March 21, 2024 • 38 mins
John Lock was in the choir room as much as the entire Glee cast!
The Music Producer and New Directions drummer joins Jenna and Kevin with some fun Glee scoop, including how he got the gig after one email, being a 19-year-old on a hit show, why the band members were not allowed to speak or sing, and admitting he never got sheet music before an episode!
Plus, John talks about DJing at Jenna's wedding and Naya Rivera's infamous Snixxmas Christmas parties … and the cast member who split his pants on the dance floor!
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
And That's what You Really Missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to and That's What You Really miss Podcast. We
have a very special guest today. Our dear friend and
very talented producer, writer, DJ entrepreneur. John Locke is in
the house.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Aka Unnamed Drummer and the Jazz Band on Glee.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
An He's seen in the choir room with some music happening,
and you look to the drummer and the band, that's John.
He was there from the pilot from Don't Stop Believing
with that hat, his little for Dora all our way
to this series finale. I learned so much in this
episode about his experience and like how his like day
(00:50):
to day.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Went totally o My job was on the ground. Yes,
they had a whole separate life that we did not
know about truly and yet still so wonderful.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
That there's such a deep part of our Glee experience
and our Glee family. I'm excited for you guys to
hear all about John and bysic Gallee experience.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Here is John Luck.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
How do you too?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Hey, how are you doing good?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
We're happy to have you here.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I'm excited to be here. I'm so this is I
watch what you tube been doing for a year now
over a year?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, over a year?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Thanks, good job.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, it feels like if anybody was there as much
as we were. You were in that choir room almost
I think as much as us, and you were there
forever going back to watch it because obviously we have
our memories of hanging out and you being there all
(01:54):
the all the band, right yeah, but then actually getting
to like sit as a fan now and watch and
then clock like John, there's John again, and there's John again.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Let's talk about it. How did you get the gig
to be here with? And what did you think the
gig was gonna be?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So I came out to LA for music, Like writing, producing,
djaying was my thing, and I went to a school
called Musicians Institute in LA Like that's what brought me
out here. I was sleeping on a couch in like
a kitchen for two years. And after I finished the school,
they do these referral programs for like gigs and shows
and things that like, you know, you can work as
(02:36):
a musician because you kind of have to. And I
got an email for a Fox TV show pilot casting
musicians to act, and I was like, okay, let's do it.
So I sent it a head shot, a singular headshot
of mine, and got cast. No audition, no nothing, It
was a headshot and like, hey, I grew up playing
(02:56):
drums and like did some acting and here you go,
and that turned into seven years of work.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So John, that's crazy.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Respond to emails like that was yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
So now, now did you get this script before you
showed up or were you showing up as a musician
just knowing you were going to sit on some kind
of instrument.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, we got We got obviously the song too. We
were told we're going to be on set on camera
mining back to a song, so we had to learn
the part and play a lot, which is what we
did for the entire series. But we had just gotten
the song. We had no script. No, I had no
clue what was happening. I was like, this was the
first television thing I had ever done, first, like real production,
(03:35):
so I had no clue what was going on. I
was just told to show up here, meet this person,
know this part and that it cool. Yeah, And I
had like I looked completely different than my headshot, Like
I changed my hair all this stuff. But you know,
we were I was nineteen at the time. It looks
like I was still I still looked like a child.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So yeah, we were a year apart. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Email, just one email.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
How long after finishing Musicians Institute? Did you get that email?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
A couple of months? I was working. Wow, I finished
school and I was working at Guitar Center in Hollywood
and I was doing music. I had one of my
professors from that school and hired me and I was
doing all the dance mixes for America'spis Dance Group. So
that was like my first professional job outside of the school.
And then I was still doing music for ABDC and
(04:29):
it was like season two or three and season two
and I got this email and was like, you know,
we shot the pilot. And then I got told like
a little while later that the show got picked up,
and I told the cast in person. I was like,
what does that mean. She's like, well, you're going to
be working more, and I was like cool, I like,
got that's fun, Like that was a fun day. Let's
let's do it.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Oh my god. Yeah. So now okay, so now then
what is that like for you? You get hired were
you hired then as a musician or an actor? Like
what was your did you have a contract? Like what
was that?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That was the that's the crazy part, And it's funny.
We never talked about this.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
No, we just became friends and that was it. Like
we didn't talk about your like our positions in whatever
we were doing.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It was. It was interesting and looking back now is
like obviously as an adult being in the industry for
so long, look back and I'm like, oh, I get it.
We were always we were always cast through the Musicians Union.
We were never there's only one There was two times
I went through SAG was obviously when Scott and I did.
I think it was whole on sixteen when we actually
profess stuff exactly. That's why we were never allowed to
(05:35):
move our mouths because if we did, we would have
to witch. No. Literally contractually we would have to be
considered SAG like actors. So we were literally told that
we couldn't talk or sing or mime anything because contractually
give us more money, like in sense we'd be like
reoccurring like you know something, you know. So, yeah, it
(06:00):
was a whole different thing. We had different like reps
there than all of you, and it was just like
I didn't care about all that because I was like,
you know, I was getting paid and has so much
fun doing you know, working on the show. And but
now looking back at I was like, oh, I see
all the subtle like subtle political like you know, corporate things.
(06:21):
I was like, Oh, that's why we can never do
certain things.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You guys were your own sort of island because you
had us, you had guest stars or like anybody's sad
contract including like background actors, dancers and dancers.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
And then.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, it was interesting. I always felt like the the
cousins that like lived far away that like showed up
with like other cousins that you didn't really know, and
we would just kind of show up and you'd see
us like every now and then, and and you know,
it was a different channel that we were brought in.
So was it was definitely interesting for sure?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And what did you what was the process like then
once you were on the show, right, did you know
how many episodes you were going to do or did
you just get like days of work or episodes of
work like you knew you were going to be in
this episode? Like how did that work for you?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I could have been replaced or fired at any ant.
It was no contract. If I did one thing, bassed
off the wrong person, uhten, it's something inappropriate. And there
were a couple of instances where there were a couple
of musicians that were brought in, especially as the show
got to learn to following, people were brought in and
it definitely like it was a couple of times where like, hey,
(07:33):
that person definitely brought off the wrong energy or was
like a little strange, or might have mosted something something
and they were not brought back. So it was it
was per per episode, and the casting director for us,
she like if you were in the episode, she tried
to bring you back no matter what, and we kind
of became like a family and a sense of that,
(07:55):
Like she was always very Christine Day. She was always
very like, you know, I wanted to bring bring that
four group back. And it was never anything spiteful, but yeah,
like if if we did something wrong, like there was
no there was no contract or nothing, we would just
be gone. So I was always trying to be you know,
on time ever late, like never messing around. So yeah,
(08:19):
we had to we had to be on our best.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Did you know what was going on in the scripts,
would you get like sides of the day of like,
did you ever know what was going on?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I think I got one script? Seven years, I got
one script.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
You just send behind those drums smiling, Oh.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It was I And I like I never asked because
again knowing not being contract like not being I was
never going to be like, well, I don't know what's
going on. Soon needs to send me something and I
need more details what's happening now. We would just get there.
We would see the sides for the day obviously, just
get an idea what's going going on. But we had
(09:01):
no idea of the backstory in the episode. So I
had to actually almost watched the story to understand the
storylines because being in the show so much more. And
then when we started like being on camera a little
bit more, it was like I need to know what's
going on. And there was a couple of directors stults.
Eric Stoltz was great at this. He would actually be like, hey,
(09:21):
you know, so and so's really being an a hole
today on in this scene and just whenever they walk by,
just give them an evil glance or just or so
and so or hey, it's a good day be really
happy back there playing, and like you know, they would
kind of feed into that. So it was really interesting.
