Ep 216 The Walk-Ins

The Walk-Ins is a talented full band composed of drums, bass, guitar, keys, and vocals. They can play music from various genres, including classic rock, oldies, Motown, and pop. When not bringing music to the masses they walk-in to our studio for a little one on one.

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, it's Ray the roadie and Hollywood Mike once again, you smell like farm animal Well, you know, I've been told the worst You're running late you don't like it in time, but you smell like At a farm all day. No, not all day.

Okay soil samples out of a farm, but I didn't see any farm animals So I smell like farm animal. I don't know. Maybe you kept them away.

I don't know. You could be type in I was gonna say something really mean but I was like, no, I'm not gonna sing. It's the holiday season Yeah, you can't be mean.

Well, Santa's watching you. You're gonna be mean the I mean, that's the time to be mean I mean, it's not the holidays till the cast-iron skillet comes out. That's true.

That's true. Yeah, so what's going on? Nothing? No, no, I'm just in the neighborhood that I'd stop by who these guys here these guys here. Yeah, I don't know They just walked right and walked right in.

I was walked right in. Yeah, see what we did there It's the walk-ins it's the walk-ins they're constantly sick and that's that's what it is. They just go right into the doctor You know, they're all the walk-ins.

Well, you know if they had any original music and come out Album, yeah, I got an album name for him. What's that? No reservations Wow, I'll be at zany's all week. Okay, good.

We'll know not to go there So tell us about this whole thing guys, where'd this all come about who started this so the The walk-ins as we exist started with Mike and I this is our 20 year anniversary. Isn't it Mike this? Yeah, this coming years are 20 anniversary. It's great.

Yeah, we were Playing in other bands and I kind of came in and filled in for a band. He was playing one night I joined that band and that band kind of fell apart. Yeah out of that.

We started the walk-ins. Yeah We had to do so over here. Mr. Mike Miker.

Say hello Mike. They were drawn to my bandana We they were opening up for us one night at a bar. We were playing at and we're like, hey, man, you're pretty good You know, we're playing two three times a weekend he looking for more gig and work and he started working with us part-time and then Jumped in full-time and and I lost the bandana.

Yeah, I lost the video That was about 18 years ago. Yeah, and then a couple years after that Marco joined the band How long you've been in the band now Marco? I don't know. How long has this been in the band 18 years? So maybe 15 yeah close to it for me.

That's crazy. They're my work wives Yeah, yeah Marco is kind of the jack-of-all-trades plays bass piano guitar Mandolin, whatever we need him to rustle up for an event. He does.

All right, should I ask? Go ahead glockenspiel. No, not yet. Okay, that's my job.

Not yet. Not yet So there's still hope so there so there was a point in time where you guys were actually playing in bars because now if you go To your website, it's just like we're all about weddings. We want to join people together and be happy in But so so how did it all start? Well, you know with so first, you know Mike and I got together and we were just doing just the two of us Mike had a couple congas.

I had an acoustic guitar, right? We were playing as many of the local bars as we could to kind of Build that name and you're actually wearing is Joe and Mike when we first started and people would show up and be like hey Is this Mike and Joe and we'd be like no It's Joe and Mike and they'd be like Mike and Joe the band and I'm good. No, it's Joe and so that ended real quick That was over real quick maybe two gigs We changed the name. So there was four people that were really original with a name There was a Joe and Joe and Mike now if the four of them got together.

Yeah, man be unstoppable. Yeah, Mike's weird. Yeah Yeah But yeah, we were taking any gig anywhere anytime we were driving all over the place anybody that would take us Just kind of build that name and we added some other pieces the band and you know as we were doing the bars We got into the wedding scene and you know, you're the center of attention Next to the bride right has your moment, you know But then you know what's the party starts for the center of attention and no one goes to a wedding to have a bad time Sure, that's true.

Open bar makes us sound real good. Okay, so you think no Yeah, so how long how long ago was that telling me how long did you play in clubs and then you decided to make that move We still do some clubs. Yeah.

Yeah Probably not as many but a couple of month will still pop into but we started doing weddings real heavy about 15 years ago yeah, and I'd say about 10 years ago is when a lot of the Bars and things started to drop off just because we didn't have room in the schedule for it How many weddings are you doing about 45 to 50 almost every year Wow? Yeah, it's a lot. Those are long. Those are long ass days.

