192: Garrett T. Capps

On Episode 192, I'm joined by singer-songwriter Garrett T. Capps, who at the week's end (Friday, August 20), is releasing the honky-tonk homage album, I Love San Antone via Vinyl Ranch. During this one, we talk about recording the album during the pandemic at his San Antonio venue The Lonesome Rose, recording another album out at Sonic Ranch, writing about San Antonio, Corpus Christi tacos, and why recording Jethro Tull was on his to-do list.

This episode's presenting partner is Desert Door Texas Sotol, The Blue Light Live, and Charlie Stout Photography.

Interview Transcript

Note: Transcripts aren’t always accurate since they are computer automated and haven’t been edited for spelling, grammar, etc.

Thomas Mooney 0:02

Welcome back, y'all. I'm Thomas Mooney and you're listening to new slang. This time around. I'm joined by my pal, singer songwriter guaranteed caps. He's releasing a new Honky Tonk album called, I love setting tone this Friday, August 28. And it is the official verschil is on vinyl Ranch, which if you're unfamiliar with vinyl Ranch, go check them out. Merge means and now of course, records. Anyway, this new record by caps is just what you'd expect. It's his Honky Tonk homage to his hometown of San Antonio, a place he obviously loves dearly. He's released more than a handful of San Antonio inspired songs over the years. Shout out to Brian Koppelman, and billions. This episode, we of course talked a lot about the record, San Antonio, and what other projects he has lined up some stuff on NASA country, some trouble country talk, among other things. Today's presenting partner is our pals over at Desert door Texas Soto. If you've been listening to new slang for really any amount of time, you'll know that desert door is one of my all time favorite premium, high quality spirits. If you haven't, or aren't sure what exactly a salt is. I'm going to let you in on a little secret that's going to up the game on your liquor cabinet. For starters, the best reference point that I can point you to is to think about a tequila or in a scowl. Do you feel that Western desert that text is ruggedness? Okay, Soto is like that, but a little bit more refined, smooth and fragrant. It intrigues the palate, and offers these hints of vanilla and citrus, there's an earthiness that often sends me right back to my transparent and some Far West Texas routes. There's plenty to love about desert door. For me, it all starts right there. a close second is just how versatile desert door really is. You can go full highbrow and experiment with concocting a variety of cocktails that call for muddling fresh fruit sprigs of time sticks of cinnamon, it's perfect for that world. If you're a little bit more down home, if you've just rolled up the sleeves of your denim Wrangler button up, it's perfect for that as well. If you're just designing something that's short and sweet, it hits the mark every time does adore is genuine and authentically West Texan. It's inherently West Texan. They harvest Soto plants out in the wild and are knowledgeable conservationists at heart. That's obviously something incredibly important to me. They shine a light on what makes West Texas special and unique and worth preserving and keeping it safe from exploitation. Right now, you can find desert door all over Texas, Colorado, Tennessee, and there's budding numbers in places like New Mexico, Arizona, California and Georgia. Best thing you can do is to check out desert door.com to find where desert door is locally. Again, that's desert door.com. we'll of course get on into the episode with Garrett in one second. But first, I just have to say I've been overjoyed with just how much buzz y'all have created about the Lubbock way, my debut book. It's a collection of stories and thoughts about loving music during a super small but exciting time from around 2015 to 2017. There's a lot of artists that you know in love, it really started in blew up from that period, or they went on to another level outside of Lubbock. And, again, just a really exciting time. It's available for pre order right now, and it will be coming out in mid September. Again, it's called the levered way, a collection of wallflower vignettes, a link will be in the show notes. Speaking of which, that will take you to the neuseeland merch store where you can get other new slang March t shirts, koozie stickers, etc. And of course if this is your first time listening to new slang, go ahead hit that subscribe button as well. It's available on Apple podcast, Spotify, Google podcasts, and so on. If Facebook Twitter and Instagram are your thing, go give those alike and follow as well. As I mentioned all those links they will be in the show notes for easy access. Alright, enough of all that let's get on into it. Here is Garrett t caps.

Like you know obviously the natural place to start is you got this new record coming out August 20. That's the the quote unquote surprise record Bonnell ranch. I love setting tone. What I guess like this is that this is their first thing they're doing record wise, is it not?

Garrett T. Capps 4:52

Yes, yeah. I mean, the guy Dave orange, Dave. He Follow me here, it always wanted to start a label. And he wanted to do a digital 45 or something. This was like, November, December of last year. And it kind of just snowballed into the whole album. And here we are. And I'm used to releasing stuff myself, but he's got a good following in the world of Digital Lifestyle retail. And it's cool to work with people and anything helps. So

Thomas Mooney 5:40

yeah, yeah, I think that, like, obviously, bottle Ranch is they have a little bit of that left of center field on on as far as like, what their pulses what what they're kind of doing with country as far as what they, their, what they listened to what they kind of push. And, you know, it makes sense as far as this kind of being like their first record because clearly, like, you know, you approach country music in a way that I think most people would kind of say is a little bit, you know, left to center. But even if we're just going with the satin tone route, you know, a record. That's basically you know, an image to send in tone. That that that feels really, I hate to say on brand for vinyl Ranch, but it does feel very much in a it feels feels right for them. You know,

Garrett T. Capps 6:32

cool. Yeah, I kept on telling I've told him this whole time, you know, like, Yeah, man, I mean, he does some little ranch. So I have a music video. For the first song on the record, it comes out on the internet on Friday. The song does videos next week. It's called I like Austin. But I love San Antonio. And it's like, makes people laugh. When I when they hear about it. I think people are gonna like it. But uh, I filmed a video for it a few months ago. We have this minor league baseball team here in town, called the missions and their mascot is this puffy taco, that it's been like this for a long time. And there's a restaurant called Henry's puffy taco. And at some point, they sponsor the San Antonio missions. And the mascot for the missions is this like human puffy taco. And a few years ago, I met someone that used to be the mascot and kept the the uniform. And so I've just use it for all sorts of stuff, if you like. Yeah, look at all these goofy ass commercials I've made for shows around town or whatever, like puffy tacos, or is there like at different concerts that have thrown parties? So anyways, I filmed this video for the song in the lonesome rose a few months ago, and basically, it's just me and the puppy taco. Like, goofing around. It's like really goofy. It's like, absurd. Yeah. And it's really like family friendly. There's nothing like there's no like, nothing wrong with it. Anyways, I think like that week, like, right when I sent Dave from vinyl ranch. The video he announced that he he had just announced online that they're coming out with the vinyl Raj, like, this subscription, like, porno magazine.

