Podcast Transcript Today's guest on the Beach Maniac Island Music podcast is one of the secret weapons behind many of your favorite Trop Rock songs. Whether he's performing live on stage, laying down killer drum tracks in his Florida studio, producing and engineering records, or just being the guy every artist calls when they need musical magic, Alan Jax Bowers is everywhere in the world of island music. He's worked with some of the biggest names in Trop Rock, Sunny Jim, Monallo, Mark Mulch, Jonas Lorence, Jesse Rice, Donny Brewer, and so many more. And there's a good chance that when you hear a Trop Rock song on the radio, Jax had a hand in it. So I'm excited to have him today on the Beach Maniac Island Music Podcast. Jax, welcome aboard, my friend.
Thanks for having me, Bill.
So you're kind of, as I mentioned, a one-man Trop Rock factory, drumming, harmonizing, producing, engineering, recording. Before we take a deep dive into that, give us a big picture. What are all the hats you wear in the Trop Rock world?
Oh yeah, I wear a lot of hats. I'm a drummer first and foremost. I've been playing drums for 40 years, but you know, I always say like at this point in my career, it's a nice balance between producing and drumming and you know, I'm a songwriter myself, and I produce a lot of the stuff you hear. So it's a nice mix of me behind the drums, me behind my mixer, you know, with my production hat, my drum hat. So yeah, it's a lot, but every day is different.
I can imagine. How do you fit all that into a busy schedule that also includes traveling and performing?
Well, that's always, you know, that's always the thing. It's like, again, it's an odd mix of me going a hundred feet out the back door of my house to my studio or traveling the world because that's part of my job. But yeah, it's all scheduling. When I do work when I'm on the road, or even when I do the ship gig, you know, I have my Mac and I'm always producing or mixing or editing or writing or always something.
Right, and ‘always something’ is right because this is a recent social media post that I have in front of me that you put, I think it was on Facebook recently, and it's the ‘Trop 40’ of Radio A1A for that week. And it says, Monallo is sitting at number 14 with Moonlight, and you had a big hand in that, I know you played drums on it and produced it, right?
Yeah. yeah, Monallo and I are making his records. We're like a little duo, trio thing. We work a lot together.
Right. And then it says, “I had the pleasure of playing on and producing number 23, number 31, number 34, number 36, and number 21 and 33 were recorded here at my Mudcut South Studios.” So that's pretty amazing that you have a hand in that many things just in one Trop Rock Countdown.
Yeah, I'm very blessed. It's pretty cool.
So over the years you've worked with artists from many different genres, but specifically you seem to have focused in now on Trop Rock. Why did you become the go-to guy for Trop Rock musicians in particular?
Well, I still work on a lot of different stuff. I do Trop Rock stuff. I do ska stuff, reggae stuff. I have my hand in a lot of stuff, but it's just Trop Rock just seemed to take off for me. I've been playing this music for half my life, you know, Buffett music and Trop Rock music. And I don't know, it just kind of took over. So on a given week, you know, I'll work on five or six different projects or songs or EPs or records. And most of them will be Trop Rock vein. So, it's, you know, I just ran with it.
You mentioned that, and I didn't know this, you mentioned that you also are a songwriter. Have you written some of the Trop Rock songs that we hear on the radio?
Um, I don't think I've co-written anything (that’s on the air now). I co-wrote a song with Paul Roush a couple of years ago that we kind of did while we were down in Belize. But, um, yeah, I mean, I'm working on a lot of my own stuff right now, actually, trying to get some of my stuff finished and out. But you know, I'm always working on somebody else's stuff so my stuff kind of goes to the back burner.
I know I've seen you harmonize on some of the videos, but I haven't seen you as a lead singer.
Yeah, it's coming because I'm gonna put some of my stuff out probably by the end of the summer. So, yeah, I mean, I do play guitar, piano, bass, ukulele. I mean, I'm terrible at all of it. They're just writing tools. I just, you know I really, I'm supposed to be sitting here at the console or behind my drums. That's my place. With a guitar or ukulele in my hand, it's just for writing. You're never gonna see me play guitar live, I'll tell you that. Well, I shouldn't say never, but it's most likely not gonna happen.
Okay, so you mentioned ‘your stuff’. When you say ‘your stuff’, you're talking about songs that you have written? And then what are you doing with them? Do you have a band that you're putting them together with, or where do you go with it once you write a song like that?
