 Welcome back to Captain's Lounge Studios. I'm joined today by two opposite sides of the music industry, one on the recording side and one on the actual writing and playing of the music. So welcome to Rational Recordings and Rational Music, all mixed in together. Sitting at the table with me today is Joey Blunk and Brett Batterman. Gentlemen, thank you so much for coming in. Good to be here. Thanks for having us. So let's start off with you first, Joey, because we heard so much from him in our first interview that, oh, my goodness. Anyway, how did you get started in music? Oh, I mean, I started playing trumpet in fifth grade and I almost quit before the end of fifth grade. And then sixth grade, I started jazz band. And then from there, I just kind of, you know, jazz was like the main thing for me. That's unusual for someone, you know, because you're quite a young fella. Yeah. And, you know, jazz sort of was dying out quite significantly. And to find someone of your age group into jazz is a little bit unusual. Well, and you know, it was, I think, my middle school band director, Lisa Keener is her name. I owe a lot to all of my band directors, but did a really good job of kind of, quote, unquote, a gateway drug into music of like, you know, the song that got me hooked was we played 25 or 6 to 4 by Chicago. Oh, OK. You know, and that's like, yeah, we really fold jazz at that point, but like, you get there and then maybe we do a little bit out of Count Basie, maybe we do some Art Blakey, and it's like, OK, now I'm sold. That was kind of my door into. And that was your door into music. Yeah. But you now have to make the very next step. You're also a songwriter, correct? Yeah, I started writing when I was in high school and probably for a better and not worse, I can't find recordings of a lot of those things that I wrote in high school. And I think that's probably best that it stays that way. But yeah, I've been writing since high school, and it's so interesting. I don't know if, Brad, if you and I have ever talked about it, but I think one of the really interesting things as a songwriter and as a composer is you have all these influences that, you know, really shape the sound that you have in your head of what you're going for. And I just think the more that you write and the more that you work, the closer you get to that concept you have in your head of like, no, this is what I'm hearing and now I can actualize it. And now I can make it a reality. So, and that's been one thing that's been so exciting about the album for me. Right, right. We will discuss the album a little bit later, but you sort of mentioned, you know, knowing, Brad, how did you guys get to meet? I was finishing my master's degree at CU Boulder. And for the master's, part of the master's degree I had a recital that I had to do and going into that, I learned about the Longmont has the winter walk about music festival and I threw our name in the ring and we ended up getting picked to play and so we're at the show and getting ready to play and Brett is the one taking care of sound. And so we were talking before the show and then we ended up playing and then after everything was finished, you know, we just talked about how much you enjoyed the music and then everything kind of went from there. I mean, that's like at least the start of it. Yeah, yeah, well, and I had said, you know, I have a recording studio, I love your music and if you wanna put our heads together, you know, you wanna make the band show up, I'll make the record button go red and we can just make an album together, produce it together, you know, because I know that there's no money really in these genres. Yes. Okay, so you turn up to do a gig, got the band and everything and you know you're gonna be using a sound engineer that you have never met before. Doesn't that ever worry you? Because the sound engineer is gonna make you or break you. Yeah, I would say it actually worries me more now having had like positive experiences because I mean, I've played so many shows where it's just been like, it's probably gonna be bad. You know, like going into it, it's just, it's probably gonna be bad. But now that like we had an actual like good experience and can see what can be, now it's like, well, hopefully it won't be bad. You know, I mean, we played a show last year down in Denver where there was a three band lineup and we were the last to soundtrack and we only got a line check. And it was with all the equipment and the electronics we have and everything, it's just, it ended up going okay. But yeah, now I'm more nervous about it, if anything. Right, right. Aren't you allowed to take along your own engineer? You know, I mean, I'm sure if we end up getting gigs that are of that nature, I don't know if we're at that caliber yet to be Frank. Well, you played some pretty big gigs. I mean, with this group, we've done some of the bigger venues in Denver, I would say. I think we still have a long way to go to where I would like for things to be. You know, I think long term, what I'm really hoping for us to do is to start getting into some of the bigger theaters, even just as an opening act for bands coming through. Like, I mean, there are several bands out there where I would be thrilled just to be the opening act for this, you know, like hiatus Coyote is a band that I just adore. Well, many opening bands have gone on to make it rather big. I can remember Jimi Hendrix being an opening band to where it clapped and yeah, that's not gonna happen again. I'm sorry. Just amazing, just amazing. So, you've now got a concept. Now, let's talk about the band itself. Now, the music that you do is what? Jazz fusion, progressive