Saxophonist Feralcat - Roger Rafael Romero #012

In this episode, you have the opportunity to meet Pittsburgh local Feralcat. He is an artist, saxophonist, composer, alias and conceptual departure from what you think about when you hear the saxophone. Created as the debut solo project by Pittsburgh-based saxophonist Roger Rafael Romero, the music is equal parts prog rock, jazz fusion and art rock. Feralcat uses sweeping lyrical melodies over heavy guitar-driven rhythms to create a sound that you can both hear and feel deeply. These songs are meant to break barriers and melt faces, with improvised saxophone music that you can bump and mosh to!

Roger Rafael Romero:

IG: @F3ralcat
Spotify: Feralcat

Host: Kevin Stalker / @kstalker9 /

Production Manager: Mike Kampas / @kampasm

Beats: Joe Cal / @josephj_callahan

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Remember, Stay Raw with Reality

Transcript

spk_0:   0:00
bra and what's really like just something that's unbending, unmoved, feral cat truths. Here, Theo shoots here. That makes me out to an oracle. That would be cool.

spk_1:   0:15
Welcome to Episode 0124 Wrongness of reality. I'm your host, Kevin Stock, and in this episode you have the opportunity to meet Roger Raphael Romero, other known as Pharaoh Cat, a saxophone musician who plays in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. But enough from me. Here's Roger Raphael Romero. How's everyone doing today?

spk_0:   0:42
It's Kevin here with Roger Raphael Romero, known as Feral Cat. Um, all right, Yeah, that's true. You. I like that you were like, All right, let me use the full name. I mean, Roger Romero is fine. Feral cat is fine, all of its fine. So we're just gonna jump right into it. So what

spk_1:   1:01
even made you

spk_0:   1:02
pick up a saxophone in the first ones? So I started off playing clarinet just from when I was super young. That's like the first instrument they gave me really wanted to play the oboe, but it was just kind of like I had a few options. And then I picked the clarinet. And then in fifth grade, they moved me to bass clarinet and then in sixth grade, one of my teachers through a saxophone. I mean, not like physically, you know, like don't throw instruments kits, but gave me the saxophone like a soprano saxophone. And I was like, Hey, you should try this out. I tried it out for about a week, and then I actually had to move from where I was. So from there, I just picked up a tenner. The next year, I played wherever I moved to. I played clarinet in the school band and then picked up tenor to play in the jazz bands when I was in middle school. So you moved from fifth grade to sixth grade to a new community. Yeah, I was out like being a kid, moving after learning an instrument that you actually play often today. What was that like? I mean, moving, To be honest, the move didn't affect me that much just because I wasn't really a social kid to begin with. So I spent a lot of time. I mean, I have my friends and whatever, and we didn't move very far. I moved from a suburb in New Jersey to another nicer suburb in New Jersey, which was about 10 15 minutes away from the other one. Because I still got to keep a lot of my friends for a while until some of them just kind of like faded. And then we I mean, the musical transition was actually nicer because I went to a better music program. No. Did you go to the next school because of the music program? Uh, no. My parents wanted just a better school system in general, and they found that moving there would do that, just like trying to do this level up kind of thing. My parents about the immigrants from the Dominican Republic. So I was born in New York, then by good fortune and by hard work. My parents got better jobs and, like like higher degree. Well, my mom has a master's degree. My dad has another graduate degree, but they got to, like, just get degrees and actually get decent jobs. And they're both citizens, so their jobs got better, and through the American dream they were able to successfully move to a place where their kids could have a better life. So I just I got the lucky end of my parents is like hard work. Okay, So I'm guessing you're older siblings on No, actually. Have two younger ones to younger ones. Okay, that's cool. S so then what? Had what? Even made you venture off to Pittsburgh. I want to see him. You you want to see music from Jersey? You found? Seem, you fell in love with CMU. Yeah, I had, um I don't know if they do it the same way now, but I went to like those. It's not pre college. It's like a was called a backpacker weekend or something like that. I forget celebration of diversity at a name, but it's essentially you go there. One you're, like, still deciding on schools your senior year in high school, right? And you kind of look at the schools and I did that. Yeah, I stayed for three nights. It's so so from jersey. You traveled the pits berry and stayed three nights. That seem you. Yeah. I mean, the truth is, I had a very different perception of cmu then what most people would because I went there and I straight up partied for three nights, and it was like a Tuesday Wednesday and Thursday and then and then by the time I actually got to the school, I'm like, Wait, no one. No one's like going out on

