1:24

We had two interviews with Jeff Roberge and Paul Miller

1:26

, our special ones . Not only did we all live on

1:28

the same floor in the first year , the University

1:30

of Rhode Island had an all-freshman dorm shout

1:32

out to Browning Hall , but we pledged our fraternity

1:34

Theta Chi Eta Chapter together at URI,

1:37

cue the police sirens , just

1:39

kidding . I'm excited and honored to have them both with

1:41

me on what is essentially a two-part episode

1:43

. I'd like to dedicate both of those bars

1:45

to the memory of our recently passed fraternity brother , ron

1:47

Gomes . A great guy , awesome

1:49

in every way , a big brother to all , a

1:52

loving husband and dad gone way too soon

1:54

. Two

1:56

words fuck cancer . My guest today is Paul Miller . Paul

1:58

and I are fraternity brothers of the once defunct but now

2:00

quite alive Theta Chi Eta Chapter at University

2:02

of Rhode Island . Paul

2:07

plays congas for the almost 30-year-old jam band Foxtrot Zulu , a seven-member band formed in the University

2:09

of Rhode Island in 1995 , where they

2:12

ruled the URI bar scene throughout the mid-90s

2:14

and then branched out to dominate the New England

2:16

regional music scene for the rest of the 1900s

2:18

, then toured the rest of the US

2:21

throughout the 2000s with the likes of Howie

2:23

Day and the iconic OAR . I witnessed

2:25

countless dynamic performances from the band in the mid-90s

2:27

at roadie , watering holes , bondview Inn and

2:30

Ocean Mist . I'm not sure if the guys remember

2:32

, but they also played a graduation party at my house in 1995

2:35

, but then I didn't end up graduating until 1996

2:38

, and that's a show for another day . But a bunch of us would always

2:40

catch the guys when we could , when they'd play up in Boston

2:42

. If you listen to their music and you do not

2:44

move in some way , you

2:49

should seek immediate medical attention . Seriously . Paul Miller , welcome to Carney Saves the World

2:52

. It's good to see you . What's going on , man ? How are you .

2:53

I'm good , it's good to see you . It's been a long

2:55

time .

2:56

Yeah , it's like 28 , 27 years

2:58

I probably shouldn't put a number on it . No

3:00

, that's not . Thanks

3:03

for being on , you and Jeff . Jeff's

3:05

also been on the show . You guys are two

3:07

of the members of Foxtrot Zulu , one

3:09

of our favorite bands in college post-college

3:12

.

3:18

And give me your take on your time with the band and how much fun it was . Well

3:20

, you know we started as a bunch of friends

3:22

just playing instruments in a basement during

3:24

a cake party and 30

3:27

years later we're're still through the original

3:29

seven , still friends um playing

3:31

very occasionally . But you

3:33

know it was many years of my life

3:35

that I wouldn't change a lot of fun . You

3:37

know we got to tour the country . I've

3:39

been to states that I don't think I would have

3:41

ever gone to um

3:44

in

3:46

my normal life . But , uh , you

3:48

know we've met tons of awesome

3:50

, awesome people , a lot of whom we still keep in

3:52

touch with um , you know , through facebook

3:54

or when we play shows . It's uh , you

3:57

know it's been a real fun ride and you

3:59

know I've made lifelong friends because of it it's

4:01

amazing .

4:01

I mean you look at , like most bands , I don't even

4:04

know what the statistical average is , but

4:06

most bands don't chill out for 30 years

4:08

. I mean that's amazing that you guys have that longevity just

4:10

to remain friends , never mind to still play together

4:12

.

4:13

Yeah , yeah , I mean honestly , I don't have that

4:15

many friends that I've known for 30 years , to

4:17

tell you the truth . So

4:19

you know , and amazingly I have seven of them , you

4:21

know that are , or six of them . And

4:31

then Smiles , who's always been there , kind of as our merch guy doing whatever we

4:33

needed him to do so , but yeah , it's been pretty amazing .

4:34

That's awesome . Jeff gave us his take on how the band got started . What , what's

4:36

your view on it or what's your version of

4:38

the story ?

