Soft Pass - Your Backstage Access

Episode 9 is about the bass!  East Coast meets West Coast as John and Alan are joined by Mark Andes, who first came to musical prominence as the bass player for the legendary LA band Spirit, and went on to be a co-founding member of Jo Jo Gunne, he then became Heart's second bass player, and co-founded Firefall.  Holding down the other bass position is Lance Hoppen of Orleans, who together with his brother Larry (and now including his other brother Lane) has graced the Billboard charts with huge hits like Still The One and Dance With Me.

Mark talks about growing up in the L.A. music and acting community, his encounter with a naked Charles Manson, the Spirit/Led Zeppelin controversy and playing with scores of terrific musicians in cities far and wide.  Lance talks about the Woodstock music scene in the 70s, how re-recording Dance With Me led to the band's success and why siblings singing together sounds so good. A truly unique episode!

Join John and Alan as they sit down with 2 legends of the business. Multi-instrumentalist Andy Cahan who has played with the Turtles, Jimi Hendrix, 3/4 of the Beatles, Little Richard, Chuck Berry, Frank Zappa, Harry Nilsson and many more. Our other guest Rodney Justo is the original and current lead singer of the Atlanta Rhythm Section, he also toured with Roy Orbison as part of The Candymen. 

Andy talks about gigs with the Turtles, hanging out with Grace Slick, recording Harry Nilsson and Ringo Starr in his living room, and all kinds of other odd stories including the origin of the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album title. Rodney takes us back to Doraville and the early days of ARS, as well as working with BJ Thomas and Buddy Buie and his own story about Paul McCartney and we talk about the nicest man in show business, Roy Orbison.  Enjoy.

In this episode John and Alan are joined by longtime singer/songwriter Dan Navarro who, with his former songwriting partner Eric Lowen, has written songs for The Bangles, Jackson Browne, Dionne Warwick and many others including the #1 smash hit "We Belong" made popular by Pat Benatar. In addition Dan is a voice actor in Los Angeles and works on movies and shows like The Lorax, The Book Of Life, Family Guy, and American Dad. We are also joined by a common friend, Twin Cities drummer Noah Levy, originally from his own Minneapolis band The Honeydogs. Noah has played with Peter Frampton, BoDeans, Five for Fighting, Mason Jennings, Martin Zellar, and others. He currently plays drums for Brian Setzer in both the Orchestra and the Rockabilly Riot. We discuss everything from Shakeys Pizza to the interpersonal difficulties between songwriters. Dan talks about being a buyer for Tower Records and working as an assistant to the manager of the Moody Blues. Noah talks about what it takes to do something impromptu on television when dealing with a 17 piece horn section of music readers. Dan takes us through the entire process of writing "We Belong" and he shares some stories about his cousin Dave. Noah talks about building a studio with his son Issac and his current escapades in the Minneapolis scene and much much more. We close with "on the road" Trivia. Enjoy.

Dan’s Website
Dan’s FB
Dan's Instagram - @dannavarromusic
Dan's Twitter - @dannavarro

We Belong - Lowen & Navarro

Walking on a Wire (Official Video) - Lowen & Navarro

Dan on American Dad  

Dan in Happy Feet  

Dan in Fallout 4  

Donate to help fight ALS

Noah’s Twitter - @NoahLevyDrums
Noah’s Instagram - @noahllevy
Noah Levy's FB Page

Noah with Brian Setzer's Rockabilly Riot - Gene & Eddie 

The Honeydogs - What I Want (official video) 

Noah with Brian Setzer's Rockabilly Riot - Stray Cat Strut

This episode John and Alan are joined by Eliot Lewis (Hall & Oates / Average White Band) and Herman Matthews (Tower of Power / Kenny Loggins / Tom Jones / Bob James). Eliot talks about working on Live From Daryl's House and some of the guests he's played with. Herman talks about drinking with Tom Jones and hearing Elvis stories until the sun comes up. Eliot talks about jamming with Peter Frampton at age 12 and playing at the White House, and Herman shares some experiences with Stevie Wonder, Richard Marx, and taking the place of David Garabaldi without trying to take the place of David Garabaldi. Eliot shares a story about playing with Booker T, and both of them discuss working with Kenny Loggins. We close out with a new segment - Soft Pass Trivia.

