The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast - Episode 005 with John Zilch.
John is a former colleague of mine, and a real child of '90's alternative rock, who has expanded his tastes as he's become an adult and a parent. Hear stories about his first concert - a who's who of '90's alt rock aspirants - and the joys of being surprised by finding new bands. From Pearl Jam to Sponge to The National and Phoebe Bridgers, John is a live music connoisseur and just a charming person to talk music with. Please join us!
The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast - Episode 005 with John Zilch.
John is a former colleague of mine, and a real child of '90's alternative rock, who has expanded his tastes as he's become an adult and a parent. Hear stories about his first concert - a who's who of '90's alt rock aspirants - and the joys of being surprised by finding new bands. From Pearl Jam to Sponge to The National and Phoebe Bridgers, John is a live music connoisseur and just a charming person to talk music with. Please join us!
Welcome to the Rock and Roll Show podcast. We're here to share the thrill of experiencing live music together with strangers and with friends, and to get to know our guests a little bit better through their concert experiences. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, and I relate to people best when talking about music. Finding out what bands someone listened to and what shows they've been to allows us all to get to know and understand one another better. Also, hey, it's just fun to swap stories about shows we've seen over the years. Today's conversation should be a good one. Our guest is John Zilch. He's a chief product officer, also a professor of management information systems. We spent almost two years working together recently and we talked about talking about music, but we never got around to it until now. So, john, thanks for joining us, thanks for having me. It's a long time coming. Yeah, really Great to see you. So let's start at the beginning. Where did you get your love of music? Give me your background musically.
John ZIlch:Yeah, I'm looking at your t-shirt. I don't know if you picked that based on your guest.
Alex Gadd:I was a child of the 90s really or at least my formative years. So I know.
John ZIlch:Guns N' Roses, end of the 80, the 80s and the 90s, but uh uh. You know I grew up in the grunge period alternative rock and then, as we turned to 2000, started to more of the indie rock stuff too but you know along the way, of course, explored classic rock and other genres as well sure so.
Alex Gadd:Did you get your love of music from your parents, or where did you pick it up?
John ZIlch:Yeah, that's a great question. I think I may have been born with it because my mother enjoyed the Beatles, but I can't recall her ever listening to the Beatles around the house much. I don't know. My father wasn't a huge music fan and I had friends that were really interested in music and would always tell me go, you got to go play, this, record, this album, and then eventually you know I would, and it was almost immediate. I just, I just love listening to music, just almost from the get go.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, that sounds very similar to my story. I can remember a kid brought one of Kiss's records when it was released in 1976 into our second grade class it was his older sibling's record and put it on for show and tell, and I don't think the teacher was ready for what she heard but, it lit something up in me because my mom was way into the Beatles as well.
Alex Gadd:My dad wasn't as much into music, so I was listening to top 40 radio and then the Beatles and some Motown from my mom. Then I heard Kiss and my world opened and that was the beginning, just as you described, of friends sharing music with me and me sharing music with my friends as well. So that's great. Does that lead directly to your first concert? What was your first concert?
John ZIlch:yeah, great question I was. I was uh thinking about this when I knew I was coming on the show, um, and I listened to a couple of the other, the other episodes you've done, and I know you're not a big fan of festivals, I have that right.
Alex Gadd:Uh, I'm not as big a fan of festivals, but they're. That doesn't mean they're not great. I just it's not my thing. I don't like being. That's a lot of work a festival. You got to be there all day.
John ZIlch:It's too much time yeah, I had a friend who had an extra ticket to radio 104 fest in western mass where I grew up, and that was using me at an amusement park called riverside park it's now six flags and he's like, do you want to go? And I don't think I'd ever. I think this is my first concert. I don't think I'd ever been to a concert. It was 1996. I was a junior in high school or it was the summer.
John ZIlch:I guess going into junior year. And yeah, we drove in. And if you want a good laugh here, here was the line. Can I read you the lineup at this concert?
Alex Gadd:Yeah, that's I want to hear.
