Ep. 209 - Life After Limited Warranty

What happens after the spotlight fades? 

On this episode of the Kindness Chronicles, John, Steve, and Jeff welcome former Limited Warranty lead guitarist Erik Newman, joining them from his off-grid ranch on Hawaii’s Big Island. Erik reflects on his remarkable journey—from learning guitar as a teenager at Bloomington Lincoln High School, to helping transform Limited Warranty from a local cover band into one of the Twin Cities’ most beloved original acts. He shares stories about recruiting the late Dale Goulet, whose voice helped define the band’s signature sound, winning Star Search, touring with legendary artists, and experiencing the whirlwind of sudden success. 

But this conversation goes far beyond the band’s glory days. Erik opens up about life after Limited Warranty: forming Holiday Ranch, stepping away from music, navigating divorce and remarriage, becoming a father, moving to Hawaii, and rediscovering his passion for songwriting with his current project, Space Hug. It’s an honest conversation about friendship, reinvention, gratitude, and the courage to embrace life’s unexpected chapters—proving that sometimes the most meaningful part of the journey begins after the applause fades. 

If you enjoy stories of resilience, kindness, and new beginnings, be sure to like, subscribe, and share this episode with someone who could use a little encouragement.

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:07

We're listening to the number two confidence podcast in the world, according to Fiat.

SPEAKER_04 0:21

Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where once again we hope to inject the world with the dose of the Minnesota kindness that it desperately needs. Back in the basement studio, Steve Brown is here. Hi Steve. Hey, how are you? We've got uh Jeff Hoffman back there uh on his drummer's chair magic, Jeff Hoffman where all the magic happens. KG is working tonight at Canterbury Park, uh, which I have a limited warranty story about that, but we do have a very special guest. I've been very excited about this for a while. Can we kill that music? Please, my god. Turn on the junk rock. I want to hear myself talk.

SPEAKER_09 0:56

I like Johnny Clueless.

SPEAKER_04 0:57

I do Johnny Clueless is big time. But Steve, why don't you introduce our guests? We've been anticipating this one for a while.

SPEAKER_05 1:03

Yes, yes, okay. And we've we've uh got a special connection with us here, too. So today's guest is someone whose name and band comes up on this show more often than he could ever imagine. Uh, if you spent any time around the Minnesota music scene in the late uh mid to late 80s, you'll probably remember limited warranty in all the energy that surrounded the band. Well, this man, Eric Newman, was the young man right smack in the dibble in the middle of all that energy. Also in the dibble. The dibble of the band's lead guitar player, uh, Eric Newman. What makes Eric's story so interesting isn't simply what happened during those years, it's everything that happened afterward. And we will get into all kinds of stuff about what happened in those years, but um because life doesn't always follow the path we imagine. Over the years, Eric has built a career, raised a family, navigated change, rediscovered love, moved halfway across the Pacific where he's calling us from, and found himself creating music again with his current project, Space Hug. Uh today he's with us live from Hawaii at his ranch to uh talk about all of it. Eric Newman, welcome to the kindest chronicle.

SPEAKER_07 2:15

Great to be here. Great to be here. Thank you. I didn't know anybody cared. Oh great to know. Of course we do, man.

SPEAKER_04 2:26

Well, I'll tell you if people of a certain age really do care, and I might be one of them. We all do, man. Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 2:33

So, Eric, you're you're in Hawaii calling us on a on a link there. What tell us what just area of Hawaii you are again? You told me, but I don't remember. I don't we don't I don't know the island that well or those islands. Yeah, there's several.

SPEAKER_07 2:45

Yeah, we're we're on the big island and uh we're on the east side, and uh it's the jungle side. It's I call it tropical Wisconsin. It's uh it's crazy jungle. Um you can kind of carve out a we've got an acre of land, we've carved it out, we've cleared it, we've done tons of work, put an orchard in, and try to get the grass to grow and not the weeds, just try to make it into something here.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

How long have you been in Hawaii?

SPEAKER_07 3:15

Yeah, and then we're uh three and a half years ago. Okay.

SPEAKER_05 3:20

Yeah, he explained it's kind of off the grid there. It's it's pretty austere in a way for being Hawaii, but yeah.

SPEAKER_07 3:27

Yeah, we have a catchment tank for the water, and then we got solar panels. We're kind of living it's we're on a we're on a gravel road out in the middle of nowhere, but it's gorgeous. It's just it's not the beach Hawaii that uh everyone imagines. So it's it's a different kind of it's the jungle Hawaii.

SPEAKER_05 3:43

Yeah. I want to hear all the differences between Minnesota and Hawaii in a bit, but I want to kind of start start here. Can we start with before Hawaii, before uh Space Hoggy New Band, um before adulthood complicated and and tangled to your life? You were a part of an amazing uh rise to fame band here in Minnesota called Limited Warranty. Um, John, we I don't know why it comes up, but maybe it's because glory days in the 80s and you know, high school days. And um, but it comes up a lot, and it was really uh an important part of us and a lot of our audience that was about our age and our 50s. And it's just it was a really cool thing to see you guys go and you guys are young guys. Um, tell us a little bit first, you know, how you got started in music, what were you, you know, how you got together with these guys and kind of how that kind of started.

