Ever found yourself awestruck by the balancing act between embracing your awesomeness and staying grounded? That's the tightrope my guest Pauly Z from ZO2 and I tread, as he sheds light on recognizing our individual greatness without casting a shadow on those around us. In a heart-to-heart that's as much about laughter as it is about profound truths, we navigate the nuances of self-promotion, music, and the legacies we craft. Join us for tales of lost music collections and the emotional journeys that shift one's quest from fame to fulfillment, exploring how life's pivotal moments—parenthood, loss—reshape our definitions of success.
When the conversation shifts to ZO2's latest album, "Begin Again," it's like flipping through a family photo album with a rock soundtrack. Pauly and I take a moment to appreciate the tangible joys of a two-disc set in an era where digital often trumps the physical. But it's more than just nostalgia; it's about the connection between a father and his children, an artist and their audience. The chat is peppered with candid insights into the band's creative hiatus, the thrill of a glossy 16-page booklet in your hands, and the significance of supporting musicians—a sentiment that's especially poignant with ZO2's commitment to quality and heartfelt performances.
Wrapping up, there's a sense of coming full circle as Pauly unpacks his evolution from children's entertainer to rock virtuoso, revealing the transformative power of authenticity. We tip our hats to guitar heroes, debate Rolling Stone's list of greats, and celebrate the emotional resonance of music. There's a certain magic in discussing how one's unique qualities can amplify their artistry, and it's this spirit that echoes throughout our chat. As for ZO2's future? There's a palpable excitement for live shows and the potential of vinyl—a reminder that the passion for creating and sharing music is truly timeless. #tellyourstory #familymatters #spotify #zo2 #pauliez #joeycassata #davidz #seanmcnabb #thebenmaynardprogram #hardrock #zrock #davidzfoundation
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com
Ever found yourself awestruck by the balancing act between embracing your awesomeness and staying grounded? That's the tightrope my guest Pauly Z from ZO2 and I tread, as he sheds light on recognizing our individual greatness without casting a shadow on those around us. In a heart-to-heart that's as much about laughter as it is about profound truths, we navigate the nuances of self-promotion, music, and the legacies we craft. Join us for tales of lost music collections and the emotional journeys that shift one's quest from fame to fulfillment, exploring how life's pivotal moments—parenthood, loss—reshape our definitions of success.
When the conversation shifts to ZO2's latest album, "Begin Again," it's like flipping through a family photo album with a rock soundtrack. Pauly and I take a moment to appreciate the tangible joys of a two-disc set in an era where digital often trumps the physical. But it's more than just nostalgia; it's about the connection between a father and his children, an artist and their audience. The chat is peppered with candid insights into the band's creative hiatus, the thrill of a glossy 16-page booklet in your hands, and the significance of supporting musicians—a sentiment that's especially poignant with ZO2's commitment to quality and heartfelt performances.
Wrapping up, there's a sense of coming full circle as Pauly unpacks his evolution from children's entertainer to rock virtuoso, revealing the transformative power of authenticity. We tip our hats to guitar heroes, debate Rolling Stone's list of greats, and celebrate the emotional resonance of music. There's a certain magic in discussing how one's unique qualities can amplify their artistry, and it's this spirit that echoes throughout our chat. As for ZO2's future? There's a palpable excitement for live shows and the potential of vinyl—a reminder that the passion for creating and sharing music is truly timeless. #tellyourstory #familymatters #spotify #zo2 #pauliez #joeycassata #davidz #seanmcnabb #thebenmaynardprogram #hardrock #zrock #davidzfoundation
Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com
Hey everyone, welcome into the Ben Maynard program. As you can see, we have a guest today and I'm laughing just because of our conversation a couple minutes ago. So look, before we get started, a little housekeeping to take care of. The program, as you know, is available on multiple podcast outlets like Apple Podcasts, amazon Music and Spotify, or you can simply just search the Ben Maynard program. You have several options to choose from.
Speaker 1:I like to steer everybody towards Buzzsprout, you know, because that's where my, that's where my website is. Or if you, out there, can't resist all of this right here and you're watching on YouTube, then ask if you would please subscribe to the channel, give me a thumbs up and leave a comment. Comments are great. You know I like comments. Last but not least, follow me on Instagram, simply Ben Maynard program. So plenty of ways to take in this show for your dancing and listening pleasure. And with that, normally I'll recap the previous episode, and the last one was Uriah Heap can't keep a good band down, but out of respect for my guest time, we'll take care of that at a later on a later show. So, as you can see, right next to me on the screen, it is absolutely a pleasure. A pleasure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you like that how do you like that?
Speaker 2:Oh, when we see stock prices.
Speaker 1:Oh, something happens. Pauly Z from the lesson. I don't. I don't take this lightly, but great with a G, a capital G. The great Z02 is with me today and, Pauly, it is an absolute pleasure. I thank you so much for taking some time out of your day.
Speaker 2:Thank you, good to be here. I you know, as we talked before yeah we've even started. I love to talk. I love to talk about myself which may or may not be a good trait, I don't know but the things I do. I'm just so passionate about what I do and my life and all these things, so I like sharing it and I like inspiring other people and talking about it and so, yeah, so I'm happy to be here.
Speaker 1:Well, we're kind of a lot alike. Obviously, we're both sitting in front of microphones and in front of cameras, so we kind of we kind of like a little bit of ourselves right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and again, I don't think there's anything wrong with, I think, you know, not to already dive into a subject, but, like, because I work with kids, you know I have to be very, very mindful of the influence that I have on them, right? What is the message? What are they getting from me when they see me work and when I work with them? And a big thing for me is, I think there is a difference between loving yourself and having confidence. And, you know, like, acknowledging your own awesomeness, like I'm the first person, that's like I am awesome, that's a fact, you know, whether you agree or not, it's irrelevant, I'm awesome, it's you know. Now you can say, oh well, he's an egomaniac, oh, he's nice to say, but, and I feel like, no, to me, the difference is when you love yourself and you believe in your own awesomeness, but you also believe that you're not the only awesome person in the room. That's the difference, when you realize everyone else is awesome too and you're a part of an ecosystem of people where, so, now, it's not all about you. That's the difference. So, and I feel like it's okay to be on the microphone and in the camera and be like, yeah, it's the Ben Maynard, I mean the Ben Maynard program. You've got your own. You've got your name on your shirt.
Speaker 1:I do notice that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, of course I noticed that shirt, the wall, you know am I noticing I'm already thinking like, oh, I should get one like that one Monday, but no, you know. So I think there's a difference between that and then sharing that and inspiring others to find their own awesomeness. Yeah, we're awesome to get like you and as far as I'm concerned, you're. You're equally as awesome in your in a different way. I think, when it gets into the sort of ego kind of narcissistic realm is when people and we've, we all know these people, I'm sure you've even interviewed some of them, I've worked with them where they're like I'm awesome, but you're not, or I'm more awesome than you, or don't look me in the eye, or I'm a rock star, or I'm a sports star, or I'm rich and I'm whatever it is. And then there's now, there's a hierarchy, and that to me is the clear difference between you know the two approaches to that mentality.
Speaker 1:It's okay to have to have a sense of pride and take pride in the things that you do and to have that sense of awesomeness about yourself, but where I think it's it really shows what a person's made of, is their level of humility behind all of that.
Speaker 2:Right, right, and that that's another big thing too. Like you have to be able to also take moral inventory to know of. Like you know, with all these strengths, you have weaknesses too. You know what I mean and you're not the best at anything and you're not the worst at anything. You know that and that humility and that humbleness is a big part of it. But being I don't like.
Speaker 2:When people say like you know I feel like when they say humble, you almost have to hide your pride and awesome. You know, like you have to. You know you really. Oh, you know, no, I'm okay, I'm not that great, I don't like. Why can't you kind of be both? I don't know, I try to be like, I try to be humble and know I can be the butt of my own joke and I can say like, oh, I look, I look terrible today, or look at that. You know that song sucks or whatever it is One of your joke, but still be like. Yeah, but I'm still awesome, like I just I don't know, I don't feel like you have to be one or the other. Does that make sense?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I mean, I don't know about you, but for me, you know, I'm probably, you know, in my, in my family or in my circle I'm probably the loudest, I'm probably the I don't want to say flamboyant, but you know, I extroverted, definitely extroverted, yes.
