Last month, I sat down (with coffee) to have a chat with Amanda MacKaye. She is the frontwoman of local art punk band, Bed Maker. She also books shows for the Fort Reno concert series and used to work at Yorktown High School. Bed Maker has a PAIR OF SHOWS THIS WEEKEND! (Information is posted at the bottom of this article.)
Tiago Woodyard: With the bed maker album, how did the production of that go? Was it straightforward?
Amanda MacKaye: Well, the conception of it was interesting. We did not set out to make it an album, but we played our first show in February of 2020. And then we took a year off, but. during that year, each of us worked at home. I don’t know if you know the band Darkest Hour, but Mike Schleibaum, who plays in Darkest Hour, is a dear friend of mine, and he immediately helped us set up, you know, he told us what equipment to buy and like how to get ourselves set up to do home work for the band and we just kept writing songs the whole time that we were at home. And then we had basically an album’s worth of music.
Oh, wow.
You know, by the time we played our third show, we were ready to make an album. But what we did not, we wouldn’t record it at Viva a couple of times, which was a phenomenal studio. It’s great, really beautiful work there. And then we had not actually discussed recording an album because it seemed like, we hadn’t really earned that yet, because we just hadn’t played very much out. But then the first iteration of what was happening was inner ear was that inner ear was closing. Yeah. Which broke my heart. And I thought. [crap], I know, I’m not going to get to record there again, because I didn’t, you know, we didn’t feel like we were ready. And plus, everybody was trying to record right at the end. Yeah. But then it turned out that Don was going to open it back up at his house. Which is the first place I met Don [Zientara] was in his basement. And so it was really, it was great. We were sort of the first. the first, like, shakeout band, like, you know, they hadn’t really done, they’ done some small recording back after you got everything set up again, but we were really the first full on stuff happening there. Once, you know, got everything set up and it’s still just a great, it’s a great recording studio. And working with Don is just it’s the best. He’s I haven’t worked, I won’t say this, I have not worked with that many studios or engineers. And I have been very, very fortunate to work with people who are kind and helpful and supportive and and have great ears, you know.
In the liner notes, it said that the vocals were recorded in a different session. Is that true?
Oh, yeah. So that was with my friend Mike Schleibaum at his studio, which is called The Riff Dojo, which is really just his basement. Yeah, so it’s hard to explain. Maybe I’ve recorded a lot. I’ve been in a few bands, and I’ve recorded a lot. And I’ve had experiences that informed me about how how I like to feel when I’m doing my vocals, and at the time that Bed maker was doing their record, we all we have known each other for a very long time. We’ve been playing together for a long time, but there were still, we just hadn’t crossed certain emotional spaces. And so there was still going back to our conversation about vulnerability. There was still some there just was some things that were hard to navigate. And I was not. I was not happy with the vocals I had done at Inner ear. And I for whatever was going on with me, I didn’t believe the people who were telling me, it sounds good. Yeah. And it was all me. Like, that was just my own. What do you call that? Like. Intuition? It’s not even really intuition. It’s just my own damage, I guess. Like, that I, you know, I couldn’t trust people or believe in the process. I felt very strongly, like, this is bad. I did bad work. Everyone’s lying to me. Like all the negative talk that we all get into. And. And so I made a choice to to go somewhere else. And I just went by myself. It was just me and Mike in his basement over a couple of nights, and also, to be fair, to myself, I think, just before we went into the inner ear to record, I had just gotten over my second or third round of COVID. And I knew when I was doing my vocals, I knew I did not have the lung capacity that I needed. And so I think that got in my head. And so I, because I knew how physically how I was feeling while I was doing those vocals, it got in my head that they are not good. They probably were good. But, you know, choice was made.
So, and it was, and it was a good, it was an important step in the in the chemistry of bed maker. Because now they kind of understand that what I don’t need to hear is, you sound great. I need to hear actual feedback. Even if it’s if you feel like it’s harsh, we’re friends. We love each other. Like, we’re family. You can give me actual feedback. Because I want to grow, too.
