Hey guys, it's time for this week Sunday Sampler. It's highlight clips from some of the podcasts that came out this week. On the Nashville Podcast Network Movie Mike's Movie Podcast, he went through a list of the best movie castings of all time, and he also gave a spoiler free review of that movie that's supposedly terrible. Yeah, Madam Webb, I don't know think about it, except everybody talks about how bad it is, which makes me want to see it if it's that bad. Mike talks about it on
Get Real with Caroline Hobby. Caroline sat down with a thousand Horses, her husband Michael, is the lead singer, and on the Bobby Cast, I got to sit down with Terry Clark, is really cool, talked about moving to Nashville from Canada and high school her signature cowboy hat. I want to start with Terry Clark and we'll get to everybody else coming up here on the Sunday Sampler.
Help when my mom died because my mom was forty six to forty seven when she died, So sorry, oh yeah, so, but but you know, I also can sit here and talk with you about it from a place of empathy more than sympathy, which I would rather talk from a place of understanding, right because we get to relate.
But I probably jump back in way too quick.
I don't think I allowed myself to mourn at all. And then I think, over like the next five to seven years, it kind of trickled out in weird ways, just like something would trigger it.
Did your mom get sicker? Did she die suddenly and unexpected?
My mom was a drug addict and she died just from years and years of like meth and substance abuse.
Did you have any idea it was going to take her life?
She had been in and out of rehab a bunch, But I mean I never thought she would die.
But she wasn't super healthy.
I mean she got pregnant fifteen, so it wasn't like the easiest life for her.
So I don't know that I.
Was shocked, but yeah, I was surprised because it wasn't that she was super sick. I think it was just a partial like probably too much at that time, like and then partially her body just not being able to hold on. But I remember I was working, I was on the air, and I got a call from my sister. Nobody ever calls me during the show because they know I'm pretty locked in and focused. And she was like, moms died. And I was like, wait what she said, Yeah,
mom died. And I said, okay, let me call you back. And I just finished the show because I didn't know what to do. So I stayed for like two hours and just finished the show. And I told Amy, who's my co host? Still to this day, those are all my same people twenty years ago, and I was like, hey, I'm gonna keep going.
My mom died.
And I remember Amy crying the whole time, and mean I didn't because the only thing I knew.
Was to push.
I wasn't partmentalized for sure.
I had to learn as a kid.
Even so.
It wasn't because I was strong or cool.
Yeah, if anything, I kind of wish I could have felt, but you know, did the funeral arrange, it went right back to work, and then it was I could feel it like the next seven or eight years probably just trickling out of me, where I wish I had taken a little time.
To holy.
Where I don't know, I don't know, I don't know looking back that I made the right decision. Doing that, you how quickly until you went back to work.
My mom died in April, and I was back at work in June. And my brother, who works on oil rigs, he's an oil oil guy. He's younger, he was only he was so young when she passed away. He was only twenty seven and he went to Brazil to work on an oil rig. And he actually he processed more than any of us. He really mourned and he had a very hard time with it. But my process was, you know, I mourned. We had things to arrange, things had to you know, I'm.
A distraction, Like I just did the same thing.
Yeah, then went back.
To work, and then, you know, and then I'm moving again, and then I'm renovating another house, and then I'm making another album, and then I'm back on the road again. Then I'm writing songs for this next album. And then
I got to put that. It's been like, you know, I'm still wondering if I'm just going to absolutely fall apart one day because I just stayed so as just you know, you keep pushing and stay so distracted, you know, with whatever it is relationships or moving or projects, and you know, do you ever, and I'm.
Like, well, what does what does that look like?
If I just sit and go I have to be sad about mom and just lose my shit here for you know, yeah, god knows how long.
And I did mourn.
But some of my friends who've known me my whole life and my mom and knew my mom or like, we were actually thinking that this was going to take you down like big time for a long time, and they've told me that they were actually surprised, or I guess, I don't know what the word is, surprised that it didn't as much as I thought it would. But she was also very sick for three years and battling this thing.
Were you in Canada a lot while she was sad?
Yeah? Yeah, I spent a lot of time flying back and forth. And I actually I had bought a house near my parents that had bought a house on Vancouver Island so that they could retire there and because it's just a beautiful place to be, and I bought a place just to be near them when they were growing old because I love my mom so much, and you know, so I had a place there and I was able to be there quite a bit took quite a bit of time to go back and forth and be with her.
