DO YOU HAVE ANY THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS?
"For the last seven years, we've gone to the Salvation Army and we serve dinner to people in the adult drug rehabilitation program. I get so much out of it.  It makes it a holiday when you consider that it's Thanksgiving, and you realize how much you have and how much other people don't. These are people that are down on their luck. They're either a step away from being dead or in jail. They're great people that may have done some bad things, but they're human and they're good people.  I've met so many incredible people and heard so many stories.  It's just an opportunity to give back. I realize we should do it all year round, but at the holidays I feel a need to do it more intently because it's the holidays. No matter how lucky you are or how unfortunate you are, it's still a holiday and people should get that sense of the season and hopefully pay it forward. The first year I did it, I was kind of scared. I was worried someone may be violent or something. But, no, these are people that are working the program. They wanna be better. They wanna be well. For the most part, they're happy to see us and I'm happy to see them every year." 

WHAT MADE YOU DECIDE TO DO IT THE FIRST TIME?
"I did it to escape family dysfunction with a bunch of over-privileged, fighting people. Well, it was a way to graciously bow out and sort of hide behind the guys that were doing something good. I just never realized I'd like it so much. It just became our tradition to do it." 

DID YOUR FAMILY UNDERSTAND?
"My mom actually volunteers with us. My sister, I don't think understands it. But I don't think she understands a lot of things. And because a lot of the dysfunction centers around her, it was easier to create some distance and do something for someone else because I couldn't do anything for her." 

DO THE PEOPLE SEEM RECEPTIVE TO THE HELP? DO THEY SEEM HAPPY TO BE THERE?
"It depends on what level of the program they've been through. People that are there, that may be newer to the program, haven't really necessarily committed to working the program. You have to understand that when you go there, these people don't have access to their families or some don't have families. They've lost them due to their issues." 

WHAT DO YOU MEAN "DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO THEIR FAMILIES"? 
"Some of them are not allowed to have visitors or contact because that's the stage of the program that they're in.  So, to have a nice, sit down meal in a family-like environment and be served...I think a lot of them really do appreciate it." 

DO ANY OF THEM SHARE THEIR STORIES WITH YOU?
"Yeah, some have. Before they come in to eat, there's a church service and we volunteers usually go to the service as well. A lot of them stand up and say what they are thankful for. And a lot of them are thankful that they have another day alive and that they have a roof over their head, clothes on their back, food on the table. They'll talk about how they were living in the street, doing drugs, how they lost their family or how their family has disowned them or pushed them away. They'll literally stand up and give thanks and they'll cry. Inevitably, all the volunteers are crying too because you realize how lucky you are. But you also realize how lucky they are to get a second chance. Some of them will make it and it will change their lives, hopefully for the best. It's an emotional day, but it's good. It makes you realize how fortunate you are. It makes you realize that when you're griping about the small things, that you could be in that position, or that you might not even be lucky enough to be in that position. It's truly amazing." 

WHAT DO YOU USUALLY DO ON THANKSGIVING?
"I cook every year for my entire family. I get up at 4 o'clock in the morning. It's probably my favorite holiday. I've been making a full from-scratch Thanksgiving dinner for everyone for about 10 years now"

DO YOU HAVE ANY THANKSGIVING RITUAL OR TRADTION THAT IS MORE MEMORABLE THAN OTHERS?
"I feel like it's a terrible tradition, but it's one my mom and my sister have forced upon me and now it's become my own. Every year we have to listen to every playing of Alice's Restaurant ("Alice's Restaurant Masacree" the 23 minute musical monologue by singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie) on WMMR or else it's not Thanksgiving." 

YOU SAY A "TERRIBLE TRADITION", DO YOU NOT ENJOY ALICE'S RESTAURANT?  
"Well, I didn't used to. I thought it was stupid and kind of ridiculous. Everyone dancing around the kitchen. But the first time I had Thanksgiving and I didn't listen to it, the food just didn't taste as good somehow."

WHO DO YOU USUALLY HOST FOR THANKSGIVING?
"I usually host my whole family. My husband (pictured), my son, my mom, my step-dad, my inlaws and my husband's grandfather. Then I have people who come on alternating years, my sister and her family, and my husband's cousins. The most we've had is like 26 people. Tight squeeze. Small house."

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY YOU ARE MOST THANKFUL FOR THIS YEAR?
"I think this year I am most thankful that this, having been the hardest year of my life, is coming to an end! It was the roughest year ever. I have moved past it, it made me stronger and I'm moving on. It's ending!"

INTERESTING PERSPECTIVE. WHAT WAS SO DIFFICULT ABOUT IT?
"I had house problems all year. We kicked the year off with a bang- house problems. Then my friend passed away in March. Then I had heart surgery in April. Then more house problems. Then money problems. And now we're back to house problems."

SO YOU'LL BE GLAD TO SEE 2014 GO?
"Yea definitely. Karma wise I figure I am going to win the lottery."

DESPITE ALL OF THE PROBLEMS OF THE PAST YEAR, IS THERE ANYTHING POSITIVE YOU CAN SAY, ANYTHING THAT YOU CAN SIT DOWN AT THE TABLE THIS YEAR AND BE GRATEFUL FOR?
"This year gave me a lot of perspective on how easy it is to lose life, so I am going to be thankful for the fact that I have a good family, great friends, an adorable son, and a loving husband, and I am still here."

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We hope that you are having a beautiful holiday. Sitting down to our respective meals today, we will both be giving thanks for those who have become friends of One, Unified. We are very grateful for all of them. In turn we have asked some of the folks that we've interviewed in our first 6 weeks to share with us what they themselves are most thankful for today. We hope you'll enjoy seeing them again. 

Wishing you a day filled with gratitude and joy...
Michelle, Noelle, & the many faces of One, Unified. 

-I am grateful that almost every night we sit down to eat as a family. I think this has been lost in many households. We say a prayer and thank God for our house, health, food, clothes, and pray for those who don't have (those things). Peace to all!

-I am grateful for family, friends and online shopping.

-On this Thanksgiving I am most thankful for Jah. I thought about this a lot. Of course when asked this question I think about my one and only daughter and how thankful I am for her-the amazing little person she is and that she's healthy. I think about all of the love and blessings I'm surrounded by and how thankful I am for them. But I know in my heart I wouldn't appreciate them and enjoy them and count those blessings if Jah hadn't touched my heart. I had spent my life searching, hoping wanting to feel something from the Creator. There were times I had given up. I was on my way and didn't know it. In 2011 I had a revelation and was touched by Jah. It was an intense and short experience but one that changed me forever. I'm not sure there's human words to explain but a lifetime of searching, questions, doubt and quite frankly living as kind of a lost soul came to an end instantly. From that day forth every aspect of my life has changed and I'm continually guided and led on the path and philosophies I know I'm meant to live. All of the many blessings I could list come from Jah and I'm so thankful he chose me and grateful for those blessings and the life I live and love and I'm blessed to share. Every day is Thanksgiving. Enjoy the Tofurkey. Jah Bless.

~I'm of course thankful to have survived being in combat. I'm thankful for my friend,  my wife, my rock, the person I could cry in front of about some of the bad things that still haunt me from that combat I survived.  
I am thankful for all the history I've seen in my lifetime. I was born just 2 or 3 weeks after WWII. I was 18 when President Kennedy was assignated.  I was 23 when RFK was killed, 24 when Dr. King was killed. There was Woodstock, man on the moon, the space shuttle,  the space station, landing a rover on Mars and sending back pictures of the Martian landscape. I'm thankful that in 1965, driving to Columbia, I got to see a motel that had water fountains that had "WHITE ONLY' and one marked "COLORED", and now we have an African American President. Most of all I'm thankful for the opportunity to actually think about all that I'm thankful for, and for someone that actually wants to know.

~I am thankful to be alive.  I survived a tour in Iraq.  I survived a ruptured appendix when I was a teenager.  I am thankful for my family and the support they give me. I am thankful for the men and women defending our country's freedom. Lastly, I am thankful for God, whom watches over me and provides me with the things I need.

~I am thankful for having so many things to be thankful for that I can't decide what I am most thankful for. 

I don't think we could have said it better ourselves. 

DO YOU HAVE ANY THANKSGIVING TRADITIONS?
"Well, normally it would be the parade (Philadelphia's annual Thanksgiving Day Parade). If we weren't there live in person, we'd watch it on TV when my kids were growing up. Now I'm trying to do that with my grandchildren. If I have them, it will depend on the weather, if I take them to the parade."  

WHAT IS YOUR DINNER TRADITION?
"After my kids were raised, I did breakfast (with them) and then dinner with my parents. Now, I've got geriatric patrol. I have my mom and dad, my mother-in-law and brother-in-law. This year I have my sister and my nieces too. My kids all go to their significant other's homes." 

