MN Music Note - Ep24 - The Real Reason He Started Minnesota Music Note with Will McLeod

In this episode, the mic flips as the host of Minnesota Music Note steps into the guest seat to share the real story behind the show. From his early days in garage bands and overseas gigs to building deep connections through open jams, he breaks down how the podcast was born and where it’s going next. And it isn’t just about music.

You’ll Hear About:

• How his journey started, from school band to global gigs
• The wild story behind his band days 
• Why open jams became the foundation of real connections
• The REAL reason he started Minnesota Music Note
• His vision to build a platform that connects the entire music scene

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

All right, man. I'm not sure who the hell authorized this, but here we go. Yeah. I love it. Looks like the table will turn. Yep, the table's our turn this time. All right. Well, you're the host, man. So what's going on here today? Well, you know, I always thought that uh it would be a good thing to actually know the host of this podcast. And so uh I had asked you a couple questions at the end, and I thought, you know, that's not just not fair enough. We can't have you, you know, five minutes worth. No, no. We gotta have a full You can't let me off easy a f a full interview here. We're we're going for broke on this one. Okay, so let's let's just recap for the people that maybe haven't seen the end of my podcast, and let's go uh a little recap on your first musical or your first uh albums, your first musical selections. So you had said um Alice and Chains and Chriss Cross.

SPEAKER_02 0:53

And crisscross, yeah. Crisscross to make you jump, jump yeah, oh yeah, yeah. That's uh Mac Daddy and Daddy Mac used to wear their pants backwards. Oh yeah. I mean, I don't know how I understand how they went to the bathroom, but yeah, yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 1:07

They went number two, number one, what number what two, what anyway.

SPEAKER_02 1:12

Yeah, let's not go there. Stuff coming out of the wrong holes and everything. Who knows?

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Yes, yep. Okay, so so yeah, so then with that one, the next question I asked was the difference between the musical scene, you know, what was guitar like.

SPEAKER_02 1:27

Uh okay, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

And um he basically had stated that kind of everybody knows everybody.

SPEAKER_02 1:33

It's a very yeah, I mean, everybody's an expat away from home, and everybody who's a musician kind of knows each other, and yeah, it was a pretty small uh community, but a very tight community at the time. Right, right. And as a drummer with my own with my own drums, that was also kind of a rare thing. So I got to play with pretty much everybody in Qatar at that point.

SPEAKER_00 1:51

So that's kind of is it's like the open jams here where everybody is starting to I mean, everybody knows everybody, and I it's kind of neat. It's that jamily. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:03

Yeah, and the jammiversary, it's uh yeah, there's a whole lexicon in our languages come up around at the open jam. Yeah, yeah, created.

SPEAKER_00 2:10

So exactly. Okay, so then going off of that guitar question, let um why don't you tell us about your dickhead? Bam. Richard, Richard Premium.

