SkiP HappEns Podcast
Skip Clark is a dynamic and captivating podcast host and radio personality who has left an indelible mark on the world of broadcasting. With a voice that can command attention and a personality that oozes charm, Skip has become a beloved figure in the world of entertainment. His passion for storytelling and his ability to connect with his audience shine through in every episode of his podcast and every moment on the airwaves.
Skip’s journey in radio began decades ago, and he has since evolved into a seasoned professional who effortlessly navigates the waves of the media industry. His deep knowledge of music, pop culture, and current events keeps his listeners engaged and coming back for more. Skip Clark's enthusiasm and authenticity make him a trusted voice in the world of podcasting and radio. His dedication to his craft and his commitment to providing quality content continue to make him a standout in the world of broadcasting.
SkiP HappEns Podcast
Balancing Country Rock and Trucking: The Journey of Barry Lefroy and the Lefroy Band
Ever wondered how a long-haul trucker balances life on the road with the high-energy world of country rock? Join us for an unforgettable episode of Skip Happens Podcast as Barry Lefroy from the Lefroy Band shares his incredible journey from Toronto to Southern California and now to Anderson, Alabama, near the iconic Muscle Shoals. You'll get a front-row seat to the band's evolution over the past eight years and learn about the stellar contributions from legendary musicians like Laurence Juber, Josh Freese, Greg Leisz, and Jeff Babko. Barry also opens up about their unique spin on Bob Dylan's "Knockin' on Heaven's Door".
In this captivating conversation, Barry discusses the Lefroy Band's latest hit single, crafted by Dean Chance, and its triumphant climb on country radio stations. We uncover the intricate process of recording, blending sounds from Muscle Shoals and Studio City, and the unique challenges Barry faces balancing his dual passions for music and trucking. Barry also shares some heartfelt and humorous anecdotes from nearly five decades behind the wheel, giving us a glimpse into the life of a musician who finds solace in the driver's seat of his 90-foot truck.
Our episode wraps up with Barry's exhilarating tales of classic car collecting, including some high-octane moments doing burnouts in a restored muscle car for an auction. Discover how his wife unexpectedly became a part of their recording process, leading to her impressive debut on their EP. Barry offers invaluable advice to aspiring artists, touching on his own musical history, from playing with small local bands to jamming with April Wine. Tune in to hear about Barry's favorite instruments, nostalgic memories of Toronto and Syracuse, and the Lefroy band's growing online presence. This episode is packed with music, stories, and inspiration you won't want to miss!
Thanks for listening! Follow us at youtube.com/c/skiphappens
are live. Hello everybody, it's Skip Clark. Welcome to the Skip Happens podcast, the podcast where we dive deep into the heart of country music. I'm your host, skip Clark, as you know by now, and each week we sit down with some of the hottest names in country music past, present, future. Talk to them about their music, their stories, the journeys that uh journey that's led them here, and, uh, sometimes we go a little bit further. I already warned them we probably go a little bit further now. Uh, I, I this is all new to me tonight it's it's like the first time we've met. Uh, barry lefroy is with me and uh, he is with the lefroy band and bar Barry, how are you? I'm doing awesome, skip, thanks for having me on tonight. Absolutely, my friend. Where are you?
Speaker 2:Right now I'm sitting in beautiful Anderson, alabama. I'm about 30 miles from Muscle Shoals.
Speaker 1:Wow, wait a minute. Is Laney Not Laney? Lane Hardy is down from that area. I think he was with Idol a while ago. He won that. But I remember talking to him, but he talked about muscle shoals.
Speaker 2:so I don't know, come on skip. You know muscle shoals, don't you?
Speaker 1:I do a little bit, but I'm in the northeast dude. I'm in the area part of the country that'll get three foot of snow in the winter at one in one one time, and it gets about 95 in the summer.
Speaker 2:So I don't miss that kind of weather at all. But you know, muscle shows is so famous for its recording studios and of course, the swampers and you know exactly exactly, so you're more or less right at home there.
Speaker 1:I mean, has this always been your home?
Speaker 2:no, I'm. I'm originally from toronto, canada. I spent I've been here for five years. 30 years previous to that, I was in Southern California.
Speaker 1:Wow. So that's right, you're a Canadian bassist, you play bass in the band, right, and you're the guy. You're the guy that kind of pulled that whole band together, the LaFroy band. I am and I'm also the producer of the music. Yes, exactly, knock, knock on heaven's door, was that? Uh, knocking on heaven's door? The bob dylan tune. You guys did that right we did.
Speaker 2:We did a cover of it and we kind of rocked it. I I like our version a lot I like both versions.
