Jack Quinn of Feather + Flask: The 420 Episode

There was only one way to celebrate 420 and that was with Jack Quinn of the Maryland "folk-groove" band, Feather + Flask. Jack talks about his music, writing, meditating, outer body experiences, festivals and more. The conversation is followed up with a killer acoustic performance of two F+F originals "Electric Blue" and "Tether" with guest percussionist Mike Strazzire on cajon.

Enjoy!

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:08

Another public production friend.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

Weatherly productions.

SPEAKER_06 0:19

What's up, buddy? What's up, man? Happy 420.

SPEAKER_01 0:23

420!

SPEAKER_06 0:24

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 0:25

Super stoked. Yes, I did say stoked. Yeah, man. I'm excited. It's 420. This is the very first. Yeah. This is the very first 420 show for Session Friends. I'm happy. This is our first 420 together. It is.

SPEAKER_06 0:39

I think I joined Point Break in June.

SPEAKER_01 0:42

You did? July. We're going over a year almost. Yeah, man. That's crazy. Yeah. How's your week been? Week has been great. You know what? I had a dream the other day. And I, you know, it's funny. I write down some notes and things that I want to talk about and, you know, address or hit segues and whatnot, but I I kind of put a star next to this one. I had this really weird dream, and don't take me wrong, because you were in it, so I was not, you know, but it was you and I were recording. Well, you and I were recording a podcast, but it was for whatever reason, it was like at a place like the Regal Beagle from do you remember um Free's Company? Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:22

You know, the show from the 70s was super Suzanne Summers is the only one left now.

SPEAKER_01 1:26

One of the other yeah, well, Jack.

SPEAKER_06 1:30

Last week, I think. Yeah, yeah. Janet.

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Janet, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 1:33

Fuck we're old, dude.

SPEAKER_01 1:34

Dude, but the whole it is crazy. But the whole um if I'm not old, I'm seasoned. That's the difference. I'm the seasoned. But um, yeah, it was weird, man. The whole dream was us recording like we normally do, but it was at a super old, musty place like the Regal Beagle. And I remember everybody had like butterfly collars and and bell bottoms, not much different than what I wear now, but you know, nonetheless. But I remember there was some funky disco going on, and I don't mean I don't know. I'm I'm not into the whole dude.

SPEAKER_06 2:08

I'll write some disco. Yeah, you know me, I'll write anything.

SPEAKER_01 2:11

I'm not yeah, I'm not into the whole thing.

SPEAKER_06 2:12

Let's find the place the psychological thing and let's find the place and we'll we'll write a song and record a podcast. There'll be another session friends on those.

SPEAKER_01 2:20

I don't know what it was meant. You know, some people say dreams are supposed to mean things, and I don't know what it's supposed to mean. Maybe I'm just an old soul and I just miss the old days. Yeah. Maybe that's what it is.

SPEAKER_06 2:29

And new adventures.

SPEAKER_01 2:30

Yeah, brother. Of course. But it's 420. Uh, we're hanging out here at Sess and Friends Studios with CA Moon from All Things Weatherly, Weatherly Studios.

SPEAKER_06 2:42

Hey, I got a new song coming out tomorrow. Oh, tell me about it. Yeah. So uh Pulling Beneath. It's the last song on the CA Moon Brad Cox album that we're gonna release. Um, there will be two tracks that'll get released with the full album.

SPEAKER_01 2:57

Killer. Big out big shout out to Brad Cox. He was just on our last episode that was actually released today.

SPEAKER_06 3:02

The Mog Father himself.

SPEAKER_01 3:04

The Mog Father.

SPEAKER_06 3:05

All right, I'm done talking. Get on with the show.

SPEAKER_01 3:08

All right, we have a great show tonight. Uh, we've been looking forward to this one, our very first 420 celebration. And there's only one way to celebrate 420, and that is with one of my all-time favorite local bands. And uh, we have Mr. Jack Quinn, a feather and flask in the studio. Hey, how you doing? What's up, buddy? What's up, dude? I've been so stoked to have you in, man. This was the perfect opportunity. We've been putting it off, and I'm like, dude, 420, it's perfect. Yeah, well, I'm glad to be here. Thank you. Absolutely. Um, if you guys um are not familiar, uh Jack is the uh rhythm guitarist and uh lead vocals in the band Feather and Flask. So I don't want to categorize Feather and Flask, so I'm going to ask you right out, please tell everybody what how you would describe Feather and Flask.

SPEAKER_00 4:05

Um well we call ourselves uh Folk Groove. Okay. Um kind of like a jam band with like an indie folk vibe, uh, lots of harmonies and long like seven-minute songs and stuff like that. Very jammy. Yes, very jammy, so full.

SPEAKER_01 4:21

Right on.

SPEAKER_00 4:22

Try to give it back to everybody.

SPEAKER_01 4:23

That's cool, man. Yeah. I um I think I think you and I were talking about this earlier. Uh, the first time that you and I met, or the first time I heard you, you guys play double group brewing at Forest Hill, Maryland. Um, as a matter of fact, I was so blown away instantly that I at the end of the night I was like, uh, can I get that set list? So I got your set list. Actually, you can see it up there. But uh I was instantly a fanboy, which is kind of cool, man. Um and we became friends. Hell yeah. Um, you come to my open mic nights. Um, I'm gonna come to your open mic night because unfortunately it falls on the same nights that I'm either working where we have rehearsals and all everything else. But I'm gonna come out there. Me and Bill are gonna come out. Uh big shout out to Bill Moran from uh Point Break Band. Uh him and I uh will come out there and jam with you. Hell yeah, I can't wait. You guys are always welcome. Um so tell me about your open mic nights there.

SPEAKER_00 5:18

Um well it's at Market Street Brewery, it's every second and fourth Thursday.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

That's Havert of Grace Maryland, right?

