Red Road Trip & Pillars Announcement
Jason Ziolo
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to season two, episode 12 of Rock Fan Radio. Yes, season two, episode 12, we got Reed in the room, we got Travis in the room, we got Parker in the room. We have some new faces. We've got Matt in the room, which you've actually been on briefly before, but you're actually hosting tonight. And we have Alex in the room, who's going to be hosting with us too. Going to be awesome. I think it's really awkward that Alex looks like he's on his knees next to Parker, but that's okay.
Matt
Hell yeah.
Parker
There
Matt
We've already established that's where
Parker
we go.
Matt
he is ninety five percent of the time though, when they're in the room.
Jason Ziolo
Poor Alex already getting picked up. So guys, we've got a ton to talk about today. A lot to talk, like so much to talk about. The last two weeks, most of us went and saw Red. Some of us multiple times. So we're going to dive real deep into Red today. But there's been some really cool new releases. Reid and I, we went and saw Thornhill, which was fricking badass.
Parker
picture.
Yes, sir.
Jason Ziolo
Some of you guys are shipping out this weekend to go see Red again, which is going to be cool. So let's get into it.
Reed
You know,
for a guy who has never showed up to the podcast, we've been devoting a lot of fucking time to him.
Matt
You know, that's so true.
Jason Ziolo
You know, so for those of who might not know the whole backstory on
AJ, we started the second season of the podcast and invited AJ in as a host, AJ Reingarts. And literally the first podcast he showed up to, he gets a phone call from the red guys and ditches us after 10 minutes and goes and talks to them. And we haven't seen him since because he's been on the road. So I agree, screw that guy.
Reed
Yeah, clearly we're bigger than red.
Jason Ziolo
Not so much, but...
Matt
What the hell, AJ?
What what are you doing?
Reed
Come on, man.
Parker
No.
⁓
Jason Ziolo
I even talked to him this morning. like, you coming on the podcast? And he's like, I might've had a little too much fun last night and I plan to be sleeping all day long. So good for him. He's enjoying the road.
Reed
Wait though, isn't he
in Dallas of this recording and not singing tonight?
Jason Ziolo
No, that's Friday night, I think.
Matt
As of as of right now ⁓ Man, he's got an off day today. He could have been
Reed
Okay. no, yeah, you're right.
Travis
Yeah. Yeah. So Friday is the reunion
show, right? They're supposed to bring back the original singer and they're going to do the whole thing. And if I recall, they're going to stream that live online, you can, which is cool.
Reed
Mm-hmm.
Matt
Yeah.
Correct.
Live on V
Reed
So do,
and do they put AJ in like a chair in the corner and just make him watch?
Jason Ziolo
Yeah.
Matt
Like a They
Parker
Ha
ha ha ha ha ha!
Matt
put him in the cock chair, the red
Reed
Yeah, right?
Travis
The
capture!
Parker
Jason's big idea was to ⁓ have us all go to Dallas and heckle him, so...
Travis
Wow.
Matt
And Heckle Michael
Jason Ziolo
and
heckle Michael Barnes, the original singer, but that wouldn't be very nice because they were really nice to us on the road and we didn't want to be those jerks, but it would be fun.
Matt
Barnes? I don't know about that.
Parker
Yeah.
Reed
No,
Michael Barnes is awesome. We're not gonna heckle poor Michael Barnes.
Parker
I don't know, he may have had three or four beers at that point. know, I may have been agreeing with him, I don't know.
Jason Ziolo
Hahaha
Kids, what kind of new releases do we see going on out there these days? What are you listening to?
Travis
That's a lot of stuff.
Jason Ziolo
Travis, I know you've
got stuff. Wow, you all looked at me like, I don't know. What's rock and roll music?
Matt
Well
Travis
No, super, super lively group.
Yeah. So, ⁓ yeah, dude, let's talk about a violet girl, man. so for those who don't know Dave, girl's daughter, violet girl, she released her debut album. and I gotta be honest, man, it is not at all what I expected it to be. it's called be sweet to me. it's very short. It's only 11 songs. It's just over a half hour, but it is pretty damn great.
Jason Ziolo
Really? I thought you were gonna say it was pop music garbage.
Travis
Her.
No, dude.
Reed
I was expecting
some Nepo Baby comments or something.
Travis
You know what? So I, I, that was what I was expecting. I was like, okay. And her dad's a huge rock star. He's famous and you know, but no, man, that girl's got talent. you know, I read, ⁓ some interview about the influences, ⁓ you know, she grew up obviously on 90s music because of her dad. And so like, you can hear, you know, the, Julianna Hatfield and PJ Harvey and the breeders and all of these great bands, ⁓ and artists from the,
Jason Ziolo
yeah.
Travis
The food fighters influence is very, very obvious in the first track, but honestly, after that, it's kind of all over the place. hear some pumpkins. I hear some death tones influence. You know, it's very ambient in some of the songs. it really is a good mixture of different stuff and I really enjoyed it. ⁓ I think it's a journey and fun fact, Taylor Hawkins, his son, Oliver Shane Hawkins, he goes by Shane. he actually plays drums on the very last track.
Jason Ziolo
It's.
I saw him on the Foo Fighters thing.
He's an amazing drummer.
Travis
He is amazing. So yeah. So Violet and Shane doing something on the very last track of the album. That's really cool. So yeah, for a debut, man, I thought it was great. I think she's really got, you know, an opportunity. You know, I kind of thought about Wolfgang and mammoth, know, everybody just wanted him to play eruption for two hours every time. He was just like, come on guys. He wants to do his own thing. I get the impression that violence very much like that. Like, okay. Yeah. My dad's the lead singer of Foo Fighters. Yeah. He's famous.
Matt
Change the last.
I just about to make that connection.
Travis
But yeah, I kind of do my own thing and I really do think she kind of set the bar. It's good. It's worth checking out.
Reed
So
that's an interesting question. Do you consider Dave Grohl to be the lead singer of Foo Fighters or the drummer from Nirvana?
Travis
You know, he's been in Foo Fighters long enough to now. I think he's been you. Yeah. Okay. You know, it's funny that you say that because When I heard Foo Fighters first album, I was like, yeah, it's okay. But when I heard color in the shape I was like, damn I was like how why was this guy the drummer in Nirvana to begin with? Because I thought I thought he was a better guitar player than Cobain. I thought he was a better singer than Cobain I thought he was a better songwriter than Cobain ⁓ and honestly
Matt
He's the drummer from Nirvana?
Jason Ziolo
Wait a second, he's a nirvana?
Matt
What?
Parker
You
Jason Ziolo
Wow, you went zero
Travis
And I love Nirvana.
Jason Ziolo
for three on that one. Well done, Travis.
Matt
Three
for three.
Travis
I really do. But I think Grohl is a much more mature song right now. I think Pat Smear had a lot to do with that. I think Foo Fighters had been really good at using the two guitar dynamic. And obviously Nirvana didn't have that. It was all Kurt. But yeah, Color in the Shape is one of my all time favorite albums. It's a fucking masterpiece. ⁓ it's so good.
Reed
Hapsmere.
Jason Ziolo
Top 10 for me, easy. And I'm a Food Fighters hater to
some degree.
Travis
But man, they've just written bangers after bangers, you know, their last record's great, but yeah, definitely check out Violet's album. It's a good start.
Reed
Good
Jason Ziolo
Speaking
Reed
to know.
Jason Ziolo
of Nepo babies, have you heard the new Tom Morello song that has Serge Tankian from System in it and Roman, his 15 year old son playing guitar. His son threw down the guitar riff and they recorded a song on top of it.
Reed
Roman.
Roman's awesome.
Travis
So
I heard about it, yeah, but I haven't had a chance to check it out.
Jason Ziolo
Did you guys, anyone hear it?
Matt
I have not heard it. I've heard about it. I have not heard it.
Parker
No, I haven't listened to it yet.
Jason Ziolo
There it
is. I was kind of underwhelmed. I was kind of disappointed. You know what it is? I mean, it's okay, but Surge does the Surge thing. like, it sounds like Tom Morello playing guitar, a riffy kind of Tom Morello riff. And then Tom Morello has way too many vocals on this track. And when he sings, he doesn't sing, he just kind of talks, right?
Parker
It's right there.
Reed
Yeah, don't
like his vocals.
Matt
Does he do like the rage against the machine thing where he just kinda speak talks his lyrics? Like he doesn't really sing it.
Jason Ziolo
Well, do you ever
listen to the Night Watchman? was like his first solo record. It was him and an acoustic guitar. Travis, not a fan.
Reed
Yeah, no.
Matt
Not a Travis is
Travis
Not a fan. I
Reed
Me neither.
Travis
saw him as the Night Watchman. He opened it for Incubus years ago and yeah, it was not good. Not a fan.
Jason Ziolo
Really.
Reed
feel like we're burying the lead here a little bit though guys. I we have one of the biggest tools of all time release a new song, surprise song lately and we should have led with that I feel like. You guys are all dicks.
Parker
There's the drop.
Travis
Tell us how you really feel.
Jason Ziolo
I see what she did
there, Reed. I see what she did there.
Matt
Yeah, it is.
Reed
Our boy MJK and Perfect Circle released a new song, surprise song, week called Starless. Did you guys hear this track yet?
Jason Ziolo
sounded like every other Perfect Circle song I've ever heard.
Parker
after this.
Reed
see, I actually kind of dug it. And here's the thing, guys. How many podcasts has it been? We have not talked about Josh Freeze. So we get to talk about Josh Freeze again, because he was the drummer on the new song from A Perfect Circle. So you guys can all dick out to the new Tool Song. Perfect Circle.
Jason Ziolo
I like it.
Don't be a dick, stop saying
Parker
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
dick so much.
Parker
I mean, I mean, our goal was to talk about him every podcast, right? So there we go.
Matt
Stop dropping mix.
Reed
100%.
Yep, nailed it. Anyways, it's playing right now. Check it out. I actually kind of dug it, to be honest with you, like a perfect circle is either, I really like it or ooh, I really hate it. And there's no gray area for me. So I kind of dug the new song.
Jason Ziolo
I disagree. I think
it's all gray area for me. It's like I don't turn off the radio, but I'm not going to that CD when I'm sitting around by myself. To be fair, I don't go at any CDs anymore, but I don't put it on Spotify either.
Reed
Not 100 % not.
Travis
⁓
man.
⁓ those first two records are great. I did not like the last album, but I think it's been like eight years since they've done anything. I, I had no idea they were recording and then boom, this track came out of nowhere. And I was like, wow. That was, you know, very unexpected. Billy Howard L the guitar player who writes a lot of the songs, know, he kind of went and did his own thing for awhile. He released a couple of records. I don't think they really did all that. The last album that I remember very eighties influenced and
I wasn't really digging it. but, ⁓ the new track was definitely, it felt very much like APC classic APC. So.
Reed
Hot mess.
Thank you, Travis.
Jason Ziolo
What's the deal with a perfect circle? is it, I always thought it was the guitar player's band who invited MJ, whatever we're calling him, MJK, or invited MGK to come sing, but it wasn't his band, it was the guitar player's band. Is that really true? Does anyone know the background there?
Reed
And JK, yeah.
Parker
I always thought it was Maynard's band.
Travis
I believe it actually was Billy's band. Yeah. Because he, is the main songwriter.
Parker
It wasn't? Okay.
Reed
And he just was looking for a tool to record with.
Travis
I, you know, I don't remember the whole story of how that happened. Uh, but you know, he obviously must've had some serious connections to be able to, you know, pull Maynard away from tool to, know, Hey, yeah, I'll leave my super popular sign band and go do this other one.
