Holy Ghost Tent Revivals' Stephen Murray
From our archives in 2012:
Stephen Murray shares the origins of Holy Ghost Tent Revival, songwriting, recording Sweat Like the Old Days, touring, festival performances, musical influences, and building an independent career.
Chapters
- 00:09 - Introducing Stephen Murray and Holy Ghost Tent Revival
- 03:56 - The Formation of Holy Ghost Tent Revival
- 07:01 - The Birth of a Band
- 16:54 - The Journey to Recording a New Album
- 22:24 - The New Record and Its Reception
Mentioned in this Episode
- The Beatles
- The Band
- The Clubhouse
- Dr. Dog
- The Full Tones
- Holy Ghost Tent Revival
- Hoots & Hellmouth
- Langhorne Slim
- Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival
- Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings
- Steve Soto and the Twisted Hearts
Recommended If You Like
Country Fried Rock, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Stephen Murray interview, music creativity inspiration, indie rock bands, band formation stories, music recording process, live music experiences, festival performances, booking agents for musicians, band management strategies, songwriting evolution, Southern rock music, contemporary worship music, musician childhood stories, instruments in music, band touring challenges, music audience engagement, grassroots music promotion, music industry insights, Holy Ghost Tent Revival, Stephen Murray, Country Fried Rock podcast, Sweat Like the Old Days, indie rock, Americana, folk rock, North Carolina band, Greensboro music scene, Shakori Hills GrassRoots Festival, Langhorne Slim, Dr Dog, Hoots & Hellmouth, Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, The Band, The Beatles, songwriting, recording process, independent music, touring musicians, live music, festival performances, band interview, music podcast, theater students, banjo, horns, roots music, Americana bands, Country Fried Rock interview
Don't Click Those Old Links!
These podcast episodes are from 2009-2020. Links are probably dead. Half these places do not exist any more.
Mentioned in this episode:
Don't Click Those Old Links!
These podcast episodes are from 2009-2020. Links are probably dead. Half these places do not exist any more.
Transcript
Welcome to Country Fried Rock, where we talk with musicians to find out what inspires their creativity.
Speaker A:Country Fried rock music uncovered.
Speaker A:My guest today on Country Fried Rock is Stephen Murray of the band Holy Ghost Tent Revival.
Speaker A:Best name in rock and roll.
Speaker A:Welcome.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker A:How did you get into music originally?
Speaker B:You know, I was.
Speaker B:I was a musician from being a little kid.
Speaker B:You know, my dad kind of drove it home.
Speaker B:He was kind of healthily abusive.
Speaker B:He would wake me up at early morning and make me play the violin every morning.
Speaker B:And for years, you know, I was just kind of, out of five children, the one who kind of appreciated it, I guess, the most and pursued it for the rest of my life.
Speaker A:Were you doing like, Suzuki violin as a kid?
Speaker B:Yeah, exactly.
Speaker B:Suzuki was the exact method.
Speaker A:I am very familiar with that.
Speaker B:Oh, cool.
Speaker B:Yeah, for years I was like five till I was nine.
Speaker B:And it just got so, I mean, intense with him that I just kind of.
Speaker B:We moved to a different city.
Speaker B:And when I got to do that, I kind of was old enough to make a choice.
Speaker B:No more.
Speaker B:No more.
Speaker B:At this point in my life, which I regret now horribly.
Speaker A:I understand the whole benevolent dictator thing of making you practice, but.
Speaker A:So what did you do when you were able to make your own decisions about listening to and playing music?
Speaker B:I tried out of different things.
Speaker B:I went from recorder to the trumpet, you know, and I was always against playing guitar because my dad played guitar.
Speaker B:And I always was like, I mean, I love my dad.
Speaker B:Sorry, this is already, like, I have an issue with my father.
Speaker B:I think he's a great guy.
Speaker B:I just mean, like, you know, he was doing that forever, and I was like, you know, I want to do something so different.
