August 30, 2024 • 19 mins
#144. Ron talks with drummer/composer Mario Gutierrez about his solo project niecesandnephews, joining Ghost Funk Orchestra, growing up on Tito Puente, bringing positive energy to the studio and the stage.This episode is sponsored by DistroKid. Get 30% off your membership at distrokid.com/vip/independentmindedSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Scouts, amazing podcasts, run stars, those amazing boies.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Talking to people, make our music, tugging the projects, making
them fames, run.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Scar those amazing podcats. He's helping them about just by making.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Them talk about all the ship.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Nice. They even worried.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
You're the one that should be worried.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
You're a freak.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
You're reading for Big Trouble, Big Trouble.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh you're here for the latest episode of the Independent
Minded podcast. We'll come on in the first. Here's a flyer,
that's right indie music maker. This virtual flyer is good
for thirty percent off at distro Kid. What's distro kid,
you ask, surely ye jest. Distro Kid is the digital
distribution service that helps us musicians get our latest masterpiece
(01:15):
on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and the rest. No more
jumping through hoops trying to get your new tune on
the grid. Distro Kids use your friendly interface for uploading tracks.
Comes with all the tips that'll maximize your experience and
keep you from getting stuck. And they hook you up
with a bunch of cool promo tools that'll help you
promote your music. And if you sign up now, not
only will you prove that the podcast sponsorship system works.
(01:36):
You'll also get thirty percent off your membership at DistroKid
dot com slash vip slash independent Minded. Need a pencil
DistroKid dot com slash vip slash independent Minded for thirty
percent off your first year of membership at distro kid.
You make the music, distro kid helps you put ears
on it. No, they don't cut off ears. That's Vincent
(01:59):
van go figure a speech. So come on now, write
your masterpiece, then send it out to the masses with
distro Kid DistroKid dot com slash vip slash independent Minded.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Drummers. You can't live with them.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You can't live without them, especially if you're in a
band that rocks.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
But whether your rock or your jazz or.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Your country, finding someone reliable behind the kit can be challenging.
Just ask these guys.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Who was your drummer. Stumpy's replacement Peter James Bond. He
also died in mysterious circumstances. We were playing a festival,
jazz blues festival.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
When was that blues jazz really blues jazz festival.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
And it was tragic, really he exploded on stage. My
limited time on stage, I've had to recruit different musicians
to fill out the sound. So sure, tons of indie artists,
big and small, have had to endure since the beginning
of time. But in twenty seventeen, when looking to put
together a birthday show in Manhattan to impress a girl,
(03:16):
I got lucky. Not with the girl that came later.
The percussion playing pimp I was seeking worked right down
the hall.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
We I would say, pretty much immediately connected, just because
I mean, one, you had the piano in your room
at the time. I remember you played me a couple
tunes and I always really liked like your approach to
harmony and like you're an actually like great piano player,
so like when it comes to songwriting, so I really was.
(03:46):
I was like, oh yeah, like and I think you
were like, oh, we should jam sometime.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I was like, yes, if only it were that easy.
But a guy like Mario Gatirez makes it easy. He's enthusiastic,
easy going, tail's positive energy, like it was co two.
Has that just always been an inherent part of who
you are.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
It's funny my mother now has accepted that I just
don't know how to be anybody else. I think that
that's very true, is that I don't know. I mean,
it's just like I just always wanted to have fun.
I just and I think that, like, we're so lucky
to do this all the time. And I've been very
lucky to work with other musicians who, like you said,
(04:28):
like just appreciate that energy. The reason why we did
this in the first place is that we just like
to do it. I take the job seriously in the
sense that, like I practice the stuff and I make
sure that like it's as tight as I can get it,
and then like, after you do all that work, just
have a blast.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And Mario isn't just a drummer. He's a songwriter, composer,
sound designer. But for all that talent, behind the kit
is where Mario really shines.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
That's the main stick.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Mario grew up in New York City, but his musical
roots are rooted just south of Florida.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
My parents are both from Cuba. My mother fled before
Fidel closed the border. My mom and dad lost contact,
and then like years and years later, they found each
other again and got my dad a green card to
get to the United States.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Once settled in the US, Mario's madre Padre both became engineers, so.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
They really weren't a huge fan of me being a musician,
but their bit one out because I'm also an audio engineer,
so they kind of in the end, they kind of
got what they wanted. It wasn't a super musical house.
