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Carr Stereo Podcast
Join veteran Rock Broadcaster and host Terrie Carr for in depth artist hangs , New Music Discovery and more on The Carr Stereo Podcast. TC hangs with her music pals for weekly chats and a deep dive into the world of rock, the music industry and more. Turn up your "Carr Stereo"!
Carr Stereo Podcast
Generation Radio- Supergroup Vibes And New Tunes
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SUPERGROUP ALERT! And this one is fantastic. Downtime during the Covid pandemic brought Jay DeMarcus from Rascal Flatts, Jason Scheff from Chicago together to put together a band that now consists of additional members Tom Yankton and Chris Rodriguez on Guitar and the amazing drum god Steve Ferrone who has played with everyone from Clapton to Duran Duran to Tom Petty.
The bands second release "Take 2" is arriving on April 17th on Frontiers music and I sat down with Jay and Jason to discuss "putting the band together" , we break down some tunes on the record, recruiting Steve (who replaced original GR drummer , Journey member Deen Castronovo), Jason's "Rush" moments with Alex Lifeson and the guys tell some fun stories during our chat.
Mega talent "warning" on this one....
TC Out! Tune in next week!
Hey, it's Terry Carr, and this is the Carr Stereo Podcast. Welcome, welcome. Do you want to remind you video versions of all of the interviews are up on my Terry Carr YouTube channel? You can also check out my website, TerryCard I-E-C-A-D-R-R dot com. I am not generated with the one. It was a super fun time with the guys. Telling stories and talking to us. It's Jay DeMarcus and Jason Chef from Generator Radio this week on the Car Stereo Podcast. Car Stereo is on, and I am on with two legends. It's always nice to have two legends on the show. I am with Jay DeMarcus, you know Jay, of course, from Rascal Flats and Jason Chef, who we know from like everywhere. I mean Chicago. I've seen you with the vocalists of classic rock. I've seen you on tour with so many people. You come from a kind of royal base family as well, because your dad is like royalty.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, we just my wife and I just went and saw Epic, the newer Elvis thing. And it's just amazing to see dad up there. In fact, I ran into Ron Tutt Jr. yesterday. How cool is that? So I'm I'm just down the aisle of a store and I hear Jason. I turn around and he's like Ron Tutt. And I went, Whoa. Yeah. All the King's men's children, right?
SPEAKER_03Amazing, amazing. Jerry Chef, by the way, your dad played with Elvis, played on Doors Records. I mean, he's just a legend. I just did a tour with Priscilla, ironically. Wow. And she spoke about so many people in Elvis' band that she lost and some that were still alive. And your dad's name came up. So very, very cool. You guys, Wowza. Generation Radio, such an incredible. I don't even want to say a band. This is like a unit. This is like a unit of talent. Take two is coming out on Frontiers Music on April 17th. It's your second record, hence Take Two. Brilliant. I have not spoken to either one of you yet. So I want to talk a little bit about how the band got together. I also want to talk about how on Take Two, you ended up, of course, losing Dean Castronovo as your drummer and then bringing in like Steve Ferroni as your drummer, which is insane how you go from an amazing drummer to the GOAT of all time. So talk to me about how you guys got together.
SPEAKER_01Jason and I have been friends for a long time. We met back in 2002 and we've been dear friends. And of course, that led to my producing Chicago 30 in 2005. And uh the more we wrote, the more that we hung out, we realized that we had uh so much in common musically. Obviously, uh it was very easy. It felt very natural when we got in the room together and started writing and started making music. And we always made a commitment to each other that if the day would come that he would stop touring with Chicago, things slowed down with the flats a little bit, we would come to the point to where we would hopefully be able to make music together one day. And when the pandemic hit and our tour got canceled, and for this foreseeable future, we weren't sure what the flats were going to do. It was the perfect time for us to get in the studio with some friends. That actually started out as just a fun way to get us all together during a time that was really, really screwed up. And, you know, no no one was getting out of the house, and uh everybody was comfortable coming in, coming into my home and my studio, and we all just started cutting a bunch of stuff and having so much fun doing it. Called Dean up. He had been out of journey for a few years, and he flew out from Oregon and sat down and uh we made an amazing record. The more that we did together, the more we realized that we really loved it. And that first record came together and we started doing shows, and here we are six years later, and it's more fun than it's ever been. And uh it's just one of those things that for me, it's great to have a different outlet of a different style of music. I grew up in 80s kids, so I loved 80s rock and roll, arena rock, and Chicago was one of my favorite bands ever. And so to be able to have an outlet to make a different kind of music is certainly a wonderful thing for me.
