Ep 185 Southtown Soul & Groove Band

Southtown Soul & Groove is an intense, powerful Soul and Rhythm & Blues Band that is exciting audiences and fans at every performance. This 12-member band features both a driving rhythm section and a smokin’ horn section that are both made up of some of the finest musicians in the Chicago Metro area. Ray and Mike met had George and Vince in the studio to find out how this band got so horny.

Transcript

Coming to you from the studios at the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66. It's the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast Hey everybody, it's Ray the roadie and this is Hollywood Mike wishing everybody a happy Bourbon Wednesday Ray we got a bourbon win. Oh, we do have a bourbon Wednesday.

We do. Yes Yeah, we actually I'd like to wish I think I'd like to wish everybody Uh, I think about the time this is coming out. It's gonna be around Cinco de Mayo time Somewhere around there, so I happy Yeah, yeah, well, I guess we'll we'll have to have to find out if I'm wrong I'm wrong I mean, we you know, we do these in advance.

Yeah You got to understand we might you know Just in case we might have to do a tequila to just just to cover all these just we can cover bases But yes, it is bourbon Wednesday. Yeah, absolutely. If anybody would like to meet Ray the roadie and Hollywood Mike in person and Wednesday's we're right next door at our friends after the podcast Yeah, there's a place next door enjoying some nice person who doesn't spawn, you know taking us any sponsorships, or we're not gonna give their name Yeah, we're not gonna go But they do have some mighty fine bourbon, but they do have good cause of the two of us.

That's right We walked in there the first time there was Jim Beam behind that If we're gonna continue to come to this place every Wednesday, you gotta up the bourbon game We must we must and they did and they did good for them They got a relationship with Buffalo Trace and yeah, and then Wednesday's burger night Yeah a special on burger So people want to come and grab a burger before they come and see us and you know We do for you know for a nominal fee. We will give you an autograph Yeah Yeah, that means we have to pay them That's where I was going with that yeah for sure that's exactly right now I'm just gonna stick with the bourbon red meat That's double kill you. Yes, it will.

Yeah, so who we got in the studio tonight while tonight We got the South Town soul and grew South Vincent George how you guys doing? Great That sounds like 70 sexy than that 70 in like we should say very white very white. I was just out of town still never fine No, that's that's Lou Rawls How you doing tonight great, thank you, thank you for having us thanks for coming out absolute absolute pleasure No, we I walked in the door and realized that I already know Vince. Mm-hmm You know Vince is owner and proprietor of Smokey Joe's mm-hmm right out there in Crete beautiful downtown Crete Downtown Crete, Illinois a Cadillac groove is played there, and we played his daughter's wedding.

Yes, that's what I heard Yeah, and he came up and he rapped What the wedding gifts no no wrapped wrapped like you know you know like yeah, okay, yeah, that'd be beatbox But yeah, he came up, and it was the first time am I doing anything right tonight a let groove You're showing your age Maybe we shouldn't have any bourbon You're right While we're on this wedding thing yeah My band yeah back in the 70s played Vince's wedding. No way really yep Wow and what man was that in the 70s? I was called the stepbrothers back then Yep back in the 70s that makes sense you have to hire a band called stepbrothers. That's why you're you know that's right I guess you don't have to though because that's I mean they don't have to but people don't have bands at their weddings anymore Yeah, they don't they they absolutely don't and it's terrible some do some do when it's Cadillac groove.

We do that's right But my other daughter got married and had a I hate to admit it a DJ She had one of them. I should say yeah broke my heart. Yeah.

Yeah, you know, but they're artists in their own, right? Oh, yeah, they are DJs are artists. Yeah, they put up with a lot of shit. Just like Just just like sound engineers and bands do As long as they show up a good quality speakers Yeah, I hear when you see him they come out and they got the shirt the old sure vocal master from the 1960s Nothing against those but right not not nothing against those back in the 60s, but it's you know, it's 2024 Yes, you might need to service those a little bit or upgrade your stuff So so tell us a little bit about this band how this all come about this is gonna be very interesting to me Well, like I said, I was I was in the business, you know years ago Then I kind of got out of it about 1980 and went into health care and I retired recently from that But about two thousand not to interrupt you.

First of all, tell everybody who you are I'm the I guess I'm the co-leader with with Vince and I'm the drummer and do some vocals as well. Okay, so 2019 yeah, let me let me interrupt you. This is Vince So I want to when you ask who's what and how it started I kind of liken George to the Andy Griffith of the project that makes me the Barney fight of the project So I mean I do all the work Yeah, well so 2019, you know I was getting ready to retire and kind of see what I'm gonna do You know recently and I used to go to Vince's place all the time and see him and everything and you know He always talked about well, you know, I got a couple horn players in my band But I'd really like to maybe get something else going I saw I had this idea to to start this soul rhythm and blues band and Then cold it hit right and so 2020, you know, that was that went by the wayside And so finally in about 20 in 21, we started to work in his basement Okay, so we brought some players and you know, how do you find? 12 player or six horn players, you know that are gonna be steady and that are gonna be good And so we started in his basement in the end of 2021 December and then it kind of got morphed into more players Coming in and find some steady people and the next thing, you know, we all grew his basement So we started actually rehearsing at Smokey Joe's so we're kind of doing a Monday night like rehearsal band, you know So it was kind of interesting for the crowd because they can kind of see what it goes in to take and put the band Together, but it was it was a real challenge and then Vince.

