Respecting Different Perspectives

SPEAKER_04 0:00

The whole idea here is to understand that we all have different perspectives and you don't have to agree with it, but you do have to respect the fact that they have it.

SPEAKER_02 0:36

That's what uh that's what makes the world go round. Um the beauty of life is that everybody, you know, reality is out there and we're all seeing it through our own window. Right. And uh different shapes and sizes of what's reality is kind of a conglomeration of what everybody sees. And uh yeah, you know, I uh I like diversity of mind, you know. That's that's how that's how grand new ideas come to the table.

SPEAKER_04 1:14

Ooh, okay. Grand and new. I like the I like where you're going. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:19

Throw all different ideas and perspectives in a pot. That's where the real brainstorming starts.

SPEAKER_04 1:26

And then kind of give it a give it a little spin, and you never know what direction it's.

Rhythm Royale And Musical Improv

SPEAKER_04 2:08

Um I went to basically what Rhythm Royale is. It is a um whose line is it anyway for musicians. There's a f several wheels, and they have the emotion, uh, the key, uh, different little facets of the track that that help comprise it. And they can be adjusted and we can create themes for them. Um I recently just sang about a horror story about the flat Earth. Um we'll we'll include a link to that below because both Eric and I uh we got picked, and when I heard his his song, and it's about five minutes where you you you're jamming with all uh maybe five or six different other musicians. Um we have uh keyboards, drums, guitars, bass, sometimes saxophones, sometimes vox, sometimes that's how you say it, right? The vox. I don't know. Is that how you say it? I think that's how you that's how it's spelled.

SPEAKER_02 3:13

Yeah, sounds sounds good.

SPEAKER_04 3:14

Right, okay, cool. Um, and and we put everybody together for five minutes, and um you can play, you get opportunities to play with artists that you could have never dreamed of in a million years, and maybe those artists are at a different rung of the uh you know of of the uh of the atmosphere or of of the the level playing field that we all try and stay on, you know, and everybody's got a little bit, you know, everybody's a different a different notch, you know. Uh see they see it from a different from a different point of view. And uh it's really cool to be able to. I got the jam with uh Diamond Canopy. Um who were you uh singing with?

SPEAKER_02 3:56

I was uh we had Mikey on guitar, okay, who I uh played in a band with actually. So what's Mikey's last name? Mikey Bosch.

SPEAKER_04 4:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 4:08

Cool. We had Nestor on bass, which is pretty big time.

SPEAKER_04 4:11

Hey, Messi.

SPEAKER_02 4:13

Yeah, it was it was the real deal. So we were trying to we were trying to really throw down to that one. I don't remember the guy's name. He was on the drums, but he was I I like that.

SPEAKER_04 4:22

Well we'll find out, we'll make sure we we get his information.

SPEAKER_02 4:25

Our rhythm section was kicking, and uh, you know, me and Mikey were up there like we gotta we gotta put the spice on this.

Meet AWOL And Eric Everett

SPEAKER_04 4:33

You know what? Well, let's uh so first off, my name's AWOL. I go by AWOL artist, A-W-A-L-L-A-R-T-I-S-T, and I am a singer-songwriter from Baltimore. You know, I haven't been doing the intros this way, and I've been speaking with some people, and it's you know, it's smart for me to let you know what I do because not everybody, you know, watches this and knows what either of us do. Maybe you just happen to see this for the first time. So I'm a singer-songwriter from Baltimore. Uh, I started my own collective called uh Unidentified Enterprise, and I have been writing music for 20 years, and uh I'm super passionate about bringing people together and turning my thoughts and ideas into music, which feels like medicine for me at this time, and I'm able to create my own medicine, and it's it's super powerful, and it's powerful enough to get its own darn chair now. We we used to sit in a couch. I'm sure if you've seen some of the other episodes, this is a whole different um uh vibe for what uh we used to have and staying trying to stay true to the name. We're uh we're switching things up. And um I have Mr. Eric Everett here. Uh you heard that we we met uh actually, I think we originally met at the Rhythm Royale podcast. Oh, yeah. And I noticed his gosh, his ability to improvise was really cool, and it inspired me to want to dig a little bit more. And I uh found that this gentleman has played almost every instrument that you can think of, at least picked one up and played it at some point uh to some degree, and I was really impressed by his ability to just perform a a track that was not thought about ahead of time. And I I I really respect that out of out of an artist to be able to to at any time be able to on the spot, be able to to paint and and create how you do. So thanks. Gosh, tell tell uh the respecting prospectives uh crowd who you are and um you know how you made it here.

SPEAKER_02 6:46

Well, yeah, my uh think he said my name's Eric. Um I am uh yeah from the Maryland area, grew up Columbia, Ellicate City. Uh spent a lot of time coming down to Baltimore for the music, the music community, the art community in Baltimore is just it's a beautiful thing. Balmour. Um I uh started coming out to these rhythm royale um that he's talking about a few years ago now. And yeah, like he said, there's just an incredible group of people that come up here and um the way they I'm just as inspired as you know you're talking about by hearing hearing you get up and improvise too. So thank you.

SPEAKER_04 7:27

Yeah, it means a lot, dude.

SPEAKER_02 7:28

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:30

Means a lot, seriously. Yeah, so it's cool to be able to see that in someone else, you know, and uh yeah, gosh. How how long has uh how we've known each other, maybe a year or two?

