Nina DiGregorio (Femmes of Rock)

Nina DiGregorio is a classically trained violinist, bass player, writer/arranger, and vocalist, but is most well-known for being an innovative performer on the electric rock violin, as well as a music business mogul and entrepreneur. She has performed as a soloist and string arranger with some of the biggest names in the business including Cheap Trick, Stevie Wonder, The Killers, Wayne Newton, Beyoncé and others. 

00:00 - Intro
00:13 - Mispronouncing Names
01:23 - Upcoming Shows & Video Launch
02:50 - Having a Viral Video & Trolls
05:41 - Electric Violin
10:41 - Social Media
13:10 - Adjusting After Lockdown
19:45 - The Beatles & Relevant Music
25:25 - Education, Path in Music & Starstruck
31:00 - Pete Best & Dave Mustaine & Fate
34:00 - Cheap Trick & Guests with Femmes of Rock
37:30 - Live Music & Lounges in Vegas & Old Vegas
42:20 - Buffalo Bills Fan
47:25 - Future Shows
47:52 - Outro

Nina DiGregorio website:
https://femmesofrock.com/

Chuck Shute link tree:
https://linktr.ee/chuck_shute

Transcript

Chuck Shute: 0:13

All right, well welcome. Like how you just kind of go by Nina de a lot of the time is that just because your last name is hard to pronounce,

Nina DiGregorio: 0:19

it's really long and it gets butchered most of the time, so it's just easier for people.

Chuck Shute: 0:24

How do you say though? Just I don't want to butcher it. So, De Gregorio Okay, that's not that's not that tough. Was that Italian?

Unknown: 0:31

Italian, you wouldn't think it's that hard. It's just Italian is easy. It's just like, it sounds, but people still butcher it. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 0:38

I mean, even I feel like mine's pretty easy shoot, but I've heard it called like, shut it and shut and like, I'm just like, Alright, whatever, you know. I'm sure it's worse for like, I'm some that's the times when I'm jealous of people like Smith and Johnson, you know?

Unknown: 0:52

Yeah, sometimes I'll do that at the valet. I'll just give them some really simple last name like Smith just because

Chuck Shute: 0:59

Oh, yeah, that's, like, I see that with people with like, complicated or like foreign first names. If they go to Starbucks, and you know, they're right on the cup, and they'll yell your name over the right, like a fake name because they know their name is gonna get butchered. Oh,

Unknown: 1:12

yeah, definitely. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 1:14

So you got a lot going on, lately that got viral videos and tour dates and what else is happening? That's

Unknown: 1:22

right. It's We're leaving tomorrow morning for a run a tour dates for about 10 days. So we've it's been a little bit crazy, trying to get all of our gear together and everything that we take with us all of our merch. And then I had the video launch bout a week ago. And it went viral pretty quickly. And I kind of lost control of my email inbox. At that point, it got a little bit nuts, but it's been great. It's been featured on websites all over the world at this point.

Chuck Shute: 1:49

Then the that's the Van Halen one, right? You're

Unknown: 1:51

talking about the Van Halen eruption video?

Chuck Shute: 1:54

Yeah. How did you do that? Because it does sound like you sampled the beginning of the song. And then you do the solo, right? Or is that how well

Unknown: 2:02

no, we didn't sample it. I recorded the solo. And then we programmed the drums and bass afterwards, they were just programmed in with my solo.

Chuck Shute: 2:09

Oh, so that is your own? Because it sounds almost exactly it's so such a spot on cover. It's like kind of amazing. And I kind of liked that for that kind of cover. Like it's amazing that you could but you're doing it on not with not a guitar. That's what makes it so I

Unknown: 2:23

wanted to try and get as close to Eddie sound as possible only on my own instrument, which is the violin the electric violin. So yeah, none of that was sampled from Van Halen I, I recorded the solo and then the drums and bass Brody, my husband, who you just saw, he's a, he's an audio guy, and also a show producer and a singer. And he programmed the drums and bass after I recorded my part. Wow.

Chuck Shute: 2:47

Yeah, it's amazing. What is that like to have success, I'm still waiting for that viral. I don't have millions of views. Like it must be like an amazing feeling because you have the talent. And then it's like, you're finally getting recognized. And I'm sure it's been recognized because you've had an amazing career. But now you're getting millions of views. That's pretty amazing.

Unknown: 3:07

It's definitely different. I've had to adjust the kinds of things that I even put online because at first I'm used to just people who know me watching my videos, and now it's to the point where so many people are viewing them, especially being female, it's like you have to be able to kind of slap back at people or ignore it. Some of the comments you get sometimes, it's, uh, it's not as easy as just, you know, most of them are positive, but every day, I'm a buffalo Italian. So I've got a pretty smart mouth. So whenever I do get some of those kind of hater comments, I always I always clap back pretty hard on them. Oh,

Chuck Shute: 3:43

you do? Okay. So yeah, because I always go back and forth. Because I talked to people I asked that question a lot. How do you deal with haters? And some people say oh no, the best that you got to ignore them and like delete it No, I'm like, sometimes I just go it's a weak moment or something. I'm like I'm gonna give this guy a piece of my mind so you do that to

Unknown: 4:01

delete them and sometimes I ignore them but sometimes I feel like they need to be made an example of and if I comment on it once I don't even need to do anything else at that point everyone else will see the comment and then they'll just pile on on the person so that hopefully they get the idea about it but you know, I've never done that. I mean there's a lot of music out there I don't like but I've never once gone on somebody's page and just talked trash about them I don't understand. I just move on. I just go fine. Like I don't get it you know

Chuck Shute: 4:29

and I feel like these people it's not like this is like the one time they decided they were gonna say something negative I feel like they're like professional troll I mean they're not getting paid obviously but yeah, you're people that like it because they know he's always somebody with like there's no profile picture or the profile picture is like it's like a dog or something and they want

