LIFE ON THE ROAD Inside a TOURING MUSICIAN's Journey

the hardest part was learning to slap base because they did at the time it was Gloria Stefon in the Miami Sound Machine before she went on her own they were doing one two three do you know that Baseline at all it's it's like what is going on Welcome Back to the zacc podcast today we are thrilled to have a very special guest joining us that's right we're talking to Tom Sweeney The Mastermind behind blackgrass a genre bending artist from San Antonio Texas who's been making waves with his incredible music and Unforgettable performances with over4 songs across 11 genres and a brand new release living man Tom is here to share his journey his creative process and what's next for black grass I was going to say um when you reached out and said hey I want to do this um I'm interested in this podcast I'm like cool yeah here fill out the inquiry and get back with me and sure enough it was pretty quick you're like yeah all right did it and then I looked at it and I'm like and you were prepared man like I was telling my wife I'm like this guy is probably the most prepared musician we've had as far as having like their [ __ ] together you know what I mean like you had you had a press kit I have that as an option and you actually had one you know most most of the time like the fields are like just mostly blank and and so I was impressed and I'm sitting there looking at your Media Kit and man you're you're a busy dude you know like you're you're uh you're doing a lot of shows you did a lot of shows last year looks like and you're doing a lot this year so do you do you tour with a whole band is it like a whole all you guys doing that or no but before I answer that too in much in depth I want to shout out to my wife who is the genius behind the marketing she's the one that built that electronic press kit that you were so impressed with so I really appreciate that feedback that that helps her keep moving tell her she's doing a a great job man I will I will and I tell her every day too how I couldn't do it without her honestly we actually have been on the road since June of last year and then around August and that started in an SUV so if you can imagine you know me and my wife and a cat driving so we're not a band it's just me driving around in an SUV full of gear food uh luggage and a cat and kitty litter and you know stuff going in and out of hotels and trying to play shows so that basically lasted until about August of last year we couldn't couldn't see stopping because if it's market research those first two months or you know the research said that yes we had a viable product and we knew what our price point was especially since my shows are all Originals I don't do any any covers at all so it's kind of a big risk to just pick up pack up and go out on the road um right then we bought a camper to reduce expenses because hotels and food were the biggest expense way more than what rent would have been at a nice apartment in San Antonio Texas if we'd wanted to so we bought this camper outright and been driving around in it since August of last year wow I was going to say it sounds like it looks like you're in a camper so right there home home sweet home it looks like so where are you right now A L's truck stop in Tennessee so today just this morning we changed the oil and I put on that new um height adjustment valve so that was my morning in a love so in the in in on a podcast that likes to talk about the DIY musician you've got you're a whole another level of DIY musician yeah you are the DIY from well and you have you have your uh you have your wife there kind of helping running behind the scenes it sounds like so yeah yeah she is a big huge part of it in fact she was the one holding the funnel while I was pouring the oil in this big huge diesel cumins engine you know Alison does it have an Onan in it too like onor that is a what oh it's a generator oh yes in the front yeah okay they have a propane yeah oh you have a propane generator okay yeah yeah so we I think the one the on are usually either diesel I guess maybe they have Diesel and and propane but next time on wrench chat yeah sorry I'm sorry hey man you know what that is the honestly that is the beauty of the format is that you never know what Rabbit Hole the conversations are going to go down and that's and and I think that that and that's and that's beautiful man that that is because this is you know we really do try to to to to dig into the life of the working artist and this is all a a very big part of the reality of what has to happen behind the scenes in order to make the product work and what you know what the the the show to make the show go on as it were oh apologies if Rufus doesn't roll I don't get paid right if the wheels ain't turning you ain't earning exactly I was just going to say like you have all of these dates and I want to say like there's got to close to what 40 dates maybe 30 40 dates already on for 2025 you plan that far in advance or you know like I'm assuming that these are like places you've played before I mean you're going all the way from Alabama to Louisiana Mississippi Tennessee North Carolina Kentucky and then you go up to Pennsylvania you swing over to Ohio and then you do kind of a little East Coast stop at Maryland and Delaware what's your favorite places to play like what what has been one of your most receptive places or States if you will for for your kind of music meaning that it's an original like so people that come up to see you they know it's an original band playing I mean are these like are these mostly like taverns or bars or different other live venue communities or okay you're opening a can of worms there so what's the the favorite place well it started in Texas that's where the show grew that's where you're from San Antonio Texas and I I I built that show this show in Chris Madrid's San Antonio and San Antonio area because ASCAP and BMI were trying to Railroad everybody in Japan crazy amounts of money to be able to have bands come and play covers so it opened a need for somebody to come in and do all original and I was sick of playing covers I was ready to give up and my wife said just either give up or start playing your own stuff and of course my response to her was nobody will pay me so if I'm going to do that then um I couldn't afford a band so I started using backing tracks but then I had the chance I I played at Chris madrids for free the first time and they liked it so much they said can you come and play every Saturday and well that was off to races then because once You' got an every a steady show like that on a weekend that place has three three to 500 people churned through there just during the time that I was playing the three hours they're that busy so I was playing to every demographic but then to uh expand on your question when we went on the road every