You are listening to umin h command God, don't get so greenly madself.
Thank you everybody. It is Wednesday. I almost said Tuesday. Easy g
in the chat room had me confused. It is welcome. It is when
to day. October twenty five, twenty twenty three. This is Matt Connorton,
Unleafed and we are live from these studios of wm NH ninety five point
three FM in glorious downtown Manchester, New Hampshire, also on Comcast Channel six
if you're in Manchester, and hello to all of our online listeners across the
nation and around the globe. You can go to my website Matt Connorton dot
com for all of your live streaming options, social media links, contact info,
show archives, etc. Etc. A couple tracks that we opened there
with. I played Fury by the band Edgewise and I played some meage Wise
for a specific reason, so Chris, if you're listening, I wanted to
open with something of your band today because I appreciate you very much. And
also I played Damsel Disorder from Darling Hill. Kate Shimkey from Darling Hill was
with us on the show yesterday and she's amazing and that song has been stuck
in my head since I heard it. So we have a great musical guest
today on the show too. Coming up in the second hour, we're gonna
be joined in studio by Slim Volume. They've got a batch of new tunes
that are not yet available, so you'll be hearing them here for the first
time, the world radio premiere. And uh, they've been on the show
before and they're they're great and I love the new songs. I got to
hear them obviously, really really good stuff. And we have a call.
Hi, Welcome to Matt Connerton Unleashed. Who is this? Hey, it's
really you cannot hear the show. I'm trying to listen live and it's just
playing music. Uh, where are you listening? Where online are you listening?
I'm listening on the on the w m n H site and it's just
playing music. Yeah, w MNH dot org. And then I go to
live Listen Live Matt Conra and it's just playing music. And the same thing
happened yesterday. Actually that I think you had a show yesterday because then I
found it on the podcast. Yeah I was here. All right, I'm
gonna pull the I'm gonna pull up the website on uh this computer here,
and uh, let's see what happens. That's uh, that's concerning if there
is a problem waiting for the players. Anyway, when I have a piece
of I have a piece of New Hampster News, it's a good time.
Yeah, that's fine, just just saying, on a second, Dave,
I'm going to pull this up here. It's a good time. How about
that second show over to me for the next five minutes? Did you hear
it, Dave? Dave, listen about second show over to me for the
next five minutes. That's that's the feed. It's it's played. Where where
are you? Are you A? Are you at w u m n H
radio dot org. Maybe that's what it is, w n H radio dot
org. You're you're on the wrong website. Okay, so you're not broadcasting
there anymore, No we are. And I was asking you it sounded like
you were not at w m n H radio dot org. Is that where
you are? I don't want to yeah, because I checked and the show's
definitely playing on the website. Okay, good, Well, I don't know
who knows. I'm pulling it up and I'm just really the Mhradio dot Yeah,
Wnahradio dot Org. Listen live. I'm clicking that now, clicking it
again, and it's playing, yeah, playing me. Yeah, I don't
know. I don't know. You scared me, Dave, Well, did
you? Uh? Yeah, Well, like I said it, I don't
know. Yeah, go ahead, like I said it happened, happened twice,
happened to me yesterday too. But I don't want to I don't think
I don't think you. I don't think your listeners are gonna want to listen
to me doing technical support for myself, right, yeah, no, you're
right, Okay, yes, go ahead, Dave. You have some new
answer news. Here's something they will probably be interested in. So you remember,
you know, you know, in the twenty fifteen era, everybody was
all gooey eye and over that wonderful thing to police we're going to do.
They were going to have body cams, right, and that was going to
provide transparency to the police. Well, in Hillsboro District Court, Uhtrea Freking
dot Com is reporting that the Hillsborough District Court Prosecutor has filed a protect a
request for a protective order against a YouTuber for the crime of uploading video from
a Hillsboro police bodycam. Hmmm, how did the how did the YouTuber obtain
the footage? If we just contacted the police department and said send me the
footage, and I think they're required to do that, and what they said,
you're not allowed to upload YouTube. That's weird. I wonder why that
doesn't make any sense. Well, they they felt they found they upload they
found a statute. Right, there's some statutes they dug up that that said
that they could be interpreted to mean that. Well, say a copy of
it here, I have a okay, here it is a quote r S
A one oh five D colon two quote. Except as authorized in this section,
no person, including without limitation, officers and their supervisors shall edit,
alter, erase, delete, duplicate copy, subject to automated and analysts,
analysis or analytics of any kind, including but YadA, YadA, YadA,
YadA. H there was also there was also I think there was something.
There may be something in there about sharing it. Well, I say,
okay, here it is okay, including he said, including, including,
but not limited to face facial recognition or otherwise. I keep keep losing it.
There's something in there that they took they took them and you can't share
it? Does it make sense? Yeah? Okay, here it is,
uh, after all that legal ease. It includes the word share, display,
or otherwise distribute in any manner, Okay, any BWC recordings. I
know that's I'm sorry, that's so difficult to understand. But that's the way
they wrote the statute. No, that's very easy to understand. Okay,
I think so. Yeah, So according to that statute, he can't upload
it to YouTube. Well, what's the point. Yeah, what's the point
of transparency if you have to cover it up? Right? Oh? I
agree, I fully agree with you. Yeah, I'm not arguing with you.
I mean, obviously the statute. I think the statute's pretty clear that
you can't upload it to YouTube. But I would. But yeah, my
question would be, well, why not. Fredo is in the chat room
and says they will lose the case. Foya is law Freedom of Information Act
can't win that case. Yeah, I don't know. Yeah, but you
know, in most in most cases, it will just have the chilling effect
that people will be afraid to post it in the first place, right,
right, And I guess that's probably why the law is written that way.
So that while they can't necessarily refuse if they're asked for bodycam footage, they
can't legally refuse to give it to you necessarily, but they don't, but
that they don't necessarily want you putting it in out there for other people to
see. So in theory, if if you wanted to show it to anybody,
you would have to show it to them on an individual basis. But
you couldn't. You couldn't just put it up on YouTube or some other site
for everyone to see. So it's a way of it's I guess it's a
way of sort of gumming up the works. It's just today's latest government abuse
in the least bad government on the planet. Right, imagine the thousand things
I'm not calling you about because there's not time. Yeah, Fredo says in
the chat room. No jury in New Hampshire will uh will find in favor
of the h Did you say it's it's the who is it again? The
Hillsborough County Sheriff's Department, Hillsborough District Court. So whatever live the prosecutor is
there? Oh? Okay, they didn't try to do anything. That's why
they didn't do anything that requires a jury Uh, you don't need a jury
for a miss you know, a misdemeanor, or at least not a Class
B misdemeanor. And you don't need a jury for one of these protective order
requests or whatever. That's just one of those things handled, you know,
handled by the court without without having to get the people involved. Yeah,
yeah, yeah, apparently. So has this individual actually been charged, Well,
he's been charged by Hillsboro by Hillsboro. Hillsboro District Court has charged him
for something else. I think it was for. They claimed that he told
people to call Hillsboro District Court something. They're claiming he called the told them
to call Hillsborough PD. They're claiming that he did that and apparently are not
allowed to do that either. All right, well, so I mean learned.
Well that's too bad, though, No, I agree with you about
transparency, and you should be able to put that on YouTube. It shouldn't
be a problem. So yeah, I just imagine how bad it is in
a place like Illinois or New York. Right, what do you mean,
Well, I mean, because it's just these these places are so much more
authoritarian. New Hampshire has the smallest government in the lower forty eight right,
right, and those places have the biggest and I think Illinois passed a lot
that you weren't allowed to film police at all, although not at least not
audio. Although I'm not sure we have the smallest government necessarily, it depends
on how you look at it. Maybe we have the least intrusive, perhaps,
but I don't know if we have the smallest, given that we have
the like the third or fourth depending on who you ask, a democratically elected
legislative body in the entire world. So if you think of it that way,
we actually have a very large government. But uh, yeah, it
depends on it depends on how you measure it. Yeah, but no,
but I do get what you're saying. Oh, by the way, sow,
our friend Tom Blanchard in the chat room just solved the mystery for us,
h Dave. I'm embarrassed. I didn't think of this myself. Tom
says in the chat room. He probably doesn't realize. You play a couple
of songs at the beginning of the show, And that makes sense because I
saw that this same number was calling while one of the songs. Because I
usually open with one or two songs on the show before I do the theme
music and the official intro. That's why you heard music. Okay, yeah,
I was thinking that yesterday I called more like four thirty, but maybe
I called earlier, So okay, sorry, sorry minutes talking about nothing.
No, that's okay. Or I'm glad we figured it out, or you
called later, because you know, I also play music at the top of
the hour for the changeover as we go into the second hour, and then
we have a typically we have a musical guest in the second hour. So
you may have called later in the show and didn't realize, but now you
know. So if you hear music, it's just because my show does have
a musical component to it, more so than it used to. Fact.