WHAT ARE YOU MOST THANKFUL FOR THIS YEAR?
"At this stage I'd say, for the repaired lives of my children. And for the continued life of my dad. Coming from a stroke, the fact that he's still here blows my mind. God's not finished with him yet." 

IS THERE ONE THANKSGIVING THAT STANDS OUT IN YOUR MIND?
"I would say when my (4) children were young, between the ages of 3-13, and it was the first time the five of us went to the parade. We went down and took blankets and sat in the middle of 15th and The (Ben Franklin) Parkway. We copped a squat and watched the parade go by. That was the beginning and we did that every year until they started going out on their own. So now we watch it on TV." 

HOW DO YOU USUALLY SPEND THANKSGIVING?
"Normally we go over my husbands parents house and we all get together and have a nice Thanksgiving where both families contribute to a nice dinner. This year's gonna be a little different since they're in Arizona. I'm gonna be making dinner myself. It's my first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Nobody eats turkey (except my husband), so we're gonna start a new tradition. We're gonna make chicken breast for Thanksgiving dinner. 

SO IS IT JUST YOU AND YOUR HUSBAND AND CHILDREN THIS YEAR?
"Yep. Just us. It's kinda weird." 

ARE YOU EXCITED ABOUT THAT OR WILL YOU MISS THAT IT'S NOT THE WHOLE FAMILY?
"I'll kind of miss the whole family. You dread it and drag your feet getting ready and you're like, "I don't wanna do this".  But once you're there you're like, "Wow, this is nice", and it makes it feel like the holidays. Just being in my own house might make me a little sad, but I can be in my PJ's."

WHAT ARE YOU MOST THANKFUL FOR THIS THANKSGIVING?
"Of course I'd have to say my Madelyn (one of her twin daughters). That she's healthy and with us after her battle with HUS (Hemolytic-Uremic Syndrome). It's usually associated with an E coli infection and it destroys your red blood cells. If you looked under a microscope it would look like sickle cell anemia. They're broken (the cells) and it clogs up all your organs, clogs your brain, everything shuts down. Madelyn had a rare form of that from strep, it's called Strep Pneumococci HUS, and if you Google it, you'll get a lot of Dr.'s stuff, but not Web MD type of stuff (for patients to read). You'll find stuff on E coli HUS, but not this one. It's a much rarer form and more aggressive. It shut her kidneys down, she was on life support, in the blink of an eye, from a germ. We struggled for seven weeks in the hospital with her. She came out of it and we're very blessed for that. She does have permanent kidney disease, stage 3. She's still on a feeding tube. She has developmental delays due to all this, but you'd never know 'cause she has a smile on her face and runs around like a happy four year old.  I'm very thankful for that. This experience has taught us life lessons. Your really don't realize your every day life is, "I gotta get this done. I gotta go pay this." None of it matters. It's all stupid and dumb. This focused us on what was important in life." 

WHEN DID THIS HAPPEN?
"When she was 2 years old, November 7, 2012. She was admitted with pneumonia and in the middle of the night, a rapid response team came into the room and rushed us out. They were real calm. I have to give it to the nurses and staff. They didn't say, "Oh my God, there's something terribly wrong!". They just said "We're just gonna keep a closer eye on her" and they were smiling. You gotta give it to them for not panicking a parent and they calmly took me into the ICU with her. Her kidneys shut down, so she blew up very quickly. She had 8 blood transfusions, 5 days of plasma transfusions. The Red Cross came in with volunteers to do that. It's not a service a regular hospital does, the Red Cross is the only one that does that. They volunteer their time, the nurses and everything and it's amazing." 

THAT'S SOMETHING ELSE TO BE THANKFUL FOR, ISN'T IT?
"Absolutely. And Dr. Connelly (Nephrologist at St. Christopher's Hospital), who diagnosed her. A lot of times, what kills children from HUS is not being diagnosed quickly enough. Thankfully, she (the Dr.) was on call when this came down. I'm part of an HUS support group and a lot of parents didn't have their children make it through this. There's one in particular: she was three when she was diagnosed. I'm good friends with her mom in our support group. She was one that didn't make it. She died during the symptomatic phase. She had the E coli type. But because of what she went through, the doctors learned from it. As horrible as it is that they learned from her what they SHOULDN'T do, they have learned so much more than they knew 12 years ago. It's heartbreaking. She was a groundbreaker for the kids today. 
Madelyn did recover, we were very blessed with that."

HOW WILL THIS AFFECT HER IN THE FUTURE?
"She still has a very bad food aversion, she was left with a sensory dysfunction in her mouth from being intubated for so long. She doesn't like food in her mouth, so she has a very adverse reaction to certain textures. She has a G tube ( in her stomach) to give her nutrients and medicines. She has high blood pressure. She'll have that for life.  She has iron, vitamin D, and electrolyte deficiencies. So every two hours she has fluids pumped into her. The only time there's a break is at bedtime. She's going to pre-k right now and I have to send a nurse to school since there's no nursing staff at the school. She's immune-compromised as well. A few weeks ago, both of them (twins) had bronchitis. The doctors said it was viral and that Allison's will pass on it's own, but Maddy we needed to take to the ER for a nebulizer treatment and she was on those for two weeks, every four hours because she also has scarring on her lungs from the pneumonia she had two years ago.  And because she has stage 3 kidney disease and her kidneys are scarred and aren't growing with her,  she'll eventually need a kidney transplant." 

WHEN WILL THEY DO THAT?
"It's a guessing game.  It could be ten years from now, it could be five years from now. As she grows, it's just gonna get worse. We wanna hold on to the kidneys she she has for as long as we can." 

DOES SHE UNDERSTAND WHAT'S HAPPENED TO HER?
"She does to an extent. She has a lot of developmental delays and autism (high functioning) so there's a lot of stuff she doesn't understand. She knows she has to get medicine. She'll pull her shirt up and say "Mommy, medicine." She knows she has to get her temperature, blood pressure, pulse-ox. She knows it's a routine we do every day and she's really good about it. As far as cognitively, I don't think she understands. Her twin sister does though.  She'll say "Maddy is sick" or "Maddy, are you ok today?".  
But through everything, we have her. We physically have her here. We have her smiling, saying "I love today. Today's the best day ever!". Or she'll be looking at a cross and saying "Look there's Jesus!  Jesus smiles at me!"  She's with us.  I've learned so much more about her in two years than probably any parent might know about their child in a lifetime. Two years ago, holding her hand, I thought, "I don't know her favorite color". I was worried about going to work at my new job. It really put stuff in perspective.  My family is my job. That made me focus better. Now I know her favorite color(s). They're purple and red. Everything has to be purple and red, and she loves smily faces." 

WHY DO YOU THINK YOU DIDN'T KNOW THESE THINGS THEN?
"Some of it was her age, but also, I wasn't as focused on them. It was more, "Okay, they're (her children) situated, I got a babysitter, let me get to my job. I have to prove myself since I've only been here (her job at the time) for 6 weeks. I have to put myself out there. I have to be the star." That drive, you start something, you move forward, you get tunnel vision. Something like this will push you back and you look at the full picture. 
But, she's wonderful. And for us to make it through....a lot of parents don't get the opportunity to get that second chance. On our HUS support group, there's articles that parents can stuffer PTSD because it's such a horrendous disease. Last year on the one year anniversary, I just collapsed and I didn't wanna go anywhere, didn't want anyone near the house, near Madelyn. And this year, I said you know what, I'm not gonna feel like that victim anymore. I'm not gonna let her be a victim anymore. We're not victims, we're surviviors. We're gonna stand a little straighter, a little taller and we're gonna share and let people know that bad stuff happens, but it's how we move on from it. I'm very thankful for the little smile, the little giggle and her running down the hallway saying "Mommy, guess what!? I farted-ed." It's those little things. I look over at my husband and go "This is why it's ok. We're grateful to hear that little voice."

