From Garage Jams to Center Stage

What happens when a snare drum borrowed from a sibling and a mesmerizing wedding band performance become the sparks that ignite a lifelong passion for music? Join us, Rob (aka Wardrums Franklin) and Dana Thunder Bass Franklin, as we take you on a personal journey from our humble beginnings to rocking the stage. Discover how Dana's early attempts at guitar led him to find his true calling with the bass guitar, thanks to some brotherly advice. Meanwhile, Rob shares the captivating experience that set him on the path to becoming a drummer, all inspired by a family wedding. Get ready to be inspired by our stories as we offer practical advice for those ready to embark on their own musical journey.

For aspiring musicians everywhere, this episode is a treasure trove of tips and encouragement. We open up about the early days of band formation and share how to forge connections that lead to your first gigs at local clubs. From the challenges of picking the right instrument to the joy of playing with others, listeners will find relatable stories and valuable insights. Whether you're strumming your first chords, pounding out rhythms, or raising your voice, we aim to motivate you to take that crucial next step from the garage to the spotlight. Grab your instrument, tune in, and let's make those musical dreams a reality together!

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello and welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage.

(00:02):
My name is Rob, aka WardrumsFranklin, and my co-host here is
Dana Thunder Bass Franklin.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Cool, how you doing, man.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
I'm doing really good .
How about you?
I'm great Cool.
Well, we just got done with thePhotoshop, so you look really
good.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
Oh well, thanks.
It's probably a good thing thatthese people listening to this
can't really see us.

Speaker 1 (00:22):
That's a really good point, because you know I'm a
little on the ugly side,obviously.
Anyway, this podcast isbasically about all things
starting a band.
When I mean band, I meanmusical band, basically
everything from starting in agarage basement or wherever you
happen to be, to getting to thestage point and then beyond.
What do you think about all ofthat?

Speaker 2 (00:42):
I like it.
I mean, we've got stories fromday one to hitting the stage.
We want to talk about all ofyou and all of your experiences.
You're going through as far asjust starting out.
How do you form a?

Speaker 1 (00:57):
band.

Speaker 2 (00:58):
Once you've got a band going, how do you get into
a club?
What kind of connections do youneed?
We'll talk about all that Verycool.
Speaking of which, how did youget into a club?
How do you?
You know what kind ofconnections you need?
You know, we'll talk about allthat very cool, hey, well,
speaking of which, uh, how didyou get started?
Well, okay, so my story goes alittle bit later than most
people.
I didn't really pick up the basstill I was probably 21, 22 bass
player, by the way, um, but youknow, as a kid, you know I'm

(01:19):
watching my friend and brotherhere, mr war drums.
Um, I watched him playing drumsin the basement.
You know, when I was probablysix, seven years old, my
earliest, you know remembranceof that and I was like, wow,
that's cool.
And when I was, I thinkprobably you know, grade school,
probably fourth, fifth grade,you know they had this like

(01:41):
after school thing where you canpick up an instrument and I
borrowed I don't even rememberthis I'd borrow your snare drum
and I'd go to this little classand I was like, well, okay, this
is cool, but I'll never be asgood as him.
I want to.
You know, I want to be in aband.
So I started playing guitar atprobably 18, 19.
That lasted about a whole monthbecause I got frustrated.
And then you told me at onepoint it's like, dude, you ever

(02:03):
want to be in a band or they'realways looking for good bass
players.
Everybody wants to be a guitarplayer, everybody wants to be a
singer, you know, but good bassplayers are hard to come by so
very, very true, yeah, you know,and I just picked up a bass and
it was just like you know, Iknew at that moment that you
know, that was it for me.
It was just like a automaticfeeling.
It's like like, okay, this is,it's just felt right.

Speaker 1 (02:26):
Cool.
Well, my start's a little bitdifferent.
I started when I went to myaunt's wedding, believe it or
not, and I saw my first liveband and I saw the drummer and I
was just mesmerized.
I pulled up a chair and sat andjust stared at that drummer for
the whole time they played.
Previously I really didn't haveany musical experience because
my parents really they were sobusy they never really played

(02:49):
any music in the house.
So when I saw that live band Iwas just hooked.
From then on I started bangingon Tupperware, coffee cans,
anything I could.
Eventually, the aunt that Iactually went to saw that band
with at the wedding bought me myfirst drum set and then from
there it just progressed fromthere.

Speaker 2 (03:04):
And mom and dad probably just loved hearing
those drums all day long.

Speaker 1 (03:08):
You know, and the good thing is, they never really
complained, so that was reallya good thing.