SPEAKER_00 5:23

Yep. Probably been doing it for like I think uh three or four years now. But um we do it a little bit differently. We don't do like a list where everybody signs up, everybody puts their name into a singing bowl and we pull it at random. I think it fosters like everybody to stay there and like uh you never know when you're gonna play. So if you get there early, you're probably gonna play early, but if you get there in the middle, like you might play right away or might play like you know in five or ten minutes or something like that. Keeps everybody on their toes.

SPEAKER_01 5:49

What type of uh what is like I know every open mic normally attracts a little different um uh musicians or clients. Some of them get the big, you know, the classic rock guys, some of them get the jam guys, you know.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

What do you normally Oh man, we get we get all kinds of people. Um we have a lot of singer, songwriters come by. We have a lot we do we do have a lot of people do full bands because my drummer Gabe will come and bring his own kit, and everybody's welcome to play that.

SPEAKER_01 6:18

So that's cool.

SPEAKER_00 6:19

Yeah. Yeah. And we'll have uh like last open mic night we had a really cool blues jam um and just everybody improved. We had slide guitar, um, electric guitar, bass, drums, and I like ad libs some some song and like you know, B flat or whatever. It was super fun, just making up lyrics. Very cool, cutting loose.

SPEAKER_01 6:38

It's very speaking of lyrics. So with feather and flask, are you the primary songwriter? Yep, pretty much lyric-wise and music.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

Yeah, Shelby helps me with a lot of lyrics too. Um, but yeah, I pretty much write most of the songs.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Do you? Wow. So uh one of my favorites, um, Electric Blue. Thank you. It's just it's it's incredible. Um, you know, it's funny. Uh, there's another one of the notes. Um, I just wanted to say that is my favorite of all your your songs, and my favorite part is the solo after the chasing the rainbows. When you're coming out of that line, and then you guys just go into that jam, it makes a hair on my hair on my arm stand. That's pretty cool. Yeah. Um, I'd love to be able to hear that one live tonight if that is possible. Absolutely, dude. I'm so stoked. Um, I saw online because I've been following you guys since day one. Um, you guys are in a studio.

SPEAKER_00 7:35

Yep. Yeah, we uh we're at stages. Uh we're cutting two songs. I just got the mixes back from uh the two songs a couple days ago, and they sound pretty good. Um I'm just gonna do like some final mastering and hopefully release them probably in a couple weeks. Yeah. So we did um we did Anchor, which we haven't released yet, and um Sanguine Sunshine, which I wrote. It's kind of like a folk ballad that I wrote um I think it was like uh last year, like to the fall of last year. Actually, I think I first debuted it at our gig at Double Groove. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:09

Right on. I might actually have it on. I've I've recorded um I've re videoed a lot of your stuff. I actually have to go through my phone, but um, because I was doing the social media for them for a while, and um I was recording a lot of the uh a lot of the bands, and I know I have some stuff on there from you guys. Plus, um I guess I might as well just go ahead and announce it tonight. So the sixth, the seventh annual Beer Vinyl and Vittles Arts and Music Festival for the double for Double Group Brewing in Forest Hill, Maryland, which is a big um, I guess we can just kind of paraphrase it's a big jam festival, a uh small local wood stock of sorts. Um we are super stoked that Feather Flash is coming back this year. So honored to be back. Dude, I cannot wait. It's always such a good jam. Yeah, I'm excited, man. I really am excited. You guys played once or twice. I think we played twice. Twice before, yes. And I told you from day one you will always be invited back for that show. We're so honored. Yeah, I'm sure I'm excited, man. You guys um do you have any festivals at all lined up for I know you guys are getting busy.

SPEAKER_00 9:23

Yeah, we have uh we have the eight by ten um this week, and then we have uh farmfest at the garage, which would be the first time we play there. Eight by ten down in Baltimore, and then the garage is uh I think it's it's in western Maryland. I've never been there before, but it's my one buddy who's being like our acting manager, uh Dylan. I've known him for since high school, but he got us a gig there, and uh it's uh there's a lot of really cool bands, and it's supposed to be like a like a big happening spot for so this is a new venue for you guys.

SPEAKER_01 9:52

Yeah, absolutely. Does that make you kind of nervous?

SPEAKER_00 9:55

A little bit, yeah. Because there's there's there's a couple bands on the list and whatnot, and we have like a 30-minute set, so we're like, all right, what are we gonna play? You know, like what are we gonna just like come out of the gates?

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Yeah, I know with like with the stuff that I do with Bill or Bill, me, Bill, and Chris, or the full band, it's it's kind of read the room. Yeah. I mean, we come with a set list, of course. We'll come with a hundred songs, but you'll look out there and be like, well, that's this isn't gonna work. You know, sometimes you gotta change things up, you gotta flip some songs around, or you've really just got to get rid of certain songs because you know that this crowd's not gonna dig it. Yeah, you ever been in one of those situations?

SPEAKER_00 10:30

Sometimes, but we we're we kind of like to just do whatever we want to do. Um, but we definitely pick like high-energy songs for like you know, a 30-minute set. Right. Yeah, just to get everybody like, whoa, what the heck's going on here?

SPEAKER_01 10:42

Yeah, do you guys average what are your average set to be?

SPEAKER_00 10:45

Um I mean I guess it depends on the venue. It depends on the gigs. Yeah, I mean, because we do like three hours and stuff at Double Groove and for like brewery gigs, but um I think our favorite kind of set where we can get a lot in is probably like an hour. Like we've opened up for some other cool bands and just did an hour set and it felt really good. And that's that was more like where we curated it and stuff, but that's but we do like such long songs that like for a 30-minute set, we probably just do like three songs.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Okay, well, but that's because you guys really into it. That's awesome. I mean, Chris, I mean, Chris probably feels the same way that I do. I mean, we do the band, our band and Chris and his other ventures, um Weatherly, of course, and then Old Man Jones. Um I know average is three hour gigs. Um, there's a lot of places out that are doing four-hour gigs, and we've been playing four hours, but every once in a while, yeah, just opening for somebody, and they're like, dude, just do 60 minutes. Yeah, thank you. Hell yeah, because you can put every ounce of energy in everything, just boom, an hour's, you know, put it all out there.

