The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast

Episode 031 - INK - The Interview

• Alex Gadd / Sal Gonza / Steven Gonza • Season 1 • Episode 31

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On this week’s episode, I talk with my old friends Sal & Steve Gonza from the powerhouse Connecticut hard rock trio INK. We discuss how they got started playing in a band together, how they met up with their bass player Rich Massella, and how they’ve managed to stay true to their vision of being an all-originals band for more than 25 years!

Find out what their original influences were, which is the biggest band they’ve ever opened for (so far), and why playing in a band is better than playing golf. The brothers share lots of great insights and great stories, so please join us this week on the Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast!

And find INK's music here:
Older Music: 
ReverbNation at https://www.reverbnation.com/powertrio
Newer Music: 
Apple Music at https://music.apple.com/us/artist/ink/1601870142
Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/artist/5SlGH92tYXwrnnDbP26L5F?si=BajLlZnXQU6uM3Mf_blmBg

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Alex Gadd:

Welcome to the Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast. We're here to share the magic of making and experiencing live music together with strangers and with friends, and to get to know our guests a little bit better through their experiences creating the music that we love to see and hear. I'm your host Alex Gadd, and I do this because I love talking about music with people. Finding out what influences people bring to their music and how making music has affected them allows us to get to know and understand one another better. And also, hey, it's just fun swapping stories about the shows we've seen and played over the years. Our guests today are Gonz and Solar Steve from the mighty Connecticut hard rock band, Ink. These guys are brothers, and they started this band over 25 years ago, along with their bass player, Rich, who's unfortunately not here with us today. Now, they've championed the cause of original rock music played loud and hard all over the tri state area for 25 years. They've recorded a ton of badass songs and produced high quality videos for their music. And they don't seem to have any plans to stop anytime soon. Also, full disclosure, they're two of my oldest friends. I met them when I was eight and moved to Stamford, Connecticut, and we played baseball together. So I'm really happy to be back in contact with Steve and Sal. Gentlemen, welcome to the show.

Gonz:

you, Alex. Appreciate it, brother. We're really excited to be here, man. Really excited. Long time coming.

Alex Gadd:

Yes, it is.

Steve Gonza:

Absolute pleasure when I when I heard that we were going to do this, I was excited, so.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah, that's awesome. And it's special to me. Now, I just want to start with my first memory of us and music, so I mentioned, I moved to Connecticut. You all your dad was my 1st baseball coach. We won a city championship playing in tiny league baseball and your folks were so welcoming to my family and you invited us over to your house. And I remember we were downstairs in your basement, and you already had a guitar and drums. You were onto it early and we'll talk about how you did that. But I remember, there was a story you told, maybe this is just my bad memory, but you told a story and you told it to the adults too, and I felt like you were telling it to kind of shock them, but it was about, there was this band and they threw live rats on the stage, and it was crazy. Do you, is that my bad memory or do you

Gonz:

it was, it was actually Alice Cooper we were talking about.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah. And I remember after that day. I wanted to play guitar. And so Gene Pino,

Steve Gonza:

Yeah.

Alex Gadd:

started taking guitar. I started taking guitar lessons from him

Steve Gonza:

So you're ready for this? It was, I, I would say 10 years ago, obviously Ink's been around for 25, so 10 years ago,, I researched him and brought him on stage to Toad's to play with us.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah. Nice.

Steve Gonza:

there's a video out there of doing that. He's such a nice guy.

Alex Gadd:

Such a nice guy. My problem was I really only wanted to play bass. I wanted to be Gene Simmons. That was it. And I went and I had to take lessons on a classical nylon string guitar. And it just, I wasn't feeling it at all. And I didn't know how to express what I really wanted and he didn't ask. And so I quit way too early, but, it started me off on the path. And then my second memory is that Sal, you played in the battle of the bands in a band with Ronnie Russo.

Gonz:

Wow.

Alex Gadd:

And I was like, that's it. I'm getting back into guitar. And I went the next day and bought my first guitar, which is right over there, the white one on the floor. Yeah, made in Japan, Strat, white. And so you guys literally have driven me to play music because of you, so I couldn't be more appreciative of talking to you today.

Gonz:

That that's, that's really heartwarming, man, to know that we had an influence on you that

Alex Gadd:

Very specific influences.

Gonz:

Wow.

Steve Gonza:

Gene Pino? I'll never forget, I think it was my last year of high school. I walked into the first lesson, I said, uh, I just want to learn a couple chords so I can get into my brother's band. Alright, so let's start there.

Alex Gadd:

How did you get into music in the first place?

Gonz:

My parents never played an instrument. But there was always music in the house, whether it be in the house, in the car, even, even our children say to this day, they're like, well, you know, you always have music on. And I said, my mom and dad, our mom and dad always had music in the house, the car always. Okay. So my cousin gave me a drum set, I just have pictures of it. I'll have to send them to you. This gold drum set, it was made of basically cardboard and that's how we started. But as far as, musical influences, we didn't get into rock like true rock until we were probably like, I say eight, nine years old. And that's when everything started pouring out. And I was looking forward to telling you this story, how we actually came up with our influences because it didn't even have anything to do with the sound initially. So Steven and I had a friend that lived in the new neighborhood that we moved in. We would go over to his house. His brother, his older brother was across the hallway and when he left the house, we would sneak into his room and look through his albums his vinyl albums Okay, the vinyl albums that we chose had nothing to do with what we heard. It was what we saw And the reason why was because, I don't know if you remember, they had black light paint, the fluorescent paint. He painted certain cover albums, and we chose those, okay? Rush, the debut, okay? Led Zeppelin II, Yes. Black Sabbath Paranoid. Aerosmith Toys in the Attic. Deep Purple Made in Japan. OK, all of these albums, and then of course, prior to that, KISS Alive! and all the way back to the debut album, KISS, painted KISS. Alright? So, we brought those albums in and said, what the hell, let’s throw them on. And here we are, these are all our major influences, our initial major influences in life and in music, all because of an album cover. And it, it just, you know, it spoke to us.

Steve Gonza:

Sal and I, I remember we used to walk around the corner at Uncas Road. We used to walk around the corner and we'd hear that band playing in their basement. We used to look in the window and then they would invite us in to watch and that was the biggest influence. It was, they were called Teaser and, yeah, Sal and I used to come home and say, Hey, we should be like them. Right.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah,

Steve Gonza:

we got to learn how to play guitar.

Alex Gadd:

So that that's how you got into music. When did you start playing drums, Sal, Steve, then you can tell me when you started playing guitar. So....

