Green Day’s latest album Revolution Radio has taken off like wildfire, fueled by the success of the first single Bang Bang. Green Day released two videos and the first to hit was the animated lyric video. These days a lyric can be more important than a theatrical release on social media. We sat down with the animator himself, Ariel Costa, of BlinkMyBrain.tv.
With numerous awards to his name, Ariel Costa is a freelancer with a passion for animation. Ariel also recently completed work on a music video for Led Zeppelin. Watching Ariel’s body of work, you can see he has a unique style all his own. Much of that is showcased throughout the Green Day video and his personal projects including Sins.
You can check out Ariel’s complete works at his site BlinkMyBrain.tv and his Vimeo channel: https://vimeo.com/blinkmybrain
Preview: Green Day Music Video Animator
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nfdBAg3-5A
Green Day Bang Bang Lyric Video Animator Ariel Costa Interview
This episode of the Imperfect Podcast is also available on SoundCloud & iTunes:
This week’s guest on the Imperfect Podcast is actor Marshall Teague. Marshall is a Navy veteran, a gentleman and a scholar. He has 114 acting credits to his name, that includes the small screen and the big screen. We found out what it was like to work with Sean Connery on the set of The Rock and all of the painful details of the epic Road House fight scene with Patrick Swayze.
He’s a long time friend of Chuck Norris, having starred in Walker Texas Ranger. He most recently completed work on the the indie film Road to the Well. You’ll never believe how he got the role!
Marshall is as humble as he is a bad ass. His physical strength and confidence continue to win him roles in an industry that is quick to turn over many actors in a Hollywood minute. We thank Marshall for his service to this country and wish him continued success in his acting career.
Keep up with Marshall Teague on Twitter & Facebook:
On this week’s Imperfect Podcast we interview actor and Eyes of the Roshi producer Ethan Marten. Ethan is joined by cast mates, actress Stacy Whittle and Grand Master Adam Nguyen who was the inspiration for the film. Eyes of the Roshi has been making a buzz on the indie film circuit with its intelligent story line and cast that also features actor Eric Roberts.
The inspiration and origination of the movie comes from Grandmaster Nguyen’s own royal family lineage – a form of yoga and karate do they have been teaching for 1,000 years in Vietnam…and now, America.
Ethan Marten: How did Light Age Films get started?
It actually started when I was a little kid. My dad was an innovator in film. He produced 150 motion pictures and Broadway plays. His clients ranged from from Desi Arnaz to Errol Flynn and it meant anything to me and my three brothers. It was one day when Moe Howard of the Three Stooges called the house looking for our old man. You never four kids running around the house as excited as we did. Light Age Films was my getting into the production side.
Ethan Marten: Have you had formal training as an actor?
I had a little formal training buy my first training was on set. Buzz Kulick had me on Too Young The Hero in the mid 80’s. Craig … who runs his casting agency out of Screengems down in Wilmington mentored me for quite a few years. I was on motion picture sets early on.
Stacy Whittle: How has your career led to your role in Eyes of The Roshi?
I flip between two worlds. I”m an economist by training and have lived all over the world and as such have acted all over the world. I’ve spent the majority of my life in the Middle East, Ireland, South America and Europe. I’m mainly a stage actor.
Ethan Marten: How did Grandmaster Adam get involved with Eyes of the Roshi?
Eyes of the Roshi is 30 years in the making. My parents built the first movie studio in Virginia. At one time it was the largest on the east coast. We shot Navy Seals here with Charlie Sheen. Grandmaster Adam was teaching yoga to my father. Adam would say you gotta do a movie about me some day and I would always say sure.
Stacy Whittle: How did you connect with Ethan for the film?
I had met Ethan and hew knew about my two worlds. Coming from the environmental background I was excited to join forces with him for White Buffalo. Then he told me about Eyes of the Roshi and suggested I audition. A friend of mine who’s an Emmy Award winning film maker said he’d shoot my audition for me. After staying up all night we got it done and I submitted the audition tape and got the part.
Acting with Eric Roberts was like getting a master class in acting. It was one week of very intense acting.
How did you get Eric Roberts involved with Eyes of the Roshi?
