April 5, 2024 • 34 mins
They say music can bind souls together, but it's the shared laughter and tear-stained memories that truly forge unbreakable bonds. Join me and my Theta Chi Eta Chapter brother, Paul Miller from Foxtrot Zulu, as we honor the legacy of our late brother Ron Gomes. His laughter echoes in our stories, the same way his spirit lives on in the music and memories we've created. From humble college jam sessions to a symphony of life on the road, we unpack the evolution of a band whose roots are as deep as the friendships it sprouted.
Weaving through our conversation are the vibrant threads of Foxtrot Zulu's musical tapestry and the tales that color our past. Who knew that a casual gathering could lead to decades of harmony, both in our music and our friendships? We share a slice of that journey, from the echo of the first drumbeat to the symphony of a life filled with gigs, laughter, and the occasional bee attack. It's not just about the notes we play—it's about the moments that play us, binding us together through the crescendos and decrescendos of life's unpredictable score.
As we wrap up, we shed light on the undimmed vibrancy of Foxtrot Zulu's tunes, urging listeners to immerse themselves in the melodies that have become our life's soundtrack. Don't miss the chance to hear about my own flirtation with stand-up comedy, a decade-long serenade of chuckles and humility. It's a heartfelt ensemble of recollection, music appreciation, and honest reflection. So tune in, for an episode that harmonizes nostalgia with the laughter and lessons learnt from a life richly lived in the company of friends and music.
My apologies for my sound on this one. Not sure what happened but I was struck by the Podcast Gods and had some audio hiccups.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott (00:00):
We had two interviews with Jeff Roberge and Paul
Miller, our 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 URI,cue the police sirens, just
kidding.
I'm excited and honored to havethem both with me on what is
essentially a two-part episode.
I'd like to dedicate both ofthose bars to the memory of our
(00:22):
recently passed fraternitybrother, ron 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 Paul Miller.
Paul and I are fraternitybrothers of the once defunct but
now quite alive Theta Chi EtaChapter at University of Rhode
Island.
(00:43):
Paul plays congas for the almost30-year-old jam band Foxtrot
Zulu, a seven-member band formedin the University of Rhode
Island in 1995, where they ruledthe URI bar scene throughout
the mid-90s and then branchedout to dominate the New England
regional music scene for therest of the 1900s, then toured
the rest of the US throughoutthe 2000s with the likes of
Howie Day and the iconic OAR.
I witnessed countless dynamicperformances from the band in
the mid-90s at roadie, wateringholes, bondview Inn and Ocean
(01:06):
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 up
graduating until 1996, andthat's a show for another day.
But a bunch of us would alwayscatch the guys when we could,
when they'd play up in Boston.
If you listen to their musicand you do not move in some way,
you should seek immediatemedical attention.
(01:26):
Seriously.
Paul Miller, welcome to CarneySaves the World.
It's good to see you.
What's going on, man?
How are you.
Paul Miller (01:29):
I'm good, it's good to see you.
It's been a long time.
Scott (01:32):
Yeah, it's like 28, 27 years I probably shouldn't put a
number on it.
No, that's not.
Thanks for being on, you andJeff.
Jeff's also been on the show.
You guys are two of the membersof Foxtrot Zulu, one of our
favorite bands in collegepost-college.
Paul Miller (01:54):
And give me your take on your time with the band
and how much fun it was.
Well, you know we started as abunch of friends just playing
instruments in a basement duringa cake party and 30 years later
we're're still through theoriginal seven, still friends um
playing very occasionally.
But you know it was many yearsof my life that I wouldn't
change a lot of fun.
You know we got to tour thecountry.
(02:15):
I've been to states that Idon't think I would have ever
gone to um in my normal life.
But, uh, you know we've mettons of awesome, awesome people,
a lot of whom we still keep intouch with um, you know, through
facebook or when we play shows.
It's uh, you know it's been areal fun ride and you know I've
(02:35):
made lifelong friends because ofit it's amazing.
Scott (02:37):
I mean you look at, like most bands, I don't even know
what the statistical average is,but most bands don't chill out
for 30 years.
I mean that's amazing that youguys have that longevity just to
remain friends, never mind tostill play together.
Paul Miller (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, I mean honestly, I don't have that many
friends that I've known for 30years, to tell you the truth.
So you know, and amazingly Ihave seven of them, you know
that are, or six of them.
And then Smiles, who's alwaysbeen there, kind of as our merch
guy doing whatever we neededhim to do so, but yeah, it's
(03:09):
been pretty amazing.
Scott (03:10):
That's awesome.
Jeff gave us his take on howthe band got started.
What, what's your view on it orwhat's your version of the
story?
Paul Miller (03:15):
okay, so let's see, we were at a party and I'm
sorry, but I don't rememberwhose house it was, but it was
definitely in Eastward Look,which is down the line at
University of Rhode Island.
There was a set of drums, a setof congas, and Neil and Nate,
who are our guitarists, bothlived together, so I'm assuming
(03:38):
it was their house.
They both played guitar.
They knew each other from highschool.
Both played guitar.
They knew each other from highschool and TK may have lived
there or may not, but he used toplay the clarinet but started
playing saxophone in college.
And you know we were hanging outhaving a good time and Jeff's
like I know how to play drums.
So he started playing the drumsand you know they weren't even
(03:58):
his.
Nate and Neil just grabbedtheir guitars and started
playing along and I'm like youknow I can bang on things, so
let's join in.
And TK brought his sax and thatwas the original five.
And then eventually, one of ourfriends, jeff, who plays
trumpet for us currently, waslike hey, I play trumpet, you
mind if I jam with you?
And so he came on along and wehad Brad, who is also a
(04:21):
guitarist, since we already hadtwo.
He's like well, I'll learn howto play bass.
So he got a bass and said, hey,I'll come jam with you as well,
and that is the origins of usreally you know?
Scott (04:32):
did you have any percussion background at all
when you started, or did youjust start banging on it, like
you said?
Paul Miller (04:37):
no just started banging on drums, wow that's
crazy.
Scott (04:41):
We would go see the band and we would watch you and then
you know you and jeff wouldbreak out in some percussion
solos and banging aroundtogether.
Then we'd go to you and we werelike, well, what the fuck is
going on right now?
How does Miller know how toplay these?
Paul Miller (05:07):
drummers, so I kind of tried to play all three
parts.
Oh, there you go.
So that's kind of how I got mystyle of a little bit frenetic
Overachieving yeah, pretty much.
And of course I never learnedhow to play kit, because Jeff
plays left-handed and I'm arighty, so I play hand drums.
So it's only taken me till thisage where I just bought myself
a drum kit and I'm actuallylearning how to play.
Scott (05:25):
There you go.
You have specific jam out parts, but what's your favorite song
to play?
Paul Miller (05:30):
Oh, that's hard Boulevard always is a big hit, a
lot of fun to play.
It does have a solo in it forme, but that's not only the only
reason.
I think that that really is oneof the ones that gets the crowd
really going.
One of my favorite songs isfront porch and I don't even
play on it and I just lovesitting like that's my break
(05:51):
time.
I get to sit down and watch thecrowd and it's fantastic
watching people sing along and,you know, have a great time.
So, um, you know, those are.
Scott (05:59):
Those are two of my favorites there are other other
songs that you're not playing injust because the conga part's
not available.
Paul Miller (06:04):
Nope, that's the only one.
Front Porch is really only Nateand TK.
Every once in a while I'll hopup and do like a little
something, but that's kind oflike there.
You know, like me and Jeff haveour solo and that's kind of
there.
Scott (06:14):
So that original set of congas?
Did that stay with you for theduration or did you upgrade at
some point?
Or?
Paul Miller (06:20):
No, the person who owned them took them back.
Oh really, yeah.
So I had to get my own.
That's not cool.
Well, you know, they were thereand I just was playing on them
because they were in the house.
So you know, eventually Iworked my way up and bought my
own set and then expanded my kit.
So now I have you know Timbalesand Juniors and Bongos and and
(06:43):
you know all kinds of stuff toplay nice.
Scott (06:46):
Do you remember?
You guys played at our house Idon't know, like 95 I think and
uh, you guys came in.
You guys were gonna startsetting up.
