Skip Happens Podcast - Every Boot Has a Story!

Meet Joe VanDresar: The Stories Behind His Debut EP “Whiskey and Promises”

• Skip Clark

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Speaker 1:

There we are. You know what? Never mind. We're live. We are there. Hello, everybody, and welcome to another edition of Skip Happens. Thanks for tuning in. If you're just coming on board, we got a great one for you tonight. We're spotlighting a local country artist, been putting uh his the work in for years and is now sharing his story in a big way. You may recognize him. I've had him on the big stage with 92.1 the wolf. Uh Joe Van Drieser, a seasonal guitarist songwriter. Started playing when he was 14. Grinding it out at the local bars, the county fairs, the talent shows, everywhere in between and along the way. Uh he shared stages with national acts like our friends from Low Cash. Love those guys. Uh Randy Hauser, I remember that. Eli Youngban, of course, Dylan Scott as well. So it's definitely some good stuff. Now Joe is uh entering a brand new chapter. He released his debut EP Whiskey and Promises. Four songs. Four. Count there's four. I got four fingers up, right? Four, four. Yep, four songs about chasing dreams, messing up, uh, learning the hard way, and being thankful for the people who stick by you. It's time to talk about that music, the stories behind the songs, and what's next. Hey, my friends. Well, we've been friends for a little bit. Joe Van Drieser, how are you, Joe? It's good to see you. I'm doing fantastic. How are you, Skip? I'm great. Welcome to the pod zone, dude. Thank you for having me. Absolutely. I know this is like my castle. This is where I hide. It's a beautiful castle. And you are welcomed. Uh by and I warned you before you came to the house. I said, just a little bit of a warning. I have a big yellow lab, um, overly friendly. So was I right?

Speaker:

Snatch his shoes. Yep.

Speaker 1:

And I said, he goes, Can I take my shoes? Should I take my shoes off? And I said, Absolutely. You got to put them in the closet. We need to put them uh behind closed doors. And Joe's dad is with him. And he was taking off his shoes, and he put one on the floor, went to take the other one off, and the other one was gone. Gone. It was that quick. But uh a little taste of our yellow lab. But that's that I don't know if anybody's got a yellow lab, you would know exactly what I'm talking about. It's the way they are. Uh, and it's the way it is. But uh, Joe, um, again, thank you for being here. We're gonna have so much fun tonight. I want to find out about you, though, or you know, I already know a lot about you for, but uh, for people that are just discovering you, who are you? Joe Van Drieser. All right, who are you and where did music first grab you?

Speaker:

Music first grabbed me when I was probably around eighth grade, but I was actually into hip hop.

Speaker 1:

It was hip hop, it was hip hop, but you were eighth grade means you were 14. Was that what's eighth grade?

Speaker:

I don't want to do math.

Speaker 1:

No, I don't either. I sucked at that. So go ahead. Okay, eighth grade.

Speaker:

14?

Speaker 1:

I don't know. So you picked up the guitar at 14.

Speaker:

Yeah, so I was actually really into acon.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay.

Speaker:

I loved a con. I get you, and then the fray.

Speaker 1:

Gotcha. Good stuff, yeah. No, I do I know the fray. Frey really got me. I made look old.

Speaker:

I love the fray.

Speaker 1:

I love the fray too. Definitely, definitely good stuff. I believe it or not, um, we're gonna get into more of this, but I love all different genres of music. I mean, you know me as the country guy, but you know what? If you were to ride around with me and my my Chevy, um, you'd be surprised at what I'm listening to. And a lot of it depends on my mood, too. Oh, absolutely. Certain days it's like, all right, you know, I'll tune away from the country. I may go to rhythmic or hip-hop or something, just give me a different feel. Yeah, then there's nothing better than the classic rock, which by the way, country artists today have a lot of those artists have a classic rock background. Oh, yeah. So I'm just throwing it out there. Yeah, okay. So tell me more. You're thinking. All right. So so what made you want to play country music?

Speaker:

So I wouldn't say there was something that made me want to play uh I guess I can't well, there had to be something because you do a great job at it. I mean, you you are just phenomenal. So I guess I have to do a big shout out to my best friend in high school, okay, Marcus, okay, who is in the military. Okay, but he got me hooked on Johnny Cash, and I I just I just fell in country love with country music.

Speaker 1:

How can you not get hooked on Johnny Cash? You know what I mean?

Speaker:

That that's Johnny Cash, Josh Turner, oh yeah, and then Scotty McCurry when he was on American Idol. I followed him.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, we've had Scotty here, by the way.

Speaker:

No way. Was he in the seat?

Speaker 1:

Oh, he wasn't in that seat, but he's he's been on Skip Havens before. No way, that's awesome. But uh, so I mean that's cool that you got turned on. That's what got you started. Yeah, and uh do you ever do you remember? Um, well, you've been writing songs too, right? Yes, do you sit down, you write songs, and yes, do you remember the first song you ever wrote?

Speaker:

We're going back.

Speaker 1:

It's okay, but you you must I don't I don't think so.

Speaker:

No, I think I I think I threw it in the trash. It was that bad, you know. I wouldn't say it was bad, I would just say I it's it's forgotten.

Speaker 1:

I gotcha, I gotcha. Yeah, I know. Usually I I ask a lot of artists if they remember the first song they ever wrote, and usually they do. And I'll say, Do you what was the title of it? Well, you don't want to know.

Speaker:

Here's my issue. Okay, I don't have the best memory. Well, dude, I don't think it's fried.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I know, I hear you, but uh it'll come back to you. So, um, so your local roots, where are you from?

Speaker:

Uh Holland Patton, New York.

Speaker 1:

Oh, okay. A little bit of a drive to get here.

Speaker:

Uh, not too bad, like 40 minutes. Yeah, okay.

