2019.02.15 - Appetite For Distortion - Interview with Richard

Transcript:

Brando: You're such a beloved figure or character in the rock world.

Richard: Is that right?

Brando: I mean, I don't know if anyone has, I mean, I don't know everyone in your life, like ex-girlfriends and stuff, but no one has anything bad to say anything about you. You're just such a beloved guy.

Richard: Ah, that's nice to hear.

Brando: You know, I think this is actually, this might be the funniest start, because I'll ask you some fan questions because I want to get involved, but don't worry, nothing like inappropriate or anything like that. But this is funny, it's from Mr. Mack and it's from all over the world. This is from Ireland. "So if you can ask Fortus if he knows how good of a player he is?"

Richard: I think I have a good handle on where I am at as far as a player. I know what I can do and what I can't do and what I would like to be able to do that I can't do.

Brando: When did it, because you're from St. Louis, through and through, right?

Richard: I am from St. Louis. I lived in New York most of my life though.

Brando: Where in New York?

Richard: In Lower East Side.

Brando: Okay. I'm in Tribeca right now.

Richard: Right on. Yeah. I still own my apartment on Grant Street.

Brando: Okay. So, I mean, how often do you go back, back home to St. Louis? Cause I will say I went to St. Louis once, it was several years ago. I have, you know, quick side story, I have a neurological disability, and my dad had taken me to the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota a couple times, and he took me to Washington University in St. Louis. And I honestly fell in love with that city. You know, I was actually looking for radio jobs in St. Louis from everything. I went to the old Bush Stadium. I got to see my former favorite Yankee, Tina Martinez, play when he was on the Cardinals. I remember going to a bar with my, well, a restaurant with my, because I was too young at the time, a restaurant with my dad after, and seeing it was right after a St. Louis Blues game. And for a New Yorker where you got two teams for every sport and it's all like a blood bath, but everyone just joining together for one team. It was just, what a wonderful city that is, so I'm just curious if that's where you grew up and that's where, you know, that's who, what shaped you to be the person you are. That's where you are right now?

Richard: Yeah, yeah.

Brando: Okay. I went inside the Ark too. I went inside the Ark. Sorry, I'll shut up after you.

Richard: The Arch.

Brando: The Arch, that's a New Yorker.

Richard: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, it is a great city. It's a great, you know, really, the reason I moved back here was because I have two little girls and it's a lot easier. I had been in LA prior to being back in St. Louis. But, yeah, it's much easier and I really didn't want my kids to grow up in Los Angeles.

Brando: No, they're going to be more stable.

Richard: Yeah. It's just, there's something really grounding about being in the Midwest. I don't know. That's probably why you know I'm in New York as much as I can be back a lot for work and It still feels like home to me, the city, even though it's very different, especially my neighborhood.

Brando: Well, you, I mean, you travel all over but yeah, New York is something special and especially of course since you, you know, you spend time here. But I gotta assume you growing up in St. Louis might be one of the things that you bonded over with Freekbase, who we just spoke to before you came on. And he says he can't wake the funk with you, the funk you up with you, or something like that. I forgot his exact phrasing on Saturday at the Brooklyn Bowl. But, because he's obviously from a Midwestern also, you know, he's very down to earth. So do you think that's where you guys bonded in addition to being players?

Richard: Yeah, for sure, for sure. And his wife is an old friend of mine from, I think she went to school in St. Louis and used to come see my first band all the time. And yeah, and so I've known him through her for years.

Brando: Okay, it's amazing. Life is funny. The people that you meet and you end up doing something with them later, which could be said with a lot of your career. You know, when I started off, everyone seems to love you and you keep getting, you know, asked to join different bands or whether it be, you know, like the Dead Daisies or joining X Japan on stage. You're always doing something in addition to, you know, that little band that you're a part of, Guns N' Roses, but it's-

Richard: Yeah, you know, I think that as a musician, I think there's so many great musicians out there that are phenomenal players. And it really has a lot to do with how you relate to other players, you know, other musicians, and I think that's why I've been as fortunate as I have been because I, you know, we all share a passion for music and it's our life obsession. And you feel that from other musicians when you meet them, you know? And it's a bonding thing. And if you can get along with somebody, it just, and you have that in common, I think that ultimately that's what makes you appealing, you know?

