In this Season 3 closer, Charles interviews the core members of the Chicago-based punk band, Horace Pinker, share fascinating stories from their extensive touring history and music career. Originating in Tempe, Arizona, Horace Pinker has shared stages with legendary bands such as Green Day, Fugazi, and Blink 182, while also touring internationally. The band recounts memorable concert experiences, including Scott Eastman's first show seeing Duran Duran, best and surprising concerts, and even mishaps like falling through a stage while performing. The highlight of the interview is when Bryan describes the time, he had dinner with David Grohl of Foo Fighters and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin but missed an opportunity to start a conversation with John Paul Jones. The discussion also covers the band's formation, the significance of the punk scene, and their latest album, 'Now and the Future.' Scott, Bryan, and Greg provide an authentic and lively insight into the life of a punk band on the road.
In this episode Charles interviews the core members of the Chicago-based punk band Horace Pinker, consisting of guitarist and vocalist Scott Eastman, drummer Bryan Jones, and bassist and vocalist Greg Mytych. Charles delves into the history of the band, which was originally formed in Tempe, Arizona. Horace Pinker has toured extensively, performing in over 20 countries and sharing stages with renowned acts such as Green Day, The Offspring, and Blink 182. They have released eight studio albums, including their latest, 'Now and the Future.'
The interview touches upon their musical journey, personal concert experiences, and the influence they had on other bands and their fanbase. Bryan recounts a memorable story of loading in gear for the band MDC, while Scott shares his experience of seeing Bad Brains live in the late '80s. The band members also discuss some of their weirdest and most disappointing shows, including an incident involving a ceiling fan in Germany and a lackluster performance by Texas is the Reason.
The highlight of the interview is when Bryan describes the time, he had dinner with David Grohl of Foo Fighters and John Paul Jones of Led Zeppelin but missed an opportunity to start a conversation with John Paul Jones.
The conversation also highlights the impact of their music, with accounts of fans reaching out and young musicians covering their songs. They reflect on the longevity of their career, the experience of touring, and their continued passion for music. The episode concludes with the band expressing their gratitude to fans and mentioning that more information can be found by Googling 'Horace Pinker.'
BANDS: Agent Orange, All Systems Go, At the Drive-In, Bad Brains, Bad Religion, Blink-182, Bulimia Banquet, Butthole Surfers, Dag Nasty, Descendents, DI, Doughboys, Duran Duran, Firehose, Fugazi, GBH, Green Day, Guns N’ Roses, Horace Pinker, Hüsker Dü, Jawbreaker, Jimmy Eat World, KISS, Led Zeppelin, MDC, Meat Puppets, Metallica, Minutemen, Monster Magnet, NOFX, NRA, Queens of the Stone Age, Seven Seconds, SNFU, Texas Is the Reason, Them Crooked Vultures, The Cult, The Offspring, Yellowcard.
VENUES: Aragon, Boat on the Rhine River (festival performance in Cologne, Germany), Bobby’s Eastside, Burlington, Fireside Bowl, Fitzgerald’s, House of Blues, Living Room, Reggie's, Riot Fest, Riviera, Silver Dollar Club, UIC Pavilion.
[00:00:25] Bryan: I didn't talk to him, didn't say a single word to him. I talked to Dave Grohl, all I talked to. I didn't say a single word to John Paul Jones. And he was so nice and very quiet and polite and seemed like a lovely gentleman. And I sat there for two hours, two, three hours having dinner with him. Didn't say a single word. And then it's like five in the morning, the sun's coming up. It's like I gotta go. And I walked outta Gibson's and I look next to me and there's John Paul Jones walking right next to me and we walk out together, out to the street.
[00:00:57] Charles: This is a quick note to our [00:01:00] listeners. During the interview, Scott's audio track drops out. Fortunately, Brian is the one speaking for the remaining portion of the interview. Our apologies to Scott for this technological glitch. And now onto my interview with Horace Pinker.
[00:01:14] Today's guests are the core members of the Chicago based punk band, Horace Pinker. Formed in Tempe, Arizona, and now based in Chicago. Horace Pinker has shared stages with Green Day Fugazi, Bad Religion, Jawbreaker, Agent Orange, Jimmy Eat World, The Offspring, and Blink 182. The band has toured extensively, including stops in Europe, Asia, Brazil, Australia, and New Zealand, performing in more than 20 countries and appearing at major festivals all over the world. They have recorded eight studio albums with their most recent release titled Now and the Future. I'm joined by guitarist and vocalist, Scott Eastman, drummer [00:02:00] Bryan Jones, and bassist and vocalist, Greg Mytych.
[00:02:04] Bryan: Ah, you nailed it. See, we've been calling him MyTech for 20 years and he just corrected us and told him it was Mytych.
[00:02:11] Charles: Okay.
[00:02:12] Bryan: If Greg wasn't working, he'd be excited right now.
