Franklin's Garage to Stage
All things starting a musical band. From garage to stage getting your band going and beyond.
Interviews with musician's, Producers, club owners, recording artist's and others in field of recording or performing.
Discussions on pitfalls to avoid and what works from personal and other's experiences.
Franklin's Garage to Stage
From Garage Jams to Center Stage
What happens when a snare drum borrowed from a sibling and a mesmerizing wedding band performance become the sparks that ignite a lifelong passion for music? Join us, Rob (aka Wardrums Franklin) and Dana Thunder Bass Franklin, as we take you on a personal journey from our humble beginnings to rocking the stage. Discover how Dana's early attempts at guitar led him to find his true calling with the bass guitar, thanks to some brotherly advice. Meanwhile, Rob shares the captivating experience that set him on the path to becoming a drummer, all inspired by a family wedding. Get ready to be inspired by our stories as we offer practical advice for those ready to embark on their own musical journey.
For aspiring musicians everywhere, this episode is a treasure trove of tips and encouragement. We open up about the early days of band formation and share how to forge connections that lead to your first gigs at local clubs. From the challenges of picking the right instrument to the joy of playing with others, listeners will find relatable stories and valuable insights. Whether you're strumming your first chords, pounding out rhythms, or raising your voice, we aim to motivate you to take that crucial next step from the garage to the spotlight. Grab your instrument, tune in, and let's make those musical dreams a reality together!
Hello and welcome to Franklin's Garage to Stage. My name is Rob, aka Wardrums Franklin, and my co-host here is Dana Thunder Bass Franklin.
Speaker 2:Cool, how you doing, man.
Speaker 1:I'm doing really good. How about you? I'm great Cool. Well, we just got done with the Photoshop, so you look really good.
Speaker 2:Oh well, thanks. It's probably a good thing that these people listening to this can't really see us.
Speaker 1:That's a really good point, because you know I'm a little on the ugly side, obviously. Anyway, this podcast is basically about all things starting a band. When I mean band, I mean musical band, basically everything from starting in a garage basement or wherever you happen to be, to getting to the stage point and then beyond. What do you think about all of that?
Speaker 2:I like it. I mean, we've got stories from day one to hitting the stage. We want to talk about all of you and all of your experiences. You're going through as far as just starting out. How do you form a?
Speaker 1:band.
Speaker 2:Once you've got a band going, how do you get into a club? What kind of connections do you need? We'll talk about all that Very cool. Speaking of which, how did you get into a club? How do you? You know what kind of connections you need? You know, we'll talk about all that very cool, hey, well, speaking of which, uh, how did you get started? Well, okay, so my story goes a little bit later than most people.
Speaker 2:I didn't really pick up the bass till I was probably 21, 22 bass player, by the way, um, but you know, as a kid, you know I'm watching my friend and brother here, mr war drums. Um, I watched him playing drums in the basement. You know, when I was probably six, seven years old, my earliest, you know remembrance of that and I was like, wow, that's cool. And when I was, I think probably you know, grade school, probably fourth, fifth grade, you know they had this like after school thing where you can pick up an instrument and I borrowed I don't even remember this I'd borrow your snare drum and I'd go to this little class and I was like, well, okay, this is cool, but I'll never be as good as him.
Speaker 2:I want to. You know, I want to be in a band. So I started playing guitar at probably 18, 19. That lasted about a whole month because I got frustrated. And then you told me at one point it's like, dude, you ever want to be in a band or they're always looking for good bass players. Everybody wants to be a guitar player, everybody wants to be a singer, you know, but good bass players are hard to come by so very, very true, yeah, you know, and I just picked up a bass and it was just like you know, I knew at that moment that you know, that was it for me.
Speaker 2:It was just like a automatic feeling. It's like like, okay, this is, it's just felt right.
Speaker 1:Cool. Well, my start's a little bit different. I started when I went to my aunt's wedding, believe it or not, and I saw my first live band and I saw the drummer and I was just mesmerized. I pulled up a chair and sat and just stared at that drummer for the whole time they played. Previously I really didn't have any musical experience because my parents really they were so busy they never really played any music in the house. So when I saw that live band I was just hooked. From then on I started banging on Tupperware, coffee cans, anything I could. Eventually, the aunt that I actually went to saw that band with at the wedding bought me my first drum set and then from there it just progressed from there.
