Backstage Pass Radio

S1: E13: Randy St. John (Sweet Savage / Ty Tabor / Swamp Hippies) - Glam Bands & Bangin Pans

September 08, 2021 Backstage Pass Radio Season 1 Episode 13
Backstage Pass Radio
S1: E13: Randy St. John (Sweet Savage / Ty Tabor / Swamp Hippies) - Glam Bands & Bangin Pans
Show Notes Transcript

A chat with drummer and Cypress Texas resident Randy St. John of the band Sweet Savage and Swamp Hippies. 

Randy saw the glitz and glam of the sunset strip in 80's and 90's  with one of the hottest bands in Hollywood. Randy also performed with Ty Tabor of the ever-popular band Kings X.

 

Randy St. John Master

Sun, 2/27 7:47PM • 1:16:18

SUMMARY KEYWORDS

band, play, drum, record, drummer, started, ty, song, called, places, savage, joey, music, day, people, houston, musicians, studio, hear, thought, Sweet Savage, Mind Body Soul, Podcast, Best Podcast, Interview, Randy St. John, KingsX, Ty Tabor, Backstage Pass Radio, Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, Randy Hulsey, Randy Hulsey Music, Randy Hulsey Podcast

SPEAKERS

Randy St. John, Randy Hulsey, Adam Gordon

 

Randy Hulsey  00:00

Hey everyone, it's Randy Hulsey here with backstage pass radio and I'm joined today by a local artist that is the visual timekeeper for a local band called The Swamp hippies. He has also seen the glitz and glamour of the Sunset Strip and Hollywood and has played alongside such Rock Royalty as warrant, rat and poison just to name a few. We will take a walk down memory lane and see what my guest Randy St. John is up to right after this. 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 alerts on for this and all upcoming podcasts. And now here's your host of backstage pass radio, Randy Halsey. Randy, how are you? Good to see you, man. Good to see you. Thanks for coming in chatting with me today. I think the last time that we probably ran into each other was at one of my Romero shows probably pre COVID It's probably been a while.

 

Randy St. John  01:09

Yeah, saw you there. And again, Romero's is one of my favorite restaurants. So we go there all the time. So I was surprised to see

 

Randy Hulsey  01:16

it. It seems like we eat there three or four nights a week. Sometimes it's

 

Randy St. John  01:24

you know, how's the family doing post COVID? Fine. The COVID didn't really affected my work too much, which was fantastic. Family wise. Nobody that I know in my family has contracts with COVID. Some are getting vaccinated. Some are not, you know, but everything has been been wonderful for us. I mean, I know it's been horrible for a lot of people that we are one of the few. The lucky ones. Yeah, for sure. I think there was only I think my daughter was the only one in the immediate family to get actually diagnosed with COVID. But she's also a nurse at a major hospital here in town that was working in the COVID unit. So it was inevitable that she might contract it from being in the same place with a lot of people that already had the virus. Yeah, we had, we had a few people in my work that contracted it. And actually my closest coworker that rides with me in a truck every day, he got it and I cannot believe I didn't Wow, it's pretty amazing. But like I said, all in all, everything's been fine. That's good. Now did it slow you down work wise? Did you guys feel an impact where you're working, like with the the work load, did it slow down a little bit during COVID March. And that was it. We had a great January, February at it kind of slowed things down just because nobody knew what was going on and what to expect, then we were deemed essential workers somehow being in surveying and construction of you. So we picked right back up, haven't missed a beat. We're on, on course, to have a really great year with the company. So that's good. That's great. I know that in my line of work, there was some impact there for sure. But oil and gas, you know, oil was down in the shitter for a while and that, you know, a lot of my customers are oil and gas customers. So I felt a little bit of the wrath of it. But so you and I are basically kind of neighbors, like we're not neighbors in the same neighborhood. But we live in the same area in the Cypress area. And we were talking before the show that you guys were down off highway six before and now you're out in Cypress proper. And how long have you been out in this area now? November of last year moved out there. I sold my house. Actually. We moved to cyberse in November and I didn't sell my house until February. So but we actually moved in November. So I love it. I mean, it reminds me a lot of Mississippi. Yeah. Pine trees. Sure like that. For sure like it. Well, that's a great segue. So let's let's let's set the listeners straight because you kind of set me straight before we before we went on and started recording. You were not born in Mississippi, but the whole your whole family was from Mississippi is that is that right? Every single aunt, uncle cousin, Mama dad, brothers sisters, everybody was born in Mississippi that for me, and I was on the tail end of my father's Air Force career and he happened to be stationed in Salina, Kansas on Air Force Base and that's where I was born. So interesting. I missed out so you grew would you say that was Kansas where you grew up then? No, no, no, I was only there about a year and a half. Okay. Then we went to Miami Beach, Florida, then to Albany, New York. And then finally, when I was in the third grade, moved to Pearl, Mississippi, and that's that's basically my from there to the eighth grade. And, again, we had talked about this before is that's where I'm at time Ty We're in I lived three houses away from each other. So that kind of connected us many years down the road. Sure, sure. We'll get to that at some. Yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  05:07

for sure. My mom was born in Vicksburg. So she's a she's a Mississippi girl. And I have a lot of family there.

 

Randy St. John  05:15

So I love Mississippi. It's a beautiful place. And like I said, even though we moved out later on in life, I mean, my mom and my brothers still lived there for quite some time before everybody decided to move to Texas and, and I would visit frequently at least once a year to go back to see everybody so yeah,

 

Randy Hulsey  05:33

now growing up as a kid, at what age did you get interested in music or even more so learning a musical instrument? You know, I think we all start hearing music at a very young age, right? But some never pick up want to be an artist or, or an instrumentalist, like, do you remember that far back like when you really got interested in I want to be this or that?

 

Randy St. John  05:58

Yeah. living around the corner from tie his father and his brother and tie himself they were in a bluegrass band. So I became introduced to actual musicians for the first time through that relationship with Ty and his family. And my mom and dad got together and bought me this crappy little Sears or I think it was actually Gamigo award drumset that proceeded to beat holes in immediately. But you know, Ty has talked about this before, but we used to play in his front yard, just kind of banging around and there was a band that was right across the street. He lived in Bermuda circle. And tournament us can't remember the name of the band they were in but two of the musicians Mickey Pogue, and think I don't know if Tommy alders is in the band but Tommy alders was from Pearl but nonetheless, they would come out of their rehearsal room and drive past us and laugh at us and stuff. So it was gonna

 

Randy Hulsey  07:01

so was this the same Tommy Aldridge from Ozzy Alia.

 

Randy St. John  07:04

He is a he grew up in Perl.

 

Randy Hulsey  07:08

That's interesting. I had somebody the other day. Maybe it was a co worker that said something about Does he live in Hi meadow ranch. Is he local here in Houston now?

 

Randy St. John  07:17

I don't know. All I know is that and I say I don't want to say that he grew up in Perl, but his family was in Perl for a time okay. And after at some point he I guess his first major year was black oak Arkansas, if I'm remembering a while so and then went on from there, but I got to meet Tommy once in the rainbow in LA. It was really okay. He was kind of like my besides bottom, my biggest hero. So that was a that was a wonderful shining moments while guests, they finally get to meet him. So

 

Randy Hulsey  07:45

well. The first time that I ever heard of Tommy Aldridge. He was on tour with Ozzy and the mic. Wow, this guy. He's a phenomenal drummer. And I'm not a drummer. But you know, I think I know a pretty decent drummer when I hear one play, right, but, but I think he's floated around with a lot of big names. Was he considered kind of like a hard gun? Or would you say that he was maybe a hired gun, a session guy that traveled around and latched on to different bands?

 

Randy St. John  08:10

I guess you could kind of look at it that way. I don't know if that's the way he may he would want to have himself categorized. Okay, but he has played continuously ever since I've heard his name and his various bands from you know, black oak Arkansas to Pat Travers with Pat travers, one of my favorite bands. Yeah, of course. Whitesnake and then the Ozzy thing, and I'm not sure exactly who he's playing with right now. But he's playing with somebody. And

 

Randy Hulsey  08:35

he's played with many A listers, for sure. Yeah. So was drums the first instrument of interest to you? And was it the only instrument that you were interested in? Because I think a lot you know, start out on one thing and then gravitate to something else later on was it always drums for you?

