December 2, 2025 • 26 mins
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Are you a songwriter? Are you looking to turn your
songwriting passion into a full time gigig? Whether you are
just at the start of your songwriting journey or a
seasoned industry professional, this show is made for you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
We will welcome to the Songwriter Show, bringing together songwriting, news,
interviews and communitating.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Now welcome your houst, Sarnto.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Welcome back to the Songwriter Show, and thank you for
tuning in tonight. I'm your host, Sorontos, a solo music
artist and songwriter who's always believed in the power of words.
Here on the Songwriter Show, we bring you behind the
scenes glimpse with some of today's most inspiring songwriters and
we share their stories with you on Reality Radio one
oh one tonight. I'm so excited to have Frankie Muriel.
(00:48):
His story is one of longevity, reinvention, and sheer passion
for the craft. Born to a Latin percussionist father, he
was steeped in music before you could even talk, sneaking
out of bed to play with instruments left behind after
late night jam sessions. By his teens, he was absorbing
the electric energy of rock icons like David Lee, Roth
Prince and the clam Bettel giants who dominated MTV.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And now welcome this week's special guest. Guest.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Welcome to show holl Ry tonight.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I'm good, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Men, You're welcome. So you got kind of a cool story.
So I guess the first thing I'm gonna ask you
is what's your main instrument?
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Well, I write on piano. I was born a drummer,
and that's about it. I don't really play guitar, you know,
very rudimentary, but I mostly write on piano. And I
played drums and percussion and all that fun stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Okay, that's cool, kid.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I marched in marching band, which was the combination of
rhythm and you know, keys, so it worked out for me.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
That's awesome, all right. So what was the first tune
that you learned when you were a little kid.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Do you remember it was probably well, I remember one
of the first time we did.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I did a show for the Face Family. I think
it was.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Crocodile Rock, but probably an old cal Jader song either
Watch You Are or Tell It on the Mountain. And
I learned that and played that, and that was the
kind of music my dad played, so that I heard
it as a kid, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Did you have any teachers or was it just your family?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Just my family.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
My brother's a great musician, multi instrumentalist, so I grew
up around it. I had a great high school band director,
but I didn't really ever take lessons. You know, funny
stories when I was my sister got a piano and
she was learning piano lessons, and I just started playing
it because I could play my ear so they thought
I was reading, but I was really just I could
just hear something and play it. So one time when
(02:39):
the teacher was like, you know, okay, well here read this,
and I couldn't read.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It because I alway could play if I heard it
played first.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
You know, that's awesome. Yeah, that's a terrible problem I have.
I wish I had that problem, all right. So tell
us what CD influenced you the most.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Oh my gosh, so many, you know, I think in
every era of my life, you know, one took over.
So I grew up, Like I said, I listen to
the cal Jader and and Herbie Hancock and Herbie Mann.
But then, you know, I'll never forget riding down the
street here and you really got me, or here and
running with the Devil van Hallen changed my life. That
was the second time. Then I'm hearing Prince and that
(03:17):
changed my third time. Like you know, so I'm this
weird blender as we all are of our influences and
those are mine.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yeah, Okay, is there someone you'd love to be in
a room with that or alive? If you could pick
one person?
Speaker 6 (03:29):
Gosh, those are all It's such good questions, but always
so hard, right, you know, I'd love to sit and
and here Prince tell some stories or talk to him
about how you know he hears these things.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
You'd know because we.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
All, all of us as writers, I found over the
you know, decades of doing this and meeting people, we
all have similar ways and we all have unique ways
of creating. So I think it would be cool to
hear you know, for example, I hear songs completely done
in my head, so I would wonder if that's how
he heard it, or you know, sometimes you're you're doing
the building blocks of building a song and it's not
(04:01):
really one yet. Sometimes you're fully informed with what it
has to be and you're just chasing this thing, you know, So.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I'd be curious to see how that if that applied
you know.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
What advice would you give someone who's a beginner.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Listen to everything.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
The entire scope of recorded music is our encyclopedia and
our dictionary. Every song before you has got something you
can learn from.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
That's how I learned production, It's how I learned songwriting
by you know, when you're younger, you're chasing that thing
that you're here, and then you figure out how to
do it, and then at some point you look back
and you're doing it yourself, you know. But I think
that's how we learn, you know, and you can always
have a reference by using those songs as encyclopedias.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Do you still practice religiously, like daily or how often
do you practice?
Speaker 5 (04:45):
I don't ever practice, sadly enough, but you know, I'm
in a band that plays two hundred shows a year,
so that you're always working, you're always shedding, and I'm
always writing and recording, so in that sense, I'm always
doing something, So your skills are still being used at
every day.
Speaker 7 (05:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Do you teach music at all?
