November 14, 2024 • 30 mins
Ever felt like managing a band is like juggling flaming guitar picks? Welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage podcast, where we bust the myth that band life is all rock 'n roll glam. This week, we tackle the nitty-gritty of practice schedules, the art of set list organization, and the marriage-like dynamics that can make or break a group. Rob shares his own adjustment story of swapping Arizona's sun for North Carolina's chill, highlighting how the band's evolution requires constant communication and compromise. Listen as we share strategies that not only refine our sound but also keep the band harmony alive.
The creative spark of a spontaneous jam can be magical, and we've got the tales to prove it. From blues-rock jams that unexpectedly became local hits to capturing those elusive moments of brilliance with a simple recording, creativity thrives in the most unplanned moments. We open up about the struggles and triumphs of maintaining punctuality and honesty within the band, treating it as a family where open communication reigns. Our stories of mishaps and laughter, like Dana's Reno escapade or the infamous lyric scattering incident, paint a vivid picture of the band's journey.
Relationships outside the band? Yeah, they're a whole other concert. Young musicians often find the balancing act between band commitments and personal life a challenging riff to play. We've learned the hard way about the impact it can have and the importance of keeping communication lines open with loved ones. Before we wrap up, we hint at a future episode with Eric Bogomil from Reno and share some vital tips on practice space security. Gratitude pours out to our listeners, with a nod to their role in our ongoing journey, and a small call-to-action for those who wish to support us further.
Thank you and please visit our social medial sites to leave feedback and or support our project.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Franklin's Garage to
Stage podcast.
My name is Rob WardrumsFranklin.
Your host today and my co-hostis Dana Thunderbass Franklin.
Hey, it's good to see you, buddy.
It's been like over a week, man, it sucks.
It's been a while we haven'tpracticed or been together.
It kind of sucks, man, how youdoing, I'm good.
(00:20):
It's kind of weird.
It's starting to get cold here.
By the way, we're based out ofNorth Carolina currently.
I recently moved out here fromPhoenix, arizona, so this is all
a new ballgame to me.
It's like getting cold now andwe're in Arizona, it's warm,
well, hot, and here it's likestarting to get cold.
(00:44):
Time changes, arizona timedoesn't change, so it's a whole
new ball game for me out herenow like 5 30 it's like midnight
.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (00:47):
Yeah , you'll be seeing some of that
white powder, hopefully andwe're not talking cocaine, we're
talking snow should be flyinghere pretty soon.
See not a while.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (00:55):
Well, anyway, today podcast is about
practice set list andrelationships.
Uh, first of all, though, Iwant to thank we've had a couple
supporters for the podcast.
Absolutely Definitely thank themand really appreciate it.
We need that to help get guests, so that's really appreciated.
Today, like I said, we're goingto discuss practice, set list
(01:18):
and relationships, basically thehoneymoon's over.
I mean we've already talkedabout you've got a band together
, now you've got a place topractice and you know the
honeymoon's over.
I mean we've already talkedabout you've got a band together
, now you've got a place topractice and you know the
honeymoon is over, now it's timeto get to work.
So you want to kick us off,dana, with what kind of happens,
or what should or hopefullywould happen in that practice.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (01:38):
All right, yeah, I mean you know.
First thing is, you know you'vegot to start thinking about.
You know how much times a weekare you going to practice?
You know is this going to be,you know, every day, two times a
week.
Three times a week, Once a weeka month, you know once, yeah,
once a week, once a month, youknow, depending on you, know
everybody's, you know attitudesand their commitment to the band
(01:58):
.
So that's you know, and that'sa big one right there.
That's going to make or break alot of bands.
You're always going to findthat there's going to be one or
two members that are way morecommitted than maybe the other
people and the other guys justwant to come to practice and
party, bring some friends, drinksome beer and maybe throw some
jams together where the otherguys are like no, we're going to
(02:19):
have a set list and we're goingto make this a serious thing.
So that's one problem you gotto work out and you know, talk
with everybody you got tointerrupt you here.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (02:28):
Don't you miss the old days when we lived
in the same house, had afinished basement with our band
was there, and so every morning,or basically every day, after
work, we go downstairs and theboys come over and we, we
practice yeah, that was I meanyou know how can you go wrong
from having?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (02:46):
you know, and even my job, I think,
was two blocks down the streetso I you know I walked to work.
I'd come home, you know, take aquick shower, walk downstairs,
throw on the guitar.
I mean it's.
Yeah, that was very convenientand really cool so okay.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (03:02):
So basically, you're gonna hear a
lot of musicians say a band is alot like a marriage, and it
really is, because you'respending a lot of time together,
you're getting to know theirpersonalities, they're getting
to know yours.
Okay, the honeymoon's over, sotime to get, like I said, time
to get to work.
So you need to start working onset lists.
You want to think about, youknow, in the same tunings, the,
(03:24):
the set list that you're workingon, you want to.
You have to change guitars oror tuning, or you know, you want
to keep those kind of things inmind.
So any advice on that for meyeah, you know that.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (03:36):
You know, with the current band that
we're in right now, you knowwe've got a lot of songs that
are either drop d or tune down awhole step, and then some that
are in regular standard tuning.
So what we're doing is, youknow, right now is this, you
know our whole first set is, youknow, songs that are in
standard tuning.
Well, we're actually we tunedown half a step for everything,
(03:57):
but we'll do the whole set withsongs like that, so we don't
have to worry about you knowchanging guitars or you know
retuning.
You know, midway through a set,you know then the next set, you
know we'll just do everythingthat's drop d or tune down a
whole note or you know stufflike that I got a question for
you which has actually come upwith, um, speaking of which
you're not going to hear usmention our band because we're
not.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (04:17):
We're not here to uh pump our band yet.
We probably roll down the road,but you're not going to hear us
mention our band name.
But basically, what we want todo is like help you and you know
just from some experiences thatwe've had but uh, uh, saying
that, uh, what do you got?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (04:39):
to say, yeah, I mean, good point
it's.
You know this is not aself-promotion, you know podcast
, like you said we.
You know, between the two of us, you know I can't even count
how many bands we've been in.
So all the you know, like wementioned before, the trials and
tribulations you go through youknow with each different band
and different attitudes andpersonalities of everybody.
(04:59):
You know, if there's musiciansout there that have questions
and are wondering it's like, howdo you make this work?
Well, hopefully we're here toease the pain a little bit.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (05:09):
And any advice you have.
I mean, please do shoot us atext or on any of our social
media sites, you know, get ahold of us, and we'd be welcome
to have you as a guest.
If you got an opinion on this,or if you want to just basically
explain what your band or yoursolo project, or whatever it may
be, is going through, we'd uh,we'd really appreciate that
feedback as well yeah, andspeaking of feedback, um, we've
(05:32):
had, you know, a couple ofcomments I won't say a couple,
but quite quite a few commentson our, um, on our social media
accounts.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (05:38):
You know whether it be, you know,
spotify, apple music, whatever,but you know we appreciate all
you guys and you know I wish IApple Music, whatever, but you
know we appreciate all you guysand you know I wish I can throw
out everybody's names out there,but you know there's too many
and we appreciate everythingthat you're saying because
there's, you know, a lot of goodfeedback.
