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00:00We just keep the machine rolling and when we find someone, we'll find someone. We're not
00:05going to rush it, but I guarantee whoever we get will be well known as soon as he's in the
00:09band.
00:11Rock, metal, prog, and everything in between. Welcome to this episode of Talkin' Rock with
00:17Meltdown. Don't forget to follow the audio-only Talkin' Rock podcast on all podcast platforms.
00:23And now it's time for today's conversation. Here's Meltdown.
00:27Hey, Rachel, good to see you, man. How are you?
00:29Doing well, man. Excited. A lot of good stuff going on.
00:33That's awesome. I thought I would dress for the occasion. I've got my, I don't know if you can see
00:36this, my Detroit Kiss shirt on, you see?
00:38Love it. I love it. I got a Yankees version of that in the house somewhere.
00:42Okay, there you go. Yeah. But anyways, I'm going to see Gene coming up here on Thursday. So maybe
00:48when we wrap this up, you'll have to give me a question for Gene.
00:50Oh, okay, cool.
00:52Because the brand new Rock and Brew is opened up here in the Motor City, and so he's going to
00:56officially cut the ribbon coming up this week.
00:58Oh, nice, nice.
01:00Have you been to any of those?
01:01Yeah. There used to be one in LAX. It's not there anymore for some reason, but I've been
01:07to a few, and we actually did a pop-up show at one somewhere in California, in the casino
01:17somewhere. They asked us to do a show at it, and it was just like people were sitting around
01:21eating. All of a sudden, Skid Row busts out on stage, and we start playing. We actually
01:25did two shows there. It was fun. It was a lot of fun, man.
01:28You were totally plugged in?
01:31Oh, yeah. Like, we scared the hell out of everybody. Like, we were just full-on, man,
01:36on a tiny stage. It was fun. I love doing stuff like that.
01:39Yeah, that's awesome. Well, let's get into it, man. Gargoyle of the Garden State. I was telling
01:44you the other day, I called myself, what did I say? The miscreant of the Mitten State.
01:49If I were to put out a new record. But anyways, when did this solo project start percolating?
01:55How long has this been in the works?
01:56Well, I've had some of these songs. I write just about every day just to write, and a lot
02:05of stuff wasn't right for Skid Row. But when I lived, before I moved back to Jersey, I lived
02:13down in Tennessee. I lived right down the street from one of my best friends, Nick Raskolinics.
02:18And we were, I'm sure there was a few drinks involved, but I was like, man, I should, now
02:26that, like, I'm going to have downtime, I should see if the label is interested in doing a solo
02:31record. He's like, I want to produce it. And I was like, yeah, of course, you know.
02:35So, as it happened, the label was interested in me doing it. So, what kind of started from
02:40a conversation with a friend ended up coming to fruition, you know what I mean? And it's
02:46been a lot of fun doing it. And just, I mean, except for the drums and some of my friends
02:52that came in to play certain parts, it was just Nick and I in the studio. And so, we laughed
02:57a lot. You know, it's really cool to do some stuff like this with something you're really
03:03close to.
03:05Now, so, since you're so close to Nick, I didn't realize, I mean, obviously down, you
03:09know, down in Tennessee, a lot of guys do know him, do work with him in the rock world.
03:12But did you play on anybody else's stuff? Maybe stuff we've heard of, or maybe stuff that
03:17you kind of just went in and just played on in secret?
03:22Through Nick?
03:23Yeah, through any of his projects? Yeah.
03:24Um, no, we, we, uh, no, I haven't. Um, yeah, all the stuff he's doing, they have bass players.
03:32Okay. All right. There you go. I didn't know if maybe, I do have a friend of mine who's played
03:37drums on some stuff, but he's not allowed to talk about it. It's, you know, songs you've
03:41heard and stuff where the drummer was, uh, uh, you know, he couldn't make it.
