Tony Scott: 0:21

Welcome to The Jay Franze Show, a behind-the-curtain look at the entertainment industry, with insights you can't pay for and stories you've never heard. Now here's your host, Jay Franze.

Jay Franze: 0:49

And we are coming at you live. I am Jay Franze and this is your source for the latest news, reviews and interviews. So if you would like to join in, comment or fire off any questions, please head over to jayfranze. com. All right, folks, tonight we have a very special guest with us. We have a hard rock band hailing from the great state of Texas. We have Awaiting Abigail. We have Abigail and James tonight with us. Thanks for having us, Jay. Why don't we start just real simple out of the gate? Can you tell me what the music scene is like there in the Dallas-Fort?

James Smith: 1:25

Worth area. It's very diverse right now. I think all genres are definitely represented In Fort Worth. You've got Billy Bob's and some other honky-tonk places. You've got Tejano, you've got rock and roll. I mean it's very diverse. Piano, you've got rock and roll. I mean it's very diverse. I think a lot of places and people are still recovering from COVID They've wiped out so many places and you know some of them have come back and some of them have come back of totally. You know it's totally different places. It's definitely bouncing back and I would say on the mend, but diverse. For sure you could find anything you want in Dallas-Fort Worth.

Jay Franze: 2:03

You mentioned Billy Bob's. I've gone to Billy Bob's a couple times now on the road, but I primarily think of it as a country venue. Is there any other genre that goes through there other than country?

James Smith: 2:13

You know, what's funny is every. I think it's sort of a tradition of theirs. But so the Toadies are from Fort Worth and they do a New Year's Eve or New Year's Eve Eve show almost every year now, generally. No, I can tell you, in high school, between high school and college, I worked as one of the sound guy, like just a hand really, but Jerry Lee Lewis. We saw Jerry Lewis play there when he was on his gotta I Pay my Taxes tour. That is funny. But yeah primarily country.

Jay Franze: 2:46

What did you think of the venue from the insider's point of view?

James Smith: 2:50

Oh, just super cool and it was really. You know they do a good job of making it like kind of have the dive vibe, but also, you know, being a tourist attraction, balancing that, you know you really get the feel for like, I still take people there, you know, when they come in from out of town because it's not very far from where I live at all yeah, I think they. It's just a, it's a place that you're going to play at in Texas. If you play country, for sure You're trying to get there.

Jay Franze: 3:20

Yeah, I know I really enjoyed my time there, for sure. Abby, I know you're the latest member of the band. Can you tell us how that came about?

Abigail Hill: 3:28

Yeah, so I went on this app called BandMix not sponsored, but we did a BandMix.

Abigail Hill: 3:34

Not sponsored but good and I met James there and I did an audition with the Pretty Reckless song and the whole band loved it. So pretty much after that they flew me down because I was in Houston for the summer, because that's where my family's at, and we did a rehearsal and they all loved it. They loved my voice, kind of fit the tone. I already had the Bad Mind EP it was already all finished and after that it was just the last test, which was to go into the studio, empire Studios, and we recorded those four songs and the engineer just loved it. Like that was kind of the end result. James ended up saying that I was the right fit for it because James had had a couple of other options there, because they were doing auditions and things like that. So then we came up with the name Awaiting Abigail, kind of just texted back and forth different names and it was. It was really fun.

James Smith: 4:37

It was really fun. Jay, you want the actual dirt, then I'll give you the dirt on it. So we had the rhythm tracks. Yeah, we had the rhythm tracks recorded and our original vocalist just didn't work out, a little too timid for the studio. And it was like a time of reflection for the other players and I, because we had and our sound engineer he's very good at what he does but he was like these tracks are too good and you need to find the right person for the fit.

James Smith: 5:07

So we were kind of at a loss and I would just happen to be browsing through that website. I would equate it to a dating app Swipe Rice, swipe Swipe and I saw her profile and it had influences, everything from Fleetwood Mac to Evanescence, and that caught my interest and I thought, well, she looks kind of poppy. We may be a little bit too heavy for her, but I decided to give it a try. And the age thing was a concern because, you know, there's a lot of different versions. She's 20 now, but she was 19 at the time. There's a lot of different versions of 19. She's 20 now, but she was 19 at the time. There's a lot of different versions of 19 years old, right, but she was very persistent. She was like so, basically, how do I get in the band? I was like, okay, well, send me a video of some cover songs.

James Smith: 5:55

And I gave her Pretty Reckless and she did a couple tunes and we were passing around we're passing around ideas between the rest of us about who we would get and stuff. We were open to male or female and she sent us the cover songs. We're like that's pretty good, that's pretty good. So we were going to bring her in and just jam the cover songs. But then I was like, you know, like really, the real test, actually let's not even waste time with that.

James Smith: 6:17

The real test is we have these four tracks that are recorded and I literally one of them um, the first track, I hate you, I had some vocal ideas for and I had a chorus to track four. So I had a couple sketches, but really no words or melodies really. And I said the real test is going to be give her these four tracks and see what she comes up with. And we did that with a few people and that really thinned it out quick, you know, because then you got to put up, you got to put up or shut up.

