Escaping the Drift with John Gafford - He Became Jelly Roll's Drummer Because of a... Mullet? (Cody Ash)

Episode Date: January 28, 2026

Cody Ash grew up in a tiny town in Kentucky where the most exciting thing to do was play baseball or get into trouble. Today, he travels the world on private jets playing sold-out stadiums as the drummer for country-rap superstar Jelly Roll.In this episode of Escaping the Drift, John Gafford sits down with Cody to hear the wild story of his rise to the top. From driving 14 hours to New York City for a single unpaid show just to get his foot in the door, to the hilariously rumored reason he actually landed the Jelly Roll gig (hint: it involves hair), Cody's journey is a masterclass in hustle, networking, and being ready when the phone rings.If you are a musician, a creative, or just an entrepreneur trying to figure out how to break into a closed industry, Cody’s "say yes to everything" mentality is exactly what you need to hear.In this episode, we cover:The 14-hour drive to NYC for one show that changed his life.Why "Small Town Mindset" kills more dreams than lack of talent.The truth about how he got hired by Jelly Roll.How to network in an industry where you know nobody.The reality of touring: It’s not all parties and private jets.Chapter Titles & Timestamps00:00 – Intro: Did the Mullet Get Him the Job?04:15 – Growing Up in Small Town Kentucky11:30 – The "Drive to NYC" Hustle: 14 Hours for One Show19:45 – Breaking Into the Nashville Scene28:10 – The "Umpire" Incident: Why He Quit His Day Job35:50 – Getting the Call for Jelly Roll42:30 – The Mullet Story: How He Really Got Hired50:00 – Life on the Road: Stadiums vs. Dive Bars💬 Did you enjoy this podcast episode? Tell us all about it in the comment section below! ☑️  If you liked this video, consider subscribing to Escaping The Drift with John Gafford *************💯 About John Gafford: After appearing on NBC's "The Apprentice", John relocated to the Las Vegas Valley and founded several successful companies in the real estate space.➡️ The Gafford Group at Simply Vegas, top 1% of all REALTORS nationwide in terms of production. Simply Vegas, a 500 agent brokerage with billions in annual sales Clear Title, a 7-figure full-service title and escrow company.*************✅ Follow John Gafford on social media:Instagram ▶️ / thejohngaffordFacebook ▶️ / gafford2🎧 Stream The Escaping The Drift Podcast with John Gafford Episode here:Listen On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7cWN80gtZ4m4wl3DqQoJmK?si=2d60fd72329d44a9Listen On Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/escaping-the-drift-with-john-gafford/id1582927283 *************#JellyRoll #CodyAsh #DrummerLife #MusicBusiness #HustleCulture #TourLife #EscapingTheDrift #NashvilleSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

For me, it was about the adventure and the story. You know what I'm saying? Because now it's like... Boom. So the adventure in the story and then also what you said about opportunity. So for me, like I wasn't doing anything. I wasn't doing what I wanted to do. So anything that was bigger than what I was doing was an opportunity in my eyes.

And now escaping the drift, the show designed to get you from where you are to where you want to be. I'm John Gafford and I have a knack for getting extraordinary achievers to drop their secrets to help. you on a path to greatness. So stop drifting along, escape the drift, and it's time to start right now. Back again, back again with another episode of like it says in the opening, man, the podcast that gets you from where you are to where you want to be. And today, dude, I got a rare treat for you guys in studio, straight from Nashville, straight from the road, straight from tour.

I got a dude that you'll probably know who he is. This is a cat that has a pretty cool story, man, came up in a very small town and Kentucky and you know wanted a little bit of rebellion as we all do with those young ages moved to the big apple fell into kind of the metal core scene if you will of music that's that uh that's the harder stuff from the late 2000s late 90s uh they kind of hit and then got back to his roots a little bit and hooked up with a little guy you guys might know named jelly roll and has been on the road with him selling out stadiums from one side of this country to the other and i can't wait to hear his story. Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to

the program. This is Cody Ash. Cody. Oh, that was an impeccable intro. Dude, that was incredible. You got to, you got to catch him. Dude, you had to get it. Are you? Are you hyped up about you? I was, I'm hyped up about you're hyping me up about me. I'm like, I don't get hype about myself, but that was,

that was, I was like, holy shit, dude. I don't you remember all that. Like, there's no paper here just so, you know, that was all. That was off the dome. That was crazy. No, dude, so, dude, thank you for coming in, bro. Thank you for having me, man. I know, we like set this up like a day or two ago, but I was like, fuck yeah, man, let's go. Yeah, dude, yeah, so let's talk about, let's go back.

Because I think this story that we want to tell today, at least what I think we're going to tell is going to be a story of kind of coming up and then pivoting, which I think a lot of people start one way in their careers or their life or direction they think they want ahead and then don't really find true success until they kind of pivot back to their roots or whatever. I want to start with you, man. So you grew up in a small town in Kentucky, like I said, where? So Mount Washington, Kentucky out in Bullock County.

Okay. What is that close to? It's about 30 minutes south of Louisville, an hour west of Lexington. Okay. So that's kind of middle of nowhere. How many people in your hometown? Well, now there's like 18,000. Now it's like grown up.

But like, which actually even in the grand scheme of things, 18,000 is still small compared to a lot of other small towns. But like, it's just not a small town anymore. But when I was growing up there, it was maybe around like, 1800 to 5,000 from 93 to 2001 or 2001-ish. It was probably like 1,800 to 5,000 people. It was real small. I feel you.

My hometown is a stop on the map. Where are you at? North Florida, dude. Lake City, Florida. So Florida is the greatest place. If you're coming down 75 into Florida, my- from Georgia. Yeah, from Georgia.

My city was like the place where like your dad was like, well, soon as we get to Florida, we'll stop and get gas. Yeah, you got gas in my hometown. How was that? How far was that from? um shawnee swanee swanis won't right there it's right in the middle swanney river basin okay so we played we had a house on the swanee river we had a cap we played uh we played a festival uh on at swanee springs uh yeah whatever

the swanee i think i think it was just called swanee river country president yeah something like that and uh yeah we got to play i i like swanee a lot oh dude cool place to visit i mean i don't know if i'd want to try to no shot for a suit there yeah Not exactly the cat place. No, no, I just, I, it's just a small little redneck town.

It's small, it's like real, you want real Florida. That's real Florida. Yeah, that's, that's, yeah, that's just north,

yeah, it's Fah, Georgia, man, that ain't Florida. Well, because it's like right there on that cuff,

right? Like, yeah, it's the northern cuff of Florida. Oh, it's, right. Yeah,

it's literally 20 minutes from the Georgia border. Yeah, yeah. Literally 20 minutes down. That's great. When you, when you were growing up, dude,

were your Bell's kid like how was home what was that like growing up dude home for me was awesome my parents are still together cool um they what a mom of dad do mom there so I come from like an industry family so like my mom works

at UPS and uh my dad works at Ford so they and my sister works at GE or did work at G. She just got fired stuck at GE come on man does she deserve it? No she didn't deserve it. She was no she was in a probationary

period and they didn't tell her. First off, they didn't call her with her union rep. They said that the union rep was sitting next to the person on the phone. And union rep was not there. I don't think so. I think they was lying. But they said, so she was in her, she like just got hired.

She was in like her 90 day probation. She got pulled over one day and it made her late. And they said, but the person said that she could have up to an hour or something. And then, and she got there well within the hour. And then something else happened. and she, I don't know if there's traffic or whatever, but she got there like five minutes after she was supposed to be there. And she got five.

Yeah. And I was like, damn, dude. That's ruthless. That was ruthless. And I was like, damn, like, yo, she, I don't know. Where's that? Not my business. But yeah, so they come from like a factory family, like no one in my family really played music.

And, uh, yeah, my mom and dad were still together. Dad, they were very, it was very much so like small town idea of like, you know, go to college, get a 9 to 5, so on and so forth. Washington is somebody that small towns are. Yeah, yeah. Marry your high school girlfriend, buy a house three blocks away from your parents. Like, how many people did you go to high school with literally married their high school girlfriend and live within a mile of their parents?