Jeff was like hey, do you mindif we all pre-game upstairs?
It's like, uh, we're gonna talkabout smoking on this, is that
okay?
Paul Miller (07:00):
oh, that's fine.
It's legal in massachusetts.
Scott (07:03):
So it don't matter anyway I know I literally moved here
like a month after it becamelegal, I.
So we go upstairs to my roomand Jeff says do you mind if my
little brother comes with us?
He's, he's up from high school,my little brother Mark.
10 years go by and one of theguys text me and they're like
did you know Jeff's brother'sthe lead singer of OAR.
I was like Jeff's brother, thelittle kid that spoke pot in my
(07:26):
room.
Paul Miller (07:27):
Oh yeah.
Scott (07:29):
I was like all right, that's nice, but you guys have
played with them a ton.
Paul Miller (07:34):
Yeah, they have been kind enough to let us open
for them on occasion.
I mean, we actually were theones who gave them their first
gig before, so they opened forus, but now they're way more
successful than we ever were.
So they're still kind enough toyou know, when they're in their
area, throw out a laurel andlet us play for them in front of
(07:55):
a big crowd.
Scott (07:55):
so it's tons of fun good kids, awesome, what's that
feeling?
Paul Miller (07:57):
like it's fun.
It's always fun, it's.
You know.
I mean, I love, we all loveplaying.
Obviously didn't get rich doingit, but you know I'll still go
out and play when everybodywants to get together, because
it's just fun to be on stage.
It's fun to, you know, hang outwith your friends and make
music and make people happy.
Yeah.
Scott (08:14):
One of the things I was also thinking about was so I
played drums when I was like injunior high.
It was awful, but they teachyou all how to read the music.
How were your parts written?
Were you just kind of feelingit as you played, or were there
specific parts that were written?
Paul Miller (08:27):
for you.
No, it was all out of my ownbrain and I cannot read music to
this day.
That's awesome.
Scott (08:34):
So you were just literally just feeling it and
just going with the flow, everysingle song.
Paul Miller (08:37):
Yeah, you know.
I mean, after you play themenough, you kind of like settle
on, like, okay, this is what I'mgoing to do for each part, you
know.
But at the beginning it was justI pretty much almost made up on
a song by song basis what I wasdoing at the time, you know.
But again, once you play thesongs, like, you really start to
write your parts more.
And you know, when you'repracticing and going through the
(09:00):
process of writing a songbecause it really it was a very
collaborative effort in writingmost of the songs you know,
someone would have an idea,either on guitars or horns,
would have something, and theywould come in and say, hey, I
have this riff, or I have thissomething, and they would come
in and say, hey, I have thisriff, or I have this idea, and
they would kind of jam it out.
And then we would all kind ofjust jam together and kind of
(09:21):
work out our parts and then, asyou keep practicing it,
eventually those parts gettighter and tighter and then
you've pretty much written yoursong at that point so that's.
That's kind of how all of ourmusic was written.
I think the only person who canreally read music fluently is
Brad Right?
Yeah, I think Jeff Light mightbe able to.
I think Neil and Nate can dotablature, but I don't think
(09:42):
they read music.
Pretty sure, wow, don't quoteme on it.
Scott (09:45):
Yeah, when did you realize, like at school, that
things were starting to get alittle crazy for the band?
Paul Miller (09:52):
Oh, I was probably.
Scott (09:54):
Because you guys were literally one of the most
popular bands that had played inmy five years.
I don't want to brag, but myfive years at URI, people went
to see you.
It was an event to go seeFoxtrot.
Paul Miller (10:04):
Yeah, it would have to be probably maybe the end of
my first senior year, because Iwas on the five-year plan, like
yourself, nice, so you knowwhen we would play two nights at
Bondview and it would becompletely full both nights, you
know, and people would know whowe were when we were walking
(10:25):
around.
That's kind of when you startedto realize that it was
something that we might want topursue.
Scott (10:30):
Yeah, you know, there was no cell phones back then, so
you made plans during the day asyou were walking through campus
and most nights it would belike, hey, you're going to this
bar, you're going to this bar,but if you guys were playing it
was like go to see fox azula,gotta get there early.
It was always just a mob sceneand, yeah, it was always fun.
Paul Miller (10:45):
Yeah, bond view was it was always like just an
insane show, always aninteresting night.
Scott (10:50):
They were always very, very crowded so a friend of mine
had a home video the old schoolhome videos and she popped it
up onto YouTube from Bonview andit was pretty ridiculous just
the amount of people that theywould stick in there.
Paul Miller (11:03):
Yeah, I don't even want to know what the fire
hazard was.
Scott (11:07):
Yeah, just people crawling on each other.
It was horrendous.
When I got down here I had awork truck and I had a CD player
in it and I got rid of all myCDs and I was like, well, you
know, I'll go to like thriftstore and see if there's any CDs
in there.
People ditch their CDs all thetime and I'm going through the
cases and I found one of yourCDs in a box down here for like
a buck.
Oh yeah, of course, but I mean,all CDs are a buck.
(11:29):
Going through it.
It's like Springsteen and iconsof pop era has gone by, and
then, oh, foxtrot's over, rightthere too.
That is pretty funny, it'spretty crazy.
Now you're a husband and dad,right, I am.
Paul Miller (11:39):
How many kids?
You got Two.
I've got two kids.
I have a 15-year-old and a10-year-old and my 15-year-old's
about to be 16.
Scott (11:50):
Good Lord, I know time go .
What would 16 year old paulmiller say to your daughter?
Paul Miller (11:52):
don't do anything I did.
Yeah, she's a great kid,without question.
She's, uh, she's super smart,super independent.
Scott (12:00):
Yeah, she's, she's awesome both your kids, uh, or
either of them have seen yourplay before.
Both of them have yep yeah whatdo they think?
Paul Miller (12:06):
oh, you know, they're just like oh, dad's on
stage, it's cool.
So you know you're a dad.
They're like whatever it's socrazy.
Scott (12:14):
Like to think, like you know, when we were 17, 18 years
old, like to listen to the musicour parents listened to.
Like if our parents were in aband and listen to it, it'd be
like the old 60s music.
We're like god, that's like oldgarbage.
I don't want to listen to that.
Yeah, you guys could be playedon the radio today and no one
would know that it's a 25, 30year old song yeah, probably not
.
Paul Miller (12:32):
um, I guess that style of music hasn't changed a
ton.
The music scene has definitelygone more towards the hip hop,
r&b stuff.
Nowadays it seems like that'smore popular, and we were never
really like poppy.
We could probably still hangout and play with some of the
jam bands that are around now,like Goose and Weedfoot right
now I would never think yourkids would watch you guys play
(12:55):
and I'd be like, oh, dad's sucha dork well, I think the last
time they saw me play they werepretty little too.
So, um, usually when we do playnowadays, I mean we play like
maybe once a year, so it's justyou know more, just for us to
have fun hang out.
Um, yeah, you know, that's moreof a like parents night out,
because jess will come and seeher friends and you know we all
(13:17):
kind of it's more of an adultnight, so we're not taking the
kids with us so, yeah, it'samazing that you all can still
get together and uh, and just,you know, hang out, you, the
kids all get together.
Scott (13:28):
30 years ago you would never thought in a million years
you'd be at that spot no, notat all.
Paul Miller (13:31):
And there's a lot of kids too.
Like you know, we've hadfoxtrot reunions where you're
just like wow, there's a lot ofkids here like how many do I
have now?
Scott (13:41):
yeah exactly do your kids brag about you?
Paul Miller (13:44):
my daddy's in a band I, you know, I honestly I
don't know, I don't think so.
I think my daughter's moreproud of my tattoos.
I'm the one who takes her tolike the metal shows and like
the punk rock stuff and whatnot.
That's always been kind of mystyle anyway, so that's more
where I get to brag on.
We're like oh yeah, my dad tookme to see Rancid, my dad took
(14:04):
me to see Murphy's Law orwhatever that's pretty cool.
Scott (14:07):
Yeah yeah, my daughter's seven and found out I did stand
up.
We'd be out and she'd be likemy daddy did stand-up comedy and
I'm like, don't, don't tellpeople that please don't, don't
tell people that that's becausethen this would like both tell
me a joke and you're like, yeah,oh, no, like if I was good I
would still be doing it.
