.

I mean, they're they're not like guitar players. They're not a dime a dozen. So when you find a good one, you keep them and they end up being jobbers.

And so you got to find one that can get out of that jobber mentality, I think. That's a good point. Yeah, yeah.

Well, excellent. So what kind of stuff you guys play? Kind of all over the place. I mean, my biggest influences, and we can go around and talk about that, too.

But, you know, I think Grateful Dead and Sublime are kind of like where our roots kind of dig down. But classic rock, jam band stuff, reggae, blues. Yeah, what do you guys think? Yeah, I think that's that pretty much, you know.

Yeah, that's that's it. That sounds to me like it's screaming out for like a trumpet player. We'd saw saxophone player when this band first started.

And they're looking for one here. Is that in there in between the accordion and glockenspiel? Trombone, trumpet, no glockenspiel. No lute.

Is there a lute down there? No, no, no, no lute. OK, Josh, you got to add that on there. Yeah, yeah.

But in Kalamazoo, when the band first started, No, it's just kazoo, not Kalamazoo, just kazoo. Looking for one electric kazoo. But the lineup, it was our main guy was a saxophone player.

And it was, it was great. It was amazing. It was just a totally different sound than what we're doing now.

But equally as badass, so. Yeah, nice, nice, nice. Well, I'll tell you what, we're a few minutes into the podcast right now.

And I want to hear what these guys sound like. Yeah, they have a six song EP out. Wow.

Yeah, I don't need to hear the whole six song EP right now. Let's do it. But, you know, one would be pretty cool.

Yeah, I see that they brought instruments in. They did. There's a milk crate in the corner, you know, that should fit right in.

All righty, why don't we take a little break here and get them set up and we'll be right back. Yeah, 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. 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 dot 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 seven, all music with its roots in Illinois. Something that we got to do.

Baby, it's just. With you, I know from here on your by my side till death do us part and hook up in the afterlife. And these eyes are meant for only you and with them, let me address you.

Baby, let me take care of you. There ain't gotta be something that we gotta do. Baby, it's just.

Wow, nice, abrupt ending. That was pretty cool. Thank you.

Hey, I set these back where they need to be. Wow. Fantastic.

Set it back to where they need to be. Yeah, set it back to where it needs to be right there. That's the next band name.

Set it back to where it needs to be. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Wow. That was pretty cool. I don't know what to think about that.

Whatever you want. That was pretty melodic. It was pretty high energy.

We like to say the juice is worth the squeeze. So we just hope that you feel the same. No, that was, you know, I'm going to show my age here.

I'm going to show my age completely on this because, you know, that reminded me of one of my favorite bands, and I wish this band would come out and record more albums, but I think they're absolutely done. God, I loved the Spin Doctors. Oh, wow.

OK, that totally reminded me of the deep cuts of on the Spin Doctors albums. You know, everybody knows them for Pocket Full of Kryptonite, Little Miss Can't Be Wrong and, you know, the poppy stuff. But you listen to the deep cuts on the Spin Doctors albums, and they were all this like jazz movements, very melodic, a lot of dynamics in the whole bit.

And that song reminded me of a song on one of their albums called Cleopatra's Favorite Cat. It's like this kind of thing like that, just like you guys were doing with all the breaks and the timing and stuff like that. Listen to that song.

That was pretty cool, man. I really like that. Thank you.

Thank you. Even I've heard of Cleopatra's Cat. Cleopatra's Cat.

I have, I have. It's a great song. It is a great song.

It is the most high energy, greatest song with as little instrumentation as possible. I mean, it's a half the song is almost all like finger snaps. And then they get to do like this jazzy part.

And even the vocals like Cleopatra's Favorite Cat. That's the way the whole song starts. That totally reminded me of it.

Cool. When you guys are playing, do you do any acoustic sets or is it all? Every once in a while, but typically it's alive and electric. Yeah.

Yeah. Wow. Pretty cool.

Yeah. Sounded great. Yeah.

It's like pulling teeth, getting him to play an acoustic guitar. I was about to say our acoustic sets. We say they're acoustic, but I'm usually with my electric guitar and my super reverb amp.

And we're coming in pretty hot. But yeah, that was pretty much the first time I've played acoustic guitar live for anything. The secret is to find a really cool electric guitar that sounds acoustic.

That's yeah. That's the secret. Epiphone makes a really cool one.

Yeah. Yeah. Anybody at Epiphone is listening.