[00:02:15] Charles: I roll the dice on that one. So, Scott, Bryan, and eventually Greg, will be joining us 'cause you guys are recording right now in the studio Bomb Shelter studio.
[00:02:25] Scott: And there it is. You can hear it when I unmute. We are live recording right now.
[00:02:30] Charles: Awesome. And, I also wanna thank and give a shout out to Mike at Earshot Media for setting up this interview. We talk about concerts, and then we'll get into your music, obviously the new album and previous albums and EPs and such. So, Scott, you filled out the form, and Bryan, based on some interviews I've listened to, I kind of know at least your first concert was KiSS.
[00:02:53] Bryan: That's right.
[00:02:54] Charles: Scott, we'll start with you, your first concert. Again, I've heard this interviews too. You saw Duran [00:03:00] Duran, 1984.
[00:03:02] Scott: Oh yeah, absolutely. March 13th, 1984. It's, it's seared into my memory. I went with my father. I was in middle school. I was one of the only men there. I mean, I was a boy. My dad was probably the only grown man there. They were absolutely fantastic. And I, I'll, I'll just bring this full circle. I'm going to see 'em for the second time in my life, for my birthday in early January. I'm gonna go back to Tempe and I see our old drummer, Billy and, uh, and along with our, uh, our friends and, and wives, and we're gonna, we're gonna go see them. So I think they're fantastic. I love their songs. I love their, like, I love their harmonies. I, I love the guitar, and I think they're also incredible musicians. And then at a certain point, I got into punk and I sold my Duran Duran records. Big regret. I, I had some cool imports and some singles. All right, that's my story.
[00:03:54] Charles: Well, you mentioned your dad took you to the show. Did he take you to other shows then?
[00:03:59] Scott: One and done for [00:04:00] that one.
[00:04:00] Bryan: I'm impressed that Wes even took you to that show. Wow.
[00:04:04] Scott: Okay. My, my family has seen Horace Pinker play live many years ago, when we were on tour with Agent Orange, actually in the nineties, but that's about it.
[00:04:13] Charles: Okay. 'Cause my mom took me to a bunch of concerts before I could drive with me and my friends and stuff, so, uh, that's one of our episodes. It's called the Concert Mom and I interview my mom and all the shows we went to.
[00:04:25] Bryan: That's awesome.
[00:04:26] Scott: You know, I have a good friend in Oak Park who is a mom, and her mom dropped her off a few years back at Riot Fest, and I just thought that was fantastic. You know, her mom is, is quite a bit older and she, you know, she just got dropped off. It was adorable with all the punk rockers and there you go.
[00:04:41] Bryan: Yeah.
[00:04:42] Speaking of, speaking of Riot Fest, I just took my 10-year-old son to his first concert, Riot Fest, this year. So, I took him to all three days.
[00:04:50] Charles: So, scott, we'll talk about your best concert was this, Bad Brains.
[00:04:55] Scott: Oh yeah, there's no doubt Bad Brains, 88. I mean, just the energy. [00:05:00] I mean, they're, they're incredible musicians. HR has the most energy of any lead singer outside of Chi Pig from SNFU or maybe, maybe a few others. I don't know, maybe the guys from at the drive-in have that same energy, but it was the most memorable, incredible concert I think I've ever been to.
[00:05:15] And as soon as it started, because there was this huge pit, and, and everyone was a little bit violent back then in the eighties, I got punched in the nose and got a bloody nose and had to sit down for the whole set. But they were still that good. And I still loved it. And it was incredible.
[00:05:29] Charles: Yeah. 'cause you saw him at this place called The Living Room and I understand that's a pretty small place, right?
[00:05:35] Scott: Yeah. Probably 300, three, maybe 400 people. I saw a lot of shows there. But yeah, they were incredible.
[00:05:41] Charles: Wow. Cool. Yeah, I just listened to some of their music last night, in fact. And, I would imagine the whole place was a mosh pit, being that small.
[00:05:49] Scott: Oh yeah, absolutely. I had to go hide at the bar. I was underage and it wasn't serving alcohol, but I had to kind of hide over there to get away from the madness.
[00:05:58] Bryan: Yeah, seeing those guys [00:06:00] play back then, late eighties they were in their prime and, uh, I saw 'em twice. I saw 'em in, in Phoenix and in Salt Lake City and what was so amazing is they played just the fastest hardcore you've ever heard in your life. And then the very next song is the smoothest, best reggae in the world. I mean, it was just like the, the dynamics between their songs were just incredible and just, yeah, I mean, HR is doing back flips. He had like four huge dreads and he was like shaking his head back. He was like a helicopter. Like he literally thought the man was just gonna take off. I mean, it was just unreal.