Speaker 1:But I am too, and I don't. I am perfectly comfortable shining the spotlight on myself and I'm okay with that, but it's it's generally when someone else is doing the same, when they're in control of that spotlight, that's when I get really uncomfortable. And maybe it's because I don't have control of that spotlight. I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:Maybe. Yeah, I mean, I've had in my business, in my career choice. I've had to. You know you kind of have to. We talked about Richie Blackmore before the program started, like an example of someone who, or even Kurt Cobain, like there's a lot of people that don't handle that well and like I feel like in this business, if you're going to be an athlete or an actor or a musician or whatever and you want to be successful at it, you have to learn, I think, how to deal with that spotlight that you can't control the paparazzi, the fans or whatever. You have to. It's part of the gig. Like, if you don't know how to control that or at least manage it internally, I don't know if it's the right career path.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean, cause it just comes with the territory.
Speaker 2:You have to know, but again, don't let it get to your head. The problem is that spotlight. You have to know that the spotlight is on you for what you've done as an artist. You know it's like, yes, because of my, my albums or my TV show, my voice or whatever, but it doesn't spotlight me as a human in the sense that I'm like you know, like these people are like deities or like any better than you know, than the garbage truck driver or the janitor at the school or my kid's school. Like, absolutely, we all bleed the same, we all go to the bathroom the same, we all have to go to the doctor when we have you know what I mean that sense of like, staying connected to humanity. It to me is the difference between the people that I've met that are successful, that are awesome, people that I love them, and the ones that are like, oh, I idolized you but I would never want to hang out with you. You're just a psycho.
Speaker 1:Is that my sense?
Speaker 2:I'm a head full of those.
Speaker 1:I always. I always told my kids it doesn't matter what career path you choose in life. I'm proud to say that they both chose law enforcement. But but it doesn't matter what you do. You could be, you could pick up dog crap for people in the neighborhood as as a as a career, and as long as it earns you the money that you need to live the life that you choose to live, then that's your career and do it the best that you possibly can be the best at it.
Speaker 2:I literally just said that to what I just right before you. I told you I had a session right with a school in Brooklyn, the foundation, and we can talk about that later, but I literally just told them that we were talking about that, about how we did this private gig. My Queen Drippy band did this private gig the other day and you know they spent all this money and it was this big big thing and only like 13 people came because it was private, it wasn't meant for the public, it was just through this money yet and they didn't care that we're just like, oh look, we have this and and and we gave those 13 people the best show they've ever seen in the. They went crazy and I'm like you don't know who's in that crowd, you don't know. It's a mentality, it's like everything you do. I always say if I was, if I was, cleaning toilets for a living, like those would be the cleanest toilets you've ever seen in your life.
Speaker 1:I would be drinking water out of your toilet Dude.
Speaker 2:I'd have a YouTube page, like you know, jetterman, you know like, yeah, because it's that mentality is the mentality that attracts success and brings, I feel, opportunities to you in life. You know what I mean. It's that mentality.
Speaker 1:You know, joe DiMaggio, going back to New York, joe DiMaggio used to and I'll just be paraphrasing, of course, but you know he was asked one time why it was that that he played ball the way he played. I mean, it was always, you know, all out. It was 110% every day. And he said, because I don't know who's out there watching, they could be seeing me for the first time, or they could be seeing me for the 100th time, I don't know who's out there, but I'm doing it for them. I want them to see me at my best.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah, I love that from Kiss too is for Kiss is my. You know my idols growing up and we're going to talk about that too. Yeah, and you know, and one of the things, one of the many things I got from them was, was that mentality. They always said every show you do could be someone's first show.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:You know. So you have to think about that. One person who's like this is how much they paid for that ticket, how much? And zero two and you saw it. So that's one thing I'm very proud of too is like every anyone's ever seen zero two. It doesn't matter if we sold 10 million records or not, it doesn't matter if we've toured the word. You know, play masses we're going to. To me that's irrelevant. That's more of a statistic that I used to try to achieve Right. As I've gotten older, I've learned to appreciate what we've given to people, more so than what we've achieved statistically, if that makes sense. And then we could play the crappiest bar with a few people in there, and again we played it like it was sold out, mass and square garden, and that those people, the bartenders, I remember. We just be like that was awesome.
Speaker 2:You know and for you know. Or the guy cleaning the tables, and, and and it was that mentality that I got from kiss was that you always give it your all, because all that matters is that one person who's watching, who's now. This is their experience and you do it for them, you know, and in turn, I believe, I truly believe that in turn, by giving your all and getting that, it comes back to you again. It brings Internal joy that you've done that. There's a pride to knowing that I just kicked ass in the worst situation. I gave it my best.
Speaker 1:I, you know that you gave everything you had. It didn't matter if you were feeling your best that night or not, but you gave everything. You gave a hundred percent of whatever it was you had that night. Yes, and some days you're not a hundred percent.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's the truth too. There are some days I mean, what if you had a fight with you? Why? What if you're sick? What if you know what? I mean? There's a million things that can happen to us as human beings, right where we have to say, okay, I'm not my best, but that doesn't mean you still can't give it your best for that. So if your best was 75 percent that day, give it 75 percent. Know that you just went all in the best you could. Then you'll never have a regret because you'll you always be like well, look, I did the best I could, you know.
Speaker 2:It's never gonna pan out exactly the way you want to. You know, zio, I mean look, zio, to the good example, just to segue, cuz I know we, you know, you know I'm just I'm looking at the albums on the wall and it's interesting how I see the first two by you missing one, by the way, you collection.
Speaker 1:Okay, I wanted to display them because I knew you would see it and I was hoping you would bust my balls on not having four of them up there and, and there's a very good reason I don't know if you I think it was last week I did an episode right after I got this thing in the mail.
Speaker 2:How cool is that package oh gosh the packaging on this.
Speaker 1:How killer was that.
Speaker 2:That's all Kivill records, but we'll talk about that. Yeah, yeah, yes, no I don't want the one of your shows.
Speaker 1:take forever I should have walked out five hours of my day, bird walks here and there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm like, why see we get a babysitter?
Speaker 1:right, right. So I did so. I did a show talking about the, the new album, and, and I realized, when I was preparing for it, I went to my my, I went to my CDs and I grabbed them off the shelf and I'm like, wait a minute, where is ain't it beautiful? And I thought, oh gosh, I had a. I had a. My truck was stolen, like a couple years ago Great, right out of my driveway, but I Think I had it in the console there because I'm I like I'm a CD guy and I had a CD player in in my truck.
Speaker 2:So I Think that's what happened to it. You're gonna have to just buy another one.
Speaker 1:I'm gonna have to buy one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that'll put another half a penny in both Joey and I's pocket.
Speaker 1:Oh gosh. Okay, well, maybe I'll buy two and you can both get a full penny.
Speaker 2:No, but I was gonna say about zero. Two is a good example of like. You know, when David and I and for those that don't know, like David was my brother, who you know who was killed in 2017, against it out, but he and I, joey, are zero to right, and you know, when we were kids growing up, all we ever wanted to is to be famous, to be rock stars, and that was really the goal. It wasn't great, great art necessary not to say that we didn't want to, but it was more about being rock stars. For some reason, we just wanted to be famous and rock stars, and so it came more about the statistics.
Speaker 2:It was about you know how how many numbers and how big, and blah, blah, blah, but as we wrote the songs, as we created the CDs, as we played the shows, I feel like we realized, though, the value and importance of the work is more Important, because when you leave this earth I mean who? No one's really gonna remember your bank account. No one's gonna care. They're gonna care about the work and the love you put out there, and I think you see that. I feel like you can see that on the records and our shows, the pride we have in our own work, regardless of how successful or not successful was. I mean, it's pretty successful, but it's not like where we envision right being like the next kiss or the next, you know, zephyr, whatever, sure, sure, but but who cares, you know? I mean the work speaks for itself. And then I've learned over the years To find that Piece of mine in that that I would like. Yeah, but this I'm proud of, you know, I mean, and that's all you really need as you should be.
Speaker 1:Look, this is, whether you release another album in your career, whether you do another television show or not, what you have now, the body of work that you've done, the stuff that you do Teaching kids and I want to get into that as well the stuff you do for the David Z Vow foundation, all those things, if you do nothing else, this is your legacy. This is your legacy. This is what you're leaving behind when your time is no longer you know right and.
