Pipemanradio Interviews Road Hounds at Welcome To Rockville 2023

0:04 Hey you to that wow, Wake up of America. It's time for the Adventures of pipe Man on w CYDI com list. Poon Beach is number one Internet radio station. Here's your host, the pipe Man. This is pipe Man here on the Adventures pipe Man W four c Y Radio A. Welcome to Rockville and I'm here with Chris Sing. I'm from Roadhounds. Yes, and we're out here in the nice air condition from that blazing hots Florida sun outside that I just walked through to get here. It could be the hottest day. Yes, I know, I swit as I think it is.

0:54 So tell us a little bit about Roadhounds. First of all, had this brain child start because this is you were tell me about it? Absolutely amazing. I love it. Well. I think like a lot of people when you had COVID going on, we were getting lockdowns in the UK. Yeah, and that means you get a lot of spare time on your hands and you've got some big life decisions to make, like what the hell am I actually going to do? What am I good at that I can do that doesn't require things and people? And what do you miss which ends up being big things and people? So there wasn't a place where I could hang out and get my rock and roll fixed with people that like rock and roll all across the world and similar. You know, it wasn't the way that you know you do Facebook, and I wanted something that was more interactive, and I just thought we can make something because there's this metaverse thing and a good friend of mine he was kind of from that space in a sales way, and we just vibed about it and we came up with a room which we call the Clubhouse, and we developed him. We were just having fun, but at the end of that lockdown period were looking at going this it actually really good. So I said to my business partner, Big Frank, I said, dude, you're going to go find some money. There's an idea in this. And he was kind of luck at it going really anyway.

2:14 He lived with it for a little bit and he came back and he went, actually, I think you need to think bigger, because I reckon we can get something done here. So that's where it started. When somebody says think bigger, that's potential, it kind of unlocks that box in your head. You can really go and express yourself without feeling you're wasting your time. Yeah, So from then on, it's like, no idea is a bad one when it comes to that metaverse space because you can literally do anything. It's whether you should do it because it might just be too confusing right now. So we ended up building this whole city for rock fans, and you've got a classic rock hub, which is like the main social because you know, let's face it, everyone loves a bit of a CDC. That's the common thing. That's the DNA, isn't it. Wherever else you go, ye, like casey DC. So you've got something there and you go, this is the kind of place X CDC would hang out in. But you know, I'm a metal head. I used to edit a magazine called metal Hammer back in the days. Yeah, so I was edited all through the New Metal periods. I'm thinking, I want somewhere where, you know, the headbangers can really hang out in. So we created the Metal City one area of it, which is basically it's like mad Max. It's like Fury Road. That's where all the mutants from Fury Road would go. That makes so much sense too. And then then you go, yeah, but where did the extreme heads go? We needed we need a death metal dungeon.

3:36 So we created a death metal dungeon with lava pits in it and flowing and pagan altars. It's it's wild. I absolutely love that space, and you go, well, you know, there's got to be a place for the serious musers. So we created the Blues Bar. He just chill ax in there. That's where you get some serious sounds. We've got other stuff coming different zones. You know, there's a proge world where you go through a portal and off you go out into space. Wow, it looked like Avatar. When that one's finished. You know, we've got stuff like underwater bars. You can literally do anything, but should you do it? And when do you do it? You know, because it's still you still got rules of interpretation. If you just did it like off the wall stuff messing with camera perspectives. People are going there, they get seasick. Yeah right.

4:24 You know, See, a door is a door. A door does something. It doesn't have to do something, but you are programmed to know that a door does something. So you put doors in so people can don't you know, stairs you know what to do with stairs, right, But if you get enough people in there for long enough, you can start messing with it then, you know, and get little little quest tokens where maybe you can fly, maybe you can grab some kind of hand glider and go up to the skyscrapers that you can see. Nice those kind of things. You can take an aerial tour. You just don't do everything on the first day, right, right, it's right, you know. Yeah, and you know, we do want the community to come in and tell us what they want. Yeah, how do they want to again? Well, I have an idea if you haven't done it already, because I was talking to a band about this. I do all these punk festivals. They are on the beach and I am in beach. I'm like, man, it would be cool if the bands could like perform while they're surfing. There you go.

5:16 You could it here. First, let's do Surfast. Yeah, you could have Surfast. The bands are surfing, playing in the virtual world, and then everybody's on the beach watching. Yeah, you can do a Ramon's tribute in the surf and bud there you go. I love it. See. Oh man, you know it's funny because everybody likes to talk about the bad of COVID, but I'm a believer. There's a positive in every even the worst case scenarios, and this is one of those positives because had COVID lockdown that happened, we wouldn't have you today. Well, it didn't feel like it at the time when we were all in it right, put you right?