James Smith: 6:45

Well, she wrote a song about one every week and, in her home studio, sent it to me. And that's when I started taking her real serious, because the first one that she did was bad mind and it was it was cooking. And I sent it to the other people and they were like, okay, she's real, and it kind of went from there. So it's really interesting, because what you listen to when you listen to any of our streams, what you're listening to is basically she jammed with us one time in a practice live and then went in the studio and then knocked those out with a little less than two hours, so kind of backwards way of doing it yeah, but but totally worked.

Jay Franze: 7:28

I mean can you tell me what the age.

Abigail Hill: 7:44

So he's the oldest of the band so 20 to 62 yeah, exactly so. It's a wide range and his daughter is, I believe, in her 30s right yeah cory.

Abigail Hill: 7:56

She plays the keyboard, so she's like above me. And then we have Lori and Heather and James and they're kind of all around the same age because y'all went to high school together, right. So they're all kind of in the same age. They used to be in a band when they were younger, so it's kind of like almost a family reunion, like friend reunion, band reunion type of thing. So it's really cool. It's a it's definitely a wide range of ages, but I think that honestly gives us the different genres and the different time periods and it kind of mixes it together really well do you find any challenges in that?

Abigail Hill: 8:32

I feel like we're pretty, pretty clear on the same page as to what we want to get done. James will usually just like here's a song that whoever wrote or they made the track to this, you want a song right to that. So then I'll do that. And then we all just kind of I don't know we kind of collaborate in the studio and in our rehearsal. We never really clashed, so it's pretty cool.

Jay Franze: 8:58

Do you have any challenge relating to that age gap?

James Smith: 9:04

No, it's surprising, it's like the island of misfit toys, but it's literally. I was thinking about that the other day. There's literally I mean it's not like there is an age difference, because I've played with a lot of musicians. I'm, by default, a classically trained trumpet player and I've played in a lot of live situations and it's crazy how well Abby is able to control her voice, her stage show. Everything is just super easy. The other people that I've been in bands with before they know what it's like to be in a band. You either know what it's like or you don't. And when you know what it's like be in a band, you either know what it's like or you don't. And uh, when you know what it's like, all the logistic things just kind of work. So it's crazy, but it doesn't. The age thing is not a factor, and somebody else had asked us what it's like with um mike and cory, because it's a, it's a father and daughter thing. But you would actually never know because you wouldn't know.

James Smith: 9:57

You would never know because they're like hey bro, hey, whatever it's a very, it's a very, you know it's adult relationship because he's yeah, you know he's 60 and she's 30. So yeah, but no, it's. It's crazy how smoothly it runs. Maybe it runs even better because of the age because y'all have different perspectives.

Abigail Hill: 10:17

I guess the only difference is I have X's on my hands and everyone else is drinking. That's the only difference.

Jay Franze: 10:24

There you go. I guess that worked. But Abby had mentioned, James, that you had played in a band with some of the members in the past. Was that band also a rock band?

James Smith: 10:36

Yeah, all three of us were band nerds. We were in band in high school together. Like I said, I played trumpet, heather, our drummer, she played saxophone and Lori, our bass player, was in color guard and we just started jamming in my garage and we went through all styles. We started playing Poison and Motley Crue covers Right, and they hated it, but it was what I liked at the time and it was my house, so I made us play them.

James Smith: 11:02

But our first band was kind of in that genre. We started writing originals and then we started getting heavier. We brought a guitar player in and he walked in and was playing Metallica and Slayer and we were like whoa, what is that? So we started getting heavier, changed the band name and played quite a bit around the DFW area and then we came out the other end. We kind of split up and then some of the band members got back together and we came out the other end of it like a grunge metal type of band. So there's a little bit of everything and I think it's fun watching people try to put us in a box because we've been called everything, and then also people just don't know what to put us in a box because there's so many. You know we've been called everything, and then also people just don't know what to call us.

Jay Franze: 11:45

Well, how do you feel that history has helped form who you guys are today?

James Smith: 11:51

I mean it's absolutely crucial to who we are today because Heather and I, the drummer, we can get together and we can write incredibly fast and we have four people that write music Abby does I do, lori, our bass player, does and Mike, our other guitar player. So I think the history and also having the common ground of at least high school band with those other people, I'm able to sketch out ideas or whatever, and it's funny because other people that are in this genre probably wouldn't find a music stand necessarily in their rehearsals or practices it's definitely the history and the experience. It all pays dividends in different areas. So the areas that we do struggle in or do need to learn how to be a band in are very spread out and not in one area.

Jay Franze: 12:48

Well, let's take the creative process a step further. I mean, abby, you mentioned at the beginning that you came into this blind, and James, you mentioned having these four tunes that didn't have vocals to them, yet that helped you guys have a way to address writing those particular songs. But since then, how do we go about the creative process now?

