June 2, 2025 • 50 mins
What happens when a 19-year-old vocalist joins forces with seasoned musicians spanning six decades of life experience? In this riveting conversation with Awaiting Abigail, we discover how musical chemistry transcends age barriers and conventional wisdom.
The Dallas-Fort Worth hard rock band shares their remarkable origin story - from guitarist James finding vocalist Abby through a "musician dating app" to their first high-profile gig at Trees in Deep Ellum. Abby reveals how she turned instrumental tracks into fully-formed songs from her home studio, delivering one powerful composition weekly to increasingly impressed bandmates who initially worried about the 42-year age gap between their youngest and oldest members.
Behind their powerful sound lies a fascinating recording process with producer Alex Gerst at Empire Sound. The band details their transition to modern gear like the Quad Cortex for silent-stage performances while maintaining authentic rock energy. Their rapid ascent includes upcoming performances with LA Guns at the legendary Whiskey a Go Go in Hollywood, Lillian Axe's Texas tour, and a biker rally alongside Texas Hippie Coalition.
Most compelling is how this self-described "island of misfit toys" functions as a cohesive unit despite their generational differences. As Abby puts it, their diversity "gives us different genres and time periods and mixes it together really well." What began as an uncertain collaboration has evolved into a musical family united by shared passion and mutual respect.
Want to witness this unique rock phenomenon yourself? Follow Awaiting Abigail on social media to catch them at venues across the Southwest and beyond as they continue their remarkable journey from unlikely beginnings to hard rock success story.
Links
- Jay Franze: https://JayFranze.com
- Awaiting Abigail: https://awaitingabigailband.com/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Tony Scott (00:05):
Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a
behind-the-curtain look at theentertainment industry, with
insights you can't pay for andstories you've never heard.
Now here's your host, JayFranze.
Jay Franze (00:33):
And we are coming at you live.
I am Jay Franze and this isyour source for the latest news,
reviews and interviews.
So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any
questions, please head over tojayfranze.
com.
All right, folks, tonight wehave a very special guest with
us.
We have a hard rock bandhailing from the great state of
(00:53):
Texas.
We have Awaiting Abigail.
We have Abigail and Jamestonight with us.
Thanks for having us, Jay.
Why don't we start just realsimple out of the gate?
Can you tell me what the musicscene is like there in the
Dallas-Fort?
James Smith (01:09):
Worth area.
It's very diverse right now.
I think all genres aredefinitely represented In Fort
Worth.
You've got Billy Bob's and someother honky-tonk places.
You've got Tejano, you've gotrock and roll.
I mean it's very diverse.
Piano, you've got rock and roll.
I mean it's very diverse.
I think a lot of places andpeople are still recovering from
COVID They've wiped out so manyplaces and you know some of
(01:32):
them have come back and some ofthem have come back of totally.
You know it's totally differentplaces.
It's definitely bouncing backand I would say on the mend, but
diverse.
For sure you could findanything you want in Dallas-Fort
Worth.
Jay Franze (01:47):
You mentioned Billy Bob's.
I've gone to Billy Bob's acouple times now on the road,
but I primarily think of it as acountry venue.
Is there any other genre thatgoes through there other than
country?
James Smith (01:57):
You know, what's funny is every.
I think it's sort of atradition of theirs.
But so the Toadies are fromFort Worth and they do a New
Year's Eve or New Year's Eve Eveshow almost every year now,
generally.
No, I can tell you, in highschool, between high school and
college, I worked as one of thesound guy, like just a hand
(02:17):
really, but Jerry Lee Lewis.
We saw Jerry Lewis play therewhen he was on his gotta I Pay
my Taxes tour.
That is funny.
But yeah primarily country.
Jay Franze (02:30):
What did you think of the venue from the insider's
point of view?
James Smith (02:34):
Oh, just super cool and it was really.
You know they do a good job ofmaking it like kind of have the
dive vibe, but also, you know,being a tourist attraction,
balancing that, you know youreally get the feel for like, I
still take people there, youknow, when they come in from out
(02:54):
of town because it's not veryfar from where I live at all
yeah, I think they.
It's just a, it's a place thatyou're going to play at in Texas
.
If you play country, for sureYou're trying to get there.
Jay Franze (03:04):
Yeah, I know I really enjoyed my time there,
for sure.
Abby, I know you're the latestmember of the band.
Can you tell us how that cameabout?
Abigail Hill (03:12):
Yeah, so I went on this app called BandMix not
sponsored, but we did a BandMix.
Not sponsored but good and I metJames there and I did an
audition with the PrettyReckless song and the whole band
loved it.
So pretty much after that theyflew me down because I was in
Houston for the summer, becausethat's where my family's at, and
(03:35):
we did a rehearsal and they allloved it.
They loved my voice, kind offit the tone.
I already had the Bad Mind EPit was already all finished and
after that it was just the lasttest, which was to go into the
studio, empire Studios, and werecorded those four songs and
(03:57):
the engineer just loved it.
Like that was kind of the endresult.
James ended up saying that Iwas the right fit for it because
James had had a couple of otheroptions there, because they
were doing auditions and thingslike that.
So then we came up with thename Awaiting Abigail, kind of
just texted back and forthdifferent names and it was.
(04:19):
It was really fun.
James Smith (04:21):
It was really fun.
Jay, you want the actual dirt,then I'll give you the dirt on
it.
So we had the rhythm tracks.
Yeah, we had the rhythm tracksrecorded and our original
vocalist just didn't work out, alittle too timid for the studio
.
And it was like a time ofreflection for the other players
(04:43):
and I, because we had and oursound engineer he's very good at
what he does but he was likethese tracks are too good and
you need to find the rightperson for the fit.
So we were kind of at a loss andI would just happen to be
browsing through that website.
I would equate it to a datingapp Swipe Rice, swipe Swipe and
I saw her profile and it hadinfluences, everything from
(05:05):
Fleetwood Mac to Evanescence,and that caught my interest and
I thought, well, she looks kindof poppy.
We may be a little bit tooheavy for her, but I decided to
give it a try.
And the age thing was a concernbecause, you know, there's a
lot of different versions.
She's 20 now, but she was 19 atthe time.
There's a lot of differentversions of 19.
She's 20 now, but she was 19 atthe time.
There's a lot of differentversions of 19 years old, right,
(05:27):
but she was very persistent.
She was like so, basically, howdo I get in the band?
I was like, okay, well, send mea video of some cover songs.
And I gave her Pretty Recklessand she did a couple tunes and
we were passing around we'repassing around ideas between the
rest of us about who we wouldget and stuff.
(05:48):
We were open to male or femaleand she sent us the cover songs.
We're like that's pretty good,that's pretty good.
So we were going to bring herin and just jam the cover songs.
But then I was like, you know,like really, the real test,
actually let's not even wastetime with that.
The real test is we have thesefour tracks that are recorded
and I literally one of them um,the first track, I hate you, I
(06:09):
had some vocal ideas for and Ihad a chorus to track four.
So I had a couple sketches, butreally no words or melodies
really.
And I said the real test isgoing to be give her these four
tracks and see what she comes upwith.
And we did that with a fewpeople and that really thinned
it out quick, you know, becausethen you got to put up, you got
to put up or shut up.
(06:29):
Well, she wrote a song about oneevery week and, in her home
studio, sent it to me.
And that's when I startedtaking her real serious, because
the first one that she did wasbad mind and it was it was
cooking.
And I sent it to the otherpeople and they were like, okay,
she's real, and it kind of wentfrom there.
So it's really interesting,because what you listen to when
(06:52):
you listen to any of our streams, what you're listening to is
basically she jammed with us onetime in a practice live and
then went in the studio and thenknocked those out with a little
less than two hours, so kind ofbackwards way of doing it yeah,
but but totally worked.
Jay Franze (07:12):
I mean can you tell me what the age.
Abigail Hill (07:28):
So he's the oldest of the band so 20 to 62 yeah,
exactly so.
It's a wide range and hisdaughter is, I believe, in her
30s right yeah cory.
She plays the keyboard, so she'slike above me.
And then we have Lori andHeather and James and they're
kind of all around the same agebecause y'all went to high
(07:49):
school together, right.
So they're all kind of in thesame age.
They used to be in a band whenthey were younger, so it's kind
of like almost a family reunion,like friend reunion, band
reunion type of thing.
So it's really cool.
It's a it's definitely a widerange of ages, but I think that
honestly gives us the differentgenres and the different time
(08:10):
periods and it kind of mixes ittogether really well do you find
any challenges in that?
I feel like we're pretty, prettyclear on the same page as to
what we want to get done.
James will usually just likehere's a song that whoever wrote
or they made the track to this,you want a song right to that.
(08:31):
So then I'll do that.
And then we all just kind of Idon't know we kind of
collaborate in the studio and inour rehearsal.
We never really clashed, soit's pretty cool.
Jay Franze (08:42):
Do you have any challenge relating to that age
gap?
James Smith (08:48):
No, it's surprising , it's like the island of misfit
toys, but it's literally.
I was thinking about that theother day.
There's literally I mean it'snot like there is an age
difference, because I've playedwith a lot of musicians.
I'm, by default, a classicallytrained trumpet player and I've
played in a lot of livesituations and it's crazy how
(09:10):
well Abby is able to control hervoice, her stage show.
Everything is just super easy.
The other people that I've beenin bands with before they know
what it's like to be in a band.
You either know what it's likeor you don't.
And when you know what it'slike be in a band, you either
know what it's like or you don't.
And uh, when you know what it'slike, all the logistic things
just kind of work.
So it's crazy, but it doesn't.
(09:30):
The age thing is not a factor,and somebody else had asked us
what it's like with um mike andcory, because it's a, it's a
father and daughter thing.
But you would actually neverknow because you wouldn't know.
You would never know becausethey're like hey bro, hey,
whatever it's a very, it's avery, you know it's adult
relationship because he's yeah,you know he's 60 and she's 30.
(09:52):
So yeah, but no, it's.
It's crazy how smoothly it runs.
Maybe it runs even betterbecause of the age because y'all
have different perspectives.
Abigail Hill (10:01):
I guess the only difference is I have X's on my
hands and everyone else isdrinking.
That's the only difference.
Jay Franze (10:08):
There you go.
I guess that worked.
But Abby had mentioned, James,that you had played in a band
with some of the members in thepast.
Was that band also a rock band?
James Smith (10:20):
Yeah, all three of us were band nerds.
We were in band in high schooltogether.
Like I said, I played trumpet,heather, our drummer, she played
saxophone and Lori, our bassplayer, was in color guard and
we just started jamming in mygarage and we went through all
styles.
We started playing Poison andMotley Crue covers Right, and
(10:40):
they hated it, but it was what Iliked at the time and it was my
house, so I made us play them.
But our first band was kind ofin that genre.
We started writing originalsand then we started getting
heavier.
We brought a guitar player inand he walked in and was playing
Metallica and Slayer and wewere like whoa, what is that?
So we started getting heavier,changed the band name and played
(11:04):
quite a bit around the DFW areaand then we came out the other
end.