 

Randy St. John  08:51

Well, I always love guitar, but it was not really meant for me, I guess the way after the little dabble with me and tie back in the third grade when I was in the eighth grade when we'd moved to Grand Prairie, Texas. My best friend Alan Lewis, his brother, Carlos was in a band called wit's end. And we used to go watch them rehearse all the time. And so me and Alan and our other best friend, Richie Morris, we all hung out together. And we decided one day, let's put together a band, you know, and Richie said want to play guitar and Alan knew is not going to be as good as his brother was on guitar. He's a lot play bass and so Okay, well, I guess I'll play drums and sky, how can I how it started. And then I guess the sad part of the story is my dad passed away and my mom knew I was wanting to play drums. So she said, you know, go find a drum set. So I did. And interesting. We went to go check it out with me and Richie. And I was looking at it as beautiful. It was what I wanted. It was old. Ludwig psychedelic read, which I don't know why they call it psychedelic read because it's red, green and blue swirly. So you know, it's really neat. looking and the guy said, We'll sit down and play make sure you like it. So I never really just sit down to bang on it. So I sat down and hit it a couple of times and I just kind of jumped straight into a four four groove and, and Richie looked at me. He goes, Man, I didn't know you could actually play. I didn't either. Exactly. So that's kind of where it started. And it kind of took off from there from Grand Prairie, Texas and eighth grade. Is that up around Dallas? Yeah. Yeah, you've got Dallas Irving Grand Prairie, Ellington, Fort Worth, I mean, all the mid cities, there's umpteen umpteen towns around there, but it's kind of South West of Dallas, technically,

 

Randy Hulsey  10:41

okay. Okay. Now, when would you say that you started taking the drum serious, you know, everybody starts banging around and making some racket on

 

Randy St. John  10:49

then just that day, because I kept playing code. Nothing really materialized with me and Alan Richie. I mean, I love him to death, but it just didn't really kind of take off. And then I met some other players throughout high school and my mom helped me with my second drumset, which was another Ludwig and met a few other players and, and I guess it got serious when I met a bass player named Michael Mullins. At the time, he was living in Arlington with his wife, Linda Mullins, but they're from San Antonio. And he was just an incredible bass player. And he kind of took my playing to another level. And we actually, for the first time, put together a serious act. And we call ourselves Brittany and we started playing the local clubs and, you know, grandpa and Arlington and Alison, Fort Worth and what have you. And wow,

 

Randy Hulsey  11:36

well, they they do say that you become a better player, when you surround yourself with better players, right? You kind of kind of pick your game I bright because I think a lot of musicians like to stay secluded in a closet or a studio in the house and they never branch out. And it's, there's a fear factor there. No doubt, right. But But I think the more you collaborate, whether you suck or whether you're good, I don't know how you judge musicians. I mean, I don't take music as a competition myself, but oh, you you should, you should. I mean, you should always play with better better players or somebody that helps you step your game out

 

Randy St. John  12:12

of court. And before I get in trouble, Britney being my first band, I've got to mention the singer Gary Minar. Keith Carter was a guitar player and Steve Davison was a keyboard player. Thought I mentioned the names. They thought they'd hunt me down.

 

Randy Hulsey  12:26

Well, you've cleared it up then. So how long was Brittany together? Was that a short live project? Or was that were there some longevity to it?

 

Randy St. John  12:35

It was okay. A couple of three years. I think we started when I was 19. And I believe the sweet savage project started around 22, maybe 23 years old. So I was in Brittany for a couple of Okay, a couple of years and actually, the two brothers Chris and Layne from Sweet Savage, Kristen Lane Sheridan had moved down from Columbus, Ohio, and they were looking to put a band together and they came out to see Britney because they wanted my guitar player Michael Scott. Okay. He was kind of like a stand in to kind of the end of Britney and also Lance Ross too, and Britney got shot. So they came to see Michael Scott and like me too. They actually got a two for one. So that's kind of where it started. And then we all met together at an apartment on Greenville Avenue in Dallas and Lane played a tape of Joey because Joey was still up in Columbus Ohio because all you know, playing a Chris all those guys were from Columbus. And we said that's the guy and then next thing you know, Joey's down here and boom, there you go. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  13:42

He's he said in his interview, that he was rescued by you guys from being a hillbilly in Columbus or in Ohio. Right. So he got here as quick as he could join forces with you guys. Back on, you know, back home the drumming piece. Were you? Were you in band in high school? Did you follow that track at

 

Randy St. John  14:02

all? Not at all. I wish I would have because that's one of the biggest mistakes that I ever made was not learning how to read the charts. I mean, I can read exercise charts, but I could have done more as a career drummer if I knew how to read didn't really interest me and but back in those days when you talk in the 80s, it was like, Okay, let's just be a big rock star. You know, you're reading music is for chumps. You know, yeah, that's just idiot mentality. And I wish it would have, I wish it would have been different.

 

Randy Hulsey  14:31

And you know, you're not the first one that has said that. I've done a couple of interviews. And the first interview I did, you know, I was a choir guy, you know, a vocalist kind of that. So I did the theory thing all through school. So I had a really good foundation of music. And one of my guests had mentioned that, you know, he probably regrets that the most because he really didn't have any guidance or somebody to push him to the choir to the band to get that musical background. So that's one of the things that He regrets much like yourself and I'm, I'm, I was educated just recently in an interview I interviewed guy gelSo from Zebra. And you know, he's teaching in the New Orleans area now. And like, I didn't know there was music to read for the drums right? I just I guess I was naive that it's, you just learned patterns on the drums right? Even being a musician, I didn't realize that you could actually read music for drums. But I guess that that you can write Yeah,

 

Randy St. John  15:29

I didn't know that really much either. I mean, the way that I used to practice when I was growing up was just turn my stereo up as loud as I could and play along with Yeah, so that's what, that's how I learned how to play in the course that actually helped my meter as well. So I go to the studio, and I'll be promptly click track. Yeah. Yeah, of course. Now, later on in life, when I moved back from LA to Houston, I actually hooked up with a drum teacher, Craig LeMay, and started trying to attempt to do the chart thing. But more so than that he he saw something to me is that he thought was lacking, I guess, is a nice way to put it. Yeah. And he thought that he could help me. And it turns out that he was one of the greatest influences in my career

 

Randy Hulsey  16:12

Interesting. Well, I've often wondered and might sound like a silly question, but I've often wondered, like, how the drummer is the timekeeper of the band. Right? So how do you keep the beat? Is it is it in your head thing? Are you? Yeah, because how do you keep yourself from not speeding up a little bit or slowing down a little bit? I think I have a pretty good sense of tempo myself just being a solo artist. But, you know, you're it's very important for the drummer to keep the beat, if that's your job. Right. So I didn't know how you keep it straight in your mind.

