Chris Duarte

Strap in for a musical odyssey with Texas guitar virtuoso Chris Duarte. This episode is a treasure trove of candid tales and wisdom from the road, offering a glimpse behind the curtain of a touring musician's life. From the logistical ballet of organizing a band to the financial tightrope walk of keeping the music playing. We revel in the memories of our early days, when young ambition and raw talent propelled us from eager protégés to masters of our art.

Gearheads and aspiring musicians alike will be engrossed by our deep dive into the tools of our trade. We also reflect on the digital revolution's impact on music, from the ease of distribution to the importance of preserving live show excitement. Join us for an episode that not only celebrates musical passion but also serves as a guiding beacon for navigating the modern industry's waters.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Lo and behold, ladies and gentlemen, season five of
Chewing the Gristle is upon us.
It's been a little while, folks, but it's going to be worth the
wait.
We're going to be featuring alot of convivial conversations
with various musical potentates,most of which you've heard of.
Some are going to be some newdiscoveries.
That's why I'm here to bringforth the chewable gristle

(00:29):
matter to you via theInformation Superhighway,
brought to you of course, by ourfriends at Wildwood Guitars in
beautiful Louisville, colorado,and our friends at Fishman
Transducers of beautiful Andover, massachusetts.
Both I've had greatlongstanding relationships with,
and continue to do so, andwe're very grateful for their
continued support in thisendeavor of giving you the

(00:51):
highest quality and chewablegristle possible.
Now, without any further ado,folks, let's get down and dirty
with some Chewing the GristleSeason 5.
Buckle up.
This week on Chewing the Gristle, we got mighty Texas guitar
phenom, chris Duarte.
I've known Chris since theearly 90s.

(01:12):
We did a show together and I'vealways been in awe of his
guitar prowess.
Hell of a nice guy as well.
This week, chewin' the Gristlewith Chris Duarte.
Come on y'all.
Ladies and gentlemen, boys andgirls, welcome to yet another
installment in Chewing theGristle with yours truly Gregory

(01:33):
Cock, I'm here with guitarlegend strap manipulator
extraordinaire.
And Texan Chris Duarte Chris,how the hell are you?
It's been a while.
And Texan Chris Duarte Chris,how the hell are you?
It's been a while.

Speaker 2 (01:45):
I'm doing so great, gregory.
It's been a while, yes, I know,and it's so great to see you
Likewise.

Speaker 1 (01:51):
You know, I think we first ran across each other in
the early 90s at Shank Hall.
I remember the gig and weopened up for you and you put on
an incendiary show.
And then over the years I wouldI would hear your playing in in
Klaus's van when I'd be overthere in in Europe and there's

(02:11):
Chris Duarte.
He could tell you from thesecond you start playing and
always been a big fan of yourmusical activities.
And now you've got my buddy,tommy Brecklein, playing in your
van, which is just so awesome.

Speaker 2 (02:24):
Yeah, Tom is like.
It's like skating on his ice.
His meter is so good.
That's what I love playing withand his swing is great.

Speaker 1 (02:30):
Yes, he's a swinging fool and he's a funny son of a
bitch.

Speaker 2 (02:35):
He is funny.
Yeah, he's funny in all thestories that he has.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
I just love listening to him just talk.
Yeah, he's definitely got somegood tales.
My nickname for him was LongIsland Fury because he had this
thing to him when somethingrubbed him the wrong way.
His Long Island accents getsmore pronounced and the
vernacular gets more filthy andI remember being with him in

(03:03):
Europe at one point and he'skind of sleeping in the back.
You know those sprinter vans.
You've got a couple people andyou're wedged in between them
and he's wedged between twopeople and he's just kind of
sleeping sitting straight up andhis eyes are closed.
And Klaus had to do some kindof quick maneuver with the
vehicle and it kind of moved himaround a little bit and all Tom

(03:25):
did, without even waking up,goes I son of a bitch, hilarious
, and it was classic, thomas,absolutely.
So tell me where you're atright now You're in your vehicle
, where are you headed?
You guys, are that one daywhere I saw you had two gigs in
a day?
You were playing Dallas and youwere going down to Houston.
I know you keep yourself busy.

Speaker 2 (03:43):
What's been happening ?
Yeah, I mean, when the albumcame out last year, the record
company was influential ingetting me signed on to another
agency out of LA ArtistsWorldwide Chuck Bernal so
they've been booking me up a lot.
So right now I'm here in Albany, new York, because we had a
long drive from Nashville tohere and we're actually going to
Boston to play tomorrow nightin Boston Some small private

(04:07):
function, what we're going to do, and then we go down New Jersey
.
But yeah, we're out for a monthon this one, mainly the East
New England, a little bit in theMidwest, then come back out to
New England to finish up thetour.

Speaker 1 (04:17):
Nice, and do you use different squads for these
various tours?

Speaker 2 (04:21):
Lately I've had the same bass player.
He seems to do really well outon the road.
He doesn't have a day gig inAustin so he's able to go out
and play with me and just, youknow, just pull up his hooks and
come out with me.
Drummers.
I've got a new drummer out ofHouston, a guy named Brandon
McLeod that I played a gig with.
Really good drummer, nice youngkid.
So I like the way he's playingplaying.

(04:42):
So yeah, usually it alwayschanges up who's available at
the time well, that's the thing,isn't it?

Speaker 1 (04:48):
you're going on the road, who's available, who can
do it, who's not going to cost afortune every day, and who's
who's, who's a little, who's alittle bit more understanding of
listen?
I don't know how much moneywe're making on this thing.
Are you cool with being at theend and we're at least going to
make this amount?
And sometimes the answer isyeah, no problem, other than
hell.
No, I need to make X amount andso yeah, I get it.

Speaker 2 (05:09):
That is true.
I mean, what's always thebiggest cost when it comes to
doing my taxes is the labor.
You know, that's my biggestcost.
Yes, and I mean, and yeah, yougot to find a cat that sort of
gets in, you know, just gelswith everybody, cause I'll, I'll
take somebody that can getalong with everybody fine,
instead of a player that's acurmudgeon and he plays fabulous
.
You know, I mean I, I just I'vegot to have that easy chemistry

(05:32):
going, because I, I just wantto get out here and play music
and play to the best of myability, and I can't do it if
I'm having strife and stuff inmy life, absolutely.

Speaker 1 (05:41):
You need low maintenance.
But you know, the other thingI've noticed and I'm sure you
can speak to this with greataplomb is the idea of having to
manage the doggone merch.
And you're ordering the merchoh, I'm almost out of this, can
you get me some there?
And then, watching your PayPalbalance, go oh man, we've made a

(06:02):
lot of money, yeah, but nowI've got to buy more merch.
Goes right back down again.

Speaker 2 (06:08):
Exactly.
And then you know you don'thave enough room to have a whole
big assortment of merchandise,so it's always just some
t-shirts and some CDs, you know.
And then you always got to getout there and set up the
merchandise and then even afterthe gig, even though you might
have a terrible night, you stillgot to go out there on that
table and put on that shine, youknow, and give the people.
Yeah, Give them just a fewminutes of your time.

(06:30):
You know every time you makethat transaction.

Speaker 1 (06:32):
Yes, I know, absolutely I.
You know.
People say, you know I.
As soon as I I worked the tablebefore we go on and I worked
the table after we go on andpeople are like you're doing
your own merch.

Speaker 2 (06:49):
I'm like, yeah, we'll sell 10 times as much stuff if
I'm working the merch table.
Exactly, that's, yeah, it's theway it is.
I mean because people, they'llget that chance, get an
opportunity to talk with you,and they get an autograph too,
or a picture or whatever.
Yeah, you're right.

