Backstage Pass Radio

S4: E8: Russ Ballard (Argent) - Masterful Lyricist From Waltham Cross

March 15, 2023 Backstage Pass Radio Season 4 Episode 8
Backstage Pass Radio
S4: E8: Russ Ballard (Argent) - Masterful Lyricist From Waltham Cross
Show Notes Transcript

Date: March 15, 2023
Name of podcast: Backstage Pass Radio
Episode title and number:  S4: E8: Russ Ballard (Argent) - Masterful Lyricist From Ware


Artist Bio -
Originally coming to prominence as the lead singer and guitarist for the band Argent, Ballard became a songwriter and producer by the late 1970s. His compositions "New York Groove", "You Can Do Magic", "Since You Been Gone", "I Surrender", "Liar", "Winning", "I Know There's Something Going On", "Can't Shake Loose", "So You Win Again" and "God Gave Rock and Roll to You" were hits for other artists during the 1970s and 1980s. He also scored several minor hits under his own name in the early and mid-1980s.


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Artist Media Handles:
Website - www.russballardmusic.com
Instagram  - https://www.instagram.com/russballardmusicofficial/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/russballard.music/


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Your Host,
Randy Hulsey 

 

Russ Ballard Mixdown Master

Sat, Mar 11, 2023 9:32AM • 1:37:57

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

song, recorded, band, play, called, write, music, album, day, hear, people, argent, sound, listeners, voices, head, listen, guitar, studio, night, Russ Ballard, Argent, America, Kiss, Santana, Ware, Three Dog Night, Russ Ballard Music, Backstage Pass Radio, Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, Randy Hulsey, Randy Hulsey Music, Randy Hulsey Podcast, Podcast, Music Interview, Hold Your Head Up, Abbey Road

SPEAKERS

Randy Hulsey, Russ Ballard

 

Randy Hulsey  00:00

Today I will be chatting with a singer songwriter that has been pumping out hits for decades. Hey you guys, it's Randy Hulsey with backstage pass radio. My guest today hails from Waltham cross Hartfordshire. He was the lead singer of the band Argent is a multi instrumentalist, a charting solo artist and a prolific songwriter that has written hits for some of the greats. We will chat with Russ Maillard when we return. 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. Ross Hello, and welcome.

 

Russ Ballard  00:56

Hi, Randy. How are you?

 

Randy Hulsey  00:58

I'm good. Thank you. Good. Good. I guess we had a little a little snafu there. In the beginning with the technology, we were talking a little bit about how technology is both a blessing and a curse all at the same time. But we finally got it ironed out. Great to see you. And I'm glad you're here, man.

 

Russ Ballard  01:16

Yes. Good to be here.

 

Randy Hulsey  01:18

So where are you calling in from right now?

 

Russ Ballard  01:21

From a place called where? w ay. Ay where? Okay. This Christ historic town. You know, it's got a good history, you know, but I was only done eight miles from where I'm talking from. Madness. Really? I've got a lot of friends around here.

 

Randy Hulsey  01:42

You know, good, good. Well, I'm sure you've made many of them over the years. Yeah, I think so. Yeah. So I wanted to get some quick housekeeping out of the way by sending a sending a shout out to spin for being instrumental and getting us connected. So I wanted to thank him for that. And again, glad you're

 

Russ Ballard  02:02

here is a good man. It's fun. It's beautiful man death.

 

Randy Hulsey  02:06

He helps you a lot, right. Oh, yeah,

 

Russ Ballard  02:09

I've got some good friends and is one that is up there. But yeah, it's one of the best.

 

Randy Hulsey  02:13

Yeah, that's good. That's great. And we'll talk about him and the podcast a little bit more here shortly. But, you know, decades in the music scene all over the world. Did you know At an early age that that was going to be your calling? No, no,

 

Russ Ballard  02:33

no, I am in no, no, I didn't really think I didn't think I'd ever be a professional musician when I was young. It's a strange run. You know, I always, you know, I always played an instrument from as long as I can remember, my dad was a drummer. My mom was a dancer. And so I've gravitated to music. I was always listen to music. My mother was playing music and my dad, sometimes I used to take me around to see my dad's band. And I just sat on his lap, you know, and played the drums, he used to hold my hands with his band. He had a Dixieland band, you know, to do better to do stuff. And so I played the drums. I didn't play the drums. But it was so exciting to sit in sort of any hit for on the bass drum data, your data today. It was really exciting. I went home. I didn't have any drums myself, because I was only about three, four years old. But I remember playing a biscuit tin with knitting needles. Wow. Yeah, interesting. Ambition. My ambition was to play sort of her drum break doo, doo doo doo dah dah dah dah dah dah, dah dah, dah does something hand to hand, you know. So then they sent me to piano lessons. I was playing the piano when I was eight, which I hated piano lessons. Okay, and I could pick out tunes and I could pick out chords and things when I was young. So I went to piano lessons for five years, till I was 12, eight 910 1112 Four years. And I wanted to guitar. So with that bought me a guitar when I was 12. I wanted to guitar. So I'd love the idea of playing the guitar. So I mean, I used to play the guitar all the time, because the only other thing I loved in life actually was football was you know, was you call soccer in the States? Sure. The only thing the two things I loved I was pretty good football and which I wanted to. I wanted to be in professional football when I was young. And but when I got into a band, every all my friends wanted to be in a band, you know, people I hung out with, they all liked music. And you know, we started a skiffle group when I was 12 when I learned six or nine chords,

 

Randy Hulsey  04:53

that's all you need, though, right? That's all you need, right? You just need three

 

Russ Ballard  04:57

and you just try It was, yeah, I was listening to Chet Atkins. I was listening to James Burton, when I was young listened to Scotty Moore with Elvis listening to Cliff gallop, the Gene Vincent. Okay. All the solos these great solos when you're too young to remember these guys, but,

 

Randy Hulsey  05:18

you know, you'd be surprised. I just looked young Russ, you know? Yeah.

 

Russ Ballard  05:24

That's a nice gift to have. Yeah, so I mean, I was doing that. And we had a really good band. I Bob Henry, Bob Henry, who played an Argent with me was in unit four plus two with me. We were in the Roulettes. When we, when we were three, and we turned professional with Adam faith, who was a very popular singer in England. He was he was probably the singer in England at the time. With Cliff Richard the material before. This is before the Beatles. Adam faith. He was he said to me years later, you know, he said I was the first punk really wasn't acid. Yeah. And he really was a punk, you know that. It was in a movie called Beat girl. But he had a hit record. And we joined them, you know, because of my faith in the Roulettes. Okay. He never really made it in the States. Although we had a song. They had a hit in America, that we were on Adam, Adam faith and the Roulettes. The song was called, it's all right. And it was in Good Morning, America. You know, the Robin Williams. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  06:31

Oh, good morning. Good morning, Vietnam. Good Morning, Vietnam.

 

Russ Ballard  06:36

Yeah, yeah, good. Good Morning, Vietnam. If you wanna miss Oh, right. I played harmonica guitar on it. It was alright. It lasts about a minute and a half in the movie. Okay. So that was a hit out there. And then me, Bob and I, Bob Henry, and I were in a band called unit four plus two. We were the plus two in unit four plus to add a number one record here. And it was a hit in its top 20. And billboard, it was called concrete and clay. Great June. I played acoustic, acoustic guitar solo on that. And then rod Argent, who was in the zombies. It disbanded the zombies. And he phoned me and said, I want to start a new band. Will you be in the band? And I said, Yeah, you know, so I missed that became our Jim. Jim Radford. Right. And myself. Yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  07:30

yeah, I wanted, I wanted to walk right back to something you said earlier. And then we'll come back. And we'll talk more about argent. But it's interesting because as a young kid, there's I've talked to other people on my show, and I've just heard other interviews in general where, at a young age, they music was instilled in them by the parent figure, right? And it sounds like that's kind of what happened to you. And another one that said that was Steven Tyler, he said, When I was just a little boy, I would crawl under the big baby grand piano that my father would play. And that's where my first love of music came from. So it sounds like you kind of you kind of got that sitting on your dad's lap and being around the music and that's kind of where that love you know, you got it from was probably dad, right?

 

Russ Ballard  08:19

Yeah, no, that was definitely a big factor in my life. Although, you know, my mom was playing playing music a lot, you know, and she she played bass at home on the stuff like Moonlight Sonata, which I loved as well those well, those emotions you can get from chords, you know? Yes. And I didn't realize why you hear an arpeggio and a minor like moonlight so not do it and it did and it did. And it is so incredibly sad. You know, you realize that the emotion you can create and I didn't know why it made me feel so sad. It was only when you start you learn to play you realize the minor keys sad.

 

Randy Hulsey  08:57

Yeah. And isn't it amazing how you can just go down a half step and something and it makes makes it from happy to sad and the song right going from Major to Minor? Yeah, exactly. The career for you, you know, kind of started at the age of 14 and you had written a song for I think it was the shadows and 19 What 64 Which song did you write for the shadows?

