On this week's show, we're skating down memory lane with the engaging lead vocalist of The Zambonis and The Levees. Dave Schneider is a great storyteller, and his musical journey is a series of anecdotes that ring with laughter and joy. From making up original songs at open mic nights to the Zambonis' recent induction into the New England Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame, we'll be covering Dave's charmed and charming life in music. Get ready to learn about "Hockey Rock" and how Hanukkah does NOT have a silent J , as well as how a self-proclaimed "joke band" formed in Fairfield County, Connecticut has taken Dave and his bandmates around the world playing songs about hockey...and buildings and food, and producing music that is anything but a joke.
This episode celebrates the Dave Schneider's incredible musical odyssey with humor and grace, and will leave you cheering for more. All for you this week on The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast!
On this week's show, we're skating down memory lane with the engaging lead vocalist of The Zambonis and The Levees. Dave Schneider is a great storyteller, and his musical journey is a series of anecdotes that ring with laughter and joy. From making up original songs at open mic nights to the Zambonis' recent induction into the New England Rock-N-Roll Hall of Fame, we'll be covering Dave's charmed and charming life in music. Get ready to learn about "Hockey Rock" and how Hanukkah does NOT have a silent J , as well as how a self-proclaimed "joke band" formed in Fairfield County, Connecticut has taken Dave and his bandmates around the world playing songs about hockey...and buildings and food, and producing music that is anything but a joke.
This episode celebrates the Dave Schneider's incredible musical odyssey with humor and grace, and will leave you cheering for more. All for you this week on The Rock-N-Roll Show Podcast!
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 a little bit about our guests through their concert experiences. I'm your host, Alex Gadd, and I do this because I relate people b est, I find, when talking about music, Finding out what bands someone likes, what shows they've been to, allows us to get to know and understand one another a little bit better. And also, hey, it's just fun to swap stories about shows we've seen over the years. I'm very excited about today's conversation.
Alex Gadd:My guest is Dave Schneider of the Zambonis and of the Leevees. He's the co-founder and singer of the Zambonis, who have been around for over 30 years. They're a Northeastern band who play original music where all the songs are either about or related to hockey In other words, it's hockey rock. They were just inducted into the New England Rock and Roll Hall of Fame this past weekend. I was there. It was a great show and, Dave, thank you so much for joining me. Pleasure to be here. Pleasure to be here. So how did you get into music when you were young? What inspired you to get into music?
Dave Schneider:At a very, very, very young age I heard Rockin' Robin by the Jackson 5, Rockin' Robin and I would sing it. I would sing it around the house and then eventually that turned into The Night Chicago Died. But I would sing it and my mother, like every mother, oh, oh, you're so talented, you're so talented. But I didn't realize that I did have a talent until much later. But at a very young age I loved those songs and I would obsess over them and I would get happy hearing them. So that's definitely how it started. I mean, that early AM radio stuff really lit a fire in me which I never realized how important it was until this interview. That was your question. I mean, I loved those songs and I would sing them all the time and then eventually I had two older brothers and my oldest brother had Springsteen records and I hated those records. I didn't get it. I think I got a little of Focus. I don't know if you know that one.
Alex Gadd:We were just talking about Hocus Pocus the other day.
Dave Schneider:I think it was the cigar cover that got me into it, but my other brother, keith. He came back from camp one year before I went to the same camp.
Dave Schneider:He had a cassette from an Australian counselor named peter o'brien, whose nickname was obi, and somewhere I have Obie's mix and it had great stuff on it Squeeze, Split Enz early like '79 stuff. It had all this great MiSex, a band from Australia, Computer Games, and it was just thrilling, it was great. And then I went to that camp and that was the year Started with Kiss The , C rosby, Stills, Nash, and Young, and then I really went hardcore to New Wave basically, and blocked out like Led Zeppelin and then eventually realized, wait a second, Bruce Springsteen's awesome. Oh, Led Zeppelin's really good. Their drummer is better than the drummer from Boomtown Rats, you know. And then it all sort of just caved in and I'm a sponge for everything, for just all music, and that's what we do in the Zambonis. it's a " anyway. So I can write any style of music and get away with it.
Alex Gadd:You know, that is one of the things that I commented on when I was at the show on Saturday night was you really do blend in all different types of music. The subject matter is, and one of your founding members who was on stage with you said, this is music about the human condition and we just write songs about hockey. But it's really about more than that and I love the different styles that you played in, and I've seen other bands that are thematic and they tend to be thematic not only about their subject matter but also about the music that they played, and you really had a very set of musical references that you played and it was great. I I thought that was even better than just sticking with one thing.
Dave Schneider:We work really hard at our joke and the guy that said that, tarkin his brother, peter, who was next to him, who I started this band with. He doesn't say much, but Peter produced most of the Nationals records first two Interpol records, worked on Taylor Swift in the last record and Frightened Rabbit, a beautiful band from Scotland. So it's tongue-in-cheek, but he's mixed a lot of Guster's records. I love Guster, so it helps us get away with doing things really well when you don't expect it. Oh, they're a hockey man, they're going to suck, but I surround myself with amazing players too. So that's the other part. We record with Peter or my friend Tim, so we don't cut corners when it comes to the music or the songs.
Alex Gadd:That came across, by the way. It definitely came across as such, and that was a joy for me to watch, that was a joy for me to experience. So you are in the Zambonis, you also have a band, the Levees, and I don't know much about them, so could you tell me a little bit about them?
