Episode 13: Top 5 Disney Songs

Welcome to Merman Mondays, your backstage pass to the nation's number one Disney tribute band, hosted by Alexis Babini. In this episode, we introduce a new voice to the Merman Trio—Quinn Marshall, who joins Alexis and the melodic mastermind, Andrew Grau. Prepare for a deep dive into Disney's musical legacy, fun facts (did you know Doritos were invented at Disneyland?), and unforgettable stories from the road.

We'll also update you on upcoming fall and winter shows, including stops in Iowa, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and New York. Then, get to know Quinn better as he shares his musical journey from playing the cello to becoming a drummer inspired by legends like Keith Moon and Ringo Starr.

The trio will reveal their top five Disney songs to perform, from "This Is Halloween" to "Let It Go," and discuss why these tracks hold a special place in their hearts. Plus, stay tuned for a new segment called "Make-A-Wish," where each member shares a Disney song they've never played but would love to, and their dream celebrity podcast guests.

Join us for an episode filled with laughter, music, and a touch of Disney magic. Don't forget to subscribe, follow us on Instagram, and join our Patreon for exclusive content. Dream, believe, and achieve with Merman Mondays!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Music.

(00:10):
Welcome to Merman Mondays, the podcast where the nation's number one Disney
tribute band takes you behind the magic.
I'm your host, Alexis Babini, and today we're adding a new voice to the Merman Trio.
Joining me, as always, is the melodic mastermind, Andrew Grau.
And now, bringing his beats and fresh perspective, Quinn Marshall. Hey!

(00:33):
Hey, everyone. Yeah. I'm super pumped to be here. All right.
So before I showed up, I decided to look up some fun facts to drop on the pie while I was in the deli.
And I realized that Doritos were
invented in Disneyland in 1966 at a part restaurant called Casa de Fritos.
And pretty much it's like unwitting genius of some guy just chopping up like

(00:57):
stale tortillas and serving them with seasoning. Bro. And they were hit.
Like who would have thought? Now, what do you think came first?
I know plain was plain, but what do you think was their first,
like, it was nacho cheese was their first, like, flavor flavor,
right? I really have no, I didn't get that far into it. I feel like I've seen
those retro, okay, sorry.
Pedantic me. Anyways, yes, as mentioned before, musical, melodic mastermind. Thank you.
It's always a blast to be here, whether you're a longtime fan or just discovering

(01:20):
us. We're here to bring the magic of Disney music to life, both on stage and in your ears.
I'm Andrew Grau, the co-host and the band's bassist.
And I've got to say, it's incredibly part of this journey where we celebrate
Disney's musical legacy, Disney content and culture, and dive into stories and
experiences that make being in The Little Merman so special.
Our mission with this podcast is to connect with our fans on a deeper level,

(01:43):
give a behind-the-scenes glimpse at touring an indie rock band,
and share in the joy that is Disney content and culture, and the world's longest run-on sentence.
Nice. That was nice. Sick, dude. dude sick well i don't think i breathed that
entire time i don't think you did either it's like a.
Well before we

(02:05):
go the distance we're still a touring band and some shows coming up
so let's get down to business hello merfam editing grow here to update you on
some upcoming fall and winter shows saturday september 14th october fest at
adventureland altuna iowa saturday december 28th laura center for the arts hanover
massachusetts sunday october 13th hard Rock Cafe, Pittsburgh, PA.
Music.

(02:27):
Thursday, October 24th, The Cutting Room, New York, New York.
And Sunday, December 22nd, Plymouth, Boreal Hall, Plymouth, Massachusetts.
More information like ticket links or RSVP links can be found on our website
at thelittlemermen.com slash ticket.
Before we dive into our main segment, let's take a moment to get to know Quinn a little better.

(02:49):
He's been playing drums with the Little Mermen for a while now,
but we want to give him the spotlight to share his story
with all of you so quinn take it away my man well thank
you very much let's see where do i kind of
begin i guess in terms of just like being a
musician i start with like
third grade at the school i was going to we were we had to choose a stringed

(03:13):
instrument oh yeah into third grade so it was either violin viola or cello or
fuck yourself and i gravitated towards the cello because i thought it was the
coolest me too and it was also the only instrument you could play sitting down. Me too.
That's something I chose. Yeah. We were both cello boys. Both cello boys.
Yeah. I mean, you can still play the violin and the viola sitting down,
but like specifically. But it's like way cooler when you're like Hilary Hahn

(03:33):
up there just like crushing.
Or like, yeah, Yo-Yo Ma or something like that. Yeah.
That's kind of like where the musical stuff starts for me.
After that, the next memory of where the drummer thing comes in is me being
nine years old at a nightclub in my hometown called Boodle's Opera House.

(03:54):
Didn't we go there once? We went down to a place that is no longer,
it's the same building. Same building.
Now it's called the Rustic Wheelhouse. That's right. We did go there.
That place was dope. The place is good. They have really good pizza.
So I remember going down there with my dad and my sister for what's known as
like Cool cool blues and what was it? Hot pasta and cool jazz.

(04:15):
I want to say jazz and blues. It was like a themed night. You had me at hot
pasta. It was like a themed night.
So I love that. I like it as opposites to hot pasta, cool jazz.
What is hot jazz? Hot pasta? Instead of like hot jazz. Hot yoga?
Yeah, something like that. But we showed up and there was kind of like nobody there.
And so we like sat front row for this like three piece jazz band.

(04:37):
And while they're playing, I was kind of like playing around with a fork and
a knife, like on the table, like doing a beat, like while they were playing.
And when they went to intermission, the bass player came over to me.
It was like, hey, you know, you seem to like have some sort of rhythm.
Like, would you want to get on stage and like play a couple songs on the drum?
Anyways, so, yeah, you know, 10 plus years, I'm in high school playing my own

(05:01):
bands. And that's kind of like the start of said drumming career.
There's a lot of stuff that comes with being a drummer.
So obviously like you know drumming influences
i i learned very early on that because
my dad played the who all the time that like keith moon naturally became like
my favorite drummer to listen to my favorite drummer to watch that that was

(05:21):
like that was one of the first things quinn and i bonded over because my favorite
band is also the who the who yeah the who who and it was because it's because
their bassist john and whistle i was like wait you could just stand there and you
can play as many notes as possible and you're almost as much melodic as
you are harmonic and he was like the rock and roll version
of phil lesh because i grew up with the grateful dead oh so like

(05:42):
yeah that's that's a big that's a big scene when when actually said one of the
nicest comments to me he said that you play a lot like phil lesh and you don't
even like recognize it so like other influences would be max roach buddy rich
stewart copeland another great one then obviously you You have like from my
generation of like Chad Smith,
Danny Careys, Thomas Pridgen, who I didn't even know him until I was in college.

(06:06):
And somebody showed me a video of the Mars Volta for the first time.
Oh, dude, is that the Mars Volta? That's who was drumming for the Mars Volta at the time.
But yeah, pretty much I remember getting your phone call being like,
hey, like, you know, do you want to come do this gig?
And I was like, yeah, I think I met you guys at the storage unit with all my stuff. We drove up.

(06:26):
Played a great show. And then on the way back, this is the thing that I guess
is like the story, right?
Like this is my infamous, like welcome to the group story is that on the way
back from New Hampshire, we stopped at an Olive Garden.
And for those that are unaware or have never been to an Olive Garden,
when you order an entree, they ask you if you'd like a soup or a salad.

(06:50):
And I didn't really understand this whole concept of a soup or a salad.
And the way the waitress said it to me was very just like quick like hey super
salad so when it got to me i kind of like,
blanked out a little bit and i said can i have a regular salad to which right
to which there were five people who laughed very hard and one person turned

(07:11):
to me said no honey she said soup or salad,
yeah it was great oh is that your other oh no that's me that's you bro oh hell
yeah no it's It's all good. The super salad.
And it's funny because we actually, the one of the most recent times that I
went out with the Merman, we brought up the super salad joke again.
It's great. Because we were at Olive Garden. It's forever living, dude.

(07:33):
Like that's one that I think when people talk about, like when we go out to
like restaurants and stuff.
We're fun. We see the super salad like in a menu or something.
Like people are always like, yo, Quinn, like check, check out the menu or like,
you know, there's been other places we've gone where they've said super salad.
And it's just like, yo, Quinn. I pulled that joke twice.

