In this episode of the Joe Rooz Show, Joe dives into a week filled with engaging conversations and insightful discussions. Joe reflects on a busy weekend featuring a return visit from Barry Luijbregts of Podhome.fm, who shared exciting updates about the platform. The weekend also included a thought-provoking Bible study session focusing on financial wisdom from Proverbs. Joe emphasizes the importance of listener feedback and invites audience interaction through various channels, encouraging them to share their thoughts and suggestions for future topics and guests.
The episode features a captivating interview with Steve Sxacks, a multifaceted individual with a rich background as a touring punk rocker, audio engineer, educator, and author. Steve shares his journey from the punk rock scene to the military, highlighting how his diverse experiences have shaped his approach to music and life. He discusses his work in education, helping young musicians find their voice, and the inspiration behind his debut novel, "Invasion of the Punk Rockers Who Drink Blood." The conversation touches on themes of creativity, personal growth, and the power of music as a tool for expression and connection. Listeners are encouraged to explore their creative passions and consider the impact of music and art in their lives.
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Special thanks to:
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(00:04:13) Introduction and Show Overview
(00:05:20) Weekend Recap and Guest Introduction
(00:07:06) Housekeeping and Listener Engagement
(00:10:10) Guest Interview: Steve Skacks
(00:16:36) Military Experience and Music Career
(00:28:39) Balancing Family and Career
(00:45:38) Nonprofit Work and Impact on Youth
(00:54:57) Writing 'Invasion of the Punk Rockers Who Drink Blood'
(01:03:36) Music Production Insights and Final Thoughts
- Wayne Rankin
- Rosanna Rankin
- Carolina Jimenez
[00:04:14]
Unknown:
Transmitting live from the asylum studios deep in the bowels of Southwest Texas, it's the Joe Rooz Show. The show where we talk about anything and everything. Where nothing is sacred, nothing is watered down, and nothing is PC. Alright. Hey, folks. This is Joe Rooz. It is nineteen zero five hours on Monday, 09/15/2025.
[00:04:42] Unknown:
And it is great to be with you guys once again from the pimple on the backside of Texas, the beautiful city of Eagle Pass. And we are gonna do the very best we can tonight to bring you the best quality talk radio we can muster without all the bluster. Welcome
[00:04:58] Unknown:
to the Joe Rooz Show! Alright.
[00:05:05] Unknown:
It's been a long week already, and it's only Monday. It's been one of those days, folks. It's been one of those days. Regular job was held this held today, and, trying to recover from the weekend. I hope you guys had a good weekend, though. Hope you're able to catch the shows over the weekend. Saturday, we hosted Barry Luebbrecht of podhome.fm, which is always a treat. And, of course, that marked the, the return visit, actually, of Barry. Barry was our very, very first guest on the very, very first show that we did, when we started this thing, and we had a different name for the show and all that stuff. It was it was much different back then, and it was audio only. So, no video, nothing to, you know, to look at. So but it was fun. It was a lot of fun back then, and we had a great conversation on Saturday. So if you haven't checked out the show yet, you need to.
Really great information that Barry put out there. And, of course, you know, as you know, podhome.fm is our audio host platform. So, so had to have the owner CEO of the company on was was a treat. And, and, it was it was really well. We went really well. He announced a lot of interesting things that Pod Home was working on, so you need to check that out. Also, Sunday, we had our usual bible study Sunday show, which was great, I thought anyway, if I can say so myself. But that's always great just to get together and just open up the word of God and just study a little bit and talk a little bit. And we talked about, from Proverbs, you talked about dealing with money, which is always a touchy subject with a lot of people, and a lot of folks, like, some of the comments that I've got off air were, they thought that the show was me trying to pitch for donations and stuff like that, which I was absolutely not doing. And if you paid attention to the show at all, you knew that. You understood that. We were talking about because we're doing a series on wisdom, and we're talking to the Proverbs. And, last week, we talked about, dealing with fear, and then this week dealing with money, and next week, we'll talk about something else. So I'm not gonna tell you what that is yet. Tell you what that is later this week.
Alright. And then, of course, tonight, we have, we have a guest here with us tonight who is waiting in the wings. I see him in the waiting room. So we'll we'll get, Steve Skacks in here very, very shortly. I hope I said that right. If you heard me or not, I don't know yet. So let's give me a thumbs up if I said it right. There we go. Outstanding. Alright. So Steve's got Steve Skacks is waiting in the wings for us, and we'll get him on here in just a minute. Gonna do some housekeeping. And then, and we'll get we'll get right to it. Alright? So, folks, don't forget to head over to our website, joe roos dot com. That's joeroos.com.
Should be coming up on your screen here momentarily. And, when you get over there, open up the contact form, and send us over a message. Let us know whatever's on your heart, whatever's on your mind, any questions, comments, cares, concerns that you have, any issues that you might have, any complaints that you might have, even though I don't wanna hear them, just you can send them over anyway. They're just gonna get thrown into the dumpster anyway. And, any suggestions you have, if you have a guest you like us to try to get or if you have a topic you'd like us to discuss, we'd be more than happy to do that and try to make that happen for you. So let us know. Drop a drop a comment down below. Let us know in the live chat or send us a comment through the contact form. And if you don't wanna do any of that, if you wanna go the old school way, you can always email it to me directly at [email protected].
That's [email protected]. Also, just wanna remind you to check out the support page. Right now, I'm actually gonna ask for donations. So now you can check out the support page. And, if you could help us out with a donation, we really would appreciate that. Remember, this is a value for value show. And all that basically means is that if you receive anything of value from what we're putting out, we're asking that you return that value to us in the form of a donation. It could be your time, your talent, or your treasure. It could be one, two, or three of them. We hope all three, but it could be all three of them. It could be one of them. Doesn't matter. We also have our producer tiers, which we'll talk about at the very, very end of the show, like we always do because we don't wanna take up too much time here at the at the front end.
Alright, folks. Ezra Healing. Ezra Healing, our sponsor or one of our sponsors. Ezra Healing is a substantial part of the new wellness paradigm currently being born in North America and around the globe. Global citizen, you're no longer satisfied with the sick care version of so called health care, Band aid medicine, endlessly treating symptoms rather than root causes, must be abandoned as soon as possible. Patient patient centric care must be the priority. We need to transition towards the do no harm model of private care that places humanity at the forefront of real health and wellness care. In this new model, your entire lifestyle is examined and analyzed to promote and support the totality of your body's integrated systems. Ezra Healing is a solutions based health promotion and disease prevention grassroots movement that is always evolving to best serve you and your family. For more information, just head over to ezrahealing.com.
That's ezrahealing.com, and make sure you let them know that you heard it right here on the Joruus show so that they know that their money is being well spent. Alright. Now with all of that said, so folks, today's guest is is Steve Skacks.
[00:10:19] Unknown:
Hey, Joe. How are you doing? How are you doing, buddy?
[00:10:21] Unknown:
Steve is a a touring punk rocker turned audio engineer, award winning educator, and now a published author. He's the cofounder of Marston House recording, one of Philly's most respected recording studios, where he's produced for artists across every genre over sixteen years. Steve is also the creator of the Marston House Cyphers, a, well celebrated platform for underground hip hop talent. He's also a US army veteran. Thank you for your service, sir. Thank you. Nonprofit leader, music, technology educator. Steve blends discipline, creativity, and authenticity in everything he does. His debut novel his debut novel, Invasion of the Punk Rockers Who Drink Blood, we have to talk about this one, is a is a bold fusion of horror, rebellion, and coming of age grit. Folks, please welcome Steve Skacks to the Joe Russo.
[00:11:13] Unknown:
Joe, thank you very much for having me. I I it it's so nice to hear all these kind words about myself. I feel like I wrote that. So Well, you might have. Yeah. Some of it I I I think we did pull some of that from from your, pod match,
[00:11:25] Unknown:
profile. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. I I'm really excited to be here. Yeah. It's great to have you. A bunch of your episodes. Okay. Really like what you're doing. We're we're very eclectic. We have a we have a wide range of guests. I like that. You know? Yeah. I like that a lot. We we were talking I was talking to somebody the other day. I actually was, the, the owner of, Pod Homer audio platform. I was talking to him about it off the air, but, I'll say it here too. This is probably one of the most unique shows you'll get because you'll get the range of, let's see, cartoon characters. I've interviewed a cartoon character, which was very interesting, very early on. I wasn't expecting that, but it was it was fun.
We've interviewed Nobel Peace Prize nominees, Paris paranormal investigators, doctors, lawyers, Playboy models, former Playboy models. Little bit of everything. Little bit of authors. I love it. You name it, we we do it, and we do it. We have a great time doing it. We try to keep it light and fun, and the con and the conversation flowing. So, so if you've been watching some of the shows or listening to some of the shows, you know I'm gonna ask you two very basic important questions here. Let's go. First one is, what's something that most people don't know about you but should?
[00:12:36] Unknown:
Well, I mean, I am such an open book. There's not much I feel like people don't know at this point, but, for people who'd know me just professionally, maybe they don't know that I'm still in the military. If you don't know that I'm, you know, I'm still in the guard currently in the Tennessee guard. But if you didn't know, you know, everything else, I just keep kinda out there in my music career and my entertainment career. So that's one thing that I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear. I I recently went back in. Yeah. That's Alright. That's where it's I keep those I keep those things very separate.
I gotcha. There's not a I mean, everybody in the military,
[00:13:23] Unknown:
knows me as a musician, but a lot of people in the music world don't know me from the military world. Yeah. Because, I I think and I'm not I'm not saying this as as a joke. I'm saying, seriously, most people don't expect somebody who's involved with the punk rock scene, to be involved in the military in any way. So Oh, no. No. They don't. They're very,
[00:13:42] Unknown:
opposite of each other. Oh, yes. It was a shocker for a lot of people when I when I went in the initially. Right. Like, I would imagine. Yeah. Sure. Especially, you know, in the band I was in at the time, very, very political. You know, we I was, like, especially at that time, like, all those early Alex Jones documentaries, I was super into those. So, very, like, anti government kinda thing going on. And I just kinda had a real big misconception about the military, honestly. I thought everybody was just I thought I was gonna go there, and I was everybody's gonna be a meathead and just, like, it just wasn't the case, you know. Some things you just don't know until you do.
I guess so. Yeah. Doing joining the military was, like, such a big eye opening thing. I mean, everybody's there, and 90% of the people are there because they need health insurance or they're going to school or, you know, their grandpa did it or something. So it's just, like, you meet so many or trying to get citizenship at that time. I think they ended that program, but, you meet people from all over the country, all over the world, and it's just, like, everybody that I met is my brother. Even if we shared vastly different cultures, vastly different, you know, political affiliations or thought processes, it's like everybody's there just trying to, like, survive. So it's just Right. Such an amazing, like, experience. I recommend it for everybody, honestly, even if you don't necessarily agree with, you know, the government or whatever. But it's a it's a great experience.
[00:15:07] Unknown:
Well, yeah. You know, I I have a lot of my friends, especially the friends that I went through high school with, they enlisted right out of high school, and they they had a great experience. And you know something a lot of times you come out of that too, you you with with something that's valuable, with a trade, something that you could use in in the real world. A buddy of mine, who I feel terrible to this day, about maybe that much, we were gonna we were gonna enlist together, and, I got delayed the day I was supposed to actually go down and finally sign everything, and and he went up ahead any ahead of me, and he signed up and all that stuff, and I never went. And I just kinda let it go,
[00:15:46] Unknown:
and he was all upset for a little while because we were supposed to go together. But, but, That's a similar story that I have. My, like, my best friend since I was five years old, he came to me, and he's like, I'm I'm joining the marines. I already had the recording studio. I already have been touring as a musician for years, and he's I had never thought about the military. But immediately, I was like, me too. So we just we went down to the marine recruiter, and, I have all these visible tattoos. And he's like, yeah. You're you're not getting in, buddy. And he's like, you well, you know, you can't do it. So we went to the air force. They said the same thing. Then we went to the coast guard, and they're, like, never open. Apparently, the coast guard recruiting in Philadelphia just doesn't exist. They have a they have a physical location, but nobody works there. Nice. So the army, they were like, come on. Come in. We can waiver all those. You're good. We got you. So they I I'll never forget going through MEPS and them just literally every tattoo on my body writing down and Yeah. Documented it. Me and my buddy went in together, and, they lied to us and said there's a buddy program. There's not. We got sent to two different basic trainings that are fake. Nice.
[00:16:55] Unknown:
Yeah. You know, despite the lying recruiters, it's still a great time. Oh, sure. Yeah. I I'm sure it is. Like, my my friend, he he never had a negative really really negative thing to say about it, to be honest with you. Aside from the the the the, I guess, the shock of going from civilian life to military life when you're going through basic, and well, in his case, he went through the through the to the navy, so it was a it was boot. So, you know, you it it there has to be that shock and that of that change in lifestyle. So but other than that, he never complained.
[00:17:26] Unknown:
For I mean, there there's definitely, you know, you get there, and once you go through, like, the processing and you're getting your head shaved with everybody and, you're going down the hall of needles, which is, you know, they're just jabbing you with god knows what throughout this line, and then you get the peanut butter shot in your butt. There's just that all throws you off, and then, you know, you're getting screamed at and all that stuff. But I I loved it. You know? It just kinda I I fell in. At that time too, you know, it was a different in a lot different shape. I'm a big guy now, but Yeah. At the time, you know, I was super fit and ready to go, super gung ho, high speed, they say. But, yeah. It is a it's a culture shock, but once you do it, it's hard to come out of it. Yeah. This is now my third time, reenlisting.
I'll get out for I was out for five years teaching, working in the nonprofit world. Studio is still open. That's a whole you know, that's its own thing. Right. But, you know, me and my wife were in Houston for a while, and then COVID happened. Moved up to Tennessee. Just, and, again, the visible tattoos came back to haunt me. They, Tennessee is a little different than Texas is where Houston, they don't really care as much about the tattoos. Everybody has them. But, we are in our town has 1,200 people. So they were, like, you know, not trying to have you come teach here, buddy. So I was, like, alright. Let me go check out what the Guard has to offer in Tennessee. Yeah. I gotcha. When I when I came here to when I moved to Texas I'm from New York originally. I'm from Philly, so I'm I'm familiar with you. Not too far.
[00:18:59] Unknown:
So when I came here, not military basically, but it was it was going trying to find a church, because I'm a Bible believing Christian. I'm a born again Christian, so I was looking for a good church to get to, you know. And, I have I have my share, and I had others that were a little more visible at the time. So the, I I remember walking into one church and being introduced to people, and I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt and going to shake hands, and all they did was stare at that. And I was like, alright. So this isn't gonna work, you know. Right. But, but, yeah, I'm in I'm in a good church now. They're great people. I love them. They're they're fantastic. Yeah. That's important. I mean, for me,
[00:19:38] Unknown:
I also am a Christian, and, I was gonna get my doctorate in and I'm still going to, but I'm pausing right now. Just school really took it out of me, and I got two kids and everything. But I was getting my doctorate in urban ministry. Nice. So I've I'll get back to it, but I had to put a pause on it. It. Well, you should. I was trying to do that, plus the guard, plus the kids, plus the studio, and I was my,
[00:20:00] Unknown:
assistant chaplain at my American Legion post. And there's just too much going on. I couldn't couldn't do the work life balance. No. I I hear you. I hear you. I I served for a little while as an associate pastor at a church up in New York. Our senior pastor was was incredibly sick, and he asked me if I would be interested in stepping into the role. And, I said, well, if if the church agrees to it and it's a unanimous vote on it, yeah, then I'll I'll do it. And it was, and so I served there for about, almost two years. That's awesome. I've done street preaching. I I teach bible studies on on on Sunday on my Sunday show. I don't know if you ever heard that. So, it it was so I I I love the book. I I I got saved in July 2000, 07/20/2000.
