Joe Martin-EP15

Transcript

SPEAKER_04 0:12

Hello everyone and welcome to the Sound of Podcast. I am your host, Scott of the Andes, aka Stevie Scott, aka Steven. We're in a multiverse, whichever one on the show we have, Mr. Joe Martin. Joe Martin is a proud member of the band Dream Punch and a numerous amount of other bands and side projects. We talk about the past, present, and future of the music scene here, all that and more on Sound of Podcast. I never know how to start these, Joe. Do you want to start these? Do you want to start it? Well, um, it's always my voice first after the intro, and it kind of bugs me.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

Hi, I'm Joe Martin. I'm here to talk to you on Sound of. Podcast. Podcast.

SPEAKER_04 1:10

Yeah. That'll that'll be the lead-in. Joe, I gotta be honest. I don't know where to start on your journey. I mean, I I guess I can I guess I'll ask, when did music start like meaning stuff to you? Can you pinpoint it or what?

SPEAKER_01 1:25

Oh, I can definitely pinpoint it. My my mother uh uh uh is uh was a music teacher locally, um, but as a child, she was finishing up getting her master's degree in music, uh like like operatic voice. I don't know, there's some other term for it. But she would teach piano lessons. We had a like a baby grand at the house, and I would hear uh music all the time, and it was really cool. I loved it. I'd dance a lot. Uh I would always like, you know, like two, three, four, like she'd be teaching the entertainer that song, and I'd be trying to do my Charlie Chaplin. To me, I thought I was killing it, but um, you know, I probably looked ridiculous and super hyper running around the house, like swinging it, pretending I'm swinging a cane and like doing this whole bit. Uh if there's photographic or or film video evidence of this, I don't believe so. Darn it. If there was film evidence, it would be like eight millimeter film.

SPEAKER_04 2:23

Yeah, which is the I don't know if you know this, Joe, but old is is new again. Yeah. The kids, they're putting the filters on to make it look like mini DV or VHS or oh yeah, the VHS thing is real big. Is that wild to you? Of because we were joking earlier, you said that you you're the Joe Biden of the podcast of the podcast. Yeah, yeah. Is it wild to you to see some of these things come back as they have of you're like, well, I guess that's out now, and there's no turn, and you're like, wait, now it's back again?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

A little bit, because I have been done like a while back, I dumped down a bunch of like uh eight millimeter camcorder or like uh video, and it has that graininess, and like granted, it was like 10 years ago I started dumping down these like videos of old bands playing, like, and now it's like that they want it to look that way. It's crazy. It's a mood, but everything's so secular in how they come back in into style and and stuff like that, you know.

SPEAKER_04 3:27

So your first uh so what was your first instrument then? Were you tinkling the ivories first?

SPEAKER_01 3:33

I mean, I definitely banged on them a bunch, but I my my mom tried to teach me to play piano at way too early of an age, like four or something. She wanted you to be prodigy. Yeah, but I was too uh wild uh and like did not want to sit still. I just was not deal I I didn't deal with it well. Let's just put it that way. And I I'm sorry, mother.

SPEAKER_04 3:57

Uh which you can listen to this podcast, by the way, on sop.buzzsprout.com. There we go. Yes. That was a previous conversation of how do people listen to this? Yeah. I don't know. It's on the internet.

SPEAKER_01 4:09

It's on yeah.

SPEAKER_04 4:10

So no go piano.

SPEAKER_01 4:13

No, I mean, later on in life, I definitely I took piano lessons and in community college and did all right, you know, did all right, you know. But after that, um I uh fifth grade I got into the the drum. Um what? Well, you know, like they give you the snare drum.

SPEAKER_05 4:33

Oh yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:34

So I was just playing the drum, uh, which was super frustrating because I wanted drums plural. Yeah. And um, so playing the drum, I would be hitting like all around the stand and the sides and the rim and like finding all the tonality things of it. Um because I I just was looking for more sounds to make percussive things, or you know.

SPEAKER_04 5:00

Did that piss off the music teacher, or were they very like that was more at home?

SPEAKER_01 5:04

That was at home practicing the music teacher. We had all of us like Mr. Mr. Sharky. Uh yeah, yeah. Uh all of us together doing our paradiddles and double paradidals, and that's about where I left off.

SPEAKER_04 5:18

Uh I mean, there's more to be explored if you want. I've heard, I don't know either. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

I yeah, I'm sure there I've definitely heard talk. There's rumors of more.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

Beyond Paradiddle. Yeah. Double Parididdles. So was it then uh so where's guitar come into that?

SPEAKER_01 5:37

Guitar was after that, and uh probably but my whole family was pretty they're like musical, like we on Christmases we'd have like sing-alongs, um, caroling type thing. Like my grandmother uh sang in choir, my mom ran run still is the choir director for the church she went to, and um, so I was always hearing music. I sang in chorus and uh elementary school and then later in high school. So there's always like music. What bangers were you singing then? What was the I don't I I remember our fifth grade play, we did like uh Fats Domino, uh Blueberry Hill. Yeah, you guys got to do God Yeah, there was like a whole like rock and roll or roll thing. Like, but like imagine a bunch of fifth graders like I found my thrill, oh blueberry. And he's got such a like I found my thrill, you know, like throwing.

SPEAKER_04 6:39

Yeah uh weathered voice.

SPEAKER_01 6:42

Uh yeah, try trying to sound old and weathered, um lived in time. Yeah, it definitely I yeah, yes. It's here now. It is here now.

SPEAKER_04 6:52

Do you remember when you first started writing your own songs?

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Uh probably high school. Yeah, definitely high school. Like I I wrote like started writing songs. Um I I wrote kind of like a group of like folky songs, and none of them I can remember now. My brain is like a trash pit, things go in and come out. Like uh if I lost everything I wrote down, so if I don't have it written down or recorded, like it's hard for me to recall sometimes.

SPEAKER_03 7:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:21

Um, but yeah, I wrote like a handful of those like songs, and then I joined a band. We were called Population Zero because Jonestown was taken. What years is this was like 91, 92.

