October 3, 2025 • 44 mins
A trunk ride with Billy Gibbons, a pair of “blessed” boots, and the moment a lyric became a band name—this one has stories. We sit down with American Mile’s Eugene Rice for a fast, funny, and unfiltered tour through the making of a modern Southern rock band built on grit, harmony, and a never-quit work ethic. From a Vermont town of 1,500 to SoCal stages, Eugene traces the path: sleeping in rehearsal spaces, selling a bike to buy an RV, and logging 200+ dates a year—often in four-hour marathons that would break most bands. He breaks down how “American Mile” emerged mid-take with producer Keith Nelson (Buckcherry), why a bison ended up on the merch table, and how thrift-store scarves became a signature stage move that also solved the hated-iPad problem.
We get into sound and influence—Allman Brothers and Skynyrd bones with modern threads from The Black Crowes and Blackberry Smoke. Eugene spotlights the B3 and harmony vocals as secret sauce, plus the rotating “fifth member” who steps in for showcases. Then it gets practical: the economics of LA gigs, the reality of casino anchors, and why a vintage guitar day job keeps the dream alive and the tone honest. He opens the hood on the business too—band democracy, equal pay, and a vesting path to ownership that rewards the grind—while telling road-war stories about blown control arms, stolen catalytic converters, and welding fixes that saved shows.
Underneath the laughs and lore sits a clear message: the American dream is still there if you work for it. Mentors matter. Systems matter. Saying yes matters. If you’re building a band, a creative career, or any longshot, you’ll leave with playbook-level tactics and renewed fight. Subscribe, share this with a friend who needs a push, and drop your best road hack or stage trick.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jay Franze (00:45):
And we are coming to live I am Jay Friends and uh
Weston Wii D my Mario My FTiffany Mason.
Tiffany Mason (00:55):
Ah Mario.
Jay Franze (00:58):
And if you are new to the show, this is your source
for the latest news reviews andinterviews.
And if you would like to joinin, comment, or fire off any
questions, please head over tojFrenzy and cal.
All right, my friend.
Tonight we have a very specialguest.
I said it once, I will say itagain.
We have a very special guestwith us.
We have the singer and guitarplayer of a southern rock band
(01:19):
hailing from the great state ofCalifornia.
We have Eugene Wright.
Eugene, sir, how are you?
Eugene Rice (01:28):
Good.
How are y'all doing?
It's a pleasure to be here onyour show.
Jay Franze (01:32):
Thank you.
Eugene Rice (01:33):
You know what?
If you guys are Mario andLuigi, I think that makes me
like toad or possibly Waluigi,I'm not sure, somewhere in the
middle.
We'll see.
Take it.
We'll see where the end of thenight goes.
Tiffany Mason (01:45):
Yeah, we'll let you know at the end of this
episode.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eugene Rice (01:48):
You know, we'll see what happens.
Jay Franze (01:50):
All right.
Well, let's get this thingstarted.
Can you tell me the impact thatBilly Gibbons had on you and
your career?
Eugene Rice (01:58):
Wow.
Uh the impact that BillyGibbons had on my career.
I have met Billy on actually acouple of occasions.
There was one particular time,actually, you know what?
I'm gonna tell y'all a storyright off the rip, I guess.
That's fine.
I thought this was gonna comelater, but uh, you know, it was
surprise, surprise.
Um I was at Nam about 2018.
(02:22):
I went to a private kind ofevent at a Jimmy Shine shop.
He was like an automotive, kindof like custom chopper builder,
uh hot rods, things like that.
Event at his uh his his thingoutside of Nam in Orange County.
And uh I ran into Billy Gibbonsat that event.
That was the first time I raninto Billy.
Me and Gibbons are justdrinking Coors Lights.
(02:45):
We're hanging out and we'rejust drinking Coors Lights.
He'd ask for one.
I'd go grab one out of thecooler, bring it to him.
Just laughing, drinking,drinking.
We're having a good time, we'reall hanging out.
All of a sudden, Billy says,I'm going to a car show down the
street.
A couple of my friends that Iwas there with, they're all
going.
(03:05):
And he looks at me and he'slike, Hey, you, you're coming
with us.
You can jump in the trunk.
Dude, the reverend tells you toget in the trunk.
All right, all right.
So I jump in the trunk of hishis denali.
So it's a nice trunk, you knowwhat I mean?
I've been in worse trunks.
Uh so I'm uh I'm just riding inthe back.
My buddy Dylan is in front ofme, and um I gotta go bad.
(03:28):
I am in the back of this truck,and I have been drinking Coors
Light with Billy Gibbons for anhour.
I am half in the bag on top ofgear and everything, and I'm
just sitting there and I'm like,I'm so bad, but I cannot stop
this car.
And we are sitting in Billy'scar listening to unreleased
stuff, and I'm talking to mybuddy Dylan.
(03:48):
He's like, dude, we're notpulling over.
You just gotta hold it, like,figure something out.
And and all of a sudden, out ofnowhere, Gibbons is like, I
gotta go to the bathroom, pullover.
And we pull over on the side ofthe 405 highway, and I am like,
I need to be right now.
I climb over everybody to getout of this car.
And I'm on the side of the 405now, and I'm beating Billy
(04:12):
Gibbons on the side of the 405in dead stop traffic.
And I hear Billy start crackingup laughing, and I'm like, what
is he laughing about?
Oh, we're just beating thisother way.
And I look down and he beat allover my left foot.
All over.
Like my buddies that were therelike, oh dude, you were blessed
(04:35):
by the reverence.
So the rest of the night, I'mhanging out with him, we're
drinking more beers, we'rewalking around, we're having a
good time, and uh that is myfondest memory, and probably the
biggest impact that BillyGibbons has had on my life
because uh I needed to get a newpair of boots after that.
Yeah, I still got them, man.
Jay Franze (04:54):
You know, you can't get rid of them.
Eugene Rice (04:55):
No, I'll never get rid of those.
Billy Gibbs is funny, man.
Yeah.
That is a that is uh honest toGod, that happened.
That that that that story is uhone of my fondest memories.
Yeah.
Then he came sauce in the ViperRoom a couple times, and uh
it's uh been kind of uh uh kindof honor to get to know him a
little bit.
Jay Franze (05:16):
It's crazy the things that man does.
Eugene Rice (05:19):
He's a wild card, dude.
You know about his you knowabout his business card, right?
Jay Franze (05:23):
No, tell me.
Eugene Rice (05:24):
Oh, his his business card says uh Billy
Gibbons, friend of Eric Clapton,on his business card.
But when he printed thosebusiness cards, he had never met
Eric Clapton at the time.
And Eric Clapton found one ofhis business cards at a studio
he was recording at and calledBilly Gibbons.
So what's up, friend?
Yeah, like such a good, like Ithought about making a business
(05:48):
card.
This is Eugene Rice, friend ofBilly Gibbons.
Right.
Tiffany Mason (05:53):
I mean, take a play out of his playbook, right?
Eugene Rice (05:55):
You know what I mean?
You gotta sometimes you gottayou gotta learn from the old guy
that came before you.
Jay Franze (06:00):
That's right.
So you said this was at a acycles party.
So are you into cycles?
Eugene Rice (06:06):
Yes, yes.
I I am very into motorcycles.
Uh, I don't currently have oneliving in Los Angeles.
I sold one before I moved outto Los Angeles, but I am in the
midst of buying a new one, sowe'll see.
Right now, I've been looking ata we're looking at a uh a dynah
that I was probably gonna pickup, but you know, who knows?
We'll see.
See what happens.
Jay Franze (06:27):
All right, well, let's move into the band itself,
American Mile.
So can you just give us a quickrundown of the background of
the band?
How'd we come up with the name?
How did it start?
Eugene Rice (06:38):
Man, I came up with the name.
Actually, the name was uh uhkind of an odd coincidence at
the time.
I was recording uh with thisguy, Keith Nelson, producer out
here.
Uh, he was one of the guitarplayers in Buck Cherry.
He wrote a lot of their songs.
He works with guys like CharlieStarr and a bunch of other
cats, and um, I had writtenlyrics to one of my songs, Wild
(06:59):
Wind, and uh one of the lyricsis on the sweet American mile,
is one of the lyrics.
So I was singing the lyrics tothe song in in basically in the
recording room, and I didn'treally like the band name at the
time.
Jay Franze (07:13):
Which was what?
Eugene Rice (07:14):
Yeah, it was Brothers Collective.
It's a long story originally.
The band was me and my twobrothers, so it morphed out of
that.
But I was sitting there after Isang that line, I I kind of
like stopped from stoppedsinging the rest of the lines.
I was like, man, American Milewould be a great band name.
And then the talk back I hearKeith and he's like, Yeah, it's
(07:35):
a good band name, you shouldchange your name right now.
And I was like, all right, Iwas like, all right, yeah, it's
a good idea.
I'm gonna change the band nameright now.
So that is the the story of howthe American Mile band name
came to be, actually.
Jay Franze (07:47):
Nice.
What was it like working withhim?
Tiffany Mason (07:50):
Oh, dude.
Well, wait, I have I have Ihave a question first.
Wait a minute.
Sorry, sorry, I'm gonna removeit.
So you came up, you came upwith a new band name, but then
where does the bison come in?
Eugene Rice (08:02):
Oh, dude, that's just you know, people love
bisons.
Tiffany Mason (08:06):
You know, he's you love me a good bison.
I do.
Eugene Rice (08:09):
Everybody loves bison, you know.
It's yeah, you know.
If Ted Nugent can rock thebuffalo, I'm gonna throw that
buffalo logo out there.
Usually we do, you know, ourour actual logo most of the time
is like uh AM and it's like instars and stripes.
We've just been using thisbison logo as like another piece
of merch to sell.
Tiffany Mason (08:30):
So yeah, bison logo.
I like it actually.
Eugene Rice (08:32):
Well, thank you.
You know, I like it too.
Tiffany Mason (08:35):
Okay, sorry, Jay.
Proceed.
Jay Franze (08:37):
Oh, I don't know.
What were we talking about?
Eugene Rice (08:39):
Oh, how's it working with Keith?
Yes, that crazy bitch, right?
Oh, dude, I love Keith.
He's he's like an older brotherin a lot of ways.
As I'm the oldest of mybrothers, so I don't really have
someone that I kind of had aconnection with him in that kind
of regard.
We'll like go grab lunch andstuff.
And he's always willing to tellme like there's no uh there's
(09:03):
no uh sugarcoat in anything,which is nice.
I kind of like that.
I'm pretty straight to thepoint kind of guy, so he's very
straight to the point.
We're both pretty straight tothe point with each other about
things.
It's made a really goodrelationship as far as
songwriting and also justfriendship in general, you know.
Kind of value those things.
He's kind of dude, I could calland be like, hey, I need help,
you know.
Uh my car tire's blown.
(09:24):
And if he's actually free, I'llbe like, dude, yeah, I'll come
down and help you out.
So I really appreciate that.
Tiffany Mason (09:30):
It's important to have those kind of people in
our life.
Eugene Rice (09:32):
Absolutely.
I don't want him to hear metalking too good about him
though.
So trust me.
Jay Franze (09:37):
No, we'll keep this out of his range.
Eugene Rice (09:39):
Yeah, good, yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right.