We're looking for sponsors. So who's the main songwriter? I think, you know, in the early years, it was definitely me writing a good majority of it. This guy writes all the stuff that if we ever get on the radio, you know, we'll get us famous.

The stuff he writes. Yeah. I write more of the weird, weird kind of like.

So who wrote that? That was me. And what's the name of that one? Semantics. Semantics.

Okay. Yeah. And then nowadays, it seems like, you know, anybody brings a riff to the table at practice.

And, you know, over the next eight weeks, we all just keep adding to it and adding to it. And, you know, pull from the puzzle pieces we've created at home and bring it together and make something cool. Right.

So I saw in the band mix that you guys got, you have a six song EP out. Yeah. And it says you got 20 additional songs.

We have a lot more than that at this point. Are you planning on recording them or? Yeah, it's on the honeydew list. Okay.

Man. He could be a podcaster. Yeah, he could be.

He could be. You guys looking for a third host? A third, fourth and fifth host? We actually have a third. His name is Paul Martin.

He's not here right now. That's right. Yeah.

I mean, he's not in the studio. He's our editor. And I hope it's so it is a three person team for sure.

Yeah. Yeah. Like the Trinity.

Yes, we are. I don't know that that would be. I don't know if that would be a father, son and greatest host.

You don't have to call me that, right? Once again, Rock and Roll Chicago podcast is looking for a new call. No, that's pretty good. So what is the goal? Are you guys just happy playing around in bars or stuff? Or do you guys really want to get discovered? You're really trying to make a go of this.

I don't know. I mean, we never really, really talked about any of that. I mean, kind of what we're doing now.

We all have families. We all have busy lives. Three out of four of us are our own business owners, too.

So it's right now. It's a lot of fun. If something happens, it'd be great.

But we're easy to please. I feel like at this point and as long as we can keep gigging. And what do you guys think? Yeah.

I mean, we've gigged more in the last year. I feel like than we have in the last five years. And 2025 is looking pretty stacked as well, too.

With the amount of gigs we're booking. But I think we're all happy doing what we're doing right now. We're all getting a little older.

Obviously, it'd be cool to be discovered. But really, we're just doing what we love. Like twice a month, we go out and play music for usually three hours.

Yep. Yeah. I always tell my fiance, it's like, if we didn't have this band, I'd join a bowling league.

I just got to do something every week. You know, I got to do something. Wow.

Bowling league. So what do you guys do during the day? So three out of the four of you are business owners? Yeah. These guys.

Yeah. Well, not quite yet. I'm in a family business.

So eventually I'll be, you know, taking over. But there's a fine line between graffiti art and owning a paint contract. Exactly, exactly.

So seriously, what do you do? So family business. This is a nice little plug. I was actually at the job with my uncle today.

So I told him I'd plug the business. So it's a Rita Peterson drainage. We do sewer and drain cleaning.

And then there's a sister company that called Trenchless Innovations. And we do sewer lining and then air duct restoration. So I'm out in the field.

So yeah, yeah. I've been doing that for the last, you know, seven, eight years. Did I mention that we are looking for sponsors? We are looking for sponsors.

Yeah. So yeah. All right.

And a lot of our listeners are old enough where they need some roto-rooting. They sure do. And we're better than roto-rooters.

So yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, good. And what do you do? I'm owner operator of TZX Pro Lawn Care.

We do lawn and landscaping around this area. Joliet, Shorewood, Plainfield. I've seen this.

T-E-Z-A-K? Yeah. There's also a funeral home that's in the area. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm thinking of that, but I get asked all the time about that. No, I actually, I don't think it's where it is. Don't you, do you guys have a sign on Weber Road in Romeoville? In Plainfield off of Route 30.

My shop's up there. It's got a big sign on there. I think that's what I'm thinking of.

Yeah, right by the. That's your business. Yeah.

Wow. No kidding. Okay.

Did I mention to you that we are looking for sponsors? We're looking for sponsors. Hey, we need to get some snow and I'm just trying to make it to the winter right now. Yeah.

Isn't that funny? You know, because I was in a band before where a guy owned his own landscape company. And then the wintertime, all he did was plow. That's what they all do.

That's what they do. That's what they all do. You got trucks and stuff like that.

That's what you do. Yeah, that's exactly right. And plowing is big money.

Oh yeah, it is. You make more money plowing than cutting grass. Yeah, yeah.

That's for sure. And so you're not a business owner. What are you? No, I'm in corporate America.

I'm a corporate sellout. Yeah. I sell beer for a living.