We kind of split up and thensome of the band members got
back together and we came outthe other end of it like a
grunge metal type of band.
So there's a little bit ofeverything and I think it's fun
watching people try to put us ina box because we've been called
everything, and then alsopeople just don't know what to
put us in a box because there'sso many.
(11:25):
You know we've been calledeverything, and then also people
just don't know what to call us.
Jay Franze (11:29):
Well, how do you feel that history has helped
form who you guys are today?
James Smith (11:35):
I mean it's absolutely crucial to who we are
today because Heather and I,the drummer, we can get together
and we can write incrediblyfast and we have four people
that write music Abby does I do,lori, our bass player, does and
Mike, our other guitar player.
So I think the history and alsohaving the common ground of at
(11:58):
least high school band withthose other people, I'm able to
sketch out ideas or whatever,and it's funny because other
people that are in this genreprobably wouldn't find a music
stand necessarily in theirrehearsals or practices it's
definitely the history and theexperience.
It all pays dividends indifferent areas.
(12:20):
So the areas that we dostruggle in or do need to learn
how to be a band in are veryspread out and not in one area.
Jay Franze (12:32):
Well, let's take the creative process a step further
.
I mean, abby, you mentioned atthe beginning that you came into
this blind, and James, youmentioned having these four
tunes that didn't have vocals tothem, yet that helped you guys
have a way to address writingthose particular songs.
But since then, how do we goabout the creative process now?
Abigail Hill (12:55):
I would say it's almost the same.
We do tweak things now more,but the rest of the band, they
kind of come up with a tune andthen sometimes we'll have like
ideas of what it's about andwe'll collaborate on that.
But they still kind of send methe tune and then I'll still
write the lyrics to that andthen we'll tweak it from there.
(13:16):
So it's almost kind of the sameprocess, just a little bit more
collaboration with all of uscombined.
But I'd say it's almost thesame.
Jay Franze (13:26):
So if that's the case, James, how are you guys
recording the material to sendto?
James Smith (13:31):
her.
Since we had gone to the studio, I was able to the first time
go in with a click track.
It's kind of funny because theguy that's recording us his name
is Alex Gerst at Empire Sound.
His dad recorded our band inthe 90s.
Funny because the the guythat's recording us his name is
alex gerst at empire sound.
His dad recorded our band inthe 90s, so I remember he's.
He's our age.
(13:51):
I remember him being around thestudio back then.
But a lot of local bands usehim and and bigger than local
for sure too.
But I went in with a click track, so now it's totally different.
I usually write in Pro Tools,I'll just riff around and then
have a click track.
It's funny because Heather doesnot want to hear drums.
(14:14):
She wants to have her own ideasabout it.
So it's just a click track.
But I'll usually record theguitars in and then maybe if
there's a bass idea, then I'llplay it on the bass and then
send out to all of the membersthe click track with basically
just the rhythms and stuff likethat.
But what Abby was too shy orforgot to tell you is so she's
(14:37):
got a lot of pop music.
She's got a whole catalog ofpop music that she did on her
own, that's, on her individualsocials and stuff, and we've
adapted two of them so far toour style and it'll be really
interesting whenever these comeout because it'll be fun to
compare them, the productionlevel of it.
(14:59):
We're already playing two ofthem live and they're kicking,
and so we've kind of come at itfrom all directions.
We done the, we've done that.
Okay, here's the rhythm sectionyou write the lyrics to it to.
Okay, here's your song.
Do you like what we've donewith it?
Or you know, like we, we'regonna, we're gonna make this
heavy.
Now are you cool with it?
And I mean the two tunes thatwe've adapted from her.
(15:22):
They're slamming and they standon their own as like in her
solo project.
They're very effective also allright.
Jay Franze (15:29):
So you mentioned that you've got the four tunes
that you guys came with.
You got the two tunes thatshe's coming in with.
How many tunes have you guysdone together as a true
collaboration from start tofinish, at this point, right now
we have right now that we'vedone all together, we have
another three that are cookingall right, and you mentioned
(15:51):
alex in the studio over atempire sound.
Can you start by telling mewhat that studio is like?
Abigail Hill (15:58):
he has a drum set in the back that has its own
room.
He has this huge um mixer andwe kind of sit around there and
talk about what we want to do,and then we also have a separate
room that's in the in betweenthe mixer and the drummer area
and that's the vocal.
So, yeah, it's really nice downthere.
(16:20):
He's really sweet.
He's definitely the best soundengineer that I've worked with
personally, so I woulddefinitely recommend him.
James Smith (16:30):
James your thoughts .
He's like another member of theband we have six people.
He's like a seventh member ofthe band when he's in there and
Heather has recorded with him.
Like I said, we recorded withhis dad.
He's a drummer himself.
He plays in a couple cover bandsand has played his whole life
and he's a really good playerand it's great having him,
because he's not like a guythat's just going to be like OK,
(16:52):
do you like that?
He'll be like no, and veryinvolved in the creative process
as well, like bouncing ideasWell, what about this, what
about that?
And at the same time, open toit.
You know, like if he has anidea and it's really good, but
like I want half of his idea andnot all of his idea.
He's totally cool with that,but he's very, very involved.
(17:14):
Equipment wise, I think it'spretty unique because he has a
huge analog board and then therest is all digital.
You know he has a little bit ofsecret sauce that he throws in
there, but but I mean really hedoes a great job of capturing
what we want it to sound like.
I mean, when we hear it, we'relike yeah, that's what we had in
mind.
Jay Franze (17:34):
Well, let's talk about that, because you
mentioned the analog board.
It's an SSL console and itlooks like he's got all the rack
gear and it looks like atypical commercial recording
studio.
It's pretty large, it even therack gear and it looks like a
typical commercial recordingstudio.
It's pretty large, even has umanalog tape machine.
So I assume you mentionedrecording digitally and you
mentioned pro tools earlier thatyou guys did not go the analog
(17:55):
route.
James Smith (17:55):
Is that fair to say ?
Yeah, that's his.
I think that's his dad's setup.
That's there for nostalgia,yeah yeah, I mean it's pretty
sweet.
Jay Franze (18:01):
Two inch, two inch studer tape machine.
I mean it's pretty slick, it'sa two-inch Studer tape machine.
I mean it's pretty slick, butmost people aren't using those
these days.
They're stuck in the digitalworld and you know what.
I appreciate that I'm a ProTools person.
For sure, started my day withanalog tape and have made my way
through all the iterations offormats up until this point.
And I will be the first to tellyou I'm a Pro Tools fanatic for
(18:23):
sure.
So you mentioned you have a ProTools rig at home that you
record into.
So are you just recording theideas at home or do you record?
James Smith (18:36):
anything that makes its way to the studio.
It all goes to the studio andmost of it gets deleted.
I say most of it because it'sscratch stuff and he can do way
better there with what he has.
I just have the UA, which isgood for what it is, but
typically what happens is thatformat that I have at home.
I get it, I put the keyboardparts in it, I put everything in
(18:59):
it that's basically the rhythmsection and then I send that to
him.
So whenever we show up, weimmediately go and you know
verses, choruses, measure,numbers, it's all labeled.
We immediately go right intotracking the drums.
So Heather's up right out ofthe bat.
The songs are already formatted.
It saves a lot of time, youknow.
(19:21):
He gets to know the songs,obviously, as any producer
recorder does, but it cuts thattime down to almost nothing
because it's all labeled andalready set up in the scratch
tracks.
So we go right into trackingdrums.
Jay Franze (19:35):
What type of input does he have as a producer?
James Smith (19:39):
He'll do whatever you want him to do in our case,
but he also won't put his nameon something that's not good.
Yeah, so because of mybackground I I taught in the
public schools, I was a banddirector for nearly 20 years and
I I want the brutal.
I mean that's how we were.
We'd have clinicians come in,guest conductors, stuff like
(20:00):
that.
So I told him I want itbrutally.
Honest, like don't blow sunshine.
Like if you think it sucks,tell us it sucks.
Honest, like don't blowsunshine.
Like if you think it sucks,tell us it sucks.
If you don't understandsomething, tell us you don't
understand it.
So abby can attest to this.
He pretty much he takes on thatrole and he'll he'll do it.
And then sometimes you knowit'll be like he'll be like well
, I don't know about this orwhatever, and then I'll kind of
(20:21):
explain well, I actually want todo this, and then add this to
it, and then whatever.
And then he'll be like OK, ok,I can see it, and then he'll go
with it.
But he's a pretty strong voiceby choice for us and he hasn't
not led us astray yet.
Jay Franze (20:38):
So can you kind of tell us what the day in the
studio is like for you guys?
James Smith (20:46):
the day in the studio is like for you guys.
So after the drums are done,then, um, he sends us away to
lunch so that he can get, getthat in the neighborhood of like
how he wants that, you know,tightening them up, yeah,
getting it on the grid, and uh.
Then, uh, we come back and wedo, um, we do rhythm guitars and
on.
On the first on the EP that youhear, we had not totally gotten
(21:10):
in the same roles that we arenow.
Mike actually plays bass on onetune in that MIDI blocks for
the keyboard stuff.
Oh, I want to go back to whatyou were saying, though.
How much of the stuff that Ibring from home stays.
What's funny is the introductionto Falling Under, which is the
piano and the synthesizer thing,with her singing in falsetto
(21:36):
over it.
That was just my idea.
That was from home.
I'd done that at home on mykeyboard and played it in and
point it out, and I was like Iwant something like this.
And he's like, all right, well,why not that?
Yeah, so that ended up.
I mean, I was surprised.
I thought that he was goingback.
No, that's not let's.
You know, he'd want to do itthere and he was like I don't
(21:57):
think we should touch it.
So after after we do get therhythm tracks down, then we may
um add some stuff.
You know he'll pull out somereally cool stuff.
There's a sitar part that'skind of nestled in the mix on um
falling under.
There's a guitar with nashvilletuning where I'm playing some
stuff that you would not expectto hear on a rock and roll deal,
(22:17):
but he puts it in a almostsubconscious, barely conscious
place in the mix where we'rejust like wow, wow, that's magic
.
And he always says the samething.
He's like just trust me.
And he brings out anotherinstrument Just trust me, Now do
this.
And not all of it's used, butsome of it is.
(22:38):
So we kind of do all that stuffthat typically takes up one day
, then the next day is usuallyleads, supplemental guitar work
and then vocals, so you prettymuch get the entire track done,
including leads, before you dovocals.
Sometimes not the leads Actually, not the leads in this
(23:00):
particular case.
She did the vocal line and thenI did the leads because I
didn't want to step on her.
On the next one I'm going tohave to carve out some space to
play a little bit more, so I'mgoing to have to be like no, you
can't sing there.
No singing for you.
Jay Franze (23:16):
So, Abby, I mean you don't strike me as the type of
person who requires specialattention when you're in the
studio, but what do you do tomake the studio comfortable when
you're in there to sing?
Abigail Hill (23:29):
Honestly, as long as I've got my water, I've got
the lyrics there, I'm good to go.
I've been in the studio a whilebecause I did pop tracks so I
feel like that was really hardto do all of the ad-libs.
I was in there for pop track soI feel like that was really
hard to do.