Speaker B:So I stuck with Travis for a long time, and, you know, and then I picked it up and I was like, hey, this isn't so bad.
Speaker B:I've always been trying out different instruments as I've been growing up, figuring out which ones work well with me.
Speaker A:And so when you finally got to guitar, what were you trying to play?
Speaker B:You know, I was kind of just doing the G chord.
Speaker B:Friend of mine showed me the G blues, you know, and I had every white bone in my body trying to figure out how to play the blues right.
Speaker B:But I basically just played the G's and the C's and the D's, you know, and nothing really in mind other than just trying to make things sound good.
Speaker A:So had you started any bands or anything at that point?
Speaker B:Yeah, I was kind of in a religious part of my life.
Speaker B:I was attending church with my family and Whatnot.
Speaker B:So I. I was doing the worship band thing.
Speaker B:And no, I wasn't like, leading any bands or anything like that.
Speaker B:That took much longer.
Speaker A:Were you at one of those cool churches that had, like, non traditional music?
Speaker B:We weren't at first, but, you know.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But then became like, you know, bigger TVs and bigger congregations and, like, you know, the pastor was learning choreography.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Like, it started, like, whoa.
Speaker B:It started going from, like, kind of a humble, like, what are we here for?
Speaker B:To, you know, this is what your money's going towards.
Speaker B:Fol.
Speaker B:But, yeah, yeah, I mean, it was.
Speaker B:Yeah, it was very contemporary music.
Speaker A:I mean, I live in a place.
Speaker A:I'm in rural South Carolina, but we have churches that have dance teams.
Speaker B:Right, Right.
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:It's incredible.
Speaker B:You know, they have a lot of talents for.
Speaker B:They're doing their thing.
Speaker B:It's good.
Speaker A:When did that then branch out for you?
Speaker B:That came from just, you know, different feelings about, you know, what I believed in or who, you know, what I wanted to do with my life.
Speaker B:So I moved on from that and met some people in Charlotte.
Speaker B:That's where we ended up moving to, and moved around a bunch, Meet some friends in Charlotte that were in, like, a band, you know, I started playing bass with them, and a year later I started my own band with another couple people.
Speaker B:And, you know, it was just kind of all based in the.
Speaker B:I don't know, I look back on it and I'm embarrassed that I listened to that kind of music.
Speaker B:Like, our bass player, Kevin, and like, a few of the other guys in the band were.
Speaker B:They have much more impressive discographies of music that they grew up listening to what they were playing at my age.
Speaker B:But, yeah, I mean, it was just kind of on that.
Speaker B:Whatever that indie rock thing was.
Speaker A:How did you all ultimately form as Holy Ghost Tent Revival?
Speaker B:We did that through college.
Speaker B:We met at Greensboro College, the core of the group.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So that was in our senior year.
Speaker B:Myself and Matt have been roommates for a couple years.
Speaker B:Matt's the guitar player, and we shared a bathroom in the dorms with the trombone player, Hank, and the original trombone player, Josh, no longer with us, but he lived with Hank, too.
Speaker B:And I didn't really know Ross that well.
Speaker B:Hank is the one who knew Ross as the drummer.
Speaker B:That's the original.
Speaker B:The existing original members now are myself, Matt, Hank.
Speaker A:Y' all got together playing when you were in school.
Speaker A:How did that start?
Speaker B:That started really.
Speaker B:You know, I had gone home summer before senior year and found my dad's banjo.
Speaker B:He had in the attic or something.
Speaker B:Yeah, I wrote that Getting over your love lick.
Speaker B:And it was, you know, when I wrote it then it was just getting over your love, you know, it was real slow and I don't even know what it was supposed to be.
Speaker B:I didn't understand what I was writing.
Speaker B:Then I brought it to Matt when I got home and I was, you know, I was just like, check this thing out.
Speaker B:And I was like, I really want horns on it.
Speaker B:You know, I think it'd be really cool to have like kind of this ranked on Dixieland thing.
Speaker B:And so I showed it to Hank and Josh and they thought it was cool.
