Speaker 1: W M N h rip the noble sret course.
Speaker 2: Tell me ris possibly will see it down and I
can't go back to sleep.
Speaker 3: This cop and me he said it.
Speaker 4: Guy calls riding in.
Speaker 5: Ride in in, ride in that tuttle hill, that mun
Tell hill.
Speaker 6: I'm gonna sell it hill so we can look.
Speaker 7: At you.
Speaker 8: And you rice.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 4: He rises.
Speaker 9: Turtle past and cattle past, and prod past, and paddle
crust and paddle past, battle faster, padal past and dole.
Speaker 4: Handy ri said.
Speaker 10: He had rights sit, so we.
Speaker 5: Went to work on day.
Speaker 10: On In said he ripped the stand and sixteen he
to tell.
Speaker 4: You about the five men to see all in no,
see all in no, see.
Speaker 2: All that that what's on a hill that he's out
of him?
Speaker 11: I just out of him.
Speaker 7: So he can look at gen.
Speaker 4: Y right here, okay, right here, that's he knows.
Speaker 5: Chail pester your paddle, that's your parle pester, paddle faster, pattle.
Speaker 9: After battle past your battle has to go.
Speaker 7: And see.
Speaker 3: Y right sick.
Speaker 11: So he's got his sister that time.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 7: He never gets to leave it.
Speaker 12: He's okay with it, and he's got a tube side.
Speaker 4: Noddy's everywhere he leaves here, well he leaves here. Well
that's out in here.
Speaker 12: We look at your.
Speaker 10: Polish Polish, right, I love it.
Speaker 13: That is backwards down a hill and that is the
Stiff Tones, and we have the Stiff Tones with us
live in studio. We're going to talk with them in
just a moment and they're gonna play. So really looking
forward to this. Welcome everybody. We have entered our number
three Newmarrow trace of Matt Connorton Unleashed and we are
live from the studios of w M n H ninety
five point three f M and Glorious Manchester, New Hampshire.
Also so you can stream the show from anywhere, go
to Matt connorton dot com, slash live and of course
today is Saturday, July nineteen, twenty twenty five. Jenny is
here of course at the news table. And by the way,
Jenny and I are going to be later on this evening.
Under the Horizon is playing at nine pm at Jewel
Nightclub here in Manchester and we love Under the Horizon,
So come down and say hello.
Speaker 10: It's going to be a gonna be a great show.
Is that is tonight?
Speaker 13: That is tonight if you are listening live, Yeah, come
say hello, come see under the horizon, and there's a
bunch of Scarecrow Hill is going to be there tonight too.
We've had them on the show. Another another great band.
But right now, so we've got the stift Ons here
with us in studio. Now, I'm going to bring these
mics up. I'm using a little bit of a different
microphone configuration than we usually use here, so we'll see,
we'll see. Make sure I can hear everybody.
Speaker 8: Go ahead, and.
Speaker 10: Oh I can't hear you at all. I think I
know why. I think I know why. Okay, let's try.
Oh I hear something. I hear a lot of things.
Speaker 13: Now, okay, let's see get turned that one up, turn
that one up. And oh, I wasn't strum that guitar
a little bit. If you would please, actually you could both,
Actually you should both strump.
Speaker 14: We came out, came out a little bit while I
was sitting here.
Speaker 10: Yeah, that's okay.
Speaker 14: I think my guitar gets nervous as I am. Maybe
perhaps all.
Speaker 13: Right, cool, let's do this. Let's have you, let's have
you introduce yourselves. Please, Well, I guess, uh where the
stiff tones.
Speaker 14: I'm sean. This is Rachel my wife, and uh, we're
from I'm from southern Illinois, she's from New Hampshire. I
like to joke that she exited her and exit her.
It's just Dan go to jokes. We've been travel in
the country for about five years, living in the back
of our Cadillac hearse playing and singing for our supper
and hundreds of towns all over the country.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we quit being grown ups and I got away
from Yeah, COVID trust is how I was a nurse,
you know, and yeah, COVID stress, oh no doubt.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 2: After that, we were like, what we have choices, Like,
we don't have to have all this stuff.
Speaker 10: That's okay, we're on a delay. I caught it shipwreck.
Speaker 2: I was saying, ship we don't have to have all
this stuff, and so yeah, whatever we can fit in
the hurst, we can take with us. Yeah, so that's
what we did.
Speaker 14: So that's what we did. We we kind of ran
away with the proverbial circus. So we kind of call
ourselves the rock and roll devible circus versus a revival. Okay,
So that's basically where you take instead of just reviving something,
you take the good parts of it. And you form
something new with it.
Speaker 10: Okay.
Speaker 13: By the way, I just want our listeners to know too.
I can confirm so the Hurst thing is not a gimmick.
Speaker 10: That is real. There's an actual hearse outside.
Speaker 2: Her name is Tanya.
Speaker 10: Oh yes, I noticed that on the license plate.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, people think that Tanya and I'm not.
Speaker 10: I'm why, well, why is the Hurst Tanya? Why is it?
Speaker 14: Okay? So everybody, a lot of folks get a hearse
and they immediately want to name it. You get Patty
on the license plate.
Speaker 2: Either for this is our age showing like if you're older,
then you know who Patty Hurst is.
Speaker 14: We're like, okay, well I get it. That's funny. But
wouldn't it be even cooler if we got one and
we switched it to her music people at Pillow name.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So when she when she was kidnapped and then she
joined the People's Liberation Organization, she changed her name to Tanya.
And one of our favorite bands happens to be a
band named Camper van Beethoven, and they have an album
called Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart. On this album is a
song called Tanya and it's so we have to I
mean it was just meant to.
Speaker 14: Be because she used to be a funeral carriage, you know,
and now she's a rock and roll rock.