So there you go. Well, for anyone who wants to anyone who wants
to do something about this particular government abuse or any other come to form do
Chiresociety dot com right here based in Key Yes, Yes, all right,
very good Dave, Well, thank you and we appreciate the call. Thank
you, all right, you got it man, take care, bye bye,
all right. That was Dave Ridley, of course, of the Ridley
Report, though he never mentions the Ridley Report anymore. He's very focused on
NH exit and so forth. But thank you for figuring that out. Tom.
It seems obvious, and yet somehow that didn't occur to me, But
yeah, I did. He was calling. That was the second time he
called. The first time he called. It was right after the show started,
and I always open with at least one song, so yeah, but
yeah, we played a little edgewise and then a little uh Darling Hill.
Kate Shimkey of Darling Hill, she was here with us in the second hour.
I got a I got a very nice uh voicemail and text message from
my dad. He was very impressed with her music and really enjoyed the interview
as well. I think he said it was the best. Uh. It
was his favorite so far on the show as far as musical guests. So
so that was cool. Yeah, she's amazing. She's amazing, and I
love that song six oh three two five o six seven. If you'd like
to join us six oh three two five o six seven, you can also
text me at six one seven nine one seven four four seven six. I'm
on social media at Matt Connerton. You can email me Matt at mattconnorton dot
com, and of course you can interact into opine in the Facebook live chat.
But the best thing to do so that we can hear and enjoy your
dulcet tones is to give us a call at six O three two five O
six oh seven before we go in further. There's obviously a lot of news
to get to, and then we've got, like I said, we've got
Slim Volume joining us on the program in the second hour, just just briefly.
And I'm gonna be a little bit vague because it's I can't bring I
shouldn't. I don't think it would be appropriate to bring too much of this
on to the live radio show here at WM and H, so I'll be
a little bit vague, but I do want to say thank you to everyone
who has been so supportive. I put up a post on social media last
night, and then I did something additionally today, and my god, thank
you so much to the people who have stepped up to help with that.
I really love and appreciate you all. It's I'm having a I'm having a
hard having a hard go of it, as they say, I'm having a
hard time with some things right now. I'm struggling. So people have been
very supportive and very kind and I just you know who you are. And
by the way, that's part of why I played Chris h from edgewise.
If you're listening, thank you, especially my friend. Uh, you'll be
hearing from me. That will be reciprocated, I promise. I know,
I know you're not necessarily looking for it, but it will be. It
will be absolutely so. But anyway, I just wanted to say a quick
thank you if you know, you know, it's not something you'll see on
the Matt Connorton Unleashed Facebook page, but if you look at my personal Facebook
page, you'll you'll have seen it. But uh, that's what's going on.
So uh I uh, but I I do uh, I do appreciate
all of you. So I just wanted to say that and thank you to
everybody. Uh six O three two five O six O seven six O three
two five oh six o seven. The studio line is open. So we
have can you believe it, we have a uh a house speaker. His
name is Mike Johnson. I went to high school with a guy named Mike
Johnson. But it's probably a very common name. I'm willing to bet there's
a million Mike Johnson's out there. This seems like it would be a very
common name. The Mike Johnson I went to high school with was a musician,
very talented gentleman. I think, am I thinking of the right Mike
Johnson. There might have actually been more than one Mike Johnson at my school
now that I'm thinking about it, because like I said, it's a very
common name, so and unanimous among the Republicans when they got it together,
they really got it together. I believe it was a unanimous vote. So
he easily got to two seventeen. I suspect part of it was fatigue.
But so that's that's over. I know very little about Mike Johnson, and
we'll all, uh, we'll all be learning more about him together. Uh.
But uh, I guess the other thing that that also has happened that
happened after I think happened after Mike Johnson's the vote to make him the House
Speaker is Donald Trump storming out of a courtroom after taking the stand. So
he doesn't he doesn't usually like to take the stand. I don't think his
lawyers really want him taking a stand and being asked questions directly by a magistrate
or a prosecutor or anyone else, but he took the stand, so might
we might look at that first. That's this interesting and I'm hoping to see
video of it. From what's being reported, he stormed out in a huff.
He was quite displeased with the proceedings. So so there's a lot to
chew on. But before we get in any of that, I do want
to say hell load everybody. In the Facebook live chat, Riley King joins
us a fellow broadcaster, and in fact Riley says, good afternoon, have
a great broadcast. I'm on air doing my afternoon show as well. Well,
wonderful, wonderful. Jenny is in the chatroom and says, shallom peeps
easy g Eric Agnan says Happy Taco Tuesday. Whoops, Happy Prince Spaghetti Day.
Glad you caught that before you put that comment. Hans Smith of the
band Sepsis says, Hey Metal Matt, Hello, Hans, nice to see
you. Melanie La Liberty from the Great State of Vermont says, hey guys.
Fredo I mentioned in the Facebook live chat or I do enjoy saying his
full name, Alfredo Enrique Benevitas of course, from the band Dank Sinatra and
Cosmic blossom and a. Fredo occasionally posts videos solo of him online just playing
guitar or playing bass. Fantastic musician and a great, great person. It's
been on the show a few times. Now. Let's see. Let's all
right, let's look at this. Donald Trump storms out of trial. This
is the headline on newsweek dot com. It says Donald Trump stormed out of
his two hundred and fifty million dollars civil fraud trial today after a judge deny
I had a directed verdict in his favor. The trial stems from a lawsuit
in New York attorney Letitia James filed in twenty twenty two alleging that Trump and
top executives at the Trump Organization conspired to increase his net worth by billions of
dollars on financial statements provided to banks and insurers in order to make deals and
secure loans. As it turns out, for those who don't know, apparently
that is considered not okay. So if you're thinking about doing that, if
you yourself are some sort of New York real estate mogul, and you're thinking
about inflating your assets for fraudulent purposes, don't don't do it, or at
least don't do it. If you're a former president, then you're really potentially
in a bind. Well, I suppose it was before he was president.
It doesn't matter. Just don't do it. Don't do it. It's never
worth it. Following a cross examination of Michael Cohen in which Cohen was asked
if Trump directed him to inflate the number, Trump's legal team requested a directed
verdict on his testimony. Clifford Roberts, who is part of the former president's
legal team, noted that quote, the state's key witness just countered their entire
case. I can't think of anything more appropriate now unquote, So I guess
he tried to get the whole thing tossed. However, Judge Arthur anger On,
I hope I'm saying that correctly. I've heard her pronounced twenty four different
ways in the media. I'm exaggerating. I've heard it pronounced twenty one different
ways. Judge Arthur anger On denied prompting Trump to leave the New York courtroom,
apparently in a flourish Adam Klassfeld, a senior legal correspondent at The Messenger,
wrote on X quote yes, by the way, if you're wondering I
have given in. I'm not calling it twitter anymore. I'm calling it x
quote. At that point, Trump stood and left the courtroom, mumbling unbelievable,
unbelievable. He was followed by Secret Service and his son Eric. Good
to have Eric around extra protection. I guess this comes after anger On questioned
Trump about a comment made to reporters on Wednesday during a break of the trial,
and subsequently finding his testimony not credible during a hearing about whether he violated
a gag order. He find the former president ten thousand dollars. That's the
cost of doing business. He's got a campaign. I mean, that's part
of his campaign, is saying horrible things about all the people trying to put
him in prison. I mean, you know that's part of the deal.
Oh, or I should say that's the art of the deal. You see
what I did there. That's his book anyway, all right, whatever,
let's forget him for now. We have actual people in elected office to talk
about, specifically, this guy, Congressman Mike Johnson. He is our new
ladies and gentlemen, here is your winner, a new Speaker of the House.
I guess you could you could say, if you want to think about
it in those terms. He won a tournament, you know, so he
didn't actually pin anybody because it was vacant, the title was vacant, and
then he won the tournament and won the title. I know very little about
him, and I think we're all going to learn a lot about him in
the coming days. All I know so far is he's he sounds like he's
pretty conservative. He sounds like he's to the right of McCarthy. And again,
I if you're a regular listener, you might be tired of hearing me
say it. But while while I certainly put the uh, while I put
most of the blame on the Republicans for lighting the fire, lighting the fuse,
if you will, and ousting McCarthy, I do also put some blame
on the Democrats for not saving him, because I knew this would happen.
You end up with something you know. You've got McCarthy, someone you know
is you know. I mean, I think he's fairly conservative himself, but
or at least certainly beholden to the conservatives in his conference. But a House
Republican who understands that government shutdowns are a bad thing and should be avoided,
and that default. Going over the fiscal cliff and defaulting international debt is a
very very very bad thing and must absolutely be avoided. There are a lot
of House Republicans who don't feel about it that way, too many. So
the safer option would have been even though he didn't want the help, he
made it clear he didn't want the help. But although now he gets to
blame the Democrats afterward after he didn't get the help, but I think the
right thing to do would have been to save him. I really do,
because now there's somebody even more conservative, and this might be this might make
it difficult when it's time to you know, because he's not going to keep
any of the deals McCarthy made in terms of the budget. McCarthy wasn't even
keeping the deals that he made, living up to his end of the bargain
on things that he had negotiated with the Democrats and with the White House.