So twenty five years in in the fight, and, it's been a it's been a great one. It's, it's it's a challenge, you know. You you have your good days, your bad days, you, you know, you rise and fall, but scripture says that, you know, a righteous man falls seven times and gets back up. Right. So, you know, you just gotta keep on going. Just gotta keep going. And for you, you need to you need to get back to school and finish it up and get to work. Get to work. Yes. No. I it is very important.
[00:21:06] Unknown:
It's on my list. I just I have some I'm trying to I wanna do it the best that I can. Everything I do, I like to do the best that I can. Of course. I feel like if I can't give it the 100 which is what I found immediately, you know, the essays and everything. And I had I did my bachelor's, my master's, and went right into the doctorate, like, immediately. It was just like boom boom boom. That's probably the best way to do it too, because I think if I think if you if you put it off for a little while, you know, you'll you'll tend to not really
[00:21:33] Unknown:
put your full full effort into it. You'll get out of the routine of it.
[00:21:36] Unknown:
I, you know, I felt the same way, and then it was just once my son was born, he's he's something that get us something, you know. He's, he's amazing. Like, they're both my kids are amazing, but they're they're a handful. And, How old are they? Two and five. Oh, that's great age, though. Yeah. They're they're awesome. I mean, we just were out right before this, we were out at the park running around, and that's the best thing about owning your own business, and, you you know, you can do whatever you want. So I get to hang out with them all day. My wife also, you know, she runs her business and she's does a couple other things too. So she's
[00:22:11] Unknown:
she's at home. We're all kinda at home getting to do whatever we need to do. That's great. Yeah. It's very blessed life. Yeah. I have two. I I have my my boy and my my my boy and my girl. My boy is, 26, and my my girl is, man, she's pushing 30. Wow.
[00:22:28] Unknown:
Well, who who, is that you're a little more experienced than who which one was harder to raise? The boy or the girl? The boy. The boy. The boy. I'm already feeling that too. Yeah. The boy. He just has, like, so much, like, a testosterone already, and they'll just they'll swing on you at two years old. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's that's that's one thing. But,
[00:22:47] Unknown:
with my son, my son had some disabilities. When he was about six months old, he had a febrile seizure, which, he he lost oxygen for a little bit. It seemed like forever, but it was probably a few seconds, you know, and I'm I was at the time, I was a licensed, you know, EMT, so I I knew what to do, but when it's your own, you forget. So there was that quick delay when when I when I realized it. So, I think nobody's ever been able to definitively say yes or no, but I think that little period of time where he went without oxygen affected him, in the long term. So, he was diagnosed at a young age with Asperger's, and, he has a few other, issues along those lines. But if you met him today, I mean, he he you wouldn't you wouldn't know. If I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have no idea. I am incredibly proud of him for what he's done. He's he's really Amazing. He's he's he's living on his own right now. He has a girlfriend, and, he actually lives in Pennsylvania.
Okay. I I forget where he said he moved to. It was just a recent move, but The greatest state. Oh, he loves it. He absolutely loves it. It's a beautiful state too. I mean, absolutely beautiful. It is. It is. But, so he's up there, and my daughter my daughter is she's married. She has three kids. So I'm a granddad three times, believe it or not. I don't feel like it. I shouldn't I look great for three time granddad. Well, yeah. Thank you. It's it's shaving the head and coloring the face. That's what does it, but, you know, but but you know she she graduated with her her MBA, she graduated with honors, about a year and a half ago, while she was pregnant with with baby number two, and, raising baby number one, and you know, she's married, you know, her husband's there, but his her husband's work he works like a dog.
So, you know, to take care of her, and and, you know, I I am incredibly proud of her for being able to do all that stuff, and she worked, and she went to school, and she took care of the kids, and she was pregnant. I don't know how she did it, but she did it. And it was, I'm incredibly proud of both of them that they they really are great, and enjoy them now when they're at the younger age, man. I'll be honest, I'm just I'm just being honest. Just two dads talking right now. You know, I wish I wish that I could get them back at that age even just for a day, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Just for even just a day, just just to see them like that. Even now it's going so fast. Yeah. You know? I mean, I I
[00:25:09] Unknown:
my my phone every day changes the picture of just between the two of them. It's, like, thousands of pictures of them. And it's, like, I'll see pictures of them when they're, six months old to a year, and it's just, gets me every time. I'll sit and just look at them. It's just flying by. And, yeah. I I know what you mean too when you said that that split second felt like it was forever. Mhmm. Because both my kids, had to go to the NICU when they were born. Oh, wow. And I was a mess. I it I don't care about any kind of, like, tough army guy stuff or tough music guy. Like, it's the hardest thing ever when something's going on with your kids and you just don't know what to do. Yep. That terrifying, honestly. I remember talking to my my dad the first time. You know, he get the my daughter, they're both c section. My son was, like, an emergency c section. And, they, they took my daughter though in, like, a bubble thing, like, right as she couldn't breathe. So they had her on this bubble thing and wheeled her off into the NICU. And I'm, like, looking at my wife, like, I hear you know, they got her organs out, you know, from the c section, putting them back in, and she's like, go with her. And I'm like, and then, went with the with with the baby and just sat with her for a while, and it was just a mess. Yeah. Then my dad got finally got there. He drove down, and he he got me back together a little bit. He's like, it's gonna be okay. All that all that stuff you need a dad for. You know? Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:26:32] Unknown:
When when my kids were born, you know, my my dad, I mean, I dad, I I don't know what the freak to do. What do I do with this? What do I do with that? You know? Dad was great, man. You know? And he would and he man, he loved them. He he really did. My dad passed away a couple years ago, but, yeah. That's alright. It's it's, you know, he he he got so he got very sick toward the end, and he knew it was time, and, you know, so it wasn't totally unexpected. And then, my mom passed away just a a year and a half ago. So so that yeah. So it was all a mess. It's been it's been crazy. But, but they love the kids. They they adore them, and probably the best feeling in the world was when I was able to bring the kids over to their place and see them interact with the kids and play with the kids. And it's like, you know, the next generation coming up, it was great to see. It was it was really it's great. So I I, you know, I I hope that your your parents
[00:27:25] Unknown:
are just throwing themselves into the kids and and really totally enjoying them. Well, we big part of why we moved to Tennessee was to be closer to my dad. Awesome. So he he spoils them. You know, my son's really into dinosaurs, and my dad will buy these giant dinosaurs for him. And his wife, they both spoil both of them. My mom They should. Actually still lives in Houston. So whenever they see her, you know, they call her nana. She comes to town, and nana brings the gifts. So it could be a bike, roller blades. That's what she's supposed to do. Exactly. So So they they both of my parents are great with them and, you know, my step parents. So they're, they're very loved kids.
[00:28:09] Unknown:
Awesome. That's awesome. Alright. Let's get on to the next here. So what's your go what's your go to? Because we'll we'll sit here all day just just talking about the kids. I I and I don't mind. I'm a talker. I'm sorry. Also am I. Trust me. Sometimes sometimes I'll interview people, and and I have a friend who watches the show, and he'll he'll send me a text and say, shut the f up and let the guy talk. You know? So It's never there's never, like, an awkward silence, which is good. Yeah. No. That's that's that's that's what makes it engaging too. Right. You know? So so what's your go to beverage that help you unwind at the end of the day?
[00:28:40] Unknown:
Oh, man. Go to you know, I I know it's weird. I I don't drink too much anymore. Like, I kind of got all that, you know, touring for so many years. The the party life, I've gotten out of that. So occasionally, you know, I'll bust out, like, some wine or something. I do I have a taste for wine, but I can't I I can't do it too often because I'll drink the whole bottle. But just like a nightly unwind, I I I really got into this, rye's, like, hot cocoa mushroom stuff. Really? Yeah. I'm oh, it's so good. And it I have I'm an insomniac. Like, I'm a night owl worker. So am I. So I like to set up, whenever I have projects, you know, I spend my days with the kids, and I do most of my work at night. I write the books at night, mix people songs at night. You know, any kind of project I have creatively or otherwise is is a nighttime deal. So because of that, after I'm done work, then I wanna sit and watch TV or sit and do something else just to kinda get ready for bed. Oh, sure. Yeah. So I'll end up being up all night. But that rye's mushroom hot cocoa, it's, like, full of magnesium or something, and it's delicious, and it just it just I don't know. It just hits the spot, and then I go to sleep.
[00:29:54] Unknown:
Well, that's good though. I, I I'm a well, for for a while, I was a pretty pretty much strict bourbon guy. That would be my thing.
[00:30:03] Unknown:
I I collect I collect a lot of cool bourbons. Oh, do you? And whiskey. Oh, yeah. Because again, I was when I especially when I did, I briefly spent a wild season as a wildland firefighter Okay. And up in Montana. And they had a lot of Pendleton and, like, really cool bottles. So Yeah. Got super into it, and we were drinking all the time out there. And like I said, now with the kids, I I I just have to know myself. And once I start doing something, I I do everything to, like, in excess. So I just I know I'll just be,
[00:30:34] Unknown:
you know You and I are a lot alike. You know? I I think things just kinda get out of control. Like, I I am definitely a night owl. I will sit up until two, 03:00 in the morning, have to be at the regular job by eight. Yeah. You know, and I'm I'm just working on computer stuff, and just playing around, you know, audio and just rewriting things, and it's it's just you throw yourself into it. You you you it's what you love, so you just throw yourself into it, and it just time just runs away. And then when it comes to the bourbons, I mean, I love my bourbons, you know. And I like what I like to do is, and I I told this many times, is I like to to pair bourbons with cigars.
So, so, you know, I'm always looking for a new flavor, a new, a new batch of something. And, one of my recent favorites has been the Elijah Craig toasted barrel. Great great bourbon. A friend of mine turned me on to it, and, that pairs really well with with a nice dark cigar like a like a like a Maduro, triple Maduro, like the Camacho triple Maduro. It's a beautiful cigar to go with that. And then you also have the the the Rocky Patel series goes great with the with the small batch. The $17.92 stuff is great. That's $17.92 is my go to. I don't know if you've if you had that one. I've never seen that until I came here to Texas. Right. And I saw it here. Let me try it. Texas has some great liquor stores. Yeah. I know. Especially where I live. Do do you go into any, like, social clubs with the, you know, cigars and a drink? No. You know, I don't have time for that, to be honest with you. Yeah. Between between the regular job because my regular job is a forty hour job, you know, plus I'm on call twenty four seven for it. And then I do the show six times a week. So it's, I I don't have time to to do that stuff. That's why I'm still single, you know.
So, you know, I just don't have I I have no time to fit anything else into my life right now. So everything I do, I do here. I cook I cook for myself. I have my two my two Frenchies, my two French bulldogs. I cook for myself, I cook for them, and I spend my time with them here around the house doing whatever I gotta do, you know. It's just easier. You know, and and I like it too. It's I I've come to over the last few years, I've come to value my peace and my privacy, you know. And Very important things. I'm not knocking people who are married. I was married for for, you know, thirty thirty years of my life, you know. Right. So it's, you know, I don't I don't disparage anybody who who's married.
Enjoy it. It's great. If you found your partner, that's great. Stick with it. Fight for it. Do everything you can to keep it all together. But for myself, I I I've come to appreciate the privacy. I've I've come to appreciate that piece, and, I'm not willing to, to give that up for anything.
[00:33:13] Unknown:
It's, it's definitely full of its challenges. I'm a I know I sound like an asshole, but No. No. No. No. You definitely don't. I, I trust me. I I get it. I did the the stupid, army guy thing, you know, first time. I this is my second marriage. I I gotten married right out of basic training, you know, bought a car, all that stuff. I went and got, like, a black Impala, and just everything that you hear. It's all true for it's a stereotype for a reason. It really happened. Okay.
[00:33:44] Unknown:
So that didn't work out, and, now I'm here. Alright. Well, that's good though. And and you got a family going, so that's fantastic. You're in a good spot, man. You're in a really good spot. So, your skill set comes from a variety of different experiences that you've been through. When did you first become interested in the music world?
[00:34:00] Unknown:
That was pretty much my whole life. I knew I'd be an entertainer in some sort of way. I always was in plays and, just always just very interested in entertaining people. And my dad played guitar. And, I just was, you know, I my uncle gave me my first guitar when I was maybe 11 or 12, and me and my friends started a horrible punk rock band. None of us knew how to play, which is the, you know, that's what's required to start a punk rock band is not knowing how to play your instruments. And, so we're we're bad, and we started playing, like, local gigs and stuff. And a lot of the older guys in the scene just kinda took took us under their wings. And, yeah, especially one in particular, Chuck Treece. He was a legendary musician. He was in Bad Brains. He's done stuff with, you know, Green Day and, McRad and all these other bands. So, he really kinda looked out for me and made sure I didn't get into anything too bad and That's good. You know, he I'd I'd get to carry his equipment in and get into shows for free and all that stuff. Like, incredible musician, can play anything.
And, he was kinda like my local icon, you know. And then once I started really diving into different music, I was huge into social distortion. So Mike Ness was a huge inspiration. And I know Mike. Nick Cave. I'm a huge Nick Cave fan. Just, and as I just kept that And not just punk rock. I've always had a very collective mix. Like, I love Nina Simone, and I I like I like rock. I like jazz. I like soul. I like I like everything, you know. So I I genuinely I hate the I like all music, but, there is something redeeming in every music.
[00:35:48] Unknown:
Yeah. You can find something. Good. You can find something. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So I,
[00:35:53] Unknown:
but, yeah, that's that's really once I started getting into the bands, it just took off from there. I mean, I was 12 years old when I said I was gonna own a recording studio. Nice. And, at 19, we opened it up. So,
[00:36:06] Unknown:
it just But were were you always interested in punk? Or or was or was or was something else that kinda drew you in first?
[00:36:12] Unknown:
No. Punk rock was really, like, my first music love. When in elementary school, my one buddy Jordan, and I was saying my my friend Chad, his older sister, he's who I went in the military with. His older sister used to always wear, like, Misfits t shirts and stuff. And then my buddy Jordan, his older brother was really into it. My dad was vaguely into same with my mom. They like the clash and stuff like that. But, so just these influences, that's just the stuff that kinda stuck with me was the punk rock. And then I started really getting into collecting records at a young age Mhmm. And I started buying, off of there's a record label called Epitaph, and I'd order just whatever I saw in the catalog.
And that's actually how I got into hip hop was I got, a guy named Sage Francis. He had a album called a healthy distrust. And and the album came, and I had no idea what it was, and I put it in the record player. It was like a hip hop album, and I was like, what is this? On a punk rock label. And but it was like hip hop with punk rock lyrics, and it just blew me away. I just never heard anything like that before, and it was that's where I fell in love with that. I mean, I bought that, and then my next, hip hop album was, a DMX album, and then just I started going to local Philly shows and got really into the New York scene and the Philly scene. And, I made a career off of hip hop music, really. I mean, my my career definitely started in punk rock. I got signed young, and we were touring. That's where I saved up a lot of the money to open the studio. And then, you know, hip hop community just opened their arms. And now I kinda
[00:37:52] Unknown:
go between all these different genres. Oh, that's good. I like that. That that's a good story. How did it feel the first time you got up on stage playing punk?
[00:38:01] Unknown:
There there's nothing there's the first time we got on stage, again, we sucked. We're a terrible three chord, just like corporate control, corporate control. It didn't make any you know what I mean? Like, what do you know about corporate control? You're 12 years old. Right? You know, just regurgitating, different bands lyrics that we are in, basically. But as it progressed it's still an amazing feeling. It's still an amazing feeling. And then as it progressed to bigger shows, you know, going to real recording studios, like, it'd be more serious having to have entertainment lawyers and getting when we got signed to QCR, they flew us all around the world, but they are rented vans with a driver who rented equipment. All we had was our guitars and drumsticks.
