when we're born, can only see through a pinpoint
-sized hole into what our period of time is in
effect to the universe. And so, like, in that
moment, I feel like when you deal with your mortality
and acceptance that, like, you may not be here
in a year. That hole expands. Hey, y 'all. We
got a great episode of Overeducated and Underemployed
for you this week. We got Red Padilla from Red
and the Revelers. I saw him open for Morris Day
on the time, New Year's Eve. Sat down with Red
on New Year's Day. Oh, man, that was such a great
show. Hope you're digging the new theme song.
If you haven't pre -ordered Love and Other Diagnosis
by Sloan Brothers, there's a link in the description.
Make sure you do that, and it'll be streaming
everywhere next week. Next week, we got Wiley
Gaby, who will be at the Dial Back Sound label
showcase at Flickr on Friday as part of the Drive
-By Truckers Heathens Homecoming. Dial Back's
been doing a showcase every year. It's where
I've seen Thelma in the sleeves. It's where I've
seen Taylor Hollingsworth. And I'm excited to
see Wiley. Wiley will be in the studio before
that event. And you'll get to listen to that
on your way up to Athens next week. I'm also
sponsoring an event at the Blue Tavern. This
podcast is with Danny Bedrosian of Parliament
Funkadelic. He's going to be playing an exclusive
curated historical set. going through and playing
covers of Parliament Funkadelic songs, but also
giving you a history lesson in between each one.
I hope you all come out to that. It's going to
be super limited, very small venue, Blue Tavern
in Tallahassee, February 27th. And that's all
getting geared up for the P -Funk Fest in April,
celebrating George Clinton's 85th birthday. So
get your tickets for that as well. I'm going
to be there covering it. I'll be doing some interviews.
We're going to have a great time. Hit that subscribe
button. Please like this episode if you like
it. And tell me who you want to see on the show.
Without any further ado, here's my talk with
Red Padilla. Stay safe out there, y 'all. Welcome
to Overeducated and Underemployed. Hell yeah.
I'm here with Red Padilla. That's right. And
Red and I have been friends in... This is actually
a cool... It is. Cool... Bringing together of
a bunch of different worlds for me. Beginning
of this season, I had Tommy Cimbasso on. Hell
yeah. I don't know that you really know him,
but he runs the Monday Night VR Comedy Nights.
Oh, that's cool. That you've come and seen. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. He's always hosted. And Red's come
and seen me perform in VR quite a bit. I've helped
him do some stuff, trying to get some live music
shows in VR. experimenting with it we're getting
there hopefully we are still in the infant stages
yeah yeah but anyway last night you opened for
Morris Day in the motherfucking time Morris Day
in the motherfucking time and I finally got to
come see you play and it was quite an experience
yeah and here we are and that's just a little
backstory for everybody but I don't know much
about The things we're going to be talking about
today, to be honest with you. That's good. You're
going to learn something today. That's great.
So I'm going to start with the first question
I ask everybody. What's the first song that you
remember loving as a kid? Man, that's a great
question. The first song that I remember loving
as a kid, like just honestly, man. I can remember
back, and I would probably say one of the first
songs that I can remember just loving and wanting
to dance and sing around to was probably Try
a Little Tenderness by Otis Redding. Oh, hell
yeah. We haven't done it with the band yet, but
I really want to do it at one point. I just remember,
I think with Otis, the thing with him for me
was the energy, the way he sang. the way he controlled
his voice and just the power behind it the feeling
and that just i guess it just resonated with
me just that i didn't just want to be a singer
i wanted to be like a performer yeah but yeah
i would say i would say it's probably one that
i just like fell in love with there's a lot though
i don't think i'm one of those persons that has
just a favorite song yeah yeah i have a Favorite
song that's fluid. It changes from time to time.
Sure, sure. But that's one that you really remember
connecting with. Oh, yeah. Do you remember where
you heard it or anything like that? No, I just
assume. So growing up, my parents, like, I would
say controlled the radio before I was like 12.
And so they just always had it on the oldies
station. Oh, gotcha. So I may not know the artist
or like the song titles, but. If any song from
that era comes on, I can pretty much just sing
along. Yeah. Because I've heard them 10 million
times as a kid, and it just was one of those
things that, like, I didn't know, like, popular
music existed until I was, like, 12. Until, like,
grunge came into my life and, like, Nirvana and
stuff like that really came around. It was just
like you were just exposed to oldies for the
most part. That, yeah, and that and church music.
I grew up in church and it's, like, southern
gospel and stuff like that. And it wasn't like
my parents kept it from me. It was just, I liked
what we were listening to, so I never really
sought anything else out because it was the 90s.
We didn't have the internet. I couldn't just
go online and be like, who's this? It was like
I had to be around somebody that was listening
to that music. And then you get into middle school
and you get more exposed to that kind of stuff.
Because I can remember the first time I ever
heard Nirvana was at my first boy -girl party.
Smells Like Teen Spirit comes on and these two
dudes I know that were like the alternative dudes,
like the outside kind of dudes. And they were
like, oh, yeah. And they start running around
headbanging. And I'm like, what? What is this?
And then it just opened my whole world to a whole
different new style of music. So I think everybody
has, especially everybody that gets really into
music, has one or two of those people growing
up that. like kind of starts in their teenage
years, turn them on and stuff. Usually it's an
older brother or like a friend's older brother
or something. Was there somebody like that for
you? So yeah, it was, it was a pretty much a
different, it was several people because like
I was classically trained on a piano from like
four to 18. Okay. So my background is classical
music and and then whatever oldies and stuff.
But as far as playing music, that's what I focused
on was classical. Were you playing in the church
a lot? No, actually. Nobody knew I played piano
until I was 16. Wow. How did they talk about
that? My mom started me on piano because she
said that we had one and I just wouldn't stop
playing on it. So she was like, if you were just
going to do that, I had to get you lessons so
you would play an actual song and just quit banging.
Did anybody else in your family play? So my mom
played a little bit, and that's why we had one.
And then my dad, he was a bass guitar player
in a cover band in the 60s in Oklahoma. And he
played a little bit of guitar. And every now
and then, they would go in there. But it was
just we had access to it. And it was a time period
where you didn't have tablets. You didn't have
on -demand television. So when something wasn't
up, that's what I did. I went in there, and I
just... pretended to be a musician i just was
and so they got me that and piano and music but
you didn't even really know that pop music was
a thing yet so you're not really no you're like
pretending to be something that you're not really
sure of yeah it's probably because what i heard
in church yeah playing in church and stuff like
that like the first time i ever sang in front
of a crowd my mom said was when i was three and
they had a we had a Every Wednesday night, one
night a month, our church would do this thing
where basically like a Christian open mic. And
anybody that wanted to come up and sing a song
from the congregation could go up there and sing.