Speaker 1 (07:09):
When you're out there doing it, the merchandise sales
go up Exactly, and there'stimes where it's like, oh, it
wasn't the greatest night forpeople showing up, but by God,
we made almost twice as much atthe merch.

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Yeah, man, I mean, there's some nice, there's some
cities like Phoenix is one ofthose towns that you know I sell
a ton of merchandise.
Buffalo is one of these strangetowns.
They buy a lot of CDs inBuffalo, you know.
Great for me, man.
And people and usually I've gotalbums too.
I have LPs, and a lot of timesthe LPs will outsell the CDs.
A bunch of nights.

Speaker 1 (07:35):
Well, I think the reason for that is is that, I
mean, there are a lot of peoplewho are listening to records
again, but it's just somethingthat people might even not
listen to but they just want tohave.
And then you sign it and theyhave this big, you know more
substantial item to remember theevening with and a little CD
which they might lose, and youknow, on the way home, yeah, the

(07:56):
vinyl is an interesting thing.
People are always like, hey,you got vinyl and now we've got
vinyl and it's interesting.
People will come up and justgive me the record and you're
like awesome.
So yeah, it's just one of thosethings where I've noticed that
I've got this Gristle King pedalthat my buddy of mine invented
or designed years ago andFishman's actually making for me
now, so I can get them inquantity.

(08:19):
And having bigger ticket itemson the merch table, man, it
helps.
It's interesting because you'llfind some musicians that will
find that whole aspect of itkind of gross.
You know what I mean.
You're like listen, if themerch means I can go out and
play the music I want to play tothe people that show up solely

(08:39):
to hear me play it, then let thegood times roll than you know,
playing at venues where, oh look, there's a band here and
they're going to play shit.
That is lowest commondenominator.
I'd rather just say, yeah, youknow what?
I am working in the merch tableand I'm selling a bunch of
different shit because thatallows me to play whatever the
fuck I want to play.

Speaker 2 (08:58):
Yeah, man, that's.
That's where I feel I've beenlucky to you and I have that in
common.
We've been doing our own thingfor over 30 years, you know, and
we've been able to make aliving at doing it, putting our
kids through college.
You know, I feel myself veryfortunate that I haven't had to
play brown eyed girl, you know,a thousand times in my life, you
know exactly.
And then also and then I willsell whatever I want at my merch

(09:21):
table.
This is what gets me down theroad to seeing the people, is
the merchandise you know andalso it helps, you know, it
helps, uh, uh, you know,bolsters my bank account, you
know, so I can pay my musicians,so I can keep my van fixed, you
know.
And now, you know, it gets tothe point.
Now I have to rent a vanbecause my van that I've got
over 800,000 miles on it, Idon't trust it to go out in a

(09:43):
5,000, 6,000, 7,000 mile tour.
You know because I'm just goingto be stressing the whole time
When's it going to break?
When's it going to break?
Right, exactly.

Speaker 1 (09:53):
Yeah, I just, I just uh purchased a vehicle for for
touring Uh.
Prior to that, my uh ourkeyboard player, Toby, had a uh
had a Tahoe on a trailer that wewould use and once we tipped
over 200 and some odd thousandmiles with that thing, he's like
man.
If we could use something else,that would be awesome, because
he just started.
You know, different lights werestarting to come on and you

(10:14):
know we were just getting scaredhere and there.
So I ended up getting a FordTransit which we put a bulkhead
in and a second row of seats,but you know it's already's,
already.
I mean I got it, we took ourfirst trip with it.
It wasn't ready to go and forour tour, so they had to give us

(10:34):
a rental in January, but thenwe went out February, march.
I mean I've already got 10,000miles on that thing and it's oh
yeah, man it's like mean to your.
I could see 800,000 miles.
What is that?
Two years?

Speaker 2 (10:48):
Yeah, exactly.
I mean, I'm not even a weekinto this tour and I've already
put on 2000 miles, you know.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
So it's crazy, isn't it?

Speaker 2 (10:55):
Yeah, I mean, that's when I know, when I, when I
could look at a tour and I couldsay, oh, this tour is going to
be somewhere around seven to8,000 miles, which is actually a
pretty long tour.
You start talking that manymiles, that's a long tour, man
Right.
Especially within a month, yeah, and then, especially when you
go out the West Coast, those arelong stretches between the
cities and stuff.
Absolutely, you get up toWashington State.

(11:17):
My God, I mean I love thescenery up there, but man, yeah,
there's some ball halls upthere, but man yeah, there's
some ball halls.
I mean keeping your head aboutyou being the leader of the
group, trying to keep themachine rolling down the tracks,
keeping everybody in a goodmood, taking care of everybody,

(11:37):
because I actually pride myselfin how I take care of my guys.
I always tell the wives whenwe're leaving the house I'll get
your man home safe.
That's one thing about me.
I want to get my guys home safe.
I want them to be comfortableout on the road.
When I check into hotels I'llcheck their rooms first.
I'll get them in the rooms.
I've heard so many horrorstories about band leaders out
there.
I don't want to also realize.

(12:02):
The reason sometimes I mightmake a little bit more money
than you is because I've got allthis responsibility to do and
plus it's my name.
That's why the people arecoming.
I mean, that's just the basicbrass tacks to it, you know.

Speaker 1 (12:13):
I'm sorry, totally, absolutely Well, I find
interesting too is, you mightfind you know we're about the
same age and sometimes you runacross people that you went to
school with or whatnot, and theygo.
Do you ever get tired of beingon the road?
And I'd say listen, you knowwhen you get to wake up, really

(12:35):
whenever you want to wake up.
You know there's always alittle buffer.
Sometimes there's days whereyou got to do an all-day drive
or so on and so forth.
But you know you have your ownitinerary.
You can choose.
Well, maybe I'll drive a fewhours after the gig or maybe
I'll wait till tomorrow morning.
You stay where you want to stay.
You eat where you want to eat.

(12:55):
You show up at a venue and theonly reason why people are
coming there is to hear you doyour thing.
And you get to set up, you'rewith your guys, you get to play
your music and usually you startearly because they're showcase
gigs.
So you're starting at likeeight, you know maybe nine at
the latest, but usually eighto'clock, and then you're.
You know you're back in yourhotel by 1030, if you want to go
out and do something, orwhatever the case may be, and
then the next morning you repeatI'm like there's really I mean

(13:17):
other than being away from yourloved ones.
But if you juggle that in a waywhere it's not you know totally
one side or the other, it'sfucking awesome, am I right?

Speaker 2 (13:28):
I actually love the road, I love being on it.
I love getting in the patternof what I do.
I mean, I've done this for along time.
I've I've stopped all thepartying and doing all that
stuff.
All I do is I save all myenergy for the gig.
You know, that's where, that'swhere everything matters to me.

(13:52):
I, those few hours to create,you know, and be myself and be,
be be what you know, practice mycraft.
You know, all the other stuffis like that's, that's just sort
of the periphery stuff.
You know, setting up the merch,doing all doing the drives and
all that.
Yes, it's, it's all for the gigfor me.
But I love it, you know.
And every day it may seem thesame, but no, every day is
different.
Right, you get to see differentpeople, and you're right, you
see people you've gone, you'veknown for years out on the road,
and people you've seen theirkids grow up.

(14:13):
Now they're in their midtwenties and they were just kids
, five and six years old, whenthey came to see you.
So I mean, and they're stillcoming to see?
Yes, I love being on the road,even when I'm around the house
for like a month or two.
You know, it's like I juststart ants getting antsy.
It's like it's time for me toget out on the road.

Speaker 1 (14:29):
I gotta get out on the road and just the playing
part alone is like god, you,just you just miss it yeah,
that's what makes it all worthit.