Thanksgiving is a very unique time of year. While it lacks some of the modern fanfare and commercialism that pepper so many of the other holidays throughout the year, it still holds a very unique place within our holiday spectrum. For some people that is the draw. Family... friends... food. No presents to buy. No spending hours putting up the perfect lights and decorations… For others Thanksgiving is something of a forgotten holiday. Nestled between the fun and adventure of Halloween, and the gift bearing winter holidays (Christmas, Hanukkah etc), it's thought of by some as nothing more than a day to stuff your face until you are full. 
Thanksgiving has taken on different connotations throughout the years than those which were originally intended. And I think it's important to note that despite any historical or cultural implications of the holiday, for many, Thanksgiving has simply become a day to be proud of, to be thankful for, and to honor what you have.
While we all may enjoy the rituals and traditions that we have made with our friends and family surrounding the holiday, this also an excellent time to think about the every day things that we take for granted. It's an excellent time to think about those who are less fortunate than ourselves. It is an excellent time for gratitude. Through all the ups and downs, the hardships, the truly significant and even tragic moments of life, one thing has always stood true; even in the darkest hours, seated in the darkest depths of despair, there is always, always something to be thankful for.
While we are both individually thankful for our families, our children, our friends, and the many blessings that we have in our lives, we are also thankful for you. We are thankful for every person who is reading this right now. We are thankful for everyone who has stopped by to support us. We are thankful for everyone who has read our blog, liked our Facebook page, followed us on Twitter, shared our photos and posts and so much more. We are grateful for the support that we have found in this endeavor. We are grateful that our friends and those closest to us supported us through the start of this project and continue to do so today. We are both honored and appreciative of everyone who has answered questions, been the subject of photos, participated in interviews, all in the interest of helping us get this project off the ground.
Whatever it is that you are thankful for this year, whatever it is that fills you with the most gratitude and joy, embrace it. Because at the end of the day those things are all that really matter.
Happy Thanksgiving!
 From One, Unified.

*Please join us all week for stories of gratitude and thanks. And share your own in the comments!*

WHAT INSPIRED YOU TO START A REGGAE BAND?
"The music of Bob Marley has always been a huge influence for me. The message in his songs speak about love, peace, equality and freedom. His songs move and inspire me in a very unique way."  

WAS IT DIFFICULT TO FIND OTHER PEOPLE TO GET ON BOARD?
"When I suggested to Paul, Noah and Shimon that I wanted to start a Bob Marley tribute, they all were excited about the idea from the start.  Given the success that Paul has had locally with Steal Your Face, and seeing the surge of tribute bands in recent years, it was clear that people enjoy and support bands that play music that that they are familiar with.  We all were big fans of Marley, so it was a no-brainer for all of us."

ARE THERE EVER ANY POWER STRUGGLES BETWEEN BAND MEMBERS?
"Jah People is unique, in that unlike most bands, there isn't a single lead singer. We alternate singing lead, so it is a constant challenge for me, as a band leader, to find a balance when I am crafting a setlist to try to make sure that everyone gets an equal amount of songs and time in the spotlight, by singing lead during a given performance. There have been times that a band member has expressed frustration that they wanted more songs to sing lead on, but for the most part, we love and respect each other and usually get along really well."

WHAT DO YOU THINK ARE THE BAND'S BEST QUALITIES?
"What sets us a part from most tribute bands is that we don't try to BE who we are paying tribute to, we are all uniquely talented in our own way and we do not ever play a song the same way twice because we all love to improvise and put our own unique personal stamp on each and every performance. I am still floored by how we add our own personal ingredients to make up a combined sound that naturally comes together to sound great."

WHAT WOULD BE A DREAM VENUE FOR YOU TO PLAY?
"As a reggae band, I envision playing in some tropical and exotic place on the crystal blue water. Jamaica would be nice for obvious reasons. Realistically, a very attainable goal is to play in New York at the Brooklyn Bowl. Noah and myself have driven up there many times to see concerts and it is one of the best venues to experience a show."  

DO YOU THINK THAT YOU WOULD ALL HANDLE FAME WELL?
"I think at this stage of our lives, I couldn't see fame changing much about how we operate, but I guess you don't know until you are in that position."  

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE MEMORY WITH JAH PEOPLE SO FAR?
"There are so many great memories thus far. We have had a lot of personnel changes within the three years that we have been together, but it has been a pleasure playing and spending time with every member that has been in the band thus far. We really enjoy each others company, so every time we are together is enjoyable. But if we were to pick one favorite memory, we would all agree that our show at Havana in New Hope was the most fun that we have had. Philadelphia rap legend, Freeway joined us on stage. I think I can speak for everyone in the band that on that night we felt like we had 'made it'."

The Current Lineup of Jah People are:
Dean Rubenstein - Guitar , vocals
Noah Sokoloff  - Keyboards , vocals
Alesia Dessau - Vocals
Drew Walls - Drums
Josh Klein - Guitar, vocals
Mike Stankus - Bass guitar
Rick Tate - Saxophone 

Jah People will be on the bill with The Wailers on Dec 6th at Havana in New Hope, PA.
To check our more of Jah People:
www.Jah-people.com
www.facebook.com/jahpeoplemusic

RED LETTER LIFE ARE:
Bruce Hubbard - Vocals/Piano 
Gabriele Steriti - Guitar/Vocals 
Brien Mick - Bass 
Dave Goodman - Drums 

WHAT IS YOUR DREAM VENUE TO PERFORM IN?
(Brien): "The Tower, that would be awesome."
(Dave): "The Keswick would be awesome too. Probably Madison Square Garden." 
(Bruce): "Wembley stadium." 
(Gabe): "Madison Square Garden, The Tower, but I would really love to play Royal Albert Hall." 
(Brien): "There's this town in Switzerland that has this festival (Buchserfest), an outdoor festival. We gotta make that happen." 
(Dave): "Gabe's family lives in Switzerland and we have an opportunity to play there." 

WHEN WAS RED LETTER LIFE BORN?
(Brien): "Well, I joined the band about 7 months ago and that's pretty much when the band became a band." 
(Bruce) "Yeah, we went through five bass players. But we started in 2008.  That's when Dave (drummer) joined the band." 

SO 3 OF YOU ARE ORIGINAL MEMBERS? 
(Bruce): "We went through an acoustic phase and decided that acoustic was not working. We sat down during one of our acoustic songs...did a tap by tap with a drum machine and did it electric and were like, "wow this sounds like something good. So, what could be better than the Tascam!?"
(Dave): "I heard them on Craigslist and I loved their music and I killed the audition." 
(Bruce): "Well, the guy before him smelled like manure. And he was playing with something that wasn't even drumsticks." 
(Gabe) "Well, he came from work. He was a landscaper!"
(Bruce): "Yeah, but it's funnier the way I say it." 
(Dave): "I was definitely a step up from manure." 
"We were really impressed with Dave's chops. It's gone downhill since... No, we were really impressed with his audition."

HOW DID BRIEN COME INTO THE BAND?
"Brien auditioned and nailed it 'cause he's awesome. It was a little more artistic and avant-garde....but we liked what we heard. To be quite honest, he was REALLY good because every bass player we heard was good, but he was excellent, had great artistry." 

SO YOU DIDN'T HAVE A HARD TIME FINDING PEOPLE TO AUDITION?
"Shortly after we opened for Scott Weiland (former Stone Temple Pilots frontman) at the Trocadero, we put the ad out and mentioned that, and everyone showed up."

DID YOU HAVE A DIFFICULT TIME PRIOR TO THAT, FINDING NEW MUSICIANS?
(Bruce): "No, we could always seem to find a new bass player, it was keeping them that was the issue." 
(Gabe): "There were always legitimate reasons, it seemed." 

DO YOU WRITE YOUR OWN MUSIC?
(Bruce): "Right now we're peppering in our influences where we'll do like 3 Beatles songs in the middle of a set. The few shows we've done since we started doing this, they've gone over really well.  It has to be the right balance though. Done well, tasteful. We also do a little web series. Every month or so we go into the studio and record these influences our way, live." 

IS ONE OF YOU THE PRIMARY SONG WRITER IN THE GROUP?
(Bruce): "Originally it kind of started that way, but it's changed a great deal as the band's evolved. And now Gabe will have an idea, I'll have an idea, Brien will have an idea, then Dave will have an idea and it just grows like a little seed into songs. So, everybody plays together and it goes through generations." 
(Dave): "I think it works better. As a drummer...I can think of an arrangement more when there's a melody going on. It's a lot easier. Sometimes it happens that way, it can start from a drum pattern. It's very complimentary to each other." 

WHAT ARE YOUR MUSICAL INFLUENCES?
"Beatles, Led Zep, Floyd, Cream, Genesis, The Police, U2, INXS, grunge, Pearl Jam, Nirvana, Soundgarden...   So how do they mesh? He (Bruce) usually brings The Beatles, and I (Gabe) usually bring the grunge. We mash it up together. Then that doesn't work so we sprinkle it here and there." 

(Dave): "I think over the years, it's gotten frustrating that you aesthetically wanna please yourself with the music. But it gets all mushy, like you may be onto something and then you're like screw it." 
(Gabe): "I don't ever worry about what somebody's gonna think about it until we're happy with it. When it's ready to leave our little nest, that's when I care what other people think."
(Bruce): "Reality is, if we had all the time in the world, we could come up with ideas all the time. But a lot of them get swept under the table. We can't record everything cause these only so much time in the day. And there's only so many times we can get together. If we had our way, we could be full time musicians, many of these ideas would be recorded." 
(David): "We'd be on our second album." 