SPEAKER_06 11:53

I honestly I feel like with point break, especially, we uh we kind of thrive on the those 60-minute blocks where we can do, you know, 15-20 minutes worth of a mashup that we do.

SPEAKER_05 12:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 12:06

And then we have our jam sections and our little cues that we give each other and be like, all right, we're they're getting bored or my hand's starting to hurt. Yeah one more time and then we're wrapping it up.

SPEAKER_01 12:18

Yeah, it's uh it can be a little tiring. It could be a little tiring. Um, I'll look over and you'll be like, all right, dude, let's wrap this one up. Sometimes I have my Jerry moments when we're playing. They call them the guys in the band call my Jerry Garcia moments, where I just kind of feel the moment, man. You've been there, right?

SPEAKER_06 12:36

If he's not looking at me, I have no intention of stopping. Yeah, exactly. Until I see him look at me and be like, and then I'm like, even though it was three rounds ago.

SPEAKER_01 12:47

Sometimes I just close my eyes and then I get into it and I'm just going with it, you know. And as a vocalist, you know when you hit that sweet spot and you're like, I'm not, I'm not wasting it. Fuck it, I'm just running with it, you know what I mean? But yeah, and then I'll finally come back down to earth and I'll look at them and they're all just laughing their asses. I'll still play, like, all right, let's let's uh land this plane, Mike. Let's do this. Yeah, I but you know, that's just kind of uh it's part of the uh it's part of really getting into it. It's part of the art, man. It's definitely part of the art. Part of the art is uh writing all of the music, writing all of the vocals. What is your writing process? Oh um, so I I just did the um waiting for. Yeah. So I really have been wanting to pick your brain on this. I'm a I'm a I'm a so I'm I'm a writer myself. I don't write the music. I know the music. Right. Exactly. That's why we have Chris. I have the music in my head, and and you may laugh. I will write all day long, and I have just sheets and sheets and sheets.

SPEAKER_00 13:49

Me too.

SPEAKER_01 13:50

And then what I'll do is I'll actually hum it into my phone or now, you know, in here, and then I'll send it to Chris and be like, all right, I know what you're doing, you know. Or I'll send it to Bill and be like, Oh yeah, I got you got what you're doing, and then guys can go and emulate that and then figure it out. What is your process?

SPEAKER_00 14:07

Um, so I just did the songwriter, I hosted the songwriter night at Man uh Manor Mill. They do it every fourth Monday, and um I got to talk about my writing process, and um uh so I I try to write every day and even if it's just a bunch of BS, you know, like I'll just still like try to keep, you know, just keep keep like the the the wheels greased, you know.

SPEAKER_02 14:31

Right, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:32

Um but when I find something that I really like, I usually have like a very intense emotional response to it. And I'm like, ooh, like this is a good one. And I've I've I've learned to develop what I call like my inner editor, and I've learned to like silence my inner critic. So you know when you're like just writing lyrics and then you're you you have that voice in your head where it's like uh maybe you should change that. I'm like, just shut up. Like just change it later. Yeah, you can change it later. Can always edit it later. And just learning to silence that part of yourself and letting letting like the floodgates keep flowing.

SPEAKER_01 15:06

Yes, I'm there. I know what you're talking about, man. And um it's like magic though, when it finally comes out, right?

SPEAKER_00 15:12

It doesn't feel like I'm writing it. It's weird. Yeah, yeah. It's very it's very mystical. I it's like channeling songwriting. Um and it it happens like you know every like eclipse, you know, but when it happens, I know the feeling now after a while doing it. And um, yeah, I have like I have a couple songs that I'm working on right now just for like a solo album and stuff that I want to uh put out eventually. But yeah, it's all about silencing that inner critic and just like going with the flow, just just like shut yourself up and just freaking write, and then you can always change it later. And then sometimes I'll I'll even make songs where I'll I'll like just write some BS lyrics and be like, alright, come back to that later. And then I'm like, well, maybe I can take this piece from here and put it here and then glue together a song. I call that vocal jjango. Yes.

SPEAKER_06 15:58

Yeah. What do you find yourself focusing on more in the initial stages of the write? Vocals, finding like that vocal melody, finding the voice of it, or finding the the scenery.

SPEAKER_00 16:09

So I recently started just um using like a voice app thing where I can just like hum like a melody or song if I if I really like it, like if I get a good feeling about it, and I'll make a song out of that. But usually uh a lot of my writing happens, I'll just like pick out a chord structure and then I'll just like say whatever I want to say over it. And I like I have no idea what's gonna come out of my mouth, and I'll usually hit record on my phone and I'll BS for like a couple minutes and get used to just being like, all right, I'm being recorded, I'm recording myself. And it'll eventually I'll eventually just relax and like it'll just flow out of me. And I I don't know what it's gonna be. And usually it's just my subconscious, like projecting whatever I'm going through or feeling at the time. And sometimes it gets a little scary and like very intimate, and I'm like, all right, didn't know I was gonna say that.

SPEAKER_06 16:55

Right, but but but so much of me is actually going into those. Exactly. Yeah, I may lose a piece after this.

SPEAKER_01 17:01

You're putting everything out there, though, right? You're putting everything out there, every part of your being. I get it, man. It can be scary, yeah. But in the you know, in the same aspect, it comes it turns into something absolutely beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 17:14

It's so cathartic, honestly. I love it. Like most of the songs that everybody likes, like Electric Blue is about my dad and our journey together.

SPEAKER_01 17:22

And um I was gonna actually ask you about electric blue if you wanted to talk about that. Yeah, I'll talk about that. Are you good about that? Yeah, yeah. So tell us about electric blue. So um that's my fave.

