Tim Montana (singer, guitarist, actor)

Tim Montana is a singer, songwriter, guitarist and actor. His latest album, Savage, which is his first one playing rock, is out July 12th. He is currently on tour with Seether and Staind, and will soon be on tour with Bush, Jerry Cantrell and Candlebox.  In this episode we discuss touring, the new album, doing a scene with Samuel L. Jackson, writing a song with Billy Gibbons & Chris Stapleton and more!

00:00 - Intro
00:12 - Touring & Driving
02:54 - Meet & Greets
04:55 - Living Off Grid
08:15 - Parenting & Childhood
10:05 - Fighting & Guns
14:05 - Shift in Humanity
16:05 - Social Media
18:32 - New Album "Savage"
20:15 - Alice In Chains & Jerry Cantrell
21:48 - Samuel L. Jackson, Charlie Sheen & Thomas Jane
25:15 - Acting & Stunt Work
27:50 - Alec Baldwin & Guns in Movies
31:10 - Touring & Hijinks
32:55 - Creating Controversy 
34:45 - From Hollywood to Nashville
37:45 - Perseverance
41:00 - Opening Vs. Headlining
42:20 - Songwriting  with Chris Stapleton & Billy Gibbons
43:15 - New Album & Songs & Set List
44:54 - Outro

Tim Montana website:
https://timmontana.com/

Chuck Shute link tree:
https://linktr.ee/chuck_shute

Transcript

Tim Montana: 0:00

Hey how's it going? As we do this in call with me I'm gonna add the other band because they just voted to see you there to the interview. There they go. They're out. All right. I'm here. Let me get to my dressing room.

Chuck Shute: 0:33

Okay. This looks fun.

Tim Montana: 0:37

I am in Orange Beach, Alabama. We're on the same tour with st as phony as either. And that would be we just said hi to them. The thing is don't use either, guys. Oh,

Chuck Shute: 0:46

that's awesome. Yeah, cuz I know that you're doing the bush tour with Candlebox and Jerry Cantrell, too. Right. That's coming up, though. That's

Tim Montana: 0:56

July that starts July 26. So today's the second kalasha we're in Orange Beach. And then we go to hell, ham, Pelham, Alabama, and then Sonic temple, and then I'm off for a little bit, but it's been. Today is Day 36 of sleeping in a bed, different bed in a different town every night. It's been a pretty rough

Chuck Shute: 1:19

one. Damn. Yeah, I always think about that, though. Turing's got to be better now, with with smartphones and stuff. There's got to be so much things, so many more things to do in the downtime, whereas before, I think that's why so many rock stars drank and did drugs because they were so bored. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 1:34

well, I started I actually quit drinking a couple years ago. And to fill my time I got my CDL so that I'm not bored in the back of the van or the bus. So I do all the driving, which can be a lot. Yeah. So I do all I've done I let someone else drive for four hours this entire tour. So I've driven over 10,000 miles in the last 36 days.

Chuck Shute: 1:56

Do you collect another salary for that? Then?

Tim Montana: 1:59

I save money. But I don't save rest.

Chuck Shute: 2:04

Okay. Wow. That's, that's fun. Yeah, it gives you something to do keep you busy. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 2:09

I can see the American through the windshield. So

Chuck Shute: 2:12

yeah, how many hours a day would you typically drive between dates.

Tim Montana: 2:18

Um, there was a couple long hauls that were 10 and 12 hours. But typically, it's four to five hours a day. And then I tried, I've got to sit them down. So I finished my show, I do a meet and greet stain finishes about 10pm we get out of the venue probably 1030 to 1040. And then I'll drive till about 2am. And I try to always log a safe seven hours of rest. And I think CDL laws, they want you to stop for eight. But I usually sleep for about seven and then get back in and start driving again. So nice.

Chuck Shute: 2:50

How are the meet and greets going is that that's got to be a fun thing. Or I know a lot of artists don't like those really.

Tim Montana: 2:57

I like the connection man. I really do. I like you know, I believe in another artists that I can't remember who but shake a million hands sell a million records. And I live by that. And so I go out every single night and make a point to say hi to anybody that wants to say hi and T shirts get photos. I do it every night like clockwork So, and I just kind of wander it's not even set up, you know, because I'm the opener on this tour. So I just walk out towards the merch table and you know, just say hi to everybody as they're buying T shirts and CDs. Okay,

Chuck Shute: 3:26

so like they don't need to pay for your meet and greet. It's free.

Tim Montana: 3:30

Nope. 100% free. I come out and I'm a man of the people.

Chuck Shute: 3:34

That's awesome. Yeah, that's that is really good. Have you noticed an uptick in like, followers and stuff and downloads and stuff when when you go on to do those

Tim Montana: 3:43

numbers. And if you just go read the YouTube comments on stuff, people are just like, I got to meet this guy. He came out and said hi, and gosh, you helped my kid. I mean, I just kind of hang out of the table all night and it's pretty fun. So I even signed some guy's butt cheek the other night.

Chuck Shute: 4:01

That's Do you have a picture that you post? That's hilarious.

Tim Montana: 4:05

I'll post it again. I'm gonna post it as a real but this guy cuz I made a joke. I'm like, well, we sign him boobs and butt cheeks at the merch table. Of course. Here comes this big old boy is oops a tea cow. And I'm like, Well, I said it.

Chuck Shute: 4:18

Wow, that is funny. Yeah, cuz you're Paul, you have like, 100,000 followers on Instagram, I think. Yeah. Yeah. How long did it take to get to that?

Tim Montana: 4:29

Um, I don't know. I've been on that platform for awhile. I don't know exactly how long but yeah, we've had a lot of people jump on board. And you know, I've done a lot of different things and traveled and I just meet people all the time. And yeah.