4:39

okay , so let's see , we

4:41

were at a party and

4:43

I'm sorry , but I don't remember whose

4:46

house it was , but it was definitely in

4:48

Eastward Look , which is down the line

4:50

at University of Rhode Island . There

4:52

was a set of drums , a

4:55

set of congas , and

4:57

Neil and Nate , who are our guitarists

5:00

, both lived together , so I'm assuming

5:02

it was their house . They both

5:04

played guitar . They knew each other from high school . Both

5:10

played guitar . They knew each other from high school and TK may have lived there or may not

5:12

, but he used to play the clarinet but started playing saxophone in college

5:14

. And you know we were hanging

5:16

out having a good time and Jeff's like I know how to play

5:18

drums . So he started playing the

5:20

drums and you know they weren't even

5:22

his . Nate and Neil just grabbed their

5:24

guitars and started playing along and I'm like you know

5:26

I can bang on things , so let's join

5:29

in . And TK brought his sax and

5:31

that was the original five . And

5:33

then eventually , one of our friends

5:36

, jeff , who plays trumpet for us currently

5:38

, was like hey , I play trumpet , you mind if I jam

5:40

with you ? And so he came on along

5:42

and we had Brad , who is

5:44

also a guitarist , since

5:49

we already had two . He's like well , I'll learn how to play bass . So he got a bass and said , hey , I'll

5:51

come jam with you as well , and that is the

5:53

origins of us really

5:56

you know ?

5:56

did you have any percussion background

5:58

at all when you started , or did you just start banging

6:00

on it , like you said ?

6:01

no just started banging on drums , wow

6:04

that's crazy .

6:05

We would go see the band and we would watch

6:07

you and then you know you and jeff would break out in some percussion

6:09

solos and banging around together

6:11

. Then we'd go to you and we were like , well , what

6:13

the fuck is going on right now ? How does Miller know how to play these

6:16

?

6:31

drummers , so I kind of tried to play all three parts

6:33

. Oh , there you go . So that's kind of how I got my style of a little bit frenetic

6:35

Overachieving yeah , pretty much . And of course

6:37

I never learned how to play kit , because Jeff plays left-handed

6:40

and I'm a righty , so

6:43

I play hand drums . So it's only taken

6:45

me till this age where I just

6:47

bought myself a drum kit and I'm actually learning how

6:49

to play .

6:49

There you go . You have specific jam out parts

6:52

, but what's your favorite song to play ?

6:54

Oh , that's hard

6:57

Boulevard always is a big

7:00

hit , a lot of fun to play

7:02

. It does have a solo in it for me

7:04

, but that's not only the only reason . I think that

7:06

that really is one of the ones that gets the crowd

7:08

really going . One of my

7:10

favorite songs is front porch and I don't even play on

7:12

it and I just love sitting like

7:14

that's my break time . I get to sit down and watch the

7:16

crowd and it's fantastic watching people

7:19

sing along and , you know , have a great time

7:21

. So , um , you know , those are .

7:23

Those are two of my favorites there are other other songs

7:25

that you're not playing in just because the conga

7:27

part's not available .

7:28

Nope , that's the only one . Front Porch is really only

7:30

Nate and TK . Every once in a while

7:32

I'll hop up and do like a little

7:34

something , but that's kind of like there . You know , like

7:36

me and Jeff have our solo and that's kind of there

7:38

.

7:38

So that original set of congas

7:40

? Did that stay with you for the duration

7:42

or did you upgrade at some point ? Or ?

7:44

No , the person who owned them took them

7:47

back . Oh really

7:49

, yeah . So I had to get my own

7:51

. That's not cool . Well

7:53

, you know , they were there and I

7:55

just was playing on them because they were

7:57

in the house . So you know , eventually I worked

8:00

my way up and bought my own set and then expanded

8:02

my kit . So now I have you know Timbales

8:05

and Juniors and Bongos

8:07

and and you know all kinds of stuff to play nice

8:10

.

8:10

Do you remember ? You guys played at our house

8:12

I don't know , like 95 I think and

8:14

uh , you guys came in . You guys

8:16

were gonna start setting up . Jeff was like hey , do you mind

8:18

if we all pre-game upstairs ? It's

8:20

like , uh , we're gonna talk about smoking

8:23

on this , is that okay ?

8:24

oh , that's fine . It's legal in massachusetts

8:26

.

8:27

So it don't matter anyway I know I

8:31

literally moved here like a month after it became

8:33

legal , I . So we go upstairs to my

8:35

room and Jeff says do

8:37

you mind if my little brother comes with us ? He's

8:39

, he's up from high school , my little brother Mark . 10

8:42

years go by and one of the guys

8:44

text me and they're like did you know Jeff's brother's the

8:46

lead singer of OAR . I was like Jeff's brother

8:48

, the little kid that spoke pot in my room .

8:51

Oh yeah .

8:53

I was like all right , that's nice , but

8:56

you guys have played with them a ton .

8:58

Yeah , they have been kind enough to

9:00

let us open for them on occasion

9:02

. I mean , we actually were the ones who

9:04

gave them their first gig before , so

9:06

they opened for us , but now they're way

9:09

more successful than we ever were . So

9:11

they're still kind enough to you know

9:13

, when they're in their area , throw out a

9:16

laurel and let us play

9:18

for them in front of a big crowd .