My dad would play guitar every now and again, but
(06:02):
he kind of played like the same three songs over
and over again. But very much loved music, my dad especially,
you know, I listened to salt some music all growing up.
Tito Puente is kind of like the thing that got
me into it, so my dad really showed me a
(06:31):
lot of early salsa music, Babel Titoe, Celia Cruz, Willi Chinino,
Thank You Jerry.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Like most backed theaters, Mario had to start humbly, no
fancy drum kit, no zilgy and cymbals, with no double
bass pedals.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Sort of the classic stealing pots and pants from from
the kitchen and putting them downstairs. And I would play
Tito Poente videos that my dad would have on VHS.
And the only other thing that my dad had on
VHS was like the Eagles Hell Freezes Over, so I
used to play along to that all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Mario shows his commitment to craft and soon earns legit
drums from his parents and drum lessons too. Because he's
a lefty, Mario's drum teacher decides to teach him to
play open handed.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
In middle school, they had a talent show and I
did a drum solo. I just like played along to
some track and then I did a drum solo. And
ever since then, like people started talking to me. I
was a total dweeb all the way up until then,
and then everybody was like, oh, So I started playing
in bands around then. The first one was like scar related,
(07:55):
and then I went into metal and that really took
my technique to the next level.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And whether playing ska or thrash, Mario excels. But beyond
the percussion, Mario is yet to be enlightened.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Until my sister's ex husband was Mike Portnoy's financial advisor
from Dream Theater. So somehow, like whatever, he got me
tickets to go see Dream Theater. So I went to
go see Dream Theater. And I mean, I like Dream Theater.
I wasn't like bananas about it, but I had learned
(08:30):
a lot of like Mike Portnoy, like drum fills and
different songs, and opening was Zappa plays Zappa. And when
I saw Zappa play Zappa, I can tell you it
(08:51):
was like the ceiling cracked open, and I just was like,
this is the coolest thing I've ever heard in my life.
And I didn't know that you could write like silly music,
but it sounds so technical and so like. I just
had never heard anything like that in my life, and
I was like, I'm gonna go and start songwriting like today,
(09:14):
Like I'm gonna start taking that super seriously. I just
didn't have that language. I had all these ideas in
my head, but I just didn't know how to communicate
them to other writers.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Mario's one of those dudes we all envy. He's a savant,
a sponge. Instead of going to the studio and just
laying down his tracks, he learns the engineering side, not
just playing the kid, but micing it too. He picks
up pro tools, learns that too. Then he picks up
a guitar, learns that too.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
She she want to show.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Off, and that was around the time that I was like, Okay,
I'm going to really start going for composing my own
music and just trying to act give it a shot.
So that's when like Nieces and Nephews started.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Curtius re job can stay up lotless, thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I have a plan to be doing this for the
rest of my life. I don't have any other plans,
and I want to write music, and I like writing music,
so I might as well just even if something is
just like as good as I can get it, just
put it out, because I would rather people see the
progression of my music than just like wait till I
(11:00):
make the perfect thing.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
This plan, of course, is antithical to the pop star sensibility.
But no matter what project he's behind, Mario has always
been more punk rock than pop star. But Nieces and
Nephews is far from punk. It's glitchy, synth heavy dream pop,
(11:43):
and thematically it's often about the imperfections of love.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
You start a relationship with someone and it feels so right,
and they're saying all the words to make you feel
like you're not crazy, and then all of a sudden,
the floor just falls out and you're just like, wait
a minut I could have swore you're like checking like
the text receipts of just like, oh yeah, this person
is feeling the feelings that I'm feeling for them. It
(12:09):
feels like totally harmonious, and then it just drops out
of your It just drops and you're like, I don't
even know you feel crazy.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yea.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Sticking with your stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Telling me that.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
And a project that began quietly in twenty seventeen soon
begins to swell into something more culminating. And Niece's a
Nephew's latest.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Album called Swell.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Dude. I mean a lot of this album is like
getting stuff off my chest of just the swell of
being told that something was gonna happen and then it failed.