5:58 And I do wonder how many project come out of lockdown where people just had that time to sit reflect thinking, go, what am I good at? What do I like doing? What do we want to do right? Because we're all on as hamster we are with especially with technology nowadays. You guy, you and I come from a different time where you had downtime. There is no downtime to none. Yeah, that's why people are working, you know, working from home so much because they get the balance. You know, office work is the Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursdays. They can't get a generation of people back into officers. They're like, yeah, I'm with them, you know totally because when we are working, we're completely flooded with data and information and decision making. And you know that's part of creating this chill out space. Really just go in and be a rock fan. If all you wanted to do in that Roadhounds universe was touch another Avatar and have a chat with someone from Indonesia who loves these Death Metals. You can do it. You can video call them. They'll pop up, you know, and you can you can meet anyone if that's all you want to do.

6:57 But if you want to go a bit deeper, there's so much more to do. You know. You go into that new band room called the Rising Stage, and there's listening pods from a load of unsigned bands who need your support, and then you get to do something really special. Because if enough people vote for the same act and go no, it's this one, this one is really good. We as the roadhouse team get in contact with them and we divert some of the membership subscription money to the band so they can get key things done. Maybe it's record an album, go on tour, get some marketing, get some new kit. I mean, we're not reckless with it. We do check them out. There's Nazis out there getting stuff, you know what I mean. You don't want those kind of bands get involved, so you do check them out, but you can capitalize on their energy. Yeah, they want to move ahead. You want to see them succeed. Rock fans love new blood coming in and look, as I said, everyone likes a CDC. We know we've been right ever since we have heard the first note of a CDC. But we also, I think all recognize there's lots of new stuff out there. Yeah, and it's great to one board it and be saying I saw him first, Yeah, I help them. Well this, you know, this is something that you can definitely say I help that band because you must see that money go to them and then they're sending all their videos of them using the kit going on tour.

8:11 I mean, we sent Dead Man's Whiskey out on tour and the video footage that came back was hilarious. If you really want to know how difficult it is to tour. I mean they are sleeping and shit, I believe that just getting up going to a stage playing and someone's going, it's three hundred miles to the next gig and we've got an hour to get there, right, we gotta go. We gotta go. That kind of stuff, you know. So, and I love getting stories like that. That's that's a magazine background, isn't it. You know, collecting stories absolutely finding a way to put it out there. And it does go hand in hand and you know, it's funny you were mentioning about, you know, Indonesia or and I'm thinking of any other country that like Bloody Would. I was interviewing them here at Welcome to Rockville and they said, there's not really a big base of metal in indias So thank god for the US, they're saying. But I say thank God for you, guys, because now you could take bands like that there are in other countries where metal may not be as available to the people and give it to them and create a bigger family that we have here. Well, I gotta say this, I think Bloody Would the band of the festival for me. Yeah, I absolutely adore that with the energy, the positivity, bringing everyone together. And I do know that there's a pipeline of bands that that same management team are looking at. They've looked around that scene and they know that there is a whole host of them. Yeah, and there's radically different sounds in it. I mean we thought it was

9:46 exotic when you had Sepultura, trust me. I mean, guys, you've not seen some of the stuff that's out there that they're going to be bringing in. Yeah, it's really going to liven up the festival. Circuit. Yeah, so there you go. You could have all that on your platform and like absolutely have the have the Remote Country Festival or some stuff like that. I see now that that one was a little secret, because we do have the Southern Dive Bar which Louisiana Swamp. Basically it looks like that bar in True Blood. But the only way you can get to the bars, you're gonna James Bond style hop on the crocodile back to get there. The alligators. Sorry, I'm gonna say, gators. Haven't I here. You're gonna get on the gators backs to get there. And you know you've got a broken down pickup truck which hosts the stage. You can get beers in there, virtual beers in there, get your rabbits off, just flattened so it can't get out. Can I have a beer with the gator that took me over there? Well, if you have too many beers, you won't be able to get your rabbits are back across those gators and guess what happens.

10:50 I live in Florida, so I'll have to guess too. There you go, oh man, And I want to talk more about the giving back to the musicians and helping the musicians part because to me, that's so important. Nowadays it's such a struggle for musicians. There's no record labels throwing money at them. There's so much competition. You know, they're not making money on their music, they're making money on merch basically, So we need to help these bands so they can continue to make us music, continue to play live for us. And that's where you come in. It's honestly philosophically when you approach a project like this, finding that reason to continue with the challenge.