Chuck Shute: 4:43

So you think it's just been a slow build over time. You just slowly build it up. And then you get

Tim Montana: 4:48

there. Yeah. Yeah, you go out and you know, and a big part of my show is my story. I talked about, you know, growing up off grid and Montana and my whole my shtick that I tell people is, you know, A lot of people asked me if I would go in green or saving the planet when I was a kid. And I said, No, it's this character building exercise called poverty. I recommend that you try it one time in your life.

Chuck Shute: 5:10

Yeah. I heard I heard some interviews you talking about that? I was so fascinated, like, I don't really want to live off grid, but I would like to live more independently. But you said there were some issues because like the generator would go out. And so then you just power so you had like, kerosene lanterns. I mean, you'll almost live in like an Amish life at that point. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 5:31

the trim wakes and when I was really young is when we had the bad generator. And I thought, to be honest, it was bad till I was like 17 Some and when it was cold out, it wouldn't start. So gosh, it'd be like 30 below zero. And you know, we'd have to get starting fluid to get that generator going. And sometimes it wouldn't start for a month straight. So you're just kerosene lanterns, candles, and just darkness a lot, you know, for a lot of my childhood so.

Chuck Shute: 5:58

So why was it off grid is it just because that was a really cheap, like a cabin or something that was easy to buy, or it

Tim Montana: 6:04

was the single wide trailer. And you know, the person I had at the time who was not good to me was kind of a doomsday prepper type of person sort of wanted to live away from humanity. So we just found like a single wide trailer in the mountains and set up shop there. So that's

Chuck Shute: 6:21

interesting. Yeah, cuz I used to think all those Doomsday Preppers were complete nuts. And I'm sure a lot of them probably are, but I mean, I'm starting to lean a little bit more in that direction recently. Like, I'm

Tim Montana: 6:32

like, maybe they had some good ideas, save up a little food and have a generator in case the power goes out. And it's not the worst I've had. Yeah, there's definitely that. I mean, it's like, there was a lot of crazy stuff I grew up around that, you know, I struggled with a lot, you know, a lot of not fun things. But I learned a lot about survival. From that. I think people are too dependent on the system and the grid to where just that could happen, and it's gone. And then mass chaos and pandemonium and I've always had it in the back of my head because I grew up that way. Like I always have a contingency plan. I'm like, Alright, with my family, like, what's the best buy you stay here? I'll try to get there. And I've always I was raised that way. So it's kind of in when chaotic things happen for a kid that grew up like I did. It's this weird comfort zone. So bizarre like when stuff goes south. My wife's like, why are you so cool, calm and collected? I'm like, Well, when you grow up in a very, you know, house where you're trained to be scared all the time. It just kind of thinks you end up like, that's your that's your operating level. Right

Chuck Shute: 7:37

now. That's exactly right. I used to work in the schools with with kids. And you noticed that all the time. It's a lot. It's a lot of kids that with homes that are rough like that. They like going to school because they like the rules because it's like consistency. And it's like feels nice to them.

Tim Montana: 7:52

Yeah, I hated being home when I was a kid or school was nice. You know, I had an abusive step person. I just call them step person now, but I'll go on to school as a nice break from the stuff going on in the woods. So yeah,

Chuck Shute: 8:04

whatever happened to that guy? Did he go to jail or anything? Or I mean, obviously you don't contact? Oh, yeah. Okay.

Tim Montana: 8:10

Yeah, yeah, we finally got rid of them. So, and then onward and upward. We go, and now I get to be the dad never had. So. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 8:16

I mean, you have what was it three or four kids?

Tim Montana: 8:19

I have four kids aged three to one of them just turned 16. I started having them really young. So.

Chuck Shute: 8:25

So how do you know how to be a parent? I mean, because obviously, you just you just do the opposite of what you were raised.

Tim Montana: 8:31

Right? Do the opposite of how I was raised. I always had a really good mom, she would actually sneak my guitars out, we'd have to slide them out of the window of the trailer house on the backside of the long trailer house and my room was on the back. And we dropped the guitars out and then I walked by that person that would splurge me to make sure I didn't have an instrument and then We'd sneak into school in the back of the truck. And then my teachers at school would actually let me practice my instrument and they knew I was in a very unhealthy environment at home. And so now my daughter goes to that same high school. You know, I've told her that my whole life and now the teachers tell her that, hey, your dad had a rough go at childhood and he used he learned to play his guitar in that classroom over there. And so now she's like, Oh, that's not just some story. My dad made up.

Chuck Shute: 9:19

Yeah, I heard that. So what point did the step person did he ever find out? Did you do that up until you were 17? Or was there a point where he found out there's the point

Tim Montana: 9:29

got touched and go because I won the talent show and they put it in the newspaper? And I'm like, Oh, my God. get busted. But yeah, so finally I moved out at 17 It was like peeking and it was really violent. And I was getting to the age where I was able to get violence back. And it was getting real bad like so my mom finally was like, go go go go go and if I hated leaving my mom up there, but I got out and yeah, and then anyway, he that person went away. So Yeah.

Chuck Shute: 10:01

So you learn how to fight to like, I heard you saying that, like in Montana, this is just like that's just how people relate to one another. If there's a disagreement, it goes to blows.

