S5: E2: Stoney Curtis (Stoney Curtis Band / Count's 77) - Leads Hotter Than Desert Sands

Stoney Curtis Master

Fri, Jul 21, 2023 6:23PM • 55:36

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

guitar, band, people, stoney, play, curtis, kiss, album, years, blues, vegas, talked, music, live, great, real, sound, locals, amp, backstage pass, Count’s 77, Stoney Curtis Band, Stoney Curtis, Las Vegas, Coun’ts Vamped, KISS, Byron Nemeth, Randy Hulsey, Randy Hulsey Music, Randy Hulsey Podcast, Crystal Vision Studio, Backstage Pass Radio, Backstage Pass Radio Podcast

SPEAKERS

Adam Gordon, Stoney Curtis, Randy Hulsey

Randy Hulsey  00:00

I am here at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas today with a master of the fretboard. Hey everybody, it's Randy Halsey with backstage pass radio. My guest today is a singer, songwriter and producer and we will chat with Rockstar Stoney Curtis when we return.

Adam Gordon  00:17

This is backstage pass radio, the podcast that's designed for the music junkie with a thirst for musical knowledge. Hi, this is Adam Gordon. And I want to thank you all for joining us today. Make sure you like subscribe and turn the alerts on for this and all upcoming podcasts. And now here's your host of backstage pass radio. Randy Halsey.

Randy Hulsey  00:46

Stoney welcome, man. Good to see you.

Stoney Curtis  00:48

Good to see you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, it's awesome.

Randy Hulsey  00:50

Right on. So tell me real quick how bad traffic was getting over here?

Stoney Curtis  00:54

Well, you know, I had a panic for a minute because I was thinking how am I going to get there? Everything's closed. Everything shut down. Everything's redirect rollers, construction and roadwork going on everywhere between the basic stuff that they need to fix and the f1 Grand Prix coming Harriet's. It's been a nightmare for the locals for sure.

Randy Hulsey  01:17

So I had Andrew de snur. And Jess Ward on yesterday, they were here in the room. And they said it was a nightmare. Getting over here, what would normally take them 15 minutes from where they live was more like 45 minutes to get over here.

Stoney Curtis  01:36

Yeah, it's it's gotten to the point where, you know, I live really close to here and going over to accounts to the studio that we have there. It would literally take me seven minutes to get there. And now it's a it's a whole adventure now. So she's, yeah,

Randy Hulsey  01:52

I was telling them yesterday that I was out in Vegas or not Vegas. I was out in Nashville a month and a half ago. And it's a complete shit show out there. I mean, there are so many people move into that city. Yeah, I think right now it's the most populated like there's more people moving to Nashville than anywhere else in the nation. And there's high rises going up everywhere. It's unbelievable. And I'm sure the native people there are just at their wit's end with that. They're just coming in by the truckloads. They are there too,

Stoney Curtis  02:23

as well. The fact that I was just with a guy who, who has relocated to the Nashville area, I think he said, he's about 45 minutes out of Nashville. But yeah, it's kind of like here. It is a booming town. We're moving there a lot of musicians, of course. So yeah, but right now, it's tough out here. But I'm hoping that the end result is going to be very pleasant for everybody.

Randy Hulsey  02:47

For sure. It's, it's almost like the infrastructure, the roads and the freeways have, they can't keep up with the people that are moving here.

Stoney Curtis  02:56

Well, that's true to me, we talked about this a lot out here too, is that we're just not set up for that much of an influx of people. So real quick, you know, with the, especially during the pandemic, you know, people were just coming here in droves. It seemed like we just can't keep up. But hopefully it levels out a little bit. We're hoping you know, the prices and everything and the traffic and the madness just all kind of start to simmer a bit after a

Randy Hulsey  03:24

bit. Yeah. And I was thinking about it when I was sitting at breakfast this morning. And I sit in I don't know if it has to do with how commercialized Vegas has kind of become over time, but I remember. And of course, times change prices change, I get it but 2530 years ago, you come out here you could go get a buffet for like 299 And now I had I literally had a bowl of oatmeal this morning. And a coffee and it was $23 Yeah, the bowl oatmeal wasn't a big bowl. A small bowl.

Stoney Curtis  03:57

Yeah. The times have changed. Or the, you know, sadly, a lot of the corporate mobs have taken it over instead and they're not so welcoming. And, you know, again, I mean, I used to say that a lot of these places on the strip were welcoming to the locals here now they just kind of treat the locals like they're a nuisance. Yeah. Citizens you know, they charge you for parking there's no deals on anything. It's a sure we're you know, we're not here as tourists we're here is correct, you know, people that are living here and you know, there's no advantage for there's no advantage. Yeah, like I said, it used to be you know, you get the dollar 99 breakfast and, you know, free parking and, you know, discounts for locals and that that seems to be

Randy Hulsey  04:45

a thing of the past. Yeah. Well, that's a well welcome. Welcome to the time's right. I mean, sure. It's kind of like that anywhere you go. So, you know, it sounds like we're picking on Vegas a little bit, but I think wherever you go, it's parking. as $5 for this $10 For that, it's like, oh my god, we didn't pay for this like four years ago, you know now exactly out the wazoo for Well, anyway, it's great to see you finally meet you and catch up with you. I have past guests. Byron Namath on my show. October of last year, I think it was, and I think Byron was my season three, Episode 11. And I remember asking him, kinda post show off the record. I'm like, Who do I need to talk to out in Vegas? And he's like, You need to talk to Stoney. So that's how I reached out to you. So you came by way of Byron, I think I think I mentioned that to you to share. Yeah, shout out to Byron, you know,

Stoney Curtis  05:45

I bought a virus a good guy, and he's new out here. And, and he's out here making waves and, you know, doing some teaching at Guitar Center. He's getting some of his projects in order and yeah, I wish him nothing but success out here. He's good guy.