And you know, the thing that'sreally surprising me the most is
a lot of this feedback iscoming from females, that's a
(06:00):
good thing?
No I mean it's a great thing,that's a good thing.
No, I mean it's a great thing,but you know, I mean I was
thinking you know most of thisis going to be guy related and I
love to hear from you know, notonly female musicians, but the
spouses and girlfriends of themusicians.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (06:13):
I'm single, by the way.
No, I'm just kidding.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (06:16):
That's Rob Wardrums Franklin.
You can reach him at.
Yeah, you know, but you know,keep leaving comments.
Yeah, but keep leaving comments.
We love it.
We read every one of them.
And for you that havecontributed to the show, thank
you.
That helps out wonders.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (06:31):
Hey, Dan, one thing I wanted to bring up.
I've always been a huge fan ofeither like beginning practice,
when you're like everybody'strying to get their sound down
and the mix down and our middlepractice or end of practice is
just jamming.
Because me personally, with allthe bands I've been in, we've
come up with some of our bestoriginal material just starting
(06:53):
out with jam and that pieces youknow, you piece it in the.
All of a sudden you got a verseof, you know, chorus and you,
you put it together and you gota hell of a song.
To me that's, I mean, that'scrucial, I think.
Even if you're you're allworking on a bunch of covers,
start out your jam or start itwith a jam and you'll see where
it goes, because, trust me,you're going to find a lot of
(07:15):
good material just doing thatyeah, well, I agree and I think
you know we've talked about thisbefore where you'll record
everything.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (07:23):
I mean from the minute you walk
into the room until the minuteyou walk out, because you never
know, like I said, one of thesejamming's, all of a sudden
you're gonna come up with somekiller riff or a you know a
couple measures that you're likeholy shit, that is awesome.
We got to remember this by nextpractice.
You know, after a couple ofbeers or tokes or whatever, no,
way it's gone you know, and soyeah, record every single thing
(07:44):
you do.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (07:45):
And speaking of which, the pre, mid
and post music on this episodeis going to be from a band I was
in.
Unfortunately it was withoutDana, but it was with another
good bass player.
His name was Stan Sorensen, butit was in a band called Dose.
It's a copyrighted song sowe're able to play it on the
podcast, but anyway, that songdeveloped from basically just a
(08:07):
jam.
It was actually an off day, wehad a studio, but we ended up
just setting up our equipment inthe guitar player's living room
because for some reason wecouldn't go to the studio.
I can't remember why at the atthe moment, but we just ended up
jamming the song and thisfriend of the guitar players was
over there and she had neversung with us before and started
(08:27):
just jamming with us and it's.
We just all just fell in lovewith what was happening.
We were kind of playing heavierstuff at the time, but this one
came across as more of a bluesrockier tune and it just felt so
good and came together so quickthat we ended up working on it
some more and recording it andcopyrighted it, and a lot of the
(08:48):
clubs in the Sacramento areaactually had it in their
jukeboxes, which was hella cool,to walk into a bar and hear
your tune being played.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (08:56):
That's everybody's dream right now.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (08:57):
Yeah, that was kind of my first
experience with like havingmusic public, so it was really
cool.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (09:02):
Nice and, like you said, it started
from a jam.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (09:05):
Exactly, it all started from just messing
around.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (09:07):
Yeah , I mean you know you walk into
the studio, first thingeverybody's doing is, you know,
checking out how loud they areGoing through their scales
practicing.
Exactly so you might as well toget a good mix and see where
everybody's at start playing for5, 10, 15 minutes.
Before you know it you've got atune.
I'm pretty sure some of thesongs we came up with in mono
started that way.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (09:26):
A lot of them actually were just me and
you jamming because the bandwasn't practicing or something,
me and you would just jam andcome up with a solid bottom end,
and guitar player come inthrowing something sick to it
and bam one of our my favoritesongs fool's gold oh yeah,
exactly how we did it.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (09:44):
That's just you and me jamming before
we, before we even had otherpeople audition for us.
Yeah, you know, we'd go up towherever we were playing or even
when we were in a funny story.
So uh, you remember we went upto Mom and Dad's house.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (09:56):
Yeah, we actually killed the guinea pigs
because we were playing so loud.
Well, that's another wholestory, but that was actually
really funny, but sad for my momobviously.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (10:05):
That's when you know that the volume's
just a little bit too loud.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (10:09):
Just a little on heavy Plus bottom end
drums and bass.
So Plus it all bottom end drumsand bass.
So you know that poor littleguinea pig's ear drums are
shattered, yeah, but he went outgood.
He did go out good.
Hopefully you enjoyed what youwas hearing.
Anyway, what?
Else have you got to look outfor or do you want to do at
practice, buddy?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (10:28):
Well , you know, like I said, you
know even before you get topractice.
You know you got to talkpolicies on what if somebody
doesn't show up or they'reconstantly running 15, 20
minutes late?
Rob Wardrums Franklin (10:41):
Hopefully not habitually yeah.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (10:43):
That's the point where I think, at
some point, depending on howserious you want the band to be,
how well it's gelling yeah.
You take it like it's a job,it's like dude, you keep coming
in late.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (11:00):
We're going to look for a replacement,
or you're going to show up oncea month and that doesn't work
for us.
That's that marriage thing wewere talking about.
I mean you've got to be honestwith each other and throw blows
if you have to, but it's, I mean.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (11:12):
And that's where the whole
personality thing you reallyhave to.
It's got to be a brotherhood,sisterhood, depending on how
many people you got in a bandfemales, males but it's got to
be a family thing.
You got to be comfortable.
You can say you know what dudeyou suck tonight, what's the
problem?
Or you know why the fuck do youkeep coming in late?
You know, I mean, you got tohave that kind of rapport with
everybody, otherwise it's notgoing to work, you know, which
(11:34):
brings me to another thing thatwe started doing and we should
probably continue to keep doing,and everybody out there it's
like, at least once a month oronce a week, have a band meeting
.
You know, before you startplaying, sit down for 15, 20
minutes.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (11:50):
Very good idea.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (11:51):
Yeah , talk about.
You know what songs you'redoing, which ones you want to
work on, problems within theband and just anything that
needs to be aired out, and soeverybody's on the same page.
I think that's a critical thingthat everybody should do.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (12:05):
I agree 100%, okay, hey, another thing I
wanted to talk about isfriendships in the band.
I think that's kind ofimportant.
I mean it's like a sports team.
It seems like the moresuccessful sport teams are like
the dudes that actually hang outtogether, get to know each
other and just basically becomefriends.
Because if you're just going topractice, just going home and
(12:28):
coming back and seeing themagain next time at practice, you
really don't even know eachother and I think you're more of
a well-jelled, oiled band ifyou guys are buddies oh yeah, I
mean that way it's easier torelate to each other.
And you know, tell each otherhey, dude, you suck tonight, man
, what's up, you okay, or youknow?
It's just easier to discuss,just just discuss band things,
(12:49):
that I think yeah, oh yeah.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (12:51):
I mean, you know, we, we've been
in bands where it's I mean hell,even whether we don't even
practice, they'll just come overto house and just hang out, you
know, do barbecues or whatever.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (13:01):
Yeah, make us some food, have a couple
drinks or whatever.