Gonz:

I started playing drums at a very early age. I actually played for KT Murphy Elementary. I was really excited. I was chosen to be their drummer. My dad had a pair of drumsticks. Okay. And my dad always loved the drums. But he never went ahead and went for it, if you will. So he gave me these drumsticks, you know, I started messing around with them. And, uh, it's interesting because when I started playing drums, I'm self taught, I, I've never taken a drum lesson in my life. And when I sat down behind the drum set, I'm a lefty. Okay. And I sat behind a righty drum set and I just played open handed. I, if you notice, I don't cross over. And needless to say, I didn't watch any MTV videos because it was so early on and when MTV came out, I looked and I'm like, I'm doing it wrong. No one's playing open handed, but now it's actually very big to play open handed because it's more accessible to the drumkit. And a lot of people are crossing over are coming to the open hand. But so that's how I started. I just. My cousin gave me that drum kit. We saw, a picture of KISS and we're like, wow, that's what we want to do, you know, open the sleeve, and you look through the booklet in Alive! And you're like, Steven and I look at each other, like, this is what we want to do, man, we want to be on a stage with the pyro and it's

Alex Gadd:

yes. Now, Steve, how'd you get into guitar?

Steve Gonza:

So obviously Sal, was attracted to the drums. So this is, this is the true story. The true story is Sal always played like in the high school bands and the cover bands. He had the Ronnie Russo's over, he played with the, uh, McCarthy's, He always played in my parents basement and I would just go watch on the stairs. I'd sit on the stairs and watch. And then, you know, I didn't play an instrument and, Sal turned to me one time. He said, look, you're at every rehearsal, you're into it. Why don't you learn how to play guitar? And so that's when I signed up with, with Gene in Stamford. I think it was my last year of high school. I remember that. And, I just walked in there. I said, look, I don't want to be like fantastic. I just want to learn enough chords so I could be in my brother's band and to be accepted, right? So of course I picked up pretty fast within six months. And then all of a sudden I'll never forget. I went to, The very first, uh, well, it was a rehearsal that Sal set up with his friends that were coming home from college. But I went down in my parents basement and set up my amp and my guitar, like before they, they got over and, you know, got all plugged in and they came in and they were like, Oh, Hey, this is my brother. And so like that, and while they were setting up their stuff, I was already ready and I just belted out this riff that I wrote and they all looked at me. They were like, what's that? Right. And the funny thing about it is the whole rehearsal was like them playing my song, right? That was like the start of the, because what happened was they eventually, I mean, those guys were always better than me at guitar and, you know, there was a bass player and, you know, they knew what they were doing, right. I was just playing some riffs that I, that I came up with. And then the ending of the story was, they all went back to college and Sal and I stuck together and here we are, then after they left, Sal was like, Hey, keep doing those riffs. Let's do them. And before you know it, we, we formed, which we call it original band, because the truth is Alex, there were so many good cover bands out there that we couldn't compete. I mean, that's my biggest weakness. It's like a cover song. I can play a cover here and there, but I can't match what these cover bands are doing out there. They're just so good at it. So we figured, Hey, let's do our own music, you know, and we stick with it. That's it. So that's how I started playing.

Gonz:

that it actually naturally flows with me. I could, I could speak for Steven too. It's like when I'm playing a drum beat or Steven's playing a riff, right away I'll click with him, but I'm not even thinking about it. Alex, it just, it just flows, you know, whereas Steven's saying about covers, if I'm going to sit down and try to learn a cover, I have to think about it.

Alex Gadd:

Oh, no, I, I've been in cover bands and it is work. It is a

Gonz:

It just, it, it breaks my flow. Like I said, I can literally go over to Steven's house right now. And if he says to me, I have a new riff, he can start riffing and I don't even have to think about, like, I don't have to say, I'm going to go home and check it out and listen to it. I'm just in there, you

Steve Gonza:

And the crazy, the crazy thing about it is, is that there's no doubt that I You know, all the years of me listening to Sal playing Sabbath and, Kiss or, or Rush, whatever it is, it was all subliminal in my brain because, trust me when I say, when I came up with a riff, people even today sound, man, you guys sound like Zeppelin. I'm like, I never even learned a Led Zeppelin song because I was so lazy to go out and learn it. You know,

Alex Gadd:

I

Steve Gonza:

now, if I have a guitar, a guitar student, you know, I used to teach years ago, not much anymore, but when somebody said to me, Hey, can I learn, a Black Sabbath song, whatever, and I go learn it. I'm like, Oh, now I know what they're talking about. I don't sound like, that. I think that's, I know that might've helped my, my original writing is that if you learn a bunch of cover songs, you might get pigeonholed into, like, you don't want to sound like that, right? You want to write that riff. But I was never like that. I just went by what I thought sounded good. And some of my riffs actually, if you speak to someone that really knows the notes and the scales, they're like, Hey, that's a wrong scale. I'm like, well, the audience likes it.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah. See, that's the thing is that people who are good at playing guitar are the people that learned those rules so they can break them. And so if you never learned them, it's better for you. It's easier to just make things that sound good to you.

Steve Gonza:

Guys have come up to me and said, Hey, you know, just want to let you know that I learned one of your, your songs and you should be hitting an E at the end of that. I'm like, Hey, look, I thought it sounded good. And we, you know, my ears are bleeding cause people are always requesting, we, we try to get rid of songs. People are like, Hey, you don't play that song anymore.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah,

Steve Gonza:

It's cool to show you that it's easy stuff. For us in, in the riffs are real easy to anybody can learn it, but sometimes the easy stuff is the catchy ones that people, at least our following likes it, you know,

Alex Gadd:

totally. Totally. Being original is more important than being a copycat for sure.

Gonz:

Absolutely. And technicality wise too. It's funny. Cause, I have good friends of mine that are school drummers and I'll let them hear a song and they're like, oh, oh dude, you, your time signatures are out of control. I'm like, I don't even know what time signature I'm playing. All I know is that I, it feels good to me when over, you know, over Steven's riff. So, all right. If you're telling me that, I'm playing some wild time signatures, i, awesome.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah, right. It's just more interesting.