Everything else they rented, they took care of Right. And would drive us all around. We did, you know, six months on the road at a time. Once that ended and we had to kinda do it more DIY, things started getting shaky. You know, we're used to a hotel every night, and, you know, after that, we're, like, asking people at the show, like, can we crash with you, please? But,
[00:39:08] Unknown:
That's gotta be awkward.
[00:39:10] Unknown:
Yeah. But it never it never changed. Sometimes it wasn't, sometimes it wasn't. The punk rock scene, like, the community is really cool with that. You know, it's like, they they will give you a place to stay and something to eat. So it's that it's cool like that, but, it it's it's a lot different once you had the taste of the finer the finer things, which which led you to want to really do the studio because it's like, alright. How many punk rock bands are at the level where they don't have to work? And that was my thought process. It's like, you know, you know the ones that hit that mainstream success, and there's there's now it's actually kinda more and more punk is getting more mainstream than it ever was. Yeah. But at that time, it was like which you said that's funny. I know it's crazy. Weird.
It's it is weird. Right? It's like this counterculture thing. But every I mean, hip hop was the same way when it started. It was very counterculture,
[00:39:59] Unknown:
and now it's the music. I mean, I when I when I was young, it was a Sex Pistols. They were like That was the yeah. That was the main that was, like, the the name band in punk. Well, you being in New York at CBGBs,
[00:40:11] Unknown:
and they had, like, the, you know, punk rock really was the East Coast punk rock scene was amazing. And I found, like, touring, like, we'd go when we'd go to, like, Tennessee, that that's why I love Tennessee. We'd come down here. We'd go to Kentucky, and we'd do three shows in Kentucky, and it'd be packed out. We'd do a house party or something. And, we always had, like, a stencil that we had our low our logo on it, and you could come to our merch booth for $5. We'll spray paint the stencil on your t shirt. We'd have lines out the door. Every kid in the party, every kid at the show wanted the stencil. And so we we always did really well, but again, I just knew. I was like, this is this is like a finite experience. I need to set myself up for the future. So we we opened the studio, and the rest is kinda history there. That's pretty cool. That that's a good story, man. I like that.
[00:40:59] Unknown:
Now I know we already talked about your military service, and, and, and your time there, and and and some of the memories you had of it, but, what about the army changed the way you think about music or your life?
[00:41:14] Unknown:
Well, again, it it changed the way I think about life in a lot of ways because I had just so many, you know, misconceived, like, beliefs about what I thought I was gonna get there, and everybody's gonna be like, I I can't and this is, like, only a few years after nine eleven. So I I'm expecting everybody to get there. Like, I just can't wait to go over there and kill these people. And, I met one guy like that in twelve years. Wow. One single person, you know. So it's it's the odd man out. It's just like with everything, you know. You you hear stories about people, and you start thinking that must be everybody. Mhmm. And and it's never the case. There's no, like, bad group of people on earth. There's bad people in a group. That's There's but there's there's no bad group. You know what I mean? That's actually quite profound.
It's it's true. It's true. You know? I I've I've had plenty of misconceived notions about plenty of types of people, and I can get along with anybody. You know? I mean, there's certain things that just, like, are nonstarters for me, like, you know, my I have, mixed race kids, so it's, that if somebody's gonna say call my kids the n word or something, I'm that's a nonstarter for me. But, there's there's things like that that I just can't handle. And, again, being from the East Coast, it's very diverse. So I'm I'm used to being around all my friend group has always been men like that too. It's very mixed.
Very and and I think that's a great way to be because we just have so much more in common than you real you know, every going in the army and we had I had two friends from China trying to get their citizenship, and it's like, these kids, they love to fish. They like you know you know what I mean? Like, it's like you think you you're on another part of the world, so there's no way we could have anything in common. It's like you you literally like all the same things that I like. Right. You know, you you you speak broken English, but you like all we like all the same stuff. Or it it it's just it kinda people shut off. I think they kinda block their blessings a little bit when they are not open to people because how they look or, you know, their religion or whatever, where they're from, because you there's a friend there for you. And the military taught definitely taught me that. Yeah. I I had misconceived notions about the South.
Yeah. I've had and some of my friends do too now. You know, I I'm always, like, come down to Tennessee. Come visit. And they're, like, oh, well, I don't know. Tennessee is real, you know and I'm like, it's not like that, man. Like, you hear you you hear stuff that I'm a big, I don't trust mainstream
[00:43:47] Unknown:
media at all. You shouldn't. Yeah.
[00:43:49] Unknown:
Yeah. They they will tell you everything that is crap. And, again, I don't trust it on either side of the board because you could listen to the same story told by both the left and right sides, and you'll get the same story completely polar opposite story. And the truth is always in the middle somewhere. Exactly. And and I think most people just don't have the, the time or the the will to just look in the middle. So, coming out here has been amazing. But, yeah, the military just really opened my eyes to that. And and as far as music goes, I got a lot of opportunities to explore the music in the military, which is you wouldn't even think that, but there's, there's a ton of musicians that are in the military.
But it's again, like I was saying earlier, a lot of people from the outside don't know much about my military career, but a lot of people from the military know about my music career. So it's just not that I'm I ever I never hide it. I got the veteran license plate. You know, I I have army tattoos all over me. It's not something I hide. I'm very, very proud of it. But it doesn't often come up, you know. You in other circles, people be like, did you ever serve in the military? It's like, yeah. Absolutely. But I I don't record too many rappers who go, were you in the army? You know what I mean? It's not it's not a topic of conversation that comes up. I I get you. I totally get you.
[00:45:09] Unknown:
So, now you work as a as a music educator, a non profit leader, helping young people find their voice through art, especially when the world tells them to stay quiet. Now can can you tell us about a time where where, you you helped a young musician find their voice through your studio or through your teaching?
[00:45:28] Unknown:
For sure. I mean, I've I could tell you 50 stories, but I'll since you're in Texas, nonprofit school in Houston called Workshop Houston. I was there for a few years. Awesome. Amazing school. They really, they give so much to the community and so much to these kids that just have nothing. And, being there and just hearing some of these kids' stories and, you know, I I related to so many of these kids, especially some of them, you know, they're the quote, unquote I don't believe in this term, but, you know, they'll get labeled like a bad kid or a problem kid. Right. And I don't think any kid is bad, but, they'll get that label on them and people will give up on them. So, and we were a nonprofit school, so we have a board of directors. And anytime they would they would come in, you know, the kids would have to, like, be on their best behavior and dress up. And I remember the first time I was there, it it really threw me off because I I've never worked in nonprofit. This was my first nonprofit.
And they were just like I'm like, what's what's going on? Why are you you know, they're dressing different. They're acting different. And it's like, well, you know, they said we gotta be on our best behavior because the white people are coming in today. And I'm just like it made me so mad. Like, I I was actually, like, furious. Because for me, you know, I we'd have staff meetings and the kids, like, some of the board would just, like, talk about these kid, label these kids a price. Like, well, each one of these kids cost this much to get them through and all this stuff. And I'm just like, these are kids. Like, there are kids trying to make it in the world, and and this is what you view them as. So I I literally would stay every single day after school and let them work on music as long as they want. I would drive them home.
I would on the weekends, I I would go to their houses. I'd have dinner with their families. I knew all their parents. I would take kids out shop. I spent more money on my check on these kids than I did on myself. Oh. I would I would take there was I had my twins, Simon and Simeon. I would take them to to the buffet. We'd get I'd get them new shoes. I'd I was their, third party in their family therapy sessions. Like, I it was, like, I really immersed myself into these kids, and now several of them are actually working as engineers. That's awesome. A couple of them have jobs at studios.
I I remember when I left, it was it was one of the hardest things I ever did was leaving that place, honestly. But, but, yeah, just just seeing what these kids did and what, you know, where they came from and where they are now is, like, I'm getting a little misty eyed even talking about. I just started
[00:48:10] Unknown:
they were my first kids, I guess. Yeah. Well and you know what? It's it's great when you hear stories like that. It it it really is. And especially when it's a success story. You know, there's so many stories that end up not with a happy ending. But when you have the stories that do have a happy ending, you know, it just makes the whole thing worthwhile. I think every experience you have when you're working with kids is important and worthwhile, but no matter which direction it goes, if you make even the smallest amount of impact in their life, I think that's that's huge.
[00:48:38] Unknown:
I I agree. And again, that's why I don't believe in the bad kid term. You know, a lot of kids, they don't have a dad or they don't have a mom around. I just called them Ewan. With their That's all. Yeah. No. I'm kidding. They they, I again, like, I I related to it going. I was the class clown. I was always getting suspended for doing stupid stuff. You know, I'd always had a joke, and I actually went as soon as I was able to tour, I dropped out of school and went on tour. Do you know the differences between the class clown and the class comedian?
[00:49:09] Unknown:
What? The class comedian gets the class clown to do all the stuff to get in trouble. Yeah. Exact yeah. That was See, I was the class comedian. I had my friend Scott, who was was the class clown. I used to do the same class, Scott. I'm sorry. No. No. No. That's that's perfect. I love that. I'm gonna use I'm stealing that one. Go ahead. Take it. But no. They,
[00:49:28] Unknown:
so I I just like I said, I related to it. And when I would hear other adults talking down about these kids in meetings and stuff, and most of the the staff was amazing. Like, everybody really was I'm not trying to sound virtuous. Everybody was really on that same level. All these people put in the time, but, you know, the board the board, the people who oversee the overseers, you know, they're just, it's a different different story. So and any any I've worked with kids in Philadelphia. I've worked with kids there. I've I do online teaching as well. So, like, I've worked with kids all over the place, and, they're they kids just need somebody there that will listen to them
[00:50:07] Unknown:
and and believe in them. Was there something was there something that happened, or or what made you wanna focus, your attention on kids?
[00:50:17] Unknown:
Oh, I I don't know. I mean, I've always just, like, I've always really enjoyed just teaching what I know. I I think that's what started it was me and, my business partner, Ethan, we founded the studio together. We started teaching, college kids first. Mhmm. And college kids are already kinda ruined. They they already have a they already think they know everything. So when you have to when they get to you and they're doing their senior internships, we are partnered with so many schools, you know, and they would be coming to do their senior internships, and you'd have to completely break them down. So who taught you that this is wrong? Like and they didn't wanna be broken down, and then you put them behind the captain's seat of the session, and they don't know what to do. They just so but with, middle and high school kids, there's they have they're a fresh piece of clay. Mhmm. They have you can completely mold them and teach them the right way from the jump. They haven't been tainted from anybody else who thinks they know what they're talking about. I and, so so, yeah, I mean, I I love teaching from the jump, but once I that was my first time teaching kids younger than college age. Okay. And it just was like, wow. This is, this is for me right here. And we still do teach college kids. I'll do online courses with them. Or anytime I'm back in Philly, I'll do, like, an in person. But, it it's again, breaking their bad habits is a lot harder than taking a middle schooler and teaching them how to, you know, record something. Yeah. How how do you think music can help,
[00:51:52] Unknown:
help help youth, especially if they're struggling with feeling left out left out or or or or not being heard?
[00:51:59] Unknown:
I I think that music is, like, incredible with any art, you know, that, it's incredible way to express yourself. Even me, if I if I'm if I go a week without creating something, like, my wife hates me because I'm just I'm not a nice guy. Like, I just started filing everything up, and and, you know, you could tell I'm getting frustrated. But if I just having a release, you know, and and the kids just they they want a way to express themselves. And and I think music is such a, like, controlled way to express yourself where you're not gonna get in trouble. I mean, I I'm I'm big on freedom of expression, so it's like I I never minded, like, cursing or whatever in a new in music. It it doesn't bother me when the kids do that too much. I mean, there's exceptions. Obviously, it's like, don't, confess to some crime on your song at school. But but, you know Common sense things. Yes. And I get it. Yes. Some some some choice language here and there to really, like, push your your art forward. It's not gonna bother me too much.
But, yeah, I think it's an amazing way to express yourself and just get all this, like, bottled, like, energy up, especially for young boys. I mean, and and young girls too. But, you know, young boys, like, whatever hurricane Harvey were you in Texas for Harvey?
[00:53:17] Unknown:
When when was that? Because I'm I'm here ten years, so I probably was. That was 2016 or '17. Yeah. I was here. Yeah. I I just got here in '20 toward the 2016,
[00:53:25] Unknown:
early twenty seventeen. Okay. Yeah. So you were definitely there then. Hurricane Harvey, we we had to shut down for I mean, the whole city was crazy, but, we had to shut down for a while. And then right after that, we had a freeze come through and froze all the pipes in the school, and they all busted. So we had no bathrooms. So we couldn't do, like, real class. So we are trying scrambling, figuring out what to do. So we started this little, like, sports league that we'd go down to the park and just play sports with the kids all day. That's right. But and and that was a blast, but you could just tell, like, it's fun, but it's a it's not the same way to get all your, like, built up aggression out or anything. So we started having some fights here and there and just different things. You could see, like, when everybody's in the we had five studios there. And when everybody's in the studios and they're recording or we also had other art classes too. They had a style shop where kids got to, like, create clothes, and then we had, the dance shop where oh, that's where, you you know, a lot of the the younger kids and the girls would usually be in the dance shop. And, then we had, like, a robotics class. So it's like any there was something for everybody there, and they're still open. Amazing place. Like, if anybody's looking to support a nonprofit, check out workshop Houston. But, it whenever they weren't creating, you could see that things starting to bubble up. But whenever it's creations happening, it's just like it it's amazing. Like, there's just no problems.
[00:54:53] Unknown:
Yeah. Let's get into your book because I'm I'm I'm I just I just realized what time it is. So I have it right here if anyone We're we're gonna get are you are you okay with going over the hour? You good? I I yeah. Whatever you wanna do. I don't wanna throw your deal off. Oh, no. No. No. We're good. We're good. So so let's get into the book. So you describe your book as having an insane amount of sentimental value. The story's incredible, and it's unlike anything you've ever read. Before writing Invasion of the Punk Rockers Who Drink Blood, what experiences in your life made you wanna write the book?
[00:55:27] Unknown:
Well, you know, being in Philly, I'm not sure if you're familiar with, Troma. It was like a b movie studio.
[00:55:36] Unknown:
I I heard of it. I I I don't know much about it, but I I I did hear the name of it. They they did, like, the toxic avenger and Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. So so those old really horrible b movies,
[00:55:48] Unknown:
I was such a big fan of that stuff as well. Yeah. I still am. The cheesier the cheesier of the me too. Yeah. There's one called Poultrygeist, Night of the Chicken Den. Oh, yes.
[00:55:59] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. It's like a haunted KFC type situation. I thought I was the only one in the world that probably saw that. That's
[00:56:04] Unknown:
that was a that was a that was a funny movie, man. I love it. I love all those movies. So I I got I had the, the fortune of meeting Lloyd Kaufman. He's the owner and, you know, founder of Trauma. And, I was 15. I met him, and I'm like, what would it take, for you to get my movie made? And he's just like, do you what you know? Or do you have a movie? And I was like, yeah. He's like, what's it called? And I was like, I didn't have anything. I was like, invasion of the punk rockers, who drink blood? The musical. And he's just laughing. He's like, look. And if you really have a movie, you know, get in touch with me, and we'll see what we could do. So I'm I'm home just typing away, like, this horrible, like, movie script.