ARE THERE EVER ARGUMENTS BETWEEN YOU?
(Gabe): "Only in practice. That's where we have our differences and heated discussions. All of our differences are mostly my fault."  
(Brien): "It's passion." 
(Gabe): "It really is. And if you can recognize it for what it is, get over the temper tantrum, it usually works out for the best." 
(Dave): "And it usually blows over very quickly." 
(Gabe): "And it never leaves practice. It stays there. It's passion, artistic, aesthetics. You want it to sound the best."

WHAT WOULD YOU SAY IS RLL'S BEST QUALITY? WHAT SETS YOU APART?
(Dave): "Look at these faces."
(Bruce): "I personally think one of the coolest things about our band is that we take the influences that made rock and roll great and we modernize it. Our influences are deeply rooted in blues rock and old rock and roll. We take that sound and all the influences that have inspired us over the years and make it sound like something new."

WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO COME AWAY WITH FROM YOUR SHOW?
(Gabe): "Tonight's kind of a different atmosphere, being a benefit (Jam for Jeff 4), but if people come out and have a good time in service of that benefit, that's all I'm really looking to get out of it. Just have a good time. I just want to them to become fans of the music." 
(Bruce): "I like them to come away embarrassed really. I'll go down off stage and go up to them and engage them, so I like them to be mortified." 
(Dave): "And we ARE mortified by you."  [laughter]
(Gabe): "But ya know what, Bruce is a really great front man. He really engages the audience.
(Bruce): I want the people to feel they were part of something real. A lot of people get up on stage and act like robots, just going through the motions. If I see something happening, I get engaged in it and get involved in it. I want people to go away and be like 'that was awesome'!"

To check out Red Letter Life:
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Red-Letter-Life/82357016016
http://www.reverbnation.com/redletterlife
http://www.rllband.us

WHEN DID YOU START PLAYING?
"My Uncle Frank, who was the patriarch of our family, he's the one that would sit around at parties and play his cherry red coupe Gibson guitar. He'd play "Puff the Magic Dragon" and this Irish song called "The Pots and Pans and the Dirty Dishes". He got me my first guitar when I was 8. I had it for a day and my brother sat on it and broke it. So then I got another guitar and started playing when I was around 9. When I got serious, I was probably 13." 

DOES YOUR CHILDHOOD, FAMILY PLAY A PART IN WHAT YOU LISTEN TO OR PLAY?
"When I sing or write my own music, I like a lot of slow songs. I was in Shriners Hospital when I was a kid. I had Legg-Perthes disease. Shriners actually saved me. I would've had braces like Forrest Gump, had a stump for a leg,  not been able to walk. And when I was in the hospital there, in the 70's, there was a drug they were giving women that caused all kinds of birth defects, babies with no arms or legs, body parts growing in the wrong places. I think that humbled me. My mom always says my demeanor as a person is very empathic towards people (because of that experience). I think that's why I like ballads and certain bands. It touches you." 

DOES ANYONE ELSE IN YOUR FAMILY PLAY? 
"We all play, except for my father. My mom played piano every morning for us, a Mozart piece that went really fast while she told us to hurry and get on the bus. My brother Matt is a guitarist, he was the first one to show me how to play chords. I just took to it from that point on. When he was out riding motorcycles, I sat in my room for 6-9 hours a day playing music, just learning. I showed my oldest brother Johnny how to play guitar and he'd play a song from the radio, but he could sing. He could sit down and sing like four hours of Bob Dylan. He would tell people, "My brother Kevin is awesome on the guitar!" 
They'd say, "play Brown Eyed Girl, play American Pie!"
"I don't sing", I'd say. 
"Oh. John...."
So I thought, oh I have to sing and play guitar! So I started singing when I was 15." 

DID YOU HAVE A BAND BACK THEN?
"Yeah, I always had a band with my brothers. My brother Chris on drums, and we always had a different bass player. Our first big gig was Fourth of July at Oxford Valley Mall (in the early 80's) in front of 4,000 people. We did a lot of Black Sabbath, Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Who, CCR. A lot of Sabbath though." 

WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THAT BAND ENDED?
"Then my brother Scott, who's younger than me by five years, started playing bass in the band. We had been playing keg parties, a few bars locally, nothing really serious. And then we were playing originals later in the 80's. We opened for Cinderella, big Philly bands, Tommy Conwell. Our band was called No Frills. We had bad mullets. We had make up too. My dad walked out when we were opening for Cinderella. He walked in and I had make up on, a leotard (leopard jumpsuit) on, and he just walked out. That was the image then. He didn't understand that. Then we broke up. I went away to college and I heard an interview with Jon Anderson from YES. They were practicing in a studio in Bucks County (they had a show in town), and he said to those listening to the interview to get an education first if they wanted to pursue a music career so you had something to fall back on. At the time, I was gonna join this band. They were awesome, but I went to college instead. Then I graduated and I was dating this girl for like 7 years, and I didn't play music for a while. I decided I wanted to pursue music full time. She told me she would leave me. I said, "then leave me then ...after 7 years of being together (we were gonna get married), you should know this is my love. I breathe this." Everybody that knows me knows that. So she left me. That's how that went. 
Me, Scott and Chris had our band. We were doing a lot of originals. Played some places in Center City, The Khyber Pass. Originally, we did a lot of covers to make some money. Then we would play nights where people would play original in between playing covers. I was in five bands at one point. A band with a female singer, church choir every Sunday after being hungover. I just always had to play music. I was in choir, musicals and plays in high school. Anything with music I did. I didn't care if people made fun of me. I loved it."

WHAT ARE YOU DOING NOW?
"I still have a band with my brothers Scott and Chris, call Kirko. I play solo and duos with Scott. I write my own music.  My CD is done. Been done for a year and a half. It's called "Big Wheels and Sunny Days". It has a 70's vibe. You remember when you were a kid and had a big wheel and it always seemed like it was sunny out? It has that kind of vibe. I'm so stoked about it."

BEING IN A BAND WITH YOUR BROTHERS, DO YOU GUYS EVER ARGUE?
"Oh yeah. Not as bad as Oasis. But we've gotten into it. Even recently we got into a little scuff."

WHAT DO YOU TEND TO ARGUE ABOUT?
"Who's doing more. As far as the physical work, sound, setting up. Who's not practicing their craft. I practice all the time. They have jobs besides, and right now I'm a freelance salesman and musician. I've always practiced. I'm gone for a week and I feel like I'm going through withdrawal." 

IS IT DIFFICULT TO WRITE OR DOES IT FLOW FOR YOU?
"Certain times it's easy so I always have a recorder near me because things just come to me."

WHAT DO YOU TEND TO WRITE?
"I'm really into writing ballads. Something that I'm feeling. I probably have about 25-35 ballads, easily. If I had the money, I'd record them all. When we (he and his wife) were getting married, we didn't know what we were gonna dance to. So I wrote a song called "The Only Girl For Me" that I recorded. I love ballads. I'm a big Beatles fan so a lot of my originals are Beatleesque. You can hear the influence."

WHAT OTHER BANDS INFLUENCED YOU?
"Queen, Mott the Hoople. I love metal. I like all stuff. But if I had a band I would've loved to be in, the Beatles, absolutely."

DO YOU CARE ABOUT PEOPLE'S OPINIONS ABOUT YOUR WORK?
"I actually want to make a poll for my CD asking for people's honest opinions about it. Carolyn (his wife) is my best critic. She's totally up front. She'll tell me when I suck. I don't want smoke blown up my ass. Who wants to hear you're good (if you actually weren't)? I'd rather be told if I wasn't good."

WHAT'S YOUR DREAM VENUE?
"That's hard 'cause all the venues closed. I would've loved to play the Spectrum. But now I would say Red Rocks. I saw Zach Brown Band there last year and it was incredible." 

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE MUSICAL EXPERIENCE ?
"I would say playing with the Beach Boys at the Hard Rock Cafe and playing with Tony Orlando. We were playing in a cover band. I already knew a bunch of Beach Boys songs. The Beach Boys, to me, were like the Beatles of America. So I made my band learn like 7 Beach Boys songs just in case they would show up at the Hard Rock. Well in comes Mike Love and Bruce Johnson. I was like "this is awesome." But I was nervous as hell. I got star struck. Mike came up and said he heard we had some songs we could play with them. And we played Surfin' USA, Little Douce Coupe, and Barbara Ann.  It was funny. We offered them shots (I was a big shot drinker then) and they said no. That they did that for 40 years and their livers couldn't take it anymore. 
At the Hard Rock(Cafe) again, Tony Orlando was there. Which kind of brings me back to the beginning of my story of being in Shriners listening to music like "Tie a Yellow Ribbon", while I sat crying behind the window bars (waiting for my dad). I loved that song. It all came full circle for me in a weird way by playing with the same guy that sang that song and others that were special to me. 
He heard us playing "Obladi Oblada", and he loved it. He said "I want to play that 'Oobladi Ooblada' song". (He pronounced it wrong). That was a highlight for me. 
Playing with Fuel was pretty cool too. The Beach Boys and Tony Orlando both signed my Strat."