9:19

so it's tons of fun good kids , awesome , what's that feeling

9:21

?

9:21

like it's fun . It's always fun , it's . You

9:24

know . I mean , I love , we all love playing . Obviously

9:26

didn't get rich doing it , but you know

9:28

I'll still go out and play when everybody wants

9:30

to get together , because it's just fun to be on stage

9:32

. It's fun to , you know , hang out with your friends

9:35

and make music and make people happy

9:37

. Yeah .

9:38

One of the things I was also thinking about was so I

9:40

played drums when I was like in junior high

9:42

. It was awful , but they

9:44

teach you all how to read the music .

10:02

How were your parts written ? Were you just

10:04

kind of feeling it as you played , or were

10:07

there specific parts that were written ?

10:08

for you . No , it was all

10:10

out of my own brain and I cannot

10:13

read music to this day . That's awesome .

10:14

So you were just literally just feeling it and just going

10:17

with the flow , every single song .

10:18

Yeah , you know . I mean , after you play them enough

10:20

, you kind of like settle on , like

10:22

, okay , this is what I'm going to do for each part

10:24

, you know . But at the beginning it was just I pretty

10:27

much almost made up on a

10:29

song by song basis what

10:35

I was doing at the time , you know . But again , once you play the songs , like , you really start

10:37

to write your parts more . And you know , when you're practicing

10:40

and going through the process of writing a song

10:42

because it really it was a very collaborative

10:44

effort in writing most of the songs you

10:47

know , someone would have an idea , either

10:49

on guitars or horns

10:51

, would have something , and they would come in

10:53

and say , hey , I have this riff , or I have this something , and they would come in and say , hey

10:55

, I have this riff , or I have this idea , and they would

10:57

kind of jam it out . And then we would all kind

10:59

of just jam together and kind

11:01

of work out our parts and then , as

11:04

you keep practicing it , eventually those parts

11:06

get tighter and tighter and then you've pretty much written

11:08

your song at that point so that's . That's kind

11:10

of how all of our music was written . I

11:12

think the only person who can really read music

11:14

fluently is Brad Right

11:16

? Yeah , I think Jeff Light might be

11:18

able to . I think

11:20

Neil and Nate can do tablature , but I don't

11:23

think they read music . Pretty sure , wow

11:25

, don't quote me on it .

11:26

Yeah , when did you realize

11:28

, like at school , that things

11:30

were starting to get a little crazy for the band ?

11:32

Oh , I was probably

11:35

.

11:35

Because you guys were literally one of the most popular

11:37

bands that had played in my five

11:40

years . I don't want to brag , but my five years at URI

11:42

, people went to see you . It was an event to go

11:44

see Foxtrot .

11:45

Yeah , it would

11:47

have to be probably maybe the

11:49

end of my first

11:51

senior year , because I was on the five-year plan , like

11:53

yourself , nice , so

12:01

you know when we would play two nights at Bondview and it would be completely full both nights

12:03

, you know , and people would know who we were when we were walking

12:06

around . That's kind of when you started to realize

12:08

that it was something that we

12:10

might want to pursue .

12:11

Yeah , you know , there was no cell phones back then , so

12:13

you made plans during the day as you were walking

12:15

through campus and most nights it would be

12:17

like , hey , you're going to this bar , you're going to this bar , but if you guys

12:20

were playing it was like go to see fox azula , gotta

12:22

get there early . It was always just a mob scene and

12:24

, yeah , it was always fun

12:26

.

12:26

Yeah , bond view was it was always like just

12:28

an insane show , always an interesting night .

12:31

They were always very , very crowded so

12:34

a friend of mine had a home video the old

12:36

school home videos and she popped it up onto YouTube

12:38

from Bonview and it was pretty

12:40

ridiculous just the amount of people that they would stick in

12:42

there .

12:44

Yeah , I don't even want to know what the fire hazard

12:46

was .

12:48

Yeah , just people crawling on each other

12:50

. It was horrendous . When I got down

12:52

here I had a work truck and I had a CD player in it and

12:54

I got rid of all my CDs and I was like , well , you

12:57

know , I'll go to like thrift store and see if there's any CDs

12:59

in there . People ditch their CDs all the time and I'm

13:01

going through the cases and I found

13:03

one of your CDs in a box down here for like a buck

13:05

. Oh yeah , of course , but

13:09

I mean , all CDs are a buck . Going through it . It's like Springsteen

13:12

and icons of pop era

13:14

has gone by , and then , oh , foxtrot's over , right there

13:16

too . That is pretty funny , it's pretty crazy . Now

13:18

you're a husband and dad , right , I am .

