Speaker 1: And That's what You Really Missed with Jenna.
Speaker 2: And Kevin an iHeartRadio podcast.
Speaker 1: Welcome to and That's What You Really miss Podcast. We
Speaker 1: have a very special guest today. Our dear friend and
Speaker 1: very talented producer, writer, DJ entrepreneur. John Locke is in
Speaker 1: the house.
Speaker 2: Aka Unnamed Drummer and the Jazz Band on Glee.
Speaker 1: An He's seen in the choir room with some music happening,
Speaker 1: and you look to the drummer and the band, that's John.
Speaker 1: He was there from the pilot from Don't Stop Believing
Speaker 1: with that hat, his little for Dora all our way
Speaker 1: to this series finale. I learned so much in this
Speaker 1: episode about his experience and like how his like day
Speaker 1: to day.
Speaker 2: Went totally o My job was on the ground. Yes,
Speaker 2: they had a whole separate life that we did not
Speaker 2: know about truly and yet still so wonderful.
Speaker 1: That there's such a deep part of our Glee experience
Speaker 1: and our Glee family. I'm excited for you guys to
Speaker 1: hear all about John and bysic Gallee experience.
Speaker 2: Here is John Luck.
Speaker 3: How do you too?
Speaker 1: Hey, how are you doing good?
Speaker 3: How are you?
Speaker 1: We're happy to have you here.
Speaker 3: I'm excited to be here. I'm so this is I
Speaker 3: watch what you tube been doing for a year now
Speaker 3: over a year?
Speaker 2: Yeah, over a year?
Speaker 3: Thanks, good job.
Speaker 2: Well, it feels like if anybody was there as much
Speaker 2: as we were. You were in that choir room almost
Speaker 2: I think as much as us, and you were there
Speaker 2: forever going back to watch it because obviously we have
Speaker 2: our memories of hanging out and you being there all
Speaker 2: the all the band, right yeah, but then actually getting
Speaker 2: to like sit as a fan now and watch and
Speaker 2: then clock like John, there's John again, and there's John again.
Speaker 1: Let's talk about it. How did you get the gig
Speaker 1: to be here with? And what did you think the
Speaker 1: gig was gonna be?
Speaker 3: So I came out to LA for music, Like writing, producing,
Speaker 3: djaying was my thing, and I went to a school
Speaker 3: called Musicians Institute in LA Like that's what brought me
Speaker 3: out here. I was sleeping on a couch in like
Speaker 3: a kitchen for two years. And after I finished the school,
Speaker 3: they do these referral programs for like gigs and shows
Speaker 3: and things that like, you know, you can work as
Speaker 3: a musician because you kind of have to. And I
Speaker 3: got an email for a Fox TV show pilot casting
Speaker 3: musicians to act, and I was like, okay, let's do it.
Speaker 3: So I sent it a head shot, a singular headshot
Speaker 3: of mine, and got cast. No audition, no nothing, It
Speaker 3: was a headshot and like, hey, I grew up playing
Speaker 3: drums and like did some acting and here you go,
Speaker 3: and that turned into seven years of work.
Speaker 1: So John, that's crazy.
Speaker 3: Respond to emails like that was yeah.
Speaker 1: So now, now did you get this script before you
Speaker 1: showed up or were you showing up as a musician
Speaker 1: just knowing you were going to sit on some kind
Speaker 1: of instrument.
Speaker 3: Yeah, we got We got obviously the song too. We
Speaker 3: were told we're going to be on set on camera
Speaker 3: mining back to a song, so we had to learn
Speaker 3: the part and play a lot, which is what we
Speaker 3: did for the entire series. But we had just gotten
Speaker 3: the song. We had no script. No, I had no
Speaker 3: clue what was happening. I was like, this was the
Speaker 3: first television thing I had ever done, first, like real production,
Speaker 3: so I had no clue what was going on. I
Speaker 3: was just told to show up here, meet this person,
Speaker 3: know this part and that it cool. Yeah, And I
Speaker 3: had like I looked completely different than my headshot, Like
Speaker 3: I changed my hair all this stuff. But you know,
Speaker 3: we were I was nineteen at the time. It looks
Speaker 3: like I was still I still looked like a child.
Speaker 2: So yeah, we were a year apart. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 3: Email, just one email.
Speaker 2: How long after finishing Musicians Institute? Did you get that email?
Speaker 3: A couple of months? I was working. Wow, I finished
Speaker 3: school and I was working at Guitar Center in Hollywood
Speaker 3: and I was doing music. I had one of my
Speaker 3: professors from that school and hired me and I was
Speaker 3: doing all the dance mixes for America'spis Dance Group. So
Speaker 3: that was like my first professional job outside of the school.
Speaker 3: And then I was still doing music for ABDC and
Speaker 3: it was like season two or three and season two
Speaker 3: and I got this email and was like, you know,
Speaker 3: we shot the pilot. And then I got told like
Speaker 3: a little while later that the show got picked up,
Speaker 3: and I told the cast in person. I was like,
Speaker 3: what does that mean. She's like, well, you're going to
Speaker 3: be working more, and I was like cool, I like,
Speaker 3: got that's fun, Like that was a fun day. Let's
Speaker 3: let's do it.
