Hi, my name is Steve Bowman, and I was lucky
enough to be the drummer on August and Everything
After by Counting Crows. We are going to talk
about that record and more on my weekly mixtape
with Brian Colburn. Welcome to My Weekly Mixtape,
a podcast that takes the classic mixtape approach
to building a modern playlist. I'm your host,
Brian Colburn. Over the last 100 episodes and
change, I've had the chance to talk to some incredible
musicians that are responsible for some of my
favorite songs and albums. And tonight is no
exception to the rule. as I'm truly honored to
welcome Steve Bowman, the original drummer and
one of the founding members of the Counting Crows,
to dive into one of my favorite albums of all
time, August and Everything After. Steve, welcome
to the program, my friend. Well, thank you so
much for having me. Pleasure to be here. Well,
I always like to start by asking my first -time
guests, what does the word mixtape mean to you?
Yeah, mixtapes are probably, the original meaning
is probably forgotten, but... I would say a mixtape
is the original Spotify playlist, right? Only
it took a lot more effort. You had to create
a bunch, record a bunch of songs and put them
on a tape. And the beauty of it was the originality
of it. It could be exactly the songs in the order
you wanted. And that way, that's what I do now
with Spotify. So I don't know. It's definitely
evolved over the years, for sure. Mixtape seems
to me to be an 80s term. As a child of the 80s,
I'd say that's a pretty accurate description.
So I'll go with it. Maybe at least originated
in the 80s. There you go. Now, before we dive
into the album, can you talk about how the August
and everything after lineup of the Counting Crows
came together and maybe something about the writing
sessions that led us into the album recording?
Well, sure. Adam and Dave. Bryson had written
a lot of the songs before I got there. And they
were performing as a duo and decided for a variety
of reasons that they wanted to put a band together.
Well, the reason was that they got some label
interest in a fluke performing as a duo. And
they gave a guy their demo tape and he sent it
to a friend who called. And so they had this
little spark come up, which faded. But it inspired
them to put a band together at that point. So
I had been doing sessions in Dave's studio. Dave
Bryson had Dancing Dog Studios, which was a great
16 -track, 2 -inch, and sounded really pro. And
so my band did a record there, and I could work
with a click track, and not many drummers could.
So Dave kept calling me back in. He said, hey,
man, we got four songs to do with this band and
their drummer can't do it. And so can you do
it? And so Dave and I had a relationship that
way. Matt Malley, who would be the bassist, was
in Dave's old band called Mr. Dog. And so he
was a local guy. And then Charlie Gillingham
was a keyboardist that played. I can't remember
the name of his band, but like. charlie was kind
of known for playing a b3 live and like carrying
it into a club you know and he was cool so so
when they put the band together that was the
original idea was to get us five together and
we got together and and we re uh we rehearsed
well we played we jammed we we played the songs
that they had recorded on the demo tape and it
just went really well we all liked each other
and musically was a great fit and so After two
weeks, we went and recorded some songs. And I
can't remember all of them, but one of them was
Einstein on the Beach for an Eggman, I guess.
I can't remember the exact title. And that song
was on a compilation that did real well. I think
it got a lot of radio spins. But the thing was,
it was recorded two weeks after we got together
in Dave's studio. And so... It felt like the
band kind of hit on all cylinders. We'd all played
in a bunch of bands, and we all liked the same
styles. And the songs were amazing. The original
demo tape I got from Dave to learn the songs
and audition kind of originally was, you know,
they were amazing songs. And I would sit there
listening to them and think, man, I really want
to do this. I love these songs. And so I think
we all did. And so that was a great start. It
kind of felt like, you know, we were all doing
a bunch of different things and it kind of felt
like, wow, this is something I want to put everything
and do for a while. So that was The Five of Us
and that's how it began. Well, I want to touch
on Einstein on the Beach because you had mentioned
the DGC Rarities Volume 1 compilation. I had
that CD growing up as well. That's what it was
on. Was there a reason Einstein was left off
of August? Even though it was an outtake per
se, it still ended up hitting number one on the
U .S. alternative airplay chart. And in Australia,
it ranked number 47 on the Triple J Hottest 100
for 1994, which was actually one spot higher
than Mr. Jones. Wow. I always was surprised that
Eggman wasn't on the actual album. Well, you
know, it was recorded at a different time. I
mean, obviously it was recorded two weeks in.