And then other times where you invested energy in someone
and they just keep, for lack of a better word,
just like shitting on it and kind of coming to
(13:28):
a realization that I'm just fooling myself over and over
and over again. Just like that huge emotional feeling that
you can't get away from. It's just like it feels
so good to want and love this person, but for
some reason, those are the people that end up like
hurting us.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yep, that sounds about right.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
We should follow it.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
And just because Mario's leaned into composition and songwriting and
nieces and nephews more recently, that doesn't mean he's given
up on paradidtals and complicated time signatures. I was stoked
to watch Mario tear up the kit for the first
time since he and I were on a stage together
(14:23):
when he recently came into town as the drummer and
psychedelic soul band Ghost Punk Orchestra.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
They had been playing already for a while, and you know,
I had seen their shows and I was really digging
the stuff. And Seth is very good at like introducing
different time signatures throughout the song but making it sound natural.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Ghost Funk masterbind Seth Applebaum has recruited all the players
in his band from the jump.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I knew him from playing in the punk scene in Brooklyn. Previous.
He was in a band called the Mad Doctors, and
I was in a band called Power Snap and the
World's Greatest Detective, which was it was rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
On stage at Nashville's East Room, Mario's flanked by eight
other talented musicians. There's a trombone player, saxomophone, a flute player,
even some guest singers. One night prior to his recruitment,
(15:43):
Mario was hanging with a couple of those singers.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I had said something like man if I could play
in that band, I feel like I could like really
do some cool stuff in there, like if he just
gave me a shot, like, I feel like it would
be really cool. I guess they went to Seth and said, hey, listen,
I think that Mario could really actually pull this off.
And he is like a funk jazz guy and has
(16:06):
history doing that, and he was like, yeah, sure.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Mario soon finds himself on the road as part of
a touring Dynamo Live in the Road Dog Dream from
Boston to its points west, then all the way back
to Brooklyn. Mario gets funky in nearly thirty cities over
four months.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Everyone is super professional and just shows up and gets
the job done, and then we end up getting in
the van and going.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It's the sign of a true music professional knowing your role.
And even though the ghost funk songs aren't Marios, even
though my songs weren't his, He's always put his best
foot forward.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
You know. When I'm on stage, I don't know, I'm
just kind of like rocking out and putting energy into
it because I know that that will only translate to
an audience's like best experience is that, like they want
to see someone who's in it.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
This is the dude you want in your band, always
on time, always in time, and always in it.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
You know, you're on stage for forty five minutes, maybe
sixty minutes total, and then you're on the road hanging.
So it's all about like, what's your attitude on the
road and what's your attitude just in general, and.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Whether it's inside the studio playing with soft sense and
guitar effects, we're sweating it out on stage. Mario always
brings his a game attitude. He's not just independent minded,
he's loose as a goose, solid as a rock, and
always looking to elevate the experience. After the GFO show
here in Nashville, I buy my guy a PBR, give
(17:49):
him a great big bear hug and congratulate him. I'm
like a proud older brother, grateful to still have this
cat in my orbit, because we all need a Mario
groof tier as an our band, and hell, if not
in our band, then at least we have him in
our lives.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That attitude just like fuels through even the performance. So
it's like I'd rather just give that all the time
and then that way everybody can just groove and party.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Find out more about the new album Swell and check
out the full Nieces and Nephews catalog at Nieces Andnephews
dot bandcamp dot com. And you can find out more
about Ghost Funk Orchestra, including upcoming tour dates, at Ghostfunk
Orchestra dot com. Big thanks to Mario for bringing the
party to the podcast and of course a big old
(18:47):
group hug to all you loyal podcast listeners who joined
in on this jamboree support Independent Minded simply by subscribing
and door leaving a kind review for the podcast on
Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Hey kick an old school and
tell your friends about the podcast with your mouth. Interested
in being featured on the podcast, send me an email
(19:08):
Ron at Baldfreak dot com and you can follow along
on the socials at bald Freak Music Independent Mind and
you know it's a Bald Freak music production. And me,
I'm still Ron Scalzo.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
You're
Scouts, amazing podcasts, run stars, those amazing boies.
Speaker 2 (00:17):
Talking to people, make our music, tugging the projects, making
them fames, run.
Speaker 3 (00:25):
Scar those amazing podcats. He's helping them about just by making.
Speaker 2 (00:32):
Them talk about all the ship.
Speaker 4 (00:43):
Nice. They even worried.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
You're the one that should be worried.
Speaker 2 (00:50):
You're a freak.