But yeah, I think that's hugeand I think the bands that do
that are probably I mean, I'venever seen like a census or
nothing, but I would guess thatthey're like way more, way more
successful bands actually arethe ones that do that.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (13:17):
Yeah , because I mean, if you can't
do it when you're practicingwhat you know, what?
If you do, make it real big,you know, like real quick, and
all of a sudden you're withthese guys that you barely know
and you're going through thestress of being on the road
together.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (13:29):
Exactly.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (13:31):
I mean that's yeah, you've got to
know who you're dealing with.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (13:35):
Okay, well, you know what it's time
for.
Go ahead, give it to me.
Oh shit, special segment.
This is basically when we'regoing to talk about something
that's either been funny,humorous or or sad.
Uh, that's happened to eitherat practice or live.
Dana, let's, let's kick it offto you this time first all right
.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (13:53):
Um, well, you know, I wasn't really
thinking about this until untilyou mentioned it, you know, a
little while ago.
It's like, what are we gonna dofor the special segment?
I was like, wow, what kind ofstories I got.
And then it just hit me.
We were at practice once andthis is back in Reno, and it was
even before we had a singer.
It was you and me, you know.
We got a couple of guitarplayers that auditioned and we
(14:13):
had this little studio up inWells Avenue, second floor
office place that we had topractice after 5 o'clock because
we were pissing everybody off.
And then, you know, we're,we're jamming for like half an
hour and all of a sudden we'rehere and knocking the door.
We're like, oh shit, here we go.
You know they're telling us toturn it down or whatever.
And you know, up up the doorand, ah, there's a couple of our
(14:35):
nice, friendly Reno cops ohshit, what's going on?
Only to find out that one of ourguitar players had a little
speaking of relationships, had alittle run-in with his
girlfriend and got, I think, alittle physical with her, and 10
minutes after that we werewithout one of our guitar
(14:57):
players, so know who you areplaying with and what they're
capable of.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (15:02):
That's always a good idea.
Know their temperament.
How about you?
What?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (15:05):
you got Okay.
Well, mine was not really a.
It wasn always a good idea,know their temperament.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (15:06):
How about you what you got?
Okay, well, mine was not reallya practice one.
This was actually one of ourfirst performances with a newly
formed band.
We had Well, not newly formed,but a band that actually turned
out to be a pretty successfulband in Reno called Monolith,
(15:26):
but unfortunately we had thisbig show booked and we had a
brand-new singer.
Basically had been with us twoweeks.
Hell of a dude named Robbie,hell of a dude Used to be a
drummer too.
But we basically just asked himhey, dude, do you want to do
the show?
It's like in two weeks.
And he was all on board.
So basically, we're doing theshow, it's like in two weeks.
And he was all on board.
So basically, we're doing theshow.
(15:46):
It's all original, all originalmaterial, except for we had one
cover song we did in the middleof the set, where there was
kind of like a thumping in thebackground, a guitar, what do
you call it?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (15:59):
Just like Just in the background.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (16:03):
And the vocalist would use that
opportunity to introduce theband members and at that time I
would come down from my drumriser and just kind of go across
the front of the stage and slaphands and you know, do that
kind of silly shit.
But anyway, he was such a newsinger that he had a lot of the
lyrics written down next to themonitor in front of the stage
that he would kind of bend down,act like he was singing to the
(16:23):
crowd when he was actually kindof like reading a lot of these
lyrics.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (16:27):
Before the days of iPads, by the way.
Yeah, yeah.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (16:34):
So basically I came down during
this little guitar chugging partin the middle of a song and
doing the happy shit andslapping hands and kick his
lyrics all over the damn placeand I get back up on the drum
riser and I just see him downthere shaking his head in
disgust.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (16:46):
And that look he gave you.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (16:47):
He just turned around like this oh yeah,
you're like oh die, but anyway,that was funny and embarrassing
for I guess, me and him.
But it ended up turning out tobe.
It turned out well anyway.
I mean, the dude came throughwith flying colors for not
knowing all the all the lyricsand and just acted like he'd
been with us forever.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (17:07):
Yeah , I mean to this date.
That was still one of my best,my favorite shows.
Oh yeah, me too.
It was just, it was all thebands I've been in, it's still
like.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (17:17):
Those moments are still my favorite,
because we were not only liketight as a band, but we were all
buddies and we're just.
It was a good time.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (17:24):
Yeah , I mean, it definitely wasn't
our first time on stage was thefirst time with this, with this
portion of the band, or this,yeah, yeah, that line oh I guess
, and um, and we just out ofshit, we killed it.
I mean, it was it just it feltso good coming off the stage and
we must, I don't know.
There's probably what three,four, five hundred people in
there.
I mean the place was packed.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (17:43):
It packed , it was awesome, it was awesome
.
But going back to practices, abig thing, I think too, is
having a blend of open andclosed practices.
I mean, you want to have thosenights where you know you want
to get down and work on material, but then there's also nights
(18:11):
where you always want to loosenup, play your material to your
friends and buddies orgirlfriends or whatever, or
future girlfriends, however itmay be, and you know it's kind
of a chance to like not onlypractice your live skills but
loosen up and and once again,it's, it's a gelling opportunity
.
Everybody meeting you know eachother's girlfriends and friends
and all that kind of shit, andI I think, I think it's an
important thing to do in apractice oh yeah, myself you
know, and then you get feedbackfrom other people that haven't
heard you, oh, yeah, exactly andthey can be honest say, hey,
(18:33):
you know, hey, this part Ireally like you know, that song,
kind of you know, did nothingfor me, but you know, that way
you get feedback cool
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (18:41):
all right.
So, uh, you know.
So you're starting to practiceand stuff.
Then you've got to starttalking about set list.
Well, that depends.
Are you going to be anall-original band?
Are you going to be a coverband?
Are you going to do acombination of both?
First case, if you do acombination of both, you always
want to start strong and endstrong.
(19:01):
Put one of your better songs,maybe one that is really trying
to show your style of what kindof band you are going to be.
You know, make that your firstone coming out.
You know, make it.
You know, hit, hit the peoplehard.
Then you can do your soft,pretty shit in the middle, you
know.
But you know, show them.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (19:19):
I don't think we do any soft pretty ones
?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (19:20):
Well , we don't, but you know and you
know in this podcast is youknow we're going to talk a lot
about hard rock and metal, butyou know all of these scenarios.
It fits in whether you're acountry band acoustic band.
You know a dance band, I meanyou know it all fits into the
same stuff.
You know you're still going totalk about set lists.
You're going to talk aboutpersonalities.
I mean it might be a differenttype of music, you know, maybe
(19:42):
different, maybe different crowd, but you know same thing.
I mean you know, even if you'rea band that's, you know,
looking for you know you'redoing like dance stuff.
You know you want to play topeople that are dancing to
yourself.
You know you still want tostart out with a strong song and
you know, of course, you'regoing to end up with a strong
song.
You know, if you're doing acover, a combination of covers
(20:02):
and originals, you know I alwayslike to put one of your best
originals as your last song.