Reed
We really pulled it.
Jason Ziolo
Yeah, and then they announced just announced a ⁓ tour, right? A Perfect Circle is going out with Pussifer because Tool fans only listen to three bands. And so if you book one of them, you got to book the other one of the other ones too, right?
Parker
That's really easy for travel because they'll have the same singer.
Jason Ziolo
Thanks for that Parker.
Reed
By the way, there's no way that MJK is not getting double dipped for
Parker
100 %! 100 %!
Reed
lead singing in both of those. yeah. Yeah. It actually is costing the tour company more money to put MJK up as a lead singer in two bands than it would be to bring out anybody else.
Matt
yeah.
Parker
and they and every video is required to sell his wine to i heard
Reed
⁓
Can I get a Coors Light? No!
Parker
No, we only carry MJK wine in this establishment.
Matt
Only the one.
Travis
So
Jason Ziolo
the
chip.
Travis
real quick, according to Wikipedia, Howardell met Maynard in 92 when Tool was opening up for Fishbone of all bands and they became friends. Three years later, Keenan offered Howardell, who was looking for lodging, a room in his North Hollywood home. And Howardell played some demos and Keenan was like, hey, I can kind of hear myself singing this and boom, that's how APC was born.
Reed
The rest is history.
Travis
But it was initially
Howard L's idea, so.
Jason Ziolo
Great place, right time.
Parker
And another band that's related to MJK just announced a surprise headliner, yeah? At Riot Fest?
Reed
Amen.
Jason Ziolo
Hell yeah, my favorite festival of the summer, Riot Fest. It's a weird line-up. It's a weird addition. Tool at Riot Fest seems weird, but I we've had Slayer at Riot Fest. We've had Slipknot at Riot Fest. We've had Anthrax at Riot Fest. So I guess it works. But you see him at the top. It's Tool, 21 Pilots, Pierce the Veil, and then Alanis Morisette. Very all over the place lineup. It's pretty cool.
Parker
So.
Yeah.
Matt
It's four
unique days right there, is what that is. Definitely gonna be four. ⁓ really?
Jason Ziolo
Yeah.
Reed
for a three day festival.
Yeah,
I know, right?
Jason Ziolo
They'll book Tool against them, one of these pop your bands. I bet Tool goes against 21 Pilots at the same time. We'll see.
Matt
Yeah, it's
Reed
That would suck,
Travis
That
Matt
not.
Reed
because I want to see both of them.
Travis
feels like one of those.
Jason Ziolo
Really? I don't know anything about 21 pilots. Isn't that like alternate, like softer alternative stuff? Is it?
Parker
Boo!
Reed
It's fun though.
Matt
Yeah, they're
Travis
Yeah,
Matt
ma
Travis
I-
Matt
and they're massive too, dude. They're they're famous is ridiculous.
Parker
They are.
Travis
They are.
Parker
They are.
Travis
I would call them modern rock. ⁓ Yeah, they've definitely got to, you know, it's just two guys, but yeah, they've actually got some great songs. They're, they're talented. I like, they've got some great videos too. ⁓ Their videos are pretty.
Matt
Jason it's Jason's favorite
it's Jason's favorite thing. Two guys in tracks.
Jason Ziolo
No. ⁓ we'll get into that, don't you worry.
Parker
Ohhhh
Reed
And then guys,
the biggest new release since this will be coming out after the fact, might as well just cover it. Taylor Swift's got a brand new song coming out guys. It's a part of the Toy Story 5 release, TS5TS, get it, Taylor Swift? I knew it, I knew you was the name of the track. We'll be doing a full review of that on the next podcast.
Parker
Dude.
Travis
⁓
Parker
You're getting random thought of the week with that drop. You're 100 % random thought of the week for Reed right there.
Jason Ziolo
We will not be doing that.
Matt
That's dad of the week for Reed right
there. That's a hundred percent what that is.
Parker
100%.
Reed
Taylor Swift.
Matt
Okay. Anyway.
Jason Ziolo
Back to Riot Fest real quick. You know how you
said MJK would sell his wine? Well, Morrissey is playing Riot Fest again, OK? One of my least favorite people in rock and roll. Last time I saw Morrissey play Riot Fest, and I guess he does this everywhere, he makes all the vendors stop selling meat during his set.
Reed
Don't book him then. Does he have that big of a following?
Jason Ziolo
And Morrissey is known for not showing
Parker
Two.
Jason Ziolo
up most, like very often, I won't say most shows, but too often. So it's like, is he gonna show? And then he's got all this stupid crap. And I remember people throwing like beef sandwiches on stage while he was playing to piss him off, so.
Parker
Good!
Travis
Thanks
Matt
I was gonna say, you know,
Reed
awesome.
Some bratwurst? That'd be amazing.
Matt
you know we
Jason Ziolo
Yeah.
Travis
Man,
bring back the Smiths. You know, the Smiths were great. But yeah, I've never been a Morrissey guy.
Parker
Ha
Jason Ziolo
I'm scarred by the Smithson Morrissey. My high school girlfriend had a literally 10 by 10 poster of Morrissey on her wall and it was all she used to talk about. So fuck that part of my life altogether. It's a cult.
Reed
So.
Travis
⁓ so you got PTSD.
Reed
So it's a cult.
So Taylor Swift reunited with Jack Antonoff for this song.
Jason Ziolo
We're not three!
Parker
Dude.
Reed
No, no, no, no. If you guys keep talking about Machine Gun Kelly over and over again, I'm bringing Taylor into this. She's at least got talents.
Parker
⁓
Matt
⁓
Parker
You want to talk about Machine Gun Kelly, huh?
Reed
No.
Travis
No one
brought him up until you did, Reed.
Jason Ziolo
⁓ tell us is the feud
still going Parker or is him young blood still going at it?
Parker
⁓
there is a little bit, ⁓ it's, not much. Youngblood, Youngblood refuses to get involved, which actually is probably a good idea and good on him. But his team is starting to get involved there. You know, they're getting the interviews with TMZ and all those, you know, hot shot media people. And, and they, he kinda, they kinda were like, you know, Youngblood's just focused on his sold out shows right now.
Matt
He doesn't need it.
Parker
you know, kind of as a shot back to MGK. But MGK has kind of been quiet for the last week. So maybe, maybe we're seeing into this, but dude, I'm fully, fully, fully, fully convinced that MGK, keep almost saying MJK. This is too much. But MGK is fully doing this just to stir media, to get more likes and views and all that stuff. 100%.
Jason Ziolo
Hahaha
Reed
all he does. That's his entire
Matt
it does.
Reed
stick. Jesus Parker, can we please get can we please get heavy?
Parker
100%.
Travis
Rage bait.
Parker
well first I want to talk about Ozzy. I want to talk about Ozzy and cause Ozzy is alive still. I don't know if you guys heard this Ozzy. He's back alive. They did not. He is now a full fledged AI that you can actually talk to and he will apparently perform music and things like that. I'm not exactly sure. Have you guys like seen any of this or whatnot?
Matt
Really?
Reed
Yeah, in pod form.
Jason Ziolo
He's back
alive, we reincarnated him. They didn't even wait till Easter.
Matt
Be reincarnate.
Jason Ziolo
I saw it, I wanna hate it, but it's kind of fun.
Parker
It is, right? It's kind of cool. It's kind of fun. His son, I think, came out and said, like, it's all closed and whatnot. So it's not like you can go on there and ask him chat GPT questions. That would be funny. ask him how to do your taxes or whatnot. whatever. I think that it's.
Jason Ziolo
I want them to write JavaScript for me. Would that be cool?
Parker
They're trying to do it in a way. Well, a lot of people think they're doing it as a money grab, right? Or some kind of thing like that. It feels, it feels that way a little bit, but also like, you know, like if, if you have the, if you have the technology, like, you know, some of these guys that are, are pat have passed, haven't they tried to do like, holograms and things like that of them on stage and stuff like that, just to have the legend live on type thing.
Reed
Chester.
Don't you remember the huge blowback with Chester Bennington after he died? They were going to bring him out as a holocaust, a hologram.
Parker
Right. Right.
Jason Ziolo
Big difference, dude.
Travis
That's a Freudian slip if I've ever heard one.
Reed
That needs to be cut, as I...
Matt
Yeah.
Hologram.
Jason Ziolo
as a hologram.
Reed
Did they try
Travis
You want to try that again?
Reed
to bring
back Chester Bennington as a hologram performer? And there was huge blowback on it.
Parker
Yes, yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Instead, we got Emily, which I'm OK with because she rules. That's an unpopular opinion.
Reed
Meh.
Parker
my god.
Jason Ziolo
I got, did you hear Parker? You're the heavy guy, but I know you have a soft spot for pop punk, right?
Parker
I
do have a soft spot for that.
Jason Ziolo
And did you
hear what Weezer just announced? They're not really pop punk, but I know you have a soft spot for Weezer too.
Parker
I haven't,
but I saw you said there was something, I'm excited to hear.
Jason Ziolo
Well, they released two new songs recently. The new one that just came out, think it was today or yesterday, is called We Might As Well Be Strangers. It's got some artist's name Wednesday in it. I've never heard of this artist Wednesday. ⁓
Parker
Sounds familiar,
but I don't know if I have either.
Jason Ziolo
It's pretty forgettable. wasn't that into it. The one they released a couple of weeks ago, which we tried to talk about on the cast and ran out of time, is much better. And it's called Shine. But I think what the coolest part is, they're going back to the colors for their albums. And so this is the gold album. But it doesn't look like they're putting themselves on the cover like usual. It's got like symbols and stuff on the cover. But they're calling it the gold album.
Parker
Okay. Okay.
okay i was
Reed
Huge progression from Weezer.
Travis
So we
Jason Ziolo
If you're
really stepping in the right...
Travis
got blue, we got green, we got red, we got white. I think we got the Teal album. Now we got the Gold album. So we're just going across the whole spectrum.
Jason Ziolo
There's a black one. There's a black one.
Reed
I can't keep up.
Matt
Now we got gold.
Reed
Wow.
Matt
Hey.
Reed
Rivers, mean, God.
Jason Ziolo
And they've got that one, and they've
got the Hurley album with the Hurley guy from Lost on the cover, which I've never even listened to that album.
Parker
I was really excited for their last single that we never talked about, but I was trying to talk about it because I thought it'd be funny for all these guys. You know, I'm wearing an era shirt. I'm the heavy guy, but like, love Weezer, dude. I absolutely just love Weezer. I've always loved Weezer. I don't know what it is about Weezer, but that last song that came out after their whole like Four Seasons thing was, felt like Weezer home.
And I was so excited for it. So if they keep dropping stuff like that and kind of go more pop punk again and less kind of experimental, I'm going to be all in on that stuff.
Jason Ziolo
It's really weird to me. were, I remember back in like the 90s and the early 2000s, we have a friend, Reed and I, we talked about We Are Last podcast, huge Weezer fan. And he used to be like, I don't go to Weezer shows. They're absolutely awful live. They had this reputation for being absolutely terrible. And then one day Rivers decided he was going to have stage presence. And now there are a ton of fun to see live in filling stadiums and bigger than ever.
Reed
Yep.
Yep.
Parker
Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. When we saw them a couple of years ago, I mean, they played all the bangers. They played that cover of that Metallica song, Inter Sandman. Threw down on that. I mean, it was a good time. It was fun.