SPEAKER_03And to have that producer head that you have, I think has been such an amazing contribution to this unit of musicians. You know, it's funny you mentioned the pandemic because I think now that we look back six years later, all the negativity that we had going in, but I hear from so many artists. Well, we had some downtime during the pandemic, so I did blank, or I wrote this, or I so there are some good stories that actually came out of that really, really dark period. Jason, so you come in like you're like a kid when you joined Chicago. How old were you when you joined?
SPEAKER_0223. Guys, Howard Kaufman, who was managing the band, I got on the phone with him and he said, How old are you? And I said, 23, and he goes, Uh-oh. And I said, What? And he goes, Can't you say you're 30? The guys were turning 40 years old. Think about this for a second. They were turning 40 when I joined the band. And so he says, Can't you say you're 30? I said, I'll say I'm 80 if I have to. And he goes, No, no, no. He goes, it's it's gonna be okay. And what I saw, and I've experienced this, and Jay obviously has in his career, that when you get young people, there's got to be a level of maturity as part of this. Because it really, you can't you can't replace that, you know. I was always an old soul too. I was always working in bands with people much older than me, like Jay, Jay and I share that we were in our parents' bands, you know, coming up. And so I always liked that. And so by the time I I got with uh with the band, it was just super, it was very natural, you know, because I was I had a lot of reps in, a lot of a lot of uh gigs, had been in the musicians union for nine years. Wait, 14, yeah, nine years already.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, and if if something's gonna elevate you and push you even into a more mature bracket, it's probably joining a band like Chicago, taking it to the road. Wow, that's that's pretty incredible. And your time there was just so, so well spent. I'm gonna throw this to both of you too, because I want to talk a little bit about Frontiers music. Because Frontiers has a lot of bands and they started out as a sort of melodic, hard rock label, which they still are. But I think that they've added so much to the equation. And I think that melodic rock and that melodic feel is something now that new generations of music fans are really. I mean, you see it when bands go out foreigner journey, but I I think it's so needed now. And it's been such a great, I don't want to say genre, but almost like just like a sound for these new generations of music fans that um the return on attention is very different than when we all grew up, and you got your album and you opened it and you put it on and you listened and you listened to every song and you looked at the photos, and we don't have that anymore. So it's so nice to see that melodic rock vibe coming to new generations. So talk to me about being with this label. Jay, I'll start with you. You guys seem to have quite a lot of creative freedom being at Frontiers and being able to do what you want.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that's one of the great things about being with them is that they sort of leave you alone to make the record you want to make. There's very little intrusion in the AR process. And you really hand them a finished product and say, this is what we came up with this time around. And they, you know, they're so supportive in the creative process. And that's really a rare thing to find in record labels nowadays because a lot of labels want to get in there and kind of meddle in and work, work with the artist on the creative process. And it ends up being something that's not really the fulfillment of the vision that the artist had to begin with. So it's really nice to kind of be left alone to go create and have the space and the freedom to do that in. And the other thing is they have a worldwide wide reach. I mean, they're literally all over the globe. So that's really been a perk, too, to have our music reach to far far and wide so many places. Um, you know, we would sort of be handcuffed if we were just released by a uh a label here in the States. So it's nice to have that reach with the and people behind you.
SPEAKER_03You always need to have some good people in your orbit. It doesn't have to be a million people, and it doesn't have to be people who are top of mind names all the time. Yeah, having good people in the orbit is important, and I see that as a growing part of Frontiers. And I also see that they haven't abandoned rock.