Speaker 2:You know and I think about, as you said, you have kids, your father, but you know, I'm a father now. I have a four-year-old and a three-month-old baby and now oh, and that changes everything. And then you start thinking then it's not about you anymore, it's not about your legacy as much as it is about.
Speaker 2:Well, what do I want my kids to think about when someone asks about their dad? What do I want them to say? What? How do I want them to feel that sense of pride? I don't care. I don't need them to say oh yeah, my dad sold 10 million records. Oh, my dad was on to. No, you know, I want to be like oh, my dad was there for me. Oh, my dad made people happy. That you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely Okay. Look, I haven't even touched my notes here.
Speaker 2:I'm gonna shut up cuz I just I literally sabotage, I hijacked this no oh, and even knows who I am. See, oh, to my brother. What is this? What are they talking about? But I'll let you do your show.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, no. This is see, this is great. And and for the audience out there Excuse me, polly and I we you know, when I brought him, when I brought him into the to the studio here before we hit record, you know he says we're we just, we're just talking back and forth, kind of like we have been for the last, I don't know, it's 17 minutes. And he says why aren't we recording this? I agree, this is actually probably better than anything we're gonna talk about, except the new music, and that's where I'll start.
Speaker 1:Okay let's start with that, and you know what? I'm just gonna take it off. Let's start here. This is yeah, this is something else. It really really is. This is Everybody. This is Z02's new album. Let me get my face in there too. Begin again. It's a two CD set. The first CD has one new track on it right, begin again, and then it's basically a greatest hits.
Speaker 1:Yeah and the second CD has the Z rock theme. Like that, I love that show, that was such a great show. And Then it's got some previously unreleased material, or I shouldn't say let me back up. It's got, I think, four or five tracks that well, you release of the streaming services, right?
Speaker 2:Yeah, like we have those Songs that were released as singles but never actually physical, which a lot of you know. Anyone is buying a CD, someone who you know values the, the physical, you know right here, right, so you so, like me, I would be the same way. You know, to not have those songs physically was kind of a bummer, right, you can only stream it. So we're like let's put those songs on there. Then there are a couple unreleased ones and then another one. That's basically. Again, quasi knew we did perform it at the end of before we decided we did perform. It's called live today.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, we released it, so it is an unreleased, and then the live track, so it basically. This too is like the goodies, you know, all the kind of fun stuff, right right, right.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll tell you, I was Got my. It was great. We talked about the packaging. This is the. This is the plastic envelope. It came in, people, and then this is the bubble wrap that the CD was in. So I had to do the same. I had to make you feel good, paulie, and everything's purple. It's alright, cuz purple is my favorite color Was easy, but that's a tribute to.
Speaker 2:I want to give a shout out to Kivel records Because, yeah, because there he's the guy, john. You know it's a boutique label but they've been out there for 25 years and you know, and we have history. We go back from the beginning of zeal too, so there's some history there. But you know, he really went all out. He's like, and we're like that, and the fact that our other CDs if that's because you know you have them, you know that stickers and a playing car, they had all these fun stuff right, yeah, and he just he got it. He's like here's what I'm gonna do, yeah.
Speaker 2:No, you broke, you got to buy another one.
Speaker 2:Okay, and you know the penny in my pocket, yeah, all right, no problem. The the fact that he went all out, he's like 16 page booklet. He even sprung for like the nicer paper. Yeah, I mean like, and you know the packaging, everything about he just we, he just went a lot and I a big shout out and a thank you to Kivel for really just, in a way, keeping this type of music and patch it packaging alive, because there's no one else who would have done that. You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's it well that that last, that last page, nice little, nice little tribute to David. That's yeah, that's great and and, but yes, for for the audience out there, the packaging on this, and you just said it, this is quality stuff. You said the higher quality paper. I mean it's so glossy and it's so full of color.
Speaker 1:Yeah it's, it's absolutely tremendous, and I left it. I left it pinned up on my bulletin board over here in the studio but but I didn't bring it to the table. I got my little ZO to button to. I told my wife Catherine when, when it came in the mail, I said, oh, I wish I had a denim jacket.
Speaker 2:I had a CD player. I can't even quite my own CD. Listen at look my dad's car, because he still has one. I'm like that. Can we listen to my?
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely so. Okay, out of all transparency, I've heard obviously I heard the singles, the, because they were. They were put out in 2010, 2011, so I've heard those singles and those are really. Those are really good. It's just, it's zero two. Okay, it's great stuff, but I haven't had a chance and I told my wife. I said I need to listen to the second disc before Polly comes on. I said I want to know what this stuff. I'd love to hear the cover of all hell's break and loose. Okay, I want to hear that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that was on the Eric Carr tribute CD, which right so.
Speaker 2:The live track with Sean singing is killer man, like he's got what a great voice and such a cool Groove. You know, we did that just to kind of showcase him, you know, like because that's the new chapter and you know, look it, lets be honest, he's filling some pretty big shoes and he knows that I think so, oh, huge, and and just he's just doing such a great job Of it and with such grace, you know, yeah, but sudden, what a talented guy and cool as hell. So we wanted to do, we wanted to put something on that that kind of like, you know, introduced people to his talent, to, you know, in addition to the new song. But it's like, oh, hey, he sings and he's badass.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he plays a, he plays a great bass. But but yes, if, if you are a fan of ZO, to. Yeah, david, shoes are big ones to fill, that's for sure, and you know. I'm sure that he has to Maybe not so much now, but I'm sure at the beginning had to feel a certain amount of pressure.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but I mean, but again, but he's such a, he's such a kind soul and like a really again one of these people that I feel very grateful and very graceful. So he knew from the beginning he was just like hey, like I'm gonna do do a justice. I like he had the pressure but he didn't feel overwhelmed by. I could tell that he stepped in again with confidence. That's the thing I like about. I was like you know, there's Joey and I, as you can tell for a watching the show, all three of us, which is oozing with self confidence. Oh no, just basically trying to see who was more awesome.
Speaker 1:That's friends do and she'll have that element.
Speaker 2:Sean is just like he's just, he's just a rock star, but he's, but very, very, again very Humble. So I saw that, I felt it and I knew that the pressure was there but it wasn't overpowering him. But he understood and all the fans have been, I mean everyone's like oh dude, that guy's Great like nothing but thumbs up. You know nothing but thumbs up. Which is you know?
Speaker 1:That's what you hope for well, you can all.
Speaker 2:For when you replace not only replace a member of a band, you know it's one thing. When AC DC replaced bond Scott is one thing. When you know when people do that when. But when you replace your blood, your family, you know there's a different. People don't understand the level of that. You know psychologically what that is.
Speaker 2:And see someone who's not your. You know your blood, so you know, yeah, I never thought we would do it. I honestly never, ever thought this would happen. And here we are. So it's just for me how life works.
Speaker 1:So we're going. I don't have any, I don't have my notes in any particular.
Speaker 2:I'll just throw your notes out.
Speaker 1:Just throw them out. But but you know, we're talking about David, we're talking about Sean, and that leads into the hiatus that the band took. You know, yeah, can't. Can you talk about that? Why the decision to take a hiatus? All me.
Speaker 2:I mean, I take ownership of it. I, you know, I, I, we, you know, we had a tough year in 2010 in general, when, when the TV show didn't get picked up for the third season and I had just got married right. I was with my ex-wife. We were together for eight and a half years but we had just got married right. So I was married about a year and on my honeymoon I get back from the honeymoon and the first email I literally the first email that I looked because I turned my phone off we get back and then they told me that they didn't. We didn't get picked off for season three. So I get back from a big, expensive honeymoon in Hawaii, whatever, and I'm unemployed. Oh, they knew it, but they were. They waited to tell me because they didn't want to ruin the honeymoon, but they knew the band everyone knew which was kind of you know we're, and so they, like we didn't want to tell you Whatever.
Speaker 2:So the sea, the show didn't get picked up, the label we were on went bankrupt. You know, I mean my brother and I basically funded that third record casino logic and put oh, I mean just Charged all our cards to the max every all our savings but about and you know that, if you remember what the country was going through at that time Trying to be putting out of you know music and I mean venues were closing was a recession, it was the bubble burst of not great financial times.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you're right.
