Tales from the Green Room

Dennis: 00:01

Welcome to Tales from the Green Room. Backstage conversations from popular music venues around the country curated by Mount Tam Media. Listen in as host Dennis Truzzillo and Mount Tam Media founder Tami Larson dig up conversations with artists before and after shows in the exclusive confines of the green room. Okay. So Tami tried to beat me so quickly that she did it before the recording light went on, so we're not even sure.

Dennis: 00:39

But if it it was actually recording without the light, I think it'd be a nice amusing start to this intro of what is it, Tam?

tami: 00:47

Mother hips. Love mother hips.

Dennis: 00:50

Mother hips. Let's see. Only about 32 years or so of playing music together. That's all.

tami: 00:56

Starting back "with back to the Grotto" in 90

Dennis: 00:59

Yeah. Yeah. 92. I mean, so they're out of Chico originally, and 2 players that have been there from the beginning are Tim Bloom and Greg Loicano. They're still best buddies, and they did attribute their longevity to being able to get along and then join each other.

Dennis: 01:17

So Yeah. Yeah.

greg: 01:18

It was

tami: 01:18

it was just it was a great interview. Very spontaneous because we did it at the, The Junction in Novale and they're they're, you know, hats off to Michael Nash and

Dennis: 01:29

Yeah. And Craig McArthur, C. Mac.

tami: 01:30

Yeah. They're really bringing in some good music and well, in 2025, we've heard a little bit of their

Dennis: 01:35

lineup too. They got some good stuff coming in and they set us up in our own little special adjacent green room that was a see

tami: 01:42

through deal. Yeah.

Dennis: 01:43

It was pretty cool. Yeah. So that was a lot of fun. And why were we there? We were there because Mother Hips were this was their, album release party for California Current, the name of their newest record release.

Dennis: 01:55

And did you like it?

tami: 01:56

Oh, absolutely. I mean, the crowd I mean, I I really loved that that entire set. It was I guess they did 2 sets that

Dennis: 02:04

night too. They did 2 sets. Yeah.

tami: 02:06

But I I mean, the crowd was going crazy. It was really cool. It was just it's so energetic.

Dennis: 02:11

The place holds 550 people and they had 600 in there. Yeah. So that'll give you something. And, they are, I think they might have concluded their initial tour to promote this record, but I can tell you this much. They are back in the Bay Area at the Great American Music Hall December 20th to 22nd, 3 nights.

Dennis: 02:30

I asked them if that was ambitious and they said, not really. They've been able to sell that place out over the years.

tami: 02:35

Yeah. They know what they're doing. I mean, speaking of that, they they handle a lot of their own producing, engineering, and and mixing. And so it was interesting because they said that sometimes they forget, you know, what the changes that they make during production and have to remember those when they when they're singing live. He goes into that a little bit.

Dennis: 02:53

Yeah. There's a whole Instagram post on that. We actually cover it, in the interview, and I found that interesting. And I think, they enjoyed some of the, you know, some of the delving in that we did. And let's not forget to mention a drummer, Jon Hoefer, who we did not get a chance to visit with, but he was awesome, and our good friend, friend of the show, Brian Rashup, on bass.

Dennis: 03:15

And Brian was actually helpful in making sure this all happened, and we didn't talk to him because we've already spoken with him. But those two guys together, they were laughing and smiling and they were a little tense, not intense is probably not the word, but they were focused before the show which is why we end up doing it afterwards, which was great because this was an important evening for them. Yeah. So, let's let's start off with they one thing they talk about is how they select a single for albums and that they selected, we want what we want. So we're gonna before the interview rolls, we're gonna play a little bit of that.

Dennis: 03:49

And then what are we gonna end with, Tammy?

tami: 03:50

I think Transit Wind because that was, the favorite song that I heard.

Dennis: 03:54

Yeah. And, that comes up too. Alright. Hey, enjoy the mother hips.

tami: 03:58

Enjoy.

Dennis: 04:49

Perfect. Greg Lacono. Tim Bloom. Welcome back to Tales from New York.

tim bluhm: 04:54

Nice to be here. Yeah.

Dennis: 04:55

Well, that first time is mother hips. Weird. Yeah. Weirdly enough because Greg came, with a stingray. Yep.

Dennis: 05:02

Yes. Yeah. At the Terrapin, and Uh-huh. We interviewed you. Where was that?

Dennis: 05:06

Sound summit? We broke down in Baker. Ago. Yeah. Yeah.

Dennis: 05:09

So, but this is where it all began right

greg: 05:12

here. This. Right here

Dennis: 05:13

for you guys. Yeah. And speaking of that, here you are, Marin County native. Right? Yes.

Dennis: 05:19

Doing this show tonight. How cool is that?

greg: 05:21

It's very cool. Yeah. Love playing hometown shows for sure.