And this, yeah, do they haveany musical desires or do you
(14:28):
see any musical talent in them?
Paul Miller (14:29):
uh, my daughter picked up guitar for like a
second and was like no, and thenshe said she wants to learn how
to play the drums.
We'll see what happens withthat, but it's not really their
focus.
She's more into like art andathletics and whatnot than music
at this point, and he is yourtypical 10-year-old who is on
(14:50):
his tablet 95% of the time orplaying video games with his
friends.
Scott (14:55):
We mentioned earlier was that our recently passed
attorney brother, Ron Gomes,passed away from cancer a few
months ago.
Such a great guy Wanted to seewhat your favorite memory of Ron
was.
Oh, I love Ron.
Paul Miller (15:09):
We used to sit in his room and play Techno Bowl.
Yes, I forgot about Techno Bowl.
He was a master privilegeplayer.
I played many, many games withhim, always had a smile on his
face, always wanted to make ajoke.
Very rarely did you see himangry.
And boy, did you not want to.
Scott (15:29):
I can tell you that, oh yeah.
Paul Miller (15:31):
But yeah, he's gone way too soon.
The world lost a good one,without question.
Scott (15:37):
Such a great guy.
But I totally forgot aboutTecmo Bowl.
Oh yeah, You'd be up all hours,You'd have to go to the
bathroom some nights and you'djust still hear Tecmo Bowl play
at like 3 in the morning.
Paul Miller (15:46):
Of course, yeah, it was usually me and Jeff.
Scott (15:50):
Yeah.
So getting back to the albums,did you guys do five albums, I
think?
Paul Miller (16:09):
We did four studio and one live.
What was your favorite to makeand what's your favorite to
listen to?
Oh, that's, that's a toughquestion, okay, so to make they
all had their instances of funand misery.
Um, I think our first one, I'mgonna say, was maybe my favorite
to make, just because it wasour first album.
Uh, we were camping in vermontin the middle of nowhere, this
little home studio, yeah, likeliterally living outside, just
like going in the studio, thengoing back outside and sleeping
(16:30):
in tents, um, tons of fun.
Our second album I want to saythat one was a little bit more
interesting because that was ourfirst album that was covered by
a record label, which isrunning dog at the time or not
running dog that was.
Uh, I'd have to look, but wehad an actual record label
backing us.
So we, we recorded an actuallike famous studios in upstate
(16:51):
new york and, you know, wentinto master it in times square
in new york city, yeah, um, so.
So that had its interest too,because it was like this is how
professionals do it.
I think the first album wasreally so grassroots and so kind
of okay, we're doing this,we're going to actually make
music and have it on a recordedmedium that we can distribute
(17:13):
was really kind of awesome.
Yeah, honestly, I really don'tlisten to our music very much.
To tell you the truth, again,my style of music I listen to
metal, I listen to punk rock, Ilisten to techno, breakbeats and
whatnot.
I think probably our mostpolished and interesting album
(17:35):
is probably Frozen in Time.
I like that one a lot.
It was definitely the tightestI think that we had.
Yeah, as far as the album'squality.
I think that was probably Ithink our best.
Scott (17:48):
So you mentioned earlier you had DJ headphones.
Do you have DJ equipment?
I do, so you do a little DJingon the side.
Paul Miller (17:54):
I did more party stuff, like you know, when we'd
have parties, I would.
So I have like 1200s in themixer and I whole bunch of
records that I honestly justdigitized and bought myself a
digital controller.
So now I'm learning how to dothat, but it's more just for me
hanging out with friendsthrowing down having a good time
, you're?
Uh, mix up any foxtrot I'd haveto like produce some tracks for
(18:17):
it.
I don't know if the BPM is notright for it.
Scott (18:22):
Kind of a funny story that I remember of Jeff.
When I first met him we had abarbecue out in Browning Hall.
He took a sip of a soda and abee flew in his soda and came
back out and stung him in thelip and his lip swelled up and
he had to go home.
It was hysterical.
Oh, I remember that.
I totally remember that it waslike the second day we were
(18:43):
there as I'm talking to himabout it too, I was like I've
told this story like 100 timesto 100 different people over the
last 30 years because it's justsuch.
It was one of the funniestthings I've ever seen live.
Paul Miller (18:57):
Yeah, like I do remember that that's hilarious.
Scott (19:00):
And we were talking about how absolutely insane that dorm
was as a freshman, to be theonly freshman dorm First time
they'd ever done it Kind ofexperimental and all this
jackasses just went in there andjust acted a fool.
Paul Miller (19:12):
Oh it was chaos.
Oh yeah, 100% chaos.
Yeah, it was.
That dorm was nuts.
Scott (19:17):
Do you remember this kid?
He lived upstairs from us.
Mike Traynor, hilarious kid.
He's from my hometown.
He had filled up a trash bagfull of water, put it under my
RA's door and then jumped on it.
No 30-gallon trash bag.
Paul Miller (19:31):
Shot all the water under.
Scott (19:32):
It rotted his floor.
It went all the way down to thefirst floor.
It was absolute train wreck.
Paul Miller (19:40):
It was just insanity.
Oh yeah, it was nuts.
I think the only reason Ididn't get written up in that
dorm is because I had a computerin my room.
Really, and I was one of thevery few that had a computer in
my room and my RA would knock onmy door and say, hey, can I
borrow your computer?
Instead of having to walk ahalf a mile, the computer left.
So you were like, oh sweet, sohalf a mile of the computer.
So you were like, oh sweet.
So I'm like, yeah, free pass.
Oh, I'd be sitting theredrinking beers in front of him
(20:00):
and he's just like dude really.
And I'm like you want to use mycomputer?
Yeah, I'll turn a blind eye.
Scott (20:07):
So when you guys get together, figure it out and play
.
Paul Miller (20:12):
The hardest part is trying to get to have a weekend
off, yeah you know, and thenhave a venue that has that date
match up yeah it's definitelychallenging.
That's why it's like almostlike once a year ish, yeah, that
we play, because, you know,trying to get everybody together
and we're not playing withouteverybody, because that's just
that's not box shot at thatpoint, that's great that you
(20:34):
guys like that.
Scott (20:35):
What's the funniest story you have from touring?
Because jeff gave me one.
I'm curious to see if theymatch up, oh God.
Paul Miller (20:42):
There's a lot that I'm not telling you, so I can
tell you that, okay, I thinkthis one's a good one.
I think it was our first tourever.
We had bought a short busschool bus and painted it gray
and taken all the seats out andturned it into like a loft and
carry area and whatever.
And we're touring the Northeastand we go to Portland, to this
(21:07):
club called Geno's, which isstill there, because I was in
Portland last year and I walkedby it and I was like, oh my God,
this is crazy.
So Geno's is a well-known hardrock club.
It is not a jam band club.
First of all, I think we'replaying on a Tuesday night in
the middle of winter in PortlandMaine.
It's freezing outside.
Scott (21:26):
Lovely time of year.
Paul Miller (21:26):
Yes, nobody's around.
So we're sitting in the club ata table waiting.
We're there early, as always.
Band is a ton of hurry up andwait, and we're sitting at the
table, we're hanging in and thisguy walks in from out off the
street, whips out his piece andtakes a leak on the floor.
(21:47):
Middle of the club.
Scott (21:48):
All right, that was not what I was expecting.
That was not Jeff's story, butthat's still.
That's a pretty good one.
Paul Miller (21:53):
It was hilarious.
It was hilarious Just in themiddle of the club.
Yeah, just like in the middleof the dance floor.
Like nobody there.
Lights are on, you know thebartender's like dude get out.
But yeah, because I'm homeless.
He just walked in and pissed onthe floor and we're like
welcome to rock and roll.
This is our first stop on thetour, so this is where we're at.
Scott (22:13):
I'm like okay it can only get better right.
Paul Miller (22:15):
Yeah, exactly.
Scott (22:19):
You told this story about how you guys ditched the van.
Paul Miller (22:21):
Oh, that was a good one too, yes.
And then we went back two yearslater and there was migrant
workers living in it.
Still there, they're justsleeping people in it, picking
tobacco right on the side of theroad in the tobacco field.