SPEAKER_02 2:22

Whoa. I got my pants on backwards. Yeah, I'm not gonna let anybody know about my dickhead. Ban, ban. Um, yeah, so um it was a group of us that get that got together uh in Qatar. Um I think it started out. Uh there was a guy that I was actually living with um who was also a contractor, and he and I, I I bought a drum set and got it shipped to me. Greatest drum set I ever I ever owned, because I basically got it for free. Because at the time I put a claim in, like it was a maybe a $1,200 drum set. And I put a claim in with the mailing service because when it came, there was a small crack in the kick drum, which I believe actually happened when it got shipped, but everything sounded exactly perfect. And if I didn't tell anybody there was a crack there, nobody would ever know, right? But they literally refunded me the entire cost of the drum set, cymbals, drum, everything. So I had this really nice Tama kit, probably the best kit in Qatar at the time. Uh, and my roommate was a guitar player, not necessarily a great one. You know, you just kind of fiddled around on the guitar or whatever. So we were jamming, and then I found this other guy named Charles Goodwin, and I invited him to come over and we kind of started this band thing together. I can't even remember what our first band name was, but it was horrible. I mean, I don't remember every step along the way, but I remember that Charles and I really kind of got into it. And Tony and my roommate, or whatever, we went out and played a couple gigs, and we were kind of half-ass, you know what I mean? But we were playing gigs and having a good time. But over time, Tony like left, and we got a new bass player in named Mike Wright. And Mike was a guy who had been like playing in serious bands up until this point. He was a pop punk guy and very serious, great performer. You know, the the reason I really like Shane Twohe's gonna be on a little bit later is because he rhyme reminds me a lot of Mike and his antics on stage. Very big, crazy, jumping around, just full of energy. And Mike really helped, you know. But we at some point we changed our band name to Richard Cranium, which we thought was hilarious, and everybody else thought it was hilarious too. But we were the only band that was playing like 90s alternative rock. A lot of the bands that were in Doha at this point were, you know, a lot of them were UK inspired. So there's a lot of blues and a lot of like older stuff, and you know, 70s, even into the 80s rock, but nobody was really doing like the modern young stuff. Oh, here we are, a bunch of young bucks playing in this band, uh having a good time. And um, yeah, I mean, Mike was really the guy, I think, that kind of just he just put a stamp on our band and he really he made Charles and I level up our stage show to the point that we we were probably not even really the best band in town, but we were definitely the best damn show in town. I mean, we really went freaking nuts. I would, you know, I had I had a couple, I was also known as the hardest hitting drummer in Doha because I still hit my drums probably a little harder than I should. I'm starting to learn a little bit of technique and back off a little bit, but I broke snare drum heads on stage a number of different times, and it just became part of the show. I had one time where I flipped my snare drum over, broke the bottom head as well as I stood up in the middle of the show with my arm through my snare drum and just like a badge of honor, you know. So luckily, somebody else uh it was a battle of the bands that I that I had actually organized, and somebody else had a snare and brought it up, and we were able to make it an extra head just in case. Yeah, exactly. Well, I played a little bit friendlier when I was on somebody else's snare. So yeah, I mean, so we were we were we got a and then we had a uh a guy named Al Byrne, uh a British guy who was actually extremely well connected in the local music scene, and so Al really helped us kind of get into all the different places, and he was our rhythm guitarist, lead guitarist, he was a very, very cool dude. So, anyways, he he got us into all the different venues and we started playing out quite a bit more. And by all the different venues, there's probably six venues total in Doha that you could play at at this time, so it's not like a lot of places to play, but at least we got into the cool spots where we could get paid and have a good time and drink a lot of beer and have the ladies chase us. So, yeah. No, I was in a couple of other bands, uh, you know, on and off. I would I would play with another band from time to time named United Rhythm, but I was never the regular drummer. I mean, they were more like uh I mean they played a lot of like big tunes like Santana and played with them a bit. Then Al, uh, you know, after Richard Cranium broke up, and Richard Cranium broke up, because all of us that are overseas are there like on a contract or a short tour or doing something or whatever. So uh when we decided we didn't want to do Richard Cranium, actually Charles left Qatar, moved to Bahrain, and then Mike, you know, moved on, did different stuff. So we weren't really playing together anymore. But then Al and I uh Al formed a blues band and I played in his blues band for uh several years. Um and then yeah, I jammed with lots of different fun bands. And even now, it until I would say until 2025, I still get calls because of the work that I did over there. Sometimes I get calls to go back over to Qatar, and when I go, I I will sit in with some friends or whatever and and jam over there, which is really nice, you know.

SPEAKER_00 7:20

Yeah, that's that's really cool. Yeah. So okay, so then so now let's go back to the beginning. Then obviously you didn't start playing drums in Qatar. So when did you start playing drums?

SPEAKER_02 7:35

So I in seventh grade, I believe it would be I just found myself, you know, they would have pep rallies and stuff at school, you know, where the band comes out and plays, and I was always drawn to the percussion department, if you will, and watching the dudes out there playing like the quads and stuff like that, and just the rhythm and the beat of it. Uh and I would go back and literally in every classroom, my teachers would tell me to stop freaking doing it because I would not stop tapping on the table. And so in eighth grade, I decided, well, I want to try to join the band. And so I joined band in eighth grade in percussion. So I started out on the tom, which is where everybody starts, you know, uh, and then I move up to snare, and I was never quite good enough to make it all the way up to the quads uh before I quit playing because I was also playing football at the time. And my dad, uh, like many young musicians who also think they want to be sporty, you know, dad said, Look, your grades are suffering, you gotta pick one or the other. And so I thought I was gonna be cool and go play football. Several years later, I don't play football anymore at all, and I used to play drums. And so, yeah, you know, I started a garage band with some friends of mine. I used to have this, you know, one of my biggest influences, honestly, uh, early on was a friend of mine, a Kevin Reeves. So Kevin Reeves' dad was in the Navy service, and he was also a huge musician. He wait, if you walk into, he had a room probably as big as my entire office that was just devoted to like recreation and band and stuff like that, album art all the way around, you know, all the way from the ceiling to the floor. And he listened to like a lot of older stuff that I wasn't really into, but Kevin also was like his house was just like the place that everybody in the neighborhood went. And so you've got all these young wannabe musicians hanging out, listening to music. I mean, that's where we found Pantera, and that's where we found Sepultura, and you know, we're just like we're blasting this shit at full volume because Kevin could do it. You know, his parents were into music, they didn't care about us being loud and rowdy. I mean, we used to put on uh we used to put on boxing gloves and go out in Kevin's backyard to beat the shit out of each other. And it was like parents just like cool, you know. I mean, as long as we're not really hurting each other, we're just having a great time. But there was so much fun that happened kind of in the in that environment, and Kevin's house was always kind of like uh, you know, um center mass for all the fun and and activities that we were doing.

SPEAKER_00 9:55

So this was high schoolish, pre-high school?

SPEAKER_02 9:59

Yeah, this is you know, from from eighth grade. I mean, even before eighth grade, I was I was already hanging out with Kevin. So seventh, eighth grade. Okay, you know, we're we're hanging out, we're playing football in the streets, and then we're going in, we're listening to loud music in his bedroom, and we're jumping around like retards and putting boxing gloves on and going punching each other in the nose. You know, uh, this was pretty much like every every almost every day after school, you know. If my parents would allow me to leave the house, that's where I'm going, going over to Kevin's, at least to start, and then we might go somewhere else and you know, come back to Kevin's havoc somewhere else. Yeah, exactly. Yeah, exactly. But there was always, I mean, there was a drum set there, and it was, you know, this music. It was just like it was a good place just to kind of start getting into stuff. Right. Uh yeah. And then I started a band, it was my my first ever band was called Knucklehead, and that was with me and a and another friend of mine named Sean Pierce. Uh and he and I both actually joined the military at the same time, believe it or not, and hung out together in Germany of all places. So, but yeah, um Sean and I started Knucklehead and with and and another friend of mine, I think Bert Bert Hood, which is why you actually remind me a lot of Bert, which is like when you and I met, you're like on Bert's vibe. So I knew you and I were gonna be friends instantly. Right. Bert Hood, Brett Schmidt, all what single syllable names.

SPEAKER_00 11:15

Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 11:17

Yeah, so that's uh yeah, it was just a it was a good those uh I mean I I look back on I have several periods of my life, like many of us do, but I look on every period. I had such fond things that happened. A lot of times it was the music was very much the center of all of them. Oh, yeah. You know, the Kevin Reese time, the the high school time. I mean, I still talked to all those friends. I visited Kevin last time I was in LA. We hung out. Uh Bert and Kevin, I saw him in in Jacksonville once when we went back for a visit. Yeah, so I mean, still good friends, and then then I joined the military. And so um I did, I I had a like a period there where I wasn't in into any music. I mean, you had a basic training, you're not playing drums, right? You're like trying not to die. You know, you're trying to get through what what what you think is gonna be the scariest thing in the world, but wasn't actually that bad in retrospect. It was like playing army in the backyard. But uh, when you when when you're young and fresh, fresh buck out of high school, you don't know that uh yeah uh how not serious it actually is. But um, I had a band when I was in Germany as well. Uh okay. If it's all right, I'm about to back up. So Knucklehead, the biggest claim to fame in Knucklehead. So we had a eventually it ended up being me, a guy named Billy, another Billy, and uh Sean Pierce, and we played a show at a place called the um it was the Middleburg Convention Center, and we opened for several different bands, but the headliner band was a band called Cards and Spokes, which after that show, shortly after that show, fired the lead singer and hired a guy named Fred Durst and became Limp Biscan. Interesting, yeah. So that's that's one of the coolest, you know, clo almost touching fame stories that I have. Yeah, and we were the horrible opening band, you know, but we we we had a good time, anyways. Everybody's gonna be one of those. You gotta start out there. And then when I when I had my band in Germany, so it was me and my roommate at the time, a guy named Ben Jett, uh, so who I still hang out and talk to, and I got another guy named Terry, uh, who played bass. We actually won a uh like a regional battle of the bands, and we were supposed to go to the User, uh, which is basically the entirety of Europe and go to that level of battle of the bands. But I I had a decision point in my life because I was actually supposed to get out of the military before that happened, and I decided to get out of the military and and go. And that's the very few regrets I have in my life is I feel like I probably should have just stuck with that a little bit longer to see what would happen. And then the same thing with Richard Cranium, you know, the reason that our band broke up is more about a girl that was kind of creating drama in our band, not even any of the band members. And I wish that I had stuck that through and stuck with that band longer because it's still one of the best times that I had in my life. But what's very cool, um, and I'm uh is that Charles and Mike are actually flying here in the middle of this year, and we're gonna have a Richard Cranium reunion tour or whatever, see if we can get into a couple of open jams or you know, play a couple songs here and there, or might book us a full show, who knows?

