Murders to Music: Crime Scene to Music Scene (Streamline Events and Entertainment)
Come on a ride along with a Veteran Homicide Detective as the twists and turns of the job suddenly end his career and nearly his life; discover how something wonderful is born out of the Darkness. Embark on the journey from helping people on their worst days, to bringing life, excitement and smiles on their best days.
Murders to Music: Crime Scene to Music Scene (Streamline Events and Entertainment)
Turning Riffs into Bonds: "Farmers Only" and The Spirit of Double Down
What happens when a Southern California upbringing inspired by the vibrant music scene of Los Angeles meets a life of faith, family and friends? Join us on a lively journey with my dear friend and musical partner Jeff Joubert from the band Double Down. Jeff shares his fascinating childhood in sunny Redondo Beach, complete with skateboarding, and surfing adventures. Together, we reminisce about our diverse musical backgrounds, sun, surf, and camaraderie that shaped our youth, and how these early experiences influenced our dynamic lifestyles and musical careers.
Our musical exploration travels from church music to the eclectic mix of influences that have defined our sound. Jeff's journey from bass to guitar and piano, and his experiences leading worship music, intertwine with his diverse inspirations from legends like Eric Clapton to Joe Satriani. Discover how Jeff's musical roots merged with mine to form Double Down in 2018, a band that embodies the spirit and energy of our musical roots. From navigating Craigslist in the search to find the right band members, to performing at unique venues, we share the challenges and triumphs of being musicians in a constantly evolving landscape.
But it's not all tunes and melodies. The saga of Double Down is also a testament to friendship and faith. We recount chaotic gig mishaps, like unexpected sprinkler showers and snowy wedding adventures, that tested our resilience and strengthened our bond. Even as Jeff considers moving away, the story of our partnership is a celebration of the music that moves us and the friendships that sustain us. So, tune in and let the adventure of Family, Faith, and Music inspire your own journey.
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Welcome back to the Murders to Music Podcast. My name is Aaron, I'm your host and you are in for a great show. Tonight Got a special guest on the show. A few weeks back, a couple months ago I guess, we released an episode where I was introducing the band and at that time it was episode number eight and I introduced Mr Michael Key. If you remember, the title is the Grinch, van Halen and the Ramada Inn. Well, what does that have to do? Michael Key is a Hollywood makeup artist. He has found his way into Washington state and he's worked on a lot of big shows. The Grinch he's roadied for Van Halen. It's a great episode. Go check it out.
Speaker 2:Episode number eight Tonight is the second part in that series and we're going to introduce Mr Jeff Jobert. Jeff Jobert is a part of Double Down. He is one of my best friends and we're going to talk to him and learn a little bit about him tonight. But before we do that, I just want to reach back and talk about give you just a little bit of an update. So a couple weeks back I did episode number 22, where I was talking about unveiling pride and if you remember, that's the one where I had an epiphany that I had been blaming everybody for problems that were really my own over the last six, eight months, and I unveiled the idea that when I left the police department, the pride was so big and my head was so big that I just didn't even recognize it. Sometimes you don't recognize it when you're in it. And in that podcast I spoke about needing to make things right with the music people at the church that I go to, because for the last year I've been blaming them for a series of things and I won't get into those details, but I just want to let listeners know this.
Speaker 2:Last week I made it a point to meet with the gentleman who I have a problem with or had a problem with, was able to sit down over coffee and just explain to him and apologize not explain, but just apologize where I was coming from and how it was my fault, not his. I'm not owed anything, I shouldn't be entitled and at the end of the day, these were my problems, not his problems. It went really well. I think we cleared the air he shared a little bit about with me and this is a guy who I don't think I would ever have called a friend, and we're definitely on our way to that. We're closer and this was amazing how those open, candid conversations can really change people's perspectives on both sides of that fence.
Speaker 2:So it worked out well, and just wanted to follow up from episode number 22 and let you guys know that I did follow through with what I was talking about. All right, so now that I've made all my wrongs right, my world is good. I'm squared away. Let's introduce Jeff to the show. Jeff, thank you so much for coming on the show tonight.
Speaker 1:Thanks for having me here.
Speaker 2:Of course, buddy. So just, I just want to talk a little bit tonight about a little bit about you at first, and then slowly, kind of my idea is we're talking about where you were born, how you were raised, your musical influences, your jobs, your faith, your family, and then slowly we'll get into kind of where you're at today as far as playing, performing Double Down. I just want the listeners and the Double Down fans to really understand a little bit about who you are, what you're all about, and introduce you to the world. So that's it. So, starting off, can you tell me where did you grow up? How did you grow up? Tell me about your family?
Speaker 1:You got it, buddy. I grew up in beautiful, sunny Southern California in a beautiful paradise setting called Redondo Beach, a beautiful kind of. It used to be a seaport guys and it's a really beautiful place to surf and people resort there. But it's also a really very wealthy area and 20 minutes from World Harbor in San Pedro, california, and 20 minutes south of LAX Airport. So I grew up in a really cool place that was very accessible for my dad to do construction and for us to be raised in a place where my parents considered once to move to Orange County but had such a killer rent renters they didn't want to bail and ruin our lives, so I really appreciated that.
Speaker 2:That's cool. And do you have any siblings?
Speaker 1:I sure do, because I'm the oldest of three. My sisters, melissa and Michelle, are angels, grew up together very tight. We're all born within four years of each other, so really tight knit there. My dad said one more to my mom and I'm moving to Alaska and be live up there by Aaron Wow, sweet.
Speaker 2:And did so your family. Does your family still live in California? Do they live here? Where's your family living at right now?
Speaker 1:Good question. My sister Melissa Chaubert. She followed us up she actually I followed her up. She came up here in 2004. First I helped move her up here with little sis. We came up here and brought Mel up here and dumped her off her cool little location over by 23rd Street, portland. So she was super jazzed to come up here alone, unmarried. She's still here. She's the only one of us who never really bailed from the area. My baby sister, michelle. I met a wonderful fella, had some wonderful kids down in Southern California. He's a um, a set builder, a Michael key type guy, a Hollywood set builder union guy for Hollywood California. Michelle works for um, an aerospace group, and she's been there for years. But yeah, they, she stuck it out and she lives, uh, probably 10 minutes from my parents in LA and my folks are still two blocks from the beach. They used to be six blocks buddy, the bulk of my life. They moved even closer after they retired.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Do you ever get down there and see your family?
Speaker 1:I do, I do, I'm actually headed down there um in a week go visit them a little bit. It's a little little private Jeffy time and I've. I've missed him akids, but they've been very busy down there this whole time. Dad's a big builder down there, a lot of years, almost 70, still skis, just a good dude and very much my icon. And my mom is very much the matriarch of faith in my family, so she's been very instrumental.