And so I don't think sonically it would have
matched as well. The other thing is that, well,
I guess there's a few things. You know, the original
songs that ended up becoming the demo that kind
of got the band signed, it was the songs I heard
and then some more we recorded. And then that
became the demos. There was a label that wanted
to just release that. They were like, this is
it, man. Let's do this. Adam, I remember saying,
well, you know, he thought we could probably
do better because we'd been playing together
at that point for a year and a half. We'd been
playing the songs. And of course we did. And
the demo was great, but we were able to take
our time and work with a producer and kind of
a big budget and really get exactly what we wanted
to hear. So that's what we did. Well, speaking
of that, the album was produced by T -Bone Burnett.
Can you talk about what he brought to the sessions
and maybe what you learned from him? Oh, well,
yeah. I mean, you always learn from producers,
but T -Bone is amazing, especially with young
bands. He does a lot of kind of first records
or second records with bands. And he did so much
for us. We especially as a drummer, I came in
with way too many notes, as many young drummers
do. And he was able to trim that. But the story
I love telling about T -Bone that affected me
personally was and kind of exemplifies. why he's
so great or what's so great about him one of
the things we were recording Omaha and since
you know these titles I'll just go right in Omaha
was a song we'd been playing for a long time
and I had a drum part and I was set and ready
to record it we were all getting ready to track
it and T -Bone says into the microphone hey Steve
take your cymbals off we're gonna do without
cymbals I was like what he goes Put your cymbals
on the floor, and we're going to record it. And
I was like, okay. And then it's like, all right,
here we go. And I was like, wait a second. I
mean, I needed my cymbals for what I was going
to play because I had parts with cymbals in them.
And so I went into the kitchen and got a pan,
and I put the pan on one of the toms, and I thought,
all right, that'll be the ride. I had this ride
cymbal part I wanted to play. Anyway, stuff like
that happened. And, well, I grabbed a... Instead
of drumsticks, I used something that sounded
better without what I was doing. The bottom line
is T -Bone stopped me from recreating a part
I'd already known and played well and was proud
of and got me creating a new part with limitations
I wasn't used to. I had to listen and make music
on the spot. With the sounds I had, it changed
the part. And the part was great. And, you know,
it wasn't anything I could have created on the
fly unless I'd been under the pressure that he
just so casually put me under without even realizing
it. You know, it's like that was an example for
me of a producer who's been around the block
kind of working with a young drummer and kind
of sneaking a great track out of him, you know?
Because... That track has sounds and parts that
I wouldn't have done. Well, the first thing that
I want to bring up being we're on Omaha, let's
just stay there. The four thunderous thumps that
lead into the song. I've always wondered, is
that like a mallet on a floor tom or a kick drum?
Because that is a big sound. It jumps out at
you when you listen to that coming out of round
here. Yeah, I'll tell you exactly what it is.
It's a 18 -inch bass drum, and I mean, they wanted
to record, and I wanted it to sound like a TR
-808. I wanted it to go, right? I wanted to create
that long decay, and I had that mallet, and it
was a bass drum, and I wanted to hit it like
a tom, so I had to... jam something under it.
So it was kind of precarious. I had to hit it
in a way so it didn't fall over. And, and I hit
it with a mallet and I hit it and it sounded
totally different than I wanted. And I wanted
it to go. And now it just sounds like this big,
oh, in hindsight, it's fine. It's great. But
there again, T -bones dropping the cymbals forced
me into doing things I wasn't used to. And, and
that's what it ended up being. So. Well, another
thing that always blew me away, and this probably
speaks to the album as a whole, but I'm just
going to use Omaha as an example right now, is
the separation of the instruments in this recording.
If you want to focus your ears when you're listening
to this song on the mandolin, the accordion,
the guitar, the vocals, your drums, everything
has its own specific place in the mix. And there's
so much separation between the instruments. The
band truly immerses you in the song. Were there
certain techniques that T -Bone used during the
recording to make that separation happen? Yes.
What he taught us was to play parts. When we
got there, we were all kind of playing the same
rhythms and melodies on our instruments, on our
perspective instruments. And a great example
was Mr. Jones. We were all going, you know, we
were all punching that and those ands. And he
said, why don't you do that? You don't do that.
