Matt Connarton Unleashed: Plague Dad

0:00 Speaker 1: But right now, and this is the gentleman who is

0:03 Speaker 1: responsible for that song Cops on Acid. Plague Dad is here.

0:07 Speaker 1: Let me get that mic up there. Frank Gallagher, better

0:10 Speaker 1: known as Plague Dad. Hello, sir, how are you doing?

0:12 Speaker 1: Thanks so much for having me. Yeah, we're very happy

0:14 Speaker 1: to have you here. We're going to play some of

0:16 Speaker 1: your other tunes today as well. But I do have

0:19 Speaker 1: to ask you right off the top, is that song

0:22 Speaker 1: Cops on Acid? Is that based on an actual experience?

0:24 Speaker 1: Did you encounter a member of law enforcement who was

0:28 Speaker 1: on acid? Well?

0:29 Speaker 2: No, not so much that that was more the speculative part.

0:33 Speaker 2: It is actually based on an incident though a former life.

0:39 Speaker 2: I used to be a bike messenger back in San Francisco, Okay,

0:41 Speaker 2: So I rode around the city delivering things, picking up

0:44 Speaker 2: things and dropping them off for money. So one day

0:48 Speaker 2: I had picked up a filing that needed to make

0:50 Speaker 2: it to city Hall by it for thirty a deadline,

0:53 Speaker 2: you know, and need to get there quick quick. It

0:55 Speaker 2: was on my way. I was riding up Marcus Street

0:58 Speaker 2: as quickly as I could, and I ran into a

1:00 Speaker 2: police officer who was the doors of his cruiser were

1:03 Speaker 2: wide open and he was directing traffic, but blaring out

1:07 Speaker 2: of the He was listening to the dead out of

1:09 Speaker 2: the out of his cruiser while he was directing traffic,

1:12 Speaker 2: and I was like, okay, that's just interesting that you

1:15 Speaker 2: don't see that every day, and it stuck with me,

1:19 Speaker 2: And then later that night wrote that song.

1:22 Speaker 1: Oh okay, I know, I thought, maybe, so what about

1:25 Speaker 1: the shooting of the dog, because that that does happen.

1:28 Speaker 2: As you know it does. That was something that was

1:31 Speaker 2: literally torn from the headlines, so to speak. So that was,

1:34 Speaker 2: you know, I mean, with with songwriting, you try to,

1:37 Speaker 2: at least my approach is to try to start from

1:40 Speaker 2: something personal, whether it's deeply personal or superficially personal. I mean,

1:44 Speaker 2: I guess really is a judgment call, but then try

1:47 Speaker 2: to establish some connections and broaden the universality of it.

1:52 Speaker 2: At that point, and given everything that's going on with

1:55 Speaker 2: our police these days, that seemed to be actually because.

2:00 Speaker 1: They will if you have a dog who needs to

2:02 Speaker 1: be put down, they will they will do it for you.

2:04 Speaker 1: Oh yeah, you just have to have a you know,

2:06 Speaker 1: like if you have a warrant for something, they'll show

2:08 Speaker 1: up at your house. Well they're well, they're they're they're

2:10 Speaker 1: if you know, if you have like Old Yeller or something,

2:12 Speaker 1: you don't want to do it yourself. Yeah, anyway, but

2:17 Speaker 1: you're not. But just to be clear, you're not you're

2:19 Speaker 1: you're not pro law enforcement on acid.

2:23 Speaker 2: You're I assume, well, you know, I always think that

2:25 Speaker 2: drug uses a personal choice. Yeah, you know, while if

2:28 Speaker 2: if somebody who holds that position wants to do that,

2:31 Speaker 2: that would be fine. I probably while they're not on right,

2:34 Speaker 2: you know, right, but in what they do in their

2:36 Speaker 2: own time is their their their business.

2:39 Speaker 1: It is a it is a fun song though very

2:41 Speaker 1: catchy is and then it's fun and it's uh, it

2:44 Speaker 1: makes me laugh when I listen to it, and we

2:46 Speaker 1: should say, so you're getting some traction with this, you're

2:48 Speaker 1: getting an airplane?

2:49 Speaker 3: Yeah?

2:49 Speaker 1: Uh do you know? Uh, do you have any idea

2:52 Speaker 1: how many stations at this point have picked it up?

2:55 Speaker 2: Eight or ten that I know of, Yeah, you know

2:57 Speaker 2: throughout New England. And then there's something califun one of

3:00 Speaker 2: the just started to play it as well. You know.

3:01 Speaker 2: I mean it's funny because you look at you know,

3:04 Speaker 2: technology these days, like Apple Music. You know, for the

3:06 Speaker 2: artists now, if you're on Apple Music, they have started

3:09 Speaker 2: to track radio plays, yes, and they will tell you

3:11 Speaker 2: what stations. So it's gotten some play, and it's amazing,

3:14 Speaker 2: Like the Midwest, it's gotten some play out in the Midwest.

3:17 Speaker 2: It's gotten some play in Brazil, yeah, you know. I mean,

3:20 Speaker 2: it's gotten some play in Japan. It's so it's it's

3:23 Speaker 2: starting to get subtraction. And you know, I've noticed that

3:28 Speaker 2: shows now, I play a lot of shows.

3:31 Speaker 3: For me, that's the essence of music.

3:33 Speaker 2: I mean, I love making records and I love radio,

3:37 Speaker 2: but music to me is and essentially it's a it's

3:40 Speaker 2: a very deeply personal experience. Yes, and so at shows

3:44 Speaker 2: now when I play that song, people are actually starting

3:46 Speaker 2: to sing along.

3:47 Speaker 1: Oh that's great, blows me away, excellent. Yeah, that's very cool.

3:51 Speaker 1: That's that's awesome. We should mention too, And I'll put

3:55 Speaker 1: the camera back on me for a moment for people

3:57 Speaker 1: watching online on the face spook or YouTube so people

4:01 Speaker 1: can see it. So you brought this, yeah, I'll kind

4:03 Speaker 1: of hold it up. You can't can't zoom in unfortunately,

4:05 Speaker 1: But so this is now, this is vinyl.

4:08 Speaker 2: It is it's a seven inch record, very cool for

4:11 Speaker 2: songs on it, very cool.

4:12 Speaker 1: Yes, So a seven inch for for those who don't know,

4:17 Speaker 1: young people might not know, uh that is it's like

4:22 Speaker 1: and this will you can put this on on a

4:23 Speaker 1: regular turn take absolutely obviously. Yeah. But for people who

4:27 Speaker 1: don't know, you know, because Vinyl has had such a resurgence,

4:31 Speaker 1: but to see a seven inch like this, that's unusual.

4:34 Speaker 2: Well, it's very I pressed two hundred copies of these,

4:38 Speaker 2: I've sold more than one hundred of them now, I

4:40 Speaker 2: just realized, which is amazing for me. I mean, to

4:43 Speaker 2: sell one hundred and seven inch records is just and

4:47 Speaker 2: again getting back to that deeply personal experience. I mean

4:50 Speaker 2: I listened to music through all sorts of medium. I

4:53 Speaker 2: listened Spotify, I listen to band camp, I go to shows,

4:57 Speaker 2: I listen to records. But what I'm finding out is

5:01 Speaker 2: that for a growing number of people, they want some

5:05 Speaker 2: sort of physical connection to the music and a record

5:11 Speaker 2: or a cassette or to a lesser extent of CD.

5:13 Speaker 2: We'll provide that.

5:15 Speaker 1: Yeah.

5:15 Speaker 3: I mean that's the first fifty copies of that.

5:19 Speaker 2: Come with a comic book as well that you can

5:22 Speaker 2: only get with this record. And it was done by

5:25 Speaker 2: the artist named Paul Kurt John who did the cover

5:28 Speaker 2: art as well, and he's a fairly well known comics

5:32 Speaker 2: underground comics artist in the UK. And I ran into

5:35 Speaker 2: him online because on this record is a cover of

5:39 Speaker 2: a tune by Black Flag called six Pack, and we

5:43 Speaker 2: can't play it here today because it's a heavy laden

5:45 Speaker 2: with profanity and just isn't appropriate for the audience on

5:48 Speaker 2: a Saturday morning here. But yes, he came. He's a

5:51 Speaker 2: Paul is an enormous Black Flag fan, and he came

5:55 Speaker 2: across the song and we hooked up and we talked,

5:57 Speaker 2: and he's offered to do the cover of the record

6:01 Speaker 2: because he just really dug the tune and I was like,

6:03 Speaker 2: oh yeah, man, absolutely so. And then he said, well

6:06 Speaker 2: could you you want to do a comic book too.

6:08 Speaker 2: I said, I'll draw comic book and you could just

6:10 Speaker 2: give it away.

6:11 Speaker 1: Wow.

6:11 Speaker 2: So he sent me the files you know, from the UK,

6:14 Speaker 2: and I printed it here and I printed fifty copies.