SPEAKER_07 4:36

Yeah. Well, when I was in 10th grade, I wanted to be a football player, but I weighed about 145 pounds, and I figured, hey, I'm not gonna be able to do this because I was bouncing off guys. And I started playing guitar and I fell in love with guitar and I just wood shed it. And by my senior year, these guys from Lincoln, uh Lincoln High School in Bloomington, they asked me if I could be in their band. We were a cover band, and that was Jerry Brunskill, Paul Hartwig, Greg Soderbeard, three of the guys that went on to do Limited Warrant Limited Warrantine. So we were doing covers for a while, and then into college we started doing it too, and then we were like, why don't we write our own music? So we started writing our own songs and got out, became an original band, and it was right at the time where the the whole Minnesota music scene was exploding, and we kind of fell into it. So and Eric, what what high school did you go to? Uh Blooming Streets and Lincoln in Bloomington, you know, Blooming Street. Oh, you went to Lincoln as well.

SPEAKER_04 5:34

Okay, so you all went to Lincoln. Lincoln no longer exists. Yeah, now it's Kennedy now. No, it doesn't. No, you have Kennedy on one side of town, and then on the prestigious West Bloomington side, you have Jefferson.

SPEAKER_05 5:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 5:46

And Lincoln is now like a ceridian. I think uh it's a business there, but it's real close to Europolis, which is my favorite Euro place on 90th and Penn, but we won't talk about that.

SPEAKER_05 5:56

Um so between 10th grade and senior year, I mean that's that's a pretty quick learn of guitar. You must have really been shedding and really digging into who was the who was the influence when you got started and once you really found guitar?

SPEAKER_07 6:08

Uh I was listening to like Boston and I don't know, uh Clafton, just whatever I could get led Zeppelin. I would just sit in my basement and try to figure it out. Take took a few lessons and I was like hand scrawling out solos and trying to figure out how to play. I didn't really know exactly the I I I I played trumpet in high school, so I could do music, but I didn't really know the guitar. I was just kind of like feeling it out and reading the chord charts and stuff, and just I gotta I I couldn't have to be able to hear things on the radio and figure it out. So I was able to join that cover band uh in high school, and then we went on to become limited or how did you try find Dale?

SPEAKER_04 6:52

How did he make his way onto the team? Another football.

SPEAKER_07 6:55

We had a couple other guys. No, we had a couple guys uh in the band before him, and then they ended up leaving for whatever reasons, and uh we were looking for um a singer guitar player, and this guy who was doing sound for Sussman Lawrence, Dale is a sound engineer first, you know. Great sound engineer, and we just became friends with him because we uh limited. Mark used to open for Sussman Lawrence all the time. We're like he's like, Yeah, I play guitar, and I'm like, Well, you want to try out? So he played guitar and then can you sing? And then he sang, or just like dude, you sound like Daryl Hall. What's right, what's going on, you know? And he really didn't have like the the the ego or the personality to like want want to be a front guy, but we're like, You're the front guy.

SPEAKER_05 7:44

He's a technician that sings really well. That's cool. That's a cool combo.

SPEAKER_04 7:48

Well, it's kind of like you see.

SPEAKER_05 7:51

I can't even sing very well.

SPEAKER_04 7:53

Well, there is that.

SPEAKER_05 7:54

I just like to be up there, that's all.

SPEAKER_04 7:56

So I I get may I I have to take over this.

SPEAKER_05 7:58

Okay, well, I want to I want to talk about uh Okay, we're gonna do what you want it. No, no, just no. I just want to talk about, we have to mention any in case anyone that's listening doesn't really know, um, Star Search was very important to this band.

SPEAKER_00 8:11

They're from Minneapolis, Minnesota. They're going for win number four, and they're doing an original song, Let's Hear Limited Warranty.

SPEAKER_05 8:19

How did you go from being a cover band to being an original band, finding Dale, and then what's the path to Star Search? That's really that was fascinating to us, my neighborhood.

SPEAKER_07 8:28

Yeah, um, so we're playing in all the clubs, we're starting to get a little following, and um these uh guys came and auditioned, and they're like, Do you want to join? You know, come and audition for this thing called Star Search. We're like, Yeah, so we showed up at I don't even know where it was. We just showed up and sang a song for him, played a tune for him, or whatever. And they and then they called us back and said, You're gonna be on the show. So we flew out to LA, stayed in uh the Hyatt, so we were having fun there, and uh we did the show and we kept winning, and and then eventually won the whole thing.

SPEAKER_09 9:05

You were up against a band called Jailbait, as I remember, and beat that.

SPEAKER_00 9:09

This is Jailbait!

SPEAKER_07 9:11

Yes, Jailbait.

SPEAKER_00 9:13

That was the name of the band. Wow.

SPEAKER_07 9:15

Yeah. I think Dale were wore one of their wigs after we won the whole thing at the post party. Don't tell anybody. Oh well, speaking of jail. No, yeah, they were they were from New Jersey. They're from New Jersey, they're all uh all girl band, they're good, you know?