Speaker 1: Oh my god. Yeah. So now okay, so now then
Speaker 1: what is that like for you? You get hired were
Speaker 1: you hired then as a musician or an actor? Like
Speaker 1: what was your did you have a contract? Like what
Speaker 1: was that?
Speaker 3: That was the that's the crazy part, And it's funny.
Speaker 3: We never talked about this.
Speaker 2: No, we just became friends and that was it. Like
Speaker 2: we didn't talk about your like our positions in whatever
Speaker 2: we were doing.
Speaker 3: It was. It was interesting and looking back now is
Speaker 3: like obviously as an adult being in the industry for
Speaker 3: so long, look back and I'm like, oh, I get it.
Speaker 3: We were always we were always cast through the Musicians Union.
Speaker 3: We were never there's only one There was two times
Speaker 3: I went through SAG was obviously when Scott and I did.
Speaker 3: I think it was whole on sixteen when we actually
Speaker 3: profess stuff exactly. That's why we were never allowed to
Speaker 3: move our mouths because if we did, we would have
Speaker 3: to witch. No. Literally contractually we would have to be
Speaker 3: considered SAG like actors. So we were literally told that
Speaker 3: we couldn't talk or sing or mime anything because contractually
Speaker 3: give us more money, like in sense we'd be like
Speaker 3: reoccurring like you know something, you know. So, yeah, it
Speaker 3: was a whole different thing. We had different like reps
Speaker 3: there than all of you, and it was just like
Speaker 3: I didn't care about all that because I was like,
Speaker 3: you know, I was getting paid and has so much
Speaker 3: fun doing you know, working on the show. And but
Speaker 3: now looking back at I was like, oh, I see
Speaker 3: all the subtle like subtle political like you know, corporate things.
Speaker 3: I was like, Oh, that's why we can never do
Speaker 3: certain things.
Speaker 2: You guys were your own sort of island because you
Speaker 2: had us, you had guest stars or like anybody's sad
Speaker 2: contract including like background actors, dancers and dancers.
Speaker 1: And then.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it was interesting. I always felt like the the
Speaker 3: cousins that like lived far away that like showed up
Speaker 3: with like other cousins that you didn't really know, and
Speaker 3: we would just kind of show up and you'd see
Speaker 3: us like every now and then, and and you know,
Speaker 3: it was a different channel that we were brought in.
Speaker 3: So was it was definitely interesting for sure?
Speaker 1: And what did you what was the process like then
Speaker 1: once you were on the show, right, did you know
Speaker 1: how many episodes you were going to do or did
Speaker 1: you just get like days of work or episodes of
Speaker 1: work like you knew you were going to be in
Speaker 1: this episode? Like how did that work for you?
Speaker 3: I could have been replaced or fired at any ant.
Speaker 3: It was no contract. If I did one thing, bassed
Speaker 3: off the wrong person, uhten, it's something inappropriate. And there
Speaker 3: were a couple of instances where there were a couple
Speaker 3: of musicians that were brought in, especially as the show
Speaker 3: got to learn to following, people were brought in and
Speaker 3: it definitely like it was a couple of times where like, hey,
Speaker 3: that person definitely brought off the wrong energy or was
Speaker 3: like a little strange, or might have mosted something something
Speaker 3: and they were not brought back. So it was it
Speaker 3: was per per episode, and the casting director for us,
Speaker 3: she like if you were in the episode, she tried
Speaker 3: to bring you back no matter what, and we kind
Speaker 3: of became like a family and a sense of that,
Speaker 3: Like she was always very Christine Day. She was always
Speaker 3: very like, you know, I wanted to bring bring that
Speaker 3: four group back. And it was never anything spiteful, but yeah,
Speaker 3: like if if we did something wrong, like there was
Speaker 3: no there was no contract or nothing, we would just
Speaker 3: be gone. So I was always trying to be you know,
Speaker 3: on time ever late, like never messing around. So yeah,
Speaker 3: we had to we had to be on our best.
Speaker 1: Did you know what was going on in the scripts,
Speaker 1: would you get like sides of the day of like,
Speaker 1: did you ever know what was going on?
Speaker 3: I think I got one script? Seven years, I got
Speaker 3: one script.
Speaker 2: You just send behind those drums smiling, Oh.
Speaker 3: It was I And I like I never asked because
Speaker 3: again knowing not being contract like not being I was
Speaker 3: never going to be like, well, I don't know what's
Speaker 3: going on. Soon needs to send me something and I
Speaker 3: need more details what's happening now. We would just get there.
Speaker 3: We would see the sides for the day obviously, just
Speaker 3: get an idea what's going going on. But we had
Speaker 3: no idea of the backstory in the episode. So I
Speaker 3: had to actually almost watched the story to understand the
Speaker 3: storylines because being in the show so much more. And
Speaker 3: then when we started like being on camera a little
Speaker 3: bit more, it was like I need to know what's
Speaker 3: going on. And there was a couple of directors stults.
Speaker 3: Eric Stoltz was great at this. He would actually be like, hey,
Speaker 3: you know, so and so's really being an a hole
Speaker 3: today on in this scene and just whenever they walk by,
Speaker 3: just give them an evil glance or just or so
Speaker 3: and so or hey, it's a good day be really
Speaker 3: happy back there playing, and like you know, they would
Speaker 3: kind of feed into that. So it was really interesting.