03:46Right. Okay. Gotcha. Stuff like that. I didn't know if anything like that had happened, but,
03:50uh, you talk about all the guests and stuff. Was there anybody that
03:54that you couldn't get to play on this? Uh, there, there were, uh, a couple and it had
04:00to do, um, some just, they weren't interested in it. You know what I mean? One guy wasn't
04:07interested in it. Um, which is fine. It was a long shot anyway, but then some people, yes,
04:13I'm in as long as it's not in these months, because I'll be on tour and that they would
04:18fall. And it's just like, you know, damn, you know, but it's cool. You know, I, I knew
04:23that was going to be a problem. Like logistics were going to come into play with a lot of
04:28stuff, but you know, I got, I got, um, again, I'm called on friends first, you know,
04:33Corey, uh, Taylor sang a song, Steve Conte sang a song, uh, Danko, uh, on the first single,
04:40we sang a song together. And then I called Nuno. I was like, dude, do you want to play
04:44a solo on the record? He's like, hell yeah. You know, and Rob Hammersmith played the drums
04:49through the whole thing. And then Scotty and Snake each did a solo on, on a couple of songs.
04:54And I hope I'm not missing anybody, but, and then my friends, Ryan Cook and Paul Taylor
04:59did a lot of backup with me. And another friend of mine, Matt Farley from the rock and roll
05:05chef down in, uh, Nashville, he, uh, he came in and sang some harmonies and stuff. So it
05:10was, oh, and Damon Johnson. How could I forget that? Damon Johnson played like five solos on
05:16there and just, just lit things up. And if you don't know Damon, then you live under a
05:22rock. His brother Kane, he's been in Skinner for, I don't even know how long for, I probably
05:28almost, but it, uh, yeah, it was so cool to have all my friends there and being a part of
05:34it. And it just meant a lot to me as a bro. And then musically, just like when you see
05:40an idea come to life, you know, it's, it's a special thing.
05:46Yeah. I always wonder when, whenever you have, uh, outside influences come in to help
05:50you, uh, somebody explained this to me or somebody said this to me one time. They're
05:53going, I always had this fear, like when I got their vocals or I got their guitars or
05:57whatever it was that I wouldn't like it. Do you ever have that fear? Or did you just go,
06:00you know what? Nuno's playing it and I don't care if I like it or not. It's Nuno. It's
06:04going on the record or something like that. Well, when, when I was thinking that I was
06:08going to ask friends to, to play stuff on it, I kind of knew which songs that fit them
06:18the best. And, you know, being that like all these people that I talked about, I I'm good,
06:26really good friends. So I knew like their style would fit perfectly to the song and like the
06:32song that Corey sang on, uh, we liked the same type of stuff. We have the same punk rock
06:39background as far as taste in music. And I'm like, man, I'm kind of hearing a sham 69 thing
06:45like Borstel break. I was like, got it. Send me the lyrics, send me the song. And he came
06:50in and I think he sang through it once to get a level and then another time. And then he
06:56doubled
06:56it. And we talked about punk rock for the next two hours. It was great. I've heard he can bust
07:02up out pretty quick. Yeah. I flew out to Vegas to make it, you know, so it was easy on
07:07him and
07:08it was great. It was so much fun just to do that kind of stuff. And then Danko, actually,
07:13I wasn't there for Danko to record, but he recorded it up in Toronto and sent it to me.
07:20And he's like, how's this? I was like, dude, it's perfect. It's absolutely perfect. So,
07:23you know, it's great. It's a lot of fun. Yeah. Of course, being Canadian and whatnot
07:27up there in Toronto, but yeah, that, that song too, at war with myself, uh, it's a little bit
07:32more punk rockish. And I know that that's like in your past and it's kind of like a, uh, part
07:36of
07:36your DNA. So what, what are some of the flavors of the rest of the record? Uh, there's a lot
07:41of
07:41stuff like that, but like it was everything that really influenced me as a kid, uh, you know,
07:50like punk rock and like the Brit pop back then, you know, when in the seventies and, and like glam
07:58and hard rock, you know, and, but everything is pretty high energy on the record. There's one song
08:06that, uh, Steve Conti sang that that's the only song that kind of slows things down. Um, but it
08:12still fits in that vein and, uh, kind of psych furs type thing, you know, and, uh, his voice was
08:20perfect for it. It's just, but, but the, the whole album as a body of work is it's pretty high
08:27RPM.
08:28Now you stated that you, uh, you started this, uh, with Nick down, you started it when you still
08:33live in Nashville. Is that correct? Is that where the seeds were sown?
