Welcome to overeducated and underemployed. Fedden
here. Got a cool episode today with Kevin Lane
from the Arcs. The Lanes. And a band called The
Possibilities who we have talked about here before
Jay Gonzalez was in that band. Their album Way
Out is a killer record. The Arcs got an album
coming out this weekend. Make sure you go to
their party. If you're in the Athens area, it's
at nowhere bar. Jay Gonzalez is opening. She,
he, he is opening. Jay Gonzalez has his full
band opening the show. And of course the arc
says last week's guest, Ben Spraker, as well
as this week's guest, Kevin Lane had a great
talk with him. I'm not going to waste any more
of your time before just diving into the interview
this week. So without further ado, here's my
talk with Kevin Lane. So I'm here with Kevin
Lane. This is overeducated and underemployed.
Here with Kevin Lane, who I don't even know where
to start. He's in a band with an album coming
out soon called The Arcs. Yep. He was in a band
called The Possibilities for a long time. He
is in Sloan Brothers, works with Sloan Brothers,
recorded with Sloan Brothers. Sloan is a good
friend of the podcast. He actually did the theme
song for the podcast, composed and recorded it
for us. Cool. The Lanes. The Lanes have a record
coming out as well. So, yeah, two records coming
out. You worked at the Caledonia Lounge for several
years. I did. I'm trying to give a brief overview
to all the different things. I want to talk about
all these things in depth at some point, but
I'm going to ask you the first question I ask
everybody, and that's, What's the first song
that you remember loving as a kid? Probably Elton
John, Little Genie. I still have the little 45
with my five -year -old writing on it. It says
Kevin in five -year -old handwriting. That's
fucking awesome. I still have it, yeah. Probably
that. I remember Paul McCartney coming up. I
had that 45 as well. Yeah, those two come to
mind. Oh, also. Casey and the Sunshine Band,
Please Don't Go. Oh, nice. That was a big one,
yeah. Nice. Yeah, I like that one. What was the
first time you, like, bought, went out and bought
a robe? Was that it? Did you, you said you have
the 45. Did you seek that out, or did you acquire
it? Yeah, I sought it out, but I'm sure I didn't
buy it. I was five years old. Right, but there's
a difference between it, like, being in your
parents' collection. No, I specifically wanted
that and Coming Up and Please Don't Go. Do you
remember where you got it? No. Probably, we had
a record store in the Bainbridge Mall called,
I think it was called the Record Bar. I think.
So you're from Bainbridge, Georgia? I was born
in Statesboro. Statesboro, okay. Moved to Bainbridge
when I was one. Okay. So I don't really know
a whole lot about Statesboro. So basically, yeah,
I'm from Bainbridge. And what is there to do
in Bainbridge? Ride bikes. The Flint River goes
to the middle of it. Yeah. I've been to the Flint
River Aquarium in Albany. Yeah, we had a little
beach area. Quote unquote beach. Yeah, yeah.
I feel like there's an SNL song about that. Yeah.
We would swim there and go out and spend time
on boats. But eventually... We skateboarded a
lot when we got into thrash metal and things
like that. And that got us into starting bands
and stuff because there was nothing else to do
really by that. When we got to be 12, 13 years
old, we started playing guitars and starting
bands and stuff. When did you realize that you
really loved music in general? Oh, very early
on because my dad's a musician. He was always
playing. There was always instruments around.
In fact, there's a baby picture of me beside
the amplifier that I use today. Hell yeah. That's
funny. It was just always guitars and amps around,
and we had a piano. So my first thing I did was
drums, which I would set up cool whip containers
and shape them into sort of a drum set and play
them with spoons. And then I played... our family
piano a lot. Would you play along to songs you
liked and stuff like that? Yeah. Or were you
making up your own rhythms or a little bit of
both? Probably both. Probably just banging. Yeah.
Not doing anything special. So your love of music,
not only did you love it, but you wanted to create
it immediately. Yeah. I wrote songs pretty early
on on the piano. My brother, Matt, he's in the
lanes with me. He got better than me on drums,
so he... took over the drums. And by this time
we had real drum sets and stuff. Was there like
a rivalry going on between y 'all or was it very
much? No, not at all. I think I gravitated towards
guitar more. I got you. And he started playing
my drum set and he just got good at it and he
was a lot better than me. It just kind of shook
out. Yeah, he just became the drummer. There
was no rivalry about that. Not about that? No,
there were rivalries about other things. Not
about that. So we just naturally gravitated towards
me on guitar, him on drums. And we knew another
set of brothers, Stacy and Gary White, who played
bass. Stacy played bass and Gary played guitar.
So we had a, there we were. We had a band. Yeah.
Two guitars, bass and drums. And we were called
the Insults. We would play Ramones covers. Descendants,
DRI. So you were really into punk and all your
stuff as a kid, huh? Because we were skateboarders
and we were into anthrax and Slayer and all that
kind of stuff. Was that something that helped
you? A lot of people I know that are into heavier
music, and myself included to some degree, it's
almost like the opposite of what a lot of people
think, where it's like people think that people
listen to heavy music and get all angry or whatever.
No. It's like calming and relaxing. We were never
angry kids. Yeah. We just loved loud, heavy,
loud guitars. Yeah. I still to this day love
it. I listened to D .R .I. Four of a Kind yesterday.
Hell yeah. I still love that album. Yeah. I still
listen to Minor Threat and shit like that. All
that stuff's great. Yeah. It still holds up.
So I still love all that stuff. I don't really
write and record stuff like that. Yeah, yeah.
But I still love listening to it. But that was
what you started, like when you first started
playing music, that was the kind of music you
were playing? Yep. Ramones, because that stuff's
so easy to play. A lot of that stuff's really
easy to play. Descendants and Ramones. It's all
about the feeling. Yeah. The speed and the lyrics
and the shouting. Right, right. Of course, as
a 12 -year -old, we like to shout and turn our
guitars up loud. Man, when I was working at Vinyl
Fever, which you were, since... We were talking
a minute before we started recording here, and
since he's from Bainbridge, he grew up going
to the record store that I ended up working at.
It sounds like you were in Tallahassee before
I was working there. Yeah. The record bar where
I mentioned in the Bainbridge Mall closed pretty
early on, and so we didn't have a record store.
When we were really heavy into buying records,
we didn't have a record store, so we always had
to go to Tallahassee, and Vinyl Fever was where
we would go. What made me think of that was there
was one Christmas that, and you may have, it
was like early when I started working there,
so if there was overlap, you might have been
there. We had the front of the store painted
by one of our employees. This was the new place?
This was the new place. The Jim Morrison mugshot?
Yeah. I remember that. Yeah. He was arrested
in Tallahassee? He was arrested in Tallahassee.
That's why I was there, yeah. The crime was in
Miami. Crime. But he was arrested by TPD in Tallahassee.
Yeah, that's why the mugshot was there. Yeah.
