Welcome To Backstage Pass Radio

SPEAKER_03 0:46

Today in the Crystal Vision studio, I will be joined by a local Houston, Texas musician who I met a few years back. Hey everyone, it's Randy Holsey with Backstage Pass Radio. Joining me today is one half of the guitar assault for the local Houston, Texas band AMFM. He is a master of the fretboard and a huge part of the band that brings the sounds of 70s classic rock back to life. Let's go down the rabbit hole and we'll get to know the one and only Rob Jacobs, and we'll get to it right after this.

SPEAKER_02 1:14

This is Backstage as Radio. Backstage at Radio, a podcast by an artist for the artist. Each week we take you behind the scenes of some of your favorite musicians and the music they created. From chart-topping hits to underground gems, we explore the sounds that move us and the people who make it all happen. Remember to please subscribe, rate, and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. So whether you're a casual listener or a diehard music fan, tune in and discover the magic behind the melody. Here is your host of Backstage Pass Radio, Randy Halsey.

Meeting Rob Jacobs And AMFM

SPEAKER_03 1:55

Rob, welcome to my uh humble abode, man. It's good to see you. Hi, Randy. How are you, buddy? I'm good, good. Well, I wanted to bring you in for quite some time now, but it always seems like the schedule doesn't work out for whatever reason. And I guess you guys, you have an off night tonight. Is that correct? Absolutely do. So that's a good thing, right? Absolutely. A little downtime. It's always good to have a weekend off to catch up. Right on. Yeah. Well, yeah, it's it's like uh I guess some of the guys make a living in your band doing music, so they want to play all the time. I know Stacy, you know, when he was still in AMFM, there was that whole, this is my job, right? We got to play more, more, more, more. But you you don't make a living playing music.

SPEAKER_01 2:39

No, I don't. And uh the nice thing about it is we all uh uh we fill in those dates to keep them busy and doing their thing. And then uh, you know, for people like me, I do it for the joy of music and I love what I do, and uh that works out well. We all get enough and fun doing it.

SPEAKER_03 2:58

Yeah, I I always like seeing Stacy's week monthly calendar and it's got like 25 shows on it. I'm like, wow, that's like 23 more than I like to do.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

Oh, I don't know how he does it. It's just crazy how much the man works. Yeah, he's a hard-working dude.

SPEAKER_03 3:12

It really is. Yeah. Well, let's

Montgomery Life And Local Venues

SPEAKER_03 3:14

see, I believe um you drove in from somewhere up in the Montgomery area. Is that where you call home these days?

SPEAKER_01 3:21

Yes, yes. We've been up there about eight years now in Montgomery, and uh we like it up there. It's a little slower paced. Uh we got deer around our yard and just a little quieter and fun.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

We talked about that a little bit before hitting the record button. That man, I just I told Terry I want to move out of the out to the country somewhere. There's too many people, like, and she's like, I'm not leaving the grandkids behind. So good thing for you guys that you're out there where there's a little less stuff going on, right?

SPEAKER_01 3:47

Oh, yeah, we like it. We like it a lot. And uh and we have a little land, we have some space around us, and also live in suburbia, and and there's a lot of pluses to it, but we like being out in the country.

SPEAKER_03 3:58

That's super cool. It's really nice. Yeah, and I I mentioned to you also I played up at Ransom's for a while, so that's up in your neck of the woods. And I guess the closest I get to Montgomery, much anymore by way of shows, is Lone Pint Brewery, which is up in Magnolia, not too far, probably from where you are. But uh I don't Chris and I don't play a lot up north. It's e it's usually Cypress, down in Kema at Jackie's, or you know, it's it's and we never seem to venture up more north Houston.

SPEAKER_01 4:26

Yeah, I think there's a definitely a need for more venues up there. Uh we do have the winery up there, Bernhard, and we did have Deep Roots till recently. Yeah, that sucked. Uh unfortunately it's not happening anymore, but uh but uh we'd like to see more music up there.

SPEAKER_03 4:42

Yeah, absolutely. Well, I got I was fortunate enough to be it was actually an AMFM show, and I had brought uh a guy that was filling in, Vern Vinard is his name. And when when Chris stepped out away from me to get through some health issues, Vern stepped in. He was he's the lead guitarist for Zach Perry's band. And I remember Stacy introducing me to Dean out at um the the wine the winery, and Stacy's like, no, you need to get Randy and Chris. He's like, All right, consider it done. So we were fortunate enough to play one show at that place before they had to close it down.

SPEAKER_01 5:21

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. Yeah, it's a great place. Uh, deep roots had it, you know, it was just it was the owner was awesome, uh just good people, and a great crowd. And uh so we're hoping we'll get more out there though. And uh Bernhardt's always fun. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:40

Well, let's

Early Years And First Guitar Lessons

SPEAKER_03 5:41

go back in time for just a minute. So where was Rob Jacobs born? Are you a native Texan?

SPEAKER_01 5:47

Yes, uh, I was actually born in Galveston, uh, Texas, just down south, and uh grew up most of my life in Texas. Uh my parents moved around through San Antonio, El Paso, and settled into Houston uh in the 60s. Uh so then on, I've been a Houstonian. Long time. Long time, right?

SPEAKER_03 6:06

Yeah. So I guess as a young kid, do you remember back to when the music bug bit you? I don't talk to the listeners a little bit about how far that goes back.

SPEAKER_01 6:19

I do. I guess probably about twelve is when I have my memories of mostly of music. Uh I I had started listening to the radio a lot, and uh I had a neighbor behind me, and uh he had a acoustic guitar and sang, and he was probably four or five years older than me, and and I'd go his house go over his house and play and and just try to seek out a chord or two and learn what I could. But that's where the bug started. And uh I was in Bel Air, Bel Air, Texas. And uh so I guess I was about 12 years old. I s I asked my parents uh get me a guitar, and at which time uh I started taking lessons at uh Sharpstown Mall. I used to take the bus back to Sharpstown Mall at H H music.

SPEAKER_03 7:10

Yeah. Well that was back when Sharpstown was a good place to live in, right? Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 7:15

Yeah, you can live through the trip, right?

SPEAKER_03 7:17

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 7:17

And uh so I did that for a couple years, and uh that's where the book started. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 7:23

I guess you probably living on that side of town for a while. You probably remember the drum keyboard and guitar shop over there off of 50, what was it, 59 and 59 chimney rock or something like that? Yep, and great place.

SPEAKER_01 7:36

I know I spent a lot of my money in there, so well, I certainly did too, and a musician shop was also they had one in Bel Air for a while, and uh the Baysemores did, and uh that used to be my hangout spot.

SPEAKER_03 7:50

For sure. You mentioned mom and dad buying that guitar. D do you come from a music family or not so much?

SPEAKER_01 8:01

Not so much, you know. Really, uh there's I mean, my grandmother played piano kind of thing. Uh nobody had any kind of real interest in it. But they all listened to music. I mean, I remember my dad playing uh you know a banjo player uh named Eddie Peabody, which is like most people don't know who that guess sort of Dixie land. And uh my mom would listen to uh John Geary and all the stuff. But um not so much in the family, it was just something that grew out of me. Yeah and and the the era when I was growing up with the music. I remember um my sister got the first turntable in her family. And uh I remember her uh playing uh Rod Stewart, Every Picture Tells a Story album, and I would hear that playing. And I go in there and started playing it, and and um and I remember getting a cassette player playing uh my first uh cassette was uh Santana's very first album. And um I remember I had a little cassette player I bought from Radio Shack that I would plug it in, you know, put it in and play, and that's awesome. It was getting a bug, yeah. And there were a lot of guitar players exploding at the time direct. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 9:27

Jimmy Page. Yep. Well, I had a um a guest on my show a while back, uh Carmine Apece, who was the drummer for you know, Rod Stewart for many years. And I I remember actually Guy Gelso, the drummer for Zebra, co-hosted that with me when we talked to Carmine. And I told Carmine on the show, Rod Stewart, top three, top three for me vocally, right? Like is he the best singer? Absolutely not. I mean, there's far better singers, but just the whole thing with Rod Stewart, like that's where I cut, that's what I was cutting my teeth on growing up. The Rod's the early Rod Stewart stuff. Just loved it. Faces and whatnot, you know.

SPEAKER_01 10:09

Yeah, Ronnie Wood and slide stuff, and and the such a uh good mix of music. I mean, you had the the acoustic stuff, sure, the great ballads, you had the rock and roll guitar.

SPEAKER_03 10:23

I think it was the, you know, I think it was the voice, I think it was good songs, and I think it was just he was a the girls loved him, you know, and I loved him too. It's just like, man, if I had to be a rock star, I'd probably be that guy. Like he gets all the girls and you know, all that. Like no doubt. Yeah. Yeah. What about from a sibling perspective? You know, mom and dad really weren't players of any instruments. Did you have brothers and sisters? And were were they into other than I know your sister had the turntable, but any musicianship in the family with the siblings?

SPEAKER_01 10:55

My brother, yes. Uh he he was he sort of got the knack for guitar. He wanted he wanted to play guitar too. And we both sort of share guitars. Uh but at some point uh he kind of lost interest. And I think he he he was saw me progressing and he he was losing interest, basically. So he kind of retired from it.