Abigail Hill: 13:11

I would say it's almost the same. We do tweak things now more, but the rest of the band, they kind of come up with a tune and then sometimes we'll have like ideas of what it's about and we'll collaborate on that. But they still kind of send me the tune and then I'll still write the lyrics to that and then we'll tweak it from there. So it's almost kind of the same process, just a little bit more collaboration with all of us combined. But I'd say it's almost the same.

Jay Franze: 13:42

So if that's the case, James, how are you guys recording the material to send to?

James Smith: 13:47

her. Since we had gone to the studio, I was able to the first time go in with a click track. It's kind of funny because the guy that's recording us his name is Alex Gerst at Empire Sound. His dad recorded our band in the 90s. Funny because the the guy that's recording us his name is alex gerst at empire sound. His dad recorded our band in the 90s, so I remember he's. He's our age. I remember him being around the studio back then. But a lot of local bands use him and and bigger than local for sure too.

James Smith: 14:16

But I went in with a click track, so now it's totally different. I usually write in Pro Tools, I'll just riff around and then have a click track. It's funny because Heather does not want to hear drums. She wants to have her own ideas about it. So it's just a click track. But I'll usually record the guitars in and then maybe if there's a bass idea, then I'll play it on the bass and then send out to all of the members the click track with basically just the rhythms and stuff like that.

James Smith: 14:49

But what Abby was too shy or forgot to tell you is so she's got a lot of pop music. She's got a whole catalog of pop music that she did on her own, that's, on her individual socials and stuff, and we've adapted two of them so far to our style and it'll be really interesting whenever these come out because it'll be fun to compare them, the production level of it. We're already playing two of them live and they're kicking, and so we've kind of come at it from all directions. We done the, we've done that. Okay, here's the rhythm section you write the lyrics to it to. Okay, here's your song. Do you like what we've done with it? Or you know, like we, we're gonna, we're gonna make this heavy. Now are you cool with it? And I mean the two tunes that we've adapted from her. They're slamming and they stand on their own as like in her solo project. They're very effective also all right.

Jay Franze: 15:45

So you mentioned that you've got the four tunes that you guys came with. You got the two tunes that she's coming in with. How many tunes have you guys done together as a true collaboration from start to finish, at this point, right now we have right now that we've done all together, we have another three that are cooking all right, and you mentioned alex in the studio over at empire sound. Can you start by telling me what that studio is like?

Abigail Hill: 16:13

he has a drum set in the back that has its own room. He has this huge um mixer and we kind of sit around there and talk about what we want to do, and then we also have a separate room that's in the in between the mixer and the drummer area and that's the vocal. So, yeah, it's really nice down there. He's really sweet. He's definitely the best sound engineer that I've worked with personally, so I would definitely recommend him.

James Smith: 16:46

James your thoughts. He's like another member of the band we have six people. He's like a seventh member of the band when he's in there and Heather has recorded with him. Like I said, we recorded with his dad. He's a drummer himself.

James Smith: 16:58

He plays in a couple cover bands and has played his whole life and he's a really good player and it's great having him, because he's not like a guy that's just going to be like OK, do you like that? He'll be like no, and very involved in the creative process as well, like bouncing ideas Well, what about this, what about that? And at the same time, open to it. You know, like if he has an idea and it's really good, but like I want half of his idea and not all of his idea. He's totally cool with that, but he's very, very involved. Equipment wise, I think it's pretty unique because he has a huge analog board and then the rest is all digital. You know he has a little bit of secret sauce that he throws in there, but but I mean really he does a great job of capturing what we want it to sound like. I mean, when we hear it, we're like yeah, that's what we had in mind.

Jay Franze: 17:50

Well, let's talk about that, because you mentioned the analog board. It's an SSL console and it looks like he's got all the rack gear and it looks like a typical commercial recording studio. It's pretty large, it even the rack gear and it looks like a typical commercial recording studio. It's pretty large, even has um analog tape machine. So I assume you mentioned recording digitally and you mentioned pro tools earlier that you guys did not go the analog route.

James Smith: 18:11

Is that fair to say? Yeah, that's his. I think that's his dad's setup. That's there for nostalgia, yeah yeah, I mean it's pretty sweet.

Jay Franze: 18:17

Two inch, two inch studer tape machine. I mean it's pretty slick, it's a two-inch Studer tape machine. I mean it's pretty slick, but most people aren't using those these days. They're stuck in the digital world and you know what. I appreciate that I'm a Pro Tools person.

Jay Franze: 18:28

For sure, started my day with analog tape and have made my way through all the iterations of formats up until this point. And I will be the first to tell you I'm a Pro Tools fanatic for sure. So you mentioned you have a Pro Tools rig at home that you record into. So are you just recording the ideas at home or do you record?