But we had painted the front of the store with
the Ramones, and they all had Santa hats. And
it said, ho, let's go. I don't remember that.
That's cool, though. I don't know if cool is
the right word, but it was something. I don't
remember that. I didn't spend a whole lot of
time at the new location. When did the new location
open? Because I might have been in Athens by
then. Yeah, I feel like I don't think I went
to the old location, but a couple times when
I was really young. It had to be in the mid -90s.
I was going to say, I moved here in 94. I was
born in 86. There's no overlap between when I
worked there and when you went there. After I
moved here, I would still go visit my parents.
It was still the fucking best. I loved it. I
always felt unqualified to be there. for kids
from Bainbridge. We were starved for that stuff
and Vinyl Fever to us had everything that we
wanted, all the records we wanted. Yeah, yeah.
I don't think I realized how good I had it just
because it was like the kind of thing I took
for granted because it was just my record store
growing up. Yeah. And then when I'm working there,
it gets named like number nine in the country
by Rolling Stone and I'm like, I was the same.
I don't really. I think I realized how good we
had it having vinyl fever. I mean, you're going
to somewhere like Wuxstreet and you realize it
wasn't like the best store in the world ever,
but it was up there. It's like, I wouldn't be
embarrassed if people went to both of our stores
in the same, if someone went to Wuxstreet and
Vinyl Fever in the same day. Oh no, they're both
great. Yeah, yeah. I think Wuxstreet is... There's
a reason they're still around. Vinyl Fever is
the work street of Tallahassee. Yeah. For sure.
Yeah. But anyway, we got off track there a little
bit. You can edit this if you want. I don't care.
I think it's part of what makes this what it
is. It's just about whatever happens to come.
There's things I want to touch on. But it's more
about the answers to your questions bringing
more questions. Sure. Yeah. Natural conversation.
I try not to edit these too heavily, especially
if we're doing video. That starts to look weird.
And we have a lot. We have some things in common
with Tallahassee. Yeah. Were you born there?
I was, yeah. And I feel like it's one of those
things. Tallahassee Memorials, that was. I was
actually born in CRMC. It was called at the time
Capital Regional Medical Center, I think. Okay.
But my daughter was born at TMH. So, yeah, yeah.
Anyway, so you're playing. My brother and I,
this is a funny story. Okay, yeah. My brother
and I were banned for life from Governor's Square
Mall. Oh, yeah? In Tallahassee for shoplifting
a Black Sabbath cassette. What store was it from?
Was it Turtles, I think? Turtles? Yeah, my brother.
For life, huh? I wonder if that's still enforceable.
And it wasn't even a good, I don't want to say
it's not good, but that's subjective. It wasn't
even an Aussie. Sabbath. Oh, wow. It was like,
I think it was called the Eternal Idol. So it
wasn't even the Aussie one. And my brother put
it in his coat and walked out and we got caught.
We got banned for life. But of course we went
back. It's not, oh, the Wayne brothers are here.
Call the cops. I mean, they didn't know who we
were. No, there was mall security guards. The
cops wouldn't know who you were. No. But mall
security guards. They just said never come back,
hoping we'd be scared. Your picture may have
been on a wall somewhere. Maybe, but we maybe
waited a year and then started going back. Yeah.
Man, Governor Square is still there. The other
mall is pretty much a desert. They tried to put
a venue in there. I saw Willie Nelson and Dwight
Yoakam play in the Tallahassee Mall. That's cool.
I haven't been to Tallahassee in, gosh, probably
20 years, I would say. At least. Maybe longer.
You know what Thumper says. Anyway. Yeah. I don't
go back to Bainbridge. I don't really have any.
I have an uncle there, and that's about it. Yeah,
yeah. All my friends and family are pretty much
gone. There are some things I really love about
Tallahassee, and I think the things that I have
trouble with aren't the fault of the people that
try to do different things there. There's a lot
of corruption, and there's a lot of weird laws
with the way venues can even operate. Anyway.
Tallahassee has a lot of cool things going for
it. I'm going to turn a little bit. Yeah, yeah.
It's like I'm creaking my neck. Yeah, I did the
same thing a few minutes ago. So you're playing
in a bunch of punk bands and stuff like that.
When did you start to find kind of your own sound
and decide like what? I call it your authentic
voice or whatever. Because I think it's something
similar at all artists, whether you're a visual
artist or a comedian or a musician. Eventually
you find out how to be yourself in that medium.
Probably when Teenage Fan Club, bandwagon -esque,
came out in 1991. That's probably maybe the turning
point. Because I was into metal, Slayer and Metallica,
and I still love that stuff. And I was into grunge.
I went and saw Nirvana in Tallahassee. Oh, yeah.
At the Civic Center. Oh, hell yeah. And I was
into all that stuff. And then bandwagon -esque
came out in 1991, and it just felt like, ah,
this is what. I'd been waiting on. This is the
music. And it just felt so good to me. And my
band, The Possibilities, were together in high
school when that came out. So we learned that
whole album. And that band was together for a
really long time. Still together. Oh, Possibilities?
Possibilities, yeah. I thought you meant Teenage
Family. No, no. They're still together. Yeah,
they are. We were together from 92 to 2003. And
you guys started as a trio, and then you expanded
to five -piece later on. Jay Gonzalez joined
that band, right? He's a buddy of mine. He's
been on the podcast. Oh, has he? Yeah, yeah.
Jay and Chris Graham. Graham. Yeah, yeah. I'm
trying to sound it out. It's an odd spelling.
We've got to make sure the transcript gets it
right. Yeah, G -R -E -H -A -M, Graham. Jay and
Chris joined when we were on our last legs as
a three -piece. Things weren't going well. We
weren't really getting along. So they were the
metaphorical crutches. Yeah, we needed something
to keep us going. So Jay and Chris joined, and
we made our best album called Way Out. I love
that record. Oh, thanks. Yeah, I really love
that record. I'm glad we stuck it out with Jay
and Chris because they were a huge part of that
record. So we were able to do that, and then
we actually made a record, I feel, that we never
finished, and then we broke up. So, yeah. Will
that record ever see the light of day, you think?
It's out there. It's done. Oh, it's done, okay.
I just said we didn't finish it. We did finish
it. It just never got officially released or
anything. Gotcha, gotcha. It's finished and mastered
and everything. We just never did anything with
it. To me, it's not as good as Lay Out, but it's
good. So there's this thing I've noticed about
Athens musicians almost in particular. I see
it everywhere, but I see it more here than...
Y 'all are sluts, man. You sleep around a lot.
And what I mean by that is y 'all are all in
each other's bands. I'm trying to not be anymore.
It's like everybody has been in a band with everybody
else at one point or another. I try not to do
too much of that. Well, that's a joking way of
me just asking, like, how many projects do you
think you can keep going at one time? Now that
I have kids? None. Almost none. i mean the projects
i'm in don't even hardly do anything because
i have kids and we're just with work and kids
have been so busy but you know how it goes i
do i do but the arc started in 2006 and my brother
did not live here at the time he lived in bainbridge
where we grew up he moved back home for a little
while and so the arcs were going pretty good
and then in 2011 my brother started moving back
to athens we're starting a band so I was like,
okay, I already have a band. So I didn't really
have, I'm not going to say no to my brother.