Speaker 2 (14:37):
It's just playing.
I get to try new stuff out andand you know, I might tell
different.
I mean the same sort ofstorylines in some in some songs
.
But still, I try to get outthere and try to be, be creative
and try new stuff and if Icrash on some of this, I'm fine
with me.
But then there are thosespecial nights where there's
like one and few and far betweenwhere everything you do kind of

(14:58):
works out and you're justplaying.
You're playing uninhibited andeverything's working it.
Those are like the reallymagical nights and that's what I
strive for every night.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
Absolutely.
Now, do you like to kind ofshoot from the hip in terms of
the set list, or are you prettyconsistent, or how rigid are you
with that kind of an approach?

Speaker 2 (15:19):
I used to be a shoot from the hip guy for the longest
time, but as the older I'vegotten.
My brain just doesn't work asquick as it used to.
So now I have to start writingset lists and stuff.
So I'm not up there plinkingaround going what am I going to
play?
What am I going to play, youknow, because normally I can, I
can sort of gauge, you know, bythe audio.
I look at the audience and ifthey're a dancing audience, I

(15:41):
start thinking, okay, I'm goingto play more dance stuff.
Uh, if there's sort of alistening audience, I'll sort of
.
Okay, what goes good after thissong.
And I'm thinking that while I'mplaying is I'm trying to do all
this complicated stuff in theguitar.
I'm actually thinking aboutwhen I'm going to play next.
But I mean, if, if I have a setlist, that makes it go a lot
quicker and more efficient, youknow.
But I mean, yeah, I, I, I likebeing shoot from the hip guy,

(16:03):
especially when it comes tosolos and stuff.
Sure, totally.

Speaker 1 (16:07):
Now, when you go on the road, what?
What do you take Like are you?
Do you, do you use backline ifyou can, or do you always have
your stuff?
And I'm always curious becauseyou know, I usually bring an amp
and then a spare, and sometimesI'll bring two spares just in
case, cause with tube tube ampsyou never know what's going to
happen.
So I'm always curious as towhat other people do I, I drag

(16:28):
my own.

Speaker 2 (16:28):
I just, you know, I used to grab a spare.
Uh, I have my vibra king.
I've been taking out for a longtime, right, and it works.
It's just a beast, you know.
It just takes it on the road.
I have everything in road cases, so that helps out a lot too,
because I could just roll around, it could take a little bit of
a beating.
Um, it's all padded and stuffthere.
In fact, everything that I haveis in rope cases, except my

(16:50):
guitar.
That's like in a gig bag, right.
But I mean, yeah, I just takejust the bare minimum of stuff
I'll.
I'll use back line if theyabsolutely want me to do it.
You know I can make anythingwork.
I've always said the tone is inthe hands, right, but I mean,
yeah, mean yeah, I mean I'llmake anything work, but I'd much
rather prefer to have my tone.
You know my amp and stuff.

Speaker 1 (17:08):
And what's that gold Strat you've been playing?

Speaker 2 (17:11):
That's an exotic, it's made by Exotic.
Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I knowthose guys and they've been
endorsing me for a long time.
You know, like the old sixtiesfenders.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, and sothey've been doing fine.
I mean, I still have my 63,it's sitting in the closet, you
know, it's still there.
That's that's going to go to mydaughter when I shuffle off

(17:33):
this mortal coil.

Speaker 1 (17:37):
Yeah, that gold one is a.
It's a glorious specimen.
I dig it.

Speaker 2 (17:40):
Yeah, I like it.
Yeah, I like it.
Nice and sparkly and stuff, andI've always loved the gold
strats, you know, back from theday.
So that's why I told them tomake me a sparkly gold one.

Speaker 1 (17:49):
Yes, so tell us a little bit about how you got
started in this crazy pursuitand what was your first impetus
to wanting to start to playguitar to begin with.

Speaker 2 (18:01):
Oh man, it's the fiddler on the roof.
You know when?
Fiddler on the roof.
You know when?

Speaker 1 (18:06):
the fiddler on the roof did it's the network debut.

Speaker 2 (18:10):
I guess If I was a rich man.
And it starts off with that guy.
You know that fiddler on theroof.
He saws out that little line init, the way he's silhouetted.
I just thought that was so cool.
And I was like in third gradeat the time.
And so I went to school wantingto play violin and they were
like no, we got too many violinplayers, how about a clarinet?
So I went home to my mom howabout clarinet?

(18:31):
My mom's like no, you're notplaying clarinet.
That was the impetus that hadbeen planted.
And so later on, when my olderbrother got a guitar probably
when I was probably around 15, Iended up getting a guitar
because I was constantly pickingup his guitar.
He had like a Takamineclassical guitar back in the day
got it.
So then I got like a Takaminef-140, kind of a dreadnought one

(18:56):
.
It was stolen later on butstill, I mean that was back when
Takamenes were kind of popularback in the mid to late 70s.
Yep, absolutely, I rememberthat.
And so that was it and I usedto put electric strings on it so
I could play like solos andstuff, because I didn't want to
put acoustic strings on it, theywere just a little too rough.
And then I was off to the racesand got some Beatle books and I

(19:17):
learned I could read the musicreally well because the chords
were right over the words and itjust seemed to come so
naturally to me.
And so then I realized when Itry to teach people music, they
couldn't get it as fast as me.
I just sort of realized, ohwell, maybe I have something
here, maybe I have something, Ihave a natural ability for this,
and so that's when I startedworking on it.

(19:39):
And then I was always good inschool but I always got bored so
I was skipping school and theneventually I just moved to
Austin.
I quit school in my junior yearand I moved to Austin when I
was 16 because I'd heard Austinwas a music town.
And I moved there and startedworking with this bass player.
We lived together in anefficiency apartment just

(20:00):
working on stuff.
I was like a big prog rock guyback in the day, learning all
the yes songs and stuff.
I was learning all that stuff.
I was like a big prog rock guyback in the day, learning all
the yes songs and stuff.
I was learning all that stuff.
And then I was starting tolearn to read music back then.
And then I got in a jazz bandwhen I was about 17, but I
couldn't play jazz saved my life.
But I could read the real book,I could read the charts and all
that stuff, and so that's justkind of what took it and I just

(20:21):
kept working with people andworking with people.
Then I got in my first bluesband at the age of 17 and
started touring around Texas.
And that was it.
You know it was.
You know the ball got rolling.

Speaker 1 (20:33):
Yes indeed.
Now how were your parents withyou going into musical activity?
I always get a kick out ofasking that question Because for
some people, I mean because myparents, my parents, were very
supportive, uh, but yet theywere horrified that I wanted to
pursue it as a living.

Speaker 2 (20:49):
Yeah, I mean, I think , yeah, they were supportive at
first, but I just think in theback of their mind they thought
it was a phase I was goingthrough and sooner or later, you
know, especially when I droppedout of school, that was like,
oh okay, you know he's reallytaking the dive, we'll see.
But you know he's really takingthe dive, we'll see.
But you know, as I just I justkept my nose to the grindstone
and kept working at it and getplaying and practicing and

(21:11):
asking questions.
You know a lot of cats, youknow, you know ask what are you
doing here, how are you doingthis?
You know, to older musiciansand stuff.
I was constantly, always witholder musicians.
I mean, I wasn't, it wasn'tuntil I was probably in my
forties when I was like the oldguy in the band.
I was usually always theyoungest guy in the band.

Speaker 1 (21:28):
Isn't that funny.
I was the same way.

Speaker 2 (21:30):
I was always the youngest guy until, you know, I
started to have my own bands andthen, even then, I was the
youngest guy for a while butyeah, I mean, things just
started moving and I just, youknow, then I started getting out
on the road and started playingmore and you know, then the
word started to spread and thenyou know, this is pre-internet

(21:52):
days and social media days, andthen some record guy came out
and saw me and then signed me.
You know, after the gig theysigned me and then two months
later I was in the studio doingTexas Sugar.
Then things really blew upbecause even though it didn't
get super big, but it was quitea ride, I got to admit that
Texas Sugar was a ride.