6:17 Speaker 2: I have eight left. I keep forgetting to bring the

6:20 Speaker 2: comics to the shows when I the records, so you know,

6:24 Speaker 2: mail order you definitely get the comic book you come

6:27 Speaker 2: to a show. If I remember to bring up I

6:29 Speaker 2: did bring him today. I'll bring one in after the

6:31 Speaker 2: show Okay, all right, thank you. Yeah, it's uh, it's

6:34 Speaker 2: a it's a it's a it's a very offensive comic

6:37 Speaker 2: book to some people. Yeah, it's it's it's it pushes

6:41 Speaker 2: the boundaries. Okay, okay, which is read up my alley?

6:47 Speaker 1: Now? Where do you record? You know?

6:50 Speaker 2: I record wherever I can. Honestly, this record was recorded

6:55 Speaker 2: at Monaco Studios in Falmouth, Maine, and it was engineered

6:59 Speaker 2: and mixed by a by a man named Dan Capaldi,

7:02 Speaker 2: who is an absolutely gifted producer, engineer, musician. This guy

7:07 Speaker 2: has some of the best ears that I've ever run across.

7:11 Speaker 2: And he also plays drums and sits in with me

7:14 Speaker 2: sometimes it shows if I.

7:15 Speaker 3: Need a drummer.

7:16 Speaker 2: Oh okay, So he's played with me a couple of times.

7:18 Speaker 2: He plays with everybody in Portland. If you've seen a

7:21 Speaker 2: band in Portland, you've probably seen Dan Capaldi play drums

7:24 Speaker 2: or bass or guitar.

7:26 Speaker 1: Or you know, well, every every drummer I know, I

7:28 Speaker 1: mean it's a consistent theme on the show. Every drummer

7:30 Speaker 1: I know is in like multiple multiple bands.

7:33 Speaker 2: Indeed, So this one was recorded there at Monaco Studios.

7:36 Speaker 2: Now Dan has his own little studio. Now that he's

7:38 Speaker 2: just set up in Portland. I don't even know what

7:40 Speaker 2: has a name yet, but I hope to do some

7:42 Speaker 2: recording there. I also, do you know, I'm touring part

7:47 Speaker 2: of it. I play a lot of shows with a

7:49 Speaker 2: band called Vice's Inc. Who are supposed to be here

7:51 Speaker 2: this morning. They couldn't make it. That's by virtue of

7:53 Speaker 2: their absences. I guess that's how I sort of walked

7:56 Speaker 2: into this. But they have a studio, so I'm gonna

7:59 Speaker 2: be doing some record there. I've done some recording with

8:01 Speaker 2: them as well, excellent, so really wherever.

8:04 Speaker 3: I can sit it in. I also just record up

8:07 Speaker 3: in my attic.

8:07 Speaker 2: I have a little home studio that I demo things

8:11 Speaker 2: up there, and I try to record as many live

8:14 Speaker 2: shows as I can, really, yeah, because every live show

8:18 Speaker 2: has a different feel. So I just did a tour

8:22 Speaker 2: in August with Vices Inc. And I recorded a bunch

8:26 Speaker 2: of those shows. And I have another set that I

8:29 Speaker 2: recorded at the tody In Theater in Portland where I opened.

8:33 Speaker 3: Up a film festival.

8:34 Speaker 2: I was the opening act for film, so I recorded

8:38 Speaker 2: that that was with a full band, very much the

8:40 Speaker 2: sound that you heard with this track that you played,

8:43 Speaker 2: you know, bass drums, mandolin, vocals, guitar. So I have

8:47 Speaker 2: a half hour set of that sound and then I

8:49 Speaker 2: have another show this a half an hour that's solo,

8:53 Speaker 2: just me and a foot drum.

8:56 Speaker 3: And and you know, and and it's.

8:58 Speaker 2: Very different field, but it's the same songs. Yeah, I

9:02 Speaker 2: mean literally, I mean it's almost the same set list.

9:04 Speaker 1: Okay.

9:05 Speaker 2: So I'm going to release that on a cassette only release. Okay,

9:07 Speaker 2: So you're gonna get you know, the full band on

9:09 Speaker 2: one side and the solo set on the other side,

9:12 Speaker 2: and I'm gonna print one hundred copies. They're in production

9:14 Speaker 2: right now, and Paul is going to do the cover

9:16 Speaker 2: right for that as well. Okay, and those are going

9:19 Speaker 2: to be available on my website Plague dot Dad. Yeah,

9:22 Speaker 2: and on my band camp page as well.

9:25 Speaker 1: By the way, I think it's so cool that your

9:26 Speaker 1: side is Plague dot Dad because a lot of people too.

9:29 Speaker 1: You know, I'm a web designer, so I know this,

9:31 Speaker 1: but a lot of people probably don't even realize that.

9:33 Speaker 1: You know, you can get a lot of different you know,

9:37 Speaker 1: you know, it doesn't have to be dot com or

9:38 Speaker 1: dot net or you know, at this point, you can

9:41 Speaker 1: get almost anything. If you're willing to pay for it.

9:43 Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, you know it's funny. I kind of

9:45 Speaker 2: backed into this one too, because I do a lot

9:48 Speaker 2: of this myself. So I built the website myself. I

9:51 Speaker 2: did you know, I came to the U r L

9:53 Speaker 2: myself them all the marketing. I mean, that's sort of

9:55 Speaker 2: the nature of the music business these days.

9:57 Speaker 1: Yeah.

9:57 Speaker 2: And I went through I'm going to name and shame

9:59 Speaker 2: here went through go Daddy to buy my domain name.

10:02 Speaker 2: I had plague dad dot com. Yeah it was you know,

10:05 Speaker 2: which was fine, and I got it for a year

10:08 Speaker 2: and it went to what it expired.

10:12 Speaker 1: Yea.

10:12 Speaker 2: And Go Daddy has created a company now and they

10:16 Speaker 2: bought the thing out from under me and offered to

10:18 Speaker 2: sell it back to me for six hundred dollars. And

10:20 Speaker 2: I was like, you know what, I'm done. Not only

10:24 Speaker 2: am I done, I'm actually gonna just, you know, whenever

10:26 Speaker 2: the opportunity comes up, I'm gonna talk smack about you.

10:29 Speaker 2: So here we are talk a smack about go Daddy,

10:31 Speaker 2: because if that's their business model for independent artists, then

10:34 Speaker 2: they are going down the wrong road. So now I

10:37 Speaker 2: found somebody else. So I've learned how to do this myself.

10:39 Speaker 2: I change the domain plague dot Dad.

10:42 Speaker 3: It's much better.

10:43 Speaker 1: Who do you own the we should plug? Who do

10:45 Speaker 1: you own the domain through?

10:46 Speaker 2: Now you know it's uh, I believe it's through banned

10:49 Speaker 2: Zoogle I think is yeah. Yeah, And they help with

10:53 Speaker 2: the website and make it really easy and set up

10:57 Speaker 2: the store to sell the records. I mean, it's just

11:00 Speaker 2: sort of a one stop shop. And for a musician

11:02 Speaker 2: who is really trying to, you know, do everything themselves,

11:06 Speaker 2: they have a suite of tools that makes it just

11:08 Speaker 2: as easy as it can possibly be.

11:09 Speaker 1: Absolutely one hundred Yeah, No, that's that's that's very cool.

11:15 Speaker 1: Uh So where does the name come from? Playing dad?

11:18 Speaker 2: And people can probably guess indeed.

11:21 Speaker 1: That you know, they're there. We we did go through

11:23 Speaker 1: a little bit, people might remember, Yeah, a bit of

11:26 Speaker 1: a pandemic.

11:27 Speaker 3: Yeah.

11:28 Speaker 2: Absolutely, well, in fact, that is where it comes from. Yeah,

11:31 Speaker 2: you know, when the pandemic emerged, Like a lot of folks,

11:34 Speaker 2: I lost my job at the time, so I had

11:37 Speaker 2: a lot of time on my hands. I ended up

11:40 Speaker 2: in my attic just writing songs. And I've always been

11:43 Speaker 2: a musician, you know, yeah, and writing some songs and

11:46 Speaker 2: recording them and I would send them out to friends

11:48 Speaker 2: or post them on you know, snippets on social media,

11:51 Speaker 2: and it started to get some traction and it's like, well, wow,

11:56 Speaker 2: that's kind of cool.

11:57 Speaker 3: So the name just sort suggested itself.

12:01 Speaker 2: I mean, we during that time, we sort of all

12:07 Speaker 2: for better or worse turned inward. I mean it was

12:09 Speaker 2: very you know, you were alone and with your family.

12:13 Speaker 2: In my case, I have actually I am a father,

12:16 Speaker 2: I have you know, three kids, and it's just sort

12:19 Speaker 2: of emerged as a in that in a time like that,

12:23 Speaker 2: you know, you're you're at least for me, family was

12:25 Speaker 2: one of the most important things.