SPEAKER_04 7:38

Population Zero. That's a cool name. What kind of a band were you? Um I'm guessing not a pop band.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

We were definitely weren't a pop band. We were like punky. Um, you know, we had a song called Man on the Sub Subway, and the the first line my buddy would say is like, Stop! Send the man in the subway with shit on his shoes and some uh like real poppy like bass lines, like and like we had three guitarists in the band.

SPEAKER_04 8:05

I think I remember you telling, I mean, were you guys soloing or rhythm or like no?

SPEAKER_01 8:09

It was a lot there were like two of us would probably double up the rhythm, uh, and the other one would kind of solo. Um it was fun. I mean, and the the drummer had like this wrecked kit. I mean, we practiced in this garage, and his cymbals would warp and bend throughout the year of us practicing, you know, like and sound trashier and trashier.

SPEAKER_04 8:37

Um did you play gigs out or you stuck to the garage for a while?

SPEAKER_01 8:41

We stuck to the garage. We played a couple like house shows, um, and we played at the high school for something. And you know, that was probably like six maybe a year we did that that band, and that was fun. We had a good time. We might have played some other stuff, but those are the ones that stick out in my mind.

SPEAKER_04 9:03

Um and were you doing other people's songs too, or was it just your stuff?

SPEAKER_01 9:06

Just our stuff. But we did another we did so a buddy of ours wrote a couple songs, like Lice, which was a real simple one, and then Bitch. Um Lice based off of true events, and bitch possibly also based off true events. Yes, yeah, lice was like another like super simple, like it was really cool. Like yeah, it was like share a toy, share a ride, share those feelings deep inside, but never share a hat or comb or lice may make your head their home. And then it like Oh, it was a PSA. It was totally PSA. Like, I think we were all big fans of Sesame Street and the electric company. And uh, so yeah, we uh we did that. Like the those would those were the two covers we probably did, but they were of a friend of ours that was in our age group and and a peer of ours. And um, yeah, they were just funny, you know, funny songs. Uh Bitch was really funny, um, which we can we can go over later. Uh but yeah, we we did that for a while.

SPEAKER_04 10:12

What what was your kind of music palette consisting of? Because I'm not I I don't know. I got I think people probably might notice itself uh evidently as if they listen to these, but I I know like two bands total, you know. I don't uh what's that one? I know the Beatles and uh Metallica. There's the only two bands I'm also the Stones. Oh yeah, uh Satisfaction got it. Um no, I'm not like I know some music and bands, but when people come on and they talk about I'm like, hmm, and in my brain, I'm like, I don't know who that is. Oh I should check. And so what was your musical palette? Because you always ramble off to me stuff, and I'm like, I don't know what that is. Yeah. And I feel like I need to because just I I just didn't hang around uh the type of people I think that was that that your type of music is, like with Dream Punch or whether it's future countries. It it wasn't my diet. So I guess my question is where were you picking up some of the stuff from, like in terms of influences and is it was it radio? How this is the 90s, the 80s.

SPEAKER_01 11:27

Yeah, the the so the yeah the first two record like actual vinyl records I had that my cousin gave me, well, that were music. It was like Minute Work, Business as Usu, and ACDC for those about to rock, we salute you.

SPEAKER_03 11:41

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 11:42

Um, which were awesome records, and I listened to those a lot. And then um I, you know, like as the fifth grader Michael Jackson got big, and I was like, I listened to Thriller, you know. Um so yeah, there's a lot of radio stuff, but like my mom, my dad was real into jazz stuff and would listen to jazz, so I'd hear jazz with him, maybe not necessarily know who I'm listening to, because it'd just be like we'd be in the car and and you can't touch the radio. Do you know what I mean? So dad's driving. Yeah, dad's driving. My radio time. Yeah, so we'd be listening to a lot of jazz on that, which was cool. You know, some of that was real cool. And then um, you know, my my mom would listen to opera and classical stuff, and my grandmother did uh a lot of like um dinner, she did some dinner theater. So I got uh yeah, I've heard some dinner the I there's a very broad cross section of things I've been introduced to, but probably in it definitely in middle school, I got into more like punk stuff, like or is that when you started doing your own research, as it were? Yeah, pretty much. Yeah, like my so I had a buddy that would steal tapes from Caldor and then he would like sell them to me. Sorry, Caldor? Yeah, Caldor used to be a um store, uh much like Kmart used to be a store.

SPEAKER_04 13:10

Oh, I think I'm remembering this now. Yeah, again, sorry, folks. The the majority of this podcast is gonna be Joe saying stuff, and I'm gonna be saying I don't know what remember, I'm the Biden of this, but he's the Biden.

SPEAKER_01 13:21

Yeah, let me tell you about riding in a horse and buggy.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

Uh no, Caldor, I do people have mentioned it. I don't remember it in my timeline.

SPEAKER_01 13:30

Yeah. It uh but yeah, I got like uh Dead Milkman, uh REM, and then my buddies were making um making me tapes of like Bon Jovi on one side and Beastie Boys on the other.

SPEAKER_05 13:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 13:46

Uh and then run DMC. Uh God, what else? Like list like get like the cure. Um, so it was like a big broad range and and like always like getting into different music misfits, um yeah, Black Sabbath. So it was it was all over the place.

SPEAKER_04 14:11

There was something more to that, and that's why um uh bingo card Steven's gonna talk about how he doesn't like streaming. Um there was it meant so much more to me um having a friend give me a mixtape or a mix C D because it was coming from them, somebody who I I hung out with and and appreciated and and ultimately respected. It meant so much more to me to get that from somebody rather than whatever it is today of curation and and playlist guess put from I'm sorry, who from what oh this person gives all the ratings on what indie quote unquote website? Why the fuck am I supposed to care about this person's, you know? I mean, and and granted, there's sometimes like uh another example would be like Dave Windorf from Monster Magnet. He had like a little piece where he named like his top, I don't know, ten like favorite psychedelic albums or something. And Monster Magnet is a band that I love, and Dave Wyndorf is a guy that I love. So when it's some things of note in that way of like artists that I like and respect, I enjoy those. But you know, when it comes to this weird playlist y format, like who are these people coming from? Where or where are they coming from? And how are they? And and I understand there's money to be involved in that way, and but I it just it makes me miss that. But I mean you can still do that, you can still give people digital playlists in that way, but that means more to me than whomever, you know, top influencer, whatever. Yeah, why?