Speaker 2:So we really got hit hard. It didn't, you know, without the show, without a label, we pushed the most we could and then, on top of all that you know, and then we we had a fallout with our management, who we were like family to us for ten years. We had a big fallout and then my wife and my, my marriage, fell apart. I got divorced this is a one-year dude one year from from my beautiful, amazing honeymoon.
Speaker 2:A year later, my whole world your whole world just came apart and every single angle you can imagine, right, okay, so for me, I was in a bad place and they and I wanted to Push the band in a more commercial and serious songwriter direction, you know, because I wanted to see what what else we were made of and personally, more myself even as a singer so right and get kind of see what else I could do.
Speaker 2:And I think they wanted, they didn't want to go that way and they wanted to stay more, if anything, go more the comedic route. You know, we even had, I think, an opportunity to do another online show as a, and I said no, which they were not happy about. We had an opportunity to like pick up and they were like, oh, we could do a Z rock online with yeah, and I was like, and I didn't want, I needed something, I needed a break, I needed a fresh start. And I just like, yeah, so I and I moved to LA. So it was me, I, I said look, but I didn't want to break up the band, which is why I worded it as hiatus.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's Cleverly worried because we it wasn't like we were breaking up, it's just I needed a break for a while. And try to see, that's when I did my EP. I don't know if you've ever even heard it, but my EP is, like you know, it's totally different. It's like this the singer, songwriter, me and the songs that you can hear in a movie on on the radio, and I just wanted to know if I was capable of that, or could I just do the hard rock kind of like you know? You know, guitar, riff, hard rock kind of stuff. I was felt very boxed in and dimension, one dimensional, and hurt. You know, I was in a very bad place.
Speaker 1:Sure, maybe that's what maybe that is what allowed you to stretch out and do that EP, the singer songwriter stuff. You were probably getting out all your emotions at that time too.
Speaker 2:Oh, those five songs. If you listen to it, all it is is basically a story yeah it's just policy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, I haven't here, well, but I had a copy I show you. But if you just go to pause Spotify and put it the policy, you'll see the EP. But and those songs, if you listen to them, like you know, there's no like fancy souls and no killer guitarist, it's just like sort of, I would say, commercial Music. But it tells the story of where was that from, like losing everything, the lowest, low, and then like coming back up and meeting. Now Was my wife, you know now, of almost 10 years and that's great.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so and I and one of the things that was again the pride I had in doing that was, one, I was able to push myself into an uncomfortable territory, you know, and and two, it was for the first time writing about something that was like kind of real and raw, intimate where it's like you know you listen to CO2.
Speaker 1:They're like rock song.
Speaker 2:Like I was lit. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:They're like this is what I said and this is what I told you when I met you and the guys, and I don't expect you to remember this. You meet every, you meet all kinds Of people, you know. But when, when I, when I saw you at that show at Irvine Meadows, and remember, after your set, I walked out to the merch stand just wanted to see what was out there and I saw the CD, saw the debut album. So well, you know, 10 bucks or whatever it was. Okay, I'm gonna help these guys out. It's all about helping out musicians anyway. So, so, so I'll paid my money. And then I turn around and You're standing there and I believe Joey was there, and so I said, oh you know, bumped into you, say, hey, thanks for the show, great show, blah, blah, blah. And that you guys were taking the cover or the booklet out of the, the CD Cases, you were signing them. My my so has your autographs on them right there, and I know you can't see it, but it's still there.
Speaker 2:I can see it, you can see it yeah. I'm not more than the other one because it's a light cover, that yeah. Yeah, so all three on that one all three.
Speaker 1:So so you guys all signed it and you know, congratulating you guys, you guys were so I Don't know. You guys are just, I guess, a great way to put it. You guys are so down to earth, okay, and so thankful, and so I go back to my seat, see the poison show and see the kiss set. Maybe it was after poison, I don't remember. We come back out. I brought my, I brought my son out with me this time and I told him that I had met you guys and that you signed the CD. And so you guys are out there again in front of the merch stand and you're talking to people Working. You got it. You know it's like, hey, look, I got to work it here too. You know so. But but you guys were meeting fans, signing CDs, that kind of stuff, and of course it was like you and Joey were close together and I think if anybody saw the television show, they understood why David was over here and had about four or five girls around him. You know.
Speaker 2:And so he was probably naked too.
Speaker 1:But he may have had his shirt off, so. So I said, hey, you know, this is my kid blah blah blah, and he'd like congratulate you guys. Thought you guys were great, so on and so on. And then we talked for a moment and I said I said I got to say something to you guys. You, you kind of have this, this modern 70s sound.
Speaker 1:I mean it's 70s hard rock which is what we were going for, and I Well so what's funny, like I said, joe, you and Joey right here and Joey, here's what I say, and you're in, you haul her out to David hey, and it call him over and he comes over and then you nudge him. He said hey, tell him what you just said. And I saw I repeated it. And then you guys all look at each other. He said that's what it says on our website.
Speaker 2:That's what we were going. But that's the thing. If I, if you said what was zero to sound like, you know it'd be like, well now, because we didn't weren't aware of the band at the time but we kept getting compared to King's X and now I see why. So it's like, oh yeah, like you know, trio with that which kind of yeah, I think it was lush harmonies and stuff. But we always said it was like you know, kiss, our Smith met, you know, meet stone-tipped pilots and you know Allison change or something like. That's always what we were going for anyway, but it was still a rock and roll mentality, lyrically, you know, musically, feel wise. It wasn't so much about, you know, it wasn't writing on an acoustic guitar with a capo or with a piano player.
Speaker 1:It was very different, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:That's the thing, and that's was the difference With what I did with with that EP, was this was now, it wasn't so much about the riff, it wasn't so much about the groove, it was about what I was going through in the lyric, you know, and the melody and that and and so now it was nice to be able to see that I could do it. You know, that was that I had to kind of like prove something to myself that like, am I, you know, my one-trick pony or is there more to me? And that's the beautiful thing about when crap happens to you in life, right, when you, when you hit rock bottom, it forces you to kind of to stand up and start thinking, okay, now I got a re-identifier, I got a restart, I get whatever and open up these opportunities. Like I feel like as hard as that time of my life was I'm so grateful it happened I wouldn't be where I am right now, wouldn't be the person I am. I wouldn't, if I have, I wouldn't be talking to you right now.
Speaker 1:It's absolutely true, we, you know we. But it takes that. It takes the tough times and it takes getting through those tough times to look back and say you know what I didn't like all that. But if I didn't go through that, if that didn't happen, I wouldn't be where I am today and I wouldn't be who I am today. It takes.
Speaker 2:It takes some retrospective perspective retrospective, you know, mind frame to look back. But you have to get through it and I think of one of the biggest problems that we have. Again, I hate that I feel like I keep taking you off track, but because I work with kids and with the foundations, part of what we do is one of the biggest things I see is people generally don't aren't, don't have what it takes, the tools necessary to get through that, through the mud, to the other side.
Speaker 1:They talk about it, you know. Talk about, talk about your work with kids.
Speaker 2:Okay, so, basically so, david and I, from an early, early age, were we're working with kids and it started out just as a job. I just got a job at kids children's Museum of Manhattan, of Manhattan, um, back in 2009 no, 98, sorry, and it was just a job, like. It was just like I needed a job and I played guitar and you know they're like can you sing the wheels on the bus? I said no, but I could learn it. I don't know I could. I could sing black Sabbath. Does that work? Yeah, but I learned all these kids songs and and I just, you know, I just connected.
Speaker 2:You know, my dad is really good with kids. He was a teacher. He just we're just really naturally good with kids, especially young, young kids. These are like toddlers, right, we're talking about okay, and I, very quickly again, without tooting my own horn, I just killed it. I was like a rock star. People like, all of a sudden, the place was packed. Every time was my sing-a-long and they noticed that, you know. So people are like can you do birthday party, can you do this? And we're like, okay, and then I brought David in and then eventually Joey too, but we put out a kid CD. We became literally the number one kids at today's in New York City. I mean, I did Robert De Niro's son's party two years in a row. I was, I was. I did Michael J fox's daughter's party and then he hired me to be his guitar teacher.