Speaker 5 (05:02):
I don't, but I opened up a school of rock
in Missouri, and it's been great to see the younger
generations kind of get into that And the cool thing
about School of Rock is, you know, when we were younger,
we went and learned lessons, and you learn your scales
and you learn, you know, how a song and our
progression went. In School of Rock, we put them in
bands together, so when they kids have their separate lessons,
(05:25):
they learn what the band is playing. So immediately they're
getting that feedback of playing with each other in a band,
which then you learn all those lessons that we all
did playing in a band.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Yeah, that is a whole other level. You're right about that.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
It's a whole different thing, right.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
You learn how to communicate, You learn responsibility to learn
how to listen when you're just by yourself in a room,
which I will never diminish the fact that it takes
those you know, ten thousand hours or whatever it is
to learn how.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
To do things.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
But when you get that instant feedback with someone else,
you get more excited and you're more inspired, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Tell us about your songwriting process. How do you typically
do it?
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Like I said, I always just I hear a song
in my head, so then you know if whether I'm driving,
whether I'm sleeping, whether I'm just chilling out, I hear
a hook and I hear a song. Usually sometimes it's
a progression, but then very quickly I can just hear
how it is. Almost it's like this radio station in
my head, and then it becomes, you know, either a
frustrating part or a glorious part of you just go
(06:22):
down the list because you can hear this orchestrated song
in your head. This is what I gotta do, this
is what needs to happen here, and there's always room
for happy accidents. Man, You're never stuck to the first thing,
but I think you have to. When you hear an
idea in your head or in your heart, you have to.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
You got to follow it.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
You got to chase it, because the minute you wait
and hold on too later, you might lose that inspiration
that grabbed you in the first place.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
You know, tell us about the song what inspired this
one tonight.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
It's actually a remake of a song that I did
when we were on a major label that never got released,
and it's just one of those big ballads that I
love to do. You know, it's got it's a throwback.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
It's like a big Arrowsmith Bond Jovie, tight huge hook.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
Instantly you can hear the hook in this thing, you know,
And I love to blow up songs like that.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
It's a fun. It's fun to produce songs like that.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
It's gonna sing songs like that, got that big emotion
to it, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
So I'll tell you what. Let's take a listen to it,
and then we'll come back and talk tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Okay, right on, awesome?
Speaker 4 (07:19):
All right, man, check this out. Everybody, here we go.
Speaker 8 (07:24):
Whenever I was on.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
My away, how surprised when you said hello, I didn't
know what to say.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I'll let you into my life.
Speaker 8 (07:43):
I didn't never read it.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
Why I from the moment somewhere deep inside you ever
thought I haven't story itself?
Speaker 8 (07:59):
No, I been threw up the.
Speaker 9 (08:02):
Side waving, but I don't understand it. How's the doory?
All the teams never washed away?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Now you cast some we made to say we dream when.
Speaker 8 (08:20):
We should have been able.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
To meet in one thing week.
Speaker 10 (08:28):
To me, it's just me you, So that's a matter
of w we too. Yet never say you it's gonna
be old right. I never thought I to feel this
a way, share.
Speaker 9 (08:46):
So much of my soul on my friends.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
They talk about you anyway, even though.
Speaker 8 (08:57):
How I lost my pride.
Speaker 10 (08:59):
I'm broken out the side out on my name.
Speaker 8 (09:03):
Thank God to bring a back to me. Mab, I
knew heard my friends. Because you're coming fast. Show me
how you feel, show.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Me all the things your cheapen.
Speaker 10 (09:18):
Inside, Tell me what should mean, Tell me.
Speaker 8 (09:24):
How to big it righte.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Hey, I do it takes itside tonight.
Speaker 8 (09:36):
I didn't trust me.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
You can't know the matter. Love me too ready and
everything it's going to be all right.
Speaker 8 (09:52):
It's just showing me.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I'm going to make you say, and everything's.
Speaker 8 (10:02):
Gonna be out. Ride sit like forever.
Speaker 11 (10:14):
I said, to take a bunch of back by my side,
and you can't have everything.
Speaker 10 (10:56):
Hollow treats its way like a castle.
Speaker 12 (11:01):
Naa say, we were dreaming where we shoot him and
we walking week I said, baby takes this side.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
It's just me mat a one or two.
Speaker 8 (11:25):
Yeah, everything he's going to be on right. He's just
sing me.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I'm going to make you saying, and everything he's going
to be on right.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Thank you for sharing that song with us, man awesome,
Thank you. You're welcome, Madic cool Vibe. So what fun
things do you have coming out for the fans this year?