Thomas Mooney 8:44

I think I saw that,

Garrett T. Capps 8:47

like online only or whatever. Alright, perfect. So I've been trying to play along the way I've been reminding him that, uh, you know, I think it's, it is right on brand in some ways, but we are very different in other ways. And like I just filmed this video. Nina puffy taco, you're coming out with an adult magazine?

Thomas Mooney 9:12

Yeah. The, the, like, obviously, like as you this record, is that San Antonio thing you've always had, you know, these songs about San Antonio. Right? Clearly. But when it came for this right here, you know, you said it kind of more from the the single the 45 to full record. did was this like something that like you had like you had some of these songs in the back catalogue? As far as like, Oh, this this kind of fits the San Antonio mold of this magic record or, or was much of this like written in the last while since since the the concept came forward?

Garrett T. Capps 9:55

Um, well, I think what makes this album I mean, I have a bunch of albums in the can right now. And I think I think that, uh, what makes this album special to me the way that it is being released is us writing it last summer. And I was like on our writing spree. I think we talked last summer. But like, I was on a writing spree, just like lots of different artists were like after the lockdown and COVID chaos and stuff like that. So I was kind of like, for better for worse knocking out all these conceptual ideas that had been floating in the back of my mind for three years. So I made a few epds and then I decided that I was going to make my quote unquote, Honky Tonk records. Because there's a, there's a Doug song album. People seem to really like, it came out in the late 90s. I guess it's called the return of Wayne Douglas. Um, I think that's what it's called. I mean, it's not like my favorite dog lover or anything. But it's good. It's like a, it's like when Doug som returned to just like playing country western music. And basically, I'm, I'm all over the place all the time. And sometimes that confuses people. And I feel like that's kind of a normal thing for independent artists that love to chase ideas. But a Doug song was certainly that kind of artists. And, and it seems like I mean, from what I can tell, and it seems like when the tornadoes came together that was like, so successful because not only was it like a supergroup, on a major label, blah, blah, blah. But it was like, the most focused dog song had been maybe ever. And he had this on the return of Wayne Douglas, which is him just like kind of returning to playing the country western music he grew up playing before he moves to rock and roll or soul or blues or whatever. And that's a concept, I've always had my head, I'm like, I'm always playing the white horse. in Austin, or, you know, people want to want me to go back to playing a song like in the shadows or something. I'm just always writing whatever and recording and performing whatever I want to. But during the part of last year, I was able to visit some concepts that I'd always wanted to, and recording a Honky Tonk record was part of all that. And it basically just turned into like, this San Antonio Honky Tonk record, because I'm obsessed with San Antonio's music history and all the people that are still living that were part of it in the heyday. Right?

Thomas Mooney 13:26

Yeah, that's, that's interesting that you touch on that as far as the people thinking, like, maybe you're going in different directions and misunderstanding what you're doing with different concepts and different sounds and different specific, like specific records that sound a certain way. Because I think like, you know, all these other artists back in the day, they didn't necessarily worry about that, you know, if it was an idea that they had a concept record idea, or a certain sound, whatever it was, that was pushing him towards them towards a certain feel or mood, or record, they just kind of did it without like, worrying. And who I'm thinking about specifically right now is, since I talked with him just the other day is Joe. Oh, yeah. Walking around. Yeah. Cool, man. Yeah. And totally, like, always had these little different pockets of areas, if you will. And, you know, looking back now, I'm sure like, you know, he recorded this record high rez back in the 80s. That was done. Oh, yeah. Totally computer and it was all digitized, right. And people were questioning what the fuck he was doing with that, you know? And I asked him like, how did you did you? You know, how did you explain what you're doing to someone else who was a songwriter exploited that concept, when when people weren't cutting records on like, you know, a Macintosh back in the day and he's like, I I didn't tell them what I was doing because I didn't want to be laughed out the room or anything, you know, how do you explain to, you know, someone, you know, when it's essentially, you know, a new frontier, essentially, but but you know, looking back 30 years now 40 years now, you just think of it as, like a pocket or an idea that he went and did. And not like, oh, what the fuck was he doing here kind of thing. You know, right.

Garrett T. Capps 15:29

And, and I think about, you know, like, the whole whole focus thing, like, focus on one thing and just go for it. Like, artists don't really love doing that a lot of artists don't love doing that. But I feel like there was when there was like a major label industry. And I'm just saying this is like, I might be naive, but it does seem like like, once an artist got saw, if a lot of artists, when they were backed by money had more opportunities to explore different worlds. And still be on brand. So, so to say, instead of just confusing or alienating their audience, but, and there's so many artists that, that have done whatever they wanted, and having gained a wide, wider audience. So it's hard to say, but, you know, I feel like these days, there isn't money backing up recording projects a lot of the time. And it's just even, like, you have to try even harder to like focus on like, your image and, and all that just, on your own, even want to make a blip on the radar anywhere. You have the greatest song in the world, it seems like and you don't look cool on the internet. And no one's gonna give a shit.

Thomas Mooney 17:00

Right? The that's why it's such a weird thing, like, weird concept. But I mean, like, as far as like, trying to look cool on the internet, that's always happened with with just different, you know, labels and management, making people dress up in, in quote, unquote, outfits. You know, it's always been that way i in some respects, because I think like, you know, as far as just being able to throw money out at a record, and just continue recording. Look at like some I think like the best maybe examples like Willie Nelson is, you know, and that's because I bring that up, because how many records does he have? You know?