SPEAKER_01They've actually filled a void because you know, the kind of music that I loved growing up on the melodic rock, the AOR, whatever you want to call it, is just kind of non-existent in the radio formats anymore. It's been overtaken by hip hop and rap and and things of that nature. So I think that there is a blinding gap there for what people want to hear. And it's amazing because I have a son who's really, really knee deep into music right now, and he's really, really grown a lot in the past couple of years. And what's so cool is he naturally gravitates toward 80s music, 80s pop and 80s rock. And it's just blown his mind that music like this existed. To him, it's all brand new. So kids that are writing and making music nowadays are being heavily influenced by what Jason certainly did and what we did even uh in the flats. And you know, the the funny thing about Rascal Flats is we took all of those influences and tried to sneak all of those into country music, and we did it at a pretty, pretty good, uh, pretty high level. And people were saying, like, wow, we've never heard anything like this in country music before. And the reason is is because we were basically uh country's version of Journey with a steel guitar on top of it.
SPEAKER_03Absolutely, absolutely groundbreaking. Look, I was in, you know, in rock radio when the flats broke, and everybody was like, These guys should be a rock band. So, and you know, everything is so boxed that, you know, well, you could never cross them over here at this time or there at that time, but there's a lot more of that obviously going on now, and you definitely pioneers of that sound for sure. Um, so Jason, let's talk a little bit about you playing with so many different people. One of my favorite videos is you literally being a member of Rush. Rush is like one of my I'm the female Rush geek. I'm like the girl. I interviewed Alex Liveson and I said, I'm the biggest rush fan. And he goes, So you're the one, you know, because people always say women don't like Rush. Watching Alex on stage with you when you guys did Spirit of Radio. And for those of you that don't know about this, you've got to check it out on YouTube because it's so incredibly cool. He the joy in his face was just incredible. And you stepping into the Getty role, like amazing, amazing.
SPEAKER_01And I love Jason's Jason's a musical whore.
SPEAKER_03Well, I love that. I love the singing bass player. There's nothing to be better than the singing bass player. Jason, Getty, Phil from Thin Lizzie, Glenn Hughes. I just think that Lemmy, there's something very magical about I think singing while you're playing the bass. And it always seems like the microphone for bass players is higher. I don't know. Is it is it higher? Is it am I just noticing that? I said it is.
SPEAKER_02You know what's funny is that there's a combination of you can like you can really ego out and say, okay, how many out there that sing and play are on a certain level, and it's it's it's not a ton, you know, like you say. On the other hand, since it's what I do, and I always love talking to other people about this, and I think we all share this, that since it's what I do, I there's a part of me that doesn't think it's that special. I think everybody can do it when you have expertise at something, only to realize when you share it and you realize no, they can't. So don't run away with it thinking I'm this thing. If they're gifts that we're given, and share them because it is special. And uh, you know, the whole thing with with with Alex, it's so funny because, you know, for full transparency, don't you love that phrase?
SPEAKER_03I know what you're gonna say. I think you're gonna say you're not a you weren't necessarily a rush geek, right?
SPEAKER_02She's really she's so when I I went from that's why she does what she does. I know she's so good.
SPEAKER_03Well, you were prefacing it, so I had a feeling that was coming.
