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
From Hollywood to Honky-Tonks: The Musical Journey of Richard Banker
Ever wondered how an actor makes the leap from the Hollywood hills to the heart of country music? Our guest, Richard Banker, takes us on his incredible journey from starring in NBC’s "Love Bites" to serenading audiences in Texas honky-tonks. Richard shares his childhood moments in South Dakota, his bold move to Los Angeles, and the fascinating transformation that saw him step off the screen and onto the stage. This episode is a treasure trove of stories, from his early acting roles to his pivot into the music scene, and how the pandemic became a turning point for his solo career.
Picture this: a man with just $300 and a guitar decides to leave Los Angeles and try his luck in Texas. Richard Banker recounts his adventures as he navigated small towns, sought out gigs, and eventually set up an eight-show tour across North Texas. We explore the vibrant Texas music scene through Richard's eyes, hearing about legendary venues like the Broken Spoke in Austin and historic locations in Fort Worth and San Antonio. Through his unique "cosmic country" style, he blends 70s country with rock influences, creating a sound that's both nostalgic and refreshingly original.
In the final part of our conversation, Richard opens up about his songwriting process and the inspirations behind his music. You'll get an insider look at his latest song, "Beetles in the Morning, Stones at Night," and learn how his musical tastes have evolved over the years. From the gritty tales of his early audition days in Los Angeles to his ongoing passion for acting, Richard provides a heartfelt reflection on his artistic journey. Tune in to hear about his plans for a new 12-song album, his work with Grassroots Promotions in Nashville, and the delightful spontaneity that fuels his creativity.
Thanks for listening! Follow us at youtube.com/c/skiphappens
Look at that, we're live already.
Speaker 2:Hey, hey.
Speaker 1:We are Hi everybody. Can you hear the music, richard? I can, you can. All right, hi everybody. I'm just, you know, just because We'll explain in a minute. Hi everybody, it's Skip Clark. It is Skip Happens. It's another edition. We're located in upstate New York, but I have another guest on. I'm no stranger to music, to acting and so many different things along those lines, and I'm going to say hello to and I want you to as well Richard Banker. Independent artist. Richard, how are you?
Speaker 1:Hey what's up? Y'all Doing great. Now you're getting a little fuzzy on me. What are you doing?
Speaker 2:I won't move at all for 30 minutes. How about that?
Speaker 1:It's all good, you know it skip happens for a reason. I'm just saying I don't know. It's funny. What our viewers don't know is that you and I tried to hook up the other night to do this and it just there were internet issues and there was something going on here and there and it just didn't work out. So first of all I want to say thank you for, you know, putting it off a couple days and got things pretty much ironed out and here we are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, thank you, man. Thanks for sticking with it too.
Speaker 1:Absolutely when. Where are you?
Speaker 2:I'm in Austin, Texas.
Speaker 1:Ah, beautiful part of the country.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, you've been here before.
Speaker 1:Yeah, not to Austin, san Antonio. That's why I asked before you went out with the lights and the cameras that I asked exactly. Of course I know Austin, but I've never been there. A lot of country music comes out of there as well, but still I asked how far you were from San Antonio, because I've been there a few times and the river and all that good stuff, that's absolutely beautiful. Tell me a little bit about Richard Banker. Now you're putting out country music, but you have done a little bit of the acting. You've been hollywood la. You've done all that. Uh, tell us a little bit about you. How would you describe yourself?
Speaker 2:let me put it that way well, I mean, I guess I'm an artist first and foremost yeah I, um, started out, grew up in south dakota, went out to colorado, went to school at colorado state university and then, yeah, my senior year, I got an agent in denver and one of my good friends who had quite a successful acting career. We decided to make the big trip out to la and so, yeah, got an agent right away, did some tv, some movie, movies and yeah, man, give us a little example of some of the acting.
Speaker 1:Something would we have seen?
Speaker 2:some of that. So you know there's I. I had a, you know, a little bit of success. I wasn't. I didn't make a huge career out of it, but I did star in an independent film. It's called good morning lucille, like okay morning morning like your morning. Yes, yes, yes so um, it's a dark comedy, murder mystery, um, and that's. It is still available. It's kind of hard to find, I think. Think these days it was on iTunes and all that for a while.
Speaker 1:But so yeah.