That way, you know, people knowwhat you're about and what
you're trying to do.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (20:13):
Lasting impression, Exactly Lasting
lasting.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (20:16):
And it should be the best song, not
only that you're doing, but yourbest original song, if you have
multiple ones out there.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (20:25):
All right , I got this, dana.
How long should a set be?
Speaking of practicing sets?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (20:31):
I mean typically.
You know if you're going toplay two, three hours, typically
you want to do a 45-minute to50-minute set list.
That way you've got 10, 15minutes in between to chill out,
go meet your customers, go meetyour friends, family, whatever
you know, go have a shot attequila, whatever you do in
between.
And then you know 45 minutes isthe standard for what they call
(20:53):
a showcase set.
You know, if you ever get tothe point where you're playing
in front of record labelrepresentatives or if you're
just doing a show where you wantto showcase your best, it's.
You know, typically 45 minutesis what you're looking at.
And in between songs you knowthere's this thing that's called
dead air, dead air.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (21:13):
Uh, it'll kill you, and that's why they
call it that.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (21:15):
You know anything more than 10
seconds of no music.
You know there's no reason forit, it's you know.
People come to see you playthey, they, they, you know.
Unless they're they, you know,unless you're a comedian, unless
you're a comedian, shut thefuck up.
They don't want to hear you.
They want to hear your music.
You know, I mean you want tointroduce the band and you know,
and you know a couple quickthings.
You know, maybe, oh hi, towhatever region you're in, you
(21:37):
know, if you're one of thosebands that are on the road a lot
but more than 10 seconds,forget it I agree 100.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (21:45):
We really haven't.
I dove into this yet.
But an important part of thewhole band thing is really
relationships, not only withyour bandmates but with others.
It could be your family,girlfriends, wives, regardless.
Learn from my error, oh boy.
Spend time.
(22:05):
I mean discussing with yourrelationships, I mean what
you're doing, why you're doingit and how it makes you feel.
And why you're doing it Becausea lot of people don't get it.
Even if they met you, knowingyou're a musician, they don't
get why you're at practice fouror five nights a week or why on
the weekend you don't want tospend it with them and you want
to go play at some little, maybesleazy little bar.
Dana Thunder Bass Frank (22:26):
Because a lot of times where are?
Rob Wardrums Franklin (22:27):
Because a lot of times before you're
going, to be starting sleazylittle bars I mean not to say
all bars are sleazy Come on,let's get real.
But I mean it's tough onrelationships and unless you're
honest and forth with them, itreally makes relationships tough
and I've been through a bunchbecause that's another whole
(22:47):
story.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (22:48):
That's a whole damn episode.
Actually that's not funny, itkind of is.
Anyway.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (22:52):
I mean, it's hard on them and you need
to take their opinion to heart.
You need to ask them, like Isaid, explain what you do and
why you do it and what to expect, because if it just goes on and
on, it's just going to cut adeep wound.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (23:12):
Well , it's, like you said in the
beginning of this episode, thehoneymoon's over.
Well, we use phrases like thatbecause it is a relationship, I
mean the band is a relationship.
It's like treat them like youwould your wife, spouse, anybody
else in the family.
And same thing, though, yougotta, you gotta talk to your
(23:35):
immediate family members.
You know boyfriend, girlfriend,husband, wife.
You know even sons anddaughters.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (23:40):
You know what you're doing, how much it
means to you, how important itis, and you've you've got to
have their support, otherwiseit's, it's going to be a long
road for both of you yeah, and,like I said, I've learned out of
the hard way, because I wasn'treal good about explaining what
I was doing, why I was doing it,and just kind of just I made
(24:01):
that a priority instead oftrying to blend the two, which
is nearly impossible, by the way, but it can be done, but I was
bad about it and so, yeah, thinkabout it, it's, it's important,
it and so, yeah, think about it, it's important.
It'll help you in the long runtoo.
It really will.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (24:15):
Yeah , and I think you know, this
podcast is probably goingtowards more of the 20 to
30-year-olds than you know andif you're an older guy out there
, like you know, like us, youknow, I've got a very supportive
wife Robin, thank you that.
I mean I can go practicewhenever I want to and and I've
got that support.
But you're 20, 30, you knowwhen you're, you're working and
(24:37):
you know then you want to throwin band practice and your
girlfriend's like what the hell,are you ever going to spend
time with me?
I mean it puts a serious strainon it and it does.
It takes a lot of understandingon on their parts and you know
and trust me when, when I sayyou don't want the girlfriend
coming to your practice placethrowing your clothes at you,
saying get the fuck out.
I mean we've seen that happentoo.
(24:58):
I mean it's just so.
Uh, talk, talk to yoursignificant other and let them
know what's going on.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (25:06):
Oh, good advice, man, I want to throw out
there please text us with yourcomments and any information you
may have.
That's helpful for other bandsas well.
We really appreciate all andany feedback.
And I got to throw out a littlething about the next episode.
I'm really excited becausewe're going to have one of the
(25:28):
first singers that we sang withback in the the reno days, who
ended up being pretty successfulexcuse me, successful in the
reno area.
He's going to be joining us.
His name's eric bogomil, andthat'll be our next episode and
we're basically going to startdiving into.
Okay, practice is over, it'shit the stage so and the real
(25:49):
fun starts, yeah it does.
It really does, and this issomething we had experienced
with him when we first startedout.
So we wanted to share ourexperiences, along with his
experiences before and after us,and I'm really really looking
forward to it, because he's acool dude.
He's a lot of fun, he's funny,so I think it's going to be an
(26:10):
excellent episode cool dude.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (26:11):
He's a lot of fun, he's funny, so I
think it's going to be anexcellent episode.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (26:15):
The stories we got with that guy in
that band, oh man and then, uh,after that episode, we're going
to start getting into, uhtalking to bar owners, maybe
even some band managers ifthat's even a thing anymore, I
don't know but uh talk to someband managers and uh get some
more useful information out toyou guys.
Um, that's about all I got tosay for this episode, buddy.
(26:39):
What about you?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (26:40):
All right, well, um, I think another
thing I want to talk, talkabout and kind of hit up is you
know when you are practicing oryour practice spot, you know who
do you want to have access to.
You know access to that.
I mean, do you want everybody,if you're in a storage unit, do
you want everybody to have a keyto just kind of come and go as
they want?
Or you know, obviously, if it'sin a household thing, you won't
(27:01):
have to worry about thatbecause you know you're not
going to just hand out keys toeverybody at your house.
But storage unit, which you know.
I'm sure most of us are rentingan office space or whatever it
is.
You know certain people aregoing to be responsible for that
and have keys.
You know I would keep itlimited to.
You know, if you're a four orfive member band, like most
people are, half the people, two, three at the very most.
(27:25):
You know you don't want toleave just one person out but
you don't want everybody havinga key to just go because you
know, unless you guys have beentogether for 10 years and you
know them and you know wherethey, live, just opening up your
four problems yeah, yeah, Imean, if you're a new band of
two, three months and you kindof know these guys, but you
don't, you know you don't wantto go in there in a week later
(27:46):
and find out that their phone'sturned off and all your shit is
gone.
That's happened too.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (27:52):
Not to us .