 

Randy St. John  16:46

Don't think about it. I just, that's one of my, although not technically flamboyant. That's one of the things that kept me that you have going for you to have going for me? Yeah, is the fact that I don't have to fight the tempo thing. And then you get in the studio, and you play along with the click track a lot. A lot of guys just can't do that. Yeah. And it was always simple for me to do and then live. I mean, he of course, you have spots here and there that might speed up slow down, depending on the the energy of the live show. I'm not gonna sit here and say I'm absolutely perfect drawing. Yeah, right. But you know, yeah, it was never really a problem for me at all. And that's just, I guess a God given talent that

 

Randy Hulsey  17:26

you're in how many people really pick up on a slight increase or a decrease in speed? I

 

Randy St. John  17:32

mean, the studio engineer will Well, yeah, for sure. Yeah. But

 

Randy Hulsey  17:35

they you know, when you're, you're at a live show, and you've got 100 people or 500 people or however many you're playing to, I don't think that it's all taken because most of them are not technical musicians to begin with, or lovers or, or kind of sewers of music, but they're not. No, wait a minute, I think he was a little off time there by one beat per measure, or what or whatever. Right

 

Randy St. John  17:58

now, if Craig LeMay was in this in the audience watching me he'd be the one

 

Randy Hulsey  18:07

who was inspiring you musically in the high school timeframe? Like what were you into back then from from a music perspective? Were your rock guy were you glam guy? Were you a heavy metal guy? What were you back in the day back Sabbath

 

Randy St. John  18:22

Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin. All the all the norm, you know, just from back in the day that the 70s guys guess the the drummer that grabbed me initially was Simon Kirk, the drummer from that company. And then of course, I, of course loving zipline. But you know, when I started, Kirkwood was a little easier to understand. And then as I started to get better, I started to study John Bonham, which is a much more technical type drummer. So those were the two main influences me starting out. And then the next one in line was Tommy Aldridge, you know, because Pat Travers was added out of the Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath era, Pat Travers was like the first band of the kind of creeping into the 80s a little bit that really grabbed me because I loved all the syncopation, kind of a combination of funk and rock, you know, I just, I love traverse and at the time, you know, when Nick on the great big excuse me, Nicko McBrain was the first drummer for Iron Maiden right. Oh, no, for Pat Travers. Okay. And then Tommy just came in and then Nico went to Iron Maiden after that, but so yeah, Tommy I'll do so stirred. So okay.

 

Randy Hulsey  19:35

So we talked a little bit about Brittany. So that was kind of the, the the first band The first band that you were kind of doing things with like, gigging and things of that nature. Right. And then somewhere around the age of 23, I guess Chris and and Layne and Joey came along and you guys formed sweet Savage, correct, which was hugely popular. You know, I remember you guys from the 80s for sure. Do you remember what year around what year that was that sweet savage form? I'm horrible.

 

Randy St. John  20:10

So and I would, I'd have to say 82 ish. I mean, I know that when Joey and I left sweet Savage, I think was around 88, the end of 88. And then I stayed out in LA and I think I came back to Houston around 1990. Okay, on the one So

 

Randy Hulsey  20:28

would you say that the following was like night and day to Brittany? Like what you guys? Oh, my

 

Randy St. John  20:33

God. Sweet savage off the charts. It was it was. It was amazing. I really, all of us couldn't believe what was going on how popular we were becoming. It was it was a culture shock for sure. Yeah. And we played it up to the hilt, that's for sure.

 

Randy Hulsey  20:51

How did you adapt to that culture shock. I mean, you went from, you know, a fun band, you're playing around, you're playing some gigs. And then next thing, you know, you're on Sunset Strip, you know, playing with some of the biggest names in the

 

Randy St. John  21:02

winter rock star without a rock record deal. You know, I mean, we were one of the most popular unsigned bands in the country. We, you know, we traveled all over, we had our own 24 foot rider on PA system, a lightshow. We worked for John balloons from booking agents. So we went all over the country. And so we were basically a touring band that just didn't have a deal yet. So sure. And you know, every place that we went to, it was packed. It was it was basically being a rock star without the deal. Yeah, it was as close as you can. So for me, it was a blast. I mean, it was no, no problem whatsoever. I mean, I had a smile on my face every day.

 

Randy Hulsey  21:37

Yeah. Now, a lot of people don't get to that level. Right. You know, it's a local, a local gig here and there, maybe Oh, okay. Well, I traveled to this town or this city, but there's no following. You know, they're just booking gigs and showing Oh, yeah, well, you guys have the following everywhere you went, Yeah, we

 

Randy St. John  21:53

played all over, you know, Dallas, Houston, Austin, San Antonio, go back to Columbus and play the four state area there, Baltimore, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, come down the east coast and play the Carolinas and on Florida. And this was all as an unsigned band. And that was kind of I don't want to say unheard of bands at the time, we're kind of doing that. But it was, it was it was a good time, as good as you could get being a local band without being assigned band. Sure. And a lot of that has to do blimps for him because he he had all the connections to book all the bands in all these different places. And he had the big roster of all the bands, so he had to control and he had to hit the cloud to where he could actually you know, get the bands and be able to make money and travel like that. So

 

Randy Hulsey  22:36

your Do you remember what other bands he might have been booking like doing the circuit thing back then does do any of them stick out in your mind

 

Randy St. John  22:43

stiff was one of my favorite bands at the time, and which eventually, I guess, morphed over into Lilian X. You know, Stevie Blaze picked up Ron Taylor. They did the Lillian X thing I'm trying to think of

 

Randy Hulsey  22:58

was he tied in with Mr. Krause. Do you remember that band from the

 

Randy St. John  23:01

you know, that don't The thing about that time is that you didn't really get to see a lot of the other bands because as we would come into, let's say, Houston, whoever was on blimps drums roster was that was in Houston would be leaving town. So sometimes we cross paths a little bit, but we were playing four and five nights a week. Sure. And so we really didn't get a chance to see a lot of the other bands. You know, we would every now and again I'm a one that really stuck out was a raft child America, they were a metal band, and and we we cross paths somehow several times because whoever was booking that band also that he co booked with John blooms from so every now and again, we would cross paths and Shannon, the drummer for Rancho gotta guys freak, man, really, I mean, I loved him to death. And we got to see those guys a few times. That's probably the best band that I remember from that time. I mean, they were they were metal. So it wasn't really my type of thing. But I mean, I appreciated everything they did, because they were incredible.

 

Randy Hulsey  24:03

Yeah, and I had never heard of them. But I do remember some bands coming through places you know, here locally, like Hardee's and whatnot. Like I remember seeing Panthera when they were coming through parties before they were panting like they were Panthera of coral. Yeah, they weren't paying

 

Randy St. John  24:21

me back to be a dumbass or disrespectful yet Panter was around on the savage started. But at that time they were a glam band. Yeah, they still had Terry glaze singing form but before they got Phil Anselmo, so of course they were around. So anyway, yeah, I mean, Panter. You know the story there. Need to talk about it. Yeah.

 

Randy Hulsey  24:42

Take the listeners back to the Sunset Strip for just a minute. Sure. What What was the scene like in the 80s? What What's your recollection of the scene?

 

Randy St. John  24:52

That part of it was kind of a culture shock because it was different than the way it was forced over the rest of the country because We would travel to different cities, we'd have our own PA and lights and set up and play and make, you know, several $1,000 And what have you, we go to LA, and you got to pay to play. So we would pull in, and we'd save up enough money to be able to play one of the clubs, whether it be whiskey ago, or zombies or the country club, and you have to buy a certain amount of tickets or not really, basically, they hand you like $1,000 worth of tickets, and you can try to sell them. But if you don't sell them, you're the club that $1,000 And I'm not gonna hold true to the fact that is exactly 1000 I'm just throwing out a number. Sure, but it was pretty high. Yeah. And, you know, there's hundreds of other bands trying to do exactly the same thing. So you're not going to get people by buying your tickets. So basically, you would want to have in a play, pay that $1,000 To play the show. So that was the biggest difference. Also, it was a it was a circus. I mean, I tell you, I mean, walking around on Sunset Sunset Strip those days, you know when Motley Crue was hitting it and brat and all those guys that just made it and everybody wanted to be the next motley crew. Yeah, and all that. And of course, Guns and Roses coming up and faster pussycat, all those guys. I mean, it was just non stop circus Maley insanity on Sunset Strip every single night.

 

Randy Hulsey  26:24

I'm sure that every night I mean, not not to stereotype 80s rock stars and 80s musicians, hair bands in Hollywood, but I'm sure every night was a party of some kind, right? Like, we don't have to get into the details of the party drive. But we you know, the people that never got to play sunset, you know, I'm sure there's a stigma. They're like, wow, what was it really like to be out there? Because you've seen documentaries, you've seen shows and like, wow, it must have been crazy. back then.

 

Randy St. John  26:54

It was it was an experience. And it was, it was wonderful. I mean, you know, the, you go to the rainbow Bar and Grill and that's where you'd see all the big rock stars hanging out. And like I said, that's where I'm at Tommy Aldridge. And of course the guys in molekule would be there and rat and be there. So all the bands that have just made it that was kind of their Hangout, you know, they wouldn't go to whiskey too much or whatever. I guess maybe they had some friends in the band or whatever. But and everybody that went to the strip was trying to get a glimpse of one of the rock stars here. So up and down the strip, there were just 1000s and 1000s and 1000s of people all over the sidewalk bands, handing out flyers taping up flyers, stapling flyers to power poles and things Yeah, it was just it was nuts man it was crazy.

