Episode 21 - Year in Review

[00:00:00] Speaker A: I mean if you and I were day traders and having, you know, very successful, like we would be interviewing that if we played in poker, like we would like at the end of the. [00:00:08] Speaker B: Day, if we own strip clubs, we'd probably interview strippers. [00:00:11] Speaker A: Yeah. This was for the home team. This was for the home team. [00:00:25] Speaker B: Hey, welcome to Tailgate Beers. Austin and Ryan here. Cheers. Let's cheers right here, buddy. We're here. [00:00:33] Speaker A: The first podcast of 2025. [00:00:35] Speaker B: It is, it is. And. And we were just mentioning before we jumped on camera that it seems like it's been a little while and it's been, you know, probably a month. Austin Snow was here December 7th and it's January, middle of January almost. So it's. Yeah, it's been a month. [00:00:49] Speaker A: No, we have. This is our first one of 2025 and I think being able to get back in the groove. We've been kind of MIA Social socially releases everything, but I think we've got a full slate coming up. [00:01:02] Speaker B: We've posted on our socials a few times and even that, I mean it's picked up new followers, it's picked up new, new people that have not seen, you know, a Corey of the world who, you know, didn't see our stuff previously. And then that was off of just a behind the scenes photo shoot that we did that morning while we were sitting here doing some goal setting for 2025 post or whatever happened. However that, that connection with Corey and then, you know, he started sharing it all over the world and with Corey. With Farmington Corey. [00:01:34] Speaker A: Oh yeah, I was like, I didn't know if you're talking Corey Smith. [00:01:37] Speaker B: Yeah, no, no, Farmington Corey. [00:01:39] Speaker A: Yeah, Unk started sharing it all over. I mean, I don't know if he reached his goal of 20 something follower. Did he? [00:01:46] Speaker B: He did, he did that night. And, and actually, yeah, we're at YouTube. We're at 422 followers as of today. [00:01:52] Speaker A: Holy. [00:01:53] Speaker B: Yeah, we were at. [00:01:54] Speaker A: Hey, shout out to him. [00:01:55] Speaker B: Absolutely. We were about three cheers to Corey, one of our biggest fans. [00:02:00] Speaker A: Yeah, he says he'll be our biggest fan. [00:02:02] Speaker B: You know, for our first podcast of 2025. I thought it would be good and I know we've been talking about it for a little while now, even before the new year. I'm just kind of sitting down and chit chatting about, you know, how this all started. I mean we have released at this point and we've released all the episodes that we have recorded for the most part. We've got some behind the scenes stuff that probably will Never see the day of light. You know, we've got 20, 20 episodes out there. We've got a very busy January. [00:02:30] Speaker A: Yes. [00:02:30] Speaker B: I mean, we've got 12, 13 podcasts scheduled for January at this point. And then, yeah, it doesn't sound like it's going to slow down much. I mean, we're getting requests for podcasts. People are reaching out to us, an awesome lineup of artists coming through cruisins here in West Peoria, Cruisins Farmington Road in the next few months as well. So that's not going to slow down. And then we run into. Run into tailgate and tall boys. [00:02:55] Speaker A: So this being, you know, our first podcast of 2025, I do think we have some really exciting possibilities of our list of people, you know, we can even touch on some of that. We still want to hear, you know, who everybody else wants to see. But I wanted to start this off with, you know, this exciting news of Surfside. I know we've had Surfside on this. We've tried to have it on, you know, over the course of. Since we've had Matt on from. From Surfside. But as of this podcast and the rest of 2025, you know, Surfside is an official drink of. Of tailgate beers. And we are beyond excited to have them here. Cruisins and tailgate and tall boys. [00:03:39] Speaker B: Yeah. And I think you'll see as, as time goes on in the next several podcasts we've got scheduled too, from a set standpoint. I mean, our set continues to get bigger and broader and. And, you know, you know, our very first podcast, just for a quick second, we'll stay on Surfside, but for a quick second, our very first podcast was we, again, probably will never see the light of day, but it was an hour and 42 long minutes long in my basement. [00:04:03] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:04:04] Speaker B: And then we kind of brought it here just because this is where the artists come and we're behind the scenes. We're at the. In the green room. So an artist come here and there's a big conference room table that is Austin's desk five days a week and, you know, for the regular, regular job here. But we kind of turned that into a podcast table for a period of time. [00:04:24] Speaker A: And that's where it started after we moved it here. [00:04:27] Speaker B: Yeah. And then kind of cleaned out this corner of. Of the room and. And kind of set up shop here. But going back to Surfside real quick, too. Yes, this is just an amazing drink. Zero bubbles, zero sugars, all that kind of stuff. It tastes good. [00:04:42] Speaker A: I mean, I wouldn't want to carry again. If somebody threw us enough money, wanted to be some crazy sponsor. I mean I would probably drink just about anything. But at the end of the day, I mean this, I mean whether they even did a sponsorship. I was pretty honest with Matt about my feelings on this because I'd say this is my biggest, this is my biggest critic is I'm a lemonade junkie. I love a good regular, like it was hand squeezed, you know, that type of stuff. I think for me to actually say, hey, I, I can drink those and I like them is saying something. But I definitely love the iced tea, vodka, the iced tea, lemonade. They're coming out with green teas. [00:05:23] Speaker B: You've got a peach tea around here, they got some peach tea. [00:05:26] Speaker A: I think they got a raspberry tea. And again we'll throw up a whole little slide of all their different varieties on this and again go check them out. Surfside premixed vodka iced teas, whole variety. You can find them pretty much anywhere now at this point at least some of your main, you know, liquor stores. [00:05:45] Speaker B: For sure your Benny's so kind of back that up as well. So if you have been following us for, since the beginning of Tailgate Beers and I don't even know what episode it is, I probably should looked it up before it came on on camera. But Matthew, Matt, Matthew Quigley is the co founder and he did an episode with us. He was here Atlas night, went golfing with us and went mini putt putt. I guess we, we did that day. Such a cool guy though. I mean, and then he sat down with us and, and spent, I mean it probably was 45 minutes to an hour just talking about the history of Surfside, talking about, you know, how he came, you know, involved in that with his brother and just how it's all kind of evolved from there. But then we also got some great conversation about, you know, Philadelphia, which is where, where Surfside is at. And I'm looking forward to the day where I get the call from, from Austin and, and those saying hey, we're going to Philadelphia. See, See Matthew. Yeah, if you watch that episode, it's, it's a lot of fun. [00:06:49] Speaker A: They, I mean he is very detail oriented. I've learned a lot just from talking to Matt and I think it just, dude, that Nat was here the last time. [00:06:58] Speaker B: That's been here for months. [00:06:59] Speaker A: Yeah, last time was in my face. I love that they're part of it. They are the official side stage sponsor. So it's the Surfside Stage. [00:07:07] Speaker B: Surf Side stage. I like that. [00:07:09] Speaker A: Yeah, we're gonna call it the Surfside stage. [00:07:11] Speaker B: Okay. But you gotta say surfside rather than surfside side stage. It's just Surfside stage. [00:07:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's gonna be decked out. They're going to have activation stuff there. And at Cruisins, they're the presenting sponsor of all the 2025 shows. So we're going to have sampling at all the shows. We'll have at all the cruiser locations. It's just a good partnership. It's somebody that, I don't know, I like. I want to see it have major success and to be able to deal directly with, you know, some of their main people is pretty exciting. Really. [00:07:43] Speaker B: Yeah. And if you go back to the episode as well, and again, I can't remember what episode number it was, but if you go back to it, Matthew Quigley, you know, he talks about, you know, distribution and getting this out across the country. They do a vodka as well, where they actually use their vodka in these RTDs, ready to drink drinks. And he talks about, you know, how they. This just kind of blew up on them. You know, like I said, they've been doing vodka for a while. And the rtd, you know, it was his brother's idea. And go watch the episode. I'm going to ruin all of it. But go watch the episode because that certainly is interesting and cool how it's just kind of blown up for them. [00:08:20] Speaker A: I've been doing all my research on Philadelphia. I mean, I've only been to Philly once. Yeah, and we are on. Me and Macaulay are on season 11. We've been binge watched since then. We've binge watch all the way up to season 11 of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. [00:08:36] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:08:37] Speaker A: Me and Matt will text randomly about it and I'll just send like a quote from it. Dude, it makes me laugh. And I know it's not true to how Philly really is, but oh my God, it's so funny. [00:08:48] Speaker B: I liked Philly. So I was stationed. And again, I was stationed in New Jersey and Philadelphia is just down the road from that. So we used to go to Philadelphia or New York if we wanted to have some good bars and food and stuff like that. It was one of the two options. Go south to Philadelphia, north to New York City. But yeah, I had some fun, some friends, some buddies in the military that were from Philadelphia and had some connections there. So we got down there and party a little bit. [00:09:12] Speaker A: I didn't get to spend enough time there. So I Went there for a buddy of mine, Michael Meredith's wedding. Every single night we ended up at the same hole in the wall pizza joint. I mean a pizza joint. You walk in, they got slices. Yeah, pretty ready. The big. Oh yeah, traditional flat. [00:09:33] Speaker B: Fold them together. [00:09:33] Speaker A: Every single night it was like, what's up? Let's just go to the pizza place, walk down. I don't even remember. I just remember all. Every night we had to go there and we really didn't go and party throughout Philly because it was wedding time. So it's like, hey, we got rehearsal. You got this to do. You got this to do. And we did take the one, you