So I don't know. One of the things I heard about him today is
that he is practical. He's a pragmatic person. So that might be good.
That might help, That might be better. I don't know. We'll
see, but let's look at this. Five things to know about Speaker Mike
Johnson. Let's see this is from the Hill dot Com. All our eyes
are in Representative Mike Johnson. He is a Republican from the great state of
Louisiana, the fifty one year old who's election to be the fifty sixth Speaker
today put an end to the over three weeks of turmoil and GOP infighting in
the Laura Chamber. Johnson, who is serving his second term as Vice Chair
of the House Republican Conference, won the Speaker's gavel in a two twenty to
two oh nine party line vote over Minority Leader Hakim Jefferies on Wednesday, more
than three weeks after former Speaker Kevin McCarthy was booted from the top spot.
Johnson was nominated by his colleagues at a closed door meeting last night, just
hours after House Majority Whip Tom Emmer of Minnesota withdrew his bid among conservative opposition.
Emmer was the third Speaker nominee the Republican Conferences had put up since McCarthy's
ouster. As he prepares to reopen the House to its normal functions, Johnson's
stance on a variety of issues has come under a microscope. Here are the
five things that we know about Johnson. Okay, number one. Johnson has
opposed Ukraine aid. Oh hello to us. Scott Robinson in the Facebook live
chat who says, what's the old saying it's better to know the devil you
know than the one you don't. Yes, absolutely, I think I've used
that exact thing, referring to McCarthy as the devil you know. Yeah,
would have been they should have saved him. I really believe that. Jfed
in the chat room, of course, from the Great State of Vermont says
good afternoon, Good afternoon. Jafed Johnson was one of fifty seven Republicans to
vote no on a forty billion dollar aid package to Ukraine. He later told
the Shreveport Times, quote, we should not be sending another forty billion dollars
abroad when our own border is in chaos. American mothers are struggling to find
baby formula, Gas prices are at record highs. The American families are American
families are struggling to make ends meet without sufficient oversight over where the money will
go. Unquote. Ukraine has been a divisive subject with Republicans, with the
majority in the party favoring sending Ukraine AID for its war with Russia, but
a number of conservatives say no more money should be sent to Kiev. Johnson
gave statements back in support for Ukraine shortly after the invasion, but he's since
voted against AID. I'm telling you, I got a bad feeling. We
are all we are going to end up walking away from Ukraine. I feel
like it's already happening, and not just us either. Somebody, somebody in
NATO said something really unhelpful. That's not unusual. I don't want to get
I don't want to get distracted. But oh Polly C joins us in the
Facebook live chat and says, hey, Matt big fan. Friday night,
will be murdering two Birds with one Stone, will be celebrating our three year
anniversary with WMNH, and will also be celebrating Halloween eight pm Eastern Friday Night.
Yes, Yes, the three years of retrospect radio here at WMNH ninety
five point three FM gone in the blink of an eye. But I do
love my Fridays here at WMNH. It's my long day here and I love
getting to do this show and then getting to hang out with Polly C and
DJ Steve and Mike from Queen City Cabinetry. All Right, Johnson, uh
okay. Johnson was one of one hundred and seventeen Republicans who voted no on
a standalone bill to provide three hundred million in aid to Ukraine, a total
that was stripped from the Pentagon funding bill ahead of a potential government shutdown last
month. Johnson has been quick to express support for money for Israel, another
issue he'll have to deal with. Quickly asked Speaker, Israel and Ukraine could
become intertwined in Congress in the wake of President Biden's one hundred billion dollar emergency
funding requests to Congress that includes military assistance for both countries as well as border
funding. That was smart, by the way, to make sure that there's
money for border funding in that in that bill, because that makes it that
just makes it harder for Republicans to argue against it, you know when they
say, well, shouldn't we be doing more to protect our border? Well,
yeah, there's money in there for that too. So I mean it's
you know, it's more complicated than that, but I'm just saying I think
that was smart to put that in there, all right. Second thing that
we know about Mike Johnson. Johnson pushed to overturn twenty twenty election results well,
because, of course he did. Almost immediately after the twenty twenty election,
Johnson emerged as a supporter of then President Trump's unfounded claims that the election
was stolen from him. Days after the twenty twenty election, Johnson wrote on
x then known as Twitter, quote, I've just called President Trump to say
this, stay strong and keep fighting, sir. The nation is depending upon
your resolve. We must exhaust every available legal remedy to restore Americans trust in
the fairness of our election system unquote. Later in twenty twenty, Johnson led
and by the way, that was one of the things that they why they
wouldn't support Tom Emmer was because he's well. Actually, with Tom Emmer,
it's a little weird because he did vote to certify the election, so he
gets tagged as not being an election denier. But then he did sign that
amicus brief encouraging Texas to overturn their well, obviously Trump carried Texas, but
encouraging Texas to help overturn the election. I forget exactly how that worked.
But later in twenty twenty, Johnson led an amicus brief signed by one hundred
House Republicans. Oh this is it and this is Tom. Emmer signed this
as well, supporting a Texas lawsuit that aimed to overturn the twenty twenty election
results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. After the brief was
introduced, Johnson posted to X quote President Trump called me this morning to let
me know how much he appreciates the amicus brief we are filing on behalf of
members of Congress. Indeed, this is a big one unquote, and you
see why Trump likes him. Johnson was also one of one hundred and thirty
nine House Republicans who later voted to object to the objection results in Arizona,
Pennsylvania, or both. Shortly after the jan sixth riot at the Capitol,
a reporter last night tried to ask Johnson about his involvement and attempts to overturn
the twenty twenty election. Multiple GOP members flanking their Louisiana colleague began to laugh,
and Representative Virginia Fox of North Carolina yelled, shut up, Oh that's
where she's from. I haven't seen the video. I've only heard the audio,
but I knew she was. Uh, she's got a pretty thick Southern
accent. She reminded me of k Ivy, Governor of Alabama, Right k
Ivy. Johnson smiled, shook his head and said, next question. You
know what I like about k Ivy? Very conservative obviously, but very pro
vaccine, which I appreciate. She believes in science. Imagine that. Okay.
Third thing, Johnson is an ally of Trump. Yeah, kind of
figured that out. Johnson has also come out as a vocal critic of the
mounting legal battles against Trump, arguing the former president and disfavored Republicans have been
targeted by legal and political systems. He wrote on X in March, quote
in America, everyone is innocent until proven guilty, unless you're Donald Trump or
one of the disfavored Republicans targeted by Democrats unquote. Johnson serves on the House's
Judiciaries Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, and has used discussion
of President Biden and his family's alleged foreign business dealings to call out the quote
bogus charges against Trump, which include a case from the Special Council Jack Smith
over Trump's efforts to overturn the election. All right. Number four Johnson voted
against the recent bill to keep the government open. Oh great, see this
is why, though, this is why the Democrats should have saved Kevin McCarthy,
because this is what we're getting into now. It is. Look again,
I'm not going to place Look, the blame lies with Republicans who are
in the majority, who can't control their own conference apparently, and you know
you got Matt Gates of the Crazy Eight that's where this all started. But
again, Democrats do carry some blame here too, because they could have prevented
this. They could have prevented this guy who the more I'm learning about him,
the more frightened I am. They could have prevented this guy from being
in the New House Speaker. You understand what I'm saying. It's, you
know, come on, like I always say when somebody's drowning, you know,
and instead of yelling, you know, help me, I'm drowning,
they yell something like, hey, I wish you were drowning instead of me,
and I hate you. You might you might hesitate a nanosecond, but
you should still save them. They should have saved McCarthy. Charles Richardson joins
us in the Facebook live chat and says, greeting to everybody this afternoon,
and thank you you too, Charles and Charles thank you. And we won't
get into it here the other thing, but you know, I appreciate I
appreciate you, sir, thank you for what you did today. Um,
let's see okay. So yes, Johnson voted against the recent bill to keep
the government open. The pressure is now on Johnson either tackled the House a
series of unresolved appropriations funding bills or to pass a longer continuing resolution to keep
the government open. Pasted the November seventeen deadline for a shutdown. Shortly before
the House was sent into chaos without a speaker, Then Speaker McCarthy brought to
the House floor a clean short term funding bill known as a continuing Resolution,
that averted a government shut down just hours before funding was set to run out.