Like all of the ad-libs.
I was in there for probablylike eight hours a lot of the
time for one song.
So I'm used to the studio.
(23:51):
I just kind of I like to takecritiques and things.
I don't really get like allupset about that.
Yeah, as long as I got a drinkand my lyrics, I'm good to go
lights on.
Jay Franze (24:03):
Lights lights off.
Abigail Hill (24:05):
If they have LEDs, keep it on.
If it's too too bright, maybenot as long as I can see the
lyrics.
Jay Franze (24:13):
Candles or anything like that.
Abigail Hill (24:16):
I've never done candles.
Jay Franze (24:18):
Yeah, I haven't ever done candles, just working in
the studio in Nashville for somany years.
Every time a singer would comein, we would have a different
setup for that particular person, so we'd have some people bring
in their own area rug, maybe afloor lamp, you know, just
things that made them feelcomfortable.
So I always like to find outwhat it is that makes you
comfortable.
James Smith (24:37):
Yeah, Don't give her any ideas.
Jay Franze (24:40):
Yeah, I know I'm like now.
Abigail Hill (24:41):
I have to make my own.
Jay Franze (24:46):
I can have my own floor lamp.
I can do this, candles, sureyou record the tracks.
Do you then leave and does Alexthen take over and mix, or do
you stay there for the mix?
James Smith (24:58):
No, he does his own thing and then calls us back.
He gets it to where he wants itor likes it and if he has
questions about stuff he's gotit, all you know, noted.
I usually walk away from there.
He'll bounce me a mix and I'lldrive around and listen to it.
I like to spread the time apart.
I want to have the time toreflect on it, not commit to
(25:21):
anything without listening to it, in a lot of different moods
and settings.
But he gets it to where hewants it and then, honestly, I
go in there without anybody elsewith him and he and I kind of
make the final decisions aboutwhat's going to come out.
And everybody seems verycomfortable with that and happy
(25:45):
with how that's been going.
Jay Franze (25:47):
So how long does it take him to mix one of the songs
?
James Smith (25:51):
You know, I don't really know, because he does
what he calls his mixing timeand he's like so his schedule is
like he's either recordingsessions or he's doing mixing.
So I really don't know theanswer to that question.
I will tell you that he told methat this, this project, made
him kind of rethink a bunch ofstuff and he did a lot of, I
(26:14):
guess, outside of the box stuffand it was an awesome learning
thing for him and he ended upspending some more money on some
, on some new toys or whatever.
But I really don't know theanswer to that question, but
I'll certainly ask him becausewe just might be seeing him
again soon nice.
Jay Franze (26:31):
Do you know if he mixes in the box entirely, or
does he go back through theconsole?
James Smith (26:38):
He goes back through the console, I believe,
because when he bouncessomething, he has to bounce it
in real time.
Jay Franze (26:44):
It has to play back, right, yeah, so I'm sure he's
got at least some of theoutboard gear going for sure.
All right, I asked Abigailearlier about some challenges.
Do you find any challenges thatyou've faced so far up to this
point?
James Smith (26:58):
I spend more time doing band stuff than I do
playing my instrument.
Playing my instrument is verylast on the to but even writing
I would be writing like crazy ifI wasn't.
It's crazy, jay, because we'reactually all social media
(27:21):
illiterate and we thought whenwe were getting a 19-year-old,
we were like awesome, becausenone of us know anything about
it.
And she does.
She knows stuff about it, butit's just a lot.
It's a lot and I don't reallyknow what I'm doing.
But I try and I'm learningalong the way.
But yeah, that's the biggestchallenge.
And then the other thing too iswe didn't really know what this
(27:46):
was going to turn into.
We didn't know if the songswould flop.
We didn't know our first show.
You mentioned the name earlier.
We literally had our first gig,which was no small deal.
It was at trees and deep elm,which is a premium venue for a
local band to be playing at.
We had our first show before weeven had our name and so we
(28:10):
were like, uh, with the promoterI was like, okay, hold on just
a second.
She's like she knew our drummerfrom our previous project is
really why we got that show andit was a high profile show.
It was women in metal and itwas like some of the best hard
rock and metal bands in the area.
So we had to come up with aname pretty quick and it's funny
(28:31):
she didn't mention it when wefirst started working together.
But Abby one day in practice waslike I think it was even after
the EP was out, she was likeyeah, my mom was a metalhead and
she named me after KingDiamond's album Abigail.
We're like whoa, what?
Like, wait a second, yeah, waita second.
Little pop music pants wasnamed after King Diamond.
(28:53):
So anyways, our name, you know.
Obviously we wanted it to bevery centered around her, her
voice, everything about her.
She's the most unassuming andhumble person.
It makes it very easy to makethe project about her, and so we
wanted her name to be in it,and it was just kind of a matter
of finding the right, you know,word to go with it.
Jay Franze (29:13):
So you were waiting for it all works out.
So, james, do you find yourselfmanaging the band?
James Smith (29:21):
yeah, I'm definitely the do-it-yourself
manager, for sure the playermanager.
Jay Franze (29:27):
Yeah, yeah occasionally play guitar, nice,
so that's pretty cool then.
So I guess if you're spreadingyour time so thin, that time is
the biggest challenge for you.
What's the motivation?
James Smith (29:59):
like before, my work was music and it was work
All the things that go alongwith something.
Being work was part of myteaching public school.
And now I'm out of that and Iwant to do music and I kind of
went back to my.
It's like living your teenageyears again, you know.
So I'm very motivated byplaying with those girls that I
jammed with when I was youngerand now we're adults.
We all have a life story andthen it's very motivational to
(30:21):
have a young person that is soopen to ideas and new genres
playing out and stuff like that.
It's almost like I'm able to dowhat I was doing when I was
band directing, but now I justhave five kids instead of like
300.
Jay Franze (30:39):
Nice.
So what would you considersuccess to be?
James Smith (30:44):
This has already exceeded my expectations by
thousands of percents.
Like I said, we got that firstshow and, honestly, we didn't
talk about it, but we probablyall thought it.
Maybe Abby didn't think it, butI definitely thought I'm like
OK, so is this one and done,how's this show going to go?
Are people going to show up?
Are people going to be up therefor us?
(31:06):
And I knew that it was like.
Even the promoter was like Ihope this goes over, because it
was her very first show at thatvenue.
So literally we were living itkind of like day by day and I
was like man, if it's endedright now, that's still pretty
cool.
I really like what she did tothose four tunes.
(31:26):
Well, we had our first show andit was crazy.
I mean, it was crazy.
We had a lot of people there.
The people that were there forus were nuts and the people that
weren't there for us were upthere anyways supporting us and
it just really it absolutely setthe trajectory for kind of
(31:46):
where we are now.
So success.
I don't know, I think I guessfor personal, I feel like it's
all gravy.
At this point I obviously wantmore.
I want us to get out there.
That's why we're traveling alot.
I don't want to be stuck inDallas-Fort Worth.
I think it's really important,if you have the means to be able
to do it, to get other places.
(32:08):
So we're going a lot of places.
I mean, if this is our firstyear and we kind of already have
already all committed toanother year 2026, see where
things go, I mean I don't know,it's hard.
I don't want to say that Idefine success by a paycheck or
a certain crowd size or anything, because I think it's more kind
(32:29):
of about if you're enjoyingwhat you're doing.
So I mean I welcome all that, Iwelcome the accolades, and if
it ever turns into a netpositive venture, that's cool.
But that's not why we're doingthat.
That's all gravy on the side.
You know, that's extra credit.
Jay Franze (32:47):
So you do have some bigger shows coming up.
Can you tell us about those?
James Smith (32:52):
Yeah, immediately after that show, our very first
show that was in december I hadbeen going because I travel, for
work.
I found myself not a lot but uh, semi regularly in the
hollywood area and I had beengoing to the whiskey for a while
uh, since I changed careers,because it's the whiskey and
that's what I grew up listeningto.
(33:13):
And you know, I'd been therestarting after COVID.
I'd been there when it waspacked and I went to lead a Ford
show there.
I'd also been there when it'sdead.
I mean, there's a band playingand there's two people there and
you know I don't always buyT-shirts and stuff like that
Started talking to the peoplethere and getting to know the
staff and Jake, the main guythat does the booking there, I
(33:37):
was telling him one time thiswas before I had the band.
I was like, man, I used to playand play in all these iconic
venues around the dfw area.
I'd really love to play here.
If I have a band.
I don't know if it'll everhappen, I don't know if I'll be
able to get the other folks backthere.
January I gave him a call afterthe show because it was late
December.
I'm like, hey, man, I'm goingto send you an email with all
our details and everything.
But I really would love to makea show happen out here.
(33:59):
We could fly out and make itwork.
He was like, yeah, man, I senthim my stuff and he said I just
may have the perfect thing foryou.
I could ask for a betteropportunity that we get to open
for la guns in la on a saturdaynight?
Yeah, I mean.
(34:20):
So, um, and we're, we're aboutkind of right in the middle.
They're running six bands, sothere's, uh, I think, three
before us and then, um, usanother band than la guns play.
So I mean it's just gonna be,it's it's going to be, it
probably already is sold out andit's just going to be a rager.
So that was kind of a matter oflike.
(34:41):
I mean, I don't people believein different stuff, you know
visualization or whatever, butlike I literally sat in that bar
and was like, man, that wouldbe really cool to ever play
there.
I didn't really think it wouldhappen, but you know.
Jay Franze (35:00):
So yeah, here we are , and uh, so that's going to be
a big one for sure, well, that'sthe home for la guns.
Yeah, so I mean, and that'scoming up in july, so july 19th,
if anybody wants to check itout.
But, abby, what are you lookingforward to most with that?
Abigail Hill (35:11):
I'm super excited to play with la guns I.
I just saw them in concert inHouston I think it was last
weekend, so I'm really excitedto meet them and actually play
with them.
It's going to be amazing and Ilove LA.
And I'm super excited to playat the Whiskey because I know
all the bands that have playedthere and it's just going to be
(35:32):
phenomenal.
Jay Franze (35:34):
Yeah, they've got a pretty good scene going on right
right now, so it's not justwhat's happened in the past.
The bands that are playingthere these days are pretty,
pretty sharp as well, so that'spretty cool.
So you get that coming up, andthen you've got others.
So tell me about the next one,james yeah, we're opening for
lillian axe.
James Smith (35:51):
Lillian axe is doing the te Texas mini tour and
we're going to play for them inDallas.
But also we're going to go downto San Antonio and play at
Fitzgerald's down there, andright after that there's one
coming up that I can't sayanything about, unfortunately,
but be watching for that becauseit's going to be a very big
local show.
It's another female frontedband that's very popular in the
(36:14):
Dallas-Forth area.
We're going to be opening forthem.
Then that gets us to September.
In September we're doing abiker rally in Flagstaff with
Texas Hippie Coalition.
That's going to be pretty cool.
Yeah, I wish that I could breakthe August thing and I wish
that I could break the Septemberthing, because there's another
(36:35):
September thing.
That's a four-day mini tour andit's probably the most epic
thing of the year.