Anything you want to share with.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Us Yeah, Actually this is a exclusive.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
I'm uh, we're wrapping kind of the end of this
album project that came out last spring, and I'm gonna
I'm putting out a Christmas EP that's gonna come out.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
First time I've ever done something like that.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
I'm a huge fan of you know, Christmas and Christmas songs,
like a lot of people are, and I thought it
would be fun to always have something like that for
my family and friends and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
So that's going to come out in November.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Do you see like a mistake that someone that's been
in the business more than ten years makes over and
over and it kind of drives you baddie, like why
they keep doing that?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, you can't keep doing the same thing, man, you
know what I mean. You have to evolve.
Speaker 11 (13:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I came up in a.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Time where, you know, when I was on a major label,
you promoted by flying the record, you know, radio stations
and promoting it and doing these in stores.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And now it's a whole different thing.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
You're living in fifteen to thirty seconds clips that have
to grab someone's attention so they will in turn listen
to what you're doing. And a lot of people, especially
people in my generation, they're so down on the new
processes and the new ways of doing things that they
stifle themselves. I think promotion has always been the name
(13:35):
of the game. You gotta have eyes on you so
you can turn people on your music.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
People.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Just your music does not just get found, you know,
accidentally anymore, you know what I mean, Like DJ's play
your song and you're gonna, you know, make some noise
with it. You have to get people to pay attention
to you and then hopefully you have something that connects
with them.
Speaker 13 (13:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
I've read something crazy about how Madonna, how they broke
her in and he would pay I think it was
some teaching and a group of DJs and they paid
an X amount of dollars to promote it and play it.
And I was like, wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
It's always been that way. I mean, if you think
pull in the fifties.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
I remember, you know, my albums were out right around
with soundscam was happening, and you know, the program director's
wife needed refrigerator that there would show one.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Up at their house and you moved up dark. You
know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
This has always been how it's been, and now it's
you know, it's been a level of a leveling of
the playing field because anybody can put music out, but
then it's also so saturated and so crammed that it's
very hard to break out of all the noise.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah, so just let me and off the era. Who
I have to center refrigerator to to go viral? Okay,
that's all I'm asking. How do you figure out if
a song you wrote is going to make it out
into the world?
Speaker 5 (14:47):
For me, you know, I love the process of creating
so first, and it took me a long time to
get to that. You know, I used to do what
I thought would work. I used to do what I
thought the label wanted. I used to think I did
what my fans wanted, or you know.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
So now it's got to move me first.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Then if I'm excited enough about it when it's finished,
then I'm excited to share it, you know, And out
of that then that becomes the song that you're gonna
promote once you can get a collection of them, and
you know, you just you never know what's going to
connect with people. A lot of times it's it's something
you don't know, you don't think is going to connect
and the thing you work so hard on trying to
connect with somebody. Never does you know it falls short somehow.
(15:27):
So now you know what the most and I tell
this with bands that I produce, the purest moment of
this is what we do, is that moment of creation
when we can play it back the first time and
hear it back. Everybody's pumped, everybody's high five and you're
just juiced up. You're cranking that shit and it just sounds.
It's just awesome because you finished it, and you've done.
By finishing a song, you've done more than ninety percent
(15:49):
of people ever will do because they never finish it
and they never release it and let anybody else hear it,
because after it goes out of your hands, then it
gets you know, it gets criticized all the things happened
to it after that.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So the most purest part is when.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
You finish that thing and get to hear it back,
you know, and if it stands up, then then I
feel like it's worthy to promote.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Yeah, I get it. Do you have any advice on touring?
You've obviously toured quite a bit.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
Oh quite a bit. For me, it's a great way
to see the world for one. But it's a grind
and no matter what level you're at, even if you're
staying at four Seasons or you're staying at Motel six,
it still sucks, you know what I mean, because you're
in a different environment every single day. A lot of
times you're just rolling through the night. So for me,
and what I suggest to anybody who's getting into it,
(16:33):
is bring things that make your space familiar, whether it's
a candle, your pillow, your jams, your instrument, a way
to track and write, like something to wherever you are,
you have your little your little scene, you know, and
then that kind of helps you in the transient circus life.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
You know, what were you like in high school?
Speaker 5 (16:52):
I mean, it's no surprise that anybody I went to
high school with it, this is what I still do.
I did it then, I was always going to do this.
I've never done anything else.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Thank God. I've never had a job.
Speaker 13 (17:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
We say it's a hard way to make an easy living,
because this is a job, you know, but I'd love
to do it and I've been doing it since I
was a kid.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
I was playing professionally in bars when I was sixteen
with guys that were twenty six.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
So wow.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Yeah, So it's been a fun, crazy, frustrating, amazing, glorious,
confounding fickle mistress.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
You know, yeah, what would be your ideal superpower if
you could pick one?
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Oh man, I wish I knew what people wanted? Sass?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Why why would you ever want to know that? What's
the coolest road trip You've ever been on?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Coolest road trip? Oh man? So many down south?
