Best of The TrevBeats Show
Episodes 1–20

TREVOR LAWRENCE JR. — INTRODUCTION [0:00] What's up everybody Trevor Lawrence jr. Here. We are back another episode of TrevBeats Show. Although this is a little different For those of you that don't know we just hit a milestone on the show Which is 40 episodes and so for some people that may have come to the channel or come to learn about the channel late I want to put together a montage of some of my favorite moments And then I might prompt you to go back and watch those episodes again. So this week we're gonna do episodes 1 through 20 We have guests like Greg Phillinganes and Terrace Martin You know, Manny Marroquin [0:32] Miguel Gandelman Mark Batson a whole bunch of people in Colaiuta Jim Keltner just a lot of people so without further ado Here's the best of the TrevBeats Show episodes 1 through 20. Hope you enjoy TrevBeats Show TrevBeats Show I Be sure to be sure What was your inspiration TERRACE MARTIN & CARRTOONS [1:05] yeah, no, that's the doctor that's a great question because now I'm thinking about it when the first two things that come to my mind is a me growing up and In Not a celebrity musician household a working musician household. Number one. Mm-hmm where uh You know, you know, I mean my parents had the gig gig which is Weddings on Saturdays church on Sundays Monday night blues jam sessions father also the [1:35] Tuesday night bebop jam session rehearse on Wednesday Thursday night Funk jam session Friday night Getting out of at a bar or something like that, right? You know that So I think it's that but then I think it's also born and raised in LA Trev, you know what us is like it's like Every radio station here gets bored after a while So you got it? You got to turn that radio station after a while and you know From where I live and then coming to see you in the valley. That's a good 40-minute drive So that's [2:05] you got you got ninety two point three to be You got ninety four point seven the way you got power 106 You got 88.1 So these are all stations I'm coming to see you at 1718 or just my whole life every 10 minutes turning that station So if I'm running that station and in my head, it's like, you know I I want to be that kind of musician that covers all that good music and not just one Not just one. Although I do love jazz jazz is like [2:36] my do you know jazz? I mean that I can't even say jazz is my foundation because I black music is my foundation and And you know, I'm I'm 45 years old now. I'm raised up with this thing my whole life so I remember I remember when drum machines came in to the music industry and The drummers that didn't roll with technology. It put a lot of drummers out the business, you know My father was a diehard was one of those diehard straight-ahead Musicians that didn't didn't it didn't really flip when the drum machines came a lot of cash [3:07] did so I remember When the drum machine when the Lynn drum came out, I remember when that happened I remember when the DX 7 came out The Trev you remember this era you was a kid to him I said a lot of cats getting out of work because the DX 7 was at that time Doing so many things. You don't like the same clavier with also what I've learned whenever these new things come in The only time it runs over a cat is when you try to fight the program Right. I I love working with all my friends Kendrick. Yes all all the Top 10 chart. [3:39] I love working with them, right? Yeah But at the core of really me being an alto saxophone jazz musician at the core of my soul My mentality is still like that to where it just feels good that we us three are nominated on an independent project with no Nowhere near the money to compete with other people and we still wrecked where work that song is strictly recognized Yeah, yeah that that song is strictly recognized on all of our ability because I don't I don't have the Grammy campaign money fellas [4:10] So that is really recognized The skill level that we have and that's right. It's not like whether we Think so. MIKE ELIZONDO [4:19] There was one bass. I probably played on 90% of all the Trey records and it was a a pretty early prototype jazz bass that Roger Sadowski made and It had EMG active pickups it was a five string bass that I actually bought off of the the the one and only John Patatouche and So I had a four string bass. That was great but I was like man, I need to get a five string just for that low B and those little notes and And John sold it to me man, [4:52] you know, he knew I was on a budget He did me a solid and and sold it to me dirt cheap This was around the time John had had been at LA Staple, but we're moving to New York and and his bass tech Had a number of bases on him that he was trying to sell. So in any event, I bought that bass from John and I want to say man. I mean whatever reason it just was magic Drake Dre heard that bass and instantly just fell in love with it and I've been [5:22] like when you get a bunch of people who are unique and And and they all bring all that stuff and they're willing to share it and and communicate it and collaborate that's the beauty of it, you know where I feel like AI just sort of like gets it to the to just like sort of the common denominator of Prompts and and and you just sort of end up with something that that doesn't sound unique It just sounds it could sound good. It could sound realistic But I just don't [5:53] know if that's ever going to You know really penetrate someone like it might just be a cool first Listen, if a listener the average Joe just sort of checks it out, but in turn like being able to really Penetrate someone's soul and and emotionally. I just don't know that that's gonna happen It's more just sort of background music and and just something that that can exist but I feel like there's always going to be space for someone to be able to to [6:23] come in and be unique and and hope that that Impacts an audience and a listener One story that always gets me that I tell people this is early, you know working with Dre But one thing that I always found really funny is I'd be I'd be in a session with Dre and maybe he had like a new artist that would come in and I would literally be playing bass or Playing a guitar part or playing keys [6:53] and the artist would come up to me saying, you know, make I can't put in a food order And I was the person that was like the go-to to put in their food order that they wanted I'm literally playing an instrument The person I don't know I guess I just looked the nerdiest and looked like the most I don't know like the intern at the studio I don't [7:25] know what the reason but that would happen all the time. It would happen all the time. SEVEN AURELIUS [7:30] Oh like now is the time for you to get out your I Am source to really really get out there and whatever it is You want to do which before you did it to have a budget for a whole crew or agency or whatever whatever? Now Idea is King whoever has the idea is King and perspective tools Then it's no different than Pro Tools or Ableton or FL studio Whatever it is that that you you [8:00] like to create with it's the same thing except it's now it's expanded outside of music this is why Music is about to go to another level. You're not saying back because bro I mean when I first got a hold of like