Brando: I do. So what of, you know, where your kids are gonna grow up now, they're gonna grow up like you in St. Louis. So what was like little Richard like? Not the Little Richard, but the young version of yourself growing up in St. Louis. Like how did you, what drew you to the guitar? Did you always want to be, you know, a professional musician? Perhaps your career as a wrestler not work out? I mean, like what made you go on this path?

Richard: When I was little, I remember being like, I was like four or five years old and being in Sunday school and at church and them asking me, you know, what do you want to be when you grow up? And they were asking everybody in the group, you know, and I remember thinking, that's my earliest memory of thinking, "I want to be a musician." And I started playing violin when I was young, it was about, you know, four or five. And then also started playing drums around that time. And it really just fell in love with it at a very young age. And with it being music, you know. And I didn't start playing guitar before I was 12 years old. But I continued playing violin throughout my life.

Brando: And you still play violin every now and then?

Richard: Yeah, in fact, I have to do a session this week where I'm playing violin and cello.

Brando: Oh man. We got to see you do a Jethro Tull cover or something. We got to get you doing a violin solo on some of these shows.

Richard: It's funny. You don't think about a violin with... I don't think about, I don't equate violin with Jethro Tull as much as flute, but they did have a violinist, Eddie Jobson, played violin when he was with them. Eddie Jobson.

Brando: Okay, see, they're there. Obviously, you know, the big thing is the flute, but I'm just... It was the first rock band that came to my name, other than, I mean, Yellow Card. Yellow Card. Yellow Card, the pop punk band had a violinist.

Richard: But what about ELO? Oh, duh. Yeah, yeah. I was just watching Jeff Lynne's ELO on, that special on Showtime.

Richard: Yeah, I haven't seen that. I haven't seen it. It was a live performance?

Brando: Yeah, I think it was from the O2 Arena.

Richard: Mr. Loose Guy's, the documentary, the Jeff Lin documentary.

Brando: I haven't seen that.

Richard: It's fantastic.

Brando: So we both have homework to do.

Richard: Yeah, I was always a big fan.

Brando: Oh, yeah, I mean who? I love it. I'm the oldest of four boys and my third youngest brother one day just goes to me, "Have you ever heard of this band, Electric Light Orchestra?" I guess look at them. Like you're 20. Have you heard of a band from the 70s? Yes, I know who they are. But it was nice to see somebody young dig deep into that. But speaking of like, I guess older music, so then what were you listening to when you were younger, you know, especially when you were, you know, with violin or like what got, where were the bands or players that inspired you to finally put down the bow and pick up the guitar?

Richard: I was, like I said, I was always a drummer as well. So I played in bands as a young kid, friends playing drums. And then I guess I started playing because I was hanging out with guitar players and sort of thought, "Man, that doesn't look so difficult," because there were always guitars in my house. There were always guitars around. My father was in the music business. He was in the musical instrument business. And so he was partners in a company that made guitars and amplifiers and drums. So there were always guitars around my house, but I was always very intimidated by them because they have long necks and two extra strings that being more polyphonic based as opposed to single note with the monophonic with violin. And I was intimidated by all of that. I mean, I got my hands full with four strings. I'm just gonna stick with that. And yeah, so then I realized later on that it's actually easier in a lot of ways. And I started diving into that and then became obsessed with that. But I always, I already had a lot of finger strength from violin. So I got good quickly. You know, I was able to pick stuff up very quickly.

Brando: Anything else you were into when you were younger other than music? Anything, sports or any other cool hobbies that maybe you still do now, reading comics, anything?

Richard: Yeah, I raced motorcycles as a kid. And I still do that. Well, I still ride.

Brando: Nice. Can you ride now in St. Louis? What's the weather? I know it's been changing everywhere across this nation. Exactly.

Richard: It's like 60 degrees. I just dropped my my daughter, I'm waiting for her while she's at gymnastics class. So yeah, when I'm home, whenever I can, I'm dad. I pick the girls up at school, I take them to all their stuff. But during the day, like today, I'm working on producing this new album by The Psychedelic Furs. And I've been working on that during the days.

Brando: See, how do you find the time? And especially when you are a dad. And I said this to the Freekbase, and I said this to other guests of mine, you know, like Alex Grossi, you know, from Hookers & Blow with Dizzy Reed. It's like, you already have the famous band that you're with, you know, and you could, in theory, live off that, and it's, you know, maybe as opposed to earlier years, now GN'R, I mean, they just came off a massive tour. Don't you wanna be lazy? But then again, I'm glad you're not, and fans are glad that you're not, because you come up with Headtronics, and then you mention you're producing Psychedelic Furs. So how do you do it? Do you have a great secretary? How do you do it?