And then you do something in the middle. And
so so then we heard it back. We're like, oh,
that sounds a lot better. And so then you go
to record the next song and everybody's like,
well, hey, guys, we're kind of doing the same
thing. What if you do this? And so. He taught
us to play parts instead of everyone playing
together. We all played different things within
the same rhythm and chord progression and the
same attitude and feel. And it just makes it
a lot more interesting. Another thing that he
did was everything was recorded with minimal
effects. And so his thought was you'd get a great
microphone. and you get a great guitar sound.
Done. Rather than just scoop up everything and
say, yeah, we'll get everything dialed in later,
you're committing early to the sounds you get.
I always feel like a lot of records have certain
styles or effects that pigeonhole them into the
era they came out. I always mentioned Don Henley.
I love Don Henley. his solo stuff it's like there's
the snare drum there's the you know it's like
that's 86 that's 87 you know and by just recording
a great sound without using the effects of the
day or the the latest greatest it's a different
way to do it it's not yes 90120 you know but
it's good in a different way it definitely gives
the album a timeless nature which i think is
what resonates with me so much Well, and I think
about a lot of the records I love now, and they're
the ones that stick around. And it comes down
to people playing together, just playing simple
parts, locking into something and making a beautiful
sound, you know? And so I don't necessarily need
the cool gizmos that I loved so much when they
came out, in hindsight, you know? Well, you were
talking about a song earlier, so we might as
well just move on to that next. And that is Mr.
Jones. This is the one song for the people that
sat and read the liner notes over and over again
in the 90s that you don't play drums on this
song. It's actually Denny Fongheiser. Can you
talk about how that came to be? Well, that was
completely my fault. I was not very flexible.
And I look back and kind of think that part of
the. what value of my drumming was maybe the
cockiness of it but the detriment of it was I
wasn't able to adjust as well to criticism or
maybe new ideas that maybe I was afraid I couldn't
pull off and Mr. Jones was that and I'll tell
you I've thought about and kind of talked about
it before so I kind of have a an idea of what
happened now but I was playing Mr. Jones now
I should say, I didn't like the song. And I didn't
like it from the get -go. And for me, it was
the tempo and the chord progression. I always
felt it sounded just kind of silly corny. I didn't
get it. Now, that's a weakness of mine. But obviously,
the song is great. People loved it, right? But
that was how I felt about the song. I was even
stupid enough to tell Adam once. I said, man,
because I love the other songs so much. And I
once told Adam, I was like, man, I love these
songs so much. And then I hear Mr. Jones. I just
can't figure out how that fits in this situation.
And he's very offended, as he probably should
have been. But yeah, I never got it. So when
we went to record Mr. Jones, I played it with
a quarter note feel. I don't know if that makes
sense to anybody. But I was just basically smashing
my hands down and going. I didn't care. I wanted
to get it over with so we could record another
song. Live, I always thought, yeah, all right,
well, let's get this done, and then we can play
the one I love. But it wasn't working. It wasn't
grooving. It didn't fit the feel, and I didn't
understand how to change it. And a weakness of
mine was that I always tried to be a cocky music
school drummer. How could I not do it? Well,
the trick was Denny Fongheiser, who's a veteran,
he's done all kinds of hit songs. He came in
and he played it with an eighth note feel. And
what that did was change the groove in the way
it needed. And so he went, you know, he just
put more eighth note. I was playing it with a
chord note. The feel changed and everything was
perfect. It was what they were. You know, in
hindsight, well, in my defense, Adam had a tough
time explaining that. He didn't say, well, play
with an 8 -note field. Maybe, I don't think he
did, because that didn't occur to me for some
reason. But that was the simple trick. And so
what happened was that they asked me to re -record
it. And I just said, man, I don't know what I'd
do differently, you know. And that was where
I should have just... been gutsy enough to try
something. And it probably would have ended up
being an eighth note field. But Denny was coming
in to do percussion on the record. Again, I considered
myself a drummer more than a percussionist. In
hindsight, I probably should have got into that
more. But that's all right, because Denny is
an amazing percussionist. And so he was coming
in to do percussion, and we decided, hey, man,
let's have him give a pass on Mr. Jones. Well,
of course. Whatever he does is going to be perfect.