Thank God, Bands like realclose to us.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (27:55):
Yeah , bands that we practice in the
same area, I mean right, realclose to us, that have had
everything ripped off by adegruntled band member or
somebody that knew where all theshit was, I would have cried
like a little baby.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (28:07):
Oh yeah, all right everybody.
Thank you very much forlistening and for your continued
support.
And just to throw it out there,there is a little link on our
not our webpage, but on theepisode where you can contribute
to our continued success.
So, thank you everybody, andit's been a pleasure talking to
(28:27):
you.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankli (28:28):
Thank you, Thank you, and that
contribution, contribution.
Excuse me, you know it's lessthan a gallon of gas.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (28:36):
Exactly Once a month.
You can help us out Appreciateit All right.
Thank you.
Hello and welcome to Franklin's Garage to
Stage podcast.
My name is Rob WardrumsFranklin.
Your host today and my co-hostis Dana Thunderbass Franklin.
Hey, it's good to see you, buddy.
It's been like over a week, man, it sucks.
It's been a while we haven'tpracticed or been together.
It kind of sucks, man, how youdoing, I'm good.
(00:20):
It's kind of weird.
It's starting to get cold here.
By the way, we're based out ofNorth Carolina currently.
I recently moved out here fromPhoenix, arizona, so this is all
a new ballgame to me.
It's like getting cold now andwe're in Arizona, it's warm,
well, hot, and here it's likestarting to get cold.
(00:44):
Time changes, arizona timedoesn't change, so it's a whole
new ball game for me out herenow like 5 30 it's like midnight
.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (00:47):
Yeah , you'll be seeing some of that
white powder, hopefully andwe're not talking cocaine, we're
talking snow should be flyinghere pretty soon.
See not a while.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (00:55):
Well, anyway, today podcast is about
practice set list andrelationships.
Uh, first of all, though, Iwant to thank we've had a couple
supporters for the podcast.
Absolutely Definitely thank themand really appreciate it.
We need that to help get guests, so that's really appreciated.
Today, like I said, we're goingto discuss practice, set list
(01:18):
and relationships, basically thehoneymoon's over.
I mean we've already talkedabout you've got a band together
, now you've got a place topractice and you know the
honeymoon's over.
I mean we've already talkedabout you've got a band together
, now you've got a place topractice and you know the
honeymoon is over, now it's timeto get to work.
So you want to kick us off,dana, with what kind of happens,
or what should or hopefullywould happen in that practice.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (01:38):
All right, yeah, I mean you know.
First thing is, you know you'vegot to start thinking about.
You know how much times a weekare you going to practice?
You know is this going to be,you know, every day, two times a
week.
Three times a week, Once a weeka month, you know once, yeah,
once a week, once a month, youknow, depending on you, know
everybody's, you know attitudesand their commitment to the band
(01:58):
.
So that's you know, and that'sa big one right there.
That's going to make or break alot of bands.
You're always going to findthat there's going to be one or
two members that are way morecommitted than maybe the other
people and the other guys justwant to come to practice and
party, bring some friends, drinksome beer and maybe throw some
jams together where the otherguys are like no, we're going to
(02:19):
have a set list and we're goingto make this a serious thing.
So that's one problem you gotto work out and you know, talk
with everybody you got tointerrupt you here.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (02:28):
Don't you miss the old days when we lived
in the same house, had afinished basement with our band
was there, and so every morning,or basically every day, after
work, we go downstairs and theboys come over and we, we
practice yeah, that was I meanyou know how can you go wrong
from having?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (02:46):
you know, and even my job, I think,
was two blocks down the streetso I you know I walked to work.
I'd come home, you know, take aquick shower, walk downstairs,
throw on the guitar.
I mean it's.
Yeah, that was very convenientand really cool so okay.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (03:02):
So basically, you're gonna hear a
lot of musicians say a band is alot like a marriage, and it
really is, because you'respending a lot of time together,
you're getting to know theirpersonalities, they're getting
to know yours.
Okay, the honeymoon's over, sotime to get, like I said, time
to get to work.
So you need to start working onset lists.
You want to think about, youknow, in the same tunings, the,
(03:24):
the set list that you're workingon, you want to.
You have to change guitars oror tuning, or you know, you want
to keep those kind of things inmind.
So any advice on that for meyeah, you know that.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (03:36):
You know, with the current band that
we're in right now, you knowwe've got a lot of songs that
are either drop d or tune down awhole step, and then some that
are in regular standard tuning.
So what we're doing is, youknow, right now is this, you
know our whole first set is, youknow, songs that are in
standard tuning.
Well, we're actually we tunedown half a step for everything,
(03:57):
but we'll do the whole set withsongs like that, so we don't
have to worry about you knowchanging guitars or you know
retuning.
You know, midway through a set,you know then the next set, you
know we'll just do everythingthat's drop d or tune down a
whole note or you know stufflike that I got a question for
you which has actually come upwith, um, speaking of which
you're not going to hear usmention our band because we're
not.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (04:17):
We're not here to uh pump our band yet.
We probably roll down the road,but you're not going to hear us
mention our band name.
But basically, what we want todo is like help you and you know
just from some experiences thatwe've had but uh, uh, saying
that, uh, what do you got?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (04:39):
to say, yeah, I mean, good point
it's.
You know this is not aself-promotion, you know podcast
, like you said we.
You know, between the two of us, you know I can't even count
how many bands we've been in.
So all the you know, like wementioned before, the trials and
tribulations you go through youknow with each different band
and different attitudes andpersonalities of everybody.
(04:59):
You know, if there's musiciansout there that have questions
and are wondering it's like, howdo you make this work?
Well, hopefully we're here toease the pain a little bit.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (05:09):
And any advice you have.
I mean, please do shoot us atext or on any of our social
media sites, you know, get ahold of us, and we'd be welcome
to have you as a guest.
If you got an opinion on this,or if you want to just basically
explain what your band or yoursolo project, or whatever it may
be, is going through, we'd uh,we'd really appreciate that
feedback as well yeah, andspeaking of feedback, um, we've
(05:32):
had, you know, a couple ofcomments I won't say a couple,
but quite quite a few commentson our, um, on our social media
accounts.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (05:38):
You know whether it be, you know,
spotify, apple music, whatever,but you know we appreciate all
you guys and you know I wish IApple Music, whatever, but you
know we appreciate all you guysand you know I wish I can throw
out everybody's names out there,but you know there's too many
and we appreciate everythingthat you're saying because
there's, you know, a lot of goodfeedback.
And you know, the thing that'sreally surprising me the most is
a lot of this feedback iscoming from females, that's a
(06:00):
good thing?
No I mean it's a great thing,that's a good thing.
No, I mean it's a great thing,but you know, I mean I was
thinking you know most of thisis going to be guy related and I
love to hear from you know, notonly female musicians, but the
spouses and girlfriends of themusicians.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (06:13):
I'm single, by the way.
No, I'm just kidding.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (06:16):
That's Rob Wardrums Franklin.
You can reach him at.
Yeah, you know, but you know,keep leaving comments.
Yeah, but keep leaving comments.
We love it.
We read every one of them.
And for you that havecontributed to the show, thank
you.
That helps out wonders.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (06:31):
Hey, Dan, one thing I wanted to bring up.