Unknown: 4:45

to show them fellas Yeah, they make fun of the way you look but then they don't show the way you look you know? Yes

Chuck Shute: 4:52

exactly or they make fun of the the way you're, you know your talent or something but like what is their talent like there's nothing there profiles usually locked down Um, and then yeah, I mean, sometimes I will say some trolls have a funny comment. But so a lot of it when it comes just from a place of just being mean spirited and trying to knock you down, it's so bizarre with

Unknown: 5:11

me a lot of the mostly they've been positive. There's been, you know, tons of people with positive comments, including Michael Anthony, from Van Halen, who commented on the video. Oh, age. And so if it's good enough for a member of the band, it's good enough for me, I don't care what anyone else has to say. But, you know, the people who are being negative about it, a lot of them are just, they're like telling me that's not a violin. You know, it's a mini chin guitar, like, so you trust that I know how to play this instrument well enough to play eruption on it. But you don't trust that I know what instrument I'm actually playing. It's definitely not a guitar by any means. That guitar player could not play it. It's, it's a violin with three extra strings on it for range the same way that you would have a six string bass or a 12 string guitar so that you have you can do more with your instrument. No different than that.

Chuck Shute: 5:58

Yeah, well, it's an it's obviously electric. That's one thing that sets it apart from a regular violin, but it's still it's, it's electric violin,

Unknown: 6:05

right? It's an electric violin. And they have been making electric violins with extra strings for decades. Now, you know, having a 456 or seven string electric violin, it's nothing new. It's been around for a while. So just because people have never seen it before, doesn't mean that it's fake, or that it's a mini guitar. It's just a violin with extra strings on it. It's also fretted, which some people aren't used to seeing. And the reason why I got a fretted violin was so that I could do the finger tapping, I didn't want to do it with my bow, I could have just done it with the bow. And I could have learned this like, a long time much faster. Because tapping is something that is pretty new on the electric violin, there's me and there's a, there's one other guy that that I've seen do it named Liam Riley, and other than the two of us, I have never seen somebody achieve the sound on an electric violin. So that's the reason why I played I chose to play a fretted violin was so that I could do the finger tapping.

Chuck Shute: 7:00

So how do you learn all that? If there's no one else that does that? It's not like you can just go get lessons for that is that just something that you just kind of figured out through trial and error?

Unknown: 7:08

Yeah, that's the thing. If you're trying to learn, pick any of your favorite guitar solos on guitar, you can go on YouTube and find a note for note, slow down tabs notes tutorial on exactly how to play it like your favorite guitar player. But if I want to do those solos on violin, there's absolutely nothing that exists. That helps me to learn that. So I have the same process every time I transcribe the solo into notation. So yes, I transcribed eruption into notation, that was a feat on itself. And it took quite some time to do, I slowed down Eddie's version, I got every single note every single nuance, and I put it into notation, so that I would remember exactly what it did. I'm sorry, I'm getting over bronchitis right now. But I think that comes from my classical background. Because as a classical musician, I memorize music a lot faster by looking at the sheet music. And I think a lot of guitar players probably memorized faster just by ear. But it's because of growing up the way that I did in the classical world, that that's easier for me. Once I do that, I have to figure out how to make those sounds on the violin. And the tapping part took months, I bought pedals, I sent them back, I bought pedals. I sent them back, it sounded terrible, it was just noise. And I couldn't make make it speak the violin is a much shorter neck. And sorry, I have a child downstairs. Yelling right now. The violin has a much shorter neck than a guitar does, the strings are thinner and the tension is greater. And so you know, it was just something that required trying to teach myself new technique with both hands. And then also finding the right effects chain to make the notes make sound even. And then learning to play it fast enough to play it like Eddie did. Also with these tiny little frets on a violin was not easy. So it took a lot.

Chuck Shute: 8:59

So you start out you kind of play it note for note and it's like slow and then you just get good at it. And then you can speed it up.

Unknown: 9:05

Yeah, when I first finally was able to make the sound with the tapping. I learned all the notes that he did and all the how many progressions of each thing and then I practiced it slow actually practice it with a metronome. I started out super slow, dude, Edd, you know. And then I slowly worked, the metronome clicks up until I was about up to speed with where he was. And it's not not easy to get those super fast. You know, Brett changes on the violin because like I said, the spaces are much smaller than that of a guitar. So you have to be very accurate.

Chuck Shute: 9:39

So how does that you said you transcribe it yourself? Because obviously no one had done it on violin, but what if it just was transcribed with the musical notes? What couldn't you just read the notes and then you play it on a violin or I don't know,

Unknown: 9:53

if you get a guitar transcription unless you turn about tablature Yeah, it's gonna look totally foreign to Do a violin player notes and then there'll be like a bend, and then it'll show you that you bend up to the next note. But for us, that makes no sense. Like, we just want to know what the notes are, really. And so it's very difficult to read a guitar transcription. And usually they have mistakes anyway. So instead of just trying to lift a guitar transcription and adapting it for violin, I like to try and just do it on my own from scratch, because then I know it's going to be correct when I go to play it. Because if you've seen any of my social media stuff, I cover a lot of different famous guitar solos. And it's really important to me that it's accurate, you know, with all of the nuances of the original player only played on the violin instead of on the guitar.

Chuck Shute: 10:39

So that's interesting, because I think if I went back through Instagram, I feel like, did you start when you started out? Did you do more country? No, I

Unknown: 10:47

did Devil Went down to Georgia, because it got requested a lot. But I think that's the only country song that I have. I'm most

Chuck Shute: 10:58

DID YOU JUST NOT do post a lot of the videos of you playing because when I looked on your social media, like a lot of the solos and stuff is more recent, like you hadn't posted a lot of solo videos before.

