WMP#135: Rising from the Ashes: The Evolution of a Musician in Rising Phoenix

WISCONSIN MUSIC PODCAST
AMPLFYING WISCONSIN MUSIC
EPISODE 135
Josh Escher of the Rising Phoenix band

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

Welcome to another inspiring episode of the Wisconsin Music Podcast. We dive deep into a heartfelt conversation with Josh Escher, a renowned bass player recognized for his incredible talent and versatility. As a member of the 80s party rock cover band Rising Phoenix, Josh captivates our listeners with his fascinating journey, from his humble beginnings to his triumphs as a seasoned musician.

Josh not only recounts his experiences of playing with various bands over the years but also shares critical life lessons and his captivating perspective as a rhythm guy. He highlights the thrill of playing in a band, the importance of synchronization with the drummer, and reflects on the evolution of the local music scene. He emphasizes the significance of camaraderie and collaboration within the music community and the importance of resilience in the fast-paced world of music.

Join us as Josh details the path of Rising Phoenix, from its inception to its current substantial 10-year run, playing music from legendary bands such as Poison, Def Leppard, Guns N' Roses, among others. Their unique blend of '80s hair metal and '70s and '90s pyro pop rock has made waves across Wisconsin, captivating audiences in different parts of the state.

Josh also delves into the challenges faced by bands in finding gigs, appeasing audiences, and finding the right band members. He shares the importance of appealing to the audience and band's ethos and discusses the role of recordings and social media promotions in spreading a band's name and music.

Lastly, he fondly recollects his early recording experience with Justin Perkins and encourages listeners to be a part of a Rising Phoenix show. Join us in celebrating the magnificent sounds from Wisconsin as Josh Escher unravels his musical journey.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RisingPhoenixWI?mibextid=ZbWKwL
 
Band Instagram: https://instagram.com/risingphoenixband?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=
 
Personal Instagram: https://instagram.com/jae_bass_life?igshid=ZDdkNTZiNTM=
 
Band website: https://www.risingphoenixband.com/
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Transcript:

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Music.

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Welcome to the Wisconsin Music Podcast. This week, we have Josh Escher.

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Did I say that correctly?

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That is correct. All right. So we have Josh Escher. He's a bass player,

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and he is the bass player for an 80s party rock cover band called Rising Phoenix.

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He's from Ableton, but the band is based in central Wisconsin.

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He's going to talk about how he got into music and things of that nature.

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So, Josh, welcome to the Wisconsin Music Podcast.

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Thank you, Zach. so give the listeners an idea of

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how you got into music and how it's

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kind of grown in your life and how it's gotten you to where you

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are today yeah so I kind

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of got started I think a little bit late you know a lot

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of guys that do what I do what we

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do I you're a musician as well I think

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a lot of folks are like you know oh when I was 10 or

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whatever somebody bought me my acoustic guitar

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and i got started or whatever and i was

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kind of i was kind of that kid i grew up in a small town and

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and there wasn't a lot of people doing music around me really

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and and so it was kind of one of those things where i was

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sort of a late bloomer i think i was maybe 17 when

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i when i really kind of sat down and

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went you know what i think i want to play guitar you know

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saved up some bucks went and went and bought myself a little student much model

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electric guitar and and just kind of got started you know and that's we're talking

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1997 98 so it's like no youtube no you know the the.

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What were the the tab centrals and all those there whatever the heck those sites

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were that right you'd get porn charts and tabs off of but you know just kind of flying blind,

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back in those days but really you know just kind of allowed it to be in a van

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like it was That was not always the thing.

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I picked guitar. I didn't have room for drums. I'm not coordinated enough for drums, really.

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I just wanted to be in a band. I was a kid who was listening to a lot of Metallica.

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I think a lot of guys my age were listening to Master of Puppets.

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I'm just going, holy cow.

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That would be cool to do. And, you know, just starting to go see concerts and

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like looking at folks on stage and just being like, man, I just really love

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to do that. That would be awesome.

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And then so taking that, you said you started with guitar, but when I did the

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intro, it said you're playing bass. So how did you switch from guitar to bass?

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Yeah. So, you know, trying to get a band started in high school wasn't happening.

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I just started playing guitar anyways.

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And I said, small town, there wasn't anybody around.

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Got into college, got a band put together, group of guys that just lived on the dorm floor with me.

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You know, had a really good time. Ironically, the bass player in that band was

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a guitar player that switched over.

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He was a much better guitar player than me, by the way. Okay.

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But, so I played in that band for about two years and just, you know,

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kind of had, we weren't great. The band was called Severus.

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It was a lot of fun. I loved those guys, the cool dudes.

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I just ran into one of those guys not all that long ago. You know,

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we're talking, you know, over 20 years ago now,

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but you know, everybody kind of finished up school and, and I was still going

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to shows and, and still had a lot of those contacts that I had through book and stuff and whatnot.

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And just happened to have a group of guys that I was pretty good friends with

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reach out to me and say, Hey, we're, we're thinking of replacing our bass player.

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Do you think you could play bass?

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I'm like, yeah, I don't, I don't see why not.

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Like I was going to see him all the time. I knew the songs pretty much.

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I mean, I, you know, as well as I needed to. Okay.

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And, and so I went and traded a bunch of stuff in and got a,

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got a bass guitar and got a rig and joined this band called Hail Grey Sky that I ended up playing.

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And for gosh, probably nine or 10 years.

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And it, it was really just kind of a, like I was playing guitar riffs on bass.