SPEAKER_04 9:31

So okay. But speaking of jail bait, I uh the reason I discovered limited warranty is it was probably in 85, 86, a group of very attractive girls that we went to high school with started talking about this band limited warranty. And I figured, okay, I better figure out what this limited warranty is all about. And all the girls did seem to know about the new warrant warranty. And uh I actually uh I was at Canterbury Downs and uh was was at the racetrack with a buddy of mine, and your drummer Jerry was at the at the track. And I don't know if you if and uh started talking to him, and I didn't recognize him as the drummer from the band, but all of a sudden he mentioned something about being the drummer for this band, and through some weird deal somehow I ended up being like a security guy with a couple of other football players at a concert that you guys did at the Metrodome.

SPEAKER_02 10:37

Like I literally with a brand new recording contract from Atlantic Records, limited warranty.

SPEAKER_04 10:46

I stood in front of the stage. I've never been so hot in my life. And you were how old? 80 six 17? 18? 18. Yeah. So 18, okay. And but it was nothing but jail-based. It was all young girls in this crowd, and it was like a paradise. And what I remember about Eric, and here's what I remember most about Eric Newman the four other guys all had these mullets. They all had the mullet cooking, and you had sort of the opposite of that. You had the the you know, the big pile of hair hanging down the front of it.

SPEAKER_07 11:21

The big poodle. The poodle. The poodle-doo. And I think you gotta have the poodle do that guy was the coolest.

SPEAKER_04 11:27

I think you were up there like with the trench coat on or something. I'm like, he's gotta be so hot. But that big poodle hair. But uh no, I I I know the words to every song.

SPEAKER_09 11:38

You guys represented our state really well, clean cut. I think that's part of the draw for a lot of people in Minnesota and they were good looking, and that's why the girls like to go.

SPEAKER_05 11:48

Well, I think they were from what my perspective was, it was you guys are marketed as the Minnesota's Duran Duran, basically. You're great looking guys playing a lot and pop music, yeah. Let's let Eric explain. We're all telling him.

SPEAKER_07 12:00

We got way into the we we were into the new wave that came over from Europe, you know, Echo and the Bunny. Uh you know, Duran Duran and fans like Flock of Seagulls and stuff like that. We're just like into the new thing, and uh there it was everyone was so kind of tired out of like disco and and rock, you know. They were just kind of like we need the kids wanted something new and fresh, so it was like bright clothes and poodle-doos, and I don't know, it was kind of weird, but it was fun. So I have a couple of we got right into it. I think some of the critics didn't like the fact that we were kind of like flowing along with that, but that's okay. We're we're just young kids having a good time.

SPEAKER_05 12:37

Well, that's my question. Um, about what age were you when you guys were uh after Star Search, when you started really kind of touring and kind of making stuff happen. Well, about what age were you? Um what range?

SPEAKER_07 12:48

I'm trying to think I was in my early twenties. Okay. So you're a young kid. I graduated from the U of M and I got on a plane the next week and flew to England to do our album. So I was so trying to finish school while I was doing uh doing all these gigs. It was crazy. So driving all this.

SPEAKER_04 13:08

What did you get a degree in?

SPEAKER_07 13:10

Uh broadcasting. Oh. You wouldn't know by how difficult it was to get this mic off.

SPEAKER_05 13:16

That's funny, Eric. I have a TV production degree as well. So I'm I was a TV production guy too, and didn't do really much with it, but that's what band guys do.

SPEAKER_07 13:23

Oh, back in the back in the day that I went, there was like an old nun that ran the thing, and it was like the soundboard had like huge pots, you know, toggle switches, you know, like tele scene telescenies, which are like basically like an overhead thing you laid a piece of plastic on. It was just pretty it was pretty worthless technology was so outdated, but I was like to this degree of work.

SPEAKER_04 13:51

You guys toured with a bunch of different uh, you know, heavy duty bands, artists. Um one of the things that from that era, tell us about that experience, and I always like to know who are the nicest people, the kindest people that uh, you know, quote unquote famous folks that you encountered during that run.

SPEAKER_07 14:12

Yeah, well, we were lucky enough to get signed by Bill Graham, you know, the famous Bill Graham out in San Francisco. Yeah. They just start sticking us on all these tours. We went with we opened for Tom Petty, Tears for Fears. Uh we toured with Eddie Money for like two and a half months. We played with Tina Turner, the Beach Boys. Uh the Beach Boys gig. We did we did like this one of those gigs where you're out in a field and they've got multiple sets of speakers set out at a hundred-yard interlace of so many people.

SPEAKER_05 14:44

Yeah, really.

SPEAKER_07 14:45

Yeah, the Tina Teener private dancer tour with Tina Turner, this big huge stadium gig. I'm kidding. Uh terrifying. You stand in front of your your little monitor and you're hearing what's in the next guy's like 40 feet down the stage, or something like that. Wow. You know, 15 minute sound checks, you know, like that's it. You got for dinner, get off stage, yeah. So did you get to that? Uh like Eddie Money uh not a lot, just like a little bit of like handshake, and they're usually off in their own thing. You know, like they'll bring you over to say hi to them. We but we hung out with Eddie Money quite a bit. He was such a nice guy. Um he didn't seem to like have that wall built up between him and the opening act. He just sit at the bar and have a beer with us and stuff afterwards.