Richard: I'm always doing sessions and things like that, because I get depressed if I'm not working. I start to feel like, "Oh my God, am I ever gonna work again?" I think there's always so much, and it makes me happy to work. I love doing it, making music so it's always fun to do different things. And it's also fun to do different things that challenge you in different ways, you know, so I get to be in the studio and record and produce stuff and, you know, play on different people's records and as well as doing stuff like Headtronics which is an absolute blast for me, and it challenges you in different ways, you know, it's very different than doing a GN'R tour.

Brando: Oh, I can only imagine, because I didn't know, I was pleasantly surprised when Freekhead mentioned that it's all improv, that you guys don't have a set list, and the DJ logic goes up there as a beat, then he'll come in with a bass line, then you come in. I mean, is that intimidating, or are you guys just all gelled so well that whatever you're gonna do, like an improv group, that you just find a way, and it just comes out awesome? Because I know it's new.

Richard: The thought of going to see something like that to me would be horrific. Like, unless it's a caliber of player where it's a really interesting conversation. You know, music being a conversation. And if it's people that all they want to do is talk and they don't want to listen to one another, it's, which is, I think, generally what happens in jam sessions. And why it would be very unappealing to me. But when you have players of a certain caliber and maturity, we're all listening to each other. We're all thinking as writers and producers. So it's not ego-driven and it's not masturbatory. So it's more about listening to what other people are doing and then finding a simple line and developing that and then changing it. You know, seeing that for 16 bars and then letting that go and shifting on something else and listening to what other people. You know, it's really magical when it's right. And with this group of people, it's just absolutely phenomenal. And you know, my first show with them was last week and last weekend. And I was really not knowing what to expect as far as how people would respond. But then people were just blown away by it. And it's incredibly infectious. And there's something really magical about it because knowing that it's all completely unscripted and that it's very pure and very organic. And when it's working and it's magical, there's nothing else like it. And it's really phenomenal to be a part of that.

Brando: Yeah, I was saying to the Freek as well that it's something that is missing, not in just today's rock genre, but just in general. And we were talking about the Grammys or the Super Bowl halftime show, where everything is so cookie cutter, there's gonna be no surprises, and I feel like that's not what music is supposed to be, and you had mentioned that with the caliber of players, because it's not like you're up there, "Oh, let me tune my guitar, let me check my amp," and there's like these lulls. You just all seem to gel, and it's like you had rehearsed these songs, based upon the videos you've been sharing on your Instagram and your Twitter and your Facebook. It's-

Richard: Yeah, you're right. It's the antithesis of what the Super Bowl is. Shows like that or the Grammys, it's so, I mean, I've done all that stuff and it's so scripted and it's so homogenized. And it's, I mean, it's about the dancing. It's about what, people aren't, they're not, nine out of 10 times those people aren't even playing, really. And if they are, they're playing the tracks. And it's just, that's not really what live music is about. And I think that's what has turned people off to it. It's become so polished that live shows, it's just not, there's nothing dangerous about it.

Brando: You might as well listen to the record. Why see the show? So that actually relates to another fan question. This is from Tintin from Mexico. His question will be related to your work with N'sync and Enrique Iglesias, speaking of that genre. So he would like to know how those collabs came to life. And I love that you keep all these, the names in your Twitter profile, because Enrique's up there with GN'R and the rest of your work. So how did those come to be and what do you? I mean, I assume you prefer rock, but do you like being a part of all these things?

Richard: You know, I learned a lot. You always learn from different experiences. And playing with Enrique was interesting because the band was so good. And I came into that through a friend of mine, Tony Bruno, who's one of my favorite guitar players. And, you know, just the opportunity to play with him and it was a great band. It was a lot of fun to do. And I mean, it wasn't like, you know, I was going to spend 20 years in that band, but, you know, for a quick thing, same thing with Rihanna, you know, that was a lot of fun to do for a short period of time. For the same reasons. And it's not so much about... But at the same time, I couldn't see doing those gigs for a long period because it would start to seem like a job. Because you're playing the same exact thing every night.

Brando: Yeah, and there's no improvisation.