Garrett T. Capps 17:45

Yeah. I don't even know. 200

Thomas Mooney 17:47

Yeah, Texas Monthly did that, that countdown for that ranking last year. And it's, you know, it's, you know, it's a, it's hard to like, I guess, like understand the entire, you know, catalogue of Willie Nelson. But like, he was able to do some of these weird records, because, you know, he had the the financial backing. And now he's been able to do weird records, because obviously, he's Willie Nelson. He's got the money to do a Frank Sinatra record if he wants to

Garrett T. Capps 18:22

write totally, or just longevity, dependability. He's everything. He's He's an icon. But yeah, I don't know. It's a weird, weird balance. So I, I guess like, this album wouldn't exist. There wasn't a whole lot of downtime and no shows happening last year. Yeah. And I'm excited that it's getting released, because I have a few other records that I made throughout the year, but this one seemed the most appropriate, as it's really fun. And I recorded a whole lot of it. At the lonesome rose while it was closed, we rehearsed there, three or four times. And then I went to the studio, and then I did a whole bunch of overdubs at the ones who rose. And before I decided to pursue the concept of this record, I had done a bunch of remote stuff. And I was so sick of doing remote stuff, that I assembled a band that was cool with meeting up in person of like, pretty heavy hitting like rockabilly country, Western guys in town that would never have the time to do this. Because they're on the road all the time. Right. But they did last summer. So we rehearsed the songs and like the energy was just wildly apparent. I mean, we were All the core tracks including electric guitar was recorded live, so thanks a big difference instead of like piecemealing together a song via email.

Thomas Mooney 20:13

This episode of new slang is brought to you by the blue light live here in Lubbock, Texas. Blue Light has long been the heart and soul of the Lubbock singer songwriter scene, and has been a home away from home for some of Texas Americana, country and rock and roll's finest over the years. Talk with 99.9% of the Songwriters who have come out of Lubbock and the panhandle at large over the past 20 years. And they'll point to just how integral and necessary the blue light is, with live music and touring slowly but surely coming back spots like the blue light, or getting back to their usual ways as well. That means music every night of the week. Do you want to see that schedule? Well, I've got a few options for you. One, go to their socials and give them a follow up that is at blue light live on Twitter, at the blue light live on Instagram. And of course, by just searching the blue light live on Facebook, they're consistently posting that week's lineup of shows, as well as those heavy hitters that ought to be on your calendar that are coming up on the horizon. To check out blue light lubbock.com as well, there, they have the full schedule, the cover charges, time, any of those specials that may be happening while they're go check out their merge page, they have a wide range of hats, koozies, hoodies, sweaters, beanies, jackets, and so much more. You can of course, get all of your merchant age, when you go see your favorite band, take the stage at blue light, just ask the bartender and they will get you all set. Speaking of which, that's another great way of seeing who's playing there, just go to the blue light. It's at 1806 Buddy Holly Avenue here in Lubbock, Texas. And of course, again, that is blue, light, loving, calm. I'll throw a link into the show notes too. Maybe I'll see you there. Okay, let's get back to the show. That's interesting, right there, as far as the getting guys that you wouldn't be able to get without a large break like this, cuz I feel it's very much the same thing. As far as the podcast goes, you know, a lot of people have been stuck at home. So they have time to do an hour long interview or something. And it's very, very similar for you as far as like, you know, calling guys who would be busy otherwise, and now, you know, a giant break in the system. You know, the lot though, the one thing they want to do probably is, is play.

Garrett T. Capps 22:49

Totally, totally, and like, just recording it at the lonesome rose all was closed. And making writing the songs and recording them and all of that arranging them. Like it makes it really sweet that like the vision I had, for the record of playing the songs in front of like a packed room at a time when I leave room. I wanted to play him in at a time when it seemed like that was the last who knows when that's gonna happen. Raw. Yeah, it's just really exciting and special. And scary. But, but, uh, yeah, it's, this is what I wanted to do with the album. I wanted to release it and have it a party because it seemed like that was the last thing that was going to happen when we're writing and recording it.

Thomas Mooney 23:48

Well, you mentioned something a minute ago, I wanted to go back on. And that was you know, you mentioned the, you have a couple of different records. And they can obviously, you know, you've put out a couple of APS that are on Bandcamp last year as well. And this one, you know, this one, kind of jumped the line, if you will. And you've kind of already said, you know, you wanted to have a that party aspect. That's what you felt right for, for this moment. But when it comes like those other projects, are they are they already done? Or are you like kind of still kind of finishing up the the final aspects of them all as far as the the recording goes? I'm sure like, you're still having a you know, I'm on art and whatnot. But

Garrett T. Capps 24:33

yeah, well, there's a record I think I talked about last summer that I had recorded. I started recording it in 2019 and we finished mixing it in April of last year. With that, that has my best songs on it. Um, I don't know when it's gonna come out it has like Doug Kershaw is on it. So that's crazy. But at the time, I worked corded it with some of my friends that live in Austin, that they're they're pretty rockin country rock band. And at the time, when I, when I started recording the records, I wanted to add a European tour plan with them and I wanted to record the record, like seven months before the European tour, and then keep them really busy until the European tour, see where we land. And just like kind of keep them interested in my project. Because it's always an uphill battle. Trying to keep players busy and you know, satisfied. But, uh, all that hit the fan. I feels like eons ago at this point. So I don't know when that record is gonna come out. Because Yeah, this record is coming out in a few weeks. And then like all of last year, I spent, my hometown band is the NASA country band. And we rehearsed every Monday, all year, whenever it felt safe enough to meet up. And we've recorded an entire album. We wrote a whole bunch of songs all year, and we recorded it at the sonic ranch in December. It was like our big thing to look forward to, instead of playing a show or going on a tour, like we look forward to going to the sonic crash outside of El Paso at a time when El Paso was like blowing up with COVID and records this record. And we I literally, I got the Masters this morning. It's done. So I think we're gonna spend most of next year touring and promoting that album. And probably have another album done by then. Yeah, who knows? Well, I feel like I feel like the whole there are artists, psychologically, everyone got pummeled with this whole situation, but I think there were artists that really wrote a whole lot and or recorded a whole lot. And I think 30 years down the road or whatever, we'll be able to see some really interesting patterns. And the history of music.

Thomas Mooney 27:39

You know, I've talked with with some people about that, not necessarily even on the podcast about you know, and we're gonna be able to look back at this time, and you're gonna have like, these quarantine records, these COVID records that I fear, I say, like, I don't, I don't think like I don't mean to characterize them as songs about COVID, or songs about the quarantine, but records that were made during the quarantine. Because there's a giant difference between that I don't think anyone wants to hear songs about COVID. But records that came out of this time, you're gonna see that that, uh, you know, that shock wave that you're gonna see that ring around the tree, if you will, you know, whether there was like a forest fire or whatever, in this tree survived. So I 100% agree with you, as far as there is there's going to be a shift, if you will, you're gonna be able to see what that change was. And it's because of, you know, a year in lockdown, if you will.