Speaker B:We were in a theater department, Matt and I.
Speaker B:There's this 6 foot 7, 300 pound monster of a man named Richard Sprecher who is just one of.
Speaker B:He's like a gentle giant and of all instruments, he played the clarinet.
Speaker B:I saw a picture of, I think Matt, maybe Matt did.
Speaker B:Saw a picture of him on Facebook with a clarinet and we were like, oh my God, this guy's a great clarinet player.
Speaker B:And he was.
Speaker B:He's a phenomenal clarinet player.
Speaker B:So we asked him, you know, if he could learn this song.
Speaker B:And that's kind of how it all started.
Speaker B:We didn't have drums or bass for like the first five months for the group, but we also weren't playing any shows.
Speaker B:You know, we were just writing a song here and there, you know, H Steamboat and Meeting youg and stuff like that were coming out around that time without drums or bass, but just like play these songs.
Speaker B:And we didn't really have any shows or anything.
Speaker B:Hey, this is Stephen Murray from Holy Ghost Tent Revival and you're listening to Country Fried rock.
Speaker A:So when did plan shows develop?
Speaker B:We did like two or three shows without drums and bass.
Speaker B:And people were like, you need drums and bass.
Speaker B:So I think it was like February, I believe.
Speaker B:Yeah, we were practicing.
Speaker B:We went to college.
Speaker B:They had a room for the music department.
Speaker C:I mean rooms for the music department.
Speaker C:And we were able to get into one that was a little big enough to fit drums.
Speaker C:And at this point we had met.
Speaker C:Tax rate used to be our bass player who left about a year ago.
Speaker C:We had met him through a series of events and so he was not only recording the first version but all these songs.
Speaker C:But when we would leave, like he had the recording equipment.
Speaker C:When we would leave, he would throw the bass on himself and then.
Speaker C:And then we'd get back and be like, this sounds good for you, John.
Speaker B:So he was there already.
Speaker C:And then we got Ross and we had our first practice.
Speaker C:You know, kind of just one of the coolest feelings that I'll never forget is, like, Ross's brain.
Speaker B:He was super excited.
Speaker B:He always wanted to be in a.
Speaker C:Band, I think, or just be with a group of musicians that were making original music.
Speaker C:And, you know, he did a great.
Speaker C:Like, he was making his own choices and, like, even threw in this, like, halftime beat that I wasn't used to or I never even thought of putting in, like, the ragtime.
Speaker C:Very exciting time that it was just kind of like, everyone working together and really enjoying the music.
Speaker C:And I'll never forget that, you know, kind of the birth of our friendships and also our young band.
Speaker A:How did y' all start playing out a lot?
Speaker B:This started, you know, we did, like, one or two shows a month for the rest of the school year, and that was just completely all booking ourselves.
Speaker B:And it was all extremely local.
Speaker B:Like, it was not outside of Greensboro.
Speaker B:We place a place called the Clubhouse became very open to us playing.
Speaker B:We had a girl who said she wanted to be our manager for, you know, free at that.
Speaker B:We were like, cool, manager.
Speaker B:That sounds great, whatever, you know.
Speaker B:And of course, she booked us at the Clubhouse.
Speaker B:She did a great job for free and made us some stickers and all that.
Speaker B:We play, like, once, twice a month.
Speaker B:And we came to graduating and, you know, we had these degrees in theater and a couple of the guys in music.
Speaker B:And, you know, what you're supposed to do is you're supposed to go to grad school, and then you become a professional actor and you move to New York and all that.
Speaker B:And that was exciting.
Speaker B:You know, I planned to do that up until this became very popular, like, the shows we started playing.
Speaker A:Cool.
Speaker B:Not only was the theater department coming out, but, like, they were telling their friends, and we were, you know, bringing at that time, like, 80 people out.
Speaker B:And that was huge for us.
Speaker B:So it just came to graduate in time.
Speaker B:We were like, what do you want to do?