I'll let you take it from there a little bit Yeah, well when we were doing the fourth take on Mustang Sally trying to get a horn part, right? We figured well, maybe the diners aren't quite digging it as much as it You know it could be it was actually a great concept people got to come out see how much work actually goes into putting a band together and For the most part it worked out real good but we had to bail out of that situation just because we were trying to fine-tune some of the parts and Like I say when you go through a part and you're playing it for the fourth time fifth time Somebody eating their cheeseburger pizzas like yeah. Okay. You got another song there, buddy So so then we brought it over to the guitar players basement and now big bigger spot, you know So we could accommodate everybody but but then you know and all the all the horn, you know, six horn players We have two trumpets.

We have a trombone. We have alto tenor and baritone saxophone and all those parts are written out. So It was that's kind of like he talks about being me being the Andy Griffith but I'm the one that handles all the arrangements and so with luck luckily I have a good contact in in New York that can get me a lot of these horn parts that are already scored for six Horns cuz you know, it's kind of difficult.

Otherwise a little bit. Yeah. Yeah, we have enough we have enough trouble with four They've got a lot of guys in their band.

They do they have a lot of you know what I'm gonna ask them What are they overcompensating for something? No, no, do you have a glockenspiel? Oh boy There it goes. Everybody. He's on an eternal quest to find a band with a glockenspiel I think we have a glockenspiel setting on the keyboard No, no, no, no, no, it has to be a glass has to be a glockenspiel.

Yeah. Yeah, we're gonna one day Hopefully somebody's listening in his podcast and they show up at a glockenspiel. Yeah.

Yeah, that'd be pretty interesting. Okay, carry on Yeah, no, I you know, I interject there. I know what you're talking about because my own band we rehearse in a In someone's establishment the place called the studio right and you know, she's she's not open At five o'clock on like Mondays and stuff she opens up late around Mondays It's kind of she reserves it kind of like the industry night I guess everybody kind of has a night they reserve as an industry night and she opens up the doors for us and and she's got a full stage and Backline and PA and the whole bit there All we have to do is show up with our guitars Keyboard player doesn't even have to bring a keyboard is gone and everything in the corner drums It's always there and we tell everybody we say hey you are about to hear a band rehearse Okay, this is not paid entertainment that this is okay.

You're not here to jump up and down and dance You can't if you want, but you're gonna hear us play the same song like over and over again We're trying to learn this stuff and they're like, okay. Yeah, that's pretty cool We would never ever do anything to them like play Mustang Sally It went over good in fact this coming Monday what you say this is you know, this podcast is kicked out later on But actually this Monday, we're doing a live practice there as well. Yeah.

Yeah, we took the leap of Getting there in your monitors. And so yeah, we want to have a rehearsal before the gig. How's that going for you? Well, we don't know you spent a lot of time getting ready for the gig A couple hours yesterday just learning this new board.

Yeah, it was it's amazing these digital boards now It is it is it is a it is a major adjustment. I was you know We started we made the switch several years ago But we did it mainly because God we were just tired of hauling all that shit around was I mean We've got like a 15-foot trailer just packed to begin with I mean the last thing we need to bring around is all these monitors But I'll tell you what people who've never tried it before you everybody needs to experience because it's it's an entirely different experience Oh, it was a game-changer for me at Tori. My daughter's wedding.

Yeah, that should that Cadillac. Oh, yeah, that's right I showed up to play the piano and I was gonna put you Brown-eyed girl and sing it and you guys and your keyboard player doc, right doc Yeah, doc was gracious enough to let me sit in uses a piano Anyway, so they go we don't have monitors. You got to have a in-ear monitor I'm like, ah crap, and I think I had some portable ones that weren't wired I didn't know what the hell I was doing.

So doc graciously loaned me his right I put those in And oh my gosh, what a it was it was shocking Yeah It really was and then so anyway, we got through we played the song and then of course I did the infamous rap song with Cadillac groove brought him brought him up into the I think that was a 1980s rap song So we we didn't quite get into the new millennial. But what was it? Was it um bust a move? Yes, it was it was bust a move So but that was but it was a it was a it was very shocking to hear myself with those Headphones and so, you know, yeah And you and I'll tell you what I think doc is partially deaf because when we did have You know monitors on the floor if I walked over to where he was standing the sound coming through that monitor was just Bleeding and he would always say I can't hear myself It's like you've got to be deaf so I can only imagine what it was like here That's one of the reasons why we did it too because the stage volume was just not tolerable anymore, right? So right right looking forward to that. We have five wedges out there and stuff But but anyway, the band is the band's coming along.

