March 30, 2024 • 39 mins
When Jeff Roberge and I sat down to record this episode, the laughter came as easily as it did back in our University of Rhode Island days. Our journey through the past is filled with the kind of stories that stick to your ribs, from the formation of Jeff's band Foxtrot Zulu in the lively halls of Browning to a bee incident that left us in stitches during our first meet-and-greet. But it's not just about the music or the antics; it's about the brotherhood that carried us through and the homage we pay to our late brother, Ronald Gomes, whose wisdom remains a guiding force in our lives.
The heart of our conversation beats to the rhythm of Foxtrot Zulu's evolution, from a college bar band to a New England circuit sensation, weaving together tales of communal living, the heady days of relentless touring, and the shared dream that weathered the toughest of times. We open the vault to reveal the band's connection to O.A.R. and share how, despite real jobs and adult responsibilities, the music and the brotherly bond have stood the test of time, culminating in a reunion show that bridged generations of fans.
In tribute to Ronald Gomes, we step back from the laughs to embrace a more poignant note, reflecting on the legacy of a man who taught us about balance, responsibility, and the importance of ketchup. It's these memories that carve a deeper meaning into our narrative, bringing us closer not just as fraternity brothers, but as a family that continues to inspire long after the last note has faded. Join Jeff and me as we celebrate the enduring beat of a drum and the bonds that tie us to our unforgettable college days.
To hear their awesome music --> https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Hf7oM9jaytzzFLVIyUguV
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Carney (00:00):
My next two interviews with Jeff Roberge and
Paul Miller are special ones.
Not only did we all live on thesame floor in the first year
the University of Rhode Islandhad an all-freshman dorm shout
out to Browning Hall but wepledged our fraternity Theta Chi
Eta chapter together at theUniversity of Rhode Island.
Cue the police sirens.
No, just kidding.
I'm excited and honored to havethem both on for what is
(00:20):
essentially a two-part episode.
I'd like to dedicate both thoseparts to the memory of our
recently passed fraternitybrother, ronald Gomes.
A great guy, awesome in everyway, a big brother to all, a
loving husband and dad, gone waytoo soon.
Two words fuck cancer.
My guest today is Jeff Roberge.
Jeff and I are fraternitybrothers of the long gone but
(00:40):
yet somehow back Theta Chi Etachapter at the University of
Rhode Island.
Jeff is the drummer and rhythmicbackbone to the almost
30-year-old jam band FoxtrotZulu.
The seven-member band formedthe University of Rhode Island
in 1995, where they ruled theURI bar scene throughout the
mid-90s and then branching outto dominate the New England
regional music scene for theremainder of the 1900s and later
(01:00):
touring the rest of the USthrough the early 2000s with the
likes of Howie Day and theiconic OAR.
I witnessed countless anddynamic performances from the
band in the mid-90s at Rhodey,watering Holes, bonview Inn and
Ocean Mist.
I'm not sure if the guysremember, but they also played a
graduation party at my house in1995.
But then I didn't end upgraduating until 1996, so that's
another show for another day,but a bunch of us would always
(01:23):
catch the guys when they'd go upto Boston too.
If you listen to their musicand you don't move in some way,
you should seek immediatemedical attention.
Seriously, jeff Roberge,welcome to Cardi Saves the World
.
Jeff Roberge (01:34):
Scott, I can't believe that we're doing this,
man.
It seems like yesterday.
I mean, you know, you and Iwere like we're old now, but man
, those are some great timesback at URI.
And thanks for the shout out toRon.
I mean you and I both know thatguy.
We were young guys back thenand he helped shape us and he
certainly gave us plenty of goodadvice when we needed it most.
(01:56):
So much love goes out to RonCombs man.
But yeah, scott, great to seeyou.
I love the fact you have apodcast and, yeah, let's talk,
man.
Scott Carney (02:05):
Yeah, this is awesome.
I was trying to think it's beenprobably 20, 23, 24 years,
because we saw you guys at leasta couple times up in Boston
after we graduated, so maybelike 98, 99.
Jeff Roberge (02:15):
So before we dig in, man, I just seen you on the
screen.
Right now we're talking.
I got to tell you about one ofmy first memories that I have of
Browning Hall.
We're moving in, freshman yearmoving in.
I'm there with my parents.
Whatever, get into those like.
They look like jail cell dormrooms that we lived in.
So I'm walking down the halland I think you and a couple of
the other guys are like twodoors over.
(02:36):
Anyway, I'm walking past theroom and you guys had an empty
room, except the only thing setup were these two giant speakers
and a stereo system and youguys are like cranking music and
yeah, dennis is dancing in themiddle of the of the dorm room
like that is like one of thefirst memories.
I have no clothes unpacked,nothing, just two giant speakers
(02:59):
and dennis and you and I'veDave Bettencourt are like
dancing in the dorm room.
Anyway, funny story.
Yeah, it's funny.
Scott Carney (03:10):
I was trying to remember.
My first memory of you is itwas like a meet and greet, so
we're like everybody moved inand we're outside and we were
all talking.
I don't know if you rememberthis, but it's one of the
funniest things I've ever seenlive.
You went to take a sip of sodaand like a beef fluid and stung
you.
Jeff Roberge (03:26):
Think about yeah, so think about like you know,
young kid, I'm coming up fromMaryland, don't know anybody.
You're going to that firstevent where you're trying to,
like you know, meet chicks andbe cool.
I take a swig of a soda, a beefflies and stings me under my
lower lip and my lip swells upand I'm just that guy.
(03:48):
That guy.
It was like out of a movie man.
I had to go hide in my dormroom the first day when
everyone's meeting everyonebecause I got stung in the face
by a bee.
Yeah, crazy.
Scott Carney (03:59):
Crazy.
Oh, it kills me.
I was thinking about it theother day and I was tearing up
oh, that's the funniest thing,because you were so upset.
You were like that was like thefirst thing.
Like we all go outside.
We're like all right, we got tomeet the girls in the freshman
dorm, let's go.
Jeff Roberge (04:09):
Oh yeah, you got to be cool, right.
Scott Carney (04:13):
You know it's like that's your first impression
and I blew it, man, million ofthem that are hanging out on our
every word right now.
Can you just give us a a littlebit of a backstory of how the
band you're in foxtrot, zulu,started at uri?
Jeff Roberge (04:29):
yeah, and so pretty interesting story, man.
So, um, back then there was alot of live music happening at
uri, everywhere, from stuffgoing on at the quad, people
bringing their guitars to theirdorm rooms, whatever it is
anyway in our frat house therewas a drum set set up and I had
to be honest with you, I hadnever taken a drum lesson in my
life.
When I was a kid I would go tomy grandparents' house up in
(04:51):
Jersey.
There was a.
My grandfather had a bunch ofmusical equipment and I would
sit down and I would just listento music and try and play along
to the drums.
Anyway, drum set set up, abunch of other guys you know
(05:11):
know, they were big deadheadsand they were playing dead songs
and we just one day startedjamming out and then the band
sort of evolved from there.
So we you know it started outwith a couple other guys.
We had a lead guitar, rhythmguitar, bass player, guy tk
played saxophone and we wereawful but we would, you know,
just jam out.
At that time you were a hugeparty school, so there was
always like parties down theline or at frat houses.
So the band just sort of evolvedfrom there.
The original name wasn't FoxtrotZulu Really, yeah.
(05:31):
So once we started reallythinking that we were going to
be this band and we people kindof dug it and we were able to
play some dead songs and thisguy, nate he had a bunch of
original songs that he wrote.
Anyway, they were takingmilitary science class at the
time.
People were going around theroom saying their names in
military phonetic A guy by thename of Frank Zolfo, a friend of
ours.
He's like Foxtrot Zulu.
(05:53):
We were like that's the name ofthe band.
Wow.
So that's really how we got ourstart.
It really started with doing acouple dead covers, but then it
became all original.
We always laughed because wealways said we were never good
enough to play covers becauseyou had to be so precise and at
the time it was like jam bandtype stuff.
So we were able to do likejammy kind of stuff and it just
sort of evolved from there.
(06:14):
We picked up a trumpet player,paul Miller ended up picking up
a bunch of congas at the frathouse at some point.
Point.
That's how it really started,as we were just started jamming
out and trying to play originalmusic and it just kind of
clicked.
You know, that's how we wentfrom there and then we all got
kicked out of the fraternity.
Yep um, shut down a fraternity.
Somehow, all of the equipmentdrums, everything ended up at
(06:37):
our house down the line ohreally I think ted steve's
helmet.
Yeah, he was living with us.
So there are a couple otherfrat brothers that we all got a
house and I think the stuff justevolved and made it to the
house.
So now we had a practice space.
That's how the band started.
It started with a name ourbuddy Frank Frank Foxtrot Zulu.
Here's a funny thing when weused to get interviewed, you
know, by the school paper, andthen right when we started
(06:59):
getting out there, they wouldask where the name come from and
we would tell people that wewere all on the URI skydiving
team and that was our call sign,that was our call letter for
the URI skydiving team.
It was Foxtrot.
Scott Carney (07:13):
That's awesome.
You guys were the most popularband at the time.
Just crushing it, Everybodywould see it.
I mean, there were lines outthe doors.
It was just pure insanity.
Jeff Roberge (07:21):
You know we were lucky man.
I think we just gelled.
There were seven guys in theband.
We, just to this day we stillget together with our kids.
It's crazy.
We just sort of gelled and thenwe got lucky, we started
playing.
You know the club owners downat URI were real open to having
us play.
And you're right, for whateverreason, it just kind of took off
a little bit and you know wewere playing like sorority gigs
(07:41):
and frat gigs, so fast forward.