Speaker 1:I mean, it's nice to hear you know when dylan did it and then, of course, when you guys did it. I watched the video over and over in this afternoon, knowing I was going to talk to you tonight. So that's pretty cool, pretty cool.
Speaker 2:You know, there's nothing like the great Bob Dylan. I mean, you know, nothing compares to that. But it was an honor to cover that song and, as I said, we're putting a little bit of our own spin on it. You gave it your own Exactly.
Speaker 1:It's unique to you and to anybody else that would listen to it. You made it your own. That's what it's all about. Tell us about the band a little bit. How long have you guys actually been together as a group? Who is in your band? Because I understand that you do have some pretty prominent players.
Speaker 2:Well we do. The band's been around for about eight years. It's players Well we do. And the band's been around for about eight years. And it started out with me, my son BJ and Kevin, and we sat there. We started getting some stuff together, but then we evolved from there and we brought in Lawrence Juber. Lawrence was with.
Speaker 1:Paul.
Speaker 2:McCartney and Wayne's played guitar, okay, and Josh Did, you I don't mean to Okay, hold on Okay.
Speaker 1:And Josh Did you. I don't mean to.
Speaker 2:Okay, hold on one second, Hold it. He's on Greg Lee's for us. He can.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Okay. Well, you're breaking up a little bit there. I know the internet's going back and forth here. I don't know if it's on your end or not, but that's good. Can you tell us once again? You said somebody played with Paul McCartney in Wings. You broke up when you mentioned that. Can you hear me? Can you hear me? Can you hear me?
Speaker 2:okay, lauren stuber, our guitarist, yes I can hear me let me yes, now I got you.
Speaker 1:Hear me now. I don't know what happened. Can you hear me now, now? That's okay that's okay, I got you don't do that, yeah, see now what did I say? What did I say in the beginning? Skip would happen. I'm just saying it. Well, I think and this happens once in a while.
Speaker 2:That's that's why I asked if you're on a phone or not, because sometimes this happens when you're on a phone and I wonder my wife is trying to, you know, get us hooked in again on something a little bit bigger, and I wonder if that's interfering with what we're doing.
Speaker 1:But you can hear me well now I can hear you. Well now, and I've got all green bars, I'm looking right at it.
Speaker 2:So perfect, perfect, okay, uh, yes. Anyways, what I was saying is uh, uh, laurence duber, on guitar for us, came from paul mccartney and wings wow, and that's cool. Then on a lot of our tracks we have josh freeze. He, um, he's on tour right now with foo fighters and he also did a stint with guns and roses. I had him on drums. And, uh, greg lease uh, he came from jackson brown, he's on mandolin and pedal steel for us. And uh, jeff babco on keyboards and he, uh, he's done some tours with toto, so we got some good, oh my gosh, yeah yeah, how did you?
Speaker 1:um, barry, how did you get all these guys? Have you been friends for a long time because you know you being a band member playing with some of these big groups out of the 70s, but how did you get all these guys together for you?
Speaker 2:Well, we were starting to record at Studio City Sound in Studio City and Tom Weir he's a Grammy Award winning engineer and producer himself they heard our sound and it started with knocking on heaven's door. They liked what we were doing and how creative it was. They liked our sound and, uh, they were willing to play with us. So that's where that went that's cool.
Speaker 1:That's cool. Now you, being a producer, you've brought in like strings, you got that orchestra sound and you're mixing it with a little bit of country, a little bit of rock and putting some orchestra, some strings in there. That is, that is so cool you know it's, it's I.
Speaker 2:I like that big sound and a couple of influences back from back in the 60s, that kind of sound, but but also too, I'm a big fan of Trans-Siberian Orchestra.
Speaker 1:Oh yes.
Speaker 2:And I love the sound that they put in, how diverse it is, and the more I can add into the song. And I like something where you're sitting there and you go what did I just hear? Now, what instruments am I hearing? And and you want to hear it again so you can try and determine that um, you know our, uh, our newest release, uh, back home. Uh, it's, it's, it's got a lot of great stuff in it, but ready to go, uh, our song before that from our newest lp we were fortunate enough to get some of the horn players in from the band Chicago.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Also, we were able to pull in the sax player who worked with Glenn Frey and the Eagles Holy cow, yeah, and it gave us a sound that we were looking for. We wanted a kind of a jumpy little dance tune kind of thing, a little rocking fun kind of a song. So yeah, yeah, it's great.
Speaker 1:That's cool. Do you ever get to perform with?
Speaker 2:any of those bands, For example Chicago or anything.
