This is Chris Voss from the band The Record Company.
You're listening to My Weekly Mixtape with Brian
Colburn, a place where music is spoken of with
intellect and integrity. Welcome to My Weekly
Mixtape, a podcast that takes the classic mixtape
approach to building a modern playlist. I'm your
host, Brian Colburn. Tonight, I'm excited to
welcome Chris Voss of the record company of the
program. Chris, thank you so much for joining
me on my weekly mixtape. Thanks for having me,
Brian. I'm of the era where I know a lot about
the mixtape, so it's all good. Well, that leads
right into my first question then. What does
the word mixtape mean to you? Well, I started
by buying cassettes, so I have all of that meaning,
all the classic meaning. You know, it could be
a love letter through a succession of songs.
It could have been just trying to, as a kid,
make yourself a little tape that just hits all
the songs that you want to hear in a given, you
know, run or hanging out with your friends or
make a mixtape to have an hour of good music
that, you know, you don't ever have to walk over
and lift the needle or skip in the CD. Now, it's
a great invention that it went the way of the
wayside. But now it's like I think people really
enjoy having their hands on physical product.
cassette on the last record and it was great
i love that we didn't do a big run but it was
fun well let's dive into the record company now
and i've always wondered what is the story behind
the band's name because it's one of those names
that when i first heard it back in 2016 my immediate
thought was how the hell did nobody think of
this sooner yeah uh we thought the same thing
you know there's two different elements of play
there for one thing you know you think about
bands that kind of name themselves in a name
that's ironic like the band being named that
because they were bob dylan's band everybody
just referred to them as the band like we'll
be the band or the who you know what i mean just
all of them have a little bit of an attitude
to it when you think about the name and we were
living in la and uh we had been playing a little
bit and we had a sound already we had some recordings
and we're just trying to think of something that
wouldn't destroy what we're trying to build naming
a band is not easy that's why as much as people
make fun of some artists for changing letters
these days it's like what do you want these kids
to do man it's all it there's everything's in
one or two words is taken one way or another
you know so i certainly give sympathy to that
it's like you want to name yourself something
or the cars there's another good reason but if
you wanted to say that nowadays you'd have to
change the lettering around the name came out
of just desperate necessity Alex stiff, our bass
player called me one day. I was out to eat with
my wife and he was like, I think I just thought
of the name. And I was like, what is it? And
he said, the record company. I was like, you
gotta be kidding me. That's not taken. He says,
nobody has it. No website, no Facebook. That
was all that was going on at the time. Facebook
is 2012. It's like nothing. And I said, well,
let's take it. And the thought process behind
it. And in that first conversation, I said, I
love this man. We live in LA. We don't think
we're going to ever get signed because we were
so out there and weird compared to what other
people were doing at that time around L .A. anyway.
And there was also the conversation about the
validity of record labels and what their future
was. So I was like, I think the reason nobody
ever took that name is because labels were it
was like naming yourself like that would have
been like kind of a crazy thing to do because
labels still were really the only way. And we
were in a position where people are asking, is
that the only way? And we kind of thought it
was a little bit of a punk rock thing to name
ourselves after the thing that most artists either
crave or fear or both. You know what I mean?
Nice. It had a little bit of punk rock in it.
It had a little bit of a joke in there. But the
thing I love about our name is people either
get it and love it or don't get it. The record
company, why didn't you think longer on that?
It's like, dude, we thought for weeks. There's
a lot of thought that went into that. And it
worked. You know, it worked. Thank God. Well,
I want to touch on something you were just talking
about there, which is the L .A. music scene,
because when people think about blues and blues
rock and blues rock adjacent bands, L .A.'s not
the first area that comes to mind. Was that a
challenge for you guys in your formative years
to kind of cut through the mold of a scene that's
not really geared all the way towards the blues?
Well, surprisingly enough. We formed in October
of 2011. And by the 4th of January, we had one
of our demos spun on a radio by Nick Harcourt.
And Kevin Bronson was spinning us out here and
a bunch of other people. And then Bruce Warren
out in Philadelphia started spinning our music
really early. And one of the cooler, none of
us had experienced this, I think because our
recordings were so lo -fi and just kind of like
didn't give a crap. but we gave a crap about
the songs and the music, but we were like, we're
going to leave it dusty and rusty. Like there's
this old John Lee hooker record with canned heat
called hooker and heat. It was like, so obvious
they shot, it was a four sided LP. So clear.
They recorded it in like a day or two all live,
you know? And we're like, we're just going to
do it that way. Hung up a couple of mics. We
didn't really know how to make a record or a
good recording and just did it. And just, it
was like, if it sounded good going in, that was
enough. And somehow. in la the local promoters
took to us right away so not only were we got
to play at the time there was a venue called
harvard and stone we got asked in march of that
year to do their residency which was crazy because
we hadn't played but maybe one or two gigs and
then it just kept going from there so we didn't
have any trouble getting booked in la at all
we played quite a bit actually locally we played
like 50 times in the first year you know or something
like that in in the region That gave us a nice
head start, you know, but all of us had been
in bands. The funny part is all of us had been
in bands that, that are similar to, you know,
the story you hear most of the time was like,
well, I sent my stuff in, nobody's getting back
to me, you know? So we were all in our, our going
into our like earlier mid thirties at the time.