SPEAKER_00 14:20

Yeah, there's plenty of chances for showcases, as we know.

SPEAKER_02 14:23

Yep. We all know. And now I feel like I know a few people around town, so it feels like it might be a little easier to get in and say, hey, you know, I got this little interesting thing going on. What do you think?

SPEAKER_00 14:32

So can we be an opening band again?

SPEAKER_02 14:35

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 14:37

What what were your earliest influences? I got yeah, I mean, we already know um, you know, like when you were here in like the Pantera and the um Sepultura and stuff like that, but I mean, like, say what what kind of influences other than around your your your core group?

SPEAKER_02 14:59

Well, you know, so I was uh born in South Florida, so my family lived in um West Palm Beach or Lake actually Lake Worth, which is a smaller uh suburb of West Palm area in South Florida. And when we were growing up, my sister's room used to be right next to my room, and my sister was five years older than me, and so she was into different music than I was at the time. But my earliest influences actually were going and taking my sister's uh you know, Walkman, the tape walkman or whatever, and I take her Motley Crue and Ozzy Osborne and Winger, Stryper, I mean all these different kind of 80s hair metal bands, and I would listen to them as I'm laying down to go to sleep at night. And so I really do appreciate a lot of that music, but I don't feel like that's I feel like when I got to my Kevin stage, you know, when I started performing my own friends, that's when I felt like the music was mine and I owned it. Right. Um, so I love all that stuff, but yeah, kind of kind of that was my that was my earliest influence.

SPEAKER_00 15:56

So you go through the band progressions and then you go to guitar, and then now you're back in the states. What's your band experiences?

SPEAKER_02 16:10

So when my wife and I finally moved our family back to civilization, if you will, in in 2013, neither of us really kind of jumped right into music. But we we we thought about it, we wanted to, but you know, we had um we had just lived a life, you know what I mean? We really closed a chapter in our life, and as we kind of landed here, we're really just kind of trying to try to figure out well what's next, you know, what do we want to do next? Um, but then my wife's uh uncle, Uncle Joe, came to stay with us for a while, which was a heaven send for us because my wife I I kept flying back and forth to the Middle East at this time. I was still working a lot overseas, so also difficult to kind of get anything really solid going band-wise. But Uncle Joe just happens to be a bass player and used to be the bass player of my wife's band when we lived in Qatar. So you've got a bass player, a drummer, and a singer now living in the same house. And so it must have been 2015 that I think the three of us are like, you know, we should start a band. And funny enough, our band was called The Hits and the Misses. So that's where this band actually started, the one that we have now, but a much, much different band. Because we, you know, Joe, Joe and I, our idea was essentially to kind of pick um 10 to 15 songs per decade all the way back to like the 50s, like the most popular stuff, and almost be able to play like a like a jukebox, like people could just request whatever they want, and we, you know, we'd have something, you know, out of that genre, if you will, and play it. But it was also our first time trying to dig into playing with tracks. And although I tried it at the time, we were not very good at it. You know what I mean? Because there's no when you're playing with tracks, as you you probably well know, if you go off at all, yeah, the rest of the song's a freaking train wreck, you know what I mean? Or you're trying to find your way back on. So it was very challenging for us to kind of get it to work right. I was also playing an electronic drum kit at that time, which was nice because I still hit very hard. At least we could keep the volume at a at a normal level. But we so we tried that, my wife and I, for a little bit. And we also started an open jam, believe it or not, way back then. And that's how we got to know uh kind of our first circle of musicians in Minnesota, was because we we did an open jam in Albertville at a place called the Villa, which was an old restaurant that used to be there, and we would do it once, I think it was once a month or once every two weeks. And we got a lot of musicians that we still know now that would come and their band would play or they just jam out with us or whatever. And we met a lot of them that way. And so that was kind of our our our first dip uh into the experience. But we always found my wife and I at the time when we were trying to get gigs for our band, it was the same thing that a lot of you know, us musicians have. I mean, you nobody the band bar doesn't know you, they don't really care about you. You know what I mean? They've got so many people that are trying to get on that stage. We had no experience, you know, we didn't have a lot of stuff going for us at the time. So we had a hard time kind of really getting out and getting to know anybody. So it was really, honestly, it was it was the Ziggy's open jam and actually just going around to all the different open jams that I feel like really has opened up our the community. My wife was also in a band called Revved Up, and you have to give Revved Up a lot of credit because that gave her uh it was a popular band that gave her front of stage and so she could show off her stuff, and now people know who she is without even you know associating it with our band yet, right? Kay's in your band, and now people will come watch us because they know she's uh an amazing performer. Yeah, um, yeah. So I mean that's that's kind of the whole line, you know. It's uh that's that's my story, and I'm sticking to that.