Unknown: 11:10

So I started during COVID, because our tour dates are shut down. And I didn't really do much with my social media prior to that, because I was so busy doing live show dates that I just never did it. And then when we weren't allowed to tour, I was actually nine months pregnant. Like when the world shut down. I'm like, Oh, my God, you know, I have no job. Now. We can't go do anything. We can't work. So what are we going to do? So my husband Brody, who's really good with figuring out gear and audio things, he figured out how to livestream shows with like the same quality audio that you would hear him do in a live performance. And so he was doing solo shows where he play piano and guitar and sing. And I was, you know, like I said, very pregnant and having a baby. And then once I had the baby, I was like, You know what, I'm going to start doing something because we still can't tour and it took forever for us to be able to tour again. So I started recording the stuff that I play live in our show, only, I put it on social media instead of going to tour our show. So you'll hear you know, Pink Floyd, in our show, you'll hear Led Zeppelin in our show, you'll hear rush in our show. And all the stuff that I did, I started just recording these short clips myself. And a lot of them went viral. And I wasn't expecting the response. I actually, we got tick tock accounts, like as a joke, we're like, oh, what's that gonna do for us? You know, and we kind of laughed about it. But then after a bunch of viral videos, I'm like, you know, this is actually helping our live shows more people are aware of it, we're selling more tickets. So I'm going to keep doing it even though we're touring again. So yeah, I don't think you'll find much of me on social media before like, maybe, like 2020 to 2021 is when I first started doing it. In the beginning, I didn't even know how to engineer myself to record. Now I can do a lot of that. And Brody will still do like the master mixes because he's very good with that stuff and help with the sounds and things like that. But I'm able to at least engineer and record myself. So I've learned quite a bit in a few years with using logic. You know, you have to adapt when the world shut down. You just have to adapt, I guess. Yeah, I

Chuck Shute: 13:15

heard you talking about that. And it sounded like you. I think that's something we don't like people want to just forget about it. And maybe I shouldn't as well, but I just think I'm still like, trying to figure it all out. And I just talked to so many musicians that were really hurting. And I mean, it just felt like where was there? I don't know, if you were talking about trying to get some sort of a payment or unemployment or something. And I mean, it sounds like it was such a struggle, and especially you had all these gigs that you had lined up like hundreds of 1000s of dollars worth of gigs and jobs that you were providing they had to be cancelled. And I don't know.

Unknown: 13:48

Yeah, it was pretty bad because my husband is also in the music industry. And so my entire household got shut down. We lost all of our tour dates, all of our shows. And of course, being as pregnant as I was, I wasn't really in any way to go out and like get a regular job though. You know, I was heading into maternity anyway. And so it really put us in a bad place. It took me I think over a year to get like the self employed unemployment that they've set up in Nevada. And it was a it was a mess. It was an absolute disaster. And you know, you save my mom always said make sure you have six months of your bills saved up just in case. Well, no one ever said you should have two years worth a year saved up just in case is that

Chuck Shute: 14:33

how bad it was? Did you have to go two years without doing any shows?

Unknown: 14:37

It we did a few spot like you know, we had a theater in Texas who was like we're doing our show. So we flew out to Texas and we did the show, but it was like one here or there. It wasn't enough to keep up with when you run a business like even a music business. You have employees you have licenses and you have you know, insurances, you have web costs. There's a lot of stuff that you have to pay for behind the scenes just to keep your business running. So it's not just going to play the show, there's a lot of other expenses and we weren't making enough to cover our expenses at all at the time. But um, you know, eventually they came up with some help like some grants that you could apply for, which we did, but well into 2021, we were still having our shows cancelled, there's like that second wave of COVID. And then when they restarted the shows, again, they had mask mandates and vaccine mandates, and half the people were okay with it, and half the people weren't okay with it. But you know what that means for us, it means we sell as many tickets. So we weren't able to command the contract prices because of just how it was. And it was like that for a few years. Now. It's pretty much back to normal. This is the first year where I think we're on track to be back to our pre COVID You know, performances and an income and everything like that, but what's your 2024? So it's It took four years. Really?

Chuck Shute: 16:00

Are you in Vegas, right?

Unknown: 16:02

Yeah, we're in Vegas.

Chuck Shute: 16:03

Okay. Yeah, cuz I remember I never they had some weird rule. I'm in Arizona. Like isn't that was the other thing was so weird. Every state was different. And so you go to another state, like I remember my brother came from Washington. That's where I'm originally from Seattle. And like, they came here and they're like, Oh, my God, we can go to a restaurant. I'm like, yeah. But like, I remember going to the restaurant in Nevada. And they said, Do you have a reservation? And he said, Oh, no. And they're like, Oh, you have to have a reservation to go out to eat and like, we're like, what? And she's like, Would you like a reservation right now? And we're like, Yeah, okay. It's like, okay, Table for two of your tables ready. It was the strangest that I've ever seen. One