 

Russ Ballard  09:23

Yeah, it wasn't 64 it was written in 6262. Okay, was written in 62 but those two songs 60 to 61 it was written in 61 Okay, the first time we ever went into my band Nipsco we were called the Daybreakers. And the only time is Bob hadn't read my brother Roy. Burnie Benson on bass. It was an instrumental. The shadows were really the band in the UK, you know, and and all over Europe as well. They were really big bands. And they were having Lots of hits with instrumentals like the ventures had its adventures from America. We're coming over here who had Johnny and the hurricanes you had the ventures you had the Champs those kinds of kind of bands that were coming over here. And we had the shadows. A patchy was their number one here. That was the number one FBI and the next one was a number one and then amount of mystery. They had all these. They had lots of but they were all instrumentals. So I wrote the very first thing I ever wrote was called Atlantis. We went into Sterling sound in in Denmark Street in London, the only studio that I knew of by expensive but we went in there we cut two songs, we cut my instrumental and the other side of this demo was traveling man that Ricky Nelson, Ricky now. You might you might just remember your mum and dad would have told you about him. And I

 

Randy Hulsey  10:58

remember a great song called Garden Party. How about that? I grew up on that song. Yes, good stuff.

 

Russ Ballard  11:07

I had his his twin sons stay with me. Like I'm over here. Okay. Just stay with me. And basically, we were writing together. Yeah, we're talking about going into Sterling sound. We didn't know really what to do with it, except play it to our friends. You know, one of my brother's friends. My brother was four years older than me. And we knew Cliff Richards, brother in law. He was married to cliffs, one of cliffs, three sisters, you know, Donna. So we played it to him? Because he was he was like a sort of sort of a friend. And he said, This is great. Shall I send it to the shadows publishing company? And I said, Yeah, never expecting anything to happen. You know, okay. They recorded it. Two years later, three years later, they recorded it in the 6464. Okay, gotcha. It came out and 65 Yeah, yeah, that's but that really I thought, you know, wow, even though there were no lyrics, I can write in. And it was on an album called The sound of the shadows. Yes. So, and I used the very first while I think it was the very first Wow, it wasn't actually it wasn't a while but it was a tone. It was a tone thing if it would only you had a pedal. Okay, the same cry baby wasn't a cry baby, but it was like a baby. You would you put your foot on the pedal. Turn it one way, it would go from bass to treble from bottom to top. The other way to go from top to bottom and it will go wow, that sort of thing. Okay, and I use this I use this pedal and I was really knocked out because Hank used to say it's it's made by Dr. Armand. Okay, Dr. Wade is pedal and that you know, I found it recently you know, I just found I can't find it. I don't know where it's gone now. But I must have had it for 35 years you know and didn't eat

 

Randy Hulsey  13:10

I was thinking didn't the shadows do ghost riders in the sky? Was that one of their tunes? Does that sound familiar to you?

 

Russ Ballard  13:18

Did an antenna that said they might have done but it wasn't the that wasn't the shadows was that there was another band?

 

Randy Hulsey  13:27

I think they did record they'll have to go back and launch Yeah, you're probably right.

 

Russ Ballard  13:31

But it was a big song that was there so and it was done. If it wasn't the shadows it was sounded various and I don't remember them making I think they would have done it. But I don't remember them making a single event

 

Randy Hulsey  13:43

but we'll have to we'll have to do some research there. But they were Weren't they also known as the drifters for a while

 

Russ Ballard  13:50

they were initially Yeah, but they had to change the name because Benny king and his band came out Yeah. After you can dance any dance guy good guy. Let them hold you tight. When save Save the Last Dance for me came out I think was it dance with me or Save the Last Dance was their first in the States? Of course they had to change their name.

 

Randy Hulsey  14:12

Well, I was kind of confused about that. Because when I when I saw that they were called the Drifters. I was like, Wait a minute. I'm confused because I always thought I always thought of the drifters as a singing group, right, not an instrumentalist group. And I think that was the difference in the two drifters, right.

 

Russ Ballard  14:31

The drift is made to singles when they were with Cliff Richard because the band was called Cliff Richard and the drift as they back lubricated. Ah, okay. They backed Cliff Richard, and they made two two singles. They may have been called feeling fine. Not I feel fine. This is pretty Beatles, you know. But it was really good. It's very much like Buddy Holly have some really great track, it wasn't a hit. Then they made another one. They meant one called lonesome felon that might have been on the B side So they made two singles, focal singles. They weren't hits, then they made an instrumental. And it was number one.

 

Randy Hulsey  15:10

Yeah, it's like get rid of the singer and just go to the number one on the charts, right? Yeah,

 

Russ Ballard  15:14

yeah. But by then by then that changed their name to the shadows as well.

 

Randy Hulsey  15:19

I follow you. Well, of course, you talked about some of the previous bands you were in leading up to joining Argent and I believe it was 69. And I know that you'll keep me on track with these days. I don't I'm horrible with dates, but I believe it was around 60 9am I correct. There are my off base bras.

 

Russ Ballard  15:39

You're about round about right. And just between 60 and 68. With Bob and I are joined unit for we got on. We played on the records. But we never went on the road because we were in the let's at the time when rod fo and I said you fancy being in this band. And we're gonna I'm gonna put together and I think we both said Yeah, yeah, so that was 68. But I think Rod was early 69. And then we yeah, we just rehearsed. We rehearsed about nine months. Okay. Yeah, we were doing a few gigs. We've got around doing gigs in clubs in Germany and things like that to get the band together. Yeah, that was 69. That was 69. So playing. We were playing clubs where we were doing 745 minutes spots a night. Wow. 745 minutes. But can you imagine that weekends we do nine because we do. We do to two sets during the afternoon as well.

 

Randy Hulsey  16:39

As a as a acoustic duo here in Houston, Texas, the most I've done is for 40 fives, you know, a four hour show. And for a vocalist, as you probably well know, that's a lot on the vocals. Night after night. I can't do that. And I that

 

Russ Ballard  16:57

that's the thing. I still say that is the thing that put the Beatles really on the map, I still say it was going to Germany, it was playing at the Star Club playing in the top 10 Club, mainly in the Star Club and playing there used to play until the last you know, the last person left, you know the last client left. So I mean, they were playing like the same they play from seven o'clock to one o'clock in the morning. You know, that sort of thing. So I mean, we were playing. So we had to get like 60 tunes together, or make them blast as fast as long as possible.

 

Randy Hulsey  17:33

Play really long guitar solos, right?

 

Russ Ballard  17:37

It didn't have to tell Rob, but he'd just say, Rod would say, Yeah, I'll do a solo ad that might last five minutes. I remember talking to talk in 1963 Talking to talk when they had their first first single out they had loved me do it. Please Please Me. And they just had at this time they had she loves you out. And we met them in Yarmouth. And we were in the same hotel and we sat chatting to each other and I said how did you how did you get through these? How'd you get through these gigs like the German gigs so long? How do you do it you know vocally and all that he said. So we just he said we just used to sort of go around. Go around the cost is three times four times is that we come to an end and he said he said we used to do Red Sails in the sunset. We are on the sea. Oh carry my loved one home safely to mitigate it. Dakka Dakka Dakka Dakka okay, I read my loved one home safely. Oh carry my love is it really look at are watching us. You need a few more of these to hold carry my love. I'm gonna shoot. Very funny, but that's what we used to do as well. I remember talking to a guy called Ziggy. We did. We did a gig in Cologne. And I said to this guy, Ziggy was at the club. I said, Ziggy, how do bands get through these gigs? You said you go to Apotek which is the you know, the it's a pharmacy and protect you. You buys the anime pills. And you take somebody's a beer. You know, long before you bring them back and you take them with the beer you speed by over the counter in Germany. Yeah. Wow. I mean, you felt really really, really high. But after your next day he felt like he felt like death.

 

Randy Hulsey  19:26

Yes. It was great that night but it was bad the next day, right? Yeah,

 

Russ Ballard  19:32

you take three and then you take for the tube is Oh,

 

Randy Hulsey  19:35

my gosh, man. Oh man. Well, so it was rod that reached out to you. Yeah, to form Argent and for the listeners. Rod Argent was the keyboardist and founder of the band. The zombies who had a hit song with time of the season was a big one for for the hospitals, right? Yeah.

 

Russ Ballard  19:55

The first one was she's not there. Okay. Yeah, I don't know what's up. The way she led. You remember that you?

 

Randy Hulsey  20:04

Yes, I do. I do.

 

Russ Ballard  20:06

Oh, God wrote that as well. Okay,

 

Randy Hulsey  20:08

you had charting songs with Argent like hold your head up, and then then you left some time around. Again, keep me honest with the date sometime around 74. And this was when you kind of launched the solo career, correct? Yeah, yeah. What kind of led you to? I mean, I don't know how to ask this question. But what led? I'll ask it specifically to you, but I mean, it could apply to any musician, but you're with a band that has some hit songs, you know, you guys are chugging along, and then you change direction. Was there something in particular that caused that that train to take, go down another track? Right, and I don't, I'm not looking for any, anything bad, right? I'm just I'm just trying to wrap my head around. When when a band or a person has success with a group, why they derail and go another path? Right. Can you kind of speak to that from your perspective?