Well, the songs I've written, I want to put those out just to see what they do. But we have talked about doing some of my songs with either Monallo or my buddy Pete, who plays with Monallo actually, bass player. But I also have some of my songs, what I call my drum music. I've done scores where it's just drums and percussion. It's like melodic drum stuff. And I actually had a couple of my songs in an Amazon Prime series called Surf Girls Hawaii. So it's like that's like it's b-roll stuff. You know it's nothing featured. You know they'll be surfing and you'll hear, you know, these tribal drums in the back and stuff. You know, not exactly Hawaiian, but they use some of my stuff for that show so that's pretty neat, too. That's another side of it, it actually came about through some work I'm doing on a film my friend Ed works for, Ed Burns, I'm sure you know who Ed Burns, is he's like really big actor. He's been in a million movies.
Ed has been known to turn down major films to fund his own movies. And I guess about, well, pre-COVID, so it's been a long time coming because they put the movie off a couple of times, but we're still doing work on the soundtrack and stuff. And I don't remember exactly who, but through that camp, if you will, is how I got with the Amazon people. And that's how I got a couple of my drum songs in that show. It's a great show by the way too, so if you get a chance to check it out.
Interesting. So how old is it? How long has it been out?
The first season was out, I think, last year, 12 months ago, 18 months ago. It's still on Prime, though. Surf Girls Hawaii. Yeah. It's a whole series. Yeah, it's neat.
Okay, it sounds like fun.
So you're joining us right now from the Mudcut South Studios, also known as the Hit Hut in beautiful Englewood, Florida. Let's talk some more about that. Tell me about the Hit Hut. What goes on there? What's a typical day like?
Well, as you know a lot of the stuff we do, pre-production or recording or vocal overdubs or guitars, you know like today I'm just importing some tracks that came in from Pensacola. I'm producing a track for a new client of mine named Justin Colvard. If you've heard of him, great songwriter, he's a Pensacola Gulf Shores guy. I actually did not meet him when I was up there - because the last two years for Meeting of the Minds I was in Gulf Shores - but friends of ours hooked him and I up. I have heard some of his stuff. He knows who I am. So we decided to work together. We, like last Wednesday, prime example, Pete came over, the track was sent to us, like pre-production track. He just played it with his phone. Pete and I sit here and record the drums and the bass and the guts of the song. And then we send it to Pensacola to Justin. And he goes into a studio and sings his own song and then sends me the tracks like he was here with me, but he's in Pensacola. And then I put it together and we put the song together and next thing you know it's out on the radio. It's pretty wild, yeah.
And I was going to ask about the changes in technology in music production because what you just described, 10 years ago probably wouldn't have happened that way, right?
Well maybe ten years ago but even when I got into it, you know, I'm a fairly young guy but I've been doing this for a while but going back early nineties mid-nineties when I started going into record studios, yeah you're absolutely correct I mean back even then when I started in this in this business you had to have the guts of the band, you know, in the same room. You had the artist if they had a producer obviously an engineer, drummer, bass player, you had the band, if you will, the guts of it, we're all in the same room. But yeah, as it's changing, besides doing the, you know, what I did this morning with him up there is pretty easy.
But I've played on albums for people I've never met before because they can send me tracks from anywhere in the world. Yeah, it's pretty, it's like, it's pretty neat.
Now I've seen some of your social media posts where you have, like for example, you had Mark Mulch in singing while you were playing the drums and you had a guitarist in there. So in that case, you were kind of bringing at least most of the musical elements into the studio.
Yeah, like when we cut Mark's track, you see my vocal booth right behind me here. That's the way that they sing. And on the other side of this wall behind me is where my drums are. You've seen my drum corner. It's like a damn drum shop, but yeah. And I'm sitting on the other side of my building, on the other side of the drums. Yeah, I was behind my drums. Pete was kind of in the middle playing bass. Mark was in the booth. And we basically cut the drums and bass and rhythm guitar for that song all live. It's pretty neat. In the studio, yeah, we did it together.
Yeah. So why do you choose sometimes to do it that way and sometimes to do it with remote tracks the way you described earlier?
Well, with Mark, we were going to do that track remotely, think, initially, but then Mark was down in Tampa for Music on the Bay, which isn't horribly far from me. I'm only about an hour and a half south of Tampa. So he said, hey, I'm going to be down for Music on the Bay. Why don't we, you know, I could just come down to you. So like that Monday, he came down here and we just recorded the track live because we could.