SPEAKER_02 7:41

Yeah, I was gonna say a couple years, probably. Okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:44

And every time it's in a setting where we're being super productive and just playing instruments and just really um, you know, um stretching that uh that our imagination with other people. And it's really cool, isn't it? Yeah, oh yeah. Love that, man. Yeah. Tell the tell the the people here, um, give them a little bit of a background into like some of the things that you've been a part of when you were younger. And um, you know, me and Eric had had had a few conversations. I try and I try and have some conversations with people before we hop up here. That way we can just get an idea of, you know, I want to figure out just what we can highlight and and the things that that really stand out, you know, and and you know, it's it's all part of the story. It's all it's all important, but at the same time, um, I think just like when you're recording a song, you're you know, you really are taking that time once you you know you book certain amount of studio time because that is the time where you know you're gonna be pressing record and you're taking that to the next level. Yep. You know, so that's how I can do that with these um with these uh podcasts. And um I got to learn about him. You tell people about um let's see, you're coming up in your dad's jewelry shop and then some some bartender stuff where you were super successful, made a lot of money, and we're able to move on. Tell them. Sorry, I

Open Jams At Clarksville Commons

SPEAKER_04 9:08

let me shut up now.

SPEAKER_02 9:08

Oh no, you're good. Yeah, I mean, I uh I I like being creative, so I find myself in different creative endeavors. Yeah, like you said, bartended for a while, uh um got to uh you know learn how to mix up some nice drinks, create drinks. My dad's um he's had his own jewelry store for longer than I can remember.

SPEAKER_05 9:29

Oh wow.

SPEAKER_02 9:30

So I've uh grown up around it, you know, been around it. Um, and uh he's got a real neat uh location he's been at um for I don't know eight years now in Clarksville. And uh yeah, so I worked there with him. We we host open jams ourselves right out in our shopping center.

SPEAKER_04 9:50

Tell tell tell us a little more about that.

SPEAKER_02 9:52

Yeah, so my daddy's got his guitars on the wall. He's uh you know, he's a he's a music lover too. And um it's a really it's a real neat shopping center where they try to do communal things, bring the community together. Um they'll uh they have like a family movie night, put up a projector and play, you know, Indiana Jones, you know. You just come yeah, bring, bring up some lawn chairs and sit in a little grass circle there. So different different things like every night, um the farmers markets and stuff like that, kind of get the uh get the community in the shopping center together. You try and do some little bit more than just just a place you go to stop and shop, you need and leave.

SPEAKER_04 10:30

Could you uh it's in Clarksville? Clarksville is there any specific name of the shopping center?

SPEAKER_02 10:34

It's the Clarksville Commons.

SPEAKER_04 10:36

Okay, there you go. So if you ever want to find out any information about some of the local events that are happening there, um search Clarksville Commons. Clarksville Commons.

SPEAKER_02 10:46

Yeah, and uh the the store is Everett Designers of Fine Jewelry. Oh, there you go. And uh we do our jams outside so we don't do it through the winter. So we'll we'll be starting up soon, a couple nights a month, and we keep it real loose. You just jump right in and play. We set up a bunch of amps and set my drum set up there and you know put a cooler beers out. Nice. Yeah, so we keep we keep it real low-key and loose, but uh yeah, it's a nice way I get to play with my dad and um spend uh spend a lot of time practicing on the drums because you know you get so many guitar players coming up. Not often you get uh you can get drummers coming up. So for years and years, I'd I'd be out there playing drums for four hours a night. So it's nice, you know. I've got work on those chops a little bit. Those skills.

SPEAKER_04 11:34

Yeah, nice, yeah, nice. Um, let's see here.

Hard Instruments And Finding Your Voice

SPEAKER_04 11:37

What was what was the most challenging instrument that you found throughout time?

SPEAKER_02 11:45

Oh man, that's uh that's a tough one. Uh you know, they all have they all have their own challenges in their own little ways. Yeah, you know, uh, you know, with drums, it's uh unlocking all those limbs together. You can't really think about what all both arms and both feet are doing. Once you get locked in, you kind of get to that point where you can zone out. Oh, sure. And your body's just kind of doing it. Your body's just doing it.

SPEAKER_04 12:11

It just it it happens out of nowhere.

SPEAKER_02 12:13

Yeah, but you know, the guitar, uh, you know, a lot of the harmony stuff, you're playing with other melodic instruments, other guitars, or um, you know, and finding those harmonies and finding, you know, your own little spot within the sound. It has its its own little challenges there. Um, you sing too, so you know, I'm sure you know uh I try.

SPEAKER_03 12:37

Yeah, I'm trying, man.

SPEAKER_02 12:39

Yeah, that I'd say one of the big challenges was I always wanted to get to the point where when I hear my singing back, I'm not like, oh, that's that's my voice. Uh you know. That's so funny you say that. Yeah. So you know, that was and it, you know, it took years, but you know, got to the point where I could listen to myself singing, oh yeah, that's not a good thing. Nice. Now talking, I don't know, and go listen back to this and you're my talking voice. That's a different story.

SPEAKER_04 13:05

No, dude, it's all about, you know, it's you know this, it's all about your energy and all about you know what you bring. I will say you're kind of camo with the uh with the the um chair here. So you might only see a part of of him like at certain times here. Um hey, give us a little bit about um who inspired you when you were younger as far as bands go that kind of helped you kind of navigate the the the pathway of music that you you know

From Desk Drumming To Drum Kit

SPEAKER_04 13:35

decided to take throughout life.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Well, so yeah, how far back you want me to go?