11:33 When you're doing something new, it really can be challenging. And the thing that makes this team work and get committed to it is that breaking the cycle because we think that we've found a way to help at a crucial point with new bands. You know, if I take a real life example, bank called Deadman's Whiskey from the UK, there are great bands people who've been aftershock or would have seen the logo on the screens there. People at Rockville would have seen the logos because we've literally been in roadhounds with the music from dead Man's whisking out. They had a tour booked with a bigger band, they took time off work, merchandise was printed up and then bam, that tour fell through because another band was selected, even though promises have been made and they were bereft, I mean, they were broke. They were going to have to stop because they'd invested so much in it. And we heard about it and we went, don't do that, Bucky headline tour. We're going to give you the money. We know you've got a fan base, we know you can get three hundred people into venues and give six seven venues.

12:33 We know that we want to do a special gig which maybe acoustic recording. We'll put it in the platform and film everything the hands and we're given that money. And they went out there and it's resurrected them and their energy on giving it a go. And you you just know in your heart how many people out there that are in bands are facing those similar challenges. Do I take time off work? How do I? How can I afford to do that? So let's get a community think tank together where we start getting these stories known and we get to pick the right ones. You know, you've got to be good enough. I mean, you know there's got to be an appeal. Yeah, you know, you've got to have some kind of story in there. Hey, you know, it's a real thing. It's not just some bedroom project. It's you're going to go for it.

13:16 That will be obvious once questions start being asked and you're interacting with that community. But if we can get the community focused on decision making, you know, we do want to see a difference. We want it to be them. We can put some money to them directed by that community. So it's all there for the taking. That's amazing, Like that's true. See, that's the coolest part to be right there, because you know, some of these bands are the headliners here and welcome to Rockville. If they didn't have help and then beginning, you wouldn't know who they were. Absolutely, and you know, it's great to be partnered with Delupe because they definitely believe in trying to bring the new talent through. You know, Danny absolutely wants to see those news getting from the unsigned stage onto the lower main stage and working the way up. Yeah, because he knows, I mean, he's in it for the long term and he's thinking, well, who's going to be playing in ten years, right, because you look at a lot of the legends that we all grew up with. Now, common sense tells you they are not going to be touring in ten years time, So who is going to be doing it? Yeah, they're one foot on banana peel or the other in retirement. Oh man. Then, so let's talk about the booth here too. Here a welcome to Rightville. Okay, you got the Roadhounds like it's kind of like a cool vibe room that's also air conditioned. By the way, I just must mention, I think I think the air conditioning is probably the best idea that any of us designing this. So yeah,

14:46 in the Roadhounds clubhouse, this is our clubhouse, our VIP lounge. You've got some nice comfy seats, you've got carpet flooring, and you've got some classic guitars, and you've also got Guitar Hero and if you stuck at it, people will let you know. I love it. Definitely on display. But at the back of the Roadhounds Lounge, we have our three D volumetric capture studio where you can come in and get body scanned and be an avatar as we give you that avatar that's you just basically messing around in the metaverse. So you've got to come in and show as you moves. If you don't wiggle the butt and throw some horns, then you probably won't be giving it at the end. You've just got to put a show on for us.

15:28 But you can get yourself avatar up at the Roadhounds Lounge. Nice and and you got the bar here, let's go forget the bar. Yeah, that's my best friend exactly. That's got me through this weekend. Listen, if you get come to a festival, why sit out there in the heat when you can sit in here in the air condition enjoy some entertainment. You got your alcohol right here. You don't have to stand on the monstrous lines for alcohol because it's more of a private club thing, you know, almost like you know what. It's been coined around here like a speakeasy. It does have that vibe, isn't it. It's lit very well. Yeah. I think we definitely have to thank the team at Deed who put a lot of effort and love into doing this. They wanted to make this right and they nailed it and put lots of extra little details in You. Now you want that backstage vibe, don't you just say? That's speakeasy that you discover, you know, so that all the little directions and stencils they've put around the place, they've really thought it through. So big round of applauster, Maureen from Danny's team. Nice and so how do people get involved? How do listeners get involved? How they become part of this? Well, if you're on site at the festival, the first thing you should do is come into the lounge and have a look at the world. If it makes sense to you. There's some QR codes that you can scan. You can listen to what we're doing there. If you sign up for the information, there's an added bonus because not only will we send you full pack of information online,