Randy Hulsey  05:59

He's got a lot of stuff going on from the website designs and the teaching and the new project. I think he just released a new Yeah, I heard it's really cool. Yeah. Yeah. So we talked a little bit about it coming up in the elevator, but share with the listeners a little bit about where you grew up. And what brought you to Vegas to begin with. Sure.

Stoney Curtis  06:22

I grew up in Chicago, on the south side. I lived there till I was about well till I was 19. I think I moved to Los Angeles two weeks after my 19th birthday, I think it was yeah, I moved out to LA I lived out there for 20 plus years, maybe 25 years. I want to say, you know played in bands out there. I worked at KTLA for 15 years, there's a studio they're a KTLA and it's actually some of the original soundstage of I think soundstage one, two and three, were the first original sound stages. Stage six, they did the jazz singer are down there in 1926. Well, so that studio has a lot of history, but I worked there, I ran a lighting department there for about 15 years and, you know, raised my son working there and you know, and I would play in bands, you know, playing my band is as well. Then, you know, later on, you know, I just started coming and playing at the at the blues club here. Back in the day in Vegas. That was Geez, that was like, and then 99, early 2000 I started playing out there and really just kind of really fell in love with it, especially back then. I mean, Vegas was so much fun back a yak in the, you know, 1520 years ago. Not to say that it's not now but it's just, it's just different. Yeah, sure. But, you know, I just found myself being out here more and more. My son was a little bit older. And I met Mike Barney out here, Mike Varney, you know, own shrapnel records and who was my producer for the Stoney Curtis band and the producer of Count 77. We met in 2004. And he signed me in 2000, late 2004 2005 and started doing albums out there and then I found myself just being out here in Vegas more and more and more and you know, by the end of by the end of say 2010 2011 ish was pretty much living here. And by 2012 I was a full time wrestler. Yeah, yeah.

Randy Hulsey  08:25

I guess you got into music at a young age was a as a young for you like what age did you get going?

Stoney Curtis  08:31

Yeah, I want to say you know, I had a I have an older sister and an older brother. And they were both really into music. You know, this was the early 70s. So my sister was into, she really loved Motown a lot. Nice. And you know the Eagles and you know that stuff. And then my brother at the time back then, you know, he was you know, a young teen so it was Pink Floyd. It was Led Zeppelin Alice Cooper, one of the first albums I ever heard was Alice Cooper killer. And then and then my brother had a buddy who gave me the kiss destroyer album and then once once I got that I was all over your word. You know when you're nine years old, or whatever it was, you know, there's the superheroes on a album cover and you know, Detroit Rock City and all that I really just, that's when I really really fell in love with music to the point of where I made a decision I want to play the guitar I want to do this this is what it this is what I love the most and that's really kind of what set me on the path of really getting into it. You know, then of course that progresses into you know, as you get older and other things come in, and other bands and music comes into into your life. You know you your influences and the things that you love expand but that's pretty much where it started for me

Randy Hulsey  09:53

that's interesting that you say that because the I remember kiss being a big thing you know, even when I grew up and There were some there were other bands that were into the the glam rock that you know did the makeup thing you know, you had the of course you had Alice Cooper you had a David Bowie things like you know, things like that there

Stoney Curtis  10:18

was bands like the sweet that's like the original kind of glammy you know that British glam get stuff from the early 70s. And of course that progressed into you know, the kiss and

Randy Hulsey  10:29

exactly in the bull kiss took it to a whole different light. Like I remember, as a kid having kiss trading cards, just Oh, yeah. All this stuff. So they, they market it? Yeah, they marketed the hell out of what they were doing. And they were just this bigger than life. Sure. Band. So when did the guitar play and start? You know, of course you we all kind of form this love for music? I think probably everybody does at an early age. But when did you go to the next level and say, I want to play an instrument. I want to play the guitar. When did that take place?

Stoney Curtis  11:02

Yeah, pretty early. You know, when I first started kind of hearing this music, that's really what kind of really sparked wanting to play the guitar. You know, I think my brother had my brother didn't really play. I mean, maybe, you know, he could play a couple chords or something, maybe. But he had a guitar laying around. And I would just like, strum on it beat and I didn't want to play any chords or anything like that. And I think when I was about 11, my mom got me an acoustic guitar from the neighbors or something. Or either that or we bought it. I know my first two guitars were one of them was an acoustic guitar that we got from the neighbors. You know, I think we bought a an electric guitar at Kmart for like, 69 bucks or something. Yeah, you know, and that's kind of what, that's what kind of starts set me on my journey. You know, and I would take lessons, you know, when I was young, at the local music store, you know, and it just kind of progressed from there. You know, you kind of start to go, Alright, I want to play Cat Scratch Fever, man, I want to do you know, so, yeah,

Randy Hulsey  12:08

you gotta learn some uncle Ted,

Stoney Curtis  12:11

Midwestern boy, you know, we talked about this. Barry and I, the bass player we talked about a lot, you know, is that people, you know, don't realize and maybe some do. But every every region kind of has their style of playing, you know, I mean, I have a good buddy out here, Keith Robert, incredible guitar player and he's from, from New York. And, you know, like Ace Frehley and Keith I mean, a lot of these guys there's a style that they have. It's just kind of kind of this lazy, you know, slow kind of, but it's really cool the way they have it. Their vibrato and stuff like that and Midwestern guys, but for me back then, yeah, I'm a big Gary rich rat fan. Oh, yeah. Early REO Speedwagon. And, you know, a lot of Midwestern guy, the grandfather, the Ted Nugent, REO Speedwagon sticks, all that that Midwestern stuff, those guys all have a vibe today. Yes, like you know, Stevie Ray that touches rice, Johnny Winter and in the west coast. So yeah, but Uncle Ted and all that that's a still a huge influence. Well,

