Defining a Sound for Gen X while backing Huey Lewis w/Bill Gibson - Ep 177 The Rich Redmond Show

Bill Gibson began playing music at the age of seven. He found his passion for music when his father Ed Gibson, an architect by trade but a jazz drummer in his own right, began taking him to see such greats as The Count Basie Orchestra, The Duke...

Coming to you from crash studios
in Music City, USA, Nashville.

This is the rich Redman show

that's right, you're watching
your iPhone, your clock, if you

got a clock is correct. It's
time for another exciting

episode of the rich Redmond show
where we talk about all things

music, motivation, success. Of
course, a lot more things, a lot

of things are going to come up.
But those are the things that

inspire us. drive us inform us,
of course, I'm happy to have my

co host co producer, Jim
McCarthy. We love his time and

talent. Jim McCarthy voice
overs.com What's up, buddy?

Oh, you know, the same old, same
old just podcasting away all the

time?

Well, yeah, you have your many
podcasts that you do. And you're

producing about 20 of them. And
you got back from New York, your

daughter sang at Carnegie Hall.
Tell us about this.

She was, you know, chosen to and
nominated and accepted to be

part of a choir performance on a
Saturday afternoon. And it was

very interesting to kind of
watch it was Courtney and I went

both went up. And, you know,
here's the state of affairs of

society in which we live because
it's like, Okay, I hope that I

hope this isn't a trafficking
effort. So we got to the whole

place the hotel and saw
instruments and ballrooms, I'm

like, Okay, this is legit. This
is good. It's not like they're

sourcing children for other
things. So that was, that was a

nice thing. And it was really
cool, because the conductor of

one of the wires is a conductor
and a director at Belmont. Oh,

my goodness. You want to talk
about a moving performance like

brought us to tears? Well, you

had to be very, very proud.
Congratulations. Yeah, no, yeah.

Very nice, buddy. Well, hey, I
know you're excited for many

reasons. But you know, we're
huge fans of this band. This

drummer it's a special day.
Today's guest hailing originally

from Sacramento, California. And
since 1979, the drummer and

founding member of the Grammy
Award winning pop rock band,

Huey Lewis in the news, our
friend Bill Gibson, Bill,

welcome to the show. How are
you, man?

Thanks for having me, guys.

This is great. So you're joining
us from your home studio

somewhere in Marin County there?

That's correct. Yeah. Fantastic,
man. Well, we're

so excited to have this chat.
Because I mean, I'm a fan from

way back. Jim and I are already
Men of a Certain Age. So we grew

up on the MTV it was like music
videos. 24 hours a day. This

will never work. It worked for
quite some time. And you know,

we love the DJs Martha Quinn
Nina Blackwood. She's gargled

with razor blades. J. J.
Jackson, I'm sure you got pretty

chummy with these guys. But we
got to see your videos all day,

once an hour every day for
years. So to be talking to you,

this is a real thrill.

Thank you, man. Yeah, that was
TV was huge for us. Because

obviously, we were like, We were
one of the first bands on MTV.

And like you say, they pumped
us, you know, relentlessly for

few years there and that really
helps out. You know, that was

that was a huge bus boost. For

sure. Yeah. And, you know, at
the time, you know, I was doing

a lot of air drumming and it was
great. What a great person to

model yourself after because you
are an educated drummer, a

trained drummer and foreign
drummer, you got great hands a

great feel. Your tracks are all
just like, perfect. They're

super clean studio friendly, but
it's from the waist down. It

doesn't sound academic.
Everything's perfect. And we're

talking about shuffles like off
camera. We're talking about

shuffles and how Jim is trying
to get his butt into a Huey

Lewis tribute band. He's trying
to dethrone the current drummer

because he's just such a big fan
of you guys. And they're like,

Alright, man, you know the
material but you got to realize

that it's shuffles. We audition
on the shuffles because no one

could play triplets anymore.
Why? There's no Leroy Big Bad

Leroy browns on the radio
anymore. It's all straight

eighth,

so weird. There's no songs on
the radio anymore.

It's like, you know, yeah, it's
one just one chord and a half

with a three note melody that
repeats itself 50 times. And

what the hell can you get out of
that?

I know we're sounding like Get
off my lawn.

He's not Rando rich. I mean, I
know

when you guys were polling, you
guys were pulling from Hitsville

USA Motown Stax, you know the
tree. Everything is in there r&b

Blue Eyed Soul, big band. The
blues rock and roll you know and

we all know Yeah, it's

Can I cut you in on a dirty
little secret? Eric Yeah,

drumroll. I am as untrained as I
could possibly be. I am self

taught. What I would never think
that I do. You I'm a self taught

player. I have recently when
COVID hit into 2020, I started

taking lessons. And I'm still
taking lessons he's getting with

Henry K. Dale Mehta. I don't
know if you know, Henry, he's,

he was the chair of the drum
department at Berkeley for about

12 years. He's a Brazilian guy,
just a phenomenal human being

and a great player. And I'm, he
has reinstalled the passion for

drumming that I had when I first
started. So I'm practicing. Now

I practice probably two to four
hours a day. Wow. And I'm back.

I'm in the studio every day, and
I'm playing a lot. And it's,

it's the best thing that's
happened to me and yours.

Was there a period there where
you were like, Oh, my God, I

gotta play power love again. And
there's just like, a little bit.

You know, I just I've been
playing in the same band for 24

years. I mean, we're, we got to,
we got to play hick town, man,

the kids want the song, right.
So, sometimes there is a period

where you just like, alright,
that's the job is the

excavation.

That's, that's exactly right.
And, you know, that's what they

know you as and so that's what
you have to be for them. Yes.

That's dead. Right. So

what is he so does it are you
working on your hands like age

one of the stick control book
page 38 of the syncopation book

or you're working on your Samba
partido alto all day

long. Now, right now I'm working
on metric modulations with with

weckl threes in the kick drum,
you know, the left left, right,

right, left, right, right, left.
Right, right. And then a one,

it's a shuffle. If you play it
1234 With your left with your

left foot. I don't know if you
could hear that.

No, but it looks great. So it's
on

Dakka Dakka Dakka Dakka Yes. Got
1234 That's a shuffle coutume

town katoon. John cucina, John,
but if it's Dakka Dakka Dakka

Dakka today, no, no.
1212342234323 and then then you

and I'm working on that and
soloing over that and just stuff

that I've I didn't take the time
to learn when I was young. And I

knew that if I never did, I
would regret it. Wow, I just

knew I was going to regret not
taking the time to figure out

the technique and the math
behind it. Because drumming is

all math as we know, it's all
subdivision. So, you know, if I

just told myself, you know, you,
you never studied with it. You

never studied with a teacher,
you never took the time to learn

that. That theory and technique
and all that stuff. And I would

regret it if I didn't, so I'm
doing it.

Amazing. So you're doing and
this particular chapter of your

life yeah, man so so for the non
drummers out there. What bill is

kind of saying is that a shuffle
rhythm would be like done the

Danta and then the one Allah for
Allah triphala triphala trip,

but he's I'm tempted to get to
get Dakka Dakka Dakka Dakka

Dakka Dakka to get it. Reno
grouping cycling over a quarter

note and it takes me see how
long it takes results. Dukka

Dukka Dukka Dukka Dukka Dukka
Dukka Dukka Dukka Dukka Dukka

Dukka Dukka Dukka Dukka gotta
get Dugu together. Dakka Dakka

Dakka Dakka Dakka Dakka Dakka
Dakka Dakka Dakka Dakka if you

add one more 1603 measures
Gotcha. Yeah. Wow. Did the guys

give you a drum solo? Was that
ever a thing? When you guys?

Yeah,

sure. Yeah, you can find a
couple of them on YouTube. I

know that. We were in Germany
once playing that show

Rockpalast in, in Germany, and
they gave me a drum solo on it.