spk_1:   4:37
a Tuesday like What do you mean? We

spk_0:   4:39
all have to study. Like what? I didn't know. That's what I went to school for. So, um, I just I had so much fun over that weekend, and I did a couple of other ones. I was thinking about Li Hai, too, And, um, I went to that one, and that was like, Okay, I had some fun. And I saw a couple of people that I knew from high school who had gone to the school, but really like coming to the CMU one, like meeting other kids that were similar to me, which was really important, like just similar backgrounds and similar, like thought process of Oh, I'm a, you know, a smart kid. But I like to have fun. Like was what drew me to see him. You And then I came. Do you Are you still connected with any of your friends from seeing you today? Yes, but not necessarily in, like not as many friends that I made when I was a freshman sophomore junior, Um, my 1st 3 years because I was an engineering student at Sam. You do you do And you know, no engineer music. Well, yeah, but it's different with you. Like, you know, an engineer for a recording session is not the same as, ah, you know, chemical engineer. It just has engineering the name I had, like, friends that I had made through the engineering program. And like they were just my classmates. And for the first couple of years, I was like they were basically drinking buddies. We would go, like, study all day and night during the week, and then, like, go hard on the weekends like, very typical. And after about a year and 1/2 I was like, these guys are not necessarily the friends I wanted to have. Like, I just didn't really feel like I connected with them very well. And so I kept like or I felt like really lost at CMU for about two years until I found well, maybe like a year. Then I found a couple of friends who are like artists and creatives, and I started hanging out at the School of music and in the school of Art and like, it started to make more sense to me. But I was still taking the engineering classes, so it was kind of disconnected from both because I wasn't in the my friends, his classes, but the people that I did see all the time, I was really close with grand. By the time I got to be a senior, I just stopped doing as many engineering things. I've still got the degree I like finished, actually in 3.5 years, technically with my engineering degree. But then that last semester I started two bands and my closest friends friends that I can still consider friends today that like I talked to all the time, we're not necessarily musicians by trade. But they were all like we met either in studio like at the CMU Recording studio or we met in the CMU Jazz Orchestra or we just met because there were a bunch of different music events connected to see me that we were going to, and I was kind of like the start of it, and you said you started to bands. What are these two bands and are still in them? No, no, Definitely not. Still in both hands. Definitely. It's not that it was. There's no, like bad blood or anything like that. Um, just they were the 1st 1 It was cold. Bergman. It was a sort of funk jazz crew that it happened by accident. A friend of mine had a show that he booked that he couldn't play, but he decided, tow. Ask a few of his friends that were just in the jazz group to play it. I met these guys, and the band that they were opening for was one of my favorites of all time. And I'm like, That makes me mad. I want to be on the show. So I hit these friends up and I'm like, Hey, can I just play with you guys? And like, of course. And then we met another friend through the recording studio who is still like very heavily involved in the music scene. His name's Shane McLaughlin. He's, uh, one of the lead, or, I guess, the creative brains behind Buffalo Rose. Um, and he came in as a guitarist and singer, and we had a show three days later, and then we're like, Oh, I mean, we were pretty good for three days worth of playing together, and we played, like, six songs, So might as well create a band. And we did that for about a year. And but the other thing was East End Mile, which was my like, I co lead this with a friend of mine and the guy who runs the Attic music group, Caleb Lombardi. So we started this group as a sort of like jazz outlet for ourselves. We both wanted to play jazz, but it ended up turning, like just whenever we added other members and different people were influencing the music. It just became like this, like rock jazz fusion kind of thing that we got to play it big shows like we played it, Mr. Smalls, a couple of times we put a James ST back when it existed. So we got to play on the same bills as some, like the rock and indie guys that were that were really cool. You'll be a Mr Smalls June 1st rate. I will be a Mr Casting. That's exciting, isn't it? Oh, yeah. Okay. Before it was like as a part of a big festival, so we were just or the couple of times that I played it. Mr. Smalls, we do that. I played in the funhouse that played in the cafe, but playing in the actual theater where, like my name, it's the one that's on the poster That hasn't happened before. Yeah, until June 1st until June 1st. Yeah, How are you feeling about that? It's not like, uh, being you being me, you and your shoes. What's that like? It's incredibly exciting because I'm releasing music that is that like I wrote, like versus I've made music and collaboration that last two bands that were in, Of course, I was in the writing process. It was all like a collaborative work. And for this particular band, I wanted to just be the one who wrote, produced, like, did everything for it because I needed to make a statement with my music and it's exciting. It's terrifying because I'm getting all these details through, and there's some things that are happening last minute. I'm doing most of this on my own. I mean, I have help for everything that I can't do, but a ce faras like I am fortunate because I do have a lot of friends that helped me out along the way, and we get to do a bunch of stuff together. But like, for example, getting to do this with Starship Mantis because we're both releasing a record that night, which is really cool. And it's an album release. Yes, so it's an album release for Starship Mantis. Incredible local funk, jazz, jam, beat, Um, style, great style. Everything is really cool about them and then awesome guys and then my group sort of this like prog rock. Contemporary jazz are rock fusion make. I don't want to call it jazz, and it's hard because no matter what, when someone sees the sacks film, they just think, Josh. But I like I know the jazz police would be Gun