SPEAKER_04 13:40

Dude, where I go back, you know what? Go back to when you you gave me a memory about wait a second, this is really cool. He told me a memory about when you were at the desk. Take us back to the desk. Okay. Alright, and you were, you know, you're beatboxing on the desk and and Yeah, so yeah, spent years just drumming on the desk.

SPEAKER_02 14:02

And that all kind of started. I was in fourth grade, and I was playing cello in the orchestra at the time. And uh, you know, I've I'd listen to, you know, my my parents you know play the classics, you know, listen to Zeppelin and the Beatles, and and I loved the rock music, and you know, I did the did the orchestra thing because you know it was something new, but they uh they had us do a uh a recital in front of the school. Okay, and uh we did ours and you know it was fine. And then we go and sit down, and the band teacher comes up and she says, Well, now this the band is gonna play a song now. This is contemporary music, so you can get up and you don't have to wait to the end to cheer. If you want to get up and cheer at any point, you can do that. If you want to get up and dance, and I was like, Well, this sounds fun, and uh I was like, Oh, freedom, nice, yeah, and then the band came out and they played Louie Louie, the old 50s rock and roll tune. Louie Louis, yeah, we got gooh nice, and I was mesmerized, yes, and it was the uh it was the the drummer was doing that like um oh what what what do you call that beat? The uh is it the the break beat? I don't remember it's like the one that it's been sampled a million times and there you go. So I just spent years just tapping that on my desk. And uh eventually uh I was about probably about 15, I got a drum set. Okay. I started learning the drums.

SPEAKER_04 15:41

Pivotal, pivotal point in your life, probably, right?

SPEAKER_02 15:44

Yeah. So yeah, a real big uh turning point for me is I grew up playing baseball. I love playing baseball. And um, you know, I think I'm getting into that high those high school years, and all of a sudden it's it's getting serious, you know. Now you're competing with other people on your own team for starting position. It kind of sucked a lot of the fun out for me. I love playing like the rec ball and just being out there having fun with my friends. Yeah, for sure, for sure. And you start playing music, and I get a group of guys together, and we get in the basement and we start, and it's all of a sudden, oh, there's there's no competition here. Oh nice. We can do whatever we want. We can't make our own rules, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 16:23

Nice. I did.

SPEAKER_02 16:24

Um, so you know, it kind of gave me that the outlet I'd really always been looking for. Okay. You know, say I could still play in the sandbox, like like like being a little kid, you know, with your friends playing, playing with your friends.

SPEAKER_00 16:38

That's awesome.

SPEAKER_02 16:39

So that kind of really set me on the path to just um you know get going deep into the music. Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_04 16:47

Um, let's see here. Tell us though, um some of the inspirations that uh that you had.

Rock Shows That Lit The Fuse

SPEAKER_02 16:54

So back at back at those in those days, I was I was getting real into the uh the harder, you know, rock and roll music. I uh my my dad took me to Velvet Revolver when I was 15 and uh seen Scott Wylan, um, and how the crowd just went wild. The security is peeling these these older women off him that are trying to rip his pants off. And I was like, I think being a front man is probably a pretty cool job, right? And you know, I wanted to play shows, and I was thinking, I want to be on stage, but I don't want to be sitting the whole time. So I wanted to start a band where I could where I could sing be a front man. You know, I'd never sang before. I was like, how hard could it be?

SPEAKER_04 17:40

You wanted to be up there kind of moving around, moving and shaking. Okay, I see you. I see you.

SPEAKER_02 17:45

Yeah, and um then uh I got uh I got my parents to uh let me go with some friends to see Motley Crue. Okay, and uh I see that down in uh the big arena there in Baltimore. I was 16 at the time. And uh you know, Tommy Lee, he pulls out his titty cam. The titty cam. And you know, just me and me and my two friends 16 years old in an arena, and then just it's just the entire arena of these women just whipping their tits out. I can just picture it now, dude. I was like, I was pretty sold on rock and roll music at that point. But uh, you know, or what really what really brought it home was uh there's a couple next to us, older couple. They'd been you could tell they'd been right there in the 80s on the sunset strip seeing these. Nice. And uh little lady sitting on her husband's shoulder, she turns to us, big sagging titties, and just oh, that is so funny, dude.

SPEAKER_04 18:45

How do you like these boys?

SPEAKER_00 18:47

They're old smokers. Yeah, you like these babies.

SPEAKER_02 18:53

Whatever this rock and roll is doing to people, I'm all about it. There's no turning back for me at that point.

SPEAKER_04 19:00

That is such a good story, dude. Uh you need to put that in your autobiography at some point. You know what I mean? Oh, that's too good, dude. Um, let me ask you, uh, as far as uh bands go, you know, what was uh what was the first time there you kind of really put put a group of guys together and realized that you know you could you could give it a name and you could you know travel with those guys?

SPEAKER_02 19:25

Yeah. So well, so we're at you know, right around that point, I started being a front man.

SPEAKER_03 19:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

And uh we'd we'd play the Judas Priest Motley Crude tunes, and we were getting up there in leather chains and you know, biker jackets and cut-off finger gloves and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 19:42

Would you have to cut the thing out yourself or was it would it already bottom like that?

SPEAKER_02 19:45

Yeah, cut out, pre-cut. Probably would have been cooler if I cut it myself. Pre-cut though. Okay, I see. But yeah, it was just a complete thrill to just get up there and just explore this other side of myself, you know. You're kind of you grow up, you know, nobody really pushes you in that in that direction. Oh, why don't you go put some leather on and go sing Judas Priest songs? But yeah, that's kind of where you know really started gigging doing that. And uh then uh you we'd sit around we'd we'd write songs, it was fun. We'd get in a whole band together and we'd write songs as a as a team. Nice, and uh, you know, but I'd kind of just be sitting around and wait till they got some music for me to pen some lyrics down.

