Drummer from the Pork Tornados joins the Show

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
And joining us on the phone line. This guy has
plenty of fun. Every time that I see him, at
least he is behind the drum kit doing some rap,
singing some songs, playing some drums for a band called
the Pork Tornadoes. They're a Midwestern band and they returned
to Omaha tomorrow night at the Slowdown. Mike Shelty on
our phone line today, Mike, how's it going, man, dude.

Speaker 2 (00:21):
It's going good. It's always a pleasure to talk to you,
and it's always a pleasure to be heading to Omaha soon.
We freaking love that town. Man.

Speaker 1 (00:29):
Yeah, I feel like the crowds have just gotten larger
and larger. But you actually had a little stint doing
something else in Omaha between the last time I saw
you here and tomorrow night. You actually came here as
part of a College World Series kickoff event. How was
that all?

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Oh? It was so great. I mean we've never been
a part of that before, but we always heard it
was great and it's such a big deal. And so
it was like the what one hundred and seventy fifth
anniversary or the seventy fifth anniversary, And we played their
opening ceremonies at that cool little Park downtown. It was incredible,
and I think we maybe got some new fans involved

(01:06):
into the world's worst named band in America. And hopefully
they're all coming down tomorrow night.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Yeah, and I'll see. We've talked to you a few times, Mike,
but I always have to ask because people want to know.
So the Pork Tornadoes, how, how does that happen?

Speaker 2 (01:22):
It's just it's unfortunate. Let's just put it out. We
were all eighteen years ago in college playing for free
beer in our local bar and that's it thought. We
never thought it would go any further. And then here
we are one of the highest in demand party bands
in the Midwest, and we just we can't change our name.
It's too late. So we're stuck with a band that

(01:43):
embodies the Midwest, a band named the Pork Tornadoes, and
we're just stuck with it. Man.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Yeah, you're definitely way too deep into it at this
point to do anything about it. But it really does
set you guys apart. The branding is cool. You have
the pink and you guys are all bearded. I think
the style right because you guys do cover songs, but
you do them in a very unique way. But you
wanted to brand this thing. You guys been at it

(02:10):
for a while. When did you figure out really what
the kind of what your guys's image and what your
sound really was as you interpreted other people's music.

Speaker 2 (02:20):
Yeah, it's evolved, right. We used to play a lot
more like just kind of like John Mayer stuff eighteen
years ago in rock and roll and sublime, and we
just played whatever we liked, and then we realized that
at some point we had sort of stumbled into this
idea of bearded dudes taking modern pop songs like Taylor

(02:41):
Swift and Katy Perry and putting some rock and roll
spins on it. And that's really where I think things
took off, because you know, I mean, we want to
play too broad audiences and pop music, whether you like
it or not, pop music is ingrained into all of
our ears from these incredible ear warm pop songs that
are out there. And there's nothing better than seeing a big,

(03:04):
old tough guy standing in the front row belting out
the lyrics to Shake It Off by Taylor Swift, because
you know, you add a little guitar to that, and hey,
that feels like rock and roll. Now, all of a sudden,
people dig it.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
You get, but that's it's true. I when I first
saw you guys, that was like the first thing that
I noticed was, well, wait a second, this actually slaps
pretty hard when you put guitars and real drums behind it.
And that's really Yeah, that's the charm of what you
guys do. Speaking with Mike Schulti, drummer of the Pork Tornadoes,
they have to slow down tomorrow night. Another thing that
we've talked about is how many songs do you know about?

(03:36):
How many songs different songs you guys have actually performed
in front of people?

Speaker 2 (03:40):
Oh geez, I think, I think when you look back
on it, I bet, I bet we've played probably more
than three hundred different songs over the last eighteen years.
And you know, they evolve. Some songs get pushed out
just because it's worth sick of playing it. Some songs
get evolved into like mash up Medley's We've started, you know,
I do that nineties hip hop medley of four different

(04:03):
songs that everybody loves. So my guess is, you know,
every night we play about we play about thirty songs,
So you're gonna hear thirty songs from from the eighties
through today, five different genres, but overall, I'm guessing we
could we could go back in time and count about
three hundred different songs that we've played in the past.

Speaker 1 (04:22):
Yeah, now see that just it's crazy. Do you ever
pull old stuff? Like is there a song that you
guys maybe played ten years ago that you're just kind
of like, man, it was kind of fun to play
that tune, or yeah.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
That's totally man. We've been bringing some old ones back
that sort of made its way out of the set list,
and then as we come into winter, we slow down
a little bit, we spend some time in the studio.
We've got a list of a few kind of old,
really great songs that we just haven't played in a
while that it's time to bring back. So we do
pride ourselves in always bringing in new songs, always bringing

(04:57):
in old songs, switching up set list. You're never gonna
hear the same order and the same songs every time
we play.