spk_1:   11:31
Woo. That's not

spk_0:   11:33
just so for those who are heavily invested in jazz music as as, like peace and a staple of historic music. No, this is not jazz for anyone who's just used to listening to music and likes music but doesn't necessarily isn't like this sort of crazy super fan of music. Then, yeah, it's probably going to sound jazzy to you because I'm I played through a style that I know and a lot of it is influenced by jazz. Um, I don't even know if I answered your question. How do I feel? Yeah, you say nervous. Yeah. Nervous, but like, more excited than anything. That's that's, Ah, pretty cool opportunity to have you played with starting shit matters before actually up. So that was recently, I think. Right. Um, the past, like, six or eight months, we played together back when James So James Street, which was a great local venue, closed down November of 2017 and we like my other. My old fusion band East and Mile got the opportunity to open for at the last big show that they threw before they closed out. It was like the Friday before they closed down. They did have one more show on Saturday, but the last big show was ours, and it sold out within like, I don't know, five or six days. It was kind of nuts, but Starship in proper couldn't play instead. Um, just their lead singer. Langston couldn't make it. So he or Benny, who's kind of the band leader? Not kind of I I think he's the band. Later they could quote me differently, but he asked players from Beauty Slap, which is this like Funk Elektronik Group. They've been playing around Pittsburgh and beyond for years now, and they're incredible. And they were closing out the night me, So they had a horn section. And then he asked a bunch of friends which included Benji are nuts here. Sorry, Um, friend Chloe and all of these people to be a part of this, like starship mantises, galactic ambassadors. And that's when we played together. It was more of a super group rather than me actually like playing in collaboration with a sound like that. He just wrote a bunch of like functions that were, well, not a bunch for like, five funked in really, really cool on really tight. Um, and it was great because the energy of that room was incredible. Everyone was just there to see live local music. And so this isn't the first time that I've worked with Benny or the starship guys I haven't ever like. We haven't played together really since I did play at the Wilkins Block party recently, which is Ah, local music festival, where we did sort of similar concept, but the musicians were a little bit different. Okay, so a little bit of a different note. What was it like performing if you guys don't know, he does have a new music video. Jaguar. Is this right? Is that the song? That's the song. The song is Jaguar. It's really cool. They follow him through the streets of Pittsburgh. Yeah, Downtown. Yeah. Yeah, it's super sweet. So what was it like playing on on the music video? Having someone follow your movements? Were you playing the whole time? Thio? What was that like? I was minding it most. Okay, that's what I thought, but I wasn't sure I couldn't tell. Yeah, it was like, perfect. Like I was hoping most people couldn't tell, but they're like, Oh, you're, like, running And like, weren't you exhausted? I'm like, Yes, I was I was out of breath. I actually couldn't for my instrument, but I tried to play through a couple of times like there were a couple of moments were actually made noise, just like pretend like to further pretend like I'm playing. But I didn't play the whole time. I probably played like, 5% of the whole video. Um, conceptually, it was super cool to just get so Benton, Who's this incredible videographer? Um, has started to do a lot of local work around here. Yeah, Benton's better all over the place lately. I've heard his name and seeing his work lately. A lot. He is awesome. You should have him on the podcast. Were planning on him and Zach. Zachary Ready? Yeah. Finding on both of them does He does the studio friendships. Yeah, they do the studio friendship sessions together, and they did a phenomenal job with that. So Ben approached me. Um, I'm not even sure how long ago at this point it was at least a month ago. But he's like, Hey, I want I have this video concept where I really want to just follow you around. Single cam with a saxophone. I'm like, That's great. About two days before that, Mike. Hey, um, can we make this a music video? I'm just going to send you a song. And, like, hopefully we could just make it work. Um, he listened to it. I think the day of I might not even might not have been two days. It might have been, like, one night beforehand. So we listened to it in the morning. Is like I I got a general idea. We met in that alleyway where the first shot was, and we're like, All right, let's see how this works. He had a, um, like, a pathway in mind. So he knew where he was gonna go. Camera wise, I didn't. So, um, I'm like, All right, I'm gonna press play at the same time as you on my phone. I'm gonna put these on my headphones, and we're just gonna go. The running part was my only real add to that, I guess. Like the director vision? Because I was there. He was like, I don't know what to do with these spaces where you're not playing. I'm like, I'm just gonna run. He's like, All right, that's cool. And he would follow me with a Steadicam, and I was from start to finish less than an hour. Okay. All the way through it was one. Take that like it just worked out. You guys need music videos? Reach out the Benton's. Yeah. Okay. That's exactly what I'm saying. How was it working with him? Ah, He's awesome. He's just like a really nice guy. And, um really, just like he knows what he's doing. He loves