Unknown: 16:37

of the craziest things was driving down the Las Vegas Strip during the shutdown, we drove down there just to see when is there ever going to be another time when you drive down the Las Vegas Strip, and it's a ghost town. So it was like, it was just so crazy to do that we took my son was like just a couple years old at the time, and my daughter wasn't born yet. I was pregnant. And we just drove down the strip and like, watched the emptiness. And it was so bizarre. But you know, in some ways, it was nice to have that time with my newborn baby where I didn't have to, like consciously cancel things. Because, you know, usually it's like, alright, well, I'm on maternity leave, I have to turn down the shows or not do this for a certain amount of time. But like the world did it for me. So I got to spend time with my newborn without having to worry about juggling all the work stuff, I guess, so that it was like a blessing in disguise, I guess. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 17:31

no, I agree. It was kind of I felt bad. Because I know some people really struggle and people have lost their business and people got sick people died. But for me, I was like, I'm kind of enjoying this. I could do podcasts via everybody wanted to do a podcast, I was like, Oh, wow, I'm getting inundated with podcast requests. I mean, I'm kind of an introvert. So it's like, I didn't have to do all these social things. And, you know, me and my girlfriend, we just go hiking and stuff. And it was it was great. It was actually kind of nice for me. But I felt really bad for all the people that really struggled and like especially people small business, I felt like they just got screwed over because like Walmart and all those big businesses, I got to stay open. And so then they kind of got like a monopoly. I felt like it wasn't fair. Yeah, all those

Unknown: 18:12

big businesses, they ate up all the PPP loan money before the mid mid level, small businesses even could apply. So it was it was a big mess. But once we finally got some of that stuff, the PPP loans, and like the grants that they had to get businesses launched, again, the stress went away, we could just enjoy having more time at home. So I think once that initial stress of oh my god, this isn't going to be two weeks, this isn't going to be two months. What are we going to do like his in music, I've always been really good with managing my business and my money. So there was always something to fall back on. It's like, okay, well, if the big tour stop. You know, I could always play in the lounges here. If the lounges close, I could always play in a bar band, if the bar band stop, there's always weddings, I could go play weddings, if that stops, I could go teach. There's always something I still do with my music ability. So they're like, you know, seven or eight degrees deep of how I can make money. But every single one of them was wiped out at the same time, during COVID. So that was a crazy thing. But, you know, looking back on it, I have a lot of nice memories with my family from just like I said, you know, special time when a baby's first born and just all of us being there and not having to worry about me leaving on tour or my husband leaving on tour. We were just all there and we got to be there for her first smiles in her first words in her first everything. So it was nice. That's

Chuck Shute: 19:36

That's amazing. Yeah, that's definitely memories that you'll cherish forever. For sure. So yeah, that's, I heard you talking about you're a big Beatle fan, right. huge Beatles fan? Yes. Yeah. You had a really interesting observation about not only the Beatles, but I guess also like music in the 60s and 70s. How like, there was all this crazy political stuff going on in that time. Um, but it spawned all this inspired all this great creative music and we have all that political crazy stuff going on right now. But you said there's not as much great music I kind of agree. I feel like Yeah, where's all the, the songs that that bring us together? I mean, that was the thing about the songs of the 60s and 70s. Like, who couldn't get behind the song? Like, give peace a chance? Like what it mean, you know? Like, where's that kind of song now?

Unknown: 20:24

Well, that's the thing that kind of bothers me about the way the music industry has gone. Everything seems so manufactured, and the stuff that is written by the artists. Nobody's getting too deep with anything. Really. It's I'm not sure exactly what it is. But it's very sterile environment when there's like a team of eight people who gets into a room together. Okay, we're gonna write a hit song now. So what do we need? What elements do we need to write the hit song? Like, you know, I feel like John Lennon especially he was somebody that wrote everything he wrote, every word he wrote meant something to him. And it was for a reason. And I think we've kind of gotten away from that, or at least the mainstream has gotten away from that, because I'm sure there's a lot of that that exists if you dig deep enough, and you get into YouTube, and you find all these independent artists that are still doing it. But in terms of what's being put in front of the masses, it's definitely not that anymore.

Chuck Shute: 21:23

Yeah, I agree. It's, I mean, it's tougher to find that I think there's some great stuff happening. But like I always say on the show, you got to weed through a lot of crap to find the good stuff. And then you find something good. You're like, wow, this is why is this song bigger? But I know that one song that kind of blew up. That was kind of in that mold of like, you know, I'm sick of the shit is like that all over Anthony's song. What did you think about that one? That was kind of an interesting song. Which one was it? I think is it called like, Richmond, North Richmond Redmond, or I'm probably screwing up the title. It was a viral song and went totally viral. It was like just him on banjo or whatever. It was really good. Yeah,

Unknown: 22:03

I don't know how I missed it. But it might be from having babies around. Oh,

Chuck Shute: 22:08

really? Okay. I'll have to send it to you. I don't know if you'll get my message because you're getting a million emails right now. But yeah, that one was really good. But yeah, it would be nice to have more people come out. And just, I think music was so cool about music to me is that it brings everyone together. Like you know, you go to a Metallica show or guns and roses or Beatles or whatever, like, you know, you go to a concert and everybody's a fan. So many different people. Different kinds of people are fans of this band. Obviously not the Beatles anymore, but like the Beatles love Do you ever go to that show in Vegas?

Unknown: 22:39

Yeah, yeah, I've been to love. And I actually took my three year old my son when he was three to see Paul McCartney here in Vegas, and he played AT T Mobile arena here in Vegas. And the two of us went to the show. And my son being my kid, of course, he knew a bunch of the songs already. And we get there. And we look around. And there's kids from two, three years old, up to grandparents and great grandparents, 90 years old. And everybody knows the words to the songs and they all love them. And everybody was just together. And it's like, how many artists have that where it spans generations and will continue to span generations long after we're gone. The Beatles are one a very few bands, I think that I discovered them decades after they were out. Because that's when I grew up. I never was around when they were doing their thing. I was never even alive when John Lennon was alive. But I still discovered them. Like I said, decades after they were famous, you know, in their time. And so I think that's going to continue my kids. My daughter loves Ringo. You know, she's at the age for Yellow Submarine right now. And I think that generations to come are still going to love that music and discover it. Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 23:51

And I think some people might only like the music just because they liked the harmony and the chorus or whatever. But what do you think? Because you said that I thought that was cool that you watched like, you've seen every John Lennon and interview or as many as you could find or whatever. So what do you think about his philosophy on life? Because there's so many great lyrics like, you know, all you need is love, give peace a chance. Like, I mean, he just had, he was such a smart guy, really? I mean, philosophical kind of guy. Yeah.