Garrett T. Capps 28:42

Yeah, and it can be mean lots of different things, but and, like a simple way of looking at it would be, yeah, there's a shitload releases and my, that will have to be spread out or whatever. For me, that's what I'm trying to do. I have albums that would never exist if I wasn't, you know, sitting or sitting around. With no, with nothing to do for the foreseeable future.

Thomas Mooney 29:08

Yeah, I think like the it's this last year is a similar thing to like, what happened? Post 911 or like the Iraq War, which I think like we can kind of attach to all being a very similar era as far as the Iraq War, Afghanistan, and 911. A lot of what a lot of bands came out of that time sounding differently because of an unrest feeling an uneasy feeling tension, and maybe like that's going to be key something that that I don't know characterize as a sound, maybe it will be the exact opposite. Maybe I don't I'm not sure. I don't know if you can say what it's going to be in the moment.

Garrett T. Capps 29:53

Yeah, I don't really know. But uh, yeah, it's crazy.

Thomas Mooney 29:59

You You mentioned like, you know, even fear having that fearful pneus, as far as, during this past year, was writing and having records. Does that does it stem from maybe like an uneasiness of like, Oh, is this record going to be lost? Is this record never going to come out that aspect of like, maybe I don't feel the same about it? Or, or do you feel like there, that's just kind of, I don't know, too simple of a way of looking at it.

Garrett T. Capps 30:31

I like other than all the really obvious, General human fear that everyone could probably say they've had, I would say that, uh, for me, like, I've been able, personally, I've been able to drum up enough shit, here in town, to where I can work from the computer, or whatever. And hit the road. Three years ago, I was able to do that. And last year, for better, I can't tell if it was actually if I was, I don't know, I don't know, if I was making good decisions. As far as my tour schedule went last year, is when everything went south. Well, I got canceled. That was basically gonna, I was gonna be going 115 miles an hour, until. And there were like some crazy tours that didn't even really make sense on the horizon, supporting garage bands, like, I was all over the place. But I think that in 2019, stuff started really feeling a lot better for me, the energy started feeling a lot better. On the road, now I'm doing like mostly DIY tours, hopefully festivals and support, support slots. I'm into Europe a few times. And that's always fun. And things are going fairly, fairly well out there. But, uh, I kinda was just going all in on the whole energy transfer of going on the road, because something always happens. When you take your performance somewhere else. It might be meeting somebody, it might be making a new fan or connection that pops up five years later, who knows, you know, but something always happens. So I think that when whatever touring I'm talking about, was over, was supposed to be over last summer. And like I was, I was still just going to be pushing the snowball into whatever new opportunities came my way. When I had nothing that got canceled on the calendar, in August of last year, that's when I felt like the snowball melted. Like, I know how I had no idea how things would have gone and I had no idea where I was going. Because I hadn't seen a live audience or interacted with people in a while. And my internet, my whatever culture fan base I have on the internet, like just doesn't register with me in the same way. So yeah, I mean, I'm all in for my music and any opportunity that's come my way or victories or failures, like, that's my life. So not having the live component was not cool. So yeah, I was scared about relevance, because I don't know how relevant I am in the world of this shithole music industry. And I don't even know if that matters. I mean, I've written a lot of songs in the last year that I love, but I do like playing killer shows. So I was scared that uh, I was gonna have to rebuild. I couldn't tell if it was paused or everything had stopped and I was gonna have to start over. And now that things are getting going again. It looks like I'm getting opportunities that I'm probably never would have had if there wasn't like a break. So that's Cool.

Thomas Mooney 35:01

Yeah. Well, that's that's very, I think a lot of artists have that same, those same reservations those that same fear of, of acceptance or like, is what what is success? Right? One of the easiest ways to understand success is like how many people were coming to show, you know, that's something that you can see. And it's very much a where, as you said, like, if it's if it's online, if it's the followers, like that can feel fake, that can feel very flat or just abstract, it's very, very hard to understand, like, a fan base, in that conceptual way where you're playing shows, and people were like, coming up and talking with you, you have that, that evidence that there's someone out there listening, you know, so I can see a lot of glare, a lot of artists have had that fear this past year or that uneasiness.

Garrett T. Capps 36:03

Yeah, everything was uneasy. Everywhere. So, I mean, but yeah, it's like the whole music, the whole music thing. Like, I think anyone knows that's taking their musical, quote, unquote, career seriously, is that like, you got to have so many irons in the fire all the time. Like a gig is not just a gig, there's always something happening, there's opportunities behind the scenes, you can take advantage of connections, and, you know, if you get a support slot opening for blah, blah, blah. Like, it's never just about getting fans from the audience. You know, it's like a networking opportunity. You know, all that stuff. It's just like, I missed that whole mess. So I'm glad it's back in some some ways.

Thomas Mooney 37:00

Yeah, no, I very much get that it's the, you know, to, to apply it to what I do. Like, a lot of times, like the podcast, is just the vehicle to get other opportunities, you know, keeping your name out there a little bit more. So, like, I very much understand how like, you know, sometimes the gig is not necessarily just the login. And it's not necessarily just the, you know, you sell a handful records or CDs, or t shirts at the merchant or the, you know, the merchant booth or anything like that. Sometimes, it's just like that, meeting that, you know, coming across it right person who's gonna have that opportunity. Five years down the road, whatever the case is, five minutes down the road. This episode is, in part brought to you by Charlie stout photography, Charlie stout has long been a great buddy of mine. And for as long as I've known him, he's always had a good eye, a good eye for ideas for lines and a song. And notably, an eye for what makes a great photograph. Yes, we're gonna roll with that tried and true cliche about a great photographer, having a good eye. But it's cliche for a reason. More often than not means it's true. Right now, I want y'all to head on over to Charlie stout.com. To get an idea of what I'm talking about. While you're at it, go give him a follow on Instagram and Twitter at Troy stout. Right now he has about 50 photographs for sale on Charlie stout calm, with a vast majority of those being landscapes and sky shots of West Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, the American Southwest, if you will, a lot of cacti and clouds, windmills and open roads, sunsets and stardust. he captures a lot of what I love about West Texas and these dry arid climates. That's mainly that vast emptiness that can really make you feel small, the depth and the way the intensity, it's all in there. Right now he's doing a special on his prints. Each week, he releases a new photo. And for one week only that photograph is at a special introductory rate. For just $25 you'll get an eight and a half by 11. That's just about half off the regular price. For 75. You can get a 13 by 19. And for 110. You can get a 17 by 22. After the week, they go back to regular prices, which are still an absolute still if you ask me. Also just a pro tip, keep a watchful eye out on his Twitter. He's consistently posting one offs, errors and randoms on there that are for sale that are in the flash sell variety. Again, that is at Charlie stout for Twitter and Instagram. Head on over to Charlie stout.com. Grab a sign print, buy a record. Get yourself some nature sounds and some nature shots. Alright, let's get back to the episode. One of the things I wanted to touch back on with the the new record is, you know you you do a Jethro Tull song on here and you do a Loudon Wainwright, the third song on here. Where do those How do those end up coming up in the mix of songs for the record?