Saint I took the musical out when I wrote the book, but the the original concept was way different than what it was. You know? I'm and now I'm a 15 year old punk rock kid who's just, you know, the the original concept was something about corporate zombies or something. It was horrible. But I just love the title. I gave up on the original one, and throughout the years, I'd come back and revisit it. And eventually, I scrapped the whole thing, kept the title, kept a few characters, rewrote the whole thing, and it it's really rooted in a lot of experiences I've had from being, like, a touring musician, and just dealing with the world. Because it does have a lot about just the world and what kids have to go through. Yeah. You know, I I I describe it as, like, they're fighting, like, the real world monsters versus AM monster monsters.
[00:57:39] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:57:40] Unknown:
So it it's rooted in life, and it's rooted in music, and it's rooted in, like, fantasy.
[00:57:46] Unknown:
So is this gonna be a major motion picture or what? Are we gonna get this done? I'm working on it. My one of my buddies, he's my Sony rep.
[00:57:53] Unknown:
He's he's trying to help me make that happen. I was told I have to have the second one done to show that I'm serious about the series. So I'm not gonna have this one be twenty years. The you know, this one took me twenty years from the day I met Lloyd to getting it done. But, I was actually just gonna ask you that because I saw a Facebook post of yours that said it took it was a twenty year project. It was a twenty year project. So, now, this the sequel, it it's I'm where I'm getting through it. I know I know where it's gonna go now. Well, you know, I just needed to kinda get this first one out to get there.
[00:58:24] Unknown:
So so, what challenges did you, did you face when you were writing the book?
[00:58:30] Unknown:
Again, that work work life balance is, you know, the kids, they, you know, they they need me twenty four seven. They're they're very they're daddy's kids. They wanna play all day When they're we're having a dance party till ten. I'm trying to both of them don't wanna go to bed, so it's just like They take after you. Night owls. We were up all night playing Danny go Danny go dance party last night. So, any anytime I could get them to bed, I would sit and just write. You know? So I'd be up till 04:00 in the morning writing Mhmm. And, then wake up with the kids the next day. So that was the biggest challenge was just you know? And I kind of pushed all my other responsibilities to the side. I wasn't taking in any mixing.
I just kinda let my interns do all that, and the book was my my main focus.
[00:59:22] Unknown:
Nice. So, in writing the book, did did it, how do I put it? Did did it, reveal anything to you about yourself, about others around you in the music industry?
[00:59:36] Unknown:
I mean, it it revealed to myself that I I am, like, maybe a little bit too much of a perfectionist. My wife would definitely agree with that. I, this should not have taken me this long to do. Okay. But but it also revealed that I think I needed the experiences that I've had to get to the point to write something like this. Because it does have, there is a little bit of a religious aspect to it. There's there's a so many different real world aspects that I might not have been able to speak at, about at fifteen. So I I'm glad that it went how it did. I'm not a person who typically does regrets.
I think, you know, everything you do leads to where you need to be and where you're supposed to be. Even the hardest things, they they lead you to where you're supposed to be. So I I have no regrets about it, but I, you know, it definitely led me to that. Like, maybe I should stop,
[01:00:30] Unknown:
needing everything to be so perfect and just throw it out there. Yeah. And and and it go it does go back to what you said about balancing, you know, balancing life, you know, because you are look, you're a busy guy. You got the family you're taking care of. You you got work at the studio. You got all this stuff going on around you. Finding that balance and keeping things in perspective is is incredibly important. And we I heard the kids in the background and Oh, yeah. They're back there. Yeah. And and and as and and that's great, you know, because in a in a couple of minutes, Charlie, my my dog my boy, is gonna be barking at the door to let him know it's time to eat. So, but, but it it's hard. It's hard to find the balance in all of that stuff, and I think you're doing a great job with it. I I really do. And, I mean, I'm sacrificing a little. You see the bags under my eyes and everything, but, you know You sacrifice now while you can, and and you'll reap the rewards of it later on. Exactly. You know, that's that's that's the way you got to look at it. And, and over the years of doing this, I'm I'm sure you've met a lot of incredibly fascinating musicians.
Yeah.
[01:01:31] Unknown:
And Most of my heroes. I've I've met them or, you know, I've I've given a lot of them rides home. You know what I mean? I've I have a lot of their numbers now, and, it's it's weird to listen to some of their music now at this point because I've recorded them or know them on a deeper level. But, I've definitely met a lot of cool people. There's like I said, I I can't regret anything. It's it's been a great journey. Does it the just off the book question.
[01:01:55] Unknown:
Do do you when when you've recorded somebody, and then you you're in the studio with them, you hear the you hear the raw recording, and then you hear the final product. Has what's the diff like, can you find the difference and say and say, okay, I know in between this and this, he he goofed here, we had to stop, we had to start again, and all that kind of stuff. Oh, yeah. Like does that ruin the music for you?
[01:02:17] Unknown:
Mu music in general is kinda ruined for you as an engineer. I tell my students that right from the jump, especially my college students. Because once you're listening for, you know, I call it, like, crafting your analytical ear. Mhmm. So once you've crafted that and you could pick out everything you're looking for, the average listener is not listening for the bass guitar separate from the guitar, listening for synth sound, listening to how they mic the overheads, listening for miking techniques, and and listening for all the different pieces of the drum and, the toms, how they're panned and everything. And that's something as an engineer you have to do. So it kinda does take away the, like, fascination about it. But it's it's a beautiful thing to be involved in. I think the engineer is the least, gets the least amount of credit with the most important part of a song. Because you I I call it create you create the environment that you want a listener to be in. So I'm telling my my students all the time. I'm like, listen.
You need to take your reverbs and all these different effects and shape this the way that you want a listener to listen to it. So do you want them to feel like they're in the middle of a forest or in the middle of a cave when this reverb swells up on a cymbal and just and then there's a dead silent drop, and then it just pounds back in. You know, how how do you want to make them feel when you're listening to it? And a raw recording, you know, just a a band doing a raw recording, it the final product is so, so different. You know, I I I think so many bands would never make it if it was just up to their musicianship.
But but having a Yeah. A good engineer really can change the way that you just feel about a song. Yeah. See, I always I I judge a band
[01:04:03] Unknown:
by their live performance, you know. And Yeah. If if if they need that, oh, the name of it just flipped out of my head. The auto tune. If they if they need an auto tune, I you've lost me. I I am not interested in what you have to do. And and if you have to have backing, like, prerecorded backing.
[01:04:24] Unknown:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's No good. That's that's a whole that's a whole different beast right there. I mean, auto tune at this point, pretty much every song that's out has a form of auto tune. Just not like what you think when you hear the word. When you think auto tune, you think like t pain, just like really intense, like, auto tune. But most songs, I'd say 99% have a form of pitch correction. You know, maybe a singer hit, like, a perfect take, but one note was off or a couple little flat notes, you could just move that note up, and you'd no one would ever know. It doesn't sound like there's auto tune. It doesn't sound like an effect. You're just fixing these couple little notes. So I I would every song you hear has it.
[01:05:06] Unknown:
As far as the I'm talking about using that type of stuff in a live performance.
[01:05:09] Unknown:
Oh, live performance? Yeah. That's that's rough. That that's rough. I I can get down with, like, a reverb pedal or something, but but doing too much crazy effects is, I've there is one band of, they're called Purity Ring, and they're like, they're more of like an electronic band, and they do a lot of vocal effects live, but they're really just cool. Like, they have a crazy light show and, that yeah. That that that's a whole different thing. I I there's certain genres like pop and that kind of stuff where it's part of the show I can get with, but, like, a rock band or a punk rock band. Even, like, with hip hop, if I go see a rapper and, he has his vocal track behind him, he's just on top of his words, I I I don't like that. It's it feels cheap. Yeah. I agree with you. One one of my favorite bands,
[01:05:56] Unknown:
and it's not a punk band, it's Pink Floyd. And, Get down with some Floyd. Oh, dude, man. What a show they put on. You know, even all the way back into the early early days, you know, the Syd Barrett days. I mean, they always put on a show. They always sounded amazing. Like, and and that's to me, that's that's a when I say that I judge a band by their live performance is do you sound as good live as you do on a recording, or do you sound better live? There are a lot of songs, even with Pink Floyd, that I don't like to listen to the to the studio version. I prefer to listen to the live version. It's just there's just something different about it, you know? Oh, I I agree. There's a different feel to it, different vibe to it. And, I know it's really not related to it, but see, that's why I like to do the live podcast as opposed to do a prerecorded one. There's just a different feel to it, different verb vibe to it, you know? I I agree. I'm like off the cuff kinda guy. So I don't like, like, if somebody sends me, like, questions ahead of time, I don't even read them. Yeah. It just it's I feel like it's not authentic. You know? I am I'm very much,
[01:06:59] Unknown:
like, I try to be as authentic as I can. So it's I'd rather just go off the the cuff with everything. I I have a I have a producer. Her name is,
[01:07:06] Unknown:
I call her anonymous Angela, and it's a long story, but but, she helps me put together the show sometimes, most of the time. So she she'll do all the back work for me while I'm at the at my regular job, and she'll put everything together, and and she'll give me some general outlines, you know, for the show. And, 90% of the time, I don't even follow, you know. I I might I might get I'm sure it drives her crazy. Well, I hope she doesn't listen to this one because, you know, I don't I don't want her to to think that I'm not appreciative of it. No more outlines for you. No. She's no. She's great though. She she's she is great. And, she knows she I don't I I I always I brag on her because she deserves it. She I don't know how she does this, you know, she I I the reason why we call her anonymous Angela is because she doesn't like a lot of her personal information getting out there, so I have to be very careful what I say. But, you know, she manages a household, kids, husband, work. She's involved in local politics where she lives.
She is, involved in a lot of political action committees, and she she helps other podcast. I don't know where the hell she finds time to do all this stuff that she does for this show. So and and she but and she's amazing. She really is, and I really do appreciate her. And, like with this one, she sent me about sixteen sixteen guides, we call them. And, I think I I think I've actually asked you three of the 16. Everything else is just off the cuff, you know. And that's why I I like to do it that way. One of the best compliments that I've ever had as doing as doing the podcast has been that, you know, it just feels like a couple of guys sitting around by the by the grill, you know, having a beer just shooting for you. Yeah. I like I like that. It's good. It's good. It's fun. It's There's I've been on a couple where it's just you could tell they have the questions, and you're getting the question no matter what. So I just answered that question, your previous question, but you're still now you're just gonna kinda think of a new answer, which is cool too, but it's different format. Yeah. Totally. And, I heard one of the shows you were on, from, like, I think it was two days ago or three days ago, or at least it was released two or three days ago. Was it, Joe's?
[01:09:20] Unknown:
Might also been Joe. Maven.
[01:09:23] Unknown:
Yeah. That was that was a cool one. He he was a real Yeah. He was really good. I I I I enjoyed it. Now I love the story about the Nina Simone poster. Yeah. I I I it's literally right over here. Yeah. I think everybody had a Nina Simone poster.
[01:09:33] Unknown:
Dude, Just incredible. Yeah. One of one of the one of the goats as the young kids say.
[01:09:41] Unknown:
Absolutely. So, so we'll, hit some final thoughts here. So, what what do you hope that, our listeners will walk away with from this conversation tonight?
[01:09:50] Unknown:
Well, I mean, I I hope that if if, you know, anybody listen to this and they've maybe felt like, they need something to do to just, like, get some of their anger out or anything, try to create something. Try to just sit down, you know. There I I shouldn't say this because maybe it'll take business away from you, but there's so much stuff on YouTube now, and there's so many things online that you could learn how to do a song and be pretty good at it. And studio equipment, when I first started, you know, you you couldn't do a good song without a $2,000 microphone. You couldn't do a good song without a $10,000 interface. And now you can do a song with a mic under $500 and an interface for a $100, and it's a radio hit. So there there's no barrier to entry anymore.
If you if it's something you've wanted to do when I was getting my master's in music technology, there was a 70 year old doctor that just loved music getting his as well. He's been a medical doctor for, like, forty something years, and he wanted to be a he wanted to career change at 70 to be a musician. It's like that that's where we're at now. That's awesome. There's, you know, there's YouTube University.
[01:11:04] Unknown:
There you know what I mean? You could you could figure it out. Listen. On my on my regular job, I I I hit YouTube a lot for a lot of things that I gotta deal with at the regular job sometimes. It's, yeah, it's a big help. YouTube's incredible. It is incredible. It is. Rumble's getting there. Yeah? Yeah. Rumble's getting there. So Good. And I have to push it, because I'm a I'm a shareholder in Rumble. So
[01:11:23] Unknown:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Push it. Look. Full disclosure.
[01:11:26] Unknown:
Rumble, rumble, rumble. Definitely plug it. So, so who's somebody that you respect right now, and what are they doing, that inspires you?
[01:11:37] Unknown:
Oh, man. There's so many people. I mean, I I I gotta give a shout out to my wife because, you know, she's getting her her business off the ground, seeing society, and, she's also doing the public speaking thing. And, just how hard she's working on it on top of doing her day to day is it's very inspiring. As far as, like, music goes, I have I'm so fortunate to be around just like an incredible group of, people. You know, I've had clients we opened the studio sixteen years ago, and I've had clients since some of the same clients have been coming to me for sixteen years. That's awesome. And just watching these guys grow, people like, Trey Digga or, my my business partner Ethan, just or he a young guy, you win that I've been, working with. Just all just super incredible, just people and artists that watching them just ins inspires me every day. Going through life and just still finding time to to put out music and put everything aside to just follow the dream is just incredible. That's awesome, man. I I I like that answer. That's a good answer. I like that. I like the fact that you threw your wife into it because Oh, no. No. She's amazing. My wife is amazing. She she, you know,
[01:12:51] Unknown:
she works very, very hard, and I'm very proud of her. Awesome. Alright. Steve, where can, where can the audience go to get more about you, your work, and everything you're doing?
[01:12:59] Unknown:
Well, I mean, you can reach out to me directly on any social media. It's just steveskaks, s x a k s, on all social media platforms. Very Google friendly. You'll get probably way too much information about me on there. But, you can head over to let'sgoguy.com or steveskax.com or marstonhouse.studio. Any of those places, feel free to hit me up. If you wanna book a session, marstonhouse.studio. That's the easiest way to do it. But if you just wanna reach out to me about anything,
[01:13:32] Unknown:
any of those other ways is good. Awesome. And we'll make sure we have some of the links. If you if you don't mind, I I only have one, web address for you. So if you can just shoot me a a message with, Okay. With the additional link so I can get them into the show notes for you. We'll get all that stuff out there. Alright. Steve Skacks, thank you so much, man. This was great. I really appreciate you taking the time to be with us tonight. And Joe, I I appreciate you having me. It was a great conversation. Like you said, two guys just hanging out. That's that's my favorite. Yeah. Well and we'll do it again. We'll do it again sometime. For sure. Alright. Thank you so much. Bye, brother. I'll talk to you soon. Alright. Steve Skacks.
Folks, great, great interview. Really enjoyed talking to him. That was a lot of fun. Hope you guys got something out of that as well. Alright. Folks, podhome.fm is the most modern, easy to use podcast hosting platform on the market today. You can use it to publish your episodes, enhance your audio automatically, generate transcripts, chapters, titles, show notes, and more. You can even podcast live. That's right. Podcast live through the modern podcast apps. And if you are a you're just starting your podcast, you don't have a website, you could very easily get a website with podhome.fm.
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You there's really very little you have to do other than just upload your audio, and that's great. And plus they also have a backup feature where they actually, record your audio for you, and, and so you're you're good to go. You're golden. So try them out. Podhomepodhome.fmpodhome.fm, and, try it out. Thirty days and $15.99 a month. Alright. Just some really quick announcements before you wrap this up completely. Don't forget to sign up for the programming announcements email list that we have on our website. As soon as you get to the homepage, there'll be a little pop up thing over there, and we'll take a we'll, get yourself on the mailing list. We're not gonna sell you stuff. We're not gonna pitch things to you. All it is all it is is information about the show.