Speaker 2 (03:12):
So this show is going to be based basically for you
know musicians out there thatare just starting out and you
know one is like okay, hey, Ipicked up the guitar, drums,
whatever your instrument is,even vocalists, and you know
you're ready to start playingwith other people, you feel
comfortable about starting.
I was like where do you go?
How does that happen?

(03:34):
You know.

Speaker 1 (03:35):
Yeah, there's definitely a lot of steps.

Speaker 2 (03:36):
Oh there is.
And then you know you got tohave your confidence levels
where you're not intimidated toeven put an ad in the papers
like, hey, I'm a beginner but Iwant to form a band Exactly.

Speaker 1 (03:49):
And hopefully it will cover some of those trials and
tribulations and things that youmight run into, that we've
experienced and hopefully helpyou to avoid some of those
pitfalls.

Speaker 2 (03:57):
Oh yeah, and some of it's a learning curve.
You're going to go through itno matter what you hear.
And this show, just to tell youright up now.
It might be a little explicitat times, there might be a
little bit of sarcasm, but hey,but we're not going to put any
like naked pictures or anythinglike that on there.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
So if you're a parent listening, it's just basically
occasionally we're going tothrow in a shit Because you know
we're musicians.

Speaker 2 (04:21):
What would you expect ?

Speaker 1 (04:28):
Exactly musicians.
What would you expect exactly?
Um, you know, but we hope to.
I mean, down the road, we wantto have a lot of guests, not
only other musicians, but clubowners, booking agents,
producers, recording studioengineers, rehearsal room
managers and, uh, all those kindof guests.
Hopefully we'll get supplyinformation to you as a band
just starting out, or maybeyou're well down the road and
need some additional informationfor recording and going forward

(04:50):
.
So, basically also, who we wantto appeal to is not only
musicians, but maybe musiciansfriends, spouses, girlfriends,
boyfriends, or just if you'reinterested in what a musician
goes through to get to the pointfrom just playing in the room
to playing on stage, or maybethere's a recording artist that
you're interested in and youwant to hear more about.

(05:11):
We're going to have a link onour website to email us and
comment basically what you wantto hear, what you didn't want to
hear more about.
We're going to have a link onour website to email us and
comment basically what you wantto hear, what you didn't want to
hear, or maybe what we could doto improve our website.

Speaker 2 (05:22):
Yeah, and on the website.
You know we're going to, youknow we're going to talk with
owners of clubs and we're goingto try to get some kind of
comprehensive schedule of youknow who's playing where, what
city are they in, what are thedates, because how many times
have you gone out?
And you just put in Google livebands this weekend and it's

(05:43):
showing stuff from three weeksago.

Speaker 1 (05:45):
Okay, well, these people are probably already dead
.
What good does that do me?

Speaker 2 (05:49):
Or it'll show stuff two months from now.
It's like we're hoping to havesomething like hey this Friday
in Raleigh or something local inNorth Carolina is what we're
aiming for right now, but you'llbe able to see, whatever city
you're in or close location,who's playing, you know what
genre they are, what they're allabout, and you won't have to go
to 50 different websites to tryto figure out how you're going

(06:11):
to go out and party this weekend.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
So hopefully this sparked your interest into
listening to our next nextepisode, which is going to
include.

Speaker 2 (06:19):
You know, this is, this is.
You know where it all starts.
You know, like I said, youpicked up an instrument.
You want to get a band going.
You know how do you do it,where do you go, how does it all
happen.
You know you're going to startfinding that egos come into play
.
You know some people might be alot better than you are, or a
lot worse, and just getting theright people in the room is a oh

(06:40):
number one.
Challenge it is such a challengeand you know but that you'll
know when you find the rightpeople.
All of a sudden, you're goingto go home that night or after
10 minutes of jam, and you'd belike, whoa, this shit sounds
awesome.
You, you're going to have thatfeeling, you're going to know.
I mean, last person weauditioned, it's like five
minutes into it we're like youjust kind of give that sideways,
look to the other person andit's like hey, okay, cool, we'll

(07:03):
give you a call, something likethat, so you'll know.
But how do you even get to thatpoint?
We'll talk about experiences,avenues to go through all the
pitfalls, and now the triumphsVery good, and that next episode
.

Speaker 1 (07:18):
That's going to include a lot of information and
hopefully we're going to beable to get to the point where
we have a guest speaking abouttheir situations.
So I hope you're interested inwhat we've got to say and what's
going to happen.

Speaker 2 (07:30):
All right.

Speaker 1 (07:30):
I like it All.
Right, matt, thank you.