place that I would play became a favorite place simply because everybody liked the show every place I played I don't know if you saw the testimonials those venues most of those are managers yeah I saw some of them um I had to scroll up to see them yeah so they're all looking at here at the the stained wine glass wine house in Louisiana yeah that's right in New Orleans too yeah yeah and then you got one from uh is it too Plains yeah I'll be back fourth time going back here soon but basically every place I played it was kind of weird that was why we were nervous in the first couple months because it's all original we don't know how people would respond to it because I'm playing cover rooms doing an all original show but I'd played Chris Madrid's in in the area in Texas for so long I kind of knew what to anticipate until I went outside of the area then after that couple months of riding around it made sense to continue because of the responses we were getting so the answer really is I I love every place we go that somebody will stay and hear my music and now we're starting to finally repeat some areas because actually when we first started we went Texas Nebraska South Dakota and then all the states over to Connecticut and then all the states down uh Delaware to West Virginia back into Pennsylvania back over to Ohio and then in uh Kentucky Alabama Mississippi Louisiana now we're heading back up Georgia North Carolina and um over here in Tennessee again and then back over to Pennsylvania and then back over to Ohio so we're finally starting to have some of the places be repeats so to answer your question there's about now a 5050 mix of places we've been and places that are new and I just started uh signed a contract with a new agency to who's has connections all across the country so I just got to let them know where my anchor points are and the other question you asked was how do you book that far in advance I'll book as far in advance as I need to I'd like to have the whole year booked way before and I'd like it to be about 200 to 250 shows a year or more depending on where we're going and what kind of exposure it gives me so that's the other question that I heard or that I remember anyway so these show those are are built around smaller cover venues that a solo would go into but I'm playing as by myself as with backing tracks so I'm using it's a full band sound and I mix everything in Stereo so I do all the production I do all I play the bass I get the drums I I do the vocals and backing vocals and keyboards and other rhythm guitar parts so everything you're hearing is me so when people hear it they're also hearing it in Stereo so it's almost it's hard for them to grasp exactly what they're seeing until they see me playing and then singing and talking to them during songs in between songs I see one of the things in your format you mentioned you talk about past and present and future so you should know that I come from I went on the road as a bass player for a Vegas Style Show band The Terry Moret show band out of Las Vegas they ended up becoming the uh the house band for the four Caesar Resorts that were up in the Poconos so my first experience on the road was BAS basically like being in military boot camp uh everything was time to the second everything was very disciplined I mean he ran a really tight ship and I learned how to back Comedians and I learned how to back you know um other artists and other singers and to put on a show to put on a real show Vegas style show where you're in their face the entire time so I've applied that to building my own show since nobody was in my way you know I didn't have a drummer complaining about being on for 3 hours I didn't have a guitar player who was busy drinking and looking at his girlfriend instead of focusing on the different styles that we're doing and and making his guitar sound like heavy metal for every song so I could experiment in San Antonio and then take that experimentation and use it everywhere I went and since I have as Matt has discovered a large volume of music with many different styles I can go into any situation and any any room and any size and put on the show that's necessary you know I have a friend who's the guitar player do you do you use a certain app sorry to interrupt do you use a certain app to run your backing tracks or do you just use a laptop and just kind of coordinate your set list depending on the area that you're in so let's say You're In A Country Town you're going to play more of your country style stuff than let's say your funk or or hip hopy stuff I'm imagine I think it's a great idea because I mean I'm picturing a cover band that's playing original stuff because we're familiar with backing tracks as well and we have't the band that Matt and I are in our group that's how we are going to operate as a live we've been a studio project all year and but I don't I've never tried stereo do you actually have a click track in your ears that you use or you just play the same sound that they're hearing out there in the house okay so the first answer is imix pro 64 imix Pro is a software that works on mobile devices um that that allows you to uh build set lists and it um now the new version which I'm going to be getting can actually control DMX 512 which is intelligent lighting which I'm going to add to my show it runs the the audio tracks it'll run images for you jpegs pngs it'll run videos for you too so you can schedule everything in your set list so I can build a list according to the show that I need to play for instance when I was in Louisiana I wrote three cinjun Tunes specifically for cinjun steamer wait that's Alabama that was in Alabama but it was a spe it doesn't matter but I yeah the point was you you're able to tailor those set list each time do you do that each time or is there like usually when you're on the road unless you get bored with something or you just kind of like okay I've got my core I'm GNA stick with I might slip one or two that change you know alternate these songs in and out well the software holds 64 songs and I play for three hours Non-Stop and I get through about 40 uh depending on how many and sometimes I'll go over I'll go you know three and a half or sometimes four hours if people are really going at it so I have the ability to jump anywhere in the set list that I want and I have them grouped in twos or threes and sometimes four songs all in a row depending on the effect that I want right so if it's a really specific show then I'll reset I'll rewrite a list and have it specifically for more country or more blues or more jazz or whatever I have a question for you on that app though if you if you like let's say you're going down the list you're like I think they'll like this song and it's somewhere further down the list and you play that song does it automatically like deduct that from your set list it's it's marks