Unknown: 24:17

I mean, he he wrote books, short stories, poetry, like early on. And he always seemed to be searching, you know, for that next big thing. And I think if you're complacent with things, you tend to lose that, but he never lost it. Like up until Double Fantasy, his last album. He was still evolving and changing and searching. And, you know, his songs on that album, show the place that he was in, in life at the time. And the songs he wrote, like, give peace a chance, show the place that the world was in at the time. So I think that he was just really good at reflecting what society was feeling and what he was feeling at the same time. And he always just kept getting better

Chuck Shute: 25:00

It makes you wonder, like, what he would think of the world now. And like, I mean, how much great music did we miss out on? If he would have stayed alive? And just like, his commentary and the music? I mean, I just feel like he could still be just doing amazing things right now or he maybe he's doing something else with, you know, poetry or art or something that would be really inspiring. It's definitely somebody we lost too soon.

Unknown: 25:24

I think about that a lot. Like what would John Lennon have to say about everything that's going on right now. Just, he was the Beatles. And and John, in particular, they were, you know, they controlled which way the wind blew. I mean, it was a cultural phenomenon. And John was so witty and so intelligent at the same time as his musical ability. And it's just a rare combination that you don't see that combination of just musical ability, songwriting ability, lyricist ability, intelligence, humor and wit. And so yeah, I think a lot about what he would think of everything that's going on right now. And how how he would have reacted to the COVID situation or anything else.

Chuck Shute: 26:06

Yeah, it is really interesting, like, and then try to think like, who's the John Lennon of this generation? Like, I mean, I know Taylor Swift is very popular, but I mean, I don't think she it's like a different kind of, it's more pop music. I guess. It's it's more manufactured, like you were saying earlier.

Unknown: 26:22

Yeah. I mean, she writes her own music, and she's a great business person. And my, my kids listen to her music, too. And you know what, I'm okay with that. I'm like, there's a lot of very worse people out there that they could be listening to. So I don't mind them listening to her music. I've always been more of a rocker. So the pop stuff has never been what I attended to listen to. I think she has some good songs about things that she's faced, like as a female in the music industry, because we all face that stuff. And we all deal with it differently. So you know, I give her a lot of credit for that. But for me, if there was a lot of like, distorted guitars in the time signature of seven, eight, it would be better for me. So yeah,

Chuck Shute: 27:05

well, that might be some somebody could do some cool covers of those.

Unknown: 27:08

Yeah, yeah. That's not a bad idea. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 27:11

yeah. So you're into like more the lyrics and the deeper meanings and stuff. Because didn't I hear you you? I mean, at some point, you wanted to be a neurosurgeon. So you're pretty smart. And you have a master's degree in music, right?

Unknown: 27:22

Yeah, I have a master's degree in music. And my whole life, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon. I took pre med tracking courses in college. And then at some point, I had to finally just make a decision, I ended up graduating with an English degree, a music degree, and like enough credits for half of another degree when I graduated with my bachelor's, and then I got offered a job in WWE Newton's orchestra. And that kind of made the decision for me, I just kind of, I was like, I'll do this for a year, I'll get my master's degree, couple years, and then I'll go to medical school. Well, as soon as I got the way Newton job, then I got a job with Toni Braxton. And after that, I started working with David Foster. And it was like one really cool thing after another as like The Godfather, as soon as you try and get out, they pull you back in and it was like, then a decade goes by and you're like, Alright, I guess I'm, I guess I'm a musician. Now I'm not going to medical school. So it just kind of that's the way fate had it for me in the cards.

Chuck Shute: 28:15

But did you ever get numb to that or burned out on? I mean, because when I first started doing these interviews, you know, I was like, it was like, so crazy to interview these rockstars. And I was like, Oh my gosh, and now it's kind of like, okay, like, you know, I don't get like as nervous anymore. I mean, it's, I guess I'm more relaxed, but it's like, it's kind of lost some of the luster, I guess, in some ways, like, did you ever feel it that way with music where you just got kind of like, okay, it's not the same, right? Like when you first you're working with someone really famous, but now you've done it, like, you know, so many times, it's not the same, right?

Unknown: 28:47

I've never really been starstruck. I always just keep acting like myself when I work with famous people. And it's always kind of business as usual. But I remember, you know, one time that I did kind of geek out a little bit out of character for me, but we were playing. It was Muhammad Ali's birthday celebration, and it was televised on NBC. And this was obviously a few years before he passed away. And it was going to be this big bash with all of these famous people hosting it, and all these different musical guests. And I was hired to play in the house band orchestra, for the show on television. And you never really know which artists you're going to play when you get hired for these kinds of things. You know, they'll you'll show up, the music director will put some charts in front of you, you'll rehearse for an hour and go through the charts and then you'll get on stage and for the very first time, you know, play it with the artist when you're performing. And so I get there and I'm in the rehearse and I'm like okay, all right. Okay, this one, this one this one, then all of a sudden we start playing the chart in the rehearsal and it's superstition. And I'm like, No, it can't be. I'm not going to be playing with Stevie Wonder somebody's got to be covering Stevie Wonder in this show. Isn't I got to be really be Stevie Wonder. And then I get on stage for the show. And it's Stevie Wonder. And we played a couple songs with Stevie Wonder on stage and I'm like there Stevie. There's me a Stevie Wonder I kind of geeked out a little bit in that moment, but it doesn't happen that often. That was one of the few times. That's

Chuck Shute: 30:17

a cool well, so you said you went to the Paul McCartney show, but you didn't get to meet him at that one. I never got to meet a Beatle. No. Yeah, because that would definitely be worth geeking out over to write.