13:20

How many kids ? You got Two . I've got two kids . I

13:26

have a 15-year-old and a 10-year-old and

13:28

my 15-year-old's

13:30

about to be 16 .

13:31

Good Lord , I know time go . What would 16 year old paul miller say to your daughter ?

13:33

don't do anything I did . Yeah

13:37

, she's a great kid , without question . She's

13:39

, uh , she's super smart , super independent .

13:41

Yeah , she's , she's awesome both your kids , uh

13:44

, or either of them have seen your play before . Both of them have

13:46

yep yeah what do they think ?

13:47

oh , you know , they're just like oh , dad's on stage , it's

13:49

cool . So you know

13:51

you're a dad . They're like whatever it's

13:54

so crazy .

13:54

Like to think , like you know , when we were 17

13:56

, 18 years old , like to listen to

13:59

the music our parents listened to . Like if our parents were

14:01

in a band and listen to it , it'd be like the old 60s

14:03

music . We're like god , that's like old garbage

14:05

. I don't want to listen to that . Yeah , you guys could be played on

14:07

the radio today and no one would know that it's a

14:09

25 , 30 year old song yeah , probably

14:11

not .

14:13

um , I guess that style of music hasn't

14:15

changed a ton . The music scene

14:17

has definitely gone more towards the

14:19

hip hop , r&b stuff . Nowadays

14:21

it seems like that's more popular , and

14:24

we were never really like poppy

14:26

. We could probably still hang out and play

14:28

with some of the jam bands that are around

14:30

now , like Goose and Weedfoot right now

14:33

I would never think your kids

14:35

would watch you guys play and I'd be like , oh , dad's such

14:37

a dork

14:39

well , I think the last time

14:41

they saw me play they were pretty little too . So

14:43

, um , usually when we

14:45

do play nowadays , I mean we play like maybe

14:47

once a year , so it's just you know more

14:49

, just for us to have fun hang out

14:51

. Um , yeah , you know , that's more of a like

14:53

parents night out , because jess will come and

14:56

see her friends and you know

14:58

we all kind of it's more of an adult night , so

15:00

we're not taking the kids with us so

15:02

, yeah , it's amazing that you all

15:04

can still get together and uh , and just , you

15:06

know , hang out , you , the kids all get together .

15:09

30 years ago you would never thought in a million years you'd be at that

15:11

spot no , not at all .

15:12

And there's a lot of kids too . Like you know , we've

15:14

had foxtrot reunions where you're

15:16

just like wow , there's a lot of kids here

15:19

like how many do I have now ?

15:22

yeah exactly do your kids brag about

15:24

you ?

15:24

my daddy's in a band I , you know , I honestly

15:27

I don't know , I don't think so . I think

15:29

my daughter's more proud of my tattoos . I'm

15:32

the one who takes her to like the metal shows and like

15:35

the punk rock stuff and whatnot

15:37

. That's always been kind of my style

15:39

anyway , so that's

15:41

more where I get to brag on . We're like oh yeah

15:43

, my dad took me to see Rancid , my dad took me to

15:45

see Murphy's Law or whatever that's

15:48

pretty cool .

15:48

Yeah yeah , my daughter's seven and found out I did

15:50

stand up . We'd

16:00

be out and she'd be like my daddy did stand-up comedy and I'm like , don't , don't tell people that please don't

16:03

, don't tell people that that's because then this would like both tell me a joke and you're like , yeah , oh , no , like if I was

16:05

good I would still be doing it . And this , yeah , do they have any musical

16:07

desires or do you see any musical talent

16:09

in them ?

16:10

uh , my daughter picked up guitar

16:12

for like a second and was like

16:14

no , and then she said she

16:16

wants to learn how to play the drums . We'll see what happens

16:18

with that , but it's not really their focus

16:21

. She's more into like art

16:23

and athletics and

16:25

whatnot than music at this

16:27

point , and he is your

16:29

typical 10-year-old who is on his

16:31

tablet 95% of the time or

16:34

playing video games with his friends .

16:36

We mentioned earlier was that

16:38

our recently passed attorney brother

16:40

, Ron Gomes , passed away from cancer

16:43

a few months ago . Such a great

16:45

guy Wanted to see what

16:47

your favorite memory of Ron was . Oh , I

16:49

love Ron .