We're going to start a band. And I didn't want
to quit the arcs. So I was like, I'm just going
to be in two bands. And that's how that happened.
But I don't really like being in a bunch of bands.
So you really try, even though you've been in
a lot of different bands over the years, you
usually are focused on like maybe two at a time.
Yeah. If you're like underlying projects that
have always gone on. Yeah, right now it's just
the arcs and the lanes. That's my two things.
And the lanes, you said have a release coming
out soon. Yeah, actually mastering it Tuesday.
Nice. Who's mastering it? Jason Eastman. Same
guy that did the arcs. Yeah. I said the possibilities.
You're right. We all cross, don't they? So, yeah,
I try to just, like I said, I don't have time
for much anyway. I can't do anything until 9
o 'clock at night because that's when my kids
go to bed. Yeah, yeah. And that's just all the
time I have for music, really. What do you find,
because obviously you've had to shift priorities,
what have you found are the things that you have
to keep doing to keep your sanity? Recording,
for sure. I can go without playing shows. It's
fun, of course. I do love it. But if I had to
just play shows and not record, I'd probably
still go crazy. I love recording. I have my own
recording studio, which I was going to offer
to do this at my studio, but it's a wreck right
now. I'll be honest, man, with how many I ended
up having to cram in today just because of...
Easier to do it here. Yeah. I literally live
a mile from here, so it was easy for me, too.
And this is easy to pack up and set up anywhere,
but yeah, no, this is great. I really appreciate
you coming by. Recording's the thing for me.
I love it. That's my favorite thing in the world.
Have there ever been times where you weren't
able to do that as much and you started to see
the effects of not doing it? Does that make sense?
Yeah. There was a time where I made a decision
to stop trying to do too much music stuff. I
wanted to focus more on my family and work. I
got to give up all this fantasy music stuff.
I felt like it was... getting in the way of things.
And so I tried that, and it did not work. I did
feel myself being unhappy, and I knew what was
missing. I knew what it was. Do you know what
the kind of turning point was for that decision?
Not really. Oh, you mean to stop? Yeah, yeah.
Well, I never really stopped or anything. It's
just the focus shifted more on I need to do less
of this and more. But it was more of a gradual
thing. Yeah, more of a career and family and
just being a grown -up. I'm still not a grown
-up. That's no fun. No, that's what I found out.
This is no fun. So now I think I've got a good
balance now. From when I wake up at whatever,
6 .30, 7 a .m., all the way to 9 p .m., it's
work and family, really. And then at 9 p .m.
It's music time, which can go pretty late sometimes.
So 6 .37 comes early. Sleep's not that important.
I have to sacrifice sleep to be able to do both.
That's the only thing that I've found I have
to sacrifice. I go on six hours sleep. That's
not too bad. No, I honestly can't sleep a whole
lot more than that most nights. Sometimes five.
I'll usually go, when I'm recording, it's nine
to 12 or one usually. So it doesn't sound like,
it sounds like. And we didn't get into it too
much, but it sounds like you had a fairly normal
upbringing. Yeah. It didn't sound like it was
tumultuous or anything like that. No, very good,
very good. Sounds like you weren't like an angry
kid. What I'm getting at is like with most artists
that I talk to, and myself included, there's
like a darkness that kind of drives some of that.
Yeah. Is that something that's present with you,
or do you think that? I don't think so, unless
it's subconscious. I wonder if it's because you
figured out your outlet so early. Maybe. It could
be. Because I feel like it gets dampened when
people figure out what they're supposed to be
doing. Yeah. I had a great normal upbringing.
Great parents. no problems there you struggle
with anxiety or depression oh yeah like that
everybody most people do right yeah i mean not
so much really gotten in the way of no not so
much depression as anxiety for sure yeah it's
hard to live in the world today i feel like i'm
generally generally pretty happy person but anxious
anxiety for sure and adhd for sure yeah you know
that'll probably come through on this recording
because i will talk over you a thousand times
very neurodivergent so you're in good hands man
i i was not diagnosed until an adult so i didn't
find out i'm still undiagnosed but everybody
knows that no i'm not arguing i'm in therapy
my therapist knows it yeah i think therapy is
really important I've been in therapy for 15
years. I tell a joke on stage about being in
therapy where I survey the room. I'm like, who
thinks therapy is important? And everybody cheers.
And then I'm like, who's in therapy? And nobody
cheers. I think it's very important. And then
nobody cheers when I ask who's in therapy. And
I'm like, that's why I'm still in therapy. Yeah.
And they get it, really. They understand. They're
like, yeah, I probably need to go. I think it's
important. I agree. Absolutely, yeah. If anything,
just having that neutral part in me. Sometimes
you have a session where you're just like, oh,
that makes total sense to me, and I didn't think
about it that way. And it's just so easy. Everybody
has their go -to people, but what happens when
you need to bitch about them? Yeah. One of my
therapists asked me, who do you have that will
be straight, who in your life will be straight
and honest with you and not just take your side?
And I was like, I really don't know. Most people
will just probably agree with what I said. Here's
what I do, man. So you're, to my therapist, you're
supposed to be that person. What's that? Leave
your fly unzipped or a booger in your nose, something
like that. And then whoever lets, like, those
are your real friends. Yeah, my wife, definitely.
See? That means you picked well. Although she
just might not want to be seen with you. No.
If you've got that going on. She would definitely
let me know. My therapist said I'm not allowed
to use her as a person. Don't know why. She's
a good example of someone that'll be straight
with me. Yeah, but that is your person. Yeah.
No, I get it. At what point, if you don't mind
sharing, what kind of drove the decision to go
into therapy? Was there just anxiety? Anxiety
and just trying to be a better person. family
and my friends and I don't know yeah I think
that's important yeah and it's a really good
way to just learn how to communicate better listen
more and not talk over people which I'm bad about
doing I'm bad about doing it too and I think
you can probably relate to this is like a neurodivergent
person as well it's it's never it's always because
I'm like excited to say something Nervous. Or
nervous. I would always blame it on social anxiety.
I'm just talking about things about myself because
I'm nervous. I have social anxiety. But I think
it could be more than that. Do you get anxious
when you play? Not really. Is it kind of a safe?
Solo show, yes. I got you. All day. The day of
a solo show. You can ask my wife, like, why did
I book this? I don't want to do this. It sounds
like me every time I book a comedy show. Yeah,
well, that's by yourself. It's great, right?
