Backstage Stories with Jeffrey Bryan

The moment Jeffrey Bryan received a one-sentence email asking if he'd like to play keyboards for Survivor, his musical journey took another unexpected turn. But this wasn't the first time opportunity had knocked without warning – it's been the pattern of his entire career.

Growing up in Los Angeles, Bryan found his voice before his instruments. By age 12, his father was sneaking him into clubs around town for open mic nights where the underage singer could perform before quickly exiting the premises. While many musicians start with an instrument and eventually learn to sing, Bryan reversed the journey, picking up guitar and piano at 14 only after realizing he wanted to write his own songs.

What makes Bryan's story particularly fascinating is how his musical pursuits accidentally launched his acting career. After joining a youth variety show that performed at the Roxy, he landed a segment on the Merv Griffin Show, catching the attention of agents who insisted he audition for film roles despite his protests that he wasn't an actor. "Well, you are now," they told him – and suddenly, he was cast in Hot Moves, followed by what was supposed to be a brief two-week role in The Karate Kid that expanded into an eight-month commitment.

Bryan takes us behind the scenes of the iconic film, revealing how director John Avildsen (fresh from directing Rocky) deliberately created tension on set, keeping the actors in character even when cameras weren't rolling. He shares warm memories of Pat Morita's constant jokes and friendly demeanor, contrasting sharply with Mr. Miyagi's serious screen presence. Perhaps most entertainingly, he recalls how the cast members who played rivals on screen would gather at Frankie Avalon Jr.'s house after filming to jam together and let off steam.

Despite his success in film, music remained Bryan's first love. Now touring with Survivor and performing their classic hits like "Eye of the Tiger" and "The Search Is Over," he approaches each performance with reverence, describing himself as "a steward of history" responsible for recreating sounds that transport audiences back to formative moments in their lives – while still finding opportunities to express himself through his own compositions and projects.

Join us for this candid conversation about navigating the entertainment industry, the responsibility of performing beloved hits, and finding your authentic path even when life takes unexpected detours.

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:15):
watch the karate kid too with my son today.

Speaker 2 (00:17):
He had never seen it so yeah, I was out so I was like
, might as well watch the kidtoo.

Speaker 1 (00:21):
Or you just watched Proudy Kid 2?
, or you just watched it also,oh also, okay, yeah also Sorry,
yeah, no, it's all right, but heliked it.
I didn't let him watch HotMoves though.

Speaker 2 (00:33):
No, probably not.
How old is he?

Speaker 1 (00:35):
Five.

Speaker 2 (00:36):
No, yeah, you probably wouldn't bother really
advanced, but I I don't thinkit's right for five he's a
little advanced.
But yeah, I was just like Ibetter not yeah yeah, I'm not
sure it's right for a 25 yearold overall, though, like I

(01:00):
liked it, though it wasn't bad.

Speaker 1 (01:01):
Bad, yeah, you did you really, I honestly did it
wasn't that bad.

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Like yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Yeah, like, I like, like low budget films anyways.

Speaker 2 (01:10):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
So, like I don't know if, was that a low budget film?

Speaker 2 (01:13):
Are you like the kind of guy that likes to wait to
see you go to, like to car races, just to to watch some crash?
That's, that's sometimes you togo, because that's the reason
to watch this movie, becauseit's, it's, it's.
You could call it a low budgetmovie.
I, I would say it was very lowbudget, yeah okay especially for

(01:34):
three, at a theatrical release.
That's not cheap to do in the80s, right?
You know a theatrical release.
I mean they didn't have.
You know youtube's movies,youtube movies and things like
that.
You know they didn't have.
You know youtubes movies,youtube movies and things like
that, you know they didn't haveanything like that.
So you either paid the money youneeded to pay who you needed to
pay to get in the theaters, orso there was always money

(01:56):
involved back then.
But right, sure, none of thatmoney went to the filming,
because it was definitely a kindof guerrilla movie for the time
, you know.

Speaker 1 (02:13):
I like movies like that, though, so I actually
enjoyed it.
It was funny.
Well, thanks, man, it was funnyfor sure.
Yeah, it's definitely thatmovie could not be made today.

Speaker 2 (02:21):
Even with all the money in the world, they
couldn't get away with some ofthe.
You know that movie could notbe made today.
Even with all the money in theworld, they couldn't get away
with some of the.
They'd probably end up gettinga protest or something about the
movie.

Speaker 1 (02:31):
More than likely, yeah.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
Because there was no concern about people's feelings
back then.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
Right, it's different times, for sure.
Yeah, anyways, so you were bornand raised in la right yeah,
yeah, I'm native okay, uh, sohow did you so?
How did you get your start?
Like, did you start with themusic or were you?
Did you start with the movies?

Speaker 2 (02:59):
no, no, it was music, it's always been okay, um, the
movies were, um of like, youknow, extracurricular, they
weren't really intended.
You know, when you're young andyou're, you know, 15, 16, and
you're trying to break into thebusiness, you know you pretty

(03:21):
much take the opportunities thatcome your way.
And in those days at that age,you know you pretty much take
the opportunities that come yourway and right.
And in those days at that age,um, you know, I was performing a
lot, I was on stages a lot and,um, you know, the jobs, sort of
I looked young.
So so the job, you know, itwasn't like there was a um, it

(03:42):
wasn't to to the people like theagents and things like that,
there was no difference, it wasjust entertainment business.
So you know, the opportunitieswere acting opportunities.
So I took them, but I wasn'tnecessarily prepared for them
and nor was I expecting to getthem.
They weren't part of my plan.
But that's what happened, youknow.

(04:04):
So, to answer your question, Iactually got acting roles
professionally before music ones, but I was a musician since I
was 11, 12 years old.

Speaker 1 (04:15):
Yeah, because you played clubs when you were
younger, right Around that age.

Speaker 2 (04:19):
Yeah, I mean, my dad used to take me around town to
all the open mics and you knowthe places that I couldn't get
in without a you know, without aguardian, because I was under
18, you know, under 21.
I mean, you had to be drinkingage, so they kind of like snuck
me in, did a song and then Isnuck out, you know so.

(04:41):
I did that for a few years and,you know, performed anywhere I
could, which wasn't like today.
You know so.
I did that for a few years and,you know, performed, uh,
anywhere I could, which wasn'tlike today.
You know which.
Right, if you can't find avenue to perform in today, you
probably aren't paying attentionbecause it's the internet and
there's everywhere else.
So, um, outside of the thecovid situation I'm now at the

(05:01):
moment, it's a little weird, but, um, yeah, so it was unusual to
see, uh, you know, a 13 yearold in a bar.
You know right, for sure, butyeah, so I was doing that um
quite a quite a long time beforehigh school you know okay, so
so you're.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
It's pretty much always mostly been music for you
.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Yeah, it's pretty much been music.
If you want to be specific, itwas singing.
That's what I did.
It was singing.

Speaker 1 (05:32):
Right, because you're a singer-songwriter.

Speaker 2 (05:37):
Yeah, the keyboards and the guitar didn't come until
a few years after that, but itstarted out as me wanting to
sing.
It was fun and I got a lot ofattention and and, uh, um, I
don't know, it seemed likesomething I was good at, you
know.
So I, I just kept doing it.
It was just exciting, uh.

(05:58):
But I realized real quicklyprobably within you know, a few
years of doing that and maybegoing to high school for a first
year so I realized I got tosing my own songs.
And so that's when I started topush to learn guitar and piano.
So I was kind of late to theguitar piano game.
I probably didn't.
I learned guitar and pianoaround the same time, about 14,

(06:23):
15, I started, but it was a fewyears after I had already been
singing for a while.
So you know most, I would say alot of you know working
musicians that are.
They grow up and play aninstrument.
They usually started younger.

Speaker 1 (06:40):
Right.