SPEAKER_04 20:29

You were doing the lyrics, okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Gotcha. And but then they'd be done their part and they'd be off goofing around and I'd and I'd have to sit there and write lyrics. Right.

Learning Guitar And Catharsis

SPEAKER_02 20:36

So I started picking up guitar because I was like, well, you know, then I can be more part of the the process.

SPEAKER_04 20:42

A little more productive.

SPEAKER_02 20:43

Yeah, start learning chords and a little rhythm guitar.

SPEAKER_04 20:46

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

And then before long I'd just fell in love with the guitar. Yes. Um, so what was it?

SPEAKER_04 20:53

What was it that um if you could describe what it was about either the sound or or what it was that that that drew you to it?

SPEAKER_02 21:01

A big a big thing was you know, once I felt that the singing over while playing, um kind of a similar thing like I mentioned with the drums where you can't really think about all your limbs doing it at once and singing and playing guitars the same way, you kind of get locked in and you can't really think about playing and singing. So you get but you get to this point where you're just kind of playing.

SPEAKER_03 21:29

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:30

And you're singing, and you know, then you know whatever that is you the your conscious is, you know, then realizes oh wow, I'm singing and playing. And then well, how am I think thinking about how I'm singing and playing? Well, you know, it just you know it's it's a very cathartic feeling, I guess. Good word for it. Yeah. Yeah. Um, so that that was kind of really what what struck for me at first. Um but uh You know, then uh then then down the down the line a little bit when I started uh getting into um maybe uh some might say more sophisticated kinds of music. Ah, there you go.

SPEAKER_04 22:12

Okay. Caveat with the caveat.

Bonnaroo And The Jam Band Shift

SPEAKER_02 22:15

I ended up at uh I went to Bonnaro in 2012. Shoot, okay, nice fish headlined on Sunday. And uh I it was just a complete game changer of a moment for me. Um never really was real familiar with them at all going into that, but I just saw, you know, a couple hours before they went, I saw hordes of people wearing tie-dye walking by. I was like, uh these are like I didn't know hippies still existed.

SPEAKER_04 22:46

Yeah, they're here, dude.

SPEAKER_02 22:47

Yeah, these this is like a fun crowd here. Yeah. And then get up there, and you know, I was used to shows where everybody's like pecked in like sardines and you know, don't move, you know. You can't mean it, yeah, you can't get past uh, you know, like that that fish crowd, everybody had their little dancing space, and everybody was so friendly and kind and walking out of the crowd. I between the the crowd and then just the music just going deep into just you know minutes and minutes of jams.

SPEAKER_04 23:21

Jams on jams on jams on jams. It's like a peanut butter and jelly sandwich with no peanut well, a little bit of peanut butter, but every kind of jam you could think of.

SPEAKER_02 23:31

Yep. So I'm really kind of set. Well, now I want I want to learn how to not just play guitar, but be able to really play play in the sandbox with a group and kind of go off script and talk with the instruments. Have a conversation with the with the guys you're playing with. Um you know, uh so that that that that was really kind of pivotal moment that kind of set me now, you know, to to get to where I am today, I would say.

SPEAKER_04 24:03

Dude, that's awesome to be able to take a peek into kind of you know what brought that

What “Winging It” Really Means

SPEAKER_04 24:10

out of you. And um it's it's so cool. I I was trying to describe what a jam is to my vocal instructor who um she is a um she sings um uh opera music and it is you know totally different than or the process of her practicing and and performing is totally different than the process of a a jam, you know, um, and she was trying to understand how you come basically kind of not like unprepared, but just not knowing what what is going to happen, you know, and that unpreparedness, it's not it's not even a bad thing, it's not that you're unprepared, it's just like not do you have a different word for it?

SPEAKER_02 25:04

Oh man, improvise. I guess improvise, winging it, yeah, yeah, winging it, exactly. You made a good point. Uh the yeah, I up until then I was used to rehearsing it. We play a show, we'd rehearse everything down to a T.

SPEAKER_03 25:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 25:23

Um, you know, maybe like you'd have a few bars for like a you know, a keys or guitar solo or something. Now you go a little bit off script, but you know, you really stick in within the framework. Whereas the jams, it's like you kind of you get to maybe maybe have a song section, but then you get to a point where it's like now we're gonna just go and explore together and exploration, see where we get to from there, and just kind of figure it out on the fly.

SPEAKER_04 25:54

I love that. It's kind of like an exploration of sound, you know?

SPEAKER_02 25:57

Um you're real, you're really uh you're feeding off the crowd, and the crowd is feeding off you, so there's this real give and take between between you and the crowd when you get to when you get get into that jam.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

Yeah.

Energy Exchange With Crowd And Band

SPEAKER_04 26:12

Describe, get into that a little more. I think that's kind of a cool, uh, a cool subject of the give and the take from uh the audience and the performer themselves, and also the give and the take between like the the instrumentalists and the and the singers. Yeah, yeah. Describe give us give us a little bit, take us kind of like a bird's eye uh view.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Oh well, I mean, when you're on stage, uh, I mean, I'm sure you know, you just you would feel that energy.