 

Russ Ballard  21:09

Yeah, I guess it's a strange one. There were a few elements. Actually, Randy, there were a few things. One, I'd started to write a musical. You know, I'm in and I was always writing tunes. I was writing a lot and I was writing a lot of tunes that didn't suit Argent as well. You know, I was writing ballads and things like that. Okay. I got really into. I got really into the writing. And I found it very difficult to write on the road I could never write. I've never written a song on the road. I used to pick up a guitar. I could never I could get ideas but not write the tune. And on our first on the Argent first album we wrote I wrote liar that Three Dog Night recorded. You know, although we put that out as a single, I think it was a double A side, the schoolgirl, I put those that song out. There were two songs of mine on a single and I thought I was writing this other stuff. I was writing ballads and sort of weird ballads. I wrote a thing called I don't believe in miracles. That was some everyone seemed to like, add some strange chords to it, but I was really getting into it. So and I was started to write these things like showtunes Israelite Ragtime jazz used to see the spell, you know, she's straight from her. She's Hollywood potential. And to be a star you must know it's essential that you meet her you will find a jig this Anita. She's just 16. And I think she's you're saying, Oh, mister, oh, Mister Mister wants you to help my sister. I had all these ideas for different agenda. When you write a musical you're flying. It's so much bigger than an album. With an album, it's amazing, because you're trying to write sort of diverse things. You know what song we've got to write, we got to write a first song for the album, a first song, a great song, up tempo song for the first song, and then you got to write and try to get the light and the shade on the album and that kind of thing. You're doing that. But when it comes to writing a musical, I couldn't sleep, it was so exciting. Wow. And I was coming up with these, you know, you, you've got music, you've got first of all, you've got a book, you've got a story. And then you've got music that goes with the story dialog. You've got lighting, you've got staging costume. It is so exciting. I'm going back to 1974. And it's just so excited. And as I said, I couldn't sleep I was laying awake, sort of turning on the light and just writing words, right and was writing words. You know, I was gonna say that was one thing. There were certain other elements that pushed me into leaving the band, you know, Rod was stretching out more into he was becoming more more progressive, more stretching out on keyboards and things. Were, that was a problem for me. I must say he's a fabulous keyboard player. But I was a lot of the time I was playing rhythm guitar, just playing rhythm guitar, you are behind him. You know, that makes no sense. No, solos would go for three and four minutes long, you know, on the stage. And the next one will be three or four minutes long. And the next one will be and I thought I had this ambition to start my own thing to do my own thing. Then I could write. You know, I was writing a lot of songs. And I was getting to on the album. Because Chris, Chris Wyatt was writing Rod was writing. I was writing and I wanted to write more songs and get my if I did songs myself, I could get 12 on an album

 

Randy Hulsey  24:38

instead of two, right?

 

Russ Ballard  24:40

Yeah. And then I started everybody started to take my songs. It was brilliant. No, that's awesome.

 

Randy Hulsey  24:45

Well, you had great success as a solo artist with songs like you know, voices in the night. Both of these wonderful songs. And I believe it was in the night that was featured in the show. Miami Vice. That was one of the songs that was featured in the show Miami Vice. Correct? Yeah. So it was voices as well. Okay. Voices was in there.

 

Russ Ballard  25:09

That was in there as well. Yeah. Also ace freely recorded in the night. They did that too. So he also did New York groove as well. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  25:21

Well, I think in the night didn't that was like that charted somewhere around 15 on the Mainstream chart. Yeah, that's a great hit song for you.

 

Russ Ballard  25:31

Yeah, I mean, the voices do but on the on the rock on the Rock chart, Billboard it they're really well stayed up there. But I mean, it was too funny. Bryan Adams got in touch with me and said, he said, I want to meet you. So I went up to I had all my stuff at epi were all my equipment. at Abbey Road Studios. I was making an album and I said to Brian, that met him before I said, Where are you staying? He said, I'm staying at the Montcalm Hotel, which is not far away from Abbey Road. So I'm going to picked him up. And we went, I said, Do you want to see Abbey Road? He said, Yeah. So I took him around there. And we sat and we talked, you know, and he said, I've just made this album with Tina Turner. And I've just done I've done this duet with Tina Turner on the album, which was only love. It's only love. And he said I love voices. He said just love the song. I wonder what that is that scene has asked me to produce something for her. Because I was wondering if you would write something I said What's quite kind of write together said now I'm going on the road is if you could write it I'd like to produce it. So what kind of thing want to do with it said the it says something like voices. He said it's so introspective, but it was I think to introspective as a lyric. It was too introspective to be radio success. I mean,

 

Randy Hulsey  26:51

in he did the song. It's only love with Tina. Correct? Yeah, yeah. It's

 

Russ Ballard  26:57

a duet. Yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  26:58

I remember that. Yeah, I think the other song that comes to mind that I that I thought and correct me if I'm wrong. That was also on Miami voice was your time was going to come? Correct.

 

Russ Ballard  27:10

I think you know, I think it was Yeah, okay. No, I

 

Randy Hulsey  27:14

think it was instead of voices or was voices on there. Two

 

Russ Ballard  27:17

voices plus, yeah, that was that was on that it was over. It was over a G remember the speedboat chases? Yeah. For sure. Yes. That wasn't an advice is that to, uh, to speed boats go? It's a bit James Bond. Really? Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  27:36

Well, what does having a song or two on a show that was as popular as Miami Vice? What did that propel your solo career at all? Or was the solo career already at? No, that's really high. Like what talk to the listeners a little bit about what what your?

 

Russ Ballard  27:56

The problem? The problem with me was, you know, at that time, when I left the band, that I wanted to get my own band. I did get my own band together. I did a couple of TV shows in the UK. We had, and I did a tour of America, believe it or not myself. It's a three week tour. It was a joke really went to play for five nights at the bottom line in New York, five nights at the Roxy in LA and played San Francisco and played a few universities and came home three weeks. That's all I did. And for 11 years, I didn't go on the road again. I didn't I didn't I didn't play on the road. So I don't actually know what would have happened if I just stayed on the road. I had a boy, baby, right. And I started to go to America to write with people's I wrote with John Waite from bad English. Yeah, I went out there to write with Alice Cooper, although he was having trouble at the time. So I wrote with some some other people. So I missed my kids so much. I really missed it. In fact, I was in LA and I was having lunch. I was having breakfast with a guy called Brian Brinkerhoff. And he said to me, he was at one end of the pool. And he could see it the other the other and I was my back was facing the pool. He could see the people in the pool on the other end of the pool. And he said, Do you see that sir? That's Michael Bolton up there, Miss Miss speaking to Gene Simmons. And they were together. And he had that song out. How am I supposed to live without you? And I'd seen him the night before and it was just about to be number one, you know? And he came walking. They both came walking past us while we're having breakfast. And Michael and Michael Bolton and Jean stopped. And Mike Michael Barton said are you going to spell out? I said yeah. He said, Do you ever write with anyone? I said, I've just started writing with people. That's why I'm here. You know? He said, Would you write with me? I said, Yeah. He said, I can't think of any other Englishman I'd rather write with like that, you know, we, we became sort of buddies, but I wanted to get home desperately. And this was a Sunday. And my flight, my flight home was on the Tuesday, I've been there two weeks, you know, my flight home was on the Tuesday, I was so looking forward to getting home to see my kids, but I had one kid them. And I thought, you know, I thought I can't go on the road. I can't go on the road now. But the band, I can't do it until my kids grow up. That's it, my kids get older. But I can stay at home and write tunes. Which that's one thing. But it was a problem in my life, you know, choices always confusion in my head.

 

Randy Hulsey  30:51

Rob and I don't disagree. And you know, I really love Michael Bolton back when he was a solo rock'n'roll guy right before before he went contemporary. And you know that

 

Russ Ballard  31:03

Coca Cola advert? He might have been the voice of Coca Cola, wasn't he? Originally? Somebody told me I

 

Randy Hulsey  31:09

might be wrong. Yeah, maybe so I mean, I think he had a record out in 81 or 82 called fool's game right and I love that record so that's you know, is

 

Russ Ballard  31:21

great it's written to me since and when we start his starts his miles he's a Russell Russell. Now you're doing so Russell like that, but we never did write together but I tell you, you know that that couple of nights we had in the in the Sunset Marquis with great apes. Great is great.

 

Randy Hulsey  31:38

Cool stories. I don't know how you were you guys remember all these stories and dates, man. It's, it's, you

 

Russ Ballard  31:44

know, I've got an unusually good, good memory actually ran. That's,

 

Randy Hulsey  31:50

that's great. You know, and you know what, I've always told people that I have this. Let's just call it a musical savant mind where my brain is a sponge to music, trivia artists names and where they record and this this and that, right. And I never forget those things for some reason. But But I, but I have a hard time with the dates. I have a hard time correlating. Oh, well, Russ wrote voices and this year.

 

Russ Ballard  32:22

Yes. So before you started out, sort of 70 9am i right.