SPEAKER_09 15:35

He was an ex-cop before becoming a a singer, but yeah, he seemed like a nice guy. I love his song, uh, I wanna go back.

SPEAKER_07 15:42

Yeah, no, he he is a good songwriter, great guy, and you know. Um yeah, most of the other ones we didn't really get to meet. A lot of times they were just kind of shuffle you away. Sure.

SPEAKER_09 15:54

You did meet little Richard though in that hotel when you were uh Star Search. Wasn't didn't he invite you into his room?

SPEAKER_07 16:03

Yeah, it was kind of it was a little bit funky actually. Um like one of his friends or whatever came up to our room after we were partying after one of one of the Star Search things, and he was like, Do you want to meet little Richard? And we're like, Yeah, so he invited us to it was like all dark and spooky in there. Jesus He had a picture of himself and he was like, Look, Prince stole my clothes because he had like uh the same outfit Prince wore or something. And we're like, hi, you know, and it it got too spooky, so he left. We did get to meet him got to meet him anyways. I mean, it was dark, it was like dimly lit. It seemed kind of kind of weird to me.

SPEAKER_05 16:44

So uh what a what was your take on this for from you guys 23-year-old guys? Uh you know you weren't mega famous, but you were thrown into this world of promotion and and huge you know crowds, and you were being expo exposed to all kinds of great you know opportunities. How did you guys handle that? How'd you how'd you deal with it? Um, did did it did you do did it work as in like the Beatles did it in that they got really famous and they had each other? It wasn't so crushing, it was just like a fun ride. Like what how how did you guys go through that? I'm really curious.

SPEAKER_07 17:20

Yeah, no, I think I think we all knew where we came from, you know, kind of central to learning to nothing special. And we kind of kept each other in check as far as egos goes, and and we just kind of it was like all kind of a dream. I mean, it was just like wow, um, I can't believe this has happened. But we worked so hard. I mean, we we we had our I remember our studio wall, we had like all these rejection letters on it from all these record labels because we were getting shopped and stuff after we won cigar search. And then uh we did this video, this is serious video where there was just thousands of girls and guys screaming, and uh Atlantic saw that signed us, but we were uh we felt lucky the whole time and we worked really hard. Um, we didn't have a lot of radio promotion, so we jumped in on bus and just went from radio station to radio station. Yeah, there it is. And uh yeah, and uh it was weird, even in Minnesota. Like I remember uh this is serious. We did the record and we brought it to LOL and KDW. We were playing at bars for like maybe a couple hundred people, and uh that record got on those stations so much it was like the number one requested song. And like the next gig we did, the next gig we did at like the kaboos, you you couldn't even get in there. It was the first line down the block, and it was just it was just weird. All of a sudden, people are grabbing at your clothes and doing like just it it was strange how we in the Twin Cities we got we kind of got jacked up uh on a pedestal just because of the the airplay, and then the rest of the world were just an opening act, so it's just kind of like you're trying to make hay and make some new fans, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:07

I and you and I talked a little bit in the pre-conversation. It was a different era, is when original music was just starting to be really encouraged, and it it continued for quite a while after that, but but originality was was key, and what wasn't really common was to get a local band to get on the radio. That was a huge deal, and I remember being very excited about that alone. And I think I I didn't even know if I had a band at that point, but I thought that was so cool, and it was everywhere those couple years, those couple summers 85, 86, 87, and the victory line after that was was big. But this is serious. I have a question. The video I was at a uh uh at a hotel event at Minneapolis, and did you shoot the video there?

SPEAKER_07 19:51

Because I was with you that was it was at the Radisson, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 19:55

Uh I was there.

SPEAKER_07 19:56

I think in Bloomington, yeah. Yeah, I was and I remember because it was in between like the time that that we were kind of just another van in town, so when the radio station was playing it, so we didn't really know who how many people were gonna show up. And we showed up and we got out, like we rented this limo because they wanted to shot. I remember and we got out and we just got mauled. Yep, we got like our clothes got torn off, the cameraman got knocked down. Like, if you look at the footage, it's like yeah, there was and uh and then we went into that place and we had to like hide, and then we did the video, and it was they were people were passing out because they're getting pushed on the stage. Jesus. It was just like, what? And we're like, what's going on? I mean, we just played like Duffies a couple weeks ago for 200 people, you know.

SPEAKER_05 20:43

What a crazy thing. And yes, I think you played the song like four times in a row, and it was just people were just crazy about it, even if you played it a million times, you shot it, and that was my first you know experience, like seeing a band shoot a video. It's like, oh, this is really cool. So yeah, I my friend Jenny Borgastad brought me there. She she wanted me to she knew all about the band.

SPEAKER_04 21:00

So I uh I'm in the I'm in the old people business, so I spend a lot of time what looking at the obituaries, and when I came across the fact that your bandmate Dale passed away a while back, that was uh that was a real eye opener. It's like, oh my god, we're getting old, you know. Are you still in contact with the other guys from the band?

