Under the Influence with DJJonniBravo

S2-E8 - Tom Stephens | Singer & Saxophonist In the Band Stiff Iguana

• DJJonniBravo/Tom Stephens • Season 2 • Episode 8

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Go Under the Musical Influence of Tom Stephens answering 9 Questions about his Musical Self.
 
Tom Started In The Band, Has Been in Several Bands in Jacksonville, Florida by Learning to Play the Saxophone to Singing in these Bands: Flying South, Earth's End, and Judge Rock. Working on Getting a New Band Soon, Stiff Iguana! Tom's Music is Heavily into Rock, with Blues Influence and is Gonna have Other Stuff in the Side Pocket, Just in Case!.

Its Easier for me to Sing!
I Attempt to Play the Saxophone & I Sing!

We Were Supposed to Have Band Practice but we Rode Motorcycles?

I Don't Wanna Come Home & See a Stiff Iguana!

Bon Scott Stephens (Son) was Born on September 7th, Same Day as the Real Bon Scott from ACDC!
Bon, After Bon Jovi?

It's the Stupid Songs Your Mom Teaches You!

That Was a Cool Song to a Little Kid!

Yodeling Cowboy Guy?

Dad You Didn't Like 'Em when I Listened to 'Em! 
You Were Always Turn that Down!

2 or 3ft Stack of 45s.

The 45 Tube was Our iPod back Then!

Whenever we Would Park in the Car we'd Put in Boston!

It was on 8 Track & We Didn't Have to Do Anything with It!

Disco It Out?

It Wasn't as Bad as When KISS Did Dynasty?

My Brother Thinks The Banana Splits Count as a Concert!

It's Not a Concert Cause It Was All on Tape!

I Can Hear that on the Record, So Entertain Me!

That was the Next Thing I was Gonna Say, Blow Something Up!

Ted Nugent's a Geek?

At 5yrs Old He Wanted to See KISS!

They Were Both on 8 Track, so Now Everyone Knows I'm Ancient!

Sometime it Would Click Over in the Middle of Your Favorite Song!

I Had a Craig Power Play in My 1st Car!

Pop in the Head Cleaner?

Joe Perry was Gone?

Doing Music in School Helped Me in Other Classes!

I Love Watching People While We Are Playing Music!

My Dream Job in High School: I wanted to be a Disc Jockey!

When I Win the Lotto, I'll Just Buy a Radio Station!


Music Discussed from Stevie Ray Vaughan, Gov't Mule, Joe Bonamassa, Buddy Guy, The Doors, Ted Nugent, Led Zeppelin, ACDC, Ohio Express, Roger Miller, Herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass, The Four Freshman, Eddie Arnold, CCR, Alan Parsons, Pink Floyd, Boston, The Rockets, P Funk, The Banana Splits, Anton Fig, Paul Schafer and the World's Most Dangerous Band (The David Letterman Band), Aerosmith, Sammy Hagar, The Circle and More!

Find Out More About Tom Stephen’s Music!


Find Out More About the Band that Intro's & Outro's the Show! https://www.instagram.com/yearofoctober/
 
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S2-E9 - Angela Fontaine

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Year of October:

You are now under the. With DJ DJJonniBravo.

DJJonniBravo:

Hello, I'm Jonni Bravo. Today you're going under the musical influence of today's guest, Tom Stevens on Under the Influence with DJJonniBravo. So Tom welcome to season two in the band I had your son on. I interviewed him season one, episode eight. His name's Bon Scott Stevens, and you are his father. We'll jump right into season two in the band. Tell me a little bit about your musical self.

Tom Stephens:

I'm heavily into the rock, blues influence, I guess you would say. I've been in several bands here in the Jacksonville area, flying South, Earth End, Judge Rock, just to name a few. I'm currently working. I'm trying to get a band together. We're gonna call it Stiff Iguana and trying to keep it more of the rock blues type thing. I've got guys out now who are going around seeing what other bands are playing to make sure that we don't play the same songs. They are maybe the same bands, not the same songs. I think everybody. And this town basically plays the same stuff no matter what band it is. So we thought we'd try something different.

DJJonniBravo:

That sounds cool. And I like the name Stiff Iguana that's really cool.

Tom Stephens:

We got that a few years ago. we didn't have a name for a band We were supposed to practice, but we decided to go out and ride motorcycles first and the temperature dropped and we got back to practice and one of the guitar players said, I can't stay. I gotta go home. Cause I left my iguana outside and I don't wanna come home and see a stiff iguana. And every one of us turned each other and went, that's the name of the band. But now we're finally using it, 15 years later,

DJJonniBravo:

Nothing wrong with that. that's a cool story too. And so you're doing like more of the rock blues. What kind of artists are you thinking about covering And are you guys gonna do your own songs as well? I'm sure.

Tom Stephens:

Yeah, we've got several songs lined up to do. We're gonna try to do covers like, of course Stevie Rayon. Government Mule, Joe Bonamassa, buddy guy. and then, we're gonna play the rock stuff too. The doors, the Led Zeppelin, Ted Nugent, acdc, we're gonna try to, Shift things more into the blues rock vein, we're gonna have other stuff in the side pocket, just in case.