Speaker 2: Now she's eleven rock and roll tor queen.
Speaker 14: Okay, okay, kind of a you know, that's kind of
why that how that happened?
Speaker 10: Now?
Speaker 13: Do you so you travel all over the country. So
do you have a show in the area and that's
why you're you're here or how how does your tour
routing work?
Speaker 2: So in July, So, I, like I said, I'm a
New Hampshire native and my father and my wicked stepmother
wicked being New England wicked, nobody else gets out of it.
I'm like my wicked step I.
Speaker 8: Don't like her.
Speaker 2: I'm like, no, she's wicked.
Speaker 15: Good.
Speaker 2: Okay, yeah, my wicked step mother. They live up here,
and so we come up in July and split in
stack wood and fill the woodshed and do some odds
and ends and stuff to keep them, you know, going
up on the hill while we're running around and okay, so,
but he's from Illinois and that's where we So that's
what we're up here. Yes, we do have actually a show.
When we get done here, we head over to Leven
in New Hampshire excellent, playing over the road house Mall,
and then next week in we're over in Vermont and
then then we head out.
Speaker 10: Okay, back on the road. Okay.
Speaker 13: Is it challenging that, I mean, this is an unconventional
uh lifestyle, right, it.
Speaker 16: Is.
Speaker 14: It is difficult.
Speaker 2: But so it was paying a mortgage and so, you know,
so just making sure the lights are turned on and
raising children and you know, and just getting by and life.
So it's just it's just different. It's just a different complicated.
I mean, I've been just as broken, just as frustrated
when I was a nurse, as a as I am
as a rock goddess.
Speaker 10: That makes sense.
Speaker 2: But I you know, this today was the first time
I've had to set an alarm clock.
Speaker 3: And yeah, yeah, kind of.
Speaker 14: On a different time schedule now. Yeah, you play late
a lot of times. Then you sleep in a little bit,
you sleep until the sun warms, you up when.
Speaker 2: You want, and you wake up when you want. For
the most part. Yeah, there's you know, there's also those
fifteen hour drive days, you know, because you guys, you
got to get there or you know the side of
the road, you know, tire changes or you know, I
mean there's but again, you know you have those, you
have roof leaks, and you have you know things, life,
life happens. We have five children between the two of us.
They're grown. Yeah, so yeah, we're pretty well adapted to,
you know, dealing with the litany of issues that can
come up on the road.
Speaker 13: Yeah, and have you been doing this since because you
said so, COVID was kind of your breaking point right
as far as nursing.
Speaker 2: Well, my girlfriend passed away suddenly on me, and girlfriend
like friend friend and passed away suddenly on me. And
it was one of those moments where I was forty
five and I was like, man, my life was already
half over, and you know what am I gonna do?
And so I started travel nursing and we did that
for a while, trying to scratch that itch. And because
I was a military brat, so I grew up moving
around a lot, and I'd been stuck in Illinois for
like thirty years, and so he agreed with me. Yeah,
and then yeah, we started singing together because he was
a musician. I met him at an open mic and
I'm dominating this conversation, but anyway, and music has always
been very therapeutic to me in a different kind of way.
I was never a maker of music or creator. I
was an appreciator. I knowsh long story, extremely long. We
met an open mic and then we started playing together
gosh what twenty seventeen, twenty eighteen, and he had to
rule no girlfriends in the band, so we had to
get married.
Speaker 14: If you're in a band, it's already like having three
girlfriends at the same time.
Speaker 2: So we were together as friends with extraordinary benefits for
the first seven years and we've been married for the
last seven fourteen years together. But anyway, we had to
get married so we could be the stiff tones starting
to open mic thing and traveling around with the travel
nursing and kind of getting you know, like a hey man,
what are you doing here? Can't have a vibe and
so we're like, yeah, we'll try it. And it's nothing
like what we thought. And we were completely naive and
we weren't that good and blessed everybody and curse everybody
that really cursed. But what are you doing here? I think, Yeah,
that's how you get gas money. You're either really good.
Speaker 14: Or really That was also one of our tactics later
as a later as a band. I'll pass this out
for any fledgling bands out there listening. Go out there
and do it. And the reason for it is if
you're even if you're awful like we were, eventually somebody
will pay you to.
Speaker 2: Leave first, and perspective is everything and.
Speaker 14: Just start setting up camp and they'll just be like,
all right, we're gonna pay you to get out of here.
Speaker 3: The toilet paper.
Speaker 10: That's right, right, very good.
Speaker 13: Well, I uh, it's it's it's gonna be hard to
avoid these puns. I'm dying to hear you play, so
I said to Jenny earlier. I was like, before before
the sentence even made it out of my mouth, fully
I started. I started to say I'm dying to see
the hears. I got as far as I'm dying, and
then I'm like, oh, I'm making a pun. You're very penny,
but but yeah, there is a there is a legit
hearse out there.
Speaker 14: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And just for the record, the name the stiff
Tones came before.
Speaker 10: The wondering about people.
Speaker 2: I just assumed, Okay, our last name is Steve, and
well my mine is now adopted it okay, And so
growing up his nickname was Stiffy. So the little town
where we're from, everybody knows him as Stiffy. That's how
I met him with true when we were when he
would do the open circuit, they would call anybody you
could get up there and they'd say it was Stiffy
and the stiff Tones.
Speaker 14: I mean, as much as I love Tom Petty and
I really do, but I don't want to be known
as Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. I want to be
like the Stones or something band, right, and it was
just the two of us.
Speaker 2: So it can't be Stiffy and the stiff right, right,
right right?
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 14: Very strange thing, wouldn't it.
Speaker 10: Yeah, Yeah, yeah, that would be that would be yeah.
Well very good. Okay, Well I I am.