Jason Ziolo
It was fun. It's weird to see these like older bands that never really got anywhere that are coming out of nowhere again. Like I'll say Limp Bizkit, but they were a big deal then, but then they disappeared. They're coming back. Creed's coming back. But specifically, I'm thinking of Evanescence. Evanescence was like this one hit wonder band that nobody cared about. Back in the day when they first came out, Reed's looking at me funny.
Travis
Okay,
all right, yeah, hold on. All right, so if you guys know who Rick Beato is, I follow his channel for a while. He actually did a video not too long ago about the top 10 best-selling artists of the 21st century, and Evanescence's debut album was in the top 10. They sold over 16 million copies of that first album. They have been massive.
Jason Ziolo
You have answers, Travis. I like it.
No way.
Reed
And they have had staying power. She's... Yeah.
Matt
That first album
That debut Evan Essence alb
Reed
She's toward...
Matt
is phenomenal. It is banger after banger from top to bottom of that album. I guarantee you, I guarantee you you'll know eighty percent of that album without even thinking you know eighty percent of that album. It's phenomenal. It's still great.
Jason Ziolo
they were always like the opening band.
Travis
And keep in mind. ⁓ yeah.
Reed
I still love that album adjacent are so raw. is this
is like the podcast a couple of weeks ago where you said that motionless and white has been like touring like you were wrong about that you're
Jason Ziolo
I know.
Travis
Ha
Matt
All right. Who's gonna talk shit about my voice today? Who is it?
Jason Ziolo
Is Evanescence really had that kind of staying power? They were always the opening
band at a festival or an opening band somewhere. I feel like I saw them open for Muse a couple of years ago and they've just gotten so much bigger ever since then.
Reed
So?
I mean, opening for Muse isn't a bad gig.
Jason Ziolo
No,
but they're an operative.
Travis
I mean, I saw them when they were headlining that granted it was a small club back in the day. But I mean, here's the thing too. When they got signed, they were on a little, and now it's still around to this day. Windup records was the label. Windup still exists today. But back then, Windup had Creed and Evanescence on their label. And they were considered an independent label at the time. And they were, you know, had these monster artists selling just massive amounts of records.
Jason Ziolo
I got drugs.
Travis
And I'll tell you what man. I don't know if you guys have heard who will you follow? It's a it's a new evidence instructor. It's fucking awesome She is I mean they are prime they are back. They sound just like they did in the early 2000s I love it man like
Reed
And here's the thing, man.
Matt
They haven't
They haven't missed the up.
Reed
It's not they, it's Amy. She's recycled multiple people through that band. The bassist is now the old bassist from Sick Puppies, which is awesome because she slayed in Sick Puppies. ⁓ Yeah, yeah. I mean.
Jason Ziolo
It's Amy. Yeah.
Travis
That's it. Yep, we yes.
Parker
Is that? So that's cool. That's awesome. I like to puppies.
Travis
Great man.
Jason Ziolo
When they opened
for Muse, the backing band was Dark New Day from the 2000s. A cool hard rock band that had a couple radio songs and then disappeared.
Reed
Love them.
Travis
⁓
Clint Lowry's side project from Seven Dust.
Jason Ziolo
Is that really? I didn't know that. I got my southern-dutch shirt on even and I didn't know that. I'm a poser, man.
Travis
Yeah. Dark New Day. Yeah. Dark New Day's debut
Reed
You're great!
Travis
is awesome. Yeah, that was great then.
Reed
Yes. Yeah.
Matt
Yeah, but I saw Evanes I saw Evanescence a few years ago opening for corn at the amphitheater and Amy Lee live, she has not missed a beat, and she still sounds great. She's unbelievable.
Travis
Man, I forgot all about those guys.
Jason Ziolo
yeah, she's really talented.
Reed
She is a
powerhouse and she is a badass.
Matt
plug they'll actually Evanescence July eighth will be here in Chicago with Spirit Box at the amphitheater, and that's gonna
Travis
100%.
Reed
And,
Parker
Yes.
Jason Ziolo
and and and
Reed
and, and.
Matt
I forg
I forget the end. I don't what's the end? ⁓ that's right. The no yes, you're
Reed
Nova Twins! Dude, if you don't see Nova...
Jason Ziolo
We know which way.
Reed
If you
don't see Nova Twins, you are absolutely missing out on just awesomeness. Savannah, Savannah? Savannah. Wait, what's the bassist name? Georgia. Georgia South is like on my list of top bass players in the country right now. She's, she's slaves. You guys, if you're going to see that show, cause I will be there.
Jason Ziolo
fun.
Matt
Really?
Reed
just to see Nova Twins and Spirit Box, because it's on a Wednesday. And sorry, Amy, I know you're a huge fan of the podcast, but I'm probably not going to stick around for the entire show. But I've seen Evanescence three or four times. But you've got to see Nova Twins. You've got to make it out early for that show just to watch Georgia South slay your face off.
Jason Ziolo
Yeah, she's pretty cool. I saw Evanescence on their first tour. They didn't have enough songs to play a whole show. So they played zero by Smashing Pumpkins, and they closed with it. It was the coolest part of the show. It was awesome. Yeah.
Reed
That's cool. That's awesome.
Parker
So have you guys heard some of these bands are re-recording albums and remastering stuff again? There's a hundred of them. Dude, there's a hundred of them now. It's like My Chemical Romance just released some. Meshuggah is releasing some.
Jason Ziolo
UGH I hate it. I hate it.
Reed
awful.
Is that just
because, like, you have to have a certain amount of albums through your label? Is that still a thing? Like, remember when bands used to release at greatest hits because I had to meet a quota?
Parker
I mean, yes, that is a thing sometimes, but then you get the greatest hits and all that stuff, right? But I don't really know if that's really a thing anymore. I just think they're trying to do the social media thing more than anything. It's like, look, we remastered our song. mean, Upon a Burning Body just remastered their 2025 album literally a year ago. And they did add a couple bonus songs, which was really cool that they added a couple of bonus.
Reed
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Well, that's different than re-recording it.
I'm all for a remaster. That's easy. It's when they re-imagine that it sets me off.
Parker
Okay.
Yeah, fair enough.
Reed
So
all the Taylor Swift versions.
Parker
Like the remake.
Matt
D.
We just can't get enough today.
Jason Ziolo
Taylor Swift didn't re-
Parker
You cannot.
Jason Ziolo
But she tried to be note for note, didn't she? She didn't re- like recreate it. She tried to just redo it to get it. Because the story right is Taylor Swift, the record label owned her music. So she went and re-recorded it all and gave him the middle finger.
Reed
We don't have to have.
Yeah, she didn't own any of her masters, so she re-recorded every single track and then ended up buying her masters. So that was kind of a fruitful.
Parker
Yeah, I-
I-
Matt
Reflex.
Parker
yeah, well
I mean I heard George Soros or someone bought her stuff, right? And then she wanted to get out of it? I don't know! I'm just- dude! I read- I read like a crazy post one time that George Soros was behind all of it.
Reed
No, not George Soros.
Travis
George.
Reed
No, it was that one guy. I'm looking up. Scooter Braun, thank you. Yeah. I don't think George Soros cares too much about Taylor Swift's music.
Travis
Scooter Braun.
Parker
Yeah, I'm just joking around.
Well...
Travis
who I believe
is Sydney Sweeney's boyfriend now, so you know what? Good for him. No. Scooter run.
Parker
Well...
Reed
George Soros? Whoa!
Parker
No!
Jesus Christ!
Reed
Like, wow, she's really gone down.
This is the worst podcast we've ever done.
Matt
⁓
Parker
⁓
it's the best. If it feels like the worst, it's the best, believe me.
Travis
Thank
Jason Ziolo
So, H just reimagined their very first album and they've had like three drummers since, it's my favorite band. And the drummer who recorded originally, which is the original drummer, came out and blasted it and said, this is shit, why would you do this? You put all that energy into creating something and you just negated all of it. And it...
Reed
⁓
Jason Ziolo
The reimagining was fun for a listener too, but I'm not listening to that. I'm listening to the original all the way. And they're independent, so they don't have a label. And they're not trying to get on any contract. I don't know if it's a cash grab or if it's an ego grab, but it's one of those things.
Reed
Hey, but in all seriousness.
In all seriousness though, can I ask this question? Like, can Scott then go and redo 12 Angry Months since that album's been hijacked by the label for so many years? And I'm not kidding. 12 Angry Months is in my top 10 of concept albums of all time, across all genres of music. And like, we can't listen to it anymore because it's held hostage by the old label.
Jason Ziolo
So good.
So you're talking about 12 Angry Months by Local H. Isn't it on Amazon Music? I thought it was on Amazon Music. It's gone.
Reed
Yes, greatest concept album ever made. No, it's gone. You can't get it on Spotify,
Amazon Music. It's just not around anymore.
Jason Ziolo
It used to be on Spotify and then it went away. It's kind of sad. what Local H has been doing is they've been buying back the rights, I believe, or buying some rights to the album. And they have been going out and releasing their own vinyl and getting it out. So like whatever happened to PJ Souls, they just did that. Put out a vinyl release, remastered it. Not reimagined it, remastered it. It sounds fabulous. And released it now it's available. So 12-day remotes is coming up on 20 years, Reed. Can you believe that?
Reed
Scott.
That's crazy. Scott, dude, get on it. It's like seriously the best concept album of everything. It's awesome.
Jason Ziolo
Yeah.
While you're at it, tell us what's going on with another new drummer situation. It's frustrating us. Us fans.
Reed
Jason would like to audition.
Parker
Yes,
Jason of Rock Fan Radio, also the drummer of Local H potentially. Yes. Well.
Matt
Hmm.
Reed
Yeah, but then he would leave us like AJ did, so...
Jason Ziolo
Yeah, yeah, I
want to AJ you guys.
Parker
Yeah,
AJ's
Travis
feel like
the remastering is like the audio version of like, you when you take the classic movies and you upscale them to 4K or 1080p or whatever, you know, it's very similar to that. So, I mean, it feels less like a cash grab and more of a, you know, we want to modernize this a little more. We've got better production tools now. Let's make it more, you know, pretty for the new audiences, so to speak. mean.
Parker
Sure. Sure, sure.
Jason Ziolo
Stabbing Westward just announced their remaking, their reimagining with their blister burn and peel, which is an atrocity because that album is a fricking classic from the 90s. One of my favorites, not as good as Darkest Days, but they're gonna ruin it completely. And I'm done with the reimagining. Dave, Dave, welcome, you made it.
Travis
Yeah, I don't know how I feel about that.
Parker
Hello Dave.
Matt
Are there?
Dave Cravotta
Hey
fellas, sorry I'm so late.
Parker
Yer
Reed
dang
it.
Jason Ziolo
Dave, do you have any reimagined albums you've listened to? What's your opinion? Reimagined means re-recorded.
Dave Cravotta
Okay.
Yeah, I don't know. Megadeth did one. I think they did ⁓ Cryptic Writings, they did a redo of that one and I was like I was not impressed. It w it wasn't it's not anything that inspires me to wanna go listen to it or them anymore. I go check it out once like, ⁓ okay. It's just I don't feel like they're as good as the originals.
Jason Ziolo
Parker, let's get happy.
Parker
Shall we get heavy?
Reed
Now,
now can we get heavy Parker?
Parker
Let's get heavy. Let's get heavy. All right. Let's do something that's not the best news, but I want to start with it because I don't want to end with it. We all heard this earlier this week. it is Taylor Swift's dropping a whole new metal album. I don't know if you guys heard this. ⁓ No.
Jason Ziolo
This better not be Taylor Swift news again, I swear to God.