Steve Gonza:

everybody has influence. I mean, ridiculous to say, Oh, I'm completely original. Of course. But I'll, you know, I take my hat off to cover bands because like I said, I'm not good at that. Right. Some cover bands say they can't write an original song too. They find it hard. I find it very easy to come up with originals. Right. And I find there's always a songwriter or two in a band or even four of them, like the Beatles, but, or Kiss, you know, they all, they were all songwriters, right. But I got to take my hat off to guys that I've played like one on one and they showed me like when STP came out, for example, like Stone Temple Pilots, when they came out, you know, I loved songs like, Unglued and, and, you know, and so when my friend, Mike Conti, um, showed me how to do that, he took the sixth string and he dropped it. I said, what are you doing? Cause I was like a standard tuning guy, right? I didn't do anything else. I really didn't. Cause like I said, When Pearl Jam came out, I loved them, but I didn't know how they got that deep sound, you know? But when he took my sixth string and he goes, dude, you gotta turn your sixth string down to D, right? That was it. I was like, oh, that's the sound I'm looking for. And then I started writing in that tuning, and now we're in drop C. Which is even lower than that, you know, it's so funny that people that really know Ink over the 25 years, if they saw us like the first 15, and then all of a sudden they see us now, they're like, did you guys drop your tuning? Cause as much as we love that, we don't have any, we don't have any standard tuning songs anymore. You know, it's

Alex Gadd:

That's amazing. I love that. All right. I have a couple of questions. It's about forming the band So, 1st, how did you meet Rich?

Gonz:

uh, Stevie, can I tell it Stevie?

Steve Gonza:

Go for it,

Gonz:

Okay. All right. So this is the a great story because when we first formed a band Steven and I formed a band, we had a different bass player and actually a different lead singer long story short We fired them Okay got rid of them and it was just Steven and myself. At the time Ritchie was a fan of the band that we're in. The four piece,

Alex Gadd:

What was that band called, Sal?

Gonz:

It was Ink. It was, it was the beginning of Ink. Okay. It was a very short period. And Steven was like, we, you know, we gotta get a bass player. And I was like, well, what do you think of Richie and Steve says i, I love, I love, he's great guy. He loves our, our music. He loves the style. And he's a great bass player. He was playing in another band at the time, so, to make a long story short, I call him up and I, and I was like, uh, Rich, Steven and I have a proposal for you. We'd like for you to join Ink. And at the time it, we had total phone, right? He goes,

Alex Gadd:

I remember.

Gonz:

he goes, hold on a second. He clicks over, comes back a couple minutes later and he goes, I'm in. And I was like, who were you talking to? He's like, I was, I was on the phone with the lead singer of my band. I just told him I'm quitting cause I'm joining Ink.

Alex Gadd:

Nice.

Gonz:

that's how we met Richie it's wild because he used to call us every Sunday after a Saturday night gig and say, leave me a voicemail. Guys, I loved your set. You guys are awesome. And he was really excited at the time, the band that he was in. He always mentions it. He's like. People would come up and say, you're great on the bass, but he really wanted to hear. I love your band, you know, he was excited to get compliments from others saying that, hey, you're a great bass player. And that was literally like, 26 years ago, you know, so this is this, this version of Ink, the power trio is 25 years

Steve Gonza:

Sal left out a couple of details, just a

Gonz:

let's go ahead.

Alex Gadd:

Hit

Steve Gonza:

These details are, first off, he fired everybody. That's number one. Now, and the funniest story about that is, first off, Ink started in, Sal's basement, or my basement, if I forget who had the drum set. It's always the, wherever the drum kit was,

Alex Gadd:

right.

Steve Gonza:

Ink was, you know, Sal and I, we, we had some songs, but we needed to form it. And Sal met a bass player from a friend. He came over. He played bass for a long period of time with us. Um, and then the first singer, Believe it or not, the first singer, we never even made it out of the basement. He didn't like, he

Alex Gadd:

it. It's hard to be. It's hard to put a band together.

Steve Gonza:

want to, he just didn't want to play out. He was, uh, he was going in a different direction. So we did have a few other singers before that, but the, but he's talking about the fire, the firing. He did fire one singer. And at that time he looked at me and I said, Sal, we've got a Toad's gig coming up in like 10 days. He goes, it's a 30 minute set and you're the singer. He told me I'm the singer. Holy shit. So I had to like rework. You understand that when you, there's one thing to play guitar and then there's another thing to sing and then to do it the same time is, is a lot of tap dancing going on. Right. So. I had to rework those songs, and I did. I reworked those songs so that I could do that. And now everything right now, if I write a really good riff, I make sure that I could sing over the top of it. Or, it's a Zeppelin type of song. With Zeppelin, you know, Robert Plant never sang over,(ba-neh-neh-neh-nuh) He never sang over that. Right play the riff then sing song. A crazy thing. And he didn't have an instrument in his hand, so you'd think he'd probably try to do that. But I'm pretty sure Jimmy Page said shut the fuck up, and

Alex Gadd:

exactly.

Steve Gonza:

We do that a lot, and you know what? We've been criticized. Like, people are like, Oh, you need a separate singer. We're like, no, that's what we do.

Alex Gadd:

No you don't. That's

Gonz:

nonsense We're a trio.

Steve Gonza:

We just do our thing. We try to do the best we can. That's the one detail is the fact that, yeah, Sal did fire a couple of guys, right? Richie was one, one of our fans, which we loved Richie. And, you know, and when he came into the band, he was like the missing link because he was all into like what we were doing. And he learned those songs really fast to play Toad's Place. learned a dozen songs in

Gonz:

a week and a half for Toad's Place.

Steve Gonza:

Yeah. his first show with us was at Toad's, and, I was singing too, and, and, and the funniest story about the singing thing was, you know, it was a big step for me, because, it was a lot to do, but I never forget, after that show, I went up to Sal, and I was packing up, I looked him, I was sweating, and I looked up at him and I said, You gave me this, and if you take it away, I'll fucking kill you. I loved it. You know, I love being the frontman.

Alex Gadd:

Right. And they're your songs.

Steve Gonza:

well, Alex, the thing is, Sal turned to me and said, Steve, just start writing so that you can do that. And here's the other crazy story is that there was this one song. Cause I used to write the song. Give it to the band. If they liked it, they liked it, but I would give it to the other singer and he would sing it right. But then I never forget. So if he had a set of like 15 songs that we were playing out one night, there was this one song that I said to him, you know what, I wrote the song, but I want to keep it and I want to sing it. So he was like, go get a drink. Right. And I'll never forget that first time I did that, the sound guy and people were tapping me secretly saying, dude, step to the mic more, they like you. And that was sort of like the beginning of a, Sal was like, Steve, I like you on the mic better. It kind of worked out. So that's the other detail

Gonz:

That's a big detail. And it's, and seriously, I mean, Steven took the bull by the horns. He looked at me and he said, what are you doing? You're, you're firing our other singer. We don't have a singer now. Like, sure. We do.

Steve Gonza:

Yeah, you're it. I was like, holy shit.

