SPEAKER_01 0:14

Hey,

Tour Announcement With Nick Hexum

SPEAKER_01 0:15

Kenny, welcome to the podcast. How are you doing today, man?

SPEAKER_00 0:18

Dude, uh, George, I'm so stoked to be here. I love your podcast, and I'm I'm honored to talk to you, man. Thanks for having me.

SPEAKER_01 0:24

Oh man, I'm I'm honored to have you on. I'm excited to talk about you guys going on tour. You're gonna be playing with Nick Hexham on the Nothing But the Truth 2026 dates. Uh, I think we start January 30th and go to, I think it's April 5th, man. You guys got like 1920 places you got going

Origins Of Watertower

SPEAKER_01 0:40

on. Um, you know, kind of to bring it back to the beginning though, um, Watertower and the iteration of, I mean, you've had the Watertower bucket band, the string band, that this whole thing started in Portland many years ago. Bring me back the beginning of the roots of Watertower Band and maybe uh the roots of you getting into music and and different styles of music and uh creating this band. And then we'll kind of you know thread the needle through uh from then until now and your tour coming up.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Oh, I love it. Great question, man. Thank you for asking. I'm honored to be able to talk about this stuff with you. It's so cool that you're into it, man, and excited about it. Really, it I started playing guitar at at 12 and I heard uh I heard Blink 182, Nirvana, 311, Rancid and the Offspring. You know, I heard these bands and I was like, I'm gonna get an electric guitar. And uh, you know, actually I remember being I think I was 15 when Amber came out, and we saw I saw the music video with the homies, and it was it was I was living in Mexico City at the time. Amber comes on, I was like, dudes, dude, check this out, check this out. This is this song I was telling you about. And uh I think Tim has a mohawk in it in the video or something, like there's something like that. And so we were all like, let's get a mohawk. So we went to our first like high school party that night. We all got mohawks shaved, and um, it was it's really cool. So 311 been a formative band, um, you know, and so got a guitar, started busking that same year. I went out to the beach, and I just was like, I'm gonna play like the only song I really all I could play was Smells Like Teen Spirit. Went out to the beach, started playing it, and someone gave me a five-dollar bill, and I was I was hopelessly addicted after that. After I got that five dollar bill, so started playing, getting more serious in a punk rock, started a punk rock band, played in a couple punk bands, and uh then I was 16, I left Mexico, and I was I was living in Oregon at the time, and I my my neighbor was playing banjo and fiddle, and he was like, You've got to come to this square dance. And I was like, dude, square dance, like that's okay, but he was my good friend, so I went. I walked into the room, I saw Foghorn string band playing, and like what seemed like 500 people, it might have been, it was probably a little less, but it feels like 500 people all square dancing. I walk up to the front of the stage because I felt the music in my blood, in my in my bones. It was like I remembered when I heard it. I had never heard anything like it, but I remembered from ancestral memories. And I walked up to the stage and I sat on the stage, and it was like a three-hour square dance, and I just watched them play every song. And you know, I got totally obsessed, and you know, I watched the fiddle player, and uh I was like, this is what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life. And so

Punk Roots Meet Old-Time And Bluegrass

SPEAKER_00 3:20

I was already into the punk rock and the rap, and then I was like, I'm learning guitar, fiddle, banjo, mandolin with my buddy, and we started Watertower, and it was the Watertower Bucket Boys because we had a gut bucket, one-string bass player at first. It was just a jug, like a what do you call it, a wash tub, right? And uh then we got some females in the band, so we became Watertower String Band, and then we went back to All Dudes and we went back to Watertower Bucket Boys, then we kicked the bucket and became Watertower and really toured the world, had success at age 21, was touring all around the UK, Eastern Europe, had a lot of success selling out kind of bigger rooms for us, you know, 500 capacities and stuff, and then um addiction hit, and basically there was a dark period, you know, getting in trouble. So from twically, I finally like the that band kind of imploded and was around you know 2013, and I finally got my stuff together ready to put a record out in 2020 as Watertower. So Watertower is basically a five and a half, six-year-old band with a lot of history because we started fresh in 2020, put a record out, and met all the guys who I'm with today who have been with me since the new inception. So, um, so that's kind of that's the basic history, you know. Just was into punk rock and and skateboarding and and rap music and then and gangster rap and hip-hop, and then really fell in love with uh old timey square dance music and bluegrass and fused the two, and now punk rock bluegrass is is the lifestyle.