Matt
What?
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Hahaha
Reed
That would slay.
Dave Cravotta
No.
I would listen to it.
Jason Ziolo
I would too.
Parker
I would. It'd be just as good as Kanye's daughters.
Jason Ziolo
Real
quick, did anyone ever listen to Demi Lovato's album? She did a metal thing for a couple songs.
Matt
Yeah, she
Reed
She did.
It was okay.
Matt
speaking of speaking of reimagined albums, she took a lot of her like popular hits and she reimagined them into like rock songs or heavier songs, and they kinda kick ass. They're pretty damn good. I kind of enjoyed them.
Parker
I heard him.
Reed
Yeah.
Parker
I mean, anytime
you take pop and you go and make it a punk song, shout out to Punko's Pop. It kind of slays.
Matt
Missed us. Miss you.
Miss you, Poncos Pop. Come back,
Reed
Parker, can we get heavy?
Parker
let's get heavy
Jason Ziolo
Well.
Matt
Yeah.
Parker
⁓ Okay, not so great news to start off, but a band called Balmora has officially broken up because of their guitarist who has quite a bit of accusations about online grooming and inappropriate interactions with underage girls again. That's coming back up again.
Dave Cravotta
No.
Jason Ziolo
Where's Scene Queen when you need her?
Parker
I know, right? I'll play that song. That song will play in the background right now. Pretty unfortunate because this band was kind of cool. They were kind of forefronting the 2000s through 2010s metalcore phase and kind of bringing it back into the forefront. And they were like one of the bands kind of like leading the charge. ⁓ you know, your guitarist leaves and then for the rest of the band to come out and say we're nuked.
Jason Ziolo
Yeah.
Parker
It kind of sucks. Really unfortunate circumstances too. I don't know why this theme continues to pop up in the heavy scene and it's just, it's absolutely out of control.
Jason Ziolo
It's upsetting.
Reed
They just
released their debut full-length album ⁓ last week, two weeks ago, whatever, in this podcast drive. And it was one of those ones that I had queued up to listen to. And then the news came out, I'm like, nah, I'm good, man. I don't need to give you all listens.
Parker
Yes. Yes.
Yeah. Yeah. unfortunate. That's really the only bad news I have. So let's move over to Era now. go ahead.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Can I ask a question about Balmora that has nothing to do
with Balmora? This band I confuse with the band Bill Murray. Is Bill Murray supposed to be a reference to Bill Murray of Ghostbusters? Is it a joke name?
Matt
The actor? Yes. Yes.
Dave Cravotta
Yes.
Parker
A hundred percent.
Matt
One hundred percent.
Parker
Yes. Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
He's like a fat guy who plays saxophone, or is he fat? He's just fat by famous people's standards.
Matt
So
fun fact, I don't know how much history you know on the band, but Johnny Johnny the frontman was one of the original guitar players of the legendary group Attack Attack, if you remember Attack Attack.
Jason Ziolo
I know nothing, obviously.
Reed
Yes, David Carlyle back in the day. ⁓ Austin, Austin Carlyle.
Dave Cravotta
No.
Travis
One.
Matt
Johnny was the guy that had the big acro
Parker
Austin.
Matt
and he would sing the cleans. Bill Murray is Johnny's band. So he left Attack Attack and he started Bill Murray. And I saw them live about a month, month and a half ago. Phenomenal. I was right on the guard right on the guardrail, right up front. Incredible show. Those dudes are an absolute whirlwind live. They're fucking phenomenal.
Jason Ziolo
Okay, that makes sense.
Hell yeah, gotta check that one out.
Matt
Highly recommend.
Parker
Hell
yeah.
Another phenomenal band, Aera, just announced a mega, well, maybe not mega tour, but a anniversary tour. They have a few shows, a select few shows right now. I'm hoping that they add more shows, but in September they're coming through for an anniversary show of their album Drift, which kind of was...
Jason Ziolo
It's so small!
Matt
Yes.
Parker
almost like a transition album for them, right? Cause their older stuff is very, very, very like metal core and they kind of moved into this kind of groovier, gentier type music that they're known for now. So I'm excited for that. ⁓ If I have to, I'm driving up to Madison and it would be awesome if everybody else came and joined me. I cannot, I told myself last time I saw them with Currents,
Dave Cravotta
Mm-hmm.
Parker
I cannot miss an era show anymore. So every time they come through, I gotta see them.
Jason Ziolo
They're playing the Sylvie in Madison. If you've never been to the Sylvie, fantastic venue. Really cool venue. It feels like you're in a rock music video because it's steep and people are, it just feels like you're crowded in and everybody's hanging over you like you're in a coliseum. It's really neat. It's a cool venue. You'll like it.
Parker
Okay.
Awesome. I haven't been there, so I'm excited to see that. And then another... ⁓
Dave Cravotta
I looked at the dates for
that. Most of it looked like Canada and Europe. They only had a few US da or they had maybe ten US states. ⁓ one's in the closest to India is Louisville is what I saw, and that's the day after I get back from vacation. So that that may be a tough sell.
Parker
Yeah, yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Are we supposed to feel bad that you get to go on vacation, Dave?
Reed
So you're in town.
Dave Cravotta
I know, right? Yeah. Going to Glacier National Park, Grizzly Bear Country. And then then very next the day after we get back, go back to work, and then the show is in Louisville that night. So if anyone wants to go to Louisville on a Thursday, I you know, I hadn't considered that. Maybe falling in reverse right after that.
Parker
Nice.
Reed
Thanks.
Jason Ziolo
Cool.
Reed
Hey, if you see Slaughter to prevail there!
Matt
You might see Alice there, that's true.
Reed
Right? He'll be there with his bear.
Matt
If he's not on stage, I'm convinced he's going and fighting bears somewhere. So I mean that's kind of what he does.
Reed
100 %
bare knuckle, bare fighting.
Matt
Mm.
Travis
He's going to join Alex Terrible. They're going to have like a little three way bear fight.
Dave Cravotta
I'm not a big Alex terrible fan.
Matt
Ha ha.
Dave Cravotta
With Arian Foster, remember him? Didn't he get or was it a wolf? Do you guys remember Fumbles Foster? He was a football player and he got famous on his podcast for a hot minute for saying he would fight a barrow. I think it was a wolf, but and they were like, no, don't actually fight. He's like, I'm not really going to.
Matt
Yep, very close.
It's more.
Parker
I got a couple more things here. Silent Planet, another amazing band, just announced a full length album, which is gonna be amazing. I cannot wait for that. Man, Silent Planet, everything they've been doing is absolutely incredible. I cannot wait for that.
Dave Cravotta
Anyhow.
Matt
Love those dudes, man.
Love them.
Jason Ziolo
What was the band in the late 90s, early 2000s that had the famous drummer as like Fantastic Planet? It was Jason something from, he was an actor really popular in the 2000s. Wow, great story, isn't it guys?
Parker
don't know this man.
Yes, it's a great story.
Travis
⁓
Dave Cravotta
No,
Travis
Phantom planet is the name of the band. Yes. ⁓ Yeah. I don't remember that guy's name. He was in Rushmore and all the like quirky movies. Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Dance, I knew Travis would come up with it. planet. Jason.
Matt
It's real.
Jason Ziolo
They still tour, I think, too.
Travis
Phantom Planet kind of, they got put on the map. Well, I mean, obviously the actor kind of got him, but they wrote the theme song for the OC back in the day, which was a very popular television series.
Jason Ziolo
Missed that one. Wasn't it like a teeny bopper teenager soap opera type show? Yeah.
Travis
It was, I'm not
ashamed to admit that I actually liked it very much. It was very good.
Jason Ziolo
You're also a big Beverly Hills 90210 fan too.
Travis
I do not watch 90210.
Jason Ziolo
Parker, what else you got?
Matt
Mod for have a security
last.
Parker
⁓ Kingdom of Giants, we talked about this band a little bit ago because they're related to Amity Affliction a little bit here. If you remember, Amity stole their bassist and he's now their clean singer over in Amity. They just announced today, June 3rd, with a new release, a huge drop of their new single, Respawn.
Matt
Yes.
Dave Cravotta
⁓
Parker
that they've debuted a new bassist and clean vocalist, J.D. Gutierrez. It sounds pretty sick. It's, I mean, it's classic Kingdom of Giants. I love this band. I was a little like worried when they, you know, when the Amity stuff was happening, like, no, what happens to Kingdom of Giants? But I think they're gonna slay, continue to slay. you know, it's kind of a shame because Kingdom of Giants was a rising band, right?
And Amity comes in and they're like, nah, we want your bassist. And then it's like, what happens to rising bands like that? Especially when you have vocalists that are unique and sound different, and you start to think, ⁓ when I listen to this band, it's like, this is the person I expect to hear. So it was a little concerning, but not missing a beat at all. It's epic.
I don't know if you guys have heard this song, but go check it out.
Jason Ziolo
We'll check it. there it is.
Reed
Maybe over there.
Matt
Somewhere.
Parker
Somewhere, one of the corners.
Outside of that, I don't really.
Jason Ziolo
Parker,
let's get into one of two main events we have to talk about tonight. You have invited Alex on to the podcast. You two are the founding members of Pillars. Would you call it a Gent Deathcore type band? How would you describe Pillars?
Parker
All right.
That's right.
I would say accessible, Gent deathcore. ⁓
Reed
There's already bandwidth
pillar though.
Parker
Yeah, those guys need to get out of here. With their Christian rock music. Go away.
Jason Ziolo
So Parker, give us some background on pillars
Dave Cravotta
Ha ha ha.
Jason Ziolo
and who you and Alex are and give us your big news.
Parker
Yeah, Alex, go ahead. Yeah, no, ⁓ I'm the lead vocalist. I do all the screams and cleans. And yeah, we've just been recording lately. And I'm just trying to write new stuff. And yeah, that's.
We have major news though. We have teamed up with a couple dudes, Dan Thabit of Liquid Studios and Alan Doaches of West Westside Music. Now, if anyone knows who is in the heavy scene and knows who Alan is, he's worked with other bands like Motionless in White, The Black Dahlia Murder, Architects,
Matt
Breaking news. Breaking news.
Parker
Born of Osiris, Wage War. So we're pretty damn stoked to be able to work with these guys. Absolutely incredible. Super exciting. Thank you, thank you. And I mean like dude, we're a tiny band obviously, so we're just humbled and just want to learn as much as we can from these guys, but they've been awesome like onboarding us. Great guys. ⁓ Thank you.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah, man, that's awesome. It's an incredible resume.
Jason Ziolo
Hell yes, that is amazing.
Matt
Boys. Hell yeah, boys. Hell yeah.
Congrats, boys. Hell yeah.
Reed
That's great news.
Jason Ziolo
So what's the plan?
Are you recording? Can we expect a release anytime soon or is it gonna be a single by single thing you hit in the road?
Parker
Yeah, no, so
I think what we're gonna do is probably drop our new produced song on Friday. This Friday, honestly. hell yeah. Hell yeah. It's called Unforgiving Truth and yeah, it's fun little song, honestly. It's got a tepid moment. Ooh. It's playing now. If you guys want us to, can, I could play the, I mean, we could play the whole thing at the end of the show if you want me to.
Matt
Whoa.
Dave Cravotta
⁓ Yes. Yeah. Okay.
Jason Ziolo
This Friday? ⁓ I didn't know that!
Travis
Nice.
On my wife's birthday, little gift to me, you know, instead of her.
Reed
Is it playing now?
Dave Cravotta
⁓
Matt
Flying right now.