SPEAKER_00 19:34

Yeah, no, that's that's really neat. I I like how you know the open jam has kind of been a part of your your life. And then now with these open jams, the ziggies, the shaws, the mad mics, it really it's really such a it's a really neat venue for just a musician to get out there, like one who may not be quite into the band thing, but likes to play, likes to jam. And it's really a neat way to express yourself in that in that.

SPEAKER_02 20:09

Yeah, you know, Mike, Mike Frank was on the show recently, and it was a very it's his his episode's coming out this week. It's a very interesting episode. First of all, very funny dude. But second of all, it just he he just he happened to kind of like fall in the position of starting this thing right as COVID was getting started, and it was the only place that musicians could go. You know what I mean? And so people, I mean, you have to wear the masks, you have to stay apart from each other, but just the fact they could get out there and express themselves, it formed a really tight community around that particular open jam, and it's a really interesting story uh to hear. So I highly recommend watching his episode. Plus, plus he he plays just giant goofball. So this yeah, a lot of jokes in there, too.

SPEAKER_00 20:49

Yeah, yeah, that's for sure. So we know from the intros that um you you want to do these podcasts so you get to know each other because being at these these jams and at concerts, it's kind of hard to get to know each other when especially when you're yelling at each other and back and forth, and and uh and then you're also trying to enjoy the show in the meantime. But so where did this idea just pop into your head to to do this?