SPEAKER_01 15:57

Well, I mean, I guess back in yesteryear when like you make a mixtape for somebody, you're like handwriting all the songs, maybe you're putting a doodle in there. I had friends that would like cut up pictures of things and make like cool covers. And then like I'd make mixtapes and have segues of like Herb Alpert uh, you know what I mean? Like just throw like something real weird in between like uh Universal Order of Armageddon and like uh Merrill, which were like a couple bands I was listening to at the tail end of high school, and and um like you know, they were super heavy, but then you have this like weird like Basa Nova thing going on or something, you know. That's just to keep people on their toes, though. Totally listening. Totally. Um which you know that that that is definitely like uh almost like a lost art, like like DJing in a way, you know. But yeah, you definitely get more it's a it's a person more personalized thing when you do that. Um plus having physical a physical thing. Like I still have like I have two boxes of tapes and like probably half of them are mixed tapes from friends, you know. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 17:13

Have you digitized those yet? No, get to it, dude.

SPEAKER_01 17:16

No, because you know forever. I know it's not forever. Like I got so much cassette tape weirdness from four track recordings with one of my band or two of my bands to like and doing solo stuff to like all that. Uh yeah. Yeah, it I'm at a weird age where I think about that. Like, what what am I like saving this stuff? Like, what is the worth of that? Who is gonna, you know, who who would like want to hear this stuff at the same time, you know? You'd be surprised.

SPEAKER_04 17:49

So, and this is what helps of having that my father's a historian. Um, he recorded a bunch of tapes off the radio of what I believe it was in the eighties, of just kind of stuff that they were checking out at the time, and you have just kind of these uh the the name of the broadcast is escaping me, but um stuff like John Cage, um, which is you know, take him or leave him, but just so interesting in that um historically you had this this DJ on the radio who's explaining, you know, kind of what we're hearing and what the artist intent is in that way, and it was just so beautifully um kind of displayed in that way. So I I always think about it from a historic um you know output. I mean the tapes that I've digitized were from there was a station back in the day called Z104. Uh 24.01, something like that. Uh shout out to Z104, but Z104 they had uh it was a lot of dance stuff. So I think they had their dance stuff, but that's but they also had their pop stuff and rock radio and stuff, and that's where I first heard um the wallflowers and um, you know, alternative stuff like that. But I I have the tape still from when I just recorded off of it, and it's got commercials from that time. And all of these things are like historically, I think, important and need to be saved and archived in that way. And you see that uh going back to the whole nostalgia um riff that is happening, like we need to be preserving these things in that way. I I don't know the whole the whole digital output thing of posting in that way. I guess that has to be saved. Part of me is like, I don't know, maybe we'd be better off if we didn't archive the meta posts and all this other shit.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

Yeah, that's but and that's like still not like a physical thing. I mean, it's like in a box somewhere in it's not a hard drive, yeah. It's yeah. Um which still again weirds me out because it's like, are we in the matrix? You know what I mean? Like tap into the matrix type of thing. Um, but yeah, I I I there was like an uh an art to that kind of like if you wanted to get that new song that came out and you want to record it with your cassette uh player and you're like, Okay, they just announced it. Let me I got it on pause, I'm gonna take it off pause right when it starts.

SPEAKER_04 20:19

And like you may still miss like a second of it, but still, you know, or they told or they they'd say we're playing it every hour, you know. The new and I think that put a different value on it. And and obviously, you know, record companies and whomever are passing dollar bills under the table and over and and all of that, but there was just something to it, it spoke of the value of things in a different way, and it it just seems like that's um that's changed in terms of um I guess the the width and and length of how much stuff is thrown at you now, and and arguably even worse. Um, now that you can just put a fucking prompt in. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, but who knows? Maybe it's saving time. I don't know. At me, AI uh musicians. Tell me, tell me how much time I'm saving.

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Wait, are you saying AI musicians listen to this? Are that is that a category? Like AI musicians? I'm old, remember? This isn't new. I'm not well, this is new to me.

SPEAKER_04 21:21

You know what? I'm gonna say they probably don't listen to this. And they just prompt it. They shouldn't. Find me a podcast or make me a podcast that's anti-AI. You found it.

SPEAKER_01 21:34

You know who does a good job of like collecting Matt Matt Mona at Kachunk Records getting like not cassette tapes, but he'll be showing videos that people take like VHS tapes. I sold him some. Did you?

SPEAKER_04 21:49

And with all the old commercials and stuff, it is I gave him my Simpsons stuff that I recorded, gave it a good home. Oh, nice, yeah. Well, because that's the interesting thing, too, is that That like, and I've put those up for sale too. A lot of the stuff that I recorded off of TV. People ask, they're like, Does this have the commercials on it and stuff like that? That means more to them than maybe the movie. And and I understand that because the movie's readily available in that way, but um just that time period that you were in.

SPEAKER_01 22:19

Yeah, I mean, TV is pushed, like if you're a kid and you're like, oh, like watching Saturday morning cartoons, which they don't do anymore, you know, and you're laying on the floor and all of a sudden that new toy is there, or some, you know, something, and you're like, oh man, I think would be so cool, and you like remember maybe your one friend up the street, and like I like that nostalgia and bring about memories of of better times. I totally appreciate like yeah.

SPEAKER_04 22:46

I I mean, and I don't even know if it was better times per se. I think there was just a different delicacy to it in that way. Because you also break it down as like he was advertising.

SPEAKER_01 22:55

Yeah, that's true. Yeah, totally.

SPEAKER_04 22:56

It's always been about like how do we get your money, but I just feel like there was a a different tact to it, and now we've all become more cynical from it. That's true. Everybody's pushing whatever bullshit we got going on. Right. It's all about that money. At least before, I feel like there was a little bit more of a a velvet glove or a satin glove, whatever whatever the phrase is. And now it's just a straight up fist in your face, punching you continuously to bye-bye, and this equals happiness. And yeah, I don't really that that's why I kind of scratched my head about it.