SPEAKER_00 17:32

So electric blue, uh the the name comes from uh this experience that I have, like when I meditate. And when I meditate, I'll see like this electric blue pattern. Okay. And my dad, he was a he was in Vietnam, and when he came back from Vietnam, he met my my aunts and they were a bunch of hippies, and they like they took him to go learn transcendental meditation. And my dad's the only person in my life, like I vividly remember this memory in the hallway, and he's like, Jack, like meditation works. And he's the only person in my life that said meditation works, and like was like, it works. Because most people are like, Oh yeah, I meditate, and you know, like, you know, I nothing really happens, I kind of give up on it, but he was like, No, it works. And so I started meditating as a young kid. Probably at 15 years old, my aunt gave me like the Tibetan Book of the Dead and like a book on how to meditate, and I would start seeing like this electric blue light. And if I stared at it long enough, it would get bigger and bigger and bigger and envelop my vision. And I I searched like the internet, like what is what is this? And I finally found this um this Hindu word called the Nila Bindu, which means like the blue pearl, and it's Neilabindu. Yeah, that's beautiful, and it's called the seat of the soul, and they they talk about this electric blue light that is like the the source of all consciousness, and so that's where like the the title comes from, and the whole song is about my dad's journey because my dad was in Vietnam and he got Parkinson's when I was 10 years old. And um my parents had me when they were really young, like my mom was 40, and my dad, I think, was like like 48 or something like that, 46, 48. And um, so that whole song is just about like our journey together as like father and son, like like chasing rainbows side by side. Yes. That lyric comes from when um my dad and I we would like go adventuring in the cornfield in my backyard, and we were like trying to find like the end of the rainbow.

SPEAKER_01 19:28

Chasing rainbows side by side by the bigger. Yes, yeah. Ah that's awesome. I so my father, my dad is my father's still alive. My father served in Vietnam as well. He was uh in the army, my father was first cavalry, he was um I can't remember what outfit he was with, but um my dad is still alive, he'll be 80 in October. Hell yeah. And my dad didn't talk to me about Vietnam at all growing up. Actually, it was a very mute conversation. Yeah. Um, you know, as a little boy, I was always curious, you know, because I'm I'll be 54 in July. So I kind of grew up during the whole Russian thing and blah blah blah. So there was always war, a conversation of war was always taking place in every household during the 80s, the late 70s and 80s, all the way through the 80s actually. And I remember I would ask dad, like, so you know, I would ask questions as a a child. And dad would just kind of wave it off, you know. And I never understood that until I got to be an old an adult, you know, an older person. And then I realized that you know, there's um there's a lot of there's a lot of stuff that goes with it. There's a lot of baggage that goes with it. Um unfortunately, my father, though my dad is still here, um, and I'm very blessed to have dad, but dad from Vietnam, he wound up being um he getting sick from Agent Orange. And I I know a lot of soldiers became sick and came Parkinson's from Agent Orange. Yep. And I would when you as soon as you said park or Parkinson's, I was like, Yeah, I guarantee that's from the Agent Orange.

SPEAKER_00 21:10

Yep, because my dad was an airplane mechanic, so when they would unscrew all those those vessels that contained it, it would just spray back in their face.

SPEAKER_01 21:17

Yeah, my dad said they would march and it would the whole all the tops of the grass and everything would just be completely orange. Yep. Everything he said it was everywhere, you know. But uh so anyway, not to bring up, you know, a salver subject, but you mentioned so I you know I might talk about it. But it's it's very something to be proud of, too. Your dad's starting to Vietnam, man. I mean, you know, my dad did too. Mike, I'm gonna jump in too. Yeah, jump in, Michael. Uh so hey, let me so let me get it. Um Mike Stazari is here. I know you guys um, if you follow session friends, um, I've brought Mike up several times in past uh episodes. Mike Stazeri is a um local school teacher, high school teacher in um Baltimore County. In several schools, and he is also a um Marine. Um so um he's joining us tonight, and he's a big, big percussionist as well. He um hangs out at uh double group rowing with us, does all the open mic nights, and he has jumped on stage with I don't know how many people at this point as I'm a bit of a whore player, though.

SPEAKER_07 22:23

I'm a bit of a whore.

SPEAKER_01 22:25

So he's the yeah, Mike is the cajon whore, he's a percussion whore. So anyway, ladies and gentlemen, Mike's Chazeri. Finally.

SPEAKER_07 22:32

I wanted to chime in on the Vietnam dad thing because uh, you know, my father would not speak to me and my two brothers about what he did as an infantry marine in Vietnam. Uh he was there for the Tet, like it was bad. Yeah. Purple Hearts, this and that.

SPEAKER_01 22:49

Well, as a child growing up, I thought it was an honor to have a Vietnam veteran. Yeah, me too. Yeah, me too. Absolutely. My dad was a man's man, and that's just the way it was. You know, that's the way I grew up.

SPEAKER_07 22:59

I I think my father and my mother are responsible for my entire musical existence. Yeah. Just because I grew up playing the piano in my dad's church for like the praise and worship services in the Pentecostal church. Nice. And we had a drummer, we had a bass, we had a synthesizer, we had this, we had that. Like that's kind of where I cut my teeth.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 23:19

You know, and and the whole music world was doing that every Sunday and every Thursday.

SPEAKER_01 23:24

Hey, that's awesome though. See what it drove you here, right? Yeah, dude. You know what, Jack? I can hear in some of your music, I can hear maybe some backup, some gospel in the back of that man. Like a little choir going on in some of your stuff.

SPEAKER_06 23:39

Yeah, I was gonna say the same thing. Creeping into the back. A lot of their a lot of the interaction between band members with them has a very gospel flow to it. Almost like borderline, like what gospel and R and B kind of merged towards each other. Yeah. I've always appreciated that with Y'all's tone.

SPEAKER_01 24:00

Thanks. Yeah, I mean, well, I mean, a lot of the um, like I said, I I hate, you know, categorizing or putting certain bands on, but you know, a lot of like the jam guys, if you go back to let's just you know, the you know, the godfathers, of course, Grateful Dead, there's a lot of gospel in there, brother. I'm a little younger than you, man fish. Well, yeah, you're a fish guy. I know. You're a fish guy, and you're probably a bigger fish. Are you a bigger fish guy or a grateful dead guy? Uh Grateful Dead. You're a Grateful Dead guy.