Yeah, I used to take drum solos
on and off. You know, I wasn't

really that comfortable doing
it. So I didn't do it that

often. But I you know, I had my
fun. Yeah, that's

awesome. And you've been a
Yamaha artist for a very long

time. And that was as always,
that's you know, I'm a I've been

with dw and I'll be with DW
probably till the day I die. But

my one of my little secret, you
know, passions like an

instrument that really floats my
boat is a lot of that Yamo the

recording costumes the maple
costumes. That's what I played

before I played you know, wait,
actually I'm staring at a cherry

red weckl mole it's recording
most of the kit from like 1985

or something across the room.
It's not set up. But I got it

and it was just I don't know
it's just the collecting thing

that I like

yeah, no, that was my first kid
from Yamaha was a quartz gray.

Recording custom kit with the
big deep Tom's you know, and now

I'm playing now Is this the new
recording custom kit which is

they made for me which is just
best drum set I've ever owned.

That you know, smaller Tom's
just what a great sound. Great

sounding kit. Yeah, I've been
with him 4040 years this year. I

think

that's great. You You're a loyal
you're a loyal endorser. You're

not flying

oils. I'm a loyal Zildjian
endorser as well. Yeah,

I mean, that's a lot of lineage
there 400 years. Yeah, yeah,

I know what they're doing. They
know what they're doing Ramses

just a couple of presidencies.
So even

even before the presidency has
ever started a

rock Yeah, man. Well,

speaking of that swing field,
that elusive shuffle field.

Yeah. You were saying off
camera. Your dad was a

frustrated jazz musician. So
what happened there? How did how

did the music bugs start for
you? Did he push you into the

deep end of the pool? Or was
just kind of as encouraging? How

did it how did it all happen?

There was music going at my
house 24 hours a day. My, my mom

was the director of the church
choir. We had church choir

practice in our living room. She
would play the piano and the

church would practice. My dad
would come home from work and

immediately put on Art Blakey
and the Jazz Messengers, or

Basie, or Duke Ellington or
Miles Davis. So we always had

and my mom loved Broadway
musicals. So I not only had

church music gone, I had
Broadway musicals. I had big

band jazz, I was really,
technically I would say, have I

heard more big band jazz than
anyone should ever have to

listen to? to, you know, do to
my father? Yeah. And so I was

just raised on jazz and music of
all genres. And I loved it. I

just I ate it up. I wanted to
be. I wanted to be a saxophone

player. Matter of fact, I was
seven, seven, yes, seven years

old. And I was watching Lawrence
Welk one Sunday afternoon. And

he had that five piece sack
section that was just silky

smooth. And I said, That's what
I want to do. I want to play

saxophone. So I went to my
school band, and I said, I want

to play saxophone and the guy.
And the band instructor said,

Okay, great. Here, you take this
instrument home, and he gave me

a clarinet. And he said, it's
the same mouthpiece to take this

home and get used to the
embouchure. So I took that home,

I started playing but now I'm
playing the clarinet I'm going

this isn't the saxophone is does
not sound the same. And also, so

it kind of put me off that but
however, I stuck with clarinet

for three or four years. Then my
father took a job in San

Francisco as an architect at the
Port of San Francisco. And, and

we moved to Mill Valley in 1961,
right before the British

Invasion, and the Beach Boys hit
and everything. And so now I'm

growing up in Marin County, and
it just exploded. It just

absolutely exploded. And I you
know, but I just took it from

there. I was there a very
healthy time. Yeah, I could not

get enough of music of all
kinds.

Were you sitting in front of the
television? And 1964 for the

Doritos ran solver show? Yeah.
Oh, yeah. Yeah, I went to see

the My, my parents took me to
see the Beatles twice. And what,

like most parents would, you're
going to see the Beatles Over my

dead body. They were telling my
friends, you know, no way. 64

rock'n'roll was Abu man. You
couldn't hear it on TV

commercials. You couldn't hear
it? Anywhere except for on the

radio. And, and most parents
were dead set against it. So I

was very lucky that both my
parents were musical. And they

actually liked the Beatles. So I
say, yeah, we'll take you and

your sister to go see the
Beatles. No problem. So I got to

see him twice. That's alright.
Here's a great story for it. I

remember. I remember my dad took
me and a couple of friends to

see the Dave Clark Five at the
Cow Palace in 64. And I was 13.

And they've parks up there. And
you know you I you know, Dave

Clark, the de Klerk five I'm
sure yeah. And he was just very

simple. You know, he just great
look at guy, you know, woman

killer, super handsome. And he
did sit up there and smile and

go, boom, boom, boom, boom, and
my dad hits me in the shower. He

goes, see what that guy's doing?
This, you're gonna do that? He

says, he's a carpenter. He's
just hammering nails up there.

You can't do that. And I And he
gave me all the confidence I

ever needed sort of my mom.

That's amazing. That's great. Do
you What were you gonna say? My

mom was like, it's almost like
the opposite thing. I wanted to

play the drums since I was six
or seven years old. Because of

MTV. I would see these guys
playing and I'm like, Oh my

gosh, you guys were a part of
the trifecta of albums that were

what started my musical love. It
was Van Halen. 1984 Huey Lewis

and the new sports. I had my my,
I think was my ninth birthday. I

got a boombox and the other girl
Hmm, maybe unfortunately, it was

the Ghostbusters soundtrack. I
apologize. But you know, I

couldn't help but I didn't know
what you know, all the things

that played out after that. But
anyway, I said I always wanted

to play the drums on my mom got
me a saxophone.

You know what? That's crazy that
we all have the saxophone in

common because I love the
saxophone man. Read the room. It

really does. It's a great
instrument, but man she's got

she's like, I just don't want
the noise. My mom was from the

Bronx, in as you bad that too
noisy, you know, it'd be like,

you know, okay, but saxophones
any better for crying out loud

with squeaky notes and
everything. And then finally,

when I was like, 12 years old,
they got me this $75 drum set.

And it's, you know, that's all
she wrote. Yeah. Yeah. Great.

Amazing. I'm

self taught as well. Well, you

finally got there, though. Yeah.
Jim. I

finally. Finally.

I mean, I mean, my thing is, Jim
is like, I tell Jim all the time

I'm over. I'm an overeducated
rock drummer, but you, but Jim

just has an amazing feel like he
could sit down, he could turn on

any song and he could pop in
there, and he could stay in

there for three and a half
minutes. He's just decided that

he doesn't, you know, he's not
doing that for a living. So he

takes the pressure off. So when
he goes and sits and plays the

drums, it's just pure joy. He's
nothing. Okay. My record.

My regret for not pursuing a
musical career ended in 2008

when I met a gentleman named
rich Redmond.

And I told you how hard it was.
Yeah,

I was like, you know, I'm good.
I don't, I'm glad kinda glad I

didn't really pursue that

when I was telling him about
the, you know, the, the maxed

out credit cards, and the, you
know, eating ramen noodles and

all that, you know? Yeah.

There is that I did that for a
good 15 years before we ever did

anything. So yeah, well,

what a story though. I mean, you
know, to kind of lay those

foundations that that, you know,
you guys were together. You you

and Huey were together for a
long time before it ever became

a big thing. But you guys were
in clover together as well.

Correct? No, no, no, no, not at
all. Okay,

I was not in clover, Clover. I
was in a band called Soundhole

here in Marin, which Johnny cola
and Mario Shipley and our first

bass player we're in. And we're
kind of the union of two bands,

Sean our keyboard player, Shawn
Hopper, and Huey, we're in

clover. And the three of us were
in Soundhole. And we were all

pals because we all grew up in
Mill Valley. So we just, we quit

everything we were doing. Matter
of fact, that day, we put Huey

Lewis in the news together. And
it wasn't even Huey Lewis in the

news yet it was we I think we
were calling ourselves the

fools. But um, but every one of
us was doing something else.

