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00:00You have to have your guitar set up a certain way to play a slide guitar and I don't have a guitar
00:03that's set up for that and I don't have a slide. I literally practiced it with a socket like a
00:08socket wrench. Jesus really? Yeah what size? Yeah good question but luckily when I got there they
00:15had all the right stuff to do that so made it a lot easier then. Rock, metal, frog and everything
00:22in between. Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with Meltdown. Don't forget to follow the
00:28audio only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms. And now it's time for today's
00:33conversation. Here's Meltdown. Hey guys Meltdown back here in the studio with Sammy Bowler and
00:39Josh LeMay from Citizen Zero. They've put the band back together. Welcome to the station guys.
00:45Thank you for having us. Yeah good to see you guys. A lot of things happening in your life
00:49here Sammy this year. It's been a crazy summer. Yeah. We'll get into more of that coming up here
00:54in a little bit. I don't want to ruin the surprise yet. No surprise. I guess everybody knows exactly
00:57what you've been doing. But Josh how you doing brother? I'm good brother. How are you? Good. So
01:01what have you been doing for the last few years? I have been waiting and dreaming of getting back
01:07together with the voice. No in the production space. So I'm still in the industry but kind of
01:13on the other side of the backstage area doing sound and lighting and all that kind of stuff. For where?
01:20Anywhere and everywhere for the big three in town here and then also doing stuff for major
01:26festivals like around the country like as well. Audio and video. That's fun. Yeah different side
01:30of the business. Yeah kind of where I started actually. Yeah I was going to say and you get
01:34to connect with certain people too. Sure do yeah. Yeah I made some good friends along the way here
01:39over the last you know almost decade now that we've been kind of having the first record out and
01:44yeah it's been an interesting road for sure. Yeah it's cool and Sammy you've been doing so much
01:50but we'll talk about that in a few minutes but the show coming up here at Machine Shop. Tell me about that.
01:54Yeah we're uh we got the band back together. Yeah we're doing a reunion show um uh November 14th
02:00at the Machine Shop so yeah it's good to it's good to uh be coming back home. That's we kind of grew
02:05up playing there so um yeah getting back together for the first time uh with with some friends is
02:11gonna be it's gonna be a great night. Yeah so tell us who else is playing that Bill? Our friends
02:16the Wholesome Boys it's our friend Frank's band uh he toured with us a lot back in the day
02:20and then uh a great local band called Moravian's playing as well. Oh Moravian. I've heard those
02:24guys. Yeah they're awesome. They're working at the Rust Belt Studios where we kind of grew up
02:28recording too so. Okay I was going to ask you about that here because uh before we started you said
02:32that you're doing some new music and I thought that maybe you might have been uh working with uh
02:35Al. Has Al anything to do with anything you're doing? Nothing right now. Al did our first record
02:39right um and we worked with him a lot kind of growing up but uh we're actually working we're heading
02:44to the studio in a couple weeks uh in LA we're working with a producer named Jim Kaufman so he's
02:48a good friend of mine and uh he just he just kind of had a breakout hit with a return to dust um but
02:55he's worked with a lot of great bands over the years so. Yeah those are the guys that just played
02:58uh Riff Fest and by the way um full disclosure uh sometimes when I'm walking around the Royal Oak
03:03area because I have a friend who lives right down the street from Rust Belt I will text Alan say are you
03:07here and he will say yeah and then sometimes I leave not as sober as I did when I walked in.
