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 I think this is Hollywood Mike you think yeah, I'm here it's one of those days I don't know. We're just gonna crazy day.

Yeah, it has holy cow This weather's been nuts and I think I had a thunderclap go off right over my house Yeah, I mean the glasses shook in the cabinets stuff on the counter moved Wow, oh man, it's crazy No, it absolutely happens. It does. I walked out at a house this morning at around 8 o'clock in the in the morning And it was it was cold Yep Yep And then I went back into the office and I worked from home for most of the day today and I walked outside again It was like 70 degrees.

Yeah. Yeah, I got the heck I stayed in all day didn't go anywhere because of the weather and stuff So I'm like, okay, you got to come here through this coat on and I walked outside said well, that was the wrong choice Yeah Yeah, it does it does I mean Thunder lightning you get wildfires. Yeah, you know Yeah, I walked out with my big wool hat on and I you know, it's like nope It's too hot for this and went back and got the straw.

Yeah, okay Yeah, and you know what the funny story about this straw hat that's brand new and there's a store around the corner from from here Around the corner from the Illinois Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Mm-hmm And if you drive past the store, there's a big sign that says currency exchange. Oh And then then there's a small sign that says and Western where? You can't I mean you can't make that up so I went I went inside and Sure enough there was like 20 people in there going to the window of the currency exchange and then the other side of it is this huge Western wear store with hats all over the place.

No, you wouldn't know unless it's there Wow, and I bought this hat Right around the corner from this place. That's cool And and I walked in and the the salesperson a young a young lady very helpful Mm-hmm spoke broken English and I speak broken Spanish. So we were communicating through cell phones, you know through the app I'm saying what I wanted to say and it translated it into Spanish so she could read it.

Cool Hey, so you had asked for huevos rancheros. Yeah, that's what I did I did you know not too much though because I mean I didn't have a cream with me or anything like that You don't know what happens to the huevos when they get all rancheros She was so nice Not with the huevos rancheros that she gave me a discount on the hat and everything's really yeah I'm gonna buy the hat from you No, and I wish I knew the name of the store so we could tell everybody about it and then hit them up for you Know we're always looking for sponsors. Yeah.

Yeah. So anyways, that's my story for the day. Very good.

Very good Yeah, so speaking of wildfires is about a bunch of them out west and stuff again, and we have our own wildfire here tonight Yeah, we do have a wild we do have wildfire. Let's hear We're not applauding for the wildfires out west no We're applying for the wildfire. That's we're in the studio.

That's right. That's right. So, how's everybody doing? Yeah, let me guess wildfire country and Western band What that's so much Western, okay, so you don't have both kinds no, no, no because we're We're we're country at heart, but we're not a country band.

Okay, we're a party band That happens to play country music. Okay, so after you've had a few you're drunk and everything everybody sounds country, and you know Awesome. Yeah Yeah, so so I'm assuming you put this thing together That's an interesting story First so we know who we're talking to yeah, we've got approximately 40 minutes.

So go ahead. Yeah I'm Bobby. All right.

I'm Rob. What what do you do in the band real quick, Bobby? I play bass and get yelled at a lot. Okay, gotcha.

All right, I play guitar you play guitar. Okay And get yelled at a lot. Okay.

All right, I cause all the trouble I sing and I play the guitar as well. Yeah, and it's the steel plate in her head that causes all the issues with the Yeah So we don't want to stand next to her on a day like today because you never know what's gonna happen Yeah, so how'd this all come about it's it's a It's interesting to me. Well, you find it as interesting as I do all right, so I was in a bigger country band here in Chicago before and as was Rob and I Was hit on my motorcycle.

I broke my back in three places. We don't want to hear that. Okay.

Yeah, so I stopped I had to quit the band not would get myself healed get back on the bike I go down to Woodstock Square. His band is playing. Okay Woodstock, Illinois.

Yes. Okay, right and and He comes up to me after the after they're done playing and it's like hey I need to fill in bass player for a couple shows you want to do a couple gigs and I'm like, okay He called me back two months later says oh, we don't need a backup for that show now. Okay, cool, whatever Then he calls me a year later and asked me if I wanted to do it again So we ended up playing it was like hey, this is fun.

His band is breaking up. I did a couple fill-in shows Okay, I'm good. I can start playing again.

