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00:00All right, Motor City Riffs fans, we are here with another great band that we're interviewing today.
00:05The 3148s are joining me tonight. How's it going, guys?
00:10Very well.
00:11Doing great.
00:11Yeah, hanging in there.
00:13Yeah, no, we've been, I know you guys have been sending me some music for well over a year now.
00:18I've been blessed to play it a few times here and there.
00:22Honestly, I just, I love your guys' music, and I know I've been having some more free time,
00:28so I've been trying to get back and interview some of the bands here, get some, you know, local exposure,
00:32let the Detroit area know about you guys a little bit more.
00:35I know they already know, but, you know, because you guys really do a good job out there,
00:39and I want to talk about you.
00:41So on that note, actually, one thing, I know you guys are making some new music,
00:46but one thing I know I keep seeing your name attached to is the Lollapalooza.
00:51I know you guys have done it for a few years now, right?
00:54And you guys are probably, I'm sure you're doing it again, right?
00:56That's what your website kind of hints to, in August.
00:59August 1st.
01:00In Ferndale.
01:02I want to know a little bit about that.
01:03Maybe how did you guys get, I don't know if you got, how did that start for you guys?
01:09Humorous.
01:13Yeah, you know, so Ian, Jay, and I, we're all lawyers.
01:18Tom got lucky and he dodged that one at Mystic.
01:20But, you know, we've played with, there's another band that's a great band that we play
01:25with, the Common Scolds.
01:26They do some covers and things.
01:27They're a bunch of lawyers as well.
01:28And we were just kind of talking about it and, you know, started off thinking, hey,
01:32let's just kind of jam.
01:33Let's maybe get a gig or two together.
01:35Kind of realized we got a kind of, you know, a good common group of people that would come
01:39out to those sets and decided we'd start raising some money.
01:43The Magic Bag has been great to us the last few years.
01:45We've hosted it and had a bigger and bigger crowd each year.
01:47And over the last three years, we've raised like 40 grand for various charities.
01:52That's amazing.
01:53On that note, I know I did a little bit of digging with like the kids without cancer.
01:58Like part of that, is there anything you can expand on that and kind of how that
02:02trade works?
02:02I know it's like right off your guys' website.
02:05Yeah, it's a great cancer charity.
02:08It actually stems from a good friend of mine, Davis, who we used to work with.
02:14His daughter is a cancer survivor.
02:16So when every year we kind of pick a charity that means something to us.
02:20And so this year I picked that and I reached out to him and gave him a list of charities.
02:25And he said that that was a great one that had helped him when his daughter was treating
02:30with University of Michigan.
02:31And so, yeah, if you go to our website, we have links to there.
02:35But if you also go to LawLapalooza.org, that's L-A-W-Lapalooza, and you'll have ticket links
02:44and then you'll also have a donation page.
02:46I guess this is as good a time as any to say that in June we start our cover challenge for
02:56the donations and that the highest donation in June gets to pick a song that we will cover.
03:06And it's been everything from kind of cool songs.
03:12What was it, the first one we did, Greg?
03:14It was Ain't Nothing Wrong With That.
03:16Right.
03:17Yeah, Robber Randolph with a family band.
03:18Yeah.
03:19We've done everything from that to Whitney Houston to South Park medleys.
03:23I mean, it just depends on whether you want us to look cool or want us to look insane or silly.
03:29And a lot of people don't want us to look silly.
03:31You know, I think the whole lawyer thing might not work in your favor in that aspect.
03:36Like, you know what, let's see some lawyers sing like Madonna or something, you know?
03:39Yeah.
03:40Yeah.
03:41It can be kind of funny.
03:42It's all for good cause.
03:44Right, right.
03:44No, no.
03:45That's awesome you guys do that.
03:47Honestly, I'm not going to say not enough groups do that, but sometimes it can be harder
03:51for like, you know, not a massive, massive like group to, you know, do something like that
03:55every day.
03:56Obviously, not every day, but go out there and do that kind of stuff.
03:59Obviously, it takes time and effort and you guys really, you know, showcase that.
04:03So, you know, big props to you guys.
04:05Thanks.
04:06Kind of in relation to the time and effort that you guys put into stuff, I did want to
04:10touch base on, because I know a couple of songs that I played on the riff, I know like
04:15The General, which I know you guys, looks like you guys may have re-released like a radio
04:19edit of that recently.
04:20Yep.
04:20I did want to touch on that song and The Enchantress that you guys recently released.
04:27I want to, I guess, I guess if you guys just want to tell me plainly, like some of the
04:32inside, any inside knowledge on it, or I guess kind of what was the inspiration behind those
04:35pieces?