Speaker 2:Skip. We're looking forward to setting up a tour. We were going to do a tour then COVID came by and everything got sidetracked. I kind of call it a little bit of the total band philosophy. They sat there and put out a lot of music and took it out to the point that they had to perform live. And that's kind of what we're working at, you know, getting some great music out there on the airwaves and then going from there what do you think is your biggest hurdle right now?
Speaker 1:to get your music on the radio?
Speaker 2:uh, trying to get past the large labels and the large bands that are already out there. Love their music, you know it's great. Love the sound, but you've got to kind of you got to kind of prove yourself, let people know you're there. You know like I mean, we do have an advantage with some great members of our band and when we start to get people to realize that they're there, and and and again, our sound and being so different, that helps us. It, uh, sets us a little bit bit apart.
Speaker 1:Um, and I've noticed that. Go ahead.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry country and I I love hard rock and you know it's just to play rock, ballads and stuff like that. But I mean it's all great music. I just love music.
Speaker 1:Do you drive a?
Speaker 2:truck. I do.
Speaker 1:Okay. So if I was to jump into your truck right now, turn on the radio or whatever you listen to, what would I hear first thing? What were you listening to the last time you pulled into the driveway? You know?
Speaker 2:I'm listening to a lot of 60s stuff. I love Jay and the Americans Jay.
Speaker 1:Black.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, that kind of thing. I mean all that classic 60ies music. I just love it and I grew up with that and I pull a lot of the my thoughts for the big sound that they had back then too.
Speaker 1:It's great they had that big sound. But the big sound didn't always come out because the way it was being produced and the way you heard it on the radio back in the day. When listen to, uh like, let's say, you go to satellite radio and you listen to the 60s channel whatever that is now I think it's 73 um when you listen to that, then you go over to, let's say, the highway for country, there's a huge difference in the sound and it's because the way the music was produced back in the 60s I believe yeah I, I agree, 100 skip and and I I am listening to the highway in that too and prime country, um, and I'll bounce around, but I'd have to say, probably the most time I'm on that 60s channel and and then you know I'll decide to flip it over to the 70s and start rocking that a little bit there.
Speaker 2:And you know, I mean you can't beat some foreigners, some bad company.
Speaker 1:Oh my God, I love it, I love it, I love it. Yeah, lou Graham, I mean, he's right up. He's from Rochester, new York, right up the thruway from us, about an hour and a half. And you know, back in the day when he was with foreigner, I will say that was just. I mean, they're still awesome, even though he's not with the band any longer.
Speaker 2:but that's pretty cool, pretty cool and luke graham himself is just so awesome. He's right his voice all throughout the years. It's just so amazing what a talent. And and then, you know, corner itself too.
Speaker 1:But hey, tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna play a little something, something. See, if you recognize it, here it is. You know it. I do just I'm just gonna do a little bit of it and we'll talk about it preacher said we're open.
Speaker 2:Come on in said we're open, come on in. Daddy led me to the spa, but granddaddy used to say he said around here we learn to take things slow so cause outside the world moves fast with no direction where to go.
Speaker 1:And then here there's a word to raise us back home. I could be like on the radio that's uh the lefroy band on 92.1 the wolf, and uh, wow, no, but that is so good, dude, dude, thanks, thanks.
Speaker 2:Skip I appreciate it.
Speaker 1:We need more of that because we need to be united. We're too divided as a country, but a song like that could be something that works on bringing us back together.
Speaker 2:You know, skip, I agree, and it's a wonderful song and we're getting fantastic radio airplay and you know, I was really surprised. You know some of the services where you can see where it's being played online and that such as I don't know you're familiar with online radio box.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah, Yep.
Speaker 2:I sit there and look at that and I see all the positive country stations that are playing it and really giving us a lot of love and a lot of spins. You know 60, 70 spins a week oh my god, that's, huge, it's huge. It's great. They're loving it, uh, and I'm loving them for doing it. It's a great song written for us, uh, by dean chance out of nashville, and uh, dean's written for, uh for Brown T Graham Brown. Yeah, just, we were fortunate enough to get that song.
Speaker 1:How often do you get back to Nashville? Do you record there? Are you doing it where you are, or how's all this work for you? Do you go back and forth?
Speaker 2:What we do is, for example, back home we pulled in some of the swampers, like Spooner Odom, one of the original swampers, and we pulled in some of the other local guys here as well, and then I took the sound like out of Muscle Shoals here. We recorded at the Nuthouse with Jimmy Nutt, then we went back to Studio City to Studio City Sound, pulled our boys in and we used the combination of both to give me the sound that I wanted. I wanted that rocking and I wanted that southern sound and I think we got it with what we got there. So to answer your question, skip, I'm back and forth a lot and you were asking about driving a truck. Well, during COVID, I mean, it was a great way to get back and forth from Alabama to California and I happened to have held a CDL for 40 years- you know, dude, I did my homework.