Speaker 1:

All right, I got you. How's the weather there? Sunny in 75? Of course. I thought so. I'm like out here, it's so cold. It's so cold. So you came up, you were playing in the neighborhood bars, the country fairs, um, talent shows. Yeah, you've done all that. Even uh your karaoke contest. What's it like for you to go and uh knowing that you know you you play guitar, you sing, you do your thing and you do it very well, but then you go to uh the sing karaoke. How does all that work for you? What do you feel when you get up there? For karaoke is it is it entirely different?

Speaker:

It is, it's completely different.

Speaker 1:

Why? You're still singing, yeah.

Speaker:

But it's I don't know, it's just a different sound, I guess.

Speaker 1:

Okay. All right, all right, all right. And um are there let me I'm trying to think of a good way to put this. Only in a small bar moments that still stick with you because you've been you've played a lot of these uh different bars, you've been doing your thing. Are there any moments that uh stick with you from some of these uh small places? I know you probably done so many, you know. Or let me uh while you're thinking about that, think about this. I know it's two things at once, so it might be a little hard. Multitasking we have to do that every day in our job now. Uh, how important was the local music scene in shaping who you are as an artist right now, today?

Speaker:

Very important.

Speaker 1:

Tell me why.

Speaker:

Because without the local fans and the the local bars being able to or wanting to book me to even do the shows, then I I wouldn't be getting the shows and being able to do them.

Speaker 1:

That's cool. It's that connection, right?

Speaker:

Yeah, it's that connection, it's all about connection and your fans, which is pretty cool.

Speaker 1:

Yes, pretty cool. Um, so you've um opened for low cash, Randy Hauser. I mentioned uh Dylan Scott, yes, and uh Eli Youngband. Go ahead, it's real quick.

Speaker:

Speaking of Dylan Scott, please. I was so bummed that I could not watch him play. I had another show that I had to leave and go do, and I wasn't able to watch him play live.

Speaker 1:

Dylan is awesome, super bummed, and he's a good example of somebody maybe you should watch and follow because he's seen it when it's been really tough. He's he's worked it when it's been tough. Uh, now he's coming back, he'll be in town. Um, I want to say early spring.

Speaker:

He's got such an amazing voice, too.

Speaker 1:

He does, he does, absolutely. And uh, you know, so you've opened for those guys. That's a really big deal. How did those opportunities come together for you as a local artist?

Speaker:

Most of them were through another radio station.

Speaker 1:

Okay, it's okay. No, no, that's all good. It's all good.

Speaker:

Okay, so most of them were through another radio station they got to be able to do.

Speaker 1:

So, in other words, radio really helps you up.

Speaker:

Yes, absolutely. Radio is a huge part of it. I love hearing that.

Speaker 1:

Yes, I love it.

Speaker:

And you also gave me some great opportunities too, being able to open up for Dylan Marlowe and Low Cash.

Speaker 1:

And that that was pretty cool. That was a great show. Is that like a year ago?

Speaker:

Yes, Meg Megan Patrick.

Speaker 1:

Yep, yes, it's awesome. Very cool. And um, did those guys give you any advice? Did you talk to them? Did you hung out? If I remember right, you were down with low with the guys.

Speaker:

But I didn't want to push my music onto them. I did play uh my new song, Famous. I did play it for low cash, and they did like it. They said they would throw a few more things in it, but it wasn't done yet at the time.

Speaker 1:

So see, that's good. When you can say as a local artist, and I'm glad you said that, because and I'll go back, I'll repeat this several times. You are very talented. You have the voice, you have the songwriting ability. It's just a matter of uh, you know, you're up against how many thousands of people trying to do the same thing as you. So you, you know, you you got to find a way to stick out. But for you to have the opportunity for like the chat with low cash or play a song for them and go, What do you think? Just be honest with me. Not everybody gets that opportunity, and you're hearing, you know, these guys they're pros, so to speak. So it's like they're gonna tell you, they would tell you what I would hope they would tell me. No, I think they would. They'd say, you know, I don't think they go this song sucks. I think they would they would go like um they would say, you know, you know, Joe, maybe maybe you give it this feel, yeah, you know, maybe change this to this. I don't think you know, because what they're gonna do is try to make it better, right? And then you could whether it's good or bad or whatever you're thinking inside, you got to take it to heart and go, Yeah, let me try that.

Speaker:

Exactly. Yeah, yeah. And that's exactly what Low Cash said about famous about changing, yeah. Like, I'd throw a little something in here. See? And then we did. So and you did it.

Speaker 1:

And so hopefully there you go. There you go.

Speaker:

Oh, if you watch this.

Speaker 1:

Um was there one of those opening slots where you thought, damn, okay, this is real. You know, you had that opportunity to walk on that stage and play alongside some of these artists.

Speaker:

I would say, I would say Randy Hauser. I'm a huge fan of Randy Hauser. I love Dylan Marlowe though. Dylan Marlowe's awesome.

Speaker 1:

Especially his new album. Don't disagree. Yeah.

Speaker:

His new song that he just released, uh, what was it?

Speaker 1:

I'd have to look at it.

Speaker:

They hit the boat. Yes, they found that.

Speaker 1:

Yep, exactly. Exactly. Um, any advice or backstage moments from those artists that stuck with you? Besides, you talk about the low cash moment with the song uh famous, but are there any other uh anything that would say honestly?

Speaker:

I talked more about hunting. I really did. All right, I talked more about hunting. Let's talk about hunting. Okay, let's do it. So I don't know if anybody's been to Sharkies, but like down in the bottom, they have a big uh isn't it the bear?

Speaker 1:

Yes, yes, down in like what we call the green room once in a while. The thing is freaking huge. Is it a black bear or a grizzly? Dude, I'm not a hunter, I don't know, but I'm just glad it's where it is and not alive.