I work for a distributor. It's a lot of fun. Did I tell you that we're looking for sponsors? Did I mention that we're looking for beer? I should have brought some.

Yeah, it's not a bad gig. Yeah, no kidding. All right.

Well, that's good. So what's on the plate for 2025? It's like, do you guys have a vision, things that you want to accomplish and everything for the coming year? Yeah, I think right now we just got a really cool opportunity with Smokey Joe's in Crete, Illinois, the bar out there. We're playing there every six weeks or so for all of 2025.

I played there and we interviewed his band. We interviewed Vince and his band. Nice.

Yeah, Vince is in a band and we had them in the studio a few months ago. Great people, great venue. We gig out a lot of local bars, local establishments.

I think we're kind of all aligned to, we'd like to start playing a little bit more festivals, whether those are those hippie jam festivals or even rib fest, whatever it is, just any festival. But I'd love to get into the brewery scene too. So if there's any breweries out there looking for some live music, I'd love to get into that.

Honeydew Squeeze would be the name of a very good wheat ale, I feel like. Yeah, you're probably right. Or you should at least have a shot or a cocktail created for you so when you play, say, let's do a special on the Honeydew Squeeze and give them the recipe.

That's not bad. It's a great idea. Yeah, you should absolutely do that.

Yeah. Wow. What do you guys think? We haven't really talked about what 2025 other than what we already have booked.

We're going to get more merch made up, possibly do some more recording. Yeah. Yeah, I think gig up to twice a month is our main goal right now.

Yeah. And keep that consistent. It's been going pretty good so far.

Yeah. Agreed. You got stuff booked for 2025? Halfway.

Really? Yeah, we're booked every month except for the summer. As of now, we're kind of keeping that open just for a lot of Battle of the Bands, things like that always pop up in festivals that we were just talking about. Yeah, yeah.

But yeah, I mean, every other month of 2025, we got something going on. So check out our Facebook if you want to come see us live. Well, you got a calendar? What you guys got coming up in like February, March? Yeah, so as of right now, it's just all we have concrete in January.

We have Straybar in Frankfurt and then in February. That's out by you. It's right by me.

Yeah, great. Yeah, that's what that's the 25th of January. And then Smokey Joe's will be February 7th.

And then we're back there in March. Yeah, 29th. 29th, yeah.

And we got a couple other feelers hopefully get into like Midtown in Manhattan. It's a great venue for us. They take care of us there.

So yeah, so we're actively booking. Okay, pretty cool. And when are you finding all this time to get together and write and rehearse? Wednesdays.

Yep. Yeah. Like clockwork.

Oh, sorry to take you out of your element. In a garage too. Yeah.

Cold garage, but. We got heaters. Yeah, we've had the heaters, so.

Yeah, every Wednesday we try to get together. And then, you know, it's constant communication outside of that. Right, right, right.

Texting, sending ideas, puzzle pieces back and forth, you know. So how many gigs have you guys played since this formation has been together? The three of us have played at least 50 shows, I would say, right? So you guys are getting booked? Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're playing pretty consistently.

We used to play in the city a lot before COVID. Our old drummer and bassist were really big in the Chicago music scene, so they kind of put an emphasis on that. Since we got this new four-piece we got going on right now, it seems like we're staying a little bit more local.

Kind of like an evening with Honeydew Squeeze type shows, you know, three-hour sets, as opposed to like a 45-minute set with multiple band lineup in the city. But yeah, I mean, we've played at, you know, Beat Kitchen was always great to us, Cubby Bear. Yeah, yeah.

What was the, a couple other, like Double Door, was that one we played at? Bottom Lounge. Bottom Lounge, Jumbo Room. Yeah, those are nice places.

So this is kind of weird. I mean, it's strange to hear you say that because we've had all original bands in here before. Yeah.

And none of them are playing as much as you guys are. How are you getting booked? What's your secret? We don't just play originals. Well, okay, okay, so let's clarify that.

Yeah. All right, all right. So what percentage of your show is original versus cover? 20 to 25 original.

Yeah. The rest covers. Yeah, I would say so.

Okay, so about a third, so what is it? About a third of your set would be originals? So we typically play, what, 24 songs in a show. Okay. Maybe 24 to 26.

Okay. And of those, I would say what? Five or six. Yeah, maybe six is a good balance.

So you're not going out and playing all those 20-some, you know, originals or whatever that you have. No, just peppermint. So what's your cover set, right? Yeah, all over the place, really.