SPEAKER_01 23:29

Especially this this the whole scrolling engine, like once whatever weirdo algorithm hooks on to like what your preferences or your likes are. It's like shoving it in your face.

SPEAKER_04 23:42

Yeah, it's yeah, it's I I'm I'm not a fan. I mean, like, I I wanna I I think I've said this before, I wanna make a song about it, but like the future is here and it sucks. Yeah. I mean, there there are still things going forward. Something that my brother said that I think is very relevant is um the reason that there is a podcast boom is because I mean, yes, you can sway people and you can, you know, formulate your opinions based off of everybody else's, but it's also what I think we're getting at the heart of the biscuit is again that human connection. Here's people that are sitting and having conversations, yeah. Um, multiple people from all different walks of life, opposing viewpoints, whatever. But the baseline is it's people communicating with each other, you know. I mean, it might have been.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

And that's definitely been a lost thing with all this hiding behind a keyboard and all that. I'm I'm a very pro, I'm gonna tell you how I feel kind of person. Um, good or bad. But I mean, I'll try to like lay the bad on and still give you the positive because I'm also a very positive person, you know? But yeah, it is definitely a lost a lost, I don't want to say even art, just a uh they call them soft skills now.

SPEAKER_04 25:13

Soft skills, yeah, that's what it is. And that's what's gonna be more prevalent in the future. It's like everybody's used to dealing with robots. Can we get somebody who actually people? It's hi, I'm human. How are you? Yeah, no, I was just talking with my neighbor, and he said he was doing like phone line work for something, and he's a he's a real person, and so many people think that he's a robot, and he's like, No, I'm real.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

Yeah, because they plug that thing in, and then all of a sudden you're getting calls from like, Hi, I'm Mary, how are you? Oh, really? Like just the auto response to whatever you say, it's ridiculous. It's wild.

SPEAKER_04 25:51

I I wanna uh back on the topic, whatever that is. But um speaking of things lost, oh yeah, what are where some places that have kind of come and gone that I mean, I'm sure as the Biden of the podcast we're gonna say, you've seen all of that, and I mean I'd imagine uh like places to play or like it's been interesting to be at at your oh, to see the landscape change, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:21

Yeah, totally. Like uh, you know, in high school we had like record and tape there were there were like multiple record and music stores down around in Annapolis. We had record and tape exchange, um, uh Oceans 2 Records, we had Tower Records, which was open until like midnight most nights, which is I forgot about that.

SPEAKER_04 26:42

I remember people saying that.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

Ta I so in high school and then even in because I went to community college and and worked, you know, full time and did band stuff, like we would still hang out on the weekends and go, like our nights would be like get off work, meet up, go to Tower Records, peruse, find find something that maybe we've heard about or you know, looks cool, drive around on uh back road in Annapolis, uh listen to it, come back to my house, hang out some more, and then maybe drive around back on the back road and listen to it. And it was like a uh like a repetitive thing, but it was at the same time it was me and a you know, a group of friends also like uh Paul who played Nidheart, who plays drums and Dream Punch, was one of those characters, you know, um, that would drive around and and we'd listen to stuff. Um but yeah, there was all like we were just I I've dumped so much money into to research of music, like getting different music and hearing different things. Like I don't reg, I don't I'm maybe I regret it a little bit now. I wish I had saved up a little bit more and maybe, you know. Um but I you know there each thing I could probably pull out of my pile of CDs or tapes or records and be like, I remember when I got this and it was this, this, and this. Um, especially when I started playing shows and stuff, I'd always try to get like whoever was playing with us, like their record or something. Like I remember we played with a band at a place called the Small Intestine up in Baltimore, which was a very short-lived DIY um all ages club. Um that's a great name, too. Oh, it was a great place. Yeah, and it was great people. Ben Vallis ran it. Um, and uh it was awesome. Like we played with a band from Japan that came for a tour. They were called 25 Suaves, and I I still have that seven inch. There's like there's just uh yeah, there's so many memories circulating around here. So many places have come and gone. Memory Lane was like one of the first like club places I played up in Baltimore, and it was the sickest, coolest place that had the the craziest um shows. Um one of the best shows I saw was this band called A Minor Forest. Um, and the place that I'm pretty sure was a strip club before it was because there was a pole right in the middle. So the drummer set up backwards, and then they had all these amps, and the amps were like set up like Tetris, this building block. I mean, there were I don't know, six or seven like guitar and bass. And actually, if you go online, I I think there's a uh YouTube, somebody videotaped the show, and it's on YouTube, and it's they were just really amazing um musicians. Um they did a tour not too long ago, like after, you know, I guess taking a break for a while. But it was one of the coolest, just like melt your face shows, and the drummer was singing too, and like not looking at the audience. It was just such a like a baller move.

SPEAKER_04 30:06

Yeah. Um what do you what did you find in kind of the changing the changing landscape that you think is I mean, I know you know places come and go and the economy is the economy, but like what do you So I'm Joe Biden, you're talking about economy. It's kind of like when you find a place that you know and love um for playing in the venue. I mean, my whole thing is like I am told that the the music area and particularly in Annapolis, it was way different before COVID. So I guess have you seen kind of the recurring things of is it just money is mishandled in terms of the way places, you know, continue to remain open because it's such a beacon so many times, especially with certain open mics, of that is a gathering point for people and it means so much to people, and then something changes and the venue is no longer, you know, going to support the open mic for whatever reasons or the venue completely shuts down.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

So I guess, you know, how how does all of that what is something that you have seen well, I don't know if you know. I used to do the booking at Metropolitan.

SPEAKER_04 31:20

I didn't know that, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:22

Um, so and that was before COVID. Um, and I was definitely trying to uh emulate uh like what I had seen at that memory lane place, or like have a place where you could go, like memory lane, you could go any day of the week, and something weird would be going on, from like student films being shown to like uh you know, some just some weird bands coming through, you know. Uh might not be super busy, but you'd still go and you know you're gonna have a good time and meet some nice people. Um in uh so I try to do things like to to give an a I I know that like I kind of slid in after uh gosh, what was that place called on West Street? Anyway, I'm drawing a blank.