Yeah, it's fine once I get up there. But sometimes
it's funny, I'll write out a set list, and then
when I'm up on stage, I'll go, I don't want to
do that, I don't want to do that, I don't want
to do that, I don't want to do that. You've got
to do some of these songs. So, I don't know,
that I get really nervous. But with a band, no,
not really. You play with your brother a lot,
so that's probably... Yeah. and with the arcs
and the lanes i mean i don't get nervous at all
yeah i just wondered if there was like a juxtaposition
between it's almost does the anxiety go away
once you start playing yeah it never really starts
with playing with bands i've just done it for
30 years i i get nervous about more about the
show itself are people going to come like how's
it and i shouldn't You shouldn't worry about
those things because you really have no control
over it. You can advertise the show. Sure. But
that's about all the control you have. You can't
go pick people up and make them come. I was talking
to a good friend of mine last week, or maybe
two weeks ago now, about how the metrics for
a good show are very different for music and
comedy. Because you can have a good show and
have two or three people in the audience. Because
you guys clicked and it just felt good. Because
primarily you're playing for yourself and for
each other. And if people show up, awesome. With
comedy. If you're doing comedy to two people.
Man. I can totally see it. I've done it. I can
totally see it. You need a group laughing. And
the more people that are laughing, if some people
are laughing, these people might laugh more.
Yeah, yeah. If there's nobody there to spread
that. Some things are going to hit with some
people, and some things are going to hit with
other people. It's just, once you get, you've
got to get real specific. You found your sound,
it sounds like, pretty young, too, in a way.
So, yes. You were in high school when you started.
Yeah, so Bandwagon S would have been 91, I think,
or 92, 91. So that would have been about when
I realized that's the kind of music that spoke
to me the most, is that, you know that album?
Yeah, yeah. So that kind of, then that led me
to, every review you read of that album was like,
these guys are ripping off Big Star. And I was
like, who's Big Star? So that got me right down
to, I was like, oh, I fell in love with Big Star.
And then I was just off and running. But I guess
even before that, there was R .E .M. I was into
that. My big brother, Tim, my oldest brother.
He turned Matt and I on to a lot of stuff because
he was, I don't know where he even found out
about all this stuff in Bainbridge. He was into
the replacements and REM and sex pistols. Maybe
at Vinyl Fever. Could be. I'm sure that's where
he bought a lot of it. That's where I found out
about the replacements. He was into all that
stuff. My brother Matt and I got turned on to
all that stuff real early on, which we were real
lucky. So you started the possibilities in high
school, but then you moved to Athens. It sounds
like a few years after you graduated. Yeah, I
graduated in 1993. And then June of 94, we moved
here as a band. We already had the band in Bainbridge.
We played. So you were, you planned, you moved
here as a band, like to come to Athens. Yeah,
it was, it was funny. We had, we were just playing
parties down there and we're, there's nowhere
to play in Bainbridge. You just play house parties
and we would just play. we would play mostly
covers like stuff like spin doctors and stuff
that was popular pearl jam yeah yeah not that
we didn't like that stuff we did we didn't ever
play anything we didn't like but we were playing
like popular stuff nirvana and stuff like that
and then we'd throw in ramones stuff and then
every when we throw in an original song just
trying to sneak it in but nobody wanted to hear
it original songs my friend zach hosie i don't
know if zach he still lives and he's really familiar
but i don't know yeah he's he's a friend of mine
from bainbridge from way back from high school
so when he came to see us one night he had already
moved to athens and he came he was in bainbridge
and we were playing a party and he was there
and he was like you guys need to get your band
bring your band to athens because all they want
to do is hear original music they don't care
about covers we're like god that sounds like
a dream we want to play original music So he
said, I'll tell you what, get all your gear,
all your stuff, move in with me until you find
a place. And that's what we did. We just brought
all of our stuff. This was before cell phones,
so we called him, and his phone had been disconnected.
So we were like, should we go? We can't even
get him on the phone. So we just packed all of
our stuff up and just drove all the way up here
and just knocked on his door. Here we are. Remember,
you told us we could stay with you until we found
a place? Did he remember? He did, but I don't
think he really thought we were going to come.
And so he just looked at us like, come on in.
And so we lived there for about six weeks, I
think, until we found our own place. And then
you found a place as a band? Yeah, it was the
day OJ was in the White Bronco. Oh, that was
the day you moved out? That was the day we moved
here, yeah. Oh, you moved to that. That was what
was on TV when we were moving our furniture.
That's fucking crazy. So it's always easy to
remember when we meet. Yeah, yeah. And so, yeah,
after about six weeks living with Zach, we found
a place over on Willow Run as a band. And we
all moved in there, paying like $450 a month
or something. That was when normal town was cheap.
Yeah. Oh, man. And we've been here ever since.
We just came to try it out and see what happens.
Here I am, 30 -something years later. So when
did you start working at the Caledonia Lounge?
Probably when they opened. Because I was friends
with them. Can you share? I don't think we've
really talked about the Caledonia Lounge on this
podcast before. It was a really important music
venue in Athens. Oh, yeah. That got closed. It
was a cool place. Really cool place. Yeah. I
guess it opened around 99, I think. And I started
there as a door guy. Like right when they opened?
I think. Maybe not right when they opened, but
pretty early on. And I remember Karen and Kaya,
who owned the place, told me, you know, don't
let anybody in for free because some people try
to get in for free. You've got to charge everybody.
And so the owner of the building, Joey, who I
didn't know, he comes in and I charged him. Of
course he didn't mind. He paid. Yeah, yeah. Kai
or Karen, one of them, pulled me aside and they
were like, that's the owner. You don't have to
charge him. And I was like, you said charge everybody.
I remember Michael Stipe coming in. I was like,
you're definitely paying. That's mean. But yeah,
I charged everybody, no matter who you were.
And that money went to the artists. Yeah, of
course. And nobody mind paying. Right, yeah.
Nobody gives a shit about supporting music in
this town. That's what they want to do. Nobody's
going to complain about it. Yeah. And they only
serve beer and wine then, so. We had Monday night
movie nights, which is funny to think now. In
the early days, we had movie nights on Mondays.
And so on those nights, I would work the bar
because it was easy, beer and wine. Just pour
a glass of wine or a pop of beer. Later on, when
I got mixed drinks, I was gone from the bar by
then, but I had moved to the sound booth by then.
So I worked door, bar, then sound. You've been
kind of learning sound while working there over
the years? Or had you learned it elsewhere and
then you were like, hey. I was already way into
it from recording and stuff. Yeah, yeah. So I
knew, I'd never run sound at a venue, but I'd
run plenty of PA systems at parties and stuff.
I knew how it worked. And I knew how to make
something sound decent. Yeah, and you knew the
room. And if something's feeding back, turn it
down. That's the biggest thing I've learned is
once you know the room, it becomes really easy.
I don't want to say easy, but it becomes very
familiar and you know how to fix everything pretty
quickly. Because it's like, oh, I know what's
causing this in here. Yeah, I was definitely
part of the Caledonia family. And then, yeah,
that was our favorite place to play. And you
did some stuff with Elephant 6 over the years
too, right? A little bit, yeah. I played... You
were in a band called Elf Power. Yeah, it was
at the Caledonia, funny enough. I was hanging
out with Andrew, who's the leader of Elf Power.