Speaker 3: We never we never really got scripts or any kind
Speaker 3: of you know, any kind of clue what was going
Speaker 3: on until that morning.
Speaker 1: What about the music though, Like when did you know
Speaker 1: what you were going to be mimicking playing?
Speaker 3: Yeah, that was tough, especially playing drums. It's such as
Speaker 3: you can see if I'm not hitting the crash. Yeah,
Speaker 3: there were sometimes we'd get the music a day or
Speaker 3: two in advance, but there were other times. And you
Speaker 3: two know, the schedule like it it's a tough schedule
Speaker 3: and things get it takes a lot of turning stuff over.
Speaker 3: There were a couple of times where I'd go to
Speaker 3: bed at like ten for like a six am call time,
Speaker 3: and I'd wake up that morning and get the music
Speaker 3: and be listening to it in the car over and
Speaker 3: over as I'm driving in because it's like a big
Speaker 3: number a lot of that for like you know, the
Speaker 3: biggers and big mashups. The mashups are always like last minute,
Speaker 3: and so we'd be learning them. There would be times
Speaker 3: with I don't know if you ever know, but sometimes
Speaker 3: the rest of the band be sitting there with headphones
Speaker 3: in just like strumming, like yeah, just like trying to
Speaker 3: play but not play loud because doing walkthroughs the scene
Speaker 3: and I'm like still learning the song that we're about
Speaker 3: to shoot in like five minutes. So sometimes we would
Speaker 3: get it the night before pretty late, or we'd get
Speaker 3: it like a day or two. Never more than like
Speaker 3: a day or two in advance.
Speaker 1: Did you have to learn by ear?
Speaker 3: There was never any sheet music. There was never It
Speaker 3: was all and.
Speaker 2: The advantage of hiring real musicians because the god.
Speaker 3: Well everybody, everybody is a real musician. But here's the thing,
Speaker 3: I don't know how many different genres and mashup genres.
Speaker 3: I'm in a classical jazz swing, so when there was
Speaker 3: these these big numbers that were like crazy like and
Speaker 3: I'm like this fill and this backbeat it's like three
Speaker 3: four and like what is this key signature? And then
Speaker 3: switches into like a hip hop mash up and I'm
Speaker 3: like when is that happening? Bar eight? And then there's
Speaker 3: like a random fill where I'm like and that's when
Speaker 3: the camera passes crossing, like oh. In other words, I'm like, oh, yeah, okay,
Speaker 3: I don't remember what's happening to the rest of the song. Yeah,
Speaker 3: it was wild.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 2: I remember some of those songs too. You have different
Speaker 2: You had like an electric drum set sea Like did
Speaker 2: you have any say so, like what type of equipment
Speaker 2: was showing up when you were showing up?
Speaker 3: No? No, no, I no no, I just whatever it
Speaker 3: was there. There was one time. There was one time
Speaker 3: they gave me just a tambourine to play in a song.
Speaker 3: I forgot what song it was, and it was eight
Speaker 3: hours and I was slamming that thing on my hip.
Speaker 3: I got home and my was black and blue because
Speaker 3: I was in the same spot. I think Scotty bass
Speaker 3: player like, I saw him a photo of my hip
Speaker 3: afterwards he was like, oh my god, you were actually
Speaker 3: and I was like, yeah, I was actually hitting it
Speaker 3: on my hip for six hours, shooting up.
Speaker 2: I feel like there was very little turnover in that
Speaker 2: band for the most part, Like some people came in
Speaker 2: and then they would stay if somebody couldn't do it anymore.
Speaker 2: What was your relationship like with everyone, like and in
Speaker 2: terms of that turnover, like do you guys it was
Speaker 2: their camaraderie and the sort of.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, yeah, I think for the most sense, like
Speaker 3: we always kind of came in. We all knew each
Speaker 3: other pretty well, and there were like little pockets obviously,
Speaker 3: like little click like mini clicks obviously within that entire
Speaker 3: show from cast crew like everybody, and we just kind
Speaker 3: of knew our routine, and so we kind of knew
Speaker 3: and knew each other a little bit outside of that.
Speaker 3: And so we obviously, like me and Scott had been
Speaker 3: there since the pilot, and so we were like we
Speaker 3: had been through this so many times that when new
Speaker 3: people came in, were some hazing and then you know,
Speaker 3: you get along with them and then you know, like
Speaker 3: Derek who played guitar, Mark Nyland played piano for a
Speaker 3: little bit. Now he's like a Grammy Award winning producer,
Speaker 3: did like Gaga stuff and everything. And it's cool to
Speaker 3: like have those little pockets of friends that came in
Speaker 3: and left because they were and they ended up going
Speaker 3: on tours, started playing with a band or something. But yeah,
Speaker 3: we it was it became a cool little pocket of
Speaker 3: friends that you know, I would see two days out
Speaker 3: of the week and then you know, go to see
Speaker 3: their shows or something like that.
Speaker 1: So how many days you would you say, on average
Speaker 1: you would work in an episode because sometimes there was
Speaker 1: a lot of choir room stuff.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'd say like usually two days out of the week.