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You know, I really, I look back on that time and I'm like, I was playing bass,

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but I wasn't really a bass player, quote unquote, at that point in time.

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But I picked up the bass and it just kind of, it sort of stuck for me.

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What made you realize that those lines that you were playing on bass really

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weren't bass lines, they were more guitar?

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I mean, I know you were coming from a guitar player perspective,

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but that had to be some kind of influence into what you now do on the bass.

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So it's funny because like we're talking

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about like probably about 2005 you know a

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long time ago connects up to what i'm doing right now

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around that time there was a

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guy his name's eric gunderson real talented drummer i think he was playing in

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punk band out of oshkosh called rip winkler at the time had reached out to me

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and he was like hey i want to start a motley crew tribute band and i was like

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i never thought about playing in a cover band much less a tribute To be honest,

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at that point in time, I was kind of that like, you know, all screw cover band,

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you know, all against that whole. I was that guy, you know. OK.

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You know, all for a piss and vinegar at 22, 23 years old, you know.

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And but I was like, he was like, yeah, we're in dress up and,

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you know, just be ridiculous.

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It'll probably be a good time. We can make a little bit of money.

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And I'm like, yeah, sure. Why not? I got time.

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And so joining that band, I had to sit down and learn like three hours of one

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specific bass player's music.

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And it's funny because, you know, right now there's a lot of stuff with Nikki

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Sixx and like whether or not he's actually playing on stage and whether or not

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he actually recorded some of those parts.

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Parts but they were they were

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bass parts they were bass lines where for a

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long time i was doing was basically just playing the

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parts lower really okay

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okay in pale gray sky which i was having a

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blast doing and and don't get me wrong i those are some

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of the best years of my life playing that band but like i

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just i started doing this motley crew tribute i

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was called sleaze patrol and it was

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just like oh this is this is

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what a bass player does like you you

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you you're the rhythm section you rock in

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with the drummer you you hold down the low end you you

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know you fill in that space that's your job right and

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it was that point where i really said and i

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just went like oh this is cool like

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i was always you know i

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i said before you know i was i was a metallica kid i was james hetfield guy

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i wasn't the kirk hammett guy i was the james hetfield guy i always wanted to

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be the rhythm guy and you know becoming just a bass player is is is that i i was the rhythm guy And I,

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and I get to, I get to fill in that space and it just always,

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it felt right for me. And I haven't looked back since.

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Nice. Nice. So now that you're more, you're definitely more tuned into being

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a bass player, not a guitar player playing bass. You're actually a bass player.

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Do you find that locking in with like the kick drum and what the drummer is

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doing is highly important?

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Oh, absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, you know, it's obviously all the time,

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you know, there are there are certain certain songs I feel like where it maybe

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becomes less important.

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But, you know, it's one of those things like nothing feels better than when

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when you're just tight with that drummer.

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It's I've been really lucky in every band I've ever played in.

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That i've just had these drummers that are just super super

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tight and in the pocket makes my job

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super easy but i yeah they're they're

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really i don't i don't think there's a better feeling as a bass player

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like then then getting in

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that pocket and just like just sitting in there and just

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feeling that yeah it's it's like you

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said it's that pocket and if it's got that pocket

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everything on top of that just flows so

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much better oh absolutely yeah now

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so you've been playing out live a lot i

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mean over the over these years so what have you kind of noticed

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from the local scene that is some

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positives that you've you've encountered you know it's

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funny because it thinks i i say all

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the time that i feel like things changed a lot in the

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in all the years that i've been doing it and but then

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i say that and sometimes i'm like like have they though or are you just getting

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old and you just like not you know like not locked into things like i i was

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i was so immersed in that in that like in that original band world for a really long time.

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And and now i'm in the cover band scene and it's

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like like do i not know what's going

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on in the in that world over there anymore or

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is there not anything i don't know

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what i feel like i see is i just

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feel like there's so many good musicians i i think that's that's probably the

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thing i noticed the most and it's like especially the young musicians like it

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it's it's crazy like there there are some bands running around around here that

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are half my age i'm i'm 41 so when i I say half my age, you know,

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we're talking about is that are just barely able to go into bars without their parents. Yeah.

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And like, I wish I was as good as some of these kids are, you know,

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I think that's probably the biggest thing that I've seen.

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And I imagine that that's, like I said, way at the beginning,

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having those access to those tools, like having YouTube and like all these online

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courses and things like that.

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And then I think I really personally feel like I see a lot of the bands around

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the area going a little more out of their way to kind of give those kids a little

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bit of a leg up these days.

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Then you know when when i was starting out man it just it felt like everything was competition,

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right it felt like you were fighting for your life to get gigs and and you know

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there was a small handful of people that were going to help you out everybody

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else was just gonna you know,

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push you down on their way by because they were

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afraid you were going to take your spot and right and i

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i just don't feel like it's that way anymore at least

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not nearly to the to the the extent that i felt like it

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was in 2002 yeah right

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right it's it's people aren't afraid to like

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you said give a leg up to upcoming musicians they

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actually want to encourage them instead of diminishing their their you know

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their dreams or whatever they you want to call it of being you know playing

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in the live music scene in an area yeah now thinking on the other side of the

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the coin what are some of the struggles you've kind of seen over the last so many years i think.

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Need to help bring the live scene a better reputation i i think the the thing

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that i noticed and and like i was saying maybe maybe i'm just i was out of the loop but like.

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When I was doing the original thing, it felt like a lot more places for us to play.

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And I feel like that's something that a lot of original, like full band,

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there's lots of places for solo acoustic folks or little duos.