I'm not yeah, I'm not tagginghim.
Jay Franze (09:45):
Let's take a step back.
You're from Vermont and you endup in SoCal.
So how do we go from Vermont toSoCal and somehow come up with
southern rock?
Eugene Rice (09:58):
That's a good question.
So when I moved from Vermont toSoCal, I was really into like
progressive, like kind of likeMars Volta progressive rock,
rush kind of stuff.
Jay Franze (10:11):
Queens Reich.
Eugene Rice (10:12):
Yeah, Queens Reich, all that kind of thing.
And um I moved out here with mybrother at the time.
And actually, the guitar playerthat's in the band currently,
Joe, he was in that originalband that we had when we were in
LA.
That was like 2010, like 15years ago almost.
(10:33):
I met Joe.
So Ryan went to MI as a he wentfor the uh recording program,
and Joe happened to be goingthere for the guitar program.
They ran into each other.
Ryan was like, yo, I moved outhere with my brother.
We're trying to be in a band.
We kind of got together andstarted playing this band, and
that was like debauchery at itsheight.
(10:53):
I mean, I was 21.
I had just moved to LA.
I came from like country girls,and I mean like not like
Nashville country girls, likeVermont country girls.
Like we got like, yeah, youknow, sorry, Vermont, I hate to
say it, but you know, it's justit's more of the uh the earthy
type.
A little more of the earthy,yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know.
So dude, it was just a wildtime.
(11:16):
We had sold my motorcycle tobuy an RV.
Jay Franze (11:19):
How long did you live out of the RV?
Eugene Rice (11:22):
Dude, we lived in the RV for like I want to say
like in and out of the RV endrehearsal spaces for like two
years.
It was a wild time.
We used to set up, man, we wemade these fake baffles that had
mattresses glued to them tolook like a recording booth, and
(11:45):
we set it up in our studio, andwe would like have a mic
standing there during thedaytime, and at nighttime we
just lay the beds on the floorand all just pass out.
Yeah.
Jay Franze (11:53):
That's awesome.
Eugene Rice (11:54):
We had a whole system.
Jay Franze (11:56):
I can't tell you how many times I've slept in a
recording studio, so it'salright.
Eugene Rice (12:00):
Dude, oh no, this was not a recording, this was a
rehearsal studio.
This was like, you know, youknock on the wall and like a
cockroach the size of like a bigpen would fall out.
Yeah.
Tiffany Mason (12:11):
It's all about the hustle, right?
Eugene Rice (12:13):
It's part of it.
Yeah.
And you know what's crazy isthe reason the whole reason I
moved out to LA is because Ialways wanted to do music.
Coming from Vermont, it waslike kind of there was nothing.
I mean, my hometown is like1,500 people.
Jay Franze (12:27):
You get folk music.
Eugene Rice (12:29):
You do, you do every now and then.
You every now and then, butlike, you know, there was a
different time period.
That was before the internet.
I mean, the internet was there,but it wasn't like what it is
today in a lot of ways.
It wasn't as far reaching.
It was kind of like I read allthese books growing up.
I know it's crazy.
I can read, ladies andgentlemen.
I can't.
Yes.
(12:51):
Vermont at least has good wehave good educational systems.
I can read.
Jay Franze (12:56):
Still part of New England.
Eugene Rice (12:58):
Somewhat.
Yeah.
I remember reading all thesebooks about all these rock
stars, and it always we went toHollywood, we went to LA.
We did, you know, it was all goto LA, go to LA.
We went to LA.
And I grew up this whole timebeing like, man, I gotta go to
LA.
And then I moved to LA and thenI was like, why am I in LA?
Like, this is uh this is a thisis kind of a weird spot because
(13:21):
we were right at the end oflike the strip being kind of
dead.
We kind of came in on that,that like I want to say it was
like two or three good, maybelike maybe like four or five
good years of like Hollywoodproper having, and I don't mean
like West Hollywood where theyhave like the whiskey and all
those spots, but like there wereother bars that had a lot of
(13:42):
live music every day.
You could find a band Mondaythrough you know Saturday
playing somewhere on HollywoodBoulevard, right on the main
strip.
And now there's like nothing.
I know some places that don'teven do bands anymore, and I I
can remember them having bandsthe entire time I was there.
Man, and I go to Nashville andcheck it out, and I'm like, oh,
(14:03):
there's bands everywhere.
Well, they care about music.
Oh my god, yeah, it's wild,wild, wild, wild.
Jay Franze (14:10):
Well, you still have to make that connection to
Southern Rock now.
Eugene Rice (14:14):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
So a big part of me likegrowing up, I love the Allman
Brothers, and I love like TomPetty and 38 Special and Leonard
Skinner, and like I grew up ona lot of.
Yeah, dude, we got to we got toopen for 38 Special, and it was
like a big highlight for me.
That's awesome.
(14:35):
Dude, it's it's been great.
I I loved that.
We were able to make goodfriends or become friends with
the bass player, and we werechatting with him every now and
then.
He's like, When are you guysgonna be in Nashville?
You know, we'll meet up.
It's just been like I've alwaysloved Southern Rock.
It's always been a passion ofmine in general.
I like the songwriting, likethe storytelling that comes with
(14:55):
it.
And when my brothers quit thisband, and it basically became me
at the helm of like, okay, I'min charge of everything now.
I'm in charge of American Mile.
You know, this is my projectstarting off again.
Where do I want to head?
What direction do I want to goin?
And I was like, you know what?
I'm gonna finally dive intothis direction of like Southern
(15:16):
Rock, maybe a little bit ofsongwriter country stuff going
into it, and like really embracethe stuff that I I truly love
to play.
And it really has made me ahell of a lot happier than all
the other stuff I've done, to behonest.
Tiffany Mason (15:30):
What were you and your brothers playing in the
beginning?
Eugene Rice (15:33):
We were playing like more like more folky
country, so it was even lessrock and a lot more folky
country.
And it was really cool becauselike it was three brothers
singing three part harmoniesdoing folk country, and it had a
thing.
And we played Summerfest and weplayed like you know, we played
some big events with the band,but uh it just fell apart, dude.
(15:58):
Family bands are really hard tokeep together.
Jay Franze (16:00):
Yeah, yeah.
Was it American Mile at thattime?
Eugene Rice (16:03):
It had just changed to American Mile for a couple
of the gigs we did with theboys, but that was like
basically then when my onebrother quit.
I was like, well, they bothquit.
My producer was like, What areyou gonna do?
He's like, you know, you yourchoices are you can quit and
give up now.
Or he's like, or you have thisproduct, you have the name, you
have a direction you want tohead in.
And he's like, and then youjust gotta make it happen.
(16:25):
That was the best advice Keithcould have given me at the time.
I wouldn't be on this podcast,I wouldn't be doing the tours
I'm doing, I wouldn't be workingwith people I'm working with.
I wouldn't have met BillyGames.
Tiffany Mason (16:35):
What did your brother say about America Mile
Now?
Eugene Rice (16:38):
Uh, dude, I mean, well, do you know who Jared
James Nichols is, the guitarplayer?
He's like a ripping guitarplayer, but my brother plays
drums for him.
My brother's uh, yeah, dude,he's very supportive.
You know, he reposts stuff, heloves it, he loves the new
album, things like that.
So it's always nice to hearthat.
Me and him have always beenreally close.
So when he did quit the band,it was like kind of a gut shot
(16:59):
because me and him were soclose.
I was like, oh man, like you'rereally gonna like give up on
this.
But he wanted to chase his owndream, and you know, you
sometimes you just gotta letpeople do that.
Jay Franze (17:08):
That's what it's like with brothers, it's tough,
yeah.
Eugene Rice (17:11):
Yeah, yeah.
And sisters, yeah, dude, stillfamily at the end of the day
sometimes, you know.
So you gotta put up with somesome amount of it if you can.
Tiffany Mason (17:22):
Yeah, yeah.
I love that you guys have thatyour relationship has survived
that, so that's awesome.
Eugene Rice (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They do say business and familydoes not blend, and that I have
learned the hard way.
I feel like, you know what?
It's okay to keep business andfamily kind of separate.
Tiffany Mason (17:39):
So who's in the band now?
Eugene Rice (17:41):
So right now we have uh Desmond Saunders on
bass, we have Colton Miller ondrums, and Joe Perez on lead
guitar.
We all sing harmony vocalstogether.
Joe is the guy actually thatwas in the original band in LA
when I first moved here 15 yearsago.
So I've known Joe like forever.
Jay Franze (18:01):
I want to talk more about the sound.
You you choose Southern Rock,right?
And your influences at thattime were the typical Southern
Rock bands, whether it beLeonard Skinner or 38 Special
and that type of stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
So how do you come around now tothe more modern Southern Rock
bands like the Black Crows?
Eugene Rice (18:22):
Oh, Black Crows, Blackberry Smoke, like all those
cats.
Jay Franze (18:25):
Yeah, I mean, do you draw influence from them as
well, or do you stick to theroom?
Eugene Rice (18:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, no, no.
I love the Black Crows.
Absolutely love the BlackCrows.
I mean, uh, our song Waiting ona Sunday that's on the record,
the last record we just wrote,was like very, in my mind, very
heavily influenced by She Talksto Angels.
It's just like, I mean, I lovethe crows.
I just got to see uh what's itcalled, the Joe Perry project
with with Chris Robinson sayinglead, and it was very cool.
(18:52):
Sick.
It was so much fun.
I mean, yeah.
They did like then they didtwice as hard, which is like my
favorite crows tune, or one ofmy favorite crows tunes.
So I was like, this is awesome.
Actually, I don't know if I'msupposed to am I allowed to
swear on this?
I didn't ask that beforehand.
Jay Franze (19:06):
We don't know.
Nobody's told us.
Hold on.
Yeah, the network says it'sokay.
Eugene Rice (19:11):
Uh it's okay.
Jay Franze (19:12):
All right, all right.
So I gotta watch that.
As you mentioned the therecording, I heard that track
and there's a B3 in there.
Who's playing the B3?
Eugene Rice (19:23):
Oh, dude, that's Mark Brown.
That is the uh the that's thethe secret fifth member of
American Mile.
He's like our he's like oursecret weapon.
That dude is like so overlybusy, it's it can be very hard
sometimes to track him down toget him into the uh get him into
the live rotation for things.
And also just we usually likekeep him for like, hey, we have
(19:48):
a showcase gig, hey, we havelike you know, some big opening
slot, we'd like to have you playwith us, things like that.
So we try to keep it that way.
I wish we were making enoughmoney where we could have him
full time, but it's just notreally feasible and keeping
everyone housed.
Jay Franze (20:03):
Dude, I just moved back from California and my two
brothers currently live inSoCal, and I can't tell you, or
I can tell you how expensive itwas.
I mean, it's crazy.
I tell people all the time astudio apartment was forty five
hundred dollars and atwo-bedroom apartment was
seventy-five hundred dollars.
Eugene Rice (20:19):
It's absolutely nuts.
Like California is crazy, justpricing.
I I think that's the big reasonof why like art, in a sense,
like artists, a lot of them aredisappearing from out here, is
that if you want to be an artistin California, you've got to
already be rich.
You can't afford the pricingall the like artists out, and
like that's just what it is.