Speaker 3 (00:52):
You're reading for Big Trouble, Big Trouble.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Oh you're here for the latest episode of the Independent
Minded podcast. We'll come on in the first. Here's a flyer,
that's right indie music maker. This virtual flyer is good
for thirty percent off at distro Kid. What's distro kid,
you ask, surely ye jest. Distro Kid is the digital
distribution service that helps us musicians get our latest masterpiece
(01:15):
on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube and the rest. No more
jumping through hoops trying to get your new tune on
the grid. Distro Kids use your friendly interface for uploading tracks.
Comes with all the tips that'll maximize your experience and
keep you from getting stuck. And they hook you up
with a bunch of cool promo tools that'll help you
promote your music. And if you sign up now, not
only will you prove that the podcast sponsorship system works.
(01:36):
You'll also get thirty percent off your membership at DistroKid
dot com slash vip slash independent Minded. Need a pencil
DistroKid dot com slash vip slash independent Minded for thirty
percent off your first year of membership at distro kid.
You make the music, distro kid helps you put ears
on it. No, they don't cut off ears. That's Vincent
(01:59):
van go figure a speech. So come on now, write
your masterpiece, then send it out to the masses with
distro Kid DistroKid dot com slash vip slash independent Minded.
Speaker 3 (02:24):
Drummers. You can't live with them.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
You can't live without them, especially if you're in a
band that rocks.
Speaker 3 (02:34):
But whether your rock or your jazz or.
Speaker 2 (02:36):
Your country, finding someone reliable behind the kit can be challenging.
Just ask these guys.
Speaker 4 (02:43):
Who was your drummer. Stumpy's replacement Peter James Bond. He
also died in mysterious circumstances. We were playing a festival,
jazz blues festival.
Speaker 1 (02:52):
When was that blues jazz really blues jazz festival.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
And it was tragic, really he exploded on stage. My
limited time on stage, I've had to recruit different musicians
to fill out the sound. So sure, tons of indie artists,
big and small, have had to endure since the beginning
of time. But in twenty seventeen, when looking to put
together a birthday show in Manhattan to impress a girl,
(03:16):
I got lucky. Not with the girl that came later.
The percussion playing pimp I was seeking worked right down
the hall.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
We I would say, pretty much immediately connected, just because
I mean, one, you had the piano in your room
at the time. I remember you played me a couple
tunes and I always really liked like your approach to
harmony and like you're an actually like great piano player,
so like when it comes to songwriting, so I really was.
(03:46):
I was like, oh yeah, like and I think you
were like, oh, we should jam sometime.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I was like, yes, if only it were that easy.
But a guy like Mario Gatirez makes it easy. He's enthusiastic,
easy going, tail's positive energy, like it was co two.
Has that just always been an inherent part of who
you are.
Speaker 1 (04:06):
It's funny my mother now has accepted that I just
don't know how to be anybody else. I think that
that's very true, is that I don't know. I mean,
it's just like I just always wanted to have fun.
I just and I think that, like, we're so lucky
to do this all the time. And I've been very
lucky to work with other musicians who, like you said,
(04:28):
like just appreciate that energy. The reason why we did
this in the first place is that we just like
to do it. I take the job seriously in the
sense that, like I practice the stuff and I make
sure that like it's as tight as I can get it,
and then like, after you do all that work, just
have a blast.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
And Mario isn't just a drummer. He's a songwriter, composer,
sound designer. But for all that talent, behind the kit
is where Mario really shines.
Speaker 1 (05:12):
That's the main stick.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Mario grew up in New York City, but his musical
roots are rooted just south of Florida.
Speaker 1 (05:20):
My parents are both from Cuba. My mother fled before
Fidel closed the border. My mom and dad lost contact,
and then like years and years later, they found each
other again and got my dad a green card to
get to the United States.
Speaker 2 (05:36):
Once settled in the US, Mario's madre Padre both became engineers, so.
Speaker 1 (05:41):
They really weren't a huge fan of me being a musician,
but their bit one out because I'm also an audio engineer,
so they kind of in the end, they kind of
got what they wanted. It wasn't a super musical house.
My dad would play guitar every now and again, but
(06:02):
he kind of played like the same three songs over
and over again. But very much loved music, my dad especially,
you know, I listened to salt some music all growing up.