03:12Yeah we grew up with that a little bit but uh yeah I still we we still work at Rust Belt a lot so
03:17yeah Al's great he's a great friend of ours yeah. Awesome guy and he's always he's always got a
03:21cocktail for me so I I do like that. So uh Josh tell me about some of the new stuff. Man we're excited
03:26we uh you know what we left a lot on the kind of the table when we stopped sort of playing uh just
03:31kind of getting burned out from the road and all sorts of different things but we left so much music
03:34kind of left unheard right so it was a kind of exciting Sammy and I ran into each other sort of at
03:40PJ's Logger House one uh fateful night and uh just started coming up with a plan to kind of re-release
03:45these things and um and then one thing led to another right you start kind of bringing up old
03:50stuff and kind of reminiscing about old times and then all of a sudden that sort of inspires new
03:55things so uh you know this kind of next chapter is sort of um something that I've been looking forward
03:59to personally for a long time and then come to find out when we kind of rekindled and sort of
04:04relit the flame between all the boys and Citizen Zero everybody kind of felt the same way
04:08uh so it kind of like poetic that it would come together in a chance meeting after so many years
04:14apart and now uh now hitting the we always had a thing no plan b and all gas no brakes so we really
04:22kind of adapted that again I fell right back into it so so when was this this was I don't know man
04:29beginning of the year yeah probably six months ago seven months ago something like that so
04:32PJ's Logger House I've never been there that's right down the street here right
04:35Corktown Corktown yeah oh it's down down that far yeah yeah gotcha that's a small
04:39house or something it's small yeah but our friend Frank's band was playing and he's playing at our
04:45reunion show but um yeah Josh and I hadn't seen each other in years but it was just like oh man
04:49you know it's like why why aren't we still playing you know it's like an obvious venues it's so loud
04:54it turns into like a tuning fork you know what I mean yeah just watching stuff rattle on the walls
04:58and bar glasses slide across the table yeah it's a legendary band so have you guys kept in touch or
05:03or was or was it you said it was a chance meeting you guys just both were there we kind of we'd had
05:08we had always sort of just on the periphery everybody's so busy right or busy and we'd always
05:13kind of talk about some sort of something that we want to come back Sammy's been so busy with other
05:19projects and same thing with Johnny drummer um Sam and I have always been together kind of so we've
05:24always we've always been in each other's orbit but never really put a lot of emphasis on it for
05:28for some reason or another and um really that fateful kind of PJ's uh speaking of cocktails
05:35you just have just enough to you know sort of hit the tipping point where you're just like say the
05:40thing you're nervous to say or say the thing you're you really want and like whatever so that actually
05:45happened between the two of us and it was just sort of one of those things where it was just became
05:48kind of like an obvious calling sort of like got to do this got all got to lean in yeah it's like
05:53having enough cocktails texting your ex I get it yeah exactly the same yeah so Sam you have done a
05:59lot of things uh since since the band uh disbanded or whatever so you play with Scott Stapp correct
06:04yeah yeah I've been playing with him uh the past few years yeah you know um you know it's funny
06:08um Scott has this reputation and I think that some of it might be deserved but I have to tell you that
06:14I don't know exactly what happened to him in the past 15 years but he is one of the nicest people
06:19to interview and one of the one of the best dudes at least from my perspective you know if you don't
06:24want to say anything you don't have to of course but uh he seemed to have he seems to has almost
06:27changed since the first time I met him uh oh Scott's great man yeah I met Scott originally we were
06:33opening for him uh when our record first came out maybe in 2016 but uh we were on the same label as
06:38Creed back in the day oh yeah wind up records yeah so that's how we met initially and um Scott and I
06:44just kind of kept in touch and then uh after the band disbanded um yeah he just kind of reached out
06:49to me to do a couple things and I've been playing with him ever since but I I love Scott man he's
06:54he's an amazing performer and just a great great dude to be around so yeah I've yeah I can't say
06:59enough good things about him he always treated me really well what other projects have you worked on
07:03uh I've been doing a lot of instrumental music kind of like like solo uh guitar music and touring on that
07:09and um the most recently I just got home I I kind of referred to it earlier but uh I just did a tour
07:15with the Goo Goo Dolls which was really cool yeah that's great so um so let me get this straight
07:19so the Goo Goo Dolls were already on tour correct correct yeah and what what you get the call how
07:24does this happen um actually another friend of mine originally from Detroit Dave Friedman
07:28is the one who got me the gig he's a really well-known amplifier designer and uh amp maker but uh their
07:35guitarist Brad Fernquist uh he was dealing with like a shoulder injury like a nerve
07:39thing in his shoulder so he got out on the road and and kind of had to leave the tour
07:43but uh it happened really fast man I got called um the day before the first show I played with them
07:49so it was very stressful uh so where was the first show in Cleveland so I I I spent the day before
07:56trying to learn all I had a YouTube video to learn all this stuff and did they make it for you or
08:01then now it was like a cell phone video on YouTube from somebody so they sent me that and said like you
08:05know hey can you learn this their manager sent it to me and uh so it was very very stressful to say
08:11the least but you hadn't um you hadn't met Robbie or Johnny or anything I didn't meet him I met I met
08:16Robbie earlier in the day of the show we kind of rehearsed the stuff at soundcheck and then I met