Randy Hulsey  13:15

you know, REO came out of your neck of the woods up there in Illinois, right? Yeah. Big Illinois band yeah they're

Stoney Curtis  13:21

like Rockford Chicago area. You know, I just met James Young at at the end three sticks. Yes. And you know, we talked about because we grew up in the same town. Yeah. Dalton Riverdale that and just a huge influence. I mean, well, it's

Randy Hulsey  13:39

interesting that you mentioned Gary rich wrath. I was always a huge REO fan. And I don't think there was a better high fret player the very rich wrath I mean, he could play the hell out of up there and not those high, the fret, the high frets

Stoney Curtis  13:52

were a great tone great feel. Every every time I listen to especially the live album, you get what you play for. Anytime I listened to that, and I started hearing him play some of those riffs I go God i do that i do that i do that do that and it just kind of I don't know what it just something in the water or the air or whatever. But you know, that's just part of that Midwest air style. It's

Randy Hulsey  14:15

got to be like a subliminal thing. Like it's just instilled in you like like a kid but certain things are instilled in a kid and as you get older you you look back and like wow, I was doing that as a kid and I'm still doing it's like just something that happens and you can't you can't explain it. Well, do you have a guitar brand that you call the one that you go to? Like I think we all have this favorite brand of guitar. Is there one for you that you're you're kind of an exclusive player with or do you do you weave in and out of different brands of guitars but what would you say the go to brand for of guitar is for you?

Stoney Curtis  14:53

Well, Fender Stratocaster is by far an extension of my being. I am a Fender Stratocaster player that's I know my way around the strap like I wouldn't know my way around my own being. But with the count band, I play Gibson's a lot because it's a little bit heavier sound. You know it's humbucker pickups for the most part, les Paul's and I like to play my V and my Explorer. And I have a couple other things but the stony Curtis fan, especially the blues rock stuff, it's pretty much always a Stratocaster and the count ban. Most of the time it's going to be a Gibson it's gonna be a Les Paul or something along that line, but I recently picked up a Stratocaster that has a humbucker in it, so I kind of played a Fender strap and I have some other stuff I buy my first real guitar that my mother and I got when I was in for eighth grade graduation was IBNS Iseman that I still have and second it and Adi Iseman. I think it's I love that guitar and not like a Paul Stanley for sure. Yeah, it's like gray when I've got the cream pickups in it, but that guitar I haven't I have like a Shabbat which is a boutique guitar and I have some other ones I probably own about 2530 guitars but they're all pretty much Gibson or fender, ya know, I tried to keep it just, you know, at the end of to a select few. Yeah, at the end of the day, you know, it's Gibson and fender, they got it right pretty much the first time and anything else is just trying to be something like a Gibson offshore.

Randy Hulsey  16:29

Well, it was interesting because I gravitated over the years. I'm a singer songwriter out of Cyprus, and I play in an acoustic duo, my lead guitarist, he plays mostly the electric guitar, but I've gravitated toward the acoustic guitar heavily over the last 20 or 30 years. But it was interesting because my son is a huge Stevie Ray Bond fan and plays a couple of has a couple of the Stevie Ray Vaughan model strats. But it was interesting to like put that guitar on and then put that Les Paul on those les Paul's are heavy guitars, man and I really didn't realize it because I'm so used to that. That hollow body acoustic Taylor player and I put that thing in I was like, holy cow. I couldn't imagine playing a three hour show with it around my neck. So I gotta be in shape to do that.

Stoney Curtis  17:18

It's a whole different thing, especially with the count band i i want to say I have about kind of have four or five les Paul's I guess, but I have one that is chambered which is so it's a little bit of weight relief on it. Okay, but I have you know, Seymour Duncan custom shop, a JDS in it, I have a tone pros locking stuff on it that most of the time with the count band that would would be the guitar that I would travel with because it's like, it's bulletproof. Yeah. And it's gonna no matter what the situation is, I know it's, I can get a decent sound out of it. And you know, in the count band, we do shows anywhere from an hour and 45 to 245. So I mean, get some Bruce Bruce Springsteen. We just love to play and and you know, that 70 style, we just go for it. But yeah, it's much easier. strats are a little bit easier on the back. And you know, the big difference with those two is a Fender Stratocaster is like a work of man's guitar. It's a blue, blue collar guitar, you can throw it against the wall, and it's fine. And you know, Gibson's are a little bit more. You know, you can't throw him against tender, right? Yeah,

Randy Hulsey  18:32

right. So yeah, well, in your own words, what would you say? So I've never considered myself a lead player. I play rhythm in the duo. And in your own words, what makes somebody become a good lead player? If you had to give somebody one piece of advice? Okay, Randy, you want to play lead? This is what you need to focus on. What What would you tell me to work on? I'm asking this question for the people listening that are guitar players to that might want to learn to play to be a good lead player. Well, you know, there's so many people that talk about this bought the pentatonic, you know, some and all that, like, I just, you know, I didn't know what your thoughts Yeah,

Stoney Curtis  19:18

you know, for me, I had I don't know how to answer that. You know, I mean, plainly guitar, you know, it's kind of like an expression, you know, it's like you're speaking, you know, so,

Randy Hulsey  19:33

I know it's a feel thing for guys like it for guys like you that are very experienced and playing lead. You don't even think about it right? You get up there and play. But I didn't know if there was something that you said, Well, you really need this as your foundation as a lead player. You got to do this. First

Stoney Curtis  19:52

you have to practice number one, and you have to you know, practice your scales and you know, knowing the difference between a major scale and a minor Scale is helpful. And you know, knowing the relatives to the both are always helpful. But it's always gonna be, you know, how you express yourself how you speak with the guitar, and it's going to be, you know, for me, I definitely play with a lot of feel and a lot of passion and a lot of emotion. And I just kind of let that kind of take over, I don't really try to think about it too much of going, Oh, I have to go this this this or

Randy Hulsey  20:25

it's not methodical, it's and the guitar just speaks for what your fingers are, is going

Stoney Curtis  20:29

to speak, you know, the guitar is a is a living entity to me, it's definitely got an energy to attend a Vive. And when we're in sync together, that's where the kind of the magic comes from. And the magic will also just come from just letting it come out of you naturally from your heart and from your being rather than trying to think about it too much. You know, guitar can be you know, music is mathematical, you know, so you can tend to get into that mathematical field which is not going to you know, it's not usually going to translate to your your passion short, because I can't get the candle at your head getting away. Yeah. So I think that's what it is for me.