Shawn was in Montana filming a
movie called Heaven's Gate. He

was part of that movie up there.
He was acting in it. He was in

Montana. I don't mean Heaven's
Gate. Here. We had Clover had

just broken up. He was
delivering natural foods for a

company and Sandra fell. I had
quit a band I was playing in

with Jack Cassidy. From the
Jefferson Airplane. It was a

punk band called svt. I had just
quit that band. Johnny cola was

playing with Sly Stone, he quit
playing with sly Mario was

playing with it's a beautiful
day, doing gigs and is playing

with his brother John Shep.
Polina. And Chris Hayes was a

guy who was playing with his
sister, Bonnie Hayes, who's a

very famous songwriter in her
own right, wrote a bunch of hits

for Bonnie Raitt, and some other
people. And they were playing in

a band together. And we decided
on the same day that we quit

what we were doing, and formed
the group.

Why total commitment to it, the
commitment,

and our manager, the guy who
took us on, as our manager, Bob

Brown, said, I'll give you guys
$100 a week. And that's what he

you know, ahead of his buck. He
was he was Pablo Cruz's manager

at the time, they'd had a few
hits, and he was doing well. And

he had some money. And he said,
I'm gonna give each you guys

$100 a week to, to quit, why to
whatever it is you're doing, and

let's go.

And there's probably a great
feeling. You have to trust that

that gut that intuition, like
hey, this is man and everybody

gets along.

There's a lot of blind faith as
you well know, rich going into

the music business, that you
have to think that you're the

best. And you're the best band
in the world and you're gonna

make it by hook or by crook,
you, you're talented enough, you

know, people are gonna come
around and love you eventually.

It's all blind faith, you know?
So that's what we had in spades.

You know, we had a ton of that.
We were very, very sure that we

were good enough to get by and
we were writing a lot of good

material at the time, and we
just, we just had a sense that

it was going to happen
eventually. And thank you.

The big G in the sky I, you
know, I'm thinking back. You

know, when I got we got our
little motorcycle gang of guys

together. We were some cocky
dudes we were Do we just it's I

think it's a requirement for the
first decade. Absolutely.

Where the fucking band in the
world. Yeah.

And anytime you're with another
bill, you know a man on a bill

you're like, we're gonna give.
We're doing a master class today

guy. I mean meanwhile, we're
like opening at four o'clock in

the afternoon and the headliner
plays at 11pm And we're like,

Master Class guys, these are
going to these guys are going to

be watching from the sides. But
that

show them how it's done. Are you
guys? Snack time?

You need it? Yeah. Do you get Do
you ever look around and pinch

yourself and say I have been
able to mix business and

pleasure at the highest levels.
I have been around the world

with these gentlemen, we all
made our dreams come true.

That's got to be a great feeling
to still be making music with

these guys decades later.

It's it's, I'm grateful for that
every day I wake up, and it's

Yeah, and more so every day I
it's when I think back on the

career. You know, I tell friends
of mine about things that I was

able to do. And people I was
able to hang out with and meet

and and they just look at me and
they just shake their head you

know? It's like that they don't
even sometimes they don't even

believe me. Yeah.

Well, because because they're
probably going back to the water

cooler into the job. Watch what
the thing on Hulu last night

back back to the cubicle. I I
did the cubicle when I moved to

Nashville, I had to make copies.
I was a substitute teacher. I

waited tables, I parked cars. I
was like just stick with this

kid don't stop. You can do it.
It's really special. It's

rarefied air. And you know to be
able to make it at the highest

level. I mean, let's just look
let me just put on my my readers

area sports celebrating 41 years
I believe and it's and it's just

so relevant and

84 So 40 years this year already
came out in late 83. So 41 years

I mean

incredible three number one song
seven certified platinum records

3767 single six Grammy noms one
when 19 Top 10 singles across

the billboard 100 AC and
Mainstream Rock Charts. I mean,

that is a lot of stuff and then
to be associated with you know

that Back to the Future movie. I
mean, that thing just is the

gift that just keeps on giving.

And credit now now they're
actually you're in promo work

for the series ghosts, because
they're playing Do you believe

in love? I saw that just the
other day. Yeah, that's, that's

like, whenever you see that
stuff happened. I'm like, all

those guys were like, hey, like,
go into the mailbox again. Now.

When you attain the age that I
have, that mailbox, money is

very nice. You know, it's funny,
because I sit here in my studio,

I don't have to work, you know,
luckiest guy in the world. I'm a

drummer, I don't have to worry
about anything. You know, what,

how lucky am I

it's like, it's the virtue of
the path less traveled, a lot of

people will take the risk of
going into the music business, I

took the risk of not really a
risk. I went into radio, which

was basically kind of like my
living vicariously through

musicians being in radio, right.
So, but that afforded a lot of

cool experiences as well, or my
wife and I as we came up, it was

just, you know, didn't pay all
that well. And now I'm kind of

playing catch up. But it's one
of those things that you look

back and like, man, we've had a
lot of cool experiences, a lot

of them you know,

ya know, and those are those are
worth more than money.

It really is. What a life you
know, and it's all the stuff

that you guys have done. Not
only that you guys have, you

know, conquered the mountain of
a very difficult business, but

rich and I you know, he and I
whenever we interview different

people, I always ask the
question, what music is being

made now that we're going to be
hearing and 3040 years ago Oh,

man, remember, you know, what
are the Don't Stop Believin is

the power of loves the Heart of
Rock and roll's? Are there songs

like that being made right now?
And my brother? My brother's a

musician. He's been a keyboard
player. He's the one who really

kind of introduced me to you
guys. Aside from like,

especially with four he's a huge
Bruce Hornsby in the range fan.

Yeah. Anything with Pete buddy
of ours, Bruce. Yeah, he's a

he's one of the he's a musical
snob. So anything that had you

know, distorted guitar was off
limits, but anything Van Halen

1984 and on he was a big fan of
anything before that. He was

like, Screw it. I don't want it.
but it's it's it's kind of

funny, but he and I talk about
what's being written now that

we're going to be singing in 40
years, you know, and I sure

couldn't tell you one. Right. I
mean, it's one of those things

that you guys were a big part of
that huge. You know, we just

watched the documentary on We
are the world the other

I have to do it still. Yeah,
dude,

that's got like, you know, Huey
being, you know, completely

like, oh my gosh, I am just in a
room of rooms. Oh, that

was that was. A lot of people
have been asking me about that

lately because of that
documentary, you know? Yeah.

They said, Yeah, we saw we saw
you on the thing. You're over

the smart corner smoking a
cigarette. And I am standing on

it.

Did you sing on it? Yeah. Oh,
that's amazing.

And the thing is, is that here,
you guys are here. I love the

humility of Huey where he you
know, it's like, Dude, you can

you can be cocky. You've you've
done a lot of good, you know,

amazing stuff by 1985. You know,
you put yourself on the map, but

he was still kind of like real
human, you know, humble about

it, which is very admirable.
Yeah.

That he was given Prince's line
because Princeton was a no show.

And some people have been saying
that. Oh, he the only reason he

was there. Huey and the news
were there was because Princeton

shop. Well, that's not true. So
we were invited by Quincy, weeks

before the thing happened,
because he knew we could all

sing. And so you wanted we were
the only full band there. There

was an old E Street Band. There
was no the rest of Germany.

There was no the rest of the
Hall and Oates. There was no

full bands except for Huey Lewis
in the news, we were all there.

Because you guys have those
doowop chops, man. Yeah,

I mean, the vote Quincy knew it.
And he, you know, and

it's, you know, it was Tina
there as well. I can't remember.

Yeah. Here's the thing. We saw
Tina last night, the play a T

pack? Oh, yeah. It's like, gosh,
it was like, what happened in,

you know, the 40s and 50s to
create just a musical wonderment

that, you know, came to maturity
in the 70s and 80s. My goodness,

it's just it was just like, what
was it something in the water? I

mean, it

was Tina Turner there. I thought
she was.

But it's funny. Because Huey
saying after Michael Jackson,

another. Yeah, that's like Yeah,
amazing.

