April 30, 2025 • 27 mins
Through captivating storytelling and intimate interviews, "The Jersey Sound" documentary displays the state's musical history. Randy Dominguez (Executive Producer) joins to discuss NJ's rock scene stemming from acts like Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, Metallica, Guns N' Roses, Skid Row, and more!
More info:
https://thejerseysound.com/
https://bio.site/thejerseysound
Our website: afdpod.com
More info:
https://thejerseysound.com/
https://bio.site/thejerseysound
Our website: afdpod.com
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You know, yes, is Appetite for Distortion.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite for Distortion, episode number five
hundred and five. Five oh five would be a good
segue if it was the area code of some place
in New Jersey, but it's it's not, mister Randy Dominguez.
But well, that'll be my awkward segue into just welcoming
(00:50):
you to the show. Executive producer of a great new documentary,
The Jersey Sound, The Jersey Sound, the musicians who called
New Jersey Home. So just a welcome to the podcast, Sir.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Bradan, thank you so much for having me on. It's
a pleasure, especially for someone who's a gun in Roses Officionado.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And I talk about New Jersey often, even though I'm
currently in Forest Hills, Queens and raised on Long Island.
I've been to many shows in New Jersey, freaking currently too.
Because G and R their reformation, or at least three fifths,
I don't we don't need to go down that road
and be all nerdy with the rest of the fans.
(01:31):
But they are playing stadiums, so the stadium really around
here air quote is MetLife Stadium. So I go to
MetLife Stadium all the time, and what was the Meadowlands
and Giant Stadium. I've been going there my entire life,
being from whether it's wherever New York and Long Island
is going to New Jersey. One of my favorite experiences ever,
(01:55):
concert experiences ever was at Starland Ballroom where I got
to see Velvet. I think it might have been my
one only time there. Just it's in the middle of nowhere,
and I got to meet Slash and Duff going into
the building, which would never happen anywhere else. It would
not happen in New York. By the way, do you
see him? Do you see my little guy right here?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Hi? Little guy?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
See Harrison? Can you say, Randy? Can you say New Jersey?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
New Jersey? Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
His diaper is falling off. We may want to handle that.
We don't want to see that on camera, Randy.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We're about rock and roll, but I don't know. That's
a little too rock and roll for me.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I just watched this documentary and I encourage people
to do so. It's for free right now. On to
b which I often talk about to be because I'm
a horror fan and their horror collection is incredible, but
their documentary section is getting there and the Jersey sound
is so before we get really into the dock in Jersey,
(02:55):
I wouldn't know about you, you know, how did you know?
We talked a little bit off the air about it.
But I'm interested to find out how you got involved
in this project other than being from Jersey.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Right, Well, it's interesting. I'll give you the very short
semmary of me. I was born in Cuba. I came
to the US in fifty nine. I grew up on
the West side of Manhattan, fossil the time, got married,
and moved to New Jersey. Okay, that's sort of the
great short. I was in finance for fifty five years.
(03:26):
I retired. I happened to like cigars, Tama Cuban cigars,
and there is a local bar that actually has a
grandfather's cigar bar in there. In twenty nineteen, I met
the gentleman his name is Fubio Sacere, who was creating
this project. He eventually was the director, and during the
(03:49):
course of the next six months eight months, as he
started to begin to interview someone here and someone there are,
I realized that I started to build a passion for
it I happened to love music. Since moving into New
Jersey in eighty nine, I became much more aware of
(04:14):
what the music scene was in New Jersey. And for instance,
one of my movie does a number of things. It
tries to entertain, It has a story, and it gives you,
it strives to be educational. One of the facts that
I learned early on is there are more musicians per
capita in New Jersey than in any other state that
(04:38):
in this that I think it might be mentioned briefly
in the movie, but more importantly, through my connection with Fulio,
I started to understand that the breath and scope of
the music that was generated ont of New Jersey was
much bigger than that than any other region. And and
(05:00):
I'll give you an example. Detroit is known for the
most town sound goggle for blues. Philadelphia has its own
sound Seattle, so on and so forth. But New Jersey
is the only one state that actually isn't a city.
It's a state in a transitions or has transitioned all
(05:22):
genres in all time periods, so that you can find
any type of genre in New Jersey. You've seen a
cross office artists. The first cross office artist was Eddie
Rabbit who went from sort of pop to pop country
in Western and you know who really made a name
for himself and then he moved on to Nashville. There
(05:45):
are so many wonderful stories about people, individual musicians that
people may or may not be in fully aware. Al
Demiola is one of the has one of the best
stories in the movie. And he's a guitarist. Incredible guitarists
there are, and that comes across in the way that
he really relates the story. So in interacting with Phubia
(06:11):
and getting to know him, I realized that where he
had the entertainment experience, I had the finance experience. So
we decided to collaborate and form a partnership to eventually
come up with a documentary series. This is the first episode,
hopefully of more to come, but we needed to generately
(06:37):
come up with something first because of the fact there
are time constraints and there's financing that had to be
involved and on a collaboration of my team. This wasn't
one individual or the team. We came up with this
concept of you know, this is a love letter to
New Jersey and it's a story, a story that that's
(07:00):
it resonates well, and again it's educational, so for me,
I think. By the way, if I may mention, if
someone has a difficult time finding it, they can go
to my website www dot The Jerseysound dot com and
there is a link on the website that will direct
(07:20):
you to I Believe It's to Be and you can
watch it for free. It's also on YouTube and Amazon.