Well, I only, honestly, I only know one. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up in school and stuff, but like there was one kid in band that him and this other girl that was in band, they like fell in love when they or juniors and then got married out of high school had kids live still live in the town and everything and i was like damn that's good for them you know what i'm saying so that's interesting because you started playing drums in band yeah well no concert band in concert band i played baseball and football so i couldn't do marching band oh yeah because the football team wouldn't let me march at half time so in concert band yeah so i was like concert band symphonic band or like orchestra

I did like. Is that the first place you were ever exposed to it? Um, not. So at the elementary school level, it was just concert band. And then, uh, middle school, I did, I did just concert band or symphonic band or whatever they called it. And then in high school, that's when I started like going into like intercollegiate stuff. So I was like doing, uh, I was doing like summer band camps. And then, um, I was doing like some more orchestral stuff just like, not anything crazy.

but at the college at EKU they um they did these camps um and i forget what it's what is because some like some like two a week or too long summer camp and basically like uh the percussionist you go in and you get to play like steel drums and then um they ended up finding out that i played drum kit and you know i was like decent in percussion and uh so i played drum kit with the orchestra and then i went and played some other stuff with the orchestra and then they put uh the symphonic band together I did stuff for there. And then we did a steel band. And then because of that, I actually,

I think his name was Dr. Coutts. He, or Dr. Coons or Coots or Coons or something, Jason Coots or, he's a percussion professor over at E.K.U. I don't know if he still is or not, but he saw me at this band camp thing. It was like, dude, you need to come to E.K.U.

And I was, so I was like, dead set on going to E.K.U. Just play music there. Yeah, it's just to study. I got to ask him a question. I'm going to ask a question, because growing up in a small southern town, as I did, right? Yeah. You were kind of, this is an interesting kind of dynamic for you that probably shaped how you were, because here you are, you're playing football.

Yeah. Where I was like, there was a definitive line for the football players that not exactly run around with the band kids. No, no. That did not happen. Oh, they absolutely didn't. That was not it. So here you are, you're kind of straddling both worlds a little bit. And baseball.

And baseball. You're a jock, but you're also playing music in the, you're not. the band with, you know, the people that might not be the most popular people. We'll just, we'll call it as it is. Yeah, no, that's, well, that, yeah, that's what, um, it, it was definitely a crazy dynamic for me personally because you're right. Like, it wasn't, like, where I was from, like, Joxson band kids didn't, like, really hang out.

And to, to make those matters worse, that's when I started getting into metalcore. And because, like I said, I was basically on just, like, some kind of, like, rebellion thing and, um, against the small town because I didn't fit in and didn't have any friends and you know whatever and um and i know it's just a cliche story everyone tells but that if it was true it was real but it was i literally like the debate i remember like lifting with the baseball team and then like making fun of me because i was like listening to scream of music and like you know wearing skinny jeans and stuff and then like no one on the all the football team the football team didn't like i didn't really get along with my coaches um at the final years uh i just wasn't coached like

how I guess need to be coached. Did you feel like you didn't really, okay, so you definitely didn't fit in with the jocks in that part when you're metacorring. Were you also not fitting in with the band kids at that point? No, the band kids didn't fuck with me because I was a jock. No, no, no,

they didn't fuck with me because I was a jock. So they just had this premonition that because, like, because like you said, jocks and band kids don't hang out. They just had this premonition that because I play football and baseball that I was a dickhead, like just because I played sports. Right.

You know what I was like, no man, I love music. Like, I love this and I love this. So it's like, it was a weird dynamic for me. I spent a lot of time

like eating lunch in my band director's room. And you know what I'm saying? I've brother been there. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It was a weird dynamic growing up. But it was cool because like

it really just taught me a lot about independence and like I didn't need anybody around. Were you just like, I can't wait to get out of this town. I just cannot wait to get out. At that time I was. And it wasn't until I started touring that like I realized how much I actually.

loved like my hometown and i still like you know i still i go to like i try to make it a point to go to like at least two high school football games or some baseball games um i went and i got to see the i finally was home to see the um the the band christmas concert last year which was super sick yeah um yeah so i mean i i i love i like still love my high school and like i it wasn't like i It wasn't until I got on tour that I was like, oh, I really love Mount Washington. This world is a weird place. You know what I'm saying? I agree.

I agree with that, bro, because you come to a place, especially like a big city like Vegas. And one of the things about living here, and I think part of it's the heat, you know, part of it's like, but people just like roll up, go into the garages, shut the garages and stay in their house. Yeah. Like the sense of community that you had in those small towns, I always look back at that. Like I think about a lot, especially this time of year. I think about like the Lake City like Christmas parade. Like everybody in town was out like the whole everybody not there was nobody not at that thing at that parade. And like the oldusty battle festival thing we had.

Everybody in town was at that thing. Dude, ours were like when the when the kids like when I was a kid and I played baseball for the youth league or like the rec league down there, they would do a parade of like all the baseball teams and all the dads would like get their trucks and put in like. decorate the trucks and put all the kids in the back and all down the line of Highway 44 for like a mile all the way up to the baseball fields they were like uh they'd like they're sorry they think they lined it up from like when dixie down down to the baseball field so it was still like a mile but it was like that whole way it was just cars along the whole road just like blocked off so that they could let these kids do like let us do the parade and it's like a little cool things like that and after baseball games or whatever all you and all your friends

get in the back of a truck and go to make go to the dog dude we not a seatbelt in sight buddy hell no we that was one of my favorite memories was like getting out of football practice and like getting out of baseball practice and like getting out of baseball practice and look at my dad would be like kind of please ride in the bed and he's like yeah and I'd just be like soaking wet from practice just like sitting here yeah it was I loved that and yeah I loved the we would do the McDonald's trip yeah and we had a sonic at that so we only had a McDonald's and a sonic at that time and so we would like go to sonic and get milkshakes or we go to McDonald's and get like a burger or something It was really cool.

Big deal. Yeah. So did you go to EKU? Is that what you want? No, no, no. So I went to U of L. But what happened with that is because I went and did that summer camp when I was a junior, they were trying to get me to go to EKU to study music there and do percussion,

you know, whatever through them. At that time, I ended up quitting football or quitting baseball because I was still playing baseball. I just quit football. I was trying to get through baseball, but me and coached it in Seattle on some things. And, yeah, so then I started marching. And then I was like, I don't know what I'm going to do anymore because I thought, I wanted to go to, I was going to, my only realistic goal was to go to a D2 college for baseball. Yeah.

That's like what I was like, okay, I can do this. Yeah. Am I good enough for D1? I don't know. Like, could I be sure if I'd practice harder than, but I was like already practicing? It was, you know, just one of those things was like, I was practicing hard and just wasn't starting and just nothing mattered. But, you know, there was, like, coaches' favorites and politics and bullshit. Daddy's, Daddy, Daddy's fucking, weird, corny shit.

You know, small town political, dads building. Oh, dude. Dads are more drama than fucking moms. I swear, for real. Dude, especially when it comes to sports. Well, I'll tell you, Vegas, dude, because of, like, Maddox and because of, like, Bryce Harper and all of these guys. have come out of Vegas, right? They're all, like, I mean, there's like,

there's like five of them that are just great players that have come out of Vegas. So youth baseball here is insanity. Like, when my kid started playing, he was little, he's like seven. They're like, oh, who's his hitting coach? I'm like, what? He's seven, dude. Yeah. I'm just trying to, like, have fun, bro.

I used to umpire. And, and granted, now, nowadays it's even worse because of social media and everything that these kids are getting to, like, be opened up to of, like, how these they don't have the concept of like oh these are grown adult people in a professional sport that have been doing it for this long so they can dress this way and they've earned the right to do that so as a kid you don't understand that whole process so you're just seeing these like eight-year-old kids come out here all decked out in chains and freaking oakleys and like nice ass stuff but it's like they look cool but it's not like yeah well that you

I was sorry, I was sorry, but what I was saying was I was, I was, umpiring. And it's even worse now. But like back the, even back then, dude, I was, I was, I was literally umpiring coach pitch to five-year-olds. And parents were screaming at me over calls. Screaming at me, five-year-olds. And I literally looked at me. I said, this is not major league baseball. Yeah.

Your life, there is no money on this line. Your life is not changing over this game. And if you have money on five-year-olds, you're an idiot. You got a problem. There's a bigger problems. Jesus Christ. But I was like, dude, and I was a teenager. So I was in middle, middle and high school, and you got grown-ass parents yelling at me over a call at home plate because a kid slid.

Oh, too, so funny. I was at last week, I went and met some friends at a bar to watch the SEC Championship. and one of the guys there is, how can I say this? One of the guys there works for some of the most influential people in Vegas. I'll just say that. And we were talking about clubs, club youth sports. And this group of a very wealthy businessman in Vegas owns one of the biggest youth sports programs in the country. And he says, it is so incredibly profitable because these parents will just pay anything to get their kids in this thing.