Tim Montana: 10:11

It's wild. And it's still that way. And I grew up there. And I learned, I learned a hard lesson because I became a bouncer. When I was about 21 years old in Nashville, one of the big hockey talks, and some of the other bouncers that were really a lot tougher guys than me are like, Dude, why did you punch that guy when he was just arguing with you? And I was like, What do you mean, why did I punch that guy? Like he was arguing with me? They're like, that's not normal. You can have a verbal altercation that doesn't end and you knocking somebody out. And I was like, you can do Montana. You know, I was I came, I always tell people, I was the worst wrestler on the best wrestling team in the state of Montana. But they were like fighting. I was never like a tough guy, but everyone up their fight. So when you're just around fighting all the time, you just learned to punch first, right? You gotta hit him first, because you're gonna get beat up and I didn't like getting punched at some point around 15 or 16. I'm like, I had enough for this. At home. I had enough for this school. So I just started snapping it. But everyone's like, whoa, careful with that guy was like he just grew up in that world. You either throw the first punch or you're getting punched too bad years later, I figured out like, Oh, that's not the real world. That's not normal, you know, for people to do so. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 11:23

you learn how to fight. Did you did you study fighting styles, or you just it was just like, I'm just gonna sucker punch people. Now

Tim Montana: 11:30

you just get beat up and you're like, I'm really tired of getting punched.

Chuck Shute: 11:35

You never. You never took an interest in martial arts or anything like that.

Tim Montana: 11:39

Now I wrestled so I learned you know if the wrestling moves and takedown stuff, but I was kind of like a waterboy where if someone was picking on me or bullying me at school, I didn't necessarily wasn't beating them up. I was beating up the person at home that I really hated. Their head would pop out, you know, his that would pop out. Right? Okay. Yeah. So it was kinda like that thing. People I like, blacked out. And people were like, Dude, you're crying. You just gotten this big brawl. I'm like, sorry. I don't want to be bullied anymore.

Chuck Shute: 12:07

Do you think there is like a healthy component to that though, like, because my dad said he got beat up a lot when he was a kid. And he said, That's how kids handled their problems is they would, or boys at least they would just beat each other up. And then afterwards, it was like that was it and it was over. And now I think it guns and shit. And they shoot each other. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 12:25

that's, that's tough. You know, it's like, when we were kids, the gun stuff was never an option or a thought, right? It was like, even though the back guns in Montana, right? We all had them. And they were in our trucks because we go hunting after school. But it was never a thought, right? It was never a thought it was like you get bullied or picked on you come back and kick some ass or you know, and then you finally are in that person's respect, and you learn some life lessons. So what happened between when I went to high school now, I don't know. But it is like wild because there is something about the coming of age of an adult and as a person of like, overcoming, you know, stuff like that. And you learn those life lessons, like, Okay, I've finally been punched in the face an athlete, I'm gonna stand up for myself. And then I get to, you get this thing called a little bit of confidence, you know, after that, and then what's happening now is like, whoa, like, I remember there was a big deal. They came on the speaker, and they're like, Do you not have any firearms in your vehicles on school property, but all the rural kids had to park off school property so that we could go hunting after school. But there was never anyone packed in one of the school, right? It was never a thing, a thought or an issue. And now you flash forward to 2024. And it's like, terrifying.

Chuck Shute: 13:37

Yeah, that is crazy. Like, I used to think that like metal detectors in schools, that was like, so ridiculous. And I didn't want it to get to that point. But now I think like, maybe that's where they need to go. I don't know. I don't know what the solution is. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 13:51

there's some, some shift here and humanity that I don't think any of us like, it's hard. You know, I don't think it's one issue. I think it's multiple and like, I mean, God knows who's gonna figure out how to fix this. I don't know. It's, it's scary.

Chuck Shute: 14:05

What do you think? What do you mean, like a shift in humanity? That's,

Tim Montana: 14:09

I don't know. I just feels like this violent thing. And everybody, like, kill me, Charles. Like, why? Why? How did we get here? You know, the world's always been a violent place that you shouldn't be scared to go to school. And it's just wild. And as a parent to have four kids, it freaks me out all the time, is worried about it. You know, so I don't know what what happened, you know, because like I said, everybody was hunting when I was a kid in high school, but no one was doing anything crazy. They had a rifle in their truck outside the school. It wasn't a thought, why isn't it Why is it a thought now? You know, so? Well,

Chuck Shute: 14:41

it's interesting, too, because given your background, I would say like, you know, you were high risk for doing something crazy or doing something violent. I mean, but it's like it seems to me like you use the music to channel all that energy. Do you think that's maybe a thing that's missing that not saying every kid should play music but whether it's martial arts or music or car or like they need something positive to focus on?

Tim Montana: 15:03

Yeah, I think the possibly Yeah, I mean, you know, you got this video game culture and my kids are guilty of it just like any other kid, you know, there's this great babysitter a put on the Xbox. And, you know, back when, you know, I was growing up, that wasn't an option. I didn't have TV, other kids do play video games. I mean, I'm not that old, but, but I was outside all the time riding motorcycles, and hunting and fishing and, and playing the car and just stuff like that. And I'm kind of glad I didn't have the distractions of a cell phone, because I don't know that I would have developed these other skills that have, you know, because I'm a very add guy, and I'm on my phone a time. But when I was a kid, I didn't have one. So I just would go play a car, when I was mad, I go read a song and I was mad, I go race my dirt bike up a mountain and go get lost in the woods and go hunting. You know, it was like, different ways to channel. You know, those different emotions as a young man. And now it's like, kids just go to their phones and look at what other people are doing. And it's just feel like some something's wrong here. So and I unfortunately, don't think it's gonna get better anytime soon. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 16:03

well, that's it. There's all this research with the phones and kids depression. And I don't think that I mean, I don't think banning phones is realistic at this point, or at Banning social media. But it is interesting, like in China, which, you know, obviously very different country, but they, you know, limit the kids tick tock us, and they see different things on their algorithm. It's all about kids doing martial arts or positive things or like math problems, or you know, things like that that are like, and then it shuts off at 10pm. Kids can't do use tick tock after 10. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 16:33

and then it's wide open in our country. And I've got some buddies in the military and intelligence that are like, that's called long game warfare. He's like, they want to mess this generation up so that you don't have people, you know, that it's just building your, your future of your country. He's coming up different, because you've been messed with by foreign countries that have, you know, bad plans for us, and they'll wait 30 years, you know, that we're really weak. And don't make me go down that rabbit hole. I got a lot of friends in the military that believe that that is very intentional. What our kids are seeing online.