Speaker 1:Did you have like a big blue 18-wheeler I mean the extended sleeper and had latroy trucking? And dude, I look at, I found out that there's uh, uh burn burning with barry? I found out you were a trucker. I just like, dude, how do you do this? And now you've got this band with you. Know, I call them superstars, the musicians, including yourself. And how did you come on? How did you do all this?
Speaker 2:Well, you know, on the truck, yeah, it's a lot of fun, skip. I'm 90 feet long. My truck has a kitchen, a shower, a bathroom inside it, besides the bedroom, and satellite tv and satellite radios and everything else and, um, you know, I it just I love to drive and it gives me time to think about what I want to do for music, uh, and just think about everything.
Speaker 2:Um, it's, it's, it's relaxing, it's almost it's like a forest gump thanksgift. I get in the truck and I just get to one end of the country it doesn't seem like much and just turn around and come back after I'm done what I'm doing.
Speaker 1:What do you? Take a load out and bring a load back.
Speaker 2:I do, I do. I have contracts with people that go both ways and I mean I love doing it.
Speaker 1:It's just part of my life. As we sit here and talk with the wonders of today's technology, I have an intern I call him my intern here, Tyler's sitting next to me and when you said all that he's like are you kidding me? I have to show him. You don't see him on camera, but his microphone's on. But I'll have to show him a picture of the rig because it's absolutely beautiful. And uh, you said you've been doing that for like 40 years yeah, well, I've helped the cvl actually.
Speaker 2:Uh, it's more like almost 50 years. It's hard to say, okay, you're giving away your age dude.
Speaker 1:You started driving when you were 12, I get it. Maybe that was legal in that part of the country.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I know, around here it is not I can tell you that much Is it Tyler?
Speaker 1:No, he said, see, he won't even talk, but that's what you've done. And now you've got the band and you're making waves, you've got these musicians, as we talked about moments ago, that are just the best ever. And then tell us a little bit about. I know we get away from the music and I warned you that I would a little bit but it's all about getting to know you and it's all about having people that view this and people that listen to this, that understand that. You know you're human too and you're putting up great music and you, you are the person we, we could hear on the radio, and you and I, we both, you know this is what we do. So it's just, it's a job, I guess, but it's a job that we enjoy. But uh, tell us about burning with barry. Burnouts with barry, burnouts with barry.
Speaker 2:That's what it was well, you know, you know, I got a phone call from Chris from Retro Mod and what they do? They auction off or raffle off cars. And Chris phones me up and says Barry, we've got this badass charger and we want you to do burnouts in it. And I mean, I'm a car guy, I love cars, I'm a real car collector.
Speaker 2:Uh back five years ago I owned 75 restored cars. Uh, you know muscle cars and all that. I've cut my, my fleet down to 45, but with that I mean that opportunity skip. You get to go do burnouts in a just restored muscle car. It's great, it's. So they came to, uh, to my warehouse that I had in riverside california, brought this charger up and, um, they said, just have some fun with it. So I'm just smoking the tires and having a great time with it. And at the end of it we did a little bit of a tour where storing some of my cars at the time. Um, but, uh, yeah, it's, it's. And if you, if you watch that little video, um, the music in the background is actually my wife singing and it's, uh, it's on our new LP and um, uh, sing walking on sunshine.
Speaker 1:No kidding the Walking on Sunshine. Yeah, okay, I know exactly. That is very cool. So your wife is also a musician. Your wife is also a musician.
Speaker 2:Well, she wasn't, but she sounds that way as we're getting our and laying tracks down and she's listening to us and all that. And she said you guys are having way too much fun. I want to. I got to get in. So Dean Chance, who wrote Back Home for us, wrote a song for her. It's called Dream Is you and that's on our first EP. She did that, knocked it out of the park and there's a video with it and she did such a wonderful job and she's never performed before and never sang before professionally or anything like that. And so, going forward, there's about three or four songs on our new LP that you'll be hearing.
Speaker 1:Very cool, you know. You talk about her being, you know, never having done this before. My friend Tyler, who's sitting here. His dream is to be an artist, and Tyler is only 22? 22. 22. To be an artist and tyler is only 22, 22, 22. So what advice could you give to somebody like tyler, somebody that's really thinking about?