the NPC and Keyboards and and started understanding Junos and and really what the tapestry was it was great But I passed it a long time ago and everything that they're coming out with is like terrible like that's horrible I can't make records with this right and [8:32] so it's like now The game is like the clue. There's like a whole new Line of tools and a way to approach it. That's like a take it to another level So instead of looking at it like that or judging it just understand that if you don't like if you don't like change You will like irrelevance even less Now is the time more than ever bro now it's time for us to Dream big bro dream so big is we're uncomfortable. [9:03] You know, oh, yeah the hadn't that had the big homes and the Billion dollar deals whether it's Prince with a 500 million dollar this or Donna I come from that era Michael Jackson, you know, like never laugh. But guess what bro? Now is the time we can all have never land. We can all have our own Neverland There's no stopping. You just have to have the idea and I think I think prayer I pray all [9:33] day I I pray when I'm driving a printer right now, you know, I'm saying I I Don't stop the conversation with the father because he's listening man. He's hearing us man Oh, and I I see it looking behind me man. My house burned down bro a few months ago. Everybody calm down, bro It's real man. God is real really here. He's listening I really found my way when I started wearing wigs. I went in Lenny Kravitz closet and I came out different Only you Know Like dream [10:08] big just remember in the Bible mark 6 verse 3 It tells us that the only place that Jesus could not do miracles was in his hometown of Nazareth Because no one believed him Mmm, why is he he was he was amazed at their at their disbelief. They only saw him as a carpenter Aren't you aren't you the son of Mary? Wow, you say aren't you the son of Joseph? [10:39] So if Jesus had a hard time in his hometown She's telling you something man move go go somewhere else, you know, but in VINNIE COLAIUTA [10:50] terms of studio driving I really think that It's it's it's a whole different animal that that train is left It's over the party's over. I think I'll call it a day You know, it's I I mean, I think I wrote the tail end of the comet nowadays you have people programming stuff or they like learn to play drum just good enough to play on their songs or they're multi-instrumentalists or there's a bunch of in-house people [11:21] all doing it and so You know somebody wants me to do something. They call me for me great. Okay, no problem For whatever reason if they want name value they want what they think is my sound or my feel whatever that may be but but in terms of what's going in and just you know Being potatoes, you know, like being a big being a plumber getting called to fix the leaky pipe Like so, you know with that's we many of us did back in the day. [11:53] Sure. It's it's it's it's done It's over it's over. So I learned to trust my Knee-jerk my first instincts my first reaction my gut reaction to what was gonna you know be the right thing to play and more often than not it was the right thing and Because I had to develop that because time was money and then the snags the snags started happening when some producers Would go. Well, could you try this and I'm like, okay Hang on and then we go by [12:26] with China and come back around three four hours later just to what I played in the first place Because that's what I that's what I trained myself to do. So I trained myself to develop those instincts now Here's the other thing though forget about well He plays what's right for the song. First of all, you don't don't think about drums, right? Don't think drumming and don't even think about the song don't think about anything Like nothing zero don't think just listen Listen and let [13:00] your body play what you understand And somewhere along the gig, right? Yeah Herbie played something that knocked me out so hard that I stopped playing for about four bars and got into a giggle fit I started I got the giggles because you know how it is when he starts when he starts unloading, right? It's like I'm dying over there right and all of a sudden I went I'm supposed to be playing so I stopped and I [13:30] but you know kept playing it after the gig I go I go up to you know, knock on in tour. Hey, yeah You know, I'm so sorry man, you know, he goes What and I said, you know, I mean you were telling me man, you know you what you played It was knocking me out so hard that I stopped playing man, right? Oh, yeah, that's okay. He didn't didn't care right because that was that was my statement Yeah Thing is I GREG PHILLINGANES [14:07] just can't get past the first word of that term Mmm, it's artificial right, you know in the analog and the digital situations Yes, they were changes and they impacted the industry To a certain extent and then things came around where it's settled to be able to incorporate both entities my issue with AI is that it's It's liquid it's constantly evolving and [14:42] There's you there were parameters There were certain basic parameters in Switching from analog to digital digital drum machines since since proliferated the market but And and even though the quality of the sounds improved certainly over the decades they They only went to a certain point right [15:13] You understand they only went to a certain point and you could still incorporate them with whatever live recording Actual orchestras, you know, you could still you could still incorporate those things now We've turned these things down here to her into our gods Imagine imagine a liquid now imagine so see this is not Google. This is not just you know, you type in a Subject or whatever or you even speak into the computer or subject and you get some information spit back, right? [15:46] You can apply a voice you can apply emotion. You can apply intellect to this thing so you are talking to Seemingly another human source. That's what I'm leery about. I You know, I go hard on my chat GPT man. If I don't get the right results, I start cussing them out See I bet and he's probably got some responses for you too. Hey, I wouldn't be here for one for that That's right, your dad was in the [16:18] band your dad my mom with Steven. Oh my goodness I would be here for that bad Play the arts on superstition and we're neighbors and we're neighbors literal next-door little next-door neighbor. That's crazy Yeah, man. Well thing is it started with him I mean, it's my my my career and the second part of my life started with that guy 50 years ago Mm-hmm. He hired me just before my 19th birthday [16:51] a month before my 19th birthday and a month before his 25th and working on that at 24 I Remember when the drum machine TEDDY CAMPBELL, “LIL” JOHN ROBERTS, WILL KENNEDY & MARCUS POPE [17:04] became popular, right? And yeah, I came all these guys were getting nervous like all the session guys was like, whoa This machine is taking over our gigs. So now we got to play tighter. We got a mix almost sound like the drum machine Mm-hmm, Ricky Lawson Bless his heart. You know, he said before there was Pro Tools. There were pros. He always say that Was his Love that yeah, right But when Teddy said that about you know come old school guys saying all [17:36] we used to do it like this No, we had to conform to using Pro Tools and stuff like that at a certain point. We weren't using tape anymore We like to use it now when we can but we moved on to digital recordings same situation So it's almost like the same thing with AI now Right, what came to mind first is I was probably 22 maybe 23 I was touring with um with maze with Frankie Beverly's [18:10] I Remember and yeah, I went out at the Essence Festival because if anybody knows anything about Frankie Beverly Cap the Essence Festival, which is festival. Yeah 100% 100% so So we're at the Superdome in New Orleans, and I don't know how many people that place, you know, it's a Superdome Yeah, you know football. So I remember like walking around the city and just hearing people talk about Girl you [18:43] going to you going to you know, you're going I'm going I'm going to see Frankie. I'm gonna see Frankie yeah, I'm this little boy walking around the street like Oh Right and they don't even know Get ready. I'm opening up the show with a drum solo everything Man I walk out there and Everybody in this place has on white. [19:13] Oh, this is 40 60,000 feet. I don't know They all got on white so I walk out there and I'm seeing this and I'm like, wow This is crazy. I lost my mind. I was that's The whole place was electric slide and I'm playing I like they doing that to me, right? Man I I'm telling you bro that changed my life. I was like this This will I probably [19:43] will never feel this again And I have it was right cuz that was the first time yeah, and the other thing was man it was all black people So right, right. Yeah. Oh, yeah all black people No, no, no, no, no other ethnicity in this place, right? It's like five of them within 40,000 BRYAN-MICHAEL COX [20:10] You know what? I'm I Have one Objective here and the only objective is to is to get on and if that means I have to sweep the floor Get somebody's coffee be somebody's assistant, you know do what I got to do. I was willing to do the Groundwork, you know, I mean, yeah what you do when you're trying to you know advance In a you know in a proper way not, you know, you know the right way You know you you show people that you're about that [20:40] work you show people that your work ethic is Top tier and between average person doesn't it just very basic prompts, right? but you have people who are high level people who are who are really in the tech who really understands this thing who Got to you know knows knows what to put in that prompt to make it do what it needs to do You know I'm saying yeah, that is I I'm concerned about it Not even I was concerned about Napster and [21:12] everybody was concerned about you know, when you know every every change There's always a concern when it work from you know, albums and tapes to CDs there was upset, right? You see the empty, you know, the line wire and Napster. Look you had to adjust. I don't know how I I Think the only way you would just is to just really grasp an understanding of it Fully like I'm in a space where I want to learn every aspect of it. I want to learn everything about it You know, I'm saying Jackie T, you know to [21:44] whatever people are developing. I want to learn everything about it I think people jump jumped on Timberland because I think it felt I think I think the knee-jerk reaction was like Oh, he's he's assimilating to you know AI And I think also because of the guy, you know as she made the beat that was that was really most of the problem right, right, but you got to ask yourself like You know, is he on or something at this point is he like is he beating everybody to the punch because we're working with Joe I [22:15] was at Zamba at battery at battery studios in New York. Sure. I just sat with uh, I just Saw them sign T-Pain, but I was in the meeting with T-Pain got signed, right? And I went upstairs to the studio Akon and boo who and divine where T-Pain they all came home and I Got the record back. Yeah, but we were doing passes back and forth. I got the record. I said y'all want What this is to this Mary Rick? [22:45] I want your opinion I'm playing a record for them and everybody was being like yo that's crazy and I remember the feeling that I've got like the feeling I got in the room was like I Know I'm doing well now. I'm making money. I got his I'm doing well, but I was like this song was gonna change it But I'm not you know, I'm saying I was like it was about around it everything that was leading up to it. I Was like this song is gonna change it. It's gonna shift everything's gonna this is gonna make me a household name, you know The MANNY MARROQUIN [23:17] biggest misconception of a mixer is that we make things sound better, you know, which is sounding better that's such a That's I don't know if that even exists is so subjective, right? So I I remember doing mixes back in the day That sounded good that I try to make sound good, right and then two years later Even today. I mean it sounds like it doesn't sound good because it's constantly changing, right? But I remember the records that make me [23:47] feel a certain way and that Technically sounding the best but it felt good and to me Those are the records that I play today and still get the same emotion, right? So I learned that early in my career as well that chasing a sound I feel like as a young engineer We make that mistake so many times to chase a sound But I always say chasing the motion because that's really what we're about I mean we're about to hopefully portray that emotion to so [24:17] that you when you hear you don't have to think about Hopefully you can either dance cry punch a wall Whatever that that true emotion of what's been given to us and I remember my bus driver at Hamilton, right? We said hey, man, we're screwed these drum machines are sounding so real and you can do this like you can do the attack and this and you can basically replace drummers and Listen, that's a 15 year old. I'm like, oh damn, you know, that's that's the bus, right? But it just got it just cut the [24:48] fat and that was part of the the fat right it cut You know drummers that didn't need to be drummers, you know, and I feel like there's a right now There's a lot of producers that should not be producers. There's a Tom Brown He was a studio man and I would go to him every day after a few months like I Would ask him if I could shadow right and it's like back then these are sonic temples You can't just walk in you got to earn it right and I understand that I understood that so but it became a joke I would go. [25:19] Hey, can I shadow? Can I shadow? Can I check in one day? Sure thing, man? I was making a cappuccino for him comes in the kitchen and he goes, how old do you know the board? I'm like, oh I know it really well. What are you talking about? Of course? I didn't even know where the volume Not Only lying right and he goes I have a session and I can't find an assistant Do you want I just need a body in there. Can you do it? I was like, this is my moment You know, this is the one moment. I've been waiting for it, but he okay So there were I believe there were three [25:50] of us three or four runners One had been there almost two years Tommy and then I forget the other guy. He was there about 12 months maybe a year and a couple months and I