Echo Play Podcast
Welcome to our community of cover bands, tributes, and all other music addicts as we discuss the DFW music scene.
Echo Play Podcast
Acoustic Adventures
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In this episode, we dive into our recent experience playing an acoustic set at Hop Fusion, a refreshing change from our usual plugged-in, high-energy shows. We discuss how the stripped-down format allowed us to explore new takes on familiar songs, like "Spiderwebs," which we turned into a rhythmic, bouncy tune with a ska flair.
We reflect on the benefits of doing acoustic sets, including the chance for more interaction with the crowd and the intimate, inviting atmosphere that it creates. It's a nice break from the usual, high-decibel performances and something we hope to do more often. We talk about wanting to develop an acoustic circuit with a few shows a year to keep things fresh.
The conversation also turns to future plans, both for our acoustic endeavors and for the band’s growth overall. We discuss the idea of putting together a mailing list to keep fans in the loop about upcoming shows, but we acknowledge how time-consuming it is to juggle everything between gigs and other commitments.
Post-Show Reflection on Hop Fusion Performance
Speaker 1Echo .
Speaker 2Play Podcast . We got done playing like 45 minutes ago , yep .
Speaker 1We're back in the car again . Yeah , just reference Jurassic Park . But yeah , we had a killer show here at Hop Fusion .
Speaker 2Yeah , acoustic unplugged , which we don't do very often . But I mean , I'm not going to lie , it's fun , it's like a refresher for us , or it's just a different take on it , totally different take , totally different take um , but very cool , like , even like , if you watch the way like michael's kit is set up , like it's so it's so cool , it's so fun .
Speaker 1Yeah , I really enjoy it no , I agree , I , I don't think we do . We don't do nearly as much as we don't do nearly as much alteration as we probably should . But the songs that we do there's so much like Spiderwebs to me that the way we play that is just so like fun . It's just completely different , very , very kind of . I mean , the band is already kind of Scottish , but like making it that like doom , doom doom you know like very kind of bouncy rhythmic . Yeah , it was good yeah , it's fun stuff .
Speaker 2Yeah , that I mean tonight was I I'm not gonna lie like so my fault I did not make an event , uh like thing , for this on facebook .
Speaker 2Uh , early enough , I just I monday hit and I was like , oh no , I didn't make an event thing and so I was like , man , that's my fault , like you know , if we don't get a lot of people like that's , that's on me and you know , um , even like , the interested on it was , like you know , 65 and nine were confirmed going and I was like , oh man , I messed up this one . But you know , 30 minutes before we started playing , still pretty empty , it wasn't really . I was like , oh man , this might not be a great one . And then here they come .
Speaker 2Y'all did not let us down and I appreciate that so much Like it was a great crowd , very , very heavily singing crowd , which is so fun at acoustic shows .
Speaker 1What do you think was the highlight Shine ?
Speaker 2Shine was loud . No , the highlight for me was when Matt put down Eve 6 and said that their album wasn't very good . So I said let's play Eve 6 . I feel like everyone sang louder because of that . That was pretty fun .
Speaker 1It was set up as prompt .
Speaker 2It was nice . The first set up as prompt . Yeah , it was nice , but no , it was the first set man . I felt like it was really good . Yep , I felt like we were just like we were just hitting everything like how we should yeah it was good times .
Speaker 1I was pushing the PA pretty hard , we were like right at the red line , but I think it carried pretty well throughout . Once you did the side fills and everything , we were having a good time .
Speaker 2Evan was pulling double duty of pretty much sitting in the crowd and mixing , while having a bass with him and walking around the venue . It was a good time , man .
Speaker 1It's always funny walking around with a wireless People . Look at you like whoa what ? Yeah , I mean wireless has been around forever , right , like since the 80s , I mean even before that . I don't know . I don't know what I'm talking about with it .
Speaker 2I just think , when you see someone walking with a bass , you're like whoa , what when I'm walking ?
Speaker 1around and playing . That's him from up there . Yeah , but he's down here .
Speaker 2But he should be up there yeah .
Speaker 1It's funny , it's kind of fun to see those like eureka moments where it's like wait a minute , wait , wait , wait , wait .