I've always been a huge fan ofeither like beginning practice,
when you're like everybody'strying to get their sound down
and the mix down and our middlepractice or end of practice is
just jamming.
Because me personally, with allthe bands I've been in, we've
come up with some of our bestoriginal material just starting
(06:53):
out with jam and that pieces youknow, you piece it in the.
All of a sudden you got a verseof, you know, chorus and you,
you put it together and you gota hell of a song.
To me that's, I mean, that'scrucial, I think.
Even if you're you're allworking on a bunch of covers,
start out your jam or start itwith a jam and you'll see where
it goes, because, trust me,you're going to find a lot of
(07:15):
good material just doing thatyeah, well, I agree and I think
you know we've talked about thisbefore where you'll record
everything.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (07:23):
I mean from the minute you walk
into the room until the minuteyou walk out, because you never
know, like I said, one of thesejamming's, all of a sudden
you're gonna come up with somekiller riff or a you know a
couple measures that you're likeholy shit, that is awesome.
We got to remember this by nextpractice.
You know, after a couple ofbeers or tokes or whatever, no,
way it's gone you know, and soyeah, record every single thing
(07:44):
you do.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (07:45):
And speaking of which, the pre, mid
and post music on this episodeis going to be from a band I was
in.
Unfortunately it was withoutDana, but it was with another
good bass player.
His name was Stan Sorensen, butit was in a band called Dose.
It's a copyrighted song sowe're able to play it on the
podcast, but anyway, that songdeveloped from basically just a
(08:07):
jam.
It was actually an off day, wehad a studio, but we ended up
just setting up our equipment inthe guitar player's living room
because for some reason wecouldn't go to the studio.
I can't remember why at the atthe moment, but we just ended up
jamming the song and thisfriend of the guitar players was
over there and she had neversung with us before and started
(08:27):
just jamming with us and it's.
We just all just fell in lovewith what was happening.
We were kind of playing heavierstuff at the time, but this one
came across as more of a bluesrockier tune and it just felt so
good and came together so quickthat we ended up working on it
some more and recording it andcopyrighted it, and a lot of the
(08:48):
clubs in the Sacramento areaactually had it in their
jukeboxes, which was hella cool,to walk into a bar and hear
your tune being played.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (08:56):
That's everybody's dream right now.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (08:57):
Yeah, that was kind of my first
experience with like havingmusic public, so it was really
cool.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (09:02):
Nice and, like you said, it started
from a jam.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (09:05):
Exactly, it all started from just messing
around.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (09:07):
Yeah , I mean you know you walk into
the studio, first thingeverybody's doing is, you know,
checking out how loud they areGoing through their scales
practicing.
Exactly so you might as well toget a good mix and see where
everybody's at start playing for5, 10, 15 minutes.
Before you know it you've got atune.
I'm pretty sure some of thesongs we came up with in mono
started that way.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (09:26):
A lot of them actually were just me and
you jamming because the bandwasn't practicing or something,
me and you would just jam andcome up with a solid bottom end,
and guitar player come inthrowing something sick to it
and bam one of our my favoritesongs fool's gold oh yeah,
exactly how we did it.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (09:44):
That's just you and me jamming before
we, before we even had otherpeople audition for us.
Yeah, you know, we'd go up towherever we were playing or even
when we were in a funny story.
So uh, you remember we went upto Mom and Dad's house.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (09:56):
Yeah, we actually killed the guinea pigs
because we were playing so loud.
Well, that's another wholestory, but that was actually
really funny, but sad for my momobviously.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (10:05):
That's when you know that the volume's
just a little bit too loud.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (10:09):
Just a little on heavy Plus bottom end
drums and bass.
So Plus it all bottom end drumsand bass.
So you know that poor littleguinea pig's ear drums are
shattered, yeah, but he went outgood.
He did go out good.
Hopefully you enjoyed what youwas hearing.
Anyway, what?
Else have you got to look outfor or do you want to do at
practice, buddy?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (10:28):
Well , you know, like I said, you
know even before you get topractice.
You know you got to talkpolicies on what if somebody
doesn't show up or they'reconstantly running 15, 20
minutes late?
Rob Wardrums Franklin (10:41):
Hopefully not habitually yeah.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (10:43):
That's the point where I think, at
some point, depending on howserious you want the band to be,
how well it's gelling yeah.
You take it like it's a job,it's like dude, you keep coming
in late.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (11:00):
We're going to look for a replacement,
or you're going to show up oncea month and that doesn't work
for us.
That's that marriage thing wewere talking about.
I mean you've got to be honestwith each other and throw blows
if you have to, but it's, I mean.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (11:12):
And that's where the whole
personality thing you reallyhave to.
It's got to be a brotherhood,sisterhood, depending on how
many people you got in a bandfemales, males but it's got to
be a family thing.
You got to be comfortable.
You can say you know what dudeyou suck tonight, what's the
problem?
Or you know why the fuck do youkeep coming in late?
You know, I mean, you got tohave that kind of rapport with
everybody, otherwise it's notgoing to work, you know, which
(11:34):
brings me to another thing thatwe started doing and we should
probably continue to keep doing,and everybody out there it's
like, at least once a month oronce a week, have a band meeting
.
You know, before you startplaying, sit down for 15, 20
minutes.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (11:50):
Very good idea.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (11:51):
Yeah , talk about.
You know what songs you'redoing, which ones you want to
work on, problems within theband and just anything that
needs to be aired out, and soeverybody's on the same page.
I think that's a critical thingthat everybody should do.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (12:05):
I agree 100%, okay, hey, another thing I
wanted to talk about isfriendships in the band.
I think that's kind ofimportant.
I mean it's like a sports team.
It seems like the moresuccessful sport teams are like
the dudes that actually hang outtogether, get to know each
other and just basically becomefriends.
Because if you're just going topractice, just going home and
(12:28):
coming back and seeing themagain next time at practice, you
really don't even know eachother and I think you're more of
a well-jelled, oiled band ifyou guys are buddies oh yeah, I
mean that way it's easier torelate to each other.
And you know, tell each otherhey, dude, you suck tonight, man
, what's up, you okay, or youknow?
It's just easier to discuss,just just discuss band things,
(12:49):
that I think yeah, oh yeah.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (12:51):
I mean, you know, we, we've been
in bands where it's I mean hell,even whether we don't even
practice, they'll just come overto house and just hang out, you
know, do barbecues or whatever.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (13:01):
Yeah, make us some food, have a couple
drinks or whatever.
But yeah, I think that's hugeand I think the bands that do
that are probably I mean, I'venever seen like a census or
nothing, but I would guess thatthey're like way more, way more
successful bands actually arethe ones that do that.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (13:17):
Yeah , because I mean, if you can't
do it when you're practicingwhat you know, what?
If you do, make it real big,you know, like real quick, and
all of a sudden you're withthese guys that you barely know
and you're going through thestress of being on the road
together.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (13:29):
Exactly.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (13:31):
I mean that's yeah, you've got to
know who you're dealing with.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (13:35):
Okay, well, you know what it's time
for.
Go ahead, give it to me.
Oh shit, special segment.
This is basically when we'regoing to talk about something
that's either been funny,humorous or or sad.