So we start putting something together One of the fill-in shows Another guitar player was also doing one of the fill-in shows that I did one of the tribute acts you know, we were up way out and poopies playing and Called Lenny up. I'm like, hey, this is what we want to do and When he's like, hey, that sounds kind of fun if you know Lenny that's he's kind of a hippie so Hey, that sounds kind of fun. That's really expressive for him, you know, right? And so that clicked we found amber we we actually started with two different singers and Our female singer that we started the band with You know, she's needs mommy time.

She you know got married and had a baby We called amber to fill in and she's kind of a firecracker on stage and we're like, okay, we we need that, you know Well, I have to fill her, you know, the other singer shoes too, you know, cuz she's she's great yeah, I had to fill the shoes for the other girl that you had before me because she you know, she was great and you know, it's it's hard to to Come in and Put you know put something on that is that's worth You know the recognition that that you guys started with, you know, cuz it's like the other girl she you know had her other things going on and everything and so it's just it was just really great to be able to come in and and Do a good job, you know, so fill some shoes if I could Who's missing in the band? Our guitar player our drummer and our lead singer and one of their name singer The lead guitar players Lenny Lenny Dish, okay The the pineapple Express is our drummer We are the only country band that we are aware of that has a Hawaiian drummer. Okay, so here's the pineapple Express All right, and then we have our male singers Hayden Tall Oak tree built like you. Yeah, but six foot four.

Okay. Yeah, he just he just came aboard About a month ago. He's a formerly from another bigger band, but from a little farther south than us And he actually came and filled in with my old band, which is how I knew him.

Okay, and it's just a strange coincidence he happened to call us on the exact right day that we needed him to call us and It just kind of clicked and people are really liking him too and him and Amber work so well on stage together Hayden's great. Yeah Climb that man like a tree Does Hayden know this does Hayden Okay, he's you know, just really tall and sweet and really great to work with okay You'd probably get more people to go to your shows or she actually climbed him like a tree on stage We're kind of like One member from all the different Chicagoland country bands, right? Right and it works I remember our first show everybody's coming up. Where are you guys from? You guys are but I recognize him Recognize you worry and I would tell him well I came from this band.

I came from this bit. They're like, that's what's going So what's that? What's the family tree? They did, you know Somebody did a family tree with with the kiss band a while ago and it was so many people that were in that band before You actually, you know got to the famous for right? We're kind of that way, too. Yeah.

Yeah Who are you guys? Still from the original what was okay. And what were your bands prior to that? I Played with I had my band was gone country. Okay, and before that it was banded Okay.

All right, and where were you Nashville Electric Nashville? I have heard of Nashville Electric. Okay. All right And where'd you come from Amber? I was in a band called second chance band Okay, I started but I was ultimately doing some soul my solo stuff.

Okay. All right, and then Lenny was in summer son Hayden was in whiskey romance. Oh, okay.

All right that I know Hayden. Okay Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, and then Dave Dave was actually in a Green Day tribute band.

Okay, they still do like a two shows a year, right three shows a year something like that But they don't really they just kind of quit being I don't say serious just right not not heavy gigging anymore Okay. Okay, and the pineapple Express That's Dave. Okay, so so he has so his parents didn't name him pineapple Express Just Okay, gotcha gotcha so I mean when we first sat down here I said, okay, you're a country band You were like, no, not really.

You're a party band, but you you kind of go country But that sounds like you guys have a lot of country roots. No, it's all it's all country roots And it's it's almost all country music. Okay, it's just high energy Not your daddy's country music, you know, I love that stuff.

I mean we all do okay But it's we're high energy keep you on the dancefloor shaking it all night. So who you covering where did order the artists? Well, we got Morgan Whalen. We've got Miranda Lambert, okay We're we have Laney Wilson.

We're doing Dirk Spentley, okay Brian Brian. Yeah, okay Every time I hear his name, I have to laugh Because you ever hear you ever hear or do you know the comedian named Chris Porter? No Gosh, you got to look up this you have to look up Chris Porter on YouTube And he's got this segment one of his stand-up shows where he talks about Luke Bryan's music And I don't know if he's really good friends with Luke Bryan And so he's so he picks on him a little bit or he truly hates Luke Bryan But he does this whole bit about if you listen to Luke Bryan's music. You're gonna get cancer He's one of these he's one of these like insult comedian kind of kind of and he always sounds pissed off and he's from Kansas And he's kind of he's got a southern drawl on the whole but he starts talking about Luke Bryan We're gonna listen to it.

