Rust Never Sleeps | Matt Connarton Unleashed

0:17 Speaker 1: Oh man, look at my life farm a lot like you were. Oh man, look at my life, farm a lot like you were. Oh man, look at my life twenty four and there's so much more.

0:51 Speaker 2: Live alone in a paradise.

0:54 Speaker 3: It makes me think to.

0:58 Speaker 4: Love loss, punch of cars. Give me things.

1:03 Speaker 5: It won't get lost, like a car, it won't guitars.

1:08 Speaker 4: Stroll and hold you, old dad.

1:19 Speaker 2: Take a look in my life from a lot like you.

1:25 Speaker 2: I need someone to love me all day.

1:33 Speaker 6: Look in my eyes and you can tell that's stroll.

1:53 Speaker 2: Lullabies.

1:54 Speaker 3: Look in your eyes, run around the.

1:57 Speaker 2: Same old town.

2:00 Speaker 4: Doesn't mean that much to me, to mean not much to you.

2:06 Speaker 2: I've been the first to last.

2:10 Speaker 4: Look at how the time goes past.

2:13 Speaker 7: Now all love man, Ah, that's take a look at my life.

2:29 Speaker 4: I'm not like you.

2:34 Speaker 2: I someone enough the whole day.

2:41 Speaker 4: One.

2:42 Speaker 6: Look at my eyes and you can tell that's true.

2:56 Speaker 1: Oh man, look at my life farm like you.

3:04 Speaker 3: Oh man, look in my life, farm like you.

3:20 Speaker 8: It's so good. That is Neil Young's Old Man, as performed by Rust Never Sleeps, And we have Rust Never Sleeps here with us, live in studio, and we're gonna talk with them in just a moment and they're gonna play for us. But welcome everybody, and let's get those mics up here as we welcome Rust Never Sleeps. Hey everybody, good morning, good good, all right, Rina, let's start with you. What I'd like you each to do is introduce yourselves. It also gives me a chance to check your mics and tell us who you are, what you do in the band, and many other pertinence you want us to know about.

3:50 Speaker 8: Oh wait a minute, I cannot hear you at all. He there, we go, there we go. See that's why I do this.

3:59 Speaker 9: Yet. Hey everybody, I'm Rena and I've been with Rust Never Sleeps for going on twenty years, and I sing vocals in the band, started with some great background vocals and do some solo numbers too, But love playing with these guys.

4:14 Speaker 8: Outstanding, outstanding, and you, sir.

4:16 Speaker 10: Chuck Nemitz here. I was referred here by my kid, who was on a couple of times. Yes, he plays in a band called Sick Dude. Hell, yes, yes, yes, anyway, I love being here. And I've been with Kenny since the onset of this project some close to twenty five years ago. No kidding at this point.

4:33 Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, he has been around a while.

4:35 Speaker 11: Ye have.

4:36 Speaker 10: I also got them in just quick so I don't forget. Is that Reena is also playing with a wonderful Tom Petty tribute. Oh o kidding called Petty Larceny. Okay, Oh that's all now, I'll pass it over to the band leader, the ring leader.

4:50 Speaker 12: Ah, yeah, I'm Ken. That's me. I'm the ring leader okay, or the cat herder.

4:56 Speaker 11: Yeah.

4:56 Speaker 12: We've been doing it for about you think our band archives says it's twenty five years. Okay, this coming up next year.

5:04 Speaker 10: I think it's twenty five.

5:05 Speaker 8: Twenty five years.

5:06 Speaker 13: Wow.

5:07 Speaker 8: Wow. So that's you sing an old man of course. Yeah, that's a track that we played. It sound amazing.

5:13 Speaker 10: Thank you.

5:13 Speaker 8: Absolutely, that is so so good. Actually, you should tell us about that, because people should if they go on YouTube and check the video. The video of that's really cool. It's it looks like you're playing in a barn.

5:23 Speaker 12: Yeah.

5:23 Speaker 10: Yeah.

5:24 Speaker 12: My nephew is an independent filmmaker and he did that for us.

5:27 Speaker 8: Oh no kidding.

5:28 Speaker 12: Yeah, pretty cool.

5:29 Speaker 8: Yeah. Yeah, I like two out because I found two versions of it. There's a color version in a black and white version. Oh okay, that's right, yea, yeah, yeah, so yeah, that is pretty cool. Is he You said he's an independent filmmaker.

5:40 Speaker 12: Yeah, his name is Mark Battle. Okay, He's made some pretty cool films. He won some awards, no kidding. Yeah, really passionate about it.

5:46 Speaker 8: Oh, very cool.

5:47 Speaker 12: I'm lucky to have him around. Yeah.

5:50 Speaker 10: Yeah, a great promo video.

5:52 Speaker 13: Yeah.

5:52 Speaker 8: Oh wow, that's awesome. That's awesome. So how did this start? How did this project begin? Oh?

5:58 Speaker 12: Man, you want the short story, the long story?

6:00 Speaker 8: We got time for the long I like. I like long stories. We got we got time.

6:05 Speaker 12: I'll try to not make it too long. But I've got a good buddy that lives up in Rochester, New Hampshire, New York. I'm start New York, right, New York.

6:13 Speaker 4: Yeah.

6:13 Speaker 12: Uh. He was playing in a Dave Matthews tribute band way way back, you know, before tribute bands were really popular. Yeah, and I have to say, you know, when I was in high school, we didn't call them tribute bands. We called them clone bands. Really, we looked down on it.