04:35This is an Ian question.
04:37Yeah, I got to take this one.
04:38So, in 2019, I turned 40 and then I kind of was like, well, what do I want to do with
04:44my life?
04:45And I happened to be listening to the Pink Floyd, The Wall.
04:51And I thought, oh, that's nice.
04:53I'd like to write like a concept album, like a rock opera.
04:56And so I got noodling on that and, you know, it just kind of went along, you know, I made
05:04a little bit of progress over the next five years or so.
05:08And now it's getting more or less done, but The Enchantress and The General are sort of two
05:13characters out of that.
05:14And they're, those are the two songs that they sing.
05:16So it came from sort of a midlife crisis and a desire to write a rock opera.
05:21I mean, it's pretty cool, honestly.
05:23That kind of leads me into something I saw, a review that you guys actually put on your
05:28own website.
05:28So I'm not making this up about how you guys are Metro Detroit's premiere dad rock
05:33experience.
05:34So, I mean, you're kind of giving, you're kind of giving that, giving me that answer in
05:39that, you know, the full midlife crisis thing, right?
05:43Well, we got to lean into it.
05:44I mean, people take one look at us and they're like, oh yeah, dad rock.
05:48I mean, you know, there's people in Metallica who are dads, so I'm just saying, you know,
05:54you need to be dad rock.
05:56It's not a lot of how you perceive it.
05:56They're San Francisco's premiere dad rock.
05:59This is very true.
06:01This is very true.
06:02You know, kind of speaking about kind of your guys' music, at least, like how it sounds.
06:06Because I know you kind of, like, you kind of have mixes of like some alternative, maybe
06:11some indie.
06:12I mean, at least, at least from the outside looking in.
06:14I guess I'm wondering guys, what kind of, what kind of inspires you maybe as a whole
06:18or you guys have a good mix?
06:20I mean, individually, what, what kind of inspiration or at least background you guys have musically
06:25that kind of flood, I don't know, like gets into your music a little bit.
06:28I think what kind of does it for us is that we all kind of have maybe kind of different
06:33backgrounds sort of coming into it.
06:36You know, a lot of our songs would start with like Ian coming in with a song that he had
06:40written that was almost kind of like Americana or folky.
06:44You know, it's all like acoustic type instruments and he's grabbing mandichellos and stuff and
06:48jamming on it.
06:49And then Jay and I would kind of decide we're going to punk rock that up a little bit and
06:53we double the tempo and just add a bunch of buzz.
06:56And then suddenly it's a whole different thing, but it, so you can kind of get all
06:59those different elements that end up, you know, mixing together.
07:03Oh, for sure.
07:04I mean, like just for instance, the beginning of the general, you kind of have a little bit
07:07of a, all I can describe as a very unique sound with how you start that off before they
07:11actually, you actually start with lyrics.
07:13I was just like, you know, that caught my eye like instant.
07:15I'm like, that's, that's an interesting sound right there.
07:17And so I kept listening.
07:18I was like, you know, huh, cool.
07:19Like, you know, I got to have that kind of hook or that, I don't know, shock factor these
07:22days maybe to get some fans.
07:23That's kind of what it seems like to me, at least.
07:27Yeah.
07:27I think that was the intro to that was Greg.
07:30You came up with that.
07:31The, the little intro right there.
07:33Well, two notes, you know, it'll really, you know, two notes I can handle.
07:38You get to three, it starts to get pretty complicated.
07:40I start losing my spot.
07:42For sure.
07:43For sure.
07:43I did want to ask you guys, what kind of, I know you guys talked about the whole cover
07:48thing with the, the donation to that, but what, you guys got any like upcoming shows or
07:53projects that you haven't made public yet that you can like, you know, hint at or talk
07:57about a little bit?
07:58We're hitting the studio again this Sunday.
08:02We're going in the Rust Belt there in Royal Oak.
08:07And we're going to record a couple more tracks.
08:08We're trying to put together a full LP.
08:12So we're kind of chipping away at that right now.
08:14Um, so that's what we got kind of on the immediate horizon, um, and then working on, on publicizing
08:19and trying to pack the magic bag in August.
08:22Awesome.
08:22Awesome.
08:23Yeah.
08:23Well, I mean, oh, you guys are still full-time lawyers, right?
08:27Oh yeah.
08:28Yeah.
08:28So, I mean, I, I understand why you guys are like, yeah, you know, we're playing at this,
08:31this studio, this stadium on Friday night.
08:33Like, yeah, I can get that a little bit, a little difficult.
08:36Um, you know, in fairness, if we got the offers to play the stadiums, we wouldn't be full-time
08:40lawyers.
08:40This is 100% true.
