Hey folks, welcome to good news York. I'm your
host Matt major from clickstream studios. We
are here in our awesome I don't even know what
we're calling this the gamer nerd You know our
dream childhood studio here at the new clickstream
studio space We have an incredible new space
for good news York that we're gonna start using
but I'm I'm like I'm like a perfectionist and
Danny's really getting annoyed because he's like
Can we just start using the really nice studio
we built in the other room? like, no, dude, we've
got to get one more chair in there. But you're
going to see that soon. In the meantime, though,
we're doing some incredible things. And we have
got a couple of gentlemen here that I'm sure
you know. They're much more well -known than
we are. have an inkling who we are. You definitely
know who these gentlemen are. And I'm very excited
to learn their story, because not only the content
creators, not only the local guys, but they've
really found success doing some things that a
lot of folks, I want to say dreamed of. I don't
want to say have tried, because I think the biggest
challenge is people don't try. But you're living
the dream, gentlemen. And without further ado,
I love you. Go ahead and introduce yourselves
and tell us what you do. Yeah, yeah. So my name
is Alex DeRosa. I'm co -owner of Spatchcock Funk.
Our show is really a way to hang out and throw
parties with each other. I mean, that's where
it started. It was like, how can we just hang
out and do the things we want it? We are doing
already, whether it was at the time, you know,
throwing softball parties or throwing Halloween
parties. We were doing it all and it was so much
fun with our friends. And now we're, I guess,
getting paid to do it. Yeah, that's incredible.
That's the hope, at least. Yeah. Well, we are
getting paid to do it. But we're also, I don't
know if we're good at making money. I mean, we're
really good at spending it. I can do that. It's
easy to do. Building sets and everything. But
I'm Matt Reed, the other co -owner of Spashcock
Funk. And like Alex said, we wanted to really
find an excuse to party with our friends. There's
things that we believe in, like creativity, like
cool spaces like this and some social justice
messages. So how can we like, all right, we believe
these issues and also we have to throw banger
parties. And we built this community like like
y 'all have done. And it feels really cool. But
like, you know, it's scary sometimes because
every day you're like, oh, shit, this is something
new and cool or like we didn't think about that.
So we're in a really cool growth mode. But. Just
like this show. I think a lot of people seem
like that looks fun and it is super fun But you
got to try and then the hard work and down the
road, but you're right You got to try anybody
can do a lot of the stuff that we're doing guys.
I got to know the burning question Where did
this name? come from Matt just wrote it on a
piece of paper and we picked it now we were we
were honest he did he came up with a bunch of
names and the hope was to so Lot of our cooking
technique or Matt's cooking techniques and the
style came from tailgating. Okay, you would do
like crazy, you know roasting pigs or Alligators
or it was it was non unique It was unique stuff
that you would never eat at a normal tailgate
and so we needed a unique cooking term and then
we wanted to mix our love of music and arts and
culture and so Spatchcock is a little bit more
trendy now that Martha Stewart was was spatch
cocking things, but It's it's the way you cook
a chicken, you know Uh, even I can explain the
exact technology or, uh, the term behind it,
but the funk is rage against machine song, renegades
of funk. And so that was a music's a big part
of everything we do. Um, we just filmed an episode
where we were at a recording studio, throwing
a party for a band that was recording an album.
So like everything, a lot of our crew goes to
a lot of concerts together. And a lot of these
stories and ideas have been kind of formed at
those events. So music. Food. Connected and that's
kind of where and then Matt wrote it on a piece
of paper and put those two words together And
then we're like that one that sounds cool. Yeah,
I remember we were flying to like Austin I think
or Chicago maybe when we when we came up with
a name and we had this list and I've said this
to other people like one of the names you got
to think about our people going on You know now
that we're on TV. Are we able to get this on
TV? Like I wanted the name sex drugs and lobster
rolls, right and that's not going to fly. But
when we think about naming stuff, like we have
so much fun in our job, like coming up with the
names or ideas of stuff we're going to do, and
we'll go back and forth on crazy ideas. But it
surprises me, like the name Spashcock Funk, which,
you know, people can see it as a double entendre.
There are a lot of times where Alex and I will
have an idea and we're like, dude, that's not
going to work. And then all of a sudden people
love it or we get away with it like it's it's
really fun and the name i think kind of speaks
to that plus it's memorable yeah like if we're
gonna try to do a show or content in any way
right now in this world it's so hard, you have
to be different. And the name has to be a little
different to start with. If they're flipping,
we're on PBS, so they're going to be flipping
through whatever guide they're on. And if they
saw Matt's cooking show or some generic name,
they're not going to start. When they see Spatchcock
Funk, they're curious, just like you're curious.
What is this name about? What is it about? And
hopefully they stay for a little bit. I love
it. I love it. The play on words too, I think
about I'm a big, big fan of wordplay. And if
you think about Good News York, that's Just to
me, classic quality wordplay. Because people
see it, they get it, and then they do a double
take. Alex was just talking about flipping through
the channels. When you see Pond Stars and these
things, you're kind of like, what? Is there something?
So how do you draw that in? And you guys do it
well, but it's always the challenge, getting
people's attention. Yeah, no, that's it. And
we keep saying, and with our content marketing
clients we talk about all the time, we're in
the attention economy, right? And that's honestly
the biggest thing that we try to promote that
we offer is helping you get the attention that
you need, specifically online in our case. But
talk to me a little bit, if you could, gentlemen,
how did this go from kind of this idea and these
things we like to do and we like to cook and
things like that, how did it come to actually
making content and turning into an actual show?
