WEBVTT

1
00:00:04.000 --> 00:00:09.080
This is Later with Lee Matthews The
Lee Matthews Podcast. More of what you

2
00:00:09.160 --> 00:00:13.759
hear weekday afternoons on the Drive.
Jason Thomas Gordon is a lead singer and

3
00:00:13.839 --> 00:00:17.359
drummer of an LA rock band,
King Size, also a screenwriter and creator

4
00:00:17.399 --> 00:00:22.039
of Music Gives to Saint Jude's Kids. One of our Cause celebs, he

5
00:00:22.079 --> 00:00:26.120
has produced a new book called The
Singers Talk, the Greatest Singers of Our

6
00:00:26.160 --> 00:00:32.159
Time, discussing one thing that they've
never been asked about their voices. Jason,

7
00:00:32.359 --> 00:00:35.600
singing is important to me because I
do a lot of it. But

8
00:00:35.960 --> 00:00:42.000
The Singers Talk. What inspired this
in the first place, Well, thank

9
00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:44.920
you so much for mentioning music gives
the Saint You Kids, and He's a

10
00:00:44.920 --> 00:00:50.719
lot to me. Sure. The
whole journey of this began because I've been

11
00:00:50.719 --> 00:00:55.840
a drummer of my band my whole
life, and all of a sudden I

12
00:00:55.880 --> 00:00:59.479
got forced into being the singer,
really against my will. I did not

13
00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:03.320
want to do it, and I
ended up having to do it. And

14
00:01:03.840 --> 00:01:07.840
once I got in there, I
was like, Wow, this is really

15
00:01:07.959 --> 00:01:11.079
rough. I used to make fun
of the singers. This isn't I was

16
00:01:11.159 --> 00:01:15.480
so wrong and it just set me
on a path to go like, how

17
00:01:15.480 --> 00:01:18.079
do you do this? How do
you survive on the road, how do

18
00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:22.599
you make this thing work every night? At that level? And so,

19
00:01:22.879 --> 00:01:26.879
you know what, I'm already reaching
out to all these artists to join up

20
00:01:26.879 --> 00:01:30.480
with Music Gives and to help us
raise money for Saint Jude's. So why

21
00:01:30.480 --> 00:01:33.879
don't I do that with this book? So all my royalties from the book

22
00:01:33.879 --> 00:01:38.840
will benefit the kids and families at
Saint Jude Children's Research Hospital, which was

23
00:01:38.879 --> 00:01:42.439
founded by my grandfather. And I
just went all right, I'm gonna make

24
00:01:42.480 --> 00:01:47.120
this happen. And I started reaching
out to all these singers and asking them

25
00:01:47.159 --> 00:01:51.680
how they do this, And as
it turns out, they were really excited

26
00:01:51.760 --> 00:01:55.879
because nobody ever asked them about it, and they wanted to talk, you

27
00:01:55.920 --> 00:01:59.159
know, they wanted to know what
other singers were doing. We're all struggling.

28
00:01:59.680 --> 00:02:04.359
So the book's fun because it's not
just like a resource guide for singers

29
00:02:04.400 --> 00:02:06.959
that has showed them how to do
things, you know, night after dining

30
00:02:07.040 --> 00:02:09.800
and make their lives easier. But
it's also really fun for music fans like

31
00:02:09.879 --> 00:02:14.120
me who are just you know,
just want to geek out on fun stories.

32
00:02:14.879 --> 00:02:16.840
Well, Jason Thomas Gordon. The
book is called The Singers Talk,

33
00:02:17.000 --> 00:02:21.719
and it benefits the kids and families
of Saint Judge Children's Research Hospital. I've

34
00:02:21.759 --> 00:02:25.280
been to the hospital several times,
and my lovely wife has also been with

35
00:02:25.319 --> 00:02:29.560
me. She's she's got a medical
background, and we've seen the good work

36
00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:34.479
that it's done, right down to
protocols that would have taken years to work

37
00:02:34.520 --> 00:02:38.439
their way through the FDA. But
because the research hospital at Saint Jude's was

38
00:02:38.520 --> 00:02:43.280
able to do research right then and
there, they've come up with protocols that

39
00:02:43.319 --> 00:02:50.919
has all but wiped out childhood catastrophic
diseases like leukemia. Yeah, the most

40
00:02:50.919 --> 00:02:53.599
common form when Yeah, when,
when Saint Jude first opened up its doors,

41
00:02:54.039 --> 00:02:58.560
the survival rate for the most common
form of leukemia with four percent,

42
00:02:58.960 --> 00:03:01.599
But because of the research from protocols
to develop this sink you, that number

43
00:03:01.639 --> 00:03:06.800
is now ninety four percent. So
it's pretty incredible, it's really. I