So that was in 93 okay 93 iswhen the band started.
yeah, so 93 is when we reallystarted kicking out.
And then around 94 95, when wewere all graduating, we had
someone approach us who offeredus a two record deal.
Small label running dog recordswas the label at that time.
(08:02):
So we went into the studio andwe were like, okay, we're big
time, we're, we're playing URI,we're going to be the next big
thing.
You know, totally naive,totally naive.
But anyway, we bought.
We bought a little mini, a minischool bus, and we started
driving around the East coastand just booking.
It was like quantity overquality, I think.
From 95 to about 98, 99.
(08:26):
I mean, we were doing like over250 shows a year.
Wow, we went home we told ourparents listen, thanks for the
college education, we're goingto be in a band, how'd that go
over.
It was pretty wild, man.
I think we kind of convincedour parents we had this record
deal.
We went in the studio, made acouple albums.
Then you know we're touringaround and then we get then
another record label approach usand signed us to a five album
(08:49):
deal and we ended up makingthree more albums with them.
So yeah, and basically wefunded it all ourselves.
We bought a house in AshwayRhode.
Island a 12 bedroom house thathad like a carriage house where
we could practice.
We all lived there.
It was like very seventieshippie communal and the band
(09:09):
paid all our bills.
We never made a ton of money,we incorporated ourselves.
So we were at Foxtrot Zulu Inc.
The band paid our healthinsurance and all of our, the
house, the food, all that kindof stuff, and we just toured,
drove around, toured it'sawesome.
Scott Carney (09:24):
Obviously we didn't have cell phones back
then.
It was word of mouth and you'dbe walking down the quad and
you'd see someone on Thursday orFriday.
You're like, oh, what are youdoing tonight?
Oh, I'm going to see Foxtrot.
Jeff Roberge (09:32):
It wasn't like you were going to a certain place,
you were going to see a certainband, like you were going to see
you guys of time back then, man, really thankful for people
being into it and just havingthose experiences to look back
on now.
I mean, eventually you have togo on and sort of you know, move
on and get quote unquote realjobs.
Yeah, but 30 years later, youknow, we still.
(09:54):
Last time we played was lastoctober at the ocean wow, how
was it?
it was good man, brad got covid,so we had to cancel the
original show, but we sold outthe Ocean Mist.
This is like don't know, 30years later or something like
that.
Scott Carney (10:06):
That's crazy Wild, that's so wild.
Jeff Roberge (10:08):
Yeah.
Scott Carney (10:08):
So you know, I hopped on Facebook and I
realized that your brother, Mark, is the lead singer of OAR and
I remember meeting your brotherwhen he was 16.
You guys played my graduationparty and I didn't end up
graduating.
I decided to take an extra yearand I didn't end up graduating.
I decided to take an extra yearand I was like, ah, screw it,
(10:28):
We'll just have a party.
So you guys played up on ourback porch and I remember you
guys walked in and you were like, hey, Cardi, can we do a little
pre-gaming?
Can we discuss pre-gaming?
Is it okay to talk about thator should I edit this out after?
Jeff Roberge (10:35):
No, man go for it.
Scott Carney (10:37):
And so we went up to my room and you're like, hey,
do you?
My little brother is here, he'sup from high school.
I was like, nah, nah, that's 16year old kid ripping bong his
dad.
He ends up becoming the leadsinger of oar interesting so
crazy story there, right?
Jeff Roberge (10:53):
so, like you said, my brother mark's still in high
school.
You know, at the time we'retouring, we're thinking we're
the big thing, all this kind ofstuff.
So we go and we used to tour,we'd stop at my parents house in
house in Maryland and we wouldlike stay over there.
So my brother starts talkingabout that he's got this band in
high school that they're doingand great, okay, man, that's
(11:13):
pretty cool.
You guys can open for us at wewere playing like College Park
Maryland.
We were playing like TerrapinStation, college Park Maryland.
Can we open for you guys Like,sure, no problem, we'll give you
a shot, man.
So they opened for you know,fast forward, I don't know, like
three or four months, they hadsomehow connected with the guy
who started Napster.
(11:33):
Wow, so, they write this songcalled Crazy Game of Poker.
They produced their own album,the Father of the Drummer.
He worked at a music store downin DC and was able to hook him
up with some studio time like abasement studio kind of thing.
And they make this first albumand they come out with the song
Crazy Game of Poker.
The guy from Napster puts thatsong on the front page of the
(11:55):
Napster website Wow.
So one of the first songs everyou could download was this
Crazy Game of Poker.
Holy shit, overnight, overnight, every college kid in the
country is downloading crazygame of poker.
So now they're selling theiralbums out of the trunk of a car
.
I would go to my parents' house.
(12:16):
My parents had a mailbox on thefront door.
One of those little flaps andenvelopes with checks would just
get dumped into my parents'house from people buying this
album.
So, yeah, all of a sudden, youknow, oar becomes huge and I
mean I think they've been doingit like 20 years.
They have obviously made asignificant career.
My brother's done a lot ofgreat things.
(12:37):
I think it was like 2018,something like that.
I was like Mark, mark, can weopen for you guys?
So so, yeah, we they were doinga string of tour up and up in
new england, up in maine, in newhampshire, and we got to open
for those guys, and I think weopened for him once in
providence too.
Scott Carney (12:54):
Wow, whole different scene.
Jeff Roberge (12:56):
Yeah, you know we were playing clubs 500 people,
other people yeah, open for oaris a little bit different.
One of my favorite stories withmy brother is they were doing a
tour with Sheryl Crow andSheryl Crow, Ziggy Marley and
Train.
Oh wow, it was like the Jeepsummer tour.
At some point it's going back acouple of years their drummer,
(13:16):
Chris, had to go to a wedding inChicago.
So my brother calls me up andhe's like hey, man, you want to
play drums?
Scott Carney (13:22):
Really, that's awesome.
Jeff Roberge (13:31):
So me up and he's like hey, man, you want to play
drums?
Scott Carney (13:31):
really that's awesome.
So he's like we'll fly you out.
Jeff Roberge (13:32):
So they gave me month, like a month lead time.
I had to go in my basement andlearn their set.
I was like, send me the set.
I'm trying to learn the setjust by listening to it and
trying to play along.
They flew me out to california.
I did four shows with them incalifornia and arizona on that
tour.
Wow, got to party with ZiggyMarley hung out with Sheryl Crow
like played ping pong withSheryl Crow backstage.
So that's my 15 minutespartying with Ziggy Marley
(13:53):
hanging out with Sheryl Crow andplaying drums in a stadium.
That was pretty cool.
Scott Carney (13:57):
That's wild.
So now when you say you knowhanging out with Ziggy Marley,
we're all supposed to assume weknow what that means right,
Everyone knows when you hang outwith a Marley, you know what
you're doing Hanging out talkingOkay.
Jeff Roberge (14:08):
Yeah, let's put it this way You're sitting three
feet across from each other ontwo different couches.
You can't see each other.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, nice.
Scott Carney (14:18):
So how amazing was that to tour with your brother
just like share those memories,and I mean it must have been so
much more to you, obviously,than the other guys just because
of that connection.
But how great is that.
Jeff Roberge (14:27):
It's pretty cool, man.
Our last album we producedourselves and we have a song
called the Ballad of JohnnyBaghdad which is my favorite
Foxtrot song.
But we had Mark come in thestudio with us and he actually
sings half the song with.
Nate Came in and did a uhappearance on one of our albums.
pretty cool it's awesome and tothis day I love seeing mark on
(14:49):
like espn or some sort of musicvideo.
And then you know, we go toshows and people like freak out.
They're like, oh, and I'm likehe's my little brother.
You know like I can still kickhis ass.
Scott Carney (15:04):
I remind him of that.
Jeff Roberge (15:04):
I'm like you should beat your ass.
Scott Carney (15:06):
So how wild was that first time.
Like you witnessed how crazythey actually had gotten.
Do you remember that part thebest?
Jeff Roberge (15:12):
memory that I have of that is when I realized,
like, how big they were.
I want to say it was like 2012,2014.
I can't remember.
They sold out two nights atMadison Square Garden.
Holy shit, so my whole familygoes to the show.
Behind you know, behind thestage downstairs there's all the
green rooms where all theartists are.
Scott Carney (15:31):
Two things.
Jeff Roberge (15:32):
If you sell out Madison Square Garden, they take
a picture of you and they hangit on a wall.
So, when you walk down there,you see pictures of the Rolling
Stones and Muhammad Ali and,like you know, dave, when you
walk down there, you seepictures of the Rolling Stones
and Muhammad Ali and, like youknow, dave Matthews band,
whatever it is.
Yeah, walking down the hallthere's a picture of my brother.
Scott Carney (15:47):
Yeah.
Jeff Roberge (15:47):
Framed picture hanging on the wall in the
basement of Madison SquareGarden because they sold out.
Wow, prior to the show, whenthe stadium is empty and they're
doing soundcheck or whatever.
After soundcheck, I went up onstage and I sat behind the drum
set and looked out at ms andthat was like that was pretty
wild man to like sit there andthen obviously watch that show.
But that was the first memory,uh, that I have.
(16:10):
I mean, there's hundreds ofthem, but that one was pretty
great.
Watching my brother playing asold-out mass in square garden,
that was pretty crazy, yeahthat's awesome.
Scott Carney (16:19):
Going back to our old fraternity days, do you
remember?
Jeff Roberge (16:21):
how about our pledge?
Scott Carney (16:22):
trip.
Oh, I didn't know if we shouldbring that one up, but yeah,
that was absolutely absurd in avan and driving and I remember
going to like wpi and rent salirlike I can't.
Jeff Roberge (16:32):
I mean that was just off the rails.