Speaker 2:Yeah it was like that kind of thing, like we were. We were the, the best of the best in the in the tri-state era, let's say for kids stuff. So we were really good at that. And then we were doing the rock stuff, you know also, and then we got the tv show because of that, you know, and then all of a sudden it was out in the open because we were kind of like Not letting the two worlds collide because we always thought our street cred would be ruined. You know it's if it's his spider like oh, all of a sudden, you know, you look at the pictures of us in the back of the cd cover right, the first cover, world, like Right and then yeah yeah, look at the back cover of that one.
Speaker 1:In fact, it's what David doesn't even look like David. No, because we're all serious.
Speaker 2:Look at, look how serious we are, we're so cool, yeah. Then you look at like pictures of us later. We're like dude, so we're smiling.
Speaker 1:What was it on the back of casino logic? You guys all making funny faces.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I mean because because the show Opened up and for those that don't know, the show is called was called xerox and it was based on our real life as a rock band at night and a kids band by date, which is what we really did and Like we said, this will either make or so breakfast. Right, it'll. Either we'll never work again in both worlds or we're gonna be. This is gonna be great and it was great. You know people loved it. You know, parent, I remember we get, we got calls. I swear this happened. We had to remember a dad who called us for his birthday party, kids party. He goes oh my god, I love you show, but but he literally said he was joking with the fact that he said it. He was just you got to promise me one thing you please don't sleep with my wife after the party. Cracking up, that that actually came out of this guy's mouth. Then it was just like tell your brother not to sleep with my wife.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, but but there was an episode of z rock that was like the first one, the very first episode was that the first one? Okay, very, first episode.
Speaker 2:And it was just. But the fact that it was like the world, kind of like whoever watched the show, whatever they got it, and it was like, oh, this is the uniqueness of these guys. And that's when I'll tell you honestly, ben, this is for me in my life, was a turning point, because I realized I'm not going to be the next, even Tyler or Robert plan or Paul Stanley or David Lee or whoever, because they already did it. The world has that has seen it as like okay, I'm going to be the first Paulie Z, you understand.
Speaker 2:And that was a very, very important turning point for me in my it just Not only a career, but in life, because I realized this was a gift, this was the uniqueness of us as a band. We didn't have to be as cool as and dirt and dangerous as guns and rows, and we didn't have to be, as you know, slutty as as, as you know, motley crew or whatever. We had our own Thing that no one could touch, so we leaned into it, you know, and that's when you started seeing us being much more of ourselves.
Speaker 1:Right, right, okay. So so you got, you got to be. You got to be the rock star. Paulie Z meets the, the real Paulie Z, the, the the funny guy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and it was basically like you took. I always said, if you took Steven Tyler and mr Rogers and put him in a blender, then you got me.
Speaker 1:Look, I'm not. I'm not here to just um, I don't know to, to to score points or stroke your ego or anything. I love Steven Tyler, but I love me some.
Speaker 2:Paulie Z All right, I appreciate, I do, I, I, I. I just hope and I hope that you like it, for in a way, that's like it's not a comparison. That's the thing. It's not like I have a thing that he doesn't have and he has a thing I don't have, and I've learned to carve out. You know, when you say Paulie Z, I hope that you think of something that's unique to me, or zio2 is unique to us, just as the been mannered show is going to be unique to all the other programs. I did you know what I mean, because you're not like the guy in the show I just did the other day.
Speaker 2:And that's not I don't want to be some people do people again, going back to the kids, so, with the kids, we work. We continued to work with kids throughout our whole career and I started a nonprofit in New York back in 2011 that david helped me with, where we would do music programs with underprivileged kids and we'd write songs about either academic subjects or personal things that you know part of youth mental health and you know. And then when David was killed, I changed the name to the david z foundation. I still had the 501 c3, but what we do now is what I love is that we have the ability to influence them, to see that to the like, to sit like what you said, like, look, you've got to go through the mud to get to the other side. Or look, you can be cool and not smoke a cigarette and do draw. You don't like, don't listen to that crap. Like I'm as cool and bad as is anybody on the planet. Put me on.
Speaker 2:I mean, I truly believe that, whether it's true or not, it doesn't matter. I believe it to be true. So I don't need a tattoo and I don't need, you know, uh, drugs or anything to validate that. I don't need filters on my instagram to say that I'm, you know, to make myself feel better. But kids do. Kids need that constant reinforcement of their worth, it, their value, and I think that's the biggest thing for me, is the biggest challenge, and music is such a great way to To, to, to fulfill that empowerment, you know, to make someone feel that they're enough just by being who they are.
Speaker 1:Right. They don't need all the other outside influences that that that people try to push upon them.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and in this society, obviously in this world, it's harder and harder because of social media. It's just so easy to get judged, you know, and if you're look, if someone makes a negative comment about your show, I was like, dude, your show sucks like. I'm sure you can take it right. I'm sure I can take it yeah but I guarantee you the 12 11 year old version of you Might actually that might hit right here, yep, and they don't know how to take it, and that's right. And that's what happens because kids don't.
Speaker 1:kids don't have look come on, they're kids. They have absolutely zero life experience behind them. You know, we, as adults, at different stages, have have various years of life behind us. So life teaches how to handle this kind of stuff, and a 12 year doesn't know how to tell you suck, you're terrible. Oh, they don't know how to handle that.
Speaker 2:They can brush that off. No. And then to go back to what I was saying with the foundation, how that when I changed your name and how I really got into it, part of that and I tell people honestly it's 50% for the kids, but I'm not gonna lie, it's 50% for my own therapy, like that was my vehicle to navigate the most horrific thing that ever happened to me that could I can have ever imagined. I mean, at this point, the only thing that could ever be worse would be losing my kids for my wife.
Speaker 2:But like I can't, explain, unless you've experienced it, what that felt like. But for me to have a vehicle, a vehicle to manage that, and to funnel all that pain and anger and fear, everything I felt, into something that brings people joy, but me also, I mean that's like I can't express how grateful I am to have that vehicle and that's part of, I think, music for people is like that too. When you listen, when people are sad or whatever, and they listen to their favorite album or record, that's what is speaking to them. That song is connecting. That's why I love music. It's so connective.
Speaker 1:That girl. She broke your heart and now I gotta go play this song, and they wrote it just for me those words. They describe what the situation is.
Speaker 2:I remember when Adele's album came out, the big one right Like 20, was it 21, I guess? And Adele's album the big Adele album the one with the song, the one willing in the D, I think it's 21.
Speaker 2:And I remember you. I loved her. I love her, she's great. I love her voice, I love the song, the tone, production, she's just incredible. Right that album and someone like you, I would listen to it and I'd be like, oh, this is a great record, a great vocal performance, like I'm thinking as an artist, I'm listening to her tone, I'm listening to the production, but I'm not really connecting to what she's saying, because I never felt that way. And then, in the middle of when that record came out, and then I got divorced, my wife left and we broke up and I heard I'll never forget the first time I heard it on the radio I was driving on the West Side Highway, new York, home. Actually, I think I was driving home from a date with a new. I started dating again and I drove home and I heard the song.
Speaker 2:I had to. I'm not ashamed to say it. I had to pull over because I was weeping like a little baby. I was crying and I didn't understand why. But I realized, because the lyric now connected. I connected to what she said. You know what I mean.
Speaker 1:For the first time I know. I totally know what you mean, yeah on a different level.
Speaker 1:You know when I have, and I'm gonna ask you to, but when I have some other people on the show I liked and we talk music. We don't always talk music, but we do a lot and I like to know what it is. If they can pinpoint or at least get close to the time in their life when that was it, music got them right here and they were hooked on music and when their love for music began, so can you share that.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I mean I don't know exact age I was, but it was super early on. I mean I have pictures of me with kiss. I mean everything is about kiss. My whole childhood was all about kiss, kiss. I know it sounds crazy, but it's actually close to the truth. Like there was, like people had Jesus and I had kiss. I know it sounds crazy, but like I was that's how much I was it was just like like kiss was my most, like my Buddha. I mean it was unbelievable how much of an effect they had on me.
Speaker 1:I don't know what our age difference is. I know I'm older than you, but I mean. I'm 58. So I mean, I'm assuming, when I saw you in 2004, you guys were in your mid 20s.
Speaker 2:Well, I'll be 47 in March. Okay, all right, all right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's about what I was thinking. So yeah, I grew up with kiss too, just like you, and they were. You know, those were my guys, those are my guys. But I'll let you finish, go ahead.