Speaker 2I can hear him .
Speaker 1It was fun though they were just pumped dude .
Speaker 2Yeah , hear them .
Speaker 1It was fun though they were just pumped dude like uh the the sing-alongs man , yeah , so good hop fusion , um hop fusion , kind of paul's blowing kisses the window right now , paul just makes these appearances all the time . He , just , he just feels us he's just always there . But uh , the I mean all the hop fusion shows we've had . Um people , it's's so funny how like we go in mellow we were acoustic right , but then like the crowds are like screaming , they're so loud .
Speaker 2They're so loud .
Speaker 1Maybe because it's acoustic , we can hear them , but like I don't feel . Like it's the same every show like that where people are just screaming the lyrics . It can't be . Yeah .
Speaker 2I don't know , man , I think .
Speaker 1Confusion brings just I don't know the crowd there . Just is great the fact that you know like we're obviously like more subdued .
Speaker 2You know , I feel like just people just like want to belt with you . Sure , you know , and A little bit more inviting . Like it's more fun too because you can talk with the crowd more , you can have more of a conversation . Sure , you can be like sillier in between sets because like you're just everything stripped down , you know you don't have to be like , yeah , you know everyone's face constantly and let's see you get up , come on you know , you're just like .
Speaker 2I just want to hear y'all , I mean ironically , I think we we powered through more . We powered through everything faster tonight , I feel like , than we normally do normally there's a little bit more banter back and forth , but yeah we were just we were trucking along in the pocket for the most part , yeah , which is really cool yeah and again , like I didn't even see how many people were on the patio , you , you , walked around the patio .
Speaker 1There I mean , yeah , it was a little hot , yeah , it was hot , it was a little toasty .
Speaker 2So okay , yeah , Texas man come on now , make up your mind . Like last weekend was beautiful , Yep , and today you're like nah , just kidding .
Speaker 1When so Long played Texas Live . It could not have been more perfect , oh it could not have been more perfect .
Speaker 2Oh , yeah , yeah , yeah , we were like 78 . Because that's the day that Maddox had his opening weekend for baseball and so we were outside playing baseball all day I was like man , it's perfect outside .
Speaker 1It was like perfect California weather right there .
Speaker 2If you would have been out there tonight though this slog man yeah that's exactly it , muggy . Yeah , it just feels damp outside , yeah , muggy , yeah just it feels damp outside .
Speaker 1Yeah , it's gross . It is gross . Yeah , I can't wait . I can't wait for the season to be over
Musings on Tribute Bands and Vocalists
Speaker 1. I , I'm not a summer guy .
Speaker 1Like , no like for me , it's october , november I can't do it that's the like my mom can just sit and bake and just sit in the pool for eight hours . I mean Chelsea can do that too , and I mean she packs on sunscreen , but like I , just I can't . I don't like the heat man , I'd rather be freezing cold and put blankets on . Just put me over the mountains somewhere , like I'm good . Oh yeah , I mean that's .
Speaker 2Mountains over beach .
Speaker 1for me it's funny because I'm mountains and Chelsea's a desert .
Speaker 2Yeah , because Courtney likes the beach more . Yeah , and I'm mountains .
Speaker 1We'll have to figure it out . Compromise yeah , Where's the mountains and desert ? But yeah , it's good times , man . Yeah , I don't know , We'll see how the acoustic thing grows .
Speaker 2Yeah , hopefully we can . I would love to be able to do more with it , or even some sort of circuit that we can get on with it , where it's like four shows a year . I feel like people are . It's nice to have a change up every once in a while , not get your ears ringing every night , right , and I think people are really , like , really into it . Yeah , so I mean we had like tonight , like I had a friend from high school who lives a few hours away and they drove her , her daughter and her best , like her best friend and her daughter all drove up here . Wow , like just to come hang out and like check the show out With short notice too .
Speaker 2Yeah , Well , actually they knew about that one .
Speaker 1They knew about it , yeah .
Speaker 2I said something or like I did say something a couple weeks ago with our layout of what we were doing this month .