Speaker:

But uh Dylan Marlowe's bear Dylan Marlowe's guitar player, David. Just I talked to him most of the night, but he was funny as hell. And he was uh he's he's just looking around there when he looks over and he's like, Is that a freaking bear?

Speaker 1:

I was like, How did you just notice it?

Speaker:

The thing is big as shit.

Speaker 1:

That how would you like it was after like 50 minutes?

Speaker:

Oh my god, that's great.

Speaker 1:

So uh tell me about hunting though. You you deer?

Speaker:

Oh, yeah, oh yeah, I'm a big deer hunter. Bear? I I want to say big deer as in like big racks, but I I do shoot deer.

Speaker 1:

Well, you're you're going for the big rack though. I am it's just a matter of finding the one with a big rack. Yes, and do you get teased a lot when you do get a deer saying what look at look what you brought home? That deer is hardly I do. Uh I got brother-in-laws that hunt, so I hear it all the time.

Speaker:

I've got a couple decent ones, you know. But this year, this year just wasn't uh yeah, just wasn't there, I guess. You get up and stand and all that? I did. You did I did. Yeah, I got a tree stand, a blind. Yeah, wow. Hopefully a uh pushing around blind here or something.

Speaker 1:

Do you strap yourself in? I hope, in that tree stand because I don't, I don't, but I have the barn need to.

Speaker:

I have the bar that comes over. It's just a climb and a sitter, it's not okay. So they don't have like the tree.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, no, but don't with the tree stand, um, because I know somebody that fell out of a tree stand and they lost their life or they died. But uh, so now there's this big thing about strapping yourself in. Yeah, so if you you know, you say you got the bar, but what happens if you fall asleep and you fall out? I mean, come on, you're out there for a long time, right?

Speaker:

Here's the thing.

Speaker 1:

Okay, tell me the thing.

Speaker:

I've fallen asleep a few times, but it's only been for like a few seconds, or for what I feel like has been a few seconds. So and it's been like, you know, like one of those things where you're like yeah, you just kind of and then you like shake up and you're like I'm good, I'm good, I'm good, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Meanwhile, there's a deer, probably a 12-pointer looking at you, laughing his ass.

Speaker:

No, it walked by while my head was sleeping. See while sleeping. Yeah, oh my god, they're like, dude, look what you missed.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's crazy.

Speaker:

Do you uh duck hunt? I don't. I would love to get into that though.

Speaker 1:

But you said he had a blind, that's for the deer, then.

Speaker:

I do, yes, yes, okay.

Speaker 1:

All right, duck hunt. Do you pheasant or anything like that? No, just deer, mainly deer.

Speaker:

I do hunt grouse. I've I've hunted them a few years, but I have not gotten a grouse.

Speaker 1:

What is the most fun hunting experience that I've had? I know. We're getting off the music subject too just a little bit. Well, we're gonna go back down that road, but I'm gonna go. It don't matter the skip happens.

Speaker:

Yeah, that's what it's about. Oh man, I think my like my coolest hunting experience would have to be uh and it wasn't even a it wasn't even a big rack deer, but it was walking up on the deer while it was taking a nap.

Speaker 1:

Really? Yeah, how can I dunno now correct me if I'm wrong? I know a lot about music, but I don't know much about deer. Yeah, but they can they can smell you, right? Oh yeah, yeah, absolutely. So yeah, I mean, do you have like um not to sound gross here, but don't they use like deer urine or something like that to they they don't use deer urine to put like on them?

Speaker:

Is that what you're uh I I don't know.

Speaker 1:

I've heard something about that. I don't know.

Speaker:

So there's there's like a uh there's a there's a spray that takes a scent out of your clothes. Maybe that's what I'm thinking. And you hang them for a couple days. Ooh, but like hang them outside you hang them outside for a couple days, all right. And then uh crap, I already forgot what you just said.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, well well, no, I just I asked about was there, you know, deer can smell the human.

Speaker:

Yeah, so it just it just depends on it depends on the wind.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so like if you're standing there, so you want to be um you want to be upwind? I don't know, downwind downwind.

Speaker:

So if you're standing over there and the wind's blowing this way, that's a great thing.

Speaker 1:

That's a good thing.

Speaker:

But if it's blowing that way, okay that way, okay, that's negative.

Speaker 1:

What's the freezer look like? Do you have plenty of things? Oh, it's sold. You got a roast and all the soldier. And do you do the like the sausage?

Speaker:

I do everything, yeah. I take it, I take it up north. I take it to Miller's Notes. Oh, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Do you have anything hanging on the wall?

Speaker:

I do. I have my my uh my best buck was a nine-pointer.

Speaker 1:

Dude, that's not bad. No, no, I'm not like I said before, I'm not a hunter, but I know that's not bad. Yeah, you get a nine-pointer, that's beautiful.

Speaker:

But I mean, it was it was maybe two and a half years old, so it wasn't like a huge rack, but it was it was a decent, decent crack.

Speaker 1:

You know who I um we we're talking about, you know. Well, we're talking about hunting right now, but I want to get back to the music. And uh about a year ago we had you at Sharky's, and I believe Stephen Cali was on that show as well, another great local artist. Now he went out and got a big ass deer because he was showing it off that night. That day the day that we were did that show a year ago, he was showing the picture to everybody.

Speaker:

I didn't I didn't get to see it.

Speaker 1:

Oh no, this thing was massive, massive. So I don't know. Next time do you know where he got it?

Speaker:

I'm asking for a friend in the woods.

Speaker 1:

I don't I don't I'm not really sure, not really sure, but it he got it that day that we did the show, and he was smiling from ear to ear. He goes, Man, this thing's got such a big rack. I I forgot how many points it was, but it was it was nice, it was nice.

Speaker:

Oh, so it was really I'll stalk his page and look back.