Garrett T. Capps 40:20

Um I grew up listening to Jethro Tull. And I remember I always remembered the song Aquila. My dad really likes the song Aqua long. And it was a really good song for a little kid to remember because it talks about like, not stupid, gross shit. But uh, I remember when I first heard Lokomotiv breath. Like, I knew the lyrics to Aqua long looking motive breath kicked in, it was just like, really catchy. And that flute Solo is awesome. And I have this list of, I have a list of songs that I always add to that I'd like to cover someday. Because I don't spend a lot of time working on cover songs. And I don't know we're just with the band that I assembled. I saw locomotive breath on the list. And I was like, well, this guitar guitarist riffs as bands kind of, it's pretty heavy. Like they got chops. And I the vision for turning locomotive breath into kind of like a four on the floor, stumping country song about like, a train or whatever the songs about even though the songs about it's totally lyrics I would never write. But uh it's just kind of like I liked the fact that I grew up listening to that song and always loved it now there's kind of this it's a pretty rockin tune, you know, the originals rockin and I think that our versions like pretty insane like the, at the end we keep speeding it up. That's all live. Yeah, and I don't know. I wanted to do that song and then the Latin Wainwright song. I remember I was listening to one of his more recent besides compilations or Rarity, compilations, um, and he's like, it's such an amazing songwriter that respects with a vast amount of releases. But I heard this song. It's called the everybody I know song. It's just an acapella, like, stock class, Diddy. And the lyrics really resonated with me because that guy can really nail it. Lyrically sometimes. And it's really effective. And this is what it's all about. The superficial judgment. We cast on people and I thought it'd be a fun party song. So I turned it into a party, dancing country song, and then my friend Croix from growing the boys wrote the second verse. And loud Loudon is notoriously salty, and vile wrenches legal people reached out to his people to get clearance on the song and never heard back and I think that we're in a safe zone now. But a man I don't know. I feel like that's that. I mean, I put music to it. And we entered a verse and really changed up a lot of the song but like, I think the core song is still there. But like, in the back of my head, I'm kinda like, you know, people start listening to this on Spotify. It gets around a lot and you're gonna get pissed.

Thomas Mooney 44:22

Right,

Garrett T. Capps 44:23

Is that good? What do you be happy about it? I don't know. He might not even care there dogs chasing cool.

Thomas Mooney 44:38

Yeah, no, I think like the Both songs very much fit in line with a record. They sound great. The had two notes on it. One Jethro Tull, as you mentioned, like your dad, like and I remember like Dan Patrick, the the radio sports hosts, not the idiot lieutenant governor. Talking about Jethro Tull. And this is a very, very like, simplistic way of like, even approaching music, but he was like talking about how gestural toll was like, only dude, like that band. Like that's like a band where like 90% of the totally. Like when you said your dad loved it, I was like, yeah, spot on right there.

Garrett T. Capps 45:23

They're a ragged van. And like, I used to say they're my favorite, the only prog rock band that I liked. But I mean, recently, I don't know, just because I'm getting grumpier, or whatever. But I've gotten way more into like 70s prog like, King Crimson or Yes, yeah. Or I consider dire straits. Kind of a progressive pop rock band, but I never see their name pop up on the progressive rock list. Zed

Thomas Mooney 45:56

love Dire Straits I would never thought stone him in the Prague route. But

Garrett T. Capps 46:01

when you listen to the when you listen to their live albums, they stretch their songs out.

Thomas Mooney 46:08

Yeah, this is like a stupid side note. The yes I wonder percent agree with you as far as them stretching that song out. Are there songs out because a cactus theater I don't think they really do it now but cactus theater here in Lubbock. That would be kind of like that the the house music would be one of those dire straight records. And I swear that you would only play like that one, like one song throughout, and you would just kind of get fucking tired of it waiting on you know them to switch sets. But yeah, I don't know. This is like that's a stupid side note, but that's like, go back to Prague. Go back to

Garrett T. Capps 46:47

okay. Yeah. Jethro Tull. It's it's like a personal joke to myself. But that kind of sums it all up like, the album is supposed to be fun, and nothing but fun like some of this a lot of the songs I would not categorize them as my best songs lyrically, but I don't care. Like, a lot of these songs are just high energy bangers. My however I can do that they're supposed to. It's supposed to be a Honky Tonk record.

Thomas Mooney 47:16

No, I get that. Yeah.

Garrett T. Capps 47:18

But I mean, sometimes I don't know how to do the things I'm saying. But this is my best bet at a Honky Tonk record, as a guy that owns up technically owns a Honky Tonk?

Thomas Mooney 47:29

Yeah. The Honky Tonk with a, you know, a giant mural on the side. That's it. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Okay, so I wanted to transition to something about NASA country, and, oh, Jeff Bezos thing. And this is maybe the best spot to transition because now there is a Jeff Bezos mural in Van Horn. And I kind of want like Matt to go paint over it with something else

Garrett T. Capps 47:57

he should, man. But yeah, so we're just talking about that last night. I was hanging out with him last night. Oh, okay. I wanted not basis. But we were talking where he was where he was going next.

Thomas Mooney 48:08

Yeah. Well, I wanted to get your your thoughts on the, you know, is there is there a beef between NASA country and what is what's basis his thing? Well, I can't think of what it's even called.

Garrett T. Capps 48:18

Base. I don't know what the nose is. Yeah. So no, no, there isn't. Because we rarely talk. We we rarely talk about stuff like that.

