66. Keeping The Music Alive with Dan Cervantes

Yeah, you just got to keep at it, right? 10,000 hours and all that, you know? So the title of this week's show is Keeping the Music Alive.

And I wanted to talk to you because you are a musician in your own band, which is Mrs. Henry.

But you're also in the band Chess Fever, which is a tribute act for the band.

And for anyone who isn't familiar with Chess Fever, how about if you tell us a little bit about the band and what drew you to the music of the band? The band,

well... you know the band draws a lot of folks in and still draws a lot of folks in and it uh it just kind of came to me out of uh out of somewhere and um Americana at its soul you know but at a at its heart rock and roll so being a musician I've just found myself gravitating towards it and you know ultimately I got really involved to playing the band's music out of a quest to play in other bands that were like, well, if you want this gig, uh, and this is at a time when I was living in LA and I was actively looking to play in other people's bands, get hired in other people's bands, be a part of other cool bands for this one particular band that I really wanted to be a part of.

They're like, you got to, you gotta get the band you gotta know what this is coming from and i didn't really get it and know it and yeah and uh there was a bassist in the group who really helped mentor me and was like well you're gonna learn figure this out and if this can make sense and everybody put up up on cripple creek like on youtube and we watched the video and i was like whoa okay i think i can do this i think i get what's happening here and you know and Thus began that.

I grew up, I remember my dad early on rented the last wallets on Laserdisc for like Thanksgiving one year.

I was like, what the hell is this?

What are we doing

here? Yeah, I was like, this isn't Guns N' Roses or this isn't, you know, Third Eye Blind or Blink-182, whatever the hell I was listening to then.

And still listening to now, but.

Yeah, of course.

You just were not ready for it maybe at that time.

That happens.

The band's music's been around for more than 50 years now.

What is it about those songs do you think that still continue to resonate with audiences today? I

think they're good songs.

That's it.

I think that's kind of it.

Yeah, it's got to be good.

It's got to be good enough to have people want to pick it up At their lowest of low and highest of highs.

Yeah.

I think, and everywhere in between, I think that's why the band's music continues to be played and performed and sought after by people and continues to be.