rock fusion. Yeah, yeah. I would say it's a little of each. I mean, maybe it's self-serving that I don't think it fits into either category. I think many listeners would probably say like, oh, it's this one or it's this one, you know, but I think it has elements of it. It has a little bit of elements in everything. Yeah, yeah. And that's perfectly acceptable. Yeah. When I was a DJ up in Fort Collins, I used to do a radio show every Saturday night for five years. I always, all my music was European and it was either blues rock fusion, jazz rock fusion, progressive rock, all European. So I was able to play a whole ton of stuff that had never been heard in America. And I got some fascinating phone calls. Fascinating phone calls. Typically saying what the fuck was that? So, let's talk about the LP, okay? Where did the concept from the LP come? Where did the concept come from? So, I mean, like, you know, we, like we were saying, Brett and I had talked, you know, at several points really about like, this is something we should do. We should get this recorded at some point. And I think the really funny thing is the way that the band was when Brett and I met and the way the band is, it's like different bands, honestly. We started during COVID, right? So COVID hits, there's no shows. My roommates at the time, Rhiannon Dewey and Michael D'Angelo who were saxophone and drums in the band respectively, we started just doing like live stream shows from our basement, just the three of us. We would just play some, you know, jazz stuff. We'd stream it online. As we're doing that, you know, it was fun to play with each other. And then there was one night where, I think Rhiannon and I were chatting and we were just talking about like, man, like, you know, I don't, I like playing jazz. You know, it's not something I dislike, but like, I don't want to just be playing jazz for the rest of my life. Music that's been played since the 1950s. Right, I want to create something new and we're just like, why aren't we doing that? It's like, because we haven't done it. So it's like, let's do the thing. So that was kind of the motivator to start getting the groundwork laid for this, you know, and start getting it moving. Actually funny, one of the songs off the album, Katana, the first time it was ever played was the three of us in our basement. Oh, okay. You know, and it's definitely a different version. Yeah. Yes. So anyways, we get the band form, we start rehearsing and we get a show book. We played a little show at a place called The Muse in Lafayette, there's a great venue. They declared church and Pete to fantastic work there. So we did that show and then, you know, we started looking at doing other shows and getting things booked. And we must have had probably three or four shows in a row where either someone at the venue or someone in the band got COVID. And so we had to cancel the show and we just kept having to cancel these shows. And it was a real bummer. You're not kidding. Yeah. And so last, like, what was it? Probably like, it might have been before last January. It was, it was maybe towards the end of 2021, it would have been then that I, Brett and I were chatting. It's like, if we're not playing shows, let's just record the album now. So we started getting everything in place and then we ended up doing it in March last year. I don't remember the exact thing. It was in May. Oh, was it May, okay. One, it was exactly what you said. A few people had gotten COVID. And then of course, you know, six weeks later, we've got a date booked and then someone else gets COVID. Or then, you know, yeah. And so with six people, the scheduling is tough. That was where you planned it wrong. You should have all got COVID at the same time. So you should have had a group COVID meeting. The old chicken pox thing. That's it. Next album. Okay. So the LP is gonna be recorded. I always call them LPs. Sure, sure. Sorry. I'm old school. If it ain't on vinyl, it ain't music. Yeah. Tell us about the makeup of the band. So it's a six piece band. And so we've got, I think it's probably, I'll just say that, you know, so I play trumpet and I actually do, I do trumpet. And then I also have an effects pedal that I use with my trumpet. So I can use distortion and all this stuff. And then on saxophone as Rian and Dewey on guitar, we have Andres Orko on piano and a ton of synthesizers was Jeff Jenkins. And then on bass, we had Nate Marsh and then drums was Michael D'Angelo. Poor old drummer. Always left to the end. There is a malicious rumor that the reason that rock bands use fog machines is for the simple reason it hides the drummer. Okay. So you're all decided you're gonna, because of what's happened with COVID and all the rest of it, now where did the, it's a fascinating name. Where did the name of the LP come from? Oh yeah, so the, well, you know, it's like we were saying before the show too that we really like pulled a black Sabbath because the band name is Bigfoot Meter. The album name is Bigfoot Meter. There's a track on the album called Bigfoot Meter. But so I was, I'm really big into camping, really big into hiking. And I had driven out to Glenwood Springs and I was just camping out there and I was hiking on a trail and I can't remember the exact name of the trail. I know I've driven by it since then and I actually drove by with my girlfriend. I was like, there it is. That's where it came from. And because hiking up or getting up to the start of the trail, there's a couple of houses along the way. And one of the houses has like a bulletin board post outside talking about how Bigfoot is in the area. And they have a Bigfoot Meter of how likely you are to