Tito Puente is kind of like the thing that got
me into it, so my dad really showed me a
(06:31):
lot of early salsa music, Babel Titoe, Celia Cruz, Willi Chinino,
Thank You Jerry.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Like most backed theaters, Mario had to start humbly, no
fancy drum kit, no zilgy and cymbals, with no double
bass pedals.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
Sort of the classic stealing pots and pants from from
the kitchen and putting them downstairs. And I would play
Tito Poente videos that my dad would have on VHS.
And the only other thing that my dad had on
VHS was like the Eagles Hell Freezes Over, so I
used to play along to that all the time.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Mario shows his commitment to craft and soon earns legit
drums from his parents and drum lessons too. Because he's
a lefty, Mario's drum teacher decides to teach him to
play open handed.
Speaker 1 (07:33):
In middle school, they had a talent show and I
did a drum solo. I just like played along to
some track and then I did a drum solo. And
ever since then, like people started talking to me. I
was a total dweeb all the way up until then,
and then everybody was like, oh, So I started playing
in bands around then. The first one was like scar related,
(07:55):
and then I went into metal and that really took
my technique to the next level.
Speaker 2 (08:01):
And whether playing ska or thrash, Mario excels. But beyond
the percussion, Mario is yet to be enlightened.
Speaker 1 (08:09):
Until my sister's ex husband was Mike Portnoy's financial advisor
from Dream Theater. So somehow, like whatever, he got me
tickets to go see Dream Theater. So I went to
go see Dream Theater. And I mean, I like Dream Theater.
I wasn't like bananas about it, but I had learned
(08:30):
a lot of like Mike Portnoy, like drum fills and
different songs, and opening was Zappa plays Zappa. And when
I saw Zappa play Zappa, I can tell you it
(08:51):
was like the ceiling cracked open, and I just was like,
this is the coolest thing I've ever heard in my life.
And I didn't know that you could write like silly music,
but it sounds so technical and so like. I just
had never heard anything like that in my life, and
I was like, I'm gonna go and start songwriting like today,
(09:14):
Like I'm gonna start taking that super seriously. I just
didn't have that language. I had all these ideas in
my head, but I just didn't know how to communicate
them to other writers.
Speaker 2 (09:32):
Mario's one of those dudes we all envy. He's a savant,
a sponge. Instead of going to the studio and just
laying down his tracks, he learns the engineering side, not
just playing the kid, but micing it too. He picks
up pro tools, learns that too. Then he picks up
a guitar, learns that too.
Speaker 3 (09:51):
She she want to show.
Speaker 1 (09:52):
Off, and that was around the time that I was like, Okay,
I'm going to really start going for composing my own
music and just trying to act give it a shot.
So that's when like Nieces and Nephews started.
Speaker 4 (10:16):
Curtius re job can stay up lotless, thank you.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
I have a plan to be doing this for the
rest of my life. I don't have any other plans,
and I want to write music, and I like writing music,
so I might as well just even if something is
just like as good as I can get it, just
put it out, because I would rather people see the
progression of my music than just like wait till I
(11:00):
make the perfect thing.
Speaker 2 (11:10):
This plan, of course, is antithical to the pop star sensibility.
But no matter what project he's behind, Mario has always
been more punk rock than pop star. But Nieces and
Nephews is far from punk. It's glitchy, synth heavy dream pop,
(11:43):
and thematically it's often about the imperfections of love.
Speaker 1 (11:47):
You start a relationship with someone and it feels so right,
and they're saying all the words to make you feel
like you're not crazy, and then all of a sudden,
the floor just falls out and you're just like, wait
a minut I could have swore you're like checking like
the text receipts of just like, oh yeah, this person
is feeling the feelings that I'm feeling for them. It
(12:09):
feels like totally harmonious, and then it just drops out
of your It just drops and you're like, I don't
even know you feel crazy.
Speaker 2 (12:19):
Yea.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Sticking with your stuff.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
Telling me that.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
And a project that began quietly in twenty seventeen soon
begins to swell into something more culminating. And Niece's a
Nephew's latest.
Speaker 3 (12:40):
Album called Swell.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Dude. I mean a lot of this album is like
getting stuff off my chest of just the swell of
being told that something was gonna happen and then it failed.