SPEAKER_07 24:27

I asked Mike before you guys got here, because right after fish, I used to live with this dude, Eric, and he was huge on Strange Folk. Have you guys ever listened to any strange folk?

SPEAKER_01 24:38

I don't think so. I've never heard of Strange Folk.

SPEAKER_07 24:40

I'm telling check them out sometime. They're a jam band from like the late 90s, early 2000s. Yeah. Came out right after fish. And nobody actually knows when I say that who they are, but they they hosted like huge festivals. Like back in the day. I'm gonna look 'em up. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:56

I'm gonna look them up. It's going in the notes. Go in the notes, going in the notes. Uh, festivals. What's your favorite festival, Jack?

SPEAKER_00 25:05

Uh, I guess I first one that comes to my head is All Good. Yeah? That was like my first big fest when I was 18 on Marvin's Mountain Top. I think it was the last festival that was at Marvin's Mountaintop, too.

SPEAKER_01 25:16

Who headlined that one?

SPEAKER_00 25:17

Uh Primus and Beats Antique. Um I saw uh Further for the first time. Um Less Pool, man. Yep. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_01 25:26

He all he's got how many projects does he have now?

SPEAKER_06 25:29

So that was always more partial to Les Claypool's Frog Brigade. So we got I saw them at Peach Music Festival. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Yeah, that one, but he's got, I mean, obviously Primus, but then he's got something new going on now, too, I believe.

SPEAKER_00 25:42

Yeah, I'm gonna have to research that. Sean Lennon from John Lennon's son. I saw them on Jam Cruise one time. It was super cool. It was like seeing a beetle. Yeah, like because he sounds just like John Lennon, it's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 25:54

Yeah, um Les Claypool, that's one of my wife's favorites. When her and I first met, she was a big Primus fan. I mean, I love it. Um, but she was really, really into it. So I told her, I said, next time they come through, I said, I'll take it. We're gonna go see.

SPEAKER_00 26:09

Yeah, they're coming to all good at Merry Wales. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 26:11

I got my tickets. Nice. I think uh for me locally, my favorite is obviously Ramble. Oh, yeah. A big shout out to Ramble, um, to the guys, Brick and Company. Um the big festivals, I mean, I've I've been all over. Uh we've been up and down the US.

SPEAKER_06 26:32

I want to chime into that one because I think it's really uh it it started being a big thing, and then I think it got a little overlooked. The Hot August Blues Festival, the third stage in the woods. I have found some of my favorite bands in that on that small stage in the woods. Nice. The first time I saw Revivalist. They were missing, missing their missing their saxophonist, and the lap steel guy just like great just went off. He filled in all the he filled in all the voids. They weren't they weren't there, but they weren't missed. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Very cool. I know the Moncton, the Moncton uh music festival's coming up. The Putok in the Pines. Yes, we're gonna be going to that. Uh Fiskey Brothers are playing. Big shout out to the Fiske brothers. Oh yeah, awesome. Yeah, it's gonna be a good day, man.

SPEAKER_06 27:18

Um I'm trying to get more involved in the things that happen in Moncton and like. And that's where you're kind of you're you're kind of close to it. I'm always stuck here in East. Yeah. I don't like get to do the I've been paying attention to like the trying to get in the music scene in like Cockysville and Timonium. There's a lot of really fun places to play there that never book.

SPEAKER_00 27:39

There's another one coming up. Yeah, it's cool. I go there open mic night every Monday.

SPEAKER_06 27:42

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yeah, there's another one coming up in Timonium. I don't have a podcast on Mondays. Oh, yeah. I I know I keep you busy. I can go down mic. There is another one coming up. I think it's in Timonium or Caitonsville. Is it Shakedown? There's another festival called Shakedown. It's a one-day thing. I think it's free too. I think it's Caitonsville. Is that what it is? Caitonsville? I think it's Shakedown uh or something like that. But um there's another, it's a bunch of. I don't know. Pressing strings is playing one or the other ones. It's there's a lot of uh big hitters coming out in the out. You know, I'd love to see Feather and Flask playing all these big festivals coming up. Oh, I put our names in. Hell yeah. You guys got to do you guys played Ramble, right?

SPEAKER_00 28:24

Yeah, like two years ago. How was that? Oh, it was that was magical. That was super, super cool. I put my name in for the Buskers thing this year, so we'll see if I get picked.

SPEAKER_01 28:32

Right on. Yeah. Um I uh Cole and I we actually hung out for the whole buskers event um last year when we went, because we that's one of our, like I said, we're one of our favorites. But I I love that aspect of the event. Um just locals like myself coming in and saying, hey man, I think I got what it takes. Just hanging out and jamming, yeah, and just keeping your fingers crossed, you know. But uh there's no reason why you shouldn't be playing that one. Brick Lore. Do you hear me? You need to book Jack Quinn and Feather and Flask.

SPEAKER_06 29:09

I like when you call people out on this podcast. That's right. Because it's done in such a genuine way.

SPEAKER_01 29:14

That's right.

SPEAKER_06 29:15

And it's it's come out, it does come out of love. All these people do wonderful things, but every once in a while you just gotta talk a little louder than the other person. Yes, I agree. That's the hardest thing that I find about booking, especially for original projects. Like booking Old Man Jones, fucking nightmare, dude. We're we're ACDC, clutch, you know, kiss kind of vibe. We're fun music. Yeah. But we're an original band that, you know, that market doesn't really exist that much anymore for that style of music. We're just a mainstream rock band.

SPEAKER_00 29:48

But it should. It should. It should. But it should. Just keep fighting against carrot.

SPEAKER_06 29:54

That's all you can do. But it was, you know, I I feel like it goes in cycles a lot because this time 10 years ago was the metal scene in Baltimore. I was running sound in three bars for like massive metal festivals every fucking weekend.

