Rock 'n' Roll Stories with Jeremy Asbrock

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:00):
Telling our stories is the connective tissue of the
collective human experience.
The Just Keep Talking podcast delvesinto the lives and stories of artists.
What is the impact ofmental health on creativity?
What does it mean to bea creative individual?
Someone who feels deeply, experiencesjoy and pain, intensely and
navigates the challenges of lifethrough the creative process.

(00:21):
With each story shared, we explorethe authentic experience of our
basic need to be seen, to be heard
and to belong.
We are really not so differentfrom one another, nor are we alone.
Together we can inspire, encourage, andenlighten each other to find the true joy
and fulfillment that is within ourselves.
When we Just Keep Talking, we createthe space for gratitude, self-acceptance

(00:46):
and grace in everyday life.
In a world filled with divisiveness,
fostering inclusivity and connection isa powerful way to make a positive impact.
The Just Keep Talking podcast with me,Brother Love, because Your Story Matters.

Larry (01:25):
Hello and welcome to the Just Keep Talking podcast with me, your host
Brother Love, because Your Story Matters.
I am here today with my guest, JeremyAsbrock lead guitarist, vocalist for
Ace Frehley, the Gene Simmons Band.
He is a founding member ofThee Rock and Roll Residency.
He's a hero of mine.
He's right here.
Hello.
How are you?

(01:46):
How you doing, Larry?
I'm fantastic.
Honestly, I think this is the first timewe've ever hung out in my house together.
Yes.
Thank you for having me at your house.
You, you're absolutely welcome.
I love being at the guest's space insidetheir home, their office, their space.
'cause I feel like it's a little bit morea window into who you are and the fact
that you're letting me into your life.

(02:06):
Means that there's at least a little bitof trust that we're starting out with the

Jeremy Asbrock (02:09):
tidiness of my living room.
It's not a window into how I live.

Larry (02:13):
No.
You mentioned that now you havea wife, Hannah, uh, Fairlight.
And you have two boys?
Yeah.
How old are your boys?

Uh, they will be 10 and five in the next seven days.

Larry (02:24):
Wow.
Well, happy birthday to both of them.
Yeah.
And it's Rory and Benjamin.
Benjamin.
Yeah.
So it's calm here.
It's a beautiful afternoon in the fall.
It's not fall yet.
It's still hot, but we're here.
It is clean.
I I, ladies and gentlemen,do you hear that?
Exactly.
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
Well, I mean, you livea rock and roll life.
Your life is loud.

(02:44):
you go to 11.
You are one of those guys.
You are one of my heroes, man.

It really is one of those Superman, Clark Kent things,
because I am so not that guy here.
Right.
I mean, you know, I go out.
I'm not that rock and roll.
I mean, like, you know,we're all kind of older now.
We all just kind of wanna go to ourhotel room and chill out and watch
Netflix or something and wake upand go to soundcheck and play our
show and then go back and repack oursuitcase and shower and go to bed.

(03:10):
I mean, it really is a littlemore workman-like than maybe it
was for most of us 20 years ago.
Yeah.
25 years ago.
Yeah.

Larry (03:18):
Well, what was it like coming up for you?
Let's go there then.
25, 20 years ago.
You're born and raised in,

born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee.
Wow.
I was raised in Smyrna, Tennessee,and two weeks after I graduated
high school, I, I moved to NashvilleProper and I've lived in Nashville

Larry (03:32):
Yeah.
Since then.
I remember seeing you for the firsttime back in the day, Thee Rock and
Roll residency at Dan McGinness.
For those of you who don't know, it wasa, a great spot right near Music Row.
It was the greatest night ofthe week because I moved here
to be in a country rock band.
You know, I came in here asa drummer and it's Nashville.
I'm a New Yorker, and I didn'tknow that there was anything

(03:54):
other than country music here.
So what you guys were doing, it wasyou, Philip Shouse, Ryan Spencer Cook,
and different drummer here and there.
That sort of slid in and out.
I think.
Yeah, it,

it's mostly been Jared since like the third week.
He's Jared Pope.
Yeah.
He's been the drummer.
there may have been a guest every now andthen, but he, has definitely been our,
our permanent guy since week number three.
Oh,

Larry (04:13):
Cool.
and I remember just being like,this was the coolest hang ever
because it was my people, it was themusic that I grew up listening to.
It was KISS, it was Rush, it was Ozzy, itwas Van Halen, it was all of the music.
That was my music and thepeople that were hanging out.
I said, I couldn't believethese people live in Nashville.
It's not just country yokelsand it's not just country music.
It's not just country radio.
I mean, I was in a band that we wereon those tours, but coming home and

(04:37):
hanging out with you guys and seeingyou, you were larger than life to me.
I didn't know you and Iwas intimidated by you.
Yeah, for sure.
You know, you like, andyou had the best girls.
You had the greatest girls.
You married one of those girls.
That's what's so funny.
I remember we'd go there andwe'd be like, can you believe the
women that come to see this show?
I mean, they're, they'rethe most fantastic.
They're like, that's pretty

funny for me because I've always been in like a dude centric band.
Like I played in a band called TheShazam for 13, 15 years or something.
Yeah.
And it, we had a, we had a dude audience.
Yeah.
There, there weren't really anyhot chicks or anything like that.
So like, I've never been in aband or had a following that
had females and it, you know, it didn'tmatter this time either, because,
you know, Hannah was already mygirlfriend by the time we started the

Larry (05:19):
show, Which is so cool.
So those days you werebuilding a community.
That's the thing, dude,

that was not by design.
Thee Rock and Roll Residencyhappened out of desperation in 2014.
I don't know, it must have beenlike January or February or so.
But Phil and I both realizedlike, oh shit man, I don't have
anything going on in April.
And I was like, fuck, I don't either.
I was working part-time at thatstore, McKay, just like a couple

(05:45):
hours a week just to keep alittle bit of money coming in.
'cause I wasn't on touror anything like that.
And it was just one day it occurredto me and like, well, shit, man, we've
got like a tribute band at every bandin the world, so that means we've
got all these songs that we know.
I'm like, maybe we shouldtry a weekly thing.

Speaker 3 (06:00):
Yeah.

So I hit him up.
He's like, yeah man,that, that sounds great.
He's like, w.
Where do you want to go?
Where do you wanna start?
And I was just like, well, let'sjust start at Dan McGinnis and
we'll work our way down Division.
And, you know, we'll play duringthe week when people are off and not
touring, and we'll have some friendscome play with us, and that'll help
keep it entertaining Are you familiarwith the, the show Guilty Pleasures?
Yes.
In Nashville.
So like, I played their first oneand I was, I was sort of one of their

(06:23):
regulars until I started working a lot.
And, you know, their show went in onedirection and I've still been a guest
on and off since they've been doing it.
And whenever Philip moved toNashville, he started joining me
and we, we would do it together.
So the, their show had a littlebit of an influence on it.
Like, you know, you, you keep allthese different singers coming in, it
keeps it entertaining and moving and.
People don't get bored, you know?

(06:44):
Yeah.
Because it's, it's moving all the time.

Speaker 3 (06:46):
Yeah.

By this point, we had a lot of rock and roll friends in town
that we were good friends with, whowere more than happy to come out and
jam a song or two with their friends.
Yeah.
And
Chuck Garric from the Alice Cooper
band was pretty new in town, but the question was posed,
all right, who's gonna play bass?
It's like, well, let'sget Chuck, you know?
Yeah.
He's not touring right now.
And, at the time, this was onlygonna be four weeks, that next

(07:07):
month was when he was leavingfor the Motley Crue Alice tour.
So like, wow.
You know, that wasn'tgonna happen beyond that.
My friend David Parks was the drummer.
'cause he and I, I know David hadbeen touring together and you know,
I knew he was really kind of wantingto get into a rock situation.
We started at Dan McGinnis and I talkedto the bar manager and you know, kind of
laid our thing on him like, yeah, we'relooking to do like a weekly thing, you

(07:29):
know, maybe on Tuesdays or something.
And he's just like, well, I know who youguys are and I think that's a great idea.
Oh,

Larry (07:34):
that's great.