toe like it's cool, because creatively, he gives you a lot of space. But at the same time, he also just has so, like he has such nice equipment, and he really knows what he's doing with it. So, like as like a cinematographer, he's always got like the right eye for everything. So I don't even have to worry about what things look like. You know, I'm fully confident in what he would do that. So that's really cool. Then what's it like being a part of the attic music? Because recently we did have drew on the podcast. He talked a little bit about it, and he was very insightful, really cool. Got to talk to s. So what's it like working with Drew and being imported? So true is one of my best friends on DDE. Him, myself and Caleb, who's the directive already? Articulable Marty, Caleb and I sort of started this, and Drew is definitely one of the one of the insect er's. So the three of us were just like working together for a while, then are, like, literally in my attic. And we were So this is your attic? Yeah, when I was three other. Okay, so Caleb started the studio by basically just deciding that we weren't using our attic space at all. There were a bunch of boxes there, so he decided this is a good space to make a studio. And once that lets, once we had the studio in operation, we just started recording with our friends and just playing and kind of using it as a mini rehearsal space. And Drew came in and brought a bunch of equipment, audio equipment and and also instruments. So we had, like, a fully functioning studio. And, like, it's weird to think of. Like, What's it like working with the attic? Like we just like we just did this started drinking. Yeah, we just started doing what we wanted to do. Um then put it under an official umbrella. Basically. So, Caleb and Drew on it toe be music producers. I mean, our music producers, but wanted toe work on a deeper level with different artists, and especially in Pittsburgh, where you see, they see a lot of talent, so this was their avenue to do that. All of us like to do recordings and just be recording artists. And sometimes someone needs a saxophone solo for a recording. It just hit me up to do that. Um, I recorded my whole album in my attic, which is great because honestly, besides the costs, it's just super nice toe. When I was doing the recording sessions, just like Wake up, get my sax it up and go upstairs like that Was it like I I could start recording. And also, it's been a huge learning experience as far as being a recording engineer, Um, I wouldn't consider myself an engineer or a producer, but there's plenty of these kind of hard skills that had to learn along the way, just a kind of survive in the recording. What has been the toughest obstacle confronted for either you personally or the Attic group in general? I think we have true because we do so much stuff for fun that are trouble right now is figuring out and we have confidence, I guess, in our abilities. But we have trouble figuring out how we're going to create a sustainable like lifestyle out of this because all of us air working professional musicians. So we all make money, other ways. And then when we get together as the attic, we don't do it for the prospect of getting paid. We do it because we love it, and B because we see potential. So we're investing in the world number doing. I think the toughest thing is not seeing the immediate returns and like putting in tons and tons of hours and time and getting great products out of the things that we're proud of. But at the end of the day, like as we get busier and to be honest, the attic, it's just like given all of us more and more opportunities to work outside of the attic, too. And like within the umbrella, we get to do like the wolf ese residency that we're talking about a little bit. And Wolf, he's downtown. Yeah, well, he's downtown, where the attic. We are hosting a residency that right now we're the musicians for the residency. Every Tuesday, 7 to 9 will peace pub downtown on Forbes up. But the idea is to yet other musicians involved and and other stable bands to just give them the chance to have a residency and have a steady gig and trying to develop that sort of culture downtown, where you have live music that you can hear from pretty much anywhere in a certain area of it and kind of like Broadway on Nash in Nashville or Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Your when you walk around, it's just live music everywhere. Need that? I think I do. So what are your thoughts on on the Pittsburgh music scene and the future of it? There's a lot of people who are really down about what happens in Pittsburgh because they don't like. They could be working for years and not see any true growth are any like outcome? And that's not necessarily their fault. There's just not really an infrastructure for music industry in this city, so we I'm really hopeful. And that's like the Attic Music group are bigger. Mantra is uniting Pittsburgh music because what we're trying to do is fill in some of the gaps between the musicians and artists who are talented, hard working and should be like working consistently and even in Pittsburgh, which is a smaller market and the people like the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust or, um, Kevin's Abner with James ST promotions and like connecting some of these dots from the music scene to the people who can create opportunities for the people in the music scene and thus developed sort of a fledgling music industry, to the point where hopefully more people are starting to come into Pittsburgh because they're interested and what's happening. And they see the talent. And we can start sort of growing the more than just a Pittsburgh music scene but Pittsburgh