Uh, that's happened to eitherat practice or live.
Dana, let's, let's kick it offto you this time first all right
.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (13:53):
Um, well, you know, I wasn't really
thinking about this until untilyou mentioned it, you know, a
little while ago.
It's like, what are we gonna dofor the special segment?
I was like, wow, what kind ofstories I got.
And then it just hit me.
We were at practice once andthis is back in Reno, and it was
even before we had a singer.
It was you and me, you know.
We got a couple of guitarplayers that auditioned and we
(14:13):
had this little studio up inWells Avenue, second floor
office place that we had topractice after 5 o'clock because
we were pissing everybody off.
And then, you know, we're,we're jamming for like half an
hour and all of a sudden we'rehere and knocking the door.
We're like, oh shit, here we go.
You know they're telling us toturn it down or whatever.
And you know, up up the doorand, ah, there's a couple of our
(14:35):
nice, friendly Reno cops ohshit, what's going on?
Only to find out that one of ourguitar players had a little
speaking of relationships, had alittle run-in with his
girlfriend and got, I think, alittle physical with her, and 10
minutes after that we werewithout one of our guitar
(14:57):
players, so know who you areplaying with and what they're
capable of.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (15:02):
That's always a good idea.
Know their temperament.
How about you?
What?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (15:05):
you got Okay.
Well, mine was not really a.
It wasn always a good idea,know their temperament.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (15:06):
How about you what you got?
Okay, well, mine was not reallya practice one.
This was actually one of ourfirst performances with a newly
formed band.
We had Well, not newly formed,but a band that actually turned
out to be a pretty successfulband in Reno called Monolith,
(15:26):
but unfortunately we had thisbig show booked and we had a
brand-new singer.
Basically had been with us twoweeks.
Hell of a dude named Robbie,hell of a dude Used to be a
drummer too.
But we basically just asked himhey, dude, do you want to do
the show?
It's like in two weeks.
And he was all on board.
So basically, we're doing theshow, it's like in two weeks.
And he was all on board.
So basically, we're doing theshow.
(15:46):
It's all original, all originalmaterial, except for we had one
cover song we did in the middleof the set, where there was
kind of like a thumping in thebackground, a guitar, what do
you call it?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (15:59):
Just like Just in the background.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (16:03):
And the vocalist would use that
opportunity to introduce theband members and at that time I
would come down from my drumriser and just kind of go across
the front of the stage and slaphands and you know, do that
kind of silly shit.
But anyway, he was such a newsinger that he had a lot of the
lyrics written down next to themonitor in front of the stage
that he would kind of bend down,act like he was singing to the
(16:23):
crowd when he was actually kindof like reading a lot of these
lyrics.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (16:27):
Before the days of iPads, by the way.
Yeah, yeah.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (16:34):
So basically I came down during
this little guitar chugging partin the middle of a song and
doing the happy shit andslapping hands and kick his
lyrics all over the damn placeand I get back up on the drum
riser and I just see him downthere shaking his head in
disgust.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (16:46):
And that look he gave you.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (16:47):
He just turned around like this oh yeah,
you're like oh die, but anyway,that was funny and embarrassing
for I guess, me and him.
But it ended up turning out tobe.
It turned out well anyway.
I mean, the dude came throughwith flying colors for not
knowing all the all the lyricsand and just acted like he'd
been with us forever.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (17:07):
Yeah , I mean to this date.
That was still one of my best,my favorite shows.
Oh yeah, me too.
It was just, it was all thebands I've been in, it's still
like.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (17:17):
Those moments are still my favorite,
because we were not only liketight as a band, but we were all
buddies and we're just.
It was a good time.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (17:24):
Yeah , I mean, it definitely wasn't
our first time on stage was thefirst time with this, with this
portion of the band, or this,yeah, yeah, that line oh I guess
, and um, and we just out ofshit, we killed it.
I mean, it was it just it feltso good coming off the stage and
we must, I don't know.
There's probably what three,four, five hundred people in
there.
I mean the place was packed.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (17:43):
It packed , it was awesome, it was awesome
.
But going back to practices, abig thing, I think too, is
having a blend of open andclosed practices.
I mean, you want to have thosenights where you know you want
to get down and work on material, but then there's also nights
(18:11):
where you always want to loosenup, play your material to your
friends and buddies orgirlfriends or whatever, or
future girlfriends, however itmay be, and you know it's kind
of a chance to like not onlypractice your live skills but
loosen up and and once again,it's, it's a gelling opportunity
.
Everybody meeting you know eachother's girlfriends and friends
and all that kind of shit, andI I think, I think it's an
important thing to do in apractice oh yeah, myself you
know, and then you get feedbackfrom other people that haven't
heard you, oh, yeah, exactly andthey can be honest say, hey,
(18:33):
you know, hey, this part Ireally like you know, that song,
kind of you know, did nothingfor me, but you know, that way
you get feedback cool
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (18:41):
all right.
So, uh, you know.
So you're starting to practiceand stuff.
Then you've got to starttalking about set list.
Well, that depends.
Are you going to be anall-original band?
Are you going to be a coverband?
Are you going to do acombination of both?
First case, if you do acombination of both, you always
want to start strong and endstrong.
(19:01):
Put one of your better songs,maybe one that is really trying
to show your style of what kindof band you are going to be.
You know, make that your firstone coming out.
You know, make it.
You know, hit, hit the peoplehard.
Then you can do your soft,pretty shit in the middle, you
know.
But you know, show them.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (19:19):
I don't think we do any soft pretty ones
?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (19:20):
Well , we don't, but you know and you
know in this podcast is youknow we're going to talk a lot
about hard rock and metal, butyou know all of these scenarios.
It fits in whether you're acountry band acoustic band.
You know a dance band, I meanyou know it all fits into the
same stuff.
You know you're still going totalk about set lists.
You're going to talk aboutpersonalities.
I mean it might be a differenttype of music, you know, maybe
(19:42):
different, maybe different crowd, but you know same thing.
I mean you know, even if you'rea band that's, you know,
looking for you know you'redoing like dance stuff.
You know you want to play topeople that are dancing to
yourself.
You know you still want tostart out with a strong song and
you know, of course, you'regoing to end up with a strong
song.
You know, if you're doing acover, a combination of covers
(20:02):
and originals, you know I alwayslike to put one of your best
originals as your last song.
That way, you know, people knowwhat you're about and what
you're trying to do.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (20:13):
Lasting impression, Exactly Lasting
lasting.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (20:16):
And it should be the best song, not
only that you're doing, but yourbest original song, if you have
multiple ones out there.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (20:25):
All right , I got this, dana.
How long should a set be?
Speaking of practicing sets?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (20:31):
I mean typically.
You know if you're going toplay two, three hours, typically
you want to do a 45-minute to50-minute set list.
That way you've got 10, 15minutes in between to chill out,
go meet your customers, go meetyour friends, family, whatever
you know, go have a shot attequila, whatever you do in
between.
And then you know 45 minutes isthe standard for what they call
(20:53):
a showcase set.
You know, if you ever get tothe point where you're playing
in front of record labelrepresentatives or if you're
just doing a show where you wantto showcase your best, it's.