SPEAKER_03 26:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:41

Why not you know, when people are out there dancing and they're they're shouting, you you feel it. And um, you know, I guess as a as a musician, you're you're you're you're working on channeling that and giving it right back to the audience. Feed that energy, keep them going, and they're keeping you going. And then like you said, yeah, then would you're playing with the other guys in your group, guys, gals in your group, um, then you're you're feeding off each other. It's it's like like I said before, it's like a you're having a you're having a conversation.

SPEAKER_04 27:18

Oh, right, right. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 27:20

Yeah, it's this give and take. And uh, you know, somebody hits a lick that just boosts it up a little bit, and then the other guys kind of take that and run with it, and then you know, they the train is you know starting to really you know, really get some get some power behind it, and you're you're going, you're going, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 27:40

But then the the flip side is when we want to pull that energy back and you kind of get intimate with it and you get soft and it's a little soft, you know, you gotta lower your voice.

SPEAKER_02 27:54

Yeah. Yeah. And then uh, you know, people start uh yeah, people on stage and people in the crowd. Well, then you're you really you start to pay attention and feel that the that intimate moment together. You know, I've been there where you know I'm out in the crowd where I'm just coming to tears. And uh, you know, might not happen. I'm crying right now. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 28:19

Just so you know.

SPEAKER_02 28:20

There's something about the music, you know, they're saying something, I don't know what it is, but sometimes it just it hits you and it's beautiful.

SPEAKER_04 28:29

Yeah, it's really cool, isn't it? Yeah. To be able to, like you said, share that moment with everybody. And I think being an artist and being prepared enough to, you know, know the theory that's involved. And it's funny because like there's two, I feel like there's two kinds of people with that. Like, there's the people who know the the theory, and then there's the people who just know the sound of it, you know. Um, and I think it's cool because if you have a little bit of each, you can kind of put that together, and um, you know, like you said, you're kind of bouncing those conversational ideas with each instrument, you know, to each other. And it's it's so cool. I I I love it. You know, it's it's I'm grateful to be able to share that type of.

SPEAKER_02 29:19

Yeah, I just had a thought. Um that

Music As Connection In Hard Times

SPEAKER_02 29:22

you know, I've thought about this before, where like you're thinking about like the the history of of music, and you know, it's it goes back as far as you know, for humans go back in history and way back. Man, back to the days where you know when the when the tribe wanted to co commune together, you know, maybe around the campfire, when you'd have people people playing music. No, that's how you brought the community together. Music was always something that was you're talking back in the day. Yeah, back in the day. But yeah, and it's uh it's carried over to this to these days, you know, it's the the community. It's it's you know, the at the show you feel that community, but then just sitting here with you, and we're talking about the the rhythm royale gems, and you're getting to get up on stage with different people every time. And uh that community is building than the Baltimore, you know, community, but it you know, it it it's uh you'd see the threads that go all throughout everywhere, you know, as people come and go as artists travel around and share their thing in other places, and you know, it it get this whole web of community going. Before you know it, everybody's your neighbor.

SPEAKER_04 30:40

Whoa, before you know it, everybody is your neighbor. That's a that's a cool way to think about that. Um yeah, I guess you know, if yes, the the an interconnected web, it makes me I was thinking about this earlier today, and like, you know, we are one and like as as so above is below. And just think like if gosh man, like part of this grand scheme of of this universe, and like dude, you know how lucky we are to like be able to like have that have that experience, like to and and if we are connected, like look at this thing, this, this, this, this massive, the biggest thing that you can ever even imagine. Like, you are a part of it, you know, and like we're we're just we're lucky to be able to to share that. And I think music really helps us, you know, kind of put your barriers down, especially, you know, um in today's climate. You know, there's lots of walls being put up, so you got to try and figure out how to, you know, what walls are needed and what walls um you know you you need a door for, you know, you need to get through.

SPEAKER_02 31:52

Oh, I was gonna say break right down.

SPEAKER_04 31:54

You break right down, dude. Yeah, break down. You know, so I think it's important. And sorry, I just cut I kind of kind of got uh introspective there for a second.

SPEAKER_01 32:03

I like that.

SPEAKER_04 32:04

I like that you know, so um, but yeah, man, I mean, gosh, you know, tell us a little bit about uh the Mojo Collective. Give

The Mojo Collective Origin Story

SPEAKER_04 32:12

us, you know, this is your this is your current band current the current project, yeah. Crew, dog. Tell them about the crew and and and what you got going on.

SPEAKER_02 32:19

And so we got we got a big show coming up. Uh we're playing Sweebo Southwest Baltimore Fest in a few weeks since uh May 24th, I think.

SPEAKER_04 32:29

Sounds about right. This is going to be released after that. I'm gonna be honest with you. So we'll put a link down below for like uh a feed or something that they can they can watch at some point. So support them in that way.

SPEAKER_02 32:42

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 32:42

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 32:43

All right. Well, um, then we already played it and we rocked the house.

SPEAKER_04 32:49

That's what I'm talking about, dude.

SPEAKER_02 32:50

But uh, yeah, so we we we've been um we've been grinding. Um uh so we get it's the collective. We we uh a lot of times there's six, seven people up there on stage with us. Sometimes um some somebody's friend oh he plays saxophone. No, let's get him up, play, play this gig with us.

SPEAKER_04 33:10

Call him somebody's mom plays the fucking the violin or something.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Yeah, yeah. You know, so you have a real collective kind of feel to it where uh you know I don't know how many gigs we've played where it's been the same crew every time. Nice. Um they would definitely you know have our the a lot of the core core guys there.