Speaker 2 (06:40):
At least with that instrument With singing, you
know I was, I started prettyyoung.
But instrument right, at leastwith that instrument with
singing, you know I was, Istarted pretty young.
But it it was a secondaryfeature for me because it was
like, well, wait a minute, if Ilearn how to play an instrument,
then I could write my own songs.
So that was the whole you knowreason to to push that.
I pushed to do that and Ididn't really discover the piano
.
Uh, until after I alreadylearned how to play guitar and

(07:03):
realized it was okay, I waslearning it, I was okay at it.
But there was a piano in thehouse.
I really wanted to play it andI had already studied classical
harmony and I knew I could kindof like read and write, but I
couldn't apply it to aninstrument because I didn't
learn it that way, like mostpeople.
I learned it just from, you know, reading singing charts, stuff

(07:26):
like that.
Anyway, to make a long storyshort, I kind of found the piano
and was like, well, why didn'tI discover that years earlier?
So I ended up.
Piano is where I've been eversince.

Speaker 1 (07:42):
Do you like the piano better than guitar?
I've been ever since, you know.
Do you like the?

Speaker 2 (07:45):
piano better than guitar.
Well, I mean in terms of, uh,for me personally, in terms of
what I resonate with, yeah, youknow, I mean I'm.
I, I, I play guitar in bands aswell as piano, but primarily I,
you know.
Now I'm hired as a piano player, a keyboard player and, um, you
know, and it didn't happenovernight, it wasn't like I was

(08:07):
14 or 15 and started working onpiano and going okay, that's my
instrument.
It really wasn't Songwriting,singing, that was what I was
planning on doing.
So a lot of the bands I was inwhen I was 18, 19, I didn't even
play keys in the band.
I would play it in the studio,recording and writing.
But when we got on stage we'dhave a keyboard player and it

(08:33):
wasn't until I started my ownbands.
I had like the Jeffrey Bryanband I had different versions of
it through the years in theearly nineties and I was playing
keyboards and guitar.
So I'd get up, I'd sing songswith the band, with the guitar,
and then I'd go and sit at thepiano.
So I ended up incorporatingboth.
But at that point I stilldidn't see myself as quote a
keyboard player.
You know, I was just.
They were tools.
They were just tools I wasusing to enhance whatever we

(08:56):
were doing, whether it was songsor you know part of the band.
And then, you know, as time wenton I became more and more
involved in piano jobs andthings.
So kind of that path turnedagain and now people know me as
a keyboard player and you knowthey forget that I sing and do

(09:20):
other things.
But you know I'm all thosethings.

Speaker 1 (09:24):
Okay, do you still sing and write on like your own
time?
Yeah, of course okay, yeah yeah, very cool, yeah, so um that's
never stopped right.
So, uh, we'll jump, jump intothe the movie scene real quick
before we get back to the music.
How, uh, how did you get therole in the karate kid?

Speaker 2 (09:47):
well, it was because of music.
In fact, all of my um actingaccidents happened because of
music.
You know, really, um, again, Iwas well from performing, I was
in a in a show that I had foundcalled Too Short for Primetime

(10:08):
Players, and it was this littlelike variety show that these
people were putting on at theRoxy on Sunday, on Sundays for
kids shows, sundays for kidsshows.
So they would come in and kidswould kids' parents would pay to
have a birthday party at theRoxy and they'd get the show.

(10:30):
And the show was, you know,there were kids from five years
old up to like my age, which waslike 16 or 17.
And the funny thing is is, youknow, I was, I did it because it
was great experience.
Every week I was playing on abig stage, you know, uh, I got
to write songs for it.
Um, I was performing, I triedthings out that I probably

(10:52):
wouldn't have tried out if Iwere doing my own show, kind of
thing, you know.
So it was great experience andI did that for a few years and
then it got really popular in LAand so they did a new segment
on it know, kind of kind ofnewsworthy thing, and, um, from
there a the merv griffin show,which was like the johnny carson
show, uh, similar, um, probablytoo young to remember merv

(11:17):
griffin, but he was a national,nationally broadcast talk show,
just like just like fallon orsomething and
they did a segment on this showand they invited a few of the
performers, including myself, tocome on and sing a song from.
So I sang on national TV at theage of like 16 or 17.
And, um, I did that and becauseof that, some of the kids that

(11:41):
were in the show they hadmanagers and a lot of them were
actors and you know, they werejust all entertainers.
And because of that, I uh Imanaged to.
Uh, this agent, uh this manager, wanted to hook me up with some
agencies and uh, I'm like, well, great, what that?
What would that be for?
And he's like, well, for acting.
And I'm like, but I'm not anactor, you know.
And he was like, well, you arenow.

(12:06):
So I did it, I went on theinterviews and I got.
The first movie I got was HotMoves.
It wasn't Karate Kid and HotMoves was this little summer
movie.
I got fresh out of high schoolbecause I was going out on
interviews for a long time forlike about six, seven, maybe
eight, nine months, but I hadn'tturned 18 yet and they kept

(12:29):
telling me as soon as you turn18, you're going to start
booking these gigs If you're 17and you're in Hollywood looking
for work.
Unless you're already sort ofknown in a star or something,
you're not going to get the jobuntil you turn 18.

Speaker 1 (12:41):
It's too expensive.

Speaker 2 (12:42):
Because they have to have a social worker or somebody
on set and it's just likepaying two salaries.
So they don't, they don't.
They try to avoid it.
At least they did in theeighties.
And so by the time I turned 18,um, you know, the floodgates
open.
I started getting the jobs Iwas interviewing for and it was
hot moves.
And then I did that and I justinterviewed for this little two

(13:02):
week part on karate kid.
I didn't even know what it wasat the time and, um, it was
supposed to be for, you know, awalk on or something.
And, um, it ended up beingeight months but it was
originally sold to me as a twoweek deal, which they later
renegotiated.
And, um, anyway, that's so.
That's how I got the, that'show I got it.

(13:23):
They just you know they werelooking for.
Uh, they had.
I don't know how familiar youare.
Well, you just watched cry tokid.
You said, right, yeah, you andyour kid watched cry to kid the
other day right well, um, if youremember freddy because it's
fresh in your mind, probably soremember freddy he's the kid
that that uh, daniel larusso metat his apartment right, right

(13:44):
His neighbor.
Well, he had a group of friends, huh.

Speaker 1 (13:47):
His neighbor in the movie.

Speaker 2 (13:48):
He had a he had a exactly yeah, he was the his,
this guy that he went apparentlythey went to the same school
and whatever and that his namewas Freddy.
And Freddy had a group offriends and I'm among those
group of friends.
There was me, freddie, who wasIsrael Warby, another guy named

(14:09):
Ken Daly, another guy named TomFridley and Frankie Avalon Jr.
So the five of us were likeFreddie's gang, but none of us
were karate people.
I mean, they didn't have uslearning karate.
The script was a lot longer than90 minutes.
The script was a lot longerthan 90 minutes, you know it was
there were other relationshipsthat they were going to explore,
but as time went on I mean,obviously they were going to do

(14:32):
that because they extended ourcontracts, but as time went on
with filming of the movie, Iguess they realized that they
just didn't need the extra stuff.
So there were a ton of scenesthat got redacted and cut and
unfortunately I didn't get asmuch face time as I expected to

(14:52):
from working on a movie foreight months.
But that's what happened.

Speaker 1 (15:00):
What was the experience?

Speaker 2 (15:02):
like, though, on set.
Well, you mean in terms of whatit was like with all those
actors.
Yeah, like all the actors thecrew and everything.

Speaker 1 (15:09):
yeah, Just how was the overall?

Speaker 2 (15:13):
experience of doing that movie.
It was fun.
I mean, you know it certainlywas an unusual experience for me
because, coming from Hot Moves,hot Moves was this little low
budget movie with, you know, acast of maybe 10, you know total
of the four main guys and thena few extra actors that it was.