You just had an opportunity to go up and share
your testimony or do a Bible verse or do a skit
or you could do whatever. Which I thought looking
back now is pretty, at the time was pretty far
forward thinking. Yeah, that's the church for
sure. But she said, they said, does anybody want
to, she had me sitting in her lap. Does anybody
want to come up here and sing a special? She
said, I just jumped out of her lap, ran down
to the front, grabbed the microphone and sang
Jesus Loves Me and came back and sat down. And
she said, I knew ever since then that that's
where you wanted to be was like on stage. And,
but as far as like piano goes, it would, for
me, it was just something that was like for me.
Yeah. The music was for me. It wasn't, it was.
I studied the music because I liked the challenge,
but I loved creating something. And it was, I
think I practiced every day for at least two
hours, at least, if not more, for years. And
I went through four different teachers in my
time period. Did you just outgrow them? Yeah.
But it was a thing that I would sing specials
in church. Everybody in church knew me as like
a singer. It was just. I was in my own world,
so it never occurred to me to tell people that
I played the piano. Because I didn't deem it
as a relevant point to whatever I was interacting
with. I decided I was going to finally play a
special in church. My mom was like, I want you
to play something. And so I was like 16, and
so I told them I was going to do a special. So
they called me up, and I go up, and I walk, and
I sit down at the piano. And some of the people
in the church started laughing. because they
thought it was a joke they thought i because
i was a funny dude i was always joking and stuff
and they thought i was playing a joke and then
i've learned this rendition of this there's this
christian piano player named dino that was real
big in the 90s and he'll take hymns and make
them sound real real impressive when it's just
really a bunch of arpeggios arpeggios around
it yeah yeah and and so i bust out this piece
and everybody's just what the like But it was
just, yeah, it was just one of those things that
like, and then once I graduated high school,
I was done with classical piano. I just decided.
Because you don't play piano in your current
band, really. I explored a little bit this Christmas.
I played some and I can, I've started trying
to write some on the piano more just as a different
exploration because I found that like all that
muscle memory is still there. Like when I write,
I'll find myself playing riffs and classical
music that I used to play just because it's what
I'm used to. Yeah, man, it was just one of those
things that I took it as far as I was going to
take it, and I wanted to take it. And I was like,
it's time to do something else musical -wise.
Because at that point, I'd found the guitar,
too. And then it was punk rock. Then let's back
up for a second. So you're learning classical
piano this whole time. What are you listening
to? You're Nirvana, your first boy -girl party.
The floodgates open, I'm guessing. I'm playing
piano, and as I'm growing up, it's Otis Redding,
it's Wilson Pickett, it's James Brown, but it's
the Beatles. It's Willie Nelson, it's Gwen Campbell,
it's Merle Haggard, it's Frank Sinatra, it's
Earth, Wind & Fire, it's anything. So I'm the
type of person, like, I don't latch on to artists
and I don't latch on to players. Some of my guys,
they know all the players on all the albums.
They want to know who they are. That never occurred
to me to even look to see who was playing on
that one. Because to me, what I worshipped was
the song. To me, ultimately, it doesn't matter
what genre of music it is. If it's a good song,
it's a good song. I appreciate good songs because
being classically trained, you're structurally
minded. I view a song and its structure. How
is it put together? How's the hook on this? When
I write, one of the things our producer told
me, he said, you're easy to produce for because
you write your songs with the intention of how
they're going to sound on the radio. When I look
at something, I'm looking for to be structured
a certain way. And to have a hook. Yeah, and
to have, that's how I'm minded. how my approach
to music always was. It wasn't, for me, it wasn't
hero worship. It was song worship. Like how can
you get the best take out of this combination
of notes? And so I think that really shaped.
So like I'm going through and I'm listening to
all that. And then I get into that grunge area.
And of course that leads to me. It was the nineties.
So I start skateboarding. So then I get into
skate punk and I get into ska music. Yeah. Which.
When I was little, what really affected me about
Motown and everything was that use of horns.
Real horn -driven music, and then you had this
rock -pump music, and then you had ska that combined
both of them. And then it was this thing where,
you know, that explores into, you go into the
2000s, you get bands like Jamiroquai and stuff
like that, and that's taking these almost Stevie
Wonder -type... grooves and combining them with
this modern rock. And it's just all this stuff.
And, and I think that the reason my writing is
the way it is, is because I've just had this
conglomeration of just all these people introduced
me. So like my sister was real influential to
me. She's eight years older than me, but she
was a dancer. And as good as I am at music, she
was great at dancing. She did ballet. She went
to Russia. I studied the Bolshoi Theater one
summer, ballet, and just did tap. One of the
fastest tap dancers I've ever known in my life.
But because of that, we always, and I was younger,
so I just had to watch whatever she wanted to
watch. So I grew up on a lot of musicals. I grew
up watching Gene Kelly. I grew up watching Gregory
Hines and all these people and going to plays
and stuff. I remember she took me at 15 to go
see Harry Connick Jr. in concert. And he brought
his full New Orleans brass band. And, dude, that
changed my life at that moment because I'd never
been exposed to that. I was a Mexican kid in
fucking rural Arkansas. How am I going to find
New Orleans sounds without being there in the
90s? And so when that came about, that's when
it led to what I'm doing now. That was very influential
for me. I got to meet Gregory Hines because of
her. She took me to meet Gregory Hines and people
that a lot of people my age didn't have a clue
who they were. And I just had this really cultured
upbringing between my parents and her and then
friends that I also played guitar with. There's
a guy, I don't know if you've ever heard of him,
named Adam Fawcett. So we graduated high school
together. Oh, wow. And that was me and him and
my buddy Josh Shepard. We'd get together and
play guitar and stuff. They were real influential
in showing me that. like Radiohead and teaching
me these riffs and all this other stuff and kind
of pushing me towards that way. So when did you
start writing songs then? I would say I started
to attempt to write songs when I first started
learning guitar. I had this teacher named Danny
Fletcher, and he was an amazing guitarist and
a great teacher. I only got to... study with
him for a year just because like the end of my
high school years I was I was a real busy kid
like I did I was involved in a lot of different
things and between piano and that and sport because
I also played sports and so I just didn't I had
to give up something and I was already proficient
enough that my mom wasn't going to let me finish
and quit piano before I graduated it was he gave
me enough to build that I knew enough music that
I could take guitar on my own to a point at that
point, but he really encouraged me to write.