We're starting to get some gigs booked And of course, we're looking with it with a 12-piece band. We're not really playing you can't play bars There's not too many bars or venues that can afford a 12-piece band. In fact, Smokey Joe's can't even afford it So I play for nothing George doesn't take a check Joe the organ player doesn't Mike the singer doesn't we? Donate it to the rest of the guys, right? But yeah, but we got some we got some gigs coming up and starting to look pretty promising We're gonna quit our day jobs and join the rock and roll band and just write off in the Hollywood So it's all about they should be calling any minute now and make that movie that big documentary.

Oh, yes. Yeah. Yeah Let's you know us too.

Let's all hold our breath to see what happens Yeah, so when you guys get together and rehearse do you do all 12 of you get together or do you have like some guys it's Typically we have probably probably average 11. Okay, and I got usually person Monday nights I got one less alto sax player. That is He's a Therapist, so do you have you have three saxophone players? Yeah, so you got an alto tenor in a very and they double they could You know sure, of course.

Yeah, who you know, let's talk about who are these guys who are who are your saxophone players? Okay, I've got Derek Hinde lighter is our Alto sax player. He placed down he plays all of them Sure, but he's actually a 20-year veteran of the United States Air Force, but yeah Great player and then Chad Taylor is on playing tenor for us, but he plays them all as well even plays bassoon Yeah, but not a glock. I know And Chad has actually filled in for Cadillac.

Yeah Yes, great player and then on baritone sack Doug horn. Okay, Doug horn. He's got his own He's got a big band too.

He's got the the rhythm makers orchestra Okay, you play a lot, you know, it's kind of big band stuff So those are the saxophone players and then right now on lead trumpet we have Chuck or Ciro and then I Really how the youngest player in the group be 23 years old names Grant Nicholas got him out of all of that University Medical Music Program. Yeah, and he's he's working now. He's graduated, but he plays with us And he beat me out of the youngest band member, right? We always say he brings the average age of the group down about 25 years Yeah, and then trombone Johnny B. John Barbish is our trombone player Okay, so that's that that's the six horns and you have and and who would you call like the section leader? Is there one guy probably Chad? Okay.

Yeah, probably Chad. Yeah. Yeah, he kind of keeps him keeps him go saxophone player bassoon player He and I are friends on Facebook and I'm Fascinated by the pictures of him because you know, he he's pretty well known as a guy to send your bassoon to to heaven Yeah, he's a repair guy.

He's a bassoon. Yeah. In fact, there's very little very few of those around and oh, yeah Yeah, he's the guy.

Yeah, but we haven't we haven't worked the bassoon into the into the act Oh, you have to we will have to as our guitar player Scott Evans calls it the farting bedpost. Yeah I Think I've got a bit for him for Clarinets, he's gonna work the clarinet, but we haven't we haven't done that yet. I can just see it and I'm bassoon I mean, you've never heard that before I think we just call it the parting bedpost Okay, that's great Wow, that's and then on so on lead vocals we have Mike Vittori on bass guitar Jake Scampini and guitar, we have Chris Campini his father and George is the the infamous brainchild of this band on drums and I'm playing Piano the instrumental and then Joe Gardner playing organ So we got we got quite a bit covered Mike Vittori not playing drums, huh? He plays a couple, you know, I come out front on a couple and then he comes back and plays drums So we use those talents, you know that the midlife crisis guy, right? He's kind of like he's kind of like Carlo is a belly.

Yeah, he's at he's a midlife crisis. He plays with Well, I mean that's all tied together because mr. Lucky is is Kevin's band right and who's our Barry player, you know saxophone player yeah, so I mean it's just one big giant incestuous group of And we also do a song who is the song that he plays quite a bit of cowbell on We do Booker T and mg soul limbo so limbo So so Mike gets the chance to get the percussion going with the cowbell a very active cowbell Yeah, you know every once while you're getting to the horn players arrest, you know, right a rhythm section. Oh, right That's right.

So you play piano, but then you also have a guy that's a dedicated organ. Yes, or just yeah Wow, so so that's that's the twelve one guitarist or two one one guitarist. Yeah, but but that's that's unique as well Yeah, so six-piece horn section piano and organ and the truck and the other keyboard player also plays trombone, too Wow, it's like it's like Billy Joel's band Last time I last time I saw Billy Joel, that's what it was I mean, he was on piano and he had an organ player and he had all of his horns and yeah, it was just Incredible.

Oh, yeah. Wow. He's got Carl Fisher playing trumpet.

I think and in that band. Yeah, he's got her He's got a really a great band. Yeah So I guess back to my original question About the whole horn section are they holding, you know Like session rehearsals just them or just as everybody coming together and doing this all at one time They haven't been we've we've been just pretty much doing it all the time You know, I'm trying to you know in perfect world.

I'd love to bring them all together and pay them You know, but you know and a lot of them Do other jobs as well work with other bands or have other other gigs as well So you try to do at least one rehearsal a month, right and we bring everybody together But you know, I put the music together I get it all sent out to them in advance and say here's what we're gonna do and and You know, and then we take notes at every gig and then they say here's what we got to go over You know, here's what we we can do better and then that's that's how it goes and then it's it's coming along We've got you know, we now we got our website going. We got our Facebook page going We got some videos and audios on those those places on both those places So it's no come along and I can say this when the horns are on Which is almost all that which is usually all the time. Yeah, it is Absolutely powerful, right? It's phenomenal.