12:27 Speaker 3: And so.

12:30 Speaker 2: It's just sort of captured everything that was going on

12:36 Speaker 2: at that time, both personally and culturally for me in

12:41 Speaker 2: a in a bumper sticker, if you will.

12:42 Speaker 3: And I'm from a marketing.

12:43 Speaker 2: Perspective, I was like, all right, that that really conjures

12:46 Speaker 2: up everything that I would need a band name.

12:50 Speaker 1: Right.

12:50 Speaker 3: It does what it needs to do as a band.

12:51 Speaker 1: Name, right right. Yeah, No, it's great. And I regular

12:57 Speaker 1: listeners hearing me say this all the time, but you know,

13:00 Speaker 1: but I always say, you know, the pandemic was an

13:03 Speaker 1: awful experience for us all but you got to find

13:06 Speaker 1: these silver linings where you can And one of the

13:08 Speaker 1: big silver linings is, you know, just broadly, is it

13:11 Speaker 1: really kind of forced people to be more creative and

13:15 Speaker 1: find ways to do things or expand on existing ways

13:19 Speaker 1: to do things. But you know, for example, you saw

13:22 Speaker 1: a lot of like bands, you know, doing online performances

13:25 Speaker 1: where they're all in separate places, that kind of thing. Yeah,

13:28 Speaker 1: it also opened people up to people who may have

13:32 Speaker 1: been you know, because I always I ask every guest,

13:34 Speaker 1: you know, where do you record? Because you have so

13:36 Speaker 1: many options now, But it really kind of I think

13:40 Speaker 1: the pandemic opened people up to people who maybe were

13:43 Speaker 1: resistant to you know, just sending files back and forth

13:47 Speaker 1: and recording that way now found themselves in a position

13:51 Speaker 1: where okay, well I guess I better figure out how

13:52 Speaker 1: to make this work. So it really kind of I

13:55 Speaker 1: think expanded the boundaries that people have in their minds

13:58 Speaker 1: in terms of how to be of how to make

14:01 Speaker 1: music or anything else.

14:02 Speaker 2: Oh indeed, no, no, no, no question. And you know

14:05 Speaker 2: it's interesting some that with all the technology that exists now,

14:09 Speaker 2: it provide it there's a toolbox that is unprecedented, I mean,

14:14 Speaker 2: from from a musical perspective, power that we have available

14:18 Speaker 2: to us now as musicians is exponentially stronger and more

14:24 Speaker 2: robust than it was even just a couple of years ago. Yeah,

14:27 Speaker 2: ten or twenty years ago. Curiously, though, I used that

14:31 Speaker 2: technology too. I wanted to create a sound and and

14:38 Speaker 2: some material that could be played should that technology not

14:42 Speaker 2: be available. You know, I mean, what can I just

14:45 Speaker 2: do with a voice, right, some wood and some guitar strings,

14:50 Speaker 2: you know, wooden instruments that don't have to be amplified.

14:53 Speaker 2: You know, a foot drum, you know, these these tools

14:56 Speaker 2: that are there regardless of whatever the technology situation is.

15:00 Speaker 2: And again it gets back to that connection, that deep

15:05 Speaker 2: personal connection. I'm not saying that, you know, you can't

15:08 Speaker 2: forge that connection through technology, but I was looking for

15:12 Speaker 2: something a little more primal. Yeah, and so I really,

15:15 Speaker 2: you know, you made an artistic decision to base this

15:20 Speaker 2: in acoustic instruments, and that acoustics sound filtered through that

15:28 Speaker 2: punk rock ethos that brought me into music in the

15:31 Speaker 2: first place.

15:32 Speaker 1: Yeah, so so prior to this, so prior to plague, Dad,

15:37 Speaker 1: what what were you doing musically before? Were you in

15:41 Speaker 1: a band or were.

15:42 Speaker 2: You Yeah, this is a long sort of tale. How

15:45 Speaker 2: much time we have time.

15:46 Speaker 1: Yeah, it's only nine twenty, we have time. I love

15:49 Speaker 1: a long sort of tale. Yeah.

15:50 Speaker 2: No, I started playing you know, a lawn back in

15:54 Speaker 2: the ties, you know, into this.

15:57 Speaker 3: I'm in my fifties. Okay, so I started playing.

16:00 Speaker 2: My first band was a band called Scouts on Her

16:02 Speaker 2: and I went to the Berkeley College of Music and

16:05 Speaker 2: was with a couple of Berkeley students who happened to

16:07 Speaker 2: be from San Francisco. Oh and we, you know, we

16:11 Speaker 2: gigged around Boston. We played the rat we played T

16:13 Speaker 2: T's you know, you know, we're doing some things like that. Yeah,

16:16 Speaker 2: and then these guys said, you know what, let's just

16:18 Speaker 2: move to San Francisco.

16:19 Speaker 1: Man, let's just Yeah.

16:20 Speaker 2: So we bought a school bus, ripped out the seats,

16:23 Speaker 2: threw all a crap in, and moved to San Francisco.

16:25 Speaker 1: Okay, yeah, now what what year was this?

16:28 Speaker 2: This is in nineteen eighty seven, okay, eighty seven. So

16:32 Speaker 2: we started playing around there and did pretty well, put

16:35 Speaker 2: out a record. We were We ended up playing a

16:39 Speaker 2: show with Nirvana, No kidd, playing a show with the

16:42 Speaker 2: Google Dolls. We ended up playing with a couple of

16:44 Speaker 2: you know, bands like Alice Donut and Primus and mister

16:48 Speaker 2: Bungle and I mean we were going up and down

16:51 Speaker 2: the West coast, playing from La to Seattle, doing that

16:54 Speaker 2: whole thing.

16:54 Speaker 1: Yeah.

16:55 Speaker 3: Yeah, and uh you could you know.

16:57 Speaker 2: It's still a copy a couple of copies of that

16:59 Speaker 2: record around subware. I'm sure you could find it on

17:02 Speaker 2: eBay or discogs or something like that.

17:04 Speaker 1: Yeah.

17:05 Speaker 2: But uh, it got to the point where that just

17:09 Speaker 2: wasn't fun anymore.

17:12 Speaker 1: What did it become more like work?

17:13 Speaker 2: It did, Yeah, and it became you know, it's a grind.

17:16 Speaker 1: I mean people think, you know, people think, oh, you

17:18 Speaker 1: go on tour and oh my god, it's just uh

17:21 Speaker 1: wine women in songs I writ someone say once and

17:23 Speaker 1: it's it's not right.

17:25 Speaker 2: Yeah no. And beyond that, there's just sort of the

17:27 Speaker 2: emotional aspect to it as well. You know, I've a

17:32 Speaker 2: I've come to understand on the deeply personal level that

17:37 Speaker 2: comparison is the thief of joy. And at that point

17:42 Speaker 2: in my life as a young person, You're all about

17:45 Speaker 2: am I doing?

17:46 Speaker 4: Am I?

17:47 Speaker 3: Am I? Is it successful? Is it going to be successful?

17:49 Speaker 2: What?

17:49 Speaker 1: Am I?

17:50 Speaker 2: You know? I mean it's all about that competition. And

17:53 Speaker 2: one day we had booked a show and we were

17:55 Speaker 2: going to open for Helmet at the Kennel Club, which was,

17:58 Speaker 2: you know, a club in San Francisco at the time

18:00 Speaker 2: on the Visitarro Street. And the guy we had played

18:04 Speaker 2: there a couple of times and the shows great. And

18:06 Speaker 2: the club owner called me back a couple of weeks

18:08 Speaker 2: before the show and he said, you know what, you

18:10 Speaker 2: guys are off the show?

18:11 Speaker 3: Why?

18:12 Speaker 2: He said, well, you know, we got to call. Helmet

18:14 Speaker 2: was on amphetamine Reptile at that time, before they had

18:16 Speaker 2: gotten big huge, and he said, you know, the label

18:19 Speaker 2: called and they said, we can't get Helmet unless we

18:21 Speaker 2: take these two other acts promote as well. Sorry, and

18:26 Speaker 2: that was it. I could just feel something just snapped.

18:29 Speaker 2: You know what, I'm done.

18:32 Speaker 3: This is it. I just can't do this anymore.

18:35 Speaker 1: Yeah.

18:36 Speaker 2: So I went back. I left San Francisco. I went

18:39 Speaker 2: back to school.

18:40 Speaker 1: And did you go back to Berkeley or no.

18:42 Speaker 2: I went to orn I went to U Maie and

18:46 Speaker 2: became a journalist, reporter. I was a reporter for a

18:49 Speaker 2: long time reporter, columnist.

18:51 Speaker 3: And an editor.