Speaker 1Yeah , Okay , we did like the mass post of all the shows .
Speaker 2Yeah , I do that once a month .
Speaker 1I do that at the beginning of the month now just to kind of show everyone , like here's the shows we're playing so people can get on their calendars . They want to get on quickly . You know , I I've been there's just so much to do , man , like there's so much I want to do , but it's just time , and I want to put together a like an email , like a mailing list . Yeah , or I mean we all the transactions we do with all the tributes and so on , and I we get their emails from Square . So I have all these emails of people and I thought it'd be good to do a monthly showdown of all the shows we have and send it out . But then I've got to design it and do a template and there's just a lot to do . But I've got to grow this thing .
Speaker 2Always something to do , yeah , yeah for a side gig , always something to do .
Speaker 1Well , right , right . And it's funny because , like I , I just don't know um where it's going or like what , what the like end goal is for all this you know yeah , we thought about that with the dick bellings a long time ago ago .
Speaker 2We're just like , yeah , still just like all right , man , just we're just keep going the dicks have a rhythm .
Speaker 1I mean , um , we've been talking about with the tools too , where , uh , um , we're like is this , is this it ?
Speaker 1like pinnacle peak like we're at what we're going to be paid for , the rest of tools , existence , or um , how can we step it up ? Like , how can we elevate the show and is it worth it ? Will people pay it ? You know what I mean . Like I think there's different tiers of band too . Or you know , you get your , your local , dfw bands and you get your like your , your iron maidens , where it's like you're traveling to Vegas and doing these monster shows and it's like , how do you get to that point ? First off , how do you get to that point without legal issues ?
Speaker 2Yeah , you're making that much money on someone else's music . Yeah .
Speaker 1I mean , at that point I wonder if you got to get some type of pardon or something .
Speaker 2Well , I think the venues have to pay .
Speaker 1Pay the ASCAP or the BMI or whatever .
Speaker 2So I mean , I wonder if that covers it .
Speaker 1Yeah , maybe you know . I mean you look at that like Brazilian Linkin Park tribute and they sell out stadiums . Yeah , like 2,000 people going to these shows , that's crazy , not like stadiums but like you know what I mean , like I was like what stadium is 2 000 ? Giant , giant shows and , uh , I'll show you a video , but they're just a lincoln park tribute and I mean they're .
Speaker 1They're probably the best in the world , though yeah , I mean yeah , um , the dude looks like Chester and sounds like Chester and everyone was like why didn't they get him ? And what is it ? A guy I watch on YouTube , charlie . He's like think about it , would Linkin Park . What if your best friend died and you went and got someone who looks and sounds just like him ?
Speaker 2No , that'd be a rip be you know what I mean . Like , no , I honestly like um their selection . I think she's great and I that might not be like the popular opinion on it , I have no idea but like the timbre and her voice is close to what chester did , yeah , and so I feel like she gels together nicely and like they , they flip the page and like we're like we did this with Chester and that chapter is closed with Chester .
Speaker 2And so now , like they're starting with Sarah and I'm like , yeah , pretty good , that's her name , sarah . I think her name is Sarah yeah .
Speaker 1It was like Emily or something , or she was in a band called sarah sarah , something I don't know . Okay , I so I have mixed feelings because , like they should not do chester right , like they're , why would you get someone that sounds just like that ? But here's the problem . Now , they got to do these songs live , so when I the first time I saw her was when they did , um , I think , paper cut or or something .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1And I was just like no , no , this is not right . It's like Uncanny Valley , you know where she's screaming it kind of and then doing the like , trying to hit the notes .
Speaker 2She's got that . Nasally scream .
Speaker 1I just didn't like it . And then everyone's like , oh my God , she's amazing , listen to the new song . So I popped on the new song and I was like , okay .
Speaker 2It's good in the new song . This is good because there's no precedent of like Chester's vocals . She doesn't have to mimic whatever someone else is doing .
Speaker 1She doesn't have to mimic what he did and I thought her vocals with Mike Shinoda like were really good the back and forth thing I wasn't a big fan of the song because it was very like it was very new lincoln park like lincoln park years later . I think they should have . They should have gone back , dude . I think with her they should have done like some type of spirit box thing where , like you , really get her to show those vocals off in a in a heavier new metal album .