it as being played so it's not going to play it again uh it marks it as being played color-wise but if you don't stop it it'll go to it again so you have to kind of keep track yeah you have to keep track of that although the new one it might might not do that the new the new one you say there's a new update or a new version or yeah there's a new imix version uh and it looks like it's just super powerful now and and it's only $89 or $79 something like that and I was looking at Ableton advice from you know professional touring shows and that requires I'd have to get another laptop and I'd have to pay the $500 $600 for Ableton and then I'd have the learning curve again too I'm it's a different kind of learning curve what you normally record your music on um Garage Band Apple Garage Band oh okay so you you have a Mac then yeah yeah well even ableton's different than than GarageBand you know it really I used to use Pro Tools and it just Garage Band grew so much that I just didn't need the Pro Tools anymore I'm not digging in like some Engineers you know well you know what though like I have our guitarist uh one of them he produces an excellent sound when he um when we p out tracks to him and he does it on garage band there's a lot of times in fact most of the time that I don't use an amp I don't use an amp on stage now I would like to comment on the backing tracks thing I was going to do an all original show acoustically and it was my wife actually that said you know you can't do that because if you record it and they go to listen to the recording online like you're telling them to go to Spotify or apple or whatever it's not going to sound like the same song They're not going to know that's the song that you played so that actually plus I've always had these sounds in my head but I've never actually been able to produce it and have people actually hear what I wanted it to sound like so that was a big part of using the tracks too now using garage band is just incredibly easy it became super stupid easy and then you add on to it things like melodine or you add on to other little pieces plugins and things like that the guitar stuff when I'm playing I'm playing live through a helix it's going into two Eevee towers that sit behind me unless it's a louder show and then they're up in uh up um right with me with the microphone right or if it's on a bigger stage like the Nick in Birmingham I just send them a line from that system and it's already premixed for them and I'm hearing what the mains are doing from on stage instead of it being a monitor mix and wondering if it sounds good out front I know exactly what it sounds like and the mic that I got is one of those old 50s style silver big thing you know like SM I think is it made by sure I think 55 right and it's got a blue label at that thing is incredible because when you sing from different areas it responds differently and you can hear it in the mix so when I'm mixing with the track or mixing with the backing vocals and then singing the lead and then mixing with the backing vocals it all happens right there that was another learning curve but the cool thing thing about it is I know it sounds good out front and then I see the videos that my wife does and I get to critique myself I get to really hear everything it's like okay that needs to come up or I need to change that guitar patch or whatever but I don't miss not having an amp on stage because it sounds so dang good in the EVS with the Helix it's incredible so you're you're not you're not actually using in ears then you're just using the the Pas that you hear behind is that what you're saying and I know there are lot of guys that swear by them especially singers I use an in ears and there I have a lot of experience working with them a lot of the tributes that I used to work with out on the west coast always insisted because they'd have a click track right and there and they'd be all that stuff that's what I was trying to get at do you use a click track but it sounds like you don't because you're actually playing the same you're playing to the same thing they're hearing so right which I guess would make would make sense for the stereo sound that the stereo feel that you're you're referring to it's all it's all kind of adding up here it's that's like wearing headphones with those speakers because it's you hear the drums going across you hear the Rhythm guitar over here you hear a couple backing singers over here it sounds like you're on stage with the perfect mix now here's the other thing though and please don't take this the wrong way if you're an inar fan my fundamental belief is as a musician your job is to shape air it doesn't matter how you do it or what instrument you use but your job is to shape the air and then the sound man's job is to take that shape and make it bigger that's it this thing about the sound guys being your partners in production or in shaping the sound and making your guitar tweaking this tone and I'm not a big fan of that I'm not a big fan of that at all because as an artist I want it to sound a certain way and there's a reason for that whether they get it or not and often you're using S men who don't really know what they're doing or aren't very good or just don't care maybe they just don't care and so you're you're left wondering is it coming across to the audience the way that I hoped it would well there's no wondering with this the way that I'm doing it now I take all of that away from them I make this shape all you can do is a sound man is go like this with a volume KN that's it I was gonna say you're taking away the job like they don't you don't even need a soundman you might as well just get rid of them and just walk over there and turn it up and down because that's all you're doing for some places yes and for places no if it's a big enough stage you still need them to ring out the room balance out and make sure everything's in Phase especially because I've played in front of 10,000 people I've done shows with other bands that were big and there you absolutely have to have the best especially Outdoors or it just comes across as screeching so I'll send them the signal and then count on them to work their system the way they know it right but I'm sending them such a good quality signal that's the other thing too and you may try this if you're going to use backing tracks when you mix for a radio mix it's all compressed right everything has to be leveled out so you don't blow out people's stereo speakers right even if you look at stereo speakers they're softer they move easier than say a guitar speaker or a bass amp speaker that those are harder or even PA speakers that it's harder to push them so when I mix my backing tracks it's a completely different mix from what it is to put up on Spotify it's as if I'm it's the same thing with you going to put anything on vinyl you don't want to mix it