 

Randy Hulsey  32:28

About that. Yeah. Yeah. Well, well, that's why I said you please correct me if I'm wrong on these dates, not that the dates are, you know, are horrible if you're a year off or whatever. I mean, we're not having a test. But I like to, you know, like to be as accurate as possible. Yeah. Now, you of course, are and you mentioned it earlier, you are a multi instrumentalist, but you write most of your songs, I believe, on the piano first. Yeah. Versus the guitar, right? Yeah. Okay. And a lot of people do it just the opposite. Or would you say that? And to think back, you said that you really didn't care for the piano lessons growing up and you're kind of known as a guitarist, right. So

 

Russ Ballard  33:09

I love the piano. Okay. All right. The lessons I hate less Okay, the

 

Randy Hulsey  33:15

lessons you hate it, I

 

Russ Ballard  33:17

hate it. I hate. I like to learn things from myself. You know? It's terrible. But, you know, when I was led out of piano lesson every Wednesday to come home I was it was like being led out of prison. And I thought this is great. I don't know another lesson and

 

Randy Hulsey  33:33

not until next week, right? It was so good. I always loved the piano lessons. I like you started out on the piano. I was taken from a classical piano teacher. And I just gotten to this point where I was becoming a teenager and it was not cool to play Bach and Beethoven and Brahms anymore. It was time to play Styx Paradise Theater and all of this cool stuff that was coming out late, you know, late 70s, early 80s timeframe. So I moved over and became a self taught guitarist and I like to say that I'm not good at any of them but I but I play multiple instruments do

 

Russ Ballard  34:17

you got some my songs there? Thank

 

Randy Hulsey  34:18

you. Thank you. So is it when you're writing specifically, you prefer the piano? Is it why why do you prefer the piano for writing versus another instrument?

 

Russ Ballard  34:31

Guess it's you know, you've got if got basically you can play you can play five. You can play five notes with your right hand in the play octaves with your left hand you can get a great, a great Brett's of sound. And it's so much bigger, you know, the strings are so much bigger the Hammonds is there's something about it and you know, you've got the pedal, but there's something about being able to it's good use if for writing sort of melody, you know, sure can use for writing that kind of stuff because the guitar is small and acoustic. Usually you're writing acoustic guitar most people pick up on acoustic guitar. They're much smaller on the strings than string length for the strings as a small list. But it's such a big sounding. I have a Steinway piano. Oh, it's so it is so inspiring. Yeah, I play every day, you know. So I think this, I've gotten into the habit of playing, you know, I've got so many things on my phone on the, you know, I've recorded I've got hundreds of things that I've recorded on my phone, and I must get rid of some of this all on piano. It's not all on piano. But I would say 90% is on piano. Okay, I love guitar. I'm playing much more going back to my roots and play more guitar. But I'm still writing.

 

Randy Hulsey  35:55

That's interesting. And I think, you know, I've always been told and I've always heard the piano is actually one of the hardest instruments to learn to play, because you have the right hand doing the treble thing, you have the left hand doing the bass thing, and your brain has to think like that. But I think from a learning a learning conversation, or even picking out a melody on the piano, it's laid out in a linear fashion. So it's maybe a little more conducive to melodies versus the guitar. It's just a different instrument altogether. Right, I guess is the point that I'm trying to make. So I think it might be easier to pick out a little melody on on a piano versus a guitar. I can see that.

 

Russ Ballard  36:36

Yeah, yeah, I guess so. It's just, it's a habit. I've, I always love guitar, play guitar. I mean, obviously, I wrote the shadows thing on the guitar. And I learned a lot of guitar solos, the James Burton guitar solos and Scotty Moore and Chet Atkins. These these, they were my, they were my favorite guitar players at the time, mind you, we didn't have many guitar players to choose from. There are other guitar players like the guitar player, a whole lot of shaking going on and things like that. Yeah, those those kinds of things, you know, you could learn that there weren't that many guitar players around. Now. Every different, different story so much. So easily now?

 

Randy Hulsey  37:17

Absolutely. One of your more recent songs was off of a 2020 solo record called, it's good to be here. And I'd like to share a clip of a song called My Awakening, which I've fallen in love with great song. I want to share just a short clip of that with the listeners and then we'll then we'll come back and chat. So sit tight for about 35 or 40 seconds for us

 

37:57

was lost.

 

Randy Hulsey  38:26

Love that song man. I've listened to that song over and over again for the last week and I'm gonna have to go listen to something else to get it out of my head. But great song. Great job there. Nothing else matters, right? I think Metallica wrote a song like that. Where was this record? And first of all educate me. Okay. What's 2020? Was this record the last solo record that you've released? LP was

 

Russ Ballard  38:54

released? Yeah, yeah. I've got another album finished. It's finished. Which I did you talk about 2020. I did it. I did. I did it. In 2020. Since then, I've done another album. But I've done an album of older songs of my older songs. But yes, I'm still working every day in the studio. Good. Good. Well,

 

Randy Hulsey  39:15

where was the softball not the song. But where was that record recorded? This recording at home? The 2020 release was all recorded at home. Yeah. Oh, very cool.

 

Russ Ballard  39:27

Yeah, I did. I recorded it myself, my son, my son mix them. Okay.

 

Randy Hulsey  39:31

So where were you all instruments on that? Yeah. That's impressive. Very cool. And that's not so uncommon for the listeners. I mean, it's it's not uncommon for a multi instrumentalist to just record everything on their own in their home. I mean, you don't get the big production of going into a studio but you know, they technology these days is pretty damn good at home. Right?

 

Russ Ballard  39:55

Right. Difficult to tell these days where they have a band that's doing it yourself. Correct. Although the great thing I realized, you probably realize, too, that with a ban, mustard is big enough. I rehearse in there with the band. And I've used musicians before. I've used eight streams, eight string players in my studio. So I mean, it's big enough. But you know, when you know, I know the arrangements, I know the chords, I don't have to tell anybody. But using a band is a better idea. Because you got the chemistry. Sometimes people play things that you wouldn't suggest, okay, who wouldn't play yourself? Because the great thing about Argent in that the chemistry of the four there's something I realized, when we didn't hold your head up. We did God Gave Rock and Roll to you, you know those things? I was throwing all this stuff out there. Rob was coming up with an idea that I would never have done in a month of Sundays, you know? Sure. And Jim and Jim would. Yeah, I mean, the chemistry you get more of probably more of the chemistry when you use other people. But it's so easy. I do my demos I've always stuck to

 

Randy Hulsey  41:00

Yeah, I was gonna say that there's pros and cons to it. I'm sure you one of the pros be in the chemistry for sure. But then recording alone, one of the pros would be you don't have the drag or the slowdown of waiting on other people because you can do it on your own schedule. When you're feeling it. You know, when you're in the mood and you just don't have to deal with other people. And a lot of people will ask me, I'm in again, I mentioned earlier, I'm in an acoustic duo. I have a lead guitarist that plays with me. And a lot of people say, Man, why don't Why don't y'all put a band together? I said, you know, when I did the band thing back in the 80s. And you know, now I don't have to deal with other other egos. I don't have to I play the songs I won't and I just don't have to deal with there's so there's pros and cons to it as my points.

 

Russ Ballard  41:51

As he was saying you can do it when you want to do you can do that i Cybersyn. Today, I was in the studio this morning. I woke up at 430. And I'm still awake up five. So I got up and went into the studio quarter past five this morning, okay. And I'm just came out or came at quarter past five or came out at what, just after one o'clock this morning. So and then the day before I was up early. I was in the studio at six.

 

Randy Hulsey  42:18

Well, is that uncommon for you? Because I'm poured out of the same mole Ross, I'm a really early guy. And there are some weekends that I'm in the studio here doing podcast and music things at four 430 in the morning. It's not uncommon, but you think you think of musicians as being night owls and doing everything all night long.

 

Russ Ballard  42:39

I was gonna say you're a lark. And I'm something right. Your luck, you know? Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  42:46

Yeah. Well, I think we're a rare breed because usually it's just the US. I think my brains just fresher in the mornings. And at night. I just want to, I want to go go to bed at night, right? That's what I want to

 

Russ Ballard  42:58

do. You see, what I usually do is I use in the summer, it's great to go in the studio when it's light. It's light in the morning, you know, you can go in four o'clock in the morning, five in the morning is beautiful. Yes. It's beautiful. And sometimes the sun is shining. It's shining more these days in England. And that is great. But I usually in the winter what I first thing I do is get up and go for a run. Okay. Every day. I just like the serotonin endorphin rush. Yeah, it's not particularly for the fitness. It's just loved. The feeling of well being in which music does give you

 

Randy Hulsey  43:36

to wreck, right just kind of wakes the brain up, right? It wakes

 

Russ Ballard  43:39

the brain up, and you realize that you have a passion. When you find music. It's a passion. Oh, yeah. 100% Yeah, that won't make sense. Once you find most people don't have a passion. Most people just, they like thing and they do a job they don't really love. Yes, but when you imbues it, you know, you realize this mode makes sense. It does.

 

Randy Hulsey  44:01

I agree with that. Largely, there was another song on the record called kicking the can I was gonna tell you that I love that song as well. That was another one that I said, Man, I got to stop listening to this damn song because it's just like, I keep going and going and going. And it's so funny because my poor wife, Terry, she hears all the stuff that's going on and in the studio. And she's like, if he listens to the songs One more time, gosh, dang it, you know, so she gets to hear the whole repeating of songs because I'm listening for certain things. I'm trying to pull clips and the poor thing she has to listen to these things over and over again with me as well. Not that they're bad things to listen to over and over again. But sometimes it's like, oh, my brain needs to think of something else now but all great songs. And you also recorded three songs on that record. that I will feature in just a minute. But there's songs that you had written that others had made famous. Yeah. How does a singer songwriter like yourself, determine what songs you're going to keep to record for yourself and what songs you will lend others to record? How, how does that work?

 

Russ Ballard  45:26

I always write for myself, Randy. And I did this tune. And he loved it actually, he loved he loved it. I did the demo of the Jodi's uncle Jody, you can do magic and yeah, I really recorded it with them at Abbey Road, they came over here that you and Jerry and we did that then I did a few more.