Dennis: 05:24

Beautiful. So let's talk about the crowd a little bit. I mean, just the love out there, but just the fan base in general Yeah. For the hips. Wonderful.

Dennis: 05:32

Speak to that for a sec. Well, we're

tim bluhm: 05:34

just fortunate to have so many people that like our music because it's we wouldn't be able to do it without them. Yeah.

Dennis: 05:41

And for so long.

tim bluhm: 05:43

Yeah. And for so long. Yeah. So we've been super fortunate that, people have stuck around, and people go through different phases of their lives. And we're all doing it together sort of like most of our fans are about our age, obviously.

tim bluhm: 05:56

Right. Yeah. So everyone has, like, these phases, and you'll see certain people kind of disappear for a couple years.

Dennis: 06:02

Yep. They'll come back.

tim bluhm: 06:03

Young kids or something like that. And then they come back and then their kids come back.

greg: 06:07

There's quite a few, kids, teenage kids, and even kids in their twenties that that are fans now that grew up listening to music, and they come to the shows. And they'd have shirts, and they're singing the words, and they talk to us after the show, and we talk to them. It's wonderful. That makes Boy.

tami: 06:23

No. I'm just gonna say my daughter's 18 and several of her friends' parents were here tonight. And they used to listen, I guess, in Santa Barbara.

Speaker 5: 06:31

One of them

tami: 06:32

was saying Santa Barbara.

tim bluhm: 06:33

Was it Sunziana. Her dad is they live in Santa Barbara.

tami: 06:37

Oh, is that right? Yeah.

Dennis: 06:38

So there were more than one was more than one person from Santa Barbara. Yeah. But the Santa Barbara stays here tonight. Yeah. Well, okay.

Dennis: 06:44

So this is this was the, can I say the official record release show for Yeah?

greg: 06:50

Yeah. Even though the record comes out on Friday. Yeah. I mean, it's Wednesday for people who are listening, it's not Of

Dennis: 06:56

course. It's later on. It's late.

greg: 06:58

Yeah. And, so we have the the vinyl got here a little early. So it'll be available on Friday all over, you know,

Dennis: 07:05

all streaming stuff. By the time this comes out, it will be out. But, we're gonna talk about, Friday, September 27th. Right? That's the official That's right.

Dennis: 07:14

Official release. And I did some a California Current in case we didn't say that. Right. California Current is the name of the the record. I think I I mentioned to, Tim beforehand.

Dennis: 07:25

I said, I we did a little homework. This is album number 18. Yeah.

tim bluhm: 07:29

Is

Dennis: 07:29

that about right? I mean, it's it's live in studios.

tim bluhm: 07:33

Yes and no. Yeah. They're probably altogether, you know, we probably had, like because we had a couple, like, 40 fives, you know, so

greg: 07:41

we Yeah.

Dennis: 07:41

I remember those.

greg: 07:42

And a live there's a live album and a couple of compilations. So I think maybe studio record, this is, like, 13, something like that.

tami: 07:50

Well, Reed Nafis had a comment too. Right? He came up and was just like, it's been amazing. They just keep going. They just keep

greg: 07:56

going. He's amazing.

Dennis: 07:58

Reed is amazing. And sat with us for a while.

greg: 08:00

I saw him out there.

tim bluhm: 08:00

He was just here.

Dennis: 08:01

Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. A couple of things he said was, one, he said, who's doing the sound

greg: 08:05

tonight? Michael Wilson?

tami: 08:06

That's right.

Dennis: 08:07

Oh, yeah. Shout out. Yeah. At that point, he said I'm gonna go say hello to him. He's a master.

Dennis: 08:11

Was amazing. He's he's the sound is fantastic. The best. Yeah. I mean, so alright.

Dennis: 08:16

15, 18 I mean, a a a shit ton of albums.

greg: 08:19

Hello? Yeah. Yeah.

Dennis: 08:21

Since 1992. Back to the Grotto? Yeah.

greg: 08:24

Back to the Grotto came out in 1992. In 19.90 2. In 1989 in 1989. In 1989

tim bluhm: 08:30

Yep.

greg: 08:31

And and started playing music together, and then the band formed sometime in 91. And then put a record out. First, never had been in the studio.

tim bluhm: 08:40

Yeah. I saw a a photograph of someone's cassette collection, and and I know this isn't proof, but one of the tape, it was handwritten that said mother hips, like, September 70, like, 1990. You push it back a

greg: 08:57

year. What?

tim bluhm: 08:58

It's it's it's a little foggy. Greg is definitely the the, historian amongst the 2 of us, but I saw that and

greg: 09:05

I thought, I don't feel enough to tell

Dennis: 09:06

you anymore. With

tim bluhm: 09:07

the wrong date.