Speaker 3: Definitely at least a day a week. I mean I
Speaker 3: remember it usually being like a Thursday, or bigger numbers
Speaker 3: would be like Thursday when we call them Friturdays, or
Speaker 3: like when yeah, Thursdays Fridays until late night. So I
Speaker 3: remember it usually being later in the week. There was
Speaker 3: some you know, Monday stuff, but yeah, day or two
Speaker 3: out of the week, some days three when we had
Speaker 3: like big, big musical numbers and stuff like that, or
Speaker 3: when it was like a play or something.
Speaker 2: Did you just have to live on standby then like
Speaker 2: the rest of your life's like I don't know what
Speaker 2: I'm going to get called?
Speaker 1: So yeah, yeah, what if you weren't available?
Speaker 3: I mean I was in my early twenties. I was
Speaker 3: always available.
Speaker 1: Okay, fair fine for me, Like you're.
Speaker 3: Going on like sorry, I have a session with my
Speaker 3: friend today. I'm right, No, No, that that kind of became.
Speaker 3: It was tough because like I was DJing on the weekends,
Speaker 3: so like a Friday night gig. I remember having to
Speaker 3: cancel sometimes because I knew we'd have like a later
Speaker 3: call time on a Friday, and like, hey, I'm not
Speaker 3: gonna be able to make it tonight. But weekdays it
Speaker 3: was you know, I was in my early twenties. It
Speaker 3: was just writing music, so that was my priority. I
Speaker 3: was like, I'm keeping this gig. This is a good thing. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I amass this up. Yeah. I was trying to just
Speaker 3: ye know, by the way, be available.
Speaker 1: Now, you guys join the Gleek Club and you were
Speaker 1: then magically actors who danced and were musicians. Do you
Speaker 1: remember what that call was like when you got the script?
Speaker 1: Did you get a script? And then also being in
Speaker 1: rehearsals with us, Like it's a little bit of a
Speaker 1: blur for me. I remember exactly like when you guys joined,
Speaker 1: and I remember that episode very vividly, but like, what was.
Speaker 3: That Like, Yeah, I mean it was I was like
Speaker 3: walking around the grove or something and and I remember
Speaker 3: getting to call like hey, I was asked. They asked
Speaker 3: me for like another headshot or something like that, and
Speaker 3: they were like, well, we have to send it over
Speaker 3: to the actual casting director. This was like the music
Speaker 3: casting director had sent it to the actual casting director
Speaker 3: and all this stuff, And I was like what is happening.
Speaker 3: They're like, well, you're going to be joining the cast
Speaker 3: for an episode. I was like, what are you talking about.
Speaker 3: I was like, I'm already part of it. I was like,
Speaker 3: they're my friends, I'm already joining them. Like I'm already
Speaker 3: like we were already doing this thing. They're like, well,
Speaker 3: they're gonna have you like singing and dancing a couple
Speaker 3: of I was like what. I was excited because, you know,
Speaker 3: after I don't remember what season that was. I want
Speaker 3: to say it was like three. Yeah, it was, you know,
Speaker 3: a couple of years of doing the same thing. So
Speaker 3: it was kind of cool. Ryan joked with me a
Speaker 3: couple of times in season one saying that he was
Speaker 3: thinking about making he was going to give Heather a
Speaker 3: love interest with somebody in the band, which I thought
Speaker 3: would have been hilarious, just like a band groupie. Of course,
Speaker 3: who else would have been, But it was kind of
Speaker 3: cool to get excited to do something different. That's how
Speaker 3: I was kind of looking at it. And I remember
Speaker 3: jumping into rehearsals with you guys and being more in
Speaker 3: like your routine, and I had so much respect for
Speaker 3: like the work that y'all went through and and being
Speaker 3: and seeing that side of it and getting like a
Speaker 3: different perspective on what's been going on for like two
Speaker 3: three years. It was really cool to be a part
Speaker 3: of and to just having been in like a routine
Speaker 3: and knowing our routine and switching it up and being
Speaker 3: like damn, like this is a lot of work and
Speaker 3: like this is like they put in time, and it
Speaker 3: was really cool to see.
Speaker 2: I remember you guys joining rehearsal. It was because by
Speaker 2: that point, like you said, we were family, like really
Speaker 2: good friends, and because every performance, you guys like were
Speaker 2: all there together all those hours, we were all hanging out.
Speaker 2: It wasn't just the twelve Glee club members. It was
Speaker 2: us and all of you all the time. Yeah, So
Speaker 2: it never really felt separate in that way, especially when
Speaker 2: it came to like the performances. It's natural that you
Speaker 2: guys are there. So when you were dance rehearsal, it
Speaker 2: was just like, great, we have more of our friends.
Speaker 2: But I remember, like I'm like, I hope they're not
Speaker 2: like scared.
Speaker 1: But we also really did dance in that one, like,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, that was the like justify Yeah, Oh
Speaker 1: my gosh, Michael, it was hard that was a lot, and.
Speaker 3: It wasn't It wasn't like an episode. Just everything in
Speaker 3: the choir room that was a regional that was like
Speaker 3: in the auditorium, big numbers.