Dave Schneider:The Zambonis got together in '90, actually '91. We should say about that 33 years, but New ,Years Eve, we played our first gig in '91, but we did our stuff and recorded our records and other bands contacted like how come your hockey music sounds better than our non-hockey music? So peter got busy and we became friendly with Guster. Guster took us on tour a couple times and adam from guster asked me if I wanted to write some songs about being jewish and I said sure and we wrote three and we got signed to Warner Brothers Warner's reprise, which is the Kinks label, which I thought my dream was done there. But that was 2005, and the record came out and it never stops winning as a record. It's called Hanukkah Rocks and we just played a Tiny Desk concert in December this year in between Olivia Rodrigo and Scarface, and we're 14 million views behind Olivia Rodrigo right now. But we're doing okay.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, that's okay. You have a lot of room there between Olivia Rodrigo's success and you can still have success eating off the crumbs of her table.
Dave Schneider:That's right, they're good crumbs. We actually had bagels and lox at our session so you could check it out on YouTube. Try to get it.
Alex Gadd:I may cut a little piece of it into this interview.
Dave Schneider:Oh you should. N's and K's. Do you use one or two? I remember when I was back in elementary school, a Spanish kid told me that it starts with a silent J. But Julio was wrong, my baby was right. Someone decide. Or maybe it was right? Someone . Make up your mind. I don't Try spellchecking and questions. Is there an answer to my question? Someone Is healthy. Just tell me how do you spell Hanukkah? Is that an answer to my question? Someone please help me. Just tell me how do you spell Hanukkah. It's got a good. You know, both bands have the same vibe. Part of that is, I guess that's my vibe, but it's all about having fun and spreading love and that's what we do. And it comes across for sure.
Alex Gadd:So you got into music through your family. How did you start playing music? Playing music is a leap that a lot of people want to take and don't Well, I was in college and then I was out of college very quickly.
Dave Schneider:But while I was in college I started playing guitar. I started real late and I learned Sweet Jane, but I couldn't get one of the chords. There's a quick B minor in there, so I scrapped the B minor, but I knew three chords. I never took a lesson, but I don't know why. I could write songs and I could make up songs on the spot, and that goes back to singing The Night Chicago Died. I didn't realize it, but I could do something. I had no idea.
Dave Schneider:So I started taking my guitar which takes big balls to open mics, not knowing any songs, and I would go up. It would be my turn and I would just start getting names from people or whatever, and then I'd make up a song and eventually I realized oh, this is in my head, it's all going slow and I could control it. Then I come on a line or a chorus and then I would do by the end I'd have a song which was. I didn't know what was going on, I didn't know how it happened and I kept on doing it at open mics and as the years went on, I learned more chords and I filled in in a band called those Melvins.
Alex Gadd:Those Melvins, not The Melvins,
Dave Schneider:Melvins or not Melvins, but Those Melvins, a great band from Connecticut who had a lot of fun, and I filled in. But my deal with filling in was at the end of the show I get to make up a song. So I still did that. And at the end of that show in Norwalk I made up a song about someone I love named Jonathan Richman. He's a performer the Modern Lovers, yeah, and these two guys, and again the song comes together and by the end it's a song and these guys, those albums were good and it happened.
Dave Schneider:These two guys run up to me and go, hey, who wrote that song? I'm like, oh, I did, I just wrote it. And they're like, oh, you're, can I swear, of course you're full of shit. And I was like, no, just wrote it. And they're like, well, we love Jonathan Richman, you should come to our recording party friday night at our house.
Dave Schneider:So I was like, okay, and me and my roommate brad go to their recording party in this beautiful, beautiful house which was featured in architectural digest and everything. And there were 23 people there in the basement recording this guy, james Kachoka's record, and one of the people in there was Moby. They're beautiful girls and beautiful boys and people hitting a microphone with a pan, which wasn't cool but crazy, and we finished this night. We're driving out of this long driveway and Brad says to me that was the worst night of my life. And I say, brad, that was the worst night of my life. And I say, brad, that was the best night of my life. And that's where I met Peter and Tarkin, who I started the Zambonis, who have their own band called the Philistines Junior, who are one of my favorite bands ever and really make music like nobody else. So it just knowing them it sort of branched my brain to come up with an idea that no one else does, and that's how the Zamboni started.
Alex Gadd:That's a great idea. And you know I also played music. I started playing music when I was eight, playing guitar.
Dave Schneider:You got your two tools. That's all you need there the Gibson and the Fender.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, exactly, those are my representative ones. I have many more in the closet. I got to start rotating them out for each interview, but I needed someone to tell me or to show me not even tell me that it was possible. I just didn't think it was possible. I didn't think I was good enough, I didn't think I was ever going to make it. It was too hard, and so I walked away from it. And then I've spent my whole adult life chasing it and being in different cover bands and enjoying that for what it is, but always dreaming, always dreaming.
Dave Schneider:Yeah, I mean, the dream is weird because just making music is the dream. Now having a gig like the other night is another dream. But just a few experiences. Even in a cover band, when you're playing that Tom Petty song or whatever it is, you get the same feeling. It's the same feeling. It's a complete joy to just have music, just sort of flow through whoever's in that room. Concerts too, you know.
Alex Gadd:Sure, that's something that when I saw Springsteen on Broadway, he mentioned. He really focused on that how music, when you create it, whether it's your own creation or not, it doesn't exist. You're in a room with a bunch of strangers and then you, you start playing a song and you have a communal experience in that moment and there's no physical thing touching any of the people, it's just the music that's connecting everyone. And from Springsteen on Broadway to Springsteen in a stadium, to the Zambonis at FTC the other night, it was fantastic and it felt just the same to me.