You know, typically 45 minutesis what you're looking at.
And in between songs you knowthere's this thing that's called
dead air, dead air.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (21:13):
Uh, it'll kill you, and that's why they
call it that.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (21:15):
You know anything more than 10
seconds of no music.
You know there's no reason forit, it's you know.
People come to see you playthey, they, they, you know.
Unless they're they, you know,unless you're a comedian, unless
you're a comedian, shut thefuck up.
They don't want to hear you.
They want to hear your music.
You know, I mean you want tointroduce the band and you know,
and you know a couple quickthings.
You know, maybe, oh hi, towhatever region you're in, you
(21:37):
know, if you're one of thosebands that are on the road a lot
but more than 10 seconds,forget it I agree 100.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (21:45):
We really haven't.
I dove into this yet.
But an important part of thewhole band thing is really
relationships, not only withyour bandmates but with others.
It could be your family,girlfriends, wives, regardless.
Learn from my error, oh boy.
Spend time.
(22:05):
I mean discussing with yourrelationships, I mean what
you're doing, why you're doingit and how it makes you feel.
And why you're doing it Becausea lot of people don't get it.
Even if they met you, knowingyou're a musician, they don't
get why you're at practice fouror five nights a week or why on
the weekend you don't want tospend it with them and you want
to go play at some little, maybesleazy little bar.
Dana Thunder Bass Frank (22:26):
Because a lot of times where are?
Rob Wardrums Franklin (22:27):
Because a lot of times before you're
going, to be starting sleazylittle bars I mean not to say
all bars are sleazy Come on,let's get real.
But I mean it's tough onrelationships and unless you're
honest and forth with them, itreally makes relationships tough
and I've been through a bunchbecause that's another whole
(22:47):
story.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankl (22:48):
That's a whole damn episode.
Actually that's not funny, itkind of is.
Anyway.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (22:52):
I mean, it's hard on them and you need
to take their opinion to heart.
You need to ask them, like Isaid, explain what you do and
why you do it and what to expect, because if it just goes on and
on, it's just going to cut adeep wound.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (23:12):
Well , it's, like you said in the
beginning of this episode, thehoneymoon's over.
Well, we use phrases like thatbecause it is a relationship, I
mean the band is a relationship.
It's like treat them like youwould your wife, spouse, anybody
else in the family.
And same thing, though, yougotta, you gotta talk to your
(23:35):
immediate family members.
You know boyfriend, girlfriend,husband, wife.
You know even sons anddaughters.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (23:40):
You know what you're doing, how much it
means to you, how important itis, and you've you've got to
have their support, otherwiseit's, it's going to be a long
road for both of you yeah, and,like I said, I've learned out of
the hard way, because I wasn'treal good about explaining what
I was doing, why I was doing it,and just kind of just I made
(24:01):
that a priority instead oftrying to blend the two, which
is nearly impossible, by the way, but it can be done, but I was
bad about it and so, yeah, thinkabout it, it's, it's important,
it and so, yeah, think about it, it's important.
It'll help you in the long runtoo.
It really will.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (24:15):
Yeah , and I think you know, this
podcast is probably goingtowards more of the 20 to
30-year-olds than you know andif you're an older guy out there
, like you know, like us, youknow, I've got a very supportive
wife Robin, thank you that.
I mean I can go practicewhenever I want to and and I've
got that support.
But you're 20, 30, you knowwhen you're, you're working and
(24:37):
you know then you want to throwin band practice and your
girlfriend's like what the hell,are you ever going to spend
time with me?
I mean it puts a serious strainon it and it does.
It takes a lot of understandingon on their parts and you know
and trust me when, when I sayyou don't want the girlfriend
coming to your practice placethrowing your clothes at you,
saying get the fuck out.
I mean we've seen that happentoo.
(24:58):
I mean it's just so.
Uh, talk, talk to yoursignificant other and let them
know what's going on.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (25:06):
Oh, good advice, man, I want to throw out
there please text us with yourcomments and any information you
may have.
That's helpful for other bandsas well.
We really appreciate all andany feedback.
And I got to throw out a littlething about the next episode.
I'm really excited becausewe're going to have one of the
(25:28):
first singers that we sang withback in the the reno days, who
ended up being pretty successfulexcuse me, successful in the
reno area.
He's going to be joining us.
His name's eric bogomil, andthat'll be our next episode and
we're basically going to startdiving into.
Okay, practice is over, it'shit the stage so and the real
(25:49):
fun starts, yeah it does.
It really does, and this issomething we had experienced
with him when we first startedout.
So we wanted to share ourexperiences, along with his
experiences before and after us,and I'm really really looking
forward to it, because he's acool dude.
He's a lot of fun, he's funny,so I think it's going to be an
(26:10):
excellent episode cool dude.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (26:11):
He's a lot of fun, he's funny, so I
think it's going to be anexcellent episode.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (26:15):
The stories we got with that guy in
that band, oh man and then, uh,after that episode, we're going
to start getting into, uhtalking to bar owners, maybe
even some band managers ifthat's even a thing anymore, I
don't know but uh talk to someband managers and uh get some
more useful information out toyou guys.
Um, that's about all I got tosay for this episode, buddy.
(26:39):
What about you?
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (26:40):
All right, well, um, I think another
thing I want to talk, talkabout and kind of hit up is you
know when you are practicing oryour practice spot, you know who
do you want to have access to.
You know access to that.
I mean, do you want everybody,if you're in a storage unit, do
you want everybody to have a keyto just kind of come and go as
they want?
Or you know, obviously, if it'sin a household thing, you won't
(27:01):
have to worry about thatbecause you know you're not
going to just hand out keys toeverybody at your house.
But storage unit, which you know.
I'm sure most of us are rentingan office space or whatever it
is.
You know certain people aregoing to be responsible for that
and have keys.
You know I would keep itlimited to.
You know, if you're a four orfive member band, like most
people are, half the people, two, three at the very most.
(27:25):
You know you don't want toleave just one person out but
you don't want everybody havinga key to just go because you
know, unless you guys have beentogether for 10 years and you
know them and you know wherethey, live, just opening up your
four problems yeah, yeah, Imean, if you're a new band of
two, three months and you kindof know these guys, but you
don't, you know you don't wantto go in there in a week later
(27:46):
and find out that their phone'sturned off and all your shit is
gone.
That's happened too.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (27:52):
Not to us .
Thank God, Bands like realclose to us.
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin (27:55):
Yeah , bands that we practice in the
same area, I mean right, realclose to us, that have had
everything ripped off by adegruntled band member or
somebody that knew where all theshit was, I would have cried
like a little baby.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (28:07):
Oh yeah, all right everybody.
Thank you very much forlistening and for your continued
support.
And just to throw it out there,there is a little link on our
not our webpage, but on theepisode where you can contribute
to our continued success.
So, thank you everybody, andit's been a pleasure talking to
(28:27):
you.
Dana Thunder Bass Frankli (28:28):
Thank you, Thank you, and that
contribution, contribution.
Excuse me, you know it's lessthan a gallon of gas.
Rob Wardrums Franklin (28:36):
Exactly Once a month.
You can help us out Appreciateit All right.
Thank you.
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