 

Randy Hulsey  45:48

So while you had wonderful success as a solo writer and performer you had equal success writing songs for other artists that kind of went out and made the songs their own and they went on to become huge hits and I wanted to share with the listeners a compilation of the songs that you had written but the other artists recorded and kind of made them their own so let's take a quick listen to the compilation and then we'll come back and drill down on some of those songs okay standby.

 

46:23

Now I know that you can get

 

46:44

you know when you pass away ties with your eyes

 

47:02

that must have been when the wall fell when

 

47:13

she was waiting outside the door.

 

Randy Hulsey  48:55

Right that was a compilation of just a few of the songs Russ has written over the years. For the listeners out there and Russ I wanted to walk through the songs that we heard briefly with you share with the listeners. We'll we'll kind of call them out one by one but I wanted to share with the listeners how these artists came to be the ones that recorded the songs and any other information that you'd like to share. But the first one was you can do magic by America share the story with with the listeners about that song in particular.

 

Russ Ballard  49:51

Yeah, well I got a call from the head of a&r in LA is an Englishman, and last asked me if I would he He had America. And he said, Could you write something for America? But that time their recording contract was, was coming to an end, and they wanted to resign them? And they said, and I know they wanted to resign. And so they said, Would you write something? Write two songs for them for their album, the new album. So the last album, so I said, Yeah, so I listened to a lot of America things. Things that George Martin had done. I think George Martin had done the last produced the last for the previous before me four out four or five albums. And the one thing about America that best song for me was always Horse With No Name. But it had that hypnotic thing that that went through the desert on a Horse With No Name. It's very, very hypnotic. And I thought, what if they could do another one? That was hypnotic. That's how, you know that was their calling card. You know, I wrote this tune called you can do magic. And I put every sort of kind of little idea in there every hypnotic idea that I could think of, then it didn't do that. Didn't did that. Then I did that. Then. All kinds of stuff. Yeah. And yeah, and it worked. I brought the band over here. I played everything on it. Over here. I did the backing track at Abbey Road, I had a look. And the drummer was a Linndrum drum computer to do a ditch to put the bass on the piano one first the electric piano, which was a Rhodes, a Fender Rhodes, I put up bass on that guitar on acoustic guitars and taught the band and or the two of them, which is a Jerian Dewey. Yeah, and it was a hit. That was good. And then I did the second one too. It didn't it the same way that I did some more for them. When you

 

Randy Hulsey  52:05

said that so what what we is the consumer of that song today? What we're hearing is is I know you recorded it first, but did they go back and rerecord it? And that's what we know as the song today or is what we hear today. You're recording with them singing on it?

 

Russ Ballard  52:27

Yeah. Everything I play electric guitar play the all the kind of atmospheric noises on the delay. I had it on a delete, like under stuff, play the acoustic guitars played the bass play the piano. But if you could play I mean, it's only four chords. I mean, yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  52:44

you're you're, you're you're being humble, right? Like this is a like I've been listening to this song for over 30 years now. Right? And I and it's so cool. That's what I love about the show is I talk to guys like you and I learn things that I never knew. And so this this is cool, but that was a song. But I think that was what 1982 ish that came out in 82 ish. Good. I'm trying I'm gonna I'm gonna miss one in a minute. Trust me. But yeah, but that went to somewhere around number eight on the hot 100 Did

 

Russ Ballard  53:24

it not? Yeah, yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  53:25

What a great song man. This the second one we heard in that compilation. And I'm gonna profess my ignorance here. But this was winning by Santana and Bran bras. I have to tell you that I listened. This was one of my favorite songs by Santana for years. And to be honest, I for years and years and years, I had no idea that was Santana even doing that song, right? I didn't sound like them didn't know it didn't and I just like I just fell in love with the song and I'm like, had a dream but attune to Deus. And I'm like, Oh, this is great. And I never for whatever reason, I never dove into the semantics of the song or who wrote it or anything and then I learned years and years later that that Santana had done it. So that was a treat to know that I Oh, I do like some Santana stuff. Right? Talk about that song a little bit. Where did that one come about from? Can you just recorded it? Oh, did he? Okay, I'm gonna have to look for that.

 

Russ Ballard  54:24

Yeah, yeah. Listen, it's a really good version. Okay. As always, that was about my about my, about my life I was saying about my life. When I was on the ground when I needed a hand it couldn't be found I was too far down that I couldn't get up. One day I was one of life's losers, even my friends or my accusers in my head lost before I began, had a dream but he turned he does what I thought was Love must have been lost

 

Randy Hulsey  54:49

that Jesus man so well, awesome. I mean, what a treat to hear that like this is a song guys that that I've heard for years and I've just at One of my favorite songs of all times, it's right up there and to hear the story behind. It's just, it kind of blows my mind.

 

Russ Ballard  55:09

Right, the way it plays, so in my life to be like to start my life from well, it's from 12 years old. I mean, I came to terms of certain things, but from when I left the band, you know, I mean, I was having sort of really, really some really low times, you know, like, sort of bipolar kind of diet. And I got over it. I got over that, which was brilliant, you know? Yeah, it's about well, that, you know, I had a dream but it turned to dust what I thought was nothing must have been lost. Too bad. It belonged to me. It was the wrong time. And it meant to be it took a long time, but I'm newborn now. I can see today that I bleed for if it's agreed that there's a need to play the game and to win again.

 

Randy Hulsey  55:51

That is so cool. I

 

Russ Ballard  55:53

recorded that first. Randy, that was a mild Yeah, I knew that you did ours a single on on that same album I had since you've been gone on there, too. That was an I record it. First of all we put out and then lots of other people recorded that too.

 

Randy Hulsey  56:07

I think the one by Santana came out somewhere around 81. And that also went to what 16 or 17 on the charts. That was a charting song for for Carlos and the team. You mentioned you mentioned Since You've Been Gone. And that was the third one in the compilation that I threw out for the listeners. This was a song that was done by Rainbow by Graham bonnet in the boys off the Down to Earth record back in 79. And one of my favorite songs by by Rainbow and another one that I had no idea that you had written until I started diving into all this stuff. And I just had and I just had Graham on my show. Not too long ago, we talked about the song and I'll be out in LA. I leave the Sunday to interview Bethany Heaven's Stone, who is the bass player for the Graham bonnet, man so so I will be at Graham's home interview and Bethany. So that's kind of a segue into the song. Talk to the listeners about you know where that song came about. And Rainbow did a tremendous job on that

 

Russ Ballard  57:12

crime. He did a good job of it too. Yeah, he did a really good he did a single evaluate, he phoned me and I said, you know, I want to do it in a different way. If you got any ideas, how I can do it in a different way. I said, Well, why didn't you this has gone back quite a few years ago. And I said why didn't you do it acoustically you're gonna keep the same feel like with the drum unit or some small drum unit and do acoustic until the chorus then crashing into the chorus is now I don't really want to use drum machines and I don't really want to do it because the I'd run so he did exactly the same as rainbow basically. Now the idea was just it was just that was just the feel of Gag gag. gag. Gag gag gag. Gag gag gag gag is basically I guess it's got the same feel different color. Yeah, that's the same as Lulu No. That Yeah, wow. Yeah. But obviously is totally different tune. But that riff is great. Especially over Since You've Been Gone that since it just links beautifully it dovetails into Since you've been gone since you've been gone out of my head can

 

58:26

greatness just one of those things? It's

 

Russ Ballard  58:28

a great feel. Yes. It's been a few tunes done that you know, it's not Nana Nana Nana and and and what was the other one? It was another one that had it had a charm to add another chunk it was so it it just worked. So well. Can't think what it was Nana Nana? Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  58:51

Goodbye. Yeah, for sure.

 

Russ Ballard  58:54

Those shots are great. So yeah, and I sort of basically doing even the lyric you know, it's the lyric was just how I felt so often in my life, you know, get the same old dream, same time every night, fall to the ground, and I wake up what used to happen to me all the time. So I got out of bed, put on my shoes. And in my head. That was just what I used to do. You know,

 

Randy Hulsey  59:17

I think people lose track or lose sight of. We hear the songs on the radio, you fall in love with the songs we sing them. And a lot of people don't think much past that. Like maybe you and I do where we're getting inside the song. And it's interesting to hear that a song that I've listened to for 30 plus years. I'm talking to the guy that that was his life. Right? And that's, that's really cool to hear that these are real people writing real songs about real life things. Yeah, at the end of the day, and we look past that sometimes. And it's an amazing conversation that I'm having with you about those things.

 

Russ Ballard  59:59

Oh I agree. Yeah, I mean, but that's the truth, you know. And I had the middle part, but changes into the fray melodic thing. Back paid him hit. Whenever you I had that idea in 1919 66. I remember playing that on the piano in France when I was in France, it was piano and I wasn't playing the piano in the band, but there was a keyboard. So I started to play this keyboard in this place, it was in a casino. And I started the data, data, data, data, data, data, data. Third, and I felt God I suddenly love these chords, and I just stuck it in there. It had nothing to do with the rest of the song. And no one sung the right words. The words were and if you want me back, maybe I'm here whenever you want. Well, Greg tell Grammy never saying the right words.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:00:56

I'll tell him on Monday of next week. I'm gonna tell him, Russ said you got the song all wrong, man. Come on.