But yeah, my favorite part of this, my favorite story here is you being at that bus stop calling your mom. Your mom would have loved to have had your home, but she loved you more than she would have loved having you home. Yeah, and she made you go, Okay, think about this. It just would have been so easy for her to go, yeah, you need to come.
Home, because believe me, she it was.
Yeah, that would be awesome for her to have her daughter home, right, who she loves more than anything in the whole world. Yeah, Yet she's still a selfless enough to say, I don't think in her own way, I don't think you should come home right to not want me to have she made you get there yourself. Yeah, and you did.
Yeah, that's awesome.
Sounds awesome.
Yeah, And there's been so many things that have happened that she should be there for. My brother got married. I burst into tears that night. I've had my moments. I had one the other day. Carly Simon album comes on and I'm chopping onions and it's not because of the onions. I'm just bawling and I'm like, oh, it just, you know, just moments where it just comes out of nowhere.
Small odd triggers still get me to like the random home Depot commercial. Yeah, and I'm a song on the radio like it's Yeah. Canada is to me the nicest place in the whole world. So I'm on like thirty or something radio stations up there, and if I go, everybody's so.
Nice that it feels like they're going to murder me.
I'm I'm not kidding. I was scared the first time that I went into even Toronto, which is a massive city.
Oh, there are a lot of not nice people in Toronto, Bobby, that's what you've been to the airport.
That's why.
Well, they held Mike in the airport.
They held over a few hours, but I think there was another Mike with his name that was like a killer or yeah, but people were so kind that I was scared. They were like setting me up for something, and I think that's just the nature.
I'm suspicious of your kind.
Yeah, of Canadians.
Where you grew up though, that was like that was like West United States, right like above like.
Yes, above Montana.
So I was born in Montreal, which is kind of like above New York and then moved to Alberta, which was above Montana, and then moved back to above New York and then moved back to Alberta. We zigzaged across the country a couple of times when I was younger, but I spent the majority of my formative years, I guess from ten nine years old to eighteen in Alberta. In Calgary and medicine hat.
Medicine has a cool name for it.
It is, isn't it?
Yeah, it is.
I have a lot of friends and even family that are that live near Native Americans, and my wife's Oklahoma and so she's partially Native American too, and her some of her friends back on I have the coolest names like medicine hat, John medisine has.
Oh, all the town's up there. I mean there's moose Jaw, there's medicine Hat.
There's Pincher Creek, There's there's all kinds of Fort this and Fort that.
And town Regina makes me laugh out loud.
Well, you know what, the city that rhymes was fun they call it.
And I told people that's what was on a sign there, and nobody believe me.
Well, I I don't know that I can even tell some of these stories on the air, because I'm sure Regina gets so mad about it because it's it's just like it's every time I play there, my band's American, and my crew everybody. It's the jokes leading up and leaving. I'm just like, okay, we got to get off this train.
It's just come on.
But how many how many Regina jokes do you guys have in you?
It never end see that it's self.
It's just funny, right, I know how many do I have in me?
You fly in and out of there very hard.
I know.
Yeah, it's I'm not even gonna do it because it's it sounds pervy when I do.
When you did it, it does sound pervy.
Bobby Bones, the pervy guy.
Cast up Little Food for yourself life.
Oh it's pretty bad.
Hey, it's pretty beautiful, beautiful laugh a little more exciting, said he can't.
You're kicking with four with Amy Brown.
Hey, it's Amy Brown from Four Things with Amy Brown. And here's what we talked about this week on my podcast.
All Right, I got my cousin.
Amanda Rieger Green on because she released a numerology book that's special for this year, and people are loving it, and Aman I want to start with why you put something like this together.