Speaker 2I don't know , they might go that route with the .
Speaker 1Zero Zero album . But like , cause they've done ? They did Hybrid Theory , Meteora and then Menace to Midnight and they just kept getting more and more poppy right . What if they , after all this happened , they get her to come back , release the song , but then , like , do a heavy record , it would be so cool .
Speaker 2Yeah , like if they went that route I think , well , I gotta look at the band that she was in prior , because I feel like that was a heavier band , yeah , that she was in . Yeah , so I don't know , like I , I thought it was interesting take and like , yeah , um and it sucks too .
Speaker 1I I feel bad for her because , like she's in it , yeah , I know they . They had to have prepped her and been like look , there are going to be some , and by some I mean like a crap ton of people that are gonna don't like about this , yeah they're gonna be like there's no way how ?
Speaker 2could you ?
Speaker 1there's no winning solution to know that that scenario no but , um , I think overall everyone's like wow , this is great , that new song is incredible , she's really good . And then there are some other people I'm kind of in that boat where it's like it's been what ? Seven years or how many years since you died . It's been a minute and it just wasn't the first choice I would expect you know what ?
Speaker 1I mean , like I thought they would go kind of a different route . I think a girl is fantastic . I just her voice wasn't quite there . In my opinion , like I don't know , they could have gone more of a arch enemy kind of spirit box , like to get a heavy , a heavy girl could sing .
Speaker 2I wonder if that would be good for their fan base , though you know I'm not huge into Linkin Park . But like I'm curious if their fan base would accept that like even heavier , because we know . Chester could go heavier . And funny enough segue into Chester when he played for STP , Did he yeah , he was in STP for a minute what I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure he did touring with them or whatever , but when STP they got that new singer that they have now to me that's a tribute band , yeah .
Speaker 2I feel like , if you got Scott , weiland is no longer there and you're now a tribute band .
Speaker 1Did he die ?
Speaker 2He died .
Speaker 1Oh , longer there and like you're now a tribute band .
Speaker 2Did he die ? He died , oh yeah , okay , yeah , I don't ?
Speaker 1I'm not , yeah , my man , uh , loves some heroin . Um so , oh , my gosh segue . Speaking of heroin , did you see that video of what jane's addiction ?
Speaker 2the fighting yeah yeah , I did , I did perry per .
Speaker 1He is cracked out Was fighting .
Speaker 2Who was what's uh ?
Speaker 1Dave Navarro . Dave Navarro , thank you . Yeah , like , but it looked like he was like . I've watched it a couple times .
Speaker 2I just said it too . It's just like what the hell happened ? Yeah , I was like Cause . You see Dave , dave's like Confused , like what ? Yeah , he's like .
Speaker 1What the hell's going
Casual Chat on Various Topics
Speaker 1on . It like getting into the song and was like just pissed and like would go rah . Rah was screaming in the mic . He looked at Dave and locked in , was like rah and he went over and kind of did a shoulder bump thing . But then like he looked at him with like serial killer eyes and was just like screaming Dude .
Speaker 2Ben Farrell always looks like he's on the edge .
Speaker 1Well , that's what the comments said . They were like honestly , the dude's always like he looks like there's something not right or there's something not right going on up there . Yeah , that's just crazy . Like I don't know Big bands like that Same thing with , like sports guys and you know athletes where whenever they throw a fit , it's just like really Really , yeah , like cool , You're going to throw a fit right here . Man , all the money , all the stuff you guys have done together , like I don't know . It was kind of funny , but man , drugs are bad .
Speaker 2Yeah , drugs are bad . Don't do those kids no . Don't do drugs , no .
Speaker 1Don't do drugs . No , been fortunate .
Speaker 2Yeah , yeah . I had Someone ask me tonight . They were like Do you want me to give you some beer ? And I was like no man , I don't , I don't drink that . I got off for beer too .