SPEAKER_04 32:16

Oyster Sam's or something. Yeah, that's not the name of it. What was it? God I'm so old. But I mean you've seen them come and going that way.

SPEAKER_01 32:27

I mean, is well Annapolis when I was growing up, it was mostly hall shows or house shows that you would go to. Like you go to the Y the YMCA or Crofton Fire Hall, um uh like Unitarian Church would have shows. Um Baldwin Hall had a bunch of shows. Um, you know the and it's crazy to think like you know, like Green Day played at Crofton Fire Hall back in the day. Well yeah. Um, so there's like weird things that you know that have happened around here that people don't really realize have happened, but there are people that realize that know that these these shows have popped off.

SPEAKER_04 33:15

Um but uh yeah it's interesting that way it it reminds me of a um let's call it a discussion online of I I was asking about different spaces and things like that, and this person got back to me and and said, and and I know this, it it's a it's a money in a venue thing. How many asses are you gonna put in the seats and how many things are you gonna for their overhead and to keep the lights on? I understand this. And if you guys aren't giving opportunities for people to play there, then how do you expect that to happen?

SPEAKER_01 33:54

That's the other, yeah, that's a huge thing here. I'll high five you across from there.

SPEAKER_04 33:58

Well, well, I'm just shrugging collectively. I I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 34:01

You tell me. That that's like the thing I'm kind of dealing with now with trying to do Metropolitan shows. I mean, they uh I only get I only get a certain amount of time to do something. Um I want to do successful shows and have different things and different people and give people I always want to give people opportunity. If that if there's one thing that I hope people realize from from me is that I I will give you opp like I will if there's if you need like help finding a job or something or any, you know, I would gladly help, or like help finding a show or something, I will gladly help. I'm not um I don't think I've ever tried to stifle anyone unless you are like super sketch, um, where you're like saying some weird shit that I'm not like I might send you to like see somebody else, you know. You need help. Get some help, yeah. But that was the thing, like too, like when I started doing the booking at Metropolitan, I brought in some hip-hop shows. You know, I tried to make it, I try to be very diverse.

SPEAKER_04 35:13

Like, um show me something that hasn't been seen around here.

SPEAKER_01 35:18

Show me something exactly, yeah. And I never really had a budget for advertising. I would always have to hustle myself to get things out, you know. I could get posters and stuff, but then it's like doing the footwork, and then yeah, it was, you know, it's hard, you know. And uh Annapolis, I don't think, is too dialed into this is where I I throw shade, and it's at the whole town of Annapolis. And not everyone, but a good bit.

SPEAKER_03 35:49

I'm from here. Throw shade, throw shade in my town.

SPEAKER_01 35:52

It's cool. I'm from here too. Um, but you know, uh some people don't they either aren't dialed in and trying to pay attention to something different that's going on in here and are more focused on maybe like music in Baltimore or DC, knowing that in those areas, those acts or musical groups would come through there. Um I mean, it's just that's in that city too. It's just a wider schmear, you know. Yeah, I mean, we're part of a giant metropolis, if you in the grand scheme of things. Um I think we've had some very successful shows over there bringing in bands. Like that's the other thing I try to do is I try to bring a band from DC and Baltimore and then try to find a couple locals.

SPEAKER_04 36:38

Which I fucking love, by the way. Thanks. I mean at your last one, and I think I've sent I've I've sung the praises on the internet, but I'm like, it's so cool that we get to see a band who's from Philly or where wherever.

SPEAKER_01 36:51

How do you source that? How are you doing that? Adam Adam knew well, so shout out to Adam Jeffrey who plays bass with me and Dream Punch, and he and I have done other bands like Minus Drag and The Mess. Um, some you know, he he he and I have known each other since like high school. Um, but he and I'll usually like talk about getting some people in and how we can make it a good show, and like what'll try to that'll get people out. That was the surprising thing about that cigarettes for breakfast show, is like people, you know, I'm running the door too. So when people are coming in, I'm like, how'd you hear about the show? Or like they're like, Oh, I'm here for cigarettes for breakfast. I'm from Philly originally. I saw on Spotify or iTunes one of those, like that they're playing here, and I live like five, ten minutes away, and I thought I'd come out. I was like, awesome, I'm great. That's so good. I'm so glad you're here. Um, it's like, but trying to keep that momentum uh and keep the the the venue happy too, and have people come in and buy the foods and drinks. And I get that like culture shifting now where we're not drinking as much, which is good. I've been sober for what am I going on 15 years here in in September. Congrats. Thank you. Um is it 15 years? September.

SPEAKER_00 38:18

Yeah, that's a good thing. I think so.

SPEAKER_01 38:21

Yeah. Um, but you know, it's that that's also revenue for the venue, you know, and there's it's so expensive in this town. I get like needing to have the cheddar to do that. But um, but I'm you know, I want to make sure, you know, I get the sound guy paid and the bands paid, you know. I don't I don't take anything for myself. I'd um so it's kind of just uh um passion at this point.

SPEAKER_04 38:55

Do you remember where that began or when the gears started turning if you're like, wait a minute, you're telling me that I have the power to set up shows?

SPEAKER_01 39:04

Oh gosh. So like I mean, I started, I mean, putting together bills and stuff. I mean with broadcast seed or my one of my first bands, like you I'd have to like I'd always be booking the shows, and like if somebody had to open night, need to find another band. So then you try to pull friends' bands in and stuff like that. Um yeah, and I'm trying I'm trying to uh refrain from rattling off like band names that you've probably never heard of.

SPEAKER_04 39:33

No, do it, please.

SPEAKER_01 39:35

I'm sure but like one of them was like uh there was a place called Cafe Tattoo up in Baltimore, and I remember doing uh show there and getting my friends uh in a band called Haberdasher uh to play, and um shout out to those guys uh who are still around doing music and just have like grown exponentially, like and done such cool music. Um it's really like having been around so long, it's cool to see how people have like changed in their styles and st changed in their writing, you know, because I mean s there is a lot of like there's the compositional aspect of writing music too, which probably is more like what I've done more of, you know, uh than sing like a songwriting, like but I mean that is a song in in the grand scheme of things.