Chuck Shute: 17:03

Yeah, no, I've heard a lot before, too. I don't think that's even I won't even call it conspiracy theory. I'd say it's pretty accurate. There's enough people saying that and I mean, you can see it, you can see what's what's happening.

Tim Montana: 17:17

Yeah. And if you have politicians on both sides of the aisle, saying, hey, this tick tock thing is a problem if they can't get along and agree on anything, but that then we need to be paying attention to like, Okay, why are they getting along now? Right?

Chuck Shute: 17:29

Yeah. Well, just social media in general. I don't know that. I mean, I'm sure Tik Tok has its, you know, that's the China thing, but I feel like I don't think Instagram if they move it to Instagram and Facebook, I don't know that the algorithms are any much better on there. Right,

Tim Montana: 17:42

right. Yeah. It's just like, man. And again, I can't be the guy that's like, Get off your phones. Because now I'm the guy on my phone all the time. So you got to post about your music and put this up. And what about that platform and things off been? And it's like getting to the point where I even talk to my manager about it. I'm like, when's the last time you told me to go play my guitar and write a song? We haven't had that talk. Because it's all remote yourself. Throw yourself where's that Instagram real? Where's that tick tock video, and it's just wild, this new world of social media and you know, trying to get a song to pop and stay relevant. It's just like, wow, where at what point does the art form get lost? Within this over indulgent promotional calendar, social media, it's wild.

Chuck Shute: 18:22

Right? And then it's such an add thing. It's like, yeah, you can post a clip of your song or something. Is anyone gonna listen to the full album? Or even one full song because this really is a really good album. I've listened to it. Like there's so many it's not just like one or two good songs. Like almost every song I Love. Like they're like, every song is good. I'm glad that you did a full album because everyone right now is just doing singles and full album which I think is a great way to go because it's a ride you know, you take that's how albums used to be like, all those my favorite albums when I was a kid you listen from first song, the last song and it's like a journey and I love it.

Tim Montana: 18:58

Yeah, and I feel like we really capture that on this record and highs and lows and you know, burying stories of my life within the lyrics and all that stuff. And then closing it out with that day by day song was kind of my last one felt like the right spot. You know what that song is? Last number 11. So we really put a lot of thought into that. So yeah,

Chuck Shute: 19:19

I mean, how it's so how are the single? The first thing was definitely, you know, that's obviously a great song. I think that's what I like about a lot of the songs is they're very catchy. So is that one good doing well, like Are you guys happy with the response or whatever and all that stuff?

Tim Montana: 19:33

Yeah, that went number five on Billboard rock for three weeks straight. So it was wild, you know, charting a song and doing that well at radio. And and now Savage is out and that talk about, you know, we're talking about the weird Sign of the Times thing going on. I mean, that's definitely talked about the greed of mankind. And if you watch the music video, I just show all these apocalyptic, you know, kind of psychedelic scenes of how I see the world right now. And that's songs Doing great that's top 40 I think it's top 30 right now actually on radio so it's been getting a lot of love at rock radio and yeah it's been wild watching this stuff blow up so yeah,

Chuck Shute: 20:10

I liked the song ashes is cool too that's like a heavy melodic I would even say a little bit of an Allison chains vibe. Very cool guitar hustle on that one too.

Tim Montana: 20:21

Yeah, man, we had a lot of fun and you said Allison chains. That's definitely one of my biggest influences and getting to go out with Jerry Cantrell. later this summer. I'm like, freaking out is so cool. So

Chuck Shute: 20:31

have you met him yet?

Tim Montana: 20:33

I have not but one of the guys with either. My buddy Carver is worked for health and change for shift going on decade now. So he's one of Jerry's right hand guys. And he's like, dude, I'm gonna be out with you in July. And he's kind of giving me the run the show how things go down and told me a lot about Jerry and the guys and yeah, sounds like they're great, folks. So I can't wait to meet him in person. That's

Chuck Shute: 20:53

cool. Yeah, I was like, I was really close to getting him on my podcast, I think I think it was like maybe the last tour they I was in talks with his people. And then they just changed their mind or whatever. But I always want to ask him about like his cameo I'm sure people will probably have before but I want to ask about his cameo and Jerry Maguire. Do you remember that? Yeah, I

Tim Montana: 21:10

saw that actually on Instagram. Talking about being on social media all the time. I thought on Instagram, and then I remembered that I think I knew that when that movie first came out, and I forgot about it. And then recently, I saw some kind of reel where they're like, are you aware that this is Jerry Cantrell. I'm like, wow, that is Jerry Cantrell. Yeah, he

Chuck Shute: 21:28

killed I mean, he only had one line, but like that line where he's like, this is how you become great. You put your balls out there, like he just killed that line. And it was like, important line in the movie. It's like, if you think about it, it's like, it's so true. Like, all the people that you've probably look up to. They took some chances to become great. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 21:47

yeah. 100%. So and I've got a couple films done. I've done three Westerns now. And the last one that I did hasn't been released yet. And it comes out this fall. And I had just moved to Montana, shoot July of 2023. And I get a call. They said, Hey, we got a perfect rule for you. We need a red bearded outline in red. You don't have to audition. You don't have to do anything. You're the guy. I knew the director and he likes to just show up. He's just script so I didn't ask me questions, and I show up on set and I'm like, who's my scene with? And they're like Samuel Jackson. And I'm like, No shit. What are you serious? Yeah. So it's, it comes out called unholy trinity. It's Pierce Brosnan and Samuel L. Jackson, David, the company wants to heavy hitting actors and I get to play the red baton from the Benton brothers gang.

Chuck Shute: 22:36

Okay, so just Samuel Jackson call you a motherfucker because I feel like if he didn't, I would like want that off screen just for my own bucket list.

Tim Montana: 22:44

He did not on film, but he did off film I believe he said when he walked up behind me and I turned around my Hey, Mr. Jackson, and I happen to be beating the shit out of this kid in the mud and I'm just covered and stuff because a very violent scene I'm in and all of a sudden everybody called cut and I turn around and I hear his booming voice. Where's Tim at? I'm right. Hey, Mr. Jackson. He goes alright, Tim, I'm gonna pull your hair. And I'm not gonna tell you the rest of it. We'll give away the movie. But you said How hard do you want your hair pulled? And I said as hard as you want Mr. Jackson? I've been waiting for you to kill me my whole life. Oh, I just gave it away. Anyways, I gave away that part of the movie. You can beat that out but no, because I'm not trying to hurt you. David said all this funny stuff. And then think he motherfucker and when he couldn't get a certain part of me revealed with my beard. He's like how we're gonna see this guy's with that guy by the fucking beard. And I'm like he said it. He just said it.

Chuck Shute: 23:41

That is awesome. Wow, that is definitely a bucket list item for sure. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 23:46

so somewhere I'm from weird Hollywood. blogsite I get to be, you know, one of the guys that had a very violent scene with Samuel Jackson.

Chuck Shute: 23:55

Well, yeah, and then your music video you directed by Charlie Sheen. That's like amazing.

Tim Montana: 24:01

Yep, Charlie's been a great friend, great supporter. He's doing awesome. He's like six, six or seven years over now so he's doing great and just getting into that guy's world I mean, he's he's an Aussie fell funny. And like just tall for the earth guys families great. And through this, you know, random Hollywood connections. I've just met some really good guys. And I got you know, Thomas James become a good friend that's kept me and he's he's the one that said I'll never do a western movie without Tim Montana. So he got me an all the film and Thomas Jane the original Punisher. He's in Boogie Nights deep blue sea. I mean, the dudes like Barney, because I Nbd you can see how many films that guy's been in, though Right? Right. Get off to her. Right when I get off to her. I'm meeting him and his dad Montana and we're going fishing.

Chuck Shute: 24:43

Is he the one I think he's the one that it's like the Stephen King. It was directed by directed Shawshank the one about it's kind of like the end of the world that masks the mist. Yeah, I love

Tim Montana: 24:56

Yeah, he's one of Stephen King's favorite actors and he's become A very, very close friend. And he's the one that picks up the phone and say, Hey, if you need a bearded outlaw, this is the guy. Yeah, that's

Chuck Shute: 25:07

it. I mean, that's, I think it's okay to be typecast. Because that's not even your day job. I mean, you're a musician first and foremost. Right? Right.

Tim Montana: 25:15

But I just love art in all forms. And you know, looking back at some of my favorites, and my man, Kris Kristofferson, Waylon, those guys, Johnny Cash, they all did small roles in westerns. And I think it's kind of cool to do little cameos and films here and there. And just like I said, That's not my main job. I'm a pretty okay actor. But they like it. Because when it comes to the action sequences, I told him, I want to do my own stunts, and the stock director on that film, he does all the double Oh, seven movies. He's a British guy. And he's like, Oh, an actor, that's a musician, and he wants to do his own stunts. Great. And then he got me on the wrestling mats, and he was like, Jesus Christ, you got it. We're throwing each other around stab at each other. Just like overplay, you got to oversell the violence, right? And they're like, you're really good at getting violent on film.

Chuck Shute: 26:01

Really? So how do you learn that? Is that just from just being the way you grew up with fights and stuff? Or is there a certain thing, I'm a pretty

Tim Montana: 26:09

rough and tumble guy. And you know, some of those guys they left us kid gloves with, and I was not one of them. And when we got on the mask and started going at it, they're just like, Harry asked when we got to the actual scene. I've been a pigsty with pigs everywhere. And I was going so hard that actually put my nose open. When I went down in the mud. And I come up with, there's blood coming down my face, and it's real. They're just like, you the directors, like, I couldn't use like, you know, 80% and said, You gave like, 280% I'm like, Ah, at the mind. They're just like,

Chuck Shute: 26:42

oh, that sounds so fun, isn't it? Because there's certain ways don't they teach you like, how to fall and stuff. So you know, bones and things like that?

Tim Montana: 26:50

Yeah. And when you hit you know, you got to sell your next guy to crank back and it's like, over over selling it, you know, and I got to work with the stunt guys are amazing. I have so much respect for them. And the phones always love stunt guys. So get into work with those dudes on the mat. And, you know, they'll put your body plating on under your wardrobe so when you get hit stabbed with a knife or shot and then uh, the other movie I did that already came out murder, Yellowstone city actually got killed, and I had to sell that where the guy shot me in the head with 45 Peacemaker. And then when I got shot, I dropped my gun on the hardwood floor and one of the stunt guys who's playing dead beneath me was like that was an inch from my face, bro. I dropped this big piece of field I'm like, Oh my God, I didn't think about that. So you got to kind of think about everything on the set and the other people around you and the gun safety and that was before that shooting happened on film. So it was a little different now they're not playing with real guns like that anymore. So

Chuck Shute: 27:48

Oh, really they they change it because they Alec Baldwin thing? Yeah,

Tim Montana: 27:52

I was wild is the film that I did the same guns that we use the the my friend Isaiah Mustafa, you know him from it to use the Old Spice guy. He's a former football player. He killed me in the scene. And those same guns went off to that next movie set, which was rough. And he texted me afterwards. He's like, dude, those same guns we use are the same guns that went to the next movie set that we don't know if it was the exact gun, but he's like, pretty wild. But they made a big deal. On our set of they stopped the set. They pulled out the guns. They said, Tim, this is a Colt 45 peacemaker, a real firearm. Do you agree? And I said, Yes, I agree. Then the director agrees. Then the producer agrees, then the actors agree. And it's dead file, right? Everybody has to be there's no joke around him. This is a blank. Do you agree that this is a blank bullet, and I look at it and you see, you know, the end of the bullets kind of boiled over so the powder can come out. But there's no projectile. But he's like, you especially need to agree to that because this is getting pointed at your face. Right? So I'm the one that especially needs to look at that bullet and make sure that I'm you know, confident that that is a blank. So it was a big process. And it sounds like you know, I wasn't there on that rest of it, but it sounds like a lot of that safety stuff was not done. So it's really unfortunate that you know, the way that went down so yeah, I

Chuck Shute: 29:07

was gonna say because I'm like, they've been making movies for a long time. How does this all of a sudden happen? It was very strange to me.

Tim Montana: 29:16

Yeah, well, I mean, gosh, goes back to Bruce Lee and, and his son Brandon Lee. was the last big ones that they actually got killed. So I think after this last one, they're like hey, with all the digital editing and CGI, like can we not have real guns on movie sets, you know, but so isn't

Chuck Shute: 29:34

really banned on every movie set. Now. I don't know if they're banned, but

Tim Montana: 29:37

a lot of actors are refusing to work with real firearms. But I the gun that was pointed in my face in the last movie is definitely a rubber one. And they even made a bigger deal. They stopped the movie fair and they're like rubber gun and they bend the barrel but I did carry a real pistol, but it was definitely checked by the armor and all that but I didn't point the real pistol of anybody. The only pistol pointed at it. Humans were pregnant. So yeah,

Chuck Shute: 30:02

I'm surprised they don't ban guns in films altogether. I mean, just because anti gun, you know, just seems like that would be the next step is like, Hey, we're just gonna we're not gonna have guns in our movies anymore. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 30:15

the tough part I think is some of those antique weapons are probably really hard to make thanks. Like if you have a Kentucky you know, black powder rifle for the Civil War videos and with the with some of that stuff, you know, it's just the putting gunpowder as long as you don't put a projectile and there's gonna blow gunpowder out and it looks good on film. And you don't have to go back and recreate that and the studio's probably expensive. So then the other thing is, like you have real armors that take their business very serious, right that are gonna make damn certain there's not a real bullet anywhere near that movie set. And that's their business. They buy all these rare guns, they collect all these rare guns and they take pride in their job to go out and ensure that it's safe on a movie set and that these antique firearms are you know, you safely and you know, if you get rid of that those guys, they're out of work, you know, but again, you got to put safety first.

Chuck Shute: 31:05

Definitely, yeah, that's safety. Safety is very important for a lot of things. I'm sure even on tour there's things that lights you know, being hung above your head and stuff like you gotta watch all that stuff, pyrotechnics. There's I mean, James Hetfield. I remember when I was a kid, and he burned his arm from pirates. And then like he had to they came first concert ever went to Guns and Roses Metallica and he he didn't have a guitar because he burned his hand.

Tim Montana: 31:32

Geez Yeah, I'm just worried about my drummer run around naked me getting pinkeye

Chuck Shute: 31:40

what happened?

Tim Montana: 31:42

It Yeah, just stay 36 Everybody's run around full full frontal nudity and the Sprinter van you know goes yeah

Chuck Shute: 31:50

don't you guys bands always played joke's on each other until especially like the last night and stuff.

Tim Montana: 31:56

Oh, costly. I did. I posted a shower prank on my Instagram yesterday where we picked a lock while someone was showering and people in my band no better than to shower with the door unlocked and they even tried to like put something in front of the door because they know I'm coming in with a bucket ice water. And but now I'm trying to find like, Can I get a rattlesnake? I really want to put a live animal in there safely right and not harm the animal. But I'm like, is there a mountain lion? Or a rattlesnake that I could borrow for? Great shower prank? Because I mean, what would you do if you're in the shower and open the curtain? There's a mountain lion staring at you. I mean, come on. It's gotta be great, right? Well, you know the gun hurts. Well, if you got the correct animal handler I just want the reaction of fear. You know, right before the guys I hear hear Bob. Hopefully the cat's name is Bob and they're like, come on, Bob. Let's go buddy. Bob cat.

Chuck Shute: 32:42

That's perfect. There you go. You definitely got to take that and put that on Instagram. That's a that's a real that could go viral for sure.

Tim Montana: 32:51

Yeah, there we go. That'll get the music to launch. You got to do just stupid humor to get your music career to launch.

Chuck Shute: 32:56

Right or you got to say something really controversial. That's great.

Tim Montana: 32:59

All right. So weird time and music promotion is not about the song anymore. It's about the controversy that you create around it. Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 33:07

or it doesn't have to be about your music. It could be you talking shit about like somebody else. Some other musician and then we you know, blabber mouth or whatever picks that up. And then that's the headline and then, but then people go oh, who's this Tim Montana? Maybe I'll check out his music. Oh, this guy's actually pretty good. Right?