You're gonna get cancer and he starts singing one of his songs and goes. Oh fuck. It's a tumor Luke's Luke Bryan's fun to make fun of but you can't deny He just keeps selling albums and honestly his first album.

Yeah is is awesome Yeah underplayed. Most people don't know cuz it's not really broke country. It's not real country at all, right, right So so was it was it a case and I'm not that I'm not a fan It's just I prefer my daddy's country music is you know, like we talked about Is it is it that the first album was more? More definitely more country and then kind of like the thing where his record company said, yeah You need to be a little more commercial and that's when he came out.

Yeah, he came out with that boom-boom song Make my heart go boom-boom. Oh, yeah, and it's like after that song It's like the record company just don't steered him down being the pop star. Okay.

Yeah. Yeah Yeah, which which happens a lot nowadays and that's kind of what Chris Porter talks about in his bit You have to you have to if you're if you're a Luke Bryan fan, you're listening to this right now You have to go look it up. You're just gonna laugh your your ass off It really is we throw old stuff in there like Johnny Cash and you have to oh, yeah When you're you you walk into a bathroom wearing a cowboy hat as soon as you're standing there peeing you're gonna have someone come up to you Could be a little about are you in the band? Yeah.

Yeah You guys play any old country. So you got country? Yeah, of course. Yeah, throw them in.

Yeah We do cover, you know some some older classics. We had some come some 70s Some 80s some 90s, right, you know, it's like I said, it's a party, right? If you walked in if you walked into your friend's house, they're having a backyard party Okay the first song that gets put on a little little loud a little obnoxious because it's two guys and then what happens your wife's tell You get that shit off My stuff on right and they start with the dance music Yeah, and then as the party's going on throughout the night by the end of the night, you've gotten heavy, right? We're ending with a CDC a rebel yell, you know, so we kind of follow that whole party theme throughout our setlist. Okay, it's You have to come experience it to real truly understand it.

If you like to have a good time You'll have a great time. You don't need to be a country fan You just got to kind of read the fans and see what their what direction they're going and give it to them Yeah, exactly. We bring a lot of energy in our show.

Okay. Yeah, so we're I like to say we're the motley crew Country. Oh So you guys use backing tracks and stuff like we don't know I know now you do.

I know. Yeah, people give them a lot of crap for that But okay, so were your roots always in country music amber were your roots always in country music or just picked it up I just picked it up. Honestly, I so I grew up loving classic rock and pop music and you know 90s, uh, you know, I'm a 90s kid and so You know, but country was always It's always been a seller it's always been there it's always been part of My you know growing up like my parents listen to country music as a kid I hated I would tell my everybody that I hated country music I didn't want to listen to it and I don't think I listen Probably didn't listen to it from the time.

I was 13 to the time I was 19 not by choice or anything, but you know, and then yeah, you kind of just come home and and And You know country music is though without has always been there and always will be there and yeah, yeah Yeah, I love it. She wears corn on her shirt. She does She does have corn on her shirt.

Okay What about you guys No, I didn't to me country was I was more of a metal guy Yeah, it says the man who's wearing a Yellowstone ranch baseball cap. Yeah And I played metal and we we covered the priests and maidens and all that. I I was fortunate enough to spend a few years playing with Paul Chapman who used to be with UFO He's the one who replaced Michael Shanker at the time And my buddy Steve called me up.

He used to he left And went to California for about five six years. He was singing backup for Kenny Rogers So he called me up and he goes, hey, let's form a country band Like are you not? What year what year was that? Oh gosh, it was in the early 90s. Okay.

Yeah Yeah, and he goes no, I'm telling you country's turning into a pop like old rock and roll, you know I'm like really and he goes we'll talk about it. Yeah, so then that weekend I had a gig and I'm up there playing metal and Priest and maiden all you got is a couple drunk guys in the front, dude, you guys rock. Yeah, right And there's like nothing wrong with drunk guys up front.

You gotta have the drunk guy Yeah, but you look around and it's like all the women are leaving So I call him up I says, okay, let's give this a shot so I decided you know what I'm gonna go see a country concert Yeah, so I went to Tinley Park and seen Montgomery Gentry. Oh, wow. They came out you thought I'll be crude a the fire going Yeah, the smoke and everything and they just got into it and I'm like, this is this is really good You know, this is a lot of fun.