So for that to happen was not something I think
we expected. You hope that something special
when you record it, but you know, you never know.
The one thing we had going for us is we knew
what we wanted to sound like. We knew what we
wanted to be about. right off the bat you know
and that what we were whatever that was was very
clear when you listen to the demos so i think
that helped us so yeah it was the opposite uh
we had a relatively painless time getting booked
in la it was when we tried to take the next step
that it got a little tougher meaning getting
out of la because we're all the way out here
on the coast and without the assistance of a
record label you can't really do any decent touring
because getting across to the rest of the country
is a little bit of a journey you know you're
not in nashville where there's all those markets
right around you so right right that's another
story so the record company needed a record company
in an ironic twist of fate yeah and when we got
signed it was hilarious because to concord records
which was the same label at the time that was
doing nathaniel rateliff and like stuff like
that when we got signed to them The owner, well,
the president of the company at the time was
this really sweet guy named John Burke. He joked
with me, he's like, you know how wacky it is
to sign the record company to a record company?
He's like, you know, that contract, right? But
that was fun. You know, we just called them the
label and they called us the record company.
Well, let's start at the beginning of the record
company's 2016 debut album, Give It Back To You
and the song Off The Ground. I gotta give myself
all to... Correct me if I'm wrong here, but Give
It Back to You was self -produced and recorded
in a living room? That is correct, yes. And everything
that happened off that record was like seven
mics. Another thing, a little kind of wool over
the eyes thing we were able to pull was when
we brought in our demos or our recordings to
the label, they were like, oh, this sounds great.
They had like no notes on them at all, except
for I think they asked us to turn up the kick
drum on one or two things. and they're like where'd
you record this and we're like oh you know i
don't remember how we got around that one but
i don't think they had any idea that we had it
in a living room until we were so down the road
with them that they were like we started making
a part of the story because it was a good thing
to hear it's like not every time you make an
album in a living room as musicians do you like
end up on the radio like the way we did and all
that stuff and on television you know and it
was just not it was not what we were expecting
but yes we did and uh we're very proud of that
fact it was it was who we were you know it took
two and a half years to get well started in 2012
labels started coming around late 2014 we signed
in 2015 and we put out the first single in january
of 2016 that was off the ground and that went
up the charts and ended up hitting number one
on triple a yep and that shocked everybody especially
us because the names on the top of that I remember
seeing our name in a top 10 with like David Bowie's
like Lazarus and like just crazy bands that it
was like, how are we even in the same conversation
chart wise as this, but it was a different sound
and people enjoy it. And I'm glad we wrote that
song. I tell you, that changed everything. That
song. Now, do you think the recording of the
album in the living room lent itself to that
intimate yet live? comfortable feel of the songs
that kind of gave it its own vibe because when
you compare it to the rest of the albums in the
band's discography this one definitely feels
like it's cut from a little bit of a different
cloth as the band expands across the rest of
the catalog yeah i think it just was the old
you don't know any better so you do what you're
doing you know kind of thing we we have one rule
do we dig it or not and does it does this sound
belong with the rest of the songs and and There
were just some little tricks that were, I was
singing through a, I had a 57 taped to an old
like cardioid. Um, I think that's how you say
it now. Kind of like what a green bullet would
be, but this one was old and from the fifties
and it had a notch out of the side where you
could put it next to a 57 and we'd run the 57
into the board and I'd run the cardio mic into
a 1964 twin reverb, like a actual one that I
owned and turn it towards the wall. We'd mic
that. And then we'd put the guitar in a corner
and we never, if the guitar sounded good, we,
I remember we didn't even have a, we would have
a stand for the guitar on the first record. Alex
had a candle, like one of those big candles that
was, it was just the perfect height. We just
lay the microphone on top of the candle. Cause
we were like, who cares what it looks like? Nobody's
going to see it. I'm like, let's just do it.
And I played on a Tiesco Del Rey that I, my friend
had fished out of the trash and I didn't play
on that. Because I wanted to be able to say I
played on this old junkie guitar. It was because
it was so microphonic. And for those who might
not be familiar with the term for microphonic
is a little bit of an audio word in case there's
somebody out there listening. Microphonic is
not what you want a guitar to be. That basically
means like you can talk into the front of the
guitar and you can hear it in the amp like a
microphone. That's not great. But we were in
such a small space that using this old guitar,
A, it didn't let me get. too wild. Cause I can,
you know, if I got to play fancier stuff, I can,
this wouldn't let you do that. It's like, if
you bent a string, you were out of tune. So they
want to bend that string and, and the guitar
somehow captured the sound of the whole room
and went into the amp. And so you had on a guitar
track, you'd kind of hear a cymbal crash or,
and it made everything sound bigger. The guitar
sounded big. but it was quiet because we couldn't
be in it too loud so i think that was like a
secret there was just a lot of bleed and a lot
of things that are traditionally considered a
problem that we just would go that sounds great
let's go and uh there you go that's that's kind
of one of the reasons that album worked and then
every take on that was either live or cut live
with the band as a band and then a vocal take
and usually the vocal takes i do uh would be
the first or second take We'd do one, maybe we'd
do a second one if we wanted to get it. What
we were trying to go for was like the spontaneity
of the first take. And it wasn't for any major
reason other than it just kind of made sense
to what we were doing. We had nobody telling
us what to do. So our artistic guts were very
pure, you know, and our decisions were pure.