Speaker 13: I'm eager to hear you play. You sound You sounded
phenomenal during the soundcheck, so this is going to be
killing me here.
Speaker 14: Ah, I want to play the song about a little hometown. Sure, Okay,
So I guess we'll do a song for you about
our little hometown. It's on our first album is about
to come out in September, and it's kind of give
you it's the meson scene of the album. Okay, it's
kind of the just you know, it's a it's a
little corner towns where it all started. There's trains, coal
mines and uh industry that has gone kind of vibes.
So anyways, we're this album starts. I think we'll start there.
Speaker 10: Okay.
Speaker 14: It's a song called Midwestern Town. It's just kind of
a love song to your hometown kind of song.
Speaker 10: All right. The Stifftones Live in Studio.
Speaker 4: Has a story. They have to stay in in this town.
Most were passing through here and faith.
Speaker 12: Had decided let them down.
Speaker 4: Have chat out to you?
Speaker 8: What time would do?
Speaker 4: God back my bags and say goodbye?
Speaker 11: Hand catch next train home?
Speaker 5: Do you.
Speaker 11: Home?
Speaker 3: To you?
Speaker 4: Mid Western Town?
Speaker 12: Western Down?
Speaker 3: Your lime? You're my home?
Speaker 4: Let me mid Western Town.
Speaker 12: In Western Town, don't let me go.
Speaker 3: You gotta let me go.
Speaker 8: Don't you let me go?
Speaker 4: You gotta let me go. This place is like a
heaven on where trees they go today.
Speaker 17: I should have left you, ride away and never speak
a single night.
Speaker 7: Single.
Speaker 17: But if I had half chance, I'll tell you what
the time would do. Lad back my bags and say goodbye?
Speaker 11: Can catch next train home?
Speaker 1: Do you.
Speaker 11: Home?
Speaker 1: Do you.
Speaker 4: Midle Western Town.
Speaker 12: In Western Down?
Speaker 8: You're my home?
Speaker 4: You my home? Mid Western town, Western time down, you
let me go, you gotta let me.
Speaker 11: Go, won't you let me go?
Speaker 4: Catalatica? Tell me baby, where it's that you usly.
Speaker 18: Tell me?
Speaker 4: Never make it out.
Speaker 7: But maybe we could share around dream share, oh dreams.
Speaker 4: Mid Western town.
Speaker 17: Down, Jumama, mod Western town.
Speaker 3: Down, let me go, you gotta let me go, let
me go, you gotta let go.
Speaker 10: Oh that is so good, beautiful, that is so good.
We've got the stiff tones here with us.
Speaker 13: Alive in studio, and uh, how many like, how many
songs do you have? Probably quite a few at this
point right in terms of original music, we do have
a few.
Speaker 1: We do well.
Speaker 2: We're getting ready to release our debut album on September
twenty first, hopefully.
Speaker 10: Oh I'm excellent, excellent, Yeah, And so there.
Speaker 2: There'll be nine original tracks on there in one cover.
And then we have the good meat and potatoes of
our second album already well in him on that largely
so we've been Most of these songs that were that
we're performing today and that are going to be on
the album are all songs that were written either right
well before Sewn and I met, or write as we met,
or you know, after and so yeah, fourteen years, he
and I have been kind of working on some of
these same songs, but we didn't go into this with
the idea that that's what we were doing, because again,
I was a nurse and I was a mother, and
that's what I you know. I sang with him and
harmonized with him when he would practice and play because
it was fun and I love to sing, you know,
and I sang growing up and whatever.
Speaker 7: But like.
Speaker 2: Run away and join the circus. It's crazy now, I mean, like, yeah,
I had my pH d and Karen, you know, like
I had the hair cut for a while living in
a hearse what no, right, Yeah, So.
Speaker 14: The one cover we do is a cover by a
guy named Johnny Hickman. I want to mention that, so
not all Heroes capes. So the reason it's on there
is because it's it's our bat signal song and it's
at the very very end of the album. So so anyways,
that's kind of that was the first song. Okay, so
the album actually was kind of written around the idea
of putting that song at the end of the album.
Speaker 10: Yeah, why is that, like why it belong there?
Speaker 11: It's I don't know.
Speaker 14: For whatever reason. Well, Rachel probably tell you.
Speaker 2: One of the reasons is, you know, is a bad signal,
you know. And when Shawn and I were first dating
and becoming friends, anybody that knows us knows we know
how to fight very very much. Yeah, we perfected it
like it's very early on, and we'll get there's where's
much brother and sister and a mother and son and
and and it's like it's crazy. But when we would
break up, and because we again we had five children
between the two of us, it was just complicated and missing.
We'd break up and he'd go home and he'd post
this song on the internet because Facebook was new at
the time. And I knew that I was the treacherous
woman in that song. So even though he didn't write it,
it was but so but I knew it was time
for me to call him up because he was thinking and.
Speaker 14: Johnny, Johnny's my favorite guitar player. Without him having been
a guitar player, he heard his work in the band Cracker,
I would have never picked up a guitar.
Speaker 17: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I actually got to shake his hand and say it.
And so he gave us his permission for this song
to be or not that this song. We'ren't doing it
right now, but that song to be at the end
of the album. Oh okay, Yeah, and we re arranged
it a little bit and but yeah, given us his permission.
Speaker 10: Very cool. Now where you might have mentioned it earlier,
but where are you recording the album?
Speaker 14: Everywhere?
Speaker 10: Everywhere episode?
Speaker 14: We were as we were right in we were here
listening to you guys talk about that on the show,
and I was like, oh my goodness, way to the
hear hear from us. So we're putting this album together
in the most unconventional way you could possibly about imagine
over the course of the last four years, being run
around the country singing for our supper. So we started
putting the album together like in different places. So part
of the album, the first part of the end of
the album.