And he goes, that, he goes, that now, that business is becoming the next, it's better to own a youth sports club team than it is to own a minor league sports team. It's more profitable. How crazy is that? That's, how nuts is that? That's insane. I was like, they're really, which I don't, I think the idea behind it is, is genius to like, build these kids as a unit from a young age and to just, basically, you're just creating. being a like a legend. Yeah.

And, you know, especially if they're playing. Or you're not. Or you're not. But I don't know. I think the kids like hanging out from a young age and growing up together and playing ball together and learning how to,

learning each other and being friends and being in that group. You know, I think that brings a tightness and an awareness within those friends that isn't something that you normally get to see. So I think that like by the time that they get to high school, it's like they're already prepared to be great. They already know how to communicate. they know how to talk.

They know what player's going to do, what, how this guy's going to pitch how this guy's going to bat. And it's like they already know these things. But I think it takes a little bit, like, I didn't have any of that when I was growing up. So it was like, for me, it was just far. You played Dixie League youth baseball probably. Yeah, dude.

What's a Dixie Youth Baseball? Ours was, uh, to play official Little League. We played Dixie Youth Baseball. Ours was Little League. Okay. It was the Mount Washington Youth Baseball League. So it was called MWYB.

Yeah. So that's how far south of it was my was Dixie. Dixie. Oh, my gosh. There it was. All right. So, oh, yeah, sorry. I want to tell you something.

You brought up Bryce Harper earlier. Yeah, yeah. First off, we studied Bryce Harper when I played baseball in high school. And we studied him as a high schooler, which was, or like when he was in college, it was crazy. But I, this is just funny. I was getting my hair done at the salon. I go to the salon in Nashville. It's called Vagabond.

I go there to get my color done. And I'm like sitting there just with these foils in my hair. Sorry. And I've, a dude walks in. I was like, that guy looks familiar. And then he's upstairs for like an hour. And then he comes back down and leaves. And I was like, what the, I was like, why is that guy look so familiar?

I was like, I know who that is. and the girl comes down and she was like, do you guys know a baseball player named Bryce Harper? And I said, hold on, hold on. And I stopped everything. I was like, I turned music off. Hold on. Yes.

Why are you asking that? She was like, I think I just gave him like a facial massage. And I was like, you, that Bryce Harper, like, did you look him up? And I was like, this Bryce Harper? And she was like, MVP Bryce Harper? And she was like, yeah, and I was like, I fucking knew I knew who that was, dude. And, yeah, just Bryce Harper. I think he moved to Nashville.

He was just getting a little face and massage. When you see people out of the context of where you, you know, you would see them, right? Dude, I've done that so many times where I've seen people completely out of context. And it's somebody that I should know that I've met in some cases. And I'll just walk up and be like, man, it's driving me crazy. Like, who are you? I, dude, I did that to Tim Stor. one time. And I don't even know what Tim's story is.

Tim's a legend. He was like Michael Jordan's coach. I mean, this dude was legendary and he's a massive speaker and he's just everywhere. And I ran into him and I was like, oh, no, Tim Grover, not Tim Grover, I did this do. And I was like, because he was out of context. I just saw him randomly standing in front of a casino. And I was like, man, I know you. I know I met you before. Who are he?

I was like, oh, I'm Tim Grover and I'm like, oh, yeah, I shouldn't know that way. Dude, I hate when that happens, that's the worst. So back to the story. When did you move to New York? I never moved to you. Oh, you didn't? Because I saw one of the bands was from Queens. You never moved to New York.

I was in that band that was from Queens for like five years. I'd never moved to New York. I would drive there for rehearsals and practice. Wait, wait, wait, wait, from Kentucky? You would drive to New York. Yes, in Pennsylvania. And how far is that drive? New York was 14, Pennsylvania.

I could get there in like 10 or 12. And how often were you doing this? If we had a tour that flew out to, Europe or if there was a tour that flew out, we always followed at JFK. So I'd drive up to Foglesville, Pennsylvania, which is like right on the edge of Jersey in New York. And then I'd meet the bass player and guitar player, one of the bass player and one of the guitar players. And then we'd get in the van and drive to New York and pick up the vocalist and other guitar player. And then we'd fly out from there. Was that the first band that you were in that was kind of getting it?

Yeah. Yeah. They were the first band that I joined that was like signed. I filled in for some other bands but like it was you know it's just like filling in they they had a drug yeah yeah um because how did you how okay so this is this is weird dude so here you here you are diving and you're like i want this is what i want to do i'm decided now i'm gonna play music this is my this my future is the only thing and i'm gonna live right here in kentucky and make that dream happen with a 14 hour commute well i had no idea how important the importance of like where you were mattered like it I think someone told me one day they were, they were like, you are what you surround yourself with. And I was like, oh, there is nothing going on with music here.

There is no way in hell that I'm not internet savvy enough to where I know how to like, you know, do whatever, like, because content in social media wasn't crazy back then for music. And, you know, you had MySpace and Facebook and it was like, hopefully your posts get seen and then Instagram came out and then they fucked all the algorithms for all those stuff and so it was like it was just it just made it really hard for like local baby bands to get out there but we were touring like I was booking our tours we were doing all kinds stuff um and so wait wait oh yeah but I realized this with the metalcore band yeah my local my local your local medical my local medical okay and then the other one the one from the york

they they were signed when I joined them how did you get that kid so in 20 Like so when I was filling in for other bands and one of the years was 2013, there was a band from Kentucky, well, from Lexington, Kentucky that, um, signed to this record label called Metal Blade, which in the medical world, Metal Blade was had some cool bands on it. Um, but they weren't big, but they signed.

And so it was like, holy crap, they were called Beyond the Shore. We were like, oh shit, like someone from Kentucky signed a deal. Like, this is crazy.

Um, and so what we all thought was a big deal. Actually wasn't like that big of a deal. And, but their drummer couldn't do the tour so I they asked me to do it and I was like absolutely so that was the first couldn't leave the state

dude no dude I was so stoked now I'm saying why couldn't you do the tour couldn't leave the state oh no no no no just if they were angle monitor were going to go off no they were just like you know can you play our songs like do you want to tour with us or like do you have time because

whatever I was like dude I'll literally quit every job and leave every human behind to go to do this like was that your first chance to go on tour no my local band that I was in like I said I was booking our tours so we were doing like weekend runs in in 2011 and then 2012 we started doing like actual runs um and that went over into 2013 and all the way till 2016 when i left and joined the band from new york but well talk about that dude so talk yeah i met them because i was feeling in for a band in 2013 and

the first leg of the run of that tour uh with that band from with beyond the shore was with siler from new york and this was like early their early days too so um Um, so we did like a week run with them. I ended up hanging out with them longer than, or more than what I was hanging out with the band that I was filling in for. And, um, and I just really love those dudes. And I started listening to their music and became like a huge fan. So then it was like, because my, my local band wasn't doing anything.

So when I got home from the tour, like, I was just another fan. You know what I'm saying? So like, I'd show up to shows as a fan still trying to get my name out there, even though like, I was starting to hang out with these people and knew these people. It was like, I just wasn't in it. And I was trying to be. And so I just kept in contact with him over the years. And I was feeling in 2016, I was filling in for this band called Picturesque.

And we were coming home. We were doing a deadhead from L.A. to Kentucky. The tour just ended in L.A. so we were driving from L.A. to Kentucky. And I got a call from the Siler guys. And I was like, that's weird. Like their vocalist never calls me. And I was like, maybe it was a budd dollar steak or something.

And then he called again. And I was like, oh, so I called him back. And I was like, yo, what's good? And he's like, hey, what are you doing next week? And I was like, nothing. I'm like getting home from tour now. He was like, yeah. He's like, can you, uh, he's like, can you come fill in for this tour?

Like, whatever. I was like, yeah. And so I got home, learned the songs, drove to New York, did a rehearsal. We left for tour. It was like a three week tour. Got home and I thought it was just going to be a filling thing. And then they ended up hitting me up again. And they're like, hey, our drummers aren't ready.

Can you come play this one-off show in New York? And I was like, One show. And they were like, yeah. And I was like, yeah. And so I drive from Kentucky to New York, immediately load drums in, do a rehearsal, tear drums down, drive to the venue, load drums in, sound check, play the show, tear down, watch a couple songs from the other band that we were, that we did it with, and then drove home and drove back to Kentucky all at one night. For those of you listen to this that don't understand what he just said, you guys

this long time. You know, I've been playing drums since I was a kid. And I'll put it this way. When I was playing with some dudes here several years ago, our little garage band we had

and then they started wanting to play out in bars. This is what I told them. I don't care what you guys get for money. I don't need one nickel of it, but you need to make enough that somebody comes to my house and carries my drums to this place, sets them up and brings them back.