know, two days that we had free and we took the Amtrak to New York. So went into downtown New York, walked around, had lunch, went through the park, went to, you know, the World Trade center, which they were still constructing at that time. [00:10:17] Speaker B: The Memorial. [00:10:18] Speaker A: Well, they, the memorial is done, but they were still constructing the new. Like what is it? What's the building called that they were building? [00:10:26] Speaker B: Oh, I don't even know. [00:10:27] Speaker A: Not we had the World Trade Centers, but they were building that. The new high rise. [00:10:33] Speaker B: Got me on that like the. [00:10:34] Speaker A: I don't know, it's got some name. All right. We're going to have to look that up anyways. A lot of construction still going on still. And yeah, man, it was. New York is dirty though compared to like some of the cities and stuff. But it was so cool to do that. It was a fun, you know, train ride out there, quick 45 minutes or so, then back to Philly and again just blacked out for another night. And then he got married on a, in a. At like a yacht club. But like not like yacht, yacht, but it was like on the. I don't know what river it is, like the Delaware river. And, and I just remember it was just, just a fun ass wedding and time to be out in Philly and got married in like a beautiful, beautiful old, you know, Catholic church and. Cool. This is so much history there. [00:11:23] Speaker B: Oh, there, yeah. You go down, you can see the Liberty Bell. [00:11:26] Speaker A: I did see that. [00:11:27] Speaker B: You see the, the steps where Rocky, you know, runs up from the Rocky movie. Stuff like that. But just a city like that where. [00:11:34] Speaker A: You'Re walking down and like kind of like being in Washington where you're walking and it's like a brick street. [00:11:40] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:11:40] Speaker A: And you see the, you know, you see the, the old pillar from. On a house that you can tell was from like the 1800s where. But times like you know, a million. Everywhere you walk There, like, dude, this is an old. Like, brick street. And these old buildings have been renovated I don't know how many different times and stood the test of years and years. [00:12:01] Speaker B: Yeah, no, it's. It's definitely historic. Philadelphia is a historic city. [00:12:06] Speaker A: And if you watch It's Always Sunny. The Liberty Bell is actually cracked at Patty's Pub. [00:12:11] Speaker B: Yeah. So tailgate beers here. Cracking open a new surfside. Austin and I are here. We're kicking off our 2025 season, if you want to call it that. I don't know if we're gonna do different seasons, but. Or just continue our count up on episodes, but so by episode, this would be episode 21. We're kind of doing a 2024 year in review. We started this. When was it? August. That was our first. First podcast. So let's go back to the very beginning, and for me, I can tell my side, and then Austin can kick in some stuff too. So for me, I'm sitting at home, right? And for those that don't know me personally, I don't sit on a chair like you see me on. On camera. If you see me on camera for very long, I'm always moving. You know, I'm switching my feet, I'm fidgeting. I'm a very hyperactive person and can't sit still very long. So long. Long story short, nobody cares about at home. I sit on an exercise ball, and Austin knows this, my friends know this, my family knows this, and I bounce physically on an exercise ball. And so I'm on my exercise ball. It's a Sunday morning. I'm guessing nine or so. Austin had been traveling that weekend. I think you were doing soccer or something. [00:13:34] Speaker A: Table rock. [00:13:35] Speaker B: Oh, there you go. Yeah, you're down there with your. Your mom. But anyway, so I get. Was it a text or was it a phone call from you? I can't remember. [00:13:44] Speaker A: I text you, and then I called you when I got to a Buc ee's. [00:13:48] Speaker B: Okay, there you go. So shout out to Buc ee's. So, yeah, no, I get a text from. From Austin. Basically said, hey, thinking about starting a podcast, you know, about tailgate, about cruisins, about the artists coming through, about, you know, anything really. And he's like, you know, do you have any interest in co hosting with me? And for me, so public speaking is one of my favorite things in the world. I love public speaking. Just like. Like the entertaining portion of it, I just. Just get into it, right? So I used to be in a teacher and all that kind of stuff. Instructor. But long story short, I was like, heck, yeah, I'm in. So talk to us, Austin, a little bit about, you know, what got you started as far as a thought process and why this is important. [00:14:36] Speaker A: I don't. I hadn't mentioned it to you before, had I? [00:14:38] Speaker B: Nope. [00:14:39] Speaker A: Period. [00:14:39] Speaker B: I don't think so. [00:14:40] Speaker A: If anything, I had mentioned the college game day setting. I had probably. That would probably be the only thing I had ever mentioned. I've always loved the college game day setting. I love Saturday mornings, getting up, turning it on, the pre game. You never know who's stopping in. And I've just really kind of always had that thought of, man, that would be fun at the festival. It'd be so much fun to have a podcast and campground and people come out. And I think talking through that was where the podcast conversation started. And then every single time we have artists here. Why are we not interviewing them? You know, and you look at the name of people the, you know, that have come through here from the Morgan Wallens and Hardee's and Lainey Wilson's and Ernest and the list goes on and on that we could have had interviews with. I mean, can you imagine where we'd be sitting right now? And that was only in 2018. Can you imagine where this podcast would be if we started just seven years ago and where we would be at right now with just a long list of names and just. We're always looking, you know, we live in a content world where even for the festivals, for cruisins, like, what is cruisins? You know, what can people expect? You know, who are these artists? I mean, we're in the world, in the, the career of branding these people and helping build these names up, building cruisins up. I've always just thought it'd be great content. And no offense to you, the goal was originally that it was going to be, you know, me and Wayne. That's something that he knows as much as I. He just. You can't pin him down. [00:16:32] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:16:33] Speaker A: To save your life. [00:16:34] Speaker B: And we've been trying to get him on here for four months. [00:16:37] Speaker A: And I want. And I wanted that. I mean, I seriously, I think that, man, that could be when you think we get off topic. But it just. He'll get on in time. But that was the goal that it was going to be that. And we've talked about a couple different names and threw all these things out there and talked about having a podcast at a bar that we just, you know, because we all get together, all of us guys and we have drinks and have our Fuck It Fridays or whatever you want to call it, and God, we should be like, recording this shit. I do think Raise Rowdy really sparked and we've brought up Raise Rowdy a ton of times on here. They're a great group of guys doing their podcast at the festival, seeing their stuff and thinking we could be doing this exact same thing. Yeah, that's really where. That's really where it kicked off. I was in the car. I was not driving. My. My stepbrother Eric was driving and he, you know, we were kind of talking about it and what it would take. And then I started kind of being bored and googling and looking up and I talked to the Raise Rowdy guys and I think, like I said, I had all that stuff ordered before we pretty much got home and just dive right into it. Because I think you and I also had the same thought of, well, it. We can always just send it all back and try it out for a month and see how bad it is and all this. But yeah, we just had to. I don't think there's a lot of tiptoeing into it of. Especially when you are, you know, we want it to look great. We want it to be all these things. It's. It was not something I just wanted to tiptoe into and half ass. And I think also the only reason it's not half ass is because of your support and your time that I can't give to it. And the effort I think both of us have put in, you know, on and off, you know, camera that, you know, has paid off because we've sacrificed and put extra time as it sits on a, you know, Monday night at 9:00. [00:18:38] Speaker B: Yeah. So I mean, it was a very fast pace. I mean, like you said, we. You had ordered the equipment cruisins was. Was very supportive of getting that equipment done. And over to us. We set everything up in my basement. I think we talked about that a little bit earlier too. We set up everything in my basement. I've got kind of a. A little bar area down there with a big table set everything up there. Trying to figure out the, the, the lay of the land, like switchboards and. [00:19:03] Speaker A: A soundboard and mics and boom arms. And he broke the boom arm like right out of the gate. [00:19:10] Speaker B: If you search on Google, you know, what do you need for a podcast? I mean, and it's overkill. [00:19:15] Speaker A: Crazy. [00:19:16] Speaker B: But I think we ordered at least one, if not four of, of everything and figured out what we needed. [00:19:23] Speaker A: But Everybody has different opinions about cameras. Everybody has different opinions about the mics you get. Everybody's got a different opinion about how they're doing. And it's still, I mean, I, you know, do I second guess? Can't. There's so many options of out there. And there are people that have badass podcasts and they just have wireless mics and they have this camera and that camera. And so that was just a whole learning curve because I'm like, well, shit, I didn't know. All these damn cameras shut off at 30 minutes. I'm like, fuck. You know, and then all the little nuances of it and, and then being able to have cameras that were versatile that we could use for other stuff and, you know, decent mics. And then how do you edit it? I mean, then that turned into a whole nother thing of, well, shit, how do we edit all this? And you know, what are we gonna do? And how do these people edit it? And there's this software and there's this software and yeah, fuck, now you gotta start a website and then, oh, by the way, you gotta upload all the shit and then you gotta get it onto all the platforms and there's a million of them. So that was, that was another eye opening thing for me. [00:20:29] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, no, absolutely. And from very early on, I mean, so we knew, actually we started this, we got the equipment, we did the basement. It was an hour and 42 minutes of just Austin and I. And we