And he said, where are you up to? Because do
you know who Brian Poole is? He plays with Elf
Power. He used to play with Of Montreal. At that
time, Of Montreal was blowing up, and he was
playing with them. And so they had this big tour
coming up, and Brian wanted to do that because
it was going to be more, I'm guessing it was
going to be more, because it was more lucrative.
You know Davey Pierce? Yeah. Is he still around?
Yeah. He was in Tallahassee when I was a kid,
man. I'm not sure if he's still around. I haven't
seen him in a long time, but I know him. Yeah,
he was in a band called The Drake Equation that
I used to hang around all the time in Tallahassee.
Yeah, man, way back in the day. Yeah, I was friends
with Davey. I haven't talked to him in a long
time. He may not be here. Yeah, I got to reach
out to him, man. I haven't heard from him in
a minute, but anyway. Yeah, I'm making this too
long of a story. No, no, you're good, you're
good. I got off track because he played with
Montreal for a while. Yeah, he did, yeah. So
Brian took that tour with Montreal, so Elf Power
was left without a bass player for a tour they
had coming up. So Andrew was like, do you want
to go on this tour with us? We're going to Spain.
And I was like, yes, I do, indeed. I want to
go to Spain. We weren't going to make any money,
but everything's going to be paid for. So I was
like, to me, that's making a lot of money. I
can't afford to go to Spain yet. So they took
me to Spain with them playing bass. And we did
six weeks in the U .S. And then we did 11 days
in Spain. That's really all I spent playing with
them. What time period was that? 2004. I feel
like I might have seen that tour. You may have.
We played the 40 watt. Yeah. I played the 40
watt opening for. Olivia Tremor Control. And
then there was the big late night party with
Danger Mouse DJing. That was a big night. Yeah,
I heard about that. I wasn't at that show, but
anyway, yeah. That was a fun night. Club Down
Under had a bunch of great shows around that
time, too. It was like a great time period for
live music, I feel. Especially if it was like
club -sized bands. I saw Buffalo Tom there one
time. Oh, hell yeah. That was great. They were
really good. I don't know if I went to Club Down
Under too much. I was underage, so I got to remember
that. I don't know how I even went to Buffalo
Tom. Did they let underage people in? I don't
know. They had to. I wasn't 21. A lot of places,
they would let you in with a parent or a guardian
or an older brother or something like that. My
mom used to take me to so many shows. My mom
took me to see D .R .I. At the moon. Hell yeah.
Remember the moon? Hell yeah. The moon's still
open. Yeah. My mom took me and my brother to
see DR. I was 14. Hell yeah. That was awesome.
She was set up top, but she was probably horrified
because we were down in the pit thrashing around.
But that was great. That's wild. Yeah, that place
is still open, man. But I ended up on a record
that just came out with the Elephant 6 soundtrack.
Oh, cool. I played the show in Toronto with Elf
Power. And it was broadcast over, what is it,
CBC Radio? Is that what it's called? It was broadcast
over the radio, so they had a really good recording
of it. Yeah, yeah. And they used a track from
that for that record. Oh, yeah. I ended up on
that. But there's no credit, so I didn't get
any credit. Yeah. I have to tell people, I'm
on this. So that's neat. So I did have, there
is one, one released song of me with Elf Power
on that record, but that's it. I was mainly just
filling in for Brian for a few weeks. Yeah. I
mean. To me, it's just amazing how many places
you seem to have had your hand in. Well, that
was a time where I was floating around because
Possibilities broke up in 2003. The Arcs didn't
form until 2006, so those couple of years, I
was just at home recording. I didn't have a band,
and that Elf Power thing came up in 2004, so
of course I was going to do that. I played with
Donnie Chambers around that time. Yeah, Don's
great. Yeah. I love Donnie. Yeah, he's amazing.
I played with him. And then I just started thinking,
God, I'm tired of being. I love those guys. Donnie,
I love Andrew and Elf Power. I just didn't want
to be a hired gun anymore. I want to go back
to writing songs and being in a band. It sounds
like that's still what's most important to you,
right? Yeah. Writing your own music, recording
it. Like you said, I started missing that part
of it. I was doing it at home the whole time,
like recording, of course. But I was playing
a lot of live shows as a bass player or guitar
player or something. And I was tired of it. Speaking
of being at home a lot, let's fast forward a
little bit. And you can fill in any gaps as you
see fit as we keep going. But what were some
of the immediate impacts that you felt when COVID
hit and when you started the whole city, obviously?
That's essentially what killed Caledonia Lounge,
I think. more or less without getting into details
I don't know that I don't know or I was out of
the Caledonia picture by then so I'm not sure
what I just know the whole scene here took a
big hit and that being one of the casualties
how did that affect you I hate to say I liked
it because a lot of people died obviously yeah
you're not the first person to say that though
it was a horrible thing but right before that
and this is very selfish of me to say but right
before that I was playing and a lot of different
bands just filling in doing some stuff and i
knew i said i'd gotten out of that but i was
somehow found myself that's fine back into doing
gigs with a few different bands like filling
in on guitar doing all this stuff and i right
before covet hit i found out my wife was pregnant
with our second boy we didn't know he was a boy
yet obviously second child and that was in january
of 2020. and then i was doing all this stuff
with music and i'm just i was busy at work and
i remember saying i just wish the world would
stop for a minute and let me catch my breath
i felt so stressed and then march 2020 happened
and i was like the world did stop and now i got
now i can't do anything and i liked that i was
like i feel like i can catch my breath and i
don't have anywhere to go or be it was scary
of course it was horrible we were because my
wife was pregnant and we didn't know what it
did to people, much less an unborn child. We
were horrified. We were out there ordering groceries
and wiping them down with Clorox wipes. For a
while there. I washed my hands so much, they
were just hurt to touch. They were so raw, I
was washing them so much. Because we didn't know
what was going to happen with the pregnancy.
it was really scary i'm sure a lot of people
went through that who had children at that time
for sure and it was scary but i don't think that
negates the fact that and i think that this is
a pretty common experience among people with
adhd especially is like when the world shut off
it was like we got to breathe for the first time
in a long time yeah and i think a lot of the
people that i've talked to neurodivergent or
just an artist found that there was I think the
easiest way to put it is like it was a little
easier for some of these people to find the silver
lining yeah in a horrible situation and I was
definitely one of those people for a while I
think it went on a little long and it got to
us all eventually but yeah I mean we were my
wife and I had we already had one boy at that
point and he was I guess he was four when that
happened yeah he had just turned four so had
you You've already made the conscious decision
to focus a little less on music and more on family
and everything at that point before COVID did
hit? No, not my own music. Just like... Everybody
else's? Yeah, just spreading myself too thin.
I say I wish the world would stop. It was all
choices I made. But I was really busy at work.