And if you look at our calendarand you're like, oh, they're
playing the Whiskey with LA Gunsand this is more epic than that
.
I mean, probably there'snothing more epic than playing
for LA Guns in LA, but for us itwill have very good future
ramifications.
Abigail Hill (36:56):
I would say Very on the same side.
James Smith (36:59):
Yeah, genre matching, it'll be pretty
incredible.
Jay Franze (37:03):
You have to come back on and tell us about that.
But what are you hoping thefans take away from it?
James Smith (37:09):
Abby, you can take it.
Abigail Hill (37:11):
Yeah, I hope the fans that they just enjoy our
music and I'm super excited forthe new songs that are going to
come out.
Uh, we have.
We're going to go back in thestudio soon, so we're going to
have some new songs coming out.
I'm also super excited to seeeveryone that comes to our
concerts.
I love meeting everybody.
Everyone's super sweet.
(37:32):
So it's it's really nice tomeet everyone and I'm just
excited for all of like theconcerts that we.
So it's it's really nice tomeet everyone and I'm just
excited for all of like theconcerts that we're doing.
It's going to be amazing.
Jay Franze (37:40):
Well, you mentioned the fact that none of you are
very big on social media, so howare you developing the audience
at this point.
Abigail Hill (37:49):
Through who we know.
A lot of them bring friends andthe concerts.
They're telling their familyabout it and friends and they're
coming down.
I do have a social media so Iguess some of my friends are
coming from that, but we'restill growing on there so
hopefully soon it will skyrocket.
But I think it's mostly justthrough talk and with the big
(38:13):
names of the other bands, themcoming to see them and then them
seeing us and liking us.
I would say that's right now.
That's kind of the main reason.
Jay Franze (38:24):
Do you take advantage of your time on stage
when opening up for bigger actsto kind of fish for that
audience?
Abigail Hill (38:31):
Yeah, of course, I think it's just just being
yourself.
Honestly.
Whoever really likes you willfollow you throughout your
journey.
We've just been always justbeen humble.
Whoever comes up to us andwants to talk, we're always up
for it.
We love, like supporters andfans.
They're all super close andreally cool people.
So I think yeah, I think wedefinitely try to kind of match
(38:56):
that energy, but we're stillourselves.
Jay Franze (39:01):
Throughout the years of playing music and playing
guitar.
How do you keep up withtechnology?
James Smith (39:08):
Well, I thought, when I got back in about two
years ago, when this was goingto be a thing, I started jamming
with Heather again live drums,and she plays so loud I mean she
can play with finesse, but itis so loud I thought, well, I
want the best, I can do it, Ican afford it, so I'm going to
get the best.
So I got EVH head, 100 watthead, halfack, only to find out
(39:36):
about a year later the marvelsof the quad cortex, which is
great because of all thetraveling that we're going to do
, but we're literally a silentstage.
And it's funny because I won'tname the groups.
But some of the groups thathave come through Dallas I'll
buy the VIP package and sureI'll take their autograph or
whatever.
But some of these guys I havecome through Dallas I'll buy the
(39:56):
VIP package and you know, sureI'll take their autograph or
whatever.
But some of these guys I sawwhen I was a kid, you know, and
so like I'll talk to them andsay I remember when you were
played at X and you played,really, what cover song did we
play?
You played this one.
So I try to talk shop a littlebit with them.
You know, and it's funny howmany people that is you're hard
pressed to find in this genre atleast on a bigger group.
(40:19):
I mean, people are really goingwith the profilers you know
we're using probably about ahalf a percent of what they'll
do, but the people that havelistened to us live have said,
yeah, you don't.
I mean even diehard tubeoverdrive guys have been like,
yeah, you don't really need it,but how to evolve, I don't know.
(40:40):
I kind of bought back into itand then I went on the guitar
thing.
I was like, you know, I canafford it, I'm going to try a
bunch of different guitars.
I went to not the end of theearth but the end of the basic
and I ended up right back whereI was when I was a kid.
I'm playing a jackson.
Yeah, it's funny.
I did the ltd thing, uh, uh, Ihaven't ormsby.
(41:02):
I really like the ormsby a lotbut it's a fan fret deal and
it's really more for detunestuff.
So I'll use in the future.
But yeah, just keeping up withit.
Uh, I think people talk aboutwhat they use a lot more.
You know the collaboration.
It wasn't like that when wewere kids, like people even.
Right, it was a big secret.
Yeah, it was a big secret.
Even Eddie himself was alwaystrying to throw people off with
(41:24):
what he was doing to get hissound.
But yeah, I think it's mucheasier now.
Internet plus it's cool tocollaborate and everybody's
sharing ideas and stuff likethat.
So definitely through musiciansand through just my own
research is how I kind of stayup with the gear.
Jay Franze (41:38):
So are you guys using in-ear monitors?
James Smith (41:42):
That's a great question.
We want to, but I mean that islike a big step financially,
obviously, and to run the wholeband.
We're going to go to Abbyhaving it and then, um, kind of
go from there.
Jay Franze (41:57):
I think she's the one that needs it the most well,
yeah, somebody who needs tohear pitch for sure it's
definitely gonna, yeah, it'sgonna benefit her more than
anybody else and then probablyuse seconds and so on yeah yeah,
so yeah, that would make sense.
Do you have any brand or anyparticular model you want?
James Smith (42:14):
no.
So you can.
You can absolutely help us withthat offline if you have some
recommendations.
I mean just what the otherbands have told us.
It's like it feels like you'vegot to go pretty much all in on
that or not.
You know, we don't want to dokind of.
Our motto on this whole projecthas been let's do it right and
(42:35):
let's not put anything out therethat's not top quality.
So I would kind of want thesame for a.
I'd rather build somethingmodular than if we had to, if we
had to be on a budget.
I'd rather do the right stuff,quality equipment, and do it
modular, you know nice.
Jay Franze (42:52):
So you guys mentioned the commitment for at
least 2026.
So what is it that makes youcommit to 2026 and what will
make it so you commit to 2027?
James Smith (43:05):
I think we're all open to where it takes us.
At the end of the day, Abby's ayoung lady with her whole life
ahead of her.
You know we don't want to holdher back.
You know we don't all allnecessarily want to be touring
professional musicians Like weenjoy the balance of our lives,
families at home, etc.
So the schedule that we'redoing already is taxing.
Jay Franze (43:26):
Wait, wait, wait Says the man calling in from the
hotel room.
I know.
James Smith (43:32):
I get a lot of days off, man.
I know I get a lot of days off,man, but no, it's for.
You know, we have people thathave Monday through Friday jobs
and they want to do this for funand we don't want to burn them
out, and so it's a balance thereof how successful can we be
while maintaining their homelife that they want to have and
(43:56):
also not holding Abby back.
You know, the flip side of thatis look what she's going to
walk away from and reallyhonestly, if she does go on to
do other stuff, we've alreadyproven that we can do this
remotely, in a reunion typefashion.
We could easily go to doing ahandful of shows.
You know, maybe do a showquarterly and fly her in for one
(44:17):
rehearsal beforehand.
I mean, she's just that level.
I mean I don't want to call hera kid or say that I'm teaching
her, but I've taught so manykids to play instruments.
You know, when you havesomebody really special and you
know kind of what they can do.
So we're already at that point.
So if she ever does decide sheneeds to be in a different city
(44:37):
or she needs to be, you know,doing something different, that
option is there also well,that's the benefit.
Jay Franze (44:44):
We mentioned the, the gear and how things changed,
or how things change, that wehave the ability to be anywhere
and collaborate and put thingstogether.
There's always the opportunityfor her to be in more than one
band.
James Smith (44:59):
Yeah, she has other interests too, like she, like
what are your?
Are your interests film, or arethey theater?
Abigail Hill (45:07):
More film, yeah, but I noticed that film is
actually growing in the Dallasarea and in Texas in general.
A lot of the film big filmareas are the film studios and
agencies are moving to Texasbecause of the LA fires and
everything.
So I think I'm staying herelonger than I thought, so I'm
excited for that.
Jay Franze (45:29):
It's blowing up in Austin right now.
I'll tell you that.
Abigail Hill (45:31):
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Jay Franze (45:33):
All right, guys, while we do this thing here, we
call Unsung Heroes, where wetake a moment to shine the light
on somebody who works behindthe scenes or somebody who may
have supported you along the way.
Do you have anybody you'd liketo shine a little light on?
Abigail Hill (45:44):
You go first.
James Smith (45:46):
Okay, yeah, it's kind of funny.
We've kind of developed himinto a meme.
But definitely Dalton, themerch guy.
Dalton is Cory's husband and hedoes our merch and he's very
funny.
He's very goofy and he's notacting, it's actually 100% him.
So definitely him, andeverybody's families in our band
(46:08):
, which is all of them, alltheir families, for supporting,
for sure.
And then Abby's boyfriend,Bradley, for being the bad guy
in the video Falling Under.
He's the abusive boyfriend andpeople always ask if the songs
are about him.
But it's not about him, it'sabout somebody else.
Jay Franze (46:28):
If it was about him, he wouldn't be around, right.
James Smith (46:31):
That's right, those are mine, but I know Abby has
some too.
Abigail Hill (46:36):
All right, Abby what do you got?
Yeah, definitely, yeah, bradleyum, he's been to all of our
shows and he's gonna try tocontinue to make all of them so
that my mom for sure she's theone that kind of got me into
rock in the first place.
When I was little, she used tomake me listen to rock every
time you're in the car.
She'd be like no metallica.
She put it on, megadeth put iton, and at first I was kind of
(46:59):
like rebelling against that, sothat's kind of why I did pop.
But honestly, it's made me likelove rock even more and she's
super supportive.
So I love her and definitelyall of our supporters as well.
All of them are great.
I love when they reach out tous.
It's's super sweet.
They always have something niceto say.
So just thank you to everybodythat listens to us.
(47:20):
We really do appreciate youguys.
Jay Franze (47:22):
Let's talk about mom for a second.
Does mom have a name?
Abigail Hill (47:26):
Yes, my mom's name is Stacy Stacy.
Jay Franze (47:30):
All right, I'll keep the joke to myself.
Does your mom sing?
Abigail Hill (47:36):
She honestly doesn't.
She jokes about that a lotbecause she's actually an
accountant, so she's like Idon't know where you got that
from.
My dad was a heavy metal singer.
He used to do the growls andeverything, but he's not really
a singer singer, so I don't knowwhere I got that from.
Jay Franze (47:53):
I only ask because if you're 20, your parents have
to be somewhere around my age.
And yeah, james, that could beyour next singer, is all I was
thinking, just trying to makearrangements for you yeah, yeah,
no, I appreciate it, she'sthere anyways right, yeah, you
may as well take advantage of it.
Get her in now start her withsome harmonies and just work her
way in.
There you go.
All right, folks.
Well, we have of it.
Get her in now, start her withsome harmonies and just work her
(48:14):
way in.
There you go.
All right, folks.
Well, we have done it.
We have reached the top of thehour, which doesn't mean we have
reached the end of the show.
If you've enjoyed this show,please tell a friend.