were just trying to get used to the fact that we had cameras on us, we had mics that, that, that were in front of our, our faces because neither one of us has really done that before. So here at Cruising in Farmington Road, here in West Peoria, within like a week, I think it was, Ella Langley was coming to town. And, and even since then, Ella has, has certainly blown up, you know, with, with her song with Riley and, and whatnot. But she was coming to town and, and we were both like, there's no way we're ready to even try, try to sit down with Ella and, and my guess seen her in passing while she was here in town. That was it for me. And, and I know you spent more time with her, but my guess is that she probably would have even obliged and been like, you know, I'll give you, I'll give you three minutes, you know, something along those lines. Just because she's, you know, nice and, and all of that as well, but we're like, there's no way we're even going to attempt that one. [00:21:39] Speaker A: No. And. And even knowing now, like, then there becomes a whole thing of, why are you using cameras? Where if you're using cameras now, have to get ready and then there's all this. But knowing that also we will have a chance to interview her at the festival. I mean, that made it very true. That made it nice. Where I'm like, we can get a. [00:21:55] Speaker B: Second chance at Sunday in Bloomington, right? No, no, no, that's Friday. [00:22:00] Speaker A: Friday, Clinton, Iowa. [00:22:01] Speaker B: Dang it. [00:22:02] Speaker A: Way off. [00:22:02] Speaker B: Way off. Samsonite. So, no, I think I was thinking about Jesse. I was thinking about knowing that. [00:22:07] Speaker A: Knowing that was good. But there was no way. I mean, our first, you know, was David Morris. [00:22:14] Speaker B: And I think real quick, shout out to David, because he. He was kind of that. That one. That. That bit the bullet to sit down with us first. And he knew that we were very open to him about that. You know, he was like, hey, you know, how long you been doing this? Well, you're actually our first one. [00:22:28] Speaker A: Yeah, we've never done this before. And so being able to go to somebody and say, no, no, man, it'll be fine. Like, we. We don't have anything to show you. We have no editing. We've done. We have a logo, and it's, you know, check it out, man. But. But with David, it took us two different conversations. [00:22:48] Speaker B: Long conversations. [00:22:48] Speaker A: Long conversations. And really just getting to know, like, hey, man, we're. Because he even made a comment on one of you guys. Dude, we just recorded. We just had a podcast right here. We just talked for an hour about all sorts of shit. And, you know, we'll get a second chance. We'll have David on again and, you know, get redemption and be like a whole new, you know, whole new podcast for him. But. And all the beginning ones, I mean, George Burge was shortly after that, and, you know, Austin Williams and all those people that like, dude, we didn't have shit. And I mean, the fact that we even got reposted by Bobby Bones and that was like, our what? I mean, George Burge was one of our earliest. [00:23:30] Speaker B: Within. Yeah, within first seven, I would say, off top of my head. But yeah, no, George. George Burge was. Was. And at that. At the. At that point, Cowboy Song, certainly as it is today. I mean, he was number one in country music here recently, which congrats to George and certainly deserved. But at that point, it was a little earlier than. Than it was on the radio, but it wasn't as big as what it was now. And he was just a great conversation, too. I mean, this Was again, back when we were sitting across the table from him and just easy conversation. [00:24:03] Speaker A: His camp, you know, his camp too. And you know, hey, like, you know, 15 minutes, let's try to make it. And they were still sitting in here. But George, I mean, we could. We, I think we went like 25 minutes or so and we could have even gone more. But that was still one of those like, hey guys, let's, you know, let's wrap it up. But again, it's all been learning from that standpoint of how their teams operate to when we can do it. I mean, there were some of those, yeah, we'll do it. And then all of a sudden it was hours later and we still hadn't. [00:24:30] Speaker B: Got to it since you mentioned it too. I mean, that, that like an exciting point. I mean, that was again, very early on, within our top, or not top, but within our first, I would say seven off top of my head to seven podcasts, maybe even five. And then so George was, Was. Was very supportive about sharing the reels and, and the tik Toks and stuff like that as, as we released them. And then obviously the. The full episode too. So he shares a reel that he mentions Bobby Bones, which is a good friend of his. I know that they play pickleball together quite a bit and stuff like that. And Bobby Bones for me is somebody that I've been listening to since I don't know the beginning of Bobby Bones. But. But yeah, so it was just. He shared it, Bobby ended up sharing it, ended up getting, I think our most likes on Instagram or most views on Instagram that, that we've certainly ever had since then even. But I mean, that's just the excitement of it all. And this was like October. [00:25:25] Speaker A: It was our top. It was one of our first five. Yeah, like we had bang, bang, bang, bang right out of the gate. And I know the first one we released was Lakeview, but we interviewed. I want to say George might have been even number three, because I think it went David Morris, then Austin Williams was here on like a third Friday. [00:25:48] Speaker B: I had the two. The two ladies. [00:25:50] Speaker A: George Burge was here that weekend. [00:25:54] Speaker B: Yeah, you might very well could have. [00:25:56] Speaker A: Actually, because I think it was like a Thursday, Friday, Saturday. We had a Thursday, Friday, Saturday deal going on. And. But either way, nonetheless, that's been a whole. Just trying to figure out the logistics of that, what we're doing, how we're set up now that we have kind of this own setup here and not like at the table. I mean, that has helped out a Lot. I mean, it's right here all ready to go. [00:26:20] Speaker B: So along the way too, let's just be honest. And we've had a few bloopers a few times where we forgot to hit. I forgot to hit the. The record button on, on the mics when the cameras screw up or the cameras turn on. [00:26:36] Speaker A: George. I mean, not George David Morris. [00:26:39] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:26:39] Speaker A: Like the first one we did. And we. [00:26:42] Speaker B: After he. After we. He. Not finally, but after he agreed to do it. [00:26:46] Speaker A: And then all we have is camera. And then, you know, even getting down further down the path, you know, I fuck up a setting on a camera and the camera that's on us. I think so. On Josh Ross's. [00:27:00] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:00] Speaker A: So all we have is the wide angle and his. I mean, it's just been a whole understanding of how to set it up. So. [00:27:09] Speaker B: You know, real quick, you mentioned Josh Ross and I just have to say too one, I love Josh Ross and we had such a good time with him when he was in town. Looking forward to seeing him again. Um, but I. There was a friend of mine that was just, just recently started listening to the podcast or watching the podcast and. And they were on Josh Ross and they're, you know, just sending me messages saying, hey, this is, you know, so fun or whatnot. I didn't know he's from Canada. I didn't know this, I didn't know that. And I was like, yeah, such a good, good guy. And he talked about it on the podcast and, and go watch it if you haven't. But one of. Of the hardest working. I mean, as far as like being out on tour, I think I just saw on his Instagram that he, he played 179, 180 shows this year. 2024. [00:27:58] Speaker A: Crazy. [00:27:58] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:27:59] Speaker A: I mean, every other bit about his 2024 were how many countries he was in, how many flights he took. Ridiculous. [00:28:05] Speaker B: And so shout out to Josh because he was such a good time and can't wait to see him down the road. [00:28:10] Speaker A: Yeah, no, I, I love Josh. Did not get a housewarming invite from you yet, Josh. That. That has hurt. But you know, stocking the pot. See, I do think seeing that part too, like, they all have stress, they all have personal life drama. They all have a living they're trying to make and they're battling the. Gotta produce, gotta produce an image. Like it's a lot. And seeing that on the other side of then, hey, I still want to, you know, buy a house and paint my kitchen and have a life. [00:28:44] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [00:28:45] Speaker A: As well as all the Other you do. I mean it's, there's a lot of glitz and glamour to some of it, but I also see the, just the traveling, the suitcases, the on the road constantly and just never being home. And I think that's something I've noticed a lot more I guess being focused in on who they are and what they have going on, that has been eye opening to me. [00:29:06] Speaker B: Absolutely, absolutely. So for, for my background kind of backing up to, to this as well. So I helped, I've helped with tailgate and Tall Boys for, for several years now. I've been to some shows at, at cruisens here, you know, but bringing like that, that perspective from a fan I think is what I've enjoyed not necessarily the most, but what I've, I've really just kind of taken, taken a hold of because I've enjoyed learning one. You know, four months ago I had no idea, you know, what the behind the scenes were of the industry, let alone, you know, what the artists go through. And it's kind of what you were saying. I mean just even watching them, you know, come in and, and knowing that they're going to play on a Saturday night here at Cruisands in West Peoria and we get here and their camp's already out, they've got their, their bus or their van or their Tahoe or you know, their, their U Haul, whatever it is that, that they're able to, you know, get across the country with. They've got it parked out here at cruisings and, and you know, they're coming in here because they want to take showers and, and hot water and they're commenting about, you know, how nice the bathrooms are, how the green room and, and so on and so forth. And it's just been an eye opening experience even from that, let alone all the other things that I've gotten to see since then. [00:30:31] Speaker A: Yeah, and even the routine of as you see them year after year, you know, Lakeview coming, you know, this Thursday and us interviewing them, you know, was our first one drop. But getting to interview them, but seeing them grow from, I mean the first time they played here, I mean I blacked out. I mean. [00:30:50] Speaker