Speaker 2:No, I was just saying I mean, and don't you dare for a clickbait, but like kisses, you know it's better than that. No, no, no, no, I don't know I used it as a comparison of just to try to explain how dead like, how much of a disciple I was to this band right and how much an effect they had on me and for you know, mostly good reasons. There's some stuff maybe with the way it looked at girls and stuff maybe it was the good I had to unlearn.
Speaker 2:You know how I would look, you know thought of like women and whatever, but generally, like all the things about now smoking, no, drinking you know, be professional, give it a hundred percent. All these like lessons I learned from them. And anyway, as early as I can remember I was, I was, you know, touched by music. Music was everything for me. I didn't necessarily know that I wanted to do that professionally until a little later when I thought it was possible, but music was just everything, everything for me.
Speaker 1:I know, for me it was about 1972, and my mother had the Beatles 45, let it be, and we had this big giant console, stereo.
Speaker 1:and that's when stereo is where actually pieces of furniture in your house you know the weight 250, 300 pounds and and she, I remember she put that 45 on and she sat down on the floor of our family room behind the type or in front of the typewriter and, as it's playing, she's typing the lyrics to the song on goldenrod paper and I didn't understand what she was doing at the moment, but then it's, and I picked up the needle a few times and had to, you know, go over it, but she types out the lyrics to this song and after that, after she was done with that, I held on to that goldenrod paper and I would play that over and over and over and sing along to it, and I think that's when it began for me. And it's just something about something about music you talked about earlier. You know, when you're down, it can help pick you up or, depending on what you want to listen to, it can help keep you right there too. Yeah, I mean control.
Speaker 2:It is a direct control of emotion. I think there's no other. And listen, I went to art school, so I'm a visual artist. I did eight years of art school, you know, I obviously had a T-Shirt. I've done acting, theater, stuff like that. To me there is nothing. And sports when I was young, not a lot, but still like there's nothing. In my opinion this is my opinion nothing that connects to a human emotion and connects people more than music with the exception of, maybe, food, I would say is why I love food too, and I'm not even joking like food brings people together, right, you know it does, true?
Speaker 1:Right, I'm talking about things that bring people together, and people eat when they're sad.
Speaker 2:People eat when they're excited, right. There's an emotion that connects people more than they're excited, right, there's an emotional connection to food, right, that we have when we're sad or happy or excited, whatever nervous. Same thing with music, and that's why I really love it, because I feel like it's the most powerful thing we have as human beings. I challenge you to find anything more powerful than music. I mean it defies language barriers, it defies race, gender. It defies anything. You know what I mean. There's no competitiveness. I was just talking about this with someone yesterday about sports and how sports is like completely different. It's all about competition. It's all about someone wins, someone loses. It's all about stats. You know who's the goat, LeBron or Jordan? It's all about you know what I mean. Like you know, you don't get that in music and that's one of the things I love about it so much.
Speaker 1:Yeah, how long have you been playing guitar?
Speaker 2:Since I was 13, so in 2000.
Speaker 1:All right, okay, no, not 2000. No, no, 2000,. Wait a minute. Oh sorry, since 1990.
Speaker 2:No, I was thinking 2000 was when. 2000 was when I caught my hair actually for the first time. No, 1990 was when we got our guitars. The first band, I think, was 94. Okay, my brother and I, but yeah, but David took to it much faster than I did. I was a little more lazy with it and also my dad's a bass player, so I think they had more of a connection. Okay, you know, there wasn't even a guitar amp in the house. There was a bass amp and I was playing through the bass amp. So I didn't have the same sort of like reinforcement that he did, because, you know, I got new bass and but he was also just a beast. He was like you know how he played, it was a virtual. Also. That guy played every second of every day. He was like Van Halen, like he was just like 10 hours, 12. He would be in the bathroom. I'm like, come on, I gotta go. Like he's literally two-handed tapping in the bathroom, like while he's, you know, pooping. I'm like, come on, dude.
Speaker 1:Now I am not a musician and I can't play a note to save my soul. I've had guitars in the past, I still have, I have an acoustic guitar and a bass guitar that hangs in my attic. So you know, shame on me, but I know what I like and so I don't know a lot of the technical stuff. But to listen to, to listen to Z02, to listen to David on bass, it sounds like he's playing like rebar and you know I mean so the string sounds so thick, that sound is so thick and I don't know if because those strings are just so heavy, I'm not sure.
Speaker 2:There's a combination of the tone he got with the bass and Sean plays the same bass specter, which is pretty cool too. So the tone is there, but it's really in the fingers. In the field you can have 10 different people play the same riff and it's just like, even for me, I'll you know, I'm honest enough for myself to know that I'm not, you know, the world's greatest guitar player out there. I'm never gonna be on the cover guitar world or whatever like with these you know fancy guys, but I know what I contribute to it. I understand that I have my own feel and my own vocabulary to work with right.
Speaker 2:So I craft my solos and my riffs and, you know, within the structure of what I know I can do well and I, you know, and sometimes I push that a little bit, but I don't, you know, I don't try to do all the fancy stuff that I can't do. If I practice I could do it. Obviously. I just choose to focus on other things, like vocals more so, let's say. But I think the idea is not about, like, how technically great you are, and that's what I teach my students when I'm teaching guitar vocals too. It's not about that, because there's plenty of singers that we love that are technically not great. I would never want to hear Jimi Hendrix or Kurt Cobain sing the national anthem. You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:But, but, I love hearing them sing their music because they have a style and a brand and they leaned into who they are authentically. And I think for guitar playing, for me, that's what I had to do, Because I didn't really have the skill that David had. We could pretty much do anything he wants, but even with that skill, I think what made him so great in my opinion and Sean will tell you because he had to learn all the parts it's like Van Halen. It wasn't about how technically great Van Halen was, Because you, as a lot of people who can play Van Halen no for no, but it ain't the same it was the soul that Van Halen had.
Speaker 2:Eddie had the soul and David had that when he played, the soul and the feel of the fingers and the heart was in it. So you need that in addition to the fancy technical stuff to make it. You know epic, I think, and if you're limited, like Ace Fraley, my favorite guitar player, he's pretty limited, but I would listen to an Ace Fraley soul over any other soul any day, because what he did with those few notes and the few tricks he had was like legendary, you know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, his solos have been described as they're like songs within the song. Yes, and what would make him, or what makes him, unique is that I mean he's wearing. It didn't matter if they were in makeup or not, but you see him solo now. He's wearing all kinds of jewelry, rings and bracelets and everything that stuff, just hitting the strings as he's playing. And so you know, he may not ever though he may hit the notes he may not ever play the same solo, the same two times in a row.
Speaker 2:No, but it was more about what I loved was, again, it was like you knew it was Ace. You knew it was authentic to him. Yes, and that's the thing. And you know, and then that's, and to me the greatest of all of them was Jimmy Page and he's one of the sloppiest when you listen to live, you know. But it didn't matter, it was, there was a fearlessness there that he had, that when he did it he was just, it was. How do I say it To me? I can.
Speaker 2:When I feel the connection to the soul, I don't care. Anything else doesn't matter to me. It doesn't matter if you make a mistake, doesn't matter how good the production was, it doesn't matter how many records you sold. All that doesn't matter if that connection is clearly there, that authenticity, you know, and that's what I look for in other stuff and that's what I try to give when I go out there. You know it's not that I'm not going to make a mistake or whatever, but you know I'm connected. That's the, that's the one thing. You know. Everything and everything I do, it is 100% connected to that, to the soul inside of my body.
Speaker 1:It's the Zablodowski blood in you.
Speaker 2:It is.
Speaker 1:It's the Z yeah, the Z Charm man Say that name three times, you know.
Speaker 2:Good luck, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, I'll tell you what I love your tone. I think tone is huge when it comes to guitars. I just no knock on slash. I don't like his tone. Oh really, I don't like his tone. I just don't. There's something about it that I don't like.
Speaker 2:Well, it's very specific.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's a very specific thing, but your tone, I just man, it's just something about it. It's something about those songs and, like you said, yeah, you may not be, you know doing gymnastics up and down the fretboard and everything, but so what it's about, what each of those notes is saying.