With the lyrics, you wrote them definitely during quarantine, right? Or at least some of them.
It’s hard to say, because I write a lot. Pretty frequently. And then some things turned into things and some things don’t or they kind of two things will meet and come together, but yeah..I don’t. I don’t. I mean, I don’t know where we’re going with your questions.
I guess with with some of the songs, just. What are the topics, I guess?
I don’t know. Uh, I don’t know. I write kind of. I’m a child of writers and so I’m naturally, I observe all the time. constantly taking in information. And the information sometimes, you know, it translates into a couple of rhymes of text. Yeah. And I make just tons of notes everywhere. So many that I don’t, I lose some and I don’t know. And sometimes they get expounded on. And sometimes they don’t. Sometimes they get knitted with other things and sometimes they’re just nothing. I could go back to it and I’m like, I don’t know what that’s supposed to mean. So a lot of my stuff is not necessarily about any one thing. And sometimes it is and it’s not even. And I think that often there is a perception that lyrics are about the person delivering the lyrics. And like. I guess my point about saying that I’m observing all the time is that I see things that are not. They’re not happening to me. They have never happened to me. I don’t do them, and I’ I’m observing something and it is affecting me. You know, and I’m. And I want for people to. To hear it. Yeah. And and hopefully it’s like it it’s their curiosity. I mean like with Ballad of Tokai, the lyrics I wrote were long before I read about Tokitae and. It just fit. And what I hoped is that when people were like, what the hell is the ballad of Tokai? I was hoping that they would tank it into a search engine and go, whoa, this is a crazy story.” And maybe they would feel affected by the story like I did and want to have a more compassionate world.
May I ask what happened I haven’t searched it up yet?
Oh, no, no, you gotta go search it. It’s Tokai is an orca whale. I was then an orca whale who, as a Davy, was taken away from their family, taken away from their natural waters. and put into a pool and from the moment Tokotai was taken from their natural waters, people, even the people who did it, they were immediately affected by that whale and worked for decades to try to get him back to where he’s supposed to be. Didn’t work. Oh, man. But they got close. But it’s an amazing story and but it’ it’s amazing to me, but I already also, I already am like. Why the [hell] would you take things out of their natural [habitat]? Why would you do that? Just. I mean it’s similar. Tokai is similar to the story of Keiko, who is the inspiration of Free Willy. It’s same kind of idea, which is people stole other beings in, you know, But in Tokotai, it was a little bit more obvious that those people realized the badness that they had done, and Keiko’s… they didn’t. Yeah. You know? They didn’t for a long, long time, and it actually took humans dying from. animals who were distressed because they had been treated so poorly for those operations to be like, maybe we should stop doing this.
Yeah. I mean, I guess with zoos back in the day, they did that. But hopefully now most zoos are intending to at least protect the animals.
It is a very thin line or something. It’s, you know, on the one hand, aquariums and zoos it’s weird and kind of uncomfortable, but on the other hand, they are also. doing conservation, and they’re giving people an opportunity. I mean, I will never get to date other side of the globe at this point in my life. You know? And to be able to see certain animals that I’m fascinated with. that is a is a great gift. And it’s true. I mean, zoos in, they’ve come a long way in aquariums, too. Aquariums are. Aquariums are different. It’s captivity, but it’s not the same as amusement, like animal amusement parks, basically. you know, because in an aquarium, they are they’re in a smaller space, yes. but they’re living their life that they would, you know. It’s more naturalized than it ever was in the past. But yeah, no, it’s a really, we can talk about that forever.
To change the subject, how did Fort Reno come about? How did you…
Long before me.
get the opportunity to work there and book shows.