6:26 Speaker 11: We did.

6:27 Speaker 12: It's not cool to be in a tribute band. It was not something I wanted to do. But I am a Neil Young fan. Yeah, playing his music forever. So he uh made me come down and see these guys, and I just couldn't believe it. There was people were going crazy for it, So that planted the seed. Uh interesting story. Chucky had a kind of a relationship with Brad Delp from the band Boston. He did some recording in his home studios years ago. So one late night I was in uh Duncan Donuts and Lawrence Mass at like two in the morning, and who walks in but Brad Delt the guitar player and he was doing the Beetlejuice thing.

7:02 Speaker 12: Oh no kidding, So he had true to his reputation. He sat and talked to me for thirty forty minutes.

7:08 Speaker 8: For people who don't know, Beetle Juice was, of course the tribute to the Beatles.

7:13 Speaker 12: The Bread did and Who's Who's the leasing or Boston and a tribute band. Yeah, so that kind of opened up my you know, my mind to say, well, you know it is cool because he was a huge Beatles fan, so we came into it that way. Yeah, and I had to go. I had to round up Chucky because we played in the band when I was eighteen and I hadn't seen him for years.

7:34 Speaker 8: Oh no kidding.

7:35 Speaker 12: I tracked him down he was doing a gig in Boston and oh wow, hey, would you be interested? He says, I would. He says, I'm not leading any more bands, but if you want to lead it, then we'll do it.

7:43 Speaker 8: Oh, no kidding.

7:44 Speaker 10: Yeah, I had taken on my first day job at that point, so I you know, I used to play full time but then had a kid. Yeah, life changes.

7:51 Speaker 8: Yeah.

7:52 Speaker 10: Yeah, that kid was Nat who was here in your studio perfect.

7:55 Speaker 4: Yeah.

7:55 Speaker 8: Well I'm glad you had him.

7:56 Speaker 10: Yeah too, and I'm glad the bug bit him too.

8:00 Speaker 8: Yeah. Absolutely, absolutely.

8:02 Speaker 12: Kind of the story for us. You know, it's like because I went to Berkeley for three years and Chucky was out there writing original music, and you know, we wanted to do it, but we were also starting to raise families. It's not really a practical lifestyle. So I think we fall into that category of you know, I don't know if i'd even call a semi pro, but we just we want to do it. We still want to do it, yeah, even twenty five years later, So we just make it work the best way we can.

8:29 Speaker 8: Yeah.

8:29 Speaker 10: We do it because we love it, not to make a living doing it.

8:33 Speaker 12: Right, yeah, Back back then it was about that. But then we smartened up. We had to get kicked in the head a few times along the way. I did anymore. What do you mean, just like you can't make it's hard to make a living? Yeah, yeah, going to make big sacrifice, right.

8:47 Speaker 10: I missed a chunk of Nate's earliest years. I was still full time going at it, and I missed so much. Let's choice you gotta make. Yeah, yeah, of course I know I made the right one.

8:56 Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. And so Rena, how did you? How did you come to be in the band?

9:02 Speaker 9: Yeah, A really good friend of mine, Rob Hamilton. He's the pedal steel player in the band, okay, keyboardists. He's a multi talented instrumentalist, and we were good friends. We were playing in a band that was kind of starting to disband a little bit, and so they were looking for some harmonies while Chuck was on the road with a Bow's gig, and so I came in to start singing some harmonies. And I was just doing a couple songs a gig, hanging out, you know, showing up at gigs and filling in, and then these guys kind of adopted me in and I've been with them ever since.

9:37 Speaker 8: Outstanding, Yeah, outstanding. Yeah, let's play this. Let's know this is this is really good too. Yeah. Oh and actually before I play it, tell us about this? How did how did you guys get to play it at Daryl's House club? That's so cool.

9:50 Speaker 12: I don't I don't remember somebody reached out to us. I kind of think somebody did.

9:54 Speaker 10: Yeah, oh yeah, it was in their early going.

9:57 Speaker 12: Yeah, we were. We played at the Iron Horse, Northampton, and the the guy that used to book that room went over and was booking that room. Yeah, oh okay, yeah, and that was a big I mean, it was a throw for us. It was because I watched I've watched the show, so to be in that room was pretty cool.

10:10 Speaker 14: Yeah.

10:11 Speaker 8: So for people who don't know, of course, well everybody knows live at Darrel's House the show, but Daryl holl owns a club called I guess it's called Darrel's House Club Luby and and uh and so you guys got to play Yeah that's awesome.

10:22 Speaker 9: A couple of times.

10:23 Speaker 8: Oh really yeah, oh.

10:24 Speaker 10: No, masterful job producing those video and audio. It was like top not I can imagine.

10:30 Speaker 12: Yeah, yeah, you know what everybody asked us after that show was daryld here.

10:37 Speaker 8: I know, I always wondering about that, like how often is he actually there?

10:40 Speaker 9: He actually played the night after us because we played New Year's Weekend.

10:44 Speaker 8: Oh no, kidding, played the night after.

10:45 Speaker 10: And I've heard from others who have been there that he does pop in quite frequently.

10:49 Speaker 8: Oh okay, okay, interesting, interesting, all right, So let's give this a listen. So this is See the Sky About to Rain. You played this at UH live at Darryl's House club. Yeah, we'll give this a listen and we'll figure out the mike situation because I'm dying here. You play live, but so stick with us. But yeah, Russ never sleeps.