 

Russ Ballard  1:01:04

Not all of it. Just give it my love. Anyway, when you see him, that'd be nice.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:01:09

Well, didn't he? Didn't he pull that song off beautifully. From a vocal perspective. He's perfect on the song.

 

Russ Ballard  1:01:16

That's perfect is for that song.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:01:19

The fourth song on that compilation Russ was a New York groove by Ace Frehley. How did that one come about? I know that he recorded that one. Probably in one of my most formidable years from a music perspective. 1978 I think that one came out. And that was, that was the year that did it for music for me, like I fell in love with it. So

 

Russ Ballard  1:01:40

I tell what happened with that song. It was a hit in England in 1974 7575 by a band called hello when they were kids. So you know, they were very young. But I produced an album for Roger Daltrey. And I went to New York, because obviously, that was 75. I'd been to New York for a year. But Sterling sound were the mastering office was everyone was saying, you know, if you want the best loudest mastering you should go to Sterling, Bob Ludwig, that Sterling so jumped on a plane, and flew out there. And I thought to myself, this is truth. I thought back in the New York group, you know, I'm back in New York. And I say in a year since I was here, on the street, I'm just passing my wife time away to the left to the right. You know, the whole idea was something mister walking through the streets and seeing this, you know, it's sort of like that all over America, the different various cities, you know. And now it's much more like that in London as well now, but most cities are like that now. But it's saying about the whole thing of being in a band, you know, things that happen when you're in a bow. And but I made that up in the studio with this band called Hello, my brother saw this little band. My brother was in a band. You see my brother, brother was in a function band. And he came and said, he said to me, said, I've seen these kids. He said, these kids are amazing. The only 16 You've done, they look great. He said, you want to do something with him. To cut the story, then I took him into the studio and made the song up in the studio. I'd written down on the plane going to New York. I wrote New York groove. I thought it would be a good title. And in my brain as we're flying as we took off, I was thinking I had this whole Bo Diddley thing in my head that character got to go against you got to go get to get gas. And I thought Yeah, harmonica do like a Bo Diddley because he's sometimes he was harmonica, but having that that to Bo Diddley sound, took them into the studio without any idea of the rest of the song. And just did it bit by bit. I just said, Okay, II, this is the field gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang, gang gang. been a year since I was eight. On the street. I'm just pass be seven, by the way, I to the left and to the right town over there. And it's gotten it's out of sight. Now fading up. What am I going to do now? I know. We'll do the very first route. Here I am again in the city down to downtown to downtown for the Fistful of Dollars. And that's how it worked, you know, and as it's in an hour, wow.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:04:33

And it's perfect for Ace because he's a New York guy, right. It's a New Yorkers. Yeah, yeah. Well, that segues right into the song God Gave Rock and Roll to you who you know, Ace was in kiss right and kiss recorded that when How did that one come about for you?

 

Russ Ballard  1:04:49

Well, we recorded it in argent. First we did it and it was a hit in England. And it's quite popular in in Europe. It was a funny thing I've been as I've mentioned before, I had a rough time. I feel like it's really overworked. Actually, in 1972, when we had hold your head up, we work in so much setting the 7372. I never cancelled a gig. But my head was somewhere else. It was, it wasn't good. It wasn't a good time at, you know that up and down, up and down kind of thing, you know, and I had that for nine months. And you know, when you get depression, you think it's there forever. You know, when we never had it before, I've never had depression before. And I felt this is never gonna go. And it lasted for nine months. But at the end of that, I was going to doctors, and they would give me pills and things or sleeping pills. And I could feel myself coming up, coming out of this depression, it was such an amazing thing. I could feel myself gradually coming out of it. And when I came out of it, and the sky was blue, you know, just amazing. You know, the grass was greener and everything. It was just that wonderful. And I was talking about being reborn. I mean, it was just like, I can see why people that are religious, you know, they say God has touched me and that kind of stuff got to stretch my heart and that kind of stuff they say and whatever, you know, I'd never had that before, but I can see why they said because that's how I felt. My mother used to say things. She was very kind of religious. You know, she used to talk about God all the time and stuff. And she would always say, Well, God, God gave that to you. And you know, God did that and that whatever she has to say with that kind of stuff. And I thought sitting at the piano, I thought wow, okay, rock and roll to you know, my mother may have even said it. I don't know, but you Gargi rock and roll. And um, you know, I thought it works best because you're saying to everybody got David God. You know, if God gave us a life God gave us if God gave us that they gave us rock and roll and as well as far as I'm concerned. I wrote different lyrics at the front I wrote love your friend and love your neighbor, which is religious Love you. Love your neighbor, love your life and love your labor. It's never too late to change your mind. Don't step on snails. This is meant to be funny. Don't step on snails. Don't climb in trees. Love cliff, Richard, but please don't tell us it's never too late to change your mind. God Gave Rock and Roll to you put it in the sight of everyone. And if you want to be a singer or play guitar, man, he got a sweat or you don't get far. This is this is going back to my depression. Yeah, because it's never too late to work nine to five. So if you're young, you'll never be old music and make your dreams unfold. It appears to be true because I'm still doing it. How good it feels to be alive. You know, it's, it's what a gift to have that you know, I know

 

Randy Hulsey  1:07:43

that coming out of depression is an amazing thing. I like you have had bouts of anxiety and depression over the years not to get into a medical conversation. But I think everybody suffers with it to a certain degree some more than others and it's such a bad thing to have. It ruins so many

 

Russ Ballard  1:07:59

lives. on your end, you're gonna come out of it sure that people don't know if they're feeling if they're feeling really extra Ultra sad. You're gonna come out of it. You don't feel like you're going to but you will come out. The thing the great thing is this life after because as Steven Tyler said there's life after meth.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:08:19

Yes. Off to meth not death. Exactly. And that sounds like something Skeezix would say like he is the master of those, you know those sayings. But what yeah, thank you so much for that public service announcement because it's nice to have a name like yours that talks about these kinds of things and people sometimes will listen to Russ more than they'll listen to Randy right.

 

Russ Ballard  1:08:43

Yeah, but I've tried I've tried to put in too many songs actually ran out put it in things like get thunder and lightning strike and you're down you're feeling in your head there's no one around kick out the trouble standing in your way look outside it's a brand new day you know the moment you know the sun that can be a mountain that you can climb you know what it is when it comes in cycle being the time of the day or not your time to when your time to break out your time to take out all you put in it time is going to come that that that your time is going to count your time is gonna be amazing. I've tried to do a lot of those some fire still burns, you know, Dream arm, you know? Yeah, well,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:09:24

in you said it best. It seems like a dark and dismal time when you're going through those things. But there is always light at the end of the tunnel. Right? You just have to keep keep putting one foot in front of the other one every day. Right?

 

Russ Ballard  1:09:37

Absolutely. Just about to use. Yes.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:09:41

Absolutely. You gotta you gotta put your feet on the floor. Yep.

 

Russ Ballard  1:09:44

Yeah, you take a step back. They say you take a step back, but sometimes you go two steps forward a step back, but that's to take a running jump. Absolutely. John chasm. That's correct. And I thought that was beautiful. That is

 

Randy Hulsey  1:10:00

The last one in that compilation was I know there's something going on. And that was recorded by Frida Lake. Sad, right? And I'm not sure if the listeners know who Frida is. But she was with the famed band Abba, right. Yes, yes. 19 What AD AD 2am? I close? I

 

Russ Ballard  1:10:27

think it was, I think it was later, wasn't it? It was AD AD for?

 

Randy Hulsey  1:10:32

I don't know. I don't know. That was my guess ad too. Well, we'll have to check on that one. But

 

Russ Ballard  1:10:39

I think it's a little older. Phil Collins produced that I remember Phil Collins, he produced that song and he plays the drums on it as well. It sounds like Phil,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:10:47

it very much does sound like

 

Russ Ballard  1:10:50

a no must mo foster play bass on he told me he played bass on it.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:10:54

You know that, you know, once I learned that Phil played the drums on that. And I listened to it. And I really dissect it. I can hear a lot of the drums to in the air, his song in the air to do you know, I can hear that in that song kind of a back back beat kind of thing going on which what a wonderful song. I mean, that was a huge song when I was in high school. Right. But that was

 

Russ Ballard  1:11:20

quick as well. That was a really quick song that was just it was I wrote that when the the first digital reverbs came out, you know, when the lexicon came out yesterday. And they had they had these programs on there, these gated, gated reverbs. And they gated, you know, the gated from so minimal to this a long, long reverb but there's a program on that first one I had, and it just put my Linndrum through it. And it was it sounds so strong, you know, and it's really inspiring. I just I just picked up the guitar that took about an hour from start to finish just right the way through. I was in the studio doing some demos. And at the end, Nick said, Listen to these reverbs and I'm just playing the guitar and obviously in the next day or so, Nick, just do a copy of that for me. I'll take your old cassette, and I'll come back tomorrow. I'll have words for it tomorrow, and I did it recorded the next day. But I sounded like a girl on there so I think they've treated probably thought it was a girl singing race.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:12:24

Well, it's amazing, you know, to hear the songwriters talk about songs, some songs take years to write some songs take five minutes to write and and I remember I remember a Daryl Hall interview and he said yeah, I think I wrote rich girl in like 10 minutes. Like it was a 10 minute right? It's like wow,

 

Russ Ballard  1:12:46

you find a chord sequence and you go down then you find a lot of a lot of melodies to go with Nordsee

 

Randy Hulsey  1:12:54

Well, of course the compilation that we listened to just I mean, it just scratched the surface that showcases you as a as a lyricist. But you also wrote hit songs for man like bands like The Bay City Rollers and I think night Ranger and rare earth were in there but then you have lyre which was a hit for three dog night as well yeah, they

 

Russ Ballard  1:13:16

also did another song of mine they did they did chained which was like gospel to you and you didn't okay yeah, that's quite as quite as song about it's more of a it's it was a gospel lyric because I love gospel music. I love the actual I love the actual gospel and you know church music I just love to hear and acquire gospel choir. So I wrote something that sounds like God during the day God during the day God during the day when they won't have to be the chair.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:13:44

Yes. One of my favorites by them I'm you just made me think back. You know, of course Joy to the world was really big for them. But But Shambala was, was one of my favorites that Yes. Well, I believe that you know, I'll pat you on the back here a little bit. I believe that I was reading somewhere that you're responsible for for probably over 100 million record sales worldwide Good God Almighty. Like how does how does one guy was one guy responsible for all that Russ? Gemini Christmas?