And then other times where you invested energy in someone
and they just keep, for lack of a better word,
just like shitting on it and kind of coming to
(13:28):
a realization that I'm just fooling myself over and over
and over again. Just like that huge emotional feeling that
you can't get away from. It's just like it feels
so good to want and love this person, but for
some reason, those are the people that end up like
hurting us.
Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yep, that sounds about right.
Speaker 4 (13:52):
We should follow it.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
And just because Mario's leaned into composition and songwriting and
nieces and nephews more recently, that doesn't mean he's given
up on paradidtals and complicated time signatures. I was stoked
to watch Mario tear up the kit for the first
time since he and I were on a stage together
(14:23):
when he recently came into town as the drummer and
psychedelic soul band Ghost Punk Orchestra.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
They had been playing already for a while, and you know,
I had seen their shows and I was really digging
the stuff. And Seth is very good at like introducing
different time signatures throughout the song but making it sound natural.
Speaker 2 (15:03):
Ghost Funk masterbind Seth Applebaum has recruited all the players
in his band from the jump.
Speaker 1 (15:08):
I knew him from playing in the punk scene in Brooklyn. Previous.
He was in a band called the Mad Doctors, and
I was in a band called Power Snap and the
World's Greatest Detective, which was it was rock and roll.
Speaker 2 (15:20):
On stage at Nashville's East Room, Mario's flanked by eight
other talented musicians. There's a trombone player, saxomophone, a flute player,
even some guest singers. One night prior to his recruitment,
(15:43):
Mario was hanging with a couple of those singers.
Speaker 1 (15:45):
I had said something like man if I could play
in that band, I feel like I could like really
do some cool stuff in there, like if he just
gave me a shot, like, I feel like it would
be really cool. I guess they went to Seth and said, hey, listen,
I think that Mario could really actually pull this off.
And he is like a funk jazz guy and has
(16:06):
history doing that, and he was like, yeah, sure.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Mario soon finds himself on the road as part of
a touring Dynamo Live in the Road Dog Dream from
Boston to its points west, then all the way back
to Brooklyn. Mario gets funky in nearly thirty cities over
four months.
Speaker 1 (16:37):
Everyone is super professional and just shows up and gets
the job done, and then we end up getting in
the van and going.
Speaker 2 (16:43):
It's the sign of a true music professional knowing your role.
And even though the ghost funk songs aren't Marios, even
though my songs weren't his, He's always put his best
foot forward.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
You know. When I'm on stage, I don't know, I'm
just kind of like rocking out and putting energy into
it because I know that that will only translate to
an audience's like best experience is that, like they want
to see someone who's in it.
Speaker 2 (17:08):
This is the dude you want in your band, always
on time, always in time, and always in it.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
You know, you're on stage for forty five minutes, maybe
sixty minutes total, and then you're on the road hanging.
So it's all about like, what's your attitude on the
road and what's your attitude just in general, and.
Speaker 2 (17:28):
Whether it's inside the studio playing with soft sense and
guitar effects, we're sweating it out on stage. Mario always
brings his a game attitude. He's not just independent minded,
he's loose as a goose, solid as a rock, and
always looking to elevate the experience. After the GFO show
here in Nashville, I buy my guy a PBR, give
(17:49):
him a great big bear hug and congratulate him. I'm
like a proud older brother, grateful to still have this
cat in my orbit, because we all need a Mario
groof tier as an our band, and hell, if not
in our band, then at least we have him in
our lives.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That attitude just like fuels through even the performance. So
it's like I'd rather just give that all the time
and then that way everybody can just groove and party.
Speaker 2 (18:26):
Find out more about the new album Swell and check
out the full Nieces and Nephews catalog at Nieces Andnephews
dot bandcamp dot com. And you can find out more
about Ghost Funk Orchestra, including upcoming tour dates, at Ghostfunk
Orchestra dot com. Big thanks to Mario for bringing the
party to the podcast and of course a big old
(18:47):
group hug to all you loyal podcast listeners who joined
in on this jamboree support Independent Minded simply by subscribing
and door leaving a kind review for the podcast on
Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Hey kick an old school and
tell your friends about the podcast with your mouth. Interested
in being featured on the podcast, send me an email
(19:08):
Ron at Baldfreak dot com and you can follow along
on the socials at bald Freak Music Independent Mind and
you know it's a Bald Freak music production. And me,
I'm still Ron Scalzo.
Speaker 3 (19:21):
You're
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