And that's what happened. So anyway. Well, being
that ended up being the debut single from the
album, I feel like I should follow up by asking
how much was the label involved in choosing the
singles for this album? Because like you said
before, it wasn't your most favorite song, at
least upon first listen. And as time has shown,
a lot of these album cuts have just as strong
of an impact amongst Counting Crows fans. as
do the four singles. Yeah. Well, you know, I
have to admit, I wasn't in on that, and I didn't
have any say in that. But I know that Adam, Gary
Gersh was the executive producer, our management
company, maybe T -Bone. The idea, of course,
when you're releasing an album, is to kind of
introduce it in a certain way, see what happens.
And then depending on what happens in it, you
know, the idea was to go Mr. Jones round here.
And then that's when Einstein on the beach hit
big. And I remember that that was not part of
the game plan. And so that was the last single
that was allowed from August and everything after.
As I remember. Maybe they did Rain King. I can't
remember. I thought Rain King and A Murder of
One were also released as singles, but I don't
think there were videos made for those. Yeah.
Einstein altered the trajectory in some way that
caused the releases to maybe change. And maybe
I'm wrong. Well, as someone who played on the
album, then I guess I have to follow up by asking,
are there any songs on this album that you feel
maybe should have gotten a push as a single that
you felt might have been stronger than the four
that were released? Well, I mean, obviously it
went just fine, but I always felt that Sullivan
Street would be a great, like from a business
standpoint, from like music history. A lot of
bands, you can get a song, a second song, maybe
a third song, and then you hit them with a ballad,
right? I mean, business -wise, that's always
how it's gone. Open Arms comes out, you know,
Journey Escape, or Girl Like You, whatever that
foreign, you know, like this historic ballad.
Anyway, I thought Sullivan Street would have
been great for that. Well, you picked my favorite
song on the album, so I'm glad to hear that.
That's been a song that I did an episode with
another podcaster, Ben Montgomery from Records
Revisited, and it was on spellbinding songs.
And this is one that I chose as a song that always
left me spellbound. And I think that's probably
because of the way Maria McKee's voice blends
with Adam's in the chorus. There's this beautifully
haunting vibe going on in this song. I mean,
what else can I say? It leaves me speechless
every time I hear it. Well, I have to say I agree.
It's the songwriting. I wouldn't say thank you
because what I get is the same thing you get.
And it's that songwriting. The song is so good.
Adam is an amazing songwriter. And for me, you
know, everybody has their different tastes. But
man, that type of tension and release, that type
of beauty, passion. It's melancholy. I mean,
that's all I want in a song. So yeah, I always
loved that one. Well, I know I talked about the
singles being released, but I want to talk about
the way this album is sequenced as a front -to
-back listen. Because to me, one of the album's
strongest points is... The song sequencing. I
honestly don't think there is any other order
of songs that you can move around that would
make this album feel better than the way they
were sequenced. Was that T -Bone, the label,
Adam? Did they know that round here was like
the album opener? Like, how did that all come
together? Well, I think, and again, above my
pay grade, the sequencing of the album, but I
know that. Round here is an obvious opener and
Murder of One is an obvious closer. That's what
we did live. So it made sense that that was how
the record went. And then everything else is,
you know, the magic of someone else's hand. Although
I will say that people always say, kind of point
out that, man, that's a record you can listen
to the whole way through. And so I think that's
good sequencing. Well, you talked about Round
Here being the album opener. I do want to bring
that one up because that song was originally
recorded by Adam's first band, the Himalayans.
And if you AB those two songs back to back, the
Himalayans version and the version on August
and Everything After, they're two different songs.
And I would love to know how the band got together
and kind of reimagined it for the Counting Crows
version. Yeah, it happened. One day at a rehearsal,
we were playing the Himalayans version and it
wasn't great and wasn't working. And so we just
stopped it and kind of in a frustrated way, we
just let it go. And Charlie got it back going.
He said, hey, what if we just tried it and do
the opposite of what you think you should do?