SPEAKER_03 11:24

And he didn't latch on to it like you did, huh? He didn't latch on, no.

SPEAKER_01 11:28

But we were listening to the same stuff and like early guitar stuff like Wishbone Ash, and uh and and and you know, learning to play stuff, and he and I I think he just decided he wanted to go a different route, but he he was definitely into the same music.

SPEAKER_03 11:45

Yeah. Yeah. What

The 70s Records That Shaped Him

SPEAKER_03 11:47

three maybe a couple of bands, one, two, three, however many you want to mention. You mentioned Santana, of course, being the the the first tape you bought, but who were who were a couple of others that just really did it for you back in the day?

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Uh probably Grand Funk Railroad was a huge influence. Um I just loved the energy of that band. You know, Mark Farner. Uh so that was uh that was a huge influence. Uh of course Eric Clapton, uh Jeff Beck, uh Led Zeppelin was huge, Jimmy Page.

SPEAKER_03 12:25

All of the classic stuff, right? All of the classic guys. So you were always a rock and roll guy. You didn't start out as a country guy and and morph into a rock guy. Is that a safe assumption?

SPEAKER_01 12:37

Yeah, that is. I mean, later on I started branching out into soft rock or country rock, really started listening to Poco and you know got into that singer-songwriter thing, and I became a huge Jackson Brown fan.

SPEAKER_03 12:53

Okay. Yeah. And David Lindley and Well, they're all associated, right? Poco, uh the Eagles, like all of those guys interwove, like um, and then I guess um, you know, you had Linda Ronstadt that was, you know, had some Eagles history, and uh Timothy B. Schmidt being in Poco, like, you know, it was like a smorgasbord of the same musicians moving in and out of bands back then, right?

SPEAKER_01 13:18

It really was. I mean, that Laurel Canyon scene, yeah, it was just blew up and and the music came out of there. It was a magical.

SPEAKER_03 13:26

I mean, Crossing Stiles and Yeah, I I I just my in my mind I went back to uh what was their song In the Heart of the Night? Yeah, Poco. Yeah, that was a man great. So, you know, I I was such a big, a big 70s rock guy because it seemed like all the musicians back then actually played their instruments and could all harmonize their asses off. You know, you think of Poco, you think of the Eagles, you think of Firefall, you think of all of these bands, and you're like, wow, that's when musicianship was really musicianship, right? Would you disagree with that at all?

SPEAKER_01 14:05

Absolutely agree. I mean, and and the it was all about it wasn't about one person, it was all about the band. And you know, you you would talk about the guitar players and you talk about the bass players and the drummers and their talents and skills, and and and just the bar was so high back then, and and the albums were there was no filler.

SPEAKER_03 14:30

I mean, and we'll talk about more about AMFM later, but I mean you you look at the stuff that you guys are doing in AMFM, and it's very vocally, a lot of it is vocally charged, right? You're doing a lot of stuff from the 70s that required multiple singers in the band. It wasn't just one guy front in the band, right? Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 14:50

And uh we really wanted to make sure we had the right combination of guys that can do those songs correctly, you know, and and pull them off because you know, we wouldn't do them if we couldn't have the right guys. And yeah, vocally, you absolutely have to have three or four good singers in there.

SPEAKER_03 15:09

And yeah, well, you know, and when Stacy was drumming for you guys, you know, usually a drummer doesn't sing, right? That's a rarity if the drummer sings, but he brought that element to AMFM when he was still with you guys, right?

SPEAKER_01 15:21

He did, and Stacy. He's one of those guys that could play so many different things and sing, and and he's he was great on drums, and and you're right, it's not not the easiest thing to do. No. I mean, if I think Don Henley probably professionally did it better than anybody.

SPEAKER_03 15:35

Sure. Yeah, Phil Phil Collins is probably up there as well, you know. When you think about just that guy, I was thinking the other day about him, and I said, Did he ever write a bad song? Like everything post-Genesis that he did was just they were all hit songs, like Land of Confusion, like like geez. And then you date back to the Genesis day, the the Duke album and uh the songs No Reply at all. You know, it's like, man, that was the stuff that was really hitting me when I was in seventh, eighth grade. I was getting girl crazy, music crazy, and it was just like, wow, you know, 78. I remember just being a magical year musically for me. I think that that's when it really, really hit me. Like that seventh, eighth grade, you know, and you're hearing all this stuff and you're like, shit, man, this is what I want to do. I was already a classical, you know, taking doing the classical piano thing, right? Right. And uh, and I I'm hearing all these guitar-based bands. I'm like, man, you can't pick up any girls at a party with a freaking piano. You can't take a piano to a party. I gotta, I gotta buy a guitar so I can carry that to the party. And you know what I'm saying? Like that's where my head was as an eight, eight-year-old. I mean, an eighth grader back then.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Oh, I know totally what you're talking about. And going to high school, you know, I was going to Bel Air and you know, the jocks got all the girls. Yeah. And I was like, I uh see these. What the hell? Save some for us, right? Yeah, I need to do this guitar thing because I could, you know. There you go. And uh, but you know, I think being that seventh, eighth grade, that's kind of when you're really hit, you know, your influences are really for a style of music and things.

SPEAKER_03 17:22

Yeah, well, I I I'm guessing I'm trying to correlate the numbers in my head. And usually numbers don't correlate in my head, um, just like dates don't correlate in my head. But 12, 13, 14 years old, you're getting into the guitar, that's that seventh, eighth grade time frame, right? I mean, it's it's it's all you know, it's the puzzle is just starting to work itself out here in this conversation, right? And that's when it happened for me, was like, wow, you know, this is this is moving, exactly something else.

SPEAKER_01 17:52

Exactly. And I remember early on, it the I was rock and roll, but I also I was starting to hear a lot of blues, okay, Alman Brothers. Yeah, okay. I was seeing bands that were branching out. So later on, that led to me getting a band called Just Got Lucky in the 90s. That was my first time to play slide, and the reason I did that was basically because it was a southern rock thing, and they were playing a lot of Alman Brothers, and so I dove in and and I was so glad to finally go back to that period because I admired it back then, but I never played that style. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 18:30

Were you always an Allman Brothers fan? Did you always love that Muscle Shoals sound?

SPEAKER_01 18:36

I did. I did love that sound. Uh of course I loved you know Dwayne Allman's guitar and his tone and Dickie Bats, and uh that Muscle Shoals sound was great. In fact, I got to go to Muscle Shoals, and that tour was awesome.

SPEAKER_03 18:50

That that's super cool. Well, one of my favorite songwriters currently and has been for a long time was a I guess you can kind of consider him Americana now, uh, but Jason Isbel from Jason Isbel and the 400 unit, right? He's a Muscle Scholes guy. And it and it just sounds, he sounds so muscle muscle shoals to you. Even in drive-by truckers when he was with them, it's like, okay, and this guy is a masterful writer. This guy doesn't write shitty songs. I'm just amazing how he writes. It's songwriters are here, and then there's Jason Isbull. I think he's just there's something that's magical about his writing. But I love the Muscle Shoals sound myself. And you know what? And all like I I always people joke a little bit, like, Randy, you're kind of like a musical savant. You know so much like people and albums and things that most people don't even think about. Like I geek out on that. But like the words in the song Muscle Shoals has got the swampers, right? I never knew what a swamper was until about a year ago when I was watching the probably the Leonard Skinner or some documentary like that, right? They were the they were the uh studio musicians, right? In Muscle Shoals, and I had no idea. So it's always nice to learn things, right?

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think I just found that out too a few years ago. Really? Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 20:10

So I wasn't the only dummy that wasn't, yeah. I'm like, what and what in the hell is a swamper like as that? I didn't know. And then so I'm watching this documentary, and they're like, the swamper's bottle. I'm like, wait a minute.

SPEAKER_01 20:21

Yeah, wait a minute. Right. And now it's all coming up. It starts to make sense. Yeah, the whole song. Yeah, totally. I mean, that that but that place, I uh muscle shoals, it was such a small little studio, and and the magic that was created in there, it's like it's almost high of ground, you know. Yes, it's like and it's the same group of guys a lot of times.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

The band obviously was the same guys, but whoever came through there, there was a lot of magic in there, you know.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

Yeah, 100%. And it m it just made me think of some of the guys I had on my show from a band, Hall of Fame band from Louisiana called LaRue. Um so it was interesting because there's a place in Bogalusa, Louisiana called Studio in the Country. And it's just out in the middle of nowhere, poke Bogaloosa, Louisiana, and the guys from some of the guys from LaRue were the swampers of that recording studio, the studio in the country. And this is the studio where Stevie Wonder recorded, Todo, Kansas, they did leftover tour in studio in the country. I'm like, wow. And I and I didn't ever know that the look the LaRue guys were studio musicians at Studio in the Country. So you get to know so many cool things about these artists and yourself. Like, you don't, you know, like I was saying to somebody the other day, who are you having on your show next? And I said, I'm having a guy named Rob Jacobs on my show. And they're like, Oh, who is Rob? And I said, Well, he's a local guy, but he's he's an intriguing guy because he's a great player, and I want to know more about like what's in his head. I'm this head game guy. Like, I I want to know how the musician thinks, and like, you know, that's that's what brought on the whole podcast because I love the stories behind the songs, and just like we're talking about muscle shoals and the swampers, who would have known, right?