We never we never really got scripts or any kind
(09:44):
of you know, any kind of clue what was going
on until that morning.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
What about the music though, Like when did you know
what you were going to be mimicking playing?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, that was tough, especially playing drums. It's such as
you can see if I'm not hitting the crash. Yeah,
there were sometimes we'd get the music a day or
two in advance, but there were other times. And you
two know, the schedule like it it's a tough schedule
and things get it takes a lot of turning stuff over.
(10:17):
There were a couple of times where I'd go to
bed at like ten for like a six am call time,
and I'd wake up that morning and get the music
and be listening to it in the car over and
over as I'm driving in because it's like a big
number a lot of that for like you know, the
biggers and big mashups. The mashups are always like last minute,
(10:39):
and so we'd be learning them. There would be times
with I don't know if you ever know, but sometimes
the rest of the band be sitting there with headphones
in just like strumming, like yeah, just like trying to
play but not play loud because doing walkthroughs the scene
and I'm like still learning the song that we're about
to shoot in like five minutes. So sometimes we would
get it the night before pretty late, or we'd get
(11:01):
it like a day or two. Never more than like
a day or two in advance.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Did you have to learn by ear?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
There was never any sheet music. There was never It
was all and.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
The advantage of hiring real musicians because the god.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Well everybody, everybody is a real musician. But here's the thing,
I don't know how many different genres and mashup genres.
I'm in a classical jazz swing, so when there was
these these big numbers that were like crazy like and
I'm like this fill and this backbeat it's like three
four and like what is this key signature? And then
switches into like a hip hop mash up and I'm
(11:41):
like when is that happening? Bar eight? And then there's
like a random fill where I'm like and that's when
the camera passes crossing, like oh. In other words, I'm like, oh, yeah, okay,
I don't remember what's happening to the rest of the song. Yeah,
it was wild.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I remember some of those songs too. You have different
You had like an electric drum set sea Like did
you have any say so, like what type of equipment
was showing up when you were showing up?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
No? No, no, I no no, I just whatever it
was there. There was one time. There was one time
they gave me just a tambourine to play in a song.
I forgot what song it was, and it was eight
hours and I was slamming that thing on my hip.
I got home and my was black and blue because
I was in the same spot. I think Scotty bass
(12:28):
player like, I saw him a photo of my hip
afterwards he was like, oh my god, you were actually
and I was like, yeah, I was actually hitting it
on my hip for six hours, shooting up.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I feel like there was very little turnover in that
band for the most part, Like some people came in
and then they would stay if somebody couldn't do it anymore.
What was your relationship like with everyone, like and in
terms of that turnover, like do you guys it was
their camaraderie and the sort of.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think for the most sense, like
we always kind of came in. We all knew each
other pretty well, and there were like little pockets obviously,
like little click like mini clicks obviously within that entire
show from cast crew like everybody, and we just kind
of knew our routine, and so we kind of knew
(13:26):
and knew each other a little bit outside of that.
And so we obviously, like me and Scott had been
there since the pilot, and so we were like we
had been through this so many times that when new
people came in, were some hazing and then you know,
you get along with them and then you know, like
Derek who played guitar, Mark Nyland played piano for a
(13:47):
little bit. Now he's like a Grammy Award winning producer,
did like Gaga stuff and everything. And it's cool to
like have those little pockets of friends that came in
and left because they were and they ended up going
on tours, started playing with a band or something. But yeah,
we it was it became a cool little pocket of
friends that you know, I would see two days out
(14:08):
of the week and then you know, go to see
their shows or something like that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
So how many days you would you say, on average
you would work in an episode because sometimes there was
a lot of choir room stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, I'd say like usually two days out of the week.
Definitely at least a day a week. I mean I
remember it usually being like a Thursday, or bigger numbers
would be like Thursday when we call them Friturdays, or
like when yeah, Thursdays Fridays until late night. So I
remember it usually being later in the week. There was
(14:41):
some you know, Monday stuff, but yeah, day or two
out of the week, some days three when we had
like big, big musical numbers and stuff like that, or
when it was like a play or something.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Did you just have to live on standby then like
the rest of your life's like I don't know what
I'm going to get called?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
So yeah, yeah, what if you weren't available?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I mean I was in my early twenties. I was
always available.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Okay, fair fine for me, Like you're.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Going on like sorry, I have a session with my
friend today. I'm right, No, No, that that kind of became.
It was tough because like I was DJing on the weekends,
so like a Friday night gig. I remember having to
cancel sometimes because I knew we'd have like a later
call time on a Friday, and like, hey, I'm not
gonna be able to make it tonight. But weekdays it
was you know, I was in my early twenties. It
(15:32):
was just writing music, so that was my priority. I
was like, I'm keeping this gig. This is a good thing. Yeah,
I amass this up. Yeah. I was trying to just
ye know, by the way, be available.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Now, you guys join the Gleek Club and you were
then magically actors who danced and were musicians. Do you
remember what that call was like when you got the script?
Did you get a script? And then also being in
rehearsals with us, Like it's a little bit of a
(16:04):
blur for me. I remember exactly like when you guys joined,
and I remember that episode very vividly, but like, what was.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
That Like, Yeah, I mean it was I was like
walking around the grove or something and and I remember
getting to call like hey, I was asked. They asked
me for like another headshot or something like that, and
they were like, well, we have to send it over
to the actual casting director. This was like the music
casting director had sent it to the actual casting director
(16:33):
and all this stuff, And I was like what is happening.
They're like, well, you're going to be joining the cast
for an episode. I was like, what are you talking about.
I was like, I'm already part of it. I was like,
they're my friends, I'm already joining them. Like I'm already
like we were already doing this thing. They're like, well,
they're gonna have you like singing and dancing a couple
of I was like what. I was excited because, you know,
(16:54):
after I don't remember what season that was. I want
to say it was like three. Yeah, it was, you know,
a couple of years of doing the same thing. So
it was kind of cool. Ryan joked with me a
couple of times in season one saying that he was
thinking about making he was going to give Heather a
love interest with somebody in the band, which I thought
would have been hilarious, just like a band groupie. Of course,
(17:16):
who else would have been, But it was kind of
cool to get excited to do something different. That's how
I was kind of looking at it. And I remember
jumping into rehearsals with you guys and being more in
like your routine, and I had so much respect for
like the work that y'all went through and and being
and seeing that side of it and getting like a
different perspective on what's been going on for like two
(17:38):
three years. It was really cool to be a part
of and to just having been in like a routine
and knowing our routine and switching it up and being
like damn, like this is a lot of work and
like this is like they put in time, and it
was really cool to see.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I remember you guys joining rehearsal. It was because by
that point, like you said, we were family, like really
good friends, and because every performance, you guys like were
all there together all those hours, we were all hanging out.
It wasn't just the twelve Glee club members. It was
us and all of you all the time. Yeah, So
it never really felt separate in that way, especially when
(18:15):
it came to like the performances. It's natural that you
guys are there. So when you were dance rehearsal, it
was just like, great, we have more of our friends.
But I remember, like I'm like, I hope they're not
like scared.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
But we also really did dance in that one, like,
oh my gosh, that was the like justify Yeah, Oh
my gosh, Michael, it was hard that was a lot, and.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
It wasn't It wasn't like an episode. Just everything in
the choir room that was a regional that was like
in the auditorium, big numbers.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Threw you into the most dancing we had probably done
up to that point.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yes, it was a big one too because we had
lost all those members. So it was like, oh my gosh,
I got.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
To finally see like who actually knew what they were doing,
which was fun and I as a drummer, feels so
confident right now that I can count to four.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's so funny. And where Zach and bringing everybody like
nice to you and like getting you. I don't remember.
I mean I'm sure they were, but just like did
they like help you guys.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I mean, Sack was always I mean, Zach was always
the best and he they both of them were very
I think they like eased us in and they once
they saw like Scott and I kind of held our own.