(07:54):
I definitely pulled that joke twice. Because they could always say,
would you like salad or soup?
It's almost like they're trying to set somebody up for like the gag.
I think it rolls off the tongue really well. Yeah, super salad.
Yeah, come on. Because then she goes, would you like a super salad?
Like there's so many ways that she can just kind of like enunciate it to set you up.
Boom, boom, boom. We're going to play a little game. New segment.

(08:16):
New segment. Top five songs.
Top five Disney songs. And we're gonna make it deeper because not only is it
gonna be our top five Disney songs it's the top five songs that we have a personal relationship with.
Yeah, that we enjoy playing as a band. Through our band, The Little Merman.
So these are songs, there's a lot of Disney songs out there.

(08:37):
I'm talking about a hundred years of music.
And this top five are songs that we know deeply. We got a big list of songs.
I sent Growl and Quinn. You say deep one more time.
Depend deeply it's almost three hours i i noticed that
i like every episode i thought there's like one where there's there's
one episode right i there's like

(08:58):
a phrase i keep saying over and over like there's one time i
was like all right back to the story back to the story yeah oh yeah
that's what the editing room's for that's what the editing room
for anyways our top five songs to play in the
little merman so alexis grouton quinn that's
us we're gonna reveal our top five favorite songs to play of course we gotta
start from number five working up to number one we're gonna do it round robin

(09:20):
style and not only are we going to show you the song we're also going to show
you why each song made the list and if there's any memorable moments from performing it,
so yeah wait so hold up hold up real quick what's round robin round robin means
we go one by one oh so grouse first then we're gonna go quinn then we're gonna

(09:41):
go me great so we're gonna start round Round one, and that's pick number five.
So we're going from technically the least favorite of the five to the top favorite.
That's correct. All right, top five.
It's not like a draft. Tossing it over the ground. Oh, it's going to me first?
Yeah, you're number one. We know, pal. Well, I mean, come on.

(10:01):
Number five is always going to be This Is Halloween. That's a good pick, dude.
Yeah, because Nightmare Before Christmas is probably just one of my most watched movies,
movies aside from like the dark knight goodfellas
and like maybe dodgeball the nightmare
before christmas is just it i watch it at the beginning of

(10:21):
spooky season it's the first movie i watch and it's also the first movie i watch
at the beginning of the holiday season because it really changes meanings and
i change my allegiances depending on what type of season it is and nothing ever
will compare to playing it live,
when people just start to realize like, oh, they're going for it. It's coming back.

(10:43):
Yeah. And the whole, it's like the only kind of slow dirge type song we play
with the It kind of can almost have this like,
if you really wanted to go there, it could almost like enter like Rob's zombie land.
I'm surprised zombie hasn't done a cover. Like a Tom Waits kind of like. It's a really.

(11:04):
Marilyn Manson version. I mean, I love Marilyn Manson's version,
of course, and Korn's version.
But I actually have two really great memories about this.
So one of the one of the versions of this that we do that I practice to every
year because I always get off book. But this is a very hard Danny Elfman song.
Danny Elfman. I just keep listening to the YouTube version we have up from our

(11:25):
live stream during the pandemic, October 2020.
And then, of course, New York Bay.
Nothing will ever beat when we did it at the early
morning fall fair festival at uh where's that
place in the middle of nowhere that's berryville berryville oh
my gosh yes the berry the berry farmer's market anyways so we played this is

(11:46):
halloween at like noon nobody was ready for it and we crushed it so hard and
then this little kid came up and razzed alexis as just as toad that's a whole other.
Conversation we'll have a deep dive into Toad Kid
lore I mean that's also he like Toad the kid was
dressed as Toad and he razzed me the whole concert and it was very

(12:06):
funny it was mad that we didn't play any Mario songs it was very funny
speaking of Halloween we gotta do a quick shout out October 24th Cutting Room
that's this year we're doing a New York Halloween ball oh yeah we just got announced
it's gonna be a huge bash I can't wait and I think both you guys are on the
we're both on the show it's a late one I can't wait Wait, I literally,

(12:26):
yeah. You're playing a 10 p.m. set, dude.
The first two comments were like, Merriman fans being like, hey,
this is a school night. We have jobs. Like, you're doing a show at 10. Oh, really? Like, yeah.
Dude, it's rare that we get to do our 21 plus Disney After Dark show.
Yeah, which is amazing. That's kind of how we got our start.
We started playing like these clubs and bars and it was like 21 plus.

(12:47):
And now most of our shows are kind of all ages.
We're starting to get into matinee land. But yeah, this is like rare form.
So guys, do not sleep on this. And dare I say it Multiple rehearsals If it's
tough For you to come out On a weeknight To catch our show I got an easy solution
What you do You just call into sick To work the next day Boom solved it Done
There you go Now you get to come Or I like this one So.

(13:12):
Me and my friends Joke about this at work But If you ever need to Leave work
early Just poop your pants,
Just poop your pants What are they gonna do A foolproof system They're
gonna send you home But you don't need To poop your
pants though You don't need To poop your pants But you can show up you could
show up I don't want to be the poop answer I don't feel good and
then go to the bathroom guys you might even be able to fake poop
your pants I don't want to be poop answer we're almost 45 minutes in we made

(13:34):
it one song in alright quit quit in your next for your number five pick number
five pick I'll be for free I'll be for free this is great my number five pick
is Stand Out from the Goofy movie crazy this is a movie that kind of like,
it was almost like unexpected because like Goofy Goofy is kind of like Like,
he's almost like a side character a little bit, you know? He's my boy.

(13:59):
But, you know, they did full-blown into this goofy world.
It's great. I love how dancey we play it. Like, and for those that have seen it, they know.
But those that have not, when we play this show, I mean, when we play this song
on stage, it's like a full-blown dance party.
I mean, like, Grout comes out, Ryan comes out with his keytar,

(14:20):
and everyone does these kick moves on stage.
It's a whole full-blown thing. It's very, very fun.
And it's kind of like a deep cut. Yeah. You have to change your answer, dude. No, no.
You can't change your answer. I already locked it in. I'm editing.
I'm editing. I'm editing myself.
That's all right. I'm standing out may or may not make an appearance at our

(14:41):
New York City Halloween party. That's a niche one.
No, but it's like a top five for me. I mean, for a Disney after dark show,
it does tend to come out and party.
It's just, if it's a 21 plus, like, do the 90s hits.
Like we could do eye to eye and stand out and they would
both go over incredibly well that's the thing and that's

(15:02):
a beautiful that's i mean listen gotta come to
the show you gotta come to the show and let me tell you there might be some different disney
characters that show up oh yeah no spoilers but there
might be some different disney characters that show up
that show that our patreon members might actually get
to see if you pay money for us anyways quinn
number five that was good out yeah all right so

(15:24):
round one final pick number five that is
down to me the song i chose is a
song called concert intro it's maybe
our judges will tell me that's not a song so usually that
goes depending on the show that'll lead into an under the sea or sometimes a
mickey mouse club intro but we sorted this is like the pump up moment of the
show moment i'm talking about like it's sort of like listen like i i will talk

(15:48):
for hours if if if if you need me to pick an an actual Disney song,
I guess that rounds it to Under the Sea,
because this past touring season, that's been our opener.
Oh, it goes into it perfectly. I could talk for hours about the lyrics of Mencken
and how that was based off of the, what's it called, the beautiful briny sea
song from Bedknobs and Broomstick and how that was an influence on Mencken and

(16:10):
Ashman and Under the Sea.
But what I want to talk about is the fact that we've tailored this so well,
we've honed in so well, because like-
Sometimes you play a show and the audience is like pumped up already.
And sometimes it's like matinee time.
And it's like, hey, guys, wake the heck up. We're going to party.
You're going to hear a Disney songbook like you've never heard before.
Let's get everybody clap on our hands.