Thomas Mooney 48:29

Because I was, obviously, you got the NASA country thing. And I guess like last time we talked you, you've kind of framed it as one to do this like trilogy. And we're like to have the records already out. And then whatever comes out next, when it is in relation to NASA country, but you know, I was wondering if there was any beef between NASA control because clearly, you know, you're tied. Your all your eggs are in the US space program basket when it comes to that.

Garrett T. Capps 49:03

Yeah, I don't care. But I think that is something to consider. When thought about too much. It's fun to say it's fun name to say whatever. SpaceX country wouldn't work and whatever basis program is probably wouldn't work either. So

Thomas Mooney 49:23

Isn't it like it's blue horizon? I think something

Garrett T. Capps 49:27

Yeah, that doesn't sound cool. Yeah.

Thomas Mooney 49:31

Yeah, I'm just bullshitting here of course, but yeah, that's funny, stupid thing that was kinda relevant. Which again, yeah, well,

Garrett T. Capps 49:40

the NASA country guys like like so the third installment of the in the shadows trilogy is in the can that's what I was saying just got mastered. And I think it's funny for me to think about like, and whatever it is that I'm doing. And that's the country has been my San Antonio band for a few years. And we've really grown as a band, we're getting weirder. And we're listening to each other more. And it's like the in the shadows record. I put NASA country together for in the shadows. But it was kind of like the way you would do a country record. Like I put a band together, even though like, they were a weird band, and we had no idea what we were doing. But then after we got the core tracks, we did overdubs with like steel and fiddle and whatever. And then all right all night. wasn't gonna be it wasn't gonna be a spacey ish record, I was just gonna kind of make a Texas record with Adam odor. And then I decided, oh, we should make this spacey and make it a trilogy. So Adda motor records a bunch of studio players. And then there's some spacey overdubs from the NASA country, guys. Um, so this third record in the trilogy, the one we recorded last year, is only NASA country, there's no there's no guests or anything. It's just just the band. So I'm excited about that. Yeah, space country space country music from San Antonio, Texas. I don't think anyone can rip us off.

Thomas Mooney 51:28

You mentioned cutting that out at Sonic Ranch, which, you know, as far as the the the street crowd goes with Sonic ranch. I mean, there's plenty of people have recorded out there and all their you know, experiences out there, I think talk for themselves. How was a like, what, what, what drew you to, to Sonic ranch? And then to like, you know, what, what was uh, how was that for you? As far as that that experience of recording that way?

Garrett T. Capps 52:00

Oh, one of the band members met this engineer that was living in San Antonio last year, as his wife had a job here, who happened to be like a really prominent engineer in Chicago. And he was basically working remotely. But Justin, our modular synth guy met him at a coffee shop, they became friends. And we started talking about doing this record, and he has been flying bands out to the sonic ranch. And he got us a good situation to be there for four and a half days. And he engineered it and we got to work in their big classic Neve room. And after basically focusing on the songs, what was so cool for us as we've been focusing on the song so hard for like the whole year is that on the first day, we recorded all the songs. So then we spent the next two to three days. Like getting really crazy with like routing stems from different instruments through the modular synth and creating all these soundscapes and like really doing some cool experimental overdubs stuff and a awesome studio. That never happens these days, like being able to hang out in the studio and like really experiment and have time not feel pressured to get done as soon as possible. So we finished everything in three and a half days on the last day. We press record on the computer and we just jammed for like 10 hours. So we've been using those gems to create new songs so we kind of like opened up some sort of time loop wormhole thing. And the whole new album was started getting writing started getting written during the recording of the next album. I don't know how to explain it but the sonic crash was badass and the salsa was really good

Thomas Mooney 54:14

Yeah, well I've I've always kind of thought of the there being that desert element in the NASA country sound obviously the you know some of that post rocky elements those soundscapes if you will as you mentioned so like you guys going out to El Paso of all places just kind of seems seems right on like a you know perfect kind of fit

Garrett T. Capps 54:42

are excited to see the record it's a it's called people are beautiful, and there's some red tunes on it should be cool.

Thomas Mooney 54:51

Yeah, for sure.

Garrett T. Capps 54:51

Ah yeah, man. All sorts of releases in the bag but this I love sandstone album. Um, It's pretty fun, I think and I think that I hope that whoever hears it can hear that can tell that it's fun. We need funk music. I think the country music scene needs more fun original rockin music. I feel like somewhere in between melodramatic Americana and red dirt. There should be some Best Original country rock that you can dance to. So that's what this album is supposed to be.

Thomas Mooney 55:33

Yeah, I was talking with someone earlier actually about how also all too often like country music and probably music in general takes self way too serious. Which obviously time and situation you want to be listening to serious music or sad music or whatever the case is. But like it's also created this void of like, you know, there being a lack of fun tunes. But like I won't say lack of fun tunes because they're probably pulling there's plenty of stuff

Garrett T. Capps 56:03

for like too many fun tunes. Yeah, everyone's definition of fun is different. Like I don't like I don't think my best songs were on this album but I don't think that there's like, like any throw is right Yeah, well look no look Brian anthems.

Thomas Mooney 56:20

Yeah, well, that's what I was gonna say there's like, you know, those kind of fun tunes as far as you know, drunk on a plane type of stuff or like, you know, being out on a back road dump like that's to me like a that's not what we're talking about. But there is like that void that lack of you know, just kind of the the fun stuff the you know, just being okay with a record being a a dancehall record.

Garrett T. Capps 56:48

Yeah, man. And I think there are some singers there sing alongs like the single I like Austin, but I love San Antonio is a sing along. And writing the record, I mean, I have songs about San Antonio that some get attached to my name, and this album is no exception. But it's supposed to be for San Antonio. So if anybody else likes it even better. Yeah. Um, yeah, so I looked at it when we were making it.

Thomas Mooney 57:21

So you mentioned having like, you know, those irons in the fire, multiple irons in the fire. Another little thing that you guys do. You mentioned Croix a minute ago. Trouble country, suffering jukebox. I've been listening along. What's Uh, oh, cool. What's, uh, you know, I guess like, give that let you know that five minute intro, what you guys are wanting to do with that? And like, what had that even begin?