Speaker 2: Firstly, we just recorded tracks of my dad's garage, of
my dad's kitchen.
Speaker 14: Just the other night that we recorded for it would
have happened.
Speaker 2: We we went all the way to California, southern California.
Speaker 14: To record the like the end of the album.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and that's where Backwards Down a Hill was recorded. Yeah,
because when we first went out on twenty twenty one,
we went out with the intention of recording this album,
and at that time, Backwards Down a Hill was going
to be maybe was going to be on the album.
But the only thing we left that day with was
Backwards Down a Hill. An education, that's right, Yeah, very good,
very good education, and realization that we needed more education.
Speaker 14: And so so the back of the album is more
like recorded in California. But then everything kind of goes
like in a Quentin Tarantino style, everything goes backwards. After that,
Backwards down a Hill, we just cursed ourselves and didn't
even know it.
Speaker 3: We went in there.
Speaker 14: We recorded a version of the last song in the album,
Father Winter, and it was awful.
Speaker 10: Really, Yeah, we did.
Speaker 14: The one thing that we were asked not to is
to not not not ruin the song in the Chili,
and so we did in the studio that it was
originally recorded with the.
Speaker 2: Original engineer that recorded the original.
Speaker 11: We did.
Speaker 2: We could have fanned ourselves in front of them anymore situation.
Speaker 14: So we tucktail and we went all We drove all
the way back to New Hampshire. In our hearse there's
a story about paying the band the engineering change the
story for a year older. But we get we make
it back and then we get stranded on the mountain
in the winter time.
Speaker 2: Uppear Oh my god.
Speaker 14: Yeah, So anyways we uh recomposed that song. Yeah, while
we're living in a tent. Oh wow, side of the mountain.
Speaker 2: Would couldn't would stay warm?
Speaker 14: And then we went to uh, we went to uh.
We recorded that with Chuck melching down.
Speaker 2: And in New Market where I got kicked out of
the first grade.
Speaker 14: So Father Winter was recorded here in New Hampshire. It's
the last last last track on the album. Okay, So
I know it's a lot of discon convuluted story, but
all ties into a big theme.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we're from a movie.
Speaker 14: Yeah there's a movie, or at least a really uh seedy,
grainy YouTube video.
Speaker 10: Started you what your role is like?
Speaker 14: Man, I'm hovered on the button.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 10: Anyway, by the way, I do have to ask, why
did you get kicked out of the first grade?
Speaker 14: Oh boy? This is glorious?
Speaker 10: Is Yeah?
Speaker 14: She was on an army brap. Go ahead, Rachel, tell
the story.
Speaker 2: It's really it's not that good. So I was, I
was in military, brought my birthdays in October when we
moved to Germany and and they let you start kindergarten
at like age four over there, yeah forgotten.
Speaker 10: Yeah, So I.
Speaker 2: Finished kindergarten where they originally originated it, and it came
back to the US and they let me start the
first grade. And then they realized I didn't meet the
age requirement. They sent me home with a note pinned
to my shirt telling me that I was not allowed
to come back anymore.
Speaker 12: I was.
Speaker 2: I loved school.
Speaker 8: I was so mad.
Speaker 10: I was wow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so yeah, and then I was traumatized after that.
Speaker 10: Yeah, I can imagine.
Speaker 14: Wow.
Speaker 10: Well, on that note, we want to play another song?
You want to hear you want to play another one.
I'm not to hear another one, Okay, So I can't.
I can't even help it. I literally just said it.
Speaker 14: Yeah, yeah, give me the second week, give it a
little too.
Speaker 11: Oh yeah, yeah, we'll play one.
Speaker 14: Rachel can talk about this one if she wants. But
this is we're gonna do called starting over. And if
you're old, if you're you're old enough to have had
to do this before.
Speaker 2: So I tell you this song is. We released it
as a demo version on Backwards down Hill, so there
is a B side out there. It's a demo and
I recorded it in southern California, and the reason why
we had to come to New Hampshire re recorded it
is because when I recorded it and sounder in New Hampshire,
I didn't realize till we got back here that was Stotova.
I was like, what I'm like, I'm not. I haven't
lived in New Hampshire since Ye, this is where I
learned how to speak. But yeah, since so I had
to come back to New Hampshire so I could re
record it, Chuck Melchin, and so I could start over,
starting over. But the one that's on the internet right now,
I'm stott Ova.
Speaker 12: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So, and then the other side of this story song
is the internet version is explicit. We won't do the explicit.
Speaker 10: Version today, thank you.
Speaker 2: But it's a beautiful song about starting over and if
you're gonna, you know, do it, you might as well
do it big. So the F word is all through it.
Speaker 10: I said, yeah, but not this time, but not this one.
We're on an eight second to laugh your slip it happens.
Speaker 2: No, yeah, we got this one down.
Speaker 10: Okay, all right, thank you.
Speaker 14: She says that.
Speaker 10: All right. The Stiff Toones live in studio, so we're playing.
Speaker 12: Tell me to just see that.
Speaker 8: I couldn't look away.
Speaker 12: I don't know where I'm calling. It's a journey out
of it and I don't know where. I'm cold.
Speaker 2: Just then, I can't stay.
Speaker 12: Now starting over, a starting over.
Speaker 16: Maybe this time I can get him starting over, I'm
starting over.
Speaker 2: Maybe the time marking get here right.
Speaker 16: But I wouldn't play no list because I'm leaving with
no regrance.
Speaker 12: No, I wouldn't hold children for me.
Speaker 6: Now for me, keep looking now for me, keep looking now?
Speaker 12: Tell me, did you feel that.
Speaker 16: Something's gone to change? It's been coming for so long? Honey,
I can't wait.
Speaker 12: I don't know.
Speaker 8: I'll go.
Speaker 12: Just there.