(20:41):
Because nobody wants to paymore money for the funny thing
is is like you go anywhere inthe United States, and it's
pretty much you get the sameexact check from every single
bar, but you know, a thousanddollars in SoCal goes nowhere.
You're like, Oh, okay, my gaswas five dollars a gallon, you
know.
(21:01):
And now insane.
Oh, yeah, it's nuts.
I think I paid $4.97 today forgas, and I was just looking at
it like, well, this is cheap.
Jay Franze (21:08):
It was like six something when I was there.
Eugene Rice (21:10):
Yeah, it's wild.
Jay Franze (21:13):
As you mentioned, playing live in Torn, you guys
are playing 200 plus shows ayear.
Eugene Rice (21:18):
Yes, we are.
Jay Franze (21:20):
So how does that even come about?
Who's booking your shows?
Eugene Rice (21:23):
Uh, we have a booking agent, and then um on
top of our booking agency, wealso book gigs by ourselves.
I'm a workaholic.
I also work Monday throughThursday at a vintage guitar
shop.
So I'm like Friday, Saturday,Sunday, band, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, eitherguitar shop or band.
If we have other gigs, then Icall out of work and I go into
(21:46):
the uh I just play.
And then also most of our gigsare like four-hour gigs.
So it's like, yeah, it's ashow, but it's really like
you're playing three shows anight.
So if you want to like quantifyit as to how many sets we play,
we probably do like 600 shows ayear, which is sometimes
borderline insanity, but youknow what?
We make it work.
It's a couple of Red Bulls,maybe you know, you know, black
(22:09):
coffee and just kind of powerthrough and drink some water
when you can.
Try not to stop the band toomany times to go to the bathroom
while we're getting to the nextgig because you know you got
maybe an hour and a half window,and you don't want to mess that
up because nobody can get anyfood before the play.
Jay Franze (22:23):
Uh the guitar shop.
What do you do at the guitarshop?
Eugene Rice (22:28):
I'm the vintage guitar specialist.
So I deal with all the vintageguitars that come in and I vet
them and make sure that they'reall right.
If I have questions, there'ssome guys I know in the industry
that I'll give calls to.
Like if it's something that I'mway out of my wheelhouse with,
you know, a $50,000 Martin walksin and I'm like, I think I'm
right about this, but I need tomake sure that this and this are
(22:50):
right.
So it's always good to have acouple more eyes on it.
Give uh Dave Henson a call outof Killer Vintage in Dallas.
He's my go-to guy.
So all right.
Jay Franze (22:58):
Next thing I want to know, let's go back to the
booking agent for a minute.
Sure.
How did you come about thebooking agent?
Did you hunt them down or didthey hunt you down?
Eugene Rice (23:06):
All right.
So 2019, right before COVIDhit, I played the Idaho Potato
Drop, and it was like this crazyhuge, big show.
It was awesome.
I did a bunch of interviews uhlike on CNN and all this other
stuff.
Got home and then had a gigwith NASCAR, Fontana Speedway.
(23:30):
So I did a gig there.
And when I was doing this gig,this guy that I knew, Neil
Morgan, had seen me the yearprior, and he saw me again and
was like, hey man, I have thisbooking agency.
They booked my band.
I've seen you now twice.
I really want them to work withyou.
And I was like, Well, I'mlooking for an agent.
(23:51):
You know, it was prettyexciting at the time because
like he showed me what they weredoing.
I was like, Well, you guys areplaying like a lot of opening
slots and like a ton of casinowork, and just like you're
you're like a functioningworking band as well as getting
to do your original thing.
And I was like, if we can havethat rolling and I don't have to
have a day job, that would begreat.
So I left that gig and was likeecstatic because I had
(24:17):
basically signed a sh handshakecontract with a booking agency,
something I had been trying todo for years and never been able
to do.
I went on vacation to Mexicowith some friends down there.
I'm fishing.
Just it was bonito season, andwe were just banging bonitos in
like left and right.
It was crazy.
I'm doing that, it's great.
(24:38):
Nothing could go wrong.
I'm on the beach, I'm drinkingmargaritas, I'm just passing
out.
They have a mescaria.
We're going down there drivingdirt bikes and driving them
back, like just having the wildtime down there.
And I am sitting in a kitchenwith my friend, and the news is
on, and all of a sudden,COVID-19 has appeared and has
(25:04):
entered the chat.
And I'm like, what's this?
You know, what's going on?
Like in my mind at that time,I'm like, oh, this is gonna be
no big deal.
It's like some bird flu stuffor whatever, like it's gonna
blow over.
And then fast forward to I'mback in America because they're
like, hey, you have to leave,and we go back because we're
closing the border.
And all of a sudden, I'm like,I just signed this deal with the
booking agency, and now there'sno shows ever.
(25:28):
I was like, this has got to bethe biggest joke played on me in
like in like the history of mylife.
Like, this is ridiculous.
So my agent is like, just hold,just hold steady and like wait,
and just wait till I call you.
I'm like, okay, so like monthsgo by, we're on lockdown.
Jay Franze (25:47):
I mean, how are you paying your bills?
Eugene Rice (25:50):
Actually, my very good friend Scott Bednar gave me
a job as a roofer because Icould do it outside.
So I was doing roofingthroughout basically the entire
pandemic, and that like justkept me alive.
And dude, roofing in Californiaduring the summer, not a fun
time.
Brutal.
It was awful.
We just started like we startedat like 4 a.m.
(26:12):
and would just like work tillprobably noon.
And by noon, it was like youcouldn't be on the roof or
you're just ruining theshingles.
It's not shingles.
Well, some of it was shingles,some of it was tile.
It was like it would depend onwhat the the customer wanted,
but like I was basically doingthat, and that kept me
sustained.
Uh God bless him for that.
(26:33):
That really saved me.
Probably like middle of thepandemic.
My agent calls and he's like,hey, put a band together, just
start rehearsing.
Tiffany Mason (26:44):
Light at the end of the tunnel.
Eugene Rice (26:46):
And I'm like, okay.
So we're rehearsing.
He's like, I got a drive-ingig.
We're doing like this bigdrive-in event, and the band
that hooked you up is gonnaplay, and we're gonna have your
band open it.
So at the time, I called JoePerez and was like, yo, I got
this gig, it's like an outsidegig.
(27:08):
I had another guitar player atthe time, and I was like, the
guy in the other band had askedme to play guitar for them also,
and then I was like looking atall the songs they needed me to
learn, plus all my own stuffwith rehearsing, and I was like,
There's no way I'm gonna beable to wrap my brain around all
this in like a week.
So I called up Joe and waslike, Hey, can you fill in and
take this gig over with thisother band?
(27:30):
So he took that over with theheadliner, and I just focused on
American Mile.
So we did this gig.
Basically, end of that gig, wecame out and we did Free Bird
with me, Joe, and the otherguitar player, and we just did
like all three of us playingtogether, and it was a blast.
And I was like, I want to dothat.
(27:51):
I was like, I would love to dolike a Leonard Skinner three
guitar player thing.
And uh my other guitar playerat the time was not about it.
So we came back and he justquit.
He was like, I don't want to dothis, I don't like it, I don't
like there's another guitarplayer.
And I was like, All right,dude, like there's the door,
that's your choice.
So he quit.
And then now I'm like, Joe'slike, well, I'm still down to be
(28:12):
in the band.
So I'm like, all right.
So we just we start nowrehearsing this thing.
My agent calls again and he'slike, yo, are you guys ready?
And I'm like, yeah, what's up?
And he's like, the NativeAmerican casinos are allowed to
do music.
I can book you guys.
I have no other bands that areready to play.
You're the only one we havethat's ready to play.
(28:33):
Everyone else is like eitherafraid to go out, and we were
all like, dude, we're notafraid.
I'll like I caught COVID likenine times, I think.
I don't know what I don't knowwhat that does to you, but I
feel fine.
Jay Franze (28:45):
I think we're starting to see what it does to
you.
Eugene Rice (28:47):
Yeah, right.
A little crazy, dude.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So uh, so we just like grabbedevery single gig they would give
us through that.
I mean, I worked for like thathalf a year, like end of 2019,
all the way through 2020,because there just was nobody
that wanted to pick up the gig.
(29:08):
So we were just taking them.
It gave uh a really good liketime buffer for like me and Joe
to like kind of gel and get thebusiness kind of going and get
the name out there so that whenwe found new members that ended
up being more permanent members,it was like we already had
established certain areas wherelike we can play here and make
money, we can play here and makemoney.
(29:30):
We can we had all these anchorgigs where like, oh, we know
that this casino will pay uswell, we can do that on Saturday
and Sunday, and Friday we cando like an original show
somewhere in town and try tolike churn a little bit of a uh
an actual fan base out of it.
But to be honest, it was likekind of a wicked ride because
(29:50):
doing that stuff, we burnedthrough so many band members.
It was wild.
Like just could not hang.
Oh man, like, yeah, they'resweet guys, they're all great.
I have no qualms with anyonethat has left the band, but it
like we burned through players.
We did for a while.
Tiffany Mason (30:09):
Um did it make you feel like like so like.
Oh, like we can hang and theycan't.
Eugene Rice (30:15):
Like you know, it just like it made me be like, I
would what would what would getme is I would tell them how hard
it was.
I would be like, listen, we'repsychos, we play nonstop, we
play as many gigs as we can.
Me and Joe have done three gigsin 24 hours before.
Like, we will just jam gigsinto things to play to play to
(30:39):
play.
And some guys are like, I cando that.
And then they actually do itwith you like for two weeks, and
they're like, I don'tunderstand how you guys can
physically do this.
Like, I am going nuts.
Uh, and uh, I don't know, it'sjust that's all I love to do,
especially drummer.
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
We are we're like a woodchipper for drummers.
Jay Franze (31:01):
It's it's um so the the lineup that you have now,
how long has that lineup been inplace?
Eugene Rice (31:07):
So Desmond's been with us for two years.
Funny enough, we always dideverything by Democratic vote.
And at the time when Desmondauditioned for the band, he was
my choice.
I was like, I want this guy tobe our bass player.
I really liked him.
I liked his feel.
I liked that he could sing.
I think when he came in, he waslike a slightly underprepared,
but like there was somethingabout him that I was just like,
(31:30):
he's good, he's got something.
Like I can tell from hispersonality that he's gonna
like, we're gonna gel, you know,it's gonna work.
And um, I got outvoted.
So I got outvoted, and Desmonddid not get the first audition.
We had another guy for aboutlike a little over half a year.
Kind of like through thatprocess with him, we realized
(31:53):
that we were like, oh, this dudeis not working out.
He was like telling us, like,I'm gonna quit, I'm gonna quit.
And finally, at some point, Iwas like, why don't we reach out
to Desmond?
I was like, reach out toDesmond, see what he's doing,
and maybe he'll want to jump in,you know, and play with us.
And uh sure enough, Joe calledDes, and Des was like, dude,
(32:15):
I've been thinking about howmuch I wanted to join your band
from the last time, and like Istill want to join the band.
And we sent him the material,he came in, he knew it.
It's been great ever since.
I love Desmond.
Oh, who knows?
That's that's a you know,that's a whole nother box of
worms I don't want to open hereon the stream.