It is the arrangements are just rock solid and But they're just absolutely powerful And there's not a lot of bands like ours You know right in this in this area, you know, I can think of there's there's a couple of them It and ironically they all have the word groove in their name But that's okay, but I mean No, the dancing noodles aren't don't have groove, but they don't have a dummy They don't have a six-piece horn section not a six-piece. Yeah for the brass holes. Yeah, that's true the brass Brass holes the brass.

Yes. Yeah. Yeah, we call our guys the four hornsman at a funkpocalypse.

Absolutely. Yeah Well, we all got a name. So now now there's six guys are gonna be like, you know what we need a name Call us something Damnit We could have done it with less horns, but you know, we figured we're gonna do this We're going all out and just something about that sound, you know And then luckily I have the have access to the arrangements for six.

Yeah. Yeah have you ever taken a gig with less than 12 people just because We took a gig with five because the one person trombone player wasn't available or something We did we went ahead and did it with five, but I'm but you prefer to be I mean full band all the time There's there's no there's there's there's no like abbreviated version. No.

Yeah. Yeah, because it's not the same band It's not the same band. Yeah, we've experienced the same thing.

It's not that it's not the same band It's either get the whole band maybe minus one. Okay, or you don't get the band, you know, yeah, it's pretty simple Yeah, I think originally we talked about five horns, you know, two trumpets three saxes kind of tower power Instrumentation right, but you know, then of course the one trumpet there one trumpet doubles on on trombone, but then we Got one of our colleagues that John Barbish that work with tense and he wanted to join So he said we're going for six. Yeah.

Yeah, and he also drops off and does Harmonica a couple songs and he'd add some vocals in very animated great great great asset to the band. Yeah Yeah, well, you know, we need to put together our own little show like, you know Chicago and earth wind and fire go on tour. We need to do that man.

Yeah, let's go Yeah, that'd be a lot of fun. You know, really let's go stage is already set up All we got to do is add a couple microphones. That's right We see it seems like we share a couple of the horn players so what the hell We're gonna economize right there.

We're gonna save money would be like Chuck Berry, you know, it's got the little house band going Yeah, that's a good idea. Yeah Interesting. So who comes up with your set list and picks the music.

That's me, but it's all you that's me. Yeah This is what we're doing Pretty much, I mean, you know, you got to have somebody that kind of Controls that otherwise, you know how it is If you don't it'd be all over the place now people give suggestions and that but we're trying to you know Kind of keep a certain genre to occasionally will go, you know, like the last couple of weeks in September We do we do one Jimmy Buffett tongue as a tribute to him, you know, because he died Okay, so but typically it's mostly soul rhythm and blues, you know, Eddie Floyd Wilson Pickett Tom Jones Joe Cocker Tower of Power or James Brown that kind of stuff and he's flowing That kind of stuff. Yeah, right Yeah, I looked at your at your promo video and stuff as you guys were going through all the different types of music Yeah, a lot of overlap between you know What we do with that and I absolutely love I love this sound that you guys had though because you guys have a little bit more of like a Like a Motown or Stax.

Yeah kind of a sound to you Whereas I think Cadillac groove goes into a little bit more of like a Southern rock like when Skinner toured with a horn section We have a little bit more sound like that, but I love that Chicago I guess it's a Chicago sound that you guys have and When you guys play those those Blues Brothers numbers to have all of those horns Oh my god, it sounded like I was listening to the movie It was it's kind of funny because you know with Mike Vittori when he's singing out front He said, you know when we usually open with can't turn you loose, you know that Blues Brothers opener thing, right? And he said he gets to watch the people's eyes and they just go like this when they hear when they see that you don't Hear that and it's true. It's it's you can't hear all the time. So who's the Who's the ham? Every band has one guy.

That's just like, okay Yeah Right, yeah, yeah, I mean I you know When it when I play with my other band the world famous smoking Joe's which that one's no longer going But it's always animated and you know Getting into it. This George has insisted that we were, you know, when we play these gigs We're wearing a jacket of some sort, you know a collared sport jacket Well, of course I go out and get the Liberace sequence jacket because you know I can't it can't be anything normal. God forbid.

I put patches on the elbows and show up with my pipe or something But you know so so that and when we do we do a James Brown song that one of the couple songs that I sing Digging on James Brown. I grabbed though. I got a wireless mic.

I go out in the audience and I'm interacting Doing some of that learning from I don't know what's that guy's name from Cadillac Mike But Anyway, yeah, so I go out and do a lot of that but and then John Barbish a very animated When he's very good at twirling his trombone, believe it or not one of our elder statesman But but one of our elder statesman's but he in the band, but he is absolutely animated. He's dancing around Spinning the trombone like George said he's when he plays a harp He gets on that thing and you're like, you know, how old is this guy? And I mean, he's just very animated Yeah, and then super talented. Yeah news knows it as you get more comfortable each other like the horn players They're starting to put moves and now you know, yeah, you know nothing super Strict yet, but it's coming along.