Speaker 1:

So uh getting back to the music a little bit, uh and Joe Van Dries are as you can see sitting over here to my left, your right if you're looking at the screen, but uh he's been writing original music uh for about 14 years, if not a little bit longer. How has um your songwriting evolved over time?

Speaker:

So I wouldn't so my songwriting, as far as I I've I've never been able to sit down and force myself to write a song. Okay, and I still can't. I have to have an idea pop in my head and which is normal, and then I run with it, and it takes me 10 to 15 minutes to write that song, but I could go months without writing a song, and I could sit and I could try to force myself to write a song, and I wouldn't I'd come up with nothing.

Speaker 1:

You know, I'll be honest with you, that kind of surprises me. And I'll tell you why. Because if you're sitting in a tree stand waiting for that deer, your mind must be thinking. And if you're a musician, you I would only assume that you'd be thinking of certain things. You could be writing or thinking in your mind of sitting in that tree stand and writing a song about being in the woods and being alone, or when we talked about your job and how you know, something during the day you go out and do these things, and you know, you're by yourself. So your mind, I know if it was me, my mind would continuously be like rolling, rolling. Yeah, not saying I would remember a lot of it, so I'd either have to put it into my phone or somehow write it down.

Speaker:

I gotta say, I do have to write a hunting song. You do, whether it's about a tree stand, a deer, you're just going out. So, what do you think is the best song you ever wrote? I gotta say famous right now, as of right now.

Speaker 1:

All right, and that's on the EP, right? Yes, yeah, yeah, and with the changes that uh uh Preston and Christian Chris told you that that's in there as well from Low Cash, right? I mean, that's you made those changes. Yes, uh I have to give it a listen. I have to.

Speaker:

Here's a fun fact about that song. Okay, so if you listen to the song in the very first line I wrote, I've been listening to the music damn near all day, Zimmerman between a rock and a hard place. So that was when Zimmerman just broke the atmosphere and came out with Rock and a Hard Place.

Speaker 1:

Oh my gosh.

Speaker:

So I wrote that song, and for some reason, like him and Rock and a Hard Place just popped in my head. So I just kind of rolled with that, and then this the title famous came out in my head. So I just started writing like everything that all the reasons why someone would actually want to be famous, not trying to like sugarcoat it, you know. So yeah.

Speaker 1:

Do you um is there a song out there that you wish you had written? It's a good question. I haven't thought about that. Think about all the music that's out there. You know, I hear it every day. I hear uh, you know, being on the air every afternoon and all these new artists, and it's like, wow, some of this stuff's pretty heavy. And uh, you know, on Skip Happens here, what a couple of weeks ago, hey, Grayland. James on, and I look at him as what a songwriter. And I wonder how does he, you know, just it's all about real life. Water at a wedding is like it's about a real experience. It's like, holy crap, dude. Go to your ex-girlfriend's wedding and you come out with a song. Well, I guess that would be pretty easy, but if you know what I mean, but uh no, exactly, exactly. So yeah, wow. So um, if you could write with anybody, would that be? If somebody, yeah, I mean, you know, we talked about Grayland. Would you like to pick his mind a little bit?

Speaker:

Or I would not mind picking his mind about songwriting, but somebody that I've seen that has just been like writing hit after hit would have to be Hardy.

Speaker 1:

Oh, Hardy, no doubt.

Speaker:

Hardy is such a good songwriter.

Speaker 1:

And do you realize that um my favorite country song, favorite country song uh by Hardy, is co-written by a guy from Syracuse.

Speaker:

Really?

Speaker 1:

Yeah, went to West Hill High School. I can't think of his name. Zach um can't think of his last name, but he's one of the co-writers on that song.

Speaker:

No way.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, I never would have thought. Yeah, well, there you go. I never would have thought that. That's that's true. And it's you know, we have it. Here's a good example. While you're doing what you're doing, and you're very good at that, and I think you could do very well. Just a good example of somebody that you know went to West Hill High School, a graduate of West Hill, wanted to uh move to Nashville, write music. He did that because that was his passion, his dream, gave it a shot, and look what happened. He ended up uh being a co-writer on a song that uh you know it's at the top of the charts. So that amazing you could do that, dude. It is you could do that. Have you been to Nashville?

Speaker:

I have, but not I haven't gone to like do shows or anything that is in the works right now. We're in the works of that right now. The the the key thing was getting this EP out, right? Right, and trying to get people to listen to it. So and how are you getting people to listen to it? Just social media, just this is what it is.

Speaker 1:

Trying to post every day and get out and do shows and talk about it. Yeah, yep, exactly. Can only go so far locally, I guess, but just well, don't you you can do a lot locally, yeah. You know, a lot of people, let me just tell you this, and being somebody that sits here and talks to a lot of these artists one-on-one, just like you and I are chatting here. Um, you'd be surprised how many of those artists do not actually live in Nashville. Even though they say Nashville, maybe they got a place in Nashville, an apartment, or they may go and stay, you know, a few weeks at a time. A lot of them, we're talking Alabama, we're talking in the Middle West, we're talking California. Uh, it's just amazing. Um, I I've talked to an artist in Australia. We'd be doing the podcast at this hour, it's lunchtime there the next day. Now that's weird. That's the middle of winter here, and they're enjoying summer. So um, yeah, I mean, but yet they still spend time in Nashville, yeah. But you know, so it's kind of weird. So, what how long ago did you go to Nashville?

Speaker:

It's been years, yeah. It's been a long time, yeah.

Speaker 1:

And uh, do you remember going to maybe walking around? And did you get down on Broadway and uh walk the strip there a little bit? All the honky tonks are.