It wasn't to do it to be cool. It was to do it
because we wanted something. We had that John
Lee Hooker record and we were like, we want it
to sound. And I mean this in the greatest way,
nasty. You know, we want it to sound achy. And
if something's dark, we want it to sound creepy
dark, not like, oh, that's a little bit bassy.
That's like, get out of that mentality and see
if we can create a real sound. And I think along
with that is where the authenticity comes out
in this album. And I'm not the only one that
feels that way, because Give It Back to You was
nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album at
the 2017 Grammy Awards. Did reaching those heights
on your debut album put any pressure on the band
as you wrote and recorded all of this life as
the follow up? Good question. I think I'd be
lying if I said it didn't create pressure. I
remember. But it was we're weird guys. We don't
you know, we just have been so down the road
of so many different directions and come from
crazy backgrounds that I could go into. But I'll
stick with your question. what I had said just
speaking for myself I said I've never made a
second record where so many people give a crap
that right there just knowing that you know I'd
made however many records in my life and Alex
and Mark had both made records and it's like
it was always the same story you know you made
records and maybe it did local or regional I
grew up in Wisconsin I was a dairy farm kid on
Wisconsin moved to Milwaukee for college and
had college bands and played around Milwaukee
for a while after that so I had put out records
and CDs or whatever back in the day And you'd
have some people that cared and bought it, but
not thousands of people. Give it back to you.
We're still in that era where you could sell
CDs in 2016. Sold like 100 ,000 plus albums.
And we were projected. I only know this because,
again, the great label guy, John Dulles, they
projected us at like 10 ,000. And we went 10
times bigger than they had thought. So, yes,
there was a lot of anticipation and there was
a lot of. fresher but you know it just came back
to making the songs as good as we could the difference
in your second record the old cliche you have
your whole life to write your first record and
you know a couple of months to write your second
the difference was just getting people going
hey there's a timeline here we need to have a
new album out by this point or we're going to
lose momentum and you're like well boy i really
don't want to lose momentum but we were lucky
we stuck to our guns we recorded a lot of the
record in the living room we recorded some of
it at this great studio down the street our buddy
clay blair he owns a place called boulevard recordings
right on uh i think it's on sunset actually and
uh that room is old and stinky and everything
you kind of want it to be you know what i mean
and yeah that it's i when i walked in i said
this smells like how we should sound you know
a little murky a little a little gray you know
and uh it was it was a beautiful space so that
record definitely got a little more of a sheen
from the production standpoint but the songs
they were a little harder to write on that record
because we had so many on the first record just
ready to go and this was starting from scratch
but i was very proud when we put out that record
when life to fix came out it went right back
up the chart again and uh Not that that's the
measure of anything, but our fans were saying
we're really stoked on the message of the song
and the bass line and the vocal and just the
overall feel. So the pressure was there. But
I think in the end, we always and I always say,
do we believe in this? If the answer is no, if
it feels forced, we cannot say yes to anything,
even if it makes people mad or hurts feelings.
We're the ones that are going to have this be
our second record for the rest of our lives.
So I think it's important when you're an artist
to know when, well, you always should have a
good handle on what it is you want to do. Consideration
of other people's ideas should all, you know,
you don't want to be what my dad would call a
stubborn mule, but you also need to know who
you are, you know, allowing for growth. If somebody
says something that really makes sense, we had
a really good team around us. So it was, it was
a really fun experience to second record. Well,
since you mentioned life to fix from 2018, all
of this life, why don't we give that a spin now?
Threw it all out in a ditch. Broke it down when
I was sick. Gotta build it back up brick by brick.
I got this life to fill. Now, make no mistake,
Chris, this is a blues song, but it's also swamp
rock adjacent. There's a touch of pop. There's
a touch of Americana at play, which, in my humble
opinion, is a hallmark of the record company
sound. Because while it's undeniably bluesy,
there's these tentacles that reach out in different
directions and grab from different genres and
different mindsets. Can you talk about that approach
that you took as a band to kind of hone in on
the group's overall musical voice? Good question.
I just think the three of us have just always
had a very natural way of communicating musically.
If Alex goes up high on the bass, Mark, our drummer
knows we're a three piece. So, hey, I'm going
to go down and work the floor, Tom. And, you
know, I don't think we had more than one or two
like straight kick hi -hat snare beats on the
first two. maybe three records like we just it's
because when you're a trio those kinds of beats
are harder to fill in unless you're like you
know rush or something where you've got yeah
not like these monstrously ridiculously talented
players you know playing this crazy music we
had good instincts and alex had been working
composing music for movies and television for
a while he always has had a really good thing
mark actually was uh for about eight years he
was the right -hand man to quincy jones um wow
yeah it's something that he never talks about
but it's there and just being next to that guy
for those those years and then he left to go
to go play live music i think quincy said something
to him like good luck buddy you know you know
my number you know it's like even quincy's like
this is a crazy thing to do but those two guys
had a huge knowledge base of recording and just
what songs are Mark's brother -in -law is a producer
called named Walter a Walter a wrote hero with
Mariah Carey wrote that all I want for Christmas
is you he's done you know he just was in the
studio with Barbra Streisand and Paul McCartney
so this is a guy that we just hang out with and
talk music and he's super cool and has like obviously
that's a different kind of music than what we
do but it's like to be around people with that
kind of knowledge it hones your instincts and
perspective and even though what we would do
It doesn't seem like it's anything near to that
stuff. What those kinds of people show me is
they know who they are and they know what flips
the switch on for them. They know what the goal
is. And our goal, like I said, the first record
was that John Lee Hooker, not trying to sound
like John Lee Hooker, impossible, but the aesthetic
was a nice place to start. And then moving from
there, you broaden it over time. The next record,
you don't go... oh, let's just make one that
sounds like the first one. That was a success.