A little side note, we're in the process of negotiating
with YouTube Russia. The movie is currently trying to be
dubbed into Russian, so that should be an interesting experience.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
To say the least, so Russian like, how do you
do that?
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, apparently that with AI the technology is such that
they can come up with not just the conversion from
English to Russian, but also the manners or the particular
aspects of an individual's voice. So it tries to keep
it as original as possible. So that should be an
(08:08):
interesting outcome, and there are there are a number of
other avenues that work we're currently looking to finish up
negotiating on. But back to your question, it is what
I realized the true nature of the history of music
in New Jersey that I felt was important story to
tell and off the offset on the movie. As you saw,
(08:31):
there's also almost kind of like a whimsical tone to
it and got a playful tone that kind of starts
to give you a little bit of perspective that you know,
you have Philadelphia, you have New York, but New Jersey
is in a city. Now. We know Hoboken because of
Frank Sinatra, we know Ashbury Park because of Bruce and
bon Jovi, but there are so many other great musicians
(08:52):
and there's so many other towns that really contributed to
I think the whole storyline.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And I appreciate it because you know, I have been
a podcast. It's not like I just have listeners local
in the metro area but everywhere. But I want people
to understand that just from the get go. I appreciated
it because you set the tone just right there, because
the narration is like Jersey is talking. You're hearing it.
It's not just like you're hearing Morgan Freeman or someone
(09:20):
talking about New Jersey. You're hearing New Jersey talk. And
it made me laugh right away that it starts with
no spoilers traffic, because that's my experience on being a
New Yorker and going to Jersey for whatever reason, friends
concerts or whatever is the traffic. And I have to
admit I am a typical self centered New Yorker in
(09:45):
that way that New York matters. Jersey's kind of like
the little brother, you know. It's that's my unfortunate New
York attitude. You know, I have no problem with and
it's always it's just funny again being like a New
York Giants fan. But they play in all these things.
So I love the dull aspect of it and that
(10:05):
it's more than, of course, Frank, it's more than, of course, Bruce.
But things that I things I forget, bands that I
forget that are have been such a heavily uh heavy
involvement with Jersey and silly to me because a few
of them have been guests on this show, that being
skid Row, Uh, Snake and Rachel who make appearances in
(10:27):
the podcast. So that must have been fun. Do you
when these interviews happen, like with its Snake or or
or Rachel or or Bumblefoot or are you how involved
are you or do you do you set up the interviews?
How how involved are you with getting who to speak to?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And uh, well it was my team being in the
lead with some of the other members who were able
at connection. We have a great relationship with the great
Steve Brown from Trickster and Who Kim and Mark mulch Who.
Mark Moulchez, my music supervisor, who's licensed all the music
(11:04):
for the movie. He's also a musician in his own
right down in Nashville, and he's got his own musical theme,
and between both of them, they helped us to really
connect to quite a number of the musicians we've had
other people. One of the things that would happen during
the course of the interview or towards the end of
the interview. The interview, we would be so excited by
(11:29):
the potential of this movie that they said, Oh, you've
got to talk to this guy, or you've got to
talk to the scal and that really opened up a
door for us the other aspect, and I have to
be very honest about this. This happened during COVID, so
you had a lot of the musicians that just really
weren't out there playing scripts for the obvious reasons, and
(11:54):
it allowed them to have time. We made a point
of when we spoke to the musician for a potential
interview to ensure that we have protocols that we were
maintained masks a distance, we would respect their privacy, we
wouldn't be intrusive in any way, and we would give
(12:15):
them the opportunity to interview wherever they would want to.
In some cases it took place at home. That represented
certain logistic issues, because if you're outside, you have the
potential for traffic noise, which could impede the interview itself.
But for the most part, FUBA was able to get
(12:38):
venues like down in the Jersey Shore, Ashbury Park that
would allow for a stone Pony and a number of
those other places. Great managements. They were so helpful in
allowing us to be part of their history because now
we are interviewing great decisions in there that it really
gave us. It gave the ought actually give us the
(12:59):
opportunity to give the audience across section of the different places.
And and if you think about in times where musicians
played and and a little bit of insight into who they.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Were, I noticed that that's I guess it makes sense.
A lot of this was filmed during COVID and uh,
but you didn't feel it. You definitely didn't feel it
because you got you were at a lot of different places,
a lot of different venues. I love those shots where
it would just be the guests and just all these
empty seats. I love those those shots. But I mean,
(13:34):
if you're interviewing you know, somebody you know from Trickster
or skid Row, they're usually at their home studios surrounded
by records and stuff. So that always is gonna look uh,
look cool, and it's not always about what I liked
about it. And of course being on this podcast, we're
gonna focus on the rock portion. This covers a lot
of different uh genres of music. I want people to
(13:57):
to know that. But when in Rome we got to
talk rock and wrong so the things the bands that
are not from the area but had a big impact.