SPEAKER_02Telegraphing it. Let me let me also add a little variable to this that we didn't mention the RB influence, the Francisco Flats. We talked about classic rock, country, you know, Chicago, you know, melodic, but RB, that's the first thing when I heard these guys singing, and I'm going, that's revolutionary, you know. Uh anyway, so to go back to, you know, what I really was originally inspired by, I mean, the original was Elton John, who's a talk about RB and soul and rock and everything like that. Then I went into KISS. You know, I was a big KISS fan for a minute. Excuse me, still am. Tommy Thayer's a good buddy of Jay's and mine. And I went right I went from that to Earth, Wind and Fire, Average White Band, Steve Ferroni era. Um, actually all eras, but he was he had just become the drummer. Weather Report, uh Return to Forever. So I went heavily in the real more funk RB-based technical musical realm. Rush was not that for me. I appreciated them, but it wasn't what I was gravitating towards. So the so the point of this is that when I met Alex, we met as golfers, we're pretty much evenly matched at the time. I suck these days when I'm getting better. Um but we had heard about each other, and so it was like, oh, this is gonna be cool to play. We had a it was at Scotty Medlock and uh uh Robbie Krieger of the Doors event. And so there was a there was an evening of entertainment the night before the the round of golf, and Danny Serafin was there, the original drummer who made all the hits with Chicago. Uh Robbie Krieger was there, Alex Liveson was there. So I got to be in three iconic bands that night. I was in Chicago, I was in the doors, I was playing bass on the door stuff that my dad played on, LA Woman and Riders on the Storm. And then I was in, I was in a rush. And what happened was we were out playing golf, and somebody said, Alex is coming to the event, and Danny Seraphim made a little kind of joking comment, said, He's gonna want you to play. I said, No problem. And Danny's going, Oh, that's that's that's some serious stuff, man. That's not for children. I'm going, fine, you know, because I've always loved challenging music and came up with fusion jazz, you know. And so they're kind of looking at this. Well, apparently, Alex they asked him, Robbie asked him, Will you perform? And Alex says, Man, our stuff isn't just something people can come up and jam on. And and Robbie Krieger said, You'll be fine with Jason. So Alex took a shot at it. I picked him up in my car, and we were just kind of talking as contemporaries and golfers. And I'll never forget. And I had some video of it, our rehearsal. And the first time, I don't know what it was, you know, whether it was Limelight or Spirit of Radio, the first pass-through, and Alex is so I get chills even thinking about this. Alex just lit up. He knew he was in good hands. And at the end of the rehearsal, Robbie Krieger of the Doors walks up to me with this proud Cheshire cat smile because he knew he made the right call. And he's like, he looked at me just going, and Alex was happy. And then the next night we went and did that performance. And it's funny because that stuff, I have not shedded, would shedded music since I was a teenager, as much as that stuff, because it was so nonsensical to me. But that's the beauty of that music. How Getty would would take those lyrics and put them into the music after the fact.
SPEAKER_01And so it was there's your hot take clickbait right there. Jason Chef says Rush's music was nonsensical.
SPEAKER_03I love it.
SPEAKER_02To a simpleton like me.
SPEAKER_03He's got your back. I got your back.
SPEAKER_02To a simpleton like me. I got your back. Yeah, exactly. I'm gonna get barbecued by fans over this. No, you're not. No, you're not. Whatever. I'm just getting I'm being fully transparent, remember? Uh, and for full transparency.
SPEAKER_03So let me tell you though, I think that that's why Alex loved doing this with you. I don't necessarily think he wants to play with the rush geeks. Look what they did with their drummer. They went in and they chose that because she's a woman, which I'm not gonna lie, I'm not gonna bullshit you. I'm super psyched that they chose somebody, but they chose somebody who had amazing proficiency and didn't care that she was a woman. So that's what I think he loved about playing with you. And that's why he was he was down with it because you weren't the guy standing there with your bass going, can I be getty? Please let me be getty.