And then I look around it's packed and it's ten women to every one guy Yeah, and I'm like, okay, let's give this a shot Even we started doing it got players here and there and our first show It was like ten women every one guy showing up. Yeah, that's how I got into it and just kept kept doing it Yeah, yeah, you know we have to think for that stuff, you know Garth Brooks. Yep That's that's the guy that that started the whole change.

I mean, I've always We did a lot of guard because of that his first his first two albums His first major album was so good that they went back and re-released the one that nobody heard of and that one You know Scott rocketed and he was producing album after album after album and and I actually saw him in concert three times It was amazing. I know I got you beat You've seen him. You've seen him more times.

Oh, yeah, but but yeah, I mean, I've always that country roots The first song I learned how to play was kiss an angel good morning by Charlie Pryde, right? And then I did the whole thing kind of like you said and everything I went through more like rock and roll and stuff like that I was even a breakdancer in the mid 80s. I did all that crap But then all of a sudden Garth Brooks comes around and I was a huge Billy Joel fan I I can I know every Billy Joel song ever written and I'd seen him in concert probably 12 times and then somebody says hey I got tickets to go see Garth Brooks. Let's go see Garth Brooks and the amazing thing was You could have just replaced Garth with Billy and it was Billy Joel's show Jumping off the piano swinging from a rope on you know And everybody in the crowd was at the same time everybody was like This isn't the country show because he looked around and it was like 45 and 50 real people all wearing their hats and their boots And everything and you know expecting, you know that he was gonna be playing his countryist of country songs No, he was covering Boston that night He actually covered a song by Billy Joel that night and he was doing all kinds of stuff because he only had like one or Two albums out at the time.

He didn't have that much. Yeah, and he was covering all of these 70s classic rock bands and stuff like Yeah, and what an amazing show that was and it seemed like less than a year later Everybody was doing that stuff in their country shows. This is how popular it was I look up a lot of set lists of what bands are playing in country bands and I Noticed you're right every day have some rock songs.

Yeah, two or three in every single show. Yeah Yeah, I mean if they're a new band with one album How they're gonna play for two albums, you know with Gentry did rock and roll all night. Yeah Toby used to do Ted Nugent certain straight home single hole.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. What was your first country concert? My first you ever go to a country concert voice the Oak Ridge boys. Wow.

Wow, no kid Probably the holiday star in Merrillville. Yeah Doesn't run. Okay, that's wrong.

Yeah, and then I saw The Alabama up at the Milwaukee Mile. Mm-hmm before I have a driver's license and Yeah country country with my grew up with country being pounded it in my ears, too Right, there's no remember when WLS was still a country station. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, and And then as WLS started changing that's you know, you Molly crew came out I was like, holy crap, what is this, you know? and so then got into the hair bands, but I was always looking for something different myself because I I don't know if you're Hanging out in the scene in the late 80s early 90s. I was in a band called buzz bomb We were kind of we were doing the shows with mind bomb and and and the pumpkins because we're just all kind of metal There was an all-metal scene there was that little Chicago underground alt metal scene, right? Right and we are and we were heavy in that then I was in a National touring Motley Crue tribute band nice. Well, well after Gave up the original music scene head kids Wife said it'd be cool to be in a band.

You've heard you were in a band again So we started the Motley band. We are actually endorsed by Motley We had to give away two cases of Vince Neil's tequila at every one of our shows I Sounded better than Motley Crue We're Kind of sober but you get you know The tribute band was a lot of fun and we got to meet a lot of people I got to hang out with Gretchen Wilson as an example. She opened for us Wow down at pops.

Okay. Yeah I mean we got you and you got to meet a lot of really cool people and doing that little tribute thing In five years of playing the same 22 songs, I don't know how the pros do it. Yeah, you know, honestly Well, they're also getting paid a million dollars Yeah that buck 50 that you're paying for it playing for whatever it doesn't really motivate you as much Honestly the Motley band it just we all kind of looked at each other.

It's like Yeah, what now? What are we now? What are we 24 songs over and over and over again? Yeah, let's call it quits and so It was Paul Wenzel from suburban Cowboys. Yeah, and now he's got the made in America band He actually put out an ad looking for a bass player and I went I auditioned And I didn't hear nothing back from him. It's like wait, I Know I did good.