And I don't really usually don't think of Metallica that way,
but wow, they really were a Jersey born you know,
when they were still played.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Part of it is because we interviewed Johnny C. In fact,
unfortunately that was the last interview that Johnny C did
before he passed away, and he was an incredible influence
in getting Metallica out there. I believe two of the
members who are related have origins in New Jersey, and
(14:41):
so the connection, the whole premise was if there was
some connection to New Jersey for these musicians, right, whatever
level of the musicians were, that mattered, This was a
double connection. Johnny C, who's from New Jersey, and then
a couple couple, I said, a couple of the members
who were uh, we had a relationship to New Jersey
(15:04):
directly made it easier for us to transition. Metallica the
best metal band ever ever there are, unequivocally, but Johnny
C's story on how he got them there is what
makes it interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah, That's that's what makes it in a compelling documentary,
is how that happened. And you know, being quote unquote
from the area, I just didn't realize it and used
to find that out how that happened. So, what's something
that's so that surprised me? What's something that that surprised
you making this doctor?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I've always enjoyed his music, and it ended up that
we made Southside the sort of focus in a way.
He was the beginning, the middle in the end. He
was an increding, incredibly gracious individual, a really very forthcoming
in his history. His associate with New Jersey and association
(16:01):
with a number of musicians. Through the movie, you'll learn
how there the number of musicians that actually played with him,
but started with him and eventually went on to form
their own band. He was incredibly supportive and in fact,
if you hear interviews by Bruce Banjovi and a number
of other really great musicians, they're always going to make
(16:24):
reference to Southside because Southside, in essence was sort of
the foundation that sort of rock based on soul music
that really kind of elevated this and he he could
have he could have reached certain heights. He was just
very sort of a very you know, comfortable in his
(16:45):
own skin. He did not need to move forward beyond
where he's at, you know. Unfortunately, he recently retired. I
think he retired at the end of last year for
a number of reasons. But the fact that you have
the Bruises and the Banjovies of the world always make
reference them. That really gave me an insight into how
(17:08):
powerful certain musicians were from New Jersey that didn't necessarily
look for the limelight, but were there for the music.
To me, he is that purist, that individual that really
resonates is to the idea in the concept in New Jersey.
One of the interviews that we have, and I'll be brief,
(17:31):
Steve Brown during one of his interviews, they had gone
out to LA for a record for the band and
when he came back and during your interview, he said,
I learned that in LA, the entertainers and the musicians
are what can you do for me? He came back
was playing some gigs in New Jersey and he said,
(17:53):
in New Jersey is so completely different. The musicians there
are let me see what I can do for you
as an examp. He could be playing one club in
wherever town in New Jersey, and in that same town
they could be another club, but another band is playing.
As soon as they finished their gig, they would run
over to the other band to support them and to
(18:15):
give feedback. So there is that collaborative effort, that brotherhood
that you get out of the musicians in New Jersey.
And I think my movie really portrays that. It gives
you that sense that I think makes the New Jersey
musicians and music stay out a little bit different than
(18:35):
other places.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It was good to see Southside Johnny in that in
your format, because you're right that he had just retired
and it was kind of just seeing him out again
and so to speak. And yeah, he's somebody that never
really sought the limelight and somebody who just being in radio.
I know, I don't think I would have known him
(18:58):
other than just working in not that his stuff was
played on the radio, but just that his shows were
always a part of our promotions wherever I was, and
even when I was up in Poughkeepsie, and he just
that whole Tri state area. You know, he's a love
letter to him and in a lot of ways, I
know it's the Jersey, but it's a love letter to
the South Side Johnny for sure. Is there anybody that
(19:22):
because I know I was happy to hear you said
at the beginning that this is kind of like the
first installment. Is there anybody that you tried to get
that perhaps you couldn't get this time around, that you
want to get next time?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Well, clearly we made an attempt to get Bruce and
bon Jovi. What we did and we didn't have success.
But what we knew at the time, well no, we
didn't know at the time was that they were working
on their own documentaries. So retrospect it made sense. But
they we got no pushback In using some of the
(19:55):
photos and some of some clips, we were able to
manage to be able to really incorporate them into into
the movie or this particular episode, because I think that
was important. We needed to make an impact. But the
other thing, and they have said this themselves, they are
not the Jersey sound. They are part of the Jersey sound.
(20:17):
Bruce and bon Jovi are very, uh, sort of differential.
It's not about them, it's about it's about the listener.