Yeah, it takes time. Yeah. Yeah.

Well the stick develops as you as you write as you play Yeah, that's right. And yeah, you know it It happens so naturally that people think it's rehearsed, but no it isn't that's just that you know being us that's it It's right. It feels much better when it's just not unrehearsed.

Right, right is you I mean I'm asking these kind of questions because it's very rare that we have somebody on The the podcast where they've got this many people on stage You've got a lot of moving parts and a lot of moving pieces in the whole bit You know, you've got one person that you would consider to be your lead singer. That's that's that's Mike Mike Mike So is so would he also be would you also consider him to be the front man? Or is he more like kind of the guy that kind of sits in the background and just provides the vocals? No, no, he would be the front man. But like Vince, you know, Vince will take the lead sometimes and you know for Interacting with the crowd and announcing tunes and answer so but Mike's really the Mike's the front man, right? Right.

And who's the who's the person that always I guess surprises you during a performance where everybody turns and goes. Holy shit I can't believe he just did that and it's I think it's I think it's probably the mic I mean Chris the guitar player is guitar solos Yeah, you know, they're always a waving their hats at him to try to cool him down Pretty hot, you know, right, right, right. You're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast I'm Christy from crime cave podcast I've had a huge interest in true crime since my days of watching marathons have snapped back in the mid 90s I needed an outlet to talk about the cases that have haunted me for a very long time With each episode under 20 minutes.

I shine a light on some of the most bizarre cases in the last 50 years Join me in the crime cave Hi, I'm Rick Anthony I'd like to thank my radio brothers Ray the roadie and Hollywood Mike for allowing me to tell you about my podcast The someone you should know podcast we spotlight musicians authors and interesting people and we like to say we're making a difference One artist at a time the podcast is heard twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays and you could check it out on your favorite streaming platforms and on the web at someone you should know podcast Calm that's the someone you should know podcast with me Rick Anthony making a difference one artist at a time So, how did this all come about? So when you when you first started, you know, you talk about this is your dream You always wanted to do this was Vince your first phone call This is my first. Well, I don't think was a phone call I think was a meeting because we would you know, I live really close to Smoky Joe's and he's there a lot Right as long as I was the first First second. I thought oh my god.

No. No, he was the first. I'm an afterthought No, he was the first and again and we probably couldn't have done it without him because because he owns the venue He has the place.

Yeah, so, you know, hey, there's your there's your talent compensator, right? All things being the same. We're gonna pick the guitar player with the band. Yes But he really wanted to do it.

So that was yeah, that was the main thing Yeah, I wanted to do it and we have similar we have similar tastes in the music the you know I think everybody in the band is really loving the the the music selection the genre that we're doing It's just so much fun. And you know even we notice with the audiences all ages seem to relate to the songs Even we're doing some Tom a couple of Tom Jones songs But they're all orchestrated out and they're just so flippin powerful and And everybody seems to because they're upbeat songs. Everybody's everybody's really digging it They're really having fun.

And of course as you guys know being musicians when the crowds into it, it just it just Lights a fire. It just gets everything going the ball just keeps rolling poor Tom Jones, you know every Everybody makes fun of Tom Jones Tom Jones, there's all kinds of videos out on the internet right now Just making fun of Tom Jones, but what an entertainer and any I bet you anytime you play one of those Tom Jones songs It's like everybody just kind of goes nuts. Yeah, they don't they don't they don't realize that he some of they did some of these Songs, so, you know, I could do Vena.

So that was shocking blue or we'll do a kiss. That was Prince, you know Yeah, right So we do those and and you know, and and I remember I first got exposed to him really big time I was in Las Vegas with a friend of mine and and He took his mom and he wanted to get her front row It didn't I can't remember which hotel it was but it got us on the front row for Tom Jones and he had a five Piece horn section. Yeah, and it just blew me away.

Yeah, so and that's that's the kind of arrangements We have is right in his songs the songs that we're doing when I'm not a I'm the I'm kind of like the Stepchild of the band. I'm the only one that doesn't read music I mean if it says George is always coming out with the music and he's going here take this sheet music and I'm looking at it I turn it upside down. I turn it back George it doesn't make sense.

But if it says, you know the letter a I know what three notes to hit at one time But the rest of it, I don't know But anyway when when he hands out this music for when we do these so I'm learning everything My point is I'm learning everything from here You know, I just play it and just learn it and so when I'm listening to it the Tom Jones stuff the bands that this guy Oh, yes. Oh my lord. They are just absolute killer killer players And it's just a powerful sound that he brings across In a million years.

Did I ever think at this point in my career that I'd be playing Tom Jones? Somebody probably would have told me that I go. Huh? Well, I ain't playing no damn Tom Jones. Are you kidding me? Yeah, but when we play the songs, it's just it's just so powerful, right? Right.

Yeah. Yeah, I love that stuff It's you know, we talk about quite often about guys like Tom Jones and Barry Manilow We talked about a lot and then all those bands from what are considered to be the yacht rock genre nowadays Fantastic bands. Oh, yeah, fantastic bands.