Garrett T. Capps 57:51

Oh, it started years ago. There's a guy in town that's the producer of the show that does all sorts of art projects, and loves like, Cal punk, for lack of a better description. And I met him a few years ago. And somehow, you know, things go like, whatever we started trouble country to be. It wasn't supposed to be this. But what it is now. It's basically tribal countries. So this is like a collective. And we're doing this podcast series. So right now we're rolling out. And it's supposed to be at the intersection of country music and punk rock, just in general. And we're doing a suit there's like episodes within the world of trouble country. So right now. We're rolling out the first season of the suffering jukebox, which is basically where these artists in the world of trouble country, choose a song that they think represents what we're all about. And originally, we were interviewing all these artists over the phone during the pandemic. And, you know, we interviewed Lloyd Maines john doe, Rosie Flores, all these people and we're getting some better interviews now that we have material online. But uh, basically, like, it was supposed to be this whole crazy. Like, like story like we're I'm traveling through the United States and I stopped by Randy's rodeo, they're stopped by luck and find where the flatlanders formed. And then we drive to LA. See where Los Lobos formed and acts or whatever. But we've kind of delineate delineated all that into these episodes. And so the suffering jukebox is the first series of episodes and then there's going to be another series called looking for trouble recruiting and I discuss these pretty obscure releases from the LA punk rock scene of the 80s and roots rock, like the blasters and some more obscure, more like kind of reaching or reaching kind of hard on some of this, like the Meat Puppets and camper van Beethoven, which aren't even like the Meat Puppets or like from Arizona, or whatever. But anyways, it's pretty cool. And it's filling a void that I think hasn't been filled yet. And Troy and I get along really well when it comes to talking about this stuff. I think before this idea even existed we have gotten had been trading albums by the beat farmers and bands like that kind of overlooked when I got into old country like it went from Robert Oh cane to Steve Earle, all the Texas songwriters and Uncle Tupelo and passed around from like, 70s to 90s. I never really, for some reason, like the whole no depression, movement or whatever. I never really got the memo that there was like some really interesting stuff happening in the 80s. Yeah, other than like, the really obvious. And so that's what we're kind of exploring, and I'm still yet to describe it properly. Yeah. But, you know, I think people, the people, the people that will the need to find it will find it. You know, there's like your podcast, there's cocaine and rhinestones. There's a slew of other podcasts about alternative country, etc. But I think that this one's has a niche of its own.

Thomas Mooney 1:01:55

Yeah, like, what what I kind of, as far as like those, those all country records of the 80s of the 90s. That are, it's almost like and this is, this may offend, you may hang up on me right here. But it's almost like that pure, original term, or, like, definition of Americana music before, like, we got into, like, just throwing it, throwing everything under that umbrella. Because, you know, you bring up like Los Lobos like that's like, you know, obviously, all these different facets of American music put into one thing, right? And like Meat Puppets, they're all kind of country but not, you know. And you would never put them you would never think of them as being a country band in the the radio format. But you know, the alt, the alt, country, the all the alternative, if you will, in general, they they kind of fit in that the same realm of like, what I would almost consider like, just like the original definition of Americana, even though I don't even necessarily like that term, either. Right? So I get what you're saying it, but it's very, very difficult to wrangle in that definition with, you know, one sentence.

Garrett T. Capps 1:03:19

Yeah, I mean, even just describing the show, it's we're still figuring stuff out. But we, yeah, I think it's pretty, we're having fun making it. And there's a lot more material that we're going to be rolling out throughout the year and forever. So,

Thomas Mooney 1:03:37

I want to break one more time to talk about our pals over at Desert door and offer up a quick Thomas Mooney, cocktail minute, as I've said probably 100 times by now, by no means am I a seasoned mixologist or bartender, but these have been some of my desert door go twos. For starters, let's just go with the tried and true range water. pop the top off the topo Chico, take a good swig. Now pour in some desert door and top it off by throwing in a few lime wedges never fails. This one. It's so simple. It probably doesn't even count. But again, pretty foolproof. do the exact same thing. But get you a Mexican Coca Cola. I guess you can go with a regular one. But you're really cutting yourself short if you don't opt for the Mexican import variety. All right, here's the change up you've been waiting for. Desert door sangria. This one is prime for when you have company coming over and you aren't wanting to just be over there making six different drinks at a time. What you'll need is some desert door. Obviously, a bottle of red wine, honey, boiling water, apple cider, apple cider vinegar, some cinnamon sticks, a couple of apples and some time sprigs. I know that may sound intimidating, but trust me it's worth The prep and honestly, it's pretty easy. For starters, get you a Punchbowl, add that honey, those cinnamon sticks and the boiling water together. Now you're going to want to stir that all up and let it cool down for about an hour. So remember patience is a virtue. Once that's done, add some desert door and stir vigorously. Now add the one the cider and the vinegar and continue stirring until it's equally mixed. Now slice those apples up and toss them in. Put in those time sprigs as well. Now you can pour that over some ice and you have a modified sangria chef's kiss. Anyway, those have been some of my favorite go twos as of light. And remember, desert door is as versatile as vodka and more refined, smooth, complex and intriguing than tequila. It's rich and balanced. And whether you decide to keep it simple or want to experiment. Desert door is that perfect Texas spirit. There's plenty more recipes over at Desert door.com as well check out the show notes for a link. All right, let's get back to the episode.

Someone who tweeted out and I never actually followed up on the tweet. But you brought up the meat puppet so I'm gonna say it right here. They were saying how they I guess like their, their their tweets something to the effect of how they they're kind of bummed that like Kurt Cobain never made a country record. And, uh huh. You know, my instant reaction was like, Oh, he did it was just like that unplugged him to Yeah. Like, that's his ride record. Right. Totally. And that's like the same kind of, you know, that that very much I feel would would be in the same realm of what you're talking about. Especially because obviously they they got that meat puppet software. I guess they did to meet puppet songs on that.

Garrett T. Capps 1:06:58

Yeah, that to me puppet songs on that performance.

Thomas Mooney 1:07:01

Yeah. But anyways, yeah.

Garrett T. Capps 1:07:04

I love Yeah,

Thomas Mooney 1:07:05

I need to get that in there.

Garrett T. Capps 1:07:07

Totally. Totally. I think that you're right on, that would be considered troubled countries. Yeah. If you have an argument for Nirvana's MTV Unplugged album, being their country album, then that is trouble. That's a very troubled argument worth discussing.