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah. It sounds like you've been hanging out England with those bands from the sixties, like the Stones and the Beatles, when they came over, they wanted to emulate a lot of our otters, and a lot of'em blues, not really, little bit of rock and roll. We had some rock and roll in there. Yeah, it's easier for me to sing, let's put it that way, Gotcha, gotcha. And you were in some bands, you and your son were in some bands together. Is that correct? He plays drums. And what instruments do you play?

Tom Stephens:

I play the saxophone and I sing I attempt to play the saxophone and I sing. How's that?

DJJonniBravo:

There you go. So what bands were you guys in together?

Tom Stephens:

Before we called it Flying South, he came over and he, I guess he wasn't really actually in the band cause Imwe only did one gig with him. But our drummer had quit and I asked him to, I gave him two full CDs of the songs we were doing, and I go to pick him up the day of practice and we go over and I said, Did you listen to those CDs? He goes, yeah, I listened to the first three songs on the first CD and figured if that's all it's I can do it. And I was like, oh my God, this is gonna be so embarrassing, And he got over there and they would say, we're gonna play this song. And he'd go, I don't know what that is. Just start playing it. And he would join in and he nailed every one of them. Oh, I couldn't believe.

DJJonniBravo:

That sounds cool. where did you get the name Bon Scott from?

Tom Stephens:

The first lead singer for ac dc was named Bon Scott. And really me and my wife couldn't in name, agree on it, name for a boy. We had a girl's name, and I kept throwing stupid names at her. That I knew she was gonna say no to I, said, Theodore Jean after Ted Nugent and Jean Simmons, and she shot that down. And one night I said, Bon Scott. And she says, okay. And I was like, I was only kidding. But that's the name we went with. And then he was born and we found out they were born the same day, September 7th.

DJJonniBravo:

Oh well, that's cool. Yeah I was thinking that it was after AC DC's lead singer, but I didn't wanna speculate. I figured I'd ask the source himself and what he would say. So that's

Tom Stephens:

a yes. That's a. It was funny when he was little. Cause people go, what's his name? We'd say, Bon. And they'd go, oh, after Bonjovi,

DJJonniBravo:

after Bonjovi. And you're like, no, it's Bon Scott. Even harder than that. AC dc man. Come on now. All right. Let's talk about your discoveries and when did you first discover music? Like how old were you?

Tom Stephens:

I, discovering music is probably like anyone else. It's the stupid little songs your mom teaches you when you're little, twinkle little star or whatever. But if you want to go, like on the radio or whatever the very first song I can remember even wanting, to listen to on the radio And this is funny, but it was called Yummy, yummy, yummy by the Ohio Express.

DJJonniBravo:

I remember that song,

Tom Stephens:

Now granted, I was six years old, so you know, or somewhere in there. But you know that was a cool song to a little kid. You're like, that's all right. Had no idea what they were talking about. But

DJJonniBravo:

so what were they talking about in the song, do you know?

Tom Stephens:

he was talking about his girlfriend,

DJJonniBravo:

Which most songs are about, love and Right. That kind of thing. But yeah, for a kid, some of those songs, spark Memories and Stand Out because if you listen to it, it sounds like a, kid song. It sounds like a friendly kid song. Yeah.

Tom Stephens:

Before that, what my parents listened to, they listened to, Roger Miller herb Albert and the Tijuana Brass the four freshmen. And I've even got some of those CDs today, cause I'm. Try to think of a song from back then, it'll come into my mind and I'm like lemme put the CD in.

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah. Her Balt, he got really big not only because he was good, but he would throw, a sexy lady on the cover, like the whipped creams and other delights, and people would just tie his records up.

Tom Stephens:

I think that's the only album I have of his

DJJonniBravo:

I think I have another album of his too. I think I have one that's got some Mexicana songs in it. You know that he did some, yeah. Yeah. So was your parents, were they both into the same music or was your dad into different music than your mom, or they just listened to the same things?

Year of October:

My

Tom Stephens:

mom, she like what was it, Eddie Arnold? The Yo Yodeling cowboy guy. Oh, yeah. but yeah, I think most of it though they both equally liked. I didn't find it out till years later. My dad liked C Credence and they didn't have one credence album in the house. Oh, wow. But I got in the car with him one day. He had a cassette tape in playing credence and I thought it was on the radio at first, and then I'm like, that's the third credence song. Are you listening on tape? Yeah. And I'm like, you like credence? And he goes, oh, I've always liked them. I'm like, you didn't like them when I listened to him. it was always one them turn that down.

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah. Credence has some really good tunes, some catchy tunes too that, just. And sing along in the car with, yeah. Been on plenty of movies with their songs as well. so your dad had a credence tape, but when you were growing up, he told you to turn that down? He didn't, he was playing

Tom Stephens:

no doubt,

DJJonniBravo:

and it wasn't a lot of rock and roll, music. It was mainly like a lot of easy listening. A lot of people had herb Bal or Frank Sinatra singing cowboys and different things like that. It wasn't until, Elvis. With the pelvis and all those guys. And then, Jerry Lee Lewis, who we just recently lost, and those guys coming out playing the rock and roll that you had this other genre and then the Beatles took it to a, then Stones took it to another level.