We had a character named Booker who was a hood that required a sense of humor kind of like the Gang Who Couldn’t Shoot Straight. He had to be a strong actor and comically funny without trying to be. Eric Roberts was on the short list of people who I thought would be good and that I wanted to work with.
What was the inspiration for your character, The Hitman?
I had several. I’ll start with the quirk. I knew that my character needed something quirky. Stacy happens to be a floss addict. She is constantly flossing and campaigning for it. She says if you floss really well its better for your teeth than brushing. One day she said why isn’t your character a floss addict and I loved the idea.
What is it like working with family on a project like this?
My brothers are all actors. I believe in nepotism and they all taught me to act.
What are the challenges of having a production company in Virginia?
Ethan: I grew up in New York. Anything I wanted theatrically was minutes. What I’ve found is that it doesn’t matter where you are as long as you have dedicated people, knoweledable people and people that are willing to roll up their sleeves. We have had Stephen Spielberg and Tom Hanks in town. The mecca is where you make it. That’s part of the indie spirit.
Stacy: I think it’s happening more and more anyway as metropolitan areas become so prohibitively expensive. Artists are naturally migrating to where they can work and live and not starve. Ethan is forward thinking by establishing the studio. It’s only a matter of time before people start looking outside of New York and Hollywood for real talent. I’ve worked with some of the most talented people I’ve ever met on Eyes of the Roshi.
Ethan: Star Circle pictures, which is the first movie company I started with my older brother Richard who is an Executive Producer on Eyes of the Roshi. We were the first in the world to complete a movie with the Panasonic AG-HVX200. We shot our film in 2 days, 40 setups per day. Back then we talked about how the technology would democratize movie making and that’s pretty much what’s happened. Anyone with the burning desire to tell a story has that ability now.
What were the details behind the making of Eyes of the Roshi?
If you ask Adam that question, his answer would be too long. We developed a first script and from start to finish it would have cost $30 million dollars to complete. Joe and John Mark took the lead on a totally different script. The new script had more testosterone in it while being able to hold onto a lot of Adam’s philosophical musts. That took us another year from the beginning of that process. Meanwhile we had been scouting locations and putting together a crew. During that time we won IndieWire’s Project of the Week and we were getting really good press.
We had done an experimental trailer just so we could talk to people and show people why they should be involved. It also helped with locations so people didn’t think we were just casing the joint to rob them at night. In the summer of 2015 we shot for 3 weeks. Post production was a solid year and we just had our first screening on August 20th 2016.
What festivals are you submitting to?
I submitted to about 20 and we just won an award from the North Hollywood Film Festival. What I’ve been most focused on is distribution. I’ve spoken with 4 people one of which I can probably tell you. Sam Sherman of Independent International Pictures who lives up in New Jersey. Sam Sherman was one of the horror movie kings of the 50’s and 60’s. My dad was partner with Sam on many projects and they were dear friends. He think we have a wonderfully salable project and wants to take us on. Stacy has opened us up to Africa. We are talking to people about distributing in 22 countries in Africa. My brother who does international travel in Asia and recently done work in Russia has a deal on the table for Russian speaking services.
How do you feel about streaming distribution such as Netflix?
Ethan Marten: I won’t disparage anybody’s ability to get their work seen and heard. That’s an accomplishment in itself. For us we are going to exploit the film in the best sense of the word. If there’s limited theatrical to be had, if there’s cable, if there’s pay per view we are going to exploit every avenue by the numbers.
Stacy Whittle: We are thinking about distribution in a more global way because of my experiences overseas. We approached a company in Kenya and they were excited about because nobody has approached them about this sort of thing. It’s exciting to feel their excitement about working with us. Eric Roberts and Steven Seagal are two of the most famous actors in eastern and southern Africa. They heard Eric Roberts and were like where do we sign?
On this week’s Halloween Special see which one of us was lucky enough to eat lawn clippings, moldy cheese & rotten eggs during our movie quiz version of Jelly Belly Bamboozled. Plus we celebrate our 2 year anniversary of our short horror film Twisted and review Film Riot’s latest indie shorts, Chainsaw & Ghost House.
Chainsaw a Horror Movie in Real Life
We take a look at Film Riot’s latest short film for Bloodtober called Chainsaw. Watch below and tell us what you think.