17:00 but you could win tickets and flights and hotels to go to Aftershock. So it's well worth coming along. It's with an air conditioned bar, not happing a long queue for a drink, chilling out and possibly getting some tickets to Aftershock. I mean there's no bad deal in that, is there? No an These sofas are comfortable too, so why go sit out on the grass? Oh man? And so let's say for the listeners that don't come to the vessels, aren't here now? I know they can get involved and help and you know that not only can be they be part of it, but they're also helping the musicians at the same time too, So tell them how that works. Well. You want to come to the website, which is Roadhounds dot io and you can register for information there and round about the end of June time when everything kicks off, you'll see the website change quite dramatically because that's when the subscriptions and you can make a decision. Just sit on the website and take some of the free concert we've got or get involved.

18:06 Sign up pays your money which is about ten bucks a month, and get involved and start making a difference. Jump into that world, have a nosy around, talk to people. You never know who you're going to meet or where they're from, but you know one thing they love rock music and that is gonna get you through. Never know. You know, I'll come up with the questions that you're going to ask them, what's your favorite band? Was the first gig that you went to? You never know what you're gonna learn, and then you just start discovering all the little secret places that we've got in this massive city which is getting bigger by the week. By the way. Yeah, I gotta tell everybody. Let's saying that you have to check this out because I came in. You know, It's pretty funny.

18:47 At the media tent, they knew I was coming over here, and they're like, you gotta get the scoop because nobody really knew what was going on here, and go get the scoop of what it is and find out what way it's all about. And I'll tell you I I'm actually walked in talk to you guys, and I as a radio station once impressed, you know, because I also know that the metaverse is the future. And I even said to you, like, man, I was looking into saying up my own metaverse. Why would I set up my own metaverse? Because you yours is phenomenal. I'll just be part of yours. And I think everybody else out there should think the same thing. Well, the great thing about the metaverse is it's all based on collaboration, isn't it. Yeah, so you do get involved in everybody else's stuff, and you make room for people to be involved exactly what makes it better Exactly. That's how this place is going to thrive without big nasty corporate. It's coming along and putting well let's not mention brand names, putting the logos everywhere, and charging you one hundred dollars and telling you what you can and can't do. You know, let's have some we know, we've got common sense rules. Don't do anything legal, don't be nasty. There you go. That's that's simple. That's simple.

19:57 Go have fun, treat people with respect, talk about rock music. There you go. That is a community, a community, absolutely, and we are a family anyway. So we need our community and our community is Roadhounds. So that's way cool. Is there anything we haven't talked about that the listeners need to know about Roadhounds? Oh, that we haven't talked about. Well, little quests go on in this thing, okay, and we have some let's say we've got some digital native bands that you can find and maybe you can work out which are the ones that are the digital natives and which are the real life bands, and we could have some fun. Oh that's because you might see some secret gigs start to happen, and maybe if you go to some of those early gigs, some of the freebees that are distributed will only be available at that time and you can look like you are the king of that place in subsequent months, because you'll have your avatar wearing certain T shirts saying I was there. I am an origin imog nice.

21:03 You know you gave me an idea because I've been saying for a while. Now, you know, like I used to play drums, sucked, used to play guitar sucked, used to sing thrash metals sucked. But then I'm thinking, now, you know, listen, at fifty six years old, I could put a mask on, fake it and people would never know that I was in my fifties doing so. I'm thinking in your virtual world, I could have a virtual band, and you meant sucking might not matter. I tell you you can be the best, best one out there sucking large of fifty six. But you could definitely get some people having a laugh at it and going, give this dude a break. I love it. How funny would that be? All I'll say is there is one band in that universe that we've built that is the nastiest, nahliest, most horrible bunch of cats that you're ever gonna meet. They've got an entire backstory on once they start playing. I mean, it will change the metaverse. They make guar look like pussycats. On they do magguare look like pussycats. Love it well, thanks for being here, Welcome to Rockville. Thanks for giving us this community because it is badass and everybody's going to check it out again. Give them out website address. If you have socials you wanted to connect to all your contact information, well let's just keep it to the website at this point because that's where you're going to get some information that will make all the subscription

22:36 stuff makes sense. Go straight into that Roadhound's dot io. We'll keep it simple. Go there. That's where you're going to get the quality stuff. Nice. Well, thanks and thanks for being on the Adventures of pain Man. Absolutely pleasure meeting you all. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pateman on w for Cure Radio.