September 29, 2025 • 54 mins
What happens when a childhood nickname becomes a musical identity? Josh Gale and Sean from the band Gale Byrd join us to share how football fields in Texas, marsh sunsets in Charleston, and the everyday struggles of marriage have shaped their distinctive sound.
The conversation dives deep into the creative heartbeat of this Charleston-based band. Josh reveals how his football nickname "Gale Bird" eventually became their band name, while Sean explains the meticulous production process that transforms their raw inspiration into polished tracks. Most touching is the story of how Josh's wife Melissa, silenced by childhood criticism, found her voice again through marriage and now stands as a vital part of their musical identity.
Charleston's natural beauty plays a starring role in their creative process. The marshlands, harbor sunsets, and coastal atmosphere provide both inspiration and therapy for the band members. This connection to place infuses their music with an authentic spirit that fans immediately recognize. After a decade-long hiatus to focus on raising families, Gale Bird has returned with a renewed sense of purpose, crafting songs that speak directly to the heart of adult relationships.
Their upcoming single "Roses" carries a powerful message: "Don't hold your roses till the funeral, take every chance to tell her she's beautiful." Written nearly a year before recent tragic events made headlines, the song's reminder about life's fragility feels uncannily timely. Through honest storytelling and melodic craftsmanship, Gale Bird creates music that encourages listeners to cherish relationships while navigating life's complexities.
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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 at you live.
I am Jay Franze, and uh with metonight, the grace to my will,
my beautiful co-host, Ms.
Tiffany Mason.
Tiffany Mason (00:54):
Good evening.
Jay Franze (00:56):
And if you are new to the show, this is your source
for the latest news, reviews,and interviews.
So if you would like to joinin, comment, or fire off any
questions, please head over tojayfranze.com.
All right, my friend.
Tonight we have a very specialguest with us.
We have two very special guestswith us.
We have two thirds of veryspecial guests with us.
All right.
(01:17):
Hailing from the great state ofSouth Carolina.
We have Gale Byrd.
Josh, Sean, how are you?
Josh Gale (01:24):
Jay and Tiffany, thank you both for having us on.
Jay Franze (01:27):
Yeah, doing well.
We're doing well.
Is it Josh or Joshua?
Which one do you prefer?
Josh Gale (01:32):
Either one.
That's I think that's uh, youknow, obviously my last name is
Gale, which is part of the nameof the band, which is a story in
itself, and um how thosenicknames formed over the years,
uh, but you know, usually go byJosh or Joshua, whatever
whatever someone's calling me.
Jay Franze (01:49):
All right.
Well, that's what I want toknow.
Let's just start there.
What is the story behind thename?
Josh Gale (01:54):
So, story behind the name.
Uh, so I've got two olderbrothers, and we all grew up in
Plano, Texas, right north ofDallas.
And so that's football country.
So, of course, oldest brother'ssix foot five, you know, making
a name for himself, playingsports.
Tiffany Mason (02:09):
Oh, wow.
Josh Gale (02:09):
Next brother up is fast making a name for himself,
and then coming up behindeverybody is that is the big
redheaded Josh Gale.
So the coaches are had alreadybecome familiar uh with our dad,
who was a former collegefootball player, just a very
high-intensity type of person,the one from every TV show or
(02:30):
movie, Friday Night Lights, thatyou'd ever you'd ever heard of,
the guy that that uh God, Ihear him.
You know, you hear him louderthan any other person in the
stands.
So the last name, you know,everybody in football calls you
by your last name.
So for Gale, it was me, but mydad would choose to yell out my
nickname, which was J Bird.
So he'd come, you know, yell,come on, bird, and really loud.
(02:53):
And so as soon as coaches foundthat out, the nickname uh from
just calling me Gale turned intoGale Bird.
So it caught on pretty quickly,and in sports, it just became
Gale Bird.
Around school, it became GaleBird.
I think when uh we wererecording, you know, some
tracks.
What a couple of years ago,Sean, we had to come up with a
(03:15):
band name and we just startedthrowing out names.
One of mine being Gale Bird,and it just kind of stuck.
Uh, we didn't hate it.
Uh, I don't think any bandname's good until you make it.
Um, and so we can we can gowith a whole list red hot chili
peppers, you know, what'sanother one, Sean?
Uh ACDC.
Yeah.
Sean Monahan (03:35):
Just letters.
Yeah, Led Zaplet has a bunch,yeah.
Jay Franze (03:38):
I tell you, my favorite name of a band ever was
Make Lisa Rich.
Tiffany Mason (03:44):
Lisa Rich.
You know, Joshua, I thoughtmaybe the the name was from uh
like Sing Sweet Nightingale, youknow, and you were like a song
bird, and so it was like a galebird.
Josh Gale (03:58):
Yeah, but no, it's kind of a way more masculine
story.
Yeah, well, it's more morphedinto that over the years, and um
my wife and her family all hadan affinity for birds, and I
showed up to pick her up for ourfirst date, and I have a big
giant bird on my shirt, and theyjust knew, oh my gosh, that's
an omen, this is meant to bekind of thing.
And it just always becamesomething special to us.
(04:22):
And of course, I'd buyer thingswith birds on them and whatnot.
So it's always been special tous, and then I do sing my see my
wife has a song bird and uh herbeautiful voice and all that
kind of stuff that actually, youknow, we didn't discover until
we got married.
I had no idea she sang.
Tiffany Mason (04:38):
What a beautiful surprise!
Josh Gale (04:40):
Yeah.
So uh there was uh apparently auh a young boy in elementary
school that that she had a crushon, and he just told her she
should never sing again.
And she little little thirdgrade Melissa heard that and she
received it and she stoppedsinging.
She would participate in choirsand things like that, but never
never having the confidence tostep up and sing.
(05:00):
So I heard her singing when wewe got married, and I was like,
hey, I'm not trying to flatteryou like we're already married,
but uh I I really think you havean amazing voice, but it took a
lot of convincing andencouragement to get her to even
sing in front of her ownfamily.
That's where we kind of startedwas getting her to sing in
front of her family.
She would always threaten me.
(05:22):
Please do not ask me to sing, Iwill fight you, kind of thing.
Um, but then it just expandedfrom there.
And then I convinced her tosing with me one Sunday at
church, and she got enoughfeedback there to be like, okay,
Josh is not just lying to me,you know.
It's you know, because I'vehad, you know, if you've played
out enough, you've always gotsomebody coming up that's had
too much to drink that's saying,Hey, you gotta let my wife sing
(05:46):
a song, she is the best, and soyou're like, Okay, I kind of am
up for a little bit ofentertainment.
What is your favorite song?
And she bombs, but her husbandis literally just the happiest
man on planet earth, like sohappy.
Somehow he's got like shallowhow ears or something like that,
(06:08):
you know.
And he see he hears somethingdifferent than we do, but he is
just he's just having the timeof his life, and you know, those
are the guys that always willthrow a tip jar something out,
you know, for you or whatever.
But this wasn't the case.
She knew it, she felt likegenuine care that people people
noticed that she had somethingthat was pretty, pretty, pretty
great.
Jay Franze (06:28):
So, how long were you guys playing before you
brought her into the band?
Sean Monahan (06:32):
We started pretty early.
We started out out of college,so I don't know, what, 14 years
ago now?
We went to colleges that weremaybe 20 miles apart.
So we'd get together every oncein a while and we'd play around
town.
And through Josh starting todate her, and then you know, us
growing closer as a band, westart realizing she's got
(06:52):
potential.
And so she started singingpretty late into us starting.
We took a 10-year break, westarted having families.
Uh, I have two kids, Josh hasfour.
And then a couple years ago,Josh called me up and said, Hey,
I think I think we want to givethis another go.
And so she had started with usback then, but it just made
(07:13):
sense.
And she does have a beautifulvoice.
Oh my goodness.
So we started back up, andshe's been the the one that
makes us look good ever since.
Tiffany Mason (07:23):
Now, Sean, when is your wife joining?
When do you guys become aquartet?
Sean Monahan (07:26):
You know, I've been working on trying to get
her on an instrument, and it isit has been a struggle, but
we're gonna keep working.
Tiffany Mason (07:33):
Yeah, photographer.
Sean Monahan (07:35):
We we tried the photography.
The photography didn't work,but um she yeah, she's
incredibly gifted artist.
She actually, oh, she um diddesign one of our our um album
art.
Uh she's incredible portraitartist, and uh she did a uh
single-line sketch of uh ofMelissa actually for Crumble
(07:55):
Down.
Josh Gale (07:56):
That's one pen stroke that is uh a portrait of
Melissa that she just nailed,and that was the album art cover
or the single art cover forthat one.
She's extremely talented.
She does charcoal portraits,she does oil.
I mean, she is extremelytalented, but we've always been
very cautious of that too.
You know, there's always tonsof stories of how there was, you
(08:20):
know, a yoko that broke up theband.
Um and uh we've we've hadrun-ins with that before as
well, you know, in college dayswhere you know somebody asks
their significant other to comein.
And I'm telling you, if youcan't hear your harmonies super
well and they're not superconfident, uh playing live is
extremely hard because you don'tknow what you're gonna get at
(08:41):
any venue.
You never know.
I mean, you're given whatyou're given, unless you're
bringing your front of house andyou're and your ears and your
two sound guys, you have no ideawhat you're going to receive at
any venue.
And so if you're not extremelyconfident, we've ran into that
before where the harmoniesdisappear or things like that.
So we've always been cautiousof all that, but we get to play
(09:02):
with the rest of our family aswell.
Uh, family is extremelyimportant to us.
And so my brother-in-law, allday long, he works the head of
one of our largest hospitals inSouth Carolina.
He works the head of thepalliative care, so that's like
end-of-life care.
So his his his life's prettypretty crazy, you know.
Tiffany Mason (09:20):
Monday is the music.
Josh Gale (09:21):
He needs the music.
It's like the beginning, Mondaymorning, it's like who died
over the weekend, you know.
And so every chance he gets tojump in with us is like his out,
his, and it's we have such ablast.
And then our lots of otherfriends that join us that are
just have so much energy and arejust such incredible musicians.
COVID was insane, but one thingI'm thankful for is that it
(09:44):
brought some incrediblemusicians here to Charleston
when kind of you know, Music Rowshut down, parts of Nashville
shut down.
Some people followed theirwives or their girlfriends back
down south over into Charlestonand South Carolina, and and um,
we're so grateful that we endedup with some incredible friends
from that.
So some great things came outof that as well, including
(10:05):
members from our band.
Jay Franze (10:07):
So you take this 10-year hiatus and you come
back, and now you're playingwith your wife in the band.
What's the difference, the feeldifference between beforehand
to the way it is now?
Sean Monahan (10:21):
It's night and day.
I think just life is different,you know.
We have kids, and so it doeschange priorities.
Uh, we're not trying to playout as often as we were back
then.
It's a little different grind,you know.
It's it's a lot more of thewhen can we find pockets in the
studio and and things like that.
But it's also just I thinkreally shaped what we write
(10:45):
about at this stage of life.
A lot of what we're thinkingabout is how can we be a better
partner in our marriage and howcan we encourage other people in
that.
We think it's important.
One of the most importantthings in life is to invest in
your family, and and so it'sreally shaped the dynamic of the
band now.
So a lot of what we're writingabout is trying to like spark
(11:06):
hope into marriages and into ourum our own marriage.
It's therapeutic in a lot ofways.
So we we've always had a littlebit of a bent towards rock
country and and that style, butbut thematically and
dynamically, we I think we haveshifted a good bit.
Jay Franze (11:23):
So, how would you describe the style of what you
guys are doing now versus whatit was?
Sean Monahan (11:30):
That's a good question.
I I think initially we weremore focused on the live show,
and so a lot of what we werewriting and where we were
heading towards was how do wemake something that's super
engaging and fun and excitingfor a live crowd?
When we started back again ayear or two ago, we started in
the studio, and so it was alittle bit different approach.
(11:51):
When we still play live, wewant to make sure we're having a
good time and you know,exciting and engaging still.
But when we're writing for thestudio, it's almost a different
mindset now of uh how we'reapproaching a song.
And so approaching productionlooks a little different.
We're thinking more as aproducer's mindset, what can we
add to the song that reallyelevates the what we're trying
(12:13):
to communicate well?
That gets prioritized overmaking the the chorus this big
anthemy thing that we hope thecrowd will sing with us.
And then we're thinking alsogenre-wise, like, are we trying
to write for a specificaudience?