Speaker 2:I got the lead role in that, and then I was on a show on NBC called Love Bites.
Speaker 1:Oh, okay.
Speaker 2:They did one season of and then, yeah, it didn't get picked up again, but I played Officer Kurt Darlington, a beach cop in Venice Beach.
Speaker 1:Venice Beach. Of all places I've been to Venice Beach, I've walked parts of that beach and all sorts of let me put it different forms of life.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I mean Pearl Street in Boulder, colorado, is a little bit like it, but there's really nowhere around.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've never been there, but I've been to Venice beach, yeah, so you tell oh, go ahead, I'm sorry.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I don't know, Did you happen to go to, uh, um, abbott Kenny, to that part of Venice it's? It's kind of like off a little bit.
Speaker 1:I don't recall, but I remember you know there's a lot of stuff going on. Of course it's venice beach, right, right, you know that. You know you walk down one street and they have a movie set up, so you know they're shooting something. You know scenes of a movie or something, so I remember seeing all that. It was quite a while ago, but uh, I remember the muscle beach yeah well, no, they threw me off.
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, they didn't want to see my guns. Well, thanks. Let's talk about you, though. How did you get into music?
Speaker 2:So, about half of the time into me being an actor, studying, doing all that, I met um my friend matt, who I became a band member with uh played guitar for him for a while, really started getting into it and we just had, we had.
Speaker 2:You know, we were doing pretty well we played at the bike room a lot on sunset strip you know, had pretty decent following going, and then our bass player quit, then, a year later, our drummer quit, and so, after like a while of doing that, I just decided I was gonna get an acoustic guitar, teach myself to sing and start writing country songs.
Speaker 2:So I, that's what I did I wrote an album which I was in the process of recording before, you know, the whole world stopped. And so, yeah, so I, uh, I was doing like country music, like outlaw country to rock clubs, rock fans on the sunset strip, and then, yeah, uh, the last day of 2020, after all, hell broke loose. Um, I didn't have a place to live in la anymore, and my one of my best friends from south dakota he lived in a small town of weatherford, texas, okay and so he said hey, man, you can come out here, live here and, you know, try to find gigs. So I, you know, came out with literally 300 to my name because I hadn't worked, I hadn't acted, I hadn't played any music. Los Angeles was just completely shut down. So, yeah, got out there with 300 bucks and a guitar and walked these streets of these little towns, got gigs.
Speaker 1:Got it all set up. You have to do.
Speaker 2:Yeah, man, I got into, like the stockyards in Fort Worth. Yeah, yeah, I don't know, have you been out to Fort Worth before?
Speaker 1:I have been the Fort Worth. I'm trying to think where we ended up. I actually went to a show there. Let's see a buddy of mine.
Speaker 2:Was it at Billy Bob's?
Speaker 1:It wasn't Billy Bob's, I would have known. If it was Billy Bob's, yeah, I would definitely know. I've seen that place, but I don't recall what it was. Billy bobs, yeah, yeah, yeah, I would definitely know. I've seen that place, um, but I don't recall what it was. Off the top of my head it definitely wasn't billy bobs. But uh, yeah, been there, done that. You know how lucky though to have somebody that you know you're able to to take your 300 and go and somebody's going to say, hey, come on in, you can sleep on my couch, you can sleep on the floor, whatever you want to do. Yeah, yeah, yeah, know, I mean, we've all been there.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it was. I mean, it was such a blessing. You know, I had no idea what I was getting into.
Speaker 2:But to be honest, I kind of had a good feeling. The people of Texas were going to be nice to me, you know, welcoming, and just so I just kind of bet on that. And then, yeah, I got an eight show tour set up, went, flew back out to los angeles, got my truck, all my gear, drove back out to north texas and played all those shows. And then I was like, well, I had a couple couple days to kill and it's like, well, I should go check out austin know. And so came down to Austin, put my camping gear down out at Lake Travis.
Speaker 2:And basically the first place I went was the Broken Spoke, which is a super famous Austin.
Speaker 1:I've heard of that. I've heard of it. Like I said, I've never been to Austin, but the places that you're mentioning I have either read about or I've seen pictures, or something along the lines here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean the Broken Spoke, I mean Ernest Tubb, way back in the day George Strait came up there. You know, it's as legendary really as it gets and it hasn't changed much, if at all, since 1964.