James Smith: 18:52

anything that makes its way to the studio. It all goes to the studio and most of it gets deleted. I say most of it because it's scratch stuff and he can do way better there with what he has. I just have the UA, which is good for what it is, but typically what happens is that format that I have at home. I get it, I put the keyboard parts in it, I put everything in it that's basically the rhythm section and then I send that to him. So whenever we show up, we immediately go and you know verses, choruses, measure, numbers, it's all labeled. We immediately go right into tracking the drums. So Heather's up right out of the bat. The songs are already formatted. It saves a lot of time, you know. He gets to know the songs, obviously, as any producer recorder does, but it cuts that time down to almost nothing because it's all labeled and already set up in the scratch tracks. So we go right into tracking drums.

Jay Franze: 19:51

What type of input does he have as a producer?

James Smith: 19:55

He'll do whatever you want him to do in our case, but he also won't put his name on something that's not good. Yeah, so because of my background I I taught in the public schools, I was a band director for nearly 20 years and I I want the brutal. I mean that's how we were. We'd have clinicians come in, guest conductors, stuff like that. So I told him I want it brutally.

James Smith: 20:17

Honest, like don't blow sunshine. Like if you think it sucks, tell us it sucks. Honest, like don't blow sunshine. Like if you think it sucks, tell us it sucks. If you don't understand something, tell us you don't understand it. So abby can attest to this. He pretty much he takes on that role and he'll he'll do it. And then sometimes you know it'll be like he'll be like well, I don't know about this or whatever, and then I'll kind of explain well, I actually want to do this, and then add this to it, and then whatever. And then he'll be like OK, ok, I can see it, and then he'll go with it. But he's a pretty strong voice by choice for us and he hasn't not led us astray yet.

Jay Franze: 20:54

So can you kind of tell us what the day in the studio is like for you guys?

James Smith: 21:02

the day in the studio is like for you guys. So after the drums are done, then, um, he sends us away to lunch so that he can get, get that in the neighborhood of like how he wants that, you know, tightening them up, yeah, getting it on the grid, and uh. Then, uh, we come back and we do, um, we do rhythm guitars and on. On the first on the EP that you hear, we had not totally gotten in the same roles that we are now. Mike actually plays bass on one tune in that MIDI blocks for the keyboard stuff. Oh, I want to go back to what you were saying, though. How much of the stuff that I bring from home stays.

James Smith: 21:43

What's funny is the introduction to Falling Under, which is the piano and the synthesizer thing, with her singing in falsetto over it. That was just my idea. That was from home. I'd done that at home on my keyboard and played it in and point it out, and I was like I want something like this. And he's like, all right, well, why not that? Yeah, so that ended up. I mean, I was surprised. I thought that he was going back. No, that's not let's. You know, he'd want to do it there and he was like I don't think we should touch it.

James Smith: 22:14

So after after we do get the rhythm tracks down, then we may um add some stuff. You know he'll pull out some really cool stuff. There's a sitar part that's kind of nestled in the mix on um falling under. There's a guitar with nashville tuning where I'm playing some stuff that you would not expect to hear on a rock and roll deal, but he puts it in a almost subconscious, barely conscious place in the mix where we're just like wow, wow, that's magic. And he always says the same thing. He's like just trust me. And he brings out another instrument Just trust me, Now do this. And not all of it's used, but some of it is. So we kind of do all that stuff that typically takes up one day, then the next day is usually leads, supplemental guitar work and then vocals, so you pretty much get the entire track done, including leads, before you do vocals.

James Smith: 23:11

Sometimes not the leads Actually, not the leads in this particular case. She did the vocal line and then I did the leads because I didn't want to step on her. On the next one I'm going to have to carve out some space to play a little bit more, so I'm going to have to be like no, you can't sing there. No singing for you.

Jay Franze: 23:32

So, Abby, I mean you don't strike me as the type of person who requires special attention when you're in the studio, but what do you do to make the studio comfortable when you're in there to sing?

Abigail Hill: 23:45

Honestly, as long as I've got my water, I've got the lyrics there, I'm good to go. I've been in the studio a while because I did pop tracks so I feel like that was really hard to do all of the ad-libs. I was in there for pop track so I feel like that was really hard to do. Like all of the ad-libs. I was in there for probably like eight hours a lot of the time for one song. So I'm used to the studio. I just kind of I like to take critiques and things. I don't really get like all upset about that. Yeah, as long as I got a drink and my lyrics, I'm good to go lights on.

Jay Franze: 24:19

Lights lights off.

Abigail Hill: 24:20

If they have LEDs, keep it on. If it's too too bright, maybe not as long as I can see the lyrics.

Jay Franze: 24:29

Candles or anything like that.

Abigail Hill: 24:32

I've never done candles.

Jay Franze: 24:34

Yeah, I haven't ever done candles, just working in the studio in Nashville for so many years. Every time a singer would come in, we would have a different setup for that particular person, so we'd have some people bring in their own area rug, maybe a floor lamp, you know, just things that made them feel comfortable. So I always like to find out what it is that makes you comfortable.

James Smith: 24:53

Yeah, Don't give her any ideas.

Jay Franze: 24:56

Yeah, I know I'm like now.

Abigail Hill: 24:57

I have to make my own.