Randy Hulsey  21:13

Then it comes off robotic, I think. Yeah, fabricated. I

Stoney Curtis  21:18

mean, there's certainly a million guys that are way better than I am. But you know, they're not going to there. But there's, there's nobody that's going to come at you from the same place that I'm coming from you coming at you with right where you're not going to out rock me you're not cut out passion me you're not you know, I mean, you can be as passionate and rock as hard but you know, you're gonna have a hard time doing it harder.

Randy Hulsey  21:45

Well, and BB King said it years ago, like I think he said I'm not the best lead guitar player in the world. But this is all it's all feel. It's all timing right? Sure. That's that's what it is. Yeah, so that guitar just speaks through him and what he's feeling at the time. It's not flashy, you know, if you if you think about it, if you compare like a BB King to a guy like and totally different styles, but a guy like invade mountain steam sure that they don't even compare on the on the speed level, but his is more, you know, feel

Stoney Curtis  22:18

sure. Yeah. You know, I think the I think Bae is going to be a little bit more mathematical in, in a classical kind of sense, you know, you know, and BV is just all that blues feel. And that's kind of, you know, the cloth that I'm kind of cut from is that I lose the Chicago bluesy vibe. Yeah. So, yeah, I mean, it's really, you know, but everybody's got different tastes, you know, nobody's right or wrong. It's just, you know, what appeals to you. And absolutely, and what, what your, what your ear likes, you know? Yep.

Randy Hulsey  22:50

Well, you mentioned a couple of projects earlier. You have several active Stoney Curtis. Man, you mentioned that one, you mentioned Count 77. All right. Did I miss any? Is there any other than those two? Are those your current two main?

Stoney Curtis  23:07

A lot of people think that I play in all these different bands. I really don't. I have the Count 77 band with Danny Coker and Zito and Barry and Jeff and Tommy. And then you know, I've had but it all really stems from the trio, the stony Curtis band, because I've had that sense, since about 96. And that's, you know, the band that met Mike Barney, and that's the band that started at all. But that's really it. You know, I do, I just played with a buddy of mine, Jason Walker, who's credible singer guitar player. And he calls that Jason Walker and a majestic 12. So I was one of the majestic 12. And I've done that several times with him. But it's just kind of like, you know, having fun with my buddies. Yeah. And, and I'm playing second guitar. It's really just about showcasing Jason and I kind of lay back and yeah, I you know, I have my couple of moments. But you know, I tried to lay a nice bed of guitar rhythms for him to play against and sing against and he's really phenomenal. And I do that, and we just did it recently. And it was it's so much fun. But you know that and then I have my charity the kiss night in Las Vegas. That takes up a lot of my time as well. But that's really it. Those are my those are my things I do. You know, we have the recording studio accounts, and that I run there and I'm in there every day, you know, working on my own stuff or stuff or the counter, you know, doing a solo for for a guy right now. So yeah, that's pretty much what I do.

Randy Hulsey  24:34

Well, I think the stony Curtis band you guys had roughly what six seven albums? Yeah, that's

Stoney Curtis  24:40

right. Yeah, I got two of them. I'm working on right now. I'm working on a new studio album with new original songs, which I'm really excited about because I haven't done one since 2013 of new original stuff. And then I have a live album called still alive after all these years. I recorded my birthday show I did had Vamped in February with bunch of guests and it just came out so good that, you know, there's a girl woman, Michelle Adams who's doing a documentary about me and she bought some of the songs from the orchard you know who, who owns the loans the recordings down, but we want to do a couple of rerecord she was so she wasn't have to pay all all this money for all of the songs. And so I recorded the evening, but it came out so great that I go, you know, I'm gonna just kind of put this out as a limited edition live album that kind of get the ball rolling again for the stony Curtis stuff that I can get out right now while we're finishing up the new studio album. So yeah,

Randy Hulsey  25:41

well, I think you you mentioned a live album, but there was also a live album back in 2012. Yeah, right. And there was I think you got a lot, a lot of press and a lot of great reviews from that live.

Stoney Curtis  25:53

I did. Yeah, I did. You know, I mean, if I'm being really honest, I'm not a big fan of that album. I mean, it's, it's, it's good. It's okay. But it wasn't my band. You know, I was using a pickup band who actually played the band and played on it to musicians are incredible. But, and they did my Cosmic Connection album, they were the bass player and drummer for that. But you know, this was we did a double bill, myself and Eric Gales, but we use the same rhythm section, rightfully so he had the majority of the time with these guys to work out the stuff. And so, you know, it's like, it's cool, but it's not. It's not the perfect representation of what the stony Curtis band is, this will be a little bit more like Dan and I had a, you know, my first album that I that I kind of put out, that Mike Barney heard was, I had an album called alive and unleashed, which was just, you know, I put it out myself, but it kind of has a really big cult following really did really well for me. So I have that one. And that's, you know, that's the band of what it was back then. But yeah, I do have that that amount and it is good and has a DVD with it, and it is good. But you know, it's not my go to Stoney Curtis. Alvin,

Randy Hulsey  27:11

will you? We talked a little bit about count 77 How does the music and counts differ from Stoney Curtis band?