(22:16):
Yeah, because I still rememberthat gig.
When you opened up you werethis tall guy and you had this
Buddy Holly, look with those big, thick black glasses and you
were doing this stuff and thedelay thing.
And I was like who is this guy?
He is doing some really goodstuff.
You were like the most, by farthe most unique guy I had seen
ever opening up for me in all mytime.
Man, it was just tremendous.

Speaker 1 (22:37):
Oh, thank you, I remember.
I remember that that was goodtimes and you guys just rocked
the joint afterward.
That was awesome.
You know the early ninetiesthere was, you know there were
some things happening, you know,in terms of there was still.
Well, I don't want to sound likekids these days, but it is
interesting these days, wouldyou not say that the Internet

(23:00):
has made things in some ways soawesome because you've you're
able to kind of bypass themiddleman and just go directly
to the peeps and, and it's greatfor you know, promoting gigs.
It's great to learn, becauseLord knows there's so much stuff
online now that back in the daywe would have to just sit by
record players and figure allthat shit out.

(23:21):
And or you know, occasionallythe you know or the older
brother of somebody you knewdown the street knew some shit.
But now you can go online andbasically find anybody, uh, the
original artist playing andmaybe even at some point giving
you actual instructional stuff,all that other kind of stuff, uh
, but at the same point it'salmost, as it's like, lost its

(23:45):
magic in some ways, as far asyou know, what we construed as
music back in the day as beingmagical, I think there's so much
of it now that it's it's not,as I don't know, quasi
metaphysical as it was, wouldyou not agree in some way?
I mean not to sound like kidsthese days, but no, I think I

(24:07):
know what you're getting at.

Speaker 2 (24:08):
I mean the way we kind of learned music back in
the day.
I remember when I had to, youknow, before things we could
slow things down and keep it inthe same pitch.
I mean whoa, you know.
But I mean, yeah, how we'd haveto really pick up that needle
on the record and keep puttingit back when you're like
learning that Jeff Beck songs orright, learning all that other
stuff you just have to.
And it was the.

(24:28):
It was the dedication that youhad to your craft and and you,
the hunger you had to learn itand what you had to go through
to learn it.
Yeah, I know this is a goldentime that people can get on the
internet and learn how to dostuff.
I I mean it hasn't lowered thebar.
That would be cynical, mesaying it's lowered the bar.

(24:49):
It hasn't lowered the bar.
It's made the equality ofaccess to music to all people.
I know what the internet's donefor people and I really
appreciate that.
But I know what it means whenyou're sitting there and you've
gone through all that work tolearn your craft and how we did

(25:10):
it and how we came upon it.
Yeah, there's a certain amountof pride that us older musicians
have at the way we came aboutdoing it.
You really had to do it.
They do the same thing in theNBA.
The older vets are complainingabout the kids these days.
They don't work on the basics.
Right, it's the fundamentalsand that's where we really came
up with it.
It was just practicing on yourcraft and you didn't have all

(25:32):
this other stuff to what am Isaying To sort of take your
attention away from Right.
You had to really stay focusedon getting it, and I know what
you mean, man.

Speaker 1 (25:46):
Yeah, it's a crazy thing, and I know what you mean,
man.
Yeah, it's a crazy thing.
I mean, and especially you knowand I applaud people that are
able to, you know, especiallythe younger cats who have a much
better understanding of editingvideo and adding in all the
watermarks and all that otherkind of stuff, of putting
together content in such a waythat, you know, it goes more

(26:09):
viral and they have, you know,hundreds of thousands, if not
millions, of followers and canmake a nice living from just
doing that.
I think that's all cool in thegang, um, but I like to say to
people, it's like as much as theinternet was key for me to be
able to make a living, becauseit has been.
I mean through the Wildwoodvideos and and all the other

(26:30):
content stuff, definitely duringCOVID.
You know all the live streams Idid during that.
That's one of the main reasonsthat a lot of people are coming
to gigs now and we go on theroad.
Hey, we watched you all thetime during COVID.
You know, when you do thoselive stream, I get all that.
But there there's somethingabout, um, the internet's not
real.
There's something about theinternet's not real.

(26:51):
You know what I mean, well,it's a dose of reality.
But as far as like music,activity, arts, you got to be in
the room because that's wherethe magic happens.
Now you can create atwo-dimensional thing that's
impressive and sounds great andthere is value to that, without
question.
But is it the same as being inthe room with people and getting

(27:12):
that interaction between crowdand musician and all the magic
that happens as a result of thatsymbiosis and so on and so
forth?
The answer is hell, no, and andit's just I just hope that
people realize uh, what's what'sreal in that regard and what's
a little more contrived?
Does that make sense withoutsounding too cynical?

Speaker 2 (27:33):
No, it does make sense.
I mean, I see a lot of catsthat they can play a lot of
terrific stuff, but can they putit to a song?
Can they make it sound musical?
And that's when you get withother players and you start
playing with other people.
And that's when you get withother players and you start
playing with other people youstart to learn how to to
communicate with all of them.
There's a language being spokenin there.

(27:54):
I know, yeah, like you said,that you can do the jam sessions
online.
Everybody could be like on everylooking at everybody, but
something about being at theorganic feeling of everybody
being together and working offeach other hearing, hearing that
sound, hearing the differentthings you know there's.
I mean, when I'm playing, I'mlistening to everything that's
going on all the time.
I may not be looking at them,but I'm hearing everything and

(28:17):
I'll go along when the drummer'sdoing something.
I'll go along with them on this.
I can hear when the bass playerdoes something.
I mean people just don'trealize it, but I know my
musicians know I'm hearingeverything.
I'm listening to everything andthat's how I have to play my
best, because when I play witheverybody, because it's like a
sort of quasi jazz thing thatI'm doing, even though it
doesn't sound like jazz, it'ssort of a quasi jazz thing that

(28:37):
I'm doing.
The communication going.

Speaker 1 (28:39):
No doubt.

Speaker 2 (28:40):
I don't think people really realize what it's like
getting there and learninganother musician.
And when you get with anothercat and they speak that same
language and there's thatinstant connection, you know,
with the person, it's like, wow,you know, that's, that's really
something and that that thatcomes after years of playing and

(29:04):
being with people.
You know it just.
And I see, but I've seen a lotof cats that learn stuff off the
internet and they can do stuffreally fast.
But when it comes time to applythings and be musical about it,
it's not right, quite there.
It's just not quite there.
They just have to work on it.
And I don't know, some catshave it and some cats don't.

(29:25):
There's that movie called theGig that I tell everybody about.
It's a really cute movie thatwas made, I think, back in the
early eighties, late seventies,uh, but yeah, this you know.
The cat even tells this one guythat thinks he's got it.
He goes.
It takes more than practice.
Man, you know you've got tohave this like you got to have
this innate thing, you know.
and that's what it is and andsomebody can learn a bunch of

(29:48):
things off the internet which iscool and they could be real.
Like you said, they could bevery savvy on the internet and
learn to do these buzz thingsthat catches the eyes and they
can make money and, like I said,I'm all good with that too, and
maybe that's sometimes, youknow, maybe that's why I don't
have a huge bank account,because I haven't been that
great at social media, cause I'mI'm bank account, because I
haven't been that great atsocial media, cause I'm, I'm,
I'm pretty much a private guy iswhat I am and I've been private

(30:11):
.
But uh, yeah, I mean I.
I really think that peopledon't realize the organic thing
that we got going when we'replaying and in all the older
cats, all of us know about that,but some of the newer cats you
know right, well, you can tellto your point.

Speaker 1 (30:33):
You know within two seconds of playing with somebody
if they're playing at you orplaying with you.