SPEAKER_01 22:15

Right, right, right, right. That's I mean, that's that's so true. I mean it's a great way to get you know to get a real feel of how you know how a person gets into this.

SPEAKER_03 22:29

Absolutely. Absolutely it is. Well, if you if you didn't play the guitar, I know that struck you around twelve twelve-ish years old, but if you if you didn't play guitar, what what do you think the second instrument of choice would be for you. And don't say the recorder. That doesn't count.

SPEAKER_01 22:52

No, no. No, no. Everybody can play their recording. No, the recorder I darn. I was going to say no. Probably piano, keyboards. Because I always loved listening to singer-songwriters, right? And they just simple, you know, piano voice. For sure. Be able to sit down on piano and construct a beautiful piece, sing it.

SPEAKER_00 23:13

And just you know, the piano is a such a wonderful instrument.

SPEAKER_01 23:19

Yeah. That would have probably been my second because I made a few attempts later but never really had time to Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 23:26

You know what they say is the the the piano is probably one of the harder instruments to learn. And it's interesting because out of 20 kids that go to their parents to say I want to take music lessons, what do they what, what do they tell them to take? Piano. And it's like literally what they say, I don't know how much truth it is, I haven't validated it, but they say, I mean it's nice because it's linear whereas a fretboard on a guitar is not linear like the piano keys. But to make this hand do the bass lines and this hand to do the treble lines it's almost a little bit like drumming I would think like if especially if you're a singer where you have to have two feet doing something, two hands and you're trying to remember vocals, that takes a special kind of person, I think.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Gosh, that is the hard part of it.

SPEAKER_03 24:18

And it's like having two separate brands because you got one, you know, two yeah I struggle with the one that I have let alone trying to wish I had two these fingers right here, you know. Yeah. But that was me. You know, I started out on the piano and then literally I I kind of say it tongue in cheek and joking, but um I I think I was at that age where I'm like it's no longer cool to play classical piano. Right? My teacher literally was teaching me you know Brahms, Beethoven like literally classic not classic like as in classic rock, classic cull. Like and while I guess while it's good for the theory part and your learning it's like who nobody wants to listen to this. You you can't go to a party as a 15 year old and play Brahms, right? You're going to get run out of the place for crying out loud. So you gotta you got to bring something else to the table and that's kind of my when when I shifted over to the guitar.

SPEAKER_01 25:19

Yeah you're right absolutely right I mean it's it's not something you could just sit down and just drum starts drumming a song. Sure. There's much more to it and much more complicated instrument I think. Absolutely I think of you know when you said classical I think of guys like Billy Joel. Sure. Yeah he no like real real classical players right but yeah go ahead and finish I think he sort of in interviews I've heard he sort of said he you know he it wasn't his favorite thing to do but you know he became had a love for it later and he of course it produced all that knowledge that gave him uh you know the tools to do what he does absolutely later.

SPEAKER_03 26:00

I was thinking I was thinking back to uh an interview I did with Russ Ballard and I don't know if that name sounds familiar to you but he was the lead singer for Argent. Hold your head up yeah that was that was Russ Ballard and what what a lot of people don't know about Russ is he's got he's a guitarist but he wrote most of his hit songs on the piano so God gave rock and roll to you by Kiss that was a Russ Ballard song. New York Groove by Ace Fraley that was Russ Ballard let's see what else did he do? He did um what was the big one? I'm drawing a blank on it but that's where he was writing all his songs on the piano you thought you would think that he would pick up the guitar and do that but you mentioned it earlier you know I'd like to just play around on the piano and find new songs and that's exactly how oh he wrote Winning by Santana what a great song that was that that was like when I heard that song for the very first time it was magical right who was this right and then I remember talking to Russ and he was at his place in England and we're talking about these songs that he's written and I and I can remember putting my head down in the uh to the microphone like this and he said is everything all right and I said I was just I'm having a little schoolgirl moment because you wrote you literally wrote the storyboard to my life musically winning God gave rock and roll to you all of these songs I had no idea back then that it was you writing it right yeah You Can Do Magic by America You can do magic out that's Russ Ballard now America made it famous but that's a Russ Ballard tune right and it's like you know so it was a whole who am I talking to right now? This guy's a a machine a a songwriting machine it's just so cool. But the whole point behind the the Randy the long Randy story there is that he would he would find ways to write all of those songs on the piano even though you look at New York groove by Kiss it's not a piano song it's it's a guitar song right so it's interesting how that that piano correlates into something more rock and roll later on.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Right. It definitely I'm sure helps the writing process to be able to have that you know because you're always as a guitar player you're always when you're writing you're always uh looking for inspiration whether it's you know put a capo on sometimes or switching to 12 string or trying sometimes just trying a different guitar yeah and you come up with an idea or a riff but uh but having that keyboard even gives you more uh ability to absolutely and I don't know the answer to this but I love you to educate myself and the listeners but you know here now you're known and much like I am we're known to go out and cover songs in restaurants and bars.

Songwriting Habits And Real Life Time

SPEAKER_03 29:10

That's what you and I do. Were you ever a songwriter? Do you have your own material somewhere or or has it always just been you know hey I'm just gonna be in the a tribute or a cover band?

SPEAKER_01 29:22

Uh I do have my own material and uh but I've never really promoted it promoted it. Why is that? You know I think it's uh I came to a point at uh where I was writing quite a bit of uh material and I was uh I was sending it out and pushing it and um it was a slow process and at the same time I was playing out and I was just like at some point shifted my energies more that makes sense. But but the writing process is to me is like a zen. It's it's a really fun thing to do whether you're putting it out there or not for me sure it's just that whole process of creating something.

SPEAKER_03 30:02

Yeah so do you can do you consider yourself a lyricist or do you consider yourself more of a lyrical airhead? More of a lyrical airhead that's me yeah yeah but then but but then you've got the guys like Jason Isbull and Zach Perry that are just so prolific in songwriting like I mean it's like oh yeah I wrote four songs yesterday. Dude I ain't even written four songs in my life right I can't sit still long enough so I don't I think there's an R. I mean you just have to be able to write a good song and I don't think I was ever blessed with that myself right yeah I think it's something you kind of know you you know you know you have and you build on it like guitar I knew I kept building and building on that and I I progressed fast.

SPEAKER_01 30:49

And I think lyric writing always was I found to be a challenge and still trying to get better at it this day but you know I think some people maybe are just better at it.

SPEAKER_03 31:00

Just have a I think it I think it just comes to people easier than maybe other people I I don't know. And then you know you talk about structure around songwriting and I I've had um Michael Sweet from uh striper um did a stint with Boston after Brad dealt died he was the lead singer of Boston but you know we talked about how do you write and he's like I'm one of these writers that sets you know I set my schedule 10 o'clock I'm going into a room and I'm writing for an hour. But but most writers are not that structured in doing that. It has to just I'm driving down the road a melody hits me I record it or write it down right that's how most people write so it's it's it's interesting over the years of Backstage Pass radio to understand how how writers write is it a is it a scheduled task for you because I know you and I as salespeople we're probably pretty structured guys. You have to be structured to be successful in sales I believe but um were you more of the I've got to sit down at 10 o'clock in the morning writer or I just write when it hits me I think I it would have been better if I was more of a sit down at a specific time writer but I was more of a wait for the idea to hit I would you know if I came up with the riff I put it on put it down on a tape.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

Right. I wasn't and then I go develop it yeah over the next few weeks. But if you listen to the greats and interviews and it seems like most of those guys end up having some kind of schedule. Yeah I mean the famous story about uh Glenn Fry living underneath Jackson Brown. Take it easy. And yeah he said he'd every morning he'd hear uh Jackson Brown's tea kettle going off at it like in the morning at six or seven in the morning and he said he would sit there and listen to that and he'd listen to him play it over and over the same part same verse verse one over and over and tweak it and then he'd go to verse two and he'd and he'd do it all the way the whole day. And he's and he he said a light went off and basically said wait this is like a job I need to be working at it. Sure.

SPEAKER_03 33:19

Yeah so maybe that's well some of that work ethic must have rubbed off on him you know hearing that going on upstairs all all day long every day. Exactly. And most of those musicians like that Rob like you you know they're they probably do that stuff eight nine hours a day whereas you you and I never had that luxury I wish I had the luxury to sit and do expand the podcast growth and be a better guitarist and all the things right but there's only so many hours in the flipping day that we can do those things.

SPEAKER_01 33:54

And growing up you know that's if you learn when you're 12 or 13 you've got all this time. Yeah growing up to you start getting a real job and life realities come in. But that's I think that's the key is having the time to put in you know 100%. And but the nice thing is now I'm retired and uh I still try to get better. I think you have more time.