08:21John maybe like a half hour before we played no kidding what does he say to you he was he's super
08:25cool man you know I mean you know them obviously from Buffalo you guys have some history together
08:28um but uh but I mean as a performer like what is you meet Johnny a half hour before he goes on as
08:34he say hey man just have a good show just be loose what did he tell you that's yeah that's how he was
08:38yeah he was just like look I know I know it was super last minute but you know I appreciate you being
08:41here let's just let's have some fun you know and uh yeah I was I was I didn't really sleep it took
08:47all night to kind of like put everything together so I'm sure I looked like a mess you know and I was
08:52stressed out but um it was amazing it was an amazing experience playing with them man like they're such an
08:56amazing band and um yeah just kind of play those songs I mean those songs are so incredible some
09:02of those songs like iris's stuff I mean it's well written just and and I just want to see the
09:08mailbox money they got from the deadpool movie that used it that that just happened correct yeah like
09:13the past yeah the past couple years it was a big part of the uh deadpool movie you know um but uh so
09:19how many shows did you play with them um I think it was around 20 and we have a I have a couple more
09:24things with them throughout towards the end of the year here that's killer man so when you played
09:28here in Detroit because we were texting what what number show is that uh it was pretty early I was
09:34still kind of learning the stuff it was like I think it was the fourth or fifth show of the tour
09:37so and by the end did you pretty much have it down yeah yeah I mean I the way I learned it it was so
09:42kind of cram you know like cram learning for an exam or something right it's different than like if
09:46you actually had time to prepare for a tour so but yeah by the end I was definitely a lot more
09:50more comfortable with the music and kind of just could be in the moment a little bit more
09:54but um and this is something I always think about it's like because I'm not a musician obviously but
09:57you're on stage with these two guys that have been together for you know 30 plus years and there's
10:02got to be that like that respect element you don't want to step on their toes you don't want to go too
10:07far forward you know there's probably all that stuff in the back of your mind right absolutely yeah um
10:12so how do you how do you like remedy that like like it's just a feeling out process yeah you feel it
10:17out I mean I I I've always loved their band you know so I think yeah it takes it takes a few shows
10:25no matter what you're doing to kind of get a feel of everybody on stage and know like when to you
10:29know step out or take you know take the reins or whatever but um they were just so cool I mean
10:34they just made it so comfortable and like everybody on their crew was super nice and supportive so it
10:39makes it makes it easier you know and especially they could tell like like it was such a last minute
10:43thing it was it was a tough thing to walk into so they were they were cool about it well here's the
10:47thing like I saw Axl Rose with ACDC and I don't know if you guys saw that a few years ago and Axl Rose
10:52to me I mean legend right and he kind of took a really a back seat to Angus Young like he like it
10:57was almost like almost too respectful it's like dude you're Angus you know you're you're Axl Rose you
11:02know you should be a little bit more upfront so I guess that's where the it's like where the give
11:06and take goes with something with something like that yeah I mean they're it's it's their show you
11:11know so you want to be more of a supportive role that's the way I looked at it at least but yeah
11:14there are moments like their guitar solo and iris and stuff where it's like you have the spotlight
11:18but um and that's with a slide right slide guitar yeah I don't really play slide guitar so I was very
11:24stressed about that I didn't even own one uh I don't think I even told you this yeah so when uh yeah
11:29when I was like obviously that was a big moment you know in the show oh my god but uh yeah the biggest
11:34song right yeah and like I don't I know I don't know if you play guitar or not I do not okay so you have
11:39to have your guitar set up a certain way to play a slide guitar and I don't have a guitar that's
11:42set up for that and I don't have a slide but uh the night before um I was like all right so this is
11:47one thing where you can't mess this up or else it's going to be on tiktok the next day you know and
11:52then your life's over so um but I I literally practiced it with a socket like a socket wrench
11:58Jesus really yeah it was a nice size yeah good question no um but uh luckily when I got there they
12:05had all the right stuff to do that so made it a lot easier then made a big difference so what was
12:10that first sound check like did were you on stage for quite a while it's kind of yes yeah it was it
12:14was stressful for me I mean they were all so nice about it but I only had time to write the stuff
12:19out I didn't have time to actually play through any of it um and what about like between like you got
12:23your set list in front of you taped to the tape to the stage whatever is is there any did they just
12:28go song to song or or was there any parts where it's like you know kind of a sustain leads to
12:33another part or is it all pretty much cut and dry well with them it's all different than the album
12:38none nothing is like the album you know for the most part so super helpful yeah exactly so luckily
12:43I had like some of their live stuff to launch but um uh there there's not a ton of transitions but the
12:49arrangements of the songs are a lot different on a lot of them so and just knowing your role like
12:54John Resnick plays guitar on everything obviously so he when there's two guitar players in a band you
12:59kind of have to pick your parts to make sure you're not playing the same thing stuff like that
13:03so it was a learning it was a learning thing for sure I feel like I'm I definitely learned a lot