Dennis: 09:08

I'm just kidding. And so What? How what's the secret to the longevity?

greg: 09:14

That's a great question.

Dennis: 09:16

Emmy, you may not know the answer.

tami: 09:19

Yeah. Well,

greg: 09:20

that's me. We like each other a lot. Yeah. They'll so that's probably the main thing.

tim bluhm: 09:24

Yeah. That is yeah. That's that's the main thing is that we enjoy playing together.

greg: 09:28

And we like we still like writing music and seeing what we can create and come up with

tami: 09:33

Yeah.

greg: 09:33

Together and make it sound like our own. That's that's always been a big part, really. I was just talking with, Michael Nash and about he was listening and, he was talking about the in intricacies when we were talking about practicing and and this these songs have all these little custom parts. And if you don't know them, it's it it wrecks the whole song. And and that's that's always been a, trademark, I guess you could say for our music.

greg: 10:00

We like to customize even even simple songs will have some weird little thing that you can't just naturally Right. You know, do.

tami: 10:10

And you have you have that all of you have that kind of a hand in the engineering and producing

tim bluhm: 10:14

Yeah. Is

tami: 10:15

what we have.

greg: 10:15

Right? Yeah.

tami: 10:16

Yeah. You wanna talk about that elaborate on that one?

Dennis: 10:18

Do you prefer that? I mean, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

tim bluhm: 10:21

For sure. That's just something that we developed those skills, along with the performing and songwriting skills. And, it was always the goal, but there was a lot of years where we weren't good enough to get the results we wanted to get, but now we are.

Dennis: 10:39

After 32 years, you learn who it's hard. It takes a it's hard when we've been Yeah. And talk about hard. I mean, and I mentioned this briefly to Greg, before the show. There was an Instagram post that came out on your Instagram site, the mother hip site, that talked about, it being kinda hard or it's not easy.

Dennis: 11:00

And and I'm gonna read it because I I it really struck me. Okay. And and for a few reasons. You said I don't know who wrote this, actually, but it was I think I did. You write it.

Dennis: 11:10

And it was a great picture of Greg.

tim bluhm: 11:11

He he

Dennis: 11:12

he actually just a cool picture anyway, but then he's he's got a mic in one hand and his iPhone and the Yeah. Pretty good story.

tim bluhm: 11:18

What is it playing?

tami: 11:19

What is

Dennis: 11:19

it going

greg: 11:20

from the speaker of the iPhone up to the microphone so the whole band can hear the tracks, and we can relearn these songs. Okay.

tami: 11:26

Was that the Jackie Green cut when he needed

Dennis: 11:28

to come out? Jackie I'll say what Jackie Green said about it. Yes. That was it. But the post said, we're learning to play the songs from our new record, California Current.

Dennis: 11:37

During the recording process, parts get added as we go. And then at this point, we have to remember how we did them and figure out how to represent them all in a live setting. It's often not easy. I mean people. Okay.

Dennis: 11:52

So, yeah, Jackie Green said I love his comment, how the sausage gets made. That's right. Right? And it's perfect.

tami: 11:59

So Jackie.

Dennis: 12:00

It was it was so perfect. That's right. He had the emoji where he's shrugging his shoulders out. He knows

tim bluhm: 12:05

he knows all about that.

Dennis: 12:06

He knows all about it. And so but but speak to that because first of all, I think it's a super cool, if not vulnerable thing to tell your fans, tell the public, this shit's not easy. Yeah. You know? And a lot of times, you know, to to Jackie's point, oh, that's how the sausage we don't tell them how hard it is.

Dennis: 12:24

You know? But but it is

tim bluhm: 12:25

tell them what's actually in the sausage. Yeah. Well, there's

greg: 12:28

that. That's

tami: 12:28

right. The rice. Exactly.

Dennis: 12:30

So but but but speak to that post that, capture. What is elaborate on that.

tim bluhm: 12:34

We were sitting there and and I was weird. I was sitting in in the chair

greg: 12:40

in my living room where we

tim bluhm: 12:41

practice and, I was using that, like, portrait mode. So like, the background is blurry. It looked

Dennis: 12:48

really nice. It did.

tim bluhm: 12:49

And I was waiting for Greg to put the the thoughts. I was like,

Dennis: 12:51

fucking falling

tim bluhm: 12:52

down trying to get a picture here. So I was like, sitting there writing. And then as soon as people notice that you had at least in our band, as soon as people notice that like this.

Dennis: 13:02

Yeah. Yeah. Everyone starts acting weird. Right. Right.