Dave Schneider:Yeah, it's a very strange thing to you know, like Springsteen or Jonathan Richman or the Kinks, but we're no different, we're the same thing as them. It took me a long time to realize, not that they're better or worse than me or whatever, but when I'm in the basement with whoever, and this song just pops up and we played a song called slow whip, I don't like hockey, no more. All these new songs the other night, um, the brand new one we're gonna play with Lez Zeppelin, "there ain't no ice. These songs just boom, they happen and everyone in the room goes, oh, wow, oh, this is it and it happens.
Dave Schneider:The problem is it happens a lot, so you can't really capture every one and follow it through and record it. But for I'm sure, for bruce too, it it just happens. Jonathan richmond actually records these things and just calls them records. His new records are he's making with Jerry Harrison right now that he just goes to the studio and they play music and then they release what they've just played. There is some magic, definitely magic there, but he is as punk rock as anything and alternative. That's just the way he does it punk rock as anything and alternatives.
Alex Gadd:That's just the way he does it. You, you started playing, I guess, in college. Then you started playing for real, and when was your? Do you know your first gig that you played out? Do you remember what that was, other than obviously open mics, which is great training that, that's it just.
Dave Schneider:I remember playing in norwalk at open mics, sunset Grill, and realizing the power of humor and a guitar. So the dream happened quickly oh, I can meet a girl with this acoustic guitar and a couple jokes. So that was easy. So I got that out of the way. And then I think, just, I was way too eager, I wanted to start a band immediately, but all I had was a 12-string. But I didn't know anything. So my friend Ed, I'm like, hey, I got two songs I wrote I want to start a band. That lasted one practice, but Ed's doing great, he produces in Boston, but I think just filling in on those Melvins, yeah, that's it. And then I just graduated to the Zambonis. I started late and the Zambonis happened quickly. We got signed to a Sony offshoot. Coming back, peter and Tarkin, the Philistines, were in England doing Peel Sessions, which is a big deal John Peel from BBC and we wrote a couple songs there, came back and recorded them and this record company put it out, dot-dot dash records and before he knew it we were on the college charts. So it seemed pretty easy. But the niche really helped a lot then. Hopefully it keeps on helping.
Dave Schneider:I'm speaking with the Zamboni company today at 4 o'clock About what. We have been a licensee of the Zamboni company since 1998 when they sent us a cease and desist in 1997. I don't know why, but things are going awry. So we'll see. Hopefully we don't give their names to the motorized ice resurfacing machines. Hopefully there's an acronym in there somewhere. I think the non-hockeys would be a lot more freeing for me, but uh okay we'll see now.
Alex Gadd:The other night, you said you weren't going to play any cover songs and you played all originals. You did play one cover song, though, which is the classic, the gear daddy song that you have to play, I would imagine, is in order. It's got to be a part of your set, right? I want to drive the zamboni it's funny.
Dave Schneider:Sometimes I forget it's a cover.
Alex Gadd:I'm sorry, but okay, it would make sense that it would be an original part of your set the thing is I I have a cassette over this way in my in my office here.
Dave Schneider:I used to go to new haven nighthawks games and then the beast of new haven, which were local teams, and they would play I Want to Drive the Zamboni and this is pre-internet. So I walked up to the guy who played the music at New Haven Coliseum, like what's that song? And gives me a cassette and it says hockey song. So that's all it said. So now our first record's coming out.
Dave Schneider:We record the hockey song and we have no idea who wrote it because there's no information on it. It was a hidden track on the cd that it came out of. Yeah, so we put it out and we, you know, we copied it. Unknown artist, I mean, there was no research. So so it comes out and unfortunately, the gentleman sadly, who wasn't with us that night, the only original member, john. John was our accountant and genius bassist and drummer. But John listed us as writers because he filed our record with BMI. So he just figured oh, we're writers for everything, he just because that's what we wrote, all our songs but that one. So years later we finally were contacted and met mr zeth, unfortunately through his, through his lawyers.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, was he cool about it.
Dave Schneider:He was pretty cool but, uh, I agree, shouldn't have been that cool. He freaking said we wrote a song. You know, we had no idea. Was he cool about it? He was pretty cool, but I agree, he shouldn't have been that cool. He freaking said we wrote a song. We had no idea. We were so dumb to this whole process and this is again before the internet so we didn't have management, we didn't know what we were doing. We just figured John seemed very smart and he was good with a pen, just fill out these BMI or ASCAP forms. So we ended up paying him and we had to remove it from our original record. But you know, live it's. It's a great song and, unbeknownst to me, they play our version at every rangers game.
Dave Schneider:Right, it's fine we he gets paid for it, so that's good for him yeah, that, that's fine Everybody wins, everybody wins. Yeah, tarkin mentioned it. The other night we played the 2002 All-Star game at the Staples Center and there's the worst video of it, from the cheapest seat. But Tarkin sings I want to drive the Zamboni I'm a Zamboni in front of 22,000 people, so we've done that song due justice right, I'm sure you've given it more, more airplay and exposure than the gear daddies to have well, he, I don't know why he fought, you know, yeah, now he's, he's into it.
Dave Schneider:You know it's cut out and and everything, but uh good, it's a great song it.
Alex Gadd:It is a great song, but what impressed me is that it fit in seamlessly with the rest of your songs and to the untrained ear no one would know the difference. And it suits your band. But then your music stands shoulder to shoulder with it. I really enjoyed that part of it.
Dave Schneider:You know what I love? Country music. I love Hank Williams and all that stuff, ernest Tubb and we have a really good track called Hockey Heart. If you listen to it, everything on the recording is pre-1956. And it sounds great. I got a hockey heart and it's breaking us up. She's such a fine woman. She ain't no Stanley Cup. I know she wants me home. The team is calling my name. You know I've had a bunch of good country people say, oh, that track's the real deal. So we said we love music that comes across.