So Matt and I's background is in agencies. We
both work at agencies. Production has always
been my background. So more on the video side.
Matt's more on the creative kind of leadership
copywriting side. But also we both cook and hang
out with our friends. And I think the period
of time we've talked about this for a couple
of years, and our friends were like, you guys
should do something like a tailgating show, or
we should film this. And we're always like, yeah,
for a while. What are we going to do with it?
And we would throw these parties with our friends,
and it would be Halloween, right? And we're like,
that was so much fun. We have to wait another
year to throw a Halloween party? Let's do something
else. So we would throw another party. We came
up with this top six party. You bring your top
favorite six songs on a CD, which was awesome.
Or a flash drive. Or a flash drive. And we're
going to play it, and there's going to be a list.
and you're going to learn about people's taste
in music. So we just kept coming up with it.
And at one point, we finally said, let's go and
film this. And let's go film Matt make a recipe.
Let's just start it. And if we get some views,
great. Matt, luckily, knows a lot of people,
as does his wife Stephanie. So we got a lot of
views. But they were people that knew us. So
we just kept going, kept going. And luckily,
we got, I don't want to say luckily, because
COVID was an awful time for a lot of people.
But for us, It gave us the breath and all this.
Thank God for COVID. Yeah. All the stuff we do,
we're busy. Everyone's busy. That it gave us
a break to focus on it. And it helped us grow
it. And it got us on CNY Central, a local show,
a new show here. A lot of the bad news in the
world, they wanted a bright spot. And so we're
still on it six years later as a three, four
minute recipe segment where we can do. And so
that right there gave us the next step to say,
OK, let's keep going now. Sure. We always had
a TV show idea. So we always wanted to do a bigger
show but this launch pad of the Sinclair stations
Really gave us like the proof of concept after
two years of making this in Matt's garage and
Like I don't know if anybody's watching this
like we have we have no idea. You know, it airs
We just don't know and then you know, what's
the thing cuz you're in traditional TV It's not
like all the yeah YouTube where there's a running
counter, right? Right. So we'd be in public and
Matt would get a lot of these and I would call
him out saying that's not true. But people would
come up to him in grocery stores and want pictures
and call in the FaceTime their parents. And it
just kept going, going, going. And then I finally,
I think we're at the fair. And we were trying
to grab a beer at the beer garden there. And
I think 25 people in a row came up to him. And
it was entertaining to watch. So we had that
proof of concept that it was working. I can't
change it. I can't adjust anything. I'll just
say because it was awesome. That's true. That's
how we got here. But that proof of concept and
community building is where it's at. So we'll
do like events now for like corporate clients
or, you know, we throw parties and we had one.
We had one hundred and eighty eight people there.
Forty people got real tattoos at this event.
So we're seeing like it's it's past the groundswell
stage now. We want to get more of that type of
action. But we're seeing more and more of that.
So it's a challenge, I think, as you know here,
Matt. Like, how do you keep coming up with something
new, right? Because we had a great series. I
think it was great because I wrote it, but it
was like a did you know thing, right? And we're
like, oh, did you know this or that? And we had
this one YouTube video that. we're talking about
nutmeg, and there was so many people responding
to it, like we were talking about before. And
we're like, great, and then all of a sudden,
we tried two more, and it's like, wah, wah. How
do you come up with something different or new?
It's hard. It is. And chasing that algorithm,
that's always the wildest thing, right? Because
I think the best and most common advice you hear
from so many people is to not necessarily invent
something new, but take from what Is working
for other people or what's worked in the past
and things like that make it your own but but
do those things But then you can do that, right?
You can see man. There's people got eight million
views by this concept and I can make that concept
You do a great job. The video looks great and
cool. You got seven views. This is awesome Yeah,
and that's the you know, that's the game with
it, right? And I think a lot of that comes to
building the community like you're talking about
But today it's a unique challenge, because as
you guys probably know, social media has really
now become more interest media. And it used to
be all about, I have millions of followers, so
it'll show my stuff to them. And now it doesn't
matter. Now the algorithm's just... Every individual
clip or piece of content goes who would like
this and it ideally tries to show it to those
people Which can work in your favor, right? But
it is again. It's just that whole like you said,
it's just continually evolving and half the time
you feel like oh I got it figured out. That's
when the next day same thing doesn't work again,
but I think you know, the most successful people
are the ones who just don't stop Yeah, and that's
you you try to ebb and flow with it and sometimes
you hit it sometimes you don't but that Just
continuing to be there in my opinion. Anyways
is really what separates the folks that Continue
to be successful, you know, yeah, we've had a
lot of opportunities Which is which is awesome
and we always say like when you're busy and social
media gets very overwhelming Like it's the constant
and everybody deals with the constant pressure
that you should be posting because something's
happening or you should be posting all the time
And all the platforms do you know and for us
like we've been getting a lot of people that
are like hey We should do this together and it's
awesome and we love it and for us the challenge
is how do we how do we pick? Yeah, how do we
go down a path that? we start making videos about
whatever, and all of a sudden, that's the thing
that goes viral on social. And now we're the
guys that make chicken pot pie recipes. We don't
want to do that. Because we don't want to be
influencers. We do want to influence the community,
the people we build. And we want to build a community
of people that will, at our parties, one of the
best things that's come from this is that we've
had new friend groups. meet other friend groups,
and they've become friends. They've started dating.