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There's a lot of places that want those folks to play.

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But full bands, all ages venues, those types of things.

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I'm from the Fox Valley. So when I speak, I'm speaking of, you know,

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Appleton, Green Bay, Oshkosh, that sort of area.

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Right. I'm not super tuned into what's going on in Milwaukee or Madison.

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But there always felt like there were places for us to exist as bands that wanted

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us in their places and really, really wanted to support what we were doing.

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You know, and I'm coming from a place where that Hailgrace guy,

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the band that I was in for all those years. I mean, we were a heavy band.

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I mean, we were doing at the gates, like melodic death metal,

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nowadays you'd call it metalcore.

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We were doing that sort of thing. And, you know, your average bar is not usually

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going to want us to come in and assault their patrons with what we were bringing, you know.

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But there were a lot of places around that were open-minded to having shows with bands like us.

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There was a pretty solid group of bands around us that we played with often.

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I just don't know if that.

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Exists as much i know the the few people that

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i kind of still keep up with these days it seems like they

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play someplace and then they never played that place again okay

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and so i don't know like i said i maybe i'm

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completely tuned out and i have i'm just old guy now

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but you know it always felt

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like there were there there was small ages places

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for us to play there were some bars that like to have shows

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like that every weekend you know i

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those things are really important to original music scene

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i feel like yeah and it makes it makes

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it tough like yeah if i was if i were to start

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an original band tomorrow i didn't know where

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i would book a show yeah it's it seems like wisconsin

212
00:14:03,786 --> 00:14:07,306
for better or for worse seems to cater more

213
00:14:07,306 --> 00:14:10,346
to and there's nothing wrong with them but catering more

214
00:14:10,346 --> 00:14:13,306
to the cover or tribute type bands yeah

215
00:14:13,306 --> 00:14:16,166
because that's that's going to draw on a crowd for most you

216
00:14:16,166 --> 00:14:19,406
know places that are going to be serving alcohol or whatnot

217
00:14:19,406 --> 00:14:23,266
you know that's an easier sell than

218
00:14:23,266 --> 00:14:26,086
we have this original band and i know you guys maybe never

219
00:14:26,086 --> 00:14:29,626
heard of them but come to our establishment anyways and that's a harder sell

220
00:14:29,626 --> 00:14:34,426
unfortunately yeah yeah it's funny because in 2005 we complained about the cover

221
00:14:34,426 --> 00:14:38,486
bands all the time taking all the places but we had lots of places to play so

222
00:14:38,486 --> 00:14:43,686
right you know maybe maybe we didn't know how good we had it maybe you You never know.

223
00:14:43,806 --> 00:14:48,526
It's sometimes hard to look back and, you know, is it hindsight or is it just

224
00:14:48,526 --> 00:14:50,846
a different type of world now?

225
00:14:50,986 --> 00:14:53,066
You know, who knows? Yeah.

226
00:14:53,766 --> 00:14:59,506
Now, let's talk a little bit about Rising Phoenix. Kind of give the listeners a lowdown on that group.

227
00:14:59,566 --> 00:15:02,106
You know, what kind of music you guys are playing? Who are you covering?

228
00:15:02,446 --> 00:15:05,366
Where they can see you a lot? You know, things of that nature.

229
00:15:05,626 --> 00:15:09,026
Yeah, for sure. So it's funny because I, you know, I brought up the,

230
00:15:09,026 --> 00:15:13,246
I brought up the Motley Crue tribute earlier and I said that kind of ties into what I'm doing now.

231
00:15:13,526 --> 00:15:17,546
So I'll be, you know, probably by the time you put this out,

232
00:15:17,566 --> 00:15:21,966
I'll have, I'll have three years in rising Phoenix. Now I joined the band.

233
00:15:22,933 --> 00:15:30,693
Of all times in 2020 which is what a great time to join right right right october

234
00:15:30,693 --> 00:15:35,093
october of that year just this thing you know we were starting to play things

235
00:15:35,093 --> 00:15:40,593
again but the band's been around for over 10 years now like uh you said in the

236
00:15:40,593 --> 00:15:42,713
intro a lot of the band is from central wisconsin.

237
00:15:44,053 --> 00:15:47,793
Marshfield wisconsin rapids wisconsin rapids is kind of like our unofficial

238
00:15:47,793 --> 00:15:50,553
home okay that's sort where they got their start.

239
00:15:51,173 --> 00:15:59,393
But one of the newest different singers in Sleaze Patrol his name is Matt and

240
00:15:59,393 --> 00:16:04,553
he is the singer in Rising Phoenix has been pretty much almost since their beginning.

241
00:16:04,833 --> 00:16:08,793
So he and I had stayed in touch throughout the years. There was a few years

242
00:16:08,793 --> 00:16:10,853
there where I wasn't playing in bands.

243
00:16:10,993 --> 00:16:13,613
I was coaching roller derby of all things.

244
00:16:13,833 --> 00:16:16,893
So I'd kind of gotten away from playing music and

245
00:16:16,893 --> 00:16:19,793
I was wanting to get back to doing it i was playing

246
00:16:19,793 --> 00:16:22,873
in another band called moonlight

247
00:16:22,873 --> 00:16:27,493
bandits it's just the bandits now and matt had reached out to me and just said

248
00:16:27,493 --> 00:16:31,253
hey we're we're looking to replace our bass player i'd really like to get you

249
00:16:31,253 --> 00:16:35,773
in here you know start learning the set before i even knew i was going to have

250
00:16:35,773 --> 00:16:41,973
an audition start learning the set so jumped into that so rising in Phoenix.