Uh, are we looking at playlistsand and trying to stay within a
genre?
It's it's been very differentand very interesting.
(12:34):
And I think we're still tryingto figure out exactly what that
looks like for us, but we havedefinitely shifted more toward
country than we were 15 yearsago.
Jay Franze (12:45):
Well, that's what I wanted to ask you.
I mean, it started with a rockfeel, and you're kind of moving
into the country world, more ofan Americana style feel to it.
So, what were the influences inthe rock world?
Sean Monahan (12:57):
That's kind of always an interesting dynamic
between me and Josh becauseJosh, you can speak to this, but
I I'm pretty sure he wasmajority country with a lot of
what he listened to.
And my parents did not likecountry music, so I didn't grow
up listening to any country.
I started playing guitar young,and so I found out about Brad
Paisley and Keith Urban, and soI started listening to the
(13:19):
guitar players, but it wasn'tuntil the last few years that
I've really kind of startedlistening and adding that more
to what I'm digesting.
So I grew up with classic rockand 90s pop.
I grew up with a lot of uhcontemporary Christian music
from uh playing at church andthings like that.
(13:39):
And then I studied jazz incollege.
In working in studios, I'vedone a lot of different genres
from Latin to orchestral andcountry.
And so I come to the table withkind of a wide variety of
things, none of which are verysuper strong country.
And so a lot of times Josh ishaving to rein me in to keep me
(13:59):
in genre, but um, but it it alsoI think creates some really
cool nuances that are different,yeah.
Josh Gale (14:05):
Josh, yeah, for me.
Um, so the first couple yearsof my life was was sent with
spent with my grandmother, who'sfrom Hickory, North Carolina,
which is Appalachia, just strongsouthern accent.
And then we we we made a moveto Dallas, and it was anybody
and everybody, nobody has anaccent in Dallas, and somehow
(14:27):
it's in Texas, but everybodylost it.
I think my parents encouragedthat as well and would correct
grammar, would correct all thatkind of stuff, because uh
there's at some point, you know,we know in the South that that
sometimes folks think thatthat's a sign of ignorance, you
know.
So that was corrected a lotgrowing up, and so my wife would
even notice, like, man, whenyou say certain things or when,
(14:48):
you know, whatever it is, it itjust almost comes out, you know.
And so I I stopped trying tocorrect myself as much um over
the years and just kind of letwhat was natural be natural.
And first record, you know, uhliving, let's see, I was on a uh
a bus in 2002, and I wanted tobuy a new record for this bus
(15:12):
ride from from Plano to SanAntonio, and uh I was going on a
trip to sing with a with agroup of guys that we had we'd
been nominated, and it's calledthe Texas Music Education
Awards.
It was a giant thing.
So yeah, football and then likecompetitive singing in Texas.
It's a huge thing.
Jay Franze (15:28):
They go they go together, they go together.
Josh Gale (15:31):
Uh so we were uh it was a long bus ride across the
entire country of Texas, and uhum I got one record.
We went to Walmart, went to theCD Rack, and it was Tim McGraw
and the and the Dance HallDoctors.
It was this record that likeblew my mind.
There was not a single track onthat record that I did not fall
(15:53):
in love with, and somehow itrelated to 2002 Young Josh that
kind of explained some like someemotion to me that I had not
yet like been able to experienceor convey.
Just an incredible record.
If you've never had a chance tolisten to the entire thing from
beginning to end, it it is anincredible journey.
Just red ragtop was one of thesingles from that record, which
(16:16):
was an incredible song.
Probably too young tocompletely understand what the
heck I was even singing.
But you know, that's why Godmade Mexico.
Tiffany Mason (16:24):
Jesus, sometimes.
Sometimes the songs that likemy kids sing along to, I'm just
like, oh, but I'm like, okay,it's going over their head, it's
going over their head.
Josh Gale (16:34):
Yeah, yes.
And then now I think about it,you have like Alexa in the house
now, and they can literallyplay any song they want to at
any time, which is great, butbut at the same time, like whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,whoa, whoa, whoa.
Not that one.
We have the moments here, yeah,1000%.
Um, did not want to have thatconversation today with the
child, but there it is.
(16:54):
So that that record, and thenmy first concert, you know, I'm
going other end of the spectrumwas this pop rock concert.
A friend of mine got tickets,her name was Michaela Kennedy,
and she said, Hey, my mom saidshe'd take us.
Well, I got my first concertwith a girl that I thought was
really cute, and it was JohnMayer at the Smyrnoff Center in
(17:16):
Dallas.
Again, my my my mind was blown.
Like your first concert beingJohn Mayer.
I had my son's first footballgame is about to be the Dallas
Cowboys at uh in Charlotteagainst the Panthers in a suite.
So a friend of mine called meand said, Hey, we have a suite.
My son's first football game isin a suite with food.
He'll never go anywhere else.
(17:36):
That's just he'll never winanything else.
I'm like, far high.
Yeah, yeah, we gotta we gottabe super successful now.
So uh John Mayer, you know, hadthis great record.
I had this great incrediblelive experience, and I I from
that moment I knew I I wanted toput on a rock show somehow that
was that incredible.
And the opener for John Mayerthat day, none other than good
(17:58):
Counting Crows.
Okay, and so it was like youcouldn't have asked for a better
first concert.
I had not even listened to theCounting Crows prior to that to
that concert because I'm in I'min like sixth grade.
Exactly, but I had no idea whatI was even walking into until I
(18:18):
got there.
And and Michaela played music,and so we would go and we'd try
to like write songs and join thetalent show and all that kind
of stuff, and that began thatand an injury in football kind
of launched me into just playingmusic until I could recover
from that injury, and so that'swhere I went.
I went to music, it was there,and it's always been there for
me.
Jay Franze (18:39):
How does Charleston affect the way you play now?
Josh Gale (18:44):
Absolutely.
So um, yeah, I'll let Seanspeak into it as well.
I just Sean is incrediblytalented.
I hear something in my head, hecan breathe it, make it happen,
put life into it.
Yeah, I hear a sound, I hearyou know something.
And it and his his ability toproduce is is just incredible.
And is uh if I was owning abusiness, that would have been
(19:06):
the greatest hire I ever made.
The secret sauce, the success.
Jay Franze (19:10):
How much money would it make?
Josh Gale (19:12):
We're working on it.
I'm just working on it.
And um, so, anyways, my wifeand I have a boat club
membership.
We can pick from a hundred plusboats.
We pick the title.
Tiffany Mason (19:23):
Is it freedom?
Josh Gale (19:24):
It's freedom, yeah.
Yeah, yes, and we love itbecause number one, I love to
play music, I love computers,all that kind of stuff.
I cannot fix anything to savemy life, uh, which has always
been a source of contentionbecause my father-in-law is a
contractor.
So my wife's always like, Oh,it's all right, I'll call my
dad.
I'm like, oh, you know, thatmakes you feel exactly.
(19:44):
So I show up, we get on theboat, we take the boat out, and
everything else shuts up.
Every other anxiety, anxiousfeeling, fear, whatever's
bothering me, annoying me,everything, even if my wife and
I weren't getting along, likeyou cannot not get along on a
(20:04):
boat with beautiful weather andthe harbor and sunsets and just
everything.
You can't be unhappy in thatscenario.
That influences a lot, youknow, for us is that we're
living the life that I thinkpeople dream of and write about
living.
We're already there.
It's incredible.
(20:25):
Uh, we get to experience itwith our kids and try, you know,
our goal is to spend as muchtime as humanly possible with
our children, and that's howwe've set up our life.
And so that finds its way intoour songs.
And it just when everythingelse leaves your brain and
you're out in nature, that'swhen the influence, that's when
the lyrics come.
That's when you're flooded withemotion that can just compel
(20:47):
you to write an entire song thatalso influences how the song
should even sound.
Tiffany Mason (20:53):
Isn't that weird though?
Doesn't that feel like theyshould all have steel drums in
them?
Josh Gale (20:58):
I've tried.
I got bells, I got bells and Istill do.
And Sean had to figure out howto make that work because you
can't really tune a bell, butwe've we figured it out.
And um at some point I thinkit'll make it in, and uh,
especially the way country isthese days.
You've got new and old country,new country, you know, you've
got what the new Chris Tapletonsong that just came out, it's
(21:19):
got this the 70s groove to it,you know.
It's like everything's on thetable now.
Let's just try it, let's figureit out.
And I'm you know, talking backto John Mayer from very first
John Mayer that's pop anduniversal for everyone, to
really what John really wants towrite and record is what you
know, more of what we're gettingin later years of John Mayer.
(21:39):
So it's for us, it's thatstruggle too, is like
something's got to be somewhatuniversal, but I want to still
have my stamp on it and make ita little weird.
And so we try to find thatbalance into it.
Sean, what is it for you?
Sean Monahan (21:52):
I definitely echo, you know, my parents live on
the marsh, and there's justsomething special about being
able to go out there.
To me, it is the most beautifulthing I've ever seen.
I I've done writing retreats inthe mountains and I've been out
west and seen some beautifulplaces, but there's just
something about the marsh thatdoes something when I look out
(22:14):
and see just the the colors ofthe the sky contrasting with the
grass and the water there andthe breeze.
It is something special and itdefinitely influences our
writing.
We do a lot of writing outside,and we're really working to see
what that sounds like in ourmusic.
So, yeah, absolutely.
I think it's a huge influence.
And on another note, the theway Charleston has influenced us
(22:38):
is I think we're veryfortunate.
It's got a great music, musiclife.
There's a lot of differentgenres that do well here.
And uh, I know one of theharder ones is original music.
It'd be easy to find a bar gigfor three hours playing someone
else's stuff, but that's notwhat we want to do.
And so um, it's not been theeasiest thing, but there is a
there is a scene for fororiginal music, and we found
(23:01):
some contacts and some greatopportunities.
We've got a a concert coming upat an awesome venue down here
called the Poor House.
It's out on James Island, andit's uh this great inside and
outside venue.
So we'll be outside on the deckabout let's see, late October.
Should be beautiful outside,just getting cool, maybe get the
fire pits going.
But yeah, we we haveopportunities to do do live
(23:24):
music here, which which is sucha blessing.
We love it.
Tiffany Mason (23:28):
How often do you guys get out to do live shows?
Sean Monahan (23:31):
It's a little tough in in this season with you
know having the families.
We don't want to be out everyweekend.
So we try to really craftseasons.
So for the fall season, we'llhave three or four shows, take a
little break during the winter,do a few more.
And part of the goal also islike we want to make the couple
experiences that we get with ourfans just excellent on every
(23:54):
level.
Yeah, super fun, superengaging, you know, always
promoting what we're doing next,but doing different versions of
it and maybe trying some of theways we wanted to do it in the
studio, but it didn't make senseto to record it that way.
We'll try it out live.
And we we try to limit it alittle bit, but uh it's it's
worked out really well for us sofar.
Tiffany Mason (24:14):
Well, what I feel like I'm hearing you guys say
is that you know, there's alwayslike this visionary, and I have
heard that the most desired yetmost difficult to find is a
visionary and an implementer.
And in my observation, it seemslike Joshua, you're kind of the
visionary, and then Sean,you're coming along as the
(24:34):
implementer.
How does Melissa play into allof that?
Josh Gale (24:38):
Yeah, you know, for me, the lot goes into
songwriting.
You know, you listen to some ofour songs, it's figuring out a
turn, you know, how somehow Godturned a mess into a message.
Marriage is hard, y'all.
Tiffany Mason (24:51):
Like it's we've been married for a minute.
Josh Gale (24:55):
It's tough.
It is really tough.
We have.
Tiffany Mason (24:58):
Well, not Jay and I.
Jay Franze (25:02):
My wife's gonna be pretty upset she hears that.
Josh Gale (25:06):
But it's tough, you know.
When the when the you know,Jay, I'm assuming, but when the
when the Boston wants to comeout of Jay, and then all of a
sudden your wife is, you know,who's as sweet as can be, gets
on the other side of that.
It's like, dang.
Have you met her?
No, see, I've I'm assuming, butwhen the the Josh that grew up
with a house full of men showsup, the things don't go well,
(25:27):
right?
It's not that I don't haveholes in the drywall, I don't
have all this stuff, but but Ididn't grow up with I didn't
grow up with women in the house.
They're to be engageddifferently, and now I've got
three girls and one boy.
Like I'm I'm trying to figurethis out.
And and and they're cut some ofthem are coming of age where
I'm like, hold up.
This is this is really, reallydifferent.
And so I'm trying to figureout.