the same way exactly vinyl vinyl has a different mix as well too before we go too far into the Weeds on just like dialing in the backing tracks it's it's really interesting though because you're not too far off from where my you know my projection of how I'm going to make that happen for me I have played for backing tracks my first performance ever was in 19 was it 94 to a backing track so um but the uh it went away with that when you know we had a full band and we were hooking up mics and stuff where everything was live there was no there were monitors there was no inar monitors you know like that wasn't even really a thing back then and everything was is you you definitely relied on the sound guy like he he either made you sound good or not and the other thing is he can make you sound good on stage you wouldn't even know how it sounded in the house because it's completely different mixes you do that I got please one second do you Remember The Far Side cartoon yes okay do you remember the one of the the sound guy reaching for a knob and you can see the band on stage and it says suck button on on it yeah I remember that one yeah yeah you know and that and that's the funny thing man is that it's like we've had shows where I swear to God man we sounded great I thought man I thought this thing was fire all night long and then have a couple of buddies in the crowd God you guys sounded like [ __ ] man what a oh thanks I appreciate that what happened man we couldn't even hear you man and and and uh of you know and and finding what you know our our sound has always been very horn heavy and so on top of that finding a this a sound man at your local bar in Northern Utah that has the foggiest idea about how to mix horns is oh Lord it's tough it is tough and especially especially when it's like well you you you seeing an play trumpet right yeah we just well you just play on use the same mic I'm like do you know how loud a trumpet is man but but but you can't not mic it or else it it's got to be in the mix but yeah so you're kind of playing off to the side because if you go too far back to where it sounds good on a mic through the trumpet and then you got to sing into it too all of a sudden you've got like three feet you got to jump I I would always be mix me on the vocals on this mic and then and and then if if the trumpet's coming out too loud you just tell me to step back a little bit further I'll play a little bit further off of it and so that it's in the vicinity of the mic but yeah Tom how long have you been doing this sort of format then I mean obviously it looks like you were full-blown last year uh when did you when did you and your wife decide you know what let's just like pack it up let's let's like hit the road and live a life on the road as a solo musician so we went on the road in June of last year and that first two months was an SUV and then in August we got this camper and we've been going since how long have I been doing the backing tracks for my originals was about three years in San Antonio with Chris madrids and places around the area and I keep saying Chris madrids because they're really they were the the foothold that that allowed me to build the show there are lots of places sure we can shout we can give him a shout out if you want you can give him aout out for sure man well they were a huge part of it so and they're good friends too you know a shout out to Pedro Carlos and Mercedes they in San Antonio I missed playing there because it was kind of like family I would go in and they were so nice to us and they were just really really cool people and they would let me do whatever I wanted I don't know Matt did you hear the one song seeking Glory think so you have seven albums so it was like which which I've list I've listen get I've been trying to listen to so much of it that I'm and I'm sure I did it at one point no I I'll tell you since you didn't hear it basically it's a um an El it's a dance electronic house beat mix with a flatpicking Bluegrass style and gospel lyrics it all so it's it's just like weird eclectic mix you know I was on this Billy strings kick for a little while and I wanted to get better at my flat picking and so I decided to write something I could barely play so that song came out and I and and they just let me do it they're just like wow that sounds really good we like that and then I would go from that to something like lift you up which is a hardcore jazz blues tune and then I'd go to hardcore country or hardcore blues or classic rock or alternative did you hear burn and Rain yet if you liked you liked blind revolver listen to burn and rain it sounds like aliceon chains and I were talking earlier you know you as I was listening to uh you to one of the albums it opens with a W with a rendition of of of witch doctor that is so dark and forboding and just menacing and I and I and I made the comment is is I you get done listening to this tune and you kind of want to watch a Disney movie to kind of oh man but it it it it it has it's that powerful and it it man and then you go into this like sound garden very very Seattle grunge sound and then and then we transition into into into a very hip hop rap tune and it's like oh man it this just like Pops from one to the next to the next so so let's let's let let's let's back things up to the to to the beginning of what got you into music in the first place like what what what what brought you into this world of creating music tell us how you came up with the name blackgrass I'm assuming that's how I pronounce it that is right yeah my mom and dad brought me in the world and they actually introduced me to music my dad was an Irish Tenor and he paid his way through college singing at weddings and my mom used to love to take us kids to we lived in Athens Ohio Ohio University and she would take us to concerts that the college would have so I I saw everything from the Japanese Cotto drummers to orchestras to Billy ID like my first concert ever was at an auditorium at Ohio University watching Billy idle heck yeah great first concert it was it was a lot of fun and that was when he had just brought out a Moy Mooney as his cover and I knew Moy Mooney from my mom and dad from Tommy James and the Shondells so when I heard him I know that was a cover you just I just learned that as of today I was today years old when I just learned that that's not all in fact Tommy James and the Shawn Dell is covered by a lot of folks including Debbie Gibson and she did I Think We're Alone Now now they had a whole bunch of song get their greatest hits Tommy J Crimson and Clover look into it remember that song crimson clover wasn't that Jim world did that that cover or they or they were or they were citing it in one of their songs somebody covered Crimson and Clover too that was another big that was that was in the early 80s um I could hear it in my head I we're old now it's