It's about the people in New Jersey or worldwide who
are listening to their music. They don't think of themselves
as the stars. They think of the of the audience
as the start. And it portraits really quite a bit
(20:40):
and a lot of the the interviews and follow up
concerts that I have seen, you know, that really comes
across well. And I think that's part of the love
affair that the fans have with some of these musicians,
because there is that connection between them. It's not just
(21:03):
they're on stage they play Thank You very Much, Bad Bank,
Now we're moving somewhere else, you know. There there is
that relationship that I think they fostered over time that
really resonates and gives them that particular unique sound and
relationship that helps them. I think it helps to elevate
them in their hearts to make even better music.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Again, you had a lot of people, I know you
said you didn't even notice. No, I know a lot
of it was about Bruce and Jan bon Jovi, but
didn't even notice because they were You're getting JJ French,
You're getting Chris Jericho, You're getting in and obviously they're
They're all part of the story. Again, if this was
just a a Bruce Joan bon Jovi documentary, I don't
know if I would be very excited about that. This
(21:47):
was so much and again I'm only here focusing on
the rock portion of it. There's there's so much, Like
what are the other types of.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Music we tried to We tried to incorporate jazz, blues.
We had a difficulty, only it's because we didn't have
the direct connections to try to bring into Latin influence.
And there's a part of the movie that also tries
to bring in the R and B, the the the
(22:17):
soulful sound. We have a nice, really a great young
musician in the R and B world. He's starting a
whole new kind of Gendre. His name is Unicorn one
fifty one, and he has really elevated the R and
B music to in hip hop, really more not R
(22:39):
hip hop, to kind of bring it up to a
new level. It's more interactive, it's more dancing, it's more
about crowds working together to really create an ambiance that
makes it makes it a party. And him and his
fellow interviewees Unicorn and sorry the Unicorn one fifty one
(22:59):
plus Unique three and I think its name is fd Lane.
There's a couple of segments that we have them in
because they were just so animated and it really represented
hip hop and how it's moved forward from that gangster
app that we started with the way back and I
think it's the seventies to network or eighties and now
(23:20):
where we're at now, which is really a much more
sophisticated sound, but they still maintain the uniqueness of that
interaction with the crowd. Again, there is that individual with
the crowd and how they can bring them in. There
were so many other people Queen Latifa, Oh my god,
I can go down to a list of individuals who
(23:42):
to scheduling and timing, we couldn't get We would love
to do more of that, because all we did was
give you a taste. We haven't had an opportunity to
give you the full picture. What we do, and I
think that we were able to accomplish is give you
a what the real story, what the heart of the
(24:04):
story is. And I said, we start off by saying,
this is a love letter to New Jersey. It's really
trying to explain to the world that there is a
uniqueness in New Jersey, just as there's a uniqueness in
New York and in Philadelphia. We do not we never
try to take anything away from them, because in their
(24:25):
all right, they have some great musical histories. But New
Jersey is different only in the fact that it's not
a city, it's the entire state literally throughout that you
can really come with stories about individuals and their events.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
It's something again, it's a stone's throwaway for me. Yet
at the same time, we've already spoke about the traffic.
But it was great to learn so much. And if
I may make a producers suggestion for next time with
the obvious guns and Roses playing nineteen eighty eight Giant
Stadium with the purple Ieros Smith filmed for Paradise City
(25:02):
the video. I mean, that's pretty that's history right there.
So I don't know, we got to get some some
guns and roses history into the Jersey's Sound Part two,
Electric Boogaloo or how whatever you want to refer to it,
as I.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Would love to do that. We're in the in the
sort of concept planning stages trying to do. But at
further moment, I'm you know, my priority obviously has to
do with the promoting and marketing of this. The more
people that come in and watch us, uh, you know,
the Jersey Sound, the better it's going to be for
not just for the brand, but for us to get
(25:37):
other promoters to say, hey, let's see more of that.
Give us an opportunity to bring and highlight some more
of the individuals who were part of New Jersey history
that people just may not necessarily associate with that, but
but it isn't. I don't think that New Jersey musicians
look at its necessarily as we're New Jersey. We're different
(25:59):
with it. We're New Jersey. We helped to move the
music world and make it more worldwide. You know, as
I mentioned, I gave you Eddie Eddie Rabbit as an example.
You know, it expands it. Jersey is sort of maybe
the where they might have started, but they move and
go worldwide, and that's really what the thing is. They
(26:20):
you know, they want to get their music out there
and allow it to expand and continue to grow, which
is what I think is the beauty of it.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
It is the beauty of it. Randy di Mingez, the
Jersey Sound, the musicians you call New Jersey Home executive
producer of that. Just thanks for your time, and I
hope we get to do this again.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Brandon has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much
for your time, and you have another. I wish we
would have been able to have time to have your
beautiful little child join us, because it's not he would
have been quite a character.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
He was just I was pulled, just breaking down all
the fourth walls. I pulled my fader down because he
was getting a bath. Gets out of the bath. I
hear him scream. I mean just now, Well, now he's happy.
He's all dressed as his diaper on his because he
has long hair, he got it all combed, all the
knots out, so now he's running around playing with legos.
So next time, next.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Time, at Thank you again for your time. I'm very
much appreciated. You got it.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
So that does it for this episode of Appetite for
the Stortion. When we see the next one. In the
words of Axel Rose, concerning Chinese democracy, I don't know
as soon as the word, but you'll see it.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Thanks to the lame ass security, I'm going home.
You know, yes, is Appetite for Distortion.
Speaker 2 (00:30):
Welcome to the podcast Appetite for Distortion, episode number five
hundred and five. Five oh five would be a good
segue if it was the area code of some place
in New Jersey, but it's it's not, mister Randy Dominguez.