I've actually seen like Barry Manilow in concert and same thing, you know You listen to his recordings and you're like, okay, it's piano heavy and it's kind of mellow No, but you go there and you see him in concert and yet it's like how many people are on that stage? You know, you can't you can't play a song like cool, you know, Copacabana With a trio. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's it's amazing the bands that these guys would put together because I think they're also like You know the guys that we just mentioned 60s was like their heyday right and into the 70s when it was all about that soul type kind of music the blue-eyed soul I mean you can't you can't do it without without a killer band behind you so and they got that and they got the big Budget, they don't Tom Jones doesn't have to go out and forfeit his pay to the horn players and the guitar and bass player I'm gonna play for nothing. That's me. You know, we're gonna try and book him at Smokey Joe's one time But we'll see if we can afford.

Yeah Don't know if he can do it. Yeah, he might have to give up his pay and we'll just pay the band to see how That works out. Yeah.

Yeah, I don't know. You might be able to get Tom Jones for some ribs, though I mean, yeah, I thought you were tired. We'll play in ribs.

I don't know. That's why that's why he's working for ribs now He can't make too much money because it messes up his Social Security, I think yeah, I thought I heard that I thought I thought I heard he came down with some ailment Did he really and that he was he was retiring wasn't performing anymore? There's there's this hilarious thing you go home and and just and just watch it. It's it's Tom Jones singing Disturbed so, you know the song that you know down with the sickness by disturbed down with the scream at the beginning of it Somebody synced it up perfectly for Tom Opens his mouth and he does his head shake a thing and then he goes right into this Tom Jones Type kind of funky dance that goes beat for beat with down with the sickness by disturbed and it's the funniest thing You'll ever see in your life.

I swear to God you'll rewind you watch it ten times before you stop watching it That's going on. That's going on the queue It's hilarious, it's hilarious. It really is.

So so where you guys look in the play other than Smokey Joe's Looking to get into some, you know, obviously festivals because here again 12-piece band plus sound man you know, we're not going to be able to there's not too many bars that could afford to pay us and So we're looking to do some festivals. Maybe some casino work. I don't know if we can maybe we'll play at the Reggae this a nice little tour of the basement down over here.

Maybe we can get in down over here and Come and make some noise down there sometime. Yeah shoot a music video down there You can do all kinds of stuff down there. I'm telling you Hollywood's gonna be calling me That's a video done that Hollywood contracts gonna be coming.

They're gonna want to do a documentary. Yeah We've got a few outdoor things. We've been doing we did last year.

We did South Chicago Heights Summer concert series. We're going back there this year on August 3rd, right having us back. So I guess that's a good sign That's good.

That's good. And then we did Creek Country Christmas in Crete on the December That was that one went over. Well, hopefully we'll be back there and then we did That was in the big tent.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, big tent. I bought a new top hat and everything for that gig It was great big old feather in it It looked like he worked for Santa Claus Yeah, and then we did acorn take on fast and creep. Yeah.

So yeah, so a few things coming along and Mm-hmm. Yeah looking at doing things like weddings and stuff like that or well, I don't We've talked about it I'm not sure if we're quite ready for a wedding right now because of that because of the type certain kind of music you have To do I mean, we did talk about Our trombone player Johnny beat Johnny B. He's also a DJ Oh, so we talked about you know, we could do both we could because we've had some people come in to see us That's a hey, we'd love to have you play our wedding Yeah, and then but you know to do all the the shtick and sort of stuff, you know We'd have the DJ right, right, but you know, we did learn sweet Caroline, so we got that down We're ready. I think we're wedding ready.

We got that song. What else do you need? Yeah Okay, yeah, you know what though all the weddings that we've done we've never been asked to do that No, I think that's over and done with we've never had to do the chicken dance We've never had to do the hokey pokey or they'll let me call you sweetheart and all other Stuff I guess it all depends on how you approach it because we usually tell him right off the bat is like look That stuff does not come out of us. Yeah, you wouldn't believe us But I I used to do the hokey pokey all the time.

Yeah, and then I turned myself around. Yeah Well nowadays if they watch you they pretty much know what you do Right, that's good. I didn't know where he was going.

Yeah Yeah, but you guys you know you you do I got to say Cadillac groove You guys do cater to special requests because when I requested I talked to Tom about doing the rap song Bust movies going. I don't know Vince. I don't know that that we don't know that one I go.

Well, it's pretty easy. Just key of E and blah blah blah and I didn't even know you guys were gonna do it Yeah, right when I finished Brown Eyed Girls saying it and played it. I'm like thanking you guys.

Hey, thank you What are you you in fact you came up to you go Vince. Where you going? You're grabbing me by the arm. You got one more to do and I go.

Yeah, what song you doing the rap song? Oh, yeah, so, you know see you guys Yeah, he wasn't gonna do it. I was like, oh no. No, we're doing this because you have no you have no idea How long I rehearsed the? Somebody had to do it and it wasn't gonna be Scott Evans with his you Over there.