They like they were just like cool, Okay, well you're
gonna do this now and then do this, But they
were very like not eased it in, but they just
like they knew that it was kind of like a
(19:42):
shake up for us, so they didn't just like expect
us to be able to come in and keep up
right away, and so they kind of gave us, like,
you know, a low bar and then they eased us in,
which was nice.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Once that sort of stint happened. Did do you know
how long that was going to last?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Man? I wanted to last for as long as it
could because it was, you know, it was so fun
and it's weird, not it was weird kind of going
back to the usual after that, Yeah, you're kind of like, well,
I did that, and I thought I did. It was
almost like getting the promotion and getting demoted, or like
being like in sports, like being brought up to the
(20:21):
big leagues and then kind of stepping back yea, And
I think I didn't have a problem. I was excited
to continue on with the show, and like I think
after especially after the graduation, the first graduation episode where
I was in cap and gown, I was like, well,
I guess we're done, and then being brought after it
(20:43):
was kind of like the same feeling again where it
was like, Okay, don't take this for granted, You're still
to be part of this, and like that moment was great,
but it was definitely something I was like, man, like,
we could have done that again, Like we could have
write some sort of story arc or some sort of
you know, involvement again, And yeah, but I had a
blast doing it.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
You also are just very talented in your own right.
Aside from Lee, John also DJed our wedding, so were
we all like stay in touch, which is so cool
and we we just adore you. But during the show
where I write after you worked with some of the
cast members, like you co wrote with Leah on her album,
(21:26):
and then you worked on a song with Nia write
a music video, and then you also used to DJ
snakes miss too. Can you tell me about how those happened?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
John is our resident producer and cheek John, Yeah, has
any ideas.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
That's how you asked me to your wedding.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
You're like, hey, getting married.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
When tell me when? Yes, exactly, one of the best
weddings I've ever been to, by the way, it was
so much fun.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It was but like all our friends, it was so cool.
It was such a great dance battles.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
It was great too.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Many I.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Like the arts, so like I guess acting, I've always
appreciated the art of it, and like there was a
different experience people always acting ask me, well, why didn't
you like try to do more acting? Afterwards, I was like,
being on set was fun and being part of that
I have so much respect for. But I just love creating.
My creative passion is music and always has been. And
so when like when when Nya first asked about doing
(22:35):
some music and even amber and and everything, I was
so like, I was so like not honored, but I
was just like I was so excited and so so
happy to be a part of of like their music
life outside of the show, because it is such I mean,
you you both know, like it's being creative in that
world is such an intimate and like vulnerable spot. Like
(22:57):
in order to mature creative, you have to be comfortable
with putting your ideas out there and then having either
come out and it'd be good or not. And it's
like a reflection of you. So anytime any of you
wanted to do something musically, like you and Kevin and
I have done stuff, and the stuff when I was great,
I mean we wrote I think we wrote probably like
eight songs together and we just kind of like got
(23:18):
together and just you know, just had fun doing it.
It was always a pleasure because you get to know
each other for years in this like creative environment that's
completely different, and then you could step into a different
environment that's more intimate and like a little bit more
stripped down in a way. And I was always really
really like a highlight of my like extended like Glee
(23:42):
experience of being able to do that with friends I
made from this experience and then do something outside of it.
And then obviously the DJing, like the rap parties, the
how many snicks misses, I mean, the time not put
me in a treehouse.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Tower Well got there late and I was like.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, I like where is John, Like I hear the music?
Where is here?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah? Yeah, those are I mean djaying so long? That's
just such a I get. I'm an extrovert that or
not extrovert, an EmPATH in the way that I love
when people have a good time for music, whether whether
it's mine or someone else's or whoever's. Like, I love
that joy that music brings to people. And so when
I can like play a song and see you all
(24:26):
lose your mind and Kevin split his pants on the
dance floor, like that is like that is just the.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
You knew us.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
It is true, it was. I think that's why we
always felt, especially like Na scoop you up so quickly
for those parties, and then we were like, well, there's
no other DJ for us in our lives forever because
you know us so well. We all know each other
so like musically that like imagine going to like anybody listening,
like going to a party, and the person any of
(24:55):
those parties, the person djaying knows exactly what you want
to hear all the time. Yeah, And it was just
like it was the best I had.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I had a Glee playlist that I would like anytime
we'd have a party. I just knew that I'd go
to that play a lot of nineties R and V.
Oh yeah, a lot of nineties Beyonce and Rihanna, like anything, yes, yes,
all that, and uh yeah, that's always fun because like
knowing you each individually and then just like taking your
own individual playlists and putting it into a bucket and
(25:27):
drawing from that bucket and you're just like you're watching
each one of you just go lose your mind to
a song that comes on and that sells as a
chain reaction because then because that personally would get excited
when Kevin gets excited.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, it was great.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
How did did you did we discover you were a DJ?
Because you DJ like one of the earlier rap parties, Like,
how did that happen? Do you remember?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
I don't know. I remember a time I was djaying
in a place in Hollywood and I invited you guys
out or something that generally remember being there, and I
feel like that might have been one of the first
times that you guys had seen EJ because I feel
like that was during season one and I wrapped into
(26:10):
the rap party season two. I think it was after
Snick's miss, so I think it was like I was like, hey,
by the way, I DJ, if you guys want to
come out, like hang out like on a Saturday night,
and then it Yeah, I think it kind of.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
I do remember meeting you on the pilot.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah, and you right next to me in your wheelchair
with a guitar that you had just learned to play
or something.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And it was so embarrassing because very quickly you can
turn around and be like, oh, these guys are real
musicians obviously, and here I am faking everything I'm doing.
I'm not in the wheelchair. I don't know how to
play guitar, and then I was watching, I'm like I
was filling in for Corey learning this dance. That's a
(27:00):
thing I can do, but I'm not doing that. And
I was like, thank God, my back is to these
musicians because I don't want to see their face as
I am messing all of this up.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Well, you learned in the trailer like the day before
Kevin to be fair, Well they gave me lessons.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
This poor guy, I was like, so good, like an
actual guitar player, producer of classical music, like taught me
through for like the first season how to fake it properly,
which entails sort of learning it right. But like that
doesn't mean anyway. I was just my like initial impressions
were that of embarrassment for myself because I obviously greatly
(27:40):
respected what you were all doing, and we were all
in this weird unknown like soup together yea of figuring,
you know, like you were there when they were figuring
out how do we shoot a musical number. We're going
to do the simplest number forever, I guess, like from
your perspective, like what was that whole art like, because
(28:00):
you saw it from inception to us actually getting to
do and you being in like vocal adrenaline level type numbers,
and how the shooting style changed, how the whole operation changed.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, well before that, I don't know if you remember this,
but do you remember food Fight day? Oh?
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yes, of course I realized.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
When Corey came over and kicked me off the drums,
somebody thought it was a good idea to just wool
John standing there, give him a guitar. No, so very
similar to you. I'm standing there, like, I don't play guitar.
What so I'm asking Derek, like what He's like, just
(28:43):
stand there and strum. Dude, just stand there and strum.
And I was like, well, so if you go back,
I just somehow jump up from guitar or jump up
from start playing guitar.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
It's okay. I was like, we were watching an episode recently,
and I fully caught myself. Oh actually, Jenna, it was
you had to mention it. But I'm still standing and
I clearly for how long have I been doing the show,
And clearly I'm singing leads and did not know the
words and like fully turned my face away and come
(29:12):
back on like the fourth word. I was like, I
forgot the beginning of the line. So we were doing
that shit every episode. So yeah, it's so true.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah, to go to your question, I it's cool being
able to see. It's really rare that you're a part
of something from the beginning to the end that has
the kind of like trajectory that that the show kind
of had. And so looking back on it, like, that's
to me still blows my mind that there's this show
(29:41):
that I was a part of from an email that
I had no clue what it was going to be,
and then it took off and became this thing. Remember
I remember going to perform on the Oprah Show with
you guys, you remember that I was even there. I
remember that, but.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
I remember, oh, oh my god, I'm going to show
with you.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
And I don't think we knew that on camera.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
We were off to the side doing our miming per usual.