251
00:16:42,153 --> 00:16:46,413
Like you said earlier, I kind of coined this. We're 80s party rock.

252
00:16:46,873 --> 00:16:50,033
You can kind of wrap your head around what that is.

253
00:16:50,453 --> 00:16:55,453
We play a lot of Poison, Def Leppard, Bon Jovi, Guns N' Roses,

254
00:16:55,873 --> 00:16:59,013
Stedrell, Whitesnake, Van Halen.

255
00:16:59,153 --> 00:17:04,313
I don't know. The list of bands that I type out in posts on social media is long.

256
00:17:04,533 --> 00:17:10,793
But you get the idea. We're kind of, we're doing that sort of 80s quote unquote.

257
00:17:10,793 --> 00:17:13,993
Quote a lot of it's the hair meta stuff that pyro

258
00:17:13,993 --> 00:17:16,653
pop rock type things a little bit of

259
00:17:16,653 --> 00:17:19,333
70s we do some kits from the 70s a

260
00:17:19,333 --> 00:17:22,413
little bit of 90s we we do some like allison chains

261
00:17:22,413 --> 00:17:25,253
and stuff like that but the vast majority of it is that 80s rock

262
00:17:25,253 --> 00:17:28,693
stuff gotcha and we as far

263
00:17:28,693 --> 00:17:32,413
as like where we're playing is that we're we're mostly based out of central

264
00:17:32,413 --> 00:17:38,613
wisconsin so we do a lot of stuff kind of up that sort of wisconsin rapids stevens

265
00:17:38,613 --> 00:17:43,153
point wasa like pipe line up that way gotcha that that's sort of their bread

266
00:17:43,153 --> 00:17:47,533
and butter we've been really working working on trying to get ourselves.

267
00:17:48,113 --> 00:17:52,093
Into the fox valley a little bit more here and there you know we've got we've

268
00:17:52,093 --> 00:17:57,473
had a few more appleton oshkosh shows some green bay stuff that we have coming

269
00:17:57,473 --> 00:18:01,713
up as well every once in a while We'll get down to North Forest, Madison.

270
00:18:03,113 --> 00:18:05,753
But, you know, just kind of working on playing a lot of those things,

271
00:18:06,353 --> 00:18:10,993
really working on trying to expand out to planned fairs and planned,

272
00:18:12,464 --> 00:18:17,724
you know, big events. Gotcha. And now for listeners out there that are in bands

273
00:18:17,724 --> 00:18:22,424
like yours, what are some advice you would give them for not only just finding

274
00:18:22,424 --> 00:18:27,424
gigs, but keeping bands together, you know, and just meshing well together?

275
00:18:27,904 --> 00:18:31,764
Yeah. Um, you know, as there's many gigs, yeah, it's hard to,

276
00:18:31,844 --> 00:18:33,304
you know, put your best foot forward.

277
00:18:33,464 --> 00:18:39,544
You know, I, my, I have been, I have been sort of in charge of our social media for a while now.

278
00:18:39,984 --> 00:18:48,324
And the, the, the thing that i always say is like i try to make our band look like people.

279
00:18:50,624 --> 00:18:54,884
Nobody cares if you can absolutely nail

280
00:18:54,884 --> 00:18:58,584
that guitar solo or that drum fill well i

281
00:18:58,584 --> 00:19:01,744
shouldn't say nobody musicians here yeah you know

282
00:19:01,744 --> 00:19:04,664
the average person they want to come out and see a band and

283
00:19:04,664 --> 00:19:08,464
have a good time so you know focusing on being

284
00:19:08,464 --> 00:19:11,904
fun you know putting it out out there that that what

285
00:19:11,904 --> 00:19:14,944
you do is going to is going to sell

286
00:19:14,944 --> 00:19:18,644
beer it's going to keep people in

287
00:19:18,644 --> 00:19:21,564
in the establishments those are

288
00:19:21,564 --> 00:19:24,744
the things that matter when it comes to booking so you know

289
00:19:24,744 --> 00:19:27,604
really really kind of focusing on those things you know

290
00:19:27,604 --> 00:19:30,444
and as far as as far as

291
00:19:30,444 --> 00:19:33,444
keeping the band together you know it's just it just comes down to like you

292
00:19:33,444 --> 00:19:37,324
know find people that that you can put up with outside

293
00:19:37,324 --> 00:19:43,744
of playing i think is always the most important thing um you know it it it if

294
00:19:43,744 --> 00:19:46,984
you can't if you can't hang out with people you probably aren't going to want

295
00:19:46,984 --> 00:19:54,644
to play with them right this time yeah you know but i would say like i did a

296
00:19:54,644 --> 00:19:56,684
whole when i when i got out of the.

297
00:19:58,808 --> 00:20:01,608
I spent a bunch of time looking for a band to play in.

298
00:20:02,488 --> 00:20:08,608
And I really tried to focus on... They were trying me out because they needed a bass player.

299
00:20:08,848 --> 00:20:12,468
But I always said, I'm auditioning them too. True.

300
00:20:13,168 --> 00:20:20,568
I want to get the vibe of the people. I want to make sure that playing your eyes, that things fit.

301
00:20:21,528 --> 00:20:26,048
There were definitely a couple of situations where I was like, it's just not right.

302
00:20:26,248 --> 00:20:31,968
And you walk away from it. And I think that sometimes folks are just like,

303
00:20:32,048 --> 00:20:36,988
you find, like, we need a guitar player, and then a guitar player shows up,

304
00:20:37,008 --> 00:20:38,748
and you're like, all right, we got a guitar player.