SPEAKER_01 30:08

Do you follow any metal bands at all?

SPEAKER_06 30:10

Other than I'm not a big metal guy.

SPEAKER_00 30:14

I mean, Primus, I was just, I guess they're prog or something, but uh, I do like, I don't know if Doom Flamingo counts as metal, but they like they're pretty crunchy. I really like them. Like Kanika Moore.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

Oh, yeah, yeah. Kanika Moore is fantastic. I got to see her at Ramble. She's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 30:31

Yeah, she's super cool.

SPEAKER_01 30:32

Hell yeah. She's played 8x10, I think, right?

SPEAKER_00 30:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 30:37

Yeah, I believe so. You played 8x10.

SPEAKER_00 30:39

Well, this this this uh week we're playing 8x10. You're playing 8x10 week.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

You, dude, you have got to be excited.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_06 30:46

That's a fun place to play.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

It just breaks my heart that they're closing.

SPEAKER_00 30:50

Well, I hear that that's uh they're they've been looking for investors. Yeah, hopefully somebody buys money to buy it. I heard they might have found somebody, but I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 30:57

Everybody, everybody out there in session company land, keep your fingers crossed that 8x10 in Baltimore City remains open. They are a cornerstone of Is there a GoFundMe or Patreon or something for?

SPEAKER_06 31:11

Yeah, they're a cornerstone of local music. We're gonna look into that. If there's a place to donate, we encourage, send 10 bucks.

SPEAKER_01 31:19

Find out if there is a GoFundMe and send a couple of bucks, man. Every bit counts. But we need to keep them open eight by ten. Yeah in Baltimore. What up? I mean, it's like I said, it's a quarterback.

SPEAKER_06 31:30

That was the first place I saw Chris Jacobs at. Oh dude. Long ass time. Yeah, the best place I saw Chris Jacobs at was uh a wedding.

SPEAKER_02 31:39

What?

SPEAKER_06 31:39

Yeah.

unknown 31:40

Nice.

SPEAKER_06 31:41

I bet it was just like the little trio. Yeah, they were awesome. They played the whole reception, they just played nonstop.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

Very cool. I'm a big fan, you know that. I'm a big fan. Um so I was online earlier, and um, I went through this whole uh Jack Quinn feather and flask rabbit hole. And uh we have live at Autobar and we have Live at Sanity Lounge. Yes. Big shout out to Sanity Lounge. Love those guys. Uh hell yeah, good friends of ours and Rachel. I love Rachel.

SPEAKER_06 32:17

Rachel was at the last old man Jones show. Yeah, it was a fun night.

SPEAKER_01 32:20

Um, she was just on mouthful of graffiti on the mob.

SPEAKER_06 32:24

It was a good episode. It was a great episode. It was a really good episode. Speaking of which, it's a really good dynamic.

SPEAKER_01 32:28

Thank you guys for the shout-out for Session Friends. Appreciate that. But um, yeah, big shout out to Sanity Lounge. They are um they're making waves out there, man, in the uh local community. Um they're promoting, they're working hard, and um, yeah, man, we're big supporters. But uh your music is live. I think me personally, I I think it's just I'm a live guy personally. I love the music live. But it just gives your music just gives this entire new feeling, a whole level of what the meaning of every word is, if that makes any sense. I mean, you can everybody can just record and you know, you listen to it and be like, all right, well, you know, you learn it, but to listen to somebody do it live, that's when you really know how much they're putting their heart and soul into it, the sweat and the blood into it, you know. You're writing these songs off of something that may have happened to you, or or you know, what most of us do, but that's when you really go out on stage and you put out, and I was watching the videos of you guys playing, and I was watching some of the expressions on your face, and you were having some Jerry moments, man. We were talking about the Jerry moments earlier, you know, where you just kind of lose yourself. That's a good thing, but you just lose yourself and you just put your head back and you're just fucking jamming, you know? That's gotta feel good, man. Is that where is that where it makes is that what makes you happy?

SPEAKER_00 33:56

Oh man, yeah, absolutely. That's my happy place. Just like being able to cut loose and um like just freely. I feel like if I if I open myself up enough, then like the listeners will too. And if they feel something, like I feel something, and there's like this we meet in the middle, and I don't know, some magic happens. Every time I've I've I feel like I've really cut loose, like, you know, people come up to me after the show and they're like, dude, like that was awesome, or whatever. Or they have like tears in their eyes or something, or it's some just some some emotional connection, because that's that's where I get all my goosebumps and stuff when I listen to music. Just hearing someone like truly a moat and be completely open is is a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_01 34:39

You know, you know that when you look out from the stage, you're looking out over the crowd, you can almost see the electric over the top of the crowd. I completely feel that. Yeah, I know it, I know exactly how that is. It's just it's fulfilling. Um I don't know, it's uh I guess that's one of the reasons why we do it.

SPEAKER_07 34:59

Yeah, you know, I guess that's the reason you're doing it. You know, it's just uh like you've said many times, music is medicine. I uh yeah, music is really absolutely as much for the artist as it is for the person that's that's listening. Yeah, and and it depends on the moment and what you need right then.

SPEAKER_06 35:15

We have a sign in Weatherly in Weatherly Studios um that basically that just says um we don't record sound, we record emotion.

SPEAKER_00 35:24

Ah I love that.

SPEAKER_06 35:27

The friends of Weatherly is literally just capturing the moment. That's what we go for. You know, there was we talked about it on the the Weatherly podcast and me and Ky Kyle were on that we wrote a song called Faded Blue, and he recorded just some like 10-minute scratch vocals, just threw it over top before he sent it to me with his acoustic part. I built out everything else, and I was like, Hey, here's everything. And he's like, All right, we'll come over tomorrow night and we'll retract my vocals. I was like, The fuck we are. We got it. I was like, no, that's it. He was like, No, there's so many things I would change. I was like, I don't care, veto. I was like, no, these are staying. We captured the moment, it was there. Like, that's key. Hell yeah. I'd like to hear more of your origins. Like, when did you start playing music? When did you well there's no seemed like you got a pretty good like theory background in your head?