That was one thing. Just stopped and I was just
like this is so great. I don't have to do anything
I'm at home with my wife and my four -year -old
and this is just great. Like we don't have to
do anything or go anywhere Yeah for awesome.
Yeah, my gym closed and I had just joined Yeah,
I feel so bad saying that because it was such
a horrible thing and so many people died and
so many people lost Loved ones. I feel so selfish
saying that but That part of it, I guess I'll
just put it that way. That part of it I liked.
Sure, sure. Being able to not do anything. I
didn't have a choice. I don't think that figuring
out how to make situations work for us means
that we wanted the situation to happen. You know
what I mean? I understand what you mean. Certainly
didn't want anybody to get sick. No, of course
not. I enjoyed the time at home. There were some
people that struggled a lot more with the isolation.
and the things and some people that were relieved
by that i could see how some people might be
affected that way i was lucky that i had my wife
and my four -year -old so we had plenty of things
to do around the house and we kept busy with
him and playing with him did that change the
way you started recording like perpetually or
was it all well the arts had started recording
our album before that So we started, oh yeah,
I'm glad you brought that up, because we tried
to do, I guess you'd call it e -recording, by
sending each other tracks, and it just did not
work. Because Ben would send us a vocal track
he had spent four hours on, and we would all
go, eh, it could be better. Or I'd spend six
hours. recording guitars using different amps.
You weren't live together at any point. Yeah,
so you spend all this time and you think it sounds
great. I do all these guitar tracks and I send
them to the guys and Ben says, sounds out of
tune. It just didn't work. It was like, God,
we're just spinning our wheels here. We all need
to be in the same room. We're never going to
get this done. So the Arch record just stopped.
So you had started recording it, COVID hits,
you tried doing it. remotely doesn't work yeah
what finally brought it all together we started
when we could get back in the room together again
we started back so that we probably took what
a two -year break from it and there were points
in it before and after covid that we stopped
too just because things were i don't know like
people got busy or dave moved 30 minutes out
of town and right there's our drummer and it
sounds like you already knew at that point you
needed to be like even if you hadn't tried the
remote recording thing like you knew y 'all needed
to all be in the room together yeah no yeah not
really maybe not really all of us but yeah yeah
there had to be at least more than one person
yeah because feedback if you just have the one
person then you're liable to go down a road for
hours that the other guys might not like it's
risky or and it's just not yeah it's just not
what a band is no no The Lanes is like that in
a way, because I do a lot of the recording myself
at home. How do you approach those two projects
differently? The Arcs is a collaboration of Ben
Spraker and I both write songs for the band.
We both sing the ones that we wrote. It better
be here later on today, actually. Ben's coming
here? Yeah. Oh, cool. I think 4 .30. Oh, cool.
And The Lanes is all me. it's all my songs all
my singing awesome my brother plays drums and
does a lot of singing too backup singing and
so did he ever try anything other than like he
stole your drum set as a kid better than you
and does he play anything but drums no he can
play guitar and play everything yeah he's very
talented yeah he just plays drums mostly i don't
think he plays any guitar i don't think he plays
anything but drums on the lanes album but he
can he writes songs too yeah i think pretty This
is all my songs on this album. I think down the
road, hoping he'll be writing songs too. Cool.
Yeah, because I know he wants to. I think he's
just a little nervous about it. It's hard to
put your stuff out there. Yeah, it is. How did
you overcome that when you struggled with it
in the past? I just don't really care anymore.
Yeah. This is what I do. It's a great place to
be. Yeah, and not everybody's going to like it.
some people are gonna like it and some people
aren't and there's really not a whole lot you
can do about it but if i think about the things
that everybody and i don't mean like people that
have a filter but like everybody out there likes
it's like jeff dunham and i'm like i don't want
to be one of the jeff dunhams of the world yeah
i don't want to be something that everybody likes
and i think that's a good thing i think i'm just
i just decided at some point i was tired of being
worried about what people think about my songs
and stuff because I've spent years being self
-conscious about it, and it would keep me from
doing things. It's like, this is not cool. I
want to put these songs out. I think they're
good. I just started trusting that more often.
If you think it's good, then do it. There's people
out there that aren't going to like it or going
to think it sucks, and that's fine. Right. At
least they have an opinion about it. Yeah. That
would be ignored. I just don't want to spend
any more time. caring about that did any of that
reemerge when you had kids where you start worrying
like oh one day they'll hear this song or oh
definitely yeah certainly has that changed how
you approach this it's made me want to do more
yeah it's made me want to it's made me want to
do more stuff like that they can have because
i have my dad's old records and that's really
cool yeah i love that i want my kids to have
my records that's why i want to put them on vinyl
and stuff and Because I think that would be cool
for them to have down there. I said that to my
wife two nights ago. I was like, this will be,
this Lanes record is going to be so cool for
them, and the Arcs record too, for them to have.
I say the Lanes because it's their last name.
Right, yeah. But to have that stuff when they're...
And it's their uncle and their dad. Yeah, to
have that stuff when they're growing up. They
really don't care right now that much about my
bands. They might always pretend not to. One
of them pretends not to, and one of them does
seem to like my bands. Is that important to you?
I wish they loved it, but it's not really. I
don't really hold them to it. I'm just letting
them pass through. Yeah. I don't really think
that much. That's the first time I've ever seen
another person walk into this room while I've
been in here, other than breakfast, yeah. Do
you know what Porch Fest is? I do, yeah, yeah.
It's coming up here soon. The Lanes played Porch
Fest at my house probably two or three years
ago. My son had never heard me play before I
was this would be great. My son can finally this
is my oldest son can finally hear us play Because
we're always playing at clubs at night and when
he's asleep and so he heard his play and afterwards
I said I'm thinking he's gonna think I'm the
coolest dad in the world I'm playing in this
cool band and after the show I said, what'd you
think of our band? He said me Soul -crushing
They always know how to get you, don't they?
But I think he really liked it. Yeah, yeah. He's
got a tough exterior, and I think he really cares
on the inside, but he's got a tough exterior.
So he's not going to let you know what he's really
thinking. I think he really probably liked it.
And I want to jump back, and maybe this is how
we bring it all full circle. You talked about
growing up with your dad's records. You briefly
mentioned it, I should say. Can you talk about
that more, how you think that impacted you even
now and how that's impacted the way you want
to share your music with not just your kids?
I just always thought it was so cool that I think
I seem to remember even as a kid, I thought it
was so cool that my dad played music and he had
a 45 that he recorded in, I guess around 1980
he recorded it. And to have that, it was 1979,
I think. Really cool record. I still really love
that record, but I don't have a good copy of
it. Every copy I have is like so scratchy because
none of them had covers. It's just like a stack
of vinyl records. But they were all over my house
growing up because we had hundreds of them. So
we probably threw them at each other. The boys
threw them at each other and had like frisbees
and stuff. But I just always thought that was
so cool. We've actually covered those songs that
Possibilities used to. Oh, hell yeah. But he's
got a lot of other recordings, but that's the
only thing that's actually on vinyl is that 45.