Speaker 5 (17:44):
We were playing outside of Memphis, and we took a
day into Clark's Dale, Mississippi, and you know that's the
birthplace of the Blues, and you know, wandered into this
little shop, this guy named Deeke, you know, makes harmonicas
and stuff like. Actually, I'm on a track because again
I had my recording stuff with me and I brought
it in and we went over this track and played
(18:06):
on it.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
That was really cool.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
I've been to you know, through Tuscany and you know,
some amazing places in Italy, great day trips, great you
know times traveling. I just I love to travel, be
on the road. My first tours really opened up my eyes.
I was a kid from the Midwest, it'd never been anywhere.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Got signed.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
I'm in you know, la I'm in New York, I'm
in London, I'm in Paris. So it really opened my
eyes and I've been traveling ever since.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yeah, okay, cool. Tell us where people can find you?
Where can they buy your stuff? Stream it? Find you online?
Speaker 5 (18:37):
You can stream it on any any of your favorite services,
you know, all of all the big ones, all the
small ones.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
I'm on Instagram, you just look.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Me up, Facebook, YouTube, Frankiemuriel dot com is the official
website if you do that way.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
But yeah, you can find me out there.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
It's awesome, dude. I want to thank you so much
for being on the show with us tonight.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Thanks for having me, man, it's good chat.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Welcome man, and thank you to all the listeners out
there for spending a little bit of time with us
tonight on Reality Radio one O one. I have a
great night, Keep creating, keep living, and don't be afraid
to be yourself. I love you all. Have a great night.
Speaker 14 (19:39):
Didn't know is the sun running by?
Speaker 8 (19:45):
I was too busy working, did it? See? Granted? Is pool?
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (19:55):
My eyes always fault, the hurting. Not sure this is
how I should be spending my time.
Speaker 14 (20:10):
I'm not sure this is what I want wasn't right
man to.
Speaker 8 (20:18):
Shave it, don't go.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
To do.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
Not should.
Speaker 14 (20:27):
Be am, I wait for, AM, I finding for, I
spend the tree, but it's past, but it's so time.
Speaker 8 (20:57):
Like Yeah, it's a screen.
Speaker 10 (21:01):
I re say, I can't follow.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
That.
Speaker 15 (21:08):
I can't say, I can't say, I can't say.
Speaker 16 (21:36):
All these people are wishing badvout my permission, sad push
with my friends, saying.
Speaker 8 (21:56):
Day's the same my way.
Speaker 13 (22:01):
I'd be okay if I just let my story breathe.
I'd be okay if I just sat in my words,
free and lil king by boding to the.
Speaker 8 (22:29):
And I war wait for.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
And I.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Fine for I've always.
Speaker 8 (22:42):
Been the dream, but it's past dream in my stime.
I m a scream my racing. I care fun way
(23:17):
fine coach for fun coach fine fu coach.
Speaker 16 (23:33):
Night, lose my mind, another sleepless night.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Thank you for listening to The Songwriter Show. To keep
the momental going, head over to www Dot songwriter show
dot com and joined our free music community of artists, songwriters,
and producer that's www Dot songwriter Show dot com.
Speaker 8 (25:05):
Money name
Speaker 2 (25:21):
An't many anything, Hang hang ha
Are you a songwriter? Are you looking to turn your
songwriting passion into a full time gigig? Whether you are
just at the start of your songwriting journey or a
seasoned industry professional, this show is made for you.
Speaker 2 (00:13):
You.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
We will welcome to the Songwriter Show, bringing together songwriting, news,
interviews and communitating.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
Now welcome your houst, Sarnto.
Speaker 4 (00:25):
Welcome back to the Songwriter Show, and thank you for
tuning in tonight. I'm your host, Sorontos, a solo music
artist and songwriter who's always believed in the power of words.
Here on the Songwriter Show, we bring you behind the
scenes glimpse with some of today's most inspiring songwriters and
we share their stories with you on Reality Radio one
oh one tonight. I'm so excited to have Frankie Muriel.
(00:48):
His story is one of longevity, reinvention, and sheer passion
for the craft. Born to a Latin percussionist father, he
was steeped in music before you could even talk, sneaking
out of bed to play with instruments left behind after
late night jam sessions. By his teens, he was absorbing
the electric energy of rock icons like David Lee, Roth
Prince and the clam Bettel giants who dominated MTV.
Speaker 1 (01:12):
And now welcome this week's special guest. Guest.
Speaker 4 (01:16):
Welcome to show holl Ry tonight.
Speaker 3 (01:18):
I'm good, thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (01:19):
Men, You're welcome. So you got kind of a cool story.
So I guess the first thing I'm gonna ask you
is what's your main instrument?