(16:31):
And we recently listened to a Foreigner concert.
Some of us got to see it live. One of my favorite things that's happened this
year, honestly. I always say fair, man.
Foreigner, it was sort of like, everybody say yeah, yeah. It's like kind of one of those moments.
He's been doing that bit since the 70s, right? Yeah. 50 years
of 50 years of three lead singers but that's how but that's but

(16:52):
that's what you want to do you don't want to come and go hey we're
gonna play music you have to go and be like you guys are here let's get into
it yeah that's like the pump up is really nice the judges allowed the the two
other judges allow oh really yeah we it's allowed because concert intro song
it's because because it's like one of the things that makes little mermen you know the ultimate

(17:13):
disney tribute band not just tribute band ultimate is
that it's very interactive there's a lot of pulling from
the audience it's very much like everyone is engaged in
it and the way that we do
the intros and the outros it almost feels like it was a theater show my uncle
actually even said he goes how's your theater show is it well okay i was gonna

(17:34):
say it's a rock band but that's fine but like he won't listen but yeah it's
almost like a theater show it's
like we're doing that and And that's what these other tribute acts do.
They're doing theater of a rock show.
And that's an R-E, not an E-R. That's right. T-H-E-A-T-R-E. That's a fancy way
of spelling it. Round two, baby.
That's number four picks. Starts with Grab.

(17:56):
Oh, do you want a little snowman? I mean, our version is there's no one else
that does our version. It is punk rocky.
It is paramour-y. It is one of the best ways to just start a show,
especially when it's a little colder out.
One of my absolute favorite times playing it was when we were in North Dakota last year in December.

(18:20):
It was like one of our big December shows. Oh, in that gym, dude?
In that gym. Oh my God. But it was so fun. So good. It was so good.
The people came out. It was a hang.
We actually really enjoyed My Knot.
Why not My Knot? Why not My Knot? I have a, what do you call it?
On my fridge. Yeah, I've got a magnet from mine on as well. Yeah,
and we also, we loved, I believe it was Garrison we played. We really loved the planes.

(18:42):
Carly and I were co-pilot, co-captain. You guys flew planes?
No, yeah. She was pilot, I was co-captain. And just like, I got it. I loved it. I had a blast.
That was one of my favorite times playing that song. And just in general,
Yeah, just in general, one of the last shows we played at the House of Independence,
which is kind of like one of our home bases. It is.
Rest in rest in peace. No, they're back. No, they're back.

(19:05):
Well, they just don't want us. Well, they just don't want us anyways.
I think we did get an offer from them, but it was because we played Jenkinson's.
Yeah, yeah. We'll be back. We'll be back. I would like to be back there.
Asbury Park is a big part of our life. Anyways, one of my favorite moments playing
that was I was doing Dry January and we were doing this like big gift exchange

(19:26):
backstage and it was just like a really fun day.
There's going to be a lot of stuff on the Patreon that I just uploaded to the
cloud that's from pictures from that.
It's all, you know, there is NSFW stuff, but there's also like non, you know.
Oh, okay. We can cut that out. Sorry. Deadpool rated art. No, I think we can go.
I mean, in Deadpool, they do the do you want to build a snowman joke and that's a adult joke.

(19:47):
No it's about the uh the the drug yes anyways yes anyways so that show i was like completely sober.
And it's been it was i think up until that
point you know not to get kind of dark i didn't have
a lot of months where i was like yeah i'm just gonna like do something to
like you know just like try something out for once
and i played the best i've played in a long time and

(20:10):
i even got a lot of compliments from you know our rhythm section and
playing do you want to build a snowman to a room of like
250 people that and felt like a punk rocker in cheshire cat outfit yeah with
a beatles bass that to me is just like yeah that was one of the last shows that
like i played at the house of independence and i it just was so fun and it was

(20:34):
such a good show and it showed me that like,
when i make when i put my mind to something i can actually make a really good
change for myself so So, and I love that you mentioned we played for 2,500 people
and it's, and it's so cool to see us play for 250,000 people.
So next time we play for 250.
Guys come on pick number four for me is going to be Darkwing Duck the theme song from Darkwing.

(21:06):
It's a bit of an older one but it's got this like very mysterious vibe that
I like a lot it's very funky which is like that's my that's my niche right there
and I mean yeah like there's I I was recently watching the version you guys
did during the pandemic.
Yeah. Oh, the studio version. Oh, that's a shorty. It's great.

(21:26):
Drew Coles is on keys. Dude, yeah. Shout out to Drew Coles.
Dude, like I love Ryguy's guitar solo, but like Drew Coles. Drew Coles is on some other stuff. Yo.
I think I watched it this morning. Really? Yeah, I swear to God.
And Drew Coles is a musician. That man is a musician.

(21:47):
I'm lucky to know him. Mainly after going, there was something that Growl posted
in the notes that I was like, oh, you can see it on YouTube or whatever.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. But while I was on YouTube, I was like, oh,
let me see this other Darkwing Duck.
But that version with Drew Coles, like, dude, this solo is just like, it's crazy. Yeah.
It's one of the best parts of the whole song. Like, you know, is that like,

(22:10):
it's, even though it's like a kid's theme song, you know, like Like,
there is like a very, I want to say like an older influence of music in that theme song regardless.
Like, the fact that you can throw this like wild, like very jazzy solo into it. Great.
The original, it's literally a minute and a half and it hits.

(22:31):
And it sounds just like, it sounds like Prince did everything.
That's what it sounds like. Prince from like the 80s, like early 80s. But it's like, it hits.
Yeah, I agree with you. Dark Green Duck is one of my favorite.
The fact we don't have it in all the time.
Over DuckTales, kind of sad for me, but like, I like DuckTales,
but all right. All right, Alexis.
You did. All right, my round four pick to round it out is Friend Like Me.

(22:54):
I love the way that we've added like a keytar and guitar, guitar harmony.
I love the way that I get to kind of like, and it's funny because I'm not really
doing a Robin Williams impression.
That's right. I feel a little bit like Will Smith when Will Smith said like,
you know, he left some meat on the bone and he's doing his own spin on it.
But I get to do a bunch of voices in the song.

(23:14):
And I get to do, can your friends do this? And point to somebody in the band.
And you guys went there, but at Erie County Fair, I pointed to Katie.
And I don't think she was ready for that. Because I was like,
can your friends do this? She pulled her leg, like, over her head. No way.
No way, dude. I don't know. We try to build it out. Ryan always does that,
like, family guy bit with the fingers.

(23:35):
But that's very funny. Which is great. It's amazing. My favorite.
I think it's so funny that, like, someone points to Katie and her first thought
is, like, I have to do something wild. I put my leg over my head.
I'll chat to Katie Miller.
And then the last thing for a friend like me is, you know, some of you guys
might know if you've been to some of our shows, like sometimes you have this
video component, whether it be an LED screen or projector video or what have you.

(24:00):
But, you know, that's yours truly spending a lot of time behind the scenes,
making some art that goes behind us, getting into like, for example,
when it's let it go time, we're going through like this 3D ice cave.
And so for friend like me that's one of our newest videos
and it's just the word friendship and lots of colors and
i thought that was a funny thing it's just like friendship flashing
across the show it's it's great yeah big fan also it's the one time i get to

(24:25):
do a little bit of jazz boys stuff so i really like friend like me nice yeah
and actually it's a it's a big challenge to not make it too boring or too samey
samey so i like that yeah round three here we go Yo, almost halfway, guys.
I mean, I'm going to do another 20-minute explanation, but surface pressure, I mean...
It's our version of surface pressure, I'm gonna have to say is better than any

(24:49):
other versions I've heard.
And I've heard a number of versions because we decided during 2022,
which I call the summer of scrim, because I was in a very different place than
I am now. And it was the summer of scrim.
But we did it at every show. And we make it sound like Paramore.
And it's thoughtful the way we do it.

(25:09):
But punk rock as heck. there's a lot of really cool choreography that we've
kind of evolved and it was the one song that we play these matinee shows and
there'd be one dad after we played because it would be silent for five seconds
which is very long when there's silence and then one guy would go,
and I was like yeah that's why we do this and everyone just erupted nothing.

(25:37):
But I will say Not to kind of start the see here now conversation,
but when we played see here now and we played that song because we had to keep it on.
And even for when Colors of the Wind, because there was something wrong with
Chelsea's microphone, I just, or no, we went on too late. That was not happening.