11:23 Speaker 5: See the Sky about to rain, Rogan clouds and rain.

11:36 Speaker 15: Local modeo cool a train, miston low and through my brain signals cling on the.

11:56 Speaker 16: Low down the track again, See the sky about to raise.

12:28 Speaker 1: Some are bound for have been as, some.

12:35 Speaker 2: Are bound for a blow. Some are bound to lead.

12:44 Speaker 5: With lass.

12:48 Speaker 3: Who can tell your story or rape?

12:55 Speaker 16: See the sky bounce, rain, walking, clouds.

13:03 Speaker 15: And rain, look on.

13:10 Speaker 2: Through the train, whistle through that brain signs, curning on it over the rolling down the track again. See the sky boat.

14:12 Speaker 17: I was down in.

14:14 Speaker 18: Dixie, l.

14:18 Speaker 2: Lad of seilver Face.

14:25 Speaker 19: Waited loud and then the moth.

14:31 Speaker 3: Rocking down on me.

14:37 Speaker 2: See the sky.

14:40 Speaker 8: To Oh that is so good. That is so good. See the sky about to rain. Russ Never Sleeps live at Darryl's House Club. Yeah, and I encourage everyone to check out the video. You know, we were kind of talking off here about what a professional job they do there and yeah, yeah, fantastic. Well we have Russ Never Sleeps here live in studio Downe. Hear them play live. So we had a little issue with the microphones, but I think we're good. So let's let me get that one up and let's see. Oh, you know what, hang on, I'm sorry here it is.

15:36 Speaker 8: Oh that sounds nice.

15:39 Speaker 10: What do you think perfect?

15:40 Speaker 8: Perfect? All right, Kenny, let's get your guitar up there. Oh that sounds really nice. Do you want to play a little bit of something just so I can get make sure our levels are uh are good? Here? Oh I know that songer. Oh that sounds good. I want to get a little vocals in there too. Just make sure.

16:12 Speaker 3: You wanna leave. I wanna gill. I've been a minor fur a horror of gold.

16:23 Speaker 5: It's banning my mind talk fine.

16:29 Speaker 3: That keeps me searching for a hard and I'm kidding.

16:38 Speaker 8: All right, I think we're How does it sound to you? All good?

16:43 Speaker 13: Great?

16:43 Speaker 8: I think we're good? All right? All right, russ Ever sleeps. This year, they're gonna perform live for us. What are you uh? What are you gonna play for us?

16:49 Speaker 12: Arena? Sing Dylan tune?

16:51 Speaker 8: Okay.

16:51 Speaker 12: Now you know, we've only been doing the Dylan thing for about a year and a half added into the Neil, so we've been doing a the Music of Dylan and Young show.

16:59 Speaker 8: Okay.

17:00 Speaker 12: There's are a lot of reasons that works and it goes.

17:03 Speaker 10: Together, which is what we're doing at the Rex by the way.

17:05 Speaker 12: Right, we're gonna be at the Wreck.

17:07 Speaker 8: Oh we gotta plug that, yeah, yeah, and we'll remind people later, but yeah, let's plug that right now too for people just tuning in.

17:12 Speaker 12: March twenty eighth.

17:13 Speaker 10: Okay, two weeks from today.

17:14 Speaker 8: Oh wow at the Rex Theater.

17:16 Speaker 12: Yeah, seven thirty excellent. We've been there a few times. It's a great venue. Yeah, intimate, intimate theater.

17:22 Speaker 10: I'd go one of the coolest green rooms if you want to call it that. It's like this area right behind the curtain on the stage. Yeah, and you know, and then a couple of dressing rooms, but a little unique in that regard.

17:33 Speaker 12: Yeah, it's good, nice, real nice stage good sounds. Yeah, okay, yeah, so get out and get those tickets.

17:41 Speaker 8: Absolutely all right, the Rex Theater on the twenty eighth, March twentyeth March twenty eighth, outstanding, all right. Russ Never Sleeps is here with us, here with us live and studio, And what are you gonna play?

17:52 Speaker 12: We'll do knocking on Heaven's stone.

17:54 Speaker 8: Oh nice, knocking on Heaven's door, all right, whenever you're ready.

18:28 Speaker 20: Mamma, take this paunch of them me. I can't use it anymore. Scared and dog to duck to see. Feels like I'm knocking on eavystore. Don't knock knock it on eavenstore.

19:03 Speaker 20: I'm not knocking on heaven'store. Nothing not knocking on Heaven's store.

19:17 Speaker 20: I'm nothing knocking on heaven'store. Mama, put these guns in the ground. I can't shoot them anymore. That long black cloud is going down now now, hell, then I'm.

19:47 Speaker 11: Knocking on Heaven's store. I'm not knocking on Heaven's store.

20:00 Speaker 11: Why not knocking on Heaven's store? Why not knocking on even store? Not I'm knock at all Heaven store. Why not knocking on Heaven's store? Why not knocking on Eppings store?

21:05 Speaker 11: Knock on Heaven.

21:11 Speaker 21: Not Heaven?

21:46 Speaker 8: Good Lord? Those harmonies oh so good, absolutely fantastic. Oh, if you're just joining us, we have rest never sleeps here with us live in studio and uh oh that sounded so good. And Chuck, Now, I now I know what you met because you you know, you were saying when we were kind of getting set up and trying to figure everything out as far as Mike's you know that that the harmonies are the main thing. Indeed, and I see what you mean.