Unknown: 30:28

I think if I got to work with Paul McCartney, I could pretty much retire. That would be it. Okay. There's nothing else I can do. I'm done. Okay.

Chuck Shute: 30:36

Yeah. Or even like What about like Ringo, or some because he's got that all.

Unknown: 30:40

He is, like, still going. He's over 80 years old. He looks great. He's still putting out music. I want to be him when I'm old. Like he's just the coolest. He really is. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 30:51

it was so funny. I was reading about that. Because I was. It came up in this book I was reading. I don't know if you've ever read the this? What is it the subtle art of not giving a fuck or something like that? I think that's the title of it. If you read that book, yeah, I haven't read it. That's a good book. But anyways, they were talking about, he was talking about the best. There was the original Beatles drummer. And I guess I didn't really know the story. I knew he was the drummer. And there was always like the joke like, oh, Pete bass, like he, he you know, he quit and he got out of the band before they made it big. But the story was like, I don't know if you know this, but like, according to what I read is that he was like, really good looking. And they wanted him to kind of be the face of the band. And so all the other Beatles were like, Oh, we want to kick you out. They kicked him out there. Ringo is kind of a little bit more funny looking. And and then

Unknown: 31:38

go was the better drummer. Was he? Yeah, yeah. I read Pete Best was, they had him in the band, because he was, you know, really good looking. He wasn't okay, drummer. But then when Ringo came in, he was playing with like, the top bands in Liverpool at the time. And he was, you know, a more solid drummer. So I think that, you know, yeah, the looks maybe had something to do with it. But I think Ringo won the job.

Chuck Shute: 32:02

Yeah, it's an interesting and then they he follows it up with Pete bass, like, you know, went through a depression, obviously, because like, you know, you see this other band that made a huge and then you didn't, but that actually, he actually later became much happier and realize that because he got married and had a kid or something, and then he realized, like, if I didn't, if I stayed in the Beatles, I might not have had this wife and this kid I really love. This kid really loves his wife. So I'm like, really happy. And then he compared that with Dave Mustaine, who was the original guitarist for Metallica and got kicked out on Metallica and started Megadeth and went on to sell, you know, 30 million records or whatever, but wasn't happy because even though I had way more success than Pete Best, wasn't as happy because he always lived in the shadow of Metallica. Yeah,

Unknown: 32:45

well, I mean, it's kind of just like, just like John Lennon said, there's nowhere you can be that isn't where you're meant to be. So I suppose whatever path fate puts you on this. There, you're there for a reason. But I always think like these people who are original members have some bands that really blew up like, man, they just, I'm sure there was quite a bit of regret in, you know, going on for a while.

Chuck Shute: 33:09

It's Yeah, it's interesting, too, that I feel like some of the people and some of the even the people I've interviewed I feel like for them, it was just like, they were kind of in the right place at the right time. Like they're not a phenomenal drummer, phenomenal bass player. But they hooked, you know, the hitch their wagon to a very successful guitarist and singer. And they got into a really successful band. And now they're kind of set for life because they did that.

Unknown: 33:31

Yeah, I mean, I've never forced anything in my career. I've always kind of just let fate dictate what happens, like just do what you do do it, well, put it out there and good things will come to you. And that's really how it's worked for me, I think. And I think that's the key. Like, you don't ever want to force a situation or try and force your way into something. Or, you know, it'll, it'll come to you as long as you're doing what you do well, and you're putting it out into the world, I think. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 33:58

cuz you continue to get work. I mean, you've worked with so many we've mentioned some of them, but I think he also did a residency with Cheap Trick. That sounds amazing.

Unknown: 34:06

Yeah, they had a residency in Vegas and I played with them a few times there and then we met them years later when I had my own touring show the femmes of rock and we were opening for them actually. And Rick remembered me from the Vegas show which was super cool that he actually remembered who I was and they asked us to sit in with them so we got to play dream police with Cheap Trick after we did our set to open the show. We went back with cheap trick and got to play with them on stage and it's those guys are so much fun and so cool and so nice. And you know, being the rocker that I am the probably playing with cheap trick and deep purple were two of the greatest, most fun gigs that that I had.

Chuck Shute: 34:48

That's awesome. And yeah, talk about the femmes of rock because I heard you say that you guys often have a lot of surprise guests, like guitarists and singers like who are some examples of people that have popped in

Unknown: 35:00

Well, we are based in Vegas. And there is a wealth of talent here of performers and singers and musicians that tour with the greatest bands in the country and every, you know, everything else. And so we on the last show that we had, we had my other group develop electric strings guest is an orchestra. So they came in with their acoustic violins. And we had like, like a little mini symphony. And I it's a corporate group that I have called the Bella strings. And they all came in and comprise the string section. Our guitar player is the guitar player for the Beach Boys now, and so he's out on tour with them. So we'll bring him in to guests sometimes with us. And he's, you know, phenomenal. He's played with a ton of artists, and our drummers from Blue Man Group, so we feature different Blue Man Group guys, sometimes a lot of the Vegas stuff. And my husband is a He's toured the country with Symphony Orchestra singing the music, a queen, and Led Zeppelin and David Bowie and Elton John. And so he'll sit in and sing with us sometimes to when we perform. So yeah, it's just it's always something different. And sometimes if we're in a city and it just comes up spur the moment, we'll have somebody sit in, you know, that happened in Boston. Last time, we had a drummer come sit in with us from I don't remember where he was from somewhere. But our drummer knows everyone in every city we go to he knows somebody, there's always somebody, do you have

Chuck Shute: 36:27

a friend, musician friends in Vegas, because I know there's a lot of musicians moving there. I mean, not as many as like Nashville. But there's a little there's a small little rock music community for sure.