08:42It's an easy choice.
08:43Yeah.
08:44Um, I got to ask, so real quick, kind of going back a little bit, how, how did this
08:50group start?
08:51I know it's all lawyers, you know, looking for something to do, have common interests,
08:54but did you guys, you guys all work for the same law firm or something like that?
08:58And you're just like, Hey bud, you like rock?
08:59You like rock?
09:00Like what, what, how did that kind of thing start?
09:01Like imagine it'd be kind of comical.
09:03You know, we had, there used to be a fifth beetle here, uh, who, uh, who kind of was sort
09:09of the common connection.
09:10He was kind of, Hey, you want to jam?
09:11You want to get together?
09:12And we all kind of brought, you know, Tom's my brother.
09:15And so I knew the drummer.
09:16And so that's why they let me in.
09:18And, uh, you know, and, and Ian knew, knew Jay and we just kind of started jamming, just
09:23playing covers in a basement, never really even thinking we'd play, you know, for anybody
09:28else.
09:28Yeah.
09:29And then we started writing stuff and yeah, the rest is kind of history.
09:33Well, that's awesome.
09:34It's kind of like the, uh, that's a quote, a movie or show here, but it's like the office
09:38jam session and they're just, you know, jam in the warehouse and look at that.
09:41But now you guys actually turned into something.
09:42That's the difference.
09:43Very cool.
09:45Very cool.
09:46Um, I guess I also want to ask you guys like future, future, what kind of, what kind of
09:52like idea or not ideas, vision do you guys kind of have for this band?
09:55Like you guys look into, I know you guys are making, you know, more music, obviously working
09:58on some stuff, but do you have any plans to like, you know, try to, I guess, tell me,
10:04tell me what kind of plans you guys have for the band in the future?
10:05Well, I mean, I'd love to play a few, uh, a few of the local festivals around here would
10:09be, be pretty great.
10:11I'd love to travel to a couple of festivals last year.
10:14We actually were fortunate enough to play three different showcases during South by in
10:19Austin.
10:20And, um, it was, uh, one of the coolest and we had probably the lamest Airbnb of all the
10:26musicians there because we literally would put on suits during the day and do zoom hearings
10:32during the day.
10:34And then take off our suits, put on our sparkly jackets and go, uh, hit, uh, hit the main strip
10:43on, uh, um, down in Austin to, to play, to play rock and roll shows.
10:48But, um, yeah, I'd like to, to play out a little bit more.
10:52It's, it's awesome playing here to family, friends, and we do have a fan base here, uh, that,
11:00that does support us quite well, which is very nice.
11:02Um, it's something different when you're in a crowd and you look out there and you know,
11:07zero people and they're still vibing on what you're doing.
11:12A hundred percent.
11:12That's, that's, that's what, um, I'd like to do more of.
11:17Oh, for sure.
11:18You know, it's funny you mentioned why you guys are out there performing those shows doing
11:22zoom, like hearings and stuff like that.
11:24Um, I would imagine there's a part of you that you're like, you know, this guy's, this person's
11:30talking to me a certain way.
11:31I wish they knew I was a rock star secretly.
11:33Like, I want to just tell them right now.
11:34That's unprofessional.
11:35But she's like, if you only knew what I did after hours, you know, that kind of dude.
11:38She's like, I'm cooler than this.
11:39I swear, that kind of thing.
11:42That's what I, that's what I'd be thinking about the whole time.
11:45I tried at one time, but they were not impressed when I told them what kind of rock star I was.
11:52Oh, well, it can't all, it can't all be winners, whatever.
11:55There's a reason you're defending them or, or, you know, um, so I actually wanted to open
12:01up the floor.
12:02I want to know what you guys want to tell listeners or, I mean, literally anything.
12:05The floor is yours guys.
12:06I want to, I want to tell me about the 3148s and why more, more people should be listening
12:10to you guys.
12:13Well, uh, one of the things you, you have to, uh, you have to come see us live.
12:18Um, the energy that we have on stage is, uh, is something different.
12:25It's been equated.
12:27We, we've, we've played with a ton of really, really talented bands and we played with a
12:31lot of bands that are way more talented musically than us.
12:34But it's a common thread and it's something we've heard as, or as soon as just last Friday
12:41at the sanctuary, whereas you can't take your eyes off of us because we're kind of like
12:46a runaway train that you never will know when it's going to go off the edge.
12:50Like we're just, just hovering on the, at that edge of this could go completely wrong.
12:56And, but yeah, we always seem to, uh, narrowly keep it on track.
13:02Like that.
13:03You ever go to your kid's like holiday thing for school and like elementary school and
13:08there's always one kid that steals the show and it's not because he was talented or she
13:12was talented.