Scott (22:35):
You're in North Carolina.
Paul Miller (22:36):
It was North Carolina, virginia, somewhere
down south, because it was hotand we rented a U-Haul box truck
and we, like half of us, sat inthe well, three sat in front,
the rest sat in the back of thisthing, which, totally illegal.
We got pulled over.
We all would have got arrestedand it was, you know, 115
degrees in there and, like youknow, every hour they'd pull off
(22:58):
to a gas station and we'd haveto rotate so people could get
air conditioning and get newwater and whatnot.
It was the longest ride home.
Oh, it was horrendous.
The life of a rock star huh, ohyeah, not all glamorous oh, no,
no, no, trust me, I, we knewevery dollar value item that
there was on any menu at anygiven time.
(23:20):
How to make a wonderful saladat Roy Rogers' Fixin's Bar.
There was days where you'd belike, here's five bucks, that's
your food for today.
Scott (23:30):
That's so crazy, because you've got seven guys that are
trying to do that together.
I don't know how you do.
Yeah, it was always interesting.
I mean, it's such anaccomplishment to have seven
guys go through just one year oftouring and you still, to this
day, like talk.
Paul Miller (23:44):
It's shocking oh yeah, and it wasn't always seven
, because we also usually had atleast one other which was
smiley wow yeah, um, and then alot of times it was smiley and
our sound man.
So there was nine of us.
God that's crazy it was, itcould have been eight.
There were some definiteinteresting times, you know.
Scott (24:06):
If you can try to remember at some point.
Just let me know where thattobacco field was, because I
would love to track it down.
Right, I'm down here.
I might as well track it down,See if it's still there.
Paul Miller (24:15):
I have to talk to people, because that's beyond my
memory at this point.
I know it was.
I had to have been south ofMaryland because it was
definitely in a tobacco field.
So you know it was like gasstation tobacco fields as far as
the eye could see.
Welcome to the South.
Yeah, pretty much.
Scott (24:33):
Well, I grew up in Virginia Beach, so oh, did you
really?
Paul Miller (24:35):
Yeah.
Scott (24:35):
Yeah, oh, okay, I thought you were.
Did you live in Massachusettsafter that?
Paul Miller (24:38):
I lived in Massachusetts through high
school but, like I moved up toMassachusetts for ninth grade,
okay, so I lived in Virginia.
I lived in Virginia Beach beachin Charlottesville for the rest
of the time.
Oh yeah, no, I was a Navy brat,so my dad was stationed in
Norfolk.
Oh, all right.
Yeah, quite the culture shockwhen I moved here.
I don't mind the South, it'sjust a slow pace and you just
have to get used to that.
(24:58):
No one's moving faster thanthey move, which is fine.
Scott (25:02):
What your funny story was , because he told me that one
and then he told me was thereanother school?
Paul Miller (25:07):
bus.
Oh yeah, that was the bus thatwe left in North Carolina.
So we had the short school bus.
It was a church bus, is what itwas that we had.
The church had sold it and sosome Baptist church was on there
.
So we painted out that and weripped half the seats out,
turned some sideways, so theback was basically like you
(25:27):
could sit in a circle, becausewe used to play.
We put the kick drum in itscase in the middle of that.
That was our table and we wouldplay poker and whatnot until
whatever time we felt likecrashing.
So that was the one we left inNorth Carolina.
I can tell you another greatstory about that bus.
So while we were touring theRockies so we were in Colorado,
(25:50):
that area we didn't realize thatthere was a pinhole in the fuel
line and so when you got up tosome of the passes it would
stall out.
It wouldn't get enough pressurein the high altitude.
So it was one of those vanswhere you took off the cowling
from inside and you could seethe back half of the engine.
At one point it was rabbit ears.
I remember the pass because itwas ridiculous.
(26:11):
We had a bunch of people thatwere visiting with us.
So there was like 15 of us inthe bus and we couldn't.
It wasn't going to make it.
Everybody in the bus got out,we took the cowling off.
Somebody is spraying starterfluid straight into the car
while the other person drivesand everybody else is running
alongside the van to the top ofthe pass and as we get to the
(26:33):
crest we just start throwingpeople in as we're getting ready
to go down yeah, that washilarious.
Scott (26:41):
That's fantastic.
You think about it, though youprobably wouldn't have had it
any other way, like you wouldn'thave been like.
Oh, I was in a band and I hadthis amazing bus and we got
everywhere we're supposed to ontime oh, I would have been.
Paul Miller (26:50):
I would not have been sad, I wouldn't have the
stories that I have, that's forsure.
But you know, I think once wedid finally buy a um, like 15
passions or diesel van that wetowed a trailer behind and that
was, you know, super reliable.
That made it so that we weren'tat least, even though we were
stressing about money and likegetting places on time, so that
(27:11):
we weren't at least, even thoughwe were stressing about money
and getting places on time andwhatnot, we weren't stressing
that it was going to break downat any given moment.
I have a good story about thatvan too.
We were in the mid, we were inone of the flyover states Ohio,
kansas, something like that.
It was 2.30, 3 o'clock in themorning, neil was driving and,
(27:33):
like I said, it was a diesel van.
So he pulls up, gets out, he'shalf asleep, we're getting ready
to change drivers, he's pumpingthe gas and all of a sudden he
gets in the van, he goes.
So what happens when you putregular gas into a diesel engine
?
Scott (27:52):
into a diesel engine and we go.
What do you mean, neil?
Paul Miller (27:54):
and, yes, he had filled 80 gallons of regular
fuel into our diesel.
Are you serious?
Yeah, so it's again threeo'clock in the morning, gas
stations open, we all go inside.
We're like he just did this.
Uh, what do you think we shoulddo about it?
Because, again, again, no cellphones.
I think I had my.
I did have a cell phone at thatpoint, but it was you know I
(28:15):
had.
It was like roaming charges andwhatnot, and so you couldn't
use it except for emergencies.
So the guy's like all right,hang tight, let me see if what I
can do.
So he calls one of his friendsand again, this is like three
o'clock in the morning and hisfriend's like yeah, I'll take it
, and he was going to put it inhis boat motor.
So he came and siphoned all 80gallons out whoa and yeah, yeah.
(28:36):
So we're sitting there waitingfor this guy to show up and all
of a sudden two cops come intothe store and our salmon at the
time was chris hovered.
And they look at him, they lookat us, they look at him again
and say you come with us.
We're like what is happening,you know.
So look at him again and sayyou come with us.
We're like what is happening,you know.
So they take him outside andstart like giving him a third
degree and we're like what isgoing on?
Like we have no idea what'sgoing on.
(28:58):
So apparently there was a, b andE that happened and he happened
to fit the description.
He's like dude, I am not fromhere and I've been in that all
night long.
That's great.
But yeah, it was hilarious andlike, yeah, if we hadn't broken
down, like if he hadn't filledup the gas, that never would
(29:19):
have happened because we'd justbeen on down the road.
But yeah, it was a long night,without question, until we
finally got back underway andthen we had to hightail it to
our next gig, because now wewere four hours behind.
Scott (29:27):
So no damage to the engine on.
Paul Miller (29:32):
So no damage to the engine, nothing.
He got it all out.
No, the guy got most of it out,and by that point you mix 80
gallons worth of diesel into alittle bit of regular gas.
It's fine, wow, didn't doanything to it, so lucky.
Luckily he realized it beforewe turned it on.
Scott (29:44):
I just want to ask you guys a question what would
happen if, oh, that would havebeen the end, that would have
been like it?
Paul Miller (29:49):
would have been so screwed.
Oh, it would have blown up theengine and that would have been
absolutely the end.
That's nuts.
Scott (29:54):
Well, paul, this has been awesome man catching up with
you.
It's been too long it has been.
Paul Miller (29:58):
Yeah, definitely.
Scott (29:59):
Super psyched to have you on.
I'm super psyched to becatching up with you.
You look great.
Paul Miller (30:05):
Happy for you doing the podcast and it's been good
hanging.
Scott (30:09):
Yeah, definitely You'll have to come on again.
Next episode we'll talk aboutall our obnoxious drinking data
guy stories, oh God.
If I can remember them, yeah,there's a reason you don't
remember college stories, right?