And I, I look back on that now and there's not
a lot of teachers that do that, but it didn't
matter if it was shitty or not. He would take
it and he'd go, okay, well that's, that's a good
start. And he, I think the thing about songwriters,
they got to learn as a, you got to write some
shit ass songs before you get good. You know,
it's a muscle like anything else. You're not
coming out the gate being Jason Isbell. You know
what I'm saying? He went through some times to
get where he was as an artist. We've all heard
that self -titled solo record. Yeah, dude. I'm
sorry, Jason. So that's when I started. But it
was probably early 2000s when I moved down here
and I got involved. There was a large punk scene
in Mobile at that time. What brought you to Mobile
in the first place? School. My dad got a job
down here and I ended up coming down here to
visit for school. I wanted to get out of Arkansas.
And that was another pivotal decision that led
me to where I'm at now is that move down here.
I fell in love with the area, and so I decided
not to leave. I didn't finish college. I decided
not to leave when I got in. It's just down here
has been real influential. That brought me down
here. You mentioned it briefly, but can we talk
a little bit about some of the dynamics of growing
up as a Mexican kid in Arkansas? You had a lot
of community. Not a lot of Mexican community.
That's what I want to explore a little bit. I'm
mixed. My dad's full -blooded. My mom's a white
German lady from Tennessee. It's this real crazy
mix of cultural blends. I think I identified
more with my Mexican side just because we were
closer to my dad's side of the family. I would
go and visit them. I had a lot of this Tejano
music playing. You would go down to Mexico? No,
we go to Oklahoma. Oklahoma? Yeah, my grandparents,
they migrated when they were kids and ended up
living in Oklahoma and stuff like that. But growing
up in Arkansas, there's probably maybe three
other Mexican kids where I grew up. But my mom
was a schoolteacher. She was white, so everybody
pronounced my last name Padilla instead of Padilla.
And I never really corrected until we moved down
here. I started using the correct pronunciation.
He never had paella, I guess. I don't know if
it was just... I was a kid that was very much
in my head all the time. Yeah, it sounds like
it. Yeah, I never really existed, I felt like,
with everybody else. I always felt like I was
invisible. Not to the point where people don't
see me. I just didn't consider that people could
see me all the time. And so... I don't know if
maybe I was just oblivious to any type of friend.
So there was a story about, I have this friend
and he was a black guy and he, so probably he
was going to take this white girl. And so he
went to go purchase tickets. And evidently there
was this big to do because they, he was going
to take a mixed couple. And I didn't find out
about this till after we graduated and people
were talking to me like, don't you remember this?
And bro, I completely missed. You were just oblivious.
And because in my mind, there was no way that
would happen because it makes zero sense. Because
here's my parents are a mixed couple. Nobody
has a problem with them. Why would it be an issue?
Which that's a whole nother story we won't get
into. But and all that was handled in the correct
manner that it should have been. Thankfully,
I'll say for my town. But yeah, dude, I was just
so I think it was just that I had very, very
encouraging parents. A lot of times people will
share with me stuff about their lives and they
didn't have, and not everybody had a great childhood
and everything like that. And sometimes I get
this, I don't know if it's like survivor's guilt.
Yeah, yeah. My parents, I had a great childhood,
man. And I think that's a real testament to my
parents more than anything that like, they never
limited me on what I thought I could do. If I
wanted to try another instrument, if I wanted
to try anything, they were like, yes. go for
it see how far you can take whatever it is you
want to take and i think that it really like
my sister is very successful in everything she
does and i think that really just fostered an
environment where it allowed creativity to just
be explored with no limits so and and and if
you can give a human an ability to do that then
there's no telling what can happen but that's
that's that's i'm probably talking on a tangent
because i'm a little high right no you're good
man this is no this is this is perfect i am curious
because this is actually something we talk about
with a lot of people a lot of artists musicians
is like some of them have a tumultuous upbringing
that yeah kind of causes or i don't want to say
causes but is certainly a contributing factor
to their artistic like endeavors and stuff like
that right and sometimes it's more internal and
then sometimes they're they're like a Jim West
from Weird Al's band was like no I just love
music I'm pretty happy dude and I'm like that
must be nice but but do you struggle with anything
internal like anxiety depression despite having
like a nice upbringing I think Oh, I think anybody
at any point in their life is going to experience
that. I don't think you're human unless you experience
that at some point. Sure, but has it ever been
debilitating? No, I don't think it is. I'm generally,
like Jim West, I'm just generally a happy person.
I don't operate with a lot of worry in my life.
Yeah, yeah. That must be nice. Well, I think
there's a lot of things that happened in my life
that led to that as a contributing factor. I
was born with an incurable immune deficiency,
have an immune deficiency. If I don't have my
medicine, I'm gone. And my mom fought for me
to get tested at a time when it was basically
unknown and argued with doctors and fought for
me to get tested. And they caught it in enough
time that I've been lucky enough. and blessed
enough to live a very full and healthy life,
even though I'm dependent on this medicine. But
a lot of people that have my disease do not get
lives like that. They're very sick and stuff
like that. So when I was 12, there was a problem
where some hepatitis C got leaked into a batch
of medicine, which for somebody, there's a lot
of kids that died because of it. So like my parents
had to sit me down and explain what was going
on. So I had to have this moment where. I had
to come to terms with like my mortality as a
person. So like, I think at 12, it really shifted
my perspective of what I found important in life.
Because I feel like ever since that time, that
time period or that moment, my obsession became
not with like money or material things. But my
obsession became with time and making sure that
I'm remembered. You know what I'm saying? It's
almost like we, when we're born, can only see
through a pinpoint -sized hole into what our
period of time is in effect to the universe.
And so in that moment, I feel like when you deal
with your mortality and acceptance, that you
may not be here in a year. you're that whole
expands and that like in the grand scheme of
things you're just this little bit of nothing
that operates and we see like in our lifetime
all these great musicians but how many great
musicians have existed that we never will ever
know existed right just because that's just how
life is you can't it's an ocean and you get swallowed
up by it so how do you create something Like
Mozart, that's going to be here 500 years from
now. So what is the real goal in life? There's
a lot of rich motherfuckers that have existed
in this plane of existence since we've become
humans that are lost to the annuals of time,
that their names will never be remembered, and
they'll never be known. And there's a lot of
them that we remember for horrible things. Yeah,
yeah, yeah. But then you take Van Gogh, who in
his time period was ridiculed. He's remembered
for everything. Right. So who really wins? And
if you can put it in terms of winning or losing,
which is a dumb thing to do, really, but in the
grand scheme of things, what's really important?