SPEAKER_01 4:48

Well, a few things that I I want to tackle there. Um, you know, I want to talk about the addiction side of things too, because I I think, well, one, I mean you kind of met Nick through the sober community of LA there, and uh, but I I'd I'd love to dive down there. Um, one of the things I kind of want to backtrack on, and I'd and kind of a fact check me here. Um, you know, Nick had mentioned too that you had a was it a master's in jazz guitar?

SPEAKER_00 5:11

Like you have a bachelor's, I have a bachelor's, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:14

But you you dove into that I and really jumped into studying in in a different you know way. I mean, some people they'll they'll play, but you went and looked at theory. Obviously, you have a lot of different uh musical instruments that you play uh and on record and and live and everything there too. So I kind of wanted to jump into that real quick, and then we'll jump back into like the addiction thing there too. But as far as you going in and the education of that, what did that look like? Where did you go and study? And uh what drove you to taking, you know, going with the jazz guitar, or was it more than just that?

Education, Jazz Theory, And Juries

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Oh, hey, great question. Thanks for asking about that. Um, well, I do love jazz and I love all music, but uh what happened was we were touring all around at 18 already. The band was touring, we had success, and then it was like, well, go to college time, and I was fortunate enough that my parents were gonna cover that for me. And so, but the thing was that I didn't really want to go, and so the compromise was like, Well, you can study music, and like because I was like, I just want to go on tour and do the band thing, and they're like, Well, and all my homies were going to college too, so I was you know, I was like, All right, so studying music was the option, and it was either really jazz or classical at the time, and I dug classical too, but I was like, I mean, you know, so I wanted to so I went to study jazz because I loved it, and because it was it was something like I could spend all day doing is just getting deeper into music, and and I I love understanding things in a deep way, and so being able to understand music, the theory and everything that's going on just open up you know doors in my head and the music inside of my head to be able to express it better, all the while through college, you know, Watertower Bucket Boys were touring and and furthering that whole thing. Um, I remember one night we had a gig in San Francisco and we played, and I had to be practicing my jazz stuff because I'd go back to school on Monday and we'd have these things called juries. It were terrifying. They're called a jury, you know what I mean? Where like the best players and the teachers all sitting at a desk staring at you, and it was terrifying. But if I didn't practice for a jury, it was humiliating. And so I remember San Francisco, we were over by Golden Gate Park, and Josh, the guy who I started the band with, um, I had him come with me after we loaded out at midnight. And so right around 1 a.m., we walk out to the street, and Josh just spots me for like 40 minutes while I practice my scales and my tunes just to keep my, you know, because I had an expensive guitar out there on the streets of SF, you know what I mean? So, you know, I had to be practicing on the weekends for the jazz, but really going to do the the hillbilly music thing all the while.