Unknown: 36:37

Yeah, it's a very small musical community here. And we all know each other for the most part. And before I created the femmes of rock show, I wanted to take a break from the really high pressure world of getting a master's degree in classical violin. So I kind of hung up the violin for a little while, and I decided to learn bass guitar and play in a cover band, or request cover band on the strip. And so I got to know a lot of the musicians in the lounge band circuit. And these are all great players like you your lounge band. Well, they're world class people who have toured, and when they're not on tour, they play here, and then they go on tour again. So yeah, I know quite a few people in the Vegas music community. We're all we're all pretty tight knit here. Oh, that's

Chuck Shute: 37:19

good. Yeah, cuz I, you know, the last couple times I've been to Vegas. I feel like that's one thing that changed. I don't know if maybe things are getting back to normal, but I feel like it used to be before the pandemic like you would go and there would be a I loved the lounge music. You're right, it would they were really good lounge bands. And every Hotel Casino had a lounge band. And now I feel like the last few times I've gone there's not as many or I'm trying to think if there's even any live lounge bands, it's hard to find. Now,

Unknown: 37:46

there are some but COVID What it did was, you know, all the higher ups in charge of the budget, and the numbers really go, well look at all the money we save by not having the lounge open anymore. So a lot of that has gone on one of my favorite lounges to play in was the Ovation lounge at the Green Valley Ranch casino here and they turned it into a bingo room. And it was like the greatest room it was so much fun. It was like the entertainment hang all the who's who of Vegas entertainers would come there and perform or see their friends perform. And now it's a bingo hall. And the new casino that they just put up here. I don't even think it has a live music lounge anymore. So it's going away from that but Vegas is going towards these really high ticket a list celebrity. He's, and it's not quite what it was in the know, you know, in the old days anymore. You gotta be willing to drop like two grand to go see like, you know, one of these major major artists in their residencies now and they're kind of removing some of the mid level entertainment, which is sad. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 38:49

it's just something. It was cool, like in the 90s and stuff like I mean, I don't know, maybe it's me, I'm too old. Now. I'm dating myself. I just feel like remember when the Paris popped up in the New York, New York and all these theme hotels, I thought that stuff was really cool. Because like you don't see that anywhere else. And now it's like all these new hotels pop up and you're like, oh, what's the theme for the hotel? And it's like, nice, upscale, rich that's the like that's like the most boring theme that you can think of for hotel

Unknown: 39:17

Yeah, we went away from the fun theme and kind of went to this elitist theme a little bit you know, not all of us are that thrilled about that here I I moved here and their parking was free for low like you go to this you know, you Bailey, your current go away for free ballet, you should be free. I was like this place is so much better than LA you can just drop your car off at the front door for free. You just you tip the valet guy, you're done. Now even the locals it's like you go to if someone visits here and they're like, Oh, I'm staying at blah blah, blah on the strip, we can we meet up and like I'd love to see you. I'm like, I gotta go drive down there, spend two hours you know, and then spend$80 to park my vehicle just to go have a cup of coffee. I don't want to go to the strip anymore. So those of us who live here avoid it as much as possible.

Chuck Shute: 40:02

Yeah. What about old Vegas? Yeah, I just went there for my birthday. And I stayed at that. The new hotel that's, it's like the sports themed and they have the really cool TV on the pool. I forget the name of it, but it's on like Fremont on that area.

Unknown: 40:16

I know which one you're talking about. I've been there before your fence. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 40:20

you liked that area better than the strip. I

Unknown: 40:23

liked that area. You can still get deals on dinners. In fact, we just went to the Golden Nugget and had the best steak dinner at their steak house that we've had anywhere in the entire country. So

Chuck Shute: 40:33

it was just it's what's the restaurant cause of buffet steakhouse

Unknown: 40:37

is called there but it's their Steakhouse. You know, it's their nice Steakhouse. But man, the Golden Nugget downtown best steak that we ever had. So that's

Chuck Shute: 40:46

good to know. Because I'm pretty picky with my steak. I always feel like I make a better state than any restaurant and then it's cheaper. And then I go to a restaurant like why am I paying more? For a steak? That's not as good as we know my husband

Unknown: 40:58

is he cooks the steak I cook everything else but he cooked steaks so whenever it's steak night, he doesn't he's very picky at restaurants but Hardrock, Tulsa, and golden nugget, Las Vegas have the best steaks that that we've ever brought Tulsa.

Chuck Shute: 41:12

Okay, I gotta put this on. I got to put this on my notes. So let's save though I never I've never been to Oklahoma. I just I just did one of those things where it was like, what states have you been to like the fifth? I've only been to like half the states in the country. So I got some work to do.

Unknown: 41:26

I think there's three left that I haven't been to. But we've been through just about every major city in the country.

Chuck Shute: 41:32

Which three Have you not been to Alaska,

Unknown: 41:35

North Dakota, which is where my husband's from? So that's strange that I've never been in North Dakota, and then Vermont. Those are the three states I've never been to.

Chuck Shute: 41:46

Yeah, I've not been to either of those. But I've been to Hawaii. And I've been a West Coast states and a lot of the South states and then New York and Illinois, but I've never been to like a lot of the a lot of the Midwest stuff. And then the Far East like Massachusetts and Rhode Island and all that stuff. Yeah, I just haven't got up there yet. But I've

Unknown: 42:05

driven the country across the country. My family's from Buffalo, New York. So I've gone forth, many times driving and hitting gigs along the way and things like that. So I think I covered most of the ground.