B: Oh, we've heard the story. It was on podcast. That's how episode one got episode one two. [00:30:55] Speaker A: Seeing them play the festivals and then seeing them take care of themselves and think about their voices and think about the next step and the next stop and still having fun, but also just growing as individuals and seeing each person's routine as they come here, whether it's go Work out whether it's sleep, whether it's play video games, whether it's party, whether it's whatever. Like seeing each camp is so unique. Every single one of them and how they operate and what they're into and what they're doing. I mean, I've seen guys that are, you know, just part of the band and like they have a whole nother job that they're trying to work remotely from a computer, you know, and also playing a band while traveling, flying back and forth to places, to people that were, you know, full time employees somewhere quit their job to do this, or they've been doing this since day one. Have been traveling, moving from band to band, repeat people. Oh, yeah, dude, I played Cruisins six times. I played twice with this person. I played three times with this person. [00:32:06] Speaker B: So from Lakeview, you mentioned it or kind of talked about it for a second there. So Lakeview, I was one of the things I was impressed about because I've heard all the stories. I've seen them at tailgate and Tall boys. I've, you know, and so we go up to Chicago. So this, this. We knew that this was likely going to be episode one. That's kind of going into it. [00:32:26] Speaker A: We got backing up. We. When we got it and then we did our first episode. [00:32:30] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:32:31] Speaker A: We saw the list of all the artists playing and I think I knew and I wanted to be optimistic was we had some editing. [00:32:42] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [00:32:42] Speaker A: That we needed to figure. Figure out how that was going to happen. And happened in a way that we, we like that we were proud of. And so it was like, well, let's just get, let's just start recording them. Let's get a backlog. But then knowing that Lakeview is in Chicago and I'm like, all right, so we could do seven episodes, I think was the magic number. Seven or eight that were like, dude, we could have all these recorded, get some practice. You know, we don't want to go into interviewing Lakeview, you know, like a bunch of newbies. So we had some under our belt and then went up to Chicago and thinking that would be the perfect one to drop first. I mean, it means a lot to me. [00:33:24] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:33:24] Speaker A: That, you know, getting to have them as our first podcast, you know, officially dropped. So that was kind of my thoughts. And then getting up there and that took a turn as far as the experience, you know, Pat happened to be up there too. Pat Clark. So that was like kind of a cool thing. And then it was going to be inside. Then it got moved to the Bus, which actually worked out really well, I think. [00:33:49] Speaker B: I think for me, or where I was going to go too was, you know, heard the stories about, you know, the partying and all the good times that Lakeview has had here. Cruisins and tailgate and tall boys and, you know, those, those guys that are getting ready, they're just starting this tour that we went and saw them on there at Tinley Park. They're opening up for, for me, you know, Breaking Benjamin and Stain, which is, you know, two bands that I've been listening to for years. Aaron Lewis is somebody that, you know, I just adore from a voice standpoint and a music standpoint. You know, they have this big opportunity and. But they, but they saw it and, and for me anyway, that's my perspective and. And they could tell their own story. But we get up there thinking this is going to be, you know, not a show but a. A fun, you know, high energy, lots of drinking and all of that. And we get up there and they're like, no one in on their team or camp or they've all kind of decided, hey, we're focused on. On the growth. We're focused on the opportunity. We're not going to this up. And they weren't drinking. [00:34:55] Speaker A: You guys go nuts. [00:34:56] Speaker B: Yeah. But yeah, nobody on their team, they all kind of agreed and to a certain degree that they weren't going to. And that to me was eye opening because they saw the opportunity that they had in front of them and Jesse and Luke and Wyatt and Matt and all of them, Corey and the band, I mean, all of them knew what opportunity they had in front of them and, and made that conscious decision to, to be bigger than that. [00:35:24] Speaker A: Oh yeah. And I like, I remember, I'm like, dude, I don't want to do anything to it up. Like I got a Lakeview, you know, credential on. Like, I'm not, I'm not gonna this up for you guys. So. No, 100%, that was, that was really cool to see and just kick it all off and do our first, you know, on the road and then from there, you know, coming back, sharpening up. I don't really know when this started. I think me and you just had a wild hair like, dude, this would be really cool. Let's get a spot set up. [00:35:51] Speaker B: The neon eventually and logos and everything. [00:35:54] Speaker A: And then we went on the road to. We went on the road to Nashville, which had its, you know, learning curve of getting it set up in the Airbnb scheduling when people were going to come, you Know, your voice of going out and drinking, to doing, you know, four or five podcasts in a day to. I think. I don't know. I think both of us even had, like, kind of a cold around that same point. So just doing that, you know, uploading them. I mean, podcast after podcast, getting it uploaded to the computer with other meetings and other things going on, again, just continuing to just see where we're going to take this, what we want it to be. You know, you and I have talked, you know, about all these different ideas and who, but at the same time, I think we're trying to learn as we go and kind of take what chances we have and the people that are around us. And 20, 25, I think, far exceeded what I thought would. We would do. You know, I didn't set. I didn't set goals personally as, like, how many followers or. [00:37:05] Speaker B: Right. [00:37:06] Speaker A: Who we're gonna gain. I mean, I'm impressed by a lot of the. You know, a lot of the numbers do. I think it should be more. I. I really have no idea. And I don't know. I. Because of our connection to tailgate and with some of the people we had on, I mean, maybe I would thought. I would have thought it would have grown, but at the same time, I'm. I'm impressed and love just the interactions that, you know, we have with the people that do follow our socials and each of the different platforms they listen to it on, and the YouTube channel of. Of. I don't know. And then here. The other part is you. You see the. The numbers. And then what makes me happy as shit is when I see somebody that I know that I would never think would listen to it, but then they're like, man, dude, yeah, I've listened to this one and this one, and I'm like, never would have thought this person, you know, is following and listening and liking it as much as they do. [00:37:59] Speaker B: Yeah, it's more than my mom and your mom that's listening, so certainly that's. [00:38:03] Speaker A: I don't even think my mom listens to it. [00:38:05] Speaker B: That's a win. But, no, that's kind of the same thing. It's just been such a fun ride to see and get to know. You know, I've kind of taken the. Kind of. The role between Austin and I that we have an artist coming in, doing a lot of research, and they probably think if they could actually see how much I'm, like, stalking them before they get into town, it's probably weird. Like, if they could actually, you know, pull up the analytics of Ryan Thompson on this or that? [00:38:34] Speaker A: Well, no, there's been a couple of them in like, like, they were like, man, you really did your research. I'm trying to think of who you act, who you said something to. But I do think the funniest part was early on when we did try to print off the sheets to had all these, oh yeah, questions and facts. And I was like, ryan, I'm not sitting next to this artist with all these facts. [00:38:55] Speaker B: And I'm like, so 1986, remember this. [00:39:00] Speaker A: Tweet you put out in 2008? [00:39:03] Speaker B: No. What I like to do is I like to want to get to know their music a little bit because, you know, I think that's important to have that conversation with them. But then I also do some, some research on other podcasts that they've been on or other interviews that they've done one, because I don't want to ask all the same questions, you know, but at the same time, you know, there's things that we can connect with. You know, Austin and I are, have been, you know, friends and baseball coaches for several years. We've talked to several artists, you know, Austin Williams, several others that have been baseball players or even in college level baseball players. George Burge was a golf guy. So I mean, those are easy conversations. And Austin Snell is previous Air Force, he's an Air Force veteran. So, you know, knowing that that's, that's a good lead into a conversation. So I try not to get too far, but at the same point, you know, trying to, to learn a little bit about them too, before they, before they show up here. My other point was going to be too, is that, you know, you talk about the possibility and, and the connection to tailgate, but the reality of it is, is that we haven't even had a tailgate since we've been doing tailgate beers. [00:40:14] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:40:14] Speaker B: You know, so I think having a tailgate or a couple tailgates that we'll have In Clinton and Bloomington, 2025, that certainly will, will open up some doors too, as far as awareness and, and what we're doing. [00:40:28] Speaker A: Oh, hands down. And when the crazy part is, like you said, we haven't even had a tailgate, but yet you look at my long list, which, what's crazy is I still could probably double that of, oh, yeah, we got to get this person on. We still got to have this person on. Gotta have this person on. I mean, that list is 30 to 40 people long. [00:40:47] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:40:47] Speaker A: Easily. Without trying super hard to get it there you know, a lot of it is just us planning time to either go to them or them to be near here or, you know, something like that. But it's crazy, the possibility of how many other people we could have. I mean, just today, I'm dming somebody on tailgate's page who just made some moves with somebody else who's very, very popular and offered him an invite to come to tailgate and tall boys put me in touch with their people, and then we're figuring out the logistics of them coming there. And I'll tell