Gonz:

You're You're the new singer

Steve Gonza:

Back to the story when, Sal said, join the band, right? He, he invited me and he was always the the founder. But as I always tell the story, I said, well, Sal never knew I was going to take it over, but the truth is he still, still runs the band. He's the founder. He knows that he, he hires and fires, and. Yeah. And you know, they say bands break up, but family doesn't. And Richie, Richie is a long lost cousin.

Gonz:

Richie is family.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah, you can tell that he was the right fit because you're still together after 25 years. That is miraculous

Steve Gonza:

look, we also didn't want a bass player to come in and say, Hey, we want to throw in some covers because Sal and I were just not into the cover thing. Again, I'm not knocking cover bands. That's what we're all derived from, you know, covers. Right. I can just tell you that we just didn't want to do it. Sal did that in high school and stuff. And he knew that I could write and, you know, when I gave Sal a riff and he came up with the drum parts, like, wow, it's, he would come up with all the stops and stuff like that, and then Richie would ratify it and then, Richie's on the same page with us. I wish he was on here. He's just like, yeah, we don't play, we don't play covers because we just love doing the original thing so much. We've never played the cover song and I've always said, look, it's a great local thing. We have fun doing it, and make a little money out of it that we put back into the band. We use the money for studio time and stuff. But we always said, when we go to a club, a booked gig in the local area, and we show up and nobody's there, then we know we got to hang it up, but they're coming. You know, we get 50, 60 people at a show plus the regular crowd. You get a hundred people in a room and it's pretty cool for an original band to do that, you know?

Alex Gadd:

it is totally cool. I saw you for the 1st time this year on your 25th anniversary show at

Steve Gonza:

Toad's No,

Alex Gadd:

I, was so amazed. Not because I was surprised, but it was just nice to see it in person and see you guys being recognized and being appreciated and appreciating back like you give as much as any band does back to your fans. So I love that. I want to keep going though because Steve, there's a really important follow up question. Did you ever think you'd be a songwriter when you were in high school, for example?

Steve Gonza:

The answer is no, but, uh, I mean, look, I always had that creative thing in me, I mean, for, for my college, I was like the, the cartoonist for my school. So I had that artistic thing going

Alex Gadd:

I remember you used to draw cartoons, even when we were younger,

Steve Gonza:

Yeah. And, you know, but obviously, you know, the thing is when you sit next to somebody in class, that's so much better than you. You're like, I might want to go for business management and it worked out good for me. Cause you know what, the job that I have now gets me any type of guitar. I want, you know, before the real Gibson Les Paul now. Right. But no, I never knew I was going to songwriter. I don't think a lot of people know they are until it happens. But when I was, when I learned how to play basic chords, it's just like magic. Like I would play a chord or two and I'd have a melody that's stuck in my head. And I don't know if it's a good or bad thing, but. When I hear like a, a chord progression, there's only one melody I think that fits that. And I, I always told Sal, I said, you know what, if I had Velcro and a tape recorder and attach it to my ass, I'd probably get a lot more songs. Cause I have a melody and it comes out and I think that's inside of every songwriter and it just comes out and you know what? I do that all the time. Like I'll be in the basement, I'll write a riff and I'll put a lyric to it and then I'll get, you know, I'm going to dinner plans with the family or a baseball game, whatever it is. And then I go back to that months later, I'm like, what was this? I didn't even know I had that recorded, you know, and I bring those things up and I always say, oh, that's going to eventually get into Ink. And here's the honest truth is we have so many songs that are presented. Believe it or not, there are songs that now we get really picky on. Like just, there's one that, I'll name it. It's called"Goodbye Again," that I wrote. It was sort of like a rock ballad. I presented it to the band and guess what? After two rehearsals, we all went, I don't think it's going to work. So we let it go. And that's the crazy thing about it is like, you know, we just vote on it. And there's really never any hard feelings because I know that, I came up with the next one, which is called"Save Me," which is our newest, but Richie was like, Oh, I love that one. And that makes me happy because, we have enough songs to do a set. So we want to be picky on what we're bringing in.

Alex Gadd:

Right. And you got quality control is huge when you're an original band,

Gonz:

you took the words right out of my mouth. It's like, we would rather have quality than quantity. I was just explaining to, I don't know if I was speaking to Steven and Richie maybe, but back in the day, albums consisted of eight songs total. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. And then the CD came out and, people were putting out 25 songs and eight of the songs were good and the rest were fluff, A lot of people will say, well, how can you guys don't put out a full length album? I said, we can put out a full length album, but we'd like to put out quality. That's why we do a lot of EPs, a lot of singles because it's hot right then and there. It's something that we believe in something that is, we're feeling it and we want to go with it. You know,

Alex Gadd:

So the follow up question there is your 1st, couple of gigs, you're all original band, how many songs did you play in your first few gigs?

Steve Gonza:

Our very first gig, believe it or not, was a New Year's Eve party. Was that foes house? Was that Sal, West Haven? I want to guess. And the crazy thing about it is, and look, you know, hats off to like the other people that were in our band. Okay. Cause you know, they had a big, big part of it because, I'm going to say this, but we're going to laugh is that they were good at following what sound I wanted to do.

Alex Gadd:

right? Well, I mean look everyone's got to have a leader You can't have a democracy in a band.

Steve Gonza:

No, so they accepted the songs that we were doing. I mean, let's face it, it was another singer and another bass player. Right. They accepted that, these were the song, they put their spin on it. Right. But the lead singer at the time, okay, he knew, um, someone in West Haven and, you know, we were just a garage band. We were just in the garage playing. We had a good set, about 15 songs that were all original. Everybody knew the songs. And then the lead singer at the time said, my friend in West Haven wants to have us play their New Year's Eve party and we're like, New Year's Eve party? It's like, who the hell is going to want to see us play? It's our music. Guess what? He told us, he goes, no, I've been like recording our rehearsals and playing them for months for these people.

Gonz:

Everybody loves

Steve Gonza:

Loved it. Right. I was like, really? And guess what? It fucking blew up.

Gonz:

It was a heated tent it was, the place was mobbed. People were all vibing. They were singing the music and we're looking around like, what the hell? And believe it or not, Richie was there. That was the first time we met Richie. Richie was at that show.