And just, you know, and so. as a drummer it would
have probably been me trying to emulate stuart
copeland or manu cachet by having that bass drum
on the two and four you know and then everybody
else did what they did but it created a vibe
that everybody sunk into and so i think what
changed was just you know the approach was a
change in the vibe and and a real like complete
change in the vibe it's kind of like reinvent
it you know but since everybody already knew
the chord progression everybody knew that we
could just kind of sail through it in that way
and it i think the first time we played it was
that way and it was just like oh man that's great
well great in that it saved it for us because
uh we weren't doing it well the other way so
well i want to bring up something on this version
that always impressed me. And it's something
that I think you do throughout the entire album
on the drums. And that is, I'm going to use the
round here. We stay up very late crescendo. Normally
you would picture a drummer doing a massive fast
fill over that part, but you dialed it back where
it was just a couple of nuanced snare hits. And
it actually made the song more impactful and
powerful. than had you played something bigger
in that moment. And I've always wondered, was
that your thought process in this? Was that part
of what you were talking about earlier with what
T -Bone was telling you to do in these songs?
Well, in that case, it really would have been
me just being so into the song that I forgot
to be noodley. You know, that's how good those
songs were for me. And I always tell, if I work
with young drummers, I tell them, if you can
do what you think the singer would do if the
singer were playing drums you'll be fine you
know and in that case i think i was so probably
so there were a few times when i would be so
dialed into adam's lyric and vocal uh rhythm
and whatever that that i would be kind of playing
it you know or i would be it you know um kind
of fall into the spell of the song and then forget
your drumming and more just reacting to the emotions
and feelings that the music inspires. That's
what I think great musicians do. I don't do that
much, but great songs like that allowed me to
forget I was a drummer playing drums. Well, you
brought up Stuart Copeland, so I have to go to
this question next, because when I was growing
up, I always felt like this song had just a hint
of Stuart Copeland influence in what you were
doing. And I mean that in the most positive way
possible. And that is what you do in Anna Begins
because that beats one of my favorites on the
record. It's as I like to call it, subtly complex.
And when you listen through a good set of headphones,
I get lost in all the nuances that you're doing.
And it's so intricate. It really takes this track
to new heights. So if you wouldn't mind. I have
a terrible pun here and I apologize, but I don't.
Could you break down that groove that you're
playing in Anna Begins? Yeah, that was, well,
again, that song, I just love that song so much.
And especially when it gets big at the end and
there's things coming in and going out and building
and a new plateau above a new, you know, all
these. It gets so big in the end that as a drummer,
once again, you're really just dancing on that
and not thinking about what you're playing. It
creates a random style to the patterns of the
symbols maybe because instead of thinking left,
right, left, right, left, left, right, right,
you're just dancing, swinging your arms, just
like throwing your head back. That's what it
became. I don't know if that answers the question.
To be technical, I would say that that was me
trying to sneak my music school stuff into a
song, and it worked because of the song, the
way it is. And that song had been recorded before
with another drummer named Toby Hawkins, a friend
of ours in Berkeley, and he did... Kind of a
paradiddle thing, if you know what that is. You
probably don't, sorry. No, I know. I'm a musician
as well, so I do know that one. So yeah, I kind
of built off that and then tried to forget I
was playing it and just do it. Well, earlier
in the night, you had mentioned that Adam wrote
a lot of these songs and brought them to the
band. However, you have a writer's credit on
Time and Time Again. So can you talk about your
role in how that song came together? Well, that
was a funny one because we were meeting with
different producers and we met with Don Dixon
and we went out and went out to breakfast with
him and hung out. And then we went back to the
studio and not everybody was back from breakfast.
And Matt Malley and I were ready to go. And something.
I think Charlie was playing somebody, but Don
Dixon, I think was playing something. And we
just started doing that. Boom, boom, you know,
just kind of doing that as people showed up.
And so everybody showed up and we started working
on it and it became time and time again. So I
think that's why I got writing credit. Awesome.
Well, one of the songs that I want to bring up
next is one that over the years, the band has
reinvented live. And it's different than the
album version. And that's Rain King as the version
that is on Across a Wire, as well as the Amsterdam
Live album is a stripped down, slow acoustic
version. And then you've got the album version
that's really upbeat and energetic. As far as
I'm concerned, it's two different experiences,
same lyrics, same notes, but they draw from different
emotions. Was there a preferred version? Obviously.