Jay Franze: 25:02

I can have my own floor lamp. I can do this, candles, sure you record the tracks. Do you then leave and does Alex then take over and mix, or do you stay there for the mix?

James Smith: 25:14

No, he does his own thing and then calls us back. He gets it to where he wants it or likes it and if he has questions about stuff he's got it, all you know, noted. I usually walk away from there. He'll bounce me a mix and I'll drive around and listen to it. I like to spread the time apart. I want to have the time to reflect on it, not commit to anything without listening to it, in a lot of different moods and settings. But he gets it to where he wants it and then, honestly, I go in there without anybody else with him and he and I kind of make the final decisions about what's going to come out. And everybody seems very comfortable with that and happy with how that's been going.

Jay Franze: 26:03

So how long does it take him to mix one of the songs?

James Smith: 26:07

You know, I don't really know, because he does what he calls his mixing time and he's like so his schedule is like he's either recording sessions or he's doing mixing. So I really don't know the answer to that question. I will tell you that he told me that this, this project, made him kind of rethink a bunch of stuff and he did a lot of, I guess, outside of the box stuff and it was an awesome learning thing for him and he ended up spending some more money on some, on some new toys or whatever. But I really don't know the answer to that question, but I'll certainly ask him because we just might be seeing him again soon nice.

Jay Franze: 26:47

Do you know if he mixes in the box entirely, or does he go back through the console?

James Smith: 26:53

He goes back through the console, I believe, because when he bounces something, he has to bounce it in real time.

Jay Franze: 27:00

It has to play back, right, yeah, so I'm sure he's got at least some of the outboard gear going for sure. All right, I asked Abigail earlier about some challenges. Do you find any challenges that you've faced so far up to this point?

James Smith: 27:14

I spend more time doing band stuff than I do playing my instrument. Playing my instrument is very last on the to but even writing I would be writing like crazy if I wasn't. It's crazy, jay, because we're actually all social media illiterate and we thought when we were getting a 19-year-old, we were like awesome, because none of us know anything about it.

James Smith: 27:44

And she does. She knows stuff about it, but it's just a lot. It's a lot and I don't really know what I'm doing. But I try and I'm learning along the way. But yeah, that's the biggest challenge. And then the other thing too is we didn't really know what this was going to turn into. We didn't know if the songs would flop. We didn't know our first show.

James Smith: 28:08

You mentioned the name earlier. We literally had our first gig, which was no small deal. It was at trees and deep elm, which is a premium venue for a local band to be playing at. We had our first show before we even had our name and so we were like, uh, with the promoter I was like, okay, hold on just a second. She's like she knew our drummer from our previous project is really why we got that show and it was a high profile show. It was women in metal and it was like some of the best hard rock and metal bands in the area. So we had to come up with a name pretty quick and it's funny she didn't mention it when we first started working together.

James Smith: 28:50

But Abby one day in practice was like I think it was even after the EP was out, she was like yeah, my mom was a metalhead and she named me after King Diamond's album Abigail. We're like whoa, what? Like, wait a second, yeah, wait a second. Little pop music pants was named after King Diamond. So anyways, our name, you know. Obviously we wanted it to be very centered around her, her voice, everything about her. She's the most unassuming and humble person. It makes it very easy to make the project about her, and so we wanted her name to be in it, and it was just kind of a matter of finding the right, you know, word to go with it.

Jay Franze: 29:29

So you were waiting for it all works out. So, james, do you find yourself managing the band?

James Smith: 29:37

yeah, I'm definitely the do-it-yourself manager, for sure the player manager.

Jay Franze: 29:43

Yeah, yeah occasionally play guitar, nice, so that's pretty cool then. So I guess if you're spreading your time so thin, that time is the biggest challenge for you. What's the motivation?

James Smith: 30:15

like before, my work was music and it was work All the things that go along with something. Being work was part of my teaching public school. And now I'm out of that and I want to do music and I kind of went back to my. It's like living your teenage years again, you know. So I'm very motivated by playing with those girls that I jammed with when I was younger and now we're adults. We all have a life story and then it's very motivational to have a young person that is so open to ideas and new genres playing out and stuff like that. It's almost like I'm able to do what I was doing when I was band directing, but now I just have five kids instead of like 300.

Jay Franze: 30:55

Nice. So what would you consider success to be?

James Smith: 31:00

This has already exceeded my expectations by thousands of percents. Like I said, we got that first show and, honestly, we didn't talk about it, but we probably all thought it. Maybe Abby didn't think it, but I definitely thought I'm like OK, so is this one and done, how's this show going to go? Are people going to show up? Are people going to be up there for us? And I knew that it was like. Even the promoter was like I hope this goes over, because it was her very first show at that venue. So literally we were living it kind of like day by day and I was like man, if it's ended right now, that's still pretty cool. I really like what she did to those four tunes. Well, we had our first show and it was crazy. I mean, it was crazy. We had a lot of people there. The people that were there for us were nuts and the people that weren't there for us were up there anyways supporting us and it just really it absolutely set the trajectory for kind of where we are now.