SPEAKER_07 21:21

A little bit, not not as much as I probably should be. Um you're in Hawaii.

SPEAKER_05 21:26

We're a little far away.

SPEAKER_07 21:28

Yeah. Yeah, it's weird having moved here. It was a big decision to come here. Um and it has kind of cut off those ties. I still consider myself kind of a Minnesota. I'm always looking at Minnesota stuff and checking out the Vikings. I mean, I love uh the sports teams and my friends are all there. Like a lot of my friends are making some new friends here, but uh it's different. So why Hawaii? I've gotten divorced and I was going through a transition and I was uh playing guitar as this cover band and and I met my wife and like We started hanging out and now we got married and we're living in Bloomington and we're she's like, I always wanted to move, and I'm like, I always did too. I always wanted to get out of the snow. I loved the people in Minnesota, but winter was just grinding on me. I was like, I can't take it anymore. So by April when it's still snowing, I'm like, Yeah, I'm with you. And um I I was just kind of open to an adventure, you know, I kind of like kind of want to and she said, Do you want to move to Hawaii? Because I got a friend that lives there. One of one of our good friends here who lives like 10 blocks away from us. So um, and I was like, Yeah, let's do it, you know. And I just changed into everything. So I was like, you know, got married uh to a woman, had two kids, so I have two nine-year-olds, and that's really different. Yeah, so yeah, I'm tired.

SPEAKER_05 22:49

See the line soccer games, and yeah, you're busy now.

SPEAKER_07 22:55

Yeah, so there's soccer players, and yeah, I'm just living this completely different life. And I'm I was up for adventure. I mean, I was in a rock pan for 20 years, so you know, I kind of need change and things to happen to keep life exciting.

SPEAKER_04 23:11

No kidding. I had lunch today with a guy who moved out to Hawaii for work, and he had two uh twin sons, and his wife had them go to uh a casting call for the rebooted Hawaii 5.0. And the twins got so they were nine, I think, at the time. Wow, and they were Dano's son. You know, one was the guy that was on the and the other guy who would stood in with them. Yeah, and uh yeah, this kid's got an IMDB thing, and you know, yeah, it was very cool. So enough about that. I just thought you got nine-year-olds, maybe if there's a casting call, you can put them to work in Hawaii.

SPEAKER_05 23:50

Before we get into Space Halk, I want to I wanna I want to talk about that. So, what from Limited Warranty, what kind of yeah, what happened and the transition between that and your next band? And that's how I kind of entered into uh your world, how I found myself connected with you. So talk about that a little bit too.

SPEAKER_07 24:08

Well, limited warranty finally we kind of split up just because I don't know that the everything was changing and people wanted to do other stuff, and we just decided to move on and and uh but I started Holiday Ranch. I ended up getting a publishing deal with Paramount Paramount Pictures, and that that's how I met Steve. Um yeah, and I did Holiday Ranch for 10 years. I mean, we we played Steve knows what it's like with uh with the booking agency to put you on the road. We played every college you could imagine, everywhere, and uh lots of club gigs, but we kept going through singers and different players and finally kind of petered out, and then I I was kind of burned out on the whole thing because I was running it and I was like, I I I'm tired of doing all the work. Yeah, it's a lot of work. So I was like, I'm just gonna move on my with my life and try something else. I kind of just sold all my stuff, chilled out, and uh for about 10 years I got married to a previous wife and uh lived in St. Paul and I was like into my church that I was going to at the time, and I was into I took up painting and did painting and um just kind of living a a quiet St. Paul life for a while. Then I got the itch again to start playing and stuff. Uh eventually got divorced and then remarried and did space.

SPEAKER_09 25:27

Well, you're yeah, you're just you're changing gears and you didn't sell all your guitars though, Eric. You would have kept a guitar or two, right?

SPEAKER_07 25:33

You just probably oh no, I can't no, I I have too many guitars. Okay. I was collecting I was collecting them for a while, and I was just like, oh, now I've got more than an I half of half of them are in Minnesota. Still at my brother's and uh half of them are here.

SPEAKER_09 25:50

So there's a number of musicians I've heard will they take a hiatus a little bit. Just I need a break from it, and they'll they'll take up another creative act. So the the painting, I there's a guy, other drummer named Bill Bruford who did that for a while. He's really he was uh in yes for a long time, but I now he's drumming again, and I'm glad he is. But uh I get it.