SPEAKER_02Right. You're exactly right. In fact, when we finished that, it was the coolest thing because the next night, and he's Canadian and very sweet, he comes up to me and he had committed to doing Patrick Warburton's event, and he comes up to me and goes, So uh Jason, um you know, I've I've I've made the commitment to go do Patrick's event, and I was just wondering. That's the year I was there. That's right. He said, I was just wondering, could we do what we did last night there? And I said, tell you what, the answer is yes to anything you ever want from me. Who did drums with you guys? A guy named he was he was Robbie Krieger's drummer, okay, who was who was a huge rush fan, and he's awesome, but you could tell that it was ultra important to him. Yeah. Whereas I was just sliding into just like what Jay does, you know, that's what's so great about our band and working with him is that we're journeymen, pun intended, I guess, at times. But you know, uh he's worked with a lot of different artists. He's not just a country artist, he's a great all-around musician. And yeah, he's a he's a superstar as a country artist, but puts a different hat on. You know, I learned that from Bill Champlin in Chicago from day one going there, and all of a sudden, boom, Will You Still Love Me, one of the biggest Chicago hits, out of the gate. So as a kid, my itch got scratched, as you never have to struggle with what this feels like. Like I've seen a lot of people over the years. I wish I could give that to them so you can settle down, man. But it's like, so you get that. And then I looked at people like Bill Champlin, who were, you know, calling me saying, Hey, you want to do a background uh session for Kenny Rogers and Gino Vanelli? I said, Absolutely. So we're not the stars. So I got really great training into put the hats on and off. Don't walk around with this. I'm here and I'm on teach you. I I'm in I'm in the music like we are. That's what this band is about. And and I'm, you know, that's what makes it fun. Take a look around this office. You know, this is Jay's office. You know, this didn't happen by accident. He's a visionary.
SPEAKER_03Well, I love this is a time too, where I think in life I get to speak to, and I'm so grateful for this. Working musicians, people who you could be in a band as big as Rascal Flats or Chicago, but you guys are working musicians. You want to do good work, you want to do it with good people, good people around you. And I think that we're in kind of a time now where a lot of people are realizing that. I think everybody's kind of got a little bit of a different perspective. That happens also, obviously, with experience and age. But it's nice to be able to do these incredible projects. Look, we got to talk about the record because I mean we're I'm having such a great time chatting with you guys. Take two. Wow, I think you guys have up the game on this one. I think the songwriting is amazing. I read a great quote, I should have written it down when I was looking at comments about the first single, Montana Sky. And I think somebody posted, this is the best hook of any of the songs on all of the albums on the entire Frontiers label roster. And I thought, wow, there's at first when I heard it, I said, Wow, this hook is just like bam. Wow. It's it's the light in the sky to see that person's quote. Thought that's pretty freaking cool to hear a quote like that. This song is very magical.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much. Uh, Jason and I wrote that song with our buddy Chaz Sanford for the Chicago 30 record. And it was one of many, many songs that uh were so worthy of being on that record, but we had so many songs to choose from. We had to start uh, you know throwing some of our babies out. And that was one of the ones that we always held on to, that we loved, that we said, man, if we ever get a chance to cut this someday. And here we are. That the timing was perfect. Um, I've always loved that song. I love that melody. And Jason, you know, he sings the crap out of it. Of course, he sings the crap out of anything, but it's just a custom tailored melody for his vocal range.
SPEAKER_03Just a just a beautiful and beautiful, brilliant song. Other favorites for me, uh, Grass is greener, such a feel-good song, a beautiful ballad, Hate This Heart. What was the writing process like for you guys? It was it easy? Is it in was it an easy kind of flow for this, you know, coming in second time?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, uh for me, some of those songs have been around a long time. Uh, and they're they're ones that either Rascal Flats didn't cut for whatever reason or personal favorites of mine that I've written over the years that didn't really find a home. Jason and I, of course, have always had an easy time writing together. So that came very natural. Grass is Greener. Actually, Chris Rodriguez wrote that by himself. Uh, that's him singing that track. And Chris's contributions end up being 100%ers uh from himself. He just uh that's his process. He loves to lock himself in a room, do a track, and go after it. So that that song right and and the same thing with Tom Yankton, he'll bring in some ideas. We may or may not help him flesh those out, but sometimes they're they're mostly complete by the time they bring them to us. And then we just kind of sit around as a band and pick and choose our favorites and the best of.
SPEAKER_03Yeah. I Chris and Tom, their contribution is incredible. Let's talk about Steve. Oh my goodness, how did you guys hook up with Steve Ferroni? Who gets Steve as their drummer? Like, just like, hey, we're just gonna get Steve in here. He is what a what an amazing. I there are no words for him, really. He's just in the you know, the king of the pocket there.