I put out a numerology guidebook for twenty twenty four because we are in a year of empowerment, and with a year of empowerment, we have all this disempowerment. So we're looking for expansion. We're looking for growth, we're looking for abundance. We're looking to wake up and feel happier and more whole. And with all of that, the energy this year in the numerology is going to bring up gunk that tells us we're not enough. We don't have what we need, we can't do it, we don't have
the resources. We're exhausted. The energy of twenty twenty four is an eight year. Two plus zero plus two plus four equals eight. If you turn the eight on its side, it's the infinity symbol. The infinity symbol. If you think about the numbers in numerology, each single digit number has an energy or a vibration. The zero and the eight, if you look at the single digit numbers, are the only two numbers that have no beginning or no end. So the eight energy is in constant flux. It's like
centripical motion. The biggest key in the energy of the eight is it's this energy of empowerment. So we always experience the converse of anything this year through the eight. So if empowerment, clarity, joy is what you're seeking, you will automatically feel disempowered, unclear, lacking joy, spunk, or motivation. And whenever you see those pitfalls, that's an opportunity to heal, to recognize, to get present, and then to invite in growth. The energy of the eight is all about harnessing your
point of attraction. Your point of attraction is that energy within the part of you that's connected to the divine that is always attempting to attract in and what you desire, what you want. And there can be this ego version of you that is in fear and sending out signals of lack or not enough or scarcity. Or you can take those ego based fears and you can say, wait a minute, how can I shift this? How can I heal this? Where do I ask for help? How do I call in God and my higher power? Where do
I call in my angels and guides? I'm not alone. I've got this and I wouldn't have a dream in my heart or looking for deeper meaning or purpose if it wasn't out there for me to receive. This year is about sending and receiving, and the probably the biggest cornerstone of this year is whatever you focus on grows. The eight is the master manifestor. So if you are exhausted or in chaos, or completely in self pity or
self doubt, we're human. We all experience this stuff, and sometimes it lasts longer than others, but if you stay in it long enough, it will man mafest externally. The same thing with happiness, abundance, love, joy. When you have experiences that cultivate abundance or cultivate joy or excitement or creativity,
right place, right time, energy. When you notice that and you're in it and you enjoy it and you recognize it and you think God and your guides for that, it creates this stronger, more vibrant, high high energy point of attraction that will bring and call in more things that are aligned with you easily and abundantly.
Right.
I feel like people are going to have more questions about the Numerology guide Book, so can you give us more details.
It's very simple, it's very straightforward, and it's super empowered. There are mantras, there, crystal recommendations. It gives you the numerology code and the energy month over month because we have different numerology. We've got this overarching energy of the eight, but each month has a different numerological component. And when you work with the code in conjunction with the eight, I break it down for you very simply and what
it resonates with. There are journal prompts. There's also strategies and then blind spots. I love the blind spots because it's like, look out for this, you know, look out for self doubt or look out for self pity or you know, wearing your heart on your sleeve. And the journal prompts help because they just get you into it. The mantras, the crystal recommendations. It's really easy to follow, but it's also really relevant even if you buy the guide in May, because this is the way I work
with it. I will go back retrospectively, and I'll go back to January, I'll go back to February. I'll retrace my steps, and then I'll also go forward. I'll go into November or December, and that way it's like I have the whole picture and then I harness everything in my now. So the guidebook gives you overarching energy of the eight all the tools, tips, ends outs, highs, lows, vibes,
how to work with numbers and their energy. And also it goes month over month very simply, very strategically and systematically, and also in this really cool energetic vibe that gets you thinking more broadly. And then you'll start seeing number
codes everywhere. That's the cool part of it, is like when you know your numbers, when you see the numbers, when you get in touch with the energy field, numbers and number codes, repeating digits, eleven, eleven, two, two, two, three, three, three, four, four four, all that stuff starts showing up and you're like, oh my gosh, I know what this means, or oh my gosh, I can't well, I was.
Just looking at this.
So it's really it's so much fun, but it's expansive, and expansiveness this year in twenty twenty four is not only part of what will create whatever it is you are seeking this year, it's also really important for twenty twenty five.
And then where can people find the guidebook and learn more.
It's solepathology dot com. That's my website. You can also check out my podcast Soul Sessions with Amanda Rieger Green or me on social media at soul Pathology. The guidebook is right there on the top on the banner, so you will find it straight away. And there's also a sample of January, so just remember when you get the January sample, that's what the month over month guidebook looks like.
But there's also this massive overview of the energy of the eight that comes with the month over month, And
if you want a bonus, there's an audio companion. A lot of people learn more audibly or like to listen to things in their car, and the way the audio companion is it's really me riffing off of the guidebook and the energy, so it's very complementary, and it's broken down month over month with insights, anecdotes, personal experiences that might bring it into a more tangible, understandable, relatable view for you.
Love it, Thanks Amanda, Bye bye.
Let's do a live We are the World. You're very a loser. What up, everybody? I am lunchbox.
