WMP#133: Unveiling the Passion of The Now Band with Michael Rossa*

WISCONSIN MUSIC PODCAST
AMPLFYING WISCONSIN MUSIC
EPISODE 133
Michael Rossa of THE NOW

WMP Linktree: https://linktr.ee/WI_Music_Podcast

THE NOW LINKS:

Website:

www.thenowband.com

Facebook: @thenowband

Instagram: @thenowband

Youtube: @thenowbandmilwaukee

Welcome to another episode of Wisconsin Music Podcast! This week, we delve into the world of live bands with Michael Rosa from the renowned group The Now. Rosa candidly shares his journey from being a drummer of a country cover band to becoming a vocal performer and guitarist for The Now. He provides valuable insights into the challenges and rewards of leading a band and taking up managerial duties.

Take an illuminating peek into the local music scene in Wisconsin, as Rosa discusses the opportunities and issues his band has encountered over the past two decades. Discover the nuances of performing live gigs, the pressure of staying relevant in an increasingly saturated music scene, and the immense joy of resonating with the audience.

We also explore The Now's unique recording technique for self-improvement and meticulous rehearsal process. Despite their classic 80s rock band roots, Rosa reveals how their expansive repertoire has evolved to include country and 90s music, an integral part of their success grounded in their intense audience connection and belief in their material.

The episode also underscores the immense appreciation The Now has for their audience, their commitment to studying each song they perform to perfection, and their undying passion for delivering the best show irrespective of industry competition. This insightful conversation offers a comprehensive understanding of a band's struggles and journey in the dynamic music industry.

Explore the fragile yet exhilarating experience of successfully performing on a huge stage, the profound impact it has on musicians and audiences alike, and the inherent challenges of maintaining work-life balance in the fast-paced world of music. Finally, delight in Rosa's account of the band's recent addition of a female vocalist which has enriched their musicality and allowed them to connect with an even broader audience.

Whether you're an aspiring artist, a seasoned musician, or just a music lover, this episode offers a deep dive into the art of live performances. Tune in to gain an insider's perspective on the intersection of musician and audience that makes music not just sounds, but an exquisite art form.

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Transcript:

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Welcome.............. to the Wisconsin Music Podcast.

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Here to introduce you to the great musicians and music businesses and organizations of Wisconsin.

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Welcome to the Wisconsin Music Podcast. This week we have Michael Rosa from the group The Now.

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And he's going to talk about his musical origin stories, how they're pretty

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much a self-booked band.

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They get about almost like 95% booking their own cells.

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They have a new singer into the group about after 10 years. So with all that

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information and more to come, Michael, welcome to the Wisconsin Music Podcast.

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Thanks for having me. So like I said in the little intro there,

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why don't you kind of give the listeners your music origin story.

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How did you get started in music and kind of what led you to where you are today?

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Well, the way I got started in music was playing drums and filling in for a

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cover band called the Nashville Rejects, which was an all-country band years and years and years ago.

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But that's where I got started, playing drums with them, filling in once in a while on stage.

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And then it turned into me kind of picking up the guitar and learning how to sing.

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And spent my time doing some original material back in the 90s,

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but then also transitioned to the cover band scene at the early 90s,

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93, 94, around that area.

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And pretty much took off from there. And I've been playing in the now for 18 years.

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And the band's been around for about 19 years. So I joined about a year after

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the band was already in existence.

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And I'm still here today, 18 years later. I manage the band.

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I book the band, and I'm also the guitar player.

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That's great info. And so since you are basically kind of in charge of the group,

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kind of give the listeners an idea of what it's like running the band from your position.

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Sure. I mean, obviously, it's a lot of being in the cover band.

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In this market, cover bands are pretty much king.

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They've been pretty much king for many, many years.

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Right. And there's a reason for that. It's just what sells in this market.

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But being in a cover band for as long as I have and handling the managerial

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duties and being the band leader, it takes a lot of time.

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There's a lot of time that goes into it when you're not on stage and when you're not at the show.

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There's a lot of time that goes into preparing the band, booking the band,

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making all the contacts, doing all the contracting, calling to secure shows,

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set up shows, organize the shows.

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And then of course, organizing rehearsals and putting that all together.

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So as the band leader and manager, that's all under one hat, so to speak.

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So you do tend to work a lot of off hours that you put into it that people don't see.

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There's a lot of stuff that people don't see. Even with the cover band,

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like a lot of people think, well, you know.

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It's a cover band so maybe it's it's it's just as time consuming and just as

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you have to put as much effort and passion into being in the cover band as you

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would with an original band people don't really see that part of it but especially

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with our band we we really try to get the material.

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Very close to the original artist because we all have a

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very big passion for the material material and so

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we want to make sure that the material comes across as good

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as we possibly can in order to show reverence to

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the material because we we really have a lot of respect and admiration for the

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artists that we cover so we do spend a lot of time in rehearsals and spend a

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lot of time as a cover band to try to get things as right as we can just like

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an original act would we take that that much pride and passion in what we do.