But he was in a band called the Younger Brothers
in the 60s, and they turn up sometimes on those
garage rock compilations and stuff. Yeah. There
was one called Psychedelic States. And we're
at State by State. Yeah. And the one on Georgia
has my dad's band, The Younger Brothers, on it.
Nice. Yeah. He didn't even know. I told him,
I was like, your dad, your band's on this compilation.
He's like, nobody asked me. I was like, I guess
they just used it. They probably don't even know
how to contact anybody in the band. So it sounds
like. Oh, you know what? The Younger Brothers
had a 45, too. Sorry. That actually, no, you're
good. I still have that, too. That's exactly
what I was asking is. It sounds like you had
some real connection to these physical objects.
Yeah. I think that's cool. And it also sounds
like that's become important to you in the way
that you release your music. Certainly. What
are some of the most important things that you
want? When you put out a record, what are the
things that it has to do in terms of packaging?
Does it need to be on vinyl? Vinyl, for sure.
It's important to me. Just because I grew up
a vinyl junkie and still a vinyl junkie. Yeah,
me too. I just love it. I love the physical.
The tangible thing. Yeah. The big art. The big
art and all that stuff I love. I think, yeah,
that's important to me. So you put a lot of care
into that stuff. It seems like if it's just on
streaming or even on CD, it just doesn't seem.
Is it even real? Yeah, because no offense to
bands that only do that. That's fine. I mean.
get your music out there is great, period. Yeah,
yeah. Because CDs, they're so cheap to make.
It doesn't seem like it's even that big a deal
for anybody to make a CD, but to make a vinyl
record seems special. When I talked to J. Roddy
Walston, and I'm curious what you think about
this, and I don't know that we have verified
this statistic, but the vast majority of people
that buy vinyl don't even have record players.
Is that right? And that kind of tracks, or they
might have a record player, but they never actually.
And they might listen to the record on streaming
a lot, but just having the physical copy, he
was a little bit discouraged by that. In the
sense that it was like, a lot of these people
just buying junk that eventually they're going
to clean out of their house or whatever. I'm
just wondering, like, how important is it? If
somebody buys your record and they don't own
a record player, what is that? I don't even know
what I would think of that. It popped into my
head. I'm just curious. I've never heard of that,
buying a record that you don't listen to. I guess
obviously it happens. Yeah, yeah. It doesn't
bother me. I think a lot of people are like,
one day I'll have a record player. Yeah, sure.
And that makes sense to me. I guess. I don't
know what to say about that. I guess I would
like people to listen to it, but if they're listening
to it on streaming, then that's fine too. It's
almost like you're double dipping that. Yeah,
I do that a lot. If I'm turned on to a record
and I listen to it on streaming and I really
like it, I always get by the vinyl because I
want to support it. I'm exactly the same way.
Yeah. I just feel if I'm listening to it a lot
on streaming, I owe it to the band to buy the
vinyl. And a lot of the time when you listen
to it on streaming, it becomes fragmented. And
when you're driving around or you're hanging
out with friends or it might be on shuffle and
when you get the record, you actually have to
pay attention to it. I say I owe it to the band,
but usually when I like something on streaming,
I really want the record. You owe it to yourself.
Yeah, I really want the record. Because that's
usually what happens. And there are times I might
listen to a record a little bit and I like it
and I don't buy the record. But normally, nine
times out of ten, if I like a record. I'll go
buy that. If I like something on streaming, I'll
go buy the record. So, tell me about the ARX
record. Tell me about the artwork. Tell me about
who's... You said Jason Neesmith? He did the
mastering, yeah. That's done. That's done, yeah.
We already got the physical copies and we have
a show coming up. When's the show? 9 -13, September
13th. This will definitely be out before then.
Record comes out September 16th. We'll have him
at the show, obviously, but it officially comes
out that following Tuesday. The show's on a Saturday.
It comes out on Tuesday. Where are you playing?
The Nowhere Bar. Hell yeah. Yeah, which he and
Jay Gonzalez. And the Guilty Pleasures, which
I am the bass player in. It sounds like I'm going
to be due for another trip to Athens. Yeah, I
wish you would. Yeah. I was just at Nowhere Bar
last night. I fucking love that place. Yeah,
I love George. He's great. And yeah, I play with
Jay and Jay's band too. And he asked me, would
it be too much to ask if we, because we had already
asked Jay to open as a solo guy. And he said,
would it be too much to ask to do the full band?
Chris would come to town. And I said, sure. So
we're going to do the whole band. Hell yeah.
Yeah. Jay is like one of the nicest guys. in
the world and in music and he's just such a i
always anytime i get to sing praises about jay
gonzalez i'll do it yeah the best he he's easy
to get along with that is for sure and he's been
in a band with me so i'm not have i am these
days but back in the possibilities days i was
not so easy to get along with i've seen i've
changed my way it seems like you are now for
sure I was never terrible, but I was more of
an unhappy person. I wonder how much of it was
when you cared a lot more about trying to make
it. I think you hit the nail on the head, because
I think with that album we made, Way Out, there
was a lot of promise. Like the Minus Five, they
had been helping us out, and they covered one
of our songs. We just had a lot of good momentum
going. Paris Hall Records put it out, and their
marketing was crazy. Every town we'd go to play,
the record would be in the stores, there'd be
an article on the paper. We didn't even know
where this was coming from. We had nothing to
do with any of it, but they were just so good
to us, and so we just had all this momentum,
and the tour just didn't go very well. It was
bad timing. I think a lot of college towns we
went to were out probably spring break, so everything
was bad timing. Man, I do really love that record.
So everybody, go listen to that record. Do yourself.
If you do one thing after this, get the Arcs
record. If you do two things, listen to that
Possibilities record. Yeah. And then the Lanes,
if you do two things, get the Lanes record that's
coming out soon. If you do three things, go listen
to that Possibilities record because it is really
good, man. I love that record. We're all proud
of that one. We wish people would. catch on to
it eventually. It sold some back in the day,
but it wasn't a huge hit or anything. But yeah,
I think there was, like you said, I think you
nailed it. There was a lot of promise that I
felt. I was naive, too. I was 20, early 20s,
thinking we're just going to hit it big. This
album's going to be huge. There's a lot of naivety
going on. It's a lot more fun when you let that
stuff go, though. Yeah, and I think that kind
of played into it. The disappointment of the
tour not going, and we were not being good to
each other. Yeah. Fighting, and not physical
fighting, but arguing and just being, I don't
know. Yeah, when I hear people in a band talk
about fighting, I never assume that they're,
like, beating each other up on stage. That's
not where my head goes. We're not violent people.
But I just, the whole thing was disappointing
to me. I wasn't in a good mental place then.
But yeah, all that came from Jay being very easy
to get along with because he put up with me in
those days. And we're still buddies. Yeah, he's
a sweet guy. That record, is there a single out
or did Sloan play me something that's not a release?