Speaker 1:You know, and that's what's nice about some of these venues in Texas, though, yeah. You know, when I was in Fort Worth, I remember you know it's still the way it was, how many years ago. And it's just I'm trying to think. There's another venue. We went to San Antonio, and was it Green?
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Three store Floyd's, groce Floyd's, no, maybe I don't know.
Speaker 2:No worries. Well, green Hall is a great one too. That's been around since, I think, even the 1800s, not early 1900s, and that's halfway between Austin and San Antonio.
Speaker 1:New Braunfels.
Speaker 2:Green area of Texas. So that's another great old hall.
Speaker 1:That's cool, I'm sure you know this. Texas has its own country music chart. It's got its. You know the music there is a little bit different than what we're going to hear in Nashville or even here in the Northeast.
Speaker 2:Definitely yeah. It's got its own flavor and it kind of always has. You know, a lot of my favorite artists are here, contemporary and from back in the day. So, and you know, really why I wanted austin, you know so bad, is because in the early 70s, willie, whalen, merle, uh, gary pinon, they all, jerry, jeff, walker, they all left nashville, new york and la and came to austin and austin the 70s is my favorite era of rock and roll and country for that and country.
Speaker 1:You know what a wide, what a wide range that you have. You're talking about the rock and roll and talking about country. But then again, maybe it's not so wide, because if you look at a lot of the roots of some of the country music that's coming out now, it kind of goes back onto the rock a little bit totally, you know and like there is a like a.
Speaker 2:I said a lot of that. Even contemporary artists I love are here in Texas or come out of Texas, but I mean Nashville's got a lot of that stuff too Sturgill Simpson, you know.
Speaker 1:Tyler.
Speaker 2:Childers, you know Lainey Wilson's really cool, she's, she's been blowing up a lot I mean there's just so many. So I really enjoyed the resurgence of the last. You know five, eight years of like that kind of country, so yeah, yeah, now, uh, richard, what about your music?
Speaker 1:how would you? What is your music? Where would you classify that? If I was to ask you tell me what you sing, how would you classify that?
Speaker 2:I mean I I would classify it as cosmic country, I guess kind of like psychedelic country, a little bit like 70s country, mixed with all the brothers grateful dead, a little bit I love it it's my vibe, yeah but if I was to get in your truck right now and flip on the radio, what would I hear?
Speaker 1:would it be country?
Speaker 2:uh, yeah, mean, likely I've. I've keeping it on 95. Nine, I believe, is the station that I've been listening to right now. As far as an actual radio station, we used to have one. It was called Coke FM nine 98.5. And then unfortunately that's no longer around and that happened in the last year or so. But but, yeah, that would be the radio station, but you know I can dig a lot of things mostly, mostly rock and roll.
Speaker 1:The country, though yeah, so your favorite rock artist. If you were to listen to something rock, what would you?
Speaker 2:uh, my top five bands are the grateful dead, the allman brothers yeah rolling stones led zeppelin, allman Brothers Rolling Stones Led Zeppelin and man.
Speaker 1:Dude, you are a rocker If you go to the Stones, the Zeppelin For sure man.
Speaker 2:You know it's funny, like my. The song I just released is called beetles in the morning, stones at night we're going to talk about that, so you might as well go.
Speaker 1:Yeah, oh sure, yeah.
Speaker 2:So I mean basically that it's about a guy never fallen in love and not really having much hope for it. And then he meets a girl who's so cool that she figures out the uh, age-old question beetles are stones, beetles are stones. Beetles in the morning, stones at night yeah, but uh well, I guess what I was getting at too was that when I was like seventh, eighth, ninth grade, the beetles were my favorite, you know, and it was like beetles, beetles, beetles, but ever since then.
Speaker 2:It's the rolling stones man. I still love the beetles, but I I wouldn't. I could be all right not listening to them for a while, but the stones man, that yeah but how much longer do the Stones have? I don't know man. I'm just saying Keith Richards, and if we get, if the world blows up, keith Richards and the Cockroaches will still be around. It's not that big.