Ghost House by Film Riot
The next short film called Ghouse House was also by Film Riot. Tons of special effects and a fun twist make this horror short worth the watch!
TWiSTED Short Horror Film – 2 Year Anniversary
It’s been 2 years since we released our short horror film TWiSTED which was featured at the Long Island International Film Expo in 2016. We hope you enjoy watching it as much as we did making it!
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Step inside the world of the Imperfect Podcast with Joe Kane, Dan Kane, Wayne Heckler and Sal Conca. We answer fan questions from Twitter and play some pretty imperfect movie trivia.
Drawing influence from the likes of Blondie and The Ramones, Green Day and Paramore, Bad Mary has created their own strain of punk that takes you back to New York in the 70’s but with a modern vibe. Following on from their critically acclaimed debut, Better Days, released in 2013, the high octane four-piece group – led by powerhouse lead singer Amanda Mac, Mike Staub (bass/vocals), Bill Mac (drums) and David Henderson (guitar) – split their latest blasts of infectious, in your face songs into two driving EPs, Killing Dinosaurs (2015) and We Could Have Saved the World (2016).
Gabrielle Stone started acting at age eighteen. No stranger to the festival circuit, Stone starred in three festival winning shorts Henry John and the Little Bug, Sugartown and Once When I Was Dead. She lept onto the big screen starring in The Lighthouse opposite Danny Glover. From there she has begun carving her way into the industry with feature films like Fuzztrack City, The Jazz Funeral, and An Old Man’s Gold.
In 2014 Stone starred in Lionsgate’s Speak No Evil and then went on to star in Anchor Bay’s Zombie Killers; Elephant’s Graveyard. Stone then took on two leading roles in the festival dramas Stray and Grief. This year she can be seen in ‘Ava’s Impossible Things’ as well as ‘Dance Night Obsession’ and the highly anticipated ‘Death House’.
After finishing her directorial debut ‘It Happened Again Last Night’ she wrapped filming on Tom Hollands ‘Rock Paper Dead’ opposite Michael Madeson & Tatum O’Neal. Stone is currently working on ‘The Competition’ alongside Thora Birch and Chris Klein.
We had the good fortune to interview David Bousquet (pronounced “Boo-Skay”), Director and Director of Photography and Editor of the short film, LOOKOUTS. David Bousquet is a uniquely skilled director, editor, and photographer who uses that range of experience to communicate and translate his ideas into visuals. He’s worked in advertising as director and director of photography for broadcast, web, and retail campaigns both nationally and internationally. With a BFA in Motion Picture, David has led and directed teams of talent in all areas of film making.
On their final trial as village LOOKOUTS, a troop of young scouts are ambushed by the very creature they were hunting. After a violent battle the lone survivor, Pehn, escapes into the shadows of the Eyrewood, a mysterious and deadly forest that is home to all manner of wild creatures. The most horrifying of all is the Basilisk, a winged titan with the power to turn its prey into stone. This is the beast the troop of LOOKOUTS were seeking, and now it hunts for Pehn.
“This short film is our first exploration into classic narrative filmmaking and it was an absolute joy to create. LOOKOUTS gave us an opportunity to explore new storytelling techniques as well as play with gear and tools in a format outside of advertising. The majority of the film is shot practically with live visual effects. We built sets, costumes, and monsters inspired by Jim Henson’s creations from our childhood, then brought all of those resources together with a wonderful cast and crew into the misty overgrowth of Mendocino’s redwood forests for a production experience we’ll forever cherish.”
We talk everything movies with blogger and author Clint Harrington of the popular movie blog Clintington on Film. Clint turned his blog into a book called Growing Up Movies where he discusses his experiences growing up with his family watching iconic movies such Ghostbusters. For anyone that grew up in the 80s and 90s, it’s a nostalgic look at movies in an era when family entertainment was accessible. While reading his book you’ll realize how similar your memories of these movies may be and how movies were responsible for bringing the family together.
Interview Highlights with Author Clint Harrington
When Did You Start Clintington on Film?
Started in January 2014
Clint always wanted to be a writer growing up and idolized Stephen King growing up.
He was taken by the story ‘The Body’ which as we all know and love ‘Stand By Me.”