I practiced that in the shower so many times. My my wife was ready to kill me Yeah, I was just crazy I'll have to apologize But you did but you nailed it Mike you nailed it we did it we did it no I was that was a fun time. It was a good wedding man.

What a small world I'm so glad you guys are here doing this. This is yeah, this is awesome. And thank you again We really appreciate the opportunity because we're you know, we're a newer BAM.

We're trying to get the word out We're trying to get some promotion So hopefully everybody out in podcast land is gonna be listening to this and just yeah Beating down the website for Southtown soul and groove calm and that's what it is Southtown soul and groove calm I've got it on the card right here. Oh, look at that You guys talk about it a little bit. So you guys have your website, right have our website We actually just got just going to January.

So again, you know, we're like I say we're still in our infancy and So we've asked January Yeah This just January, yep And then we also have a Facebook page and you can either go straight to the Facebook page or you can there's a link on The website that thank you to Facebook page and you saw we have some videos on there we have our schedule on their pictures about the band and and It's it's coming along still, you know, we're making it better. But And that was something I actually did the website and Chad does the Facebook page. Okay, okay Yeah, so I got to give him a shout out there and then all those videos and stuff We have some friends that I used to work with Back on my old hospital days and they have their own video company now vid cat creative Megan and sue the Megan's actually right here out of Lockport and they come and do our video stuff But I said maybe we might have to get him over here Vince and do something here.

Yeah again, nice, you know and and then The The Facebook page we try to you know keep that up to date as much as we can and starting to get a lot of followers now and a lot of likes and so it's Face Facebook is still the dominant social media platform is so much better than than Twitter What are the crazy kids in Instagram? Yeah. Yeah, or whatever it is It's it's it's so much better because you can do all the invites and everything Make sure you put the links and stuff to your website and it's on there because I I searched I saw a lot of videos Online about you guys. There's only two on your website though.

Oh, so so so go and scour through YouTube Yeah, tube is where I found your promo video. I think people are gonna really like that where you guys are actually talking It's on the website. Now.

That's is it? Okay. Yeah, it's on that was a really nice video. I actually like that Yes, that was yeah that that group that Megan and sue they did that for us and okay We said we shot that at Smoky Joe's and see we keep moving on up.

We run from Smoky Joe's video Now here we are at the rock and roll museum here and Joliet doing a podcast with you guys and speaking of which, you know We mentioned the room downstairs that you guys have a little and I'm not even sure I understand all about it through playing But we did well, you know, we got here a little bit early and ray graciously Let us walk around took us through the museum. This place is gonna be awesome. Yeah, absolutely Incredible what a wonderful what a wonderful location in a you know, just to Immortalize the rock and roll history of the area.

Yeah, and there's there's really nothing like it around here I've been to the Musicians Hall of Fame down in Nashville and I've been to Memphis a couple other ones in New Orleans But you know around here this is this is gonna be an absolute gem and I guess it's not open yet I'll tell you what anybody out there listening when the doors do get open up come on in and they really have some neat stuff here Well, you never know by the time this comes out it might They took this curtain down finally last week I mean this was blocked off and that's the third floor which is going to be our second floor, which is going to be a Performance. No, no you the third the third floor is gonna be performance. Second floor is gonna be more exhibits.

Oh, wow Okay. Wow, so it's two above us two above Wow, that's pretty amazing. Yeah, so how come you only took us to the basement here? What's up with that? You know Yeah, that's that's hard hat area, okay, no, he's allowed up there So you guys so you guys what I'm getting at you guys play a lot at Smokey Joe's you spent a lot of time there So you must know the owner maybe maybe he would he would like to do some Sponsorship Talk to the guy.

Yeah, tell him that we're looking for sponsors and we'd be happy to talk to him and see if he'd be interested That's right. Yeah, that'd be a good idea. We'd at least like to be able to buy guitar strings everyone, right? Exactly Or a battery for my mouse here Next time I'll bring batteries with Me Something out for us to come and play here some night Might consider it.

No, definitely. We definitely would because you know what over there at Smokey Joe's We've worked with a lot of musicians a lot of bands And so it's all you know, the good thing is we're all pulling out, you know, we're all pulling a wagon together It seems like you know, we've got a good relationship with the Cadillac groove and five guys named Book them and Jose and those guys it it's just you know, it's just a good camaraderie thing and then they have a location like this Yes, we would gladly support and really good food. Yeah, they do Tell him I mean we we've had lunch there a number of times and one time we actually had breakfast because we went to go Golf and it was raining.

Ah, so we said we're not golfing. Let's go get breakfast because Jose said they got breakfast there I'm like really got breakfast. Yeah.

Sure. It was really good Thank you, and you know that rain dance those rain dance lessons pay off This gets a little slow, you know, I just go in the back and I go I got to put my headdress on and do a little Rain dance over here. We got a drum up some business.

So we get the golfers that come in. Yeah, that's right That's right. I know here's kind of off-the-wall question anything regarding original music No Somebody that's writing something.