SPEAKER_00 36:20

A little bit, yeah. Um, I I started taking lessons when I was 16 at uh Hunt Valley Music. My teacher, his name was Mark Early, he was like a freelance jazz guitarist, and um yeah, so I just started playing acoustically and uh started going to rock and jazz workshops, and uh I I I started really getting into like Jack Johnson in high school, and he uses a lot of like major sevens, so like that kind of steered me into the direction of jazz. Like my teacher's like, Well, you should come to jazz workshop, and I'm like, Okay. And um, so I went and I would play rhythm, and I really liked you know the chords and the shapes and everything like that. And then um one day he was I think I was maybe seventeen, he's like, You should take like vocal lessons because they would try to get me to sing and stuff there, and I never really sang. I was I I was raised in a Catholic school, so we'd like sing in choir, but um I never really I couldn't really like sing on key, so I I started taking vocal lessons and then uh I discovered my voice and it I just was like oh wow, I just really want to focus on my voice, but I already had kind of like the theory background and I played jazz bass and stuff too. And um, so I was like, Well, I know how to make my own songs, I know like a little bit of theory, and so then like the singing just kind of took over everything. And I would go to open mic nights when I was like 17 at like high tops, that was like my first open mic night.

SPEAKER_06 37:43

Yeah, and they would like high tops open mic.

SPEAKER_00 37:45

Yeah, they would be like, Well, you're you're not, you know, 21, you can't come in. I'm like, I'm not drinking, I just want to go play, and so they would let me in, and I would just go and totally suck. But like I just kept going and I kept signing up first, and so whenever I go to open mic nights and I see all the like the new people who are young, like they they always sign up first too, and I'm like, that's exactly what I would do.

SPEAKER_06 38:06

Like, sign up first and just get up, get it out of the way, then you can sit down and you can learn.

SPEAKER_00 38:11

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

So uh just to change the subject real quick, today being 420, everybody knows what 420 is. Um what are you doing? Yeah, I was gonna say, Jack, what are you?

SPEAKER_06 38:24

It's really smoggy.

SPEAKER_01 38:25

Yeah, it's a little smoky down here. But um what did I'm assuming your stance on cannabis is your pro cannabis.

SPEAKER_00 38:36

I used to work at Curio. Oh, did you? Yeah, I wasn't working to Curio.

SPEAKER_01 38:40

One of my favorite gummies. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 38:42

I like the sour watermelon.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

Well, there we go. But uh yeah, man, it's 420, so uh we're hanging out. Um, we just sparked one up.

SPEAKER_06 38:51

I get to hear some good music tonight, too, right?

SPEAKER_01 38:53

Oh, dude, you have no idea. Have you have you not?

SPEAKER_06 38:56

I have.

SPEAKER_01 38:56

Okay. Well, you're in for a treat. I'm super stoked.

SPEAKER_06 38:59

I've seen the band twice, and then I saw you solo at the open mic at Double Groove.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

Yeah. Um yeah, dude. Been a good night. Hanging out. Got some good drinks, got some good cannabis. Uh I smell good food cooking up there. I think the boss is gonna be taking care of us. Did you uh did you bring an instrument with you tonight?

SPEAKER_00 39:24

I did. I brought my seven-string classical Goden. Oh my.

SPEAKER_06 39:28

Yeah, I am a little jealous that it's a seven string. I didn't even know Godin made a seven string.

SPEAKER_00 39:32

They don't make many more.

SPEAKER_06 39:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 39:35

I got lucky. I was like, oh, I've been eyeing it up for a couple years, and I'm like, you know what? And then one just popped up, one reverb, and I'm like, oh, bye. Nice.

SPEAKER_01 39:43

Hell yeah. I'm I'm excited to hear you guys play tonight.

SPEAKER_06 39:45

So what's what's on the horizons for the band? Like, what are you all looking towards? Really just year.

SPEAKER_00 39:51

Getting more recordings done and then trying to get more festival gigs. Um Are you gonna give us uh a rough date for that album release? Oh man, like the whole album. Uh is there a name for the album yet? Well, we did it. No, you gotta give us something. We did like uh an album release show where we did like a bunch of songs at the State Theater. We called it Wandering Spell. Yeah. But um I think we're just gonna we're gonna try to do some singles right now and then maybe re-record a couple things and then just like put out an album, hopefully, hopefully by next year. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:22

That's what me and Brad, me and Brad have been releasing singles for shit two and a half years now. Yeah. And the album's finally done. Yeah, that's pretty much what we're doing.

SPEAKER_05 40:32

Put them together and make them in transition.

SPEAKER_01 40:34

Yeah, that's the way to do it. So we don't have a name for the album yet. So Wand Spell. Is that what you're gonna run with? Absolutely. Very cool. Wandering Spells. Is there anything behind that?

SPEAKER_00 40:44

Um, it's just one of the lyrics in uh in uh our song Welcome Home. Welcome home. Do we have that one recorded? Uh uh yeah, that one's recorded, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 40:53

Very cool. I'd like to hear that one.

SPEAKER_00 40:54

I can I can play that one.

SPEAKER_06 40:56

Yeah. Me and my kid get lost in the woods a lot, and every once in a while we see a spot, and I'll look at him, and he'll look at me, and he'll be like, You think if we walk through there, we'll be in a different world?

SPEAKER_00 41:05

Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 41:06

I'm like a portal? I'm willing to try if you are. Like a portal, yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:11

Where would you want to wind up though? I mean I don't know.

SPEAKER_06 41:14

Lately, I've been reading a lot of um spicy fey books. Yeah. I'd definitely want to be a fucking dragon rider somewhere. Yeah. I don't know if I want to I don't even want to do this.

SPEAKER_01 41:28

I don't know if I want to get involved in dragons.