Speaker 2: Threw you into the most dancing we had probably done
Speaker 2: up to that point.
Speaker 1: Yes, it was a big one too because we had
Speaker 1: lost all those members. So it was like, oh my gosh,
Speaker 1: I got.
Speaker 3: To finally see like who actually knew what they were doing,
Speaker 3: which was fun and I as a drummer, feels so
Speaker 3: confident right now that I can count to four.
Speaker 1: That's so funny. And where Zach and bringing everybody like
Speaker 1: nice to you and like getting you. I don't remember.
Speaker 1: I mean I'm sure they were, but just like did
Speaker 1: they like help you guys.
Speaker 3: I mean, Sack was always I mean, Zach was always
Speaker 3: the best and he they both of them were very
Speaker 3: I think they like eased us in and they once
Speaker 3: they saw like Scott and I kind of held our own.
Speaker 3: They like they were just like cool, Okay, well you're
Speaker 3: gonna do this now and then do this, But they
Speaker 3: were very like not eased it in, but they just
Speaker 3: like they knew that it was kind of like a
Speaker 3: shake up for us, so they didn't just like expect
Speaker 3: us to be able to come in and keep up
Speaker 3: right away, and so they kind of gave us, like,
Speaker 3: you know, a low bar and then they eased us in,
Speaker 3: which was nice.
Speaker 2: Once that sort of stint happened. Did do you know
Speaker 2: how long that was going to last?
Speaker 3: Man? I wanted to last for as long as it
Speaker 3: could because it was, you know, it was so fun
Speaker 3: and it's weird, not it was weird kind of going
Speaker 3: back to the usual after that, Yeah, you're kind of like, well,
Speaker 3: I did that, and I thought I did. It was
Speaker 3: almost like getting the promotion and getting demoted, or like
Speaker 3: being like in sports, like being brought up to the
Speaker 3: big leagues and then kind of stepping back yea, And
Speaker 3: I think I didn't have a problem. I was excited
Speaker 3: to continue on with the show, and like I think
Speaker 3: after especially after the graduation, the first graduation episode where
Speaker 3: I was in cap and gown, I was like, well,
Speaker 3: I guess we're done, and then being brought after it
Speaker 3: was kind of like the same feeling again where it
Speaker 3: was like, Okay, don't take this for granted, You're still
Speaker 3: to be part of this, and like that moment was great,
Speaker 3: but it was definitely something I was like, man, like,
Speaker 3: we could have done that again, Like we could have
Speaker 3: write some sort of story arc or some sort of
Speaker 3: you know, involvement again, And yeah, but I had a
Speaker 3: blast doing it.
Speaker 1: You also are just very talented in your own right.
Speaker 1: Aside from Lee, John also DJed our wedding, so were
Speaker 1: we all like stay in touch, which is so cool
Speaker 1: and we we just adore you. But during the show
Speaker 1: where I write after you worked with some of the
Speaker 1: cast members, like you co wrote with Leah on her album,
Speaker 1: and then you worked on a song with Nia write
Speaker 1: a music video, and then you also used to DJ
Speaker 1: snakes miss too. Can you tell me about how those happened?
Speaker 2: John is our resident producer and cheek John, Yeah, has
Speaker 2: any ideas.
Speaker 3: That's how you asked me to your wedding.
Speaker 4: You're like, hey, getting married.
Speaker 3: When tell me when? Yes, exactly, one of the best
Speaker 3: weddings I've ever been to, by the way, it was
Speaker 3: so much fun.
Speaker 1: It was but like all our friends, it was so cool.
Speaker 1: It was such a great dance battles.
Speaker 3: It was great too.
Speaker 1: Many I.
Speaker 3: Like the arts, so like I guess acting, I've always
Speaker 3: appreciated the art of it, and like there was a
Speaker 3: different experience people always acting ask me, well, why didn't
Speaker 3: you like try to do more acting? Afterwards, I was like,
Speaker 3: being on set was fun and being part of that
Speaker 3: I have so much respect for. But I just love creating.
Speaker 3: My creative passion is music and always has been. And
Speaker 3: so when like when when Nya first asked about doing
Speaker 3: some music and even amber and and everything, I was
Speaker 3: so like, I was so like not honored, but I
Speaker 3: was just like I was so excited and so so
Speaker 3: happy to be a part of of like their music
Speaker 3: life outside of the show, because it is such I mean,
Speaker 3: you you both know, like it's being creative in that
Speaker 3: world is such an intimate and like vulnerable spot. Like
Speaker 3: in order to mature creative, you have to be comfortable
Speaker 3: with putting your ideas out there and then having either
Speaker 3: come out and it'd be good or not. And it's
Speaker 3: like a reflection of you. So anytime any of you
Speaker 3: wanted to do something musically, like you and Kevin and
Speaker 3: I have done stuff, and the stuff when I was great,
Speaker 3: I mean we wrote I think we wrote probably like
Speaker 3: eight songs together and we just kind of like got
Speaker 3: together and just you know, just had fun doing it.