Dennis: 13:06

Yeah.

tim bluhm: 13:06

And and so, like, I was just like, they're gonna start acting weird. Yeah. And then I he finally did put it down, and I took quite a few pictures.

greg: 13:15

And they were terrible.

tim bluhm: 13:16

I woke up the next morning. No. No. They were good. It's like, I was looking at all of them the next morning laying in bed, and I I wasn't gonna use that one because you I don't like pictures that have phones in them.

tim bluhm: 13:27

You know, that's Right. Right. Yeah. Because everyone's always holding a phone. I know it's, like, put your phone down.

greg: 13:31

Let's take a picture. Right.

tim bluhm: 13:32

But then I realized that that was actually the most, like, sort of telling Yeah. Photo. And so once I decided I was gonna use it, I just wanted to explain what what the undergrad was doing.

Dennis: 13:44

Yeah. And that's not easy. Right? I mean, because especially when you're recording the different tracks. Right?

Dennis: 13:49

You perfect it separately.

tim bluhm: 13:51

That's what happens is the is what happens is you go into any we all play live in the studio, 2 guitars, this like a a scratch vocal. Like, whoever's gonna be singing this main part of the song is singing it, but usually doesn't get kept because there's drums Yeah. And the microphone is something like that.

Dennis: 14:06

Really for

greg: 14:07

cues and stuff. You know?

tim bluhm: 14:08

Right. Scratch vocal. Right. And then we take we do that in a recording studio somewhere, and then we take it all back to my house, and then we just, like, cook it. Basically, we replace stuff that didn't didn't sound right or was we wanted to change.

tim bluhm: 14:21

And then we start adding little guitar parts and all this, but you're not doing it all at the same time. Right. So when you go back in on, like, those days, like, that we had in the last 2 days, and you have to execute it, oftentimes, the the counterpoint, the rhythmic counterpoint is really challenging. You have to play some figure on the guitar while you're singing, and they're different Right. Any different beats.

tami: 14:46

And it

Dennis: 14:46

can be incredibly

tim bluhm: 14:48

Yeah. Difficult to do. It just you just have to I just have to step on one little section. Right. Yeah.

tim bluhm: 14:55

Five seconds of music, you gotta sit there after everyone leaves and

tami: 14:59

Yeah. Right.

tim bluhm: 15:00

Singing and play this stupid little part. Yeah. And,

Dennis: 15:04

it's not easy.

tami: 15:05

It's not easy.

Dennis: 15:06

It's not easy for for for me. I think it's cool that you sort of throw that out there. And that's a little bit how I think music is these days. At least the relationship with the the the fans and the the artists themselves is a little closer probably because of social media.

tim bluhm: 15:21

Yeah. What people expect, to be inside like, that's what social media is so good at is Yeah. What's what's

greg: 15:29

how the sausage being real time.

tami: 15:31

How the sausage being so so the later days, the rerelease?

Dennis: 15:34

Uh-huh.

tami: 15:35

Right? I think it was, country rock and drug free, and I'm just wondering if you wanna speak to both of those sort of genres. Can you elaborate on that a little bit? Was there a special reason why you rereleased?

greg: 15:48

Well, in, in, I guess, 2021, all of our records from the past were rereleased on vinyl. They'd like, later days had never been on vinyl, all the way from Back to the Grotto through, Green Hills of Earth, and even the ones, like, that were on vinyl, like Kiss the Crystal Flake, which came out in 2007. We we had been out of those, and those got repressed.

tim bluhm: 16:14

Got it.

greg: 16:14

Blue Rose did a full repressing or first presses of vinyl for all of those records.

Dennis: 16:20

Yeah. Blue Rose. Okay. So that was your 30 year

greg: 16:24

anniversary. So

tim bluhm: 16:25

That was a huge project.

greg: 16:26

10 records came out on vinyl that year.

Dennis: 16:29

And then streaming too, were they not streaming before?

greg: 16:32

The ones that we did for American recordings were not. But, again, Blue Rose found a way to get them up on streaming platforms, and then they also found a way to get a license to make vinyl, a small run of vinyl of, those Part Time Goes Full, which was our 2nd album, and Shoot Out, which is our 3rd album. And so those were there are only so many were made. I think 500, and those went pretty fast. No.

greg: 16:57

But yeah. So those those 2 albums are still up on streaming, but we can't really

tim bluhm: 17:02

do any more

greg: 17:03

vinyl of those.

Dennis: 17:04

No. Yeah.

greg: 17:04

And Later Days was one one of those albums that got, that had its first vinyl, appearance.

tami: 17:11

Okay. Yeah. Thank you.

Dennis: 17:12

Was that the article you were you read about? Yeah. Yeah. There was an article about that when it was rereleased, talking about how you're going country Right. And drug free.

tami: 17:21

Right. Right?

Dennis: 17:22

And, yeah. And we

greg: 17:23

had we got a Jon Hofer join the band then. Got a new drummer. Drummer who's who's now Yep. Who's been in the band for 27 years.