Speaker:

I'm gonna look at my father real quick because he's here too. But he's Twitsies. We didn't we didn't go to Broadway, right? No, did we? We went to Play It Again Records. Oh, of course. Have you heard have you heard of that? Yep, yep. So we we went down there to show them my music at the time, but I think I was like 19 or something. That's cool. So it was a long time ago. But you know, they gave me the you know, pretty much keep at it, yeah. See, you know, you know, and it's like that was when I first started.

Speaker 1:

So you could go out and uh maybe do some of the it's it's a grind, no doubt it's a grind. 100%. But uh, you know, to get just to get your foot in the door of some of the honky tonks and maybe just play a little bit. All it takes, even if you go to visit and you go to Tootsie's, uh do you know Jason Tesca? He's from Auburn. He uh ended up moving to Nashville. He's a guitar player, he's a damn good guitar player. He hits the road with a lot of artists that need a guitar player, right? Yeah, but he plays when he's not on the road, you'll find him in Tootsie's just playing with uh whatever band's up there. But if you go and say, Hey, I'm Joe Van Drieser and I play the guitar, though, chances are they'll go, Hey, come on up, let's see what you got. That'd be nice. And and you never know when somebody's gonna be sitting at that bar and go, Who is this kid? Yeah, he's damn good.

Speaker:

There's there's a lot of there's a lot of artists that have said that.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, they've done shows, and yeah, it's so true, but then it's a grind because you could go a long time without nothing happening.

Speaker:

You know, you know who I look at too? Yes, is Priscilla Block.

Speaker 1:

Oh my god, yeah.

Speaker:

I love Priscilla Block. I really do, and I but she she started from the bottom, she started from you know, playing bars in Nashville, and uh her story was somebody came up to him like, why aren't you signed yet? You know, right? And she look at her now.

Speaker 1:

Yep, exactly, exactly. Or a lot of the artists are starting to go down the independent route as well. Yeah, and a lot of them are um a lot of those that I talked to being, you know, I talked, let me put it this way, I talked to a lot of independent artists, and the reason they do that is they want to have their hands on it all. But I think it's you can only do that up to a certain point because if things start clicking, you can't handle it yourself. You gotta have a team, you gotta have people there that are gonna do your booking, you gotta have people that you know you're you're gonna need to trust uh somebody that you can trust with the money, so to speak. I mean, everything, you know, plus you got bills to pay. Yeah, and yeah. So it there's a lot to it. There's a lot to it. There is a lot to it. And we're talking about the labels, though, back in 23, you signed with Fire Rock Music Group, and they're based in Vegas. Yeah, how did all that uh come to come to happen and what did that mean for you?

Speaker:

So I met John, who you know, John Pettigrass. Petagrass. I said that right, okay, close enough. So he introduced me to Fire Rock, and then you know, from there.

Speaker 1:

That's cool. That's cool. And how have you been able to go out and do shows for them or would they? I've yes have they booked you?

Speaker:

Yes, I've done probably two or three shows of them in the past year. Nice, but like I said, right now, now that I got the EP out, it's time to get the ball rolling. We got to keep it rolling.

Speaker 1:

So so what what would you say is the biggest adjustment from going when you're independent to being a part of now you've got a label team?

Speaker:

There's a lot to it, okay, because I don't have that team, like you just said, you know, doing everything. I I do have some people doing some stuff, but I have to you know push forward to do what I have to do too and not rely on other people.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, just reading some of the comments. Uh Merry Christmas.

Speaker:

Merry Christmas.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's cool. Chuck, I'm not sure uh where we are on Facebook, but uh we're definitely here on YouTube. So yeah, we'll check on that afterwards. And and this all this will be posted. It's it's live now, but it'll also be posted on all the different social platforms that I have as Skip happens. Uh Chuck also Chuck uh well Cove Action is what he goes by. He's a travel him and his wife Laurie, they travel all over the world and they document everything, so it's kind of a cool thing to watch. If you haven't watched it, you should watch it. It's pretty cool. If you're you want to dream of going to Iceland or they've been everywhere, really, they've been everywhere. So, well, maybe not everywhere, but close to everywhere. I'd I would love to travel. Where would you love to go? If you could go anywhere in the world right now, honestly, yeah, Hawaii. I've have you been to Hawaii? I have a long time ago. You know, I'm not allowed to talk, it's beautiful, dude, but I'm not allowed to talk about it in this house. Oh, so don't was my previous life, so to speak. Well, cut it because I've I'm like, honey, let's go to Hawaii. No, you've been there before. We're not going somewhere that's been so anyway, go to Germany. Germany, uh well, I'm German. There, there you go. And I hear it's beautiful, yeah. Yeah, and I hear Iceland is beautiful. So seriously, you think, oh, it's cold, and uh, you know, and all this. It's absolutely beautiful. I bet. Um, yeah, so absolutely beautiful. You know, Hawaii, and you know, all kidding aside, um, it's a long ass flight to get there, yeah, but it's beautiful. And nowadays, I mean the planes you fly on, you could yeah. I would he's been to Maui a few times. So this uh Chuck, Chuck and Lori. Oh, yeah, yeah, he's commenting here. So but uh no, Hawaii, there's Diamond Head, there's uh the big island. Um I would love to just go fish in in Hawaii. Have you ever deep sea fished?

Speaker:

I have, but it was off like I can't like a charter.

Speaker 1:

I'd be hurling a little bit.

Speaker:

I did you did? Oh, yeah. Okay, now I'm not alone. Hurled and threw the line right back in.

Speaker 1:

See, I don't know. I I get motion sickness, so yeah, you know, if I'm not driving patch, yeah. Yeah, well, I don't know.

Speaker:

Patch behind the ear. Really? I don't know.

Speaker 1:

Is that what you wore?