see Bigfoot that day. And it goes all the way from 1% up to 3%. Am I? That's a massive groan in here. I hope this is the LP cover. No, no, it's not. Honestly, it's a pretty, it's no offense to the person who has that in their front yard. It's a little rugged looking the way that they designed it. It's not really. Sounds perfect. Anyway. Okay, so that's, that's where you got the name from. You just saw this and it just stuck. I was like, it's a good band name. Yeah. That is amazing. That is amazing. I must admit, I used to enjoy playing black Sabbath and I used to enjoy saying that was black Sabbath on black Sabbath. I was playing the track black Sabbath. Yeah. I always got a kick out of doing that. How long did it take you to actually record the LP? Like the, like, like, are you talking of, like, get there that day and then finish it? Well, no, I mean, you probably did it over a number of days, I'd imagine. It was one day. Oh, one day. How many tracks? Six. Six tracks. Two or three takes of each. Yeah. That is going some. Yeah. I think the intention going into it was to really make it a very authentic and real representation of the music. You know, I don't know. I didn't want it to be going in and like, oh, we didn't really like how this one part, huh, this is a little out of tune. Let's go to, you know, and like, let's make it like a, because I don't know why you wouldn't want it to be like a live show. It's like real. Yeah. Yeah. And there's imperfections, but I think it's more authentic that way. I like it, because when we were talking in the other show that we did, you know, basically what Brett was telling me was you can record in the morning. You can edit in the afternoon and you can publish at night. Yeah. All of the hits were made like that, generally. Yeah. Until you start scaling up production, but... Right, right, right. I should imagine though that once you got through the first song, everyone was in the groove. There were definitely ebbs and flows. That was a horrible pun, by the way, but that's all. There were ebbs and flows, for sure. I mean, because there's... I do not mean this as like a bragging thing, but it's challenging music. You know, it's very... Yes. There's a lot of intricacies to it, so there were definitely moments where I was like, ah, there was one take of one of the tunes where within like the first 30 seconds to a minute or so, I was like, let's just, let's do that again. Yeah. Don't worry, I've done openings for this show just like that. I think now would be a really, really good time to actually listen to one of the tracks from the LP. This particular track is called Broken Promises. Where did that come from? I wrote it in... I think it would have been early. No, it would have been late 2019 was when I started writing it. And it's actually, it's about how when Ruth Bader Ginsburg died on the Supreme Court and then Amy Coney Barrett was nominated and this was after the whole, all of the stuff with Merrick Garland that happened in 2015 at the end of Obama's presidency and then basically the hypocrisy of Mitch McConnell. Right. So, and I don't, without even getting too political, I think regardless of what side you are on the political aisle, I think we can all agree that is not the way that our government should be functioning of the inconsistency. You will get no arguments from me at all and we have it on tape that I think America should go to a parliamentary system. We won't get into that today. So let's have a listen, this is track number five. The LP is called Bigfoot Meter and this is Broken Promises. So I can hear the, definitely hear the jazz in there and all of a sudden you've got a nice little piece of progressive rock drifting in and out. But when you said intricate, that was really intricate. I credit where credits do. I think a lot of that is coming from Mike on drums, Michael D'Angelo. I genuinely think that, I mean, undoubtedly, Michael is one of the best drummers I've ever played with. He might be the best drummer I've ever played with. Like Michael is just unmatched on drums and like you're saying, the intricacy in the every single subdivision is so intentional and so expertly placed. So I mean, yeah, not to say nothing of everyone else in the band, but Mike is just on another level. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but in jazz, really the drums do drive the beat. Whereas in rock, it's typically the bass that will drive the beat. And I would even say, in jazz, it should, in a good rhythm section, it should be a cooperative effort. I have many friends who are drummers where they'll talk about, and I don't think this is unique to jazz, but be at a jam session and getting ready to play and they might be getting ready to go up to a song and see like, oh, that guy's playing bass. I'm not playing on this one. Or vice versa, you know, just that kind of thing. Cause it's, yeah, it's just different feelings there. Do you use multi-track recording or do you sort of like try and record individually? We did the whole thing. So you do it as a band? Yes, oh yeah. I can't imagine trying to piece over cause the interaction is just so important. Right. Cause you all play off each other. Oh yes. Especially with this style of music. Cause I know many, many bands and you've probably seen this. Many, many bands, that's not how they do it. Yeah. They'll lay down a bass line, they'll lay down a drum line, then they'll think about putting in some keyboard piano and then right at the end, they'll put in the lead guitar and vocals. I think I got the order right. Well, it really depends on what the recording is gonna be. Oh true. Yeah, I mean, I just listened to an interview with