Yeah, no, yeah. Yeah. Yeah,
there's some great stories from

that night that I was. I was
down at Hueys. The week before

last. In San Diego. I went down
for a few days just to go play

golf with him guy and seen him
in a long time. And so when I

went down to hang out now, and
he was just telling me, he just

gone to the premiere on the
previous Monday night in LA. Oh,

for the Broadway play. No, no,
no. For the documentary for the

widow. Oh, that's right. Okay,
you know, and he showed up and

he says, you know, who was
there? Me, Lionel Richie. And

this guy, Alan Klein, I think is
his name. The producer, Jeffrey

Klein, or Alan Klein's. Somebody
claimed? He said Nobody else.

Nobody else was there. This was
really odd. You know? Yeah,

it was a great documentary.

It's now I feel really bad that
I you know, did not have haven't

watched it. Before the Senate
but yeah, it's on my to do list.

I'm so excited about that. Is
that how you guys warmed up

backstage every night? You just
do a vocal warmup? That's

exactly

right. Yeah, we would sing. We
would sing do up stuff we would

sing. You know, we started doing
that stuff in after gigs in our

hotel room, when we'd have a
party in our hotel rooms, you

know, we got invited a bunch of
people back from the gig and

we'd all hang out and till the
wee hours and we'd sing. Yeah,

we'd get in the bathroom or the
you know, wherever we were, we

just start singing. That's how
we got it. Then we sit with you

know what sounds pretty good. We
should throw it in the show. So

we started doing a segment of
our show acapella. Well,

a singing drummer, I tell
everybody, you gotta have some

sort of an angle, some sort of
an additional skill to like,

make yourself set yourself
apart. You know what I mean?

It's like, whether it makes
some, you know, some drummers

and bands now or like, one guy's
like, yeah, you know, I do the

booking or I managed I take care
of the social media and the

website or I do the marketing it
somebody but the singing

drummer, very, very good. I
didn't get those pipes. Like I

can host a show but I can't.
You're not gonna see me was

everybody always pick in? I'm
just not gonna be that guy. But

so I have mad respect and
jealousy for that skill set.

Incredible.

Thanks. That's, you can thank my
mom for that. You know, bless

her heart. She was saying she
sang every day all day, you

know, and taught us all those
cool sang songs, you know?

Yeah. Yeah. It's amazing to me
because I know Zanna

can have a rubber tree plant.
State law. And so we picked it

all up.

Richard mentioned earlier that
there are some tribute bands

that are popping up wonderful.
ticular in the past 10 years,

they do an amazing job. We saw
them at the Franklin theater.

Take all the hard rock and roll
America's number one Huey Lewis

in the news tribute band. And
you know, that's one of the

things like I have a lot of
tribute bands. I'd love to be a

part of when I get into my 50s
and stuff like that. And you

guys are certainly one of them,
because it's just fun music to

play, you know, as you well
know. But as I sit down and I

try to shake off the rust and
start listening to the music,

I'm like, this stuff is actually
really challenging. And one of

the things I had the guys on,
Tony and Roger Langdon from the

from the band, and they're huge
fans of yours. They're actually

really good friends with Sean.
Sean is at the show because He

lives down here in Colombia, I
think now and they are talking

about Sean popper.

Sean was Minneapolis. For some

reason I thought he was in
Colombia. They said he lived

like Mankad. Really? We got
celebrities here.

No. Shouting, they

mentioned. maybe I misheard it.

I think one of the unfreeze
McGee's guys lives down there.

Oh, yeah. Chris Chris myers.
Great. Yeah, great. Yeah.

So basically, they said, I was
talking, I said, you know, one

of the hardest songs to me, is
stuck with you. Because of that

just straight shuffle on the hi
hat. The person you know. Yeah.

And that's actually one of the
things he says that's actually

one of the songs we use to
audition drummers with. I said,

Well, that's a good song. I said
the other one is a couple days

off, which is another shuffle
which I wanted to ask you about

was Alex Van Halen was hot for
teacher and influence on that

song because it's basically

No, not at all. Not at all. No,
no. Although I dug, I never

really listened to that song
very, very closely. I mean, I, I

liked what I liked what he did.
I like what Van Halen did. But

that song? No, that wasn't the
inspiration. It just it just,

it's what the song called for I
thought. And

the creative, beautiful thing is
that you're doing it during the

choruses on your feet. And then
during the verses, you bring it

up with a straight four on the
floor, with a shuffle on the

snare, right? Yeah. And then
you're doing accents and hitting

symbols on off beats and stuff
like that. And I'm sitting there

playing it, you know, and then I
watched a video of you you're

actually shuffling with your
right hand and then doing your

snare hits with your left. I'm
going that's how he's doing it.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah, that's right. That's
just so right rub shuffle on the

snare drum. You know, it's an
old r&b deal, you know, some of

those old r&b tunes?

Well, I I I do have to say that
these guys did want to tell you

something. We were talking about
it i for the first time in rich

Redmond show history. We have a
clip that we're gonna write we

need to do tomorrow. Wow, cool.
And it's from my podcast, the

mostly Middle Tennessee business
podcast cheap FLUDD. Go check us

out at MM tv.com These guys were
on the last episode that's out

all about the Huey Lewis. So it
talks about tribute bands and

stuff like that. So here we go.
We're kind of leading in with

talking about stuck with you.
And then it plays on out. So

here we go. It's stuck with you
stuck with you guys. Easy song

to play? Isn't nope, that's
shuffled.

You got to keep that tempo. One
of our absolute audition songs,

if somebody wants to be a driver
that is people pull that field,

because even He himself said,
that was one of their toughest

songs to get the field because
it's a lot going on during the

show. Yeah. And they played all
the time they wrote it, which

makes you so when you ask Bill,
yeah, when you talk to Bill,

first of all tell him he's a
phenomenal drummer. And we said

so not that it matters. Yeah.
Why did you write it that way,

then? It's so hard to lock it.
But you know what, I love that.

That's what I started to
appreciate about them. So

there you go. Well, you know,
that song was written by Chris

Hayes, our guitar player. And we
had just gotten off the road.

Well, we were on the road
continually then but with Donald

Fagan had just come out with his
album The night flying, and iqi

was the first track right. And
Chris wanted to Chris just fell

in love with that song. You
know, and he wanted to write a

tune without feel. So he did and
that was stuck with you. So that

you know that's it. That's IG y
basically. IG Y Yes,

the knife fly that is classic.
Oh, and the drum sounds on that

record. So crisp, so clean, so
perfect. Like your typical

Steely Dan. It's like a science
project. You know, we're every

front of house engineer the
world's tunes their pa using a

Steely Dan record, you know?
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Wow.

Exactly.

Well, speaking of drum sounds
and the the these this amazing

body of work, that you guys have
a producer that you carried

through Like or was it different
on every record.

Our first album was produced by
Bill Shinae. The our debut

album, everything after that was
produced by Huey Lewis in the

news, you guys self produced,
self produced all the way up

until four chords and several
years ago, which was produced by

Stuart Levine. And who had done
the Crusaders and a bunch of

people, he stored some brilliant
guy, he produced that record,

but then we went back to produce
our we produce every album

except to, that's

pretty incredible, and speaks to
the, you know, the ecosystem of

your band and the team spirit,
because usually our producer is

needed to intervene and to have
the ability to veto and help get

everybody out of their heads and
get a 50,000 foot view. So

that's pretty darn impressive.

We we were, we were very
democratic about it all, you

know, and, and it would take a
quorum, you know, a majority to

vote down somebody's idea. And
if you you had a few feel

strongly cards you could play,
you know, no, I'm sorry, I am

going to have to, I'm going to
play that Phil right there. I

feel very strongly about it. And
I'm just going to play it. And

that's the way it's going to be.
Yeah, and you could do that once

or twice a record. And you
couldn't, you couldn't abuse

that, that card. So you'd like

the hills that were that made it
that were kind of fought over.

She know that comes to mind.