Why didn't I haven't heard anything back in it? So I contacted me is like dude, you're the best bass player that came down here, but you're just so metal I'm like, I didn't understand what he meant, right? So I started to a country put a country band together Just to burn him Yeah, and two years later Finally it clicked in my head and I'm like I get what he means now. Yeah, I get it his country. It's It's notes.

We're all musicians you play notes. There's a feel to country Yep, you know that you just you gotta get it and once you get it you get it, you know It's it's just it's a little different. You can't and I'm not taking anything away from any genre, you know I could never play half the stuff that's out there metal guys the pop guys because they have their feel right but once I got that country feel boom and That's for for me.

That's what natural electric kind of started taking off not just cuz of me but you know, the band really started gelling and You know, yeah, yeah the audience knows it yeah, you can't feel it you can't fake it I love revenge stories I know revenge stories. Well, it's funny. Me and Paul are actually really good friends.

We laugh about it now when we talk Yeah, it's just it's just a kind of a funny story Well, it was it was what motivation, you know, I did and you know that at that era Everybody was doing that in that particular era, you know, all of a sudden all the metal guys decided Well, we're gonna try something new because metal was going away, you know, Nirvana Nirvana killed their careers for him Right and all that stuff started coming in. It's okay. What are we gonna do now? Well, you turn on CMT right and look at all the country videos and you go Oh, there's all the metal guys you had you had full country bands and every single one of these guys looked like they just walked off out of a metal show And and went across the hall in the studio and and and started and formed up another band They all ended up they all had the long hair and the leather pants and the hot pink guitars playing country music Yep, it was like they literally snatched him and said We don't have a Telecaster.

That's okay. Bring that Kramer. We're good.

You know do that Explorer Big and rich has a flying beam That's also a little skinner though so you can get away with that No, that's good, that's interesting Well, I know a lot of people realize or can talk about that era when everything kind of changed You know, it was right about that time I stopped listening to all kinds of rock and roll You know radio stations and stuff and went 100% total country I was hanging out the Cadillac Ranch in Bartlett. Oh, yeah. Yeah five times five times a week Tuesday nights was ladies night, right? That's you know Then there was Wednesday night was line dance night and then Thursday night was some kind of other special and he had Friday and Saturday Night and then it's Sunday where they had the line dance lessons and chess boards And I mean literally we hung out there the whole time and saw a lot of great music and a lot of great bands And you know people just changing their attitude about a whole.

Yeah, heck of a lot. I met my wife at the Ranch and it was so cool because we were hanging out with guys like remember JD and the cat man on us99 Yeah, we were hanging out to the point where we just walk right up with those guys buy him a drink to sit down and Just hang out with those two guys from us99 Yeah, it was it was a great time to be a country music fan It's still it really it really still is it's it's not quite like that that time period but it's still like that the country the local country music scene is the Greatest group of people you'll ever meet. Yep.

Every one of us has got each other's back all the time It's nice. Hey, I need a bass player next week you free. Yeah, but give me your set list, you know, right and We we work together.

We don't work against each other ever I mean, we've just we've just picked up two big shows one from Paul and one from Rob Ron Rob and belly cane, okay Yeah, they're they're hey, they're booked call this guy. Yeah, right, you know It's it's just trading shows. And I mean, we're all There's plenty of bars.

Yeah, right plenty of places to play why work against each other? It's so it's so refreshing cuz back in the metal days. It was like who can you stab in the back? That's right. Oh, oh, yeah, and it's still that way kind of in that scene over there But you know things come and go in waves because my kids are both now in their early 20s and finishing up college and everything And we've got a great bar Not far from here over and over in Naperville saddle up You guys Yeah, so so it's it's hilarious to watch this because all of a sudden my kids are exactly where I was at their age That's where they hang out every single time.

They come back home from school every Friday and Saturday night They're at saddle up and I think it's so funny. My son has a truck now and everything It's so funny to see him walk out of the house with his boots in his hat. Where you go.

Where you going saddle up Okay, and you know a year ago. He was listening to hip-hop It was just crazy, but yeah great great times great great times 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 So what are you guys playing a lot? You said you mentioned? Saddle up for sure, right? We've been doing saddle up about once a quarter We do another in that area. We played out in Oswego.