We're just driving in a vanscavenger hunt.
I mean, obviously you knowthere's code we can't talk about
.
Went on during our likeinitiation.
Yeah super secret, oh, thatcould be super secret, but all
that stuff.
But man, that was such greattimes, I think, for all of us
who went to URI.
We had the benefit of greateducation.
(16:52):
I mean the social scene at URI.
Even to this day when I've gota couple of daughters, their
friends are looking at collegesand I remember those URI days,
man living down the line, I meanwho in their right mind rents a
beach house to four collegekids or five college kids to
live on the beach?
You know, two miles from campus, like in a beautiful beach
(17:16):
house, like I don't know it'spure insanity, crazy.
Scott Carney (17:19):
And also the rent was just like.
You know, at the time you'reprobably like oh God, this is so
expensive, but like we'repaying like two, 50.
And I'm like I have a slidingglass door in my bedroom.
Right now I can see theAtlantic ocean.
Jeff Roberge (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, and everybody, all different college
kids in those like bonnet,shores and Eastward look.
And it was just such a time tohave the social atmosphere.
It was crazy.
And I think that's what madeFoxtrot Zulu successful, because
we would literally play houseparties.
We would set up in people'sbackyards, we bought our own
(17:50):
sound system, we came with ourown speakers.
I mean, we were like, listen,we're going to go where anyone
wants us to come and play.
And that's how it all started,man that— Our party that we had.
Scott Carney (18:00):
We got got a noise ordinance which our neighbors
were super pissed about becausecan't do shit to us, but we had
a noise ordinance.
You guys played on our backdeck.
We had like a ronzio's pizzatruck back in and I was like, oh
man, the pizza trucks pluggedinto our house, the bands
plugged into our house.
This electric bill's gonna hurt.
Jeff Roberge (18:16):
Yeah, we're gonna blow something up, something
like that.
Oh yeah, those were great times, but I think that's where the
band was able to take off.
Scott Carney (18:22):
We were kids.
Jeff Roberge (18:23):
Then Our parents were all supportive of it.
I think that helped.
And then we had a coupleinvestors.
We have people who came out ofthe blues and listen.
We believe in what you guys aredoing.
We'll make albums.
I mean, after our short bus,then we bought a 28 passenger
church bus from Albemarle, northCarolina, from a church Some
Baptist church in Albemarle,north carolina, from a church
(18:44):
some baptist church in albemarle, north north carolina, south
carolina, can't remember.
And we drove that sucker acrossthe country like three times,
from rhode island all the way tocalifornia up to toronto,
canada.
We drove that thing.
We ripped out all the seats inthe inside.
It was like we had a pokertable in the back.
Um, it's awesome.
We drove that thing going overthe mountains in Colorado.
(19:06):
We had to lift the engine coveroff and spray carburetor fluid
into the carburetor so itwouldn't stall.
Guys had to get out and runalongside the bus because we had
too much weight to get up thosemountain passes.
Oh crazy, crazy times, man.
And then eventually we bought avan with a trailer.
We did like what every bandshould do, which is, like you
(19:28):
know, we have a 15 passengerdiesel van with a big ass
trailer on the back.
But yeah, we wasted a lot ofmoney on these big ass old tour
buses Pretty funny.
Scott Carney (19:37):
What'd you do with them?
Did you just sell them back tolike dealers?
Jeff Roberge (19:39):
So here's a crazy band story.
So we were playing gigs, wewere down in North Carolina and
the bus died.
We had to get back to RhodeIsland because Jeff, our trumpet
player, was still working,picking up shifts at like group
homes and stuff like that.
A couple of the guys were, sowe had to get back.
So we took the tags off the bus, we dumped it in a tobacco
field, took the tags off the bus, we rented a U-Haul, put all of
(20:04):
the equipment, we bought bigcrates of ice and put them in
the back of the U-Haul With ourequipment.
We made seats in the back ofthis U-Haul, five of us in the
back of the U-Haul, two peopledriving, and we drove straight
from North Carolina back toRhode Island.
Pitch black in the back, andevery time it got too hot or
someone started bugging out, wehad a broom and you would bang
(20:26):
on the roof of the bang on theroof of the u-haul.
So the guys up front knew topull over to open up the back so
we could get air.
True story.
It's like human trafficking.
True story.
We literally like sitting inthe back of this, you have a
pitch black, someone bugging outor we needed air.
It was like you bang on theroof with a broomstick.
Scott Carney (20:46):
That's awesome.
Jeff Roberge (20:47):
And they pull over .
My guess is the tobacco workersused it as like a hangout,
because we just dumped it inlike a tobacco field somewhere
on some dirt road in the middleof nowhere.
And it's got a poker table,took the plates off it, took the
bin off it and done.
Scott Carney (21:01):
So did you all graduate together?
Jeff Roberge (21:03):
No, I think Brad the bass player.
He's one year younger than me,so our first year we all you
know that first year we stillstayed around URI.
We were living down in Ashway,I think it was, or maybe I can't
remember.
But yeah, we waited for him tograduate and then we were like
we're going to tour, and then wejust started driving around
playing shows.
Scott Carney (21:22):
At what point did you start to get where you're
like, all right, you know whatwe may need to get quote unquote
real jobs.
Jeff Roberge (21:34):
So in 2004, we signed with.
It was called Phoenix Risingwas the record label.
The company was called PhoenixMedia Group and they owned the
King Biscuit Flower Hour.
They owned that catalog.
That goes back like 30 years.
I don't know if your listenerseven know what the King Biscuit
Flower Hour is, but it was abunch of music that radio
stations owned and this companybought it.
Anyway, they decided they weregoing to create a label and they
(21:55):
signed 12 bands right out ofthe gate, a bunch of jam bands,
anyway.
So in 2004, that company got introuble with the state of New
York for tax evasion.
We get a letter in the mail thatsays the state of New York is
seizing all of your merchandise.
So our masters to our albums,our T-shirt, like everything
(22:16):
Seized everything and we're notgetting sued.
But the company's getting sued.
If you want your stuff back,you have to go to court with the
state of New York.
We were like, fuck man.
We like we can't start over.
Now this is.
You know, we've been torn since93.
This is 2004.
Yeah, at that point in time wedecided that we weren't going to
shop for a new label.
(22:37):
Guys were getting married, acouple of guys were starting to
have kids.
We were like, listen, let's dothis for fun.
We had our Rolodex, we hadenough clubs that we could book
shows.
Yeah.
So we were like, listen, let'skeep doing this.
But now it's not a businessanymore.
We're not going to reinvest.
You know, end of the night,everyone's getting a stack of
cash Like that's how we're doingthis.
Yeah, because we still want tokeep doing it, but we're not
(22:58):
going to shop for a new label,we're not going to like, do all
that get, basically start overagain.
So, yeah, that's what happened.
And then guys started to evolveinto sort of like, what's my
next step career wise or what amI going to do?
And that's what happened.
But then we always would tryand book shows when everyone
could get together.
So you know, a couple of guyslive in New Hampshire.
You know Miller lives up inMassachusetts.
(23:19):
I live in Massachusetts.
You know TK's down in SouthernRhode Island.
He owns a restaurant down there, jeff Light's in Connecticut.
So yeah, we're still all closeenough and we would book shows
since 2004, whenever we couldbook shows, and we would just be
like New England, yeah, playingdown in Rhode Island.
You know, we'd venture out.
If my brother would let us open, we'd travel and do a couple
(23:40):
shows here and there.
So to this day we try and it'salways like when can we get a
show together, growing our dates, and if we all got a date,
we'll we typically call kevindown at the ocean mist and be
like, hey, kev, give us a date,yeah, yeah that's amazing, it's
so interesting, it's so cool.
Scott Carney (23:54):
Like you know, I'll see your facebook post and
miller's facebook post and aboutthere's one where you guys had
like a big reunion like all thekids and you know wives, and
we're there.
Jeff Roberge (24:01):
I mean that's amazing that you still can do
that that was like last month,man, that was crazy, so yeah,
and that was at tk's restaurant,so we went down there.
But now we all show up and weall have like a ton of kids and
it's just so weird.
And and brad came and hisparents saved every foxtrot,
zulu, flyer, mailer,advertisement in this.
(24:22):
No, he brought that and we allsat down and went through it,
man, and like I can't remember90 of those times so I don't
remember like all these showsand places and all that stuff.
So he showed up with this thing, but our kids sit around, my
daughter and her friends.
One of their favorite songs islike Johnny Baghdad so they
drive around town now andthey're you know, she's 17 and
(24:44):
they're cranking Johnny Bagdadin their car, and that always
cracks me up.
Scott Carney (24:48):
That's so crazy.
You had a whole new generationof fans.
Jeff Roberge (24:51):
So yeah, we were trying to see if we can get a
show like around Labor Dayweekend down at the Miss.
We're working on it.
Scott Carney (24:56):
So when was the first time you have what?
Two daughters.
I have three daughters, threedaughters.
When was the first time thatthey saw you play?
Jeff Roberge (25:02):
So the first time they saw us play.
We were opening for my brotherin Providence.
Scott Carney (25:06):
Wow, so they came up.
Jeff Roberge (25:07):
I forget the name of the club in Providence, but
that was the first time that Iand they may have seen us at the
Ocean.
Mist my memory because therewas a.
There's a big balcony at thisclub and I remember seeing my
daughter standing at the balconywhile we were playing, and I
think at that point they'dalways heard about the band,
we'd talk about it.
But you know, I don't think theyever could make the connection
(25:30):
that we were actually like aband, like knew what we were
doing.
Yeah, I think they thought wewere just sort of these like
guys like you know, garage bandkind of not really didn't really
have songs, like when they sawus play and like do a set.