I respect. Other than that, I'm out. And then they found somebody else. So that's fine. But that's how much I did not want to carry It sucks. It's not fun. And then it's like, and then if you have like a big, like if you have, so I, I couldn't get a road case because I had nothing to haul the road case in. So all I got was like the small little little cases soft handle cases. And, um, and dude, it, it that's beat my drums to shit. That all they got so ruined in that trailer from those soft cases. But it was, I mean, it those, it was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It was. It. It. It was. It. It. It was. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. It. was like my second drum kit that I ever had. So it was like, it was fine. But I ended up getting

Yeah. I was just here. Wait, it's not the Sears Blue Denham special. I'm playing at this point. I was playing at Yamaha. And, um, my pair, it was a Yamaha that my parents had said, they said, yo, if you can finish in the top 10 of your class in middle school, we'll get you a new drum kit. And I finish it number seven. Six or seven. I'm pretty sure it's number seven. And, and, uh, and I was like, yeah, I was still proud of that. to this day, dude, I'm like still stoked about that. I'm guessing you probably had stage customs if they were Yamaha. It was, it was tour customs.

Okay, cool. And then, I'm trying to think in the al-haws that I had back. I don't remember the name of them. They were not stage, they were not stage customs. I didn't do as good. I got this,

I got the secondary like, all right, we'll get you something. Well, it was before, well, before that, they had me. Did, have you ever heard a CB?

Oh, yeah. C.B. Oh, yeah. The little $200 kids. Oh, yeah, for sure. That was my first kid. And I've been playing that for like three years. My first, my first, okay, so I laugh because the C.R.

Or the JCPitty blue denim kit was the first kit I ever got from, like, whatever. They're all connected when I was like six. And then after that, but the first real set of drums I ever got were called Thor. I don't even have even heard of this. That sounds sick. No, I'm telling that, you know, I'm going to look it up and see if I can even still find this thing. But there were the first drums I ever had, Thor drums. Yep, there it is.

What color? They were blue, first ones. And then after that, I went to the Yamahs, and I had a set of pearls that were yellow. Oh. And I am very... I like a good yellow kid. I almost had a yellow MAPix kit when I was with them.

The word drum set. But now, dude, I don't know, like, because you're on DW now, which is... Yeah. Yeah, I mean, if you're going to... A blessing. Is there any other drum kids to play on the DW if you're a professional drummer? That's just so that it is. When I saw your set up, I'm like, yeah, dude, Vic Fur, Ziljan, and DW.

This is... Yeah. There's nothing better to you get... That's the... I call him the four horsemen and I was like I couldn't settle until I had all four of those. Yeah, that's amazing. Rimo, Vic Firth, DW, and Zildjian, those are my favorite companies of all time. It's the thing.

I'm like really, really stuck to it. Like, I got to that they noticed me. That was awesome. We'll nerd out on drum sets after this. It was like, what are these guys even talking about right now? Anyway, so you get the, so you drive 14 hours for one gig. One show. I'm guessing that goes pretty well.

This is a very real story. It was the hard. to stay away. Well, hang on a second, though. Let's talk about that because there's a lesson in that, dude, because a lot of people, you know, when opportunity knocks like that, they don't see it as an opportunity to see this isn't a great opportunity, but you saw it as the door creeping open. So what about that were you willing to say, hey, man, this is a lot of, this is a lot for one, one crack. Like, it was, well, for me, it was about the adventure and the story. You know what I'm saying? Because now it's like, And so it did the adventure in the story and then also what you said About opportunity so for me like I wasn't doing anything like I wasn't doing what I wanted to do So anything that was bigger than what I was doing was an opportunity in my eyes And on top of that it was like Dude who would drive to New York for one show just to drive back home the next like after the show done that's crazy

And so to be able I just think, I don't know, I think that's, but is that the thing? That's the thing that launched you. It was one of them. It's the adventure and the opportunity to be real with you. So I love that, man, because it's like, the adventure comes from taking different routes there and just seeing different things and driving overnight and just jamming in my car.

The opportunity comes from, it was, though I was just filling in, they were like the biggest thing I'd ever play with at the time. You skip it over this, but it's telling you, bro, this is genius because so many people look at opportunity, right? It's like it's a zero-sum game. It's a win or it's a loss. I'm going to succeed or I'm going to fail. And that's the two results that I have from chasing this opportunity. And you look at it as, I don't really, if it works out cool, if it does it, cool, but I'm going to have a great story. Yeah. And I think if everybody attacked or looked at opportunities that are fed them that way, probably chase a lot more. That's good stuff, man. That's great.

Dude, I'm, I think I have an obsession with the concept of the story. You know what I'm saying? because like I didn't have anyone to um I love my mom and dad more than anything in the entire world I'm not close with my mom's dad um my mom's mom has passed away uh I'm very close with my dad's mom my grandma um and my dad's mom's husband passed away when I was born so I didn't get I didn't get a chance to have a relationship with him so I never had like the story like I'd hear like these wise stories and these wise tales and like these other things from like seeing other that these like jelly you know he's like dude my you know my dad told me this and my grandpa told me this and it's like sayings and stories and all these different things and I just

never really had that because my parents are you know are the dude the nine to five thing and um you know they'll they'll my dad is in one of the most badass dudes I know like one of the most terrifying badass dudes that I know and um you know but when I when they had me he like he got out of everything so he wasn't like he never drank like I never saw him drink ever my whole childhood because he uh he he said he only drank a few times when he was younger and he would have an anger issue and he didn't like it gotten a lot of fights because of it um people were fighting him because they were drunk because he worked his security at bars and shit and yeah so it was I was like, walk away from it.

Yeah. So it was like, you know, granted, they chose a different route in life, but in that, and it's not a bad route by any means, but I just never had, like, cool stories to, like, listen besides, like, the, like, the cool story that I got to hear was a dude breaking a beer bottle over my dad's head. And my dad threw him through a glass window. You know what I'm saying? Like, the hardest motherfucker. Like, that, like, that shit's tight.

Yeah. And then, like, my grandma has, like, legend stories. about my grandpa like uh my grandpa used to hustle poker or hustle pool at a strip club in louisville and there's a there's a story apparently that there was this um they've told they've told me this since i was young there was a story that they um he there was do you know much about pool okay so one of one at that time i know enough to fight money with the chip no no no i know enough about pool never to gamble the dude who has a nickname that's a city i know that never play pool against a chick that has a tattoo of a dagger on her leg.

I know that. And other than that, if you make the eight ball in the break you wait. That's pretty much where it begins since. I don't know a lot of stuff about pool either, but I was just asking because there was, at the time, the best pool player,

his name was Minnesota Fats. Yeah, yeah, sure. See, there is. There's the city or whatever. Yeah, there is.

And, and, the legend was that my dad beat him. And then he, or my, my grandpa, beat him, but then my grandpa got jumped and my grandma, my grandma had to take my dad to the strip club and they had to walk in and get him and take them out or say something, something funny like that.

But it's like I just, I didn't have like a lot of those stories growing up. And I just, I think it's cool to be able to like. Part of that's because your parents are still together. See, when your parents get divorced, you get great stories. My favorite story about my dad, who passed away several years ago, my favorite story about my dad was he went to a golf tournament at the TPC in Jacksonville. And I don't remember what year this was, but it was really windy and him and my mom had gone.

It was in the 70s. And Jack Nicholas had a putt on the 18th green from like eight feet to tie it up and make it go to a playoff. And Jack got over the put and he missed the put to the left and he immediately turned around and shot this death stare into the crowd. Now, my father's side of the story is, It was very windy and he had a bag of potato chips and he was trying to shield them from the wind under his jacket. And they were still making some noise and then Jack Nichols shot him a look.