Speaker B:And we kind of sat down in a circle, and we all agreed we wanted to do this.
Speaker B:We immediately started looking for houses that we could have practice.
Speaker A:And at what point did that first record roll around?
Speaker B: That was a: Speaker B:Eight.
Speaker B:Nine.
Speaker B:Eight.
Speaker B:Can't remember.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:No, it was just we were trying to do other things and, you know, play bigger shows and whatnot.
Speaker B:It just wasn't happening.
Speaker B:People get out saying, you need a record.
Speaker B:I was doing my laundry at Suds and Duds place, where you can drink and do your laundry.
Speaker B:This dude was sitting next to me.
Speaker B:We Were just talking, you know, I told him I was in a band.
Speaker B:He was like, oh, man, I got this guitar, I've got this banjo.
Speaker B:And he like, he started listing off all these incredible instruments.
Speaker B:He was like, yeah, you ought to stop by sometime.
Speaker B:So I did.
Speaker B:And there's this ginormous, like, building where he works out of.
Speaker B:But he had, like a recording studio in there.
Speaker B:Oh, yeah.
Speaker B:And like all these instruments.
Speaker B:So I begged him and pleaded.
Speaker B:It was like, we need to make a record so bad.
Speaker B:And he was just like, he's a really sweet guy, but he's one of those guys that stopped playing music a little too early in life.
Speaker B:And so, like, you could see that.
Speaker B:I don't know, there's something in his eye where he was just like, not jealous or envious, but just.
Speaker B:Yeah, we would practice there and he would come in and do it.
Speaker B:Like just kind of sit and watch.
Speaker B:Yeah, why did I get this?
Speaker B:So, so, like, we recorded there and then he kind of just.
Speaker B:He wasn't available anymore after we recorded it.
Speaker B:That's how that came around.
Speaker B:We had my friend Alex from high school, he's a good friend of mine, he recorded it.
Speaker B:My other friend Justin, I was actually in a band with him in high school.
Speaker B:He, like, kind of helped me, like, record too.
Speaker B:All done.
Speaker B:Kind of just on our own.
Speaker A:After that.
Speaker A:Things really sort of picked up for you all.
Speaker B:Yeah, we pushed forward.
Speaker B:You know, we got Shakuri Hills, got new management.
Speaker B:You know, the girl who's doing it for free, we all knew.
Speaker B:And she said it was like, well, this isn't what I need to be doing for you guys.
Speaker B:So we found new management.
Speaker B:Who.
Speaker B:This is another local hard working person who approached us and was just like, you know, there's been a lot of buzz about you guys locally.
Speaker B:I think I can help out.
Speaker B:She's someone who helps run Chicoe Hills, which is in Pittsboro, a very big festival.
Speaker B:She got us something like that.
Speaker B:And she never really managed bands before.
Speaker B:She's managed businesses.
Speaker B:She also has just a lot of passion and drive behind things she undertakes.
Speaker B:So she stayed with us and really kind of pushed us forward.
Speaker B:We found a booking agent later that year.
Speaker B:Yeah, I mean, it really did kind of explode.
Speaker B:And, you know, we toured like two years straight, 300 dates a year, which was awesome.
Speaker B:You know, it was a really great experience.
Speaker B:We had a really crappy band and we were going around really having a great time and not really caring so much.
Speaker B:We were playing in, like tiny little wine bars.
Speaker B:We were talking like a Seven piece band at this point quickly became a six piece before we started touring.
Speaker B:Crazy.
Speaker B:But you know, like so a six piece band and like very crappy clubs and very tiny rooms, barely any sound.
Speaker B:And at that point we weren't caring so much about that, which is good.
Speaker B:I'm glad we didn't.
Speaker B:Then a year or two passes and you're like, man, we really need to start doing something else.
Speaker B:Not something else with our lives, but just like find better places.
Speaker B:Yeah, we released an EP ko go live record.
Speaker B:You know, we attempted to record another studio record a few times.
Speaker B:I never came to anything.