Tiffany Mason (25:48):
Did the temper come from the red hair?
Josh Gale (25:50):
Yeah, um, it's it's from somewhere.
It's from somewhere.
Sean and I we we meet at thegym every morning around six
o'clock, and we try to get asmuch of that stuff out of the
way as possible.
But no, it's um, you know, mywife and I are both extremely
passionate.
You know, for me, being superpassionate and being driven to
do so many things kind of putsyou in a busy cycle, which then,
(26:13):
you know, everything's grabbingfor your time.
And my wife, her number onelove language is time.
Tiffany Mason (26:19):
Wait, are you talking about my marriage?
Oh, you're talking about yourmarriage.
Oh, okay.
Josh Gale (26:23):
Sorry.
Tiffany Mason (26:23):
I thought you were talking about mine for a
minute.
Josh Gale (26:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
But it's she'll let me know uhmore ways than one, and I'm
usually pretty, pretty dumb tonot realize it right away.
Tiffany Mason (26:35):
I was gonna say non-receptive.
Josh Gale (26:37):
Non-receptive.
Well, that she's banging oneventually she's banging on the
door, and it's very obvious thatshe does not feel loved because
we're not spending timetogether.
Tiffany Mason (26:47):
Jay, remember I told you that Mr.
Mason and I got into a prettygood argument this weekend?
It might have been aboutquality time.
I don't know.
It might have been.
I don't know.
It's tough when kids are littlethough.
It is and you know you're stilltrying to chase your dreams and
you're trying to support eachother.
And I always think of thecountry song, trying to keep the
balance up between love andmoney.
Sean Monahan (27:07):
Yeah.
It's a shame.
Tiffany Mason (27:08):
Is it the same thing for you, Sean?
Are you multi-passionate?
Sean Monahan (27:11):
Yeah, absolutely.
So the bridge of that song Joshwas just quoting, I still do,
it essentially comes from myfeeling of I wasn't looking for
a woman as good as I got.
I had a high bar, but when I'vegot to know my wife, my
goodness, she's incredible.
So I definitely fall shortoften.
But I'm I'm also veryfortunate, uh, and it's worked
(27:34):
out really well for oursituation, is we've been able to
make it work.
So she stays home andhomeschools the kids.
So I do most of my workupstairs in the studio, and I
get to just like today.
I came down and my kids areinto this old 90s game called
Beyblade.
I didn't even play it as a kid,but it's coming back
apparently.
And so they are just they don'teven have the real toys, they
(27:56):
have just fake tops that they'llspin.
And so anyway, I got to comedown and I got to play with them
and just say hi to everybodyfor a couple minutes.
And uh I think it's thatdynamic has has helped as I've
shifted.
I I had a more normal scheduledjob for a while.
And right as we started writingand getting in the studio and
we got signed with a label, Ihad left that job to freelance.
(28:20):
So I'm at home most of thetime.
I I play around town still withsome other groups, uh, not
other bands, but like justcollections of jazz musicians or
whatever, and do some marketingand stuff on the side.
But most of the day I get toeither produce music or be at
home with with the family.
So it's still sometimes notenough.
But I yeah, I do get to bearound a lot.
Jay Franze (28:43):
You guys have all talked about the songwriting
process, and you've mentionedthat you do production.
So can you kind of walk usthrough that that process when
it comes to your songs here?
Sean Monahan (28:53):
Yeah, so so typically the way it's worked
for us, Tiffany, like you weresaying, Josh is absolutely a
visionary.
You you nail it on the head.
He is incredible with justvision and looking ahead as to
uh, you know, great ideas forsongs, themes.
He's great in the businesssense of that, he's great with
marketing.
He covers so many aspects ofwhat Gale Bird is able to do.
(29:17):
And so typically what I try todo is once he's has an idea and
a theme and he's got some lyricsdown, I try to kind of take all
the pieces and see, you know,how can this function as a full
song?
And and so we get to worktogether on that.
Melissa will come in and andhelp as well with that.
And so then once we have ouridea ready, we'll usually talk
with the label and we have agreat relationship with Holy
(29:39):
City Music, who we're signedwith here.
And uh, we kind of get to startrunning with it.
And so once we all agree on atleast a direction, I get to kind
of take it into my my creativestudio and just have fun with
it.
Jay Franze (29:54):
All right.
So describe the studio.
Sean Monahan (29:57):
So my studio here at the house is is awful
looking.
Aesthetically, it's so I Ican't record podcasts in it.
It looks so bad because it'sjust instruments everywhere.
Every square foot is taken upwith some sort of microphone or
baffling or random Africanpercussive instrument.
I I've I have all sorts ofstuff, but it's my favorite
(30:19):
thing because in any moment asI'm creating, if I have an idea,
I can five feet away grab whatI need.
Or we're we're recording a songright now and I heard a moment
that just needed something.
I needed it to feel like it wasairy.
We kind of so uh we have a songwe're gonna release called
Roses and it's it's just abeautiful song.
(30:40):
I'm so excited for it to getout.
But I was kind of going for avibe of being out in the garden
and I had the thought I was likeI have wind chimes on the front
porch.
I need those right now.
And so grabbed those trackedthem for a second in there.
It's just it's a mess but it'slike my brain I guess it it
works.
I can function in it reallywell.
We start piecing it togetherand make sure everybody's on
(31:03):
board with the direction andusually by the time I kind of
have a foundation Josh is comingin with some excellent ideas on
on vocal production and thenthe studio engineer is is
incredible with with creativeideas on how to image it and and
uh just make it really come tolife.
So it's a team effort.
Jay Franze (31:21):
All right so you mentioned studio engineer so
does that mean that you'retracking someplace else or do
you do it all at your studio?
Sean Monahan (31:31):
Great question.
So I have a studio upstairs atmy house.
I'm able to do a lot of itthere but the label has its own
studio.
So typically we're kind ofsplitting uh depending on how
important the capture is so uhwith vocals I'd say 90% of those
we're gonna try to grab them atthe studio at the the label
studio excuse me yep but if it'sif it's things like I've got a
(31:53):
great rig for my acousticguitars here at the house for my
electrics for keyboards so Ican I can track a lot of that
stuff I can do a lot of thepreliminary cleaning tracks and
things before I send them overthere and then we'll grab the
the really high quality highfidelity stuff that we need to
capture at you know top levelthere.
Josh Gale (32:14):
So when I'm behind the glass that's what how many
feet thick and the doors thatare you know when they shut it's
like yeah all the air comesout.
So I'm back there Sean's Sean'sbehind uh the soundboard and
Sean will know exactly what weneed and how how much of it we
need where we need it to go andthen how many different versions
(32:34):
and what we can try.
And then if we've got a littlebit of voice left we're gonna
we're gonna give this a shot andhe is coaching me in so many
different ways to to get thebest thing that we could
possibly get hit but his way ofI've been able to share them
with other friends as well indifferent genres and they're
like oh my gosh I didn't knowthat this would even be possible
(32:56):
Sean made things so incrediblethroughout the process he's got
that he's got that producer giftthat not everyone has I'm just
trying to tell a story you knowand he's able to bring that
story into production to whereeveryone would enjoy it equally
all right so the studio itselfthe the label studio they use
(33:19):
Pro Tools and they go through asmall SSL console.
Jay Franze (33:22):
So what do you use at your home studio are you
using Pro Tools as well?
Sean Monahan (33:28):
So I've grown up with Logic um so I'm pretty
exclusively Logic X.
I've I've been using that for awhile I've got a pretty decent
uh 16 channel rig uh and thenI've got a travel rig as well
with some of my I I produce someother clients some other
artists so it's nothing near asas nice and fancy but I've got a
got a few little tools thatthat at least keep up you know
(33:51):
for the things that I'm doing.
Jay Franze (33:52):
You mentioned the 16 channels what IO box is it?
Sean Monahan (33:57):
So I've got a uh a motu 8M and then it's also
connected to a focus right I'mnot sure which which one it is
but another eight channel.
Jay Franze (34:06):
Very cool.
So you guys are tracking thesesongs combination between the
two studios when you started atyour home studio is that the
foundation that you take intothe label studio or do you redo
it once you get to the labelstudio?
Sean Monahan (34:21):
Yeah it it depends on the song with the one we're
coming out with coming up it wasI wanted the bass to be
acoustic guitar.
My my whole vision of it is Iwant the listener to feel like
they're listening to an acousticsong but it's produced in a way
that by the time they get tothe climax there's all sorts of
stuff happening and they didn'tre realize they got there.
(34:41):
And so with that being the caseI wanted to make sure I tracked
acoustic first.
So I tracked that here alongwith some of the more ethereal
stuff I'm doing on the electricguitars and some strings and
then brought that over to thestudio for them to do vocals.
Other times if especially ifit's a full band project I want
to grab the drums and bass firstI trust the studio to they they
(35:02):
get such great drum sounds inthat room I don't even want to
mess with that at my house.
So I'm doing a foundation overthere and then starting to add
stuff maybe at my studio whereI'll come in.
I would there have been acouple times where I know I'll
I'll have a bunch of organicinstruments that I need to track
all in one day.
So if I got a a banjo amandolin and a 12 string I'll
(35:23):
just bring it over there andhe'll bring out the ribbon mic
and just it'll be perfect.
And it's less that I have to doat the house.
Jay Franze (35:30):
Two things there one especially when you're starting
at your house are using a clicktrack I'm assuming.
Okay and two you mentionedribbon mic which one is it you
know ooh I do not know I justknow I probably can't afford it
it's a very impressive situationI mean the way you guys have it
set up is pretty cool.
So Josh we have the opportunitytonight to talk to you and Sean
(35:55):
and get the you know the ideaof how you guys put things
together.
Josh Gale (35:59):
Can you explain to us more what your wife's process
is during all of this yeah soyou know of course not just
being some of the inspirationfor me trying to song some of
these songs are apology letters.
Maybe I've screwed up and and Iget it and not just a simple
sorry but which sometimes she'stelling me please just say sorry
(36:21):
really quickly and thensometimes I'm just like I had to
pour it out in a song and itdidn't come out as quickly.
No she um she is a breath offresh air she is um anytime in
the studio things can things canget a little like not tense but
you're under the clock rightyou only have a set amount of
(36:43):
time there are different uh allsorts of different factors
especially when doing vocalsshe's one take Melissa perfect
pitch perfect key she goesthrough a song and it's like
she's done and then here I amand I'm like I want to try it
this way I want to try it thisway I'm doing this Sean's trying
to you know we're trying toreally pull the most out of it
you know I'm taking spoonfuls ofhoney and we're we're trying to
(37:06):
figure everything out but sheuh just her optimism her you
know just ability just to justto shift an atmosphere we're
still trying to learn how towrite together writing groups
are really you know reallyimportant you know especially
when you have three usually is ais a great number most of the
time at the house it's justMelissa and I and we're we're
trying to figure some stuff outwe've had some success but it's
(37:27):
it's still extremely hard whenit's your spouse like you can't
throw out especially somebodywho you know they're newer in
the process you can't throw outhey I don't I don't think that's
any good I don't like that Idon't like that what let me tell
you my wife has no problemdoing that I mean you say you
you can't do that with her mywife has absolutely no problem
telling me what she doesn't likeI think my husband would say
(37:51):
the same thing Jay but whenyou're in that songwriting
process which is everything outon the table exposed well and
they're so personal right so sopersonal.
Tiffany Mason (38:03):
So to say something that she's really
feeling and maybe even wantingyou to feel that with her and
then you come back and you'relike nah let's go back to the
drawing board I could see thatbeing really hard for both of
you to say okay you know let mebe vulnerable and put this out
there where if it's just you andSean it's not as personal or
(38:25):
emotional or you know how songshelp us to say those things
could be you don't know whattheir relationship's like that's
true.
Josh Gale (38:33):
But Sean Sean's my litmus test I don't I don't
share when I write a song Idon't share it with anybody
except for Sean right awayusually because just think about
when you're growing up you dida doodle on a piece of paper
really quickly you drew it withcrayons and your parents were
like incredible Picasso rightbut then all of a sudden you you
(38:55):
grow up and you write a songyou send it to your buddy who
has no idea what songwritingeven looks like and what's a
good song and they're likeincredible dude that's awesome
you know they'll never listen toit again but they're gonna give
you some great feedback.