16:50

We used to sit in his room and play Techno Bowl

16:52

. Yes , I forgot about

16:54

Techno Bowl . He was a master privilege

16:57

player . I played many , many

16:59

games with him , always

17:01

had a smile on his face , always wanted

17:03

to make a joke . Very rarely

17:05

did you see him angry . And boy , did you not

17:08

want to .

17:10

I can tell you that , oh yeah .

17:12

But yeah , he's gone

17:14

way too soon . The world

17:16

lost a good one , without question .

17:18

Such a great guy . But I totally forgot about Tecmo Bowl

17:20

. Oh yeah , You'd be up all hours

17:22

, You'd have to go to the bathroom some nights and you'd just

17:24

still hear Tecmo Bowl play at like 3 in the morning

17:26

.

17:27

Of course , yeah , it was usually me and Jeff .

17:31

Yeah . So getting back to the albums

17:33

, did you guys do five albums , I think ?

17:50

We did four studio and one live . What was your favorite

17:52

to make and what's your favorite to listen to ? Oh , that's , that's a tough

17:54

question , okay , so to make they all had their instances of fun and

17:56

misery . Um , I think our first one , I'm gonna say , was maybe my

17:59

favorite to make , just because it was our first album . Uh , we were camping in vermont

18:01

in the middle of nowhere , this

18:03

little home studio , yeah

18:05

, like literally living outside , just like

18:07

going in the studio , then going back

18:09

outside and sleeping in tents , um

18:11

, tons of fun . Our second

18:14

album I want to say that one was

18:16

a little bit more interesting because that

18:18

was our first album that was covered by

18:20

a record label , which is running dog

18:22

at the time or not running dog that was

18:24

. Uh , I'd have to look , but we

18:27

had an actual record label backing us . So we , we

18:29

recorded an actual like famous

18:31

studios in upstate new york and , you

18:33

know , went into master it in times

18:36

square in new york city , yeah , um

18:38

, so . So that had its interest too

18:40

, because it was like this is how professionals

18:42

do it . I think the first album was really

18:44

so grassroots and so

18:46

kind of okay , we're doing this

18:48

, we're going to actually make music and have it on

18:51

a recorded medium that we can

18:53

distribute was really kind

18:55

of awesome . Yeah , honestly

18:58

, I really don't listen to our music

19:00

very much . To tell you the truth

19:02

, again , my style of music I

19:04

listen to metal , I listen to

19:07

punk rock , I listen to

19:09

techno , breakbeats

19:11

and whatnot . I think probably our most polished

19:14

and interesting album is probably

19:16

Frozen in Time . I like that one a

19:18

lot . It was definitely the tightest

19:21

I think that we had . Yeah

19:23

, as far as the album's quality . I think

19:25

that was probably I think our best .

19:28

So you mentioned earlier you had DJ headphones . Do you have DJ

19:31

equipment ? I do , so you do

19:33

a little DJing on the side .

19:35

I did more party stuff

19:37

, like you know , when we'd have parties , I would . So

19:39

I have like 1200s in the mixer

19:42

and I whole bunch of records that I

19:44

honestly just digitized and bought myself

19:46

a digital controller . So now

19:48

I'm learning how to do that , but it's more just

19:50

for me hanging out with friends throwing down

19:52

having a good time , you're ? Uh , mix up any

19:54

foxtrot I'd have to like produce

19:57

some tracks for it . I

19:59

don't know if the BPM is not right

20:01

for it .

20:03

Kind of a funny story that I remember of Jeff

20:05

. When I first met him we

20:08

had a barbecue out in Browning

20:10

Hall . He took a sip of a soda and a bee

20:12

flew in his soda and came back out and stung him

20:14

in the lip and his lip swelled up and he had to go home

20:16

. It was hysterical . Oh , I remember that . I

20:21

totally remember that it

20:23

was like the second day we were there as

20:28

I'm talking to him about it too , I was like I've told this

20:30

story like 100 times to 100 different

20:33

people over the last 30 years because

20:35

it's just such . It was one of the funniest things I've ever

20:37

seen live .

20:37

Yeah , like I do remember

20:40

that that's hilarious .

20:41

And we were talking about how absolutely insane

20:43

that dorm was as a freshman , to

20:45

be the only freshman dorm First time

20:47

they'd ever done it Kind of experimental and

20:50

all this jackasses just went in there and just

20:52

acted a fool .

20:53

Oh it was chaos . Oh yeah , 100%

20:56

chaos . Yeah , it was . That dorm was nuts

20:58

.

20:58

Do you remember this kid ? He lived upstairs from

21:00

us . Mike Traynor , hilarious kid

21:02

. He's from my hometown . He had filled up a trash

21:04

bag full of water , put it under my

21:06

RA's door and then jumped on

21:08

it . No 30-gallon

21:10

trash bag .