You go, no, let's make one that shows an evolution
of this band. We are actually at the point where
we had songs that could have gone on the first
record that went on the second record or even
the third record that we were like, nah, that's
not this song's time yet. I do want to dive into
that Quincy Jones mindset for a minute here because
talking about producers, in 2019, you reimagined
the all of this life track you and me now with
t -bone burnett yes so i'm beaming through the
door Now, earlier this year, we talked extensively
about T -Bone on our August and Everything After
album dive with Counting Crows original drummer
Steve Bowman. And Steve talked about his takeaways
from his experiences with T -Bone. Having somebody
in the band working alongside of Quincy Jones
for all those years and then sitting down with
somebody like T -Bone, what are some of the experiences
and lessons the band has learned from these legendary
producers? Well, the Quincy Jones thing, I'll
just put this right there. It's like, that's
Mark's experience. So whatever he learned from
hearing comes into the room with him. I never
had the pleasure, you know, just, I don't want
to take accolades for something that is not at
all, not at all. But he brings that, that knowledge
with him, you know, he's been around him. He's
seen it, you know, he's been in the studio with
him a bunch of times, you know? So there's a
lot of, you learn things if you're observant,
even if you're, especially if you're quiet, Mark
tends to be a pretty silent guy, you know, even
to his good friends, he's very. last one to speak
and he speaks three words where a guy like me
might speak like 15 words to his one you know
what i'm saying and then t -bone burnett that
came as a total shock you know there was an opportunity
to record a song and his camp and our camp somehow
hooked up and they asked us if we'd be interested
and of course we were you know and then we sent
him some songs and that was the song he picked
and we went over to his house and he had a picture
of jimmy reed above his fireplace, which Jimmy
Reed's an old Chicago blues guy, not necessarily
the top guy they named, but other than Muddy
Waters, he's like my favorite blues guy ever.
So that right there started a kinship. I'm like,
Jimmy Reed. When we were nominated for the Grammy,
you know, I remember a lot of times I just, I
said to people, I'm like, I'm going to afterwards,
what did I do? I just hung, I called my mom and
I, then I went and listened to it. two jimmy
reed records back to back while i sat and hung
out with my wife and drank coffee you know so
jimmy reed's really important to me so that was
a connection right there i'm like oh my god we
reworked the song in his house and then we went
into a really beautiful studio and we did it
all in one day and he was great because the day
that we went in there and this can happen i was
not feeling great like i i had a bit of a cold
and you know again this 2019 2018 so it's like
before the whole COVID thing. So, you know, it
was just like, I have a bit of a cold. Are we
going to work today? Yeah, we have to work today.
Everything's booked. So he really helped me coach
me through what otherwise would have been a very
tough vocal day for me. I don't have many of
them, but it was like one of those things where
you're going in and you're like, this is like
one of my dreams come true. And I'm, I can't
come with my best stuff. This really, really,
really hurts, you know, me inside. And I was
stressing and he could tell. And, uh, he just
was very warm. and uh just had a monstrously
big presence and he knew what he wanted you know
he brought in the drums and the bass that he
wanted and it just it was interesting and really
he was such a sweet guy to us i can't stress
that enough and generous with his time uh when
we went back to listen to the mix of the track
afterwards which turned out great i felt even
regardless of the fact that i me not having my
absolute what i felt was my best stuff it made
me sing different and he found a way to coax
out of me a take that wouldn't have in any other
way happened which is good that's what you want
so to do something that it's going to last and
you walk away from go i did what i should do
and it was good you know instead of like what
i would have done as a kid where i would have
been like oh man it's just a bummer that i didn't
have better doesn't matter it happened and did
you do your best you could yeah i did and it
turned out good so i don't have any regrets there
but i remember going to his house and listening
to him play it on his big board that he had in
his house either and it was like some crazy board
like i can't remember the name forgive me out
there if somebody knows better he would ever
catch wind of this, but I think it was from one
of the Zeppelin records. It was like a, it was
like a Zeppelin four board. I don't know which
board it was, but it was a board that had some
stuff go through it. He played the track and
he played it back about as loud as, as you could
handle hearing it. And it was awesome. Like the
beginning happened and I just heard it and I
was like, wow, we just did a track with T -Bone
Burnett. I'm like, this is crazy. We stood up,
him and I stood on his front lawn and. hung out
for about an hour. And then I believe the next
day we had to fly somewhere to play a show. So
I ran home, packed my bags and left. Now, when
you look back at the two different versions of
the song, do they feel like two different pieces
of art to you? Or is there a version that maybe
you prefer more than the other? They're both.
Well, the one on the albums in the key of C and
the one on the T -bone did is in the key of A.