22:10 Speaker 10: That's what we work the most on for sure.

22:12 Speaker 13: Yeah.

22:13 Speaker 8: Yeah, Now, the three of you sound amazing together when you when you play live with the full band. Is it always the three of you harmonizing or are there other band members also singing with you?

22:24 Speaker 10: Or there are like our bass player kicks in a lot of times, like Kenny O vamp on a melody thing while we're doing a three part harmony in the background. Okay, so much fun. Okay, And does Rob ever sing no.

22:37 Speaker 9: No now he's too busy, right, yeah, using both hands and both beat. Mikey Garren he's our bass player and he does he does do some vocals with us sometimes.

22:48 Speaker 8: Okay, okay, very cool, Kenny. So you had said earlier that, you know, incorporating Dylan into the Neil Young material, that that works really well for several reasons. So I'm curious if you can expand on that.

23:01 Speaker 12: You know, I think mainly the singer songwriter thing. Those two artists really respect each other, I think, and you know, Neil has kind of not hidden the fact that he's kind of based his career in many ways off of Dylan, sure, and in his work ethic and you know, kind of his approach that these guys kind of approach it like a painter. They put out a lot of material and they don't expect it all to be good, but you know they're going to hit gold with a lot of it. So, oh yeah, when you think of some artists that have three, four or five albums, and these guys have like thirty some odd albums and they're just putting it out and they're they're they're following the muse man, they're looking to the inspiration, and I mean that's and in a lot of ways, I think for us as a live band, that's that's why we I wouldn't be able to do it for twenty five years if we were trying to do exact renditions of the songs.

23:49 Speaker 12: Sometimes it kind of pans out that way a little bit, or people think it does, but more often than not, we do what they do. They play their own songs in very different ways, so well, you know, we're still musicians that are expressing ourselves through that music like a bunch of people sitting playing.

24:06 Speaker 10: In the you know, symphony orchestra right right, or a bunch of people sitting in a living room somewhere. It is often how it feels to me when we're playing in a theater, even just like we could just as well be gamming in someone's living room. And that's I think what our audience appreciates as well. It's a very intimate thing for you.

24:23 Speaker 9: You can always tell that we're that we're loving it, so it really brings them in with us. We've always had that vibe with the with the audience.

24:31 Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, excellent, excellent in terms of you know, because you mentioned Kenny that you know, they're they're still active. When when you're choosing, when you're figuring out what to cover of these artists like Bob Dylan and Neil Young, do you ever I mean, do you kind of say, Okay, we're just going to do the classic stuff or are you ever? Is it ever a question of Kenny's a vault man.

24:55 Speaker 10: Yeah, he's also the king of audibles. We never know what we're gonna.

24:59 Speaker 8: Play, no kidding.

25:02 Speaker 12: Yeah, you know, I kind of I go by this rule because I kind of because I have to. Yeah, I have to be inspired to want to play those particular songs. So if we have a show coming up, I'm starting to think about it, I might sketch out a set list and I'm thinking listening to different things and and that's how I come to it. And I'm really if I ever going to do a song because we should? Okay, now I've taken some heat for that really, and you know, and I get it. I get there are certain songs that people like to hear.

25:34 Speaker 12: But for the most part, I mean, that's been us, that's that's that's that's just who we are, you know, And and that way, for me, it can be authentic every time we play it still.

25:44 Speaker 9: Never played the very rarely have we ever played like the same show twice. I've no seat tribute bands and you can almost tell and I know what's next. Yeah, and this one's very different. This one you always and then you've got some classics in there, people that people love, so they always get a chance to hear something that they love.

26:04 Speaker 10: They also get to hear obscurities that you don't often hear on the radio or on you know.

26:11 Speaker 12: I say, you have tell a funny story about that.

26:13 Speaker 10: Uh.

26:13 Speaker 12: There's a a Neil tune that we like to play called big Time and it's it's influenced by the kind of surf guitar guys, especially link Ray and link Ray was famous for a song called Rumble Yes Yes, Okay, So and I kept hearing it. I'm going that man, Rumble is in big Time. So we started doing shows. We would open with Rumble and we go right into big Time. So one of our biggest fans, who's a big Neil young fan, has seen Neil a hundred times.

26:40 Speaker 8: Yeah, he calls me up one night and.

26:41 Speaker 12: He goes, hey, I saw that Neil tune on a commercial on the radio, and that's not even possible. Neil doesn't And it turned out it was rumble on a on a lawn seed commercial. But we tricked him. We tricked the guy that knows Neil really well.

26:55 Speaker 8: You know, yeah, Oh that's wild, that's wild, do you I mean for the most part, Well, let me ask it this way. Are there any songs Neil Young songs or Dylan songs that you've done where they become very different? I mean you obviously you kind of do them in your own way, but I mean, are there any of that? Like I guess what I'm getting to is, has anyone ever had a problem with like coming up to you at a show and saying, hey, you really you know you shouldn't mess with that?

27:20 Speaker 12: You should but never heard it? Well, no, because I think I think anybody that comes to most people to come to a show to see either of Neil or Dylan yeah music, they know that the original artist is famous for doing just the exact.

27:34 Speaker 10: Same that like the record. Yeah.