(25:57):
We had to cut Colors of the Wind.
But I remember when we did Service Pressure, because it's a Chelsea feature,
that was when we had some of the most amount of people in front of us.
And everybody erupted and
that was when i was like i this is
the first time in my life i feel like a rock star and i'm dressed as goofy and
i bought my bass at chicago music

(26:19):
exchange literally six months earlier and i've had a whole life that's happened
in the summer scram tour and that was really huge so yeah service pressure is
just we did the best version as far as i'm concerned and it's really built itself
into like probably one of my favorite songs we play and it's It's a shame we don't play it as much,
but I also really respect Alexis'

(26:41):
choices when it comes to the material we're going to play in.
That's one of those moments where it's like, oh, captain by captain.
So it's going to come out for sure in 21 and plus.
Were we not supposed to be as thoughtful? Were we supposed to be really funny?
Because I'm, you know, downer as, oh, my God, I'm sorry.
Well, the cool thing is with the podcast app we have with AI.

(27:03):
AI is going to add more jokes.
Yeah, the laugh track is going to be cool.
It's like the friend's laugh track, just like, ah!
No, guys, don't worry. There's not going to be a laugh track.
But, okay, there's a laugh track.
I'm already thinking in post, it's like add a laugh track. All right, Quinn. Cool.
So this is what, round three? Number three. Number three.

(27:26):
My choice is, when will my life begin? Yeah, dog. In the movie Tangled.
Tangled, I think, is a super overshadowed movie.
I think it, right, you were saying this before. I also went with that, yeah.
It very much collides with the Frozen stuff, like franchise, you know?

(27:46):
And it's- Do they come out at the same, like right around the same time of the
same year? No, no, no. Well, Tangle was right before Frozen 1.
But that was like the last, that was like Manny Moore's one and only foray into it.
Yeah. Because I didn't see it until more recently. She came back for the TV show.
Manny Moore married the songwriter of my favorite band, Dawes.
Nice. And we got to play theater in upstate New York right before they were the next show.

(28:11):
And Dawes, this band, they toured with Conan O'Brien.
They're kind of like this Jackson Brown thing. Oh, they're so good.
We left them our set list, and I circled the song. And I was like,
hey, we played this song, your wife sings in the Disney movie and their former
bass player kind of tricks out guitars.
So anyways, yeah, that's a special thing about the song. I just wanted to get
that in. No, absolutely.

(28:32):
And it's, I think it's one of the, again, one of those ones that we sound the
best doing it. Like when they bring on certain people.
When Disney brings certain people into the fold to do certain soundtracks,
like, and they hit really well, like, Phil Collins does Tarzan. Oh, bro.
Phil Collins does Tarzan? Out of this world, dude. Out of this world.

(28:54):
I can't believe you don't know this. I had no idea.
I should wear a loincloth on stage and figure out a Tarzan.
There's a lot of Patreon content that has Alexis on a loincloth that I have.
From the back and the front. They're very good at picking certain people to
write certain soundtracks,
but this like many more alan mankin thing yeah that was
tangled soundtrack like dude it hits

(29:14):
well i did you know i didn't see the movie until
i was living in the irving apartment i didn't
see until ali was like you need to watch this and i was
like great i was like i'm excited to watch under my radar dude and then
all of a sudden like same thing was like oh it was just like on some i think
it was on yeah disney plus and i was like yeah that's really watching are you
guys you guys really watching these things yeah it is 100 yes i yes i i like

(29:38):
i'll like be hanging at home and i'll have like you know a cocktail and let's
be like i'm just gonna put on fantasia.
And just relax but i'm not that level i'm not
at that yeah i'm not at that level no no but that's
weird i would say that like you know on like a lazy strong last
night on a lazy sunday or something if there's like
a certain thing on disney plus that i'm interested in this is how i ended up

(29:59):
watching like toy story 4 yeah was like hungover like
what am i doing oh i'm making breakfast and
i'm watching toy story 4 as much as i didn't want to watch it but
you know that's like how i end up watching these things or like just all right
i have some time whatever like yeah you know it's tangled like hashtag disney
adults hashtag also like like i said like ali was like you've never seen this

(30:22):
and i was like no and she was also because i i also waited apparently to to
see ali and to watch Frozen,
Frozen 2, and Tangled, all big Disney movies.
I was like, no, I've never seen this. And so we watched Tangled.
And I was so blown away by how much I like this movie. And I was like,
wow, I really want to do more of the songs.
We do a better version of when will my life begin than the movies?

(30:45):
And I looked at Allie after I heard it, because it's very much in the beginning.
I looked at Allie and go, the Mermen do a better version. And she goes, I know.
She just Han Solo. I knew she Han Solo.
She Han Solo. I knowed me.
All right, let's just pick three. Well, my final pick of this round,
it gets us back into the Danny Elfman verse.

(31:09):
To the Scram verse. And that's the song What's This? from the movie Nightmare
Before Christmas. So What's This?
As you guys all might know, that's where Jack Skellington happens upon Christmastown.
So the beautiful thing about, as a band playing songs about the Nightmare Before
Christmas movies, if we do a Halloween show, we get to do This is Halloween.
I mean, and then for our holiday shows, what's this?

(31:31):
It's such a great song, equally challenging. Again, Christmas, Halloween paradox.
I think just in terms of like musicianship and performance, you know,
like, man, it's so funny.
Like when I'm not on tour, I'm always like hanging out in other music scenes.
And I feel like a big part of playing Disney songs is like not only are these

(31:52):
very challenging songs with like key changes and musical theater-y turnarounds,
it's also like if you're singing there's also like acting beats like it's not
just you have to learn the words yeah and it's sort of like,
there's a show we did in 2018.
And this a huge venue in Baltimore called Ram's Head Live and a fan caught a

(32:15):
video of me doing what's this and it just so happened that,
that like my vocals synced up with the the
the we had you know we briefly show the video oh with
the video in the background yeah oh that's when we think
with bell that's the coolest stuff because we don't play the track with that's
not what we do i love when that stuff happens oh yeah a few times where i've
just showed like early in merman my merman days of like showing up to like you

(32:39):
know the hard rock cafe or cutting room or wherever we're doing like yeah yeah
the video stuff yeah The video stuff.
And I'm always like, yo, they're right there. They're like a millisecond away.
Because if you play to a track, that's sort of not our approach.
So when it happens organically, it's almost even more magical. It's what we call magic.

(33:01):
I love it, though. Gosh, that's great. What else can I say about What's This?
I guess the one performance of What's This is when we played the mall event
with Mario Lopez. Oh, I was not on that one.
We played this mall in D.C. Reason cold. and they
what's it called they the the national the the the
oh my gosh the presidents the mascots

(33:22):
are like the the residents and and this like abraham lincoln
george washington and they're all the mascots of this like local
sports team so it's like enormous head abraham lincoln enormous head george
washington they had a ballet troupe they had the string quartet and mario lopez
and us and it was just like absolutely insane and like we only have like a 30
minute set so it's It's like, this is sort of like, not what you play.

(33:45):
Like, obviously, for a Christmas show, you're going to do Let It Go.
And we did When You Wish Upon a Star.
But our What's This was so like, we just killed it.
And so I think for our listeners and perhaps our Patreon, like,
now cut to the video of us playing that.
Okay. Anyways, round four. Round four.

(34:06):
Round four. Number two for me, I mean, it's got to be Circle of Life.
Did you change your answer or not?
Yeah he did i will be a hundred percent i will not i will not i will not i will
not give me a fact check i will not listen to any besmirching or election integrity.

(34:26):
I love this i love it listen it's circle of life i mean come on i it's i get
it's where i get to sing the most because no one's ever told me the harmonies
so i'm just singing and literally,
Mel said to me the other day she goes I
had no idea you sang that much I go yeah she goes I used to bassist and I sang
that much she goes you sounded great and I was like thank you and your singing

(34:50):
has been really like crushing it over thank you oh it's I came from I came from
someone that wanted to be an opera singer and lost it on purpose because I was
like really frustrated with singing,
and then I've been trying to get it back and it's been rough and it's been a
lot of very hard conversations so that means a lot do you know the words are singing in that song?
Do you know what they translate to? I do not.

(35:14):
What is it? Iguanyama? All right. So guys, check it out. From ClassicFM.com.
We translated the Lion King Circle of Life lyrics to English.
That's not what we'd expect. It's Tyria Jones.
That's what it... Wait, how did you know that? That's what it means. Okay, so the first part.
Nans inyongama bagithi baba. So this means here comes a lion.