John ZIlch:I love your reaction to some of these Cracker, everclear, candlebox, semisonic, the Refreshments, dishwalla, stabbing Westward, local H Lush and that's the only one I don't really recall is lush and the verve pipe. So those were the.
Alex Gadd:those are the headliners at the show that's a pretty, that's a very specifically 90s show. I mean, you could almost wrap half those bands that are still around together and do a nostalgia tour with the same exact bands and you get a great reaction. I'm sure you'd be able to sell out a bunch of amphitheaters doing that same type of lineup. Yeah, the verve pipe, by the way, one of my favorite bands no way, I didn't know. I truly love the verve pipe. The other ones I also kind of liked everclear, I really did like everclear, I liked art, but other than that, those bands of all kind of are very stuck in the past for me, and so, yeah, that that's a time capsule of mid-90s alternative rock for sure.
John ZIlch:Yeah, it was kind of nostalgic to go back and see the light up again.
Alex Gadd:Do you have a ticket stub from that?
John ZIlch:still, I don't no, and I wish I had kept it. It was exciting, I mean, it was a good way to see several bands in a row Sure, and I wish I had kept that. That'd be neat.
Alex Gadd:So let's bookend that with your most recent concert. What was the most recent show you've seen?
John ZIlch:Yeah, so I'm in a little bit of a drought. I've had to eat a couple of tickets for other things that have come up. So actually the last show I've been to was end of the summer. Government Mule played in boston. Are you familiar with them?
Alex Gadd:sure, I wasn't very familiar with them and warren haynes is one of the great guitarists alive today. Yeah, it was all my brothers he played with the almond brothers over the last 20 years of the almond brothers. Yeah, yeah, it was incredible.
John ZIlch:I mean they, they do this dark Side of the Mule, I think they call it, where they play Pink Floyd.
Alex Gadd:And they start with their own songs.
John ZIlch:then they shift over to a Pink Floyd set list and I don't know how you are. I enjoyed that. Friend asked me to go with him, so I had no background on the band. In fact I purposely didn't even listen to Government Mule leading up to it, so I knew very little about him. I thought it would be kind of neat. I knew Dark Side of the Moon, so it was a great show. And then Jason Bonham opened with his Lens.
Alex Gadd:Upward Tribute Band, yeah, which was awesome. I saw Government Mule in the 90s, maybe 94 or 95. I was working for a friend of mine's band as a roadie basically just an extra guy to help lug equipment and that band was very serious and they were on their way to getting signed and they got a month long residency at CBGB's in New York and every Thursday night I think it was Thursday for a month and one of those Thursdays was right before the MTV Video Music Awards in the city and when we showed up at CB's we were told that there was a band that was going to be headlining, going to play after us, and that their opening act was going to also play after us. So we were going to be the opening act and the band was called blessed chloroform and I thought that's terrible you don't want an awful name for a band, and what it ended up being is.
Alex Gadd:The black crows were in town for the video music awards and and government mule was opening for them. So they, we opened the show and it was packed because it got out that morning who was really playing? So CBGB's was packed to the gills and we opened and then Government Mule came out and played and then the Black Crows came out and tore the place down. They were so good and that was one of the most interesting nights of my life, because I ended up standing side stage after we had cleared our equipment out, watching the black crows, and I turned to my left and there's Dave Grohl just standing there and I didn't say anything because I was trying to be cool and not hassle him while he's, you know, doing his own thing. But I really should have talked to him. Whenever I hear government mule, that's what I think of. Well.
John ZIlch:I took a couple on that concert. They brought out vocalists for the uh, a couple of those dark side tracks Greek gig in the sky I can't remember exactly which tracks they were. Where you have the background, the women singers are wailing away in the background yeah.
John ZIlch:And I don't know. I mean I don't know if they travel with them or not, but they were exceptional. I mean it was just one of those things that just takes your breath away to hear that live. I had never heard that before. I haven't been to an opera or anything close to that before, but to hear it was amazing and it was pretty neat. The other thing I didn't know about government mules. I grew up again like a big Pearl Jam fan. I didn't know they had such a hard edge to them. I thought there'd be more blues kind of hard rock and nude. I to him. I thought there'd be more blues kind of he's a hard rock and dude. I loved it. It was a great show.