I think that was when we werelike oh, you guys are actually
like a band, band Like well,yeah, I mean.
Scott Carney (25:49):
You have earpieces in.
Jeff Roberge (25:50):
Like we actually kind of know what we're doing.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
Scott Carney (25:54):
That'd be such a special moment I can't even
imagine.
Jeff Roberge (25:57):
Yeah, but you know my daughters don't know what
it's like to go to like a bigconcert and have to sit in
obstructed view.
Yeah, right Because my daughtersget hooked up by my brother and
if OAR is playing they get VIPbackstage pass.
They get assigned securityguards who escort them around.
(26:18):
They go to staff services andsit at the table.
They get to meet the other.
You know artists, so they'vemet.
You know all these like famouspeople.
Yeah, they'll like text, uncleMarky, and be like hey, can you
get me tickets to you know thisor that?
They have no idea.
They have no idea what it'slike to like be in the
nosebleeds and, like you know,have someone throw up on you or
(26:44):
like burn you with a joint onyour neck, like drops hot ash on
you.
They don't know that's funny.
Scott Carney (26:47):
I remember, uh, I went to u2 with denis santos.
We went um and it was like afriday night and I imbibed way
too much and I went to go to thebar and I slipped down one of
the concrete stairs the gardenand I went down the concrete
stairs on my ass, like 10 ofthem covered in mud.
I was like son of a bitch.
I worked for Sam Adams forabout 19 years.
On the weekends I would givetours and I was given a tour
(27:09):
that the next day and I washurting and I was like, hey, you
know, I apologize, it wasBoston U2.
So everybody was freaking out.
I said I apologize, I'm alittle off.
I went to U2 last night and thegirl goes that's where I know
you from and she grabs herboyfriend's shoulder and she
goes.
You slid by us in row 32c.
Oh, that's hilarious, man,ridiculous that's hilarious.
Jeff Roberge (27:28):
When I was a kid, u2 is the first concert I ever
went to.
I slept out for two days atlike montgomery mall in maryland
to get tickets to see u2 joshuatree tour, one of the first
concerts I remember as a kid manoh wow.
Scott Carney (27:42):
Do you remember I was going back to our pledge
trip?
Do you remember the Theta Chione of the schools?
It was Lehigh or Lafayette.
They gave us tickets to go to aconcert.
It was like their homecoming.
Yeah, and we went to.
It was like spin doctors andsomebody else.
Oh my God, I slept through thespin doctors because I was so
tired.
Jeff Roberge (27:59):
I mean that's going way back, man.
Scott Carney (28:00):
Yeah, because all those bands at that time they
were coming up and they're doingall the college gigs and
they're doing all that kind ofstuff.
Then doctors yeah, they had acouple of you.
I think you guys also benefitedfrom just the period that we
were in at that point.
Yeah, the 90s was just such aninsane time for music.
When you were younger if youhad to be a metalhead or you
(28:21):
liked rap, like you didn't likeall kinds of music, and then
when we got the 90s kind ofbranched out, you could like
reggae and rap.
Every band I think benefitedfrom that.
Jeff Roberge (28:29):
That cultural shift I like I agree, man.
I think we were like rightplace, right time because people
were so interested in livemusic and bands, so like there
was an appetite in the collegecircuits to book bands.
Yeah, nowadays it's not so muchright.
I mean the type of music that'susually getting booked at some
of these.
You know, when you're coming upand you're booking college gig
(28:50):
and you're booking small venues,the music industry is different
.
Now it's rap and or EDM kind ofstuff, which is all great.
I love it all.
But, yeah, man, and there wereso many good bands in the 90s.
You know everything from moreof like the poppy stuff to like
the grungy stuff.
We played a lot of good bands,man, and saw a lot of good bands
.
Scott Carney (29:11):
I know you guys did a lot of festivals and stuff
like that.
You know who are some of thebands that ended up turning out
to be really big and popularthat you guys played with back
then.
Jeff Roberge (29:17):
Oh, god, disco Biscuits.
They're still doing their thing, an EDM kind of techno shows
and stuff like that, but theyboarded with us a lot Widespread
Panic, oh wow, which have beenaround longer than us.
But I mean, like we did showsand they're still huge.
Yeah, god, who else?
Government Mule, which is likeAllman Brothers.
(29:38):
I remember we'd play with thoseguys and they were a huge band
too.
I'm just thinking of in ourrealm, I don't know, man, the
memories are, you know, rightfelicia earned.
Scott Carney (29:49):
You earned that ability to not remember half
that shit.
Jeff Roberge (29:52):
One of the coolest shows, I think we're playing in
connecticut and we opened formaceo parker.
Maceo parker is a sack playerfor james brown.
I remember that show beingpretty freaking awesome, yeah,
and wondering how the hell didwe get on this bill with Maceo
Parker?
But we have opened.
Funniest opening stories is wewere playing the living room in
(30:12):
Providence, rhode Island.
Oh yeah, and I'll bring up areally sad thing really quick.
This is right after the stationfire in Rhode Island and your
listeners probably don't know,but the station fire was this
yes, thing that happened at aclub in I believe it's warwick,
rhode island, where there was afire and a lot of people lost
their lives yeah after thatstate of rhode island rightfully
(30:34):
so became very strict aboutfire suppression systems and
alarms and all this stuff, sothat every club had to have like
inspections, all kinds of stuff.
Well, anyway, we're playing atthe living room and Sebastian
Bach is playing at the Strand inProvidence, the Strand.
That night one of the firealarms on the wall didn't work,
(30:56):
so they shut the show down, sothey moved the Sebastian Bach
show over to the living room.
But we were playing the livingroom, so Sebastian Bach opened
for us at the living room and Iremember and I remember and it
was so wild because we're likejam band and then you got like
the heavy metal crew that allcame to the living room so they
(31:18):
changed the time of the show andSebastian Bach went on first
and then we played after.
That was the wildest thing.
There was a little person in theaudience and he got the little
person up on stage and put heron his shoulders while he was
playing and she ended up hittingher head on one of the lights
that hang down nice, jesus.
(31:41):
And like he, literally it waslike it was like spinal tap, it
was like on the mic stand.
They literally wrote and tapedProvidence, because you know how
they're like hey, providence,you're welcome.
They literally did that, so heknew where he was.
Then he got in a Winnebagoafter their show, gets in a
Winnebago and drives away.
Scott Carney (32:01):
Right in style, crazy.
Thing.
Jeff Roberge (32:03):
That's another crazy story from way back in the
day.
Sebastian Bach, yeah, whackedher head right on one of those
lights oh, a little person'shead hanging down at the stage
oh boom.
Scott Carney (32:13):
Oh god, she probably still has a burn mark
but that was a pretty well that.
Jeff Roberge (32:17):
That's always a story like oh yeah, we play with
sebastian bach.
I think his song was like 18 inlife I think you're right.
Scott Carney (32:24):
We'll shazam it later.
I mentioned our fraternitybrother ron gomes.
Like 18 in life, 18 in life,you got it.
That was fun.
I think you're right.
We'll Shazam it later.
I mentioned our fraternitybrother, ron Gomes.
He was such a good buddy toboth of us.
He was such a big brother toboth of us.
Yeah, any fun Ron stories forus.
Jeff Roberge (32:38):
Thanks for bringing that back up, man.
You know, we all.
It's very interesting.
A lot of us have stayed intouch and you know good, bad and
ugly about Facebook andFacebook had really kept a lot
of us knowing what each other'sdoing and it was.
It was really sad to hear thestruggle that he went through
for a couple of years withcancer.
But I remember in ourfraternity where I was like sort
(32:59):
of the older statesman Yep, hewas the older statesman and he
sort of was like almost like ina weird way like the godfather.
So his room was like at theback right of the first floor of
the frat house I think.
Right, yeah, and that's sort ofwhere, like when we were coming
into the fraternity, whereyoung guys were like if you got
(33:20):
invited back to Ron's room, ohyeah, you knew you were in Right
Like.
You knew, like you got to hangout with Ron, yeah, and he had
this amazing girlfriend Julie.
They ended up getting married,yeah, but she was around a lot
and you know Ron was just, hejust was like this even keel guy
Great laugh, just kind person.
You know all the brothers,really you'd go to Ron for
(33:42):
advice or to hear.
He just kind of knew what wasgoing on and I remember you know
he taught me how to playcribbage.
Um, he also, you know, in someway kept us on the straight and
narrow at times, because youknow it's real easy to sit in
your frat house all day and donothing yeah, but he was
definitely one of those guyslike now get out, go to class,
you know, do what you need to do.
It's okay to you know, have afun lifestyle around here, but
(34:02):
he was never somebody you know,have a fun lifestyle around here
, but he was never somebody youknow.
He always knew why it wasimportant for us to still do the
right thing.
Yeah, um, not fall into thatlike fraternity, brother
bullshit kind of stuff.
Scott Carney (34:14):
Yeah.
Jeff Roberge (34:15):
Yeah, Just a kind guy, Just you know.
Scott Carney (34:17):
So you looked up to him yeah, like instantly,
like it's funny you say that,like, is that that's the truth?
If you were able to hang outthere one time, sit on that
couch and you're, you know, siton his couch in front of that
table.
Jeff Roberge (34:31):
And you know, that's where I was first exposed
to Jenga.
Scott Carney (34:33):
Yeah, and I mean, he was such a great guy, he
could drink his weight in beerand ketchup.
Jeff Roberge (34:39):
I was going to say I just remember he loved
ketchup, Everything ketchup.
Scott Carney (34:42):
Such a good guy.
But may he rest in peace.
He's such a sweetheart, andthoughts and prayers for Julie
and his kids.
Jeff Roberge (34:49):
Yeah, I know so many people were really
devastated to hear about hisloss because I know he's touched
the lives of his family.
Certainly us knowing him backthen, but great guy, Always a
shout out to Ron Gomes,definitely.
Scott Carney (35:03):
Well, Jeff, this has been awesome going down
memory lane with your brother.
Thank you so much for sittingdown with us.
Jeff Roberge (35:07):
It's great to see you, man.
It's so good to see you, and Ido see your stuff on Facebook
and I knew you were down inCarolina, so yeah.
So I was so happy when youreached out, I was like, fuck
yeah, I'll definitely do thatno-transcript I mean, that was
(35:37):
stone from like 1991 to like2004 I can confirm that.
My next two interviews with Jeff Roberge and
Paul Miller are special ones.
Not only did we all live on thesame floor in the first year
the University of Rhode Islandhad an all-freshman dorm shout
out to Browning Hall but wepledged our fraternity Theta Chi
Eta chapter together at theUniversity of Rhode Island.
Cue the police sirens.
No, just kidding.
I'm excited and honored to havethem both on for what is
(00:20):
essentially a two-part episode.
I'd like to dedicate both thoseparts to the memory of our
recently passed fraternitybrother, ronald Gomes.
A great guy, awesome in everyway, a big brother to all, a
loving husband and dad, gone waytoo soon.
Two words fuck cancer.
My guest today is Jeff Roberge.
Jeff and I are fraternitybrothers of the long gone but
(00:40):
yet somehow back Theta Chi Etachapter at the University of
Rhode Island.
Jeff is the drummer and rhythmicbackbone to the almost
30-year-old jam band FoxtrotZulu.
The seven-member band formedthe University of Rhode Island
in 1995, where they ruled theURI bar scene throughout the
mid-90s and then branching outto dominate the New England
regional music scene for theremainder of the 1900s and later
(01:00):
touring the rest of the USthrough the early 2000s with the
likes of Howie Day and theiconic OAR.
I witnessed countless anddynamic performances from the
band in the mid-90s at Rhodey,watering Holes, bonview Inn and
Ocean Mist.
I'm not sure if the guysremember, but they also played a
graduation party at my house in1995.
But then I didn't end upgraduating until 1996, so that's
another show for another day,but a bunch of us would always
(01:23):
catch the guys when they'd go upto Boston too.
If you listen to their musicand you don't move in some way,
you should seek immediatemedical attention.
Seriously, jeff Roberge,welcome to Cardi Saves the World
.
Jeff Roberge (01:34):
Scott, I can't believe that we're doing this,
man.
It seems like yesterday.
I mean, you know, you and Iwere like we're old now, but man
, those are some great timesback at URI.
And thanks for the shout out toRon.
I mean you and I both know thatguy.
We were young guys back thenand he helped shape us and he
certainly gave us plenty of goodadvice when we needed it most.
(01:56):
So much love goes out to RonCombs man.
But yeah, scott, great to seeyou.
I love the fact you have apodcast and, yeah, let's talk,
man.
Scott Carney (02:05):
Yeah, this is awesome.
I was trying to think it's beenprobably 20, 23, 24 years,
because we saw you guys at leasta couple times up in Boston
after we graduated, so maybelike 98, 99.
Jeff Roberge (02:15):
So before we dig in, man, I just seen you on the
screen.
Right now we're talking.
I got to tell you about one ofmy first memories that I have of
Browning Hall.
We're moving in, freshman yearmoving in.
I'm there with my parents.
Whatever, get into those like.
They look like jail cell dormrooms that we lived in.
So I'm walking down the halland I think you and a couple of
the other guys are like twodoors over.
(02:36):
Anyway, I'm walking past theroom and you guys had an empty
room, except the only thing setup were these two giant speakers
and a stereo system and youguys are like cranking music and
yeah, dennis is dancing in themiddle of the of the dorm room
like that is like one of thefirst memories.
I have no clothes unpacked,nothing, just two giant speakers
(02:59):
and dennis and you and I'veDave Bettencourt are like
dancing in the dorm room.
Anyway, funny story.
Yeah, it's funny.
Scott Carney (03:10):
I was trying to remember.
My first memory of you is itwas like a meet and greet, so
we're like everybody moved inand we're outside and we were
all talking.
I don't know if you rememberthis, but it's one of the
funniest things I've ever seenlive.
You went to take a sip of sodaand like a beef fluid and stung
you.
Jeff Roberge (03:26):
Think about yeah, so think about like you know,
young kid, I'm coming up fromMaryland, don't know anybody.
You're going to that firstevent where you're trying to,
like you know, meet chicks andbe cool.
I take a swig of a soda, a beefflies and stings me under my
lower lip and my lip swells upand I'm just that guy.
(03:48):
That guy.
It was like out of a movie man.
I had to go hide in my dormroom the first day when
everyone's meeting everyonebecause I got stung in the face
by a bee.
Yeah, crazy.
Scott Carney (03:59):
Crazy.
Oh, it kills me.
I was thinking about it theother day and I was tearing up
oh, that's the funniest thing,because you were so upset.
You were like that was like thefirst thing.
Like we all go outside.
We're like all right, we got tomeet the girls in the freshman
dorm, let's go.
Jeff Roberge (04:09):
Oh yeah, you got to be cool, right.
Scott Carney (04:13):
You know it's like that's your first impression
and I blew it, man, million ofthem that are hanging out on our
every word right now.
Can you just give us a a littlebit of a backstory of how the
band you're in foxtrot, zulu,started at uri?
Jeff Roberge (04:29):
yeah, and so pretty interesting story, man.
So, um, back then there was alot of live music happening at
uri, everywhere, from stuffgoing on at the quad, people
bringing their guitars to theirdorm rooms, whatever it is
anyway in our frat house therewas a drum set set up and I had
to be honest with you, I hadnever taken a drum lesson in my
life.
When I was a kid I would go tomy grandparents' house up in
(04:51):
Jersey.
There was a.
My grandfather had a bunch ofmusical equipment and I would
sit down and I would just listento music and try and play along
to the drums.
Anyway, drum set set up, abunch of other guys you know
(05:11):
know, they were big deadheadsand they were playing dead songs
and we just one day startedjamming out and then the band
sort of evolved from there.
So we you know it started outwith a couple other guys.
We had a lead guitar, rhythmguitar, bass player, guy tk
played saxophone and we wereawful but we would, you know,
just jam out.
At that time you were a hugeparty school, so there was
always like parties down theline or at frat houses.
So the band just sort of evolvedfrom there.
The original name wasn't FoxtrotZulu Really, yeah.
(05:31):
So once we started reallythinking that we were going to
be this band and we people kindof dug it and we were able to
play some dead songs and thisguy, nate he had a bunch of
original songs that he wrote.
Anyway, they were takingmilitary science class at the
time.
People were going around theroom saying their names in
military phonetic A guy by thename of Frank Zolfo, a friend of
ours.
He's like Foxtrot Zulu.
(05:53):
We were like that's the name ofthe band.
Wow.
So that's really how we got ourstart.
It really started with doing acouple dead covers, but then it
became all original.
We always laughed because wealways said we were never good
enough to play covers becauseyou had to be so precise and at
the time it was like jam bandtype stuff.
So we were able to do likejammy kind of stuff and it just
sort of evolved from there.
(06:14):
We picked up a trumpet player,paul Miller ended up picking up
a bunch of congas at the frathouse at some point.
Point.
That's how it really started,as we were just started jamming
out and trying to play originalmusic and it just kind of
clicked.
You know, that's how we wentfrom there and then we all got
kicked out of the fraternity.
Yep um, shut down a fraternity.
Somehow, all of the equipmentdrums, everything ended up at
(06:37):
our house down the line ohreally I think ted steve's
helmet.
Yeah, he was living with us.
So there are a couple otherfrat brothers that we all got a
house and I think the stuff justevolved and made it to the
house.
So now we had a practice space.
That's how the band started.
It started with a name ourbuddy Frank Frank Foxtrot Zulu.
Here's a funny thing when weused to get interviewed, you
know, by the school paper, andthen right when we started
(06:59):
getting out there, they wouldask where the name come from and
we would tell people that wewere all on the URI skydiving
team and that was our call sign,that was our call letter for
the URI skydiving team.
It was Foxtrot.
Scott Carney (07:13):
That's awesome.
You guys were the most popularband at the time.
Just crushing it, Everybodywould see it.
I mean, there were lines outthe doors.
It was just pure insanity.
Jeff Roberge (07:21):
You know we were lucky man.
I think we just gelled.
There were seven guys in theband.
We, just to this day we stillget together with our kids.
It's crazy.
We just sort of gelled and thenwe got lucky, we started
playing.
You know the club owners downat URI were real open to having
us play.
And you're right, for whateverreason, it just kind of took off
a little bit and you know wewere playing like sorority gigs
(07:41):
and frat gigs, so fast forward.
So that was in 93 okay 93 iswhen the band started.
yeah, so 93 is when we reallystarted kicking out.
And then around 94 95, when wewere all graduating, we had
someone approach us who offeredus a two record deal.
Small label running dog recordswas the label at that time.
(08:02):
So we went into the studio andwe were like, okay, we're big
time, we're, we're playing URI,we're going to be the next big
thing.
You know, totally naive,totally naive.
But anyway, we bought.
We bought a little mini, a minischool bus, and we started
driving around the East coastand just booking.
It was like quantity overquality, I think.
From 95 to about 98, 99.
(08:26):
I mean, we were doing like over250 shows a year.
Wow, we went home we told ourparents listen, thanks for the
college education, we're goingto be in a band, how'd that go
over.
It was pretty wild, man.
I think we kind of convincedour parents we had this record
deal.
We went in the studio, made acouple albums.
Then you know we're touringaround and then we get then
another record label approach usand signed us to a five album
(08:49):
deal and we ended up makingthree more albums with them.
So yeah, and basically wefunded it all ourselves.
We bought a house in AshwayRhode.
Island a 12 bedroom house thathad like a carriage house where
we could practice.
We all lived there.
It was like very seventieshippie communal and the band
(09:09):
paid all our bills.
We never made a ton of money,we incorporated ourselves.
So we were at Foxtrot Zulu Inc.
The band paid our healthinsurance and all of our, the
house, the food, all that kindof stuff, and we just toured,
drove around, toured it'sawesome.
Scott Carney (09:24):
Obviously we didn't have cell phones back
then.
It was word of mouth and you'dbe walking down the quad and
you'd see someone on Thursday orFriday.
You're like, oh, what are youdoing tonight?
Oh, I'm going to see Foxtrot.
Jeff Roberge (09:32):
It wasn't like you were going to a certain place,
you were going to see a certainband, like you were going to see
you guys of time back then, man, really thankful for people
being into it and just havingthose experiences to look back
on now.
I mean, eventually you have togo on and sort of you know, move
on and get quote unquote realjobs.
Yeah, but 30 years later, youknow, we still.
(09:54):
Last time we played was lastoctober at the ocean wow, how
was it?
it was good man, brad got covid,so we had to cancel the
original show, but we sold outthe Ocean Mist.
This is like don't know, 30years later or something like
that.
Scott Carney (10:06):
That's crazy Wild, that's so wild.
Jeff Roberge (10:08):
Yeah.
Scott Carney (10:08):
So you know, I hopped on Facebook and I
realized that your brother, Mark, is the lead singer of OAR and
I remember meeting your brotherwhen he was 16.
You guys played my graduationparty and I didn't end up
graduating.
I decided to take an extra yearand I didn't end up graduating.
I decided to take an extra yearand I was like, ah, screw it,
(10:28):
We'll just have a party.
So you guys played up on ourback porch and I remember you
guys walked in and you were like, hey, Cardi, can we do a little
pre-gaming?
Can we discuss pre-gaming?
Is it okay to talk about thator should I edit this out after?
Jeff Roberge (10:35):
No, man go for it.
Scott Carney (10:37):
And so we went up to my room and you're like, hey,
do you?
My little brother is here, he'sup from high school.
I was like, nah, nah, that's 16year old kid ripping bong his
dad.
He ends up becoming the leadsinger of oar interesting so
crazy story there, right?
Jeff Roberge (10:53):
so, like you said, my brother mark's still in high
school.
You know, at the time we'retouring, we're thinking we're
the big thing, all this kind ofstuff.
So we go and we used to tour,we'd stop at my parents house in
house in Maryland and we wouldlike stay over there.
So my brother starts talkingabout that he's got this band in
high school that they're doingand great, okay, man, that's
(11:13):
pretty cool.
You guys can open for us at wewere playing like College Park
Maryland.
We were playing like TerrapinStation, college Park Maryland.
Can we open for you guys Like,sure, no problem, we'll give you
a shot, man.
So they opened for you know,fast forward, I don't know, like
three or four months, they hadsomehow connected with the guy
who started Napster.
(11:33):
Wow, so, they write this songcalled Crazy Game of Poker.
They produced their own album,the Father of the Drummer.
He worked at a music store downin DC and was able to hook him
up with some studio time like abasement studio kind of thing.
And they make this first albumand they come out with the song
Crazy Game of Poker.
The guy from Napster puts thatsong on the front page of the
(11:55):
Napster website Wow.
So one of the first songs everyou could download was this
Crazy Game of Poker.
Holy shit, overnight, overnight, every college kid in the
country is downloading crazygame of poker.
So now they're selling theiralbums out of the trunk of a car
.
I would go to my parents' house.
(12:16):
My parents had a mailbox on thefront door.
One of those little flaps andenvelopes with checks would just
get dumped into my parents'house from people buying this
album.
So, yeah, all of a sudden, youknow, oar becomes huge and I
mean I think they've been doingit like 20 years.
They have obviously made asignificant career.
My brother's done a lot ofgreat things.
(12:37):
I think it was like 2018,something like that.
I was like Mark, mark, can weopen for you guys?
So so, yeah, we they were doinga string of tour up and up in
new england, up in maine, in newhampshire, and we got to open
for those guys, and I think weopened for him once in
providence too.
Scott Carney (12:54):
Wow, whole different scene.
Jeff Roberge (12:56):
Yeah, you know we were playing clubs 500 people,
other people yeah, open for oaris a little bit different.
One of my favorite stories withmy brother is they were doing a
tour with Sheryl Crow andSheryl Crow, Ziggy Marley and
Train.
Oh wow, it was like the Jeepsummer tour.
At some point it's going back acouple of years their drummer,
(13:16):
Chris, had to go to a wedding inChicago.
So my brother calls me up andhe's like hey, man, you want to
play drums?
Scott Carney (13:22):
Really, that's awesome.
Jeff Roberge (13:31):
So me up and he's like hey, man, you want to play
drums?
Scott Carney (13:31):
really that's awesome.
So he's like we'll fly you out.
Jeff Roberge (13:32):
So they gave me month, like a month lead time.
I had to go in my basement andlearn their set.
I was like, send me the set.
I'm trying to learn the setjust by listening to it and
trying to play along.
They flew me out to california.
I did four shows with them incalifornia and arizona on that
tour.
Wow, got to party with ZiggyMarley hung out with Sheryl Crow
like played ping pong withSheryl Crow backstage.
So that's my 15 minutespartying with Ziggy Marley
(13:53):
hanging out with Sheryl Crow andplaying drums in a stadium.
That was pretty cool.
Scott Carney (13:57):
That's wild.
So now when you say you knowhanging out with Ziggy Marley,
we're all supposed to assume weknow what that means right,
Everyone knows when you hang outwith a Marley, you know what
you're doing Hanging out talkingOkay.
Jeff Roberge (14:08):
Yeah, let's put it this way You're sitting three
feet across from each other ontwo different couches.
You can't see each other.
Do you know what I'm saying?
Yeah, nice.
Scott Carney (14:18):
So how amazing was that to tour with your brother
just like share those memories,and I mean it must have been so
much more to you, obviously,than the other guys just because
of that connection.
But how great is that.
Jeff Roberge (14:27):
It's pretty cool, man.
Our last album we producedourselves and we have a song
called the Ballad of JohnnyBaghdad which is my favorite
Foxtrot song.
But we had Mark come in thestudio with us and he actually
sings half the song with.
Nate Came in and did a uhappearance on one of our albums.
pretty cool it's awesome and tothis day I love seeing mark on
(14:49):
like espn or some sort of musicvideo.
And then you know, we go toshows and people like freak out.
They're like, oh, and I'm likehe's my little brother.
You know like I can still kickhis ass.
Scott Carney (15:04):
I remind him of that.
Jeff Roberge (15:04):
I'm like you should beat your ass.
Scott Carney (15:06):
So how wild was that first time.
Like you witnessed how crazythey actually had gotten.
Do you remember that part thebest?
Jeff Roberge (15:12):
memory that I have of that is when I realized,
like, how big they were.
I want to say it was like 2012,2014.
I can't remember.
They sold out two nights atMadison Square Garden.
Holy shit, so my whole familygoes to the show.
Behind you know, behind thestage downstairs there's all the
green rooms where all theartists are.
Scott Carney (15:31):
Two things.
Jeff Roberge (15:32):
If you sell out Madison Square Garden, they take
a picture of you and they hangit on a wall.
So, when you walk down there,you see pictures of the Rolling
Stones and Muhammad Ali and,like you know, dave, when you
walk down there, you seepictures of the Rolling Stones
and Muhammad Ali and, like youknow, dave Matthews band,
whatever it is.
Yeah, walking down the hallthere's a picture of my brother.
Scott Carney (15:47):
Yeah.
Jeff Roberge (15:47):
Framed picture hanging on the wall in the
basement of Madison SquareGarden because they sold out.
Wow, prior to the show, whenthe stadium is empty and they're
doing soundcheck or whatever.
After soundcheck, I went up onstage and I sat behind the drum
set and looked out at ms andthat was like that was pretty
wild man to like sit there andthen obviously watch that show.
But that was the first memory,uh, that I have.
(16:10):
I mean, there's hundreds ofthem, but that one was pretty
great.
Watching my brother playing asold-out mass in square garden,
that was pretty crazy, yeahthat's awesome.
Scott Carney (16:19):
Going back to our old fraternity days, do you
remember?
Jeff Roberge (16:21):
how about our pledge?
Scott Carney (16:22):
trip.
Oh, I didn't know if we shouldbring that one up, but yeah,
that was absolutely absurd in avan and driving and I remember
going to like wpi and rent salirlike I can't.
Jeff Roberge (16:32):
I mean that was just off the rails.
We're just driving in a vanscavenger hunt.
I mean, obviously you knowthere's code we can't talk about
.
Went on during our likeinitiation.
Yeah super secret, oh, thatcould be super secret, but all
that stuff.
But man, that was such greattimes, I think, for all of us
who went to URI.
We had the benefit of greateducation.
(16:52):
I mean the social scene at URI.
Even to this day when I've gota couple of daughters, their
friends are looking at collegesand I remember those URI days,
man living down the line, I meanwho in their right mind rents a
beach house to four collegekids or five college kids to
live on the beach?
You know, two miles from campus, like in a beautiful beach
(17:16):
house, like I don't know it'spure insanity, crazy.
Scott Carney (17:19):
And also the rent was just like.