(35:36):
Father... oh yes it's a lion and then the response line here comes the lion
father yes it's a lion a lion we're going to conquer a lion and a leopard okay
and so then the bgvs let's see if they have the translated bgvs oh they didn't
do it so we got to we got to check out this other website.
Anyways so i don't feel like it actually bgvs it's
mainly it basically just means background oh background so

(35:58):
the one of the reasons why i like the circle of life and i've always liked elton
john's music is because elton john's music has always felt so like very deep
inside for me and anytime he
works with tim rice it's always perfect and i also weirdly it's like both,
elton john and i have the same resonance and the

(36:19):
same vocal break which is very weird because
i can't sing anything like elton john but all
of his songs every time i try to sing them in
like his range my break is the same as his
break and like i'm singing basically like
as high as i can ever possibly have
imagined to sing singing circle of life and it

(36:41):
doesn't sound terrible i don't sound like super bassy when
I sing it and it's just like it it means a lot that I've
basically had to like train myself to learn
to sing this and I get to play and that's fun and I love that also one of the
biggest memories was like Springboro Ohio 2020 the only gig I played past March
2020 because of the pandemic we played it and it was one of my favorites I was like in

(37:08):
absolute gosh darn tears singing and playing the song.
And then, of course, Alexis gets to jump around and be a silly boy,
and then you get to raise... And then he tells people, like, this is the time.
You need to raise your children like they're Mufasa.
That's a new gag, though. It's a new gag, but that has been one of my favorite
versions is that he goes, okay, so now this is the point of the show.

(37:32):
When do you want to take your kids and raise them up like Mufasa?
So if you will try to grab, like... Baby Simba. I'm sorry, Baby Simba. Sorry.
Baby Mufasa movie's coming out. And people try to put their bigger kids up and do this.
It's wild, and people go for it, and it's amazing.
Dude, I stand up. When we do it, I stand up behind the drum set.

(37:56):
And full-blown, there's been times where we had that.
I forget where we got it, but we have that little rubber ducky that showed up at the thing.
But that's been a little thing that goes on the drum kit whenever I can find it.
If it just shows up, it's just in my gear. here dude yeah
if it shows up it goes on to the drum onto
the kick drum and then when we do that

(38:17):
i hold that up like a totem and just
like yeah man circle of life literally is
it's all of our bits combined into one it's
a slow jam which sometimes you need everybody knows
the words you raise the children up there's
been the pan flute version there's been the
kind of solo section you go out there with the guitar it's

(38:40):
i get to sing the most it's my favorite song and it's
the first movie uh it
can't be your favorite song because we have one more round all right it's one
of my favorite songs it's one of my favorite songs well here's the thing it's
my it's my favorite song from my it's my favorite song from my like childhood
because i saw them i saw the lion king in the theaters when it was in the theaters
in 1994 1995 and the only other disney movie I saw before that is when they

(39:05):
re-released Snow White in the theaters,
colorized and I remember because my mom bought me a thing of Jolly Ranchers
and that was the first sugar she ever bought me. Wow.
You always remember your first hit. There you go.
So for me number two is let it
go there's a bunch of reasons i love this song mainly it's
like this this song comes in probably about

(39:27):
like three quarters of the way through the set yeah it's a
full-blown showstopper at the banger every every
singing it yeah whether it be carly katie whoever
melinda melinda crushing it
like emma dude it yeah emma names
for days emma emma benson and shout out
all the princesses yeah this one literally

(39:49):
it's also the one that the kids know the most so when
we when we play this alexa yeah where
when alia was oh nice sorry sorry
sorry anyways so it's the it's i think it's like the one of the favorite ones
from the kids is every time we play this song for those that have not attended

(40:10):
a merman show alexis likes to to do this bit at the beginning where he asks, hey,
what is the song that Elsa sings in that movie?
It's not a bit, I genuinely forget. He genuinely forgets every single show. It upsets me so much.
So he asks the audience, hey, what's the song that Elsa sings in that movie Frozen?

(40:33):
And we've had, I mean,
When I first started, it was kind of like, you know, drips and drabs.
But now we have full-blown rows of children who rush the stage.
We go, I think the song's called Let It Snow. Let It Mow. It's about our lawnmower.

(40:54):
And there's always like something that's just the rhyming scheme.
That's not what it is. And they all know they get so mad. They want our blood.
It's kind of wild. Great. great it's almost the
same energy you get from like a drunk 30 year old i mean
like but they like that's one of
my favorite bits of that whole why we play that song but

(41:16):
also it's just like a blatant showstopper like that one is just like you know
like whoever is singing like this is the time to show your pipes like and we
we crush it every time there's yep i agree we have that That halftime bit at
the end? Are you kidding me? Yeah, dude.
So good. That big showstopper song. Yeah, it's a big one.

(41:37):
Yeah. It's literally the most requested. And also, not to point out more of
the dads in the crowd, but I've learned from a lot of friends who have kids.
It's not that they're going to watch a lot of Disney movies.
They're going to watch a lot of the same Disney movie back to back to back.
And people are like, I'm tired of hearing Let It Go.
And I can tell the dads are like, I can't believe. Oh, here we go. Here we go.

(41:58):
Let me rock it. they're like i can't believe we're seeing another dad
another like version of this and then we
rock it so hard they go yeah you guys that's what it is i know and now i'm feeling
i'm feeling a lot of fomo with no backwards hat and i messed up today sorry
for the video for the video watchers i am wearing the exact opposite of what

(42:20):
everyone else is wearing and for the audio listeners i look cool as shit,
Yeah, he does, actually. He's very summery. I mean, you remember to put on your
Star Wars tattoos today.
Yeah, I put on my Star Wars tattoos. I was literally matching his Star Wars tattoos.
There's a yellow one on his. Your dog. I know. This one I need to go get.
The yellow one. Yeah, see?
It's Skywalker's helmet. No, that's the Boba Fett. Isn't that the Bounty Hunter? That's Boba Fett.

(42:43):
That's Skywalker. Skywalker helmet. That's Darth Vader. That's the Stone Trooper.
Because upside down, it almost looks like the Bounty Hunter. No.
I get that, but I need it. We got to get a photo of this for the Patreon.
It counts as Disney. Dude, there are so many. Just get like a nice thing.
I have a photo of me from New Orleans wearing the Star Wars hat,

(43:04):
Star Wars shirt, Star Wars socks, Star Wars shoes. It's so much.
It's just like, bro. Did you read ahead? Do you know the Star Wars spoiler that's
coming up? No, I did not. The Star Wars spoiler?
The Star Wars spoiler. How dare you? All right, guys.
We're now down to the penultimate.
No, no, no. no you have you have your you gotta go
to my you gotta go to your number two and then we have one more

(43:27):
and then we got it we got a break for for for
our crew because the union rules for people we get
a break for our crew and for pp poopoo all right yeah no my my number two pick
is again i'm skirting the rules here because the judges may disagree but i'm
going to our tucson medley and that's our tarzan medley you would think if we're

(43:48):
going to play a song from disney's tarzan every
show that it's always going to be you'll be in my heart but you would be
mistaken we start with the song trash in the
camp yes you might know that as a song sung by rosie o'donnell
or or you might know the radio version featuring in sync
and phil collins singing it together we start
that off in it and usually gosh i don't know if i want to reveal how much the

(44:09):
sausage is made but in our in our tech audio production writer the the princesses
in the show usually have wireless mics and and this is a moment in the show
where sometimes they come out to the audience.
And engage with the kids and they're singing and then that
that transitions into another tarzan song two songs from the movie tarzan is

(44:33):
the song strangers like me the judges are okay with this by the way because
i don't think of them as two separate songs oh interesting all right yeah almost
like it breaking even though it is like a medley they're letting me get away with It is,
yeah, it's like one full-blown song.
Like, the Trashland Camp is almost like a teaser, you know, because it's like,

(44:54):
oh, we're touching on Tarzan, but we're not doing the Phil, like,
it doesn't start with Phil Collins.
Yeah, no. And then we go full-blown, we go full-blown into his world.
The drums and everything this that and the everything and
all the doodads i wait real quick question
sorry can someone teach me a harmony on that because

(45:16):
when i'm on gigs i'd like to sing on strangers no no
non-strangers on trash oh you know you are totally right
yeah that needs i would really like to sing because like
that's carly i mean all the ladies that they love they love these type of questions
no i would but but i guess my thing not necessarily asking permission but like
i just feel like once dude yeah i just i just would like i would like to sing

(45:38):
i know there's a deeper part yeah like whatever whatever the fat guy sings i'll do that,
okay so then strangers like me i want you guys to know and i want all the podcast
listeners to know that there are nights when i go on youtube and i research
what was the tarzanio from the old movies what was the disney tarzanio what

(45:58):
was the tarzanio when it was scars guard boy doing the Tarzan movie that came out recently.
And I'm not going to do a Tarzan on the podcast, but I am. I just changed my mind. No.
Well, that was actually pretty good. That was good, dude.
It's hard for me to do that while playing guitar, but I get better and better
every time. And it's a Tarzan yodel yell.