Billy Corrigan of the Smashing Pumpkins and he talks about, you know, getting the core of the band done, but then they have all of these beautiful string arrangements that have to be laid down afterwards. How, like on Melancholy and the Infinite Sadness, they didn't really track to a click, so trying to have an arrangement conducted and performed by a small orchestra is very difficult. Yeah, it really depends on the way you want to do it. I think for our recording, we had talked about making sure that we didn't have any extra hurdles for the performers to encounter, and then also allowing the performances to speak for themselves, the relationships in the musical relationships to speak for themselves, and allowing everybody to shine. And another point that I think I should bring up is that I was on Joey about rehearsal for months. And just because, you know, it's the watch where it is, you know, everybody practice as much as you can before the day of execution. And he's like, well, we don't really rehearse. We don't really, you know, but everybody's really good and I'm sure we're gonna do great. And that left me with a little bit of anxiety. But then, of course, when they showed up on the day of they were all ready to perform. And I think that the record speaks to that largely because there really isn't a stall in the whole record. Like, it's nonstop energy from start to finish. Nice, yeah. And you've only ever had to do maximum of two takes? Yeah, yeah. That's incredible. I think there's one little thing that got fixed on, I don't even remember what it was. Yeah, very, very small. Yeah, for the most part, I usually say no funny business. There's no overdubs, no auto-tuning, no rhythmically, you know, putting it on the grid, none of that time alignment. Yeah, but it's just them. It's just the music as it's intended. We talked about Stavros, whom I know, and the way that he puts his music together, he has musicians from all over America, all recording individually and then all coming to a central point in Denver. And then they go in and put on the vocals. And I'm going, how does that work? That must be horrible. It happens a lot these days. Even orchestra recordings, they have music, they have software that operate over the internet where the producer can be in one city and the orchestra can be in the other and that there is no time gap. Like they can hear what's being recorded, they can give feedback, oh, at this bar, the cellos are too loud or whatever. And yeah, that's all across the web now. So you can do anything now. You don't have to be in the same room. I mean, it's good for evolutionary purposes, but I think the sky's the limit now when it comes to collaborations across the web. Right. So for collaboration reasons, it's great, but I still can't imagine not having everyone there in the studio and doing it together. I can't imagine not doing that. Well, especially the music that is for Joey's music. Yeah, it's basically an artwork. It's not, it's a non-starter, yeah. It's just, well, and it would probably fall flat, you know? Can you imagine trying to put together that big game from six different locations, be a nightmare. Well, yeah, it'd be like he's trying to film us all individually with this conversation. It's just not gonna stand up, he won't have legs. What amazed me was everyone's absolutely precise timing on it. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Because there were instruments cutting in and out, and it was... Well, they can all see each other in the studio. Yeah, so that helps. Brand did a great job of having this set up, so the visual is just so important. Mm-hmm, yep. And then I think another important thing to bring up is that the only acoustic instruments used were the drums, the sax and the trumpet. Having the bass, the guitar, and the keyboards be all direct and electric was, not only is it crucial to the sound, but I think it was crucial to the success of the session because we didn't have a lot of bleed issues, you know, with screeching guitar amps or loud bass amps or keyboards that are cutting through or anything like that, so. So you couldn't really hear the feedback? Oh, I didn't really have... No. And it didn't worry anybody? No. Well, there wasn't any feedback. Yeah, it was all through the head, we were all in the head. Yeah, it was all, everyone's on phone, getting feedback directly from you. Uh-huh, yep. And then just get that comfortable so everybody can hear each other. That's a great way of doing it. Yeah, yeah, it was fantastic. I was really taken with how it turned out, like we fell in and came out smelling like a rose. I still can't believe that you did the whole thing in a day. Yeah. I mean, to me, that is truly... It was. Yeah, no, but if it was 24 hours, I'd still be amazed. Well, and you have to remember too that Joey and I had been collaborating for two years, you know, on the phone. He's been working with the band and I've been brainstorming and, you know, getting all of my ducks in a row for the moment of, for Super Bowl. That's essentially what we were preparing for, is like, we're gonna have one moment to get this right. And if we screw it up, it'll be all on us. Or all the laurels and glory will be up for us too. So. Is this available yet? Yeah, oh yeah, it's on Bandcamp. It's streaming basically everywhere. Thankfully, the name is pretty unique, so it's not too hard to find. If you search Bigfoot Meter, there aren't a lot of other things that come up. Except a city photograph of a guy that's signed in his garden. That looks a bit tacky. Actually, well, since you mentioned it with the cover, using that as the cover too, we should talk, because Brett