SPEAKER_01We found his profile on Christian Mingle uh when we were looking for him. Yeah.
SPEAKER_03So well, he's still the most attractive guy, too. Oh my gosh. Oh my god, he looks the same, right?
SPEAKER_01He's a he's amazing. What an incredible guy. What an incredible drummer. Jason is responsible for bringing him to us. When Dean left, it was sort of a, you know, not surprising that, of course, he would want to be back in journey, but it was a big blow to us because we had kind of really fallen into a groove of doing shows and being with Dean and having a good time.
SPEAKER_03And a vocalist too. Dean's also a vocalist, so everybody's vocalizing there. So, you know, you're losing kind of a two for one.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, yeah. And then Dean, it was so much fun for me as a super fan to play all of the journey stuff with Dean, too, you know. And uh, so that was uh that was a bummer. But then uh Jason and I got on the phone and he was like, Man, I think we should bring in Steve Ferroni. And I was like, Do you think that's possible? And he goes, I'll I'll have a conversation with him. So yeah, no problem. You called him, right? Absolutely.
SPEAKER_03And he was just like, Yeah, no problem.
SPEAKER_01I'm this is my story, Jim. I know you take it. I want to know whether your dad thought you played the door stuff good enough or not. Exactly. Well, uh Yeah, what did Pop say about the door stuff?
SPEAKER_02Yeah, do you see you play bass on the door stuff? I don't think he has. I should send it to him. He should, yeah. I probably probably should. He gave you some notes for sure. He would because my dad is like his dad, very hard to please.
SPEAKER_03Yes, that's why you guys are who you are.
SPEAKER_02My brothers and I talk about it. If we're in the same room with my dad, and you dare to like you know, sit down at the drums or strap an instrument on, you're walking the plank because he's gonna find what's wrong with it. He's gonna say, no, yeah. And he's like, he thinks on such a deep mathematical feel level that that it's like when it's not quite right, he's got a way to tell you why it's not. Although, you know, it's funny, my son Connor sat down with him. There was no problem. My son's an incredible drummer, and it was like I've got video of it's like yeah, just that was a proud moment of like, well, yeah, he's not telling him anything. I hijacked your answer about something. So it's you you got it, you pretty much nailed it, but you know, I I would Jay and I, we laugh about this. That you know, we're mature enough now to understand that Dean really wanted to stay in this band, probably still does, you know. I hear from him from time to time, and he loves being in journey, but that's his gig. And so when we were out performing, Jay and I, Neil was watching us like a hawk, Neil Sean. And sure enough, when they needed help, they called and said, You got to come and help us with Lollapalooza, right? Was that what it was? Yeah, and and Dean got on the phone with Jay and Jay called me and said, He's not leaving, man. He's he's he's he assured me, and I know he was telling the truth. But I said to him, bro, well, we're never gonna see him again. He goes, No, no, no. He told me he's he it's fine. I said, they're gonna hear three notes out of him and say, You ain't going anywhere, man, which is what happened. And I don't blame Neil, I don't blame Journey, and I don't blame uh uh Dean because that's his home. Whereas, as you you pointed out, Jay, you know, when you know, we have such a great relationship, he knows we trust each other. This is great advice. I'm gonna give give some advice. I said, never fear Steve Ferroni's here, and he's so different, too.
SPEAKER_01It's really funny. Actually, Dean's on the new record, he contributed drums on a few of the tracks. Yeah, yeah. I was done anyway, man. No, I'm sorry.
SPEAKER_03But I can see I can see how their personalities are, I can see how their personalities would would definitely be different. Yeah, definitely, definitely be be different, you know.
SPEAKER_01Their feels and their grooves are too.
SPEAKER_02And the and the and Dean's flashy, Ferroni's not, yeah. There are like two ends of the spectrum of as great as it gets. So no doubt. Yeah, no doubt.
SPEAKER_03You guys need as great as it gets because you guys are as great as it gets. I mean, so you know, that that level has got to be met, matched, and taken up.