Changes, guest, cancellations, anything like that, just sign up for it. Stay in the know. It's free. It doesn't cost you anything. Alright? Now I promise you we're not gonna sell you stuff. Just gonna sell you send you information about the show. Alright? And then, let's see. Don't forget tomorrow. Tomorrow, we have our show with the CEO of Ezra Healing, Svetlana Rilkov. She'll be with us tomorrow at 7PM central time, so make sure you are available for that. With your questions, please please bring your questions. We would love to answer questions on the show. It's always a lot of fun. Alright. And then, social medias. Don't forget Twitter, social, truth social, minds, and, TikTok, at Joe Ruse. Instagram is not Joe Ruse. Facebook is Joe Ruse show.
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Alright. Also, if you wanna send us over any cryptos, we're happy to receive those as well. All of our wallet information is up there on the page. And, if you wanna check out the modern podcast apps, head over to modernpodcastapps.com and podcastindex.org. Try them out. Try them out. And try out Podhomes, try out Podhomes, web, podcast player. Wow. I'm getting tongue tied to you. Because Charlie's barking is distracting me. So, check them all out. You're gonna love them. Great apps, and they are so user friendly. They're fantastic. You're gonna love them. Alright. I think that should just about do it for us for tonight. So, folks, thank you for being with us tonight and spending the time with us. Hope you guys really enjoyed that interview with with Steve. That was great. And, looking forward to, seeing you guys tomorrow night. Alright? Don't forget folks, make Texas independent again. Go podcasting, keep a steady stride, and keep talking. Good night.
Transmitting live from the asylum studios deep in the bowels of Southwest Texas, it's the Joe Rooz Show. The show where we talk about anything and everything. Where nothing is sacred, nothing is watered down, and nothing is PC. Alright. Hey, folks. This is Joe Rooz. It is nineteen zero five hours on Monday, 09/15/2025.
[00:04:42] Unknown:
And it is great to be with you guys once again from the pimple on the backside of Texas, the beautiful city of Eagle Pass. And we are gonna do the very best we can tonight to bring you the best quality talk radio we can muster without all the bluster. Welcome
[00:04:58] Unknown:
to the Joe Rooz Show! Alright.
[00:05:05] Unknown:
It's been a long week already, and it's only Monday. It's been one of those days, folks. It's been one of those days. Regular job was held this held today, and, trying to recover from the weekend. I hope you guys had a good weekend, though. Hope you're able to catch the shows over the weekend. Saturday, we hosted Barry Luebbrecht of podhome.fm, which is always a treat. And, of course, that marked the, the return visit, actually, of Barry. Barry was our very, very first guest on the very, very first show that we did, when we started this thing, and we had a different name for the show and all that stuff. It was it was much different back then, and it was audio only. So, no video, nothing to, you know, to look at. So but it was fun. It was a lot of fun back then, and we had a great conversation on Saturday. So if you haven't checked out the show yet, you need to.
Really great information that Barry put out there. And, of course, you know, as you know, podhome.fm is our audio host platform. So, so had to have the owner CEO of the company on was was a treat. And, and, it was it was really well. We went really well. He announced a lot of interesting things that Pod Home was working on, so you need to check that out. Also, Sunday, we had our usual bible study Sunday show, which was great, I thought anyway, if I can say so myself. But that's always great just to get together and just open up the word of God and just study a little bit and talk a little bit. And we talked about, from Proverbs, you talked about dealing with money, which is always a touchy subject with a lot of people, and a lot of folks, like, some of the comments that I've got off air were, they thought that the show was me trying to pitch for donations and stuff like that, which I was absolutely not doing. And if you paid attention to the show at all, you knew that. You understood that. We were talking about because we're doing a series on wisdom, and we're talking to the Proverbs. And, last week, we talked about, dealing with fear, and then this week dealing with money, and next week, we'll talk about something else. So I'm not gonna tell you what that is yet. Tell you what that is later this week.
Alright. And then, of course, tonight, we have, we have a guest here with us tonight who is waiting in the wings. I see him in the waiting room. So we'll we'll get, Steve Skacks in here very, very shortly. I hope I said that right. If you heard me or not, I don't know yet. So let's give me a thumbs up if I said it right. There we go. Outstanding. Alright. So Steve's got Steve Skacks is waiting in the wings for us, and we'll get him on here in just a minute. Gonna do some housekeeping. And then, and we'll get we'll get right to it. Alright? So, folks, don't forget to head over to our website, joe roos dot com. That's joeroos.com.
Should be coming up on your screen here momentarily. And, when you get over there, open up the contact form, and send us over a message. Let us know whatever's on your heart, whatever's on your mind, any questions, comments, cares, concerns that you have, any issues that you might have, any complaints that you might have, even though I don't wanna hear them, just you can send them over anyway. They're just gonna get thrown into the dumpster anyway. And, any suggestions you have, if you have a guest you like us to try to get or if you have a topic you'd like us to discuss, we'd be more than happy to do that and try to make that happen for you. So let us know. Drop a drop a comment down below. Let us know in the live chat or send us a comment through the contact form. And if you don't wanna do any of that, if you wanna go the old school way, you can always email it to me directly at [email protected].
That's [email protected]. Also, just wanna remind you to check out the support page. Right now, I'm actually gonna ask for donations. So now you can check out the support page. And, if you could help us out with a donation, we really would appreciate that. Remember, this is a value for value show. And all that basically means is that if you receive anything of value from what we're putting out, we're asking that you return that value to us in the form of a donation. It could be your time, your talent, or your treasure. It could be one, two, or three of them. We hope all three, but it could be all three of them. It could be one of them. Doesn't matter. We also have our producer tiers, which we'll talk about at the very, very end of the show, like we always do because we don't wanna take up too much time here at the at the front end.
Alright, folks. Ezra Healing. Ezra Healing, our sponsor or one of our sponsors. Ezra Healing is a substantial part of the new wellness paradigm currently being born in North America and around the globe. Global citizen, you're no longer satisfied with the sick care version of so called health care, Band aid medicine, endlessly treating symptoms rather than root causes, must be abandoned as soon as possible. Patient patient centric care must be the priority. We need to transition towards the do no harm model of private care that places humanity at the forefront of real health and wellness care. In this new model, your entire lifestyle is examined and analyzed to promote and support the totality of your body's integrated systems. Ezra Healing is a solutions based health promotion and disease prevention grassroots movement that is always evolving to best serve you and your family. For more information, just head over to ezrahealing.com.
That's ezrahealing.com, and make sure you let them know that you heard it right here on the Joruus show so that they know that their money is being well spent. Alright. Now with all of that said, so folks, today's guest is is Steve Skacks.
[00:10:19] Unknown:
Hey, Joe. How are you doing? How are you doing, buddy?
[00:10:21] Unknown:
Steve is a a touring punk rocker turned audio engineer, award winning educator, and now a published author. He's the cofounder of Marston House recording, one of Philly's most respected recording studios, where he's produced for artists across every genre over sixteen years. Steve is also the creator of the Marston House Cyphers, a, well celebrated platform for underground hip hop talent. He's also a US army veteran. Thank you for your service, sir. Thank you. Nonprofit leader, music, technology educator. Steve blends discipline, creativity, and authenticity in everything he does. His debut novel his debut novel, Invasion of the Punk Rockers Who Drink Blood, we have to talk about this one, is a is a bold fusion of horror, rebellion, and coming of age grit. Folks, please welcome Steve Skacks to the Joe Russo.
[00:11:13] Unknown:
Joe, thank you very much for having me. I I it it's so nice to hear all these kind words about myself. I feel like I wrote that. So Well, you might have. Yeah. Some of it I I I think we did pull some of that from from your, pod match,
[00:11:25] Unknown:
profile. Yeah. Yeah. Awesome. I I'm really excited to be here. Yeah. It's great to have you. A bunch of your episodes. Okay. Really like what you're doing. We're we're very eclectic. We have a we have a wide range of guests. I like that. You know? Yeah. I like that a lot. We we were talking I was talking to somebody the other day. I actually was, the, the owner of, Pod Homer audio platform. I was talking to him about it off the air, but, I'll say it here too. This is probably one of the most unique shows you'll get because you'll get the range of, let's see, cartoon characters. I've interviewed a cartoon character, which was very interesting, very early on. I wasn't expecting that, but it was it was fun.
We've interviewed Nobel Peace Prize nominees, Paris paranormal investigators, doctors, lawyers, Playboy models, former Playboy models. Little bit of everything. Little bit of authors. I love it. You name it, we we do it, and we do it. We have a great time doing it. We try to keep it light and fun, and the con and the conversation flowing. So, so if you've been watching some of the shows or listening to some of the shows, you know I'm gonna ask you two very basic important questions here. Let's go. First one is, what's something that most people don't know about you but should?
[00:12:36] Unknown:
Well, I mean, I am such an open book. There's not much I feel like people don't know at this point, but, for people who'd know me just professionally, maybe they don't know that I'm still in the military. If you don't know that I'm, you know, I'm still in the guard currently in the Tennessee guard. But if you didn't know, you know, everything else, I just keep kinda out there in my music career and my entertainment career. So that's one thing that I think a lot of people would be surprised to hear. I I recently went back in. Yeah. That's Alright. That's where it's I keep those I keep those things very separate.
I gotcha. There's not a I mean, everybody in the military,
[00:13:23] Unknown:
knows me as a musician, but a lot of people in the music world don't know me from the military world. Yeah. Because, I I think and I'm not I'm not saying this as as a joke. I'm saying, seriously, most people don't expect somebody who's involved with the punk rock scene, to be involved in the military in any way. So Oh, no. No. They don't. They're very,
[00:13:42] Unknown:
opposite of each other. Oh, yes. It was a shocker for a lot of people when I when I went in the initially. Right. Like, I would imagine. Yeah. Sure. Especially, you know, in the band I was in at the time, very, very political. You know, we I was, like, especially at that time, like, all those early Alex Jones documentaries, I was super into those. So, very, like, anti government kinda thing going on. And I just kinda had a real big misconception about the military, honestly. I thought everybody was just I thought I was gonna go there, and I was everybody's gonna be a meathead and just, like, it just wasn't the case, you know. Some things you just don't know until you do.
I guess so. Yeah. Doing joining the military was, like, such a big eye opening thing. I mean, everybody's there, and 90% of the people are there because they need health insurance or they're going to school or, you know, their grandpa did it or something. So it's just, like, you meet so many or trying to get citizenship at that time. I think they ended that program, but, you meet people from all over the country, all over the world, and it's just, like, everybody that I met is my brother. Even if we shared vastly different cultures, vastly different, you know, political affiliations or thought processes, it's like everybody's there just trying to, like, survive. So it's just Right. Such an amazing, like, experience. I recommend it for everybody, honestly, even if you don't necessarily agree with, you know, the government or whatever. But it's a it's a great experience.
[00:15:07] Unknown:
Well, yeah. You know, I I have a lot of my friends, especially the friends that I went through high school with, they enlisted right out of high school, and they they had a great experience. And you know something a lot of times you come out of that too, you you with with something that's valuable, with a trade, something that you could use in in the real world. A buddy of mine, who I feel terrible to this day, about maybe that much, we were gonna we were gonna enlist together, and, I got delayed the day I was supposed to actually go down and finally sign everything, and and he went up ahead any ahead of me, and he signed up and all that stuff, and I never went. And I just kinda let it go,
[00:15:46] Unknown:
and he was all upset for a little while because we were supposed to go together. But, but, That's a similar story that I have. My, like, my best friend since I was five years old, he came to me, and he's like, I'm I'm joining the marines. I already had the recording studio. I already have been touring as a musician for years, and he's I had never thought about the military. But immediately, I was like, me too. So we just we went down to the marine recruiter, and, I have all these visible tattoos. And he's like, yeah. You're you're not getting in, buddy. And he's like, you well, you know, you can't do it. So we went to the air force. They said the same thing. Then we went to the coast guard, and they're, like, never open. Apparently, the coast guard recruiting in Philadelphia just doesn't exist. They have a they have a physical location, but nobody works there. Nice. So the army, they were like, come on. Come in. We can waiver all those. You're good. We got you. So they I I'll never forget going through MEPS and them just literally every tattoo on my body writing down and Yeah. Documented it. Me and my buddy went in together, and, they lied to us and said there's a buddy program. There's not. We got sent to two different basic trainings that are fake. Nice.
[00:16:55] Unknown:
Yeah. You know, despite the lying recruiters, it's still a great time. Oh, sure. Yeah. I I'm sure it is. Like, my my friend, he he never had a negative really really negative thing to say about it, to be honest with you. Aside from the the the the, I guess, the shock of going from civilian life to military life when you're going through basic, and well, in his case, he went through the through the to the navy, so it was a it was boot. So, you know, you it it there has to be that shock and that of that change in lifestyle. So but other than that, he never complained.
[00:17:26] Unknown:
For I mean, there there's definitely, you know, you get there, and once you go through, like, the processing and you're getting your head shaved with everybody and, you're going down the hall of needles, which is, you know, they're just jabbing you with god knows what throughout this line, and then you get the peanut butter shot in your butt. There's just that all throws you off, and then, you know, you're getting screamed at and all that stuff. But I I loved it. You know? It just kinda I I fell in. At that time too, you know, it was a different in a lot different shape. I'm a big guy now, but Yeah. At the time, you know, I was super fit and ready to go, super gung ho, high speed, they say. But, yeah. It is a it's a culture shock, but once you do it, it's hard to come out of it. Yeah. This is now my third time, reenlisting.
I'll get out for I was out for five years teaching, working in the nonprofit world. Studio is still open. That's a whole you know, that's its own thing. Right. But, you know, me and my wife were in Houston for a while, and then COVID happened. Moved up to Tennessee. Just, and, again, the visible tattoos came back to haunt me. They, Tennessee is a little different than Texas is where Houston, they don't really care as much about the tattoos. Everybody has them. But, we are in our town has 1,200 people. So they were, like, you know, not trying to have you come teach here, buddy. So I was, like, alright. Let me go check out what the Guard has to offer in Tennessee. Yeah. I gotcha. When I when I came here to when I moved to Texas I'm from New York originally. I'm from Philly, so I'm I'm familiar with you. Not too far.
[00:18:59] Unknown:
So when I came here, not military basically, but it was it was going trying to find a church, because I'm a Bible believing Christian. I'm a born again Christian, so I was looking for a good church to get to, you know. And, I have I have my share, and I had others that were a little more visible at the time. So the, I I remember walking into one church and being introduced to people, and I'm wearing a short sleeve shirt and going to shake hands, and all they did was stare at that. And I was like, alright. So this isn't gonna work, you know. Right. But, but, yeah, I'm in I'm in a good church now. They're great people. I love them. They're they're fantastic. Yeah. That's important. I mean, for me,
[00:19:38] Unknown:
I also am a Christian, and, I was gonna get my doctorate in and I'm still going to, but I'm pausing right now. Just school really took it out of me, and I got two kids and everything. But I was getting my doctorate in urban ministry. Nice. So I've I'll get back to it, but I had to put a pause on it. It. Well, you should. I was trying to do that, plus the guard, plus the kids, plus the studio, and I was my,
[00:20:00] Unknown:
assistant chaplain at my American Legion post. And there's just too much going on. I couldn't couldn't do the work life balance. No. I I hear you. I hear you. I I served for a little while as an associate pastor at a church up in New York. Our senior pastor was was incredibly sick, and he asked me if I would be interested in stepping into the role. And, I said, well, if if the church agrees to it and it's a unanimous vote on it, yeah, then I'll I'll do it. And it was, and so I served there for about, almost two years. That's awesome. I've done street preaching. I I teach bible studies on on on Sunday on my Sunday show. I don't know if you ever heard that. So, it it was so I I I love the book. I I I got saved in July 2000, 07/20/2000.