Jason Ziolo
Let's do
it after the end of the show. Stick around and listen to the whole Pillars track and go and see Mark Parker. What's your socials?
Matt
live debut?
Reed
100%.
Parker
Yeah,
I'd be sick.
Dave Cravotta
Yes, yes.
Reed
Stick around then.
Let us.
Parker
Yeah, really, we're just at Pillars Band Official right now on everything. It was awesome we were able to get that across the board. So at Pillars Band Official, we have a website, pillarsband.com. We're also right now on the website about to launch a merch giveaway too. teaming up with Alan and Dan, we ordered some merch.
Dave Cravotta
Mm-hmm.
Parker
to test from a couple different places and some of it's some of it's like, you know, it's we don't know if we love it. So you you could potentially win some exclusive like pre prints of some merch here. Just thought it'd be a fun, fun way to give early fans some merch here and whatnot. Yeah. Honestly, when we dropped unforgiving truth like.
before it was redone, we had some incredible movement. I know we're a tiny band, like, you know, like, yeah, we're just some growth, like any, over a hundred likes and stuff. We're like, dude, this, this is awesome. Had some people reach out to us. So we're just going to try and give back as, we move along here. I joke with Alex because we're both like, we're like 35 next year.
Reed
We made it.
Parker
And it's like, do we really want to travel in a bus or a van? So it's like, it's cool where we can get it and we want to start local here. yeah, mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. music out there, seeing if people like it. And yeah, just kind of going from there, kind of building slowly, but surely, honestly. yeah. Thank you guys so much.
Matt
I care you do. I care you do. I care you do.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Travis
kids man.
Reed
That's awesome, guys. Congrats.
Jason Ziolo
So excited
for you, man. It's going to be awesome.
Matt
Element.
Reed
I
mean, you guys are obviously doing something right if you're drawing in those kinds of names, right? So there's nothing that can happen from here that's not gonna just be more improvement on improvement. So that's fantastic.
Parker
Thank you.
Dave Cravotta
Yes.
Parker
Yeah, yeah,
we hope so. We're very excited and absolutely humbled, right? Absolutely, yeah. It's crazy. was about a year ago. ⁓ We were up here actually in this little studio and we were talking about writing music and we just decided to fucking do it and said, let's go. Let's see what happens. And yeah, and here we are now. We got a few songs out there and we got this next song produced and we'll just see what happens, honestly. Excited.
Matt
Hell yeah. Hell yeah.
Travis
That's awesome.
Parker
Thank you.
Jason Ziolo
wish you the best, man. Both of you guys.
Travis
Drop that track and make our pillars rise.
Parker
Hell yeah. Hell yeah. One last exclusive for Rock Fan Radio here. We got a new single dropping too at the end of June. stay tuned for that. Look out for that one. Yeah. yeah.
Dave Cravotta
Woo.
Jason Ziolo
Hahaha!
Reed
Woo, woo, woo.
Jason Ziolo
Is that the bouncy one you gave us a preview of?
Parker
We're, well, it's between, we're between two. We're between two. It's either that one or there's another one called, so the two names of the songs that may come out, they may release at the same time. We don't know yet. We didn't, you know, we may go crazy here, but we're thinking it's either gonna be a song called False Prophets or a song called ⁓ The Black Swan Event. And either of those two songs, they're gonna kinda hit you in the face. So.
Jason Ziolo
No.
Dave Cravotta
Awesome.
Parker
We're pretty excited to get those out and I mean, we feel like we're not amateurs trying to figure out logic anymore with Dan. So now we're just like fully focused in on actually just writing the music and not giving a crap about, well, obviously giving a crap about what it sounds like, but not giving a crap about what the Polish sounds like. Any local band out there, honestly,
⁓ It was AJ who suggested that we start going to look this direction. He's like focus on the music and go find some guy who knows what he's doing and I
Dave Cravotta
Mm-hmm.
Jason Ziolo
Unlike you guys?
Matt
Hey man, it worked out for us. It it worked wonders for us.
Parker
And yeah, a hundred percent.
Reed
Hahaha.
Parker
And like, like I couldn't thank him more because now I don't have to stress about thinking, how do I get these drum levels right? How do I get these kick levels right? I just focus on the music and get it to sound like I want it to in my head and then send it to Dan. I say, Dan, Alan, take this and make this a masterpiece. And honestly,
It changes the entire perspective of your band being able to focus on just the music and not worrying about the production side of things. Absolutely.
Jason Ziolo
So true. Every time I've been in the studio, it's all the dial tweaking, all getting the perfect tone. It just destroys creativity and it makes it not fun, man. So focus on what matters and that's the music.
Matt
It's a game change.
Parker
Yeah.
Absolutely. So we're stoked. we always shout you guys out. Well, we try to shout you guys out, obviously, because I host on here. But we drop some of your videos and whatnot on our page. So our videos. Why am I saying your videos? Our videos on our page. Yeah, part of the team. Part of the ship, part of the crew, right? No, but we're hoping that we can cross-pollinate.
Matt
You're part of the team, Parker.
Reed
Hahaha
Parker
So we just want to shout out fans of Rock Fan Radio and Pillars, like you guys are awesome and we can't wait to bring you more music and more podcasts. Absolutely.
Jason Ziolo
Hell yeah, dude. Good for you. Keep us posted. We're going to cover this. We're going to watch you break from where you are today to being a megastar. You're the next tour we follow after AJ, which might be a really good segue to the main event. All right, so let's get into this.
Reed
Love it.
Parker
Ha
Hell yeah.
Matt
I'm still getting used to I'm still getting
used to this pointing thing. I don't know.
Jason Ziolo
Let's talk a little bit about
Dave Cravotta
Man,
Jason Ziolo
Red and what our boy AJ is doing. I'll repeat what I said before. AJ was a podcast host with us. helped the inception of this at the very beginning. I'm literally, think, the second podcast he got a call from the guys at Red. It dropped off, and he hasn't been back since. But we're here supporting him. We have all, almost all of us, have gone out on the road over the past few weeks and supported him as he does a national tour.
Dave Cravotta
the production's on point tonight.
Jason Ziolo
starting with welcome to Rockville.
And he is ending it this Sunday coming up inside Houston. I think all in all, it's been six-ish weeks maybe. It's something around there. And man, we had a lot of fun going out and hanging out with AJ and the guys. So much that we actually are working on an entire, I won't call an episode, we'll call it a special, where we have so much footage. We did an interview with AJ's dad. We did an interview with AJ's roommates. We talked to some of the members of the band.
We talked to people in the crowd. did the whole shebang. We're gonna wire that all up, put it in a separate episode or a side episode or something.
and go check that out. But we're going to take some time here and talk about what we thought. Matt, I want to start with you. You went to the first show. Tell us what that experience was like. AJ was at Welcome to Rockville. He was the first band on the main stage, I believe. And I saw pictures, and it is fucking nuts.
Matt
Yeah, so he was ⁓ well I guess Rockville, I'm gonna say it, they have basically two main stages. They've got the main stage A, which is where like, you know, all the big guys are, and then main stage B, I believe in fact I know, Breaking Benjamin was the headliner on that stage where AJ opened that night. But that stage had bands like Starset, Memphis Mayfire was on that stage. There were a lot of big there were a lot of big bands on that stage.
And here's AJ walking out, opening for all these dudes. And mind you, for those who don't know, I've played almost before this tour. I had played. I'm gonna say it every show that AJ's done, I've been a part of before this tour. I think the biggest thing that we did prior to this, we played at Legendary Venue, little Rock House in St. Charles. I think we played in front of maybe
Jason Ziolo
you
house.
Matt
A hundred people, and that was the biggest crowd he had ever seen. And he really hadn't done anything since. And then I get the news that he got this, that he got the red gig, and I was like, dude, that's awesome. And then he goes, yeah, the first show is welcome to Rockville. I go, dude, are you nuts? Welcome to Rockville. So this dude went from a hundred, maybe a hundred and twenty people to
Reed
you
Matt
I think we looked at the video and we did a rough count. There were probably by the time they got done playing ten to twelve thousand people in front of that stage by the time he was done playing. So he went from a hundred to ten thousand literally in the blink of an eye. It which was nuts. But it was sick, dude. You know, we were all out there. Obviously we were near the front and you know, they start going and
Dave Cravotta
Wow.
Jason Ziolo
Absolutely insane.
Reed
That's crazy.
Matt
AJ runs out and you know, he looks cool. He looks badass. He looks like a rock star. But afterwards I was like, dude, how'd you feel? He goes, Man, I was shaking like a leaf for that whole set. And I'm like, dude, I don't blame ya. But you you couldn't tell because he nailed it. He absolutely nailed it. And it's just been, you know, it's gone onward and upward from there. I was able to see Rockville. And then two days later
Reed
Right?
Matt
I was able to see the first headline show of the tour when they were in Fort Myers, Florida. So that was the first time he had done the full hour and a half set. And I was able to be there and see the full set. And once he got through the first headline set, I was like, dude, the rest of this tour is gonna be cake for this guy, man. Like he's gonna be absolutely great. And then fast forward, I went from Fort Myers to the Joliet stop.
Which is where we all have to hang out.
Jason Ziolo
We all went to, a bunch of us went to the Goliath
show, right? Cause that's in the Chicago area.
Parker
Yep.
Matt
Yep.
Parker
Yep.
Matt
So I mean I think all y'all can chime in on this too, but the guy was fucking flawless in Joliet, dude. He didn't miss a night he didn't miss a note.
Jason Ziolo
Just.
It was absolutely
crazy and he had a full crowd. I I want to say a third of that crowd was there to support AJ. You know, he probably had 40, 50 people in that room, maybe not a third, but he had a lot of people there supporting him and you could tell he was excited. I talked to him the next day and he's like, dude, I think I blew my voice out because I was just so excited to be playing for all my friends and family. And what an experience.
Dave Cravotta
⁓ man, that's
Matt
Yeah.
It was this whole tour's just been really cool to see, at least especially through his eyes. And I'm like you know, me being me, I'm like, you know, dude, the best thing about this is you're gonna be a fucking vocal machine when you get off the road. Like these thirty minute sets to you after this are gonna be, you know, nothing. Like this is gonna be it's gonna be walks in the park. And I mean it's
Jason Ziolo
Yeah.
Reed
All
of the feedback has been phenomenal too. AJ, he's starting to find his own as being badass front man, right? You've seen clips on Reddit, like go check out our page and everything, but he's going out into the crowd and he's interacting with people and he's the people's champion of lead singers. And he owns that stage now. And the Joliet Show was hilarious because I don't know if it was Anthony Armstrong or Randy Armstrong.
that was doing like the, you every band stops and starts talking about stuff, right? ⁓ But even, was it Randy? Too many Armstrongs. Randy was even like,
Jason Ziolo
That was Randy.
Matt
Randy. Yeah. ⁓
Jason Ziolo
Well, they're identical twins,
did you even notice? They're identical.
Reed
No, I mean, it makes sense. look like they're brothers.
Jason Ziolo
Identical?
Matt
Yeah.
Yeah, that's
Parker
They look
identical, that's what you were gonna say. Yeah, it makes sense, they look identical, yeah.
Reed
Right, yeah.
But even Randy was like, this is AJ's hometown crowd. like, I mean, everybody was there to see AJ, but like even the Armstrong brothers were super grateful and giving him the spotlight for the Joliet show. And I was talking to some folks on Reddit and a lot of people are, know, the intense Red fans were like super upset that Michael Barnes was stepping back, but nobody has said anything negative about AJ's performance with that band.
except for one guy and then somebody jumped in and beat the crap out of him, which was hilarious. I mean, he's he's killing it. AJ is a rock star, man. I mean, like this is, this is the beginning for him. He's got a stage presence. He's got fan interaction. He's everything you want in a lead man.