Steve Gonza:

Richie's jaw dropped. He's like, wow, this is really cool. But here's the thing is that we played that gig. Of course it was just an exposure gig, but it was mobbed. And people loved it. And then it started with the lead singer's brother, knew, a club owner in West Haven, he's like, they want to book you for like, 600 bucks. I'm like, really? So this is what we did. Right. So the 600 bucks, we took$300 of it and we hired the best sound guy in the area, like these monster speakers. And we showed up and the, the place was packed and we started getting paid. And, uh, the crazy thing about it is though, we had to keep up with sounding good. So we had to keep paying with$300. Sometimes we would do a gig down the street for$300 and make no money. Just so we sounded good because we all had jobs. You know, we didn't really need like,

Alex Gadd:

right. You're not doing it to become rich.

Steve Gonza:

I think it's just really cool that we, you know, we continue to have the original music thing going on. Sorry, Sal, you were saying something.

Gonz:

was just saying, we, you know, we do it for the passion. We don't do it to put food on the table for our family, we don't have, we don't have to sell an Ink shirt in order to put gas in our car to get home.

Steve Gonza:

Yeah, I mean, the honest, it's, so funny is the only time we ever like sold anything, it was never for profit. When somebody said, Hey, we want Ink shirts, we had an online store that we'd send their logo and they would say, well, how much profit you want to make? We'd put zero, but of course the place that's pumping out the shirts need to make money on it. We never took any profit if anything. Oh my God. We take the money that we make at gigs, right? Which is probably a cover charge for door. So we make a couple hundred bucks. That couple hundred dollars goes right to our recordings. And then we give our CDs for free. I mean, we're not looking for a profit and stuff. I

Gonz:

know, that that's, that's how we get our name out, you know?

Steve Gonza:

mean, don't get me wrong When we were 25 years old, if Epic Records would have done that for us. Great. But it didn't happen. And you know what? We're cool with just saying it's a great hobby. You know, to get our music out there,

Alex Gadd:

Yeah, so that's an interesting question. Was your original vision for the band different than it is now? Can you pretty clear about where you're at now with it? Did you have different aspirations for the band when you started it?

Gonz:

Yeah, I, I

Steve Gonza:

we all did. Yeah.

Gonz:

Let's face it. You play an instrument, you, you become pretty decent at it and people are digging music, so you're writing music. The next step is, hey, I want to get signed, you know, I want to get signed by you. And at the time, we played the, Acme Underground, uh, in New York. And, and Steven tells a story too where, you know, we were approached by, two gentlemen from Sony records and, and they're like, uh, Oh, you're going to play that tune"Monster" for us? And Steven couldn't believe, like, how do they know our song? You know? So we make a long story short, they sat us down at breakfast. They wanted to get a deal going and so on and so forth, but you know, it never happened. I mean, we were calling home to our, our girls at the time. Oh yeah, we're going to get signed, pack your bags, but Hey, it all worked out in the end and things happen for a reason. We, you know, we do it for the, for the passion. Now

Steve Gonza:

it was as close as could be. We walked into the lobby when there was nobody in the club but three or four gentlemen, and they came up and he said, are, you know, are you Sal, Steve, Richie, are you guys Ink? We said, yeah. Why? What's up? He said, we want you to play the song"Monster" tonight. I'm like, Who the heck are these guys? They said, we're from, we're from Sony records. We've heard about you and we want to check you guys out. So we went up there and we played like there was a thousand people in the room. It was probably a Wednesday night, we had our Ink photographer at the time. Her name was Megan and she was just like, Holy shit. So we played really well. We went next door and we sat with them at the diner and, over coffee, like at frigging one o'clock in the morning, you're like, we're going to figure out what we want to do with you guys. And we were like, Holy shit. So of course, like Sal said, we're calling home. We're like, wow, this is it, you know? And then, it just disappeared. We really never heard back. It could have been for several reasons. You don't know.

Gonz:

I could tell you that turned me off and I'm sure it turned Steven off too, is that. They said, we really like your sound. Have you ever considered going in the Green Day direction and we're like, no, and I remember because we were full of piss and vinegar, you know, People might say, Oh, I can't believe you gave that up. You know, a lot of people just get signed and do whatever the record company wants them to do, and then they move on to their own thing once they, you know, get out there. But I would rather fail at something I believe in rather than be successful at some, with someone else comes up with, you know,

Alex Gadd:

Oh, my God. Yes. Especially when it's music and your own art.

Gonz:

it's not natural and nothing against Green Day is an amazing band.

Steve Gonza:

And when you say, you know, how it, How has our vision changed? Well, the vision changes when, years go by and, let's face it, we're, we're all, college educated and we have good jobs that pay mortgages and stuff like that. And I always said to the band, I said, guys, you know what? I will quit my job for a year and go on tour. If I can make this number that I may get my job plus plus benefits. Look, unfortunately, I don't know that much about the music business, but I know friends that say it doesn't work like that anymore. They don't like sign bands like that anymore. No, they want, they want you to be on the road.

Alex Gadd:

You have

Steve Gonza:

to bring your audience with you before they'll sign

Alex Gadd:

sign

Gonz:

there's one story that really sort of leveled me out too, is we opened up for LA guns, okay, hanging out, hanging out with Tracii Guns. And it was awesome. It was an awesome experience for us. Okay. Uh, at the end of the night,

Alex Gadd:

Wait, where was that, Sal?

Gonz:

this was at Daniel street in Milford. They, they came through, so, we're hanging out and I'm talking to the bass player and I actually asked him what city are you going to? He said, we're, we're driving to Pennsylvania. I said, oh, that's awesome. And here I am thinking, I'm like, wow, this is so. Cool. Right. What he's doing. He's driving to Pennsylvania, he's doing a tour, and then he said, what are you doing? I was like, I live, uh, around the corner. I'm going home to my wife and kids, and he's, and he looked at me in the eyes and he said, I really wish I was doing that tonight.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah,

Gonz:

And, and it just, like, it was just such, uh, like, uh, an, an open eye, you know, experience. Like Wow, you know,

Alex Gadd:

it's interesting. You say that to Sal, because LA Guns at that point had to be on their way down, their career was bottoming out and you guys would have been on your way up. And so that's different because I remember I moved back to New York to work for my friend's band who had been signed to Epic, a Sony subsidiary, and they had gotten dropped and they were trying to rebound. And so I went to work for them as their roadie and road manager and wanted to be involved so that when they got re signed, I could go with them and be their manager or their road manager or something. And you ended up playing at a lot of the same places we did. This was'94,'95,'96. We played at Brownies and Continental Divide and CB's and Don Hill's. And I know you've been to all those places at

Gonz:

we've been to all those places!

Alex Gadd:

yeah, exactly. And so we played all of them and then they were getting a lot of heat. And, and as soon as they were about to get signed, the record company told them to fire me. And they said, we're going to get you a full time road manager Get rid of that guy. And this was a friend of mine and that was like my end of, that killed my dreams

Gonz:

Yeah. Yeah.