Speaker 2:Awesome. Let's talk about faith a little bit. What was faith like growing up? Was it a part of your life growing up? Was it a part of your family, or is it something you found a little bit later in life? Walk me through that process, because that's how we met, was through church, but talk to me about faith.
Speaker 1:Good one, bud. Well, it's funny All these years Instagram, those are intimate details that we get more and more out in the open over the years. And, yeah, buddy, my family's always been very infused in church. My mom and dad both came from different backgrounds met and it was a really good match. And yet from my dad's side of the family they were Jehovah's Witnesses, which is different than my mom's upbringing.
Speaker 1:She was raised by a couple of bohemians really cool beach folks who loved hunting and hanging out in Baja wonderful people and her sister and brother. But my mom actually accepted Christ in college at University of Santa Barbara, came home, met my dad, or she got to be with my dad. She loved him, they started dating and she instantly became a Jehovah's Witness because she didn't know any better and she was like I'm going to go with these guys. And so she did and they were witnesses together up until I was just a little tight, I think about three years old. And then my mom and dad decided to leave the church, the Watchdog Society, and my mom became a full-time evangelical Christian buddy out of a wonderful church called Hope Chapel Hermosa Beach, which has been there for eons in Hermosa Beach, california. So that's where I got to start.
Speaker 2:And what about you? Where did you find your walk with God? Was that at a young age? Did you grow up in the church? Or was it a decision you made at teens?
Speaker 2:Or I know, for me, the first time that you know I grew up going to church just because I wanted to see the girls and there was some cool you know Wednesday night program called the Fish Factory, and I never got the girls but at least I could look at them. And then I went off to some you know evangelical stadium event and I remember going down front for the first time, you know, and asking God into my life, and that was my first memory, you know. And then I kind of fell away, but that was about, I don't know, probably 13 years old or so. But the difference between you and I is my family didn't grow up in church at all. Um, my parents, they believed in God, uh, and they believed, you know, but they did not go to church. That wasn't a part of their world.
Speaker 2:So for me it was always as a tag along, even at a young age, four or five years old. It was me getting picked up on Sundays and going with my friends, or, you know, my parents' friends who would take me to church, and they're still very good friends of mine today. They live down in Texas now, and that's my earliest memories of church. But then, as a teenager, I started selecting for myself. What was your walk?
Speaker 1:like. I'm glad you asked, buddy, because you're coming from a background like my folks to me, and a little bit of derision, you know, obviously, with my family who was still a Jehovah's Witness at the time, my dad's side of the family Still a wonderful connection though, and a wonderful grandma who kind of held us together, even even though she was a witness herself, kind of a liberal gal in that sense. But we was um, but for me it was probably an earlier conversion, or at least earlier you know, prayer of sorts, um, but it wasn't until I was really 11 years old. I believe that was the real pivotal point. Um really really accepted christ in my, my life at age Really, had struggled in school, kind of a little wild guy Definitely, had been on a rapscallion all the way through.
Speaker 1:I did a good, strong pop. But to have that change in my life, buddy, spiritually at age 11 was wonderful because it really changed who I was going to be and I felt like that was really the thing. I got glasses that year so I could see a lot better, do a lot better in school. So that helped. But then I had a wonderful teacher.
Speaker 1:This is Donna Nugent, who is still with us today a wonderful gal in our area back home and she was a Christian lady who was very patient with me let me come to class early and visit with her and stuff, and so she was a good example. But it was definitely that year, buddy, when I accepted Christ and went on from there and then just went up and up through this with the levels of church, sunday school, you know wonderful youth group time at middle school age. Back then of course it was just like for you it was probably just seventh and eighth, very junior high, and then high school was really when I got into the music with the church. But it was really just a continuation, buddy, it was just more the completeness of being a Christian, a young Christian.
Speaker 2:Awesome. So we'll come back and talk about the music, because that is a major part of the connection between you and I, um, but let's talk about Jeffy. As a kid, I know that at some point you skateboarded. Uh, tell me about that. What was it like growing up in California skateboarder, and, if I remember correctly, you were pretty good. Talk to me a little bit about that.
Speaker 1:God bless you, buddy. Yeah, guys, if you're, if you're born and raised where I was, um, you know we weren't the dog town kids, those are the rough kids and a generation before in Venice beach, california, and Santa Monica the real tougher part of town, for sure, as a beach community Redonda beach, hermosa, manhattan was actually a pretty wealthy area and has never really changed. We obviously grew up, you know, middle class, wonderful family, working folks, but skateboarding was a huge deal down there, guys. As you can imagine, I always said that the three boards in my mind is always skateboarding, especially just around the clock, because you don't have much rain in California so you could skate all the time in an area with lots of hills and so it was super fun skating with the buddies. Didn't do a whole lot of ramp riding or dangerous things to protect myself and my family from my natural liability, but definitely enjoyed lots of mileage, buddy, a lot of cooking, street tricks and fun stuff. I felt like I probably put hundreds of miles on my skateboard as a kid, which was a miracle. It's just so good for you. I think my knees are paying for it now, but it was really great time.
Speaker 1:Lots of surfing, group surfing. Skateboarding was the transportation for surfing because it's hard to do with a bike and hold your surfboard under your arm. So you'd skate to and fro school and to and fro to the beach, which was maybe a mile mile and a half from home. Favorite spot Started surfing definitely in high school. Really got cooked on the longboard and then of in being in Los Angeles. They always say you could do all three in the same day. You could, you could, you could surf, you know, skateboard, snowboard all in the same day. So that was the other one to do. Um, ended up being a pretty decent snowboarder too, buddy. Um, just, all these are kind of related in. You know, those borders would tell you so.
Speaker 2:Um, and also pretty decent water skier, so just a very athletic young man. See, that's awesome. I'm learning stuff I didn't know about you. I've known you for a decade now. Um, back on episode 12, uh, I spoke about and you and I've had this conversation where I had my diving accident and drowned in the Puget sound, um, when you were out there, so I have a real respect for the water. When you were out surfing, did you ever get caught in a riptide or have any harrowing situations like that?
Speaker 1:absolutely buddy there. There's times when that stuff was guys, predominantly the. The surfing environment is rougher, even la, and and I grew up a certain lot in san diego to where my grandparents lived carlsbad, north county san diego but down there surfing in an area where the waves get way more rough and intense and the rip currents and all that stuff during the wintertime you get a whole different current. Come there bud, we call it the Japanese current. The whole ocean spins the opposite way. It sends all this really cold water, which is my least favorite time to surf. That's why I never surfed up here in the Northwest. I couldn't tolerate it, not even a chance, not even close.