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Yeah. And, you know, difference between, you know, at least to some people I've

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talked to, and I kind of feel the same way.

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It's like a original band is really a cover band of themselves.

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You know, if they record something, they kind of have to put together their

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live show and their music as close to the recording.

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I mean, they can, you know, change it a little bit here and there,

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but same thing with you guys. Everybody knows those songs.

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If, if something completely, you know, something's wrong with,

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with the way you're playing that song, people are going to notice that. For sure.

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You will find that a lot of the people in the audience, they know the songs better than you.

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And if you mess up a lyric or if you play something that just doesn't sound

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exactly right, you'll have people that will come up to you, especially if that's their favorite song.

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Song that's you know their favorite song they know that

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song inside and out and the last thing

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people want to see is you'll see

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what the original artists is i think you nailed it

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is that once they record the song they then have

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to go out there and perform that song just like the record or

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as much as they can and a lot of artists fall in

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the trap of the they put a an enormous amount of production

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on the recording and then they go out to do

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it live and you realize well we can't really recreate create the actual

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sound that we have on the record because we

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did a lot of multi-tracking and had a lot of different instruments

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that were involved in the recording and now we have to go out and try to recreate that

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so they end up doing a lot what we do

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is we try to find a way to make the

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song sound as close as possible with the

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tools that we have live on stage and that's exactly

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what an original band would be doing as well exactly and then as a cover band

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do you guys do recordings or are you guys not a part of that with your group

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with us we've never recorded any material and made it available to the public what we do though.

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And I think this is a strength of why we've been successful for as long as we

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have, is we record our shows from the front of house mixing board.

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And all the band members, we all listen to those recordings.

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And then we are basically critiquing and working on a constant improvement to

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how to make these songs better.

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If we're not singing in key together in one part or bass player,

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bass line, guitar lines, not really together on a certain part,

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we hear that in the recordings.

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And then when we get into the rehearsal room later that week,

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everyone kind of comes to the rehearsal room with a list of notes of things

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that they heard in the recording from the live recording.

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And, hey, I heard this part, you know, let's go over this part that sounded a little wonky.

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So let's, you know, let's try to tighten that up. so we don't

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record songs to put out to the public but we

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record almost every live show and we listen back

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to almost every live show and and and

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self-evaluate where we're at as as even as

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a cover band yeah as a cover band that's that's great everything i think everybody

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should do that they should reflect upon a past performance and say what do we

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do good what do we need to work on and you know that's how you get better you

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can't just you can't rely on your memory all the time because you have a different

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perspective than what the audience has.

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And if you don't hear that other perspective, you're not sure if what you're

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doing is what you really thought you were doing up on stage.

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100%. 100%. Because when you're in the moment, you're usually performing.

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And you're not, you know, you're in this moment that is a completely different...

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Type of environment than when you sit down and listen

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to the recording because so many times myself or

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other band members would would say oh you

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know i heard something recording it and i didn't even

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know i was doing that right and come

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to find out you know oh you're oh you're playing a c there okay

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yeah well let me do that run exactly the way you're doing

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it i didn't really know that we weren't doing exactly the same

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notes in this little run until i heard

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it in the the recording right so it becomes a

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valuable tool and i think every

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cover band original band every musician out

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there should constantly record themselves video

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and audio because that is the only way you are going to really get better because

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i'll tell you the tape don't doesn't lie no it does not and it's not to say

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that you know any of us are perfect by any means you know you're You're going

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to have mistakes in the show because we're all human and stuff.

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But like I always say is if you make a mistake and it happens once in a while, that's one thing.

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If you're making the same mistake every time you play the song,

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that's no longer a mistake.

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That's a willful decision to not get it right. Right. Exactly. Exactly.

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Now, like you said, you've been in this group for almost 20 years.

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So you're talking early 2000s. so digital recordings

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were just starting out around that time so

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were you guys doing like you know like a tape deck or how were you starting

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when you first started out how did you record your shows well digital boards

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have kind of been around for quite a long time actually been around for quite

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a long time and so we've always we started the recording,

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live recording of our board mix we started that after the digital recording

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was available to us So it's basically a USB thumb drive goes in the board and

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takes the recording and then we just dump it out to an MP3 and email it out to everybody.

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Nice, nice. Yeah, and that's definitely, like you said, it's a great tool to

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double check everything and make sure you're doing it right. Yeah.

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Another thing is, what is the local scene like for you guys?

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What are the positives and what are some of the struggles you've kind of seen

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over the last two decades?

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Excellent question, because this could not be a more timely question, too.

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The scene, and I've been with this band almost 20 years, and I've been playing

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in cover bands for well over 30.

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And what I've seen recently is there's an enormous amount of saturation in the cover band scene.