I know the most about sports, so I'll give you the sports facts, my sports opinions, because I'm pretty much a sports genius.
What up y'all at Iscisson. I'm from the North. I'm in Alpha Male. I live on the West side of Nashville with Baser, my wife. We do have a white picket fence at the apartment complex. Soon I'm gonna have two point five kids, and yes, sadly, I will die of a heart attack when I'm seventy two years old.
Here's a clip brom the last podcast one two three grocery Store story.
So I stop at the grocery store and it is nine oh five pm. Raight they close segment. We're doing a segment they close at ten. This wasn't even on the damn menu, and you're making me go there.
This is segment.
And I stop at the grocery store and I walk in and I gotta get some stuff for breakfast. So I gotta get milk, yogurt, berries, bananas, a couple other things. So I go to get a cart. Bailey's I go to get a cart.
Okay, let me try think again. Uh, okay, let me go to this rack.
Nope, I already know they're all locked up for the night.
Ding ding ding ra Why are.
They locked before the store closes?
Hello, you are still open.
I need to do some grocery shop and I can't use a damn basket.
That's my high schooler is trying to get out early.
I can't use a cart.
So you put the little whatever lock system that you have, so I can't even get a cart.
I am so pissed, so pissed.
Hey, you can't carry that crap, so dump one of them.
So then I got to get one of those little baskets, just a little hand baskets. And finally what I started doing is I just stacked it. I put it in the middle of the store, and I'd walk to get my item.
Dude, you were on one.
You were absolutely on one.
Yes, because I just got a clean, clean down the front of my freaking leg. I got, uh, that's our ball, babe. And now I can't even use a damn cart.
And you're doing like supermarkets, but with yogurt and milk.
Yeah.
So I'm walking over here, walking over there. Oh, gotta get spinach, gotta get bananas, gotta get raspberries. So I'm moving place to place getting it. And so I'm just setting it, walking setting it. People are walking like what tells his basket in the middle of freaking.
Serras, little pile of groceries, those.
Little pile of groceries right by the frozen food section, right by the frozen pizzas.
I got my shit just stacked.
If I'm in that grocery store, I'm and be like, hey, buddy, let's get your shit out of my way.
I mean, I was worried.
I shouldn't have been worried, because, let me be honest, right, no damn workers there that I was gonna come back and some worker was gonna be like, oh, some idiot left their grocery and started putting them back. But luckily that didn't damn happen because no one there does their damn job. So I go to check out. Ray, there are eight cash registers. How many of them are open for you to check out?
Right?
Well, four of them are AI, so I don't know. I'm guessing i'd at least close to half zero.
Ray, there's only three self checkouts available. Come on down, okay, cool. I'll go to self checkout and at one point I'm like, it says, oh, do you need to call attendant?
Well, don't worry, Ray, I needed.
An attendant ten minutes ago.
No, the attendant has the easiest job in the history of jobs.
Yeah, he's finger banging.
Or is she sitting there standing up making sure everybody's getting checked out? Okay, making sure you're scanning all your items. No, ray, She has pulled up a chair against the wall, her has her feet up in the chair next to her, and she is just face timing the entire time.
Are you comfy?
I was kidding, I need help with my comfy diapers.
I mean, she didn't look up and ask anybody if they need help have a good day. Oh do you need an attendant? Do you need me to type in that produce code? So no, nothing, She didn't even know. Damn people were checking out groceries.
The audacity of the gen zars.
I mean, she was just sitting there like this on FaceTime, like, oh girl, you'll never believe what he did. Oh my god, Like hello, talk about the easiest damn job in the world.
I just did everything for you.
Good morning, millennials. Morning.
And then I go out to the parking lot and I'm getting in the car and the guy.
Homeless guy's gotta shive up my ass.
The guy collecting cards plays at me and goes, hey, man, you know your gas CAP's open. I'm like, are you freaking getting He was like, I was gonna close it, but I didn't want you to think I was messing with your car. I'm like, well, get messed with the cards and put him on lockdown.
Say I'm gonna mess with my damn car.
Babe, Oh my tanks down? Huh. The guy goes, hey, man, freeze ol water.
Are you gonna shoot me?
No?
Is that asking you? Are you freezing out here?
And I'm walking out? He goes, actually, that's my cart, babe. Sorry, man, I don't get your reference. I'm just a millennial. What is this, babe reference. We're gonna take a break. We're gonna come back and talk baseball.