Nothing comes to mind. No, but I
know. I know what happened

several times. And you know, and
just arrangement ideas and stuff

like that. And, you know, we
arranged all this stuff

ourselves. And everybody had a
say, you know, everybody,

everybody at a if you had an
idea, constructive idea, you

free to offer it, you know, and
that's just how we work.

Yes. Now, the horn section. You
guys don't always carry a horn

section. How does that work?
They were not

our power. We since tower power.
We have had a horn section. Wow.

Yeah. And that was 8584. Yeah.
84 They started touring with us.

They were with us from 84
through 89. And so then that was

the thrill of a lifetime. Yeah.
Kicking those guys was what a

what a what a thrill for a dry.

Are you kidding me? And, and
with your big band training, you

knew just the right things to
grab and just the right things

to ignore. Right? Because you
can't hit everything. Otherwise,

the dancers get really angry.

No less is more you know, and
when, when I see these guys, the

right hit at the right time as
any drummer like you guys know,

the right hit at the right time
is so more of much more

effective than some guy just
symbols all the time. You know,

I got I have another story for
you. I want to see John Legend

once. And I don't know who his
drummer is. I don't want to dog

him. But, but he ruined the show
for me. Wow. You know, John's up

there playing piano and singing
the songs. But this guy didn't

play a straight beat for more
than four bars. Everything had

to fill everything had a crash.
I mean, it was just it was

obnoxious, man. I think that's
that new

style. That is it's it's it's
expected in modern hip hop r&b

shows to have a drummer that can
do the thing

by linear fills forever. And
yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think you're

right.

I wouldn't be the right guy for
it. I know that for a fact. No,

Neither would I.

But, you know, that's just not.
That's not musical to me. Are

you when you're when you're
playing the drums? You're

playing a musical instrument.
It's not just a noisemaker you

know, you have to play
musically. Yes. And that's not

music to me. That's just
masturbation on the drums. Yeah,

musical masturbation. Get off my
lawn.

Was there was there anybody in

the Senate does it sounds like
you want to get off my lawn?

Absolutely. 1,000,000% you want
to know what I own it big time

and it's true. It's just

you know, I mean, you know, it's
a there's an element of dumbing

down music these days. It's
happening I'll say it. But

there's a even like in the 80s
as you guys were really you

know, hitting your peak and
everything and everything. You

had all the all the hits that
were coming out. Were there any

content other contemporaries of
yours that you really truly

admired from afar? Like an Alex
Van Halen, maybe a Tommy Lee or

Tico Torres or someone like
that? Yeah, Jeff.

Jeff Porcaro, who ended up being
a good buddy of mine you know,

what guys said? I really liked
and admired where guys like

Billy Cobham Dennis changers
Yeah. Dave Weckl you know

Vinnie, guys like that those
were the guys who I thought were

the trendsetters, you know,
right. Yes. No, not that I could

ever play like any of them. But
you know, they were just so

tasteful when they played the
song. And then when it came to

their turn to show to showcase,
they were just freaking amazing.

Well, you know, they were on
human stuff as far as I could

tell, you know, yeah, but when
it came to playing the song,

they could settle back in and
play it just beautifully. So

that's what I had here. Yeah,
that's

did you guys record back in the
day back in the day recording

tape. Did you guys record to
click tracks it was that a thing

that was seeping into the music
business in 1983? Or no? Yeah,

yeah, yes. We but it wasn't a
click track. I remember playing

walking on a thin line, right,
that song. I'm planning to have

a synth arpeggiate arpeggiated
synth. So Sean's holding a note

and it's going, gang, gang,
gang, gang, gang, gang, gang,

gang, gang, gang, gang, gang,
gang, gang, gang, gang, gang,

gang, gang gang, and he just
held the note, bang, gang, gang,

gang, gang, gang, gang, gang,
gang, gang gang, you know is and

he kept it going through and
that's what I played to. That's

where I got my click track from
that's with hard rock and roll.

Yeah. Oh, wait a minute. No, no,
no click track and hard rock and

roll. Only thinline. And there
was no click track on any other

song on that record. And

then what did you guys use for
the heartbeat? Was it like a

sample of a heart or something
or what was that

was? That's a Linndrum. That's
me on the kick drum of Linndrum.

Well, you go Goo, goo, goo goo.
And we overdub good, uh, we

overdub that a couple of times
and doubled it up and detuned at

once and you know, detuned it
again, no, doubt the sound and

yeah, I love the lens.

It had the gym, the Linndrum
had, it reminded me of like a,

like a car from the 70s had the
wood paneling, like a station

wagon, you know. And then I
ended up getting to meet Roger

Linn because in the early
aughts, he had a box a stomp box

called de adrenaline and all
guitar players would get these

MIDI cables and would and it
would lock to like my drum

machine and then he could my
guitar player 50 feet away on a

50 foot MIDI cable could stomp
on the box and it would slice

and dice. That that that that
that that that that that that

you know, to the Alesis box
right Sure. Pretty crazy and now

all the crazy kids just do it
with like modeling and Pro Tools

laptops, you know laptops? Yeah,
yeah. So for a record, like you

know, 2000 20s Plan B or the
Soulsville 2010 Did you guys do

clicks to make editing easy and
stuff? No counting off let's go

bring Soulsville

was Stone Cold live soul. We
were at Arden and Nash in

Memphis, Memphis. Nice. Yeah,
and the band was in the big

room. And the horn section was
in another studio with a camera

on me so they could see me play
so they could play in time. And

there was zero click on that
whole thing. That's all live

very few overdubs.

Man your time and feel are from
another lot time man. It's like

it's it's impeccable, impeccable
and all your choices. You know,

all the fills are. I call them
you know, soccer, their soccer

mom fills because they can play
him on the dashboard. They're

very memorable. They're hooky,
zap boom Bop, but I suppose back

a dude that is going up. I mean,
straight from the Motown

playbook. And the reason they
work is because they work. Yeah.

You know what I

mean? But you have a work van
and what why wouldn't they work

now?

I mean, he's good at boom. I've
probably played does get up Boom

1000s of times. And there'll be
1000s more. It just works.

They're

called Money beats, beats and
money fill money fills.

I know.

Just until we just until
recently I was playing I played

that fill all wrong. And I
finally figured out how to play

it. It's just a it's a six
stroke roll to six stroke roll

but it's an it's it's you know,
does get at goon back but not my

mom. Yeah.

What were you doing like a like
a five stroke road dad's

doing like a buzzer almost with
my belly. You know, not even in

fact I am, but

the thing is, maybe you're
saying you're not trained but

yet there's some, you know,
there's a song where it's like,

see what song is it is. If this
isn't really like, gotta do bah,

bah. You know, I mean, great.
Was roll, man.

It's a buzzer Oh, it's a double
stroke buzz roll. Yeah. Even if

you're untrained, you can figure
that out and do play it. You

know, I knew what that was.
That's killer.

I just love the fact that the
drums are always so big on those

songs. Yeah, really? In front.
Yeah,

I never had to. I never had to
bitch at the mix engineer to get

the drums up ever wants. Matter
of fact, there was many times

I'd say, Can you pull that snare
drum down a little bit? You

know, and that's not drummers
don't usually know. So yeah, you

know, and that's for album
which, you know, stuck with you

and hip to be square and all
that stuff is on Jacob's Ladder.

We call Jacob's Ladder. We call
that the snare that a Cleveland

because it really is. It's
freaking massive man. noxious ly

loud. And we want actually would
like to go back and remix that

album. Really. And pull the
drums down. Louder Than the lead

vocal. It's horrible.

It sounds like a gunshot. It's
got a case by by Lars and the

Metallica Black Album because
his drama on there sounded like

a shot like a 12 gauge going
off. Yeah. Oh,

somebody hits man harder rock
and roll one of the drug if this

is a power, love, do you believe
in love hearts. So hit the

square back in tiny.