305
00:20:39,088 --> 00:20:42,528
And sometimes you got to be patient. You got to be willing to say,

306
00:20:42,628 --> 00:20:45,668
hey, you know what, that wasn't the right one. Let's keep looking.

307
00:20:46,008 --> 00:20:49,608
It might mean that it's going to take you an extra month or two before you start

308
00:20:49,608 --> 00:20:54,668
gigging. But in the round run, it's better to find those right people first

309
00:20:54,668 --> 00:20:58,748
than, you know, make those changes down the line.

310
00:20:59,048 --> 00:21:02,748
Right. Once the once the once the truck is going down the highway,

311
00:21:02,908 --> 00:21:04,128
you know. Right. Exactly.

312
00:21:04,208 --> 00:21:08,548
Because, yeah, I mean, sometimes it takes maybe a couple of times playing with

313
00:21:08,548 --> 00:21:09,488
somebody to warm up to them.

314
00:21:09,528 --> 00:21:12,428
And sometimes it just happens right away. way but it's hard to

315
00:21:12,428 --> 00:21:15,568
do that sometimes because say you get

316
00:21:15,568 --> 00:21:18,588
somebody in the band and you're thinking well maybe in a little bit of time this

317
00:21:18,588 --> 00:21:21,508
person will start gelling with us but sometimes it

318
00:21:21,508 --> 00:21:24,408
just never does and then it gets harder and harder to say

319
00:21:24,408 --> 00:21:27,048
sorry this is not going to work out and you know it

320
00:21:27,048 --> 00:21:32,168
gets complicated yeah for sure you know it's a i was having a conversation just

321
00:21:32,168 --> 00:21:36,768
like this with a buddy in a different band who is looking for someone right

322
00:21:36,768 --> 00:21:45,008
now and and he's like you would You would be amazed at how many people show up and you tell them,

323
00:21:45,008 --> 00:21:49,528
we're going to do covers and we do this, and this is where we're going to play and whatever.

324
00:21:50,408 --> 00:21:54,508
Then three months down the line, they're like, hey, how about we write a song?

325
00:21:55,548 --> 00:22:00,688
It's like that fair time, they were just hoping that if they got themselves in that band.

326
00:22:02,571 --> 00:22:06,971
The band would just sort of bend to what they wanted, you know, down the line.

327
00:22:06,991 --> 00:22:15,191
And it's, you just, you, you got to go into it knowing that what they say is, is, is what they mean.

328
00:22:15,331 --> 00:22:19,111
Right. Exactly. Exactly. Yeah. I mean, if you have alternative,

329
00:22:19,111 --> 00:22:25,371
alternative, alternative options or alternative motives, then you need to say that out front arise.

330
00:22:26,331 --> 00:22:30,471
Like you said, down the line, it's just not a good thing. Yeah, for sure.

331
00:22:30,471 --> 00:22:33,731
Yeah now for you know sometimes

332
00:22:33,731 --> 00:22:37,071
i ask people like do they do recordings and

333
00:22:37,071 --> 00:22:40,091
and you guys do covers so do you like record

334
00:22:40,091 --> 00:22:44,151
yourself like practicing and listening back or do you do anything with recording

335
00:22:44,151 --> 00:22:50,191
at all with the group so not really i prior to me being in the band they definitely

336
00:22:50,191 --> 00:22:58,571
did stuff in order to get and the material together things like that we we definitely you know Now,

337
00:22:58,571 --> 00:23:02,331
we get a lot of video, but most of that is more for content,

338
00:23:02,511 --> 00:23:07,811
you know, getting those Instagram reels and, you know, videos put up on on Facebook

339
00:23:07,811 --> 00:23:10,351
and wherever else, those types of things.

340
00:23:11,631 --> 00:23:15,791
To be honest with you, I couldn't even tell you the last time I said put in a recording studio.

341
00:23:16,902 --> 00:23:21,202
It's funny. I was just yesterday listening to your episode with Justin Perkins

342
00:23:21,202 --> 00:23:25,402
and thinking about like, holy man, that guy recorded my first band. Like, wow.

343
00:23:27,342 --> 00:23:31,402
Yeah, it's that was that was like a small back.

344
00:23:31,482 --> 00:23:34,342
But once again, we're talking 20 years ago. yeah

345
00:23:34,342 --> 00:23:37,282
but you know it's it's one of those things where

346
00:23:37,282 --> 00:23:40,822
so our our current promo

347
00:23:40,822 --> 00:23:44,142
video as far as recording stuff that's

348
00:23:44,142 --> 00:23:47,062
probably like the most recorded thing that we have yeah

349
00:23:47,062 --> 00:23:50,442
and that was something we did off of you know the

350
00:23:50,442 --> 00:23:53,422
the videographer took sound direct off

351
00:23:53,422 --> 00:23:56,622
the board so that he would have some good quality audio

352
00:23:56,622 --> 00:23:59,762
to to mix up for our video gotcha which

353
00:23:59,762 --> 00:24:03,762
going back back to what you asked what you asked about as far as booking and

354
00:24:03,762 --> 00:24:10,242
stuff like i can't recommend more having a really good quality video that what

355
00:24:10,242 --> 00:24:18,442
we have now is is amazing i i think it it it makes us look so cool.