Alex Gadd:He's a hell of a player. All right. So have you seen pearl jam live ever I have I've probably seen them.
John ZIlch:I want to say three or four times might be a couple more than that, at least three or four times nice, and when was the last time you saw them? Oh, yeah, it's probably. Sadly, it's probably going back like 10 years. I'm overdue. Yeah, you are. Yeah, they're my favorite band. I I need to to get out and see them.
Alex Gadd:They do such an incredible job yeah, so I had never seen them. They're not my favorite band, but I really like them a lot. And uh, last year when we got together in austin, I went down a day early. You were there, right. We met up for that event in Austin in September of last year. I went down a day early and my brother got me tickets. He lives in Austin and we went and saw Pearl Jam the night before. I saw you at that event.
Alex Gadd:Oh, that's great, that was my first time ever seeing them, loved it. They were so good and I was so disappointed in myself for waiting 30 something years to go see them yeah, so go see them again. There could you hear the new record just got released this week dark matter yeah, I've listened to it a few times.
John ZIlch:Yeah, really like it. I think it's amazing they continue just to produce the way they do, I think it's amazing.
Alex Gadd:They really are great. Yeah, so of all the concerts you've seen what, what's your favorite concert? Do you have one? Is there a way to quantify that?
John ZIlch:Yeah, I mean it's not a big show, not a big stadium. I went to the Paradise Rock Club when I was probably in the late 2000s. I somehow convinced my wife to go, probably with dinner ahead of time. That I'm like you're not going to love the show. And the band was called Wolf Parade. So it's almost like a super group of indie Canadian indie rock guys from different regions and they've done a few albums. Now they're probably still touring too. They've kind of broken up and got back together, done that kind of thing.
John ZIlch:So this was a tour from their first album and just the energy they put into that show small venue, and you could just tell they were burning calories, every note, every movement, just they were going for it, they were having fun. And at one point in the show he's having this moment where the light was coming down, hit one of their. I think they have like two leads, you know two lead singers, and one of them plays piano. He was just hunched over the piano and I remember just seeing his silhouette as he was singing the song with, just you know, sweat pouring off his head and it sounded magnificent and that, plus his energy, I don't know. I just always remember that moment. It was just such a great concert, and my wife ended up liking it too, which is probably the best part.
Alex Gadd:That is a win. Now, how did you, did you know about this band ahead of time? Did you just take a flyer to go see it, or were you focused on going to see this live act my favorite thing?
John ZIlch:to do is stumble upon new music and even you know before spotify who I I'll use today. I don't know, I was probably just like scanning the internet for like best of 20 you know 2008 songs, right, and consequence of sound, or some of those sites, and I probably came across one of their songs there and played it. Uh and I I do often try to find bands that are kind of on the upslope of their careers and catch them early at the smaller venues, so that was probably part of the uh, the strategy that yeah, that's smart.
Alex Gadd:I've talked about this a couple of times on this podcast. It's so nice when you can get in early with a band and follow their trajectory upwards. Um, ideally they do have an upwards trajectory, but it is fun to be able to say I knew them when I saw them, when it is certainly fun to see a band that you catch on to. That, you know, is great. There's a band like that for me right now. They're called Blackberry Smoke and they are a Southern rock band all original music. They've written eight albums and they go out on tour every year and I've been following them since 2012, and that was when they released their second album. So I was in early with them and seen them at multiple stages. So if get out and you get to see blackberry, smoke, go check them out.
John ZIlch:I'll. I'll be checking them out. Uh, yeah, they're great, really good, if you like leonard skinner and you like the allman brothers.
Alex Gadd:They're an atlanta-based rock band. They get grouped into country sometimes, but they're really a rock and roll band and are great. So, so I know the feelings. What was the name of the band that you saw at the paradise? Uh, wolf parade, wolf parade. All right, I'll see. It's good when I get something new to check out at the end of the show.
John ZIlch:Yeah, check out their first album. I think is probably their best. Um, that's maybe where you want to start. They've been around longer than that. They were in other bands. Kind of came together Cool, I look forward to it.