Speaker 1:God bless them. We had a bet going at the radio station that I work with here and the group that I work with here in the Cuse that they made a big major concert announcement and it's at. We have a big dome here where the Syracuse orange play, whatever you know, the place is huge and a big announcement about somebody coming to the dome and it's not country. So we're taking bets. Would it be the stones? Because they're back out on tour journey, but nah, I don't think Journey's going to fill the dome. You know, somebody said Billy Joel, billy Joel's out doing it.
Speaker 1:Well, anyway long story short, it ended up being Billy Joel, and Sting was the big announcement, so that'll be a good show. Yeah, yeah, from Long Island down, you know not far from here. Yeah, and I know he's been to the Syracuse area quite often, probably more times than anybody even realizes, so that's kind of cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Billy Joel's cool man. You've seen Step Brothers, right? That just reminded me of Step Brothers. Yeah, he gets in a fight because he was playing the wrong era of Billy Joel. It's so funny man.
Speaker 1:That is great. Let's talk about your music. Though. You got that song out, You've had others. You've been doing this a little bit, yeah, so.
Speaker 2:I've got that. I've got two releases right now. I've got.
Speaker 2:Dancing with the Texas Moon, which is being promoted by Grassroots Promotions in Nashville, and it's hitting radio stations across the country right now. So that's the first one, and then, monday, I released beetles in the morning, stones at night. I've got two other recorded on this album so far. One is the broken spoke, a beer drinking song, which I you know after I got there and that that's basically the reason I moved to austin. Is they let me sing there? There's another really legendary place here in town called don's depot, where my producer and I met, and he plays every monday and that's been here since 1978.
Speaker 1:So I wrote a don's depot song too.
Speaker 2:So those are going to be the first four. Then I've got eight other ones coming out. Uh, that I'm just start recording really soon, um but yeah, a lot of it's messed around Texas stories about being around here, and then you know some other cool stuff along the way.
Speaker 1:Do you get to hit Nashville very often? I know you're on grassroots, but I'm just kind of curious if you get up there.
Speaker 2:I actually haven't, since I was the last time I went to Nashville I wasn't even in Nashville, it was a long time ago, and I went to Bonnaroo, so one of my friends who used to live here that let me live with him while I first moved to texas just moved to nashville, so I've got a place now that I'm gonna, so it's definitely gonna happen soon.
Speaker 1:Another grassroots, yeah, yeah you know I will say this about grassroots I love them and, uh, a lot of their artists. I know them. The thing about grassroots and I tell everybody this and I'm sure you probably already know but they are musicians, they are radio people, they are you know, they've been in the business, they know what it's about from all different angles and they're there to help you. So Nancy is great, they're a great bunch of people. I just love them to death. Definitely good people.
Speaker 2:Yeah. So what kind of happened was? I had these songs the first one done, had been out for a little while. I was waiting on my producer to finish mixing and doing some stuff. So I was like, well, why don't I see what people think of this first song, dancing with the Texas Moon? And so I sent it out to a bunch of grassroots, a whole bunch of big people in Nashville, and the next morning Nancy boom, right away. She was like we love it, this is great. We think it'd be really competitive, you know, super cool. And I did. I mean I talked with them and they seemed great. It just felt right right away, but I did.
Speaker 1:I mean, I talked to a whole bunch of other people and you know, they, just they were the right ones.
Speaker 2:So no, absolutely, they've been great.
Speaker 1:I know the choice is yours, but it was a good choice. Yeah for sure cool. So is there all the songs you're talking about? Will there be an album down the road?
Speaker 2:yeah absolutely yeah it'll be 12 songs. Um, like I said, basically a lot of them are about me messing around te the last couple of years.
Speaker 1:So yeah.
Speaker 2:I've got. It's kind of a funny story about after all that happened. I said I was moving here. That was Thanksgiving 2020, right.
Speaker 2:So I went back to California, got all my stuff, came back out, moved out the last day of 2020. And I was actually I had been touring North Texas still, and I had been going back to California to help some people out. So I was actually just camping off and on here in Austin, living in a campground, basically had it to myself, on beautiful Lake Travis, which sounds like it might be a little crazy, but after living in LA for that long and then having Lake Travisvis to myself, it was. It was amazing. So this, this camera, I'm staying at one of the girls that lived right down the road. She just kind of helped out once a while. They're all friends.