had only been there for three months So this guy comes up to the the new guy You know instead of the guys that had a little more seniority So I always think about why is it that he picked me, right? And there's that saying the squeaky as wheel gets to Greece, right? [26:21] Not because I didn't even know anything about the room, but I showed the desire to be in the room more than the other guys But I've seen a lot of this THOMAS LANG [26:34] sort of Attitude of hey a lot of arrogance you know a lot of like You know, this is I'm I'm the boss here. I call the shots. You know, this is my My thing my records, you know, this is my first records. So I'm in charge. I know everything. This is my thing. Nobody can tell me anything and everybody else shut up I know what I'm doing. Otherwise, I wouldn't be here kind of attitude, you know, right and and everybody's like, oh, [27:06] yeah your first record Okay, good luck with that attitude So we have to wrap our head around it and use it as a tool not as a supplement for our own creativity Right or as a replacement for our own creativity, but as a supplement to our own creativity just like a drum machine You know, so when we first started working with drum machines, well every drum is like, oh my god I'm out of a job and that's decades ago. You know, that's like 40 45 years ago None of that happened and I think we [27:37] we have to drop the paranoia and we have to get with the program and embrace technology and use technology as a tool Right, and we we are the boss of it, you know still and we and I think it's it's silly to be afraid of that type of technology you have to just you know, make it your bitch and right and you know And work it and work it really good. And and that's what I'm trying to do, you know I think I I don't think [28:11] I can Pinpoint exactly who it was with but one key emotion that was is so memorable and and Such a big part of my Um, you know love for performing and and my passion for music Um was early like in my career when I first played on a huge stage and And I I [28:45] felt the power of what a band and what music can do to a very large audience So when I first, you know, I remember And this was in the 80s, you know, this was like pre uh in ear like Like with giant like my my drum fills were like a pa, you know And I remember stepping on the drum riser at soundcheck and and hearing the whole venue go Yeah, you know simply from like a step [29:16] onto the riser everything was on and blasting and And I felt like wow, what's what's that and I remember tapping on the drum riser with my foot and I could hear In the venue, holy shit I'm gonna be CALVIN RODGERS [29:33] honest man, you know, I feel like it's been because I've only always been motivated by the music You know, I haven't let I haven't let money dictate Whether or not I haven't let crowd size. I haven't let social media likes followers subscribers My only motivation has been music man. Um, it's been it's been music and it's been to You know pass pass it on. It's been to you know, to you know [30:04] to to help people the way I was helped Those have been my my those have been my driving motivations, you know I'm saying so I was like told teddy I was like man. I didn't I'm like ted. I didn't really like playing r&b music man I didn't like it. I didn't I didn't like I didn't like it I'm gonna play gospel bro. I'm like, that's what I'm good at. That's what I love playing You know and he was like and teddy was like, I mean he was like, you know, that's cool man You know, I do what you do. He's like I'm just saying, you know, I don't know I don't know if you're gonna be able to build a career off of [30:34] that I don't know if you're gonna you know making real money some real bread, but cool, you know But that was that was my motivation man And everybody I had some friends that I said when I told them that what I was doing I told them I'm like man teddy you're saying, you know go to la I didn't like playing r &b music man. I'm gonna I'm gonna play god right like gospel Like bro, you you know how much money you you know how much these tours are paying right now, bro You land a tour like, you know, of course backstreet boys and 98 degrees was popping and sick was popping in britney was popping in Man, some [31:06] of those tours are paying seven eight grand a week, you know what I'm saying? Like right, you know, you ain't Ain't no gospel gig for the never pay you that kind of money, you know but I was like, you know, I'm like man, you know, I'm I don't want I don't want to play for money because I feel like if I if I start playing for money now, I'll never stop Oh, that's a bar bro. That's a bar if if If I make if I'm if I compromise What I feel artistically For a dollar right now in my life. I'm gonna do it for the rest of my life So I was just like I'm [31:38] not gonna do it I'm not I'm gonna play the music I love And I'm gonna figure it out. And so the thing I want to say is That was a defining moment for me because I was able to Detach myself away from me And what my idea of what the music and and serve the music I feel like I served the music instead of serving my agenda, which is what I wanted to do I feel like I made the decision to serve the music and I gave the producer what he was asking for Right. [32:09] I've had a I've had a long-standing relationship with Aaron lindsey since then bro And that album it a lot of times if you ask people what's what's calvin rogers? Picasso people say that album, please. Tell us what it is Thirsty, okay marvis have thirsty. All right. A lot of people say that's my best album They love the mix on the drums. They love the way I played it, you know, but Um a lot of people be like that's but I it almost wasn't it almost wasn't a thing It almost wasn't and [32:39] also Me and that producer's relationship. It could have been completely destroyed And so JAMES GADSON [32:48] I would get on the bus sometimes, you know with all my drones to make this gig and You know, it was he fired me in fact, he fired me about five times because I couldn't play on me Okay So he couldn't get nobody else. I think this is probably what happened Because I talked to a couple of drummers. He probably don't want me to say Talked to a couple of drummers that just didn't want to work with him I bet I think they got into it about something. I don't know what it was But sure anyway, he said man just play time play fours on the snare fours on the hi [33:19] -hat and fours on the kick drum And man, that was the hardest thing in the world for me to do because I had been I I was free, you know Right and I could I it just didn't make sense I'm saying what is this What kind of groove can I get because I was you know, I'm in space. I'm not pocket like I you know, so It took me and he said don't play no feels so I did this for about eight months And I started to hearing what the r&b thing was. I I could hear what was happening And [33:49] the one started to make difference to me. I started Being able to get a groove of course what really opened the door for me was nasty machine Wow And a dotted they had a dotted quarter followed by and um I couldn't read the rest of it right right then and there because I didn't know what it was. So I say I said boom boom boom boom with my bass drum and everything stopped. I said, oh they got me today I know I'm gone You know what I'm saying? I said man, well, can you do that [34:19] again? I said yeah so We did dancing machine. I was so nervous. They had to stop and cut the tape and say man display anyway By that time I had gotten gotten it together after that because I was my reading got up to par and I was not nervous anymore And well, I guess you know a lot of producers kids would be taking their place As a producers I see and so I think the producers would tell their kids to call [34:50] me Right to make sure that you're going to get something. I mean when I would go in the studio, I would make sure that you're gonna get a drum track if you had to Oh, you know if you didn't get anything else Right, you know, I was gonna make sure that you're gonna get a drum track that you can use You know what I'm saying? Yeah, absolutely. There's been situations where I would go in and and I've done drum tracks where they had to Do everything else over again right, you know, that's me, you know, so I guess you know, they you know, I would come hey, I was I'm gonna bring it [35:22] In other words I'm bringing it Yeah Do you think that we do you recall any times that you think you were maybe passed over for something because somebody thought you were? Mostly just an r&b guy. Well, they had a uh, uh one year they had I think I played on more hits than anybody that year and they had a Grammy for the musicians Hmm And they didn't want to they gave me they didn't even want to they gave me an honorable mention They didn't even want to do that. Grady Perrin at that time. [35:53] I was working with him. He was producer. I did Quite a few hits for him And he told me he said man, they didn't even want to acknowledge you I was ROBERT “SPUT” SEARIGHT [36:05] at the time I was on the road with smith I left Snoop Dogg and I was on the road with eric about it and we're banned as a trio me rc williams and rc Braylon lacy And we would we would do these jams in dallas These kids would come over from the school from the university to the jams and one dude the bass player snarky He's barely here. And yeah, he's he was he's like I got this band. I want to I want you to go check it out So I wanted to go check out a gig that they did. They had been right playing with him. Wow So wow, I was blown away by [36:37] the music Real real fusion at the time a real, you know school combo real good Compositions though and I was like anything you need I have the studio at the time of dallas I was like anything you need out just hollering and so he gave me the keyboard player. I didn't expect that. I was like I needed a keyboard player. So I ended up going on the road with them for like a year Wow, and we recorded a record at my studio called bring us bright long story short After that I'm playing drums on the record. [37:08] Oh, wow after that the drummer Moved to japan. So I ended up having to just jump on drums after playing the keyboards And so I'm gonna tell you how to how the music shifted Because I didn't really know all the lies. I didn't know all the arrangements of the my ideas on drums, right? So I just put the backbeat on everything and that changed the energy changed the whole energy and I call it I call it amplified intelligence And it's not I don't call it artificial I call it amplified intelligence because it just amplifies things, you know, I it [37:39] just amplifies whatever you would be doing, right? You think about it? We've been you know, hey, it's been around for a long time. Yep I can't get in the car. I can go somewhere that I know I've been before and I still pull out the gks Exactly, you know, I mean like it's it's been around. Yeah, you know every time we do something Quicker than we would normally do it, right? It's a yeah, it's in there right in there the whole time. Yeah, so I've always understood That something like that was coming to our our field, right? Right, right this is like how we how we're gonna use it, but man, I I [38:12] I'm not one of those that hate on it because the history I'll believe in that the history the The lineage and the legacies I feel like everybody, you know this generation. It's not talking to college all the time They checking in on the school so I think I think if you I think really wants to do it Yeah, so so you see somebody somebody take a picture with you and be like, hey, man When you fade a drummer, did you know this about them? Hey, check this out. We know we know all the information, right? We could just drop technology, you know and drop a gem to them just in two seconds Yeah, and I believe in that and [38:43] I put I believe that if we continue to do that everybody's gonna be fine, but I I do have a a personal bias Motive motion in it because I really do want to be able to Continue to enjoy this thing that I've only done in my entire life. Yeah, never never had a plan b Right. Well only Never had another job. I Literally made money all my life Playing and being a musician. JUBU SMITH [39:07] That's right It's like man. I was on Such a high. I didn't know what a hit record was. I didn't honest to god. I didn't know what goes into it How do you know it? But when we left that studio that night I said wow, this is something I'm I don't know what's gonna happen but that music is Unbelievable and it was sticking to me. Yeah, I leave there. I get three blocks down On my way to the hotel. We were staying at the lemondrian I get pulled over by the police. I'm in a convertible Mustang that I had [39:39] rented I get pulled over by police four or five cop cars come up there had been a robbery and someone had Um did a robbery in a convertible black mustang same year and all this other stuff, right? Wow So the police literally threw me on the ground I had a raiders hat on my raiders hat flipped off. I'm handcuffed. They got their knee in my back and everything And I'm just smiling because I said I'm a part of the hit This was so I was scared for my life But [40:10] at the other side because I knew I hadn't robbed any I knew where I was that I'd been you know But at that same time while that was happening to me, I was literally smiling to myself saying I'm on a hit record man, and a lyric hadn't been written trev How good the music felt and trust me it was extremely hard to walk away from that money It was hard, but I knew in my heart that I wanted to I wanted to play live, you know And to be another thing too. I was in love with frankie's music I'm glad I made the decision because uh what [40:42] he became to me as a mentor even strengthened My integrity because you know, he didn't win grammys and right all that stuff. He didn't kiss the ring or anything He just stayed true He was intimate with with the audience and he told me he said man I just want to touch one person for real at a time because I know I'll be loyal to them They'll be loyal to me and for 24 years man, even as his voice waned as his health wane If frank showed up the people showed up. Well, if you think about it trev we [41:13] live in a world where Some of your biggest artists aren't even great artists, right? They're manufactured. Anyway, exactly Yeah, there's some of your greatest singers That you can find in a church or some of the greatest people that I found in church or jam sessions