Yeah, they are they are but it's better than you know Go into a bar that doesn't have a functioning bathroom you mean you make a little bit more money, too You know what? I mean? Like so well is for us so it became a business it became we have kids we have you know, we have wives and We it's hard to justify You know going and playing at a bar every weekend for a hundred bucks or something and being gone from your kids But you know if you if you go and you play a wedding and you make some more money and you're able to pay your Bills with it then it's a different then it's a different thing So well in the pandemic hurt us and helped us all at the same time, you know The pandemic killed a lot of the bar business, you know for bands, but when the bar business came back instead of playing 10 a 10 p.m. To 2 a.m. We now play 7 to 10. It seems like all those late-night hours have changed So in that perspective, it's been great. I am NOT a young man anymore.

I Have to agree with you. You're not a young man anymore. No what I mean by that What I mean by that is I agree with you about the time change I absolutely loved that because I hated the days when you were playing tend to do and then and then post kovat No, it was great.

We get to play from 8 to 11. Sure. Sign me up.

Yeah. Yeah Yeah There's been a few things in our career that they kind of happened nationally or statewide that helped us when they banned smoking in bars I love that you know is that that helped us significantly, but until we got weird. Yeah the first the first the first couple months of that I Felt like the bar crowd was a little sparse and we were kind of worried about that and then everyone just came back and like We don't need to do this But yeah, then we would go do like casino in Indiana or something and we'd walk in there and do it It's hard to breathe.

I would like a punch. That's terrible that cloud of smoke man Yeah It improved my sex life because I would come home from gigs and just reeking of smoke and in the very first day I'd come home and I wasn't reeking of smoke and my wife was like, well, you don't stink. Come here I appreciate that.

Yeah, and also, you know, you didn't wake up the next day feeling like you had the flu. Yeah, you know Yeah, just feel terrible. You thought you almost felt hungover.

You can drink Yeah Your body was just and the worst was if you left your guitar something in your car You'd come back in your car the next day and your whole car would stink So they permeate from from your instrument into your car I actually it was such a pinnacle time for me that I actually remember the gig. I remember where we were I remember the gig we played Riley's daughter. Oh, yeah The was the first gig that we played with it, you know during the smoking ban Right, that was there That was our first gig and we walked in there and Riley's daughter didn't stink and you know It was a ten to two gig and everything it came home and didn't smell like smoke.

It was great It was really it was really nice when that happened It was easy to clear out Riley's daughter because they had you know, those glass walls They just opened up all the glass walls and left them open for I don't know However long it took to get all the smoke out of there, right? But yeah, it was a good time I love Riley's daughter forever. We I don't think we've ever played I don't think I don't think that location is there anymore. Yeah, it is.

Yeah, they reopened it Shipper maybe the original or should perhaps is originally the original ones They sold it and the people that had we're running into her ground So the original owners came back and bought it Yeah, like when I was in college like Riley's daughter was a place you want to be That was that was a great water pretty nice. We actually did remember Kevin Matthews Oh, yeah, of course one of my band said like an album release party with Kevin Matthews there, which was kind of cool Yeah, that was a long time. Yeah, you know, I think I did that too as well Kevin Matthews do that with a lot of people.

Yeah, I mean, he's not a whore but he's a musician and that's you know Kind of close right? So but he's found God now he has I don't know if you're like a little Virgin Mary statue We found no, I didn't hear about that. I look into it. Really? He's almost like a preacher now.

Really Kevin Matthews. Yeah. Well, I'm gonna have to look into that.

Mm-hmm Wow, no kidding So you guys have a lot of more a lot more people in your band now than just the four you though we do we've got a couple female singers But our primary female singer is Mark was wife Ashley who when she is not working or raising children comes out and performs with us We also have a brass section if people want it. So what we want to do is, you know as we're Doing things for bars fests Weddings be very customizable You can have anywhere from one of us to eight of us depending on what you're looking for what your budget is And you know a lot of the bars don't want to pay for eight people anymore Mm-hmm, but they'll pay for three or four So we kind of get that versatility just to give us some options do different things Right, how often you have the full band at weddings? I'd say 60% of time. Yeah.

Yeah, at least yeah, you know I always tell you know if the horn section isn't there does anyone necessarily miss it probably not But once you see them and they're there, you know, there's a lot like you don't know what you're missing until it's money That just that raw power the the look of a larger band. It's like the dancing noodles They play with and without without they're still good But boy, they get the horns in there and they sound fantastic and even Buckingham's do the same thing Sometimes they got them. Sometimes they don't but when they do, yeah, it's just add some punch It gives it a little different wall of sound, right? Right.