Tom Stephens:

Yeah, most definitely.

DJJonniBravo:

And then you had all that Prague rock too that, took it to some psychedelic places. You didn't even think music could go to, and if they had the equipment that we have now to do the music that they wanted to do, I'm sure it would be even more trippier. It

Tom Stephens:

probably would, even though all of them claimed that they would

DJJonniBravo:

never use it. Yeah, they were probably just saying that because they didn't want to get put on some list or, not have the kids stop buying the records. You know what I.

Tom Stephens:

Yeah, I think I was listening to Joe Bono's podcast and he was asking somebody about that, and they're like, oh no, we do it the same way we did it. I'm like, oh, bull crap. If there was an easier way to do it, you would've done

DJJonniBravo:

it. Yeah, because they were like splicing tape and putting tape backwards and all kinds of different things to try to get unique sounds. For the album. and then you know, it got better because the equipment got better. So I'm sure it would be just light years beyond where it was. Oh yeah.

Tom Stephens:

Cause I was listening to Alan Parsons was talking about he produced and worked on Pink Floyd's, dark side of the moon and the beginning of money. When you hear that cash. He said they just recorded the cash register and then copied and spliced the tape over and over again for the whole first part of

DJJonniBravo:

that song. Yeah, and supposedly on that record too, Paul McCartney is one of the guys talking, when they have a lot of guys talking. Supposedly he's on there somewhere. From what I've heard, I don't know if that's a urban legend or if that's actual true or not. Yeah, I never heard that before. Yeah, I heard it a couple times, but yeah, Alan Parsons, imagine some of his music. Goodness gracious. That would just be, I'm telling you, I think it would be off the wall with all the technology they have nowadays. tell me this, what is the first song that you remember from back in the day that maybe that you played?

Tom Stephens:

like I said it has to be yummy, yummy was the first song that I can, remember I actually bought the 45, or my parents bought it,

DJJonniBravo:

did you have a big stack of 40 fives that you'd

Tom Stephens:

put it player? Yeah, I had a. I don't know, probably about two or three foot stack of them. but that was the very first 45

DJJonniBravo:

ever, bud. Did you have one of those big long tubes that you would put on the record player so you could play'em back to back? Yeah,

Tom Stephens:

that was our. iPod back then.

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah, that's true. A lot of people probably don't even know what that thing would, be. It's like a little tower thing you'd put on top and I think sometimes it would clamp down on some record players and then you'd put your 40 fives on there and they would play one right after the other. So it was like our, yeah. iPod our jukebox kind of thing. Let's take a quick break and we'll be right back. Hang.

Year of October:

You are still under the influence with PJ DJJonniBravo.

DJJonniBravo:

We are back. I'm DJJonniBravo You're going under the musical influence of today's guest, Tom Stevens on Under the Influence with DJ DJJonniBravo. All right. Let's talk about girlfriends partners. What's your first song for that long distance dedication, or what was your first couple song?

Tom Stephens:

I'd have to say. In the junior High Years it was the song Feelings, and I cannot remember for the life. I, can't remember the name of the guy's that even did it, but it was, one of the top hits back in the seventies, and that was the one you always wanted to dance with your girl.

DJJonniBravo:

Now, was this at some kind of dance at the school or was this just

Tom Stephens:

like dances at the school. Like I said, this was junior high after I met my wife in high school and I don't know if it was our go-to thing or the only thing that was close enough to soft music I had, but when, whenever we would park in the car, we would put in. Boston, the first album and just let it play over and over again cause it was on eight track and we didn't have to do anything with it.

DJJonniBravo:

That's cool. Yeah. Boston, that's another band that goodness with technology cuz he went to m i t and he built the contraption to do his music. So you could just imagine with the technology that they have nowadays, what kind of album. he could have produced. And that was a great album anyway, but they have the first three were pretty banging. And I don't

Tom Stephens:

know if it's true or not, but I had read somewhere that somebody in the band worked for Scott's Tape and back then they made, the Real to Real Tapes and the eight track and everything. And they had come up with some new kind of, and that was one of the reasons the band Boston even started is cause he wanted to record a band on this tape to see how it sounded.

DJJonniBravo:

I also know that, he got into a lot of entanglements with the record company cuz He wanted to produce his own stuff and I think he did it in like his apartment or something too. He didn't want to do it like in a regular studio. He's the one making the equipment, and they wouldn't let him. And I think that's why it took third stage so long to come out cuz they had put those other two, not really back to back, most albums of back to back, and third stage took a little while longer cuz I think they were in litigation or something where they wanted him to do something. He wanted to do something else.

Tom Stephens:

But once they probably wanted probably let's see, when did third stage come?

DJJonniBravo:

Was it eighties? Was it 86? Something like that? I don't know. It was late in the rest. They were, they

Tom Stephens:

were probably wanting to pop it up or disco it out or something stupid, yeah, I know Ted Nugent had an album. Little Dangerous and he only did it. Cause that's what the record company wanted

DJJonniBravo:

that's what the record, they wanted him to.