 

Randy Hulsey  27:42

And I guess people were so into that and so dressing the part that you probably couldn't tell a rock star from just an average Joe on the street either because they all were wearing their hair long you know they all had it teased up they were all wearing the whatever clothes you know the zebra print stuff or what?

 

Randy St. John  28:00

Oh yeah, it was not Tommy just you couldn't tell if at the time being in Dallas you could tell who was the Rock and Roll guy because where they dress but everybody in Dallas a dress like that. Exactly. Now lay everybody on the Sunset Strip dress like they were in a band. Oh yeah, no clue was a layer or not.

 

Randy Hulsey  28:19

Exactly. Now that's interesting that you were saying like the places the big names the big name venues on Sunset Strip that you you were kind of forced to to pay to go in there and play no every

 

Randy St. John  28:34

club in LA or even in the valley like FM station. And Country Club was in the valley. But bizarre is we mad alongs I'm sure remember that name all the clubs mattermost czars whiskey gogo Roxy Cat House was another place that Ricky Ricky rock mainly the ran that so

 

Randy Hulsey  28:55

it is interesting that you say that because I played a show in Nashville back in October and I talked to a lot of the musicians that I saw playing out there just kind of side talk and you know a lot of those guys are just playing for tips out there because it's so saturated with musicians the clubs don't have to pay you unless you know maybe you're a big name or you're a real up and comer there there's probably exceptions to the rules but a lot of those guys that are cutting their teeth out there and girls you know they don't get paid to play they just go in and what the tips that get left in the bucket that's what you make for the night kind of thing.

 

Randy St. John  29:30

Yeah, cuz I mean right down the streets Capitol Records or you know Geffen Records or whatever if you want to, you know, if you don't have the money to do a proper demo and get management, all that kind of stuff. You just want to be seen, you know, you get get out to the strip and you play the bars and you just you hope and pray that, you know, somebody from one of those labels gonna walk in like Yeah, yeah, it's a it's a hell of a crapshoot. I mean, but you didn't really have any choice. So

 

Randy Hulsey  29:54

you guys were packing it though. I mean, you guys were packing the places that you were playing out there in the day. It was like, it wasn't like you were. You were paying to play in these places. And there was like 20 people in the room they were sold out, right?

 

Randy St. John  30:07

Well, I don't know if I can say that exactly factual. We weren't really well known out there at the time. We were just kind of like going to hell. Okay, here's another band that comes in. And so we'd have decent crowds. Now, over time, it started to happen. But initially, no, it was not like that at all. I mean, we play, you know, we held the attendance record cardies in Houston forever. Sure, we play in front of 1500 people or 2000 people in the club, and then go out there and then you're like, well, you're nothing as far as the people out there can see because, you know, there's another 500 bands out there just like you trying to do exactly what you're doing. So to stand out, it's it's a tough deal.

 

Randy Hulsey  30:49

did indeed. Did you develop friendships out there with any? Any of the artists that went on to sign major record deals? And are you in touch with any of those guys at all anymore?

 

Randy St. John  31:02

Um, I'm met a lot of guys don't remember the name of the band that he was in, but we were sweet. Sam was pretty good friends with junk. Robbie was the singer for motley crew. Yeah. I don't know. Not really that I can remember. I mean, Joey's got a better memory than I sure you know, I was certainly partying it up. A lot of it's a fog.

 

Randy Hulsey  31:24

Yeah, that makes sense. And so I remember you guys play and you and you just mentioned it, you know, the local clubs here back in the day, like backstage and cardies. What are your recollections of of the places like cardies and I was telling Joey, real quick in my interview with him that there was a DJ at cardies his name was Ryan Ryan, and then then you guys would do some AC DC at the end of the night, Ryan would come up and and sing and he could do he could blow the AC DC he could do it really? Well. I remember that.

 

Randy St. John  31:58

He did. Brian Johnson great. And also one of the bouncers or Bernie, he would get up there and fake the Angus Young thing. Oh, really? Do you haven't beat Bernie? He's like, six foot eight. Big giant guy.

 

Randy Hulsey  32:09

No, I didn't. Oh, he's

 

Randy St. John  32:10

a wonderful, wonderful human being.

 

Randy Hulsey  32:13

What was your recollection of cardi specifically?

 

Randy St. John  32:18

It was just a lot of fun. I mean, we would go there and the place was packed and you know, all the same people will come out and see us and it was like it was an event when savage came to town or was and like I said, it was just like I had mentioned before it was we were like probably one of the biggest unsigned bands ever because it was truly truly a concert. I mean, it wasn't he just go to a club and you play and some people got 1015 people in front of you Yeah, you know his the whole club would come up and rush the stage and you know, it was it was it was amazing.

 

Randy Hulsey  32:52

Well, you guys what had was it one EP that you had? Yes. Okay, and there was a song that came off that called on the rocks and I was going to play a clip of that for the listeners for for some of the folks that may not have heard sweet savage back in the day so we'll we'll come back and chat a little bit about that okay. was on the rocks a original song that you guys wrote? I know that there was one was at Fox on the run that you guys it was a cover a sweet

 

Randy St. John  34:17

cover? Yes. Right? Yes. Okay, cover bus. Well, yeah. The other four songs were all ours.

 

Randy Hulsey  34:22

Okay. Now you had played a stent, I think post sweet savage with your bandmate Josie Jones. That band was called pal Joey is my memory serves me correctly here. Okay, and then what did that lineup look like for PAL Joey?

 

Randy St. John  34:40

The guitar boy, which I just recently got back in touch with was saying Hunter. Fantastic, fantastic guy. The bass player was Kevin Markham. They were both from Columbus, Ohio. Like I said, I just got back in touch with Shane. I've been looking for him for quite a while because after pals, you know, Joey went back to sweet savage. And I said stayed with Shane and Kevin. And we formed a band called Mad Moxie. So I wound up staying in LA for another couple of years while Joey went back to savage and then went back to Texas. But I love the band pal Joey. It was, at the time, I think is a little bit more of a mature type of music. And I wish I had a copy of some of that. But I don't I mean, Joey may have some of it, but it was a great lineup. And you know, Joey saying the best that he's ever saying. Yeah, on that stuff. And so I really liked it.

 

Randy Hulsey  35:31

And how long did you guys stick together with pal Joey?

 

Randy St. John  35:34

Maybe a year? Okay. Sure. We had a, we had a deal, I guess, criterion publishing, which is a subsidiary of Warner. I'm hoping I'm saying all that. Right. We were in the studio. And at some point, Joey had a falling out with our management at the time. And so we had some rough tracks of that band, and then he went back to savage and that's the rest of that story.

 

Randy Hulsey  35:59

And after pal Joey, where did you land from a band perspective.

 

Randy St. John  36:04

Like I mentioned before mad Moxie. Shane, and Kevin and I stayed together. And we recruited a singer out of another guy from Columbus, Ohio, a guy named Tommy John, wonderful, wonderful human being great, great vocalist. And so we were called Mad Moxie for quite a while and stayed with that for a year and a half or so. And then I went up getting an offer from the story circles back around to Michael Molins, my original bass player from Brittany, he called me up and said that he's found this new guitar player out of San Antonio named Jonathan grill. And he was in the listeners may remember this, I don't know. But it was Mike Varney spotlight article, caption area inside of Hit Parader magazine. And so Mike sent me some tapes of this guy. And he's one of the most incredible guitar players I've ever heard in my life, and still is to this day. Interesting. And I made the decision at that point that number one, I was homesick. I wanted to back to Texas. I was tired of LA. And of course, I was able to walk into a phenomenal project. And that was like, right around 1990 I think,

 

Randy Hulsey  37:12

okay, you just sparked my memory. I've got a whole closet full of Hit Parader magazines up there from the 80s. And my wife is always like, can we throw these away? And I'm like, No, not throw these way yet.