Meeting independent author Matt Russo was a turning point. He said that if you’re going to start a blog and try and develop a platform you have to write about things that you love.
“You have to have a passion behind the things that you love and I gotta tell you guys I love movies.”
Watching Movies With Your Kids
Clint’s son wasn’t even born and he was thinking about what movies to show him
“Maybe 2 months into the pregnancy and I’m already thinking okay, when can I show him E.T., when can we watch the trilogy. I’m probably gonna have to wait on the Godfather a little bit but not too long.”
He’s waiting on Goonies until his son has a bigger group of friends so he can experience it better.
Favorite Movies
I love to quote Mel Brooks when I’m asked about my favorite movies.
I always think of the movies that impacted me and Ghostbusters was that first movie really when I was growing up that was like I finally was allowed to be an adult.
Clint thinks the Ghostbusters reboot wasn’t even close to what the original could be and I think it’s unfair to expect it to be.
“I really like gangster movies but a comedy would have to be in there just because the amount of respect I have for people that attempt comedy. Comedy is so hard to do.
He has a ton of respect for people that are good at comedy. Kevin Smith is one of his favorites.
Blazing Saddles is one his favorite Mel Brooks movies.
For Clint Ghostbusters is 1a and The Godfather is 1b.
Growing Up Movies
Clint grew up in what he likes to call Morman-ville USA. It’s a Southeast Idaho and its land of the Mormons.
He grew up Lutheran which made them the rebels of a town like that.
They wanted to be everything opposite of Mormon, which kind of led to underage drinking every now and then and those kinds of things.
Clint used to criticize his parents for how conservative they were but blogging brings back memories and he realized they weren’t that bad. They let him see a lot of things probably earlier than he should. He saw JAWS at the age of 8.
My Cousin Vinny will be appearing on his blog and if it shows up on my blog he liked it.
He goes on to say actor Fred Gwynne’s (aka Herman Musnster) performance is one of the greatest performances by a supporting actor he’s ever seen.
Marisa Tomei earned the Academy Award. It’s one of the best performances in decades for from a woman.
Clint goes on to praise actor Joe Pesci for his roles in ‘JFK’, ‘My Cousin Vinny’ & ‘Lethal Weapon 2’
“Joe Pesci in ‘Lethal Weapon 2’ I mean they don’t even have an Academy Award for how good that performance was. He stole the show across from Glover and Gibson. He stole the show. Every scene he’s in your like I can’t wait for Pesci to get back into the scene.”
Screenwriting and Being an Indie Author
He wrote a screenplay and I couldn’t find anyone to make it and didn’t think it would ever get made so Clint converted it to a novel.
The novel is called Get Back. It’s a romantic comedy for a coming-of-age adult. He says it’s also about college relationship angst. The lead character is a guy who has been with the same woman for about seven years and then she ups and leaves right before they’re about to graduate. She’s just out of his life like that. He’s coming to terms with how to move on. It’s about loss and how he’s going to get back on with his life basically.
Growing Up Movies is a compilation of the blog Clintington on Film.
He wanted to make the book free but Amazon won’t let you.
The book includes 89 movies from the 80s and earlier films like Butch Cassidy and that he watched with his parents
He’s planning on doing the 90s and that would be called ‘Growing into Movies’.
“I was 13 or 14 in the early 90s and then I later went into college through the 90s. Don’t get me wrong I love the 80s but the 90s for me?! Some of my movies that I have on my top ten from the 90s they’ll always be in my top 10. I probably have 5 movies on that I just watch over and over again. Like ‘Pulp Fiction’ was in ’94 and that changed everything for me.”
Advice on starting a blog
“You have to love what you’re writing about. That passion is going to be that fuel for you to keep going and even I have some nights where I’m like I don’t know if I want to write about that movie just yet and it’s kind of like well I’m trying to do these in order but I’m not ready to do that one yet.”
I held off on the Godfather for a long time because it had to be right. That movie had to be right. But Ghostbusters I jumped in earlier on that one. I wrote til like 4am I was like I’m doing it, I don’t care like I have to say this about this.