Sean's the litmus test I sentto Sean I say hey dude the
hook's not strong enough I don'tknow that that bridge didn't
really match you know the restof the feel of the song I mean
(39:15):
he literally it's without beingcritical he's just telling me
yes or no like this is goodenough or hey Josh I can see
where you're trying to go or Ican say Josh I hear what you're
trying to figure out and I thinkthe best part of that song is
this let's ditch everything elseand keep that and write around
that and then there we are andthen we'll get on a Zoom call uh
(39:36):
we've got a friend that we wentto college with that's in
Nashville he tours with like AnnWilson and he's on tour right
now with Ben Fuller greatmusician bass player guitarist
songwriter and we get on a zoomand every time what the three of
us get on a zoom an hour or twohours later we have a whole
song and it's it's a it's apretty good song.
(39:57):
You know Looky Here we wrotetogether the the most recent
single and we've just written somany cool songs.
We wrote a song called My Linesno uh you know just about you
know no one's gonna take mylines do you have some things
that only your spouse needs toshare with you that you can't
hear it from anybody else itmeans the most coming from your
spouse.
And if you're not saying thosethings you better believe that
(40:18):
somebody may step in one day andsay the right things to your
wife and if they're not hearingit from you or your spouse if
they're not hearing it from youwhat more of a temptation is
that to feel loved?
And so it's like encouraging,you know, so we wrote this song
out in a day and all the threeof us all knew exactly what it
meant immediately because we'veknown how much we've dropped the
ball without saying enough toour spouse.
(40:40):
The most recent song that we'vebeen working on like Sean said
that we'll release in October iscalled Roses and part of the
premise of the song no matterwhere you are politically in the
world right now part of whatthe tragedy that's happened in
in in several cases this year isthat somebody's going home or
somebody's dad's not coming homeor somebody's mom's not coming
home.
(41:00):
And that is the most impossiblething for me to even comprehend
that the the loss of life whereit's it's so tragic but what we
have as humans we have amnesiawe forget so easily that like
we're not guaranteed tomorrow atall we're so we're we're so um
(41:22):
you know what's the word I'mlooking at future focused we're
so future focused that we don'trealize how vulnerable we really
are and if you took everystatistic in the world it would
just make you sick and it makesme think about my brother in law
and his line of work he thinksabout death every single day I
don't have to and I don't and sothe song Roses is is the
(41:43):
basically the opening line ofthe song is don't hold your
roses to the till the funeraltake every chance to tell her
she's beautiful because I justgot the chill I'm telling you
this entire song it's likedepressing but it's not
depressing at all because it'slike hold up something in me
just made me want to sit up andgo like hug and kiss my wife and
tell her how much I love herbecause I may never get the
(42:05):
opportunity to you knoweverything in that happened in
the past couple weeks is if itdoesn't make you think anything
else is that we're life isprecious and it's not guaranteed
at all.
The only thing that we'reguaranteed what is is is death
and taxes is that is that whatthe saying is but we're so we
have so much amnesia that weforget that so instantly that we
(42:28):
get caught up in so many otherthings that we forget how
precious life is and that andwhat our job is and what our
commitment was the day we said Ido.
And so this song we weren'teven planning on releasing it
and I and I sent Sean back thedemo that that we had recorded
and I said dude like I know thiswas an awesome song and we
weren't going to the only reasonwe weren't going to release it
(42:49):
was it because it wasn't goingto be a strong enough single
that was going to go out and getplaylisted and and just feel
like it was going to performreally well but the song at the
the decision and the meetingbetween the us and the label was
I think the song was createdfor such a time as this and the
and the craziest thing in theworld is if you look back at the
(43:09):
shared note the song waswritten almost a year to the
date of of everything that'sgoing on right now in the world
and it was like holy cow like Ithink this song is for such a
time as this let's go ahead andrelease it so that we can we can
kind of encourage some peopleto to lean in a little bit more
to their relationships and andand um be closer and I think at
(43:31):
the end of the day like that'sthat's incredible.
Jay Franze (43:36):
Alright Sean let's lighten things up a little bit
you guys have known each otherfor an awful long time at this
point.
Take us back and tell us somejuicy piece of gossip about
Josh.
Sean Monahan (43:51):
Oh man something about Josh did y'all meet in the
high school so no we met incollege we were both uh a part
of a campus ministry I was at athe college downtown Charleston
and he was at one in NorthCharleston and I man I I'm
struggling to think of onespecific memory but I will say
Josh was a prankster and he wasknown as that we would maybe
(44:15):
twice three times a year have uhboth the college groups meet up
and man he was a he was a messin the best way in the fun way
is he still like that now he'suh he's a little tamer but he
definitely is at heart yeah he'she's still got he's still got
the prankster at heart josh tellus how is April Fools at your
(44:35):
house yeah so that's actually mybirthday I was born on April
Fool's Day and I don't thinkanyone's ever April Fool's me so
I'm kind of inviting Josh areyou welcome for the challenge I
need someone to just tempted youwell no extremely up for it
mine are mine are pretty prettycrazy um trying to think of one
I came up with the other day umbut it's um yeah it's nothing
(45:00):
that would cause a lot of harmbut could be pretty embarrassing
and uh those are the ones welike yeah I'm trying to think of
some some actual you know oneof the super pranks if you
wouldn't have asked me Jay Iwould have told you every single
one um but put you on the spotyeah um gosh oh I okay I have I
(45:21):
have one it's it's the only oneI can think of it's not the best
but I remember we were had thisone Josh getaway I'm thinking
we have this was for somethingthis was like all of the schools
in the southeast or at least inSouth Carolina get together
from from this campus ministryand so we were at this event and
so maybe 200 300 people in theroom and it was a great weekend
(45:42):
had a ton of fun out on the lakeand had meetings and stuff and
and so anyway at the end Josh isthe MC he's hosting it and he's
a they've invited whoever wantsto come share uh what they
learned or what they experiencedto the whole group and I guess
Josh decided he didn't have wrapup music there was no there's
(46:05):
nothing to kind of urge thisgoing on and so as people
started going longer and longerhe had this trick where he would
just start he was holding themic he would slowly start
bringing it lower and lower andit was shocking how many people
would just keep getting lowerand lower with the mic rather
than getting the clue.
But that's that that's that'swhat I think of when I think of
(46:26):
Josh he's he's gonna be funnyand communicate that really well
in front of people.
That's awesome.
Josh Gale (46:32):
Yeah um never put me on speakerphone especially my
wife will tell you especially ifyou're at the store if you're
on FaceTime or speakerphone atthe store because I will make
every noise known to man or saysomething extremely
inappropriate really loud um sothat everyone around you can
hear it.
Gosh I don't know I'm usuallydid you get the ointment did you
get the yes all the things umyou know I'll even get my 11
(46:55):
year old daughter with thatshe's trying to make some kind
of selfie video for somethingI'm just I can't I'm a child I
the child comes out in me andit's every fart sound in the
world that you could imagine.
Jay Franze (47:07):
My daughter was making a TikTok in the kitchen
tonight while we were trying toget ready for dinner and I just
stood behind her and danced andshe had no idea it was there.
Shirt comes on whatever it isand whatever's needed.
Tiffany Mason (47:18):
Nobody wants to see that Josh I can't take my
shirt off around my family okayso Sean it sounds like you play
every instrument under the sunor you know of every instrument
under the sun.
Josh do you play anyinstruments?
Josh Gale (47:34):
I uh yes um I can't say really well compared to the
people that I'm around becauseI've I've hired two that
weakness uh no I'm um like Isaid you know I got injured
playing sports and the guitarwas there uh every dollar I'd
ever saved went to purchasinginstruments and I went straight
in I the electric guitar thehalf stack guitar amp uh B-52
(47:56):
had just come on uh the sceneand their solid state half stack
was the clean on it was reallyincredible that got electric
guitars gear PA systemeverything I still have the the
PA system I bought at that timeas well Yamaha was they don't
make things like they used to asfar as that that hardware and
went straight in and and neverlooked back so play guitar um
(48:20):
but it's it's different.
I mean I you know um I guesswhat folks would tell me is that
they feel like there's arelationship between me and my
guitar like the way I play itmay it the guitar and I are one
or there's something coming outof it that's a little bit
different than the way they hearother people playing it.
I don't know if you want tocall it passion.
I don't know if you want tocall it whatever but it's it's
(48:42):
my own style you know Sean willusually translate Sean would
Sean will probably do most ofthe tracking because we're you
know if we're trying to to be onstudio time and all that kind
of stuff it's uh it he cantranslate it pretty well but
yeah play guitar I can play thebass I can I can do a few other
things the harmonica enough tobe a little bit dangerous or to
(49:04):
you know enough to you knowimpress I don't know I don't
know I did not impress my wifewith it um she could care less
if I could play guitar and singum but enough to impress some
people and uh so but enough tohave fun and I think that's our
live performances like Sean saidwe just are trying to put on a
rock show and any way I can addto that I do.
Tiffany Mason (49:28):
Would you say live performing is more fun than
studio recording?
Do you enjoy it more for me Ido.
Josh Gale (49:36):
I love I love people and I just love moments.
I love creating these momentsthat they're not expecting at
all and I love putting the rightpeople in the in place to do
it.
The band we have together forthe poor house show I've got
I've got a Venezuelan on thekeys that's that's an incredible
keys player that's reallycelebrated around town and that
(49:57):
can play across so many genreswhether it's Latin music or jazz
or anything and then Sean's ofcourse over there on the
electric guitar doing thingsthat that most people cannot do
with a guitar and you know gotbass play we got a drummer
that's got more energy than thananybody would know what to do
with if we could bottle it wouldbe incredible.
But to put the right people inthe right place to put something
(50:18):
together to where if that wasyour first rock show like John
Mayer then you'd want to put ona rock show for the rest of your
life and that's that's whatwe're trying to do.
That's what I want to do.
And so for me that's the funthe aspect of it.
Sean Monahan (50:30):
And doing it with my wife my you know you know
Sean is one of my best friendsgetting to do it with those two
pretty incredible yeah not manypeople get to do that uh
especially as they as they getuh older in life yep all right
sir well we do this thing herewe call unsung heroes where we
take a moment to shine the lighton somebody who's worked behind
the scenes or somebody who mayhave supported you along the way
(50:52):
do you guys have anybody you'dlike to shine a little light on
what you take it Sean I'll I'llsay my parents honestly they've
they've been so supportive andthere's a ton of people we could
we could say here but they werea big part of what got us
started financially back 15years ago along with another a
donor from from Josh's friendsum in Texas and uh man I just
(51:16):
like we we wouldn't be I don'tthink doing what we're doing it
wouldn't have continued thislong without their support so I
just want to I'll shine thelight on them.
There you go.
Josh Gale (51:27):
Unexpected but it's the first thing that came to my
mind right now my local thriftstore uh community thrift on uh
Rivers Avenue uh my favoriteguitar I always wanted this
1970s Martin guitar and thisthrift store is like the kidney
foundation thrift store and Iknow I'm gonna try to wrap it up
real quick uh they will comeand pick up all your junk uh
(51:49):
when somebody passes away andall of a sudden I walk in one
day I kind of had it on myschedule to go buy at least like
twice a month and all of asudden there's this guitar case
and it doesn't look like muchright and I open it up and I see
this guitar.
I've never heard of this brandbefore called Penco.
Okay so uh I started to look itup Google it because this looks
(52:09):
just like a Martin I mean youcouldn't look more like a Martin
I took a picture of it and myphone AI told me it's a D28 and
I'm going holy cow okay I startto look it up well Penco is this
Japanese brand that knocked offMartin and Gibson so well that
they became um sued it wascalled a it's a lawsuit guitar.
(52:30):
Anyways Penco shut down uhPennsylvania company which then
later reopened as Ibanz and Ilove this guitar so in
Charleston we have this uhguitar shop over um um in Mount
Pleasant is another part of thethe metropolitan area the only
person that is like certified inthis area of the country to
(52:53):
reset Martin guitars uh is about78 years old um and I took this
guitar to him he knew exactlywhat it uh what it was he
treated it just like a Martin hereset it put Grover tuners on
it put new strings reset thebridge did a little glue work
put a um L R Bags pickup in itand I'm telling you all I've
(53:16):
never been so in love with aninstrument like I am this one
and I invested a total of $500into this guitar and I love it
so maybe that's why you becomeone when you play it I think so
but it's so in love with it.
I got all my other Martins arecollecting dust so here it is.
Anyways I want to thank mylocal thrift store that's not a
(53:37):
bad choice.