So it's like a step and a half down. So like,
yeah. It brings out a bit of a shadow in the
song. Lower or higher, it sounds kind of more
of like more of a reaching for it love song.
Down lower, it sounds like maybe a more settled
in love song. So I don't have a true preference
of either one because there are people that love
each one. And I really firmly stand behind the
fact that in this band, I made a promise to myself
that I don't say something's done until I feel
like it's. completely done and i can stand behind
it so i can stand behind either version you know
what i'm saying and yeah i'm sure this doesn't
sound like a i don't sit around and listen to
our stuff all day long you know once it's done
i'm moving on trying to think about the next
thing as a matter of fact sometimes you'll be
in a bar or something and one of our songs will
come on alex just had this happen the other day
he was out hanging out at somewhere and and all
like some grocery store and our song turn me
loose came through the speaker and he he didn't
even recognize it at first because it's been
so long since he'd heard he's like hey this sounds
pretty good you know so i think that's the only
way to progress you know it's like it's when
i listen to a song it's like looking at an old
photo of yourself and your buddies it's like
cool that happened but it's like you don't live
there and uh it is fun though every once in a
while to hear hear one of those old songs so
you know what where you were Well, now we're
going to go back to where you were in 2021 when
the band released Play Loud and the lead single
How High. This song was featured in NFL broadcasts.
It was also on the MLB, the show video game soundtrack.
And along with that, the band's music as a whole
has been featured on shows like Suits, Nashville,
Shameless, and CSI, just to name a few. Do spotlights
like that in this era of music move the needle
for a band? Because when I think about the resurgence
of the show Suits, It happened long after the
songs that appeared in the show made their run.
Did the explosion of suits bring a spotlight
to the songs that were featured from six, seven
years earlier? Definitely. Definitely. When you
say move the needle, it just depends on what
you think. I mean, in this day and age, anything
that gets you listeners, you know, is moving
the needle. Yes. You never know when the next
person that's going to, you know, we, well, to
answer your question, not spin off. Yes. It moves
the needle. Yes, it does. The needle moves in
different directions, you know, different various,
uh, you know, it's not like the old days of like,
when they talk about a comedian on the Carson
show, if you hit it on Carson and you got on
the seat, you're, you had a career for the rest
of your life. I've never experienced that, but
I have experienced like songs that there were
three songs on that suits. All of which predate
2016's record. And they're on an album we call
Early Songs of Rarities that were released. And
that album was released because we had this pile
of even raw, more raw than the first record recordings.
Like the recordings we made in 2012, 2013, when
it was just literally five microphones and dudes
playing live. And we were like, screw it, we'll
just put it up on Record Store Day. And then
that went out. So we definitely did see a spike
in certain things. We did a cover in 2012. When
you go back to that, talking about us getting
that residency in March, well, we didn't have
enough songs to play every Tuesday for a month.
So we would do two cover songs a night, and we'd
make it by the same band. We did Muddy Waters
one night, and then MCA passed away, and we did
the Beastie Boys, which isn't immediately what
looks like we should be doing. But here we are,
ironically, all these years later, a version
of So What You Want that we did and jamming the
van. Which, if you aren't familiar with that,
listeners, is a great series of artists. Jam
in the Van is just a channel everybody should
follow. They find artists at the beginning, and
you'll see Gary Clark. You're playing basically
a camper, and it sounds awesome. We did a cover
of So What You Want, and it went, for us, viral.
Out of nowhere. For no reason. Alex decided to
put it back up on Instagram, and it just exploded.
Millions of views. I can't tell you why or what,
but... All I know is every time, if you've got
music you believe in, every time it gets put
somewhere, played somewhere, every time something
like this happens, you've opened the door a little
wider for the wild world to hear what you're
about. So it definitely moves the needle. Does
it move it in ways always that you can like immediately
feel? Not always, but it still did. There's no
question about it. Suits was a great example
of saying yes to something. a long time ago and
then all this and it was a usa channel show and
it had a good loyal audience and then it got
bought by netflix and all of a sudden the you
know millions and millions and millions of people
heard these songs and and there was one song
particularly called ain't love warm that is like
a two minute feature in one of the one of the
things and it's prominent So, you know, that
definitely probably had an impact. You know what
I mean? By all means. Now, you brought up the
Beastie Boys, so what you want? I am a product
of the 90s, so we have to go there for a minute.
Listen, the reason that you're smiling and wiling,
listen to my head, I just want to shake him down.
Imagination set loose, I take him down, let it
flow like a mudslide. When I get on, I like to
ride and I got depth and perception in my text,
y 'all. Props that dimension cause I flex, y
'all. So what you, what you, what you want? Taking
a classic 90s hip -hop jam and turning it into
a swampy blues jam. Bravo, because you guys absolutely
nailed it. But I think the reason it works so
well, there's an authentic love of the source
material coming out in that cover. And I'm also
going to extend that to the band's incredibly
unique take on Cypress Hills' I Wanna Get High.