Speaker 3: It was always a pleasure because you get to know
Speaker 3: each other for years in this like creative environment that's
Speaker 3: completely different, and then you could step into a different
Speaker 3: environment that's more intimate and like a little bit more
Speaker 3: stripped down in a way. And I was always really
Speaker 3: really like a highlight of my like extended like Glee
Speaker 3: experience of being able to do that with friends I
Speaker 3: made from this experience and then do something outside of it.
Speaker 3: And then obviously the DJing, like the rap parties, the
Speaker 3: how many snicks misses, I mean, the time not put
Speaker 3: me in a treehouse.
Speaker 1: Tower Well got there late and I was like.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I like where is John, Like I hear the music?
Speaker 2: Where is here?
Speaker 3: Yeah? Yeah, those are I mean djaying so long? That's
Speaker 3: just such a I get. I'm an extrovert that or
Speaker 3: not extrovert, an EmPATH in the way that I love
Speaker 3: when people have a good time for music, whether whether
Speaker 3: it's mine or someone else's or whoever's. Like, I love
Speaker 3: that joy that music brings to people. And so when
Speaker 3: I can like play a song and see you all
Speaker 3: lose your mind and Kevin split his pants on the
Speaker 3: dance floor, like that is like that is just the.
Speaker 1: You knew us.
Speaker 2: It is true, it was. I think that's why we
Speaker 2: always felt, especially like Na scoop you up so quickly
Speaker 2: for those parties, and then we were like, well, there's
Speaker 2: no other DJ for us in our lives forever because
Speaker 2: you know us so well. We all know each other
Speaker 2: so like musically that like imagine going to like anybody listening,
Speaker 2: like going to a party, and the person any of
Speaker 2: those parties, the person djaying knows exactly what you want
Speaker 2: to hear all the time. Yeah, And it was just
Speaker 2: like it was the best I had.
Speaker 3: I had a Glee playlist that I would like anytime
Speaker 3: we'd have a party. I just knew that I'd go
Speaker 3: to that play a lot of nineties R and V.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, a lot of nineties Beyonce and Rihanna, like anything, yes, yes,
Speaker 3: all that, and uh yeah, that's always fun because like
Speaker 3: knowing you each individually and then just like taking your
Speaker 3: own individual playlists and putting it into a bucket and
Speaker 3: drawing from that bucket and you're just like you're watching
Speaker 3: each one of you just go lose your mind to
Speaker 3: a song that comes on and that sells as a
Speaker 3: chain reaction because then because that personally would get excited
Speaker 3: when Kevin gets excited.
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, it was great.
Speaker 2: How did did you did we discover you were a DJ?
Speaker 2: Because you DJ like one of the earlier rap parties, Like,
Speaker 2: how did that happen? Do you remember?
Speaker 3: I don't know. I remember a time I was djaying
Speaker 3: in a place in Hollywood and I invited you guys
Speaker 3: out or something that generally remember being there, and I
Speaker 3: feel like that might have been one of the first
Speaker 3: times that you guys had seen EJ because I feel
Speaker 3: like that was during season one and I wrapped into
Speaker 3: the rap party season two. I think it was after
Speaker 3: Snick's miss, so I think it was like I was like, hey,
Speaker 3: by the way, I DJ, if you guys want to
Speaker 3: come out, like hang out like on a Saturday night,
Speaker 3: and then it Yeah, I think it kind of.
Speaker 2: I do remember meeting you on the pilot.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and you right next to me in your wheelchair
Speaker 3: with a guitar that you had just learned to play
Speaker 3: or something.
Speaker 2: And it was so embarrassing because very quickly you can
Speaker 2: turn around and be like, oh, these guys are real
Speaker 2: musicians obviously, and here I am faking everything I'm doing.
Speaker 2: I'm not in the wheelchair. I don't know how to
Speaker 2: play guitar, and then I was watching, I'm like I
Speaker 2: was filling in for Corey learning this dance. That's a
Speaker 2: thing I can do, but I'm not doing that. And
Speaker 2: I was like, thank God, my back is to these
Speaker 2: musicians because I don't want to see their face as
Speaker 2: I am messing all of this up.
Speaker 1: Well, you learned in the trailer like the day before
Speaker 1: Kevin to be fair, Well they gave me lessons.
Speaker 2: This poor guy, I was like, so good, like an
Speaker 2: actual guitar player, producer of classical music, like taught me
Speaker 2: through for like the first season how to fake it properly,
Speaker 2: which entails sort of learning it right. But like that
Speaker 2: doesn't mean anyway. I was just my like initial impressions
Speaker 2: were that of embarrassment for myself because I obviously greatly
Speaker 2: respected what you were all doing, and we were all
Speaker 2: in this weird unknown like soup together yea of figuring,
Speaker 2: you know, like you were there when they were figuring
Speaker 2: out how do we shoot a musical number. We're going
Speaker 2: to do the simplest number forever, I guess, like from
Speaker 2: your perspective, like what was that whole art like, because
Speaker 2: you saw it from inception to us actually getting to
Speaker 2: do and you being in like vocal adrenaline level type numbers,
Speaker 2: and how the shooting style changed, how the whole operation changed.
Speaker 3: Yeah, well before that, I don't know if you remember this,
Speaker 3: but do you remember food Fight day? Oh?
Speaker 2: Yes, of course I realized.