Paul Miller (30:20):
Yeah, exactly.
Scott (30:23):
So, all right, well, thank you again.
You guys are, and so we'll beone of my favorite bands.
It was so much fun having youon.
It was so much fun watching youguys throughout the years and
listening to music.
I still listen to it to thisday.
Folks, just check out FoxtrotZulu on Spotify or anywhere you
get your music Right.
You guys are out there.
Paul Miller (30:39):
Sure thing, we are, yeah, spotify Apple.
Scott (30:42):
Check them out.
They're just an awesome band.
You'll love them and you.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it and take care,buddy.
I did stand up for 10 years.
I was atrocious.
Paul Miller (30:53):
Atrocious.
Gotta leave a little stupidityin.
That's the fun part.
We had two interviews with Jeff Roberge and Paul
Miller, our 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 URI,cue the police sirens, just
kidding.
I'm excited and honored to havethem both with me on what is
essentially a two-part episode.
I'd like to dedicate both ofthose bars to the memory of our
(00:22):
recently passed fraternitybrother, ron 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 Paul Miller.
Paul and I are fraternitybrothers of the once defunct but
now quite alive Theta Chi EtaChapter at University of Rhode
Island.
(00:43):
Paul plays congas for the almost30-year-old jam band Foxtrot
Zulu, a seven-member band formedin the University of Rhode
Island in 1995, where they ruledthe URI bar scene throughout
the mid-90s and then branchedout to dominate the New England
regional music scene for therest of the 1900s, then toured
the rest of the US throughoutthe 2000s with the likes of
Howie Day and the iconic OAR.
I witnessed countless dynamicperformances from the band in
the mid-90s at roadie, wateringholes, bondview Inn and Ocean
(01:06):
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 up
graduating until 1996, andthat's a show for another day.
But a bunch of us would alwayscatch the guys when we could,
when they'd play up in Boston.
If you listen to their musicand you do not move in some way,
you should seek immediatemedical attention.
(01:26):
Seriously.
Paul Miller, welcome to CarneySaves the World.
It's good to see you.
What's going on, man?
How are you.
Paul Miller (01:29):
I'm good, it's good to see you.
It's been a long time.
Scott (01:32):
Yeah, it's like 28, 27 years I probably shouldn't put a
number on it.
No, that's not.
Thanks for being on, you andJeff.
Jeff's also been on the show.
You guys are two of the membersof Foxtrot Zulu, one of our
favorite bands in collegepost-college.
Paul Miller (01:54):
And give me your take on your time with the band
and how much fun it was.
Well, you know we started as abunch of friends just playing
instruments in a basement duringa cake party and 30 years later
we're're still through theoriginal seven, still friends um
playing very occasionally.
But you know it was many yearsof my life that I wouldn't
change a lot of fun.
You know we got to tour thecountry.
(02:15):
I've been to states that Idon't think I would have ever
gone to um in my normal life.
But, uh, you know we've mettons of awesome, awesome people,
a lot of whom we still keep intouch with um, you know, through
facebook or when we play shows.
It's uh, you know it's been areal fun ride and you know I've
(02:35):
made lifelong friends because ofit it's amazing.
Scott (02:37):
I mean you look at, like most bands, I don't even know
what the statistical average is,but most bands don't chill out
for 30 years.
I mean that's amazing that youguys have that longevity just to
remain friends, never mind tostill play together.
Paul Miller (02:49):
Yeah, yeah, I mean honestly, I don't have that many
friends that I've known for 30years, to tell you the truth.
So you know, and amazingly Ihave seven of them, you know
that are, or six of them.
And then Smiles, who's alwaysbeen there, kind of as our merch
guy doing whatever we neededhim to do so, but yeah, it's
(03:09):
been pretty amazing.
Scott (03:10):
That's awesome.
Jeff gave us his take on howthe band got started.
What, what's your view on it orwhat's your version of the
story?
Paul Miller (03:15):
okay, so let's see, we were at a party and I'm
sorry, but I don't rememberwhose house it was, but it was
definitely in Eastward Look,which is down the line at
University of Rhode Island.
There was a set of drums, a setof congas, and Neil and Nate,
who are our guitarists, bothlived together, so I'm assuming
(03:38):
it was their house.
They both played guitar.
They knew each other from highschool.
Both played guitar.
They knew each other from highschool and TK may have lived
there or may not, but he used toplay the clarinet but started
playing saxophone in college.
And you know we were hanging outhaving a good time and Jeff's
like I know how to play drums.
So he started playing the drumsand you know they weren't even
(03:58):
his.
Nate and Neil just grabbedtheir guitars and started
playing along and I'm like youknow I can bang on things, so
let's join in.
And TK brought his sax and thatwas the original five.
And then eventually, one of ourfriends, jeff, who plays
trumpet for us currently, waslike hey, I play trumpet, you
mind if I jam with you?
And so he came on along and wehad Brad, who is also a
(04:21):
guitarist, since we already hadtwo.
He's like well, I'll learn howto play bass.
So he got a bass and said, hey,I'll come jam with you as well,
and that is the origins of usreally you know?
Scott (04:32):
did you have any percussion background at all
when you started, or did youjust start banging on it, like
you said?
Paul Miller (04:37):
no just started banging on drums, wow that's
crazy.
Scott (04:41):
We would go see the band and we would watch you and then
you know you and jeff wouldbreak out in some percussion
solos and banging aroundtogether.
Then we'd go to you and we werelike, well, what the fuck is
going on right now?
How does Miller know how toplay these?
Paul Miller (05:07):
drummers, so I kind of tried to play all three
parts.
Oh, there you go.
So that's kind of how I got mystyle of a little bit frenetic
Overachieving yeah, pretty much.
And of course I never learnedhow to play kit, because Jeff
plays left-handed and I'm arighty, so I play hand drums.
So it's only taken me till thisage where I just bought myself
a drum kit and I'm actuallylearning how to play.
Scott (05:25):
There you go.
You have specific jam out parts, but what's your favorite song
to play?
Paul Miller (05:30):
Oh, that's hard Boulevard always is a big hit, a
lot of fun to play.
It does have a solo in it forme, but that's not only the only
reason.
I think that that really is oneof the ones that gets the crowd
really going.
One of my favorite songs isfront porch and I don't even
play on it and I just lovesitting like that's my break
(05:51):
time.
I get to sit down and watch thecrowd and it's fantastic
watching people sing along and,you know, have a great time.
So, um, you know, those are.
Scott (05:59):
Those are two of my favorites there are other other
songs that you're not playing injust because the conga part's
not available.
Paul Miller (06:04):
Nope, that's the only one.
Front Porch is really only Nateand TK.
Every once in a while I'll hopup and do like a little
something, but that's kind oflike there.
You know, like me and Jeff haveour solo and that's kind of
there.
Scott (06:14):
So that original set of congas?
Did that stay with you for theduration or did you upgrade at
some point?
Or?
Paul Miller (06:20):
No, the person who owned them took them back.
Oh really, yeah.
So I had to get my own.
That's not cool.
Well, you know, they were thereand I just was playing on them
because they were in the house.
So you know, eventually Iworked my way up and bought my
own set and then expanded my kit.
So now I have you know Timbalesand Juniors and Bongos and and
(06:43):
you know all kinds of stuff toplay nice.
Scott (06:46):
Do you remember?
You guys played at our house Idon't know, like 95 I think and
uh, you guys came in.
You guys were gonna startsetting up.
Jeff was like hey, do you mindif we all pre-game upstairs?
It's like, uh, we're gonna talkabout smoking on this, is that
okay?
Paul Miller (07:00):
oh, that's fine.
It's legal in massachusetts.
Scott (07:03):
So it don't matter anyway I know I literally moved here
like a month after it becamelegal, I.
So we go upstairs to my roomand Jeff says do you mind if my
little brother comes with us?
He's, he's up from high school,my little brother Mark.
10 years go by and one of theguys text me and they're like
did you know Jeff's brother'sthe lead singer of OAR.
I was like Jeff's brother, thelittle kid that spoke pot in my
(07:26):
room.
Paul Miller (07:27):
Oh yeah.
Scott (07:29):
I was like all right, that's nice, but you guys have
played with them a ton.