If you have not tell two, youcan reach out to all of us over
at jfranzycom.
We will Happy to keep thisconversation going.
James, abby, my friends, Iwould like to leave the last
(48:39):
words to you, honestly.
Abigail Hill (48:40):
Just thank you for watching, thanks for listening
to all of our funny stories.
I hope you all have a greatMemorial Day and yeah, james, do
you have anything to add?
James Smith (48:54):
Yeah, thanks to all the bands out there that help
us, work with us and aresupportive.
We support them.
They support us Check us out onall the socials and thanks for
watching and thank you, Jay, forhaving us.
We appreciate it, man.
Jay Franze (49:05):
My pleasure, all right.
Folks On that note have a goodnight.
Tony Scott (49:10):
Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show.
Make sure you visit us atjayfranze.
com.
Follow, connect and say hello.
Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a
behind-the-curtain look at theentertainment industry, with
insights you can't pay for andstories you've never heard.
Now here's your host, JayFranze.
Jay Franze (00:33):
And we are coming at you live.
I am Jay Franze and this isyour source for the latest news,
reviews and interviews.
So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any
questions, please head over tojayfranze.
com.
All right, folks, tonight wehave a very special guest with
us.
We have a hard rock bandhailing from the great state of
(00:53):
Texas.
We have Awaiting Abigail.
We have Abigail and Jamestonight with us.
Thanks for having us, Jay.
Why don't we start just realsimple out of the gate?
Can you tell me what the musicscene is like there in the
Dallas-Fort?
James Smith (01:09):
Worth area.
It's very diverse right now.
I think all genres aredefinitely represented In Fort
Worth.
You've got Billy Bob's and someother honky-tonk places.
You've got Tejano, you've gotrock and roll.
I mean it's very diverse.
Piano, you've got rock and roll.
I mean it's very diverse.
I think a lot of places andpeople are still recovering from
COVID They've wiped out so manyplaces and you know some of
(01:32):
them have come back and some ofthem have come back of totally.
You know it's totally differentplaces.
It's definitely bouncing backand I would say on the mend, but
diverse.
For sure you could findanything you want in Dallas-Fort
Worth.
Jay Franze (01:47):
You mentioned Billy Bob's.
I've gone to Billy Bob's acouple times now on the road,
but I primarily think of it as acountry venue.
Is there any other genre thatgoes through there other than
country?
James Smith (01:57):
You know, what's funny is every.
I think it's sort of atradition of theirs.
But so the Toadies are fromFort Worth and they do a New
Year's Eve or New Year's Eve Eveshow almost every year now,
generally.
No, I can tell you, in highschool, between high school and
college, I worked as one of thesound guy, like just a hand
(02:17):
really, but Jerry Lee Lewis.
We saw Jerry Lewis play therewhen he was on his gotta I Pay
my Taxes tour.
That is funny.
But yeah primarily country.
Jay Franze (02:30):
What did you think of the venue from the insider's
point of view?
James Smith (02:34):
Oh, just super cool and it was really.
You know they do a good job ofmaking it like kind of have the
dive vibe, but also, you know,being a tourist attraction,
balancing that, you know youreally get the feel for like, I
still take people there, youknow, when they come in from out
(02:54):
of town because it's not veryfar from where I live at all
yeah, I think they.
It's just a, it's a place thatyou're going to play at in Texas
.
If you play country, for sureYou're trying to get there.
Jay Franze (03:04):
Yeah, I know I really enjoyed my time there,
for sure.
Abby, I know you're the latestmember of the band.
Can you tell us how that cameabout?
Abigail Hill (03:12):
Yeah, so I went on this app called BandMix not
sponsored, but we did a BandMix.
Not sponsored but good and I metJames there and I did an
audition with the PrettyReckless song and the whole band
loved it.
So pretty much after that theyflew me down because I was in
Houston for the summer, becausethat's where my family's at, and
(03:35):
we did a rehearsal and they allloved it.
They loved my voice, kind offit the tone.
I already had the Bad Mind EPit was already all finished and
after that it was just the lasttest, which was to go into the
studio, empire Studios, and werecorded those four songs and
(03:57):
the engineer just loved it.
Like that was kind of the endresult.
James ended up saying that Iwas the right fit for it because
James had had a couple of otheroptions there, because they
were doing auditions and thingslike that.
So then we came up with thename Awaiting Abigail, kind of
just texted back and forthdifferent names and it was.
(04:19):
It was really fun.
James Smith (04:21):
It was really fun.
Jay, you want the actual dirt,then I'll give you the dirt on
it.
So we had the rhythm tracks.
Yeah, we had the rhythm tracksrecorded and our original
vocalist just didn't work out, alittle too timid for the studio
.
And it was like a time ofreflection for the other players
(04:43):
and I, because we had and oursound engineer he's very good at
what he does but he was likethese tracks are too good and
you need to find the rightperson for the fit.
So we were kind of at a loss andI would just happen to be
browsing through that website.
I would equate it to a datingapp Swipe Rice, swipe Swipe and
I saw her profile and it hadinfluences, everything from
(05:05):
Fleetwood Mac to Evanescence,and that caught my interest and
I thought, well, she looks kindof poppy.
We may be a little bit tooheavy for her, but I decided to
give it a try.
And the age thing was a concernbecause, you know, there's a
lot of different versions.
She's 20 now, but she was 19 atthe time.
There's a lot of differentversions of 19.
She's 20 now, but she was 19 atthe time.
There's a lot of differentversions of 19 years old, right,
(05:27):
but she was very persistent.
She was like so, basically, howdo I get in the band?
I was like, okay, well, send mea video of some cover songs.
And I gave her Pretty Recklessand she did a couple tunes and
we were passing around we'repassing around ideas between the
rest of us about who we wouldget and stuff.
(05:48):
We were open to male or femaleand she sent us the cover songs.
We're like that's pretty good,that's pretty good.
So we were going to bring herin and just jam the cover songs.
But then I was like, you know,like really, the real test,
actually let's not even wastetime with that.
The real test is we have thesefour tracks that are recorded
and I literally one of them um,the first track, I hate you, I
(06:09):
had some vocal ideas for and Ihad a chorus to track four.
So I had a couple sketches, butreally no words or melodies
really.
And I said the real test isgoing to be give her these four
tracks and see what she comes upwith.
And we did that with a fewpeople and that really thinned
it out quick, you know, becausethen you got to put up, you got
to put up or shut up.
(06:29):
Well, she wrote a song about oneevery week and, in her home
studio, sent it to me.
And that's when I startedtaking her real serious, because
the first one that she did wasbad mind and it was it was
cooking.
And I sent it to the otherpeople and they were like, okay,
she's real, and it kind of wentfrom there.
So it's really interesting,because what you listen to when
(06:52):
you listen to any of our streams, what you're listening to is
basically she jammed with us onetime in a practice live and
then went in the studio and thenknocked those out with a little
less than two hours, so kind ofbackwards way of doing it yeah,
but but totally worked.
Jay Franze (07:12):
I mean can you tell me what the age.
Abigail Hill (07:28):
So he's the oldest of the band so 20 to 62 yeah,
exactly so.
It's a wide range and hisdaughter is, I believe, in her
30s right yeah cory.
She plays the keyboard, so she'slike above me.
And then we have Lori andHeather and James and they're
kind of all around the same agebecause y'all went to high
(07:49):
school together, right.
So they're all kind of in thesame age.
They used to be in a band whenthey were younger, so it's kind
of like almost a family reunion,like friend reunion, band
reunion type of thing.
So it's really cool.
It's a it's definitely a widerange of ages, but I think that
honestly gives us the differentgenres and the different time
(08:10):
periods and it kind of mixes ittogether really well do you find
any challenges in that?
I feel like we're pretty, prettyclear on the same page as to
what we want to get done.
James will usually just likehere's a song that whoever wrote
or they made the track to this,you want a song right to that.
(08:31):
So then I'll do that.
And then we all just kind of Idon't know we kind of
collaborate in the studio and inour rehearsal.
We never really clashed, soit's pretty cool.
Jay Franze (08:42):
Do you have any challenge relating to that age
gap?
James Smith (08:48):
No, it's surprising , it's like the island of misfit
toys, but it's literally.
I was thinking about that theother day.
There's literally I mean it'snot like there is an age
difference, because I've playedwith a lot of musicians.
I'm, by default, a classicallytrained trumpet player and I've
played in a lot of livesituations and it's crazy how
(09:10):
well Abby is able to control hervoice, her stage show.
Everything is just super easy.
The other people that I've beenin bands with before they know
what it's like to be in a band.
You either know what it's likeor you don't.
And when you know what it'slike be in a band, you either
know what it's like or you don't.
And uh, when you know what it'slike, all the logistic things
just kind of work.
So it's crazy, but it doesn't.
(09:30):
The age thing is not a factor,and somebody else had asked us
what it's like with um mike andcory, because it's a, it's a
father and daughter thing.
But you would actually neverknow because you wouldn't know.
You would never know becausethey're like hey bro, hey,
whatever it's a very, it's avery, you know it's adult
relationship because he's yeah,you know he's 60 and she's 30.
(09:52):
So yeah, but no, it's.
It's crazy how smoothly it runs.
Maybe it runs even betterbecause of the age because y'all
have different perspectives.
Abigail Hill (10:01):
I guess the only difference is I have X's on my
hands and everyone else isdrinking.
That's the only difference.
Jay Franze (10:08):
There you go.
I guess that worked.
But Abby had mentioned, James,that you had played in a band
with some of the members in thepast.
Was that band also a rock band?
James Smith (10:20):
Yeah, all three of us were band nerds.
We were in band in high schooltogether.
Like I said, I played trumpet,heather, our drummer, she played
saxophone and Lori, our bassplayer, was in color guard and
we just started jamming in mygarage and we went through all
styles.
We started playing Poison andMotley Crue covers Right, and
(10:40):
they hated it, but it was what Iliked at the time and it was my
house, so I made us play them.
But our first band was kind ofin that genre.
We started writing originalsand then we started getting
heavier.
We brought a guitar player inand he walked in and was playing
Metallica and Slayer and wewere like whoa, what is that?
So we started getting heavier,changed the band name and played
(11:04):
quite a bit around the DFW areaand then we came out the other
end.
We kind of split up and thensome of the band members got
back together and we came outthe other end of it like a
grunge metal type of band.
So there's a little bit ofeverything and I think it's fun
watching people try to put us ina box because we've been called
everything, and then alsopeople just don't know what to
put us in a box because there'sso many.
(11:25):
You know we've been calledeverything, and then also people
just don't know what to call us.
Jay Franze (11:29):
Well, how do you feel that history has helped
form who you guys are today?
James Smith (11:35):
I mean it's absolutely crucial to who we are
today because Heather and I,the drummer, we can get together
and we can write incrediblyfast and we have four people
that write music Abby does I do,lori, our bass player, does and
Mike, our other guitar player.
So I think the history and alsohaving the common ground of at
(11:58):
least high school band withthose other people, I'm able to
sketch out ideas or whatever,and it's funny because other
people that are in this genreprobably wouldn't find a music
stand necessarily in theirrehearsals or practices it's
definitely the history and theexperience.