Speaker 2:you know, this is what I want to do well, first thing is, of course, chase your dream and do it, keep at it and do it. Well, you know paul suanka who's singing on Back Home. He never sang professionally either and his dad. There's a great band from the 80s and the 90s called the Ziggins, out of California. They're kind of a beach sound and they toured with Sublime. They were the opening band for Sublime. Anyways, paul's father, bert, was, was a member of that band but paul never got up to the microphone. So I mean, I encouraged him to keep at it and keep trying and he sat there and he worked on his voice and, as you can tell, he's got a wonderful voice. It besides, paul is a musical genius as far as for writing and playing guitar.
Speaker 2:Um, similar with my wife, my wife, I was brutal with her when we're going through it and if it wasn't a hundred percent, it just it's. I told her it's not good enough and she just kept adding, kept practicing. And you know our teachers back when we were young, they were brutal, you know, I remember, I remember music class and that. And the teacher saying, you know, go sit at the back of the class. I mean, you know, you, just you haven't got it and, um, that's happened to a lot of people. But I think majority of people can't sing. They just need to practice it and figure out, uh, you know where to get their breath and then go from there and and what, what key they need to sing in that's awesome.
Speaker 1:It's good advice. He's shaking his head thank you but let's talk about you again.
Speaker 1:you know you talk about, uh, you talk about all these other band members that you have on board and how great they are and they are man, I'm just like blown away from their backgrounds. But you haven't told anybody about your background. Besides being a trucker, besides having 40 classic cars or whatever you have, besides all that, you've been a bass player, canadian bass player. Now you've relocated, of course, originally from Toronto, you said but who did you play for? Can you tell us?
Speaker 2:Well, I did a stint with a few different small bands. Then I did a little stint with April Wine out of Canada.
Speaker 1:Oh man.
Speaker 2:Back in the early 70s and yeah it just you know, I ran for a while and I gave this advice to my son, who's in the band also.
Speaker 2:I sat there and got discouraged with music for a while and I gave this advice to my son, who's in the band also. I sat there and got discouraged with music for a while and I told him. I said, if you're not a hundred percent into it, not loving it at the time, well, maybe you need to back away for a bit. So I did, for quite a few years actually. Then we got back into it again.
Speaker 1:And you, and you don't regret it.
Speaker 2:You did what you had to do I don't I right, you know, skip I. I love music, I love performing, um, I just absolutely love being in front of an audience and, uh, the idea that we can make music, make make people happy and, um, also what we talked about at the beginning of our conversation trying to bring people together. You know one thing that I found with Knocking on Heaven's Door, we got a lot of comments. We were on a YouTube channel called I Love Classic Rock. I don't know if you're familiar with that or not.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm. Okay, they spun us. I go through all those channels. On a sunday morning I'm usually in I shouldn't say this I'm usually in my boxers and a t-shirt and I come downstairs and I sit in my studio and I'm all over youtube looking channels up like that. And I know I've you know, because sundays my mind just goes in all different directions when it comes to music from the classics of the 60s. I want to listen to some rock. It's just and it just puts me in a good mood for the day. It just gets me cranked up. So yes go ahead.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry well the day. Yeah, I love classic rock does a lot of uh, artists that do covers songs, and so they they spun um, you know, knock, not, heaven, store our version. And man, I think in a short period of time we're like 450 000 views. And uh, it was some of the comments I personally answered. And and there was guys who said, hey, you know, it's uh, the bob dylan version is definitely better, and I can't argue with that.
Speaker 2:By the way, bob Dylan actually liked our version and got a hold of us and said well, I like what you've done. And with that we've also got people that sat there and said you know, I really liked the idea of the rock, but we do a little bit of rhyme in it that's my son in there and he said my 15-year old son loves the rhyme part, and so we kind of listened to it together. Then we had people that were 70, 80 years old saying we love it and if I can sit there and do that with our music and get it so that a diverse group of people will want to listen to it different ages and that I've done what I want to do exactly.
Speaker 1:You're bringing people together. It's like using your music as a vehicle for social change. It's just, I mean that's awesome, that's awesome. I mean god bless you, my friend, for doing that thanks, skip.
Speaker 2:Uh, I I just I just love it, just love being able to do that and, as I said earlier, the idea of when I can sit there and add extra instruments into it and give it that little bit of a tweak of a sound that you're sitting there going. Did I actually just hear a flute in there? Did I hear a harp? I mean, that's what I want to do.
Speaker 1:Are you, would you consider yourself, because you produce all this, a hard-ass producer?
Speaker 2:It's got to be just right or it doesn't fly. I hear in my mind what I want to hear before it even comes out. And you know other guys than that. I sit there and I tell them. First thing is, I want you to have fun with this, I want you to add to it.