21:11

Shot all the water under .

21:13

It rotted his floor . It went all the way down to the

21:15

first floor . It was absolute train wreck .

21:20

It was just insanity . Oh yeah , it was nuts . I think the only reason I didn't get written

21:22

up in that dorm is because I

21:25

had a computer in my room . Really

21:27

, and I was one of the very few that

21:29

had a computer in my room and my RA

21:31

would knock on my door and say

21:33

, hey , can I borrow your computer ? Instead of having to walk

21:35

a half a mile , the computer left . So you were like , oh sweet , so half

21:37

a mile of the computer . So you were like , oh sweet . So I'm like , yeah , free pass . Oh , I'd

21:39

be sitting there drinking beers in front of him and he's just like

21:42

dude really . And I'm like you want to use my computer

21:44

? Yeah , I'll

21:46

turn a blind eye .

21:48

So when you guys get together , figure

21:52

it out and play .

21:53

The hardest part is trying to get

21:55

to have a weekend off , yeah you

21:58

know , and then have a venue that has

22:00

that date match up yeah it's definitely

22:02

challenging . That's why it's like almost like once

22:04

a year ish , yeah , that

22:06

we play , because , you know , trying to get everybody

22:09

together and we're not playing without everybody

22:11

, because that's just that's not box shot at

22:13

that point , that's great that you guys like that

22:15

.

22:16

What's the funniest story you have from touring ? Because jeff

22:18

gave me one . I'm curious to see if they match up

22:20

, oh

22:23

God .

22:23

There's a lot that I'm not telling you , so

22:28

I can tell you that , okay , I think this one's

22:30

a good one . I

22:34

think it was our first tour ever . We had bought a short

22:36

bus school bus and painted

22:38

it gray and taken all the seats out and

22:40

turned it into like a loft and carry area and

22:42

whatever . And we're touring

22:44

the Northeast and we go

22:47

to Portland , to this club called Geno's

22:49

, which is still there , because I was in Portland last

22:51

year and I walked by it and I was like , oh my God

22:53

, this is crazy . So

22:56

Geno's is a well-known hard rock club

22:58

. It is not a jam band club . First

23:00

of all , I think we're playing on a Tuesday

23:02

night in the middle of winter in Portland

23:04

Maine . It's freezing outside .

23:06

Lovely time of year .

23:07

Yes , nobody's around . So we're

23:09

sitting in the club

23:12

at a table waiting . We're

23:14

there early , as always . Band is a

23:16

ton of hurry up and wait , and we're

23:18

sitting at the table , we're hanging in and this guy walks

23:21

in from out off the street , whips

23:26

out his piece and takes a leak on the floor

23:28

. Middle of the club .

23:29

All right , that was not what I was expecting . That was not

23:31

Jeff's story , but that's still . That's a pretty good one .

23:33

It was hilarious . It was hilarious

23:36

Just in the middle of the club . Yeah , just like in the

23:38

middle of the dance floor . Like nobody

23:40

there . Lights are on , you know the bartender's

23:42

like dude get out . But

23:44

yeah , because I'm homeless . He just walked in and pissed

23:47

on the floor and we're like welcome to

23:49

rock and roll . This is our first stop on

23:51

the tour , so this is where we're

23:53

at .

23:53

I'm like okay it can only get better right

23:56

.

23:56

Yeah , exactly .

24:00

You told this story about how you guys ditched the van .

24:02

Oh , that was a good one too , yes

24:04

. And then we went back two years

24:06

later and there was migrant workers living

24:08

in it . Still there , they're

24:11

just sleeping people in it , picking

24:13

tobacco right on the side of the road in the tobacco

24:15

field .

24:16

You're in North Carolina .

24:17

It was North Carolina , virginia , somewhere down south

24:19

, because it was hot and we rented a U-Haul

24:21

box truck and we

24:24

, like half of us , sat in the well , three

24:26

sat in front , the rest sat in the back of

24:28

this thing , which , totally illegal . We

24:30

got pulled over . We all would have got arrested and

24:33

it was , you know , 115 degrees

24:35

in there and , like you know , every

24:37

hour they'd pull off to a gas

24:40

station and we'd have to rotate so people could get

24:42

air conditioning and

24:44

get new water and whatnot . It was the longest

24:46

ride home . Oh , it was horrendous . The

24:49

life of a rock star huh , oh yeah , not

24:52

all glamorous oh , no , no , no

24:55

, trust me , I , we knew every dollar

24:57

value item that there was on

24:59

any menu at any given time . How

25:01

to make a wonderful salad at Roy

25:03

Rogers' Fixin's Bar . There

25:07

was days where you'd be like , here's five bucks , that's

25:09

your food for today .