And it worked out.
It gave us what we wanted, whichreally wasn't much since, you know,
we were putting on a free show.

Speaker 4 (07:40):
Mm-hmm.

It's like,
wow, that, that was easy.

Larry (07:43):
Yeah.
so how long was it, wasthat stretch of run?
Because it seemed like it wasa really long time, but like it
the consistent at Dan McGinnis.
Yes.

Uh, from April 8th, 2014 until the beginning of 2017.
Right.
So we ran through the end of 2016.
Yeah.
And then they started getting fined $500every time we played for noise compliance.

Larry (08:03):
Really?

Yeah.
So it's like, well shit, I guesswe better go somewhere else.
Yeah.
And you know, nothing against theowners or whatever, you know, at that
point it wasn't an Irish pub anymore.
'Cause Dan McGinnis, the ownerbought out his partners and
changed it to Harp and fiddle.
Yeah.
But it was still an Irish pub.
But then they were outby Tailgate Brewery.
Yeah.
And they like ripped out the bar andpainted it white and installed these

(08:26):
fucking craft beer brewery things.
Yeah.
And I don't know, it just, itwasn't the same thing anymore
and they were getting fined.
So we've been pretty tightwith the Mercy Lounge people.
Yeah.
For a long time.
And yeah, man, theyrolled out the red carpet

Larry (08:39):
for us.
Absolutely, they did.
And those shows were fantastic.
But that's kind of what happened inNashville during that time, right down
the street from where you were gettingfined at, there was the Soul Shine Pizza.
Yeah.
I heard about themhaving the same problem.
And we used to play up there.
It's Music City and this is whenpeople, dude, it's not just Music City.
That's Music Row.
Yeah.
So people were moving in.
So Soul Shine Pizza had a cool rooftopand uh, and we used to play there.

(09:01):
Lightning 100 would have shows there.
I remember the sound guy looking at me aswe were setting up and he said, uh, we're
gonna have to probably turn you guys down.
And I turned to the band and I said,don't anybody turn the fuck down at all.
I know us.
We're not too loud, butwe're gonna do our show.
And I remember then they built a wholeindoor, they enclosed it, they did
all this money, they did everything.

(09:23):
And they ended up getting booted outbecause people complained so much
about the noise of music in Music City.
And that's kind of whathappened to your fate

as well, man.
That's what happens when you tear

Larry (09:32):
down studios

and record

Larry (09:34):
company buildings and build condos.
Yeah, absolutely.
Back then Thee Rock and Roll Residency,I remember, Alex and I, Them Vibes, we
would go and just try to be like, hi guys.
Hi.
And finally we got the call.
It was like, wow, thank you so much.
And it really was a joyous, uh, occasion.
And every time you guys just did whatyou did, you brought us all together and
then famous people started to come up.

(09:55):
Right.
So what was that like for you guys?
Because then all of a sudden youhad like the Deep Purple guys.
It was pretty surreal.

Yeah.
And who did you have up?
Who, let's see.
You know, we had.
Robin Zander.
We didn't get to play with AliceCooper, but Alice was like the
first big guest we had there.
Yeah.
And the band did, you know, like30 minutes because you know,
Chuck had been part of our thing.
Yeah.
And they had a day off after the MotleyCrew Alice Show here in Nashville.
The Deep Purple guys
they were filming a documentary for therecord they were here making at the time.

(10:20):
And, and we're in thatdocumentary that cool.
Which is a really, really cool.

Larry (10:23):
My wife Sarah Tomek sat in and played Lord of the Thighs.
Yeah.
A deep cut for Aerosmith.
So my wife is a huge Aerosmith, fan, andshe knows Aerosmith better than Aerosmith.
I mean, she really is sucha, lover of that music.
And at the time that day sheplayed the deep cut with you
guys, Lord of the Thighs.
Marti Frederiksen was asked me forher number and I gave it to him.

(10:43):
Right.
He was in the audience and she'slike, I know exactly who that is.
I am an Aerosmith fan.
And through your gig, my wife SarahTomek, she got to play with Steven Tyler.
That's just, she got tobe Steven Tyler's drummer.
Yeah.
Incredible.
It is.
It's amazing.
I

still marvel over that.
That's every bit as cool as, you know,the fortunate things that happen to me.
I mean, it's just like,

Larry (11:04):
yeah,

it is.
Far fucking out.

Larry (11:06):
It's amazing.
Okay, so then you guys also,every year you would put on a KISS
show in December, Merry KISSMAS.
And you did the makeup,you did the whole thing.
And that's when I really, fellin love with you Jeremy Asbrock,
because Ace Frehley, I'm the biggestKISS fan that I've ever known,
except till I met all you guys.
I used to think I was.
Exactly.
And uh,

after a bunch of KISS cruises and being on the other side of
the fence, man, I'm not even the same zip

Larry (11:30):
code.
I get it.
We'll get there, but just letme have this for a second.
So I remember watching the KISS showsthat you guys put on, you had the
sign, you had the actual Eric Carr'sdrum set, you had the makeup on.
You somehow had the dewy eyelike you were wasted eyes.
Like as you played the solos note fornote, I'm like, he looks like Ace Frehley.
He is Ace Frehley, man.

That's just years.
No, not just years.
Decades and decades and decadesof like visual conditioning.

Larry (11:56):
which I loved because again, watching your heroes, you know, in real
life and meeting your heroes in real life.
Yes.
It's a tough scenario.
I met Ace Frehley one timewhen I was in the East Village
where I lived in Manhattan.
I was driving at the time, I hada car and it was like alternate
side of the street parking.
And I was going to move my car.
I was with a buddy ofmine and I was on St.

(12:17):
Mark's place making a righthand turn onto Second Avenue.
And my friend goes, holy shit, that's Ace.
Freely at.
And he was standing at a payphone.
So this is like, this is inlike the late nineties, right?
He's standing, barelystanding at a payphone.
I jumped out of my car and I kidyou not, it was still in drive.
I was going like two miles an hourand I jumped out and my friend

(12:37):
goes, what the hell are you doing?
I jumped back in to putit in park and I ran up.
I said, ACE FREHLEY!
You know, he's, tall.
I, I've never met him.
I mean, that was the only timeand he mumbled something that it
was incoherent and he was kindalooking for change in the payphone.
It was so sad and pathetic and I rememberthinking, oh, that really, really sucked.
That really was not the, the AceFrehley meeting that I was really

(12:58):
hoping for, and I'd never metanybody by the way, in KISS ever.
So how did you guys end up,in the Gene Simmons Band.
Ace Frehley Band.
So give us a little abouthow that came about.
So I guess it sort of starts

with Big Rock Show.
I met Ryan.
The Big Rock show was what?
Yeah.
Ryan Spencer Cook.
Yeah.
Uh, Dean Workman, Paul Taylor from Winger.
Yep.
Matt Green, right.
Who was in some nineties bands orsorry, eighties bands here in Nashville.
They had a different guitar playerand Ryan's good friends with Doc
and when KISS were going to do theirfirst cruise, Doc told Ryan, Hey,

(13:28):
why don't you bring your cover bandon and, you know, play Rock covers.
And so for whatever reason, whoever wasplaying guitar couldn't do the cruise
with him, so they needed a new guy.
I've heard different storiesfrom, Dean and Ryan, but you
know, they're both probably true.
You know, Philip got a referral, fromBo Bice for Ryan, because Ryan knew
him and Dean had gotten a referralfrom me, from a mutual friend of ours.

(13:51):
Yeah.
So I guess Ryan had hit up Philip,and, you know, Philip was touring
with a country artist at the time.
He is like, I can't do it.
But Rodney

Larry (13:58):
Atkins, right?
Yeah.
Wasn't he with Rodney Atkins?
Probably that one.
He's,

played with a few, and He said, I can't do it, but
I got, your guy lives with me.
'cause I was livingwith Philip at the time.
Mm-hmm.
And I got off of work that night and Iwent home and Ryan was there and I, I'd
never met Ryan, which is weird becauselike, he's been in Nashville since 2004.
Mm-hmm.
But he lived here in like 1991through 92 at one time too.