As is to say, kind of thank you for trying to at least to shield that. My mom's side of the story was your dad was standing there munching on his potato chips like an idiot. As soon as Jack Nicholas missed that, but he turned down to look at your father like he wanted to murder. I was effectively, yeah, you get little stories like that. But I get that. But it's also, I think part of it, man, like me, same thing. Like grow up in a small town. I think you either settle into this is all there is or you go the other way, which

is I'm looking for adventure. In which I think settling in is such a beautiful thing too. And I don't think there's any problem. Like I don't think there's any problem with that. Yeah. I just was the, I was just a black sheep and just I couldn't settle with. It didn't make sense to me to only be in one place. So it was like I was constantly.

even in high school dude like I was even though I was in like that rebellion like oh screw my small town you know whatever like but I was like going to the city all the time and then I started going to like Chicago randomly for like three years like for three years like every three to five months I was going to Chicago and it was like a regular thing had like a whole

basically like a whole other life up there and like which was like crazy in itself like and yeah I think I was definitely just like like big on adventure and and um trying to see as much as you could and that's in that story and having those stories. No. No.

Do you have kids yet or no? No. All right. So when you do have kids, you'll be able to tell them all stuff, which is cool. Oh yeah. That's like what I'm most excited about. I was like, yo, if I, no matter what ends up happening in life, if I'm able to have like a kid or a grand kid or whatever and I can just sit in that rocking chair and hold to God,

they ask me about, you know, something crazy that I did and I'll tell them about how I got kicked out and banned from hotels in Vegas and dude well it's funny because I just put a book out of the same name as this and there's a lot of stories I did we just put it out just came out two weeks ago yeah just came out two weeks ago

I had one come out before we leave you can have one two weeks ago we did it but there's a lot of stuff for my childhood that's in there things that I did they're a little crazy and my kids are like you burned down Nana's house up and I'm like not really sort of maybe burn the house down I don't know of it, but not really.

But they found a lot of stuff about dad that maybe they didn't know from reading the book, which was cool. Dude, I love, like, little, like, childhood, like, family trinket stories like that. Like, not a lot of people, like, like, dude, one time I broke my sister's arm because we were playing basketball on accident. Like, we were playing basketball. We just got home from, like, eating lunch. And I, she went up to shoot, and I, like, went to block it. But she walked under me, and I came down and she fell. And, oh, God, she broke her arm and she puked everywhere.

It was so funny. But like, those little things. So when I was 12 years old, this is in the book, but when I was 12 years old, me and my buddy, you know, child of the 80s, my mom's work, dads, you know, at work, whatever. So me and my friend are playing match flip in the house where you take the kitchen matches

and you thump them off the thing and they light in the air. We're doing this in the damn house. There's a knock at the door. Wait, hold on. Yeah, hold on. Yes. Explain that again?

All right. So now you take kitchen matches, the big wooden ones, right? Okay. All right. So you're holding the box and you take your finger and you hold a match on the top. Oh. And then you flip it. That is so sick.

And it lights in the air. How did I never do that as a kid? Yeah. Now I'm going to do it as a 32 year old kid. There you go. Yeah. It lights in here. So we're doing this in the house, right?

Which is really responsible. And there was a knock at our front door. And we had these big wooden doors that didn't, they were like a bitch to open, right? So we go to open it. I'm trying to get the door open. trying to get the door open. And my buddy Corey, who was wearing me, tips me up, touching the shoulder, I turn around on my living room's on fire.

Like, trains are on fire, couch is on fire, holy shit. So the people at the front door were these two kind of juvenile delinquent dudes that my sister and Mandy went to high school with. And they were there to get a hose for a car wash. So they run around the back and they put the fire out. And I'm like, my mom's going to kill us. She's going to kill us. So these dudes are like, we're going to get you out of it.

I'm like, how are you going to get us out of it? They go, you two idiots disappear and come back in like two hours. Yeah. So we go just beating into the woods and we're gone. And two hours later, we come back and I come walking out of the woods. And there's my mom standing there. There's police cars everywhere. And there's my mom and I come walking up and I'm like, what's going on?

And this is, again, small town north Florida, not exactly, you know, your best law enforcement situation. These guys are like, well, yep, that's what they do. These two boys came around to get a hose and caught these two gentlemen. breaking into your house and like our 1975 TV is outside or shitty stereo staying there and he goes yep they're trying to break into your house and they caught them and they dropped the stuff and they're going to set it on fire to cover their tracks that's what they do and I'm like 12 years old and this is happening this is happening right now around me and I'm like you like uh my mom's like oh my gosh can you believe this and I'm like no that's crazy no wow dude insurance covers everything and I totally

get away with it until like I got away with that until my sister Mandy's wedding like 15 years later where we're laughing about all the you know you held it for 15 years dude I didn't out myself are you nuts so we're sitting there at my sister's wedding and we're kind of telling on each other for all of this stuff that we did as kids whatever like oh you snuck out you did this blah blah blah and my sister man he's like oh well he said ever made mom commit insurance fraud and I'm like literally says that to my mom and I'm like uh my mom's like what what did I do what happened I'm like uh no maybe it's like no This is what he did. And she's like, are you serious right now?

I'm like, mom, this is now at this point, like 20 years ago. I'm like, you can't be mad for something to have 20 years ago. Dude, that is phenomenal. Yeah, you can't. First off, your mom, legend. That's so funny. A plus. A plus mom, there you go.

Mandy, the sister. Yeah. Narke me out. Nark. Rack. Ratt me out. Right. Okay.

To be fair, to be fair, I probably started narqueing her out on stuff before she did it to me. Dude, one time I did, I did ask. with the New York band. We were, we were about to do, it was 2017 and we were about to have like the coolest year that we'd ever had as individuals. And like we were doing,

it was like all of our first time going to Europe. We were going to Japan for the first time, like doing some like really cool stuff. And we were doing warp tour and like writing. And it was like a really cool year. And so we were like, damn, we're all together like, not on tour with a day off. Like we're at,

we're at someone's house. like we should do acid. And so, uh, to like do this as friends. And, uh, we did. So I took just like a little half tab.

Everybody else took a tab. And, um, and dude, my parents got work early. If we're just laying in the driveway, staring at the sky, all seven of us just laying across the driveway. And my parents,

I don't think my parents had any idea was going on. I think there, I think my dad was like, oh, damn smoking too much of that damn weed. And, And my mom was probably like, what are you guys doing? And I'm like, you guys want a snack? I'm like looking at the guys and they're, they're tripping.

And I'm like, I'm like, I'm not tripping. I'm, I'm, everything's just elevated. And so it's like, I'm like, all right, I got this. I'm going to go talk to you. And they're like, no, don't do it. I was like, no, I got to. If I don't, they're going to think it's weird. I always talk to them.

And so I like, walk up. I'm like, what do you guys do in home so early? They're just like, nothing. why are you guys laying on the driveway? And I was like, we're just hanging out as a band. Yeah. We're writing. We're just thinking.

We're just talking. And they never, they never, I don't think I ever told them that we were on acid that day. Well, you know the rabid listeners of the podcast. So they're probably going to hear this down. No, good. You know, they honestly, they watch every single thing that I do. So I love when they, yeah, they'll see this for sure. My grandma will absolutely see this.

Well, it's going to make an interesting Christmas meal. No, so this would be good. They keep a lot for me, dude. They could have like a Kentucky intervention for you. Dude, I like, I'm gone so much that like my sister is my best friend. So like I'm gone so much that my mom is very, very like overprotective of me. And my dad like gives her shit about it a lot. You know, they kind of have that, that, oh, mama's boy.

and like, oh, that you're sweet baby. You're like, just kind of like back and forth repertoire. Like, he'll mess with her all the time. And crap, I forgot where I was going with this. You know, it happens. Oh, my God. I literally forgot why I was telling this story. It happens.

And just if you're listening at home, just so you need to know this, he's going to remember 30 minutes after we stopped this. And it's the best story you've ever heard. It really brings it all home. But he's going to remember 30 minutes after this is done. Well, listen, I can't. I don't even know why that came up. Acid eats your brain.

My mom rules. Acid eats your brain. It's okay. Oh, they watch it. Sorry, they're going to end up watching the podcast. And I, and I like leaving little like footprints.

Yeah, because like I don't get to see them so much. And my mom's like, because they look at me like a mama's boy or that they're looking at me at, I'm not, I don't think I'm a mama's boy, but my mom is definitely very overprotective of me. And I love my mom for sure.

But like, I don't go to her for approval on, like, you know what I'm saying? But, yeah, so they don't tell me things because I'm on the road so much.

Like, things that happen at home or things that are going on or whatever, they're like, oh, no, we don't want to, like, stress him out and he's gone and this and that. And so every now and then my sister will just hit me with some random wild shit. And then I never, like, get to talk to them about anything because I'm gone so much. So I love doing, like, when I'm on podcasts, I know they go through this and listen. I know that their friends listen to that they all work with. And then they'll go and tell them at work and be like, yo, I didn't know Cody did this. And my parents would be like, I didn't fucking know he did that either.