13:13It's just sheer exuberance and you just can't take your eyes.
13:16Showstopper.
13:17That's us.
13:18Exactly.
13:18Yeah.
13:19Showstopper.
13:19Perfectly.
13:21That's awesome.
13:22Yep.
13:22I think that sounds like that's perfect.
13:25And you can't deny, I mean, we, we, the nice thing is we actually really like each other.
13:30Um, and it's, uh, you, you could tell that we enjoy being on stage and interacting with
13:39each other on stage and, um, Greg and I have sort of developed a little shorthand where
13:46we'll get a song or two in and do kind of a heat check with each other to see if we're
13:51actually locked in or we're annoyed that the opener went too long or the, the, the, we
13:56can't hear ourselves in the monitors.
13:58And if one of us isn't locked in, we just start screaming in each other's faces.
14:04Whatever works.
14:05It, uh, it, it locks us in.
14:06It dials us back in.
14:08Ian's, Ian and Tom are consummate professionals.
14:10They don't need that sort of stuff, but.
14:16So, um, I guess the other thing I, the interesting thing for, uh, kind of touched briefly on our
14:23creative process, but, um, it's very cool how there is almost no ego in this band about
14:33how things that are going to go.
14:35Um, we all, we all contribute to our songs.
14:39Um, it's, uh, I mean, I've, I've brought riffs to the, uh, to the table that have turned
14:46into songs.
14:47Um, Tom has definitely shaped every one of our songs in one way or another.
14:52Just, uh, with the way he can, he can structure a beat and, uh, structure, um, the dynamics
14:58of a song.
15:00Um, Greg and Ian are completely different songwriters.
15:04And I think that that's a asset to us when we kind of have this two-headed monster that,
15:10um, you want to hear some, some, a really cool, you know, sentimental, like, uh, Americana
15:17grunge song.
15:18Well, we got, we got penniless.
15:20We got Saratoga.
15:21Uh, you want us to just melt your face off?
15:23Okay.
15:23We got cabin fever.
15:25We got guillotine.
15:26Um, aptly named.
15:28Yes.
15:31So, um, and I'm actually really excited about, uh, the new track that, uh, uh, Ian brought
15:38to the table that we're going to record it.
15:39Uh, just don't, which is probably the, the swankiest song we've ever, um, we've ever done.
15:47And it's just, uh, it just hits in a different way.
15:51That's all you're going to give me.
15:52That's all you're going to give me.
15:52It's the swankiest.
15:54The swankiest.
15:55Yeah.
15:55What do we mean by swankiest?
15:57Like, you know.
15:58Oh, yeah.
15:58Greg hits that wah in the intro and it's, uh, it just, it makes you move in and it has
16:03the, it has a chorus that honestly is so good.
16:07We do it an extra time just because.
16:10That's awesome.
16:11That's what makes the song fun.
16:12Then if you, if you guys do it one more time, just to make it for fun, for fun.
16:16Yeah.
16:16Yeah.
16:17And we just don't, there's not, in the songs I write, there's not a lot of autobiography.
16:21Like I'm, I'm not interesting enough to carry a whole song, but this one is definitely,
16:27uh, it's one of two that are definitely about my wife.
16:32Awesome.
16:34Yeah.
16:34What's the other one called Ian?
16:35Uh, my old lady don't tolerate.
16:38I can read between the lines there.
16:40Yeah.
16:42She's a, she's a good kind of pain in the butt, you know?
16:44Oh, yeah.
16:45Close.
16:45Yeah.
16:45I wouldn't know what to do without her.
16:48A hundred percent.
16:50I got things to say, but I know my wife watches these, so.
16:54Yeah.
16:54No.
16:55Amen.
16:56Brother.
16:57All right.
16:57So perfect.
16:58You know, guys, it was nice talking to you.
17:00I want all the listeners out there to know that you got, they can catch the 3148s at Lawlapalooza
17:06August, August 1st at the Magic Bag in Ferndale.
17:11All the, all the proceeds go into a good cause.
17:13So, you know, you definitely want to get down there and check them out.
17:16And, you know, of course, I'll be spinning your tracks in the meantime as well.
17:20Uh, on Sunday nights, uh, Motor City Rips show starts at nine o'clock.
17:24Thanks guys for talking.
17:25It was really cool.
17:26Thanks for having us.
17:27Thanks for spinning us.
17:29We love it.
17:29Of course.
17:30Yeah.
17:30Yep.
17:31Yeah.
17:31And, of course, yeah.
17:32And, yeah.
17:32Yeah.
17:32Yeah.
17:33Yeah.
17:33Yeah.