How that was.
Grocery?
Oh that was us one dude, one dude, three grocery.
Sorry, sorry, hey, it's Mike d And.
This week on Movie Mike's Movie Podcast, I talked about the best movie castings of old time. They recently released Who Is Going to Be in the New Fantastic Four movies, so I went all the way through movie history talking about who I think were the best casting decisions that had the biggest impact in movies. I also do spoiler free movie reviews, and you may have seen all the awful reviews coming out from Adam Webb. I dove fully
into that movie. So if you need new movie recommendations of what to see in theaters or streaming at home, make sure you're subscribed to the podcast. But right now, here's just a little bit of this week's topic. I think this one might be hands down the most important movie casting of all time, and it is Robert Downey Junior as iron Man. First movie came out back in
two thousand and eight. Jon Favreau, who directed the movie, saw Robert Downey Junior and Kiss Kiss, Bank Bang and thought his wit, his charm, his depth would be perfect for Tony Stark. And this is back when Marvel was not what we know it to be now. And this was so essential going down the line because at the forefront of the MCU, and really the heart of the entire Infinity saga was Robert Downey Junior as iron Man. He threw the entire MCU on his back and carried it.
If you put iron Man in any of the Marvel movies, it would instantly make it a better movie. He proved it, and not only that, he got paid and they realized that because.
He made millions and millions of.
Dollars as Tony Stark and Ironman, so much so that if the MCU ever gets desperate again and they need that money, they're gonna bring him back sooner than we want because he is so good at it. And I think iron Man is one of the most iconic and important characters in modern cinema and has made billions of
dollars at the box office. And it was also a bit of a risk to cast Robert Downey Jr. Who had had issues in the past and had gone through stuff and was seen as kind of a risky choice to base your entire movie studio on this is gonna be the guy at the forefront of everything. But it
worked out perfectly. So at the top of my list, I'm not going to rank these all in order, but that is such a big important part of the history of Marvel for over a decade and has left such an impression that without that, Marvel would have been much like it had been before, going bankrupt and not being able to catch the check. So Robert Downey Junior as Ironman one of the best of all time. Along those same lines, before there was Ironman, there was Wolverine.
Hugh Jackman is Wolverine.
Is incredible and I'm going to get into the Deadpool Wolverine trailer later. And the crazy thing about this is Hugh Jackman actually wasn't the first pick for the role.
Dugray Scott was.
Initially cast as Wolverine, but he had to drop out because he had scheduling conflicts. And then the director saw Hugh Jackman's performance in the stage production of Oklahoma and saw how charismatic Hugh Jackman was and also just how strong he was physically. And that is the other bizarre thing about Hugh Jackman is we know him as Wolverine, we know him as being able to do action movie, but the dude can sing and is so classically trained
in musicals. I could see nobody else as Wolverine, and I feel like he is an actor that just immerses himself in a role. When it comes down to the hair and the wardrobe and the physical attributes to me, he is Wolverine, even though in the comic books Wolverine is a much shorter character. Is this really hard headed, compact dude. But once he put Hugh Jackman on the big screen, it is undeniable. We'll get out of the
superhero world for a minute. And also on my list, I have Chris Tucker as Smoky in Friday, which came out back in nineteen ninety seven. The way Chris Tucker got this role is the director Gary Gray saw Chris Tucker doing stand up and thought, man, I could use that guy in my movie because he's very energetic. He's so charismatic. I just love listening to Chris Tucker talk with all the inflection and emotion in his voice that
it just makes me laugh. And the reason I feel like this is one of the best movie castings of all time is because whenever a sequel gets brought up, everybody wants to know if he's going to come back as Smoky. That is the sign of an iconic character and an amazing performance. Because they've made a lot of sequels to Friday, but Chris Tucker has not returned. And when they made that movie, the actors didn't make a
whole lot of money. It was essentially an indie movie that ended up being such a hit that you think it's crazy that he probably only got paid maybe a few thousand dollars to be Smoky and They also filmed that movie so fast that for these actors' lives, it was just a little slice of their year, a little slice of time that has lasted their entire career. But Chris Tucker is fantastic as Smoky. I've watched that movie countless times and he still makes me laugh. One of
the best movie castings of all time. We'll get out of the nineties, move all to the two thousands into a holiday movie. Will Ferrell has Buddy the Elf in Elf in two thousand and three, and the thing about this casting that is impressive is that Will Ferrell was not at the status that he is now back in two thousand and three when he was cast and this movie came out. Jon Favreau, who directed this movie, another name we've heard on this list before as a director.