Because you could, and it's more fun that way, probably.
Yeah, yeah, and I get to do that a lot. Yeah, I get to do that a lot here. Steve Bowles just put a new song out. We did his song here. Well, actually that was just him and I initially. He was in the booth and me behind the drums and then I sent it to Pete. If he doesn't live too far from me, but he's does some stuff at home too. It's easier sometimes than coming here.
So tell me more about the HitHut. You just described a little bit of the layout there. How big is that? What else goes on?
The whole building is like sixteen by forty, it’s actually almost as big as my first house, believe it or not, but i've got my whole mix corner here with all my equipment, and like I said the booth and then the other side is drums and that's pretty much it. We've had as many as I think seven people here, we just cut tracks with for Rudy Cox, you know him of course right, we just did his EP and it was, we had, actually I think the most people we ever had recording at one time in my building. It was myself obviously. Rudy was in the booth. Dave Signs. Jeff was playing bass, Stick we call him. And a gentleman named Eugene Moles, who was actually down from Nashville for the weekend, which was really neat. So we got to do basically the whole band, you know, bass, drums, guitar, lead guitar, and keyboards at the same time in my little studio.
Is that like your favorite thing to get all those artists into your studio like that?
Well, we don't get, like we were just saying, we don't get to do things to that capacity much anymore. you know, and Dave's very old school, you know, Dave Signs, he's so used to, you know, the man has worked with everybody and their brother, you know, it's so cool. I learn something every time I worked with Dave still, and we were working together for five years. So he's like, yeah, we'll just do it all together. I'm like, well, we're going to be cozy in here. You know, my studio is only so big, but it came out great. I mean, there is something of course to be said about doing the rhythm tracks and the guts of something live. I mean, we get it sounding pretty tight. You'd have a hard time, I could show you two tracks, one that we did with five people in a room or one that we did with five people never in the same room. And you probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference which one is which. But it's neat.
Yeah, but for you it's probably more fun to have them in there and you got that camaraderie going on.
Well, it's fun, but it's also like stressful too, because because you got to make sure everything's working and it's a lot of channels, you know, probably between the drums, bass, two guitars, keyboards and everything of Rudy, we were probably running 24 tracks, you know, and then headphone mixes and so it's a little stressful, but yes, it was so fun.
Are you like the only employee of Mudcut South Studios? Do have other people who work with you and help you out with these things?
Not really. I mean, when I was up north, I had folks that helped me. My buddy Jeff was always with me up north. But I've been down here full time for five and a half years, and we've had the studio finished for about five years now. So I've been pretty much a one man show.
That's gotta be a lot of work. A lot of work.
It is but even like that day with Rudy you got, you know, five people playing music and Beth was here actually too, so six people. But once everything's up and running, you know, and the headphone cues are good we can hear, you know, we all have our headphones on and we can all hear each other then it's like, you know, boom, boom, boom, boom, and the next thing you know four songs are done. It's kind of crazy.
Yeah. And you also are owner of MFG Records. Tell me about that.
Yes, I recently acquired that from Dave Signs. Dave and Beth (Travers) started that label, well they had it when they were still up north, but when Dave came down here, he went up to an MFG records, MFG tropical, which is the subdivision. Basically a couple months ago, Dave sat me down and was like, you know, I came down here to retire. I'm sure you saw his post, you know, I came down here to retire and I'm not really retired. So he's like, we want you to take over the label.
Well, okay, I was shocked. But of course, in hindsight, was realizing that for like the last two years, Dave was basically grooming me to take over the label. We still joke about it. I think about it now, it's like, that's what he was doing. But it's so it's cool. I'm very grateful for that. So I'm able to take on the clients and the artists that Dave and Beth had already signed, Rudy Cox, Paul Roush, Mac Martin, Ray Boone.
So what does that mean with MFG records? Of course, there are no records anymore. Owning a record label, what does that mean? What is that in addition to all the other work that you do at the studio?
Well, I'm going to have, it's, you know, the label, I will produce the records, promote the records. So really the biggest jump for me was now I have these new artists, some of them are new. I'm still working with Mac Martin. You know, I've got these artists under my fingers now, so it's like I can do things with them. And we're talking about doing a compilation of some sort, even though it's really not records or CDs anymore. Or, you know, we're just going to kind of take MFG and keep it going forward and hopefully branch it out a little bit too.