Richard: That's right, and it's, again, you're playing along with recorded tracks or to click and it's just not that, like I said, it's not that, I mean, there are moments where it's free, but for the most part, it's not, it's not about that. But yeah, I mean, I didn't do either of those gigs that long. As far as N'sync, I never did anything live with them. I came into that because my friend BT, who I work with quite a bit - I'm actually doing a record with him next week, a collaboration with two of us, which is going to be similar to Headtronik's, going to be a lot of fun, but more electronic music - and he was producing the N'sync stuff and writing it. So he brought me in. And that's how I did that album. And then I ended up doing an album with one of the guys from, from N'sync, JC.

Brando: JC Chazay. Why do I know that, but I do.

Richard: Yeah, I ended up doing a record with him that was actually really cool. I don't think it ever was released, but it was very sort of Radiohead-ish, very interesting musically. And again, I came into that through the producer, you know, I mean, a lot of the stuff, you know, there's a lot of stuff that I'm not credited for that play on that, you know, that are bands or whatever that I just get hired to do the session.

Brando: So how did you, Freek touched on it a little bit, but you joined Headtronics. So how did that come about? Because it's through Bootsy Collins and through Buckethead, right? So how did you make this a four piece?

Richard: I came through it to, or I came to it through Freek. Like I said, I'd known him and he asked, he knew that I was available. We've been talking about doing something for a while and it just seemed like a perfect opportunity.

Brando: Okay. Yeah. This is a good question based upon what we're talking about now. And this is from Tomasca. "Richard changes gear a lot to adapt to the musical situation. I'm wondering if he's ever had trouble adjusting to a particular guitar setup that was absolutely necessary for a piece of work that he had to do. Say for example, the strat he used for a while." "What is his," I guess this is the second part, "what is his desert island gear pick? I'm guessing in a single pick up junior. I picked up guitar because of Richard and Izzy, what a great guy."

Richard: Man, I love juniors. You know, I love doing different types of gigs because I get to play different guitars. I get to play different combinations of gear. And I know that seems strange probably to a lot of people, but for me that's like, if I get to play a certain, like when I'm presented with a gig and, "Would you be interested in doing it?" I'm immediately, that's the first thing I think about is what would I be playing? You know, what type of gear would I be playing? And what would I get to use? You know, so I think about, I have a really large collection of vintage gear. And, you know, so I think about what would work best for that gig. And, you know, that's a big part of it. Yeah, he mentioned the strat. I think that's the strat he's talking about is my signature guitar with truss art[?] guitars, which is one of my all-time favorite guitars. I love that thing and it's out of all my vintage strats, I think it's the best sounding strats that I that I own. But, you know, I've never been in a situation where I couldn't figure out what was best. You know, some of the more challenging ones, one time I was doing a Psychedelic Furs tour and they didn't want to bring on a keyboard player and they asked me if I could cover the keyboard parts. Or we actually were considering different keyboard players and I think maybe I was the one that said, "You know, I bet I could cover all that." And ended up using a guitar synthesizer and also covering the sax parts. You know, I was playing cello... It was a challenge, but it's something that I took on just to see if I could do it. And, and it was quite an adventure, but I ended up being able to cover all these keyboard parts, as well as the second guitar parts and the cello parts and the sax parts all on, just using, well, I did have an electric cello that I was using, but I had guitar synthesizer and the way I mapped everything out so that different strings were creating different sounds and were tuned to different notes. And it was quite an undertaking but it ended up working out.

Brando: It sounds like you you like the challenge and I've kind of done the same. I mean my my career has been predominantly in rock and classic rock, but I've done country, I've done adult contemporary, I'm even a Jew who worked for the Catholic channel. So I mean, whatever it is, I love radio, just like you love music and playing in a band or contributing. So I do get it in my own world. That's how I can see it. I can totally see you as wanting to challenge yourself and not being complacent.

Richard: And I would love to play in a country band. I would love to do a country tour. Because I love country guitar. I love, I mean, some of my favorite guitar players are country guitar players. And I think that that love has really sort of influenced my rock playing as well. Yeah, in a big way.

Brando: I like that, I guess said the name the other day, the country artist that opened up for Guns N' Roses, Chris Stapleton.

Richard: I love Chris Stapleton.

Brando: Yeah, that would be awesome if you guys did a collab.

Richard: I would love that. Yeah, and Sturgill Simpson as well. He did a couple of shows with us. And I'm a big fan of his as well.