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Not only do you have a saturation of bands, so there's so many bands out there,

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duos, trios, single guys,

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four-piece, five-piece, all these full bands, but there's also an oversaturation of venues.

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Venues so years ago if you

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were playing in the summer which is our heaviest season

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the outdoor festival season if you played a

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third weekend on in june you might

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have had one or two festivals that had live

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music for live music lovers to go see right now on that third weekend of june

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you have those two main festivals but you also have everybody and their brother

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who owns a bar and can and build a patio with some plywood is going to have

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a duo or a trio or even a small band,

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a smaller, you know, four piece band with a smaller setup.

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And so now you're in this competition of not only there's so many bands out

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there, but there's also so many venues out there.

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So if you're the band who's playing one of those festivals on that third weekend

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in June, whereas in the past, you were pretty much guaranteed to have a pretty

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large crowd at your festival.

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Now you're spreading the draw out amongst that festival and seven different bars.

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So if you're playing in Waukesha at a festival, well, I can tell you right now,

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there's six or seven bars in Waukesha that have live music.

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And some people don't like to be in big crowds. So they're going to choose that

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smaller venue environment because they don't like the big crowd. Right, right.

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So you find yourself having to work even harder now.

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Like a band like us, even though we've been around 18 years,

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there's no letting up on the gas pedal for us.

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We're not a band that's going to sit around or even has the ability to sit around

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and just rest on the fact that we've been around 18 years. I mean,

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we still got a pound of pavement.

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We still have to go out there and be hungry and try to get every show that we

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possibly can, because there's five other bands that just started.

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They'll willfully take that spot from you at much less money.

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Right, right, right. Yeah. And then.

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And, you know, from, from different perspectives, some people are going to say

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they like that spread out where they can go and see different bands on a weekend.

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Maybe they'll go to two different or three different bars and see a couple of different bands.

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So in a way that's a positive, because you're trying to grow the music scene

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in Wisconsin, but then, like you said, there are bands out there that are,

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they'll willfully take your spot, you know, in a heartbeat because there's so many of them out there.

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It's getting, like you said, saturated. Yeah, it's great for the consumer.

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It could not be a better time for the live music consumer right now in this

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market because there's so much good talent out there.

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Down to a single solo guy who's just amazing to a two-piece.

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Three-piece, full band, large production bands like we put on and our peers put on.

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So if you're a live music consumer this

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is the time of your life right now because it's

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just so much going on and you know exactly

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and six five six days a week there's venues that

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have live music five days a week yep you

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know yeah i mean those are all positives for

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the consumer yes um challenges for the

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for the artist but at the same

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time i i think it's bringing more live music

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fans out to these events yes but it

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is it is spreading the the audience

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out amongst you know the days are

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over when you play it like i say you play a

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festival and you just know it's going to be packed those

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days are over it it's going to be it'll be a good

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show if you're a quality act but it ain't

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going to be insane like it used to be right right so you've

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been doing this for like you said almost you know two decades what

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trying to think of the best

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way to say this is as a

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okay now i know what i

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was going to say what is a consumer or a an audience member going to experience

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when they come and see your show so let me let me say that again what is what

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is the audience going to expect when they go see the now at a show the number

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one thing that i think that we have going for us.

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And this may seem trivial to some, but it's two parts of this coin.

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The one part of it is that everybody in the band has a deep connection.

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Passion and reverence for the material we're not

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up there i see a lot of bands go up there and

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you can just tell they can't stand the material they're

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playing because they look like they want to be anywhere but

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being on that stage playing that song our band's

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not like that we we choose material that not only

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fits our our our market genre on where what

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we're trying to perform in front of people but we also choose

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material that we really really enjoy playing so

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i think when people come come to see us i've had people come up

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and actually say to us we can really

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tell that you really really believe in this material and and so that comes off

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and you can't fake that to an audience like you either really like the material

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or you don't and i think when when you have that showing to the audience that's

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an important part because they feel that way about the song.

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So this could be a song that hit them really hard in high school,

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got them through a tough time, got them through something really dark in their

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life. And this song just really speaks to them.

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And so when they see you feeling that the way they feel that now you have this

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connection between the people in the audience and the people on the stage.

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And that's the second side of the coin that I speak about with us is we're very approachable.

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We spend time talking with people and hanging out with people and we're very approachable.

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So we spend a lot of time trying to make a connection.

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With people and getting to know the people that come to see us on a regular

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basis, because we want to have that type of relationship where it's not just

247
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you're on the stage, we're down here and it's two separate people.

248
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Like we want them to feel like we really, really, really have this,

249
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this familial connection with them.

250
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And I think that people get that from our show.

251
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Good, good. That's because that's what people want to do. When they go out and

252
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see a band, they want to feel connected to however the song or the people on stage or a mixer or both.

253
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If they don't get that, then they're not going to enjoy their time being where you're performing.