Oh, there's three singles out. That's what I
thought. Because Sloan and I were listening to
it on the way to the steakhouse the other night.
We put out a song of mine called... She's just
that kind of girl. And then we put out some of
those bins called Get Out of Town. And then we
put out another one of mine called Not In Love.
That one just came out, I think, last week. Oh,
yeah. So that's it. And now that's leading up
to the release. Now, where can people, if they
don't live here and they can't come see your
show and buy the record at the show, where can,
is there, you've got a website you can buy them
on? They can go to Arfus Records. That's A -R
-F -U -S. Awesome. There'll be links to all that
in the description. Yeah, arfisrecords .com.
Oh, God, I think it's .com. There'll be a link
in the description. I should be clear about that.
Yeah, there'll be a link. There'll be a link,
yeah. But you can pre -order our record there.
Awesome. Andrew is in charge of that site, and
he's selling our records there. Is there anything
else you feel like? God, I could go all day.
I feel like we could, too. I've got to say, sometimes
I feel like. It's like both of us want to keep
talking so long that it were like both exhausted
by the time so I'm almost in a way I'm almost
glad that I have hard exits today because I really
could just sit here and talk. Yeah There's a
lot we didn't get into a real just real quick
a really important part of my Music life and
the possibilities music life was Jack Logan.
Do you know who Jack Logan is? I'm not familiar
No, look into his music. Okay, really good. He
had a his debut album. What's called bulk came
out and God, 92, 93, I think, something like
that. 94, maybe. Double album. His first album's
a double album. It's all a bunch of recordings
he did in the 70s and 80s. And he's just, yeah,
one of the best songwriters I've ever worked
with. So we were his backing band for a while.
The whole Possibilities, the five piece. We went
on tour with him, backing him up. He was a big
influence on me with songwriting. Just watching
him work was just... a wonder to me like how
he did it we would record music and he would
just put lyric music and melodies and lyrics
on it like on the spot and they would be great
like how do you do that like slave over stuff
and this guy's just like ripping them out like
it's nothing he's just so talented he doesn't
live here anymore but he's doing good i talked
to him recently but we put out one record with
him called monkey paw that's great it came out
We were doing it at the same time as Way Out.
It came out at the same time as Way Out. It's
like the sister album to Way Out. Jack Logan,
Monkey Paul is the one we did with him. It also
came out on the same label as Way Out, so they
were kind of... Almost like sister records. Yeah.
That's cool. So check that one out if you find
it. I definitely will. It's not easy to find.
It was only on CD, and it's on Spotify, though.
And you said he really influenced a lot of your
songwriting, but it sounds like he also influenced...
just the kind of the operational stuff sometimes
too yeah i don't write jack logan style songs
right really but just the way he approached things
of the simplicity is what i learned from him
is like keeping things so simple really spoke
to me and i was like god how did i not see it
because he would have a song that's just about
one small thing and every verse would be about
that thing. Are you following what I'm saying?
Yeah, the ability to get so specific that it
becomes universal. It's brilliant. Up to that
point, I felt like my lyrics would just be all
over the place and they don't make sense. His
would be so focused on one. Precise. It could
be an insignificant thing, but every verse is
about that. It's almost like those good directors
where every scene is there for a reason. Yeah.
Like every frame of a movie in 2001 is important.
He had a song. I love this song. This one's not
even released anywhere. Just a song that he sent
me, like a demo. It's called Peter'd Love This.
It's about Peter Jesperson. Do you know who Peter
Jesperson is? Oh, yeah. Replacements manager.
He was Jack Logan's manager, too. Oh, okay. I
guess manager. He signed him. He had a record
label called Medium Cool that was part of Twin
Tone. Yeah. And he signed Jack, and they put
out that record bulk. But anyways, he has this
song called Peter'd Love This. And that's just
what it's about. Every verse is about something
that Peter would love. And it's just so simple.
That's fucking awesome. I heard a beautiful record
on the radio. Vocal was dripping with buttery
soul. I bet Peter'd love this. And then it's
like driving my dart. He had a Dodge Dart. Driving
the dart through the countryside. I bet Peter'd
love this. It's so simple and so great. And it's
so specific that it really is universal because
everybody can relate to that. Yeah, he's just
driving his car. I bet he's got his lady by his
side. I bet Peter would love this. It's just
so simple. So that was a big thing for me with
Jack. He was very important to my path. If you
do four things. Check out Jack Clinton. He's
got a lot of great records. A lot of great records.
I think they're all probably on Spotify. Or I
say Spotify, whatever streaming service. I don't
mean to pump up one service. Yeah, Spotify. We
don't have time to get into all of that, but
that's a whole other segment. I hate it and I
use it. So what do you do about that? Welcome
to social media. We just got to try and use it
for good. I think that's, at the end of the day,
we got to use the billionaire's weapons against
them. Yeah, that's one of the reasons I buy the
vinyl records. I try to excuse my use of Spotify
by supporting the artists by buying their records
if I like them. Something like Sabbath or something.
I've bought all those records, so I don't feel
bad. Well, I mean, especially now. It's not like
he's getting royalties. Bands like that or Zeppelin.
Old bands, of course I stream. I don't care about
that because I've probably bought multiple copies
of some of those records from Vinyl Fever. Right?
Man, I think we both said it. I think we could
talk all day, but Jason is actually on his way
here in the next few minutes. Oh, cool. We're
going to talk about the process of mastering
records and all the other things that Jason has
done. Oh, Jason Neesmith. I thought you meant
Jason Gonzalez. Oh, no. I talked to Jay back
in March or something like that. Back when the
Sloan Brothers thing, they did that release party.
That was a lot of fun, but yeah, yeah. Jay, just
another shout out to Jay Gonzalez, man. He's
always, he would always come out in the crowd
to see my kid when I would bring her to shows.
He's just the sweetest man in the world. He's
solid, solid dude. Kevin. Fucking awesome talking
to you, dude. Yeah, I had a good time. Thank
you. Thanks, man. That was my conversation with
Kevin Lane. Make sure you check out The Ark's
new record. Make sure you check out The Possibility's
Way Out. The Lane's also having a record coming
out soon. I promise you're going to be hearing
a lot more about these bands in the next few
months, not just here. Next week, we got Jason
Neesmith. which you may have gathered if you
just heard me mention with Kevin. Jason and I
had a great conversation. I'm excited for you
all to hear it. Make sure you go to Nowhere Bar
this Saturday, the 13th, Athens, Georgia. Check
out the CD release party for the ARCs, Jay Gonzalez
and SheHeHe opening. Release party for the arcs,
Jay Gonzalez and she, he, he opening. If you're
not in the Athens area, make sure you check out
the arcs new record. It's called Athens Avenue.
Hope you guys have a great week. Thanks for tuning
in to overeducated and underemployed. Make sure
you hit that like button, that subscribe button,
hit that donate button. If you feel so inclined
so I can keep doing this for you. Thanks a lot.