music industry and come into Pittsburgh and stay state. Yeah, I've been doing that. A lot of people do leave Pittsburgh. A lot of people leave because, especially as a creative, there's markets in bigger cities like New York, Chicago L. A. Austin, where you know you can grind or there's no guarantee you're gonna make anything of yourself or anything like that. But you can grind and the prospects are there. They're actually literally. They're like they're people of the music industry producers, agents, managers that seek out and are looking actively for the next big thing. Not only that, you get to network with other musicians who are working actively. Um and so because people in Pittsburgh don't feel that even if they do those things that they can grow out of that, they'll move. Okay, so what are your thoughts done on the new lagoon that they're putting in the North Shore? I mean, to be honest, I think it's kind of cool looking from the render. I don't really know what that's gonna do, Like I don't do you know more about that? All I know is that they're probably going to do it. I might know just as much as you, though. The reason I brought up the lagoon and how I'm connecting this to the entertainment is infrastructure creates growth and creates excitement in the city. So if we have this big lagoon coming in the North Shore, that is exciting, though. Look at exciting the beer around. I think there's an opportunity for musicians to get involved with the opening of it, and I would say going forward, see how the music like the Attic Music group, could be a part of the opening of you. Do you? Do you give it up saying now it's a very vague connection of the dots, but I think I'm connecting something. So I think our goal in general is just to be the connecting piece. For like, if there is this big, you know, it's gonna be a big shift in the literal geography of the North Shore. Exactly. So, like, if that that big shift is also going to draw tourism than, like, how do we make it so that not only creatives are involved, like the art scene gets something out of it. The music scene gets out of it. There's something for him, stands a local soup. Yeah, and absolutely the locals get something out of it, too, but to develop something where people are coming to Pittsburgh for more than just watching depends or watching the Steeler more than just food, beer and sports. Yeah, we have much more than that. Here it's There is a lot more than that here, and there's so many cool like little chunks of creativity here and there that, like our just either disjointed or just feel marginalized. I think that was a good way to put it disjointed. Yeah, yeah, everyone's kind of like they know of each other, but not everything's connected on dhe anymore. Bridges? Yeah, way bridges. But we need way more bridges. Yeah, we need these metaphorical. Exactly. Yeah, crumbling ones. We're going to do a little thought. Experiment? Sure. Okay. I want you to think of all the objects. You know, your glasses, your really cool shoes you're wearing are matching share. It's just the ones that I own in this room. Know, every day. I did just pick three things, but, like, I mean everything you and I want you to think of. So if if you could hold on to one material object for the rest of your life, But release yourself of all other material objects. What would that one object be? Now you can give to answers. You can have a practical answer, and you give ah, impractical answer. Okay. Um, I feel like I'm cheating because I would just bring my saxophone. Okay, Now that why is that you You're good? Yeah, like for both answers? No. For at least the impractical problem. Okay, because you know, if I was playing my saxophone forever and ever and didn't have to worry about anything else, I think I'm in good shape. Yeah, So that that seems like a great answer, I guess. Is it one object? There can be an object with, like, infinite stuff in it. Like you ever see Jimmy Neutron. I have, like, a box that he had that you could just, like, put anything in and like, What was that, like a fairly odd parents. I'm actually maybe mixing up my Nickelodeon cartoons, but it's like a box where you can put like it just almost like a black hole. I want to say this is Germany trunk. Yeah. Okay. Where you could just literally put anything in there, Just take it with you and just have, like, your whole life. Oh, yeah, that is Jimmy. Need Shawn. Oh, that's cheating. Yeah, that's you put everything in this box. Yeah. I just brought everything I would ever need. Like, like, unlimited supply of food. Or, like, access to food And, like, some sort of material objects. Not your needs. Oh, so these are things you don't necessarily need, but you kind of want okay? Your wants and desires? Yeah. Then I was cheating. I'm not sure yet. I want to say that it's gonna be something more. It's still like, less practical even like something that would, like spark inspiration. I just I'm such a like a like a spreadsheet person. I'm like I spent a lot of time organizing myself and just figuring out how my life would go with the idea of not having structure, but just like having any one thing that I would ever want. Just like No, no, I want to say it's like a day planner, but, like, that's not really. I would never. And you don't have a pencil? No, no pencil. Just like a page of blank pages. Just stare at it forever. I don't know. Maybe a pocket cloud. Some people say phone. Yeah, yeah. Oh, definitely not. I found No. No way. If I could remove myself from my phone, I would do that in a heartbeat. That's that's awesome. I, uh I do that on accident. I've probably broke in 15 phones in the past 3.5 years. 15. All right, That was an exaggeration. 11. But still,