08:36That's, that's when we talked about it and we talked about it and talked about it more,
08:41talked about more. I moved back to Jersey and I get the solo deal. I'm like, Hey, I'm coming down
08:45to Nashville. So, yeah. So just got a hotel and I drove down there with about 12 guitars in my,
08:54uh,
08:54in my, uh, car and, or my Explorer and drove down there and met Rob and, you know, Rob is
09:02just a
09:03monster. Like he just came in, he, he knocked out 11 songs in about two and a half days and
09:08it was
09:09just, and that's good. Rob, Rob, your drummer. Yeah. And so he just absolutely crushed it as I
09:18knew he would, because again, he, we grew up listening to the same type of music and still
09:23love this type of music like that. And, uh, so yeah, he just came in and just stomped it, man.
09:29It was great. Now, uh, I just talked with, uh, Zachy Vengeance from Avenged Sevenfold who just
09:34dropped his solo record back, uh, a couple of weeks or actually last week. And, um, he, he went
09:39by his real name and he, and he told me he went by his real name because the songs were
09:43so personal
09:44to him. And I thought that was kind of interesting. Um, obviously you said these songs were personal
09:49to you. I think I read something about that as well. Uh, where do these, where, where does like
09:53the, the impetus these songs come from? And how do you know if it's not a song that fits
09:57with Skid Row? Is it just a feeling, just a vibe? Yeah, it is. It is definitely a vibe,
10:03you know, cause we have our, our, our big rock riffs, uh, and that that's kind of what our
10:09career was made on. And, and a lot of this stuff is just chugging away or just flailing
10:15away where, you know, I, a guy like me could play the guitar on it. Uh, and like, well,
10:24actually I should say anybody, but I'm fortunate enough to be with Skid Row in a band with two
10:30of the best rock guitar players, like the, without hand down to me, the best rock duo guitar players
10:39that there is because they know what each other are thinking. So it's just,
10:45it wasn't, it, it, it wouldn't, they're, they're too good to play my stuff. Let's put it that way.
10:55So, you know, and they have their own style and I have my own style of playing guitar. So that's
11:00why
11:00I play guitar instead of having other people come in and do it because I knew what I was thinking,
11:04you know, and I, and, and it's just, it just worked out and being in the studio like that,
11:11well, you know, I had never, you know, I do demos like that all the time. And then I bring
11:16it to
11:16those guys when I do Skid Row stuff, I'll bring it to those guys and then they turn it into
11:21their
11:21own style where this just stayed my style. And it was fun. It was a lot of fun. And, and
11:27I do
11:27something and Nick sometimes would go, Hmm. And I'd be like, no good. It's like, try something else.
11:33And I do something else. It's like, that's what I'm talking about. And then I feel good about it,
11:37you know? Yeah, that's great. So speaking of Skid Row, are you guys working on new stuff or do
11:43you wait till you get a singer or what, where's that stand right now? We're, we're still looking.
11:48We're taking our time, but Snake and I do get together and write. We just wrote a little bit
11:53today. As a matter of fact, he just left about 10 minutes ago. So yeah, we, we just keep the,
11:58you know, the, the, the machine rolling. And when we find someone, we'll find someone,
12:05um, but we're not gonna, we're not gonna rush it. You know, we, we've got, uh, we did this
12:11promotion through Sweetwater and probably have listened to about 300 submissions at this point.
12:17And there's some really good stuff on there. And we've, we've auditioned people outside of that as
12:22well that were really good, you know? So it's, it's a long process and we, we were prepared for it,
12:28but
12:29now I got stuff to do. I got the solo record.
12:32Right. Yeah. Yeah. Are you going to tour on that? Uh, that's the plan. I would like to, um, you
12:39know,
12:40uh, uh, we'll see what comes up. Uh, it would be great to jump on a really cool tour with
12:45bands that,
12:46that I dig, you know, um, and I have a drummer. I got to put the rest of the band
12:51together. Rob, Rob,
12:52Rob is in for the long haul. So, um, I want to get people that I know that I respect
12:58and that I
12:59like they're playing and that fits my music, but they're all in bands. So as much as they want to
13:06do it, they're like, Oh, I'm on tour from now until, you know, the middle of 27 type of thing.
13:12So it's one of those deals. But, uh, if we do, do, do shows, then, uh, yeah, I'm going to,
13:19I'm going to have guys that, that I really, who's playing. I really love.