SPEAKER_02I can agree with you more. We've talked about this. No, I'm serious that yeah, we're at the point now where it's like as Tristan Bowden used to say, seek the best, it's available. Yeah, don't settle, you know. I love you if you're my friend, but you're not on this level. We won't have time. I'm 64 in April.
SPEAKER_01I was just getting ready to say you also get to the point in life to where it's exhausting to try to chase after stuff that doesn't work naturally.
SPEAKER_02That's part of being a great producer, is that you cast it properly. That's old school producing. I'm gonna put the right people so that I don't have to tell you what to do.
SPEAKER_03And there seems to be an ease of art too on this record. It just seems like I don't know. It it seems like watching the videos and listening, you know, I was lucky enough to get the full stream before the release on April 17th. But there just seems to be this ease, this groove, this vibe, this chemistry that you all have together. And I don't think that that can be faked.
SPEAKER_01So there's got to be some level of that that's no, it can't it can't be faked, and you really have to uh be comfortable and enjoy the folks that you're in making music with. And and you're right, you can't fake that. That either happens naturally or or it doesn't. And thankfully, we got a bunch of guys that are all in it for the right reasons, have a massive amount of uh experience themselves. And it's just really refreshing to know why we're all doing this together and uh and to understand what the goal is, and that's to have a whole lot of fun, make a lot of great music, and hopefully along the way, make some people happy. And it's just uh, I think it's a breath of fresh air, you know, for all of us.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, it feels like a breath of fresh air.
SPEAKER_02Let me say one quick thing about Frontiers, too, to just put a uh a cap on that. I think I speak for everybody, but I'll speak for myself. I'm really grateful that we're with people who who have the respect to say we don't need to tell you what to do. And I've heard from a lot of other people, other artists too, that say you guys are one of the only acts that have that relationship with them. Because, first of all, they have a phenomenal team of producers and writers. And and as you said, this that label was founded upon them putting ideas together of these guys should let's put this together, and then our writers and our producers are gonna make the record, and it's awesome. And as Jay said, it's really nice to be able to be dealing with people that basically are saying, We trust you, we know you're gonna, you know, and that's a beautiful freedom. So thank you, Frontiers. And and you're exactly right that they're expanding, they're expanding, bringing artists like us, you know, into the fold. And Chicago did a record with them, you know, um Chicago 36, I think it was. It was the last one I've done. Um it wasn't as good as 30.
SPEAKER_03And you know, 2026 is not a year where a lot of artists can say that too. We get our creative freedom and we get, you know, everybody wants everybody to sound like everybody else, you know. I I hear that all the time. Oh, they sound like this person or they sound like that. Oh, they sound it's the record that so-and-so never made. And I don't want to hear that. We already have that band, we already have that record. We don't necessarily need doubles, triples, quadruples, and 50s of the same sound that we've already had. So I I just I love that that you guys are getting creative freedom. I think if anybody has earned it, by God, it's it's you guys. And I'd love to see we're gonna get any dates. It'd be so nice to see you guys like in a theater doing it. I think people would just absolutely love that.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, we're we're uh we just signed on with new management and a new booking agency. We're with UTA now, and we are in the process of booking the fall right now. So there will be dates forthcoming. Very, very excited to have uh these new relationships and they are so fired up about what we're doing, the music we've made, and and the the band. So I um it's like you said earlier, it's wonderful to have people behind you and around you that believe in what you're doing, and they certainly do.
SPEAKER_03Yeah, good people help make good music. Uh Jason and Jay, I I thank you guys so much for spending some time with me on the Car Stereo Podcast. Generation Radio Take Two is out on Frontiers Music on April 17th. It is a beautiful, incredible piece of music. Get it, download it however you get your music. And guys, it has been such an honor and such a pleasure for me to hang out with you.
SPEAKER_00Thank you for your time. Thank you so much. Don't forget to like this podcast and subscribe to the Car Stereo page on Spotify, Apple, YouTube, or wherever you get your podcast. I'm Rob Moorhead, T and I. We'll see you next time.