spk_1:   30:39
that's not that far. Yeah, I'm really bad

spk_0:   30:43
with Otto. Oh, my God. I mean, so that forces you not tow have Well, I I'll go like two. Hasn't happened within the past like six months. But I've gone, like, two weeks, a month at a time without my phone, and I can still do everything I've done before. I still connect with people. I still do everything of a laptop I've lapped up exactly. So I mean, we don't need our phone, but it definitely makes her life a lot easier. There's a lot of simple things I can do now because of my phone. I guess my wish to not have That would just be It's sort of relieving because I remember a life and when I didn't have my phone like well, like really young. I mean, I probably got a phone at. I want to say 13. Yeah, I think I don't mind a 12 30 12 or 13. I was a flip phone. So how crazy is it now that these kids are getting their phones at, like, four? Well, they've got the infinite, like knowledge base of the universe at the fingertips, since their Children, like, literally was never gonna be a point in time where someone who doesn't know something doesn't have the resources to figure that out. So I feel like this generation is like They're fed too much information. And then it's just hard to digest instead of like, just like everyone, just like on their phones all the time. I think it's just like there's, there's. It's harder to create direction without it. Now, you know, could you talk a little bit about your podcast? Oh, sure. Yeah. I actually I just recently found out within the past week that you had on and I thought it was really cool that you took that journey, and you see it as, like, a side gig. I have somewhere. Yeah. It's like me and my podcast partner, Jamie, who's an incredible visual artist and painter. Um, we would I would just, like, get off of work. I work at a marketing company also, uh, part time over in the North Shore, and she lived in Lawrenceville. So, like, get off work at whatever time, and she'd be painting in her studio in her house and be like, Hey, wanna hang out for a second? I'm going on my way back home to Highland Park, and she so we would literally just, like, sit there and talk for, like, you know, 2025 minutes, and we would do this pretty regularly, recording it or no, no, just chat and she like, But we're both creatives, you know. But we also both love the process of it, like what it means or what the individual steps are to getting from, you know, creating a song all the way through to recording, mixing, mastering an album you know, O. R. What? Or like the spark of inspiration for her. But then there were other things. The things that you like. People don't really know that artists go through like having to deal with copyright issues and having to deal with um, like self promotion and not knowing how to work around the idea that you are like you have to promote your own worth and, like people don't necessarily inherently see your value. There's a bunch of these little topics that we would talk about, and I was like, You want to, like, start recording these way. We talked about this anyway, and now it's become a lot more like an avenue to get to chat with people that are also creative. Similarly to your podcast about Maur, their process and the things that people like let's say you are a like our latest podcast episode was with a girl named Marty. Her name's Martello Hotel. She went to do can Yeah, yeah, you know? Yeah, I do. Okay, great person as amazing, uh, artists. But her makeup art is phenomenal. Her makeup part is really, really cool. And so that's what I knew her from. There was a project that friend of mine was doing, and she actually did my makeup and I met her through that. But just talking to her about, like, the things that because you just see the final product you see like this is the photo with dope makeup. But you don't necessarily see everything that happens beforehand. Like what? The prep is like, what it's like to deal with, like your social media presence, when your entire like, when a lot of your work is given to you and comes from being active on social media on what that means as an artist. And that's actually a pretty common thing, because artists more and more these days have ah requirement almost to have social media. And so that was just like one of the things that people that I like, And that's not necessarily something I would know. We're like, I wouldn't think of right away, even though I'm experiencing it, too. And it's cool to just, like, talk through it with another creative. So, yeah, Jamie, my podcast partner, calls it her side side side project because she's, you know, hard working painter and also has a couple of other jobs. So okay, that's cool. Uh, so I'm gonna ask you a few quick questions. Long answers with quick answers is up to you. So your favorite record, my favorite record Is that so