13:24Mm-hmm now it's funny. Cause I have seen a lot of people posting their, their audition tapes
13:29online, which I'm sure you've seen as well. And, um, I can't remember if I was talking to you guys
13:34or who I was talking to. I interview a lot of people, but someone made this point to me one
13:38time that they didn't want to bring in a singer or guitar player, whatever it was with a lot of
13:42baggage. And by baggage, I mean, a huge history, because then the fans would want to hear all that
13:47stuff. You know what I'm saying? Do you run across that? Is that looking, is that like something
13:50that goes on in the back of your head when you're looking for a singer? I mean, let's just say,
13:54for example, you had Lizzie Hill. I've heard, you know, people would want to hear a hailstorm
13:57stuff, but obviously, you know, it's like, it's just kind of a weird thing, isn't it?
14:01Yeah. You know, um, I, I would think people would want to hear like, wow, what would it sound
14:08like for Skid Row to play a hailstorm song, you know? Um, but yeah, that, and that's the one
14:14thing about bringing in someone well-known, uh, but I guarantee whoever we get will be well-known.
14:21Soon as he's in the band. Right, right, right. I think I might've been talking to somebody in
14:26Judas Priest. I think that's what it was that when, then, when they, when, uh, when Rob left
14:30the band, they didn't want to bring in somebody that had a lot of history to him or something.
14:34I can't remember. I could be wrong, but I always thought that was kind of interesting,
14:37you know, when Dio joined Black Sabbath, obviously, you know, he had a lot of history.
14:42Yeah. Yeah. That I, man, I may get killed for saying this, but that that's when I really
14:48became a Sabbath fan. Like I started there and worked my way backwards. You know what
14:53I mean? I loved Ozzy solo stuff. Absolutely loved it. But, uh, I, I really became a Sabbath
14:59fan when Dio joined the band because I just loved his voice and his whole thing. He's just
15:04like his aggression and stuff, you know, did you ever get a chance to meet him? He was
15:08one of the nicest guys I ever met. Yeah. I went to racing school with him actually.
15:13Really? Yeah. Uh, years, I guess it must've been 89 or 90. I got invited to, uh, do the,
15:23at the time it was Paul Newman did a charity race and, but you had to go to school and
15:29like
15:29learn how to race. And at that point I wasn't racing, uh, as I did later on in years, but
15:36so I went to Lime Rock, Connecticut and they're like, there's two more, I'm using finger quotes,
15:44VIPs coming. And I'm like, well, who is it? They're like, um, there, there's a guy named
15:49Kurt Smith. I'm like, from tears for fears. And they're like, yeah, that's him. And I'm
15:53like, awesome. Cause I love tears. Yeah. And they go, and a Ronnie, uh, Ronnie, I go, yeah.
15:58Ronnie James Dio. Right. And they go, yeah, that's it. I was like, whoa, cool. So I'm sitting
16:04in the back of a, a BMW with the helmets on and we're on the skid pad and we each
16:09take
16:09turns just getting into like the worst spins. And I'm just like, you know, we're hitting
16:16our helmets against each other and shit because we're in the backseat. And I'm like, I can't
16:21believe I'm doing this with Ronnie James Dio. This is the best.
16:25That's a great story. And so then, then, then would you see him, you know, years later?
16:29And you know, did you tell, did you tell him that you became a Sabbath fan through his
16:32stuff? Uh, I think I told him that weekend cause I, we spent the whole weekend together,
16:36you know, and he was actually on tour and had some days off. So their tour bus was parked
16:41in front of the hotel and we'd all piled on it. Um, his crew, the band, I think Simon Wright
16:48was playing drums at the time. Um, I think, I guess the tour manager and then Kurt Smith and
16:53I jumped on their tour bus and we went to some Indian restaurant and, and it was a bunch
16:58of us and we're just chugging beers. It was, it was fun. I was like, man, I gotta tell you,
17:04you got me into Sabbath. And he was like, really? Oh yeah. He was really, he was so nice.
17:10The nicest. Yeah. And of course, you know, you know, being a bass guy and whatnot. Um, I
17:14think, I think that's some of geezers best stuff, especially like on heaven and hell and
17:17stuff. That's just my opinion. Not being a bass guy.