Tom Gould is a 30 year veteran of the music scene and has run in the same circles as some of the biggest names in the music business. He has been the front man for the Bossa Nova Beatniks since 1992 and performed all over the world, sharing his musical vision as he continues to release new material. He made the announcement for the release of his latest album, “For the Fun” on our podcast this past week. You can order your copy or download it today on CD Baby. https://www.cdbaby.com/cd/bossanovabeatniks12
Tom has been a longtime friend and it was a pleasure to swap old stories with him on the show. We also found out that his music was recently featured in a documentary film entitled Demon Wheels. You can catch it on Netflix or order your copy here: http://www.demononwheels.com/ .
On the show we got an extra special treat when Tom performed three of his songs. Joe got a chance to show off his guitar skills and joined Tom for his final number. “It was an honor to be able to sit in with him and I’m so glad this interview happened” – Joe Kane
You can keep up with the Bossa Nova Beatniks on their website www.bnbeatniks.com.
I’m Joe Kane, I’m Dan Kane and I’m Wayne Heckler and this is the Imperfect Podcast. Be sure to check us out at hecklerkane.com and everywhere on social media. To the bumper!
Alright so we’re back with Tom Gould. He was originally born in Louisville Kentucky and now resides on Long Island New York. He is the head man, the front man, the showrunner for the Bossa Nova Beatniks. Tom thanks for coming.
Tom Gould: I appreciate it. Thank you for having me.
HKC: You said you wanted to go right up front and perform a song for us. Let’s get started with some music and then we can talk.
Excellent! Tom, that was awesome for me. I really enjoyed it. I gotta tell you guys, I saw Tom for the first time twenty-some-odd years ago out on the beach in Oyster Bay. I came down with a friend of mine, Brian, who said you got to check out this band. They were out on the pier playing in Oyster Bay and what a cool backdrop of the bay behind you. The sound that was coming out, I was immediately hooked.
Tom Gould: Well thanks. And I have to say before we go too far, is that in 20 years I’ve met thousands of people and I gotta say that Joe and Dan’s parents are two of the nicest people you could ever want to meet. I wanted to say that.
HKC: Thank you. You said nothing about us but our parents are great. Yeah we suck, but our parents are great. Where did they go wrong?
Well I wanted to talk to you a little about your website. It says that you are 17 albums in and releasing a new album soon.
Tom Gould: That’s correct. Actually, Tuesday September 20th is the release date and it’s called “For the Fun”. This album hasn’t even been released yet and I’m already starting three other projects. Largely because as this CD title says, “For the Fun”, that’s really all there is any more in music It’s either you’re having fun doing it and making it or that’s it. The music business is gone. It’s not the same as it’s been. I have a friend who’s a Vice President of Atlantic Records and they say they spend their whole days tracking down the Pirates and there’s no tracking them down.
With the internet, everybody gets everything for free. You sell one CD and the rest of the world has it. Yeah so you know it’s a whole different world and you know in a way it’s kind of good because there’s no mercenaries anymore. You’re not going into the business for money anymore, you’re making it for the fun and that’s what I do. And I love it.
One of the reasons why I’m back in the studio rather than pounding the pavement is that I love making them, I hate promoting them. So I figured, why bother. It’s out there. It’s on iTunes, Amazon all that sort of thing, but for me personally all I care about is making the next one.
HKC: When did you get started as a musician?
It started very early. I was young enough or maybe too young when Elvis hit. I was young enough to sort of know who Elvis was. When I was a kid my grandparents used to come to visit us. They’d spend a month with us every year. They’d come into the city on the train, into Grand Central Station.
This one time that we were dropping them off in February, We were driving through Manhattan and there was a commotion going on. My older brother said, “Stop the car I want to get out and see this” and of course I wanted to see it too. So I hop out with my brother we go around the corner and the block is packed with girls, young girls. We look up and sticking out of a hotel window are these couple of guys waving, you know with the mop tops and it was The Beatles.
As soon as they stuck their heads out the window, the whole block of girls just screamed. The energy was nothing short of a phenomenon. It was amazing and you know, once you get that energy in you. I followed The Beatles quite literally and started playing the guitar. I picked up a bass.
HKC: Now I thought what got you started was those screaming women. Speaking of energy, just being in the center of that, you thought maybe I should play an instrument.