Speaker 5 (01:26):
Well, I write on piano. I was born a drummer,
and that's about it. I don't really play guitar, you know,
very rudimentary, but I mostly write on piano. And I
played drums and percussion and all that fun stuff.
Speaker 4 (01:39):
Okay, that's cool, kid.
Speaker 5 (01:41):
I marched in marching band, which was the combination of
rhythm and you know, keys, so it worked out for me.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
That's awesome, all right. So what was the first tune
that you learned when you were a little kid.
Speaker 5 (01:53):
Do you remember it was probably well, I remember one
of the first time we did.
Speaker 3 (01:58):
I did a show for the Face Family. I think
it was.
Speaker 5 (02:00):
Crocodile Rock, but probably an old cal Jader song either
Watch You Are or Tell It on the Mountain. And
I learned that and played that, and that was the
kind of music my dad played, so that I heard
it as a kid, you know.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Did you have any teachers or was it just your family?
Speaker 3 (02:18):
Just my family.
Speaker 5 (02:19):
My brother's a great musician, multi instrumentalist, so I grew
up around it. I had a great high school band director,
but I didn't really ever take lessons. You know, funny
stories when I was my sister got a piano and
she was learning piano lessons, and I just started playing
it because I could play my ear so they thought
I was reading, but I was really just I could
just hear something and play it. So one time when
(02:39):
the teacher was like, you know, okay, well here read this,
and I couldn't read.
Speaker 3 (02:42):
It because I alway could play if I heard it
played first.
Speaker 4 (02:45):
You know, that's awesome. Yeah, that's a terrible problem I have.
I wish I had that problem, all right. So tell
us what CD influenced you the most.
Speaker 5 (02:54):
Oh my gosh, so many, you know, I think in
every era of my life, you know, one took over.
So I grew up, Like I said, I listen to
the cal Jader and and Herbie Hancock and Herbie Mann.
But then, you know, I'll never forget riding down the
street here and you really got me, or here and
running with the Devil van Hallen changed my life. That
was the second time. Then I'm hearing Prince and that
(03:17):
changed my third time. Like you know, so I'm this
weird blender as we all are of our influences and
those are mine.
Speaker 4 (03:24):
Yeah, Okay, is there someone you'd love to be in
a room with that or alive? If you could pick
one person?
Speaker 6 (03:29):
Gosh, those are all It's such good questions, but always
so hard, right, you know, I'd love to sit and
and here Prince tell some stories or talk to him
about how you know he hears these things.
Speaker 3 (03:40):
You'd know because we.
Speaker 5 (03:41):
All, all of us as writers, I found over the
you know, decades of doing this and meeting people, we
all have similar ways and we all have unique ways
of creating. So I think it would be cool to
hear you know, for example, I hear songs completely done
in my head, so I would wonder if that's how
he heard it, or you know, sometimes you're you're doing
the building blocks of building a song and it's not
(04:01):
really one yet. Sometimes you're fully informed with what it
has to be and you're just chasing this thing, you know, So.
Speaker 3 (04:07):
I'd be curious to see how that if that applied
you know.
Speaker 4 (04:10):
What advice would you give someone who's a beginner.
Speaker 3 (04:12):
Listen to everything.
Speaker 5 (04:13):
The entire scope of recorded music is our encyclopedia and
our dictionary. Every song before you has got something you
can learn from.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
You know.
Speaker 5 (04:23):
That's how I learned production, It's how I learned songwriting
by you know, when you're younger, you're chasing that thing
that you're here, and then you figure out how to
do it, and then at some point you look back
and you're doing it yourself, you know. But I think
that's how we learn, you know, and you can always
have a reference by using those songs as encyclopedias.
Speaker 1 (04:40):
You know.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
Do you still practice religiously, like daily or how often
do you practice?
Speaker 5 (04:45):
I don't ever practice, sadly enough, but you know, I'm
in a band that plays two hundred shows a year,
so that you're always working, you're always shedding, and I'm
always writing and recording, so in that sense, I'm always
doing something, So your skills are still being used at
every day.
Speaker 7 (05:00):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:00):
Do you teach music at all?
Speaker 5 (05:02):
I don't, but I opened up a school of rock
in Missouri, and it's been great to see the younger
generations kind of get into that And the cool thing
about School of Rock is, you know, when we were younger,
we went and learned lessons, and you learn your scales
and you learn, you know, how a song and our
progression went. In School of Rock, we put them in
bands together, so when they kids have their separate lessons,
(05:25):
they learn what the band is playing. So immediately they're
getting that feedback of playing with each other in a band,
which then you learn all those lessons that we all
did playing in a band.
Speaker 4 (05:33):
Yeah, that is a whole other level. You're right about that.
Speaker 3 (05:37):
It's a whole different thing, right.