Speaker 16: I can't stay and now starting over, starting over?
Speaker 17: Maybe the simmaking in it right, I'm starting over.
Speaker 12: I'm starting over. Maybe this time I can't get it right.
Speaker 16: But it's brooking, its time maybe, and it's desperate. It's
hand May see, there's at least somewhere for you.
Speaker 15: Inform me, in for me, looking for me, traditional.
Speaker 12: Telling me that you hears it times taking away, come
with me, hand mid because I'm living at it.
Speaker 16: I don't know I'm calling, just that I can't stay
and now I'm starting over, starting over, maybe this time back,
get here right. I'm starting over, starting over, maybe this sipping.
Speaker 8: Back and get it ride.
Speaker 16: But I wouldn't place opens because I'm living with no regrets. No,
I wouldn't hold Joeldren for me, for me, for me,
I'm starting over.
Speaker 12: I'm starting over, maybe this time back.
Speaker 8: And get here right.
Speaker 12: I'm starting over. I'm starting over, maybe this time back
and right.
Speaker 16: But I wouldn't please movements because I've got no freaking regrets.
Speaker 4: No one wouldn't.
Speaker 7: For me.
Speaker 10: I love it. The Stiff Tones live in studio. That
is so good. Rachel here with us. Oh, that's okay,
no worries, no worries. No, you sound amazing. Is this
some now? Is this the earliest in that Is this
the earliest in the day that you've sung in a
long time?
Speaker 14: Yeah?
Speaker 8: Probably?
Speaker 12: Yeah?
Speaker 10: Yeah? Is that is that different?
Speaker 1: Or?
Speaker 13: Because you know, sometimes somebody will will come in and
they will perform and they'll say it's it's unusual, like
they feel like they sound different or something, and and
for a lot of people they don't notice any difference.
Speaker 2: But I think I'm a two packag day reform smoker.
Speaker 14: Yeah. Some days I get up and like, oh, I'm
feeling I'm sound a rough track something yeah, and she's like, well,
it's not sound like Rover on the recording.
Speaker 2: My biggest issue is just comfort.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 2: They have really bad stage right, and then get in
my head and then yeah, they'll start getting tight and pitchy,
and then I start sweating and I'm like, I don't know.
Whole thing is just like.
Speaker 14: If I get nervous on stage, it looks like I'm
doing metaphetic means I start sweating, I'm going like really yeah, yeah,
like speed racing through my songs.
Speaker 2: Oh wow, Yeah, it's crazy doing except that you love
so much but you're so scared to do.
Speaker 13: Like yeah, well, I used to play in bands, and
you know, for me, the way it would always work
is I'd be nervous right before, but then once I
was on stage.
Speaker 2: Yeah, you can get in it.
Speaker 10: Then then you're yeah, yeah, exactly.
Speaker 2: Like you're up there and you've got like one person
just sitting there staring at you, and you're like, yeah,
the whole or if it's somebody that you know.
Speaker 13: But there's value in that too, right, because on the
one hand, yeah, it's you know, you feel that anxiety
and whatnot. Sometimes in the moment, you might wish you
didn't feel that, But then again, if that went away,
wouldn't that also be kind of a bummer, because then you'd.
Speaker 10: Start to question, like, is this is this no longer exciting?
Speaker 2: That's what I learned about is tell yourself, it's not anxiety,
this is this is not me being afraid. This is
me being excited. And it's in that emotion you Other
people tell you that that's that's fear that you're feeling
that way, but they're not in your meat too, they
don't actually know what you're feeling, right exactly. You get
to say that this moment, I'm not afraid, I'm excited excited,
ye And I'm I'm worried that I might do it wrong,
but I'm gonna have so much fun that it's okay.
Ye I'm gonna be have more fun than I'm gonna
be scared.
Speaker 10: It's ultimately, it's a good kind of nervous, you know.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, psych yourself, lie until you believe it.
Speaker 10: Right, Yeah, exactly, exactly yea.
Speaker 2: And that what they're teaching is now these days And you.
Speaker 10: Said, Rachel, you said you used to be a smoker. Yeah,
how'd you quit. I'm curious because I'm a hypnotherapist.
Speaker 13: I help people quit smoking, So whenever someone tells me
they used to be a smoker, I'm like, oh, how'd
you quit?
Speaker 2: Well, first of all, I was a nurse for eighteen years,
and so there would be many and I was icey
nurse and a dialysis nur, so there'd be many shifts
that I would go twelve to eighteen hours without being
able to smoke. So I've got some pretty good control
over stuff when I have control, but I also have
an inability or ability to have no control. Yeah, that
being said, when we started doing running around the country,
smoking as expensive and I smoked mentals and my throat
started burning a lot. And then so we started smoking
his cigarettes to save money, and we would share because
I didn't smoke quite as much. And then we started
smoking a loose leave and we were smoking out of
a pipe because it was just even that cheaper. And
it got down to the point where we were literally
smoking the equivalent of three cigarettes a day between the
two of us out of a pipe.
Speaker 7: Yeah, so it's.
Speaker 2: Messy, it stinks only sometimes, but it wasn't nearly as
pleasurable as we wanted it to be as we remembered
it being when we first started SMA, and so you
guys to the point that you were like you what
we did is we went to we went to California.
Speaker 11: Yeah, and I bought an ounce.
Speaker 2: We for like forty dollars.
Speaker 14: We bought two three, And I thought, every time I'm
gonna every time I crave a tobacco, I'm gonna have
my pre roll up here and I'm just gonna smoke
until I need to lay down there you go, And
I did. About about a day into this process, I'm like,
I'm pretty good.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 14: Then you know, then I'm having crazy dreams occasionally.
Speaker 2: But you know, once a while, I'll be like somebody's
near us and I'll take a job office because I
still like that. You know, it's pretty much not enough
to smoke against.