Alex Gadd:All right, that sounds like a question I like to ask is have you ever been surprised? Have you ever showed up at a show and just not heard anything about the bands? But that seems to be your general MO is just to go in and be surprised one way or the other.
John ZIlch:Have you ever seen a show where you've been disappointed by the band? There's been a couple that come to mind. I may have repressed the other ones from my memory. I feel a little bit bad saying this because they're one of my favorite bands, but I did see you two, I want to say, seven or eight years ago something like that On the anniversary tour for Joshua Tree was seven or eight years ago, I think you're right.
John ZIlch:Yes, it was that. Yeah, and you know they were older too. They're getting up there. Even then I was with my wife and the funny story there is we were getting something to eat beforehand. She's like, well, the show starts at seven and I said I've been to a million of these concerts. They never started seven. They're they're going to say that that's when the opener goes on. And then you know another hour and we get down to the TD bank garden, the fleet center, whatever you want to call it, and we walk in and there was literally no one in the hallways and my first reaction was we picked, this is the wrong night.
John ZIlch:The concert must be tomorrow or next week right and I looked around, there's like maybe a ticket vendor, you know, someone's sweeping and I said it looked like, you know, it looked like the end of days and all of a sudden I hear peace and I'm like wait a minute. And we go through these double doors and all of a sudden the whole place is packed, you know, and they're playing where the streets have no name, and it was powerful and I I got a dirty look, my wife saying like yeah, you were really wrong here, but we found our seats and I mean the concert was good enough?
John ZIlch:I don't. I don't regret going, but it was not. You know, they took a lot of breaks, played a lot of videos in between yeah, every two or three songs to, I'm guessing just like catch their breath, you know, or maybe change instruments, whatever they need to do.
Alex Gadd:So I wouldn't say it was a terrible show, but it just you know, or higher, you know sure, yeah, when I was young, kiss was my favorite band, but my other favorite band was Cheap Trick and I didn't see them at the time either. But I did see them, starting about 10 years ago, and they are my most disappointing concert, only because I went in. They have so many songs they could play and they play the tightest hour and 20 minute set you've ever seen and they just get off the stage and I wanted more.
Alex Gadd:So it's not that they were bad in any way. It's that they didn't play nearly long enough, which is disappointing. But it's always interesting because every one of these questions is open to interpretation. There are no right answers, but that's interesting. When you two, I saw that tour also, and I I was I liked it. I mean, I love the band, but it wasn't the most overwhelming thing I've ever seen, and I saw it at medlife stadium. So it was these four tiny little guys on this giant stage with a giant video screen behind it, and they were almost overwhelmed by the environment that they were in now have you seen cheat trick uh outside of that and enjoyed them?
Alex Gadd:I've seen them twice and it's been the same both times. But the second time I went just because I'm like I know what I'm getting and I love the band and I love there's music, so I'll go again anyway, yeah, yeah but. I won't go again. That twice was enough for that now. Did you grow up as playing music or do you play any instruments Are?
John ZIlch:you interested in playing instruments? Yeah, funny, you ask. So again, no one in my family had any musical inclinations or anything there was no insurance in my house, but I've always had that itch.
John ZIlch:So I think when I was 19, I bought an acoustic guitar and just played it off and on and still play today. So I've got a few guitars but I still love playing just acoustic guitar. It's more like chord progressions and doing things like that. Now I have a couple of buddies that I play with as well. It's fun to jam with with. So that's always been the guitar and I love it, one of my favorite things to do yeah, me too.
Alex Gadd:Good for you, that's great. Yeah, so if you could go to see a show, any type of show at a club, at a, an arena, at a stadium, in a festival, in a theater, in anitheater what's your favorite room to see a show?
John ZIlch:Yeah, it's a good question. I don't know if it's my personality. Well, we've met in person, as you mentioned, worked together. I'm tall, I'm 6'4", you're tall as well, so I don't know if you feel this, but I can get self-conscious if I'm in a seat and standing in front of someone who is shorter than me, and I can get self-conscious if I'm in a seat and standing in front of someone who is shorter than me, and especially at a concert where you're trying to see something in particular, right. So I mean, it doesn't wreck my experience, but it's in my head. So you know, going to a club where there's just general admission, you can stand where you like, you can find the right angle of where you want to be.