[00:06:35] Scott: I also remember for that show, they took so long to get on stage and there was a lot of anticipation. I mean, you could feel everybody was really excited and, and, and moving up front and, and trying to get a good view. But they took so long and, you know, they were just smoking so much weed before that came on stage, but, you know, I didn't really know that at the time.
[00:06:56] Bryan: I got to load their gear in at the Phoenix Show. So, we had [00:07:00] played with MDC in El Paso the night before.
[00:07:03] Scott: Not Horace Pinker.
[00:07:04] Bryan: Not Horace Pinker. This is like my earlier bands. And, um, and so we were hanging out with Dave Lead Singer of MDC, and he was like, yeah. So the next night they were playing with Bad Brains in Phoenix and Dave was like, you guys should come.
[00:07:17] So we all loaded up and followed MDC to Phoenix and got there early. And so the Bad Brains showed up. And after we got MDC loaded in, we helped the Bad Brains load in all their gear and, just kinda like, not really talking to him, but just kinda like, oh, hey, how's it going? Just saying hi. And then got to see him play live. It was incredible. I think I was 17.
[00:07:38] Scott: I don't think I've heard that story. Bryan. Thank you.
[00:07:40] Bryan: Yeah, I don't think I ever told you about loading MDC.
[00:07:43] Scott: It's a good one. I really like that story.
[00:07:45] Charles: Yeah. Several people that we've had on the show, they cite that Bad Brain show is one of the best concerts they've ever seen.
[00:07:52] Bryan: Yeah, there's been a lot of 'em. And it's real tough to come up with just one. Especially when you're in a band and you're touring. 'Cause I mean, you play [00:08:00] with so many bands every night that are just incredible that no one's ever heard of, that no one will ever hear of. And, um, and then you get to play with some more popular bands like Bad Brains. I ran a record label in the nineties as well, and so at the drive-in was on my label. And so at the drive-in, played in my living room at my parents' house and get to see that kind of energy, you know? And so, I mean, it's crazy.
[00:08:21] Charles: Yeah. That's a cool story. So, aside from best concert, Scott, for surprising, and Bryan, feel free to jump in as well, you, saw or met your future wife at a Firehose show?
[00:08:35] Scott: Oh yeah. But that was a great concert though. Firehose are incredible. Mike Watt is my favorite bass player and a really nice guy. He's stayed at my house before and met my family after one of their shows. 'cause they always say they jam econo and they like to save money on hotel rooms. But yeah, I never gotta see the Minute Men, 'cause they would only play bars when I was younger. But the Minute Men and Firehose, two of my favorite bands. [00:09:00] And yes, I did see her and pine after her before I'd met her.
[00:09:03] Charles: So, then later on, you guys obviously got married like several years after that show.
[00:09:09] Scott: Oh yeah. But very soon after that we started dating. I did build up the courage to talk to her.
[00:09:14] Charles: Okay. Well, you had something to talk about, right? The show, right.
[00:09:17] Scott: Really We did, yeah, we, and we loved bands like Firehose and Husker Du, so we actually had a lot to talk about even before we got to know each other. So That, was very cool.
[00:09:25] Charles: That's always a nice segue. How about you, Bryan? Any most surprising concerts or weird thing happen.
[00:09:31] Bryan: Um, I remember we were playing in Cologne, Germany. It was a festival, but we were playing on a boat on the Rhine River with a band called NRA from Amsterdam. And, this boat was packed. And Aziz, the lead singer of NRA, did a stage dive into the crowd and the crowd kind of picked him up to carry him. And there were ceiling fans in this boat coming down and he [00:10:00] got lifted into a ceiling fan, which hit him in the back of the head and sliced the back of his head open and just blood went everywhere. And, kind of had to stop the show and get him to the hospital. But yeah, so I'd say that probably counts as a weird little thing.
[00:10:16] Charles: Yeah. Yeah, for sure.
[00:10:18] Bryan: Scott was there.
[00:10:19] Scott: I don't remember that very well. It, it's a vague memory.
[00:10:22] Bryan: So Scott, we were playing with the Meat Puppets. Playing this, this outdoor stage in Phoenix with the Meat Puppets and Scott, so I, I played bass back then, and so, you know, we're just playing our song rocking out and then all of a sudden I look over and Scott's disappeared and he had jumped up and then when he landed, he went through the stage, the stage, basically a big hole in the stage happened and he fell through the stage, but he kept playing, if I remember correctly. And then we were able to kind of pull him back up out of the stage.
[00:10:53] Scott: The other guys in the band, except for Bryan didn't even notice that I was not on the stage.
[00:10:58] Bryan: I had no idea. I was [00:11:00] rocking too hard, man. I had no idea.
[00:11:02] Charles: So you had to kinda watch for the big hole in the floor then for the rest of the set.
[00:11:06] Scott: I had to climb back onto the stage.