SPEAKER_05 26:09

Sometimes you gotta take a break. Um, so you mentioned the college shows with Holiday Ranch. So I was working at St. Claus State for the catering group was my college job, one of my jobs. And you and Karen as a duo, Holiday Ranch duo, came and played, and I was like, wow, there wasn't a lot of people there, but I was like helping with uh catering, and I started talking to you guys, and I just was really impressed with the music and Karen's voice and your songs and your guitar playing. And I kind of started following you. Then I turned 21 and I went to the caboos and I saw you in my early days of you know getting into the bar and like, oh my god, I love this band. I'm I already had met them before. I knew who you were from Holiday Rant or from uh Limited Warranty. So I kind of followed and followed, and uh, in the same time I was forming my band, and I was I felt like I was ready to we were ready to move on to the Twin Cities, and uh I called Eric. I I think I found your number through a booking agency or something. Uh and I said I called them cold out of the blue. I said, you know, here's who I am and here's my band. I'm gonna send you a tape. Would you be interested, you know, if you like if you're interested in letting us open up for you? And uh and I it was just like a blank, I don't know, maybe I sent it a a letter or something. I don't know, but he called me at my parents' house. Oh no. And I was so excited to get a call from this guy saying, Yeah, you guys sound like you're good. Let's let's do it. That's nice. In my mind, you know, an opening spot was a big deal. It's it's really not. It's just like we just filled some space for him. But he didn't have to call me back. Yeah, let's let's try it. And man, we had such a great time. We brought all our people from St. Cloud to the to uh it was Ogera's Eric. One of the first places we played together. And then we we continued a few a few different times and played shows with them, and I've always just appreciated that chance he gave us to get out in front of some people, and it was it was great. So anyway, um Holiday Ranch was one of my favorites, and they still continued for a long time after that. I kept going on when I started playing more as well.

SPEAKER_09 28:07

But I saw him at Concordia Moorhead, and I saw him at uh the caboose as well. So though the the you guys were good. Seemed like you kind of latched on to uh female um vocalists ever since maybe it just matches really well your guitar playing.

SPEAKER_07 28:21

I think lyrically, like I was writing kind of stuff that was introspective, and and I thought, well, female voice might be better for that, you know, just a female uh touch, you know, to it or whatever.

SPEAKER_09 28:34

So um a little poetic.

SPEAKER_07 28:36

Yeah, yeah. And we had our close calls. I mean, we ended up uh we played it south by south. Last time we we had a showcase in New York, and we were really close to getting signed, and didn't happen because Gorbachev came into town, and the guy that was supposed to come see us didn't come because we want to see Gorbachev.

SPEAKER_05 28:52

Oh no. Oh, so it's such a ridiculous business. It's so ridiculous.

SPEAKER_07 28:57

Um, I know. It's just there's so much talent out there. It's like in New York we're seeing all these bands play, and it's like it's it's just flavor, whatever flavor they're looking for, I guess, or the song they hear or whatever.

SPEAKER_05 29:10

Right. And I I just feel like it's such a celebration, and uh, you gotta just appreciate the chance that you guys just your chance to get out there and open up for all these great bands and see the world with your Minnesota band original music. That's you won. You got to do that. That's that's really in the end, that's all that really matters, right? You got this amazing chance to do it, and you got to showcase your talents and your skills and see meet a lot of interesting people, even if it was you know, uh in the you know, what's his face in the dark, dark scary room.

SPEAKER_04 29:41

Is is Holiday Ranch on Spotify?

SPEAKER_07 29:45

Uh no, or just uh the the two albums are on uh two of the albums we did are on YouTube. You can just find them on the American PlayStation.

SPEAKER_04 29:53

Because I could tell you that I couldn't put them up there when limited warranty ended up on Spotify. My graduating class, there was a a text fury that went around saying limited warranty is finally on Spotify. So how many that's great? Yeah, it was very it yeah, it was it was such great recolle. I still have like a tape, a limited warranty tape, but I don't have a tape player. So uh it was nice to have you guys on Spotify.

SPEAKER_05 30:22

Tell us about your wife, your your your uh cohort and your new band, and tell us a little bit about her and and how you guys you know connect over music and how that works.

SPEAKER_07 30:33

Yeah, we were uh we were in a band together called Sawyer's Dream. It was kind of a funky 70s thing, and um I was just playing guitar. I just wanted to like get into something where I could play guitar, not song, right, and not be involved in the process.

SPEAKER_05 30:49

Yeah, just play, just enjoy it.

SPEAKER_07 30:51

Yeah, and it it was kind of but uh Adrian was one of the singers and we were friends, we just became friends. Um she was married, I was married, everybody was cool. And then sort of at the same time, we just both kind of were falling out of our marriages, and then we both got divorced separately, and then she was uh it was during COVID, I lost my job, and we were friends, we were talking, and she's like, I need someone to watch my kids when I'm working, I can pay you, you know. And I'm like, I need money because I just lost my job, and uh, so I was the manny, and sweet, it's like a movie. So I was the manny, and then it is and the and the kids love me, and uh you were nervous, I heard friendship just kept growing. Oh, yeah, it was like it was terrifying. I mean, uh they were three, I think. Oh, Jesus, three and a half, and I'm like downstairs with them, like, okay, let's do drumming, walk behind me, you know, and it's like I look at the clock, that took 15 minutes. Now what do I do? You know, it's like blocks. Yeah, it's by lunch by lunchtime, I was exhausted.

SPEAKER_08 32:03

Oh my god, these kids are insane.