Speaker B:It was good.
Speaker B:I mean we started playing, it was like bel share started headlining different kind of like Shakori events and stuff like that.
Speaker B:So it was good.
Speaker A:Several great musician friends of Country Fried Rock generously donated songs for a free music sampler.
Speaker A:Download it at NoiseTrade.com CountryFriedRock 19 songs to help raise awareness and money for New Chief Space, a nonprofit serving the mental health needs of musicians in the Athens, Georgia area area.
Speaker A:Find out more about New Cheese at n u c I.org so a lot of times when bands are at that stage of knowing they need to, it's not the number of dates but the quality of the dates they're playing.
Speaker A:I think that a lot of bands get to that point and know it needs to happen and don't know how to make that happen.
Speaker A:So what worked for you all?
Speaker B:You have to be very clear with your booking agent.
Speaker B:Like if you have a, you know, if you don't have a booking agent, then it's really not going to get, you're not going to get to that place, you know, unless your, your hometown has a super, you know, really great venue and you have a relationship with them.
Speaker B:But I'm talking like on the road.
Speaker B:So you have to be very clear with your booking agent.
Speaker B:Like your booking agent's going to put you in different places, you know, because of how well known you are or you know, whatnot.
Speaker B:There's going to be some options there and you just have to be like so clear about you, like this is not working for us.
Speaker B:And then you have to, for the bigger or better places, then you need to figure out how to open up for somebody who's big enough to play at a nice place, you know, and it's not easy.
Speaker B:I mean we still like right now, currently that's our goal is we every once in a while hit this venue.
Speaker B:That's just awesome.
Speaker B:And we're headlining.
Speaker B:But the problem is we're in the town where no one's heard of us.
Speaker B:So we're really focusing on playing nicer places, but also kind of doing the 40 to 45 minute opening gig before a bigger band.
Speaker A:When opening for a bigger band, what has been working for you all?
Speaker B:So we haven't really done it that often.
Speaker B:I mean, the doctor Dog shows good and you know, we play with friends like Hoots and Hellmouth, which they bring a good amount of people and good crowd of people into the city.
Speaker B:We have been having a hard time.
Speaker B:It was Pittsburgh and Lighthorse Slim.
Speaker B:We did a tour with him which was, I would say is the most like beneficial point in our career and can't thank those guys enough.
Speaker B:It was like a 9 day or 10 day run and it was right at the time our bass player had left six months previous to this.
Speaker B:We took the approach of kind of changing our sound.
Speaker B:It was just what we needed to do.
Speaker B:And it was going through the face of people that were like die hard.
Speaker B:Fans locally were starting to not care about it as much.
Speaker B:So we went on this tour throughout Northeast and through Kentucky and Ohio and stuff like that.
Speaker B:And it was just like every show the crowd really wasn't there to see us.
Speaker B:And maybe there was like two or three people that were like, oh yeah, I've heard of these guys.
Speaker B:But they had no idea what we sounded like before, you know, so like what we were playing for them was brand new.
Speaker B:And that really, really helps bring life back into the band and you know, our reputation.
Speaker A:What in the sound evolved for you all in that time?
Speaker B:It all came from listening to music that really moved us and connected us not only as like friends, but his own personal ideas about being a musician and whatnot.
Speaker B:You know, like certain groups like the band and the Beatles, kind of like the country side of things that was just so a part of our lives and still is, but just more so than ever at that time.
Speaker B:And you know, it kind of just gave us the confidence and we knew that we were writing the songs that we thought were interesting and danceable and just fun, you know.
Speaker B:And we knew our stuff before was those things, but we felt it was a little chaotic and sporadic.
Speaker B:And yeah, people say it's fun to do dance to, but the next biggest comment we got that was, you're the hardest band to dance to because you change meter and you stop and you slow down like all the time.
Speaker B:But people would be like, but it's so much fun.
Speaker B:Dance to each other.
Speaker B:But we felt like all these songs were even more danceable and more fun.