[00:11:09] Charles: Those are good stories. I have disappointing on here and sometimes I cover it and sometimes I don't. 'Cause it's kind of a bummer, but, Scott, you said you, you saw The Cult with Metallica and Ian Astbury lost his voice at some point in the show.
[00:11:24] Scott: I think he lost it well before the show, and then they, you know, powered through it, but they only had one guitar. Billy Duffy's incredible. But they didn't have two guitars and, and Ian wasn't hitting the high notes. And man, they didn't put off in an arena of Metallica fans.
[00:11:40] Charles: Yeah, one time, I saw The Cult early on with Billy Idol. They were opening for Billy Idol in '87 at the UIC Pavilion. And one of their amps kind of started smoking and I don't know it because you could smell the electrical kind of fiery smell, you know? ' Cause we would get really good seats. I was a [00:12:00] student there, so the students had the first 10 rows up the center and they stopped playing. And I, the bass player, I don't, I forget what his name is, but he, he flipped off the crowd and they just left. I guess you're done. All right, cool.
[00:12:12] Scott: Ahh, you have a similar story then. But l love The Cult. I wanna be clear all time, one of my favorite bands.
[00:12:18] Charles: Yeah, I saw them later at the House of Blues with Monster Magnet was opening for them and yeah, they were really good. Nothing caught on fire that, that night. So, they were awesome.
[00:12:29] Bryan: Yeah, my Cult story's great. I saw Guns N Roses was the opening band, and Guns N Roses was horrible. And this was before Appetite came out and they were opening up for The Cult, but The Cult was amazing. But, I can tell you one of the most recent disappointments I had was at Riot Fest this year. A band called Texas is the Reason. And, love that band. Love that band. I mean, that record is so amazing. And, I was hyping it up to my 10-year-old son. I was like, wait till you see this band. It's gonna change your life. This [00:13:00] album was so like, monumental back in the eighties, and our paths never, we played the same clubs.
[00:13:06] Scott: Nineties.
[00:13:07] Bryan: Did I say eighties, sorry, nineties. We played the same clubs, but, we never played together. And so I was like, I finally get a chance to see Texas is the Reason. And, it was just awful. It was just a shell of what it used to be. I was so disappointed. So disappointed.
[00:13:24] Scott: I guess never gonna play with them, now.
[00:13:26] Bryan: I guess not, and my son was just like, what is this? And I was like, I know. It was so good back in the day. I swear.
[00:13:33] Scott: Maybe it's hard to play a big stage maybe.
[00:13:36] Bryan: Yeah. I don't know. It's just, yeah, I mean they have a different guitar player and I don't know, it's just really slow. I don't understand what it is with older bands where they just have to slow everything down so much. I mean, come on.
[00:13:49] Charles: Yeah.
[00:13:50] Bryan: You know, take some Viagra and get out there and make it happen.
[00:13:53] Charles: Speaking of slowing down, you guys have been around for 30 years.
[00:13:58] Bryan: Yeah.
[00:13:59] Charles: And, I [00:14:00] have see no evidence of you guys slowing down at all. I wanted to just maybe transition into the music of Horace Pinker. And I, I, like I said, I've listened to interviews with you guys in preparation for this interview.
[00:14:12] And, everybody you talk to seems to have like a super deep knowledge of punk music for the most part. And I do not. So, when Mike from Earshot, sent me an email, he's like, is there any chance we could set up an interview? You know, guys got a lot of cool stories, which of course you do. And then I read the press release, and the press release says, I've got a quoted here. This may not be the first time hearing the name Horace Pinker as, RS has eight LPs, numerous eps under the belt, but if you haven't heard of Pinker, in spite of all this, you're certainly in for a treat. And I fall into that category. You know, I had never heard of you guys before. So, I downloaded, Now and the [00:15:00] Future, House of Cards, Regret and Power Tools.
[00:15:03] Bryan: Oh wow. Way back.
[00:15:05] Charles: Sampling, if you will. And my question to you guys is, how could I have never heard of the song Punker than GBH?
[00:15:13] Bryan: Scott's got a good story about that.
[00:15:15] Scott: Yeah so, really last month this made me very happy and I hope Colin understands that we love GBH, but we wrote that song and that was kind of one of the songs we were known for in the nineties. And people in Germany were into it and, we sold actually a lot of records in the US back in the nineties when they were records, CDs were getting big.
[00:15:34] Charles: Yeah.
[00:15:35] Scott: People don't know what CDs are anymore. But I went to see GBH recently, and I brought Colin a record. I didn't know if he would have it or if he'd heard of it. He is, he didn't, he wasn't really aware of the song. So we got a picture together after their set, which by the way, they were amazing. They're really good. Here in Chicago, lots of dudes with Mohawks, leather jackets, like old guys, looking like they're in their forties and fifties, which was fantastic.