17:20Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He, he's a, he, he, it's that like heaven and hell and mob rules. Those
17:27albums kick ass, man. I will put them up against any heavy metal record. Any of them.
17:32Totally. So in the mid seventies, we talked about this before with the UN snake, but in
17:36the mid seventies, you saw was kiss your first concert. Yep. Okay. And then where does it
17:41go from kiss? Cause I was kind of like the same thing. Like, uh, Ozzy was my first concert
17:45in 84. I'm, I'm a few years younger than you, uh, not much, but, um, Ozzy was my first
17:51concert. So where do you go from kiss? And they say you discovered black Sabbath in, in
17:551980 or thereabouts, I suppose maybe a little bit after.
17:58Yeah, it was, it was after that, but say I was a, I was a punk rock kid. So I
18:03went, like
18:05I saw a kiss at the Philadelphia spectrum and then, um, where did I first see that? I
18:12think Ramones were playing six flags, um, in Jackson, New Jersey. And I saw them a couple
18:19summers later. And I was just like, wow, this is, it was life changing. It was during
18:26the day. And I'm like, these guys are in their leathers during the day to beating down
18:31on them. And then I saw Joe Jackson the next week. And these are all like a bunch
18:36of my first, like as far as different, I saw kiss a lot, right? Like every, every tour
18:43they came around, but I didn't get to see the Ramones a lot because I was too young to
18:48get into venues with bars. And my mom was not going to let me go to city gardens and
18:54Trenton because it's just, wow. So, um, I had to wait for them to play the, uh, the outdoor
19:02arena in, uh, six flags, but I kept saying that. Oh, and then I'd go see ACDC. I saw them
19:10at the spectrum and fast way opened. And, you know, then I, I finally saw a Judas priest,
19:16um, an iron maiden opened. And, uh, the first, when I saw kiss on the dynasty tour, Judas priest
19:26opened for him. Wow. And then I saw a priest later during, um, uh, what's the record with
19:33electric eye? I was screaming, screaming for vengeance. So that's where an iron maiden was
19:38opening and yeah. So it just went from there. So rush. So, you know, what do you think of a
19:46rush reforming? Uh, you gotta be a huge fan, right? Uh, yeah, I I'm like, I'm a fan of rush.
19:52I wouldn't say like, I'm like, like as big a fan of rush as I am of like kiss and
19:57Ramones
19:58and stuff, but I, I love a lot of rush stuff and I think it's great. Like at, uh, you
20:06know,
20:07I, I, I read stuff online and I'm just like, I get what she's going through. You know what
20:14I mean? It's like, there's not the criticism directed at me. Well, to a certain point. Yeah.
20:19But like, she's, she's got balls, man. And I love it. I think it's great. And everybody
20:25wants to hear rush, man. I see people that, Oh, they should retire and all this stuff. It's
20:30like, you know what I mean? It's like, who are you to tell anyone to stop, you know? And
20:37obviously very unfortunate. And Neil was the drummer's drummer, you know, but she's great.
20:44She's like, they wouldn't have got her if she couldn't do what Neil does, you know? And,
20:50and I think it's just really great. Um, I grew up in a house with two sisters and my mom
20:57who
20:58very empowered, you know what I mean? So to see her go out and just put herself in this position,
21:05which is she's going to, she's going to get a lot of criticism unfairly. And she's just
21:13like, I don't care. I wake up every day and rush. You know what I mean? So everyone could
21:21just, you know, screw.
21:23Well, you know, it's, it's funny. Cause I think I might've just seen something about that
21:26recently where, you know, Getty and them that once again, they could have picked a drummer
21:30with this huge history, but they decided to go with somebody that wasn't so well known.
21:34Yeah. I think it's great. I think it's awesome. I, I, I, I think it's great that they did that.
21:40I, I, and like I said, I think the fact that, um, a woman is now taking that spot, I
21:50think
21:50is awesome for all, any, any girl that wants to be in a rock and roll band and, and be
21:56a
21:56drummer. Like, wow.
21:58Wow. Yeah. You couldn't get a bigger spotlight on someone to inspire you than her. Right.
22:04Yeah. So I think it's great. I think everything about it is awesome.
22:08No, that's true. I, I've seen some pretty wild, uh, female drummers, uh, Haley that was with,
22:14uh, pop evil, for example. I don't know if I've ever seen anyone hit harder than her.