you after, because I forgot to tell you today, but, like, that alone could be awesome. And we have the list of all the people we could do podcasts with, you know, at. Who are playing tailgate and tall boys. And then there's all the other people that, I mean, you, in theory, could get at the festival that just are there to attend and have a good time. [00:41:49] Speaker B: So before we get Too far into 2025 plans and what we've got coming up, a little bit more kind of behind the scenes or background. So tailgate beers. So you kind of coined this as a term and essentially the name of the podcast, but what was kind of your intent? What do you see tailgate beers as? Or what's the Persona for that? [00:42:14] Speaker A: So when you and I were originally talking, and even my own thoughts, I don't know who I really need to give credit to, but I guess Stephen is the main one. So Steven has a group chat and a group of friends that they. Their lunch beers. They sit around and have their little beer session and talk about life. And I think we all have that group of lunch beers friends. We have that group of friends where. Hey, guys, what are you doing today? Who's watching the game? Let's go get some beers. Hey, who wants to say fuck it today? I do think I got attached to lunch beers first. Traveling down that path gets very difficult when it comes to, you know, the website, a name somebody already has it. And I think that's what I kind of ran into. And then the connection of tailgate and tall boys, you know, is. Is strong. But also, I think we've had this conversation before. I don't believe we've ever really aired it, but I think growing up, how we grew up sitting on a tailgate, going to, you know, people's houses, you know, hanging out on the back of trucks, you know, doing that type of stuff is what I grew up doing. And so, honestly, it's not really tied to tailgate and tall boys as much as like, when the name. It's just. That's really what I envision. Like, man, you sit around you, dude, you talk about life. You talk about, you know, that's where you met a. You know, that's where you met a girl. You know, that's where you, you know, got, you know, too drunk one night and had to call somebody to drive you home. Like, all those stories of going out to, you know, a field, and maybe not everybody grew up that way, but that's how I grew up. And I kind of look at that as, like, this, you know, place where you talk about all sorts of stuff and learn about life and, you know, hang out with that buddy before he goes off to the military or have that night that everybody's getting ready to go back to college or, you know, whatever it is. That's. That was when I closed my eyes and think about when I was, you know, younger and would have those, you know, it was having some tailgate beers. [00:44:26] Speaker B: No, And I'm a thousand percent. I mean, I grew up in a small town here, locally, in. In Illinois, just north of here, about 35 miles. Henry, you know, I remember growing up. And again, exactly what you're saying, you know, the. Out at the Bogner farm, you know, Brendan Bogner, friend of mine growing up, still is, but he had. His family had a bunch of corn fields, bean fields, whatever they were that year. And out in the middle, there was one big, huge. I don't know if it's an oak tree. I don't know what trees look like, but one big tree. And there was waterways, pathways down these fields to get to that one tree. And we'd go out there and, you know, just have beer and sit on a tailgate or, you know, have some music playing, that kind of stuff. And that's what I'm thinking about, too, is that, you know, we do in 2025, have a couple that are already planned and scheduled of podcasts to where we go out remote and set up on. On a couple of. The backside of a couple of tailgates and. And drink a few beers and. And. And have these types of conversations. [00:45:31] Speaker A: At no point do I promote, you know, drinking and driving, but, you know, going out and doing some back roading and finding a random field. Like, I think I still even have them marked on my phone of, like, these locations of, like, good spots on a gravel road. And. [00:45:48] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah, I don't know. [00:45:49] Speaker A: Like I said, that's what we. That's what we used to do. [00:45:52] Speaker B: I guess part of the thought process too. When we talk about Tailgate Beers and the podcast and what Austin and I are hoping to get out of this, but also do with it. I mean, so we are not just a. We do a lot of country artists. We talk to a lot of country artists, Tailgate and Tall Boys. There's a lot of country, you know, type of music that's involved there. But there's certainly some, some past and, and, and loves that Austin and I both have for, you know, more of rock stuff too. Sports certainly is something that, that we are connected on. So getting some of those as well. I mean, Peoria has a handful of, of sports names that, you know, have some local connections here too, that we would love to, to sit down with and have non music type of conversations with. [00:46:40] Speaker A: I mean, I think anybody starts a podcast and you're gonna go, you're gonna go with what's in front of you, right? [00:46:47] Speaker B: Right, Absolutely. [00:46:48] Speaker A: If Cruisens was a comedy club, who do you think we'd be interviewing? [00:46:51] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. Rob Snyder, coming to Washington, Illinois. [00:46:55] Speaker A: Matt Rife. I mean, if you and I were day traders and having, you know, very successful, like we would be interviewing that if we played in poker, like we would like at the end of the. [00:47:05] Speaker B: Day, if we own strip clubs, we'd probably interview strippers. [00:47:08] Speaker A: Yeah, 100%. But that's what I think. That's what was in front of us. And one, that's also where our interests are with USA Concerts, taking care of Cruisins, Tailgate and Tall Boys, promoting what we have going on. I mean, that's the whole purpose of this, you know, us going out and necessarily interviewing, you know, Brian Erlacher doesn't really bring anything to Cruisins or Tailgate and Tall Boys, if we're being honest, but to grow the brand and do it. I mean, I do want to continue to mix in those type of things where we can sit down with, you know, somebody like that or other sports, you know, athletes or dude who knows, I mean, anybody. [00:47:53] Speaker B: Sean Livingston. [00:47:54] Speaker A: Sean Livingston, I mean, sit down with him or other Peoria natives, again, have a beer with, talk about life and you know, and it all ties back to music. Other people we've even talked to, just their love for music, what they think about these things and you know, kind of shed light on just we're all humans trying to get through this crazy thing called life. And I mean, that's really at the end of the day because even a lot of my questions to some of them, I mean, we all spend every day talking about music like Hearing more about what's going on in their lives and what they like to do. I mean, I think I would say we're pretty mixed on. Not just music related questions. You ask music related questions every single day. [00:48:37] Speaker B: Absolutely. [00:48:38] Speaker A: You know, aliens. Yeah. [00:48:40] Speaker B: Pineapple on pizza. You know, all those. [00:48:42] Speaker A: Which I was thinking. I was thinking, and I can't fucking shower the same anymore. But I was thinking that we have to come up with. I need to come up with some. We got to come up with some other questions too. Although those are. They're so good. [00:48:57] Speaker B: They are. So I've got a note. So we've talked to several artists, right? So we talked to artists and we asked a question about, you know, writing music and writing songs. And I've actually. I don't know who it even was. Blockade maybe having a conversation with him about, you know, when they're just going through their daily routines and they think of something. Something that pops in their head. They all have notes right in their iPhone and it just is full of lyrics or full of song stuff, you know, for writing. So I started my own on my phone, a little notes thing about, you know, some of those random questions that I like to ask. I do got a little bit of a list going that just pop in my head or I see somewhere or whatever. So we can ask some. Just like some random questions every once in a while. [00:49:42] Speaker A: Do you think? And I'm asking this honestly because I do go. I do love the question. But for 2025, we've gone on for so long, like, I like my question. I feel like I like it more than maybe everybody else likes it. But I do think the five albums is a very interesting question. I know I'm biased to the question, but it can be a long question. I have thought for 2025 that we as, as a couple, come up with a singular question. [00:50:19] Speaker B: Okay. Okay. [00:50:20] Speaker A: That throughout 2025, that we ask and at the end, you know, we share the results of what. Where does everybody fall on this? But I want it to be a. Like, I want it to be a good one. [00:50:31] Speaker B: Like a bar graph kind of thing where we can do some analytics at the end of the year. [00:50:35] Speaker A: Yeah. [00:50:36] Speaker B: Okay. [00:50:36] Speaker A: Like, 65% of everybody we interview falls in this category. And maybe it is two or three. I don't know. I just think I really. And we've got. We don't have much time because we have till Thursday. [00:50:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:50:48] Speaker A: But I've been meaning to talk to you that I. I think it'd be fun to, like, where do you fall in this. And whether people watch it and they know it's coming of. Oh, God, here it is. But I want it to be something good. [00:51:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:51:03] Speaker A: You know, would you do this or this? I know we've come up with some up ones. I know there's some like. [00:51:10] Speaker B: That was. [00:51:10] Speaker A: But I really want it to be like a. Oh, God, I don't know where do. [00:51:15] Speaker B: That's. [00:51:15] Speaker A: Where do I fall? And it be like. And whether or not me and you still ask our dumb stupid ones that we throw in there. But like, there's that. The question of tailgate beers that where do you fall with? [00:51:27] Speaker B: I like that. I like that. Just gotta come figure out. We got two days. [00:51:31] Speaker A: I'm saying, like, I want it to be, you know. Oh, boy. Which side do I fall on? I don't want it to be like Republican or Democrat. I don't want it to be like, you know. But at the end of the year, we're like. We interviewed like, just like Josh Ross's post in 2025. We talked to 85 people, you know, however. And we. This is where they fall on this topic. [00:51:54] Speaker B: I like that. Just gotta figure out what that is. [00:51:57] Speaker A: Like, if you had Old Yeller, would you shoot it? But it's kind of got to be like a one side or the other. [00:52:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:52:04] Speaker A: But I want to really weigh on it. So we'll have to think about that. But I have been. I have been thinking about it because again, I like my five albums one year. I know you like some of yours. I like the randomness of it all. And again, I want to still have some of those. [00:52:15] Speaker B: You know, if there's something popped in my head, like just something random, you know, the cereal, the. The. Like we said already pineapple on pizza or whatever it is. You know, we're sitting there with Lily, you know, and Lily's a friend of Tailgate and Tall Boys and Cruising. Certainly just ended like a somewhat serious conversation for tailgate beers, at least. Right? [00:52:36] Speaker A: Probably one of the more serious. [00:52:37] Speaker B: Yeah. But as soon as she got done talking, it was, do you believe in aliens? [00:52:44] Speaker A: No. And I love that. So then that's. So then that's okay. So that's the other side of this is if we have a question that is asked, which I think we can live in the both worlds because I don't want to live in a world where I can't ask question dude. There's been questions you've asked. I don't even know are coming. [00:53:01] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:53:01] Speaker A: So I'm even like, what the fuck did he Just say, but then, like, I want there to be ones where we're all caught off guard. [00:53:08] Speaker B: So in true reflection of what we've. We've done what we've already accomplished. 