I was very close down to the wire. Johnson was among the ninety
Republicans who voted an opposition of the Continuing Resolution, though it still passed in
a largely bipartisan three thirty five to ninety one vote. Yeah, so they
didn't need his vote, and maybe if it were closer, he would have
voted for it because he would not want to being one of the people blamed
for a government shutdown. That's sometimes that's how that works in Congress. You
know, people vote against things knowing that it might come back to haunt them
if there's an actual consequence for them voting against something. But if they know
that what they're voting against is going to pass anyway, then they can vote
against it, and then they later they can say when asked about it,
oh, I didn't support that. I voted against it. Whereas if you
vote against something and your vote actually counts because you're voting against something and a
lot of people are voting with you against that thing, and you're you know,
you end up responsible for something like a government shutdown. So so we
don't know how he actually, you know, if there weren't that much of
a buffer, shall we say, we don't know how he would have voted.
But in his Dear Colleague letter to the Republican Conference, Johnson pushed for
the House to pass all twelve of its appropriations measures. Well, then why
do you vote against the cr because he didn't want did he want separate votes
on all of them. That's probably what it is. Here's what he said
in the letter. Quote, I'm confident we can work together to accomplish that
objective quickly in a matter that delivers our principled commitments to rein in wasteful spending
and put our country back on a path to fiscal responsibility. Unquote. Okay,
yeah, so he just e didn't want an omnibus bill. I mean,
there actually is as reckless and stupid as I think it is to send
us plunging into a government shut down. There is, under different circumstances,
there is an argument for not doing an omnibus and voting on these things individually.
I'm not saying that that's how we should do it. I'm just saying
there is an argument for that that I'm open to. But in this case,
I think the cr is a safer option, especially when you're up against
the clock. I mean, you know, in the interests of time.
Johnson said he would like to reach a consensus and discharge the appropriations bills for
the Departments of Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education and Commerce,
Justice and Science from the Appropriations Committee, while laying out of calendar schedule to
consider the bills, on the floor, Johnson said, if another stop gap
measure is needed, he would propose a measure that expires January fifteen or April
fifteen, quote, to ensure the Senate cannot jam the House with a Christmas
omnibus unquote. And the fifth thing that we have learned about now House Speaker
Mike Johnson. Johnson has a good relationship with conservatives, It says. Johnson's
relationship with fiscal conservatives and other Republicans who had made McCarthy's job difficult appears to
be off to a good start, given his unanimous support Wednesday. Yeah.
Again, if you don't know, every single Republican voted for Mike Johnson,
every single one, no dissenters. It was unanimous. So and I don't
know how much of that is enthusiasm for him or how much of that is
just, dear God, we have to put an end to this, and
I would imagine it is a probably a healthy mix of both, Johnson said
last night. Quote, we have a very busy agenda. We have appropriations
bills to get through the process. But you will see this group working like
a well oiled machine. Unquote. Representative Matt Gates, you've heard of him
right who led the effort, Dowson McCarthy said, quote it was worth it
unquote when asked about Johnson's nomination last night. Quote we adore him, and
I think he's going to do a great job for the country and for the
right reasons. Mike Johnson is not has not been bought and paid for.
Mike Johnson does what is right unquote. See, if Matt Gates is this
enthusiastic about this guy, we might have a real problem. By the way
the bottom paid for a thing. I will say this, Uh, Matt
Gates has been talking about you know these uh are are elected lawgivers and overlords
as I like to call them, about how they are about bought and paid
for by special interests and super PACs and all that. He's he's been pretty
outspoken about that, and and he has he has said some things that I
agree with. Unfortunately, his uh everything else about him is uh, well,
what's the word horrible? He seems to be a genuinely horrible human being.
But you know when he talks about uh, when he talks about you
know, bought and paid for. Same with Vivek Ramaswami, when he talks
about politicians being bought and paid for. There is truth there. There's some
truth in that, it says here. Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina echoed
Gates's comments, writing in a statement on X quote, we told the American
people they deserved someone who would be honest and represent their interests, not Washington's.
There's no denying this was a difficult process, but one that was well
worth it. Unquote. Tim Burchett of Texas, one of the eight Republicans
who, as said McCarthy, said Johnson is a quote good man who answers
to the people unquote, and said he was proud to vote for Johnson.
Conservative firebrand Marjorie Taylor Green of Georgia, a close ally of McCarthy, voted
for Johnson today, after previously noting she wanted assurances that the candidates would pursue
impeachment inquiries into Biden and other top candidate I'm sorry cabinet officials. In a
post on X shortly after the vote, Green posted a photo with Johnson congratulating
the Louisiana Republican. So there you go, Mike Johnson of Louisiana, the
new new Speaker of the House. Let's see we'll do one more quick thing
and then we'll we'll get our guests in for the second hour. We have
a slim volume coming in in our number two New Marrow dose. There was
uh, now you know what that's that's gonna be uh too much to get
into right now. I had I had something else in mind, but it's
it's a big subject. We'll have to we'll have to circle back to that.
Actually, just one other thing to kind of put a tag on the
Mike Johnson thing. One of the things about Kevin McCarthy that helped him get
to the speakership to begin with, even though it was obviously very difficult.
Oh j fed says, I love slim volume. Yes, yes, is
his fundraising ability. Kevin McCarthy can raise a lot of money and help his
party raise a lot of money. And it does say here McCarthy's fundraising guru
will back newly anointed speaker Mike Johnson. You know, because we were just
talking about are politicians being bought and paid for? Well, yes, McCarthy's
fundraising guru will back Mike Johnson and give him full support, which means money,
money, money, money. Oh Katie from the Morning Show joins us
in the Facebook live chat, Hello Katie. Jeff Miller has been a top
fundraiser, advisor and longtime pal of McCarthy. It says here this is from
Politico. The force beyond Kevin McCarthy's fundraising operation is moving to support House GOP's
new speaker, Mike Johnson, an early sign of some unity among the GOP
amid weeks of fractured chaos in the House. Jeff Miller, a top fundraiser,
advisor and a longtime pal McCarthy, will begin fundraising for Johnson's camp,
he said. As the new speaker takes the helm of the House GOP,
he also assumes responsibility for the party's House fundraising operation, the resources behind maintaining
the slim speaking a slim the slim GOP majority in a heavily fought presidential election
season. Johnson, far from a prolific fundraiser, raised just a half million
dollars since the start of twenty three. Only a half million. What a
loser to half a million? Come on, and now you're House Speaker.
I'm sort of kidding. Oh, Katie says much love to you, Matt.
Thank you, Katie, I appreciate that very much. Same um so,
Miller said in a statement to Politico, the Miller the fundraising guy quote.
Throughout my career, I've raised money for Republicans as a volunteer, and
I intend to continue to do so. I will absolutely help the new speaker
raise the resources to grow a majority in the House. Nothing is more important
than electing more Republicans to the House of Representatives. Consider me like an ATM
machine. I added that last part wasn't part of his quote. I added
that I was editorializing. Republican lobbyists told Politico that Johnson was largely an unknown
entity on K Street without the inner circle of longtime Republican leadership like McCarthy or
one time Speaker hopeful Steve Scalise, but his selection today also ushered in a
mad dash of K Street, Dennison's elbowing to get close to the new speaker
before the vote. One Republican on K Street said they were about to start
making calls to plan one of Johnson's first fundraisers as speaker. Yes, they're
right on it. Gotta get that money. Yes, yes, yes,
very exciting. In the second hour, New Maridos, we will have Slim
Volume live in studio with us. They will be making their return to the
show. They have been on the show before. I've heard the new tunes.
You're gonna hear a bunch of new stuff today, some new studio tracks
that have not yet been released. So a world radio premiere, really really
good stuff. I love the new songs, so looking forward to sharing that
with you. So there is plenty more to come. We're only halfway there.
Matt Connorton Unleashed. We are live w m n H rip the novels.
If you're listening to w n H you come in, God, don't
get so freely madzing you. Welcome back, everybody. We are into our
number two new marrowed dos of Matt Connorton Unleashed and we are live from the
studios of wm NH ninety five point three FM and Glorious Downtown Manchester, New
Hampshire, also on Comcast Channel six if you're in Manchester, and hello to
all of our online listeners across the nation and around the globe. You can
go to my website Matt Connorton dot com for all of your live streaming options,
social media links, contact info, show archives, et cetera, et
cetera. Today's Wednesday October twenty five, twenty twenty three, and we have
some musicians in studio with us. The guys from the band Slim Volume have
returned. How are you guys? Not too shabby, my friend? Good,
very good, very good. Let's let's do this. We're gonna play
some of the new tunes, but let's start at the news desk and tell
us who you are and what you do in the band. I'm Trent.