254
00:16:48,844 --> 00:16:56,104
Absolutely. And I've seen bands that take their break and you don't see them

255
00:16:56,104 --> 00:16:58,784
on the break. You don't see them after the show. You don't see them before the show.

256
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And nobody in our band has ever felt that way.

257
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Everyone has a deep love for the people that come see us because at the end

258
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of the day, getting back to my earlier point, there's a million other places

259
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any of these people in the audience could be, but they're choosing to come to see you.

260
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And if you don't appreciate that and if you don't respect that and let them

261
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know that you appreciate that, they have plenty of other places to go.

262
00:17:28,004 --> 00:17:33,564
Absolutely. Absolutely. Absolutely. And for new fans or new possible fans coming

263
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to see you, what kind of music are you guys kind of putting out there for them?

264
00:17:39,244 --> 00:17:42,584
Well, we've always been an 80s rock, classic rock band.

265
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We've been that way for 18 years. This year, when we picked up our new lead vocalist, Jeanette.

266
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It allowed us, we started doing country about a year, about a year or two ago.

267
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We threw it, sprinkled in a little bit of country, still doing the base of our

268
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materials class is 80s rock.

269
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And then we sprinkled in a little bit of country. Now we're sprinkling in a

270
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little bit of 90s, you know, stuff like No Doubt and Pink and stuff like that.

271
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So we're throwing in a little bit of top 40 stuff now with Jeanette at the lead vocal position.

272
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And so it's really allowed us to expand our material more than we ever had before.

273
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Before we were strictly 80s material gotcha and

274
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so 80s had a lot of different sub genres

275
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in rock where do you guys kind of fall in like

276
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what kind of bands would you say you cover for

277
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us it's you know it's basically journey you know a little bit of poison you

278
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know stuff in that nature that's that's where we've always been Def Leppard

279
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and things like Bon Jovi stuff like that's where That's where we've always been for many, many years.

280
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So we're pretty much into that. But with Jeanette coming in,

281
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we're able to do some Blondie.

282
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You know, we're able to do some other things in still in the 80s genre.

283
00:18:58,096 --> 00:19:01,356
That is, you know, Pat Benatar, you know, stuff like that.

284
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Joan Jett. We do stuff like that. So we're able to kind of spread it out amongst

285
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that 80s. But it's all that 80s rock and roll material. You know,

286
00:19:08,636 --> 00:19:10,096
it's all uptempo material.

287
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We don't do a lot of slow material songs. We try to keep everything, you know, high energy.

288
00:19:16,676 --> 00:19:20,716
Gotcha. Cool. Yeah. That sounds like a great time. I mean, there's a lot of

289
00:19:20,716 --> 00:19:24,456
people out there that are from that generation that want to go and hear that

290
00:19:24,456 --> 00:19:27,736
stuff, especially when some of those bands aren't around anymore performing.

291
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So they, you know, they get that second dose from you guys.

292
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And another thing is that for me as a high school band director,

293
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I see these young kids there to them. These are like the oldies to them.

294
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And it's like, they're kind of like into this stuff because they're,

295
00:19:42,675 --> 00:19:45,555
today's music for them might not be what they're looking for,

296
00:19:45,615 --> 00:19:49,975
but the stuff that they're, you know, uncles or, you know, grandparents or even,

297
00:19:50,015 --> 00:19:53,395
you know, older, if they have older parents, that's the kind of stuff that they

298
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were listening to when they were younger.

299
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Now they get to go out there and kind of dabble in that when they start getting

300
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to that age where they can start going and seeing live music.

301
00:20:02,855 --> 00:20:07,575
Absolutely. Obviously our material bodes well for the,

302
00:20:07,575 --> 00:20:11,115
you know, 35 plus age, age

303
00:20:11,115 --> 00:20:14,515
but i cannot tell you when when

304
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summertime comes and we're able to play places that are open

305
00:20:17,495 --> 00:20:21,155
to all ages the first three four rows there

306
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is a lot of teenagers and

307
00:20:24,495 --> 00:20:27,335
young adults in that in an audience we just

308
00:20:27,335 --> 00:20:30,615
had we just did a couple a show a couple

309
00:20:30,615 --> 00:20:33,795
of weeks ago and there was this group of four young males probably

310
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18 ish okay and

311
00:20:36,675 --> 00:20:39,335
they were just rocking out in the front row they ended up coming to the

312
00:20:39,335 --> 00:20:42,315
next two or three shows wonderful you know

313
00:20:42,315 --> 00:20:45,295
that's excellent so it does span the

314
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audience because all of the material we play to it are very

315
00:20:48,495 --> 00:20:51,515
big hits so we're not playing like the deep cut from guns

316
00:20:51,515 --> 00:20:54,615
and roses we're playing sweet child of mine we're not playing the deep cut from

317
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your journey we're playing don't stop believing stone and love and

318
00:20:57,355 --> 00:21:00,315
things like that so right these are things that they've heard before

319
00:21:00,315 --> 00:21:03,215
like you said from their their parents and guitar hero it

320
00:21:03,215 --> 00:21:06,495
was a big bridge yeah

321
00:21:06,495 --> 00:21:11,495
that bridged the younger generation to allow this material twisted sister montley

322
00:21:11,495 --> 00:21:15,375
crew all that stuff guitar hero was a big bridge for that absolutely absolutely

323
00:21:15,375 --> 00:21:20,255
now i know you guys we talked about recording you know your shows and like that

324
00:21:20,255 --> 00:21:23,515
so that's you know we're kind of past that but when.