So as a teenager, I went to Fort Reno. and it was it was different, then it was more, like, I don’t even know who was doing the programming. There was just kind of rock stuff. And then in the early early 2000s, the DC and I don’t think the federal government was involved at that point. I mean, they under land, but I don’t think they really were involved with it. But D.C. was really doing the programming and all that money went away. And so one of the people who used to volunteer, there, I don’t remember his last name, I only knew him as Father George, and he was a Jesuit priest who would ride around on his 10 speed bike and, you know, just make sure that kids were okay. He pushed hard to make sure that the confers kept going because he felt like it is the kids need this. Yeah. And so in the early 2000s, late 90s, somewhere in there, it kind of evolved to be more focused on DC music and specifically punk music. However, it was being expressed, and it was like a lot of the people who were in the in the DC Punk scenes sort of worked on making the shows happen. And around 04, a friend of mine named Beth was doing the booking, and she really wanted to get back into her own art and stop being more of a manager of art. And so we were, you know, we just talked about working together and she said, you know, could you help me? And so I started in 05, I booked the first that summer and then here we are 20 years later.
So, I guess, how’s the lineup coming along this year?
I haven’t decided yet. There’s so many bands. Wow. And it’s great. I really am astounded every year that there are just so many people making music. It’s really encouraging, I’m not a competitive person, but it makes me feel more like, oh, I gotta get out there. But it’s just, I really, I admire how many people are expressing themselves through music in a lot of different ways. And also, you know, as time has gone on, the people who are interested in being at Fort Reno have shifted and that’s really encouraging because it is really open to anybody who wants to be there. It’s, you know, it’s it’s pretty bare bones. Yeah. You got to really want to be there because it’s hot and buggy and, you know, all that stuff. Yeah, I know, I haven’t decided the line up yet. And that’s how, you know, usually it is. I take it down to the bitter end and it’s like a just a like a last minute inspiration of like, yes.
I was hoping my band could get a demo in time,
The deadline is a function of it has to like, at some point we have to stop bringing stuff in, just because we get so much…we can’t can’t do a lot of shows. Yeah, because there’s not a lot of time. And there’s, I mean, it is free to attend. It is not free to produce. And, um, and that is the heart. That’s really what cuts into it. I mean, I did I do look back or have looked back at times, like in the, you know, right in the beginning of, like 05, oh 60, 07, like, no wonder I was tired. Do we did like 14 shows or whatever? Like, it’s just a lot. It’s also a lot to, I mean, I have to stay here. And And it just, and so as my family grew, it just, it also was like, okay, well, I can’t, you know, I can’t expect their vacation to be. hanging out at four, you know, like, we should go somewhere
Moving on. So your brother Ian, right? So do you have like a considerable age gap, right?
Eight years.
Growing up, like, how, I guess, because with my sister, we’re not really on friendly terms. How did you interact with? And I guess also with Alec, as well?
Well, the three of us really grew up together. We have two older sisters. And the three of us, and Alec and I really grew up together at Beecher Street and. I, you know, I don’t know, like. I think we were typical siblings, but also, we enjoyed each other’s company. Yeah. And then, you know, when they got into when they got into the punk stuff, I just was like, wow, I like this. But also, I like. I think I really looked up to them even as a small child. So. I think it just, I wanted to do whatever they were doing. I suppose, our parents, I don’t think they, I don’t know if they set out to raise us, to be.. you know, a clan, a clutch, or, you know, whatever. Like I don’t, but we did. We spent a lot of time together. And, you know, there wasn’t in the ‘ 70s and early 80s, there was not the same… It just was different times, so when I got done with school, I just walked home and hung out in the street with other kids in the neighborhood. Like, it’s just a different. a different flow of life. And so. I think, you know, the siblings in the Mackaye family just, they spent a lot of time together.
Yeah. I can’t imagine there are that many extracurriculars available.
It was just not a thing. Yeah. It just didn’t exist. Yeah, like… There’s so many things now, I think, that’s possibly carrying some things apart. I agree. I mean, you know, it’s… I think, uh the over emphasis on. I don’t know, it’s like an over emphasis on learning or something or creating opportunity. They have a lot of interesting ways to talk about this. But it makes me, it just makes me feel like, oh, kids are not having an opportunity to think for themselves.. to feel what they want, to, like, have a desire, you know, because you’re being given, like, you know, at this age, you should play soccer. At this age, you should play flute. At this age, you should do this. And and it’s, it’s a hard conversation because obviously parents want to give their kids every opportunity they can. But I feel like that sometimes it’s it’s out of balance because… It’s being delivered to the parent. You know what I mean? It gets into the capitalism. Uh-huh. You know, where somebody made a business and now they’re telling you, like, oh, you need to do this for your kids. And, I’m always enamored with families who’ like, not. No. I’m not doing that. Like, get out of my house, you know? But yeah, so, I mean, when I grew up, it was just different. We had, you know, just a tonic kids hanging out at our house, like, it just was a, you know, so I think it just, it fostered the ability for us to just stick together. Nice. I think you can do it with your sister. You’ll get there.