Paul Miller (07:34):
Yeah, they have been kind enough to let us open
for them on occasion.
I mean, we actually were theones who gave them their first
gig before, so they opened forus, but now they're way more
successful than we ever were.
So they're still kind enough toyou know, when they're in their
area, throw out a laurel andlet us play for them in front of
(07:55):
a big crowd.
Scott (07:55):
so it's tons of fun good kids, awesome, what's that
feeling?
Paul Miller (07:57):
like it's fun.
It's always fun, it's.
You know.
I mean, I love, we all loveplaying.
Obviously didn't get rich doingit, but you know I'll still go
out and play when everybodywants to get together, because
it's just fun to be on stage.
It's fun to, you know, hang outwith your friends and make
music and make people happy.
Yeah.
Scott (08:14):
One of the things I was also thinking about was so I
played drums when I was like injunior high.
It was awful, but they teachyou all how to read the music.
How were your parts written?
Were you just kind of feelingit as you played, or were there
specific parts that were written?
Paul Miller (08:27):
for you.
No, it was all out of my ownbrain and I cannot read music to
this day.
That's awesome.
Scott (08:34):
So you were just literally just feeling it and
just going with the flow, everysingle song.
Paul Miller (08:37):
Yeah, you know.
I mean, after you play themenough, you kind of like settle
on, like, okay, this is what I'mgoing to do for each part, you
know.
But at the beginning it was justI pretty much almost made up on
a song by song basis what I wasdoing at the time, you know.
But again, once you play thesongs, like, you really start to
write your parts more.
And you know, when you'repracticing and going through the
(09:00):
process of writing a songbecause it really it was a very
collaborative effort in writingmost of the songs you know,
someone would have an idea,either on guitars or horns,
would have something, and theywould come in and say, hey, I
have this riff, or I have thissomething, and they would come
in and say, hey, I have thisriff, or I have this idea, and
they would kind of jam it out.
And then we would all kind ofjust jam together and kind of
(09:21):
work out our parts and then, asyou keep practicing it,
eventually those parts gettighter and tighter and then
you've pretty much written yoursong at that point so that's.
That's kind of how all of ourmusic was written.
I think the only person who canreally read music fluently is
Brad Right?
Yeah, I think Jeff Light mightbe able to.
I think Neil and Nate can dotablature, but I don't think
(09:42):
they read music.
Pretty sure, wow, don't quoteme on it.
Scott (09:45):
Yeah, when did you realize, like at school, that
things were starting to get alittle crazy for the band?
Paul Miller (09:52):
Oh, I was probably.
Scott (09:54):
Because you guys were literally one of the most
popular bands that had played inmy five years.
I don't want to brag, but myfive years at URI, people went
to see you.
It was an event to go seeFoxtrot.
Paul Miller (10:04):
Yeah, it would have to be probably maybe the end of
my first senior year, because Iwas on the five-year plan, like
yourself, nice, so you knowwhen we would play two nights at
Bondview and it would becompletely full both nights, you
know, and people would know whowe were when we were walking
(10:25):
around.
That's kind of when you startedto realize that it was
something that we might want topursue.
Scott (10:30):
Yeah, you know, there was no cell phones back then, so
you made plans during the day asyou were walking through campus
and most nights it would belike, hey, you're going to this
bar, you're going to this bar,but if you guys were playing it
was like go to see fox azula,gotta get there early.
It was always just a mob sceneand, yeah, it was always fun.
Paul Miller (10:45):
Yeah, bond view was it was always like just an
insane show, always aninteresting night.
Scott (10:50):
They were always very, very crowded so a friend of mine
had a home video the old schoolhome videos and she popped it
up onto YouTube from Bonview andit was pretty ridiculous just
the amount of people that theywould stick in there.
Paul Miller (11:03):
Yeah, I don't even want to know what the fire
hazard was.
Scott (11:07):
Yeah, just people crawling on each other.
It was horrendous.
When I got down here I had awork truck and I had a CD player
in it and I got rid of all myCDs and I was like, well, you
know, I'll go to like thriftstore and see if there's any CDs
in there.
People ditch their CDs all thetime and I'm going through the
cases and I found one of yourCDs in a box down here for like
a buck.
Oh yeah, of course, but I mean,all CDs are a buck.
(11:29):
Going through it.
It's like Springsteen and iconsof pop era has gone by, and
then, oh, foxtrot's over, rightthere too.
That is pretty funny, it'spretty crazy.
Now you're a husband and dad,right, I am.
Paul Miller (11:39):
How many kids?
You got Two.
I've got two kids.
I have a 15-year-old and a10-year-old and my 15-year-old's
about to be 16.
Scott (11:50):
Good Lord, I know time go .
What would 16 year old paulmiller say to your daughter?
Paul Miller (11:52):
don't do anything I did.
Yeah, she's a great kid,without question.
She's, uh, she's super smart,super independent.
Scott (12:00):
Yeah, she's, she's awesome both your kids, uh, or
either of them have seen yourplay before.
Both of them have yep yeah whatdo they think?
Paul Miller (12:06):
oh, you know, they're just like oh, dad's on
stage, it's cool.
So you know you're a dad.
They're like whatever it's socrazy.
Scott (12:14):
Like to think, like you know, when we were 17, 18 years
old, like to listen to the musicour parents listened to.
Like if our parents were in aband and listen to it, it'd be
like the old 60s music.
We're like god, that's like oldgarbage.
I don't want to listen to that.
Yeah, you guys could be playedon the radio today and no one
would know that it's a 25, 30year old song yeah, probably not
.
Paul Miller (12:32):
um, I guess that style of music hasn't changed a
ton.
The music scene has definitelygone more towards the hip hop,
r&b stuff.
Nowadays it seems like that'smore popular, and we were never
really like poppy.
We could probably still hangout and play with some of the
jam bands that are around now,like Goose and Weedfoot right
now I would never think yourkids would watch you guys play
(12:55):
and I'd be like, oh, dad's sucha dork well, I think the last
time they saw me play they werepretty little too.
So, um, usually when we do playnowadays, I mean we play like
maybe once a year, so it's justyou know more, just for us to
have fun hang out.
Um, yeah, you know, that's moreof a like parents night out,
because jess will come and seeher friends and you know we all
(13:17):
kind of it's more of an adultnight, so we're not taking the
kids with us so, yeah, it'samazing that you all can still
get together and uh, and just,you know, hang out, you, the
kids all get together.
Scott (13:28):
30 years ago you would never thought in a million years
you'd be at that spot no, notat all.
Paul Miller (13:31):
And there's a lot of kids too.
Like you know, we've hadfoxtrot reunions where you're
just like wow, there's a lot ofkids here like how many do I
have now?
Scott (13:41):
yeah exactly do your kids brag about you?
Paul Miller (13:44):
my daddy's in a band I, you know, I honestly I
don't know, I don't think so.
I think my daughter's moreproud of my tattoos.
I'm the one who takes her tolike the metal shows and like
the punk rock stuff and whatnot.
That's always been kind of mystyle anyway, so that's more
where I get to brag on.
We're like oh yeah, my dad tookme to see Rancid, my dad took
(14:04):
me to see Murphy's Law orwhatever that's pretty cool.
Scott (14:07):
Yeah yeah, my daughter's seven and found out I did stand
up.
We'd be out and she'd be likemy daddy did stand-up comedy and
I'm like, don't, don't tellpeople that please don't, don't
tell people that that's becausethen this would like both tell
me a joke and you're like, yeah,oh, no, like if I was good I
would still be doing it.
And this, yeah, do they haveany musical desires or do you
(14:28):
see any musical talent in them?
Paul Miller (14:29):
uh, my daughter picked up guitar for like a
second and was like no, and thenshe said she wants to learn how
to play the drums.
We'll see what happens withthat, but it's not really their
focus.
She's more into like art andathletics and whatnot than music
at this point, and he is yourtypical 10-year-old who is on
(14:50):
his tablet 95% of the time orplaying video games with his
friends.
Scott (14:55):
We mentioned earlier was that our recently passed
attorney brother, Ron Gomes,passed away from cancer a few
months ago.
Such a great guy Wanted to seewhat your favorite memory of Ron
was.
Oh, I love Ron.