That's cool. And so at our parties from one season,
episode one, they'll see someone. They'll meet
them. Episode 10, you see them on vacation together.
You're like, you guys are friends now? I've seen
them at Salt City Market. And I'm like, you guys,
wow, this is awesome. So the building of that,
which is kind of the original way you would build
a community outside of social media, is what's
so awesome about it. How do we do that and keep
it going on social when it's very superficial?
Yeah. That keep it going thing. Like Alex is
talking about that community forming. And now
it exists. So you reinforce it. But I think about
the way he's describing that. And I tie it back
with something you said earlier, Matt, about
don't stop. You have to keep going. And this
isn't plugging Justin Bieber, never stop stopping
or whatever. It's a workout playlist. I mean,
yeah, dude, Bieber can do it. But I think a lot
of people will say to us, at least to me, they're
like, oh my God, you have a cool job. I'm like,
I do have a cool job. And I love what we do,
and I love Alex, I love working with him, and
I love our crew, and all that's true, but the
stress is still there, but I think people don't
realize, and what I'm about to say is true, people
don't wanna hear it. Almost anybody can do this.
If you have a good sense of humor and you're
not afraid to share that sense of humor or share
what you believe in, anybody can do this. But
the problem is, one, is not a lot of people try
to do it. Or you try and your first video, like
you said, the first video we made, I remember
it was in Alex's kitchen. I tore a glove. It
was, I mean, terrible. Like, terrible. But we
watched it at first. Like, oh my god, this is
awesome. Then if I go back and watch it now,
I cringe my face off, right? I don't like how
I look on TV. I don't like how my voice sounds.
But. If you don't stop and keep going, that's
the trick. And I think a lot of people in our
community, in our shared community of influencers
and creators, people want to do that. But the
first step is they're afraid to try. And the
second one is they're afraid to keep going. And
I think that people need to keep doing that.
I mean, you're in this awesome place. But at
one point, I don't know this, Matt, but I bet
at one point you looked in the mirror, you're
like, should I keep doing this? And that's tough.
Absolutely. It's honestly in my personal case.
This isn't even necessarily my first attempt
I opened the first podcast studio in syracuse
over 10 years ago and uh, the challenge is I
was the only person in syracuse who knew what
a podcast was at the time, so, uh didn't go too
far, but Uh, the lessons I learned the the connections
I made from doing that at the time Um have are
what made this happen, you know so many years
later, so Um, I think there's just a lot to be
said for for all of that um guys let's let's
talk about your show a little bit more because
i want to for folks that haven't seen it um we
know it's a cooking show right but but give us
a rundown like what does it does it feel like
are we uh uh are we here's the recipe and here's
what we're going to make today or are we doing
something a little little different Yeah. So,
um, we're about to release season three. So we
have, we have two other seasons that air on PBS
across the country. The whole premise is you
don't need a reason to get together with your
friends and family. So like I was mentioning,
Halloween was a reason we made other reasons.
And so our buddy, one of our, you know, producers
and DP Jeremy, uh, he, he made a joke and we,
we filmed this behind the scenes video and he
said, I think this whole thing started because
Matt and Alex just had these crazy party ideas
and just figured this would be a way to do them
where it wouldn't be. weird. And it sticks with
me because honestly, it's probably true. But
we basically develop a theme. So we did one this
season. It was a prom for adults. So a lot of
people, everybody's had an experience with a
prom in some sort, good or bad, didn't go, went,
hated it, loved it. We threw a prom, and we made
it. We had a band. We had everything. We went
to all the 90s American Pie movies and pulled
screen grabs and tried to make it as real as
possible. So we throw a prom, and then we teach
you how to make cocktails. We teach you how to
make recipes, appetizers, all different. We create
three recipes and a cocktail. And then my little
role on screen, besides the behind -the -scenes
stuff, is I'm a little pop -up character. Pop
up on the screen and usually correct Matt. Correct
us in the right word. Or give you other tips,
you know, how to throw a party. So like, we did
a boat party, and it was about bringing plastic
over glass. And so at the end of the day, our
hope is that. people watching see themselves
like, hey, I used to do all these with my friends,
and I don't do it anymore. I should start doing
it. They see our friend group, which is real
and authentic in the party, and they say, that
looks like my friend group. We should do this.
Again, we should throw this party. We should
cook these recipes. It's not so much linear of
a normal cooking show where like, I'm going to
make this thing. Sure. It's the theme behind
the fact that like, you should come up with your
own party with your friends. This could be the
one you could do at your house. You could throw
a real party. It doesn't matter. And so after
each episode is a theme around that party, and
they get a lot of fun. And we've been pushing
it pretty off the charts a little bit different
this year. I love this concept, right? This is
the coolest thing. Because A, it's unique, like
you said. B, it's around what everybody loves,
which is food. It's like one of the best uniters
across. So I'd love your professional advice.
What would you say is one of the easiest? Go
to party recipes what what should folks think
about making if they they want something simple,
but they want a while their friends Well, I think
a couple things if you're throwing a party and
you're hosting it The first thing is you want
to buy yourself as much time as possible for
two reasons I don't know about anybody else here.