Speaker 2:It's kind of a little small town on that road and, um, for, uh, valentine's day, uh, 2021. She said, hey, you want to house it for me? I got four dogs, two cats. I want to go to my brothers in Houston. It's like, yeah, sure, that'd be cool, you know, and it was supposed to be getting cold. So it's like, yeah, it's perfect. So she leaves at three o'clock on Friday. It starts raining at five o'clock on Friday and by the end of the night it's frozen and it's like almost an inch of ice no kidding and it was, and then it snowed eight inches.
Speaker 2:So all this ice, the whole, you know everything. All of texas is frozen. Austin got it wrong the worst, and then eight inches of snow. That sounds silly to you and I, being from up north not from, not there they, no, no, I mean it was really sad people died, so it was terrible, but it was like, I mean, eight inches of snow. So, long story short, I was stuck in her house for nine days no complaints.
Speaker 2:You had a good day, I think you know, uh, yeah so nine days um four dogs, two cats, uh no, running water after day four.
Speaker 1:Oh, oh, that's not.
Speaker 2:Literally catching. Yeah, that's not A five-gallon pail outside was catching single drops of water.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yeah, to flush the toilet and to give the animals water.
Speaker 1:Why no water, though? Did everything just freeze, was it that?
Speaker 2:Texas. They just they aren't used to any of that, so they just have PVC piping.
Speaker 1:That's what they're wrong. So it cracked.
Speaker 2:It was done it, froze, freezes, completely, and then, yes, cracked, and there was yep, yep, yep, then you're, then you're screwed. That's it, so so yeah, I did get a song, though out of it called goodbye, goodbye california, so that will be uh number five.
Speaker 1:That's number five I like that, see and I I've heard this from other artists as well that life experiences make the best songs.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean yeah, definitely. I would say that most of these songs, if not all of them, are either direct stories that I specifically experienced or it's inspired by a story of something I experienced. So, yeah, that was a major, major thing, for sure. So there's a couple of girls that I dated along the way. There's songs about to you know.
Speaker 1:Oh boy, yeah, no, I get it.
Speaker 2:I actually straight up stole this girl's name. Her name's Dallas Cruz.
Speaker 1:And she's kind of like it's cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so Dallasz is the name of song number four. And, uh, I'm not sure if you, if you're, a pat green fan. He's a texas guy wave on wedding baby.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, there you go.
Speaker 2:So yep, I was up in uh granbury, texas, and uh sitting in this restaurant and beautiful girl sits next to me and so we're talking, you know, whatever we hit, it off right away.
Speaker 2:And then she finds out a musician. She goes pat green said he's gonna write song, he's my name, just like that too. And I was like, huh, that's actually a great idea. And then later the next day she flew her plane to weatherford where I was to meet me for a date. So I was like it all kind of just, that's awesome yeah.
Speaker 1:But the meaning behind that. She definitely wanted to meet you if she flew her plane to wherever you were to meet up and go on a date.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I guess so, man, and it was cool yeah.
Speaker 1:That's kind of cool.
Speaker 2:She had a real beautiful plane yeah.
Speaker 1:Wow Got a song out of it.
Speaker 2:He was on the road beautiful plane. Yeah, wow Got a song out of it.
Speaker 1:Okay, yeah well you got a song. Yeah, whatever happened to her you know, I don't know drifted apart as they say, with song that part of it. So I shouldn't say that, uh, but it's so true. Tell me a little bit about your song writing. I know we talked about you know the. The best songs come from life experiences, but still tell me about your writing how you come up with the other ideas. Do you write with other people? Do you do it alone? Are you solo?
Speaker 2:I've written all of my songs for the country stuff in California that I was doing, and then since this whole album here, I've written all of them for myself, except Beatles in the Morning Stones. At night my producer wrote with me. So you know, it can be different ways, um, sometimes it there's been a few times where it's just a lick, it's just a just like.
Speaker 2:Like. I mean, for instance, this is pretty sad, but there's a song I wrote from california called ventura boulevard and I was walking in the morning, uh, to the gas station get some coffee.
Speaker 2:I'm walking through this alley and I find a gentleman who lost his life just laying there dead in the alleyway and I was like man and I could see the paramedics were coming down the street, so they knew about it and I I went and got the coffee and I was walking back by him and they just were walking up to him and all I heard him say was uh, uh. The medical examiner said uh, no id. So one of the the lyrics is um. Me said no id. Is all that um?