Why Practice At Freeway Off-Ramps

SPEAKER_01 7:52

Um you know, when you there's a pressure there that you know it's I I I know it as well when you're playing for people and as far as like you know, like you're saying, like the jury, there's also you know, whenever you get out there and you're busking, and that's something that you've talked about, you know, doing and and you know, Nick talked about it when I interviewed him. He's like, Yeah, he said, um I forgot what the the the term was right on the club. Neophiliac. Neophiliac, yes. And this idea of you know being loving that challenge of doing something new. And whenever you told him, hey, we like to perform over by a freeway exit where it's loud, there's construction going on, and that's where we do this busking, and that's where you're performing. And you know, that the idea of being able to do that in front of a a live, kind of a pressured audience, but in some ways, hey, you know, we're free to make some mistakes and to try some new things and do whatever. There's a a a freedom in that, and I I just love that idea of you guys um going back to that place, and that's where you guys practice for a lot of these shows and and performance. And I'd love for you to kind of talk about the idea of that for you and why it's important in in your arena for you guys to be practicing in that set and setting, and what does that provide for whenever you get into these live, intimate shows and these stages? And yeah, just kind of walk me through that, man.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Good question. Uh you asked wonderful questions, and I appreciate that. And this is really exciting and fun to talk about. Um, so uh the the freeway off rant came about through necessity, partially. We were already busking every day. Um, Watertowers whole thing, and on the weekends in college, we go busk in Portland all day, and we did it to hone our craft, to make money, and to get better together as a group. It creates that group cohesion, you get to work on your tunes, and basically at a certain point, we found out that more money, one of our members was like, more money can be made at a freeway off ramp than for foot traffic. And we tested the theory and we tested every which way. No matter what, there's more money that happens at a freeway off ramp with a good stack of left turn lane. So I moved here from Portland because this is the promised land of off-ramps and traffic. You know, I moved here for the traffic. Not a lot of people say that, right? I came to LA for the traffic, and the it's the promised land of cars and drive-through music, you know. And so we started doing that pretty seriously all around LA and found an off-ramp that we really love. And it became the heart of how we write

Writing Songs In Traffic

SPEAKER_00 10:31

our music. And so when I started the band, you know, I kept the band going, but like when I really restarted with the guys I'm with now, with Tommy, Jesse, Taylor, and John and Nick, um, we write all of our music at the off-ramp, and our music is about the street experience in Los Angeles because I had to be out there anyway to support my lifestyle, which at the time had to do with addiction, right? So there was there was an element of money I needed for my addiction, and also had to pay for the roof over my head. So I needed to go out there seven days a week, many hours a day, just to be able to support myself. Um, so it was out of desperation for a long time, you know, and I had to busk every day because there wasn't any other job I was gonna do. I was gonna, I'm here, I'm in LA to do music and make money from it. And when I moved here, I didn't know anybody. So it was me at the off-ramp for years and years and years, and I made a lot of connections that way. I ended up getting on two Netflix shows through that and playing through all these different bands. And when I finally found my guys, we started writing music, you know, Fivers, Flow Tap, AMPM, you know, Take Me Back, Lose Everything. They were all written at the off-ramp about being there, and even if they're not about being there, the music is shaped from the people who come by because we would test different lyrics on this car, on that car, and see, well, what is gonna get a reaction out of this person? What lick, what what lyric is gonna get them to pay up? So we really test the music on the audience in real time. And yeah, when Nick first found that out, he was totally he was a little nervous. And he I he didn't mention this in in the episode y'all do, I don't think, but he he was uh he called me and he was like, Hey, can we do this like another time? And and like I think I think it was because he was nervous, and but he really wanted to do it, and I was like, dude, if we don't do it right now, we won't have a chance to rehearse. And he's like, Okay, I'm coming, I'm coming. And so he came and and like right before we went out, I could just tell he was nervous. And it was so crazy to see Nick be nervous because this is a dude who plays arenas and rocks, you know. I saw him rock 80,000 people at warp tour