hard to remember anything get they're Tommy James and the Shawn Dell's original versions are way better than the covers and I like the covers I mean that's cool but um they're way better quick intermission folks we've curated a Spotify playlist called the guest list showcasing the incredible artists who Grace our show with their talent and stories dive deeper into their music plus discover exclusive tracks by Z frequency click the link in the description or search for the guest list on Spotify enjoying back to the show so you used to go to these shows um living in Ohio and then you just like you decided hey I'm gonna pick up the guitar that's my instrument that's what I'm gonna learn to play or no what was your first instrument that was the main in in my mom and dad were the main influence I guess is what I should have said and their exposure to music but my first instrument was vocals I used to every Sunday I would go down to church and hit every Mass so I could sing in choir and I was tenor because I young but it was so much fun because it was a a college church so they were more Progressive and would allow instrumentation yeah a little bit more little more yeah yeah like full band coffee bar out front you know well no not that far but it was it was a lot of fun and so you had college students coming who would you know all sing in the choir and then you'd have guitars and mandolin and drums and bass and you know tambourine and like you know 30 worship team and it wasn't really I mean there was some structure to it obviously but um no everybody just kind of came if they could but it was so much fun to do it I would go down early for each of the ceremonies right and just just so I could sing and then in later years when I got older I used to sneak into the church and and just play the piano because it sounded so beautiful in the church and it wasn't until much much later that they had to start locking the doors cuz people were vandalizing the churches but they used to leave them open all night yeah wow so you started with piano thens then piano I'm sorry vocals yeah vocals and then you would come into the the church and play piano at night which is which cool Zach I apologize you can't really call it playing I would hit the sustain pedal and go ding ding ding ding ding okay I see what you're saying you know so it wasn't playing it was me poking how did so then we're trying to like let's just we're trying to catch up to the point where you're actually playing let's say you played bass for Vegas performing act what like what led up to that like I mean where were you did you start off playing the bass and then and then just kind of tried out for that or audition for that group or so I found an ad of a group looking them looking for a bass player but I was actually a guitar player at that time CU I had you know couple local bands in my hometown that I played with for fun it was just kind of a joke really and Garand stuff I just wanted to get out on the road I wanted to be a musician I didn't really want to do anything else and so I figured well I could play guitar I can certainly play bass I'd done bass a couple times on a few songs that we friends and I played right so it's got to be easy right talk about baptism by Fire Man classic guitar player train of thought dude bass is nothing like guitar it's nothing like guitar and actually way harder to play bass and sing guitar is super easy to sing and play guitar playing bass is near impossible um the bass focuses on the kick drum the guitar focuses on the high hat and the snare so there's more subdivision when you're playing guitar so there it's easier to line the melody and the rhythm of the words up with the guitar than it is with the bass and you only get one note at a time and if you mess it up the whole room shakes when you hit a wrong note on the base the building vibrates and everybody's like wow this bass player is horrible you know yeah so I had I had the first two weeks that I was in this Vegas Style Show band I had a pum of $50 a week to keep myself fed while I learned the parts because I was so unprepared when I got there I begged him to keep me I was practicing so much that my fingers literally were bleeding no joke I had to put Band-Aid because of the blisters the blood blisters Band-Aids and then gauze and then duct tape just so I could keep fingering the fretboard for those two weeks I would eat once a day and I would go over to what was it called what's that it's not Denny's it's uh oh is it Waffle House waffle house so I would go there and they had the they would have an all you can eat so I'd sit for an hour and stuff myself until I couldn't eat anymore and I wouldn't be able to eat till the next day which made it kind of hard to focus but I did it and I learned the show finally and I finally got on stage and got to be the bass player for this band but that was baptism by fire big time and the hardest part was learning to slap base because they did at the time it was Gloria Stefon in the Miami Sound Machine before she went on her own they were doing one two three do you know that Baseline at all it's it's like what is going on so that took me the longest to get down and it was painful D my fingers were so sore but I finally couldn't even mimic what you just did without screwing up some notes go listen to that original recording and that band was on fire I mean they were Miami Sound Machine she has she had some players man she had some players so as a horn player man listening to listening to the Miami Sound Machine do their thing it's like makes my face hurt I just watched the 50th anniversary of Tower of Power did you see that video didn't see theth anniversary I got I got to go I I got to go see Tower of Power a couple of summers ago at a at at an outdoor concert here in Utah and L they are so good so good they were even good back then you know there's only I I think there's one one or two original players left because I mean age catches up with everybody but man they just as as as their as their members age out and move on and retire they bring they they replace them with guys that can blow just as hard man and just as funky a lot of times they're like related or family members you know but yeah so how did you come up with the name blackgrass like is there a meaning behind that name yeah I've completely forgot your question thank you no problem it's basically a mish mash of different styles you know the black being I wanted to I I've always loved Rock I've always loved the intensity of Rock all different styles of rock especially if the song is good but I also love country and Bluegrass and Jazz and everything else in between which obviously you can see that in the writing that I do so I wanted blue grass and Jazz grass it makes sense man I understand it now yeah yeah that was the idea is that when people heard the name it left the door open for