really, I mean, well, I should really quick say too that like, I know I've said it to you before, but like, Brett and I've had several people where have just been champions of this music and this project because there have been several moments where there's just so much work and it's like, I just can't do this anymore. You know, it's just too much of an undertaking and I don't have the capacity to do it, but I mean, there would, I think there were prior periods where we would go a month or two without talking and then I get a call from Brett and it would be like, so when are we recording this? When's this happening? So it just, I mean, as I know, we've said, Brett is just giving me that extra push to really make it happen. But I was gonna, the cover of the LP is, you should talk about that. So I was on a backpacking trip in the Wind River Range in Wyoming and just taking photos, you know, as you do when you're out there on vacation. And I came across this, in the Wind River Range, there's lots of contrast in snow depth. So you get these interesting formations with trees and roots and things. And I snapped a pic of essentially what looked like a veil and these strange eyes coming through the picture. And especially once I sent it to Joey with being a Pantone, you know, similar to many jazz albums, you just make it one color. And after a while it really, we just really both was like, yeah, this looks good. This is exactly what we wanted. So it was really serendipity to find that picture. But now several people have said like, that, wow, you guys must have really planned that cover because I can see there's faces jumping out and things and that looks like a veil. And it's like, no, no, that was just shooting from the hip while I was out in the trail. You know something? They won't believe you. Well, they don't have to. Yeah, yeah, I like the mystique too, you know. Yeah, it's like, well, and it's, sometimes, you know, you can believe that there's fate or guiding hands to things, but, you know, if you are aware and sensitive enough, you'll make the right choice and bring the right image or sound or whatever you're looking for. You just have to believe. Right. How many tracks are on the LP? Six. Six. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And what's the average length? Probably about eight minutes, I would say. They're pretty long. You've done a lot of gigs here in Colorado. What was the worst one you've ever done? Ooh, I assumed I have to count gigs that I actually played. It would help. Because I have had several where I've, like, I know we talked about those ones that got canceled from COVID, but I've had several where I've showed up to the gig and they're like, oh, we're not doing music tonight. And it's like, oh, you're fucking kidding me? And that was the worst one with that was it was actually, like, it was a background music gig, too. So we're just sitting in the corner playing, you know, just wall decoration. You know, that's all. I would probably say one of those, you know, where it's background music. You're not, don't get too creative on your solos. You know, don't do anything too adventurous. Don't play too loud. You know, just nice audio wallpaper for people to enjoy. Those are not, I don't do those anymore, which is I'm very grateful for though. I can understand that being very frustrated. Yeah, yeah. But no, actually I am excited because we have, we have another show coming up with the band with Bigfoot Meter, which I'm thrilled about that we've managed to get it. We're playing at Larimer Lounge on Saturday, March 4th. We have tickets on sale now. They're on Larimer's website. And it's doors are 4 p.m. The show starts at 5 p.m. It's us and then there are two other bands. Going on first, it's Alex Street. He has an electronic project that he's doing. And then second is a band called Same Cloth. That's like a very neo soul kind of thing. And then we're kind of closing the thing out. So you can get tickets for that now. And then, sorry, I was just gonna say if people are interested in learning more about us, the best way to find us is probably through Instagram. We're just Bigfoot Meter on Instagram. We have a Facebook page and I also have my own website, which is just joeyblunk.com and there's stuff about it there too. But those are probably the best ways to... Have you ever played down at the Speak Easy on third and main? No, but you know what? I've tried to and I never get notes back. I've sent notes about getting shows there and they never get back to me. Sarah, the owner, is an incredible business woman. She really is. And in fact, today we're celebrating down there the 10th anniversary of the Speak Easy. Oh, and she's a fascinating woman. But she is hopeless, hopeless. And I'm saying this and Sarah, I hope you're listening. You are hopeless at writing back. And she knows it and she admits it. We love you, Sarah. I will be seeing her later on today. I will make sure that I drop your name. I'll give you a card. Give me a card that I can give to her because she is always looking for good music. Great. Always. Give me two cards. Great. Thank you. It's been a joy talking to you both about music. I love music as you probably guessed. And it's fascinating to find people on your side of the music table. Can I sing? I have sung in musicals and all the rest of it, but I'm not a musician. You guys are musicians. And I consider you a musician as well because you are very much so. That's how I approach it too. Once again, thank you very much. Thank you very much. Ladies and gentlemen, thank you so much for tuning in to this show. I'm Nigel Aves, your host signing off. Goodbye from the Captain's Lounge Studio.