I want to end even the deep
cuts. The B sides are great

songs. Yeah, it's like, I
listened to night to sports. You

know, eight, nine years old, got
the boombox that was in my

bedroom was nice. I'm painting
the picture. Because I remember

the memory being cemented in my
mind like a bookmark, laying in

bed listening to these I listen
to that, that cassette, front to

back. Nine, nine years old. You
know what I mean? And it's like,

I'm impressed. Looking back on
something like that hearing that

for me? How does that feel?
You've impacted, you know,

influence so many people, myself
included my brother, you know,

what does that what does that
say to you? How do you? What's

your commentary on that?

Well, you know, it just adds to
my gratitude. Really? You know,

I've had so many people write
letters to me personally, and to

the whole band, but to me
personally sing the song you

wrote on that album? You know, I
wrote some of these tunes,

right? So the song you wrote
forest for the trees on the

picture, this album, got me
through chemotherapy. And I have

and I have that I have you to
thank for me beating cancer.

Wow, God, I've had, I've had
several of those types of stuff.

You got me through this period
of my life, you know, and it's

just, it's what it's, it's, it
would be easy to kind of not to

discount it. But just to kind of
brush it off and say, Yeah,

that's cool and everything. But
that, wow, you made a difference

in someone's life. And that's
really what we're trying to do.

Right. Right. As human people,
we're trying to move people,

we're trying to make a
difference in their life for the

better.

And so I think the guys who are
in the tribute band that I

played before, their modus
operandi is, of course, do the

best tribute to you guys. You
know, and they do an amazing

job. If you ever get an
opportunity to see them. I

strongly suggest it. Yeah,
they'd love to meet you. But

their modus operandi is to
reintroduce the music to the

vernacular of society. And I'm
like, Yeah, it really is. It's a

music that's kind of like, you
know, I'll ask people in

business networking groups, and
tell them about me, you know,

kind of sneaking my way into
this band. And they go, who, and

then like, they're in their 20s.
I said Huey Lewis in the news,

and they're like, Yeah, I've
never heard of him. I go, but

have you heard of the song? And
they go, Oh, I know that song.

You know what I mean? Yeah,

well, yeah, I say that a lot.
People you know, they, you know,

when you go to like a doctor
appointment, maybe. And they'd

girl checking in is asking you a
bunch of questions. And she's in

her 20s and says, What do you
do, sir? I'm a musician. And

then when you as soon as you say
I'm a musician that piques

people's curiosity. Oh, do you?
Do you play in a band? Yeah.

What kind of music do you play?
Why it's kind of rock and roll

r&b. You know, it's odd. Do you
play at the band? Yeah. Now

comes to the 100 questions. And
you know, and it says, What do

is do you play? Is it anybody I
would have heard of? I said,

Well, I don't know if you've
ever heard or you listen to

news. And a lot of people
nowadays, like you just said. No

idea. Yeah, no. You know, but
and then I say, Have you ever

seen the movie Back to the
Future? Oh, yeah. Well, that's

our music in it. Power, love.
Oh, I know that song. Yeah, so

that's that's where the door
opens. Remember

what remember the guy who told
Marty he was being too loud?

Yeah,

yeah, that's my guy.

Also, there's, you know, there's
someone getting chopped up in

the movie American Psycho to
your music. Well, yeah, the song

I wrote. That's amazing. See,
now this is why you don't have

to work Bell. That's why you're
just sitting around on a

Thursday in the middle of the
afternoon judging, just

need like a TV show like Glee to
reintroduce it to society like

they did for Don't Stop Believin

Well, what's happening now
funny, you mentioned that we

have a play opening on Broadway,
right? On April 19, called the

hard rock and roll. And it's,
it's, it's a fictional story of

a couple in love. And he's
trying to figure out whether

he's going to leave his day gig
and you know, and or he's going

to stick with the band, or he's
going to leave and do his day

job so he can marry the girl.
And, and it's our songs, tie the

story together, right? So I'm
hoping that a lot of people are

going to be reintroduced our
music to this, you know, yeah,

it's

a work for Mamma Mia. Right?
Exactly. Yeah, it really did. I

mean it put ABA back on the map.
Yeah, so because for you because

you guys deserve it. I mean, you
need to be reintroduced.

That's kind of us thanks. It's
from

the bottom of my heart because
you're a huge part of my you

know, musical landscape growing

it to me to get your right there
on the MTV what the police send

the Van Halen EMT

getting to the MTV videos, I
mean, you know, every time a

Huey Lewis and the News video
came on, it was almost like

seeing what we know nowadays is
viral content, you know, what do

they do now? Because it was
always a funny video very off

the cuff out of left field.
Yeah, you guys cut up and have

fun. And it's funny, the live
videos when I was you know,

impressionable, eight, 910 year
old kid. I'm like, it looks like

these guys just got out of their
day jobs. And now they're

playing a gig. Right? They look
relatable. They you just talk to

them. They don't even look like
rocks like traditional rock

stars. And that was not at all I
just got my job being an

accountant for the day now. I'm
playing the drums. Yeah, matter

of fact, I've

been. I've been I was asked once
at backstage at a gig.

Seriously, backstage is getting
some guy asked me if I was the

band's accountant. Ah, can you
do my taxes? I said no,

honestly, asshole up there, make
a noise.

Count yourself lucky that you
don't have to, you know, cut

your hair like this. And this is
an overpriced hair cut, man, I

just got it done today. It was
like how much and I gotta face

every three weeks, you

got you guys and rush basically
just lowered is going to do our

thing. You know, we're gonna
buck the trends, we're not going

to try and do a gimmicky thing,
you know, rushed, and they they

stuck to their guns for 40
years, built a huge following.

And now you know, Geddy Lee is
just like, I'm just, I'm just

getting man anatomy. And you
know, Alex is Alex Neil was

Neil. And that people admired
him for it. I think the same

kind of effect plays in this
too. Yeah, you know,

we, that was our, our, you know,
kind of Mo was keep our tongue

firmly implanted in our cheek
when we did all these videos,

you know, make them funny. And
you know, we were not going to

be a political we're going to be
in a political band. You know,

even though we all have our
opinions, we were not going to

be you to you know, we were just
not going to do that. We were

going to be a light hearted.
Take your mind off your

bullshit. When you go see us
have a good time band. That's

what we're going to be. And as
we and we succeeded. That's what

he did. Yeah. You know, I read
something the other day, it said

that the average person and
their lifetime affects 80,000

people, whether in a good way or
a bad way. So thinking about

someone, Jim, think about like a
like Bill, Bill Gibson. I mean,

you did all the music around the
world several times, millions

and millions of people you've
affected in a positive way. And

that's my mantra. That's my
purpose in life. My purpose in

life is to affect people in a
positive way and change lives. I

wrote it down. Soon as I wrote
it down, it came out of the

ether. It got real, it got more
real and I started manifesting

more things in my life that
aligned with that purpose

statement. But just that just
think about that. I mean, that

is incredible. It's football
stadiums full of people that

you've affected.

Yeah, that's right. Really.
Right. And, and all really not

knowing we were doing it. Yeah.
Until until it started coming

back to us.

Yeah. Now speaking of that,
touring, you know, I've done

most I've been to like, I think
20 countries, a lot of in and

out, you know, let's fly to
Australia. We're gonna play two

shows and then be all jet lagged
and then have to come back home.

But You probably visited
majority of the continent

several times. Back in the day,
did you enjoy the international

touring or were there some
split? Like I got a sense of his

stomach. So like, if I spend
time in like South America or

India, it's not going to be the
greatest time for me because

I've got a really sensitive
stomach. But tell me about your

international.

I loved every second of it. We
we we spent a lot of time in

Europe. We months on end we'd
spent in Europe. And I loved

every second of it. I ate it up,
man. I don't have a sensitive

stomach. I am a foodie. I love
all the different foods. You

know, I I would love going to
Japan. I just absolutely love

it. Oh, yeah. And South America
was great. And you know, it's a

little more third world than I
was expecting, but I should have

known better but but it was
beautiful. And you know, the

people were great. And I loved
every minute of it. I don't I

don't I can't tell you a real
bad experience overseas. I don't

think

amazing. That is awesome. No,
I've got I like all the food

too. I am a foodie. I just don't
know how it's gonna affect me.