It all pays dividends indifferent areas.
(12:20):
So the areas that we dostruggle in or do need to learn
how to be a band in are veryspread out and not in one area.
Jay Franze (12:32):
Well, let's take the creative process a step further
.
I mean, abby, you mentioned atthe beginning that you came into
this blind, and James, youmentioned having these four
tunes that didn't have vocals tothem, yet that helped you guys
have a way to address writingthose particular songs.
But since then, how do we goabout the creative process now?
Abigail Hill (12:55):
I would say it's almost the same.
We do tweak things now more,but the rest of the band, they
kind of come up with a tune andthen sometimes we'll have like
ideas of what it's about andwe'll collaborate on that.
But they still kind of send methe tune and then I'll still
write the lyrics to that andthen we'll tweak it from there.
(13:16):
So it's almost kind of the sameprocess, just a little bit more
collaboration with all of uscombined.
But I'd say it's almost thesame.
Jay Franze (13:26):
So if that's the case, James, how are you guys
recording the material to sendto?
James Smith (13:31):
her.
Since we had gone to the studio, I was able to the first time
go in with a click track.
It's kind of funny because theguy that's recording us his name
is Alex Gerst at Empire Sound.
His dad recorded our band inthe 90s.
Funny because the the guythat's recording us his name is
alex gerst at empire sound.
His dad recorded our band inthe 90s, so I remember he's.
He's our age.
(13:51):
I remember him being around thestudio back then.
But a lot of local bands usehim and and bigger than local
for sure too.
But I went in with a click track, so now it's totally different.
I usually write in Pro Tools,I'll just riff around and then
have a click track.
It's funny because Heather doesnot want to hear drums.
(14:14):
She wants to have her own ideasabout it.
So it's just a click track.
But I'll usually record theguitars in and then maybe if
there's a bass idea, then I'llplay it on the bass and then
send out to all of the membersthe click track with basically
just the rhythms and stuff likethat.
But what Abby was too shy orforgot to tell you is so she's
(14:37):
got a lot of pop music.
She's got a whole catalog ofpop music that she did on her
own, that's, on her individualsocials and stuff, and we've
adapted two of them so far toour style and it'll be really
interesting whenever these comeout because it'll be fun to
compare them, the productionlevel of it.
(14:59):
We're already playing two ofthem live and they're kicking,
and so we've kind of come at itfrom all directions.
We done the, we've done that.
Okay, here's the rhythm sectionyou write the lyrics to it to.
Okay, here's your song.
Do you like what we've donewith it?
Or you know, like we, we'regonna, we're gonna make this
heavy.
Now are you cool with it?
And I mean the two tunes thatwe've adapted from her.
(15:22):
They're slamming and they standon their own as like in her
solo project.
They're very effective also allright.
Jay Franze (15:29):
So you mentioned that you've got the four tunes
that you guys came with.
You got the two tunes thatshe's coming in with.
How many tunes have you guysdone together as a true
collaboration from start tofinish, at this point, right now
we have right now that we'vedone all together, we have
another three that are cookingall right, and you mentioned
(15:51):
alex in the studio over atempire sound.
Can you start by telling mewhat that studio is like?
Abigail Hill (15:58):
he has a drum set in the back that has its own
room.
He has this huge um mixer andwe kind of sit around there and
talk about what we want to do,and then we also have a separate
room that's in the in betweenthe mixer and the drummer area
and that's the vocal.
So, yeah, it's really nice downthere.
(16:20):
He's really sweet.
He's definitely the best soundengineer that I've worked with
personally, so I woulddefinitely recommend him.
James Smith (16:30):
James your thoughts .
He's like another member of theband we have six people.
He's like a seventh member ofthe band when he's in there and
Heather has recorded with him.
Like I said, we recorded withhis dad.
He's a drummer himself.
He plays in a couple cover bandsand has played his whole life
and he's a really good playerand it's great having him,
because he's not like a guythat's just going to be like OK,
(16:52):
do you like that?
He'll be like no, and veryinvolved in the creative process
as well, like bouncing ideasWell, what about this, what
about that?
And at the same time, open toit.
You know, like if he has anidea and it's really good, but
like I want half of his idea andnot all of his idea.
He's totally cool with that,but he's very, very involved.
(17:14):
Equipment wise, I think it'spretty unique because he has a
huge analog board and then therest is all digital.
You know he has a little bit ofsecret sauce that he throws in
there, but but I mean really hedoes a great job of capturing
what we want it to sound like.
I mean, when we hear it, we'relike yeah, that's what we had in
mind.
Jay Franze (17:34):
Well, let's talk about that, because you
mentioned the analog board.
It's an SSL console and itlooks like he's got all the rack
gear and it looks like atypical commercial recording
studio.
It's pretty large, it even therack gear and it looks like a
typical commercial recordingstudio.
It's pretty large, even has umanalog tape machine.
So I assume you mentionedrecording digitally and you
mentioned pro tools earlier thatyou guys did not go the analog
(17:55):
route.
James Smith (17:55):
Is that fair to say ?
Yeah, that's his.
I think that's his dad's setup.
That's there for nostalgia,yeah yeah, I mean it's pretty
sweet.
Jay Franze (18:01):
Two inch, two inch studer tape machine.
I mean it's pretty slick, it'sa two-inch Studer tape machine.
I mean it's pretty slick, butmost people aren't using those
these days.
They're stuck in the digitalworld and you know what.
I appreciate that I'm a ProTools person.
For sure, started my day withanalog tape and have made my way
through all the iterations offormats up until this point.
And I will be the first to tellyou I'm a Pro Tools fanatic for
(18:23):
sure.
So you mentioned you have a ProTools rig at home that you
record into.
So are you just recording theideas at home or do you record?
James Smith (18:36):
anything that makes its way to the studio.
It all goes to the studio andmost of it gets deleted.
I say most of it because it'sscratch stuff and he can do way
better there with what he has.
I just have the UA, which isgood for what it is, but
typically what happens is thatformat that I have at home.
I get it, I put the keyboardparts in it, I put everything in
(18:59):
it that's basically the rhythmsection and then I send that to
him.
So whenever we show up, weimmediately go and you know
verses, choruses, measure,numbers, it's all labeled.
We immediately go right intotracking the drums.
So Heather's up right out ofthe bat.
The songs are already formatted.
It saves a lot of time, youknow.
(19:21):
He gets to know the songs,obviously, as any producer
recorder does, but it cuts thattime down to almost nothing
because it's all labeled andalready set up in the scratch
tracks.
So we go right into trackingdrums.
Jay Franze (19:35):
What type of input does he have as a producer?
James Smith (19:39):
He'll do whatever you want him to do in our case,
but he also won't put his nameon something that's not good.
Yeah, so because of mybackground I I taught in the
public schools, I was a banddirector for nearly 20 years and
I I want the brutal.
I mean that's how we were.
We'd have clinicians come in,guest conductors, stuff like
(20:00):
that.
So I told him I want itbrutally.
Honest, like don't blow sunshine.
Like if you think it sucks,tell us it sucks.
Honest, like don't blowsunshine.
Like if you think it sucks,tell us it sucks.
If you don't understandsomething, tell us you don't
understand it.
So abby can attest to this.
He pretty much he takes on thatrole and he'll he'll do it.
And then sometimes you knowit'll be like he'll be like well
, I don't know about this orwhatever, and then I'll kind of
(20:21):
explain well, I actually want todo this, and then add this to
it, and then whatever.
And then he'll be like OK, ok,I can see it, and then he'll go
with it.
But he's a pretty strong voiceby choice for us and he hasn't
not led us astray yet.
Jay Franze (20:38):
So can you kind of tell us what the day in the
studio is like for you guys?
James Smith (20:46):
the day in the studio is like for you guys.
So after the drums are done,then, um, he sends us away to
lunch so that he can get, getthat in the neighborhood of like
how he wants that, you know,tightening them up, yeah,
getting it on the grid, and uh.
Then, uh, we come back and wedo, um, we do rhythm guitars and
on.
On the first on the EP that youhear, we had not totally gotten
(21:10):
in the same roles that we arenow.
Mike actually plays bass on onetune in that MIDI blocks for
the keyboard stuff.
Oh, I want to go back to whatyou were saying, though.
How much of the stuff that Ibring from home stays.
What's funny is the introductionto Falling Under, which is the
piano and the synthesizer thing,with her singing in falsetto
(21:36):
over it.
That was just my idea.
That was from home.
I'd done that at home on mykeyboard and played it in and
point it out, and I was like Iwant something like this.
And he's like, all right, well,why not that?
Yeah, so that ended up.
I mean, I was surprised.
I thought that he was goingback.
No, that's not let's.
You know, he'd want to do itthere and he was like I don't
(21:57):
think we should touch it.
So after after we do get therhythm tracks down, then we may
um add some stuff.
You know he'll pull out somereally cool stuff.
There's a sitar part that'skind of nestled in the mix on um
falling under.
There's a guitar with nashvilletuning where I'm playing some
stuff that you would not expectto hear on a rock and roll deal,
(22:17):
but he puts it in a almostsubconscious, barely conscious
place in the mix where we'rejust like wow, wow, that's magic
.
And he always says the samething.
He's like just trust me.
And he brings out anotherinstrument Just trust me, Now do
this.
And not all of it's used, butsome of it is.
(22:38):
So we kind of do all that stuffthat typically takes up one day
, then the next day is usuallyleads, supplemental guitar work
and then vocals, so you prettymuch get the entire track done,
including leads, before you dovocals.
Sometimes not the leads Actually, not the leads in this
(23:00):
particular case.
She did the vocal line and thenI did the leads because I
didn't want to step on her.
On the next one I'm going tohave to carve out some space to
play a little bit more, so I'mgoing to have to be like no, you
can't sing there.
No singing for you.
Jay Franze (23:16):
So, Abby, I mean you don't strike me as the type of
person who requires specialattention when you're in the
studio, but what do you do tomake the studio comfortable when
you're in there to sing?
Abigail Hill (23:29):
Honestly, as long as I've got my water, I've got
the lyrics there, I'm good to go.
I've been in the studio a whilebecause I did pop tracks so I
feel like that was really hardto do all of the ad-libs.
I was in there for pop track soI feel like that was really
hard to do.
Like all of the ad-libs.
I was in there for probablylike eight hours a lot of the
time for one song.
So I'm used to the studio.
(23:51):
I just kind of I like to takecritiques and things.
I don't really get like allupset about that.
Yeah, as long as I got a drinkand my lyrics, I'm good to go
lights on.
Jay Franze (24:03):
Lights lights off.
Abigail Hill (24:05):
If they have LEDs, keep it on.
If it's too too bright, maybenot as long as I can see the
lyrics.
Jay Franze (24:13):
Candles or anything like that.
Abigail Hill (24:16):
I've never done candles.
Jay Franze (24:18):
Yeah, I haven't ever done candles, just working in
the studio in Nashville for somany years.
Every time a singer would comein, we would have a different
setup for that particular person, so we'd have some people bring
in their own area rug, maybe afloor lamp, you know, just
things that made them feelcomfortable.