I am playing guitar, singing and co writing some lyrics. All right,
yeap. My name is Mike. I play lead guitar for these guys and
do some co writing as well. Hello Mike, Hello Jake. I played
bass and sing okay, and John and I did I played drums? Now
now who was here last time you were? It was me in trin Okay,
okay, So we got we got the full band or is there somebody
else who's missing this? Well done? Well done? Oh though, I'm
glad you're all here. This is great. Yeah. You've got some fans
in the chat room too, and probably more. We'll be arriving. Jay
Fed from the Grey State of Vermont says I love Slim Volume, and Katie
from the Morning Show here with Peter White. She says, woo, me
too, and uh, Melanie, Melanie on the chat room, you know,
because we're on uh she's watching on Facebook and with the overhead cam you
can see the full studio. And Melanie said, h are they trying to
fool us? Couch guy and window guy are the same person? Nice try
fellas and here it's something we can I guess. So, yeah, that's
something we could get into. These are balanced and opposite appearances, right right.
I didn't think people would catch us this fast, but it didn't take
long. Yeah, that's a good that's a good get. Yes, two
of you are clean shaven. It would appear, which isn't actually, which
is unusual in this day and age. You almost stand out by not having
facial hair because everybody has facial hair. That was kind of interesting too,
like none of us have tattoos. A little bit of a twist on like
you know music scene guys too, that is unusual. I've I've often said
that myself. I played in a bunch of bands and I've never gotten a
tattoo. I've never even had a piercing like, I've never had an earring.
I've never had any kind of a piercing of any kind. I just
don't want to punch holes in my flesh. But a couple of the bands
I was in like it, Like I was, I kind of stood out
because I was the one guy who had no tattoos or piercings of any kind.
But uh, yeah, so I guess I'm not alone here. We're
an inkless band. Well, now tell me about the new tracks, because
these are none of these are out yet, correct, so they're kind of
half new, half old ish. Yeah. Yeah, man, there's a
lot we could say about all of them. Running Thin, which I think
we should play first when we get to that. Yes, that's kind of
the first track that we all wrote and recorded together as a band. Oh
really Okay, Yeah, one of the other ones goes back to actually last
October, and then we have another brand new one that we're previewing that we're
very excited about that we just recorded in September of this year. Okay.
I always thought there was something a little bit special about Running Thin, just
because, as Tran was mentioned, and it's like one of the first ones
that we truly wrote as a band, like all collectively sat down in a
room and like, to me, like the day is super vivid. I
remember like leaving we gras got some grub and it was just like such a
beautiful, majestic day out and it was just kind of like hit different and
like we were going to practice and just feeling kind of like on cloud nine.
Yeah, and like we out there and things just kind of like fell
into place super super quickly on it and it's just like a really really cool
experience for us to have, like for the first time. Oh, very
cool, very cool. All right, So that's Running Thin, Running Thin.
Ye. Yeah, let's let's give that a listen and then we'll we'll
get we'll come back and we'll chat some more and get caught caught up with
all that you guys have been doing. But uh yeah, like I said,
I love these tunes. I listened to all four of them, really
good. But all right, so this is Running Thin, brand new from
Slim Volume. Check this out. If I don't get going, I'm glad
if I make no steaks when we'll win. No, it's it's hard to
know where mah running things. I've had it all to direver guy. The
world is cruel sometimes the badst time to make running it. I came from
nowhere, I disappeared, I found love again, I stayed clear. I'm
still a lot, so many worlds and baby running fish. I'm leading home
to rubbers the world. It's cool Sometimes May it's time to let and I'm
running fish. It took a long to get. It takes to be free.
It takes long to get. It took to to be friend. Oh
my god, guys, that is so good. Thank you. I absolutely
love that. By the way, I'm not the only one we have.
Emily Lennon in the Facebook live chat, she says, Hi, Jake,
Trent, Mike, and John, it's Emily. She says, I'm their
biggest fan. Thanks for listening, And she said I absolutely love this song.
Yeah, that's so good. Okay, now who's singing? So Trent,
you sing, but somebody else? Who's who else is singing with you
on that? Jake? Okay? Yeah? Really, you guys, your
voices together sound incredible. That's definitely a big part of the magic of that
song. And it just sounds so good. Where were these all recorded in
the same place, in the same studio or where do you record these?
These were all over the place? Really? Yeah? Yeah, so this
one, this one. We started at a place called the Greenhouse in Guildford
which has now moved to Poor Okay, with Sam MacArthur and uh we did
a little bit of tracking at home, but yeah, for the most part
recorded up there, mixed by a buddy in town. Okay, yeah,
yeah, each one of the like these songs, have a totally different story
on how they got recorded. Yeah. Yeah, that's unusual because they they
sound uh, you know, I listened to all four of them today,
just in succession, and you know, they they sound cohesive, you know,
they don't you know what I mean. It's not like you like you
listen to them and you go, oh, these sound like they were recorded
different places. Not that most listeners are going to figure that out anyway,
but but but some people might or they might sense that there's something not together
about these. But but no, they all sound really good. So were
these literally all done in four different places or yeah? Wow, I think
they were over like, you know, different totally different spands of times too.
Yeah. Yeah, And now when are these coming out? Are they
all coming out at the same time because these are all none of these have
been released yet, right, correct, So it's a little bit I mean
I think I think the plan is to talk it over, which we're gonna
get to is gonna probably be the next one to come out. Yeah,
that, by the way, that's my favorite efore. Yeah, probably sometime
in the next you know month. Uh. Jake has a song that kind
of goes with it that we recorded at the same time that actually tonight we're
going to finish up at black Heart down the Road really excellent. Yeah,
and so those are kind of our like, you know, one two,
kind of the slim volume twenty twenty four, you know, yeah, new
model, Yeah, coming out is the upgraded sound. Yeah. So yeah,
release strategy is always something we've been playing with a little bit. Yeah.
Yeah, Well there's so many different ways to do it. Yeah,
it's tricky because as we record new things, sometimes you hear the newest thing
you've done and it sounds so good, yeah previously right, and it starts
to make you, excuse me, second guess, like, Okay, do
we even put that other stuff out at all? Or like do we wait,
how what's the approach? So that's sort of what we're grappling with at
this point. Yeah, it's a very good, good problem to have to
feel like we're trying to catch up with stuff first. Definitely seeking it as
it comes and deal with it absolutely, but yeah, it can be tricky
if you you know, if you've been working on something for a long time
and you've and so you've heard it a million times and then it so then
it doesn't hit you quite the same way, and then you have to try
to figure out, well, what about someone who's never heard it? Are
they how are they going to react to it? And because you know they
haven't heard it a thousand times, so it'll be new to them, Well,
they love it as much as the first time I heard it when I
wrote it and played it, and you know what I mean. Well,
the interesting thing about that is like, I don't know the last time I
even listened to that, So listening listening to it right here kind of you
know, gave me that feeling again. And that's something we were we were,
Yeah, we were just talking about that a couple of weeks ago.
As a band is like I don't know, Jake, I think it was
kind of your thought at the practice, but the concept that like if you
know, if the song doesn't give you goose bumps, you know, why
should you expect it to give anybody else goosebumps. And I think you know
that song, like Mike was saying earlier, when when it was created,
it just had a vibe. Yeah, it had a feeling to it,
and then you know, you record it, listened to it a hundred times
in a row, kind of go away. But yeah, yeah, I
would say it stands up. Yeah, No, it was cool. It
was cool to listen to it. It's funny. I was thinking the same
exact thing. I was like, I can't even remember last time I've listened
to that tape, because like you know, once you're kind of done,
you talk it away, you're just like, yeah, I don't know,
just kind of leaves your mind for a little bit. So of here it's
just kind of cool, like a fresh perspective on it. Yeah, months
later it was nice. Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And you
mentioned, uh, Blackheart Studio. Now that's a name that I've heard a
lot on this show. Yep. Yeah, so that's Eric Solter. Oh
yeah, yeah, that's a name I've heard a lot on the show too.
Yeah. He's working with a lot of people, yeah, doing really
good stuff. He's got a good setup over there. For sure. He's
the man. Yeah, he's got a nothing. Then they both kind of
like you know, split the duty on taking guys in recording them, mixing
master and whatever. And it's always a very good experience working with those guys.
Excellent. So they do the master in there too if you want,
they'll do anything that you want them to do and stuff like that. But
yeah, oh that's excellent. That's excellent. Well let's let's listen to Uh.
Yeah, this is like I said, this is my favorite of the
four that you sent me. Talk it Over. Yeah, I really love
this. Let's give this a listen. If you're just joining us, we
have a Slim Volume is with us live in studio. We're talking and we're
playing some of these These are new tracks that have not yet been heard.
This is a world radio premiere, my friends, uh, which we which
we love around here. We love sharing brand new stuff. But this is
really good. Check this out. This is talk it Over by Slim Volume.
You're the riddle I door, darling, dreaming and disguise. Tell me
what you're feeling. I'll sure you. It's all right. Let's talking over,
let's talking over, let's talking over a little mystery sweet Tart, the
colors in the clouds every time I'll read I'm swimming through your eyes. Let's
talk it over, Let's talk it over, let's talk at let's get it
lay. But this kind of way my heart is being EXAs I need to
get all way. Are we on the same thing. Let's talk to Let's
talk to over. Let's talk to over. Oh that is so good.