356
00:24:20,342 --> 00:24:23,002
It probably makes us look cooler than we are

357
00:24:23,002 --> 00:24:25,782
but yeah anybody um well you

358
00:24:25,782 --> 00:24:28,782
just told everybody right now yeah yeah well now

359
00:24:28,782 --> 00:24:33,462
it is what it is right right right but you

360
00:24:33,462 --> 00:24:36,462
know i i have not done the recording

361
00:24:36,462 --> 00:24:39,282
thing in a long time it was definitely one of those things

362
00:24:39,282 --> 00:24:43,862
that i'm sure a lot of musicians say you know yeah that love hate relationship

363
00:24:43,862 --> 00:24:51,062
with that process yeah it's so cool to get the finished product the man what

364
00:24:51,062 --> 00:24:56,702
a pain it's it's a it's a if you want it done right it's It is definitely a

365
00:24:56,702 --> 00:24:58,862
process, and it's not a short road, for sure.

366
00:24:59,202 --> 00:25:03,622
No. No. Tuning. Just tuning. Right. Yes.

367
00:25:04,282 --> 00:25:11,242
Tune after every take. Otherwise, I mean, depending on what strings you're using

368
00:25:11,242 --> 00:25:12,642
and things like that nature,

369
00:25:12,742 --> 00:25:16,842
but yeah, you got to make sure you got to micromanage everything from beginning

370
00:25:16,842 --> 00:25:19,962
to end sometimes, just because you play a song,

371
00:25:20,082 --> 00:25:22,582
and then three songs later, you're out of tune.

372
00:25:22,582 --> 00:25:26,582
And you didn't even know it and just you got to go back and redo stuff all right it's just,

373
00:25:27,302 --> 00:25:32,402
exactly it's not like a live gig where that's not recorded and you just go listen

374
00:25:32,402 --> 00:25:35,642
to them and it's there and it's gone you got to record it you can go back and

375
00:25:35,642 --> 00:25:38,402
listen to as many times as you want to and you start hearing things that you

376
00:25:38,402 --> 00:25:44,602
didn't hear before so going on from there we talked about the local scene and

377
00:25:44,602 --> 00:25:46,422
we're getting close to the end here um.

378
00:25:47,744 --> 00:25:54,244
Work-life balance. Do you have, is it challenging for you to do the band and

379
00:25:54,244 --> 00:25:57,744
have the other part of your life? Or is it a pretty good balance for you?

380
00:25:58,444 --> 00:26:02,444
You know, I would say that sometimes it's hard.

381
00:26:03,224 --> 00:26:08,184
We, as a band, we definitely keep some weekends open every month.

382
00:26:08,484 --> 00:26:13,124
A couple of the guys have young kids. So, you know, we try to make sure that

383
00:26:13,124 --> 00:26:15,744
there is some space for family time.

384
00:26:15,824 --> 00:26:19,544
We're not playing every single weekend. I know at one point in time before I

385
00:26:19,544 --> 00:26:24,224
joined Rising Phoenix, I believe there was a year, 2017, 2018,

386
00:26:24,424 --> 00:26:28,984
something like that, where they played every single weekend the entire year.

387
00:26:29,364 --> 00:26:34,464
You know, sometimes Friday and Saturday, but definitely every single weekend for the entire year.

388
00:26:35,744 --> 00:26:39,544
We don't do that now. Yeah. And that's okay.

389
00:26:39,684 --> 00:26:45,604
You know, my wife is about as supportive as anybody could ever be.

390
00:26:45,604 --> 00:26:48,404
You know she comes to a lot of gigs

391
00:26:48,404 --> 00:26:52,324
she actually takes a lot of video for me and

392
00:26:52,324 --> 00:26:56,944
so we definitely get that we get that time but it's it's

393
00:26:56,944 --> 00:26:59,984
obviously it's still really important that we get get our time outside

394
00:26:59,984 --> 00:27:05,824
of that and we as a band because we're so spread out we don't we don't really

395
00:27:05,824 --> 00:27:11,184
practice all that often okay i think in the three years that i've been in the

396
00:27:11,184 --> 00:27:16,004
band i think we've We've gotten together as a group in a room and practiced

397
00:27:16,004 --> 00:27:18,904
maybe six or seven times.

398
00:27:19,264 --> 00:27:23,864
Interesting. And probably three of those were when I was joining and we were

399
00:27:23,864 --> 00:27:27,884
just kind of running through, you know, beginnings and endings so that I knew

400
00:27:27,884 --> 00:27:29,364
how they how they did that stuff.

401
00:27:29,624 --> 00:27:34,064
Gotcha. Otherwise, it's kind of when things get slow in the fall or the winter

402
00:27:34,064 --> 00:27:37,184
and we decide like, oh, hey, let's let's add a couple of songs.

403
00:27:37,584 --> 00:27:41,084
We'll find a lot of time to get together and just sort of run through things.

404
00:27:41,084 --> 00:27:43,124
But otherwise, you know, we're playing enough that.

405
00:27:43,874 --> 00:27:49,934
After all the years that the guys have been together, we can play pretty well

406
00:27:49,934 --> 00:27:52,094
together without having to get together.

407
00:27:52,774 --> 00:27:57,914
Our practice space is like two hours from me, so that would make it challenging.

408
00:27:58,094 --> 00:28:02,274
So not having that practice component definitely makes it a little easier to

409
00:28:02,274 --> 00:28:03,814
sort of balance things out.

410
00:28:04,134 --> 00:28:09,734
Good. Gotcha. Cool. The last thing I ask is gigs that made an impression on you.