Speaker:

Yeah, but you see, well, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I didn't I didn't wear it when I went fishing, but I went did just go on a cruise. Oh, okay. I I wore the patch behind my ear, and no one's gonna go. Oh no, the cruises are fine. Not when those seas are rough. Oh, come on. Oh my gosh. That went my last day was super rough. Can I can I ask where'd you go? Uh Bahamas.

Speaker 1:

Very nice. You sail out of uh New York or Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

Speaker:

I think we went to Tampa or I think we went like uh around Florida. We went to like a private island. No, but where'd you sail out of? Oh, um Baltimore.

Speaker 1:

Baltimore, yeah.

Speaker:

Okay, yeah, all right.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, that's cool. Seven days, yes, beautiful cruise line, uh Carnival. Love Carnival, it's the party boat. Yeah, I'm I'm telling you, I I've done them. Nancy, uh I used to do cruises. We used to do like three a year. Um it was pretty cool. Cruises are nice, they are really nice, but uh, even with the rough seas, um, back in the day we were in Hurricane Opal. Um, it was it was fun, yeah. Because it just I stood at the front of the boat and just watched it go up and down, but no, if you're outside in the air, you know what else? You start drinking, yeah, and you walk perfectly straight. No way, you do, no way, you do, yeah. And and how many times after you got home were you in your house, and all of a sudden you felt like whoa, like you're gonna fall.

Speaker:

You know what's crazy? When I got off the boat, there was no I didn't have that, really. Yeah, I didn't. I really thought I was gonna because if I get on an elevator, yeah, and you know how like when it stops, it goes like that. When I get off, I feel like the floor is going like this. And I thought for sure when I got off the cruise, I was gonna be doing the same thing.

Speaker 1:

I'm surprised because I back in the day, it was like once we got home, it'd be like, whoa, okay. I just felt something, it's just because your body's so used to, you know. But I'll tell you one thing. I know you sleep really well on a cruise. Yeah, but just I probably the best sleep I've ever had. So let's get back to the music now that we've traveled the world with Joe Van Drieser. But uh, so you've uh you got the EP, it's out. Uh I remember our bar, but that's on the EP too. Yes, and that that was a big effort a year ago. Yes, yeah. Tell us about that song a little bit. What's behind the title?

Speaker:

So I didn't our bar, I didn't really have it. Nothing really happened to me to make me write the song. I just had the idea kind of pop in my head, and then I just kind of ran with it. I guess that's all right. That's the but the idea was was uh you know, a girl breaking up with a guy, and the guy saying, you know, if you ever change your mind, I'll always be at our bar where we, you know, where we met. You know, is there a real life our bar? Is there a real our bar? I would say nothing fancy, but it's close.

Speaker 1:

That's cool. Oh my god, that's right.

Speaker:

I love that bar too.

Speaker 1:

Oh my god, you played there too.

Speaker:

I did, yeah.

Speaker 1:

Uh I remember that.

Speaker:

It's a good bar.

Speaker 1:

So you got a new song because our bar, our bar was back in March, but uh now you got uh Jack is the answer. Jack is the reason. Oh, I wrote it with Dowrong. It's okay. No, no, and you know why? Because I'm a Jack fan, yeah. So I I'm already liking the song from the title. So um, I don't know what if do you drink Jack? I do. I do like I do I do like Jack, but I I love tequila. Tequila's tequila's have you had winter Jack?

Speaker:

I have not. Do you have it? I do. You want to go up and get it? I would definitely.

Speaker 1:

I'm serious. It's great. I I took a bottle of it to Kelsey Hart. Really? He's like, yeah, he played uh, we did a cornhole thing at Keg's and then he played that night. Yeah. Uh, but we got there early in the afternoon. And uh, of course, I had him on the podcast, so he knew I was coming out. Took him some uh Skip Happens mugs and a couple of bottles of Winter Jack because I actually tried that. They had it at the radio station, it was really good, and that's what hooked me on it. It's like apple spice and everything nice. Yeah, it is, but it's very it's only during the winter, it's only around the holidays that you can get it. It's got a white label, it's called Winter Jack. Uh, it's sweet.

Speaker:

I'm gonna have to get I'm gonna have to try that though.

Speaker 1:

So Jack is the reason. Yes, all right. Um, so give us a tease about the song without giving it all away because I want people to go on, I want lines, so we're gonna find out where you can get it, and I want you know your fans or I want listeners and viewers of this podcast to go and listen to it.

Speaker:

Okay, so you want me to give like a description of the song?

Speaker 1:

Well, you know what, yeah, tell it okay, dig into it.

Speaker:

Um it's about Jack. I'm all years, yeah. So Jack Daniels is the reason of why. So the the guys uh drinks a lot of Jack, or just you know, just drinks in general, but the the uh the meaning of the song is Jack is the reason why the relationship didn't work out. So he drank too much, the girl got sick of it, she leaves. Okay, and uh he's just uh chilling at the bar, you know. Just you know, if I'm if you ever change your mind, I'm here with Jack. It's the reason.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. I love that, man. I love that though.

Speaker:

It's a story, it is it's a story, and I I I tried to write my songs as a story, and and that's I feel that's what you need to do.

Speaker 1:

Yes, look at your life, look about every you know, everything that's going on in your life, and just put a pen to paper. Yes, or I know it's hard though. So, what do you what do you do? You know, obviously you work all day. What do you do?

Speaker:

I work for a lawn care company, okay.

Speaker 1:

Seasonal, seasonal, all right.

Speaker:

So, right now, shout out to Carefree Lawn Care, Sarah Case, New York. If you guys want your lawn done, shoot them on that. Well, Joe Van Dries are out there with the guitar riding the uh the spreader for the turfware.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, is that so you spread the fertilizer with one of those machines?

Speaker:

Yes, yeah, cool.

Speaker 1:

Kill weeds, you know. I love it. Fun stuff. Yeah, how many treatments a year?