(15:36):
You know there weren't.
It wasn't a big cast, smallbudget movie and every.
It was actually a lot of funbecause everybody on the movie
was sort of kind of had a handin directing the movie you know,
it was not professional,compared to this columbia
pictures, you know, extravaganzathat jerry weintraub had put
together and um, so I get to theset and it's, you know, it's a

(15:57):
totally different deal, you know, I mean you're, you're
compartmentalized, you onlyreally on the big movies with
the and it.
You know, for the time in the80s it wasn't a particularly
large budget.
I would I can't remember theexact number, so don't quote me
on it, but it was somewhereunder 10 million dollars to make
the first karate kid and um,that's not considered a big, you

(16:19):
know, blockbuster budget for amovie, even in the 80s.
I mean they were bigger thanthat and it was so it was
considered to be a big studiolow budget film of course karate
kid 2 and 3.
You know they were biggerbudgets but this wasn't and
there were no real stars inkarate kid.
Uh, one, I mean ralph, had justcome off of maybe outsiders,

(16:41):
ralph macho, right, but hewasn't like a household name
quite yet.
Pat Morita came from Happy Daysand from his stand-up routine,
so I mean there were known facesbut they weren't household
names per se, so there were nolike big star salaries that they
were paying at that time and soeverybody felt kind of on an

(17:02):
equal footing.
And so everybody felt kind ofon an equal footing.
It wasn't like some majortwo-time Oscar-winning lead was
in the movie.
We were all just pretty youngand for most of us it was our
first or second jobs, includingthe Cobra Kai guys.
But interestingly, since youasked the atmosphere on the set,

(17:26):
it's probably important tomention that John Avildsen was
the director of the movie andJohn Avildsen was known for
directing Rocky.
That was his thing, and itwasn't really an accident that
he was there, because JohnAvildsen, I'm sorry because
Jerry Weintraub had put thismovie together and jerry
weintraub's team also producedthe rocky series, so it was all

(17:51):
the same group of people behindthe scenes um, for the most part
, and um john was, you know,you're just a really talented
guy and what one of the thingsthat he and I hadn't experienced
.
This coming from a small budgetmovie like hot moves.
He wanted, uh, an atmosphere offear on the set.

(18:14):
He this sort of thisadversarial kind of vibe where
you know he didn't want ralphhaving lunch with the guys.
If they're going to get, he'sgoing to get his ass kicked in
the next scene from the samepeople.
It's just he wanted he wantedthat to.
If you were on set, you werepretty much in character, or at

(18:34):
least he didn't want the youknow protagonist to interfere
with the.
You know what I mean.
He wanted he didn't want.
You didn't want it, he wantedto keep that kind of vibe going
through it.
So there was a.
It was coming from a, a funkind of happy go lucky kind of
experience, the hot moves.
I came to this movie andeverybody was fricking serious

(18:56):
and and kind of you didn't knowif they liked you or not, cause
they were in, they were incharacter most of the time.
So you know, I had known, I hadmet William Zabka prior to him
getting Karate Kid just fromanother movie audition, and plus
he went to El Camino HighSchool and I went to TAF, so we

(19:16):
were only a few miles, we liveda few miles apart, and so I knew
some of the people just fromgoing on interviews and stuff,
but on the set I didn't know whohe was.
You know what I mean.

Speaker 1 (19:28):
Right, totally different person.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
He wasn't somebody I was going to hang out with in
high school, so we didn't talkon the set.
Got you.

Speaker 1 (19:37):
You know what I mean?

Speaker 2 (19:38):
Yeah, it was kind of weird, but as soon as they hit,
rap you know, and we rapped forthe day, I mean, we were all
friends again.
Everybody was like, hey, man,how you doing.
But on the set it was kind ofcold.
It was really kind of tension alot of tension on the set
Interesting.
Which I'm sure was intentionalyeah, more than likely.

Speaker 1 (20:00):
They keep that fear in everybody that they wanted.

Speaker 2 (20:04):
Yeah, I mean, it makes sense, it made for a good
movie.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
Right.

Speaker 2 (20:08):
It was a great movie.
What's interesting, though, isthat, even though there was this
tension among the Cobra Kai'sand the Freddy's gang guys and a
few of the other actors, theywere walking around the set.
We would talk now, and then Italked to pat.
Many times, pat marita hung outwith him because he was

(20:28):
different.
He, he didn't.
He didn't act that way right,what was?

Speaker 1 (20:32):
what was he like as?

Speaker 2 (20:33):
a person like happy he was, um, he was quite, quite.
He was the kind of guy where,if he didn't have to know you,
he would just make you feel realcomfortable.
You know, he was the kind ofguy where, if he didn't have to
know you, he would just make youfeel real comfortable.
You know, he was alwayslaughing and had a joke for
everything.
Um was really, um, pleasant.

(20:54):
I remember my, my experiencewith him was always like, you
know, if I'm, I was on the setquite a bit, but most of the
time I was waiting.
You know, are they going to dothe scene I'm in, are they not?
And I would have to.
You know, I was contracted tobe there for the whole day, so
it wasn't really, um, it wasn'treally fun all the time, but
with Pat wasn't working and hewas on the set, we, we chatted

(21:15):
up, and he was always fun totalk to.
Uh, what's interesting, though,is that his character was, you
know, had a lot of layers to it.
He was really unexpectedlybrought an enormous amount of
complexity to that character,which they needed, and I don't
think it was expected of him, orat least it wasn't expected

(21:35):
from the audience, because theyknew him as Arnold from Happy
Days and his stand-up.
He had not done what you wouldcall a a serious role up until
then okay, so but he was great.

Speaker 1 (21:50):
I I wish he was still around you know, yeah, yeah,
that's, that's good to hear,like, uh, how you, how he's a
great person.
Because, like when you, whenyou watch movies and like you
think of celebrities, you getinside your head like how are
they in real life?
Like are they nice, are theyassholes, you know?
So it's, it's good like, yeah,you see him, you think mr miyagi

(22:13):
, you know you know, you hopehe's a nice person well, when it
.

Speaker 2 (22:18):
I don't know if that matters so much.
I mean the the truth is is thatyou know they have a job to do.

Speaker 1 (22:23):
Right.

Speaker 2 (22:24):
And you know, like, like in, let's take some of the
Cobra Kai guys, Tony O'Dell, or,or you know, William Zabka, or
any of them.
You know their job was to be,you know, the school bullies.
So you're kind of expectingthem to be dickheads and kind of
kind of rude, you know Rightand not not.

(22:46):
You know what I mean.
So it's kind of kind of it'sacting, you know, and it's hard
for me personally, though, butbecause you know I was in a
situation where I kind of felt,um, you know, unprepared for
what I was going to be asked todo because I was a musician and
a lot of these guys they camefrom, you know, unprepared for
what I was going to be asked todo because I was a musician.

(23:06):
And a lot of these guys.
They came from, you know.
They did high school plays orthey did acting classes or
whatever the hell they didbefore me.
I mean before they came alongand I met them.
Me, my only experience on stagewas performing singing, you
know and.
I didn't really have any actingbackground to fall back on, so I
was a little uncomfortable.
I didn't really have any actingbackground to to to fall back
on, so I was a littleuncomfortable and I didn't need

(23:29):
to be.
But you know, in retrospect,looking back, that's that's how
I felt, and so you.
If you take that feeling andmerge it with the fact that
everybody's got this forcedtension on the set, you know, it
was like shit, like shit, Igotta go to work again today.
I don't know if I want to dothis right.
I could not wait for that movieto be over that's true, huh, so

(23:54):
do you?

Speaker 1 (23:54):
uh, do you watch the, the new series that came out
with the cobra kai?
Have you watched any?

Speaker 2 (23:59):
of it.
Yeah, I have.
Yeah, I've seen, have you?
I haven't, I haven't started ityet.

Speaker 1 (24:03):
Seasons of it okay, is it good?
Oh, yeah, you gotta do you havenetflix?
Yeah, I, I saw they're comingto netflix well, it's coming to
netflix.

Speaker 2 (24:12):
Yeah, I think a lot of people are waiting for that
because, because not everybodywants to spend 30 a month on
whatever it costs on youtube.
Uh, right, but uh, yeah, it'sfinally going to Netflix.
I have watched it.
I have, sorry, I'm going to fixthat.
I have a couple flashbackscenes that I'm in in the first
season.

Speaker 1 (24:32):
Okay, so yeah, that's kind of cool.
Yeah, I'm definitely going towatch it.
I think it said August 28th.
It comes to Netflix.

Speaker 2 (24:42):
Yeah, there's some.
I don't know if all the seasonsare coming right away and
they're talking about maybe thefirst season and then starting I
think it said one and two oneand two and then third one in
january, something like thatyeah, very cool, so um so you
really only had those goodbecause I'm sorry go ahead.