Chuck Shute: 42:18

That's cool. So and then you're still a Buffalo Bills fan.

Unknown: 42:22

I'm a huge Bills fan. Yes. Bills mafia.

Chuck Shute: 42:25

That's yeah. So okay, so you watch all that you go to the to the games, like Do you ever go back to Buffalo for a home game?

Unknown: 42:32

Last year, I made it to one. I made it to the game that they played Denver at home. I was actually back there. They inducted me into the Niagara Falls Music Hall of Fame. So I went back for the ceremony and I got off the plane and drove right to the stadium for Monday Night Football. Oh, that's

Chuck Shute: 42:49

Have you ever gotten to like do the Star Spangled Banner, like as the as the, for the

Unknown: 42:53

bills, which is strange. I've, I've performed in events at the Raiders Allegiant stadium here in Vegas and, and it used to be called Mercedes Benz stadium where the Falcons play. I don't know what it's it's still called that but Atlanta. So I've played two NFL stadiums, but never the bills, which are like my team. So

Chuck Shute: 43:13

we have some friends on here that are big Bill's fan. So I know a lot about the like, they have that song that they play. I forgot. Yeah. Yeah, they played they played that. And like, it was so fun. I really want to go to a game and have you ever jumped through the table? You're done that I'm

Unknown: 43:30

only joking around. I've never actually I have to be careful. I don't like break something that I can't play anymore. But unlike the fake table jump, there's a fake version. Well, you know, if you kind of like already have a semi broken table, and then you kind of Oh, but I don't know if I would actually break the table anyway, even if I tried to jump through a real one. But those tailgates are intense. You don't know tailgates until you've been to Buffalo. It's on

Chuck Shute: 43:57

my bucket list. I think do they play the Seahawks this year? Because if they do, it's a road game. I think I might have to make it out there for them. You

Unknown: 44:04

know, while they might I'm not sure who they're who they've got this year. I haven't quite I haven't quite gotten over the heartbreak of last season yet to even look at the new schedule. So

Chuck Shute: 44:14

I know I'm always at my friend's house. Well, I think we actually the one game we watched with them this year was the game they won in the playoffs and I think they lost the next week but it's so it's like one of these years I want to be with those people when they make the Superbowl and hopefully win one. I mean I watched that documentary on ESPN about the the for loss losses. I mean, it's so interesting. It's like heartbreaking really,

Unknown: 44:38

man and then you know yeah, it's just the people of buffalo deserve it. They're like, city a good neighbors. These people have character they'll do anything for you. You know the people deserve it. Finally, we need to have our year. This is

Chuck Shute: 44:53

Yeah, I thought it was amazing how the kicker who misses the game winning field goal. I thought they would eat him alive. I've, like loved him.

Unknown: 45:03

I mean, wide right again, but no one play loses a football game. So you can't really come down on a player like that. You know? I mean, just like Scott Norwood they when he came back to Buffalo after him saying, Yeah, and that documentary football lost the people were really good to him. You know, I'm sure there were some jerks, just like I got jerks, you know, on my page, but for the most part, the people were like, they felt really bad for him. You know? Like I said, one play doesn't make or break a game.

Chuck Shute: 45:30

No, no, definitely not. But yeah, I would root for Buffalo. See, I never thought I'm a Seahawks fan. I'm like, oh, we'll never win a Super Bowl in my lifetime. And we did we won one. So I'm like, the bills get one out the lions get one the Browns like these fan bases deserve? Yeah,

Unknown: 45:47

I feel the same way. I was pulling for the Lions when the bills were out last year. And there's actually a Browns fan. So if the bill you know, I was kind of like, okay, you know, they're kind of similar. fan bases and similar cities always down on their luck a little bit. But, man, you know, Josh Allen has a higher ceiling than any quarterback, I think with what he's capable of, if he could just like corral it in, you know, like, mahomes is smart. He plays really smart all the time. Josh's physical ability is he could do anything. You know, he could, I mean, he's just gonna corral it in. And right.

Chuck Shute: 46:22

Yeah, maybe that's like a thing where it's like LA, though, like, maybe he'll get a Super Bowl later, when they have a really good defense and a running game. And he doesn't have to do as much.

Unknown: 46:31

Yeah, I think the offensive coordinator in the beginning of the year wasn't, they were trying to preserve Josh's body a bit. And they weren't like letting him run. But that's his, like, his instinct is to be that way. And then when they got the new offensive coordinator, and they like, let them run a little bit again. You know, he started to look like he was comfortable. And he enjoyed the game. He looked like himself again. So I think as long as he's our quarterback, we've we've

Chuck Shute: 46:56

got a shot. Yeah, didn't they just trade their wide receiver to Stefan eggs is eggs. Now, that will be interesting to see what they do. feelings about

Unknown: 47:05

that. I went up and down about it. And I was like, oh, no, what are we gonna do now? We'll be okay. Oh, no. What are we gonna do? No, we'll be okay. They gotta know. They gotta there's they're gonna do something in the draft. They'll do something. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 47:15

that'll be fun to watch. Yeah. The so you're gonna be out. You're leaving on tour tomorrow, I think right morning. Yeah. Okay. Well, yeah, people can watch the videos are out now. And they can go into Web. I'll put the website in the show notes. And the tour dates will be there. And yeah, I'll come see you if you ever come to Phoenix, or if I'm in Vegas a lot. So now that I know you have a show there. If you're doing a show there. I'll come see you.

Unknown: 47:38

July 27 in Vegas, and we're working on something in Arizona too. So we'll keep you posted. But when you post the episode, make sure you tag me. I'll share it on my page.

Chuck Shute: 47:47

I appreciate that. Thank you so much. Yeah,

Unknown: 47:50

thank you. Thanks for having me. Have a good one.