and stuff They can't get out there. It's just the way that the world works or how god does does things, you know And so I don't worry about what I can't control. Yeah, I just go I just work hard every single day and and um I I [41:43] till the soil. That's what I say. Mm-hmm I till the soil and I expect the harvest based on how I tilled the soil I put my total faith in god and I went to work on that guitar. My mother would tell you right now She would kick me out of the bathroom because I would sit on the toilet I didn't have an amplifier, but if you put the guitar up against the wall it resonates Mm Wow, I didn't have an acoustic guitar. I had an electric guitar if you put that guitar up against the wall It will [42:14] resonate so I can hear it and I will sit there till my butt was hurting man, you know Because I'm in love with this if you So well think of all BASHIRI JOHNSON, KARL PERAZZO & KEVIN RICARD [42:26] the records we grew up with We we don't just sing the the chorus and the hook. We sing the whole record You know, we sing every part we sing the horns we sing the backgrounds we sing the drum groove You know, we sing the whole record like james brown records We sing the whole record all the parts the guitar licks bootsy everything So I try I try to make sure that what I'm contributing to whatever the project That it's something that as an audience member. [42:56] I want to remember that. Yeah I mean, I don't have a problem using the tools I I came up in in the days when it was the advent of the first drum machine You know the the sp 1200 and it was like I had a choice do I Go on the side of the purists Who are like nah, man, I'm not messing with that. I don't need it. I'm not feeling it or do I embrace the technology Figure out how to program it [43:29] and advance my toolkit so that I can get more work using it So I I chose to embrace the technology Learn it utilize it and master it so that I can employ it as part of another tool in my arsenal So that that's what I did. I believe we're at the same point in time now Ai you have a choice. You can choose not to use it or you can choose to use it, you know The future is going to be the future with or without you using it or not [44:00] you have a choice So come on, come on, man You I had a foot pedal and it just went And I played snare and hi-hat Whether I had a a trigger a trigger bass drum here with a bass drum standing up Wow Here's the thing. It's not by hook or by crook We didn't shuck and jive slip and slide We made those things Musical Wow, we turned that [44:31] box Into a circle also As far as I'm concerned for what we do. There's a whole cultural element here We're not talking about this besides the pop music industry that we work on in the pop music world that we move in We all come from and A tradition a cultural tradition That has to be maintained and ai cannot maintain that It's up to you to maintain you have to bring that cultural element into your [45:02] what you're playing that drum right there It's of the earth Right. It's communicating with the earth. It's communicating with spirits above right? That part of it will never go away so I'm not worried about ai being a threat to what I do because this part of what we do is It's not just music. It's culture. It's tied to dance. It's tied to healing it's tied to stories historic You know oral histories The drums are [45:33] speaking a language Yeah, literally, you know if you You know, uh, december 25th 26th, you MIGUEL GANDELMAN [45:45] know rehearsal start january 4th in l.a. We still don't have anything Wow And we're trying to figure it out like what are the songs there's a sketch that somebody sent from somewhere These are the songs that he wants to do but who says these are the songs that he actually wants to do So I'm kind of trying to work on that and that's just a two track. I still don't have stem so I'm doing all the programming tricks that I know to be able to make things work and Uh harriet the creative director. She's like I'm going to mexico. He's on tour I'm going there to talk [46:16] to him and present him the little sketch that we have but when I was like great Maybe the ball will move that way, you know, she gets there He's really excited about all the visual stuff that she's presenting to him But he's like, I didn't know you guys were working on music already now I'm excited now Let's talk music and I was like, okay, so that sketch. I don't know where it came from I don't know what that is, but scratch that right So there was a lot of things on the show all that to say that He knew it with himself within himself what he was going to do, but it was a secret He didn't want to share with us and he didn't want to tell us, [46:46] you know And we only saw what it was going to be and only heard these things that he was saying I'm going to do it I'm going to talk I'm going to talk here. I'm going to talk there dress rehearsal That was the first time all of us heard, you know All the countries coming out of his mouth and the whole thing, you know When the camera the spikely shot when he's saying, you know I'm only here because I believe in myself and you should believe in yourself, too So for all of us who were involved, you know, including his people Nobody knew what that moment at those moments were going to be. [47:17] So once it came together, man It was just All of us crying like tears, you know, yeah, it was it was so it was so strong It was so impactful and all so it was it was supposed to be 400 Um 60 of them had panic attacks like day before because it was such a tight little situation, you know So we lost 60 of them, but it was 340 of them. They were just pacing and doing different things, you know And it worked out it worked out. It was great, you know, and and the [47:47] audio dude He was like man, this is the new left shark, you know, like I already know what I'm gonna dress up for halloween next, you know next halloween, you know It became a big thing, but it was it was great. It was beautiful It was funny because it was all over the news, you know before uh bad bunny You know He's having auditions for dancers and they have to be a certain height and people were getting mad and pissed They were like, you know, the height is actually too tall and us latinos were actually short so you're not representing us and little they know That it was specific to [48:18] the bushes. Yeah, you know, my father is seven years old He's still out there gigging, you know, and that's that's his life. You know, if you talk to him, he's like man I literally just want to be on top of a mountain with my saxophone just by myself, you know So all that to say it's like it's a devotion music is something that is beyond just the glory You know, that's something that I say a lot is don't do it for the glory Don't do it do it for the love do it because you chose this for yourself do it Out of respect to the art form and what it is, you know, and [48:48] if you have the respect for music music will respect your back I gave it to JIM KELTNER [48:56] him and They a few days later They got back to me saying they had to they're not going to be able to use it because it was offensive Oh, wow, and I said it was offensive And the thing was that what it was was I wish I could show you a picture of it uh