Speaker 5 (05:38):
You learn how to communicate, You learn responsibility to learn
how to listen when you're just by yourself in a room,
which I will never diminish the fact that it takes
those you know, ten thousand hours or whatever it is
to learn how.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
To do things.
Speaker 5 (05:49):
But when you get that instant feedback with someone else,
you get more excited and you're more inspired, you know.
Speaker 4 (05:55):
Tell us about your songwriting process. How do you typically
do it?
Speaker 5 (05:58):
Like I said, I always just I hear a song
in my head, so then you know if whether I'm driving,
whether I'm sleeping, whether I'm just chilling out, I hear
a hook and I hear a song. Usually sometimes it's
a progression, but then very quickly I can just hear
how it is. Almost it's like this radio station in
my head, and then it becomes, you know, either a
frustrating part or a glorious part of you just go
(06:22):
down the list because you can hear this orchestrated song
in your head. This is what I gotta do, this
is what needs to happen here, and there's always room
for happy accidents. Man, You're never stuck to the first thing,
but I think you have to. When you hear an
idea in your head or in your heart, you have to.
Speaker 3 (06:37):
You got to follow it.
Speaker 5 (06:37):
You got to chase it, because the minute you wait
and hold on too later, you might lose that inspiration
that grabbed you in the first place.
Speaker 4 (06:44):
You know, tell us about the song what inspired this
one tonight.
Speaker 5 (06:47):
It's actually a remake of a song that I did
when we were on a major label that never got released,
and it's just one of those big ballads that I
love to do. You know, it's got it's a throwback.
Speaker 3 (06:59):
It's like a big Arrowsmith Bond Jovie, tight huge hook.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
Instantly you can hear the hook in this thing, you know,
And I love to blow up songs like that.
Speaker 3 (07:08):
It's a fun. It's fun to produce songs like that.
Speaker 5 (07:10):
It's gonna sing songs like that, got that big emotion
to it, you know.
Speaker 4 (07:14):
So I'll tell you what. Let's take a listen to it,
and then we'll come back and talk tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (07:17):
Okay, right on, awesome?
Speaker 4 (07:19):
All right, man, check this out. Everybody, here we go.
Speaker 8 (07:24):
Whenever I was on.
Speaker 7 (07:28):
My away, how surprised when you said hello, I didn't
know what to say.
Speaker 3 (07:40):
I'll let you into my life.
Speaker 8 (07:43):
I didn't never read it.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
Why I from the moment somewhere deep inside you ever
thought I haven't story itself?
Speaker 8 (07:59):
No, I been threw up the.
Speaker 9 (08:02):
Side waving, but I don't understand it. How's the doory?
All the teams never washed away?
Speaker 2 (08:14):
Now you cast some we made to say we dream when.
Speaker 8 (08:20):
We should have been able.
Speaker 2 (08:21):
To meet in one thing week.
Speaker 10 (08:28):
To me, it's just me you, So that's a matter
of w we too. Yet never say you it's gonna
be old right. I never thought I to feel this
a way, share.
Speaker 9 (08:46):
So much of my soul on my friends.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
They talk about you anyway, even though.
Speaker 8 (08:57):
How I lost my pride.
Speaker 10 (08:59):
I'm broken out the side out on my name.
Speaker 8 (09:03):
Thank God to bring a back to me. Mab, I
knew heard my friends. Because you're coming fast. Show me
how you feel, show.
Speaker 2 (09:16):
Me all the things your cheapen.
Speaker 10 (09:18):
Inside, Tell me what should mean, Tell me.
Speaker 8 (09:24):
How to big it righte.
Speaker 2 (09:29):
Hey, I do it takes itside tonight.
Speaker 8 (09:36):
I didn't trust me.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
You can't know the matter. Love me too ready and
everything it's going to be all right.
Speaker 8 (09:52):
It's just showing me.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I'm going to make you say, and everything's.
Speaker 8 (10:02):
Gonna be out. Ride sit like forever.
Speaker 11 (10:14):
I said, to take a bunch of back by my side,
and you can't have everything.
Speaker 10 (10:56):
Hollow treats its way like a castle.
Speaker 12 (11:01):
Naa say, we were dreaming where we shoot him and
we walking week I said, baby takes this side.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
It's just me mat a one or two.
Speaker 8 (11:25):
Yeah, everything he's going to be on right. He's just
sing me.
Speaker 2 (11:38):
I'm going to make you saying, and everything he's going
to be on right.
Speaker 4 (12:14):
Thank you for sharing that song with us, man awesome,
Thank you. You're welcome, Madic cool Vibe. So what fun
things do you have coming out for the fans this year?
Anything you want to share with.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Us Yeah, Actually this is a exclusive.
Speaker 5 (12:27):
I'm uh, we're wrapping kind of the end of this
album project that came out last spring, and I'm gonna
I'm putting out a Christmas EP that's gonna come out.