Alex Gadd:So when you play out, do you have cover songs that you play at a regular gig or do you really just go by feel of the night?
Dave Schneider:we actually this band never played cover songs. Besides, I want to drive the zamboni and maybe garyitter's rock and roll. Yeah, that was part of the deal. But, um, my buddy Joe Farrell, he showed up in Black Rock, connecticut with a restaurant called Walrus and Carpenter and, um, I would go there a lot. It's it's like a mile from my house and I slowly got to know this guy and, um, he brought music in the little back room of this place and and created a scene Like we had a scene in 1993 to 97 in Portchester at this place. The beat.
Dave Schneider:To create a scene is not easy, um, and a cool scene is even harder. And we started doing events in the back, just sort of themes. We did, uh, a Wes Anderson night and you know you had a band and the band band setup would be as much as their room, as the people that could watch the show. It's this tiny back room. And we did wes anderson and then he contacted me. He's like I got an idea for a night called CBGB night and he sent me some songs and the songs were horrible. He had no idea it wasn't just him, it was someone else. But it was like cool in the gang. Nothing made sense. I said, joe, you can't do this, I'll be your curator, I'll curate it. He's like OK, and I said, you know, let me put the band together too. So anyway, we created CTGB Night in the back of his place and, thank goodness, going back to Zamboni's, second record was called More Songs About Hockey and then in parentheses, end Buildings and Food, which is a reference to a Talking Heads. And in 1995, we played no.
Dave Schneider:1998, we played a record store in Black Rock, connecticut, and right in front of us are Chris and Tina with their kids. They were, you know, stars to us. I had her on my wall with my New Wave poster, harry, and the B-52s, the women of New Wave. That was my poster next to Keith Moon, and they were very complimentary and standoffish, as they should be, because we're odd and, uh, as the years go by we got closer and closer and then eventually we're very tight friends and move forward to all that.
Dave Schneider:I start CTGB night at the back of this place. Egan, their son, is a great drummer. So I said, egan, you want to drum on a couple tracks? He's like, yeah, and he's a great drummer. And so we did all Ramones and some television in the back of this little restaurant and there were like 30 people and it's Chris and Tina and 28 other people and it was great. We killed it, it ripped and we did it the next year, took a year off and now we do it.
Dave Schneider:We played to 600 sold out at the warehouse last year and it all started with Joe, but that opened up these covers. We would, and then once in a while, the Zambonis would play, just for, instead of practicing, we'll play at Joe's place, we'll do some covers and I'm like, oh, this is fun. It sure is fun to play other people's music. And now he closed Walrus and Carpenter but he opened Walrus Alley in Westport, connecticut, and it's a great restaurant. But there's an alleyway and it has rejuvenated my love of playing music more than anything in the last 10 years. It's a beautiful little alleyway and we just set up and we play for three hours and whatever happens happens. So you know, if the wind blows, we play for three hours and whatever happens happens. So you know, if the wind blows, we play. Call me the breeze, I don't know what's going on. We have no plan. These just songs come out of wherever kink songs like steve, our guitarist, and swifty can play anything yeah, they are very talented and jay too.
Dave Schneider:Now jay's the new guy on Keys and Rich is the drummer for the Monkees for the past 15 years. So Rich can play anything too. Then it comes to me but I don't need to play those songs, I can just sing them. So it's a thrilling. We're going to do three more nights this summer Same thing. We had a manager doing some stuff with us. He's like you don't want to do those gigs anymore. That's. That's making your band, not all that it should be. I'm like I got, I got. No choice, I have to.
Alex Gadd:It's so you know well, good look, having the joy about playing music is really, hopefully, what it's always about, and I'm sure that it can become drudgery when you're, when you have a contract and when you have a tour. It can be hard to get through every night, but hopefully the the two or three hours you're playing are still joyous.
Dave Schneider:Oh, yeah, oh, it does get, uh, to be a bit rough when you're, when you're on tour playing the same set. They're who you are, so it's fun to just let loose, you know.
Alex Gadd:Do you have any fun stories or interesting stories about weird things that have happened at your gigs? Because you have a very different perspective than the rest of the audience that listens to this or hopefully watches this, in that we're watching the stage, you're watching us watch, you hopefully watches this and that we're watching the stage.
Dave Schneider:You're watching us watch you. Um, yeah, we have played the. Zambonis played a hockey wedding. Um, in Boston, where the let me get this straight, brian the groom had separate hockey teams pre the wedding and the and no lie, the priest was the ref. He skated too. It's Boston, so that was cool. We played that one and I think that's a strange enough event. We played other hockey weddings too. Being threatened by NHL players, that's always fun. Tell me more about that. 2002, playing the Acoustic Cafe in Bridgeport, connecticut. There's a goalie named Mike Vervin. He just went to the Hall of Fame, the Hockey Hall of Fame, played for the Red Wings At the time. I was also the emcee for the local AHL team, the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. Let's go Tigers. That was my job for 11 years and that's good training for being a front man too. Yeah, and Zambonis are playing and I was friendly with the Sound Tigers a lot of the players back then. This is before the Islanders owned and ran the team much tighter, so it was a very loose party.
Alex Gadd:More like the.
Dave Schneider:Charlestonon chiefs. Yes, I said, hey, guys playing around the corner from the arena, you guys should come. Oh yeah, we'll come. Well, some of the guys came and they knew the other teams. They invited the other team. But you know, uh, jocks can be a bit tough sometimes and maybe music isn't their thing, which is one of the negatives of having a hockey band. Real hockey fans aren't the greatest Zamboni fans. You need to have some sort of music and hockey background to get the band. For the most part, most of the time, that is the situation. But Mike Vernon was sent down for the first time in his career to the St John's Flames or something I forget. They played the Sound Tigers.