SPEAKER_02 21:17

This you know, I am I am a good idea fairy. I come up with good ideas all the time. Half of them I can't afford to do. I mean, I guess it was really just born in exactly that. It was like I know I know that as I'm going to the jams, as I'm going to play shows, and I'm meeting these people, like I can tell that I like some of these people, right? I could tell, like, I think I would get along with this type of person. I think I've even mentioned that to you. Like, man, I th I you know, I feel like we're kindred spirits, we're on the same level, you know what I mean? But you rarely have in a show type environment the opportunity to kind of dig a little bit deeper. That's one side of it. The other side of it kind of goes back to the question you asked me earlier about how like my wife and I kind of got into the scene here and kind. How challenging we felt like in Albertville, we were in a little bit of a silo. You know, we met 15, 20 different musicians, bands, or whatever in that area, and we liked them all. We're still friends with them now, but that was just us. You know, it was really difficult. You're seeing all these other bands that are out there playing and all these bars, all these things going on. And we didn't really know how to break into that. And I feel like the open gym obviously has helped me start that conversation and my idea with the podcast or it inspires just to say, I'd like to go even deeper. I really want to know. Gordy, who came in just before me. I guess I'm on the show today, right? Gordy who came in a little bit earlier today from Rhino. Um, I shot a uh promo video for their band three years ago, maybe. Oh, but I've Gordy I've talked to once when he was on the treadmill at Planet Fitness in Maple Grove, because we both live in Maple Grove. I walked up and said, Hey, I think you're the dude from the band that I'm gonna film this weekend. Yeah. And we we talked for three minutes, right? But now, today, I actually had a 45-minute conversation with Gordy, and I know a heck of a lot more about who that person is as a human being and the things that he's done and his journey. And to me, I've always uh, ever since I was in high school, I've always liked stories and and storytelling. I, you know, with created videos, I'm a creative mindset or whatever. When I was in high school, when I was in college, when I was in the military, I was a broadcast journalist, and so I'm filming stories on soldiers and stuff out in the field. So it's always been part of who I am. And I love the podcast format because I think it's just such a it's such a disarming way. There's three cameras here, right? You forget they're there. It's really just two people having a conversation. Um, and it's so fun, you know what I mean? So that's that's where it came from. And then there's a second piece to it that I that I really like to talk about that I'm serious about starting that I I've only gotten kind of so I want to build a website because again, when my wife and I were in this little silo, and I think it still exists now, right? There's a couple people out there, like Alison Merrow with big glasses, and uh I'm gonna forget the other guy's name, but there's a couple people out there that are specifically trying to list shows that are going on and helping people kind of, but without them, it's so difficult. I mean, you literally have to go search every single bar. Well, okay, let's search the bar or let's search by the band and see where this band might be playing. It's so difficult to kind of get a good feel for what's going on. But then also you hear some different friends of mine might be like the booking person in their band, and everybody's like, I don't really know how, how do I get in touch with this bar? Like, who's the person? How do I what's how difficult is it? You know what I mean? What do you need to have? And so these are all the types of things that I feel like if there was a website, you know, it's like this podcast is gonna go into a website. So profiles of all the different musicians, you know, and maybe Brett tells me on the podcast or tells me because now he knows me, hey, I'm actually looking for a new gig. I'm a bass player. That's also a thing I see on a daily basis. You'll see some band post looking for drummer. Ten minutes later, you're saying a different group, right? So they don't see each other. Yep. Drummer looking for a band, and it's like there's no good place for them to connect and cross because everybody's kind of posting all in different places, and it's so disparate, right?

SPEAKER_00 25:02

Yeah, it it'd be very similar to the digital version of City Pages. City Pages was incredible back in the day. You could look pick it up at any time and see who's playing this weekend. It was all there, all the bars, everything that had the bands. So yeah, no, that's be a very neat thing to see.

SPEAKER_02 25:20

Yeah, I mean, I don't I don't know if I personally would get as far in to be able to list like who's playing where, but I think what Allison is doing, and gosh, I gotta remember the guy's name. They're doing it already, so why couldn't I work with them and they post their things on the website? So it's already there, and more people have a resource. But if I definitely like the musician looking for a band or band looking for a musician, I think this website could be huge, you know, just to say hey, and you can actually go look through the profile of the person and you can see your podcast and you can see who the human being is behind, you know, the the bass playing, what your experience is like, and that sort of thing, you know.

SPEAKER_00 25:55

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_02 25:56

You can see their vibe I mean their vibe. Vibe is such a huge thing, right? When you're when you're in a band, you're marrying four or five other people, right? And if you really want it to work, there's got to be a good gel there. So getting to kind of getting a good feel for who the human is behind it is probably a good place to start, you know.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

For sure. I think that would be very beneficial to the community as as a whole, for sure. So that that was kind of part of my next question was where are you going from here? And obviously, I think you maybe just answer that. Or or is there well there's more any other there's more.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

Okay, good. So um good. I was talking to uh Casey Beach. You know, Aaron Cole, Casey Beach, or power couple in in town, right? Casey's an amazing singer, Aaron's an amazing drummer, both great humans. So Casey's gonna come on the show at some point. I've been trying to get her on for a little bit, and then just with the with the two of us were talking, I had this another creative epiphany like we should do power couple show. So I'm actually gonna start like a season two soon, and or like a side thing where I'm gonna get two, three different couples in. So, like, let's say me and my wife, and Casey and Aaron, and you know, Beth and Steve or something like that, and we're gonna play games and then just have a good time, you know what I mean, or whatever, but do it live. And then I'm also thinking about having like maybe the ability to call in, uh, you know what I mean? And have it like if somebody like have like a little QA session, a little bit of game session or whatever, but then like a call-in session. So if people we want to actually produce it live, and if people want to call in and be a part of what's going on when it's happening, cool. I think that could be neat. So we'll see where it goes. I mean, that's my idea, but uh, like I said, I'm a I'm I've got a million ideas, but how practical they are and how well I'm able to put them together. Yeah, I'm I'm sure if I throw my energy behind it, it'll be great.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

