Ep 168 Whiskey Road

Whiskey Road has been bringing their unique blend of rock and country to stages thruout the Midwest since 1999. Dubbed "Crossroads" rock, Whiskey Road combines the best Classic, Southern, and Country rock hits and adds their special blend of vocal harmonies and musical prowess to create a truly special and entertaining set of music. The band prides itself on mixing arena style rock with current and classic country hits! Ray and Mike met the band at the Crossroads of Rte 66 and Cass to get their story.

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. Hi Hollywood Mike.

How are you? I'm doing fantastic. How you feeling? I'm doing wonderful. It's a holiday season.

Yeah, you are you staying? Well, I am staying Well, everybody is frickin sick. Whatever this new viruses that's going around. Yeah, even even dogs are dying from some sort of respiratory thing I don't go near my dog.

I put him outside. I don't go near him. I draw the line at dogs Yeah, that pisses me off.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, there's they're dropping like flies they say but my dog doesn't get near any other one So yeah, well, that's good.

That's good No the last few gigs that I've Played and been at it's like I get a phone call or something the next day so-and-so is sick So and so is sick and I got the same symptoms. How you feeling? You're feeling good, though I'm feeling fine washing my hands and staying away from everybody, which is the way I like it That's true darkroom music you should always wash your hands, yeah, that's true brush your teeth, you know, yeah, I did I was Yeah, was it like lavender or something soap? No, no, it smells like whiskey. Actually There's something we should Honest honest to goodness.

It is my wife actually bought it for me from I think Bath and Body Works Wow men's cologne It's it's called bourbon. So there we go. He smells like like bourbon whiskey.

You guys know something about that Yeah, yeah, well, you know Let's let's go down this road here and speak to these people and talk and find out a little bit about Whiskey Road About whiskey hands together everybody. Hello there. How's it going folks? So Whiskey Road here we have three ladies and one gentleman and Why don't we just kind of like go down the road like we're in kindergarten and tell everybody who you are and what you do All right.

My name is Liv. I'm one of the singers been at it in here for about six years and Otherwise much longer lovingly and with whiskey rude side note. We found out that we know each other.

I know Amazing yes small world auditioned for a band that I was in years ago gosh It was actually for two bands because I was one of the original members of Chasing Amy and you auditioned for that band But but I think I was gone when you auditioned for that band because the the reason I left is because the original singer whose Name was Amy left and then they went through a bunch of different Singers and when Amy left I left all right, but forget Hannah was a different situation we were thinking about adding a female singer and we just never did because it was and it was kind of weird when We did have one singer come out with us one time and then just like the hate emails that we got with that's like so Weird just the four you guys make forget Hannah. Where'd she come from? I was like, oh wow. That's cuz like so mean That's exactly what it was and and and it just so happens that episode 88.

Yes was chasing Amy here on the podcast No kidding. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah, it's only a Dave here So do you remember what did we ever determine like what year that was? It had to be at over six years ago because I was kind of band shopping before I found whiskey It was definitely over six years ago. That's how long I've been in Canada. I grew.

Yeah. Yeah Wow, maybe was like eight years ago You guys didn't want to go and grab a couple of drinks while they're I bet you did. Yeah, that was from that era.

That's true. Yeah. Yeah.

Okay. Well, we'll talk about that later Yeah My name is Dana Rose, I've been with the band for 12 years I lost track Yeah, um, yes and whiskey years are like dog years, so I am I don't know Yeah, I'm one of the older Vets that's in the band. Yeah, I guess if you want to say that yeah age because it's whiskey.

It's aged. Yes Or mellowed mellowed that's that's it All right, all right, I'm Nicole Hodge I am the baby of the group I just joined in About February did my first show in March. I think so.

Yeah, and we've been going strong since all right And I'm Mike Lavery. I'm the founder of the group and I've been doing this since 99 my whiskey road 1999 yeah, we started so 25 years next year and last century they started. Yeah, no kidding.