He was really just a big fan of Will Ferrell from his Saturday Night live performances. So to cast him in this movie, much like we've seen historically through this list, was also a bit of a risk because he wasn't a household name. The studio wanted somebody more recognizable. But Jon Favreau, being the amazing director he is, saw the vision that Will Ferrell is Buddy the elf. He has the comedic timing, he has the look, he has what we need to make this movie work. And he was
completely correct. So a great move on Jon Favreau's part. But also the reason I consider it to be one of the best movie castings of all time is because it catapulted Will Ferrell's comedic career in movies. So we went from having supporting roles in movies like Old School to having a slew of starring roles in comedies through the two thousands and into the early twenty tens. And this was the movie role that made him undeniable in Hollywood.
Carol, she's a queen of talking a song.
You know, she's getting really not afraid to face its episode, so just.
Let it flow.
No one can do it quite car.
It is.
I got a thousand horses.
That's it, all of us.
You know.
I got y'all on the podcast when I first started the podcast. Oh yeah, we're twenty sixteen, and y'all were like my second guest actually, and.
That was it. That was the turning, defining moment, the moment.
That was when it took printing money.
And I've just been begging y'all to come back, and you're like, no, no, no, we can't or it is.
We can't have too much of a great thing. Yeah, but this.
Is just great, guys. I'm glad you have y'all back. A lot's gone down in the past. How many years?
Okay, so we talked, we got together on the podcast twenty sixteen hour eight years.
It was two years ago. Eight years.
Yeah, musicians, not really twenty sixteen. It does feel like every I'm always like, oh yeah, that was like two years ago.
So let's like twenty sixteen.
That's when like a thousand horses broke onto the scene.
Y'all were like on a firework, right.
We were yeah, yeah, rock rocket, rockets, firework.
Yeah yeah, fireworks.
There was in retrospect. Maybe it was a little bit more fireworks. Yeah.
Playing that, you know, you're like, oh boom, yeah yeah, I feel like, oh wait a minute, but then everybody's.
A beautiful explosion.
Yeah.
It entertains the mat.
Like you know, when everybody takes pictures of fireworks Fourth of July, I thinking you're going to look back on you know, but they just say that was kind.
Of yeah yeah yeah, and then you wake up there's just a bunch of trash and you're driving next to ye.
So y'all really lived the life. Y'all really lived a life.
Okay, So let's start at the beginning, back in it's probably nineteen.
No, it's probably early too. Y'all were born in nineteen eighty seven, right.
I was eighty eight, eighty eight.
Yeah, okay, so probably right around nineteen ninety nine. Michael and Graham you lock eyes in a music store, Bill, and.
Oh yeah, Michael and Bill, you lack guys.
Well, ninety nine was a great year for rock. Oh yeah, I think. So what was happening Woodstock ninety nine?
Yeah?
It No, it was more like two thousand and two, I think.
Okay, So here it is.
Y'all are Newberry, South Carolina, population ten thousand, not a whole lot going on musically, and here y'all find the one little music store and you see Bill across a crowded room, and what are your thoughts?
Well, he was the only kid that was into music in town that played guitar that I had seen. So it's kind of like a unicorn in the wild.
You're like you yeah, I mean, it's like I tried forever to get all of my friends to like learn to play other instruments.
Like you tried forever, but you were teaming.
It's like I got my first guitar when I was in the seventh grade and started playing, and I was like immediately like, oh, we have.
To start a band.
And when we were in seventh grade, yeah.
I was like, that's what you have to do.
You know.
It's like you can't play these instruments alone. That's boring.
Yeah, you know, so we uh I remember, I mean I had a group of friends and i'd you know, be like, well, you could start on the bongos. Since when I had drums, I'll play acoustic guitar and bongos. And I was always trying to like scheme up how to like, you know, make a band happen, and uh, nobody would commit and uh except that's when I met Michael and I was like, oh, wow, another guy in this town that wants to be a Mandy.
Well.
Yeah, commitment is commitment, and so that what's funny about that is I was on the way on the other side of town.
I was trying to do the exact same thing.
You were putting ads in the paper. You had like thirty year old women auditioning to be your singer.