[00:15:58] But, I gave him a nice sealed copy and said, you know, [00:16:00] we have this song always loved GBH. So yeah, I don't know, I don't know if he's listened to it yet, but I mean, obviously you could stream it. But, it was cool. He was really nice, honestly. He was cool. And it was funny when they went on stage and they said, well, we don't have our original guitar player because he couldn't get in because of the criminal charges pending against him. We're like, all right, that is punk right there.
[00:16:20] Charles: Yeah. Wow, man. So, I started listening to these albums and EPs and, usually around dinner time in the kitchen with my wife and my daughter. And, I said, yeah, these guys are really good, man. You know, and then we're listening to more stuff and, and my wife would go, yeah, yeah, they're good, they're good. And after about the fifth time I said it after several days, she's like, yes, they're good. They're very good. Yeah.
[00:16:45] Bryan: It's like, I'm still surprised. They're good.
[00:16:48] Charles: I was surprised that I'd never heard your music before, you know? But there you have it.
[00:16:54] Scott: First of all, thank y ou very much.
[00:16:55] Charles: Yeah. And then the new album, and again, I'm not a musician, it seems like the [00:17:00] vocals are maybe opened up a little more as compared to what you guys did on your first album. Power Tools. It's a little, a little tighter, I mean, it sounds great.
[00:17:09] Bryan: Well, Power Tools. The recording of Power Tools was fueled by Zema, just so you know. There was a lot of Zema involved in the making of that record.
[00:17:18] Charles: Wow.
[00:17:18] Scott: And Jim from Jimmy Eat World and I had the same vocal coach in LA. So, thank Jimmy, actually Jimmy Eat World used to play with us back in the day in Arizona. They were our juniors 'cause they were younger than we were. And you know, they got to be super famous 'cause they're awesome. But yeah, so vocal coaching can help too. Shout out to my vocal coach in LA.
[00:17:38] Charles: Cool. Yeah, and like around that time, again, some of the interviews I listened to with you guys, just curious what was happening. Like, the band formed in 1991 and then '94, right, power Tools came out.
[00:17:52] Scott: You're not supposed to ask a band their age, man. Come on.
[00:17:56] Charles: So you guys were obviously writing music, but were you playing [00:18:00] out and touring?
[00:18:01] Bryan: Constantly nonstop releasing seven inches. Everything leading up to Power Tools, we did three or four seven inches before Power Tools three. I don't know, something like that. You know, of course we did a demo tape. But yeah, we were touring. We started really going at it in Tempe, Arizona, and then we started doing weekend shows regionally in the southwest and weekends turned into four days, and four days turned into six days. And the next thing you know, February of '93, we put all of our stuff in storage and went on tour and didn't stop touring until '97.
[00:18:35] Charles: Yeah. 'cause I read somewhere that you guys have done like 800 shows or something like that.
[00:18:40] Bryan: More, more than that now.
[00:18:42] Scott: I think we stopped counting though. I mean, I had a nice hard count for a while, but I don't know. I think we've lost that at a certain point. But I do have a list of every city we've played in.
[00:18:51]
[00:19:11] Ray and Mike: Hey everybody, it's Ray the Roadie and this is Hollywood Mike with the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast coming to you from the Illinois Rock and Roll Museum on Route 66 in Joliet, Illinois, where once a week we are interviewing local musicians and singer songwriters and the podcast itself covers a wide range of topics.
[00:19:26] Including, but not limited to the history of rock and roll in Chicago, the current state of the scene and the challenges and opportunities facing musicians today. So join us every Tuesday for a new exciting episode of the Rock and Roll Chicago Podcast.
[00:19:41] Jessica Cantina: Hi, I'm Jessica Ann Catina. I've always loved music and surround myself with it every day. I've sung in choirs, took digital musical classes in college, and used to work in radio to further share my knowledge and. [00:20:00] Experience with others. I created this podcast music Notes with Jess in 2019. I'm so fortunate of the listener growth and hearing back from some of the celebs I discussed in past episodes.
[00:20:13] That's why now I'm ready to expand, so let's have fun taking weekly music notes of throwbacks, modern hits and media. Thank you. Talk to you soon on music Notes with Jess.
[00:20:30] Rick: What was the last really great rock and roll book you read? How about a good rock and roll documentary? Well, that's why I started the Rock Talk Studio Podcast, the place to go for recommendations of new rock and roll books and documentaries. Give me 20 minutes and the Rock Talk Studio podcast will get you caught up on the world of rock and roll books and docs from every possible angle and leave you with a no doubt decision on where to spend your time and money.
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[00:21:18] Jamie: Hi, this is Jamie James on Seeing Them Live. We all have our first concert stories, so please share them. We'd love to hear yours.
[00:21:27]
[00:21:38] Charles: it's always good to have that, to look back on it sometimes. Scott, I think you mentioned that, and correct me if I'm wrong, in Tempe and Phoenix, you guys were kind of developing the scene or nurturing the scene. ' Cause there was nowhere see bands like you guys. And, and so you were like bringing bands in from LA?