Wow They're second century already and believe it or not believe it or not I have actually heard of you guys and it and not be not like recently within the past few years I'm talking about I've known of you guys since about Probably around 2000 or 2001 because I think this whole thing didn't it start didn't you guys try to be an original band at first? Or something like that. We were all original. Yeah 99 we did a we've self-produced an album.

Okay, and uh, we put that out You know, we got a little support we had some college radio support and we went and played around town with it Um, you know, we probably spent about a year and a half Doing something with it. And then we started a whole nother album and then we kind of lost interest so that's 99 to about 2004 a couple guitar as a couple bass players, you know and decided to Take a little a little hiatus not long just a small hiatus and then I put something new back together I tried to get the original guys back together for a 10-year anniversary and in 2009 okay, and uh, we got together we started playing, you know, a lot of the old songs I don't know. We really don't like each other much anymore So that kind of fizzled and I said, you know what I've got Got a lot of time invested in this name and this brand and so I started bringing in some just really good players from Around the round town and so let's go out and play some fests right now to do that You got to play some covers and right, you know, we had already as whiskey road, you know, the original act our songs were You know kind of a hard rock country.

We were kind of Southern rocky kind of deal We had already covered like Montgomery Gentry's hillbilly shoes and stuff like this It was a good natural progression for me to kind of start heading this way, right, right I I think you guys decided that you really didn't like each other anyone. It's I think I decided I really didn't like them But I mean did you did you disband originally because of that or you just got tired of it no, no, it's just uh, You know, I think just life started getting in the way. We've been recording.

We had a bunch of songs. We've probably got another 20 unrecorded songs that we had fleshed out and right just kind of sitting there on you know, cassette tapes and You know, this guy was getting ready to go do a new job He was gonna be available on this evenings and uh, you know There was a problem between these two members of the band It just got to the point where we stopped, you know, I think we stopped coming to practices, right? I'm not sure if we still have that rehearsal studio. It might actually still be there.

I've been doing Yeah candy company on Harlem and Oh Wait Harlem in two nights. Yeah, the Ferrara We used to have a rehearsal spot there at the Ferrara in the Ferrara pan building I don't know if it was their building or it was the old building next to their building But somebody had rehab like five floors of that building. Okay, okay, and we had like I don't know like a 30 by 40 We like 1,200 square feet It was like They went home smelling like cinnamon though, yeah atomic fireballs Well that and the atomic fireballs I went to I went to college at UIC which was right over there Yeah, and and driving into the city every morning So they didn't live there you knew what they were making at the candy company and you can always you always knew when they were making the atomic fireballs because the entire place smelled like The 290 smelled like cinnamon as opposed to gasoline and gunpowder everything else.

Yeah, right Now, you know that happens all the time, you know You're playing a band with a bunch of guys and you break up and you decide a few years later We're gonna get together and we're gonna play again And like I said life gets in the way and then you sit around one day and you're thinking to yourself Yeah, when did this guy become a douchebag? I Think the Original music thing was probably the hardest pill to swallow because we spent five years Right trying to do original music in Chicago and from 99 to 2004 was just not a good time for that Right, right, you know that that had come and gone Yeah, we put you know, you know and that's all that cash in the 80s and that well And that's kind of funny because that's also a time period where got country bars in the Chicago area We're popping up everywhere. You had Cadillac ranch and you had doomus walkers and you had Whiskey River and and What's the place up north? There's the places up I'm gonna say it's like around Algonquin or something like that. Is it Sun Sunday? Or is it Mundelein yeah, it's still there Yeah, yes I well I know it's been there since that since that time because I was I got called one night to play in a cover band had no Idea the name of the band or whatever and we ended up opening up for a Laurie Morgan show And that was and that poster still hanging in the bathroom of that on that place So I know it's been there for a long time.