 

Randy St. John  37:25

My being one of those. I mean, it was it was a it's called Mike Varney spotlight.

 

Randy Hulsey  37:29

Okay. Oh,

 

Randy St. John  37:30

I can't remember. How am I gonna try to?

 

Randy Hulsey  37:32

That's fine. I'll have to go dig through it. Maybe see if I can stumble across it. Now. You currently play in a band called swamp hippies. Correct. Right. And how long has that project been going on? Well, that's

 

Randy St. John  37:45

another long story in itself that the singer is masked and Walker. And after I went up believing winner cat was which to the project with Jonathan grill. I joined Bang Bang. And that's where I met Masson Walker. And from that moment on, we've been in about five or six different projects together. And so that's a combination of all the swamping material in Bang Bang was It was basically a glam type band. up tempo rock Buckmaster noise played acoustic guitar. So we had a couple of acoustic songs. And I expressed my interest in those particular songs because I thought that thought they were great songs and thought we should do more of them. So over a period of time you know, mastering kept writing kept going and kept going. So swamp hippie technically has about 40 Plus songs, and it all started from that point. So it's just been just went through different versions, just solid acoustic versions culminated into Mind Body Soul was JC steel, and then switched back to the master and Walker project and which turned into swamp up. So it's a it's a long, long history of a lot of stuff.

 

Randy Hulsey  38:55

So share with the listeners, like some of the places that swamp hippies have played. It seems like if my if my old memory serves me correctly, there might have been a House of Blues show was in my dream in that or was was that nice spot on there?

 

Randy St. John  39:11

Yeah, we did House of Blues show we've done Acadia. We've done what was the club we were just talking the concert Pub. Pub north we played there, played the 19th hole and just forget about it, which turns out to

 

Randy Hulsey  39:28

FBR Ross

 

Randy St. John  39:31

and I guess at one point the office was which was what were were forget about it was was turned into the office, which is now something else. Okay. So yeah, just we're getting the local places around town.

 

Randy Hulsey  39:41

Sure. And not really getting outside of the Houston area, right.

 

Randy St. John  39:45

No, it's no, that's all I can say.

 

Randy Hulsey  39:48

And I know we're coming out of COVID and things are kind of opening up. I don't knock on wood. Is there anything coming up for swamp hippies from a perspective that, that you can talk about or you guys actively look into book. Are you not doing that yet? Are you just trying to play it by ear? Kind of? Yeah, listen what you're thinking we're

 

Randy St. John  40:11

looking to put some things together now that the clubs are starting open back up and COVID dropping off, we'll start hitting it again, Full Tilt is just, we, you know, with COVID, I mean, it killed a lot of bands. I mean, there's a lot of people just couldn't play, couldn't work and do anything. So. But now that started open back up, we're definitely going to start getting out, like so we just played Acadia a couple of months ago. And we did the 19th row. And we're going to start playing more and more, hopefully, hopefully a lot more. So

 

Randy Hulsey  40:40

yeah, I talked to a couple of guys. John Evans is a local musician here, big name in Texas, kinda like rockabilly, I guess. And he had mentioned that during COVID. He did one of these Facebook live shows and couldn't believe the amount of money that he made from doing this Facebook Live thing. And then I had a another interview with Randy Jackson from Zebra. He plays every day, online. And I'm sure that he's always got a few 100 people on his show. And, you know, they're setting up the virtual tip jar and they're able to make a I wouldn't call it make a living. I don't know if it's really subsidizing what they're making on the road, but some of them do pretty damn well with the virtual tips. And I think that Randy would tell you that he does and and certainly John said he, he could just hear his phone, ding, ding, ding, ding ding with all the money that was getting. So you know, you got to I've always said you got you have to remain relevant even in hard time. Do you adapt, migrate or die is pretty much what it boils down to. And, you know, you can curl up in the fetal position and, you know, let the world pass you by or you can find a way to stay relevant. And that's what a lot of these guys have done. And, you know, kudos to them for thinking outside the box a little bit. You know, you mentioned Masten Walker a little bit and he is the singer guitar player. Okay. Yes. And, and I guess, him and yourself go back years to the 90s with Mind Body Soul, right. And then Stacey Steele, who's a friend of mine was in that band as well.

 

Randy St. John  42:19

I do want to mention that the the bass player for swamp is is Jeff Clifton. I don't want to leave him out because he's a very, very integral part of what swamp he says but go back to mind body soul.

 

Randy Hulsey  42:29

No, and that's, you know, that's one of the questions I was going to ask what that lineup you know, what the full band lineup of course, I know Stacy, and I know who you are, and, and I know of masks and I've never met him, but I wondered who there has to be somebody else in the rhythm section of the band, right.

 

Randy St. John  42:47

Jeff Clifton, he's he's wonderful, great vocals. And we've got all the songs that we do have got really, really nice three part harmonies and you know, Jeff is an integral part of the project. So and where

 

Randy Hulsey  42:58

is he now?

 

Randy St. John  42:59

He's in here in here in Houston. Oh, is he? Okay?

 

Randy Hulsey  43:02

So over the years, you've had some solo efforts with Ty Tabor? Correct? Correct. And Ty is or what's the status of Kings axe right now? I'm not. They're still together. Oh, of course. Okay.

 

Randy St. John  43:17

They never broke up. They had some. I think Jerry had some health issues a couple of a couple of years back and they had to cancel some shows. But he's on the mend. He's fine. They were scheduled to come to Houston before the COVID thing yet. And I think they've rescheduled I just got a notice on Facebook from a friend of mine. I think in September that was come back to Houston but they're still fine they're they're still kicking it now is

 

Randy Hulsey  43:41

I think that Ty had a studio and Katie but that moved to Kansas or something like this in

 

Randy St. John  43:48

Missouri, right, Missouri. Yeah. The studio and Katie, that's where I recorded that the records that I did with Sonia.

 

Randy Hulsey  43:54

Okay. And is he still living here or Sisa?

 

Randy St. John  43:57

But he moved to Missouri. Oh, he

 

Randy Hulsey  43:59

did. Okay. I didn't know if just the business went there. And he stayed here and is working on something else. Yeah, I

 

Randy St. John  44:03

think Doug lives in LA. Jerry lives in New Jersey and

 

Randy Hulsey  44:07

dialects. Oh, they're all over the place. Well, I remember being a young guy just getting married and trying to afford my first house. And that was many years ago. But I remember taking I was working for an oil and gas company at the time. And I was working a part time gig at sound warehouse on dairy Ashford and I think it was dairy Ashford and Westheimer. And Doug used to come into the store all the time. In fact, I think I've got the gretchin record up in my memorabilia room that he signed back in the day. I think I might have a stick of yours too from the 80s I'm, I'm gonna go see if I have that still. But so Ty was the lead guitarist or is the lead guitarist for King's x and then he did the solo stuff and you were on some of those efforts. Talk a little bit about those.

 

Randy St. John  44:55

The first one he did was Naomi solar pumpkin, which I believe you Use the drum machine on and then he has a second one nail Moonflower lane. And then the third one was safety. And then after that I came into picture and I did in 2006 That album was called rock garden. And then in 2008 we did balance and then 2010 We did some things coming okay

 

Randy Hulsey  45:26

I wanted to play for the listeners a track off the rock garden effort and it's a song called bride we'll we'll take a listen to that and that song. Good call by me right? Yeah, so we'll listen to that we'll come back and chat today see you again it was nice I love that song. And when I went through and listened to all of them off that off that release, that was the one that jumped out to me for whatever reason I don't even know why it was but then you just mentioned that that was one of your favorites off of that effort as well. Correct.

 

Randy St. John  47:12

Does guitar sold on that is incredible. Yes. Really, really love it. It was it was a joy working with that guy in the studio is just amazing. We talked

 

Randy Hulsey  47:21

about elevate your game, right? He's one of those guys that that makes you step your game up a little bit, I assume, right?