SPEAKER_04 40:33

Yeah, what's your process for Dream Punch? Because I didn't you know I I put off for the longest time listening to you guys because well at first I wanted to hear you live, and and then I got the the CD, the physical media, but where does that process begin for for the four of you?

SPEAKER_01 40:48

Um so like the the first album, it like a lot of the stuff I had written or like come up with the parts, and occasionally we'll just jam and come up with some things and then build from there. But I'll I'll I'm a big fan of just sitting on my back porch and playing guitar like acoustic or something and just kind of like vibing on something or or sitting in my room doing the same thing, you know. And um you know, because there there's there's some just kind of like raw dynamic aspects that you know, like the the tone of like hitting a chord down by the bridge and then you know, arpeggiating it this, you know, this chord this way, or like um to build like the suspense or something, or like playing softly. Um I play with crickets a lot outside in the summertime. That's you know, whatever whatever the outdoor sounds are.

SPEAKER_04 41:51

The ultimate backing band.

SPEAKER_01 41:52

Yeah, yeah. My buddies also used to go, there was this tree out in this field near my house. There's like a um cornfield and sod farm. And when we were like in high school, just out of high school, trying to figure out what to do with our lives, like just go out there in the middle of the night and play music, like play saxophone or trumpet or yeah. Out in nature, in nature, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 42:22

No, because there is it's one thing to be in like a a hall or a you know, in a space, and I I I don't know who I I like to think about it a lot though, but what's interesting about the human world is that we love our boxes and our squares, right? Yeah, but then you get out into nature, yeah. There's none of that, it's all wide open, it's not it's not boxed like nature and our living world is not a box.

SPEAKER_01 42:50

Yeah. Yeah. It's just kind of it's gas and rock and bits, you know. Yeah, chonky bits.

SPEAKER_04 42:58

Yeah. Do you how how did Dream Punch form? That's your most current incarnation, right? That you would say?

SPEAKER_01 43:07

Oh, yeah, that's my newest band or the band that I'm currently active with. Um, it started out with me and Paul um and um our friend Jeremy, who the three of us played in a band in my early 20s called The American, with my childhood friend, uh best friend Dan McGary. Shout out to Dan McGary. Um and we started doing that, and that was like pre-COVID. Uh like maybe like right on the tail end, and we just practiced in my garage and and I had a bunch of stuff and and that started with that, and then Jeremy left, and we got Adam and I were doing minus drag like just before COVID, and then COVID hit and um So we got Adam involved, and then I've always loved Rifka's singing and like have jammed out with her um at some open mics and stuff and backed her with some things. Um I'm really excited to see her as a solo artist, by the way, for this this upcoming show, May 9th.

SPEAKER_04 44:18

Depending on when you listen to this, it might be gone, but if not, go check it out Metropolitan in Annapolis, 7 p.m.

SPEAKER_01 44:27

Doors. Um, yeah, Rifka got Rifka involved, and then we like the first album is most you know, there's a couple songs we cut, but um those are all that's the first batch of songs kind of coming out of COVID too, you know.

SPEAKER_04 44:46

Um and was it familiar ground for you in the type in terms of the style of the music, or was this something that you hadn't really touched upon before genre-wise?

SPEAKER_01 44:58

I've most of my band, so after broadcast cedar, most of my bands were instrumental bands. I did French Mistake, which was like a math rock band, uh, with Paul. Paul Paul's uh been my ride or die for a long time. Shout out to Paul Nightheart. Paul um so like he was in the Americ he was in French Mistake and then did um The American, which is another band we did that was kind of a like a prog rock band, and um at the same time I had an improv band that I was doing called Herd of Wookiees with my other uh pal uh from childhood, uh Rob Ekman, who he and I later went and formed third grade friends. I don't know if you've heard third grade friends.

SPEAKER_04 45:46

I've heard the title, yeah. Can there be a t-shirt printed up of all the bands and side projects you've you've done? Because I would buy that t-shirt and it says Joe Martin on it, and it's got all your have you kept count of I've not the iterations of you.

SPEAKER_01 46:01

I try not to. I don't want to. It's been a whole lot. I've been in a whole lot of projects.

SPEAKER_04 46:07

Right, but I mean you're you were changing your style the whole time, or to what matched, or would you say musically it's been kind of familiar, adjacent, or is it all just completely different types of things?

SPEAKER_01 46:20

I feel like the guitar playing that I do like is always been my get like me. Do you know what I mean? Like my my voice, uh my my handiwork. Um but as far as uh you know, it's always been different, like it's always been different. It definitely has been a wild ride. Uh with Herd of Wookiees, I got in a mindset I wanted to learn as many instruments as I could, and all my friends were giving me like their brothers or sisters, um, like here here's my brother's trombone, he doesn't play it anymore. Here's my sister's clarinet, she don't play this no more, or like things like that. So I would I would just be and we'd heard of Wookiee's like was ridiculous because it started out me and Robin playing uh like after work because we move furniture together, so we'd just be talking music all day, moving furniture, and then we'd go to his place afterwards and we'd just jam for like two or three hours and just make up just off the cuff, just getting out our frustrations or like working through our state of mind, which was great because then you're coming up with other things, or like, oh wow, I can do this with this, you know. Um, but then I got the horns and things, and then it it took a wild turn. And then there's this Chicago um Sax player composer Mats Gustissen. I guess that's where he was out of when he did this, but he put out this album that was like flute with a clarinet mouthpiece. So then I ground down a clarinet mouthpiece and shoved it in a flute, and it was like a tin whistle of death. And I would just take that in up my sleeve places and just pull it out and blast it sometimes and then leave. Yeah. So it changes the the whole sound to it, essentially, or it Yeah, it's a it's like uh what's above like alto saxophone, you know what I mean? Like so the pitch is it's super high pitch, yeah. I mean, unless you can you were freaking out dogs and animals coming in and yeah, and most people too, because it would be in like a bar that was like a sports bar. Yeah. But I wasn't drinking then too, like I've quit drinking. This is my second time, and um so it was just like I didn't want to hang out, you know. It'd be like, I'm done hanging out, and I'm dipping out. Here's here's my outro music. The way to clear the room, yeah. Well, uh I'm working my way to the door during the whole time, so it's just turning heads, you know. Um, yeah. But uh yeah, I've been in a lot of different bands.