Jay Franze (53:38):
Yeah all right folks we've done it we've reached the
top of the hour which does meanwe have reached the end of the
show if you have enjoyed thisshow please tell a friend and
Miss Tiffany if you have nottell two all right you can reach
out to both of us over atjayfranze.com you can actually
reach out to all four of us fivereach out to josh's wife that's
fine too you can do all of thatover at jayfranze.com Josh Sean
(54:01):
we would like to leave thefinal words to you uh Melissa
thank you for watching the kidstonight putting them to bed I
love you sweetheart you mean theworld to me yeah and if you're
local we'd love to see youOctober 23rd at the poor house
it's a Thursday night.
Tony Scott (54:16):
All right folks on that note have a good night
thanks for listening to The JayFranze Show make sure you visit
us at jayfranze.com followconnect and say hello
And we are coming at you live.
I am Jay Franze, and uh with metonight, the grace to my will,
my beautiful co-host, Ms.
Tiffany Mason.
Tiffany Mason (00:54):
Good evening.
Jay Franze (00:56):
And if you are new to the show, this is your source
for the latest news, reviews,and interviews.
So if you would like to joinin, comment, or fire off any
questions, please head over tojayfranze.com.
All right, my friend.
Tonight we have a very specialguest with us.
We have two very special guestswith us.
We have two thirds of veryspecial guests with us.
All right.
(01:17):
Hailing from the great state ofSouth Carolina.
We have Gale Byrd.
Josh, Sean, how are you?
Josh Gale (01:24):
Jay and Tiffany, thank you both for having us on.
Jay Franze (01:27):
Yeah, doing well.
We're doing well.
Is it Josh or Joshua?
Which one do you prefer?
Josh Gale (01:32):
Either one.
That's I think that's uh, youknow, obviously my last name is
Gale, which is part of the nameof the band, which is a story in
itself, and um how thosenicknames formed over the years,
uh, but you know, usually go byJosh or Joshua, whatever
whatever someone's calling me.
Jay Franze (01:49):
All right.
Well, that's what I want toknow.
Let's just start there.
What is the story behind thename?
Josh Gale (01:54):
So, story behind the name.
Uh, so I've got two olderbrothers, and we all grew up in
Plano, Texas, right north ofDallas.
And so that's football country.
So, of course, oldest brother'ssix foot five, you know, making
a name for himself, playingsports.
Tiffany Mason (02:09):
Oh, wow.
Josh Gale (02:09):
Next brother up is fast making a name for himself,
and then coming up behindeverybody is that is the big
redheaded Josh Gale.
So the coaches are had alreadybecome familiar uh with our dad,
who was a former collegefootball player, just a very
high-intensity type of person,the one from every TV show or
(02:30):
movie, Friday Night Lights, thatyou'd ever you'd ever heard of,
the guy that that uh God, Ihear him.
You know, you hear him louderthan any other person in the
stands.
So the last name, you know,everybody in football calls you
by your last name.
So for Gale, it was me, but mydad would choose to yell out my
nickname, which was J Bird.
So he'd come, you know, yell,come on, bird, and really loud.
(02:53):
And so as soon as coaches foundthat out, the nickname uh from
just calling me Gale turned intoGale Bird.
So it caught on pretty quickly,and in sports, it just became
Gale Bird.
Around school, it became GaleBird.
I think when uh we wererecording, you know, some
tracks.
What a couple of years ago,Sean, we had to come up with a
(03:15):
band name and we just startedthrowing out names.
One of mine being Gale Bird,and it just kind of stuck.
Uh, we didn't hate it.
Uh, I don't think any bandname's good until you make it.
Um, and so we can we can gowith a whole list red hot chili
peppers, you know, what'sanother one, Sean?
Uh ACDC.
Yeah.
Sean Monahan (03:35):
Just letters.
Yeah, Led Zaplet has a bunch,yeah.
Jay Franze (03:38):
I tell you, my favorite name of a band ever was
Make Lisa Rich.
Tiffany Mason (03:44):
Lisa Rich.
You know, Joshua, I thoughtmaybe the the name was from uh
like Sing Sweet Nightingale, youknow, and you were like a song
bird, and so it was like a galebird.
Josh Gale (03:58):
Yeah, but no, it's kind of a way more masculine
story.
Yeah, well, it's more morphedinto that over the years, and um
my wife and her family all hadan affinity for birds, and I
showed up to pick her up for ourfirst date, and I have a big
giant bird on my shirt, and theyjust knew, oh my gosh, that's
an omen, this is meant to bekind of thing.
And it just always becamesomething special to us.
(04:22):
And of course, I'd buyer thingswith birds on them and whatnot.
So it's always been special tous, and then I do sing my see my
wife has a song bird and uh herbeautiful voice and all that
kind of stuff that actually, youknow, we didn't discover until
we got married.
I had no idea she sang.
Tiffany Mason (04:38):
What a beautiful surprise!
Josh Gale (04:40):
Yeah.
So uh there was uh apparently auh a young boy in elementary
school that that she had a crushon, and he just told her she
should never sing again.
And she little little thirdgrade Melissa heard that and she
received it and she stoppedsinging.
She would participate in choirsand things like that, but never
never having the confidence tostep up and sing.
(05:00):
So I heard her singing when wewe got married, and I was like,
hey, I'm not trying to flatteryou like we're already married,
but uh I I really think you havean amazing voice, but it took a
lot of convincing andencouragement to get her to even
sing in front of her ownfamily.
That's where we kind of startedwas getting her to sing in
front of her family.
She would always threaten me.
(05:22):
Please do not ask me to sing, Iwill fight you, kind of thing.
Um, but then it just expandedfrom there.
And then I convinced her tosing with me one Sunday at
church, and she got enoughfeedback there to be like, okay,
Josh is not just lying to me,you know.
It's you know, because I'vehad, you know, if you've played
out enough, you've always gotsomebody coming up that's had
too much to drink that's saying,Hey, you gotta let my wife sing
(05:46):
a song, she is the best, and soyou're like, Okay, I kind of am
up for a little bit ofentertainment.
What is your favorite song?
And she bombs, but her husbandis literally just the happiest
man on planet earth, like sohappy.
Somehow he's got like shallowhow ears or something like that,
(06:08):
you know.
And he see he hears somethingdifferent than we do, but he is
just he's just having the timeof his life, and you know, those
are the guys that always willthrow a tip jar something out,
you know, for you or whatever.
But this wasn't the case.
She knew it, she felt likegenuine care that people people
noticed that she had somethingthat was pretty, pretty, pretty
great.
Jay Franze (06:28):
So, how long were you guys playing before you
brought her into the band?
Sean Monahan (06:32):
We started pretty early.
We started out out of college,so I don't know, what, 14 years
ago now?
We went to colleges that weremaybe 20 miles apart.
So we'd get together every oncein a while and we'd play around
town.
And through Josh starting todate her, and then you know, us
growing closer as a band, westart realizing she's got
(06:52):
potential.
And so she started singingpretty late into us starting.
We took a 10-year break, westarted having families.
Uh, I have two kids, Josh hasfour.
And then a couple years ago,Josh called me up and said, Hey,
I think I think we want to givethis another go.
And so she had started with usback then, but it just made
(07:13):
sense.
And she does have a beautifulvoice.
Oh my goodness.
So we started back up, andshe's been the the one that
makes us look good ever since.
Tiffany Mason (07:23):
Now, Sean, when is your wife joining?
When do you guys become aquartet?
Sean Monahan (07:26):
You know, I've been working on trying to get
her on an instrument, and it isit has been a struggle, but
we're gonna keep working.
Tiffany Mason (07:33):
Yeah, photographer.
Sean Monahan (07:35):
We we tried the photography.
The photography didn't work,but um she yeah, she's
incredibly gifted artist.
She actually, oh, she um diddesign one of our our um album
art.
Uh she's incredible portraitartist, and uh she did a uh
single-line sketch of uh ofMelissa actually for Crumble
(07:55):
Down.
Josh Gale (07:56):
That's one pen stroke that is uh a portrait of
Melissa that she just nailed,and that was the album art cover
or the single art cover forthat one.
She's extremely talented.
She does charcoal portraits,she does oil.
I mean, she is extremelytalented, but we've always been
very cautious of that too.
You know, there's always tonsof stories of how there was, you
(08:20):
know, a yoko that broke up theband.
Um and uh we've we've hadrun-ins with that before as
well, you know, in college dayswhere you know somebody asks
their significant other to comein.
And I'm telling you, if youcan't hear your harmonies super
well and they're not superconfident, uh playing live is
extremely hard because you don'tknow what you're gonna get at
(08:41):
any venue.
You never know.
I mean, you're given whatyou're given, unless you're
bringing your front of house andyou're and your ears and your
two sound guys, you have no ideawhat you're going to receive at
any venue.
And so if you're not extremelyconfident, we've ran into that
before where the harmoniesdisappear or things like that.
So we've always been cautiousof all that, but we get to play
(09:02):
with the rest of our family aswell.
Uh, family is extremelyimportant to us.
And so my brother-in-law, allday long, he works the head of
one of our largest hospitals inSouth Carolina.
He works the head of thepalliative care, so that's like
end-of-life care.
So his his his life's prettypretty crazy, you know.
Tiffany Mason (09:20):
Monday is the music.
Josh Gale (09:21):
He needs the music.
It's like the beginning, Mondaymorning, it's like who died
over the weekend, you know.
And so every chance he gets tojump in with us is like his out,
his, and it's we have such ablast.
And then our lots of otherfriends that join us that are
just have so much energy and arejust such incredible musicians.
COVID was insane, but one thingI'm thankful for is that it
(09:44):
brought some incrediblemusicians here to Charleston
when kind of you know, Music Rowshut down, parts of Nashville
shut down.
Some people followed theirwives or their girlfriends back
down south over into Charlestonand South Carolina, and and um,
we're so grateful that we endedup with some incredible friends
from that.
So some great things came outof that as well, including
(10:05):
members from our band.
Jay Franze (10:07):
So you take this 10-year hiatus and you come
back, and now you're playingwith your wife in the band.
What's the difference, the feeldifference between beforehand
to the way it is now?
Sean Monahan (10:21):
It's night and day.
I think just life is different,you know.
We have kids, and so it doeschange priorities.
Uh, we're not trying to playout as often as we were back
then.
It's a little different grind,you know.
It's it's a lot more of thewhen can we find pockets in the
studio and and things like that.
But it's also just I thinkreally shaped what we write
(10:45):
about at this stage of life.
A lot of what we're thinkingabout is how can we be a better
partner in our marriage and howcan we encourage other people in
that.
We think it's important.
One of the most importantthings in life is to invest in
your family, and and so it'sreally shaped the dynamic of the
band now.
So a lot of what we're writingabout is trying to like spark
(11:06):
hope into marriages and into ourum our own marriage.
It's therapeutic in a lot ofways.
So we we've always had a littlebit of a bent towards rock
country and and that style, butbut thematically and
dynamically, we I think we haveshifted a good bit.
Jay Franze (11:23):
So, how would you describe the style of what you
guys are doing now versus whatit was?
Sean Monahan (11:30):
That's a good question.
I I think initially we weremore focused on the live show,
and so a lot of what we werewriting and where we were
heading towards was how do wemake something that's super
engaging and fun and excitingfor a live crowd?
When we started back again ayear or two ago, we started in
the studio, and so it was alittle bit different approach.
(11:51):
When we still play live, wewant to make sure we're having a
good time and you know,exciting and engaging still.
But when we're writing for thestudio, it's almost a different
mindset now of uh how we'reapproaching a song.
And so approaching productionlooks a little different.
We're thinking more as aproducer's mindset, what can we
add to the song that reallyelevates the what we're trying
(12:13):
to communicate well?
That gets prioritized overmaking the the chorus this big
anthemy thing that we hope thecrowd will sing with us.
And then we're thinking alsogenre-wise, like, are we trying
to write for a specificaudience?
Uh, are we looking at playlistsand and trying to stay within a
genre?
It's it's been very differentand very interesting.
(12:34):
And I think we're still tryingto figure out exactly what that
looks like for us, but we havedefinitely shifted more toward
country than we were 15 yearsago.
Jay Franze (12:45):
Well, that's what I wanted to ask you.
I mean, it started with a rockfeel, and you're kind of moving
into the country world, more ofan Americana style feel to it.
So, what were the influences inthe rock world?
Sean Monahan (12:57):
That's kind of always an interesting dynamic
between me and Josh becauseJosh, you can speak to this, but
I I'm pretty sure he wasmajority country with a lot of
what he listened to.
And my parents did not likecountry music, so I didn't grow
up listening to any country.