 

Randy St. John  47:27

Oh, yeah, I mean, a lot of that record. What's part of those so amazing to me is that a lot of it wasn't written. So he would kind of stumble around on a riff a little bit and he say, start playing and then he'd get he'd hear me do a groove that he liked in the USA, okay, well, just he's talking to me in the headphones. It's okay, just keep going. Keep playing, keep playing. Okay, when I count to four, I want you to switch over to you, right, do a do a fill and switch over to your ride and then keep playing the same groove and do the fill and start playing. I'm playing and nothing. He's talking to me cheese, then I mean, come back the next day. And then he wrote the song to what a play but he had the he started putting the song together in his mind. I mean, that was the most astounding things I've ever dealt with in my life that I mean, he did that. Some of it, he had written some of it who didn't. But that was one of the most amazing experiences, the guy could do something like that. Just talk me through my drum parts. And then I come back the next day, and there's music written to it. So

 

Randy Hulsey  48:27

in my world information technology, when you're doing something outside the box, you're called a visionary. Right? And the first thing I thought of him when you were saying all that do this do that, and didn't even have the song in his head. I mean, he he knew what he wanted, right? But there was no song form that he it was kind of work in progress in his mind. He was visioning the whole thing right? When he heard you playing this and it's, you can either do that kind of stuff with music or you can't I don't I don't think there's this happy medium where you can dabble in it. I think you're either good at that kind of thing. Or you're in that's what separates the, I guess the shitty writers from the really, really good writers. Yeah,

 

Randy St. John  49:08

he's, to me, he's a genius. I mean, it was, again, I mean, I can't say enough. And I'll say it over and over. It was just an absolute joy, to be able to work with him in the studio. And then I did the first record and I thought that was gonna be it. And then he asked me to come back for the second record, and I just about had a heart attack on that one because I wasn't expecting that. And then lo and behold, I got to do a third one. So then unfortunately moved Missouri. That was the end of that, but is definitely three of the best projects have ever been involved with. I mean, it was just probably the highlight of my musical career was able to work with Ty because I mean, just just the type of player he is and how seasoned and how professional it was. It was incredible.

 

Randy Hulsey  49:51

Did you feel like you had to step your game up with him or did you did you feel like you just it was normal? No, I am at that level. Right? You know what I'm saying? Unlike as I'm not saying that you aren't a technical player, and that you aren't a great player, I'm just saying sometimes we, we get in with somebody, whether it's on the basketball court or whether it's with music, and we're just a little out of our league, like we're good. But we're not. Maybe at that level. I mean, did did he help you to elevate? Or do you feel like you're kind of there already, like, our thoughts are?

 

Randy St. John  50:22

I was scared shitless. To tell you the truth. I mean, but you know, what I settled in, you know, midway point through rock garden. Yeah. And being able to play with, with somebody that level you certainly certainly, you'd like to think that you're playing the best that you can play. And that's what I thought that I did. And, you know, anybody can listen to all this stuff and tell me different if they won't do but I'm, I'm pretty satisfied with what I was able to accomplish with this with the

 

Randy Hulsey  50:51

work. And was there any, was there any touring or shows to support any of those efforts? Or was it really just, you know, we're laying down the stuff where, you know, maybe he's selling it? Maybe he's not there? Was there any live shows to support those efforts?

 

Randy St. John  51:07

There weren't any. My understanding was is that there might have been with Brock garden, that album came out on Inside Out Europe, the label inside of Europe, and he seemed to think that we might, he wasn't sure, that didn't happen. And then so from that point, I pretty much knew that there was not going to be able to be any topic term. Because, you know, he was doing this in between the king Zack stuff. So when he got through that, then he'd go right into the studio at Kings x. And then they do a tour. And then of course, he had as other projects, you know, Jelly jam, where he goes with Rod morgenstein and John Young bass player from Dream Theater. And he just got projects out there. Yeah, he's got so much stuff going on. So and of

 

Randy Hulsey  51:50

course, King's x is the is the is the baby. So everything's gonna revolve around King's X, like nothing's gonna get in the way of that project.

 

Randy St. John  51:58

Exactly. Yeah, I mean, I kind of hoped, but then I pretty much realized pretty quick that that was not going to happen, but that's okay. I mean, I'm certainly content with being absolutely I did three

 

Randy Hulsey  52:10

three records. I mean, that's pretty. That's a pretty nice accolade. There, I would think Yeah, from a vocal perspective, how much vocal sharing or how much vocal background backup vocal came from you in bands like savage and and with Thai? Like, were you a pretty heavy singer or

 

Randy St. John  52:29

Zero?

 

52:30

None. Okay.

 

Randy St. John  52:31

Yeah, I mean, I I can and what song puppies I'm a very integral part.

 

Randy Hulsey  52:35

I thought you were you saying when I saw you playing at concert pub north? That's what why I said hearing was I was generating this in my head because I heard background vocals on ride. And of course, this tie Sure. Yeah, I thought it was multi tracking or whatever. But I didn't know if you were part of that.

 

Randy St. John  52:53

Or no, it's swamp hippies. Like I said, the three of us were very, very important because everything's got real nice three part harmonies and swamp puppies. It's it's a very vocal band. I can obviously sing Thai wanted to do everything themselves. Sweet savage. If there was a background vocal is more of a chant thing. Yeah. There was a lot of like real pretty harmonies back in the glam days, you know, it was like scream and yell and say and then of course, backing I'm spinning drumsticks and throwing them up in the air and jumping up and down. So you can keep a microphone in front of that.

 

Randy Hulsey  53:25

Not like Phil Collins. Of the three records that tied put out where you took care of the percussion piece. Were there any songs that I know you said you like ride but was there another song on one of those three records? That was your song like that's the one that you just really,

 

Randy St. John  53:45

yeah, on balance the the opening track money mouth. I love that song. You know, just like I played with Ty, I like Kamal, you know, that, you know, money mouth. It was just such a high energy song. I really, really dug that I loved the groove ride. I love not so much for my plane, but for the guitar work. And then you know, the thing about Ty, he's such a mood writer. I mean, he can write something very, very aggressive, very hard. And then he can write some of the most beautiful ballads, his deliver here and some of the most whisperings, guitar solos and then some of the most really aggressive abrasive guitar stuff. Yeah, he's just he's just all over the map about what he can do. Yeah. So it just, it was wonderful, like, working with him. So

 

Randy Hulsey  54:33

some of the I asked that question of my guest a lot that our original artist, you know, your favorite, you know, record was her favorite track off of it and it's not calling you know, I think sometimes I sit back and I think of that question. It's like in my phrasing that right, because we're not calling the rest of the song shitty, right. We're just I mean, sometimes there's just a song that just you know that man, that was my song. Yeah, they're all great songs because that's that's your baby, right? And if you had 10 kids, you know, you would not say, Well, that one's ugly. And that was okay.

 

Randy St. John  55:13

From the from a drum standpoint, it would be money mouth, money mouth. Okay, that's kind of where you are going to be. Yeah, to me. That was the the coolest, most creative groove I did on everything, everything was pretty much straightforward, because I was just playing within what Ty gave me. You know, I didn't, certainly didn't want to jump out and try to step on any toes. I tried to stay well within the context of the song and not trying to overplay or anything. And he probably wouldn't have led me anyway. Yeah, no, but but money mouth. I really, really like that that drum groove that would be the one I would say drum. Okay,

 

Randy Hulsey  55:47

I'll have to go back and pay special attention to that one and check it out. Would you say that in all of the bands that you've been in, when the songwriting is occurring, is it usually drummed that or one of the last things to be pieced into the puzzle or, or what in your, in your track record with the band's was, you know, was the drum the forethought or kind of come? Okay, we've got the melody, we've got, you know, the baseline and we kind of know the tempo, fill it in, or where did the drums come in, in the songwriting process,

 

Randy St. John  56:21

kind of, like what I mentioned with the tie record is kind of the same thing as a guitar player come up with a riff, and then I start playing along with that riff, and then just kind of, you know, experiment with different grooves and what works good. And then, you know, once we start playing that part, and you know, the guitar player, or the bass player might get an idea of where to take the next spot. And then there's times where a guy might come in with a completed song, you know, and then then I've got to put in my stuff, and then when I put what I feel like it should be there, then they may go back and decide they want to change the, the rhythm of, of their particular guitar part because they like what I'm doing with the drums and they want to match it. So it kind of goes back and forth. But I feel like that everything I've ever been in, I've been a pretty integral part of getting everything started and Rocher, you know,

 

Randy Hulsey  57:07

when you record in the studio, or you may be kind of a dumb question, but do do most drummers drum or record their tracks to click tracks? Or, or are, are there some drummers out there that are just that good with the tempo that they don't need to? Is that a is that a fair question?