(14:21):
And I mean like the amount of timesthat he and I were in the same place
at the same time is staggering.
We were driving together yesterdayand found out that we were both at
this record release party at 12thand Porter in 1990, fucking two.
And I'm like, I was there.
He is like, I was there too.
Never met.
So here's what's really funny.
I walk in the door and he's in theliving room and nobody else is in there.

(14:43):
I know we're audio only butI'm still gonna do it for you.
Yeah, please.
Like I walk in and he goes,

Larry (14:47):
He who?

Ryan.
Okay.
This.

Larry (14:49):
Oh, he looks you up and down.

Starts down, looks me up and then looks me back down and up.
And I was like, what the fuck was that?
he looked you up and down.
It was all cool, man.
You know, we were having drinks andhanging out and then like, you know, by
the time we got through having fun, heasked Philip, he's like, is this the guy?
And he is like, this is your guy.
And then he said, uh, so would you beinterested in doing the KISS Kruise?

(15:11):
And I slap Phil on the shoulder.
I'm like, this guy just askedme if I would be interested
in doing the KISS Kruise.
Can you think of a moreridiculous question?
I certainly can't.
No.
So then it was just a bunch ofyears in a row of doing that.
We had done five.
By then the band had hurt us and youknow, Paul had been on stage with us and
you know, they were well aware of us andRyan had a really good reputation with

(15:34):
Doc and you know, within the KISS camp.
Mm-hmm.
He went on the Sixth KISS Kruise and thatwas one of the years the whole band didn't
go, he just went, uh, he had this radiothing that he did with Rachel Bolen from
Skid Row and they, did that that year.
Right.
Anyway, Gene had hit him up and askedif they could have lunch one day on
the cruise and you know, they did.
And Gene asked him to put together a band.

(15:56):
'cause he had just a couple.
And I think at the time it waslike only six solo band shows.
And it's just like, youknow, I got, I got the band.

Speaker 3 (16:03):
Yeah.

And at first Gene was just gonna sing and we
were gonna pass around the bass.
But then good sense prevailed.
Yeah, Gene played bass and youknow, we all played guitar.
Man as good a feedback as we got online,for some reason people love to bitch about
three guitars, 'cause KISS only had two.
But it's like that also allowed usto like open the door to make it a
little different than KISS and makeit, you know, maybe like the studio

(16:26):
record where for instance, a songlike King of the Nighttime World,
even though we never did that song.
Oh no, Christine 16.
That's a good example, right?
It has a harmony guitar solo.
Yes, it does.
This way you don't lose therhythm guitar behind it.
And then you've got, you know,three singers on the front.
Yeah.
And if your drummer sings,then you know you've got a
pretty fucking good vocal band.
Yeah.
And the first drummer we had was,Jared Pope, but Jared didn't sing,

(16:49):
so I don't know, it just sortof like allowed the vocals to be

Larry (16:52):
proper.
So what was it like being in Gene'sband playing with Gene Simmons?
' The best it, it really was, wasn't it?

It was so much fun.
He's like a practical joker and he justloves to cut up and man, he was really
brave as far as the set list goes,you know, I think we did like 60, 62
different songs in a year and a half.
And he was just always game,can you get me a lyric sheet?
Sure thing.
And you know,

Larry (17:14):
he would kind of know it and.
Yeah, And it was the fact thathe was open to doing deep cuts.
Yeah.
Whatever he was open to doing whatever.
And

you know, I thought we had a pretty good blend of kind
of hit type stuff to keep it moving.
'cause the thing that audiencesneed to understand that are
diehards is like, not everybody inthe audience is a diehard, right.
You have some, some kids who mm-hmm.
You know, they know Rock andRoll All Night, you know?
Yeah, sure.
You gotta play it.
And you know, the same kind of goes forAce audiences and his audiences can be a

(17:43):
little more judgmental because Ace has abit more of a solo career than Gene does
and he's got a lot of original material.
But let's face it, ACE is notin the Rock and Roll Hall of
Fame because of Second Sighting.

Speaker 3 (17:54):
Yeah.

It's for KISS and like the audience is comprised of
average KISS fans, diehards, who reallywant to hear like some deep shit.
And look, I get it.
I'm one of those guys.
Yeah.
You know, and, and kids and likegirlfriends and wives and you
gotta, you gotta please 'em all.
Yeah.
Otherwise, like you lose them.
Yeah.
You know, I saw it, you know,'cause at the beginning of 2023
we added a few Frehley's Cometsongs 'cause I read the press.

(18:17):
but man, they just didn'tget that much of a response.
Right.
The three guys who were like fucking highfiving each other weren't enough to make
up for the energy loss that happened.

Larry (18:28):
Right.
Well take it back real quick.
So you were, all were in Gene's bandand then how did you get swapped over?
I mean, it's not like Gene andAce are pals that sp the time.
So first of

all, before I carry on, uh, you were telling me your
story of, of how you met Ace Frehley.
Right.
You know how I met Ace Frehley, please.
In front of 40,000 people on stage.
What?
Yeah.
What do you mean?
Well, so Gene did this charity show in St.
Paul and Cheap Trick were onthe Bill Don Felder and, and
we actually backed Don Felder.
Wow.
Uh, the Jayhawks Flip.

(18:56):
I think that's it.
But Ace was a guest during Gene's set.

Larry (19:01):
Right, I remember that, because anything KISS like I eat it up.
I'm 53, I'm 54 almost.
I will eat it all up.
So he was a guest and that's when you

first met Ace?
Yeah.
And it's like, you know, hedidn't come to soundcheck.
Gene didn't come to soundcheck.
In fact, I think they were doinglike press or something all day.
Right.
But yeah, he came on stage and we didlike Shock Me, Cold Gin, Parasite.
He might have done Rock and Roll.
Yeah, he did Rock and Roll All Nightwith us because that was when Gene would
have all the people come on the stage.
And that was the firsttime Ace ever talked to me.
And like we're on stage and there'sa picture out there of him talking

(19:31):
to me or, or he's laughing 'cause I'manswering him and he asked me how many
fucking people are coming up here?

Larry (19:39):
That's great.
so how did you get tobe like swapping around?
Like how did that happen from Gene to Ace?

So Gene had been booked a tour of Australia and
I'm not sure how, but somehowAce was added as the opening act.
Oh, okay.
And it was too expensive for himto bring his band over and he was
going to Japan from Australia.
It was too expensive forhim to bring his band.
So he asked Gene permissionif he could use us.
Right.
And Gene's like, I don't care.
Ask Ryan if it's okay withhim, it's okay with me.

(20:05):
And you know, like that'sa pretty easy answer.
Yeah.
And then, uh, we weren't even sure that wewere all gonna do it because there's like
three guitar players and Ace is a guitarplayer and you know, Phil was smart.
He did the math.
Yes.
He's like four guitar players.
I'll play bass.
Nice.
And that was how he wound up on bass.
So.
We would play with Ace andthen we would play with Gene.
And let's see, that was like Adelaide,Sydney, Melbourne, and Brisbane.

(20:28):
Wow.
And then we went to Japan from thereand did two shows a day with Ace.
You know, we did, six shows inTokyo and two shows in Osaka.
And like those Tokyo shows we wouldplay, he'd do a meet and greet,
and then we'd do another show.

Larry (20:41):
Wow.

How was that?

Larry (20:42):
That must have been Nutty

Man by the second show every night.
His playing was so good.
It was like the seventies really.
But that was truly when I discoveredexactly how loud Ace Frehley is.
Really?
It's crazy.

Larry (20:56):
Why did you all of a sudden figure that out?
Because

we, because the venue, it was at a place called Billboard Live,
and, you know, it wasn't a big place.
It was kind of a, a smaller place.
Mm-hmm.
Probably even a little smallerthan, you know, we, normally play.
Yeah.
which was why we were doing twoshows a day, three days in a row.
Right.

Speaker 3 (21:11):
Yeah.