Brando: All right, and speaking of, I guess, challenging yourself, what is it like to, because this, the most recent GN'R tour, there's a lot of Illusion songs that were added, of course, with the the lineup now including Slash and Duff. So what was it like for you? Any challenges there to play more Illusion and the Chinese stuff not as much as you had years prior? Anything difference-

Richard: No.

Brando: -going from one GN'R record to the next? No, no difference?

Richard: No, no, no, not really. Yeah, the Chinese stuff is more challenging than anything else. Just sonically, there's a lot more territories you cover. But yeah, the Illusion stuff is all pretty straightforward. I mean, some of those arrangements are very complex, and some of the songs are, you know, we have a song like Coma, you know, that is pretty epic, in that it goes through several different sections, and it's sort of almost through-composed[?]. And so that's a challenge, but, you know, no, it's well within my wheelhouse. We all come from a similar background. We all came up listening to the same stuff.

Brando: Now this is an odd one. Ross Anderson says, strange one, "Can you ask Richard if he was out jogging in Poland the morning after the," - I'm a third Polish, the fact that I can't pronounce the towns of these is terrible - "Shorzo?".

Richard: Shorzov? Yeah, I'm sure I was. I'm sure I was.

Brando: Cause he's like-

Richard: Sure I was, I'm out running every day.

Brando: Okay, cause he goes, "Sure I seen him in my hungover state from my balcony in Metavista." So I guess that-

Richard: Yeah, that was me.

Brando: Okay. That's too funny. I love it. So with the Headtronics, cause this will be, I mean you've played it before of course, Brooklyn Bowl, that's coming up this Saturday. And I didn't see the GN'R show when you guys were there, knowing my life, I probably was at a radio shift somewhere, but I got to see a GN'R cover band there before. What do you think of that venue, Brooklyn Bowl? Because it's really cool, and a lot of big acts come through there.

Richard: Yeah, I had a lot of fun there. And I've been to shows there. But yeah, I like that venue.

Brando: Where do you see this going? Because, Freek said, and I'm assuming you'll agree, that you encourage fans to tape the shows, because if it's all improv, I'm like, is anything recorded, or are you gonna ever work off-

Richard: Nope.

Brando: -any of these pieces of music? But for a future album, though?

Richard: I don't know, we should record, we should release something, because it's such a great group of players.

Brando: That's what he thought, he's like, "Let's get a whole," you know, since you guys are built on live and being improv, "just get like an audience into the recording studio and do the album like that."

Richard: That's a good idea. And it's so easy now to record live in multi-track. That would be easy to do.

Brando: Well I hope that comes to fruition. Do you mind sharing some thoughts on Buckethead? You know, of course, because you've played with him quite often.

Richard: Phenomenal talent. He's one of the greatest guitar players I've ever seen. He's fantastic.

Brando: I finally got to see him for the first time. I don't know, it might have been a few months ago. It was at BB King's Blues Club here in the city, which is closing, or it has closed.

Richard: Yeah, I heard it was closing. That's too bad. I saw some good shows there. I saw the Meters there. I saw... Check this out. I saw Ike Turner play there. And John Spencer opened. Yeah, Blues Explosion opened for Ike Turner. It was unannounced, but yeah, that was a great show.

Brando: I don't know if I've ever met anyone who's been to an Ike Turner show. That's amazing. Especially that it happened locally. But I mean, I hope you do, and I know we're short on time and you are super busy, you're obviously in St. Louis, you still have to get to New York in a couple days. But I do hope Headtronics does put something out because this is just a really cool band. And the premise of it is really cool when you bring all different things to it. And I think me along with the rest of the GN'R fans, we love all these, and I've used like a spin-off sitcom, all these spin-off, like they're real bands, but if you look at GN'R is the mothership if you just look at it like that, you know, what Duff solo record, what Slash is doing, I love that you're all doing... Having all these awesome musical babies in addition to it, if that if that doesn't sound too weird.

Richard: And Dizzy doing his thing with Hookers & Blow yeah, yeah, and he's putting out a... I never thought it was gonna happen, that's what Alex would say, putting out a Hookers & Blow covers record and I'm hoping to-

Richard: Oh, is that right?

Brando: Yeah. I'm hoping to... I've had Alex on a few times, and last time he was supposed to be with Dizzy, but he overslept, but his wife was nice enough to wake him up for me just to say hi in the podcast.

Richard: That sounds about right.