(25:03):
I I was just gonna make a givethe compliment to cobra kai
producers.
They, they, they did a good.
I think they're doing a greatjob with it.
I mean, from what I can tellyou know um it's.
It's nice that they're not, uh,that they're continuing the
story and not just rehashingsome old stuff.
I mean, it's really.
It's groundbreaking in a lot ofways, you know, and they're not

(25:27):
, they're not trying to, they'renot concerned about hurting
people's feelings or being PC,you know they're.
They're kind of staying true tothe way the characters were in
the eighties and how they'velived their life for the last 30
years.
It's, it's actually it's prettycool.
That's the best part of it, inmy opinion.

Speaker 1 (25:45):
Very cool.
Yeah, I'm definitely going tohave to check it out, but, as I
was saying, so, basically youonly did Hot Moves and Karate
Kid, right?

Speaker 2 (25:59):
Movie-wise.

Speaker 1 (26:00):
Film-wise.

Speaker 2 (26:01):
yeah, that was my extent of my huge acting career.

Speaker 1 (26:05):
Did you do auditions, like more auditions throughout
the 80s for movies?

Speaker 2 (26:09):
yeah, of course, I auditioned for breakfast club.
I auditioned for red.
Uh, I auditioned for um.
Uh, there was, uh, what's thename of?

(26:30):
Um?
Um?
I can't remember, uh, Michael JFox's big series.
I was, I, I auditioned for that.
Okay, Um, what's the name ofthat?
That was a very famous series Ican't remember.
Yeah, for some reason it eludesme.

(26:52):
I don't know, I keep thinking Ican picture it, yeah yeah, yeah,
anyhow, um, but yeah, Iauditioned for quite a bit of
stuff.
I did a couple walk-ons, therewere some shows I did, uh, on
different series, um I did aplay, um I didn't do a whole.
I mean, you know, it was a lotof work all in one or two years

(27:17):
you know, within like a 18 monthperiod.
It was most of my acting stuff,but I wasn't.
I wasn't doing music and thatkind of pissed me off, um, and I
kind of felt like I was jippingmyself or something wasn't
right.
And it wasn't because, like Isaid, I wasn't really pursuing
an acting career.
And after Karate Kid I spenteight months, kind of, you know,

(27:43):
sitting on the sidelines.
Yes, I was being paid and itwas fine, but I wasn't in my
mind at 18, I didn't feel like Iwas pushing, moving the needle,
you know, I was just sort ofsitting there, uh.
And so I was relieved whenKarate Kid was released, me in
the contract and we moved on andI thought, okay, well, now I've

(28:03):
got a little bit of a prettygood resume.
And then I couldn't get any morework for some reason.
Uh, you know, I don't know why.
It probably had to do with thefact that, uh, you know those
teenage movies were were sort ofran their course.
You know the fast times atrichmond high and porkies and
stuff like that kind of came andwent, and by this time maybe

(28:24):
hollywood had moved on a littlebit.
And it was a struggle and Irealized if I'm going to be
broke pursuing this acting.
I might as well be broke doingwhat I know how to do and love.
So I went back to music, youknow, like full time.
I just kind of screw this.
This is nuts.
So that's kind of I got in mymind.
I sort of got back on track.
You know, I mean, had I had Ibooked more jobs after karate,

(28:48):
kid, I probably would have donethem, of course I.
I mean it was you know, for an18-year-old it was good money
and I was working, but you knowI can't say I was particularly
happy, you know.

Speaker 1 (29:02):
yet Right, know what I mean.
Okay, yeah, I get it.
So do you any like crazystories you have from like
acting, from your acting career?

Speaker 2 (29:16):
Like, like in particular, Just any yeah.

Speaker 1 (29:20):
Like Karate.

Speaker 2 (29:20):
Kid in particular, or just.

Speaker 1 (29:22):
Karate Kid, hot moves anything.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
I did a.
Well, I did, I did a.
It's an acting related.
I just thought of this.
I just there's an actingrelated story that's more music
related, but it has got anacting, you know component to it
.
Okay, I, I was, uh, the peoplethat were producing that kid
show I told you about earlierthat we play at the Roxy.
Um, the guy that produced itwas also the road manager for

(29:48):
the band seals and Crofts backin the who knows when, like in
the 1800s and anyway.
Um, so you know he, he had alot of music connections.
Apparently.
What he was trying to do atthis one point is he somehow
knew patrick swayze's mom andconvinced her because she not a

(30:10):
lot of people know this, butpatrick swayze was taught to
dance primarily by his mother.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
I think I did know that actually, yeah.

Speaker 2 (30:18):
Yeah, he may have told that story in interviews.
And so I got high.
He asked me if I wanted.
They didn't have money to do abig budget for the music but
they were willing to.
You know, pay me something towrite original music for this
home video.
And back in those days homevideo really meant home video.
I mean you know it was smallbudget and it would go straight

(30:39):
to the video store there was noyou know it was no, it was no.
Like you know, uh, sundancefestival or something right so
it was just a home movie thinganyway.
Um, so I it was interesting isthat I actually met patrick
swayze um working on this,because he he was convinced, he

(31:01):
got convinced to come in andhelp his mom do a and did a
cameo on it.
Um, and I was really uh, he wasreally uh pleasant to talk to.
I I hadn't I never had theopportunity to work with him or
or or audition with him.
On some of the movies that hewas in, like Red Dawn, I
actually did audition with someof the guys that got it, like C
Thomas Howell and a few otherpeople, and I got real close to

(31:23):
getting that movie and PatrickSwayze was in that movie too.
But I didn't meet him until Imet him on this set of his mom's
wacky Swayze dancing video thatI was writing music for.
Okay, but I get a ton of KarateKid stories, I mean there's all
kinds of cool stuff.
I'll tell you one Like, forexample remember I was telling

(31:45):
you that there was a lot oftension on the set, right, but
after the set, and I don't knowwhy this is the case, but it
seems like every actor I've evermet really, truly, in the
bottom of their heart, reallywants to be a musician.
They all, they all want to pickup a guitar and jam and so when
we were done, you know, becausefrankie avalon's kid was in in

(32:05):
the karate kid, frankie avalonjr and uh, um, so after we would
finish we were shooting up in abeach.
Uh, remember the motorcyclescenes where they came down the
hill and uh on those beachscenes.
That was in a beach called uh,at a beach called uh, leo Creo
beach, up North of Ventura, upin, you know, here in Southern
California, and, um, none of usreally lived that far from those

(32:30):
locations.
You know, I lived probably 10miles inland from there and um,
and frankie avalon jr didn'tprobably live five miles from me
.
You know, frankie avalon, theylived in hidden hills I lived in
, like woodland hills was nextdoor, practically so we would
all, and williams lived rightthere, like maybe a mile from my

(32:51):
house, so we were all kind ofneighbors and just kind of
didn't know that.
But we met on the set and youplay guitar.
Oh, you play piano.
All right, so we would.
We would go to frankie avalon,frankie avalon's house, after
shooting.
After a shooting, not talkingto each other and then we'd go
to his house and we would pickup instruments and, you know,

(33:12):
smoke a few joints and then andthen jam.
I'm sure it sounded like shitbut we had.

Speaker 1 (33:18):
It was great.
Why didn't y'all start a band?

Speaker 2 (33:21):
Those were, those were fun.
I mean, it was, it was, it wasthe karate kid band and we were
just screwing around.
I, I don't.
I don't recall it ever soundinggood.

Speaker 1 (33:30):
And that wasn't the point.
It was just to let off somesteam at the end exactly end of
the day.

Speaker 2 (33:35):
But, um, it was cool because I I met frankie avalon.
He showed up, I don't knowwhere he came in from.
It's like hey, honey, I'm home.
You know, kind of, it's frankieavalon, you know he walks right
I'm like holy shit.
Um, yeah, it was kind of cool.
You know, a lot of thingshappen like that.
That I that now I'd be likeholy shit, but back then I was
like just another day right, butyeah, looking back on it,

(33:59):
that's really cool yeah, yeah,looking back on it's way cooler
because it's like, oh man,really that happened wow that's
kind of right, so uh.

Speaker 1 (34:11):
So back to like the.
Uh, you're a composer, righttoo, you compose.
Yeah, well, yeah do you still?
Yeah, do you still do that for?
Uh, because I I I read that youdid it for some tv shows and
stuff like that.
Do you still do that?
Yeah oh yeah whenever I can umokay, just different shows.