Paul Miller (15:09):
We used to sit in his room and play Techno Bowl.
Yes, I forgot about Techno Bowl.
He was a master privilegeplayer.
I played many, many games withhim, always had a smile on his
face, always wanted to make ajoke.
Very rarely did you see himangry.
And boy, did you not want to.
Scott (15:29):
I can tell you that, oh yeah.
Paul Miller (15:31):
But yeah, he's gone way too soon.
The world lost a good one,without question.
Scott (15:37):
Such a great guy.
But I totally forgot aboutTecmo Bowl.
Oh yeah, You'd be up all hours,You'd have to go to the
bathroom some nights and you'djust still hear Tecmo Bowl play
at like 3 in the morning.
Paul Miller (15:46):
Of course, yeah, it was usually me and Jeff.
Scott (15:50):
Yeah.
So getting back to the albums,did you guys do five albums, I
think?
Paul Miller (16:09):
We did four studio and one live.
What was your favorite to makeand what's your favorite to
listen to?
Oh, that's, that's a toughquestion, okay, so to make they
all had their instances of funand misery.
Um, I think our first one, I'mgonna say, was maybe my favorite
to make, just because it wasour first album.
Uh, we were camping in vermontin the middle of nowhere, this
little home studio, yeah, likeliterally living outside, just
like going in the studio, thengoing back outside and sleeping
(16:30):
in tents, um, tons of fun.
Our second album I want to saythat one was a little bit more
interesting because that was ourfirst album that was covered by
a record label, which isrunning dog at the time or not
running dog that was.
Uh, I'd have to look, but wehad an actual record label
backing us.
So we, we recorded an actuallike famous studios in upstate
(16:51):
new york and, you know, wentinto master it in times square
in new york city, yeah, um, so.
So that had its interest too,because it was like this is how
professionals do it.
I think the first album wasreally so grassroots and so kind
of okay, we're doing this,we're going to actually make
music and have it on a recordedmedium that we can distribute
(17:13):
was really kind of awesome.
Yeah, honestly, I really don'tlisten to our music very much.
To tell you the truth, again,my style of music I listen to
metal, I listen to punk rock, Ilisten to techno, breakbeats and
whatnot.
I think probably our mostpolished and interesting album
(17:35):
is probably Frozen in Time.
I like that one a lot.
It was definitely the tightestI think that we had.
Yeah, as far as the album'squality.
I think that was probably Ithink our best.
Scott (17:48):
So you mentioned earlier you had DJ headphones.
Do you have DJ equipment?
I do, so you do a little DJingon the side.
Paul Miller (17:54):
I did more party stuff, like you know, when we'd
have parties, I would.
So I have like 1200s in themixer and I whole bunch of
records that I honestly justdigitized and bought myself a
digital controller.
So now I'm learning how to dothat, but it's more just for me
hanging out with friendsthrowing down having a good time
, you're?
Uh, mix up any foxtrot I'd haveto like produce some tracks for
(18:17):
it.
I don't know if the BPM is notright for it.
Scott (18:22):
Kind of a funny story that I remember of Jeff.
When I first met him we had abarbecue out in Browning Hall.
He took a sip of a soda and abee flew in his soda and came
back out and stung him in thelip and his lip swelled up and
he had to go home.
It was hysterical.
Oh, I remember that.
I totally remember that it waslike the second day we were
(18:43):
there as I'm talking to himabout it too, I was like I've
told this story like 100 timesto 100 different people over the
last 30 years because it's justsuch.
It was one of the funniestthings I've ever seen live.
Paul Miller (18:57):
Yeah, like I do remember that that's hilarious.
Scott (19:00):
And we were talking about how absolutely insane that dorm
was as a freshman, to be theonly freshman dorm First time
they'd ever done it Kind ofexperimental and all this
jackasses just went in there andjust acted a fool.
Paul Miller (19:12):
Oh it was chaos.
Oh yeah, 100% chaos.
Yeah, it was.
That dorm was nuts.
Scott (19:17):
Do you remember this kid?
He lived upstairs from us.
Mike Traynor, hilarious kid.
He's from my hometown.
He had filled up a trash bagfull of water, put it under my
RA's door and then jumped on it.
No 30-gallon trash bag.
Paul Miller (19:31):
Shot all the water under.
Scott (19:32):
It rotted his floor.
It went all the way down to thefirst floor.
It was absolute train wreck.
Paul Miller (19:40):
It was just insanity.
Oh yeah, it was nuts.
I think the only reason Ididn't get written up in that
dorm is because I had a computerin my room.
Really, and I was one of thevery few that had a computer in
my room and my RA would knock onmy door and say, hey, can I
borrow your computer?
Instead of having to walk ahalf a mile, the computer left.
So you were like, oh sweet, sohalf a mile of the computer.
So you were like, oh sweet.
So I'm like, yeah, free pass.
Oh, I'd be sitting theredrinking beers in front of him
(20:00):
and he's just like dude really.
And I'm like you want to use mycomputer?
Yeah, I'll turn a blind eye.
Scott (20:07):
So when you guys get together, figure it out and play
.
Paul Miller (20:12):
The hardest part is trying to get to have a weekend
off, yeah you know, and thenhave a venue that has that date
match up yeah it's definitelychallenging.
That's why it's like almostlike once a year ish, yeah, that
we play, because, you know,trying to get everybody together
and we're not playing withouteverybody, because that's just
that's not box shot at thatpoint, that's great that you
(20:34):
guys like that.
Scott (20:35):
What's the funniest story you have from touring?
Because jeff gave me one.
I'm curious to see if theymatch up, oh God.
Paul Miller (20:42):
There's a lot that I'm not telling you, so I can
tell you that, okay, I thinkthis one's a good one.
I think it was our first tourever.
We had bought a short busschool bus and painted it gray
and taken all the seats out andturned it into like a loft and
carry area and whatever.
And we're touring the Northeastand we go to Portland, to this
(21:07):
club called Geno's, which isstill there, because I was in
Portland last year and I walkedby it and I was like, oh my God,
this is crazy.
So Geno's is a well-known hardrock club.
It is not a jam band club.
First of all, I think we'replaying on a Tuesday night in
the middle of winter in PortlandMaine.
It's freezing outside.
Scott (21:26):
Lovely time of year.
Paul Miller (21:26):
Yes, nobody's around.
So we're sitting in the club ata table waiting.
We're there early, as always.
Band is a ton of hurry up andwait, and we're sitting at the
table, we're hanging in and thisguy walks in from out off the
street, whips out his piece andtakes a leak on the floor.
(21:47):
Middle of the club.
Scott (21:48):
All right, that was not what I was expecting.
That was not Jeff's story, butthat's still.
That's a pretty good one.
Paul Miller (21:53):
It was hilarious.
It was hilarious Just in themiddle of the club.
Yeah, just like in the middleof the dance floor.
Like nobody there.
Lights are on, you know thebartender's like dude get out.
But yeah, because I'm homeless.
He just walked in and pissed onthe floor and we're like
welcome to rock and roll.
This is our first stop on thetour, so this is where we're at.
Scott (22:13):
I'm like okay it can only get better right.
Paul Miller (22:15):
Yeah, exactly.
Scott (22:19):
You told this story about how you guys ditched the van.
Paul Miller (22:21):
Oh, that was a good one too, yes.
And then we went back two yearslater and there was migrant
workers living in it.
Still there, they're justsleeping people in it, picking
tobacco right on the side of theroad in the tobacco field.
Scott (22:35):
You're in North Carolina.
Paul Miller (22:36):
It was North Carolina, virginia, somewhere
down south, because it was hotand we rented a U-Haul box truck
and we, like half of us, sat inthe well, three sat in front,
the rest sat in the back of thisthing, which, totally illegal.
We got pulled over.
We all would have got arrestedand it was, you know, 115
degrees in there and, like youknow, every hour they'd pull off
(22:58):
to a gas station and we'd haveto rotate so people could get
air conditioning and get newwater and whatnot.
It was the longest ride home.
Oh, it was horrendous.
The life of a rock star huh, ohyeah, not all glamorous oh, no,
no, no, trust me, I, we knewevery dollar value item that
there was on any menu at anygiven time.