James Smith: 32:03

So success. I don't know, I think I guess for personal, I feel like it's all gravy. At this point I obviously want more. I want us to get out there. That's why we're traveling a lot. I don't want to be stuck in Dallas-Fort Worth. I think it's really important, if you have the means to be able to do it, to get other places. So we're going a lot of places. I mean, if this is our first year and we kind of already have already all committed to another year 2026, see where things go, I mean I don't know, it's hard. I don't want to say that I define success by a paycheck or a certain crowd size or anything, because I think it's more kind of about if you're enjoying what you're doing. So I mean I welcome all that, I welcome the accolades, and if it ever turns into a net positive venture, that's cool. But that's not why we're doing that. That's all gravy on the side. You know, that's extra credit.

Jay Franze: 33:03

So you do have some bigger shows coming up. Can you tell us about those?

James Smith: 33:08

Yeah, immediately after that show, our very first show that was in december I had been going because I travel, for work. I found myself not a lot but uh, semi regularly in the hollywood area and I had been going to the whiskey for a while uh, since I changed careers, because it's the whiskey and that's what I grew up listening to. And you know, I'd been there starting after COVID. I'd been there when it was packed and I went to lead a Ford show there. I'd also been there when it's dead. I mean, there's a band playing and there's two people there and you know I don't always buy T-shirts and stuff like that Started talking to the people there and getting to know the staff and Jake, the main guy that does the booking there, I was telling him one time this was before I had the band.

James Smith: 33:55

I was like, man, I used to play and play in all these iconic venues around the dfw area. I'd really love to play here. If I have a band. I don't know if it'll ever happen, I don't know if I'll be able to get the other folks back there. January I gave him a call after the show because it was late December. I'm like, hey, man, I'm going to send you an email with all our details and everything. But I really would love to make a show happen out here. We could fly out and make it work. He was like, yeah, man, I sent him my stuff and he said I just may have the perfect thing for you.

James Smith: 34:28

I could ask for a better opportunity that we get to open for la guns in la on a saturday night? Yeah, I mean. So, um, and we're, we're about kind of right in the middle. They're running six bands, so there's, uh, I think, three before us and then, um, us another band than la guns play. So I mean it's just gonna be, it's it's going to be, it probably already is sold out and it's just going to be a rager. So that was kind of a matter of like. I mean, I don't people believe in different stuff, you know visualization or whatever, but like I literally sat in that bar and was like, man, that would be really cool to ever play there. I didn't really think it would happen, but you know.

Jay Franze: 35:16

So yeah, here we are, and uh, so that's going to be a big one for sure, well, that's the home for la guns. Yeah, so I mean, and that's coming up in july, so july 19th, if anybody wants to check it out. But, abby, what are you looking forward to most with that?

Abigail Hill: 35:27

I'm super excited to play with la guns I. I just saw them in concert in Houston I think it was last weekend, so I'm really excited to meet them and actually play with them. It's going to be amazing and I love LA. And I'm super excited to play at the Whiskey because I know all the bands that have played there and it's just going to be phenomenal.

Jay Franze: 35:50

Yeah, they've got a pretty good scene going on right right now, so it's not just what's happened in the past. The bands that are playing there these days are pretty, pretty sharp as well, so that's pretty cool. So you get that coming up, and then you've got others. So tell me about the next one, james yeah, we're opening for lillian axe.

James Smith: 36:07

Lillian axe is doing the te Texas mini tour and we're going to play for them in Dallas. But also we're going to go down to San Antonio and play at Fitzgerald's down there, and right after that there's one coming up that I can't say anything about, unfortunately, but be watching for that because it's going to be a very big local show. It's another female fronted band that's very popular in the Dallas-Forth area. We're going to be opening for them. Then that gets us to September. In September we're doing a biker rally in Flagstaff with Texas Hippie Coalition. That's going to be pretty cool. Yeah, I wish that I could break the August thing and I wish that I could break the September thing, because there's another September thing. That's a four-day mini tour and it's probably the most epic thing of the year.

James Smith: 36:57

And if you look at our calendar and you're like, oh, they're playing the Whiskey with LA Guns and this is more epic than that. I mean, probably there's nothing more epic than playing for LA Guns in LA, but for us it will have very good future ramifications.

Abigail Hill: 37:11

I would say Very on the same side.

James Smith: 37:15

Yeah, genre matching, it'll be pretty incredible.

Jay Franze: 37:19

You have to come back on and tell us about that. But what are you hoping the fans take away from it?

James Smith: 37:25

Abby, you can take it.

Abigail Hill: 37:27

Yeah, I hope the fans that they just enjoy our music and I'm super excited for the new songs that are going to come out. Uh, we have. We're going to go back in the studio soon, so we're going to have some new songs coming out. I'm also super excited to see everyone that comes to our concerts. I love meeting everybody. Everyone's super sweet. So it's it's really nice to meet everyone and I'm just excited for all of like the concerts that we. So it's it's really nice to meet everyone and I'm just excited for all of like the concerts that we're doing. It's going to be amazing.