I think the real winners are the people that
get to experience Van Gogh. Van Gogh's art. Or
Mozart's music. At the end of the day, the people
that really benefit from that are the people
like... They're not the artist. It's humanity.
It didn't benefit really anything. It's humanity,
but preserving it and being able to keep it around.
But I think the thing about the benefits of the
artist in that point is, to me, that's truly
the only way in this physical world to have an
eternal life, to have something that you've done
reverberate through history and grow. and change
not only people, but cultures. Yeah. And create
whole new art movements based off of what you
did. Right. That to me is, money's cool. It makes
things easier. Yeah, at a certain point, when
you don't have to. Once you have enough to not
stress about it, everybody says that's kind of
the top of what happiness money is going to bring.
And the thing is, we've made it a prison. That's
the thing is we've made money a prison and it's
driven us to this weird lifestyle that we live
now that is completely unnecessary. And there
was a discussion I was having with my guitar
player this morning before he left was like,
human beings are meant to create. Say you believe,
if your thing is religion and you believe in
Jesus or you believe in God, and that's the way
I was brought up. So that's how I mostly relate
with the world is that. You know, it's said in
the Bible that we were made after His image.
He's a creator. That's what He does. And if we're
in His image, that means we're made to be creators
too. We're not made to be put on this earth to
consume. And I'm not talking about like consuming
art, but just like to make our main focus in
life to consume. I'm working hard to get that
boat. I'm working hard to go on this trip. And
there's nothing wrong with working hard. I'm
not talking about anything bad about that. There's
a great time to have worth at it. But when our
main focus as human beings becomes to work to
consume, we're limiting ourselves as a society
or as a community or even as a species because
we're leaving so much unused energy on the table
that's just thrown to the side for something
as common as money. Yeah, yeah. You know what
I'm saying? Right. We are made to create. We
are made to invent. We are made to make things
that change and evolve this world into something
better. So I was watching a video with Hank Green
talking about, and he's like a science YouTube
guy. Yeah. But really like pop culture, pop science
kind of stuff. He's talking about. The earliest
instances of, like, string found in archaeology.
Yeah. And all that's beside the point. Because
what I wanted to bring up is this comment that
he makes in this video. It's like, most of human
history was spent with humans just spinning string.
Like, that's what they would do, like, 90 % of
their day. It's just they'd be sitting around.
making string and talking and making string and
talking like pre loom pre spinning wheel yeah
they're just you're just making you're just making
you're sitting around making string making twine
talking making rope talking because it was like
one of the most versatile technologies and we
needed it for everything and and i'm just sitting
there thinking yeah and then like eventually
maybe somebody is not great at making string
but they they learn how to play a drum or a flute
and so somebody's gonna start you know playing
some music while everybody else is making string
and then maybe that's how culture is born is
born out of creating yeah it's not born out of
consuming it's born out of people making things
that are because they have no other choice but
to get it out of them yeah and i think that's
like when you like When you're born, I feel like
I was born to be a musician. There was a time
period when I quit playing and I quit creating,
and it made me a miserable human being. It was
like I was stopped up. I would lash out because
I had no mode of catharsis, no mode of emptying
that self, and it turned me into somebody that
I didn't like. it turned me into an angry person
a frustrated person and I honestly believe it's
if and I'm not saying like I have the answers
for depression and stuff like that but I think
the thing is is like a lot of the problems we
have with our society like that leads to depression
and stuff is it's everything is a consumer model
and if we would focus our attention and our energy
into creating something more than ourselves then
we would find this purpose that would keep us
from feeling that way. Yeah. No, I, I completely
agree. And I think, I think it's just, I think
you're echoing what a lot of people have said
too, when it comes to like that, when they stop
creating, it's like, it's like damming up a river
and, and the water's got nowhere to go and it
just starts flooding everything and not in a
good way. Yeah. It's, it's, yeah, we're made
to create. So if you're listening to this podcast
and you're, you're, having a rough go of life
and it doesn't seem like things are working out
for you, look at your life and go, what am I
doing to create something? What am I doing? And
it doesn't have to be a song. It can be woodworking.
Maybe it's a piece of art. Maybe it's a story.
Maybe it's whatever. Just try to create something.
And you don't create it with the sense of I got
to make something good. One thing that strikes
me about our conversation so far and what you've
said so far, man, is I think having that piano
as a kid, having that thing that's just for you,
because you could have been as good or as terrible
at it as anybody and nobody would have cared.
It was just for you. You happened to be fucking
great. Yeah, it happened to work out. But there
was no pressure. Yeah, and I think that's the
thing is the intention is don't learn the instrument
because... you want to show off to somebody,
learn the instrument because you love it. Learn
it because when you play it, it makes you happy.
When you play it, it makes you want to be better.
It makes you want to make something new. And
I think intention is 100 % of the thing too.
Don't get into something to create it with the
whole purpose of, oh, I'm going to get rich off
of this. Because then it's not going to bring
you any joy. It's just going to bring you frustration.
I pity everybody on Shark Tank. every one of
those guys i just feel bad for them yeah it's
not my thing you know i just i feel a lot of
problems our society could be solved by just
redirecting our perspective what's important
and how we should and that's the tall order i
think we're fighting against and and we can we
can shift gears here in a second but i think
i think you're absolutely right and i think it's
coming from The people who have an invested interest
in capital and it growing perpetually. And they
own all the media outlets. They own everything
we consume. And it promotes this culture of consumption
instead of creation. But I do want to talk about
the things you've created. Okay. And so you started
writing songs when you started playing guitar.
Were you playing in bands in high school at all?
In 16, he would put together some of his students.
He had instruments, and so he put a few of us
together to do a little band. It's just encouraging
us to try. He's planting seeds is what he was
doing. There's a lot of people in the music community
or just in your life that are there to plant
seeds that somebody else is going to harvest
later. I couldn't even be more grateful for that
man to expose me to that and to encourage it.