13:06from it and I'm a better musician because of it you know now I remember interviewing Paul O'Neill
13:10years ago and uh he's from Trans-Siberian Orchestra yeah I'm familiar and and he he told me he goes he
13:16goes yeah the the people in Germany wanted them to play this festival so for for so long and I don't
13:23know you know in European tours European festivals they got two stages next to each other
13:26and while one stage is playing they're setting up the stage for the other guy and so Paul says
13:31I'll tell you what we will play your festival if we can use both stages and then that that poses the
13:36issue of they practiced in different rooms because there's no visual cues right interesting and so
13:42were you using visual cues with with Johnny a lot on stage as far as the guitar parts and stuff
13:48uh a little bit yeah for sure like when when a lot of times like he plays a lot of lead guitar too so
13:53like trading solos and stuff like that so he'd kind of like wave me to the front when it was my
13:56turn stuff like that but uh I did have charts on the floor for a lot of it just because it was so
14:01last minute but uh they would just bring him out and tape him down you know yeah I always think
14:05about that scene in uh in Spinal Tap where where you know Nigel is off to the side and and David
14:10St. Hubbard just just nods for him to come back on stage yeah dude yeah it's fine the new Spinal Tap is
14:16like pretty funny how accurate it just like the first one I don't know if you've seen the new I've seen it
14:20twice the new the newest yeah yeah it's pretty good have you seen it yet or no no yeah it's good
14:24you'll like it that's on my list now yeah it's good I think the uh I've said I've talked about
14:28this before but the uh the ending gag which of course refers to the first the first movie I was
14:33in hysterics the first time I saw it and I was in a theater by myself at like one o'clock in the
14:39afternoon on Friday that's awesome so but no I really liked it so well no it's really interesting
14:43dude I'm really happy for you I wanted to ask you about this the Goo Goo Dolls thing because it always
14:47fascinates me when you know you don't know these guys they they just they just call you up out of
14:52the blue and say hey you know did you have plans for that week or something also you got to change
14:56everything I did we our original recording session was that week no work in LA yeah so we had to kind
15:02of reschedule it for coming up here but uh it was one of those things where it's like a once in a
15:06lifetime sure opportunity so obviously everybody's super cool about it do you think you might join him
15:11like next year I don't know yet I don't know we have some I have a couple things coming up uh this year
15:15but honestly the way I was looking at it's where it's just you know one day at a time try to
15:19appreciate every second of it because it's I don't know just getting to play that music was a
15:23a real blessing for me so no dude that's uh that's super cool man this business is great the music
15:28business is unreal man like one one phone call changes can change everything you know yeah I've
15:33always liked that about you know about playing so well as we were talking about before we started here
15:38um I got called and they said why don't you come to Detroit well I'm not doing anything now so I might as well
15:43go exactly and here we are all these years later so so anyways uh anything else happen to the
15:49citizens zero that we should know about you said you're recording uh that when does that start up
15:52you guys going into the studio locked and loaded with a bunch of songs or you have anything worked
15:55out yet or what yeah starting next week uh we're literally heading out there next week to start
16:00getting in the studio and try to finish up as much as we can within the schedule that we have right
16:05now and then um uh might try to get in before the end of the year finish a record and then come
16:09out in 2026 with a new music new record and tour dates and all sorts of different things do you
16:15have any uh tours lined up or anything I mean you probably can't talk about it but is there something
16:19lined up in the works yeah okay they're opening for the goo goo dolls yeah yeah oh my god let me
16:27send a couple texts no that's great so uh will we hear any new stuff uh on november 14th at the
16:33machine shop perhaps yeah yeah we'll have some new music out before the show and will you tease
16:38iris to start playing i don't see why not we got the guy i never know we got okay we have some
16:45surprises yeah well johnny show up highly unlikely you never know never say never no that's really
16:53great so uh anything else you guys want to plug anything else you want to promote mainly just the
16:58show right now yeah yeah november 14th machine shop that's the only show you guys have lined up
17:02back home yeah that's all when we first reconnected that was kind of like the plan it's like all right
17:06let's just do a show and have some fun but once the band started hanging out and like you know we
17:11started hanging out again like we used to when we were kids yeah so it's like all right man we got
17:14to do some new music so one one thing at a time but that's great i think i think that we we i think
17:20you actually texted me about doing you know doing an interview and plug in the the machine shop show
17:25months ago and all of a sudden then you hopped on that google dolls tour it's everything kind of
17:29pushed back a little bit yeah it's been a crazy summer but it's all good no that's really cool
17:32man really really happy for you like i said really happy for both you guys uh putting the band back
17:36together and some new music in 2026 and a world tour with uh we don't know yet so it's all a secret
17:44so well thank you guys so much for uh coming in and we look forward to seeing you november 14th at
17:49the machine shop i'll be there with my i'll bring a guitar please do come on up sockets and a socket
17:56i can't believe i said that great dude if i show up with a socket that means my car is broke down
18:03good to see you guys thanks for coming
18:06cheers
18:08you
18:09you
18:11you
18:15you
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