Brando: So while I technically have had a current Guns N' Roses member on the show, I would say you're officially the first GN'R member that I've gotten to interview, a current GN'R member, so I really do appreciate the little time that you have, again being in all this gazillion bans and being a dad. You got married not too long ago, right? A year or so ago, right?

Richard: A couple of years ago.

Brando: And obviously we haven't spoken so Mazel tov, even though it's belated.

Richard: Thank you.

Brando: But couple of questions if I can just get them in.

Richard: I wanted to answer the last question you asked about desert island gear. I wanted to answer that because ironically I've been commenting on that on Instagram that the guitar that I played at the last Headtronic show is a 73 Les Paul signature and it is probably of all the guitars I own is definitely not even close to being the most valuable guitar that I own, but as far as a desert island guitar that would probably be the one. Just because it's so incredibly versatile, it feels like an old pair of jeans for me because [?] it so much. Living in New York that was and doing sessions every day doing session work, that would be the guitar I would always use if I didn't have an idea of what I was walking into. So unless a producer specified and said, "Hey, this is the vibe," and I had some ideas, you know, what he was going for, I would then bring that guitar because I knew I could cover any base with that. And I played it in clubs and you know, when I would play in New York city and it just every week, that was my sort of my act. So yeah, that would be my desert island pick.

Brando: Awesome. See, that's why we got a lot of questions for you, Richard, and obviously I can't get them to them all, but they're not all the what you may think are the obvious ones, but it's, you know, "How does he play the way that he does?" "Why does he like playing this way?" It's all about, it's about your talent and your specific, your particular set of skills, as they say. So that's why I started everything off, that you're so beloved. So again, because I've got to get you out of here, if I can just ask one more question jumping off that. Everyone hangs on your words whenever you do an interview, and again, I'm so appreciative that you've given me time. The last interview you did with your hometown station, that really blew up. Is there anything, do you like that when people are knowing that whatever, whether it's on this show or wherever it's gonna be go viral?

Richard: No, because the thing that's sort of difficult with that is that, you know, whenever you say anything about how you feel, or what your what might happen or what, you know, especially when it pertains to Guns N' Roses, people then take that and, you know, either they misquote you or they leave things out, you know, to make it seem like you're making an announcement, you know. And then all these websites pick up on it and they twist it further. And it's just, yeah, it's very difficult in that way.

Brando: I completely get it. And that's why I named this "distortion" because I'm trying to get through that and be as honest as I can with my interviews. And, you know, it is hard with the headlines because they got to get clicks. You know, it is what it is, but you want people to listen to the full interview. So if there is anything to say or you want to clarify, you know, about that or just in general you know the the floor is yours or we can just leave it-

Richard: No, I hope that people come, all my New York friends can make it out on Saturday, I'm really excited about this yeah.

Brando: And I told Freek the only reason I can't make it is I have to go to my girlfriend's dance thing and unfortunately that takes priority over-

Richard: I get it, I understand.

Brando: But that means you have to come back through, because I want to see this show,

Richard: Yeah, yeah, you really need to. I'm hoping that we will do more, schedule permitting, but I've got a lot of stuff coming out that... I've actually got a couple big projects that I'm really excited about but, I can't can't talk about them yet.

Brando: All right, well, I hope when the time is right, you do come back on. But I will say this, at least people can watch wherever they are, you can watch it online, Headtronics, the live stream from Brooklyn.

Richard: Oh, that's right. That's right. It's being live streamed.

Brando: Yeah, so you can just go to the Brooklyn Bowl's Twitter. They actually, I guess, retweeted it. They have the link there. The Relix channel, Relix with an X, so that's pretty bad ass, that you're doing that to everyone no matter where in the world they are.

Richard: I need to share that as well on my socials.

Brando: Okay, look at that, I'm ahead of the game.

Richard,: [?]

Brando: Hey,in your defense Freek almost forgot, it was like one last things that he said. I want to get that out there as well. But this was a pleasure you know i i hope when next time you come back in town, with whatever project you're working on, you can come in studio because this was just a real pleasure and I would just love to shake the hand of a guitar god.

Richard: I appreciate it, I appreciate all your kind words and your support.

Brando: [?] we do have a common friend in Christine Jordan, I used to work with her United Stations radio networks and she says what an awesome guy you are. So, you know, small world, small world. So I'll let you go, but thanks Richard, and I hope we can do this again.

Richard: All right, for sure. Take care.

Finished this.