Talk it over by Slim Volume. Man, we've got Trent, Mike,
Jake, and John here with us live in studio. Yeah, that's my
favorite, guys. That is absolutely amazing. And Katie in the chatroom says,
loving this one. Megan Wilson says, go Johnny, slim volume rocks.
And she said that in all caps, so you know she means it.
And Emily Lennon said, I haven't heard this one recorded like this yet.
It sounds awesome, very good to hear. Yeah, yeah, was
there an earlier version of that? She says she hasn't heard this one recorded
like this yet. She just just heard it live take So, oh I
got you many times? Yeah, I got youa you know what? Really
sorry, I'm trying to get to you know what really makes the song?
You guys will know exactly what I'm talking about when I say it, But
for listeners who don't know, I'll just demonstrate I like analyzing songs. Okay,
I'm excited to hear this. Yeah, you won't be surprised. You
can probably predict what I'm gonna say. But right there, that the way
it sets up the chorus. I mean, that's really little nuance is like
that, you know, just completely make a song, you know, and
you do it several times throughout the song, right like close to the beginning,
and then you know, you do it again before each chorus. But
that's just that one thing. It just if you were to remove you know,
it's like what is a jenga? I've never played it, I watched
people do it. You know, you take one piece out and the whole
thing could collapse if you If that wasn't in the song, you know,
it'd still be a really good song, it still be really catchy, but
that one nuance just makes it that d Yes, I feel like we ultimately
end up really kind of focusing on like these these tiny motifs and songs they're
kind of like really kind of blossom into making like yeah, like exactly what
you're describing. It's like that's always like something in the music that I've always
totally appreciated. It's just like it's like this one tiny thing that really just
sets it aside, and you just like like, I really hope everyone else
is hearing that right now, because that's just like incredibly you know what I
mean. So like to try and just like replicate that and try and just
take an approach where it is like ooh, what is that? Here's something
even an accident, you know what I mean. I feel like all the
time I'll go back on like a recording that we did a practice and it'll
just be a genuine, like, you know, mistake on my part if
I'm listening to what I'm doing, and then like I'll be like, it'll
just send my mind into a direction where I'm hearing something melodic and it always
transforms into something yeah, really really cool. So I do I do dig
like kind of that approach on music. Yeah? Yeah, absolutely? Now
where was that recorded? Was that done? A black Heart? Yeah?
Okay, okay, very cool, very cool. When you play these,
uh the four songs that were featuring today, have these all been played live
or they all part of your yeat. Yeah, okay, so people have
heard of them the live shows, but just not the not the studio versions
before. Very good, very good. Yeah. I think something that could
be interesting to kind of talk about a little bit is like the band the
band origin story. Yeah, yeah, from because last time we talked about
it and it was only Jake and I here, so it was kind of
from our perspective. Yeah, But I think what's interesting is from Mike's perspective,
because Mike, we had no idea existed. He was a brand new
soul in our lives. And that was the result of Jake and I going
to the Strange Brew open mics. Oh okay. For a period of time
actually, about exactly two years ago, between like September and November, we
were going down there a lot. So yeah, yeah, so it was
kind of funny. I actually feel like for about a year and a half,
kind of like a little bit like through like somewhat past the beginning of
the pandemic until like towards the end, I was doing an open mic night
with like an old like a good friend of mine named Howard. He's kind
of like a blues legend down at Strange Brew's been doing like the blues jam
there since like ninety eight or something crazy like that. Yeah. Yeah,
but so you know I was doing that and I remember these guys just like
coming in one time and then there was just a duo and uh I remember
him playing it and just kind of like they just like crushed it, you
know what I mean. They just had like some some sweet, sweet covers
and like they'll kind of add their own little twang on it, like uh
doing a cover by the Strokes and like adding a harmony that's not there throughout
the song. Just kind of cool little things like that where I was just
like, wow, that's awesome. Yeah, And uh, you know I
remember like my first impression was like damn, these dude sounds so good,
kind of like you know, like screw them, like right right, yeah,
because like I'm not playing with them. And then as as Trenton just
mentioned like they had come back like you know, a couple of weeks in
a row, so then like I don't know, had like the light bulb
moment of just being like like maybe these du like guys need a guitar player.
Yeah, So like I went up to Trent and I was like I
was like, hey man, like if you're ever trying a jam, you
know, let you know. And that's like I feel like if anyone out
there's like, you know, musicians listening, that's like the most generic thing
you say to anyone like jam sometimes it really like it never ever happens.
And so like me and him just looked at each other and we're just like,
all right, like tomorrow night, like we jam and if like it
doesn't happen, then like we never ever tried to get together again, like
just kind of set that precedent because we both knew how it went, you
know what I mean. Yeah, and then uh, we got together and
then like it's just like from there it was just like non stop like getting
together and hanging out. And it's crazy how like organic all of us got
together. And that's another aspect that I don't know if someone else wants to
touch on that I think is really cool. Yeah, well, I'd like
to introduce Johnny a little bit. So, so right at the time that
we were meeting Mike, and it turned out that Mike lived just down the
street from me up here, oh okay, up in the northern the northern
end of Manchester. But so that was just super convenient, and I met
a girl. I started dating Madbury, and uh, she told me on
our first date, she's like, yeah, my cousin, you know,
we're talking about what we do. It's like, yeah, I playing a
band whatever. She's like, oh, my cousin plays drums or like sort
of used to play drums. And I was instantly like, oh, all
right, Like if they goes well, maybe that could be something to explore
down the road. And so, you know, it turned out that,
you know, we we we hit it off and and kind of started,
you know, egging on Johnny a little bit when I'd see him at their
family stuff, be like you ready to like come jam with us, Like
because I'm just gonna say this and Johnny can take it over. But he
had never played in a band before, he'd never played a show before,
he didn't even own a drum kit a year ago. And the things he's
done for us and and his development as a drummer in the last year has
been remarkable. But thank you, Yeah, Johnny, say what you want
on that. So yeah, I started out playing drums in like school bands,
so that's like middle school, high school. And after I graduated,
I kind of stopped and didn't really think I was gonna take it anywhere else.
And then I met Trent for the first time, and he's asking me
to play in the band and like come jam with the guys kind of thing.
And I was a little hesitant at first. I was kind of just
practicing on eke Hit and that's all I had, really, yeah, just
learning some covers and just kind of fooling around on it. But I decided
to just go for it, and I kept going to practice every single week
and after that, I mean it's been a year now, so yeah,
yeah, I just kind of fell into place. Yeah, it feels like
we've been playing forever though, Yeah, but like a great way, you
know what I mean. Like, and especially to consider that he hadn't like
really been playing like a kid or have like played a live live gig,
I was just like, yeah, like damn you like nice. I was
ready to just jump and start playing live gigs. And even like a year
ago, I didn't have the thought to like make my own original music and
stuff like that. So it's yeah, it's been a blast of them,
very cool, very cool. Yeah, no, you sound great on these
songs. Thank you. What I've really enjoyed about playing with both Mike and
Johnny is just how tasteful they are as players. And I'm sure you can
hear that in the recording. Oh yeah yeah. But both are playing,
at least to my ear, exactly what the songs need, not more,
not less, and both are capable of really like incredible playing. Mike,
for ex sample, is capable of playing he's a really like a depth guitar
player, and he'll dial it back just for exactly what the song requires.
Yeah, yeah, And there's something to be said about go when you you
could play something flashy but pulling back and playing something that's tasteful. And Johnny
two, I don't know. I mean, I don't want to speak for
you here, john but the h we use the comparison of Ringo all the
time. We yeah, a lot of were Beatles fans. Yeah, and
we we say, you know what, would Ringo play a lot of times
in practice because Ringo is somebody who he's trying to blow you away with Phil's
or with his technical ability. But you listen to Beatles songs and all his
parts are different, and they always some of them are really complex. He's
just don't necessarily notice it unless you be really pay attention. Yes, because
it's exactly what the song needs and it's not right distracting, right right?
Yeah, exactly. So, uh, Brent, I think this is for
you. Melanie is asking in the chat room, so how long were you
forced to date her to get the drummer in play? I wasn't a force
at all. Are you still together? Oh? Yeah? Oh good,
good, very good. All right. Well, so that that's a happy
ending to that story on multiple friends, then that's that's excellent. I think
you know it's a win win. Yes. Yeah. When someone said in
the chat earlier, like oh, the drummer and the basis are the same,
the same person, like, okay that it's kind of funny because we're
just talking about this the other day. So some of like the balanced and
opposite aspects of each other. It's like Jake and I a little bit older,
Mike and Johnny a little bit younger. I think, you know,
physically speaking, we we share a little bit of that, you know,
Mike and I and Jake and Johnny, but also experience in music. Mike,
Mike and I have played in lots of bands for a long time.