SPEAKER_04 33:28

You mentioned a few of them earlier. Did you mention did you give everybody a shout out?

SPEAKER_02 33:33

Mikey uh on guitar, he was um you know, in this jam you're talking about that uh the rhythm royale. Christian, he comes up to the the watermelon rooms and plays a lot on bass. Um we got Ian. Um see three of me, Ian, and Mikey all on guitar. So uh if you like guitars, we got three of them on stage. Nice. Um Jake on drums, who is just an absolute beast behind the kit. Um and uh Matt uh Matt Feldhouse on Keys is a more recent addition to uh to the to the group, but he's a good buddy of ours, so we're really excited to uh be playing with him some more. Nice. Um yeah, man, uh a lot of times you'll see us with a uh with a sax player, a trumpet player, and it's a good chance that it's our first time playing with them.

SPEAKER_04 34:22

But you ever had a trombonist? Um didn't we? That's actually a good question. I used to play the trombone. I'd like to maybe do a no, I I can't even speak like that because I haven't played the thing in a long time. You should have a tr uh uh a trombone.

SPEAKER_02 34:38

Or trumpet, maybe like having a few and get getting those you know, especially like funk music and you get those like yeah, yeah, yeah. You know? Yeah. Um, but uh yeah, you know how'd the band come to be? So uh you know a few of us started renting out a practice spot together a couple years ago, uh a few years ago now, I guess.

SPEAKER_03 35:00

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 35:00

And um, you know, started out, you know, just getting together when we could and just just jam it out for hours. And um then uh this is Christian I mentioned uh just kept just kept running into him at shows and we'd be hanging out, and uh one day uh he turns around and what instrument do you play? I was like, I play guitar. And he was like, I play bass. And I was like, Oh, you know, uh plenty of times we're we're up there. Um and we're a few of us guitar players are switching off uh on uh you know on bass. You know, it'd be nice to have we should give a shout out to my buddy Vance. He'd play bass with us sometimes. He's played uh shout out to Vance, he's done a gig with us too, um, filled in. And um, but yeah, Christian here, he uh so he starts coming up and he lives closer to Annapolis. Okay, but uh he's got he's got some good ends with um you know getting you know some bar gigs down there and stuff. In Annapolis? Yeah, then Annapolis area, Crofton, Annapolis, you kind of down that way. At first it started where uh got an opportunity for last minute gig be like three, four in the afternoon. He hit up he hit us up, like does anybody want to play this uh bar? And you gotta be there at seven.

SPEAKER_04 36:16

Oh that night? Yeah, right, little.

SPEAKER_02 36:18

So you know, a few of us would show up and uh we'd just completely wing it. We'd be up there, like, oh, I got you know, there's a cover at three chords, and just tell each other the chords real quick. There you go. Jam it out, yeah, put the lyrics up on our phone or something. You got the language, yeah, the lingo, and we'd do three, four hours, you know, those little breaks in there. But yeah, just really winging it, and then um, you know, uh we uh more and more we got playing and trying to get more more preparation for each time we play. Of course, it started and started coming together more and more. But uh yeah, a lot of what we've done so far has been in that Annapolis area. Okay, but um, you know, a lot of us are more up closer to Baltimore here, so Baltimore. Um yes, I mentioned that Swebo, so we're excited to uh Suibo Fest right outside in the middle of the city.

SPEAKER_04 37:10

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 37:10

Um excited to uh you know get some more stuff going on up around Baltimore area. Nice, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 37:17

Um, and if people want to find you, what what should they search to Mojo Collective?

SPEAKER_02 37:22

We're on Facebook and Instagram right now.

SPEAKER_04 37:25

M-O-J-O.

SPEAKER_02 37:26

Yeah, M-O-J-O collective.

SPEAKER_04 37:29

Yeah, okay. You got Instagram and Facebook and all that stuff. Yeah, you got a TikTok?

SPEAKER_02 37:34

Uh not that I know.

SPEAKER_04 37:36

Not that you know, dude, he might have a rogue. What if you have like a rogue TikTok that's like just just numbers, doing numbers, you know? Hype us up. You hype them up. Oh shoot. Okay, we're gonna take a second here and um we're gonna take a pea break and you never know.

Mixing The Garden Party Cocktail

SPEAKER_04 37:53

We might have a special special cocktail uh brewed up on the on the bewitched. All right, you ready? Do this here. Go like this. Ready, set. Here we are. Oh, look at this. Look at that. What do you know? Wow. Cheers. Cheers, Squire.

SPEAKER_02 38:10

My little uh thank you to having me on your on your show.

SPEAKER_04 38:13

Yeah, thank you for thanking me.

SPEAKER_02 38:16

Thank you for thanking me for thanking you.

SPEAKER_04 38:18

Yeah. Uh it's uh we what do we have here?

SPEAKER_02 38:22

Tell the tell the guests what uh nice little uh spring cocktail here is um it's uh unless it has another name. We're we're calling it the garden party.

SPEAKER_04 38:34

Oh dang.

SPEAKER_02 38:35

It's uh cherry blossom flavored gin with uh well, I forgot the elder flower liqueur, which is is kind of a shame. So it's missing one ingredient, but it does have a little rose water too, so it's still it's still a garden party. And the uh the rosemary, so you got the floral flavors, and then just a little bit of grapefruit and uh some blood orange bitters to give it a little bit of citrus, bitter citrus to just uh you know cut that sweetness a little bit. And then uh this uh tonic water, the fever tree tonic water, has a little bit of salt in it. So uh, you know, it's another little thing, just cut the sugar. So it's got a little salt. Yeah. Okay. So, you know, it's got some sweetness in there, but it's not doesn't taste too sweet, right?