I started playing guitar young,and so I found out about Brad
Paisley and Keith Urban, and soI started listening to the
(13:19):
guitar players, but it wasn'tuntil the last few years that
I've really kind of startedlistening and adding that more
to what I'm digesting.
So I grew up with classic rockand 90s pop.
I grew up with a lot of uhcontemporary Christian music
from uh playing at church andthings like that.
(13:39):
And then I studied jazz incollege.
In working in studios, I'vedone a lot of different genres
from Latin to orchestral andcountry.
And so I come to the table withkind of a wide variety of
things, none of which are verysuper strong country.
And so a lot of times Josh ishaving to rein me in to keep me
(13:59):
in genre, but um, but it it alsoI think creates some really
cool nuances that are different,yeah.
Josh Gale (14:05):
Josh, yeah, for me.
Um, so the first couple yearsof my life was was sent with
spent with my grandmother, who'sfrom Hickory, North Carolina,
which is Appalachia, just strongsouthern accent.
And then we we we made a moveto Dallas, and it was anybody
and everybody, nobody has anaccent in Dallas, and somehow
(14:27):
it's in Texas, but everybodylost it.
I think my parents encouragedthat as well and would correct
grammar, would correct all thatkind of stuff, because uh
there's at some point, you know,we know in the South that that
sometimes folks think thatthat's a sign of ignorance, you
know.
So that was corrected a lotgrowing up, and so my wife would
even notice, like, man, whenyou say certain things or when,
(14:48):
you know, whatever it is, it itjust almost comes out, you know.
And so I I stopped trying tocorrect myself as much um over
the years and just kind of letwhat was natural be natural.
And first record, you know, uhliving, let's see, I was on a uh
a bus in 2002, and I wanted tobuy a new record for this bus
(15:12):
ride from from Plano to SanAntonio, and uh I was going on a
trip to sing with a with agroup of guys that we had we'd
been nominated, and it's calledthe Texas Music Education
Awards.
It was a giant thing.
So yeah, football and then likecompetitive singing in Texas.
It's a huge thing.
Jay Franze (15:28):
They go they go together, they go together.
Josh Gale (15:31):
Uh so we were uh it was a long bus ride across the
entire country of Texas, and uhum I got one record.
We went to Walmart, went to theCD Rack, and it was Tim McGraw
and the and the Dance HallDoctors.
It was this record that likeblew my mind.
There was not a single track onthat record that I did not fall
(15:53):
in love with, and somehow itrelated to 2002 Young Josh that
kind of explained some like someemotion to me that I had not
yet like been able to experienceor convey.
Just an incredible record.
If you've never had a chance tolisten to the entire thing from
beginning to end, it it is anincredible journey.
Just red ragtop was one of thesingles from that record, which
(16:16):
was an incredible song.
Probably too young tocompletely understand what the
heck I was even singing.
But you know, that's why Godmade Mexico.
Tiffany Mason (16:24):
Jesus, sometimes.
Sometimes the songs that likemy kids sing along to, I'm just
like, oh, but I'm like, okay,it's going over their head, it's
going over their head.
Josh Gale (16:34):
Yeah, yes.
And then now I think about it,you have like Alexa in the house
now, and they can literallyplay any song they want to at
any time, which is great, butbut at the same time, like whoa,
whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa,whoa, whoa, whoa.
Not that one.
We have the moments here, yeah,1000%.
Um, did not want to have thatconversation today with the
child, but there it is.
(16:54):
So that that record, and thenmy first concert, you know, I'm
going other end of the spectrumwas this pop rock concert.
A friend of mine got tickets,her name was Michaela Kennedy,
and she said, Hey, my mom saidshe'd take us.
Well, I got my first concertwith a girl that I thought was
really cute, and it was JohnMayer at the Smyrnoff Center in
(17:16):
Dallas.
Again, my my my mind was blown.
Like your first concert beingJohn Mayer.
I had my son's first footballgame is about to be the Dallas
Cowboys at uh in Charlotteagainst the Panthers in a suite.
So a friend of mine called meand said, Hey, we have a suite.
My son's first football game isin a suite with food.
He'll never go anywhere else.
(17:36):
That's just he'll never winanything else.
I'm like, far high.
Yeah, yeah, we gotta we gottabe super successful now.
So uh John Mayer, you know, hadthis great record.
I had this great incrediblelive experience, and I I from
that moment I knew I I wanted toput on a rock show somehow that
was that incredible.
And the opener for John Mayerthat day, none other than good
(17:58):
Counting Crows.
Okay, and so it was like youcouldn't have asked for a better
first concert.
I had not even listened to theCounting Crows prior to that to
that concert because I'm in I'min like sixth grade.
Exactly, but I had no idea whatI was even walking into until I
(18:18):
got there.
And and Michaela played music,and so we would go and we'd try
to like write songs and join thetalent show and all that kind
of stuff, and that began thatand an injury in football kind
of launched me into just playingmusic until I could recover
from that injury, and so that'swhere I went.
I went to music, it was there,and it's always been there for
me.
Jay Franze (18:39):
How does Charleston affect the way you play now?
Josh Gale (18:44):
Absolutely.
So um, yeah, I'll let Seanspeak into it as well.
I just Sean is incrediblytalented.
I hear something in my head, hecan breathe it, make it happen,
put life into it.
Yeah, I hear a sound, I hearyou know something.
And it and his his ability toproduce is is just incredible.
And is uh if I was owning abusiness, that would have been
(19:06):
the greatest hire I ever made.
The secret sauce, the success.
Jay Franze (19:10):
How much money would it make?
Josh Gale (19:12):
We're working on it.
I'm just working on it.
And um, so, anyways, my wifeand I have a boat club
membership.
We can pick from a hundred plusboats.
We pick the title.
Tiffany Mason (19:23):
Is it freedom?
Josh Gale (19:24):
It's freedom, yeah.
Yeah, yes, and we love itbecause number one, I love to
play music, I love computers,all that kind of stuff.
I cannot fix anything to savemy life, uh, which has always
been a source of contentionbecause my father-in-law is a
contractor.
So my wife's always like, Oh,it's all right, I'll call my
dad.
I'm like, oh, you know, thatmakes you feel exactly.
(19:44):
So I show up, we get on theboat, we take the boat out, and
everything else shuts up.
Every other anxiety, anxiousfeeling, fear, whatever's
bothering me, annoying me,everything, even if my wife and
I weren't getting along, likeyou cannot not get along on a
(20:04):
boat with beautiful weather andthe harbor and sunsets and just
everything.
You can't be unhappy in thatscenario.
That influences a lot, youknow, for us is that we're
living the life that I thinkpeople dream of and write about
living.
We're already there.
It's incredible.
(20:25):
Uh, we get to experience itwith our kids and try, you know,
our goal is to spend as muchtime as humanly possible with
our children, and that's howwe've set up our life.
And so that finds its way intoour songs.
And it just when everythingelse leaves your brain and
you're out in nature, that'swhen the influence, that's when
the lyrics come.
That's when you're flooded withemotion that can just compel
(20:47):
you to write an entire song thatalso influences how the song
should even sound.
Tiffany Mason (20:53):
Isn't that weird though?
Doesn't that feel like theyshould all have steel drums in
them?
Josh Gale (20:58):
I've tried.
I got bells, I got bells and Istill do.
And Sean had to figure out howto make that work because you
can't really tune a bell, butwe've we figured it out.
And um at some point I thinkit'll make it in, and uh,
especially the way country isthese days.
You've got new and old country,new country, you know, you've
got what the new Chris Tapletonsong that just came out, it's
(21:19):
got this the 70s groove to it,you know.
It's like everything's on thetable now.
Let's just try it, let's figureit out.
And I'm you know, talking backto John Mayer from very first
John Mayer that's pop anduniversal for everyone, to
really what John really wants towrite and record is what you
know, more of what we're gettingin later years of John Mayer.
(21:39):
So it's for us, it's thatstruggle too, is like
something's got to be somewhatuniversal, but I want to still
have my stamp on it and make ita little weird.
And so we try to find thatbalance into it.
Sean, what is it for you?
Sean Monahan (21:52):
I definitely echo, you know, my parents live on
the marsh, and there's justsomething special about being
able to go out there.
To me, it is the most beautifulthing I've ever seen.
I I've done writing retreats inthe mountains and I've been out
west and seen some beautifulplaces, but there's just
something about the marsh thatdoes something when I look out
(22:14):
and see just the the colors ofthe the sky contrasting with the
grass and the water there andthe breeze.
It is something special and itdefinitely influences our
writing.
We do a lot of writing outside,and we're really working to see
what that sounds like in ourmusic.
So, yeah, absolutely.
I think it's a huge influence.
And on another note, the theway Charleston has influenced us
(22:38):
is I think we're veryfortunate.
It's got a great music, musiclife.
There's a lot of differentgenres that do well here.
And uh, I know one of theharder ones is original music.
It'd be easy to find a bar gigfor three hours playing someone
else's stuff, but that's notwhat we want to do.
And so um, it's not been theeasiest thing, but there is a
there is a scene for fororiginal music, and we found
(23:01):
some contacts and some greatopportunities.
We've got a a concert coming upat an awesome venue down here
called the Poor House.
It's out on James Island, andit's uh this great inside and
outside venue.
So we'll be outside on the deckabout let's see, late October.
Should be beautiful outside,just getting cool, maybe get the
fire pits going.
But yeah, we we haveopportunities to do do live
(23:24):
music here, which which is sucha blessing.
We love it.
Tiffany Mason (23:28):
How often do you guys get out to do live shows?
Sean Monahan (23:31):
It's a little tough in in this season with you
know having the families.
We don't want to be out everyweekend.
So we try to really craftseasons.
So for the fall season, we'llhave three or four shows, take a
little break during the winter,do a few more.
And part of the goal also islike we want to make the couple
experiences that we get with ourfans just excellent on every
(23:54):
level.
Yeah, super fun, superengaging, you know, always
promoting what we're doing next,but doing different versions of
it and maybe trying some of theways we wanted to do it in the
studio, but it didn't make senseto to record it that way.
We'll try it out live.
And we we try to limit it alittle bit, but uh it's it's
worked out really well for us sofar.
Tiffany Mason (24:14):
Well, what I feel like I'm hearing you guys say
is that you know, there's alwayslike this visionary, and I have
heard that the most desired yetmost difficult to find is a
visionary and an implementer.
And in my observation, it seemslike Joshua, you're kind of the
visionary, and then Sean,you're coming along as the
(24:34):
implementer.
How does Melissa play into allof that?
Josh Gale (24:38):
Yeah, you know, for me, the lot goes into
songwriting.
You know, you listen to some ofour songs, it's figuring out a
turn, you know, how somehow Godturned a mess into a message.
Marriage is hard, y'all.
Tiffany Mason (24:51):
Like it's we've been married for a minute.
Josh Gale (24:55):
It's tough.
It is really tough.
We have.
Tiffany Mason (24:58):
Well, not Jay and I.
Jay Franze (25:02):
My wife's gonna be pretty upset she hears that.
Josh Gale (25:06):
But it's tough, you know.
When the when the you know,Jay, I'm assuming, but when the
when the Boston wants to comeout of Jay, and then all of a
sudden your wife is, you know,who's as sweet as can be, gets
on the other side of that.
It's like, dang.
Have you met her?
No, see, I've I'm assuming, butwhen the the Josh that grew up
with a house full of men showsup, the things don't go well,
(25:27):
right?
It's not that I don't haveholes in the drywall, I don't
have all this stuff, but but Ididn't grow up with I didn't
grow up with women in the house.
They're to be engageddifferently, and now I've got
three girls and one boy.
Like I'm I'm trying to figurethis out.
And and and they're cut some ofthem are coming of age where
I'm like, hold up.
This is this is really, reallydifferent.
And so I'm trying to figureout.
Tiffany Mason (25:48):
Did the temper come from the red hair?
Josh Gale (25:50):
Yeah, um, it's it's from somewhere.
It's from somewhere.
Sean and I we we meet at thegym every morning around six
o'clock, and we try to get asmuch of that stuff out of the
way as possible.
But no, it's um, you know, mywife and I are both extremely
passionate.
You know, for me, being superpassionate and being driven to
do so many things kind of putsyou in a busy cycle, which then,
(26:13):
you know, everything's grabbingfor your time.
And my wife, her number onelove language is time.
Tiffany Mason (26:19):
Wait, are you talking about my marriage?
Oh, you're talking about yourmarriage.