So yeah, where I'd almost uh like to see it go as well would be sort of a uh an introduction to their um because I'm kind of uh like a like a gear nut. Okay. So I like I like to hear you know what other people are doing and and how are they getting certain sounds and and and what are they doing with their their instruments, you know, and you know, obviously I'm more towards the guitar bass side, you know, but I mean it would be neat for the crowd to hear, you know, like uh Kevin Sunberg's was quite interesting to hear the stuff that he was doing with his drums, you know. Yeah. And and it would almost be neat. I mean, granted, this is a podcast, it's uh environment in itself, but it would be neat to go, you know. Take the show on the road. Yeah, take the show on the road and and and actually go, you know, meet up with Kevin and have him show you all the stuff, you know. That's kind of a thing. That'd be cool. Um it'd be quite interesting. Like I noticed uh like Shad had been selling some instruments and whatnots, and and um so from the sound of it, he's got some pretty uh interesting gear and it would be really neat to see.

SPEAKER_02 28:58

There's definitely a gear nut he he and I have only had a chance to like really really talk and in detail a couple times, but yeah, it always turns into guitars and you know, some of the things he's doing. He's he just loves his gear. Yeah, so yep. I think I've I think I've got him coming in next week as well.

SPEAKER_00 29:14

Okay. Yeah. So yeah, but I like that.

SPEAKER_02 29:16

Okay, great idea.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Yeah, it's uh you know, it's it's amazing, you know. The more I think about this with this Minnesota music note. It's not you didn't pigeonhole it to something, you know, it's the music note, you know.

SPEAKER_02 29:29

Yep, and that's exactly what I wanted. I like because I want it to be wide. I want to, I mean, I want to talk to venues, I want to talk to booking agents, I want to talk to people that are putting big shows in town together. I want to talk to people like Alison Merrill who's coming in next week, and because she she's you know, I don't even know if she's in a band yet, but she goes to all these things and helps cover them and takes f photos. And I mean, anybody who really makes up the shape of this community should be on the show. And yeah, and then we've got a lot of little spin-offs now that you're throwing my way at the gear show.

SPEAKER_00 29:59

Yeah. I guess the you know, the only other question besides the the always asked last question. So before that, so what's next for Will and your family?

SPEAKER_02 30:13

You know, family is everything. It's uh it's it's why I build the things that I build and you know and try to make the money that I make is because I want my uh my whole family to have the opportunities that they deserve. You know, I've got two younger kids and one uh son who just turned 15 and is probably gonna want to learn how to drive soon. Oh yeah. Uh roads. And then uh another uh 12-year-old is gonna be turning 13 this year, so they're kind of twenty they're they're both officially teenagers now, so uh going through all that, and that's that's a lot of fun. Oh yeah. Um, you know, so we're we're definitely gonna stick in Minnesota, if you will, for a while because we want to give them that stability. And we also love Minnesota, so I think my wife and I, um, if we didn't have uh anything else kind of grounding us, we'd be moving internationally again. And that's just because we we we love that experience. Uh both of us kind of have our eye on Spain as a potential place to move. Um, but I've got an my oldest daughter and uh and her boyfriend are now living in Bali. You know, they're kind of living the lifestyle that you know we we my wife and I still think we're 22. Yeah, we're not anymore. Right.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

We're all 22.

SPEAKER_02 31:27

We're all 22 in our brain, so I know my my antics sometimes, but yeah.

SPEAKER_00 31:32

Forever 28. I we had a a neighbor and she had a forever twenty-eight party. I don't know, it was when she turned, I don't even know, 35 or something. Anyway. So I like it. It's always fun. So okay. So then that leads me to the last question. Who would you want um as as the next interview? I almost feel like that's cheating, you know what I mean? Because I'm already inviting everyone. Because you're the one on this show. Because you get to invite them anyway.

SPEAKER_02 32:03

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

That's how I got invited.