And MFG stands for ...?
That's one of the first things, I didn't even know what it was until long ago. Music For Grownups.
Which is ironic in the Trop Rock world (laughing).
Isn't it though? But yeah, I didn't even know what it meant for a while, but then he's like, yeah, Music For Grownups. So yeah, it's neat, it's a different thing. ... It's working with different people, new people, and I'm gonna make it more of my own thing and bring other people in. So it's fun, I'm looking forward to seeing where we're gonna go with it.
Great. And Mudcut South Studios, where did that name come?
Years ago, before I even had an actual studio when I lived in Pennsylvania, I had equipment and stuff and I was doing, I was working in other studios, but when I first started putting my own studio together, I literally just needed a name for the paperwork. This is probably back in, lord, probably 99 or so. It just came to me in a dream one night. It doesn't mean anything. just, the mud cut is just what came to me and it's stuck. It’s 25 years later and we were gonna rename it when we came down here but I don't know whether it's just we never came up with something or I'm lazy I don't know which but I was like we're just like well let's just do Mudcut South and that stuck so. And actually yeah, now with the and even before the blending of Mudcut ,with the label MFG, Dave Freeman - I'm sure you know who Dave is, keyboard player Dave works with everybody Dave Freeman - just on a whim one day called it the Hit Hut. And I'm like, I like that. So that kind of stuck. That's kind of what we're calling the whole conglomerate of MFG and Mudcut, and it's the Hit Hut.
So when you moved down to Florida and started this or moved this business down there, has it turned out bigger and better than you ever expected or is it pretty much right on track with what you were hoping for?
I mean, I never imagined, I mean, that I would have, you know, from Dave now too, you know, like the label and the clients, a different thing to manage. But I am doing my own stuff. I have my own clients, remote clients, clients down here. But yeah, I'm pretty pleased with it. I mean, the new studio is great. It's not as big as my old studio, but it's certainly prettier and there's no snow, which is the main thing. Because I was pretty much done with the snow at that point in my life. So here we are.
Right. And you were in, was it Pennsylvania?
Yes, Milford, yeah. Like the top of New Jersey. I'm from New Jersey originally. So the whole New York...
Tell me, tell me about that whole journey, how you got started into this and how you moved from Jersey to Pennsylvania to Florida.
Okay, well was born and raised in New Jersey and I started playing music when I was very young, like fourth grade, I think I was like 10 or 11 years old. Started playing drums and played through middle school, high school, marching band, jazz band, the whole deal. And I actually went on the road pretty young with my original band, got the whole feel of that. And that surprisingly didn't scare me away at 18, no, 19 years old. I'm still going now.
What was that band called?
That band was called Steelgrass. It was an original band that I had back literally when I was 18. And I started traveling with different bands, started recording, well actually went into a studio the first time probably when I was still in high school. Well definitely. I was probably like 16. And I remember the whole studio thing, even though it was a small home studio that this gentleman owned, I was like, I like this, you know, all the knobs and everything. It was like flight control to me. So I started getting into production through a gentleman friend of mine named Dave Durr, musical genius and great producer back in the day, and now his company makes really like high-end studio equipment. So got out from behind the drums a little bit and ... then I moved to Pennsylvania when I was in my early 20s. And so I had a little more room, had my own house, and that's why I started getting more equipment. And then in the garage on that property, we built my first studio out in, I believe it was 2004. So I had that facility and you know, had bands coming from all over. But we talked about moving to Florida for years. But then in the late like 2015, 2016 and whatnot, so many artists started doing the remote thing with me. Even some of my clients in New Jersey, they were just emailing stuff because it was easier.
So I started thinking to myself, I don't need my New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania based clientele to make a living doing production. So that's when we started looking into moving down here. And the next page in 2019, we just decided to do it. We did it, thank God, before the, you know, the shutdown and everything. And we moved, we got into our house in October of 2019, down here in Englewood, got the studio done and built not much after that in the summer of 2020 amongst all the insanity. And here it is. It's great. I love it. It's a great facility. Yeah, that's how I wound up down here and doing production.
Beautiful. Now, somewhere in that journey, you also spent a lot of time on cruise ships, as I understand.
Yeah, I mean started doing cruise ships just little short blasts many many years ago. Started with Norwegian and then some Disney stuff but two years ago I actually signed on as a guest artist with Virgin cruise ships. Virgin is its own different thing as you can well imagine. It's a really cool cruise line. Got to work with a blues band out there. That was a lot of fun.
I'm still doing that, gonna go back to doing that probably in 2026. It's not a full-time thing for me obviously. I'll go do a couple weeks here, a couple weeks there. It's not a bad gig though. I spent a month in Greece last summer with Virgin. That was amazing. If you ever have a chance to go to Greece, I highly recommend it.
Nice. And what's your role on the cruise ship, musically?
With that particular band, I was just playing drums and singing. I wasn't part of the production team or anything like that. A lot of times when I do travel dates, I'm just drumming or playing percussion or whatever. But here is where I kind of run things at home.
And you also were a member of a beach band?
Oh yeah, up in New Jersey. Parrot Beach was the name of the band. Yeah, that I literally, basically to this day, I still pay with them sometimes. This time last year, I was actually up in New Jersey doing a whole slew of shows with them. They are basically a Buffett Tribute and an island, reggae band. I literally joined that band in June of 2000, half my life ago.
Yeah, it was great. I mean, I was raised on Buffett's music, so I kind of knew this stuff already. And they were older. God, if Remy hears this, he's going to kill me. But, you know, they were very kind of reluctant to hire a 25-year-old, you know, in their band. But I think it worked out pretty well. You know, that band, I started with that band, like I said, in 2000. And then in 2004, the name changed from Parrotville to Parrot Beach. And then I played in that band for like almost the last 25 years almost straight even since I moved here I still go up and do shows with them.
So you do have the beach music thing inside of you. I mean, it's part of who you are and always has been.
Yeah. I grew up on a lake, I grew up on a lake water skiing and yeah, I'm a water baby even from up there and now especially. But yeah, I have it in me, no doubt. And then of course, this Buffett stuff, like I said, my uncle Kenny, who was my dad's brother, was a huge Parrothead and I literally remember as a kid him playing the records for me. Like pulling out the records and putting them on, which is cool.
So, you know, and I've got to work with all of Buffett's band. You know, I'm friends with all those guys, Jim Mayer, Peter, Mac, you know, Robert, Ralph when he was with us. You know, it's kind of crazy. Jimmy's passed, Ralph's passed. But I was also lucky to be kind of friends with Buffett, too, you know, to see him down in St. Barts all the time. And that was always a trip. You know, you would have told me that when I was a kid that I'd be friends with him one day. I would have told you you're crazy. But here we are.
Tell me a little bit more about that. Do you have a favorite Jimmy Buffett story?
God, there's lots of them from down there at St. Barts, but I think one of the funniest ones was the night he was playing there, and of course we weren't because he was playing, he kind of takes over when he's there, and he broke a string as he was playing it. So I grabbed, the gentleman I was down there playing with, the little band, I grabbed his guitar, because he didn't mind, and I gave it to Jimmy, and of course I said, do you have any other strings in your bag? And of course he looks at me and goes, I don't know.
So I look in his bag and there were strings in there. So I changed the string for him and a couple songs later gave the guitar back to him and in his infamous crazy tone he goes, you tuned it too. Like no, I'm gonna give it to you out of tune. And he gives me that rock look. He always gave me that like he wanted to call me a smart ass but wouldn't. Well, yeah, I mean Jimmy was, you know, an amazing guy, real sweetheart of a guy. And I was blessed to have those small chances to hang out with him and talk music and family. He was a regular dude.
Right. So you mentioned Saint Barts. Why Saint Barts? Why were you in Saint Barts and he in Saint Barts at the same time?
Well, he has a place down there. He's been singing songs about that place as you know for many many many many years. And I play down there. .. But the place I used to play at this world-renowned place called the Baz Bar I'm sure you've seen it all the videos from Jimmy playing down in St. Barts when he just shows up are all there and I was very fortunate to play at that bar for many many, it's right in Gustavia Harbor. I mean, it's one of the most beautiful places in the world. And it just happened a number of times I was down there, he was down there. you know, initially it was kind of funny. He would see me down here. He kind of like, what the hell's he doing here? Like, you know, he kind of remembered who I was because I played with Mac and all that. So it was funny. But yeah, it was always neat to have those, you know, times down there with him.