But well, that'll be my awkward segue into just welcoming
(00:50):
you to the show. Executive producer of a great new documentary,
The Jersey Sound, The Jersey Sound, the musicians who called
New Jersey Home. So just a welcome to the podcast, Sir.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Bradan, thank you so much for having me on. It's
a pleasure, especially for someone who's a gun in Roses Officionado.
Speaker 2 (01:10):
And I talk about New Jersey often, even though I'm
currently in Forest Hills, Queens and raised on Long Island.
I've been to many shows in New Jersey, freaking currently too.
Because G and R their reformation, or at least three fifths,
I don't we don't need to go down that road
and be all nerdy with the rest of the fans.
(01:31):
But they are playing stadiums, so the stadium really around
here air quote is MetLife Stadium. So I go to
MetLife Stadium all the time, and what was the Meadowlands
and Giant Stadium. I've been going there my entire life,
being from whether it's wherever New York and Long Island
is going to New Jersey. One of my favorite experiences ever,
(01:55):
concert experiences ever was at Starland Ballroom where I got
to see Velvet. I think it might have been my
one only time there. Just it's in the middle of nowhere,
and I got to meet Slash and Duff going into
the building, which would never happen anywhere else. It would
not happen in New York. By the way, do you
see him? Do you see my little guy right here?
Speaker 3 (02:15):
Hi? Little guy?
Speaker 2 (02:17):
See Harrison? Can you say, Randy? Can you say New Jersey?
Speaker 3 (02:21):
New Jersey? Oh?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
His diaper is falling off. We may want to handle that.
We don't want to see that on camera, Randy.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
No, I don't think so.
Speaker 2 (02:29):
We're about rock and roll, but I don't know. That's
a little too rock and roll for me.
Speaker 3 (02:33):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I just watched this documentary and I encourage people
to do so. It's for free right now. On to
b which I often talk about to be because I'm
a horror fan and their horror collection is incredible, but
their documentary section is getting there and the Jersey sound
is so before we get really into the dock in Jersey,
(02:55):
I wouldn't know about you, you know, how did you know?
We talked a little bit off the air about it.
But I'm interested to find out how you got involved
in this project other than being from Jersey.
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Right, Well, it's interesting. I'll give you the very short
semmary of me. I was born in Cuba. I came
to the US in fifty nine. I grew up on
the West side of Manhattan, fossil the time, got married,
and moved to New Jersey. Okay, that's sort of the
great short. I was in finance for fifty five years.
(03:26):
I retired. I happened to like cigars, Tama Cuban cigars,
and there is a local bar that actually has a
grandfather's cigar bar in there. In twenty nineteen, I met
the gentleman his name is Fubio Sacere, who was creating
this project. He eventually was the director, and during the
(03:49):
course of the next six months eight months, as he
started to begin to interview someone here and someone there are,
I realized that I started to build a passion for
it I happened to love music. Since moving into New
Jersey in eighty nine, I became much more aware of
(04:14):
what the music scene was in New Jersey. And for instance,
one of my movie does a number of things. It
tries to entertain, It has a story, and it gives you,
it strives to be educational. One of the facts that
I learned early on is there are more musicians per
capita in New Jersey than in any other state that
(04:38):
in this that I think it might be mentioned briefly
in the movie, but more importantly, through my connection with Fulio,
I started to understand that the breath and scope of
the music that was generated ont of New Jersey was
much bigger than that than any other region. And and
(05:00):
I'll give you an example. Detroit is known for the
most town sound goggle for blues. Philadelphia has its own
sound Seattle, so on and so forth. But New Jersey
is the only one state that actually isn't a city.
It's a state in a transitions or has transitioned all
(05:22):
genres in all time periods, so that you can find
any type of genre in New Jersey. You've seen a
cross office artists. The first cross office artist was Eddie
Rabbit who went from sort of pop to pop country
in Western and you know who really made a name
for himself and then he moved on to Nashville. There
(05:45):
are so many wonderful stories about people, individual musicians that
people may or may not be in fully aware. Al
Demiola is one of the has one of the best
stories in the movie. And he's a guitarist. Incredible guitarists
there are, and that comes across in the way that
he really relates the story. So in interacting with Phubia
(06:11):
and getting to know him, I realized that where he
had the entertainment experience, I had the finance experience. So
we decided to collaborate and form a partnership to eventually
come up with a documentary series. This is the first episode,
hopefully of more to come, but we needed to generately
(06:37):
come up with something first because of the fact there
are time constraints and there's financing that had to be
involved and on a collaboration of my team. This wasn't
one individual or the team. We came up with this
concept of you know, this is a love letter to
New Jersey and it's a story, a story that that's
(07:00):
it resonates well, and again it's educational, so for me,
I think. By the way, if I may mention, if
someone has a difficult time finding it, they can go
to my website www dot The Jerseysound dot com and
there is a link on the website that will direct
(07:20):
you to I Believe It's to Be and you can
watch it for free. It's also on YouTube and Amazon.