whatever I wanted to throw at them and they wouldn't be surprised yeah well I I've I'm notorious for naming my band's names that people will always forget and they or they'll spell it wrong so it's we got don't care I'm like whatever you know like I don't care whatever you know but so so what do you got on the what what's on the books right now I guess you guys are just just just touring and and living the road life I guess huh yeah well the on on the books are all the shows and filling out the calendar even more um with this agency and it I'm still booking as well and then of course I've got several songs now that I have to finish recording some of which I've started playing live that's usually what I'll do is I'll write a song do a backing track for it and start playing it live see how people receive it yeah and out right and then and even more important is to experiment with what I want to do with it how do I want it up having it sound right and she'll videotape the new song so I get to listen back to them at a live show and I get to hear well I like that but I don't like that I don't like that solo but I do like this solo you know one of the rules I learn oh I'm I actually had the privilege of meeting the fellow who helped produce that song for Sher do you remember that song uh do you believe in life after love or something like that right yep his name was Kofi Kofi and I got my friend introduced me to him it was really cool we got to meet him and talk for a while and he had some really great advice he said you know do you know the three elements of a hit song and of course me being all knowing musician I said well of course you know lyrics and Melody and Arrangement means no the song the song the song So a big part of that experimentation before I release a song is to watch people's responses listen back to it and make sure that the song itself and every part in the song every part is serving the song The solos the beginning the beginning the the middle the end everything has to serve the story or the Arc of the song and I think that's because of that that's a big part of why I'm able to play 3 or four hours of originals and people don't even realize that they're Originals now the other secret of course is that black grass being an amalgamation of so many different styles I can pull from all those years of playing Vegas style shows and cover shows and Rock shows and blue shows and Country and whatever else I've done as covers and I can pull those hooks and all those cool Arrangements that I watched crowds respond to it's like knowing if you're going to play the electric slide you're going to get some you know people out on the dance floor doing the Electric Slide it's just guaranteed if you play give me some loving you're going to get somebody up dancing on it right so why wouldn't you write something that does that same thing and then have that as your song when you need it you see what I mean so I'm borrowing all of these all of my favorite artists and putting all of that stuff that I love that I've watched audiences respond to into my music so that when I play people are literally going why does this sound familiar but it's not the same I I was going to say you you're you're saying something that Matt and I had just discussed before you came on which was living man reminded me of a artist and I can't remember the name I think it's Steely Dan I can't remember Steve Miller I can't remember Bob Seager turn Bob Seager there you go see he knew right away so you must have been inspired with it because the p the cord progression and everything is like I was I was hearing it but it was different you know so I get it now that makes sense so you're like like it's like a cover band of Originals you know like exactly Play Just Enough cover music or you know using an arrangement of a cover song to get the familiarity for people it's brilliant actually that's it's actually pretty it's a pretty smart way to go about doing it but it's you know Zach it's not new though that's the thing no I know that how many people I don't know a lot of people that do nothing but original music 3 hours with 64 tracks available to them and just tore in a camper I don't see that you know so you're making a living at it very well so well thank you I appreciate that but my thought came from all right how many people CED Chuck Barry how many people coped Little Richard I mean to this day how many people are using that 145 Blues Arrangement how many people are using that shuffle field so really all I'm doing is borrowing from the musical side of things without it being the lyrical story as much and then of course I'll change Melody as well just because yeah you want you want that cover yeah exactly but that's where you're taking your inspiration from but what I'm saying is brilliant about what you're doing Tom is you're you're making it just similar enough that it triggers something inside somebody going God you know that sounds familiar like you know what I mean and so it it grabs her attention it's that's the other thing I was going to interject was have you guys considered maybe like your wife or you considered doing a YouTube channel where it's more of a vlog style of your journey because I think you have a great story to tell of of not so much just the music I mean that could be you know like that's the that's the underlying behind the scen that's the soundtrack of the story correct but a lot of it there would be a huge audience a huge interest I think in the daytoday right working a living on the road yeah changing the oil on your rig or stuck at a a truck stop with a flat tire I mean or just like living on the road you know so I it's just something to consider well I appreciate the offer or the suggestion I should say but here's the thing right black Raz is really more about the music I at least I want it to be that's my goal I know that I have to do things like this and and put myself out there a little bit more if I want it to grow more but I don't want it to become a focus on me personally for a whole bunch of different reasons but mainly because it's really the music that I'm I'm interested in folks getting attached to you know I want I want to make people feel good I want to make them feel better come to a show and forget other things that might be bothering you and have a good time and then go back and feel empowered that you know well like this song it started out rough and it ended up happy you know everything I write now I try to come from that perspective that okay even if it's a tough or dark song like witch doctor I almost regretted recording that song and I'll I'll tell you where it came from in a minute but everything I write now and I've told U mat matus Matias andev is the rapper that I work with from South Africa I told Angelo who is the the guitar player for colon University Drive he's out of Arizona these are my shout