Yeah Not at this time. Not yet. Yeah, let's let's say not yet because that that could come we're you know We've been just trying to build our Repertoire and just trying to get didn't did I say that word right repertoire? Yeah one of those Yeah, so we're trying to build up the set list.

That's even that's even easier So we're trying to build up the set list and refine it we get you know We play a few songs and we'll see what goes over what doesn't you know, something's kind of like It's kind of like a farting church We doubt that and we'll weed out some of the weaker songs So that's what we're doing right now but I could see you know sometime in the future getting to doing some original songs because There's several of us that that write songs. The other thing we're doing right now. Is that you know anytime is Audience sees a six-piece horn section.

They'll go. How about Chicago? How about blood sweat and tears, right? How about you know, so, you know, we've got I've got a whole book of those charts. I've got a big Chicago medley I've got you know blood sweat and tears stuff It just takes a while to get to it.

Yeah, and some of them are not real simple You know, they're tough and you know The guy's gonna come in and read them and then you know I got to get uptight and and so it does take some time You know, I have found that the typical people that will go out and see your band Are not the typical people looking for just a four-piece rock band someplace, you know Right in some bar somewhere if they're going out to see you They're making the effort because they want to see the horns They want to hear that kind of music and oh a lot of our setlist is exactly that it comes from people and they're they're Thinking of off-the-wall stuff things that I don't wake up in the morning and think of they'll say hey try this song Try that song anything. Oh my god. Yeah, I've completely forgot about that band or this or whatever.

Yeah We do we do what you got Ides of March vehicle we have that one, you know We do those typical horn tunes, you know And then but we still just have to keep adding more because like I said, we're still still in infancy, right? Right, but the neat thing is when we do play them hearing that horn section live, right? It's just it's just so powerful, right? How much? How big of a setlist yet now two three hours or something? Yeah, we've got we've got three really good sets and probably a few more, you know And we try to when we play we try to play at least an hour hour and 15 minutes set, right? Okay, so, you know, we don't do the typical 40 minutes 45 minutes We'll go our hour and 15 hour and 20 and then take a little short break and then another one then usually the time we get They for doing like in his place. We do to like 8 to 11 and then you know time that last set comes around There's not a whole lot of it's not a full set because it's time to go right Like but last last gig we played over, you know, we even played over so, you know We you know, I've done that before too and I can't tell you how many you know Managers have come up to us and said, you know You really got to keep your sets in an hour because you know, we got to have time to sell beer Yeah You know We used to do the same thing We would go like an hour and 15 hour and 20 and then the next one would be like an hour and in the final set Would be like 40 minutes and they're like like no no, no, no, no, you're cutting into our peak beer selling time here You know, it's amazing that you should say that when I when I was back in the 70s I was working in this show band that one was called a touch of brass There was four guys, but we all played horns and everything We were up in Wisconsin and we were playing this resort and we it was a show band So it was like, you know You play a dinner set then you do an actual show and the show was an hour and 10 minutes long and the owners came And say hey, you know what? They're not there. You're mesmerized by you guys.

They're not drinking You gotta you gotta cut it. Yeah, because it's you know, they're not drinking and so I understand it Yeah, or you got to jump them up and down so much that they start sweating and they're thirsty. Yeah Yeah See as you get older though, you won't have to worry and you'll learn that Mike as you get older You'll be like, well, you know what? I can't play much.

I can't play much more than an hour because it's a potty break I gotta go I can't stay up here no more. I'm gonna be my pants. Oh Yeah, that happens to you.

Yeah, you'll see it comes. Yeah, it's well, you know, you know what I do You know what I do to combat that what's that? Depends? That'll work All right, I think we ready to get out of here I think so I think this is going south it's time It's It's time to drink bourbon, right? Yes, it is. Yeah, it's Wednesday bourbons waiting Well, we want to thank our guests for coming out tonight.

It was a pleasure. Oh, thank you Get to know the band last appreciate it. Thank you.

See you soon. Thank you guys We really appreciate the opportunity and good luck with the museum here. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you Well, there you have it the south side soul kings south Soul and groove soul and groove. There are no Kings.

No Kings. No Kings I combined the name of like three different bands. You did you did I Did there was but that sounds very interesting.

That's a big band. That is a huge. That's a huge man Well people in the band Wow people in a sound guy.

Yeah, but you know, I Totally get everything that they were talking. Sure. Sure.

I can identify with With a large you kind of like a junior version of them. I guess so, but we've been around longer though That's true. That's true Boy, that's great that I didn't know Vince was gonna was gonna be here.

Yeah, I got some history with him It was it was fun to talk to him. So that was very cool. They're waiting for us next door Yeah, they are urban Wednesday.

So with that we're going to leave you this evening Thanks once again for listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast Where you can always catch our show all I shouldn't say always also on the road to rock org radio Station put out by the museum will be featured every Monday and Thursday evening at 7 p.m One of our podcasts will be played. So check us out there, too If you want otherwise, we'll see you guys next week The rock and roll Chicago podcast is edited by Paul Martin theme song courtesy of M&R Rush The rock and roll Chicago podcast does not own the rights to any of the music heard on the show The music is used to promote the guests that are featured