A little side note, we're in the process of negotiating
with YouTube Russia. The movie is currently trying to be
dubbed into Russian, so that should be an interesting experience.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
To say the least, so Russian like, how do you
do that?
Speaker 3 (07:45):
Well, apparently that with AI the technology is such that
they can come up with not just the conversion from
English to Russian, but also the manners or the particular
aspects of an individual's voice. So it tries to keep
it as original as possible. So that should be an
(08:08):
interesting outcome, and there are there are a number of
other avenues that work we're currently looking to finish up
negotiating on. But back to your question, it is what
I realized the true nature of the history of music
in New Jersey that I felt was important story to
tell and off the offset on the movie. As you saw,
(08:31):
there's also almost kind of like a whimsical tone to
it and got a playful tone that kind of starts
to give you a little bit of perspective that you know,
you have Philadelphia, you have New York, but New Jersey
is in a city. Now. We know Hoboken because of
Frank Sinatra, we know Ashbury Park because of Bruce and
bon Jovi, but there are so many other great musicians
(08:52):
and there's so many other towns that really contributed to
I think the whole storyline.
Speaker 2 (08:59):
And I appreciate it because you know, I have been
a podcast. It's not like I just have listeners local
in the metro area but everywhere. But I want people
to understand that just from the get go. I appreciated
it because you set the tone just right there, because
the narration is like Jersey is talking. You're hearing it.
It's not just like you're hearing Morgan Freeman or someone
(09:20):
talking about New Jersey. You're hearing New Jersey talk. And
it made me laugh right away that it starts with
no spoilers traffic, because that's my experience on being a
New Yorker and going to Jersey for whatever reason, friends
concerts or whatever is the traffic. And I have to
admit I am a typical self centered New Yorker in
(09:45):
that way that New York matters. Jersey's kind of like
the little brother, you know. It's that's my unfortunate New
York attitude. You know, I have no problem with and
it's always it's just funny again being like a New
York Giants fan. But they play in all these things.
So I love the dull aspect of it and that
(10:05):
it's more than, of course, Frank, it's more than, of course, Bruce.
But things that I things I forget, bands that I
forget that are have been such a heavily uh heavy
involvement with Jersey and silly to me because a few
of them have been guests on this show, that being
skid Row, Uh, Snake and Rachel who make appearances in
(10:27):
the podcast. So that must have been fun. Do you
when these interviews happen, like with its Snake or or
or Rachel or or Bumblefoot or are you how involved
are you or do you do you set up the interviews?
How how involved are you with getting who to speak to?
Speaker 3 (10:43):
And uh, well it was my team being in the
lead with some of the other members who were able
at connection. We have a great relationship with the great
Steve Brown from Trickster and Who Kim and Mark mulch Who.
Mark Moulchez, my music supervisor, who's licensed all the music
(11:04):
for the movie. He's also a musician in his own
right down in Nashville, and he's got his own musical theme,
and between both of them, they helped us to really
connect to quite a number of the musicians we've had
other people. One of the things that would happen during
the course of the interview or towards the end of
the interview. The interview, we would be so excited by
(11:29):
the potential of this movie that they said, Oh, you've
got to talk to this guy, or you've got to
talk to the scal and that really opened up a
door for us the other aspect, and I have to
be very honest about this. This happened during COVID, so
you had a lot of the musicians that just really
weren't out there playing scripts for the obvious reasons, and
(11:54):
it allowed them to have time. We made a point
of when we spoke to the musician for a potential
interview to ensure that we have protocols that we were
maintained masks a distance, we would respect their privacy, we
wouldn't be intrusive in any way, and we would give
(12:15):
them the opportunity to interview wherever they would want to.
In some cases it took place at home. That represented
certain logistic issues, because if you're outside, you have the
potential for traffic noise, which could impede the interview itself.
But for the most part, FUBA was able to get
(12:38):
venues like down in the Jersey Shore, Ashbury Park that
would allow for a stone Pony and a number of
those other places. Great managements. They were so helpful in
allowing us to be part of their history because now
we are interviewing great decisions in there that it really
gave us. It gave the ought actually give us the
(12:59):
opportunity to give the audience across section of the different places.
And and if you think about in times where musicians
played and and a little bit of insight into who they.
Speaker 2 (13:12):
Were, I noticed that that's I guess it makes sense.
A lot of this was filmed during COVID and uh,
but you didn't feel it. You definitely didn't feel it
because you got you were at a lot of different places,
a lot of different venues. I love those shots where
it would just be the guests and just all these
empty seats. I love those those shots. But I mean,
(13:34):
if you're interviewing you know, somebody you know from Trickster
or skid Row, they're usually at their home studios surrounded
by records and stuff. So that always is gonna look uh,
look cool, and it's not always about what I liked
about it. And of course being on this podcast, we're
gonna focus on the rock portion. This covers a lot
of different uh genres of music. I want people to
(13:57):
to know that. But when in Rome we got to
talk rock and wrong so the things the bands that
are not from the area but had a big impact.
And I don't really usually don't think of Metallica that way,
but wow, they really were a Jersey born you know,
when they were still played.