(46:20):
And now that's the moment. If it's a video show, we're swinging through 3D trees.
If it's any show at all, I'm just talking about, we're swinging through the trees.
Strangers Like Me has my favorite moment in every single show because this is
the moment during the down section, we talk to the audience after the bridge,
and I go, hey, you know, New Hampshire, New York, California,

(46:42):
San Diego, is anybody alive out there? We start talking to the crowd, and I say three things.
I say Strangers Like Me is a song from my favorite Disney movie, Tarzan.
It's one of our favorite Disney songs, and it's written by one of our favorite
Disney songwriters, Mr. Phil Collins. No, sorry. Mr. Phil Collins! Colin. Colin.
Colin. Send it up. Send it up. This is the make a wish moment in the show.

(47:03):
Before the key change, we go on the count of three. We're going to make a wish.
And the whole audience gets to make a wish with us.
And then we send it up to every fairy godmother, every genie,
and every shooting star.
And then that ties into us playing the theme, When You Wish Upon A Star. We do instrumental.
We send everybody's wishes up. And then the song ends with a quote from Walt

(47:26):
Disney himself. If you can dream it, you can do it.
Do you want to try and do the remix version, the bit version of that?
If you can pee-pee, you can poo-poo. If you can pee-pee, you can poo-poo.
That's what we tell each other backstage. If you can pee-pee, you can poo-poo, yeah.
Yes, so that's my penultimate pick. Wait, we got to do a quick break for the union rules.
I even, I even. Is he from Boston? That's just the canon.

(47:49):
I just haven't turned that off for any reason. I mean, I even wore,
I even bought a Met hat last Met game I went to.
The little Pirates fans. I can't, at a superstition, I can't go to the Mets.
I can't go to Citi Field or see the Mets without swag. So even if I show up
with none, I buy immediately.
Guys the first thing you do final round here we go
we're gonna close this out we got our number one picks this is our number

(48:10):
one disney song we've ever played as a band we're gonna
throw the football to growl this is his number one song and
i'm gonna take another 80 yard punt back for a touchdown go
the distance i've heard many versions of this i don't think there's a better
version than ours it is the best interpolation of the original because the original
really like doesn't pick up until after the bridge and we do the bridge the

(48:34):
best way we We do the intro the best way I get to have a little bass solo moment.
I love pretending that I'm an actual like punk rock star to get to play with a pick.
Back in the day, I used to land a hand with some vocals. But like even then,
I didn't need it to, you know, kind of tear up on stage.
It's a beautiful song. We do it the best way. I mean, I specifically remember
because before the princesses use that song to go get changed or go take a quick break.

(48:58):
And it was just the guys on stage. age and i remember as
a little mermaid in like a little four-piece just rocking
out in 2020 and that was with drew coles as we
mentioned before josh bailey and you and
this was like live streamed on tv and there was still like a lot of people there
even though it was in the middle of pandemic they had little pods where people

(49:19):
were like you can't get into six feet of these people and outside and that was
like the only gig i did after march and it was so impressionable of how much i
like springsboro and just like how we continually bring big crowds springboro
i remember i don't know yeah rolling yeah dude i remember that gig and i heard

(49:41):
doing that song in that gig.
And oh yeah oh nice little boom boom boom it
was just we we transpose it up we remodulate the tempo
up it just hits it hits me in
my my warm spot because it's a great
i know there's a disney pop punk version that just hit the airwaves
and so for you to say that that's the best version that ever exists it
still is i've i've heard i've heard multiple interpolations

(50:04):
and the way that we do it is the right
way when i when i when i tell people they're like what was your
band sound like and i always say you know the song go the distance so yeah imagine
that like rock it's like oh yeah yeah and it's like and i used to i used to
use that song as a way to warm up before my voice was good because it was like

(50:26):
way outside my range and just like,
Anyways, yeah, it's my number one. Go the distance. Always going to be.
I petitioned to get it put back in over Zero to Hero this year just because I think it's a better.
We took that to heart. By the way, I think we can. We got to check the rights
issues, but I think we can use clips of us playing these songs.
Well, we're just saying. Well.
If it's under 10 seconds, isn't that a thing? I'd say as someone who works in

(50:49):
the industry, just like better not. Try not to.
I would say definitely try not to. Not to. Don't. It's fine.
They know. They know. If they don't know, look it up. We have the internet.
We have computers. But if it's a two-second clip, like you're just like,
and then it just cuts out.
Oh, man. I guess that could work. You get the DMCA. When you get the DMCA,
I'll be very mad at you, and then I'll have to deal with it.

(51:10):
You're just going to see some dissist, I feel like. Yeah, DMCA. Yeah, DMCA.
That's what I do. That's what I do. Yeah. All right. So my number one is,
this might be a little selfish of me.
My favorite to play is Want to Be Like You. Yeah. It's like the last song we play in the set.
It's my personal favorite because throughout the whole set, everyone gets their little moments.

(51:34):
And then finally, I get my moment at the very end. I get a nice little drum solo.
And it's fun because I get to be creative in that moment.
And I think that as a musician, most people would probably write their solo
so that they're playing it the same way every time or like off a record or something like that sure.

(51:58):
I've never written a solo yeah it's really it's
every single time it's on the fly
and there's there's a lot of behind the scenes videos
that are gonna be on the Patreon of Quinn through the years and
like it's only just gotten better you can show his drum solo no one's gonna copyright
strike his drum solo of course not no you can play my drum solo as if
they've got him yeah no of course not yeah it's a drum solo I feel

(52:19):
like there's solos that I've heard that I almost try to
imitate but like oh this is Buddy Rich's
solo yeah constantly trying to pull off if i could i
oh my gosh i wish i could i'm constantly trying to like imitate
the drum solo that keith moon does and like won't get
fooled again yeah at least the intro to it the intro to it is so good but also
it's the same i don't know if anyone has ever said this to you guys so there's

(52:44):
a ringo solo in oh my gosh the end yes oh shit so the ringo solo.
That he played so ringo solo is very
similar to keith moose solo and they're both
they're both best friends yeah which i thought was interesting so
i didn't know if keith moon was like paying homage to his buddy you know ringo

(53:06):
but that's like something where it's like i've heard so i feel like i've heard
so many drum solos but like the two that stand out are those ones are the ringo
and and those are guys that never take solo so you know what i mean like john bonham solo Yeah,
that's a great one, dude, but like, I've heard it a zillion times.
These guys are notorious for taking a solo.

(53:28):
So, but anyways, yeah, that's, that's probably my favorite one to play.
It's, it's the end of the show.
I love playing it. It slaps. Alexis does the, with the monkey thing at the beginning.
I love it. Wait, wait, you did the hand.
You did the, did you know during the summer of scram tour 2022.
Summer 22 scram tour, we would, we didn't have an encore and they would scream for an encore.