Speaker 2:wow that I heard so wow I and then I hadn't even decided I was going to write a song until I got home and I sat down and I my guitar, I just picked it up and then this, this specific lick, just came right, came to me. I mean, it was just like and it's like the kind of the base for the whole song and so you know it can be that way um, then I came up with the title later.
Speaker 2:You know, sat there pretty much, wrote the whole thing right there. Um, uh, I also write, you know, just the title, like with dallas cruz, it was just the title, or? I I think I stole that or you know, I'm sure lots of people do it that way, but I think the law is the one that I, I heard say like get the title down, you know so. So yeah, it can. Can come multiple ways, but usually the idea and the title come first, I guess.
Speaker 1:Very cool. Now you play guitar. How many instruments do you play Other instruments as well, or is it strictly guitar?
Speaker 2:No, not much, I mean a little I wish.
Speaker 1:How did you come about to playing guitar All?
Speaker 2:right, man. Well, it was a dream for a long time and I was not serious, unfortunately, about it for a very long time. But it all goes back to being a little kid and going to see uh labamba. So I'm richie, little richie yeah, yeah I went to see labamba, richie valens. That's why I wanted to be in movies and play guitar, because, because he did it, yeah, yeah. I went to see la bomba, richie valens. That's why I wanted to be in movies and play guitar, because because he did it yeah, and I loved.
Speaker 2:I mean it was just like richie, you know, at the end and I love a great movie and what I mean. How insane is that 17 years old to write songs like that. And what a tragic ending, of course, the day that I know, yeah, exactly yeah, that's it, man. That was the dream ever since then.
Speaker 1:That was what put the stars in my eyes now, if you weren't acting or being a musician, what do you think you'd be doing?
Speaker 2:man, that's a good question I know I would like to think I'd be doing something else. Creative entrepreneurship, you know, doing something that I've, something else creative entrepreneurship you know doing something that I've that I'm creating and working on.
Speaker 1:I don't know you think about acting at this point. I mean, if you know you've got music, you're doing a great job with that, but do you think you would like to bring acting back into the picture a little bit?
Speaker 2:um, so many artists have done that, as you know right, yeah, you know, um, I definitely I'm open to it. Um, I, if I have still have friends who are pretty successful there that make movies and stuff, and if someone was to hand me a role, definitely, but there's not much work. That sounds worse to me these days than run around la to like commercial auditions.
Speaker 2:I mean, there was the time I didn't have a car for 18 months and I was riding my bike around la and taking the bus to go to five auditions a day from malibu to huntington beach. I mean, it was like oh, wow got in some crazy situations, but yeah, they didn't.
Speaker 1:They didn't, um, they didn't have electric bikes like they have nowadays. I got one sitting in the garage and I absolutely love it, but still, I'm just saying no offense to you, but I call those cheaters. No offense taken. My wife was rather pissed when FedEx showed up and dropped it off one day.
Speaker 2:They're not real cheap, but I've been on them. They're pretty cool, honestly.
Speaker 1:No, they are. This thing will do 30 miles per hour and you got to be careful, and I haven't ridden a bike in a while. Once you ride a bike, you always can ride a bike, but still, when I first got on, it's like okay, okay, but now I'm fine. So is it pedal assist or does it actually have a throttle? No, it does both. You pedal it. Uh, it'll catch up with itself if you hit a some sort of a hill or whatever. You just put the throttle down and just let it take you it's.
Speaker 1:It's cool, it moves right along yeah definitely yeah, you've got to be they have.
Speaker 2:They usually have really cushiony seats too right Soft seats oh it does.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I get off the bike it's like, ooh, ooh, that hurts. Oh no, yeah, I mean you've got to get a soft seat, Seat socks. I'm just saying and especially being a guy, if you know what I mean it's not the most comfortable thing, Right, all right, yeah yeah, I've never been to Syracuse.
Speaker 2:Is it kind of a hilly area?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it's hilly. You know we're not like the Adirondacks, which is just north, northeast of Syracuse, but yeah, it's kind of hilly, it's snowy. I want to say you do not want to come to Syracuse between January and the middle of March.
Speaker 2:Just like South.