So how long did it take you to transition make or make that transition from bar band in the wedding bands? And what was the step there? You know, it kind of happened overnight I had a couple friends of mine that were getting married today Will you come and play our wedding and we did a couple weddings the first one we were down at Navy Pier. Yep In that the Crystal Gardens, which is just cavernous. It's a terrible room to perform in because room just I think it's gone No, the room would sound would just die right two feet out and then we did one over at The soccer stadium and brings you there that they wouldn't let Mike in We'll tell you some stories about how everywhere Mike goes things go wrong.

Yeah for me Well, I think we're gonna make that a segment everywhere Mike goes things go wrong. Yeah, there's three of us sitting in the room That's right You know and then after that we kind of got a taste for like hey This is this is pretty cool people like doing this and so you you get on the wedding wire you get on the knot you Start, you know putting it out there and really just word-of-mouth guess that sauce at the first couple weddings start calling, right? And it filled up our schedule pretty quick. Did you ever attend one of those bridal shows? Yeah at the table with little cards in our little video and and got absolutely nothing and no one you know I was gonna say how did that work out for you? Everyone just walked by and they're like Here's what I think is but first of all weddings are expensive everything that have right a wedding is costly But when you start looking at a band how often in someone's life to the higher band you order cakes for all sorts of stuff You order food, but you order a band So sometimes you see the the sticker price of an eight-piece band, right? And there's that that sticker shock.

Oh, wait a second. This is too expensive. We'll go to DJ instead because it's you know Fraction of the cost You know, so really what sells is once you see the band though You know, so you don't get at a wedding expo.

I'm sitting at a table. You don't see the band You don't feel the energy I tell people I can do what a DJ can do but a DJ can't do what we can do All right, we and we when we take set breaks. We DJ we have a DJ component of our wedding night so we can do a sample of that but You know that that raw live energy of a band, mm-hmm, you can't beat it and the other thing that I think makes us you know Attractive to couples is that we're there all day like we're gonna get there anyway and set up before even the ceremony So we usually do the cocktail hour and we do a dinner set you know, we do kind of like the Sinatra dinner set if they want or we do kind of slowed down versions of modern tunes and It's just you know, we're there the whole night so they're getting maybe Three or four little different performances depending on What they want So it's it's great for that because you know people see us and then they're like man that these guys are here all day they're doing everything and That's when we pass out a lot of business cards Sometimes we actually do the ceremony Joe and I are both ordained.

So that's right We can officiate we can do this ceremony music mark. Mark was a huge fan of Catholic Catholic masses You sure you want to go there because I can see this going downhill So a bridegroom ask us who would perform the music for them at their Catholic Church we said sure that's fine Just you know, tell us what you need So I sit out the bride grooms because I need a song for people are being seated I need song for the bridal party come down the aisle. I need my song I need a song when we stand in front of the Virgin Mary and hand roses to our mother and I need a recessional song I said you're sure there's no other songs that you need.

She's I'm sure I said check with the Priest and make sure there's nothing else to eat. It says nothing else. We need Marcos already So I am not a Catholic Church pianist so So we get the church play the music people sit down.

All right, great Bridal party comes down the off down the aisle. No problems bride comes down. No problem Pastor gets up there and he starts talking.

He says and the Lord cometh on to Jesus and then he looks over to us and Just stares at us For like three and a half minutes But you were in the in the in the pews and Marco was at the piano and he was a staring So I come over and I just look at him I shrug my shoulders and he stands there for another three and a half minutes not saying a word Oh, and then he goes on with what he's saying again, and then about ten minutes later He gets another part of the ceremony and he's like and then the Lord says blah blah blah and he looks at us again I'm supposed to be playing something. I don't know what what anybody I did know what I probably wouldn't know how to play it So was this a fool this one? Was this a full mass or was it just the That's what But nobody told the priest It's over Marco this happened three or four times but instead of just kind of singing the songs himself because they know how to sing me could Or skipping it so he just if the song was supposed to take four minutes, right? He stood there did nothing for four minutes Marco came into the gig. I was setting up the rest the stuff Marco came into the venue and he's like I have on my back.

I'm like what he's writing. I need I need my Xanax Maybe maybe I'm never doing that again. Never never ever.

You know, maybe the priest was preaching to a click track I Was pretty great though. I mean that was that was pretty great. I mean Marco was scarred for life He still wakes up in his cold sweat sometimes It's a place.

So, you know the bride and groom come back down the aisle recession I'm waiting to the back for him and the three of us just start laughing. It was just one of those Marco what are you laughing? Is the bride groom to Joe? We're laughing. How about you buddy? I think I left already Although I keep trying to tell these guys if I'm not worried.