Speaker 3 (14:18):
Part of it is because we interviewed Johnny C. In fact,
unfortunately that was the last interview that Johnny C did
before he passed away, and he was an incredible influence
in getting Metallica out there. I believe two of the
members who are related have origins in New Jersey, and
(14:41):
so the connection, the whole premise was if there was
some connection to New Jersey for these musicians, right, whatever
level of the musicians were, that mattered, This was a
double connection. Johnny C, who's from New Jersey, and then
a couple couple, I said, a couple of the members
who were uh, we had a relationship to New Jersey
(15:04):
directly made it easier for us to transition. Metallica the
best metal band ever ever there are, unequivocally, but Johnny
C's story on how he got them there is what
makes it interesting.
Speaker 2 (15:19):
Yeah, That's that's what makes it in a compelling documentary,
is how that happened. And you know, being quote unquote
from the area, I just didn't realize it and used
to find that out how that happened. So, what's something
that's so that surprised me? What's something that that surprised
you making this doctor?
Speaker 3 (15:38):
I've always enjoyed his music, and it ended up that
we made Southside the sort of focus in a way.
He was the beginning, the middle in the end. He
was an increding, incredibly gracious individual, a really very forthcoming
in his history. His associate with New Jersey and association
(16:01):
with a number of musicians. Through the movie, you'll learn
how there the number of musicians that actually played with him,
but started with him and eventually went on to form
their own band. He was incredibly supportive and in fact,
if you hear interviews by Bruce Banjovi and a number
of other really great musicians, they're always going to make
(16:24):
reference to Southside because Southside, in essence was sort of
the foundation that sort of rock based on soul music
that really kind of elevated this and he he could
have he could have reached certain heights. He was just
very sort of a very you know, comfortable in his
(16:45):
own skin. He did not need to move forward beyond
where he's at, you know. Unfortunately, he recently retired. I
think he retired at the end of last year for
a number of reasons. But the fact that you have
the Bruises and the Banjovies of the world always make
reference them. That really gave me an insight into how
(17:08):
powerful certain musicians were from New Jersey that didn't necessarily
look for the limelight, but were there for the music.
To me, he is that purist, that individual that really
resonates is to the idea in the concept in New Jersey.
One of the interviews that we have, and I'll be brief,
(17:31):
Steve Brown during one of his interviews, they had gone
out to LA for a record for the band and
when he came back and during your interview, he said,
I learned that in LA, the entertainers and the musicians
are what can you do for me? He came back
was playing some gigs in New Jersey and he said,
(17:53):
in New Jersey is so completely different. The musicians there
are let me see what I can do for you
as an examp. He could be playing one club in
wherever town in New Jersey, and in that same town
they could be another club, but another band is playing.
As soon as they finished their gig, they would run
over to the other band to support them and to
(18:15):
give feedback. So there is that collaborative effort, that brotherhood
that you get out of the musicians in New Jersey.
And I think my movie really portrays that. It gives
you that sense that I think makes the New Jersey
musicians and music stay out a little bit different than
(18:35):
other places.
Speaker 2 (18:37):
It was good to see Southside Johnny in that in
your format, because you're right that he had just retired
and it was kind of just seeing him out again
and so to speak. And yeah, he's somebody that never
really sought the limelight and somebody who just being in radio.
I know, I don't think I would have known him
(18:58):
other than just working in not that his stuff was
played on the radio, but just that his shows were
always a part of our promotions wherever I was, and
even when I was up in Poughkeepsie, and he just
that whole Tri state area. You know, he's a love
letter to him and in a lot of ways, I
know it's the Jersey, but it's a love letter to
the South Side Johnny for sure. Is there anybody that
(19:22):
because I know I was happy to hear you said
at the beginning that this is kind of like the
first installment. Is there anybody that you tried to get
that perhaps you couldn't get this time around, that you
want to get next time?
Speaker 3 (19:33):
Well, clearly we made an attempt to get Bruce and
bon Jovi. What we did and we didn't have success.
But what we knew at the time, well no, we
didn't know at the time was that they were working
on their own documentaries. So retrospect it made sense. But
they we got no pushback In using some of the
(19:55):
photos and some of some clips, we were able to
manage to be able to really incorporate them into into
the movie or this particular episode, because I think that
was important. We needed to make an impact. But the
other thing, and they have said this themselves, they are
not the Jersey sound. They are part of the Jersey sound.
(20:17):
Bruce and bon Jovi are very, uh, sort of differential.
It's not about them, it's about it's about the listener.
It's about the people in New Jersey or worldwide who
are listening to their music. They don't think of themselves
as the stars. They think of the of the audience
as the start. And it portraits really quite a bit
(20:40):
and a lot of the the interviews and follow up
concerts that I have seen, you know, that really comes
across well. And I think that's part of the love
affair that the fans have with some of these musicians,
because there is that connection between them. It's not just
(21:03):
they're on stage they play Thank You very Much, Bad Bank,
Now we're moving somewhere else, you know. There there is
that relationship that I think they fostered over time that
really resonates and gives them that particular unique sound and
relationship that helps them. I think it helps to elevate
them in their hearts to make even better music.