Jay Franze: 37:56

Well, you mentioned the fact that none of you are very big on social media, so how are you developing the audience at this point.

Abigail Hill: 38:05

Through who we know. A lot of them bring friends and the concerts. They're telling their family about it and friends and they're coming down. I do have a social media so I guess some of my friends are coming from that, but we're still growing on there so hopefully soon it will skyrocket. But I think it's mostly just through talk and with the big names of the other bands, them coming to see them and then them seeing us and liking us. I would say that's right now. That's kind of the main reason.

Jay Franze: 38:40

Do you take advantage of your time on stage when opening up for bigger acts to kind of fish for that audience?

Abigail Hill: 38:47

Yeah, of course, I think it's just just being yourself. Honestly. Whoever really likes you will follow you throughout your journey. We've just been always just been humble. Whoever comes up to us and wants to talk, we're always up for it. We love, like supporters and fans. They're all super close and really cool people. So I think yeah, I think we definitely try to kind of match that energy, but we're still ourselves.

Jay Franze: 39:17

Throughout the years of playing music and playing guitar. How do you keep up with technology?

James Smith: 39:24

Well, I thought, when I got back in about two years ago, when this was going to be a thing, I started jamming with Heather again live drums, and she plays so loud I mean she can play with finesse, but it is so loud I thought, well, I want the best, I can do it, I can afford it, so I'm going to get the best. So I got EVH head, 100 watt head, halfack, only to find out about a year later the marvels of the quad cortex, which is great because of all the traveling that we're going to do, but we're literally a silent stage. And it's funny because I won't name the groups. But some of the groups that have come through Dallas I'll buy the VIP package and sure I'll take their autograph or whatever. But some of these guys I have come through Dallas I'll buy the VIP package and you know, sure I'll take their autograph or whatever. But some of these guys I saw when I was a kid, you know, and so like I'll talk to them and say I remember when you were played at X and you played, really, what cover song did we play? You played this one. So I try to talk shop a little bit with them. You know, and it's funny how many people that is you're hard pressed to find in this genre at least on a bigger group. I mean, people are really going with the profilers you know we're using probably about a half a percent of what they'll do, but the people that have listened to us live have said, yeah, you don't. I mean even diehard tube overdrive guys have been like, yeah, you don't really need it, but how to evolve, I don't know.

James Smith: 40:56

I kind of bought back into it and then I went on the guitar thing. I was like, you know, I can afford it, I'm going to try a bunch of different guitars. I went to not the end of the earth but the end of the basic and I ended up right back where I was when I was a kid. I'm playing a jackson. Yeah, it's funny. I did the ltd thing, uh, uh, I haven't ormsby. I really like the ormsby a lot but it's a fan fret deal and it's really more for detune stuff. So I'll use in the future.

James Smith: 41:24

But yeah, just keeping up with it. Uh, I think people talk about what they use a lot more. You know the collaboration. It wasn't like that when we were kids, like people even. Right, it was a big secret. Yeah, it was a big secret. Even Eddie himself was always trying to throw people off with what he was doing to get his sound. But yeah, I think it's much easier now. Internet plus it's cool to collaborate and everybody's sharing ideas and stuff like that. So definitely through musicians and through just my own research is how I kind of stay up with the gear.

Jay Franze: 41:54

So are you guys using in-ear monitors?

James Smith: 41:58

That's a great question. We want to, but I mean that is like a big step financially, obviously, and to run the whole band. We're going to go to Abby having it and then, um, kind of go from there.

Jay Franze: 42:13

I think she's the one that needs it the most well, yeah, somebody who needs to hear pitch for sure it's definitely gonna, yeah, it's gonna benefit her more than anybody else and then probably use seconds and so on yeah yeah, so yeah, that would make sense. Do you have any brand or any particular model you want?

James Smith: 42:30

no. So you can. You can absolutely help us with that offline if you have some recommendations. I mean just what the other bands have told us. It's like it feels like you've got to go pretty much all in on that or not. You know, we don't want to do kind of. Our motto on this whole project has been let's do it right and let's not put anything out there that's not top quality. So I would kind of want the same for a. I'd rather build something modular than if we had to, if we had to be on a budget. I'd rather do the right stuff, quality equipment, and do it modular, you know nice.

Jay Franze: 43:08

So you guys mentioned the commitment for at least 2026. So what is it that makes you commit to 2026 and what will make it so you commit to 2027?

James Smith: 43:21

I think we're all open to where it takes us. At the end of the day, Abby's a young lady with her whole life ahead of her. You know we don't want to hold her back. You know we don't all all necessarily want to be touring professional musicians Like we enjoy the balance of our lives, families at home, etc. So the schedule that we're doing already is taxing.

Jay Franze: 43:42

Wait, wait, wait Says the man calling in from the hotel room. I know.