Dennis: 17:31

Right. He's the guy.

greg: 17:32

He's the second new guy.

tim bluhm: 17:34

Yeah. He's not the new guy anymore.

greg: 17:35

Yeah. And that was that was an interesting record to to make. It was a wonderful record to make, actually. Very different, very, a big turning point for us for sure.

tim bluhm: 17:46

We made our first record for very little money.

greg: 17:49

We made

tim bluhm: 17:49

it on our own, you know, in Sacramento, and then we got signed to a major label and had, like, pretty sizable recording budgets for, part timer is full and shootout at really nice studios, and, you know, that was pretty nice.

Dennis: 18:05

Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And,

tim bluhm: 18:07

and then we got the label dropped us, and, you know, that would have been the time when we would have just packed it in.

Dennis: 18:15

Yeah. Right. And

tim bluhm: 18:16

for some reason, we just didn't do it. And we made later days at a at a friend's, parents' house in Beverly Hills in a full house.

Dennis: 18:25

Full house. Yeah. Really? Yeah. And

tim bluhm: 18:26

he was a good engineer.

greg: 18:28

Jason Hiller. Jason Hiller

tim bluhm: 18:30

was is his name, and, he just did it as a favor to us. You know? He didn't charge us any money.

greg: 18:36

Yep. And we were just in that little pool house cranking out later

Dennis: 18:39

plays that day. The advent of Mother Hips records, or was that You know? No. Because that's Grotto.

tim bluhm: 18:44

Yeah. That was our first record. Yeah. Before we got signed, we Okay.

Dennis: 18:48

Yeah.

tami: 18:48

Yeah. So

greg: 18:48

we put that one out on our own, and then American we did a remix on most of the songs on that album, and they released it. The Americans the American version,

tim bluhm: 18:59

they'd wanted to make it sound a little different, so they hired Malcolm Byrne to come in and remix it. Yep. And,

greg: 19:07

and that one's rare. And I I don't I don't even have a copy of of that of, like, the American recordings

Dennis: 19:13

mix. 32 years. I mean, how about the business the music business, how it's changed since

tim bluhm: 19:19

he made

Dennis: 19:19

that first record? Oh, no. I mean, Napster was was I know. 99,

Speaker 5: 19:24

I think.

Dennis: 19:25

I would

greg: 19:25

I mean, back to the grotto, I I mean, we did make CDs of it, but it was mostly because we had cassettes. Yeah. Yeah. Mix

Dennis: 19:33

tapes. Yeah. Yeah. So

greg: 19:35

it's changed a lot for sure.

Dennis: 19:37

Yeah. For sure. So, yeah, the label thing intrigues me because, we've who are we talking to the other day? The California Honey Drops.

tami: 19:44

Oh, you mean the the the iPod?

Dennis: 19:46

Well, we were talking about that too, but just about they do their own production. They, own label. You know? Mhmm. Yeah.

Dennis: 19:53

They prefer it that way. And, I know you guys had the mother hips records and now blue, Blue Rose.

greg: 19:59

Blue Rose. Yeah. And Blue Rose was each of your individual records. Is that a Blue Rose on the Blue Rose? Everything.

greg: 20:06

The hips. Everything. And then Tim Solastaff and My Solastaff.

Dennis: 20:09

And Jason Crosby. Oh, Jason Crosby. Elliot Jack. Was on there for a year.

greg: 20:13

Okay. Collins Brothers were there.

tim bluhm: 20:15

Brothers were on there

Dennis: 20:15

for a while. Tell me, what's that, like, doing that versus your own? I mean, what are the

greg: 20:22

It's been great. Yeah. You know, it's been super inspiring and, you know, have having the opportunity. I mean, this is the 3rd record in close to 3 years, a little over 3 years, like, 1 a year. For us, it was more like, you know, we'd be on the road touring, and we'd go in for 3 days somewhere and and get some song, you know, basic tracks done, and then tour some more, make some more money, go back in.

greg: 20:44

It would take a long time for us to make records. And and

tim bluhm: 20:48

Yeah. Du Blue Rose just Yeah. Joe Paleto, who's the the founder of the Yeah.

greg: 20:53

What is his name? Joe Paleto. Paleto. Paleto. Yes.

tim bluhm: 20:55

He's just Yes. Very smart guy. He's great great ears, and, he just he has, like, a vision that, like, you guys need to record more and record all the time even if you don't release all this stuff. He just he wants us to record a bunch of stuff, and we're

greg: 21:12

happy to

tim bluhm: 21:12

have it. You know? So he's you know, he really made it possible for us to just spend a lot more

greg: 21:20

time in in recording studios. Yep. Writing, recording, you

tim bluhm: 21:24

know, because once you book studio time, it's like, we have to Yeah. Kick it into gear. We have to have material to record when we show up the first morning. So it motivates us to to

tami: 21:36

Yeah. So

tim bluhm: 21:36

creative, which is really great.