25:10

That's so crazy , because you've got

25:12

seven guys that are trying to do that together

25:15

. I don't know how you do . Yeah , it was always

25:17

interesting . I mean , it's such an accomplishment to have

25:19

seven guys go through

25:21

just one year of touring and you still

25:23

, to this day , like talk .

25:24

It's shocking oh yeah

25:27

, and it wasn't always seven , because we also usually

25:29

had at least one other which

25:32

was smiley wow yeah , um

25:34

, and then a lot of times it

25:36

was smiley and our sound man . So

25:38

there was nine of us . God that's

25:41

crazy it

25:43

was , it could have been eight . There were some definite interesting

25:45

times , you know .

25:47

If you can try to remember at some point

25:49

. Just let me know where that tobacco field

25:51

was , because I would love to track it down . Right

25:53

, I'm down here . I might as well track it down , See

25:56

if it's still there .

25:56

I have to talk to people , because that's beyond

25:58

my memory at this point . I know it was

26:00

. I had to have been south of Maryland

26:03

because it was definitely in a tobacco

26:05

field . So you know it was like gas station

26:07

tobacco fields as far as the eye could see . Welcome

26:12

to the South . Yeah , pretty much .

26:13

Well , I grew up in Virginia Beach , so oh , did you really ?

26:16

Yeah .

26:16

Yeah , oh , okay , I thought you were . Did you live in Massachusetts

26:18

after that ?

26:18

I lived in Massachusetts through high school but , like

26:21

I moved up to Massachusetts for

26:23

ninth grade , okay , so I lived in Virginia

26:25

. I lived in Virginia Beach beach in Charlottesville

26:27

for the rest of the time . Oh yeah , no , I

26:29

was a Navy brat , so my dad was stationed

26:32

in Norfolk . Oh , all right . Yeah , quite

26:34

the culture shock when I moved here . I don't mind the South , it's just

26:36

a slow pace and you just have to get used to that

26:39

. No one's moving faster than they move , which

26:41

is fine .

26:43

What your funny story was , because he told me that one and

26:45

then he told me was there another school

26:47

?

26:47

bus . Oh yeah , that was the bus that we left in

26:49

North Carolina . So we had the short school bus

26:52

. It

26:55

was a church bus , is what it was that we had . The church had sold

26:57

it and so some Baptist church

26:59

was on there . So we painted out that and

27:02

we ripped half the seats out , turned

27:04

some sideways , so the back was

27:06

basically like you could sit in

27:08

a circle , because we used to play . We put the kick

27:10

drum in its case in the middle

27:12

of that . That was our table and we would play

27:15

poker and whatnot until

27:17

whatever time we felt like crashing . So

27:19

that was the one we left in North Carolina

27:21

. I can tell you another great story

27:23

about that bus . So while

27:25

we were touring the

27:27

Rockies so we were in Colorado

27:30

, that area we didn't realize

27:32

that there was a pinhole in the fuel line and

27:35

so when you got up to some of the passes

27:37

it would stall out . It wouldn't

27:39

get enough pressure in the high altitude

27:42

. So it was one of those vans

27:44

where you took off the cowling from inside

27:46

and you could see the back half of the engine . At

27:48

one point it was rabbit ears . I remember

27:50

the pass because it was ridiculous . We had a

27:52

bunch of people that were visiting with us . So there was

27:54

like 15 of us in the bus and

27:57

we couldn't . It wasn't going to make it . Everybody

27:59

in the bus got out , we took the

28:01

cowling off . Somebody is spraying

28:04

starter fluid straight into the car while

28:06

the other person drives and everybody else is

28:09

running alongside the van to

28:12

the top of the pass and as we get

28:14

to the crest we just start throwing

28:16

people in as we're

28:18

getting ready to go down yeah

28:21

, that was hilarious .

28:22

That's fantastic . You think about it , though you probably wouldn't

28:24

have had it any other way , like you wouldn't have been like . Oh , I was

28:26

in a band and I had this amazing bus and

28:29

we got everywhere we're supposed to on time oh , I would have been

28:31

.