Speaker 3: When Corey came over and kicked me off the drums,
Speaker 3: somebody thought it was a good idea to just wool
Speaker 3: John standing there, give him a guitar. No, so very
Speaker 3: similar to you. I'm standing there, like, I don't play guitar.
Speaker 3: What so I'm asking Derek, like what He's like, just
Speaker 3: stand there and strum. Dude, just stand there and strum.
Speaker 3: And I was like, well, so if you go back,
Speaker 3: I just somehow jump up from guitar or jump up
Speaker 3: from start playing guitar.
Speaker 2: It's okay. I was like, we were watching an episode recently,
Speaker 2: and I fully caught myself. Oh actually, Jenna, it was
Speaker 2: you had to mention it. But I'm still standing and
Speaker 2: I clearly for how long have I been doing the show,
Speaker 2: And clearly I'm singing leads and did not know the
Speaker 2: words and like fully turned my face away and come
Speaker 2: back on like the fourth word. I was like, I
Speaker 2: forgot the beginning of the line. So we were doing
Speaker 2: that shit every episode. So yeah, it's so true.
Speaker 3: Yeah, to go to your question, I it's cool being
Speaker 3: able to see. It's really rare that you're a part
Speaker 3: of something from the beginning to the end that has
Speaker 3: the kind of like trajectory that that the show kind
Speaker 3: of had. And so looking back on it, like, that's
Speaker 3: to me still blows my mind that there's this show
Speaker 3: that I was a part of from an email that
Speaker 3: I had no clue what it was going to be,
Speaker 3: and then it took off and became this thing. Remember
Speaker 3: I remember going to perform on the Oprah Show with
Speaker 3: you guys, you remember that I was even there. I
Speaker 3: remember that, but.
Speaker 1: I remember, oh, oh my god, I'm going to show
Speaker 1: with you.
Speaker 2: And I don't think we knew that on camera.
Speaker 3: We were off to the side doing our miming per usual.
Speaker 3: I don't whole thing was like so that there's there's
Speaker 3: a lot of things.
Speaker 2: That is truly like I do your friends are family,
Speaker 2: but like kid moves to Hollywood, goes to school, and
Speaker 2: ends up on Oprah within two years.
Speaker 3: What from an email? Guys? Damn it was wild. Yeah,
Speaker 3: So that just the whole I think I had I
Speaker 3: have the most. I think I have the most respect
Speaker 3: and like the fun fondest memories of just that crew
Speaker 3: and you guys and just what happened in between the takes.
Speaker 3: And really I run into so like so often, like
Speaker 3: especially djaing on the rap parties are just being in
Speaker 3: l a still. I run into like crew members all
Speaker 3: the time, and it's that like Lee family. It's such
Speaker 3: a nice like it's like an extended family that you
Speaker 3: always have that bond with those people because they were
Speaker 3: part of that thing. And that's like, that's one of
Speaker 3: the coolest thing. I saw Brittany Parks the other day
Speaker 3: and I was just like epe and just big hug
Speaker 3: and it was like, oh, yeah, you have that bond
Speaker 3: to go so nice. I think from everything, I think
Speaker 3: that's the biggest thing I took away from It's just
Speaker 3: like you have an extended family that you know no
Speaker 3: one else can put a claim on except for.
Speaker 1: The understand like what you've been through and like you
Speaker 1: saw it all. What is the feeling that leaves you with, man, I.
Speaker 3: Want to say, just pure happiness. I think like because
Speaker 3: I was so lucky to be a part of it,
Speaker 3: that you can't just not think of those relationships, those hours,
Speaker 3: the inside jokes, the hard times, the long hours, and yeah,
Speaker 3: I think just so happy. It's so happy to be
Speaker 3: a part of it. I don't think anything else. There
Speaker 3: is no other word of like that that experience was
Speaker 3: for me than just happy I was being you know,
Speaker 3: I was there just drums playing away.
Speaker 2: We ended up doing like seven hundred and forty something numbers.
Speaker 2: Do you know how many you were in.
Speaker 3: I can look, I mean close to I don't want
Speaker 3: to say two hundred, but up up close to two
Speaker 3: hundred for sure, Wow, because I know I have Like
Speaker 3: last time I looked, I have like one hundred and
Speaker 3: sixty songs from but I could have deleted a couple
Speaker 3: or right right, it's up in there, like the one
Speaker 3: hundred and seventy two hundred songs. Probably that's nuts. And
Speaker 3: then there was other times we were just walking down
Speaker 3: the hall and you know, or interacting. Yeah, times we
Speaker 3: were there that we didn't end up playing because we
Speaker 3: were about to start playing, and it was a dream sequence, right,
Speaker 3: weird days saying I.
Speaker 1: Just like sitting at this the drum, at your drum kit,
Speaker 1: but like not playing.
Speaker 3: You need it today hey, by the way, asking the
Speaker 3: other band members, did we get music for this? Because
Speaker 3: I didn't get any What are we playing? I don't know,
Speaker 3: get ready.
Speaker 1: Like when Tina does like a half a song, so
Speaker 1: you play a half a song?
Speaker 3: Yeah, for some reason, your songs were never full.
Speaker 1: Well, there's a lot to unpack there. That's for another episode.