No, your mom and dad are trying to be like, I know. knew it that day in the driveway. I knew it. I told you there was something wrong with it in the driveway that day. It was so funny. Well, let's go back to the medical deal. So your deal, you get this break. You're on, so this is your first, like, big break with the band that's really running. It was the biggest band that I had been in at the time. They, they had signed, but there wasn't like any, I was working for jobs just so I could go on tour and eat. You know what I'm saying? There wasn't any money coming in. And if there was, I didn't see it. And I have no idea where it went.

But yeah, man, it, you know, so for like four or five years, it was just like really, I was just coming to that point where I was like 27, 28 years old and I was like, do you ever hit a place where you're like, I don't know if this is going to be it? That is exactly. I was like, I don't think, I was like, maybe I'm not meant to do music. Like maybe I'm not meant to make money touring and playing drums. And then I was just, and then I sat there and I was like, well, okay, well, let's think about this. Like, what else could you really do?

And I was like, garbage. I could get a CDL. go drive buses. I was like, but I can't. I was like, nothing was made sense that I was like, this sounds right. It's like playing drums and touring is the only thing that like, when I say that about what I do,

that's like the only thing that like makes sense to me. Dude, I'll tell you story. I was a similar story of redemption that I love, which was I was hanging out with one of my buddies here in Vegas. And he was out here with a band that he was van, pulling a trailer, touring. They had just played the Canyon. Ten years on that, dude.

They had just played the Canyon Club at four Queens in front of 50 people. He had just gotten, his wife had just filed for divorce from him. And we were right on, he was super down. He's like, man, I don't know, maybe I should do something else. I don't know what I'm going to do. I don't know what we're doing. And that was, gosh, now that's probably 18, 19 years ago. And tonight we're going to see him at the sphere.

Good. So, yeah. Yeah. John Hopkins is the Zach Brown band. Oh, yeah. Let's go. He's going to see them tonight. Someone said something about John Hopkins last night.

And I said, yeah, I spoke weed with Johnny Hopkins. Yeah. And no one got the reference. And it made me sad. Yeah. It was a stepbrother's reference. I get it. I get it.

I do. I didn't know yet. Someone. I haven't actually got to, I haven't played with Zach Brown yet. Have you been in the sphere yet? No, I'm, I, I can't. I can't.

it's there's there's like i i had this one rule that was only a rule on one thing and it was i won't go into the rock and roll hall of fame unless i get in it i won't go in there until i get in it and so i think for me the sphere is kind of the same place where it's like i won't step foot in the sphere unless i'm playing the stage you know what i'm saying like the only part the only way i could get into the only way i don't know dude i don't hate i don't hate it i don't hate it unless motley crew played the sphere that's the only way i'm going in there before that's the only way i'm in there or if it's like a like a best friend of mine you know what's funny so i saw that makes a lot of sense now because i saw something about you yesterday where i saw i loved your drumio by the way yeah

thank you man i watched your that was so fun although i will say this i'm i'm gonna call bullshit on something on your drumio call it you're telling me that a dude that played metalcore had never heard that slayer song dude first of that slayer song was released in like 88 or 89 I know, yes, of course. I did not listen to Slayer. I didn't listen to Slayer. I didn't listen to Anthrax. I didn't listen to No those bands.

I'd say that all of those musicians in those bands are great. Like, they're, let me, the greatest base part of the world. I just, I didn't listen to the big four. Any one of the big four that I listened to, sorry, I know Motorhead's not in the big four. But any, I only listen to Metallica. And even of Metallica, I only listen to like 10 songs, maybe. And that's only if they came on or someone else put them on. but I never listen to Slayer Beyond Raining Blood on Guitar Hero 3.

Okay. And then I never listened to Anthrax because I didn't. Just never cared for their music. And then I always thought the vocalist of Mega Death, I always thought Dave Mustaine was just always crying about something. I was just like, dude. It's always like that turned me off from ever even trying. So you never heard it.

Lightning. Yeah, I was like, ah, dude. You never heard that song. The only Slayer song until that day that I had ever. heard was raining blood. And that is a very factual statement. So if you haven't seen this drummy, you'll go check it out. And what part of it is a Tommy Lee

challenge, which now adds up, you said, Mottley crew, because Tommy's probably on the outrush more drummers then. Yeah, for entertainment. Yeah, for entertainment purposes. Okay, who's, okay, let's talk about that. Who's your mount rush for more drummers? So Aaron Spears is number one. He's passed away now.

It's, um, him and then as as drummers, Aaron Spears, Tony Roister, Chris Coleman. Tony Roister, Jr. Yeah. That kid. I remember.

He's, and he's, and he's fucking cool. Savage. And he's like, that dude has become. He's been noticed he's 12 years old. Yeah. Well, he's like, he has every right to, like, have a chip on his shoulder. And, like, me and him have hung out multiple times out. And I think he, I think he lives out here.

Actually, I think he lives in Vegas. Does he really? Yeah. I'm pretty sure. No clue. I just remember, I just remember literally, because I was playing probably a lot when I was maybe in my early 20s. But I was watching him play when he was like a kid. Same.

And like, when he's like eight or nine years old and it was always so demoralizing to be like, I've been doing this for like 14 years. And this kid's like eight and he's better at this than I ever will be. He's so good. He's such a great drummer. And he's even more, he's a real dude. He's like a real motherfucker. Like a real motherfucker. He goes out with Katie Perry.

Yeah. Well, he's out of her right now. that's who he's been playing with lately but um i just i have a lot of respect for him uh like we just had some really good conversation and and um he's came out to multiple shows and he's you know that that he's an idol to me yeah it's it's been very cool to be able to call him a friend so i've but yeah tony rooster and then uh chris coleman j p buvay um i'd have to look at a list too i forget names all the time. I just go and look up the drum. I'll look up like the drum video and then I'll get all just, oh, uh, sticks Taylor. Um, I love Rook with MGK. He's, he's, he's in the Tommy.

Like, he's an incredible drummer as well, but I love the show that Rook puts on. He's great. Who's the, who's the person you walked into a room with and you've just been like, Starstruck? Like, Tommy Lee. Yeah, like I don't, I don't really get, I, I, I, I, I, I used to get very star-struck. I did. I'm not going to, like, ever deny that. But as I started, like, touring more and more, it kind of just became... Normal.

Yeah. Yeah, it just became war just like, okay, I'm meant to be in these rooms like that. I'm part of this circle as well, you know what I'm saying? And so I, so the fandom and star thing kind of faded for me personally. But, like, the only people that could bring that was... Motley crew so I played it cool I did alright no no me and Tommy ended like like hanging hanging to where like his TM had to come like pull him to be like yo like you gotta go cool um and yeah we like we like broed down like really hung out talked about bonsai trees talks about like a bunch of talks about

japanese culture talked about just I mean music and like energy and life and like just not it was it was really really like I and we said like we'll text back and forth every now I like love that dude. Yeah. The only time I've ever like seen somebody and kind of geeked out about it. I was like, whoa, was living in Vegas occasionally you get, you get random calls to just show up for like cool stuff. Right. Like every now again like your phone rang, be like, like I got a call one time. This is many years ago.

But I got a call and it was like, hey, if you can get to the bear pool in 15 minutes, which was just to be this private pool at Mirage. I said, if you get the bear pool in 15 minutes, we can go to Perry Farrell's 50th birthday party. And I said, I will be there. I pulled it together. We'd go to Perry Farrell. his birth that we go to his birthday party. There's like 200 people there.

And I'm like, and it was, it was 200 of the right people. I mean, I'm staying. Yeah. Yeah. We're watching. I mean, it was the first time pornos had played in like 20 years or whatever. And like, they're all playing and Camp Freddy was, I mean, like, dude, it was Billy Idol played, Blondie, or Debbie Harry played Tom Borrello from Rage in Gems.

Sheen was there. Be Real from Cyprus. So was there. It was just a nonstop rotating like holy shit moment. And I went to the bathroom and I'm standing there and I'm taking a leak. I looked at the urn on my right and Matt Sorum was staying in there. And this was a dude that played drums for the cult, played drums on, use your illusion one and two for guns and roses.

And I was like, as a kid, like, I was like, oh my God, that's Matt Sorum. And that's the only, and I can honestly say it's the only time being a base. You see people all the time. That was the one time of ever been Star, Star, Stark, by somebody. Yeah, I, um, I, I, I think the only time. So a similar situation like that, I guess this would be Starstruck 2. It was back in like 2019, 2019. Actually, it was 2019 when I started going down to Nashville.