Awesome. ... All right, are there some certain songs that you've worked on as a drummer or producer that you're most proud of or most excited about?
That's a tough question Well currently this song we have out with my boy Monallo called Moonlight I'm sure you know that that's out featuring G Love and Special Sauce, you know with me and James – you know Monallo’s name is James, just in case you didn't know, so that's confusing. Yeah, but some people don't. It even confuses my wife sometimes I'll say Manalo then I'll say James and she'll be like, could you just pick one please?
I think it confuses him sometimes too (laughing).
Yeah, it certainly confuses people. But you know, Jax is not my real name either, so here we are. It's a nickname. But no, we're super proud of that track, Moonlight, with G-Love, because the funniest part about it is if you've ever, if James has ever, if you've ever heard him talk about it, when we first tracked that song, Moonlight, and his next single, which is coming out next month, we didn't really plan on having any special guests with it. It just kind of, we were just doing it. But...whatever happened we were like we wish it is so he's like i think I'm gonna look up G-Love because he has he worked with people who know G-Love from his camp and everything so he looked him up and he was like yes send me the song if I like it I'd love to do it. So we sent it to him he loved it so we did it and it was just a whole nother thing, you know it’s neat it’s weird you know because I'm kind of in Trop Rock, James is new to the whole Trop Rock thing but this is kind of a not so troppy song. But the G-Love thing was just like a whole nother market. It's like that Jam Band Philly thing. So it was neat to do something way out of the box. I think we really surprised people. People were thinking it was gonna be a Trop Rock artist who was the special guest or someone from Jimmy's band. But we really went a full left turn with it. So I'm super proud, super proud of that song. It's still doing really well. Radio 41, which is down by us here, I think it's based in Cape Coral, it's like the radio station down here in South Florida, Moonlight has been top, the number one song for the last five weeks. So that's pretty cool, yeah, we're super proud of that. And of course, you know, it's on Radio Trop Rock, it's on TikiMan Radio, it's everywhere, you know? So we're very proud of that track.
That's amazing. And you put that all together at the Hit Hut and G-Love was a remote track, right?
Yeah, he did that from his place in Philly, I believe, yeah. So that was neat.
So there's a lot of stuff that goes on in that Hit Hut that brings it all together... You mentioned your nickname, Jax. Where did that come from?
It is not really an exciting story about it. It’s just, I needed a nickname back when again, talking about Remy and Parrott Beach, Parrottville, they all have kind of like nicknames and whatnot. And I had had that name from a friend of mine, believe it or not, from Australia, from when I was younger. So it's just, there's really no like big story behind it. I just needed to adopt something. I had had it earlier, so I just went with it. And now it's funny, a lot of the, you know, the Buffett people and Trop Rock people, if you said my real name they probably would even know it, they just know me as Jax so it's kinda funny but it's worked out for me.
I wanted to ask about technology some more. With things such as remote tracking and AI, it's changed a lot over the last number of years. But AI in particular has just been exploding in the last couple years. Does AI influence your work in some ways?
Yeah. I mean, I think it's going to, if it hasn't already, it's kind of inevitable with songwriting even. I mean, directly with me? I don't know. I mean, maybe it's just the hope of mine. I'm trying to equate it along the lines of, you know, years ago, you had a studio, everybody had home studios, but it was nice to be me, because even if people had home studios, they didn't have the proper equipment to record drums, because obviously you need more than two inputs and stuff. So I was kind of like, the last of the old school, I think I kind of still am. Because even a lot of the producers I work with now don't have the capacity to do drums, which is great, because it works out good for me. I think of the same thing. I think for me, there's guitar loops and there's all this crazy stuff and this AI thing for songwriting, but I'm hoping I'm going to have at least a little bit more of a window before I get replaced by AI drums. I guess that's the idea. I guess that's my thinking on it.
So when you say get replaced, how would that come about if and when it came about? What are you referring to there?
I think AI eventually, I mean, just like there's, you know, guitar loops and keyboard loops and stuff, drum loops, of course, I have my own. I think eventually, I would be foolish not to think that eventually you're not gonna be able to feed even an iPhone recording of a song, guitar and vocal, into a computer and it's gonna be able to spit out a drum track for you. I have no doubt that's gonna happen. No doubt in my mind. I just hope it doesn't happen anytime soon.
And what's your, as a professional drummer, what's your feeling about that? Is that like a bad thing, a step down versus the personal drumming that is so important to a song?