Dave Schneider:That night he shows up at Acoustic Cafe, sitting there with some French-Canadian guy named Henri, I think, and we finished the show. It's a great show. We're having fun and I'm carrying this huge hockey bag out with all of our. We carry our pants and jerseys, just like any hockey guy in this huge bag and as I'm carrying it I knock over a chair. It's a huge, tight little place and huge bag and one of them throws out a slur. Do you know how to carry a hockey bag? You blah, blah, blah.
Dave Schneider:And I was like hey, man, I'm just a, I'm just a hockey musician Just trying to, and he's like. And then he's like you suck, your band sucks. And I got the big bag on my shoulder and it just happens that the next week we fly out to the NHL All-Star game. And it just happens that the next week we fly out to the NHL All-Star game. So I said, well, you know I may suck, but there's three of us here and only one of us is going to the NHL All-Star game next week. All of a sudden he jarts up. I dropped the bag in front of him. I fly out of the front door Eric Goddard, who was a player for the Soundtech. I sort of blocked him. He's like run, jamboni, run. So I ran out and almost got my ass kicked by a hockey hall of famer and his buddy Henri. That's great.
Alex Gadd:I mean, I'm glad you didn't. Better as a story than as an actual event.
Dave Schneider:Oh, it's all about the story as long as you don't get your ass kicked.
Alex Gadd:Right.
Dave Schneider:Although that's part of the story too Sure.
Alex Gadd:That would have been a different story. What's the biggest crowd you've ever played to? 22,000. At the, at the all-star game, yeah.
Dave Schneider:No, we did. We've done a couple of all-star games, so those are big crowds, but that one we actually held them. The I want to Drive the Zamboni performance, and before that we did. It was us Jewel, and I can't remember the oh oh Five for Fighting. Oh, we were the three bands, yeah. And so you know, we played Hockey Monkey. That was a big song back then. All the scientists are running around Looking for the monkey, but he can't be found Cause he's down by the pond playing hockey with the kids. And all the mothers are running around Looking for their children but they can't be found Cause they're down by the pond playing hockey with the monkey. And it's one, two, three the kids love the monkey. Four, five, six, the monkey's got a hockey stick. Seven, eight, nine, having a good time, yeah, and another one on the ice before and then, second period, we did I Want to Drive from the actual Zamboni. So that's a big crowd and we had a crowd.
Dave Schneider:So while Tarkin was singing on the Zamboni, me, peter and Matt, who was their old drummer, were in the bench with live mics and I was getting the crowd saying I want to draw the Zamboni chorus. So eventually we got them. It's good. A lot of them knew the song already because it's just played at hockey games back then. But don't be fooled. The smaller or the medium crowd, certain, when you latch on it doesn't matter how big the place is, it's the same. It's all about connection. You know, I do, yeah yeah, I agree.
Alex Gadd:So you have played all over, I imagine, the united states. Have you ever taken the band overseas?
Dave Schneider:Yeah, yeah, we played during the NHL lockout. We were contacted by Latvia to uh, play with the NHL what they call them. I forget what they call the NHL all-stars, but I forget what they call them. It was. It was the NHL All-Stars, but I forget what they called them. It was the NHL versus the world.
Alex Gadd:I forget how it went, because they weren't playing Like a touring team, just to get out and play.
Dave Schneider:Yeah, idomi, a bunch of guys. So we did shows. We only did shows in Latvia. They went from Germany into Russia, they did a couple of Eastern European places, but we did five shows in Latvia and those were unbelievable, really well-received. Well, we got there, we walked in off the plane to a mall and there were about 3,000 people in the mall because they'd been promoting it on whatever radio and TV and they had been promoting it very well and I don't. There wasn't a lot going on at that time. So we hit the mall. It was great. Then we went right to the TV studios where their Latvian MTV was and played there and then promoted.
Dave Schneider:Just what I thought would be the right thing to do is promote the next gig and then the gig after that. But as I'm saying, these La Roque, la Rock they're like La Roque and it turns out some venues were Russian-owned and some were Latvian-owned and La Rock Club turned out to be the Russian-owned casino ladies for sale, drugs and a lot of caviar and we went. That was on this tour that was set up by some of the people that represented the guys from the nhl. So we show up to this incredible. It looked like a david lynch film. It was just all red velvet. The most beautiful women you've ever seen are on the bar and we walked by and it's us and the guys from the NHL who are the toughest dudes there are, and I forget which one comes up to me. He's like Zamboni, we got to get out of here. I said, oh yeah, it was a huge pig just carved with fish inside the pig's guts. He's like we got to get out of here. I said I know. I said, oh yeah, there's a huge pig just carved with fish inside the pig's guts. He's like we got to get out of here. I said, I know, I know, I know we got it.
Dave Schneider:So we go from playing this place, the rock club, which the stage was like 30 feet, it was like a pit, but we were up 30 feet. It made no sense and it was just weird. But we we ate some of the caviar. We did not do anything else bad. There was other, there was powdered substances. We and we left there and our friend I forget his name, max by the time we got out of there was 1, 30 in the morning and he said we're're going to go to John Lemons and I said and I thought he said lemons and it turns out we went to John Lemons L-E-M-O-N-S, which is already the best thing of the night and we went in the basement and the Zambonis and some of the guys from the NHL danced. I don't dance and I don't think they dance either, but we danced till 4.30 in the morning and it was just the greatest. It was the greatest because we thought we were going to die.