325
00:21:24,932 --> 00:21:28,732
I'm trying to look at my questions here because I want a specific question here for you.

326
00:21:29,072 --> 00:21:34,212
When you're building these songs to play out live, like you grab some new ones

327
00:21:34,212 --> 00:21:38,792
or whatever, do you really like study the recordings, you know,

328
00:21:38,832 --> 00:21:44,012
like, you know, where that guitar part came in and that little guitar part that only comes in once?

329
00:21:44,072 --> 00:21:47,632
I mean, are you really trying to get every little aspect or are you more like

330
00:21:47,632 --> 00:21:51,192
grabbing the main things and then trying to do, like you said earlier,

331
00:21:51,392 --> 00:21:53,712
just get the best performance you can with what you have?

332
00:21:54,932 --> 00:21:57,872
We are a band that tries to get it as close to the record as absolutely possible.

333
00:21:58,232 --> 00:22:02,312
So we are going to dissect every little tiny little minute detail of the material.

334
00:22:03,252 --> 00:22:05,732
And we do that for two reasons.

335
00:22:07,492 --> 00:22:12,352
One, it goes back to having a respect for the person who recorded the song.

336
00:22:12,432 --> 00:22:18,292
I would never embellish Slash's solo in Sweet Child of Mine.

337
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Because to me that would be

338
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not showing the respect of how

339
00:22:24,292 --> 00:22:27,392
beautiful that solo is and how perfect in

340
00:22:27,392 --> 00:22:30,212
every way that solo is so if i was to add my own

341
00:22:30,212 --> 00:22:34,392
little thing for me personally and other guys can go out there and play it differently

342
00:22:34,392 --> 00:22:38,672
but for me and for the band i've always ran the band that i want to get this

343
00:22:38,672 --> 00:22:43,412
to show respect to the artists and they've done all the hard work for you they

344
00:22:43,412 --> 00:22:47,732
went in the studio and figured out what notes worked right what drum beat you know, worked right.

345
00:22:48,572 --> 00:22:51,412
And what vocal and what harmonies worked right so they've done

346
00:22:51,412 --> 00:22:54,612
all that hard work and they came up with the magic on their

347
00:22:54,612 --> 00:22:57,612
own so who are we who are who

348
00:22:57,612 --> 00:23:00,392
are we to say oh well no we should be doing it

349
00:23:00,392 --> 00:23:03,312
this way and we should do it this way and i should play the drums this way and

350
00:23:03,312 --> 00:23:06,272
i just want to you know play drum fills everywhere and it's

351
00:23:06,272 --> 00:23:09,692
like you know ringo star you know he played

352
00:23:09,692 --> 00:23:12,412
the beat a certain way like i don't you know i don't think

353
00:23:12,412 --> 00:23:17,252
you need to be doing double kick drum fills in there right it's

354
00:23:17,252 --> 00:23:20,292
like it's just it's the beauty of what they recorded so

355
00:23:20,292 --> 00:23:24,112
so that's what we do we go in we we pick the songs and

356
00:23:24,112 --> 00:23:27,352
then we everyone learns their parts they just we dissect it everyone

357
00:23:27,352 --> 00:23:30,912
comes in a rehearsal room we run through it and most

358
00:23:30,912 --> 00:23:33,772
times we run through it two or three times and it's ready to

359
00:23:33,772 --> 00:23:36,672
go because everyone really in this band they do their homework so

360
00:23:36,672 --> 00:23:40,232
we don't spend a lot wasted time in the

361
00:23:40,232 --> 00:23:44,132
rehearsal room everyone is responsible to do their homework work on their own

362
00:23:44,132 --> 00:23:47,412
show up on rehearsal and let's just run through it a few times and tighten up

363
00:23:47,412 --> 00:23:52,612
a few bolts exactly exactly do you also record your your your rehearsals as

364
00:23:52,612 --> 00:23:57,452
well no we have we have never done that but we you know we've been known to

365
00:23:57,452 --> 00:23:59,712
run you know run over a song 12 times.