Speaker B:So we just kept with it.
Speaker B:I mean, it was still.
Speaker B:We're still all about, like, taking our influences from decades ago, you know, like, this is the most important time of music.
Speaker B:The best that we can honestly and replicate that without ripping it off or trying to just sound just like it.
Speaker B:But to really allow it to be an influence, I think it'll catch on again, and hopefully we'll be recognized as helping in that movement.
Speaker B:I hope more and more bands kind of do it.
Speaker B:You know, you can look us up@holyghosttentrevival.com.
Speaker A:How do festivals help bring new people to your music?
Speaker B:I mean, it's just like thousands and thousands of people that you would never, ever play for, all in one place, you know, from all over the country.
Speaker B:There's nothing better than playing festivals because you get such a wide range of audience.
Speaker B:Because then you end up going on tour and, you know, you're from North Carolina, you go on tour, and there you are in Massachusetts.
Speaker B:And someone was like, yeah, I went down to that festival and, you know, here I am with three of my friends, and we bought your cd.
Speaker B:We know all the lyrics.
Speaker C:Cool.
Speaker B:That's the reason.
Speaker B:And also, it's fun to hang out.
Speaker A:Well, and that's the other thing.
Speaker A:A lot of bands I talked to say, you know, that's the only time they ever get to hear any other music.
Speaker A:Have you all had a chance to hear anything new or.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's another great reason.
Speaker B:You know, I kind of just skipped listening to other music.
Speaker B:Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings, man, I would have never been able to see her at any other venue.
Speaker B:Probably couldn't afford it, but she's awesome.
Speaker B:That was one of the best shows I've seen.
Speaker A:What led to you all getting ready to record this most recent record?
Speaker B:It was out of necessity, I tell you.
Speaker B:We had already within ourselves, we had our own arguments and struggles with releasing a previous record while Patrick was still in the band.
Speaker B:You know, we had three or four attempts, and I don't even sad to admit this, but anyway, we had music that was sitting ready to go, and it just never, never happened.
Speaker B:And with him leaving and, you know, we spent a few months just practicing and writing these new songs.
Speaker B:Our success and our future was looking pretty grim.
Speaker B:And all of a sudden we got the Langhorne Tour.
Speaker B:We found that out, like, three and a half months before it actually happened.
Speaker B:So we just were like, okay, we need to get our stuff together here.
Speaker B:So we completely had a necessity.
Speaker B:We found a guy Here, a local guy from Reidsville, after, like, calling everybody, you know, we didn't have any money, so we couldn't just, like, go to, like, a nice studio.
Speaker B:Like, here was your $800 a day.
Speaker B:We need to record a record.
Speaker B:And so we called him up and he's a friend of friends, and we became really close to him just through this process.
Speaker B:But yeah, he.
Speaker B:He had a studio that he wasn't going to charge $800 a day, and it was in his house.
Speaker B:And it was awesome.
Speaker B:Really excellent, excellent setup and equipment and everything.
Speaker A:So heading into a recording, knowing that this is maybe a make or break time for the band, how did that come out in the vibe of recording?
Speaker B:I'm actually glad to say that we kind of kept it at a smaller picture.
Speaker B:You know, that general feeling was probably there.
Speaker B:We were very.
Speaker B:Just interested in each song as a whole.
Speaker B:Like, we started the process of doing one song or like two days.
Speaker B:So we would go like we do bass, drums, guitar, vocals, horns.
Speaker B:Like, that was to complete a song, you know, and then it became a little.
Speaker B:A little crazy trying, like, you know, recording horns is talent in its own.
Speaker B:Not knocking our horn players, our excellent horn players, but it's just very easy to be out of tune and, you know, it's easy to just flub a lot easier to flub a note.
Speaker B:So, like.
Speaker B:So we just stopped doing the horns every day and really focused on each song, though, getting it complete as close to as possible.
Speaker B:And that it was really an experience we hadn't had ever.
Speaker B:You know, we had recorded twice before in a studio.