SPEAKER_03 34:21

Yeah good for you man. And so yeah you're you haven't gotten to an age where you're just like eh I'm I'm content. I'm just gonna be it is what it is. It sounds like you're not that way which is great. You're always and I think that continues to grow the brain keep the brain active maybe give the brain a little more elasticity because when we get older we don't remember things like we did when we were nine years old because the there's no elasticity in the brain anymore. So the the the fact that you are continuing to learn and develop that's great man and I think you're probably a little older than I am if if if I've heard correctly from uh probably some guys in your band actually but still I mean you don't I mean whether you're 50 60 70 80 you you can always learn something at the end of the day right oh yeah yeah and to me that's just it's it's it's fun I enjoy it it's it gives me a lot of satisfaction and peace. That's awesome. Well and and I've always said get your get your kid a a musical instrument I I don't care what it is but it's something that they can love and enjoy until the day they die right it's not we're not bound by physical limitations like I was 17 years in professional hockey and and played hockey I was a hockey player and my body doesn't want to do that anymore at 60 right like you're not if you if you get hurt you're not gonna heal like you did when you're 25 right so you tend to not do dumb shit like that anymore right right yeah so right but but the the piano the guitar the recorder whatever whatever you want to play that's something that when you're 78 82 you can still play those things if you want to oh yeah right yeah yeah yeah that's the beauty of it and and uh you know I think for kids you're mentioning kids I think one of the best things is to give a kid like something they can build self-esteem and what better than an instrument you know and uh give them something absolutely and you know what you know what's incredibly amazing to me is and I think you'll concur I don't know if you're a music or a or a YouTube junkie like I am but somebody sent me a video of a seven year old was playing subdivisions on the drums by Rush and the dude doesn't miss like every everything that I've tuned my ears to hear in that song and I've dissected the shit out of songs don't get me wrong right sure this kid's spot on and it's like how in the hell have you come that polished of a player at seven like what what's going on with what's in the water these days because you know and I think it's probably learning tools like you've got the internet you've got tablature now that that we didn't have as kids we had to put a cassette tape in a damn player play stop rewind play stop rewind and listen over and over and over to understand what's he doing there what's he doing there what's that note right so I think the tools now are just so they're so relevant in in kids learning so much faster and being seasoned beyond their years if you will would you agree to some of that totally totally I mean I I can't think of the number of records I ruined trying to learn parts and you know put them on play it over.

SPEAKER_01 37:56

We didn't have we couldn't slow stuff down we couldn't no no and and you're right the tools now are just amazing.

SPEAKER_03 38:03

Yeah so and I didn't think about that like you could literally take an MP3 file and slow it down as much as you want to to hear what's going on. There was and maybe I'm maybe I'm crazy but I don't remember anything like that growing up right like if you wanted to record a song that you heard on the radio you had to wait for the DJ to play the damn song you couldn't you didn't have the opportunity to just go sit at your computer and say oh let me pull up Spotify and listen to that real quick you had to wait for the DJ to play it on the radio it seemed like it's just changed a lot over the years. Oh gosh yeah I used to record the midnight album of LOL yeah and then I'd just sit in and try to learn as much as I could yeah uh that's all we had with different times yeah different times and I remember this is really show my age but I remember uh in the newspaper you get one song every every Sunday I think they would give you a song that would just be the chords of some song that was at the time and we used to cut them out and I didn't I don't guess I remember that that might might have been a little bit before my time but when you think of the old days that's how you used to have to apply for a job is wait for the Sunday paper to come and get the classified to see what jobs were open. Now you just jump on the internet and it gives you 953 million jobs that are open. It's like wow where was this where was this stuff when I was growing up I could have used this stuff right you you mean I have to stuff an envelope with a resume and put a stamp on it and mail it somewhere? What the hell is going on?

The One Guitar He Keeps

SPEAKER_03 39:40

Well I know that you have um an arsenal probably and I'm gonna assume maybe I'm wrong but you're gonna set me right uh but I'm sure you have an arsenal of guitars uh at home and and of course they all serve their own purpose but if there's one of those guitars of the kids one of the one of the kids you had to turn them all loose but one which which guitar would that be for Rob Jacobs? Do you have one?

SPEAKER_01 40:07

Yes I do uh it's definitely my gold top Les Ball okay and I've had this had that since 1974 and it's been a lot of places with me and uh it's a wonderful sanding guitar and and it's just like a part of me. Yeah and it'll never go anywhere. I mean it'll it'll always be in my collection it'll be the last one. Um I also I guess about 20 years after I I guess maybe 20 years ago or so uh my house got robbed and I lost a few guitars and that particular guitar miraculously did not get stolen. It was sitting in a closetcase and they went through everything but somehow they missed that. That's crazy. So that to me was like the best thing could I come out of that horrible situation. But anyway it's been with me all these years I know and it's I think Slash played a gold top didn't he uh I think I think he did uh it's age now it's got you know it's turned green sort of top and uh you know it gets two two fret jobs sure but I mean I've played that in clubs and starting out for shows I didn't would you say you're a Gibson guy in general or or is there another brand that you kind of gravitate towards Gibson all the way. Yeah yeah I mean I've always I've toyed with the fender here and there and I love the way fenders sound and they're great for certain things but but feel wise and just everything is Gibson and you know the Gibson through a Marshall thing was a great tone.

SPEAKER_03 41:56

Yeah and what what advice do you think that you would give to a guitarist that really wanted to be um a great solo player because and I I'm asking that question because I took some lessons from Kent around um lead guitars and I think um I think it was like trying to teach a squirrel to drive a car right if I could use a a a dumb comparison but what advice would you give to I say a kid it could be a kid or an old person that wanted to learn to be a a good solo player. What advice would you give them what do you need to do and what do you need to know to be a good solo player?

SPEAKER_01 42:41

A lot of time uh yeah uh you know to me uh having a good ear helps a lot uh and you know the old saying if you want to be the best you've got to steal from the best but that's my style of learning was and I knew that worked for me was to break down parts from the greats that I loved and basically learn those parts and then as I went I I I started my own style fused into those and developed into my style but but yeah I had to know like you know songs in G. I had to know all the positions in G and down the neck and and so for me it was just learning parts learning parts whatever you know completely as best I could and then you know applying it applying those to other songs and then you know interesting and uh easier technique develops over the years and you become maybe for me I didn't start early enough to care about learning to be a a solo player or a shredder because I was always a vocalist first, right?

SPEAKER_03 44:00

So the cowboy chords and even though I play more than cowboy chords but um for the sake of this conversation we'll just call it cowboy chords because I I've never considered myself an elite guitarist right but I hold my own right yeah um and and I've always been you know we talked about a lyrical airhead I've always been a solo airhead like I can't I can't figure it out and I think a lot of that has to do with at my age I don't know that I want to learn to do it at this age you know what I'm saying like what like Randy what do you what do you plan on becoming once you learn to solo like are you really gonna go get a solo gig or be a solo player in a band? Absolutely not right I'm not gonna do that So I think it has a lot to do with the timing. I should have learned that back at 20, 20 years old, 25 years old, or whatever, way long ago when again there's elasticity in the brain and you can retain all of that stuff.

SPEAKER_01 44:58

Exactly, because there's a lot of repetition of music and you learn, you know, what works and what works in certain songs, what type of solos. And I I think you know, I always say that the best solo I work, I do is when I'm not thinking about what I'm doing. Really? Because it's it's just it's all the work I put in and and stuff that I've learned and it's more of a feel thing, and you just let it happen. That's when I would feel like I was doing my best. But if I'm thinking about it, then I'll start.

SPEAKER_03 45:30

Yeah, overthinking things. Anything is not a good thing, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:35

I mean, I've even been on AMFM shows and playing a solo and uh, you know, and and just start questioning what I'm doing, or just looking at what I'm doing, thinking about it, and I'll hit a wrong note.

SPEAKER_03 45:48

Yeah. And then Kent, and then Kent's never gonna let you live it down. He's gonna make a face or he's gonna call you out on stage. You always know with Kent when somebody misses a part, but it's so funny.

SPEAKER_01 45:59

Yeah, you get the little look, the interesting and then he'll laugh.

SPEAKER_03 46:02

I've seen it. I've seen it. And you know what the the the fun thing about that Kent's just easy to pick on for some reason, but um you know, if you had a hundred people at a show and I was there, I I would I would know the part or the note that got missed on, right? But the other 99 people there have no clue, right? Exactly. No idea. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, uh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 46:29

No clue.

SPEAKER_03 46:30

Oh, that was great. Way to go, Rob, you killed it. Wait, I missed like seven notes in that cell.

SPEAKER_01 46:35

I know. Or the one person with the Facebook video, and you're like, that's the one you screw up on, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 46:43

Exactly. It's captured, it's captured in time, man. And you can't we'll never be able to escape our mistakes anymore. That's the that's the I guess the the life we're living right now is everybody has a a phone camera up doing something, right? There's nothing sacred anymore.

SPEAKER_01 47:00

And it'll never be perfect. Yeah, once you go, we you know no matter how hard you try. And that's part of maybe part of what makes live music very cool.