 

Randy St. John  57:28

I don't know that I can answer it because I can only speak for myself. I always recorded the click track, okay. Because the reason you do that is that if you want to go back and you want to change a guitar part, then you've got that constant groove. Oh, going on. Now, are there drummers that don't need to click track? I would probably imagine so. Yeah. You know, Rob Morgan Steen? I mean, all those guests like that, I mean, probably not. But then again, they may say they do anyway. Yeah, I just don't know. Sure. I haven't been privy to their situation. So

 

Randy Hulsey  58:00

we talked a little off the record before we jumped into the interview. And we talked about recordings from the swamp hippies. I think I'd asked you before I think yesterday, if you had anything out there. You also mentioned on the show that you guys had probably 40 some odd songs. Can the listeners find the stuff anywhere? The music?

 

Randy St. John  58:23

I don't, some of it, maybe they're massive and I've recorded a lot of music, but it's just been under different titles. For instance, the record that we recorded in Thai studio is Masson Walker obviously, the name of the project but the album was called tampering with the laws of goodness and you can't get that somebody may have it because we had some printed that ironically me recording that and tie studios what got me the gig for the time record so but you know, Masten is put out some stuff on his own. That that's some of the swamp hippie stuff that we are doing this stuff that has been recorded. Now. Have we gone in the studio as swamp hippies and re recorded with with Jeff and Masonite? No. Okay. Of course, that's certainly on the table at some point we hope Sure enough, because we have a lot of wonderful material that we want to get recorded to get out there but

 

Randy Hulsey  59:18

Well, I think that you have a lot of fans over the years Right? I mean, from your Brittany days to your sweet savage days. And of course the TY Tabor stuff people want to hear I think everybody's always want to hear new stuff from the people that they love to hear stuff from. So I would probably speak for them by saying that you know, the better you know, that gets the sooner you guys can get some stuff out there. I'm sure they'd love to hear it.

 

Randy St. John  59:41

Yeah, we were we would love to because you know, especially since when we added you know, Jeff Clifton, and that really took our our vocal harmonies to a different level. And once he got in, I was like, man, we've got to get this shit on tape. Yeah, yeah, we got to get it out there because I've never been involved with a band. It has three part harmonies like we do well. And it's one of those things where the tonality of everybody's voice meshes really, really nicely. You know, we've had a lot of people come up to us at some of our acoustic shows and just they just go, Oh my God, and you guys sing incredible, you know? And, and it's through a lot of hard work. I'm not trying to toot my own horn or nothing, but we busted our ass to try to sound that good. So yeah, we want to get it on tape. We want people to hear it. But unfortunately, that opportunity has just not

 

Randy Hulsey  1:00:32

presented itself yet. We talked a little bit about you know, either you're a great songwriter, or you you're just a lyrical airhead, you know, and you can't think of a song to write and I think that holds true for a lot of vocalists that they can sing or they're pretty good at singing, but not all of them can harmonize so if you guys can, if you're, if you're holding three part harmonies down together, that's That's impressive, because a lot of people can't do that.

 

Randy St. John  1:00:57

Right? You know, Matt, I started experimenting with vocals a lot when Matt and I were doing acoustic shows in between the Mind Body Soul stuff and in between the tie things like that. So I've worked real hard over the years. And like I said, once we got Jeff and we were able to add that third part, you know, I had to switch from singing a high note above mastering to going on underneath. Yeah, sure. Because like everything I do is underneath masses and masses root and the Jeff's a high part. So okay, and we once we got that structure, that every time we attack a harmony, that's what we do. That gave us a level of consistency with with all of the music that we have. So,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:01:33

yeah. And my brains running for questions. I mean, I'm thinking of like, 90 questions to ask you, Bill, my okay. No, we're not gonna ask all these questions, because I'm Oh, you know, it's always interesting how you key songs. And again, we're not gonna get into all that. But what we will get into is some quickfire questions. And so I'll ask you these and you can just shout out a single answer. If you feel like you need to elaborate on one. That's certainly fine, too. But how about Beatles or the stones, Beatles? Pair or moon? appeared? Summer, winter, summer, working outside, I guess you say actually

 

Randy St. John  1:02:12

working outside kind of made me not like summers as much as I love being on the water and fishing. Yeah, sure.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:02:18

Okay. How about TV? Or radio?

 

Randy St. John  1:02:21

That's a tough one depends on what's on TV.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:02:25

And usually there's nothing on TV, right? I got it. I got rid of cable, like two years, two years ago, and just I don't, I don't have time to watch it. But it was never anything on that I was really interested in acoustic or electric drums.

 

Randy St. John  1:02:41

Oh, acoustic? Why? Electric? I mean, I have an electronic kit, I've got a Roland and they've gotten a lot better, but it's just nothing electronic has gotten better. I'll say that but just acoustic drums. You know, it's, it helps you define your personality drum wise, because you've got to spend the time tuning and, and choosing what type of head that you like, and what type of symbols you want to play all the type of sticks you use. And all those things are variables that have to do with your unique sound. I mean, I've played the same snare drum, same drum kit since 1985. I've got a Yamaha recording series kit. And I've used the same heads since 1985. Remember, it's now so yeah, acoustic helped you to define your personality musically. electronic drums don't afford you that.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:03:26

Would you say that? This is kind of off topic. I mean, it's on that same topic. It wasn't a quick fire question. But would you say that if you have a studio like like mine, it's not a huge studio, it's, you know, within the house kind of thing. But do you think that an electronic kit is good for situations like that? If you're not, of course, I'm not going to go out and play drums at a gig or something like that. But do they suffice for the house and studio use? Or do you

 

Randy St. John  1:03:54

depends on what the project is, um, you know, just if it's something that I'm very, very passionate about, then probably not okay, but if I'm hired to come in and just perform and do do some tracks for somebody, then you know, yeah, sure, you can get away with it. And especially now with the rolling kits that have the mesh heads before they had the the hard plastic heads. So there was no Yeah, you didn't have any dynamics like now with the mesh heads you can hit the head soft and it's it sounds soft, and you can hit it hard and and the volume goes up before the plastic heads or the hard rubber heads whatever they were you just you had one volume, no dynamics pure okay, that all makes sense. And that's one of the things that I hated about electronic drums when they first started to come out but like I said, the the Roland mesh heads have kind of helped to correct that and also you can tune the head tighter, you know, just like a regular drum head so you can get a better action off of it. And again, the volumes the dynamics are so

 

Randy Hulsey  1:04:50

what would you say that the symbols are, are have progressed to on the electric kits, like I'm not sure if I'm using the right terminology, but the the grab, you know, Like when you hit the, you know, the crash seminar, right and you and you grab it right to mute it out, what would you say that that technology has come a long way where it will simulate an actual, you know, catch or grab? I'm not sure what you call it. And

 

Randy St. John  1:05:15

I don't know, because I don't really do that with my electronic kit now. Craig LeMay we spoke spoken about him before he came over to help me, you know, kind of tweak some things out on it. And he was doing that he was hitting it and grabbing it and just letting me know that you can actually do this. But you know, it's, I use it just for practice, okay, just for rehearsal MEMS and come in the bedroom, I can, we can play at one o'clock at night. So because he's don't bother him, but he can control the volume. So so it's not something that I've actually tried to refine to the point where I'm actually going to do a recording with it. And then I might try to, you know, figure that part of it out. But as of right now, I just don't know.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:05:54

Okay, fair enough. I asked guy gal, so the drummer of zebra this question, and I wasn't sure that the question would even make sense, but apparently it did to him favorite drum in the entire set.