Speaker 2 (34:31):
I mean, I, I, uh, I I write for libraries.
I also, you know, uh, I've doneso many, you know, reality show
, music and stuff like that.
Um, you know, uh, there was acouple feature films.
I did the small ones and thensome of them didn't get off the
ground, whatever.
But, um, yeah, yeah, I still dothat if I can get the work.

Speaker 1 (34:50):
Absolutely okay, very cool, you know it's all part of
writing right, but um, but yeah, like is it hard to juggle the
trying to do that and thenworking with the band that
you're in now survivor if I'm onthe road.

Speaker 2 (35:07):
Yeah, yeah, actually it is if you're on the road.
You're kind of on the road right, uh is, uh, I mean, you can
write in your hotel room andmaybe get some things done here
and there, but, um, you know,for me I'm sort of a?
Um, I'm kind of, you know, Itry, I try to be as multi as I
can, but when I'm working forsomebody and I'm on the road
with them, I try to give them myattention and it needs my

(35:31):
attention because it takes my,my attention to do what I do.
You know, and being on the roadis not easy or glamorous.
Um, I guess it can be for somebands that you know in their
heyday, but, um, if you'retalking about survivor or
something, um, it's a lot offlying and a lot of sitting in
hotel rooms and waiting andstuff.

(35:51):
So I mean, it can take its tollon you physically and mentally.
So you need to be in good shapeand you need to have a good
outlook and you need not to betoo weighed down with a lot of
stuff.
So that's why, during this timeperiod that I'm locked down, so
to speak you know we're nottouring, we're not playing I've
taken some time to write my ownfinish my own songs that I've

(36:13):
written and get back to thingsthat I didn't really know when I
was going to complete, becauseI was busy, okay.

Speaker 1 (36:26):
So when you're out touring, how many shows You've
been in the band?
What three years now?
You joined in 2017, right, 2017, the band.
What three years now?

Speaker 2 (36:34):
you joined in seven roughly 2017, right 2017, yeah,
yeah, three years, yeah allright, have you got?

Speaker 1 (36:39):
have you toured every year since you've been with the
band?

Speaker 2 (36:43):
yeah, yeah, I met them in within weeks, we were on
the road.
That was it, you know, okay, soI met you in 2017 and then, huh
, I was gonna say how'd you getin?
Uh, how'd you, how'd you getthe 2017?

Speaker 1 (36:53):
and then, huh, I was going to say, how'd you get in?
Uh, how'd you, how'd you becomea band member?

Speaker 2 (37:01):
Uh, well, I uh, I have no idea how they found me.
To be honest, I don't have agreat story for this one.
Uh, truth is I'm I'm notkidding you, man I just got an
email from somebody turns out tobe somebody that in their
management team.
But, um, I got an email thathad one sentence and it says

(37:23):
would you like to play keyboardsfor the band survivor, would
you be interested?
And uh, I was like that'sstrange that's a strange email
to get you know.
Uh, you don't see those veryoften.
Uh and plus, especially since Ididn't know anybody in the band
personally and and I, I, I, uh,um turns out I actually knew the

(37:44):
keyboard player that wasplaying with them at the time.
I didn't know, I knew him, butI have many friends, we're all
kind of same group of musiciansin LA, and I don't I'm not
really sure how exactly theyfound me, but they, they, you
know, they did, they, theychecked me out, they knew who I
was, and so I flew into Chicagolike within weeks from that

(38:09):
email and that was it.
You know, we, we moved on fromthere.
It was pretty fast interestingwhat uh yeah, so I mean go ahead
no I that I was waiting for youoh, oh, sorry.

Speaker 1 (38:26):
So uh, obviously I'm I'm not a musician or anything,
I'm not musically talented atall.
So like, uh, what's it likeperforming up on stage?
Like what's like the what's aconcert?

Speaker 2 (38:38):
like like performing well, a a con again.
You got to be more specificbecause, I mean, if you're
talking about a concert withsurvivor is different than a
concert with other bands that Iplay with that may not have the
same legacy or the samefamousness true um.
So you want to be specific bothsurvivors are very different.

(39:01):
All right, well, being on stageis fucking incredible.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
I mean that's, that's what we live for, you know
right um, that's, that's the.

Speaker 2 (39:09):
That's the whole reason why I get out of bed.
That's why it's a little hardto get out of bed lately.
We're not doing it right now.
So, right, that's my wholereason why I get out of bed.
That's why it's a little hardto get out of bed lately.
We're not doing it right now.
That's my whole life.
But yeah, I mean, being onstage is for me.
I can only speak about me.
I mean a lot of people may haveother reasons, but for me it's
very freeing, you know, um, it'ssort of uh, you know, I I tend

(39:40):
not to uh analyze as much whenI'm in performing mode, and it's
so.
So it frees up my brain, youknow, because when I'm in
rehearsal or I'm thinking aboutit or you know, I'm constantly
trying to, you know, do whatever, but it's the one time I kind
of just kind of tune out andjust vibe in, you know, and so
it's a really cool place to be.
I wish I could create thatatmosphere more often in life
than just on stage.
But it's a healthy hour and ahalf, you know, a healthy, like,

(40:06):
you know, mental healthy.
But now, as far as Survivorgoes, now you got to understand
Survivor has been around 40years.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Right.

Speaker 2 (40:15):
Yeah, yeah, I ain't the first keyboard player
they've seen.
Okay, right, and you know, Idon't know if you remember much
of their material, but obviouslythe Eye of the Tiger.
But, beyond that, they had alot of hits.
They had High on.
You Can't Hold Back Search IsOver, that they had a lot of

(40:36):
hits they had high on.
You can't hold back searchesover.
I mean they, you know they hadsome pretty big 80s monsters,
you know right, and uh, you knowsimilar to journey, you know
kind of uh kind of in that realmand um, that come with that
comes a certain amount ofrespect that you want to give to
the material.

(40:57):
So there's not only getting onstage with the exhilaration of
fans, they don't care about you,they just want to hear Eye of
the Tiger man, they just want tohear the songs and they want to
hear them good.
And so the pressure's kind ofoff you to be the guy they're
coming to see.
So the pressure is kind of offyou to be the guy they're coming
to see, but the pressure is onyou to make sure that they hear
what they remember when theywere 16 years old.

Speaker 1 (41:20):
Right.

Speaker 2 (41:22):
So that is a different kind of performing,
it's a different kind ofexhilaration.
I kind of see myself as asteward of history.
You know, when I'm playing withthem I have this sort of
necessary responsibility in mymind to try to capture the sound
and recreate what they'reexpecting.

(41:43):
You know I'm not supposed toreally be too.
You know you don't want tostand out so much that it wasn't
.
That takes them out of thefantasy of survivor in their
heyday.
You know you don't.
You don't want to stand out somuch that it wasn't.
That takes them out of thefantasy of of survivor in their
heyday, you know, try tomaintain that.
So it's really, in a way, it'skind of a musical acting role,
you know, in a way.

(42:03):
But so that's how they'redifferent.
When I do my other bands and afew other things that I do on
stage, it's it's a littledifferent.
I'm singing, I'm playing guitar, I'm playing keyboards and
people are there to see me, andso that's a different kind of
vibe.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (42:23):
It's just a different kind of approach to how you're
going to perform and theatmosphere is a little different
.

Speaker 1 (42:30):
So I don't know if that answers your question, but
they're very different in a lotof ways, right, yeah, I can see
how they're different, withSurvivor being as big as they
are and have been in the past,yeah, and then performing with
your other bands, and I candefinitely, yeah, that don't

(42:52):
have 40 years of history Right.
Yeah, there's definitely thethe different atmosphere of the
crowds and shit like that.

Speaker 2 (43:01):
Remember the people that come see them.
Yeah, the people that come seethem are going to be
demographically, they're goingto be like 35 to 50, right you
know kind of age group andthey're going to be bringing
their kids, you know a lot oftimes and they're they want to
hear songs that they rememberwhen they were in high school.

(43:22):
Right and so you know you don't, you don't want to disappoint
them.

Speaker 1 (43:27):
You know you want, you want them to.