Speaker B:The full length.
Speaker B:The first of the song, I Screamed in the Family, and then the live one.
Speaker B:And then, you know, this is an experience just for ourselves that we needed so bad, where we were completely creative and open and no one was calling the shots.
Speaker B:We trusted each other just to make, like, this record that we knew was going to be completely different, but we loved it so much.
Speaker B:We love the sound of it.
Speaker B:Much smaller picture than.
Speaker A:So when you do your recording by focusing on each song and having complete entity before you move on to the next one or more or less complete.
Speaker A:How did you know you were finished?
Speaker B:Yeah, good question.
Speaker B:Well, we knew that we were finished when every instrument was on the track, and then we listened to again.
Speaker B:Oh, wait, we could use some shaker here.
Speaker B:We just got the bass, all of the elements out of the way, and then we didn't mix it at all.
Speaker B:That was a whole other process.
Speaker B:At the end of it, we didn't have an access to Songs we wanted to do all brand new songs.
Speaker B:We didn't want to repeat any old ones.
Speaker B:That was very important to us.
Speaker B:So we had 11 that we had worked on and some of them weren't even like, dare I say, ready to be on a record.
Speaker B:But we knew this was the time to do it.
Speaker B:We just had to check out Holy Ghost Tent Revival's new record, Sweat like the Old Days and itunes.
Speaker A:Once you got them all recorded, what did you all decide to do with mixing?
Speaker B:We stayed with the same guy who engineered the record.
Speaker B:You know, he kind of took over that.
Speaker B:I would go into the studio and a couple of the guys would.
Speaker B:To different times.
Speaker B:We'd work with him and he would do something and show us and we would say yay or nay.
Speaker B:Or, you know, if we were on the road, he would mix something and email it to us, email comments back.
Speaker A:Well, so you knew going into it that the sound, you know, before recording that the sound was going to be different.
Speaker A:When you started getting those rough mixes back, was it kind of freaking you out?
Speaker B:No, no, no.
Speaker B:I've been behind this new sound, you know, since we started playing these songs and writing in this direction.
Speaker B:No, I mean, nothing freaked me out about, about this record.
Speaker B:I mean, I did think about, you know, like, man, what are people going to think?
Speaker B:I did definitely have those thoughts where it was like, man, this is pretty.
Speaker B:So when I scream to.
Speaker B:This is nothing similar other than the horns.
Speaker B:You really can't tell they're the same band.
Speaker B:I mean, that to me was.
Speaker B:It didn't create much anxiety.
Speaker B:Just.
Speaker B:Just, you know, more.
Speaker B:I mean, what am I talking about?
Speaker B:Yeah, create a lot of anxiety.
Speaker B:It was nerve wracking.
Speaker B:But I was so proud of the songs.
Speaker A:Were you still woodshedding with it?
Speaker B:What we had done is we had five tracks extremely roughly mixed and not mastered at all that we took with us on the Langhorn.
Speaker B:So yeah, we had those and we were selling them, I think for five bucks or something.
Speaker B:We completely sold out of those.
Speaker B:We only had like 300, I think.
Speaker B:But yeah, we got rid of them, had to order a new batch and we kept those along with us, like after the Langhorn tour for a few more weeks.
Speaker B:But, you know, we wanted to have kind of a limited time that they were available because they sounded like we all really just want to be able to hear the songs and understand this is where the next part goes.
Speaker B:As the songs became a little more mixed and a little more.
Speaker B:We would leak one on the old Internet.
Speaker B:How they do that created some Buzz.
Speaker B:Then we got a publicist in July, and yeah, we made the release September 4th, and we weren't really on the road.
Speaker B:We were just.
Speaker B:We've been building back, not getting as crazy as we were.
Speaker B:300 Shows a year.
Speaker B:But this past year, definitely we took a dip from touring, and now we're kind of trying to get back in that two to three week at a time thing.
Speaker A:What is different for you all now that you've got this new record out?