It's a great venue. They got a lot of good events there Yeah, right, right, right, but if you You want to throw a song on to give an idea of what we're talking about when we say original country hard rock Yeah, we'll put some we'll put some in during the by you lover would be like that. That was kind of where we were going and That's the one I know when I listen to nobody was going with us Today no, we'll put it on because this it gets edited.

Yeah, you know, we got Pauly say hi Pauly everybody No, but that is the that's one of the songs that I listened to when I was just researching and Looking up what you guys are doing now was was that one so and and actually liked it Yeah, and when was that one when was that recorded 2000 2000. Okay, so that one's been around a while, but you know, it still has it still has What what I mean, I didn't know when it was from but that song Has the sound that's becoming popular now again nowadays. It had a good riff.

Yeah Yeah You can throw you can throw Chris Stapleton into that that and I really I think he has a lot to do with the fact That now we've got this genre where you is it country? Is it blues? Is it rock? Is it southern rock? What the heck is it? There's a lot of crossover success. And I think that song actually had that you Give it a shot again We've opened for Same Somebody Cory Marks. We got to open for him across the street here at the Forge Okay so they asked us to put us, you know good 50 minutes together and we took a few of the originals back out dusting them off And right up there and you know filled it in with the devil went down to Georgia and hillbilly shoes We brought the originals back for your anniversary show, right? We did a 20th anniversary show.

We actually got all the douchebags back together Myself included they seem to have softened a little bit. Okay. Yeah Nothing worse than a soft douchebag You know the current band and a bunch of alumni guys that have been in and out of the band You know, we've had some really cool dudes in the bands over the years Great guitarist named Evan Pinter.

Check him out. Devin pincher calm. He's a local Chicago guy.

He's doing a lot of studio work He's you know in Michigan working with a band called the Michigan Rattlers, I think Angelo Barbera was our bass player for a while. That guy was in the doors. He was Robbie Krieger's bass player Oh, yes, and he's just getting ready to release I think next month Check him out.

Angelo Barbera is releasing a new album. I think he's got Alex Lifeson and Robbie Krieger both Oh, wow on the album. No kidding.

So he's here in Chicago Kevin Florian, he was a great just a Now I know Kevin, you know, Kevin. Why do I know that name? He's he was a young energetic guy. He was Schooled so he spent a lot of time.

He was a you know master's degree out of Eastern. I think okay You know all the chops, you know all of the Credentials so he came in he was like, you know, he's like a whirlwind. Yeah, Mike.

I think you're mistaken I think you're thinking about Myron Florian from the Lawrence Welk show the accordion guy I think that's the guy you said you liked, you know, that could be it. That's From the Lawrence Welk show. Yeah, I think I think I was about three, you know, you could still watch it More like negative three for Lawrence Welk Yeah, I don't know 64 was what the end of that one, right? Oh, was it? Yeah, I think I went a little later Later into the 60s.

There's a couple specials. Yeah, okay. I was born in 1970.

So Then you saw the reruns So you guys have a lot more people in your band that are not here tonight Why don't you who are those folks? We do so my longtime partner in crime Jay Streso. We've been together since 87 Wearing those leather pants you and me were talking. Yeah earlier not the same leather pants No, we didn't have a lot of money.

So it was probably the same the same. Yeah, it's a pleasure Thank you. See these guys backstage flipping a coin up.

You got a word a hot 87 so he's an original 99 guy and then on drums we got Brian irons who's been with us since 2016 I believe About a year before you have before me We got on the other guitar Chris Wilson who is the owner of the Academy of Arts and Music in Westmont? over on Ogden Avenue Okay teacher Musician I mean he's a composer. He's you see how he does it all he's great We've got Scott Williams on bass. He's been with the rock star rodeo.

I think he was with the remedy for a while He's been around. Yeah You got Randy Amundsen on keyboards No as we call 2.0 2.0 Yeah, we're missing That's every position yeah, yeah Bob We're we're currently Kind of backfilling where we're adding some extra positions So we're we're currently looking for a guy for Chris's position on the guitar Because we've already got for next year I think we got about 26 shows already booked we got to showcase that sprawl this year And we got room for another 30 or something and with nine people in the band it gets pretty tough So we're trying to get a couple competent people, you know in place so that we can just keep Looking those shows right you have to have an understudy for everybody and a band that's a red You know before Nicole joined we went for many years. It was just the three of us, okay And I said, okay, I'm gonna I'm gonna add one other person so that way when lives not available days I know we'll have someone but once we all started singing together was like well Let's just do as much of this as we can and then when someone's not here Someone will step down and we'll fill it in right, right.

Yeah, but we love the harmonies too much like So and so if one of you can't make it do you just go with three or do you just keep it that way Keep it simple. Yeah, so the thing about that is that since I'm the newest I Get the pleasure of learning everybody's part and making up my own So I'm I'm the additional fourth part on top of all the chords and then if lives not here I'm live and if Dana's not here, I'm Dana, right? So I do a lot of flipping around there You're also the one that just decides, you know what? I don't want to do this gig tonight. I'm gonna leave They know what they're When Nick was fresh too, it was like, okay Well, if we have a no Dana show like I've sung with Dana longer I guess I'll pretend to be Dana and you be me.

Yeah a little convoluted for a little bit Yeah, it's certainly better with all of us Definitely. Yes. Yeah, I don't think I said Bob's last name.

It's Bob Lynch I did say he did say Bob. Yeah, but it's Bob Lynch That's good, so you guys were warming up a little bit earlier with an acapella song that was sounding pretty good I think you guys should do that. Yeah.

All right. We'll be right. We'll be right back with that Yeah, 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.com. That's the someone you should know podcast with me Rick Anthony making a difference one artist at a time one two three four One thing I know no matter where I go I keep my heart and soul in the boondocks I can feel that muddy water running through my veins I can hear that lullaby of a midnight train When it sings to me and it sounds familiar I feel no shame, I'm proud of where I came from I was born and raised in the boondocks One thing I know no matter where I go I keep my heart and soul in the boondocks And I can taste that honeysuckle and it's still so sweet Though it grows wild on the banks down in old Campris When it calls to me like a warm wind blow away I feel no shame, I'm proud of where I came from I was born and raised in the boondocks One thing I know no matter where I go I keep my heart and soul in the boondocks They brought their instruments with them They did Wow We didn't see them walk in with guitars We said hey they didn't bring their instruments I was wrong They did They brought their instruments That was awesome That was fantastic That really was Wow We have a new mixing board here Our old one had pre-programmed sounds You would have had applause No This new one doesn't have anything in it yet Well I should say So I actually found Whiskey Road because they played at my favorite bar And then I cornered Live afterwards But Boondocks was one of my favorite songs that they did Well yeah Heck yeah So what bar was this? Saddle Up Oh yeah In Aurora Yeah in Aurora That's one I forgot about We're there like three times a year Yeah and that's been a country bar for a long time as well Heck yeah They're with Cadillac So you just kind of walked up to Live and said hey I'm your new singer No she goes oh my god you were so good I loved you and I'm a singer so like that means something I'm like oh you're a singer huh? And you know we had enough whiskey it was a good time and we She was like yeah right everybody's a singer But Nicole had the chops to back it up so she added me on Snapchat So she was hired The rest is history Were you even looking for another singer? No You just figured what the heck It was very spontaneous Well and we talked about the kind of again fleshing out all of it We're like alright you know Yeah sometimes that's the best way to do it So how long between the ambush to actually being a member of the band? I mean truly not long a couple weeks maybe Months So I think it was about a year ago so maybe late November Couple months That I tracked you down after that gig I like the verbatim Cause it sounds so violent Yeah but we exchanged information I think I finally sent you a video of myself singing Cowboy Casanova acapella in a stairwell And now that's my solo I think that's the name of the next original song Acapella in a stairwell Right? Yeah That'd be good But that's not your other song It's your song Her go-to What's the go-to? She brought this one to me and I was like no way And then she's like no no we gotta do it You'll like it I'm like no I don't think we will She's like it's a Lady Gaga song It's absolutely not gonna happen A Lady Gaga song okay She said no no you're gonna dig it So it was shallow Oh okay So it's not really Lady Gaga I mean I guess so but it's She's somebody else in that movie Right right right And that person I liked Her music yeah Don't worry I think Lady Gaga's doing just fine Lady Gaga Lady Gaga if you're listening I'm sorry So before you muscled your way into this band What were you doing? I'm a teacher I was teaching kindergarten at the time I hadn't done any music since like high school Or freshman year of college But I missed it a lot I mean I didn't go up to live with the intention Of trying to join the band It just kind of happened I just thought she was so talented That I had to compliment her And then you know You just proved something that I say all the time Gigs become 100% better When a group of teachers show up Teachers If you go to a gig Or you go to a party Or you go wherever And teachers show up I don't know there's something about Just a table full of teachers Because they drink Nobody drinks like teachers Nobody drinks like teachers They're so repressed Oh I'd like to differ with that When we hear When we hear there's When we hear there's teachers in the audience We're just like where? We need to know where they are They need to be targeted Because that's going to make the show Don't worry they'll tell you They're always wooing They will not be subtle You know that's exactly right They will tell you They will tell you Because they always come up Oh my god you guys are so awesome We're just out here My girlfriends are drinking Oh we're all teachers It always comes out Oh you are Teachers night out So isn't that But The Shallows Wasn't that more of a collaboration Between Lady Gaga and Lucas Nelson? Bradley Cooper Well yeah Well he sang it But I think the writer was Lucas Nelson Lucas Nelson did a lot of music for that movie Yeah Like the song that Bradley Cooper sings The hit that he has That was written by Lucas Nelson There you have it He's actually talented And then I just thought Okay great I didn't put two and two together Somebody told me Oh the guy's name is Lucas Nelson Then like two weeks later I found out it's Willie's son Because I saw a video I saw a video of him in concert And it was for Willie's birthday And Lucas comes out with this giant joint Like the size of a Cuban cigar And he's smoking a joint on stage With his old man But that was You sure it wasn't Ricky Nelson? It wasn't Ricky Nelson Okay No it wasn't Or the Nelson boys That's right Gunnar and Matthew So can you do that whole part Because I'll tell you what There's that part where you know Karaoke queens They're like Oh I want to do the shallows Right And then you get to that vocal solo In the middle of it And it's usually that point in time Where you see the look on somebody's face Where they're like Oh shit I didn't realize that I had to sing this part too So you got the whole vocal She absolutely She never had that look on her face I think that's what I sold him with Yeah? Hell yeah I think we need to get her to sing it Yeah I'd be happy to Yeah can you do it? Sure Let's do this Yeah Is that the right key? Alright Wow That's some power I think the glass cracked Wow Channel Gillette would be impressed Any formal musical training at all? Or just like high school chorus? Well so I did do high school chorus But it was at a pretty high caliber So I was doing private classical vocal lessons Every week As well as My choir was like two hours long And then I did vocal jazz And girls acapella And musical theater Like everything on top of everything all the time And that was kind of what I did Always Excellent What about you ladies? Any vocal training or anything like that? What were you doing I guess prior to this? But you've been in the band the longest Yeah I actually started late in life I took vocal lessons With an opera teacher for five years Wow But yeah I started I'm not going to say holding But yeah I did So She's not Lawrence Welk old No No No Gosh no But yeah so that's pretty much the extent of mine Did you decide okay opera's not for me? I mean Oh yeah no She didn't steer me that way I told her it's going to be rock Okay gotcha But it just so happened that she was an opera singer Who was also working as a teacher And did you Actually the blues I actually started Old Town School of Folk One of my other teachers She's like why don't you just You know Start doing some You know Little shows and that kind of thing And so I did And then after I liked it so much I thought I'm going to join a band So yeah Good good for you And what band was that? Well it wasn't this band But yeah It was Those Who Shall Not Be Named Yeah we don't name bands but Okay Okay alright we won't do that We won't do that So yeah like an X Yeah So And where were you prior to Forget Hannah? Well I mean I was in college So basically my I've never had any explicit vocal training My folks have always been musicians My folks met when my mom auditioned To sing for my dad's band in the 80s So music Singing All of that's always been part of the childhood Piano all that So Theater and Et cetera et cetera So yeah I graduated college I'm like yeah Now's the time I can be just like my folks Be all cool So I was just searching spaces on Band mix And trying to find some stuff And I actually got duped into joining Whiskey Road Because I was told I was invited to a karaoke night Which of course My love And then he's like Oh no you know Just it was the old guitar player He's like actually Why don't you just come to this practice space instead Oh There you go So this is the only band you've been with No that doesn't sound creepy at all Yeah Well yeah For real for sure I did some stuff in college All that good stuff But Yeah Whiskey has definitely Helped season me for sure I was a lot more green at the top Right And Now I feel like I know my stuff a little bit Right And do you play any Any instruments in the band Are you just I'm a hack I can You're a singer I can bang on a few keys I can strum a few chords And that's it Right Right Right So you guys So it's four singers across the front And you got your five musicians in the back Correct And you guys are always They never have to worry about singing or anything Because you've got Four of you across the front there No They don't have to worry about it But we do use them in You know Certain songs We get Try to get that You know That big crowd vocal going Friends in all places Yeah Sometimes we shenanigan around And let them sing It's a Gretchen Wilson song Yeah Oh yeah, yeah Brian and Jay have a song Yeah, Brian and Jay each do a lead So We usually like to heckle them actively While doing so It's just Everybody can sing Right You know I think we just haven't gotten Some of the other guys Probably should have a lead Here or there And we just haven't gotten to them yet So Right Because you didn't have all of the singers When you first formed Back in 99 No, no We started off with just The two guitars, bass, drums And me Right Yeah Two of the guys sang So they were kind of like the Actually three of them sang And we had a bit of a You know Background vocal there But As we were recording the album Just a little game I realized We didn't have enough Of a backing vocal So we Found an old friend of mine Who had been telling me at work That she was Doing karaoke That Wendy Wendy Sherbondy Yeah So She said Yeah, I do karaoke night You know And I Oh, you sing And she said Oh, yeah I sing I karaoke So we went and checked her out Karaoke Oh, she sings Alright So we brought her to the studio And I sang her lines to her And I said Just do what I do But do it better That's what she did So And by the time we got done Recording the The thing In Oaklawn there At Speed of Sound Studios Wendy was Full-time member of the band We gave her I think three Three or four leads To do throughout the set And It was fun It was great Right, right And We learned a lot Learned a lot about harmony During those periods So when I got ready to do this thing Years later I was like I know what I wanted Right You know, I wanted Skinner meets the Eagles Meets Aerosmith Meets Zach Brown Right, right All of that In that genre there Now would you Consider yourself to be The lead singer Or is everything Split up evenly? I'm kind of like The ringmaster Okay Yeah I think The leads are split up Pretty good here Boy, that's nice We're looking at doing We're currently looking At putting together A non-mic show So You know Oh, really? Called the Whiskey Sisters Yeah, the Whiskey Sisters Oh, wow Queens of country, right? True Queens of country So I'd be able to Show up, drink Smile You know Wave a lot You know Enjoy this thing That I've been Pushing along Like, you know An old broken cart For the last twenty-something years Right, right Interesting Boy, that That is interesting Just so the three of you And you just go hang out And drink Yeah Yeah, maybe do a Maybe do a duet Okay You know, if I get called up Like, hey, Mike You know We deign to have you On our stage Right, right A celeb song All right, make it a cameo You are captain of the ship After all That's right I am I have a captain's hat I've got a janitor's mop I've got it all Oh, you do some Captain Antonio then Hey Hey, hey, hey Get me started They already did Lady Gaga Yeah, right We did Lady Gaga Only one Listen, I think we're the only band We might be the only band in the world That on any given night You can hear Sweet Emotion And Islands in the Stream In the same set Wow Yeah So Well, you might as well Throw in some ABBA then You got that It's been discussed We have discussed it For sure Wow, no kidding So before we ask you the I guess the traditional Types of closing Questions Is there anything else You can sing, Boris? Probably I mean, sure We do, carry on We could do Ain't Much Left to Me We could do You know some Blackberry Smoke? Yeah, we do They're like my favorite I like them too I do We sang Ain't Much Left to Me On WGN On WGN On WGN, yeah We were playing Belmont Sheffield Fest You happen to know What key that's in? I don't actually Let's see here I was listening to it On the radio I'm guessing it's A minor D minor Something like that We'll be right back Yeah You're listening to The Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast Well, my fall from grace Was a sight to see Good turned to bad And bad turned to misery I found out what it is And what it's not And all I asked for Sure ain't what I got Well, I been rained on Rolled out and put up wet Danced with the devil Till I'm in debt Took all I got And there ain't much left of me I been knocked out Chugged out and left for dead Barely held together By a few old threads And I'm still here There ain't much left to see, no Well, I'm still holding on And there ain't much left of me Awesome You know, I've never heard that song done that way before That's so cool It sounds great Yeah We gotta find out if more people do this acapella shit And do this more I know, we just had the flatbed Fords in here a few weeks ago And they did Seven Bridges Road for us Yeah, they did really good Yeah, we talked on that one It's a great song That one's on our hit list Yeah Yeah We haven't put theirs Not yet Oh, we didn't Not yet Okay, you should listen to that one By the time this episode is out, it will be out It will be out We have to listen for it, yeah Seven Bridges Road, man That's the grass ring We've talked about it Yeah The problem with it is that you get the first part of it done And then everyone starts looking to go get a drink Right? So what we've been really successful at is we take songs And we kind of, you know, we do medleys that work for us So we sneak a deep cut in as long as we follow it up with something exciting It would work if you started a set Yeah With it Wow If you start it Because every once in a while, you know, everybody expects a band To start a set with some rockin' song But every once in a while, we'll go out there And we'll do something that's just like mellow like that And then you got a whole group of people that are going Oh shit, that's different And then they actually listen to the whole song It actually works, yeah It really does We'll give it a shot We're looking for something to mash it up with But we're going to do some more listening to it It's usually our band karaoke song That's a post-practice It is, yeah If we pass a practice, then we're just going to decide We're going to have karaoke night at the rehearsal studio So Right A song that it's worked with us for is Can't You See? Right? Marshall Tuckerman We do that But we play it extremely slow like a ballad And we turn it into Crap Yeah Oh, I know I thought this was a I thought I was on a game show I'm sorry I just kind of We turn it into Hey Jude by the Beatles Oh, I love that And so we start the whole song slower We started at the temple of Hey Jude And we've done it a few times where we opened a set with it And it has a completely different effect than closing the set Liv would love that I would I truly would Our Can't You See? We do Can't You See? And we roll into This Life Okay By Curtis Stigers Oh, wow It was the theme song for Sons of Anarchy That works, yeah We go right from This Life into that It usually It does really good, yeah Yeah, yeah, yeah We were like the house band for the Toys for Tots motorcycle That totally works Now I'm hearing that That totally works It rolls right into it Yeah, yeah So that's There we go That's another deep cut we throw in Yeah, yeah, yeah We got to pepper it with Can't You See? Get everyone excited And then they accept it even if they don't know it Right, right, right And the ones that know it get really excited Like, Sons of Anarchy, oh, yeah Yeah Oh, that's funny That's funny I don't think I've ever seen you guys do that song Which one? The one you were talking about Can't You See? Can't You See? I don't think I've You've never seen us do that? I don't really pay attention when you guys are on stage Yeah, that's true You did just call it craps Yeah, I don't really pay attention I'm usually at the bar or something So, never mind No, that makes total sense That makes sense Go ahead Continue No, it's I identify with you guys so much Because my band has nine people on stage There you go And then 10, if you count our sound engineer Who's fantastic Gosh, I will never be in a band again Where we don't have our own sound engineer I know, we didn't name the other The 10th member Mike Galeota is our regular sound guy Nice Okay, there you go So, shout out to Mike Yeah, and Andrew Braden is also a longtime sound guy for us He's there when Michael's not, so Right, right Excellent, excellent, excellent So, how do people find you then? You can find us at WhiskeyRoad.com Or on Facebook at WhiskeyRoadChicago Right We're easy to find And on YouTube, I think if you just type in WhiskeyRoad We usually come right up, so Or my mom's Facebook Tons of videos Oh, your mom Oh, yeah, we're all friends with your mom Go to Nicole Hodge's mom's Facebook Julie Hodge is great Julie Hodge on Facebook That's where you find all the WhiskeyRoad stuff She's got all the, like, the bootleg video Like, all the good behind-the-scenes stuff And, you know, all the good angles and stuff Because she walks right up and just Yeah, yeah And note to musicians Make sure you have a young person in your band Because their mom's going to still come out And see your shows and videotape That's right Everything for you And tell everybody about you Yeah, all my mom's friends Yeah, because all my friends are like Hey, you've been doing this for 30 years Screw you Yep, that's where we get a lot of that We've been lockies for a while So Liv was about Nicole's age when she joined So we're always looking for some younger talent There you go To help keep this thing rolling I was the amoeba And then once Nicole joined We're like, ah, geez What's smaller than an amoeba? We haven't really come up with anything yet We called, like, a couple biologists and chemists Yeah, but that sounded too We needed something biological We kind of landed on Amoeba Jr. Yeah AJ A paramecium I think we did I don't know, I don't think No, I think parameciums are bigger than Parameciums are bigger Yeah, because I think we went that route Someone yelled it out at a show we were talking about I couldn't tell you I'm a biologist I have a biology degree Where do we go from here? I don't know WhiskeyRoad.com Yeah So you go to WhiskeyRoad.com I was going to say next door to get a whiskey That's right Definitely Yeah Alrighty, guys Well, thanks a lot for coming out This was a lot of fun You guys sounded great Thank you First time we've had a couple of acapella songs That was great From now on, I'll tell people Bring your acoustics or your voice I almost didn't show up tonight I'm glad I did Really? Yeah, that was good Thanks, would have left me alone So what were you going to do? Probably just stay at home and do nothing Oh, okay Yeah At least we didn't keep you from helping Yeah, yeah Alrighty, thanks a lot Alright, thank you Thanks for having us Thank you You want to sing something? I don't want to follow that Maybe we can acapella our way out of this thing Maybe we can Bum-ba-dee-da, bum-ba-dee-da, bum-ba-dee-da-dee Happy trails to you That's our acapella That's our acapella They'll do it there But wow, that was phenomenal Boy, we need to ask people if they can do acapella like that Yeah, that was great That sounds great And they don't need no instruments They bring it with them I even said that I don't see any guitars or anything with you You said, nope No But they brought their instruments Yes, they did That was great Sounded great And I'd like to see them do their unplugged thing Yeah Unplugged, probably be really good Yeah, no, I checked out their website and everything Their show is really impressive Really high energy It's not your typical country-type kind of show Well, like they said, they mix in some Aerosmith and some Skinner along with the country But man, four voices across the front Yeah And they've got some killer musicians playing with them, too Those guys are no jokes That's right Yeah, it was fun having them So I want to thank you for listening once again to the Rock and Roll Chicago podcast as you do every week because I'm sure every single week you are downloading this podcast and listening to us So next week there will be another podcast that you can listen to So until then, adios