but it's uh It's still in some of the old magazines it it hit I think it ran one time. [49:26] Oh, wow in in one, uh, one uh Of the modern drummers and then that was it. They pulled it And uh, what it was was I said Uh Pearl drums are just like me Fat and sensitive so I was looking in spotify for something and I ran across uh, one of my uh, Something on my playlist it is called the reflections from [49:57] three uh album Uh phineas newborn, yeah paul roy haynes one of the jazz records of all time and uh that record the lp I wore that out. Uh Over time by playing it Every time before I would leave for a gig. Wow I would uh, I'd play that record [50:30] and uh And as I was listening to reflections last night, I was listening to that song. Uh I was amazed to think wow that's That's me. That's that's the way I I came up that way. I came up with that that that That's that's how I developed whatever it was that I ended up developing. It's never going to be like it was But there's going to be a version of it There has to be um And so [51:02] what I would say um What I would say is that the the best thing you can do uh as a musician um Who wants who would love to have a career in the studios, you know playing on records Is to make sure That you Are playing with a lot of people as often as [51:33] you can And as in as many different situations as you can You know if you ask james gatson what he did before he became a studio cat He'll tell you that same thing man You know you he you get to know a lot of people that way You get to know how to play a lot of different styles that way Yeah um It almost And then my last my JAMES GENUS [52:10] last year at vcu Who comes to teach there's a guest? Professor ellis marcellus. Oh, wow. Yeah The dad yeah, and so that whole year I was playing with him I was studying with him You know, I got to meet branford and emma. There's a picture that I have when I was like in a senior And I sat in with branford, you know at this club Yeah, and then they were like dude, you need to move to new york. Wow And and so when I graduated I [52:42] moved to new york and I was like an upright dude. Nobody knew I played electric Right. You had to schedule it. So I went to my hotel room and the phone rang And I picked it up and it was him. Wow, and I was like, I was like, oh man, he said yeah, man We're gonna we're putting this van. Have you heard of the brecker brothers and I'm singing to myself? Yeah, I heard of the brecker brothers. What are you talking about? he said We you know, my brother and I gonna put this band We're gonna do like the return of the brecker brothers. We're gonna put the band back together And we got this guy george witty who's gonna [53:14] be you know Programming and stuff dennis chambers is gonna be playing and I'm thinking yeah, I'm playing with dennis now with with bob burke And so that was kind of like and I was playing actually I was playing electric with burke. Ah, okay. Got it and then I I did upright two with him, but I think on tour we did a state department tour for like two months and I was just playing electric and um and then yeah, so that's how that happened with the With the brecker brothers thing and then that thing came out and [53:45] then everybody was like who is this dude that's playing electric Well, I can I can tell you the the ashley simpson Thing. Oh, wow her son that was exposed. That's right And you know when it happened I didn't even know it was happening because that was like, you know when the guest van comes on it's kind of like oh I'm gonna go to the bathroom. Right, right. Um, and um Because you got like, you know got Three minutes or four minutes to to do what you got to do then come back. [54:15] Yeah, and um And so it was live so we had done the dress rehearsal. So I was like, well, I saw doing dress So, you know, I'll just go and do that come back And so as I'm coming back Stage is dark. I mean the the floor is dark and I'm like what happened and the stage man is like change get back up There now now now now and I'm running back to the stage and I'm like what happened and I see the drummer Over there on on their stage with his head down over the snare and so basically they left And instead [54:51] of paying this is what I feel I don't know but instead of paying someone to run the Pro Tools The tracks and stuff they gave it to the drummer, right? And and I think he instead of hitting the space bar. He probably hit the return And it went back to you know It went back to the first song And and what they should have did Was just stop it and play right Right. DARU JONES [55:23] So I was like, well, what can I do to give me an identity? So since I play traditional grips, as you know, there's two different groups when you're playing kick. There's a mash rip Then there's a traditional which you know, um, I I love Buddy richard jane kugler, you know, I remember I had older mentor playing traditional In church, this is before gospel chops and I was like yo What kind of grip is that like And he was you know, he snuck he was just he was checking out the jazz drummers. I was like I want to learn they so I learned how to play traditional And [55:55] develop those muscles at an early As a teenage, you know when I was you know Young teenager and I remember getting track reading lessons in middle school and just getting those and talking videotapes fast forward I remember seeing The marching band guys set up their drums angle because the drums were hanging off their body They were playing the quads right and they would have to they would have the snare drums like, you know tilt it sideways And I was like, okay dang I understood that constantly and I was like What if instead of hanging sideways? I was slowly going down like a hill [56:28] So it was pretty much just an experiment I just didn't want my drums to look like quetzalones because I downsized mine to just a minimal configuration And I was like, yeah, what would happen if I do the floor time? So originally I don't want to say jams, but it was just for looks. I just didn't want my kit to look like quetzalone, you know So I was like, I always say you are what you eat So I listened to a lot of that vibe. So it just comes out automatically, you know If you listen to a lot of rock, that's this is what I think if you saw a lot of rock or a lot of Things from a certain area you automatically [56:58] going. It's just going to get in. It's like food You know, it's going to start pouring out of the earth, you know out of your limbs So I just listen to a lot of that type of style and big city rest in peace. J dilla Also all a lot of the 90s, um in current producers, you know, shout out to dj premiere Yeah, and pete robb, you know the bond squad. Um dre, you know, just when you go back Oh shout out to break beat blue You know He was a guy him and his partner lindy d they went and set out all the bricks to put them on one collection Which was a go-to for [57:30] hip-hop producers to sample it from so just the whole loop aspect Yeah, right it seems like when that one comes around it was always some sort of glitch Yeah, that was to me. That was hip-hop, right? And I'm just the type of person like if somebody's doing something I want to go the opposite way Yeah, well, it's always it's just it's a good I don't I want to say it's a bad thing but that's just been part of my journey just being like Going against the grain. Yeah, and um It was frustrating that one [58:01] time You know how it is when you feel like you I want to say we didn't even know we were ahead thinkers We just right felt like we had something in us and that was a part of our and we were just getting it out and then people They read it and then sometimes, you know, I remember I was Not getting bullied but people not having the most positive things saying just by looking at the kit not even hearing it Just like seeing it, right, you know and I'll share one story. WARRYN CAMPBELL & NISAN STEWART [58:27] I remember we were doing a record with uh, missy elliot back in the day Uh producing me craig and misty we did a lot of records together and there was one artist we did something for and they wanted to come in and take pretty much half of our you know our publishing for the song that we wrote and uh Misty taught us that you know know the value of what you guys say. No, we ain't doing that We'll keep this somebody else gonna get it. Uh, but long story short the artist got it and it went on to do do very well Um, so I've been good. [58:58] So coming from death row one of my first big projects the Artists wanted half my money And half my points and half my publishing And so we were in the elevator and it was like and I got mad and I handed the dude up in the elevator And And then I told him he could he could never come back to la again, right? Yeah, and I and I stood on that. I pressed the button. I made a phone call like they can't come back here Yeah, they had a whole Meeting and we had to get on the [59:29] phone do a conference call and big john's on the call And big john said in the warrants said listen, man, I support you but if you keep doing stuff like this I won't support you. I was like, but they're trying to take he said listen. Listen, you can say no Like what you mean? He said it's called negotiation. I had no concept. I just thought they could just take I didn't think about Negotiating right? I had no concept of that. And so he introduced that this is very early In my career and so but the fact that big john said he won't support me Man it like that guy's support was [1:00:00] everything to me at that time. Yeah, so it gave me a like a quick like 180 Yeah, I was like, you know, okay. I gotta I gotta I gotta chill He says man I'm gonna teach you He said those guys that are trying to do that to you. They've learned the business the wrong way I'm gonna teach you the right way Yeah, and so ever since then I've never had another problem. I just negotiate And then for father's day, my dad gave me a gift. He gave me three Notebooks there were black leather-bound notebooks With all of my grandfather's [1:00:32] sermons handwritten sermons in there. Oh, wow and one of them was called Speak the word and with the same scripture that I use Some of the same stuff that I never heard my grandfather preach that you know And a lot of these sermons watch this though that my grandfather wrote he never preached Because he wasn't a guy he wasn't given the opportunity He was a moody bible institute trained, uh pulpiteer And because of he was a teacher. He wasn't one of those hooping preachers. [1:01:02] He didn't get an opportunity But he wrote them all down and there was three books. My dad gave me those and so I have the legacy of my grandfather's words And whether we know it or not our words are seeds You know and whether you're speaking negatively or positively it don't matter the harvest is coming in And so I want to leave a legacy of words with my with my family things that I said That'd be seeds that grow in them Uh the music stuff, you know, I love music. It's my passion But it's it's something that [1:01:34] I do. It's not everything of who I am my words and what I what comes out of me That's who I am And then as MARK BATSON [1:01:45] the lawyer says to me Mark, I'm gonna tell you something about technology It says technology is like a steamroller either you're driving it or it's going to roll you over And uh that to me stuck with me for the rest of my life Um, I see ai it's just another technology Uh that you have to learn you have to be a part of it You know, I tell my students at usc that you don't have to use it But you have to be aware of it at least because now a 14 14 year old songwriter That's the first door [1:02:18] they're ever going to open is going to be a suno doll, you know, they're not going to open up logic They're not going to open up Pro Tools first. That's going to be their first door and as technology Advances by the time they're 21 22 That the systems of technology for music are going to be geared towards the people who started to use that at 14 years old so if you don't start using it in five years you You know I'm saying it's going to be like saying I don't want to use Pro Tools, right? I'm going to stay on tape and then five years later you're behind because not only [1:02:50] does everybody have Pro Tools now Now they have the latest Tech that goes with the pro tool. I think 10 years from now the skills that we have will be cherished Like can someone please come and play an instrument, you know that they've been playing a music what people are missing though in this is that the the accentuation of intelligence the development of intelligence music lessons is uh Is a cheat code. Yeah music lessons is a cheat code music lessons that the training of the discipline the [1:03:22] practice the focus You know the the patience how you grow and grow when you play a scale then you play two arpeggios Then you play this and then you play bach and then you play cherny then you play that process of growth Uh, we're going to miss that in the future. So there'll be a time when people will that's a lot of artists You may if writers you may already have written the biggest song in your life and you don't know So the most important thing is if you're going to be a songwriter just go and [1:03:52] write go to the studio You're going to be a song creator create every single day Keep going, keep going keep going because sometimes things like relapse catch up to you later on and have impact There was another song that we made called big weenie. Oh, and when I made big weenie, I was kind of like I don't know I don't know, you know, I'm not sure I'm not sure, you know, you know, I know I wanted to make that right You know I'm saying I'm rap too, you know, you [1:04:23] know, I want to make that but then like one day, you know my my my niece She said, you know sent me something from tiktok And they spent big weenie up on tiktok and it's like the number one single on tiktok And it's And now it's a huge record for the next generation. All right, everybody Well before we get out MIGUEL GANDELMAN — EMMY NOMINATION FOR BAD BUNNY SUPER BOWL LX HALFTIME SHOW [1:04:45] of here, I want to say congratulations to one of our guests miguel gandelman for that incredible super bowl Performance that he helped put together. He's now gotten an emmy nomination So congratulations on that and for everybody else same time same place next week We're going to do episodes 21 through 40 And you know how we do it I'm trevor lawrence jr. It's the trev beat show and we out it's the trev beat show