Alex Gadd:

the music industry.

Gonz:

That's terrible.

Steve Gonza:

It's a tough business.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah. It's a, it's a rough business and you can get signed and get dropped without ever releasing a record.

Gonz:

Yeah, exactly.

Alex Gadd:

it's crazy. Uh, let's talk real quick. How did you come up with the logo? Who designed it? My

Gonz:

brother.

Steve Gonza:

yeah, The logo. but believe it or not was, I think it's in Microsoft back in the day, it must've been 25 years ago. I just took the logo and I just went through all the fonts. Yeah. And I don't even know what it is, but that was one. I don't even think it's, it's a font anymore, but I remember I just spit that out. They liked it and I kept it. And, I'm pretty sure you can find it somewhere, but I cannot find it in the Microsoft suite,

Gonz:

I've got a good story about the, the, so Steven came to me with a logo and I said, I absolutely loved it. And the reason why we loved it, Okay, is because I always said the KISS logo, you can see it three miles away on the highway, and even if you couldn't read it, you know it's the KISS logo. And I said the same thing about the Ink logo, because a lot of, a lot of bands have very, just elaborate logos and honestly, you have to look and say, what the hell does that say? You know, and then you mispronounce it or you miss a letter or whatever the case. I said, there's no doubt in my mind. If you were standing in the middle of the street, 2 blocks down, I would know you have an Ink shirt on, it's just like, there it's in your face. It's a knockout. Boom!, you know, and that's what we wanted.

Alex Gadd:

love it.

Steve Gonza:

I mean, the name, the name itself was derived, the one thing we all had in common, we all had tattoos, right? So, uh, that was, that was the common ground that we had. And then we also used the fact that, you know, tattoos came from marking of of tribes and stuff like that. And we, we felt that we were like a family or tribe. So I think it

Alex Gadd:

I like it.

Steve Gonza:

like that. Yeah.

Alex Gadd:

Did you consider any other names?

Gonz:

We didn't, we didn't, it was, it was wild because we sat around and we wanted to come up with, at the time a lot of bands had, you know, two, three word names. And to me, nothing, disrespectful, but I just thought it was a mouthful at times. I just wanted,(INK) you know,

Steve Gonza:

So here, here's a funny story about a different name is, so Ink was formed, obviously, and then we were having some issues, some personal issues with, one of the members. And, when we met Richie, we said, Sal, well, let's test Richie out. To see if he could actually, play the song. So we invited Richie over and said that, Hey, our bass player, is not available for a party. You want to come over and play a few songs with us So we called that little gig. We called ourselves Drawing Flies. So, there's no doubt in my mind that we, I mean, I'm pretty sure there was some kind of conversation with Sal. I said, Sal, since we're going to change up the band a little bit, should we call it Drawing Flies? But we never did. But that is a funny story. But Drawing Flies was, uh Was definitely something that I think, could have, Your

Alex Gadd:

alter ego.

Steve Gonza:

but we kept it Ink, you know why? Because look, we had the following, we had the following, When you lose, uh, people in a band, there's no doubt about it that you lose people. No doubt about it. Right. But I mean, you know, not to toot our horn, but Sal and I were always the more popular players players in the band,.

Alex Gadd:

were the backbone of the band for

Steve Gonza:

I mean, look, at the end of the day, if you want to pick on Van Halen and talk about when David Lee Roth left, that was a, for me, that was a big, like, oh, the fucking floor fell in.

Alex Gadd:

know. Me too.

Steve Gonza:

No. And, you know, Sal was the founder of it. Sal booked all the gigs. He had all the connections. So he was just the. He was just the driving force of all that. At the end again, he's, he's my brother, you know, and

Gonz:

And on, and on the flip, I always say and, I'm saying this because it's the honest to goodness truth not because my brother's in front of me, but he is Ink. My brother is Ink. He is the Trent Reznor of Ink. So, if Trent Reznor leaves, not else. There's no Nine Inch Nails. Okay. So my point is that Steven writes the lyrics. He writes the initial riff, the music. Rich and I put our flavor in there and I can say collectively we are Ink. And no one will ever sound like us three, but my brother, when he talked about driving force, he is truly.

Steve Gonza:

really true. I think a funny story is when I was in college, one time I was in a same class as another drummer and he was just like, Hey bro, on, on our break, I live right up the street. Come over. I want to show you my drum set and stuff like that. So I'll never forget. I was at his house and, uh, and he, he had a guitar there'cause he had his, his, his band gear there. So he said, dude, pick up the guitar, you know, play a riff or something like that. So I picked up a guitar and I played a riff and he started playing. I was like, I can't wait. I can't wait to go home to Sal, you know,

Gonz:

Steven didn't have that connection with him,

Alex Gadd:

Yeah, it sounds like you guys have an unspoken connection being brothers. Yeah.

Steve Gonza:

Well, I mean, the funny thing about it is too, We grew up on Aerosmith and KISS, right? But if you ever see like Paul Stanley and like Steve Tyler? I mean, they're in the studio telling fucking Joe Perry, what to do or the drummer, you know, like, Hey, go like this, whatever. Sal and I don't do that. But one thing I do get Sal on and he'll admit is that we'll go in the basement. I'll play a riff and then he'll play it And it was like, Oh man, that sounds really good. And then we'll record the first time we initially do it. So I have it on my cell phone. And then maybe like a month from then, when we're playing a song, he'll play it differently. And I'll go back to that recording and I'll say, look, man, you got to play it like you initially did. You know, we, I, he does that to me too. He'll say, you know, you're not singing it the same way you initially did. I like that. So it's not like we tell each other, we're not telling each other how to play. I'm telling them to play what you play. Don't forget what you played, you

Alex Gadd:

All right. I know we're running short on time. So I'm going to do a fire drill the lightning round, um, biggest venue you've ever played as a band?

Gonz:

Wall Street Theater in Norwalk,

Alex Gadd:

Nice. The biggest band you've ever played with.

Gonz:

Living Color, Toad's Place. And can I just, can I just tell you one quick story?

Alex Gadd:

Yeah!

Gonz:

Okay. Steven and I were in Stamford at the time, came up to see Living Color on their Vivid Tour, their very first tour, right? Yep, Steven and I are actually in the Open Letter to a Landlord video at Toad's Place. Ink has not formed yet. We are. We're not even playing at this time. We're sort of like in a dormant stage of playing. We see Living Color live. And the 1st thing we say to each other is we have to play this venue because we had never been to Toad's Place. First time at Toad's Place.

Alex Gadd:

Such an iconic club.