Jake and Johnny really before this, not much at all really, and it's
just it kind of just goes on from there. It's just just interesting.
We've we've really all kind of just fell into place as as friends. Yep,
yeah, absolutely, oh absolutely yeah. I mean how you relate to
each other as people is you know, part of part of what helps keep
a band together, you know, not not just some music, but you
know, if you genuinely like each other, it becomes like a family or
a brotherhood. In this case, I don't know about genuinely right people appearances
for a radio thing like this, I understand. Yes, yes. Melanie
also said in the chat room, they are so adorably respectful of each other.
It's nice. It's nice to see. Let's see. And somebody else
had made a comment too. I think about that the song we displayed,
if I can find it, No, I probably won't be able to know.
I'm not gonna be able to find it. Oh. Emily Lennon said,
such a great drummers, so very nice, and Katie's oh yeah,
here's the comment I was looking for. And Katie said, Johnny has blossomed
very nice, very nice. And I have a question too, john are
you are you in any other bands or is this it? And the reason
I ask that specifically is has been a trend on the show lately where every
drummer who comes on the show is in like ten different bands, the only
one, only one, yeah, all right, the only one he's telling
us about. Right, I have a secret band that I'm not letting them
know about. But yeah, well, drummers are hard to find, you
know, they're in high demand. I'm sure you've been approached. Actually there
was one time where someone was talking about they did. But we're all learning
this together in real time, So just say that they really like my playing
and it would be cool to have someone that plays like me to play.
But right, I think I'm sticking with that, which is another way of
saying, come join our band. But yeah, I'm sticking with them.
Yeah, yeah, no, that's good. Yeah, drummers are in such
high demand. And my theory is, and regular listeners hear me say this
all the time, is that when you're you know, when you're growing up
and you get interested in playing a musical instrument, you have to go talk
to your parents about, hey, I want to play you know, whatever
it's going to be. If you say drums, they're going to try to
talk you out of it because nobody wants all that now, or maybe if
it's a tuba. But so, I think that's why drummers are in such
such high demand. But well, let's uh, let's see if we played
two or we've we've only played two, right, Yeah, let's play.
Should we go with Long Road? Yeah, let's play? We have Long
Road? All right? So this is another great track. If you're just
joining us, we have Slim Volume live in studio with us. The whole
band is here. We're playing some brand new songs. These have not been
heard. You are hearing these, well, they've been heard live, but
they have not been heard. These studio tracks have not been heard before today.
So you are hearing these for the first time. Check this out.
This is Long Road Slim Volume. Oh sorry for the delay. Here we
go. I've been scared of my mind. I tried to disguise them.
I tried getting in silence. Neither seemed effective. I took a look in,
I saw my future. My soul is eternal. It's all a great
circle. It's all correct. If it's loud and it's clear high. In
order to get in, you gotta get it away I've been dropping the baggage.
I've been clearing the path space in my heart's feeling. Uh pacious is
actually truths contagious? Six years you gotta, I've been taken, ave been
smelling the flowers. I took a t I fell talking to you about and
study I've been taking. I didn't speak. That is Long Road by Slim
Volume. You're hearing it here for the first time on Matt Connorton Unleashed,
and we have the guys from Slim Volume here with us live in studio,
and we are featuring some of these brand new tracks. Really really good.
Now, where was that one? Where'd you guys record that one? I
was done at a friend of ours? Yeah house. He's got a nice,
really nice, like little home studio in the basement too. Yeah.
Man, it's actually a really really nice I've got a bunch of like real
nice microphones and such, and he's just a good dude to work with.
So yeah, we've gone over there and kind of dabbled and just kind of
like trying trying some stuff out, some new songs and whatnot. So yeah,
very cool, very cool. Now, who writes the brand? Do
you write? Do you write all the Trent rather, I'm sorry, do
you write? Do you write all the lyrics? Are? I mean not
always that one I did? Yeah, that one, Yeah, that one
was that was very much inspired by sort of like a like a spiritual awakening.
I was kind of going through between like twenty eighteen and through twenty twenty
one. Yeah. I kind of remember exactly starting that song. O kidding,
I was sick with COVID and twenty twenty one, and yeah, kind
of I remember starting that one. But yeah, yeah, that one.
That one has roots in Florida. It's good. Well we were, isn't
that like part of it? Like the riff? Yeah, Like Trent and
I were on like a vacation in Florida and we heard like a Southern rock
cover band tried to capture some of the essence of that vibe. I hear
like when I hear that, I hear like some Almond Brothers type of That's
what That's what I was singing Almond Brothers. That's exactly right. Was was
that one more silver Dollar? But yeah, yeah, we were some dive
bar in Florida and the guys were just ripping. They were awesome. Yeah,
whoever they were anonymous covers band. It's this little it's this little d
shape that hammers on a sea a sea chord, and uh, it's got
that southern rock sound, and yeah, it kind of lends itself to a
more like philosophical, kind of like introspective lyric in my opinion, which is
kind of what that song is all about. What what came first when you
started writing it? That one. I remember writing the riff. I remember
just being sick as a dog, laying on my back playing the guitar,
trying to be productive and and just kind of playing that riff over and over
again. Yeah, yeah, huh. Mariam Bannis shows us in the Facebook
live chat says, I'm enjoying this very good, very good, Mariam.
Isaac Banks says, slim volume, I love this song. Emily Lennon says,
such an incredible song. And Katie says, I love love this one
so two loves, so she really loves it. We should mention for Katie
that we will be playing her wedding as Oh no kidding, Yeah, next
August. We got it marked down. Oh very cool. It's the plane.
At least we're starting to learn some of the songs that she's requested yeah,
like like what is she Don't Worry Baby by the Beach Boys. Yeah,
she had a very specific request though for Forever is another Ever. So
oh, we'll discuss all Katie's wedding plans after the next song, right,
I don't want to you know, interrupt or kind of jump ahead on that,
right right. That's no, It's just last time we were on the
listener from Vermont was kind of teasing us about like, oh, you guys
play like birthdays and weddings, and we were like, yeah, actually we
do, so it's evident. Yeah, Katie says, yes, my wedding
band eight sixteen twenty four. Wow. Yeah, Lessen from One Come Wow.
Yeah. Tom Blanchard says that's my Favorite's that's that was his favorite of
what we've played so far. Yeah, I think really good. I think
another thing that's a little interesting about just like going back to like how writing
music and like how all of us kind of do it is. What's really
neat is you know Trent like for example, kind of like you know,
i'd say he took more of the lead and bringing that song as a whole
to every like the band, to bring it, bring it to life to
what it is Now and stuff like that, and then there's other songs like
Running Thing, which is like a collective band effort, and then there's ones
like earlier Trent was mentioned that we're going to go over to Blackhart and finishing
a tune that kind of goes hand in hand with a Talcoti over that we
had done, and that is one that Jake had brought at the table,
and then like another one that we grabbed at black Heart in this session,
like is something that I had brought to the table. So to have like
three different guys bringing different riffs with like their own personal taste and just what
they had grown up listening to, like everything that's been filled through through your
brain as a musician, and like coming out and then like coming together and
doing something. And I feel like even just in terms of what we played,
you can kind of hear that from like the first Running Thing a little
bit more country to Talk it Over, which I think lends itself to a
true indie rock kind of sound, and then like this which is just kind
of like, you know, more of a Southern rock kind of vibe some
And I think that's personally why I love playing with these guys so much is
just like the diversity. Yeah, it's cool man, Yeah, no doubt,
no doubt, dude. Do any of these songs change at all when
you play them live? Because I can imagine, like a song like long
Road, I could imagine if you wanted to, if when you're doing a
live you could, if you want to, kind of stretch it out and
totally Yeah, definitely. We love kind of like sometimes trying to find certain
parts or even like how can we extend maybe the end of the song and
like, you know, maybe I can take a song on trade off with
Trent a little bit, and then how can we let cohesively go into like
a cover or like then another one of our songs that could be like in
the same key or something like that, or like some of the vibe trying
to like make it a little bit of an experience like that. Yeah,
yeah, that must keep it interesting. I would say, not only do
they change sometimes just for how we play them live, but sometimes the way
we'll play it live one time will inform Okay, actually that's how that this
song goes now, Yeah, that happens in practice or when we meet up
and you know, we might have been working on a song and playing it
the same way ten practices in a row, and then, like Mike said,
before, a mistake happens or some little thing happens that you're like,
actually that sounds good. Yeah. And sometimes like when we go to Strange
Brew for the open mic there, which is on Wednesdays, so people would
go tonight actually if they want it, yeah, we'll you know, play
a song and kind of workshop it there. That's where I feel like we
really can test early on does this song work? Do we all know it
right? Because if we're comfortable playing it here in front of you know,
a crowd of people who know music and like it, yeah, then maybe
it's ready to go. And sometimes we'll learn little new things about it.