2024. We've said it. We had 2020 episodes out in 2024. You talked about the. The five. Five albums question that I think we've asked on every single one of those 20. [00:53:26] Speaker A: Just about. [00:53:26] Speaker B: I think that you didn't ask it. [00:53:28] Speaker A: When I wasn't here. [00:53:29] Speaker B: No, I did ask it. I just didn't ask it to. [00:53:31] Speaker A: There have been some that also hasn't gotten put in. [00:53:34] Speaker B: Yeah, well, that could be true too. Got edited out for whatever reason. But I think you and I answered it a few times too. I think Austin Snell, I think even Race Rowdy turned it around and asked us. [00:53:44] Speaker A: Mine mixed up. [00:53:46] Speaker B: Yeah, but. But either way, I think now it might be a good, good time to. Let's reflect on 2024's top five albums and some of those that came to us. [00:54:01] Speaker A: There were several repeats for a while, and I do think we had some first. I mean, Matt Quigley for sure had the biggest differences. But see, this is another one. I want to get done with the. I want to get done with year. And I think whatever question we do ask, if it is five albums even, I think we should try to keep a list of how many people said, you know, Chris Stapleton, George. And then there were just some straight. [00:54:27] Speaker B: Came out a few times came out. [00:54:28] Speaker A: But Texas country, some that were, wow, you know, Austin Williams went real old, you know, on some of his, if I can remember right. [00:54:38] Speaker B: But Austin, that you couldn't even answer, like, born and raised in, like, old country, you know, the. The Wayland. [00:54:44] Speaker A: I think that's what gets me though, is when you ask the question, especially to people in music and the different answers, but also how serious some people take it. And you can tell, they're like, damn, yeah, that hits me hard. And then the other ones are like, I don't know. You know, I don't know. It's. To me, I'm like, that's. It's interesting that, like, that doesn't. You're in music and that doesn't strike you, but that's just different people's taste and what they think about. I'm an overthinker and I love music. I mean, I love music. It's so important to me, you know, what I listen to. But it is a very. It's a difficult question to ask for me. [00:55:26] Speaker B: Yeah. But for me, I mean, the couple of times it's been kind of turned around on us. It's periods of my life for me. It's Black Album from Metallica. You know, that's, you know, a time of growth and a very early age of, you know, fifth grade, whatever it was when it came out for me that, you know, I went from liking New Kids on the Block to, you know, Metallica based upon some influences and friends that I, you know, had. That's a period of life, a period of time that I remember from that same thing. I've said Shinedown a couple of times. Yeah. You know, that's a period of my life when I lived in Colorado and going through some, you know, hard times in life and, you know, that kind of thing. But that's what I remember from that, you know, in other ones too, that, that we have mentioned or have been asked. It just, those are periods of life. [00:56:17] Speaker A: That sticks to Three Days Grace's album. When I was a freshman in high school, I mean, I just lit that thing on fire constantly. I think even somewhere there in freshman year, Limp Bizkit came out with that alternate, like that different album. I think it had Faith on it. We made that cover. Like I listened to that, you know, quite a bit. But like, I literally remember that, you know, I know for a fact, you know, like my first rap album ever was Country Grammar. [00:56:47] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:56:47] Speaker A: And I remember just tearing that thing up. And I really was never big on rap, but that was a genre where, you know, shortly after that, Eminem comes out. 50 cents out, that takes you down a rabbit hole of like, holy. Rap was kind of short lived for me. Rock. Starting to drum. Starting to drum. So getting into what you can drum to. So now I'm listening to Stained. I'm listening to a Trey you. I'm like, what is this crazy? Just screamo rock. [00:57:18] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:57:18] Speaker A: Screamo rock for me is like, calms me. I just, I love it. I, I don't know, it's like my jazz music that could like just call me to just like, I don't know, that's just, that's how it all has always been. And so from there then when I got into high school and parents were like, hey, awesome, what you got in your CD player? What do you listen to on your ipod? Then they like listen to my headphones, like, what the, what is wrong with you? You know, it's just, it's nuts. But I just, I don't know, I'm just, I, I, it's always taken me to a certain space and then you know, I got big into, you know, taking back Sunday, and you're kind of down the emo. [00:58:03] Speaker B: Yeah. [00:58:03] Speaker A: And I grunge. God. I just. I just. I just found. I don't know if Tick Tock's gonna be around in a week, but, like, I just found a Tick Tock page was like songs that you didn't remember. It kind of goes down the emo rock phase, you know, And I'm like, oh, I love that song, you know, and, I don't know, just traveling down that path and each place, to me, going back to classic. So I was on a huge Johnny Cash kick at one point and, you know, listening to Boston to, you know, doing a. You know, I used to listen to Billy Joel all the time. My parents had a record play in the basement when I played pool in my basement, listen to a Billy Joel album. And that's when I really love vinyl and starting to listen to, like, more, you know, older rock, you know, listening to Rolling Stones and. Yeah, just. I don't know. Music has always been my chapters. Like you said, it's the chapters of your life. It's who you are, I think, you know, country can be very emotional, but I think a lot of music is just. Man, it can just take you to this place where it's just like, holy shit, man. [00:59:13] Speaker B: So you mentioned Johnny Cash, and it made me think about Walk the Line, which is one of the few movies that I've ever watched in my life. I've had that conversation with some friends recently. I don't watch movies very often, but I. I do love Walk the Line. But it takes me back to, again, a podcast that I think you were out of town that weekend, but I did with Alexa Curran, who is XO Lex, that the podcast itself probably won't ever see the light of day because it was very, very early on. But she was a big Walk the Line fan, and she was talking about it on the podcast that we recorded. Her and her dad used to watch that movie all the time, and. And she covered one of Johnny Cash's old songs that way. And. And just a great conversation. So shout out to her. [01:00:02] Speaker A: I don't know what makes people get, you know, one album to the next of why yours connect to you a certain way. But, you know, one I've never even think of. But, like, Gary Allen was a really. I don't know. I think Gary Allen was super underrated. I mean, just kind of here and then kind of fell off. But you want to talk about mental health, talk about going through I mean. I mean, his wife, you know, killed herself. And, like, the emotions that he went through of dealing with that and the albums he wrote and the music he wrote from that are absolutely insane. And that album, and each one of those was so good back then, and then just kind of fell off. And again, I think some of them also, again, going back to their. They have their own personal life and shit they go through, and there's so much they want to do, but, man, there's so many great albums, whether it's just one or they come out with, you know, like a Jason Aldean, where they've had 13 albums or something like that. I mean, for me, the biggest question in music right now is if Oasis will make new music. And I've been on pins and needles for the been. I've been on pins and needles, you know, listening to the same live album at Wimbley for the last 20 years of my life. And. I don't know. I don't know. Again, that's another one where I don't really know why it connected when it did. But, yeah, I just. I love their music and it. To me, there's certain ones that just stand the test of time. You know, I got album after album in my phone of. God, I was upset. I loved it. I don't know. Then after a year or six months or two months, I just take it or leave it, you know, don't really listen to it anymore. I don't really know completely why that is. [01:01:50] Speaker B: Yeah, I don't know on that one. [01:01:52] Speaker A: Going to 2025, man, I just, you know, I would love some more behind the scenes type stuff. I would love for us to get more. Continue to get more relaxed with all the things we're doing. And I think people seeing us for who we are. I don't know, maybe you think we're fucking. Maybe you think we fucking suck or. I don't know. But at the same time, I think us in our own relaxed element, even from the start of tonight to an hour and ten minutes into it, couple surfsides, I think it's. I don't know, I just think it's interesting to continue to perfect it and to be us and who we are. Because I think as we'll get into maybe here over the next several weeks of, you know, the stories we have of, you know, what I've been through, what you've been through, you