44
00:03:06.800 --> 00:03:09.199
mean, that's and the fact that
no family pays for their treatment, their

45
00:03:09.240 --> 00:03:14.159
travel, or housing or food.
That's why I do this. If my

46
00:03:14.240 --> 00:03:16.719
grandfather had just founded any other hospital, I'd be proud of him, but

47
00:03:16.759 --> 00:03:21.599
it wouldn't be something I would want
to contribute to you know, in the

48
00:03:21.599 --> 00:03:24.800
same way, it's the fact that
we're eating a burden on all these families

49
00:03:24.840 --> 00:03:29.159
that means the world to me.
Well, I, along with our radio

50
00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:31.080
stations down the Hall, do a
lot of fundraising throughout the year, including

51
00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:35.639
a dream home, so we're on
board with you. The Singer's Talk does

52
00:03:35.719 --> 00:03:39.159
just stop, go ahead? Yeah, God bless you. Thanks, thanks

53
00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:43.439
you two. The Singer's Talk,
the greatest singers of our time discussed the

54
00:03:43.439 --> 00:03:46.199
one thing they've never been asked about
their voices. I don't know that if

55
00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:50.400
anybody like knows this, Jason.
But when you're up there on stage,

56
00:03:50.560 --> 00:03:54.000
yeah, you're slinging sweat and you're
entertaining, and you're wailing into the microphone.

57
00:03:54.240 --> 00:03:57.800
But a lot of times you either
have an IFB in your ear so

58
00:03:57.879 --> 00:04:00.199
that you can hear the rest of
the band because a lot of time times

59
00:04:00.199 --> 00:04:02.599
you're in a in a theater where
you can't or you have a wedge speaker.

60
00:04:03.199 --> 00:04:06.479
A lot can go wrong when you're
singing and you have to be able

61
00:04:06.479 --> 00:04:14.919
to go with the flow. Yeah, yeah, there's it's not Yeah,

62
00:04:15.000 --> 00:04:20.079
there's there's all of that. There
is the physicality involved, there's pushing too

63
00:04:20.120 --> 00:04:23.600
hard. I mean, it goes
on and on and on, you know.

64
00:04:23.639 --> 00:04:27.319
I mean, it's anything you can
have a as all the Osbourne said.

65
00:04:27.399 --> 00:04:30.120
You know, he's like, you
can have an argument with your wife

66
00:04:30.160 --> 00:04:32.120
on the phone right before, you
know, during that day, and then

67
00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:36.120
you go on stage and it ruins
your whole show. It's it's really it's

68
00:04:36.160 --> 00:04:41.160
a it's a mental it's it's mental
gymnastics in your head. I mean,

69
00:04:41.199 --> 00:04:44.879
there's so many pitfalls you have to
avoid. Everyone thinks the singer has this

70
00:04:44.959 --> 00:04:48.639
like easy job. I certainly did
as a drummer, but then you become

71
00:04:48.680 --> 00:04:53.839
one and you're like, oh man, every little thing can affect your voice,

72
00:04:54.199 --> 00:05:00.759
air conditioning, you know, it's
wild. I once asked eight Special

73
00:05:00.759 --> 00:05:02.720
in an interview what it was like
backstage before a show, and they said,

74
00:05:03.120 --> 00:05:06.720
you'd be disappointed all day. We
try not to talk and then we

75
00:05:06.800 --> 00:05:11.319
warm up with hot tea. It's
not the you know, sex, drugs

76
00:05:11.319 --> 00:05:15.720
and rock and roll backstage. Yeah, yeah, you Flinn, that you

77
00:05:15.839 --> 00:05:19.279
find I mean so many, so
many of these bands that you think would

78
00:05:19.279 --> 00:05:23.959
be like that and behind closed doors. That's what I love about the book

79
00:05:24.000 --> 00:05:27.000
too, is that it's, you
know, it's a resource guide for singers

80
00:05:27.040 --> 00:05:30.959
to make their lives easier. But
it's also it's also a book from music

81
00:05:30.000 --> 00:05:34.279
fan, so you're hearing that sides
of the singers that you've never seen before.

82
00:05:34.399 --> 00:05:38.560
So there's just tons of amazing,
funny stories about, you know,

83
00:05:38.879 --> 00:05:44.839
about all their neurosis. Really,
I had a voice teacher tell my guy

84
00:05:44.879 --> 00:05:46.319
in my class. I know you
want to, you know, wail like

85
00:05:46.439 --> 00:05:49.360
John bon Jovi, but I need
to teach you how to do it correctly,

86
00:05:49.720 --> 00:05:53.160
because there is a correct way to
do it where you don't strain your

87
00:05:53.199 --> 00:05:59.240
voice. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. And you know, Sammy Hagar talks

88
00:05:59.279 --> 00:06:03.040
about bon Jovi in this book and
watching him and being on tour with him

89
00:06:03.079 --> 00:06:06.240
and going, hey man, you
know, like he's got a vocal coach

90
00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:09.319
with him, and Sammy's like,
hey, what's this guy up to?