Parker
What's crazy to me is that AJ, what, two or three shows before he debuts with Red? I mean, I remember the last show I played in a dirty bar that was in front of five people that knew me and nobody else gave a shit and went to go drink beer, right? And-
Jason Ziolo
And you're pretty
psyched it was more than just your girlfriend. Four other people came, right?
Parker
Yeah, a hundred percent,
right? Like, and, even then it's like, I don't know what I'm doing on stage. I'm bumping around like, ⁓ how do we, how do we like recover from this mistake and all this, you know, the weird stuff that happens on stage and in Joliet, you know, he's walking around on stage, like he's been up there for years. And, and that's what's crazy to me is just like how on point he was with
with the stage stuff, not necessarily the vocals. Like AJ's a great vocalist, but like the stage stuff takes some time to get comfortable with. like, you know, a couple of times, you know, he might back up when Randy's walking the same way and he just, you know, perfectly goes with it. No missteps. Everybody's on stage doing what they need to do, recovering from whatever happens. And I mean, that's pretty impressive to just kind of like...
out of the gate just be able to do that kind of stuff.
Matt
Yeah, he picked it up he picked it up super, super quick. And that even surprised me. Like even at Rockville, again, I don't know how much of it was rehearsed or how much of it was practiced, but even at Rockville, the kid the guy just looked super natural up there. So I was blown away by it. Like and I have go ahead.
Jason Ziolo
He's got some natural talent for sure.
Parker
Yeah.
Reed
So funny story,
there was one of the fans I was interacting with had just learned before they were just in Nebraska a couple days ago, he had just learned that Barnes stepped back from touring with Red. And he had just learned from Rock Band Radio that Michael Barnes was no longer the lead singer. I'm like, I'm pretty sure you want to figure that out because Michael Barnes is bald and AJ's got hair on hair. like, that would have been a weird thing to show up to the concert. I'm like, is that done wearing a wig?
Matt
Did you get a hair transplant?
Jason Ziolo
I've been growing up my beard so I can put it on top of my head, my bald head. I'm gonna show up to the next cast for that.
Matt
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Then we went to Racine the next day. You guys dropped out. You all dropped out. I grabbed Steve, who's not here today. Guys, Steve made it out on a school night. Pretty big deal for Steve. Pretty big deal for Steve. And we went out and saw him Racine. And I realized how shitty the sound at the forages. And I thought they sounded way better in Racine. And AJ told me after the show, he's like, this was
Reed
crazy.
Matt
Yes.
Dave Cravotta
Mm.
Jason Ziolo
maybe one of my worst shows and I'm like, you sounded better than Joliet.
Matt
I can't can I can't confirm. I could also be because when I showed up to Racine, he and I were talking. I was gonna say I was there! Hello! What dick? Dick. I did I did surprise you. Well speaking of surprises, we'll talk about surprises in a second. ⁓ Dick. Dick move by Jay. We're gonna talk all about it. but we got to Racine and AJ's talk.
Jason Ziolo
Matt was in racing too, you know. You were there and you weren't supposed to be there. You surprised us.
Reed
What a dick!
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Reed
Also, dick move.
Matt
Me and he goes, dude, I don't know what it is, but sound check in that room was awesome. Like it sounds great. I'm like, Well, that's good, man. Happy to hear it. And then he was like, ⁓ and then I realized that night when we were in Racine, that club had just gotten that PA put in that afternoon. That show with Red was the test drive of that PA. And Randy, Red's front of house guy, actually helped tune the PA. So
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Matt
That's why it was so on point 'cause it was the it was the very first run through with that new house PA and it sounded phenomenal. It was fantastic.
Reed
Timing, that's awesome.
Jason Ziolo
It was cool. And I've never been to Route 20 before. That's the name of this joint, which is really stupid, because how do you put that in a GPS and find the place? because it's on Route 20, Route 20 on Route 20. It's a newer place up in Racine, which isn't too far from here. And it kind of slays. It's a really cool venue. So I would definitely recommend you guys go check it out.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Matt
It's a cool little venue, for sure.
Parker
Hey, Jason, just so you know, when you put it in the GPS, the location will tell you if it's a business or not, or if it's just a street address. So you could find it that way.
Travis
Okay.
Reed
Guys, let this be a life lesson for all of you, how to use Google Maps.
Parker
Ha!
Dave Cravotta
Okay.
Parker
Jason's gonna kill me, look at him, he's gonna fucking kill me!
Jason Ziolo
Yeah!
Dave Cravotta
I hear balls being busted.
Reed
Jason,
Jason Ziolo
Parker,
Reed
Jason, you can kill him in Houston.
Jason Ziolo
if I didn't kill you on our road trip last weekend, we're fine, right?
Parker
Yeah, well that's true, that's fair.
Jason Ziolo
Parker
and I then, that was Wednesday. On Friday, we drove to Flint, Michigan to go to the legendary machine shop. What a cool joint that is.
Parker
We did.
We did. Speaking
of, pull that down. I do. I have a machine shop wristband. I can't take this thing off. It's a legendary wristband.
Jason Ziolo
You still have your wristbands on? You're a dirty human being.
We went up to the machine shop. The lights in this joint are awesome. Really cool. It's, mean, Flint, Michigan is a blue collar, steel working car industry town. And you walk into a place called the machine shop and it felt like, it felt like, felt like a biker bar almost kind of thing. And
Parker
It is.
It did. It had motorcycles
up and everything. was like definitely, definitely that kind of vibe.
Jason Ziolo
And we ended up, Parker and I ended up hanging up with the opening, for the opening bands, we ended up hanging out with these two women who were having the time of their lives at this show. so between bands, Dave, you're making me laugh. ⁓ So we talked to them, grabbed, because Parker and I, we actually, all the shows, we did a lot of interviews. all in that other video that's going to come out. And we ended up talking to these women and it turns out they're like, yeah, we play here every couple of months and sell the joint out. We are the
Dave Cravotta
Well.
Jason Ziolo
backup singers to the Wrecking Crew. The Wrecking Crew being a Motley Crue, not cover band, tribute band. So, cut to interview with them.
Parker
Tribute Band.
There it is.
Jason Ziolo
And now came back, hung out with these women. They had a blast. They were there for Red. You know, there's something about Dave, you got into this last podcast and it was really cool as I listened to it. You had a moment where you were like, this is what music is about. It's about connecting all types of diverse people. This was a perfect moment for that. You know, we met these women, we were having fun. You know, nothing mattered except the music at that time. And that's what it's all about. So.
Parker
And those
Jason Ziolo
Machine
Shop highly recommended though the dude, one of the dudes from the bands, I won't say who, cause I want to rat him out, but one of the opening bands said, I can't talk to him, said that the Machine Shop is one of his least favorite places to play. So I'm sure there's some drama behind the scenes or it's just a pain in the ass load in load out kind of thing.
Dave Cravotta
Ooh, what is the difference between a tribute band and a cover band?
Jason Ziolo
a cover band. Does anyone else want to take this? Take it, Travis.
Reed
Thank you, Dave.
Travis
Don't make.
So, so a tribute band is like, they embody the entire persona of, so like a kiss tribute band, they're going to wear the costumes. They're going to have the makeup, you know, but you're literally going to have gene and in space ACE and all that. And all they're going to play is kiss songs. So I actually, one of the funnest shows I've ever been to was a grunge tribute show. I actually, I've been to a couple of them.
I mentioned the Vogue in Indianapolis in a previous episode, which is a legendary place. And I saw a Nirvana tribute band, a Pearl Jam tribute band and a sound garden tribute band. And the Pearl Jam and the sound garden tribute band got together at the very end. And then they did temple of the dog shit. It was awesome. Yeah. Ton of fun. Yeah. It was very cool. Yeah.
Dave Cravotta
When you
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
that's so cool!
Parker
That's
awesome.
Dave Cravotta
So a cover band covers the songs, but a tribute band, like you said, embodies the embodies the band. Like the motions and the movements and all that kind of stuff.
Jason Ziolo
A tribute
band's more than just playing the song, it's being the entire character of the band on stage.
Travis
Yep.
Parker
Yeah.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Parker
And we're, we're going to throw in these photos and stuff from these guys, dude, the photos and the stage like that they were showing us that when they play it's out of control. It's, it's literally like they are being Montley crew, right? I mean, like they do the makeup they do, they overdo it on the stage. have tons and tons and tons of lights and stuff to make it like
Travis
Absolutely. Yeah.
Parker
like they are, Montley Crew. It is out of control. It's really cool. I mean, it was really, really, really cool to meet these people.
Jason Ziolo
So we wrapped up Machine Shop and Parker and I had a big question we had to answer.
Parker
You can't, you can't
wait, wait, whoa, whoa, whoa. The disco ball. We gotta talk about the disco ball. Dude, we walk into the machine shop and they have this giant disco ball that's, that's hanging from the ceiling. It's just rotating. And the, when the lights hit it, like, you know, like you see, you see the disco ball and the movies and stuff like that. I've never really been to a disco, so I didn't really know what was going to happen, but like,
Dave Cravotta
Mm.
Jason Ziolo
Go ahead,
Matt
What's the
disco ball?
Parker
literally every single direction you could possibly like imagine the lights shoot off it was shooting off and and AJ gets off the stage and goes well yeah but I've never seen it was it was huge it was amazing okay hold on I'm I'm young I've never I've never seen a disco ball all right I've never seen a disco ball
Jason Ziolo
Parker, this is what a disco ball is,
Matt
Let me guess, it it spins too.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah, I haven't seen one since college.
Jason Ziolo
You've never seen a what?
Matt
What?
Parker
AJ'S NEVER SEEN A DISCO BALL EITHER, ALRIGHT?! LET'S BE FAIR, AJ GOT OFF STAGE AND HE WAS LIKE, HE'S LIKE, DUDE, THAT DISCO BALL WAS INSANE. EVERY SINGLE TIME THE LIGHTS HIT IT, IT BLINDED, IT WAS LIKE, OKAY, LISTEN, WHATEVER, MAYBE, MAYBE I'M... WHATEVER, THIS MUST BE TERRIBLE.
Travis
Do you leave the house?
Matt
What?
Right, okay.
Dave Cravotta
Adorable.
Jason Ziolo
between
you not seeing a disco ball and Travis never being in a mosh pit, we got some bucket list items across Alf this summer.
Matt
Green is stunning right now, dude.
Parker
I mean, I've seen
Dave Cravotta
Right. To
Parker
a
Dave Cravotta
see it in Flint of all places.
Parker
disco ball, I've never seen a disco ball do that.
Matt
Yeah.
Reed
You're
not that young. You've come on. Hey, though, I'm happy you got that experience. So that's super cute.
Matt
Ha ha ha.
Dave Cravotta
Yes. Yes.
Parker
I'm just saying, like, for me,
Matt
Yeah.
Parker
it was my first experience with a disco ball with all the lights shining on it and blasting it all over the venue, and it was epic. All right? So I'll transition this from the disco ball being epic to my first experience with a disco ball. How about that? The fans will love that.
Reed
You
Matt
⁓
Jason Ziolo
Parker, I'm buying you a disco ball for your birthday without a doubt.
Dave Cravotta
Get off of my knowing about the discum ball.
Parker
Hahaha!
Dave Cravotta
So it's adorbs. Love it.