Speaker 2:And mom and dad probably just loved hearing those drums all day long.
Speaker 1:You know, and the good thing is, they never really complained, so that was really a good thing.
Speaker 2:So this show is going to be based basically for you know musicians out there that are just starting out and you know one is like okay, hey, I picked up the guitar, drums, whatever your instrument is, even vocalists, and you know you're ready to start playing with other people, you feel comfortable about starting. I was like where do you go? How does that happen? You know.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's definitely a lot of steps.
Speaker 2:Oh there is. And then you know you got to have your confidence levels where you're not intimidated to even put an ad in the papers like, hey, I'm a beginner but I want to form a band Exactly.
Speaker 1:And hopefully it will cover some of those trials and tribulations and things that you might run into, that we've experienced and hopefully help you to avoid some of those pitfalls.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, and some of it's a learning curve. You're going to go through it no matter what you hear. And this show, just to tell you right up now. It might be a little explicit at times, there might be a little bit of sarcasm, but hey, but we're not going to put any like naked pictures or anything like that on there.
Speaker 1:So if you're a parent listening, it's just basically occasionally we're going to throw in a shit Because you know we're musicians.
Speaker 2:What would you expect?
Speaker 1:Exactly musicians. What would you expect exactly? Um, you know, but we hope to. I mean, down the road, we want to have a lot of guests, not only other musicians, but club owners, booking agents, producers, recording studio engineers, rehearsal room managers and, uh, all those kind of guests. Hopefully we'll get supply information to you as a band just starting out, or maybe you're well down the road and need some additional information for recording and going forward.
Speaker 1:So, basically also, who we want to appeal to is not only musicians, but maybe musicians friends, spouses, girlfriends, boyfriends, or just if you're interested in what a musician goes through to get to the point from just playing in the room to playing on stage, or maybe there's a recording artist that you're interested in and you want to hear more about. We're going to have a link on our website to email us and comment basically what you want to hear, what you didn't want to hear more about. We're going to have a link on our website to email us and comment basically what you want to hear, what you didn't want to hear, or maybe what we could do to improve our website.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and on the website. You know we're going to, you know we're going to talk with owners of clubs and we're going to try to get some kind of comprehensive schedule of you know who's playing where, what city are they in, what are the dates, because how many times have you gone out? And you just put in Google live bands this weekend and it's showing stuff from three weeks ago.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, these people are probably already dead. What good does that do me?
Speaker 2:Or it'll show stuff two months from now. It's like we're hoping to have something like hey this Friday in Raleigh or something local in North Carolina is what we're aiming for right now, but you'll be able to see, whatever city you're in or close location, who's playing, you know what genre they are, what they're all about, and you won't have to go to 50 different websites to try to figure out how you're going to go out and party this weekend.
Speaker 1:So hopefully this sparked your interest into listening to our next next episode, which is going to include.
Speaker 2:You know, this is, this is. You know where it all starts. You know, like I said, you picked up an instrument. You want to get a band going. You know how do you do it, where do you go, how does it all happen. You know you're going to start finding that egos come into play. You know some people might be a lot better than you are, or a lot worse, and just getting the right people in the room is a oh number one.
Speaker 2:Challenge it is such a challenge and you know but that you'll know when you find the right people. All of a sudden, you're going to go home that night or after 10 minutes of jam, and you'd be like, whoa, this shit sounds awesome. You, you're going to have that feeling, you're going to know. I mean, last person we auditioned, it's like five minutes into it we're like you just kind of give that sideways, look to the other person and it's like hey, okay, cool, we'll give you a call, something like that, so you'll know. But how do you even get to that point? We'll talk about experiences, avenues to go through all the pitfalls, and now the triumphs Very good, and that next episode.
Speaker 1:That's going to include a lot of information and hopefully we're going to be able to get to the point where we have a guest speaking about their situations. So I hope you're interested in what we've got to say and what's going to happen.
Speaker 2:All right.
Speaker 1:I like it All. Right, matt, thank you.