LASTLY, WHAT DO YOU THINK MAKES YOU UNIQUE?
"Most bands, and I'm not knocking anyone, will just do their 3-12's (3 sets of 12 songs), take a break and go through the motions. No energy. We play for like 3-4 hours straight. We'll be scheduled and contacted for 3-50 minute sets at Parx (casino) but I don't wanna stop playing if I'm seeing people singing. I feel like you're cheating the audience by stopping. I've had people say to me over the years that we make them look bad, that we have to stop playing so long. I just tell them they need to step their game up. Again, I don't knock other bands, I know I should stop, but I just can't."

Visit Kirko to see where they're playing:
www.thekirkoband.com

WHAT INSTRUMENTS DO YOU PLAY?
"I play guitar primarily. I also play mandolin, banjo, transverse flute, straight end flute, shakuhachi, 5 or 6 Balinese/Javanese instruments. That (Balinese and Javanese) was my field of study at Buffalo State College and University of Buffalo- Asian Ethno-Musicology. Didn't get me anywhere. 

WHEN DID YOU BECOME INTERESTED IN MUSIC?
"I don't remember. It was younger than my memory goes. My mother said that when I was colicky as a baby, they only thing that would put me to sleep was Sarah Vaughn's Misty." 

WHERE HAS YOUR MUSICAL INTEREST TAKEN YOU THROUGHOUT YOUR LIFE?
"My interests are primarily blues and jazz, well before rock or any of it's perversions. My music career started in A&R (artist and relations). (It was) record promotion for famous music which was Paramount, Just Sunshine, Blue Thumb, Neighborhood... there was a whole slew of minor labels. Did a little radio disc jockeying late night, weekends, cause that's where it's wide open air and nobody's listening. I was pretty young. The way I got that job was pulling orders at a record distributor. You never even saw records, there were just 100 pound cardboard boxes, but you knew they were full of records, so you were IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS. I hustled and hustled and there was a promotion department that seemed to be neglected, so when I got my job done quickly, and I would do that on purpose by the way, I'd go back to the promotions room and sort albums for all the radio stations throughout NY state and part of PA. When the distributor realized I was doing that, after some time they said, well we need someone to actually do that job. Then they gave me a company car, an expense account and all of the sudden I wasn't wearing coveralls, but it was a harder job actually. You had to hit Syracuse and Rochester in the same day, hit Erie one day, then Buffalo the next. There's 4 days out of the week and you still haven't done your calls, your reporting, your mailings." 

DID YOU ENJOY IT?
"I did. I was a kid. Had energy to burn and was IN THE MUSIC BUSINESS!" 

WHEN DID YOU BEGIN PLAYING AGAIN?
"I was exhausted from the previous job. My boss, Niles Segal, out of NY (I'd go there at least once a month); he knew how much I loved playing and suggested maybe I step away since I was getting burnt out, and start doing what I loved, to recuperate. And I didn't go back. I kept playing instead." 

WHERE DID THAT TAKE YOU? 
"I mentored with a guy named Ernie Carella, and if you look his name up, you'll see he's played with Booker T and the MG's, Martha and the Vandellas.  He played second to Steve Cropper. He's headlined. He's the quiet little guy in the back that looks a little like Waylon Jennings and kicks some ass. He just does that whole Memphis Stax sound. So he was my mentor and when he couldn't make a gig, I'd get a call. He mentored with Steve Cropper and I mentored with him. I played for two nights with Taj Mahal, waiting for John Hall (later of Orleans) to come along, because Ernie was playing with Martha and the Vandellas. I got to do little things like that."

"One night John Prine played and I asked to play his Martin triple. I told him that I played some Steve Goodman stuff, and we sat on the cobblestone playing guitar for about 45 minutes. I gave him my number and then Steve Goodman ended up calling me out of the blue one time, as he passed through. He'd been touring alone and had been calling for second guitar players, and so anytime he wound up east of the Mississippi, I got a call for a number of years. He would borrow my cowboy hat as a prop for one of his songs too. West of the Mississippi he'd call Diz Disley, who I'd suggest anybody look up. The guy's out in the Pacific Northwest now, I believe, with a gypsy jazz band that'll just knock the socks off ya. Steve Goodman was the reason I started playing mandolin. Because it was easier to leave our guitars packed, we could practice and learn other stuff on mandolins since they were easier to travel with. Steve was tight with John Prine and Jimmy Buffet.  They would play on each other's albums, but when they did, they always used the pseudonym, Marvin Gardens (like the property in monopoly), so the record companies didn't have to haggle over royalties."

"Then in college, I was playing with a band called Spoon and the House Rockers with Elmo Witherspoon (Spoon). He was an assembly line worker for Chevy in Buffalo, NY. He was a fantastic harmonica player. Anywhere we played, we rocked the house. Spoon would get up on the bar and be kickin people's drinks off, doing the harp shuffle and people loved it. Spoon went through some tragic domestic troubles. So most of that band ended up playing with Steve Miller, Paul Butterfield, Santana, and America. I played with a band called Sweetball while playing with a husband and wife team Debbie Ash and Mike Compagna. They played blue eyed soul, Motown sounding. We played regularly at Buena Vista and one night Bonnie Raitt came in. She wound up playing a couple of tunes with us."

"From there, I moved to the west side of Buffalo with a group of musicians. That's where SpyroGyra was born. I left pretty early on from the band though to go back to school for music. After that, I took a number of years off and was learning lutherie, the repair and construction of string instruments. Still in the music business! The owner of the music store I was working in was a terrific bass player from Buffalo. He still owns Top Shelf Music in Buffalo. He introduced me to a young girl he was rehearsing with. She needed a guitar player and he always liked my slide playing, I second on slide guitar a lot, and that's a way I've gotten a lot of my gigs. The girl's name was Ani DiFranco. We wound up together for six or seven years and I was her guitar player." 

"Then I wanted to do something on my own and I put a band together called Five Guys Named Moe. We did a lot of swing stuff, Louie Jordan stuff, but also did a lot of blues standards and a lot of slide. I could say it was like the Allman Brothers, but not southern. It was more roots with long kind of Phish-like solos. We had a good time doing that." 

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE MUSICAL EXPERIENCE?
"Sitting with Miles Davis backstage at Lincoln Center. Myself and a business partner of mine, Kenny, had a chance. Miles had come out of retirement and started a new band, and was back on tour. We were about a year and a half out, but my friend got a line on some really great tickets since we were promoters. 
Kenny and I booked for colleges while we were in college. We would do block bookings.  I'd book you in the beginning of the tour at top dollar, but at the end of the tour when they were looking to fill dates, we'd book them again at a lower price. Then I'd put you in a venue I could afford, but not at the college. He had a young guy named Bill Evans playing sax with him, who took to us. And we weren't fartin around and drooling, like "Oh Mr. Davis...". We just talked some business, told some stories, and we had a good time. We did no playing, we just had a beer." 

"Another great experience was meeting Ray Charles. Kenny and I were doing our promoting thing and spent a whole summer putting a show together to start the season. The first half of September, we were just back to school, and we book Ray Charles for $27,500! We had an orchestra and Ray Charles to play at Kleinhans Music Hall, a premier flagship music hall! Kleinhans is a symphonic music hall, their blueprints have been used three times and it's never come out as perfect as Kleinhans. It's a hidden gem.  So anyway, we secured the music hall for the date. I walk backstage just before the show, I wanna meet the reverend, Ray Charles. I hadn't spoken to him throughout any of the contract negotiations or any of that. You weren't able to. You had the go-betweens. His right hand guy comes to us and says "Mr. Steinmüller, Mr. Olsen: the reverend will see you now." Like we were gonna see the president. It kind of was. So we go back and there's Ray! He's in the middle of tearing a new asshole into this young kid about his pants. He's holding the pants upside down at the hem and he's yelling at the kid that those pants didn't match the suit. He had like eight brown/tan tuxedos with the velveteen collar, stripe on the pants. They all looked identical to me. But, he had rows of stitching on the bottom cuffs of each pant to determine which ones went together. Turns out the valet/kid was his nephew."

DID THAT INTIMIDATE YOU?
"I didn't know that Ray existed. But when his right hand guy said to Ray, "Mr. Charles, the promoters are here", he dropped everything stepped right up and said "Hi! How are you!?"  He was as pleasant as a pastor in church. Thanking us, pleasure to meet you, absolute gentleman. But it was like a switch. It was short and sweet. Then the big guy swooped us out of the room and on with the show. The biggest exclamation point at the end of that sentence is that the biggest local promoter of festival concerts, at the last minute, didn't sell tickets, there was no promotion. They dropped a stadium tour on our date. The Rolling Stones, Journey and George Thorogood.  It hurt our show, but we still broke even. But guess who showed up later?! The Stones and Thorogood. And I had to tell Keith Richards five or six times that he couldn't smoke in the hall. Mick was the only one that didn't come. He jumped on a jet and left after his show."

