Up first, it's Jared Weeks from Saving Abel. We stared off the conversation by talking about playing for the troops overseas. 

He talked about leaving and rejoining the band. Jared's always been very candid about his struggles. Leaving the band was self-preservation. ""I just didn't have the tools to live in reality at the volume of 11." He had to get himself together, through therapy and more, to straighten up his life. 

He tells me what the other guys in the band have going on. New music? Yes, it's coming. He talked about the cover song that he did with the band No Resolve. As far as Saving Abel, the single called "Baptize Me" drops on April 14th. "We've focused more on hard riff, double bass, more rock and roll type music." He said the music has more of a mission and purpose.

He became very emotional when I brought up the passing of Wayne Swinny from Saliva. Wayne was a great friend to many in the music business, Saving Abel no exception. Jared told a story of joining the Wayne on stage last year. 

That's just for starters with Jared......

Brad Arnold from 3 Doors Down and Kevin Martin from Candlebox joined me to talk about their summer tour, which stops here on June 21st at the Michigan Lottery Amphitheater.

Kevin confirmed this will be the last proper tour for his band. "I've been threatening this for a long time." He said the pandemic really pushed him towards his decision. He went into more on that and how touring forced him to miss out on much of his family life. Brad gave me his thoughts on his last tour. "I've thought about it before, but I got to where it's fun again." He talked about being on tour before he got sober "It got to be not fun!"

Even though Kevin is retiring from touring, that doesn't mean that things will stop for him. He still plans on doing charity shows and new music, with a documentary on the horizon. "It's time for me to say goodbye to this (touring) lifestyle."

They tell me which they prefer - an outdoor shed vs. and indoor show.

Kevin talked about touring with RUSH and what he learned from that tour that he still does today, thirty years later. He also talked about being joined by at least one original member through some of the final shows.

Brad talked about being the last original member from the inception of the band. "By the grace of God. Man, we've had some bad stuff happen. Either one of those situations that happened to those other guys, could've happened to me."

-Meltdown-

https://wrif.com/shows/meltdown-on-wrif/

https://wrif.com/podcasts/talkin-rock-with-meltdown/