(32:36):
Uh, but they should.
I'm good at that.
I'm a good gut feeling guy.
I'm always you know, you tendto be pretty right on the money.
Jay Franze (32:44):
Let's take this a step further.
You said when you were withyour your brothers and you your
brothers chose to leave the bandand you were able to move
forward, go with your name, gowith your style, which kind of
alludes to the fact that youwere running the band at that
point.
So, how does the dynamic of theband work today?
Eugene Rice (33:02):
It right now it's it's like a true democracy for
the band.
I think I have a little more ofa say with a lot of the guys as
far as it comes to songwriting,because I do a majority of the
songwriting.
But even there, we try toinclude everyone in every
decision financially.
They they can see all thespreadsheets, all the money
that's coming into the business.
Jay Franze (33:23):
What is the business relationship?
Eugene Rice (33:26):
Right now, me and Joe are the like sole owners of
the LLC.
I made him a business partnerafter we started this and did
everything because I was like,dude, you've been here for six
years now and haven't goneanywhere.
You've put in your time as faras I'm concerned, like, you
know, you're my business partnerbecause this is not an easy
road.
So me and Joe became basicallypartners on our LLC.
(33:51):
With the new boys, Des andColton, Desmond at this point
has come to a point where youknow he had expressed wanting,
expressed wanting some stake inthe band.
And I was like, you know what,man, like you've been here, you
work super hard.
He does all a lot, all of ouralmost all of our social media.
Like, I'll send him videos andhe'll cut it up and post it.
(34:11):
Very good.
Yeah, it's like when someone'sworking that hard with you, I
think they deserve that.
I think that that kind ofbusiness relationship cultivates
trust in the end.
It boils down to somethingthat, like, in the future, if it
gets hard or gets tough, thatperson's gonna stick around
because you trusted them at somepoint and now they trust you,
(34:33):
and there's just a mutualrespect.
I really do respect the hellout of all the guys in the band
for how hard they work.
Jay Franze (34:39):
So is this an equal share band at this point?
Eugene Rice (34:42):
Yeah, at this point, right now, it's like the
money's always an equal share.
Everyone gets an equal cut.
As far as control of the bandis, who owns parts of the LLC?
We worked out a deal where it'slike if you're in for a certain
amount of years, basically youget a percentage of the band per
year until you're a quartermember, and then we'll all just
have a quarter control of theLLC.
(35:04):
Smart way.
That's the way I'm gonna do it.
Yeah.
Jay Franze (35:07):
All right.
So, what kind of challengeshave you guys faced other than
COVID?
Dude, man.
Eugene Rice (35:14):
Boy, we have blown up more vehicles, I think, than
anyone.
You know, dude, we're likewe're like, we're like the nitro
circus of blowing up vehicles.
I feel like if it's likerolling the bearings in an
engine or it's blowing tires,we've done everything and all in
between.
I don't know why, but uhcontrol arms don't like us,
(35:37):
that's for sure.
Um, I've had a couple peoplesteal catalytic converters at
this point that I've had to weldstraight pipes together
underneath, done things likethat uh to keep them going.
I would say vehicles have beenour number one struggle.
It's it's pretty wild.
Um so our car lock, pray forus.
Chat, pray for us, please.
(35:59):
We need better car lock.
Tiffany Mason (36:01):
I think we should put the motorcycle on hold
then.
Let's I'm a great driver.
Eugene Rice (36:06):
Okay, the driving is fine.
It's the uh it's the guts onthings.
Jay Franze (36:10):
Especially on a motorcycle, you you can't trust
the other people around you.
Eugene Rice (36:14):
Oh no, yeah, never, never, never, never.
You gotta be like a hawk onthose things, especially in LA.
Tiffany Mason (36:19):
Keep a junker.
I wouldn't get anything nice.
Eugene Rice (36:24):
No, I can fix, I can fix a motorcycle.
That's easy to work on.
It's all just it's all justbig, it's like adult Legos.
You could put it together andtake it apart.
Tiffany Mason (36:33):
Yeah, oh my gosh, I love how you are so scrappy
or resourceful and just makethings happen, get things done.
You had a pretty strong mindsetfor that.
Do you feel like all the bandmembers match that?
Eugene Rice (36:47):
Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure.
They match it.
I mean, I'm a little more, Ithink a little more tenacious
than everybody, but I'm alsolike, I love the hustle of like,
you know, my dad and my uncleare both hustlers as far as it
goes.
Like, I mean, they do reallygood work, but they're uh, you
know, when they were alwaysdoing contracting, they were
always hustling, hustling tomake a dollar.
(37:07):
When they're off work, they'relike buying cars and flipping
cars.
Like I grew up around that.
Jay Franze (37:12):
All right, my friend.
Well, we do this thing here.
We call unsung heroes where youtake a moment to shine light on
somebody who's worked behindthe scenes or somebody who may
have supported you along theway.
Do you have anybody you'd liketo shine a little light on?
Eugene Rice (37:22):
Uh yes, I would.
Patty Hillis.
She and her son Noah Hillishave been amazing to me.
I've gone through some somereally tough times in my life,
and they've helped me outthrough them a lot.
I'd like to thank Dave Henson.
He's been like a second fatherto me.
I'd also like to thank ScottBednar.
(37:42):
He's the guy that helped me getthrough COVID.
He's taught me so much.
He's an amazing human.
He rescued me from working at astudio that I hated working at.
And uh, I'd like to thank KeithNelson.
And then uh last but not least,of course, I'd love to thank my
parents.
They've always been there,they've always supported my
dream.
I would not be here withoutthem.
Jay Franze (38:04):
What kind of troubles were you dealing with?
Eugene Rice (38:07):
Oh, dude, I have gone through uh I went through
um I went through a lot of stuffin LA where I lost, I lost
where I was living and thingslike that.
And um uh Patty, who I talkedabout earlier, her and her son
took me in and kind of just havegiven me a room and like room
(38:27):
and board and just taking careof me like I was like her own
son.
And uh Dave, I wouldn't knowanything about vintage guitars
without Dave Henson.
He took me under his wing aslike his protege and showed me
everything I needed to know, andit has done nothing but been a
blessing in my life and given melike the ability to work while
(38:52):
I'm why you know it's like afun, it's fun for me.
I love vintage guitar, so it'sI love guitar in general, so
it's something that's not reallyuh it's not even like a job to
me, it's like a passion project,right?
And then Keith just being uhyou know all around knucklehead
producer that I that gets to uhbeat up on me every now and then
slam me back into reality whenI'm getting negative.
(39:13):
It's hard to have that.
Tiffany Mason (39:16):
You said that the band was named after American
Mile.
You were singing a line oflyrics from one of your songs.
And do you think I mean youguys are using like the stars
and stripes, and is it becauseit's American in the name, or is
it because you guys just reallyhave a patriotism, you know, in
your soul?
Eugene Rice (39:36):
Oh I love this country.
This is the greatest country inthe world, in my opinion.
Tiffany Mason (39:40):
Like, yeah, I mean like you can grow up in
Vermont and then end up in SoCalas like the great band.
Eugene Rice (39:47):
You can you can still it's tough, it's it's
tough out there.
I think everyone realizes it'sgotten tough, it's gotten
tougher over the years.
But I still believe that withhard work, the American dream is
still alive.
You can be whatever you want tobe, you can do whatever you
want to do.
It just takes hard work.
And some people are afraid ofhard work.
I get it.
(40:07):
It's not it's not an easything, you know?
It's never gonna be.
It wasn't easy for anyonecoming over here back in the
day, and it's it's not anyeasier now.
You just gotta put your nose tothe grindstone to make it
happen.
Tiffany Mason (40:20):
Same demons, different day.
Eugene Rice (40:22):
Exactly.
Exactly.
You know, dude, I'll worryabout I'll worry about uh, you
know, yesterday's problemstomorrow.
I'll do that.
I'll just keep worrying aboutit next day, you know, and I'll
just keep I'll just keepmotoring through because that's
all you can do.
Tiffany Mason (40:35):
Yeah, yeah.
It seems like you've got theright idea.
It seems like you got a goodhead on your shoulders.
You're making it through,you're seeing the silver
linings, you guys are havingfun, and that's really kind of
money right there.
Eugene Rice (40:47):
What else can you do?
You know, right?
Life is too short to get it,you know, to be uh depressed
about every little thing thathappens.
It's too much.
Tiffany Mason (40:57):
Okay, so I have another another little fun
follow-up question for you.
Yeah.
So I saw on the microphonestands that y'all like to have
the scarves on there.
Jay Franze (41:05):
Yes.
Tiffany Mason (41:06):
And so I want to know do you switch them out per
show?
Is it like, you know, here's56, and we're gonna pick like
everybody picks two or three fortheir mic stand today?
Or what okay, what what what dowe how does this happen?
Eugene Rice (41:22):
Like a like a circus trunk full of scarves,
you know, pull them out.
That's uh my next trick.
I'm gonna be uh pulling allthese scarves out of my mouth.
Yeah.
Uh we pretty much use the samescarves every time, but every
now and then, like someone whohas come to a show that has seen
us for like maybe like years orso that really loves the band,
(41:43):
they'll ask for a scarf and I'llhave gifted them a scarf and
then have to go buy a new one.
So you know how that started,which is crazy, is that we
played a gig and um, you know,when you do like a a five-hour
cover gig, you know, becauseit's like, okay, we gotta do
this, like this uh I don't knowhow you guys do that.
Oh, it's it's wonderful.
(42:03):
I love every moment of it.
When we do a gig that long, weneeded iPads so we could read uh
like lyrics because it's like,dude, I'm not gonna remember
five hours of lyrics that I'venever read before.
Um I can read them and singthem.
I know the melodies, but hell,I don't I don't know what he's I
don't know what he's talkingabout half the time.
Yeah.
So one of the booking agentsthat saw us was like, you guys
(42:26):
are amazing, but I hate theiPads.
And I was like, man, how do Iget rid of the iPads?
And I and I was talking to Joe,our other guitar player, and I
was like, you know what, dude?
Let's hang some scarves.
Let's go to the Goodwill todayand buy a bunch of scarves, and
like Steven Tyler, the micstands up and hang them over the
iPads.
So we did that for theliterally the next show, the
(42:48):
next day.
And the booking agent was like,It's amazing.
You guys are great.
I love that you got rid of theiPads.
And I was like, Yeah, we did.
You know, like they're justright behind the scarves.
So don't worry about it.
Yeah, and now there's just kindof like, you know, now it's our
thing, we throw the scarves oneverything.
But you know, we do originals,we still throw the scarves on
there.
So it's it's fun, you know.
(43:08):
I like giving them the audiencetoo every now and then.
Part of the image.
Tiffany Mason (43:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Not just shtick.
Jay Franze (43:14):
All right, folks.
Well, we have done it.
We've reached the top of thehour, which does mean we have
reached the end of the show.
If you've enjoyed the show,please tell a friend and Miss
Tiffany.
If you have not, tell two.
Tell three, four, five, or six.
Tiffany Mason (43:27):
Ten, baby.
Come on.
Eugene Rice (43:29):
There you go.
That's right.
Jay Franze (43:30):
You can also reach out to two of us over at
jFrenzy.com.