Speaker 1:Dakota yeah, you get a foot of snow during the overnight and we wake up and life goes on as usual. It just sucks that you got to go out and brush off the truck and clean the driveway and all that Do?
Speaker 2:people plug their motors in there.
Speaker 1:Some do, some do. Yeah people plug their motors in there, as some do, some do, yeah, yeah. And of course now we see a lot of Tesla's, the electric vehicles and, you know, the batteries. From what I understand, they don't hold up as good in that in the cold, cold yeah, I don't know, I don't own one, so I could be entirely wrong on that, but that's what I've heard.
Speaker 2:So yeah, oh, probably figure it out someday.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, oh yeah. No, it's beautiful up here Right now we're heading into fall. If you were asking when is the best time to go to the Northeast, come to Syracuse, I'd say now.
Speaker 2:Well, actually, when I was in college at Colorado State, my friend's sister went to UVM, so we spent a week in burlington oh, it's beautiful october 12th to the 18th or something, and the colors. It's one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen in this country, for sure you see, we have that.
Speaker 1:This is that time of the year. The trees are turning now here in the northeast, but if you were to drive up into the adirondack mountains, they're probably already at 50 or 75 percent change. Oh, is that right? So it's absolutely beautiful. So for sure, yeah, absolutely, but uh, so, uh. If somebody wanted to get a hold of your music, uh, find out more about you. What's the best avenue that they should go?
Speaker 2:uh well, I'm on all the platforms spotify, apple music, you all that stuff. My website is richardbankercom and Instagram is richardbankermusic.
Speaker 1:Excuse me, Love it, love it. Have you thought about I know I keep bouncing back to the acting type of thing, but like commercials I mean they're always. I know you probably have to go from agency to agency or have your agent contact certain people and say, hey, I got the right guy for this. But um, yeah, I thought about doing commercials.
Speaker 2:Oh man, like I said, driving around la, that's like all the things. Man going to our commercial auditions from one side of the city. I'm so burnt out on that I don't know yeah, I'd love, do it like a meaty film roll, something I could sink my teeth into. But I mean, if someone was like here you know, here's $10,000 put it will put you in this commercial I'd probably say yes.
Speaker 2:But yeah, I know, I get like commercials can just be so much like cattle calls. There's 500 people and then you just I mean, it's yeah, I do not toothpaste at all yeah, toothpaste or underwear or something like that right, right, or some weird, weird medicine that's got the more side effects than you can this is an actual patient funny, so that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:though getting back to your music, I mean that's what this. This is an actual patient, so that's pretty cool. Though getting back to your music, I mean that's what this is all about. And all about you, and I'll be honest with you, I didn't know anything about you. Shannon got a hold of me and said hey, you want to talk to Richard Banker, and I'm open to talk to anybody and everybody and to find out about them. There's so much in the way of great talent out there and I know already if you're with grassroots. You've turned some heads, which is a good thing. They wouldn't have called you if they didn't think there was something there.
Speaker 2:So yeah, it was. It was very pleasantly. It was a pleasant surprise, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:I love it. Hey, richard, it's been great chatting with you for about a half hour here. I don't want to take up a lot of your time, but I thank you for everything that you did. You know we rescheduled this and it all worked out good. You may want to go out and buy a new computer, but everything no, I'm kidding.
Speaker 1:No no, you're right, no, no, but it's a big expense. You don't want to do that, but you got to do what you gotta do. I appreciate you and uh, of course, what I'm going to do is, um, the music that I have, I'm going to put it underneath this video when I post it, so so everybody hear what you're and hopefully you get some fans out of that and, most importantly, have them download your music, pay for your music and uh, you know, every little bit counts.
Speaker 2:Heck, yeah man, I appreciate it. I hope I get to get up to.
Speaker 1:New York and check out sometime too. Absolutely, and uh, you know, I worked at the Wolf here in Syracuse. We are WOLF and I work two to seven in the afternoons, also the PD there and the music director and everything else you can think of, because Stanford is small. Um, but it all works out. Richard Banker, thanks for hanging on or thanks for joining us tonight. I want you to hang out. We're going to sign off. Thanks for watching everybody.
Speaker 2:Thank you, thanks to all.
Speaker 1:Thanks for being here. Make sure you all subscribe. Skip. Happens right here on YouTube. Have a great night, see ya.