Yeah, I definitely think over time, generally sibling relationships tend to mow out, or at least get less abrasive.
Yeah. And, I mean, I think it’s. I think there’s something to the, like, you know, I’m I’m your parents definitely were like, you don’t have a choice. This is your family. Yeah. It’s, you know, you don’t. You’re not friends. You have to be together. You have to love each other. Like, you just have to. And. And I think that there is there’s good lessons of that because it does mean like you at a young age, you have to learn like, I’m so mad at you. Do you want to go do something later? Like, you have to learn to balance that emotion. And that’s the other piece that, you know, I feel like is, is, is getting it’s, you know, we’re not doing a good service to kids if we’re not letting them learn how to balance their own emotions, you know? I think. I guess it just comes with whose intention it is, like, the parent or Yeah. If the kid wants to do it. And it’s, you know, it’s a really, it’s a, and that’s it that, I think it’s where it gets tricky is that, you know, the like you worry as a parent, you worry that I’m not doing enough for my child. But then, you know, that worry can cause an overstimulation when really, if, you know, maybe the kid would be totally fine if you just were like, “Yeah, I’re just want to stay at home and like,.Stay home? You know? And that sometimes he’s, like, a relief, you know, because schools are bigger now, you know, the the dynamics of being at school are different, like, it’s all. We all need a break sometimes.
With Bed Maker, are you writing anything new? Are there any plans for the future?
Yeah, I mean, we are very fortunate. I’m very fortunate. We are very fortunate. We just can’t, like, we’re always writing new stuff. We have always more ideas than we can ever, really work on, which is great. And yeah, that made we’re gonna we did record to do a single Inner Ear, and we’re still working on vocals and mixing and, you know, it’ll come out at some point. And then we’re going to play shows and I’ve, you know, who knows? After that. I mean, we are a band that has, you know, well, now three members who have full time jobs, and two of them have school age children, and you know, and it’s just there’s a lot to there’s a lot to balance. And so I wouldn’t say we don’t look into the future, but we can make those plans, but they may never. They may never come to fruit. But we’re, you know, right now, so we’re going to play. May 30th at an arcade in fredericksburg. And then on the 31st, we’re going to play in to come park at Food Not Boms Fundraiser, which is great. June, we’re going to play at the Positive Force 40th anniversary weekend, which is going to be amazing. And then we haven’t even actually talked about the summer yet because it’s this we probably won’t do much after that June day because people would traveling. And then the thing that’s mostly in the future is we’re, I think, we’re going to play the Fast in Gainesville, Florida in October, which is a huge, huge thing. It’s three days, and it’s just a big, it’s a big gathering of so many great bands, and I’m pretty excited because I’ve always wanted to be I’ve always wanted to go to it, I’ve always wanted to be be part of it, so. But that’s. That’s the kind of thing, like, it’s in the future. It could arrive or may not arrive.
Yeah, I have a great respect for for older bands that, despite having to do a job, they can keep going.
It’s It’s pretty hard. I mean, you know, it’s it is, you have to sacrifice quite a bit. I don’t really. In our household family comes first, and, you know, so that’s first, and then and there’s a lot of family because there’s not just our family in this house, but that, you know, we have the whole extended family. Most of whom are here. Yeah. So it is, that’s a lot of family to put first, but that is how it goes. And then there’s the band. And then maybe there’s a social life. Maybe. And that’s hard. And I miss out on a lot. And then there’s also, you know, like when you’re you don’t notice I didn’t put work in there. But that is a thing. And I, you know, one of us, well, I’d say two of us have important jobs. But one of us has like a job that like, they will. Like, they have their calendars, they know their calendar into, like, 2026 already. You know, they just, they, and that is, that is hard to. It’s hard to work around because it’s serious and sometimes things pop up and you’re like, well, okay, well, guess we’re not doing that.