I was still pretty new to him at that point.
So who

Larry (21:14):
did you get along with better?
If there's such thing, and I, I'mnot looking for like, man, they

both had treated me with so much respect.
Yeah.
And, and, and generosity.
Like, I, I can't say one hastreated me better than the other.
Like they've both been really good to meand highly complimentary of what I do.
Yeah.
And I, I, I don't havean answer for that one.

Larry (21:31):
Yeah.
I mean, you know, and I'm not lookingfor dirt, but I am looking for the fact
that I'm just such a fan and that you'velived through all these things and meeting
your heroes can be, you know, not as funas, uh, we wish and hope they could be.
That being said, you got toplay the music with the cats.
Yeah.
What was your favorite song toplay with Gene, and what was your
favorite song to play with Ace.

(21:52):
Hmm.
Where you were like, wow, I can't, I can'teven believe, like, this doesn't get old.
I probably have.

like maybe three.
Yeah.
Or four with Gene.
You know, I'll start with Deucejust 'cause it wound up being,
you know, the opening song.
And I did the first solo, you know,we did a good job of making sure
everybody got a solo in that one.
Yeah.
'cause there's a lot of solo spots,but I mean, just the fucking power
of playing that song and then whenthe vocals kick in, it's the voice.

(22:17):
Yeah.
Like it's, yeah.
It's the voice.
And, you know, that definitelylike, charges you to really
fucking dig in, you know?
Mm-hmm.
If you're not standing close enoughto the edge of the stage, he would
push you up because like when it'syour turn to solo, you get up there
and you fucking demand the attention.
Wow.
And you know, that's,that's pretty, pretty cool.

(22:39):
Yeah.
Uh, I love playing, Got love for sale.
Yeah, We did uh, Almost Human a coupletimes and that was pretty badass.
Just 'cause I could see it in theeyes of diehards in the audience.
Like yeah, some of that stuff iskind of cheesy of a song as it is,
like when we did, She's So European.
Right.
It was so my, like, youguys are playing this.

(22:59):
Yeah.
What the, the shock oflike what off of Unmasked?
Yeah.
And uh, Love Theme from KISS.
When we added that, that was a lot of fun.
Wow.
That's, anyway, I could like, bythe time I get done, like, oh wow.
Well, you just named everysong you guys played, but No,

Larry (23:13):
no, but that's great.
But those are, those are songsthat like, you re just from you
as a fan really enjoyed playing.
So what was it like for Ace?
Like the songs that you were like,wow, this is just, I can't, I'm not
getting tired this song or these songs.

Hard Times.
Yeah.
Like, that was one ofmy first, I love songs.
so I remember getting out of the, we wentto see Empire Strikes back at the theater
and there was a pizza place called SirPizza that was, you know, the closest one.
And we went there afterwards.
Yeah.
And I remember putting that song in the

Larry (23:38):
jukebox.

Speaker 3 (23:39):
Yeah.

Larry (23:39):
There.
Hard Times off of Dynasty wasso great, and I remember being
a kid, being like, these drumssound too good to be the drums.
Like, I didn't know, see, I wastoo young to put that together.
or I just thought, wow, Peter Chris justsounds, I don't know, sharper or whatever,
but, and I didn't know from anything.
I didn't know that therewere ghost players.
I didn't know that KISS Alive!
and KISS Alive ll had ghost musicians,but Anton Fig played drums on hard

(24:00):
times, I believe, if I'm not mistaken.
Oh

yeah, he totally did.

Larry (24:02):
Yeah.
and then what about Rocket

Ride, man?
Still love playing Rocket Ride.
How could you not?
Yeah.
That's one

Larry (24:08):
of the greatest, greatest songs that Side four of KISS Alive

ll.
Yeah, that's pretty much my firstrecord because the first one I bought
was side three and four of Alivetwo from this dude in my backyard.
And you know, I always gravitated.

Larry (24:20):
Towards

side

Larry (24:20):
four.
It's amazing.
Those songs on side four, everysingle one of them are spectacular.
And they sound, they're like theloudest, most bombastic, like that.
I was a

little disappointed to find out though, that like all
the solos that I loved were actuallyBob Kulick except of, Rocket Ride.
Right.

Larry (24:36):
That was Bob Kulick played all those who, uh, right.
His brother Bruce Kulick.
Yeah.
Ended up being in KISS in the, in theeighties and, and the nineties and all.
So what about energy level on stage?
Like, like the work ethic, the energylevel, like being with Gene as opposed
to, and again, I'm not looking forlike dirt necessarily, but just your
honest, how, what it felt like for youemotionally to be on stage every day
working, touring with Gene as opposedto, ACE Frehley, Hey, look, man, like

the, the gravity of that is not lost on me.
Yeah.
And it's still not lost on me.
Yeah.
I was four I think when Igot my first KISS record.
Yeah.
And it wasn't like just somethingI liked, like from the moment
I heard it, I was all in.
Yeah.
And it, the fact that the thing thatgot me into music, not just like playing
guitar, just like into music period,well, I mean, I support a family Yeah.

(25:23):
On that, you know?
And I, I've been in that world now for.
Eight years.
Yeah.
Eight and a half years.
Like almost nine.
Yeah.
I mean, I've been in Ace'sband now for seven years.
Wow.
I've been Ace's guitar playerlonger than any guitar player
that's ever been in his band.

Larry (25:38):
Wow.
Well, good for you because I'll tellyou what, man, I remembered seeing
Ace's shows, or clips and stuff with it,the bands that he had over the years.
And I was always so let down.
I never liked any of 'em.
I didn't like not one.
And it's just, that's justmy own personal opinion.
Yeah.
I am not allowed to comment.
Okay, fine.
But I remembered seeing you guys a coupleof years ago, and it was the first time

(26:01):
that I saw Ace Frehley, uh, with you guys.
Where, where was it?
It was here in town.
It was in Nashville.
I think it was at the Basement East maybe?
No, no, it was um, Marathon.
It was at Marathon.
Yeah.
That show was incredible.
That was a good show.
That show to me.
That show

was like.
Playing the Super Bowl and winning forme and Ryan and Phil because at that
point you know, we got to play two songswith Gene at the residency and you know,
that was another one of those moments.

Larry (26:23):
Yeah, it was spectacular.
And I, just felt like, wow,finally in my life, I got to
see Ace Frehley with the band.
That is the band.
Like you guys were the band.
Like I went and saw KISS in 1996when they came back with the show
that we all wanted to see as a kid.
Yeah.
We all wanted to see KISS Alivell, the Love gun tour in real time.
And we did in 1996 and yeah, Iremember it being the Sloppiest,

(26:45):
you know, ACE kind of sucked.
He was good here, buthe wasn't good there.
Drums were slow here.
But yeah, it was a mess.
But it didn't matter because itwas the best time of my life.
It really was.
It was 1996.
I was already in my twenties, you know,or thirties at that point, you know?
And I, and I loved everyfreaking second of it.
Yeah, me too.
So seeing you guys do that.
Because I thought these guys arethe next KISS, which leads me to

(27:07):
the next thing, like, so have youever been approached like, Hey,
we're gonna continue on with KISS?

No, never.
Right.
And honestly, I Is it because

Larry (27:13):
you're blonde hair?
Is it because you have blonde hair?
Oh, no.
I

mean, anybody in KISS can, I mean, Eric Singer has blonde hair.
I know.
Uh, you can wear a wig.
Honestly, I, I'm probablytoo old at this point.

Larry (27:22):
Yeah.

My bones can't handle that shit.

Larry (27:23):
Yeah, that's what we thought.
We, we were talking back herein Nashville, while you were all
doing all of that wonderful stuffwith different members of KISS.
We just kept thinking thisis a no-brainer KISS is gonna
continue and live on forever.
Granted, there was not a lot of like,AI and computer technology, right.
We thought these guysare the luckiest guys.
They're gonna be the next KISS.
And so No.
Okay.
No, too bad.
Too bad for all of us actually.

(27:44):
But, so, emotionally, what's itlike, are you friends with Ace?
Like, does he call you up on the phone?
Do you guys chat about anything ever?
Does he, does he remember who you are?
I'm serious.
I don't know.

Uh.
I would say 75% of the timehe remembers my name now.