Honestly, Red, you're one of those people for
me. When I first started doing comedy and you
were coming to all my shows in VR and you and
Jedi and everybody in that little group was just
so encouraging to me and supportive. That's what
it takes, man. People don't realize these big
astral acts got that way because they had a community
around them that... that fostered that. Well,
and I could tell y 'all weren't lying to me either.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah,
be honest with me. That's another thing. Because
you don't want somebody to... I think about the
culture I was raised in where everybody got a
trophy and everybody was told they could be anything
they want and they could do anything they want
and they were capable of anything. I think that
hurt us a lot because... Yeah. It got us to keep
doing things that we weren't very good at when
we could have redirected and started finding
something that we were good at. That's the thing
is, I think it's encouragement in itself is not,
but blind encouragement is, and non -directed
encouragement. Like, it's more so, you did a
great job, but maybe why don't we try this instead?
You might enjoy this more. And I think it's all
the way you approach how you approach people
and think, you don't have to be like, oh man,
you know, I just, heads up, you suck. Try something
else. You don't have to be. Like you said, blind
encouragement. I started with that band. When
I moved down here in 2000, the punk scene was
real big. We started a punk band. As a matter
of fact, I think I was probably the first punk
band ever out of the University of Mobile. There
was a place down here called The Vineyard. It
was like a church during the day. On the weekend,
the guy, Pastor Mike, would let us have punk
and hardcore shows there. it was a place for
kids to go and they would stay off the street.
Yeah. Yeah. And he was real influential in that.
Back then the punk and hardcore scene was like
very straight edge. Very. Yes. Kind of like in
line with a lot of. Yeah. Yeah. And so I met
a lot of good friends through there that we did
music and grew and I learned more about songwriting
and stuff. And then when I got out of that and
I started having kids, that's when I quit. And
so when I came back, it was. After I went through
my divorce, I finally had that thing in my life
that caused me grief and sorrow that I had to
draw off of. Yeah, yeah. And so if you listen
to our first album, you can tell I was breaking
into the scene here, and it was mostly in Americana
country. And you're talking about the first record
of Red and the Revelers, because I realize now
I'm not sure we've actually said the full name
of the band. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, that was my
bad. Yeah, Red and the Revelers. Red and the
Revelers. The first album's called The Wizard
and the Witch, and I'm very proud of it. But
it was my interpretation of what Americana music
is because I thought that's what I needed to
be. And at the time, that's what I felt because
that's what I was going through. What were you
listening to at the time when you were writing
the record? Oh, bro. There's a... God, dude.
Hold on. You asked me that and I'm fucking...
Tip of your tongue, huh? Yeah, my mind went blank.
It's a self -titled album of a real unknown artist
who's a Cuban. artist in the 90s that kind of
did like Cuban grunge in the 90s. Neil Lara.
N -I -L -L -A -R -A. Neil Lara. And he has a
self and I fell in love with that album. And
it really influenced me a lot. And of course
I was listening. I was real good friends with
Abe Partridge at that time. And I was listening
to all his stuff and just everything around me
was that style. So I thought I had to fit into
that style. And then I had a couple songs that
bordered on what we're doing now. And I saw the
response. I got out of those. And then I got
over my divorce. I got my wife now, and I'm really
happy. But I was like, I can try to force that,
but that's not who I am. So then I was like,
we live in enough times where everything's fake
that you see on TV and social media is full of
just fakeness. And I was like, people are so
hungry for just honesty and reality. Why am I
going to get on here and pretend like I'm suffering
when I'm not? I was like, just make people happy,
man. And I think the direction I'm trying to
take the band is to be this extreme positive
force in the universe. I want people to know
that they can come to our shows and just let
go. You don't have to hold the weight of the
world on your shoulders. You can set it down.
and have fun and realize that there's more to
this life than just these everyday bullshit problems
we create for ourselves in this prison that we're
putting ourselves in. It doesn't matter if you're
white ring or left wing or you're red, black,
yellow, orange, white, whatever, whatever sexual
orientation, it doesn't matter because I was
raised to believe that God created all of us.
Yeah. And so. Jesus was a socialist, bro. Yeah.
And it's just that, like, here's the thing. Like,
if he created, like it said in the, I knew you
before you were formed in the womb. And that
means that everybody on this earth is my brother
and my sister. We all come from the same point.
And how can I believe, say I believe that and
live in a life that is counterintuitive to that?
And so. I want our fan base and I want everybody
to know this is a family. This is La Familia.
I felt that in the crowd last night, man. It
was a really cool crowd. It was such a diverse
group of people all coming together just to love
life. That's the thing. I've had guys that are
pure metalheads. That's all they listen to is
metal. And he said, my buddy wanted me to listen
to it. He goes, dude, I just fell in love. with
your music because there's that ed there's hints
of metal in our music you can hear it in there
it's all this and it's it's it's be all things
to all people and that's that's really what i
want us to be is to bridge that gap between all
these differences and say that like in this space
there is no difference this space it's it's a
spiritual thing At the end of all our shows,
and I didn't do it last night because we weren't
the headliner, but usually at the end of all
our shows, I end it with go home happy. And that's
a thing I started when I was in college. Because
to me, at the end of the night, that's what's
important. Are you going home happy? If I don't
send you home happy, I didn't do my job. And
I'm there to do my job. I think that's... really
like the focus of the band and the music and
the point of it all is that. That's what I write
for. And it may have some politically charged
messages in some of my stuff because I like to
complain. Some people like to politicize everything.
So it's, yeah, I'm just singing about this and
everybody interprets it as political. Yeah, yeah.
It's mostly I'm just telling you my frustrations.
Right. And you do with it what you want. I want
people to come to our shows and just let themselves
feel what I feel when I'm on stage. Like, how
can I make you feel that freedom? Because for
me, it's a drug. Yeah, yeah. It is. Same. It's
like mainline and heroin. I've never done that,
but I imagine. I haven't either, but I just imagine
that's what it's like. I imagine it's this. As
someone who does struggle with. anxiety depression
stuff like that who isn't a like generally happy
person all the time sometimes getting on stage
at 10 15 minutes of making people laugh is the
only time i'm happy that day you know what i
mean yeah dude and it is a drug yeah but and
i think here the thing is is how you take that
is you recognize that you recognize that this
is what makes me happy yeah so when you're feeling
unhappy when you're feeling like You remind yourself
that all that, if you were to die tomorrow, wouldn't
matter to nothing. Right? Yeah. But the people
you made laugh would care. So how you combat
that is you say, this is what's important to
me. So that's what I'm going to focus on. I can't
die now because I got another show to do. That's
right, bro. You can't give up because... what
I'm doing is too important to my journey on this
earth. You know what I'm saying? Don't quit before
your journey's over because the end point doesn't
matter, man. Like where you end up at the end
of all this, look at, there's people that have
been on the top of the mountain and then they're
at the bottom of the hill of their life. But
man, they fucking reached the top of the mountain.