18:53 Speaker 2: Made my way back to San Francisco, where I actually

18:55 Speaker 2: covered city hall politics in San Francisco for for quite

18:59 Speaker 2: a while. And what's fascinating to me is that the

19:01 Speaker 2: folks who are merging into the national power structure. Now, Yep,

19:05 Speaker 2: Gavin Knwsom, who was the governor, Kamala Harris, Who's are

19:08 Speaker 2: these were the folks who were holding local offices when

19:10 Speaker 2: I was covering that, Oh wow, city Hall. I remember

19:13 Speaker 2: when Gavin was appointed to the city council by Willie Brown.

19:16 Speaker 2: A good friend of mine was Kamala's chief of staff

19:19 Speaker 2: when she was the district attorney. So you know, I

19:21 Speaker 2: did that for a very long time. Yeah, and wow,

19:25 Speaker 2: the background of prince.

19:26 Speaker 1: Journalism, oh wow.

19:27 Speaker 2: And got married, raised some kids and just sort of

19:30 Speaker 2: set the music things aside for a while to concentrate

19:34 Speaker 2: on journalism and raising my family.

19:38 Speaker 1: And yeah, you know, wow.

19:41 Speaker 2: When the pandemic rolled around again, though, the opportunity presented

19:46 Speaker 2: itself to get back into some of the music.

19:49 Speaker 3: Yeah, so I did.

19:51 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, and you know, three and a half four

19:54 Speaker 2: years into it, it just keeps rolling, which is you know, yep,

19:58 Speaker 2: I'm thankful for that every day.

20:00 Speaker 1: Oh excellent, excellent. We should uh, well, let's play another track. Sure,

20:04 Speaker 1: I'll I'll let you pick.

20:06 Speaker 2: Well, you know, there's like there's four songs on this

20:08 Speaker 2: record the Uh there's the there's one.

20:11 Speaker 3: Called Slip the Leash, which really speaks.

20:15 Speaker 2: To sort of my love hate relationship with technology.

20:18 Speaker 1: Oh okay, in a minute and a.

20:20 Speaker 2: Half, very short, which mix should we go with? Well,

20:24 Speaker 2: you know, let's let's do that. Let's do the Monoco

20:26 Speaker 2: mix and then talk about the you know, because I

20:28 Speaker 2: like to remix tunes and.

20:32 Speaker 3: We've done that with someone.

20:34 Speaker 1: Right right, Okay, so we'll play the Monaco.

20:36 Speaker 2: Uh, Monica being the studio where we recorded it, which

20:39 Speaker 2: is why it's got that.

20:40 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah yeah, and uh yeah, great great sound coming

20:43 Speaker 1: out of there.

20:44 Speaker 3: Fantastic studio.

20:45 Speaker 2: Sam Monico, who was the host of the Locomotive Show

20:47 Speaker 2: on w Mpghay Portland, is a fantastic support of the

20:53 Speaker 2: local music scene in and he's just a great guy.

20:56 Speaker 3: And it's a it's a that studio is remarkable.

20:59 Speaker 1: Oh okay, let's give this a listen. So this is

21:03 Speaker 1: called whoops. Oh there it is Slip the Leash, the

21:06 Speaker 1: Monico mix, and play Dad, check this out.

21:17 Speaker 5: It's all got smartphones and a wish to christ.

21:20 Speaker 2: I didn't have mine, but I need it for work.

21:27 Speaker 5: I need it for work. We've all got lap office.

21:32 Speaker 5: Dad's how we all in the world stay. That's how

21:38 Speaker 5: we can next.

21:41 Speaker 4: At least that's what they say.

21:46 Speaker 2: I live near the airport, right under the night Dad.

21:52 Speaker 3: I hear the engines.

21:55 Speaker 4: And I see the things you take the kids the airport.

22:01 Speaker 5: Still get the nights.

22:04 Speaker 4: Week talking about where we might go Stata.

22:13 Speaker 5: Smartphones and a Wesh Christ.

22:16 Speaker 3: I didn't mind.

22:19 Speaker 5: I need it for work. They hate job.

22:27 Speaker 1: That is slip the leash. That is a Plague Dad.

22:30 Speaker 1: We have Frank Gallagher of Plague Dad here with us

22:32 Speaker 1: alive in studio. That uh, that song in particular, I

22:36 Speaker 1: think is relatable in that Uh. I think probably a

22:40 Speaker 1: lot of people feel that. Well, I shouldn't even say probably,

22:42 Speaker 1: I know a lot of people feel that way because, uh,

22:45 Speaker 1: people talk about it all the time on on Facebook.

22:47 Speaker 1: You'll you'll see and hear people well, I shouldn't say

22:50 Speaker 1: you'll hear, but you'll see people talking about in post.

22:53 Speaker 1: You know. I hate uh, I hate all this technology.

22:55 Speaker 2: Well it's funny. I mean this of one company now

22:57 Speaker 2: has made at the centerpiece of their new ad camp Pain.

23:00 Speaker 2: It's the ads featuring Atlantis Morse that yeah, or talking

23:02 Speaker 2: about how we all have to use our phone and

23:05 Speaker 2: people it's this sort of this love hate relationship with technology.

23:08 Speaker 2: And it's fascinating to me from a cultural and a

23:11 Speaker 2: personal perspective, because you know, the promise of the internet

23:14 Speaker 2: was that it would create community and that it would

23:16 Speaker 2: bring us all together, right, and in some ways it

23:19 Speaker 2: absolutely has done that, But in many other ways it

23:22 Speaker 2: has done exactly the opposite. It has fractured communities, it

23:27 Speaker 2: has destroyed communities, and it has very much provided people,

23:33 Speaker 2: you know, this illusion of community when really they're just

23:37 Speaker 2: in their own cocoon with that with that phone, and

23:41 Speaker 2: they interact and people I shouldn't.

23:43 Speaker 3: I don't say that.

23:44 Speaker 2: I'm as guilty of it as anybody. But we interact

23:47 Speaker 2: these days through a screen as opposed to intentionally and personally,

23:56 Speaker 2: which is it is what it is.

24:00 Speaker 3: We we make our own decisions about how we deal

24:03 Speaker 3: with that.

24:03 Speaker 1: I think, yeah, And people say things to online that

24:09 Speaker 1: they would never say in person, you know, And and

24:11 Speaker 1: the way people treat each other online, I mean, you know, yeah,

24:14 Speaker 1: like some of the things that have been said to

24:16 Speaker 1: me online. It's like, you know, sometimes I think, uh,

24:19 Speaker 1: you know, I'm not a violent person by any stretch,

24:21 Speaker 1: and I'm no tough guy, but if this person said

24:23 Speaker 1: that to me in real life to my face, I

24:25 Speaker 1: probably punched them.

24:26 Speaker 3: Absolutely.

24:27 Speaker 4: Yeah.

24:27 Speaker 2: No, the facade of anonymity that that we either believe

24:34 Speaker 2: in or you know, construct is Yeah. It allows that

24:39 Speaker 2: to happen and encourages that.

24:40 Speaker 1: Yeah yeah, time courage, Yeah yeah. And I also hear

24:44 Speaker 1: people say too, you know, well like you so you

24:47 Speaker 1: you stepped away from Facebook, absolutely, and from a mental

24:51 Speaker 1: health perspective, you're probably a lot better off. But at

24:55 Speaker 1: the same time, it's like, you know, because we were

24:57 Speaker 1: kind of talking off there about how the you know,

24:59 Speaker 1: it does, but it does put certain constraints on you

25:02 Speaker 1: in terms of promoting what you're doing.

25:03 Speaker 2: One hundred percent, no question. I'm read I will reach

25:06 Speaker 2: fewer people because I'm not on Facebook.

25:08 Speaker 1: Yeah.

25:09 Speaker 2: But in the balance, if you make a list of

25:12 Speaker 2: the upsides and the downsides, upsides of beating off of

25:15 Speaker 2: Facebook vastly outweigh the downsides.