outs and this is I've also told Samir Apprentice from Scotland who I recorded with her my friend Dave Pendergraph from San Antonio and of course Rob Aldridge from Kentucky I told all of them the same thing any song that I'm going to work on with you has to have a positive spin there's way too much negative in the world and it has to have a positive spin so that you know I'll leave that there but just as a side note for Matt since which doctor stuck out in your mind that came New York City Lincoln Tunnel traffic that's caused that funny but but and and and that's and that's a rarity though that I mean but it's also an anomaly in what you do because it is I mean it's it's it's not a d direct cover but it it is an existing song it's not the the version that you saw on The Muppet Show by any stretch of the imagination and it's like but because it's like we all know the oo e ting tang w w bing bang and it's like but it's but it's it's like you've never heard it and but and man and it's like that is you know that is honestly it's kind of refreshing that you could tap into all of these other mediums of of publicity or of um creating and everything and you choose to focus on making it about the music and the experience that people are having listening to the music but I do think that if you know down the road if you get tired and you and you're like and and you're like you know what I would like to have plant my roots for a little while and not be on the road all the time man I think people would love to hear the stories the stories from the road Maybe maybe you write a book or something but I think that you because you because you know there you know there's a lot of there's a lot of people out there that maybe want to do this want to be a a touring musician want to be a working musician and I think that the more people can be open and honest about the reality of what it takes to do that the things in life that you maybe have to sacrifice that you can't do in order to do this you have to give this up to do that you have to um you know it's not going to be you know it's not going to be the The Rock and Roll Lifestyle where it's a you know it's a it's you know it's a it's a crazy party every night and it's just a light non-stop party there's there's realities of watching yourself watching your health making sure that you're keeping your your health in order because if you're not healthy you can't play shows you can't put the energy into it there's a you know there's there are a lot of moving parts that are behind the scenes that I think that there would be a lot of interest in in in finding out about if you could give one you know if you could Dole out some advice to somebody that's maybe thinking about you know what I think I want to I want to be a touring musician I want to be a working musician what are some of the most important nuggets of of advice that you've learned over the years that you would impart to them oh wow okay so I'm going to try and be as as py as possible you hit the first one on the head which is health because if you can't put on a good show you should not step on stage and then so Health follows with skill if you're not practicing your craft and you're not good at it it's like the song the song the song the show the show the show if you're not putting on a good show you're disrespecting every single other musician who's out there doing the job and you're making it harder for them because you're not doing your part you know I've never been a fan of the guys that go become musicians because think it's going to be a party in fact I have very little patience for that anymore you know this many years into it not that I want to judge I'm not judging anybody I just know that it makes it harder for someone like myself who actually comes in and does a really good job is super easy to work with and is very skilled at what he does and puts all of my energy into it every single show you know that's one of the common ments that I'm proudest of is that the energy that people see or take away from from when I play um but when you have folks going out who just want to do it because they think it's going to be a party well then don't be a musician be a DJ because then you can put on a great show every night and you don't have to have any health at all you just push a button and throw your microphone on Yell a little bit and wave your hands around and let the light show do the rest and the artists who recorded the tracks do the rest now there's a lot of DJs who are really creative and they're doing stuff on the Fly and they're using their gear and that stuff is amazing and I love that stuff but if you're just there to party then don't pretend to be something that you're not so that would be the things that I would say as far as you want to make a living your health your skill and then get organized because nobody's going to believe in you and so they're not going to get organized for you and and if they do there probably is an agenda you should be a little bit leery of because you know how agents can be you know how venues can be so there's everybody trying to take a cut so if you're organized and you're professional about you can keep track of stuff and you can be more like a business that doesn't mean it's not fun I still have the best time every time I get to step on stage which is another reason that my health is so important to me because I figure well I only have a certain number of times that I'm going to be able to step on stage I want each one to be a memory that I can keep there you go well that kind of a high energy thing it's it's high impact man it's it's you know it takes it takes a lot out of you it you because you're not it's and not just physically because you're out there it's it's physical but it's spiritual and emotional too because when you're when you are when when you're you know when you're when you're really you know in the pocket and you're having you know because there are some shows that just exceed all of your expectations in your connection with your audience and their connection with you and you can feel it man it's an electricity in the air because you're putting out this energy and they're bringing it and they're feeling it and they're sending it right back to you and it's this cyclical vi just vibration that just keeps and it just increases and increases and increases and you get done with one of those W with with one of those shows and it's like could you can have you can have you can have expended the same amount of energy physically and be 10 times more exhausted it's you know there are parts of your body that get sore now imagine of course as a vocalist so I'm I'm singing everything myself so I'm doing three or four hours of singing plus probably about an hour of warm up and a half hour warm down plus phone calls during the day because I'm booking myself until just recently and