Thomas Mooney 1:07:26

Well, there we go. Episode, you know, down the line, you guys. Yeah. So I was gonna get you out on this last thing here. And this is also like kind of non serious, but, you know, I want to the serious answer here. Our mutual buddy john Bauman is part of a super group if you will, the the panhandlers are you? Are you going to try and convince him to create a San Antonio based separate group of like, you know, for songwriters coming together? And doing the exact same thing? I don't have.

Garrett T. Capps 1:08:04

I don't know. Yeah, why not? You were hanging out last night. He played at the lonesome Rose was the first proper concert there. And it was cool. Um, you never know. I talked to john all the time. We're, he's my oldest friend. And we're both doing our things. And one of these days he's moved to San Antonio first. That's what he needs to do the San Antonio supergroup, he needs to move to San Antonio. Because, you know, this whole album, this whole album, and this whole idea of me waving the San Antonio flag. It's still like, not only is it fun to be proud of where you're from, but uh, it's still kind of poking fun at everyone that at least it feels like, for so long people thought of San Antonio is just like some city. You know, some city. And down here we feel like everyone considered us some cities south of Austin. But over the years, but there's so many so much South Texas beneath us and we're the big city to them. Um, so I'm going on a tangent now. Yeah, john and i will probably form a band at some point, do we but I

Thomas Mooney 1:09:30

saw you You had the photo with George Strait. Do we need to wrangle in him as part of the supergroup?

Garrett T. Capps 1:09:36

Yeah, sure. I mean, we aren't. We aren't friends. But we did talk about Lars Ulrich for a few seconds. But I guess as far as the San Antonio ethos and why I'm so into talking about it, is that the city is changing. And a lot of people moved here during the last year. People are moving here crazy. It's crazy. It's really crazy. The people that used to vacation down here from Austin, because the Airbnb is cheap and it's cool to go somewhere low key or you don't have to get valet parking and pay a shitload of money for brunch, or whatever. They're moving here. I guess it's like that shift is happening, like, all the time. San Antonio is still low key, but it's just not the same city that it was 15 or even just five years ago. Yeah. And and the more that happens, and the more that I try to push my music forward. It's fun just to talk about San Antonio.

Thomas Mooney 1:10:46

Yeah, well, when they'll go, yeah. Go ahead.

Garrett T. Capps 1:10:50

I was in Corpus a few weeks ago. Open three dates for Randy Rogers and Wade Bowen. And the first show is in Corpus. And this is totally like, this is like the first big shows I played him forever. totally random that I was on the bill. But it was just as fun as I'd hoped it would be. The next day in Corpus, I stayed the night there. And some friends went to this awesome taco place called chachos. tacos. ran by like, basically, this hardcore punk band has run this Mexican food restaurant with their family in Corpus. And they had these giant breakfast tacos. It was like two for three. And I was asking them how big their breakfast tacos were, if I needed to get one or two. And they told me, man, these are big tacos. They aren't like the San Antonio or Austin tacos. They're big. And they're like, kinda, I made me smile for some reason. But I kind of put things into perspective. As corpus had this vibe to it that reminded me of San Antonio in like 2004 or something. He was super sleepy and down home and there was some shit going on. But everyone's just like, pretty laid back. And it's I mean, corpus is on the beach. But San Antonio definitely still has vibes like that in certain areas, but something about them lumping San Antonio and Austin into the breakfast taco war conversation. It was just kind of a it's kind of a sign of the times to me whether they meant it or not.

Thomas Mooney 1:12:35

Yeah, wait, like that. That comment right there reminds me of like, I think, and this is something that you're touching on is, in a lot of ways, all these towns Lubbock definitely has this. Amarillo has this. And it's this like, inferiority complex with Austin or DFW or Houston, where, you know, that's where everyone mentions, if they're talking about Texas, and you kind of go well, what about us? What about and so you kind of have like a little bit of that chip on your, you know, on your shoulder? You know, talking about wherever you're from and going, like, you know, we're not just an afterthought. And corpus probably definitely has has that feeling as well.

Garrett T. Capps 1:13:17

Totally, totally corvis rules. I'm going back. I'm gonna go see anthrax there and like, a month, I decided I was going back and I saw they're playing on Thursday. I'm going

Thomas Mooney 1:13:28

there you go, man. Yeah, man, there was someone I was gonna say, Oh, I know what it was. It was San Antonio. And like, you know, it's, I think, like, we don't, you know, obviously think about the music as much because, you know, it's not written about as much because it's a, obviously more Tex Mex driven, or more Spanish driven in general. And there's not nearly as much coverage on that by the big, you know, media platforms that we have out here. But, you know, as a kid, we'd have like field trips to San Antonio, even though Obviously, I'm was growing up in Fort Stockton, we'd go out there for like a week and go to all these, you know, the rich history. pinpoints of San Antonio, and not just, you know, not just the Alamo, but all these different places. And so I think like it's always held a certain reverie in my heart, despite not being a spurs fan. We don't have to go down that route. But yeah, you know, I think like, there's a very, very special aspect of and, you know, as you mentioned, I yeah, everywhere everywhere is kind of changed in the past 15 years to five years. And so, I'm hoping like, you know, even in these little small ways, like you're able to keep these pockets of preserve these pockets of, of cultural significance.

Garrett T. Capps 1:14:58

Yeah, I hope so. I mean, I didn't. Yeah, I love San Antonio. And if I need to be the guy that yells about San Antonio and breakfast tacos, like, you know, like, I'll, I'll play that I'll play some of my more serious songs before that, and then we'll do that and smash our shit lease. So, I'm happy to write I'm happy to rip San Antonio. I love it. And I think it's a good representation of Texas and a lot of ways and all this cool, man.

Thomas Mooney 1:15:33

Yeah, for sure, man. Yeah, it's been great talking to you this afternoon.

Garrett T. Capps 1:15:40

Yeah, really. Thanks for being down to talk shop. And I'm gonna be loving.

Thomas Mooney 1:15:52

Alright, that is it for this episode. Big thanks to guaranteed caps for coming on. Be sure to order. I love San Antonio. out this Friday, August 20. Go visit our presenting partners over at Desert door. The blue light live in Charlie stout photography, go pre order the lebrock way a collection of wallflower been yet my debut book. It's gonna be a limited release. So yeah, go order it. And yeah, I'll see y'all later this week for another episode.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai