Chuck Shute Podcast

Tyler Bryant (Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown)

September 01, 2022 Tyler Bryant Season 4 Episode 274
Chuck Shute Podcast
Tyler Bryant (Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown)
Show Notes Transcript

Tyler Bryant is the lead guitarist and vocalist for his band, Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown. They have previously toured with ZZ Top, AC/DC, Guns ‘n Roses, & Aerosmith.  The band has released 4 full length albums with the 5th one “Shake The Roots” coming out on September 9th.  We discuss the new album, record labels, Tyler’s inspiring journey to stardom, dealing with anxiety and more! 

00:00 - Intro
00:37 - New Album "Shake The Roots" 
01:35 - Deciding to Record On Their Own 
04:25 - Learning From Other Producers 
05:23 - Production & Recording Sound 
10:40 - Being Driven, Work Ethic & Back Story 
18:15 - Picking Who You Work With 
19:35 - Republic Records & Wayside Album 
21:30 - Relationships & Positive Attitude 
25:07 - New Song "Ghostrider" & Insecure Voice
27:27 - Anxiety, Panic Disorder & Medication 
32:10 - Expressing Emotions Through Music 
33:35 - Hard Learned Song & Lyrics 
34:58 - Shackles 
36:08 - Songs in TV/Film Placement & Song Order 
38:30 - Good Thing, Wanting More & Growing 
41:00 - Sell Yourself  
42:45 - Opening for AC/DC 
44:30 - Axl Rose, Guns 'N Roses & Private Jet 
49:11 - Headlining Vs Opening & Live  Shows 
54:15 - Naming the Band 
55:40 - St. Jude's Children's Hospital 
56:25 - Outro 

Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown website:
http://www.tylerbryantandtheshakedown.com

St. Jude's Children's Hospital website:
https://www.stjude.org

Chuck Shute website:
http://chuckshute.com

Support the show

Thanks for Listening & Shute for the Moon!

Chuck Shute:

Hey guys, I'm really excited that we have Tyler Bryant on the show today. I've been a fan of Taylor Bryan and the shakedown for a while. So it was really cool to be able to hear the new album before it's out and sit down and pick his brain about the songs on it. And we're also going to delve into his backstory of how he came to be so successful, and tour with AC DC Guns and Roses. Plus he opens up about his anxiety, all this and more coming right up. Thank you for doing this. I'm a big fan. I love your music. So this is really cool. It's really cool. You have a new album, and I get to hear it before everybody else I feel special about that. So tell me about it's called shake the roots.

Tyler Bryant:

Yeah, it's shake the roots. It's it's an album produced and recorded by us. And we're releasing in our new record label rattle shake records. So it's the first independent release for the band. And I'm really proud of the record to me, it's it's just, it seemed like the the next step in our process as a band, you know? Yeah. So explain this, because you started investing in your own recording equipment so that you could prepare for this so that you wouldn't need to use the record labels in the studios. Right? Yeah, well, I mean, it's been something I've been doing over the last like, handful of years, you know, I mean, I was, I was pretty much a staff songwriter for Sony ATV for eight years. And I realized then, that I would never, I would never make any money if I was constantly hiring people to make my demos for me, and Caleb Graham, and I would constantly get together through the years, and we would write and record songs. And there have been tons of songs that we've recorded on our own, that have ended up in TV shows and commercials, and they've never even been on records. And we're going Ben, like, a lot of these recordings that we're not even putting out are actually paying the bills for us. And so then we'd go make a record, you spend all your money, and you'd end up owing a record label a bunch of money. And it's like, why don't we do it, like the way that we've just been doing it. And so once that kind of embrace that, rather than, and I think also there's, there's a certain amount of insecurity that every artist has, and you know, thinking that someone is going to bring something to the table, you know, like some, some producers gonna make something and I think one thing that I've learned is, producers don't make records. Artists make records, producers help facilitate records. You know, I mean, sure, there's, like, you get the guys that are replaying the band stuff, which we've had, I've had, I've had a producer, literally replay my guitar parts when after I left the studio. And guess what, we didn't put that record out, you know?

Chuck Shute:

So and he literally like he redid your guitar parts, because you're pretty damn good guitarist. So like, he thought he was better than you or I don't understand.

Tyler Bryant:

I don't know if it's a better thing. It's, it's maybe he was hearing it differently than I was hearing it. And so and that's, that's the thing. It's, and that's not to say that he was wrong. He was producing the record, and we produced the record and, but also,

Chuck Shute:

he wanted like a specific sound, and you weren't giving whatever that sound was, or?

Tyler Bryant:

Yeah, basically, you want to share the sound?

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, I mean, if he just has a different vision. Yeah, I get I get that. That's interesting. Because, you know, I listen to your obviously, I've heard your old catalogue. And then I hear this, and I don't hear like, any sort of drop off in production at all. I mean, it sounds top notch to me. Oh, thanks,

Tyler Bryant:

man. Well, you know, I've, I've, I've really worked hard at at acquiring the tools, I need to make sure that corners aren't being cut, you know. And also, the record was mixed brilliantly mastered brilliantly. I play it next to my favorite Shakedown records. And I think it hangs in there. And I play I played against, you know, other records that I like, and you know, it's just exciting to me. But I mean, that's another thing that I think a lot of people get in, especially producers and engineers that I've worked with, not all of them. I mean, we've worked with, I don't want to sound negative against. I mean, we've worked with some of the best people in the business like Vance Powell is like, one of the best Roger and Alan Nichols, one of the best Joe Hamilton. Like these people, I've literally, I keep a notebook. And I write down things that I learned from working with these people, because they're, they're amazing. And

Chuck Shute:

what have you learned? Can you share any of that stuff and any pointers for other musicians?

Tyler Bryant:

Well, I mean, I think one of the things I love about Vance Powell working with him, is he's like, he's never going to sacrifice the moment to get a sound like there's a song on our first record wild child called poor boy's dream. We were in The kitchen of his studio at that time working up the song. And the next thing I know, he's got two or three mics, probably three mics, tops in front of us. Caleb was like hitting a coffee pot with a spoon that's on the record. Like he's not going to. Wow. Yes, anything. And I think that sense of like, capturing the moment is one thing I picked up from him, as well as a bunch of other technical stuff that we don't want to bore anyone with. Yeah, like, on the snare, he had the transient designer, you know,

Chuck Shute:

right. There's got to be like levels and all those kinds of things. Because like I said, I mean, this sounds just as good as all the other records, there's not better. And I think part of that, too, is just the technology has changed, right? Like in the 80s and 70s. You couldn't do this shit in your basement. I mean, it would not sound the same. But now with Pro Tools and all this stuff, all the technology, everybody's able to produce really high quality sounding records, I think.

Tyler Bryant:

Yeah, no, I mean, it's, it's crazy. I mean, this, this record was tracked completely analog as well. Like, it's really Yeah, I mean, it was tracked into digital, but it was all analog on the front end, you know, I mean, I've got like, tons of preamps, from the 50s and 60s, and you know, Neves in, you know, whatever, all the all the nerdy stuff. Yeah. You know, but there's one thing that I remember from working with another incredible engineer, and I always refer to him as the Yoda of Berry Hill, Tennessee. Richard Dodd, who like Mary Jane's last dance was his rough mix that he sent Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers home with, Oh,

Chuck Shute:

I love that song.

Tyler Bryant:

I remember calling him when I was 17. And I recorded this song that I wanted him to master. And I asked him, I said, What's the best microphone I can get to sing into? And you know, this really like broad question. And he said, The best microphone is the one that works when you need it to. And that's one thing that I think I've found frustrating in certain recording experiences I've been involved in is, if you're waiting on an engineer, if you're waiting on the producer, and you're ready to go as the artist, then you're you're potentially missing that wave of inspiration or creativity. So like with my spot, I've got it set up where the drums are always going. Sometimes there's even a second drum kit miked up, if we need a different sound, there's multiple different vocal options for we want to go with like a vintage, gritty, vocal sound, or we want like a Hi Fi, whatever. Multiple base options, lord knows there's multiple guitar options, and just having everything to where it's on and ready if someone sits down. And that's like, there are certain songs on this record. Couple of them were written and recorded in like, an hour, you know, because it's, everything's going and this is another thing that I've realized with with our band. I mean, we're like a blues rock band, we like grungy things that are not polished and a little bit rough around the edges. And so there's like, There's a song called Tennessee that we wrote, and it's this idea of demoing, I think, gets gets into a lot of artists heads where it's like, you need to record the song a bunch of times and, and refine it. And what I found with our band is, the more we refined stuff, and refined stuff that kind of the lamer, it gets a lot of times, you start losing that excitement and that like initial feeling. And so this is we kind of joke about this record, like it's the record that we never started. Because it each song started out as a hang with the band, and then we would just be hanging out and then someone would be jamming or, and then there'd be recording. And it's like, oh, cool. Is it a demo? Is it a master? We don't know. And then before you know it, you've got way more songs and we need way more recordings. And we need and you just we picked our favorite ones.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, I love this kind of music. I agree. And I think this stuff this this album is just like a precursor to you playing it live. Right. I feel like that when I listen to this album. I feel like these songs are designed to hear live.

Tyler Bryant:

Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. And there. And that's sort of the thing too, is there's, we've made we've, we've released songs in the past that we just don't play, you know, it's like, it sounds really cool in the studio and stuff. But it's there's, it doesn't really sound like us. And then once we try to do it, it's like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. You know what I mean? Wow,

Chuck Shute:

that's really cool. So it sounds like besides just I mean, you're doing so many things because you write the songs, you sing. You play guitar, and now you're you're doing all the production, all this stuff. I mean, you're really taken a lot on with this project like you've right.

Tyler Bryant:

Well, yeah, totally. And I mean, you know, everyone in everyone in the band is you know, they work so hard. And not only not only are we doing all of that, but we're also hiring all of the people that are working the record ourselves. We're We are the record label at this point, you know, so we're doing everything from filming music videos, editing music videos, getting all the graphics together. We are our own machine at this point. And that's solely to have ownership of our music because we've never had complete ownership of our spark before. Hmm. So I'm really excited about it. And I'm, I know that I know that it can work. I know that we're probably going to make a handful of missteps along the way, because it's a new endeavor for us. But, you know, we won't hit the ball if we don't swing for it.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, you have such an amazing philosophy. I mean, your story is so inspiring. Like, tell me if I have this right like your first guitar age six, then you sell or your first electric guitar is age 11. You sell your dirt bike to get that. Then at third by Pete my 13 year already playing shows with Roosevelt twisty, like a blues guy. And then you start writing songs, and then your first band at 15. And then already by 1516, you're winning awards. Like have you always been this driven to to do this thing? Like I mean, it's just it's always been in your blood since it since you picked up that first guitar.

Tyler Bryant:

I think I've always been driven. And I I will say that, that that comes directly from my parents, you know, my I come from a very like humble blue collar hard working family. You know, we weren't poor, but we weren't rich. You know what I mean? And my dad always worked two jobs. And my mom always worked two jobs. And I never heard either of them complain about it. And in my dad always stressed to me that work ethic was one of the most important things in life. And this is one of the things that I've always loved. So I've always worked really hard at it. You know, not to the point of not loving it. That's something that I really protect.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, it's just interesting, because I mean, I think of myself as a teenager, and I used to work with teenagers, and most of them don't know what the hell they want to do. And it's 17. I mean, tell it tell my audience a story. This is so cool. Like, it's 17 you move to Nashville, and you tell your parents and like you put on like a presentation explaining like your plan. And so, I mean, this is so mature, like beyond your years,

Tyler Bryant:

you'd I don't know. I mean, I just I had to make music and I really, I live in a small town. Okay, so honey Grove, Texas. I think the population sign says 1746 which there's no way it's it's a tiny little town. There was not no one I could play the type of music every day that I wanted to play. You know, I couldn't play with someone every day. And I wanted I didn't want to play. I had a great group of like older friends who were talented blues musicians and stuff. But I was I was watching videos of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers when they were young and the stones and the Black Crowes and, like, it seemed like it was a band. It was this group of dudes that were rolling around making their music and and I really wanted to have that in my own life. And no one that I went to school with was into the type of music that I was into. And I felt like an outcast. And I came to Nashville with these guys I was playing with in this blues band. And I remember meeting, I met this guy named Jaron from now the band's Cadillac three. And they're they're doing killer. And he had a band called American bank at the time. And I remember thinking I could hang out with this guy. He's like me, you know, and being really inspired by the thought that there was a place where there were more people that were into the same thing that I am not even thinking like it's country, country music city, which I love. I love classic country music as well. So I went back to Nashville, I mean, I went back to honey Grove, Texas, and immediately was like, moving to Nashville and started making plans and tried to figure out if I could finish high school, or if I wasn't going to be able to finish high school. And I kind of had to work that out. Because there was no way I had missed the mark to graduate early. And so I ended up dropping out of high school and kind of quietly enrolling into this online program to get the last credits that I needed. But I never changed my address legally. So the day before graduation, my senior year, I went in, enrolled in high school, and I had all my credits and graduated. So it worked. I ended up Yeah, otherwise my mom would have cried every day for the rest of her life. And I got to spend my whole senior year moving to Nashville, I'd saved up money from playing in my blues band. And I told my parents I wasn't going to ask them for money. I had, you know, being BMI had helped me out given me like a small advance to live on which I had to pay back, you know, and I just started trying to write songs and put a band together and do what I'm now I'm just trying to write songs and keep a band together. You know?

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, well, it's cool. How did you even like, open because you were opening for big bands even before you move to Nashville right like because that's not part of the story. If you failed band class, because you were doing these gigs, and one of them was like Paul Simon or so how did you get a gig opening for Paul Simon? From that small little town?

Tyler Bryant:

Man, you know, I think we'll it all kind of started with, I used to call the House of Blues box office nonstop. Say, you know, like, Dickey Betts is coming, Can I Can I open for Dickey Betts, and they'd be like, you can't call us anymore. You know, we don't book the shows. And finally, someone at the box office put me like, realize that I was just, I was probably just annoying them to know. And so they put me in touch with someone who worked at Live Nation, or whatever it was. And they guy called me and said, What do you want, and put me on a show. The first one was with Dickey Betts. And then it was like, call the Dallas Morning News, hey, my man is doing a show, you need to come out, you need to film it. This is a big deal. I'm from a small town, kids like me, don't get this kind of opportunity. And I think always like trying to appreciate, you know, they always say like, everyone's, everyone's the star of their own movie. And I think especially as a kid, I felt like that I was like, This is my story. And writing my story. And I wanted wanted to share that. And you know, the Dallas Morning News ended up doing this story on that show, from me, like calling the box office to getting a gig and

Chuck Shute:

that's so ballsy though to as a kid to call the news and be like, you guys should do a story on me. Like that's it's real. I love it, though. It's and especially the even cold, calling the House of Blues so many times, like, you just like really wanted it, but you didn't just talk about it, you took action? Well, pretty cool.

Tyler Bryant:

I had a ton of people too, that were encouraging me. You know, like, if you want to do it, man, my dad always told me that he's like, if you want to do it, you need to do it. You know, if you're gonna, if you're gonna try to be be the best at it, and you need to try to be the best at it. You know, it's sort of Yeah,

Chuck Shute:

but did your dad whose idea was it's to call the news in the House of Blues was that just your own idea?

Tyler Bryant:

It was definitely my dad's idea to call the call the news, people because he thought I mean, he, I think he could see the story of it too, even more than I could. But um, but that ended up leading to more gigs to where then I would get because the band the band showed up on time, stayed out of the way played, you know, to the best of our abilities that we could and we started getting called called back. And so then it ended up being like, we're gonna come open for BB King, do you want to come so I played a bunch of these shows at the House of Blues. And that led to making connections, it meant it led to, you know, I ended up meeting this guy, Donnie Nelson, who was the general manager of the Dallas Mavericks. And he wanted to start a record label called Heroes music that was focused on kids like me, who didn't have a lot of a lot of money, or, you know, the ability to make records and anything like that, and kind of use me as a guinea pig. So basically, they loaned me like, $10,000 to make a record, which I paid back selling records out of the back of my truck. Wow. No, so it was, it was like I definitely had people helping me. But But also, I had a lot of a lot of drive, which I do.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, you ask for that help? I mean, you went out and got that help. But yeah, of course you needed other people to do it. You couldn't do it alone.

Tyler Bryant:

No, I couldn't. I couldn't do it alone. But I had, you know, great, great people helping me out. But also, that's part of that's part of doing anything in this business is not trying to do everything yourself. And when I say this, as we're like, we recorded it we engineered it was true. Yeah. You know, but but that's the same. The thing thing with with rattle shake records is like, while we are doing so much ourselves, we like we've gone out and been cherry picking exactly who we're hiring to. You know, like, there's a reason we're talking. It's because we hired a publicist who set it up. And that's the same thing you get into labels. So we're going what are what is the label have? What do we need? What's important to us? Where is it important for us to spend our money. And also another thing is, I feel like a lot of times if you're, if you're at a record label, the people who are working there don't get to choose exactly who they're working with, you know, so like, if I'm, if I'm, you know, Joe diddly sitting at a desk, and all of a sudden, it's like, Oh, you got to work for this band, and I listen to and they go, this band sucks. I don't want to work with this band. Right? We can at least make sure we're hiring people that believe in what we're doing.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, cuz what was tell me the story about the deal. You had to deal with Republic records, which was our area. What was her name? Ariana Grande was on that record. And what was the story with that?

Tyler Bryant:

Oh, he went not our record, but we were certainly on you know, we were on the same record label. But, ya know, that was it was it was cool. I think sometimes. Sometimes the narrative gets skewed that we're like, really bitter about that experience, and I don't feel any bitterness at all. It's just the way the cookie crumbles. Sometimes Our friend John Barbados, started up a label with Republic records, one of the largest record companies in the world, if not the largest record company, and they, they signed the Shakedown, we made a record called the wayside, and only half of the record came out. And there were plans to put out the back half. But it never came to be. And I think I did feel pretty bitter about it for a time. But also, it's like, they didn't put it out because we didn't have like a raging hit. You know, and for us, the record was successful, but to them, especially when you're comparing it to, like, Ariana Grande or something like that, right? That's what they are expectations were Yeah, so we, during that time, we're literally out on a world tour with AC DC playing stadiums every night. And we can't get the record label to put out our music and it's like, or set up anything because like, sudden we're getting zero attention, zero. Help. You know, and that's, that's a tough place to be because and I think it happens to bands time after time, you know, you put something out, there's high hopes for it. But these labels, they have so many artists, that there, they would be foolish not to put their energy and attention and manpower behind what's worked not not put it behind what's working, you know, so it's another reason we're here.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, is that it's because I know, like, you'd signed with a booking agent, the Creative Artists Agency, because that's how I that is not how you got a lot of these shows like, AC DC, and all that stuff is because of the booking agent, are you still with that booking agent or a different one? Now,

Tyler Bryant:

I think how we got a lot of these shows is relationships. Because we were with the Creative Artists Agency with an agent named John Huey for a long time. And I met him. I met him when I was 17. Like, before I moved to Nashville, he and I shook hands. And I said, you're going to be my booking agent. He said, I'm going to be your booking agent. And that was our that was our contract. It's only contract I ever had. And he was our booking agent. Until, you know, he had some stuff going on with his family, he lost his son. And he started getting, you know, just it was harder to get in touch with them. And it wasn't that he was it was just he had he had life going on, you know. And we had life going on in a different way where it was like we need to we need to work and we weren't getting a ton of shows on the books. And I remember calling him and saying, I think we need to, we need to find a different agent. And he was like, Yeah, I completely understand my head's just in a different place right now because he was going through a very personal family thing. And I remember you know, Caleb and Caleb and I went to his son's funeral. And he hugged me and told me how much that meant to him. And we're at a different booking agency. And they got us on this acoustic tour with Billy Gibbons. And I'm sitting in the back of our band van rolling down the highway, and I get a call from John Huey, our old booking agent going, Is it okay, if I go to bat for you guys, I want to get you the world tour with AC DC. And so I'm not gonna put his name on the line for an artist that he doesn't even represent. So that's, that's why I say relationships are everything showing up on time, doing your best being kind to people treating people with respect. And I think that's really a big part of the reason we've had so many opportunities is because we show up to each opportunity gone. How cool is this, that we get to do this? And like, try to have a positive attitude and just be a nice person.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, no, I mean, it's like, you're like a recipe for like, how to run a good business like, which is not what you would expect. People think rock and roll is like drugs and partying and alcohol and booze. Like I don't hear any of that stuff from you. You guys even have like a beer of occasionally or like, Yeah, we love it.

Tyler Bryant:

We love to have a good time. You know, it's, uh, you know, but I also I do think that a lot of those old like rock and roll stereotypes we've seen countless time and time and time again, how it ends and how it like it also it just sucks to go hear a band and they're too they're too bombed to play and I think we just we have so much respect for putting on a great show and it also just from grinding it out year after year in a van you know, it's like we're grateful when people come to see us and so we want to make sure we give them the best show and then then we'll hang out and party all night long you know

Chuck Shute:

All right, just stay I just seems like you're so focused like you know, it's almost like you don't have time for that like you're just too busy to do all this other stuff.

Tyler Bryant:

Now we love we love having a good time. Um, but yeah, we booked it You know, it's it's the music comes first and the show comes first and you absolutely

Chuck Shute:

well here let's break down the new album. So just so people we can kind of give people a little bit of a tea. I can't I don't think I can play any music. I don't want to I don't know how the rules are that are but we'll just talk about it. And when does it what is the release date? I don't know if I got a release date for the promo. Now, but

Tyler Bryant:

what is it? September 9,

Chuck Shute:

September 9. Okay, so September 9. So first song is bare bones? Is that one out yet? Or no?

Tyler Bryant:

No, it's not the only Yeah, ain't none watered down is out. And then ghost rider comes out on the second.

Chuck Shute:

Oh, I love that song. That one's kind of a kind of a different guitar sound. It's more modern. Yeah, like about the lyric for that? Are you keeping me from going down forever, forever till the road runs out? Like what? What is that about?

Tyler Bryant:

Well, it's funny, because I wrote that with Graham, the guitarist in the shakedown. And I think he was kind of, I think his brother was in this really crazy motorcycle accident in Los Angeles, where someone's couch fell out of the back of their truck. And he hit the couch and flew off his bike and landed like a million miles away from the bike and was completely fine. And so I think Graham was thinking about it from like, this sort of guardian angel perspective, but I think about it totally different. I think about that lyric, as you know, we've been talking about driving ambition and focus and all that stuff. And I that's what I think about with ghost writers, it's like that voice in your head that's telling you to keep going, you know, even whenever everything around you is telling you to stop or that you're gonna fail. And so it's, that's one thing I love about songs is people can interpret them completely different. So

Chuck Shute:

well, that's interesting. You, you actually do have a voice that because I mean, I have that voice, but I thought I was like for someone like us open for AC DC and Guns and Roses. Like, at that point, I think that would think that you're, you know, you're you're all in your so there's still a voice that says Tom some sometimes tells you to quit or you think you have thoughts of leaving it or I don't

Tyler Bryant:

have thoughts of leaving it. But there's, there's, there's certainly always that, that insecure voice that's like, going to try to make you believe it rather than believing the moment you're in, you know, there's and I think that's something that, you know, I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing. Because it's, it's what drives you to be better but I have to I struggle quieting that voice personally, like I've, I've had so much anxiety and like, for a while they're like full on like panic disorder. Just being like, I'm going to I'm going to get on stage and forget all the words, I'm going to, I'm going to get up there and forget how to play I'm going to end like just getting in your head and like, spiraling out. And there's, there's really no explanation for it, it just and that's that's just the thing with like anxiety and that kind of stuff is sometimes it's almost impossible to pinpoint where it's coming from or why it's even there. And you know, but it helps to, to write positive things that are like, Okay, I believe this point, do I believe this? Yes, I believe this, you know, and

Chuck Shute:

so, how do you deal with that when you have that panic? I mean, was this fully like diagnosed? Like you have take medication or what?

Tyler Bryant:

No, therefore, there for a while I always I've, so I ended up going, I reached a point where Caleb, the drummer pulled me aside and was like, Dude, you gotta go see a doctor man like you. You can't keep doing this to yourself, because I would get like physically sick before every show. And then like, not want to see people or like, just, it wasn't a good, good thing. So I did go into a doctor, and having like a pretty much a full on, like, breakdown. And it's funny, because then the doctor asked me to sign a copy of our first record she had. And I was like, oh my god, the world is against me, you know. And I got I got prescribed medication, which I didn't want to take, because I, I've had family members who've, you know, gotten on this particular medication and kind of, it didn't help it sort of zombified them. And I know that, you know, sometimes people really do need medication. And I did and I once I found the right medication, I took it for a while and then I started almost finding power in not taking it going, I'm okay and trying to do other things that were that were grounding for myself. And then and then it became, I'm not going to take the medication, I'm going to put it in my pocket. And I'll know it's there if I need it, and and then it became, I'm not going to put it in my pocket. I'm going to leave it in my backpack, and we'll know what's in my backpack if I need it. I can have a guitar tech go get it or something. Now it's like, I don't have it. So and I don't know it's I don't know everybody's Everybody's experiences totally different. And I have a lot of sympathy for people going through it. And there's, you know, I think talking to people is good talking about it's good. There's too many people acting like it's not not a real thing, you know?

Chuck Shute:

No, it's definitely real. I just had Doug Pinnick from I don't know if you are familiar with the band kings. I love kings X man. Yeah. He was telling me about the he had the same thing had panic disorder. And he said, it's really nice. His theory is like, the panic is trying is bringing something to the surface, like something that you need to deal with. So I

Tyler Bryant:

agree with that, man. It's it. Yeah. 100%

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. So I mean, maybe you've kind of dealt with that. And now you've moved on from it. Yeah, totally, could always resurface. And then you got to deal with something else. So that's just life, it goes up and down. And part of life

Tyler Bryant:

man, I think it's, it's also I mean, the thing that I that I'm grateful for about it is like now that whenever I have, I've had a few people close to me in the last few years, who've, who've gone through a similar thing, because it's when it was happening to me for like, when it first started, I was canceling everything. You know, staying in bed, not wanting to not being productive at all, like, you know, and I changed, I changed a lot of stuff. I went like a year without even drinking coffee, dude. I mean, I drink tons of coffee around. So I was I was like, really like, what's going on? What did I break my brain? You know, and, and I never understood it whenever people talked about it until it happened to me. And now, it's been interesting to have friends around me who've dealt with a similar thing and getting to be like, This is not something that's forever, and it's also not something that you're alone in, you know. So and there's, that's another thing that I'm really grateful for is like, on our truth and lies record that was like, at the height of when I was going through that mentally. And there's certain songs on there, like, panic button or shape I'm in, and I've had so many people come up to me being like, that's how I felt too. I feel like that. And, and I think that's cool. That music sort of, can provide that sense of like, I'm heard. That's, that's where I am to you. No,

Chuck Shute:

no, absolutely. Because I it's funny, I listen to your some of your music. And, I mean, there's good music obviously out there that I can hear music, that's good. And it sounds good. But but your music for some reason, it actually speaks to me. Like, I feel like the emotion, I feel like you're expressing your emotions through the guitar and through your voice, like I can, like feel it, it's really, it's weird. It's so is that cathartic for you to write the songs and play the songs

Tyler Bryant:

100% Man, I mean, like, part of the thing that I get most excited about, is finishing a song, turning the lights down, turning the music up, and just listening to it and, you know, dancing or sitting there and like, feeling how it emotionally hits and hoping that it will hit someone else that way too. You know, like, there's a song on the new record called Hard learned. And I remember just being, you know, my friend, Eleanor played these beautiful strings on it, and which is a you know, that's a sort of a something out of left field for the shakedown. We don't have a violinist in our band, but the song felt like I thought it would be really cool to have this really grungy blue song with these personal lyrics, and then have this emotional disso emotive instrument instrument come in. And I remember just sitting there going, this makes me feel so happy. You know, and and I can't I can't wait for people to hear that song.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, I love that. It's like a slower, darker song. And the Lyric is what does it say? Every scar where you can best believe I earned say a prayer for me because the devil don't seem concerned. Yeah. Awesome. It's super hopeful, right? Yeah, what is that about? Is that what is that speaking of?

Tyler Bryant:

Dude, I mean, for me, it's just like, I don't you know, I don't know your how your personality is. But like, someone can tell me not to do something a million times. And almost if they tell me if they tell me a million in one, I'm gonna do it. That's just been how I've, how I've been wired since I was a kid. And just kind of verbalizing that, you know, everything I know, has been hard learned, you know? That was that was a fun one, because we kind of were coming to a close on this album, and you know, we were already almost completely mixed. And I and I just felt like every time I listened to it, there wasn't a down moment. There wasn't a moment where the listener could catch their breath. And I started just singing, picked up a guitar and just started singing and that's what came out. And I went and showed it to my wife and she she had a couple of of great lines that she contributed to that as well. So

Chuck Shute:

that's really cool. Yeah, I like also the song shackles. That's a cool song. It's got some cool Raizy guitar solos I mean, there's the guitar work on this is obviously phenomenal the whole record, but that one, especially the solos, but it's funny, I used to have a friend, he worked for a corporate bank, and he used to joke like, every time he's going to work. He's like I'm putting the shackles on. So like, well, what does it mean? What did it what did you mean when you wrote it?

Tyler Bryant:

And you know, that's that's the only song on the record. That's not a new song. That one wasn't like, yeah, so that song was written? Probably when I was 2021 something you know, 10 years ago. So um, yeah, I think that was that was just sort of a making up a story of some ominous creature showing up in your life. You know, I hear shackles coming through the door. Oh, what is going on? I don't even know. I don't even know what it is. I don't have I don't have any, like, profound explanation for that.

Chuck Shute:

It's good, though. Yeah,

Tyler Bryant:

I have an in with that song. That was one that we've been playing live for years. And we never had a recording of it. That sounded as exciting as how it does live. So we just played it down live, you know? No,

Chuck Shute:

very cool. And then the songs. The two of my favorites, too. They're kind of more faster, aggressive songs are off the rails and Midnight Oil. Could you see those? Now? To me, Those both sound like something that you'd see in a movie, or a TV like midnight oil. I could see like somebody burning a big, you know, blowing something up and playing that song or like, you know, off the rails and maybe like a TV show montage or even play during football? Are those that you would try to get placement for

Tyler Bryant:

100% Yeah, I mean, I would love I would love to get a you know, I mean, that's I feel like a lot of people learned about the Shakedown, we had a song in Sons of Anarchy and it's one of our most like, if we go and look at any like metrics or anything, which is one of the most rock'n'roll things you can do you know, but like the our song house on fire was in Sons of Anarchy, and it's one of the most Shazam songs and because of that, and it was this epic like shoot out car chase scene, and the song was like off the rails would be perfect for some some action sequence like that. And yeah, Midnight Oil was like with that song. Really inspired by like the, the Mississippi blues style of like RL Burnside, and junior Kimbrough and but Yeah, certainly has that like Shakedown edge to it.

Chuck Shute:

What No, why is midnight oil the last song on the record? Because I think it's actually one of my favorite songs on the record, like how do you choose the song order? I guess you're probably never gonna make everyone happy with it, but

Tyler Bryant:

never gonna make everyone happy. And we've changed it so many times. Caleb, Caleb, the drummer was really adamant about midnight oil being the last song on the album. Okay, we hear from from the jump he was like, this is the last song has to be the last song which is funny because it would actually be a great first song too, because it's saying we're going to burn the midnight oil like with this record. I think it's good. It keeps maybe it will make the listener think that we're keeping the party going. Yeah, okay. Their party. Yeah,

Chuck Shute:

yeah, either way. I think that's gonna be a Shazam song. That's just my prediction. I

Tyler Bryant:

don't know. I sure hope it is. Man. We've been playing it completely different live in a cool way. Like we've taken that arrangement and added to it and it's pretty fun.

Chuck Shute:

Okay, I look forward to hear hopefully, I can hear that. The song Good thing is that that was confusing because it's like, you the Lyric is one of these days, I'm gonna find my good things are my good thing. A good things come to those who wait, like, how would you already found your good thing? Or is this about something else? Or was this like retrospective? Like thinking back to when you were younger?

Tyler Bryant:

I mean, I have I have so many good things to be thankful for in my life. But yeah, it's it's, I don't know, that's just a feeling that I think everyone can relate to have, like, kind of like waiting on a train that hadn't showed up yet. You know what I mean? Like, I'm waiting on this thing. That's, that's coming. And I mean, and regardless of how many how many good things that you have, you know, it's human nature to want more. I have this thing. I've got these great friends that I get to make music with. I've got a wife that I love and get to share, you know, the good times and the bad times with and it's, you know, it's all good. I think. It's just like, especially for me, it's, it's I'm thinking, like well, selfishly I'm like, thinking about it's gonna work it's gonna work for our band, you know, we're gonna we're gonna make this happen, you know? And even though we're doing it you know,

Chuck Shute:

that sounds good to say I mean you open for AC DC and Guns and Roses. I mean, so what you want to you want to headline you want them to open for you is the next door.

Tyler Bryant:

No, no, it's but I mean, I do think that is something that we think about a lot. It's in we're we're saying no to a lot of opening slots at this point. Really? it. Yeah. Because I think that it's I mean, obviously, if AC DC called us again, we would we not say no to them. But it's it's very important. It has been very important for us to keep it in perspective, we are opening for AC DC we are opening for Guns and Roses, we're lucky to be here. Well, we're grateful to be here. But we're essentially the plastic wrap on a CD that these fans have been waiting for. They're waiting to rip us off and get to the main thing as they should be. And so it's in and that's what what, like, when I think about good thing, it's how do we become the CD that they're waiting? You know, and and keep working towards that, you know, keep working on? How do we how do we sell more tickets in Dubuque, Iowa on Thursday night? You know, how do we get these people here? How do we make it all make sense? And we've been just working working out the kinks, as you do, you know,

Chuck Shute:

huh? Was that gonna, so it's kind of like that other side of the know the new song on the record, sell yourself, if you don't sell yourself, you're gonna get sold by someone else.

Tyler Bryant:

That's, that's directly inspired by this whole idea that rattle shake records is based upon, you know, it's sort of like taking ownership of what you do. And you know, because that's, that's just how the music industry works. You know, it's how everything works. Really, it's like you, you have something that you think is worth sharing, then share it, otherwise you go, do you think it's worth sharing? And then they go, yes, it's worth sharing. Now I own 75% of it. Because I told you, it's worth sharing. So it's just sort of us taking ownership in our own thing. Oh, that makes sense. Yeah. So it's also thing I was thinking a lot about Facebook and, you know, social media and how it's like, they're literally taking all of your information and monetizing it, you know, oh, I want to I want to reach the audience that his podcast reaches, I can literally go buy your information. That's crazy. It's wild. What a world we live in.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, I know. I try not to think about that. Because I think I would have a panic attack if I think about where all my infant like, there's basically no privacy in the world. And

Tyler Bryant:

we just uncovered what the root of my problem was.

Chuck Shute:

Seriously, I think everybody's got to be do you ever see that movie? What's that movie with? Will Smith where and Gene Hackman where they like they just trace him everywhere? Like I it's like gives you it will like give you paranoia? It's crazy, but it's real. Now. It's like there's cameras everywhere. Or information is everywhere. I mean, unless you just go out live off the grid and Dubuque Iowa or something like Yeah,

Tyler Bryant:

yeah, no, man.

Chuck Shute:

It's crazy. Um, would you tell me about this when you open for AC DC because they warned you that you might get booed when you go into Europe? Because again, like you said, You're the plastic wrap. Did you guys end up getting booed? Or did you win over the audience's there?

Tyler Bryant:

I never heard any booing. So we had a great time. We had some, some just truly spectacular shows. Some, some moments that are that I will like, hopefully, like tell a kid about one day that were just mind numbing. Like, I remember the first show we did in Europe with him was in Lisbon, Portugal and it was raining all day and the crowd was there from like three on it was like 60 70,000 people from 3pm on and we didn't start till like 637 or something. So the these people are standing in puddles of water. And they're chanting play in their town chanting like expletives in and we're going this is like a pack of wild animals out there. There. They are hungry for music. And they want ACDC there was also this other tension because that was actual spur show. So I think people were still on the fence on if they were going to like it or if they were not going to like it. And when we went out on stage, man, it was like the clouds literally parted. The sun started shining. And it set the tone for that whole tour for us. We ended up just having a great time. You know, obviously some some crowds are harder to get than others. But um, for the most part, we we were able to get a pretty positive reaction, I think.

Chuck Shute:

Is that Zephyr? Yeah, cuz that's right. Axl was the singer at that point. So he saw you first and then you open for Guns and Roses. So is he the one that that recommended you first open for Guns and Roses?

Tyler Bryant:

Yeah, I mean, I don't know how much recommendation it took. I think he just kind of said like,

Chuck Shute:

Oh, you want me to Yeah, so it was his choice, I guess is what I want to say. Like,

Tyler Bryant:

like we we kept seeing Axl, you know drive by on like, someone would drive him by on a golf cart. You know, it's kind of funny to think about him driving the golf cart, but he was Yeah, but like he would drive by and give us like a pizza and or like, you know, like one of them. We never, we never got to like talk to him and This this guy that works for axial, you know, he kind of has an entourage around him. He came up to us one day he's like, he's not gonna come talk to you gotta go talk to him. And we're like, we're not gonna go knock on axles dressing room like we're

Chuck Shute:

just gone the House of Blues and and you know, this is a little different.

Tyler Bryant:

Yeah, no, I mean, we certainly knew our place. I do have a funny story about that, though, like about that the first. I digress, but we met Axl it. We did two nights at Olympic Stadium in London. And after the first night, Axl, his dressing room door was like kind of cracked open and one of one of his people said, going and going, so we went in, and he was so cool. He was like, Man, when I heard you guys in Lisbon, I thought it's so nice to have an opening band don't ignore. And I was like, that's kind of a cool compliment.

Chuck Shute:

Like he will know because I think he probably met like, usually he doesn't care about the opener, but he actually cared about you guys.

Tyler Bryant:

And he had mentioned that he liked that it wasn't like just derivative of classic rock and that we were trying to do our own thing. And he thought it was cool. And he said, I'd love to have you come do some shows with my band.

Chuck Shute:

Have you heard of them? They're called Guns and Roses. Like wow.

Tyler Bryant:

So that's how that's how that works. And then we ended up doing 2930 shows with guns, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Yeah. So what Tell me about that experience. Do you have any interactions with the Guns and Roses band members at all?

Tyler Bryant:

Gorgeous, man. Yeah, well, we just we just recently did one with them in Prague, Czech Republic. And, you know, def def came as he was walking offstage. His security guy was like, Oh, these are I think he, the security guy said that we were Gary Clark, JR. He's like, this is Gary Clark, Jr. and I was like, No. In depth was like, no, no, it's the shakedown. Hey, guys, you know, and there was like, when I first I was really excited to meet slash, because I

Chuck Shute:

was gonna say, because you you guys have some similarities in guitar sound. Is that Is that are you influenced by him are you guys have the same influences.

Tyler Bryant:

I love slash he's, he's been a huge, huge influence on me. And the first time I met him was in Cincinnati, Ohio, which was at our first show with guns. And he told he told us that he had our EP in his car. And I was like, Oh, that's so cool. And they're, they were just so kind to us. They treated us great. Everyone on their team and crew was so kind, you know, you hear you hear all these stories about guns, like, from the heyday where they're crazy and hard to work with. They're just so nice. And do they even in South America, they let us fly on their private jet with them.

Chuck Shute:

Whoa, that was amazing. I don't know if the

Tyler Bryant:

band knew that we were going to be on the plane. The but that, you know, they're kind of crew crew guys are like, it's okay, because we were we had to get with some crazy travel. We got on the plane before they did. And we immediately went to the back. So we were like, they'll sit up front and they won't even know we're here. We're kind of like stowaways. And

Chuck Shute:

so is on a private jet. I

Tyler Bryant:

love it. It wasn't I mean, it was like a full on, like, 737 No, it wasn't like a small plane. It was okay. You can fit to it and 53 And are people on this plane, you know? Which is that where they take for every show or just saying it's the full like, whatever the big commercial jet is, that's what they have. And so we go to the back, order some red wine and filet mignon, you know, that they're eating steak, drinking wine, and then I remember Duff came and he was going to the bathroom and he walked back and it's like, hell are you guys doing here? Boo. Let these guys on. And we all had a good laugh.

Chuck Shute:

So when he was joking, he wasn't really mad though. Yeah, no,

Tyler Bryant:

he was. He didn't make us like parachute out or anything.

Chuck Shute:

That's awesome.

Tyler Bryant:

We should got a kick out of it, though. I tell you that much. Yeah, that's

Chuck Shute:

a cool story. Damn. Okay. So so but you're kind of tired of doing being opening band. So you know, you want to be a headlining What about like a co headlining tour or like a package deal? Like I thought you and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. That would be a cool show. I would see that. That would

Tyler Bryant:

be great. You know, I mean, but Kenny Kenny's. He's bigger than we are. So we would have to be support. And I think the thing that we're, we It has nothing to do with not liking. recording artists who are more successful. That's a great thing. It's it's not getting to play long enough. We don't want to play 30 minute sets. We don't want to play 40 minute sets because it's not fair to our fans to keep the people who are having to pay more money for a concert ticket than they would if they were just coming to see us to only 30 minutes As to come see us, you know, I'm sure sure if we're opening for guns or ACDC, they're getting a great experience, you know. And if we were opening for Kenny, they would get a great experience. But the goal is,

Chuck Shute:

because I feel like with Kenny, he'd give you more than three. I feel like that. I mean, yeah, he's probably gonna be the headliner, but you could still do like an hour, and then he does an hour and a half or something.

