April 25, 2024 • 23 mins
He's from Key West! Local hip-hop artist Mike Stack stopped by Keys Weekly's office the other day to tell Side Tracks host Gwen Filosa about his upcoming performance at the Key West Songwriters Festival, which starts May1, how he landed the opening act spot for Billy Currington's June 7 show at the Coffee Butler Amphitheater, and what it was like rapping on top of Sloppy Joe's Bar on Duval Street with D-Lew for thousands of people below on New Year's Eve.
The episode opens with Mike Stack's island anthem, "I'm From Key West."
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
My ST
we got D Lou on this one as well.
About time.
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome to Key West Sidetracks. I'm Gwen Filosa. I'm digital
editor at Keys weekly newspapers down here in Beautiful Key
West Florida. My guest today is Key West musician, Mike Stack.
He has a ton of amazing things going on. He's
part of the Key West Songwriters Festival which opens up
(00:32):
here May 1st and on June 7th, Mike will open
for Billy Currington
at the Coffee Butler amp, the theater. Mike stopped by
the office recently and we had a great talk. Here's
the interview. I hope you enjoy it. Mike Stack. Welcome
to the podcast. Appreciate you having me. Let's just jump
right into it, Qs Songwriters Festival. Coming up. You're on there.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, we are, we're super ready. We were invited last year,
uh myself and Lou and last year we brought like
we would any show, uh a hip hop, we brought
a A DJ on
uh and this year when we got invited, we decided
to try a different avenue. So myself and D Lou
linked up with uh my buddies, Mike Dillon and Ryan
Aber to perform uh to create the band called The
(01:17):
Brick Finders. So this year we'll actually be doing a,
a live acoustic version of our songs and,
uh, a couple familiar hooks that you've heard in the past,
uh with our words on the verses. So, it's gonna
be a cool different avenue that we're trying to, uh attack.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Now. Is it Mike Stack in the brick?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
No. So it's gonna be just the brick finders. I, um, yeah,
I didn't mean brick finders. Exactly. The brick finders. Me
and Lou were gonna make it at first before we
got even a band together. The idea was Stack and
Lou and the brick finders. But once we got all
the guys together, everybody's putting in an equal amount of effort.
So why
make it somebody's band? This is our band. So the
Brick Finders band was just the right goal and
Speaker 2 (01:58):
one thing I love like years and years ago LL Cool.
J did the MTV unplugged or whatever they called it
then and it was, you know, even a mama said,
knock you out with the, you know, acoustic piano was
playing the drums and it, it almost like you can
re invent your songs or reimagine them. And, and is
this new playing with the bands or
Speaker 1 (02:19):
so?
And I agree. Uh We, they have the tiny desk
N pr and they bring in a lot of hip
hop guys and they give them a band and so
we saw that and uh, being from Key West, it's
like a heavy acoustic town guitars. So our buddies, uh,
before we even thought about a band, our buddies would
bring us up and give us a riff that we
could do. I'm from Key West or have a day
or something too. Uh, so we've always kind of been
(02:40):
playing with it, but then in the last couple of
months we've actually been like, all right, let's do it.
It brings a sound that people want to hear, especially
when visiting Key West.
So we put the band together and man, it's been flowing.
It's been grooving. We've been, we've been really having a
good time just recreating old songs and uh even we're
getting into making brand new songs with the band that
will be under the Brick
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Finders. What's it like being famous on a small island
that you, you grew up with everybody anyway.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So I think we always, you always know the people that,
you know, and you grew up with all these people.
So I had all my friends and their families that
knew me, but,
but I'm from Key West song and with gaining the
celebrity status, I guess you could call it in Key West. Now,
everybody knows you, all the kids. When we go to
the schools, they know who Mike Stack is. When we're
at the bars, people are coming up wanting to take
a photo or just have a conversation. So it's, it's
(03:26):
way different. I mean, it went from like, what's ups
in the car to, hey, how you doing in Publix?
To now, every time we go out it might be somebody,
I don't know. That's just coming up to say, hey,
I really like the song. I appreciate this song. I
love what you're doing.
Uh So it's just cool to, it's awesome. This is like,
it's so cool. Everybody wants to be known, but it's just,
it's really cool that everybody feels cool enough to come
up and talk. That's still that small town vibe. Come up.
(03:49):
Say what's up. Let's have a conversation
and let's have some
Speaker 2 (03:52):
fun. It was the Garrett Hughes benefit concert for the
scholarship fund. And I'm like, I'm looking at the performers.
I'm like, OK, yeah, I'm, I'm down with local music
and I had no expectations and then you come out
and then little Caleb came out and D lou and
Cris has his tt shirt off and you, you are
owning that sta
and the crowd, the kids, the young people. It was
(04:15):
so powerful and it was so positive and that was
definitely an event that was like a homecoming, like a
family reunion, people during that time, what I saw from
my outsider point of view of, of living here was
you are a big part of
helping people come together and grieve.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
We are very fortunate to be in a position where
we can use music to bring people and like you said, positive,
I'm not, all my songs are about having a good time.
You know, I have a couple of sad songs but, uh,
that's
most of the time. It's about we're having a good time.
So we're fortunate to be in a spot where we
can bring people together whether for good or bad, we
don't wanna come together for bad, but, uh, to be
(04:55):
able to bring people together, uh in a, in a
tough time to try to put a smile on their
face or maybe distract for a moment. Um Is we're
fortunate to be able to do it and we're happy
to do it. And uh
we're gonna keep on doing
Speaker 2 (05:10):
it. To me. It's, it's really just a small town.
It's kind of wholesome and everybody knows everybody and, and it's,
it's like Mayberry with a little bit more drinking, a
little bit more drinking, but I guess just music to
me is, is, is about connection everyone can relate to, especially,
I'm from Key West was stuck in my head after
(05:31):
New Year's for about three days and I'll never complain.
I'll never, you were the only person that I could
find that took really good video of the crowd. You're
on the, you're on the roof at Sloppy Joe's. You
must have just felt like Superman,
Speaker 1 (05:46):
the craziest specialist. Most wildest moment ever just being up
there when I took that video, I couldn't see anything.
I was just kind of taking the video to, I
tried to post it, it wouldn't post. So I'm like
2 a.m. I'm now looking at all these videos and
I'm like, wow, it didn't really sit in or it didn't,
you know, I didn't get the full grasp until I
looked at that video and I was like, that place
(06:07):
was packed and it was, it was such a good
time and uh shout out to sloppy Joe for letting
us come up there and have some fun. But
it was, it was really sweet to be up
Speaker 2 (06:15):
there. You guys just looked so happy.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
It was, it was like me and Lou probably looked
at each other 100 times up there like what the
hell is going on
Speaker 2 (06:24):
it just because that whole, you know, humble and work,
gratitude and victory is what, what I see a lot
in musicians, especially, you know, in this community, they musicians
here aren't, they aren't competitive, they're super nice to each
Speaker 1 (06:38):
other. And I think that's what's great about this town.
And uh everybody has their own lane
and uh some lanes are more full than others. But
at the end of the day, everybody clicks me and
D Lou will click with Kaiser, you know, H uh
Aaron Hudgins, Sheri, uh even Cliff Cody like these guys, everybody,
even though we're hip hop guys, everybody's cool with us
(06:59):
in the, in the country of the acoustic scene and
same with us I like to bring,
when we do shows, I like to bring acoustic people
out uh to start the show because I understand that
hip hop is not everybody's avenue, but people enjoy some
of the hip hop songs we do. But if we
can add a little bit of Sheri or Josh Kaiser or,
you know, whoever it may be with that acoustic uh
voice and acoustic set, it's just best of both worlds
(07:19):
out there. So we're fortunate,
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I can't even imagine what, what hip hip hop means.
So many different things. And it's grown 50 years of, of,
you know, evolution of moving bigger, better, different.
So do people uh people are turned off when they
hear hip hop or they don't know what you do?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I think people don't understand what my hip hop is.
Uh or even De Luz hip hop, people hear hip
hop and, and they immediately think like guns, drugs, violence,
right and cussing, cussing, right? And don't get me wrong.
A couple of my early songs. I thought that was,
that's what hip hop was before. I kind of found
myself and what I really wanted to do. But um
you know,
(07:58):
our hip hop is different. I'm talking about being on
the boat. I'm talking about being in the island. I'm
talking about having a good time. Uh I'm not talking
about anything that's bad. De Los talking about real life
experiences how he feels. Uh So our hip hop is,
is not what most people think and that does turn
people off. It's crazy when I tell some people hip
hop and immediate like, oh, I don't do hip hop.
I'm like, well listen to a song, I got a
song called I Want My Beer. I'm pretty sure if
(08:19):
you like beer, you'll like the song.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And it, it's very um accessible. It's almost like country
music or, or uh pop but it, it has a
kind of a country blues feel your
Speaker 1 (08:30):
lyrics and, and, you know, I feel like, uh I
follow that same structure as a country song. Like my
song is catchy hook, got my verse talking about whatever
the hook is about. And then the catchy hook, I
want people to be screaming the hook at the top
of their lungs. So
Speaker 2 (08:46):
the way you describe, like your early stuff to now
it reminds me of stand up comedy because in the beginning,
I was just saying cusses, curses a lot of cussing.
And then now, you know, I start to learn how
to write a joke or how to that. It doesn't
um hey, when you're young and starting out, you don't,
you're trying cussing and, and I mean, it's, it's, it's
how you, you know, start because you're, it's like growing
(09:09):
up in public when you're doing the music,
Speaker 1 (09:11):
right? You gotta like figure it out. Like, what is, I,
I don't think anybody really knows exactly what their style
is until they get a couple of years in or
a year in, to when they can be like, ok, like,
I listen to some of my old songs, I'm like,
let's just turn this off. That's,
Speaker 2 (09:25):
that's, that's what you're supposed to be. What if, what if,
what if it were the same, you'd be like, well, um,
I know you're from Qs because you wear a piece
of the atocha and that means that's
Speaker 1 (09:36):
real. Yeah. So I was actually gifted this one after
a show uh by my buddy Brandon. Yeah, he uh
I had a bar, my grandma gave me one of
the silver bars from the Atocha. And so Brandon came
up after the 1st December show, we did the first
big concert and he gave me this and I was like, man,
I had my little one but now I feel like
I'm on the ship. I just got off the ship
with this thing. It's
Speaker 2 (09:56):
really nice. It's a nice, it's a large kind of pendant. It, it, it's,
it's nice. But um you, I mean, obviously you're, you're
uh being from Key West, you,
you have a feel for the island that um why
are Conchs? You so nice to us. Transplants. My neighbors
are so welcoming. It's not an issue. One guy like
(10:17):
he filled up my tires one day because I checked
all the pressure and it's just so well talk about
um the island and, and what people are like here
because it's not,
you know, I've worked for some Miami papers and they're like, oh,
it's all fantasy fest and everyone's trashed and it's so
much more than that. It is.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
People think Key West, they think Duvall Street immediately. And
I love Duvall Street. I love the bars down there.
I love the bartenders, but that's not all we have. Um,
the community down here as you can see from when
we do a benefit concert or when anything bad happens
in this community big or small, everybody comes together, everybody's
got your back.
And I think with you, why people are so great
to you as well is because these people that come
(10:57):
down here and embrace the Florida Keys and Key West
for what they are and put back into it. That's
when the locals are like, this is somebody we want
to keep around. It's the people that might come down
that aren't really about it. They wanna change things. They
come down here because of the weather, but then they
wanna start changing everything about it is the ones that
were like, hey,
Speaker 2 (11:16):
what you doing? It's, it's I, well, thank you for that.
I walked in here humble because I just drove down
with the dog in the car and I thought I'd
stay for a year. I just, I've got a job
over the phone and my whole interview was, do you
know how expensive it is here? And I was like, No.
And, um, so green but, but it, it just is
a wonderful place of, um, a lot of people like
(11:38):
to change things. I wonder what that's about. It must
be like that everywhere. I'm gonna move to New York City.
And what's the deal with all these cabs? What's the deal? Now? What,
what are, um, do you just work nonstop? You constantly
got shows and projects? And so
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I've been trying, um, we're just trying to keep
pushing it out, whether it's with music or whether it's
doing a small show or whether it's setting up a
big show because all the, all the Mike stack shows
you see are, I'm, I'm setting them all up. I'm
bringing in the sound, the audio. I'm asking the venues
for the space. Um Shout out to the cast Marina.
We just did one there. It was a big show.
It was fun. It was really fun. Uh We had
(12:15):
a great turnout, the brand new cast Marina. Uh So,
and that's the thing when you come to a mic
stack and friends or a stack and lou concert,
the positive and the energy is, is through the roof.
Everybody's there to have a good time. Everybody knows what
it is and everybody's just smiling, sing along. So it's,
it's cool that we can bring that vibe. When, when
I was growing up, we had a lot more things
to do for the, the younger kids. It's starting to
(12:36):
come back, there's a lot more for the young kids,
but there was a period, you know, a couple of
years ago where there just wasn't much to do for
the younger crowd, especially. So it's cool to be able
to have my friends who have families now come out
to a show with their kids and, you know, we
got people bringing their grandma and grandparents out to our show. Like,
you know,
we talk about our regular hip hop stuff like I said,
but we don't, you know, we're light on. I don't
really cuss um we understand that we can reach a
(12:59):
bigger audience
Speaker 2 (13:01):
will get, you will get you there.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You can still be a little, you know, you just,
I don't need to say so many F and sh
and all
Speaker 2 (13:09):
that and I haven't heard a lot of F words on,
on your,
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I don't, I don't, I'm, I'm, I used to, I say,
you know, the word a little bit here and there
but uh
my older stuff, I would definitely,
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I love the F word though in music.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I mean, I like saying it. I
Speaker 2 (13:23):
do too and I like that. I mean, it's art,
it's art, you're doing your art and people talk that way,
but I understand what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
So I try not to put it into music. If
you have a conversation with me, I'm dropping F bombs.
I
Speaker 2 (13:33):
just lost the whole demographic. They're turning me off. They're
like Gwen cussing. I mean, it's not like we're at
church or at the bank. We're just,
Speaker 1 (13:41):
we're, we're allowed to cuss, but I'm just like, let
me not
f this f that every
Speaker 2 (13:46):
song. Yeah. It's, um, and you don't have to, you, how,
when was your huge break when? Well, first of all,
how old are you? 34? You're so young. But how,
I mean, you're, you're living the dream that you had,
you're just starting
Speaker 1 (14:01):
really? I'm enjoying it. Um So before this people don't know,
like I was in college making music, I was trying. Right.
And then I moved back down to Key West and
I made a couple of songs and I got the
job at the college and I kind of stopped making
music for a long time. Five years. I was like, it's,
I'm not gonna do it like, it's not it or not,
not five. That was exaggeration, but at least two. and
(14:22):
then I got back in the music still at this point,
I was just doing it because I enjoyed to do it.
That's what I wanted to do. It was fun. Even
if my friends are the only ones listening.
And then I kind of got an idea about, let
me start making songs about things like whether it's a
Boat Day or we're gonna, you know, I'm from Key
West or, you know, we got like Christmas songs and
stuff like that. I was like, let me start making
songs like people can use for an event they're going
(14:46):
on the boat. I wanna play Boat Days or whatever
it is. And then we hit this song from Key
West and as soon as we had it made D
lo I looked at him, I was like, bro, this
is bigger than we even think it is. I'm like,
this is not gonna touch just Our Grant. This is gonna,
I know it an
Speaker 2 (15:00):
amazing song like it, it, it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So that was, that was I would say the, the
big moment that's when everybody and then once we have
that song, even if it's just locally and shout out
to uh Rick Lopez on 927. He put it on
927 which started, I got people that visit and they
bring it home Michigan, North Dakota, Missouri Maine. Like I've
had people from all these states like I don't even
live there but we visited, we heard it on the radio.
We love it. We played our kids sing it like
(15:25):
they're from Key West
and I think it's cool. That song can almost transport
somebody to Key West for that two minutes and 30
seconds when they hear that song, they're in Key West
and they're just chilling. But with that song, me and Lou,
he was a great, you know, Lou perfect guy to
do it with. We kind of brought two aspects. I
talk about the sights and kind of the fun. Then
(15:45):
de Lou talks about some deeper stuff, you know, he
talks about the rent and maybe losing a couple of
people and that's, you know, he wants to be buried
right next to them
in Key West. So it was the perfect ying and
Yang D Lu was the perfect Ying and Yang for
me to do all this with because when I get
too high, he brings me down a little bit, you know.
Um So we, we, we hit that one on the
head and ever since then we've just been running just
(16:06):
trying to do more uh branch out to different. I've
always been big on not staying in the hip hop genre.
I wanna do some hip hop songs but I wanna
have some country songs. I wanna have a, I got
a rock and roll song. Um So I got like,
I'm gonna try something every time I got a reggae
song I just did like, I'm gonna try everything once
and if,
if it's a little rough, we might not go back
to
Speaker 2 (16:23):
it. Well, yeah. Yeah. And uh you um you're opening
for a huge act coming up in June,
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Billy Currington. I'm, I'm excited. Uh
I don't listen to too much new country but that
Billy Currington, the Toby Keys, the Kenny Chesney's. Those guys
are the guys that I grew up with my mom
and dad listening to, you know. Um And then Billy,
you know, he came into the playlist when I was
in high school just started maybe drinking the beers a
little too early and he's talking about all the beers
(16:52):
and stuff. So I'm like, this is my guy. It's,
it's
Speaker 2 (16:54):
how did, did, did he, did his people call? You
did the theater help?
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So, about a year and a half ago,
shout out to Kelly Norman. Um She's fantastic. Her and
Nick both. Um, But they went to the Bahamas about
a year and a half ago and they got the
DJ to play. I'm from Key West and so I'm
from Key West is blaring and you know, Kelly handles
a lot of the, the acts that come to Key West.
She's the, the big dog at Ramstead. So uh she
(17:19):
tagged me and then Billy follows her on Instagram. So
he clinked into, I clicked into my Instagram and I
just dropped, I want my beer, which is like a
country
hip hop song. I got some twang on there. But
I also got a hip hop verse that I kind
of rap, you know, so he was like, hey, like,
he hit me up. He's like, I like this song.
This is a cool song like, oh man, appreciate you.
You know, I was like, you know, we kinda talk
about maybe making a remix. I don't know if that'll happen.
(17:41):
But so we kept in like contact, nothing crazy. Just
that's cool. Nice song, whatever.
And then probably about a month, month and a half
ago he hit me up. He's like, yo, you wanna
do a show at the amphitheater? I was like, you
don't even have to ask Mark me down right now.
Please mark it.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Let's go. I love this story and it shows as
I keep telling people, social media can be used for
good for great. That's amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (18:02):
it's, it's social media is, is absolutely, like you said,
one thing can put you in contact with the person
that you needed.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And that's amazing because he, yeah, and it, and it
happened
on someone's vacation and it just happened to, I love,
I love this. And uh are, are you, um, are
you ever going to go on like a big tour
or you just gonna let people come to you? So
Speaker 1 (18:24):
my, my big thing was with Key West. I was like,
we do want to go on a tour. I got a,
maybe like a 34 city tour in Florida that I'm
trying to line up now like a Saint Petersburg, Orlando
West Palm Cities that are more our vibe. I don't
think we could go into a downtown Miami. I don't,
that's not really our vibe. Maybe one day we'll be
at the uh
uh the, whatever it is now, uh the arena, the
(18:44):
NBA arena there. Oh, yeah, I
Speaker 2 (18:46):
don't know what it's called anymore, but we can see
you play in Miami
Speaker 1 (18:51):
but Yeah. And I could see in Miami but, you know, these,
these beach towns, these laid back towns, these, you know,
Speaker 2 (18:57):
start with West Palm and, but I could see, I
could see a south beach embracing and
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I, and I could too. And I, and I think, um,
I think it's coming, I think as long as we
keep putting the right foot forward and just trust in
our gut,
uh, we'll be ok. But yeah, we do, we do
got something planned. But one of my biggest things was
when I started making music, everybody was trying to tell
me how it needed to be done. You have to
get out of Key West, you have to get out
of Key West. I'm like, no, they, a lot of
(19:22):
people that thought they knew what they were talking about. They, this,
this was, you got to get out of Key West.
You're never gonna get anywhere here.
I was like, well in my mindset, I wanna get
my town behind me. If I can't get the city
I live in to listen to my music.
What's the point in going out there and trying to
get a whole bunch of other people? Yes, people do it.
But I was like, I wanted to win my city over.
If I could win my city over, then I know
(19:44):
I could win anybody over.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Millions of people come here.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
And that was a big thing. You never know who's
gonna be in the crowd down here. It could be
the guy, the record producer or the artist that, that
you needed to meet. And we've met different people through
this avenue of just being here doing what we're doing
here that have reached out to us and been like,
yo love what you're doing, you know, like
this is great, somebody that shouldn't be reaching out to
me and it's cool that they are. But this was
(20:08):
all because
we got the home team first and now we can
do anything in town and we know that people will
come and support because we put in the work here
and we're bringing a really fun atmosphere to the different
places that we go. I
Speaker 2 (20:22):
love that because what that reminds me of is um
um when was interviewing coffee butler or in writing about
Cliff Sawyer
and, and other, you know, uh um local legends and
people would say, you know, if they had left, they
had chances they could have been huge and I'm like, yeah,
but they were huge here and, and I don't know,
I have a different, maybe I have a different view
(20:44):
of what success is. They, they were huge here and
they played and they made people so happy.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
The only person that can judge your success is yourself
if you are happy with what you're doing and you are,
you know, getting by with what you're doing. That's success.
To me, the fact that. I haven't had to work
a job in a year. I'm not making a whole
bunch of money, but I haven't had to work a
job in a year and a half. And I've been
able to get by on just doing this music stuff.
I've been able to
(21:11):
just zone in on it. I haven't had to go
waste energy from 8 to 4. Music
Speaker 2 (21:16):
and art is a full time and you're making and
you're making a living on your work.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So I'm, I'm fortunate and shout out to my mom
and dad, you know, they were huge supporters of this.
A lot of mom and dads could have been like,
what do you mean you're quitting your
job? It's a lot
Speaker 2 (21:30):
of work, isn't it? It's, it's, I know it's your dream,
but I'm like, it's not, it's a
Speaker 1 (21:34):
lot of work and sometimes don't get me wrong. I
still have those days where I'm like, man, I wish
this would be a little bit faster. But also when
something great does come along, I'm like, I wasn't supposed
to go faster. I was at the right speed to
hit this exit. Now, I'm gonna get off of this exit.
I'm gonna do some things. I'm gonna get back on
the highway.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
That's, that's a great way to put. I love that.
That's been my experience, by the way, I'm
Speaker 1 (21:57):
big on not rushing. I
Speaker 2 (21:59):
look back, it takes me like 88 months to a
year to go. Oh, that actually worked out. But thank
you so much for doing this podcast, Mike Stack. Thank
you
Blue with a sign.
(22:22):
Thank you for listening to Key West Sidetracks. I'm Gwen
Filosa at Keys Weekly newspapers. I'll be back next week
with a new episode. Check us out online for the
top Florida Keys, news, sports, and entertainment stories. Keys, weekly.com.
No paywalls. We don't force you to sign up with
(22:45):
your email or anything to read. We're all free.
Our newspapers come out every Thursday. We have editions in
the Upper Keys Marathon and Key West.
Take care, talk to you soon.
My ST
we got D Lou on this one as well.
About time.
Let's go.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Welcome to Key West Sidetracks. I'm Gwen Filosa. I'm digital
editor at Keys weekly newspapers down here in Beautiful Key
West Florida. My guest today is Key West musician, Mike Stack.
He has a ton of amazing things going on. He's
part of the Key West Songwriters Festival which opens up
(00:32):
here May 1st and on June 7th, Mike will open
for Billy Currington
at the Coffee Butler amp, the theater. Mike stopped by
the office recently and we had a great talk. Here's
the interview. I hope you enjoy it. Mike Stack. Welcome
to the podcast. Appreciate you having me. Let's just jump
right into it, Qs Songwriters Festival. Coming up. You're on there.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Yeah, we are, we're super ready. We were invited last year,
uh myself and Lou and last year we brought like
we would any show, uh a hip hop, we brought
a A DJ on
uh and this year when we got invited, we decided
to try a different avenue. So myself and D Lou
linked up with uh my buddies, Mike Dillon and Ryan
Aber to perform uh to create the band called The
(01:17):
Brick Finders. So this year we'll actually be doing a,
a live acoustic version of our songs and,
uh, a couple familiar hooks that you've heard in the past,
uh with our words on the verses. So, it's gonna
be a cool different avenue that we're trying to, uh attack.
Speaker 2 (01:33):
Now. Is it Mike Stack in the brick?
Speaker 1 (01:35):
No. So it's gonna be just the brick finders. I, um, yeah,
I didn't mean brick finders. Exactly. The brick finders. Me
and Lou were gonna make it at first before we
got even a band together. The idea was Stack and
Lou and the brick finders. But once we got all
the guys together, everybody's putting in an equal amount of effort.
So why
make it somebody's band? This is our band. So the
Brick Finders band was just the right goal and
Speaker 2 (01:58):
one thing I love like years and years ago LL Cool.
J did the MTV unplugged or whatever they called it
then and it was, you know, even a mama said,
knock you out with the, you know, acoustic piano was
playing the drums and it, it almost like you can
re invent your songs or reimagine them. And, and is
this new playing with the bands or
Speaker 1 (02:19):
so?
And I agree. Uh We, they have the tiny desk
N pr and they bring in a lot of hip
hop guys and they give them a band and so
we saw that and uh, being from Key West, it's
like a heavy acoustic town guitars. So our buddies, uh,
before we even thought about a band, our buddies would
bring us up and give us a riff that we
could do. I'm from Key West or have a day
or something too. Uh, so we've always kind of been
(02:40):
playing with it, but then in the last couple of
months we've actually been like, all right, let's do it.
It brings a sound that people want to hear, especially
when visiting Key West.
So we put the band together and man, it's been flowing.
It's been grooving. We've been, we've been really having a
good time just recreating old songs and uh even we're
getting into making brand new songs with the band that
will be under the Brick
Speaker 2 (03:00):
Finders. What's it like being famous on a small island
that you, you grew up with everybody anyway.
Speaker 1 (03:06):
So I think we always, you always know the people that,
you know, and you grew up with all these people.
So I had all my friends and their families that
knew me, but,
but I'm from Key West song and with gaining the
celebrity status, I guess you could call it in Key West. Now,
everybody knows you, all the kids. When we go to
the schools, they know who Mike Stack is. When we're
at the bars, people are coming up wanting to take
a photo or just have a conversation. So it's, it's
(03:26):
way different. I mean, it went from like, what's ups
in the car to, hey, how you doing in Publix?
To now, every time we go out it might be somebody,
I don't know. That's just coming up to say, hey,
I really like the song. I appreciate this song. I
love what you're doing.
Uh So it's just cool to, it's awesome. This is like,
it's so cool. Everybody wants to be known, but it's just,
it's really cool that everybody feels cool enough to come
up and talk. That's still that small town vibe. Come up.
(03:49):
Say what's up. Let's have a conversation
and let's have some
Speaker 2 (03:52):
fun. It was the Garrett Hughes benefit concert for the
scholarship fund. And I'm like, I'm looking at the performers.
I'm like, OK, yeah, I'm, I'm down with local music
and I had no expectations and then you come out
and then little Caleb came out and D lou and
Cris has his tt shirt off and you, you are
owning that sta
and the crowd, the kids, the young people. It was
(04:15):
so powerful and it was so positive and that was
definitely an event that was like a homecoming, like a
family reunion, people during that time, what I saw from
my outsider point of view of, of living here was
you are a big part of
helping people come together and grieve.
Speaker 1 (04:34):
We are very fortunate to be in a position where
we can use music to bring people and like you said, positive,
I'm not, all my songs are about having a good time.
You know, I have a couple of sad songs but, uh,
that's
most of the time. It's about we're having a good time.
So we're fortunate to be in a spot where we
can bring people together whether for good or bad, we
don't wanna come together for bad, but, uh, to be
(04:55):
able to bring people together, uh in a, in a
tough time to try to put a smile on their
face or maybe distract for a moment. Um Is we're
fortunate to be able to do it and we're happy
to do it. And uh
we're gonna keep on doing
Speaker 2 (05:10):
it. To me. It's, it's really just a small town.
It's kind of wholesome and everybody knows everybody and, and it's,
it's like Mayberry with a little bit more drinking, a
little bit more drinking, but I guess just music to
me is, is, is about connection everyone can relate to, especially,
I'm from Key West was stuck in my head after
(05:31):
New Year's for about three days and I'll never complain.
I'll never, you were the only person that I could
find that took really good video of the crowd. You're
on the, you're on the roof at Sloppy Joe's. You
must have just felt like Superman,
Speaker 1 (05:46):
the craziest specialist. Most wildest moment ever just being up
there when I took that video, I couldn't see anything.
I was just kind of taking the video to, I
tried to post it, it wouldn't post. So I'm like
2 a.m. I'm now looking at all these videos and
I'm like, wow, it didn't really sit in or it didn't,
you know, I didn't get the full grasp until I
looked at that video and I was like, that place
(06:07):
was packed and it was, it was such a good
time and uh shout out to sloppy Joe for letting
us come up there and have some fun. But
it was, it was really sweet to be up
Speaker 2 (06:15):
there. You guys just looked so happy.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
It was, it was like me and Lou probably looked
at each other 100 times up there like what the
hell is going on
Speaker 2 (06:24):
it just because that whole, you know, humble and work,
gratitude and victory is what, what I see a lot
in musicians, especially, you know, in this community, they musicians
here aren't, they aren't competitive, they're super nice to each
Speaker 1 (06:38):
other. And I think that's what's great about this town.
And uh everybody has their own lane
and uh some lanes are more full than others. But
at the end of the day, everybody clicks me and
D Lou will click with Kaiser, you know, H uh
Aaron Hudgins, Sheri, uh even Cliff Cody like these guys, everybody,
even though we're hip hop guys, everybody's cool with us
(06:59):
in the, in the country of the acoustic scene and
same with us I like to bring,
when we do shows, I like to bring acoustic people
out uh to start the show because I understand that
hip hop is not everybody's avenue, but people enjoy some
of the hip hop songs we do. But if we
can add a little bit of Sheri or Josh Kaiser or,
you know, whoever it may be with that acoustic uh
voice and acoustic set, it's just best of both worlds
(07:19):
out there. So we're fortunate,
Speaker 2 (07:21):
I can't even imagine what, what hip hip hop means.
So many different things. And it's grown 50 years of, of,
you know, evolution of moving bigger, better, different.
So do people uh people are turned off when they
hear hip hop or they don't know what you do?
Speaker 1 (07:37):
I think people don't understand what my hip hop is.
Uh or even De Luz hip hop, people hear hip
hop and, and they immediately think like guns, drugs, violence,
right and cussing, cussing, right? And don't get me wrong.
A couple of my early songs. I thought that was,
that's what hip hop was before. I kind of found
myself and what I really wanted to do. But um
you know,
(07:58):
our hip hop is different. I'm talking about being on
the boat. I'm talking about being in the island. I'm
talking about having a good time. Uh I'm not talking
about anything that's bad. De Los talking about real life
experiences how he feels. Uh So our hip hop is,
is not what most people think and that does turn
people off. It's crazy when I tell some people hip
hop and immediate like, oh, I don't do hip hop.
I'm like, well listen to a song, I got a
song called I Want My Beer. I'm pretty sure if
(08:19):
you like beer, you'll like the song.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
And it, it's very um accessible. It's almost like country
music or, or uh pop but it, it has a
kind of a country blues feel your
Speaker 1 (08:30):
lyrics and, and, you know, I feel like, uh I
follow that same structure as a country song. Like my
song is catchy hook, got my verse talking about whatever
the hook is about. And then the catchy hook, I
want people to be screaming the hook at the top
of their lungs. So
Speaker 2 (08:46):
the way you describe, like your early stuff to now
it reminds me of stand up comedy because in the beginning,
I was just saying cusses, curses a lot of cussing.
And then now, you know, I start to learn how
to write a joke or how to that. It doesn't
um hey, when you're young and starting out, you don't,
you're trying cussing and, and I mean, it's, it's, it's
how you, you know, start because you're, it's like growing
(09:09):
up in public when you're doing the music,
Speaker 1 (09:11):
right? You gotta like figure it out. Like, what is, I,
I don't think anybody really knows exactly what their style
is until they get a couple of years in or
a year in, to when they can be like, ok, like,
I listen to some of my old songs, I'm like,
let's just turn this off. That's,
Speaker 2 (09:25):
that's, that's what you're supposed to be. What if, what if,
what if it were the same, you'd be like, well, um,
I know you're from Qs because you wear a piece
of the atocha and that means that's
Speaker 1 (09:36):
real. Yeah. So I was actually gifted this one after
a show uh by my buddy Brandon. Yeah, he uh
I had a bar, my grandma gave me one of
the silver bars from the Atocha. And so Brandon came
up after the 1st December show, we did the first
big concert and he gave me this and I was like, man,
I had my little one but now I feel like
I'm on the ship. I just got off the ship
with this thing. It's
Speaker 2 (09:56):
really nice. It's a nice, it's a large kind of pendant. It, it, it's,
it's nice. But um you, I mean, obviously you're, you're
uh being from Key West, you,
you have a feel for the island that um why
are Conchs? You so nice to us. Transplants. My neighbors
are so welcoming. It's not an issue. One guy like
(10:17):
he filled up my tires one day because I checked
all the pressure and it's just so well talk about
um the island and, and what people are like here
because it's not,
you know, I've worked for some Miami papers and they're like, oh,
it's all fantasy fest and everyone's trashed and it's so
much more than that. It is.
Speaker 1 (10:36):
People think Key West, they think Duvall Street immediately. And
I love Duvall Street. I love the bars down there.
I love the bartenders, but that's not all we have. Um,
the community down here as you can see from when
we do a benefit concert or when anything bad happens
in this community big or small, everybody comes together, everybody's
got your back.
And I think with you, why people are so great
to you as well is because these people that come
(10:57):
down here and embrace the Florida Keys and Key West
for what they are and put back into it. That's
when the locals are like, this is somebody we want
to keep around. It's the people that might come down
that aren't really about it. They wanna change things. They
come down here because of the weather, but then they
wanna start changing everything about it is the ones that
were like, hey,
Speaker 2 (11:16):
what you doing? It's, it's I, well, thank you for that.
I walked in here humble because I just drove down
with the dog in the car and I thought I'd
stay for a year. I just, I've got a job
over the phone and my whole interview was, do you
know how expensive it is here? And I was like, No.
And, um, so green but, but it, it just is
a wonderful place of, um, a lot of people like
(11:38):
to change things. I wonder what that's about. It must
be like that everywhere. I'm gonna move to New York City.
And what's the deal with all these cabs? What's the deal? Now? What,
what are, um, do you just work nonstop? You constantly
got shows and projects? And so
Speaker 1 (11:54):
I've been trying, um, we're just trying to keep
pushing it out, whether it's with music or whether it's
doing a small show or whether it's setting up a
big show because all the, all the Mike stack shows
you see are, I'm, I'm setting them all up. I'm
bringing in the sound, the audio. I'm asking the venues
for the space. Um Shout out to the cast Marina.
We just did one there. It was a big show.
It was fun. It was really fun. Uh We had
(12:15):
a great turnout, the brand new cast Marina. Uh So,
and that's the thing when you come to a mic
stack and friends or a stack and lou concert,
the positive and the energy is, is through the roof.
Everybody's there to have a good time. Everybody knows what
it is and everybody's just smiling, sing along. So it's,
it's cool that we can bring that vibe. When, when
I was growing up, we had a lot more things
to do for the, the younger kids. It's starting to
(12:36):
come back, there's a lot more for the young kids,
but there was a period, you know, a couple of
years ago where there just wasn't much to do for
the younger crowd, especially. So it's cool to be able
to have my friends who have families now come out
to a show with their kids and, you know, we
got people bringing their grandma and grandparents out to our show. Like,
you know,
we talk about our regular hip hop stuff like I said,
but we don't, you know, we're light on. I don't
really cuss um we understand that we can reach a
(12:59):
bigger audience
Speaker 2 (13:01):
will get, you will get you there.
Speaker 1 (13:04):
You can still be a little, you know, you just,
I don't need to say so many F and sh
and all
Speaker 2 (13:09):
that and I haven't heard a lot of F words on,
on your,
Speaker 1 (13:12):
I don't, I don't, I'm, I'm, I used to, I say,
you know, the word a little bit here and there
but uh
my older stuff, I would definitely,
Speaker 2 (13:19):
I love the F word though in music.
Speaker 1 (13:22):
I mean, I like saying it. I
Speaker 2 (13:23):
do too and I like that. I mean, it's art,
it's art, you're doing your art and people talk that way,
but I understand what you're saying.
Speaker 1 (13:29):
So I try not to put it into music. If
you have a conversation with me, I'm dropping F bombs.
I
Speaker 2 (13:33):
just lost the whole demographic. They're turning me off. They're
like Gwen cussing. I mean, it's not like we're at
church or at the bank. We're just,
Speaker 1 (13:41):
we're, we're allowed to cuss, but I'm just like, let
me not
f this f that every
Speaker 2 (13:46):
song. Yeah. It's, um, and you don't have to, you, how,
when was your huge break when? Well, first of all,
how old are you? 34? You're so young. But how,
I mean, you're, you're living the dream that you had,
you're just starting
Speaker 1 (14:01):
really? I'm enjoying it. Um So before this people don't know,
like I was in college making music, I was trying. Right.
And then I moved back down to Key West and
I made a couple of songs and I got the
job at the college and I kind of stopped making
music for a long time. Five years. I was like, it's,
I'm not gonna do it like, it's not it or not,
not five. That was exaggeration, but at least two. and
(14:22):
then I got back in the music still at this point,
I was just doing it because I enjoyed to do it.
That's what I wanted to do. It was fun. Even
if my friends are the only ones listening.
And then I kind of got an idea about, let
me start making songs about things like whether it's a
Boat Day or we're gonna, you know, I'm from Key
West or, you know, we got like Christmas songs and
stuff like that. I was like, let me start making
songs like people can use for an event they're going
(14:46):
on the boat. I wanna play Boat Days or whatever
it is. And then we hit this song from Key
West and as soon as we had it made D
lo I looked at him, I was like, bro, this
is bigger than we even think it is. I'm like,
this is not gonna touch just Our Grant. This is gonna,
I know it an
Speaker 2 (15:00):
amazing song like it, it, it, yeah.
Speaker 1 (15:03):
So that was, that was I would say the, the
big moment that's when everybody and then once we have
that song, even if it's just locally and shout out
to uh Rick Lopez on 927. He put it on
927 which started, I got people that visit and they
bring it home Michigan, North Dakota, Missouri Maine. Like I've
had people from all these states like I don't even
live there but we visited, we heard it on the radio.
We love it. We played our kids sing it like
(15:25):
they're from Key West
and I think it's cool. That song can almost transport
somebody to Key West for that two minutes and 30
seconds when they hear that song, they're in Key West
and they're just chilling. But with that song, me and Lou,
he was a great, you know, Lou perfect guy to
do it with. We kind of brought two aspects. I
talk about the sights and kind of the fun. Then
(15:45):
de Lou talks about some deeper stuff, you know, he
talks about the rent and maybe losing a couple of
people and that's, you know, he wants to be buried
right next to them
in Key West. So it was the perfect ying and
Yang D Lu was the perfect Ying and Yang for
me to do all this with because when I get
too high, he brings me down a little bit, you know.
Um So we, we, we hit that one on the
head and ever since then we've just been running just
(16:06):
trying to do more uh branch out to different. I've
always been big on not staying in the hip hop genre.
I wanna do some hip hop songs but I wanna
have some country songs. I wanna have a, I got
a rock and roll song. Um So I got like,
I'm gonna try something every time I got a reggae
song I just did like, I'm gonna try everything once
and if,
if it's a little rough, we might not go back
to
Speaker 2 (16:23):
it. Well, yeah. Yeah. And uh you um you're opening
for a huge act coming up in June,
Speaker 1 (16:30):
Billy Currington. I'm, I'm excited. Uh
I don't listen to too much new country but that
Billy Currington, the Toby Keys, the Kenny Chesney's. Those guys
are the guys that I grew up with my mom
and dad listening to, you know. Um And then Billy,
you know, he came into the playlist when I was
in high school just started maybe drinking the beers a
little too early and he's talking about all the beers
(16:52):
and stuff. So I'm like, this is my guy. It's,
it's
Speaker 2 (16:54):
how did, did, did he, did his people call? You
did the theater help?
Speaker 1 (16:59):
So, about a year and a half ago,
shout out to Kelly Norman. Um She's fantastic. Her and
Nick both. Um, But they went to the Bahamas about
a year and a half ago and they got the
DJ to play. I'm from Key West and so I'm
from Key West is blaring and you know, Kelly handles
a lot of the, the acts that come to Key West.
She's the, the big dog at Ramstead. So uh she
(17:19):
tagged me and then Billy follows her on Instagram. So
he clinked into, I clicked into my Instagram and I
just dropped, I want my beer, which is like a
country
hip hop song. I got some twang on there. But
I also got a hip hop verse that I kind
of rap, you know, so he was like, hey, like,
he hit me up. He's like, I like this song.
This is a cool song like, oh man, appreciate you.
You know, I was like, you know, we kinda talk
about maybe making a remix. I don't know if that'll happen.
(17:41):
But so we kept in like contact, nothing crazy. Just
that's cool. Nice song, whatever.
And then probably about a month, month and a half
ago he hit me up. He's like, yo, you wanna
do a show at the amphitheater? I was like, you
don't even have to ask Mark me down right now.
Please mark it.
Speaker 2 (17:54):
Let's go. I love this story and it shows as
I keep telling people, social media can be used for
good for great. That's amazing. Yeah,
Speaker 1 (18:02):
it's, it's social media is, is absolutely, like you said,
one thing can put you in contact with the person
that you needed.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
And that's amazing because he, yeah, and it, and it
happened
on someone's vacation and it just happened to, I love,
I love this. And uh are, are you, um, are
you ever going to go on like a big tour
or you just gonna let people come to you? So
Speaker 1 (18:24):
my, my big thing was with Key West. I was like,
we do want to go on a tour. I got a,
maybe like a 34 city tour in Florida that I'm
trying to line up now like a Saint Petersburg, Orlando
West Palm Cities that are more our vibe. I don't
think we could go into a downtown Miami. I don't,
that's not really our vibe. Maybe one day we'll be
at the uh
uh the, whatever it is now, uh the arena, the
(18:44):
NBA arena there. Oh, yeah, I
Speaker 2 (18:46):
don't know what it's called anymore, but we can see
you play in Miami
Speaker 1 (18:51):
but Yeah. And I could see in Miami but, you know, these,
these beach towns, these laid back towns, these, you know,
Speaker 2 (18:57):
start with West Palm and, but I could see, I
could see a south beach embracing and
Speaker 1 (19:01):
I, and I could too. And I, and I think, um,
I think it's coming, I think as long as we
keep putting the right foot forward and just trust in
our gut,
uh, we'll be ok. But yeah, we do, we do
got something planned. But one of my biggest things was
when I started making music, everybody was trying to tell
me how it needed to be done. You have to
get out of Key West, you have to get out
of Key West. I'm like, no, they, a lot of
(19:22):
people that thought they knew what they were talking about. They, this,
this was, you got to get out of Key West.
You're never gonna get anywhere here.
I was like, well in my mindset, I wanna get
my town behind me. If I can't get the city
I live in to listen to my music.
What's the point in going out there and trying to
get a whole bunch of other people? Yes, people do it.
But I was like, I wanted to win my city over.
If I could win my city over, then I know
(19:44):
I could win anybody over.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
Millions of people come here.
Speaker 1 (19:47):
And that was a big thing. You never know who's
gonna be in the crowd down here. It could be
the guy, the record producer or the artist that, that
you needed to meet. And we've met different people through
this avenue of just being here doing what we're doing
here that have reached out to us and been like,
yo love what you're doing, you know, like
this is great, somebody that shouldn't be reaching out to
me and it's cool that they are. But this was
(20:08):
all because
we got the home team first and now we can
do anything in town and we know that people will
come and support because we put in the work here
and we're bringing a really fun atmosphere to the different
places that we go. I
Speaker 2 (20:22):
love that because what that reminds me of is um
um when was interviewing coffee butler or in writing about
Cliff Sawyer
and, and other, you know, uh um local legends and
people would say, you know, if they had left, they
had chances they could have been huge and I'm like, yeah,
but they were huge here and, and I don't know,
I have a different, maybe I have a different view
(20:44):
of what success is. They, they were huge here and
they played and they made people so happy.
Speaker 1 (20:50):
The only person that can judge your success is yourself
if you are happy with what you're doing and you are,
you know, getting by with what you're doing. That's success.
To me, the fact that. I haven't had to work
a job in a year. I'm not making a whole
bunch of money, but I haven't had to work a
job in a year and a half. And I've been
able to get by on just doing this music stuff.
I've been able to
(21:11):
just zone in on it. I haven't had to go
waste energy from 8 to 4. Music
Speaker 2 (21:16):
and art is a full time and you're making and
you're making a living on your work.
Speaker 1 (21:21):
So I'm, I'm fortunate and shout out to my mom
and dad, you know, they were huge supporters of this.
A lot of mom and dads could have been like,
what do you mean you're quitting your
job? It's a lot
Speaker 2 (21:30):
of work, isn't it? It's, it's, I know it's your dream,
but I'm like, it's not, it's a
Speaker 1 (21:34):
lot of work and sometimes don't get me wrong. I
still have those days where I'm like, man, I wish
this would be a little bit faster. But also when
something great does come along, I'm like, I wasn't supposed
to go faster. I was at the right speed to
hit this exit. Now, I'm gonna get off of this exit.
I'm gonna do some things. I'm gonna get back on
the highway.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
That's, that's a great way to put. I love that.
That's been my experience, by the way, I'm
Speaker 1 (21:57):
big on not rushing. I
Speaker 2 (21:59):
look back, it takes me like 88 months to a
year to go. Oh, that actually worked out. But thank
you so much for doing this podcast, Mike Stack. Thank
you
Blue with a sign.
(22:22):
Thank you for listening to Key West Sidetracks. I'm Gwen
Filosa at Keys Weekly newspapers. I'll be back next week
with a new episode. Check us out online for the
top Florida Keys, news, sports, and entertainment stories. Keys, weekly.com.
No paywalls. We don't force you to sign up with
(22:45):
your email or anything to read. We're all free.
Our newspapers come out every Thursday. We have editions in
the Upper Keys Marathon and Key West.
Take care, talk to you soon.
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