Speaker 14: Got over it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, if I lived a seventy five.
Speaker 14: Yeah, we're firing back time.
Speaker 10: Yeah yeah, yea maybe that long seventy five.
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, make seventy five package.
Speaker 16: No.
Speaker 13: The thing is, though, like you were saying, once you
get down now, like if you're smoking the equivalent of
three cigarettes a day, it's like two of us.
Speaker 14: Like they were like what are you doing?
Speaker 7: Man?
Speaker 10: Yeah? Yeah, at that point it's like, yeah, you might
as well just be done with it. Yeah yeah.
Speaker 13: Did you notice some like without smoking? Did it change
your like for either of you? Did it to change
your voices or gain twenty?
Speaker 10: Well?
Speaker 14: Yeah, so I feel I feel like my voice is
husky now.
Speaker 4: That it needed to be.
Speaker 10: Oh really, I don't know for sure, but possibly. Oh
that's interesting.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I haven't really noticed a difference.
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah, I'm most curious about that too. Yeah. Well,
do you want to you want to play another one?
Speaker 8: Of course?
Speaker 11: Do the almost like these times?
Speaker 8: The sure?
Speaker 3: Sure?
Speaker 14: Yeah, because I mean we didn't have a game give
you Yeah.
Speaker 10: Yeah, so it's good to keep it loose for this show.
That's kind of how we do it anyway.
Speaker 2: We never run with a set list, we try.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 13: Yeah, well, not not being chained to a set list
that gives you some flexibility too, because you can kind
of read the room and kind of figure out what
you think people might want to hear and just what
the vibe is, you know.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Well, unfortunately for him, I only knew a handful of
songs because I was raised not allowed listening to secular music.
So really, yeah, so there's a lot of songs like
I have made it. I can sing, I can, but
he's he's an encyclopedia of music.
Speaker 14: Yeah mm Hmmber curious, Lets do it. So this song
is is kind of a song. I want to preface
this with This song is about polarity, okay, and uh,
getting the fear.
Speaker 2: Not picking, and it's about not picking. It's picking sides.
Speaker 14: Yeah, because but this in my world, this is a
song about you can, I don't know, just love, try
to love people, try to love.
Speaker 2: Your name, cushion show that kind of thing.
Speaker 14: Yeah, because it's kind of it's a friend language language.
Speaker 10: All right. Now, I look forward to it. I look
forward to her in this one, just a little bit.
No Worries.
Speaker 14: This is the last track that we have on the album.
This is ours, and it's immediately followed by that Johnny
Hickman's song.
Speaker 10: Okayed the whole album around okay.
Speaker 14: So yeah, the first song and then starting over is
kind of the middle way point where you l over
six track six instantly Okay. This is towards the end
of the album.
Speaker 13: All right, song before I think at the doctor to
be safe, no worri al right, at the sift ones
live in studio.
Speaker 16: Times at all, understand these times at all.
Speaker 11: I don't understand these times at.
Speaker 12: All, Understand these times at all.
Speaker 11: One's offended, but everyone wants.
Speaker 8: To shut on.
Speaker 12: Understand there's times.
Speaker 11: At all one's offended, everyone wants.
Speaker 12: To shut on. Understand there's times at all.
Speaker 7: Look over there, don't say your fear.
Speaker 8: They're over there, they're coming here.
Speaker 4: I don't understand, just don't understand.
Speaker 8: I don't understand.
Speaker 11: I just don't understand every.
Speaker 7: Time, these times, these times.
Speaker 11: Little understand these times at.
Speaker 12: All, understand these times at all.
Speaker 11: Little understand these times at all.
Speaker 12: I don't understand these times at all.
Speaker 11: People needing forgiveness, People want to judge.
Speaker 12: I don't understand these times at all.
Speaker 11: People needing forgiveness, people want to judge.
Speaker 12: I don't understand the times at all.
Speaker 11: Look over there, don't think if they're over there, they're
almost I just don't understand. I just don't understand.
Speaker 7: These times, these times, these times.
Speaker 11: I of understand these times at all.
Speaker 12: I don't understand in these times at all.
Speaker 11: Well I have understand these times at all.
Speaker 12: I don't understand these times at all.
Speaker 11: Yeah they got something, got something you want.
Speaker 12: I don't understand. There's times at all.
Speaker 11: Don't you got something that everyone wants?
Speaker 12: I don't understand theree times at all.
Speaker 14: Look in the mid don't seen here, They're always here,
they're in the mid.
Speaker 11: I just don't understand. I just don't understand.
Speaker 7: There's times, there's times, these times.
Speaker 11: I have understand these times at all. I have understand
these times at all.
Speaker 7: I understand these times at all.
Speaker 11: I haven't understand these times.
Speaker 10: Wow, awesome, that is so good. That's right, that's right.
The stiff tones here with us live in studio sounding amazing.
That was fantastic. That was fantastic.
Speaker 13: If you are just joining us, this is Matt Connorton
Unleashed and we are live from the studios of w
m n H ninety five point three FM, Inglorious a Manchester,
New Hampshire. Of course you can stream us at Matt
connorton dot com slash live and uh yeah, great song
and yeah, very very appropriate, I would say, uh for
the times that were in certainly I.
Speaker 2: Started writing that in twenty fifteen.
Speaker 14: Yeah, it was like, you know what they're gonna do always, Yeah,
we're gonna get every one of us fighting each other
for every damn.