Tom Stephens:

Yeah, it was like really poppy. It wasn't Ted Nugent at all. it was like, what the heck are you

DJJonniBravo:

doing? Changing it up. Yeah. When you have a following like that you don't really wanna mess with it. Sometimes a record company makes turn left when you want to go straight at or go, right?

Tom Stephens:

Of course. I guess it wasn't as bad as when Kiss did Dynasty. Yeah.

DJJonniBravo:

And they had a pretty good relationship with their record company. Cuz Kiss was the only thing on their record companies labeled it wasn't the only thing, but it was the only thing making money.

Tom Stephens:

Yeah, they didn't actually make money till After Alive came out,

DJJonniBravo:

That's true. But that one like, caused their record company to make a ton of money. But yeah, you're right. Yeah. The I think the first couple records, they didn't do anything until alive. let's talk about your first concert or that first concert that you.

Tom Stephens:

The very first concert, although my brother will debate me on this, cause he thinks the banana splits count as a concert. Oh man. you're probably too young to even remember the banana splits, but,

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah. I don't know if I know that group or not.

Tom Stephens:

They were, I don't know what you call'em. People dressed up in animal costumes on a cartoon show. Oh, okay. And they would do a little skit and then the next cartoon would come on. and they had little songs they would sing and I guess they were at the mall or something and my parents took us, he claims that's the first concert. I'm like, it's not a concert. Cause. It was all on tape, But the very first concert I went to was Kiss. All right? And probably 75, I was still in junior high for the rock and roll over tour, and me and two of my buddies went and my mom and one of the other guys', mom drove us. And I guess they went to a waffle house or something and waited till the concert was over cause they didn't go to the concert with us. It's probably a good thing. And I think a band named the Rockets open for'em and no one cared.

DJJonniBravo:

they're wave or kiss. Oh yeah. and how was the show? How was the theatrics and all that? I'm sure it was,

Tom Stephens:

oh, it was awesome, man. It wrote me for concerts for a long time. Cause I would go to other concerts and go, that's great, but I can hear that on the record, so entertain me,

DJJonniBravo:

make something blow up

Tom Stephens:

That's what I, that was the next thing I was gonna say. Blow something

DJJonniBravo:

up. Blow something up. Let's do some rock and roll man. What's your guitar on fire or something? Yeah I think I told your son this, or I know I've told it on the podcast before, but I went to a KISS show with my buddy when I DJ'ed when we were in high school and this is when the Hot and the Shade tour when they'd stopped doing the makeup and they had three openers. I think they had danger, slaughter, and one other band. And then they came. and I'm working like three jobs and I had gotten, free tickets to this show and I know he was a KISS fan, so I figured I'd take him, and I'm a KISS fan, but I'm not a huge KISS fan like he was. and I fell asleep in the show, and he has never forgiven me But it was like, it was no theatrics. It was just no makeup, they had a few Thea but he's gotta be out there with the high heels on and, sticking out his tongue and blowing stuff up. it was just like any other rock show, and I

Tom Stephens:

only saw them one time without makeup, and that was Bon Scott's first concert. Okay. I took him, he was probably about five, I guess I took him to here in Jacksonville, and it was when they didn't have the makeup. Ted Nugent opened for him. We walk into Coliseum seats, I don't know, 12,000 people. I don't think there was 2000 people in. And I'm with a little kid, so I just sit down with him. We're watching Ted Nugent, and I'm like you wanna go down closer? And he goes, no, Ted Nugent's a geek. I see kiss, so KISS comes out, then he wants to go down, so I have to carry him. So you can see over people and there was a guy there and he goes, Hey, a little dude, is this his first concert? And I'm like, yeah. And he goes, everybody get out the way. This is the little dude's first concert. And it was like, Moses parted red, Z people just got out of our way. We walked all way to the stage.

DJJonniBravo:

That is so cool. Yeah, it just wasn't the same, without all the theatrics and stuff. I didn't get a chance to see him on this last tour. Sometimes I miss shows and I think about'em later and I'm like, I should have gone to that show, but ticket prices are just out of this world nowadays, to go, yeah, try to go see something. But wanted to, rectify myself for my friend, my DJ partner when I went to this show with him and take some pictures of me jamming out with kiss. But I didn't get a chance to do it, He didn't like Nugent. Huh. But you were a Nugent fan. You talked about Nugent earlier,

Tom Stephens:

likes'em now, but at five years old, he wanted to see kiss,

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah. He wanted to makeup. I think that's what drove a lot of kids to kiss was the makeup, because it was such a cool thing. I remember I think I've told this story before too, of being in church, and we were doing clown makeup and one of the guys did Peter Chris's makeup, on his face. And he didn't get in trouble for it. I was surprised I was waiting for them to drop the hammer on him or something, but he didn't get in trouble. and then we did some kind of show, I don't know if it was a magic show or what, whatever we did. And he's up there with Peter, Chris makeup on, and we were all looking like clowns or whatever, but I think that's what drew a lot of the kids to kiss plus the music was good and the theatrics too. And our parents hated him. Yeah. That's the other thing. Your parents really hated him and didn't want you to go see'em and probably thought they were of the devil. That's what rock and roll gets a lot of is that's the devil music. And it's not always that, it's sometimes it is, but when you see the demonn up there, with this tongue stick out, maybe it is. I don't know. But it's fun when you're watching it.

Tom Stephens:

me and Bon even took my grandson to go see him when they were doing their supposed, this is the end of the road tour or

DJJonniBravo:

whatever it was. Yeah. Now, was he a fan or is he a fan?

Tom Stephens:

Oh yeah. He would put on like the kiss meets the Phantom movie, and then I gave him a couple. DVDs of them in concert, he'd put them on and sing with'em all the time. And we take him to this concert. My wife bought the tickets. they were the very last row. So he's who got these

DJJonniBravo:

tickets? Oh man.

Tom Stephens:

But he song, every song they did, he would sing. And Paul's older now, so he doesn't hit some of them. And every time he didn't hit a high note, my grandson would turn around and look at me like, what the hell was that?

DJJonniBravo:

He's not singing it right. Oh,

Tom Stephens:

man. But he did he sung like every word to every song they played. I was like,

DJJonniBravo:

holy cow. So you guys were way up in the rafters, huh? Oh. I always say, Hey, if you're in the building, sometimes if you're in the parking lot, you can still have a good show, even though you wanna

Tom Stephens:

see'em. Now them big shows, it really, it doesn't matter anymore. Cause they got the big screens up, you

DJJonniBravo:

know? Yeah. you can basically see'em more than what you could back in the day. You had to, squint. so I don't know if you know the story or not. When kiss, put out their first comic book, they mixed their blood in with the ink. Yeah. And that was supposed to be a big thing back in the day. People were picking it up cuz it was like comic book had their blood,

Tom Stephens:

that's probably worth a good bit of money now if you still have one of those. Yeah,

DJJonniBravo:

probably one of the original ones. I'm sure not one of the reprints or whatever, but, and I used to love watching Gene Simmons show, with him and his daughter and son and his wife on tv and they'd go and visit his mom's house and his mom's this little older Jewish lady. And he's got the full makeup on and she's, loving on him or whatever, he'll go over there, just dressed up regular too. But he had this room with I think he had one of everything that they ever put out. So whatever they put out, t-shirt or a brochure or comic book or whatever, or figure he had one of each one. So you would always see him and I think that was his office or whatever, and he'd be in that. With all the KISS memorabilia. KISS had a lot of memorabilia. So if you didn't like'em you probably had someone to memorabilia if you weren't part of the KISS army, at least anyway.

Tom Stephens:

I really didn't get anything. I think the only thing until after I got married, I had a kiss, was a program I bought when they did the dynasty. Gotcha. But besides the albums and stuff,

DJJonniBravo:

now, so you never joined up with the KISS Army then?

Tom Stephens:

Now I got all kinds of KISS stuff. I got full size heads, the mount on the wall and buss, and we went on a kiss cruise

DJJonniBravo:

Oh. And I don't know if you probably know the band skid Row, Sebastian Bach. He's a big KISS fan and he's always collecting, I follow him on Instagram and even just like within the last three or four months, he's picking up KISS records and other kiss things, and he always gets excited, like a little kid opening. Up his latest KISS merchandise, or whatever it is, So it brings out the kit and all of us, the Kiss Army. Alright, let's talk about your first music purchase. Where was that? Was it vinyl tape, cd, or streaming? Where did you purchase or what kind of record store did you go to now?

Tom Stephens:

The the High Express Yo Yomi. I bought it on like I said, my parents bought it. I didn't buy it. I was six, but was some record store there in town. I don't know what it was or. It probably doesn't even exist. I know it doesn't exist anymore, but as far as like an album the first two, I got'em both the same day, the first two actual albums I got, and they were both on eight track. So now everybody knows I'm ancient. But it was Boston's first album and kiss, rock

DJJonniBravo:

and roll. Now tell the young kids out there, listen, what A eight track is? An eight

Tom Stephens:

track? It's a, what is it? Six inches long and four inches wide maybe? Sounds about right. It's kind like a cassette tape, but it's all enclosed. And you put it in the player and it takes part of the tape out to wrap around the heads and stuff. But it's called an eight track cause there's four different tracks on it and each of'em take up, each side, your left and right stereo. But it would play through. Let's say three songs, and then it would click over to the next track and there'd be three more songs, and then it would click over and there'd be three more. Unfortunately, nobody ever timed this stuff out, so sometimes it would click over in the middle of a song, and it was usually in the middle of your favorite song.

DJJonniBravo:

of course. There was a guy that was recently teaching us a class at work, on teamwork and all this kind of stuff. And he teaches kids a lot. And so he brings up he has a couple of different things and he brings up an eight track case and tries to ask the kids what's in there or what that is. And they have absolutely no clue. And that case was all of his a track. He had a like par parliament, fuck Funk Del, I can't even talk. In there. And he had a bunch of good stuff in there. So then he, oh yeah. Parliament

Tom Stephens:

P Funk. That's Yeah. I think I actually had the live

DJJonniBravo:

eight track. So he had, a bunch of eight tracks in there. But also what he does in one of his trainings is he brings out an iPod, and he'll hold the iPod up and they'll, he'll ask how many songs are on this iPod? And he gets the kids to guess how many songs are on it. Then he holds up an album and he, tells him this thing is two sides. So how many songs you think are on this and they guess all kinds of stuff. And it's only probably 10 or 12 or 15 songs unless it's a double album, and they're guessing probably 50 songs, And then he pulls up an a track tape outta the case that he was showing him. And he holds that up and he says, how many songs you think is on this? A track and they look at the iPod and they look at the record and they're thinking there's all kinds of songs on that. A track. Yep. I had three A tracks back in the day myself. I used to love sitting there popping one in and listening to the hvac. I don't think we had one in the car as far as I can remember.

Tom Stephens:

Yeah, I had. What was it called? A Craig Power Play In my first car that was under the dash, you had to add it in and it did not have a radio in it, and you had to buy a thing that looked like an eight track, but it was actually a radio receiver that you plugged in. To the eight track player so you could listen to the radio.

DJJonniBravo:

Oh man. That sounds like, when we had the cassette to put in our cassette player to attach to our CD player so we could play CDs. It sounds similar. I remember that too. Yeah. Sounds similar to that too. Kids today don't know the struggle, they just get in the car and the phone syncs up with the car and then you're playing your tunes right from your phone. It was a struggle to even play some music back in the day. And then if you had a tape player, sometimes your tape would get stuck and trying to get your tape out of the tape player that was stuck was

Tom Stephens:

just, it'd be all wound up around everything.

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah. And it would you would worry about the next tape you put in there, and sometimes it was just because it was a cheap tape, and other times it was because you had a cheap stereo. And hopefully it was, the first one where you, it was just a cheap tape cuz you was always trying to pull it out and

Tom Stephens:

you'd get up or you needed to pop in the head

DJJonniBravo:

cleaner. Exactly. You needed to pop in the head cleaner. Yeah, exactly. So the tape could sound better, and play better, Kids today don't know their struggle. Guess so They just get in the car and their phone's hooked up and they're, my kids play dj, so it's real easy for them to do that with their phones. we'd have to pop in an A track pop out an a track. It wasn't an easy task, it wasn't an easy task at all. All right let's let's take another break and we'll be right back. So stay there.

Year of October:

You are still under the influence with PJ DJJonniBravo.

DJJonniBravo:

We are back. I'm DJJonniBravo. You're going under the musical influence of. Guess Tom Stevens on Under The Influence with DJ DJJonniBravo. All right, Tom, so now we get into the hard questions that everybody loves to hate. These next few, what is your favorite song? So give us the artist band or group and the song title.

Tom Stephens:

That is the hardest question of all time, but I would say as of right now, my favorite song is probably. This train by Joe Bonamassa.

DJJonniBravo:

What makes you like that song?

Tom Stephens:

it'ss, but it, it's got the element of rock to it and it's got a little bit element of to it, I think. You know how? Cause it has so many different changes

DJJonniBravo:

in it. Yeah. Now, have you ever got a chance to go see him at a show? Oh yeah.

Tom Stephens:

I went to see him in St. Augustine Amphitheater a few years ago. Anton Fig from the David Letterman Band was his drummer. Okay. And I actually got his autograph on a drum head. but I wasn't able to get close to Joe. Cause he's famous and stuff,

Year of October:

oh, that's very cool.

DJJonniBravo:

I was at a Bengals show back in the day and I got three out of the four Bengals signatures on a drumhead, which I thought was really cool. It's a cool memorabilia to have. It's from a show is a drum hit with a signature on it.

Tom Stephens:

that's funny. You said you missed a signature. I don't know how my wife did it, but somehow she got like a meet and greet to Aerosmith and we originally, we were supposed to see him in Virginia Beach, but a hurricane was coming, so it got canceled. they rescheduled us for Las Vegas, which was fine with me. but I had a drum head cause we got a meet and greet and we went up and got our picture taken and they all stood around and talked and I was going around getting autographs and I turned around and Joe Perry is gone. Wow. And I'm like, what the hell? Oh, we're so sorry. He thought we were done, but the lady that was in charge of it comes over and she said, you guys live in Jacksonville, Florida, right? And I said, yeah. She says, are you coming to the show? And my wife's of course we are. I've already got the tickets. She says me to see seat numbers you're in and I'll come out, bring the drumhead, I'll come out and we'll get Joe to sign it. They did. And I was like I can't even believe they went through all that, But I'm like, this drum head's useless to me if I don't have everybody on it.

DJJonniBravo:

that's exactly, it's like getting all the figures, that you want, like getting the whole KISS squad, but you're missing Jean Simmons or something, wait a. that's really a good thing that you were able to get, his signature because once you have that, it's man, I don't even want this thing now. It's not even worth having.

Tom Stephens:

It's funny cause I've got more pictures with people and autographs from different people in the last 10 years that I've gotten my entire life. and I just happened to run into'em. You It's not like I'm letting people stand outside the backstage door.

DJJonniBravo:

And I think they're a little bit more open to it than they were, back in the day it seems like everybody would get in the bus and take off. And I know that there was always people that would. Find out where the bus was or whatever, and stalk'em a little bit, to try to at least say hi or touch'em or whatever.

Tom Stephens:

I think a lot of the signing now is, cause they, it's, it'll be on eBay tomorrow. Exactly. So they see that. I told my wife, I said, we're gonna have to start carrying pictures. Our wall of fame up here, so they know that's not what's happening.

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah. It's that you actually wanna get a piece and keep it, and have it for your own collection. When I saw Aerosmith back in the day on the pump tour in 1990. Skid Row opened up, it was at the Richmond Coliseum, and that was the tour where they were on a hotel roof or it looked like a bunch of rooftops. I guess that was like their stage that they had and they put on a good show. I wanted to see'em a few years ago up at the MGM Grand they have one outside of Washington. And I was thinking about going to see'em, but the tickets were just so pricey,

Tom Stephens:

yeah. Everybody's doing that with tickets now. I don't know what the deal is. I'm like, come on. I guess people can't afford it or they wouldn't be able to charge it but I'm like, at least have some$20 tickets clear in the back or something.

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah. There's gotta be a way you could do cheap tickets to a show. And I also recently heard that the president is Like on it to try to get them to, investigate or whatever, all the fees and everything, because you get in there and the ticket's$75 and you go to check out it's 150. Yeah.

Tom Stephens:

That's a Ticketmaster

DJJonniBravo:

for you. and I remember I went to U2 show and I'd gotten a ticket, off of the one of those sites, finding, trying to find a ticket last. And they said I had to have a printout. I couldn't use my phone, and then they were gonna put me somewhere else and I was by the, I was all jammed up, by the time I actually got a chance to see the show I was like, just couldn't even enjoy it.

Tom Stephens:

Yeah, they're getting outta hand. There's no doubt about it. there are bands that they're able to tell the promoter, I don't want any ticket to be more than whatever. I think Joe Barnas, the way he does it, he doesn't care how big the venue is. The first third of. Seats are this price. The next third is this price, and the last third is this price. And it doesn't matter if it holds 500 people or 25,000 people. He doesn't care. It's this price, and this price.

DJJonniBravo:

The other thing I read too was, The reason why the tickets are so expensive is because they're not making as much money like they would when they actually sold a record or an A track or a tape or cd.

Tom Stephens:

Oh yeah. Cause like back in my day, the bands, they didn't really give a crap if they made money on the concert. They were doing the concert to get you to buy the.

DJJonniBravo:

when we went and saw Billy Joel, he even explained that, he said, this is the first time that I can think of that I haven't had an album I'm promoting, and something that I have to, be out there promoting the album and do the concert. So you guys will go by the albums. He said, you guys are already buying the albums. I'm doing the shows now because you guys have bought the albums. I'm not promoting an album. So it was not. What it was back in the day. And so I think that's why they're trying to recoup some of the money and that's why they're charging more for the concert. Plus, it's a big production to put all those people to work and, those, the headliners paying the opener and everything. So if they have two or three openers, they're paying all those people

Tom Stephens:

I've seen some of the bands now the openers are paying to.

DJJonniBravo:

That's probably a good way to save a little bit of money too and to get them exposure. But, the record company's really paying for it. But the, the artist has to pay the record company back. it's just a, evil system, that they gotta contend with. And people aren't making the type of money like Prince and Madonna and Michael Jackson and all those stars you. We're making, especially if you're in a band you're making a fourth of that or a fifth of that, depending on how many band members you have. Yeah. Well, Let's talk about your favorite band. What's your favorite band artist group that's out there?

Tom Stephens:

If you asked me back when I was younger, it would've been KISS acdc. Nowadays I would have to go with Sammy Hagar's, the Circle, Bonna Masa and Government Mule.

DJJonniBravo:

Now, have you ever bought any of Sammy Hagar's tequila?

Tom Stephens:

I have probably four bottles of it in my cabinet right now.

DJJonniBravo:

That's some nice tequila. You don't realize when you're younger and you're drinking the cheap stuff, that there's actually good tequila out there. I think he makes a pretty good tequila. I'd like that. Oh, you're

Tom Stephens:

talk, you're talking alright. Yeah, Cabos great. The first time we got it, I took it over to Buddy Mine's house and I'm like, all right, let's make some margaritas. And he goes this is supposed to be really good tequila. Let's do a shot of it before we make tequila to see what it tastes like. That is the first time I've ever done a shot at tequila and not did the tequila

DJJonniBravo:

shiver afterward. Yeah, it's really nice. It's

Tom Stephens:

now he doesn't own that anymore.

DJJonniBravo:

Oh, he does. He sold that. Yeah,

Tom Stephens:

he sold that and now he's got a company, what is it, Santos? And they make Maquila. Okay. Which is a blend of mosque and

DJJonniBravo:

tequila. I still like Tolokan, Wabo. I have a bottle of it in my house. Yeah. It's good. And I heard other stars I think Metallica's got some whiskey or something that they're. Yeah. So I think some people are getting into that game, which is, and KISS is doing cold gin. Yeah, cold gin. I saw that as well. I did see that. Of course you know they're gonna have it. They got everything out there with KISS on it. Are you ready for the big finale?

Tom Stephens:

Of course I am. John. Bring it on.

DJJonniBravo:

All right, let's do

Year of October:

it. How

DJJonniBravo:

has music impacted your life?

Tom Stephens:

In probably more ways that I can think of. I'm convinced that doing music in school helped me. In other classes I had, I've made so many great friends and people that I consider family now because of music. I think it helped connect me with both my kids. Like I said, bond went to different concerts with me. He's played in bands with me when my daughter was in her new kids on the block phase. Just as I was getting ready to do something I swore I would never do and yell, turn it down, Leonard Skynyrd would come on or the doors and I'm like, okay, I did something right, but. I love playing music, I love watching people when we're playing music. It's just been a pretty good time, man.

DJJonniBravo:

That's good. Yeah. When you can pass that legacy on to your kids. And new kids on the block are screaming, which, talking about the banana, what'd you call'em? The banana people? What was it? What were they called? The banana splits. The banana splits. You were talking about them earlier and you were like, it's just a tape. When I saw new kids on the block, I had to do a show for the, the radio station in Q 94 in Richmond. And they were basically lip syncing. Of course the girls would probably say that was a bunch of bull, but they were, cuz they couldn't have been dancing that hard. And still singing those tunes. That was a tape. So least she's playing some skynyrd and some doors in there as well. And and I know that you

Tom Stephens:

station that was my dream job when high school I wanted to be a disc junkie. I went down to a radio station and sat in with a guy so he could show me everything and talk to me about it. I was gonna go to, what was it? I dunno. It was a school in Georgia School of Broadcasting or something, they advertise on TVs and I had talked my dad into it and I was gonna go do it and that dis young, he went, don't do. We've got audition tapes from them people. They're not teaching them anything, so I didn't do that. But I did get my broadcasting license because when I went to take the test, they were redoing the computer system and all you had to do was sign a piece of paper saying I've read and understand all the rules and regulations. So I did that. They sent me my license and I never used it. I went in the Navy and spent 20 years doing that.

DJJonniBravo:

I went to vo-tech vocational education cuz I was gonna be a draftsman. I was gonna do stuff to design buildings and stuff, but they didn't have. kids to get a teacher. So I had three periods I had to fill up and I've always listened to music. I always have cans on my head, always listening to, you know, LPs or a track. I said that would be a good way to spend some time. So I was able to get my license and work on a couple radio stations and. It was probably good the guy talked you out of it, because I'm sure you didn't make a killing in the Navy, but you might have probably made more money in the Navy than you would have being a disc jockey. I could tell you that. So he probably didn't lead you too far astray. But, and it's something that you could always do you could always go down to the local station and tell'em you got your license. They'll put you, they'll put you. that would

Tom Stephens:

require me to have to find the license.

DJJonniBravo:

it's probably not even really a requirement anymore. I know they used to have it posted in the studios, but I don't think it's even that big of a requirement anymore. I could be wrong unless somebody tells me different, but I know they used to post them in whatever station that you were on, I know when I left Q I don't think I ever got mine back. and I was on several stations after that. So I, like I said, I think it's a loose thing that they probably don't really regulate.

Tom Stephens:

It may be like CV radios, they just, you don't need it anymore. Who knows?

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah, it could be. And of course I do tell you that. And then you'll go to a radio station and they'll ask for it. But you might be able to get it from the government.

Tom Stephens:

Yeah. I'm sure you can, but Sure.

DJJonniBravo:

They have a copy of you on. Or they'll have

Tom Stephens:

to retest me because everything's changed.

DJJonniBravo:

Yeah, exactly. And it's not too much of a change. It's a lot more digital now. Most of the stuff that we did when I was doing it, and this was probably, middle like early nineties through the two thousands and it was. On air. So it was about 70% on air and about 30% not on the air. So 30% of it's recorded, where now it's swapped, so now it's 30%. That's on air and 70% is recorded. So when you're listening to a station, most of the time that's been recorded, and that's not even the guy in the studio. When I was doing radio, we were actually in the studio playing the music, taking the calls, giving the tickets. And all that kind of stuff. Cuz that was 70%, but now it's recorded and they're not even in the studio. A lot of those guys do it from home. That would be nice. Yeah. So it might be something to check out

Tom Stephens:

or when I win the lotto, I'll just buy a radio stay station. We won't worry

DJJonniBravo:

about it. There you go. You won't have to worry about it. You can just be on, on the radio anytime you want. It'll be your. Do you think that sums everything up, Tom?

Tom Stephens:

Yeah. Probably more than you wanted, but

DJJonniBravo:

I appreciate you being here. we're gonna say goodbye, All right. Thanks, John. Thanks for going under the musical influence of today's guest, Tom Stevens on Under The Influence with DJ DJJonniBravo. Go under the influence on Instagram at DJ J O N N I B R A V O underscore under the Influence. Contact us by email at dj DJJonniBravo dot under the influence@yahoo.com and check out my other podcast with my son, Hero Chat Show. Please subscribe to Under the Influence with DJ DJJonniBravo wherever you listen to your podcast. I'm DJJonniBravo. I'll see you next time. Goodbye.

Year of October:

Thanks. You are no longer under the influence with DJ DJJonniBravo until next week.