Speaker 1:But down there, guys, it was like you know, you could get caught in a riptide, sucked way out. Your mind is always playing tricks in the air and like you say, oh, there's sharks out there and stuff. I never really saw a shark until one time when I was in high school. I was alone and I was paddling out, really skimming, which they usually skim underneath dolphins or other prey or other predators, because they they belch things up and they get to have a snack. Well, this one was skimming on top of the water and there was a great big shark swimming in the surf and I was like, oh, so all you do is kind of like, turn around, take a wave in and just set your board for a minute, think about it, cause you're alone, you know, lifeguards off time, you know, and then you're just like I'm going back out.
Speaker 2:That's why I'm here, sweet so I know what you do now. What did you do growing up? You said your dad was in construction. Yes, and you have a construction background. Now that I know, yeah, um, tell me, connect those dots for me. When did you start working? What did you do? And you're also a teacher, so at some point you made that change to go to education. Walk, walk me through that a little bit. You got it, buddy.
Speaker 1:Well, I think we're past the statute of limitations Perfect.
Speaker 2:Yeah, good.
Speaker 1:So my dad put me to work as, I kid you not, I was doing some floor scrape out stuff with my dad, and my dad was doing a lot more flooring as he was entering construction in his I guess, his late twenties. And I would go to the job site with my pops, like age six, and he'd hand me a scraper and help me. I'd scrape off linoleum flooring so he could prepare for, you know, fresh flooring and things. So I thought that was a great start for a young person to do. Um, but yeah, but working with dad, you're doing small jobs his cleanup buddy, you know, going to sweep up job sites that he was working on or building whole homes in the South Bay. And so as I got older, buddy, it was like my dad would kind of want him to hone me in on a trade that I could do or something that was really special in construction. So he was like what's your favorite? And I was like I love working with James, his tile setter, and he was a journeyman carpenter as well. But he's like James is great for you. He's really slow, he cost me a lot of money, but you can go learn great tile from him because he's been passed down and he's one of my guys and he's good, and so I learned how to do tile from working with James, my good buddy. James Loera was my master instructor in my teens, and also hardwood flooring.
Speaker 1:My dad would have lots of hardwood flooring jobs. It's a job that requires just brute strength. It does take a good eye because you make sure it's going to be beautiful, but these are massive floors. Pal Dad would send me all these projects, buddy, that were way too big 1,000 square feet of hardwood flooring and you're just slamming it in. It's great man work at a younger age. And then, of course, before you drive buddy right, your pops a drop off at a job site. He's like hey, buddy, here's your lunch, here's your water, your shovel, I need these footings dug In the beach sand. It's been getting rain-burdened on for days, so it'd be hard enough to work in the beach sand foundations and I dig for entire days. It's just so good for you.
Speaker 2:Wow. And when did you go off to college? How did you become a teacher?
Speaker 1:After high school I didn't have any break, no gap year, nothing Just went right into it. Junior college right quick, with the focus of liberal studies, to be a public educator. Okay, side note, my mom was a teacher, started when I was about middle school on. So I really cared about my parents' two trades construction for my pops I wanted to do that, and teaching like my mom. She was in special education for all those years until retirement, just a couple years back.
Speaker 1:But junior college I was doing both. I was going to school virtually full time, which is only to our younger listeners a handful of classes per week and all those assignments and all that fun stuff. But also in the off hours working for my dad or the full days working for my dad in construction, coming up in my trade, the flooring trade or fancy tile and showers and stuff, and being an apprentice during that time. So that's where those two kind of melded buddy and I was like going further into the studies three years of education down there, torrance, california, to get my AA and then a few more years at University of Tamagos Hills in the city of Carson to get my BA in liberal studies and a minor in music pal. So that was a wonderful thing. I get to do school and have a wonderful minor, which is part of the deal, and then a student teaching program after that. That went for a darn year. Say that last part again Student teaching, buddy, the part when you pay to go be a teacher. That sounds nice. It's painful.
Speaker 1:Sounds nice yeah, alice and I were young. My wife and I were young at the time. It was crazy, I was already a little boy when I was doing that. It was harsh when did you get? Married. I got married in 2001 to my wonderful Alice Joubert. She was freshly 22, and I was 21 years old. Wow, and how long have you been married now?
Speaker 2:23. Wow, 23 years. So we're a couple of years ahead of you. Yeah, we'll be 26 this January.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. But you asked about my folks, but I was thinking about this year. My parents have been married 50 years. Wow, that was married at 19 and mom was like 21 years old.
Speaker 2:Wow, that doesn't happen very often it doesn't Good, good, good matches.
Speaker 1:you know good matches.
Speaker 2:That's way cool. So music, let's talk a little about music. So you and and I noticed that when he and I are playing it's Jeff, and when he and I are playing, it seems like every time we play we lock in, and every time we lock in together it turns into some funk set. And the Christian song, worship song, turns into funk. You know, waist deep and judging people.
Speaker 2:And Jeff was the happiest guy I'd ever met and I'm like this guy is so full of shit. He is just he's fake. Nobody's this happy. Nobody smiles and talks in this just jovial. He's hiding something. There's something under the surface. He's a predator of some kind, I'm sure of it. And so we kept playing and I kept my eye on him, I'm sure of it. And so we kept playing and I kept my eye on him.
Speaker 2:And before you know it, it's now been a decade and Jeff and I have played several hundred shows together. We have spent hundreds of hours together over the years and I have never seen Jeff have a bad day. So I don't know what his parents did or what's in the water. But I mean, this guy, you can't ruin his day, even when things are going really, really South, and he'll tell you a story here in a second. But even when things are going really really South and like everything is screwing up, jeff is, he always sees the silver lining and it's really really cool to have a friend like that, because that hasn't always been me, in fact that's never been me. So it's really cool to have that friend. So Jeff and I met playing music at church, but you started playing music a long time before that. Talk to me a little about your music. Is it part of the family? I know you've got Uncle Steve. Tell me about that.
Speaker 1:You got it, buddy. Aaron, I come from a long line of musicians. I can lie to you, man, I had a great-grandmother who grew up playing big family band a bunch of Frenchies in the French Quarter of Louisiana, so down there there's still some landiers down that way. That are my relation on my mom's side. But my mom was kind of she played some piano. My grandma Lily, I love playing harmonica, which is kind of wild. My aunt Dee Dee Sumner, who's still with us in Encinitas, california, is a great singer. My grandmother on my dad's side, music excellent reader of music, she was a piano teacher, helped the family with, with, with piano lessons and all that fun stuff. Great inspiration to me. But he also played piano which we've never done a double down.
Speaker 2:We haven't. We need to. We keep talking about it. We might work that into.
Speaker 1:Christmas. We got a Christmas show coming up. We can do it, I'm doing it, we're going to, we'll pull it out. Sumner, but he mentioned him. We lost him a couple years ago.
Speaker 1:A wonderful man, he was a real great guy, great athlete in Southern California, big surfer guy and a real jolly great musician inspiration for me. But he's a total blues lover, a huge music lover, very eclectic taste in general, which is very much like myself. But he was a great blues player, mainly just a wonderful rhythm player. But, aaron, you know, to me rhythm players are super duper important and really wonderful. You don't have to be a ripping wild man on leads and stuff to be an impressive player or singer and he was definitely both of those things.
Speaker 1:And then my dad my dad's a great guitar player, rhythm and lead and great inspiration in the home. He grew up playing bass. So I got to start playing bass because um could show me some stuff and, uh, he's one of the only guys I know who's got a really cool custom uh, gibson bass that was made for him and he's just a regular guy. But, like I said, my dad's a general contractor and he had a custom bass made for himself that was a less Paul style four string bass that everyone's like. This is incredible.
Speaker 2:Was the bass, the first instrument you learned how to play.
Speaker 1:Technically, but he was piano. I had some early lessons for piano and then really abandoned it until college when they had lots of pianos around to go. Have you know, I was doing my music minor. There's lots of places to go play and rehearse during the downtime, but I but I was a really bass player and from the beginning I started playing bass at 15. And I guess I really wasn't playing very long before I got sucked in by a senior, a high school friend, nathan Smith Anderson, who pulled me in to the worship team. He's like buddy, I need a bass player badly. I know you just started, but I'll teach you as we go. That's how most bass players start, pal. Couldn't read, could barely play the thing, could hardly know all of my notes. How could you? You're brand new, and so learning how to manipulate and play the bass right off the bat at church was fun because it was like zero stress environment. I mean, you're stressed out playing, obviously, pal, but it's a zero judgment zone.
Speaker 2:Yeah, totally. So. You started playing at 15. And how old are you now? 45?, 45. So have you been playing the last 30 years in church?
Speaker 1:Yeah, I have. Wow, I got sucked in early, guys. I think I was talking to Aaron earlier and we were just saying like there might be a couple of years I was raising kids that I kind of took a little break from the church and music itself. But beyond that, but I've played at so many worship teams, every church I've landed, but my home church, home back in California, hermosa Beach, california Hope Chapel, which is a four-square denomination, wonderful worship pastor there Really inspired me Pastor Alan Kisaka, from Uganda, africa, incredible player, buddy, huge heart, great, prolific songwriter.
Speaker 1:That church was almost completely built on original music, which is really cool. But came up those ranks, buddy, high school, tons of worship team. And that's when I transitioned to playing guitar, basically sophomore year, freshman year, bass, sophomore guitar. So emerged my two styles of people watch me play guitar. They go oh, you play, play your fingers like a bass player. I'm like, well, I was doing two at the same time and getting good at you know, trying to get good at both of them. But yeah, guitar right after that.
Speaker 1:And then into the college years, buddy playing, still with their, their youth group level, having a great time leading worship, um, singing and playing bass for the first time and some guitar. And then I was so honored guys before I I sat down from going to that church and started my family playing lead guitar for alan kisaka that the main worship leader was such a, such an honor. I got to play the friday night sets at church which were like the big, big group um wasn't a mega church by any stretch here, but it was definitely you know hundreds and uh, it was a blast.
Speaker 2:Outside of um, your family influences and that type of stuff. You know that I'm a Don Henley fan and Eagles fan and like I don't idolize anybody except Don Henley and I would probably have his babies if I could I mean the guy's phenomenal for 72 years old, that guy is a stud. What kind of musical influences did you have outside of your family and outside of the church and secular world? What were your influences?
Speaker 1:Oh, gosh, but he was. It was always, it always a good mix. Grown up in LA, huge music scene obviously not going to go just rock and roll as a little kid, but as an inspiration and I had all these great concerts to go to. My parents were huge concert goers before they had kids and beyond. They used to take us to great shows all the time. My mama did really put a lot of time and effort getting you know, going for the budget with that way, having good entertainment, buying bulk tickets for friends and having a long chronic relationship, chronic um relationship with the greek theater, the universal amphitheater, which is now gone um, and a few other venues in la, and we'd go see concerts. Since I was a little tiny guy, um, I think my first concert was actually michael w smith. Oh wow, it's super, duper loud. Uh, my mom remembers that she's like it was very loud. He played that lamu and it just blew our ears out, but great for a show.
Speaker 1:And then just so many great classic rockers my dad, moody Blues and so many bands, you can't even count them. Van Halen I saw Van Halen when they were in the Van Hagar stage Just so many great ones. What two-thirds of Zeppelin Great years buddy. A thirds of Zeppelin so great years buddy. A lot of great artists, and so my inspiration buddy was always things that my dad turned me on to. I was becoming a huge fan of Paul Rogers, the vocalist for Bad Company and Free, and later his own works and Queen. He played alongside Queen a couple years back and so I developed a love for him off of earlier stuff he did and there was so much I know that you don't like to hear this pal A lot of Beatles going on, oh, I hate the Beatles Right.
Speaker 1:There are definitely Beatles and Stones in my house, for sure. But having musical parents, people who loved to hear music, heard wonderful music from my mom a lot of Christian stuff from my mom, of course really introduced me to so many of those classics and the ones we love to this day, amy me to so many of those classics and and the ones we love to this day, amy and michael and everybody else beyond that. Phil keggy was a great ripping guitar player. Um, as a christian artist, you just freak out how great these guys are. Um striper, you know heavy metal as a teenager going like, oh, I gotta have some more of this stuff. But um, aaron, from the classic stuff, like my dad and uncle steve, they were definitely getting me geared towards you know, real, real rock you know and you know, and turning me on to Hendrix Early, really, really in love with Jimi Hendrix Early and all those you know, and having Sepp in my life, lots of Led Zeppelin LA stations are. They're just poisonous. They give you so much of that old stuff and you're just like, oh my gosh, here's Van Halen, there's Zeppelin. You just break down the line, you just get burnt out on um, but I did love all that stuff.
Speaker 1:How then I got into a phase where I was really I still love it, but I'm, you know, I had to back down a little bit too intense. All of the virtuoso guitar players of the 90s and beyond, so you have maybe late 80s for me I started discovering and buying my own music. Um, pops, give me a little allowance for that. Go buy cds and records. I really need record collecting cassettes. But um, joe Satriani, um, some of these guitar giants like him. Eric Johnson, huge fan, um little less than Steve Vai, um, he's incredible. Um. Steve Morris a lot of these really intense guitar players are in there were, above and beyond, um just as it's at the master players, major rockers, and so I love that. I couldn't play like those guys, but I certainly aspired to be like that.
Speaker 2:So, jeff, I know we spoke about playing in church. We spoke about your musical influences. That um inspired you, cause that's what influences do. What about bands outside of church? Did you ever play any other secular bands, or is double down the first one you've been involved in?
Speaker 1:Oh, but it's definitely other bands. When I was young like you and me, we both started young with music and we're doing this and have other buddies there were a couple of guys I was, I was getting, I was getting dialed in the secular, just some friends from school and stuff.
Speaker 1:Of course, when you're high school you're you're all amped to play all the time is literally as in four years of high school, I feel like I only separated from my acoustic or my bass for like a week, maybe seven, eight days in a row. That's how. That's how much I touched my guitar every day, buddy, I was always playing that guitar, or one of them, and, uh, you're taking a trip to Hawaii. It felt so sad but I came back. I'm like, oh, my old friend.
Speaker 1:Early on I played with a crazy band when, I think, a couple rascals from school. We call ourselves 84 sheepdog, which is a great name, sweet, from dumb and dumber, um, uh, and I played with a group called um, briefly it's called. We call ourselves jasper. It was a duo but it was a female singer, my friend angie mccall, back in uh in la, and I was playing a rhythm, lead and stuff. It was kind of like what we do, but it was just all original music. Um, sheepdog was kind of cover tunes and fun, um, a couple of rituals in there. Uh, I played with my buddy, matt McCann, um, using pictures of that one pal. It was kind of like my first kind of double down experience where he was a drummer, didn't sing nothing and I was the guitar player with my original music, singing those songs and just having a blast.
Speaker 1:A lot of, just a lot of jamming, um, a lot of jamming. Um, you know a couple of little shows for your like neighborhood. Um, you know a block party or something? Um, nothing too super serious. Um, I play with the band more seriously, um, uh, at 18, it was called my brother's spoon goofy name. Um, I play with none of these guys.
Speaker 1:I didn't go to school with these guys. They were, they were local boys, all about my age, but they were all um, they had original music and so I came and brought the bass to them, buddy, and these are, you know, the other bands were either bass or guitar as I was coming through and singing on all those other ones, the band my Other Brother's Spoon. I love these guys. It was like very Weezer to me, very Weezer-esque Totally, and so that was a jam. I liked a lot with those guys and we played coffee shops and we played with a?
Speaker 1:Um, a gentleman named Rocco Sagona. Rocco Sagona was a great um guitar player, played with a local band called Blackball, uh, which was kind of known up and down the coast as a, as a big Christian rock band, hard rock band. We loved them. They were local to us. I went to school with him and the lead singer of that band but I got to go play with Rocco after my Brother's Spoon fell apart and I was fine. But I played with this band called Soulified and we played. That was the first show I ever played. That was in Hollywood. So, talking about the Michael Keys experience, totally, I played at a bar up there called the Coconut Teaser buddy when I was under age and they're like it's fine, amigo, you can play with your band and then you go outside during breaks. During breaks, there's no, not, you're not gonna be here. I'm not gonna put not vehicle crazy X's on your hands or anything like they do in LA, big X's with Sharpie, so you can't be washing up, I did the same thing at 14.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's amazing, that's funny.
Speaker 1:Even Even earlier than me. So rocking with those guys, buddy, it was a great experience because that was thumping wild bass. That was some of the wildest slap thunk bass I played with those guys. Rock was original music. I didn't write anything for that, except for some of those fun bass lines. Some of those were his bass lines I just enhanced. But yeah, pal, those are some of the main ones. And then, coming up here, while we were jamming, buddy, and you were jamming with the Mims, I was playing with one of our other worship buds, chet Cutler, another great worship leader, went off with him and did some of his original music, playing bass guitar and not singing. Got to have a little more mellow experience.
Speaker 2:You know, one of the things that I like two things you just mentioned that kind of caught my attention. One you talked about the Christian guys playing and some of their maybe secular stuff. One thing I really like about Double Down is how we can work our faith into it and we're not ashamed of it. Yeah, we can get on stage. We can talk about our faith, talk about how we met and, you know, there's even some Christian-esque songs in our sets that we can throw out there and people appreciate them, which is super cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so Well, aaron, in the past you know there, there, when you, when you were having some rougher times and and and exiting your, your, your past life a little bit, um, there was moments, uh on stage where uh, aaron would ask me like, hey, um, buddy, can you just play this song? I really want to hear this song. It was definitely a Christian song, yeah, um, a Christian song. That was right now. I'm like you got it, buddy, so I had to prepare that one and do it. And then, of course, one of my B-sides he's always like I'm going to grab a glass of wine or some whiskey while you play that one. I'm going to take it, that's fine.
Speaker 2:That's so cool. And then the other thing is we got to get some of your Thanks for sharing about your past and your other bands, and I didn't realize it was so extensive and deep and you've done so much, so that's super cool. Thanks, buddy. One thing about Jeff that I'll tell everybody is Jeff's got a nickname in the band, and we'll talk about Double Down here in a second. If you don't know who Double Down is, double Down is a band that Jeff and I started back in 2018.
Speaker 2:And it's hard to believe it's been that long now. And it's hard to believe it's been that long now, and we cover everything from Eric Clapton, the Eagles, cat Stevens, through Top 40, through hip hop, through funk. We cover everything. We've got about 300 songs in our repertoire that we play, and that's where Jeff and I have spent the majority of the time since 2018, now being 2024. I'm not good at math, but that's a couple of years and a lot of shows.
Speaker 2:Um, but so Jeff has a nickname in the band, called B-side Jeff, because Jeff doesn't just listen to the popular songs and the singles that are on the radio. He knows every song on the album and he came to brought a Queen song in a couple years ago. He's like, hey, we need to do a Queen song. And I'm like, all right, so I'm thinking all the popular hits that are going through your mind right now. And he's like, all right, this is the song. And he starts playing it and I'm like, what the hell is this? He's like, well're killing me. This is the pop, this is the song we're bringing to the table, but, um, it's a great song but it hasn't stopped.
Speaker 2:It hasn't stopped. He's like a B side kind of guy. I'm the one that picks all the you know cover tunes and he's the one that picks the B side and um, very much.
Speaker 1:Any of the guys would you know Mike and Michael, they would both say that's how Jeffy's vibe is. I bring this stuff. That's like never heard that track before. I kind of like it, kind of don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Jeff is B-side, Michael Key is Hollywood. That guy just walks in. You know his eclectic style and his scarf and his rings and his necklaces and just his vibe. I mean, you're like, this guy's not from around here.
Speaker 1:He lays down the law.
Speaker 2:And Jeff yeah, he does, he's a phenomenal guitar player and then Jeff brings in the B-sides of the tracks. We did that episode with Michael Key, back episode eight. It was about Michael Key.
Speaker 1:Wonderful guitar player buddy.
Speaker 2:He's great. So you guys both grew up in the LA area. He's great. So you guys both grew up in the LA area. He's obviously older than you. I think Michael Key is maybe 62, 63 right now. Yeah, so he's about a decade older. But have you guys ever had a chance to connect and talk about LA and do you guys know some of the same places?
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, it was great to talk to Michael Key over these years and we love chatting with each other about these locations Because he talks about places that he used to play with his bands and, um, you know, for a lot, of, a lot of people who grew up outside, you know Los Angeles County and LA property, it's like, oh man, I've, I may have heard that or that was, I saw, I heard, I had owned a live record. That would that, that's what recorded. But most the valley great location, really small. I'm like, yeah, it's got a weird layout and then we go on like that. He's like, you know, they're the roxy and the whiskey up and up in hollywood. Um, these locations that are, you know, wonderful places where a lot of rockers got their start, but you keep playing there with buddies and, you know, hoping for hailing stuff. So like these weird scenarios. But, yeah, definitely, but we connect very well, buddy, that's way cool, yeah let's talk a little bit about double down, sure so?
Speaker 2:so I started with a band. I was in bands, starting in the portland oregon area since about 2011 a couple of different bands, and then ended up with this country band, the laura mims band, where we did country and blues, did that for a few years and it always seems like when I got involved in a band and it could have just been my personality that I get involved as the drummer, but before you know it, there's weak links here or there and I end up taking over and running the whole show because I don't want to do anything that's half-assed. So that's the way kind of Laura Mims band was and she's a phenomenal singer. I love Laura to death. She's a great singer. Band was and she's a phenomenal singer. I love Laura to death. She's a great singer.
Speaker 2:But it just kind of became too much and I left that band and it kind of left me in a spot where I was looking to start something new and I'd only known Jeff at this point as a bass player. So I'm like all right, Jeff, let's get together, because we've been jamming all these years together. Let's get together and put together a band band and we'll find a guitar player and a singer and let's do a power trio. So we put an ad out on Craigslist and if you've ever done that, you really get all extremes. You get the quote unquote professional musician. You get the guy that has just picked up his guitar last week but has great musical dreams and aspirations.
Speaker 2:And one of the things Jeff and I was looking for was somebody who had been there and done that. We didn't want to raise somebody on the stage and teach them everything. We wanted somebody that had stage time, knew how to play, pulled their own weight, wasn't just a vocalist prima donna that showed up with their microphone and as soon as the music was over they left. We wanted somebody that could actually hang with us and we interviewed or played with I don't know half a dozen different people over that period of time, trying to establish a guitarist and a vocalist.
Speaker 1:We had a vision.
Speaker 2:We had a vision. Yeah, we had a vision and we were trying to fit a square peg into a round hole. And in my previous band I had sang, some. I had sang I don't know half a dozen songs, a dozen songs or something in my previous band, but at no point would I call myself a singer. And one day we're at practice and Jeff's like you know, I play guitar and sing right, and I'm like, yeah, but you're a bass player, um, so I didn't really give it a whole lot of attention. And he's and it was just him and I I'm like, all right, you know, get your guitar out, let's see what we can do. So Jeff starts playing, he tunes up and he starts playing and he plays a change of the world by Clapton and baby faith.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and uh, he like, uh, I don't know. By the fourth or fifth bar of the song, I'm like, holy crap, this is it. And I'm on a cajon. So I'm playing with him and all of a sudden we completely abandoned the idea of finding anybody else except Jeff and I and we birthed this thing as a duo and that's where we got our start. That's why it's called Double Down a dynamic duo. Is it just started with him and I and I'm like well, jeff, you know, you pick up three quarters of the vocals, I'll pick up a quarter of the vocals and we can share it. And then over the years now we're easily 50-50 on leads and we're harmonizing and singing together and playing, and playing.
Speaker 2:And about a year after we started the duo, we got asked to put together a larger band for a special event that was happening, an anniversary of a local business. So I was able to go out and hand select other musicians that I had played with in the worship community around here and able to hand select people. And I went to my first choice of guitar players, which was Mr Michael Key, and Michael's like yeah, I'll give it a shot. I'm like all right, cool. Then I went to my first choice in bass players and that was Mr Mike Koblons, and he's like, yeah, dope, I'll do it. So he jumped in.
Speaker 1:He's just that mellow.
Speaker 2:He's that mellow, he's like, yeah, dope got it and he's awesome, yeah. So he jumps into the mix and we put together, uh, double down wired. So double down duo is unplugged, double down wired is everybody's plugged in. And that is our corporate wedding cover band and uh, that one. We play a lot of the same cool stuff that we play in the duo, but now we're adding a lot more instrumentation and we can take it up a notch. We're gonna say, jeffy, we had, I guess. We play a lot of the same cool stuff that we play in the duo, but now we're adding a lot more instrumentation and we can take it up a notch.
Speaker 1:We're going to say, jeffy, we had I guess we had a couple of weird sessions where we were called a couple of these local businesses we like to jam at and we were just going to do it Acoustic guitar, cajon, mini drum set and and Michael key threat, because we were just ripping it and we needed something a little bigger, but not too big because of the size of the venue.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and now we're able to because we have these musicians we've been played with for so long and they know the music. It's super cool because, no matter what venue we go to, we can be like all right, what do we need for this one? Like right now? We're planning a Christmas show on December 7th and it's going to be Jeff and I, but we want probably to have a bass player to lay some low end for us, that kind of carpet foundation for us all to sit on, and so we're going to bring Mike Koblantz along and he's going to play bass for us. You know, we'd love to have Michael Key there, but again, the venue is not big enough. So it's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:We get to pick and choose what we're doing and how we're doing it, and then we get to pick and choose our songs. With 300 songs in our repertoire that we can choose from. With 300 songs in our repertoire that we can choose from, we've always got some kind of cool new music to throw out to our band, absolutely. So you play with Double Down, yes, tell me about that. What's that been like for you? Let's just talk about Double Down. What are some of your favorite memories, some favorite shows? What have we done?
Speaker 1:I've got to tell you, buddy, in my life it's been a real blessing. Originally for those who don't know, I have such a full life in the things I do Professional flooring guy, like I mentioned, I'm also a licensed teacher and I teach English to high schoolers online but I just felt like I probably needed something more. And obviously, aaron, when you play with our worship buddies at church, we love those guys and gals, we do, we love them, but you're always left a little longing because you're playing somebody else's music and it's sacred music, so it's the environment. You can't get too wild. You can't take it over the top this case primarily secular um and cover. You can get way more interesting, way more creative, way more intense with it and just drive off each other and have a great time. And so when aaron brought me into this whole thing, I was just like, oh man, this is gonna be so much fun. I really wanted to spend time with my buddy. I was like I just I just wanted to get to play, play with aaron, just get tight.
Speaker 1:We've been, we've been hitting this for a long time and we left churches, we our churches, our church split. And so aaron took off with stace and the kids and I was uh, I was hoping to spend a lot more time with them and this was a great way to do that. And also I knew aaron could use our time together as this therapy away from the force working for law enforcement, and I thought that's probably why he always did it. You know, always escaping to go. Do you know laura mims, which was guys way a wonderful band.
Speaker 1:I got to see those guys on a few great occasions, drank too much, great guys and gals. Four-hour sets on occasion that's way too much for any band, but they did that frequently and I was always impressed by those players, for sure, and Laura. But for us, coming together, aaron with Double Down, it was a commitment for me because I I didn't. I originally didn't know how how intense you know, aaron was as a, as a person who put together bands and and performed and I and playing with him for years, it was like I love this guy.
Speaker 2:Intense translations to asshole. That's what it translates to. But go ahead. Sorry, I did have to do the translation for the listeners.
Speaker 1:I I probably should go into that in my next career. But no, aaron is very intense when it comes to the performance aspect and as bands. You can't be a garage band that shows up to a wonderful four or five star wine bar in a fancy part of town like we live in and play a garage band show. It's the look, it's the sound, it's the equipment. I've learned so much from playing with you, aaron, over these years. Just by being that way, he helped shape me into the rock star guy I am now. You helped shape me into the singer that I am now.
Speaker 1:Oh, it's true, pat, we've done a lot of things together. We've both striked each other's weaknesses and I didn't know the commitment was going to be so long and we've been together for almost six years. I'm like this is a long time. A lot great shows, multiple holiday shows, halloween and Christmas primarily yeah, you know the corporate events, the weddings, which have been more and more fun by the day, especially because of your new business, streamline, and just spend such a good time with that. And these wonderful couples we get to share in their lives and their memories, and cool guitars and drums in the background Such a blessing and bringing your boys into it. You know, having these wonderful strapping lads to come help set up gear and all that stuff Got Justice running sound for me.
Speaker 2:Keegan being our roadie oh, that's perfect. And helping out with Streamline. Keegan's my employee at Streamline. He's my boy, but he comes and helps me on all my shows and he helped Jeff and I on the last wedding just a month ago or something.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, there's way too checking you know decibels and make sure we're good to go and things look wonderful or or balanced, um, aaron. But Aaron, I learned that from Aaron playing with double down um to really make a professional show, hide my professionalism, hide my punctuality, you know um, really rehearse privately and with him, just really make sure there's plenty of time and then I show up to the this. So we show up and there's always going to be butterflies at every show until Aaron and I play the first couple of chords and beats and we're in and we were locked in tight and I think that's the connection that we made doing the duo and getting rid of the burnout third party that we were going to bring in to be a power trio. We just couldn't find anybody who was going to have that same energy. But we discovered that playing with the duo was very intimate and could be very powerful and we could do different things with your particular kit and with the type of guitar playing and rhythmic energy I could bring with it and the vocals. So we had a good time with that.
Speaker 1:And, of course, you shaping over the years all these favorite songs you love, buddy, whether it's country or Eagles or other artists that you just really wanted to get into, something that was soulful. I was like, wow, and your range is there, but it really is there. You just have never sharpened it because of, you know, being with other bands and especially primarily a country band, for many years, but that it was a great buddy, it was great. It's great playing with you and learning that, learning to be a better player and they're having some fun against it. It's been awesome.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you've been a complete blessing to play with. Over the years You've helped shape me into and this isn't like a bro moment so I want to cut this off here in a second but you've helped shape me into the musician and the singer that I am. Right, I come into it very insecure about singing, not wanting to be front and center, and before you know it, I'm getting over that and you're helping guide me and mold me. You know, try this, do this. You know, work on your range here, Aaron, we're going to take it up because you can do it vocally. Just have faith in yourself. And it was pretty, really cool. What is your favorite memory of the Double Down Band as to what we've done?
Speaker 1:Gosh, pal, some of our favorite memories are guys. One of my favorite memories is just a couple of years in. We were playing at a wonderful local business here in town I don't have to mention names, but they're a wonderful little bar and tavern and good grub and we showed up there. Aaron and I were all excited this is going to be our second Christmas show of the same year, within basically within a week. And you know, we didn't know how many friends of ours would show up there. And we showed up there to a bar with a couple of drunks like there should be, and our spouses and we were just looking at each other going like well, I just told Aaron, I said this is my Christmas gift to you, buddy, I'm going to play my heart out all night long for you and these pretty ladies. And that was pretty much our whole experience. We had nobody there. That was a great time playing it for each other and just ripped it up.
Speaker 1:And then, of course, pal, there's the times, guys, I had these goofy times when Aaron had to set me straight. He'd call me and I was at home rehearsing, getting ready to get all my jitters out for the show, and Aaron's like hey, buddy, you coming down to the gig. I'm like you know it, pal coming down to the gig. I'm like you know what, pal, I'll see you in a little bit. He's like shit was on in 10 minutes. I'm like, oh, I'm at rehearsing at my bar, here at the house. I'm like I better put a shirt on. So you know, we had these moments where, um, yeah, I had to, I had to get with it and I felt, aaron, I felt a lot of those. You know, some of those early years.
Speaker 1:I felt like, um, yeah, totally. And then of course we had our female vocalists over the years and doing some duets up with us and changed the music and always having the consistency of Mike Coblentz and Mike Key. Guys, you really committed to us For those shows that had the big wired band guys. They were important to us as well because it wasn't always duo intimate wine bar, vineyard. Aaron, you got to tell them, I'll let you do this one.
Speaker 2:You tell them about playing on top of the mountain. Oh, the mountain. So, jeffy and I's, I'll tell you this story and then I'll tell you the worst moment of double down in my opinion. So, playing on top of the mountain. So we got hired to play this wedding and as the wedding is getting nearer and nearer, we get asked hey, can you guys play on a Friday night in Hood River, oregon? And we want to play at this winery and it's going to be the reception dinner, but a lot of people are coming together for the first time in decades, you know, and my mom and dad are going to be there, but they're separated and my dad's got a new wife wife and she's going to be there. So you know, can you just play all this for us? So we're like, all right, bet, we got this.
Speaker 2:So we go and we play at this winery and we set up and it's 117 degrees when we're setting up, but I'm not exaggerating, it's 117 degrees on the side of a hood river. We're up at a winery there up in the hillside Stone and Stave. Yeah, stave and Stone, stave and Stone Winery. So we're there and we get set up and they have some little umbrellas like sunshade umbrellas, but for the most part we're in it and we start playing these songs and there's weird background music which we should have been in that environment and you know, occasionally somebody would dance, but for the most part they're mixing and mingling and drinking wine and having a good time. So that was cool.
Speaker 2:Then I'm singing a song and about halfway through the song the sprinklers turn on and these sprinklers um, you know the ones go shh, those ones, and the is right across me and all my gear. So it's 170 degrees. I'm sweating everything off and all of a sudden I get blasted with cold water. It's hitting all of my equipment. I'm trying to sing. I can't sing because I have thermal shock from the cold water. So we finally get that shut down.