22:17It's like, you know, who I can't remember her name, but the drummer for skillet.
22:27Oh yeah. Jen ledger. Jen ledger. Oh my God. I went to see them, uh, Hammersmith and I went
22:33to see them at a festival in North Carolina when I still lived in Atlanta. And I look at
22:38him, I go, that drum riser is going to fall because she's just and it's all and she's singing
22:46in it. Uh, yeah. Good stuff. Yeah. She's great. Well, I'll tell you what, we'll wrap things
22:50up here. Uh, of course the, uh, the gargoyle of the garden state comes out on June 12th.
22:55Uh, the first single is out, like we were just talking about, uh, at war with myself.
22:59And, um, I, I wanted you to, so, so I'm talking to Gene Simmons on Thursday. What you've, you've
23:06met him several times or a few times or what? I, uh, yeah, several. You guys, did you guys
23:12tour with them back in? I'm trying to recall. We are.
23:16The only band in history to do both of their farewell tours. Oh, okay.
23:23Because we did, we did the one in 2000 and then we toured with them on the end of the
23:32road tour through a chunk of Europe in 22, I want to say. Uh, no, I'm sorry. Not 22,
23:4020, 24 or 20 and the 23. I forget when it was, but I had said that to Paul. I
23:47said,
23:47do you realize we're the only band that did both are farewell tours anyway? He goes, yeah,
23:52you're right.
23:56That's so funny. You know, it's going to be, uh, I don't know if you were, if you even
23:59tried to get to this, but it's going to be on at the end of June, I think June 26,
24:02it's going to be the 30th anniversary of when they played tiger stadium right here,
24:07when they put the makeup back on and they played for the first time with all four.
24:11Yeah. It was a year. 1996. Wow. I don't know if you tried to make it out here for that.
24:19Uh, I know I know. I did it. I did it. It, uh, wow. 30 years already. I cannot believe
24:27that.
24:27Yeah. Yeah. They went on MTV and they played and they're like, Oh, this is pretty good. Let's go
24:31to her. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. They did on plug, right? Yeah. Yeah. Then they played here and, uh, yeah.
24:37So 30 years, but, but what, what, what would you, what, what should I ask Gene? I mean,
24:41you probably had a chance to talk to him a lot. So, uh, what should you ask Gene?
24:48Ask him what type of strings he uses. I'm really curious if he even knows.
24:54Ah, here we go. Gear questions. I don't know anything about gear.
24:57I'm really curious if he even knows. Snake and I actually, this weekend coming up on the,
25:04uh, 11th and 12th are doing the kiss expo in Indianapolis and Paul's going to be there
25:10and, and Snake and I are getting, I don't know whether Paul's jamming or not, but Snake and I
25:14are getting up and doing a couple of kiss songs with Eric and Eric singer. And, um, yeah, a whole
25:20bunch of people getting together and jamming. It's going to be a lot of fun.
25:23Yeah. That's awesome. I know. Um, so Gene's coming here Thursday. Like I
25:27said, and then Peter, Chris is going to be here in a few weeks for two days to sign records
25:31at a local record place here. Did you ever see the kiss monument? That's up in, uh, Cadillac,
25:36Michigan. Wanted to get there, but sat around late and it was, it was about an hour and a
25:43half from where we were. Okay. Um, I never got up there. I would love to, all of my friends
25:49that are in bands have a picture in front of it. It's a neat. Yeah. Right. You know,
25:54what's so funny about that is that, uh, I was supposed to go up there on the 50th anniversary
25:58back in October and I had computer issues for my, for my other job and I couldn't get,
26:03I had to get it done and I, I ended up getting too late and I couldn't go and make
26:07it. But,
26:08uh, yeah, it's about three or three, four hour trip from my house. So I want to go up there
26:10someday, but up to Cadillac, Michigan. Well, uh, Rachel, thanks so much for your time. Uh,
26:16we'll see you around here, uh, sometime, uh, hopefully in the future with, um, either your
26:20solar project or a skid row or whatever. And, uh, good luck with a gargoyle from the garden
26:24state. You got it, man. Thanks, dude. Check out talking rock with meltdown on all podcast
26:30platforms and WRIF.com.
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