twisted to slam a fat boot of fat funk for your
discus what you messed with you got to bear witness
you catch one another a merry christmas yes i
smoke shit straight off the road have to go here
who's the 90s hip -hop head in this band and
how did you guys decide to incorporate that into
the record company sound well the mca thing happened
he had passed and we needed songs and i just
had the lyrics in front of me and i just started
playing like the guitar and just was like you
know kind of doing a talk thing over it and and
the guys were like oh that sounds cool and we
We cut it. I do believe we may have cut it live
with the paper in front of me, you know, and
I didn't know what we were doing or how to do
it. We worked up a little thing and I'm like,
okay, when it hits that, I'll just go up here
on the neck and play us, you know, and we'll
let the emptiness be there. And, you know, it
was, but you have to understand when we did that,
that was in like February of 2012 when we came
up with that idea and we thought we were playing
it for. a handful of buddies one time at harvard
and stone it was just a very pure thing it wasn't
wasn't like we didn't see what has happened to
it where you know people come to our shows now
and yell for it you know what i mean like which
is great but it came from an authentic place
you know we weren't if it would have been lame
i mean we've done we've done things that we thought
would work i remember one time we tried to cover
in those early days when we were thinking of
things we tried to do a like a phil collins thing
in a very our own way and i remember alex's dog
threw up on the carpet and my drummer my drummer
mark has a great sense of humor and he says well
that's the vote i think that counts the most
it just wasn't it just wasn't freaking working
you know it sounded stupid it sounded lame it
sounded like we were pushing for it so you know
when you do something like that you have to have
the backbone to say i'm gonna stand behind this
you know and like the cypress hill thing i came
over to those guys house and i just had a acoustic
i was just strumming a and you know i was like
oh what is this like it's the punk elastic the
blunt you know i just started doing that for
the hell of it because i grew up with that shit
and all of us are you know alex would always
say when i want to listen to funky beats on a
friday night i'm putting on a cypress hill record
you know or like They just have some of the best
beats of that era. And we think drums out. We
definitely do. And I think that's a big part
of why we're a rock and roll band. People will
always ask me, what kind of genre do you think
you are? I say, I say rock and roll because,
as Keith Richards said to us, the roll and the
rock are equal. And to me, the role is the drum
kit. It's the rhythm of it. It's the bass. It's
the way they're interacting. And the role is
the thing that makes people grab each other by
the hand, go in a bedroom, and turn the lights
off. That's what makes rock music sexy. You know
what I mean? Yeah. So we had that role in there
on both of those. And that's why I think we got
away with it. Be Real actually heard it and dug
it. They put it up on their site at one point.
And they were like, what do you think? And we
thought we were going to get just butchered.
And their fans were actually like, this is cool.
You guys deserve more bands giving you cred like
this. And it's like, glad that was the way it
was received because it's all love. It's just
love. And our generation of people, we were the
first ones that kind of, it was permissible to
say you love Led Zeppelin 4 or Led Zeppelin 2
and then turn around and talk about Check Your
Head. in the same sentence as like, I also love
this. And then, you know, all the hip hop from
that era, you know, I, I really, it was, it was
there in the formative years. So it's, it's in
there. You know what I mean? Well, I'm not going
to lie. I would love to hear the record company
take a stab at like the far sides passing me
by or Onyx's slam. I don't know. I could just,
I could hear Onyx's slam getting a down and dirty
blues groove going behind that. And at that,
I could hear with the tone in your voice, picking
up some of Shifty's lines. I could hear it. I'm
just saying, throwing that out there. I'll keep
that in the back of my mind. I think the truth
is, I don't think you're probably ever going
to hear us do another. cover of that nature and
the only reason is the first two were great because
they came naturally you know if something comes
naturally yes but it's like you don't want it
to become a shtick yes and you can the ideas
like this can get very sticky very quickly and
i think it's just like uh you just got to use
your gut and your instincts believe your ears
believe your guts you know what i mean Yeah,
and I think you guys do that, though, because
when you cover a song like, let's play a clip
now of your version of Big Mama Thornton's Ball
and Chain. Now, not only does this gender flip
the song, but your version is so unique. If you
play Big Mama Thornton's version and your version
back to back, it's two different listening experiences.
Is that part of the record company's MO when
it comes to cover songs in general? Yes. You
know, for one thing, when we did that record,
it was during a pandemic. And here's a crazy
thing about that record, the side project, which
is kind of flies under the radar a lot of times
for us. Just because it didn't get properly released
at proper time or we went out on tour. It was
all covers. It was five songs. And we did two
Big Mama Thornton songs. Hound Dog, which is
yes. She recorded it first. And Ball and Chain.
Now, I had always been a huge fan of hers. And
I want to also say this came out before the Elvis
movie hit. where you know there was there was
something that i when we did hound dog i was
like we're going to do the version with the lyrics
that are on the original recording thorton recording
which kind of takes okay now we're removing it
from the elvis version of hound dog which is
you know already a reinterpretation of a woman's
music in his way i'm like let's do our own reinterpretation
of of that original groove and uh it was also
to in our own little way to give credit where
credit was due you know because she had you know
she did ball and chain which is what made janice
joplin famous at monterey you know uh she got
signed immediately off that if you've ever seen
the monterey pop film that's one of the highlights
is janice joplin playing ball and chain it's
what like you want to talk about watching someone
just completely on fire watch that janice joplin
ball and chain But also if you look at like there's
now you can find anything. If you look up Big
Mama Thornton Ball and Chain or Big Mama Thornton
Hound Dog, there's some really great footage
of her like in the early days, like in the 60s,
which actually was a little later for her, you
know, doing it with Buddy Guy at some German
television series that had all the blues people
over there. We wanted to do something that was
a tip of the cap to her because I am, I of all
the three of us, am the biggest, purest blues
fan. when i came to the band i brought that element
now those guys loved the blues but i looked at
the blues as like muddy waters howlin wolf john
lee hooker you know lightning hopkins you know
uh mems any stuff like that you know and then
i look at like stuff that we would probably a
lot of people would traditionally call blues
music and i'm not saying it isn't but like you
know John Mayles, blues breakers and on where
it becomes a little bit more about guitar playing
because it's so fiery and astounding and Clapton's
in his beginning and, you know, Hendrix and post
Hendrix blues post Clapton, Hendrix and early,
well, Fleetwood Mac's early stuff with Peter
Green was pretty purist, you know? Oh God. Yeah.