Speaker 2And it's not like . It's not like I'm like I don't drink and I'm straight , you know it's not like that , like I just I have no acquired , I have no taste for it . Yeah , like it's not something I'm like man , that sounds delicious , like that's not for me . Yeah , and also like and I had drank in back in the day , I guess , like casually or socially or whatever , yeah , but like the thought of waking up with a hangover with children sounds awful , awful , and so like the second , like my son was , like my first son was born , like I don't , I probably haven't , I definitely have not been intoxicated , um , since then .
Speaker 1So yeah , yeah , it's kind of a wake-up call , yeah , I mean it's like yeah , I don't want to .
Speaker 2I don't want to feel like crap when oh , what's this ? This guy's backing up real close to us .
Speaker 1Alright , he good .
Speaker 2That's what you get side commentary when we're recording in a vehicle Outside of a venue .
Speaker 1Mexico , mexico , mexico license plate . Yeah , kind of Smell that old gasoline . Smell it , man .
Speaker 2I'm inhaling it right now .
Speaker 1Yeah , jeez , got to get the circulation going . Yeah , oh , man .
Speaker 2Well , I know where we're at right now .
Speaker 1I'm excited for this cruise coming up .
Speaker 2Oh yeah , so , with that said , evan's going to be out next week , so we're going to take a week off from recording and then we'll be back the following week . So yeah , bear with us for a second and then we'll be back to it like normal .
Speaker 1Yep , yeah , we got to get a schedule going . We'll get some more people involved . I've already said you've had a few people be like oh , come on , man get me on there . I've had a few people get me on there . I'm like , yeah , cool the fact that people want to be on that's cool the more I think about getting Larry on here , the more I kind of love the idea oh man , larry would be fun .
Speaker 2I bet we could call Larry and get him to come to Platinum and record Just do it at O'Shea's office . Oh yeah , no , he would come over .
Speaker 1The Platinum yeah .
Speaker 2Maybe , larry , you don't listen to this podcast , but I'm going to text you and get you on schedule . He's busy . Dude larry is busy . Yeah , we can get him on the weekend sometime during the day yeah but we'll get larry on . It'll god , that podcast , that'll be explicit . Yeah , for sure . Why doesn't he have one ? I don't't know . I would listen to Larry's Larry's funny .
Speaker 1Larry in the morning ? Yeah , I would listen to Larry in the morning .
Speaker 2Oh my God , Is your terror in the background yelling .
Speaker 1Yeah , oh my gosh , yeah I would . Why isn't that a TV show ?
Speaker 2I mean I would watch that It'd be funny . I would watch . Why isn't that a TV show ? I mean I would watch that It'd be funny . I would watch that It'd be really funny .
Speaker 1I remember they filmed something at Porschack Did they . Yeah , there was like a TV show filmed there at one point and Tara was bartending . I'm pretty sure that that happened . I'll have to confirm that with Tara . Yeah , I'm pretty sure that that happened . I'll have to confirm that with Tara . Yeah , well , you want to call it there ?
Speaker 2Yeah , it sounds probably good . We're tired . Yeah , it's been a night .
Speaker 1It's a shorter episode , but it's all good .
Speaker 2Yeah .
Speaker 1We'll get it continued up and running and yeah , man , I'm going to have a good cruise . I don't know , maybe I should bring this and do one with Kevin , or something .
Speaker 2Kevin will be there . Yeah , you should . Yeah , you guys should report with Kevin . Yeah , that would be funny .
Speaker 1Let's get a few drinks in both of
Silent Synced Relationship Dynamics
Speaker 1us , dude . I love Kevin because it's like we can just be in a room and not talk at all , but then , like , when something comes up , we'll just start talking , and talking , and talking , and it's just easy . I love relationships like that .
Speaker 2Yeah , effortless Like you don't .
Speaker 1You can have awkward silence because it's not awkward , you're just working or doing whatever , and then have a conversation when you want to , and Kevin and I just like sync up like that . So it's kind of funny because I'll just be in the room . Then someone will come in for practice and be like what are you guys doing Now ? We're just hanging out In silence . Yeah , Sound of silence .
Speaker 2All right , everybody , good night , good night , Bye , good night , good night , bye , good night .