Speaker A:For the new audiences that are hearing you?
Speaker B:It has been tough time over.
Speaker B:We changed management again.
Speaker B:And, you know, I've been telling people, you know, even though this is year five, going on year six, it really feels like year one.
Speaker B:So, you know, I mean, the local stuff has been really great.
Speaker B:You know, on the road, there's been a couple spots that have been faithful, and we've always had a good time there.
Speaker B:But to be honest, you know, some of the places that we.
Speaker B:We haven't been able to return to because our bass player left, we really couldn't go back and be like, hey, these are completely unrehearsed music that we don't know.
Speaker B:We've taken a little hit that's been a little different.
Speaker B:But honestly, the people that have been wonderful fans and friends who have always liked us for our music, and they stuck around, they tell us afterwards, the thing that's different is that you're more focused.
Speaker B:This music is more intricate and more interesting and easier to listen to.
Speaker B:And it was very positive feedback, just helpful.
Speaker B:And some other people just say, you know, you're not jumping around as much.
Speaker B:Like, you know, well, not only are we a few years older, but, like, I really want to be known as that band.
Speaker B:Jumps around a lot, man, you should see them.
Speaker B:They're great.
Speaker B:They jump around a lot.
Speaker B:They don't really play their instruments that well.
Speaker B:Great jumping.
Speaker A:What do you all have planned for through the winter?
Speaker B:Got shows through December.
Speaker B:January and February is going to be a few shows here and there.
Speaker B:Pretty tough months to make anything really happen.
Speaker B:You know, we've talked about getting some demos done.
Speaker B:You know, we have a whole other batch of songs that we really want to record and get ready.
Speaker B:It's just finding the right amount of time mixed with the right amount to get it happening.
Speaker B:We're probably going to put some demos together in those couple months.
Speaker B:We're pretty slow on it on the touring front, but then around March, come back around and really focusing on this festival season.
Speaker A:Where did the band name come from?
Speaker B:Band name came from sign on the road on 421.
Speaker A:You mentioned earlier that y' all used to have a super fabulous tour van.
Speaker A:Tell me about that first van.
Speaker B:Well, we have a super fabulous one now.
Speaker A:Excellent.
Speaker B:We had a not so super fabulous one, but we called Good Ship Pillow Talk because It was an 83 Econoline that the back seat was completely broken and so we had to take it out.
Speaker B:And then the middle seat was broken.
Speaker B:And only late, it only did the reclining position.
Speaker B:So we would tour around with two people, one person driving, one in the passenger seat, and four of us laying down.
Speaker B:It was the most unsafe thing you could possibly do, but you were always laying down.
Speaker B:It was all right.
Speaker B:There's no heat, really, or air conditioning, and definitely not.
Speaker B:It was miserable.
Speaker B:But now we have a beautiful sprinter.
Speaker A:Ooh, nice.
Speaker B:Yeah, Much needed.
Speaker B:We've been driving around an eight passenger Econoline.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:Which is just like.
Speaker B:We get made fun of a little bit for that.
Speaker B:For like.
Speaker B:You guys are crazy, right?
Speaker B:Yeah, I know.
Speaker B:But now we have a.
Speaker B:You got a van we can stand up in and walk around and stretch.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:It's great.
Speaker A:That is a huge luxury.
Speaker B:It really is.
Speaker B:It really is.
Speaker B:So good.
Speaker A:That's great.
Speaker A:Well, Stephen, I really appreciate your time, and I'm really glad to get to catch up with y', all, and I hope lots of new audiences find it.
Speaker B:Thank you.
Speaker B:Thank you so much.
Speaker B:Means a lot.
Speaker A:Take it easy.
Speaker B:You too, babe.
Speaker A:Bye.
Speaker A:Bye.
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Speaker A:No music, Just talk.
Speaker A:Our theme music is from the Full Tones.
Speaker A:Our Country Fried Rock stinger is from Steve Stodo in the Twisted Hearts.
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Speaker B:Country Frank.