Larry (27:58):
Okay, good.
That's good.
Took seven

years, but that's good.
Uh, yeah, I, I, I guess so.
I mean, like, I've, I've talkedto Ace on the phone a few times.
We, we've talked about personal stuff.
I mean, God, we've been in a bandtogether for seven years now.
Yeah.
we've had our, our bonding momentsand Gene was a little different.
I didn't get to spendas much time with him.
We did travel a lot together.
Right.
But, and we talked about like, alot of different topics and I mean,

(28:21):
like, he's a great conversationalistand you definitely come away from
that having learned something.
Most of the time.
Gene, you know, the, one of the fewtimes that he and I actually talked
about, like quote, life unquote,we had a, a bus ride from, I don't
know, somewhere to somewhere.
Mm-hmm.
But you know, it was justme and him and you and Gene.
Yeah.
Right.
Yeah.
Talking about kids and just regular stuff

Larry (28:44):
That's precious.
I did the same thing with like,I had a time with Billy Crystal.
I was working in a restaurant inNew York City and he brought his
daughter, it was a Jewish steakhouse.
I was a singing waiterin a Jewish steakhouse.
Like for him to come in and have choppedliver and like stuffed cabbage made sense.
'cause he's an older Jewish guy for his18-year-old daughter to bring her friends
to have a birthday party made no sense.

(29:04):
Like, why do these kids want to eat this?
But they came in and they had theirchopped liver and they were doing their
thing and Billy Crystal and I sat fortwo hours and talked about baseball
and about music and just shot the shit.
And it was just a bestconversation because I was

still kind of going like,

Larry (29:19):
holy shit

in my brain.
Yeah.
I mean, he's just, he's alarger than life-sized man.
Yeah.

Larry (29:24):
He really is.
so the vibrato, all the bigstuff, is some of it an act?
Like, does he come down to Earth?
does he turn, something on andthen turn it off just because maybe
that's something you need to do?
Or is he the same person all the time?
Gene, he's mostly the same

person.
Yeah.
He's just not as harshRight as you think he'd be.
I've seen him be harsh.
Right.
Woo.
Not necessarily, directed at me, but tolike, you know, other people and stuff.
I bet he's not greedy.
He's actually extremely generous.

Larry (29:52):
Yeah.

He seems like it, you know, he's a major philanthropist.
Like he, for all that money he makes,he donates a lot and he's just not
making it front page, which is wild.
'cause he loves to get in the news.
Yeah.
I mean, but he doesn't brag about that.
He kind of just does it.

Larry (30:06):
That's great.
Like meeting and hanging outwith Steven Tyler for me was
amazing and crazy and wild.
There was a time that I had a shift onLower Broadway and Sarah was playing
with Steven and she's called me.
She said, Hey, Stevenwants to go on a hike.
We'll pick you up at yourgig on lower Broadway.
I said, no, no, no, no, no, no.
Pick me up at the house so Ican run home and get changed.
Okay.
So I go home and I'm living with Alex.

(30:29):
Right.
My roommate, my band mate, my best friend.
And it's Sunday.
It's Sunday at like two o'clock.
Right.
The Broadway shift wasfrom like 10 to two.
So it's two 15.
I come home in East Nashville.
Alex is dressed like we have a show,like it's Saturday night, right.
And he's cleaning the house.
Okay.
He's taking, picking up cigarette buttsand we're, we're like getting rid of
liquor bottles because Steven's clean.

(30:49):
Yeah.
And I'm like, oh my God, StevenTyler's coming to our house on
Pennock Avenue in East Nashville.
I'm upstairs changing as fast I can.
I'm like, what do you wearon a hike with Steven Tyler?
I don't know.
So I put my boots on, myflares, everything right, and
all of a sudden I hear a voice.
Man, I don't know.
I didn't really like KISS that much, man.
Joe liked KISS.
I had the album cover Dressed to Kill abig painting like 16 by 24 in our, house.

(31:13):
And that's what I heard as I'm dressingand getting myself primped and, and
looking sexy for Steven Tyler, right?
He's like, man, I neverreally was in to KISS Joe.
Always like, KISS me, but I don'tknow, blah, blah, blah, blah.
And I come downstairs and therehe is in our shitty little house.
So we go for a walk and we hangout and we have a good time.
And I'm just like, Ican't even believe this.
So we're in our little car.

(31:34):
The car that's in your driveway rightnow, Sarah's old Blue Elantra from 2011.
Somehow or other I am driving StevenTyler's in the passenger seat.
I'm in the front.
Sarah's in the back.
Wait, how

was he
dressed though?

Larry (31:46):
He dressed very casual.
Cool.
He had cool jeans on.
He had actual sandals on.
So, 'cause his feet like hecan't wear high heels anymore.
Right.
Because he's been doing that for so long.
Like Steven's feet, you know, whenyou wear high heels, he's a short guy.
I mean he's probably my height.
Um, you know, about five, sevenand a half, five eight maybe.
So we went on our little hike.
He had his little dogs with him.

(32:06):
He had his little Yorkshireterriers, like three dogs.
No bodyguard.
And we just hung out and we walkedaround and somebody would walk
by and he'd go, it's not him.
So he didn't have to take a picture.
And then somebody wanted to take apicture and he was on the phone and
he is like, all right, come on, hurryup, just take the picture, let's go.
And I thought, well, heis being a personable guy.
And we're driving and Sarah isin the backseat and I'm driving

(32:27):
Steven's in the, passenger side.
And she goes, and you know, Larry'sgot a band called Them Vibes.
And he looked at me and he goes, I heard.
And he turned his head.
And there I am staring at him.
I'm driving and all of a suddenI feel rumbles the rumble strip.
And I jerked the car back.
' cause I realized I was off the highwayon the Rumble strip as I'm staring,
gazing into the eyes of Steven Tyler.

(32:47):
And I just jumped the car back.
And, uh, my heart was racing.
And I'm like, you can't killSteven fucking Tyler, man.
Don't kill Steven Tyler.
My wife's looking at me like I'm crazy.
But he was so much fun andI've seen him be not fun.
I've seen him be a few different things.
But one of the things that I loved aboutSteven Tyler being in his, presence.
Was that he is the same rockand roll kid that I am, the same

(33:09):
rock and roll kid that you are.
And Philip Shouse andRyan and, all of the gang.
Because when it came down to music,he was like, man, let's go do it.
Let's go.
And if there was a, guitar was on thefloor and a case, he'd pick up the
guitar and Steven would like, here we go.
We're gonna rehearsal.
Yeah.
All right.
He was so excited aboutrock and roll and I thought.
This is the coolest thing ever.
He sings in the original key.

(33:31):
If he can't sing in the originalkey, the song is out of the set.
That's

Speaker 4 (33:34):
cool.

Larry (33:34):
I sat in at a rehearsal.
They said, Larry, can you singSteven's parts for the band?
Loving Mary was rehearsing.
Yeah.
And I sat, I got, I barely got through itonce and I was like, how does he do this?
I was like, I nope, no thanks.
I I get it.
I get why I am me and he is him.
Right.
And that was really alot of fun, you know?
It really was.
It was a good time.
Meeting that hero was cool.

(33:55):
And yeah, I've seen him yell and allthat stuff and all that, but again,
I was never in a band with him.
So beyond all of that, whatare the other influences?
Like who are your favorite guitar players?

Well, Eddie Van Halen is always gonna be my number one damn right.
And it's really not the Flash man.
really like the inversions ofchords that he uses and like,
it's his rhythm guitar playing.
I mean, I'm more knocked out bythat than I am his lead work.
Yeah.
You know, Jimmy Page, obviously.
I mean, God, he was so goodat like different stuff.
Mm-hmm.
You know?
Yeah.

(34:24):
Jeff Beck, Joe and Brad, youknow, Uhhuh, they're, ones now.