Alex Gadd:What kind of music were you dancing to?
Dave Schneider:That's the greatest thing. I just told my wife this story the other night. I've listened to music my whole life, so I'm going to say I know a lot about music. And at one point the DJ put on Jimmy Smith's. I Got my Mojo Workin' and I never heard it before. I had no idea what it was. I like the blues. I like jump blues. I need more jump or swing blues.
Dave Schneider:And this song came on and it starts with the verse and then all of a sudden there's no more words. It's just Jimmy Smith on the keys and Wes Montgomery bouncing off him on guitar. And if you go I promise if you go listen to this on any. It's on YouTube or it's on Spotify. Jamie Smith's. I Got my Mojo Working. It's the best seven minutes of your life. You'll never experience this unless you're in Chicago at some dingy bar with some guy in a Hammond organ. And I ran over to the DJ. I said, please, I'll give you. I'll give you 50 bucks if you play it again. And I gave him 50 bucks and he played it like three more times. So it was about 35 minutes of this one song and we just kept on drinking and dancing with this. It was great.
Alex Gadd:That does sound great. Have you, do you still have your first electric guitar? What was your first electric guitar you ever played?
Dave Schneider:No, I bought the one right behind you. I bought that mustard-colored Tele. Well, I actually know my first electric guitar, sadly, but I didn't play it. I air-jammed to it. But my mom had my uncle's guitar. It was a Dan Electro white cool guitar. And what an idiot. In the eighth grade me and some friends air-jammed as the who in a talent contest. What did I do with the freaking guitar? At the end you smashed it, I smashed it. Yeah, what an idiot Not knowing. But after that, when I got to play music, my first guitar was a 12-string, because I didn't know what I was doing Besides a nylon string, which I still have, which I write most of my songs on, a classical Yamaha, just nylon string guitar. But it was a yellow Telecaster, a mustard Springsteen deal.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, the butterscotch blonde.
Dave Schneider:Yeah, and then I was working in bridgeport and some guy walked by with a case. I'm like, oh, what's in the case? Oh, it's a shitty old fender, but I'm gonna get a new guitar because I play with the church. I said, can I see it? And he opens it up. It's a 71 tele sunburst and uh, I gave him 300 bucks. He wanted 250. And I love that guitar. But like yourself, like yourself and any other man who struggles with addiction, I've got way too many guitars.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, me too. The guitar you played pretty much for the whole show looked like a paul reed smith, but it was modified. But it's not a paul reed smith, is it?
Dave Schneider:no, I was just gonna. In my mind I'm like, oh, I should tell that story. But the thing is I I've really honed in with the levy's. I use, uh, gibson. I use a Gibson ES-335s Great, beautiful. My partner, adam and I both use my ES-335s. That's our thing, zambonis. I use that Tele and I use the Gibson for a while.
Dave Schneider:And then I recently, 10 years ago, purchased an Epiphone 1965 Coronet guitar which is just the most beautiful, tiny, beautiful, great guitar. And it's just, it's a, it's a working class guitar, it's great. But my idea always was to buy an sg because the the bottom looks like a whale. And then then I'll take that SG and carve it and ruin it but make it a true Hartford Whalers guitar. When I chickened out and I bought an Ibanez at the pawn shop for 40 bucks, so I used that guitar instead and worked two years on that guitar. Even the headstock is in the shape of a whale tail and once I was into it people fans of the band contacted me.
Dave Schneider:So the guts are serious stuff. This guy in north carolina put all the wiring in. It's got a lot of cool stuff and great pickups, p9090s and you've got some options of the pullouts. But the thing is a gig like that. I have to use that guitar because people are like oh my God, look at that guitar and it's got hockey rocks on the back of it. But it's an easy guitar to play and I used to sucker Steve, the guy on my right, can you use that Wailer guitar? So I could use the guitar I want to, but I don't want to. I don't want to mess up his solo and he solos too well.
Alex Gadd:So yeah, he really can play, but have you gotten a handle on it now? Do you feel comfortable enough with it?
Dave Schneider:yeah, but um, my carpo tunnel really the neck is is horrible. It's like wide and I love it. I love the tele neck. You know that's small but in my mind I should probably sell it and then buy an sg and do it again, what you wanted to do yeah, but it took so long to get this thing where it's at. It's a lot of painting and carving and I don't carve much, you know. I don't know anyone that does really.
Alex Gadd:So and for our listeners who may not know what we're talking about, your guitar has a full Hartford Whalers logo the, the W and the whale's tail coming up right across the whole body. It's a white guitar with the green and blue logo.
Dave Schneider:Um, it's gorgeous and yeah, if you would, that'd be great.
Alex Gadd:Do you have a memory of your first concert that you attended?
Dave Schneider:Yeah, Yep, and definitely my parents brought my whole family, my two brothers. We went to Nassau Coliseum to see the Osmond family and they brought out little Jimmy in a bathtub. He sang rubber duck that was interesting. So do you remember what year that was? I'm going to guess 72 or 73, okay, earlier 70s, yeah, yeah, and then it was the spinners fantastic at oakdale and it was a revolving stage.
Dave Schneider:I love the spinners. I didn't realize how good they were until in the last 10 years, like brilliant songs and great, great singers, yeah, great singers. And then elp, you know right, I knew that we'd get you excited oh, I like the spinners too, but elp I've never seen elp they.
Alex Gadd:They had come and gone by the time I was attending concerts. You're just a wee bit older than me, I think, yeah yeah, elp, the keyboards shot fire, keith Emerson shot fire. As they have to, as you would expect. Where did you see that New Haven Coliseum?