Hell, you can reach out to thethree of us over at jFrenzy.com.
We will be happy to keep thisconversation going.
All right.
Sir, we cannot thank youenough.
We would like to leave thefinal words to you.
Eugene Rice (43:43):
Thanks so much for having me.
You guys have been great.
I loved having to chat withyou.
I mean, I was laughing.
And if I can have a good timehanging out with two people I've
never met on a phone and laugha little bit, then it's a good
day.
All right.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Jay Franze (43:57):
Awesome.
Eugene Rice (43:58):
Well, have a good night.
Tony Scott (44:01):
Thanks for listening to the Jay Franzi Show.
Make sure you visit us atJFranzi.com.
Follow connect and say hello.
And we are coming to live I am Jay Friends and uh
Weston Wii D my Mario My FTiffany Mason.
Tiffany Mason (00:55):
Ah Mario.
Jay Franze (00:58):
And if you are new to the show, this is your source
for the latest news reviews andinterviews.
And if you would like to joinin, comment, or fire off any
questions, please head over tojFrenzy and cal.
All right, my friend.
Tonight we have a very specialguest.
I said it once, I will say itagain.
We have a very special guestwith us.
We have the singer and guitarplayer of a southern rock band
(01:19):
hailing from the great state ofCalifornia.
We have Eugene Wright.
Eugene, sir, how are you?
Eugene Rice (01:28):
Good.
How are y'all doing?
It's a pleasure to be here onyour show.
Jay Franze (01:32):
Thank you.
Eugene Rice (01:33):
You know what?
If you guys are Mario andLuigi, I think that makes me
like toad or possibly Waluigi,I'm not sure, somewhere in the
middle.
We'll see.
Take it.
We'll see where the end of thenight goes.
Tiffany Mason (01:45):
Yeah, we'll let you know at the end of this
episode.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Eugene Rice (01:48):
You know, we'll see what happens.
Jay Franze (01:50):
All right.
Well, let's get this thingstarted.
Can you tell me the impact thatBilly Gibbons had on you and
your career?
Eugene Rice (01:58):
Wow.
Uh the impact that BillyGibbons had on my career.
I have met Billy on actually acouple of occasions.
There was one particular time,actually, you know what?
I'm gonna tell y'all a storyright off the rip, I guess.
That's fine.
I thought this was gonna comelater, but uh, you know, it was
surprise, surprise.
Um I was at Nam about 2018.
(02:22):
I went to a private kind ofevent at a Jimmy Shine shop.
He was like an automotive, kindof like custom chopper builder,
uh hot rods, things like that.
Event at his uh his his thingoutside of Nam in Orange County.
And uh I ran into Billy Gibbonsat that event.
That was the first time I raninto Billy.
Me and Gibbons are justdrinking Coors Lights.
(02:45):
We're hanging out and we'rejust drinking Coors Lights.
He'd ask for one.
I'd go grab one out of thecooler, bring it to him.
Just laughing, drinking,drinking.
We're having a good time, we'reall hanging out.
All of a sudden, Billy says,I'm going to a car show down the
street.
A couple of my friends that Iwas there with, they're all
going.
(03:05):
And he looks at me and he'slike, Hey, you, you're coming
with us.
You can jump in the trunk.
Dude, the reverend tells you toget in the trunk.
All right, all right.
So I jump in the trunk of hishis denali.
So it's a nice trunk, you knowwhat I mean?
I've been in worse trunks.
Uh so I'm uh I'm just riding inthe back.
My buddy Dylan is in front ofme, and um I gotta go bad.
(03:28):
I am in the back of this truck,and I have been drinking Coors
Light with Billy Gibbons for anhour.
I am half in the bag on top ofgear and everything, and I'm
just sitting there and I'm like,I'm so bad, but I cannot stop
this car.
And we are sitting in Billy'scar listening to unreleased
stuff, and I'm talking to mybuddy Dylan.
(03:48):
He's like, dude, we're notpulling over.
You just gotta hold it, like,figure something out.
And and all of a sudden, out ofnowhere, Gibbons is like, I
gotta go to the bathroom, pullover.
And we pull over on the side ofthe 405 highway, and I am like,
I need to be right now.
I climb over everybody to getout of this car.
And I'm on the side of the 405now, and I'm beating Billy
(04:12):
Gibbons on the side of the 405in dead stop traffic.
And I hear Billy start crackingup laughing, and I'm like, what
is he laughing about?
Oh, we're just beating thisother way.
And I look down and he beat allover my left foot.
All over.
Like my buddies that were therelike, oh dude, you were blessed
(04:35):
by the reverence.
So the rest of the night, I'mhanging out with him, we're
drinking more beers, we'rewalking around, we're having a
good time, and uh that is myfondest memory, and probably the
biggest impact that BillyGibbons has had on my life
because uh I needed to get a newpair of boots after that.
Yeah, I still got them, man.
Jay Franze (04:54):
You know, you can't get rid of them.
Eugene Rice (04:55):
No, I'll never get rid of those.
Billy Gibbs is funny, man.
Yeah.
That is a that is uh honest toGod, that happened.
That that that that story is uhone of my fondest memories.
Yeah.
Then he came sauce in the ViperRoom a couple times, and uh
it's uh been kind of uh uh kindof honor to get to know him a
little bit.
Jay Franze (05:16):
It's crazy the things that man does.
Eugene Rice (05:19):
He's a wild card, dude.
You know about his you knowabout his business card, right?
Jay Franze (05:23):
No, tell me.
Eugene Rice (05:24):
Oh, his his business card says uh Billy
Gibbons, friend of Eric Clapton,on his business card.
But when he printed thosebusiness cards, he had never met
Eric Clapton at the time.
And Eric Clapton found one ofhis business cards at a studio
he was recording at and calledBilly Gibbons.
So what's up, friend?
Yeah, like such a good, like Ithought about making a business
(05:48):
card.
This is Eugene Rice, friend ofBilly Gibbons.
Right.
Tiffany Mason (05:53):
I mean, take a play out of his playbook, right?
Eugene Rice (05:55):
You know what I mean?
You gotta sometimes you gottayou gotta learn from the old guy
that came before you.
Jay Franze (06:00):
That's right.
So you said this was at a acycles party.
So are you into cycles?
Eugene Rice (06:06):
Yes, yes.
I I am very into motorcycles.
Uh, I don't currently have oneliving in Los Angeles.
I sold one before I moved outto Los Angeles, but I am in the
midst of buying a new one, sowe'll see.
Right now, I've been looking ata we're looking at a uh a dynah
that I was probably gonna pickup, but you know, who knows?
We'll see.
See what happens.
Jay Franze (06:27):
All right, well, let's move into the band itself,
American Mile.
So can you just give us a quickrundown of the background of
the band?
How'd we come up with the name?
How did it start?
Eugene Rice (06:38):
Man, I came up with the name.
Actually, the name was uh uhkind of an odd coincidence at
the time.
I was recording uh with thisguy, Keith Nelson, producer out
here.
Uh, he was one of the guitarplayers in Buck Cherry.
He wrote a lot of their songs.
He works with guys like CharlieStarr and a bunch of other
cats, and um, I had writtenlyrics to one of my songs, Wild
(06:59):
Wind, and uh one of the lyricsis on the sweet American mile,
is one of the lyrics.
So I was singing the lyrics tothe song in in basically in the
recording room, and I didn'treally like the band name at the
time.
Jay Franze (07:13):
Which was what?
Eugene Rice (07:14):
Yeah, it was Brothers Collective.
It's a long story originally.
The band was me and my twobrothers, so it morphed out of
that.
But I was sitting there after Isang that line, I I kind of
like stopped from stoppedsinging the rest of the lines.
I was like, man, American Milewould be a great band name.
And then the talk back I hearKeith and he's like, Yeah, it's
(07:35):
a good band name, you shouldchange your name right now.
And I was like, all right, Iwas like, all right, yeah, it's
a good idea.
I'm gonna change the band nameright now.
So that is the the story of howthe American Mile band name
came to be, actually.
Jay Franze (07:47):
Nice.
What was it like working withhim?
Tiffany Mason (07:50):
Oh, dude.
Well, wait, I have I have Ihave a question first.
Wait a minute.
Sorry, sorry, I'm gonna removeit.
So you came up, you came upwith a new band name, but then
where does the bison come in?
Eugene Rice (08:02):
Oh, dude, that's just you know, people love
bisons.
Tiffany Mason (08:06):
You know, he's you love me a good bison.
I do.
Eugene Rice (08:09):
Everybody loves bison, you know.
It's yeah, you know.
If Ted Nugent can rock thebuffalo, I'm gonna throw that
buffalo logo out there.
Usually we do, you know, ourour actual logo most of the time
is like uh AM and it's like instars and stripes.
We've just been using thisbison logo as like another piece
of merch to sell.
Tiffany Mason (08:30):
So yeah, bison logo.
I like it actually.
Eugene Rice (08:32):
Well, thank you.
You know, I like it too.
Tiffany Mason (08:35):
Okay, sorry, Jay.
Proceed.
Jay Franze (08:37):
Oh, I don't know.
What were we talking about?
Eugene Rice (08:39):
Oh, how's it working with Keith?
Yes, that crazy bitch, right?
Oh, dude, I love Keith.
He's he's like an older brotherin a lot of ways.
As I'm the oldest of mybrothers, so I don't really have
someone that I kind of had aconnection with him in that kind
of regard.
We'll like go grab lunch andstuff.
And he's always willing to tellme like there's no uh there's
(09:03):
no uh sugarcoat in anything,which is nice.
I kind of like that.
I'm pretty straight to thepoint kind of guy, so he's very
straight to the point.
We're both pretty straight tothe point with each other about
things.
It's made a really goodrelationship as far as
songwriting and also justfriendship in general, you know.
Kind of value those things.
He's kind of dude, I could calland be like, hey, I need help,
you know.
Uh my car tire's blown.
(09:24):
And if he's actually free, I'llbe like, dude, yeah, I'll come
down and help you out.
So I really appreciate that.
Tiffany Mason (09:30):
It's important to have those kind of people in
our life.
Eugene Rice (09:32):
Absolutely.
I don't want him to hear metalking too good about him
though.
So trust me.
Jay Franze (09:37):
No, we'll keep this out of his range.
Eugene Rice (09:39):
Yeah, good, yeah, yeah, yeah.
All right.
I'm not yeah, I'm not tagginghim.
Jay Franze (09:45):
Let's take a step back.
You're from Vermont and you endup in SoCal.
So how do we go from Vermont toSoCal and somehow come up with
southern rock?
Eugene Rice (09:58):
That's a good question.
So when I moved from Vermont toSoCal, I was really into like
progressive, like kind of likeMars Volta progressive rock,
rush kind of stuff.
Jay Franze (10:11):
Queens Reich.
Eugene Rice (10:12):
Yeah, Queens Reich, all that kind of thing.
And um I moved out here with mybrother at the time.
And actually, the guitar playerthat's in the band currently,
Joe, he was in that originalband that we had when we were in
LA.
That was like 2010, like 15years ago almost.
(10:33):
I met Joe.
So Ryan went to MI as a he wentfor the uh recording program,
and Joe happened to be goingthere for the guitar program.
They ran into each other.