This was before Morgan Wall and it popped off. I was a massive Morgan fan. Like I loved, I liked Morgan from Updown, like his first single. And like when nobody knew about him. And he's huge. He's great. He's doing it. But like I started going to Nashville.

it was like my second time going down there. I was at this bar called, well, it was called Winners, but now that bar is Duck Blind or whatever or Odie's. And, but I was sitting at the bar and next, and I was with the metal band, Silo, because I was still in that band. And I'm sitting at the bar and he, Morgan walks up and he's standing right next to like meeting, like next to me to order a

drink and I was like and then like three dudes come behind him like dude yo can we buy your whiskey whatever like start fanning on them and I turned to my boy and I was like it's fucking more and and keep in mind that you know the dudes that I was in a band with they're like new york like tough guys you know it's like literally they were like I don't know who that is and I was like he's he's up and come like he's up and coming he's going to be crazy he's going to be the guy and uh they were like okay dude say hey and I was like like, no, man, it's not the time. It's not the right time. I was like, we'll be in the same room one time. Yeah. And that's one will be. I'm sure. Well, no, I haven't even got to meet him yet.

Really? I haven't. I haven't met more. I would have definitely be the same room. No, we have, I haven't met. When we played those shows with him, he's, um, you know, because everybody, he, do, his name is just a headline in general. So it's like everybody trying to get something from him and like everybody looking for some little thing to try to put out to press for, get some shit, whatever. Like, he is, he is, he like a rapper low key, like a very low key. Get on, get off, get out. I saw him behind a gate by his bus one time.

And that was it. That was it. So, which I'm friends with his whole band. And they say he's mad cool. Yeah, but he has, but you have to do that. Yeah. And so I think, I think there will be a day where I'm hanging out with the band and they'll probably take me in a room and like say, hey, what's up or quick?

which I don't even care. Like, but I haven't, I haven't met him and I haven't met Luke Combs yet. And I haven't met Zach Brian, but, or Tyler Chotters.

Yeah. But those are probably like four of the dudes in the country world that I would like to meet. All right. Let's talk about, let's talk about the jelly roll deal. Going from the metal core thing, because Siler,

obviously, went to another band, I think. No, no, came in this first in silent. Yeah. Well,

then I started managing bands. And then, um, so I picked up a band to manage in 2019. and then 2020 we were going down to Nashville all the time because the guy that they were recording with had randomly got hired by Jelly Roll and to work out of his studio. So we were going to Nashville every two weeks. Well, we would go down there at least once a month to write and then I would be going down there on my own, just network and get my name out around the city and, you know, promote myself and try to get my foot in the door. Yeah, so we, I'm like going down to Nashville and I get to the point where I'm like going to that studio so much that I'm kind of starting to become friends with his people because it's like it's it was his studio.

And so he had his management worked out of there at the time because, you know, he wasn't huge. So he had his like own personal management that worked. They all worked in-house. So it was like his own management was there. He had the studio there. So he'd come and record whenever he want. He had a, they had like the, the YouTube. room or whatever they would do all the editing and all that shit there was another studio upstairs

that uh DJ chill had that they would like make beats and stuff and um full like every cameras and lighting gear and all like everything you could fucking it was their office like they like they were just so ready to like record shooting music video release a song yeah like it was like bam bam and uh anyway so uh I was going down there a lot and just became friends with with them to the point where they were like, yo, if you need to like, when you come down,

if you need to crash here, like just stay here and don't spend money. And I was like, cool. So I'd start crashing on that couch and studio just so I could go down there and like, go to the bars and network and meet people. And what I wasn't even playing. I wasn't even playing on Broadway or nothing.

I was just literally going to the bars and like meeting people online and being like, yo, let's get lunch. Let's, you know, whatever, just taking any advice that I could get from anybody. And,

love that. Yeah. And, I mean, that really. really helped too because it was like bro i sat down i sat down with uh cane so cane brown's old drummer uh he passed away his name's kinney he was the reason that i like kind of got my name brought into it because a lot of people knew who a lot of drummers in the country world knew how i was because of

um my like drum covers online but i didn't know because country musicians don't get any sort of like spotlight put on so it's like i don't know who place for who and it's like so you have to like really do a deep dive so i started deep dive i was like there's any country don't just follow me and he like he follow me and then cody or miles from cody johnson was follow me and um jake from luke holmes was follow me and um yeah and i was so i was like i just started messaging these people and i was like yo if you're in nashville or whatever and it got to the point where i started becoming friends with them and they were like giving me great advice and um kind of just talked to me about how they got that

their stuff and how they got to where they were and, you know, X, Y, and Z. And, um, so fast forward. I'm, I'm just doing all this networking and, and, and get to, like, uh, do all this stuff and, uh, going to Nashville a lot. They'll let me stay at the studio and 2021 comes around and, uh, the producer was like, Jelly doesn't have a drummer. Jelly doesn't have a drummer.

Like he's going to get you a drummer. I was like, dude, he has a drummer. I saw it online. And he was like, no, I'm like, we're going to get you the job. Like you're, you're, you're this or whatever. And I, I just take that shit with a grain of salt to everybody. like, yeah, I'm going to do that. Everybody said they're going to do something. Yeah.

And so we end up doing it. And he, they showed to rehearsals and the drummer wasn't ready, wasn't prepared. And so I guess they ended up firing him. And I've heard two different stories of how I got called. The one story that I've been told for a long time now is that they called one dude and he just didn't want to tour that extensively or whatever. And then like eight to 10 people were all going to management and jelly like, yo, get this kid. And everybody was saying my name. And finally, Jelly was like, all right.

Like, okay, just call him. Like, if he can get here, call him. And so that's that story. And then the other story that I've, has recently come to light was that I only got the gig because I had a mullet. And which is just as cool. That one sounds a little bit more like jelly. You know what I have a third story that involved your mother committing insurance from. I don't know if that's totally true.

I knew it. I think it's out there somewhere. Dude, that might be one of the coolest stories I've ever heard, actually. The fact that you, it's not, it's like the act of it happening is, is crazy.

The act of you coming back and not getting caught and hearing this made up story and just being like, holy shit. Yeah. I can't even imagine how legendary that was. Yeah. And then to hold it from her for that.

Even well into your adulthood. Yeah. Well into adulthood. you held that. You could have easily turned 18 and told her. By the way, that's not a lesson of victory in my book. That is, that is, no, that's victory. That's incredible, dude.

You set a house on fire and got away with it. It's not an accomplishment in the book. It's more of a parable of why it's important to tell the truth. It's kind of what that is in the book. That's the framework of which we operate. So let me ask you, so you go out on tour with Jell, you get the gig and you go out. What's the first time when you thought to yourself,

man, maybe I've really kind of made it at this thing. There had to have been some sort of a moment. I've, to be honest with you, I've never had that thought. I've never had that I've made it thought. I don't think I can have that thought until I, like, am completely everywhere that I want to be. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's times that I look, like, I'm on stage and I'm like, okay, I made it. here I made it to this level like it's everything's a level and it's like all right I made it to this

level now like I'm here I'm playing stadiums I'm playing arenas how do I make something of it okay now now I'm doing this now I'm able to play drums and make a paycheck but now I want to buy a house now I want to buy a new car now I want to buy a boat now I want to build a studio now I want to do things that I can further advance and make investments in and do these things start clothing lines start a like some kind of brand. Start looking into buying into other businesses and, you know, so on and so forth. And so it's like until I, I made, I made it to this point is how I view that. You know what I'm saying?

Like I don't think that I've made it yet. You ever take a minute to stop, though, and appreciate it like. Every day. Every single. I, dude, there's, there are times that I'll find myself just being a little, you know, a little diva baby. because like I I I toured in a van and trailer for like 10 11 years you know what I'm saying like slept in the bottom bunk of something that wasn't even as wide as yes and um in the back of a van on a

metal thing I mean we put like foam and shit on but um you know what I'm saying like not an ideal place I slept there for 10 years like trying to like I didn't live there it was just when I was just on touring just on tour this is the overnight success not that there's not that there's Evernight success. There's anything wrong with living in the van by any means. I just, like, if I, we were on tour and I was just sleeping in the bottom of van, that's just an ideal place. And I did that for 10 years.

So I, like, I, like, ate the shit. I worked with the multiple jobs to do it to, to be able to go on tour and so on and so forth. And coming out of COVID to thinking I didn't have a job to joining jelly. Because I, because Siler was falling apart. Like, and we weren't doing anything. We hadn't done anything. So I didn't know about the jelly call didn't come till May. So I'm like sitting here in 2021.