But

you know, Imodium, baby. Yeah,
though. I

keep the Imodium lab in
business.

Unfortunately, I don't have any
of those issues. That's great.

Anything and I do.

Why fortunately. Because you're
you aren't see you are subjected

to a whole new you know,
culinary deal. Oh, when you when

you travel, you know? Yeah. I
can remember being in Finland

once we were in Helsinki, and
the and the Finnish record

company took us out to dinner.
And first they took us to a spa,

where we did the saunas and the
you know, the cold plunge and

all this stuff. It was
fantastic. We loved it. And now

they take us to a restaurant.
And they they're serving all

this food and we you know, kind
of have to ask them what we're

eating and you know, and they
saw Yeah, now that's reindeer.

Okay, great. That's reindeer
we're eating? And then they see,

then they serve some steaks, you
know, go oh, this is delicious.

Steaks. Well, you know, is this
This is beef, right? No, no,

that's bare. You know? And so we
were eating bear steaks. And so

I mean, you're just getting
stuff you'd never find here, you

know, and, but it was delicious.
I loved it all. Thomas

Lang told me a story one time
because he goes to China all the

time. He's almost like Thomas
Lang is almost like Tom Cruise

and China. He's so there.
There's like giant billboards

for the guy because they love
drummers. And China's he,

they'll go over there and he's
like, he was the same thing.

People all of his people that
hired him took him out to this

beautiful fancy dinner and
however many star restaurant and

he was just devouring this dish.
He was in a nice brown gravy.

And he devoured in the and they
said he loves the chicken

eyeballs, get him some more
chicken eyeballs. He didn't know

what he was eating. He just was
devouring these chicken. And

he's like, well, well, I love
him, I guess

is the scene from funny farm
with Chevy Chase where he's

eating the goat testicles? Yeah,
sheep testicles and happened to

us in

Japan. We were in the record
company over there. Took us to

what they told us was the best
Chinese restaurant in Japan. And

then Tokyo was the top of a
skyscraper was like 70 storeys

up, you know, overlooking Tokyo.
And, and we are eating this

stuff that says clear. Looks
like noodles, clear noodles. And

we're thinking oh, this is some
kind of noodles. You know, and,

and our sound guide. Jimmy says,
Hey, what is it? What kind of

noodles is this in and they guys
Oh, see Jerry as I see Jerry.

See Jerry once I see. Oh, see
jelly. Oh, it's jelly fish. Oh,

okay. We're jelly fish. So now
we're eating jelly fish. And now

there's the 1000 year old egg
they pull out, which is a quail

egg that they bury for a while.
I don't know, they they actually

bury in the ground. And it turns
about 12 different colors. Very

pretty. But it's you know, it's
discolored egg. The aerated

quail egg. Yeah, and that's all
and then shark fin soup, which

is shark fin in a soup. It's
just stuff you would never ever

eat anywhere else. But
interesting. For sure. It's

like the guy who first tried an
oyster. You know? Who in the

world in their right mind said
you know

what? I'm going to crack this
thing open and eat it. And yeah,

hey, what's inside of that? It

looks like the stuff that comes
out of my nose when I sneeze but

why not? Let's try Yeah,

it looks tasty. It also there's
a little fine print at the

bottom of all those menus that
say, enter your own risk may

cause extreme illness and
hospitalization or death. Okay,

that's a parmesan on their.

Back to the music last night. It
reminded me of story when we

watched the Tina Broadway show
reminded me of a an her

documentary they put out about
two years ago or so they talked

about her first big breakout
song when she was reinventing

herself was what's good love got
to do with it. And she was

reticent to record it. She
didn't want to do it. But she I

guess she heard the demos. And I
think, who I think it was Olivia

Newton John, that was on par to
sing it. But you know, they

wanted a team to do it. And Tina
was like, well, it just doesn't

fit my voice. It's not powerful
enough. And then she ended up

doing it. And it became a big
hurt the best thing that ever

happened to her right. Was there
any of the songs that we know

today that you guys are like,
not sure if I really want to do

it, then all of a sudden it
became huge.

Yeah, heart and soul. Really one
that comes to mind that was

written by Mike Chapman and
Nicky chin. And it was had

already been released as a
single by the Busboys and exile,

the band exile, who was Mike
Chapman's band had had it on one

of their albums. And they, they,
they pitched it to us, they said

this song be perfect for you
guys. And so we worked it up,

and we're gone. And I don't
know, I don't know. And you

know, we heard the bus boys
version. And we thought, Well,

we think ours is better. And we
heard I loved exiles version. I

don't know if you've ever heard
exiles, but it was really, and

we pinched some of their ideas
for it. And actually, by the

time we got around to recording
it for sports, we have made it

our own and, and it came in it
just came out great. You know,

there was some some songs we
recorded that we had vision of

it being a lot better than it
actually turned out after you

were done recording it. And, and
and never made up never made it

onto an album, we thought, well,
this for sure is going to be a

great song, but we just couldn't
get it right in studio. And then

conversely, there was songs that
we didn't think were great when

we were working them up in
rehearsal. And we go in and

record it. And it just
everything came together. And it

was great. Yeah. Interesting,

you know, because our, Jason's
manager started off in the

business as exiles. road
manager, I think he was like,

say sell T shirts. And then he
became the stage manager and

then became a road manager. And
then now he's a manager, a

manager, one of the most
powerful music managers. So

doesn't matter what you're
always working your way up.

Yeah, on the ground up one

day, also don't ever forget. You
see the same people on the way

down that you saw on the way up?
Sure. Yeah. So be kind to

everyone.

Why I see that I've ever been
been a problem with you because

you are just, you're a smiley
guy. Yeah,

I'm basically a happy man. And,
and, yeah,

yeah. Awesome. Was there ever a
missed opportunity for a

potential duet with Huey and
somebody else like, again? I

could imagine that if he and
Tina ever, you know, did a duet

together. It would be an amazing
thing. Now. Yeah, that would be

great.

Well, we did we did a duet with
Winona. Mom on one of our

unplanned b There's a duet with
her. She sings with Huey. I'm

not in love yet. Working on it.

That's very cool. Well, Jim,
member we had Huey we we had

Huey on episode 107. Our friend
our mutual friend Chris Cohen

was nice. Just connect. And he
and he said he will probably

give you 30 minutes and we just
all hit it off. He gave us an

hour. We had a great time. But
we you know, we were talking

about you know his hearing
issues. I I'm assuming that

there's no no touring.

No, got he cannot steal any full
frequency sounds just turns into

distortion for him. And
especially the low end if you

know and if the if music, he
can't hear your music. And

that's the thing that makes me
so sad about it. He cannot put

on a record and listen to it. He
can't like one of his favorite

albums and mine as well that
both our fathers turned us on to

when we were quite young. His
dad by the way was a frustrated

jazz drummer as well. His dad
and my dad are very similar

guys. And and I think that's
part of the reason why he and I

hit it off initially you know as
as kids, but was World shoot.

Where was I going with that?

Oh, something about a record
that you and Huey both love. Oh

yeah. Frank

Sinatra and Count Basie
orchestra live at the sands, are

you Yeah, and Quincy with a
young Quincy. Jones arrange you

know, it was it was Rufus speedy
Jones I believe I gotcha. If or

Sonny Payne It was either sunny
or Rufus. So and I don't know if

you guys guys have ever heard
that album. It's called Live at

the sands it was recorded in 58,
I think. And it is one of the

best live albums you've ever
heard in your life. And it's one

of his favorites and of mine as
well. And he can't put that

album on listen to it, because
it sounds like he says, It

sounds like a jet engine to him.
So by virtue of that he can't

make out pitch. So he just can't
sing. We've tried.

These are bone conduction
headphones, does he try those?

He's tried to do the same thing.