tami: 21:38

So it's exciting. So the tour, let's talk about that a little bit. Upcoming tour.

greg: 21:42

Okay. Yeah. Yeah. We, next week will be in Salt Lake City and Denver. And, so we just go out there for the 2 shows.

greg: 21:53

And then and down into to Southern California K. We'll be in San Luis Obispo and Ventura and Solana Beach

Dennis: 22:00

at put the deli up.

tami: 22:02

Yep. And

greg: 22:02

then the next weekend, we'll come back go back to Chico. Oh, yeah. 2 nights there at the in the in the big room.

tami: 22:08

At the brewery. Nice.

greg: 22:09

And, and then in Auburn after that. And then we go down to the Guild Theatre in Menlo Park. Awesome. And so that's kind of the bulk of of what we're doing in October. And then, of course, we play Santa Cruz in November, and then, of course, we do our, the music hall Very American.

tami: 22:27

Yeah. 3 night 3 shows?

greg: 22:28

3 yeah. That's 2 2 nights and 1 acoustic matinee.

tami: 22:32

Oh, nice.

greg: 22:33

Yeah. I look at that. I in this day

Dennis: 22:35

and age, even with all of your successes, that seems ambitious. 3 days at the, at the Great American Music Hall sold out, everyone. Yeah. Every time. The 2 nights are, and the the matinee is

greg: 22:45

a little more mellow. Lots of young kids are there, and Oh. We tell stories and, you know, sometimes there's a Santa Claus that comes up on stage

Speaker 5: 22:53

or something

tim bluhm: 22:53

like that. You know? It's fun.

Dennis: 22:55

It's What's not him?

greg: 22:56

That was just a Sunday.

tim bluhm: 22:58

No. I am not Santa Claus.

tami: 22:59

I'm not for Santa.

greg: 23:00

That was added in I don't know. It's getting close to maybe 10 years of doing that, 8 years of matinee. Yeah. Doing that matinee. It used to be the 2 nights.

greg: 23:07

Sometimes we do 3 full nights, you know, but, yeah, that matinee is really a nice nice addition. It's the exhaust of rehearsal, and then we usually do some sort of customized show. Either we play one of our records from head to head to tail or or, what do we do last show? The, the ultimate set list shows that we do, we'll have fans send in their dream set list, and then we pick 1 and we play it. We learn.

tami: 23:34

Oh, very

Speaker 5: 23:35

cool. And

greg: 23:35

then usually it's deep deep cuts or Yeah. You know, all sorts of stuff that we have no idea. Sucks.

Dennis: 23:40

It's always fun. Ambitious from that standpoint. Right? Yeah. Again, more work.

Dennis: 23:43

This is not all fun and games. Yeah. But let's That's

tim bluhm: 23:46

pretty fun, though. Yeah. It is pretty

Dennis: 23:47

Let's face it. Let's let's talk more about the record so we can get that out there. People get excited about it and go to these venues that there were these the towns that you talked about. Yeah. So, California Current, is there a was there any particular inspiration behind it besides, Blue Rose saying just keep recording?

tim bluhm: 24:08

I mean, we let we just we have song. You know, we like to write music, and we like to we really like to record. We like to spend time in the, you know, recording studio. So there's no Yeah. Yeah.

Dennis: 24:20

Just the next one. It's just what

tim bluhm: 24:22

we do. Yeah. We're gonna start the next one pretty soon too.

Dennis: 24:24

Yeah. Really? Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome.

Dennis: 24:26

Reid said let's see.

greg: 24:27

We just did an album, last year. Let's do another one.

tami: 24:30

He said it's every 2 months.

Dennis: 24:31

Yeah. I said. Yeah. Yeah.

tim bluhm: 24:32

Yeah. It's just really enjoyable. We really like doing it. And

Dennis: 24:35

And, well, while we're on Reid, Clean Me Up. Is that the name of the song? Clean Me Up?

tami: 24:40

That's his favorite song.

Dennis: 24:41

It's just for the record. That's his favorite song.

tami: 24:43

Wow. Yeah.

Dennis: 24:44

So it's Case boy. Case Jammer News. Songs.

tami: 24:46

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

tami: 24:47

Something new.

Dennis: 24:48

So the alright. So okay. It's just your next or how about the title of the song, California Current? Give me something on that. Yeah.

Speaker 5: 24:56

I I

tim bluhm: 24:56

mean, this is our first interview, I was like, I don't know if it's our

Dennis: 25:00

story yet.

tami: 25:02

This is, like,

Dennis: 25:03

a great episode. Workshop is right here.

tim bluhm: 25:05

Yeah. Let's see. What does it mean to you?