John ZIlch:That's definitely more my style. I love the clubs Checking that out. I think it's just more intimate too. I can match it with you too. Just see four small figures amongst the screen, so yeah that'd probably be my preference.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, it's funny, I like going to clubs more, but it's so hit or miss and I've seen so many misses at shows at clubs where if you go to an arena you pretty much know who you're going to see. There are no surprises. So it's six of one, half a dozen of the other for me. I've just seen so many more shows in arenas than I have in clubs, although for about five years after college I saw almost all my shows in clubs, and that's what I mean by. I'd see some great shows and I'd see some terrible shows. So it's hard to say for me. But I went to a club on Saturday night and saw a band that played all original music with a hockey theme and it sounded not so great, because I'm not a huge hockey fan, I'm just a Rangers fan. But I don't really love hockey the way these guys do. They were great. The Zambonis and I have the lead singer of the Zambonis coming on the podcast soon as well.
John ZIlch:What a man, Nice man.
Alex Gadd:It's such a good show, you can be really surprised as well in the positive way. So clubs are still my preference, I guess. Certainly they're cheaper than going to see a show in an arena these days as well, do you have a favorite concert venue specifically that you've been to and yet you like to go to or you want to go back to?
John ZIlch:Sticking with the club theme the Paradise in Boston and the Middle East in Cambridge. I don't know if you've been there, alex, or heard of it. Like I mentioned, I had some friends that played music that I was close with in high school and still play. So back when they would come out to Boston they would play at the Middle East, typically upstairs, not the main room. But it was a lot easier when I lived in the city too. You just walk down the street to your point, pay 15 bucks for a ticket. It was kind of nice. But yeah, those would probably be the two spots that I'm most drawn to.
Alex Gadd:Nice. My daughter lives in Cambridge right now, so maybe I'll go meet up with her and we'll go to a show at the Middle East. Do you have a venue? You've been to that, you just didn't like at all well, it probably again tied to.
John ZIlch:I've got super long legs and a Fenway Park, whether it's baseball or a concert, can be rough. They don't want to, they don't want to make any changes because they're grandfathered into an old fire code so they can squeeze a lot of seats in there, which can be tight. So I saw the police there back in the late two thousands and it was a pretty good show. But like Fenway, you're always kind of turned a different way. Um, you're, you know there's, depending on where you're sitting, there could be, like you know, pillars in front of you. Right, and honestly, I lived in a building next to Fenway Park for a year or two and all the residents would go up on the roof and we would watch shows from up there and it was really neat, you know, obviously kind of congregate, hang out, socialize, but also hear the show with pretty good audio too. So I was used to that, which is ironic. I'd probably rather be there than inside the actual stadium, but for that show it was a little rough.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, I can imagine Now where's the venue you've attended the most concerts. Is it the Paradise, Much?
John ZIlch:to your point, I think it's probably arenas, because the bands that I most want to see are going to go there, in fact-.
Alex Gadd:So TD Garden.
John ZIlch:And I saw Stone Temple Pilots there it was probably in the late nineties and Cheat Trick Open one of your favorites.
John ZIlch:It was really interesting because we sat in our seats. We got there early and there was like six. There was really like three guys in there, their sons, so three adults, three kids sitting there. They're watching cheap trip play and I, to be honest, I had heard the name but I never heard their music and they were pretty good. You know, they're the opener. And as soon as they finished, those guys got up and just left. They didn't stick around for several pilots, so I always had never too, which I thought was like oh gosh, there's some real hearted fans of gene trick around.
Alex Gadd:We're old, but we're around. We haven't died off yet. Um, I saw my first show there last year. I took my daughter for her birthday to see greta van fleet there just in september, october. It was great, great venue, great sidelines, you can see from anywhere. Big, but not too big.