Tim Montana: 33:23

All right, I'll go after Pete Eddie. But 50 cent has covered on that one. So I watched those guys and I'm like, right. What do you guys doing?

Chuck Shute: 33:34

Yeah, I mean, it's great for rap with the what does it like Kendrick Lamar and Drake that whole few new songs and but I mean, it was like I heard someone talking about the yesterday how some of the stuff they said like, you can't take that back. Like once that's out there. Like they're going after each other's families and stuff. I don't know. Yeah,

Tim Montana: 33:52

there was the Eminem and MGK won a couple years ago. And then of course, you go back to Tupac. He listens to that though, like boy that that did not end well for any party.

Chuck Shute: 34:02

Right? Yeah, sometimes it goes a little too far. So little controversies. Okay, I know like Motley Crue. I feel like is the king of that stuff. They're always like talking shit about somebody or someone's talking shit about them and

Tim Montana: 34:14

right.

Chuck Shute: 34:15

Have you read the dirt? I have not. Did you see the movie?

Tim Montana: 34:20

I don't think I have I think I saw the intro of NFL so I put on TV before I go to bed and I usually make about five minutes in. Oh

Chuck Shute: 34:27

god, you gotta watch that like that. That is That is such a crazy story. I mean, I'm sure they embellish some of it but the book is really good but the movie does a pretty good job too of telling just some of the craziness of that band and stuff. I know you're because you're a Guns and Roses guy right? Oh yeah. Big time. Yeah. Because you didn't you say you live near the apartment where they started at?

Tim Montana: 34:48

I lived in the same building Sycamore terrace and I'd go to Hollywood liquors and my fake ID and buy beer school every day with my skateboard. And mind you again I was my like first experience with electricity and I'm moved from rural Montana to Hollywood. So I was literally like just a caveman. And I was like, I need a skateboard. I need a fake ID. And so I'd go there and tell Luis all the time in the liquor store. At least I want to be a rock star or something. You'd be like my man, the last guy that told me that was Axl Rose. And he goes that he lived in your building.

Chuck Shute: 35:20

Yeah, it was the same guy that worked at he still worked at the same liquor store at

Tim Montana: 35:25

him and Luis, and it's funny if you watch the original jackass, Johnny Knoxville goes into a Hollywood liquor store dressed as an old man. And those are the same two guys, Jim and Louise. Jim passed away. I went to Hollywood about three months ago and the least finally left Hollywood liquors after like 40 years. But if you watch the OG jackass, he goes in there dressed as an old man robs the place. And you see these guys throwing them out. And that's Jim and Louise, who also used to wait on Guns and Roses when they were there,

Chuck Shute: 35:52

saying, so did you have any big breaks when you were in LA? Because I know that you moved to Nashville, like what when you're like 21 or something? Yeah,

Tim Montana: 36:00

I didn't really have any breaks in LA. I just kind of networked and partied really, I got my PhD and party and down there. As my buddy Louis said, We snorted our way out of Hollywood. And I met this guy named Johnny Highland, a blind guitar player, my brother is blind. So I had a connection with him there. And so I followed Johnny to Nashville, because I had never, you know, it's one thing to shred a guitar with distortion. But I'd never witnessed someone shredding guitar with no distortion. And I was like, so your fingers go that fast. And it's perfectly perfect. And it's faster than I've ever seen. Eddie Van Halen play with no distortion. And that was Johnny Highland. And he's, you know, big fell out, probably, I don't even know how big he is. But he's a big fellow legally blind. It only uses three fingers on the neck, and just goes faster than lightning. And I was like, I'd never seen anything like it suddenly, after falling into Nashville. So I followed him to Nashville, he produced my first record, I didn't have any money to pay for it. So I helped the studio guy build a staircase to literally pay for my production time. And I mowed his lawn at the studio and did just grunt work, I did more to the ground at the studio. And he's there out if you do this with the middle country album for free. And then that album got me on David Letterman in 2008. Because they feel a Montana, so So I got to see the Late Show. And that kind of gave me my first break of if that wouldn't happen. I don't know that I would have stuck with it that long. It was like at that time, I was like, Man, this was way premature. Like I didn't have a management company. And I'm booking agency and I'm playing the Ed Sullivan Theater. This is wild. And I thought I'd get those deals right afterwards. And I didn't but it gave me a taste of what I knew I wanted really early on to where I was like that feeling. I cannot recreate, like, I want that, you know, so you got

Chuck Shute: 37:44

the taste. How long did it take to you kept going? Because you could have given up you're like, oh, no, nobody wanted to sign me. But how long did it take for you to get the next big break? Or whatever?

Tim Montana: 37:54

You know, probably about a decade. Damn. Yeah, I read actually it was 2008 wasn't that long? 910. Five years, I'd say because 2013 is when I got the ZZ Top connection. And I got the theme song for the Boston Red Sox. And that got me to the national press again. So I guess it was five years. But that still didn't give me a record deal. And then the first record deal I signed was like 2021 or 2022. I think there's 21 I signed with music knock BMG. So but so it's like big break. Yeah, go make a record, throw it out. Shit didn't do what I wanted, keep going figure out how to stay in the game. That's why I got thrown into brand deals and stuff, you know, different companies like trigger and snap on and Polaris and Indian Motorcycle, you know, so I started making content and that content I get paid to make and I just put that back into my band. And I could afford to go out and do shows for no money. And my I didn't really have a game plan other than Can I stay in the game. My game plan is to stay out making music. And if you're trying to make money making music at that level, you're going to be hard pressed to do so. So I found the brand deals to offset my expenses to just stay in the game long enough to hopefully get noticed.