I started working with this agency plus every day I'm taking care of Rufus or we're driving down the road and everything with Roff is takes longer if you're going to run to the store it takes longer you do that on certain days and it's on the way to some place so there is a schedu to meet there with just living your living schedule sure yeah there there nothing happens quickly with a big camper and so you have to plan everything in in advance you have to know exactly where you're going to go you have to know exactly how much time you have to sleep before you have to start driving before you have to pull up camp before you have to load in we'll shoot to get to places two hours early because it usually takes me about I can get up in 10 minutes if I have to but if I'm taking my time it'll take me about 45 minutes so I like to get there at least an hour in advance but I'll shoot for two hours in advance because everything in Rufus takes longer then I'll get there about an hour and a half early sometimes if I'm lucky an hour and 45 minutes early or just right at the hour I'm thinking I'm gonna get there and have time to eat but I just get there in time to load in so if you're not in good shape and I can't support those notes I mean I get done with shows and my hands are killing me if you ever get a chance to watch some of the live videos watch the way I hit the guitar I have here I actually have one here too you can see I have to use really thin picks because I hit the strings too hard I've broken six strings in one stroke if with trying to use a thicker pick and so I just hit the guitar too hard and so then of course you're bruising and you're doing damage if and often I'll walk off and a finger will be bleeding and this is from my own original shows which is of course like Matt said I'm going to put more energy in because they're mind right right yeah if you don't take care of yourself and you don't take care of your ability to play you don't have to be the best in the world you have to be you but you have to have to know what you're doing don't get on stage and just hack through you know people know their ears know actually more importantly their heart knows their energy knows they can feel that you're not really on top of what you're doing are you and and they'll be nice they say yeah you sounded really good but that's not with Originals you do that with originals and they'll walk out well they'll walk out covers too if you do yeah well it's been pretty insightful man it's uh you've had you have a pretty cool story um and I think a lot of people will find Value in in tonight's uh interview do you have any designs on uh on on on heading out out heading out west of the Rockies uh get out I don't know I mean you just let's just throw say Salt Lake City Utah yeah actually California or yeah we have friends in Modesto and La um actually have a lot all over California then of course uh Salt Lake City we've got friends up there as well um I would love especially to do Arizona New Mexico California Utah Idaho and that kind of going up and like a western western swing tour yeah and I got a lot of friends in Seattle and up in uh Washington State in in what's the capital there I can't remember the capital now is it Tacoma no it doesn't matter there's so many folks up there I would love to see again if if people want to get more uh involved and where can they find you on the socials go ahead and uh list out some of your the best places for them to find you online and then I'll I'll post up a link on the post edit here thank you for refocusing us too Z I appreciate that sure no problem my website is blackg grass.com b a kg az.com also I'm on Facebook Instagram LinkedIn Pinterest uh Tik Tok all you got to do really is just search black grass that name in Google and all kinds of stuff will pop up I'm sure thousands of pages at this yeah thousands of pages we actually had a song last year got streamed two million times we had a video that got um went viral it's at 93,500 views this time uh we've got songs Spotify just did a list this is black grass and it's got 50 of my top songs I've got 109 songs published in in 11 different styles now 10 online the 11th is zido I just did wrote three zido songs for that that cinjun show at in uh at cjun steamer in Alabama that was a lot of fun all right all right right man well I think this is uh we're about at the hour mark so I think we'll just go ahead and uh say goodbye you uh you're awesome man it was a great story it's it's awesome and it's just kind of I mean I I'm I'm I'm happy that that that we found each other that you that that you that you came on the show I'm absolutely I I I am really looking forward to continuing to dive into your discography and immerse myself even more in your music I'll be watching your tour dates and as soon as you are booked in Salt Lake City I will I will be one of the first to buy a ticket so I can experience black grass live and in person because uh it is I'm all about it man you're you're you're you're a purist you're a soul man and I love what you're doing man keep it up because the world needs more the world needs more people like you doing it for the reasons you're doing it and we'd love to have you back on the show too man you got to come back and and give us an update of how things are going yeah that would be great I'd love to I can't even tell you how much I appreciate you both being willing to do this uh just really it helps a lot everything helps and it's very kind of you to say what you said I can't wait to see your bands that's what I like I like other but there's a reason now just so you know when I see something cool I'm probably going to borrow it hey that's all right go ahead because absolutely yeah sharing is caring so well there's a finite number of notes in music that's and it's just a matter of putting them together and combinations of the same notes really excellent excellent Tom it was great to have you on man and we'll definitely have to do this again and I appreciate you coming on we're we're fairly new we just started last September you're episode number 21 yeah but anyway yeah man it was good talking to you thanks man much love and uh stay safe out there on the road man you too guys good luck with your projects too and let me no definitely let me know that's a wrap for this week's episode of the zhz podcast a huge thank you to Tom Sweeney of blackgrass for sharing his Incredible Journey and his insights with us if you love this episode don't forget to check out Tom's latest release living man and follow black grass on all streaming platforms and social media and make sure to subscribe to the zhc podcast here on YouTube and check out our last episode where we sat down with use of man thanks for listening and we'll see you next time catch you on the flip side

2025-04-09 12:15

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