You know, at the time you'reprobably like oh God, this is so
expensive, but like we'repaying like two, 50.
And I'm like I have a slidingglass door in my bedroom.
Right now I can see theAtlantic ocean.
Jeff Roberge (17:28):
Yeah, yeah, and everybody, all different college
kids in those like bonnet,shores and Eastward look.
And it was just such a time tohave the social atmosphere.
It was crazy.
And I think that's what madeFoxtrot Zulu successful, because
we would literally play houseparties.
We would set up in people'sbackyards, we bought our own
(17:50):
sound system, we came with ourown speakers.
I mean, we were like, listen,we're going to go where anyone
wants us to come and play.
And that's how it all started,man that— Our party that we had.
Scott Carney (18:00):
We got got a noise ordinance which our neighbors
were super pissed about becausecan't do shit to us, but we had
a noise ordinance.
You guys played on our backdeck.
We had like a ronzio's pizzatruck back in and I was like, oh
man, the pizza trucks pluggedinto our house, the bands
plugged into our house.
This electric bill's gonna hurt.
Jeff Roberge (18:16):
Yeah, we're gonna blow something up, something
like that.
Oh yeah, those were great times, but I think that's where the
band was able to take off.
Scott Carney (18:22):
We were kids.
Jeff Roberge (18:23):
Then Our parents were all supportive of it.
I think that helped.
And then we had a coupleinvestors.
We have people who came out ofthe blues and listen.
We believe in what you guys aredoing.
We'll make albums.
I mean, after our short bus,then we bought a 28 passenger
church bus from Albemarle, northCarolina, from a church Some
Baptist church in Albemarle,north carolina, from a church
(18:44):
some baptist church in albemarle, north north carolina, south
carolina, can't remember.
And we drove that sucker acrossthe country like three times,
from rhode island all the way tocalifornia up to toronto,
canada.
We drove that thing.
We ripped out all the seats inthe inside.
It was like we had a pokertable in the back.
Um, it's awesome.
We drove that thing going overthe mountains in Colorado.
(19:06):
We had to lift the engine coveroff and spray carburetor fluid
into the carburetor so itwouldn't stall.
Guys had to get out and runalongside the bus because we had
too much weight to get up thosemountain passes.
Oh crazy, crazy times, man.
And then eventually we bought avan with a trailer.
We did like what every bandshould do, which is, like you
(19:28):
know, we have a 15 passengerdiesel van with a big ass
trailer on the back.
But yeah, we wasted a lot ofmoney on these big ass old tour
buses Pretty funny.
Scott Carney (19:37):
What'd you do with them?
Did you just sell them back tolike dealers?
Jeff Roberge (19:39):
So here's a crazy band story.
So we were playing gigs, wewere down in North Carolina and
the bus died.
We had to get back to RhodeIsland because Jeff, our trumpet
player, was still working,picking up shifts at like group
homes and stuff like that.
A couple of the guys were, sowe had to get back.
So we took the tags off the bus, we dumped it in a tobacco
field, took the tags off the bus, we rented a U-Haul, put all of
(20:04):
the equipment, we bought bigcrates of ice and put them in
the back of the U-Haul With ourequipment.
We made seats in the back ofthis U-Haul, five of us in the
back of the U-Haul, two peopledriving, and we drove straight
from North Carolina back toRhode Island.
Pitch black in the back, andevery time it got too hot or
someone started bugging out, wehad a broom and you would bang
(20:26):
on the roof of the bang on theroof of the u-haul.
So the guys up front knew topull over to open up the back so
we could get air.
True story.
It's like human trafficking.
True story.
We literally like sitting inthe back of this, you have a
pitch black, someone bugging outor we needed air.
It was like you bang on theroof with a broomstick.
Scott Carney (20:46):
That's awesome.
Jeff Roberge (20:47):
And they pull over .
My guess is the tobacco workersused it as like a hangout,
because we just dumped it inlike a tobacco field somewhere
on some dirt road in the middleof nowhere.
And it's got a poker table,took the plates off it, took the
bin off it and done.
Scott Carney (21:01):
So did you all graduate together?
Jeff Roberge (21:03):
No, I think Brad the bass player.
He's one year younger than me,so our first year we all you
know that first year we stillstayed around URI.
We were living down in Ashway,I think it was, or maybe I can't
remember.
But yeah, we waited for him tograduate and then we were like
we're going to tour, and then wejust started driving around
playing shows.
Scott Carney (21:22):
At what point did you start to get where you're
like, all right, you know whatwe may need to get quote unquote
real jobs.
Jeff Roberge (21:34):
So in 2004, we signed with.
It was called Phoenix Risingwas the record label.
The company was called PhoenixMedia Group and they owned the
King Biscuit Flower Hour.
They owned that catalog.
That goes back like 30 years.
I don't know if your listenerseven know what the King Biscuit
Flower Hour is, but it was abunch of music that radio
stations owned and this companybought it.
Anyway, they decided they weregoing to create a label and they
(21:55):
signed 12 bands right out ofthe gate, a bunch of jam bands,
anyway.
So in 2004, that company got introuble with the state of New
York for tax evasion.
We get a letter in the mail thatsays the state of New York is
seizing all of your merchandise.
So our masters to our albums,our T-shirt, like everything
(22:16):
Seized everything and we're notgetting sued.
But the company's getting sued.
If you want your stuff back,you have to go to court with the
state of New York.
We were like, fuck man.
We like we can't start over.
Now this is.
You know, we've been torn since93.
This is 2004.
Yeah, at that point in time wedecided that we weren't going to
shop for a new label.
(22:37):
Guys were getting married, acouple of guys were starting to
have kids.
We were like, listen, let's dothis for fun.
We had our Rolodex, we hadenough clubs that we could book
shows.
Yeah.
So we were like, listen, let'skeep doing this.
But now it's not a businessanymore.
We're not going to reinvest.
You know, end of the night,everyone's getting a stack of
cash Like that's how we're doingthis.
Yeah, because we still want tokeep doing it, but we're not
(22:58):
going to shop for a new label,we're not going to like, do all
that get, basically start overagain.
So, yeah, that's what happened.
And then guys started to evolveinto sort of like, what's my
next step career wise or what amI going to do?
And that's what happened.
But then we always would tryand book shows when everyone
could get together.
So you know, a couple of guyslive in New Hampshire.
You know Miller lives up inMassachusetts.
(23:19):
I live in Massachusetts.
You know TK's down in SouthernRhode Island.
He owns a restaurant down there, jeff Light's in Connecticut.
So yeah, we're still all closeenough and we would book shows
since 2004, whenever we couldbook shows, and we would just be
like New England, yeah, playingdown in Rhode Island.
You know, we'd venture out.
If my brother would let us open, we'd travel and do a couple
(23:40):
shows here and there.
So to this day we try and it'salways like when can we get a
show together, growing our dates, and if we all got a date,
we'll we typically call kevindown at the ocean mist and be
like, hey, kev, give us a date,yeah, yeah that's amazing, it's
so interesting, it's so cool.
Scott Carney (23:54):
Like you know, I'll see your facebook post and
miller's facebook post and aboutthere's one where you guys had
like a big reunion like all thekids and you know wives, and
we're there.
Jeff Roberge (24:01):
I mean that's amazing that you still can do
that that was like last month,man, that was crazy, so yeah,
and that was at tk's restaurant,so we went down there.
But now we all show up and weall have like a ton of kids and
it's just so weird.
And and brad came and hisparents saved every foxtrot,
zulu, flyer, mailer,advertisement in this.
(24:22):
No, he brought that and we allsat down and went through it,
man, and like I can't remember90 of those times so I don't
remember like all these showsand places and all that stuff.
So he showed up with this thing, but our kids sit around, my
daughter and her friends.
One of their favorite songs islike Johnny Baghdad so they
drive around town now andthey're you know, she's 17 and
(24:44):
they're cranking Johnny Bagdadin their car, and that always
cracks me up.
Scott Carney (24:48):
That's so crazy.
You had a whole new generationof fans.
Jeff Roberge (24:51):
So yeah, we were trying to see if we can get a
show like around Labor Dayweekend down at the Miss.
We're working on it.
Scott Carney (24:56):
So when was the first time you have what?
Two daughters.
I have three daughters, threedaughters.
When was the first time thatthey saw you play?
Jeff Roberge (25:02):
So the first time they saw us play.
We were opening for my brotherin Providence.
Scott Carney (25:06):
Wow, so they came up.
Jeff Roberge (25:07):
I forget the name of the club in Providence, but
that was the first time that Iand they may have seen us at the
Ocean.
Mist my memory because therewas a.
There's a big balcony at thisclub and I remember seeing my
daughter standing at the balconywhile we were playing, and I
think at that point they'dalways heard about the band,
we'd talk about it.
But you know, I don't think theyever could make the connection
(25:30):
that we were actually like aband, like knew what we were
doing.
Yeah, I think they thought wewere just sort of these like
guys like you know, garage bandkind of not really didn't really
have songs, like when they sawus play and like do a set.
I think that was when we werelike oh, you guys are actually
like a band, band Like well,yeah, I mean.
Scott Carney (25:49):
You have earpieces in.
Jeff Roberge (25:50):
Like we actually kind of know what we're doing.
Yeah, that was pretty cool.
Scott Carney (25:54):
That'd be such a special moment I can't even
imagine.
Jeff Roberge (25:57):
Yeah, but you know my daughters don't know what
it's like to go to like a bigconcert and have to sit in
obstructed view.
Yeah, right Because my daughtersget hooked up by my brother and
if OAR is playing they get VIPbackstage pass.
They get assigned securityguards who escort them around.
(26:18):
They go to staff services andsit at the table.
They get to meet the other.