Just kind of like twiddly my thumbs praying that we get a tour like, oh my God, is Tyler going to tour? We break it up. What do we do? Like what am I going to do? It didn't. No one's calling in Nashville. I got to move there.

You know, just like, just roll. Because I was like, I don't know what the fuck I'm going to do. And how do you stay, how did you stay focused during that time? Dude, I just, it's just the goal. Just remembering like literally, like literally remembering like, what was the goal? What was the goal? What was the dream? What was the dream?

What was the dream? What I just said was the dream? So like the overall, the point where I will look out and say that I made it will be when I can look out of my back porch at the sunset of a house that I own with a pool. And, you know, just the things that I want to be able to have to have in life, like in a family. And because of playing drums. You know what I'm saying? Like when I can look out and see that and that I made that from my passion and all the hard work that I put in behind playing drums, that's when I think that I'll be able to be like, whole fuck I did it. I made it.

Like I made, I play in arenas. I'm playing stadiums. I've seen the world. I was able to do this for me and my family and live and acquire this place and take care of us and like be happy and live comfortably. and so it's like we made it we made it to hear we're playing the arenas and stadiums and now i got to get to here yeah you know what i'm saying so i think the thing that kept me really going is like it's not over it's not done we're not done you know what saying it now like there's still more to achieve and there's still ways that i have to find out how to do it so it's constantly learning

constantly being inspired and just you know and then bring that brings it back to the almost like a full circle back to what I was saying earlier to the adventure. There's even, even failures adventure, you know. Dude, I get it. Well,

look, brother, it's been an incredible talk. We, we're an hour and Kevin is deep. I told you, but we can keep going, we're good.

We can get into some shit. Look, I'm confident you're going to get whatever you want, man. Thank you, brother. Like, you meet people and you see a fire in them that burns and you see what it is.

And the one thing I will tell you, it's funny is when we talked about levels of success and levels to the game. And the thing I can tell you is a lot of what you just said was about things, right? It was about, I want a house. I want a pool. When I've seen this, blah, blah. And what I can tell you is, once you get those things and you will, and they're coming rapidly at you. Right.

But then you'll get to another level where you'll just want time. You know what I mean? Where, you know, I've had guys on that sit in that chair that are billionaires. They're literally like, I'm like, what is your definition of success? And the answer is always pretty much the same, some version of I just wanted, I get to do whatever I want to. do whenever I want to do it. And I can say no to whatever I want to say no to. Yeah, I want to say no.

Yeah, I, I, I like the idea of being able to, like, not, not control something, but, like, knowing that the work that I put in was able to, because the things aren't, like, necessities, you know what I'm saying? Like, I can, I can not have any of that stuff and, like, put a roof over my head and have family and play stadiums arenas and like live comfort if i can buy groceries and put a roof like that's that is inevitably the dream you know what i'm not saying don't mean you you walk past my roles when you walked in here i'm not saying don't be material no no i'm not but i'm that asshole too don't get me yeah yeah but i like i like i think those things are like everybody has the different things that

they they want or neat or you know like or have have always wanted like my i've always wanted a Lamborghini or I've always wanted. Can I give you some advice on that? Can I give you some advice on Lamborghini? Oh God. Yeah. Here's a lifted truck. Here's my advice on the Lamborghini.

Go rent one for a week. Dude, I don't think I'm even, I don't. Here's why. The reality, I probably can't buy it. That motherfucker's small. No, when you, yeah, you're a big dude. When you get to a point, like the supercar, I did the super car thing too. When you get to a point where you can get there, go, I tell everybody that wants a

Lambo, go rent it for a week. Because you rent it for a week. and if you drive it and after about four days, it's just kind of becomes a car. It's like smoking. Not that I've ever smoked crack, Mom. I was going to use this as a bad example, but they say like,

you never get as high as the first time you smoke crack. That's what Ronald Reagan said. And that first feeling of having that car, like it diminishes. It just goes away a little bit. I think, yeah, I think it's... Unless you can roll. That's magic every time they get in it.

I think what I'm trying to say is just having the ability to not have to stress about something that I want. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? That's what that's what it's coming. Zero stress. That's what you want.

Because right now, right now I'm like, like I said, I'm just renting a house. I don't own a house and I have a truck from 04. You know, and I want to get to a point where I buy land and I can build my dream, build my dream home and have my dream truck. And like that would be awesome. But to have the amenities that I think of or want without having to. to stress and be financially stable enough to have these things without question or having to go through finances and stuff like to be I just want to be like that comfortable.

I would be awesome to be that that would be a goal to be that comfortable from playing drums. So where do you see yourself in 10 years? In 10 years what I would like to be doing, hopefully I don't get fired from jelly roll because I would still like to be doing that. Man, I really like I've been contemplating trying to like put out. a record. I'm managing, or not even a record, like an EP, just like, because I, I think that'd be so fun. Yeah. And I think that'd just be so fun. And if that's something I just have on my own and I play like two shows a year, you know, in my hometown, like, I think that'd be cool. But I want to do like, I really want to

start doing business ventures. And like, I would really like to get into like brand endorsements and and work with or brand partnerships and work with more brands. I just did my first one on the internet with this wallet company, which is pretty cool. But I'm looking to get more into those. And then I have two bands that I manage. I'm possibly fingers crossed that this business venture is about to happen in January. But I'm looking to team up with a management company that is doing really well. So I'm hoping that they'll bring me on, had a few business meetings, went really well.

So there's that. And then both of the bands that I manage all just sign deals with labels. And so looking into getting them books. agents and you know to honestly do you have them on 360 deals no no no god no uh-uh uh no no it's the motown that's the motown envy the yeah yeah no it was um it's uh yeah so 10 years i'll be i'll be man i'll be managing them but i hope it's at a bigger level and and with if if i get brought on to this company god willing um i'll probably be have taken on some more bands i would like to have like I said I want to do more brand partnerships with like my brand with like

pork chop and so on and so forth would would be awesome and then um I don't know I'm trying to do some some weird stuff that no country drummer has ever done before you know I'm trying to I want to like do some weird TV stuff I'd hopefully hopefully I'll have a podcast or some kind of uh streaming something set up here soon they get these to kind of anybody yeah yeah you got podcast It's like, I just don't have the, I just don't, it's, well, with the time to find it because it's like, we're on the tour bus or we're flying. It's like, I can't set up on planes and stuff. I get set up on the bus.

It's just a hassle. Yeah, but, my buddy John, I said to him Zach earlier, started doing a podcast for a while before his ALS kind of kicked in full gear, but he was doing one called Under the Influence, which was kind of cool. Or after the show, whoever was opened up for them on tour, he would sit down and they would record and just play the music of what their musical influences were when they were having a couple drinks. I thought that was such a cool time.

Under the other than it's such a cool. That is really, that's a sick tie-in. Right. And it's a sick name to like, because it's like, it's a double meaning. Really cool. Devonandre. So cool. Yeah, double entendre.

So, yeah, I, um, I hope that that's what I'll be doing the next 10 years is I just hope that my business ventures come to fruition and, and, uh, you know, with, with merch and branding and, uh, different stuff and. Keep pushing. Yeah, keep pushing. Well, brother, when you, when they do, you got to come back and run it. in. Dude, any day.

Come on back. Any time, brother. I'm here. Well, we're going to wrap up. Well, dude, thank you so much, man. Wish you will. I can't wait to see you. Thank you for having me here, man.

And dude, if you listen to that today, if you're still with us. You're with us. Number one, yeah, I think the statute of limitations is up on whatever I said earlier. I'm pretty sure. No, it is. And I had no plausible. I'm not going to get into the legal ramifications of that you have the thoughts and sayings of John Gafford.

Do not reflect whatever. The lesson of today is, this, right? If you're faced with an opportunity, the number one thing I took out of this today is if you have an opportunity to face is you, don't pigeonhole the decision making about what the result of that could be is into a win or a loss. Chase it for the sheer adventure of adventure's sake. See next week. What's up, everybody? Thanks for joining us for another episode of escaping the drift. Hope you got a bunch out of it, or at least as much as I did out of it. Anyway, if you want to learn more

about the show you can always go over to escaping the drift.com. You can join our mailing list, but do me a favor if you wouldn't mind. Throw up that five-star review. Give us a share. Do something, man. We're here for you. Hopefully you'll be here for us. But anyway, in the meantime, we'll see you at the next episode.