366
00:24:01,732 --> 00:24:05,092
Well you got to do what you got to do right right and

367
00:24:05,092 --> 00:24:07,732
and it's you know going back to a

368
00:24:07,732 --> 00:24:11,972
point you made earlier about the live performance you can play it as perfect

369
00:24:11,972 --> 00:24:16,852
as you want in the rehearsal room that that will never translate to live no

370
00:24:16,852 --> 00:24:22,472
because a live performance is worth four or five rehearsals because you're just

371
00:24:22,472 --> 00:24:25,192
standing there you're focusing you're not looking at you know,

372
00:24:25,792 --> 00:24:30,232
something grabbing your attention in the front row so you're not distracted

373
00:24:30,232 --> 00:24:34,372
in rehearsal so it's very easy to play the songs very well in rehearsal once

374
00:24:34,372 --> 00:24:37,512
you get on the live stage though you know that's Sometimes where you hear things

375
00:24:37,512 --> 00:24:40,472
that you didn't really hear as well, especially with the recording,

376
00:24:40,592 --> 00:24:45,612
because you can listen in rehearsal all you want, but in the recording,

377
00:24:45,792 --> 00:24:49,412
you can sit down and just listen and not play. You're not playing along.

378
00:24:49,532 --> 00:24:52,892
And that's where things really stick out to you. Exactly. Cool. Cool.

379
00:24:54,479 --> 00:24:57,859
What was a gig that made the biggest impression on you?

380
00:24:58,459 --> 00:25:02,959
Could it be either as a performer or as an audience member, or you could talk about both?

381
00:25:03,599 --> 00:25:08,239
I'll give you two examples. People ask me a lot if I ever get nervous before shows, and I don't.

382
00:25:08,539 --> 00:25:13,959
I've been playing for so long. But the last time I was nervous was I was early on in this band.

383
00:25:14,459 --> 00:25:20,359
I think it was my first year playing with them. And we opened for Loverboy in Oshkosh.

384
00:25:20,519 --> 00:25:27,659
Okay. And I was backstage meeting the band members and that wasn't very nerve wracking for me.

385
00:25:27,739 --> 00:25:30,999
But as soon as I stepped out on the stage to do the opening slot and looked

386
00:25:30,999 --> 00:25:34,019
out and saw it was about 4000 people there.

387
00:25:34,139 --> 00:25:40,199
And that's when it really hit me pretty hard that this is this is something pretty huge.

388
00:25:40,299 --> 00:25:44,099
And then, yeah, I fumbled my way through the first couple of songs until I get

389
00:25:44,099 --> 00:25:46,479
my sea legs underneath me. Right, right, right.

390
00:25:46,599 --> 00:25:49,839
Cool. cool the other one i would probably mention is like

391
00:25:49,839 --> 00:25:52,719
i said being everybody in this band is a fan of

392
00:25:52,719 --> 00:25:55,639
music so when we see people in the front row getting emotional and

393
00:25:55,639 --> 00:25:58,519
whooping it up and getting super excited we know

394
00:25:58,519 --> 00:26:01,979
what that's like because we're the same way we go

395
00:26:01,979 --> 00:26:04,939
to see live music and and we talk about other bands

396
00:26:04,939 --> 00:26:07,739
and other songs oh listen to this one part this oh listen how

397
00:26:07,739 --> 00:26:10,539
beautiful this one little part is here we do stuff

398
00:26:10,539 --> 00:26:13,939
like that too and years ago i was uh i

399
00:26:13,939 --> 00:26:16,659
was at at a venue in madison and john

400
00:26:16,659 --> 00:26:19,459
mayer was playing it was on valentine's day forget what venue it

401
00:26:19,459 --> 00:26:22,659
was but it was valentine valentine's day show okay and

402
00:26:22,659 --> 00:26:25,379
i was going through some stuff in my life at that time and i was

403
00:26:25,379 --> 00:26:28,859
sitting in the audience and he was he was going through gravity and

404
00:26:28,859 --> 00:26:32,719
i've never seen him play gravity and i watched a lot of live videos on youtube

405
00:26:32,719 --> 00:26:37,319
i've never seen him play it like he played it this night and i was standing

406
00:26:37,319 --> 00:26:43,059
there just bawling away just bawling Just bawling for what he was doing on stage

407
00:26:43,059 --> 00:26:46,479
and the passion he was doing and the stuff I had going on in my life.

408
00:26:47,078 --> 00:26:51,798
That song was just speaking to me at that time, and I'll never forget that day.

409
00:26:52,218 --> 00:26:56,578
Wonderful. I think we've all had that experience where you're just in a certain

410
00:26:56,578 --> 00:27:02,258
mindset and a certain song just hits you a certain way, and it just makes a mark on your memory.

411
00:27:02,998 --> 00:27:06,358
Right. That's why a lot of people have their favorite songs,

412
00:27:06,598 --> 00:27:11,458
because I remember graduating high school and this song was popular.

413
00:27:11,838 --> 00:27:17,098
Still today, I was listening to an older Bon Jovi record, And when the songs

414
00:27:17,098 --> 00:27:23,118
came on, immediately, all kinds of images and memories popped into my head just

415
00:27:23,118 --> 00:27:25,958
hearing the music from those songs.