Ryan was like, yo, I moved outhere with my brother.
We're trying to be in a band.
We kind of got together andstarted playing this band, and
that was like debauchery at itsheight.
(10:53):
I mean, I was 21.
I had just moved to LA.
I came from like country girls,and I mean like not like
Nashville country girls, likeVermont country girls.
Like we got like, yeah, youknow, sorry, Vermont, I hate to
say it, but you know, it's justit's more of the uh the earthy
type.
A little more of the earthy,yeah, yeah, yeah.
You know.
So dude, it was just a wildtime.
(11:16):
We had sold my motorcycle tobuy an RV.
Jay Franze (11:19):
How long did you live out of the RV?
Eugene Rice (11:22):
Dude, we lived in the RV for like I want to say
like in and out of the RV endrehearsal spaces for like two
years.
It was a wild time.
We used to set up, man, we wemade these fake baffles that had
mattresses glued to them tolook like a recording booth, and
(11:45):
we set it up in our studio, andwe would like have a mic
standing there during thedaytime, and at nighttime we
just lay the beds on the floorand all just pass out.
Yeah.
Jay Franze (11:53):
That's awesome.
Eugene Rice (11:54):
We had a whole system.
Jay Franze (11:56):
I can't tell you how many times I've slept in a
recording studio, so it'salright.
Eugene Rice (12:00):
Dude, oh no, this was not a recording, this was a
rehearsal studio.
This was like, you know, youknock on the wall and like a
cockroach the size of like a bigpen would fall out.
Yeah.
Tiffany Mason (12:11):
It's all about the hustle, right?
Eugene Rice (12:13):
It's part of it.
Yeah.
And you know what's crazy isthe reason the whole reason I
moved out to LA is because Ialways wanted to do music.
Coming from Vermont, it waslike kind of there was nothing.
I mean, my hometown is like1,500 people.
Jay Franze (12:27):
You get folk music.
Eugene Rice (12:29):
You do, you do every now and then.
You every now and then, butlike, you know, there was a
different time period.
That was before the internet.
I mean, the internet was there,but it wasn't like what it is
today in a lot of ways.
It wasn't as far reaching.
It was kind of like I read allthese books growing up.
I know it's crazy.
I can read, ladies andgentlemen.
I can't.
Yes.
(12:51):
Vermont at least has good wehave good educational systems.
I can read.
Jay Franze (12:56):
Still part of New England.
Eugene Rice (12:58):
Somewhat.
Yeah.
I remember reading all thesebooks about all these rock
stars, and it always we went toHollywood, we went to LA.
We did, you know, it was all goto LA, go to LA.
We went to LA.
And I grew up this whole timebeing like, man, I gotta go to
LA.
And then I moved to LA and thenI was like, why am I in LA?
Like, this is uh this is a thisis kind of a weird spot because
(13:21):
we were right at the end oflike the strip being kind of
dead.
We kind of came in on that,that like I want to say it was
like two or three good, maybelike maybe like four or five
good years of like Hollywoodproper having, and I don't mean
like West Hollywood where theyhave like the whiskey and all
those spots, but like there wereother bars that had a lot of
(13:42):
live music every day.
You could find a band Mondaythrough you know Saturday
playing somewhere on HollywoodBoulevard, right on the main
strip.
And now there's like nothing.
I know some places that don'teven do bands anymore, and I I
can remember them having bandsthe entire time I was there.
Man, and I go to Nashville andcheck it out, and I'm like, oh,
(14:03):
there's bands everywhere.
Well, they care about music.
Oh my god, yeah, it's wild,wild, wild, wild.
Jay Franze (14:10):
Well, you still have to make that connection to
Southern Rock now.
Eugene Rice (14:14):
Yes, yes, yes, yes.
So a big part of me likegrowing up, I love the Allman
Brothers, and I love like TomPetty and 38 Special and Leonard
Skinner, and like I grew up ona lot of.
Yeah, dude, we got to we got toopen for 38 Special, and it was
like a big highlight for me.
That's awesome.
(14:35):
Dude, it's it's been great.
I I loved that.
We were able to make goodfriends or become friends with
the bass player, and we werechatting with him every now and
then.
He's like, When are you guysgonna be in Nashville?
You know, we'll meet up.
It's just been like I've alwaysloved Southern Rock.
It's always been a passion ofmine in general.
I like the songwriting, likethe storytelling that comes with
(14:55):
it.
And when my brothers quit thisband, and it basically became me
at the helm of like, okay, I'min charge of everything now.
I'm in charge of American Mile.
You know, this is my projectstarting off again.
Where do I want to head?
What direction do I want to goin?
And I was like, you know what?
I'm gonna finally dive intothis direction of like Southern
(15:16):
Rock, maybe a little bit ofsongwriter country stuff going
into it, and like really embracethe stuff that I I truly love
to play.
And it really has made me ahell of a lot happier than all
the other stuff I've done, to behonest.
Tiffany Mason (15:30):
What were you and your brothers playing in the
beginning?
Eugene Rice (15:33):
We were playing like more like more folky
country, so it was even lessrock and a lot more folky
country.
And it was really cool becauselike it was three brothers
singing three part harmoniesdoing folk country, and it had a
thing.
And we played Summerfest and weplayed like you know, we played
some big events with the band,but uh it just fell apart, dude.
(15:58):
Family bands are really hard tokeep together.
Jay Franze (16:00):
Yeah, yeah.
Was it American Mile at thattime?
Eugene Rice (16:03):
It had just changed to American Mile for a couple
of the gigs we did with theboys, but that was like
basically then when my onebrother quit.
I was like, well, they bothquit.
My producer was like, What areyou gonna do?
He's like, you know, you yourchoices are you can quit and
give up now.
Or he's like, or you have thisproduct, you have the name, you
have a direction you want tohead in.
And he's like, and then youjust gotta make it happen.
(16:25):
That was the best advice Keithcould have given me at the time.
I wouldn't be on this podcast,I wouldn't be doing the tours
I'm doing, I wouldn't be workingwith people I'm working with.
I wouldn't have met BillyGames.
Tiffany Mason (16:35):
What did your brother say about America Mile
Now?
Eugene Rice (16:38):
Uh, dude, I mean, well, do you know who Jared
James Nichols is, the guitarplayer?
He's like a ripping guitarplayer, but my brother plays
drums for him.
My brother's uh, yeah, dude,he's very supportive.
You know, he reposts stuff, heloves it, he loves the new
album, things like that.
So it's always nice to hearthat.
Me and him have always beenreally close.
So when he did quit the band,it was like kind of a gut shot
(16:59):
because me and him were soclose.
I was like, oh man, like you'rereally gonna like give up on
this.
But he wanted to chase his owndream, and you know, you
sometimes you just gotta letpeople do that.
Jay Franze (17:08):
That's what it's like with brothers, it's tough,
yeah.
Eugene Rice (17:11):
Yeah, yeah.
And sisters, yeah, dude, stillfamily at the end of the day
sometimes, you know.
So you gotta put up with somesome amount of it if you can.
Tiffany Mason (17:22):
Yeah, yeah.
I love that you guys have thatyour relationship has survived
that, so that's awesome.
Eugene Rice (17:26):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
They do say business and familydoes not blend, and that I have
learned the hard way.
I feel like, you know what?
It's okay to keep business andfamily kind of separate.
Tiffany Mason (17:39):
So who's in the band now?
Eugene Rice (17:41):
So right now we have uh Desmond Saunders on
bass, we have Colton Miller ondrums, and Joe Perez on lead
guitar.
We all sing harmony vocalstogether.
Joe is the guy actually thatwas in the original band in LA
when I first moved here 15 yearsago.
So I've known Joe like forever.
Jay Franze (18:01):
I want to talk more about the sound.
You you choose Southern Rock,right?
And your influences at thattime were the typical Southern
Rock bands, whether it beLeonard Skinner or 38 Special
and that type of stuff.
Yeah, yeah.
So how do you come around now tothe more modern Southern Rock
bands like the Black Crows?
Eugene Rice (18:22):
Oh, Black Crows, Blackberry Smoke, like all those
cats.
Jay Franze (18:25):
Yeah, I mean, do you draw influence from them as
well, or do you stick to theroom?
Eugene Rice (18:28):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
No, no, no.
I love the Black Crows.
Absolutely love the BlackCrows.
I mean, uh, our song Waiting ona Sunday that's on the record,
the last record we just wrote,was like very, in my mind, very
heavily influenced by She Talksto Angels.
It's just like, I mean, I lovethe crows.
I just got to see uh what's itcalled, the Joe Perry project
with with Chris Robinson sayinglead, and it was very cool.
(18:52):
Sick.
It was so much fun.
I mean, yeah.
They did like then they didtwice as hard, which is like my
favorite crows tune, or one ofmy favorite crows tunes.
So I was like, this is awesome.
Actually, I don't know if I'msupposed to am I allowed to
swear on this?
I didn't ask that beforehand.
Jay Franze (19:06):
We don't know.
Nobody's told us.
Hold on.
Yeah, the network says it'sokay.
Eugene Rice (19:11):
Uh it's okay.
Jay Franze (19:12):
All right, all right.
So I gotta watch that.
As you mentioned the therecording, I heard that track
and there's a B3 in there.
Who's playing the B3?
Eugene Rice (19:23):
Oh, dude, that's Mark Brown.
That is the uh the that's thethe secret fifth member of
American Mile.
He's like our he's like oursecret weapon.
That dude is like so overlybusy, it's it can be very hard
sometimes to track him down toget him into the uh get him into
the live rotation for things.
And also just we usually likekeep him for like, hey, we have
(19:48):
a showcase gig, hey, we havelike you know, some big opening
slot, we'd like to have you playwith us, things like that.
So we try to keep it that way.
I wish we were making enoughmoney where we could have him
full time, but it's just notreally feasible and keeping
everyone housed.
Jay Franze (20:03):
Dude, I just moved back from California and my two
brothers currently live inSoCal, and I can't tell you, or
I can tell you how expensive itwas.
I mean, it's crazy.
I tell people all the time astudio apartment was forty five
hundred dollars and atwo-bedroom apartment was
seventy-five hundred dollars.
Eugene Rice (20:19):
It's absolutely nuts.
Like California is crazy, justpricing.
I I think that's the big reasonof why like art, in a sense,
like artists, a lot of them aredisappearing from out here, is
that if you want to be an artistin California, you've got to
already be rich.
You can't afford the pricingall the like artists out, and
like that's just what it is.
(20:41):
Because nobody wants to paymore money for the funny thing
is is like you go anywhere inthe United States, and it's
pretty much you get the sameexact check from every single
bar, but you know, a thousanddollars in SoCal goes nowhere.
You're like, Oh, okay, my gaswas five dollars a gallon, you
know.
(21:01):
And now insane.
Oh, yeah, it's nuts.
I think I paid $4.97 today forgas, and I was just looking at
it like, well, this is cheap.
Jay Franze (21:08):
It was like six something when I was there.
Eugene Rice (21:10):
Yeah, it's wild.
Jay Franze (21:13):
As you mentioned, playing live in Torn, you guys
are playing 200 plus shows ayear.
Eugene Rice (21:18):
Yes, we are.
Jay Franze (21:20):
So how does that even come about?
