Carney Saves the World
Welcome to “Carney Saves the World”. I’m your host, Scott Carney. I’m a former stand-up comedian & actor, with a degree in Political Science. Oh, and I’m an almost 50yr old only-child/ man-child. So, you can probably see where I’m going with all of this.
Each episode, I’ll pick the brains of some of the best & brightest entrepreneurs, artists, and creative minds that I know. We’ll dive into what got them started down their chosen paths, how they actually got their start and what their motivation is to keep going in their massively competitive industries.
The name for the podcast comes from a dig my wife hits me with all the time when I think I’m right about all subjects. “Oh, Carney’s going to save the world again!”
Well, maybe it’s time we did just that. Come on, let's go save the world.
Carney Saves the World
EP15 Jeff Roberge: The Beat Goes On with the drummer from the band Foxtrot Zulu
When Jeff Roberge and I sat down to record this episode, the laughter came as easily as it did back in our University of Rhode Island days. Our journey through the past is filled with the kind of stories that stick to your ribs, from the formation of Jeff's band Foxtrot Zulu in the lively halls of Browning to a bee incident that left us in stitches during our first meet-and-greet. But it's not just about the music or the antics; it's about the brotherhood that carried us through and the homage we pay to our late brother, Ronald Gomes, whose wisdom remains a guiding force in our lives.
The heart of our conversation beats to the rhythm of Foxtrot Zulu's evolution, from a college bar band to a New England circuit sensation, weaving together tales of communal living, the heady days of relentless touring, and the shared dream that weathered the toughest of times. We open the vault to reveal the band's connection to O.A.R. and share how, despite real jobs and adult responsibilities, the music and the brotherly bond have stood the test of time, culminating in a reunion show that bridged generations of fans.
In tribute to Ronald Gomes, we step back from the laughs to embrace a more poignant note, reflecting on the legacy of a man who taught us about balance, responsibility, and the importance of ketchup. It's these memories that carve a deeper meaning into our narrative, bringing us closer not just as fraternity brothers, but as a family that continues to inspire long after the last note has faded. Join Jeff and me as we celebrate the enduring beat of a drum and the bonds that tie us to our unforgettable college days.
To hear their awesome music --> https://open.spotify.com/artist/2Hf7oM9jaytzzFLVIyUguV
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My next two interviews with Jeff Roberge and Paul Miller are special ones. Not only did we all live on the same floor in the first year the University of Rhode Island had an all-freshman dorm shout out to Browning Hall but we pledged our fraternity Theta Chi Eta chapter together at the University of Rhode Island. Cue the police sirens. No, just kidding. I'm excited and honored to have them both on for what is essentially a two-part episode. I'd like to dedicate both those parts to the memory of our recently passed fraternity brother, ronald Gomes. A great guy, awesome in every way, a big brother to all, a loving husband and dad, gone way too soon. Two words fuck cancer. My guest today is Jeff Roberge. Jeff and I are fraternity brothers of the long gone but yet somehow back Theta Chi Eta chapter at the University of Rhode Island.
Scott Carney:Jeff is the drummer and rhythmic backbone to the almost 30-year-old jam band Foxtrot Zulu. The seven-member band formed the University of Rhode Island in 1995, where they ruled the URI bar scene throughout the mid-90s and then branching out to dominate the New England regional music scene for the remainder of the 1900s and later touring the rest of the US through the early 2000s with the likes of Howie Day and the iconic OAR. I witnessed countless and dynamic performances from the band in the mid-90s at Rhodey, watering Holes, bonview Inn and Ocean Mist. I'm not sure if the guys remember, but they also played a graduation party at my house in 1995. But then I didn't end up graduating until 1996, so that's another show for another day, but a bunch of us would always catch the guys when they'd go up to Boston too. If you listen to their music and you don't move in some way, you should seek immediate medical attention. Seriously, jeff Roberge, welcome to Cardi Saves the World.
Jeff Roberge:Scott, I can't believe that we're doing this, man. It seems like yesterday. I mean, you know, you and I were like we're old now, but man, those are some great times back at URI. And thanks for the shout out to Ron. I mean you and I both know that guy. We were young guys back then and he helped shape us and he certainly gave us plenty of good advice when we needed it most. So much love goes out to Ron Combs man. But yeah, scott, great to see you. I love the fact you have a podcast and, yeah, let's talk, man.
Scott Carney:Yeah, this is awesome. I was trying to think it's been probably 20, 23, 24 years, because we saw you guys at least a couple times up in Boston after we graduated, so maybe like 98, 99.
Jeff Roberge:So before we dig in, man, I just seen you on the screen. Right now we're talking. I got to tell you about one of my first memories that I have of Browning Hall. We're moving in, freshman year moving in. I'm there with my parents. Whatever, get into those like. They look like jail cell dorm rooms that we lived in. So I'm walking down the hall and I think you and a couple of the other guys are like two doors over. Anyway, I'm walking past the room and you guys had an empty room, except the only thing set up were these two giant speakers and a stereo system and you guys are like cranking music and yeah, dennis is dancing in the middle of the of the dorm room like that is like one of the first memories.
Jeff Roberge:I have no clothes unpacked, nothing, just two giant speakers and dennis and you and I've Dave Bettencourt are like dancing in the dorm room. Anyway, funny story. Yeah, it's funny.
Scott Carney:I was trying to remember. My first memory of you is it was like a meet and greet, so we're like everybody moved in and we're outside and we were all talking. I don't know if you remember this, but it's one of the funniest things I've ever seen live. You went to take a sip of soda and like a beef fluid and stung you.
Jeff Roberge:Think about yeah, so think about like you know, young kid, I'm coming up from Maryland, don't know anybody. You're going to that first event where you're trying to, like you know, meet chicks and be cool. I take a swig of a soda, a beef flies and stings me under my lower lip and my lip swells up and I'm just that guy. That guy. It was like out of a movie man. I had to go hide in my dorm room the first day when everyone's meeting everyone because I got stung in the face by a bee. Yeah, crazy.
Scott Carney:Crazy. Oh, it kills me. I was thinking about it the other day and I was tearing up oh, that's the funniest thing, because you were so upset. You were like that was like the first thing. Like we all go outside. We're like all right, we got to meet the girls in the freshman dorm, let's go.
Jeff Roberge:Oh yeah, you got to be cool, right.
Scott Carney:You know it's like that's your first impression and I blew it, man, million of them that are hanging out on our every word right now. Can you just give us a a little bit of a backstory of how the band you're in foxtrot, zulu, started at uri?
Jeff Roberge:yeah, and so pretty interesting story, man. So, um, back then there was a lot of live music happening at uri, everywhere, from stuff going on at the quad, people bringing their guitars to their dorm rooms, whatever it is anyway in our frat house there was a drum set set up and I had to be honest with you, I had never taken a drum lesson in my life.
Jeff Roberge:When I was a kid I would go to my grandparents' house up in Jersey. There was a. My grandfather had a bunch of musical equipment and I would sit down and I would just listen to music and try and play along to the drums. Anyway, drum set set up, a bunch of other guys you know know, they were big deadheads and they were playing dead songs and we just one day started jamming out and then the band sort of evolved from there. So we you know it started out with a couple other guys. We had a lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass player, guy tk played saxophone and we were awful but we would, you know, just jam out. At that time you were a huge party school, so there was always like parties down the line or at frat houses.
Jeff Roberge:So the band just sort of evolved from there.
Jeff Roberge:The original name wasn't Foxtrot Zulu Really, yeah. So once we started really thinking that we were going to be this band and we people kind of dug it and we were able to play some dead songs and this guy, nate he had a bunch of original songs that he wrote. Anyway, they were taking military science class at the time. People were going around the room saying their names in military phonetic A guy by the name of Frank Zolfo, a friend of ours. He's like Foxtrot Zulu. We were like that's the name of the band. Wow.
Jeff Roberge:So that's really how we got our start. It really started with doing a couple dead covers, but then it became all original. We always laughed because we always said we were never good enough to play covers because you had to be so precise and at the time it was like jam band type stuff. So we were able to do like jammy kind of stuff and it just sort of evolved from there. We picked up a trumpet player, paul Miller ended up picking up a bunch of congas at the frat house at some point. Point. That's how it really started, as we were just started jamming out and trying to play original music and it just kind of clicked. You know, that's how we went from there and then we all got kicked out of the fraternity. Yep um, shut down a fraternity. Somehow, all of the equipment drums, everything ended up at our house down the line oh really I think ted steve's helmet.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, he was living with us. So there are a couple other frat brothers that we all got a house and I think the stuff just evolved and made it to the house. So now we had a practice space. That's how the band started. It started with a name our buddy Frank Frank Foxtrot Zulu. Here's a funny thing when we used to get interviewed, you know, by the school paper, and then right when we started getting out there, they would ask where the name come from and we would tell people that we were all on the URI skydiving team and that was our call sign, that was our call letter for the URI skydiving team. It was Foxtrot.
Scott Carney:That's awesome. You guys were the most popular band at the time. Just crushing it, Everybody would see it. I mean, there were lines out the doors. It was just pure insanity.
Jeff Roberge:You know we were lucky man. I think we just gelled. There were seven guys in the band. We, just to this day we still get together with our kids. It's crazy. We just sort of gelled and then we got lucky, we started playing. You know the club owners down at URI were real open to having us play. And you're right, for whatever reason, it just kind of took off a little bit and you know we were playing like sorority gigs and frat gigs, so fast forward. So that was in 93 okay 93 is when the band started.
Jeff Roberge:yeah, so 93 is when we really started kicking out. And then around 94 95, when we were all graduating, we had someone approach us who offered us a two record deal. Small label running dog records was the label at that time. So we went into the studio and we were like, okay, we're big time, we're, we're playing URI, we're going to be the next big thing. You know, totally naive, totally naive. But anyway, we bought. We bought a little mini, a mini school bus, and we started driving around the East coast and just booking. It was like quantity over quality, I think. From 95 to about 98, 99. I mean, we were doing like over 250 shows a year. Wow, we went home we told our parents listen, thanks for the college education, we're going to be in a band, how'd that go over.
Jeff Roberge:It was pretty wild, man. I think we kind of convinced our parents we had this record deal. We went in the studio, made a couple albums. Then you know we're touring around and then we get then another record label approach us and signed us to a five album deal and we ended up making three more albums with them. So yeah, and basically we funded it all ourselves. We bought a house in Ashway Rhode.
Jeff Roberge:Island a 12 bedroom house that had like a carriage house where we could practice. We all lived there. It was like very seventies hippie communal and the band paid all our bills. We never made a ton of money, we incorporated ourselves. So we were at Foxtrot Zulu Inc. The band paid our health insurance and all of our, the house, the food, all that kind of stuff, and we just toured, drove around, toured it's awesome.
Scott Carney:Obviously we didn't have cell phones back then. It was word of mouth and you'd be walking down the quad and you'd see someone on Thursday or Friday. You're like, oh, what are you doing tonight? Oh, I'm going to see Foxtrot.
Jeff Roberge:It wasn't like you were going to a certain place, you were going to see a certain band, like you were going to see you guys of time back then, man, really thankful for people being into it and just having those experiences to look back on now. I mean, eventually you have to go on and sort of you know, move on and get quote unquote real jobs. Yeah, but 30 years later, you know, we still. Last time we played was last october at the ocean wow, how was it?
Jeff Roberge:it was good man, brad got covid, so we had to cancel the original show, but we sold out the Ocean Mist. This is like don't know, 30 years later or something like that.
Scott Carney:That's crazy Wild, that's so wild.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah.
Scott Carney:So you know, I hopped on Facebook and I realized that your brother, Mark, is the lead singer of OAR and I remember meeting your brother when he was 16. You guys played my graduation party and I didn't end up graduating. I decided to take an extra year and I didn't end up graduating. I decided to take an extra year and I was like, ah, screw it, We'll just have a party. So you guys played up on our back porch and I remember you guys walked in and you were like, hey, Cardi, can we do a little pre-gaming? Can we discuss pre-gaming? Is it okay to talk about that or should I edit this out after?
Jeff Roberge:No, man go for it.
Scott Carney:And so we went up to my room and you're like, hey, do you? My little brother is here, he's up from high school. I was like, nah, nah, that's 16 year old kid ripping bong his dad. He ends up becoming the lead singer of oar interesting so crazy story there, right?
Jeff Roberge:so, like you said, my brother mark's still in high school. You know, at the time we're touring, we're thinking we're the big thing, all this kind of stuff. So we go and we used to tour, we'd stop at my parents house in house in Maryland and we would like stay over there. So my brother starts talking about that he's got this band in high school that they're doing and great, okay, man, that's pretty cool. You guys can open for us at we were playing like College Park Maryland. We were playing like Terrapin Station, college Park Maryland. Can we open for you guys Like, sure, no problem, we'll give you a shot, man. So they opened for you know, fast forward, I don't know, like three or four months, they had somehow connected with the guy who started Napster.
Jeff Roberge:Wow, so, they write this song called Crazy Game of Poker. They produced their own album, the Father of the Drummer. He worked at a music store down in DC and was able to hook him up with some studio time like a basement studio kind of thing. And they make this first album and they come out with the song Crazy Game of Poker. The guy from Napster puts that song on the front page of the Napster website Wow. So one of the first songs ever you could download was this Crazy Game of Poker. Holy shit, overnight, overnight, every college kid in the country is downloading crazy game of poker. So now they're selling their albums out of the trunk of a car.
Jeff Roberge:I would go to my parents' house. My parents had a mailbox on the front door. One of those little flaps and envelopes with checks would just get dumped into my parents' house from people buying this album. So, yeah, all of a sudden, you know, oar becomes huge and I mean I think they've been doing it like 20 years. They have obviously made a significant career. My brother's done a lot of great things. I think it was like 2018, something like that. I was like Mark, mark, can we open for you guys? So so, yeah, we they were doing a string of tour up and up in new england, up in maine, in new hampshire, and we got to open for those guys, and I think we opened for him once in providence too.
Scott Carney:Wow, whole different scene.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, you know we were playing clubs 500 people, other people yeah, open for oar is a little bit different. One of my favorite stories with my brother is they were doing a tour with Sheryl Crow and Sheryl Crow, Ziggy Marley and Train. Oh wow, it was like the Jeep summer tour. At some point it's going back a couple of years their drummer, Chris, had to go to a wedding in Chicago. So my brother calls me up and he's like hey, man, you want to play drums?
Scott Carney:Really, that's awesome.
Jeff Roberge:So me up and he's like hey, man, you want to play drums?
Scott Carney:really that's awesome. So he's like we'll fly you out.
Jeff Roberge:So they gave me month, like a month lead time. I had to go in my basement and learn their set. I was like, send me the set. I'm trying to learn the set just by listening to it and trying to play along. They flew me out to california. I did four shows with them in california and arizona on that tour. Wow, got to party with Ziggy Marley hung out with Sheryl Crow like played ping pong with Sheryl Crow backstage. So that's my 15 minutes partying with Ziggy Marley hanging out with Sheryl Crow and playing drums in a stadium. That was pretty cool.
Scott Carney:That's wild. So now when you say you know hanging out with Ziggy Marley, we're all supposed to assume we know what that means right, Everyone knows when you hang out with a Marley, you know what you're doing Hanging out talking Okay.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, let's put it this way You're sitting three feet across from each other on two different couches. You can't see each other. Do you know what I'm saying? Yeah, nice.
Scott Carney:So how amazing was that to tour with your brother just like share those memories, and I mean it must have been so much more to you, obviously, than the other guys just because of that connection. But how great is that.
Jeff Roberge:It's pretty cool, man. Our last album we produced ourselves and we have a song called the Ballad of Johnny Baghdad which is my favorite Foxtrot song. But we had Mark come in the studio with us and he actually sings half the song with. Nate Came in and did a uh appearance on one of our albums.
Jeff Roberge:pretty cool it's awesome and to this day I love seeing mark on like espn or some sort of music video. And then you know, we go to shows and people like freak out. They're like, oh, and I'm like he's my little brother. You know like I can still kick his ass.
Scott Carney:I remind him of that.
Jeff Roberge:I'm like you should beat your ass.
Scott Carney:So how wild was that first time. Like you witnessed how crazy they actually had gotten. Do you remember that part the best?
Jeff Roberge:memory that I have of that is when I realized, like, how big they were. I want to say it was like 2012, 2014. I can't remember. They sold out two nights at Madison Square Garden. Holy shit, so my whole family goes to the show. Behind you know, behind the stage downstairs there's all the green rooms where all the artists are.
Scott Carney:Two things.
Jeff Roberge:If you sell out Madison Square Garden, they take a picture of you and they hang it on a wall. So, when you walk down there, you see pictures of the Rolling Stones and Muhammad Ali and, like you know, dave, when you walk down there, you see pictures of the Rolling Stones and Muhammad Ali and, like you know, dave Matthews band, whatever it is. Yeah, walking down the hall there's a picture of my brother.
Scott Carney:Yeah.
Jeff Roberge:Framed picture hanging on the wall in the basement of Madison Square Garden because they sold out. Wow, prior to the show, when the stadium is empty and they're doing soundcheck or whatever. After soundcheck, I went up on stage and I sat behind the drum set and looked out at ms and that was like that was pretty wild man to like sit there and then obviously watch that show. But that was the first memory, uh, that I have. I mean, there's hundreds of them, but that one was pretty great. Watching my brother playing a sold-out mass in square garden, that was pretty crazy, yeah that's awesome.
Scott Carney:Going back to our old fraternity days, do you remember?
Jeff Roberge:how about our pledge?
Scott Carney:trip. Oh, I didn't know if we should bring that one up, but yeah, that was absolutely absurd in a van and driving and I remember going to like wpi and rent salir like I can't.
Jeff Roberge:I mean that was just off the rails. We're just driving in a van scavenger hunt. I mean, obviously you know there's code we can't talk about. Went on during our like initiation.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah super secret, oh, that could be super secret, but all that stuff. But man, that was such great times, I think, for all of us who went to URI. We had the benefit of great education. I mean the social scene at URI. Even to this day when I've got a couple of daughters, their friends are looking at colleges and I remember those URI days, man living down the line, I mean who in their right mind rents a beach house to four college kids or five college kids to live on the beach? You know, two miles from campus, like in a beautiful beach house, like I don't know it's pure insanity, crazy.
Scott Carney:And also the rent was just like. You know, at the time you're probably like oh God, this is so expensive, but like we're paying like two, 50. And I'm like I have a sliding glass door in my bedroom. Right now I can see the Atlantic ocean.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, yeah, and everybody, all different college kids in those like bonnet, shores and Eastward look. And it was just such a time to have the social atmosphere. It was crazy. And I think that's what made Foxtrot Zulu successful, because we would literally play house parties. We would set up in people's backyards, we bought our own sound system, we came with our own speakers. I mean, we were like, listen, we're going to go where anyone wants us to come and play. And that's how it all started, man that— Our party that we had.
Scott Carney:We got got a noise ordinance which our neighbors were super pissed about because can't do shit to us, but we had a noise ordinance. You guys played on our back deck. We had like a ronzio's pizza truck back in and I was like, oh man, the pizza trucks plugged into our house, the bands plugged into our house. This electric bill's gonna hurt.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, we're gonna blow something up, something like that. Oh yeah, those were great times, but I think that's where the band was able to take off.
Scott Carney:We were kids.
Jeff Roberge:Then Our parents were all supportive of it. I think that helped. And then we had a couple investors. We have people who came out of the blues and listen. We believe in what you guys are doing. We'll make albums.
Jeff Roberge:I mean, after our short bus, then we bought a 28 passenger church bus from Albemarle, north Carolina, from a church Some Baptist church in Albemarle, north carolina, from a church some baptist church in albemarle, north north carolina, south carolina, can't remember. And we drove that sucker across the country like three times, from rhode island all the way to california up to toronto, canada. We drove that thing. We ripped out all the seats in the inside. It was like we had a poker table in the back. Um, it's awesome.
Jeff Roberge:We drove that thing going over the mountains in Colorado. We had to lift the engine cover off and spray carburetor fluid into the carburetor so it wouldn't stall. Guys had to get out and run alongside the bus because we had too much weight to get up those mountain passes. Oh crazy, crazy times, man. And then eventually we bought a van with a trailer. We did like what every band should do, which is, like you know, we have a 15 passenger diesel van with a big ass trailer on the back. But yeah, we wasted a lot of money on these big ass old tour buses Pretty funny.
Scott Carney:What'd you do with them? Did you just sell them back to like dealers?
Jeff Roberge:So here's a crazy band story. So we were playing gigs, we were down in North Carolina and the bus died. We had to get back to Rhode Island because Jeff, our trumpet player, was still working, picking up shifts at like group homes and stuff like that. A couple of the guys were, so we had to get back. So we took the tags off the bus, we dumped it in a tobacco field, took the tags off the bus, we rented a U-Haul, put all of the equipment, we bought big crates of ice and put them in the back of the U-Haul With our equipment. We made seats in the back of this U-Haul, five of us in the back of the U-Haul, two people driving, and we drove straight from North Carolina back to Rhode Island.
Jeff Roberge:Pitch black in the back, and every time it got too hot or someone started bugging out, we had a broom and you would bang on the roof of the bang on the roof of the u-haul. So the guys up front knew to pull over to open up the back so we could get air. True story. It's like human trafficking. True story. We literally like sitting in the back of this, you have a pitch black, someone bugging out or we needed air. It was like you bang on the roof with a broomstick.
Scott Carney:That's awesome.
Jeff Roberge:And they pull over. My guess is the tobacco workers used it as like a hangout, because we just dumped it in like a tobacco field somewhere on some dirt road in the middle of nowhere. And it's got a poker table, took the plates off it, took the bin off it and done.
Scott Carney:So did you all graduate together?
Jeff Roberge:No, I think Brad the bass player. He's one year younger than me, so our first year we all you know that first year we still stayed around URI. We were living down in Ashway, I think it was, or maybe I can't remember. But yeah, we waited for him to graduate and then we were like we're going to tour, and then we just started driving around playing shows.
Scott Carney:At what point did you start to get where you're like, all right, you know what we may need to get quote unquote real jobs.
Jeff Roberge:So in 2004, we signed with. It was called Phoenix Rising was the record label. The company was called Phoenix Media Group and they owned the King Biscuit Flower Hour. They owned that catalog. That goes back like 30 years. I don't know if your listeners even know what the King Biscuit Flower Hour is, but it was a bunch of music that radio stations owned and this company bought it. Anyway, they decided they were going to create a label and they signed 12 bands right out of the gate, a bunch of jam bands, anyway. So in 2004, that company got in trouble with the state of New York for tax evasion.
Jeff Roberge:We get a letter in the mail that says the state of New York is seizing all of your merchandise. So our masters to our albums, our T-shirt, like everything Seized everything and we're not getting sued. But the company's getting sued. If you want your stuff back, you have to go to court with the state of New York. We were like, fuck man. We like we can't start over. Now this is. You know, we've been torn since 93. This is 2004. Yeah, at that point in time we decided that we weren't going to shop for a new label. Guys were getting married, a couple of guys were starting to have kids. We were like, listen, let's do this for fun. We had our Rolodex, we had enough clubs that we could book shows. Yeah. So we were like, listen, let's keep doing this. But now it's not a business anymore. We're not going to reinvest. You know, end of the night, everyone's getting a stack of cash Like that's how we're doing this.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, because we still want to keep doing it, but we're not going to shop for a new label, we're not going to like, do all that get, basically start over again. So, yeah, that's what happened. And then guys started to evolve into sort of like, what's my next step career wise or what am I going to do? And that's what happened. But then we always would try and book shows when everyone could get together. So you know, a couple of guys live in New Hampshire. You know Miller lives up in Massachusetts. I live in Massachusetts.
Jeff Roberge:You know TK's down in Southern Rhode Island. He owns a restaurant down there, jeff Light's in Connecticut. So yeah, we're still all close enough and we would book shows since 2004, whenever we could book shows, and we would just be like New England, yeah, playing down in Rhode Island. You know, we'd venture out. If my brother would let us open, we'd travel and do a couple shows here and there. So to this day we try and it's always like when can we get a show together, growing our dates, and if we all got a date, we'll we typically call kevin down at the ocean mist and be like, hey, kev, give us a date, yeah, yeah that's amazing, it's so interesting, it's so cool.
Scott Carney:Like you know, I'll see your facebook post and miller's facebook post and about there's one where you guys had like a big reunion like all the kids and you know wives, and we're there.
Jeff Roberge:I mean that's amazing that you still can do that that was like last month, man, that was crazy, so yeah, and that was at tk's restaurant, so we went down there. But now we all show up and we all have like a ton of kids and it's just so weird. And and brad came and his parents saved every foxtrot, zulu, flyer, mailer, advertisement in this. No, he brought that and we all sat down and went through it, man, and like I can't remember 90 of those times so I don't remember like all these shows and places and all that stuff. So he showed up with this thing, but our kids sit around, my daughter and her friends.
Jeff Roberge:One of their favorite songs is like Johnny Baghdad so they drive around town now and they're you know, she's 17 and they're cranking Johnny Bagdad in their car, and that always cracks me up.
Scott Carney:That's so crazy. You had a whole new generation of fans.
Jeff Roberge:So yeah, we were trying to see if we can get a show like around Labor Day weekend down at the Miss. We're working on it.
Scott Carney:So when was the first time you have what? Two daughters. I have three daughters, three daughters. When was the first time that they saw you play?
Jeff Roberge:So the first time they saw us play. We were opening for my brother in Providence.
Scott Carney:Wow, so they came up.
Jeff Roberge:I forget the name of the club in Providence, but that was the first time that I and they may have seen us at the Ocean. Mist my memory because there was a. There's a big balcony at this club and I remember seeing my daughter standing at the balcony while we were playing, and I think at that point they'd always heard about the band, we'd talk about it.
Jeff Roberge:But you know, I don't think they ever could make the connection that we were actually like a band, like knew what we were doing. Yeah, I think they thought we were just sort of these like guys like you know, garage band kind of not really didn't really have songs, like when they saw us play and like do a set. I think that was when we were like oh, you guys are actually like a band, band Like well, yeah, I mean.
Scott Carney:You have earpieces in.
Jeff Roberge:Like we actually kind of know what we're doing. Yeah, that was pretty cool.
Scott Carney:That'd be such a special moment I can't even imagine.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, but you know my daughters don't know what it's like to go to like a big concert and have to sit in obstructed view.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, right Because my daughters get hooked up by my brother and if OAR is playing they get VIP backstage pass. They get assigned security guards who escort them around. They go to staff services and sit at the table. They get to meet the other. You know artists, so they've met. You know all these like famous people. Yeah, they'll like text, uncle Marky, and be like hey, can you get me tickets to you know this or that? They have no idea. They have no idea what it's like to like be in the nosebleeds and, like you know, have someone throw up on you or like burn you with a joint on your neck, like drops hot ash on you. They don't know that's funny.
Scott Carney:I remember, uh, I went to u2 with denis santos. We went um and it was like a friday night and I imbibed way too much and I went to go to the bar and I slipped down one of the concrete stairs the garden and I went down the concrete stairs on my ass, like 10 of them covered in mud. I was like son of a bitch. I worked for Sam Adams for about 19 years. On the weekends I would give tours and I was given a tour that the next day and I was hurting and I was like, hey, you know, I apologize, it was Boston U2. So everybody was freaking out. I said I apologize, I'm a little off. I went to U2 last night and the girl goes that's where I know you from and she grabs her boyfriend's shoulder and she goes. You slid by us in row 32c. Oh, that's hilarious, man, ridiculous that's hilarious.
Jeff Roberge:When I was a kid, u2 is the first concert I ever went to. I slept out for two days at like montgomery mall in maryland to get tickets to see u2 joshua tree tour, one of the first concerts I remember as a kid man oh wow.
Scott Carney:Do you remember I was going back to our pledge trip? Do you remember the Theta Chi one of the schools? It was Lehigh or Lafayette. They gave us tickets to go to a concert. It was like their homecoming. Yeah, and we went to. It was like spin doctors and somebody else. Oh my God, I slept through the spin doctors because I was so tired.
Jeff Roberge:I mean that's going way back, man.
Scott Carney:Yeah, because all those bands at that time they were coming up and they're doing all the college gigs and they're doing all that kind of stuff. Then doctors yeah, they had a couple of you. I think you guys also benefited from just the period that we were in at that point. Yeah, the 90s was just such an insane time for music. When you were younger if you had to be a metalhead or you liked rap, like you didn't like all kinds of music, and then when we got the 90s kind of branched out, you could like reggae and rap. Every band I think benefited from that.
Jeff Roberge:That cultural shift I like I agree, man. I think we were like right place, right time because people were so interested in live music and bands, so like there was an appetite in the college circuits to book bands. Yeah, nowadays it's not so much right. I mean the type of music that's usually getting booked at some of these. You know, when you're coming up and you're booking college gig and you're booking small venues, the music industry is different. Now it's rap and or EDM kind of stuff, which is all great. I love it all.
Jeff Roberge:But, yeah, man, and there were so many good bands in the 90s. You know everything from more of like the poppy stuff to like the grungy stuff. We played a lot of good bands, man, and saw a lot of good bands.
Scott Carney:I know you guys did a lot of festivals and stuff like that. You know who are some of the bands that ended up turning out to be really big and popular that you guys played with back then.
Jeff Roberge:Oh, god, disco Biscuits. They're still doing their thing, an EDM kind of techno shows and stuff like that, but they boarded with us a lot Widespread Panic, oh wow, which have been around longer than us. But I mean, like we did shows and they're still huge. Yeah, god, who else? Government Mule, which is like Allman Brothers. I remember we'd play with those guys and they were a huge band too. I'm just thinking of in our realm, I don't know, man, the memories are, you know, right felicia earned.
Scott Carney:You earned that ability to not remember half that shit.
Jeff Roberge:One of the coolest shows, I think we're playing in connecticut and we opened for maceo parker. Maceo parker is a sack player for james brown. I remember that show being pretty freaking awesome, yeah, and wondering how the hell did we get on this bill with Maceo Parker? But we have opened. Funniest opening stories is we were playing the living room in Providence, rhode Island. Oh yeah, and I'll bring up a really sad thing really quick. This is right after the station fire in Rhode Island and your listeners probably don't know, but the station fire was this yes, thing that happened at a club in I believe it's warwick, rhode island, where there was a fire and a lot of people lost their lives yeah after that state of rhode island rightfully so became very strict about fire suppression systems and alarms and all this stuff, so that every club had to have like inspections, all kinds of stuff.
Jeff Roberge:Well, anyway, we're playing at the living room and Sebastian Bach is playing at the Strand in Providence, the Strand. That night one of the fire alarms on the wall didn't work, so they shut the show down, so they moved the Sebastian Bach show over to the living room. But we were playing the living room, so Sebastian Bach opened for us at the living room and I remember and I remember and it was so wild because we're like jam band and then you got like the heavy metal crew that all came to the living room so they changed the time of the show and Sebastian Bach went on first and then we played after. That was the wildest thing.
Jeff Roberge:There was a little person in the audience and he got the little person up on stage and put her on his shoulders while he was playing and she ended up hitting her head on one of the lights that hang down nice, jesus. And like he, literally it was like it was like spinal tap, it was like on the mic stand. They literally wrote and taped Providence, because you know how they're like hey, providence, you're welcome. They literally did that, so he knew where he was. Then he got in a Winnebago after their show, gets in a Winnebago and drives away.
Scott Carney:Right in style, crazy. Thing.
Jeff Roberge:That's another crazy story from way back in the day. Sebastian Bach, yeah, whacked her head right on one of those lights oh, a little person's head hanging down at the stage oh boom.
Scott Carney:Oh god, she probably still has a burn mark but that was a pretty well that.
Jeff Roberge:That's always a story like oh yeah, we play with sebastian bach. I think his song was like 18 in life I think you're right.
Scott Carney:We'll shazam it later. I mentioned our fraternity brother ron gomes. Like 18 in life, 18 in life, you got it. That was fun. I think you're right. We'll Shazam it later. I mentioned our fraternity brother, ron Gomes. He was such a good buddy to both of us. He was such a big brother to both of us. Yeah, any fun Ron stories for us.
Jeff Roberge:Thanks for bringing that back up, man. You know, we all. It's very interesting. A lot of us have stayed in touch and you know good, bad and ugly about Facebook and Facebook had really kept a lot of us knowing what each other's doing and it was. It was really sad to hear the struggle that he went through for a couple of years with cancer. But I remember in our fraternity where I was like sort of the older statesman Yep, he was the older statesman and he sort of was like almost like in a weird way like the godfather. So his room was like at the back right of the first floor of the frat house I think. Right, yeah, and that's sort of where, like when we were coming into the fraternity, where young guys were like if you got invited back to Ron's room, oh yeah, you knew you were in Right Like.
Jeff Roberge:You knew, like you got to hang out with Ron, yeah, and he had this amazing girlfriend Julie. They ended up getting married, yeah, but she was around a lot and you know Ron was just, he just was like this even keel guy Great laugh, just kind person. You know all the brothers, really you'd go to Ron for advice or to hear. He just kind of knew what was going on and I remember you know he taught me how to play cribbage. Um, he also, you know, in some way kept us on the straight and narrow at times, because you know it's real easy to sit in your frat house all day and do nothing yeah, but he was definitely one of those guys like now get out, go to class, you know, do what you need to do.
Jeff Roberge:It's okay to you know, have a fun lifestyle around here, but he was never somebody you know, have a fun lifestyle around here, but he was never somebody you know. He always knew why it was important for us to still do the right thing. Yeah, um, not fall into that like fraternity, brother bullshit kind of stuff.
Scott Carney:Yeah.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, Just a kind guy, Just you know.
Scott Carney:So you looked up to him yeah, like instantly, like it's funny you say that, like, is that that's the truth? If you were able to hang out there one time, sit on that couch and you're, you know, sit on his couch in front of that table.
Jeff Roberge:And you know, that's where I was first exposed to Jenga.
Scott Carney:Yeah, and I mean, he was such a great guy, he could drink his weight in beer and ketchup.
Jeff Roberge:I was going to say I just remember he loved ketchup, Everything ketchup.
Scott Carney:Such a good guy. But may he rest in peace. He's such a sweetheart, and thoughts and prayers for Julie and his kids.
Jeff Roberge:Yeah, I know so many people were really devastated to hear about his loss because I know he's touched the lives of his family. Certainly us knowing him back then, but great guy, Always a shout out to Ron Gomes, definitely.
Scott Carney:Well, Jeff, this has been awesome going down memory lane with your brother. Thank you so much for sitting down with us.
Jeff Roberge:It's great to see you, man. It's so good to see you, and I do see your stuff on Facebook and I knew you were down in Carolina, so yeah. So I was so happy when you reached out, I was like, fuck yeah, I'll definitely do that no-transcript I mean, that was stone from like 1991 to like 2004 I can confirm that.