Stoney Curtis  27:21

Well, it's still Mike and I writing the songs as we do for the stony Curtis band spike Barney and I and then, you know, with the count band, of course, we bring in Danny as well and he brings in some lyrics for us to work out but the count band is more designed as a 70s Hard Rock Band. So it's a little bit more resembling meets Leonard Skinner meets fog hat Thin Lizzy. That kind of stuff to where it's Tony Curtis band is straight power trio blues rock Robin Trower, Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, that kind of vibe more with that. But the count band, it's bigger. Dan's got two guitars. And it's more that Les Paul, you know, dueling guitars, and, and Danny's a great singer. And he's got a really cool vibe. And the songs are great and the great stories to them. But that would be the big difference is that the Taliban would be a little bit heavier. Okay, heavier handed more crunchy hard rock where the stony band will be a little bit more of that strategy blues of heavy blues, Robin Trower kind,

Randy Hulsey  28:20

okay. Well, I think there was a couple of releases that you've had with counts as well, right? Maybe 2014 2017 as a release, okay. From a live performance perspective, where can the locals and people that are coming in to Vegas, where can they find you play? And are you are you guys holed up in a residency somewhere like you do have a place that you guys play all the time or convert

Stoney Curtis  28:49

for Vegas? You know, both bands do a lot of traveling all over North America, but in Vegas, it's usually Vamped, which to me is the world's greatest rock club. I'll say that. And it's not because I'm biased. There's so many reasons why it's the world's greatest rock club. It has incredible sound incredible lighting, old school lighting, great stage, but the way Danny and Corey and their staff treat the musicians and the patrons it's first class second to none, that you're treated like family, their bands, no matter who they are. If they're local band or a traveling national band, you're treated like a rock star there and taken care of in the best way so Vande is always number one for me. The story man plays there I'm playing there couple of days. The Count band of course it's Danny's club. So when we unless we're doing some special event, we keep it at band and then I played sand dollar also with the with the trio. You know, I cut my teeth at the sand dollar that's where we get nowhere, where Mike Varney found me was at Sand Dollar. And this is great still, you know, it's a little bit different than it was back in the day. Back in the day. It was a straight up blues bar. biker bar. And we would have everybody from doctors and lawyers to the greasiest biker that you could think of sure of it. But those are my two places that I play in Vegas 90% of the time.

Randy Hulsey  30:11

Well, I think that's important, you know, to go on the record to call them out and talk about how well they treat the artist and musician because there's so many out there, and I don't play music to the level that you do. Like I don't make a living doing it. But there are so many venues that don't respect the musicians worth a piss right and it's in it's disheartening. it's disheartening for me but it's even more disheartening for I know it's gonna be even more so disheartening for the people that make a living doing that. And it's like, man, you just feel kind of like a second hand citizen. I'm here. I'm here to entertain your patrons right and to become an extension of your staff. So I but yet you treat us like our like, like, yeah, like a redheaded stepchildren? Not that there's anything wrong with a redheaded stepchildren. But, you know,

Stoney Curtis  31:05

I get it. Yeah. And, again, as well. I always say Vamped is the world's greatest rock club. Yeah, every place is different. I mean, it could be, you know, the way that people treat you, it could be, you know, the equipment that they have. I mean, you know, all these things factor into it into a good performance. But, you know, the one thing that you don't want is your five killed? Yeah,

Randy Hulsey  31:26

for sure. So we're sitting, we're sitting in the hotel at MGM Grand here on the strip in Vegas, where is Vamped in the city? What What's it close to what landmark Can you tell the listeners, it's close to the what hotel or the,

Stoney Curtis  31:42

it's on the west side of town, it's on Sahara, and just east of ray of rainbow, it's on the west side. So

Randy Hulsey  31:51

it's not a strip kind of anywhere around? Now, it'd be,

Stoney Curtis  31:56

you could get there in 20 minutes from anywhere more. So could I show but, ya know, it's a standalone building. It's on the west side, it's probably, you know, maybe five miles from the street. Okay.

Randy Hulsey  32:07

All right. share with the listeners a little bit about the difference in acid blues, versus a blues, like a traditional blues. Like when we talked about BB King earlier. Let's just call that traditional blues are I remember, maybe this called something different. But I know you kind of put yourself in that acid blues genre, if you will. Not that artists like to be plugged into a genre, but define acid blues, and then what we know as maybe as say at the Stevie Ray Vaughan, Texas blues, right?

Stoney Curtis  32:43

So for me, my sound I've always said it's like, it's a fusion of that 70s Hard Rock with Chicago blues, Texas blues, British blues, acid blues would be kind of for me anyway, it's that same kind of vibe. But you know, Robin Trower, and that psychedelic kind of blues, that Hendrix kind of stuff where it's a little bit heavier than just like, you know, your BB King kind of blues, you know, the guitars are going to be a little bit heavier, maybe you got a little swirl in their little phase going on from time to time. And the attack is a little bit more in a rock way. So that pretty much kind of sums it up. It's a fusion of just the heavier rock fused with a blue sensibility. And you know, it had you know, of course, it's heavy, heavy on the on the guitar.

Randy Hulsey  33:41

Okay. Why do you think it was the guitar that you gravitated to? What Why not the flute? Why not? The mandolin? Why don't you know what else?

Stoney Curtis  33:51

Yeah, I've always I've always been attracted to stringed instruments. I love the sound of them. I love playing them. I love you know, I love playing the ukulele, the banjo. Anything with strings on it? I love playing. You know, I wanted to play drums but my mom shot that down.