You know what I'm saying? Don't get so focused
on where you want to end up. Focus on how you're
getting there. Focus on the journey. Because
anticipation is always so much better than the
payoff. Yeah, yeah. That's why I'll buy scratch
-offs once in a while. Yeah, just do that three.
No, no. I wait three days to scratch them off.
Oh, hell yeah. Because it's like I'm getting
a lot. That's like gambling edging. You know
what I'm saying? I think I might have to use
that, sir. I'm going to scratch. No, not today.
I'm going to wait. Or I'll just scratch one number.
Oh, yeah. I could be a millionaire by next week.
Holy shit. Oh, man. You might hear that one.
Bro, that's good material. That's good shit right
there, yeah. So you have an amazing, like a group
of world -class musicians playing with you in
Red and the Revelers. What was the process of
putting that band together? Because it's... Bro,
so... That's a feat in and of itself, I feel
like. When I first started, I didn't know anything
really about the music scene and how it operated
down here, but I'd have people tell me it was
clickish and all this other stuff. And there
probably was, because they'd been the same musicians
used over and over and over again for years.
There hadn't been a lot of change in a while.
And you had this group of musicians, and they're
fantastic musicians. It's nothing to say against
their skill. It's just how things were done.
They were always the ones that were picked for
everything. And that just happens. It's just
a natural thing. You're going to go for the best.
But a lot of times when that's considered the
best, you miss other people that are just as
good or sometimes even better because they weren't
there when all that first started. It was mostly
like I'd go to open mics and I'd meet people.
And I just, I have an eye. I feel like I have
an eye for talent. I have an eye for what? Who's
good. You think I'm funny. Yeah, yeah. Yeah,
exactly. So, like, Alvin, our trumpet player,
somebody recommended me to him, and he played
with his jazz band at this place called Kazoo
on Dalton Street. Fucking cool -ass place. And
I went in there totally out of place because
it was, and not just because I wasn't black,
but because everybody's dressed to the nines.
Oh, yeah, yeah. And I go in there in a tank top
and, like, Dickie shorts. You stuck out. And
a bandana and sunglasses. Like I'm in the corner
and everybody's like, where's Waldo? He's there.
And I went and saw him two or three times before
I finally was like, hey man. And I had somebody
reach out to him telling him that I wanted him
to play with us. I found a lot of these guys
just through open mics and there were guys that
weren't being utilized in a way that was befitting
of their talents. And so it's like our bass player.
was classically trained on piano growing up.
He studied bass and guitar from Corky Hughes,
one of the most amazing guitarists in this area,
and then went to study bass, jazz bass in Loyola
in New Orleans. Our keyboard player has a master's
in choral theory. Trumpet player played in Tuskegee
University's marching band. Our saxophone player,
we tied together throughout our entire life when
I moved down here and plays multiple instruments.
Bam, his parents, our drummer's parents, he grew
up in New York because his parents were big time
musicians, like studio musicians, choral musicians.
And so he had his own studio growing up. So it's
just like you take all these guys that are just
beast and you put them all together with a common
goal. We literally never had one single argument
as a band. in the eight years that we've been
together. That's wild. Mostly it's because of
how I structure the power structure in the band
and I take care of everything. Benevolent dictatorship?
Well, no, no, it's just I handle all, I pay for
all the hotel rooms, I pay for all the gas. That
sounds pretty benevolent. Yeah, and I do that
because that money is always the main stress
within the band. Yeah, yeah. So if I just take
that upon myself, then they don't have to worry
about it. We can just focus on making music.
That, to me, is what is important. Whether I'm
profitable or not, I don't give a shit. Now,
is my goal to be profitable? Yeah, because I
want to do this for the rest of my life. You
want to keep doing it. But it's for the goal
of just having to do this solely. Not for being
rich. I just want enough money where I can just
do this and only do this. Yeah, yeah. But, dude,
you take that and you... That's my family, dude.
I would die for those dudes. Any dude on that
stage last night, I would take a bullet for in
a heartbeat. And I can feel it, man. Y 'all,
there was love on that stage. That's the thing
is when you take family with no stress, no, and
you put them in a moment where they can create
together, dude, man, that's magic, bro. That's,
that's, that to me is true power. Yeah. Like
when I get behind that microphone, a stage that
big, I feel powerful because I'm in control.
Um, um, um, It's like I'm orchestrating moments.
I'm not orchestrating music. I'm orchestrating
memories. I'm orchestrating an entire night for
somebody. I'm taking somebody's bad night and
I'm turning it into the best night of their life.
Dude, my night started pretty shitty yesterday.
Yeah, yeah. And it turned right around. Hell
yeah. What are some of the biggest challenges
of having a band that big? Oh, yeah. Outside
of personal. It doesn't sound like personalities
are an issue. No, no, no. Everybody in our band
is super late. Coordinating that many people
has got to be hard, right? We don't really get
to practice as much as we like to. That's another
goal is to get to the point where it's our full
-time job so we can... Because as good as we're
doing now, and the music that we're making now
I feel is great, I don't feel it's half of what
we can do. Yeah. I don't think it's half of what
our potential is. And it's just because we don't
have... We all have families. We all have kids.
We're older. We're starting at this a little
bit later in life than most people normally do.
Same with comedy, man. But I think it gives us
a different perspective and a different way of
doing it. I've really learned a lot of things
that I thought were true about the music industry
that have become myths to me now. Like the thing
that you have to play every weekend everywhere
if you want to grow. And that's just not true
anymore. Yeah, yeah. We cut down on our shows
last year and had more growth last year than
we've had any of the other years. You play too
often and people just feel like, oh, I'll catch
them next time. Yeah, it's one of those things,
but it's just the industry's changing and you've
got to learn how to flow with it. You've got
to learn how to adapt to the way the industry's
changing and everything. The challenges of having
that big of a band was when we first started
off was really just making enough money to pay
everybody. I had a lot of people tell me, oh,
there's no way you'll make any money. There's
no way. You need too many people. Nobody's going
to want to deal with that. None of your players
are going to want to stick around. And I think
that's what was important about when I curated
this band is I found people that that's not what
they were in it for. Have you had any personnel
changes at all? We have. Not because of animosity
to the band. It's mostly like personal things
going on in people's lives. It doesn't sound
like there's a lot of turnaround, though. No.
We're on our third drummer, but one of them moved.