Speaker 2 (43:29):
You know you want the songs to to to bring back those
memories and that's that's howyou know you're successful If
you're able to do that.
You're not trying to reinventthem.
That would be a different kindof thing, and they may choose to
do that at some point.
Who knows, maybe they'll make anew record and maybe we'll do
something like that Now when wego out.

(43:50):
It's all about those hit songsand all about what people
remember from the glory days.
You know.
And so I'm honored to have theopportunity to be a part of that
even in a kind of minor way,but you know it's kind of cool.
I like it Right.

Speaker 1 (44:08):
Yeah, it's definitely .
I would see it as definitelybeing a big deal Just being
getting the opportunity toperform with a band with that
name.
It's a big name in music.

Speaker 2 (44:21):
Well, it is a big deal.
I always take it very seriouslyand for a keyboard player
there's not too many better rockbands to be in.
You know what I mean.
In those days you had your hairmetal bands and your bands like
guns and roses or warrant or or, uh, you know, white snake or
whatever right, not a ton ofkeyboards.

(44:43):
Motley crew, where thekeyboards exactly didn't have
them.
But then you had bands likeforeigner ario, speedwagon
sticks, um journey lover boy.
These bands incorporated inexcess.
They all incorporated, you know, sax, piano and synths and all
kinds of shit.

(45:03):
And so that era is you got tobe exciting for a keyboard
player you know, if you're goingto be in a, in a um, in a retro
80s band, you want one that'sgot a lot of keys in it, so it
was especially exciting for thatreason, you know yeah, um, do
you have a favorite song toperform on stage with?

(45:27):
survivor with them.
Yeah, yeah, I think I.
I mean there's a couple goodones, but for me I think it's
the search is over.

Speaker 1 (45:35):
Um, it's a ballad, you know searches you have a
good, you have a good solo inthere, right, yeah?

Speaker 2 (45:44):
oh, you knew about that.

Speaker 1 (45:45):
Yeah, yeah, I was gonna say you, yeah, I know the
song, so I was.
So I was gonna say you have agood.
Yeah, well, solo in there's nosolo in the song.

Speaker 2 (45:54):
Yeah, there's no solo in the song, but there's a solo
that they let me do before weplay the song, which is kind of
cool, and I'm the only one onstage when it's happening, so
it's kind of cool.
Okay so that's why it's myfavorite song to play, because
it's a piano song and I kind ofget to be myself for a little

(46:17):
while, right, so.
So I'm gracious of them allright.

Speaker 1 (46:20):
So like uh with touring, uh you've you've
obviously opened up for forbands before.
Uh, who's your favorite bandyou've ever opened?

Speaker 2 (46:29):
up for um, I would say you mean in all of all time,
because I have differentreasons for different things.
I mean, certainly it was elomust have been a fun.
We it was a club called thechina club, not the one in new
york, but in la we had a chinaclub too and uh, it was a

(46:51):
awesome place to play.
I mean, they had a great soundsystem.
Oh, I'm sorry, it wasn't thechina club, it was the strand.
None of these clubs are aroundanymore, which is really kind of
sad.
But it was it was the strand inredondo beach and the strand was
was a very cool place to playand they used we were a regular
band there, my, my, my own band,and uh, they would call us in

(47:11):
to open for a lot of nationalacts.
Um, you know, really, becausethey liked us and um, they gave
us the opportunity to, to getthe exposure and uh, I think elo
was was a big thrill to seethem.
You know I'm huge elo fan,always have been, um, but you

(47:31):
know, uh, more recently, youknow, with survivor, we've we've
opened up for and vice versa,they've opened up for us, we've
opened up.
Lover boy was was a lot of funtoo to see, really okay yeah, I
don't know if you guys are, ifyou remember lover boy, but um,
survivor, you know, used to tourwith regularly with brian ad

(47:54):
Loverboy, a lot of Canadianbands for some reason, and RL
Speedwagon and Styx and variousbands of that foreigner, and so
they used to.
Rick Springfield was anotherone and they used to tour
together.
Sometimes Survivor was theheadliner, sometimes the other
bands were um, and so nowadaysif there's a double bill, it's

(48:17):
usually one of the bands thatthey had toured with in in the
80s okay, usually so yeah, soit's kind of cool because I mean
, I met, uh, lou graham, uh, youknow, from foreigner, at a show
that we opened up for um in StLouis last year or the year

(48:39):
before, and that was a bigthrill.
I've been a huge Lou Graham fan, you know, and uh, and it was a
real thrill to meet him while Iwas working, and not just as a
fan.
You know what?

Speaker 1 (48:52):
I mean.

Speaker 2 (48:53):
Um Blue Oyster Cult.
That was another great band.
Man, they still sound great.
We opened for them last year.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
Okay.

Speaker 2 (49:01):
So there's just.
I mean I'm getting to.
Like you know, survivor's givenme an opportunity to kind of
meet all the people in my recordcollection when I was 16 years
old, right.

Speaker 1 (49:11):
And then that's such a cool thing to do.

Speaker 2 (49:15):
Yeah, I was talking to my friend the other day, a
musician friend of mine, about,um, uh, we were talking about uh
, journey and uh, I don't knowwhat we were talking about, but
journey came up and we, we bothwere like, well, I saw journey
at the editor and I said Iremember seeing them at the rose
bowl, uh, for fourth of july in1981 and the opening band was

(49:36):
blue oyster cult.
And then it dawned on me I metthem just like 10 months ago
when we opened for them and itwas the first, I mean I, the
last time I ever saw or knew ofthem was, you know, when I first
was introduced to them, notpersonally, but as a fan in the
audience.
And the next, next time Iactually see them, uh, you know,

(49:57):
I'm backstage with them, youknow, meeting them.
And then we opened for them.
Survivor opened up for them.

Speaker 1 (50:03):
So it was.

Speaker 2 (50:03):
I was like, wow, that's, that's pretty cool.
And there's a couple of bandslike that and people I never
thought I would ever meet.

Speaker 1 (50:09):
But but you get the opportunity to's.
Yeah, that's really cool man,yeah, um, yeah.
So so, like you said, you'restill, you do you still write
and stuff, are you?
Uh, now do you do your band andsurvivor at the same time?

Speaker 2 (50:25):
I have um.
Yeah, I mean I'm in a bunch ofbands um working bands.
Um, so, you know.
But survivors, you know.
Look at when survivor goes onthe road or for busy, you know
we're busy.
I can't.
Um, I'm pretty much that's apriority because you know
there's a lot more moving partswith the, with survivor.
I can't call up and say hey,you know, I'm not doing that gig

(50:47):
.
I'm sure that would go over realwell.
So, yeah, but, uh, but I'm inother bands.
I'm in a band called the K-TelAll Stars and, uh, that is a
cool band.
We play all these songs fromthe 70, 1970, 1979, all one hit
wonders, or the hits not all onehit wonders, but some of those

(51:08):
and the hits from those years.
And we do it in a way, that's,we try to stay real true to the
recordings and, uh, you know,using as many as the vintage
instruments as we can.
And, uh, that band tours quitea bit.
Actually, we play all over thecountry really, when we, you
know when we're not, you knowwhen we're not in this virus
situation right and um.

(51:31):
So yeah, I do both, I I andthat's what I was saying about
writing.
It's like I, I mean in 2018 and2019 even I, I'd come home from
a couple weeks out withsurvivor and then, uh, you know,
go right back out with anotherband and then meet up with
survivor again, and you know.
So I was, I was, I wasn't homea lot right certainly not enough

(51:55):
to sit down and go.

Speaker 1 (51:56):
I'm write some songs now you know right um, so it's
got to be a breath of fresh air.

Speaker 2 (52:01):
Songs is a different kind and I don't know.

Speaker 1 (52:05):
Yes, okay, sure, just being able to catch up on
songwriting and stuff like that.

Speaker 2 (52:12):
No, I love songwriting and I'm glad I'm
getting a chance to to finish afew things, but not under these
circumstances it would have beennice for me to elect to do that
.

Speaker 1 (52:21):
Right.

Speaker 2 (52:21):
I just kinda I need to fill the void right now and
and you know just nobody's,nobody's, there's no right no
shows so it's I mean, have you?
I mean, I mean I don't know.
I have never thought I wouldlive to see the day where an
entire industry is groundedright many industries but

(52:42):
certainly the entertainmentindustry they even stop shooting
movies.