I mean. Yeah, Grateful Dead, Beatles, Rolling Stones. Okay.

Talking Heads, yeah, Talking Heads. But then we also try to bring in, you know, we got Mac Miller in there. We do, you know, what are some other than? Post Malone.

Yeah, Post Malone. Is country stuff or is real stuff? Not country. No, his real stuff.

Okay. You know, I said it that way, and I shouldn't have said it that way, but I saw him on the CMA Awards show a few weeks ago, and all of a sudden he's like in this country genre. Post Malone's showing up with a cowboy hat and boots and, you know, in the George Jones suit and all, and I was like, what the hell is this? But he did write and perform a song.

I don't think he's the greatest vocalist in the world. That's my opinion. But he wrote a song that is destined to be like the next generation's number one wedding song.

Yeah, it really was. If it was performed by somebody else like George Strait, you know, it would have been a fantastic song. But I mean, but I don't even know the name of it, but the whole song is about a guy who's giving his daughter away at her wedding.

And the chorus of the song is, just because I'm giving her away, it doesn't mean she's yours. Ah, cool. That was a country song right there.

Yeah, it was, but it was a slow, tearjerker kind of ballad thing. But I digress. So, I mean, there's some continuity, though, in your covers, because I mean, it's not like you were saying, like, Bruno Mars and Black Sabbath.

I mean, there's some kind of, I mean, it's that jam, I mean, it's that jam band kind of thing that you're doing there. So there's some continuity. And we do like our bread and butter, I would say, too, at this point is we like to do medleys, too.

So it's, you know, we'll throw in seven songs all into one and make it a, you know, as long as the crowd will let us jam, jam, you know? Right, right, right. OK, OK. I totally get that.

So there's appealing for everybody. Yeah, that's the whole point. You know, we're trying to, you know, we're right in that sweet spot of young and old, I feel like, too.

So it's like we want to bring younger people, but we also want to keep the older people there. Right. And so it's, you know, it's just we're trying to find the balance.

And I think our original music is kind of a little happy medium. Right. You know, so figuring this out, figuring it out, you know.

It also seems to me, though, like like you've got a genre that isn't widely accepted everywhere, you know, because a lot of clubs, they want to hear the Bruno Mars, you know, they want to hear the stuff that you're hearing on mainstream radio. Yeah. Because they feel that that's what brings people in.

But and, you know, sometimes, you know, Jam Band can get a bad rap. I mean, it is kind of a niche market kind of thing. Are you guys getting any kind of, you know, pushback from anybody because of that? I mean, are you fighting hard for the gigs? Are they pretty much coming pretty easily? I mean, we definitely put in the work.

I think we work for for the work we get. You know, it's not it's not something that we know somebody and we get opportunities. We really don't know anybody in the scene.

We don't really know anybody that owns a bar. It's just been, you know, us busting our ass and being consistent and bringing people to our shows. Thankfully, people keep showing up.

So, you know, I think and I think the setlist help, you know, they hear us and we're able to do a nice little happy medium to have kind of mellower songs that people could still enjoy their dinner because, you know, it is three hours. It's a long time to listen to the same band. It's nice that we can kind of tap in and out of melting people's faces and being just, you know, in the corner.

Right, right. Plus, I mean, the name of the band probably has their mouth watering. They're sitting there.

It's like an appetizer. For like a salad or something. Yeah, something like that.

Honeydew with some iceberg lettuce. Yeah, right. Hey, you know, salt and pepper on honeydew melon is fantastic, by the way.

You shouldn't overlook that. Yeah. Okay.

Noted. I'm heading to the jewels after we're done here. We're going to Juliet's and get drunk.

You know that. On jewels. Yeah.

So, you know, I think it's time for another song. I think so. I'd like to hear another song.

I would like to hear another one. I'm chomping at the bit. Yeah.

Plus, I want to eat my honeydew that I brought with. Okay, there you go. All right, take a quick break.

You're listening to the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast. All right. And once again, we have Honeydew Squeeze.

Yeah. And this is a song called Mainly Maui Waui. This one is on our, the only album we have on the ethers right now called Variety Pack Volume 1. Of course, it's called Maybe Maui Waui.

What else would it be? Two, three. It's up a few tricks. Like how to make rhymes to scratch your discs.

And if you bring the style, I'll bring the rhythm. I'm working at something that you call soul living. And I'm still stuck on the simple things.