Gonz:

We looked at each other and said, we have to play this venue. Okay. Years pass, we move to Milford and we open up for Living Color at Toad's Place. So, I mean, that just a full circle. Inkredible.

Steve Gonza:

One thing I want to mention about that is, getting into Toad's Place. I mean, if you're a band in the local area, at least where we live or me, especially original band, you want to, you want to play Toad's. I mean, it's a big, big stage. It's a big sound system. And, I've got to take my hat off to Derek and the Fun Bags. Cause they came to see us at a smaller club called Corner Pocket. And, we brought a lot of people, and one of the members from Derek and the Fun Bags, his name was Chris Nichols, the lead singer at the time, and uh, he came in, I came off the stage, he goes, Hey man, we'd love to have you guys at Toads. And I'll never forget, the very first time we played Toads, we played the first slot, which was 9 o'clock, back then. And they came up to us, and everybody had a different color ticket. And they came up to us, like, holy shit. I've never seen anybody bring that many people or tickets to the front door on a nine o'clock slot. You know, we just had a really good following. We played a lot of smaller clubs and we worked our way up to Toads. And when I think we bought a couple hundred people, our very first gig at Toads and then forget about once you play Toads with Derek and the Fun Bags, which is one of the most popular cover bands back in the day and still today, very popular, you're playing to a much broader, if we, if we brought 200 and the club was packed, 1200 people, you know, they brought in at least 500

Alex Gadd:

Right. Well, now you've got 500 new fans.

Steve Gonza:

absolutely. And you know what, that's how we, we gained a lot. Cause look, music is very controversial. We all know that everybody at Toads that night, 1, 200 people, there's going to be half of the crowd that's going to be like, who do these guys think they are? You know, and then the other half are going to be like, let me sign up on their mailing list. We got a lot of those people to sign up and guess what? Then Derek and the Fun Bags, Simple Jim, UF, all these cover bands that were really big at the time. The Nerds, they wanted us to open for them. So we were booked through the whole year So that was the biggest era for us, where we were like playing these showcases, a 30, 40 minutes set in front of a lot of people. That's

Alex Gadd:

how Yes.

Steve Gonza:

it started.

Alex Gadd:

Yeah. The ability to draw is huge because ultimately it's about dollars that cross the door,

Steve Gonza:

Yeah. You Here's the funniest story is it was a dollar per ticket. You know, we, we go there. If you brought 50 people to get$50, you brought 200 people to get$200, which is not a lot of money, but the, the, the joke is on all them because we would've done it for free, you know, really? I mean, to play are that many people, your own music and to make so many friends and stuff like that. I mean, seriously, a lot of guys, our age, they play golf. But you know what, they're spending money and their hours on the golf course. At the end of the night, at least we get a couple hundred dollars we can put into the band. Yeah.

Alex Gadd:

right on.

Gonz:

What else you got Alex?

Alex Gadd:

I got some more. All right. I want to do two things. I want to do some bucket list questions. So bucket list questions, what's the venue you most want to play that you've never played? Like if you could play anywhere in the world with Ink, where would it be?

Steve Gonza:

Madison Square Garden,

Alex Gadd:

That's if you said anything else, I'd be disappointed.

Gonz:

Yeah, MSG man. They, they, that place just the vibe is

Steve Gonza:

You know, there's other stadiums, right. There's other big places, venues, but it's just, you know, MSG is just,

Gonz:

Yeah, man.

Alex Gadd:

the Mecca. It's the Mecca. is there a band, if you could play with any band, who is the band you'd most love to open for?

Gonz:

Oh man.

Steve Gonza:

mean, I would, I, I mean

Gonz:

Who, Who, do you think, Stevie?

Steve Gonza:

We're so influenced by KISS. But I mean, look, the, the members have changed. So that, that's sort of like,

Gonz:

It would have to be the original lineup of KISS originally?

Alex Gadd:

a good answer. I love that answer.

Gonz:

That, would be, that would be my pick. What, what would your pick, Steven?

Steve Gonza:

oh, I, it would have to be my, the re the reason why I, I play a Les Paul guitar is Ace Frehley the reason why, and, and of course Joe Perry, but like I said, I mean. You know, would, would we fit in that genre? We're

Alex Gadd:

Who cares?

Steve Gonza:

you're right. You're right. Who cares? I think we would fit more with, you know, an STP or a, yup, or even a Sevendust,

Alex Gadd:

All right. I want to cover two more things. So, I got your ZillaGod EP. Love it. First, let me just say it sounds so much better than a, an original local band's EP should sound. It is Inkredible. So can you talk for two minutes about how it was recorded, where it was recorded, who produced it with you?

Steve Gonza:

Go for Sal.

Gonz:

It was recorded at Dexter's Lab in Milford, Connecticut. Nick Bellmore is the engineer producer. He is amazing. I mean, this guy, he, he's a drummer. He's a Inkredible musician. He's actually out on tour right now, but this guy is just off the hook. Uh, he was recommended years ago by someone and we walked in and at the time, I swear, he looked like he was 15 years old, Alex, and we were like, who is this guy, you know, and then he recorded our, our first couple of singles and, and we never looked back. Steven and I looked at each other and Richie and we're like, man He knows us. He knows us. And, Thank you very much for the compliments, Alex.

Alex Gadd:

Oh, it's really, I mean, and I listen to a lot of music, very few self produced local band music sounds as well mixed and well produced and excellent as your EP.

Steve Gonza:

well, Here's the crazy thing about it, is that the fact that he's in Milford and we didn't know all these years is freaking crazy.'cause we used to go to like the ones that, looked bigger. Like, let's face it, we went to, we recorded at Carriage House, Trod Nossel, and then all of a sudden we heard. One of our friend's band and he's like, you have to check out this guy. He's right in Milford. And we went there and it's very small studio, but you know what? He's got all the gear and he knows the knobs and he knows us. Matter of fact, we go in there, we record. I mean, let's face it. Ink is a riff band, chords, some melodic stuff, nothing, you know, we're not playing Rush 2112, right?

Alex Gadd:

right.

Steve Gonza:

You know, we go in there, we do our stuff and guess what? Yeah. We pack up, we're in there, we pay for an eight hour block, right? And we're there for maybe a couple hours, two, three hours. And then we leave, let him mix it and send us, we don't even stay for the mixes. That's how much

Gonz:

we don't stay for mix. That's how well he knows

Steve Gonza:

knows our music so well.

Alex Gadd:

That's impressive.