Matt
That was
Parker
my
god. No.
Jason Ziolo
Can I move on now that you've gotten that out of your system Parker?
Matt
good.
Reed
Please do.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah,
Matt
Please.
Jason Ziolo
So
Flint, Michigan is in the middle of Michigan, right? Ringle, Wisconsin is in the middle of Ringle, Wisconsin. In the middle of those two things sits Lake Michigan. It is maybe a four hour trip if Lake Michigan wasn't there. Instead, it turns into like a 10 hour trip going around the lake. So we did that whole thing. We were going to take the ferry, but we slept in and it was too late and all that garbage.
Parker
No.
Dave Cravotta
Really?
Parker
We should have taken the ferry.
Jason Ziolo
And we get to Ringo, Wisconsin. Middle of fucking nowhere, Ringo, Wisconsin.
Reed
Hey, quick question. Did the tour bus take the ferry or did they take the long route? You can't get a tour bus on a ferry, right? That wouldn't make sense.
Parker
absolutely middle of nowhere.
They did not take the ferry. They did not.
Matt
Probably one around.
Jason Ziolo
You
can, but it's gonna, I mean, it was gonna be $300 just for two people in a car. For a tour bus, it's probably $600.
Matt
Yeah, it goes.
Dave Cravotta
I don't think the
ferry's stored. It's still ninety miles.
Yeah. The fairy isn't quick.
Jason Ziolo
Ringo, Wisconsin is pretty cool.
Parker
No, they have like an express.
It's like two hours. And the one Jason and I were going to take was like four.
Dave Cravotta
Right. I yeah. I
Jason Ziolo
But they got a movie theater in
it. You can rent a room and take a nap. There's like stuff to do on the ferry. It's pretty fun. I would think so, but...
Reed
Do they have beer? Oh, well then...
Parker
yeah! Yeah.
Matt
⁓
Dave Cravotta
Sure
they do.
Reed
Take the ferry!
Matt
It's a fucking fair.
Parker
I, the entire trip
I was telling Jason we should have taken the ferry.
Okay, so I also drive an electric vehicle and driving the electric vehicle through the upper peninsula of Michigan is the absolute worst. It's the chargers say they're superchargers, but they charge slower than snails in molasses or whatever the phrase is. ⁓
Jason Ziolo
You
Matt
Guys go easy on him. He just saw a disco ball for the first
time last weekend.
Parker
I don't write the lyrics for Pillars just so you know. So, don't worry about that. But anyway...
Reed
Thank God.
Travis
lower than Dave
joining the episode today.
Dave Cravotta
Ha ha fair. Fair.
Parker
Anyway,
driving it through the UP was not good. It took a half hour to 45 minutes to charge each time, where when we were driving to Flint, was like 15 minutes we were ready to go again. So I don't recommend taking an electric vehicle through the UP.
Jason Ziolo
There was a big bonus to taking your electric vehicle is that you had a self-driving mode on it. And so Parker and I actually recorded a ton of footage for the podcast while Parker was driving. So you can check this is other stuff we're going to release outside of the podcast. We did a review of the new Shinedown album, eight. Meh. We did a review of the new Periphery album, two thumbs way up.
Parker
Yes.
Dave Cravotta
Mm-hmm.
Ringo road.
Reed
way.
Parker
We did.
Jason Ziolo
And we did the best review ever of the new Marar Thal album. And we realized two songs in that the Thal album, if you saw our last episode, it's brutal heavy noise is Thal. Just leave it at that, no vocals. It told the story of crime and punishment, this Thal album.
So we literally looked up crime and punishment, related it to the names of the songs, and you could see what was happening, and they were making the music react to how the characters were feeling. And it totally fucking worked. It was the coolest thing ever. And because of that, I guess I'm a fan now.
Parker
Absolutely. This is my favorite, favorite, favorite thing you've ever said, Jason. Last podcast, you completely took a crap on me for loving this music. And Jason comes into the, I'm kind of razzing him in the beginning. ⁓ dude, gotta, we gotta like review Marar's new album, right? I say it three or four times and I'm getting more serious and Jason's like, all right, fine. And I throw it on there and then.
Dave Cravotta
Well say
Jason Ziolo
Sure did.
Parker
I see his just his eyes light up and he's like Parker this is a lot deeper than than we think it is and after that yeah
Jason Ziolo
I was talking to my army of robots and I
was asking about the album. They're like, well, it's actually a giant metaphor for crime and punishment. And then started laying it out and I was like, whoa, this is cool.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Matt
Yeah.
Parker
Yeah,
by the end of it, I'm pretty sure Jason's a bigger Marar fan than me now, because he was looking for Marar merch to buy a shirt. I'm just so happy. I'm so happy. I'm so happy. Yeah.
Matt
Wow
Dave Cravotta
That's awesome. Mm.
Matt
Hell yeah.
Jason Ziolo
It's a cool shirt too, it sold out though.
So we do these reviews, we stopped it like wienerlicious.
Parker
No!
Matt
All right.
Jason Ziolo
No.
Reed
my God. That was the best tool cut we've ever had.
Dave Cravotta
Tell me it's a restaurant.
Parker
Yes.
Dave Cravotta
The place to eat food.
Matt
Hmm.
Parker
It
dude, we're driving. We're driving on the, ⁓ through like we're about to cross into Mackinac Island through the UP, right? So we stop in Mackinaw city, stop in Mackinaw city and we, there's just this hot dog stand with a giant, a giant wiener on the top of the building, a giant Tommy Lee, I said, on the top of the building. And I'm like, well, I mean, we have to stop at wienerlicious.
Matt
Nice.
Parker
And so we also did a review of Wienerlicious.
Jason Ziolo
Yeah.
Dave Cravotta
I love that the Chicago guys stopped at Wienerlicious in Michigan. In Mackinac City of all places.
Matt
From you hot.
Parker
Yeah, for sure.
Reed
Was there ketchup?
Parker
Yeah.
Reed
Was there ketchup?
Jason Ziolo
Not only that, I got
the Chicago dog when I was there,
Matt
I was gonna say, hold on. There better not have been
Reed
Was there ketchup?
Dave Cravotta
And
Matt
there better not have been ketchup on us. If tell me you didn't put ketchup on them.
Dave Cravotta
I guess I have to watch to find out the review. That's a great tease right there about Wienerlicious, fellas. Nice tease from Wienerlicious.
Parker
bought a t-shirt for my kid.
I bought a t-shirt.
Matt
You bought a
Wiener Licious Kid t shirt for your kids.
Parker
I did a youth t-shirt
for my kid. Yeah. It's got a foot long hot dog on it. It's wonderful. It's perfect.
Matt
⁓ wow. ⁓ boy.
Dave Cravotta
man, there's the intro right there. Well done, Matt.
Reed
No.
Travis
You
guys just gave Dave his, his next theme for his party that he's going to have at the house. Like wienerlicious 2026.
Jason Ziolo
You
Dave Cravotta
That is correct.
Parker
Yes, for sure, 100%.
Jason Ziolo
We need to relish this.
Matt
WienerCon twenty twenty six.
Dave Cravotta
Kid theme.
Travis
Bye.
Reed
This is the worst cast we've ever done.
Dave Cravotta
Weird.
Matt
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Reed, you
Parker
no, this is the best cat we've ever done,
Jason Ziolo
see it every cast, every cast.
Dave Cravotta
Wait till
we write music to WienerCon and it's Wiener Core. Wiener Core at WienerCon.
Matt
Yes.
Jason Ziolo
We are poor.
Parker
Hey,
we all get together. Rock Fan Radio does an album called Weenerlicious. It's happening. Yeah, we're ⁓ all doing Weenercore. Weenercore.
Matt
Bro Bro, are we gonna write wiener core? Is that what I'm hearing? ⁓
Dave Cravotta
⁓ my god.
Jason Ziolo
and then, Dave, you and Travis could have the vagina song, finding
Reed
Yep.
Jason Ziolo
each other in the room
Matt
Yeah.
Travis
Yes!
Dave Cravotta
Yes, yes.
Travis
See? Just like the vaginas, it brings everything together,
Dave Cravotta
⁓ well played, sir. ⁓ man. I'm dead.
Matt
⁓ my god.
Parker
Hahaha!
Matt
I'm ready for this. Let's Parker, let's start writing tonight. Through it.
Jason Ziolo
So I've been posting clips on Facebook and
Travis
I mean.
Jason Ziolo
whatnot.
I think on TikTok, I posted that clip of you guys being two vaginas in a room and doing vagina things together. And all our clips on TikTok get at least a couple hundred hits, and sometimes a couple thousand hits. That one got 15 hits. I think TikTok saw vagina in the title and said, I'm not showing people this.
Dave Cravotta
Ha ha ha.
Matt
⁓
Parker
Dude, but we're talking about wieners. That's definitely going to be multi thousands of views.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Yep. ⁓ yeah.
Reed
percent.
Jason Ziolo
So we end
up in Regal, Wisconsin. Regal is an old, it's only been around, it's only been open for like, it's called the Q and Z Expo Center, which I don't know what that means. But the Q and Z Expo Center is an old elementary school and it had this kind of stained glass.
features above the stage. And it felt like a school building. And it was really neat because everywhere around, that whatever band that came through, they would get them to sign something and then hang it up. Or they'd sign the concrete on the walls. And AJ was supposed to take some pictures for us of the backstage, because I guess it's got just stuffed signatures everywhere. Well, what's this, Dave? there it is in the middle of nowhere.
Parker
There it is. There
Dave Cravotta
So that's a that's the
Google map of the Q and Z Expo Center with farmland everywhere. It that is the definition of middle of nowhere. You are not lying.
Parker
it is.
Jason Ziolo
nothing around it.
Parker
Yeah, there's nothing. There's nothing.
When you
walk in, it's such a small town, they don't even do security. just check that you got a ticket, and they let you in. Q and Z.
Dave Cravotta
And it's called the Q and Z Expo Center because
it's near the intersection of roads Q and Z.
Jason Ziolo
What's with fucking Wisconsin? They can't come up with original names for venues? Route 20 now Q &Z?
Parker
Yeah, that's awesome.
I mean, they're a simple people, Jason. They're a simple people.
Jason Ziolo
We get to the Q &A, they got this stuff.
Dave Cravotta
You zoom out, it
doesn't get any better. All a lot of green and brown squares around the Q and C exposes.
Parker
No.
Jason Ziolo
Yeah.
Parker
So
when they let you in, you walk in and ⁓ you walk into the cafe of what used to be the school. And you're literally playing, they're playing music in like the cafe or gym or whatever. It's probably a multi-purpose room to be honest, probably both. But I mean, it's kind of like a scene right out of like school of rock, right? Like you're playing rock and roll music in a school. It's kind of sick. It's kind of awesome.
Jason Ziolo
It is it was
a cool venue. liked it a lot. Except for it was in the middle of nowhere. Our hotel was 20 minutes away. It's the closest hotel we could find. ⁓
Parker
Yeah. Yes. and we met the
previous owner too and chatted her for 30 minutes because our Uber took forever to get to us.
Jason Ziolo
I actually forgot about that. He's gonna fuck me at the end of that night.
Dave Cravotta
They have Ubers there?
Parker
Yeah, you were pretty fuzzy.
You were real fuzzy.
Reed
The fact you
could get an Uber is kind of impressive, I guess. Yeah, right?
Matt
That's the most impressive part, exactly.