Tom Gould: I can’t deny that. I was just 14 years old so I was beginning to understand that it would be a good thing as well. Yeah it was a lot of fun. It’s interesting because up until about a year ago there was I’d say 30 years that I went without not being booked. I had a gig for 30 straight years.
HKC: That’s very impressive as it just
Tom Gould: It’s just what I love to do I mean I love to get out and play. My first album was in 94, something like that.
HKC: That was the album “Eleven Eleven”. I love “Eleven Eleven”. It has the song “Jack Jack,” which is the storymabout Jack Nicholson I suppose.
Tom Gould: Which is interesting because you know the title “Eleven Eleven” came because when I was doing mixed downs and things I had a tape recorder. It was reel to reel back then but some of them had real-time counters that would count seconds and minutes and some of them just had a counter that had the numbers going. I noticed every time that I was working on this song, “Jack Jack,” the counter would say 11:11. It would either be 11 minutes 11 seconds or we just say Eleven Eleven and I just started seeing it everywhere.
When I was getting down to finishing the album I was at a studio in Centerport and we came out of the studio after a mix down and the wind was coming through the trees and it actually made a howling sound. You know you always heard that was a romantic thing. The wind began to howl and all that. I was standing out there actually hearing the howling so I got all excited and when I came home I tell my wife I got the name for the album, “Night of the Howling Wind,” and she looked at me and she said, “That is so pretentious.”
I said well we’re going to press in two weeks. What the heck! I don’t even have a name for the album. She goes why don’t you just call it Eleven Eleven? That’s all you’ve been talking about for the last year. And so I did and afterwards you know I found out that there were a lot of stories around Eleven Eleven and I didn’t realize somebody pointed it out just only a few years ago that “Jack Jack” which was the song that got this whole Eleven Eleven started is the 11th card in the disc. It’s deeper than you could have even imagined.
HKC: “Hard to Beat,” was your next album. That’s when I became a true fan to be honest with you. I heard “Hard to Beat,” and all the songs on there, “Red Johnny” and “Fingers in the Cake.” I said, okay well this guy’s got it. You also ended up releasing a French version of “Hard to Beat,” later on.
Tom Gould: That’s right it, when the Eleven Eleven album came out, I went into Bleecker Bob’s record store on in Greenwich Village and I walked in with the album and asked if they could you carry this in their store. He says, let me have it. He grabs it, opens it and he’s gonna to put it on and I’m all of a sudden thinking wait a minute. Because you look around the store back then it was all punk, razor blades and safety pins and I say you’re going to put on this cute little album and then you’re gonna throw me right the heck out of the store.
Anyway, he puts on the first song which was a very acoustic number and he looks right up and he goes, “You know who would love this? Skydog would love this!” He says I’ll give you his name Skydog who is Mark Zamartie from Paris. I sent it over to him. Since that album was already out he said, “When you work on the next album” which was “Hard to Beat” “send me the tapes.” So I sent him the pre-release of that and he licensed it and packaged it up and sold it in Europe.
I found out just a couple weeks ago, I had never seen the guy, never laid eyes on the guy, but I was reading Chrissy Hines book, “Reckless: My Life As A Pretender,” and in the book she talks about how he put her up before she became a Pretender. She was just sort of wandering about. She stayed with Mark Zamartie. There’s a picture of her with her arm around him and turns out that he’s the one that broke Lou Reed and Iggy Pop and a lot of the bands of that era came through him in Paris.
HKC: You had a couple of stories that you wanted to share specifically about Louisiana or something like that you’d mentioned to me before.
Well, we were talking about this train that came in that my grandparents used to come in on and it was called the 20th Century Limited. You would go down into Grand Central station; the steam and there would be the train with the sleeper cars and all of that sort of thing. They’d roll out this carpet and right next to it, it said 20th Century Limited. That train is actually cinematic.
Alfred Hitchcock used it in “North by Northwest.” I just saw a Fred Astaire movie the other night, he gets off the train in New York and it’s the 20th Century Limited. Back in the 90s when the 20th century really was limited I read a news article that they decided they weren’t going to name trains anymore. I thought, why would somebody just decide that?