Man.
Yeah, I mean we I was trying to get anybody and everybody to play with and put you know, flyers up in school and audition people at my house and like I had the same problem.
Would build, people would jump in and then they'd quit.
But y'all are like in seventh grade and they're like thirty year olds auditioning, right, Yeah for me, like holding auditions yeah hell yeah.
Well I knew what.
Yeah, you know, I had a vision for it, yeah, you know. And and Bill was the first person I met that was like, well I'll do it. And I was like, well, let's do it. And that's how we started playing music together.
So we are So what age is that?
I mean I was eleven or twelve? What's twelve years old?
I like twelve, maybe thirteen.
Yeah.
I was in seventh grade. Bill was in six Yeah, but no, but really it was like eighth ninth like high school. It was more like high school because yeah, we just knew each other. We just I mean, what we're saying is is we in middle school.
We both started playing music, but we hadn't met yet, and it was like, you know, his freshman year of high school was when we met actually, because he's a year ahead of me. Yeah, and so and then it was like pretty immediately we started like trying to put a band together. And we did have musicians that were like thirty years old at the time playing with us crack eat it out, and so you know, we would we rehearsed all the time after school every single.
Day, were all writing around music.
Yeah.
Was it good?
I mean, actually was pretty good.
I mean I started people was writing songs and I thought they were pretty good.
Yeah, good, and the album made right well.
I recorded some songs yeah, when I was like fourteen or fourteen fifteen, which I had.
That CD and listened to it.
I was like yeah, and then here comes Graham. So Graham is Bill's cousin. Yep, yeah, and Graham's like, oh man, get me in on the action.
Yeah.
So I'm from Savannah, Georgia, a couple hours away from where these guys are. And uh, but Bill and I, you know, we're seeing each other at Thanksgiving, We're seeing each other at Christmas, you know, a couple times a year, and we're checking in with each other because he's learning guitar, I'm learning guitar. We're like, you know, what's been going on?
And he's like, I've got this band going. And so I start coming up to Newberry basically is like you know, free summer camp, go stay with un Glad Nan, Nancy and cousin Bill and hang out. And so I met Michael when I was like fourteen or so thirteen or something like that. Yeah, I could drive, okay, and I could not. Yeah, and yeah, And I was like, oh, like this is a thing.
And I think we all kind of knew it.
Well.
Graham looked the part.
You still. I mean, Graham, you've peeled this different.
I mean, it's all about consistency.
People.
You need to you know, you find your thing, you know, I just happened to find it young.
Okay, you find your thing to stick with it because it it's hard to find the look. But I just think it's kind of amazing that here we are now twenty plus years later and y'all are still a band, and y'all have lived one million lifetimes together.
Like we said, y'all been at the top of the rocket ship.
You've crashed and burned, you've built back up, You've had literally like fantasies come true of rock and roll fantasies. It's like you your childhood dreams have come true, and y'all stayed together for all this time.
People just don't stick it out like this. How do you stay? How have y'all stayed together for twenty years? Ty plus?
That's a great question. Yeah, it is a great question.
How have y'all not want to be like, I'm out, this is exhausting, I need off the ride?
Well, have you ever had those feelings?
Well, I think everybody's had those feelings this morning, every day.
Actually, why am I doing this?
Well?
The truth is is that it's been mostly fun. Really, you know, it's been mostly fun and great and you know the heartbreak what's up? Even the heartbreak?
Well well yeah, but I mean that's just part of life. I mean, it happens.
You're gonna, I think you're gonna go through ups and downs in anything you do. And you know, all work is hard and everything that you dedicate yourself to is gonna be hard. So if you're enjoying what you you know, chose, you know, then great, because you know, we you could be suffering in a job that you totally hate, you know, so at the end of the day, I mean, it's like I tell it's like I'm grateful that you know that young, we knew what we wanted to do with
our lives, right, you know. And and of course it's hard and crazy and that's what everybody said. And it's been like good and bad and whatever, but so is anything, so you know, and it's like, I don't know. We've had kind of an interesting path as a band because we moved here as kids into Nashville, and because the goal was like I don't want to go to college. I just got out of my small town, you know. Our goal then was just like to break away from like,
you know, living in our parents' houses. We just like wanted freedom and like to just rebel and run. And I was like, I'll just get a job waiting table. I just want to pay rent and be someone where there's music and just go nuts. I can't fathom like sitting back down in a classroom and going to college and falling in line and doing the whole thing again. And so that was goal one, was just to get out and get free, you know.