Speaker 2 (30:35):
Right there you go that's a good way to put it.
Yeah, cause I've, I've, I'vebeen with some cats.
It's like, okay, you know, doyour thing, man, I'll be here
supporting you, do your thing.

Speaker 1 (30:45):
I'll give you all the rope you need.
Go right ahead.
We interrupt this regularlyscheduled gristle-infested
conversation to give a specialshout-out to our friends at
Fishman Transducers, makers ofthe Greg Koch Signature Fluence
Gristle Tone Pickup Set Can youdig that?

(31:06):
And our friends at WildwoodGuitars of Louisville, colorado,
bringing the heat in the shadowof the Rocky Mountains.
So when you were growing up,was there someone I mean in
terms of influences, was theresomeone that's, or a group of

(31:26):
people that stuck out more thananything as far as like
influencing you and how youwanted to go forward?
And has that always remainedthe same?
Or have things adjusted?
Or is there a few people thatyou look at as kind of your true
north in terms of what youinitially were inspired by, what
continues to inspire as well,the one constant, you know, as I

(31:50):
say, the constant Northern starin my constellations is
probably cold train.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
That's still my main, my main man.
But I mean after you know, I'vegot a bunch of his music
learned.
Some learned a lot of his solosand stuff.
Um, just resurrected moments,notice, I've been.
I used to play that song a lotback in the day.
That used to be a regular.
Yeah it's a great one, but, um,I mean over the years, I mean

(32:15):
when, when I started playing, ofcourse it was the Beatles and
all that stuff and the RollingStones Gimme Shelter was the
first guitar solo I ever learnedoff a record Um, but as when I
got to Austin and I startedgoing around and seeing some of
the local players you know thoseguys I used to sit and just
watch them.
I mean, there's this guy, davidMurray, that used to play

(32:36):
around a bunch.
I used to watch him.
Denny O'Brien, I mean DerekO'Brien.

Speaker 1 (32:40):
I know both those guys yeah.

Speaker 2 (32:42):
Yeah, of course.
I mean Stevie was playing inthe clubs back then when I got
to Austin but I didn't go seehim that many Only saw him in
the Continental Club once.
That was the only time I sawhim in a small club and it was
just tremendous.
I can remember that to this day.
And then back in the day too,everybody had that In the
Beginnings CD.
That was like this bootleg tapethat all the guitar players in

(33:03):
Austin had because it was a liveradio broadcast and everybody
recorded that and so we all hadthat.
We were all learning stuff fromStevie and listening to how he
changed the tones and stuff withthis pickup selector and that
sort of helped me out and justthe way Stevie would attack the
songs and that's what I kind ofstarted going for, the sort of
Stevie thing.

(33:24):
But then I was also like a hugeJohn McLaughlin fan and Mike
Stern and I was still hanging inwith the Biles and Parker.
I mean I just wanted to get allthese influences I had in my
head and try to do this soup,that I would come out and do my
own thing and sort of rhythmicstuff too.
I love playing rhythm andthat's what sort of that sort of

(33:46):
started me out, because when Igo back and listen to Text to
Sugar, I hear how much rhythmI'm playing on that.
There's not a whole lot ofsolos on that, they're short
little things, see.
But rock is like thisthree-minute little song.
I think we go through the formfour or five times on the whole
thing.
I keep forgetting that.

(34:07):
But that album really wasspecial, you know.
But there was Shiloh, of course, the long minor blues song that
we just did one time in thestudio and the, the, the
producer like freaked out.
Dennis Herring freaked out.
He goes you're going to have tokill me if you want to keep
that song off the record.
That one's going on the record.
But you know, and then how I'vekind of gotten away from it.

(34:29):
Now I'm like doing all theseincendiary long runs and trying
to stretch things out, and thatwas just me learning more and
more.
It's kind of evolved that way.
But I know sometimes I need to.
I know sometimes I need to getback to like you know the basics
, or just playing like I did onTexas Sugar.
You know, that kind of broughtme to the dance.

(34:49):
But you know I've evolved andthat's what I've always preached
.
You know music's got to evolveand that's what I'm going to try
to do.
I don't know what I'm going tosound like, you know five years
from now if I'll still beplaying, but I'm sort of
grateful that I'm here at 61,still playing out on the road.

Speaker 1 (35:09):
That's a glorious thing.
So when you're recording, howextemporaneous do you like to be
in terms of do you like torecord solos live and get that
kind of live vibe, or is it alittle, is a balance of both, or
what do you prefer?

Speaker 2 (35:24):
I've done both of them.
I've done the traditional waywhere you go in and get the drum
tracks and bass tracks and thenyou go do your rhythm, you do
the scaffolding, you build upthe scaffolding and then start
to put the things around theoutside Right.
Texas Sugar was, in fact, eventhis last record, since it was

(35:49):
Dennis Herring that we workedwith on Ain't Giving Up.
It was more live.
In fact, I was so surprisedwhen I came back to do the
vocals I instinctively grabbed aguitar and when I got to the
studio there was no amplifiersin the studio and I'm like we're
going to do guitars right, andhe's like, oh no, guitars are
done.

(36:10):
I was like what?
I was just goofing around, butit worked out, everything worked
out.
It had that organic feel to itand I think that's really how
I'm best represented, becausethat's what I love doing getting
out and playing and havingthose magical moments of
creating, and some of them canbe really great and that's what
I'm.
I know I think I've sort ofleaned towards the the organic
way.
But there's nothing wrong withbuilding a solo.

(36:32):
I mean, some cats are reallyreally good at it, I think me.
I think I just sound a littlestale doing it, it sounds too
contrived.

Speaker 1 (36:39):
I don't know about you, but I it's like even if I
do multiple takes, I always endup using the first one.
I mean I might fix something,but for the most part the first
one's always got the rightattitude.

Speaker 2 (36:49):
True, true that I mean, I've done that many times,
I know.
And then, god, I can't stand itwhen you're banging out on a
song 35 takes, 37 takes, yeah,that's just your sanity goes.
I mean, that just goes.
That's just a testament to howwe want to try to really get it
right.
You know, get that one partright.

(37:13):
But, yeah, you're right, thefirst, probably the first takes,
or the probably first fivetakes.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
It's probably in there.
That's all you need.
Exactly.
How are you with?
I mean, one of the things Ireally like about doing things
more live either just live inthe studio or doing a live
recording and saying you know,we're done is that you know
there might be those littlehiccups here and there that only
you really hear and no one elsedoes, but it bugs the shit out

(37:36):
of you.
But then at one point you'rejust like yeah, it just it kind
of is what it is, and it's notfrom a point of laziness, it's
just kind of it's more importantto keep that live moment true
than the search of perfection.
That being said, if there'ssomething that's glaring and we
can do some kind of minor littleedit, like either paste

(37:59):
something from before or or justmute it, you know I'll do it.
But for the most part it's justkind of nice now to just to
kind of go yeah, well, it iswhat it is and it's done.

Speaker 2 (38:09):
You know what I mean, yeah, there were some like
little clams that were in theain't giving up thing and you
know some of them I can livewith Some of them it's like no,
I know what I was going forthere and that's a true clam.
Is there something you could doto really fix that?
I know there's something youcould do, but on the other times

(38:30):
you're right, Just let it go,because it's the emotion of it
and I think a lot of people canrelate to that Also live too.
I mean there's lots of timesI'm taking chances and, yeah, I
crash and burn, but I'm going toget it that next night or the
night after that.
I'm going to keep striving todo that because that's how I get
better.
I'm trying new things here.

(38:52):
I'm trying to get out of my boxand playing the same old thing
every night, because if I playedunless I played in a cover band
that paid me ridiculous amountsof money, if I had to play the
same thing over and over again,I mean I still couldn't do that
for very long because I'd gocrazy.
I've got to create, I've got toget out there and do something

(39:15):
new.
Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm allabout just getting out there and
doing it and being living inthe moment and, you know, diving
on my sword if I have to.