No one needs to worry. We're good What's the worst part about a wedding the loading? Depending on where we're at just the gear load in depending if it's downtown and it's on the 30th floor I mean just loading everything in through the kitchen and that's the worst Really? I was thinking of I was thinking you were gonna say something like I'm listening to the toasts. No Once it starts it's it's great.

I mean, it's just it's really I Get stressed about the Load in and if you know, the place doesn't have parking if it's in the city like that stuff's the worst part for me But yeah, well, I'm a pessimist for me the singing the singing performing. That's the easy part. Yeah, so I kind of Act as a pseudo wedding planner for the day night.

You know, I get people lined up. I Handle the schedule and you always get those one or two guests that think that whatever they're doing Or whoever they're talking to is more important than what the bride paid $50,000 to have none that night Yeah, it's like well, you know, there's a lot of money going into dinner here and you two guys standing in the doorway talking Yeah is not helping us get people seated. Yeah, right All right not it's a I was a guest at a wedding one time and the reason why I brought this up is Because somebody who wasn't scheduled to give a toast or speak decided that they were gonna get up give up and impart words of wisdom To the bride and they did so by reading the entire first chapter of everything.

I need to know I learned in kindergarten. Oh my god You know, you know what book I'm talking about. Yep, the Robert Fulgham I think his name is you read the entire first chapter took him like 15 minutes to First chapter people were getting up going to the bathroom You know going out for smoke breaks and everything and this guy just kept reading and reading and reading We were downtown one time.

This was maybe 10 years ago You know, I won't I won't say the place or anything, but we had a father of the bride that gave him Hogwarts Hogwarts It was almost an hour-long speech, wasn't it? Yes. So the guy just kept going. Oh sure.

So the guy gets up and he goes Some of you know, I'm a poet. Oh boy, and Let's go. I wrote I wrote I wrote some suppose she goes.

Here's the poems. I've read the Britain for my daughter It was the day she was born and reads the poem. She was getting upset first birthday read the poem Daughter gets her first period reads the poem But that was comedy though, there's gonna be a bride out there being like, oh my god, that was my wedding Those guys again, I said I can't cut off your dad.

Yeah, but you can but you can I said So if dad's getting winded if you get up and walk to where he's at, just give him a hug. Yeah, I'll start playing some music Yeah, yeah, that's right. Yeah Yeah, oh absolutely, I'm like Jerking my head to have her, you know get where she's going Yeah, so we met so I mentioned that you about the the priest talking to you know, talking or preaching to a click track Yeah, click tracks pro or con 100% common that we don't use them.

Yeah, if we can't do it on stage We don't do it. Yeah, and and the one tune we do you do Bob O'Reilly by the who and I just Marcos got the sample from that so I don't even have the click I just listen to the sample. Yeah, and I'll play along with the sample But he plays the sample on his on his foot keys with his fee was yeah a bass.

Oh No, no, we don't really do. They don't really do the click track here. Here's the click tracks are great if No, I don't think they're great No Listen if you're paying for if you're paying for a band a live band You want the guys to be up there and be competent musicians and play along? Like if if you're if you're playing you're paying for a horn section you want to see the horns up there, right? You know, we've seen a lot of bands where there's there's people up on stage doing things and I'm like, where's the horns? I'm not here the horn section right who's playing that tambourine who's singing right? My favorite I wouldn't saw a band last night and they played this Mike you wouldn't saw the band So, no, we don't use I mean we don't use that stuff I've been in bands that have used that stuff and it's fine But for little things like a keyboard sample for them a keyboard player, but there are bands out there now that are there are 70% is is pre-recorded and you just don't know it and most of them aren't do what you do That's that's the reason why I asked and they're extremely successful.

Yeah, people don't know and people yeah And people yeah I mean the average person is not going to know that Nor are they really going to care as long as their favorite music sounds exactly the way they want or expect their favorite music to Sound like yeah, but I've seen it. I mean I've been to a lot of weddings that that have bands Yeah, you know, I would say probably three-quarters of those bands. You could tell that they were definitely into some type of tracks or whatever Yeah, you know, you know five part harmonies and there's four guys on the stage, you know and stuff like that You know, it's out there.

So that's why I figured I'd throw it out there. It's just so sterile I feel like it just it's just this, you know yeah, and you can almost hear the click in the background, but then like if we're doing a song and There's a big group people made their limbo and or conga line or whatever it is they're doing or having a dance-off Yeah, we don't want to stop the song. You're playing a click track.