ANY REGRETS? 
"Not spending more time studying when I was younger. My struggle with self doubt, lacking confidence- especially in light of my physical failings in the last decade. I had a broken neck and I've had to teach myself guitar twice in this life. I don't play like I used to but I'm still gaining ground and getting better."

WHAT DO YOU FEEL IS YOUR CURRENT BAND'S (Chowder) BEST QUALITY?
"I think all of us are good musicians, not to sound like an egomaniac. When I think something sounds so good, the other guys are there to let me know that it could be better. That it should be the best. I really like that. I like the work ethic. Especially Gino Pini. When I get done playing a song, and I'm like, "wow that was so great", he'll be like "no, you know you missed that note in the second part of that song, so let's work on that again." I like that. I like that he keeps me humble, keeps me working hard. That's my favorite part about this band."

WHAT SEPARATES YOU FROM OTHER BANDS? 
"A few years ago I might have said we we retro. I guess we are retro, but now with all these bands playing top 40 and more bar friendly songs, I think we stuck to our roots. Now it's almost like they're retro and we're not, sort of. I like that our music that isn't supposed to be accepted in all these bars, is being accepted 'cause we work so hard at it and I think it's pretty good."

DO YOU, OR THE BAND, WRITE YOUR OWN MUSIC?
"We have a lot of originals. About half of our songs are originals. We don't play all of them but we do continue to write. We improvise a lot, which is very fun. We record it and come up with ideas and they become songs."

IS IT HARD TO WRITE A SONG?
"Not the way we do it, because the way we do it, is we just jam." 

SO YOU ALL WRITE TOGETHER?
"We do. Usually we come up with the music first which starts before practice when we're just warming up and we just go off and do a ten minute jam and say "this is a good idea" and next thing you know, it's a song."

WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR FAVORITE MUSICAL EXPERIENCE SO FAR (BOTH AS PART OF A BAND AND AS A FAN)?
(As a fan): "Probably, and I don't know if it's my favorite, but it's my most memorable: the first concert I went to. It was in 1984, maybe '85. It was KISS-  without makeup (unfortunately). I remember getting in there and I had never been to a concert. I didn't know what to expect. And here there's 20,000 screaming people and out comes KISS playing "Detroit Rock City" and it kind of changed my life. That was amazing. And now I've been to thousands of concerts and I still feel like a little kid when I go (to concerts). I still get excited like it's my first concert. I love live music."
(As a band): My two FAVORITE moments (once I was in the band) was the first time we played at Dobb's and the first time at Pennypack Park. Dobb's, having gone there for so many shows, my favorite bands having played there, the history of that place... great bands played there (Pearl Jam, Nirvana). The first time I got on that stage and the curtain lifted up, it was the most exciting thing I ever felt in my life. Pennypack Park, there was a ton of people. When I got in this band, I aimed for that show the whole time. When we got it, it was such a great experience."
"I told my wife I was never gonna get in a band, unless it was in Chowder. And that actually worked out. I always liked Chowder's music. First time I played with them was in front of 700 people at Katmandu. [I was] scared shitless. But we only played five songs and it worked out really well. That was exciting." 

HOW LONG WAS CHOWDER A BAND BEFORE YOU JOINED THEM?
"I've been with them almost 7 years and they've been a band for probably 11 or 12 years. Jason (Cowden) and Chris Griffith (former drummer) started it. They had another bass player John, who was very good but when Gino came into the band, he changed the band. Jason is an amazing player, but Gino upped the level a lot. I thought they were really good, and that's why I told my wife that it was the only band I ever wanted to be in, and then I got to be in the band. The first song we ever played was at practice and it was "Elizabeth Reed". They asked if I knew it and I told them I practiced that all the time. So we played "Elizabeth Reed" and I was like, "are you fucking kidding me?! This is the best band of all time!" And that's when Gino said to me, "you missed that second part". So I was in love instantly cause it IS a great band. 

WHY WAS THE PENNYPACK PARK SHOW SO SIGNIFICANT TO YOU?
"Because it's just special. The whole neighborhood goes there. It's a beautiful stage. I walked on that stage as a little kid, pretending I was Ace Frehley. I'd get up there and air guitar away. I dreamed about getting on that stage one day and sure enough I got the chance. It was magical."

WHAT'S YOUR DREAM VENUE, IF YOU COULD PLAY ANY PLACE YOU WANTED?
"It would've been the Spectrum, but it's not there anymore, obviously. The Spectrum was where I had seen the Grateful Dead 25 times, I've seen KISS there, I've seen Rush. I've seen all my favorite bands there. So the Spectrum would've been number one of all time, but it's no longer there. That's sad."

ANY OTHER PLACES?
"I like to play anywhere. I'd like to play every stadium in the country, but I don't know if that'll ever happen. It probably won't at this point but Spectrum was number one. Always will be."

WHO WAS YOUR BIGGEST MUSICAL INFLUENCE?
"At an early age, Ace Frehley was my world. I'd dress like him on Halloween. He made me play guitar. He changed my life. I came from more R&B when I was a kid in Norristown. I heard a lot of Michael Jackson, I loved The Jackson 5, The Commodores when they were still in their prime in the '70's. And then I hear Ace Frehley for the first time and that changed everything for me. That was it. After that, there's Jimmy Page, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia. They're all my heroes. I wanna be as devoted to music as they were, to be something special."

WHAT DO YOU WANT PEOPLE TO COME AWAY WITH AFTER SEEING A CHOWDER SHOW?
"I want them to feel as good as I do about the music. When I play something good, I get really excited. It's like a high that no drug could give me. And I want people to be entertained. I'm there to entertain myself first, but I want to entertain people too. I want people to be happy because I want it to make me happy. If it's not making me happy, it's not worth it for me or them." 

HOW DO YOU THINK YOU'D HANDLE FAME?
"That's tough to answer. I can't control myself in a small venue, I couldn't imagine what it would be like with thousands of screaming fans, groupies and hangers on, drugs, alcohol, partying, the hotel room...I just don't know if I can answer that question. If I might be alive that long (with that level of fame), I'd like to say that I could maintain myself, to maintain composure, but I'm not sure that I could."

DO YOU THINK IT'S DIFFICULT TO FIND OTHER MUSICIANS TO PLAY WITH THAT COMPLIMENT EACH OTHER WITHOUT FIGHTING OR EGOS?
"Musicians, as a whole, I think come off as egomaniacs and there is a lot in music. I've never been an egomaniac. I don't think I'm as good as a lot of these people. And I've been lucky to play with a lot of really great musicians. The Paul Baroli's (of Steal Your Face), and my band Chowder. I love my band.  At the same time, being in a band is like being in a marriage. It's hard enough to be married to one person, and you're now married to say, four people. It's not easy; you're gonna fight, hassle each other, complain, bitch, moan, disagree, but the end result is that the rewards are amazing. It's an amazing high if you can deal with the bullshit.  If you wanna soar with the eagles, you gotta slop with the hogs. It can be rough."

Check out Billy and the rest of the band Chowder here. 

What would you say is your band's (Steal Your Face) best quality?
"I think it sort of starts with our philosophy and then has to do with the energy we put behind it at our shows. We've always gone about things with the idea that we were always going to go for it. To try to make magic with every single note, with every single line, with every single phrase. To try to make as much magic as possible and really just get people off. And I think because we're always trying to go for it, we get to places with the music and take our audiences places that a lot of bands don't go. I'd like to think when people come to see us that they feel that from us and they know that we want them to have a great night; that for those few hours of their week, hopefully we can take him to a place of escape and forget about the rest of the things that you know can bog people down."

What is your dream venue to play in?
"Oh there's a few! I mean the Grateful Dead played at the steps of the Great Pyramids in Egypt in 1978 so if there's a dream venue I guess that's it. So many across the country: Red Rocks comes to mind first. I'd love to play Phil Lesh's Terrapin Crossroads in Marin County, California. There's some festivals I'd really like to play. I've gone to Darkstar Jubilee, which is a festival put on by Darkstar Orchestra, the world's number one Grateful Dead tribute band, and I always thought it would be very cool for us to get a set sometime at that festival. Kind of like, you know, here's the present and the future of Grateful Dead music."

Do you feel you'd handle fame well?
"I actually don't think I would handle it well. Maybe when I was a kid I thought about fame and fortune, doing those sorts of things. But there's a line from a Stephen Marley song that says-" I'm not in it for the fame, I'm in it for the love" and that is so true for me. I love what I do and I love that what I do affects people in a positive way and that's why I do it.
Having a successful band and fans is something that I've always wanted and we've had a little bit of success over the last few years and we certainly have a wonderful fan base, especially here locally. We're so grateful and they're so supportive. Our fans are the reason why we're doing the things that we're doing today and why you're talking to me right now. But I've seen pressures already and some of that even on our level is textbook stuff that you read about bands that have success going through. There's burdens and there's taxes on you and your bandmates, on your families and your inner circle and I think it just takes a lot to learn to live with it all. We're learning to do it now on the level that we are at and I would hope that if things continue to grow for us, we will continue to learn and deal with it better every day. It's something that we want, but it definitely comes with a price."

Is it difficult to find other musicians to play with that compliment your style?
"It was definitely a process and there were times where it felt difficult, but I would say now, Jah put the right people together. It's not just the four people you may see onstage some nights, but the 8 to 10 guys that Curt and I are blessed to make music with year round as part of the Steal Your Face family of musicians."

Is there, or has there ever been, a power struggle or egos between band mates?
"Oh God yes. Life is a thing when you learn, you grow...
I'm happy and proud to say that we don't struggle with that now. You might want to ask the other guys about my ego, but we got a great group of guys who all believe in what we're doing and believe in that common cause. We put that stuff aside for the right reasons and I can say with confidence, I think every one of us always tries to lead with love, and when you do that you can't go wrong.
I always try to keep things positive, but you have to learn from your mistakes. I kind of want to bring up someone that we had in the band who wasn't a positive influence on us. In fact, this guy was an egomaniac and really could've taken down the whole thing from the inside. Just one of those people who manipulated us and pulled the wool over our eyes and tried to take what we were doing and make it his without the best of intentions. I'm saying this now in the hopes that maybe someone reading this interview will see that coming before it happens to them because it was a hard thing for us to get over and quite honestly, something we had to deal with for far too long."

Do you write your own music? Do you play that at your shows?
"Yes, I have notebooks and notebooks full of songs that I've written, some of which I would say are probably pretty good. We do play them rarely at our shows but for the most part we stick with our repertoire which is the music of the Grateful Dead mixed in with some Bob Marley and some other classic rock and artists like Bob Dylan, of course, which the Dead covered. The reason is because those are the things I want to be heard. I started Steal Your Face because I would go to shows and I would go to festivals and I would want to hear good Grateful Dead music. I know the world needs original music but that's what I want to hear as a fan of THIS music. I do think there will come a time where you will hear us mixing in some original music and maybe focusing on it a little more, but for now we're so content with what we're doing and where this music is taking us."

What do you find is the most difficult part of the writing process?
"For me the difficulty is what happens after the initial inspiration. The songs just come, I have no control over it. I feel like Jah gives me the songs and I get the inspiration and I write them down as much as I can translate at the time. Sometimes it's words, sometimes it's words and music, sometimes it's a melody, and the difficulty for me is putting that all into a song with parts of the beginning, a middle and an end, and making that inspiration a full-fledged song."

Steal Your Face are:
Paul Baroli Jr.- bass/vocals
Curt Eustace- lead guitar
Matt Ginsburg- drums/vocals
Dan Galvano- keyboards/vocals
Garry Engel- rhythm guitar/vocals

Official Website: www.StealYourFaceBand.com
Steal Your FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/StealYourFaceBand
VIDEOS: www.YouTube.com/StealYourFaceJamBand

WHAT GENRE OF MUSIC ARE YOU CURRENTLY PLAYING?
"Modern country."  

IS THAT WHAT YOUVE ALWAYS PLAYED OR THE ONLY STYLE YOU LIKE TO PLAY?
"No, I love all types of music.  I like to combine different elements, especially with my band mates. 'Cause my voice has such a heavy country twang sound especially for this area. So I end up playing with guys that aren't that style cause there's not a lot of great country players up here. Not to say there aren't great country players, there just isn't an abundance. There's a lot of really great musicians that are available looking for something new to do and somehow I connect with them. Then I have to figure out how to incorporate, to jibe. My style of writing and arranging has always been based off of country, rock and roll, blues, basic progressions and story telling. In some way, I've always written country music. I just haven't always produced it or stylized it that way, but now I do it with all the stuff that I do. Before I did metal, dance, now I'll incorporate those elements, they'll be in my songs but they're not the "genre" I'm subscribed to."
 
WHAT DID YOU LISTEN TO AS YOU WERE LEARNING TO PLAY? WHAT SPOKE TO YOU?
"I grew up in a house where there was a lot of Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers being played. What really influenced me, I'd say, for country music, was the first time I heard "The Devil Went Down to Georgia". I remember being really little, like 7, and I just spent all my time trying to learn all the words and sing it. Eventually I did. I always say I learned how to "rap" before I learned how to sing. I learned how to rap from Charlie Daniels." 

DO YOU EVER PLAY THAT?
"Yeah, with Dirt Road Anthem. Fiddle and the whole nine yards."
  
WHAT WOULD BE YOUR DREAM VENUE?
"My dream venue isn't there anymore, so I'd have to pick another one. It would've been the Empire Rock Club. 'Cause when I was about 14-16, at the tail end of it, I used to sneak in there. Nights I wasn't supposed to be there. I grew facial hair early as a kid, at 16 I had a full beard, so I used to sneak in. So, in my greatest, wildest fantasy, I would want to play there. Since that's not possible, I would say Red Rocks, Colorado. Just because of where it is and the sonic aspect of it. I've never been there but I've heard amazing things.  Just the pictures alone are incredible."

DO YOU FIND THAT YOU DEAL WITH EGOS A LOT IN THIS BUSINESS?
"Oh yeah. My own to start with. That's the hardest one.  I try to keep it in check with as much intellect as I can. Sometimes I actually have to boost my own too. But I do deal with egos a lot. Sometimes that's why people wind up becoming artists because they need that acknowledgement somewhere in their life. Sometimes it's a long period of time of not a high level of success, so you become sort of jaded and it gets intertwined with an ego. Sometimes playing with a guy playing with an ego is the greatest thing, cause he's all ego and he's just totally out there wagging it like a maniac and that's exactly what you need. But then the problem dealing with the ego or super ego, sometimes you're not dealing with a person's real shit and they're covering up for stuff -and music (creating and playing) can be very vulnerable. So me, with Dirt Road Anthem, that's not me calling the shots. They'll tell me "that's not what we want, we want this", and I have to keep my ego completely to the side and just be professional and give them what they want. But not all musicians are like that. I've lost some really good members because our egos, or whatever you wanna call it. We couldn't be in the same room together. A lot of alpha male dominance. And being a lead singer, I'm always getting the attention whether I want it or not. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's bad. I hold no grudges.  I appreciate all the guys I've played with, no matter how it ended. We always have that connection of the music we made together."

HOW DO YOU THINK YOU'D HANDLE FAME?
"It would be difficult. Not because of the people that don't know me, but the people that have known me. And how sometimes people that have known me a while and haven't paid any attention, all of the sudden are all in your business, up your ass. That might be difficult. If it was just someone asking for an autograph, I'd be good with that cause those people would be appreciating me cause I'm Brodi Valos. I imagine they wouldn't be appreciating me cause they know me from way back when I was in sixth grade and now I'm Brodi Valos and famous. They think they know so much. I think sometimes, again when it comes to egos, my experience is that I've had people that I built lifelong friendships with that even at this ridiculously minuscule level of popularity, just in the local area, that all of the sudden are all up in my shit. Like in a weird way and injecting themselves into my life in a way that is perceived as somehow connected to me and we were never connected like that. That's been disheartening cause I've lost some friends just by pursuing what I wanna do and then have those relationships transform with just a little bit of fame. 
Heading a band is not all that it's cracked up to be. It's like a reversed mullet. It's party in the front, business in the back. When you get down to business, things can very checks and balances. Then there's these odd things that come in and things you never expected. I guess I was just figuring that it would hold itself at that level, then as things got bigger, those strange friendships that I had that I didn't really acknowledge for the oddities that they were, they grew and blew up in my face to a degree. I feel guilty that I'm not friends with people anymore but I know that I can't be 'cause what I was in the friendship for wasn't really what the friendship was.
The fame part of like, getting up and being on a tour bus, I'm sure would be exhausting to a certain degree. I look at some of these guys and say I don't know how they do it. Particularly somebody like Miranda Lambert, with her demanding schedule and as famous as she is, and as in demand as she is. And there's an aspect of fans that can be scary at times. I've even had a couple of scary encounters that I sort of was able to duck out of. Or there was some weird shit in my inbox on Facebook that I had to sort of handle. Originally, it would be a compliment, like "Hey, saw ya, thought you were great!" And I'm not gonna be ignorant and I'll reply. But then it becomes more and more and then they show up at a show and it's weird. So for a woman in the business it's gotta be harder cause there's the crazy fear factor. As crazy as some of the women I've known in my life back then, men can be scarier and more dangerous at times. Just because of the male ego. But some of the crazy girls are just as dangerous on some level. But they come with a good lore."
 