91
00:06:09.439 --> 00:06:13.079
Like show me what's he doing?
And you know, bon Jovi's warming down

92
00:06:13.160 --> 00:06:15.480
after every show. You know,
things that you'd think like after the show,

93
00:06:15.600 --> 00:06:19.279
it's like some big party and John
bon Jovi's in another room with his

94
00:06:19.439 --> 00:06:24.600
tongue and his towel warming down.
You know, it's bizarre, but it's

95
00:06:24.720 --> 00:06:28.639
it's what you need to do to
perform at that level. And I don't

96
00:06:28.680 --> 00:06:32.720
think anybody knows what really goes on, and it's it's really fun to see

97
00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:38.240
how that all unfold. Jason Thomas
Gordon. The book is the singers talk.

98
00:06:38.360 --> 00:06:41.600
The greatest singers of our time discuss
the one thing that they're never asked

99
00:06:41.639 --> 00:06:45.040
about, their voices. And we're
talking about Brian Adams, Tony Bennett,

100
00:06:45.160 --> 00:06:48.279
Nick Cave, Chuck d Roger Daltrey, Joe Elliott, and Melu Harris,

101
00:06:48.720 --> 00:06:53.519
many many, many others. Is
there one in particular that stood out to

102
00:06:53.560 --> 00:06:58.879
you when you were having these conversations
with them? No, I mean I

103
00:06:58.879 --> 00:07:02.600
can't. I would never single anybody
out in terms of like somebody that stood

104
00:07:02.639 --> 00:07:05.759
out, because to me, they
all stand out, and they're all people

105
00:07:05.800 --> 00:07:10.040
I really desperately wanted to speak with, and I was so honored that they

106
00:07:10.040 --> 00:07:14.639
would speak with this stranger about this
stuff and be so revealing and so vulnerable

107
00:07:14.680 --> 00:07:19.800
and expose themselves like that. And
so I couldn't really single anybody out because

108
00:07:19.839 --> 00:07:24.279
every time I got someone, I'd
be like, are you kidding me?

109
00:07:24.480 --> 00:07:28.560
You know, like Frankstein said yesterday, or you know tom Yorke from Radiohead

110
00:07:28.639 --> 00:07:30.519
or whoever it was. It was
like, oh my God, I can't

111
00:07:30.560 --> 00:07:36.800
believe, like just Dominoes, that
everybody was, you know, so into

112
00:07:36.839 --> 00:07:41.519
doing it. So it really and
also I got I got a chance to

113
00:07:41.560 --> 00:07:45.639
speak to you know, there were
people that had passed on that I wasn't

114
00:07:45.680 --> 00:07:47.560
able to speak with, but I
still wanted to know about them. So

115
00:07:47.920 --> 00:07:53.399
I was able to speak to you
know, Tom Morello about Chris Cornell's voice,

116
00:07:53.519 --> 00:07:57.240
or Clive Davis about Whitney Houston's voice
and stuff like that. So I

117
00:07:57.319 --> 00:08:01.120
was also able to get in some
technique. There are some things that people

118
00:08:01.160 --> 00:08:05.560
that have passed away we're doing as
well, from either their producer or their

119
00:08:05.560 --> 00:08:09.759
band member, stuff like that.
So that was really amazing too. The

120
00:08:09.839 --> 00:08:13.160
singers talk the truly intimate side of
the iconic personalities and what they do to

121
00:08:13.160 --> 00:08:18.079
get ready to perform at that level. Jason Thomas Gordon is the author.

122
00:08:18.120 --> 00:08:22.199
You know, his family from the
famous Saint Jude Research Hospital. All royalties

123
00:08:22.279 --> 00:08:26.680
from the book goes to Saint Jude's
Children's Research Hospital. And if you love

124
00:08:26.759 --> 00:08:30.600
this behind the scene stuff, you're
gonna love this read. And I thank

125
00:08:30.639 --> 00:08:33.200
you for bringing it to us and
joining us today. Jason Thomas Gordon,

126
00:08:33.480 --> 00:08:37.440
Well, thank you and thank you
guys for supporting Stay two. Thanks for

127
00:08:37.480 --> 00:08:43.919
listening to Later with Lee Matthews,
the Lee Matthews Podcast, and remember to

128
00:08:43.960 --> 00:08:48.159
listen to The Drive Live weekday afternoons
from five to seven. And Ihearts Media presentation