James Smith: 43:48

I get a lot of days off, man. I know I get a lot of days off, man, but no, it's for. You know, we have people that have Monday through Friday jobs and they want to do this for fun and we don't want to burn them out, and so it's a balance there of how successful can we be while maintaining their home life that they want to have and also not holding Abby back. You know, the flip side of that is look what she's going to walk away from and really honestly, if she does go on to do other stuff, we've already proven that we can do this remotely, in a reunion type fashion. We could easily go to doing a handful of shows.

James Smith: 44:29

You know, maybe do a show quarterly and fly her in for one rehearsal beforehand. I mean, she's just that level. I mean I don't want to call her a kid or say that I'm teaching her, but I've taught so many kids to play instruments. You know, when you have somebody really special and you know kind of what they can do. So we're already at that point. So if she ever does decide she needs to be in a different city or she needs to be, you know, doing something different, that option is there also well, that's the benefit.

Jay Franze: 45:00

We mentioned the, the gear and how things changed, or how things change, that we have the ability to be anywhere and collaborate and put things together. There's always the opportunity for her to be in more than one band.

James Smith: 45:15

Yeah, she has other interests too, like she, like what are your? Are your interests film, or are they theater?

Abigail Hill: 45:23

More film, yeah, but I noticed that film is actually growing in the Dallas area and in Texas in general. A lot of the film big film areas are the film studios and agencies are moving to Texas because of the LA fires and everything. So I think I'm staying here longer than I thought, so I'm excited for that.

Jay Franze: 45:45

It's blowing up in Austin right now. I'll tell you that.

Abigail Hill: 45:47

Yeah, yeah, it is.

Jay Franze: 45:49

All right, guys, while we do this thing here, we call Unsung Heroes, where we take a moment to shine the light on somebody who works behind the scenes or somebody who may have supported you along the way. Do you have anybody you'd like to shine a little light on?

Abigail Hill: 46:00

You go first.

James Smith: 46:02

Okay, yeah, it's kind of funny. We've kind of developed him into a meme. But definitely Dalton, the merch guy. Dalton is Cory's husband and he does our merch and he's very funny. He's very goofy and he's not acting, it's actually 100% him. So definitely him, and everybody's families in our band, which is all of them, all their families, for supporting, for sure. And then Abby's boyfriend, Bradley, for being the bad guy in the video Falling Under. He's the abusive boyfriend and people always ask if the songs are about him. But it's not about him, it's about somebody else.

Jay Franze: 46:44

If it was about him, he wouldn't be around, right.

James Smith: 46:47

That's right, those are mine, but I know Abby has some too.

Abigail Hill: 46:52

All right, Abby what do you got? Yeah, definitely, yeah, bradley um, he's been to all of our shows and he's gonna try to continue to make all of them so that my mom for sure she's the one that kind of got me into rock in the first place. When I was little, she used to make me listen to rock every time you're in the car. She'd be like no metallica. She put it on, megadeth put it on, and at first I was kind of like rebelling against that, so that's kind of why I did pop. But honestly, it's made me like love rock even more and she's super supportive. So I love her and definitely all of our supporters as well. All of them are great. I love when they reach out to us. It's's super sweet. They always have something nice to say. So just thank you to everybody that listens to us. We really do appreciate you guys.

Jay Franze: 47:38

Let's talk about mom for a second. Does mom have a name?

Abigail Hill: 47:42

Yes, my mom's name is Stacy Stacy.

Jay Franze: 47:46

All right, I'll keep the joke to myself. Does your mom sing?

Abigail Hill: 47:52

She honestly doesn't. She jokes about that a lot because she's actually an accountant, so she's like I don't know where you got that from. My dad was a heavy metal singer. He used to do the growls and everything, but he's not really a singer singer, so I don't know where I got that from.

Jay Franze: 48:09

I only ask because if you're 20, your parents have to be somewhere around my age. And yeah, james, that could be your next singer, is all I was thinking, just trying to make arrangements for you yeah, yeah, no, I appreciate it, she's there anyways right, yeah, you may as well take advantage of it.

Jay Franze: 48:25

Get her in now start her with some harmonies and just work her way in. There you go. All right, folks. Well, we have of it. Get her in now, start her with some harmonies and just work her way in. There you go. All right, folks. Well, we have done it. We have reached the top of the hour, which doesn't mean we have reached the end of the show. If you've enjoyed this show, please tell a friend. If you have not tell two, you can reach out to all of us over at jfranzycom. We will Happy to keep this conversation going. James, abby, my friends, I would like to leave the last words to you, honestly.

Abigail Hill: 48:56

Just thank you for watching, thanks for listening to all of our funny stories. I hope you all have a great Memorial Day and yeah, james, do you have anything to add?

James Smith: 49:10

Yeah, thanks to all the bands out there that help us, work with us and are supportive. We support them. They support us Check us out on all the socials and thanks for watching and thank you, Jay, for having us. We appreciate it, man.

Jay Franze: 49:21

My pleasure, all right. Folks On that note have a good night.

Tony Scott: 49:26

Thanks for listening to The Jay Franze Show. Make sure you visit us at jayfranze. com. Follow, connect and say hello.