Speaker:

Uh depend depends what you sign up for, right? Depends what you sign up for, but uh six usually.

Speaker 1:

Cool. You know, there's a lot of lawn companies though.

Speaker:

There really are, but ours is the number one.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, where are you right right out of uh Syracuse, New York? Syracuse, New York, yes. Cool. You drive in from Holland Patton every day to go to work?

Speaker:

Well, I I'm I'm from Holland Patton. Oh, okay. But I live I live in the Verone area. Oh, yeah, okay. Near the casino. Ooh, yeah. Have you played the casino? I have. I play I've played at the I got a date in the Tin Rooster at the casino in May, I believe. But we just played there a couple months ago.

Speaker 1:

So do you deal with the full band?

Speaker:

Yes. Tell me about the band. Um, we've been together for eight to nine years, but it's me, Spencer Walker, and Daniel Simmons. We've been together since the beginning. We have two newer guys, Callan and Daniel, who had just started the pat and probably within the past year. But um, yeah.

Speaker 1:

You really don't remember much, do you?

unknown:

I know.

Speaker 1:

I just told you my brain's it's crazy, but you know what I mean? I just need a drink of water. Yeah, you need some of that winter jack. Your dad go up and get the bottle off the it's right there in the hallway.

Speaker:

I think he's asking.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, go up, you know. I mean, this this is when skip happens, everybody. This is why we call it. If he goes up the stairs to the left, you'll see it right there on that little yes, yeah. Go to the left. I'm yelling at this guy going up my stairs that knows nothing about my house. So there you go. Oh no, I just heard him say winter jack. Nancy talking to himself. He's talking to the Jack.

Speaker:

Winter Jack.

Speaker 1:

That's all. So he's gonna bring it down. Oh, there it is. Yeah, it's a beautiful bottle. It is a beautiful bottle, it is an absolutely wow. Look at that bottle.

Speaker:

I never heard I've never seen one of those. Oh yeah. Oh yeah, oh yeah. This that ain't even broke yet.

Speaker 1:

No, there's two. Well, I got it for Christmas Eve. There we go.

Speaker:

I feel bad if I break your bottle.

Speaker 1:

No, no, no, no, no, no, not at all. As a matter of fact, uh, I'll give it back to dad to open up here and I'm gonna let you taste it.

Speaker:

Okay, because you're gonna go, that's really good.

Speaker 1:

So anyway.

Speaker:

I'll tell you what, if it tastes really good, I'll get it probably tomorrow.

Speaker 1:

Uh um, that's you know, here's a little um a good friend of mine told me that what you do with that, you go and get some cider. You go to places like Price Chopper has a different flavored cider. Like I think they had caramel. Uh, but I took the caramel, you put it in a crock pot, you put the winter jack in there, you warm it up. Oh, it's so good. Really? It's in the winter, exactly. That's like before you know it, yep. Wake up and have uh and you'll be writing songs like you've never written songs before. And and that, you know, that's what it's about, though. Yeah. What's uh one song of yours that means the most to you personally?

Speaker:

Probably one of the new songs on the EP called From Heaven. Okay, and I wrote that I wrote that for my wife. So that song I wrote, I would say a year and a half ago. Uh-huh. And it was just all the things that related her to me.

unknown:

Wow.

Speaker:

And it was actually our first dance. It's pretty deep. It was our first ant song. Wow. Yeah. Getting deep.

Speaker 1:

Dude, that's so awesome. That's so tell me about your wife a little bit.

Speaker:

Because I think that's she's working tonight. She she does work tonight. Uh she works at a state park and she uh also works at Tractor Supply. So Tractor Splash is what she's at tonight.

Speaker 1:

So yeah, awesome. Awesome. But you you know, for you as an artist and a songwriter to sit down and write a song about your wife. That's very cool. You know, I mean, I go back on Grayland James, he did the same thing. You know, I feel like a lot of no, no, it was that Kelsey Hart did. I'm sorry. I got it because I had them both on Kelsey Hart. I'm sure Grayland has as well, but Kelsey Hart, Life Life With You, I think it was, went on, and that's we had them here at a showcase. And uh, yeah, that's the song that was big on the radio. I'll have to listen to it. Yeah, I think it's Life With You by Kelsey Hart. So it's definitely good stuff. Hand me that little mug over there, okay, unless you want to take a sweep. Out of the bottle.

Speaker:

No, I don't want to do that. I mean, I would, but it's your bottle.

Speaker 1:

Listen to that, huh? How'd you try that? Just a little swig. A little swing. Tap the bottle. Go ahead. You let me know what you think of that.

Speaker:

Oh my gosh. What is that?

Speaker 1:

Sorry. Oh my gosh. That is delicious. If you were to warm that up. Oh yeah. You know what I'm saying? That's what I'm saying. So if you're not, come on. Here it is. Uh, you know, tomorrow's Christmas Eve. That's when this is going down here in the pod zone. If you have people over and you're gonna have some cocktails, you may want to go pick up a bottle of that and uh kind of share it. I don't know if your dad drinks it or not. Have a try that's man, this guy knows this.

Speaker:

It's super smooth. It is super and that's very dangerous. 100%. Isn't that delicious? Are you yeah? Yeah, yeah. All right, okay.

Speaker 1:

Here, there's more right there. Gosh. Uh well to make sure you get hooked up for that. Um, and so now I guess you know, we've been talking to Joe Van Drieser. Um the music is out there. The EP, you released that here not too long ago, and that's why we have you here tonight, not only as friends, but to talk about the music a little bit. I so appreciate the local artists when they reach out and say, Hey, what can I do? Or what can you do? Can you help me? Yes, absolutely, and uh do everything we can because you deserve the opportunity to not only be seen, but to be heard. And this is a great avenue to do this, uh, do that with um, you know, not only on the local level, but you know, if you follow Skip Hobbins, you know that we do a lot of this, and I've been doing this for a long time. So just it's such an honor to have you sitting here. And uh, and I know what's in your heart, and I know what you want to do, and you deserve to have that opportunity. Everybody does.