Well, overall, I it's like that age old .. I had the bumper sticker for many years that said: Drum machines have no soul. I mean, I know, I mean, I'm not gonna lie. I personally know people, let alone out there in the world who can program drums, you know, with a drum machine or an online or, whatever, and make it sound really good. I mean, sometimes to the point where I have to listen like, is that real? You know, because it's, they're that good. So yeah, I mean, it's gonna happen. I don't know when or how it's gonna affect me. Yeah, yeah, I mean, there's no doubt it's gonna happen, but it's also, I hate to say this, I also think it, like guitar loops and drum loops and stuff, it's gonna help with the songwriting, as long as people don't overuse it. You know, if somebody just says, hey, you know, give me a groove for this song and then they can work on their song off of it, I think that's great. But if they're gonna do these AI things for, you know, albums and stuff, that's just kind of cutting out the artists, you know?
Right, like you say, it's taking the soul out of it.
Mm-hmm.
So from the perspective of a professional drummer, how important are drums and percussion in general to the success of a song?
I think it's very important. I mean it's the heartbeat. I mean you look at ska music, reggae music, you know, tribal music, if you will. Whether it's in Africa or Native American, you know, it's that heartbeat, that boom, you know, that's the music, the drums are the heartbeat of all music, I think. So I think it's extremely important.
I mean, I'm not reinventing the wheel with lot of the stuff I do. I mean, Trop Rock and Reggae and rock stuff, straight ahead stuff, I do, you know, I think it sounds and feels better when there's human beings playing drums, bass, percussion. You know, I think it definitely has more of a life to it. But I think drums are very important. It's usually the first thing. If you're cutting a record, it's usually the first thing that gets done is the groove. That's the start of it.
And what distinguishes you as a drummer? Does every drummer have their own drummer personality, per se?
Yeah, I mean drummers, like vocalists, guitar players, everybody sounds different, you know. I could, to the same tracks even, to the same, you know, guitar, bass, everything, you know, I could play drums to something and somebody else could play drums to something and it could have a totally different feel. A lot of what I do, I'm sure you know this, like when I do fly gigs with artists, you know, like you said, I work with Donny Brewer, Tom Shepherd, you know, guys, I'm not really in their band, I have a whole slew of their songs I know already. And then sometimes I learn other things for events. But then I'm basically emulating what's on the record. Sometimes exactly, sometimes in my own little way. But it always has a different feel depending on who's playing.
Right, so if you had two drummers playing the same song, they would sound different, because there's no specific track for drumming, right?
Yeah, yeah. I mean, even I think sometimes when I'm playing live a track that I played in the studio, it has a different feeling because the tempo is not the same. The energy is different. There may not be a click track. You know, we can kind of go our own tempo. It's always different.
I just saw a video of you and Monallo playing at the A1A Beach Bash. Actually, you were in the television studio in Jacksonville. Jacksonville, right? That's where it was. And you were playing what I think is called a Cajon drum.
Yeah, yeah, cajon. It's just a box, basically. Yeah. Yeah.
Yeah, you were sitting on it. And you had the brush drumsticks that you were using on there. Is that right?
Yeah, they're- it's called a whip. ... So the drum is a cajon. I basically sit on it and then if you're play it the proper way, you were supposed to play it with your hands, that's the way they play it, you know, South America, wherever the drum came from, or the Caribbean, I don't even know. But I play it with those whip things. They're like a mixture between a jazz brush and a drumstick. And then actually, I don't know if you saw the videos from the beach bash itself, when I play with Monallo, at times I also have a snare drum and cymbals and stuff too with that drum that I play with a pedal, like a bass drum. So it's always, it's like, that's like the mix, that's like the middle point between just the cajon that you saw on the TV station and a full drum set. It's like that middle road.
And the nice thing about the cajon is it's just very portable and that's probably why you took it into the TV studio. Right? And still sounds great.
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, was, yeah, it's neat. It makes a lot of noise for something that's so simple. I always joke that that cajon drum has traveled more than most people I know. It's been around the world.
Right. So tell me about your family and your life in Florida.
I love it down here. I mean, my wife, obviously my four kids, we have a beautiful home down here and my studio in the backyard, which is convenient. You know, I can just walk out my screen door and a hundred feet out to my studio. So it's nice when I'm home, I can still get work done and I'm not always traveling.