Speaker 3 (12:36):
First time I've ever done something like that.
Speaker 5 (12:37):
I'm a huge fan of you know, Christmas and Christmas songs,
like a lot of people are, and I thought it
would be fun to always have something like that for
my family and friends and whatnot.
Speaker 3 (12:47):
So that's going to come out in November.
Speaker 4 (12:49):
Do you see like a mistake that someone that's been
in the business more than ten years makes over and
over and it kind of drives you baddie, like why
they keep doing that?
Speaker 3 (12:58):
Yeah, you can't keep doing the same thing, man, you
know what I mean. You have to evolve.
Speaker 11 (13:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (13:03):
I came up in a.
Speaker 5 (13:03):
Time where, you know, when I was on a major label,
you promoted by flying the record, you know, radio stations
and promoting it and doing these in stores.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
And now it's a whole different thing.
Speaker 5 (13:14):
You're living in fifteen to thirty seconds clips that have
to grab someone's attention so they will in turn listen
to what you're doing. And a lot of people, especially
people in my generation, they're so down on the new
processes and the new ways of doing things that they
stifle themselves. I think promotion has always been the name
(13:35):
of the game. You gotta have eyes on you so
you can turn people on your music.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
People.
Speaker 5 (13:38):
Just your music does not just get found, you know,
accidentally anymore, you know what I mean, Like DJ's play
your song and you're gonna, you know, make some noise
with it. You have to get people to pay attention
to you and then hopefully you have something that connects
with them.
Speaker 13 (13:52):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
I've read something crazy about how Madonna, how they broke
her in and he would pay I think it was
some teaching and a group of DJs and they paid
an X amount of dollars to promote it and play it.
And I was like, wow, that's interesting.
Speaker 3 (14:05):
It's always been that way. I mean, if you think
pull in the fifties.
Speaker 5 (14:08):
I remember, you know, my albums were out right around
with soundscam was happening, and you know, the program director's
wife needed refrigerator that there would show one.
Speaker 3 (14:16):
Up at their house and you moved up dark. You
know what I mean.
Speaker 5 (14:19):
This has always been how it's been, and now it's
you know, it's been a level of a leveling of
the playing field because anybody can put music out, but
then it's also so saturated and so crammed that it's
very hard to break out of all the noise.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
You know.
Speaker 4 (14:34):
Yeah, so just let me and off the era. Who
I have to center refrigerator to to go viral? Okay,
that's all I'm asking. How do you figure out if
a song you wrote is going to make it out
into the world?
Speaker 5 (14:47):
For me, you know, I love the process of creating
so first, and it took me a long time to
get to that. You know, I used to do what
I thought would work. I used to do what I
thought the label wanted. I used to think I did
what my fans wanted, or you know.
Speaker 3 (15:00):
So now it's got to move me first.
Speaker 5 (15:03):
Then if I'm excited enough about it when it's finished,
then I'm excited to share it, you know, And out
of that then that becomes the song that you're gonna
promote once you can get a collection of them, and
you know, you just you never know what's going to
connect with people. A lot of times it's it's something
you don't know, you don't think is going to connect
and the thing you work so hard on trying to
connect with somebody. Never does you know it falls short somehow.
(15:27):
So now you know what the most and I tell
this with bands that I produce, the purest moment of
this is what we do, is that moment of creation
when we can play it back the first time and
hear it back. Everybody's pumped, everybody's high five and you're
just juiced up. You're cranking that shit and it just sounds.
It's just awesome because you finished it, and you've done.
By finishing a song, you've done more than ninety percent
(15:49):
of people ever will do because they never finish it
and they never release it and let anybody else hear it,
because after it goes out of your hands, then it
gets you know, it gets criticized all the things happened
to it after that.
Speaker 3 (16:00):
So the most purest part is when.
Speaker 5 (16:01):
You finish that thing and get to hear it back,
you know, and if it stands up, then then I
feel like it's worthy to promote.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
Yeah, I get it. Do you have any advice on touring?
You've obviously toured quite a bit.
Speaker 5 (16:11):
Oh quite a bit. For me, it's a great way
to see the world for one. But it's a grind
and no matter what level you're at, even if you're
staying at four Seasons or you're staying at Motel six,
it still sucks, you know what I mean, because you're
in a different environment every single day. A lot of
times you're just rolling through the night. So for me,
and what I suggest to anybody who's getting into it,
(16:33):
is bring things that make your space familiar, whether it's
a candle, your pillow, your jams, your instrument, a way
to track and write, like something to wherever you are,
you have your little your little scene, you know, and
then that kind of helps you in the transient circus life.
Speaker 4 (16:50):
You know, what were you like in high school?
Speaker 5 (16:52):
I mean, it's no surprise that anybody I went to
high school with it, this is what I still do.