Eliot's Website
Herman's Website
Eliot with Average White Band
Eliot with Hall & Oates
Herman with Tom Jones
Herman with Tower of Power (Drum View) 

John and Alan sit down with Burleigh Drummond and Mary Harris-Drummond from Ambrosia for an hour of stories.  What kind of stories? Stories about how Bruce Hornsby first got his start in Ambrosia, Debby Boone, Ringo Starr, Michael McDonald, Edger Winter, Jimmy Buffett, and a bunch of other people all played a part in Burliegh and Mary's lives. Hear about how the soft pop stars Ambrosia killed time on the road by using explosives to launch trash cans in the air. Burleigh laments on having to practice in front of the greatest drummers in the world and Mary tells us about Sting and Stewart Copeland trying to push each other out of an airplane in flight. Burleigh and Mary talk about what it's like to have a second generation of Drummonds playing music together, and Burleigh finally clears the air on why Dave Pack isn't with the band. Most of all it's a delightfully fun trip through 5 decades of music, and some great stories told by a couple who's marriage has survived the same amount of time.

Tin Drum Music - www.tindrummusic.com
Ambrosia Official Website - www.ambrosialive.net

On this episode we have a rare appearance from east coast Singer/Songwriter Jason Malachi along with Midwest Singer/Songwriter Goran Kralj. Jason's life was turned into upheaval 10 years ago among accusations connecting him to the 2007 Eddie Cascio / James Porte / Michael Jackson sessions which were brought into ill repute by Teddy Riley and members of the Jackson Family, and ended up in an ongoing lawsuit - more about that in the episode.  We also talk about the songwriting process, Goran talks about seeing Jeff Buckley in the crowd at one of his past shows. Jason tells us about working with the R&B group Dru Hill and Jodeci among others in the studio as well as working with producer Damon Sharpe. Goran tells us his Desmond Child story. Jason expounds on horseback riding escapades in Los Angeles with Suge Knight. Goran talks about his band The Gufs and some of their touring experiences with Jars of Clay, The Samples, and Matchbox 20. We close out with a sneak peak of each artists new solo record, including a never before heard clip of Jason's new record.   

Jason's Website - www.jasonmalachi.us
Goran's Website - www.goransongs.com
The Gufs Website - www.thegufsmusic.com

Episode 3 is one of our favorites so far.  We sit down with the President and CEO of Clearwing Productions, Gregg Brunclik and the President of Apollo Productions and former Clearwing employee Jamieson Filip for an “All Crew” special.  We discuss the humble beginnings of Gregg’s company and how Eddie Rabbitt played a big part in it.  We also talk about the transition in concert production from the 70’s and 80’s when everyone was building their own cabinets to the present day systems and some of the in between.  Jamieson discusses the things it takes to produce large events including drilling through 10 feet of concrete at the Superbowl and a huge electrical debacle at the 2010 Winter Olympics.  We talk about some classic road pranks from back in the day, and how the “touring brotherhood” has evolved.  Gregg tells us about the time he provided production for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and The Violent Femmes at the north pole.  It’s capped off by Gregg’s first hand account (from behind the monitor desk) of the infamous Plasmatics show in Milwaukee where Wendy O’Williams was arrested spurring a years long legal battle between her and Milwaukee Police Chief Harold Brier. Take a ride on the Crew Bus this month and hear the real deal stories from the people who always tell it like it is.

Welcome to episode 2 of Soft Pass!  This month we talk to Sandy Ficca, the longtime drummer for Firefall, and Michael Ramos, who has played with such greats as; John Mellencamp, Patty Griffin, Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, BoDeans, Charlie Sexton, Robert Plant, David Grissom, The Rembrandts, Violent Femmes, Los Lonely Boys, Ani DiFranco and many more.  We talk about life on the road, and what we’ve found on VHS tapes left on the bus. Michael talks about his time working with Robert Plant, and Sandy tells us about the time he played with Jaco and some stories surrounding him.  Michael relates a classic story about something John Mellencamp made him do on tour, as well as his time recording at Paisley Park.  Sandy counters with his Ginger Baker experience and talks about Slim Jim Phantom and Skunk Baxter at a classic rock fest in Mexico.  Sit back and hear some great stories from a couple of road scholars this month on Soft Pass!

Welcome to Episode 1 of Soft Pass.  This maiden voyage was taped at the “Swampers” bar and grill in Florence, AL.  It’s fitting because it’s tied to both of our guests. David Anderson is a north Alabama troubadour, in addition to his time as the guitarist for Brother Cane and his current position playing guitar for Atlanta Rhythm Section, Dave has a solo acoustic show which he gigs 2-3 times a week around North Alabama and Swampers is one of his residencies. 

John Gifford III is a producer and engineer at the world famous FAME recording studios in Muscle Shoals.  The classic house band at FAME were called “The Swampers” and the bar and grill in Florence was named after this uber famous group of recording musicians.

This month Dave talks about his time with Atlanta Rhythm Section and Brother Cane, touring with Van Halen, his guitar collection and watching his son grow up in the music business.  We talked about a lot of firsts, including some of our first gigs.  John Gifford relates his experience with Lady Antebellum, and John Michaels talks about mixing Nirvana in the early 90s.