(23:20):
How to make a wonderful saladat Roy Rogers' Fixin's Bar.
There was days where you'd belike, here's five bucks, that's
your food for today.
Scott (23:30):
That's so crazy, because you've got seven guys that are
trying to do that together.
I don't know how you do.
Yeah, it was always interesting.
I mean, it's such anaccomplishment to have seven
guys go through just one year oftouring and you still, to this
day, like talk.
Paul Miller (23:44):
It's shocking oh yeah, and it wasn't always seven
, because we also usually had atleast one other which was
smiley wow yeah, um, and then alot of times it was smiley and
our sound man.
So there was nine of us.
God that's crazy it was, itcould have been eight.
There were some definiteinteresting times, you know.
Scott (24:06):
If you can try to remember at some point.
Just let me know where thattobacco field was, because I
would love to track it down.
Right, I'm down here.
I might as well track it down,See if it's still there.
Paul Miller (24:15):
I have to talk to people, because that's beyond my
memory at this point.
I know it was.
I had to have been south ofMaryland because it was
definitely in a tobacco field.
So you know it was like gasstation tobacco fields as far as
the eye could see.
Welcome to the South.
Yeah, pretty much.
Scott (24:33):
Well, I grew up in Virginia Beach, so oh, did you
really?
Paul Miller (24:35):
Yeah.
Scott (24:35):
Yeah, oh, okay, I thought you were.
Did you live in Massachusettsafter that?
Paul Miller (24:38):
I lived in Massachusetts through high
school but, like I moved up toMassachusetts for ninth grade,
okay, so I lived in Virginia.
I lived in Virginia Beach beachin Charlottesville for the rest
of the time.
Oh yeah, no, I was a Navy brat,so my dad was stationed in
Norfolk.
Oh, all right.
Yeah, quite the culture shockwhen I moved here.
I don't mind the South, it'sjust a slow pace and you just
have to get used to that.
(24:58):
No one's moving faster thanthey move, which is fine.
Scott (25:02):
What your funny story was , because he told me that one
and then he told me was thereanother school?
Paul Miller (25:07):
bus.
Oh yeah, that was the bus thatwe left in North Carolina.
So we had the short school bus.
It was a church bus, is what itwas that we had.
The church had sold it and sosome Baptist church was on there
.
So we painted out that and weripped half the seats out,
turned some sideways, so theback was basically like you
(25:27):
could sit in a circle, becausewe used to play.
We put the kick drum in itscase in the middle of that.
That was our table and we wouldplay poker and whatnot until
whatever time we felt likecrashing.
So that was the one we left inNorth Carolina.
I can tell you another greatstory about that bus.
So while we were touring theRockies so we were in Colorado,
(25:50):
that area we didn't realize thatthere was a pinhole in the fuel
line and so when you got up tosome of the passes it would
stall out.
It wouldn't get enough pressurein the high altitude.
So it was one of those vanswhere you took off the cowling
from inside and you could seethe back half of the engine.
At one point it was rabbit ears.
I remember the pass because itwas ridiculous.
(26:11):
We had a bunch of people thatwere visiting with us.
So there was like 15 of us inthe bus and we couldn't.
It wasn't going to make it.
Everybody in the bus got out,we took the cowling off.
Somebody is spraying starterfluid straight into the car
while the other person drivesand everybody else is running
alongside the van to the top ofthe pass and as we get to the
(26:33):
crest we just start throwingpeople in as we're getting ready
to go down yeah, that washilarious.
Scott (26:41):
That's fantastic.
You think about it, though youprobably wouldn't have had it
any other way, like you wouldn'thave been like.
Oh, I was in a band and I hadthis amazing bus and we got
everywhere we're supposed to ontime oh, I would have been.
Paul Miller (26:50):
I would not have been sad, I wouldn't have the
stories that I have, that's forsure.
But you know, I think once wedid finally buy a um, like 15
passions or diesel van that wetowed a trailer behind and that
was, you know, super reliable.
That made it so that we weren'tat least, even though we were
stressing about money and likegetting places on time, so that
(27:11):
we weren't at least, even thoughwe were stressing about money
and getting places on time andwhatnot, we weren't stressing
that it was going to break downat any given moment.
I have a good story about thatvan too.
We were in the mid, we were inone of the flyover states Ohio,
kansas, something like that.
It was 2.30, 3 o'clock in themorning, neil was driving and,
(27:33):
like I said, it was a diesel van.
So he pulls up, gets out, he'shalf asleep, we're getting ready
to change drivers, he's pumpingthe gas and all of a sudden he
gets in the van, he goes.
So what happens when you putregular gas into a diesel engine
?
Scott (27:52):
into a diesel engine and we go.
What do you mean, neil?
Paul Miller (27:54):
and, yes, he had filled 80 gallons of regular
fuel into our diesel.
Are you serious?
Yeah, so it's again threeo'clock in the morning, gas
stations open, we all go inside.
We're like he just did this.
Uh, what do you think we shoulddo about it?
Because, again, again, no cellphones.
I think I had my.
I did have a cell phone at thatpoint, but it was you know I
(28:15):
had.
It was like roaming charges andwhatnot, and so you couldn't
use it except for emergencies.
So the guy's like all right,hang tight, let me see if what I
can do.
So he calls one of his friendsand again, this is like three
o'clock in the morning and hisfriend's like yeah, I'll take it
, and he was going to put it inhis boat motor.
So he came and siphoned all 80gallons out whoa and yeah, yeah.
(28:36):
So we're sitting there waitingfor this guy to show up and all
of a sudden two cops come intothe store and our salmon at the
time was chris hovered.
And they look at him, they lookat us, they look at him again
and say you come with us.
We're like what is happening,you know.
So look at him again and sayyou come with us.
We're like what is happening,you know.
So they take him outside andstart like giving him a third
degree and we're like what isgoing on?
Like we have no idea what'sgoing on.
(28:58):
So apparently there was a, b andE that happened and he happened
to fit the description.
He's like dude, I am not fromhere and I've been in that all
night long.
That's great.
But yeah, it was hilarious andlike, yeah, if we hadn't broken
down, like if he hadn't filledup the gas, that never would
(29:19):
have happened because we'd justbeen on down the road.
But yeah, it was a long night,without question, until we
finally got back underway andthen we had to hightail it to
our next gig, because now wewere four hours behind.
Scott (29:27):
So no damage to the engine on.
Paul Miller (29:32):
So no damage to the engine, nothing.
He got it all out.
No, the guy got most of it out,and by that point you mix 80
gallons worth of diesel into alittle bit of regular gas.
It's fine, wow, didn't doanything to it, so lucky.
Luckily he realized it beforewe turned it on.
Scott (29:44):
I just want to ask you guys a question what would
happen if, oh, that would havebeen the end, that would have
been like it?
Paul Miller (29:49):
would have been so screwed.
Oh, it would have blown up theengine and that would have been
absolutely the end.
That's nuts.
Scott (29:54):
Well, paul, this has been awesome man catching up with
you.
It's been too long it has been.
Paul Miller (29:58):
Yeah, definitely.
Scott (29:59):
Super psyched to have you on.
I'm super psyched to becatching up with you.
You look great.
Paul Miller (30:05):
Happy for you doing the podcast and it's been good
hanging.
Scott (30:09):
Yeah, definitely You'll have to come on again.
Next episode we'll talk aboutall our obnoxious drinking data
guy stories, oh God.
If I can remember them, yeah,there's a reason you don't
remember college stories, right?
Paul Miller (30:20):
Yeah, exactly.
Scott (30:23):
So, all right, well, thank you again.
You guys are, and so we'll beone of my favorite bands.
It was so much fun having youon.
It was so much fun watching youguys throughout the years and
listening to music.
I still listen to it to thisday.
Folks, just check out FoxtrotZulu on Spotify or anywhere you
get your music Right.
You guys are out there.
Paul Miller (30:39):
Sure thing, we are, yeah, spotify Apple.
Scott (30:42):
Check them out.
They're just an awesome band.
You'll love them and you.
Thank you very much.
I appreciate it and take care,buddy.
I did stand up for 10 years.
I was atrocious.
Paul Miller (30:53):
Atrocious.
Gotta leave a little stupidityin.
That's the fun part.
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