I mean, it’s two sides of the spectrum. You can have a well-rounded life where you can go all in on touring. There’s a band I know (of) that they’re in their 40s and they’re touring nonstop.
Well, I I will say this also, like, with trying to be a professional musician, that is really, you have to tour all the time. It’s just really, that’s the economics of it. Especially with streaming and everything. I mean, it’s just… you know. You you have to go all the time. And when we started playing together, I mean, really, when we first started playing together, I don’t even think we discussed playing a show. Like, it was just about making music. Yeah. And then there was like, you know, okay, maybe we play some around town or something. And it’s just it’s been a, it’s been like baby steps the whole time, mostly because in the 90s, it’s the way that bands toured was just brutal. Yeah. And none of us wanted to do that again. And I don’t actually don’t think we could. Like, the ideas six weeks in a van, sleeping on people’s floors, I just don’t think I could do it. It was hard then, and I was 20, you know? So I mean, it’s an experience I’d like to have, but I wouldn’t want to do it all my life. I mean, I love, I love touring. I really do, because I love to, I mean, again, back to the observer thing in my life. It’s like, I love seeing other places and meeting other people and hearing about their experiences and just the whole thing. It’s just, I love it.
That’s why I interview people!
Yeah, exactly. But it is, you know, and I, you know, I think if I could take my family with me, it would be, maybe it would be better. It’s, you know, four or five days of shows and I’m already like, Oh, man, I do miss my kitchen. Like, this is great. I like these people, but I wonder what is happening in my backyard, you know? You know, and what, you know, so it’s. It is a hard, it’s a hard space. And so in one way, it’s helpful that everybody has job obligations. Yeah. Because it means it’s like a, yep, we’re not doing that kind of touring. You can. You can’t, you know.
All right. Last set of questions. Yeah. I’m trying to do this for every interview I do. What book are you reading right now or would recommend? And what’s your favorite restaurant around here at the moment?
Oh, man, God, that was really hard. Um, let’s see, what book am I reading? I read a lot of cookbooks. Um. Mostly because I’m fascinated. I do cook and bake a lot, but I’m fascinated with the fact that they’re all a formula. And then I’m like, I’ve got these recipes that are [crappy], you know? And so I do that. I read a lot. I go to library frequently. So right now I have. I think five cookbooks out, and then I started a book called. I’m gonna remember the name. It’s a. It’s a true telling of a story of a girl who disappears in. some college town. I didn’t get very far into it. It was not a bad book, I just, it was not as interesting as I thought it was going to be. Oh, man. The next book I’m going to start is called How to Draw the World, and it’s about the person who wrote “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. Which is a children’s book, which is from my era, so it really should be interesting.
Fav restaurants, I can’t pick one.. We are always really happy to go to Loving Hut, but it’s a drive. And if we’re going to stay in our neighborhood, Bangkok 54 seems to be the one that we just keep going back to.
That was my quarantine lunch there.
There’s, you know, some really great restaurants. We’re very fortunate in those neighborhood, but, yeah, I don’t know. That one just. And we’ve tried a lot of different Thai places, but that’s, I don’t know. The vibe is nice there, too.
Yeah. They’re great with separating nuts, which is good for my allergies.
No, that’s a good spot. And I don’t know if you’ve been to Loving Hut, but it is. They really good.
What do they serve?