416
00:27:26,618 --> 00:27:30,898
And so I think you have to be respectful of that in the audience rather than

417
00:27:30,898 --> 00:27:33,238
just getting up there and saying, well, we're just going to throw these songs

418
00:27:33,238 --> 00:27:34,278
out to you and we're just going to have fun.

419
00:27:34,318 --> 00:27:36,998
We're going to collect our big check and we're going to go home and everyone's going to be happy.

420
00:27:37,998 --> 00:27:42,278
For us, it's really about the passion of the material. It really is.

421
00:27:43,458 --> 00:27:46,498
Yeah it has to be because you know what

422
00:27:46,498 --> 00:27:50,278
what we do it for the music or at least you we hope that people mostly do it

423
00:27:50,278 --> 00:27:56,458
for just the music you do and i mean we've had we've had venues that we've played

424
00:27:56,458 --> 00:28:03,838
in the past where the money wasn't there but it's always a great crowd and you

425
00:28:03,838 --> 00:28:06,358
love those shows yeah and then we've had places where.

426
00:28:07,721 --> 00:28:10,401
The money wasn't there and there was really not a great crowd.

427
00:28:10,581 --> 00:28:16,581
And it's like, yeah, it's a gig or the money is there and it's not a great crowd.

428
00:28:16,701 --> 00:28:19,401
And it's like, I don't really know if I want to, I'm not really doing this for

429
00:28:19,401 --> 00:28:22,281
the money. Like I'm doing this to have a connection with people.

430
00:28:22,341 --> 00:28:25,281
I want to have a connection with an audience.

431
00:28:25,321 --> 00:28:30,941
And if there's no audience there, it's very hard to, to go home feeling like

432
00:28:30,941 --> 00:28:33,701
you connected on a musical level with someone.

433
00:28:33,801 --> 00:28:36,681
I used to do acoustic shows for a while and I

434
00:28:36,681 --> 00:28:39,721
stopped doing them years ago because you're just

435
00:28:39,721 --> 00:28:42,541
background music me and the original drummer

436
00:28:42,541 --> 00:28:45,321
of the band we did an acoustic show one time

437
00:28:45,321 --> 00:28:50,401
and we did the whole show and no one applauded for not one song the whole show

438
00:28:50,401 --> 00:28:55,241
it was and it would they would and then the bar wanted us back oh he's like

439
00:28:55,241 --> 00:28:59,301
everyone loved you and I'm like everyone loved us they never applauded at all

440
00:28:59,301 --> 00:29:02,961
they didn't even look at us half the time he's like no everyone said you guys were great Right.

441
00:29:03,561 --> 00:29:08,121
And that was a hard thing to do, you know? Yeah. I can imagine. Definitely. Yeah.

442
00:29:08,521 --> 00:29:12,061
You need that, that physical, emotional feedback from the audience.

443
00:29:12,141 --> 00:29:15,461
Cause when the audience is energetic, that gets you energetic and then you're

444
00:29:15,461 --> 00:29:16,501
feeding off their energy.

445
00:29:16,561 --> 00:29:20,341
And if you don't have that energy coming back at you, it's very difficult. Exactly. Exactly.

446
00:29:20,941 --> 00:29:26,761
As, as I wrap this up, what is for you, the solution of work-life balance with this?

447
00:29:28,581 --> 00:29:32,321
That is the age-old question and

448
00:29:32,321 --> 00:29:35,101
yeah anyone who has a family that's that's that's

449
00:29:35,101 --> 00:29:38,041
the tough question yeah we play a lot in the summer so summer

450
00:29:38,041 --> 00:29:40,741
is our busy time but then fall is a little is a lot

451
00:29:40,741 --> 00:29:43,841
less i think i think for

452
00:29:43,841 --> 00:29:48,121
me understanding balance is understanding that balance doesn't mean it's always

453
00:29:48,121 --> 00:29:55,961
50 50 balance means that sometimes it's going to be 70 30 towards the band and

454
00:29:55,961 --> 00:30:00,981
And sometimes it's going to be 30 towards the band and 70 towards the family and other activities.

455
00:30:01,041 --> 00:30:07,781
But anyone who is a musician who really has a passion for playing live and anyone who loves music.

456
00:30:08,549 --> 00:30:13,989
The person who is a musician who loves playing live, they understand that there

457
00:30:13,989 --> 00:30:19,509
is a drive inside of you to do this that is very hard to quantify and it's very

458
00:30:19,509 --> 00:30:21,229
hard to explain to another person.

459
00:30:21,329 --> 00:30:26,209
And I think you just have to understand that the balance wheels are going to

460
00:30:26,209 --> 00:30:29,369
tip back and forth throughout your time doing it.

461
00:30:29,409 --> 00:30:32,629
And I think you just have to accept that. Okay. Yep. I agree.