SPEAKER_02 32:05

So I mean, I I definitely like my wife to be on the show. Such a just such a tremendous singer and such an amazing front person. I mean, she just commands respect when she's up on the front of the stage. This tiny little powerhouse comes out with with something that if you don't know her, you would not expect it to come out of her. And I just really love that about her. And, you know, she has a couple times in her life, and we're not none of us are defined by one facet of herselves, right? Uh, and she has many times tried to kind of reinvent or think about she's gonna go in a different direction with her life, but I have always encouraged her to kind of come back to music, and it's not because I don't want her to be everything else she wants to be. Um, but I think she's got such a talent that she, you know, that the world, the world needs to hear. Yeah, they definitely and I and I I hope that, you know. Um Beth uh Megabeth was on here not long ago, and I just absolutely loved uh this about her interview. She said, Look, my voice is my instrument, and my instrument uh ages as I age, and it becomes, you know, it can become more challenging as you get older to save your voice and take care of it or whatever. So she's she wants to do everything she can right now to be as prevalent. That's why she's in so many bands, that's why she's so active. She's out there because she's got an amazing, powerful voice, and she just wants to use it as long as she possibly can. So I'd like my wife to kind of be in that same mindset, but I'm not my wife, so I can't force her to do it. But I will always encourage her. So I would love to have her on, and then who else?

SPEAKER_00 33:36

Yeah, yeah. I want to say that you're gonna come up with somebody else because I'm sure you've already asked her to be on here. My wife?

SPEAKER_02 33:44

Yeah, no, I haven't actually. Oh, really? I haven't. No, because I yeah, because I know her. And one, I don't think I would be her interviewer because we we live together, we're in a band together, we spend enough time together that it probably wouldn't be the best interview, right? I think somebody else should interview my wife. Maybe Sarah Kreira would Sarah Kreider could interview my wife. That would be a good one and a fun one. I don't know, man, because I honestly I want every single person in Minnesota who touches music in any way, and this is my real answer. There we go. I want every single one of them to be on here, and they will be at some point in time. So, one thing I will say, if somebody actually takes the time to watch this interview, is that if I have not contacted you directly, it's not because I don't want to, it's just because I'm going through one person at a time. And if you're ready and you want to be on the show, reach out. I'm literally serious. If you're related in any way to the Minnesota music scene, I want to hear from you. I want to hear your story.

SPEAKER_00 34:38

That is the perfect answer. I'd love to hear that because it's hard. Like uh when I knew on my interview that I was going to be having to, you know, nominate somebody. And it's like, okay, you know, I didn't want anybody to be mad that I didn't nominate them. Well, I don't think anybody's nominated you, so that's why I went for you. And so and here we are today. But uh no, that's really neat. I like I like that. You open it up to anybody and everybody. Yeah, that's a really that's a great answer.

SPEAKER_02 35:10

Cool. Well, that's that's what we want to do, man. Let's get this thing rolling. I love your ideas. Anybody else out there got new ideas and where we should take the podcast or what we should do? Please just let me know. Um, obviously, we can't do all of it all at the same time because the limited resources and time will uh I mean, I love I love ideas. I really just want to keep it. Entertain any idea. I'm humble, I'm humbled right now because we have we have about 538 uh followers. And I, you know, and many things that I've tried to do, and when you start a business, I've I've done a lot of social media stuff, right? Try to grow things, our band, whatever. It's hard to get people to kind of follow. And like this actually has grown pretty organically. About every day, about three new people click on and like it, and they're three people that I don't even know. So it's really nice. So I think, I mean, obviously, I'm I'm dipping into your friends and I'm dipping into the other people's friends of the show, but if if you're liking it and everybody who's on here is liking it and watching it episodes, more and more people are starting to watch it and it's growing on its own, which I'm really humbled by. Uh, and hopefully I think we're doing a good thing here.

SPEAKER_00 36:13

So yeah, I definitely believe in it.

SPEAKER_02 36:15

Cool, man. Well, thanks for being on your show.

SPEAKER_01 36:20

Hey there, Minnesota Music Family. If I haven't personally reached out to you yet, consider this your 100% official invitation to join me on the Minnesota Music Note. I'm Will McLeod, co-founder of the podcast crew here in beautiful Robinsdale, host of the show, and the guy behind the kit for the band Hits in the Mistes. I started this podcast because I want to get to know the people who make our scheme tick. Whether you're fronting a band, spinning hip hop, running sound, booking shows, running shows, or teaching the next generation of talent, your story belongs here. We've had everyone from videographers to festival organizers on the mic, and we're just getting started. It doesn't matter if you're playing arenas or just making magic in your basement. If you're part of the Minnesota music community, I want to chat. Slide into my DMs or hit the email below and let's hang out and talk about it.