So twenty five years in in the fight, and, it's been a it's been a great one. It's, it's it's a challenge, you know. You you have your good days, your bad days, you, you know, you rise and fall, but scripture says that, you know, a righteous man falls seven times and gets back up. Right. So, you know, you just gotta keep on going. Just gotta keep going. And for you, you need to you need to get back to school and finish it up and get to work. Get to work. Yes. No. I it is very important.
[00:21:06] Unknown:
It's on my list. I just I have some I'm trying to I wanna do it the best that I can. Everything I do, I like to do the best that I can. Of course. I feel like if I can't give it the 100 which is what I found immediately, you know, the essays and everything. And I had I did my bachelor's, my master's, and went right into the doctorate, like, immediately. It was just like boom boom boom. That's probably the best way to do it too, because I think if I think if you if you put it off for a little while, you know, you'll you'll tend to not really
[00:21:33] Unknown:
put your full full effort into it. You'll get out of the routine of it.
[00:21:36] Unknown:
I, you know, I felt the same way, and then it was just once my son was born, he's he's something that get us something, you know. He's, he's amazing. Like, they're both my kids are amazing, but they're they're a handful. And, How old are they? Two and five. Oh, that's great age, though. Yeah. They're they're awesome. I mean, we just were out right before this, we were out at the park running around, and that's the best thing about owning your own business, and, you you know, you can do whatever you want. So I get to hang out with them all day. My wife also, you know, she runs her business and she's does a couple other things too. So she's
[00:22:11] Unknown:
she's at home. We're all kinda at home getting to do whatever we need to do. That's great. Yeah. It's very blessed life. Yeah. I have two. I I have my my boy and my my my boy and my girl. My boy is, 26, and my my girl is, man, she's pushing 30. Wow.
[00:22:28] Unknown:
Well, who who, is that you're a little more experienced than who which one was harder to raise? The boy or the girl? The boy. The boy. The boy. I'm already feeling that too. Yeah. The boy. He just has, like, so much, like, a testosterone already, and they'll just they'll swing on you at two years old. Yeah. Well, yeah, that's that's that's one thing. But,
[00:22:47] Unknown:
with my son, my son had some disabilities. When he was about six months old, he had a febrile seizure, which, he he lost oxygen for a little bit. It seemed like forever, but it was probably a few seconds, you know, and I'm I was at the time, I was a licensed, you know, EMT, so I I knew what to do, but when it's your own, you forget. So there was that quick delay when when I when I realized it. So, I think nobody's ever been able to definitively say yes or no, but I think that little period of time where he went without oxygen affected him, in the long term. So, he was diagnosed at a young age with Asperger's, and, he has a few other, issues along those lines. But if you met him today, I mean, he he you wouldn't you wouldn't know. If I didn't tell you, you wouldn't have no idea. I am incredibly proud of him for what he's done. He's he's really Amazing. He's he's he's living on his own right now. He has a girlfriend, and, he actually lives in Pennsylvania.
Okay. I I forget where he said he moved to. It was just a recent move, but The greatest state. Oh, he loves it. He absolutely loves it. It's a beautiful state too. I mean, absolutely beautiful. It is. It is. But, so he's up there, and my daughter my daughter is she's married. She has three kids. So I'm a granddad three times, believe it or not. I don't feel like it. I shouldn't I look great for three time granddad. Well, yeah. Thank you. It's it's shaving the head and coloring the face. That's what does it, but, you know, but but you know she she graduated with her her MBA, she graduated with honors, about a year and a half ago, while she was pregnant with with baby number two, and, raising baby number one, and you know, she's married, you know, her husband's there, but his her husband's work he works like a dog.
So, you know, to take care of her, and and, you know, I I am incredibly proud of her for being able to do all that stuff, and she worked, and she went to school, and she took care of the kids, and she was pregnant. I don't know how she did it, but she did it. And it was, I'm incredibly proud of both of them that they they really are great, and enjoy them now when they're at the younger age, man. I'll be honest, I'm just I'm just being honest. Just two dads talking right now. You know, I wish I wish that I could get them back at that age even just for a day, you know? Yeah. Yeah. Just for even just a day, just just to see them like that. Even now it's going so fast. Yeah. You know? I mean, I I
[00:25:09] Unknown:
my my phone every day changes the picture of just between the two of them. It's, like, thousands of pictures of them. And it's, like, I'll see pictures of them when they're, six months old to a year, and it's just, gets me every time. I'll sit and just look at them. It's just flying by. And, yeah. I I know what you mean too when you said that that split second felt like it was forever. Mhmm. Because both my kids, had to go to the NICU when they were born. Oh, wow. And I was a mess. I it I don't care about any kind of, like, tough army guy stuff or tough music guy. Like, it's the hardest thing ever when something's going on with your kids and you just don't know what to do. Yep. That terrifying, honestly. I remember talking to my my dad the first time. You know, he get the my daughter, they're both c section. My son was, like, an emergency c section. And, they, they took my daughter though in, like, a bubble thing, like, right as she couldn't breathe. So they had her on this bubble thing and wheeled her off into the NICU. And I'm, like, looking at my wife, like, I hear you know, they got her organs out, you know, from the c section, putting them back in, and she's like, go with her. And I'm like, and then, went with the with with the baby and just sat with her for a while, and it was just a mess. Yeah. Then my dad got finally got there. He drove down, and he he got me back together a little bit. He's like, it's gonna be okay. All that all that stuff you need a dad for. You know? Absolutely. Absolutely.
[00:26:32] Unknown:
When when my kids were born, you know, my my dad, I mean, I dad, I I don't know what the freak to do. What do I do with this? What do I do with that? You know? Dad was great, man. You know? And he would and he man, he loved them. He he really did. My dad passed away a couple years ago, but, yeah. That's alright. It's it's, you know, he he he got so he got very sick toward the end, and he knew it was time, and, you know, so it wasn't totally unexpected. And then, my mom passed away just a a year and a half ago. So so that yeah. So it was all a mess. It's been it's been crazy. But, but they love the kids. They they adore them, and probably the best feeling in the world was when I was able to bring the kids over to their place and see them interact with the kids and play with the kids. And it's like, you know, the next generation coming up, it was great to see. It was it was really it's great. So I I, you know, I I hope that your your parents
[00:27:25] Unknown:
are just throwing themselves into the kids and and really totally enjoying them. Well, we big part of why we moved to Tennessee was to be closer to my dad. Awesome. So he he spoils them. You know, my son's really into dinosaurs, and my dad will buy these giant dinosaurs for him. And his wife, they both spoil both of them. My mom They should. Actually still lives in Houston. So whenever they see her, you know, they call her nana. She comes to town, and nana brings the gifts. So it could be a bike, roller blades. That's what she's supposed to do. Exactly. So So they they both of my parents are great with them and, you know, my step parents. So they're, they're very loved kids.
[00:28:09] Unknown:
Awesome. That's awesome. Alright. Let's get on to the next here. So what's your go what's your go to? Because we'll we'll sit here all day just just talking about the kids. I I and I don't mind. I'm a talker. I'm sorry. Also am I. Trust me. Sometimes sometimes I'll interview people, and and I have a friend who watches the show, and he'll he'll send me a text and say, shut the f up and let the guy talk. You know? So It's never there's never, like, an awkward silence, which is good. Yeah. No. That's that's that's that's what makes it engaging too. Right. You know? So so what's your go to beverage that help you unwind at the end of the day?
[00:28:40] Unknown:
Oh, man. Go to you know, I I know it's weird. I I don't drink too much anymore. Like, I kind of got all that, you know, touring for so many years. The the party life, I've gotten out of that. So occasionally, you know, I'll bust out, like, some wine or something. I do I have a taste for wine, but I can't I I can't do it too often because I'll drink the whole bottle. But just like a nightly unwind, I I I really got into this, rye's, like, hot cocoa mushroom stuff. Really? Yeah. I'm oh, it's so good. And it I have I'm an insomniac. Like, I'm a night owl worker. So am I. So I like to set up, whenever I have projects, you know, I spend my days with the kids, and I do most of my work at night. I write the books at night, mix people songs at night. You know, any kind of project I have creatively or otherwise is is a nighttime deal. So because of that, after I'm done work, then I wanna sit and watch TV or sit and do something else just to kinda get ready for bed. Oh, sure. Yeah. So I'll end up being up all night. But that rye's mushroom hot cocoa, it's, like, full of magnesium or something, and it's delicious, and it just it just I don't know. It just hits the spot, and then I go to sleep.
[00:29:54] Unknown:
Well, that's good though. I, I I'm a well, for for a while, I was a pretty pretty much strict bourbon guy. That would be my thing.
[00:30:03] Unknown:
I I collect I collect a lot of cool bourbons. Oh, do you? And whiskey. Oh, yeah. Because again, I was when I especially when I did, I briefly spent a wild season as a wildland firefighter Okay. And up in Montana. And they had a lot of Pendleton and, like, really cool bottles. So Yeah. Got super into it, and we were drinking all the time out there. And like I said, now with the kids, I I I just have to know myself. And once I start doing something, I I do everything to, like, in excess. So I just I know I'll just be,
[00:30:34] Unknown:
you know You and I are a lot alike. You know? I I think things just kinda get out of control. Like, I I am definitely a night owl. I will sit up until two, 03:00 in the morning, have to be at the regular job by eight. Yeah. You know, and I'm I'm just working on computer stuff, and just playing around, you know, audio and just rewriting things, and it's it's just you throw yourself into it. You you you it's what you love, so you just throw yourself into it, and it just time just runs away. And then when it comes to the bourbons, I mean, I love my bourbons, you know. And I like what I like to do is, and I I told this many times, is I like to to pair bourbons with cigars.
So, so, you know, I'm always looking for a new flavor, a new, a new batch of something. And, one of my recent favorites has been the Elijah Craig toasted barrel. Great great bourbon. A friend of mine turned me on to it, and, that pairs really well with with a nice dark cigar like a like a like a Maduro, triple Maduro, like the Camacho triple Maduro. It's a beautiful cigar to go with that. And then you also have the the the Rocky Patel series goes great with the with the small batch. The $17.92 stuff is great. That's $17.92 is my go to. I don't know if you've if you had that one. I've never seen that until I came here to Texas. Right. And I saw it here. Let me try it. Texas has some great liquor stores. Yeah. I know. Especially where I live. Do do you go into any, like, social clubs with the, you know, cigars and a drink? No. You know, I don't have time for that, to be honest with you. Yeah. Between between the regular job because my regular job is a forty hour job, you know, plus I'm on call twenty four seven for it. And then I do the show six times a week. So it's, I I don't have time to to do that stuff. That's why I'm still single, you know.
So, you know, I just don't have I I have no time to fit anything else into my life right now. So everything I do, I do here. I cook I cook for myself. I have my two my two Frenchies, my two French bulldogs. I cook for myself, I cook for them, and I spend my time with them here around the house doing whatever I gotta do, you know. It's just easier. You know, and and I like it too. It's I I've come to over the last few years, I've come to value my peace and my privacy, you know. And Very important things. I'm not knocking people who are married. I was married for for, you know, thirty thirty years of my life, you know. Right. So it's, you know, I don't I don't disparage anybody who who's married.
Enjoy it. It's great. If you found your partner, that's great. Stick with it. Fight for it. Do everything you can to keep it all together. But for myself, I I I've come to appreciate the privacy. I've I've come to appreciate that piece, and, I'm not willing to, to give that up for anything.
[00:33:13] Unknown:
It's, it's definitely full of its challenges. I'm a I know I sound like an asshole, but No. No. No. No. You definitely don't. I, I trust me. I I get it. I did the the stupid, army guy thing, you know, first time. I this is my second marriage. I I gotten married right out of basic training, you know, bought a car, all that stuff. I went and got, like, a black Impala, and just everything that you hear. It's all true for it's a stereotype for a reason. It really happened. Okay.
[00:33:44] Unknown:
So that didn't work out, and, now I'm here. Alright. Well, that's good though. And and you got a family going, so that's fantastic. You're in a good spot, man. You're in a really good spot. So, your skill set comes from a variety of different experiences that you've been through. When did you first become interested in the music world?
[00:34:00] Unknown:
That was pretty much my whole life. I knew I'd be an entertainer in some sort of way. I always was in plays and, just always just very interested in entertaining people. And my dad played guitar. And, I just was, you know, I my uncle gave me my first guitar when I was maybe 11 or 12, and me and my friends started a horrible punk rock band. None of us knew how to play, which is the, you know, that's what's required to start a punk rock band is not knowing how to play your instruments. And, so we're we're bad, and we started playing, like, local gigs and stuff. And a lot of the older guys in the scene just kinda took took us under their wings. And, yeah, especially one in particular, Chuck Treece. He was a legendary musician. He was in Bad Brains. He's done stuff with, you know, Green Day and, McRad and all these other bands. So, he really kinda looked out for me and made sure I didn't get into anything too bad and That's good. You know, he I'd I'd get to carry his equipment in and get into shows for free and all that stuff. Like, incredible musician, can play anything.
And, he was kinda like my local icon, you know. And then once I started really diving into different music, I was huge into social distortion. So Mike Ness was a huge inspiration. And I know Mike. Nick Cave. I'm a huge Nick Cave fan. Just, and as I just kept that And not just punk rock. I've always had a very collective mix. Like, I love Nina Simone, and I I like I like rock. I like jazz. I like soul. I like I like everything, you know. So I I genuinely I hate the I like all music, but, there is something redeeming in every music.
[00:35:48] Unknown:
Yeah. You can find something. Good. You can find something. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. So I,
[00:35:53] Unknown:
but, yeah, that's that's really once I started getting into the bands, it just took off from there. I mean, I was 12 years old when I said I was gonna own a recording studio. Nice. And, at 19, we opened it up. So,
[00:36:06] Unknown:
it just But were were you always interested in punk? Or or was or was or was something else that kinda drew you in first?
[00:36:12] Unknown:
No. Punk rock was really, like, my first music love. When in elementary school, my one buddy Jordan, and I was saying my my friend Chad, his older sister, he's who I went in the military with. His older sister used to always wear, like, Misfits t shirts and stuff. And then my buddy Jordan, his older brother was really into it. My dad was vaguely into same with my mom. They like the clash and stuff like that. But, so just these influences, that's just the stuff that kinda stuck with me was the punk rock. And then I started really getting into collecting records at a young age Mhmm. And I started buying, off of there's a record label called Epitaph, and I'd order just whatever I saw in the catalog.
And that's actually how I got into hip hop was I got, a guy named Sage Francis. He had a album called a healthy distrust. And and the album came, and I had no idea what it was, and I put it in the record player. It was like a hip hop album, and I was like, what is this? On a punk rock label. And but it was like hip hop with punk rock lyrics, and it just blew me away. I just never heard anything like that before, and it was that's where I fell in love with that. I mean, I bought that, and then my next, hip hop album was, a DMX album, and then just I started going to local Philly shows and got really into the New York scene and the Philly scene. And, I made a career off of hip hop music, really. I mean, my my career definitely started in punk rock. I got signed young, and we were touring. That's where I saved up a lot of the money to open the studio. And then, you know, hip hop community just opened their arms. And now I kinda
[00:37:52] Unknown:
go between all these different genres. Oh, that's good. I like that. That that's a good story. How did it feel the first time you got up on stage playing punk?