Speaker 1 (39:21):
Right as one does.
So when you go out and you'reand you're turning around and
use a VibroKing, I mean aVibroKing is, you know, 60 Watts
of delicious tube amplificationglory.
I, you always fight in thebattle, as we are, but for the
most part, I have to say, in theStates, it isn't as big of an
issue of the volume thing oh myGod, can you turn down?

(39:43):
And then we just usually justsay you know what I could tell
you, we'd turn down, but as soonas we start playing and there's
people here, it's just going tobe what it's going to be, as
opposed to going to Europe wherethe Germans just lose their
shit when you just turn on youramp.
But uh, how, how have you beenable to manage it over the years
?
And and have you finessed it?
Or are you just like listen,don't talk to me.

Speaker 2 (40:04):
No, I've actually.
I've actually gotten to thepoint over the years, because it
was funny when Texas Sugar wasdoing good.
When you have that power whereyou can bring the people in and
you're breaking door guaranteesand stuff like that, going to
percentages, nobody's going totell you jack about your volume.
Right, You're here to break.
But then once you start to wanea little bit, of course, now

(40:25):
the power shifted.
Now the club owner's got thepower or the sound up sound and
they're going to tell you toturn down.
So over the years, after theseyears of waning, in my last
couple years, I've learned howto get a decent volume at a
lower.
You know.
I mean a decent tone at a lowervolume, and I've learned to
work with it pretty good, youknow, and I could do it.

(40:46):
I mean, I only have to get thatvibra king up.
Very rarely do I turn that thingover three, because after that
the chords start getting dirty.
I can't hear each string.
So I keep, you know, two and ahalf is all I need on that thing
, but I can.
I can work at it too, you know,and maybe just a little before
two, and lots of times I'll showthem, I'll point to the amp and
say, look how low I am.
You know it's not even to two,but yeah, I mean, europe is

(41:10):
funny.
I played a gig in Sweden andthey just freaked out on my
volume and I mean we literallyencased my amp in like rugs and
boxes and stuff and you couldn'teven hear it.
I was like, really, this iswhat you want.

Speaker 1 (41:25):
Okay, fine with me.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
I'm going to do it.
Okay, I can make it, becauseI'm like the guy that I don't.
I don't want to give themstrife, you know.
I mean, I know they want tomake me comfortable.
I want to make them comfortable.
I'm here to work with them.
But if they're just going to bea stick about it, you know,
it's like, okay, well, like yousaid, it's going to be what it
is this what you're going to get.
So if this is what you want,fine, you're going to pay me for

(41:50):
this.
Fine, with me, you know, andI'll make it work.
I mean, take, but I'm not goingto sit there and go okay, yeah,
whatever, you know, I'm stillgoing to be hitting those
strings as hard as I can, tryingto get what I can out of it.
You know, because I do have myown standards.
It's like, okay, this is what Igot to work with, I'm going to
do it.
You know, I'm going to make itwork, because I know a lot of

(42:11):
musicians that would just giveup and say, whatever, man, you
know, let's just do it, becauseI, yeah, I know a lot of big
bands that are like that.
They go out and mow the lawnbecause I've seen get it.
I'm still hungry.
You know, I'm still hungry.
I still want to do new things.

(42:31):
You know, even at this advancedyears in my age, I still want
to do new things and and findnew areas I can dig that now.

Speaker 1 (42:40):
what?
What are you using these daysto to boost the amp with uh,
with the uh, the grit, as itwere?

Speaker 2 (42:47):
What I have is what I've normally been using.
My chain is starting fromwhat's last in the chain.
What I would consider what'sfirst is what's like right down
in front of me.
I've got a boss CE five chorusthat I use like a Leslie cabinet
.
I have a boss DD three delay.
That's my short delay.

(43:08):
I've got, um, when I do anAmericana gig, my girlfriend
Beth Lee.
I use an EP booster and I playa different amp I play either I
have an old 64 Princeton that Iplay or I have a Chicago Blues
box it's like an old 50s bassmanand I use an EP booster to get
a little bit brighter or biggertones.

(43:29):
That's a great pedal.
And then, yeah, I love thosethings and then I go to.
I don't think people know thatthe EP is like Echoplex, it's a
place where they mimic the toneof the Echoplex.
And I've still got all myEchoplexes.
I even have one of those realold ones.
What are they called?
The green old ones, where theycalled the green ones, the old
army green ones, where you haveto move the thing from the jack
that turns it on and stuff.

(43:50):
They had a name for it.

Speaker 1 (43:51):
I can't remember the serial number or whatever it's
called, but I've got the realold one you know and I remember
when we opened up for you, youhad a vibe, you had a that was
like the maestro ones.

Speaker 2 (44:01):
I had the black ones from the early seventies and
stuff and stuff.
I had those and I played withthose things for years and years
, but I just had to stop becausethey were temperamental.
You never knew when they weregoing to break down, right, okay
, anyway.
So from that and then I go tomy 809 pedals from Pedal Diggers
from Japan, kobay-span, and thefirst one's a big booster, like
vintage booster.

(44:21):
Second one's crazier tone, it'sa little smaller, smaller, and
then the third one's the sameones.
they're 819 pedals, that's whatthey're called, and yeah, and
they go and graduated from sizebig to small, but it the tone it
goes from, from just a nicelittle vintage vintage boost to
like crazy distortion at the endand they were freaked out.

(44:42):
They gave me three pedals andthey didn't expect that I was
going to use all three.
But yeah, that's what I do.
I stack them up and then afterthat I have a pedal from South
Korea.
They gave me MoolonM-O-O-L-L-O-N and it's this
delay that mimics like anEchoplex.
Even when you take off thedelay it'll finish the pattern.

(45:04):
It's got a modulation thing soyou can get like the tape warble
and stuff like that.
I know there's a bunch of pedalsout that can do the same thing,
but I just love this Mulanpedal.
It gives a nice warm tune, nicelower tone.
And then after that I've gotthat Neutron Octave Divider.
I have one of those.
I only use that for one songreally.

(45:25):
Sometimes I'll use it foranother song, but that's only
for one song and then that's it.
Then it goes to an ABY becauseI have the tuner out in another
channel.
Everybody says tone suckers.
So I just gave in to peerpressure and put the tuner off
on its own channel and thenthat's it.
That's basically what it is.
But back in the day I used tohave like 14 or 15 pedals strung

(45:48):
out.
And the reason I still stringthem out like old school is
because I had a pedal boardright in the nascent days of
pedal boards and one pedal wentcrazy at a gig and I could not
take it out of the chain and Ihad like a rock star milk down
there on stage that should havebeen filmed and studied and I
was like I will never have thathappen to me again.
Milk down there on stage thatshould have been, should have
been filmed and studied, youknow.

(46:08):
And I was like I will neverhave that happen to me again.
So that's why I just stringthem out like the old days when
I first started playing guitar,you know that's why you know he
still does that too is robintrower does that.
He's got them all just strungout yeah, man, I mean.
I mean he's too old to do, youknow.
You know, change habits andstuff, why not?
It's been working for them fineover the years, why not?

Speaker 1 (46:30):
Yeah, I'll tell you what.
It is definitely one of thosethings where something goes
south and you can't figure outwhich one it is.
Oh Lord, yeah, I get it.
I get the meltdown.

Speaker 2 (46:40):
Yeah, there's nothing worse than an equipment failure
.
You try your best to make itlook okay and let the audience
know things are okay up here,I'm fine, but yeah, inside
you're so frustrated and stuffand that's why we have to do
sound checks to make sureeverything works.