Speaker:

I appreciate it.

Speaker 1:

Everybody, good, bad, indifferent, everybody does. Now let me ask you beer or whiskey? Oh well, you just had the whiskey, whiskey, uh late night uh bar crowd or a festival stage.

unknown:

Hmm.

Speaker:

I would have to say festival, and the only reason why is because the more people, the more energy I feel, and I give back.

Speaker 1:

Uh heartbreak song or party anthem. Heartbreak all day. Yeah, you hit the hearts. You know, here's the deal whether you know you're doing I I talk a lot.

Speaker:

Oh, you're good.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so you can tell me to shut up anytime. But the songs, for example, the songs that I'm playing on the wolf, and here there's a lot of heartbreak, there's a lot of you know, people tease country music the format a lot because of the songs, but the songs are about real life, and a lot of it, if not all of it, comes from the heart. And if you can touch somebody's heart with your songs, then you know, you know you've done something because now they're gonna listen again, they're gonna buy your music, they're gonna follow you. Yeah, you know what I mean? So that's that's what it's about. And one thing I always say with with country music, it's the soundtrack to your life. I mean, I've I don't know about you, but I've been driving down the road in my truck, and I'll hear a song come on and go, How did they know? Yeah, that's exactly what happened to me. How because you know what? We're human. The songwriters are human. Everybody goes through heartbreak, everybody goes through different challenges in life. So that's that you know, keep that in the back of your mind. Uh, I know I asked you before a song you wish you'd written. I know probably so many. Uh, one word to describe that. Oh, you do?

Speaker:

You have it? Here, you ready?

Speaker 1:

I'm ready. Let's go.

Speaker:

Your man, Josh Turner.

Speaker 1:

Oof, Josh. He's enjoying life now because of that song. You know what I mean? Oh, I believe. I mean, hit after hit for a little bit there, too.

Speaker:

I love Josh Turner.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, definitely good stuff. What why why? Because of the voice?

Speaker:

No, just be he was a he was a big influence. Yeah, big, big influence, yes.

Speaker 1:

Awesome. And I'm a Scotty McCurry fan because of the voice, you know, when he was on idle back in the day. And yeah, yeah. And uh one word to describe this chapter of your life, your career right now.

Speaker:

It's push pushing forward, pushing, I guess. I guess that's one word pushing. That's right, pushing, pushing, keep going. Yeah, yes, trying, yeah.

Speaker 1:

You gotta love, you got a passion, you got a dedication. Exactly. Now, what's next for you? And where can people follow the journey and hear the new music?

Speaker:

Uh anywhere on social media, Instagram, Facebook, and you can follow, you know, wherever you listen to your music, you can find me. So there you go.

Speaker 1:

Go just search Joe Van Drieser. It's V-A-N-D-R-E-S-A-R. Uh Joe. Joe. Joe. And uh you're gonna find his music online. I'm sure it pops up in Google. Um, just the search is there. And plus, if you're out and about in central New York or you know, you know, somebody that's looking for an artist or whatever, please just throw the name out there. And once you listen to the music, you're gonna know exactly what I'm talking about. This this kid is good. Thank you. This kid is really, really good. Real good. So uh anything else you want to add? I don't think he's thinking. He's thinking no, no, no. Did you um wait hunting season? Wait a minute, is it over? No, because they have a weekend this weekend is holiday week.

Speaker:

Holiday hunt, and I'm going sad.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, holiday hunt. You still have to have the license, but it's meant for families, right? That you can take your kids and go hunting and yes, yeah, but you still need the license and yes, and all that. That's happening this weekend.

Speaker:

I want to say thank you though for having me on the podcast. Oh, please.

Speaker 1:

Please. No, it's my pleasure to have you here on what we call skip happens. And uh, you know what? If you're watching, you haven't subscribed to the podcast, do that. If you're watching and you haven't subscribed to Joe Van Dreeser, I believe you're on you're on YouTube, right? Make sure you do that as well. Uh listen to the music. Can I say this real quick?

Speaker:

We're gonna be we're gonna be releasing three new videos, like music videos for all three of those songs here pretty soon. That's cool. So Jack is reason is gonna be the first one, and then I'm not sure which one it's gonna be following. But I'll give you this bottle if you put it in the video.

Speaker 1:

Done deal. I love the label on it too. It's all good, it's all cool. If you haven't seen this, I highly recommend it. You know, I'm not promoting drinking, but just saying this is it. Um, I had no idea till somebody recently said, hey, you gotta try this. So yeah. Uh Chuck is saying we love the more modern fusion country. We dig a band called Wildflowers. Wildflow. They are on Epidemic Sound, and we use their stuff for the Alaska videos, which is pretty cool. That's um, that's of course my friend Chuck and Lori, who do uh a lot of travel. So, and they have their own. Oh, yeah, there you go. Very cool. So if you need somebody to help out with a video, I'm just saying, you know, I mean, I could hook you up. But, anyways, bye, Chuck. He's gone.

Speaker:

Bye, Chuck, hi Chuck, bye, Chuck.

Speaker 1:

There you go. But no, it's my pleasure to have you here today. Skip half. I appreciate it a lot. Uh, thanks for watching, everybody. Um, it's holiday season. Have a great holiday, have a safe holiday.

Speaker:

Happy holidays, everybody.

Speaker 1:

Uh, and enjoy and make sure you get the music from Joe because you know, if you you one thing to listen to the music, but if you go on and you download it and you buy it, it helps out the artist. So please do that. All right. God bless everybody, have a great night, and thank you for watching Skip Happens.

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Skip Clark

Host