Speaker 2:Right, well, and again there's a maturity to that. It took me years to kind of accept that too, that sometimes less is more quality over quantity. Yeah, and you know what I mean. And that's again, it's part of that process of life, of like you start understanding things from a different perspective, of, like you know, even songs, like you know just simplifying a song and not throwing the kitchen sink in.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So I appreciate that because I've gotten that a lot. I've actually gotten that from quite a few legendary guitar players that I look up to and they just say, oh, dude, I love your tone and the way you're playing with me, who me Well see, yeah, yeah, that's it right there, you know what I mean. I'm like, who are you talking to? So? It's always nice to get that, you know.
Speaker 1:Let's see, that's the thing, because you can go out there and say I'm Paulie Z, I'm badass, but then somebody else comes and says oh man, I love what you're doing. It's like OK, thanks, you know, you try to you just, and that's what I was talking about earlier. Right, I don't have control of that spotlight. It's like I don't take compliments too well. Thank you so much. Keep bringing it.
Speaker 2:Right, but you, because you and inside, no matter how much confidence we have, there's always that element of self-doubt and self-criticism, and then the insecurity that's going to be. It's always going to be there, it lives with you at all times. So, if someone says something and it's something that, like you, didn't think, oh that was a great show. And I didn't think it was a great show. I'm going to say, oh, thank you so much, but inside I'm like no, it wasn't. You know, really, that's always going to be there, you know.
Speaker 1:I know I'm taking up your time and gosh, you have no idea how much I appreciate that.
Speaker 2:And this is Okay, I'm having fun. We can go a little longer, Holly.
Speaker 1:I haven't even touched my nose.
Speaker 2:This is so awesome, I feel so bad because no, no, no, this is You're saying the only things that to prepare for you haven't talked about anything.
Speaker 1:I don't know. I don't even think we've touched on anything.
Speaker 2:Yeah, people are going to watch these shows like they haven't said anything in an hour.
Speaker 1:They haven't talked about one thing it's just too idiot talking back and forth, but that's the best. That's what makes I think. That's why I don't ever want to call anything an interview. It's just a conversation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:And but. But getting back to guitar tone real quick and I don't know who all your influences are. I mean, you've obviously mentioned Jimmy Page and and Ace Fraley, but you know.
Speaker 2:Jimmy Page Ace Fraley Santana believe it or not favorite slash one of my favorites and Richie Blackmore those are probably my five favorite guitar players in the world, even though Richie is a strat guy and like I don't like strats but I love the way he plays in his tone and his. You know everything about Richie to me as a God. So those are my five.
Speaker 1:And all those other guys. They play Les Pauls right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Well, no, santana, doesn't Santana?
Speaker 2:is a Paul Reed Smith, although in the 70s he did. He played Gibson like STU's and stuff. Yeah. But, his feel and tone is just unbeatable, you know. So those are my top five.
Speaker 1:OK, I mean for me, I don't know. Rolling Stone came out with that list last year sometime the 250 greatest guitar players in the world.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You know, I didn't read it myself, but I saw a lot of the names and I thought are these guys high or what? You know when I'll tell you my favorite? You know, probably my favorite top five guitar players. It would be kind of 1A and 1B is Neil Sean and Steve Lukather. Yeah, I think those guys are just absolute master musicians, world class. Yeah, and you know, I just I love it. Prince, of course Prince was a fabulous guitar player. I mean, even Eric Clapton said so. Who else did I put on there? I had Gary Richrath from Ario Speedwagon and he was so underrated but he had great tones, he had great solos. Right, I, even I included Aldo Nova. I love Aldo Nova and he's just a great.
Speaker 2:He got the eclectic list there.
Speaker 1:Kind of. But I'm going to throw this one in too, because I love his tone and he's so underrated and I, in my estimation, all these guys maybe outside of Prince on my list are completely underrated and don't get recognized and they don't end up on these lists. But Paul Dean from Loverboy just had the nice, cool one.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think these are all great guitar players. I think the reason the people are on the list that they're on is not just the playing. I think it's more about the influence they had, and you know, you got to think about that too. Like I love, you know, I'm blanking on his name now, paul Kosoff from Free, like you know, but you don't hear as many people cite him, or it's just not as well. No, or even Andy Scott from Sweet, you know, and I was. You know I sang with Sweet.
Speaker 2:Yeah, just you know, having to learn those songs Even I mean, and Brian May I was always felt was like underrated, like he doesn't get the same credibility that Eddie Van Allen does. But Brian May is like one of the as I'm learning in my Queen Band tribute band, I'm like that guy is one of the best guitar players that I've ever heard. He's just unbelievably good. So you know, you don't know who knows why these people choose who they choose. But and we're talking about it- I think that was 838 on that list, by the way.
Speaker 1:But had they done the?
Speaker 2:top thousand, I would have been 838.
Speaker 1:Nah, I think maybe a little bit higher than that. But, and speaking of guitar tone, when you hear Brian May you know it's Brian May. Yeah, that's what. I mean it's just so distinct yeah and you hear it all so distinct.
Speaker 2:All right, you want to get. I feel bad. You want to get to some of those questions before I have to jump.
Speaker 1:No, you talked about. You talked about Sweet and you talked about Bohemian Queen. So I want to get to Bohemian Queen. Okay, so why?
Speaker 2:don't. I do this. Let me give you an overview, because I always think about people watching it. Who's like I have no idea. You know who your guest is, so I'll give you the quick overview, right? So we talked about Z02, and that was the band with my brother and Joey and we had the TV show Xerox right. Two seasons we did.
Speaker 2:Then I took my hiatus, I did my EP, I moved to LA. I basically had a restart right From there. I got more into the kids stuff and then, you know, I met my wife and got more into that. But then I got pulled back into rock and roll. It kind of felt like I was done with it, with Ultimate Jam Night, which is actually a thing that I produced at the whiskey workshop, that's, at the whiskey right. Yeah, every it's still going, but I left.
Speaker 2:I retired last summer so I can focus on other things. But seven and a half years I produced this show at the whiskey every week, not every month, not every two months, but every single week for seven and a half years. Insane, nice. But it put me back in the world of rock and roll and that's how I got the sweet gig, because when they needed a singer. The guitar player was in the band was the house guitar player for the jam, mitch Perry, who's also. He should be on that list, one of the greatest, and he recommended me and it was funny I was like ah, it's like you know, like I don't know.
Speaker 2:It just seemed like it was like old school rock and like I don't want to. I feel like it was a step backwards. I was trying to go modern and I would be going back to it. He goes, dude. Before you make a decision, just listen to the here's the set list, listen to these songs on Spotify and then tell me oh, my God, then they blew me away. I didn't, I only knew Fox on the Run and Ballroom Blitz and-.
Speaker 1:Love is like oxygen.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I thought I knew kind of the bubblegummy pop songs, which are great too, but I just thought it was going to be like a few hits and then a bunch of crap. Oh my God, man, they, the music blew me away and I was like, oh, I'm definitely doing this because I told you so. I sang, I was the lead singer for Sweet the actual with Steve Priest right up until he passed away, and then we did a little bit more and then, and then I kind of moved on from there, mainly because I was getting too busy with other things and it felt a little weird for me without having Steve there. But then I started doing this Queen, Tribby Bambohemian Queen, and that happened because of the movie and there was a demand for it. Yeah, no, because I wasn't even a huge Queen fan.
Speaker 2:I know that sounds crazy, but Sweet and Queen and I just I knew some of the stuff. I knew a lot of Queen, but I wasn't like I had the greatest hits. I didn't have every album, like I did with Kiss and Maiden and Priest, and that was Cooper. Every album, right, Even the crappy albums.
Speaker 1:I know what you mean. I know what you mean.
Speaker 2:It's import right. Like I had that the hell Queen, I had the greatest hits volume one back into it. That was enough and then so. So some promoter saw me do Freddy in an 80s band that I have with my wife called Rubik's Cube, which is a band that my brother was in in New York, and we changed costume every song.
Speaker 2:So, 25 costume changes, really fun. And I did one song as Freddy and then I would go change to Axel Rose or whatever and the guy's like, can you do a whole show like that? Because there's a big demand for Queen right now and the big Queen band here in LA was booked and expensive and whatever. I said, yeah, I guess. So. So I just, you know, I had the yellow jacket put on the mustache and I learned a set of Queen Put your hair. Yeah Well, no, my hair was already cut by that.
Speaker 1:Well, I missed the Afro, by the way. I just you know that's so 70s and I love that stuff. Man, I was here telling you.