I don't whole thing was like so that there's there's
a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
That is truly like I do your friends are family,
but like kid moves to Hollywood, goes to school, and
ends up on Oprah within two years.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
What from an email? Guys? Damn it was wild. Yeah,
So that just the whole I think I had I
have the most. I think I have the most respect
and like the fun fondest memories of just that crew
and you guys and just what happened in between the takes.
(30:47):
And really I run into so like so often, like
especially djaing on the rap parties are just being in
l a still. I run into like crew members all
the time, and it's that like Lee family. It's such
a nice like it's like an extended family that you
always have that bond with those people because they were
part of that thing. And that's like, that's one of
the coolest thing. I saw Brittany Parks the other day
(31:09):
and I was just like epe and just big hug
and it was like, oh, yeah, you have that bond
to go so nice. I think from everything, I think
that's the biggest thing I took away from It's just
like you have an extended family that you know no
one else can put a claim on except for.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
The understand like what you've been through and like you
saw it all. What is the feeling that leaves you with, man, I.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Want to say, just pure happiness. I think like because
I was so lucky to be a part of it,
that you can't just not think of those relationships, those hours,
the inside jokes, the hard times, the long hours, and yeah,
(31:56):
I think just so happy. It's so happy to be
a part of it. I don't think anything else. There
is no other word of like that that experience was
for me than just happy I was being you know,
I was there just drums playing away.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We ended up doing like seven hundred and forty something numbers.
Do you know how many you were in.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I can look, I mean close to I don't want
to say two hundred, but up up close to two
hundred for sure, Wow, because I know I have Like
last time I looked, I have like one hundred and
sixty songs from but I could have deleted a couple
or right right, it's up in there, like the one
hundred and seventy two hundred songs. Probably that's nuts. And
(32:45):
then there was other times we were just walking down
the hall and you know, or interacting. Yeah, times we
were there that we didn't end up playing because we
were about to start playing, and it was a dream sequence, right,
weird days saying I.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Just like sitting at this the drum, at your drum kit,
but like not playing.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
You need it today hey, by the way, asking the
other band members, did we get music for this? Because
I didn't get any What are we playing? I don't know,
get ready.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Like when Tina does like a half a song, so
you play a half a song?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, for some reason, your songs were never full.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Well, there's a lot to unpack there. That's for another episode.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I just have to say the amount of respect to
have for you and the whole band, because I think
a lot of time we didn't undervalue you while we're
doing it. But I think those long hours and all
of that can go so unnoticed and overlook because you
were all so professional, never complained, never said shit, yeah
(33:45):
and we're just tired. Yeah, but you were always there
and like we all became friends and because you were
all so nice and lovely and just like good human
beings and like, thank God, like we all got to
be together and like it have together and that was
all of you in the band. Yeah, because it made yeah,
made that family so much more complete.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you guys. Never never once did any
of us ever feel like we were outsiders or anything.
It was always it was always a warm environment in
those rooms with the cast and the crew and everybody.
You guys were always very welcoming of us, and we
always felt welcome like we were part of the team.
(34:25):
So happy you say that, but the feeling was definitely
mutual for sure.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
It's probably awesome because like we're frauds and they're the real.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Like when they would bring like strings in and the
strings that actually have to play.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Because I remember Kevin all the time, like I.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Know we were. It's nice to hear live music, Like
I wish you guys could have like really played because
like you're like, wow, this is so nice.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Drum set was muted, taped glued.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
They had yeah on there. Yeah, how did they do that?
You had didn't you have like pads on stuf up
and things.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
They put pads under the drumheads so you don't see them,
and then they tape those so that it's like extra muted,
and then they super glue like multiple symbols and all
kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Magic. You guys could have also had like these crazy
attitudes because you're like I don't know what's going on
and I don't know what's happening and I am here
just day by day, and like just to have that
great attitude really did like give like it just added
to our crew. And you guys are so great and
such good sports and we're just grateful to have you
(35:32):
guys as like the family and now you know, staying
close as friends. It's like it's just really awesome and
it's a nice feeling to have so and also thanks
for taking your time to you're a busy man, so
thanks for coming on the podcast. So it's just for
people to hear like about right, you.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Guys are friends family. Anytime you come, anytime you get
a text or a call and you want me to
do something, it's you know, it's it's family. You guys.
I have known you more than I've known some of
my you know who I call my closest friends. And
we literally grew up together.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
So you're the best. John, thank you so much for
coming on anytime.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Appreciate it, y'all.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Thank you John. All right, thank you so so much. Yeah,
thank you bye, sweet man. Oh my god, I just
didn't know any of that.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I didn't either.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
And they're just like.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Such good attitudes about it, I know, but like, look,
we nobody's going to talk about their contracts while on
the show. Nobody's going to be like it's now in hindsight,
you're like, oh, it's just such. Everybody had their own
experience saying.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
We were all around the same age, and it's like
you did feel weird, Like I didn't. I didn't feel
right to ask people about that sort of No, exactly,
we're all here, we love each other, it's all good.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
It feels like he who was there much more than
two days a week.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh yeah, I feel like he was there all the time.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
I mean, I'm sure there were some episodes, but anyway,
our band was amazing.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Because it's because he was there. The whole band was
there during the longest scenes. The musical numbers took the longest,
so the times that we were all in the same
place for the long smount of time, he was there.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
He is there. Well, thanks John for coming on and
sharing your experience and chatting. I hope you guys enjoyed
listening and hearing all about from the music side and
the band side. They were there with us from the beginning,
so it's just awesome. I can't believe he and Scott.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Were there from the pilot's great wild amazing.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
And watching them age like they watched us watched exactly,
but like they look I feel like they look younger
than us. Yeah, a lot of it, and like get
to see them like even though we were the same age,
but well they look younger. Well, thanks for joining us
for another episode and That's what you really missed.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
See you.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
That's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write
us a review and leave us five stars. See you
next time.
And That's what You Really Missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2 (00:04):
And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
Welcome to and That's What You Really miss Podcast. We
have a very special guest today. Our dear friend and
very talented producer, writer, DJ entrepreneur. John Locke is in
the house.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Aka Unnamed Drummer and the Jazz Band on Glee.
Speaker 1 (00:28):
An He's seen in the choir room with some music happening,
and you look to the drummer and the band, that's John.
He was there from the pilot from Don't Stop Believing
with that hat, his little for Dora all our way
to this series finale. I learned so much in this
episode about his experience and like how his like day
(00:50):
to day.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Went totally o My job was on the ground. Yes,
they had a whole separate life that we did not
know about truly and yet still so wonderful.
Speaker 1 (01:02):
That there's such a deep part of our Glee experience
and our Glee family. I'm excited for you guys to
hear all about John and bysic Gallee experience.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Here is John Luck.
Speaker 3 (01:15):
How do you too?
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Hey, how are you doing good?
Speaker 3 (01:19):
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:20):
We're happy to have you here.
Speaker 3 (01:23):
I'm excited to be here. I'm so this is I
watch what you tube been doing for a year now
over a year?
Speaker 2 (01:29):
Yeah, over a year?
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Thanks, good job.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Well, it feels like if anybody was there as much
as we were. You were in that choir room almost
I think as much as us, and you were there
forever going back to watch it because obviously we have
our memories of hanging out and you being there all
(01:54):
the all the band, right yeah, but then actually getting
to like sit as a fan now and watch and
then clock like John, there's John again, and there's John again.
Speaker 1 (02:06):
Let's talk about it. How did you get the gig
to be here with? And what did you think the
gig was gonna be?
Speaker 3 (02:14):
So I came out to LA for music, Like writing, producing,
djaying was my thing, and I went to a school
called Musicians Institute in LA Like that's what brought me
out here. I was sleeping on a couch in like
a kitchen for two years. And after I finished the school,
they do these referral programs for like gigs and shows
and things that like, you know, you can work as
(02:36):
a musician because you kind of have to. And I
got an email for a Fox TV show pilot casting
musicians to act, and I was like, okay, let's do it.
So I sent it a head shot, a singular headshot
of mine, and got cast. No audition, no nothing, It
was a headshot and like, hey, I grew up playing
(02:56):
drums and like did some acting and here you go,
and that turned into seven years of work.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
So John, that's crazy.
Speaker 3 (03:04):
Respond to emails like that was yeah.
Speaker 1 (03:07):
So now, now did you get this script before you
showed up or were you showing up as a musician
just knowing you were going to sit on some kind
of instrument.
Speaker 3 (03:15):
Yeah, we got We got obviously the song too. We
were told we're going to be on set on camera
mining back to a song, so we had to learn
the part and play a lot, which is what we
did for the entire series. But we had just gotten
the song. We had no script. No, I had no
clue what was happening. I was like, this was the
first television thing I had ever done, first, like real production,
(03:35):
so I had no clue what was going on. I
was just told to show up here, meet this person,
know this part and that it cool. Yeah, And I
had like I looked completely different than my headshot, Like
I changed my hair all this stuff. But you know,
we were I was nineteen at the time. It looks
like I was still I still looked like a child.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
So yeah, we were a year apart. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Email, just one email.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
How long after finishing Musicians Institute? Did you get that email?
Speaker 3 (04:09):
A couple of months? I was working. Wow, I finished
school and I was working at Guitar Center in Hollywood
and I was doing music. I had one of my
professors from that school and hired me and I was
doing all the dance mixes for America'spis Dance Group. So
that was like my first professional job outside of the school.
And then I was still doing music for ABDC and
(04:29):
it was like season two or three and season two
and I got this email and was like, you know,
we shot the pilot. And then I got told like
a little while later that the show got picked up,
and I told the cast in person. I was like,
what does that mean. She's like, well, you're going to
be working more, and I was like cool, I like,
got that's fun, Like that was a fun day. Let's
let's do it.
Speaker 1 (04:48):
Oh my god. Yeah. So now okay, so now then
what is that like for you? You get hired were
you hired then as a musician or an actor? Like
what was your did you have a contract? Like what
was that?
Speaker 3 (05:02):
That was the that's the crazy part, And it's funny.
We never talked about this.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
No, we just became friends and that was it. Like
we didn't talk about your like our positions in whatever
we were doing.
Speaker 3 (05:13):
It was. It was interesting and looking back now is
like obviously as an adult being in the industry for
so long, look back and I'm like, oh, I get it.
We were always we were always cast through the Musicians Union.
We were never there's only one There was two times
I went through SAG was obviously when Scott and I did.
I think it was whole on sixteen when we actually
profess stuff exactly. That's why we were never allowed to
(05:35):
move our mouths because if we did, we would have
to witch. No. Literally contractually we would have to be
considered SAG like actors. So we were literally told that
we couldn't talk or sing or mime anything because contractually
give us more money, like in sense we'd be like
reoccurring like you know something, you know. So, yeah, it
(06:00):
was a whole different thing. We had different like reps
there than all of you, and it was just like
I didn't care about all that because I was like,
you know, I was getting paid and has so much
fun doing you know, working on the show. And but
now looking back at I was like, oh, I see
all the subtle like subtle political like you know, corporate things.
(06:21):
I was like, Oh, that's why we can never do
certain things.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
You guys were your own sort of island because you
had us, you had guest stars or like anybody's sad
contract including like background actors, dancers and dancers.
Speaker 1 (06:36):
And then.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
Yeah, it was interesting. I always felt like the the
cousins that like lived far away that like showed up
with like other cousins that you didn't really know, and
we would just kind of show up and you'd see
us like every now and then, and and you know,
it was a different channel that we were brought in.
So was it was definitely interesting for sure?
Speaker 1 (06:55):
And what did you what was the process like then
once you were on the show, right, did you know
how many episodes you were going to do or did
you just get like days of work or episodes of
work like you knew you were going to be in
this episode? Like how did that work for you?
Speaker 3 (07:12):
I could have been replaced or fired at any ant.
It was no contract. If I did one thing, bassed
off the wrong person, uhten, it's something inappropriate. And there
were a couple of instances where there were a couple
of musicians that were brought in, especially as the show
got to learn to following, people were brought in and
it definitely like it was a couple of times where like, hey,
(07:33):
that person definitely brought off the wrong energy or was
like a little strange, or might have mosted something something
and they were not brought back. So it was it
was per per episode, and the casting director for us,
she like if you were in the episode, she tried
to bring you back no matter what, and we kind
of became like a family and a sense of that,
(07:55):
Like she was always very Christine Day. She was always
very like, you know, I wanted to bring bring that
four group back. And it was never anything spiteful, but yeah,
like if if we did something wrong, like there was
no there was no contract or nothing, we would just
be gone. So I was always trying to be you know,
on time ever late, like never messing around. So yeah,
(08:19):
we had to we had to be on our best.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
Did you know what was going on in the scripts,
would you get like sides of the day of like,
did you ever know what was going on?
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I think I got one script? Seven years, I got
one script.
Speaker 2 (08:35):
You just send behind those drums smiling, Oh.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
It was I And I like I never asked because
again knowing not being contract like not being I was
never going to be like, well, I don't know what's
going on. Soon needs to send me something and I
need more details what's happening now. We would just get there.
We would see the sides for the day obviously, just
get an idea what's going going on. But we had
(09:01):
no idea of the backstory in the episode. So I
had to actually almost watched the story to understand the
storylines because being in the show so much more. And
then when we started like being on camera a little
bit more, it was like I need to know what's
going on. And there was a couple of directors stults.
Eric Stoltz was great at this. He would actually be like, hey,
(09:21):
you know, so and so's really being an a hole
today on in this scene and just whenever they walk by,
just give them an evil glance or just or so
and so or hey, it's a good day be really
happy back there playing, and like you know, they would
kind of feed into that. So it was really interesting.
We never we never really got scripts or any kind
(09:44):
of you know, any kind of clue what was going
on until that morning.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
What about the music though, Like when did you know
what you were going to be mimicking playing?
Speaker 3 (09:55):
Yeah, that was tough, especially playing drums. It's such as
you can see if I'm not hitting the crash. Yeah,
there were sometimes we'd get the music a day or
two in advance, but there were other times. And you
two know, the schedule like it it's a tough schedule
and things get it takes a lot of turning stuff over.
(10:17):
There were a couple of times where I'd go to
bed at like ten for like a six am call time,
and I'd wake up that morning and get the music
and be listening to it in the car over and
over as I'm driving in because it's like a big
number a lot of that for like you know, the
biggers and big mashups. The mashups are always like last minute,
(10:39):
and so we'd be learning them. There would be times
with I don't know if you ever know, but sometimes
the rest of the band be sitting there with headphones
in just like strumming, like yeah, just like trying to
play but not play loud because doing walkthroughs the scene
and I'm like still learning the song that we're about
to shoot in like five minutes. So sometimes we would
get it the night before pretty late, or we'd get
(11:01):
it like a day or two. Never more than like
a day or two in advance.
Speaker 1 (11:04):
Did you have to learn by ear?
Speaker 3 (11:08):
There was never any sheet music. There was never It
was all and.
Speaker 2 (11:14):
The advantage of hiring real musicians because the god.
Speaker 3 (11:20):
Well everybody, everybody is a real musician. But here's the thing,
I don't know how many different genres and mashup genres.
I'm in a classical jazz swing, so when there was
these these big numbers that were like crazy like and
I'm like this fill and this backbeat it's like three
four and like what is this key signature? And then
switches into like a hip hop mash up and I'm
(11:41):
like when is that happening? Bar eight? And then there's
like a random fill where I'm like and that's when
the camera passes crossing, like oh. In other words, I'm like, oh, yeah, okay,
I don't remember what's happening to the rest of the song. Yeah,
it was wild.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
I remember some of those songs too. You have different
You had like an electric drum set sea Like did
you have any say so, like what type of equipment
was showing up when you were showing up?
Speaker 3 (12:07):
No? No, no, I no no, I just whatever it
was there. There was one time. There was one time
they gave me just a tambourine to play in a song.
I forgot what song it was, and it was eight
hours and I was slamming that thing on my hip.
I got home and my was black and blue because
I was in the same spot. I think Scotty bass
(12:28):
player like, I saw him a photo of my hip
afterwards he was like, oh my god, you were actually
and I was like, yeah, I was actually hitting it
on my hip for six hours, shooting up.
Speaker 2 (12:47):
I feel like there was very little turnover in that
band for the most part, Like some people came in
and then they would stay if somebody couldn't do it anymore.
What was your relationship like with everyone, like and in
terms of that turnover, like do you guys it was
their camaraderie and the sort of.
Speaker 3 (13:06):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think for the most sense, like
we always kind of came in. We all knew each
other pretty well, and there were like little pockets obviously,
like little click like mini clicks obviously within that entire
show from cast crew like everybody, and we just kind
of knew our routine, and so we kind of knew
(13:26):
and knew each other a little bit outside of that.
And so we obviously, like me and Scott had been
there since the pilot, and so we were like we
had been through this so many times that when new
people came in, were some hazing and then you know,
you get along with them and then you know, like
Derek who played guitar, Mark Nyland played piano for a
(13:47):
little bit. Now he's like a Grammy Award winning producer,
did like Gaga stuff and everything. And it's cool to
like have those little pockets of friends that came in
and left because they were and they ended up going
on tours, started playing with a band or something. But yeah,
we it was it became a cool little pocket of
friends that you know, I would see two days out
(14:08):
of the week and then you know, go to see
their shows or something like that.
Speaker 1 (14:11):
So how many days you would you say, on average
you would work in an episode because sometimes there was
a lot of choir room stuff.
Speaker 3 (14:21):
Yeah, I'd say like usually two days out of the week.
Definitely at least a day a week. I mean I
remember it usually being like a Thursday, or bigger numbers
would be like Thursday when we call them Friturdays, or
like when yeah, Thursdays Fridays until late night. So I
remember it usually being later in the week. There was
(14:41):
some you know, Monday stuff, but yeah, day or two
out of the week, some days three when we had
like big, big musical numbers and stuff like that, or
when it was like a play or something.
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Did you just have to live on standby then like
the rest of your life's like I don't know what
I'm going to get called?
Speaker 1 (14:56):
So yeah, yeah, what if you weren't available?
Speaker 3 (15:01):
I mean I was in my early twenties. I was
always available.
Speaker 1 (15:05):
Okay, fair fine for me, Like you're.
Speaker 3 (15:09):
Going on like sorry, I have a session with my
friend today. I'm right, No, No, that that kind of became.
It was tough because like I was DJing on the weekends,
so like a Friday night gig. I remember having to
cancel sometimes because I knew we'd have like a later
call time on a Friday, and like, hey, I'm not
gonna be able to make it tonight. But weekdays it
was you know, I was in my early twenties. It
(15:32):
was just writing music, so that was my priority. I
was like, I'm keeping this gig. This is a good thing. Yeah,
I amass this up. Yeah. I was trying to just
ye know, by the way, be available.
Speaker 1 (15:44):
Now, you guys join the Gleek Club and you were
then magically actors who danced and were musicians. Do you
remember what that call was like when you got the script?
Did you get a script? And then also being in
rehearsals with us, Like it's a little bit of a
(16:04):
blur for me. I remember exactly like when you guys joined,
and I remember that episode very vividly, but like, what was.
Speaker 3 (16:11):
That Like, Yeah, I mean it was I was like
walking around the grove or something and and I remember
getting to call like hey, I was asked. They asked
me for like another headshot or something like that, and
they were like, well, we have to send it over
to the actual casting director. This was like the music
casting director had sent it to the actual casting director
(16:33):
and all this stuff, And I was like what is happening.
They're like, well, you're going to be joining the cast
for an episode. I was like, what are you talking about.
I was like, I'm already part of it. I was like,
they're my friends, I'm already joining them. Like I'm already
like we were already doing this thing. They're like, well,
they're gonna have you like singing and dancing a couple
of I was like what. I was excited because, you know,
(16:54):
after I don't remember what season that was. I want
to say it was like three. Yeah, it was, you know,
a couple of years of doing the same thing. So
it was kind of cool. Ryan joked with me a
couple of times in season one saying that he was
thinking about making he was going to give Heather a
love interest with somebody in the band, which I thought
would have been hilarious, just like a band groupie. Of course,
(17:16):
who else would have been, But it was kind of
cool to get excited to do something different. That's how
I was kind of looking at it. And I remember
jumping into rehearsals with you guys and being more in
like your routine, and I had so much respect for
like the work that y'all went through and and being
and seeing that side of it and getting like a
different perspective on what's been going on for like two
(17:38):
three years. It was really cool to be a part
of and to just having been in like a routine
and knowing our routine and switching it up and being
like damn, like this is a lot of work and
like this is like they put in time, and it
was really cool to see.
Speaker 2 (17:53):
I remember you guys joining rehearsal. It was because by
that point, like you said, we were family, like really
good friends, and because every performance, you guys like were
all there together all those hours, we were all hanging out.
It wasn't just the twelve Glee club members. It was
us and all of you all the time. Yeah, So
it never really felt separate in that way, especially when
(18:15):
it came to like the performances. It's natural that you
guys are there. So when you were dance rehearsal, it
was just like, great, we have more of our friends.
But I remember, like I'm like, I hope they're not
like scared.
Speaker 1 (18:26):
But we also really did dance in that one, like,
oh my gosh, that was the like justify Yeah, Oh
my gosh, Michael, it was hard that was a lot, and.
Speaker 3 (18:36):
It wasn't It wasn't like an episode. Just everything in
the choir room that was a regional that was like
in the auditorium, big numbers.
Speaker 2 (18:45):
Threw you into the most dancing we had probably done
up to that point.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Yes, it was a big one too because we had
lost all those members. So it was like, oh my gosh,
I got.
Speaker 3 (18:54):
To finally see like who actually knew what they were doing,
which was fun and I as a drummer, feels so
confident right now that I can count to four.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
That's so funny. And where Zach and bringing everybody like
nice to you and like getting you. I don't remember.
I mean I'm sure they were, but just like did
they like help you guys.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
I mean, Sack was always I mean, Zach was always
the best and he they both of them were very
I think they like eased us in and they once
they saw like Scott and I kind of held our own.
They like they were just like cool, Okay, well you're
gonna do this now and then do this, But they
were very like not eased it in, but they just
like they knew that it was kind of like a
(19:42):
shake up for us, so they didn't just like expect
us to be able to come in and keep up
right away, and so they kind of gave us, like,
you know, a low bar and then they eased us in,
which was nice.
Speaker 2 (19:51):
Once that sort of stint happened. Did do you know
how long that was going to last?
Speaker 3 (20:00):
Man? I wanted to last for as long as it
could because it was, you know, it was so fun
and it's weird, not it was weird kind of going
back to the usual after that, Yeah, you're kind of like, well,
I did that, and I thought I did. It was
almost like getting the promotion and getting demoted, or like
being like in sports, like being brought up to the
(20:21):
big leagues and then kind of stepping back yea, And
I think I didn't have a problem. I was excited
to continue on with the show, and like I think
after especially after the graduation, the first graduation episode where
I was in cap and gown, I was like, well,
I guess we're done, and then being brought after it
(20:43):
was kind of like the same feeling again where it
was like, Okay, don't take this for granted, You're still
to be part of this, and like that moment was great,
but it was definitely something I was like, man, like,
we could have done that again, Like we could have
write some sort of story arc or some sort of
you know, involvement again, And yeah, but I had a
blast doing it.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
You also are just very talented in your own right.
Aside from Lee, John also DJed our wedding, so were
we all like stay in touch, which is so cool
and we we just adore you. But during the show
where I write after you worked with some of the
cast members, like you co wrote with Leah on her album,
(21:26):
and then you worked on a song with Nia write
a music video, and then you also used to DJ
snakes miss too. Can you tell me about how those happened?
Speaker 2 (21:38):
John is our resident producer and cheek John, Yeah, has
any ideas.
Speaker 3 (21:44):
That's how you asked me to your wedding.
Speaker 4 (21:46):
You're like, hey, getting married.
Speaker 3 (21:53):
When tell me when? Yes, exactly, one of the best
weddings I've ever been to, by the way, it was
so much fun.
Speaker 1 (21:59):
It was but like all our friends, it was so cool.
It was such a great dance battles.
Speaker 3 (22:04):
It was great too.
Speaker 1 (22:05):
Many I.
Speaker 3 (22:09):
Like the arts, so like I guess acting, I've always
appreciated the art of it, and like there was a
different experience people always acting ask me, well, why didn't
you like try to do more acting? Afterwards, I was like,
being on set was fun and being part of that
I have so much respect for. But I just love creating.
My creative passion is music and always has been. And
so when like when when Nya first asked about doing
(22:35):
some music and even amber and and everything, I was
so like, I was so like not honored, but I
was just like I was so excited and so so
happy to be a part of of like their music
life outside of the show, because it is such I mean,
you you both know, like it's being creative in that
world is such an intimate and like vulnerable spot. Like
(22:57):
in order to mature creative, you have to be comfortable
with putting your ideas out there and then having either
come out and it'd be good or not. And it's
like a reflection of you. So anytime any of you
wanted to do something musically, like you and Kevin and
I have done stuff, and the stuff when I was great,
I mean we wrote I think we wrote probably like
eight songs together and we just kind of like got
(23:18):
together and just you know, just had fun doing it.
It was always a pleasure because you get to know
each other for years in this like creative environment that's
completely different, and then you could step into a different
environment that's more intimate and like a little bit more
stripped down in a way. And I was always really
really like a highlight of my like extended like Glee
(23:42):
experience of being able to do that with friends I
made from this experience and then do something outside of it.
And then obviously the DJing, like the rap parties, the
how many snicks misses, I mean, the time not put
me in a treehouse.
Speaker 1 (23:55):
Tower Well got there late and I was like.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
Yeah, I like where is John, Like I hear the music?
Where is here?
Speaker 3 (24:04):
Yeah? Yeah, those are I mean djaying so long? That's
just such a I get. I'm an extrovert that or
not extrovert, an EmPATH in the way that I love
when people have a good time for music, whether whether
it's mine or someone else's or whoever's. Like, I love
that joy that music brings to people. And so when
I can like play a song and see you all
(24:26):
lose your mind and Kevin split his pants on the
dance floor, like that is like that is just the.
Speaker 1 (24:32):
You knew us.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
It is true, it was. I think that's why we
always felt, especially like Na scoop you up so quickly
for those parties, and then we were like, well, there's
no other DJ for us in our lives forever because
you know us so well. We all know each other
so like musically that like imagine going to like anybody listening,
like going to a party, and the person any of
(24:55):
those parties, the person djaying knows exactly what you want
to hear all the time. Yeah, And it was just
like it was the best I had.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
I had a Glee playlist that I would like anytime
we'd have a party. I just knew that I'd go
to that play a lot of nineties R and V.
Oh yeah, a lot of nineties Beyonce and Rihanna, like anything, yes, yes,
all that, and uh yeah, that's always fun because like
knowing you each individually and then just like taking your
own individual playlists and putting it into a bucket and
(25:27):
drawing from that bucket and you're just like you're watching
each one of you just go lose your mind to
a song that comes on and that sells as a
chain reaction because then because that personally would get excited
when Kevin gets excited.
Speaker 1 (25:38):
Yeah, yeah, it was great.
Speaker 2 (25:40):
How did did you did we discover you were a DJ?
Because you DJ like one of the earlier rap parties, Like,
how did that happen? Do you remember?
Speaker 3 (25:49):
I don't know. I remember a time I was djaying
in a place in Hollywood and I invited you guys
out or something that generally remember being there, and I
feel like that might have been one of the first
times that you guys had seen EJ because I feel
like that was during season one and I wrapped into
(26:10):
the rap party season two. I think it was after
Snick's miss, so I think it was like I was like, hey,
by the way, I DJ, if you guys want to
come out, like hang out like on a Saturday night,
and then it Yeah, I think it kind of.
Speaker 2 (26:31):
I do remember meeting you on the pilot.
Speaker 3 (26:35):
Yeah, and you right next to me in your wheelchair
with a guitar that you had just learned to play
or something.
Speaker 2 (26:39):
And it was so embarrassing because very quickly you can
turn around and be like, oh, these guys are real
musicians obviously, and here I am faking everything I'm doing.
I'm not in the wheelchair. I don't know how to
play guitar, and then I was watching, I'm like I
was filling in for Corey learning this dance. That's a
(27:00):
thing I can do, but I'm not doing that. And
I was like, thank God, my back is to these
musicians because I don't want to see their face as
I am messing all of this up.
Speaker 1 (27:10):
Well, you learned in the trailer like the day before
Kevin to be fair, Well they gave me lessons.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
This poor guy, I was like, so good, like an
actual guitar player, producer of classical music, like taught me
through for like the first season how to fake it properly,
which entails sort of learning it right. But like that
doesn't mean anyway. I was just my like initial impressions
were that of embarrassment for myself because I obviously greatly
(27:40):
respected what you were all doing, and we were all
in this weird unknown like soup together yea of figuring,
you know, like you were there when they were figuring
out how do we shoot a musical number. We're going
to do the simplest number forever, I guess, like from
your perspective, like what was that whole art like, because
(28:00):
you saw it from inception to us actually getting to
do and you being in like vocal adrenaline level type numbers,
and how the shooting style changed, how the whole operation changed.
Speaker 3 (28:13):
Yeah, well before that, I don't know if you remember this,
but do you remember food Fight day? Oh?
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yes, of course I realized.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
When Corey came over and kicked me off the drums,
somebody thought it was a good idea to just wool
John standing there, give him a guitar. No, so very
similar to you. I'm standing there, like, I don't play guitar.
What so I'm asking Derek, like what He's like, just
(28:43):
stand there and strum. Dude, just stand there and strum.
And I was like, well, so if you go back,
I just somehow jump up from guitar or jump up
from start playing guitar.
Speaker 2 (28:51):
It's okay. I was like, we were watching an episode recently,
and I fully caught myself. Oh actually, Jenna, it was
you had to mention it. But I'm still standing and
I clearly for how long have I been doing the show,
And clearly I'm singing leads and did not know the
words and like fully turned my face away and come
(29:12):
back on like the fourth word. I was like, I
forgot the beginning of the line. So we were doing
that shit every episode. So yeah, it's so true.
Speaker 3 (29:21):
Yeah, to go to your question, I it's cool being
able to see. It's really rare that you're a part
of something from the beginning to the end that has
the kind of like trajectory that that the show kind
of had. And so looking back on it, like, that's
to me still blows my mind that there's this show
(29:41):
that I was a part of from an email that
I had no clue what it was going to be,
and then it took off and became this thing. Remember
I remember going to perform on the Oprah Show with
you guys, you remember that I was even there. I
remember that, but.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
I remember, oh, oh my god, I'm going to show
with you.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
And I don't think we knew that on camera.
Speaker 3 (30:05):
We were off to the side doing our miming per usual.
I don't whole thing was like so that there's there's
a lot of things.
Speaker 2 (30:14):
That is truly like I do your friends are family,
but like kid moves to Hollywood, goes to school, and
ends up on Oprah within two years.
Speaker 3 (30:26):
What from an email? Guys? Damn it was wild. Yeah,
So that just the whole I think I had I
have the most. I think I have the most respect
and like the fun fondest memories of just that crew
and you guys and just what happened in between the takes.
(30:47):
And really I run into so like so often, like
especially djaing on the rap parties are just being in
l a still. I run into like crew members all
the time, and it's that like Lee family. It's such
a nice like it's like an extended family that you
always have that bond with those people because they were
part of that thing. And that's like, that's one of
the coolest thing. I saw Brittany Parks the other day
(31:09):
and I was just like epe and just big hug
and it was like, oh, yeah, you have that bond
to go so nice. I think from everything, I think
that's the biggest thing I took away from It's just
like you have an extended family that you know no
one else can put a claim on except for.
Speaker 1 (31:25):
The understand like what you've been through and like you
saw it all. What is the feeling that leaves you with, man, I.
Speaker 3 (31:34):
Want to say, just pure happiness. I think like because
I was so lucky to be a part of it,
that you can't just not think of those relationships, those hours,
the inside jokes, the hard times, the long hours, and yeah,
(31:56):
I think just so happy. It's so happy to be
a part of it. I don't think anything else. There
is no other word of like that that experience was
for me than just happy I was being you know,
I was there just drums playing away.
Speaker 2 (32:11):
We ended up doing like seven hundred and forty something numbers.
Do you know how many you were in.
Speaker 3 (32:21):
I can look, I mean close to I don't want
to say two hundred, but up up close to two
hundred for sure, Wow, because I know I have Like
last time I looked, I have like one hundred and
sixty songs from but I could have deleted a couple
or right right, it's up in there, like the one
hundred and seventy two hundred songs. Probably that's nuts. And
(32:45):
then there was other times we were just walking down
the hall and you know, or interacting. Yeah, times we
were there that we didn't end up playing because we
were about to start playing, and it was a dream sequence, right,
weird days saying I.
Speaker 1 (32:57):
Just like sitting at this the drum, at your drum kit,
but like not playing.
Speaker 3 (33:03):
You need it today hey, by the way, asking the
other band members, did we get music for this? Because
I didn't get any What are we playing? I don't know,
get ready.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
Like when Tina does like a half a song, so
you play a half a song?
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, for some reason, your songs were never full.
Speaker 1 (33:18):
Well, there's a lot to unpack there. That's for another episode.
Speaker 2 (33:24):
I just have to say the amount of respect to
have for you and the whole band, because I think
a lot of time we didn't undervalue you while we're
doing it. But I think those long hours and all
of that can go so unnoticed and overlook because you
were all so professional, never complained, never said shit, yeah
(33:45):
and we're just tired. Yeah, but you were always there
and like we all became friends and because you were
all so nice and lovely and just like good human
beings and like, thank God, like we all got to
be together and like it have together and that was
all of you in the band. Yeah, because it made yeah,
made that family so much more complete.
Speaker 3 (34:04):
Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you guys. Never never once did any
of us ever feel like we were outsiders or anything.
It was always it was always a warm environment in
those rooms with the cast and the crew and everybody.
You guys were always very welcoming of us, and we
always felt welcome like we were part of the team.
(34:25):
So happy you say that, but the feeling was definitely
mutual for sure.
Speaker 2 (34:30):
It's probably awesome because like we're frauds and they're the real.
Speaker 1 (34:35):
Like when they would bring like strings in and the
strings that actually have to play.
Speaker 3 (34:38):
Because I remember Kevin all the time, like I.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Know we were. It's nice to hear live music, Like
I wish you guys could have like really played because
like you're like, wow, this is so nice.
Speaker 3 (34:53):
Drum set was muted, taped glued.
Speaker 2 (34:55):
They had yeah on there. Yeah, how did they do that?
You had didn't you have like pads on stuf up
and things.
Speaker 3 (35:00):
They put pads under the drumheads so you don't see them,
and then they tape those so that it's like extra muted,
and then they super glue like multiple symbols and all
kinds of things.
Speaker 1 (35:11):
Magic. You guys could have also had like these crazy
attitudes because you're like I don't know what's going on
and I don't know what's happening and I am here
just day by day, and like just to have that
great attitude really did like give like it just added
to our crew. And you guys are so great and
such good sports and we're just grateful to have you
(35:32):
guys as like the family and now you know, staying
close as friends. It's like it's just really awesome and
it's a nice feeling to have so and also thanks
for taking your time to you're a busy man, so
thanks for coming on the podcast. So it's just for
people to hear like about right, you.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
Guys are friends family. Anytime you come, anytime you get
a text or a call and you want me to
do something, it's you know, it's it's family. You guys.
I have known you more than I've known some of
my you know who I call my closest friends. And
we literally grew up together.
Speaker 1 (36:02):
So you're the best. John, thank you so much for
coming on anytime.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Appreciate it, y'all.
Speaker 4 (36:10):
Thank you John. All right, thank you so so much. Yeah,
thank you bye, sweet man. Oh my god, I just
didn't know any of that.
Speaker 2 (36:22):
I didn't either.
Speaker 3 (36:23):
And they're just like.
Speaker 1 (36:24):
Such good attitudes about it, I know, but like, look,
we nobody's going to talk about their contracts while on
the show. Nobody's going to be like it's now in hindsight,
you're like, oh, it's just such. Everybody had their own
experience saying.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
We were all around the same age, and it's like
you did feel weird, Like I didn't. I didn't feel
right to ask people about that sort of No, exactly,
we're all here, we love each other, it's all good.
Speaker 1 (36:49):
It feels like he who was there much more than
two days a week.
Speaker 2 (36:52):
Oh yeah, I feel like he was there all the time.
Speaker 1 (36:55):
I mean, I'm sure there were some episodes, but anyway,
our band was amazing.
Speaker 2 (37:00):
Because it's because he was there. The whole band was
there during the longest scenes. The musical numbers took the longest,
so the times that we were all in the same
place for the long smount of time, he was there.
Speaker 1 (37:09):
He is there. Well, thanks John for coming on and
sharing your experience and chatting. I hope you guys enjoyed
listening and hearing all about from the music side and
the band side. They were there with us from the beginning,
so it's just awesome. I can't believe he and Scott.
Speaker 2 (37:26):
Were there from the pilot's great wild amazing.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
It's amazing.
Speaker 2 (37:32):
And watching them age like they watched us watched exactly,
but like they look I feel like they look younger
than us. Yeah, a lot of it, and like get
to see them like even though we were the same age,
but well they look younger. Well, thanks for joining us
for another episode and That's what you really missed.
Speaker 1 (37:52):
See you.
Speaker 2 (37:53):
Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
That's what you really miss pod. Make sure to write
us a review and leave us five stars. See you
next time.
Host
Jenna Ushkowitz
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