He moved to be with his girlfriend. Drummers
are always hard to keep, man. They're like the
notorious artists. I have guys that will come
play with us anytime I want. I even have fill
-ins for when we go on the road and stuff like
that. And they're all cool, too, but I'm very
picky about who. i put in the band just because
they have to meet to me they have to meet skill
level but it also personality level how how they
hang how they is it going to create contention
in the band i don't want any of that you know
but so when we first started off that was a thing
but i think the important thing was i found dudes
that that wasn't their focus either their focus
wasn't the money their focus wasn't making a
living their focus was making music Their focus
was making art. Their focus was, let's explore
something that hasn't been done in this area.
I honestly believe that we've created a sound
for ourselves that if you hear one of our songs,
it's us. I want to be like Cake. I want to be
like Weezer. Like the Truckers. When it comes
on, you know who that is. And that's what's important
to me. I'm creating something that is uniquely
me or uniquely Mobile. And somebody described
it as a gumbo of music. Yeah, yeah. And it's
beautiful, man. It's all these little ingredients
that add up to this beautiful flavor that just
knocks you on your feet. I can only think of
a couple other bands that even really remind
me of what y 'all do at all. And they're from
the same area. And it also just shows me like...
Y 'all are all doing the right thing. But, like,
St. Paul and the Broken Bones. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Alabama Shakes. I feel like are, like, in the
same vein is what y 'all are doing. Yeah, we
get lumped in, especially with St. Paul and the
Broken Bones a lot. But this is how I equate
it. Like, St. Paul and the Broken Bones is like
Marvin Gaye and Otis Redding. And we're like
Wilson Pickett and James Brown. Yeah, yeah. You
get what I'm saying? Yeah, yeah, for sure. Two
birds of a feathers, just ours are geared more
towards this way. Agreed, yeah. I see, yeah.
Yeah, yeah, but it's just. And I don't even think
that y 'all sound that much alike. No, but it's
the same. But it's the same. It's the same vein.
It's like the same breed. It's like the same
species. Yeah. We're just different breeds of
dogs. We're both dogs. We're just different breeds
of dogs. Yeah, yeah. But that's important. And
they were a big influence on me. I saw them.
When they had their self -titled EP themselves,
I still have it in my house on CD. But they played
at Callahan's. Yeah, yeah. They opened for the
Truckers before their first album came out. Their
lead singer went to school with my brother -in
-law. Oh, yeah. In high school, they graduated
together and stuff. Alabama, I really feel like,
especially in Mobile, is producing some of the
best music in the world right now. And I really
feel like... there's all this attention that's
paid to Nashville for so long because that's
what we've been conditioned to think that, Oh,
that's where you got to go. You got to go to
Nashville. You got to, and you go to Nashville
to get swallowed up and lost in the system. It
does not give a shit about you. That's just there
to turn you into money as much as they can and
throw you to the wayside when you're done with
it. And I really feel like in the next 15 to
20 years, we could see this resurgence of like
mobile starting to become this new. music city
like the music city for actual musicians for
like for artists and people who want to come
here and create and make something independently
of this system that's just been corrupted by
greed and profit and just produces nothing but
plastic fucking bullshit what do you think is
unique about mobile that sets it apart from from
so many other places i i don't i feel it but
i can't put it into words i don't know what it
is man there's definitely something growing up
in a different place and moving down here i think
it's man i'm a big nature guy we live on the
creek here and everything it's a big inspiration
to me but there's a lot of life here in mobile
yeah like this area is known as the amazon of
the united states like we have more species than
the amazon jungle yeah ed wilson yeah it's it's
nuts dude Ed Wilson, he grew up here, right?
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, and when I met him in grad
school, he turned to me and he said, don't leave
this area. This is the most biologically diverse
area in the world. Yeah, and Mobile has been
flown under six different flags. So you go downtown,
you see all this. You can see it in the architecture,
man. There's all this mishmash of all these different
time periods of when this architecture was built
through Mobile. So it's literally to me like
the epitome of what America was supposed to be
like. This melting pot, like all this culture
that mixed together and came into its own thing
because it's truly what evolution is supposed
to be. I felt that in the crowd last night. And
because Mardi Gras originated here and it's a
Mardi Gras that's... focused on family and neighbors.
It's not focused on, oh, show me your tits, throw
me your beans, let's get drunk. And people do
that. But it's more family friendly. It's more
family oriented. It's more community oriented.
So Mobile is this special place where like people
will help you. Your neighbor will help you. Your
friends will help you. Strangers. You go downtown
during Fat Tuesday. You'll walk past somebody
cooking sausage. Oh, man, you want a sausage?
They don't know you from Adam, bro. But they're
your friend for that moment. And I think when
you have a place like that, it's such a positive
environment to be in that you can't help but
have all that camaraderie, that community, and
it not create something special. Because that's,
as humans, is how we're supposed to live. If
we focused more on community and our neighbors,
our lives would be so much better. Yeah. It would
be so much better. You're absolutely right. So
I saw a situation last night in my hotel that
speaks to exactly what you're talking about.
And I don't need to go into details, but there
was a situation in the hotel lobby where somebody
was pretty inebriated. Yeah. And the hotel could
have handled it two different ways. They could
have... Got security. Exactly. Gotten the man
involved and made it a whole thing. But they
didn't. They just helped the person, let them
do their thing. Nobody was around, really. It
wasn't like they were causing a scene or nothing.
They just took care of them. And eventually they
helped them to their room once they made sure
they were medically okay. And that's the thing
about down here, man. You go down to festivals
down here and stuff, they allow you to bring
coolers with your own alcohol. Yeah, I had a
backpack last night. And as long as you're not
making the nass out of yourself, they leave you
alone, man. Yeah, they can give me shit. And
they get the drunks and they'll put them in a
drunk tank. They put them in a drunk tank and
they leave them there. They sober them up. They
may charge them depending on however some people
need to be charged. Yeah. Y 'all are very welcoming,
I got to say. That's the whole point, man. It's
like you come visit Mobile. Yeah, you need to
come visit Mobile because you're going to be
loved on. You're going to be celebrated. You're
going to be as you're not unwelcome. You're very
much welcome. Yeah, this city is pretty awesome,
man. We want to share with people the specialness
of this place. And when you do that, it creates
more magic that makes more people want to come
here and more people. And then you end up with
bands like the Red Clay Strays, a buddy of ours
that they go out on the road and they tour super
hard. and this community came together and built
them up and and showed the outside world like
we have stuff that's worth it here we have stuff
that nobody else has y 'all are missing out and
so here's a band that didn't have to go to nashville
didn't have to move to nashville didn't have
to play that stupid game and got everything they
wanted yeah it's possible you can do it You don't
have to buy into all these lies that are told
to you that are just made to separate you from
your money and have control over you. Separate
you from the means of production. That's right,
man. The revolution is now. Take a hold of it
and just join in. Just do it. That's the thing.