 

Russ Ballard  1:14:25

Yeah, in a in a converted bedroom. You know, most of us it was done in a bed that just crazy. Yeah. Just man the piano but you know, when they talk about 100 million, you know, they add everything together that albums that add in all the other things that are added on there as well. You know,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:14:45

just go with it, man. Just go with it. Right.

 

Russ Ballard  1:14:50

Go with it. If they want to say it, let's learn

 

Randy Hulsey  1:14:53

them lead them. Well, it could be worse. They could be saying bad things about you. Right? They could be saying bad things. But I mean, if somebody says, Randy, you're responsible for 100 million records, it's like sounds good to me, guys. Let's just go with that one right there. Yeah, that's close enough. Well, wow, man, what a career and and I know that we could talk about this stuff all day. But tell me how you personally have seen the music industry change from say, the 70s and 80s. You know, when you are really popping right to what has gone to what you see of it now, what's the big change she is saying?

 

Russ Ballard  1:15:31

Or the big change, obviously, is once upon a time there were things called record record stores, right used to sell things, these things that go round and round on. And you could maybe you could come in in the States. You were very lucky in the 50s. In the 60s that in the 50s and 60s, you had independent record labels are so many everywhere. Every town had record rec their own record labels you get things like parrot date on all these things. Coral that Buddy Holly was on over here, you know, all these things were coming out over here. And we'd see all these we only had Decca EMI umpire in England, you know, he only had these record, pre record labels really that were, you know, producing everything. Yeah. So I mean, that's how it's changed. You had all those. It's very difficult now everything is streaming. Through a songwriter, it's a different ballgame now. Yeah, songs still do well, I've had a good life over 50 years of our second streaming music, I mean, even now, it is still very, very good. I can't complain. It's still really good tunes out there. You know, people are writing in different ways. And you know, I guess, I used to love radio stations in England, when they played they, you know, they didn't have a rock channel, and a country channel, and a C channel. You know, it was all it was all together, you would have been new enough, the new Elvis song. And then you'd have Perry Como and Dean Martin and guide Mitchell. And then you have Jerry Lee Lewis singing Great Balls of Fire. So all that is changed. And that was very, very sad, because everything was together. And suddenly then it was all basically became what's the there's a word for it? You know? So it was all? You were at the Rock channel? Yes.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:17:27

Segregated all out.

 

Russ Ballard  1:17:30

segregate. Yeah. But I mean, there's plenty of things. But you know, it's still a tune. Even now, it's still a song. And it's still a performance. And it's still exciting. It's still really excited. It's still great music out there. Still, the singers, amazing, this amazing singers. mazing.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:17:50

I was trying to wrap my head around something. And maybe because you've seen the older days of music, and you've seen the kind of the newer days as well. And I preface this by saying, I really don't the shippers kind of sell for me, I go out and perform covers. That's what Chris and I do. I don't really I'm not into recording my own stuff and trying to sell that anymore. But I've tried to wrap my head around this because I hear a lot of people talking about it. And maybe you can shed light a little bit on this. But they talk about, you know, I put my music up on Spotify. And I'm just going to pick on Spotify. I put my music up on Spotify, and I have to have 80 trillion downloads to make $12 Right, yeah. Versus back, you know, the 60s 70s and 80s When you were selling vinyl and things like that? Is it is it really all relative? How the artists are getting paid for their music today? Because it's going to all all crevices of the world now, whereas maybe the records back from the 70s were not. So is it relative how they're getting paid versus how they were getting paid back in the Argent days, right?

 

Russ Ballard  1:19:06

It seems that Yeah, I think we're missing out a little but I'll tell you what surprised me. I think the collecting agencies are pretty good. You've got Performing Rights society here PRs in American you have ASCAP as a society of composers and publishers, okay. And you have BMI in America they all collecting agencies so they collect but they collect from restaurants from Hotel elevators from you know, from lift, absolutely. cafes, restaurants from everywhere, they and they're very clever, they're very clever, so they slept pretty well. And I've had a really good living to be honest, it's been a it's been a financial it's been really good, but I can't complain. But the thing that every writer wants now is a sync. Synchronization guess what you got a good synchronization you know a synchronization is done you know you please tell

 

Randy Hulsey  1:19:58

I was gonna ask you to please add educate me on one thing.

 

Russ Ballard  1:20:01

Publishers, publishers of music are looking for things. So my, my publishers have always recently since well, in the last 20 years, restaurants, films, things like ads on TV, they use music and they pay a sync fee for it. So So you hear a synchronization to movie. I've got to actually at the moment coming out, I've got that new Dustin Hoffman film starting with, you can do magic. Some of they pay a sync fee that are you willing to take this, but this song works really well in this story. I've got Since you've been gone on? What's it called? Grand Theft Auto? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I've got I've got that I didn't know your groove on another one. And that's it's really good money. But the other things you're looking for, you know, with one good sing with one good sing from Sunday's 30 and 40 years old, you know, you can have you can make as much money as a song that in 1917, so it

 

Randy Hulsey  1:21:06

makes sense. Yeah. So

 

Russ Ballard  1:21:08

it's crazy. And also having having the sync out there. It puts the song in front of the new generation, the younger generation for sure. Yeah. And I think, you know, Wow, I like this new

 

Randy Hulsey  1:21:20

ears and new ears, right. New ears.

 

Russ Ballard  1:21:23

And you know, we're not separate from anything in this world. Yes. As organisms as human organisms, you know, we're not separate from anything, everything goes in things. We're told our language comes from my mom and dad, we're not separate, you know, for the food we eat. Right. Without that food. We don't exist. So we're not separate from the food. We're not separate from memories from songs. And you know, when you hear a song, you cast back to that song when I hear dream lover, Bobby, Darren's dream lover. I

 

Randy Hulsey  1:21:51

know, I know it. I know. You're so I don't have to say you're you're discounting my knowledge. Ross, you're you're discounting. You. Oh, good. Yeah. Good. I understand. Thank you for explaining the sink. That makes perfect sense. And I'll tell you why it does. Because I had a guest on my show. When I go out to see Graham this weekend, I'm going to catch up with my friend Adam Hamilton, who is an ageless producer in Hollywood. And we talked on the show about he writes these music scores for shows like The Simpsons, Family Guy, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, and it becomes kind of this mailbox money for him, you know that when they play those? I don't know, how those get paid. But I wanted to ask you like, for example, if if somebody plays winning in a hotel elevator, how does the pay on that work? Like, I don't want to know how much pay I'm just trying to understand like are is the songwriter paid every time? That song drops on a radio station somewhere? Is that how it works?

 

Russ Ballard  1:23:04

That's the theory. Okay. I don't know how accurate it is. All I know is you know, I get flight four or five times a year from prs. Basket. Pay from from America I'm with ASCAP and America BMI do it to buy pay and pay by ASCAP. You have gamer in Germany, okay, gaming collect, you have Performing Rights society here in the UK, as I said before they collect hotels, restaurants, and about that data and above, right, right the way through which, and I don't know how it's done, but it's done obviously on computer and but each venue where they collect from these restaurants, from hotels, from elevators, whatever, they have to pay a license if they play music. If you're playing music in your Italian restaurant, and you're and you have to pay the license, so you pay whatever you pay, like five damage. Five $500 a year. Yeah, that's right. That's exactly right. $2,000 a year and then they pay a license and that license goes to, to pay pay for the songwriters and the songs that they're performing. And

 

Randy Hulsey  1:24:17

I could be wrong. I could be wrong, but I think and again, I preface this by saying I could be wrong. So if anybody hears this and I'm wrong, that's I said it I prefaced it by saying so. But I think as an artist, like myself, that plays out and I cover songs, like your songs and kisses, songs and whatever artists write that the restaurants and the places that I play, they have to have that license just for me to be in there covering those songs. Does that sound familiar? Or does that sound right to you? Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Well, well, you've educated me I appreciate that. And I wanted to like kind of venture off a little bit to the podcast how exciting you know me having a podcast and the voices of Russell Maillard? Talk to the listeners about what you guys have going on from a podcast perspective.