[00:21:58] Scott: Yeah, that's exactly right.
[00:21:59] Charles: [00:22:00] Okay, so you guys were kinda like, booking bands to play with you guys at venues. Are they official venues or warehouses or things like that.
[00:22:09] Scott: There's a cool Facebook page, I think for the Silver Dollar Club. That was the main venue. And we had the distinct pleasure of playing our first show at the Silver Dollar with all guys from Descendants, our second shows with Butthole Surfers. We played with Pig Face there, which was actually great.
[00:22:25] Bryan: Horace Pinker was basically the house band at this club.
[00:22:28] Scott: Yeah. And then my buddies and I, we formed a production company. Because I went to college in LA so we had met a lot of like, bands like DI and Bulimia Banquet, and they have kind of crazy names. So they're great people. And started bringing LA, San Francisco bands out and then, you know, word spread and we would do shows for like these little up, up and coming bands, like The Offspring and No Effects, and that's not entirely a joke, right? They weren't that big when we were booking 'em in like '91, '92. So yeah, it was really a cool time and that was [00:23:00] formative for us and for our friends too.
[00:23:01] Charles: Okay. I didn't know that Silver Dollar Club, 'cause I was wondering if, were people. Like mimicking you guys then in other areas, trying to do a similar type of scene so to speak.
[00:23:14] Scott: I mean, I think we can point to some concrete historical evidence that Jimmy Eat World liked us, at least Jim did. We were his first punk rock show. And we would like to say that we had a benign influence on them, 'cause they're an incredible band.
[00:23:29] Charles: Because you never know who's in the audience. It's their first concert.
[00:23:34] Scott: Oh yeah. And they were just younger kids then.
[00:23:36] Bryan: Yeah, what's crazy about this new record is that all of a sudden people are reaching out to us, whether it's via social media or at our shows and, being like, oh, I've been a fan of Horace Pinker since I was a teenager and so awesome to see you guys. And I mean, people are just kind of coming out of the woodwork and a lot of 'em are in famous, big bands. It's [00:24:00] really crazy.
[00:24:00] Charles: That's cool.
[00:24:01] Bryan: Scott and I were just hanging out with a band called Yellow Card last month. And turns out that their bass player grew up listening to Horace Pinker, wanted to hang out with us, and now we're buddies with the Yellow Card crew, so it is crazy. It's cool.
[00:24:17] I'm not saying, that we were influences, but, I mean, there's a lot of bands out there that I grew up listening to, and that's the cool thing about being in a band and touring is, you know, you get to play with bands that you grew up with and love and get to become friends with them. I think that's some of the coolest things about doing this. Like Dave Smalley from Dag Nasti or Kevin Seconds From Seven Seconds. I mean, we got to hang out and be friends with those guys. And those are bands that I grew up listening to as a teenager.
[00:24:47] Charles: Yeah. I think, like all of us, you know, your first concert makes an impression on you. No matter if you're a musician or whatever you do, it's like a most memorable thing.
[00:24:58] Bryan: My first concert was KISS when I [00:25:00] was seven years old. And then when I was in my forties, I slept with them. So, you know, that was crazy. No, actually I did sleep with them. I was flying back from Sydney. I was living in Australia and I was flying to LA from Sydney and then I was in business class 'cause I was doing it for work. And lo and behold, next to me is Paul Stanley and Gene Simmons. They're on the same flight in the business class section. So we all literally slept together and then when we got to LA, we're standing by the carousel waiting for our bags to come out. And I was literally standing right next to Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. And I didn't say anything to them. and I should have. I just didn't wanna bother him. We were all jet lagged and been on an airplane for 17 hours. I missed my chance. But I did sleep with him.
[00:25:46] Scott: I say to that lame.
[00:25:48] Bryan: It was lame. Kinda like my, uh, John Paul Jones story. That was Lame.
[00:25:52] Scott: Lame.
[00:25:53] Charles: You have a John Paul Jones Story?
[00:25:54] Scott: It's lame. It's a good story.
[00:25:56] Bryan: It's lame. So, Greg, who you haven't met [00:26:00] yet, who's working, Greg and I went to dinner with Dave Grohl, John Paul Jones, and Josh, the lead singer of Queens of the Stone Age. We went to dinner at Gibson's right down, you know, Chicago. And it was a Wednesday night or Thursday morning at like 2:00 AM the restaurant was closed and they, except for us, they opened it up for us. And I was sitting at the table in between Dave Grohl and John Paul Jones, and I was really, really intoxicated and freaked out that I was sitting next to the bass player Led Zeppelin.