Get out and get free.
Yeah, and it's fast. Oh and we did it.
You know there we are for something, and it was like there's been all these little things along the way that do you know, Like every time I've been like, well, maybe a sem to quit, it's like God pulls us back in and it's like, Okay, that's what I guess. This is what we're supposed to be doing, you know, because we got our first record deal at.
Twenty Okay, let's kind of talk about the first record deal though, because this was exciting.
We had just started dating.
Oh yeah, you were.
Twenty one, twenty one and I was twenty four. I remember this like yesterday.
I was like, oh my god, this is straight out of almost famous. Oh absolutely, because y'all had like gotten hooked up with like.
It's a great term for it here. Yeah, Yeah, y'all.
Had gotten hooked up with like all these these like heads of record labels in LA, Like Desmond.
Child led y'all to Ryan House, that led.
Y'all to freaking Jeff Jeff saws Now and then all of a sudden, you're showcasing for Jimmy Iveen at the Rainbow Room.
No, the tom Time, Santa Monica, and like.
It's like a tiny little club and it's like all these heads of the labels and Jimmy i V like the legendary Jimmy Ivian's in there and he's like giving you all the nod, like yeah, we'll sign him. And then it's like, y'all had this record deal at twenty. It's like, oh my god, it's happening. Like it's happening. What are they saying? Almost famous?
I guess it's all happening.
Like it's all happening.
That was very wild, and then we were before we knew it, you know, and our guy was like, can you guys be on a plane on Friday to LA
And I was like, what head spinning. We move into a hotel on the Sunset Strip and I'm like this is kind of like you know, yeah, yeah, the hotel where it was the Grafton, the Grafton, but it was like across the street from the Riot House, which is like a famous rock and roll hotel in Hollywood where Zeppelin stayed, and like that, we were right there in the in the thick of what we read about and loved growing up.
N Oh yeah, without a doubt.
Yeah, it was like rock and roll fantasy camp, and you know, it's a very romantic time y'all lived.
Out there for like a month, right making your album with Dave Cobb before Dave Cobb was Dave Cobb.
Yeah, we met Dave.
Dave was there the night in town when we got signed to Interscope by by jeff'saz now we did. We met Jeff through Brian House in Desmond Child and Jeff we went to his hotel room at the Hermitage Hotel and it was still probably like top like most awkward showcases you could ever.
Do a bathroom Well.
Yeah, no, no, no, he wasn't in a bathroom.
He was like a tiny bathroom.
We carry our guitars upstairs and we walk into a hotel room and Jeff's like, we'll help yourself to the mini bar, and we're all nervous. But all there was there I remember, all there was was like scotch, which none of I forgot about that I took a little scotch.
But Jeff was like okay, and he just sits in the middle of his king sized bed and he just says, play me some songs, and we're like okay, and we play a few songs acoustic and he goes, well, can you play for me electric tomorrow night at si R rehearsal here and we're like, well, hell yeah, we can.
We do whatever you want.
He said, okay, great, I'll send you the details and we go into si R. The next night, he shows up with Dave Cobb and we play one song and he walks straight up to the front of the stage and says, congratulations, you're on Interscope Records.
Did y'all die? I mean, this is really what you had dreamed of?
Yeah, I mean literally I think my face is could you now?
And said, what is it like though that moment?
Because like I like to, I like to like zero in on little moments, you know, It's like, what is it like in that moment, not what happens after, because what happens after is a whole confetti of you know, experiences, but like the moment that your dream is like happening, you know. He walks up and says, congratulations, you are signed to Interscope Records.
And getting a record deal was like the holy grail back then me. Things changed.
So that was two thousand and nine.
I think what.
Goes through your brains at twenty one years old, twenty years old, nineteen years old.
I'll tell you what went through our brains that night, A bunch of but no, it was it was like it felt magical.
It did.
It was everybody.
It was like it was like something out of a movie. It really was.
It was like and we were like, I remember, it's like he said that, and it was like.
You know, we were like what, yeah, everything quiet, emotion second and then he said keep playing please, and we probably played ten songs.
I don't know. I blacked out after that.
It was like, never mind a few more songs an actually, yeah, I retract.
That was this week's Sunday Sampler.
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