know, where we want this to go and I think are very interesting. And I don't think a lot of people know that and I think sometimes, you know, me and you're both overthinkers, so we try to really make this as good as we can and we want this to be perfect. And I think sometimes it's kind of perfect and it's imperfections and ups and. [01:02:59] Speaker B: No, I agree with you. And I just, you know, I don't know what episode numbers. We don't know what episode number is going to be. But you know, what we've come to realize just through conversations and socials and stuff like that, you know, we, we are like the constant of tailgate beers and, you know, we're not viral by any stretch of the imagination, and I don't know if we necessarily even intend to be, but, you know, we, we do feel it's, it's important where we're at now for all of you to get to know us individually as well. We just sat down, Austin and I, you probably saw it on our socials. Sat down last Thursday, I think it was. Yeah, Thursday. And we got some behind the scenes kind of shoot, you know, some content for that, but at the same time talked about our goals for 2025 and, and what we wish to accomplish. Where do we want to go? We've got a very packed schedule for January. I mean, we've, we've got a lot coming up. Thursday, three days from now. I mean, that's a huge day. [01:04:02] Speaker A: Like four, four podcasts. [01:04:04] Speaker B: That's, that's a huge day. Lakeview's in town. We got Jason Cross that's coming, you know, opening up for them, direct support. [01:04:10] Speaker A: Got the mayor of Clinton coming. [01:04:12] Speaker B: Mayor of Clinton, Iowa, which is where tailgate and Tall Boys is. And in Clinton. We also, we're getting, not getting used to. But what we have, have found out, we've made some connections with other folks in Nashville area. Macy, who is an artist out of Nashville, is going to come through town. She's coming through just to do the podcast. [01:04:32] Speaker A: Yeah. That's really cool. [01:04:33] Speaker B: Yeah. On her way to Michigan. She's got a show in Michigan that weekend. But they also know Jesse and Luke and some of the guys from, from Lakeview. So they're like, well, we're going to come up Thursday and see Lakeview. So they're going to come up. Macy's going to do the podcast with us, record it and then hang out with, you know, with us for, for Lakeview that night. So. [01:04:50] Speaker A: Yeah. And if you draw a straight line from Nashville to Michigan, Peoria is not like on, you know, just a quick pullover. [01:04:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And, and what that was. I mean, Colin Wilkinson, who is, is Macy's manager. I, I actually met him separately. Separate trip to Nashville here in the last couple months. And we were at the Red Door, you know, drinking and having a good time as a Razor Audi event there in Nashville and, and happened to run into him. We started talking and he's like, yeah, I'm gonna, I'm gonna hit you up and, and you know, a Red Door. [01:05:25] Speaker A: Conversation that turns, you know, actually. [01:05:27] Speaker B: Yeah. Became fruitful. Yeah, no, he reached out, we connected and uh, we've got, we got some logistics figured out for the routing and all that kind of stuff for, for Macy and her team. Yeah, looking forward to that over the next several months. We've got some great artists coming through here in cruisins outside of even Thursday for Lakeview. You know, Tyler Braden's coming up. We've got Isaac Durston coming up. Yeah. Paul Cawthon. Isaac Durst is a local guy that we're going to interview as well. [01:05:57] Speaker A: Chris Cagle. [01:05:58] Speaker B: Chris Cagle. February 8th, I think off top of my head. [01:06:00] Speaker A: Yeah. February 8th. Tyler Braden, Paul Cawthon. We just announced Sterling Elza today. [01:06:07] Speaker B: I seen that. I loved that. [01:06:09] Speaker A: Ashley Cook. That one got postponed till March. Cooper Allen and Corey Kent. [01:06:16] Speaker B: Serious lineup of artists coming through. But what we've also kind of expanded, we talked about a little bit earlier. Kind of expanded on, you know, what some of our original ideas were. So we've got some, some personalities from, from cruisins that we've got scheduled for a special Valentine's Day show. If you, if, if you, if you've been around cruising, tailgating, tall boys. If you were at the Diamond Deck at all. She was one of the bartenders of Diamond Deck. So Liberty is going to be joining us for a special Valentine's Day show coming up. [01:06:48] Speaker A: She's. I don't know how many views it's gotten like 3 million views or something on cruising socials. But again, showing the other side of, you know, her and, and all the, you know, crazy that people get into to, you know, we've talked about, you know, hell, even getting, you know, Uncle Co on here to, you know, other people that have all these different perspectives of roles at the events or just attending the events to working at cruise ins, to work in the festival. Yeah, I'm. That's the part that I do think those are very interesting. Viral. Is it somebody crazy, you know, popular? I don't know. But I, I think they're very, I think it's very interesting. I think some of these artists that are coming through. I mean, Cooper Allen. Cooper Allen played Iowa and Bloomington and stayed for all four days of Bloomington. Just didn't leave. He's played cruisin, sold it out and crushed it. I'm intrigued to have him on. I think he will be a very electric personality. I have personally never met Paul. I cannot fucking wait to have him on. That is. That is probably my number one. Cannot wait to have him on. [01:08:09] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:08:10] Speaker A: Just. I don't know, man. He's. He is his own person, his own genre of music and just a badass. [01:08:21] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:08:21] Speaker A: Really just does not give a fuck. I mean, to. The first time he played cruisins, there was two people there to sold it out the next time. [01:08:32] Speaker B: That's gonna be fun. [01:08:33] Speaker A: That'll be fun. You know, Ashley Cook, she has a lot going on for her and so just the cruising shows alone I'm pumped for. But all the ones that we can mix in there. Yeah, I. I also can't wait for. To kind of sprinkle those in. [01:08:49] Speaker B: Kind of teased it earlier. So one of the, the tailgate sessions or the. One of the tailgate podcasts we're gonna do, we've got Joe Stam. Yeah, Austin knows Joe Stam from. From growing up with him. He's got a. A piece of property, fairly local here that we're gonna go out and we're gonna visit him on site at his property, probably sit on a couple tailgates, have some beers and make it a true tailgate beers episode there. So looking forward to that kind of a local guy. But it's been playing, playing around for a while. Also going to be a tailgate and tall boys. I think he was a tailgate and tall boys previously. [01:09:21] Speaker A: Both tailgates. [01:09:22] Speaker B: Yeah. So looking forward to sitting down with Joe. And another little twist that we've thrown into the schedule for January too, is we've got a brewery here in Bloomington, Illinois that's agreed very graciously to allow us to come in, record a podcast. They're going to, you know, give us some of their beers to drink and have it really be a kind of a tasting of their local beers. [01:09:46] Speaker A: How did that come about? [01:09:47] Speaker B: So we were sitting at one of our local to Washington establishments, Brick House, which is right there in Washington, Illinois. I'm there quite a bit. I do some work for them on the side and our friend came in and he was like passing out, you know, from a brewery standpoint, obviously they want to come into these types of bars establishments and get their. Their kegs on Tap kind of thing, basically. And he came in, was passing out some. Some samples. [01:10:16] Speaker A: I do remember that day. [01:10:17] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:10:18] Speaker A: But I don't remember how you got in. [01:10:20] Speaker B: No, I just asked him. I was like, hey, because he told us where he was from Bloomington. It's only about 20, 30 minutes away from here in Peoria. And I was like, hey, would you guys have a tap room or like a tasting room? And he said, yeah, it's like, well, do you guys ever, you know, allow a podcast to come in and. And, you know, record a podcast, drink some of of your beer, sample them, talk about them, you know, talk about your brewery, stuff like that? He's like, well, I can ask. And then all of a sudden, you know, he messaged me just two days ago and he's like, hey, I got it approved. Pick a date. And it's on the books. So here in the next couple weeks, we're going to go do that. Yeah, Like I said, we've got. We've got a lot of plans. [01:10:57] Speaker A: I think those are going to be the ones. And that's why I'm excited to just. I don't know, man, I'm. I think those are going to be ones that we kind of thrive where, I don't know, just letting it be free, being in a new element, ourselves, not feeling like we, you know, we're trying to be like a newsroom and just, I don't know, getting some shit out there and like I said, going, you know, going to different places. I mean, I love being here too, don't get me wrong. But I do think it be exciting to just be in different spots and make that shit happen and kind of be in their element and just hear more and. No, it's 2025 is gonna be good. I'm pumped. And then let alone at the festival, I mean, that's gonna have a whole fucking element of crazy. [01:11:44] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:11:44] Speaker A: Granted, it seems like forever away, but we're gonna blink and it's. And we're damn near knocking on five months away. [01:11:50] Speaker B: So we also have a couple of things with Creative vets. [01:11:53] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:11:53] Speaker B: I don't know if you want to talk briefly about your. Your. The Tailgate and Tall Boys connection to Creative Vets, but we've got a podcast scheduled with them and, and one of their. They're veterans that they've been working with, but then got some possibilities in Nashville for. For some work with them for their. For their golf outing coming up. I know we just got some information on that here recently, so. Yeah, so we got. We got that as well. So it's not just country music. It's not just who's coming through. We're getting a lot more requests, we're getting a lot more stuff scheduled for. [01:12:25] Speaker A: And hopefully that's what people want. I mean, again, I. I don't know, I'm trying to be as just genuine and, you know, open of who we are and share stuff and whether people want to hear that. And, you know, I don't know. I think we're just trying to still just put what we think is cool information that people don't know what goes on in general in music, you know, what