Speaker 1:And then I'm staring at Aaron and I'm looking past Aaron. His eyes are full of terror. I see water hitting the back of his laptop and our sound system. He's looking behind me, behind my back, with terror, as the water is literally hitting the back of an open guitar.
Speaker 2:It was horrible.
Speaker 1:It was the worst moment of our life.
Speaker 2:So I sang another verse or something. I'm like we got to stop. So I'm like, can you guys get the water shut off? So I got the water shut off and we moved on with life. So then we pack up that night Now the thing's over, it's 10 or 11 o'clock at night. We're packing up and we got to prepare because the next day we have to go play on Mount Hood, above Timberline Lodge. So we're packing up and we're sitting down having a glass of wine with the ladies who are running the show and guess what? Their sprinkler comes on again and it soaks all of our gear a second time. So we leave and the next day we get up and we go up to Timberline Lodge and we park at Timberline Lodge, but then we have to take a snowcat.
Speaker 1:We didn't know what to expect.
Speaker 2:We didn't know what to expect and so we've got, like, all the stuff to make music sound systems, drums, lighting, guitars, lighting the whole works and we got to take a snowcat, and a snowcat is this track machine, track-like vehicle that looks like.
Speaker 1:It's like a bulldozer.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like a bulldozer, Like a A giant snowmobile VW bus on tracks, big tracks. So we have to load all of our gear into this and go another 1500 feet up the mountain to the Silcox Lodge, which is surrounded by snow and built into the side of the mountain, and we set up there and we played a beautiful wedding and a reception and we had a great time and we had the family members up there playing with us and it was just absolutely a blessing and it was awesome and that was. I mean I don't want to hear you guys complain about you're loaded and you've got to go up a couple stairs. We had to go up 1,500 feet on the side of a mountain. So it was a lot of fun and Jeffy and I had a great time.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it was hard to keep the guitars in tune at that altitude. But, you know, at break time we got to walk out together outside and it was like being on their planet. It was so cool, so high up, you know, staring South and you're like good grief, this is incredible, but it was so weird. I look up at the mountaintop. In this hole in the wall I got a couple of hobbits playing great music.
Speaker 2:Oh, it was so phenomenal and having prime rib so phenomenal. That was probably my best, one of my worst moment of double down. Actually, I'll end it on a good note my worst moment of double down A couple of years ago. Jeffy is. We're playing, we got some shows lined up.
Speaker 2:Jeffy's being a little bit off, he's not having. It seems like every day, every time he comes to practice he's a little bit off. Maybe something's weighing heavy on his mind I don't know what it is and we got a couple of shows that we're playing through. I think there was a Halloween show or something, I don't know what it was, christmas maybe some kind of show, and he's just kind of off. And then he calls me one day and he's like hey, buddy, I got something to tell you.
Speaker 2:I'm like what's that? He's like I'm moving, I'm moving away and I'm like you're what he's like. I'm like you're what he's like. Yeah, you know he says I think it's better for me and my family. We're going to go do this and we're going to move off to this state. And you know we've already been out there and looked and Alice is already gone and you know we're going to be moving and the selfish me is like jerk face.
Speaker 2:You know, I don't care if this is better for you and your family, because Double Down was such a huge part of my life and he mentioned it earlier it was a lot of therapy for me and I was missing my buddy, like the guy I've played all these shows with and built all these memories with is going away and it was super, super sad and uh.
Speaker 2:But you know I wished him the best of luck and we had another show we had to play. And then he's like well, I'll tell you what he says, I'll play the show and then we can still schedule shows and I'll fly back and you know I'll play the shows with you and then we can go back, because that's just the kind of guy Jeff is. I told you a minute ago Jeff is the guy that is always finding the silver lining in any situation, and so he's like I'll just fly back and I'll play the shows with you. We know all of our music. I'm Sounds good in theory, but it's not going to happen. So then we play the shows and you guys move out there for a minute, don't you?
Speaker 1:Yeah, alice and the kids our two younger ones moved out to Sioux Falls, south Dakota, at the tail end of COVID, hoping for a better life and lighter bills and stuff. But yeah, they were out there for seven weeks, buddy, yeah, and I was still here working on the house and were still playing together, you know, preparing for the shows, yeah, and then it was our Halloween show, which was a biggie that we were still working towards.
Speaker 2:Yep, and then he came and then, yeah, the Halloween show and Halloween show. You were going to leave after the show that night, right?
Speaker 1:Well, it was at that juncture that I was. We were coming home.
Speaker 2:That that juncture you're coming home, so we called it off. So he tells me you know, he, I've got this seven week scare of him leaving, and I've wrapped my mind around it and then he's like, hey, you know what, and you're still a cop, still very upset, still a cop, still very high strung, um, I, my nervous system wasn't working correctly and I was just a jerk all the time, um, and if things didn't go my way, my fuse was very short. And then, you know, after seven, eight weeks, what? Seven weeks, whatever it was, eight weeks, whatever it was he comes to me. He says, hey, he says we're actually going to come back. You know, I'm in.
Speaker 2:So, uh, his family moved back. It didn't work out for them and they decided after going out there was some family stuff that it wasn't going to be the right move. And you know, it was answered prayers for me because I got my buddy back and whether or not we have double down, I always got Jeff, so that was super cool. So well, jeff, I want to wrap this up, but you know, thank you so much for sharing. We've kind of walked through your life. We've walked through your musical influences, your family, your college, your kids, your wife, the different moves, you know. Ultimately, the first time I met Jeff before church was back in two. When did you move here?
Speaker 1:But he was a 2000,. The second, the second time coming to the Northwest was um uh, um 2015.
Speaker 2:So so 2015,. So that's nine years now. So before I met Jeff at church, um, Maybe it was 2014.
Speaker 1:2014,. I think We've been 10 years, yeah, so 2014,. First time I started going at church um, maybe it was 2014, 2014. We've been 10 years, yeah, so 2014, first time we're going to church right away with you.
Speaker 2:Yeah, first time I saw Jeff, before I ever met him, I saw I found his farmer's only profile online and I'm like who is this stud? And then I show up and lo and behold, he's playing bass at the church. I'm like man, this is a match made in heaven. God was in this. It's divine. So handsome and chiseled. So handsome and chiseled for being a farmer. Anyway, guys, hey, that is the show tonight. Thank Jeff again. Thank you so much for coming on and being a part of this man and thanks for being a part of my life for the last decade. You've totally blessed me and my family. Double down. I don't know what life would be like without Double Down. It's been such a huge impact over the last few years. So thank you so much. You guys. Please come back next week for another show and, ladies and gentlemen, that is the Murders to Music podcast.