I did it then, I was always going to do this.
I've never done anything else.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
Thank God. I've never had a job.
Speaker 13 (17:02):
You know.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
We say it's a hard way to make an easy living,
because this is a job, you know, but I'd love
to do it and I've been doing it since I
was a kid.
Speaker 5 (17:09):
I was playing professionally in bars when I was sixteen
with guys that were twenty six.
Speaker 3 (17:13):
So wow.
Speaker 5 (17:14):
Yeah, So it's been a fun, crazy, frustrating, amazing, glorious,
confounding fickle mistress.
Speaker 4 (17:22):
You know, yeah, what would be your ideal superpower if
you could pick one?
Speaker 3 (17:26):
Oh man, I wish I knew what people wanted? Sass?
Speaker 4 (17:32):
Why why would you ever want to know that? What's
the coolest road trip You've ever been on?
Speaker 3 (17:39):
Coolest road trip? Oh man? So many down south?
Speaker 5 (17:44):
We were playing outside of Memphis, and we took a
day into Clark's Dale, Mississippi, and you know that's the
birthplace of the Blues, and you know, wandered into this
little shop, this guy named Deeke, you know, makes harmonicas
and stuff like. Actually, I'm on a track because again
I had my recording stuff with me and I brought
it in and we went over this track and played
(18:06):
on it.
Speaker 3 (18:07):
That was really cool.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
I've been to you know, through Tuscany and you know,
some amazing places in Italy, great day trips, great you
know times traveling. I just I love to travel, be
on the road. My first tours really opened up my eyes.
I was a kid from the Midwest, it'd never been anywhere.
Speaker 3 (18:24):
Got signed.
Speaker 5 (18:24):
I'm in you know, la I'm in New York, I'm
in London, I'm in Paris. So it really opened my
eyes and I've been traveling ever since.
Speaker 4 (18:31):
Yeah, okay, cool. Tell us where people can find you?
Where can they buy your stuff? Stream it? Find you online?
Speaker 5 (18:37):
You can stream it on any any of your favorite services,
you know, all of all the big ones, all the
small ones.
Speaker 3 (18:43):
I'm on Instagram, you just look.
Speaker 5 (18:45):
Me up, Facebook, YouTube, Frankiemuriel dot com is the official
website if you do that way.
Speaker 3 (18:51):
But yeah, you can find me out there.
Speaker 4 (18:53):
It's awesome, dude. I want to thank you so much
for being on the show with us tonight.
Speaker 3 (18:57):
Thanks for having me, man, it's good chat.
Speaker 4 (18:59):
Welcome man, and thank you to all the listeners out
there for spending a little bit of time with us
tonight on Reality Radio one O one. I have a
great night, Keep creating, keep living, and don't be afraid
to be yourself. I love you all. Have a great night.
Speaker 14 (19:39):
Didn't know is the sun running by?
Speaker 8 (19:45):
I was too busy working, did it? See? Granted? Is pool?
Speaker 7 (19:55):
Oh?
Speaker 8 (19:55):
My eyes always fault, the hurting. Not sure this is
how I should be spending my time.
Speaker 14 (20:10):
I'm not sure this is what I want wasn't right
man to.
Speaker 8 (20:18):
Shave it, don't go.
Speaker 4 (20:21):
To do.
Speaker 8 (20:23):
Not should.
Speaker 14 (20:27):
Be am, I wait for, AM, I finding for, I
spend the tree, but it's past, but it's so time.
Speaker 8 (20:57):
Like Yeah, it's a screen.
Speaker 10 (21:01):
I re say, I can't follow.
Speaker 4 (21:07):
That.
Speaker 15 (21:08):
I can't say, I can't say, I can't say.
Speaker 16 (21:36):
All these people are wishing badvout my permission, sad push
with my friends, saying.
Speaker 8 (21:56):
Day's the same my way.
Speaker 13 (22:01):
I'd be okay if I just let my story breathe.
I'd be okay if I just sat in my words,
free and lil king by boding to the.
Speaker 8 (22:29):
And I war wait for.
Speaker 4 (22:35):
And I.
Speaker 2 (22:39):
Fine for I've always.
Speaker 8 (22:42):
Been the dream, but it's past dream in my stime.
I m a scream my racing. I care fun way
(23:17):
fine coach for fun coach fine fu coach.
Speaker 16 (23:33):
Night, lose my mind, another sleepless night.
Speaker 1 (23:47):
Thank you for listening to The Songwriter Show. To keep
the momental going, head over to www Dot songwriter show
dot com and joined our free music community of artists, songwriters,
and producer that's www Dot songwriter Show dot com.
Speaker 8 (25:05):
Money name
Speaker 2 (25:21):
An't many anything, Hang hang ha
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