SPEAKER_07 32:05

But over time, you know, I just I was Mr. Eric, and I would like to take him out in the yard and ride him on my back and like you know, play in the yard with them and stuff. And we just became close, you know, it was cool, and they looked forward to seeing me, and then we just kind of developed this relationship, and then we ended up getting married and and so cool. Moving into her house. I sold my house, and then we did the Hawaii thing. We actually bought the Hawaii house sight on scene with our friends just showing us pictures of it, and we for we had to wait two years to go there. Um and uh so we were renting it and just like praying it didn't get to burn down or something. And but it was like nice to have like and then we had this knowledge of when we were leaving, and I remember I was working at a flower distributor, like uh you know, I was a accounts receivable guy or whatever, and I just look at my Hawaii house every once in a while and go, I'm dang out of here.

SPEAKER_05 33:04

You had a goal.

SPEAKER_07 33:06

Yeah, yeah, and and we finally we got here. We drove across her and I drove all the way across the United States in our car with uh a cat and a dog. A cat the whole way for like five days, and then we flew across, came here, and it was a disaster. Like the yard was all full of of weeds and big trees and giant brasses growing. It took two years to get it into shape, you know. But uh now we're gonna sell down, so it's good.

SPEAKER_05 33:41

And and your wife is uh in the meeting event world, right? What what is her name? Adrian, right? Or Adrian?

SPEAKER_07 33:47

Adrian, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, and she uh she works in the uh the uh event industry for corporate corporations or whatever that bring over people here, so plans their whole their whole trip.

SPEAKER_05 34:03

I her and I share a lot of context. I'm I'm surprised I haven't come account. She's the meeting event people are hitting you, Steve. No, the meeting event people are some of my favorite people in the world. I I love I learned so much from the meeting event people that I worked with at Target and and other places. But anyway, that she I I'm sure she's uh an amazing person.

SPEAKER_07 34:22

It's one uh they say they say it's one of the most stressful jobs in the world, and after living with someone who does, I think it is.

SPEAKER_05 34:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 34:31

It's tough. I mean there's so many, so many details that you have to have uh taken care of. You screw something up, they they only notice when you do something wrong.

SPEAKER_05 34:41

So yeah. And so music scene. Let's talk about Minnesota versus Hawaii. You've explained it's it's not there's not a huge scene there, but you guys do play a little bit. You could you try to get some stuff going.

SPEAKER_07 34:52

Yeah, no, we're not playing live at all. Okay. Um I don't know. The the clubs here, it's I guess we could if we if we had more time, but it it's not really a good club scene as far as original music goes. Uh I feel like it's just uh it's more catered to tourists, so it's like cover bands.

SPEAKER_05 35:11

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:12

And then the places that we would play would probably be over in Kona, which is on the far side of the island. And it's it's a long drive across like the middle of Hawaii, Hawaii Island is it's barren. Yeah. And there's literally nothing. There's no gas stations, there's nothing. It's like if your car broke down at 3 30 in the morning, you're stuck in the middle with goats all around you. Oh Jesus. And uh and then Hilo here, it's it's you know, it's a nice sound during the day, but it's a little rough at night. So I don't know. I I I really don't need to like uh be at bars at two in the morning anymore at my age. I just we just enjoy rec right writing and recording is what we're doing. So that's great. And it's just just for the joy of it and just a side thing.

SPEAKER_04 35:59

And nothing good happens after midnight, especially in Hawaii, maybe. And especially when you're a a a man of a certain age, that's for for certain. No doubt about that. So uh just you've got nine-year-old, uh I'm assuming they're twins.

SPEAKER_07 36:16

Boy and a girl, yeah. Boy and a girl. Oh my gosh. Max and Vera.

SPEAKER_04 36:20

How fun. Yeah, you know, yeah. It's so easy, mostly fun, sometimes terror. Well, give it a couple of years, and that's a whole different level of fun. That's for for certain.

SPEAKER_07 36:31

Yeah. There's soccer maestros, those kids. Oh, are they? Oh, the island is they're just nuts about soccer here. Everybody plays soccer. Like Saturday, there's like 10 fields filled with soccer teams all day long. And uh the kids are way into it. They they practice three nights a week and games on Saturday, so it's like four nights a week in soccer.

SPEAKER_04 36:52

Wow. Well, it's World Cup fever, so now is a good time to be a soccer fan. In fact, real fun. Nirmana, the the the gal that was the au pair that lived with us for uh seven years, yeah, she's from Bosnia. And it sounds like Bosnia will be playing the United States in the next round of uh in the knockout round. So she uh she sent me a text and uh said good luck. It's gonna get some competitive round. Good luck, America. So see how that goes.

SPEAKER_05 37:18

So Eric, you you have uh you know you've really uh changed gear several times and you've persevered, all these went from some crazy experiences at a young age, and it kind of set you up for all these different and new experiences you've had. It sounds like you've really landing in a cool, unique challenge. You you're a guy that looks like you're up for you're up for challenges. I mean, especially just being a dad of some nine-year-olds or three-year-olds to nine-year-old, that's a lot of work right there. But um, if you were going to talk to 25-year-old Eric Newman, yeah, what would you that was you know, that's obviously height of fame, Eric Newman, but what would you tell him now? What you've experienced now, what would you tell him about life and any bit of advice to the younger self?