Who's booking your shows?
Eugene Rice (21:23):
Uh, we have a booking agent, and then um on
top of our booking agency, wealso book gigs by ourselves.
I'm a workaholic.
I also work Monday throughThursday at a vintage guitar
shop.
So I'm like Friday, Saturday,Sunday, band, Monday, Tuesday,
Wednesday, Thursday, eitherguitar shop or band.
If we have other gigs, then Icall out of work and I go into
(21:46):
the uh I just play.
And then also most of our gigsare like four-hour gigs.
So it's like, yeah, it's ashow, but it's really like
you're playing three shows anight.
So if you want to like quantifyit as to how many sets we play,
we probably do like 600 shows ayear, which is sometimes
borderline insanity, but youknow what?
We make it work.
It's a couple of Red Bulls,maybe you know, you know, black
(22:09):
coffee and just kind of powerthrough and drink some water
when you can.
Try not to stop the band toomany times to go to the bathroom
while we're getting to the nextgig because you know you got
maybe an hour and a half window,and you don't want to mess that
up because nobody can get anyfood before the play.
Jay Franze (22:23):
Uh the guitar shop.
What do you do at the guitarshop?
Eugene Rice (22:28):
I'm the vintage guitar specialist.
So I deal with all the vintageguitars that come in and I vet
them and make sure that they'reall right.
If I have questions, there'ssome guys I know in the industry
that I'll give calls to.
Like if it's something that I'mway out of my wheelhouse with,
you know, a $50,000 Martin walksin and I'm like, I think I'm
right about this, but I need tomake sure that this and this are
(22:50):
right.
So it's always good to have acouple more eyes on it.
Give uh Dave Henson a call outof Killer Vintage in Dallas.
He's my go-to guy.
So all right.
Jay Franze (22:58):
Next thing I want to know, let's go back to the
booking agent for a minute.
Sure.
How did you come about thebooking agent?
Did you hunt them down or didthey hunt you down?
Eugene Rice (23:06):
All right.
So 2019, right before COVIDhit, I played the Idaho Potato
Drop, and it was like this crazyhuge, big show.
It was awesome.
I did a bunch of interviews uhlike on CNN and all this other
stuff.
Got home and then had a gigwith NASCAR, Fontana Speedway.
(23:30):
So I did a gig there.
And when I was doing this gig,this guy that I knew, Neil
Morgan, had seen me the yearprior, and he saw me again and
was like, hey man, I have thisbooking agency.
They booked my band.
I've seen you now twice.
I really want them to work withyou.
And I was like, Well, I'mlooking for an agent.
(23:51):
You know, it was prettyexciting at the time because
like he showed me what they weredoing.
I was like, Well, you guys areplaying like a lot of opening
slots and like a ton of casinowork, and just like you're
you're like a functioningworking band as well as getting
to do your original thing.
And I was like, if we can havethat rolling and I don't have to
have a day job, that would begreat.
So I left that gig and was likeecstatic because I had
(24:17):
basically signed a sh handshakecontract with a booking agency,
something I had been trying todo for years and never been able
to do.
I went on vacation to Mexicowith some friends down there.
I'm fishing.
Just it was bonito season, andwe were just banging bonitos in
like left and right.
It was crazy.
I'm doing that, it's great.
(24:38):
Nothing could go wrong.
I'm on the beach, I'm drinkingmargaritas, I'm just passing
out.
They have a mescaria.
We're going down there drivingdirt bikes and driving them
back, like just having the wildtime down there.
And I am sitting in a kitchenwith my friend, and the news is
on, and all of a sudden,COVID-19 has appeared and has
(25:04):
entered the chat.
And I'm like, what's this?
You know, what's going on?
Like in my mind at that time,I'm like, oh, this is gonna be
no big deal.
It's like some bird flu stuffor whatever, like it's gonna
blow over.
And then fast forward to I'mback in America because they're
like, hey, you have to leave,and we go back because we're
closing the border.
And all of a sudden, I'm like,I just signed this deal with the
booking agency, and now there'sno shows ever.
(25:28):
I was like, this has got to bethe biggest joke played on me in
like in like the history of mylife.
Like, this is ridiculous.
So my agent is like, just hold,just hold steady and like wait,
and just wait till I call you.
I'm like, okay, so like monthsgo by, we're on lockdown.
Jay Franze (25:47):
I mean, how are you paying your bills?
Eugene Rice (25:50):
Actually, my very good friend Scott Bednar gave me
a job as a roofer because Icould do it outside.
So I was doing roofingthroughout basically the entire
pandemic, and that like justkept me alive.
And dude, roofing in Californiaduring the summer, not a fun
time.
Brutal.
It was awful.
We just started like we startedat like 4 a.m.
(26:12):
and would just like work tillprobably noon.
And by noon, it was like youcouldn't be on the roof or
you're just ruining theshingles.
It's not shingles.
Well, some of it was shingles,some of it was tile.
It was like it would depend onwhat the the customer wanted,
but like I was basically doingthat, and that kept me
sustained.
Uh God bless him for that.
(26:33):
That really saved me.
Probably like middle of thepandemic.
My agent calls and he's like,hey, put a band together, just
start rehearsing.
Tiffany Mason (26:44):
Light at the end of the tunnel.
Eugene Rice (26:46):
And I'm like, okay.
So we're rehearsing.
He's like, I got a drive-ingig.
We're doing like this bigdrive-in event, and the band
that hooked you up is gonnaplay, and we're gonna have your
band open it.
So at the time, I called JoePerez and was like, yo, I got
this gig, it's like an outsidegig.
(27:08):
I had another guitar player atthe time, and I was like, the
guy in the other band had askedme to play guitar for them also,
and then I was like looking atall the songs they needed me to
learn, plus all my own stuffwith rehearsing, and I was like,
There's no way I'm gonna beable to wrap my brain around all
this in like a week.
So I called up Joe and waslike, Hey, can you fill in and
take this gig over with thisother band?
(27:30):
So he took that over with theheadliner, and I just focused on
American Mile.
So we did this gig.
Basically, end of that gig, wecame out and we did Free Bird
with me, Joe, and the otherguitar player, and we just did
like all three of us playingtogether, and it was a blast.
And I was like, I want to dothat.
(27:51):
I was like, I would love to dolike a Leonard Skinner three
guitar player thing.
And uh my other guitar playerat the time was not about it.
So we came back and he justquit.
He was like, I don't want to dothis, I don't like it, I don't
like there's another guitarplayer.
And I was like, All right,dude, like there's the door,
that's your choice.
So he quit.
And then now I'm like, Joe'slike, well, I'm still down to be
(28:12):
in the band.
So I'm like, all right.
So we just we start nowrehearsing this thing.
My agent calls again and he'slike, yo, are you guys ready?
And I'm like, yeah, what's up?
And he's like, the NativeAmerican casinos are allowed to
do music.
I can book you guys.
I have no other bands that areready to play.
You're the only one we havethat's ready to play.
(28:33):
Everyone else is like eitherafraid to go out, and we were
all like, dude, we're notafraid.
I'll like I caught COVID likenine times, I think.
I don't know what I don't knowwhat that does to you, but I
feel fine.
Jay Franze (28:45):
I think we're starting to see what it does to
you.
Eugene Rice (28:47):
Yeah, right.
A little crazy, dude.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So uh, so we just like grabbedevery single gig they would give
us through that.
I mean, I worked for like thathalf a year, like end of 2019,
all the way through 2020,because there just was nobody
that wanted to pick up the gig.
(29:08):
So we were just taking them.
It gave uh a really good liketime buffer for like me and Joe
to like kind of gel and get thebusiness kind of going and get
the name out there so that whenwe found new members that ended
up being more permanent members,it was like we already had
established certain areas wherelike we can play here and make
money, we can play here and makemoney.
(29:30):
We can we had all these anchorgigs where like, oh, we know
that this casino will pay uswell, we can do that on Saturday
and Sunday, and Friday we cando like an original show
somewhere in town and try tolike churn a little bit of a uh
an actual fan base out of it.
But to be honest, it was likekind of a wicked ride because
(29:50):
doing that stuff, we burnedthrough so many band members.
It was wild.
Like just could not hang.
Oh man, like, yeah, they'resweet guys, they're all great.
I have no qualms with anyonethat has left the band, but it
like we burned through players.
We did for a while.
Tiffany Mason (30:09):
Um did it make you feel like like so like.
Oh, like we can hang and theycan't.
Eugene Rice (30:15):
Like you know, it just like it made me be like, I
would what would what would getme is I would tell them how hard
it was.
I would be like, listen, we'repsychos, we play nonstop, we
play as many gigs as we can.
Me and Joe have done three gigsin 24 hours before.
Like, we will just jam gigsinto things to play to play to
(30:39):
play.
And some guys are like, I cando that.
And then they actually do itwith you like for two weeks, and
they're like, I don'tunderstand how you guys can
physically do this.
Like, I am going nuts.
Uh, and uh, I don't know, it'sjust that's all I love to do,
especially drummer.
Yeah, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.
We are we're like a woodchipper for drummers.
Jay Franze (31:01):
It's it's um so the the lineup that you have now,
how long has that lineup been inplace?
Eugene Rice (31:07):
So Desmond's been with us for two years.
Funny enough, we always dideverything by Democratic vote.
And at the time when Desmondauditioned for the band, he was
my choice.
I was like, I want this guy tobe our bass player.
I really liked him.
I liked his feel.
I liked that he could sing.
I think when he came in, he waslike a slightly underprepared,
but like there was somethingabout him that I was just like,
(31:30):
he's good, he's got something.
Like I can tell from hispersonality that he's gonna
like, we're gonna gel, you know,it's gonna work.
And um, I got outvoted.
So I got outvoted, and Desmonddid not get the first audition.
We had another guy for aboutlike a little over half a year.
Kind of like through thatprocess with him, we realized
(31:53):
that we were like, oh, this dudeis not working out.
He was like telling us, like,I'm gonna quit, I'm gonna quit.
And finally, at some point, Iwas like, why don't we reach out
to Desmond?
I was like, reach out toDesmond, see what he's doing,
and maybe he'll want to jump in,you know, and play with us.
And uh sure enough, Joe calledDes, and Des was like, dude,
(32:15):
I've been thinking about howmuch I wanted to join your band
from the last time, and like Istill want to join the band.
And we sent him the material,he came in, he knew it.
It's been great ever since.
I love Desmond.
Oh, who knows?
That's that's a you know,that's a whole nother box of
worms I don't want to open hereon the stream.
(32:36):
Uh, but they should.
I'm good at that.
I'm a good gut feeling guy.
I'm always you know, you tendto be pretty right on the money.
Jay Franze (32:44):
Let's take this a step further.
You said when you were withyour your brothers and you your
brothers chose to leave the bandand you were able to move
forward, go with your name, gowith your style, which kind of
alludes to the fact that youwere running the band at that
point.
So, how does the dynamic of theband work today?
Eugene Rice (33:02):
It right now it's it's like a true democracy for
the band.
I think I have a little more ofa say with a lot of the guys as
far as it comes to songwriting,because I do a majority of the
songwriting.
But even there, we try toinclude everyone in every
decision financially.
They they can see all thespreadsheets, all the money
that's coming into the business.