SPEAKER_03 47:10

Absolutely. I agree with you. That it's that's what I love about a singer-songwriter sitting on a a stool with just an acoustic guitar and a microphone. There's nothing fabricating sound. Um it's from the heart, it's there's no fancy petals that make it sound this or that or delayed. It's just a vulnerable time where an artist tells a three and a half minute story, and there's something about that. That's why I, you know, we talked a little bit about it gravitating to the acoustic guitar because it's just real, right? It's just it's just wood and steel, is all it is. And that has always just spoke to me. And don't get me wrong, I love the live music and I love roaring guitars like the next guy, but there's a real soft spot in my heart um when it comes to acoustic guitars. And I don't know, do you play much acoustic at all at home?

SPEAKER_01 48:08

I do. I play a lot of acoustic at home. And uh I started doing a few duets with Mike McCullough here and there. Okay. But uh I I do love I love acoustic. I just don't get enough opportunity to do it. I, you know, I have a really I have a Takamani, I play a lot. Nice. And um you know, I like I was telling you, I I I really had a started listening to Jackson Brown uh and Eagles and and you know, a lot of that's just great guitar, acoustic guitar, vocal. Right songwriters, you know. Just uh I love that. I'd like to do more.

SPEAKER_03 48:51

Totally. Well, do you do you consider yourself a uh music theory guy, or are you more of an by-the-ear player than anything?

SPEAKER_01 49:02

Totally by the ear. Yeah, definitely by the ear. Uh my training as mostly chords, uh I didn't get a lot of theory training, but I had a really good ear. I get hear stuff and I get to pick it out.

SPEAKER_03 49:23

Nice. And that's been my gift. Well, yeah, that's a gift in and of itself, right? Some people can't pick those parts out like that.

SPEAKER_01 49:30

Right, yeah. I mean, I I can just I hear parts and I know exactly.

SPEAKER_03 49:33

That's awesome. Yeah. How cool.

SPEAKER_01 49:36

And I always it uh it was always, you know, I see keyboard players reading off charts and things, and I and I've seen some that if they don't have a chart they can't find it.

SPEAKER_03 49:48

Yeah. Totally. Yeah, I I it's it's a art, it's an art and a science, I think. You know? It totally is. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:58

Well, I've heard rumblings, um, thank you. I've heard rumblings surrounding you and a connection with the band Fog Hat.

The Foghat Backstage Connection

SPEAKER_03 50:10

Um share with me a little bit about whatever connection it is that you have with the great band of Foghat.

SPEAKER_01 50:16

Oh, sure, absolutely. So um I was in a band for a while uh with some guys. Uh Paul Byron was in the band called Crash. Uh we were playing uh covers and we were playing a lot of Foghat music at the time. And um Paul uh posted a video or several videos of us playing songs by Foghat. And uh I guess a couple of months after that, Foghat was gonna be in Houston playing at Verizon Wireless, and uh Paul got a call from Linda Earl, the manager, uh asking us to be their guests at the show. And so we came and and uh they very gracious took us backstage and and then she said that they were watching videos and they were going to audition me uh to fill in their guitar for Brian because Brian ass at the time was having some family issues, he was gonna have to be off the road for a while. And uh they were going to uh audition me and wanted to kind of I guess meet me and things. It didn't come to fruition, Brian got back in, and uh but I've had a good relationship since then with them. That's super great people. And uh I did uh I I did get on stage with them one time in Vegas for a coup for a few songs and and uh that's super cool, man.

SPEAKER_03 51:52

Yeah. You know, when you think about that, the whole getting discovered. My my mind when you brought that up, you know, they saw a video, it immediately went to the whole Arnell Paneda story of you know, a little, I guess, Filipino kid, you know, living a shitty video on YouTube of him singing a journey song. Next thing you know, Neil Sean reaches out and he's been the lead singer of Journey for freaking ever. It's like, how cool is that? Just you're just gigging one night, it's some hole in the wall. And it's like life, Rob. It's like sales, sales is timing something. It's just being in the right place at the right time. And that for him was just being in the right place at the right time. And and for you, even though it didn't it didn't pan out or didn't actually come to fruition. The the fact that they saw it and you had a cool relationship with them, that's that's super cool in and of itself, right?

SPEAKER_01 52:51

It was, it was, and is. And uh I was just uh happy they recognized me and and uh and just the old experience. It was very it was amazing experience.

SPEAKER_03 53:01

Super cool, man.

unknown 53:02

Uh yes.

SPEAKER_03 53:03

I think I'll uh I'm trying to remember his name. Is it Rod Price that that played with Foghat? He was a he was a monster slide guitar player, was he not?

SPEAKER_01 53:14

He was amazing. I mean, he his vibrato, I mean, and they used to say he covered five frets on his slot when he was vibrato as just and he's just he's very live, electric. Wow. It was it was very, very um uh unique. Uh and uh he had a lot of electric to it. I mean, a very hard side rock side that really fit Foggette perfectly.

SPEAKER_03 53:43

And uh I think he died at a pretty young age, too. It seems if my memory serves me correctly, it seems he was like fifty-six or fifty-seven years old when he passed. And I don't I don't remember anything about cause of death, of course, but I just know that he was a young guy when he when he passed. Yeah, I think you're right.

SPEAKER_01 54:05

Yeah, he did a I think he had a heart uh I don't know I don't know what it was, actually. I wanted to but but uh very young and uh so Lonesome Dave passed not too long after that. Who was Dave Pivot and you know uh Lonesome Dave. So he was but uh but Rod, I mean he was a key part of that band and slow ride and Fool for the City.

SPEAKER_03 54:31

Wow. Some good old tunes for sure.

SPEAKER_01 54:33

Yeah, some of the best slide were you know and I think a lot of Roger's still going, Roger Rural's still going, yeah. He's a monster on drama, great guy.

SPEAKER_03 54:45

I guess a lot of people forget how how big the Fall Hat live recording was, and I think it came out in '77, maybe. That's about uh I think I think that was a live album that went double platinum, right? So it was like a huge album for Fall Hat.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

And they were they were a band that was better live. I mean, they will tell you that.

SPEAKER_03 55:10

Oh, okay.

SPEAKER_01 55:10

They were known for their live shows.

SPEAKER_03 55:12

Not so much studio guys, right? Not really, no, no, no. Just got out and rode dogs, huh?

SPEAKER_01 55:18

And they were so good live. I mean uh but yeah, I mean they were they wrote great songs, but live they just so much energy.

SPEAKER_00 55:28

That's super cool.

SPEAKER_03 55:29

Yeah.

Playing With Malford Milligan

SPEAKER_03 55:31

Well, I do I do know that there is a connection with you and Malford Milligan. Um, and for the listeners who aren't familiar with Malford, he and you can add color to this, Rob, but an acclaimed bass blues singer out of Austin, Texas, right?

SPEAKER_01 55:50

Right, right, right. Yeah. Um so Storyville uh always one of my favorite Supergroup, right?

SPEAKER_03 55:58

I love those guys. Yeah, super group. Share share share with the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio your connection with Storyville and Malford.

SPEAKER_01 56:06

Okay. Uh well basically I was just a I was a big admirer of Malford's, uh, but I didn't know him. And uh a few years ago, uh I was approached by a friend of mine, his name's Mike Carm, and Mike had uh gotten with Malford about coming out and and uh doing some shows and kind of get back into the scene again. And Mike's a good friend, and Mike uh knew I knew the material well, and and we'd played in several bands together, and he called me and said, Hey, you know, let's you want to be a part of this? And I said, Absolutely. And um it was a great two years. Uh I got to do one show with Grissom, which is one of my all-time great guitar players on my list.

SPEAKER_03 56:54

And uh now was with was this with Storyville or was this with him kind of on his own, like like his own project?

SPEAKER_01 57:02

Uh on his own, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:03

Okay, gotcha. Okay, I'm following you now.

SPEAKER_01 57:05

Yeah, with different people.

SPEAKER_03 57:06

Yeah, gotcha.

SPEAKER_01 57:07

And we just had Dave come in for one show and do a show with us, and yeah, and uh that was at Dosido, as a matter of fact. Okay, so I remember and uh but I he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, and uh and I mean talk about a soulful vocalist that sings from the heart and and he's also really writes really good lyrics.

SPEAKER_03 57:31

That's super cool.

SPEAKER_01 57:32

So uh he's still his I still keep in contact with him and and talk to Mike and uh quite often. So yeah.

SPEAKER_03 57:41

You you sparked my memory. I'm I'm so I I don't know if it's horrible as the right word, but I hear things in conversation and I immediately I can go to 18 different places in my head, and it just reminded me because I was texting with him this morning. I don't know if the the name Jimmy Hall sounds familiar, but Jimmy sang with Jeff Beck, and uh he's a he's a muscle shoals guy. He's coming onto the show, and we're trying to work out you know when this is gonna happen. I think he's still doing some work with Hank Williams Jr., but uh it was you it made me think of him when you were talking about you know Malford. Malford phenomenal blues rock singer guy, right? Right, right.