Yeah. So I don't know if this has anything to
do with those guys, but like you think about
like artists like that, it's like, it's kind
of like a drum, what the drums meant to rock
and roll before John Bonham. or before Black
Sabbath and after. You know what I'm saying?
Like there are certain people that came through
and brought so much fire with them that it changed
the landscape of the whole genre. To me, that's
like a buddy guy to what he did for Jimi Hendrix.
Right, exactly. So to me, it's like the blues
is these pure beginning electric artists and
acoustic artists all the way back to like the
Alan Lomax recordings, right? In the fields and
in their living rooms and on their porches. I
can't even remember what the first question was
because I got so deep into this idea of blues,
but we want to stick to the purest form of who
we are. That's what they did. I cannot replicate
nor understand their perspective because it came
from a different era and often a far different
circumstance that was way tougher than anything
I will ever endure. So I have to have respect
for that, but I still can learn from the honesty.
And challenge myself to remain honest in what
we do. And that's what the three of us try to
do when we do these covers. It's a simple rule.
Did it flip the switch on for all of us? Yes.
Let's put it out. Well, the band's latest album,
the fourth one, came out in September of 2023.
And when I pressed play on my CD for the first
time, I was met. with this opening line from
Dance on Mondays. I ain't never given up. Stuck
in a dead end, but you didn't know it. The roads
don't all connect. Your body stopped moving,
but you didn't notice. Sometimes. And it's all
you get. This album shows the band's sound continuing
to evolve and stretch the boundaries of what
the, I'll use quote marks in the air here, blues
genre has to offer. Can you talk about the band's
evolution over the last 10 plus years of the
band's history and what factors contributed to
that evolution? Yes. For one thing, after we
did Play Loud, which was like... that was the
you know i like i said we all had the we had
four records out if you include the early songs
rarities and then or five if you can include
side projects so here we are coming into what
is our officially called our fourth record but
there were also these two sidebar records on
the side right so we wanted to go back home we
had gone from living room to bigger sound to
really big sound with david sardi producing on
on play loud and a whole different perspective
and working the only time we've ever worked with
like a what i would call almost a superstar producer
who who got us but wanted to take us where he
could take us and we went there and it was great
you know it was it was uh unfortunately it had
the unfortunate uh pleasure being released during
the pandemic which stifled that record's potential
but that's okay you know you live you learn you
move on well there wasn't much to learn except
for there was just bad scene for everybody in
the world yes what can you do so but you know
afterwards luckily we still had enough gas in
the tank to go back to the drawing board and
alex our bass player he he came to us with like
you know i think this one should go back to the
living room man and i was like sounds good to
me man i love that So we did it all ourselves
again in the living room. And because we've grown,
it doesn't sound like the living room of the
first record. It's a different thing. It was
actually done in a couple of different places
because we were in one spot and then had to move
to another spot because of moving. And then there's
this journey as a family, as a band. I have never
talked to any band that's gone over the 10 -year
mark that hasn't had... those family growing
pains at times too, where you're not always seeing
eye to eye and you're, and you are brothers,
but your perspective changes, which flips your
switch changes. And it's just like having a relationship
with a, with a partner or a family member is
very similar, believe it or not. So those kinds
of discussions help shape the perspective of
your sound because whatever you come to is a
new, is a new agreement based on the same principles.
So this one was just, we had evolved a lot of
songwriters come a long way as far as like how
to produce a record alex said uh would was had
come a long way in how to mix a record and um
it just felt right and that that album did really
well with their fans you know uh it's fun to
be able to play we're just underground enough
that if we can put we'll play like off the ground
in the songs that were on the radio and everybody
knows those but We're very lucky because we don't
sell tens of thousands of tickets yet. Yet. Yet.
You will. I always keep the dream alive, baby.
I'm like, you never know. But we're more of a
like sell 700 to 1200, maybe if we're lucky,
1800 tickets kind of band right now. But everybody
in the crowd. Two thirds of them. You'll see.
I said this to our manager the other day. I said,
they're singing the songs, man. We're playing
like B sides, C sides. Like the people who are
there want to be there. They're not there because
it's trendy. They're not there because it's like
some new thing. That's like the new flavor. Everybody's
chasing. It just got out there. And for an artist,
for me, I want to play till the day I die. If
I can play at a high level, just like my heroes
did, you know, we played with BB King a couple
of weeks before he passed. muddy waters played
all the way to the end you know elvis in a much
more tragic way but just playing as long as you
can as good as you can so that kind of fuel people
telling each other about this band word of mouth
that's our kind of what i encourage whenever
we play a show i always say if you really love
the show if you want to do something because
i get asked all the time just tell one person
one with a little passion that trusts you Tell
him to come see us. And that has worked. It's
a longer road, but I'm not in this for the short
term and neither are the other two guys. And
I hate to say it. I know it's apples to oranges
here, but that's kind of the same approach I
have with this podcast. I tell people, if you
like the conversation, just tell somebody because
word of mouth is so, so, so important to any
creative type. It doesn't matter the medium.