462
00:30:33,109 --> 00:30:36,709
Yeah. I mean, and if that person that you're with doesn't understand that,

463
00:30:36,769 --> 00:30:40,629
I don't think they're They're going to be around very long because it just doesn't work.

464
00:30:41,189 --> 00:30:45,349
It doesn't. It's tough. It's very tough. And relationships are tough with any

465
00:30:45,349 --> 00:30:47,089
musician. It's just a lot of time.

466
00:30:47,389 --> 00:30:52,869
And you're, I mean, think about it. You're giving up your significant other

467
00:30:52,869 --> 00:30:56,449
to something that they love so deeply.

468
00:30:56,689 --> 00:31:01,069
And some people feel threatened by that. But it takes a strong person to be with someone like that.

469
00:31:01,129 --> 00:31:04,949
And there's a lot of strong people out there. But you have to have the right

470
00:31:04,949 --> 00:31:06,629
strong person, you know?

471
00:31:06,629 --> 00:31:09,729
Know yep exactly is there anything that we haven't

472
00:31:09,729 --> 00:31:13,269
talked on that you wanted to mention before i let you go oh yeah

473
00:31:13,269 --> 00:31:16,069
we just uh we just got a new lead vocalist in the band in

474
00:31:16,069 --> 00:31:20,929
december jeanette king and we decided we wanted to make a change after quite

475
00:31:20,929 --> 00:31:25,889
a long time with previous singer and we uh made a change and we were not looking

476
00:31:25,889 --> 00:31:30,949
to audition females at all we just put it out there for for auditions and we

477
00:31:30,949 --> 00:31:35,989
had a handful of females that came down and we had never had a female male lead vocalist in the band.

478
00:31:36,329 --> 00:31:38,849
So that was kind of exciting for us. And when she came down,

479
00:31:38,929 --> 00:31:43,389
she just absolutely nailed it. And it really opened up a lot of areas for us to go material wise.

480
00:31:43,949 --> 00:31:46,829
And I mean, we already have three other lead. I'm the lead vocalist.

481
00:31:46,849 --> 00:31:49,789
A drummer can sing lead vocals, Rudy and bass player.

482
00:31:49,849 --> 00:31:55,049
He can sing lead vocals. So we already have enough male voice voices in the band. So this just.

483
00:31:55,919 --> 00:32:01,039
Took what we're already doing and just added something, a level to it with having

484
00:32:01,039 --> 00:32:05,579
the female involved and just opened up an area of material for us that we can

485
00:32:05,579 --> 00:32:09,439
now cover and just, and just reach more people, which is what it's all about anyways.

486
00:32:09,699 --> 00:32:14,239
Right. Yeah. I mean, it's, it's like adding a completely different instrument.

487
00:32:14,279 --> 00:32:18,859
It kind of changes the vibe of the whole thing. And in most cases,

488
00:32:18,879 --> 00:32:21,699
hopefully it elevates the group that they're a part of.

489
00:32:22,339 --> 00:32:25,579
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think when you whenever and we've been through a few member

490
00:32:25,579 --> 00:32:33,139
changes over the years, whenever you have a member change, you it has to be a change forward.

491
00:32:33,579 --> 00:32:39,299
It can never be a change backwards, obviously. But you really don't want to go sideways either.

492
00:32:39,419 --> 00:32:42,799
And I had actually a fan that had come up to me and he said,

493
00:32:42,819 --> 00:32:46,979
you know, I've been seeing you for so many years and I've seen you through all the musical changes.

494
00:32:46,979 --> 00:32:50,119
And he said, I got to tell you, every time you guys made a change,

495
00:32:50,319 --> 00:32:54,779
you have made a change in a step forward direction.

496
00:32:54,899 --> 00:32:58,619
And he said, and that can't be said for a lot of bands. No, no,

497
00:32:58,659 --> 00:32:59,999
that's great. That's great.

498
00:33:00,179 --> 00:33:04,659
So where can people go and find out where you're playing? What's your website, social media?

499
00:33:04,759 --> 00:33:09,099
I'll put it all in the show details, but for them to hear it from you, where can they find you?

500
00:33:09,639 --> 00:33:13,279
Yeah, it's thenowband.com is the main website.

501
00:33:13,399 --> 00:33:19,259
And Facebook, just put in at The Now Band. and we have a YouTube page at The Now Band Milwaukee.

502
00:33:20,059 --> 00:33:24,039
And Instagram is the same thing, at The Now Band. Same as Facebook.

503
00:33:24,419 --> 00:33:28,559
Wonderful. Well, Michael, thank you so much for being on the Wisconsin Music Podcast. A pleasure.

504
00:33:28,759 --> 00:33:31,239
It was a great conversation, and I'm glad we had this today.

505
00:33:31,439 --> 00:33:32,519
Appreciate you having me on.

506
00:33:32,720 --> 00:33:39,729
Music.