SPEAKER_04 39:26

No, dude. This thing is right in the middle, pretty much. As far as sweetness goes, it's got sweetness, but it's also refreshing, you know? Yeah, it's kind of like a fresca. If a fresca was like kind of like uh, let's see here. This was like if a fresca had like a late night out, yeah, a long night. This would be that it tastes like this in the morning. Oh, yeah. Yep, fresco, little bit of punch to it. Yeah. I'm calling it a Freszi punch. Freszi punch. Okay. Yep. All right. I mean at Garden party, I love it. I'm down with it. I I think we have to do at least an AKA.

SPEAKER_02 40:02

Your yours describes the flavor pretty well, I gotta say. Little yeah. Little one-two punch. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 40:09

So we're back here, and um, gosh, you know, I'm I'm super appreciative of having uh Eric here on the podcast, and um there's a few things that I like to do um, you know, uh uh on a little bit of uh uh the uh you know the off the dome type tip.

Calling Your Younger Self For Advice

SPEAKER_04 40:27

Um who's this? Who is that actually? Wait a second. What is the what is that noise? Do you hear that? Yeah. Wait, who is this? This is young Eric? OG Eric like 20, 30 years ago, Eric. Okay, I hear you, Eric. Listen, you're lucky you're in luck. I'm with somebody right now, and they basically want to tell you something.

SPEAKER_02 40:57

This guy's a bit of a wild man. He's off the cuff, dude. Take a breath before this one. What's up there, buddy? How are you doing? Uh well, you know, uh first things first, uh, I don't remember having this call when I was when I was your age, so I gotta make sure we don't break the space-time continuum here. Uh so yeah, you know, uh basically I gotta say, uh, you know, do uh do everything that uh that I would have done, and uh it doesn't end up so bad so far. But uh, you know, never lose sight of the uh the people around you who uh make life worth living, who support you. Um you know go and find your people, the people that get you excited to uh to work hard, to uh to offer a little bit to other people around you more more than just yourself. Um and uh you know have fun along the way. And uh you know, uh go ahead and fly, but don't fly too close to the sun. Don't get those wings clipped. Um and uh, you know, you might be wondering, but it's it's true. Rock and roll is still just as tight as it ever was. But uh maybe lay off the adrenaline a little bit, just a little bit. Yeah, the music the music get that adrenaline going. Yeah, just just go with that. I'll do it for ya. And uh, you know, uh work hard, play hard. And love hard. Friends, family, the community, the world, the universe. What's that? You gotta go put on those leather pants. The British DLG's free spell buckle. All right. Go rock it, son.

SPEAKER_04 43:36

Tell them you love me.

SPEAKER_02 43:38

Oh, and just always remember I love you. No matter how friggin' wild you might get. I'll always love you.

SPEAKER_04 43:55

Alright, you ended up being a pretty cool cat, just so you know. Pretty cool. In fact, and listen to what he said. Peace. Nice. Good stuff, right? Dude. You know what I mean? Good stuff.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

I'm not disappearing, so I don't think I've I don't think we wrote the space time.

SPEAKER_04 44:13

No, no, no, not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Nope. Okay, I have a few questions for you here.

Rapid Fire Favorites And Big Dreams

SPEAKER_04 44:19

And um, this is kind of like a rapid fire. Okay. Okay. Um, answer these as quickly as possible, and also kind of just be as honest as possible as you can. Okay. Um, let's see here. Okay. All right. I got a few for you here and a few for you there. All right. Put 20 seconds on the clock. Okay. Who is your favorite character from DC or Marvel Comics?

SPEAKER_02 44:49

I'm gonna have to go with Superman. Superman down. One of the greatest love stories ever written. Ever written, dog. Think about it.

SPEAKER_04 44:57

What do you not want to be when you grow up?

SPEAKER_02 45:00

Grumpy.

SPEAKER_04 45:01

Grumpy old man, dog. No. Okay. Which actor should play you in a movie about your life?

SPEAKER_02 45:09

Well, it's gotta be somebody with no hair. Nope. And Jason Statham, maybe Vin Diesel.

SPEAKER_04 45:15

The beekeeper it is. Okay. Alright. Do you like the music your parents listen to? Hell yeah. Cheers to that, dog. Cheers to that. They know it's good. Mm-hmm. If you could have any superpower in the whole entire world, what would it be? I think I'd have to fly. Fly? Where would you fly? What's the first place you fly to?

SPEAKER_02 45:36

Well, not too close to the sun, I'll tell you that. You know, I think I would just cruise around the world.

SPEAKER_03 45:42

Around nowhere.

SPEAKER_04 45:43

Maybe with Lois Lane.

SPEAKER_03 45:44

Around nowhere.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

Okay, cool. Next, you ready? You're doing good at this. You find a magic lamp. What's your first wish? First wish. Come on, what is it?

SPEAKER_02 45:57

I'm flying.

SPEAKER_04 45:58

Flying. He's flying again, dude. That's what he wants to do. Alright, what's your favorite smell? Ooh. Favorite, you know, once it hits the old factory in the schnazz there, your favorite.

SPEAKER_02 46:14

Oh man. I don't know. Honey? Honey. Well, sweetness. You'd have to think about that later. That's what came to mind. There you go.

SPEAKER_04 46:22

There you go. Okay, what's the worst emoji? The uh you know, quick rapid fire, rapid fire. The laugh emoji. There you go, laugh emoji. Cancel it. Call call uh jobs up. Delete it. Alright, favorite member of the Beatles.