411
00:28:09,734 --> 00:28:14,714
You so as a performer is there a gig that made a great impression on you and

412
00:28:14,714 --> 00:28:18,654
also as an audience member is there a gig or performance that you saw that made

413
00:28:18,654 --> 00:28:21,374
a big impression on you oh man.

414
00:28:23,174 --> 00:28:26,414
So i let me let me start first with

415
00:28:26,414 --> 00:28:29,454
the with the as an audience member uh because okay

416
00:28:29,454 --> 00:28:32,254
you know it's funny because it just came up in my

417
00:28:32,254 --> 00:28:35,674
in like my facebook memories okay a number

418
00:28:35,674 --> 00:28:38,674
of years back my wife bought us tickets

419
00:28:38,674 --> 00:28:41,814
to go see guard brooks okay now it's funny because like

420
00:28:41,814 --> 00:28:45,234
with all the music that i've been talking about you cannot

421
00:28:45,234 --> 00:28:47,854
you can obviously assume the kind of stuff that i

422
00:28:47,854 --> 00:28:50,694
generally listen to and i could sit here and

423
00:28:50,694 --> 00:28:53,394
be like oh i saw metallica in 2000 and that was

424
00:28:53,394 --> 00:28:56,254
amazing or like i saw pantera this time

425
00:28:56,254 --> 00:29:00,154
or that time and all those things were great but like we went and saw guard

426
00:29:00,154 --> 00:29:03,494
brooks a number of years ago and that was i grew up with guard brooks getting

427
00:29:03,494 --> 00:29:07,514
played in the house i could sing everywhere to every single song okay i'm not

428
00:29:07,514 --> 00:29:13,374
a big country guy i love garth brooks that was the most amazing concert i think

429
00:29:13,374 --> 00:29:15,534
i've ever been at i mean the,

430
00:29:16,094 --> 00:29:18,954
people in the crowd were holding up signs for really

431
00:29:18,954 --> 00:29:24,674
random like east side songs he hasn't performed in 20 years and he would just

432
00:29:24,674 --> 00:29:29,774
play like a verse and a chorus off the top of his head nice nice you know it

433
00:29:29,774 --> 00:29:33,754
just like and then and then throw in like the drummer had like a like a drum

434
00:29:33,754 --> 00:29:36,894
kit in like a gyroscope thing and did a drum solo,

435
00:29:37,114 --> 00:29:40,474
which you wouldn't expect at a country show. No, it's right.

436
00:29:40,714 --> 00:29:45,474
But still amazing. Yeah. It's, it doesn't matter the genre. It's,

437
00:29:45,534 --> 00:29:47,854
it's how well that artists can perform what they perform.

438
00:29:48,514 --> 00:29:51,434
And that was, I mean, so good.

439
00:29:51,554 --> 00:29:55,194
Yeah. So good. Like it just, just nailing everything and just,

440
00:29:55,294 --> 00:30:00,994
I mean, probably all the best musicians that money to buy on that stage too, you know?

441
00:30:00,994 --> 00:30:07,914
Yep. so that that is definitely probably that as far as shows I've played now.

442
00:30:08,634 --> 00:30:11,594
Rising Phoenix has definitely played some really cool things

443
00:30:11,594 --> 00:30:15,154
since I've joined the band the band has been on such an upward trajectory you

444
00:30:15,154 --> 00:30:20,094
know I don't want to take away from that because like we're doing some really

445
00:30:20,094 --> 00:30:24,234
cool things we there's a balloon rally in Wausau we get to play every year that

446
00:30:24,234 --> 00:30:27,954
has thousands of people and like we play while the balloons are lighting up

447
00:30:27,954 --> 00:30:31,094
the balloons with the fire and all those things and,

448
00:30:31,634 --> 00:30:35,614
lots of super cool stuff and we and next summer is even going to be bigger.

449
00:30:37,230 --> 00:30:40,070
In the first handful of years when i was in pale gray sky

450
00:30:40,070 --> 00:30:43,010
there was a period of time

451
00:30:43,010 --> 00:30:45,650
where we were actually getting there's a i don't know

452
00:30:45,650 --> 00:30:48,530
if you're familiar with the fox valley much but there's a there's a

453
00:30:48,530 --> 00:30:53,990
rock radio station called the raisin okay here and they had sort of taken on

454
00:30:53,990 --> 00:31:00,430
the mantle of like supporting local rock bands metal bands the sorts of things

455
00:31:00,430 --> 00:31:06,490
and at one point in time they They had a handful of us open for some like national acts.

456
00:31:07,110 --> 00:31:10,070
And in a lot of cases when they would do those types of things,

457
00:31:10,130 --> 00:31:13,150
usually like, you know, the local bands play and like nobody would be there.

458
00:31:13,290 --> 00:31:14,990
And then people would sort of show up. Yeah.

459
00:31:15,690 --> 00:31:18,470
Closer to the end of the night when the national bands were going to play.

460
00:31:18,890 --> 00:31:22,510
And we played this one show. It was a Riverside ballroom in green day.

461
00:31:22,990 --> 00:31:30,850
I think that's a 2,500 cap. Okay. Venue. I think we were going on first of six bands.

462
00:31:32,010 --> 00:31:35,010
We were worried. we weren't going to get to play for anybody because

463
00:31:35,010 --> 00:31:39,290
they were going to open the doors and it was going to start we looked out the

464
00:31:39,290 --> 00:31:43,850
door out the door by the stage right before we start or right before they were

465
00:31:43,850 --> 00:31:48,670
going to open the doors and the line was like around the parking lot and down

466
00:31:48,670 --> 00:31:54,950
the block wow and they let all of those people get in the building before they made us start.