Chuck Shute: 39:11

Yeah, so during that five years, like between Letterman and the Red Sox thing, there wasn't a lot of big stuff happening. Like did you ever think of quitting or what kept you in it?

Tim Montana: 39:21

No, I mean, I'm down to quit. Quit did man I just kept writing songs. I got a pub deal. And there will be little things you know, I got a couple co writes for Kid Rock that went on his record. So I'm like, Okay, those were the top 40 countries are in a top 40 rock song I thought they'd pay a lot more money than they did. That's like honey, let's remodel the house and I got my first BMI check from that and it was missing like two zeros and I'm like, Oh my god. Back to the drawing board. So I got in that camp a little bit tour to those guys and just kind of kept networking and there was always some kind of light at the end of the tunnel and it always seemed like and I just get over this. You around that, then I can get closer to that. And you know, so just kept me in the game and kept me going and, and just love live performing everything else is, you know can be a lot, right? The music business side is the most aggravating thing on planet Earth. But the minute I walk out on stage, everything's worth it. You know, the second I take the stage and start rocking out and people go nuts. That's, that's what makes it all worth it. So, yeah,

Chuck Shute: 40:25

so this tour is you're getting a good response from the crowd. And I'm assuming it's going to be the same with the bush Jerry Cantrell thing.

Tim Montana: 40:32

Yeah, that's where we went on stage. You know, I'm really good at talking to an audience. I love it. And people like to get anxiety on stage and I'm like, No, but when I get anxiety in life, I think about being on stage my anxiety goes away. That's where I feel the most comfortable is on a stage in front of people. And my band learned a long time ago they're like this dude will say anything and a microphone. I didn't get comfortable with them like hey, you know what happened today? My bands like oh, no,

Chuck Shute: 41:00

you like doing the bigger tours where you're the opener? Or do you would you rather do a smaller tour or show or the like you're the headliner, basically people are coming to see you. I really like opening

Tim Montana: 41:12

and that might sound odd but I like going out in front of a crowd who has no idea who I am and winning them over didn't like gets my rocks off. I like because I'll see their arms folded like who's this guy and by song Three their arms come down and buy songs for their hands are in the air rocking out there in I love that. Yeah, headlining shows that great is everybody knows you and they see shit like going out and being the unknown guy, the underdog. I've always got off on being the underdog. Well,

Chuck Shute: 41:42

yeah, and I think your songs are there so catchy that I feel like people can get into it really quick. It's not like, you know, like some bands. It's it takes a few listens to really appreciate it. Your stuff is like very palatable. Like you can get into it right away,

Tim Montana: 41:56

I think. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, we tried to write I mean, that's 17 years of Nashville, getting my ass kicked with songwriting room, you know, I feel like that, like something I can bring a format is, is I've been in the room with some big boys. And I've had my app with over and over and over again. And I went home feeling like nothing. And I show back up the next day with a guitar and notebook and learn from it. You know, that song writing time in Nashville, you know, I don't live there anymore. But just that time in the room with some of these poets, and there's a real thing to say about songwriters in the best in the world live in Nashville. You know, I found myself in the room with Chris Stapleton and Billy Gibbons one day, and I'm like, How in God's name am I in this room with these two people? You know, and very one of those moments where I'm like, Oh, my God, do I forget that idea? Or do I just get up and listen, and we bounced them off. And we wrote for a few hours, and away we went. And I was like, that was? That was an all time high right there.

Chuck Shute: 42:49

Which song was the the row with those two?

Tim Montana: 42:52

We've never released it. It's called reverse tweet. And Billy recorded a version, but it's not released. So I don't know if it's ever gonna get released. You know, but I know Chris Stapleton sometimes digs through the archive of songs and pulls out old stuff. So I'm hoping one of these days to record it. Oh, that's the I Will or maybe Billy will. Who knows? Yeah,

Chuck Shute: 43:12

well, people should definitely get the new record. It's on July 12. I think I think one of my favorite songs is get you some is that going to be released as a single? Ah,

Tim Montana: 43:21

I think it's focused track that comes out with the record. I don't know if it's a single yet. But it's one of those that I get DMS after the live show and people know the title. So that's a good sign. If you're a completely new artists, and they're messaging you the title of your first song, then that's a good time because people we come out hard with that song. And people want to play that one live. Yeah, we're playing the whole new record live. Okay,

Chuck Shute: 43:46

so is it mostly the new record because your your music has shifted more from country to rock? So is it you're just gonna do this full album, and then you do any of your old songs?

Tim Montana: 43:56

No, there's no old material on our site. Right now. We're on a hard rock to where you want to get people hard rock and that's, you know, if we do a headlining set that's more than 45 then we'll mix in some of the rockin stuff from previous albums. So. Okay,

Chuck Shute: 44:11

awesome. Well, I look forward to it. If you come to Phoenix, I'll try to come catch you. I don't think I don't think the bush tours come here yet. Or is it?

Tim Montana: 44:20

You know, there's we haven't announced the tour yet in January. But I know I can't say with who but I know Phoenix is on the list for January and February. Oh, there's another tour. Yeah, we can't announce that yet. But I can't say I must say it

Chuck Shute: 44:33

will be very busy. Okay, well, maybe you can send me DM or something. But thank you so much for doing this. I know you got another one. So I'll let you get to the next one. I appreciate it again. The album's out. July 12. Two of the singles who and savage are both out right now. Yes, sir.

Tim Montana: 44:48

Thank you for your time.

Chuck Shute: 44:50

Thank you. All right. Talk to you later. All right. See ya. Bye.