I understand that the fast version made the album,
but given the amount of times the slow version's
been played live, I have to assume there's an
affinity for that version as well. Well, in my
experience, there was only the fast version,
and then slowly live, I mean, you get to a venue,
maybe it's a perfect moment, and that happens.
at that point we didn't i don't i don't think
we considered it like should we do the slow version
or the fast version which is like uh it was always
fast and then every once in a while slow which
was a neat change you know but it's a great song
and of course it goes either way i mean a lot
of great songs can uh morph into different feelings
if you change the tempo or the uh you know Were
there any other songs on the album that you did
that with, or was it basically relegated to a
ranking? Well, I can't remember now. I'm trying,
I mean, trying to think if there were, there
were no slow songs that we sped up. So it must.
I can't picture the rocket version of Sullivan
street. I don't know. Yeah. I can't remember.
There were cover songs maybe that we played with
different feels. Well, then I'm a huge cover
song nerd, so I have to ask, which were your
favorite cover songs to play in the band? Well,
early on, we started doing Six Different Ways
of The Cure, Head on the Door. I loved that song,
and I thought it was a really cool version. With
the instrumentation we added, it always kind
of lent itself in a certain way, and I loved
the way that sounded. We did Caravan early on,
which was fun. And I'm trying to think. I don't
know. They would come and go, you know? Well,
I have to just ask, was there ever a studio version
of the slowed down version of Rain King ever
recorded? Not that I know of. Well, not with
me. We might have done a TV show and slowed it
down or something, but not an album. Not that
I was a part of. Okay. Well, there's also the
album's title track, which didn't appear on August
and everything after. But in 2019, the band did
record a new version of it with a symphony orchestra.
And at the time, Adam had said to Rolling Stone,
I'm just going to read this quote here. The original
was just me on the piano, which was probably
a bad arrangement for it. There were holes in
the lyrics and that really weighed it down. The
whole thing was just lumbering. We had to toss
it. Can you talk about your experience with that
song? Was that basically cut and drive what happened?
Or did you guys really put a lot of effort into
it? Because that's the name of the album. Yeah.
My experience was that it wasn't something that
we were working on as a band. And so it wasn't
something that I was thinking about a lot. We
had a lot of songs we were working on. And so,
yeah, I always assumed it was a piano song, Adam
piano song. And yeah, we didn't work on it. I
don't think it was, if it wasn't lyrically ready,
there was other stuff that was. And there was
a song called Love and Addiction that I just
loved. And Adam wasn't sold on the lyrics of
something lyrically about it. And so it didn't
make the record. We recorded. 22 songs for August
and everything after. And so a lot of them had
to go, but that was one that was cut. And it
was a lyric thing. I'm just a dumb drummer. Ultimately,
I love lyrics, but I don't write them. And so
I have to just respect that. Well, I'm glad that
Love and Addiction made the 2007 deluxe edition
of the album because that is a great song. So
I'm glad that that finally saw the light. Now,
this next question might be a little off the
beaten path, but please hear me out. In 1994,
in June, to be exact, you and the rest of the
Counting Crows were on the cover of Rolling Stone
magazine. So was it everything that Dr. Hook
said being on the cover of the Rolling Stone
would be? Yeah. Well, we were in Europe when
that came out and then we came home. And so the
first time I saw it was at the airport. And I
mean, I'm sure they had it in Europe. We didn't
see it there, but it was exciting, you know,
and. maybe more importantly they gave us a great
review and so it really you know that that had
a lot of weight back then and uh helped push
things along but yeah it was amazing i mean uh
i was gonna say between that and the letterman
performance i feel like those were two big moments
for the band that really kept bringing up a level
up a level because that version around here just
it sticks out in my brain every time I think
of that performance that had kind of a mix of
the energy of the Himalayans version and the
album version. Cause you guys looked like you
were so frigging stoked to be there. That was
a lot of adrenaline coming out in that performance.
Yeah, that was a, I'm really grateful that that
happened the way it did because you know, that
was the episode that Madonna was on. I don't
know if you remember that she was on and she
swore a bunch of times and it was really weird.