Speaker 1 (05:03):
Yeah, the rewatch value is amazing with what you guys do.
The pork tornadoes. Last time I saw you guys was
at the Iowa State Fair, and you always have one
or two, but you have some standbys do you have
a song or two that you've played more than any other,
probably here in the last five years, that you just
know that people go crazy for every time you pull.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
It out, you know. Surprisingly, I think if you told
a random person that this song was in our lineup
every night, they'd be like, wait, and you're a party
cover band and you play this song. It's Tennessee whiskey, right,
It's the song that really blew up for us. It's
got nine million views on YouTube, and it's just a
song that somehow stretched boundaries and genres and the way

(05:48):
we added a slightly different take on it, the way
our singer sings it. It's a great moment in the
show to just bring everything down for a second, put
your arm around your best d standing next to you,
and sing about delicious whiskey and move on. But I
that's a song that I don't think we'll ever be
able to take out of the setlist just because of
how popular it is.

Speaker 1 (06:06):
That's a good point, and literally you have to give
your lead singer, Mason's, who's incredibly talented. You kind of
have to give that that moment to him. I mean,
you got now you do you do some rapping back there?
What do they call you your America's only rapping drummer or
something like that, which of course.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Is not true, but we're just gonna go with that,
you know what I mean?

Speaker 1 (06:30):
Yeah, but it's great. What is it about the rap
that you're like, you know what, I can sit back
here and do the drum beats while I'm rapping these tunes?
Because you do like Gangster's Paradise, you do Lizzo. I mean,
there's all sorts of different stuff back there. What was
it about that music and your willingness to be able
to do both? Because I play drums too, I can't

(06:51):
do anything. I can barely think while I'm doing the drumming.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Well, the problem was is that as this band evolved,
we realized that everybody in the band can sing, and
everyone has different lead vocals throughout the night, and they're like,
well what about you? And I'm like, Nope, can't sing.
I really don't. I wish I could, but I have
terrible pitch. And so the one thing I knew that
I could do, just to give everybody else a break,
was to take over the mic and do some classic

(07:17):
rap tunes. And it's just great. Man, it's it's a
way for me to sort of have a feature moment.
And you know, there's nobody out there in the world,
in the universe that doesn't get up and get crazy
when Gangster's Paradise comes on. I don't care who you are.
I mean even the rap Medaly I was talking about.
And we do bizmarquis just a friend like you cannot

(07:38):
help but sing along to those classic hip hop songs.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Now, this is the fun part, Mike, that we do
every single time. And I know you give me a
different answer every time. What is your favorite song in
the world right now? Or what's the best song ever
written into your ears?

Speaker 2 (07:55):
Well, okay, so I must mention this just because it's
fresh in my brain. I also have a podcast called
The Confused Breakfast, which talks about famous eighties nineties movies,
and we just had a band come on as a
special guest that the episode's coming out on Monday. It's
a band called The Midnight and they joined our show
and we are now best friends. And that band for

(08:17):
anybody out there that loves nostalgia and loves like eighties vibes,
they're one of the greatest bands to ever play that
kind of synth wave stuff and the song that I
still think is one of the best songs ever written
is called Shadows by the Midnight.

Speaker 1 (08:31):
Now see the Midnight. We've had Tyler Lyle, who's their
lead singer. They came to Omaha probably close to a
year ago now, and I had him on the show.
I could not agree with you more. They are an
incredibly unique act and super awesome. Shadows is an interesting choice.
I'm not sure that's even one of their top five
songs to me, but that's how good there's stuff is.

(08:51):
What makes that song so great.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
I just the uniqueness of it, the feelings it gives
when you listen to it, the place it takes you to,
and that's where we're all huge music lovers in the band.
So that is what we try to do, is we
try to deliver those same feelings you have when you
hear these incredible tunes of taking you a different place,
letting your worries go away, just have fun. The world's

(09:14):
a crazy place and social media has got you bogged down.
You're stuck to your phone like for two hours. Put
it away, sing along, have fun, you know, go back
to a simpler time. And really that's what we're trying
to do.

Speaker 1 (09:26):
Mike Chalty, drummer of the Poor Tornadoes, The Poor Tornadoes
playing at the Slowdown coming up here tomorrow night. Give
me one song that you're excited to play tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (09:37):
Oh I'm Gonna Throw at You Beautiful Things by Benson Boone.
I think we're probably one of the only bands that
can pull that off due to our lead singer, and
we have a sweet little video that accompanies it where
it shows pictures of our kids and our families, because
you know, when we're on the road, we like to
think about our family at home. So I'm excited people

(09:58):
go nuts for that song when we play it.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
I can't wait. Mike Shulty and the Poork Tornadoes are
going to be at the Slowdown tomorrow. What is it?
Doors at seven, show at eight.

Speaker 2 (10:07):
Yep, we got our friends, the Rustic Rebels duo is
going to open the show and then we'll be on
after that, So come on down.

Speaker 1 (10:13):
Awesome Mike, as always, my man, it's so great to
chat with you. I can't wait to see tomorrow night.

Speaker 2 (10:18):
Thanks buddy, appreciate it.