Dennis: 25:07

Yeah. Yeah.

greg: 25:08

That's right

Dennis: 25:08

Every song means something different to everybody That's right

tim bluhm: 25:11

Every The the reason we like that title is because it's sort of, I mean, kind of like the name of our band too It's sort of it's a thing, and then the California Current is actually a hydrological, thing.

Dennis: 25:26

It's a thing. I was gonna say it's a thing. Right?

tim bluhm: 25:29

It's a current.

Dennis: 25:29

Is that like air flow down from the No.

tim bluhm: 25:33

No. I mean, yeah, it's that's where I got the idea was I was just looking at a map or a chart or something, and it was California current, like, I've everyone's heard of it. Like,

Dennis: 25:45

full curve.

tami: 25:45

Yeah. Right. Exactly.

tim bluhm: 25:46

Like, there's a lot of different ones, and there's, like, the there's eddies. If you go down to Southern California, the California current, like, gets to, like, after, point conception, it does, like, the space. Right. Right. Goes around.

tim bluhm: 26:02

Yeah. But, like, the Catalina eddie that kind of flows the other way, And I I like looking at stuff like that and knowing about it. But it just the it could mean a couple different things. Yeah. Currently, towards the actual ocean current or is it, like, an electrical current?

Dennis: 26:19

I mean, all of that to the example and more things

tami: 26:21

than that. Right. Well, I did that. Something you like to look at, and that's where you came up with it. I think

tim bluhm: 26:25

that's right. It was literal, but I re I recognize that it has

Dennis: 26:29

Yeah. It has options.

tami: 26:30

Meaning to it.

Dennis: 26:31

Well, we could edit this if you come up with something else. Yeah. You know? But if you gave the answer start. It was and I mean That's the truth.

Dennis: 26:38

That's the truth. Alright. After that, we can elaborate. That's what

tami: 26:41

that's what's been the saucer.

Dennis: 26:42

That's right. Right. More the saucer. Alright. Well, take it a step further, the single.

Dennis: 26:46

Right? The single on the album, we want what we want. You played it tonight. Yep. I love the title, first of all.

tim bluhm: 26:53

Thanks.

Dennis: 26:54

Why choose that song? Is there any I mean, there's that you have to go through a thing to decide what's the single from the record, and how does it these days, how does a single even differ?

greg: 27:04

No clue.

Dennis: 27:05

Yeah. I I guess

tim bluhm: 27:06

I mean, this is a song that's accessible, like, that we a song that we think would be the most sort of the easiest way in for people,

Dennis: 27:17

I

tim bluhm: 27:17

guess, but we don't always guess that right. You don't really know until

Dennis: 27:21

Because I just we talked about 40 fives earlier. Now, that those were singles. Right? So now you just pick a song off the record off Spotify or even off the vinyl, and that's that's the you know, that doesn't seem like there's singles anymore, but there must be some

tim bluhm: 27:36

I don't really know.

Dennis: 27:37

Me either. Okay. Good. So we had a big one,

greg: 27:39

and that one seemed like it represent was a good representation of what we can do. I know. It's got

tim bluhm: 27:45

the riffs. It's got a lot of harmonies. Yeah.

greg: 27:48

It's got

tim bluhm: 27:48

a nice melodic bridge that Greg plays a beautiful solo on. The words are, kind of don't mean anything again. They're sort of like they could they could meet that you It'll it'll mean a little something different to every person. It doesn't really say I don't I don't really like songs that, like, announce what they're about. Like, this song is about Right.

tim bluhm: 28:11

Yeah. Whatever. I don't I don't I mean, I like to listen to those songs if they're well done. I'm I'm not I have nothing against them, but that's not that's not that's not the way I Okay.

tami: 28:21

I have I have a question. I was going crazy. 4th song from the end. I need your set list so I can

Dennis: 28:27

4th song from the end. Going on. I

greg: 28:29

don't know.

Dennis: 28:30

I don't know.

tami: 28:30

I don't know. I'm like, you don't you don't remember what song is set

greg: 28:32

for? The

tami: 28:34

4th song? 4th song

greg: 28:35

from the

Dennis: 28:35

end. Not including the long hours.

tami: 28:37

Just jammed at the it was like, thought yeah. I was

tim bluhm: 28:52

talking to you. Transit wind. Was it really long? It kind of, like, goes through a whole journey?

Dennis: 28:57

Yes. Okay.

tim bluhm: 28:58

That was transit wind. That's a really

tami: 29:00

old phone. Makes yeah. Okay. There you go. I see.

tami: 29:02

There you go.

Dennis: 29:02

Now you pulled a new fan in.

tami: 29:04

Oh, man. I'm like, okay. That's it. That's just yeah. I was It's

greg: 29:08

a record release party.