28:31

I would not have been sad , I wouldn't

28:36

have the stories that I have , that's for sure

28:39

. But you know , I think once we did finally

28:41

buy a um , like 15 passions

28:43

or diesel van that we towed a trailer behind

28:45

and that was , you know , super reliable

28:48

. That made it so that we weren't at least

28:50

, even though we were stressing about money and like getting places on time , so that we weren't at least , even though we were stressing about money and getting

28:52

places on time and whatnot , we weren't stressing

28:54

that it was going to break down at

28:57

any given moment . I have a good story about

28:59

that van too . We were in

29:01

the mid , we were in one

29:03

of the flyover states Ohio

29:05

, kansas , something like that

29:08

. It was 2.30

29:10

, 3 o'clock in the morning , neil was

29:12

driving and , like I said , it was a diesel

29:15

van . So he pulls up , gets

29:17

out , he's half asleep , we're getting ready to change

29:19

drivers , he's pumping the gas and

29:21

all of a sudden he gets in the van , he goes . So

29:24

what happens when you put regular gas

29:27

into a diesel engine ?

29:33

into a diesel engine and we go . What do you mean , neil ?

29:35

and , yes , he had filled 80 gallons of regular

29:37

fuel into our diesel . Are you serious

29:40

? Yeah , so it's again

29:42

three o'clock in the morning , gas stations open

29:44

, we all go inside . We're like he just

29:46

did this . Uh , what do you

29:48

think we should do about it ? Because , again , again , no cell

29:50

phones . I think I had my . I did have

29:52

a cell phone at that point , but

29:55

it was you know I had . It was like roaming charges

29:57

and whatnot , and so you couldn't use it

29:59

except for emergencies . So the guy's like all

30:01

right , hang tight , let me see

30:03

if what I can do . So he calls one of his friends

30:06

and again , this is like three o'clock in the morning

30:08

and his friend's like yeah

30:10

, I'll take it , and he was going to put it in his

30:12

boat motor . So he came and siphoned all

30:14

80 gallons out whoa and

30:16

yeah , yeah . So we're sitting there waiting

30:18

for this guy to show up and all of a sudden two

30:20

cops come into the store and our salmon

30:23

at the time was chris hovered . And

30:25

they look at him , they look at us

30:27

, they look at him again and say you come with us . We're like what is

30:29

happening , you know . So look at him again and say you come with us . We're like what is

30:31

happening , you know . So

30:33

they take him outside and start like giving him

30:35

a third degree and we're like what is going on

30:37

? Like we have no idea what's going on . So apparently

30:39

there was a , b and E that happened and

30:42

he happened to fit the description

30:44

. He's

30:46

like dude , I am not from here and

30:48

I've been in that all night long . That's great

30:50

. But yeah , it was hilarious and

30:58

like , yeah , if we hadn't broken down , like if he hadn't filled up the gas , that never would

31:00

have happened because we'd just been on down the road . But yeah , it was a long night , without

31:02

question , until we finally got back underway and then we had

31:04

to hightail it to our next gig , because now we were four

31:06

hours behind .

31:08

So no damage to the engine on

31:13

.

31:13

So no damage to the engine , nothing . He got it all out . No , the guy got

31:15

most of it out , and by that point you mix 80 gallons worth of diesel

31:17

into a little bit of regular gas . It's fine , wow

31:19

, didn't do anything to it , so lucky . Luckily

31:22

he realized it before we turned it on .

31:25

I just want to ask you guys a question what would happen if

31:27

, oh , that would have been the end , that

31:29

would have been like it ?

31:30

would have been so screwed . Oh , it would have blown up the engine

31:32

and that would have been absolutely the end . That's

31:34

nuts .

31:35

Well , paul , this has been awesome man catching up with you

31:37

. It's been too long it has been .

31:39

Yeah , definitely .

31:40

Super psyched to have you on . I'm super psyched to be catching

31:42

up with you . You look great

31:45

.

31:46

Happy for you doing the podcast and it's

31:49

been good hanging .

31:50

Yeah , definitely You'll have to come on again . Next

31:52

episode we'll talk about all our obnoxious drinking

31:54

data guy stories , oh God . If

31:57

I can remember them , yeah , there's a reason

32:00

you don't remember college stories , right ?

32:01

Yeah , exactly .

32:03

So , all right , well , thank you again . You guys are

32:05

, and so we'll be one of

32:07

my favorite bands . It was so much fun having you on

32:09

. It was so much fun watching you guys throughout the years

32:12

and listening to music . I still listen to it to this

32:14

day . Folks , just check out Foxtrot

32:16

Zulu on Spotify or anywhere

32:18

you get your music Right . You guys are out there .

32:20

Sure thing , we are , yeah , spotify Apple .

32:22

Check them out . They're

32:25

just an awesome band . You'll love them and you . Thank

32:27

you very much . I appreciate it and take care

32:29

, buddy . I

32:32

did stand up for 10 years . I was atrocious

32:34

.

32:34

Atrocious

32:37

. Gotta leave a little stupidity in . That's the fun part

32:39

.