Randy Hulsey  34:09

She didn't want all the

Stoney Curtis  34:12

play the drums too. But I love drums. I love drummers. I love watching drummers. I like to play the drums a little bit. I can you know, I could play some beats and stuff like that. But I leave that to the professionals. Right. But ya know, I do love the drums. But yeah, I think you know, the sound of the guitar. I mean, you know, hearing those early kiss records or the Alice Cooper or, you know, getting into blues Michael Schenker, of course a huge one for me. You know, I just always love the sound of the guitar. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  34:45

That's interesting that you say that about the drums and in. I'm not educated on drums. I just bought a set of electronic drums from a local musician. And I just I have a studio In my home and I said, I've got to have a set of drums. But right now I don't have room for a full acoustic kit. So I wanted something a little more concise. Even though I'm expanding, I've decided to expand the studio. But I don't remember if you know as a kid, going back 40 years ago or whatever, if elected, I don't know that electronic drums were even a thing back then maybe it was just the acoustic drums as we knew them today. But the cool thing about the electric drums is, while I'm learning to play the beats, like you said, you know, the simple beats and whatnot. I don't have to like run everybody out of the house at home, I can put on headphones. Sure. And I only hear him in my ears. And you might you might hear this little tapping in my studio, but but unlike the acoustic drums back in the day, I mean, it was just begging the you know, the windows were rattling and you're driving people crazy. You

Stoney Curtis  35:54

might be able to muffle a person. We didn't have all that. Sure,

Randy Hulsey  35:57

no. Well, I know that. We talked about Byron a little bit earlier. And we talked about him teaching there at Guitar Center here in Vegas, do you offer lessons as well? Do you get into that kind of thing? Or is that really not your forte is

Stoney Curtis  36:13

not really my thing. You know, I will teach you know, some people some stuff here and there. But yeah, it's just it's just never been

Randy Hulsey  36:20

it's not a structured thing that yeah, like, yeah, I have, you know, Zoom lessons for $50 An hour or whatever, you don't do it like that.

Stoney Curtis  36:28

I don't do that. You know, some people are really, really good at and teachers, some people aren't, I just just never really never really appealed to me much to be a teacher.

Randy Hulsey  36:41

Isn't that funny how, because the guy in and I say this, because the guy that sold me the drums is a phenomenal drummer. But he's like, I play by ear. I can't teach you how to play the drums. And I think there's a lot of guitar players that have just learned to become really good guitar players, but don't know a lick about theory and why technically they do what they do, they just know how to make it work. So for you to sit and try to explain that to me. You have no idea how to go about articulating that to me. But if I if you just take the guitar and turn it up to 10 I mean, it's like how do you not teach that? You know, Stoney? It's like you're you're an amazing player. But you just don't know how to articulate Yeah, somebody

Stoney Curtis  37:26

Exactly. You know, cuz. Yeah, cuz everybody's got a style and everybody's got a thing. And at this point, I just, you know, yes. Some people are cut out for that.

Randy Hulsey  37:37

Yeah, I get it. And from kind of from a Rig Rundown perspective, what is a go to string? What strings are you kind of married to one

Stoney Curtis  37:48

of us? Well, I like Dario, and I like Everly guitar strings, JHS, I play a elevens for the most part, and then some guitars I have 10s. Okay.

Randy Hulsey  38:00

Does it just depend on what you're playing in the it depends

Stoney Curtis  38:03

on the guitar really good. Okay. Most most of my guitars have elevens on it, because I just like, uh, you know, I just like a little bit more resistance. But some of them, you know, some of them like the 10s. So I do have a couple of guitars that I have hands on. So just really depends on the guitar. But for the most part, I like a little bit thicker string,

Randy Hulsey  38:21

do you feel like you get more sound from a heavier gauge string? Or is that hard to tell with an acoustic? Guitar? Right.

Stoney Curtis  38:29

You know, I used to think so that maybe you know, the elevens have a little bit more of a sting to them. But that maybe, maybe not. Yeah,

Randy Hulsey  38:37

it'd be in your mind.

Stoney Curtis  38:39

Yes, that makes sometimes 10s are just fine. So sure. Well, I

Randy Hulsey  38:42

know it's a little bit. It's a little bit different from a acoustic perspective, when you know, you put a medium on versus a light, you can tell the difference. And I just didn't know how prevalent and it was to an electric guitar when you're when you're playing through an app. Like if you could really tell that much of a difference, right?

Stoney Curtis  39:03

Yeah. Yeah. Because, you know, with acoustics, I tend to like a little bit lighter string on an acoustic. Okay. Yeah, so yeah, I think it's just really it's all just, I don't know if if the gauge is really messing with the sound too much. Maybe a little here and there. But, you know, I think it really, just again, it's just it's all personal preference.

Randy Hulsey  39:28

What about from an amplifier perspective? Is there something that you place exclusively or specifically,

Stoney Curtis  39:34

I like real amps. I don't like any of this fake stuff. I don't like the campers. I don't like the line six. I that stuff to me is garbage. Just my again. My personal opinion. They sound like garbage. People say no. Now there's no violence and there's no air and um, to me, okay, so I prefer real amps. I like a Marshall. I have a 1980 JMP, that is That's like my holy grail amp. That is great. And then I, so I use a martial mostly with the comp and it's usually a martial with Stoney bam. I've been playing mainly fenders lately, and sometimes I'll use it with a martial. But yeah, like a Fender super fender pro reverb, or a Marshall, JMP, or martial 800. I pretty much stick with that.

Randy Hulsey  40:24

I'm gonna walk back to the way you answer that question. And for the, for the casual guitar listener, somebody that's just maybe getting into guitar and maybe somebody that just loves music that doesn't even get into the instruments. You mentioned, real amps. And I'm sure I know exactly what you're talking about. But for the casual listener, they might ask themselves, is there another kind of AMP other than a real amp? What when you talk about the campers and the line sixes explain to the listeners, what's different in those in a real amp? Sure.

Stoney Curtis  41:04

Well, I mean, a real amp is a you know, it's an actual amplifier. You know, if it's a combo amp, it has a speaker in it, you know, I prefer a good old fashioned tube amp, you know, when it warms up, and it has that saturation, and it has that warmth to it has that push to it pushes air, you know, these fake amps, these digital amps, they're not they're not amplifier, they're like digital processors that, you know, mimic what the real thing is, in the on some of them they sound fine. Until it's sitting next to the real deal. And the real deal is, yeah, you know,

Randy Hulsey  41:36

so it's a simulators. Basically, a canned simulator simulators that are basically a canned sound, and that you can take a box or a floor pedal, and program it can, it can sound like many, many different things, whereas your, if you have a real amp, that you call it a real amp, you're gonna get that sound. And that sounds only right, it's not pretty about 72 This or a 68 that it's that you kick

Stoney Curtis  42:05

in with any with some, you know, some different pedals and stuff. You know, with the Fender amps, they're clean amps, so they don't have like gain and, um, you know, so I'll kick it with like an archer pedal, or, you know, or super overdrive something to give it a little, little gritten Loose saturation. But yeah, to me, there's just nothing like that sound of a real to measure fire that you know, the hum and the, the push of air and, you know, I guess some some guys like this, this camper thing, because, you know, they just take bring their little lunchbox and they plug it in, and then they can plug it right into the PA system. And they can keep that garbage well in,

Randy Hulsey  42:41

I think, to where those probably come in handy as if you're in a band and you're mimicking and let's say you're in a cover band, and you're mimicking a bunch of different bands, like you play ACDC, one song and then you jump over and do some Maroon Five, it's kind of hard to match that sound, maybe a real amp whereas shared with those pedals. They can they can simulate those types of bands and make it sound more like the real thing. Sure, I

Stoney Curtis  43:07

get I mean, if you're playing in a casino or something like that, you know, I get it, but that's just not what either. Yeah,

Randy Hulsey  43:12

exactly. So we talked about the the campers, the line sixes from a pedal perspective. What are some of your go to pedals on your board? Yeah, I

Stoney Curtis  43:22

always keep it simple. It's a it's a wah wah pedal. It is a kicker of some sort. And when I say kicker, it's like, an overdrive pedal or something something like so it's either a it's a boss super overdrive or it's the archer pedal, or it's something like that right? Phase 90 is always a chorus pedal is always I'm not a delay guy. I really don't have delay pedals. I've never really used echoes and delays and stuff. I should because it probably would make my life a little bit easier. But that's pretty much it maybe in some kind of Rotary. You know, I have a you know, that gives you like that Leslie simulation, you know, rather be a roto vibe or Univibe of some sort or you know, Strymon has a flex pedal. Yeah, that's really good. Yeah. But that's pretty much it. I keep it basic simple stuff. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  44:12

I want to touch briefly on counts Vamped and give me a high level rundown what what is counts Vamped

Stoney Curtis  44:20

what counts we had this Danny koker that account owns owns Vamped. It's like we've talked about it is the world's greatest rock club. It's it's kind of designed after the old Sunset Strip kind of vibe clubs. The PA system way too big for the place. The lighting rig way too big for the place. That's why it's awesome. It's just it's an old school. Rock and roll club. You know, we don't have disco night. We don't have karaoke, karaoke night or Latin night or anything else. It is a straight up

Randy Hulsey  44:53

rock and roll roll. Right? Is there still an annual event that happens at counts? that it I think I read something about. It's an annual event that gets broadcasted around the world.

Stoney Curtis  45:06

That's my kiss night in Las Vegas, which speak to that. That's, I think that's where I was trying to say, it's a charity event that myself and my partners have been doing since 2012. This this year, it's on Saturday, October 7, this will be our eighth kiss night, of course, we had a couple of years off with pandemic pandemic. And then we then one year, we had the shooting out here. So we did our kiss night was scheduled to be a week after that. And we said, you know, let's just do a, we just did a charity event for the Victims Fund that that year. So this will be our eighth kiss night. And it's basically, you know, myself and Sean McKee and Keith Robert John O'Connor and a couple other folks that get involved with it. It's, it's about raising money for our schools here, right, our music departments here in Clark County, who always kind of seemed to kind of get the short end of the stick, you know, when it comes to being able to get new equipment and stuff like that. So we try to raise money for that we'll get a list from a school of some stuff that they that they need, we raise some money, and we go and we buy the instruments and deliver them and are cool. So but yeah, it's all based around our love of Kiss, it's all kiss all night. I mean, I have a drum riser that is a tank that has a turret on it that spits out smoke and shoots confetti and, and it's going to be anywhere from five to eight hours of non stop kiss music. And we we have locals that are involved in local musicians, and we have some national people that get involved in it. And it's like, it's like a no other event at school. It is just just a killer, killer night. And it's for a great reason. And it's it's something that I'm passionate about and have been passionate about. And, you know, we donate our time we donate our, our talents, and we put a lot a lot of work into it. But it the payoff is second to none. Yeah.

Randy Hulsey  47:12

Sometimes you can't put a monetary value on something that touches the hearts of people, you know, given an instrument to a kid that can't afford it or school that can't afford it. Right.

Stoney Curtis  47:22

Yeah. And on a local level, you know, we want to expand it and make more money. But we've raised about 150 175 grand, I think over the over the course of these things on a local level to me, you know, hey,

Randy Hulsey  47:34

that's super cool, man. Super cool. How does a musician get involved in that? Is it by invitation only is it bring your guitar and come jam with us? We don't know who you are, like, how did the music How do you get to be a part of that? Yeah, it's

Stoney Curtis  47:50

an invitation. You know, people will reach out of course, and it is a rehearsed organized. Event. Yeah. We know, we know everybody that's going to come in and what they're gonna do once in a while, you know, we've had, you know, some people pop in, you know, that are known guys that are kiss fanatics. And they pop up and we'll jump up on something. But for the most part, it's all invitation. It's, it's organized, it's rehearsed. It's a it's a really,

Randy Hulsey  48:22

I didn't know if it was like an improv kind of thing where he's come up. Okay, what do y'all want to do? Okay. I gotcha. Foley,

Stoney Curtis  48:30

it's the real deal. Okay. You know, I mean, you know, the one stipulation that we, that we try to adhere to, is that you have to be a kiss fan. Yeah. You gotta be into the music, you know, it's a prerequisite. Yeah. If you're not, and it's just, you know, I mean, a lot of there's a lot of people that would like to be involved in it, because it's, you know, it's great exposure, and it's, you know, we broadcasted live around the world on the internet, and, you know, so it's not for you to just be you know, to to have a vehicle to promote yourself, it's about the event. And we tried to keep it about about kiss and we want you to be a kiss fan.