You know artists, so they'vemet.
You know all these like famouspeople.
Yeah, they'll like text, uncleMarky, and be like hey, can you
get me tickets to you know thisor that?
They have no idea.
They have no idea what it'slike to like be in the
nosebleeds and, like you know,have someone throw up on you or
(26:44):
like burn you with a joint onyour neck, like drops hot ash on
you.
They don't know that's funny.
Scott Carney (26:47):
I remember, uh, I went to u2 with denis santos.
We went um and it was like afriday night and I imbibed way
too much and I went to go to thebar and I slipped down one of
the concrete stairs the gardenand I went down the concrete
stairs on my ass, like 10 ofthem covered in mud.
I was like son of a bitch.
I worked for Sam Adams forabout 19 years.
On the weekends I would givetours and I was given a tour
(27:09):
that the next day and I washurting and I was like, hey, you
know, I apologize, it wasBoston U2.
So everybody was freaking out.
I said I apologize, I'm alittle off.
I went to U2 last night and thegirl goes that's where I know
you from and she grabs herboyfriend's shoulder and she
goes.
You slid by us in row 32c.
Oh, that's hilarious, man,ridiculous that's hilarious.
Jeff Roberge (27:28):
When I was a kid, u2 is the first concert I ever
went to.
I slept out for two days atlike montgomery mall in maryland
to get tickets to see u2 joshuatree tour, one of the first
concerts I remember as a kid manoh wow.
Scott Carney (27:42):
Do you remember I was going back to our pledge
trip?
Do you remember the Theta Chione of the schools?
It was Lehigh or Lafayette.
They gave us tickets to go to aconcert.
It was like their homecoming.
Yeah, and we went to.
It was like spin doctors andsomebody else.
Oh my God, I slept through thespin doctors because I was so
tired.
Jeff Roberge (27:59):
I mean that's going way back, man.
Scott Carney (28:00):
Yeah, because all those bands at that time they
were coming up and they're doingall the college gigs and
they're doing all that kind ofstuff.
Then doctors yeah, they had acouple of you.
I think you guys also benefitedfrom just the period that we
were in at that point.
Yeah, the 90s was just such aninsane time for music.
When you were younger if youhad to be a metalhead or you
(28:21):
liked rap, like you didn't likeall kinds of music, and then
when we got the 90s kind ofbranched out, you could like
reggae and rap.
Every band I think benefitedfrom that.
Jeff Roberge (28:29):
That cultural shift I like I agree, man.
I think we were like rightplace, right time because people
were so interested in livemusic and bands, so like there
was an appetite in the collegecircuits to book bands.
Yeah, nowadays it's not so muchright.
I mean the type of music that'susually getting booked at some
of these.
You know, when you're coming upand you're booking college gig
(28:50):
and you're booking small venues,the music industry is different
.
Now it's rap and or EDM kind ofstuff, which is all great.
I love it all.
But, yeah, man, and there wereso many good bands in the 90s.
You know everything from moreof like the poppy stuff to like
the grungy stuff.
We played a lot of good bands,man, and saw a lot of good bands
.
Scott Carney (29:11):
I know you guys did a lot of festivals and stuff
like that.
You know who are some of thebands that ended up turning out
to be really big and popularthat you guys played with back
then.
Jeff Roberge (29:17):
Oh, god, disco Biscuits.
They're still doing their thing, an EDM kind of techno shows
and stuff like that, but theyboarded with us a lot Widespread
Panic, oh wow, which have beenaround longer than us.
But I mean, like we did showsand they're still huge.
Yeah, god, who else?
Government Mule, which is likeAllman Brothers.
(29:38):
I remember we'd play with thoseguys and they were a huge band
too.
I'm just thinking of in ourrealm, I don't know, man, the
memories are, you know, rightfelicia earned.
Scott Carney (29:49):
You earned that ability to not remember half
that shit.
Jeff Roberge (29:52):
One of the coolest shows, I think we're playing in
connecticut and we opened formaceo parker.
Maceo parker is a sack playerfor james brown.
I remember that show beingpretty freaking awesome, yeah,
and wondering how the hell didwe get on this bill with Maceo
Parker?
But we have opened.
Funniest opening stories is wewere playing the living room in
(30:12):
Providence, rhode Island.
Oh yeah, and I'll bring up areally sad thing really quick.
This is right after the stationfire in Rhode Island and your
listeners probably don't know,but the station fire was this
yes, thing that happened at aclub in I believe it's warwick,
rhode island, where there was afire and a lot of people lost
their lives yeah after thatstate of rhode island rightfully
(30:34):
so became very strict aboutfire suppression systems and
alarms and all this stuff, sothat every club had to have like
inspections, all kinds of stuff.
Well, anyway, we're playing atthe living room and Sebastian
Bach is playing at the Strand inProvidence, the Strand.
That night one of the firealarms on the wall didn't work,
(30:56):
so they shut the show down, sothey moved the Sebastian Bach
show over to the living room.
But we were playing the livingroom, so Sebastian Bach opened
for us at the living room and Iremember and I remember and it
was so wild because we're likejam band and then you got like
the heavy metal crew that allcame to the living room so they
(31:18):
changed the time of the show andSebastian Bach went on first
and then we played after.
That was the wildest thing.
There was a little person in theaudience and he got the little
person up on stage and put heron his shoulders while he was
playing and she ended up hittingher head on one of the lights
that hang down nice, jesus.
(31:41):
And like he, literally it waslike it was like spinal tap, it
was like on the mic stand.
They literally wrote and tapedProvidence, because you know how
they're like hey, providence,you're welcome.
They literally did that, so heknew where he was.
Then he got in a Winnebagoafter their show, gets in a
Winnebago and drives away.
Scott Carney (32:01):
Right in style, crazy.
Thing.
Jeff Roberge (32:03):
That's another crazy story from way back in the
day.
Sebastian Bach, yeah, whackedher head right on one of those
lights oh, a little person'shead hanging down at the stage
oh boom.
Scott Carney (32:13):
Oh god, she probably still has a burn mark
but that was a pretty well that.
Jeff Roberge (32:17):
That's always a story like oh yeah, we play with
sebastian bach.
I think his song was like 18 inlife I think you're right.
Scott Carney (32:24):
We'll shazam it later.
I mentioned our fraternitybrother ron gomes.
Like 18 in life, 18 in life,you got it.
That was fun.
I think you're right.
We'll Shazam it later.
I mentioned our fraternitybrother, ron Gomes.
He was such a good buddy toboth of us.
He was such a big brother toboth of us.
Yeah, any fun Ron stories forus.
Jeff Roberge (32:38):
Thanks for bringing that back up, man.
You know, we all.
It's very interesting.
A lot of us have stayed intouch and you know good, bad and
ugly about Facebook andFacebook had really kept a lot
of us knowing what each other'sdoing and it was.
It was really sad to hear thestruggle that he went through
for a couple of years withcancer.
But I remember in ourfraternity where I was like sort
(32:59):
of the older statesman Yep, hewas the older statesman and he
sort of was like almost like ina weird way like the godfather.
So his room was like at theback right of the first floor of
the frat house I think.
Right, yeah, and that's sort ofwhere, like when we were coming
into the fraternity, whereyoung guys were like if you got
(33:20):
invited back to Ron's room, ohyeah, you knew you were in Right
Like.
You knew, like you got to hangout with Ron, yeah, and he had
this amazing girlfriend Julie.
They ended up getting married,yeah, but she was around a lot
and you know Ron was just, hejust was like this even keel guy
Great laugh, just kind person.
You know all the brothers,really you'd go to Ron for
(33:42):
advice or to hear.
He just kind of knew what wasgoing on and I remember you know
he taught me how to playcribbage.
Um, he also, you know, in someway kept us on the straight and
narrow at times, because youknow it's real easy to sit in
your frat house all day and donothing yeah, but he was
definitely one of those guyslike now get out, go to class,
you know, do what you need to do.
It's okay to you know, have afun lifestyle around here, but
(34:02):
he was never somebody you know,have a fun lifestyle around here
, but he was never somebody youknow.
He always knew why it wasimportant for us to still do the
right thing.
Yeah, um, not fall into thatlike fraternity, brother
bullshit kind of stuff.
Scott Carney (34:14):
Yeah.
Jeff Roberge (34:15):
Yeah, Just a kind guy, Just you know.
Scott Carney (34:17):
So you looked up to him yeah, like instantly,
like it's funny you say that,like, is that that's the truth?
If you were able to hang outthere one time, sit on that
couch and you're, you know, siton his couch in front of that
table.
Jeff Roberge (34:31):
And you know, that's where I was first exposed
to Jenga.
Scott Carney (34:33):
Yeah, and I mean, he was such a great guy, he
could drink his weight in beerand ketchup.
Jeff Roberge (34:39):
I was going to say I just remember he loved
ketchup, Everything ketchup.
Scott Carney (34:42):
Such a good guy.
But may he rest in peace.
He's such a sweetheart, andthoughts and prayers for Julie
and his kids.
Jeff Roberge (34:49):
Yeah, I know so many people were really
devastated to hear about hisloss because I know he's touched
the lives of his family.
Certainly us knowing him backthen, but great guy, Always a
shout out to Ron Gomes,definitely.
Scott Carney (35:03):
Well, Jeff, this has been awesome going down
memory lane with your brother.
Thank you so much for sittingdown with us.
Jeff Roberge (35:07):
It's great to see you, man.
It's so good to see you, and Ido see your stuff on Facebook
and I knew you were down inCarolina, so yeah.
So I was so happy when youreached out, I was like, fuck
yeah, I'll definitely do thatno-transcript I mean, that was
(35:37):
stone from like 1991 to like2004 I can confirm that.
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