It is kind of an Asian fusion, but it’s 100% vegan (not actually, I checked the menu and I found chicken). And they are all over the globe. It is… What is that? I think she’s called the Supreme Leader. There is a religious component to it. that is not obvious when you’re in the restaurant. But then if you like look it up and you realize like, oh, there’s like. And it’s like there’s one in Mongolia that there’s like, they’re all over the globe. We went to, when Bed Maker was in Dayton, Ohio, I think it was in Dayton. It’s definitely in Ohio. There was a Loving Hut there. And we went in, and it was totally different. It’s like the architecture was totally different. It was more like a, almost like a fast food setup. But I was like a menu is practically the same. Like, and it was really, it was interesting because it was. I was like, oh, this is.. This is just like being at the Loving Hut at home. And so it was comforting.
Nice. But yeah, and so really, it’s in. Fairfax?
Yeah, we’ll just say Fairfax. it’s not that far. Oh, okay. It’s not that far at all. I just can’t remember. I get. There’s a couple of straightaways that I get. I get mixed up. I can’t remember if it’s on. It must be on Lee Highway, because, you know, after Arlington, it goes back to being Lee Highway. Yeah. So I think it’s on Lee Highway, but out, by Falls Church. Okay. Which I think is, or maybe it’s Falls Church, but not. It’s like the bigger Falls Church. Yeah. That’s good. It’s a good restaurant.
I’ll check it out.
I will I will give you one tip, which is, and I’m stealing it from my brother, which is you should always have people say their name and the date.. Especially for like, like with my last name, which most people felt wrong. Yeah. It’s important to have someone say, who they are and the date, just because Yes. But I mean, this is going to be transcribed into text anyways. Yes. I’ll have like a, I don’t think I can do it, but like a pronunciation guide. I’m MacKaye. it’s Mac eye. Yes, that was. How we do it. Just eye, It’s mostly, I think that people don’t. I don’t think people realize that there are Macs and Mcs. So they just think that if it’s an M and a C sound, it must be Mc. But Yeah. It’s two different pronunciations.
And I guess with the name McElroy (pronounced mackle roy), that’s an Mc. That doesn’t follow the rule.
Yeah. You know, there’s whole different ways to pronounce things, but. I don’t know how they get McElroy out of it, but they do.
Yeah, my name’s pronounced [Wood-yurd], and you’d think it’s pronounced [Wood-yard]. It came from Woodward, but then they changed the W to a Y.
Interesting. Yeah. And is Tiago your full first name?
Yeah.
I was just thinking I wonder if it’s nickname off Santiago.
It was my great great grandfather’s nickname. Yeah. But then my parents decided legal name just Tiago.
Very nice. That’s good. Sets you apart. You’re the only Tiago I know.
There’s like Tiago Silva, who’s a soccer player.
I don’t know anything about soccer.
Yeah, me neither.
The only sport, uh I ever really look at is football, and I couldn’t tell you, who any of the players are.cause I just like to look at it. Although I did read the other day that I think it’s the Steelers drafted someone who’s like 440 pounds or something and is the heaviest NFL player ever.
Wow.
And I thought, wow. That’s a lot of person. Let’s, remind me the name of your band, because I don’t dug you put it anywhere, did you?
Syd’s Lunch.
Yeah, you didn’t put that anywhere.
Yeah, I didn’t. Nope. I’m very good at advertising, as you can tell.
Is it SYD, Syd?
Yeah, Syd, because it’s named after an actor at Wakefield. Oh. A stage actor. And he played Orin Scrivello in Little Shop (of Horrors) last night. But he has this lunchbox that says Syd’s lunch.
Oh, nice. That’s a band name.
[I just asked,] Hey, can I use that as a band name?
Yeah. They’re everywhere. Do you keep a list?
No. I keep, Actually, I kept like a list of lines/lyrics. And so it was almost a lyric. Yeah. But it was a band name.
Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, it’s multipurpose. You could have a band name, you could have a song title, you have lyrics. There’s a lot there.
Yeah, some bands just make it all like Peach Pit, Peach Pit, Peach Pit.
Oh. That’s a lot of Peach Pit.
Yeah, song title, band name, lyric.