Dave Schneider:Great yeah. And then, luckily, things changed from there. Not much ELO, kansas, all that stuff. You saw it all.
Alex Gadd:I don't know if I saw it all, but uh, yeah, did you? Did you consider the Coliseum to be like your home arena that you went to see concerts at? If the band was playing there, you were going yep, yeah, yeah.
Dave Schneider:And then it became Hartford and then, luckily, I was old enough to go to some clubs and, yeah, actually you know I was a big rem fan and been very early. My brother was a dj at wjmf at bryant university and he started promoting and booking at this great club called the living room in rhode island. I can send you photos, but so the bands would come rem or whoever it would be, and my mom would sometimes cook dinner for the bands. So there's great photos of of me with michael steif with a fork in my mouth, which is a very well. I'll go famous because, uh, the zambonis have played in my mouth, which is a very Well. I'll go famous because the Zambonis have played with the Baseball Project, which is a REM offshoot.
Alex Gadd:Yep, peter Buck right is the driver of that Mike.
Dave Schneider:Mills. Yeah, they're definitely big baseball fans, but luckily it ends up Scott McGaughy, who was the fifth guy in REM, who was also in one of my favorite bands ever called the Young Fresh Fellows, and at this backstage my mom made dinner for the bands. It was let's Active who were REM's producer, mitch Easter and REM. I'm sitting next to Michael Stipe and he says to my mother does this have meat? Does the sauce have meat? She goes no. The Jewish mother, no. No. She walks away and he's trying it again and I go I don't know if it has meat and he goes does it have meat? She goes a little.
Alex Gadd:That is a perfect Jewish mother response A little meat, just eat it.
Dave Schneider:Did he A little meat? Steed it, did he? He didn't. He put it right down. That's great, and there's a photo from that moment with me which is I've got my sleeveless sweatshirt on white and I think my perm was fading out at the moment.
Alex Gadd:Yeah, how old were you then? About 17.
Dave Schneider:I think my perm was fading out at the moment. You know, yeah, how old were you then? About 17, I think 82, 83.
Alex Gadd:So early in REM's career they were definitely eating anywhere. They could get free food or get a meal. No, it was backstage at the club. Oh, I see, and your mom just made the backstage spread. Yeah, oh yeah, that's great. Yeah, did you ever run into michael steip?
Dave Schneider:again and remind him of that. Not him, no, but I've. I've played a lot with michael and peter. Yeah, but you know what? Those guys changed a lot for me because when I'd be backstage I talked to peter buck like what, what bands? What band should I listen to, are you listening to? And he was great. I love Robin Hitchcock. I don't know if you know Robin Hitchcock, but right early on he's like oh, you got to listen to Robin Hitchcock and Hoodoo Gurus from Australia. I love Hoodoo.
Alex Gadd:Gurus Like Wow. Wipeout is one of my all-time favorite top 20 favorite songs.
Dave Schneider:That first record, their first record record. I ended up going to australia and hanging out with those guys, and my brother went to australia and ended up living there for 17 years and it was unbelievable. We went to the beach with dave falkner and he's in a full jean suit. He said I never go to the beach, you know, but I'll go with you guys. You know he lives in australia. It's pretty amazing songcraft, you know, those are perfect songs and yeah, oh, yeah, I love that. I'm gonna, after this interview, put that first record on.
Alex Gadd:Yes, yeah, yeah that that record for me opened me up, not just to the hoodoo gurus but to like new wave music, because I was kind of poo-pooing new wave music. I was into bruce and the stones and the who and acdc and more hard rock things. Yeah, I heard that record and I'm like, oh, it's all rock and roll, you know I get it. And then I heard the cult and I'm like, oh, wow, it's alternative. Rock can be pretty hard rock.
Dave Schneider:This is great all those bands loved, you know, obscure american bands, like that's all they. And then I met those guys and they're like, oh, you gotta listen to sonics. And I'm like, oh, the sonics, yeah, they're good. Yeah, the brand new zamboni's tune called unforced penalties is just a tribute to the sonics. Even I made a video. That's just sort of an old monster movie kind of video. But I just love the sonics, that first record. They made a new record 35 years later. It came out four years, four years ago or maybe longer than it. But uh, it's, it's amazing, it's a great. And then, unfortunately, a couple of the guys died right after that. But the first Sonics record is the way things should be recorded. It's wild. It just all happened by mistake and everything's totally drenched out, it's saturated in noise and it sounds perfect sounds perfect.
Alex Gadd:It sounds great. Yeah, now, when you see concerts I assume you still go to concerts when you can. When you see concerts, do you ever crib anything that the the front man does or the front woman does that you then use in your shows? Have you been able to adopt anything from the other people's performances?
Dave Schneider:I think very early on I was definitely inspired by Jonathan Richman, this guy, ben Vaughn, who I remember seeing a lot in the 80s he was funny and really dry and Dan Hicks, also the most hilarious guys, but they made it seem like they weren't trying. But they made it seem like they weren't trying and that's something that I mean. I'm the same person on stage that I am off and there's something to that that I take pride in. Things I say on stage sometimes upset some people. I'm trying to be funny. There's no filter. So I'm a big Norm MacDonald fan. He's another one that's definitely inspired me that it's great to bomb. It's awesome to bomb. I love it. And if you're bombing, just wait it out. Like the other night, it was my idea to just send the monkey out instead of the band. We get inducted in the hall of fame and I said monkey, I want you to go out there 10 to 20 seconds and when you feel it's really bad, just say help on the mic. And that's what he did that's why he said help.
Alex Gadd:I had no idea why you said help, that's yeah.