[00:26:37] I didn't talk to him, didn't say a single word to him. I talked to Dave Grohl, all I talked to. I didn't say a single word to John Paul Jones. And he was so nice and very quiet and polite and seemed like a lovely gentleman. And I sat there for two hours, two, three hours having dinner with him. Didn't say a single word. And then it's like five in the morning, the sun's coming up. It's like I gotta go. [00:27:00] And I walked outta Gibson's and I look next to me and there's John Paul Jones walking right next to me and we walk out together, out to the street. And of course word got out that they were there. So there's people wanting autographs. And John Paul Jones was getting hustled into his limo and I just kind of walked through the crowd and went home.
[00:27:18] Scott: Lame.
[00:27:20] Bryan: Lame.
[00:27:20] Charles: Why were you there, Bryan? What was the occasion?
[00:27:22] Bryan: Dave Grohl is there's a family connection with Dave Grohl. And so they were playing the Aragon, it was them Crooked Vultures or whatever. And so my, family friend who is related to Dave through marriage, was like, Hey, you know, come to the show. I'm in Chicago. So I grabbed Greg, I made Greg go with me. And so we went and, saw them, the Aragon, and then we ended up backstage and then Dave invited us to to dinner. It was a very rock and roll night.
[00:27:50] Charles: Yeah. Sounds like it. I mean, that's about as rock and roll as it gets, right?
[00:27:53] Bryan: Except I didn't talk to John Paul Jones.
[00:27:56] Charles: Yeah. So you guys were touring Europe then early [00:28:00] on, obviously. That's when you put all your stuff in storage, and then you guys went to Europe.
[00:28:05] Bryan: hit the road. Yep.
[00:28:07] Charles: Because you'd also then, obviously in the States, it was a funny story you guys were telling about touring in this Jeep Cherokee.
[00:28:14] Bryan: That's what we did. It was a Jeep Cherokee Limited. We had a, piece of plywood, so we had the drums. We would lay the drums out, put the plywood down, put a sleeping bag over it, and then you had to get in it from the back, from the hatch. And so you basically, like Scott said, you crawled in and you're kind of in this coffin with two people up front. And then we had a luggage rack on top where we put like merch and our bags.
[00:28:37] Charles: Oh my God. That's hilarious. So as far as touring and such and playing out like you guys were just down in Florida touring a little bit for your new album Now and the Future. But, like in Chicago, do you hit certain spots usually?
[00:28:52] Bryan: I mean, used to, back in the day, there was a place called the Fireside that we used to play all the time over on Fullerton. But now, there's not really a [00:29:00] specific place that we play. We kind of play random places. We just played Reggie's. I like playing Reggie's. That's a great venue. Another place called Burlington.
[00:29:08] Charles: Okay.
[00:29:09] Bryan: We played the Riv. We played the Riviera.
[00:29:11] Charles: Okay.
[00:29:12] Bryan: But the best part of it is we played the stage. The drum riser was the stage and the crowd was on the stage. It was like a matinee, wasn't it? Wasn't it like a Sunday matinee show or something?
[00:29:24] Charles: I like early shows now.
[00:29:25] Bryan: Hey, I like it too. We just played Bobby's Eastside here in Forest Park and it was the best show ever. One, the show was down the street from my house, but two, the show was from four to eight and we went on at six o'clock and I was home by 10. It was awesome.
[00:29:42] Charles: That's nice. Yeah, I'm a big fan of early shows and bands playing on time. That seems to be more common now back in the day, you could wait like hours for a band to come on stage, which could be brutal sometimes, you know?
[00:29:55] Bryan: It's brutal for the band 'cause we're sitting back there waiting to go on and it's late and [00:30:00] there's like five opening bands and you're just like sitting back there going, Ugh. Well when, when are we going on? It's three in the morning.
[00:30:06] Oh dude, remember um, New Zealand, Wellington? We didn't go on until like two in the morning in Wellington. Yeah. All those shows in Wellington are always like super late. I mean the show didn't even start till like 11:00 PM.
[00:30:18] Charles: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:30:19] Bryan: That was the worst.
[00:30:20] Charles: Let's see, what else do I have here, guys? You've talked about fans. You're obviously getting new fans, I would imagine, right?
[00:30:27] Bryan: One or one or two, I think.
[00:30:28] Charles: I saw maybe it was on your Facebook page. There was like a School of Rock band.
[00:30:34] Bryan: Oh, yeah, that was in um, Oak Park, Berwyn.
[00:30:37] Charles: Okay.
[00:30:38] Bryan: So, the School of Rock here and I had nothing to do with it. A friend of mine's daughter goes to School of Rock and I guess one of their instructors was a nineties, punk rock person. And so she wanted to do a tribute to bands that played the Fireside Bowl. And so they selected like a dozen songs from different bands that had played the Fireside back in the nineties. [00:31:00] And one of the songs was South Stanley Place from Horace Pinker. And, he texted me and he was like, you should go to Fitzgerald's this Saturday morning and go see this.