Steve Gonza:

Yeah. I mean, look, we're good at coming up with the songs, but man, he really knows how to capture us

Alex Gadd:

Yeah, well, he did a hell of a job. Do you have a new EP coming out? You had mentioned when you released your video on Facebook that you had a new EP coming out soon.

Gonz:

It'll contain three songs. It'll contain, Mary, You Lose, and Breathe. All of the songs have been released, but we're going to, uh, Nick's on tour actually right now, and we're going to consolidate them onto an EP and then have it released, on all platforms.

Alex Gadd:

cool. And then the last question about your music is where can we get your older music? Cause I know you've been writing songs way before ZillaGod

Gonz:

Reverb

Alex Gadd:

Reverb Nation.

Gonz:

Reverb Nation.

Alex Gadd:

Nation. Okay,

Gonz:

I'll send you the link. Alex

Alex Gadd:

cool. I'll put it up when we post this

Gonz:

Yeah. Yeah. That would be awesome. It has a slew of songs that actually I go back and listen to. I was like, holy shit. I forgot this song.

Steve Gonza:

I'm going to have to make an exclusive and send Alex one before I even send it to them. The Acoustic version.

Gonz:

Yes.

Alex Gadd:

would love that too. If people listening to this wanted to hear one, if you wanted them to hear one song that captured Ink, what's that song?

Steve Gonza:

I'd go with Mary. I don't know, something

Gonz:

Yeah. Yeah. Mary just, it's just a kick in the teeth. I have to say our last three songs. Actually, I don't know. Our last last 10 songs have really caught, like, we, we've gotten into our zone, you know? And really proud of it starting with Zillagod, it has, it's, has that steam rolling sound, and yeah, that, that's a good representation.

Alex Gadd:

And then where are you going with the band? What do you foresee happening over the next 3 to 5 years? Just keep on keeping on. Or what? I don't want to put words in your mouth.

Steve Gonza:

I'll answer that one. I think,

Gonz:

Go

Steve Gonza:

I know that we're, we pretty much, are committed to, you know, we're not knocking bands that play out more frequently. We're not knocking bands that play smaller clubs, but I'm not carrying the PA system around. We're picky about where we play. We want to play showcases. We want to play a Toad's type of show. Now what's a"Toad's type of show?" You know what a"Toad's type of show is?" You're playing for a 35, 40 minutes showcase where we could play original music as loud as we want we don't have to play for three hours,

Gonz:

stage, lights, sound system,

Steve Gonza:

sound check. Lights and guess what?

Gonz:

Sam.

Steve Gonza:

you know,

Alex Gadd:

and a sound guy you don't have to pay 300 bucks to.

Steve Gonza:

Yeah, Last club that called us up, which is I don't want to mention any names, but they called us up. They said hey, we're starting this thing outside on our patio and you bring your own PA system. I said, yeah, I'll get back to you Hey, seriously, I

Gonz:

He's still waiting for the phone call

Steve Gonza:

they're willing to pay 700 to do that. But the truth is, I would rather play for free inside to all of our people and give them free tickets to listen to all our music and have some fun. It's a night out for us, you know, and we rock it, but like I said, the inside thing just works for us. And, so how do we see ourself? I definitely see ourself doing more quality songs, more quality videos, and more quality clubs.

Gonz:

Yep.

Alex Gadd:

cool. I love it. I love it. Anything that I can get you to promote. Do you have gigs coming up?

Gonz:

November 23rd at Bleachers in, Connecticut. We're doing a, uh, a showcase and it's going to be, Steven. What, what do we, there's five bands, right? It's called Dirt Fest.

Alex Gadd:

Oh, yeah, I've heard you talk

Gonz:

Yeah.

Steve Gonza:

a, It's a benefit for autism. Uh, It's called DirtFest. Uh, the, The band that's running it is called Dirt. Um, they invited us last year. It was a sold out show for

Gonz:

great tons of bars. Great band

Steve Gonza:

Yep. Uh, the tickets are$25 a piece. And of course, even if you can't attend, it's, it's a great, cause for autism. Yeah, we'd love to, uh, get some people to come support. I can tell you that the sound system there is phenomenal. I mean, like I said, We like to play clubs that have like quality sound system and sound guy and let me tell you something this club. If you go there, you're going to hear a really good concert. It's not like you're not going to see local bands. You're going to see really great sounding bands. If you have your stuff together and you go through a really good sound system. You sound much bigger. You really do. And it's just the place you know, I'm picky cause, let's face it, I'm, I'm not, I'm not Celine Dion voice. I'm a Rock-N-Roll voice, but, but through this sound system, I sound like God and, you know, I'll be the first to say, man, wow, if I wish I could sound like that, all my gigs. Um, so this is the show. If you want to see Ink at their best, this is the show to go.

Alex Gadd:

I want to see Ink in Fairfield county now that I live here again. So got to

Steve Gonza:

Well, I think we're working on something, right, Sal? Park City, I think.

Gonz:

Yep. Yeah. Park City.

Alex Gadd:

Sal, do you want to promote your, drums as well real quick.

Gonz:

Oh yeah. So, uh, I have a couple of kits behind here, as you can see.

Steve Gonza:

One's at my house, by

Gonz:

yeah, I

Alex Gadd:

That's it should be. Yeah.

Gonz:

all in everybody's closets, everybody's houses. But yeah, so that's RCI drums. I've been endorsed with them for. Long time since I think 2008. Uh, it's been a while. They have been so gracious. Romano Catone, who is the owner, approached me years ago at Toad's Place, uh, and said, you know, would you consider playing my drums? And I was like, I don't know. Let me check them out. And, he let me take them out for a run. And I never looked back. I, I love them. I absolutely love them. So RCI Acrylic Drums. Awesome.

Alex Gadd:

Excellent. Well, guys, again, thank you so much for your time. My best to your families and, may we run into each other many times.

Steve Gonza:

Alex, it was a pleasure. Absolute pleasure. I'm so glad that you had us and we'll do it anytime you want.

Alex Gadd:

Okay, cool, Well, anytime you want to promote something, we'll do it again. Well, that's it for today's conversation. Thank you for joining us. We'll be back next Tuesday. And if you like what you heard today, we'd appreciate it if you would subscribe or follow to make sure you get notified about every new episode. And please tell your friends. Also, a reminder that we release a playlist for every episode, so look for the Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast Playlist on Spotify every week. This week featuring the songs from Ink. So check that out. Additionally, we want to know what you think. So please leave us a comment. We'll try to respond to every one of them. We love hearing from you. The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast is a World Highway Media production. I'm your host, Alex Gadd. And until next time, remember that life is short. So get those concert tickets and we're done That was painless, right?

Gonz:

That was awesome, man.