So I always like to find outwhat it is that makes you
comfortable.
James Smith (24:37):
Yeah, Don't give her any ideas.
Jay Franze (24:40):
Yeah, I know I'm like now.
Abigail Hill (24:41):
I have to make my own.
Jay Franze (24:46):
I can have my own floor lamp.
I can do this, candles, sureyou record the tracks.
Do you then leave and does Alexthen take over and mix, or do
you stay there for the mix?
James Smith (24:58):
No, he does his own thing and then calls us back.
He gets it to where he wants itor likes it and if he has
questions about stuff he's gotit, all you know, noted.
I usually walk away from there.
He'll bounce me a mix and I'lldrive around and listen to it.
I like to spread the time apart.
I want to have the time toreflect on it, not commit to
(25:21):
anything without listening to it, in a lot of different moods
and settings.
But he gets it to where hewants it and then, honestly, I
go in there without anybody elsewith him and he and I kind of
make the final decisions aboutwhat's going to come out.
And everybody seems verycomfortable with that and happy
(25:45):
with how that's been going.
Jay Franze (25:47):
So how long does it take him to mix one of the songs
?
James Smith (25:51):
You know, I don't really know, because he does
what he calls his mixing timeand he's like so his schedule is
like he's either recordingsessions or he's doing mixing.
So I really don't know theanswer to that question.
I will tell you that he told methat this, this project, made
him kind of rethink a bunch ofstuff and he did a lot of, I
(26:14):
guess, outside of the box stuffand it was an awesome learning
thing for him and he ended upspending some more money on some
, on some new toys or whatever.
But I really don't know theanswer to that question, but
I'll certainly ask him becausewe just might be seeing him
again soon nice.
Jay Franze (26:31):
Do you know if he mixes in the box entirely, or
does he go back through theconsole?
James Smith (26:38):
He goes back through the console, I believe,
because when he bouncessomething, he has to bounce it
in real time.
Jay Franze (26:44):
It has to play back, right, yeah, so I'm sure he's
got at least some of theoutboard gear going for sure.
All right, I asked Abigailearlier about some challenges.
Do you find any challenges thatyou've faced so far up to this
point?
James Smith (26:58):
I spend more time doing band stuff than I do
playing my instrument.
Playing my instrument is verylast on the to but even writing
I would be writing like crazy ifI wasn't.
It's crazy, jay, because we'reactually all social media
(27:21):
illiterate and we thought whenwe were getting a 19-year-old,
we were like awesome, becausenone of us know anything about
it.
And she does.
She knows stuff about it, butit's just a lot.
It's a lot and I don't reallyknow what I'm doing.
But I try and I'm learningalong the way.
But yeah, that's the biggestchallenge.
And then the other thing too iswe didn't really know what this
(27:46):
was going to turn into.
We didn't know if the songswould flop.
We didn't know our first show.
You mentioned the name earlier.
We literally had our first gig,which was no small deal.
It was at trees and deep elm,which is a premium venue for a
local band to be playing at.
We had our first show before weeven had our name and so we
(28:10):
were like, uh, with the promoterI was like, okay, hold on just
a second.
She's like she knew our drummerfrom our previous project is
really why we got that show andit was a high profile show.
It was women in metal and itwas like some of the best hard
rock and metal bands in the area.
So we had to come up with aname pretty quick and it's funny
(28:31):
she didn't mention it when wefirst started working together.
But Abby one day in practice waslike I think it was even after
the EP was out, she was likeyeah, my mom was a metalhead and
she named me after KingDiamond's album Abigail.
We're like whoa, what?
Like, wait a second, yeah, waita second.
Little pop music pants wasnamed after King Diamond.
(28:53):
So anyways, our name, you know.
Obviously we wanted it to bevery centered around her, her
voice, everything about her.
She's the most unassuming andhumble person.
It makes it very easy to makethe project about her, and so we
wanted her name to be in it,and it was just kind of a matter
of finding the right, you know,word to go with it.
Jay Franze (29:13):
So you were waiting for it all works out.
So, james, do you find yourselfmanaging the band?
James Smith (29:21):
yeah, I'm definitely the do-it-yourself
manager, for sure the playermanager.
Jay Franze (29:27):
Yeah, yeah occasionally play guitar, nice,
so that's pretty cool then.
So I guess if you're spreadingyour time so thin, that time is
the biggest challenge for you.
What's the motivation?
James Smith (29:59):
like before, my work was music and it was work
All the things that go alongwith something.
Being work was part of myteaching public school.
And now I'm out of that and Iwant to do music and I kind of
went back to my.
It's like living your teenageyears again, you know.
So I'm very motivated byplaying with those girls that I
jammed with when I was youngerand now we're adults.
We all have a life story andthen it's very motivational to
(30:21):
have a young person that is soopen to ideas and new genres
playing out and stuff like that.
It's almost like I'm able to dowhat I was doing when I was
band directing, but now I justhave five kids instead of like
300.
Jay Franze (30:39):
Nice.
So what would you considersuccess to be?
James Smith (30:44):
This has already exceeded my expectations by
thousands of percents.
Like I said, we got that firstshow and, honestly, we didn't
talk about it, but we probablyall thought it.
Maybe Abby didn't think it, butI definitely thought I'm like
OK, so is this one and done,how's this show going to go?
Are people going to show up?
Are people going to be up therefor us?
(31:06):
And I knew that it was like.
Even the promoter was like Ihope this goes over, because it
was her very first show at thatvenue.
So literally we were living itkind of like day by day and I
was like man, if it's endedright now, that's still pretty
cool.
I really like what she did tothose four tunes.
(31:26):
Well, we had our first show andit was crazy.
I mean, it was crazy.
We had a lot of people there.
The people that were there forus were nuts and the people that
weren't there for us were upthere anyways supporting us and
it just really it absolutely setthe trajectory for kind of
(31:46):
where we are now.
So success.
I don't know, I think I guessfor personal, I feel like it's
all gravy.
At this point I obviously wantmore.
I want us to get out there.
That's why we're traveling alot.
I don't want to be stuck inDallas-Fort Worth.
I think it's really important,if you have the means to be able
to do it, to get other places.
(32:08):
So we're going a lot of places.
I mean, if this is our firstyear and we kind of already have
already all committed toanother year 2026, see where
things go, I mean I don't know,it's hard.
I don't want to say that Idefine success by a paycheck or
a certain crowd size or anything, because I think it's more kind
(32:29):
of about if you're enjoyingwhat you're doing.
So I mean I welcome all that, Iwelcome the accolades, and if
it ever turns into a netpositive venture, that's cool.
But that's not why we're doingthat.
That's all gravy on the side.
You know, that's extra credit.
Jay Franze (32:47):
So you do have some bigger shows coming up.
Can you tell us about those?
James Smith (32:52):
Yeah, immediately after that show, our very first
show that was in december I hadbeen going because I travel, for
work.
I found myself not a lot but uh, semi regularly in the
hollywood area and I had beengoing to the whiskey for a while
uh, since I changed careers,because it's the whiskey and
that's what I grew up listeningto.
(33:13):
And you know, I'd been therestarting after COVID.
I'd been there when it waspacked and I went to lead a Ford
show there.
I'd also been there when it'sdead.
I mean, there's a band playingand there's two people there and
you know I don't always buyT-shirts and stuff like that
Started talking to the peoplethere and getting to know the
staff and Jake, the main guythat does the booking there, I
(33:37):
was telling him one time thiswas before I had the band.
I was like, man, I used to playand play in all these iconic
venues around the dfw area.
I'd really love to play here.
If I have a band.
I don't know if it'll everhappen, I don't know if I'll be
able to get the other folks backthere.
January I gave him a call afterthe show because it was late
December.
I'm like, hey, man, I'm goingto send you an email with all
our details and everything.
But I really would love to makea show happen out here.
(33:59):
We could fly out and make itwork.
He was like, yeah, man, I senthim my stuff and he said I just
may have the perfect thing foryou.
I could ask for a betteropportunity that we get to open
for la guns in la on a saturdaynight?
Yeah, I mean.
(34:20):
So, um, and we're, we're aboutkind of right in the middle.
They're running six bands, sothere's, uh, I think, three
before us and then, um, usanother band than la guns play.
So I mean it's just gonna be,it's it's going to be, it
probably already is sold out andit's just going to be a rager.
So that was kind of a matter oflike.
(34:41):
I mean, I don't people believein different stuff, you know
visualization or whatever, butlike I literally sat in that bar
and was like, man, that wouldbe really cool to ever play
there.
I didn't really think it wouldhappen, but you know.
Jay Franze (35:00):
So yeah, here we are , and uh, so that's going to be
a big one for sure, well, that'sthe home for la guns.
Yeah, so I mean, and that'scoming up in july, so july 19th,
if anybody wants to check itout.
But, abby, what are you lookingforward to most with that?
Abigail Hill (35:11):
I'm super excited to play with la guns I.
I just saw them in concert inHouston I think it was last
weekend, so I'm really excitedto meet them and actually play
with them.
It's going to be amazing and Ilove LA.
And I'm super excited to playat the Whiskey because I know
all the bands that have playedthere and it's just going to be
(35:32):
phenomenal.
Jay Franze (35:34):
Yeah, they've got a pretty good scene going on right
right now, so it's not justwhat's happened in the past.
The bands that are playingthere these days are pretty,
pretty sharp as well, so that'spretty cool.
So you get that coming up, andthen you've got others.
So tell me about the next one,james yeah, we're opening for
lillian axe.
James Smith (35:51):
Lillian axe is doing the te Texas mini tour and
we're going to play for them inDallas.
But also we're going to go downto San Antonio and play at
Fitzgerald's down there, andright after that there's one
coming up that I can't sayanything about, unfortunately,
but be watching for that becauseit's going to be a very big
local show.
It's another female frontedband that's very popular in the
(36:14):
Dallas-Forth area.
We're going to be opening forthem.
Then that gets us to September.
In September we're doing abiker rally in Flagstaff with
Texas Hippie Coalition.
That's going to be pretty cool.
Yeah, I wish that I could breakthe August thing and I wish
that I could break the Septemberthing, because there's another
(36:35):
September thing.
That's a four-day mini tour andit's probably the most epic
thing of the year.
And if you look at our calendarand you're like, oh, they're
playing the Whiskey with LA Gunsand this is more epic than that
.
I mean, probably there'snothing more epic than playing
for LA Guns in LA, but for us itwill have very good future
ramifications.
Abigail Hill (36:56):
I would say Very on the same side.
James Smith (36:59):
Yeah, genre matching, it'll be pretty
incredible.
Jay Franze (37:03):
You have to come back on and tell us about that.
But what are you hoping thefans take away from it?
James Smith (37:09):
Abby, you can take it.
Abigail Hill (37:11):
Yeah, I hope the fans that they just enjoy our
music and I'm super excited forthe new songs that are going to
come out.
Uh, we have.
We're going to go back in thestudio soon, so we're going to
have some new songs coming out.
I'm also super excited to seeeveryone that comes to our
concerts.