creative vets. And we'll wait for that podcast to kind of go over, you know, all that stuff, but it's. Honestly, I don't even give it enough appreciation to truly what they have going on, you know, throughout the course of, you know, the festivals and what they make happen and, you know, just saving people's lives of. Through music. And, And I think it's. It's a very cool story and I. I can't wait to. To share it. And I know you're close to that, and I think all of us. I think all of us are close to the mental health aspect and the, you know, going through tough times. And, you know, we just talked about how much albums mean to us and music in general, and I think that'll be. That'll be a good one. So just continue to bring variety, conversations. And like I said, I. I just want us to continue to get more like who. Like out there. Of less. Less, you know, kind of script and more of, I don't know, just letting it be what it is and getting more, you know, conversations with people that you're like, God damn, I've never even. I've never even heard of this person. But, man, I loved it on this podcast, you know, because, man, you. You may not even like something, but when you hear and meet some of them, I'm like, I like their music mainly just because, God, they're just such a cool person. And I like. I like the conversation I've had with them. [01:14:03] Speaker B: I'm hoping to get a go down to Nashville again sometime here. Before too long, we mentioned Philadelphia, and, you know, one of the friends down there that is close with tailgating tall boys and cruisins, Caden McGuire, he wants to be on and. And, you know, he's got a. Got a bass fishing boat. Let's go on a bass fishing boat and let's do a podcast. Just. Well, we've talked about cracking a Few. [01:14:26] Speaker A: Beers, trying to, like, you know, do the lines of having a. A camera on a golf cart. And you know, how. You know, again, how do you mount all the cameras and record a podcast? And it's not like we have a crew of a bunch of people to record and I don't know, I think that'd be. Yeah, that'd be fun. [01:14:44] Speaker B: Yeah. No, anything along those lines. Where. Love to go. But if we continue January, like I said, We've got 12 or 13 scheduled in January. I mean, numbers wise, if we do that every month. And I know we got some tailgate tall boy stuff in there, too. I mean, that's gonna be quite a bit in itself, but, you know, that's 120, 130 episodes in a year. [01:15:04] Speaker A: And I mean. And then you have that list where. I mean, I personally, I have wanted to. And I've talked with Lakeview about it, which. This would be a cool Lakeview segment, which we can bring it up on Thursday. But, like, let's say we know they're going to play in Ohio. I think it'd be awesome to fly or. Well, have to fly. Rent a car. [01:15:26] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:15:26] Speaker A: Get there. [01:15:27] Speaker B: Private jet. Yep. Something. [01:15:28] Speaker A: Get there. Yeah. Hop on the pj, Get. Get to wherever they're at and then hit like four stops and literally do, like, we're going to ride the bus travel, you know, for five shows when Atlas gets a bus, you know, whenever. Some of these people, like, literally be like, hey, we're gonna come there, we're gonna do. But then we're gonna do, like, different interviews throughout that. What's it like to live on a tour bus? [01:15:53] Speaker B: Oh, good. I've only seen. [01:15:54] Speaker A: I've really only done it one time, and I think it'd be. I don't know. I think that would be a cool segment. And then just get, like, expanding on those ideas. You know, we've talked about, like, going and interview Charlie on a Friday and in going to some place. And then again, like, expanding on those to going on a golf course but still doing something, getting content. Like, that's what I want to improve on and get more of because, dude, we've had so many fun times, but there's really no cameras recording a lot of the. [01:16:23] Speaker B: There's something in some ways that's good. [01:16:25] Speaker A: No, in some ways it's good, but in some ways, like, I mean, dude, I want to interview. I want to get in the Uber and interview Kivo. [01:16:30] Speaker B: Okay. [01:16:31] Speaker A: I want to go on a whole, like, Uber. Uber. Like, what do they call that where they do the celebrity Uber thing or what's his name? [01:16:38] Speaker B: We ask him questions. [01:16:39] Speaker A: Yeah. And they do the whole, like, they sing songs and. Yeah, what's his name? That British dude. [01:16:44] Speaker B: It's not the Bang Bus. That's different. [01:16:47] Speaker A: But you get what. [01:16:48] Speaker B: That's a different show. [01:16:49] Speaker A: You get what I'm saying? Like, I don't know what it is, but anyways, I want to do that with Kivo. I think it'd be sick to. I don't know, like, who's Kivo? Maybe. Maybe no one else find it, finds this interesting. I mean, remember me and Corey got into it at late at night at like, three. I'm like, you. You treat Kivo with respect. [01:17:07] Speaker B: Yeah. [01:17:08] Speaker A: Like, you're pissing me off. And then. [01:17:10] Speaker B: And then Kevo is, like, hanging out with him in the. In the. [01:17:12] Speaker A: And then now they're like, that's his guy. That's. That's Cory's guy. And there's another one, again, that we met and will be lifelong friends, but his story of his work ethic and his grind and moving to Miami now, too. [01:17:27] Speaker B: Yeah, I've seen that. [01:17:27] Speaker A: And again, I don't know. Does everybody else find it fast? I. I find it fascinating. That's all I really care about. And I think that if we. I think those are stories where it's just. You don't see that all the time. We're like, never in a million years where I've thought that, like, the grind and what he's doing and it would. [01:17:43] Speaker B: Mean something to somebody. I mean, it's so. [01:17:45] Speaker A: It's. It's. It's impressive as fuck. I don't know. I kind of just took it as a group of them. They're just a bunch of young college kids that are, you know, partying or doing whatever, and then you get to know him. You're like, damn, dude. And the next morning, he was there bright and early, 9:00am, ready to go. [01:18:01] Speaker B: Yeah, we have these Nashville artists coming through, and certainly we want to interview them, but we also have some. Some local artists here, too, that, you know, not that we were ever reluctant to do that, but didn't know if the value was there, if that would mean anything to anyone. But what we have found is, you know, the interview we did with Taylor Berninga, the interview we got planned with Isaac Durst, the interview that. And Clayton Shea is a little bit bigger now as far as Nashville is concerned, but he's still hometown, you know, Canton guy. But those are. I mean, those help us tremendously from a content perspective, because they've got all of these local fans and local cult fans type of folks that are all over socials and will do anything for those guys. [01:18:49] Speaker A: So I can't wait, man. It's going to be fun. And I. At the end of the day, man, I'm even just excited just to do the journey with us together. I think just that growth and friendship and. Dude, we've had so many fucking laughs and so many fun times of doing this. [01:19:05] Speaker B: Oh, yeah. [01:19:06] Speaker A: Two different people handle things differently, which, you know, trying to understand the logistics of. You got a job, I got day job. We all have other shit going on. We have kids in sports. We got this shit. [01:19:18] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. [01:19:18] Speaker A: I mean, it's not gonna be easy. I mean, baseball's coming up. I'm retired, so I can do whatever I want. I mean, we really haven't even touched on that. [01:19:25] Speaker B: Haven't had to yet. [01:19:26] Speaker A: At the end of the day, man, I. I love having you on it and I love doing this together, man. [01:19:32] Speaker B: Absolutely. I do, too. [01:19:33] Speaker A: Honestly, I don't know if it would have made it this long because I only have so much capacity to. To do so much and have I dropped the ball or. You know, we pick up for each other. Perfect. And who gives a shit? You know, it just. At the end of the day, it will move at whatever pace. We continue to want to push it, and I think sky's the limit when it comes to what we can do. It'll be what it's going to be, and it'll be just fine. [01:19:55] Speaker B: So we appreciate, we appreciate each other, but we also appreciate those of you that have been watching, those of you that been stuck around since episode one or episode 20 or episode 21, which this one will end up being. 20, 24, 2025. Tailgate and Tall Boys, Any. Any of those fans that come along, too. Looking forward to. To meeting, meeting all of you out there. So, like, I try to say to the artists come through here, you know, we'll see it down the road. [01:20:23] Speaker A: At the end of the day, we have information we're going to share about the upcoming festivals. I want to try to go through, you know, logistics for people, where to go, parking stuff. Helpful things. Make it fun. I want to give away. [01:20:38] Speaker B: Yes. [01:20:39] Speaker A: I mean, I want to be like Oprah, you know, Surfside for you. Surfside for you, everybody. Free shirts for you. Tickets, I want to give out our own. I want to make sure that people that follow this podcast win tickets to shit when, you know, meet and greets, when, I don't know, cool shit so. [01:20:58] Speaker B: What, what helps us to identify and or even justify. Right? I mean, this, this costs money. It costs money to edit. It costs money for this equipment. You know, are those likes, those follows, those subscribes, those shares? Yes. You know, certainly social media is where we live and breathe as far as a podcast is concerned. So please, if you see something, you like it, it makes you smile, it makes you laugh, share it. [01:21:27] Speaker A: Yeah. [01:21:27] Speaker B: Tell your friends about it, share it. [01:21:29] Speaker A: With, you know, on whether it's on Facebook, YouTube, post something about it, comment. We want to hear from it. So please. It means a lot to us. We do put a lot of time into this and I know for me this is kind of a, this is a nice getaway evenings. It is. It has been kind of a hobby. I mean, trust me, we're not, you know, putting food on the table with this by any means, but we appreciate USA Concerts for supporting us. We appreciate all the artists that have come on, we appreciate our families and other people that have supported it and reached out and said how much they love it. So again, we hope we have another just jam packed year and we'll do everything we can. Just let us know your thoughts and who you want to see in 2025 and we're going to do our best to make it happen. So Ryan, this is to you, to. [01:22:21] Speaker B: Cheers, 2025, all of you and let's go tailgate. Be.