I was at a cafe this morning and the music came on and my husband was saying, like, look above me [at the TV], because he goes there every day, it’s right near his work. He goes there frequently. He’s like, it’s really weird because it’s the music sounds like, you know, like really soft rock, like acoustic guitars and stuff. He said, but the people, they get all crazy. But they’ that particular, it’s more than they didn’t, it was just a still shot. But I read the words that were on the screen, and I thought, I don’t remember what the thing, the biggest words were, and I thought that was the name of the band. and then the next time I looked up, I was like, oh, that’s not the name of the band, because this song is a cover of U2 and I can see that that’s the song title. The name of their band was Music Travel Love. I’m gonna say, that is not a good band name. But I don’t know, ’cause it 1, it made me immediately think of eat, pray, love, which is a book that is fairly famous. They made it into a movie. But it also had Eat, prey, Love had the punctuation, so you understood that this was the order. You know, but this is just “music travel love” (no commas). And I thought that was the name of the album, which fine. That could, you know, but it was really, I was like, hmm. That’s a tough one. Naming bands is really hard. It is. I don’t know about you, but I always have, like… Namers’ remorse. Yeah. As what? Like in Bedmaker, we have, we use holding names for very, very long, like basically until we have to go to press for the record or something. And it’s because I can’t, I’m always like, what if the name is dumb? Like, what if, what if once it shows up on a record cover, it looks silly, you know?
Yeah, like, and Syd’s lunch, we write songs just with numbers [for titles], which is something that Black Eyes did. And then with my solo recordings, which is just weird stuff. I just have it like, like 6.15 or whatever. Yeah. Because that’s just the name in the SD of the mixer that I use.
Right. Yeah. I mean, it’s, you know, we chew whatever we need, but it is, It’s naming things really hard. Even with Bed Maker, was like. I threw it out there. It was one of the names I had a long list of, you know, band names that I’ve just been compiling for a couple of years. And I just threw that one out there thinking, I won’t go for this. And they were like, yeah, that’s a good one. I’m like, you’ OK.
Yeah, I guess that’s just you’ll never know somebody’s reaction until you give it to them.
Right, which is why you have to be careful. You have to also like it. Yeah. Because if you throw out something truly as a joke, and then everyone else likes it, you’re like, oh, no. It’s a democracy, and I’m out voted.
Yeah. Zesty zebras. Exactly. My first band. I threw it out as a joke. And.. It stuck.
I’m glad I’m not in that band anymore. But they’re still playing (last I checked).
Wow, Zesty Zebras, huh?
Yeah. Well, it’s it’s a rock of ages music band. Do you know, um. Oh, it’s like, like. It’s like Bach to rock or school of rock.
Yeah. I don’t know Rock of Ages
Yeah, John Patrick, a former Virginia Coalition guy founded it. But, yeah, they’re a cool program. You actually choose the songs, so. That’s pretty good.
You know, that’s, I mean, I’m. I’ve met a lot of kids who’ve come out of Bach to Rock and School of Rock, and it’s. I shouldn’t say a lot of kids, actually. I mean, I do meet people who have done it, but they don’t find that many who’ve actually then meet the transition to writing their own music. and be like, you know, we often have kids who are doing that, who want to play, and I’m like, have you written a new songs? I’ll let you play like one cover, but it is. But it’s hard, you know. There’s just… It doesn’t really, I do I appreciate places that are teaching kids how to play music and write music. But I just, I worry. I worry a lot about the youth.
So do I, and I AM the youth.
Well, you’re gonna change it.
Hopefully, yeah, hopefully.
Hopefully. When’s your next show?
Um, I’m trying to book something with the American Legion Post 139 Clarendon.
In Clarendon? Yeah. Oh! Oh, over on, um. I’m not sure if it’s Washington Bouvard?
Yeah, it’s either Washington or Wilson.
It’s Washington, and it was. They like there was a bunch of property and it got sold. and they they, I think they owned it, but what they got out of the deal was a fancy new building. Nice. Yeah, so that’s, wow, cool. And then. How are you getting in there?
I just.. I just emailed the website and they’re like, yeah, we’re looking for people to play shows. We just got to set up our venue and we’ll be ready by fall.
Come on. That’s exciting. Yeah. Man. I like it.