Right, and there's a lot of gigs in the area there that you can do in Southwest Florida.
I really don't gig around here that much. And right or wrong, blue or green, you know, a lot of studio stuff I do and then most of the gigs I do, I travel. You know, I either go, you know, up to Orlando, you know, I do a lot of stuff up there, East Coast, you know, and then I got fly dates, of course, with, you know, Tom Shepard, Monallo, Donny Brewer, you know, I do a lot of fly dates and travel dates. Who else do I work with? A lot of people.
And I got some stuff coming up this summer with Monallo. I just did a couple things with Thom Shepherd, Lone Star Luau and all that. And of course I got some more dates, fly dates and stuff with my buddy Jesse Rice. You know I work with Jesse too. So, but a lot of stuff with James this summer with Monallo and getting the record done too. Because besides Moonlight, like I said, it's been out for a little bit. We have Lover's Key coming out next month, which is the new single.
And then we've already got four or five more songs done towards the record, which is going to be out probably in the winter.
Awesome, I look forward to that. So at the Meeting of the Minds last year, you were up for musician of the year, I think for the, was it the third time?
Mm-hmm. Ah, third or fourth, yeah.
Yeah, so what does that mean to you?
It's cool. I mean it's even just to get the nod is so nice, especially with you know, John Patti and Johnny Doo, Mark Morales has been nominated, Brad Brewer, you know, these guys are my buddies and my fellow musicians, you know, so it's so cool to even just get the nod, you know. I appreciate it. I mean, I get to do a lot of different styles and music and realms of music but you know I love my Buffett people, so it's nice to get the nod from people. Maybe one day I'll win, who knows?
I wouldn't be surprised. In fact, I would expect it. ... And I love your reference to the Buffett people.
My people. That's what Jimmy would always say when he would come out at Baz Bar. The Baz Bar was a small little place. It wasn't a big restaurant. He would just always come out and go, My People.
Awesome. So you mentioned some of the things you're working on. I was going to ask about that as you look down the road. What new ventures do you have or new goals that you want to achieve?
I got a lot of stuff going on. Monallo's thing is a big thing for me right now. I'm most like personally tied with Monallo. I work with a lot of different artists and I'm appreciative of all of them, but Monallo and I are kind of a team. He used to say, I am Monallo, but now he says, we are Monallo. So it's me and him sometimes, sometimes me and him and Pete, our bass player, with the record going on.
We've got some big things in the works. Doing some dates with some bigger artists and some, I can't really give too much away here, but it's coming soon. Some new deals and some new venues and things we're gonna be playing. So it's very exciting. But yeah, I mean, I've got a lot of stuff coming out. You know, I just had a song come out with Mark Mulch too and Steve Bowles. I'm currently working on the EP for Rudy Cox, Mac Martin, Manalo's stuff, that Justin Colvard track that I'm literally working on right now. That's a really cool song. That's his first endeavor, I think, into Trop Rock, and this song is gonna be ... the Trop Rock people are gonna eat this up. It's a real good beach song. I'm excited about that. But yeah, I mean, and like I said, I've got some traveling going on this year, corporate stuff, some stuff with Jesse. Yeah, I'm excited. It's gonna be a good year.
It's unbelievable how much stuff you have going on. Unbelievable. Is there anything else you want people to know about Alan Jax Bowers that we haven't talked about?
I feel bad I only spoke so briefly about my wife and kids, but my wife is amazing. For those people who are watching this who have met my wife, she's amazing and she's tolerant of me, you know, having my giant man cave out here and, oh honey, you're gonna go to Greece for a month without me? Okay, have fun, you know. She's fantastic and my kids are, you know, my kids are great. You my kids are almost nine, 15, 17 and 18. I got one going away to school this fall, which is a real, you know, I feel like we just brought her home the other day and now she's 18 and going off to college to be a pilot, you know, but I'm extremely blessed to have my beautiful wife and my amazing kids. And I just, you know, I don't know what I did to get this, but I'm glad I did.
Wonderful. All right, well thanks again, Alan Jax Bowers, for being my guest on the Beach Maniac Island Music Podcast. I look forward to seeing you down the road, and maybe, just maybe, I can get a tour of your Hit Hut next winter when I'm back down in your area. That would be awesome, I would love that. All right, well thanks again, and we will see you down the road.
Any time, come on down. Thanks, Bill.