Parker
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Got to see AJ there, it was great. My favorite part was after that show, AJ grabbed us and brought us into the back bar where all the bands were hanging out. So we got to go and we talked with Kingdom Collapse a little bit, we saw Twisted. We sat with the drummer for Red and I got to harass him about using backing tracks and that made me really happy. And he rolled his eyes at me and told me that you may think it's like that, but the quick
track went out twice last show for multiple songs and you didn't even realize we didn't miss a beat. And for that, applaud you because that's real music when you're not relying on the click track. So really cool guy. When I wasn't watching AJ, I was watching the drummer. He's a sick drummer. And I will say by the end, you know, when we were in Juliet, I'm like, wow, my friend AJ is on the stage. This is blowing my mind.
Matt
'cause 'cause Dan's that good, baby. Because Dan's that good.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Parker
I go.
Jason Ziolo
By the time we got to the machine shop and then out here to Q &Z, it stopped feeling like I was going to see AJ. It felt like I was going to see AJ's band. And it really did. The novelty wore off and it just felt like he fit. And I think that was the biggest revelation for me is, yeah, this isn't a novelty thing. This is going to stick with AJ. And I really do think it's going to stick because he sounded great with those guys. They had great chemistry. And ⁓ from what I can
Dave Cravotta
Mm.
Jason Ziolo
can I know nothing beyond what I've seen AJ's told me nothing but from what I can tell and what they said on stage they want AJ to stick around and they'd be silly not to want AJ to stick around because he sounded wonderful. question is they have more shows after this Sunday which is AJ's last show what's gonna happen? We pressed AJ hard, cut to clip.
Dave Cravotta
That's paper.
Mm.
Parker
We did.
Jason Ziolo
to see if he could tell us what's gonna happen and he refused to tell us. So good for him for keeping up his end of the bargain, but I'm guessing we're gonna get some more red shows and I really hope so too.
Reed
Probably. Yeah, so Matt, are we gonna, what's the plan for Houston? Are people going to see the show in Houston?
Matt
We're gonna
Parker
I was
Jason Ziolo
⁓ it's talking about that.
Matt
yeah, so I guess we can talk about that. surprise, spoiler alert, ⁓ Rock Fan Radio will have boots on the ground in Houston, Texas for the final show of the Red Tour. Me, myself, Reed, and our other friend Chris, we will have boots on the ground at the final show. Dave's going too. Hell yes.
Jason Ziolo
Yes!
Reed
am I pointing the wrong way? ⁓ I thought, no, I'm pointing at Parker. Parker's got a...
Matt
Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
The pen...
Parker
I'm.
Matt
Parker
Parker's down here for me. Yeah.
Jason Ziolo
Parker's under you for... they're all in different squares.
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Parker
Pure pressure!
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Yeah.
Reed
right? don't
worry, Parker, make it happen.
Matt
Parker get to Houston. Point is
Parker
All right, I will.
Jason Ziolo
Bye.
Reed
You know who's that? You know who's that going to Houston?
Matt
Yeah. Can I talk about who's not going to Houston? Can I can I talk about that real quick?
Reed
Yeah, let's talk about it. Let's talk
Parker
talk about who's not going to Houston. I want to know
who's not going to Houston. Who's not going to Houston?
Reed
about it. Let's talk about it. Yeah.
Matt
⁓
Jason Ziola will not be going to Houston, and I'm so pissed off about it, and I you're gonna hear why. I call Jason because I have this beautiful idea. I go, hey man, what are you doing this upcoming weekend? Let's fly to Houston and let's surprise the shit out of AJ for his last show. Jason goes, I love this idea. We're gonna make this happen. I'm gonna pitch it in a group chat and we're gonna make it happen.
Jason Ziolo
I will not, no!
Matt
So Jason does that. He goes, Hey, Matt's thinking about going to Houston. You know, let's he's trying to just make it a
Jason Ziolo
I'm so embarrassed.
I'm so damn embarrassed.
Matt
Who's in
Reed
Let's
go surprise AJ in his final show with Red.
Matt
Who's in the group chat that Jason texts? AJ Reingard is in the group chat.
Dave Cravotta
Yes, think
Reed
Hey, in his defense, Michael Barnes was not in our group chat.
Matt
That's true. That's true.
Parker
Hahaha!
Matt
But it Jason sends it, lets it sit for about forty-five minutes, and then he deletes it. And he get he texts me and he goes, Matt, I think I fucked up. I go, What do you mean? And then I see the screenshot and he's like, There's a chance he found out. I'm like, Bro, you couldn't even wait an hour. So then
Dave Cravotta
I was thinking the same thing, Reed.
Reed
Ha
Dave Cravotta
No.
Matt
Jason scre texts AJ one on one and he goes, hey, you didn't happen to see the group chat by any chance, did you? And AJ goes, Yeah, no, I saw it. I saw it all. I was like, Come on! You couldn't even wait in an hour. So that was
Travis
Bye.
Jason Ziolo
Hahaha
Parker
Ha
Dave Cravotta
Yeah.
Reed
He still does not
know that we're coming though. He knows that you're going, Matt, but he does not know that the rest of us will be there. We've been laying it on thick that like, cause who in their right mind is gonna fly to Houston and go see a red show? I mean, we've got work.
Matt
That's true.
Hell yeah. Me.
Yeah, you know. I do. Fuck, I'm going.
Reed
Yeah, I'm
not going.
Parker
Ha
Matt
Yeah. So then out of all so then Jason does that. And then yeah, no, because this is this is even better. He texts us this morning and he's like, Hey guys, ⁓ I'm not gonna be able to make it. So I'm like, dude, alright, so let me get this straight. First and foremost, you blow the surprise. Second of all, you're not even gonna go. Third of all, you're gonna have us do interviews for you while we're down there.
Dave Cravotta
Mm.
Jason Ziolo
So that, you're just gonna keep piling on. Yeah, keep going, Matt, go ahead.
Matt
Come on, man. What are we doing? The last one's great. I'm gonna do the last one anyway. Jason Jason, you're a sick bastard. You're a sick sick bastard. You dick. Jason's a dick.
Reed
I don't mind the last one.
I'm more than happy to interview Twizzit, so.
You sick dick!
Parker
Ha ha ha!
Dave Cravotta
Ha ha.
Jason Ziolo
superimpose
egg on my face right now because I ⁓ I feel like a douchebag
Parker
I
might just superimpose the tool drop on your face to be honest with you.
Matt
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Jason Ziolo
So you guys are going Sunday, Adrian Blas show. It's going to be a party, right? Because he doesn't have a show the next day, which means it's game on after the show.
Dave Cravotta
Big tool.
Travis
Reed made his, ⁓
Matt
That's it. Houston is it.
Correct. It's gonna be a blast. It's gonna be a party. Monday's gonna suck. Flying out. That's not gonna be fun. I booked an 8 a.m. I booked an 8 a.m. flight Monday morning. I'm gonna hate myself. But it's gonna be but it's gonna be ⁓ I ha I took the rest of the day off, so I'm coming home and I'm passing out for the rest of the day.
Reed
I have to work that day.
Dave Cravotta
⁓ yeah.
Parker
It's worth it. It's worth it for him. I just want to second something Jason said. It is quite an experience to be in the crowd and watching your buddy on stage and go from like, yeah, go AJ to I really am jamming and jiving with this music. And that happened for me.
Matt
Bobby.
Reed
Yeah,
it's going to be great.
Parker
at ⁓ at actually the the wrinkle show i was just kinda like sitting there like you know like jamming with the music and not really like yelling a day and ⁓ that is something i haven't really experienced before and it is it's absolutely unreal that he is killing it this this this hard on stage he's not just a j anymore right like
Like he is, he's always our buddy, like now, now seeing Red or seeing him with whoever he's with, it's like, dude, this guy is, is slaying it. And, and that's incredible.
Reed
trajectory. We talk about
it. We talk about it all the time. AJ is on a trajectory. There's not anything that's going to stop this kid. We're just along for the ride at this point. And to like, you know, bust his balls a little bit and get backstage passes. But I mean, that's all to come. That's all to come.
Dave Cravotta
Mm.
Parker
Ahem.
Yeah, and it's unreal. ⁓ absolutely.
Matt
Ha ha ha.
Dave Cravotta
Okay.
Parker
Absolutely. Absolutely.
Matt
but kind of hinting at what's something Jason was talking about earlier as far as, you know, his future with Red and everything. Obviously, you know, I support him 100% and I'm gonna be behind him with whatever he decides to do. However, I don't know how much I can disclose or how much I can talk about it. Maybe I'll save this for him. there may or may not be some things in the Okaya camp.
that are in the works currently in terms of future stuff that we're all very, very excited about. I know again, I'm not gonna give not gonna give too much away 'cause that's not my jurisdiction. But I do know that there are things in the work there are things in the works for the future that we are all really, really excited about. How that determines his place in red and how he chooses to go about that, obviously that'll be his business. But I do know that we're gonna have to have some conversations and
Parker
yeah?
Dave Cravotta
⁓
Mm.
This is a tease.
Matt
figure some stuff out. All for the best. You know, it's all it's all good things. So it's really just gonna be about, you know, what prioritizes what and what we have to do to go about everything. But there's there's good news on both sides, which is the important thing. So there's nothing bad to choose from, which is really exciting.
Jason Ziolo
That's awesome.
Reed
There's
Jason Ziolo
That's so cool.
Reed
no stopping those trains, Matt. You know what I'm saying? If it's not next year, it's going to be the year after. There's no stopping the trajectory. It's as clear as any other band that we've seen take that runway, right? It's going to be great. It's going to be awesome. And we'll be here busting your balls the entire time.
Matt
No.
yeah.
Hell yeah. I know. I'm looking forward
Dave Cravotta
Well, pretty.
Matt
to it too. I look forward to it.
Jason Ziolo
Travis, meanwhile, our bands are playing breweries and backyard parties. It's humbling, isn't it?
Reed
You're
Travis
Amen.
Reed
supplying music to the masses, dude. That's it.
Jason Ziolo
I know, but it's so,
Matt
Those
Jason Ziolo
it's
Travis
I take what I can get.
Matt
there's nothing wrong with the birthday party or bar. Nothing wrong.
Jason Ziolo
so blows my mind. Like he's seen success like I've never seen and I've been doing this for 30 years.
Travis
Yeah, it's awesome.
Reed
Not well, apparently.
Jason Ziolo
No, clearly not. I don't have talent. That's the difference.
Matt
Yeah.
Dave Cravotta
Hey,
y you can define success in multiple ways.
Jason Ziolo
Thanks, Dave.
Reed
Dave's always the most uplifting.
Dave Cravotta
Ha ha ha.
Matt
Dave's the voice you're reasoning.
Gotta love Dave.
Travis
did get to play a private show outside near the Indy 500 on race weekend. So that was cool. That was the first I'd never done that before. That was awesome. So
Matt
⁓ yeah. Hell
Reed
That's cool.
Matt
yeah.
Parker
Awesome.
Jason Ziolo
Nice.
Matt
That had to be sick. I'm actually kinda jealous. That had to be fun.
Reed
⁓
I feel like...
Jason Ziolo
Well guys, that's probably a great place to wrap it. AJ, we are so excited for you and your success. We can't wait to see what comes out of it. Parker, your announcement, Alex, your announcement with Pillars is so exciting. Cannot wait to be watching you guys on the road next year for the road trip.
Until then guys, like we talked about last podcast, we have updated rockfanradio.com quite immensely actually. We've got daily news on there with the upcoming rock news. We've got all the episodes. You can even learn more about us on there. So check out rockfanradio.com. Until then, keep it real and we'll see you on the floor.