SPEAKER_01 58:23

I mean coming from Storyville, you know, uh uh you know, Stevie Ray Vaughn's band, basically. Okay, the rhythm section, right? I mean, they were so good. I love their writing. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 58:36

And well, I think that was what Tommy was it Tommy Shannon and uh um who's the other guy? Was it uh Chris Chris Leighton, right? Yes Chris Leighton was the drummer, drummer actually, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:50

And uh yeah, talk about a rhythm section.

SPEAKER_03 58:52

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, if you're playing with Stevie Ray Vaughn, you gotta be doing something right, you know what I'm saying? Yeah what a what a talent that guy was for sure.

SPEAKER_01 59:03

So we're um Good Day for the Blues is such a great song. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:07

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

AMFM Lineup And Tribute Projects

unknown 59:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 59:10

Well, here we are in fast forward, you know. We we we started out when Rob was a kid in Galveston, Texas, and we're here in 2026 now. Share with the listeners what you have going on musically. Is it is it only AMFM? Do you have some other projects going on? What's going on with Rob Jacobs?

SPEAKER_01 59:30

Uh I'm also uh working with Mike McCullough on a Billy Joel tribute shot that we've been uh working on, and it's we've done a few shows and and we've got several things booked next year, and uh that's a lot of fun, and just love that music. And we're also doing an Elton John thing too, so on the side.

SPEAKER_03 59:50

So makes perfect sense. Elton and Billy with with Mike, right? With Mike, yeah, it's gotta be the piano man.

SPEAKER_01 59:57

So yeah, and that's it, it's fun music because for me, because it's it's a challenge, number one, because playing guitar parts on songs created on a piano, that's something else I had never really you know thought about, but the voicings are so different, yeah. And and getting that right, but that was part of the fun of it. And uh so that's on the agenda um for next year. Um uh continue to do my stuff at home. I love to do the writing. Uh we've got uh a lot of exciting things going on with AMFM for next year.

SPEAKER_03 1:00:34

Yeah, there's been um I guess a little bit of shuffling in the band as of recent, but um and of course for the listeners, AMFM is the 70s uh classic uh rock cover band that Rob is in.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:52

And bring so bring me up to speed on the uh the current lineup of AMFM, if you guys uh so Scott Manigan's come back, he was one of the original bass players, and Scott's come back to join us. Um we've got Kevin Coffey on drums, and uh Kent and I and Mike, um, which uh to me is a great setup for what we want to do next year, I said. And Kevin's Kevin Coffee came and joined us, and he's uh he's a great, great drummer. Yeah. I can't believe how he I mean we we did like probably four or five shows without a rehearsal.

unknown 1:01:33

Wow.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:33

And you you really couldn't kill it, huh?

SPEAKER_03 1:01:36

He killed it, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:37

He's just a great guy to work with.

SPEAKER_03 1:01:38

Um wasn't he connected to uh I think we had a mutual friend in Greg Gilly. Does that does that sound familiar? Wasn't he playing drums with Greg Gilly's band, Mickey Gilly's Sons? I believe so. I don't know all the background, but uh uh but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:54

Uh but he's he's been he's great to play with, and uh he's a his time is perfect, his playing is great. And uh, you know, we did some shows with John Douglas for a while. Yeah. And uh what's Johnny up to? Well, Johnny is uh uh from what I hear is pretty much he's busy with uh the Bon Jovi stuff. And uh actually had lunch with him this last week. Uh and I did, and it was uh he's doing really well. He's just uh uh uh got some more things coming up with I believe with Bon Jovi. But uh one kind of cool thing is uh we're having a show on the 21st, November 21st at Jackie's breakout. Okay. And uh it's my birthday. Nice. And yeah, and Johnny's gonna come back and play drums with us that night.

SPEAKER_03 1:02:43

Awesome. So that's good to know. I have to check my schedule and see if I'm available that night. That's what sucks about being a musician is we're all usually working when each other are playing, right? So it's like we never get to get out and support, you know, our our friends. I I probably I probably get out quite a bit. It depends on the venue, but you know, I've I've played Jackie's many times and uh a good buddy of mine who I call him like a brother. We live together, John Barrera. I don't know if you know John down, he's been GM at Jackie's for seems like a hundred years now. But uh love love John and shout out to John. But um that's cool. I knew I knew uh John Douglas had um, I guess he was gonna go out with Aerosmith, and that kind of got the kiosk put on it because of vocal issues or something, something with Steven Tyler, but um but then he was also had did he did he drum tech for Tico? Is that um at one time? Like what's the backstory there? Do you know what it was?

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

What I understand is that uh he is teching for Tico. Um but he is also a backup kind of thing. I mean but don't quote me on that. I'm just yeah, yeah. Yeah, but I believe I do know he's taking he's doing Tico's like he's his drum tech, he builds drums for him.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:09

I've seen some of those drums he's built and they're awesome, man. Like for built them for was it Nico McBrain from Iron Maiden, built some stuff for him.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:17

Black Bear. Yeah, pretty cool work. Uh Alex Van Halen. Yeah. I mean, he tech for Alex for years.

SPEAKER_03 1:04:26

You know, I I had reached out, John and I had shared a few messages, and he had agreed to do the show, and then you know, all the craziness started with Aerosmith, and he thought he was gonna bail out. And I never really reached back out to him, but you know, the the uh interesting thing about him is I mean, of course you want to talk to him about those things, but the the artistry, right? He's a like an artist that can draw and paint his ass off. And I'm like, wow, there's there's a lot to talk to that guy about, even non-music related, right? Oh my god, he would be a great, great guy to talk to about that.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:01

Yeah. And his artwork is is unbelievable.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:05

It is. I've seen some of those pictures of rock stars, and I'm like, wow, I w I wish I had like one eighth of that talent. I'm not I'm not an artist of any kind, right? And I would love to have have that gift for sure.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:18

I mean, he's I've been to his studio and uh he's just I mean it's like he's got this painting room that's just there's paint all over the yes, just like uh just throw paint up there and just make be these beautiful pictures and wow and uh what a talent.

SPEAKER_03 1:05:35

He's very, very talented. Yeah. Well, share with the listeners um the various bands uh music that you guys cover in AMFM for those that maybe are here locally in Houston that haven't seen an AMFM show. What what kind of stuff are you guys doing? What bands, what songs are you guys doing that would be familiar to the listeners?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:00

We do like Head East, uh Kansas, Boston, uh Cheap Trick, Grandfunk Railroad.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:14

I think you guys do something by Paul McCartney and and wings, baby I'm amazed, don't you guys do Mike do that on the other?

SPEAKER_01 1:06:22

Yeah, which is great. Yeah, I love that song. I love doing that solo.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:27

It's awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:28

It's it's uh it's great.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:30

Because we do Hotel California, which is uh that's always a challenge to get the old double neck out. Yes.

SPEAKER_03 1:06:38

That's super cool. Well, I I have to say that AMFM is probably one of my favorite bands in the Houston area. And I encourage the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio to get out there and support you guys. Also, you know, hit the website. I think spacecitybands.com is where they can find the master schedule for you guys. But I remember taking Vern. You know, Vern played a little guitar with me when Chris stepped out. But I I I told Vern, I said, hey man, you should ride with me out to uh Deep Roots uh Vineyard. I got some buddies playing out there. He's like, eh. He's one of those guys. Eh. Don't really care to get out and see other people. And was flabbergasted when he saw you guys play and couldn't say enough good things about you. You know, just man, he's like all the parts are there. Like, I mean, they're almost like locked in to everyone. And then he's lit, he's even on another level than I am, just from a from an intaker and digesting every note that you've heard in your head 73 million times in your life that you've listened to these songs. You listen for all those integral parts of the songs. And and and while he was sitting there, he's like, Yep, he hit that one. Yeah, oh shit, he hit that bass line. Oh, and they're they seem so minuscule or remedial, but they're a big part of the songs, right? And and he had nothing but great things to say about you guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:14

So I appreciate that. Yeah, we we are pretty picky about all those little parts, and and that's part of the fun of it. I love going back and the guys and dissecting a song, you know, you've listened to it a hundred times, but going back and and uh I want to figure that part out exactly. See what the guy was trying to how was he playing it, where was he playing it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:36

I'm sure there's been times where you've picked uh picked a song apart and said, Wow, I never heard that before. I'm I'm hearing it now that I'm really focused on it and paying attention, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:08:49

All the time.

SPEAKER_03 1:08:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08:50

You're like, wow, that's what he did there. Exactly. It'll surprise you. And then sometimes uh if you don't listen to the original version and you play it for like a year out, you'll start changing it and you don't even know it. Yeah. You'll go, wait, I'm playing that right. Yes. And it kind of morphed into something else. Sometimes we'll you'll go back, sometimes it's something cool, but sometimes you'll go back and go, I need to revisit sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:14

You know what I was doing on that.

SPEAKER_01 1:09:16

And but we try to get it as close as we can. If and we try to pick songs that we we can get there. Yeah, thank you for the compliments.