Speaker 1 (52:46):
I mean, I know, it's crazy.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
It's like what the hell man?
It's just such a dystopian kindof thing going on right now.
I hope we figure our way out ofthis soon.

Speaker 1 (53:02):
Do you have anything booked for 2021?
Because I know that's whenthey're saying concerts are
going to start happening again.

Speaker 2 (53:11):
I have a few shows booked this year, not with
Survivor.
Toward the end of the year Ithink I have a New Year's gig
and I got a couple other thingsgoing on.
But Survivor, I don't know whatwe're going to do.
You have to understand bands ofthat level and up it's a lot
more energy and and moving partsto to get going.

(53:33):
So I mean you don't just don'tsnap your fingers and go yeah,
we're going on the road.
So if, if I don't hear anythingthat if I don't hear some, if I
don't get an itinerary orsomething by the end of this
year, I will probably sink, willprobably think it's safe to say
that it'll be another yearwithout On the Road, with them,
wow Okay.
Maybe the end of the year 2021.

(53:55):
I haven't to answer yourquestion directly.
I have not heard of any gigsfor Survivor coming up.
Okay, and it's funny because2020, this year 2020, was going
to be a huge year.
Right, I had my bags packed.
I was out the door in Marchwhen I got the call.

(54:16):
Wow, not to get on the plane,not to bother.

Speaker 1 (54:21):
Yeah, it was like that's crazy.

Speaker 2 (54:24):
We thought it was going to be a couple weeks.
You should see my calendar.
Everything's just kind ofshoved over.
And then soon, you know, theyjust keep falling off the
calendar.
Now you know, right Now I'vejust wiped it clean.
I said, screw it, we're notgoing anywhere, right yeah.
The world basically took abreak.

Speaker 1 (54:42):
It did.

Speaker 2 (54:43):
It is crazy.

Speaker 1 (54:44):
So it's weird times we're living in.
Yeah, yeah, well, my, my sonwhat do you do?
Uh, I work for Pence, I workfor Penske and a diesel truck
truck company.

Speaker 2 (54:58):
Yeah, yeah, I work in an onsite location.

Speaker 1 (55:01):
It did um for a while it didn't uh, cause we were
we're essential workers.
So for a while, like uh, I wasstill working.
But in uh in may, like businessobviously took a hit because
the rest of the country shutdown.
So when uh in may I actuallygot, I got furloughed because

(55:21):
I'm like the lowest one on thetotem pole in my shop.
So, uh, I ended up getting uhfurloughed for like three months
.
So I just went back to work atthe end of july.

Speaker 2 (55:34):
But um, but they gave you your job back.

Speaker 1 (55:35):
That's cool, yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, it was just.
It was just a temporary prettyscary man thing it is man and uh
yeah and like trying to explainit to my son too, like he he
like I said, he's only five,yeah, and he, he's just like
daddy, can we go do this, daddy,can we go do that?
And I'm just like we can't,like, like we can't go anywhere.

(55:58):
Really, it's, it's hard, he'sdad's mean he's actually more
understanding than I.
It was easier to try to explainto him as to why we can't do
anything than I thought it wouldbe.
Like I, I really thought hewould just be like yeah, my
dad's being a dick like, buthe's actually, he's actually

(56:18):
pretty, he's understanding aboutit, which is which is good, but
it's definitely turned him intoa homebody, though.
So like yeah, so like now thatyou can't actually kind of go
and do stuff he doesn't want to,he just wants to stay home,
play video games uh-oh yeah, sohave it.
It is, but how do?

Speaker 2 (56:37):
you break it, though you know you.
You know right now it's hard.
Is he gonna go back to school?
We're gonna homeschool him.

Speaker 1 (56:44):
You're gonna take him back to school not until, not
until all this shit goes away.
We don't want to.
I don't want to send them toschool I, I I wouldn't send my
kid if, if there was an optionyeah I'd be very uncomfortable,
yeah yeah, not only with justlike with the virus going on,
but like I don't want to sendthem there where he has to sit

(57:06):
there all day and wear a mask.

Speaker 2 (57:10):
Yeah, I mean, it's traumatizing for a five-year-old
I would think yeah, they can'tdo recess.

Speaker 1 (57:17):
They have to sit in one spot all day, eat their
lunch in that spot, do theirrecess in that spot.
You can't play with other kids.

Speaker 2 (57:27):
Yeah, if you can't socialize, there's no real
reason why you can't teach afive-year-old what they're going
to learn at school.
Without that, you send them toschool for socialization mostly
at that age, I would think youknow.
And and if you can't do that,then you're not really
accomplishing anything that youcan't provide at home exactly
you know to me.

(57:48):
That's my opinion.

Speaker 1 (57:49):
No, I agree with you 100%.
But yeah, it's crazy.
So hopefully this shit endssoon.

Speaker 2 (57:59):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (58:00):
Yeah, man.

Speaker 2 (58:00):
I feel you.

Speaker 1 (58:02):
Yeah, but back to your music.
Real quick you got any storiesabout being on the road.
I'm a big story guy.
I like hearing stories.

Speaker 2 (58:12):
You like stories.

Speaker 1 (58:13):
I do.

Speaker 2 (58:15):
On the road stories.
What do I got?
I mean, I'm trying to.
You know, I get this weirdstory.
It's not on the road, it's aweird acting story, but it
involves music.
You'll like this, but itinvolves music I like this.
I think it's cool.
It's kind of weird.
During that time period I wasgetting shuffled off to casting

(58:40):
calls and stuff during that year.
Back in those days, musicvideos were expensive to make.
They were like making littlemini movies you know, they were
either really expensive orthey're really cheap and they
look that way.
So if you were like an artistthat had a budget, it was like
making a film you know, and sothey would send uh, they would

(59:04):
set up a casting office and aproduction company just for a
video and you would be alegitimate casting call that
your agent would send you on fora music video.
So I got called, didn't knowwhat it was music video I'm like
, oh okay, some rock guy, wedon't know who it is.
So I get there and I wait, andI'm waiting and they call my

(59:26):
name, just like a dentist'soffice, and I go back there and
it's Dennis DeYoung from Styx.
Really, and I must have lost myshit.
I didn't get the job.
By the way, I didn't get thejob because I didn't care.
I mean, first of all, dennisDeYoung was my hero when I was
16, 17 years old.
I mean, I sang everything ontheir records.

(59:47):
I had all their albums.
Big Styx fan, it's funny.
And so there's Dennis DeYoungsitting there and I'm supposed
to do a scene with him and Idon't know if it wasn't a big
hit.
The song that he ended up doingon this video is for mtv.

(01:00:07):
It was a song off his desertmoon album.
Uh, it was a solo album that hehad put out.
It didn't do that well, so it'snot surprising if you don't
remember it, but anyway, um, Iuh the one of the scene.
It was a scene where he wascoming back home and he was
hadn't seen his kid in a while.
We had to play basketball andwe had a hug and all kinds of

(01:00:28):
weird shit and I was like I justwanted to talk to him about his
keyboard rig and all the thingsthat he was, he, he, he was
very nice at first, but I thinkthey got annoyed with me because
I I wasn't.
I didn't want to read the scene, I just kept wanting to ask him
questions about the gig I mean,why not?
Yeah, man, oh my God, that was akind of interesting.

(01:00:51):
I left and I felt like, yes, Ididn't get this one, I know it,
I didn't care, I just didn'tcare.
I met one of my heroes.

Speaker 1 (01:01:00):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (01:01:02):
Yeah, it's funny, 30 something years later.
You know we were playing.
We were playing DisneylandOrlando Epcot Center with
Survivor on one night and thenthe night prior to us was Dennis
DeYoung's Sticks.
Okay, it's kind of interesting,but yeah, so that was kind of

(01:01:26):
cool.
That was the best thing thatcame out of acting meeting danis
dm there you go and karate kid.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Yeah, yeah, I mean.
Yeah, it's definitely cool thatuh like even for like someone
for you, like you're technicallya celebrity, so like for even.
It's cool to see like evencelebrities get excited about
meeting like their idols.
You know the reason why.