Larry (34:28):
Okay.
Let's talk about Joe and Brad,Joe Perry and, uh, Brad, Whitford.
Now I saw, Brad Whitford at,uh, a wedding not too long ago.
Okay.
And it was his son'swedding, Graham Whitford.
Right.
And I said, Mazeltov andBrad looked over at me.
I'd never met Brad before.
I'd been in the same room withhim, but I'd never met him.
And I've always wanted to, because Ijust think he's such a, he looks like
the sweetest man in the world and Ican tell That he's a good guy because

(34:51):
his kids were really raised well.
Like Graham's a sweet, sweetguy and his brother, the
photographer, what's his name?
Zach.
Zach Whitford.
Yeah.
They're good guys.
I mean, they're just, welloriented human beings.
And I just remember saying Mazeltov andBrad Whitford looked at me and smiled
the biggest smile, and he gave me a hug.
I wanted to whisper into BradWhitford's ear, we know it's you.

(35:12):
That's what I, I almost did it.
I almost said, we all know it's you.
I like Joe Perry, I am a fan the,some of the things that he's done.
But if I had to choose, Ilove Brad Whitford's playing.
And again, who am I?
I'm just, I'm a singer song record.

Uh, I, I, I agree with you.
E except for the part, like,I, do like Joe Perry's playing.
refer to it as squirrely.
Okay.
He chooses some weird notes and he hassome weird bends and stuff and mm-hmm.
God, there's just so much personality,like I can tell which guy's, which yes.
When I hear it now.
Right.
And, you know, yeah.
The joke, which every guitar playerknows is Brad plays like Joe looks.

Larry (35:50):
Exactly.
That's, that's thelook, that's what it is.
Okay.
'cause I'm not tryingto shit on Joe Perry.
Like I absolutely have heardstuff that I'm like, oh my God,
that's, that's really cool.
That's amazing.
And I just

think like he, he's got a very unorthodox, and I'm talking about
Joe unorthodox choice of notes and Yeah.
It, it's like a beautifuldisaster sometimes.
Yeah.
I don't know, man.
It's so cool.
You're right.
I'd be like, I, I, I, Iwouldn't think of that.
That's, I, I'd probably playsomething more like Brad or something.
Like that's a veryinteresting choice of solo.

Larry (36:20):
Yeah, for sure.
So what about the fact thatyou are a bit of a hero?
I consider you a hero.
No real.
Look, I wanted to be KISSmy whole life growing up.
Probably still do.
And you, you became that.
And you, you, you are Well, I,

I appreciate

Larry (36:32):
that.
But man, I,

I don't feel like a

Larry (36:34):
hero at all.
Right.
Like at all.
Yeah.
And the reason why I say thatis because there is a community
out there like Eddie Trunk.
He knows who you are, right?

So Big Rock Show was more of like The Sixth Man Cruise company.
Mm-hmm.
Thee Rock and Roll Residency.
Were doing like Monsters ofRock cruise and like Right.
All of the, cruisesput on by that company.
So, Ed does all of theMonsters of Rock cruises.
Yeah.
So, yeah, he saw us quite a few times.
Yeah.
And you know, we, we would do stuff byartists that other cover bands would do.
We would just do the other songs.

Larry (37:04):
Right, cause there's just a community, there's just people that are
our age, there are, younger, but that arethe certain age of like, there's a heyday
of music that's just not here anymore.
And now all of the acts that we love, wecall them legacy acts and they're on tour.
Some of them tour more, some of themtour less and those days are just gone.
The sex, drugs, rock and roll,wild thing that the big hair,
it's just, those are gone.

(37:25):
But we fans are still here and we exist.
And that's what I mean by being a hero.
You're somebody that I know there'sa generation, of guitar players out
there that are like, that guy playsthe way I've always known guitar to be.
You are the quintessentialrock and roll guitar player.
Well,

thanks, uh, it, it's just a melting pot of all those great
guitar players that came before me.
Sure.
You know, I wanted to be agood guitar player, but at the
same time, I didn't have any.
Interest in being, you know, likea studied guitar player, right?
When I'll start soloing and I'm justkind of going for it and I don't even
know what I'm doing, you know, I'mnot thinking, and my fingers are just

(38:04):
kind of doing their, their own thing.
And it's not 'cause like, okay, I'm inthis mode, in this scale, in this key.
Like,

Larry (38:11):
You're present in the moment.
You know,

I, I kind of know notes to avoid and spaces
to avoid when I'm playing.
But beyond that, like, I don't know

Larry (38:18):
this mode from that mode.
Okay, this is really what it's likebeing present and in the moment, which
is not an easy thing for any of us to do.
Do you ever find yourself in the situationwhere you're like, you know what's coming
and you're like, if I do it this way, it'skind of an Eddie Van Halen thing and I No.
And I can do, like,

there's no thinking, no thinking,

Larry (38:35):
like, like that.
There's no time to

Think.

Larry (38:37):
I'm thinking don't fuck

this up.
Don't.

Larry (38:40):
Sure.
That's great.
So what about the future of,of music and rock and roll?
Like you see things coming up,like the Grace Bowers of the
world that are in Nashville?
You see a lot of young kids,they're in their bedrooms.
Oh, this is the part whereeverybody's gonna hate me now.
No.
Well, maybe or maybe not, I host NashvilleSunday night at third and Linsley.
It's a Lightning 100 show, and I getto see a lot of different acts come

(39:01):
through, whether they're older or younger.
And what I do see, I see a lot of youngacts come in they are on tour, bro.
They're not just like intheir car playing a show.
They're touring because they've hada TikTok hit that's had 2 million
hits, and that's six months ago.
And now they're thrown into thefire without any experience.
All they know is the quiet waythat they sang in their bedroom.
They played, you know, into the computer.

(39:22):
And here they have like, quote unquote,a hit song on TikTok with no experience.
So what's that like for you?
What does it feel like?
You know, man, I

wish all of those people, all the luck in the world.
Yeah.
Uh, since I'm a bitolder and like can look.
At the history of music and, you know, notjust music itself, but the music business.
Mm-hmm.
You know, from the concertindustry to the record industry.
Yeah.
'cause you know, I, I worked inrecord distribution for almost
10 years before I was laid off.
And man, by three years later,there were fucking barely any

(39:53):
record stores left out there.
You, it, it was a, it was a downlow world and, you know, like just
the evolution and, you know, I havechildren now and they're friends.
I can see how much music meansto them or doesn't mean to them.
Yeah.
And, and the reality and facts are,you know, there's just so much more out
here now than when we were kids or ourolder brothers and sisters were kids,

(40:15):
or, or even if we had younger brothersand sisters, like this guitar, bass
drums with let's just say pop songformat, you know, verse, chorus, middle,
a chorus, outro, whatever has onlybeen around, What, since the forties?
Yeah, maybe the late thirties.
Yeah.
And you know, there was like bigband music and stuff, which I

(40:36):
don't consider that structure.

Speaker 4 (40:39):
Right.

And then like, you know, the pop song format.
And you know, eventually like thepeople in charge, whether they just be,
suits trying to make money or whatever,learn these chord structures that work.
I mean, how many songs outthere go one, five, minor six.
Yeah.
Four, one.
You know, and they know what works.
And all the other things that areavailable to kids now, it's like,

(41:02):
you know, no like rock and rolland Circus magazine, And MTV Yeah.
Aren't like one of the.
Three to five things out there forkids now, it's just a different world.
Yeah.
And making money or a living or anythingis just harder and harder and harder.
And then like, when that just doesn'tmean as much to people younger than

(41:22):
us, like our children's age and who's,what's gonna be their children's age.
It might just be a moment in time.
Right.
I mean, like before when peoplewanted to hear music, they would hear
symphonies and stuff, and that doesexist, but is that like the predominant
form of live music that people go see?
No.
Yeah.
Baroque music.
Yeah.
I mean, So you're saying this a probably,it might just be a hundred year thing.

Speaker 3 (41:43):
Yeah.

And you know, it'll evolve into whatever evolves.
I, I do believe that there will,be a niche there always, especially
as like for people our age andyou know, like, I don't know, 20
years younger than us or whatever.
For sure.
Because, you know, that formatof music was part of our lives.
Yeah.
that's where cover bands and stuffare, are gonna keep that alive.
I mean, let's not kid ourselves like thatform of music that we've been talking

(42:06):
about for this whole conversation.
Dude, there is not much time left.