Jay Franze (33:23):
What is the business relationship?
Eugene Rice (33:26):
Right now, me and Joe are the like sole owners of
the LLC.
I made him a business partnerafter we started this and did
everything because I was like,dude, you've been here for six
years now and haven't goneanywhere.
You've put in your time as faras I'm concerned, like, you
know, you're my business partnerbecause this is not an easy
road.
So me and Joe became basicallypartners on our LLC.
(33:51):
With the new boys, Des andColton, Desmond at this point
has come to a point where youknow he had expressed wanting,
expressed wanting some stake inthe band.
And I was like, you know what,man, like you've been here, you
work super hard.
He does all a lot, all of ouralmost all of our social media.
Like, I'll send him videos andhe'll cut it up and post it.
(34:11):
Very good.
Yeah, it's like when someone'sworking that hard with you, I
think they deserve that.
I think that that kind ofbusiness relationship cultivates
trust in the end.
It boils down to somethingthat, like, in the future, if it
gets hard or gets tough, thatperson's gonna stick around
because you trusted them at somepoint and now they trust you,
(34:33):
and there's just a mutualrespect.
I really do respect the hellout of all the guys in the band
for how hard they work.
Jay Franze (34:39):
So is this an equal share band at this point?
Eugene Rice (34:42):
Yeah, at this point, right now, it's like the
money's always an equal share.
Everyone gets an equal cut.
As far as control of the bandis, who owns parts of the LLC?
We worked out a deal where it'slike if you're in for a certain
amount of years, basically youget a percentage of the band per
year until you're a quartermember, and then we'll all just
have a quarter control of theLLC.
(35:04):
Smart way.
That's the way I'm gonna do it.
Yeah.
Jay Franze (35:07):
All right.
So, what kind of challengeshave you guys faced other than
COVID?
Dude, man.
Eugene Rice (35:14):
Boy, we have blown up more vehicles, I think, than
anyone.
You know, dude, we're likewe're like, we're like the nitro
circus of blowing up vehicles.
I feel like if it's likerolling the bearings in an
engine or it's blowing tires,we've done everything and all in
between.
I don't know why, but uhcontrol arms don't like us,
(35:37):
that's for sure.
Um, I've had a couple peoplesteal catalytic converters at
this point that I've had to weldstraight pipes together
underneath, done things likethat uh to keep them going.
I would say vehicles have beenour number one struggle.
It's it's pretty wild.
Um so our car lock, pray forus.
Chat, pray for us, please.
(35:59):
We need better car lock.
Tiffany Mason (36:01):
I think we should put the motorcycle on hold
then.
Let's I'm a great driver.
Eugene Rice (36:06):
Okay, the driving is fine.
It's the uh it's the guts onthings.
Jay Franze (36:10):
Especially on a motorcycle, you you can't trust
the other people around you.
Eugene Rice (36:14):
Oh no, yeah, never, never, never, never.
You gotta be like a hawk onthose things, especially in LA.
Tiffany Mason (36:19):
Keep a junker.
I wouldn't get anything nice.
Eugene Rice (36:24):
No, I can fix, I can fix a motorcycle.
That's easy to work on.
It's all just it's all justbig, it's like adult Legos.
You could put it together andtake it apart.
Tiffany Mason (36:33):
Yeah, oh my gosh, I love how you are so scrappy
or resourceful and just makethings happen, get things done.
You had a pretty strong mindsetfor that.
Do you feel like all the bandmembers match that?
Eugene Rice (36:47):
Oh, yeah, yeah, for sure.
They match it.
I mean, I'm a little more, Ithink a little more tenacious
than everybody, but I'm alsolike, I love the hustle of like,
you know, my dad and my uncleare both hustlers as far as it
goes.
Like, I mean, they do reallygood work, but they're uh, you
know, when they were alwaysdoing contracting, they were
always hustling, hustling tomake a dollar.
(37:07):
When they're off work, they'relike buying cars and flipping
cars.
Like I grew up around that.
Jay Franze (37:12):
All right, my friend.
Well, we do this thing here.
We call unsung heroes where youtake a moment to shine light on
somebody who's worked behindthe scenes or somebody who may
have supported you along theway.
Do you have anybody you'd liketo shine a little light on?
Eugene Rice (37:22):
Uh yes, I would.
Patty Hillis.
She and her son Noah Hillishave been amazing to me.
I've gone through some somereally tough times in my life,
and they've helped me outthrough them a lot.
I'd like to thank Dave Henson.
He's been like a second fatherto me.
I'd also like to thank ScottBednar.
(37:42):
He's the guy that helped me getthrough COVID.
He's taught me so much.
He's an amazing human.
He rescued me from working at astudio that I hated working at.
And uh, I'd like to thank KeithNelson.
And then uh last but not least,of course, I'd love to thank my
parents.
They've always been there,they've always supported my
dream.
I would not be here withoutthem.
Jay Franze (38:04):
What kind of troubles were you dealing with?
Eugene Rice (38:07):
Oh, dude, I have gone through uh I went through
um I went through a lot of stuffin LA where I lost, I lost
where I was living and thingslike that.
And um uh Patty, who I talkedabout earlier, her and her son
took me in and kind of just havegiven me a room and like room
(38:27):
and board and just taking careof me like I was like her own
son.
And uh Dave, I wouldn't knowanything about vintage guitars
without Dave Henson.
He took me under his wing aslike his protege and showed me
everything I needed to know, andit has done nothing but been a
blessing in my life and given melike the ability to work while
(38:52):
I'm why you know it's like afun, it's fun for me.
I love vintage guitar, so it'sI love guitar in general, so
it's something that's not reallyuh it's not even like a job to
me, it's like a passion project,right?
And then Keith just being uhyou know all around knucklehead
producer that I that gets to uhbeat up on me every now and then
slam me back into reality whenI'm getting negative.
(39:13):
It's hard to have that.
Tiffany Mason (39:16):
You said that the band was named after American
Mile.
You were singing a line oflyrics from one of your songs.
And do you think I mean youguys are using like the stars
and stripes, and is it becauseit's American in the name, or is
it because you guys just reallyhave a patriotism, you know, in
your soul?
Eugene Rice (39:36):
Oh I love this country.
This is the greatest country inthe world, in my opinion.
Tiffany Mason (39:40):
Like, yeah, I mean like you can grow up in
Vermont and then end up in SoCalas like the great band.
Eugene Rice (39:47):
You can you can still it's tough, it's it's
tough out there.
I think everyone realizes it'sgotten tough, it's gotten
tougher over the years.
But I still believe that withhard work, the American dream is
still alive.
You can be whatever you want tobe, you can do whatever you
want to do.
It just takes hard work.
And some people are afraid ofhard work.
I get it.
(40:07):
It's not it's not an easything, you know?
It's never gonna be.
It wasn't easy for anyonecoming over here back in the
day, and it's it's not anyeasier now.
You just gotta put your nose tothe grindstone to make it
happen.
Tiffany Mason (40:20):
Same demons, different day.
Eugene Rice (40:22):
Exactly.
Exactly.
You know, dude, I'll worryabout I'll worry about uh, you
know, yesterday's problemstomorrow.
I'll do that.
I'll just keep worrying aboutit next day, you know, and I'll
just keep I'll just keepmotoring through because that's
all you can do.
Tiffany Mason (40:35):
Yeah, yeah.
It seems like you've got theright idea.
It seems like you got a goodhead on your shoulders.
You're making it through,you're seeing the silver
linings, you guys are havingfun, and that's really kind of
money right there.
Eugene Rice (40:47):
What else can you do?
You know, right?
Life is too short to get it,you know, to be uh depressed
about every little thing thathappens.
It's too much.
Tiffany Mason (40:57):
Okay, so I have another another little fun
follow-up question for you.
Yeah.
So I saw on the microphonestands that y'all like to have
the scarves on there.
Jay Franze (41:05):
Yes.
Tiffany Mason (41:06):
And so I want to know do you switch them out per
show?
Is it like, you know, here's56, and we're gonna pick like
everybody picks two or three fortheir mic stand today?
Or what okay, what what what dowe how does this happen?
Eugene Rice (41:22):
Like a like a circus trunk full of scarves,
you know, pull them out.
That's uh my next trick.
I'm gonna be uh pulling allthese scarves out of my mouth.
Yeah.
Uh we pretty much use the samescarves every time, but every
now and then, like someone whohas come to a show that has seen
us for like maybe like years orso that really loves the band,
(41:43):
they'll ask for a scarf and I'llhave gifted them a scarf and
then have to go buy a new one.
So you know how that started,which is crazy, is that we
played a gig and um, you know,when you do like a a five-hour
cover gig, you know, becauseit's like, okay, we gotta do
this, like this uh I don't knowhow you guys do that.
Oh, it's it's wonderful.
(42:03):
I love every moment of it.
When we do a gig that long, weneeded iPads so we could read uh
like lyrics because it's like,dude, I'm not gonna remember
five hours of lyrics that I'venever read before.
Um I can read them and singthem.
I know the melodies, but hell,I don't I don't know what he's I
don't know what he's talkingabout half the time.
Yeah.
So one of the booking agentsthat saw us was like, you guys
(42:26):
are amazing, but I hate theiPads.
And I was like, man, how do Iget rid of the iPads?
And I and I was talking to Joe,our other guitar player, and I
was like, you know what, dude?
Let's hang some scarves.
Let's go to the Goodwill todayand buy a bunch of scarves, and
like Steven Tyler, the micstands up and hang them over the
iPads.
So we did that for theliterally the next show, the
(42:48):
next day.
And the booking agent was like,It's amazing.
You guys are great.
I love that you got rid of theiPads.
And I was like, Yeah, we did.
You know, like they're justright behind the scarves.
So don't worry about it.
Yeah, and now there's just kindof like, you know, now it's our
thing, we throw the scarves oneverything.
But you know, we do originals,we still throw the scarves on
there.
So it's it's fun, you know.
(43:08):
I like giving them the audiencetoo every now and then.
Part of the image.
Tiffany Mason (43:11):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Not just shtick.
Jay Franze (43:14):
All right, folks.
Well, we have done it.
We've reached the top of thehour, which does mean we have
reached the end of the show.
If you've enjoyed the show,please tell a friend and Miss
Tiffany.
If you have not, tell two.
Tell three, four, five, or six.
Tiffany Mason (43:27):
Ten, baby.
Come on.
Eugene Rice (43:29):
There you go.
That's right.
Jay Franze (43:30):
You can also reach out to two of us over at
jFrenzy.com.
Hell, you can reach out to thethree of us over at jFrenzy.com.
We will be happy to keep thisconversation going.
All right.
Sir, we cannot thank youenough.
We would like to leave thefinal words to you.
Eugene Rice (43:43):
Thanks so much for having me.
You guys have been great.
I loved having to chat withyou.
I mean, I was laughing.
And if I can have a good timehanging out with two people I've
never met on a phone and laugha little bit, then it's a good
day.
All right.
So thank you.
Thank you.
Jay Franze (43:57):
Awesome.
Eugene Rice (43:58):
Well, have a good night.
Tony Scott (44:01):
Thanks for listening to the Jay Franzi Show.
Make sure you visit us atJFranzi.com.
Follow connect and say hello.
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