Randy Hulsey  49:11

Do you feel like or do you know if if any of the guys from Kiss have heard about the event? Okay.

Stoney Curtis  49:18

Oh, yeah, they're, they're quite aware of a nice yeah. A lot of the guys kiss live here. Bruce lives out here. Eric Singer lives out here. Tommy lives out here. But I don't think that there's anything that happens in this world that kiss is not aware of Sure. Yeah, they're in tune with what's there in tune what's going on and then and to this point, they've been cool with what would we do? I haven't got a cease and desist.

Randy Hulsey  49:44

Yeah, and some bands are kind of funny about that. And

Stoney Curtis  49:46

I'm kind of funny like that. But you know, I mean, but the thing is about this event is that we do it with a pure heart, and we do it for the right reason. And again, we're not looking we're not making a dime on For this, everybody I mean, it probably cost me more money than we that we ever make it in the long term of it yet, but it is a labor of love and we do it, like I said, with a pure heart. So that's super cool. And who can

Randy Hulsey  50:12

squash that? How do you how do you I mean, that's got to be, I'd have to say that would be a real douche move.

Stoney Curtis  50:19

Wasn't the ultimate? That would be a good look at anyone. No,

Randy Hulsey  50:22

that would be the definition of a douche move, I would think but, you know, Stranger things have happened. You know, you spoke a little bit about stuff that you're doing. Is there anything new musically coming up for the stony band and talk to the listeners a little bit about any new projects that you can talk about right from from new stuff coming out?

Stoney Curtis  50:45

Yeah, I'm working on a new studio album right now. For Sony Curtis band, it's gonna be killer, really gonna be killer. And then I have a new live album coming out. It's gonna be a limited edition that we recorded at the birthday show. That'll be coming out. I want to say in the next month that will be out in the next month, the album covers being worked on right now. We're finishing up the mix on it right now. And that's gonna be really good. The Count 77 is also going to have a live album that we recorded a live show a while ago that we're going to stream we just never did it. But we have the recording. We're going to put that on his album. And then once I'm done with the Stoney Curtis solo album, a studio album, then we'll fall right into a new count 77 Studio. Oh, cool. Both of them are long overdue, but they gotta be really great. Excited for people to hear it.

Randy Hulsey  51:36

Well, you can't rush goodness, you can't rush perfection right now. And

Stoney Curtis  51:40

it's, you know, we have the ability to kind of be able to take our time a little bit with the studio. So they're going to be great sonically. They're going to be great. And I'm hoping all the planes can

Randy Hulsey  51:53

run. Yeah. Where can the listeners find you and the boys on social media

Stoney Curtis  51:59

everything? Stoney Curtis band.com Count 70 seven.com at Stoney Curtis 77 on Twitter and Instagram. You know, Facebook, Stoney, Curtis, Count 77, Stoney Curtis ban any of the social media platforms I don't do tick tock that's for children. I don't do it. I don't get the Tick Tock thing but I three major, you know, Insta, Twitter, Facebook. If you search Stoney, Curtis, Stoney Curtis ban or counts 77, you'll find us

Randy Hulsey  52:36

you're much like me, they're like I set up a tick tock page. And I don't I don't get the whole making silly videos to promote yourself and whatnot. But some people are killing it, doing it. But I feel like I'm out of that age bracket to be to kind of be going down that path. So I'll leave I'll leave that to the younger generation.

Stoney Curtis  52:59

Those kids do that. And you know, give all your information to the Chinese. Do whatever you want. That's another podcast. I don't know what's going on with that stuff. I just again. They have enough information on me.

Randy Hulsey  53:14

I get it. Yeah, they know more about you than they think you will study Listen, man, it's been super cool having you I appreciate you sharing your story. I wish you guys continued success. I look forward to hearing the new stuff that's coming out and sharing that on my socials when it comes out and hopefully given you a few new ears to listen to that stuff. And that's really what this is all about. You know, it was kind of a labor of love to for me to start this out. Being a local artist and cypress Texas to try to give back to my peers. Even if I give you two more listeners it's two more listeners they didn't have and it's and it's gone from those two listeners to now heard in almost 80 countries right so it's it's grown organically and you know like I said if if we can turn a few more people on to to your endeavors to people tell to people tell people right we

Stoney Curtis  54:11

well we remember the Charlie or whatever was the they told to

Randy Hulsey  54:19

word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising. So again, I wish you continued success in your personal life and musical endeavors. You guys go out and follow Stoney on his social media outlets and make sure to take a peek at Stoney Curtis band.com If the listeners to like share and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at backstage pass radio podcast on Instagram at backstage pass radio, Twitter at backstage pass BC and on the website at backstage pass. radio.com You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of backstage pass Radio.

Adam Gordon  54:59

Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoyed today's episode of backstage pass radio. Make sure to follow Randy on Facebook and Instagram at Randy Hulsey music and on Twitter at our Halsey music. Also, make sure to like, subscribe and turn on alerts for upcoming podcasts. If you enjoyed the podcast, make sure to share the link with a friend and tell them backstage pass radio is the best show on the web for everything music. We'll see you next time right here on backstage pass radio