SPEAKER_03 1:09:26

Yeah, they're appreciate that. There the uh the song choice is a big part of a band's success, right? Because I've heard I've heard other musicians, and I and on this show, I don't bash people, music's not a competition, and I don't I'm not a dirt spreader, but um there are some bands that will re-key a song so much that it just doesn't sound it's like eh, you shouldn't have done that one, right? Oh, yeah. You should have done, you know, all the other 25 that you played in the show were perfect, but right that one should not have been done, right? You gotta you gotta know your lane, I guess is what I'm saying. Like I know that I'm not gonna, me and Chris are not gonna go play and I'm gonna cover rush. I'm just not gonna do that, right? I don't have a I don't have a getty voice. I can never pull that off. Right, right. So you're not so don't do stay in your comfort zone and do what you do well, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:10:22

Exactly. And and for us, learning a song, picking a song is a major undertaking. Like we we will sit and discuss and discuss. That's good. It's a democracy, yeah. Yeah, until we find you know, there's a lot of everybody's opinion about and we end up with the best 40 song. Um but we we know if like they know let's not like do a little Jeff Beck song. Yeah. I don't I they don't want me to try to do Jeff Beck.

SPEAKER_03 1:10:50

Of course. But uh can't can't maybe can't hit the range or absolutely but uh you know what I was just thinking about, Rob. I remember seeing um I've seen Stacy and Kent play quite a few times in Mr. Wonderful as well. And I took I took Vern also out to see um Mr. Wonderful, and I guess even I didn't realize, and maybe I'm just stupid to it, but uh some of those 80s new wave songs that they're doing, they have some very intricate guitar and bass parts in them. And I never, I never, you know, when I hear like bands like some of that synth synth music back in the day, it just seemed, it seems so like overly simple to me. And then seeing these guys play these songs live, I was like, wow, is that the actual bass line to that song? Because that's on like that's that's some Getty Lee shit going on. You know what I'm saying? So I I think I was educated, like seeing them play those songs live, thinking, wow, these these people, because I think maybe because the songs were so keyboard heavy, the the the new wave stuff, yeah, it kind of shadowed every everything else was a shadow of the keyboard. Yeah, so you couldn't hear those parts. But like Duran Duran bass lines is just like, what? That is like intricate, that's cool stuff, right? And and Vern even made that comment about the the 80s band. He's like, wow, that I mean their their stuff is like spot on with what they're what the actual musicians were playing. And I said, I really didn't I had this this preconceived notion, I guess if you will, that they weren't really good musicians back then. But after seeing that live, I'm like had a whole new respect for the musicianship back in the 80s, even though I was not a new wave synth guy, right? Right. But now I have more respect than I've ever had from it.

SPEAKER_01 1:12:56

Yeah, and that's a that's a totally good observation. Because I've I sort of had the same reaction when I saw saw them do Simpson, because I mean hearing them live and and and you hear this these guitar parts are you know, they were great little parts that just were well thought out, well written parts, and and you know, I think I kind of was anti- uh hairband, not anti-airband, but just was it my thing?

SPEAKER_03 1:13:26

Sure, no. And um, but I have a lot more respect for it.

SPEAKER_01 1:13:30

Sure.

SPEAKER_03 1:13:31

And I see there's such great writing going on in the there really is, and I think that that starting this podcast was probably the best thing that I ever did because I've always been stuck in my lane too. I I like what I like and I know what I like. I sound like Popeye the Sailor Man, but um my my point being is initially when I picked the guitar up again, and well, I never put it down, but I started playing out professionally in 2016 as just a solo guy, and it's morphed into this duo thing that I have going on. But I said, Randy, you know, you're a 70s, 80s, 90s classic rock guy, and but you have to bring more to the table. You know, if if you're a solo artist, you can't just sit there and do rock song after rock song after rock song. You have to weave some Americana in there and some, you know, some country stuff. So I really started listening to country, to Americana. I'm like, why didn't I do this 40 years ago? Like, I because my mind was closed to it. I I'm not gonna say I didn't like it, it just wasn't my bag at the end of the day. But the show has opened up my brain to listen to all different kinds of genre. I've had rap people on this show, and I don't I don't own a rap album, but those guys are good at what they do, right? And you can't take that away from them, even though I'm not gonna go buy a you know uh notorious BIG record tomorrow. But my point is those guys are talented in what they do, right? So whether so whether you're a rapper or an 80s sense person or a 70s, 80s, 90s classic rock person, those guys are very talented, man. And I think that I think with the show and then just seeing all you guys play live on stage, it's like wow, it's it's really gets you to open forces you to open your mind. It does, it does. It's seeing it live.

SPEAKER_01 1:15:23

I we saw a flock of seagulls, I guess, yeah at Summerfest a couple years ago. And just seeing that music live just yeah changed my whole idea.

SPEAKER_03 1:15:32

Absolutely. How do you and Kent determine who takes a lead in a in a song when you when you sit down and decide, hey, we're gonna do this one? Like who you who gets the solo?

SPEAKER_01 1:15:46

You know, it it's I don't know why it's morphed into this, but it's mostly uh most of the time it's they want me to do the solos. Really? Pretty much. Um, unless it's something because I always always open it up to say, well, you know, what do y'all how do y'all want to do this? But Julie, I I think Kent loves doing what he does for us. Great, great rhythm, and he's a great guitar player all over. I mean his leads are great. Um we do a lot of double lead work together, and uh which is great. And uh but I think he likes just his comfort zone with AMF him is singing and playing rhythm and keeping pulling you know the just kind of sits back into the pocket and and and rides the song basically. Exactly, exactly. You know, but if there's a several leads in a song, though, you know, we might split them up. Yeah, you know.

SPEAKER_03 1:16:48

That makes sense. And I and it seems like the reason I wanted to ask you that is because it seemed like to me that you did cover most of the leads or more of the leads in AMFM than even Kent does. And and I've always known Kent as the lead guitarist, right? For a lot of the other bands that he's played in. Sure. Um, so to see him kind of more I wouldn't say he's not in the background at all, but I'm like, wow, Rob Rob actually plays quite a few more leads in some of these songs than Kent does. So Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:17:18

That's that's kudos to you because Kent's a great player, right? So a great player allowing another great player to play, that that's that's a compliment to you, uh, even without saying anything. Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 1:17:31

And you know, I'm all about what's best for the band. And the song, right? Yeah, serve the song.

unknown 1:17:37

Yeah.

Talk Box Explained For Real

SPEAKER_03 1:17:38

Well, you bring to life an instrument known as the talk box in the band. Oh, yeah. And uh I wanted you to share with the listeners what what the hell a talk box even is. Of course, I know what one is, but share with the listeners what what what is the talk box, what what does it do, and how does it work?

SPEAKER_01 1:17:58

Yeah, basically a talk box is a hose that comes up through an amp or of some kind. And basically, when you breathe into this tube, it creates a sound that it combines with your guitar signal to make a certain sound. So it's it's it's hard to describe other than it's consonant and vowels in your mouth, and you make those sounds, and at the same time as you're playing your guitar, and you get those notes in those vowels coming out of it in a whole different way that you know it it's so it's not blowing air into your mouth, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:18:49

Or no, no, okay, so it's just like a tube with you don't even feel anything coming out of the thing.

SPEAKER_01 1:18:54

No, there's nothing coming out of the tube, you're just blowing in the tube, and the microphone is actually your vocal mic is picking up. Okay. And it's producing whatever you blow through it. And uh but it's it's you're playing notes on a guitar and you're blowing in at the same time and making consonant sounds with your mouth.

SPEAKER_03 1:19:17

So if you do a bend on the guitar, is the bend sound coming from the guitar you actually you're not humming anything into this thing, right? It's just the pure bend coming through the tube.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:34

It'll pick up a little bit of the bend.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:38

But it's the way you do your mouth and the the vowel or constant sound that you can make it go, you know, you can make it sound like a wah wah. Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:19:48

Or you can make it bend, you know, however, and you learn how to do it, you know. You can do deep, very low sounds, or you can do higher sounds. And uh it's it's I mean, whoever thought of that, I I don't know.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:03

Yeah, where does that come from? What what knucklehead discovered that, right? That's pretty impressive.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:09

Walsh is the first one in my mind.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:11

Yeah. And then Frampton. Frampton, yeah. Very yeah. Uh and I know you guys use it on. I know you guys use it on Frampton song and Rocky Mountain Way. Rocky Mountain Way. Is there any other ones that you use it on? I don't know. We used to do Show Me the Waypton Bowen, which might be coming back.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:31

Uh what we could uh mostly those two. Yeah. And uh you know, it's it's it's a lot of fun. It brings back people's memories to that area. Because I get people constantly coming upstage going, hey man, what are you? That's a talk box.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:47

Right.

SPEAKER_01 1:20:48

Or what do you call that? You know.

SPEAKER_03 1:20:50

And that's what I'm talking about earlier, the intricate pieces of music that has to be there. And if you don't have it there, it's noticeable. And the talk box and the two songs that you mentioned, like you could play those, both of those songs without the talk box, and everybody would enjoy it. But if you took the talk box out of Rocky Mountain Way and Frampton tunes, yeah, the first thing that everybody would say, Where's the you know what I'm saying? Yes, it's it's intricate, it's missing, it's not there, right? It's part of the song, it's part of that creation. Exactly. Uh can you think of any other songs? Like, do any other songs come to mind for you? Not necessarily that you guys played, but that featured the talk box that that that um you might remember. Um this is kind of the music trivia part of the the interview here.