Speaker 3 (42:10):
Yeah.

Like I'm looking at these guys and I, rub elbows with a
lot of them and I even play for them.
I mean, they're in their upper seventies.
Yeah.
Fuck dude.
My mom is in her upper seventies.
She couldn't do thisin her wildest dreams.
Yeah.
Like, I've seen how hard it is.
Yeah.
For, you know, these, these olderguys and, I'm kind of thinking like
most of them are gonna hang in thereuntil they're not around anymore.

(42:32):
'cause it's what they do.

Speaker 3 (42:33):
Yeah.

They've been doing it since they were
teenagers and in their twenties.
Like, if they stop doing it, that'swhen they're probably gonna die.
Yeah.
I don't know.
Like I'm grateful that there'syounger people out there still
discovering, you know, like what weconsider pure forms of music and, that
style of rock and roll and whatnot.
I don't know if it's ever gonnabe on the scale that it was, and

(42:54):
like the seventies and eighties.
Right.
And, I probably love sixties music themost, but the concert industry wasn't very
developed, nor was the record industry.
You know, like, I sort of feellike in the seventies is when
those industries really kind ofgot their shit together and boomed.
And then, you know, by the eightieswhen the video format came in
they all kinda worked together.
Like the videos fueled record sales.

(43:17):
Mm-hmm.
Which fueled the tour industry.
Yeah.
And I mean, God, you remember the ninetiesmen, like labels were just throwing
out money and deals left and right.
Yeah.
Even the shittiest bands in the worldwere getting like, oh, we got a $500 deal.
I was not

Larry (43:31):
one of

those people, by the

Larry (43:32):
way,

but.

Larry (43:33):
I saw it.
Yeah, moving to the morepresent Rock City Machine Co.
that's your band.
Right.
And you guys put out a record.
So it's you, it's Ryan, it's, uh, Philip.
Yes.
Right.
So

it's pretty much based around us, so, right.
with Thee Rock and Roll Residency inNashville, that was kind of me and Philip.
You know, it was our thing that we startedand Ryan was one of our main guests.
When the opportunity came up to docruises and start doing shows out
of town, we really felt like addingRyan was the best thing to do.
'cause you know, he sang leadvocals, he played guitar.
Yeah.
And it just, I don't know, it madeus a, a better show out of town.

(44:06):
'cause you couldn't have all thoselocals coming up and playing.
Yeah.
So we did that and then, you know.
We were hired by Gene.
So we were Gene's band together.
And then we were hired by Ace,we were ace's band together.
So at this point, like we'veplayed for two iconic artists.
We've done cover band together,and we never had any plans
to do anything original.
Yeah.
Not, not even together, but like, period.

(44:27):
But people were always offering,you know, like Marti Frederiksen,
and it's like, Hey man, if you everwanna do something, let me know.
And then, you know, we had a friend witha label, he is like, Hey, if you guys
ever wanna put out something, let me know.
And that was always like thenumber one question on podcasts
and, and from fans out there.
Yeah.
Are you guys ever gonna put out anything?
Mm-hmm.
And the answer was always like, no.
no.
But then one day I, got to thinkingand I was like, man, I sort of feel

(44:49):
like our journey as a threesomeis not complete until we do.
Yeah.
And then I approached Ryanabout it and he's like, what?
Hey, should I call Marti and Craig?
And I was just like.
Yeah.
You know, and then, Hey Philip,what do you think about Yeah.
Doing this?
And you know, they're like,why would anybody say no?
It's just like, yeah, yeah.
Fuck, let's do it.
And it was really just made forthe three of us, and we almost

(45:12):
had the opportunity to tour, andPhilip was unavailable, so mm-hmm.
You know, we were gonnado it with somebody else.
And that fell through.
And I mean, look man, like supportinga, new un established band out there
is so expensive and so hard that Idon't know how to take that out there.

Larry (45:27):
Yeah.
It's impossible.
I think.
Yeah.

If you don't have a benefactor, and bands are out
there that, that figure it out.
But they're also younger and they

Larry (45:33):
can sleep on the floor.
They don't have two kids at home.
That was exactly what I was gonna say.
I certainly did all of that.
We all did.
Yeah.
So how's your head with all that?
The emotional aspect of it?
'cause you put out a, bythe way, a great record.
Thank

you.
I'm damn proud of it.
There's not one song that's filler.
Yeah.
Every song is fantastic.
Yeah.

Larry (45:49):
Rock City Machine Company.
Every song is just, original.
It's all the influences thatI loved growing up and all the
influences, but nothing where

you're just like, never.
They just this song by AC/DC Oh man.
That's totally this song by Aerosmith.
yeah, it is.
It's a great mix of all the shit that wegrew up loving and I sort of feel like
those songs haven't been heard before.
Yeah.
Like you feel like you've beenlistening to it your whole
life, but it's not like Oh yeah.
that's a knockoff of this song.

(46:18):
Right.
It's none of the songs are knockoffs.
And I,

Larry (46:20):
I'm very, very proud of that.
Yeah.
And you should be.
And it's just a differentclimate now, right.
Because, you know, we put out recordsand I work, with Lightning 100 a
lot, so people are always tryingto, you know, get on the radio.
Sure.
And, and I have Them Vibes, you know,we haven't put out much in a long time,
but I put something out and I justknow that it's out and then it's gone,
and then we're on to the next thing.
And I, can't get my hopesup too high about anything.

(46:41):
I can't get too emotionally attached.
I have to do it for the love of it.
I have to do it forthe, appreciation Yeah.
That I'm able to do these things becauseof, of my influences and my experience
the fact that I've shifted, I'm a happier,more well adjusted person because I
was angry for a long fucking time.

All of us have that.
if the wave didn't break for us.
Yeah.
You have to find your way outof that anger or I don't know.
You're gonna die angry.
Yeah.
It's not worth it.
you know, there've been a thousand bandsthat were worthy of it but didn't get it.

Speaker 3 (47:09):
Yeah.

And a thousand bands are like, that band fucking sucks.
Oh yeah.
And they had that one song and theytoured off of the success of that for
fucking, you know, since 1995 or whatever.
That's true.
'cause there was a highconcentration of that garbage in 95.
Damn right.
So,

Larry (47:26):
yeah, I really didn't listen to a lot of new music back in that year.
Dude.
That's when,

that's when I was like in history class.
Yeah.
Basically, you know, I was definitely, youknow, charting the classic rock waters.

Larry (47:36):
Yeah.
And I was listening to like Beethovenand Chopin that those years I
was like, you know what, let medive into other things for sure.
Because that was where my heart was.
So how was your.
Mental health with all this stuff.
You tour, you come home,your wife is in the industry.
She is an artist herself.
You have two kids.
What's it like living in thiskind of well gig world right now?
Still at, at the age that we're

at?
Uh, as far as like the actualwork itself, it's great.
almost routine.
It's like anybody else with theirjobs, you know, like I get on a
plane, I fly, I check into my hotel.
Yeah.
I go somewhere for dinner.
I go back, I go to bed, Iwake up, I go to soundcheck.
Yeah.
is very routine.
It's just kind of a fun routine.
Yeah.
It's not like a job you hate, but asfar as the other aspect with family
and kids and stuff, it can be a littlehairy, like putting together a puzzle.

(48:20):
And you haven't found all the piecesto put the puzzle together yet.
Yeah.
you know, my wife isnot a stay at home mom.
You know, she works also and shehas lots of irons in the fire and.
taking kids to school, gettingkids picked up, getting kids fed,
and you know, they're not oldenough to stay by themselves.
So, you know, if she has towork or she has something to
do, we have to figure that out.
Yeah.
We do have a neighborhood network offamilies we're good friends with and you

(48:44):
know, people help when they can, but youknow, they have their own lives and their
own kids and their own things to do.
So it can be complicated.
I remember one time being in Japan andhaving to help my wife find childcare
like coverage and I'm 14 hours ahead.