It doesn't matter the format. It doesn't matter
the genre. But with all you were just talking
about with being on the road, what does the road
life look like for the record company in 2025?
Well, we're going to play a lot, booking all
the time. So, you know, there's going to be a
lot of the big differences. We did end up going
from all of us stuffed into one one vehicle to
like, you know, the sprinter to tour bus. That's
where we were before the pandemic. And now we've
done a couple like that again since the pandemic's
over. Right now, it just feels real good to just
fly in, play a handful of dates, and we fly out.
It's better profitability for the group and refresher
for the crowd, which is the most important thing.
So we're doing little pockets, but I'm hoping
by the end of the year, we'll have played 110,
100 some odd times. We got a ways to go to hit
that goal, but I'd like to do that. And then
we got to get back overseas. We haven't been
over there in a while. That's very important.
That's critical. Some really great rock and roll
fans over there. And every time we go over there,
it's just an amazing experience. So we'll just
going to keep on juggling, man. Keep the ticket
prices where we can make a little bit of money,
but not like, you know, it's like 25, I think
they're like 25 bucks or 30, 35 bucks. You know,
we, we intentionally don't raise those because
we want people to feel that the new people to
feel encouraged maybe in a couple of years. They
can go up a bit and then there's the fees and
everything they charge the listener. If we could
ever get that sorted out, you know, then you
want the people who are spending money to see
you to either give it to the band or the workers
at the, and the workers that work there, the
owner of the place that makes it happen. And
then the bartenders who are there, everybody
should walk out feeling good. So that's why we
try to keep our ticket prices as reasonable as
we can with, while still turning. enough of a
profit where we can continue. You know, that's
really key. Of course. Now I have to put on my
newsman hat here for this next one, but is the
band working on the fifth one? And if so, can
you share some details on some of the new music
that fans can maybe expect to hear from the band
in 2025? Well, you know, there, there's just
some really beautiful themes coming out in all
these, these songs are our bass player or Alex
had a baby. He's the first and probably only
TRC baby. So that kid's going to get spoiled
rotten because Mark and I were, we're not going
to go down that road. And I don't think Alex
is, I think this was his one, one, this is one
effort. So I've been writing a ton. He's writing
a ton. I'm excited about where we're at going
into this writing and we just need to get in
the same room and do it together. But right now,
what I can say for sure is our live shows are
really popping. We change the set list every
night. It's different every single night. That's
why we'll have people who've come back multiple
times. We had one gentleman, his name's Bruce.
We just hit his 70th show, 7 -0. And we're not
the dead man. You know, it's like, it's a strange
phenomenon, but it's like, we kind of looked
at like what my morning jacket was doing or Pearl
Jam. And we're like, you know, there's a point
where you start changing it around. And that
will make people loyal because they know they're
not going to see, you know, we have a whole,
we know what we played in what city, you know?
So if we come back the next time, you're going
to get a little different show than you had the
first time. Certain songs are always going to
get played like off the ground. If we didn't
play that, I think people would feel real disappointed.
And like, that's just not a song we're going
to leave off the list. But then after that, there
are all these songs that people pine to hear
and they write us. And it's nice to get those
songs up to the surface and get some air. Our
big thing is building through the live show and
then releasing a record every 18 months or so.
Probably do a live record here at some point.
That would make a lot of sense. Because live,
we put the pedal down. You know, the recordings
are the recordings and live is live. So you're
going to get the same heart of what you like,
but it's not us trying to do the album again.
You know, there's a lot of minimalism and a lot
of like pulling back on the reins to let the
song shine on the record. Whereas live, you put
the super injector on it and just give it, give
it. So one of the things I take a lot of pride
in is people will oft remark on our live show.
And that is only earned through hard effort by
a band. You have to keep doing it. So every time
you step on stage, that's one thing I said to
my wife. I'm like, you're judged by every performance.
That room didn't know that you destroyed the
room in Cleveland. The next night in Des Moines,
they don't. They don't know that you got to do
it again. So, you know, take care of yourself
and, uh, fuel up, you know, get rest and, and
put on a good show overnight. And, and if you
do a different kind of set list, you try some
new things, believe in it, play like you believe
nobody wants to see fear in the face of their
artist. It's like fear in the face of an audience
is, is, is not a good thing. You have to just
throw down with everything you got. The record
company's fourth album, The Fourth One, is available
anywhere and everywhere you listen to music.
Chris, this has been an absolute pleasure. Thank
you so much for joining me today on My Weekly
Mixtape. It has been my pleasure, and I hope
that you have 100 ,000 more episodes and get
millions of followers on this thing. From your
mouth to God's ears. Thanks, man. And to those
listening, I've put together an entire playlist
of all the record company songs over on the episode
page at myweeklymixtape .com. And remember, you
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the tunes.