Like they couldn't get her off. And so we didn't
think we were going to be on the show. We thought
she was going to stay on. We're going to get
bumped. And TV is so funny because, you know,
we'd been playing a lot and we were, we felt
pretty tight as a band and we were used to playing
shows. And now TV, you sit around and you do
one song and you're off. And so I remember that
night. sitting back there thinking uh guys i
don't know if madonna's gonna get off i don't
think we're gonna you know there was a guy in
the room the fastest grocery bagger in america
it was and he'd been bumped the night before
and he would be from that night too but uh he
was sitting there in the backstage with us and
so then it's on and you go on and you got five
minutes at it and so That performance was kind
of like I always felt like it was like us putting
a whole show into five minutes, you know, because
we're so psyched to be there. And that's it.
You know, you you got one shot on TV and then
it's so bizarre. I think you record at five thirty
in the afternoon. And so you do one song and
then you get off stage and you're like, now you
want to play and it's you go out and eat dinner.
And so bizarre. But yeah, that was a really great
boost for the band. Well, I have talked about
August and Everything After so many times on
this show, and I've talked about it being a timeless
album. We talked about it earlier in this episode.
Why would you say that so many people feel this
way about this album? Well, one of the things
I like to say is you have all your life to write
the first record. The second record you have
to write in hotel rooms living on subway sandwiches.
And it's just, it's tough to do. So I always
say how lucky I feel to have been on the first
record. I mean, Dave and Adam came up with a
great batch of songs and then surrounded themselves
with people that got it and tried to further
it. And we came up with more stuff. And they,
you know, I guess I don't know why that would
make it timeless, except that it's... honest
and authentic. I think the performances serve
the songs because they were that good. I feel
like I'm bragging all night, but I'm just trying
to - Not at all. I would say the exact same thing.
Don't worry about it. Yeah. I'm proud of that
record. I was lucky to have been there. Because
as I say, it would have done fine with any drummer,
you know, it was ready to go. Well, I will ask,
I know you left the band after this album was
released. Have you kept in touch with the group
since then? Are things copacetic, you know, over
the years? Has kind of time healed all those
wounds? Because let's be honest, being in a band
is the closest thing to a marriage that's actually
not a marriage. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, we don't keep
in great contact, but I love those guys. And
I hope that, you know, I hope they think fondly
of me. It was a long time ago. And honestly,
I needed to mature some. I was young and cocky
and wild. And it was great in some aspects. But
in hindsight, I would have fired me too. And
I was upset about it for a couple. years and
and finally uh started looking at how what i
added to things and how i could try to you know
in hindsight it was exactly what needed to happen
and how lucky am i all these years later i mean
it's still doing well here we are talking about
it and and it puts some wind in my financial
sails every year and uh you know i'm i'm thrilled
Well, before we wrap things up for the night,
Steve, can you talk a little bit about Murfreesboro
Music Lab and how people can learn more about
it? Yes. You know, I moved to Nashville in 2006
and love it here. It's Music City and it's been
a wonderful place. Raised a family here. In 2020,
I moved to Murfreesboro, Tennessee, which is
a small town about 35 miles south. of nashville
and i love being in a small town in a little
community and i ride my bike around and it's
just wonderful but i need to do something and
so i started murphy's borough music lab out of
my house here and i work with aspiring i work
with drummers a lot but i also work with aspiring
musicians singer songwriters and i just try to
Take folks through and see if I can save them
any time, effort, or headache from their careers,
you know. Mumulab .org is the website. It's M
-U -M -U -L -A -B .org. And then the other thing
I always like to talk about is I did a 10 -part
podcast called Letters to an Aspiring Musician.
And it was just me trying to think of everything
after a 30 -year career. What do... I wish I'd
known when I was 20. And so I tried to pass that
info on in 10 different episodes. And so Letters
to an Aspiring Musician is available at a podcast
near you. And I'll be sure to embed that podcast
on the episode page at myweeklymixtape .com so
people could check that out. Well, Steve, this
has been such a pleasure talking music with you
tonight. Thank you for your contributions to
one of my favorite albums of all time. And more
importantly, I'd like to thank you for your time
today to join me to wax poetic about this incredible
album. Wow. It was a real pleasure. And I appreciate
you being such a fan that, you know, songs and
questions. I mean, that's very flattering for
me and I'm grateful. Thanks for calling. And
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time, enjoy the tunes.