They have that in Las Vegas now. Oh, yeah Yeah, one place. Yeah fun place.

Yep a great order great awesome staff really fair drink prices everything Where else we plan a regular basis Jamie's outpost we plan a regular basis, that's cool We play Denise's the Red Mill. Yeah Broken or yeah, yeah, you know, we're doing the whole old Republic side outs, you know You all your normal typical places that everyone's playing but summertime come may comes and you know, we're a country band Yeah, we're we don't play indoors anymore actually The one of the last weekend is of April or that we start we have a big charity event we're doing down Manhattan It's Some big farm at and mayors from four towns are coming in Wow for big charities It's only 25 bucks to get in. So anybody hits our page up.

It'll be posted any day now I thought it was a private event at first. I just thought it's a public charity event And then you know, we got we started our festival season we were opening up the the big The big room, whatever you want to call it the old Republic if you've never been there They have they kind of close it off with the cargo trailers And that's what they build their bars in their VIP section with but they close it off in the winter time They call it the igloo Holds, you know 100 people right right and in the summertime, they open it up kind of like the Broken Horus and so we're opening up the outdoors patio and now we got the Red Mill and we got Crystallite Fest and this and that rocks the runway Yeah, have you played have you guys played the broken or recently with it like within the last six months? two weeks ago What's the I heard that they actually made some changes to the to what used to be just the patio is a barn They enclosed it now. Yeah, that's pretty nice and it's heated in stages bigger Yeah, yeah Because they were they were stopping shows at a certain point of the year because it was just getting too cold out there So they've enclosed it that's nice It's huge now the way they have it set up.

So did they increase the size of it? It sure seems like it Wow, okay Gosh, I because I haven't played there in like a year Like you said we did it gets cold out and you stop playing there But we've got a show coming up in a few weeks there and I'm interested to see what it's gonna be like We were actually the first band to play the new stage in in the barn They didn't even have the she didn't even have the doors in yet. Wow, okay So they just had the plastic draped in between from post to post But yeah, that was that was last last summer. Yeah when we were just getting started.

Yeah. Yeah, okay Excellent interesting. So so let's so so let's ask the hard question What do you guys feel about all of these pop artists all of a sudden deciding? Hey, I'm gonna do a country tour You got post Malone going on You know, you got Beyonce going on tour Okay, they don't share the same grab that microphone They don't share the same sentiment as me, but I I love Beyonce.

I love that post Malone's new album. I love Chappell's new Country song and I hope we put it on our list like I I'm all for it To me it's it's not about It's not about what we want to eat what we want to play. Yeah, it's the audience gonna do it She wants to play the chapel song.

We're gonna throw it in the set. It's gonna get three shows Yeah, it's either gonna go over great or it's gonna get thrown away, right? It's because again, we're a band so we all gonna have our influence in it But ultimately the audience is gonna be the ones who make the call right? No, I want to play more 90s country I'm also know that You're not gonna touch people as much when you're doing the 90s You're gonna get pigeonholed the kids aren't gonna want to hear it because they don't know it as well Yeah, I mean in 90s is really funny. You can play sold and Every every person in the in the bars gonna get up and dance to it, right, but you play Don't rock the jukebox right or even drive or just think of a great song, you know Everyone's gonna kind of look at you like what are you playing? Well, you know, I think you might be surprised though because that's the one thing I've noticed about hanging out with my kids You know and my wife and I we've got the party house, right? And they're up to the wee hours in the morning and they're getting drunk down in the basement and you hear all the new country stuff But they'll put somebody will put on a classic country song and they're all singing at the top of their lungs Like I always hear Shenandoah coming out of my basement, you know dozen roses kids love that song That's what that's what I'm saying though It's it's it's 90s country is weird with the with the crowd today and out and out in the scene Like sold John Michael Montgomery great song.

Yeah, it's not as popular He was never as popular as Alan Jackson was sure, of course, but you can't play Alan Jackson out in the bars And I mean, I know there's there's you know Hillbilly rock stars does that 90s thing and that goes over great and that's a very specific audience that comes out to see that Yeah, yeah, it's it's not your typical bar crowd Yeah, I would agree then that's what I'm kind of referring to, you know We're not doing a specialty show like so we don't have that We don't have that what's the word I'm looking for that we can't get away with that We again we can throw we can try it Hey Rob, when you brought I want to play this. Oh cool. Let's play it.