spk_1:   36:02
hard? Oh,

spk_0:   36:04
men. For a long time, it was Justin Timberlake's 2020 experience. And now I think it's Braxton cooks, no doubt. Okay, no doubt. Favorite book toe to read while in a hammock. I really enjoy fantasy books, um, and some sci fi. So probably picked like an asthma book that I haven't read yet. I like his foundation, Siri's and I haven't read all about them bread like the 1st 2 So I'm probably just going on that your favorite local to collaborate with probably many Rossman from Starship Manus, mostly because he's such a hardworking dude and like Oh, like almost to his detriment. He always makes it easy for me. And I just like, man, like, give me some of that pressure because it's like, I see you working so hard all the time. But, like, I just I love working with him. I love working with hardworking dudes. Could you say what wrongness of reality means to you? Means I guess the truth in what we see. Okay, I see truth. I think that if you say raw and what's really like just something that's unbending, unmoved, feral cat the truths here, Theo truth here. And that makes me out to an oracle. That would be cool. I'm not very much not. But I can imagine a character like that. Maybe an animated series. I could see that for the treats here. All right. Excellent Is great. Having you. Yeah. Thanks a lot for having me. Thanks for asking me to do this. Anything coming up in your life that you want the listeners to know about, um, come through June 1st. Like when I tell you, And I am I have so much trouble with self promotion. But when I tell you that like this show is gonna be historic. I am, like, actually saying like, I feel it, you know, um, because it's local Pittsburg. Um, there was a show like that with Benji and Isaiah Small on Clara Kent recently in February in at the Mr Smallest Theater. That was all local acts. But the idea of, like keeping are making local music that a lot of people come through two. And, like, really, the local support is so important to anyone. Please support local art, local music, local dance, political creatives. June 1st is the album release the Double album released for Feral Cat and for Starship Mantis. Both my group and Starship Mantis are super excited. I don't think we have much else going on before had because is a doozy of a show. So

spk_1:   39:01
Mr Smalls Theater, June 1st Starship Mantis, Feral Cat and also, every Tuesday, goto Wolfe's Pub Downtown.

spk_0:   39:08
You can see the attic music group playing live music, live music people. That's right. Come through. Come say hi. Please,

spk_1:   39:21
please don't forget to check out Roger Raphael Romero. And remember, he'll be playing June 1st Mr Small Speeder in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, if you're around. Definitely enjoyed speaking of Roger and I hope you enjoyed. Listen, if you enjoy listening, please describe and radar Channel five stars are episodes could only get better and a big thank you to my campus, our production manager and Joeckel on beats and the women stay wrong with reality.