SPEAKER_01 1:21:44

Yeah. Um can't think of the name of the song, but on Jeff Beck's blow blah blow album, there's a song, it's a Beatles song that he does. I can't think of the name of that one. Um there's a couple of Steely Dan songs. Yep. I think Haitian Divor Haitian Divor Haitian Divorce might be.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:06

Yeah, I think I think you're right. Boogie on Reggae Woman by Stevie Wonder, I think it was featured in that song, Living on a Prayer by Bon Jovi. It was big in that one, and Oh, Sweet Emotion by Aerosmith.

SPEAKER_01 1:22:18

Oh, there you go. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 1:22:19

Yeah, those are ones that come to my mind for sure. Yeah. So where can um where can the listeners of Backstage Pass radio find you on social media? You're

Social Media And The Modern Music Grind

SPEAKER_03 1:22:38

are you much of a social media guy at all, or not really?

SPEAKER_01 1:22:41

Uh Facebook, I'm I'm pretty much on there all the time. Okay. Yeah, so that's the best way. Uh and uh Rob Jacobs. Yeah, okay. And uh look me up. I keep all our relevant stuff on there and shows and and uh that's pretty much mainly what I do.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:01

Nothing on Instagram for you, you're not an Instagram guy?

SPEAKER_01 1:23:04

I haven't really dove in too much.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:07

Seems like a lot of musicians are on Instagram these days. Um I do primarily Facebook and Instagram for both, probably more so for podcast. I do very little Instagram for my my music stuff, but heavily for the Backstage Pass radio. So I was just curious like if you were on any of the other ones besides Facebook, because I always like to point the listeners out to to follow so they know you know things about you and the shows and all of that, of course.

SPEAKER_01 1:23:39

Absolutely, it's great. It's a great way to network and uh and you know, I always I wouldn't be on Facebook if it probably if it wasn't for the music.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:47

Oh one 100%. I've said this at nauseum in interviews that social media is a necessary evil for what you and I do. Yes. And if it wasn't for that, I would have got off all of that shit. Like it, it's a it's a love-hate thing for me every day because I see people bitching and this, and I'm like, oh my. I mean, it just incites me sometimes, you know what I mean? I just have to step away from it. But you have to post to be relevant, right? And so many musicians are out there just you know, I see female artists that are posting 20, 30 personal pictures a day getting made up and this and that. And I'm like, why are you like I thought you guys were musicians? It's like you're more like a model, like you're posting on, but it's it's about relevancy at the end of the day. That's what the music business has come to, and it's just changed. I had Tony Carey on my show, was the keyboard player for Rainbow, and had a lot of success as a solo artist. But you know, I said, Tony, man, you're you know, you were you were tied in with Touring the World. Like, how has the music business changed? And he said, musicians are t-shirt salesmen these days. That's how they make their money. It's not like back in the day where we sold three million records and we got royalties from that. These bands are out pimping merchandise, right? And and playing for tips and a little bit of pay from these different players. It's just changed. Like it's not the same as it was in the 70s and 80s or something. Oh no, you're absolutely right. Big contracts. Now everybody's just an indie artist, right? At the end of the day. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 1:25:34

I can't imagine trying to make it like these days. It would be so hard.

SPEAKER_03 1:25:38

I said the same thing when I thought about talking to you today was I think Rob and I did it the right way. I think, you know, we had the stress of corporate America for sure, for a living, which took all the pressure off the music piece, right? You didn't have to worry about am I gigging today? Am I not gonna get any gig? Like all of the things, right? It was so it took that stress component of the business away. But I I can't say that I would want to be in the music business, to be honest with you.

SPEAKER_01 1:26:06

I think it's definitely a young man's game. Do it when you're young, too, you know. Yeah, because it's it's it's but nowadays, I mean, it's it seems more to be about the singer than the band, right?

SPEAKER_03 1:26:21

Yeah, no, I I agree. Um, a lot of solo stuff going on now for sure. Where can the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio find information and schedule information um for AMFM? I'm assuming you guys have a social media presence, right?

SPEAKER_01 1:26:37

Yes, we do, and we're on Facebook also. That's that's primarily where we do post uh on the AMFM site on Facebook and uh also spacecitybands.com. Okay. And we share that site with a couple of their bands, but it's an easy site to we get all our current calendar on there, and we just uh in fact we just got some new dates for 2027, about 10 dates, so we're gonna put those on and just starting to book into next year and that's the way that's the way to do it.

SPEAKER_03 1:27:06

I I'm very much uh Chris and I have been fortunate enough to book a year in advance, right? We book for the whole year, and then we just it's called I call it set it and forget it, right? Just set the calendar and then don't look back, and then if there's a a weekend where we're off that we want to play, we'll reach reach out to people. Hey, you need a pop-up or whatever. But you know, with the podcast for me, I've windled the shows like all the ones that we were playing outdoors in the summer. I cut all those because number one, I hate the heat, and I had to give myself some more time back for the podcast. So that was a real easy one for me to do. And that's what I mean by not having to play music for a living, that I can be picky and choosy about where and when I play shows.

SPEAKER_01 1:27:50

Exactly right. Exactly right. Yeah, it makes you enjoy the music so much more, and you don't feel that pressure and wonder if you're gonna have enough to pay the rent.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:00

Absolutely. There's that. And just, you know, some of these days, it's Houston, Texas, it's so bloody hot outside, it's not even fun, right? You're already mad at the world before you even leave the house, right? Because, oh, you mean I gotta go play it three hours in the direct sunlight and it's 100% humidity, and uh it just makes for a rotten day. But you do it, you do it, right? We all do it, but if I have a choice, I'm not gonna do it.

SPEAKER_01 1:28:25

Yeah, we try, you know, and we always try not to, you know, we try to stay away from out too many outdoor shows in the middle summer, but sometimes it happens, but you know, you get take three shirts and drink all your Gatorade you can. That's exactly it.

SPEAKER_03 1:28:41

And gut through it. It kind of makes you wonder, it's like, why didn't I live somewhere else? Like where the climate is more fair. And the older I get, the more I think about that. It's like, where can I go? San Francisco, Colorado, that has a fairer climate, right? Where it's not so bloody hot outside. But I'm still here and I'm probably not not going anywhere. Well, you heard Terry pre-hitting the record button. We're not going anywhere with grandkids around, right? That's not even an option. And if I if we do go somewhere, it's gonna be me going by myself, right? Right, right. She made that very clear. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:29:16

I I know that it is.

SPEAKER_03 1:29:18

Yep. Well, um, hello Lisa. Um, I was hoping that she would come out with you today. I texted her yesterday. She's like, no, he's he's probably gonna come by himself. So just wanted to be welcome, but I guess Yeah, absolutely. It's it's cool. I mean, I've had some artists that have come in here with their um spouses. Uh Shake Russell uh brought brought his wife D. And um this was still back when I was doing the interviews at the kitchen table, like we had a bigger space, and then I've got cool five or six videos of Shake playing in the living room, the living room there. But then I built this studio out, and so we just kind of do everything in here now. But um yeah, shout out to Lisa. But yeah, Rob, it's uh it's you know, it's been a treat getting to know more about you. You know, we've always been friendly with one another at shows and always giving the hug, you know, good show. But that's really the extent of our conversations. But it's nice to sit down and get to know you uh a little bit better. And uh thanks for thanks for coming into the Crystal Vision studio here and sharing your story with the listeners of Backstage Pass Radio.

SPEAKER_01 1:30:27

I'm glad to do it, and it's it's been fun and it's good to get to know you better.

SPEAKER_03 1:30:31

Right on. Yeah. Right

Where To Follow And Final Thanks

SPEAKER_03 1:30:33

on. Well, listen, you guys make sure to bookmark um spacecitybands.com and get out there and support Rob and the boys from AMFM. And uh, we'll be looking forward to those projects that you have coming up. Um, the Elton John stuff and the Billy Joel stuff. That'll that'll be cool. But um I also ask the listeners to like, share, and subscribe to the podcast on Facebook at Backstage Pass Radio Podcast, on Instagram at BackstagePass Radio, and on the website at BackstagePassradio.com. You guys remember to take care of yourselves and each other, and we'll see you right back here on the next episode of Backstage Pass Radio.

SPEAKER_02 1:31:14

Thank you for tuning into this episode of Backstage Pass Radio. Backstage Pass Radio. We hope you enjoyed this episode and gained some new insights into the world of music. Backstage Pass Radio is heard in over 80 countries, and the streams continue to grow each week. If you love what you heard, don't forget to subscribe, rate, and leave reviews on your favorite podcast platform. Your feedback means the world to us and helps us bring you even more amazing content. So join us next time for another deep dive into the stories and sounds that shape our musical landscape. Until then, keep listening, keep exploring, and keep the passion of music alive.