Don't prepare 15 minutes before people show up.
That's what you're saying? We all do that, right?
So for me, and this is true, and I love saying
what I'm about to say, sometimes I can say this
is true, we throw parties for a living. So I
love to throw parties. Sure. And every single
party I've ever thrown in my life. An hour, half
hour before the party, you're like, is anybody
gonna show up? Do I have enough food? You get
that panicky feeling. Then at the party, you've
got to worry about where the food is, what's
going on. And you want to hang out and have some
drinks and carry on. So one, what can you make
in advance the day before? So I would throw two
things out there. My favorite background in cooking
is Cajun Creole. I know I like French cooking
too, but French cooking takes some time. So I
would do something like make a jambalaya the
day before, or like a crawfish Monica, or like
seafood pasta or a sausage pasta and Make every
layer something special. Like, you can make baked
ziti special if you cook it with sausage. Mix
the ricotta into the sauce. Oh, yeah. And I've
got one thing that you can heat before the party.
It's going to be ready to go. On top of that,
I would make a batched cocktail. So if it was
jambalaya, I'd make like a hurricane that I could
keep in a bunch of containers and shake it. Or
if it's a summer party, I might the day before
marinate a bunch of chicken, have some sausages,
hot dogs, take rolls, but grill the rolls so
you get the crisp on the bottom. bottom of them,
and then make margaritas the day before, like
a watermelon margarita. Check it on our website.
It's a really good one. So you've got it ready
the day before. So grilling at a party is cool,
because people come and talk to you about that.
Sure. Those would be the two basic things. And
you can prepare yourself the day before a cocktail,
because I love making good cocktails. And we
threw this episode in season three, which was
so much fun, called Up in Smoke. And it was like
a bunch of dudes unplugging, and we're just making
a killer steak dinner. And the drink he made
was a bacon fat washed bourbon manhattan that
was really good so we're shooting the we're shooting
the episode and afterwards my favorite part of
the show sometimes and alex knows this as i love
parting as a just a crew afterwards for hours
that's my favorite part And the whole time of
five minutes, someone's like, yo, dude, can you
make me none of those drinks? And I'm like, ugh,
why didn't I batch this, you know? So a batch
cocktail, big starch or proteins prepared the
day before, that's the first advice I would give.
That's awesome, man. That's incredible advice.
I think I'm going to ask this question to Alex.
What's the best advice you give to be a guest
to one of these parties? What should you bring
when it's always like, ah, I feel like I got
to bring something, you know? Yeah. So so to
one of our parties or a regular party you're
talking about just a regular party in general
I guess yeah I mean I hate I hate This feeling
that that I'm about to describe is that you show
up somewhere and you don't know what to bring.
Yeah bottle of wine or I And then sometimes when
you go to parties I'll be like just bring an
appetizer and you're like what appetizer? What
would be like how many people are gonna be there?
So I think you know Matt mentioned something
simple if you can make a dip People like dips.
People like charcuterie boards are popular now.
But for me, I just like, with our parties, if
you want to be a guest at our party, it's a little
different. You just come and be ready to eat
and drink and not look at the camera. Fair enough.
That's my only request that you do not look at
the camera, because everybody looks at the camera
no matter what. They look at the drone. They
look at the camera. Come hang out. Uh, you don't
get to talk a lot you get to talk a little bit
We break we cut matt talks, you know the camera
and all the stuff party quietly It's so funny
because people don't know how to party quietly.
Yeah, but by the end of the party We hope everybody
has an awesome time at our at our events I sort
of picture those movies where you see the you
know, the behind the scenes where everybody's
dancing and everything But then they you know,
you show the actual footage where there's no
audio and it's just people in a room. Just yeah
That's kind of cool. We did an episode. I mentioned
the recording studio. And at the very end, the
scene was Matt was smashing this guitar. And
the band was playing. So we had to have the band
in the background pretend to play and everybody
dancing to the pretend music. And the musicians
are trying their best to look real. And then
Matt was smashing guitar. And as he smashed it,
they all had to react and be pissed off at him.
So that was the most fun to watch from behind
the scenes. They did such a good job. I mean,
these people are not actors. They're just normal
people that are our friends. So it was so fun
to watch them. They did such a great job with
it. They made it look realistic. And part of
us always want to entertain, too. We want to
throw a real party. So I don't know about Matt,
but I'm always concerned at all these parties
that everyone, on top of the production side
that you have to worry about, I'm worried that
everybody's having a good time constantly. I
also worry about that all the time. And it's
fun. Alex was talking about you're directing
in some cases. 80 to 100 people all at one time
now who have alcohol in their system Yeah, we're
a little bit amped up and he does a great job
doing that But I think about we're always concerned
about really are they having a good time first
because if they do then to look out on camera
Well every single party we're worried about that
every single party We're like, how do we calm
these people down so we can shoot this particular
scene there? So it comes across I mean the behind
-the -scenes thing at our thing is not like people
bored standing around. It's us being like, hey,
shut up. We need to shoot this thing right here.