Tyler Bryant:

Like no, and he's, he's a homie, dude. I mean, he's, he's a friend. And, you know, I mean, that would be great to do, do shows with him. I think for us, it's just we've, we've, we've been building it as a support act so long that we have, we have to put our focus into headlining and, and we're trying to be strategic about it, we're, I mean, we're basically starting at clubs again, you know, and going and trying to build up, you know, our audience in clubs. So then we can hopefully move up to small theaters. And, you know, it's, it's different for us in Europe than it is in America. It's we, we sell more tickets in Europe, you know, we can sell you know, we last time we played Paris, France, we sold more tickets on a Monday night than we've pre sold for our album release show in Nashville. So it's just really, it's interesting to see how, how it changes. I mean, we've sold a decent amount of tickets for our album release show in Nashville, but it's, it's just worked better over there. And it's, we're going to we're just going to keep building it here in America and as well as in Europe, you know, and, and I want to go back to South America and do our own shows there because we had some of the best shows we've ever had with guns. We got to do one with Def Leppard. There, Alice Cooper, we played with the who? Aerosmith all in like one week across South America, we did all of the great shows. And now if you go look at those rock and roll metrics that we were speaking about, it's one of our largest audiences across all streaming platforms, like Hill loves the shakedown. And we love Brazil. So it's like, we got to go back there, we got to go build it there. And so it's just been a matter of like, how do we do this? How do we keep scaling this? And also, do it do it smart? Like at this point, I'm proud that we own all of our own equipment in Europe, like you don't think about that sort of thing. We've got it there. So it's one huge, less expense, where we can go over there more often more freely and work.

Chuck Shute:

Oh, that's interesting. So what you have like in storage or something? Yeah. Oh, that's smart. Yeah. Cuz I always hear that's part of the problem. With bands going overseas, it's too expensive to bring all the equipment, so then they just don't even do

Tyler Bryant:

it. It's so it's so hard to, especially at the level that we're at, to do it and make money, you know, and then and it's hard. And that's, that's something that's, that's hard to sustain for people, you know, because it takes money to live. So we've we've, luckily had these great opportunities to where it's like, cool, let's take some of what we were going to make opening for AC DC or whatever, and then buy some stuff. And now it's now it's here. And that's one less thing we have to buy next time. Okay, now now put now we got more of this that we needed. Now it's there and trying to I think the goal is to just have that kind of infrastructure wherever we go. I mean, obviously, we will carry our stuff and in the States, but just trying to figure out ways to to be able to do this for as long as I can. That's Gotcha. On goal. Yeah.

Chuck Shute:

So now because I think I looked on the website and there's like, there was a couple shows lined up for September and October. There's the music festival. You got the Monsters of Rock cruise. Will more shows be added then I'm assuming

Tyler Bryant:

Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, we're, we're adding some more shows for this year. And then we're adding a ton of shows for next year. So there'll be a lot of dates announced very soon.

Chuck Shute:

Okay, I can't wait. Hopefully I can catch a show. I'm in Phoenix. So it sounds like why for shows.

Tyler Bryant:

Yeah, so yeah, totally hit Phoenix.

Chuck Shute:

You okay, awesome. Yeah, we got a lot of good venues here. But like I said, sometimes like I'll drive to Vegas or something. If it's a show if it's a you know, like your I've never I I'm trying to remember did you guys open for guns when I saw them in Phoenix a couple of years like 2019 or something? I can't remember.

Tyler Bryant:

It was us and Zakk Wylde on that show.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, oh, yeah, that's right. And you did a tour was Zakk Wylde as well, right? Yeah.

Tyler Bryant:

Phoenix with him a few times, I think.

Chuck Shute:

Yeah, that's very cool. I always wondered this too. I was going to ask you about like, why did you choose to name the band that the way that you did because there's a lot of bands that are basically like kind of one guy and like, you know, Foo Fighters is basically Dave Grohl. Right. So did you did you ever consider just naming it a band? Or did you um, because I kind of like to that it's It's Tyler Bryant because that is you are the frontman of the band. You're the singer and the guitar. So it makes sense. But I just wondered if you thought of a band name ever?

Tyler Bryant:

Well, it originally started out as the Tyler Bryant band which you know, that was a really it was an inventive name that we struggled over for long. It just it I think originally I wanted to be a solo artist. And then I met Caleb and Graham and we had been touring under or the Tyler Bryant project, whatever. And he was like, We need a band name. So we just added the Shakedown, we didn't. We didn't put all that much thought into if it should just be a band or what it seems natural at the time. There. There have been times over the years where I'm like, man, let's just call it the shakedown. Yeah, I mean, that's how we refer to it. You know, when we're talking about it anyways, but we are, you know, I look at it as a even partnership with those dudes, you know, we've been through a lot together and we started together, we feast together, so I consider it a a real old, good fashion rock band, you know?

Chuck Shute:

Awesome. Yeah. I love it. Very cool. Well, this has been a lot of fun. I always end each episode, I'm trying to promote a charity. Is there a charity that's near and dear to your heart? You want to give a shout out to here?

Tyler Bryant:

Man, I'll just shout out St. Jude man, I think it's awesome what they're doing and, you know, sex to see kids needing help, you know, so?

Chuck Shute:

Absolutely. Why have you promoted them many, many times? I'll put the link in the show notes along with your website. And I can people can they preorder the album,

Tyler Bryant:

and they can preorder the album. Got it. We've got these awesome creamsicle colored vinyl. So yeah, get one of those before they're gone. And then you can pre save pre order CDs, all that stuff as

Chuck Shute:

well. Okay, follow you on social media, all the good stuff. So very, very cool. Thank you so much, Tyler. It's been a blast. I look forward to seeing you live.

Tyler Bryant:

Hey, man, thanks for taking the time. Great chatting with you.

Chuck Shute:

Okay, you too. Take it easy. Bye. Thank you again to Tyler Bryant. Make sure to check out the new record, shake the roots. It's out September 9 Or it's available for pre order now. Or it may be available now, depending on when you're listening to this episode. His website is in the show notes. So check that for current tour dates, or follow him on social media. And while you're on there, you can give me or the show a follow on social media. And if you haven't done so yet, please make sure to subscribe. Wherever you listen. It's very important. I appreciate your support. Have a great rest of your day. And remember to shoot for the moon