John ZIlch:Really nice show yeah, yeah, they do a good job with acoustics in there. I've seen the killers there too, stp a few times, like I said, you two a couple times as well so thinking about recordings of live music now.
Alex Gadd:Do you have a favorite live album? Do you even think in terms of albums anymore, or is that a thing of the past for you?
John ZIlch:I know in fact you mentioned pearl. I was wondering the other day. I was like funny that artists still come up with albums. I'm happy that they do. I. I enjoy the, the packaging of an album, so recorded live music, oh, that's a tough one. I'd say it's probably a tie between two unplugged albums that I just love and I I collect vinyl records and I've been meaning to get both of these on title at some point, um, which are nirvana unplugged.
John ZIlch:Just want to you know seminal unplugged record yeah I mean the, the covers they choose, right, it's like Great. A little thought that David Bowie. So there's that one. Also Jay-Z unplugged, which I love. I do enjoy hip hop as well. I haven't been to a hip hop Yet, but I enjoy that genre and I think he's got the. I don't know if you've heard it, I have. Yeah, he's got the roots behind them and they. You know just to listen to the music, bass and everything. It's just so perfect.
John ZIlch:Um, if you don't want to listen to Jay Z, it was also unbelievable, and he's got Mary Jane Blige on the album, so it's just. I don't know.
Alex Gadd:It's almost up there record. I'll have to give that another listen. I I only heard it once, or I think I even just I don't remember how I heard it the first time but I like jay-z. I mean, I'm not a huge hip-hop fan, but I do like jay-z. Well, you're a new yorker, you have to right, and he's a great representation of the city. So much respect to uh, jay-z.
Alex Gadd:How about concert films do you? Do you ever even think in terms of? For people who got into music in the 90s, I'm not sure concert films have the same weight that they did for us before MTV. I got into concert films in the late 70s when I was young because there was no other way to see a band to a concert. But I was too young for that. But there was no way to see visually see a band other than going to a concert unless they put out a concert film. So there was led zeppelin song remains the same and the band's the last waltz and things like that and so for. I still ask the question. I don't know that for younger people it matters. Matters that much. I don't think it really resonates.
John ZIlch:Well, I'll, I'll uh, I'll cheat a little bit, if that's okay, and I'll tell you there was a phase where I watched it all the time and I need to go back and watch it, which isn't a movie or a concert, but have you ever seen this show? And I've never. To be honest, I've never heard anyone talk about it.
Alex Gadd:It's called later with Jules Holland and I've never to be honest, I've never heard anyone talk about it. It's called later with jules holland.
John ZIlch:Sure, five bands a night, yeah, and they, you know they would rotate around I could get five stages and I I discovered so much new music through that show and I could just watch it all day you know they play a couple songs in it.
John ZIlch:I don't think they were competing so much, but you're, I'm guessing they're playing in front of each other, right, their bands stay out there. So there was a little bit of you know, you got to break it and and, uh, the vibe of it I just, I loved watching that. Um, outside of that, I mean pearl jam again, they've got uh one where they they kind of talk about their concert at wrigley field the year that Cubs won the World Series.
Alex Gadd:Right, that was a good one too. That was more of a documentary than a concert film. Oh, that's a kind of a concert film, sure, and Eddie Vedder being such a huge Cubs fan made it a really legit, solid thing. I really liked that one.
John ZIlch:Now I got a question for you, alex. I've got Chewed Up Talking Heads. What's their famous one Stop?
Alex Gadd:Making Sense, unbelievable. Go watch that right now. You should go watch that right after we are done. It is so good. I don't love the Talking Heads, but, boy, I love that movie. They are so good in it. You'll love that. It is fantastic and it makes their songs, which sound a little static on their records for me. In my taste, it really loosens them up and they sound funkier and cooler. It's a great show, cool. Yeah, I'm going to have to check that out. Is there a concert venue you'd like to go to that you haven't been to yet?