Speaker 2:I can always sit there and take away from there. If I'm not happy with it, I would say, yeah, it's got to be right, it's got to be the way I want it and that's it. I've sat there down to the final, cut a lot and cut and then built and redone and yeah, it's got to be right.
Speaker 1:And what do you use for your DAW? Are you using a pro tools or do you use what I'm thinking, appleton, or any of those?
Speaker 2:I'm doing it all through the engineer Tom Weir in California.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay, I'm just sitting there listening.
Speaker 2:He's working with it all. I got you, I'm producing, but he's turning the knobs and all that.
Speaker 1:I got you. I got you now. So you're producing, just you know what do you want it to sound like and you work with him together. You make it happen. I get it Right.
Speaker 2:Do you have a studio? Do you have a studio in your home? I don't here right now, but in Anderson we bought a decommissioned Wells Fargo bank and we're thinking to turn that into a recording studio.
Speaker 1:You can have a live studio.
Speaker 2:It's about 4,000 square feet. Yeah Well, when we were going to go to the studio to record Back Home plus a few other songs here, there was a wait to get in. The studios are so backed up here and I think there's a need for another one. You know there's some other advantages to the bank.
Speaker 2:The building was built in the 20s twenties and I've got this big, huge walk-in vault and I just thought, man, this would be great for some of the local artists that are even in Anderson, Yep, Well, but from there, if they can store there, I mean very, very valuable guitars inside my vault, I mean where they're protected from, you know from anything from from tornadoes or weather or theft or anything. I thought that's a huge advantage too, but then my advantage would be they have their guitars there. I have access to these great artists.
Speaker 1:Bam. No, you're right. Yeah, you're thinking it's all going, I get it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you know what a great idea.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. How many instruments do you play, Barry?
Speaker 2:Just bass, just bass. You know, throughout the years, I took a run of playing drums. It just wasn't me. I took a run of playing guitar Just wasn't me I took a run of playing guitar it wasn't me, but bass, you know, keeping it low, keeping the groove that's it, that's your job.
Speaker 1:Keep the groove. How many bass guitars do you have? Can I just hear her go oh? My god, I gotta watch what I say here, I'm probably somewhere around 40 right now okay, you have as many guitars as you have cars oh, yeah, yeah and and uh.
Speaker 2:You know, I get to some of these guitar shows and my wife's with me and she goes. You have one just like that. I don't have one that color.
Speaker 1:But wait a minute. Every guitar, you know. I don't know if this is true with bass guitars Maybe Tyler he's got a guitar but they all have a unique sound, every guitar has a different sound, and is it the same with bass?
Speaker 2:And my go-to bass is a Steinberger. Are you familiar with those at all?
Speaker 2:I've heard of them yes, they're those small ones that are. There's no headstock on it. They're small like a little shoebox, Yep, and with that they're carbon fiber, they stay in tune. But they're so small for traveling they're great, In fact. That's why I'm playing in the Knockin' on Heaven's Door video, one of my Steinbergers. Okay, very cool. I've got about five of those and I love them for the sound that gives me kind of what I want, but also for certain other projects. I love my jazz bass and then I've got a vintage Gibson that I love the sound of as well for other things. But Steinberger is my preferred you know I love this.
Speaker 1:If you're watching this right now, whether it's live or you watch it down the road uh, check the Lafroy band out. I'm just. I'm gonna throw that out there right now because I was blown away. I'm gonna be honest with you, I had no idea. When I from your media people, your promotions people, when they sent me the information, I started reading into it. Then, of course, you know, I did jump online. I do a little bit of homework. I don't really make notes like I should, but it really just blew me away because I'm going, like I said a few minutes ago, this guy's a trucker, this guy's a car collector, this guy's playing in a band, this guy's living in Alabama, this guy is, you know, I had no idea and I just like, how does he do this? I know we've talked about this, but it's just, it's just crazy and the music is just so freaking good. There you are, I see you. Thanks, so freaking good.
Speaker 1:Now, if Skip happens, you know that's what it's about and that see, you'll go on. I remember doing that podcast with that guy in syracuse that's where we are, by the way um, and it was called skip happens and skip happened. We kept going on and off.
Speaker 2:No, but it we're almost like. We're almost like old neighbors because, remember, I'm from toronto, so you know we've seen the same kind of weather. No, that's true. That's true. How long can I ask? How long ago were you in toronto? Were you just growing up there and then?
Speaker 1:So you know we've seen the same kind of weather. No, that's true. That's true. How long can I ask? How long ago were you in Toronto? Were you just growing up there and then got out of there, or what's the deal?
Speaker 2:I was there until, I guess, my early 30s.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then got out of there Late 20s, early 30s, something like that.
Speaker 1:And yeah, I love.