Once my band has a set ready, we’ll contact Rhizome too.
Yeah. I love that place. I love that place so much.
By the time we have an album, we can send it to you. Fort Reno 2026.
Yeah, I mean, Having a release is not critical. Having more than one or three songs is [critical], because.. Yeah. Yeah. Getting to play one song is not. That’s hard to book around. But yeah, that’s really cool. Where’re else our shows happening in this area? Mostly HB?
Yeah, I mean, it’s hard when you’re just an up and coming band that are kids because like with Black Cat and 9:30, like all these, they’re I forget, what’s the name of that? like live conglomerate Joe Lally did the tickets at Lincoln Theater something like that. I have no idea.
It was like.. I guess, Live Nation or owns it or something, like. Oh. Yeah, like. Well, yeah, there’s, like, live Nation there’s IMP and Union Stage, like, all this, they run all the venues.
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, when it’s like a venue conglomerate, it’s sort of harder to get booked because all the, all the labeled bands…
It’s not just kids. Just so you know. It’s not just kids. It’s anybody who doesn’t doesn’t factor, you know, has not found the golden door to knock on yet.. So it’s, yeah, it is really, really hard to play around here. That’s why I mean, Comet is a very late venue. It’s hard to do that, but.. Because they open at 10,
Yeah, we went on at midnight. So I went home at 2 o’clock this morning.
Oh, wow.
Rediscover [Fire] is a. It is a company that does booking, but it’s also, people are actually musicians. You know, so they would just different, like a different attraction to it. They are actually trying to make places for people to play who can’t can’t get into anywhere else. It’s. Yeah, so I don’t know. It’s. But I can’t, it’s. I’m always trying to figure out where the other shows are happening. I don’t. I could go. I know I can read the Black Cat list, but I know, but there’s. There are so many bands. They have to. There has to be shows going on somewhere else, in someone’s basement or.. Something.
I’d love to play a house show.
That’s where I want to play. You know? I love playing the black cat, but it is, I really playing. Playing a basement show. Well, as long as it had good egress. Cause I don’t. I don’t like to feel confined.. So, yeah, let me know when you guys play a show.
Okay.
Wherever it is. And keep me posted on this VFW or American Legion Hall. Yeah. Because that’s exciting. You could could break that space and you could start doing shows there. You could. Then you’d become the Clarendon hook up.
Yeah, The Clarendon scene.
Yeah. Well, let’s just call it Arlington.
Yeah, Arlington scene. I’d like to play some in D.C too, though.
Yeah. Wouldn’t we all? It’s a hard ticket. But yeah, and it’s. Well, I should. It depends on where you, what kind of venue you want. Yeah. And that’s. For me, it is hard. Well now for my band, because I don’t know that they cared that much about, you know, where before when I was like, well, it’s got to be all ages. I’m not doing it otherwise. Doesn’t matter. Even this show we’re playing in Frederickburg when we got that contract. They didn’t say anything. We didn’t one of the other bands asked us to come play with the show. And they didn’t say anything about the venue other than it was like, “It’s really cool. It’s like a, you know, like a retro arcade, but like, like just like the old ‘ 80s arcades. I’m like, what? sounds cool, whatever. But then when the contract arrived, said they were 18 plus. And I wrote to the guy and I, I’m sorry, you know, we don’t. We don’t do that. We’re all ages only all the time. And when I wrote to the band that invited us to be there, you know, I’m sorry I wish you’d said something. I know, I didn’t. I said yes, and I should have done more research. But then the weirdest thing happened, which is that the show promoter, like, changed the rules, and made it all ages, and then said, normally, we are all ages. So, uh. The point of that is to say, it doesn’t hurt to ask. a place that is age restricted if they’d be willing to do all ages.
Bed Maker has a PAIR OF SHOWS THIS WEEKEND!
THIS FRIDAY, 5/30 at 8pm at RECLAIM ARCADE in Fredericksburg, VA.
THIS SATURDAY, 5/31 is Garbage Fest at 5pm in Tacoma Park, MD; it is a benefit for Food Not Bombs DC.