I love meeting everybody.
Everyone's super sweet.
(37:32):
So it's it's really nice tomeet everyone and I'm just
excited for all of like theconcerts that we.
So it's it's really nice tomeet everyone and I'm just
excited for all of like theconcerts that we're doing.
It's going to be amazing.
Jay Franze (37:40):
Well, you mentioned the fact that none of you are
very big on social media, so howare you developing the audience
at this point.
Abigail Hill (37:49):
Through who we know.
A lot of them bring friends andthe concerts.
They're telling their familyabout it and friends and they're
coming down.
I do have a social media so Iguess some of my friends are
coming from that, but we'restill growing on there so
hopefully soon it will skyrocket.
But I think it's mostly justthrough talk and with the big
(38:13):
names of the other bands, themcoming to see them and then them
seeing us and liking us.
I would say that's right now.
That's kind of the main reason.
Jay Franze (38:24):
Do you take advantage of your time on stage
when opening up for bigger actsto kind of fish for that
audience?
Abigail Hill (38:31):
Yeah, of course, I think it's just just being
yourself.
Honestly.
Whoever really likes you willfollow you throughout your
journey.
We've just been always justbeen humble.
Whoever comes up to us andwants to talk, we're always up
for it.
We love, like supporters andfans.
They're all super close andreally cool people.
So I think yeah, I think wedefinitely try to kind of match
(38:56):
that energy, but we're stillourselves.
Jay Franze (39:01):
Throughout the years of playing music and playing
guitar.
How do you keep up withtechnology?
James Smith (39:08):
Well, I thought, when I got back in about two
years ago, when this was goingto be a thing, I started jamming
with Heather again live drums,and she plays so loud I mean she
can play with finesse, but itis so loud I thought, well, I
want the best, I can do it, Ican afford it, so I'm going to
get the best.
So I got EVH head, 100 watthead, halfack, only to find out
(39:36):
about a year later the marvelsof the quad cortex, which is
great because of all thetraveling that we're going to do
, but we're literally a silentstage.
And it's funny because I won'tname the groups.
But some of the groups thathave come through Dallas I'll
buy the VIP package and sureI'll take their autograph or
whatever.
But some of these guys I havecome through Dallas I'll buy the
(39:56):
VIP package and you know, sureI'll take their autograph or
whatever.
But some of these guys I sawwhen I was a kid, you know, and
so like I'll talk to them andsay I remember when you were
played at X and you played,really, what cover song did we
play?
You played this one.
So I try to talk shop a littlebit with them.
You know, and it's funny howmany people that is you're hard
pressed to find in this genre atleast on a bigger group.
(40:19):
I mean, people are really goingwith the profilers you know
we're using probably about ahalf a percent of what they'll
do, but the people that havelistened to us live have said,
yeah, you don't.
I mean even diehard tubeoverdrive guys have been like,
yeah, you don't really need it,but how to evolve, I don't know.
(40:40):
I kind of bought back into itand then I went on the guitar
thing.
I was like, you know, I canafford it, I'm going to try a
bunch of different guitars.
I went to not the end of theearth but the end of the basic
and I ended up right back whereI was when I was a kid.
I'm playing a jackson.
Yeah, it's funny.
I did the ltd thing, uh, uh, Ihaven't ormsby.
(41:02):
I really like the ormsby a lotbut it's a fan fret deal and
it's really more for detunestuff.
So I'll use in the future.
But yeah, just keeping up withit.
Uh, I think people talk aboutwhat they use a lot more.
You know the collaboration.
It wasn't like that when wewere kids, like people even.
Right, it was a big secret.
Yeah, it was a big secret.
Even Eddie himself was alwaystrying to throw people off with
(41:24):
what he was doing to get hissound.
But yeah, I think it's mucheasier now.
Internet plus it's cool tocollaborate and everybody's
sharing ideas and stuff likethat.
So definitely through musiciansand through just my own
research is how I kind of stayup with the gear.
Jay Franze (41:38):
So are you guys using in-ear monitors?
James Smith (41:42):
That's a great question.
We want to, but I mean that islike a big step financially,
obviously, and to run the wholeband.
We're going to go to Abbyhaving it and then, um, kind of
go from there.
Jay Franze (41:57):
I think she's the one that needs it the most well,
yeah, somebody who needs tohear pitch for sure it's
definitely gonna, yeah, it'sgonna benefit her more than
anybody else and then probablyuse seconds and so on yeah yeah,
so yeah, that would make sense.
Do you have any brand or anyparticular model you want?
James Smith (42:14):
no.
So you can.
You can absolutely help us withthat offline if you have some
recommendations.
I mean just what the otherbands have told us.
It's like it feels like you'vegot to go pretty much all in on
that or not.
You know, we don't want to dokind of.
Our motto on this whole projecthas been let's do it right and
(42:35):
let's not put anything out therethat's not top quality.
So I would kind of want thesame for a.
I'd rather build somethingmodular than if we had to, if we
had to be on a budget.
I'd rather do the right stuff,quality equipment, and do it
modular, you know nice.
Jay Franze (42:52):
So you guys mentioned the commitment for at
least 2026.
So what is it that makes youcommit to 2026 and what will
make it so you commit to 2027?
James Smith (43:05):
I think we're all open to where it takes us.
At the end of the day, Abby's ayoung lady with her whole life
ahead of her.
You know we don't want to holdher back.
You know we don't all allnecessarily want to be touring
professional musicians Like weenjoy the balance of our lives,
families at home, etc.
So the schedule that we'redoing already is taxing.
Jay Franze (43:26):
Wait, wait, wait Says the man calling in from the
hotel room.
I know.
James Smith (43:32):
I get a lot of days off, man.
I know I get a lot of days off,man, but no, it's for.
You know, we have people thathave Monday through Friday jobs
and they want to do this for funand we don't want to burn them
out, and so it's a balance thereof how successful can we be
while maintaining their homelife that they want to have and
(43:56):
also not holding Abby back.
You know, the flip side of thatis look what she's going to
walk away from and reallyhonestly, if she does go on to
do other stuff, we've alreadyproven that we can do this
remotely, in a reunion typefashion.
We could easily go to doing ahandful of shows.
You know, maybe do a showquarterly and fly her in for one
(44:17):
rehearsal beforehand.
I mean, she's just that level.
I mean I don't want to call hera kid or say that I'm teaching
her, but I've taught so manykids to play instruments.
You know, when you havesomebody really special and you
know kind of what they can do.
So we're already at that point.
So if she ever does decide sheneeds to be in a different city
(44:37):
or she needs to be, you know,doing something different, that
option is there also well,that's the benefit.
Jay Franze (44:44):
We mentioned the, the gear and how things changed,
or how things change, that wehave the ability to be anywhere
and collaborate and put thingstogether.
There's always the opportunityfor her to be in more than one
band.
James Smith (44:59):
Yeah, she has other interests too, like she, like
what are your?
Are your interests film, or arethey theater?
Abigail Hill (45:07):
More film, yeah, but I noticed that film is
actually growing in the Dallasarea and in Texas in general.
A lot of the film big filmareas are the film studios and
agencies are moving to Texasbecause of the LA fires and
everything.
So I think I'm staying herelonger than I thought, so I'm
excited for that.
Jay Franze (45:29):
It's blowing up in Austin right now.
I'll tell you that.
Abigail Hill (45:31):
Yeah, yeah, it is.
Jay Franze (45:33):
All right, guys, while we do this thing here, we
call Unsung Heroes, where wetake a moment to shine the light
on somebody who works behindthe scenes or somebody who may
have supported you along the way.
Do you have anybody you'd liketo shine a little light on?
Abigail Hill (45:44):
You go first.
James Smith (45:46):
Okay, yeah, it's kind of funny.
We've kind of developed himinto a meme.
But definitely Dalton, themerch guy.
Dalton is Cory's husband and hedoes our merch and he's very
funny.
He's very goofy and he's notacting, it's actually 100% him.
So definitely him, andeverybody's families in our band
(46:08):
, which is all of them, alltheir families, for supporting,
for sure.
And then Abby's boyfriend,Bradley, for being the bad guy
in the video Falling Under.
He's the abusive boyfriend andpeople always ask if the songs
are about him.
But it's not about him, it'sabout somebody else.
Jay Franze (46:28):
If it was about him, he wouldn't be around, right.
James Smith (46:31):
That's right, those are mine, but I know Abby has
some too.
Abigail Hill (46:36):
All right, Abby what do you got?
Yeah, definitely, yeah, bradleyum, he's been to all of our
shows and he's gonna try tocontinue to make all of them so
that my mom for sure she's theone that kind of got me into
rock in the first place.
When I was little, she used tomake me listen to rock every
time you're in the car.
She'd be like no metallica.
She put it on, megadeth put iton, and at first I was kind of
(46:59):
like rebelling against that, sothat's kind of why I did pop.
But honestly, it's made me likelove rock even more and she's
super supportive.
So I love her and definitelyall of our supporters as well.
All of them are great.
I love when they reach out tous.
It's's super sweet.
They always have something niceto say.
So just thank you to everybodythat listens to us.
(47:20):
We really do appreciate youguys.
Jay Franze (47:22):
Let's talk about mom for a second.
Does mom have a name?
Abigail Hill (47:26):
Yes, my mom's name is Stacy Stacy.
Jay Franze (47:30):
All right, I'll keep the joke to myself.
Does your mom sing?
Abigail Hill (47:36):
She honestly doesn't.
She jokes about that a lotbecause she's actually an
accountant, so she's like Idon't know where you got that
from.
My dad was a heavy metal singer.
He used to do the growls andeverything, but he's not really
a singer singer, so I don't knowwhere I got that from.
Jay Franze (47:53):
I only ask because if you're 20, your parents have
to be somewhere around my age.
And yeah, james, that could beyour next singer, is all I was
thinking, just trying to makearrangements for you yeah, yeah,
no, I appreciate it, she'sthere anyways right, yeah, you
may as well take advantage of it.
Get her in now start her withsome harmonies and just work her
way in.
There you go.
All right, folks.
Well, we have of it.
Get her in now, start her withsome harmonies and just work her
(48:14):
way in.
There you go.
All right, folks.
Well, we have done it.
We have reached the top of thehour, which doesn't mean we have
reached the end of the show.
If you've enjoyed this show,please tell a friend.
If you have not tell two, youcan reach out to all of us over
at jfranzycom.
We will Happy to keep thisconversation going.
James, abby, my friends, Iwould like to leave the last
(48:39):
words to you, honestly.
Abigail Hill (48:40):
Just thank you for watching, thanks for listening
to all of our funny stories.
I hope you all have a greatMemorial Day and yeah, james, do
you have anything to add?
James Smith (48:54):
Yeah, thanks to all the bands out there that help
us, work with us and aresupportive.
We support them.
They support us Check us out onall the socials and thanks for
watching and thank you, Jay, forhaving us.
We appreciate it, man.
Jay Franze (49:05):
My pleasure, all right.
Folks On that note have a goodnight.
Tony Scott (49:10):
Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show.
Make sure you visit us atjayfranze.
com.
Follow, connect and say hello.
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