Dave Schneider:I said feel free to milk it. And uh, and he's like like way too long. I said yeah, whatever you want, you know you're wearing a tie and a suit jacket. Do whatever you want. Guy in a monkey suit. So later in life, no, I I've, I'm, I'm pretty comfortable with me and I I know what I do yeah, you do it well.
Alex Gadd:I mean, it comes across authentically and that's really the easiest way to connect with an audience is to be authentic when you're on stage.
Dave Schneider:I found my dear friend ryan from guster same same deal. Ryan is ryan and luckily that band deserves exactly what they're getting and they're playing the biggest crowds. They just sold out red rocks again and, um, he's, he's a big influence on me. Um, we're partners in life and and stories. Uh, he's got a, a series called uh. That's a great amazing stories and very happily my story is number one in that series, my bob dylan story, another series coming out and I think I'm story number one with uh, my big audio dynamite story. I'll listen to it on uh, on ryan's on youtube, dave's and dylan's story. If you google that you'll get it.
Alex Gadd:Her so, listening to us talk for the last hour, a listener might think, hey, you're a professional musician, but you have a job. Do you look at what you do musically as a hobby, as a second job? How do you look at your music career?
Dave Schneider:it's a, it is my career. It's gotten to a point where the levy's you know last year playing a tiny desk concert. We have a pbs special coming out on december 14th. So you know, the imposter syndrome is a really tricky, tricky thing. I this is the first year and a half where I felt like, oh, I think I'm real, I think it's real. So I'm 58. I turned 58 yesterday and literally it's been a year of realizing it's a very tricky thing because I do still have I, I run a store and there's a lot of work involved with that, but it's a, a career where I can do all these other things and, um, so it's an old hobby, you know it's.
Dave Schneider:I see it no different, as if you play tennis, you play golf, that's what it is. It's just I'm so passionate for what I do with music. I guess it's a hobby because I love it. But it has its advantages because it's, you know, it's a bit popular and and it hits. You know we've I just got contacted from Vienna today Love the new song, sweden love the new song. So it's a, it's a good hobby and, uh, people enjoy my hobby. So that's, that's cool.
Alex Gadd:I think you, you have made it. I mean, I don't know what making it looks like, but it looks like what you're doing, is that? So I hope that's how you feel about it.
Dave Schneider:Made It is playing that show the other night, or any show. Anyone loving what you do is success to me. I played a Tiny Desk, it's no different. You just want people to connect with it, you know, oh yeah.
Alex Gadd:I played in bars all over Rockland, Westchester, counties, and getting 30 people to dance for two hours or, boo, when you say this is our last song because they want more is one of the greatest experiences of my life.
Dave Schneider:Yeah, you know. How much did you get paid for that? It doesn't matter, it doesn't matter, not at all, you know it. I don't know. It would help. I mean, I want to put out this record. I just bought the Hartford Whaler organ, the actual organ From the arena, from the arena. It came to me in a weird dreamy way. Some guy contacted me. It was sitting in a high school, weathersville high school, and someone said oh, you should call dave from zamboni's contact to the website. We own it and all my life.
Dave Schneider:In 1982 devo made a record called uh, devo, easy listening, and it was just a cassette of elevator music, of devo songs that they. So I've always wanted to make just organ versions of the Zamboni songs and the only thing I really can think of what I need money for is to make this record. I'm going to have different organists play on it and it's going to be the hits of the Zambonis played on the Hartford Wheeler Hammond organ and uh, and we got the organ, it's working, it's in our studio, so wonderful. So when I say you don't need money, you know it's not about the money I can use like $11,000. That's all we need or release it, pay the guys that play on it. Got a little documentary we started filming for it. I've never done a Kickstarter, but I'm going to do one for that project.
Alex Gadd:Before I let you go, do you have anything where you're performing next, anything you want to promote? I'd love to let the people know where you're going to be, and I'd like to know where you're going to be so I can come see you again.
Dave Schneider:May 26th we are playing with a great comedian author. We're in his new book. He's also a songwriter. He did the theme to the John Oliver show. That song you hear at the John Oliver called Valley Lodge. But The Zambonis and Dave Hill are playing at Bowery Electric on a Sunday matinee in New York City May 26th and then June 7th we're playing with Lez Zeppelin at the Paramount Theater out in Peekskill. I'm very excited for that show. We wrote a new song just getting excited for that show. We played that song the other night called "here Ain't no Ice. We tried to write a Led Zeppelin song.
Alex Gadd:It sounded good, you just threw it out there. Let's see what happens.
Dave Schneider:I'm not the most avid musician or whatever, but I went for a Led Zeppelin song and I landed on the Small Faces, so I'm fine with that. It's good.
Alex Gadd:You said that too and I thought it was definitely right in the vein of the small faces. But you captured all kinds of things. You have reggae inflected songs, you have country songs, you have a Ramones a Ramones song, so you really cover all kinds of musical flavors and I enjoyed every bit of it. Great man, great well. Thank you, Dave, very much for your time today.
Dave Schneider:Please follow us on Instagram or Facebook. It's so hard to get people to follow you. We're just @ the Zambonis.
Alex Gadd:Yep, and when I promote this episode I will make sure to note that as well. Thank you so much for your time today, though Appreciate it Dressed up, I appreciate it. My pleasure, and that's it. Thank you all for joining us. We'll be back next Tuesday and if you like what you heard today, as Dave just said, we'd appreciate it f you'd like, and subscribe or follow, to make sure you get notified about all of our new episodes, 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. The Rock-N- Roll Show Podcast is a World Highway Media production. I'm your Alex Gadd, and aundefined you next time