It's usually our wives that are the ones that
are being allowed. And we're like, you've been
on 30 shoots. What are you doing? We were like,
oh, sorry. Yeah. The prom episode we did this
morning after, which was a raging adult. Not
adult. It was like this rooftop party that was
just an absolute banger. And I remember at one
point. Brooming through the place and I have
to be like, excuse me Like people are like still
drinking and partying and like you can't go home,
you know But you can't stay here get out of here
So in the best of ways, so but every time we
were worried about that time and they do they
always have wild So you're in your third season.
How many episodes are in a season? We have 10
episodes, so they're roughly 30 minute episodes.
So then the other thing I'm thinking about is
obviously you're throwing a party for every episode.
How do you schedule shooting? How far apart between
each one do you do these? Well, Alex can speak
to that from a better standpoint, but the national
TV show is a half hour show. Meanwhile, we have
over 300 four minute segments that are in places
that are on YouTube, right? I'd love to hear
Alex's answer to this. How do we schedule? Because
we have to schedule a weekend with the Buffalo
Bills, get their permission, do all this stuff
at one point. And then during that week, shoot
two other episodes, run a soda, and then the
next week throw them a party. So how do we schedule
that? Because I just show up. I think the challenge
in season one was getting a format, and then
as you just kind of repeat the format. So even
though you want to make it fresh, we'll make
it fresh in other ways and the jokes and things,
but we have to have a structure. So when everybody
comes now, all of our crew, they know that we're
shooting scene one, scene two, and they know
what they are. That helps us immensely. So whether
we're in the tailgate lot at the Buffalo Bill
Stadium or we're at a rooftop or it's pouring
rain or we filmed on a river, like floating down
a river, which was challenging. So regardless
of where we were, they know the scenes they have
to film and they know the B -roll they have to
get. So that helps us from a crew perspective,
scheduling it like the prep work of the parties,
the planning. The prom was such a big overhaul.
So we had to rely on our crew to get, at the
end of the day, the disco ball wouldn't work.
I tell the crew all the time, they're like, I
mean, they know. They work on movies and things.
While you're trying to plan the guest list and
make sure people show up, we're always worried,
are we going to have 80 people to fill this big
room that we got? Yeah. I'm out getting pizza
for the crew, or I'm out buying a random thing
at Michael's because we needed this stupid prop.
And so there's so many layers of it. I think
it's just a structured thing. And we pick the
ones that are the best. And then really, the
heavy lift is, do we have the menu ready? Are
the people going to come? Did the invites go
out? Did they even understand what we're inviting?
Do we have the time? And getting the people there
is always the biggest challenge because people
have a lot of stuff on their plates. Sure. Sure.
Yeah. I mean, that's got to be a unique part
too, right? You've got to probably can't do things
during business hours on a Tuesday or something
because you need the crowd. Right. So we're picking
at weekends. We have been able to pick like Wednesday
nights. It's hard to get people, but it's the
smaller ones. So like the recording studio, we
needed like 30 people. So we did it on a weekday
night. The weekends are so packed for everyone.
And then we got to look at what's happening around
the area because we can't be planning something
where we need 100 people and there's tastes of
Syracuse or something that's going on. Guys,
have you ever thought about taking this format
and instead of just shooting the show, doing
a live like ticketed event for the public sort
of thing? Yeah, so we have. We've had long discussions
about not making an events company, but. throwing
specific parties. Sure. And we've done a couple.
So Matt mentioned the tattoos. The fundraiser
we threw at season one was at Heritage Hill.
So it ticketed $100, all you can eat and drink,
and free tattoos. Wow. And the tattoos were like.
And sophisticated. Wow. Yeah, sophisticated.
So we had like, and obviously it's a beautiful
venue, so it sells itself. But the tattoos were
the thing that like. You know, everybody, you've
been to a lot of fundraisers, parties, things
like that. Heritage Hills throws parties every
week. What makes us different? The excitement
around the tattoos was wild. Like, we thought
we were going to give away 10. I mean, we gave
away 30, 40 tattoos. And the line, the sheet,
we could have probably gave away 100 of them.
Wow. And so there's a section. And every great
party, you have different things. There's different
levels of party. There's the tattoo part. The
area where the tattoos, there's a party around
there. There's the band. There's the sunset.
There's the cornhole. Whatever. There's like
different. layers of things that are happening
so there's different groups and so what we try
to do in a lot of those is do that and so we
threw a party at a sponsor, Bear Creek, in Burton.
And we had a lamb -focused menu. And we brought
live sheep there. So it was a little rough. Not
only did you get to hold the sheep, and it was
nice and cuddly, but you got a different sheep.
You got to eat it. And we sold wool gloves. And
it was pouring rain out. It was May 31. I don't
remember it last year. The coldest day out of
nowhere. It was freezing cold and pouring rain.
And we still had 150 people there. Wow. great
band. And I think as we do those, like we've
done those, we're going to do more of those.
We partnered, like we have, we're good friends
with Myers Creek and Dinosaur Barbecue working
on something with them right now. So we're going
to do more of those, but it's funny because like,
You know, with a show, we've got to film this.