Speaker 2 (21:25):
Again, you had a lot of people, I know you
said you didn't even notice. No, I know a lot
of it was about Bruce and Jan bon Jovi, but
didn't even notice because they were You're getting JJ French,
You're getting Chris Jericho, You're getting in and obviously they're
They're all part of the story. Again, if this was
just a a Bruce Joan bon Jovi documentary, I don't
know if I would be very excited about that. This
(21:47):
was so much and again I'm only here focusing on
the rock portion of it. There's there's so much, Like
what are the other types of.
Speaker 3 (21:56):
Music we tried to We tried to incorporate jazz, blues.
We had a difficulty, only it's because we didn't have
the direct connections to try to bring into Latin influence.
And there's a part of the movie that also tries
to bring in the R and B, the the the
(22:17):
soulful sound. We have a nice, really a great young
musician in the R and B world. He's starting a
whole new kind of Gendre. His name is Unicorn one
fifty one, and he has really elevated the R and
B music to in hip hop, really more not R
(22:39):
hip hop, to kind of bring it up to a
new level. It's more interactive, it's more dancing, it's more
about crowds working together to really create an ambiance that
makes it makes it a party. And him and his
fellow interviewees Unicorn and sorry the Unicorn one fifty one
(22:59):
plus Unique three and I think its name is fd Lane.
There's a couple of segments that we have them in
because they were just so animated and it really represented
hip hop and how it's moved forward from that gangster
app that we started with the way back and I
think it's the seventies to network or eighties and now
(23:20):
where we're at now, which is really a much more
sophisticated sound, but they still maintain the uniqueness of that
interaction with the crowd. Again, there is that individual with
the crowd and how they can bring them in. There
were so many other people Queen Latifa, Oh my god,
I can go down to a list of individuals who
(23:42):
to scheduling and timing, we couldn't get We would love
to do more of that, because all we did was
give you a taste. We haven't had an opportunity to
give you the full picture. What we do, and I
think that we were able to accomplish is give you
a what the real story, what the heart of the
(24:04):
story is. And I said, we start off by saying,
this is a love letter to New Jersey. It's really
trying to explain to the world that there is a
uniqueness in New Jersey, just as there's a uniqueness in
New York and in Philadelphia. We do not we never
try to take anything away from them, because in their
(24:25):
all right, they have some great musical histories. But New
Jersey is different only in the fact that it's not
a city, it's the entire state literally throughout that you
can really come with stories about individuals and their events.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
It's something again, it's a stone's throwaway for me. Yet
at the same time, we've already spoke about the traffic.
But it was great to learn so much. And if
I may make a producers suggestion for next time with
the obvious guns and Roses playing nineteen eighty eight Giant
Stadium with the purple Ieros Smith filmed for Paradise City
(25:02):
the video. I mean, that's pretty that's history right there.
So I don't know, we got to get some some
guns and roses history into the Jersey's Sound Part two,
Electric Boogaloo or how whatever you want to refer to it,
as I.
Speaker 3 (25:15):
Would love to do that. We're in the in the
sort of concept planning stages trying to do. But at
further moment, I'm you know, my priority obviously has to
do with the promoting and marketing of this. The more
people that come in and watch us, uh, you know,
the Jersey Sound, the better it's going to be for
not just for the brand, but for us to get
(25:37):
other promoters to say, hey, let's see more of that.
Give us an opportunity to bring and highlight some more
of the individuals who were part of New Jersey history
that people just may not necessarily associate with that, but
but it isn't. I don't think that New Jersey musicians
look at its necessarily as we're New Jersey. We're different
(25:59):
with it. We're New Jersey. We helped to move the
music world and make it more worldwide. You know, as
I mentioned, I gave you Eddie Eddie Rabbit as an example.
You know, it expands it. Jersey is sort of maybe
the where they might have started, but they move and
go worldwide, and that's really what the thing is. They
(26:20):
you know, they want to get their music out there
and allow it to expand and continue to grow, which
is what I think is the beauty of it.
Speaker 2 (26:29):
It is the beauty of it. Randy di Mingez, the
Jersey Sound, the musicians you call New Jersey Home executive
producer of that. Just thanks for your time, and I
hope we get to do this again.
Speaker 3 (26:39):
Brandon has been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much
for your time, and you have another. I wish we
would have been able to have time to have your
beautiful little child join us, because it's not he would
have been quite a character.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
He was just I was pulled, just breaking down all
the fourth walls. I pulled my fader down because he
was getting a bath. Gets out of the bath. I
hear him scream. I mean just now, Well, now he's happy.
He's all dressed as his diaper on his because he
has long hair, he got it all combed, all the
knots out, so now he's running around playing with legos.
So next time, next.
Speaker 3 (27:11):
Time, at Thank you again for your time. I'm very
much appreciated. You got it.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
So that does it for this episode of Appetite for
the Stortion. When we see the next one. In the
words of Axel Rose, concerning Chinese democracy, I don't know
as soon as the word, but you'll see it.
Speaker 3 (27:33):
Thanks to the lame ass security, I'm going home.
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