Speaker 2:Toronto there um late 20s, early 30s, something like that, and um, yeah, I love toronto. We were, my wife and I were back up there a couple months ago yeah I mean, you can't beat the food up in the northeast, whether it's toronto or upstate new york, and there's great food up there and um, we were actually up there. Uh, you know, I've restored a bunch of vintage vans and I remember those from today. Skip well, they're like wagons.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, he had the shade carpeting on the floor and on the walls, even had it on the ceiling, and he had the built-in tv and yeah yeah, I spent some time in those and we won't go down that road.
Speaker 2:Well, I built about 20 of those and we drove one of those. We drove one of those up to a van show up in in geez it was Elmer, I think, Ontario, something like that and it was fun. We, that was great. Yeah, Great to get up there. I love the folks up in Ontario and upstate New York. I've had great times in both areas.
Speaker 1:Yeah, have you been through Syracuse at all?
Speaker 2:I have. It's been many, many years, but.
Speaker 1:I have.
Speaker 2:And Syracuse is great. It's up many, many years but I have and Syracuse is great.
Speaker 1:It's upstate New York, baby, this is upstate New York. If you were to ask somebody from New York City, long Island, where upstate New York is, they'd tell you Poughkeepsie, which is just north of New York City. But we are actually upstate New York. That's what I look at. So it is, and it's an easy drive to Toronto. I went to many a show at the Pentagious Theatre. It was beautiful.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, exactly, it's a short.
Speaker 1:You're cutting off there a little bit, but, barry, tell us the website. If somebody wanted to get a hold of your music, go online, go to the website. What is the website? Can you hear me?
Speaker 2:I can. If I remember correctly, it's easier to catch us on Facebook. I'm such a dinosaur.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, but.
Speaker 2:I believe it's LaFroy Malibu.
Speaker 1:Okay, I'll make sure we post it, I got you, I got you, I got you. But the website for the music, is it the LaFroyBandcom or LaFroy musiccom?
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:LaFroy band. It is. It is Okay, but you're really active on the socials though.
Speaker 2:We are our social media crew. We're trying to get that better and do better on it, but we are growing on that Good. There's some great videos on YouTube, of course, and you know we are on all the streaming platforms, whichever one you prefer.
Speaker 1:Apple.
Speaker 2:Pandora, you know.
Speaker 1:So I have to ask you on what I have to ask you when's your next trip with the truck?
Speaker 2:I'll probably be heading back to the West Coast next week. Okay, is it like sitting out?
Speaker 1:in your driveway right now. What did you say? It was a 40-footer, 50-footer. What is it?
Speaker 2:It's 90. 90?.
Speaker 1:I was way off.
Speaker 2:The truck is 90 feet long 90, that was way off the truck 90 feet long and um skip, we're uh, we're fortunate, in alabama here the uh, the home is on 25 acres and that's great and I could put the truck and trailer here. But we, uh, we sat there and I was looking for something to store my cars in. So I bought a factory and they used to manufacture trailers in. So I have that set up with all my cars and I keep my truck and trailer outside of it.
Speaker 1:And so everything's right there on your property right in Alabama.
Speaker 2:Well, my factory is about three miles away. Oh, okay, still close enough, and you have all your cars in there From my home, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Do you have a favorite car? Is there one that you really, really love?
Speaker 2:I have a couple. You know my favorite for fastest is my Lotus Esprit V8, twin turbo, 650 horse and it's only 1,500 pounds and it's so fast. It's just amazing Be careful. Then from there going to American Muscle, I have a 72 Nova SS with a 454 and uh four speed and it's just fast and it's food power. Come on, skip. You remember driving something like that?
Speaker 1:I did, I'm gonna.
Speaker 1:No, I had a 69 chevelle and um yeah, put a hearse in it um, man, I got in so much trouble though with that car I had to get rid of it. I mean, it's all part of my. I mean obviously I bought it, you know, later on in life. But still I I kind of regret getting rid of it now because just it was a toy and I got in so much trouble with, I think, because it would fly and it made a lot of noise. Man that had a hearst, I had the. Uh, oh, my god, was that three? It was a chevelle 396, I think it was the 396 yeah and that baby flew.
Speaker 1:I'm just 396. Yeah, yeah, that's a great car skip had leather, I don't, don't rub it in. You tore it up, didn't you?
Speaker 2:you just tore it out, man you know, I know, I know two of my favorites yeah, that's awesome.
Speaker 1:That's awesome. And do you take them to car shows and all that?
Speaker 2:very I try to um yeah you know it's uh between the music, music and building things and building cars, building trucks. You know, my wife told me to quit buying cars and quit building cars. So I started buying some huge trucks. She can't hear us can she, I love it, I know, I know oh.