Larry (49:00):
Yeah.
You're like, I found somebody.
She's like, that was yesterday,

But you found it.
But at the same time, you know,like this is my job and you know,
I've had to explain to people Imean, explain to me how it's
different than being a truck driver.
Is being a truck driver more noble.
I mean, like, that's justas valid as anything else.
Absolutely.
And this is a job.
And I mean, if I got some other job,I probably wouldn't make as much money
as I do doing this job, because I'vebeen doing this job for a long time.

(49:24):
Yeah.
And you do it well.
Thank you.
It's tricky.

Speaker 3 (49:27):
Yeah.

But I've seen so many.
Of my colleagues, you know, havesuccessful, great adult children
and they've made it throughand it can obviously be done.
Yeah.
You know, it's just, everybody's lifeis a little different and I'd like
to think there's some sense of pridewith my children because they know
how young I was when I discoveredKISS and rock and roll and guitar.

(49:48):
Mm-hmm.
And like, you know, I,I completed that circle.

Larry (49:50):
Yeah.
That's fantastic.
So do your kids.
Do they love what you do?
they both musically?
I know.
Rory is musically inclined, right?
No.
No, not at all.
Really.
Not at all.
So in other words, you just putthe drums in front of him and he
just banged on stuff because he wasbanging on stuff back in the day?
Yeah.
Okay.
so they're not, uh, honestly,

I think my younger son Benjamin likes rocking a little more.
Okay.
You know, like I showed, he's got the drumset in his room and stuff and he likes
to just listen to music with his guitaron and, you know, act like he's playing.
Yeah.
He'll watch rock videos.
So, you know, he likes AC/DC.
He likes KISS.
What's really weird is his currentplaylist is like, he's in high
school between 1979 and 1982.

(50:27):
'cause it's like Loverboy andQueen, like Hot Space era Queen.
Wow.
And, Surrender by Cheap Trick.
Yeah.
Yeah.
And What are you, like a junior in 1981

Larry (50:38):
or something like?
That's so cool.
So where do you see it going?
Where do you see the, the futureof music in Rock and Roll Niche?
Yeah.
I get it.

Uh, the older we all get, the more our
generation, you know, dies off.
Yeah, I mean, granted, there'sstill a few decades left in that.
Yeah.
But you know, as far as like the styleof Classic Rock is concerned, it's gonna
be tribute bands and cover bands, right?
I mean, it has to be.

Larry (50:59):
Yeah, for sure.
Well here's my speed round.
Are you ready sir?
What fascinates you?

what
fascinates me anymore?
I'm fascinated by parentswho don't seem stressed out.
I'll bet.

Larry (51:08):
What angers you?
Social media?
Discord.
What brings you joy?

Seeing my children really happy.

Larry (51:13):
When is that?

what makes them really happy?
I don't know.
It, it can be so many different things.
It can be accomplishing a goal.
Yeah.
that's my favorite.
When they do something and they'reproud of themselves and I love that.
That's great.

Larry (51:24):
Wow.
I think,

uh, you know, maybe receiving a gift that they really
wanted and I was able to provide.

Larry (51:30):
That's beautiful.
Wow.
If you had a magic wand and you couldfix something or change it, make it
the way you'd like it to be, I got it.
What would it be?

Stability.
I mean, let's face it man, likethe music world is very unstable.
Gig life is tough.
Yeah.
'cause you're at the whim of some artist.

Speaker 3 (51:47):
Yeah.

Larry (51:48):
Always.
Toilet paper over or under.
That's a very serious question here.
I know.
Wow.
Yeah.
Deep stuff.
You

know what, I remember having an argument with an
ex-roommate of mine uhhuh over this.

Larry (51:59):
Okay.

Uh, I'm under.

Larry (52:01):
Really?
Yeah.
You're the first maniac I've ever met.
No, I'm kidding.
So why under, uh,

' Jeremy Asbrock (52:05):
cause it's hard to turn around 180 degrees
and see what you're doing.
I mean, it's not like I'm inexperiencedor sloppy with my ass wiping.
So like, if I'm under, I do have a lot ofcontrol and I also carry wipes everywhere.
So there's like, for whatevertoilet paper I use, there's
like fucking four, five wipes.
I the same, I carry wipes.

(52:27):
But, and let me tell you something,since we're getting into something
so disgusting and graphic, bythe time I use that last wipe.
That motherfucker is white

Larry (52:34):
clean as the whitest clean cloroxed sheet.
Yep.
Yeah, I'm the same exact way.

And here's another fucked up thing.
Since we're discussing it.
I actually tear off X amount of thesquares and I will fold up the squares.
I mean, I'm pretty good at wiping myass if we want to talk about this.
Like, look at you.
Look, I've been, I've been doingit for 49 fucking years now.
Yeah.
So like.
I'm a pro.
You are a pro.
I'm neat and clean about it, and Ileave that toilet neat and clean.

Larry (52:59):
That's great.
Jeremy, Asbrock, you are a guitar hero.
I absolutely am so happythat you had me over today.
I've really been, wait, we're gonnawrap it up with this ass wiping thing.
Well, that's where we're at, my man.
That's where we're at.
Hey, we're wrapping it upin a very clean fashion.
Yeah, this is a clean break, as it were.
Um, Jeremy Asbrock, you'rea guitar hero of mine.

(53:20):
Thank you.
I've been looking forwardto You're welcome.
Thank you for having me over.
I've been looking forward to thisfor a long time because I really do,
I appreciate you're a family man.

I love the fact that we got to sit down and talk for a while.
'Cause I mean, we've talked before,but it's always kind of fast.
Very, we're always in like a,a public setting or whatever.
Yeah.
It's like just me and you in my dining

Larry (53:38):
room right now, so, yeah, I know.
And, to be honest, I always thought.
That you hated me.
Um, I like, not hate, butlike, you're intimidating.

Look, man, uh, I need you to know that you are not the first
person to tell me this, like, this,this is like kind of a thing in my life.
But the thing is, isI'm a man of few words.
I don't talk a lot.
I'm not one of thosepeople that talks to talk.
I'm not one of those peoplethat talks to myself.
I'm more of like a listenerand an observer, and I have
a bit of a monotone voice.
You know, I'm, I'm, I'mnot under any illusions.

(54:05):
I've heard myself talk before betweenmy quietness and my monotone voice,
it comes off as a little standoffish.
I'm not, I'm just kind of shy andI talk when I think something needs
to be said, and then when I dotalk, it's can be a bit monotone.
So it sounds like I'm, Like I said,standoffish, this has been communicated
to me, you know, a lot in my lifetime bypeople that are great friends of mine now.

Speaker 3 (54:27):
Yeah.

Larry (54:27):
So yeah, you've got intention and you have intention with your listening.
You have intention withwhat you're saying, and it
translates into your playing.
You're not just throwing noteseverywhere for the sake of throwing 'em.
You have intent whenyou're playing guitar.
I love your guitar playing.
and we are friends.
Look at that.
You don't hate me.
This is great.

I don't, I don't hate anybody.
Like anybody can come talk to me.
And sometimes I talk if I havesomething to say and I don't, it might
seem like I'm being a dick,but I swear to you people, I'm

Larry (54:52):
not.
Okay.
Jeremy Asbrock lead guitarist,vocalist for Ace Frehley, he's
been in Gene Simmons' Band.
He is a founding member of TheeRock and Roll Residency, as well
as the Rock City Machine Company.
Check out that recordeverywhere you find your music.
Thank you for having me over, my friend.
Thank you.
Thanks for having me.
Oh, absolutely.
This is the Just Keep Talking podcast.
My name is Brother Love.

(55:14):
Until next time.
See you soon.
Bye.

Speaker (55:16):
You can personally support this show simply by clicking
the tip link in the show notes.
The Just Keep Talking podcast is nowavailable on all podcast platforms.
Please like, share, and subscribe.
Visit our website@justkeeptalking.com,
our YouTube channel,@justkeeptalkingpodcast and
Instagram @thejustkeeptalkingpodcast

(55:37):
We all just want to be seen,to be heard and to belong.
Thank you so much for supportingmy mission and the Just Keep
Talking podcast with me, BrotherLove, because Your Story Matters.

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