SPEAKER_07 38:15

Yeah, I don't know. I would just tell him to enjoy what the good things that happened to you. If you if you had the things like that, that's an amazing thing. And and we did enjoy it, so and then we did remember it. And um you still share that bond or you were a family for two years and so it's uh it's important to s just to to live in the moment, be thankful for the good things that you have, and and uh and if life gets gets boring or you're not happy, then it's up to you to change it. You need to you make changes, move to Hawaii, do something, you know. Yeah, find a way, find a way to live your life in a full way that you're happy.

SPEAKER_05 38:59

I love it. It takes courage to do that. So you bet. Kudos to you. And uh I'm so glad that we reconnected. This is so great. John, have you had uh if you're feeling good about finding finding you know these guys once again?

SPEAKER_04 39:12

Well, here's here's what I feel here's what I feel best about. I've got Eric's phone number now, and uh no, I'm TC. You remember that one time?

SPEAKER_07 39:22

You call me, that's fine, man. Feel free. If you want to chat, that's cool.

SPEAKER_09 39:26

Eric, Jeff, the producer back here. I have always loved your playing. You clearly worked hard at it. I love the responses that you were giving at the state fair.

SPEAKER_03 39:36

Eric, let's start with you. You're pretty much uh uh the leader of these guys. How did you go from being just a bunch of guys playing music to being a serious professional group?

SPEAKER_06 39:45

Well, first of all, none of us are really a leader. We're all a democracy. And uh I think that's the strength of our group is that we're all really close friends.

SPEAKER_09 39:54

I thought it was funny how some of the girls that stood up got super nervous. Who wants to jump in here? You're telling me you had a question.

SPEAKER_03 40:00

Did you you forgot your question? Jay, how did you get the how'd you get Go ahead, spit that right out there? Don't worry about this. I talked to them, they're nice guys, you don't need to be jealous.

SPEAKER_09 40:10

Jay, how'd you get the ideas right? Um, but you guys were always really gracious and nice to them. So it was just a I felt really good about all of you guys and uh being ambassadors of our state. So on behalf of I think a lot of the fans in Minnesota, I speak for them, and that's probably why your music is still popular today and why people are excited that it's on Spotify.

SPEAKER_07 40:36

Thanks. I I appreciate that a lot. Um, yeah, we never took our fans for granted. We knew that uh they were the reason that we were having success.

SPEAKER_04 40:45

I have one last I have one last hair-related question. Um what what kind you know, there was there was clearly a lot of product being used in in the hair. What would you guys like do your hair together, or would you all come out and like surprise each other? You know, uh we all try to outdo each other. Well, Dale, I always aspired to have Dale's hair because I wasn't cool enough to go with the uh with the poodle. But uh yeah, I did sincerely, uh, and you know, and then Jerry he let his go a little long, and uh, you know, but I'm I'm I'm only half kidding. Would you guys like no they the hair was a big deal back then?

SPEAKER_07 41:27

So it's like we had we all we all went to the same uh gal who cut her hair, and and we I just remember people would be like, I'm gonna try putting a purple stripe in my hair, you know, and then they'd do it and be like, oh no, go back and get fixed, you know. And uh yeah, no, and I think everyone had their own hair products, though.

SPEAKER_04 41:48

Okay.

SPEAKER_07 41:48

Mine was Humectris.

SPEAKER_04 41:50

Humectris, absolutely.

SPEAKER_07 41:52

Yes, it's like it's a natural conditioner. I I don't know if they make it anymore, but it worked good.

SPEAKER_05 41:58

It got the the curls and well you the hair was just a uh an extension of your personality. You were trying to, it's a signature, it's your signature. That's what was bigger than me to do. I I did the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 42:10

I swear to the 80s that I use two mattress in my hair. Yeah, 80s was about fashion. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 42:17

And the hair it was, yeah, to make it a statement. So and and you guys really did. It was uh what a great like well said, Jeff. It's exactly how I feel too easy.

SPEAKER_09 42:27

Well, and they're making positive music now. Like I watched this music video, taking a walk with their dog George, and they're they're on whatever bridge, but they're all in bright colors, and it's just that I miss that. They're having a great time.

SPEAKER_05 42:38

Yep. Well, just as now they just did that.

SPEAKER_09 42:41

Yeah, I know. But it's sort of bringing that back, that positivity.

SPEAKER_07 42:45

Bringing the 80s back, man. That's right. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_05 42:50

Well, we've taken uh a lot of your time. We really appreciate it. Eric, uh, best of luck to you. Let's stay in touch and uh we'd love to hear Space Hug, anything you got. We'll we'll play it, we'll talk about it, and we'll have maybe you and your wife on again at some point just to see how things are going.

SPEAKER_07 43:05

Absolutely appreciate it so much. Yeah, we can hear our stuff on Spotify, Space Hug. Okay, make it Space Hog if you're careful, not careful. Oh yeah, yeah, so all right.

SPEAKER_04 43:16

Thank you, Eric. Have a good one. Thank you very much. Best of luck. Good to see you guys. Excited to have your phone number.

SPEAKER_01 43:23

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