Speaker 2:I was then. This is now and anyway, I did the show and I couldn't. It was so good and I couldn't believe how well I took to the character Because, if you think about it like Paul, I was in a Kiss tribute band and I was a great Paul Stanley.
Speaker 1:I didn't know about the Kiss tribute.
Speaker 2:Kiss nation, dude, kiss nation. I was like that's how I met Joey, oh, okay.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:Joey and I were in Kiss Nation, vh1 did a special on us and everything. Oh, no, dude, I was, I was, I killed it, as Paul and I did Rocky Horror Picture Show and I was Frank and Furious. So something about these kind of like ambiguous Love it. Yeah, like these macho guys who had this kind of effeminate ambiguity to them. So Freddie Mercury was perfect and I just took to it Like Peanut Butter and Jelly, which is perfect for me. And as I got into the catalog I was like this stuff is great. Now, like how did I not, how was I not more into them when I was a kid? And that's it, and it just it took off. Dude, we are Killing it right now. It's. I would never have thought you would ask me a few years ago Like, oh, can you see yourself being in like one of the top?
Speaker 1:Like you're out of your mind, but I saw pictures of you, crazy with the mustache and your hair is completely Slicked back and, yes, you had the look. You had the look and actually look, I You've got a show coming up on February 3rd in Temecula at the community theater or whatever it is, and I already told, I already told my wife Catherine. I said we're going. Oh yeah, I'm good, oh yeah, it's not far from where I live. I mean Okay, cuz you're in.
Speaker 1:LA and I don't know exactly where I like, cuz Ellie's so huge. But you're in LA. So if you go east about, you know 35 miles from the East LA interchange, then I mean Chino Hill, yeah, yeah that's not too bad.
Speaker 2:I'm actually the big, the big show. We're gonna have a huge show which is a benefit concert for the foundation which I would love for you to come, and it was in March, but we're moving it actually now. We haven't even publicly announced yet, so so I'm giving you some. Well, I don't want to say the day yet until we publicly. Yeah, just know that there's a big show in Hollywood at the theater. It was March 7th, it was gonna be for my birthday, but we're actually moving it to April. But it's gonna be huge with with flying in a kid's choir from Chicago, from the middle school, elementary school, from one of the schools I work, with a fly To sing with us. We're gonna have they're gonna be stoked.
Speaker 2:Good, this is gonna change the other. They haven't even had a music program in seven years Is their first music program in over seven years and I'm like, hey, do you want to sing in Hollywood with us on a big Say loot? They're losing their minds right now. We're gonna dancers, my wife and I gonna do Barcelona. You know the opera song with the strings and stuff. I'm gonna. You know it's, it's gonna be epic and that I'm looking forward to that. Like you, like you couldn't believe, but anyway, the point was that just the idea that this just was something that Was gonna be a big, such a big part of my life, I couldn't. I couldn't have predicted that. And now that same band. We started a zeppelin band called Zeppel a. We have a deep purple band called purplish and we're forming, we're launching a journey band this year. Yeah, yes, yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so I'm a busy boy. I also have a Chris Cornell tribute band and Alice Chin Chains tribute. And yeah, chris Cornell's guitar player, pete Thorne, is in the group.
Speaker 1:There's not it, oh my gosh. Busy doesn't describe it, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:What's the kid stuff I do, speaking of which, I think I think as much as I need to do because this is awesome, but I do have to kind of wrap up we can do it again, and then let me do this as we, as we wrap, okay. Yeah, at least one thing from you. You want to hit one thing from the notes you wrote down.
Speaker 1:Well, actually one thing from the notes. Yeah, you brought up journey. What's your relationship with Steve a Jerry oh?
Speaker 2:It's a good buddy of mine.
Speaker 1:He's. I mean I'll cuz he sang, he did two songs. Yeah, yeah, no.
Speaker 2:He's just a. He's a good. I know he met. I think we met through our X manager, not through Z rock, but through our X manager. We and we just became good friends. Such a cool guy just friends.
Speaker 1:Yeah, he seems like such a great guy and I did. You look, and I'm not trying to ask any favors, cuz I'm no way I will ever do that, but cuz I reached out to him to come on the program and he, I got an email back from him and said hey, what, I've seen bits and pieces. I love your show. I'm driving my uncle Frank around right now, blah, blah, blah. You know, let me know what I need to do. And, like you and I, we've gone back and forth through email and I replied back to him and I haven't heard anything. But I know he gets busy on the weekends, I know you guys, stuff falls to the wayside.
Speaker 2:You know what I mean. I've had stuff where like it. I'm like I, you know. They're like oh, you never got back. I'm like oh, I'm so sorry. You know it. Just you know, that's how it works sometimes.
Speaker 1:I just don't want to be that guy. That's a pain in the neck, you know. I don't want to be a pest and be all over it. So I just kind of.
Speaker 2:Hey, just wanted to follow up, I know, but you brought up journey.
Speaker 1:That's why I asked okay, listen, all right, everybody, you've got to pick this up. Okay, begin again by ZO to brand new it just. Yeah watch the video first for begin again. It's a, oh, it's, it's so good, and it, I mean it's, it's a, it's a, it's a story video, and I it's so good, I love it, I love it, I love it and and and it's great song too. It's clearly ZO to, but but pick this up, people, don't just. Well, actually it's not available for streaming right now.
Speaker 2:No, not yet. Actually buy the CD. Yes, you know I people. You can go to Kibble records to get it.
Speaker 1:Yes, and and and look people we all know. If you've got any smarts at all, you know that our favorite musicians are making the most of their money out on the road touring okay, and but every little bit helps. And physical, physical forms of music. There's just nothing like it. I know, polly, the big music fans we we are, I'm sure we just grew up with the Albums on our on our lap. As we're listening to music, we're reading all the liner notes and checking out the sleeves and if you're to kiss record, you shake it up. You shake it to see what falls out.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, that's no. People don't have CD players anymore. I get that, even if you don't buy it to listen to. To be honest, I believe in a few. Just you know, put it on your and you know on iTunes and then you listen to. That way, I feel like there's still something about having. That's why we put so much into the product. It's yeah, just think of it almost as like a like, just a piece of memorabilia. You know is something. It's more about you getting some sort of package and supporting the band, but that's absolutely, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And it's just gorgeous packaging, its quality packaging all the way around. Is it gonna be available in any other forms vinyl or cassette or eight track?
Speaker 2:No, I doubt. We're trying to find some vinyl. You know all me to us again. This is like we just started this train up and we're just like you know, merge. People ask about merch and shows and Website. Even the web does not even a zero to website. Really, it's just a there isn't no, it's just because it was.
Speaker 2:Everything was just not there. And then it started and and here we go. So now we get it. I mean, I'd like to do records, for sure, you know, and definitely merch. So we'll do that and it'll be on streaming and all that stuff this year sometime this year, you know. But we're not trying. We're trying not to stress us out. That's the one thing we don't want to do, gotcha. So so this is not what we're gonna make our living. This is not gonna be like our main thing. This is gonna be for passion, like we talked about before. This is for joy, and if it's gonna be joyful, we can't have to worry about deadlines and, like you know, anything like that, you know well, look once again.
Speaker 1:I don't. I don't really need to introduce this guy. It says it right there across the screen Pauly Z ZO2 is back people, just so you know, and I am looking so forward to seeing some live shows and I I'm gonna see you on February, the third, I promise you that. Absolutely so. Listen, you're gonna be blown away.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you that right now I'm good, I want to be.
Speaker 1:I want to be. Yeah, I can't thank you enough. This has been absolutely just a blast, so I hope that. I hope that we get to do it again and that I'll maybe get to talk about some of this. To the fundraiser which are the fundraiser, when you have some shows coming up, that kind of stuff and let's you know we'll do it again.
Speaker 2:We'll do it again, but next time I'll just like I said, I'll block out five hours. I'm just hire babysitter. I'll take up order in.
Speaker 1:You're from New York. We got to get some pizza.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh yeah. No, I have enough pizza.
Speaker 1:I live in LA now it's all about quinoa and avocado. No, thanks, I'm gonna end the recording, so just hang loose for one second. Okay, everybody listen, that's a wrap. I'm not gonna go through all that reminding you of where the show is. You know where the show is. Thanks for tuning in. Thanks for listening. Thanks for watching. This is the Ben Maynard program. Tell a friend.