HKC: It’s like a rule that somebody sat down and said, “We’re not naming names anymore. I guess It’s too painful when something happens to them.
Tom Gould: I said as long as they’re still naming songs I was going to call this one ,”The 20th Century Limited,” so I wrote a song somewhat of a train song about my experience with my grandparents and what led me to see the Beatlemania firsthand.
HKC: Great experiences lead to great artistic pieces. No matter what your medium is whether it’s painting or whether it’s television or music or whatever, it’s all about the experiences that you have and that’s the only way to stay true to yourself. It’s to be able to relive and put a piece of your experiences out there for others to appreciate.
Tom Gould: Would you want to hear the song “The 20th Century Limited”?
HKC: I would love to hear it. It’s a little greedy for me because this is one of my favorites that you do.
(Music and Singing)
HKC: You know it’s a lot of fun to have you down here and actually performing. We usually don’t get too many musicians in studio playing for us, so this is a treat for all of us. We’re enjoying this.
Tom Gould: I’m glad you’re enjoying it, I’m enjoying it as well. It’s fun having a band obviously and you get out and play but what I realize is, in the five years we were playing, we haven’t played a new song because getting a gig and then everybody’s busy so you don’t get to practice as much as you should and so when you do get together you just run through the material you know and you have the same 20 songs that you go out of the house with and play.
As a songwriter I’ve got notebooks filled with songs I’m just realizing I’ve got more songs then I’ve got time left. A lot of people say that, like going on tour and getting to perform your songs is great because you get to see the immediate reaction from it but unfortunately what you’re doing is you’re creatively stifling yourself because you don’t have the chance to be creative while you’re on the road. In fact Chrissie Hines said that in the book. She figured when I go out on the road that’s when I can write the next album but you get out on the road and it’s just not conducive to writing.
Writing is a whole, personal, lonely kind of off by yourself kind of thing and the party atmosphere of touring is not conducive to writing songs. Actually the original band, we were playing in Manhattan at a place called the Nightingale bar around the same time other bands like Blues Traveler, Spin Doctors, Joan Osborne and that group God Street Wine. We were calling ourselves Flyboys at that time largely because I had a band called the Rhythm Bandits. That was a first band and I felt that people were having trouble spelling rhythm, it’s a tough word, so I wanted to make it a little easier.
I found out that I share the same birthdate, day not date, as Charles Lindbergh and I thought that’s interesting you know he slapped together this wooden airplane and expected it to fly across the ocean I slap together a little band expected it to you know rule the world or whatever and so I figured why not call ourselves the Flyboys. So we were Flyboys for a while. While we were playing the Nightingale I heard somebody said, “There’s a band in San Diego that called themselves the Flyboys.”
They were doing pretty well so I figured okay we’ll change our name. We’ll call ourselves The San Diego Flyboys but that didn’t pan out. It was about this time that hip-hop started coming in and fly became an urban term so people thought that we were going to be a hip hop band.
The original lineup at this point, I was actually fronting the band. I wasn’t playing anything. This guy Eddie O’Rourke was on guitar and his brother Bob was on bass and George Fromundy was on drums. George has been with me to this day. This was early 90s around 92 I think. We were practicing one day, and Eddie and Bob O’Rourke, these guys were amazing. Still are, I’m sure. Bob’s in Italy and Eddie’ is in California to let you know how people spread out.
They used to just come out with these non sequiturs coming out of their head. Bob stepped up. We were about to do one of my songs in practice and Bob went up to the microphone he said, “And now for the Bossa Nova Beatnicks sound of Tom Gould,” and I looked at him and said, “Where the heck did that come from?”
I like Beatnick and Bossa Nova is the dance of love, you can’t go wrong. The name just stuck and we couldn’t get rid of it. We weren’t a Bossa Nova band. That’s another thing, we went from Flyboys where people are expecting us to be hip hop band and now being the Bossa Nova Beatnicks and people would come in with Salsa outfits on figuring that they’re going to salsa tonight. I’m sorry, my apologies to Joe Beam, but we’re more of a hybrid. If you look at the history of Bossa Nova, Bossa Nova became a hybrid between the Samba and The Blues.