[00:31:09] And I was like, well, okay, cool. And so I took my son who was probably nine at the time, I took him with me and, got to watch these kids playing old punk rock songs from bands way back in the day. And then a group came out and played one of our songs. It was awesome.
[00:31:24] Charles: Yeah. That's awesome, man. Along those lines, I was gonna mention to you guys if you wanna, well, I don't know if you'd get real fans, but you might get a lot of engagement on social media. My daughter's in high school and the whole six, seven thing, you know,
[00:31:39] Bryan: Yeah.
[00:31:39] Charles: That every time somebody. Mentioned six, seven, everybody breaks out in this chant, and you guys have this Sixty-Seven Cents song.
[00:31:46] Bryan: I never thought of that either. Wow, Charlie, we gotta bring that song back into the rotation.
[00:31:51] Charles: Yeah. Throw it on TikTok, man.
[00:31:53] Bryan: That's a good call. Didn't even think about that. Wow.
[00:31:56] Charles: Yeah, I know we're, coming up on time, guys. A couple of things. [00:32:00] The new album, Now and the Future, and House of Cards too. I forget where you can buy the vinyl.
[00:32:06] Bryan: People of Punk Rock Records.
[00:32:07] Charles: People of Punk Rock Records and you have different colors of vinyl, et cetera. I know you were talking about how the House of Cards EP was kind of released on accident. Does that in some ways, sort of go with Now and the Future, or not really, but sort of since it was like half created?
[00:32:26] Bryan: We had recorded it and then we were in the process of doing a new album with our old producer, Mass Georgina, who moved to Italy. And, we had half of it done and we were working on getting the other half to get back into the studio to finish the record, and then a pandemic occurred and put everything on hold.
[00:32:45] And then, like I said, I just uploaded it to Distro Kid and you have to put a date on it. And I was like, oh, I'll put this date on it. And I didn't even think about it. And then like a year and a half later, people started pinging me going, Hey, I like the new record.
[00:32:57] And I'm like, what the hell are you talking about? And it had gone out to [00:33:00] all the streaming services. So, yeah. So that was kind of an accident. And then the record label People of Punk Rock Records that just put out our new album, were nice enough to say, Hey, let's give this a real release.
[00:33:10] Charles: Yeah. That song Don't Say, I love that song.
[00:33:13] Bryan: Thank you.
[00:33:14] Charles: That's a great, great song.
[00:33:15] Bryan: Yeah. I sang backups on that.
[00:33:17] Charles: Oh, Okay.
[00:33:18] Bryan: Yeah. My band doesn't think I can sing, but I sang backups on that.
[00:33:22] Charles: All of the music is really cool. Three Against Me, Static Generate is awesome song. And then that Fix Me song, which I know well now I know is a cover, but, I didn't at the time until I heard you guys talk about it.
[00:33:37] Bryan: My wife didn't either. So when we did our first batch of songs, I was playing her the songs and she was like, eh, that sounds like Horace Pinker, eh, sounds like Horace Pinker. And then that song came on and she goes, oh, that's a really good song. And I'm like, yeah, thanks sweetie. It's not ours.
[00:33:53] Charles: Well, it sounds good. And yeah, I checked out the original by the Dough Boys.
[00:33:57] Bryan: Yeah. John. We had toured with his [00:34:00] band, All Systems Go in 2000. That's where we met John, but we were Doughboy fans before that. I mean, Doughboys were like the Green Day of Canada before. Actually Green Day was big back then, but they were kinda like the counterpart to the Green Day, but the Canadian version,
[00:34:14] Charles: Okay.
[00:34:14] Bryan: And then they imploded.
[00:34:16] Charles: But, I love the new album. I love all of the work that I've downloaded. Power Tools, Copper Regret, House of Cards, Now and the Future. Horace Pinker and punk gap is starting to fill in.
[00:34:30] Bryan: Thank you Charles.
[00:34:31] Charles: I appreciate it.
[00:34:32] Bryan: Maybe I'll see you at a Galloping Ghost someday.
[00:34:35] Charles: Yeah, definitely. I was gonna ask you, as we close out here, is there anything you guys wanna plug or mention? Like, how do people find you or all that good stuff?
[00:34:44] Bryan: Just Google, Horace Pinker and a bunch of crap will come up. Us and a serial killer. That's, what you'll get. You'll, you'll have to choose. What do you wanna, do? You wanna go shocker, or do you wanna go, horace Pinker, the band. So it's a big decision to make.
[00:34:57] Charles: It's clear cut though. It's pretty clear, you [00:35:00] know, one or the other. Right? But I appreciate you guys spending time with me and talking Horace Pinker and concert stories and crazy, uh, all around things that happen on the road. And be sure to check you guys out one of these days live.
[00:35:15] Bryan: Nice to meet you.
[00:35:16]
Charles:
Nice to meet you guys.