Dennis: 29:10

The old song brings them brings

tim bluhm: 29:11

the new

Dennis: 29:11

people anyway. Know. Okay. And then okay. So the vinyl.

Dennis: 29:14

We have the vinyl record in here. Why I mean, maybe you don't know this,

tami: 29:19

but this out, by the way.

Dennis: 29:20

Why is that, important to have your record on vinyl these days? I mean, I think it's because I have a lot my reasons why I'd want my record on vinyl.

tim bluhm: 29:29

But, again, it's different for different people, but vinyl is very in vogue right now. Mhmm. People like it. I think a lot of people buy it just because it looks nice, and they probably might not even actually play the record, but it's big. And so you can see it really nicely without a

Dennis: 29:47

glass song.

tim bluhm: 29:49

Yeah. And it's something you can look at while

greg: 29:52

you're listening to it and read the liner notes and look at the art. And it's a whole it's a part of the whole art project.

tim bluhm: 29:59

When you're eating a bowl of cereal, you can look at it. You read the the back

greg: 30:04

of the box.

Dennis: 30:04

Absolutely. It's the

tim bluhm: 30:05

same thing.

tami: 30:05

Can I remember those days?

Dennis: 30:07

Man, did I ever read that box and turn it around? The prizes, some games, some puzzles. Yeah.

tim bluhm: 30:13

Yeah. It's the same thing.

tami: 30:13

Now you're taking me to Cracker Jacks

tim bluhm: 30:15

too.

Dennis: 30:16

About vinyl anyway. Probably because it's in vogue. One of the reasons why it's in vogue, people are starting to realize the whole procedure of listening to the record. Right? Mhmm.

Dennis: 30:26

You have

tim bluhm: 30:26

to changes the way you consume it. Yeah. Sure.

Dennis: 30:28

It does. You have to get up. You have to put the needle in. Right?

greg: 30:31

You listen to an album, not just taking a song Totally. Going to another band

Dennis: 30:35

after. Yeah. And then when it's over, you're talking to somebody, you're kinda listening in the background, and then the steps oops. We gotta go

tim bluhm: 30:41

over there. Yeah. We're gonna

Dennis: 30:42

Yeah.

tim bluhm: 30:42

Flip. And you can't put it in shuffle.

tami: 30:45

Yeah. That's true too.

Dennis: 30:46

So, we answer our own questions.

tami: 30:48

Yeah. That's the

Dennis: 30:49

way you do it. You're doing great. What am I doing? Ask me. Ask me anything.

Dennis: 30:52

It's a US fault.

Speaker 5: 30:53

I don't think

tim bluhm: 30:54

I'm here.

tami: 30:55

To the

greg: 30:55

US. US.

Dennis: 30:56

But, well, listen, guys.

tami: 30:58

Well, thanks for doing this.

Dennis: 30:59

I'm tired.

tim bluhm: 31:00

Yeah. Taking

tami: 31:01

an ass up there. This is, like, enough.

Dennis: 31:02

We really appreciate you sitting down with us. And

greg: 31:04

Of course.

Dennis: 31:05

We love to sort of archive these moments

tim bluhm: 31:09

Mhmm.

Dennis: 31:09

Like tonight, right after you got off stage. Mhmm. We don't even have a story yet for the reason for your album.

tami: 31:15

The fact that

tim bluhm: 31:16

the reminder. That that Yeah.

Dennis: 31:18

That raw. But, admired you for years and, really happy to have you on again. So, let's do a pleasure.

tim bluhm: 31:24

Yeah. Thank you so much.

Dennis: 31:26

See you. Thanks, guys. And keep the vibe going until the next record, which will be in about 2 minutes.

greg: 31:30

Yeah. That's right. Right. And I'll get working.

tami: 31:33

Alright, guys. Cheers, guys. Yeah.

Dennis: 31:34

Take care. The tour. Alright.

tim bluhm: 31:35

Thank you.

Speaker 5: 31:42

Mama, I don't think I can come home with you because I saw a girl who looks like my friend. Mercy. Have mercy on

Speaker 6: 32:01

she tonight because she's standing in a transit

Speaker 5: 32:10

wind. I finally got the nerve up to climb into your pickup truck off the white dash line on the black wind speed road. After my departure. Well, it felt too cold for March or May, and the wind would not leave me alone. Oh, no.

Speaker 5: 32:38

And the wind would not leave me alone.

Dennis: 32:55

Thanks for listening to Tales from the Green Room, a presentation of Mount Tam Media. You can hear more spontaneous stories from the secluded confines of green rooms on our next episode. To experience all Mount Tam Media productions, including the Woman Are Smarter podcast, log on to mount tammedia.com. We'll see you at the next show.