Speaker 1 (46:57):
That's a fact.

Speaker 2 (46:59):
There's still those gigs.
When it starts off, it's likeeverything worked at sound check
, but then all of a suddensomething's not working.
It's like ugh.
But that's just part of beingon the road.
That's the things I love.
That's why I tell everybody.
After something like that, it'slike yes, this is a live show.
Things happen like that.
That's the way it goes.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
I had a funny one this past.
Oh, I'm trying to think when itwas, I think it was last summer
we it was right down the streetfrom our house and we didn't
have to be anywhere else forlike another.
At least we had a day betweenour next gig.
So, anyways, we're down inChicago.
I brought two of my amps.

(47:37):
They're set up, they're readyto go, I'm playing them and I
usually bring a third amp as aspare, but this time I didn't.
So I'm running my two amps andthey both blow up.
I'm like the second song and I'mlike you gotta be kidding me,
they're both not.
I mean, one was completely notmaking any noise and the other
one was just making a little bitof noise.
I was like what the hell isthis?

(47:59):
Is it?
Is it a pedal?
Is the connection?
So I had to do a quick.
You know as we do.
You know the rampage of tryingto figure out what the problem
was.
Anyway, it turns out it's theamps.
So some guy in the crowd's likeI have a boss katana in the car
, I go, can you get it?
And I did the rest of the gigwith a like 50 watt boss katana

(48:19):
amplifier and you know what itsounded great.

Speaker 2 (48:23):
Man, we do what we got to do.
You know, I've done the samething and I've even had some
gigs where it's like, okay, well, I'll plug straight into the PA
, let's go, let's do this thing.
You know, hit me with guitar inthe monitors, I'll just make
this work.
You know, as best I can, rightyou know, yeah, I mean, we do
what we do and sometimes it canbe magical.
Sometimes it's okay, I can getthrough this.

(48:45):
I'll just do my best to getthrough this, you know Exactly.
Yeah, I mean, that's that's howwe are man.
We will do what we do for thegig, for the music, to get it
through, you know, and for thepeople too.

Speaker 1 (48:55):
Yes, indeed, so you know.
I didn't ask you, where are youliving these days?

Speaker 2 (48:59):
I moved back to Austin.
I mean, I moved away from.
I lived in Austin, then I wentto Houston for about a year or
so and then, well, I lived inNew Hampshire for a little while
too, but then I came back,lived in Houston my second wife
and then I moved out to Atlantain 2005 for a woman again for
third wife, wrecked thatmarriage, moved back to Austin

(49:22):
and now I've been living back inAustin since 2015.
And it's mainly because mydaughter she lives there in
Austin.
When she graduated from college, she graduated from Oregon
State and she moved back toAustin.
She was born in Austin.
So you know, and the grandkidsare there too, so I can go see
them all the time.
So I'm in Austin.

Speaker 1 (49:40):
I like Austin.
Austin's still a good time.
Go ahead.
It's a little expensive, Ireckon, at this day and age, but
it's a little expensive, Ireckon at this day and age, but
it's cool.

Speaker 2 (49:50):
That's what I was going to say.
Yes, it's expensive.
I feel very fortunate for therent that I'm paying and that
I'm able to make rent.
I mean I just can't believeI've been doing this for as long
as I've been doing it.
But I mean I love Austin.
Austin's been a great town tome and I just got to get a
little bit more.

(50:11):
I just got to stop being lazy,because sometimes when I get off
the road you know, when I go onthe road when I lock my door
before I get in the van, that'swhen I punch in the clock and
then I punch out when I comeback home and I go through the
door of my house because I meanit's all work.
I want people to know thatPeople think we're out there
having some long, continuousparty out there.

(50:31):
It's like this is work, people.
This is how I work, this is howI make my living.
But sometimes I just want to be, you know, just sit around and
do nothing for a while and justchill.
You know, watch some terriblemovies on HBO or something like
that.
But I mean I just need to getout and play a little bit more
around Austin, because really Idon't play around Austin very

(50:52):
much.
I probably play, you know,maybe four or five times a month
, you know, and plus Austindoesn't pay that much.
So that's the way it goes.
So but I mean, yeah, I loveAustin, though I've been there
for a long time.

Speaker 1 (51:05):
There's some good food to be had there, by God.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Yeah, they do have good restaurants, I'll admit it.
You know Atlanta had goodrestaurants too and yeah,
there's good restaurants a lotof places.
But yeah, Austin does have somegood food, I'll admit it, it
does.

Speaker 1 (51:17):
So how many, uh how many days on the road do you
reckon you do a year, or has itbeen more in recent years, or
what do you think?

Speaker 2 (51:25):
Uh, well, yeah it, it sort of goes up and down.
I mean this year I might getabout, maybe, maybe close to 100
, you know uh.
But I mean some some years backin the early days, you know,
when texas sugar was out, youknow a normal tour was eight
weeks, ten weeks, you know.

(51:46):
But, um, I mean uh, I mean Ilove doing this.
You know it's getting expensive.
Like I said, it's inexpensive toget good musicians, because I
cannot pay to have lowermusicians.
I'll go crazy, you know just uh, cause I need to have a certain
standard out there.
But you know you gotta pay fora good musician.
You know, I understand that.

(52:07):
You know I would love to takeTom on the road.
I can't afford Tom, what Ithink he should be making, you
know, uh.
But uh, god, you know.
Know, I'm just, I'm just tryingto eke out a living, you know,
and I have to be more savvy withwith uh, with the internet too,
because I've just been aprivate guy for a long time and

(52:27):
I don't put myself out therethat much in the internet.
I'll get on instagram when I'mstarting to get on the road, but
when I'm not on the road, Ijust think my life is boring.
Who wants to hear about whatI'm eating?
today, you know just just I mean, but that's why I appreciate
you.
Every time I get an InstagramI'll see you're doing some like
some nifty little video andstuff and it's like God damn it,

(52:47):
I need to start doing stufflike that.
You know I need to do it.
So I really, you know, hats offto you, greg, for keeping all
that stuff up and keepingkeeping the connection going,
man.

Speaker 1 (52:57):
Well, I do enjoy it.
I mean, if I, if I didn't enjoyit, I, I, I wouldn't do it,
because and I and I try to, Imean I do really try to in the
morning, just turn the camera onand play whatever comes to mind
and then just leave it and getout.
You know what I mean.
And as opposed to.
I mean, I I had no idea thatthis was a thing, but I had a
buddy of mine call me up who's,uh, you know kind of a

(53:18):
well-known you know guitarperson and they're like do you
know, so-and-so is miming hisparts when he plays online.
It's like I had no idea thatthat's even a thing.
But apparently there's, youknow, some of the big you know
uh channels or uh or people thatpost on uh Instagram or
whatever.

(53:38):
They'll have some incendiarything that they're doing with
the band and they're miming itbecause they'll do it until they
do it right and then they'll,they'll mime it, so it's perfect
on the video.
And I was like I didn't evenknow that that was uh, uh a
thing.
And then I'm thinking, well,hey, whatever people enjoy that,
then let the good times roll.
I think it's just great to doextemporaneous human shit and

(54:00):
then put it online.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
Right, I mean, that's what it is.
It's just straight from theheart, straight from what's.
This is how I feel today.
This is looking into my souland this window today, and
that's how I try to.
That's what I tried to do on theon the road.
You know this is how I amtonight.
You know you're going to get melike this tonight and that's
why I have people that follow melike the dead.
I'll have people come and seeme if they're close in the area

(54:22):
five, six, seven shows in a row,because they know what's he
going to do this next night.
I know he's going to dosomething different, right,
exactly, and that's the thing itis.
I just want to try to keep itfresh.
But yeah, I mean, I just try todo that.
But I know there's cats outthere doing take after take to
get it perfect instead of justletting it go.
And that's you and I are justin the same agreement with.