467
00:31:56,486 --> 00:32:00,026
I have never gotten to play over the top.

468
00:32:00,306 --> 00:32:04,746
I don't know how else to put it, but over the top of like a full on circle pit.

469
00:32:04,986 --> 00:32:08,646
Okay. My life is probably the only time I ever got to do that.

470
00:32:09,286 --> 00:32:15,546
That I think we played a 25 minute set or a 30 minute set. It might as well have been 30 seconds.

471
00:32:15,906 --> 00:32:18,086
It was just like a blur.

472
00:32:18,646 --> 00:32:23,046
I don't remember anything else other than that. It was just a massive humanity

473
00:32:23,046 --> 00:32:25,926
in front of us. Yeah. And I don't know.

474
00:32:26,486 --> 00:32:29,166
I definitely get to

475
00:32:29,166 --> 00:32:32,066
play some awesome shows in

476
00:32:32,066 --> 00:32:35,266
front of killer crowds all the time now but

477
00:32:35,266 --> 00:32:38,666
man that i how do you you just

478
00:32:38,666 --> 00:32:41,386
like i i probably didn't even

479
00:32:41,386 --> 00:32:45,926
play everything right that day it was just you know you you get i'm i'm kind

480
00:32:45,926 --> 00:32:50,886
of that i'm in that bass player that the joke about bass players is it's either

481
00:32:50,886 --> 00:32:55,826
the guy that is doing cartwheels on stage or the guy that's standing at the

482
00:32:55,826 --> 00:33:01,266
back i'm the guy that does cartwheels on stage okay and and i probably.

483
00:33:02,046 --> 00:33:05,066
Spent more time running around on that stage than

484
00:33:05,066 --> 00:33:09,206
actually playing it was it was i'll be

485
00:33:09,206 --> 00:33:13,926
chasing that feeling you know i still play live and i try to be that person

486
00:33:13,926 --> 00:33:20,506
on stage to this day because that feeling was just insane yep and there are

487
00:33:20,506 --> 00:33:25,986
so many musicians out there that have similar stories and know exactly what you're talking about.

488
00:33:26,966 --> 00:33:30,466
I myself, I've been in those kinds of situations too, where it's just like,

489
00:33:30,506 --> 00:33:32,166
this is the greatest feeling ever.

490
00:33:32,706 --> 00:33:36,966
That's for sure. Is there anything else you'd like to say before I let you go for today?

491
00:33:37,626 --> 00:33:41,446
Oh, geez, I don't know. Thanks for having me on. Okay.

492
00:33:42,286 --> 00:33:45,726
Everybody come out and see a Rising Phoenix show if you see us coming around.

493
00:33:46,106 --> 00:33:47,726
Absolutely. Yeah, I don't know.

494
00:33:49,246 --> 00:33:52,426
Like I said, I do listen to the podcast periodically

495
00:33:52,426 --> 00:33:55,406
periodically and it's just it's super cool that

496
00:33:55,406 --> 00:33:58,346
you're you're doing this to kind of put put a highlight on

497
00:33:58,346 --> 00:34:02,026
on some people that i've definitely listened to a few episodes good

498
00:34:02,026 --> 00:34:06,986
i was just like i don't even know who this person is or or really know anything

499
00:34:06,986 --> 00:34:12,046
about what they do but like it's just kind of cool to like hey here's some random

500
00:34:12,046 --> 00:34:16,366
hip-hop guy from right i don't know dodgeville or something like right right

501
00:34:16,366 --> 00:34:20,986
right it's it's really it's really neat to kind of get to hear what's is going on.

502
00:34:21,426 --> 00:34:25,426
Excellent. Well, Josh, thank you so much for being on the Wisconsin Music Podcast.

503
00:34:25,706 --> 00:34:29,646
It's been a pleasure talking and hearing your story and thank you so much for

504
00:34:29,646 --> 00:34:31,266
being on. Thank you, Zach.

505
00:34:36,103 --> 00:34:39,643
Well, thanks again for tuning in to another episode of the Wisconsin Music Podcast.

506
00:34:40,103 --> 00:34:43,823
Once again, I'm Zach Fell, your host and creator of the Wisconsin Music Podcast,

507
00:34:43,923 --> 00:34:48,563
where I love to amplify the great sounds coming out of the Wisconsin state.

508
00:34:48,603 --> 00:34:52,043
We have great talent here, great support, great listeners.

509
00:34:52,463 --> 00:34:57,963
Thanks to Fox City's Indie Radio for syndicating this on Wednesdays and Sundays,

510
00:34:58,043 --> 00:34:59,523
along with their other great programs.

511
00:34:59,563 --> 00:35:04,603
So make sure you check out the Fox City's Indie Radio. And thanks to this week's

512
00:35:04,603 --> 00:35:07,983
guest Josh Escher of the band Rising Phoenix,

513
00:35:08,763 --> 00:35:11,763
If you'd like to be on the show Just go

514
00:35:11,763 --> 00:35:14,783
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515
00:35:14,783 --> 00:35:17,803
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516
00:35:17,803 --> 00:35:20,663
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517
00:35:20,663 --> 00:35:24,503
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518
00:35:24,503 --> 00:35:28,963
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519
00:35:28,963 --> 00:35:33,263
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520
00:35:33,263 --> 00:35:37,303
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521
00:35:37,303 --> 00:35:38,883
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522
00:35:39,423 --> 00:35:43,283
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523
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524
00:35:46,483 --> 00:35:51,363
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525
00:35:52,083 --> 00:35:54,883
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