SPEAKER_04 49:16

The multitudes of Joe.

SPEAKER_01 49:18

Yeah, and I played like played bass uh in bands. Uh one of my like so I I was in a band called Boyfriends and Girlfriends. They taught me the bass lines in the back alley next to the old auto bar on East Davis Street. Um, those were before the show? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 49:37

Nice.

SPEAKER_01 49:38

Uh and then we did I don't know how many shows, like maybe a handful of shows after that, because our sets were always destructive at the end, like playing through like full stacks and just knocking them over and kicking the drums over. Um, shout out to those guys. Um so you had to buy replacement gear every time? No, no, no, no, uh, luckily, no. Uh not no, but I didn't have to play through any of my gear. I think I only had a bass, the playthrough that was mine. Um, but yeah, no, I put and um it was real cool. It was it was I've had I've had quite an adventure doing all that. I think I got back into doing um like vocal-oriented stuff when I started did a band called Northernmost um about 16, 17 years ago. Um, like late aughts, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 50:36

How do you organize all of that stuff? Like if whether you were the primary songwriter or not, are you going back and re-listening to some of this stuff and being like, can I reinvent this in a way as my current, you know, incarnation? Or how how does or do you look back on that stuff and want to kind of repurpose it for you now? Or is it just kind of like you've that's those uh the doors are closed in that chapter?

SPEAKER_01 51:00

The door chapters there might like I think the doors are closed in that chapter. There might be like a couple songs, like if those guys wanted to get together and like jam them out or something, I would totally do it. Um yeah, like um Northern Northernmost started out as a five-piece. We had two guitars, drums, bass, and then a vocalist, and then we wound up being a three-piece, and it was me and the bass player that was in broadcast seeders. Shout out to Greg Duncan, love you buddy. Um, and then Brendan McLaughlin um played drums, he was in early American, um, is his current band. Um, but that that totally changed like changed from the five-piece to the three-piece, and the three-piece was a little bit more raucous. But the vote, you know, it was cool. We had a good time, like it was more like what I did in broadcast Cedar, um, which was another like vocal, like driven kind of rock, indie rock thing. Um, but adding like keyboards, like we had keyboards in the American. I just feel like what's going on currently is just almost like everything that I've done in the past has kind of like come together into what's going on now.

SPEAKER_04 52:21

I'd imagine in being part of so many music outfits, you've had to navigate so many different kinds of personalities and delineating and being, you know, kind I I don't know if you would say you were a leader of sorts. I'm not sure what roles you played in in all of these bands, but I mean I'm sure you kind of had to uh get your I don't you got your steps in, as it were, in terms of navigating band dynamics.

SPEAKER_01 52:54

Yeah, totally. I mean, definitely some people, you know, um definitely a bunch of things I would probably say there there was more um I don't know, I try to like if it's something I'm putting together, I try to make it so everybody has a say on what's going on. I don't I think I'll make it a democracy or whatever, and like everybody kind of has their input. Um I've definitely been in bands that have like that I'm cool with whoever, you know, says whatever. You know, to like calls the shots. I just think with some things like if you're playing with certain people and you're into w them as a person and what they play musically, I think uh when you're writing songs together, like letting them that's their voice in that song, in that piece, you know. Um, so I'm I don't try to really stifle any of that. But you know, some people are like uh, you know, I can't do this, I can't do that. Uh I mean I get like everybody's got shit going on and stuff too. It you know, it's it's finding reliable people too, like that are gonna show up and do and do the thing when you're in a band, you know.

SPEAKER_04 54:21

Well, and I'm sure that's something that has obviously accumulated over time, is like at the different, you know, points in your life when you're maybe not a fully grown adult in that way, you handle things differently back then than you do now. Um I'm I'm sure there's a lot of kind of perspective on that. Of or do you kind of you know scratch your head and go, you know, if I had handled that situation at least differently from my vantage point now, would things have kind of worked out in in different ways in terms of band longevity or just even directionally? Do you ever think about that? Or are you more just kind of like, well, I mean, the version of me is the version of me now, and no, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 55:06

I I kind of I I I feel like I my path has been my path for a reason, and like I'm here now because of everything that's happened in the past, and all I can do at this moment is try to be the best me that I can be. And doing that is also like part of that is you know, trying to help uh like maybe help's not the best word, but but nurture uh other musicians or even people that I play with, um like not nurture them, but just have a a strong friendship, you know, like lifelong buddy type thing. Uh I'm not uh I'm not getting any younger. You know what I mean? Like, and I I just don't I don't I think life's too short to like hold hold any animosity or whatever. Like uh just if we can work through things, we can work through things and um move forward, you know.

SPEAKER_04 56:05

Who were those people for you when you were coming up who were giving you those opportunities and kind of friendships or or you know inviting you back to to play? And I mean it you clearly had those people in your life?

SPEAKER_01 56:18

Yeah, there's definitely been some some folks in my life. Um you know, probably earliest was like uh playing at Memory Lane. Eric Dixon, uh, who played drums for like Liquor Bike, he would he would book us all the time. Um he's still doing music. Um Tony Joy was a huge one because I would go uh see uh UOA, Universal Order of Armageddon play at at uh 169 house over in Pines on the Severn, and they'd have all kinds of great bands there and stuff. Um, though I'd always have to be home because of my curfew, but I'd get to see their like 10 or 15 minute long set and get punched in the pace face sonically. Um Good Night Out. Oh my god, they were so amazing. Shout out to Tony Joy. Um the most shout-outs in this video. But he uh he took over Vermin Scum Records and put out the French Mistake 7-inch and also like gave us rides to um shows out of state and um got us connected with uh Juan Carrera who recorded the that 7-inch and then recorded the what later God 20 years later we finally put out as a full album, The French Mistake. Um we had it mixed by Jay Robbins from Jaw Box and Burning Airlines and um um that was that was that was cool because that was like kind of closing a chapter in my life. That band broke up and then got back together at one point, like a after a year or so. And the second version was really cool. We had three guitarists. My buddy Greg played in that that played in broadcast theater. Uh Mike Holletta, Jeff Donaldson, who was in the first one, and then Paul was in it too. Um that was a lot of fun.