John ZIlch:Yeah, yeah, again, you know, going to college in the 90s I think every dorm room had dave matthews band live from red rocks, as silly as it sounds, just seeing the picture on the cover you know it was almost like didn't look like any other venue that I had seen, live or otherwise. So yeah, red rocks is probably up there in terms of bucket list venues.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, number one answer on this show is red rocks from me, and almost every guest has said that, except for my friend russ who was on, and he's been there, so it wasn't a bucket list thing for him yeah that's let's find a show, we'll go together let's do it the field trip all your guests long over with you. Field trip would be wonderful. That would be great if you could see any band that's alive. Who would it be that you haven't seen yet? That's alive.
John ZIlch:Yeah well, I was gonna say zeppelin, but obviously they're all right well, no, that's fine.
Alex Gadd:So any band, live or dead?
John ZIlch:the answer is Live or dead, I'd go Zeppelin, I guess live. There's another indie band. They used to be kind of a really hardcore emo band called Foxing. They're more indie now. They kind of toned it down a little bit, but they're really really good. And I bought tickets. I had tickets and I had to eat them, probably like five years ago, so I'm waiting for them to come back around. They're definitely on my bucket list. They put on an amazing show for everything I've heard Foxing, foxing F-O-X-I-N-G.
Alex Gadd:I will check that out Little bit of rock man.
John ZIlch:If you love rock and roll, you'll like them as well.
Alex Gadd:I do and I can't wait. Have you ever met a famous rock star?
John ZIlch:No, I guess, um, have you ever met a famous rock star? Uh, no, no, I guess the closest I I came is um my friends who have a band played right in the middle of covid outdoors in western mass on a pouring rain night and it was both the coolest thing and a little bit sad too, because they opened for sponge, who was a nineties staple who I think are vastly overrated.
John ZIlch:They're still making music today, yeah, and they showed up. They showed up on a bus, played under like a 10 by 10, 10 canvas, and you know, I was basically like leaning against the air watching them and it was just like, oh my God, like how am I this close to this band that I just idolized when I was a kid and I know every song and every lyric and all this stuff? Um, so I didn't get to meet them. They did have an opportunity to meet them, but I was. I was kind of hanging out with my buddies, plus I don't know what I would say. You know, it'd be a little. I don't know if that's playing too close to the sun, as they say. Yeah, it.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, it's interesting. I've met a number of rock stars and I try to say as little as possible, except I got to know Trey from Phish pretty well and so we talked more like friends not deep, deep, intense friends but we got to know each other. I'd stayed at his house before each other, I'd stayed at his house before. So, other than Trey, I don't think I've really ever had an in-depth conversation with our musician. But I've met a number of them and the funniest thing was when I was 12, I went to see the Rolling Stones in 1981 with my mom because I couldn't go by myself, still a little young, and we got backstage because I have family who are music journalists and got us backstage passes and we got to meet everyone in the band except Mick.
Alex Gadd:And my mom ended up having like a half hour conversation with the bass player the original bass player, bill Wyman, about art and museums in New York and in London and I was like mom, you're ruining this, Stop being such a square. She actually was the cool one because she was able to have a conversation with a rock star. That wasn't about fawning over them or talking about their hits.
Alex Gadd:Looking forward do you have any tickets to see concerts this year?
John ZIlch:No, I want to see Chromebin. They're coming around. Ben Howard is someone I actually discovered in that Jules Holland show. And then, to tie back to your question, earlier I was able to convince my friend to play at my town's porch guest, where people drive around to different people's front yards and watch shows for a half hour. So we're going to play and that's both frightening but also really exciting at the same time. So try to gear up for that, figure out what the heck we're going to do.
Alex Gadd:Wait, so you're going to play with him.
John ZIlch:Yeah, we're going to play together. I'm going to go out and find a singer and a drummer. We're just going to kind of figure it out. So play originals and no one will know how bad we are. We won't mangle someone else's songs.
Alex Gadd:Have you played live before this? Never. This will be your first gig First time ever yeah. Well, if you need some help, give me a call, I'll come up and play with you. Be careful a call, I'll come up and play with you be careful.
John ZIlch:We're heavily returning.
Alex Gadd:I might. Uh, I'm happy to do it. I'm looking to play out, so that'd be great. And then do you have a concert that you'd like to go see this year that you don't have tickets for yet? I'm gonna guess pearl jam is on that list pearl jam.