Oh, okay.
Josh Gale (26:23):
Sorry.
Tiffany Mason (26:23):
I thought you were talking about mine for a
minute.
Josh Gale (26:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
But it's she'll let me know uhmore ways than one, and I'm
usually pretty, pretty dumb tonot realize it right away.
Tiffany Mason (26:35):
I was gonna say non-receptive.
Josh Gale (26:37):
Non-receptive.
Well, that she's banging oneventually she's banging on the
door, and it's very obvious thatshe does not feel loved because
we're not spending timetogether.
Tiffany Mason (26:47):
Jay, remember I told you that Mr.
Mason and I got into a prettygood argument this weekend?
It might have been aboutquality time.
I don't know.
It might have been.
I don't know.
It's tough when kids are littlethough.
It is and you know you're stilltrying to chase your dreams and
you're trying to support eachother.
And I always think of thecountry song, trying to keep the
balance up between love andmoney.
Sean Monahan (27:07):
Yeah.
It's a shame.
Tiffany Mason (27:08):
Is it the same thing for you, Sean?
Are you multi-passionate?
Sean Monahan (27:11):
Yeah, absolutely.
So the bridge of that song Joshwas just quoting, I still do,
it essentially comes from myfeeling of I wasn't looking for
a woman as good as I got.
I had a high bar, but when I'vegot to know my wife, my
goodness, she's incredible.
So I definitely fall shortoften.
But I'm I'm also veryfortunate, uh, and it's worked
(27:34):
out really well for oursituation, is we've been able to
make it work.
So she stays home andhomeschools the kids.
So I do most of my workupstairs in the studio, and I
get to just like today.
I came down and my kids areinto this old 90s game called
Beyblade.
I didn't even play it as a kid,but it's coming back
apparently.
And so they are just they don'teven have the real toys, they
(27:56):
have just fake tops that they'llspin.
And so anyway, I got to comedown and I got to play with them
and just say hi to everybodyfor a couple minutes.
And uh I think it's thatdynamic has has helped as I've
shifted.
I I had a more normal scheduledjob for a while.
And right as we started writingand getting in the studio and
we got signed with a label, Ihad left that job to freelance.
(28:20):
So I'm at home most of thetime.
I I play around town still withsome other groups, uh, not
other bands, but like justcollections of jazz musicians or
whatever, and do some marketingand stuff on the side.
But most of the day I get toeither produce music or be at
home with with the family.
So it's still sometimes notenough.
But I yeah, I do get to bearound a lot.
Jay Franze (28:43):
You guys have all talked about the songwriting
process, and you've mentionedthat you do production.
So can you kind of walk usthrough that that process when
it comes to your songs here?
Sean Monahan (28:53):
Yeah, so so typically the way it's worked
for us, Tiffany, like you weresaying, Josh is absolutely a
visionary.
You you nail it on the head.
He is incredible with justvision and looking ahead as to
uh, you know, great ideas forsongs, themes.
He's great in the businesssense of that, he's great with
marketing.
He covers so many aspects ofwhat Gale Bird is able to do.
(29:17):
And so typically what I try todo is once he's has an idea and
a theme and he's got some lyricsdown, I try to kind of take all
the pieces and see, you know,how can this function as a full
song?
And and so we get to worktogether on that.
Melissa will come in and andhelp as well with that.
And so then once we have ouridea ready, we'll usually talk
with the label and we have agreat relationship with Holy
(29:39):
City Music, who we're signedwith here.
And uh, we kind of get to startrunning with it.
And so once we all agree on atleast a direction, I get to kind
of take it into my my creativestudio and just have fun with
it.
Jay Franze (29:54):
All right.
So describe the studio.
Sean Monahan (29:57):
So my studio here at the house is is awful
looking.
Aesthetically, it's so I Ican't record podcasts in it.
It looks so bad because it'sjust instruments everywhere.
Every square foot is taken upwith some sort of microphone or
baffling or random Africanpercussive instrument.
I I've I have all sorts ofstuff, but it's my favorite
(30:19):
thing because in any moment asI'm creating, if I have an idea,
I can five feet away grab whatI need.
Or we're we're recording a songright now and I heard a moment
that just needed something.
I needed it to feel like it wasairy.
We kind of so uh we have a songwe're gonna release called
Roses and it's it's just abeautiful song.
(30:40):
I'm so excited for it to getout.
But I was kind of going for avibe of being out in the garden
and I had the thought I was likeI have wind chimes on the front
porch.
I need those right now.
And so grabbed those trackedthem for a second in there.
It's just it's a mess but it'slike my brain I guess it it
works.
I can function in it reallywell.
We start piecing it togetherand make sure everybody's on
(31:03):
board with the direction andusually by the time I kind of
have a foundation Josh is comingin with some excellent ideas on
on vocal production and thenthe studio engineer is is
incredible with with creativeideas on how to image it and and
uh just make it really come tolife.
So it's a team effort.
Jay Franze (31:21):
All right so you mentioned studio engineer so
does that mean that you'retracking someplace else or do
you do it all at your studio?
Sean Monahan (31:31):
Great question.
So I have a studio upstairs atmy house.
I'm able to do a lot of itthere but the label has its own
studio.
So typically we're kind ofsplitting uh depending on how
important the capture is so uhwith vocals I'd say 90% of those
we're gonna try to grab them atthe studio at the the label
studio excuse me yep but if it'sif it's things like I've got a
(31:53):
great rig for my acousticguitars here at the house for my
electrics for keyboards so Ican I can track a lot of that
stuff I can do a lot of thepreliminary cleaning tracks and
things before I send them overthere and then we'll grab the
the really high quality highfidelity stuff that we need to
capture at you know top levelthere.
Josh Gale (32:14):
So when I'm behind the glass that's what how many
feet thick and the doors thatare you know when they shut it's
like yeah all the air comesout.
So I'm back there Sean's Sean'sbehind uh the soundboard and
Sean will know exactly what weneed and how how much of it we
need where we need it to go andthen how many different versions
(32:34):
and what we can try.
And then if we've got a littlebit of voice left we're gonna
we're gonna give this a shot andhe is coaching me in so many
different ways to to get thebest thing that we could
possibly get hit but his way ofI've been able to share them
with other friends as well indifferent genres and they're
like oh my gosh I didn't knowthat this would even be possible
(32:56):
Sean made things so incrediblethroughout the process he's got
that he's got that producer giftthat not everyone has I'm just
trying to tell a story you knowand he's able to bring that
story into production to whereeveryone would enjoy it equally
all right so the studio itselfthe the label studio they use
(33:19):
Pro Tools and they go through asmall SSL console.
Jay Franze (33:22):
So what do you use at your home studio are you
using Pro Tools as well?
Sean Monahan (33:28):
So I've grown up with Logic um so I'm pretty
exclusively Logic X.
I've I've been using that for awhile I've got a pretty decent
uh 16 channel rig uh and thenI've got a travel rig as well
with some of my I I produce someother clients some other
artists so it's nothing near asas nice and fancy but I've got a
got a few little tools thatthat at least keep up you know
(33:51):
for the things that I'm doing.
Jay Franze (33:52):
You mentioned the 16 channels what IO box is it?
Sean Monahan (33:57):
So I've got a uh a motu 8M and then it's also
connected to a focus right I'mnot sure which which one it is
but another eight channel.
Jay Franze (34:06):
Very cool.
So you guys are tracking thesesongs combination between the
two studios when you started atyour home studio is that the
foundation that you take intothe label studio or do you redo
it once you get to the labelstudio?
Sean Monahan (34:21):
Yeah it it depends on the song with the one we're
coming out with coming up it wasI wanted the bass to be
acoustic guitar.
My my whole vision of it is Iwant the listener to feel like
they're listening to an acousticsong but it's produced in a way
that by the time they get tothe climax there's all sorts of
stuff happening and they didn'tre realize they got there.
(34:41):
And so with that being the caseI wanted to make sure I tracked
acoustic first.
So I tracked that here alongwith some of the more ethereal
stuff I'm doing on the electricguitars and some strings and
then brought that over to thestudio for them to do vocals.
Other times if especially ifit's a full band project I want
to grab the drums and bass firstI trust the studio to they they
(35:02):
get such great drum sounds inthat room I don't even want to
mess with that at my house.
So I'm doing a foundation overthere and then starting to add
stuff maybe at my studio whereI'll come in.
I would there have been acouple times where I know I'll
I'll have a bunch of organicinstruments that I need to track
all in one day.
So if I got a a banjo amandolin and a 12 string I'll
(35:23):
just bring it over there andhe'll bring out the ribbon mic
and just it'll be perfect.
And it's less that I have to doat the house.
Jay Franze (35:30):
Two things there one especially when you're starting
at your house are using a clicktrack I'm assuming.
Okay and two you mentionedribbon mic which one is it you
know ooh I do not know I justknow I probably can't afford it
it's a very impressive situationI mean the way you guys have it
set up is pretty cool.
So Josh we have the opportunitytonight to talk to you and Sean
(35:55):
and get the you know the ideaof how you guys put things
together.
Josh Gale (35:59):
Can you explain to us more what your wife's process
is during all of this yeah soyou know of course not just
being some of the inspirationfor me trying to song some of
these songs are apology letters.
Maybe I've screwed up and and Iget it and not just a simple
sorry but which sometimes she'stelling me please just say sorry
(36:21):
really quickly and thensometimes I'm just like I had to
pour it out in a song and itdidn't come out as quickly.
No she um she is a breath offresh air she is um anytime in
the studio things can things canget a little like not tense but
you're under the clock rightyou only have a set amount of
(36:43):
time there are different uh allsorts of different factors
especially when doing vocalsshe's one take Melissa perfect
pitch perfect key she goesthrough a song and it's like
she's done and then here I amand I'm like I want to try it
this way I want to try it thisway I'm doing this Sean's trying
to you know we're trying toreally pull the most out of it
you know I'm taking spoonfuls ofhoney and we're we're trying to
(37:06):
figure everything out but sheuh just her optimism her you
know just ability just to justto shift an atmosphere we're
still trying to learn how towrite together writing groups
are really you know reallyimportant you know especially
when you have three usually is ais a great number most of the
time at the house it's justMelissa and I and we're we're
trying to figure some stuff outwe've had some success but it's
(37:27):
it's still extremely hard whenit's your spouse like you can't
throw out especially somebodywho you know they're newer in
the process you can't throw outhey I don't I don't think that's
any good I don't like that Idon't like that what let me tell
you my wife has no problemdoing that I mean you say you
you can't do that with her mywife has absolutely no problem
telling me what she doesn't likeI think my husband would say
(37:51):
the same thing Jay but whenyou're in that songwriting
process which is everything outon the table exposed well and
they're so personal right so sopersonal.
Tiffany Mason (38:03):
So to say something that she's really
feeling and maybe even wantingyou to feel that with her and
then you come back and you'relike nah let's go back to the
drawing board I could see thatbeing really hard for both of
you to say okay you know let mebe vulnerable and put this out
there where if it's just you andSean it's not as personal or
(38:25):
emotional or you know how songshelp us to say those things
could be you don't know whattheir relationship's like that's
true.
Josh Gale (38:33):
But Sean Sean's my litmus test I don't I don't
share when I write a song Idon't share it with anybody
except for Sean right awayusually because just think about
when you're growing up you dida doodle on a piece of paper
really quickly you drew it withcrayons and your parents were
like incredible Picasso rightbut then all of a sudden you you
(38:55):
grow up and you write a songyou send it to your buddy who
has no idea what songwritingeven looks like and what's a
good song and they're likeincredible dude that's awesome
you know they'll never listen toit again but they're gonna give
you some great feedback.
Sean's the litmus test I sentto Sean I say hey dude the
hook's not strong enough I don'tknow that that bridge didn't
really match you know the restof the feel of the song I mean
(39:15):
he literally it's without beingcritical he's just telling me
yes or no like this is goodenough or hey Josh I can see
where you're trying to go or Ican say Josh I hear what you're
trying to figure out and I thinkthe best part of that song is
this let's ditch everything elseand keep that and write around
that and then there we are andthen we'll get on a Zoom call uh
(39:36):
we've got a friend that we wentto college with that's in
Nashville he tours with like AnnWilson and he's on tour right
now with Ben Fuller greatmusician bass player guitarist
songwriter and we get on a zoomand every time what the three of
us get on a zoom an hour or twohours later we have a whole
song and it's it's a it's apretty good song.
(39:57):
You know Looky Here we wrotetogether the the most recent
single and we've just written somany cool songs.