Speaker 10: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, So in twenty sixteen it kind of really
ping got to pay and it was up here in
twenty twenty when or during the COVID in twenty twenty
when we really you know, you started really seeing the
polarity in the country where you know, like in polarity
being everything, if there's something for us to stand against
each other as regular folks, all yeah, yeah, we keep
picking the wrong Yeah, we keep picking the wrong person
to fight with. But anyway, and so twenty twenty four
is when we finally released that song and it was
nominated for Song of the Year. Oh for josh for
Joshua Joshua Tree, California, Oh Wow. It features Victor Krumanacher
and Jonathan Tagle of Campra Van Beethoven's.
Speaker 14: Okay, so We're standing on shoulders of Giants.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and Kyle Mayor.
Speaker 2: Of September Morning is on the drums on that, and
he also helped us do the mixing mix and then
on the album, Victor and Jonathan are both on a
couple of songs on that, and then we have our
we have several friends and Kyle's on drums and he's
helping us with the mixing in the final engineer.
Speaker 14: So we kind of went around the country getting all
of our friends together to record all the different parts.
Speaker 2: The North Carolina favor it's on there. We have Illinois
people on there. Yeah, anywhere we could.
Speaker 14: Be recording the garages and basements and caves and Tanya
the car. Yes, it might be the first album ever
have tracks recorded in Hurst. I don't know for sure,
but because I mean it should be the stiff tones,
I mean, I guess, yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean there was enough Bruce sessions in there.
Trying to right right anyway, how are we on time?
Speaker 3: We're good, We're good.
Speaker 10: We got probably probably do one more in a couple
of minutes. I'm curious.
Speaker 13: So in terms of like I said, you know, because
we talked about it a little bit earlier, this is
such an unconventional approach, you know, travel in the country
and rehearse and so forth and doing this. Is there
anything that's really surprised you over these over these years,
this news.
Speaker 14: Is a bunch of yeah, yes, that to answer your question, absolutely,
you know, uh, I thought, my god, California is crazy
and we're gonna get there and it's gonna be all
this these things and can see on the news, right,
it wasn't any of those things, right, thought the same
thing about Texas. You know, oh god, Texas is going
to be this way in South Kote. I can name
every state that we have and every place that we've been,
and you think it's going to be a way and
you're like, wow, you know what, people are just people
in here.
Speaker 2: So but then also the other thing though, was that
each individual state really is so individuals. On the contrary line,
it really like things, you know, the landscape shifts that
the culture shifts, you know, And that's the other thing
that is seeing all of the different cultural differences just
in even traditional rural America, you know, where you don't
think that you have that culture, and there's so much
the eclectus melting pot of it, like the beauty, the true,
true raw beauty of what America the beautiful is melting pipe. Yeah,
that you can go anywhere everywhere here and see all
the wonders of the world. I mean, we've been traveling
for a couple of years now, we we scratch the surface.
Speaker 14: Yeah, But mostly the most surprising thing for me, as
honestly is the fact that no matter how far you travel,
where you go once and needs of people doesn't change.
Speaker 2: Right, right, the regular people like us, us people. Yeah, yeah,
we're just regular people.
Speaker 10: Yeah, that's a good insight.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's beautiful and it's good to know. There's so
much fear that's created, like the sponsors, and there are
there are they're legitimately bad people out there, yes, but
there's legitimately good people out there. You seek, you will
find what you seek. So look for the good. Be
the good, Do the good, you know, And if you
I mean or of being a whole, I don't care.
Speaker 8: You can be a whole.
Speaker 2: It's not up to me. Just if you want to
be one over there, right, we have.
Speaker 14: We actually have a song for that too, but that's
that's on the album.
Speaker 2: We wrote that up here and we actually wrote that
Harley Jackson.
Speaker 10: Yeah, yeah, yeah, very cool. And do you have any
advice for for people who not not necessarily want to
buy hers, but just just for people who want to.
Speaker 15: Do what you do?
Speaker 10: You know a lot of young independent artists.
Speaker 5: I do.
Speaker 14: And I'll give you the first piece of advice that
my friend Turk gave me right before we left the emotion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then and then he died and.
Speaker 14: He was young, he was all right, you know, I
mean he's like he's dead. So yeah, So as your question, yeah, man,
make it happen, make it happen, go for it. Do
it now, not later than later.
Speaker 10: Right sure?
Speaker 8: Yeah?
Speaker 11: Man?
Speaker 10: Do you want to you want to play one more?
Speaker 14: Yeah, we'll play that one for you. So this is
the end, the in the end of the album and
this song okay, and this is.
Speaker 2: The name of the album. Is Existentialism on Main Street
Follow you Do?
Speaker 10: Okay, it is.
Speaker 2: It's kind of we don't want to say it's a
concept album, but it kind of is kind of we
have to plan each song and how they're going to
be in trock order and different things that they weren't
written in secession or anything. But the plan is for
you to put it on repeat all and when you
get to the very last song, it should kick right
back to the first song and you should feel like
you just went on a journey that you can't want
to go on again. Yeah, okay, that's that's kind of
what our goal is.
Speaker 10: Okay. Nice The Stiff Tones and.
Speaker 2: I Forgot.
Speaker 1: H h.
Speaker 7: M hmm.
Speaker 14: Okay, you is our streaming up all the rich another
years over.
Speaker 12: It's gone lunts that breach.
Speaker 17: I'm no here son, Well, I guess I've got friend, Well, yes,
I do.
Speaker 12: Now five the winter is here and he's leaning hold me.
Speaker 6: I don't want your money and I don't want your power.
Speaker 11: I don't want your love.
Speaker 12: I ain't got time for night. I shot over unless
it comes three.
Speaker 3: Mhm listen, indeed, no five.
Speaker 12: The winter is it and he's leaning call me. She
steps Tom beggars for her.
Speaker 7: Yeah, she used it.
Speaker 12: Will shoot five of it tonight this soccer Lemmys five.
Winter can't break your space.
Speaker 1: Mm hm hm hm.
Speaker 4: Love is a lesson. Love is a curse, depends on
the lover has.