Like, time is our most valuable resource. It's
the one we spend most freely. But the thing is,
Alex touched on was like the tattoos. Alex has
this innate ability, not just from the show,
but for throwing parties with some stuff that's
there that people... don't expect, whether it's
like an ice luge, the tattoos, bands, or there's
other things that you're like, are people going
to like this? And they love it. So one of the
things we're going to do more of those things,
yes, Matt, and incorporate that part of our personality
into it. Like we're doing something with our
friend Kelly owns a bookstore called The Actually,
which is like a romance novel. And she does like
a monthly cool book club. And we're doing something
with them in our studio so we can do smaller
scale ones. But part of our business plans is
like we say monthly. to say it, that we're going
to do one of those once a month. But we're going
to do them right. So the answer to your question
is yes. We just got to figure out, we're going
to do a bunch of them, and they're not going
to fail. But behind the scenes, we're going to
have to make a lot of mistakes and errors. So
the answer is yes. I just don't know the frequency.
Yeah, and we're not a catering company. People
ask us to cook like that. And we have partners
we use. We don't want to be a catering company.
We would love if someone comes to us and says,
hey, we have this event, and we need it to be
different. That's right up our alley. But the
traditional event stuff, we'll recommend food.
The menu, we'll do custom menus. We'll make custom
cocktails. But we're not catering it. That's
not our specialty. So Matt can cook for 10, 20
people. But again, if Matt's cooking for 10 people,
he's not in the party. And he needs to be in
the party for this to be successful. I completely
agree. Yeah, no, it's just interesting as we're
talking about your community and your following
and exactly what you're doing. I'm just thinking
as a fan of this, the ultimate thing I want to
do is party with these guys. We get that a lot
in a non like, hey, we're so cool way. But what
we want to create, regardless of us, our friend
crew as a whole, is people want to come hang
out with us. Because they feel like they can
be authentic around the group that we're with
and they can they can be themselves So like it's
important to us that that is the thing that people
think when they see our socials When they you
know, we had a long time ago early on in this
we had the Syracuse The symphoria come to us
and they said hey, we don't know what but we
want to do something with you Yeah, and so we
outside the box were like listen, we're gonna
throw a rock concert because you need a younger
audience We're gonna throw a rock out. So we're
gonna make posters We're gonna make you feel
like rock stars and we're gonna throw it in that
fashion and they loved it And I think that's
the kind of parties we want to throw is like
a different way to look at every everyone I love
this the spin the Alex put on that too was we
had they had a quartet and we did it in the McCarthy
mercantile and we had like this we gave them
some song ideas. It was like they would do like
Welcome to the Jungle or like Adele or all these
like cool pop rock songs and we were just hanging
out drinking and we made like flower crowns like
it was Coachella. And Alex has talked about the
people and you mentioning, how do you come and
party with? Shoot us an email. There are many
people that have been. I mentioned Vinnie earlier.
We met him from him watching the show, reaching
out to us. There are other people that are like,
oh, I know someone who loves the show. OK, we're
throwing a clam bake at Myers Creek. This is
that last. That party was big. And we and we
catered to ourselves because we had our bar tab
was enormous, enormous. And there are people
that are like, and when you say that, I'm like,
I want to come and party and be on your show.
We're like, OK, cool. Here's the day. And they
say yes. You're like, they're not going to show
up. And all of a sudden you're like, yeah, OK,
let's do. After all the fun stuff, we actually
have a budget, which is crazy, that we blow through
every time we throw a party. But if you're one
of our sponsors, we're getting better. Yeah,
we throw these parties because we want everybody
to have the most fun. So if we talk about it,
we're having a launch party for our season 3
coming up. And one of the things we keep debating
is $1 ,000 one way or another, if it's going
to change the party and make everybody have the
most fun, it's worth it. So that night at the
Clambake, Not only were we making a show, but
I was behind the bar checking the tab every five
minutes. We already blew through our first limit.
We gave them an area to stop in. Wow. It's fun.
That's wild. On that, I'll just ask you a couple
more things, fellas, and I'll let you because
I know you got so many things going on. I really
appreciate your time, by the way. This is so
cool to have you guys here. This is just so much
fun. I'd talk to you for days if you let me.
If you wouldn't mind, let's talk a little bit
about sponsors for just a moment. So you've got
a show on PBS. Obviously you do some social media
stuff. You have a background in marketing and
all these things. What do you offer your sponsors?
And typically, how do you choose who you even
work with? Yeah, so obviously the PBS, the media
on PBS is a big, you know, with our show being
in 50 plus markets around the country, one of
the things is a kind of a national spot that
sits with us inside of our show. So outside of
the normal TV spend, you can buy something locally.
We mentioned CNY Central News Show. We do segments
on there. PBS is tough because we can't do product
placement. Gotcha. And you see a lot of shows
that don't, Food Network and stuff, there's not
a lot of product placement on it. See, I assumed
that would have been the primary thing. We wish.
Yeah, but if we're going to a brand, a food or
beverage brand, they're going to want to see
their product on our show. Right. We're like,
well, we can offer it in the party, but we can't
say we're using your product. So that's incredibly
hard. But on the Sinclair CNY Central side, which
is our Sunday morning show, we can do that. Gotcha.