I figured well, where we’re taking that hybrid idea a step further and we can bring in the beatnik, which focused on the lyrics and poetry of beatniks. It was always in the back of my mind that we can’t be calling ourselves Bossa Nova Beatnicks if we’re not doing Bossa Nova. At the time we were playing CBGB’s and the woman who did the bookings, a woman named Louise. I told her for now well call ourselves Bossa Nova Beatnicks, but we’re gonna come up with a new name.
She said, “No, you can change that name, it’s a great name. I figured well this lady has seen everything booking CBGB’s. She’s seen thousands of bands and I figured well you know she thinks it’s a great name who am I to argue. So, I’ve been living with it and you know in deference to the people of Brazil and Joe Beam and the Boss Nova movement. We do try to do something Bossa or Samba on at least one cut on each album.
Then again I don’t want to be labeled like i said I was a child of the Beatles and if you look at The Beatles albums, they’re doing country, they’re doing rock, Helter Skelter. They do everything and I thought, well that’s what you do. If you’re a songwriter you don’t say oh well I’m a reggae band so I have to make a reggae song. No I’m a musician, I’m a songwriter, I’m gonna write the song and if the song happens to be a reggae song it will be reggae. If it happens to be a country song it’ll be country.
Of course in today’s market the radio stations if you don’t…
HKC: If you don’t fit the niche, you’re not going to get it.
Like CD Baby covers my albums and when you submit an album they always say okay pick a genre that you’re in click on the box and I look at the hundred and fifty boxes, I don’t fit in any of them. That’s another reason why I have removed myself from the whole promotion and all that. I just want to make the music and let somebody else figure it out later on what it is.
HKC: Well, that’s the beauty of it and then you get discovered for certain things. We have over here (can you hold that up Wayne just towards that camera over there.) It’s called “Demon On Wheels” and 3 of Ton’s songs were featured.
Tom Gould: There’s a song called “Zantee Misfits” “Worlds Will Collide” and a song called “Bad Little Baby.”
HKC: So those three songs are on Demon Wheels which is an indie film and kind of fits into our normal format of things.
Tom Gould: That’s why I wanted to bring that in because I had watched the podcast and noticed that you’re primarily about films and I love films. This came out a year ago. I’m so proud of it. It’s about a guy who used to be a rum runner in the Catskill Mountains in the 70s or earlier. He had this Shelby Mustang. The cops couldn’t catch him. I’m sure they knew where he lived and stuff but they had to actually catch him and they never could and so it was something for all of them to do on a Saturday night.
It wasn’t safe or anything like that, but it tells the story when he stopped being a rum runner. He put the car in the garage and then he became a mechanic. He’s making his living but he got the urge to get the car back out again and so the movies about him rebuilding this car. Caroll Shelby who designed the Shelby Mustang is actually interviewed in the film and he died during the making of the film so this is the last interview with Carroll Shelby.
The documentary gets into the relationship with the guy’s wife who’s looking at the books and saying this car could bury us financially. It’s called “Demon on Wheels” and it’s a really cool documentary.
HKC: I’ll have to get a look. I honestly haven’t. I didn’t even know you were bringing that tonight.
Tom Gould: It’s my only copy so I’m not leaving it with you. No, no. I will find it I will dig it out, trust me.
HKC: A couple other things. You have this other album here which is Tommy Numbers and the Wildcats which is also you. It’s a series of covers that he did, “That’s Alright Mama” “Bossa Nova Baby” “Honey Don’t” “Ruby Baby” “Little sister.” Is that Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Little Sister?
Tom Gould: No, that’s Elvis’ Little Sister.
HKC: But these are just some of the songs that are on the CD. It’s not under the Bossa Nova Beatniks umbrella. Although it is you. Tom I gotta tell you, it’s been a pleasure having you here. This has been mind-blowing for me because I’ve been a fan for 20-something years.
Tom has a new album coming out. It’s called, “For the Fun.” Okay, Bossa Nova Beatniks, Tom Gould. Are you going to play us out with another song.
Tom Gould: Yeah, If you’ll join me.
HKC: I would love to.
Tom Gould: This is another cinematic song in a way. It was inspired by Groucho Marx. This one’s called, “I Gotta Run.” This is another one from the sequel to the Tommy Numbers album.