If you're out there and you want to get into
music or you want to get into writing or you
want to get into comedy, you know how you do
those things? You just do it. It's actually never
been easier to get started. Oh, yeah, easily,
yeah. You just have access to so much stuff.
But even then, it's just do it. Make the effort.
Put the effort forth. Put everything you have
into it. Don't take the shortcut. I used to focus
so much, almost the opposite, where I needed
everything to be perfect before I would do a
thing. Everything had to be exactly how I imagined
it would be. before i did the thing and it's
never gonna be like that so just fucking do it
well that's that's that's when when people i
used to think that way too and i realized that
that was a that was a crutch i gave myself as
an excuse to get out of having to do it because
i was scared it's true man fear's a bitch it
is but here's the thing is i relish fear because
when i'm scared of doing something and i do it
and i conquer it god damn dude It's the best
feeling in the world, man. God damn, dude. It
sure is. Be scared, dude. Make yourself as terrified
as possible because if you're terrified as possible,
you're doing something that's worth it. Everything
I've ever done that was worth doing was scary.
Oh, yeah, dude. Everything. It makes life worth
living, dude. It makes life worth it. God damn,
who is calling me? Oh, you're trying to get me
to come play poker, man. Not today, not today.
But it's hard to get so emotional about shit
like that. No, no, that's perfect, man. I appreciate
you sharing all this with me, Red. You got an
album coming out in April. Yeah, dude. Is that
your fourth album? It's our second. Oh, it's
only the second. Yeah, it just took forever.
Why do I feel like I've heard more than two records
already? I have a bunch of the singles out already.
But we, yeah, the album's coming out in April.
I can tell you April 10th, we'll be releasing
the vinyl and releasing it on Bandcamp. And then
April 25th was my birthday. We'll release it
on all streaming services. It was produced by
Will Turpin and Brian Collins out of Real to
Real Studios. Will being the bass player for
Collective Soul. And then Brian was a country
artist that was on his way up during COVID, but
he's very popular in Britain. Very popular in
England. And so they did an amazing job. They
gave me access to people I never thought would
ever... We got Daniel De Los Reyes from the Zac
Brown Band on percussion on one of the songs.
We got Collective Souls' Jesse Triplett, their
lead player, on one of our songs. Dude, we almost
had... I hate when my mom does this where I'm
like, I'm going to tell you, and then my mom's
like an idiot and not remember. Lee Oscar. We
almost had Lee Oscar on Harmonica, which he played
with War. That's the dude that did Low Rider.
So as a Mexican kid, yeah, that's fucking dope,
man. Which I got to hang out with him and stuff,
which was cool, and meet him, and it didn't work
out. So we got this really awesome album. I got
what we think is an amazing album cover, and
it's just... We're shopping to labels and stuff
right now, hoping to make something happen. But
even if that doesn't happen, it is not going
to stop us. We've got an investor now, so we're
pushing forward. We're making that. I think 2026
is going to be a very, very big year for us.
Yeah, I mean, we'll have to just connect real
quick again. We'll do a quick just follow -up.
Once the album comes out. Yeah, the week the
album comes out, we'll just do a quick follow
-up. and and you can talk about it because i'd
love to i know what we'll do we'll meet in vr
chat and our advertisers can talk about the record
for a few minutes girl though it's gonna be real
awkward oh man i'll i'll try not to be aroused
yeah yeah i'm gonna make it difficult um is there
anything else you want to you want to is there
anything else you want to talk about anything
else you want to cover any You got shows. This
will probably be out in early February. So if
you have any shows that you want to mention.
I can also mention them in the intro. I can.
I can announce. So on April 10th, we're going
to have our vinyl release party show. Since this
is coming out in February, we'll announce it
by then. We're doing it at Soul Kitchen, which
is the big thing. Oh, yeah. I love Soul Kitchen.
We're going to have the John Hall Band open for
us, which his son is a drummer for the Red Clay
Strays. So there might be a possibility that
most of them are backing him up. which would
be awesome. I can't confirm nor deny that. I
know it's up in the air, so we'll see. And then
we have a band from Atlanta called Hey Dreamer
that's off of our fellow publishing company,
Real People Music, our Real People Music family.
They're an incredible, incredible band. I'll
just have to be here for that. Yeah, yeah, of
course. I'll just come back, yeah. Yeah, yeah,
and so that'll be, we'll do that, and then we'll
do like a tour through Mississippi and up in
Missouri and stuff with the vinyls and go and
release that. I'm going to get you in Tallahassee,
man. It's going to happen. But, man, it's been
so great to learn all this, catch up with you.
Yeah, man. Thank you so much for being here,
Red. Thanks for coming out here, brother. It's
been a pleasure, Dave. I enjoyed every minute
of it. Hey, I love you, brother. Thank you so
much. Love you too, man. Love you too, man. Hope
you all enjoyed my talk with Red Padilla. We
had a great time. You're not going to want to
miss out on Red and the Revelers. They are the
next big thing. I promise. Just check them out.
I've got a link to their first single from the
new album in the description in this episode.
I'll see you guys at a lot of events coming up
in the next few weeks, hopefully. Next week,
Heathens Homecoming, Drive -By Truckers, Athens,
Georgia, 40 Watt. I'll be at all four shows.
I'll be hanging out for a few days afterwards,
interviewing some people. I'll be at the Nucci
Space Auction. Tons of events with people that
have been on this podcast next week. I'm super
excited for it. February 27th. At the Blue Tavern,
we got Danny Bedrosian. I'm sponsoring that event.
This podcast is sponsoring that event. We're
going to be covering that. I'll have an episode
coming out soon, another episode with Danny,
talking more about the history of Parliament
Funkadelic's music and less about his history.
And then, of course, I'll be at P -Funk Fest
on April 11th, celebrating George Clinton's 85th
birthday. I'll be bringing some exclusive interviews
from that. It's also going to be the 20th anniversary
of Danny Bedrosian's Secret Army with the rhythm
section of Parliament Funkadelic. So I'm going
to be talking to those guys. It's going to be
a really, really fun event. Get your tickets
now. I'll see y 'all in Athens.