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Well, you know, for most of us and you too, probably
you know you're grown up, youlisten to music.
It's very um.
You know that music especiallywhen you're 16 and you're going
through all these things musicis a soundtrack to your life.
It really has an impact on you,and so if it's ACDC or Van

(01:02:14):
Halen or Styx or whoever it wasat the time that got your
attention, those people areimportant to you because they
brought this connection, andthere may not actually be a real
connection there, but we thinkthere is one.
So it doesn't really matter whatyou end up going into whether
you go into music or some otherjob you know you don't lose that

(01:02:37):
giddiness, you know when you'remeeting somebody that got you
from this situation to thatsituation.
You know.
Right this situation to thatsituation, you know right.
Uh, it can be a bummer for somepeople when they finally meet
people that they think are.
Are these bigger in life peopleand they're just kind of dicks
or something.

(01:02:57):
It happens you know right, yeah,but um, which is which is part
of the.
You got to remember that these,it is the music business the
entertainment business.
And so the face that they put onfor the world same with me.
I mean, this isn't how I act ifI were on stage.

(01:03:17):
I have a different kind ofpersona.
You've got your adrenalinerunning through you.
You're a little different andthat's what people see.
So you can't expect to walk upto them at a mall and expect it.
There's very few that are likethat.
I'm sure john lennon orsomebody might have that
charisma all the time.
You know um but you know there'sa, there's a bunch that that

(01:03:40):
might, but you know um, mostpeople are different in
different situations, you knowthat's crazy.

Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Um, anyways, uh, we'll wrap this up, but, uh,
thanks for coming on.
Man, it was.
It was great getting to meetyou, uh, getting to talk to you
um, I am my pleasure.

Speaker 2 (01:04:00):
Thanks for uh taking the time on a sunday oh, no,
problem man, this my wendy I'msorry.
I was gonna say when do youthink you'll air this?
Are you gonna do it with videoor just audio?

Speaker 1 (01:04:13):
I'm actually gonna do audio and video.
I'm gonna uh for this becauseuh, my other podcast I just do
audio my hair.

Speaker 2 (01:04:21):
I would have combed my hair, had I not.

Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
It looks good, but um , no, for this one I'm gonna,
I'm gonna to start a YouTubechannel and put these up there
as well.

Speaker 2 (01:04:30):
Okay, cool.

Speaker 1 (01:04:31):
But hopefully soon.
I'm trying to get around likefour episodes recorded before I
air.

Speaker 2 (01:04:39):
Yeah, but I got a couple.

Speaker 1 (01:04:44):
Yeah, I got some other ones lined up.
So I think towards the end ofSeptember I'll be ready to air
and I'll be able to shoot youguys the link to it and
everything so you can have itand see it Well, justin.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
I appreciate talking to you man.
It was a lot of fun and goodluck with your son and
everything you know with withthis situation and I appreciate
it.
You know, hopefully, hopefully,the next time we talk it'll be
under better circumstances,right?

Speaker 1 (01:05:16):
Right, yeah, hopefully when you guys start
touring again, you come toMichigan and I'll come see a
show.

Speaker 2 (01:05:23):
Oh dude, we play in Michigan every year.

Speaker 1 (01:05:27):
Where do y'all usually play at?

Speaker 2 (01:05:30):
I'd have to look it up.
Where did we where?
What cities did we play?
In Michigan, we played inDetroit, actually on the water.
Okay, right downtown there wasa GM.

Speaker 1 (01:05:43):
Oh, at the GM building.

Speaker 2 (01:05:45):
The General Motors, the headquarters.
We played right there.
Oh wow, building the, thegeneral motors, the heart, the
headquarters.
We played right there.

Speaker 1 (01:05:50):
Oh wow, like it was kalamazoo, we've played there a
barbecue festival in kalamazoo,okay um, I'm sure I'm sure you
guys have probably uh survivorplayed dte too in clarkston.
A lot of bands go there.

Speaker 2 (01:06:06):
It's an outdoor sounds familiar yeah I mean, if
we don't do it like on one year,we'll do it the next year
because, they alternate a lot,but um Michigan is.
I mean, they're all fromChicago.

Speaker 1 (01:06:19):
Right Guys.

Speaker 2 (01:06:20):
So I mean except me and uh, yeah, and so that whole
corridor, everything fromIndiana, illinois, um Michigan,
kansas, you know, nashville Imean not Nashville, st Louis

(01:06:41):
down there yeah, we play there alot.
I mean that's where most oftheir gigs are.
That aren't, you know, on thecoasts?
Obviously Right.

Speaker 1 (01:06:48):
But yeah, I'd love to come see a show you can
guarantee we'll be playing inthe Midwest.
Oh, definitely.
Yeah, you know, on the coasts,obviously Right.
But yeah, I'd love to come seea show you can guarantee we'll
be playing in the Midwest.
I'll definitely have to go.

Speaker 2 (01:06:56):
I'm keeping track of who I'm talking to, okay, and
I'll make a note.
You know I'll send you.
I'll make sure you know you canget in.

Speaker 1 (01:07:04):
Oh, perfect, I would love that.
Yeah, that'd be cool.
I would love that.
Yeah, that'd be cool.
And even your other band.
Yeah, I'd love to see yourother bands play too.

Speaker 2 (01:07:12):
Oh, the KTEL All-Stars Go check them out.
I was going to after the showGo to the KTEL.
K-t-e-l.
Allstarscom.
It's all one word.
K-t-e-l Remember.
Ktel Records, Mm-hmm.
Yeah, word, okay.
K-t-e-l remember k-tel recordsyeah, you're probably.

(01:07:35):
I vaguely that's yeah, I mean Ibelieve me you could be 50 and
not remember k-tel.
I mean it was.
It's kind of you know veryspecific but there was this
company back in the 70s I wasn'teven around where um, they did
uh, these um compilation recordsand they're really popular and
it was all the big hits and theywent, they got the publishing

(01:07:56):
form and they were like thesebig records that came out all
the time, the k-tel, you know,top 22 hits all hits all 22.
You know blah, blah, blah andum, so the whole band is kind of
based on the ads for ktel.
It's a cool band though that.

Speaker 1 (01:08:13):
That that's super cool.
Man like I, I'd love to see ashow of that too.
So anytime I get an opportunityto man, fortunately.

Speaker 2 (01:08:23):
Well, we were supposed to be in ohio just last
week.
I got canceled.
Um, I can't guarantee whenwe'll come to the uh, michigan,
that's.
Most of the gigs we play arevegas, la arizona, a lot of the
west.
Occasionally we'll come out toum.
We had one in in atlanta, um,and one in Ohio.

(01:08:47):
It's all over.
It changes all the time.
I wouldn't, if you're inCalifornia, ever let me know,
because I'm always playing andthere's somebody I'm playing
with and it could be KTEL youknow in LA, but anyhow.

Speaker 1 (01:09:01):
I'll definitely keep an eye out when, when all this
shit settles down, and even if Igot to make a trip out to LA,
I'll come out to LA.
Yeah, down.
And uh, even if I gotta make atrip out to la, I'll come out to
la.
Yeah, it's worth it.
You get to see la.
Me and my wife have talkedabout moving there, so it's on
one of our places.
We want to go, yeah so.

Speaker 2 (01:09:19):
But well, it's definitely a place to check out
you know yeah um, I've lived allmy life, so it's, uh, you know,
not quite the novelty.
Um, you know, new York would befor me.
You know what I mean, right,but yeah, yeah, it's all here,
all the history, if they haven'tdestroyed it yet.
Right, it's a habit ofdestroying their history here in

(01:09:42):
LA.

Speaker 1 (01:09:43):
Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2 (01:09:44):
They tend to like to tear things down and build
something real, build a minimall over like really important
things.
And tend to like to tear thingsdown and build something real,
build a mini mall over over likereally important things and
it's like right.
Nobody thinks.

Speaker 1 (01:09:56):
Right, but anyway.
Anyways, it was a pleasurehaving you on.
Thank you again.

Speaker 2 (01:10:03):
You're welcome.

Speaker 1 (01:10:04):
And I'll talk to you hopefully soon.
Yes, sir, thank you, Thank youJustin, thank you Jeffrey.