 

Randy St. John  1:06:06

Oh, it has to be the snare drum. Okay, just because that affords you the widest array of possibilities with your tone. And that's the thing that you can change so dramatically one way or the other to define what your snare drum sound is, you know, the kick drum to a point Tom's to a point but your snare drum is the most think of the word I can think of is

 

Randy Hulsey  1:06:33

probably the drum with the most character would you would would that be a fair stand?

 

Randy St. John  1:06:37

Yeah. You've got such a wide array of possibilities with the sound of the snare drum that you may or may not have with a Tom okay.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:06:48

Are you a country guy at all?

 

Randy St. John  1:06:50

Um, being from Mississippi basically, of course. I mean, I appreciate and love the old Tom country music crap that's out there. The new country stuff on really, really my thing? You know, it just sounds like Bon Jovi with a twang. To me, you know, hope I don't make anybody mad. But I mean, they're okay. Songs is formula stuff.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:07:12

Sure. How about early bird or night owl? Depends on

 

Randy St. John  1:07:17

what what year you're talking about, in general, in general, I guess I'll still be not Oh, okay. Now

 

Randy Hulsey  1:07:23

that you're working the early probably your line of work. I'm sure you guys don't get to work at 10 o'clock in the morning. I'm sure you're pretty early guys. Right. So. So I guess part of you as a early bird, because you have to be but if if you took all of those things out of the picture, right. And you were just a bum sitting at home every night? Oh, yeah. Okay. Favorite place of all time that you've played? What's your favorite room that just was the room for you. And it can be for any reason, right? It could be set tonality. It can be crowd, it can be anything. What room sticks out in your head is

 

Randy St. John  1:08:03

the man I guess it would have to be the whiskey. You know, just from the you know, we play troubadour, the whiskey angkas Ari's, you know, the whiskey just because of the aura, or the the style, you never thought I would be there, you know, to do it. And we did it. So that that was the one that I came out on stage. And although and trust me, it's not really that great of a club. You know, it's, it's basically a hole in the wall. But the fact to be on the same stage, like Jim Morrison was on and got everybody I mean, that's just it's a historical location. Yeah. And when the first time I walked out on stage to play, that's what I thought about is all the Wonder legends, legends this been on that stage. So you have, I'd say the whiskey.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:08:48

And that's interesting that you say that. And I think a lot of people don't realize that you you think of places like the whiskey as this mystical place that has, you know, room for 1000s and 1000s of people. The Alamo in Texas, right? We we've read about it all of our lives in Texas history. And you go there and you're like, where's the rest of it? You know, it's just it's so small, but it's been made into this big, big thing in our minds, the bluebird cafe and Nashville if you if you've never played in Nashville, I mean, that's the club to play there. You know, of course, the Ryman is in the hopper he is but the blue bar is a very famous place but you go there and it's it's almost like a buzzkill. Because it's in a little strip center with a torn awning out front. And you're like, really, this is it? You know, but there's been many famous people that have played that room. So

 

Randy St. John  1:09:46

we visited New York once and I went to CBGBs and that places a hole. Yeah, you know, I was just stunned about how much that club wasn't what I thought it

 

Randy Hulsey  1:09:58

was exactly So, it it's almost a little depressing. Like you've built these things up to be great places in the mind you get there and you're just like it's a little lackluster, like, not so great after all. But anyway, favorite song. This is probably not going to apply to for the Thai stuff. But if if you guys did support that material with live shows, what do you think the favorite song to play live would be?

 

Randy St. John  1:10:28

Oh, it would have been ride. Right? Okay. Yeah, just because it's, it's a it's a bit of an extended song. And it's got two separate solos. And again, it's, you know, go back and listen to it and listen to Ty's solos. It isn't just an incredible guitar solo. I mean, I've listened to it 1000 times. Every time I listen to it. I get chills. Yeah, it's just that guy just has the ability to do solos. Like nobody I've ever heard

 

Randy Hulsey  1:10:54

it very much stuck out in my mind, too. It's like, Wow, that's some pretty pretty technical playing there. It sounds really good. If I asked the same question of savage what song? What was your song back in the day? What was your favorite song to do by Savage? When you guys played live?

 

Randy St. John  1:11:10

Probably breakaway. Okay, it was a that was one on the first record. And that was actually written by Lance Ross. He was he was in Brittany for a while and then came over into savage. He was actually the first guitar player for savage. And then Michael Scott came in let me get my chronology together. Right. So yeah, he came into savage. And then then Michael Scott. But he wrote, he wrote breakaway.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:11:34

And that was off the EP, I remember. Yeah. And was cut it out an original wound by you guys. Yeah, that was always one of my favorites. Formal training. On the drums.

 

Randy St. John  1:11:46

Yeah, yeah. Um, the funny part of it is, is I was just said, come back from LA. Tom was in bang, bang, I'd already done the winter cat thing and was in bang, bang. And that's when I met the great Greg LeMay. He was at one of my shows, and he just walked up to me and he goes, Hi, I'm Craig blemain. If you ever think about taking drum lessons, here's my car, give me a call, and he will turn around and walk away. And I was like, man, if this fucking but you know, I thought I kept this card. And I thought about it for a couple of weeks. And I said, you know, I found out that actually, he had he had taught Bobby rock and BLAS Elias. Oh, yeah, you know, so says I'm probably should give this guy a call. And he certainly changed my drumming life Jewry. He took me to another level that I was not at. Yeah, you know, if it hadn't been for him, there's a lot that I'm doing now that would not be able to do without him.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:12:43

So Bobby rock he was in I think a Houston guy right and then left and went and auditioned for the Vinnie Vincent invasion. Right and landed that

 

Randy St. John  1:12:52

wig. We were in the hallway together because audition for that too. Oh, did you? Yeah, I went in first. And I knew that it was over. Bobby going in after me. Because it was there's no way that I was gonna win something over that guy. Yeah, he's, he's beyond incredible.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:13:12

Joey had a lot of nice things to say about him.

 

Randy St. John  1:13:15

Yeah. All right. Great guy, wonderful guy carrying guy. Yeah. Known him all these years. And you know,

 

Randy Hulsey  1:13:22

was he I'm trying to remember so I was he a drum instructor at h&h music here does I don't know.

 

Randy St. John  1:13:29

I didn't I knew of him. He would come see savage. I kind of knew of him. I didn't. We knew I found out more about him after I lost that audition. You know, I started doing some research about who he was and what he did. And sure. And so, but I don't know, as good as he is. Probably. Yeah, you know, I can't see him not teaching. You know, all I knows. I don't I don't know to what extent that he worked with Craig I'll know that they actually did work together and they remain best friends to this day.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:13:59

Okay. And it seems like if my memory serves me correctly, he might have done some producing with Dana strum.

 

Randy St. John  1:14:05

Well, Dana strum was our producer. He produced the sweet savage record, okay. And that's actually how I got the audition for the Vinnie Vincent invasion. And then Dana strum was the bass player for the Vinnie Vincent invasion and Bobby got that gig. So that's how they stayed together.

 

Randy Hulsey  1:14:25

Yeah. And for the listeners that are wondering who the hell is Vinnie Vincent right. He was one of the guitarist that was in Kiss. Yeah, he

 

Randy St. John  1:14:33

was a while. I think that might have been the third replacement. I think there was a mark saying St. John's one. Yeah. Kulik Bruce Kulick and then I think Vinnie, and then Tommy something is the new guy. I can't remember No, I don't follow kissed him. I

 

Randy Hulsey  1:14:49

don't get on either. Interesting. Well, Randy, I want to thank you for being gracious with your time and joining me here and I wish you all the success in the world and hopefully the swamp hippies get out and start playing some shows and you get some of that stuff recorded so we can make sure we get it in the hands of the listeners. As always, I want the listeners to like, share and subscribe to the podcast. And if you can do a review on the show, that would be super awesome. As always, you can find us on Facebook at backstage pass radio podcast, on Instagram at backstage pass radio, Twitter is at backstage pass PC and then on the website at backstage pass. radio.com You guys make sure 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  1:15:41

Thanks so much for joining us. We hope you enjoy 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