Everything really is he's tried.
He's been to every ear hearing

clinic in the United States and
some overseas. And he's he's

tried everything. There's the
doctors just go off all the

doctors to go we don't know if
this is something we just don't

know, that side 14.

I didn't really know the persona
of Huey until we interviewed

him. And he's such a he's a
sweet guy, very human, very

humble. They'll try us sensed a
lot of humility from him. And it

was actually kind of piled on he
did an amendment or an addendum,

I guess to the back behind the
music that he did 20 some odd

years ago, they rereleased it
with him watching, you know, the

footage from the earlier version
of it. And he addressed them in

the years disease and his how he
felt when they had you guys had

to stop touring. And I had to
appreciate the fact that he was

more concerned about putting
everyone out of work than his

own. Yeah, you know, well being.
Yeah,

that's, well, I was I was more
concerned about him, obviously.

But because he had a he had a
dark time there for about a

year. That came down and and it
was I had to do a lot of kinda,

you know, boosting him up, you
know, to just make sure you just

didn't completely crash. But he
was he was up at his place in

Montana. And he, you know, he
was just, there was nobody else

there. And he couldn't hear and
you know, like, like, like you

said he was worried about our
entire crew and ban and

everything was just, you know,
was 35 people that were, you

know, out of work. And he was
more worried about that than

himself so that you're right.
That tells you a lot about the

guy. Sure. Well, yeah, man.

That brotherhood of a band comes
together, though. That's good to

have. I don't know. But you guys
were there to help them out and

support them? Yeah. Yeah, man.

Very, very fortunate. Well,
Bill, we just what a pleasure. I

want to just give a shout out to
my dad, because my dad, same

way. We love the big bands. And
he loves Gene Krupa. And he was

just always so like, you can do
that son, you know, and it was

so encouraging. I think that he
secretly wanted to do it, and

he's like, let's get you
lessons, you can go do what I

didn't get to do because he
became an a cat, he became an

accountant.

So you had that same
encouragement from your parents

that I did maths. And that and
that when you're young is enough

to get you to to get that blind
faith in you. Yes. You know, to

go, I can do this.

And I'm gonna saying I can just
blame my parents that because

they always told us that you
gotta have sent a lot. You gotta

have something to fall back on.
Jimmy. You can't you that your

music. You got to be in the
right place at the right time

and have my father would always
say, Yeah, gotta have a gimmick.

But here you go into the phone
business and go to college and

told my brother and I that and
my brother to this day, he's in

his 50s he's 50 though is a
little bit younger, I think.

Yeah. 53 and he he's like I
always still hear dad in the

back of my head going you need
something to fall back on. I'm

like, but on his deathbed, he
told you he regretted telling

you that now he knows you would
have made something and it's

like Damn it, just do it. Now
you got the resources you got a

legal law degree come down to
Nashville and combine the

superpowers and you know, do it
man Jim, I hope your brother

listens to the show, man because
you're always and I've told him

I'm blue in the damn face. I'm
the black sheep in the family.

I'm the one who you know took
the path less traveled and did

the radio thing and it's paid
off you know? So yeah,

man creative pursuits creative
pursuits. Well, Bill we love

you. This was so special for for
us to spend this time together.

We usually end the show with the
Fave Five. I'm going to ask you

your favorite things favorite
color? Blue. All right, you get

the blue shirt on there Blue
Pearl, snap love it. Favorite

food or dish that's All right Ah
he's a foodie drumroll

that the yeah that's that's a
tough one for me man i like it

all

marine county let a good sushi
man a

lot of good sushi a lot of good
everything San Francisco off

incredible after living in
California be in California boy

oh boy all these years would you
ever entertain living anywhere

else?

No

Jim knows how much I love
California it is like I tell you

what. Favorite trip in New York?

No favorite drink at all when I
was drinking and it was a Myers

and OJ I haven't. I don't drink
so but you know it was Myers and

OJ. And that was my favorite.

What's What was my dinner a

vodka with Michael Myers is Rob
It's a dark rum. Oh my god.

So in the in the early days of
touring your little drink next

to you was rum and orange juice.
It

was the band drink. I never
drank when I played. Nice.

Never. But it was the band
drink. Yep. When

did you give up the hooch? Oh
I'll see. That's good. Can't

remember. Can't remember.

That's a long time.

I love it. I'm favorite. This is
hard. Jim doesn't like this

question. Because it is so hard.
But it's a song. It What is your

favorite song? This thing comes
on the radio no matter what

where you are. You're going to
crank this thing up. Now that's

hard, isn't it?

Yeah, tough one because it's so
subjective and seasonal.

Favorite song? Oh my god. That's
like saying what's your favorite

painting? You know? Yeah. The
screen.

Well, what's your favorite song
at the moment?

It favorite song of the moment
probably is a song that my

daughter is doing called
stargazing. Nice. I'm working on

it today. And you're producing
your daughter's. It's killing

me. Well, I'm helping her I'm
not really producing her. But

I'm putting some keyboard tracks
on a song that I wrote for her

so

incredible. And then what about
your favorite movie favorite

film? Ah, probably. Wow,

that's another one that's got a
failure. Yeah, we

get a lot of Shawshank
Redemption. You know what? Pulp

Fiction Jaws Back to the Future?

Yeah, that was No, I would say
something like, it's a mad mad

mad mad world.

Nice.

Black and white. Nose color. Oh,
yeah. Okay. It's pretty funny

movie.

Nice.

I like comedies.

Do you binge all the Netflix
comedians, like there's any

specials? I've seen them all.
Like, I'll turn it on and say,

maybe somebody's got a new
special. And my current favorite

comedian is Jim Gaffigan. He's
clean and prolific. Yeah, he's

great. And you can rewatch his
stuff and get the same laughs

Yeah, yeah. No, that's a real
talent to have a tight, nonstop

laughing poignant hour of
material. Every few years

a new the new Curb Your
Enthusiasm is has just dropped.

And it's my gallon. I watched
the latest episode last night

and it's great. I love all the
curves. Oh, guys,

every day. I love the fact that
it was I it's I'm proud. It's an

improvisational in the sense
that it's looking at, we gotta

get from point A to point B but
how we get there. I don't care.

And that is amazing. Because I
took a year in my life. I

studied improv comedy in Los
Angeles. And it was frightening.

I just wanted to in my midlife,
I wanted to get away from the

drums bill and just try
something different. That was

creative. And kudos to any
improvisational actor that can

get something from point A to
point B and make it look

effortless. Wow. It's intense.
So do you like to be found on

the worldwide web? Did you have
a website? Or?

I don't personally the band does
and I can be I can be contacted

through the band's website.
Okay. Huey Lewis in the

news.com. And there's a there's
a if you want to ask anything

Bill's available to answer.

I love that. Well, Bill, thank
you so much. This was a long

overdue conversation. I hadn't
seen you in like eight years.

I know. You know, I was gonna
say I really enjoyed meeting you

that night in Nashville and, and
I would hope and we'd had a

chance to talk longer, but it
was just a short, quick deal and

but I enjoyed media and I've
been a fan to you guys. And

thanks. Yeah. Great

to talk with you guys. Both,
man. Thanks so much for being

here. And you know, hey, I
realized the hard way I got your

cell phone number I can send you
a weird means

you can send me anything you
want at any time.

I love it. I mean, thanks so
much. I

don't have his cell phone
number.

I got yours as well. So watch
what you send. Yeah, yes.

Send me the weird stuff. Jim,
thank you as always, buddy and I

know this was a special time for
you because it's such a fan.

Absolutely. Thank

you for having me. Hey

Keller, to all the listeners out
there. Thank you so much for

your support. Be sure to
subscribe, share rate and

review. It helps people find the
show. And until then, see you

next time. Thanks, Bill.

Thank you guys.

This has been the rich Redmond
show. Subscribe rate and follow

along at rich redman.com forward
slash podcasts.

Defining a Sound for Gen X while backing Huey Lewis w/Bill Gibson - Ep 177 The Rich Redmond Show
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