Speaker 12: A witch all his words through the seasons. I'm a
sweet church. Holdy is indeed now five the winter is here.
Speaker 19: And he is leaning home mes leading.
Speaker 8: Me leaning, ho me, Well he's leaning.
Speaker 14: H h caodies scream and oh hurry.
Speaker 10: Oh that is so good. That is so good.
Speaker 13: The Sifftons live in studio here with us, uh Rachel
and Shawn are here and that was amazing. Thank you
so much for coming in and playing absolutely Now for
our listeners who are tuning in live on Saturday, So
where's your next show?
Speaker 10: Where are you off to? After this, we head to.
Speaker 2: The roadhouse, uh, powerhouse, mall yeah, over in Levin in
New Hampshire four and then or two wish to four
and then the following weekend we're at the Scutiny Festival
over in Vermont, and then we head to New York
and uh, yeah, it'll be probably next year before we
back up here again, but we come. We do try
to come up. Yeah, we were considering coming up for
snow season and helping shovel and we did spend yeah, yeah,
we spent a couple of winters up here. We did
like five winters. Like when I was a travel nurse.
We specifically took contracts up here so I could be
you know, to help, you know with the shovel and
my dad and my wicked my wickeds to that mother.
I've had some you know, health issues and stuff and
so dad like that flat land up Yeah, shovel snow
for real.
Speaker 3: Welcome to the Mountain sun right right?
Speaker 10: Well, very good?
Speaker 13: And where should people go online to keep up with
everything that you're doing. Where's the best place to go?
Speaker 2: The stiff Tones dot com. Yeah, and we're very heavily
active on Facebook. Yeah, we're gen x and so that's
kind of you know, that's where we fell after MySpace. Yeah,
and that's where we're comfortable. Yeah, but I do we
do have a website that I somewhat maintained, but our
bands in Town link is on there. There's you can
find links to everything, like if you're interested in your
I G page and all that stuff.
Speaker 14: But you can also send hate mail at gmail dot com.
Speaker 2: Wept all hate mails.
Speaker 8: Very good.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like my coffee suite and my male bitter
Yeah yeah like that.
Speaker 10: Well, very good. Thank you so much. This has been
wonderful and we are the time does go quickly.
Speaker 13: I do want to remind people too, if you are
listening live on Saturday, coming up at so at nine
pm tonight, Yeah, we're going to be at Jewel to
see Under the Horizon and it's a it's a big event.
Speaker 10: Actually there's a three day event going on, but we're
we're mainly going.
Speaker 13: To see uh see them, and that's why we're twins Today.
We've got the matching Under the Horizon Shurts Uh and
Uh and of course Uh Scarecrow Hill is going to
be there to another great band we've had on the
show and Uh, Jenny, do you want to mention your website.
Speaker 10: You've been up to a lot of stuff as usual.
Speaker 19: Man, the latest is up on the website, so go
check it out at Jencoffee dot com.
Speaker 10: J E n n C O F f uy dot com.
Let's see what kind of good trouble getting into good trouble? Yes, yes,
and let's see.
Speaker 13: And of course, uh, if you miss any part of
today's show, it will be up in just a little
bit at w m n hradio dot org and at
my website Matt Connerton dot com. And thank you everyone
who joined us today, Lydia ready and uh Tony from
Flair and again Rachel and Sean from the Stiff Tones,
thank you both so much. Than this has been wonderful
and that's gonna do it for us for now. We
hope to see a jewel tonight.
Speaker 2: And uh go out enjoy live music.
Speaker 13: Absolutely, it's very very important and we'll we'll talk to
you a little bit later by but.
Speaker 20: It's only started now. We're not at the end like
you think you're gonna do it all again. We're getting
older about our mind. It starts to shrink. He can
just get his paper and a knife is pen. Someone
finds out, so we stop to reassure them that.
Speaker 12: We haven't lost our minds. But they don't even know
the half.
Speaker 2: Of what she'll do when they forget about the don't
it's all a little secret ticky.
Speaker 4: It's not, it's all.
Speaker 3: And that I don't know read.
Speaker 12: Just exact till it's all scarce a.
Speaker 5: Hand again, hide so just get that high.
Speaker 2: We need to stop and think.
Speaker 4: We can't get caught this way.
Speaker 2: They'll say you're dumping the head.
Speaker 20: Don't go to your room, lock your doors and hide away,
changing your skin from white to red.
Speaker 9: You got too far this time, no point did you
give it up. You can't just leave it all be high,
and if you try to move on.
Speaker 15: From the pat that you'll.
Speaker 7: Still have to play on the lead. It's a little
secret ticking.
Speaker 5: So it's a scan and I don't know the region.
Just give that exactly, it's all. It's all skin the
only answer.
Speaker 10: So I just gave gout.
Speaker 8: Control.
Speaker 2: I'm so and stopped for water.
Speaker 20: Common pridle about my problem wasn't perfect for worth it.
Speaker 12: It might have been.
Speaker 8: Like I want to get him and just at.
Speaker 12: It's okay, noble guessing.
Speaker 6: The secret BETI.
Speaker 4: This st secrets K.
Speaker 14: Pembrook City Limits where it's all about the music.
Speaker 18: I want to tell you about Pembrooke City Limits in
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twice on Saturdays. Everything from country, blues, folk, funk, and
a whole lot of jazz.
Speaker 10: PCL has twelve local beers on tap.
Speaker 6: And some really delicious food to serve.
Speaker 18: Keep up with our live music calendar in hours of
operation at Pembrooke Citylimits dot com.
Speaker 11: Come visit Pembrooke City Limits.
Speaker 18: At one thirty four Main Street in the historic Suncook Village,
just six miles outside of Manchester. Pembrooke City Limits, where
it's all about the music,