SPEAKER_02 46:44

The Beatles, you can't pick, you can't choose one Beetle.

SPEAKER_04 46:47

You can't pick one Beetle. Okay. You gotta go with all of them. All of them. All the Beatles in once. Okay, what's my spirit animal?

SPEAKER_02 46:54

Your spirit animal? Yep. Oh, I am getting a uh Spear. Come on, baby. Give me a one of those honey badgers.

SPEAKER_04 47:03

Honey badger, yes. Okay, okay. I could see that. All right. Um, you walk into a casino right now. What's the first game you're playing?

SPEAKER_02 47:12

I'm going right up to the roulette table and uh firing off the whatever number feels feels right. And I'm just gonna put 20 bucks just on that one number.

SPEAKER_04 47:22

Nice, perfect, dude. Perfect. It's hitting 37 to 1 or 34 to 1, something like that. All right, best duo. Rapid fire.

SPEAKER_02 47:30

Best duo?

SPEAKER_04 47:31

Duo. One, two punch.

SPEAKER_02 47:33

You know, I was just talking to my old self. I'm gonna have to go with black keys. He would love that answer.

SPEAKER_04 47:36

There you go. Perfect. Okay, East Coast to West Coast. I love the East Coast, but give me that West Coast. Give me that West Coast. Love it. All right, worst pizza topping. Pineapple. Throw it away. Alright, what's one thing you've always wanted to do but haven't?

SPEAKER_02 47:59

Um, I guess uh oh man. That's a real brain.

SPEAKER_04 48:08

Rapid fire, dude. We're still on rapid fire.

SPEAKER_02 48:10

All right. Well, I guess uh I guess I wanna jam some deep electronic grimy funk.

SPEAKER_04 48:18

Okay, there we go.

SPEAKER_02 48:19

Listen heavy.

SPEAKER_04 48:20

If you're listening and you can make help make this man make that possible, reach out to us, okay? Um, one last one coconut or pineapple.

SPEAKER_02 48:30

Oh, give me that pineapple, just not on pizza.

SPEAKER_04 48:32

Oh, he went right off. Love that. I try I try and revisit that one to everybody because like when I'm thinking about like coconut and pineapple, I'm like, I can't decide, dude. Like I'm like, I'm cut in the middle. It is it will start a war.

SPEAKER_02 48:48

Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 48:50

So it's hard. I I don't know, man. I can't. I still one day I feel one way, and another day I feel another.

SPEAKER_02 48:57

I've I've been acquiring the coconut taste over the years more and more. Uh I like the flavor. I was on that the texture was always kind of weird to me, uh the confetti texture.

SPEAKER_05 49:08

Right.

SPEAKER_02 49:09

But uh yeah, pineapple had to I go to town on pineapple. Damn.

SPEAKER_04 49:14

This man went to a different town with a pineapple. He carries the pineapple with him to that different town. But listen, seriously, I uh

Final Message Gratitude And Closing

SPEAKER_04 49:23

I want you to give the people listening a last message, something that really hits home and um you know leave everyone with some inspiration.

SPEAKER_02 49:36

I guess uh, you know, in the these trying times in the world around us, just always remember that uh the people we're with is what makes it worth it. And get with a lot of people, make friends. Love that. Make family.

SPEAKER_04 50:00

Good stuff, dude. Good stuff. Yeah, thank you for being here and taking the time to kind of you know put your I know I don't know. Am I asking a lot of you to be on on the podcast? You know, does it does it seem like a not like a burden, but like what what what do you go through when you're when you had to think about this, if you could elaborate a little?

SPEAKER_02 50:23

You know, I I would say it was a it's a it's a similar feeling to uh getting up on stage and performing. You know, uh sometimes you write lyrics and you pour your whole heart out, and then you find yourself up there singing it to a crowd of strangers, your deepest, you know, thoughts, your deepest feelings, your journal, you know, diary entries that you're shouting on top of a mountain. For sure. Similar feeling to getting up here, but instead of uh you know, putting it all out there and sweating bullets, getting sit here and just relax and you know getting getting to know AWOL a little bit more. Nice, dude. This is it's beyond uh a pleasure. Uh uh I I I'll cherish this. I'll really cherish this. This is the beautiful thing you're doing. Um, just watching y'all set up here. Um, the love and care that goes into this. Um, you know, this is a really special group of people. Um and uh I I feel blessed, just absolutely blessed to be here.

SPEAKER_04 51:37

Thank you so much, dude. Man, just just being able to have you here and just, you know, we got a few people coming through today, and uh I'm uh, you know, I try and give everyone the same amount of respect as I can, and I try and be as open as possible to each conversation. And I love how you brought the drink through. You you came at me with that idea. I was like, let's run it. You know, we're trying to think of new, you know, different little segments to bring, you know, that kind of just help us uh, you know, just help us get to know each other a little bit and figure out, you know, how each other is ticking and how we can help each other, you know, kind of get through some uh some some you know the the times, you know. And sometimes you need it more than other times. There's times where you don't really need it, you know, but then there's times where you do really need it, you know, and I'm glad we can provide that for people. So thanks for uh thanks for your messages that you were able to give everyone good looks on the drink. Uh dude, just superb. And uh we'll see y'all on the next episode of the Respecting Perspectives Podcast. Peace.

SPEAKER_03 52:46

Cheers choir.

SPEAKER_02 52:47

Cheers.