So we'll sell opportunities on there. We're doing
one this afternoon with a local charity where
Matt's feeding a dog, which will be a lot of
fun. And so we're able to do that on there. Outside
of that, because of our agency backgrounds, we
get ourselves in trouble this way a little bit
too. We have so much fun with brands come in
and say, this is our challenge and that we can
solve it. in the effort of time, we've always
liked to have some sort of standard proposal,
but we always make them custom. So whether it's
working with whoever, we find their need and
we make it so we can throw a party. We can create
product videos. We can create social media videos
for you. We can just throw it out of the box
idea just in content in general. But what a lot
of brands don't have, A lot of these bigger companies
that own a bunch of hot sauces or whatever, they
own so many products and they can't manage the
social. And the big thing is they don't have
a personality. So at the very, very least, what
we try to offer is we have a personality that
will engage your fans. We have the production
quality, and we can make stuff very quickly because
it's just us doing it. So we customize a lot
of that stuff. Some people look at it like, I
don't necessarily want the traditional media
route. And what we say is that we're not traditional
in any sense of the word. We have that option,
but. Yeah, we customize everything. And Alex
mentioned about being collaborative. So we, like
any media company, like you too, you need to
generate revenue. And this is how you generate
revenue. So far we've been really good at standing
by our guns and working with brands that with
products and things that we use Kraus is one
of our sponsors I would not be alive nor would
Alex if he had if we hadn't been in Kraus hospital,
right? So that's cool the Redo Were you we're
doing some other work? I BW Unica. There's lights
out of my house. It's because of nutrition So
that part takes care of itself, but Alex mentioned
the creative side of it And that's where we actually
have the most fun and we stretch ourselves too
thin But at our expense, not to sponsor. So we
work with one of our big partners has been Tito's
Vodka, the national brand. And we help them come
up with a variety for cocktails and for National
Record Store Day. If they have a new challenge,
like Alex said, we'll do that. We have one brand
that their deal was. Sam Adams, it was during
COVID and they're like, hey, you know, we love
what you guys are doing. And we made like an
interview with their head brewmaster about Sam's
summer, because they needed content to keep people
engaged. And we're like, what other problems
do you have? And we're hoping they're like, we
need a TV commercial. And they're like, well,
our regional sales teams, which are really awesome,
we're having a hard time like keeping them engaged
because we're separated. So we, Alex and I came
up with an idea to throw, we basically mailed
all of them different ingredients and over Zoom
would throw these banging parties. And they were
like, we'll do this for two hours. And we'll
instruct them how to do it and have this question
and answer game. And every single time, we're
like, this is two hours. And four hours later,
we're on the Zoom. And I'm like, how do we turn
this thing off? We're like, should I just hit
the power button? What Matt said, though, is
demos. We have a new studio in Syracuse, which
we're going to do food demos and parties and
things like that. So we have a lot of ways to
kind of stretch in that. And because we come
at it as we want it truly, we don't want, I mean,
We do, right? We want sponsorship money. But
we don't want sponsorship money where there's
no value to the sponsor. I feel I hate selling
things, as does Matt. I hate being salesy. So
I want them to come and say, these guys are offering
me value, not just like, hey, they came and sold
me a magazine slot. So it's very important that
we offer them value. Totally. I love that. And
I can see that that's a. Definitely something
that you have to offer. You know, you've got
the clearly the resume and the demonstration
that we can do some cool stuff that will get
that attention and and give you some true value.
And I'm with you. It's weird when you look around
and see some of these kind of advertising and
marketing worlds and the amount of money people
spend on things that clearly has no returns.
You know, it's like, why? Because there's always
been a way you do things. There's always been
a way all this stuff works. And there's a lot
of companies. And listen, they're supporting
awesome things. And it's like things, entertainment,
whatever it is in the community that we get because
of that money that may not support the business
back. But it's awesome. And that's why we have
cool stuff here. At the end of the day, with
our kind of brand, ours is unique because we
have the power to just do it. We literally can
say, Matt, do you want to talk about this on
camera? It's edgy. Yeah, of course I do. Whereas
a lot of companies, you just can't do that, right?
Yeah. Yeah, the traditional media, there's a
space for that. There are good billboards that
add value. Like, I saw this great Budweiser one
a little while, or Bud Light one, which was great.
There's other ones. You're like, why did this
personist waste all this overspill on this? I
love billboards, though. I'm a big billboard
guy. I do, too. But make sure you're not wasting
your money, like you said, Matt. And Alex just
touched on something like, we have the power
to do this. One of the things that I love about
working with Alex that puts so much I don't know,
it's one of the driving forces of our brand is,
and I get this from Alex, but this is what he
does. He sees a challenge and he's like, hell
yeah, what is a creative way I can solve this?
And sometimes they should be unsolvable, but
we haven't met an unsolvable one yet. The weather
kind of screws with something sometimes. So for
sponsors, and if anyone's out there looking,
visit spatchcockfunk .com. But anyways, we...
love to find creative ideas, and it works. We
have a lot of challenges. So season four, we're
in the development of. I want to push it further.
Like, I don't want, like, oh, you guys threw,
like, a, you know, we did a Kentucky Derby party,
which was awesome. Wow. It's a little bit more
of parties that people have heard of. I want
it to go a little bit wild. But Alex wanted to
roast a horse. I'm like, that's not good. No.
We have this idea this year. And Matt said, there's
no challenges we have. And this is going to be
the one that is the one that could break us.
But we want to throw this sick concert in the
middle of the lake. And all the boats, pontoon
boats, whatever, come up. We have a barge in
the middle of the lake. And we developed this.
We're at our buddy Timmy's camp on an island.
out of Lake. And I was like, this would be cooler.