I just want to see you smile when you hear me singing. I'm still stuck on the simple things. Like the birds and the bees.

Clouds and the trees. Blowing in the wind. Go with the flow.

Jump on my longboard and go coast to coast. And cruise without a care in the world. Another night spent on the bathroom floor.

Another morning contemplating getting out of bed. I stay inebriated and get lost in my head. Because I came for the party, stayed for the women.

Now lost in the music, I find my own rhythm. And I know it's the bruise that gets us all together. But the marijuana smoke brings us closer than ever to singing.

Da, da. Mainly Maui, Maui man. The room was up in smoke.

Singing, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. Down in smoke. In the snow, it's just another routine.

No need to rush back to reality. I'm not ready for today, but I'mma live it like my last thing. Got many stories, because I don't live in the past.

And I'll die on my feet before I live on my knees. I could hardly see my future, so I bet it don't owe me. Let the sun be down.

Pick me up. Try to get through today. Keep my head up, up, up, up, up and away.

And who's to say that tomorrow won't be just like today? Up, up, up, up and away. And who's to say that tomorrow won't be just like today? So chill without a care in the world. Another night spent with some random girl.

Another morning contemplating getting out of bed. I stay inebriated and get lost in my head. Because I came for the party, stayed for the women.

Now lost in the music, I found my own rhythm. And I know it's the blues, yes, it's all together. But the marijuana smoke brings us closer than ever.

I'm singing, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da, da. And I take a lot of pictures, because I don't remember faces. And life's like a novel with a million pages.

Keep reading and breathing till you get to the good stuff. Lose your spot, because you don't like change, mama. Wow.

Whoa, we got some echo at the end there. Even manually did the fade out. Yeah, no kidding, man.

Wow. I was starting to get a little stoned. Holy shit.

Contact, huh? Dang. You hit the applause, and it kind of took me out of a trance. That was really good.

Holy shit. Thank you. That was great.

Dare I say, like, everlast. Take it. Damn.

Yeah. That was really good. Very good.

I think I'm freaking blown away. I think so. I think you are.

I think you have a band crush. I do. Well, if you have any parties, you need a band for it.

Yeah, I think I've got that covered. I don't have to pay myself. We were just having this conversation.

Where were we? So you guys mentioned earlier, you're on Facebook. Anywhere else people can find you? Don't go to the band mix. It's not up to date.

Yeah, do not. Facebook and Instagram are our main two. Okay.

Yeah. All your events and everything around there. Yeah, absolutely.

All righty. Well, thanks for coming out, guys. Thanks for having us.

Sounds real good. Fantastic. You'll definitely see me at the Straight Bar at the end of the month, end of January.

Yeah. Wow. Yeah.

Thank you guys very much. Remind me of that. I'll remind you.

We'll go out there and have a cocktail or two. You're not playing in January. I've got a 25th.

What's your date in January? 25th. Oh, shit. I can't.

I'm playing on the 25th. I'll still remind you. Yeah.

There's plenty more in 2025. So we'll see you on the 25th. I don't think my band would like if I didn't show up on the 25th.

It's just the Stillmasters. Yeah, it would be just the Stillmasters then at that point. All righty, guys.

Thanks a lot. Yeah, thank you. Thank you.

Well, there you have it. Honeydew Squeeze. Honeydew Squeeze.

You know, I was going to laugh at that name, but holy crap, were they freaking good. Yeah, they were. Amazing.

They sounded fantastic. I mean, that's why I had to ask them, do you ever do acoustic sets? I mean, they sounded great. It sounded amazing like that.

I'm trying to imagine what they're going to sound like. Because they said he never plays acoustic guitar. It's always electric.

That's got to be pretty interesting. Yeah, and he played it well. Very well.

Yeah, I've got to assume like when they're fully electric, it almost has like a ska feel to it or something. Probably. Maybe.

Yeah, I'm going to have to go check them out. I've seen pictures online. They're playing acoustic, but of course he has the electric.

Yeah, right. They're probably playing something a little bit more mellow, but it should be interesting. I hope to see them over at the Stray Bar.

Yeah, go ahead and see them. I'll remind you about it, even though you can't make it. Yeah, I mean, don't worry.

I mean, my heart won't be broken. Okay. I mean, we'll find another time.

Blow off my show. That's all right. No, that's okay.

I'll go see them. Yeah, definitely. Okay, everybody.

Once again, thanks for joining us for another amazing podcast from the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast. Join us every Tuesday for another new exciting episode. We'll 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.