SPEAKER_06 41:31

Nope. I'd be all good. Yeah. We'd be solid. No. Maddie would be a wizard and have like 3,000 gnomes. Maybe some hobbits. I can have some hobbits. I don't know where the fuck this came from.

SPEAKER_05 41:42

It's the D D thing that he did a couple weeks ago, and I'm like, all right, fuck it. Let's see what we're doing.

SPEAKER_01 41:47

Yeah, we just talked about Dungeons and Dragons stimly.

SPEAKER_06 41:49

Yeah, I re-listened to that earlier when I was matching volumes of the other podcasts.

SPEAKER_01 41:53

Yeah. Is anybody else familiar with Dungeons and Dragons? Yeah. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_07 41:57

Yeah, we beat those kids up. I'm sure you did, fucker. You suck.

SPEAKER_06 42:03

Nice.

SPEAKER_07 42:04

Jack, do you have like a person in your life as far as a teacher? Like a like somebody that actually who had the most influence on you, like face to face? Good question. Um yeah, great question.

SPEAKER_00 42:18

I probably my guitar teacher, honestly, um, Mark Hurley, because uh we would do these rock workshops, and he he had sometimes when I would have a lesson with him, I almost feel like I could see his aura, and he he could just like we'd be playing like some rock tune, and he would like kind of look at me with a side eye, and it was kind of like a look of like, watch me turn this up. And he would just like start ripping and like change the energy, and I think that that vibe, that vibration of whatever he would do, like I like picked up on that, and I feel like when I sing and I'm like really present, like I can pick up on that and like kind of like hone in on that. It stayed with you, it stayed with me, like that ability to be like, watch watch me do this with just like my energy, you know?

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Nice, very cool. Um, so the last time you and I were together was at Open Mike Night, and you played a song from one of my favorite bands, which turns out to be one of your favorite bands too, is Green Sky Bluegrass.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

Yes. So Windshield. Yes, thank you. Did we get that one tonight?

SPEAKER_01 43:29

Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_07 43:31

Oh, there we go. You also gotta love Green Sky cover.

SPEAKER_01 43:34

I love it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it's cute away. Yeah, but uh yeah, I was I had that written down. I'm like, bands in common, green sky bluegrass, but uh yeah, dude, green box, green sky, bluegrass. I'm stoked. I have tickets to go see them at the 930 club in DC the night before all good. Nice, yeah. So um I'm excited about that one. Yeah, they're awesome. I know you've seen them. A handful of times, right?

SPEAKER_00 44:01

Yep. I got to I got to hug Paul Paul Hoffman one time on Jam Cruise. I was like, dude, Windshield Man. Windshield Man. He got me through a lot of stuff. And he was like, oh, thanks, man. He was wearing a hat, trying to be like not incognito. I was like, I know you, dude. Like I need to give you a hug right now, and he was super cool.

SPEAKER_01 44:17

I know your beard. Yeah. That's funny. Oh yeah. But uh Green Sky Bluegrass, yeah, I'm a big fan. I cannot wait to go see them.

SPEAKER_06 44:25

I'm gonna have to I'm gonna have to go on a cleaning spree and just put that on in the background and let it go.

SPEAKER_01 44:32

Yeah, you definitely should. My wife would probably tell you I probably have an unhealthy addiction to Green Sky Bluegrass.

SPEAKER_06 44:39

That's what I do to Whiskey Myers now because of you. And Loud and Company.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

If you actually look at the wall right now, the next vinyl record going on is Green Sky Bluegrass. It's Green Sky. Yeah, that's my thing.

SPEAKER_00 44:56

Other than Green Sky, what's one of your other favorites? Oh, my morning jacket. Hands down is probably one of my favorite bands. Fleet Foxes. I really love like the whole indie folk rock revival that happened in the early 2000s. That was a really big influence.

SPEAKER_01 45:16

Super stoked that you came. Greatly appreciative that you hung out with us tonight. I've been looking really forward to this one. Jack and Quinn of Feather and Flask. If you guys are not familiar with Feather and Flask, the full band, I want to give a big shout out to the rest of them. We got Gabe Ford on percussion. Chad Jasonowski.

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Janoshesky.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

Janoshesky. Chad Janeske.

SPEAKER_00 45:44

I can't say his name is the case. I can't believe I got it.

SPEAKER_01 45:54

For Lee Guitar. And then one of my favorites Shelby Slombo on bass and vocals. So that's a full band. If you guys uh are not familiar or you want to hear more, how can they see you guys?

SPEAKER_00 46:07

You can follow us on Feather Flask Music on Instagram. You can follow me. We got Facebook. We post a bunch of stuff and everything's going on. Um services.

SPEAKER_06 46:23

Um there's some things on Session Friends YouTube.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

Yes, there will be some uh video coming up. And there are some, but there is one. One of the first ones you guys there actually is. If you go to uh session friends podcast on YouTube, there actually is um some great coverage of the grouping of our show. So um to get your chance to see them live. And then of course, if you go on all of their social media, you'll find out when they are going to be around your neck of the woods. A big shout out to everybody out there in Sashland. Happy 420. Happy 420. See you guys!

SPEAKER_04 48:10

Didn't get the hand to have it all. But you weren't there to catch my eyeball. I hear your voice behind my door. I climb the ladder for you now. From the earth you show me how I didn't know what I had, and now it's cashed up and it seems so bad. So scared so from my eyes, there were sweetest things hidden in disguise. I hope you know that it's okay. And no one knows this is the way it's not a good idea. I hope you know that it's okay. Standing in the streets seeing you undressed, the mask crumbled before my eyes, shadows lifted your disguise, oh I thought love was the rarest thing, the treasure hidden to make my heart stink, now I think it's the sun passing by day after day an illusion in the sky just depends where you stand We pass on the street never to meet Get love Love it's there, get love, love it's now The weight of these words is light as a feather, quickly consumed like a flask in bad weather. There's a way to live better. Something eternal attachments are there Just depends where you stay We dance on the street never to meet, yeah. Love is there, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 54:37

Love is there, yeah love.