25:18 Speaker 1: In my yeah, yeah, see, I'm doing this radio show

25:22 Speaker 1: and everything, there's no way I can oh yeah, you know,

25:24 Speaker 1: like I'm I'm I'm locked in. But I but I don't,

25:28 Speaker 1: you know, I don't engage much in terms of you know,

25:32 Speaker 1: like the way that I use it. You know, I'll

25:34 Speaker 1: share out things related to the show or promote other

25:37 Speaker 1: things that I'm doing, and I use it for my

25:39 Speaker 1: hypnotherapy practice and all this, you know, is to let

25:42 Speaker 1: people know what I'm doing. But and sometimes I'll I'll

25:45 Speaker 1: I'll post, especially in the last couple of years, I'll

25:47 Speaker 1: post things that might be more personal or that I

25:49 Speaker 1: just think are funny. But when when people start commenting,

25:53 Speaker 1: if because the thing is too We live in a

25:55 Speaker 1: in a time when you don't have to be you

26:00 Speaker 1: don't have to be even remotely. Like I posted something

26:05 Speaker 1: recently about about getting vaccinated, and you know, i'd gone

26:10 Speaker 1: to write eight and you know, got my flu shot

26:12 Speaker 1: COVID booster, and so of course and I just posted

26:16 Speaker 1: something funny about it. How you know, the pharmacist said,

26:18 Speaker 1: you know, go sit down and for fifteen minutes, and

26:21 Speaker 1: then you know, as soon as he's not looking, I

26:23 Speaker 1: sneak out, you know, because you know, it's not my

26:25 Speaker 1: first time with it. I know, you know, I am

26:28 Speaker 1: going to have a side effect, but it's going to

26:30 Speaker 1: be later when I'm exhausted. But of course, you know,

26:32 Speaker 1: so I just post something like that because I think

26:34 Speaker 1: it's funny and of course, you know, anti vaxxers and

26:38 Speaker 1: everybody's make it a totally political thread. But what I

26:42 Speaker 1: do is I don't engage because because I just I

26:47 Speaker 1: don't argue about politics or anything. I just I don't

26:50 Speaker 1: argue with people on social media. I refuse to. I

26:53 Speaker 1: find it both just unenduringly just it's it's so tedious

26:59 Speaker 1: and it's entirely pointless, and and uh so I just

27:04 Speaker 1: I actually learned to kind of enjoy when that happens,

27:09 Speaker 1: because people start posting all this mean, angry stuff at

27:12 Speaker 1: me over what I thought was just a funny post.

27:15 Speaker 1: But instead of engaging, I actually take pleasure in not engaging,

27:21 Speaker 1: knowing that it's making them crazy that I'm not engaging

27:25 Speaker 1: because they want me to argue with them, right, and

27:28 Speaker 1: uh they want me to fight with them, and I'm

27:31 Speaker 1: not doing it, and I know it bothers them indeed.

27:35 Speaker 1: Well yeah, and I actually get a laugh out of

27:37 Speaker 1: knowing that it bothers you. Yeah.

27:40 Speaker 3: No, there's there's a lot to be said for that.

27:42 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's just yeah, Emotionally, I just like I said, emotionally,

27:45 Speaker 2: intellectually just didn't have the bandwidth for it. And again,

27:49 Speaker 2: it's do I want to give an hour to these

27:53 Speaker 2: people and Mark Zuckerberg, or do I want to spend

27:56 Speaker 2: an hour in a meaningful time that you know sar Joy?

28:00 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly.

28:03 Speaker 3: I'll choose my time.

28:04 Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly, choose Joy, choose absolutely absolutely. Come on,

28:11 Speaker 1: Well now no, so let me ask you this. So,

28:13 Speaker 1: how how have you Because you know, as we discussed,

28:16 Speaker 1: I mean you're having some success. You know, Cops on

28:19 Speaker 1: Acid is catching on, and and you know you're you're

28:22 Speaker 1: selling your music. What because a lot of a lot

28:26 Speaker 1: of people in the industry listen to the show, A

28:27 Speaker 1: lot of a lot of musicians listen to the show.

28:29 Speaker 1: Like what advice do you have for for anyone who

28:32 Speaker 1: maybe doesn't want to have to do? You know, you

28:35 Speaker 1: utilize Facebook? Like how are you what is your approach?

28:38 Speaker 1: How are you doing this?

28:40 Speaker 2: Play as many live shows as you can.

28:43 Speaker 1: Yeah.

28:43 Speaker 3: Music is all about being heard.

28:46 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's you know, it's like that old if tree

28:49 Speaker 2: falls in the forest and nobody hears it, does it happen?

28:52 Speaker 5: Right?

28:53 Speaker 3: Well?

28:53 Speaker 2: You know, I mean if you write a song and

28:55 Speaker 2: nobody hears it, did it get written? Go out and

28:59 Speaker 2: play show, go to open mics, go play wherever you

29:03 Speaker 2: can you know when I when this project first started

29:07 Speaker 2: to come together and seemed as if it would have legs,

29:11 Speaker 2: we couldn't play shows, that there was no place to

29:13 Speaker 2: physically get a get a gig because the pandemic had

29:16 Speaker 2: taken care of everything was shut down. So I literally

29:19 Speaker 2: went out into the streets and played. I started busking.

29:22 Speaker 2: I would absolutely and I still do it.

29:25 Speaker 1: I love it.

29:26 Speaker 2: I go as often as I can if I don't

29:29 Speaker 2: have If I'm in Portland and at home and I

29:30 Speaker 2: don't have a show on a Friday or Saturday night,

29:33 Speaker 2: you will typically find me down in the Old Port

29:35 Speaker 2: between six and nine playing music.

29:38 Speaker 3: Absolutely.

29:39 Speaker 2: I use what's called an.

29:41 Speaker 3: AMP that is a roll in tube street. This thing

29:44 Speaker 3: runs on batteries.

29:45 Speaker 2: It runs on eight double a's and it runs for

29:47 Speaker 2: six hours on eight double as pushes fifty watts.

29:50 Speaker 3: It has three channels.

29:51 Speaker 2: I can run my guitar and my vocals and my

29:54 Speaker 2: little foot drum through it and I will just go

29:57 Speaker 2: play for three hours. And I've met some amazing musicians

30:02 Speaker 2: just just doing that, and people will gather around, and

30:06 Speaker 2: you know, I'll bring a crowd. You know, and that

30:09 Speaker 2: I love busking because you will know immediately, what works

30:13 Speaker 2: and what doesn't. You know, if people stop and are listening,

30:17 Speaker 2: then you're doing something right. If people are walking by,

30:20 Speaker 2: you know, I mean the thing I'm looking for, reaction.

30:26 Speaker 2: You know, what works, what doesn't work, what makes people happy,

30:29 Speaker 2: what pisses people off. The worst thing in my mind

30:32 Speaker 2: is ambivalence. That's what drives me nuts. Hate being ignored, right,

30:38 Speaker 2: And maybe that's a personal thing, and I fully cop

30:41 Speaker 2: to it, you know, call me an attention or whatever. No,

30:43 Speaker 2: I think, so I don't if you hate it, you know,

30:48 Speaker 2: but a reaction is what I'm looking for, and busking

30:51 Speaker 2: provides that immediate feedback. And beyond that, you know, part

30:58 Speaker 2: of being a music is learning how to perform and

31:03 Speaker 2: make no mistake. That is a skill set that is

31:05 Speaker 2: separate and apart from learning your scales and your modes

31:08 Speaker 2: and how to solo and how to improvise, and that's

31:12 Speaker 2: there's an element of showmanship that you need to develop.

31:16 Speaker 2: And the only way to do that is to get

31:19 Speaker 2: out there on the stage and play in front of people. Right.

31:21 Speaker 2: And so I'm thankfully I'm fortunate enough at this point

31:24 Speaker 2: where I'm I'm actually getting a lot of shows indoors

31:28 Speaker 2: but if I, like I say, if I genuinely love busking,

31:31 Speaker 2: because I don't have to be there at eight fifteen,

31:34 Speaker 2: I don't have to load in at eight twenty five.

31:36 Speaker 2: I don't have to play twenty two minutes. You know,

31:39 Speaker 2: I don't have to I can play whatever a damn

31:41 Speaker 2: well please. I can play the same song four times

31:43 Speaker 2: if I want, you know, and I use that to

31:46 Speaker 2: go workshoping new material. Okay, and you know some of

31:49 Speaker 2: these songs that we're playing today have evolved dramatically. Out

31:53 Speaker 2: there on the pitch is what us buskers call where

31:56 Speaker 2: we play.

31:56 Speaker 1: Okay. I didn't know that I've heard that phrase.

31:59 Speaker 2: Okay, okay, and it's uh so I'm uh you know,

32:03 Speaker 2: if it's warm tonight, I may actually go out because

32:07 Speaker 2: you know, I have some shows coming up next three weekends.

32:11 Speaker 2: But I'm actually off tonight, so I may be out

32:14 Speaker 2: there in Portland.

32:16 Speaker 1: I'm just curious, do you need any kind of a

32:18 Speaker 1: permit or anything, or do they just let you do

32:20 Speaker 1: it or you know, you're.

32:23 Speaker 2: My understanding is that you're supposed to have some sort

32:27 Speaker 2: of permit if you're amplified, and I often am amplified.

32:31 Speaker 2: That said, I've never had somebody stop me and ask

32:36 Speaker 2: me for that permit. And I'm Dan in the old

32:38 Speaker 2: Port where you know, on a Friday or Saturday night,

32:41 Speaker 2: where there is a police presence, and those officers down

32:44 Speaker 2: there have actually come to know me because I'm there frequently,

32:48 Speaker 2: and like what I do they know? I mean, I'm

32:52 Speaker 2: a sort of a known commodity and I've so I

32:58 Speaker 2: haven't had that problem yet. That said, I've heard from

33:00 Speaker 2: some other buskers in Portland that they've had some some

33:05 Speaker 2: run ins. Yeah, some uh, you know, some of the

33:08 Speaker 2: compliance staff. But every town is different. Like in in

33:13 Speaker 2: Boston you don't need a permit across the river and

33:15 Speaker 2: Cambridge you do. Yeah, oh yeah absolutely, so really, I mean,

33:19 Speaker 2: if it's something that you're want, if you're a musician,

33:22 Speaker 2: is something you want to try, hey do it absolutely

33:25 Speaker 2: because it's just fantastic experience. It's it's so much fun.

33:30 Speaker 2: But look, check into it, you know, make some calls,

33:32 Speaker 2: do the research, sure, figure it out.

33:34 Speaker 1: Sure. And you know, I don't even know what the

33:37 Speaker 1: I don't know what the laws are on that or

33:40 Speaker 1: rules are here in Manchester.

33:42 Speaker 2: You know, it's funny you say that to you, because

33:43 Speaker 2: I was coming in this morning, and coming over the

33:45 Speaker 2: bridge and.

33:46 Speaker 3: It's like, wow, I bet I could.

33:48 Speaker 1: Yeah.

33:48 Speaker 2: It's like whenever I come into a town, that's my

33:50 Speaker 2: first thing. It's like, there's a pitch where where would

33:52 Speaker 2: be the best pitch?

33:53 Speaker 1: Yeah, because I see them on Elm Street, but not much,

33:57 Speaker 1: not as much as I used to. It seems like,

33:58 Speaker 1: so I don't know, I have no idea what the

34:00 Speaker 1: what the rule is? But uh, was that when you

34:04 Speaker 1: first started doing that?

34:06 Speaker 2: Was it?

34:07 Speaker 5: Was?

34:07 Speaker 1: It intimidating at first, but you.

34:11 Speaker 2: Have to you know, there's a couple of things going on.

34:14 Speaker 2: I'm at the point in my life now where i

34:15 Speaker 2: just don't care what people think anymore.

34:18 Speaker 3: I'm just beyond that.

34:19 Speaker 2: You know, I really don't.

34:21 Speaker 1: And that's one of the few good things about getting older.

34:24 Speaker 1: It's a short list, but as you get older, you

34:26 Speaker 1: just naturally become less self conscious. It's more like, you know,

34:30 Speaker 1: who cares what people think?

34:31 Speaker 3: Exactly? Beyond that it's.

34:35 Speaker 2: People you're not you're not hurting anybody, you know, you know,

34:40 Speaker 2: just people can ignore it if they want, right, you know, right,

34:43 Speaker 2: So it's it's as long as you're not blocking the sidewalk.

34:46 Speaker 2: That seems to be the you know, you don't want

34:48 Speaker 2: to cause anybody any problems. But if you're just out

34:52 Speaker 2: there doing your thing, you know. Yeah, now, man, I'm

34:55 Speaker 2: a ham.

34:57 Speaker 3: Yeah, you got to work to show me up now.

35:02 Speaker 1: In the uh you know what about in the winter,

35:04 Speaker 1: do you? I mean, is there anywhere where you can

35:06 Speaker 1: do that indoors, like in a mall.

35:08 Speaker 2: Or well you know, it's it's it's it's it's funny.

35:11 Speaker 2: I don't know about the mall, but like last winter. Uh,

35:14 Speaker 2: there's a there's a pub in Portland called bram Hall

35:18 Speaker 2: which is on Congress Street and I just walked in

35:21 Speaker 2: there one night and guy behind the bar had to

35:25 Speaker 2: be the manager. I said, hey, how about you just

35:26 Speaker 2: let me play here every Thursday night? And he's like,

35:29 Speaker 2: what do you mean? And I said, well, here's what

35:31 Speaker 2: I explained to him. You know that bost and what's

35:34 Speaker 2: going on?

35:34 Speaker 3: I said, getting too cold?

35:36 Speaker 2: And your place to play? Yeah, I said, you know,

35:38 Speaker 2: to pay me and there's no amplifications, just me and

35:41 Speaker 2: my acoustic guitar and my drum. So there's no laws

35:44 Speaker 2: about entertainment, there's no permits or anything like that. How

35:47 Speaker 2: about you just let me roll in here with my

35:49 Speaker 2: tip Jart Thursday night. Yeah, on Thursday nights and play

35:53 Speaker 2: and if people are digging it, fantastic. If they're not,

35:57 Speaker 2: I'll move along and he's like all right, And I

36:01 Speaker 2: did that for six months.

36:03 Speaker 3: It actually turned out really really and.

36:06 Speaker 2: It got to be a thing. I mean, if people

36:08 Speaker 2: start to hear about this, if you're any good, I mean,

36:11 Speaker 2: that's why I encourage people to play live. If you're

36:14 Speaker 2: any good, you will find traction because people like live music.

36:21 Speaker 2: Maybe not so much, you know, because but I was

36:24 Speaker 2: fortunate enough that people would would come around and people

36:27 Speaker 2: would come back. There were regulars. They'd come in, you know,

36:30 Speaker 2: because they knew what was going on, and they people

36:33 Speaker 2: like live music. So I would start to have friends

36:36 Speaker 2: come by and you know, people other other musicians that

36:39 Speaker 2: I know from around town sit in, do a couple

36:42 Speaker 2: of tunes. You know. It got to become a thing

36:45 Speaker 2: and it was actually pretty cool. And then the places

36:47 Speaker 2: changed ownership and the new manager came in, it just

36:50 Speaker 2: the vibe wasn't the same, and I was like, yeah, okay,

36:53 Speaker 2: this was played.

36:54 Speaker 1: So yeah we moved on. Yeah, But I mean I

36:58 Speaker 1: think the broader point, though it sounds like they you're making,

37:00 Speaker 1: is it's it's so important to build a relationship.

37:02 Speaker 3: Absolutely, and uh that's the currency, you know, so you you.

37:05 Speaker 1: Can get around Facebook, oh yeah, you know, or other forms.

37:09 Speaker 2: Of uh, but play live and when if you're a

37:14 Speaker 2: young musician or a musician who's young in your career

37:17 Speaker 2: and you're just starting out, play as many shows as

37:20 Speaker 2: you can and stay for the other bands. Yeah, listen

37:24 Speaker 2: to those other bands and talk with those other bands

37:27 Speaker 2: and create and nurture those relationships, because that's how you

37:34 Speaker 2: find your audience, and that's how you develop your audience,

37:37 Speaker 2: and that's how you grow your audience. I mean, you

37:39 Speaker 2: can have ten thousand followers on Instagram, but if you

37:43 Speaker 2: can't put twelve people into a club that any does

37:46 Speaker 2: that have any meaning?

37:47 Speaker 3: Does that any value?

37:48 Speaker 1: Yeah?

37:49 Speaker 3: What are you know?

37:50 Speaker 1: Good?

37:50 Speaker 4: Yeah?

37:51 Speaker 1: No, that's a great point and an important one because

37:53 Speaker 1: of the club or the bar or the venue. You know,

37:55 Speaker 1: they the promoter, they don't it's you know, they're impressed

37:59 Speaker 1: if you have a lot of Instagram followers, but what

38:03 Speaker 1: they really care about is how many of them are

38:05 Speaker 1: going to show.

38:05 Speaker 3: Up exactly exactly.

38:06 Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, So now you know it's getting to be

38:12 Speaker 2: I'm looking around and again I'm thinking okay, well, maybe

38:14 Speaker 2: I need to find another bram Hale because it's getting colder.

38:17 Speaker 2: And that said, I also just need to take some time.

38:20 Speaker 2: I've been playing so many shows and touring and I think,

38:23 Speaker 2: you know, this past summer I played probably seventy.

38:25 Speaker 3: Five eighty shows, no kidding, Wow, it was, which is fantastic.

38:30 Speaker 3: I love it.

38:30 Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm not complaining of what I'm saying is I

38:33 Speaker 2: have about twelve to fifteen songs. Have a disturbing amount

38:36 Speaker 2: of songs that are half done. Okay, I really just

38:39 Speaker 2: need to finish, you know, So maybe I take six

38:42 Speaker 2: or eight weeks and just take it down a notch

38:45 Speaker 2: and finish those songs.

38:47 Speaker 1: You know, And when you play live, is it always

38:50 Speaker 1: just you? Do you ever have guest musicians or I.

38:52 Speaker 2: You know, I do. I will play with I look

38:55 Speaker 2: at the show and what the venue is and who

38:57 Speaker 2: I'm playing with and pull together. If it's a tour,

39:02 Speaker 2: it's probably gonna be me solo because the cost musically

39:05 Speaker 2: these days, and you know, the business of the music

39:08 Speaker 2: business is so fundamentally broken now that a touring band

39:13 Speaker 2: is very difficult to pull off. Oh yeah, I mean

39:16 Speaker 2: you're gonna a They're gonna low ball you on the gate.

39:19 Speaker 2: You're not gonna get if you get paid, they're gonna

39:21 Speaker 2: take a cutting and merchet, you know.

39:23 Speaker 3: I mean, there's just you. You can't do it.

39:26 Speaker 2: It's it's very difficult. So off, when I go on tour,

39:30 Speaker 2: I'm solo. When I'm playing locally or you know, regionally,

39:35 Speaker 2: I will pull together a band.

39:38 Speaker 5: You know.

39:38 Speaker 2: I played a show at Genos the other night with

39:40 Speaker 2: the band called Euphemia, who, for my money, is the

39:43 Speaker 2: best local band in Portland right now.

39:44 Speaker 3: These guys are fantastic.

39:46 Speaker 2: They'll oh God, their new record self released. It was

39:50 Speaker 2: It's been the number one local record at Bull Moose

39:53 Speaker 2: now for a long time.

39:55 Speaker 3: These guys are amazing.

39:57 Speaker 2: Okay, So I open for them at Genos and I

40:01 Speaker 2: pulled together the punk rock trio for that.

40:03 Speaker 4: You know.

40:03 Speaker 2: I had Dan Capaldi played drums, and a guy named

40:05 Speaker 2: Mike Berkowitz who plays bass with a couple of jazz

40:08 Speaker 2: bands around town, sat in on bass, and you know,

40:12 Speaker 2: and we just ripped it for half an hour, man

40:16 Speaker 2: together a thirty minute set that you know, when I

40:19 Speaker 2: go bust now I have I'll play for three or

40:21 Speaker 2: four hours at a time. I mean, I know, one

40:24 Speaker 2: hundred songs. Yeah, you know, a bunch of covers and

40:26 Speaker 2: a bunch of my stuff, and I'll weave that together

40:29 Speaker 2: and sort of pull a set together in the moment

40:31 Speaker 2: based on what's working.

40:32 Speaker 3: You sort of read the room.

40:33 Speaker 2: Yes, but when I do a club gig, it's thirty

40:36 Speaker 2: minutes of unrestrained mayhem because I know what works, because

40:41 Speaker 2: I've put that time in and I've road tested this material,

40:44 Speaker 2: and I can put together a set list that will

40:47 Speaker 2: it's contoured, that is just relentless and it rips. And

40:52 Speaker 2: that's what we did and hell of a show. Yeah,

40:56 Speaker 2: I really enjoy those kind of gigs. There's a lot

40:58 Speaker 2: to be said for those, you know, busking aside this.

41:01 Speaker 2: You know, coming in and doing a set like that,

41:04 Speaker 2: that's that powerful and you know at the end of it,

41:07 Speaker 2: people were just cheering.

41:09 Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean because I do.

41:11 Speaker 2: Have that element of showmanship that you know, I'm I

41:14 Speaker 2: enjoy that. That's part of being on stage. Yes, it's

41:16 Speaker 2: got to be you know, you have to leave leave

41:19 Speaker 2: it all out there, man.

41:20 Speaker 1: Yeah.

41:20 Speaker 2: You know, these people are paying good money for a show.

41:24 Speaker 2: I'm gonna make sure they get what they came for. Yeah,

41:26 Speaker 2: you know, speaking and paying good money. I mean, you know,

41:30 Speaker 2: I went to a club the other night. I couldn't

41:34 Speaker 2: twenty dollars cover charge. Yeah, that was just to get

41:36 Speaker 2: into the door twenty bucks in Portland. Yeah yeah, and

41:39 Speaker 2: that's it was worth it because there were five bands

41:42 Speaker 2: on the bill. But that's a lot of dope sure

41:44 Speaker 2: coming in, you know. But yeah, this is where we are,

41:47 Speaker 2: yeah these days. Yeah, absolutely, yeah.

41:49 Speaker 1: I mean there's there's major touring acts that have canceled yeah,

41:53 Speaker 1: oh yeah, canceled tours because they can't afford to do it,

41:57 Speaker 1: you know. And Live Nation has things.

42:00 Speaker 2: Their predatory Live Nation I just have Yeah, we've we've.

42:04 Speaker 1: Talked about that a lot on the show. Yeah. Absolutely.

42:08 Speaker 1: I think they're getting sued again. Good yeah, no kidding,

42:14 Speaker 1: uh yeah no, these these monopolies. Let's play another track.

42:19 Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, let's play one off what I call the

42:22 Speaker 2: Mayhem Mix, which is so for there's an interesting story

42:25 Speaker 2: behind these these So I took the songs are on

42:27 Speaker 2: this record, and I gave him to a friend of

42:29 Speaker 2: mine named Chuck Gonzalez out in San Francisco, who was

42:32 Speaker 2: again another very talented engineer, and I said, Chuck, go nuts.

42:38 Speaker 1: Yeah, just play with it.

42:39 Speaker 2: Have fun. And his sound and his approach is very

42:44 Speaker 2: different than Dance who did the initial mix. So he

42:46 Speaker 2: gave it this sort of psychedelic edge. Yeah, and uh,

42:50 Speaker 2: you know, for for example, there's a guy named New

42:52 Speaker 2: York Mike who's a DJ on WMPG and he plays

42:54 Speaker 2: the Psychedelic show. Yeah, and he didn't like that Monico mix.

42:58 Speaker 2: But oh hell of of the Mayhem. Oh okay, so okay,

43:03 Speaker 2: you know it does have a very different feel. Yeah,

43:05 Speaker 2: which track, Well, let's play you know what, play play

43:09 Speaker 2: this this the Cops may the Mayhem mix the Cops.

43:12 Speaker 3: Okay, because that's the It's got a whole different vibe

43:15 Speaker 3: to it.

43:16 Speaker 1: Yeah, you're at you know, it's funny too. That's the

43:18 Speaker 1: first one I listened to when I listened to the

43:20 Speaker 1: tracks that you sent me was was that mix of

43:23 Speaker 1: Cops on Acid? Yeah? All right, check this out. This

43:26 Speaker 1: is the Mayhem mix of Cops on Acid. And this

43:30 Speaker 1: is a plague Dad, Dad, I.

44:02 Speaker 2: Woman know what this man said?

44:11 Speaker 5: He said, cockball last, come said come ball man last.

44:41 Speaker 2: Talk comedy.

44:45 Speaker 5: He was listening dude bream did said, hey man, what

44:52 Speaker 5: showed that? He said, show my hands? Then shot my dogue.

45:21 Speaker 1: That is the Mayhem mix of Cops on Acid by

45:25 Speaker 1: Plague Dad, mister Frank Gallagher here with us alive in studio.

45:28 Speaker 1: No dogs were harmed in the in the actual one, yes, yes,

45:32 Speaker 1: but uh no that is that is very cool, Frank.

45:36 Speaker 1: This has been wonderful. Thank you so much for joining

45:38 Speaker 1: us this morning, pleasure.

45:39 Speaker 2: Thank you so much for having me. I really enjoy radio.

45:44 Speaker 2: It's a medium that I keep turning back to because,

45:48 Speaker 2: particularly community stations and college stations.

45:51 Speaker 3: I like to hear what the DJs you have to

45:56 Speaker 3: say and what they what they play.

45:57 Speaker 2: I mean, the algorithm is fine, but I I have

46:01 Speaker 2: heard so much and been turned on to so much

46:04 Speaker 2: cool new music by listening to college DJ as a

46:07 Speaker 2: community station yew days.

46:09 Speaker 3: That's it's unbeatable.

46:11 Speaker 1: I'll mention this briefly. My father who listens to the show,

46:16 Speaker 1: Hi dad, if you're listening. So he lives on the

46:19 Speaker 1: sea coast here in New Hampshire, and he's in his seventies.

46:21 Speaker 1: And I only mentioned that because you know, most people geez,

46:24 Speaker 1: I don't know by the time they get to be

46:25 Speaker 1: thirty or forty, they kind of just say, okay, I've

46:28 Speaker 1: heard all the music I'm ever interested in and I'm

46:30 Speaker 1: not going to like anything that I anything new that

46:32 Speaker 1: I hear from this point forward.

46:33 Speaker 4: Right.

46:34 Speaker 1: My dad is the opposite of that. He still loves

46:37 Speaker 1: new music. He's always been like that. Like you'd never like,

46:40 Speaker 1: if you got into a car with my dad, you're

46:42 Speaker 1: not going to hear the oldiest station coming out of

46:43 Speaker 1: the stereo, right right. And he so he lives on

46:46 Speaker 1: the Sea coast and he loves listening to wunh oh

46:48 Speaker 1: fantastic because he loves hearing new music and he loves

46:51 Speaker 1: college radio.

46:53 Speaker 3: No, no, it's great.

46:53 Speaker 1: Yeah it really is.