We wrote a song called My Linesno uh you know just about you
know no one's gonna take mylines do you have some things
that only your spouse needs toshare with you that you can't
hear it from anybody else itmeans the most coming from your
spouse.
And if you're not saying thosethings you better believe that
(40:18):
somebody may step in one day andsay the right things to your
wife and if they're not hearingit from you or your spouse if
they're not hearing it from youwhat more of a temptation is
that to feel loved?
And so it's like encouraging,you know, so we wrote this song
out in a day and all the threeof us all knew exactly what it
meant immediately because we'veknown how much we've dropped the
ball without saying enough toour spouse.
(40:40):
The most recent song that we'vebeen working on like Sean said
that we'll release in October iscalled Roses and part of the
premise of the song no matterwhere you are politically in the
world right now part of whatthe tragedy that's happened in
in in several cases this year isthat somebody's going home or
somebody's dad's not coming homeor somebody's mom's not coming
home.
(41:00):
And that is the most impossiblething for me to even comprehend
that the the loss of life whereit's it's so tragic but what we
have as humans we have amnesiawe forget so easily that like
we're not guaranteed tomorrow atall we're so we're we're so um
(41:22):
you know what's the word I'mlooking at future focused we're
so future focused that we don'trealize how vulnerable we really
are and if you took everystatistic in the world it would
just make you sick and it makesme think about my brother in law
and his line of work he thinksabout death every single day I
don't have to and I don't and sothe song Roses is is the
(41:43):
basically the opening line ofthe song is don't hold your
roses to the till the funeraltake every chance to tell her
she's beautiful because I justgot the chill I'm telling you
this entire song it's likedepressing but it's not
depressing at all because it'slike hold up something in me
just made me want to sit up andgo like hug and kiss my wife and
tell her how much I love herbecause I may never get the
(42:05):
opportunity to you knoweverything in that happened in
the past couple weeks is if itdoesn't make you think anything
else is that we're life isprecious and it's not guaranteed
at all.
The only thing that we'reguaranteed what is is is death
and taxes is that is that whatthe saying is but we're so we
have so much amnesia that weforget that so instantly that we
(42:28):
get caught up in so many otherthings that we forget how
precious life is and that andwhat our job is and what our
commitment was the day we said Ido.
And so this song we weren'teven planning on releasing it
and I and I sent Sean back thedemo that that we had recorded
and I said dude like I know thiswas an awesome song and we
weren't going to the only reasonwe weren't going to release it
(42:49):
was it because it wasn't goingto be a strong enough single
that was going to go out and getplaylisted and and just feel
like it was going to performreally well but the song at the
the decision and the meetingbetween the us and the label was
I think the song was createdfor such a time as this and the
and the craziest thing in theworld is if you look back at the
(43:09):
shared note the song waswritten almost a year to the
date of of everything that'sgoing on right now in the world
and it was like holy cow like Ithink this song is for such a
time as this let's go ahead andrelease it so that we can we can
kind of encourage some peopleto to lean in a little bit more
to their relationships and andand um be closer and I think at
(43:31):
the end of the day like that'sthat's incredible.
Jay Franze (43:36):
Alright Sean let's lighten things up a little bit
you guys have known each otherfor an awful long time at this
point.
Take us back and tell us somejuicy piece of gossip about
Josh.
Sean Monahan (43:51):
Oh man something about Josh did y'all meet in the
high school so no we met incollege we were both uh a part
of a campus ministry I was at athe college downtown Charleston
and he was at one in NorthCharleston and I man I I'm
struggling to think of onespecific memory but I will say
Josh was a prankster and he wasknown as that we would maybe
(44:15):
twice three times a year have uhboth the college groups meet up
and man he was a he was a messin the best way in the fun way
is he still like that now he'suh he's a little tamer but he
definitely is at heart yeah he'she's still got he's still got
the prankster at heart josh tellus how is April Fools at your
(44:35):
house yeah so that's actually mybirthday I was born on April
Fool's Day and I don't thinkanyone's ever April Fool's me so
I'm kind of inviting Josh areyou welcome for the challenge I
need someone to just tempted youwell no extremely up for it
mine are mine are pretty prettycrazy um trying to think of one
I came up with the other day umbut it's um yeah it's nothing
(45:00):
that would cause a lot of harmbut could be pretty embarrassing
and uh those are the ones welike yeah I'm trying to think of
some some actual you know oneof the super pranks if you
wouldn't have asked me Jay Iwould have told you every single
one um but put you on the spotyeah um gosh oh I okay I have I
(45:21):
have one it's it's the only oneI can think of it's not the best
but I remember we were had thisone Josh getaway I'm thinking
we have this was for somethingthis was like all of the schools
in the southeast or at least inSouth Carolina get together
from from this campus ministryand so we were at this event and
so maybe 200 300 people in theroom and it was a great weekend
(45:42):
had a ton of fun out on the lakeand had meetings and stuff and
and so anyway at the end Josh isthe MC he's hosting it and he's
a they've invited whoever wantsto come share uh what they
learned or what they experiencedto the whole group and I guess
Josh decided he didn't have wrapup music there was no there's
(46:05):
nothing to kind of urge thisgoing on and so as people
started going longer and longerhe had this trick where he would
just start he was holding themic he would slowly start
bringing it lower and lower andit was shocking how many people
would just keep getting lowerand lower with the mic rather
than getting the clue.
But that's that that's that'swhat I think of when I think of
(46:26):
Josh he's he's gonna be funnyand communicate that really well
in front of people.
That's awesome.
Josh Gale (46:32):
Yeah um never put me on speakerphone especially my
wife will tell you especially ifyou're at the store if you're
on FaceTime or speakerphone atthe store because I will make
every noise known to man or saysomething extremely
inappropriate really loud um sothat everyone around you can
hear it.
Gosh I don't know I'm usuallydid you get the ointment did you
get the yes all the things umyou know I'll even get my 11
(46:55):
year old daughter with thatshe's trying to make some kind
of selfie video for somethingI'm just I can't I'm a child I
the child comes out in me andit's every fart sound in the
world that you could imagine.
Jay Franze (47:07):
My daughter was making a TikTok in the kitchen
tonight while we were trying toget ready for dinner and I just
stood behind her and danced andshe had no idea it was there.
Shirt comes on whatever it isand whatever's needed.
Tiffany Mason (47:18):
Nobody wants to see that Josh I can't take my
shirt off around my family okayso Sean it sounds like you play
every instrument under the sunor you know of every instrument
under the sun.
Josh do you play anyinstruments?
Josh Gale (47:34):
I uh yes um I can't say really well compared to the
people that I'm around becauseI've I've hired two that
weakness uh no I'm um like Isaid you know I got injured
playing sports and the guitarwas there uh every dollar I'd
ever saved went to purchasinginstruments and I went straight
in I the electric guitar thehalf stack guitar amp uh B-52
(47:56):
had just come on uh the sceneand their solid state half stack
was the clean on it was reallyincredible that got electric
guitars gear PA systemeverything I still have the the
PA system I bought at that timeas well Yamaha was they don't
make things like they used to asfar as that that hardware and
went straight in and and neverlooked back so play guitar um
(48:20):
but it's it's different.
I mean I you know um I guesswhat folks would tell me is that
they feel like there's arelationship between me and my
guitar like the way I play itmay it the guitar and I are one
or there's something coming outof it that's a little bit
different than the way they hearother people playing it.
I don't know if you want tocall it passion.
I don't know if you want tocall it whatever but it's it's
(48:42):
my own style you know Sean willusually translate Sean would
Sean will probably do most ofthe tracking because we're you
know if we're trying to to be onstudio time and all that kind
of stuff it's uh it he cantranslate it pretty well but
yeah play guitar I can play thebass I can I can do a few other
things the harmonica enough tobe a little bit dangerous or to
(49:04):
you know enough to you knowimpress I don't know I don't
know I did not impress my wifewith it um she could care less
if I could play guitar and singum but enough to impress some
people and uh so but enough tohave fun and I think that's our
live performances like Sean saidwe just are trying to put on a
rock show and any way I can addto that I do.
Tiffany Mason (49:28):
Would you say live performing is more fun than
studio recording?
Do you enjoy it more for me Ido.
Josh Gale (49:36):
I love I love people and I just love moments.
I love creating these momentsthat they're not expecting at
all and I love putting the rightpeople in the in place to do
it.
The band we have together forthe poor house show I've got
I've got a Venezuelan on thekeys that's that's an incredible
keys player that's reallycelebrated around town and that
(49:57):
can play across so many genreswhether it's Latin music or jazz
or anything and then Sean's ofcourse over there on the
electric guitar doing thingsthat that most people cannot do
with a guitar and you know gotbass play we got a drummer
that's got more energy than thananybody would know what to do
with if we could bottle it wouldbe incredible.
But to put the right people inthe right place to put something
(50:18):
together to where if that wasyour first rock show like John
Mayer then you'd want to put ona rock show for the rest of your
life and that's that's whatwe're trying to do.
That's what I want to do.
And so for me that's the funthe aspect of it.
Sean Monahan (50:30):
And doing it with my wife my you know you know
Sean is one of my best friendsgetting to do it with those two
pretty incredible yeah not manypeople get to do that uh
especially as they as they getuh older in life yep all right
sir well we do this thing herewe call unsung heroes where we
take a moment to shine the lighton somebody who's worked behind
the scenes or somebody who mayhave supported you along the way
(50:52):
do you guys have anybody you'dlike to shine a little light on
what you take it Sean I'll I'llsay my parents honestly they've
they've been so supportive andthere's a ton of people we could
we could say here but they werea big part of what got us
started financially back 15years ago along with another a
donor from from Josh's friendsum in Texas and uh man I just
(51:16):
like we we wouldn't be I don'tthink doing what we're doing it
wouldn't have continued thislong without their support so I
just want to I'll shine thelight on them.
There you go.
Josh Gale (51:27):
Unexpected but it's the first thing that came to my
mind right now my local thriftstore uh community thrift on uh
Rivers Avenue uh my favoriteguitar I always wanted this
1970s Martin guitar and thisthrift store is like the kidney
foundation thrift store and Iknow I'm gonna try to wrap it up
real quick uh they will comeand pick up all your junk uh
(51:49):
when somebody passes away andall of a sudden I walk in one
day I kind of had it on myschedule to go buy at least like
twice a month and all of asudden there's this guitar case
and it doesn't look like muchright and I open it up and I see
this guitar.
I've never heard of this brandbefore called Penco.
Okay so uh I started to look itup Google it because this looks
(52:09):
just like a Martin I mean youcouldn't look more like a Martin
I took a picture of it and myphone AI told me it's a D28 and
I'm going holy cow okay I startto look it up well Penco is this
Japanese brand that knocked offMartin and Gibson so well that
they became um sued it wascalled a it's a lawsuit guitar.
(52:30):
Anyways Penco shut down uhPennsylvania company which then
later reopened as Ibanz and Ilove this guitar so in
Charleston we have this uhguitar shop over um um in Mount
Pleasant is another part of thethe metropolitan area the only
person that is like certified inthis area of the country to
(52:53):
reset Martin guitars uh is about78 years old um and I took this
guitar to him he knew exactlywhat it uh what it was he
treated it just like a Martin hereset it put Grover tuners on
it put new strings reset thebridge did a little glue work
put a um L R Bags pickup in itand I'm telling you all I've
(53:16):
never been so in love with aninstrument like I am this one
and I invested a total of $500into this guitar and I love it
so maybe that's why you becomeone when you play it I think so
but it's so in love with it.
I got all my other Martins arecollecting dust so here it is.
Anyways I want to thank mylocal thrift store that's not a
(53:37):
bad choice.
Jay Franze (53:38):
Yeah all right folks we've done it we've reached the
top of the hour which does meanwe have reached the end of the
show if you have enjoyed thisshow please tell a friend and
Miss Tiffany if you have nottell two all right you can reach
out to both of us over atjayfranze.com you can actually
reach out to all four of us fivereach out to josh's wife that's
fine too you can do all of thatover at jayfranze.com Josh Sean
(54:01):
we would like to leave thefinal words to you uh Melissa
thank you for watching the kidstonight putting them to bed I
love you sweetheart you mean theworld to me yeah and if you're
local we'd love to see youOctober 23rd at the poor house
it's a Thursday night.
Tony Scott (54:16):
All right folks on that note have a good night
thanks for listening to The JayFranze Show make sure you visit
us at jayfranze.com followconnect and say hello
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