You know, all the boats pull up. This would be
cool if there was a band there. And we kept talking
about it. And our buddy, Tim, he's very like,
he can make this stuff happen. He understands
how the water works. The physics behind it. And
he's like, you would need a barge this big. I'm
like, let's get one. And so we're reaching out
to like big. 90s punk bands and stuff and like
we want because at the end of the day that the
shoots gonna be awesome The visuals are gonna
be beautiful, but the party's gonna be that much
more fun and something that sir You know, I don't
know anywhere. So I just the whole concept honestly
is you know as adults You don't even get to go
to many parties. I feel like you know, or they're
boring as hell and so I love that you guys are
doing this in general and I also think that like
Your timing is perfect because you know as you're
just looking at trends a lot of folks are saying
that we're finally long past that covid stuff
that really kept people home and and honestly
i think going out and doing things that started
to decline long before COVID, but now people
are over it. And I think the desire to actually
get out of the house and be with other humans
in person is a booming thing once again, which
is wonderful. And you guys are right to, you're
showing them how to do it right. Which is the
greatest place to be. People have come to our
parties and told us that they don't ever get
to, they have kids, I have kids. Yeah. With kids,
you're working and you have kids. People ask
me what my hobby is. I'm like, I don't know,
work, kids. Because you don't have the time to
do that stuff. We're giving them like, there's
no excuse. We're throwing you a party. It's free.
You're going to come hang out with us. And you're
going to have a lot of fun. And then you're going
to want to come to the next one. And I think
what we've been finding is that we're reviving,
I think, 25 to 54. It's like our sweet spot,
because it's people that used to do the thing.
They don't do it anymore, because it doesn't
exist. And so we're giving them that option.
I love it. I love it. Spetchcock Funk is the
name of the show. I'm guessing that's the easiest
way to find you on all the socials. Yeah, following
all the socials, the half hour episodes and tons
of other content are also on YouTube. Nice. But
yeah, like, subscribe, follow. And luckily, SEO
is not a problem for us when you search our name.
We're right at the top. See, that's brilliant.
And you mentioned earlier, your website, that's
the best place to go. If you want a sponsorship,
reach out and learn more about the show. Is that
accurate? Yep. There's a Contact Us tab at the
top. DM us on Instagram. Awesome. Hopefully we've
given, and if you can't find us, let us know.
Because hopefully we've given you enough ways
to hunt us down. Or come to the Salt City Market.
I spend a lot of time there, too. And then lastly,
I'll say we talked a little bit about the show,
about how you're on in these different markets.
And the schedules are a little different in terms
of when they start the episodes and things. But
locally here in central New York, a greater New
York state, when might people find the show on
PBS? So season three starts April 7th, Tuesdays
9, and then it re -airs each episode that week
airs on Saturdays at 3 .30. Sweet. I believe
we're in the process of airing season one and
two leading up. But then it will re -air. So
it's 10 weeks in a row. It will re -air again.
They get released on our YouTube as well. So
one way or another, you'll find it. And if you're
in other cities, we've got a lot of peeps in
Denver and San Francisco and LA and those places.
They air at different times, but if you are listening
to this, because I know you've got a lot of people
that are New York's transplants and building
other areas, if it hasn't started on your PBS
station yet, just go to our YouTube and check
it out. That's great. That's great. Any plans
to visit some of those bigger cities? Yes. Do
some things out there. Yeah. We were trying to
expand our footprint. So when we went to Buffalo
for the Bills game and we filmed, we gained a
ton of Buffalo fans. We went to Albany recently
for this awesome wine festival. Again, gained
it. So we're expanding through New York. But
Denver, Matt mentioned, they air our show three
times a week. And so we get messages all the
time from Denver and different cities. And so
our hope is that we're going to throw these kind
of. parties in those cities. And we were talking
about throwing a party at Red Rock in Colorado.
I was just going to say, imagine if you could
do that there. Yeah. We don't know the details
yet. We've been talking about an event in Canada
with some of our friends through Watertown to
Ottawa, and then other streaming services that
we're talking to. Every single time there's an
event request from us, our goal is, how can we
make this the craziest event you've ever been
to and the craziest location. So even our crew
is like, oh, you found this building is so awesome.
People would come in here and be like, everybody
that comes in is like, this is amazing. This
is cool. That's what we want everybody to do
when they come to our parties. I've never been
here. And in the process of this show and all
the crazy stuff, they're seeing more of the community
that they've never seen. Some of these streaming
services are sleeping on you fellas. I'm telling
you what you you Forget about the show you'd
throw an event that would get enough publicity
for them. It would be worth whatever they pay
you but That's figure it out eventually. Yeah,
hopefully they I love it. I love it guys Matt
Alex. This has been awesome Come back anytime
And anything that we can do to help promoting
your charitable efforts or just talk about new
seasons and new things going on that's absolutely
We need to have you at our studio and then also
at the next parties. We'll make sure they're
hell. Yeah, that's I'm down for that That's a
work appointment where I get totally party so
I'm totally with it. I love it fellas Anything
else we should tell folks before we? Before we
cut out, no. I don't think so. I think this is
awesome. I really appreciate it. I also appreciate
everybody for watching and listening and sharing
and everything they do here with Good News York.
And especially our sponsor, Ads on the Go. Getadsonthego
.com is the website. Our man Zach's got the billboard
truck you see all over central New York. And
it's awesome. It does an incredible job. And
we can't thank him enough for being our ongoing
sponsor, Good News York. So with that. We'll
see you next time. Peace out.