(54:44):
It should just be how it is,you know, right, I understand.
You know they don't do that onTV.
You know when they do a TV show, they got to have it right,
exactly.
If they have the technology todo the editing and stuff, fine
with me, you know that's how itgoes.

Speaker 1 (55:00):
Exactly what a world.
It's crazy.

Speaker 2 (55:03):
I know, you know it's just.
Things have moved along, it's.
You know, we used to alwayslaugh about going down the road
and I was with my first bassplayer, john Jordan, who you saw
me play with a long time ago,and we used to always think, man
, if we just had this likeinformation resource thing on
the dashboard of the van, turnsout that thing's in our pockets,

(55:23):
it's the phone now and all thethings you can do on the phone.
You know it's just.
Everything's just changed.
You know it's just.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
I mean, do you remember going out and having to
have like reams of paper ofMapQuest that you did so you
would know where you were going?

Speaker 2 (55:38):
no, we just, we would just go by the big laminated
atlas and that's we have in thevan all the time and I mean I
have learned such so muchminutiae because I used to sit
there and study that map,because it was like you're bored
, you're sitting in thepassenger seat.
Well, I'll just read the atlasfor a while.
Hey, did you know louisiana?
The highest elevation louisianais only 230 feet.

(55:59):
Did you know Louisiana?
The highest elevation inLouisiana is only 230 feet.

Speaker 1 (56:02):
Did you know that, but isn't that, I mean that used
to be such a stressor,especially if you're going into
a big city that you've neverbeen to before, and especially
when I was doing the clinicthing and it would just be me,
you know, and I've got to get arental car and I've got like a
bunch of different things.
Or I was like, well, I got tobe in New York and then I'd be
the sus, you know.
Then I got to go up to here andI'm like I've never been to any

(56:23):
of these places, I have no ideawhat's going on, and I would.
I would print out the map,quest shit, and then I would.
I would have to zero, okay,11.4.
Where's my turn?
It was just now, of course.
You just grab your phone andaway you go, and it's like
nothing.

Speaker 2 (56:44):
Right, I know the GPS and stuff.
Yeah, back in the day, I mean Iwas never one to print up the
stuff because I didn't have todo that.
You know, get into the cities.
But I remember one time we hadthis like best Western thing
that had like maps of cities andwe were getting into
Philadelphia, we had a gig downon South street and we're like,
oh well, it's down on Southstreet.

(57:04):
Well, let's just go down Northstreet, cause we were looking at
the you know the city map thathad this best Western hotel guy
and we thought, yeah, we'll justdo North street till it turns
to South street.
And unbeknownst to us how Northstreet in Philadelphia is a hard
area.
I mean a hard area.

(57:26):
Yeah, we kind of freaked outwhen we're driving through that.
You know, when you come to astop sign, just like, okay,
don't look at anybody, just lookstraight ahead.
It's all good, you know, youjust couldn't believe people.
Actually, you know all thespray paint, graffiti and the
garbage on the street.
It was like, whoa, this was?
It was shocking, it wasshocking.
Uh, I mean I don't want tosound like I'm some sort of uh,

(57:47):
you know, uh, some, some takencare of, sort of like white guy
in the street, but it was.
It was an eye opener to seethat type of urban, urban sort
of setting.

Speaker 1 (57:57):
You know, no doubt you find yourself in certain
situations and you're like, wow,they say that this is, uh, the
richest country in the historyof the world.

Speaker 2 (58:07):
Yeah, I know.
And we had an african-americanthe band on the drummer and he
was like hell, no, I'm notlooking out there.
You know, he didn't want tohave any part of it, but yeah, I
mean.
But that was at the early daysand we didn't have ways to get
around.
But yeah, that's I mean.
But it's the old glorious daysof heaven.
You know, the big laminated mapand stuff.
That was our thing, you know.
But yeah, gps is nice nowadays,I mean, it gets you right there

(58:30):
, but it's, it's.
You know, gosh, I don't know,it's just, my head still spins
when I think about it.

Speaker 1 (58:36):
Right, well, let me ask you this what are your plans
coming up here?
What should we direct people toyour website and stuff your
tour schedule, all that kind ofstuff, okay, you?

Speaker 2 (58:48):
can go find out everything about me on
Duarterocks, the rocks domain.
So Duarterocks Got a beautifulwebsite.
I've got my IT guy that did areally great job on that website
.
All my shows are on there.
You can also find me I amDuarterocks on Instagram.
I am Chris Duarte on Twitter,although I don't get on Twitter

(59:10):
very much.
I am also on Facebook, but Inever get on Facebook.
I'm sorry, people, I just nevertook to Facebook.
I'm sorry.
I understand, but it is thereand people kind of run it for me
.
I do get messages and stuff.
That's okay to contact me.
You can contact me throughdorterocks, but the dorterocks

(59:31):
is all out there for you.
You can get everything.
I'm booked through ArtistsWorldwide out from LA.
My record label is ProvoRecords under the umbrella of
Mascot Records, so it's justeasy to find me.
Just push in Chris Duarte.
And it's not the basketballplayer, I'm the guitar player,

(59:53):
right.

Speaker 1 (59:54):
So does your booking agent out in LA?
Does he handle domestic andinternational bookings?

Speaker 2 (59:59):
Yeah, we haven't gotten international yet.
I think, you know, if the albumdid a little bit better, we
probably would have gotten outthere.
I mean, it's just business, Iunderstand it.
But yes, he does handle allthat stuff.
And then what's also great toois he doesn't mind if there are
like holes in the calendar orthe itinerary.
If I fill the hole here andthere, they don't mind if I do

(01:00:20):
that, you know, they won't eventake a cut of the gig, which is
what I think is really cool,Cause I've I've been with some
agencies that are real sticklersabout it, but you know, I don't
mind it if they want to tasteand I understand we have a
business relationship I'll giveit up.

Speaker 1 (01:00:30):
No, problem to me.
Yeah, that's my motto too.
It's like I'd rather.
I'd rather keep the personhappy is giving me the majority
of the work than keep acommission on some rando gig.

Speaker 2 (01:00:40):
Right, exactly, and I mean I want to.
You know, I don't mind havingan oleacious agent, you know, a
sort of an oily guy, you know,because those are the guys that
gets those gigs.
You know they can, they canbook me on those Mondays and
Tuesdays, when I never have gigson Mondays and Tuesdays, right.
But I mean, yeah, and I alwayskeep the relationship good with
those guys.
I'm not going to lie to them,I'm not going to say, oh yeah,

(01:01:02):
this promoter gave me $1,500 andthen I report only $1,200.
You know, that's just not theway to do business, right?
Just keep it straight, man, andthat keeps your core straight.
That's what I say.
If I keep, my music's going tocome out much better.

Speaker 1 (01:01:16):
You are 100% correct.
Well, listen, my friend.
Thank you so much for takingsome time on the road to
converse with us about allthings.
Chris Duarte, I appreciate it.
Great catching up with you.
It was great to see you down inDallas at the show and I hope
that we cross paths again soon,my friend.

Speaker 2 (01:01:33):
I hope so too, gregory.
It's so great to see you, man,and kudos to everything you've
done in your life getting yourkids out of college and stuff.
It's just tremendous, man justkudos to you.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
Oh, thank you.
I appreciate that, my friend.
Well, take care of yourself andI hope to see you soon.
You got it, man.
Love you.
Greg.
Take it like, love you too.
Travel safe.
Got it, man, thanks.
Bye-bye folks.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
We certainly do appreciate youstopping by and partaking in the
most savory, chewable gristlethis side of Cucamonga.

(01:02:05):
Gregory Cock, looking forwardto seeing you again next week,
even though I won't actually seeyou, but I'll sense your
presence.