Speaker 1:I know, I know, I know, I know.
Speaker 2:Between doing all that.
Speaker 1:yeah, I don't know how you do it, Marshall. There you go and speaking of that, because we're in the Northeast. Yeah, I know, yes, yes, Absolutely 100%. Being in the Northeast, I said we go from from snow and now we've had a very hot summer and now it's kind of humidity's down. Right now it's about middle 70s during the day. It's going to be a little bit hotter tomorrow, but what's the weather like where you are?
Speaker 2:It was a little warm today. We ran up around 90. The morning started out nice and cool High 60s and yeah.
Speaker 1:How about the humidity?
Speaker 2:It's been nice. Yeah, okay, you know, skip, that's a great question because a lot of the folks back in California say I can't live over in that way because of the humidity. I don't find it bad at all. Can't live over in that way because of the humidity, I don't find it bad at all. Um, it's uh, you know, being from uh, canada northeast, and all that kind of thing oh yeah, we see a little humidity up there, but it's it's.
Speaker 2:It's not bad. I don't find it bad at all. Um, I was in california last week. It was hot I I mean hot and down around Riverside Lake Elsinore, California, which is our stomping grounds, morning started out cool. I don't find a lot of difference. It doesn't bother me one way or the other.
Speaker 1:No, no, well, you're used to it and you just tell Matt it's a different kind of heat, you'll be fine. I don't even know what that means, but exactly it's like if you go to. If you go to tucson and it's or vegas, let's say, and it's 115 degrees, 130 degrees, whatever, it's like it's a dry heat, don't worry about it. It's like, yeah, it's still freaking hot dude.
Speaker 2:So exactly, it's still freaking hot, I mean yeah you know, yeah, it's dry heat. It just watched the sweat I was in. I was in phoenix last week too and, uh man, it was so hot and this was like 10 o'clock in the morning. I sat there and went for a swim instead there you go, smart man, smart man.
Speaker 1:and, like I said, yeah, I have friends that are in phoenix because they fly from southwest and, um, they don't come out of their house unless it's going to the airport to catch their flight, to go wherever and come back, but they stay inside the whole time.
Speaker 2:Well, skip, that's the whole thing. If the weather's not right, whether you're in the Northeast or in the Southeast or whatever, or in the West Coast, I mean, if it's too hot or not comfortable, you stay inside, exactly right, exactly right, exactly right.
Speaker 1:You know, barry, this has been a great conversation. Love you, man. This is so cool.
Speaker 2:I love you too, brother. I appreciate you having me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, to get to know you a little bit. And of course now, hopefully, people, viewers, listeners, will, you know, check out the website, get your music. I'm sure they can go to and download it, pay for it, download it and they can have the music you know handy so they can listen to it anytime. Or they can go hey, buddy, have you heard about this band? You know so and um, that is so cool. You've got the website, you've got social media. If they just search, uh, lafroi band, the band, the lefroy band, it'll come up. If you search barry lefroy, you're gonna get burnouts with barry. You're gonna get his tractor trailer, you're gonna see his 40 cars. You're gonna do nothing. I did it both ways, I know, I know I've been rubbing that in all night, but I think it's cool. No, that's great, that's cool. I'm proud of you. It's so cool. I hope to, I hope to say hello in person sometime. I know we, um, I go to nashville quite often and, uh, we have the country radio seminar in february. Uh, we make that every year.
Speaker 2:I don't know if you've been there yet for that, but it's pretty cool I have been there almost every year, except for uh, I didn't make it last year, but I will make a point of it, just to see it skip well, I'll make a point of it, I'll be there, so I will definitely look for you.
Speaker 1:So, and here's what I want you to do, barry, I want you and the guys to keep in touch with me and if anything else comes out with the music or you know you got something else going on, either you can reach out to me or get a hold of shannon at and say we need to get back on skip happens. I would do it in a second. Um, you know I just love doing this. It's my own thing and you know I have my own studios here. So, just like you, this is, this is my thing. That keeps me happy. A big investment, but I love every minute of it, so it's pretty cool Pretty cool.
Speaker 1:You know, Barry, it's been great. Thank you for joining us here on Skip Happens and hopefully you and I will meet and hopefully you and I will have another conversation down the road. We're going to sign off, but I want you to stay right there. All right, Thanks, Skip. Thank you, and thank you everybody for watching. By the way, you can subscribe to Skip Happens if you jump on YouTube, Just hit the subscribe button. Help me get those numbers up a little bit. And you know what? Here we are. So thank you for watching everybody. I want you all to have a great night. There you go.