Mm-hmm Again, though if it doesn't go over it's got to go away because right we're entertainers, right? Ultimately, you know You Well, you know people do it with people do it with other genres like you think about a basic rock band All right You might have a band come up and they might play some Stone Temple Pilots and Pearl Jam and then they might do some Motley Crue, right? But then they might go back and they might do some journey right our real Speedwagon Then they'll come back and play Metallica. I mean you're playing rock and roll music from different eras, right? So, you know, it's just a matter I guess getting the right mix Right there and just getting that right song that hits everybody, you know to me the the ultimate the ultimate Pan on the back that that this band ever had was a die-hard metal hit metal head That was that came to one of our shows just because we were playing down the street from their house and he came up It was man. I hate country music, but you guys Yeah, yeah, and that's to me that's the key right because now even though he's a metal head he's gonna come back And bring some friends with him next time.

We're playing in the area, you know so I don't I Try to focus my thought anyways on always never being worried about What I like to play if these guys want to play heaven forbid cruise Yeah, I'll play the damn song as long as the audience wants to play it That's one song that I don't ever want to play ever again, but you're absolutely right I Think that's what what helps us is like with Bobby saying the metal metal is energy, right? And we play country and but we're bringing that metal energy I Remember one time with my other band We were kind of like we are now with a lot of energy and everything and we're playing this Festival up in Kenosha and it was a tribute island. I don't know if you ever heard it Well, we were the headliner for the country stage Okay, right and we we did Keith Urban and Carrie Underwood because you have to kind of tribute We had a girl and boy and we put it together And I got you know You're looking out there and it's all these metal guys these metal bands and Rob zombie guy was out there in front of us You guys are great, you know, but it was the energy we brought And we're doing the same thing now And I think that's difference you go see some of these other bands and they just stand there and play They're great musicians are playing great. Yeah, you got a little while.

It's like Okay, what's next? Hayden said at his first show that he did with us. He literally had four days to learn our set, right? Yeah, and He got there he was a ball of nerves and he's like Amber's gonna have to have me with the song Amber has to help me with this song. Amber.

Can we cut this one? Can we do does any of her know any of the words to that? You know, they're like dude, we're just gonna go up there. We're gonna have fun. You can't do the song It's look at her.

She knows everything the wrong words, right? It's an art form to sing the wrong words He got offstage he goes, where did you find these guys cuz he only knew me right right at that moment He's like, where did you find these guys? I have never had that much fun on stage like yeah, yes We click we're we're a family. Yeah. Well, that's cool.

He yeah, he did he did so great and I We had regulars at the show that that night too and she even came to me She's like I've I've followed Hayden and his other band and I've never seen him come alive like he did with you guys tonight And I was like, oh, that's so great. Like he Hayden did he's great. Yeah, that's good.

That's good We're gonna have to put some clips up of these guys or something So we can see what it's like on stage with them for sure. Yeah, you gotta find them. Yeah.

Yeah So what do you hide them or yeah? Hayden's been with us for oh Okay That's right. That's right. So we basically have taken all the old stuff away, you know Waiting to get some new stuff put up.

All right, right, right So do you guys have a website or anything just our Facebook Facebook page? It's a Facebook backslash wildfire rocks all one word. Okay, it's I you were actually talking to another band I'm excited when you know when we started talking about this I wouldn't saw some others in your guys were talking about band names with that reverend something big. Oh, yeah That came out this week.

Yeah. Well, we did it We decided it was gonna be wildfire and then After advertising it and paying for banners and doing all that went ahead and looked to see how many wildfires are there's about three thousand Yeah Country, yeah, but luckily none of them are near us. So and then I'm gonna have a cool logo like that's right, right Are you changing the f y r e? I'm sure they're out there.

There's there's absolutely has to be Wow. Wow, and we think we're the restaurant Time I'll have the radio on and they advertise the restaurant you always hear wildfire Yeah, I think how many people think of us right away you got any songs on the radio? Oh, we're all over the radio So what kind of what shows you guys got coming up within the next few months We're heading into the the spring and summertime here. So we took most of April off.