27:36 Speaker 12: Yeah. Well, there's a very famous story about Neil toured on Time Fades Away album and seventy three seventy four. Yeah, he was, he went out and he toured and he hadn't released the album yet. Okay, so he's out there and he's playing an album's worth of songs. Yeah, oh can you hear me? Okay? Uh so somebody, uh, somebody fissed off and they yell from the front audience, play something we know. So he stops for a minute and he huddles with the band, comes back to the mike. We're gonna play something you've heard before, and they launched to the song they just played.

28:09 Speaker 8: A minute's wild.

28:15 Speaker 12: Now we're not we're not looking to do anything like that.

28:17 Speaker 10: Not looking to spite anyone, but we haven't.

28:19 Speaker 12: Gotten I've never heard anybody.

28:21 Speaker 10: They seem to enjoy that. We're just running with it. This is tonight's version. And I think that's part of why we got some folks like Nat and a few others that come to near every show. They don't get bored because they're not hearing the same thing over and over again.

28:35 Speaker 9: We do have people that come and come back and it's just awesome. Yeah, and they've come they've become part of like our family too, like some really good friends. Out of some of the fans that.

28:44 Speaker 10: Have come shut yeah goodness, Yeah, well we Mark and Eileen said.

28:50 Speaker 12: Yeah, we don't. We mentioned we mentioned Rob I want to shout out.

28:54 Speaker 8: The rest of the guys of the Yeah yeah absolutely.

28:56 Speaker 12: Steel and piano, and we mentioned Mike Garren, yeah on bass. But we have a new drummer this past year, Matt Smalley. And he's a young guy. Yeah, and he's kicking us right down the highway. It's good to have young energy in the dance.

29:09 Speaker 9: I used to be the youngest. Now I've been.

29:10 Speaker 12: Really But the cool thing about him is he is really deep into this type of music. He knows, he's a real.

29:17 Speaker 10: Student of it. He's shedding too. You can tell he's listening to, you know, all the different people that like crazy horse versions whatever, like he wants to really know this stuff. You can tell when he comes to rehearsal that he's been shedding.

29:31 Speaker 8: Yeah. Oh wow, Now what what happened to the previous drummer? Because I know that it seems like it's become a running theme on the show. Every drummer is in like ten different bands. I'm wondering.

29:42 Speaker 10: Spinal Tap Yeah yeah, yeah.

29:45 Speaker 12: Our longtime drummer Jeremy was, you know, amazing drummer and it's a great guy. All around out Western Massa.

29:53 Speaker 10: He plays with Danny Klein.

29:54 Speaker 22: Yeah, he plays with the bass player founder w Okay, so it's I think the travel got to be a lot. Yeah, so you know it's I wouldn't be surprised we play with him again in the future by Hope.

30:08 Speaker 10: So but yeah, it's no offense to Matt Small just the way it is now.

30:12 Speaker 8: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, he put it.

30:14 Speaker 12: He put in twenty years so oh.

30:16 Speaker 8: Okay, he put in some time. Then, yeah, put in some time. Wow. Wow was it well? So after twenty years, was it scary having to find a new drummer.

30:24 Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah, to know because it worked so seamlessly. Yea, it might have been scary thinking about it to do it.

30:32 Speaker 9: There are just certain fills and stuff that you get used to, you know, in certain drives and now, but it kind of brings this new energy, you know, playing with Matt and kind of feeling a new way of of doing interpretating the songs. He definitely Matt has this like classic feel, like you said, you can tell he's been studying this stuff. So but definitely, like over time you start to kind of expect certain fills and things like that, right, So that's changed. But Matt's holding it down really well for us.

31:01 Speaker 12: And you know, it's a huge part of being in this band is not just your musicianship. It's like, are you a good hang right?

31:09 Speaker 8: Right?

31:10 Speaker 12: You shit with us? Like the vibe is it just uh whatever our vibe is. I could, I could describe it, but I mean, it just has to kind of fit.

31:17 Speaker 8: Yeah, of course. Yeah.

31:18 Speaker 12: That's probably as important as a musicianship.

31:21 Speaker 8: Oh not more, but equal. Yeah, yeah, no doubt.

31:24 Speaker 12: We've been lucky that way.

31:25 Speaker 8: Yeah. Oh, that's really good. That's really good. If you are just joining us. Russ Never Sleeps is with us? You want to play another one? I'm dying to hear. I'm dying to hear more of those harmonies are just incredible to me.

31:36 Speaker 12: Okay, we'll do a little uh long may you Run?

31:41 Speaker 19: All right, we've been through some things together.

32:19 Speaker 3: With trunks of memories.

32:22 Speaker 12: Still beclm.

32:27 Speaker 5: We found things to do in stormy weather, Long Maid,

32:40 Speaker 5: Long Mad Run, Long may you Run.

32:47 Speaker 3: Although these changes have come.

32:54 Speaker 5: If you chrome hardshine and in the sun.

33:01 Speaker 2: Long bid back in Blind River.

33:18 Speaker 5: Nineteen sixty two when I last saw you.

33:25 Speaker 2: Line, well, we missed that ship.

33:32 Speaker 21: Long decline, Long by Run, long may run, Long, mad run.

33:50 Speaker 3: Although these changes have come?

33:56 Speaker 5: Did you chrome, hard shine in the sun.

34:04 Speaker 4: Long name.

34:45 Speaker 19: Maybe the beach boys have.

34:48 Speaker 3: Got you now.

34:52 Speaker 5: With all those waves singing Caroline in.

35:01 Speaker 3: Those empty ocean roads.

35:06 Speaker 14: Get into the surf fun time, Long made run, Long made you run.

35:20 Speaker 3: Although these changes have come.

35:27 Speaker 5: You chrome heart shine and in the sun.

35:34 Speaker 17: Long may run, Long made run, Long made.

35:45 Speaker 3: You run, Although these changes have come with your chrome heart shine and.

35:58 Speaker 2: In the sun.

36:02 Speaker 13: Long, Oh my god, so good.

36:13 Speaker 8: Russ never sleeps alive in studio here, and that's amazing. By the way, you got a compliment from Peter White, who just texted me. Peter is of course host of the Morning Show with Peter White, which you can hear weekday mornings from seven to nine am here at WM and H, but he also is a program director here and yeah, he just texted me and said, you guys sound really good. So Peter than you absolutely absolutely if you are just joining us, of course we have rest never sleeps here with us alive in studio.

36:41 Speaker 8: And is there a favorite like within or maybe you each have your own. I'm curious if if you have favorites that you play live that you're.

36:48 Speaker 12: Get that's a common question. It changes for me a lot. But I guess the tune I mentioned before Big Time is kind of really just because of the message of it.

36:57 Speaker 10: You know. Yeah, it's like asking what's your favorite color. It's it's really hard to pin it down. Like you it changes from moment to moment.

37:07 Speaker 9: Yeah, and it depends like what we're playing at the time. If something news coming up and we've really meshed on it and stuff, we get excited to play it.

37:16 Speaker 10: For me.

37:17 Speaker 9: Yeah, yeah, this is our new favorite. For my classic favorite, I would say comes the time, just because it's the first one I did with the band, and it's just kind of, you know, always stuck with me and my kids too. So my kids were like babies when I joined this band, and so they grew up with it, so they you know, it's just it just became like this family song, but because of me being a rust So it's pretty cool.

37:42 Speaker 8: Oh, very cool. Is there anything that's been particularly challenging to learn?

37:50 Speaker 9: How many sometimes you know.

37:52 Speaker 12: Yeah, I'm going to say, actually with the Dylan stuff, really well not playing it, but it's ten verses and.

38:00 Speaker 8: Okay, you know what's funny about that because this came up on you know, in the second hour when when we had the Pop Farmers on and you know, they do all these Irish songs for for Saint Patrick's Day, and they were talking about how some of those, some of those classic Irish songs are very wordy because they've got like, you know, there's one I think they do, it's got like seven or eight verses to it, and and and how that can be challenging. So so that's trying not.

38:26 Speaker 10: To do it karaoke style, you know, right.

38:29 Speaker 19: Right, that is good.

38:31 Speaker 9: We do have some verses long my god.

38:34 Speaker 8: Yeah.

38:34 Speaker 10: Yeah, Fortunately they are stories, which makes them easier to remember. And you know most cases, you know, you know I Tangled Up and Blues a great example. Yeah, yeah, a lot of verses, but it's a story. Yeah, you've heard it and you know the story. Yeah, tend to stick a little easier.

38:50 Speaker 8: Yeah, like like what's the one like the wordiest Dylan's

38:56 Speaker 8: and hard Rain Yeah, yeah, definitely crazy you ever you ever play them live and forget the words?

39:02 Speaker 12: Oh you know, I'm gonna get little aids. Yeah, and I you know, years ago I saw Elvis Costello doing a show, yeah, and it was yeah, two big music stands with books on him. You know, it was his own music. Yeah, so he had some aids. I said, that's not such a bad thing if you need it, you know.

39:19 Speaker 8: Oh yeah, yeah, of course of course. And then like, what's uh so the songs that you started, because again you've been is twenty five years thereabouts, the way that you play some of those, because I assume the songs that you played in the beginning you're still playing, right, Yeah, sure a lot of them. Have those kind of evolved in terms of how you approach.

39:42 Speaker 10: Them, sure, sometimes a little bit, not in huge ways.

39:45 Speaker 12: Yeah, but I mean we're testing went off for the next show that we haven't played in a long time. Really, yeah, so that'll be surprised.

39:51 Speaker 10: Giving okay, okay, yeah, but by that, I mean they don't change drastically. But tonight I felt different than I the last time we played it. So my little part is going to be different. And that's everybody in the bands playing off of each other, right, Their nuances the change, but not major ways. Sometimes we've come up with a different groove trying to differently.

40:15 Speaker 9: H will change. We'll play around with the rhythm sometimes.

40:18 Speaker 12: And sometimes we have a slow version.

40:20 Speaker 8: We have a fast version yeah, yeah.

40:23 Speaker 10: And sometimes that's not on you know, that's not planned, right.

40:28 Speaker 8: I'm also curious if any of the Neil Young stuff is hard to play from a guitar perspective, because I don't know, like the solos. Some of his solos are so weird.

40:39 Speaker 10: I love it.

40:40 Speaker 8: Kenny.

40:41 Speaker 10: Kenny does a lot more shotting on how Neil would approach that, and then he lets me do what I do. Oh really, I don't feel like a crazy horse guy when I get to a solo. I just play what you know, I don't read, I don't you know. I have to just wing it because I've been doing that since I was a kid. And uh, it's nice to have that kind of you do the same.

41:01 Speaker 12: Yeah, but I tend to. I tend to in the rock tunes anyway. I have that sound you hit kind of an amplifier.

41:07 Speaker 10: On your black lest Paul, You're hitting that Bigsby and I'd swear sometimes and I'm listening to Neil you play.

41:12 Speaker 9: Yeah. It's one of my favorite parts of this of when we play out listening to them play yeah, yeah, yeah, it's definitely a tree yeah yeah. But Kenny gets that sound, that raw, you know, dirty Neil Young tune and it's just really good.

41:29 Speaker 10: A lot of folks just compare it to the Stills Young okay interaction from back in the day. Really, but when we listen to it back, you know, recordings or whatever, I get the similarities, but it's so different. It's us.

41:40 Speaker 8: Yeah.

41:41 Speaker 10: Yeah, we're not trying to be them, Yeah, of course.

41:44 Speaker 12: And I think that's the testament to that we we get we captured the vibe. Yeah, because you know, like I don't sound like Neil Young, but a lot of people think it's dead on, but no, if you listen to it side by side, it isn't. But there's something about it that I get.

41:56 Speaker 8: Well that's what I was curious about, because I mean, it's one thing to get the tone, but there's another thing to actually play like him, right, because I don't know, I can't think of anybody else who plays like him, you know what I mean? And I don't even know how to maybe you know you probably do. I don't even know how to describe. Like if somebody were ask me, well, how does Neil Young play a guitar solo? I wouldn't know how to even describe it.

42:17 Speaker 12: There was a Rolling Stone interview or No. It was a review of one of his albums back in the day, you know. It was one of his rock tunes. I think it was like a hurricane, and the person writing the article said, it sounds like a down power line snapping off the ground, you know, like that, that sounds pretty good. And I found out later that he had been listening to a lot of John Coltrane, Okay, and it's very kind of anastic. Oh that that got into his head and got into his.

42:45 Speaker 10: Play you can hear that.

42:47 Speaker 12: Yeah, sure, absolutely, And I think his musical beings were all like that. We kind of absorbed different things and it comes out in our own little way, you know.

42:56 Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Is there a crowd favorite? Is there? Is there anything particular that you all play that you notice?

43:03 Speaker 10: Harvest Moon? They love Harvest Moon.

43:06 Speaker 9: No, they always ask for it, for sure.

43:10 Speaker 8: We don't always play that one now.

43:11 Speaker 9: But one one crowd favorite too is Cowgirl in the Sand.

43:15 Speaker 10: Yeah, because of the jam.

43:16 Speaker 9: Yeah, because of that jam, se.

43:19 Speaker 8: Man, we do play this okay, okay, Yeah.

43:22 Speaker 9: And then once in a while they'll get a treat. We'll do rocking in the Free World, and oh, everyone digs that.

43:28 Speaker 10: We've done that. Acoustic handle liqu that's right, really, yeah, and I love both of them. But yeah, that can go twenty minutes.

43:34 Speaker 8: Yeah really yeah.

43:35 Speaker 12: Yeah, there's the first thing about Neil because he's got those two versions out there, they're different from everybody knows.

43:43 Speaker 8: That's nowhere too.

43:44 Speaker 9: That's a popular one that we do.

43:45 Speaker 8: Yeah, oh, very cool, excellent, excellent, So we should remind people too as we get close to the top of the hour. So the show at the Rex, it's on the twenty eighth, March twenty eighth, yes, yeah, okay, And and it's just you, right, it's just Russ and never Care.

44:00 Speaker 10: No opener that we're aware of, because that has happened, so you know you've got an opener tonight.

44:06 Speaker 8: Yeah.

44:06 Speaker 12: And they can go to their website or they can go to our website and link over to it. Were never sleeps dot net?

44:12 Speaker 8: Okay?

44:13 Speaker 10: You know we're on Facebook? Are we on Instagram? I'm not just social media at all.

44:17 Speaker 8: It's a nice website by the way, too. And that might sound like a random compliment, but I'm a I'm a web designer, and so I noticed websites and my filmmaker or oh yeah, no, he did, he did a great job because a lot of a lot of musicians have terrible websites. So I commend you for good pro.

44:34 Speaker 10: You're a lack of a lot of trades. I've seen your bio on the radio site and elsewhere. You're up to a lot of cool stuff.

44:40 Speaker 9: Yeah.

44:42 Speaker 8: Yeah, I never sleep either. I I do have to ask you this because you mentioned it, because I love stories like this, he said. The thing about you, You were presented with an opener that you didn't know you were going to have at a show.

44:57 Speaker 10: That was recently thanks very for example. Really that wonderful room and Maynard Mass the Sectuary And.

45:05 Speaker 12: I'll apologize later, but it wasn't the end of the world. But no, you'd like to know about that one.

45:10 Speaker 10: Well yeah, yeah, and so would our patrons. Well yeah, I like to know, but.

45:16 Speaker 8: We do every now and then.

45:17 Speaker 12: We throw a curveball in there. I mean, we had Arena's daughters open. Yes, that was a lot of fun, you know.

45:24 Speaker 9: Yeah, please, she'll get to do She's actually sat in with the band before for me to.

45:29 Speaker 10: Carena one night and killed it.

45:31 Speaker 12: Yeah, great musicians. She's going to be graduating from Berkeley this year.

45:34 Speaker 9: Oh actually, yeah, she graduates in May from from Berkeley. And but yeah, she sits in for me from time to time. And oh yeah, well who is she?

45:42 Speaker 8: Let's give her a plug?

45:43 Speaker 9: Yeah, Elizabeth Valley, call her best and uh yeah, she does an excellent job. She plays around locally right now though it's she's real busy finishing up at Berkeley. She's got her first album release coming out in April called Sounder, and uh yeah, she's beautiful too.

46:00 Speaker 10: We just did something with the VPC.

46:02 Speaker 9: Yeah, she just played the Pink showcase at the VPC and she was one of the chosen soloists there. And she's got another showcase at Berkeley for George Martin and she's doing Linda Vonstadt's Moon so our Mistress, so wow, yeah it'll be a treat.

46:18 Speaker 8: So well, we'll have to get her on the show. We've had Chuck's son on the show. We need best daughter.

46:24 Speaker 10: Yeah, family guy, I love it.

46:27 Speaker 8: Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Uh do you have any any children who are musicians?

46:33 Speaker 12: They're not musicians?

46:34 Speaker 8: Okay, no, well, although actually I would like to get your filmmakers son on the show too, because that sounds interesting. Okay, yeah, yeah, we don't. We don't just do music. I mean we do mostly music, but but you know, I just love talking to creative people in general. You know.

46:46 Speaker 10: Just I have three kids, and only one of them got the bug the music, Pug. The other two are hockey players, probably not interviewing hockey.

46:53 Speaker 7: Yeah.

46:53 Speaker 8: I don't know anything about sports ball.

46:57 Speaker 9: My son doesn't play, but he loves it and he's listening to us today too, So.

47:02 Speaker 8: Good, very good. Hello, guess, Hello guests. All right, so we are about out of time. I do want to play one more thing from your YouTube though.

47:10 Speaker 10: Real quick. Before you do, I got to guest shout out to Sick Dude. Hell yeah, my son, Yes, and

47:17 Speaker 10: love both of your interviews here, and thanks for pointing us in this direction.

47:21 Speaker 8: Oh yeah, we love Sick Dude. Hell yeah, absolutely.

47:24 Speaker 10: It's the name death metal duo. They're nuts. They recorded in my basement and I had a blast doing it anyway.

47:31 Speaker 8: Sorry, Oh yeah, you were the engineer on that, right, correct? Yeah? Yeah, what was that? Have you ever done anything like that before, recorded anything like that before?

47:42 Speaker 10: Power du like that?

47:43 Speaker 4: No?

47:43 Speaker 10: No, no, it was the coolest thing too. I mean I have a home studio. Yeah, and we had to put both of Why am I blanking on the bass guitar player's name, I can't remember. See I'm old. I'm getting old.

47:59 Speaker 8: Anyway, if you meet so any musicians.

48:00 Speaker 10: He plays a four string bass through a guitar amp and a bass ampe by way of a little splitter that octaves it, so you'd swear you were hearing two guys that are just locked in.

48:11 Speaker 8: Oh yeah, yeah, right.

48:12 Speaker 10: You know what I'm talking about. And in order to pull that off and not just kill the overheads on the drum kit in my meager little space, we used this little cedar storage closet behind my studio, stuck them in there and ran a bunch of cables from there, and it worked like a charm. So I got to learn by way of their project that I have a lot more capability in that mega a little space than Yeah. Yeah, I loved my listening space. It's mostly like I got. I did some acoustic treatment and all that, so I can sort of believe what I'm hearing.

48:42 Speaker 10: Yeah, before we put it out there, and that was just such a fun project. It really was.

48:48 Speaker 8: Oh that's really cool.

48:49 Speaker 10: Yeah, they were very well prepared. Yeah to give them that.

48:53 Speaker 8: No, that's awesome, that's awesome. What should I play? From your YouTube. You got so much good stuff. Do you have any any suggestion you had a lot of good Uh? We played there, we looked on, we played the Darrel's House video. Uh, Rust Never Sleeps performs Motorcycle Mama.

49:09 Speaker 12: Do that one?

49:10 Speaker 8: That's that's also and that's also from uh live at Darryl's House.

49:14 Speaker 10: Yeah, another one featuring Rena on vocal.

49:17 Speaker 8: Yeah, very cool, very cool. I don't know that song. Whose song is that?

49:22 Speaker 12: Is that a Neil?

49:23 Speaker 8: That is a Neil song? I'll probably recognize it as soon as time.

49:26 Speaker 12: Album Okay, okay, originally sung by nicol Let Larson.

49:30 Speaker 8: Oh gotcha, gotcha? Russ Never Sleeps. Thank you all three of you very much, thanks for having so much. Absolutely this has been wonderful and we'll close out with this. This is their rendition of Motorcycle Mama Live at Darrel's House Club Russ Never Sleeps.

50:00 Speaker 2: The cycle Mama.

50:02 Speaker 18: Won't you lay your bits fip down a cycle mother? Won't you play your gate spike downs.

50:18 Speaker 16: Get trouble while I'm laying around or a cycle mama?

50:23 Speaker 2: Won't you lay it down that keep the food? I'm waiting a place.

50:56 Speaker 19: To say.

51:07 Speaker 18: All the cycle Mama want you lay your face spike down.

51:16 Speaker 2: Or the cycle mom, what you lay your face fid down?

51:24 Speaker 18: Always get your trouble when you break out a round.

51:28 Speaker 21: All the cycle mom, what you lay it down?

51:41 Speaker 16: Sat My mother to.

51:49 Speaker 7: This game out.

51:57 Speaker 2: Seeing your bosses already.

52:00 Speaker 7: That is that this is just the time a.

52:14 Speaker 2: Cycle funnel to lay off thanks, five down.

52:20 Speaker 6: Down, a cycle model.

52:24 Speaker 2: To lay on bas five down, oh cycle donne to play it down.