46:55 Speaker 2: And you know to that, and yes, I do this,

46:58 Speaker 2: play dad. But I also run alay little blog in

47:00 Speaker 2: town called that Portland Sound. Oh really, where I try

47:04 Speaker 2: to bring some attention to bands that I like. Yeah,

47:08 Speaker 2: so I'll just write up little pieces about bands I

47:11 Speaker 2: like and I'll put that out there. Oh and you know,

47:13 Speaker 2: I was a reporter for a long time, so I write, oh,

47:16 Speaker 2: I totally want to read this. Yeah, yeah, it's you know,

47:18 Speaker 2: I updated infrequently. I'm thinking I really need to start

47:22 Speaker 2: making that more of a regular thing. And I'm actually

47:25 Speaker 2: toying with the idea of making it a print thing.

47:27 Speaker 2: You know, really remember the old school with zines. I'm

47:31 Speaker 2: going to make this into a zine.

47:32 Speaker 1: We have a here, we have a paper jam magazine. Yeah,

47:34 Speaker 1: we've had them on the show.

47:36 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, I'm going to do that with this. There

47:38 Speaker 2: is a market for it, and I'm gonna you know,

47:40 Speaker 2: I've started, I've costed it out. I'm going to print

47:42 Speaker 2: up two hundred and fifty copies, probably twenty four pages,

47:46 Speaker 2: and I'm going to put together a compilation CD and

47:49 Speaker 2: just glue it into.

47:51 Speaker 3: The back page awesome, and just drop it around town.

47:54 Speaker 2: Yeah. You know so though, like you'll find ten copies

47:56 Speaker 2: in a cafe, you'll find ten copies of Geno's. You'll

48:00 Speaker 2: find ten copies a Hi fi in in in Portland,

48:02 Speaker 2: which is one of my other favorite venues. That place

48:04 Speaker 2: is fantastic.

48:05 Speaker 1: Oh I love it. That's so yeah.

48:06 Speaker 2: I'm gonna start doing that as well.

48:09 Speaker 1: Fantastic, fantastic. And of course the website is Plague dot

48:12 Speaker 1: dad bleg dot dad.

48:14 Speaker 2: Dad, and I'm on band camp as well if you want,

48:16 Speaker 2: you know, and you can buy the records there. I

48:18 Speaker 2: have other merch I have T shirts and bandanas. A

48:21 Speaker 2: lot of stuff is sold out, which is crazy.

48:23 Speaker 3: I gotta. I gotta up my awesome totally.

48:27 Speaker 1: Oh I love your music because it makes me smile.

48:30 Speaker 2: Well, that's great, fantastic, that's one of the best things

48:33 Speaker 2: that anybody has ever said to me.

48:34 Speaker 1: And and for those watching online too, let me hold

48:38 Speaker 1: this up again, the seven inch final. I love this artwork.

48:41 Speaker 1: You can see that. Yeah, the artwork is very very.

48:43 Speaker 2: That's like I said, Paul court John is the artist there.

48:46 Speaker 3: You like his stuff.

48:47 Speaker 2: He's gotta. He's just got a crazy amount of independent

48:49 Speaker 2: comics that he produces.

48:50 Speaker 1: And you're playing You've got shows this week?

48:52 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, we're playing with The next one is in Ellsworth.

48:56 Speaker 2: So there's a new place in Ellsworth called the Black

48:58 Speaker 2: Moon Public House. And this is my new favorite place

49:01 Speaker 2: in Maine because it is a pub and it's a

49:04 Speaker 2: record store together you can like go in and and

49:08 Speaker 2: they're having live shows there. So I was there, you know,

49:11 Speaker 2: back earlier this summer and at the place had a

49:13 Speaker 2: soft opening and I walked in and I saw that

49:16 Speaker 2: they looked around. I found Steve, Steve Pierce, the Empressario,

49:20 Speaker 2: and I said, hey, do you ever do any in

49:22 Speaker 2: stores here? He's like, yeah, sure. So I just started

49:26 Speaker 2: playing there and so I've played there a couple three

49:30 Speaker 2: times now, but now he trusts me a little bit.

49:33 Speaker 3: I don't know, you know, whether better or for worse.

49:37 Speaker 2: So this weekend, Saturday, November second, I'm bringing up a

49:40 Speaker 2: couple of friends of mine from Portland and we're gonna

49:42 Speaker 2: just Portland comes to Ellsworth, So Plague Dad will be

49:45 Speaker 2: there crying. Caleb is going to be there, and a

49:50 Speaker 2: gentleman named Fine Pioneer Okay, and he's got a new

49:53 Speaker 2: single out that's just amazing as well. It's called both

49:56 Speaker 2: Sides of Sleepy and it's a fantastic song. So we're

49:59 Speaker 2: gonna take that show on the road. We're gonna go

50:01 Speaker 2: up to Ellsworth on the second and we're gonna play

50:02 Speaker 2: that Okay. And there's a couple in uh in Scout Hegan,

50:06 Speaker 2: there's some there's there's some young people that are organizing

50:09 Speaker 2: shows there now, house parties and other venues. So that

50:12 Speaker 2: they they reached out to me and asked me if

50:14 Speaker 2: I come up play a couple there.

50:15 Speaker 3: I said, of course, I will, absolutely yeah.

50:17 Speaker 2: And then the Spring Point Tavern in South Portland's Okay,

50:21 Speaker 2: is right across the street from uh SMCC from Southern

50:24 Speaker 2: Main Community College. They're doing live music now and cryon.

50:29 Speaker 2: Caleb got a show there and he asked me if

50:31 Speaker 2: I would play that show with him.

50:32 Speaker 3: He said, hell yeah, of course.

50:34 Speaker 2: Yeah, So we're playing there on I want to say

50:36 Speaker 2: the ninth. These are all on my website, plague dot Dad.

50:39 Speaker 3: I put every show, every.

50:41 Speaker 2: This is on, this is on there, you know, and

50:43 Speaker 2: there's a mailing list if you want to stay up

50:44 Speaker 2: with things. I promise I won't spam yet, but uh,

50:47 Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of really cool stuff going on.

50:50 Speaker 1: And drop a line outstanding. Well, thank you again, plague Dad.

50:56 Speaker 1: This has been amazing. What should we close with. I'll

50:58 Speaker 1: let you pick.

50:59 Speaker 2: Oh, let's play let's play the one tune we haven't

51:01 Speaker 2: played yet, which is what ran us off. Right. There's

51:04 Speaker 2: actually a video for this on YouTube as well.

51:06 Speaker 1: Ran us off. I don't see that one.

51:08 Speaker 3: That's the I don't have the record for me. I

51:09 Speaker 3: can't remember.

51:10 Speaker 1: I've got I've gotten there just as well, just as well.

51:13 Speaker 2: No, that's not that's not the right.

51:15 Speaker 1: Oh that's one of the ones you sent me.

51:16 Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, you know what, play that. Go ahead and

51:18 Speaker 2: play that. That's a great little tune.

51:19 Speaker 1: Okay, Yeah, I like that one. Yeah, it's more of

51:21 Speaker 1: a country. So we'll give okay, yeah, we'll give this

51:24 Speaker 1: a spin. And then if you are listening live on Saturday,

51:29 Speaker 1: of course, coming up in the second hour, in just

51:31 Speaker 1: a couple of minutes, we've got October Sun's uh Dave

51:34 Speaker 1: Wally is here in the building, and I think he's

51:36 Speaker 1: got how many is it just uh Dave and Chris

51:39 Speaker 1: or is four people?

51:41 Speaker 2: Really?

51:42 Speaker 1: Okay? All right? Very good? And uh these are these

51:45 Speaker 1: are some some old old and uh some old and

51:48 Speaker 1: dear friends of mine, so I'm really looking forward to that.

51:51 Speaker 1: And then in the third hour today we have Rebecca

51:53 Speaker 1: Turmel so stick around. But uh here it is plague. Dad.

51:56 Speaker 1: This is just as well, and.

52:03 Speaker 5: It's just as well it would have ended up and

52:10 Speaker 5: heart egg either way. Now that enough for either one

52:17 Speaker 5: of us to say. And it's just as well. I

52:28 Speaker 5: always thought to be would have a self another day

52:35 Speaker 5: about your drinking tea way faith away and you saying back,

52:57 Speaker 5: and it's just as well. You would have been it

53:03 Speaker 5: up and audis a ways so I could drink into

53:09 Speaker 5: your me marine bays a ways, And it's just as well.

53:21 Speaker 5: I always thought that you would have a sealesan us

53:24 Speaker 5: A days now.

53:28 Speaker 4: There's nothing that for either one of us to say

53:37 Speaker 4: except back, and it's just as well we would have

54:21 Speaker 4: ended up in hunted years away. That is nothing up

54:28 Speaker 4: for you, the one of us, to say, and it's

54:36 Speaker 4: just as well.

54:40 Speaker 5: I always about to see you. What to have Celsan

54:43 Speaker 5: does A days so how to drink into your M

54:49 Speaker 5: or we fades away M saying about

55:01 Speaker 4: M