DO YOU FIND IT DIFFICULT TO FIND OTHER MUSICIANS TO COMPLIMENT YOUR STYLE?
"Well, I found that before I became "Brodi Valos" it was impossible. I had my music up, I was trying to find people to play with, nobody! Then I said "Ok, I'm not gonna be the singer of said band anymore. I'm just gonna be Brodi Valos." And then, even some of the same people that I'd known for years, that I had asked to play with again and again, came out and played."
 
WHY DO YOU THINK THAT WAS?
"I don't know. Power of a brand? Maybe that's it. Also I think I became more focused. It was no longer about what we all democratically agreed on. It was about my focus and my direction they had to funnel into that kind of a "product".  I don't find it hard, once I get somebody into a room when I'm playing with them, I don't find it hard to jibe with them then. I have a couple of rules: rule number one is play what you want. Rule number two is don't step on anybody. Don't get in anybody's way with their sound. Don't overplay someone. Play what you want but don't get in anybody's way. That goes for me too. I lead a band well, so I can queue people. There's different non verbal queues to give everybody their space. So it's kind of like lion taming. So if I'm in a band with four other guys, you have to lion tame three of them so that fourth guy can do his thing whether it be a guitar solo, bass, drums, whatever's going on. That's important. I like to play with people and I like to build them up. If somebody's not as good as somebody else says they are, but I see something special in their playing, I'll basically put them in a head lock until they recognize that they have that and then build it and build it for all it's worth. 
So finding people and getting people into a room used to be real difficult, now not so much. Somebody has to have the idea that they wanna succeed. And as musicians, it's real easy to have a couple of beers (or a couple of beers times however many more) and sit around and talk about how we wanna be rock stars and how we wanna be famous, get this car, get this house, these big blown up dreams. And that can sometimes be enough to fuel a band to come together if it's just a fantasy at that point, cause you never know what can happen, especially with the internet."
 
HAVE YOU EVER CONSIDERED MOVING AND PLAYING YOUR MUSIC SOMEWHERE ELSE?
"I thought about moving a few times, and not to places people would normally think. Like I own land in Taos, New Mexico (where easy rider was filmed). Back in 2002, when I bought it, I could've sworn I'd be there by 2004 living. There's a film, art and music community there. It's not really close to any major place. I was also in the gulf coast area after hurricane Katrina. I went down and did volunteer work for a couple months. When I was down there, I realized that there was so little of places to play, people, musicians, so forth, that I was really blessed to be from an area that was like, the fifth largest market in the country. I didn't know what to do with it at that point in time, I just knew that I was better off being here than I was being anywhere else. I guess because I was always country at heart, I didn't always take being a country artist in Philadelphia seriously. I thought it was impossible. Thought I'd be better off singing in any cover band. I didn't really know what to do. I realized that we were in such a large market, that I have no right to complain. That even if it took me thirty guitar players to find the right guitar player, I have thirty guitar players to choose from- there's that much talent. Once things started getting rolling for me, musicians just kept coming out of the woodwork. Musicians that are in this area are dedicated, the professional ones. We can call them on the drop of the dime and they'll come out and play." 

WHAT'S BEEN YOUR FAVORITE MUSICAL EXPERIENCE? 
"The first time I ever sang in front of people as a lead singer. I was in a band.  This was when I was a kid. I played bass with a friend of mine (my bass player now). Both had the same bass as kids. I sang one song to a crowd of like 200 kids. We sold tickets and rented a room. I sang and that's when I knew that was what I wanted to do. 
Another one: I met a guy, while I was in the gulf during Katrina cleanup, that taught me how to play the blues. This guy called Iceman. He delivered ice to everybody from his truck. I helped him do something with his house. He was a cabinet and guitar maker. He taught me how to build my first guitar, which was actually stolen off me back in 2008.  It was one of a kind. Before I met him I never thought I could be a lead guitar player, ever. I'm not saying I'm really a lead guitar player by any means, but I now play some leads. Everything was so devastated down there, and we were playing music, and it brought so much life to people. But we were playing country music. And I'm like "here I am in the bayou area in Mississippi with the people learning how to play the blues." That'll stay with me forever."

OTHER THAN MUSICAL INSPIRATION, IS THERE ANYTHING ELSE THAT HELPS YOU FOCUS AND HONE IN ON YOUR CREATIVITY? 
"There's a couple of things: self improvement is a big one. I think always since I was a kid, I was always trying to improve, which leads into music. I take it as an honor that I can sing, cause I know not everybody can. That inspires me. Then there's this: (the symbol/pendant on his chain). 
In 1994 I drew this symbol (a tribal symbol for the world. It's all the land masses formed together in such a way, if you connected them all and flattened them out.) that I have as a charm. It seriously inspired me to be more interested in everybody, in life, in the world, beyond what was in Philadelphia. I was in a bar one time and a guy said it best, he said "it's that damn Philadelphia experiment that did something to create a black hole like a magnet and nobody can leave this fucking place."  And somehow, I realized you didn't have to leave here to experience the whole world because the whole world is here.  This symbol meant the world, everything to me. I'd meet people of different backgrounds and ethnicities and go hang with them and learn their cultures. I never understood the deep divides of other backgrounds. When I was about 20, I drew this, December 8, 1994."

Didn't sleep for about 11 days. I hadn't eaten anything significant for like 2 weeks. I ended up getting admitted to a hospital at 134 pounds (I'm 204 now, happy at about 176). So at 134, you could see cartilage in my belly button. After a time I realized why this symbol was so important to me. It was a symbol of the whole world and all the life in it. Somewhere between our nature and man's intention, humanity and artistry meet. It's just a symbol and a little picture. And it's funny cause before it used to make me obsessive and get crazy and now when my normal life gets crazy I'll just sit down and think about what it looks like and meditate (like someone might use a candle to meditate). It focuses my attention to what's important. 
I don't hang around people that are like "everything's peace, love, joy and cool", 'cause it's not. There's some horrible people in the world. Overall though, I think people are good. When I wake up, I know no one has broken into my house and harmed me, my car's still there. Nights when I've played a show and got a ride home with a roadie, and my stuff will still be on my step still the following morning cause I didn't bring it in the night before. So how bad can people be? I mean yeah, some people do terrible shit. But overall, man is pretty cool. So this helps me recognize, no matter how significant I think I am, and we all do, that I'm still just some kid from Holmesburg who thought he was too cool for school. And in some way everybody who's ever made a difference in the world was just some kid from wherever made fun of in a schoolyard. 
By the time I was 20, I was thoroughly apathetic about nuclear war and things like that. We were at the tail end of the Cold War, and it was like "The Day After" and the Russians were gonna get us. And I've come to the realization through the people I met, and through this symbol, it made me wanna know what made them wanna love and get up everyday. Something inspired them to get up and love their life everyday. I've learned a lot. It makes me calm and not worry about some of the things going on in the world. Everything flows. I had panic attacks and night terrors when I was like 8. Worried about the world ending. I had a teacher in seventh grade that talked about flat maps and some were distorted and depending on who printed the map determined which country was the largest. And if someone could come up with a way to make an accurate flat map, that they'd be a millionaire. I think somehow that stuck in my head.  It seems so trivial, but it stuck.

People look to music for all kinds of things. To make them happy, to lift their spirits, to give them something to dance to and to sing along with. A casual listener, might find that music is a nice diversion. It's something to entertain them at parties or on evening commutes. They listen, but they might not always hear what is there beyond the obvious. 
For the more serious listener music can become a source of inspiration, of motivation and happiness. They know music has more to offer than something flowing through the headphones on your morning jog, if you choose to embrace it. Still, the true strength, the true power of music may evade them. 
For the true music lover, music is like a roller coaster ride. The intricate ups and downs of a certain song can take them from full of joy to the depths of despair in the span of a few chord changes. Music can be a great haven or a great escape. They know that whatever you are running from, running to, or running with, music is the soundtrack that goes along for the ride. Music is in their soul. Unfortunately, not everyone's soul can write a lyric, or carry a tune, or strum a guitar...
Enter, the musician. The musician knows beyond a shadow of a doubt the power of music. More often than not, they've been to the dark places with it, the places where the soul of an artist often goes. And they've stood with it in the light. Whether they play purely for themselves, or to please crowds of people, musicians know that music brings people together, awakens the spirit, and heals the soul. Music is a universal truth. They get it. And they want us to get it too. Musicians, quite simply, hear the story the music has to tell. And they have a story to tell of their very own...
So who tells the stories of the storytellers?

**Join us all week as we talk with some of our favorite local musicians and bands about their influences, aspirations, and so much more...stay tuned.***