 

Russ Ballard  1:25:13

Yeah, tell Graham to do it. Well you tell him to do it. Tell him he said Yeah, absolutely. I'll do it. And he hasn't been back since.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:25:22

I'll put in a good word for you Ross. I'll put in you you're using some low lifelike me out here in Cypress Texas to put in a good word to Graham bonnet but I'm gonna do it I'm gonna say Russ said that you have to do it and you have to do

 

Russ Ballard  1:25:36

it. said Do you fancy doing this for spin spinning? wheel spin and Ian are my friends mentioned spin. It was a wonderful German guy from Bremen is wonderful. And we're all very good friends. Ian is an Englishman, who for 15 years or 20 years worked in Dubai, in a bank that is loves music and his very, very is like you is very much into music in a big way. But he got in touch with me and said, Can we start? Would you mind if we started a podcast? under your name, you know, voices of Ramallah and we can have people on something to do with you. You know, whatever it is. I said, Yeah, I don't mind gonna do it. So that's what they've been doing. And you know, they're pretty good at it. You gotta listen to it. Yeah. They aren't really. You know, they're not professional guys, but they really serve professional when they do it. They do it really well. Because they are enthusiasts, Jenna.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:26:37

Absolutely. I didn't catch on that there was a podcast until I started speaking with Sven about getting this setup with you. But I went and listened to the latest one, I believe with Leo Sayer. Yeah. I've always loved Leo's music back from the 70s and whatnot. So that was a great lesson.

 

Russ Ballard  1:26:55

Yeah, I produce an album for him. In 1975. I did his first album. The show must go on. I played on it. We did a Roger Daltrey, his house actually, Roger had a little studio in the barn. And we did you know, let me did Rogers album now as well. Okay. Yeah, that's how I know Leo. That 73 was really cute. Yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:27:21

especially in the height of disco ride, you know, think back to you make me feel like dance. And that's so that's so I mean, your mind goes back to man. I could see this guy play and singing this song in a studio 54 in New York City. 1977 or something like that. Right. That's where my mind goes with that kind of stuff. Yeah. So where can the listeners find the podcast if they if they want to listen to the show?

 

Russ Ballard  1:27:52

For the voices of Russell? It's the voices of Russ Ballard. I think you can find it on Ross Ballard. music.com. Okay, finding on there, Ross. Is it Ross Ballard dot Ross dot bulked I can't remember what that this is.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:28:07

I'm asking you all the hard questions.

 

Russ Ballard  1:28:11

But anyway, Skype voices Ross Bard. I'm on the last one leaves, leaves in three parts, you know, is yet another one coming up on the last one. We had a chat about, you know, and said. Leah wants to chat with you on one of themselves. And we added the last one. We love talking about old times. Yeah. Which is pretty good. You know, and that comes out. That comes out? I think it comes it doesn't come out this month.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:28:35

I think I think that the third one I've heard the first and second one. I have to go back and look at the third because I don't I haven't heard that one yet. So I've heard that one too. Yeah, yeah. It was definitely done in multiple parts. For sure. Yeah.

 

Russ Ballard  1:28:49

Yeah. So yeah, that's it's called Voices of Ross Balaam. I think you'll find it if you put that in.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:28:56

Maybe I have to assume. And I will validate it. But I have to assume you're on these guys have put you on all the majors, like my podcast is on Spotify and Pandora and iHeartRadio and all all of those, right? What's keeping you busy these days? You know, we've talked about the past up until the present time, what's keeping you busy these days? And what can myself and the listeners maybe expect from you? In the weeks and months to come anything new and exciting?

 

Russ Ballard  1:29:26

Well, I have an album I have an album as I mentioned, I have an album that no one's heard at the moment and I'm re mixing it I've must my son is remix is re mixing it at the moment. So it's probably going to call it 2020 vision actually. Last time I went to the optician, she said I'm blind in one eye but she said to me do you know she said you got really good eyesight. She said I said yeah, I'm only got I've only got vision in one eye. She said Yeah, but it's 2020 you can fly a plane. I said great. I can fly up plane, I can fly plane again. How would you fly? I said, No.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:30:05

I was gonna say I want you writing my songs for us, but I don't think I want you fly in my blood. I don't trust you like that,

 

Russ Ballard  1:30:13

when she said is 2020, and I thought that'd be a great album 2020 vision, but it was written in 2022 in 2020. So we should call it 2020 vision. But now it sounds risk retrospective, which is a problem. I don't want it to sound too old. But it's only it's only like a year and a half old, but I'm re mixing it. And I've just done some new overdubs and things like that. So that's gonna come out. I've also finished an album of the hits I've written for other people. And done as I did my demo is basically and I've, you know, I've done them as I really, some I've changed things like free me, I've done since you've been gone again. God Gave Rock and Roll to you since you've been gone again. I surrender that rainbow did I've done that one as well? I've done I know, there's something going on. I've done three me that Roger Daltrey did. I've done a few others. I can't remember. New York, New York group I've done God Gave Rock and Roll to your I've done again. Winning, I've done. So that's gonna come out. As you know, I don't want to call that out. But it's finished. So, and I'm just about to go to a new one. I think I'm gonna go change my publishing. So I'm gonna go to a new publisher. So I've got to wait. You know, to find this new partner. Okay.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:31:36

You want to you want to put out Yeah, yeah, gotcha. That makes sense. Yeah. You've done so many songs. You can't even keep up with them all. See what kind of problem you've created for yourself.

 

Russ Ballard  1:31:47

I'm doing I'm doing a lot of live work, Randy. Glad I played this year. I've done more gigs this year than I've done for them for 25 years. I mean, I just finished a tour of Germany. I did a tour last year of of England and Scotland added shoe kicks in Scotland and Chino is sweeter now than ever. It was in Ipsos wonderful play. You just made

 

Randy Hulsey  1:32:15

me think of something. I recently spoke to Robin McCauley. And he has a drummer Matt star who was in a touch. Yeah, Matt, Matt stars and black swan. Right. And Matt. Matt makes a living multiple ways. One of the things he does is lends his abilities and talents to whoever wants to pay for his talents. Right. And I was wondering, do you or have you considered doing that? Like if I said, Well, I've I've written this song and I really would love a background vocal. I would like a certain guitar. Like, could someone hire you to do that part? Or are you just way too busy to mess with things like that? I was just curious.

 

Russ Ballard  1:33:05

I tell I'm doing I'm just doing music. I'm I'm working every day. Basically, I'm working the only day I don't work all day. I usually work in the morning. But some days, I get up really early. And I do from like I would do six or seven till 10 And I got to see my kids. My grandkids play football. Okay. And then I go on, you know, and then I'd watch football in the afternoon. Right? So Sunday's Sundays are usually most of Sundays are out I do Saturdays and the rest of the week I do. I'm working. I'm working with a band called fugitive at the moment, okay, making an album and they got in touch with me and said, Would you write to me? I said, Yeah. And so yeah, we became I've made some friends as well. You know, another band called Space Elevator. who I'm working with that got a girl singer Julie. I'm writing with them. I'm just doing just making music and

 

Randy Hulsey  1:33:59

that's awesome, man. You're staying, you're staying busy. You're staying relevant. The last thing I wanted to ask you about was you know, from a vocal perspective, how's the voice feel today? You know, because that old voice you know, we can always change a string out on a guitar and it always sounds great no matter how old it is. But as we age, you know, the vocal cords you would think would start wearing out and I asked a lot of vocalists this you know, how does your voice feel these days? And do you feel just as strong today as you did 30 years ago?

 

Russ Ballard  1:34:31

I've got to be honest, it feels better.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:34:34

I hear that all the time and I would think just the polar opposite

 

Russ Ballard  1:34:37

right yeah. You know, I used to when I was with Arjun and after Argent and right the way through you know in my head is always worried about what's what's it going to be like tonight? You know, what's it going to be like? Say drinking water. In your brain, you can laugh and you can think funny and listen to jokes and stuff and laugh at the jokes but it In the back of your head, you're feeling it. What's it going to be like? And what's it going to be like? Is it just going to go? Because you never know never know. You never know. Somebody Nikki, Nikki Lambo in a very good singer, she said to me, it's good to warm up Ross is fairly good. She showed me some exercises and warming up and stuff. But you know, this too, I've just done in England and Germany. So uplift them, because I found you know, just by just just warming up warming up that little bit of warming up. And I really, really enjoyed it. Because I was secure, secure that I could get through singing in this way, like the way through. And it was brilliant because I could see after the gig because you know, you feel elated and all that. It was just, it may be a case of getting older as well and not worrying so much and a breathing helps as well. For anyone out there that's got any kind of any well being problems, breathe in and out. Remember to breathe out as well. For sure. But the breathing you know, you don't realize that gift of breathing. Absolutely betches meditation, you know, get into those meditation programs out there and, you know, breathe because it changes your life.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:36:25

Listen, Russ, I want to thank you so much for sharing your fabled career with myself and the listeners of backstage pass radio. So this has been super awesome, man. I'm really, really enjoying it. Thank you so much. for that. I asked the listeners to like, share and subscribe to the podcast. Also make sure to follow us on all of his social media outlets, including Russ Maillard music.com. Also follow the show backstage pass radio on Facebook at backstage pass radio podcast on Instagram at backstage pass radio, Twitter, at backstage pass PC and on the website at backstage pass radio.com. I'd like to thank all the listeners for tuning into the show. And you guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other and we will see you right back here on the next episode of backstage pass radio. 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 Halsey 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