Oh, I took my phone I'm looking over the counter. We have that charity event at the end of April and then Now we're doing a birthday party up in up in Wisconsin up at the Brat stop. Okay We brought we do a lot of co-shows with um, Kicking with Carol.

She's a line dance instructor. Okay, and actually her team just took first place in the nation for group nice But one of one of one of her group it's their birthday party So she's doing a little thing and then we're gonna play for a couple hours afterwards And then I said then we're doing Old Republic and then we have the Red Mill for Memorial Day weekend All right open up their stage and then Then we hit the week off. Yeah, June 6th for broken or you know, we're the demo at the Oregon Yeah, yeah, nice.

Nice. Nice and then festival season. Yeah, right, right So what what what major thing has to happen for you guys this year for you to consider it to be a fantastic Year for wildfire something you something like you have a bucket list thing you want to do.

I know I do Do you guys have anything? Well, I think we're heading that way I wanted to Play on a regular basis, which we're doing. I wanted to Get our foot in the door in a lot of festivals. That's happening Yeah, even to the point where we're headlining some of them already great Which is usually you're hoping to be the band before the headliner.

And so yeah, I think so far. I'm happy Oh We are playing two shows with Chris Stapleton this year. Oh nice.

Oh, we're doing the Harley homecoming And then I'll be more up in Milwaukee And then we're doing we're actually not playing with him, but we're doing his pre-show party right right down at J Moe's Okay. Yeah, um when he's playing the Tinley which J Moe's does a pretty good pretty big deal pretty good deal with these pre-concert event things. So it's just kind of cool I'll go as long as you guys aren't playing Tennessee whiskey.

Oh That song isn't oh darn it. That was the song we were gonna start with Well, that's good, I'll know to show up late that's perfect The Harley homecoming though. It's definitely gonna be the biggest The biggest show that I personally have ever.

Yeah. Yeah, that's a fun time, too I've gone to it several times myself. Yeah, I'm just really excited to play with these guys I told Bobby, um, you know after like the the third show or whatever You know, I was like, thank you so much for keeping me on board and bringing me on board But you know cuz I just I feel like I'm living like a Gretchen Wilson song with this band honestly, and it's just you know, and it's just a lot of fun and I'm really excited for festival season and I just would like us all to keep having fun and stay tight and and You know drama free Well, I'll tell you what I'm gonna try and get on see these guys because I do love country music and if I ever get a day off myself To go I would definitely go and check them out for sure and I'm not very far from jamos now, that's right Yeah, yeah, we can almost walk there almost we're doing a couple days down at the basin, too Yeah, oh, okay.

Yeah. Well, you're gonna get to know my regular sound guy Eric. Yes.

Yeah, Eric. I love Eric Yeah, Eric is our regular sound guy. He's with when he's not at the basin or if he's not at Top Fuel saloon He's doing sound for my band.

He's he's our regular guy. So yeah nice stage. He built the whole stage and everything there himself It's really nice place.

He has a great spot sound to that place was crazy last year. Yeah We thought the stage was gonna go down That's good, that's good. Well, I'll tell you what I enjoyed talking to you guys.

Yeah, that was great Yeah, it's time to get him out of here so we can talk about him behind their backs. That's right as we always do Thanks for coming out Thank you Thank you. She's singing why Fire fire.

Sorry. Wow, that was a song I do now Definitely not the same genre of music that there are no Definitely. I don't even remember who did it was it that wasn't Glen Campbell was it? I don't think so I don't think that was we're gonna have to look that up now.

Definitely. Well, that was a great group of people Yeah, they were a lot of fun. Yeah a lot of interesting stuff, you know, you know Kicked up the country.

Yeah It's rather interesting. Yeah. Yeah.

Well, you know, it's Definitely a band that like my kids would want to go out and see that's you know They're into that kind of country music and the whole what surprised me, you know, they weren't 20-somethings. No either No, you know, I well amber. Oh Probably was yeah, but I mean they caught on to a to a niche.

They know what they know what pays They know how to get hired. Yep without being a tribute band. That's right But but they played tribute festivals because they've got that they've got that new country sound that's right That's when they come from, you know, heavy metal.

Yeah, right, right. It's pretty wild, but Definitely gotta get out and see them guys You know when they're in your area, right? All righty. Well, then thanks again for listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast Podcast and join us every Tuesday for an another exciting episode See ya 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