At least I feel like I that experience happened to Crew has been an awesome
resource to go test out songs. I mean it's where we all met.
So we're kind of just forever grateful to Strange Brew. Yeah, And I
feel like it's kind of like an old fashioned way of doing it, of
going out to the open mic not only to meet people, but to test
out your material and stuff. And it's it's really cool that they do a
full band open mic there, so you know, I was great for Johnny
to come in and get some live experience. That was like a big thing.
You know, that was a big milestone for us as a band.
Was like, all right, we got to get Johnny ready, go play
six songs live, you know what I mean. So that's been awesome and
we continue to go down there and try out new stuff. Well, yeah,
it reminds me just the open mic culture of it makes me think of
comedians, like stand up comedians right right, the kind of practice of remaining
in touch with a crowd of some kind and even if you know, like
if they've I have five minutes on airline peanuts, you know whatever, but
I'm gonna go try them out to the left the comedy Seller. Yeah,
like that fear of like this thing is like almost ready. I think it's
close, and we're gonna just try it anyways and hope it doesn't bomb.
And I don't know, I think that is really valuable because then when you
know it's good and you have it finished, you're like, okay, well
I remember we played the Strange berw last week and it went We're gonna crush
it. Yeah, Yeah, there's something there is like an intangible quality to
playing a song live, even if in an open mic setting like that,
that almost like graduates it and it somehow like locks in your brain more once
you've performed it. Yeah, yeah, it makes sense. And I've heard
a lot too about the Strange Ber over the years, people talking about the
open mic there and meeting people, and uh, I've heard that from a
lot of musicians on the show. Yeah, that's that's very cool. And
you know, like you as we're saying too, it's a good way to
you sort of workshop the workshop the material, which I guess is what stand
up comedians say, but you know, to workshop the songs. And are
you guys playing out a lot? Do you do play a lot of live
shows or have you been more focused on recording or I think we like we're
pretty open just getting gigs when we can, you know what I mean,
kind of kind of like falls into play sometimes and sometimes we go and seek
it and stuff like that. But i'd say between now now and Christmas time,
I think we have maybe five or six or something like that looking looking
forward to and stuff like that. Yeah, and they always just kind of
keep coming and stuff like that. But I love playing gigs. It's like,
you know, one of my favorite aspects of music and stuff like that.
So I'm almost like the more the merrior. It's been very organic how
we've we've gone through, just in the last year, periods where we've been
playing a lot, in periods where we haven't played. So just literally in
the last month we haven't played. I think our last gig was in September.
So our next gig we got a cut. We got one in Keen,
one in Portsmouth in a couple of weeks. We're doing a private event
next week. But speaking of strange, Brew will be there Thanksgiving Eve.
Oh wow, opening set, Yeah, open the set for this. Uh
my buddy Jay J McGuinness, he's got it's such an awesome band. They're
just like, you know, real like funky. It's just groovy, just
like Got the B three and stuff like that. So yeah, really kind
of just like a fun atmosphere for for a night like that. So we're
gonna hit a quick hour set with those guys and then we'll actually be back
there again December second, with another local band split in the bill called Regals.
Another like you know, good good good group of friends of ours and
stuff. Like that play a lot of gigs with them, so that'll be
a good one. Cool. Ryan from Regals was on these very airwaves just
last week. He was on the Morning show. Oh okay, yeah,
oh cool, very cool. And who's who's the band you're opening? What's
the name of the band that you're opening for? And thanks? You have
a name? I think it's like kind of like a new project. So
like he doesn't have quite a name. He's got like different bands, like
yeah, but like I know, like my buddy, it's just Jaye McGinnis
is like how I know him? And then just like whatever falls into place
that night falls into place. Yeah yeah. Well, by the way,
Tom Blanchard likes your shirt. I think he said a cool shirt and chat
room. I think he's I think he's referring to you, Mike. I
think I think he means the tied I one. Probably, I'm just figured
I should check. Yeah, well, let's before we run out of time,
let's we'll play one more track here, this is we have. Can
we set this one up for a second, because this one's this means yeah,
this one's kind of an anomaly for the rest. So this one when
when we met Mike. This is before Johnny. We kind of just stumbled
into this riff one day and it was one of those ones that happens,
like you're practicing one song and you do something and then you're like, oh,
like that's cool, it doesn't fit, so it's gonna be another song
right right, which is a problem for us sometimes I got a whole lot
of scraps of songs that we're trying to get back to, but and it
just flourished into this really beautiful arrangement. And so one of the reasons this
song is not released it is because we're a little unsure on if this recording
is really doing it justice. Okay, and this was a long time I
mean to get a lyric that did the music justice. So like this song
is kind of like a deep cut from like the archives has been there for
a while. It's very deep. It's very different from kind of the other
stuff we've heard. But okay, I think that's that's the tea up.
All right, cool, all right, let's give this a listen. So
this is if only by slim volume. Mm hmmm, I would have no
fine, assuly said, and that's time or I will have to time a
lot time before I had no by getting myself what and what to give up?
All furl your li fa stays easy say it once. I want still
to some to find how the ones to follow, to find the one found
I found last to call. I love the the bass solo at the end
there. That's cool. That's that's really cool. That is if only a
slim Volume. Yeah, that was kind of melancholy, but in a good
way. And I love the I love the backing vocals there underneath, especially
toward the end where you can really hear him. Yeah, that's a cool
song. Yeah it is. It is a little different from the others,
but I like it a lot. Guys, this has been wonderful. Slim
Volume here with us live in studio. Trent, Mike, Jake, and
John. What do you guys have coming up? When is your next show
so we can keep people updated. Next one is November ninth and keen with
the band from Portsmouth called bird Friend, who's kind of like a folk they're
a trio now, they're they're cool. We've been friends with them for a
long time. So that's November ninth. November eleventh. We're in Portsmouth at
the Button Factory. Stage, which is w s C, a radio in
Portsmouth, which we've been dying to get in over there. I played there
with my old band, that awesome spot. We're playing with two Portsmouth bands
that are very cool playing at Parlor and it's a band called Moon Snails.
And then yeah, and then yeah, like I said, we got this
private event next week, which I don't really know how much I'm allowed to
say about it, but yeah, Then locally, locally, we got some
cool ones coming up locally, so we have we have Thanksgiving Eve at Strange
Brew, December at Strange Brew again, and then December sixteenth, four to
seven pm, we're playing at two Share Brewery for their fifty year anniversary show,
which two Shares a little bit like a home base for US home court.
We're really excited for that one because we just have a lot of fun
there. We always drink a couple extra beers. It's just it's always a
good time. It's closed for everyone. It's such a local gig, you
know, I mean, very nice atmosphere. So yeah, and then and
then we got like like we got talking over coming out soon. We'll get
the track we're finishing up tonight coming out. We got some really cool songs
coming out, yeah, over the winter. Yeah, so but talk talk
it over as the next single official likely it'll either be that or Running Thin,
but yeah, probably talk it over. Okay. Yeah, yeah,
like I said, that's that's my favorite. Katie in the chat room says
she can't wait to go to go to another gig. Plus, you're going
to be playing at her wedding. So we missed you, Katie. It's
been a minute, I know. Oh, she also said. In the
chat room, Tommy says, Hi, Hi, we love you guys.
Yeah, yeah, good people. We love our fans for sure. Yeah.
Absolutely, well, guys, thank you, thank you so much.
We'll start to wrap up, and uh, hey everybody out there, if
you miss any part of today's show, it will be up in just a
little bit at w m n H Radio dot organ at my website Matt Connorton
dot com. And uh, I do want to remind you too, I
will not be here tomorrow, so tomorrow will be a best of. I
do have a brand new best of show for you tomorrow and I will be
back live on Friday. And if you're listening live on Wednesday, I believe
off the Mark Sports with the great Kyle Heavy is coming up next, and
uh what else? I'll one other thing too. Where should people go online
to keep up with everything you guys are doing at Slim Underscore Volume for the
Instagram. And then if you want to check us out online, it's a
Slim Volume band dot com. Okay, everything you get links to the music,
you can see pictures of us being all cute and stuff. You can
check out the gigs posted on there. That's usually where I go to look
for the gigs because like, I don't know one of those things. Got
to keep checking out the gig dates and stuff like that. But yeah,
so those are probably the two best boss to keep up with where we're at.
All right, very good, very good. All right, guys,
thank you so much. This has it's a great service you offer the local
music. Yeah, we appreciate it, man, thank you, thank you.
Happy to do it, happy to do it. All right, that's
going to do it for us for now. Best off tomorrow. I'll be
back on Friday and I will talk to y'all a little bit later. Bye,
everybody, audios Peast