John ZIlch:Yeah, pearl jam is definitely on that list. I know, like, as I said, ben howard's coming around and he's, he's great. Uh, want to see that one Trying to think what else is is out there. Oh, metallica, metallica is coming. Have you?
Alex Gadd:seen them? Alex, I have. Once I saw him with guns and roses in 92. Yeah, that one time seeing Metallica. But if you're going to see him once it's on the the black album tour, it was great.
John ZIlch:Yeah, I can imagine I Once it's on the Black Album Tour. It was great. Yeah, I can imagine so I saw them once as well, but it was a strange experience.
Alex Gadd:It was at Dreamforce, which is Salesforce's annual conference. Well, they're a San Francisco-based band, so it makes sense that they do it when Dreamforce is in San Francisco.
John ZIlch:And they're very good friends, I guess, with the CEO, mark Benioff. But it was very strange because you have it consultants walking around who have no interest in metallica, just like a totally different, you know.
John ZIlch:So they were kind of they weren't really paying attention to the band and it took me a little bit out of my element as a uh, as a concert goer, so I'd like to see them at a place where people are there to to actually take in metallica. So they're coming in july and august and looking forward to that one as well. And the national I oh, they're a. They're a new york band, right? I don't know if you're enter. You've seen them.
Alex Gadd:I don't know their music all that well. The dude has a very distinct, deep voice, like it's a very unique and interesting sounding. I need to get more into them, but they're're playing. They're on tour this year.
John ZIlch:I think they're on tour. They had an album that a lot of people call them Sad Dad Rock, which is, you know a little more. So I tried really hard to not like that band, and the more I listened to them and just had them on in the background, I just became a fan. I went totally the other side. So I've heard they do a good live show. So they're on my list too yeah, I've heard that too.
Alex Gadd:I think one of the dudes in that band writes with taylor swift occasionally as well yeah, produced the album that came out friday. Yeah yeah, part of it, right. So last question before I let you go. You're wearing a t-shirt. Can you tell me about that t-shirt?
John ZIlch:Yes, actually it ties to Taylor Swift. So we went to the Taylor show. We we being my uh, my wife and I have twin daughters who are 11 and they are total Swifties. So we went to the show at Gillette stadium last May where it was a total rain out I mean a washout like pouring rain for three, four hours, however long she played. But before she went on, there was this artist named phoebe bridgers who came on and really I just I loved it. It was another surprise. I knew nothing about her, really liked her songs, that there was like really great classic, like songwriting, and so I'm gonna buy. I'm gonna buy a t-shirt here, but I'm gonna get do something a little different. I'm not gonna get the taylor swift one, I'm gonna support the opening act. So, yeah, it's a phoebe bridger's uh t-shirt.
Alex Gadd:Their scorpion and yes, I love her. I think she's extremely talented and due for greater success in the future. She's definitely on that trajectory upwards. Yeah, I hope so.
John ZIlch:I would imagine, so she's super talented.
Alex Gadd:So talented. Well, hey, john, this has been great. Thank you so much for joining me. Anything else I need to cover, anything else you want to talk about, Anything you want to promote.
John ZIlch:Gosh, I mean I know a couple of your guests have said it, but go out and support live acts. Go to the ones in your town, the small ones playing in bars, right and be surprised. I think it's the best way to discover new music and support the arts. I think it's really important.
Alex Gadd:Couldn't agree more and even go to Porches when your town does.
John ZIlch:Porch.
Alex Gadd:Fest, it's free. I canch Fest, it's free. Work up, get loose, that's good. Well, hey, john, thanks again, and that's it for today's conversation. Thank you all for joining us. We'll be back next Tuesday and if you like what you heard today, we'd appreciate it if you would subscribe or follow to make sure you get notified about every new episode. And please tell your friends. Additionally, we want to know what you think. Please leave us a comment and we'll try to respond to every one of them. The Rock and Roll Show podcast is a World Highway Media production. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, and until next time, I want to remind you that life is short, so get those concert tickets.