You kind of have to We're less it's like hey if we gotta play a song an extra three minutes because people were having fun you play next three Minutes, right? We're getting a song and it sings like a lead balloon You know after the second verse you fade out and you move on or if we want to play a song after the song We're playing we can pick whatever we want. Yeah Talking about live music we take a break here and come back with a live song Yeah, they got to put their money where their mouth is. That's right.

All right. We'll be right back All 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.com That's the someone you should know podcast with me Rick Anthony making a difference one artist at a time And for the first time tonight the walk-ins Oh Where did they come from? I don't know Followed you here. That's right So that sometimes it's a bunch of dudes that start screaming and yelling As long as they paid to get in it's all good.

Yeah, that's good. That's good. So was that an original? No, that was that that was a tune by the Lumineers Okay.

All right. Hey, yeah, right, right When we do our weddings, you know, we're always doing the the tunes that are super duper popular you're your uptown funk and you're shut up and dance and You know the the newer tunes on the on the radio. And so when we do Things like this or we do bars or stuff.

We like to do stuff that we enjoy. Mm-hmm. Does that make sense? Of course But I mean being a wedding.

It's a lot of times. Well, you got to play what they tell you that they will You know, so there's stuff that we like to do that You know that we don't really ever get to do when we do the weddings. All right, right So we like doing that stuff sometimes So you have to have to I mean I assume that you guys have to have a pretty wide range of stuff We in the repertoire we have a we have we have a huge huge playlist and we've We've got stuff from every decade Depending on like when we show up at a wedding and you know, you see the crowd you're like, okay Obviously these people are gonna like 80 stuff.

Mm-hmm. We can do three hours at 80 stuff We could we just can go, you know, probably like you guys who would doing this so long We've forgotten more songs than most people never learned. Mm-hmm What we like to do is this so we'll go out to bars sometimes And because we don't do bars a ton.

It's where I get to kind of let my hair down what little what I have left And we'll just say hey, we'll play anything you want to hear let people shout things at us I mean there was one night we were down at a micro brew in was it in Manhattan? Oh No, no Monique Monique and then we'll play some Alice in Chains nine-inch nails and we all night long We did nothing but 90s grunge type stuff So we never played and had an absolute ball doing it like it was and it didn't sound that bad I mean, we've all heard them if we can if we've heard something we can usually play it. Yeah Yeah, we can fake through anything anything once yeah Some of that mutton some of that music is just Noise. Yeah, so you just make some noise and if it sounds like it as long as you're in the ballpark, right? Yeah, like dueling pianos.

It's like they all know just like three chords and that's right Because I was watching dueling pianos this weekend I was downtown for something and like the first half hour really enjoy the show and then when it gets to hey I'll give you 50 bucks to play this song. Okay, and he starts playing goes I'll give you a hundred to stop playing the song. Yeah, like it once it gets in that like stick Yeah, I lose interest.

I like the music. I want to hear the music and You know if I wanted to see guys tell jokes I'd go to a comedy club, right, right? No, I agree with you on that. There's a you if you go to New Orleans to a dueling piano show in New Orleans It's serious.

I mean you get I've seen I've gone to one and I've seen the piano player just like shush the whole crowd Just like this is a good song be quiet So, yeah So you guys you guys looking to work more or less More but in the right spot. So this I guess this is a good segue for me to plug myself Yeah, so I'm sure you guys have seen the work going on at the old church on 113 North Ottawa Street Yeah, that's that's my church My wife and I bought that church And we're renovating it to make it a wedding and event space on the weekend and then a live entertainment space during the week So I if I can come right here to Joliet and play more I'm all for it. We we yes Like, you know We're playing weddings everywhere, you know It takes you know If we're up in rock that it takes two hours to get there two hours to get back hours to set up work If everything's right here in our own space and it's set up and it's there and it's here in Joliet We're excited so it's gonna be an entire center like they can get married there they have their wedding reception there do the whole thing Yeah, and then we've got a 5,000 square foot beer garden just to the south of the building new cocktails out there But you know during the week you want to have a couple guys with acoustic guitar sitting outside So when the people in town want to come out and grab a beverage after work They can do that and then like that Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday Some of maybe some of the national touring acts and local acts maybe some theme nights Just really kind of help pump music down here Joliet because it's a great music scene already I mean the Forge is great.

Of course Rialto is great. I mean what you guys got going here. It's awesome I mean, there's just there's a lot of places to come see music, you know, Chicago Street does some great original bands Yeah, you know, so we just kind of want to add to that and help with that here in town.

Yes sponsorships are available. Yeah Advertisement is available. Yeah, what are you gonna call it the Matisse the Matisse very subtle Joe.

Yeah And when is it my wife picked it when is it supposed to be open hopefully we'll be open in April and May Well as well, so it's not as bad as it looked no You know, it's a lot of work but it's a lot of work they all kind of be done at the same time, okay You know, I mean, it's just it's a big empty box on the inside, but absolutely beautiful I was I've been looking for a space for a long time and I walked into this building and then I walked outside Honey, I just walked into this church. It's gorgeous. Don't be mad.

I just bought it. I just bought it Sorry, I said I jokingly because she was been in full support that was his first wife now this new wife Now it's pretty cool was that your is this your first venture in or anything like that or do you have some other other businesses I've owned indoor baseball hitting facilities I've had some other things along the way right some house remodeling building businesses and you know But music has always been my my love and my passion And I've got a great group guys around me to kind of help provide good music in our space. Yes.

Thanks. Thank you What's good, you know, you know, I I didn't recognize that Lumineers song I you know, sorry guys, sorry Lumineers, but I it's kind of never been a huge fan. It's kind of a like a beast It's not it wasn't one that was played on the radio.

Sure, right, right when they played it one day I was like who sings because I didn't know what either and they played it that we were doing at a wedding or something I'm like who sings that and then they're like, it's looming and I checked it out. I'm like, oh, this is great, right? But yeah, they're actually a pretty good band. I've been listening to him lately We like to periodically do songs that no one else in the band knows Mark when I just come on that no one else in the band No, no one else in the band knows that nobody else in the room.

No, there's a man. No, right? Gotcha. Yeah, it's like stump the deuce, sir.

Yes surprises irritate Mike So we do a lot of acoustic gigs just the two of us together So we learn stuff for the acoustic gig and like hey, this would be great with the band and let's just do it I don't show me like let's just do it and make them play. Yeah. Okay.

We work. I'm alright with that Buckle up. Here we go.

You mentioned that at one point in time you guys messed around with some original stuff Do you have an outlet or an avenue for that or any plans to get back to that or well? I'm hoping when this opens back up, we'll start doing some stuff there It's more about time than anything else You know, we used to have some time to sit down and write but you know Marco's got three kids Mike's got three kids deuce has one that he knows of How's that for so? Maybe it's time to invest in a daycare. Yeah, we should make that church a daycare We're not We've taught I mean we we've talked about we've got tunes that we've you know kind of pseudo started or written parts of and things like that and we're always like well, let's do this and then Summer comes along and we're doing, you know Four or five shows a week and the last thing we want to do is go go and write music You know, it's just sometimes it's just a little too much So I think it's less about the writing the music and more that we've seen each other for you know 72 hours straight and I got that a doubt it's like and it really is amazing that you know, because well everybody's personality in the band is extremely different And it's amazing. We haven't killed each other over the last 20 years, but I think now that we're past that threshold I think you know, I mean like it's good We just kind of get it like, you know, everyone knows I'm gonna be irritated and everyone knows like yes Everyone knows like anything could happen with Joe like, you know, like his body could open up and an alien could come out and be like Oh, okay.

That's just a normal Tuesday here. But you know, so, you know, we know Deuce isn't gonna have a guitar we get it He hasn't had a cable since 1986 what year were you born? So it's good enough to not need it. So right.

That's right. That's right. No crushes for me and Marco We got no complaints about Marco.

Marco's pretty chill Unless you ask him to play a Catholic mass or if you bring him somewhere in extreme heat. Oh, yeah, he almost died one time But you know what? You're doing a lot better now, buddy. Thanks.

Yeah, you're doing a lot better You almost died that day trying and the beard looks good. Keep that beard. This is all these compliments We thought for sure you were dead that day What happens he we were we did a wedding and it was like an outdoor tent.

It was over 100 degrees it was like a hundred and four degrees and Marco Marco you were back then. Yeah, you were not in the best of shape. I was rotund You were a little bit bigger than you are now.

You were like Marcos And so we were out there and we were setting up and Joe came over he's like hey, man You gotta go check on Marco. He's not doing too good and I walked in there and he's like Standing there and he's just I mean Mark was Italian, you know So he's got that beautiful olive skin and he was just ghost white and I was just like dude, you don't look at he's like Feel real good, man. I just I'm gonna sit down for a second.

And Yeah, so I went right over to the Illinois Entertainer I was looking up bass players and Stories about me today. It was really dude. It was scary man.

You could tell one about me Yeah, he also doesn't do well in cars. Oh, man. Yeah Marco gets car sick when anyone drives with me I'm like that too, though.

I yeah, I If I'm going someplace with someone I'm driving that simple Other people's driving makes me sick, but knowing this like other people's kids Cocktail on a boat without time Cocktail I'm smart enough to now carry Dramamine on me. So yeah Yeah, it's just always an adventure with Joe It's like it's like life's a box of chocolates with Joe. I need a shirt that says how bad could it be? You have to be careful with Dramamine too because I once did a fishing charter with somebody that got seasickness I mean and I'm the same way right, but I know you take one or two Dramamine because it makes you really tired Find out this guy was popping on my Flintstone vitamins.

He thought he thought all it did was take it with a nausea And it's like it's not working. I still feel it He's like you're eating these things needing these things all of a sudden He just like passes out and he falls overboard in the middle of the Michigan From the two-hour cruise, I'm just the cold water woke him up That's brutal, you know, but if you do this long enough you always find there's there's that one gig where you're just Unbelievably sick. Yep, and it happened to him, but it happened to Mike We're at the House of Blues and before the show started they were serving crawfish bites and catfish catfish bites I'll see you know, yeah, he was eating like he was gonna die if you stop You know, they were delicious.

Yeah, it's the House of Blues. So I'm thinking like this is a $50 thing So I said, can you bring me the biggest basket of these things because you know, we were the band So like absolutely, sir, whatever you in our dressing room and stuff. I'm eating these things about Half hour before the end of our show My body's like hey, buddy Yeah, you shouldn't eat and all that stuff and then run a marathon.

It just wasn't a good idea I've never been so sick on a gig It was awful. I carry him back up the stairs crawled up the stairs Couldn't drive home It was amazing Yeah, so I don't really do seafood anymore before before band jobs, but this is what you guys want to hear about tonight, right? No, absolutely. That's what this is all about.

That's what it's all about. I I was playing the cat What was the name of that place? I was on 59. It was a seafood restaurant.

It was owned by the particular family Papadu Papadu. No, no. No, it was the Key Wester the Key West.

Oh, yeah It's called the Key Wester over there in the world got years ago, right? Yeah, we've been there and all sudden the bottom end falls out at a sound It's like where'd a bass player go the bass player gets dropped is all you heard was a boom. Don't right He didn't even take the time to put it on the stand He just put it there on the ground It fell over and he's running out the door to the bathroom with his hand over his butt crack and I was like, oh That's like the universal symbol for get out of the way I have to shit now Was Key Wester, what was the one we played North Beach? There was Key Wester was over there What was the one where the fight was at on New Year's Eve and the guys like nose exploded the guy That was at North Beach, I think it was at North Beach. Yeah, I'm like what you see if we've seen everything over down the road Yeah, see unfortunately, we've seen heart attacks During gigs we've seen pregnant brides fall into tables at the end of the night The worst Pregnant brides falling into tables every time I see one of these I have to pick it up and play with this It was really bad.

It was really bad. And I won't I got it. We won't go to detail Was this an Arkansas? There's like an Arkansas wedding or something like that.

I think Cousin slash husband came over. It was not good drum solo night We're playing nob here's shut off the goddamn music like cuz we're up at the front of the face We don't know There's a dude laying on the floor right put you know post-heart attack wait for the amulets to come It was just like Wow, it shut down the wedding. Yeah an hour and 15 minutes.

Like I mean, you should have played funeral for a friend My new thing as as of maybe three or four years ago is at the end of the night Everyone's getting pretty loaded, you know So the second to last song I always play Now I've had the time of my life from dirty dancing because you know, somebody is gonna do that lift We've had two ambulance calls for people hitting their head on the Marble floors at places trying to do the lift. So you keep on doing this on a Thousand percent. Yeah, I knew Mike you understand there for 12 hours.

I need some entertain. I need to see somebody whack there Bounce Just see when that person you're like, man, I hope it's gonna be this person and they You know, they they they kind of push that right foot three times and then they take off You know, it's gonna be you're in for a treat Now we're talking about says I think we have to come back for a podcast day to talk about cool places We used to play that are no longer in existence We say so about five places that we've all played that are just no longer. Yeah.

Yeah That works that works. I'll tell you what. We've got just a few more minutes left Why don't you give us one more song and then after we're done with that? Tell everybody how they can get ahold of you if they want to get married and sounds great.

Yeah Need a band sounds great, man. All right, we're gonna pause it for a second. You're listening to the rock and roll Chicago podcast Hey everybody, it's Ray the roadie and this is Hollywood Mike of the rock-and-roll Chicago podcast if you've been joining our weekly program We have great news for you Just tune in to road to rock radio on Mondays at 7 p.m Central time and you can hear a rebroadcast of one of our past episodes then again on Thursdays at 7 p.m You can hear our most current episode brought to you by the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 So go to road to rock org scroll down and click on radio station That'll bring you to the road to rock radio a station committed entirely to the great music from Illinois from Chicago blues born on Maxwell Street to today's rock and roll and everything in between 24-7 all music with its roots in, Illinois And for the final time tonight the walk-ins Me If I lay here If I just lay here Would you lie with me and just forget the world Don't quite know How to say How Those three words Said to If I lay here If I just lay Would you lie with me and just forget the world Forget what we're told Before we get to Old Show me a god and that's bursting into life Let's waste time Chasing cars Around Me Three If I lay here If I just lay Would you lie with me just forget Forget what we're told Before we get to Show me All that I am All that I ever was It's here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see I Don't know Confused about how as well Just know that these things will never She's for us at all If I lay here If I just lay Would you Just forget Where are these people hiding that's a that was very good version And I have nice I have to tell you that and that's coming from somebody that absolutely hates that song I swear to God every time I hear that song I guess But no that was an extremely well, then maybe they should have done Well, not if they wanted to walk out here alive Just like the way we sing it yeah, yeah, I was saying you guys did a very good version of that song Thank you as soon as I heard you started picking that guitar.

I was like oh god. No I Mean at least you're all the same way It is because I mean it's one of these songs It's like well. It's funny because it's it's an older tune, but it's one that we just started playing a Lot a year or two ago like we haven't been doing it for dinner a cocktail and some of these banquet halls They have the high ceilings and the natural river.

Yeah, that's it's cool. It sounds good epic right Epic is our space chair, which I would say It's epic did any of you by chance catch the CME Awards I did not I just saw like 10 seconds of it at my mother-in-law my parents are in siblings Dear Clarkson RV My my son wanted to watch it It was like recorded on Hulu or something like that, and we watched it watched a good portion of it just yesterday in fact and Post Malone who I don't ever I've heard I don't I don't think he should ever be allowed around country music, but He performed a song on this show that is going to be like this generation's butterfly kisses I'm okay with that. I mean, I don't even know the name of the song I've heard something that he did a great performance of something and I yeah And the song is about a guy walking his daughter down the aisle to give her away And the words were something like the words were something like just because I'm giving her away Doesn't mean she's yours That's you know.

That's the Theme basically the song look it up. I can't tell you what the name is You like it. I'm not a huge Post Malone fan, and it would have been a fantastic song if somebody like George Strait We're performing it but man Listen to the words any man with a daughter I don't care how big and tough you think you are if you don't get a little misty-eyed when you hear this song It's fantastic.

It really is so yeah, but anyways, so I guess on that note That was brought to you by the CMA Awards. That's right So how can people find you they're getting hitched On a wedding band the walk-ins calm. We're on Facebook If you look on YouTube, it's the walk-ins band.

We've got a bunch of different links on all those places So yeah, people can look us up there. They're not is it wedding? Well, yeah, so any of those places if you google the walk-ins You know w ALK dash ins we're I think we're the first thing that comes up But yeah, we really appreciate you guys having us. Thank you so much If you want to check on the progress of the church and things that are going on there the Matisse calm the Matisse Yeah, we just saw that Joe M-a-t-i-s-e one is shy of the painter Yeah, so yeah, this is great.

No, we really appreciate it guys. Thanks so much for having us and thanks for coming out Love it. We had a great time to get on stage together soon.

Yeah, absolutely Why not? You can complain about more of their songs. That's right Joe you still do butterfly kisses See you guys, thank you. Well there you have it.

I think that's our very first True wedding band full-time wedding band full-time wedding band and full-service full-service wedding band Well, you know some of them I mean I totally get it some of them perform as acoustic duos and do some solo stuff because because you'd have to I'd have to kill Myself if I did nothing but weddings Everybody no, it's not for everybody. It definitely isn't some people enjoy doing that and that's what they do Yeah, it's it's it makes for a long day. And I mean you guys do occasional weddings.

Yeah Maybe a half-dozen here. Yeah, I mean, that's your gigs are playing the fests in the bars. Yeah, that's it There's is the they did the fests in the bars didn't like it.

Yeah, and everybody knows there's money in weddings Yes, there is and money talks. Yep. So I guess on that note, we're gonna stop talking All right, and thanks for joining us on the rock and roll Chicago podcast join us every Tuesday for another new exciting episode See ya 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