Speaker 2: I just have to say the amount of respect to
Speaker 2: have for you and the whole band, because I think
Speaker 2: a lot of time we didn't undervalue you while we're
Speaker 2: doing it. But I think those long hours and all
Speaker 2: of that can go so unnoticed and overlook because you
Speaker 2: were all so professional, never complained, never said shit, yeah
Speaker 2: and we're just tired. Yeah, but you were always there
Speaker 2: and like we all became friends and because you were
Speaker 2: all so nice and lovely and just like good human
Speaker 2: beings and like, thank God, like we all got to
Speaker 2: be together and like it have together and that was
Speaker 2: all of you in the band. Yeah, because it made yeah,
Speaker 2: made that family so much more complete.
Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, you guys. Never never once did any
Speaker 3: of us ever feel like we were outsiders or anything.
Speaker 3: It was always it was always a warm environment in
Speaker 3: those rooms with the cast and the crew and everybody.
Speaker 3: You guys were always very welcoming of us, and we
Speaker 3: always felt welcome like we were part of the team.
Speaker 3: So happy you say that, but the feeling was definitely
Speaker 3: mutual for sure.
Speaker 2: It's probably awesome because like we're frauds and they're the real.
Speaker 1: Like when they would bring like strings in and the
Speaker 1: strings that actually have to play.
Speaker 3: Because I remember Kevin all the time, like I.
Speaker 1: Know we were. It's nice to hear live music, Like
Speaker 1: I wish you guys could have like really played because
Speaker 1: like you're like, wow, this is so nice.
Speaker 3: Drum set was muted, taped glued.
Speaker 2: They had yeah on there. Yeah, how did they do that?
Speaker 2: You had didn't you have like pads on stuf up
Speaker 2: and things.
Speaker 3: They put pads under the drumheads so you don't see them,
Speaker 3: and then they tape those so that it's like extra muted,
Speaker 3: and then they super glue like multiple symbols and all
Speaker 3: kinds of things.
Speaker 1: Magic. You guys could have also had like these crazy
Speaker 1: attitudes because you're like I don't know what's going on
Speaker 1: and I don't know what's happening and I am here
Speaker 1: just day by day, and like just to have that
Speaker 1: great attitude really did like give like it just added
Speaker 1: to our crew. And you guys are so great and
Speaker 1: such good sports and we're just grateful to have you
Speaker 1: guys as like the family and now you know, staying
Speaker 1: close as friends. It's like it's just really awesome and
Speaker 1: it's a nice feeling to have so and also thanks
Speaker 1: for taking your time to you're a busy man, so
Speaker 1: thanks for coming on the podcast. So it's just for
Speaker 1: people to hear like about right, you.
Speaker 3: Guys are friends family. Anytime you come, anytime you get
Speaker 3: a text or a call and you want me to
Speaker 3: do something, it's you know, it's it's family. You guys.
Speaker 3: I have known you more than I've known some of
Speaker 3: my you know who I call my closest friends. And
Speaker 3: we literally grew up together.
Speaker 1: So you're the best. John, thank you so much for
Speaker 1: coming on anytime.
Speaker 3: Appreciate it, y'all.
Speaker 4: Thank you John. All right, thank you so so much. Yeah,
Speaker 4: thank you bye, sweet man. Oh my god, I just
Speaker 4: didn't know any of that.
Speaker 2: I didn't either.
Speaker 3: And they're just like.
Speaker 1: Such good attitudes about it, I know, but like, look,
Speaker 1: we nobody's going to talk about their contracts while on
Speaker 1: the show. Nobody's going to be like it's now in hindsight,
Speaker 1: you're like, oh, it's just such. Everybody had their own
Speaker 1: experience saying.
Speaker 2: We were all around the same age, and it's like
Speaker 2: you did feel weird, Like I didn't. I didn't feel
Speaker 2: right to ask people about that sort of No, exactly,
Speaker 2: we're all here, we love each other, it's all good.
Speaker 1: It feels like he who was there much more than
Speaker 1: two days a week.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I feel like he was there all the time.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm sure there were some episodes, but anyway,
Speaker 1: our band was amazing.
Speaker 2: Because it's because he was there. The whole band was
Speaker 2: there during the longest scenes. The musical numbers took the longest,
Speaker 2: so the times that we were all in the same
Speaker 2: place for the long smount of time, he was there.
Speaker 1: He is there. Well, thanks John for coming on and
Speaker 1: sharing your experience and chatting. I hope you guys enjoyed
Speaker 1: listening and hearing all about from the music side and
Speaker 1: the band side. They were there with us from the beginning,
Speaker 1: so it's just awesome. I can't believe he and Scott.
Speaker 2: Were there from the pilot's great wild amazing.
Speaker 1: It's amazing.
Speaker 2: And watching them age like they watched us watched exactly,
Speaker 2: but like they look I feel like they look younger
Speaker 2: than us. Yeah, a lot of it, and like get
Speaker 2: to see them like even though we were the same age,
Speaker 2: but well they look younger. Well, thanks for joining us
Speaker 2: for another episode and That's what you really missed.
Speaker 1: See you.
Speaker 2: Thanks for listening and follow us on Instagram at and
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Speaker 2: us a review and leave us five stars. See you
Speaker 2: next time.