(53:55):
And I said, want to be like you as like Alexis, this you gotta put the back
in because that's a big song for everybody you're right it's a really
good ending yeah tune you know it's because it's.
Got everyone singing it's just around with us for
one more song we do four choruses at the end like that's
outrageous it's so good yeah yeah it's
and it's it has nothing to do with you know like

(54:15):
i'm not i'm not like a shot caller to come to that but it's
like wannabe like you is like that's a song that
everybody there's also there's also a couple like little inside
like jokes that happen during that song so for
example like melinda does this thing
where alexis says somebody give that guy
a banana and she'll run from her

(54:35):
spot on stage to my kit and she
hands a banana and she puts it on the floor right
in front of my foot yeah i never caught it
for like two or three times and then i like we're
packing up one day and i was like i was like yo like
where'd this banana come from and she's like oh dude i passed that
to you and i was like i never noticed so now like

(54:56):
i look for it or when you guys turn to me that's
kind of dude that's kind of a scary moment but it's
like the first time it happened i was not expecting it because
you because you came back to the gig and we
had added the choreography moment of like drum solo everyone everyone
drops their knee and looks and points to the drummer and
it's like one of the most intense moments because i'm

(55:17):
i'm also looking at everybody on the stage like i just have that that view so
the first time it happened i was like so just i i felt so nervous but like i.
Think the solo went off okay like whatever patreon will determine thanks,
All right, guys, now we're down to my number one pick of the top five.

(55:42):
So this is this is my spiel here. So it is our ride medley.
And the story of our ride medley is a long story.
I'm going to I'm actually going to start my second bullet point here,
because, you know, just like how the Disney parks are always improving and always
updating the rides in their park.
We're always updating this ride medley. so the first version of

(56:05):
this many moons ago I don't know if you remember this but you
know I was there for the beginning acoustic time and after
the intermission it's sort of like I got this from Paul McCartney in
the middle of his show he's like it's acoustic time with Paul McCartney and
so after the intermission it's sort of like acoustic time I think
so I've seen you do it a million I think you should
do more acoustic times that's where that comes I'm so I've always been

(56:26):
so curious because then it builds it back
up it starts with a tender acoustic moment and then the band comes back
out I miss you doing that was like one of my favorite things
you've done like i also like when
you do i have so many good videos of
you that's going on the patreon of you just doing acoustic
time because i think that's like where it's one of your
strengths because you know you oh my god when

(56:48):
you're in rehoboth and you had to
do like 30 minutes of acoustic time you
straight up were like you were like oh just someone to
hear smash mouthing to some use i'm buying just kidding you
play day song we were contractually obligated
to play the longest set of all time 140 minutes
150 minutes patreon viewers you

(57:10):
can catch that clip right under the link right here patreon or maybe i'll look
at camera no it was it's over here maybe i'm telling you i'm telling you it
was like it was like it's like watching you do your thing because that's what
you did for so many years when you were young so you have so much of that mechanical
memory you know how to talk to a crowd.
It's not a bad thing I think it's a strength I like when we do it.

(57:34):
I don't like breaking down the gear. I'll go as far as to say that now,
acoustic time is probably a rare occurrence. It's in the set, but...
Anyway, so the first version of our ride medley started with Splash Mountain.
Then it went to Tiki Room, Haunted Mansion, Small World.
And then we had an older version of the ride medley. We updated it. We did it as a band.

(57:55):
Now we start with Carousel of Progress, The Mine Train, which is Hi-Ho from
Snow White, Haunted Mansion.
Oh, my God. And then we had the Aerosmith Rockin' Rollercoaster Ride, Walk This Way.
And then we ended It's a Small World. And we recently swapped out the Rockin'
Rollercoaster Ride for Life is a Highway from Pixar Cars Land.

(58:16):
And it just goes to show you that, you know, Disney World is always improving,
always changing, changing with the times.
And it's kind of like what we're doing. We're in this cool spot as a band.
We're always kind of like leveling up and making improvements. improvements
and you guys don't know this but on these last three shows we added a new a
new part of the ride medley we yeah dude i heard recently you heard about this

(58:39):
well i heard recently that there
was like a bit there's a new bit a little tease wait there's a new bit.
No it was a little bit about and i can't believe that it's happened at least
this late in my game but Star Tours of all the rides dude like how did Star
Tours we'd never even thought of that so Star Tours Famous Disney Ride,

(59:04):
Galaxy's Edge Star Wars Land so hold on let me see if let me see if I can get
this going yeah first of all are we in tune?
Yeah we're actually in tune wow for those for those listening Alexis has pulled
out a beautiful piercing guitar well no I mean like flamenco style for those
of you who are not for those of you who are not watching the video Yeah,
I don't want to do that. Just audio.

(59:25):
So, okay. So, man. Okay, guys. If you're listening to this podcast or you're
on our Patreon, congratulations.
You have reached the new peak of... This is rare.
Yeah, this is a rare. This is a sneak peek to the show for everyone else.
For most people, this is a surprise.
But at our last show, the UB County Fair, Mickey Mouse with the guitar,

(59:46):
played by yours truly, goes, we're going to do a ride medley, buckle up, strap on in.
And then as I start, I go, hey Minnie Mouse, what's your favorite ride?
And Minnie goes, Star Tours.
Music.

(01:00:07):
And then we end on a major, though. There's a... Wow. And then I go,
well, my favorite ride is called Carousel of Progress.
We're going to tune off that guitar post. It's a great big beautiful tomorrow.
But that's our ride melody. And so, okay, so the last thing we want to mention
here is we performed this at our probably our biggest show of all time.

(01:00:28):
We performed at See Here Now Festival in Asbury Park. You can catch us on YouTube.
And we might be able to include a clip of this in the podcast of us performing
this song in front of like 30,000 people.
And just imagine all these people. The ride medley ends with punk rock, It's a Small World.
Yeah, one of my favorites. And our videographer that day pans out to the audience

(01:00:50):
and you see all these thousands of people just sing along to It's a Small World.
Shout out to Christian. Shout out to Christian Esten.
Huge fan, big fan. Man, just like, I don't know. This is sort of like this.
If you were to encapsulate the song, if
you were to encapsulate our show in a singular moment in
like all the different nostalgia things and all

(01:01:11):
the different ways of bringing people together i feel like the ride medley checks
off a lot of those boxes even though you know some people you know on the business
side of things you're like just play the hits and the ride medley maybe that's
the first one to get cut because it's long like this this is the song this is
the song of the little merman so guys if you
get a chance check it out on youtube you can you can catch us

(01:01:33):
playing it at see here now music festival that was it
that was the one that i was looking up today was i was looking up
the ride medley on youtube from see
here now yeah man what an epic time very epic all right guys we got let's see
what do we have here we have tour you know what we're gonna skip we're gonna
skip ahead we're gonna skip ahead because we're running out of time the new

(01:01:53):
segment of our podcast sound cue to be We included...
It's called Make-A-Wish. So...
They've never seen this before. It's not like they were presented a script.
So everyone is going to make a wish for number one, a Disney song that has,
since we just did our top five,
Disney song that the band has never played, but we have loved to,

(01:02:17):
and we'll see if we have time for bonus wish, but we're all going to make a
wish for a Disney song we've never played, but we love to.
So we're going to do the same order. So we're tossing it to Grau.
Grau, what's your wish for a song?
Be prepared from the Lion King.
I mean, I wish that we, that's the one request that we get that we don't do
outside of a medley. That's a good one.

(01:02:37):
And I mean, as much as like, I have Manamana as a song, I would love to be able
to do the full Be Prepared. Just saying, I feel like I could do that.
It's in a very specific style too, which I think is like interesting.
So we haven't, we've started messing around with these like Latin vibes,
you know what I'm saying?

(01:02:57):
And I feel like Be Prepared has that like, Like, it's very... Be prepared.
Yeah, but... It's almost like Latin. That's what I'm saying.
It's like Bolero. Yeah, exactly.
But, like, that could be a fun one. You can really get into it.
Or, like, however you want to interpret it.
Like, we could take it to a level that is not that.

(01:03:21):
But also, like, the villain... It's a villain song. That's right.
We don't do a whole bunch of villain songs. And because Alexis is the Disney
prince, and I can beat the villain. I'm happy to do it. Just like Ryguy has down New Orleans.
Yeah, that's true. We did Princess and the Frog. All right, so we're going to
keep it on this first wish. So we're going to toss it to Quinn.
Quinn, what's the song that you would love to do if you could make a wish?

(01:03:45):
I personally would love to do Strange Things from Toy Story,
which is the song that is sung when Buzz Lightyear kind of takes over the Woody era of Andy's life.
In the first movie. Yeah. I think that song slaps. I think it's like a total banger. I think it's.

(01:04:06):
Randy Newman, dude, like. Bring in a Raidman.
I would probably say that out of the group, I'm proud, like,
the way that Alexis is into Alan Menken is the way I'm into Randy Newman.
Oh, wow. Yeah, I think he's got, personally, I think Randy Newman might have,
like, the biggest catalog of Disney movies under his belt.
Yeah, because they gave him a lot. They gave him a lot, dude,

(01:04:27):
but it's also not just, like, he's got stuff like that, but he also has,
like, the scoring aspect of it, you know what I mean?
Literally monsters inc is one of
my favorite movies and his whole soundtrack for
that is incredible it's but it's like i'm parallel
one to the other yeah you it's almost
hard to believe that like it's the same guy yeah i

(01:04:49):
mean like everything is so unique everything doesn't
like i feel like today when disney is hiring certain writers or musical writers
that they almost get a pigeon's hold where like you can tell immediately from
who's writing it and being like oh okay like now i i know who that is like yeah
you know what i'm saying where it's like if i didn't know better.

(01:05:13):
And it's hard to be like to point that finger at randy newman and be like oh
like you know like i wouldn't expect this to be him there's a lot of that too
i mean he's i he still is one of my favorite american songwriters always has
been i mean that's that's why princess and the frog i I think it was done so well. Yeah, I just...
I feel like that's him. Yeah, that's him. See, that's the thing where it's like...

(01:05:35):
Yeah, that's him. Yeah. Like... Toy Story. You know what I mean?
Yeah. So many genres, so many ways that he can go from point A to point B.
Because he's so good. Yeah.
And it's just like a vast length of material, dude.
Like, yeah, he would be somebody that would be sick, dude. Like, oh my gosh. Anyways.

(01:05:57):
All right, Alexis. Texas. Randy Newman.
It's funny because his nemesis is Gary Oldman.
All right. Anyways, we're going to.
That was good. Well, it was good if I was expecting it.
Oh, my God. I was not expecting that. That was actually pretty good.

(01:06:19):
That was a very good one. Wow.
We're going to do My Final Wish. And then maybe we can do Bonus Wish.
My song that I've always wanted to learn is from Hunchback of Notre Dame.
We've never done a song from this movie. and it
and you know and the thing about hunchback of notre dame is it's you
know they they developed it there's all these iterations of

(01:06:41):
it that they tried to bring it to broadway and it's it's
really like god well no that's not true we do
the hellfire song on our villain medley but this
is my song out there from the hunchback of notre dame i
would love to see this imagined as a little more in the
style of maybe how we do go the distance as it's just like a
powerful like rock moment taking a

(01:07:01):
ballad and turning it into like almost a springsteen
kind of level of like i could
see that working and then all right
guys before before i go into more detail
we're going to invite you guys the listeners to share
your wishes because now here's where it gets interactive this is
an immersive band and it's an immersive podcast you can control our set list

(01:07:23):
your voice matters so we're going to invite our listeners to share your disney
wishes for disney songs in our set list The show is for you We're all Disney
fans here So what you gotta do is You gotta get on our Patreon,
And shoot it over there Or you can find us on Instagram Or you can email us
at thelittlemerman at gmail.com But your Disney wish Has a better chance of

(01:07:48):
coming true If you grab us on Patreon.
Okay, so the last thing we're going to do in this new Make-A-Wish segment,
and we'll see if this makes the cut, but there's a bonus wish.
And this is a dream because we just had our first ever Disney celebrity on the podcast.
So now here's our bonus wish. We each get to wish for a dream celebrity podcast

(01:08:08):
guest, and we're going to add why.
And I'm going to go first. We're going to go in reverse order because I just
mentioned out there from Hunchback of Notre Dame.
So obviously my dream celebrity guest is Alan Menken, and gosh,
oh my gosh, it would be such a dream come true to have Macon himself,
Disney Daddy, on the podcast. Could you imagine?

(01:08:29):
Just dare to dream. I have a lot of questions for him, like in a really nice way.
Yeah, I have a lot of questions. He's a good one that like, if you could get
him on the podcast, Macon, if you're listening, we would love to have you on the podcast.
Aladdin still is my favorite soundtrack of all time, my favorite movie,
like Disney, like classic. Such a slap.
Everybody on the planet knows that sound. It's so good. From the beginning to

(01:08:51):
end, there's not one song that misses.
They're all so good. I think I still know all of the Prince Ali words because
I memorized them. Prince Ali. Prince Ali.
Oh, my gosh. We're going to throw it back to Quinn.
I wonder what his favorite song that he wants to do.
I kind of went tangent on this one before, and I guess I should have held back.

(01:09:15):
But Randy Newman, I'm going back to this. Randy Newman is the person I would
love to have on the podcast. I think he's somebody I would love to meet.
Personally, I would love to know what got him involved with Disney and also
like what his favorite soundtrack to work on was.
You know what i mean like another vast just

(01:09:38):
so vast and maybe maybe
it's fun maybe it's not i don't know like he's somebody i would love to pick
the brain of and just be like if you could do an maybe the question i would
ask was would be like who is somebody that you wish you could do a soundtrack
with for a disney film or something like that right it's a solid wish all right Grout, bonus wish.

(01:10:01):
Who is a Dream Celebrity podcast guest?
I mean, George Lucas, of course. I'm a Star Wars guy. It's got to be George
Lucas. I want to know about his friendship with David Lynch.
Because apparently he offered to, because he's like, I wrote this story,
but I don't know if I want to direct it. He tried to give it to David Lynch on the driveway in a car.
And they hit a bump in the road. And David Lynch goes, what is that?

(01:10:23):
He goes, I don't know. It's a Wookiee.
Wait, no way. And David Lynch is like, He told me about it. Sorry,
I'll do my David Lynch impression.
He told me about it, but then I said, George, you just got to do this. This is your baby.
And then George Lucas was, Oh, man, now I'm going to do, I'm going to make the

(01:10:46):
dog fall into two lightsabers.
But yes, I would love to talk to George Lucas, but honestly,
I don't think he would talk to me.
My real person I'd like
to talk to is Mark Hamill more than
just his activist nature but
just like he literally came from almost like really doing nothing into becoming

(01:11:10):
one of the biggest celebrities and then has maintained an incredible career
doing voice acting I just want to know about his pivot and like where he finds
inspiration because he continually always overprivileged.
Like overreduces like what you would think some guy that was the
star wars years ago not only he was in
his 60s when he did the new star wars

(01:11:33):
and he still stayed busy he was the joker for
like 10 years he was skips in
the regular show mark hamill is a working actor
and he's also like the most respected
like of like the jedi in the real world like he shows
up when they do any of the games names because
he's the guy that knows how to do it because he was the first one that knew

(01:11:54):
this like to talk to a real jedi that would
be amazing and also i would probably go blind deaf
and numb and just have to like you know have a list because
i don't know talk to markel will be a lot all right
listeners well this is also an interactive part for you
so you got to let us know what potential guests you want
to see on the merman monday's podcast please join

(01:12:17):
us on patreon for the the exclusive content we brought it on a lot today but
that's because we've just now like really made a lot more of an effort to put
more stuff on there because we want you to enjoy all the stuff that we do here
and all of the amazing behind the scenes.
You know we have a lot of insights we have a lot of us just like being goofy

(01:12:38):
that's what you guys want to see so visit us on www.patreon.com slash the little
mer men to become part of the mer fam and enjoy all the perks that we have to offer.
Please follow Merman Monday's podcast at MermanMonday'sPod on IG.
Please follow Little Merman at TheLittleMerman on IG as well.

(01:12:59):
You can find Alexis at AlexisPabini and you can find myself at Groww underscore music.
But wait, where can we find Quinn? I think it's TheMighty.Quinn like as if you
would find it on like a school, like what do you call it?
I am mightyquinn.the okay

(01:13:19):
yeah there you go and yeah you'll
find me there on Instagram well guys check
that out and again thank you for joining us on this episode of Merman Mondays
we hope you've enjoyed our stories and discussions don't forget to subscribe
and follow us on all those platforms and additionally check out Merman Mondays pod on IG.

(01:13:44):
We'd love to hear feedback on Patreon.
So please, leave us a comment, send us a message, and until next time,
remember to dream, believe, and achieve!
See you next Monday, baby!