SPEAKER_04 58:14

Did you ever ask him why? Like, why why did you help us along? Or he was just a fan of your music?

SPEAKER_01 58:21

Yeah, so with that band, being a mover, I would score all kinds of weird stuff. And somebody was getting rid of a super eight projector, and I was like, Oh, I'll take this if you're getting rid of it. And then another move, somebody was getting rid of like these um super eight films, like Taste the Blood of Dracula, oh yeah, Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, and Star Wars. So the Star Wars one I would play when we did herd of Wookiees and slow it down, and we'd play along with it. And these are like super abridged, like 15-minute long ones. And then Taste the Blood of Dracula, we'd play when uh French Mistake would play, because we had a song called Vatican, and it was just haunt like a haunting song. Um and I think he was at one of our shows at Small Intestine and saw that and and said, Yeah, I'd like to put out a seven inch for you guys, and like, okay, cool, that'd be awesome. I've always wanted to put something out on Vermin Scum. Granted, Kenny Hill um Rest in Peace. He he started and founded Vermin Scum. Um but that's Annapolis record label. I mean, I remember playing like with a band from Canada in like '98 or '99, and some the dudes in the band were like, You guys are from Annapolis? Do you know the hated? Do you have any hated records you want to sell us? And we're like, uh no. We're like, we know the hated, but like of them, like you know, we didn't it was just wild. Yeah, it's just crazy how like there was there's this thing that was going on in like the mid-80s to like early 90s in Annapolis that was like, you know, against the grain of normal music that resonated outside of this area. Yeah, the status quo in there.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:15

It's so interesting because the last show that you put on with um Adam's band Gentle, yeah, and um the two the three other bands are escaping me.

SPEAKER_01 1:00:25

Um Dosser D O S S E S Yeah, yeah. And then um Morning, Fields of Mourning. Wait, no.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:37

Morning something. Sorry, bands that played. Yeah, sorry. There were two touring bands on I was outside of the venue and uh these two younger kids uh came by and they're like, hey, we heard there was like a a hardcore show, maybe they use the word hardcore, I forget, but it was something of you knew they were about it, but they never expected to be in that or they didn't think that it would happen in that area, which I'm all about because if you have a a particular genre and type that you're all for, but you gotta drive 45 minutes in one direction or into the the city to do that, that's you know, that's not great. Um, and in that instance, you were providing that at the local level for those kids to come out and see that, and that's important.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:27

Yeah, I remember those kids came to me at the end and they're like were their minds were blown. They're like, we just moved here a year ago, we didn't know there was stuff like this here. Thanks for putting this on. I said, We'll we'll keep looking, looking for shows, like just follow follow Dream Punch and and you know, any shows we do we'll you know put out there. And like on our Instagram, we'll we try to like share uh shows that go on around here, like pedal pusher shows, like shout out to Rod at Pedal Pushers. That's shout out number 350.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:57

I guess I gotta check them out because I've heard about them, and that's that's a bike shop, correct? That does their own DIY stuff too.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:03

Yeah, um, we played there once. Um, yeah, it's a cool spot. I've seen a bunch of bands there. Um Rod's in a band, uh, a couple bands. Uh but yeah, that's a cool like it's a cool spot. And and it like it's another place that's doing music, you know. It's and especially like it being a bike shop, it's not it's not like going to a bar or whatever, you know, we're not there's not the underlying w thing of you know, whatever he's doing.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:36

Go buy something.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:37

Yeah, he's he's doing it just because he loves music, which is super respectable.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:42

Yeah. Um I I want to wrap it up on that note of um what kind of space do you want people to be in when it comes to from a local level how they're um how they're exposed to their music? I guess if you're if you're if you're building your own town, if you will. SimCity? Sure, yeah. Sim SimCity for music. How would you how would you start or where would you start and how would you pull on all of your your Biden experiences um to kind of you know make it this this whole functioning uh living thing in that way? And I know things have changed drastically since the pandemic, and um, you know, I was not a hundred percent in the know of of what it was around here, so I guess, yeah, so I would pose the question of building your your musical SimCity.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:35

Um I guess like having a spot that is inclusive and touches on all you know forms of music, uh entertainment kind of thing. Um maybe not necessarily liquor sale driven or you know what I mean, like I think having food or whatever, but so you know, someplace that that would be able to uh have like some Japanese band, or like we had uh like at Metropolitan, we had a band from um this band Bernston, they were from Europe and the dude was huge in Europe. Like there's videos I was watching where he's playing to like an arena full of people, and then he plays Metropolitan, and there's like a Wednesday night, and there's maybe ten people there. And it was the still the sickest show. They just yeah. Yeah. That's the other cool thing about what I used to do booking music is just like you get you're getting uh introduced to more and more musical things. Um but yeah, just having some place that people could go to here that isn't like I mean it's so expensive here. I g I guess just like someplace that isn't reasonably priced, safe, um, good sound system, a good a good feel. I want people to greet you at the door and you know, be happy to see you. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:22

And I think those those are there if if you know where to look for them. And I and I think it depends on what what you're looking for.

SPEAKER_01 1:05:27

May 9th at Metropolitan uh singer songwriter night with us.

SPEAKER_04 1:05:31

Especially that one. All right, grab grab this. We're gonna do you might be the second or third person. I think you're the third. Play us off, Joe.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:41

Playing us off the air today. Here's a podcast for your little ear. Playing off.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:03

This recording was brought to you by the letter.

unknown 1:06:18

Steven.

SPEAKER_01 1:06:19

Joe Martin, thank you. You're welcome. Love you, buddy.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:26

Thanks so much for listening. You can follow us on Instagram for show announcements and other episodes. And if you dig the artist stuff, give them a follow. Give them a like. And if you want to go the extra mile, check them out at one of their shows. Buy their merch. Keep the scene alive. And I'll see you out there. Take care.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:47

I'm a mother of a bottom. I'm a that on the solo.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:55

Now we're not in all I can see the future.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:12

What's in the beauty?

SPEAKER_05 1:07:20

I can see the future. What's in love with the meaning?