[00:38:01] Unknown:
There there's nothing there's the first time we got on stage, again, we sucked. We're a terrible three chord, just like corporate control, corporate control. It didn't make any you know what I mean? Like, what do you know about corporate control? You're 12 years old. Right? You know, just regurgitating, different bands lyrics that we are in, basically. But as it progressed it's still an amazing feeling. It's still an amazing feeling. And then as it progressed to bigger shows, you know, going to real recording studios, like, it'd be more serious having to have entertainment lawyers and getting when we got signed to QCR, they flew us all around the world, but they are rented vans with a driver who rented equipment. All we had was our guitars and drumsticks.
Everything else they rented, they took care of Right. And would drive us all around. We did, you know, six months on the road at a time. Once that ended and we had to kinda do it more DIY, things started getting shaky. You know, we're used to a hotel every night, and, you know, after that, we're, like, asking people at the show, like, can we crash with you, please? But,
[00:39:08] Unknown:
That's gotta be awkward.
[00:39:10] Unknown:
Yeah. But it never it never changed. Sometimes it wasn't, sometimes it wasn't. The punk rock scene, like, the community is really cool with that. You know, it's like, they they will give you a place to stay and something to eat. So it's that it's cool like that, but, it it's it's a lot different once you had the taste of the finer the finer things, which which led you to want to really do the studio because it's like, alright. How many punk rock bands are at the level where they don't have to work? And that was my thought process. It's like, you know, you know the ones that hit that mainstream success, and there's there's now it's actually kinda more and more punk is getting more mainstream than it ever was. Yeah. But at that time, it was like which you said that's funny. I know it's crazy. Weird.
It's it is weird. Right? It's like this counterculture thing. But every I mean, hip hop was the same way when it started. It was very counterculture,
[00:39:59] Unknown:
and now it's the music. I mean, I when I when I was young, it was a Sex Pistols. They were like That was the yeah. That was the main that was, like, the the name band in punk. Well, you being in New York at CBGBs,
[00:40:11] Unknown:
and they had, like, the, you know, punk rock really was the East Coast punk rock scene was amazing. And I found, like, touring, like, we'd go when we'd go to, like, Tennessee, that that's why I love Tennessee. We'd come down here. We'd go to Kentucky, and we'd do three shows in Kentucky, and it'd be packed out. We'd do a house party or something. And, we always had, like, a stencil that we had our low our logo on it, and you could come to our merch booth for $5. We'll spray paint the stencil on your t shirt. We'd have lines out the door. Every kid in the party, every kid at the show wanted the stencil. And so we we always did really well, but again, I just knew. I was like, this is this is like a finite experience. I need to set myself up for the future. So we we opened the studio, and the rest is kinda history there. That's pretty cool. That that's a good story, man. I like that.
[00:40:59] Unknown:
Now I know we already talked about your military service, and, and, and your time there, and and and some of the memories you had of it, but, what about the army changed the way you think about music or your life?
[00:41:14] Unknown:
Well, again, it it changed the way I think about life in a lot of ways because I had just so many, you know, misconceived, like, beliefs about what I thought I was gonna get there, and everybody's gonna be like, I I can't and this is, like, only a few years after nine eleven. So I I'm expecting everybody to get there. Like, I just can't wait to go over there and kill these people. And, I met one guy like that in twelve years. Wow. One single person, you know. So it's it's the odd man out. It's just like with everything, you know. You you hear stories about people, and you start thinking that must be everybody. Mhmm. And and it's never the case. There's no, like, bad group of people on earth. There's bad people in a group. That's There's but there's there's no bad group. You know what I mean? That's actually quite profound.
It's it's true. It's true. You know? I I've I've had plenty of misconceived notions about plenty of types of people, and I can get along with anybody. You know? I mean, there's certain things that just, like, are nonstarters for me, like, you know, my I have, mixed race kids, so it's, that if somebody's gonna say call my kids the n word or something, I'm that's a nonstarter for me. But, there's there's things like that that I just can't handle. And, again, being from the East Coast, it's very diverse. So I'm I'm used to being around all my friend group has always been men like that too. It's very mixed.
Very and and I think that's a great way to be because we just have so much more in common than you real you know, every going in the army and we had I had two friends from China trying to get their citizenship, and it's like, these kids, they love to fish. They like you know you know what I mean? Like, it's like you think you you're on another part of the world, so there's no way we could have anything in common. It's like you you literally like all the same things that I like. Right. You know, you you you speak broken English, but you like all we like all the same stuff. Or it it it's just it kinda people shut off. I think they kinda block their blessings a little bit when they are not open to people because how they look or, you know, their religion or whatever, where they're from, because you there's a friend there for you. And the military taught definitely taught me that. Yeah. I I had misconceived notions about the South.
Yeah. I've had and some of my friends do too now. You know, I I'm always, like, come down to Tennessee. Come visit. And they're, like, oh, well, I don't know. Tennessee is real, you know and I'm like, it's not like that, man. Like, you hear you you hear stuff that I'm a big, I don't trust mainstream
[00:43:47] Unknown:
media at all. You shouldn't. Yeah.
[00:43:49] Unknown:
Yeah. They they will tell you everything that is crap. And, again, I don't trust it on either side of the board because you could listen to the same story told by both the left and right sides, and you'll get the same story completely polar opposite story. And the truth is always in the middle somewhere. Exactly. And and I think most people just don't have the, the time or the the will to just look in the middle. So, coming out here has been amazing. But, yeah, the military just really opened my eyes to that. And and as far as music goes, I got a lot of opportunities to explore the music in the military, which is you wouldn't even think that, but there's, there's a ton of musicians that are in the military.
But it's again, like I was saying earlier, a lot of people from the outside don't know much about my military career, but a lot of people from the military know about my music career. So it's just not that I'm I ever I never hide it. I got the veteran license plate. You know, I I have army tattoos all over me. It's not something I hide. I'm very, very proud of it. But it doesn't often come up, you know. You in other circles, people be like, did you ever serve in the military? It's like, yeah. Absolutely. But I I don't record too many rappers who go, were you in the army? You know what I mean? It's not it's not a topic of conversation that comes up. I I get you. I totally get you.
[00:45:09] Unknown:
So, now you work as a as a music educator, a non profit leader, helping young people find their voice through art, especially when the world tells them to stay quiet. Now can can you tell us about a time where where, you you helped a young musician find their voice through your studio or through your teaching?
[00:45:28] Unknown:
For sure. I mean, I've I could tell you 50 stories, but I'll since you're in Texas, nonprofit school in Houston called Workshop Houston. I was there for a few years. Awesome. Amazing school. They really, they give so much to the community and so much to these kids that just have nothing. And, being there and just hearing some of these kids' stories and, you know, I I related to so many of these kids, especially some of them, you know, they're the quote, unquote I don't believe in this term, but, you know, they'll get labeled like a bad kid or a problem kid. Right. And I don't think any kid is bad, but, they'll get that label on them and people will give up on them. So, and we were a nonprofit school, so we have a board of directors. And anytime they would they would come in, you know, the kids would have to, like, be on their best behavior and dress up. And I remember the first time I was there, it it really threw me off because I I've never worked in nonprofit. This was my first nonprofit.
And they were just like I'm like, what's what's going on? Why are you you know, they're dressing different. They're acting different. And it's like, well, you know, they said we gotta be on our best behavior because the white people are coming in today. And I'm just like it made me so mad. Like, I I was actually, like, furious. Because for me, you know, I we'd have staff meetings and the kids, like, some of the board would just, like, talk about these kid, label these kids a price. Like, well, each one of these kids cost this much to get them through and all this stuff. And I'm just like, these are kids. Like, there are kids trying to make it in the world, and and this is what you view them as. So I I literally would stay every single day after school and let them work on music as long as they want. I would drive them home.
I would on the weekends, I I would go to their houses. I'd have dinner with their families. I knew all their parents. I would take kids out shop. I spent more money on my check on these kids than I did on myself. Oh. I would I would take there was I had my twins, Simon and Simeon. I would take them to to the buffet. We'd get I'd get them new shoes. I'd I was their, third party in their family therapy sessions. Like, I it was, like, I really immersed myself into these kids, and now several of them are actually working as engineers. That's awesome. A couple of them have jobs at studios.
I I remember when I left, it was it was one of the hardest things I ever did was leaving that place, honestly. But, but, yeah, just just seeing what these kids did and what, you know, where they came from and where they are now is, like, I'm getting a little misty eyed even talking about. I just started
[00:48:10] Unknown:
they were my first kids, I guess. Yeah. Well and you know what? It's it's great when you hear stories like that. It it it really is. And especially when it's a success story. You know, there's so many stories that end up not with a happy ending. But when you have the stories that do have a happy ending, you know, it just makes the whole thing worthwhile. I think every experience you have when you're working with kids is important and worthwhile, but no matter which direction it goes, if you make even the smallest amount of impact in their life, I think that's that's huge.
[00:48:38] Unknown:
I I agree. And again, that's why I don't believe in the bad kid term. You know, a lot of kids, they don't have a dad or they don't have a mom around. I just called them Ewan. With their That's all. Yeah. No. I'm kidding. They they, I again, like, I I related to it going. I was the class clown. I was always getting suspended for doing stupid stuff. You know, I'd always had a joke, and I actually went as soon as I was able to tour, I dropped out of school and went on tour. Do you know the differences between the class clown and the class comedian?
[00:49:09] Unknown:
What? The class comedian gets the class clown to do all the stuff to get in trouble. Yeah. Exact yeah. That was See, I was the class comedian. I had my friend Scott, who was was the class clown. I used to do the same class, Scott. I'm sorry. No. No. No. That's that's perfect. I love that. I'm gonna use I'm stealing that one. Go ahead. Take it. But no. They,
[00:49:28] Unknown:
so I I just like I said, I related to it. And when I would hear other adults talking down about these kids in meetings and stuff, and most of the the staff was amazing. Like, everybody really was I'm not trying to sound virtuous. Everybody was really on that same level. All these people put in the time, but, you know, the board the board, the people who oversee the overseers, you know, they're just, it's a different different story. So and any any I've worked with kids in Philadelphia. I've worked with kids there. I've I do online teaching as well. So, like, I've worked with kids all over the place, and, they're they kids just need somebody there that will listen to them
[00:50:07] Unknown:
and and believe in them. Was there something was there something that happened, or or what made you wanna focus, your attention on kids?
[00:50:17] Unknown:
Oh, I I don't know. I mean, I've always just, like, I've always really enjoyed just teaching what I know. I I think that's what started it was me and, my business partner, Ethan, we founded the studio together. We started teaching, college kids first. Mhmm. And college kids are already kinda ruined. They they already have a they already think they know everything. So when you have to when they get to you and they're doing their senior internships, we are partnered with so many schools, you know, and they would be coming to do their senior internships, and you'd have to completely break them down. So who taught you that this is wrong? Like and they didn't wanna be broken down, and then you put them behind the captain's seat of the session, and they don't know what to do. They just so but with, middle and high school kids, there's they have they're a fresh piece of clay. Mhmm. They have you can completely mold them and teach them the right way from the jump. They haven't been tainted from anybody else who thinks they know what they're talking about. I and, so so, yeah, I mean, I I love teaching from the jump, but once I that was my first time teaching kids younger than college age. Okay. And it just was like, wow. This is, this is for me right here. And we still do teach college kids. I'll do online courses with them. Or anytime I'm back in Philly, I'll do, like, an in person. But, it it's again, breaking their bad habits is a lot harder than taking a middle schooler and teaching them how to, you know, record something. Yeah. How how do you think music can help,
[00:51:52] Unknown:
help help youth, especially if they're struggling with feeling left out left out or or or or not being heard?
[00:51:59] Unknown:
I I think that music is, like, incredible with any art, you know, that, it's incredible way to express yourself. Even me, if I if I'm if I go a week without creating something, like, my wife hates me because I'm just I'm not a nice guy. Like, I just started filing everything up, and and, you know, you could tell I'm getting frustrated. But if I just having a release, you know, and and the kids just they they want a way to express themselves. And and I think music is such a, like, controlled way to express yourself where you're not gonna get in trouble. I mean, I I'm I'm big on freedom of expression, so it's like I I never minded, like, cursing or whatever in a new in music. It it doesn't bother me when the kids do that too much. I mean, there's exceptions. Obviously, it's like, don't, confess to some crime on your song at school. But but, you know Common sense things. Yes. And I get it. Yes. Some some some choice language here and there to really, like, push your your art forward. It's not gonna bother me too much.
But, yeah, I think it's an amazing way to express yourself and just get all this, like, bottled, like, energy up, especially for young boys. I mean, and and young girls too. But, you know, young boys, like, whatever hurricane Harvey were you in Texas for Harvey?
[00:53:17] Unknown:
When when was that? Because I'm I'm here ten years, so I probably was. That was 2016 or '17. Yeah. I was here. Yeah. I I just got here in '20 toward the 2016,
[00:53:25] Unknown:
early twenty seventeen. Okay. Yeah. So you were definitely there then. Hurricane Harvey, we we had to shut down for I mean, the whole city was crazy, but, we had to shut down for a while. And then right after that, we had a freeze come through and froze all the pipes in the school, and they all busted. So we had no bathrooms. So we couldn't do, like, real class. So we are trying scrambling, figuring out what to do. So we started this little, like, sports league that we'd go down to the park and just play sports with the kids all day. That's right. But and and that was a blast, but you could just tell, like, it's fun, but it's a it's not the same way to get all your, like, built up aggression out or anything. So we started having some fights here and there and just different things. You could see, like, when everybody's in the we had five studios there. And when everybody's in the studios and they're recording or we also had other art classes too. They had a style shop where kids got to, like, create clothes, and then we had, the dance shop where oh, that's where, you you know, a lot of the the younger kids and the girls would usually be in the dance shop. And, then we had, like, a robotics class. So it's like any there was something for everybody there, and they're still open. Amazing place. Like, if anybody's looking to support a nonprofit, check out workshop Houston. But, it whenever they weren't creating, you could see that things starting to bubble up. But whenever it's creations happening, it's just like it it's amazing. Like, there's just no problems.
[00:54:53] Unknown:
Yeah. Let's get into your book because I'm I'm I'm I just I just realized what time it is. So I have it right here if anyone We're we're gonna get are you are you okay with going over the hour? You good? I I yeah. Whatever you wanna do. I don't wanna throw your deal off. Oh, no. No. No. We're good. We're good. So so let's get into the book. So you describe your book as having an insane amount of sentimental value. The story's incredible, and it's unlike anything you've ever read. Before writing Invasion of the Punk Rockers Who Drink Blood, what experiences in your life made you wanna write the book?
[00:55:27] Unknown:
Well, you know, being in Philly, I'm not sure if you're familiar with, Troma. It was like a b movie studio.
[00:55:36] Unknown:
I I heard of it. I I I don't know much about it, but I I I did hear the name of it. They they did, like, the toxic avenger and Oh, yeah. Of course. Yeah. Yeah. So so those old really horrible b movies,
[00:55:48] Unknown:
I was such a big fan of that stuff as well. Yeah. I still am. The cheesier the cheesier of the me too. Yeah. There's one called Poultrygeist, Night of the Chicken Den. Oh, yes.
[00:55:59] Unknown:
Yeah. Yeah. It's like a haunted KFC type situation. I thought I was the only one in the world that probably saw that. That's
[00:56:04] Unknown:
that was a that was a that was a funny movie, man. I love it. I love all those movies. So I I got I had the, the fortune of meeting Lloyd Kaufman. He's the owner and, you know, founder of Trauma. And, I was 15. I met him, and I'm like, what would it take, for you to get my movie made? And he's just like, do you what you know? Or do you have a movie? And I was like, yeah. He's like, what's it called? And I was like, I didn't have anything. I was like, invasion of the punk rockers, who drink blood? The musical. And he's just laughing. He's like, look. And if you really have a movie, you know, get in touch with me, and we'll see what we could do. So I'm I'm home just typing away, like, this horrible, like, movie script.
Saint I took the musical out when I wrote the book, but the the original concept was way different than what it was. You know? I'm and now I'm a 15 year old punk rock kid who's just, you know, the the original concept was something about corporate zombies or something. It was horrible. But I just love the title. I gave up on the original one, and throughout the years, I'd come back and revisit it. And eventually, I scrapped the whole thing, kept the title, kept a few characters, rewrote the whole thing, and it it's really rooted in a lot of experiences I've had from being, like, a touring musician, and just dealing with the world. Because it does have a lot about just the world and what kids have to go through. Yeah. You know, I I I describe it as, like, they're fighting, like, the real world monsters versus AM monster monsters.
[00:57:39] Unknown:
Okay.
[00:57:40] Unknown:
So it it's rooted in life, and it's rooted in music, and it's rooted in, like, fantasy.
[00:57:46] Unknown:
So is this gonna be a major motion picture or what? Are we gonna get this done? I'm working on it. My one of my buddies, he's my Sony rep.
[00:57:53] Unknown:
He's he's trying to help me make that happen. I was told I have to have the second one done to show that I'm serious about the series. So I'm not gonna have this one be twenty years. The you know, this one took me twenty years from the day I met Lloyd to getting it done. But, I was actually just gonna ask you that because I saw a Facebook post of yours that said it took it was a twenty year project. It was a twenty year project. So, now, this the sequel, it it's I'm where I'm getting through it. I know I know where it's gonna go now. Well, you know, I just needed to kinda get this first one out to get there.
[00:58:24] Unknown:
So so, what challenges did you, did you face when you were writing the book?
[00:58:30] Unknown:
Again, that work work life balance is, you know, the kids, they, you know, they they need me twenty four seven. They're they're very they're daddy's kids. They wanna play all day When they're we're having a dance party till ten. I'm trying to both of them don't wanna go to bed, so it's just like They take after you. Night owls. We were up all night playing Danny go Danny go dance party last night. So, any anytime I could get them to bed, I would sit and just write. You know? So I'd be up till 04:00 in the morning writing Mhmm. And, then wake up with the kids the next day. So that was the biggest challenge was just you know? And I kind of pushed all my other responsibilities to the side. I wasn't taking in any mixing.
I just kinda let my interns do all that, and the book was my my main focus.
[00:59:22] Unknown:
Nice. So, in writing the book, did did it, how do I put it? Did did it, reveal anything to you about yourself, about others around you in the music industry?
[00:59:36] Unknown:
I mean, it it revealed to myself that I I am, like, maybe a little bit too much of a perfectionist. My wife would definitely agree with that. I, this should not have taken me this long to do. Okay. But but it also revealed that I think I needed the experiences that I've had to get to the point to write something like this. Because it does have, there is a little bit of a religious aspect to it. There's there's a so many different real world aspects that I might not have been able to speak at, about at fifteen. So I I'm glad that it went how it did. I'm not a person who typically does regrets.
I think, you know, everything you do leads to where you need to be and where you're supposed to be. Even the hardest things, they they lead you to where you're supposed to be. So I I have no regrets about it, but I, you know, it definitely led me to that. Like, maybe I should stop,
[01:00:30] Unknown:
needing everything to be so perfect and just throw it out there. Yeah. And and and it go it does go back to what you said about balancing, you know, balancing life, you know, because you are look, you're a busy guy. You got the family you're taking care of. You you got work at the studio. You got all this stuff going on around you. Finding that balance and keeping things in perspective is is incredibly important. And we I heard the kids in the background and Oh, yeah. They're back there. Yeah. And and and as and and that's great, you know, because in a in a couple of minutes, Charlie, my my dog my boy, is gonna be barking at the door to let him know it's time to eat. So, but, but it it's hard. It's hard to find the balance in all of that stuff, and I think you're doing a great job with it. I I really do. And, I mean, I'm sacrificing a little. You see the bags under my eyes and everything, but, you know You sacrifice now while you can, and and you'll reap the rewards of it later on. Exactly. You know, that's that's that's the way you got to look at it. And, and over the years of doing this, I'm I'm sure you've met a lot of incredibly fascinating musicians.
Yeah.
[01:01:31] Unknown:
And Most of my heroes. I've I've met them or, you know, I've I've given a lot of them rides home. You know what I mean? I've I have a lot of their numbers now, and, it's it's weird to listen to some of their music now at this point because I've recorded them or know them on a deeper level. But, I've definitely met a lot of cool people. There's like I said, I I can't regret anything. It's it's been a great journey. Does it the just off the book question.
[01:01:55] Unknown:
Do do you when when you've recorded somebody, and then you you're in the studio with them, you hear the you hear the raw recording, and then you hear the final product. Has what's the diff like, can you find the difference and say and say, okay, I know in between this and this, he he goofed here, we had to stop, we had to start again, and all that kind of stuff. Oh, yeah. Like does that ruin the music for you?
[01:02:17] Unknown:
Mu music in general is kinda ruined for you as an engineer. I tell my students that right from the jump, especially my college students. Because once you're listening for, you know, I call it, like, crafting your analytical ear. Mhmm. So once you've crafted that and you could pick out everything you're looking for, the average listener is not listening for the bass guitar separate from the guitar, listening for synth sound, listening to how they mic the overheads, listening for miking techniques, and and listening for all the different pieces of the drum and, the toms, how they're panned and everything. And that's something as an engineer you have to do. So it kinda does take away the, like, fascination about it. But it's it's a beautiful thing to be involved in. I think the engineer is the least, gets the least amount of credit with the most important part of a song. Because you I I call it create you create the environment that you want a listener to be in. So I'm telling my my students all the time. I'm like, listen.
You need to take your reverbs and all these different effects and shape this the way that you want a listener to listen to it. So do you want them to feel like they're in the middle of a forest or in the middle of a cave when this reverb swells up on a cymbal and just and then there's a dead silent drop, and then it just pounds back in. You know, how how do you want to make them feel when you're listening to it? And a raw recording, you know, just a a band doing a raw recording, it the final product is so, so different. You know, I I I think so many bands would never make it if it was just up to their musicianship.
But but having a Yeah. A good engineer really can change the way that you just feel about a song. Yeah. See, I always I I judge a band
[01:04:03] Unknown:
by their live performance, you know. And Yeah. If if if they need that, oh, the name of it just flipped out of my head. The auto tune. If they if they need an auto tune, I you've lost me. I I am not interested in what you have to do. And and if you have to have backing, like, prerecorded backing.
[01:04:24] Unknown:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's No good. That's that's a whole that's a whole different beast right there. I mean, auto tune at this point, pretty much every song that's out has a form of auto tune. Just not like what you think when you hear the word. When you think auto tune, you think like t pain, just like really intense, like, auto tune. But most songs, I'd say 99% have a form of pitch correction. You know, maybe a singer hit, like, a perfect take, but one note was off or a couple little flat notes, you could just move that note up, and you'd no one would ever know. It doesn't sound like there's auto tune. It doesn't sound like an effect. You're just fixing these couple little notes. So I I would every song you hear has it.
[01:05:06] Unknown:
As far as the I'm talking about using that type of stuff in a live performance.
[01:05:09] Unknown:
Oh, live performance? Yeah. That's that's rough. That that's rough. I I can get down with, like, a reverb pedal or something, but but doing too much crazy effects is, I've there is one band of, they're called Purity Ring, and they're like, they're more of like an electronic band, and they do a lot of vocal effects live, but they're really just cool. Like, they have a crazy light show and, that yeah. That that that's a whole different thing. I I there's certain genres like pop and that kind of stuff where it's part of the show I can get with, but, like, a rock band or a punk rock band. Even, like, with hip hop, if I go see a rapper and, he has his vocal track behind him, he's just on top of his words, I I I don't like that. It's it feels cheap. Yeah. I agree with you. One one of my favorite bands,
[01:05:56] Unknown:
and it's not a punk band, it's Pink Floyd. And, Get down with some Floyd. Oh, dude, man. What a show they put on. You know, even all the way back into the early early days, you know, the Syd Barrett days. I mean, they always put on a show. They always sounded amazing. Like, and and that's to me, that's that's a when I say that I judge a band by their live performance is do you sound as good live as you do on a recording, or do you sound better live? There are a lot of songs, even with Pink Floyd, that I don't like to listen to the to the studio version. I prefer to listen to the live version. It's just there's just something different about it, you know? Oh, I I agree. There's a different feel to it, different vibe to it. And, I know it's really not related to it, but see, that's why I like to do the live podcast as opposed to do a prerecorded one. There's just a different feel to it, different verb vibe to it, you know? I I agree. I'm like off the cuff kinda guy. So I don't like, like, if somebody sends me, like, questions ahead of time, I don't even read them. Yeah. It just it's I feel like it's not authentic. You know? I am I'm very much,
[01:06:59] Unknown:
like, I try to be as authentic as I can. So it's I'd rather just go off the the cuff with everything. I I have a I have a producer. Her name is,
[01:07:06] Unknown:
I call her anonymous Angela, and it's a long story, but but, she helps me put together the show sometimes, most of the time. So she she'll do all the back work for me while I'm at the at my regular job, and she'll put everything together, and and she'll give me some general outlines, you know, for the show. And, 90% of the time, I don't even follow, you know. I I might I might get I'm sure it drives her crazy. Well, I hope she doesn't listen to this one because, you know, I don't I don't want her to to think that I'm not appreciative of it. No more outlines for you. No. She's no. She's great though. She she's she is great. And, she knows she I don't I I I always I brag on her because she deserves it. She I don't know how she does this, you know, she I I the reason why we call her anonymous Angela is because she doesn't like a lot of her personal information getting out there, so I have to be very careful what I say. But, you know, she manages a household, kids, husband, work. She's involved in local politics where she lives.
She is, involved in a lot of political action committees, and she she helps other podcast. I don't know where the hell she finds time to do all this stuff that she does for this show. So and and she but and she's amazing. She really is, and I really do appreciate her. And, like with this one, she sent me about sixteen sixteen guides, we call them. And, I think I I think I've actually asked you three of the 16. Everything else is just off the cuff, you know. And that's why I I like to do it that way. One of the best compliments that I've ever had as doing as doing the podcast has been that, you know, it just feels like a couple of guys sitting around by the by the grill, you know, having a beer just shooting for you. Yeah. I like I like that. It's good. It's good. It's fun. It's There's I've been on a couple where it's just you could tell they have the questions, and you're getting the question no matter what. So I just answered that question, your previous question, but you're still now you're just gonna kinda think of a new answer, which is cool too, but it's different format. Yeah. Totally. And, I heard one of the shows you were on, from, like, I think it was two days ago or three days ago, or at least it was released two or three days ago. Was it, Joe's?
[01:09:20] Unknown:
Might also been Joe. Maven.
[01:09:23] Unknown:
Yeah. That was that was a cool one. He he was a real Yeah. He was really good. I I I I enjoyed it. Now I love the story about the Nina Simone poster. Yeah. I I I it's literally right over here. Yeah. I think everybody had a Nina Simone poster.
[01:09:33] Unknown:
Dude, Just incredible. Yeah. One of one of the one of the goats as the young kids say.
[01:09:41] Unknown:
Absolutely. So, so we'll, hit some final thoughts here. So, what what do you hope that, our listeners will walk away with from this conversation tonight?
[01:09:50] Unknown:
Well, I mean, I I hope that if if, you know, anybody listen to this and they've maybe felt like, they need something to do to just, like, get some of their anger out or anything, try to create something. Try to just sit down, you know. There I I shouldn't say this because maybe it'll take business away from you, but there's so much stuff on YouTube now, and there's so many things online that you could learn how to do a song and be pretty good at it. And studio equipment, when I first started, you know, you you couldn't do a good song without a $2,000 microphone. You couldn't do a good song without a $10,000 interface. And now you can do a song with a mic under $500 and an interface for a $100, and it's a radio hit. So there there's no barrier to entry anymore.
If you if it's something you've wanted to do when I was getting my master's in music technology, there was a 70 year old doctor that just loved music getting his as well. He's been a medical doctor for, like, forty something years, and he wanted to be a he wanted to career change at 70 to be a musician. It's like that that's where we're at now. That's awesome. There's, you know, there's YouTube University.
[01:11:04] Unknown:
There you know what I mean? You could you could figure it out. Listen. On my on my regular job, I I I hit YouTube a lot for a lot of things that I gotta deal with at the regular job sometimes. It's, yeah, it's a big help. YouTube's incredible. It is incredible. It is. Rumble's getting there. Yeah? Yeah. Rumble's getting there. So Good. And I have to push it, because I'm a I'm a shareholder in Rumble. So
[01:11:23] Unknown:
Oh, yeah. Yeah. Push it. Look. Full disclosure.
[01:11:26] Unknown:
Rumble, rumble, rumble. Definitely plug it. So, so who's somebody that you respect right now, and what are they doing, that inspires you?
[01:11:37] Unknown:
Oh, man. There's so many people. I mean, I I I gotta give a shout out to my wife because, you know, she's getting her her business off the ground, seeing society, and, she's also doing the public speaking thing. And, just how hard she's working on it on top of doing her day to day is it's very inspiring. As far as, like, music goes, I have I'm so fortunate to be around just like an incredible group of, people. You know, I've had clients we opened the studio sixteen years ago, and I've had clients since some of the same clients have been coming to me for sixteen years. That's awesome. And just watching these guys grow, people like, Trey Digga or, my my business partner Ethan, just or he a young guy, you win that I've been, working with. Just all just super incredible, just people and artists that watching them just ins inspires me every day. Going through life and just still finding time to to put out music and put everything aside to just follow the dream is just incredible. That's awesome, man. I I I like that answer. That's a good answer. I like that. I like the fact that you threw your wife into it because Oh, no. No. She's amazing. My wife is amazing. She she, you know,
[01:12:51] Unknown:
she works very, very hard, and I'm very proud of her. Awesome. Alright. Steve, where can, where can the audience go to get more about you, your work, and everything you're doing?
[01:12:59] Unknown:
Well, I mean, you can reach out to me directly on any social media. It's just steveskaks, s x a k s, on all social media platforms. Very Google friendly. You'll get probably way too much information about me on there. But, you can head over to let'sgoguy.com or steveskax.com or marstonhouse.studio. Any of those places, feel free to hit me up. If you wanna book a session, marstonhouse.studio. That's the easiest way to do it. But if you just wanna reach out to me about anything,
[01:13:32] Unknown:
any of those other ways is good. Awesome. And we'll make sure we have some of the links. If you if you don't mind, I I only have one, web address for you. So if you can just shoot me a a message with, Okay. With the additional link so I can get them into the show notes for you. We'll get all that stuff out there. Alright. Steve Skacks, thank you so much, man. This was great. I really appreciate you taking the time to be with us tonight. And Joe, I I appreciate you having me. It was a great conversation. Like you said, two guys just hanging out. That's that's my favorite. Yeah. Well and we'll do it again. We'll do it again sometime. For sure. Alright. Thank you so much. Bye, brother. I'll talk to you soon. Alright. Steve Skacks.
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Introduction and Show Overview
Weekend Recap and Guest Introduction
Housekeeping and Listener Engagement
Guest Interview: Steve Skacks
Military Experience and Music Career
Balancing Family and Career
Nonprofit Work and Impact on Youth
Writing 'Invasion of the Punk Rockers Who Drink Blood'
Music Production Insights and Final Thoughts