Nick’s First Off-Ramp Rehearsal

SPEAKER_00 12:34

like two weeks before that, and I was like, bro, this is how how could he be nervous? But I got it, you know, because I'm so comfortable with it. I understood as I saw him out there and be like, it's very intimate because you you're five feet away from a car who's looking at you, who has no idea who you are, you're not on a big stage, you're just on the side of the road, and and so sharing music, it's such a vulnerable, intimate thing. But he he loved it, and one of my favorite moments was doing flowing, the 311 song, which is one of my favorite songs. We're doing flowing, and he does the part where he goes and he kicks, and he was doing the just the full-on ninja kicks for these cars, and they're just loving it and laughing, and it's just so cool. And a lot of these people don't even know who he is. And some people are like, Wait, is that you know, and the real and you know, so this is really, really special. And the off-ramp, we we get to go now when we're lucky. Like I said, I don't have to go anymore, um, like I did back in the day, and I we get to go. In fact, after this interview, I'm taking another artist out there for the first time, um, so he can quit his job. And this is this is an artist on a major label. I can't say who it is, but it's that it's a big artist, and it's someone who works with big artists, and uh he's nervous. And but we've been talking about for months, and he's he's at that point where he's like, I want to make money off of my music. And he he makes money from his music, but the thing is that when the touring cycle is not happening, you know, what is there to do? So anyway, I love bringing artists out there and to see how it transforms them, you know.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

That's amazing, man. I I love it. I I can just imagine some of those folks who come through and get to see that in that intimate setting. Um, I love it. I love it. I used to busk, uh, I remember one day I threw a a dart at a map, and I was trying to figure out where I was gonna go on my break when I was up living in Boston. Yeah, and it hit Montreal, and so I just bought a bus ticket and grabbed my guitar and went out there and bust, and I'm I was like, whatever I make is whatever I make in a day, and that's my food, that's my lodging. And it was one of the best weekends uh ever. I just loved it. And I didn't make a lot, but I survived. But it was uh that fun interaction of just being able to play your tunes for people and kind of have that you know that intimate experience. Um, you know, I wanted to kind of circle back to the idea of addiction, it's something that you've brought up. It's something that you've mentioned before as far as meeting Nick and and the sober community in LA. And so um, you know, I think it's a really important, and I'm I'm eight plus years sober on on the drink, and I I know what that impact has been as I've had some podcasts where I've just talked about my past addictions and how impactful it was on somebody who was struggling with it at the time. And so I kind of wanted to to address that idea of, you know, it's something that that comes up in your songwriting, it's something that you you've talked about out in the public space before. And what's that been like for you? Um, you know, one of guess like how many years sober are you? And is that something that you feel a compelled nature, or does it kind of come out naturally where you talk to people who are maybe going through some struggles and being able to help them along? Because when I hear the the sober community, I'm curious as far as what that entails. Is there a a you know, are you going to meetings? Are you helping to uh facilitate change in those people's lives? What is that like and and that kind of impact in in your life towards others, uh aside maybe just from the music?

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Yeah, great question. Um, yeah, there's a big sober community out here in LA and and growing everywhere, especially in the music industry, because the cool thing now is is sobriety, and I all the all the cool cats are doing it, you know, and uh it it makes things easier, you know. In the 90s, it was a different thing in the 80s too, and um, you know, I grew up kind of observing that and wanting to be like my heroes, and and that was part of it. And so um, yeah, just just sharing the message of recovery, strength,

Sobriety, Community, And Recovery

SPEAKER_00 16:21

and hope, and and there there is a way uh to do it without drugs and alcohol, and uh yeah, meetings, uh working with sponsor. Uh there's also a thing called smart recovery, which is like what they call like a more science-based approach. AA has science too, but it's a it's a little, it's more of a spiritual program. Um all of the I I love all of the recovery things, you know, therapy, um, treatment, w whatever it is, DBT, you know, dialectical behavior therapy, anything that can help someone, and and even people who aren't going through addiction, I believe they can benefit from all of these things just to work on ourselves and to become a little bit better every day. And ultimately, like my mission is to contribute to the lessening of suffering however I can, whether that's my own or the people around me, and through community and through music and through just learning about each other and through empathy and compassion, you know. I think that's the key for all of this stuff.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

No, it it absolutely, man. I agree. Well, I appreciate you sharing that. I think it's important for, you know, and I always talk about it because I do a lot do a lot of work with veterans too, and there are some people who have seen some things and gone through some things that are very high PTSD, very emotional, very uh, you know, there's a lot of scars and just in in our day-to-day lives with all of us, you know, we all have things that we could work on with our mental health to try to be better people and better contributors to that greater good, to that lesser suffering. And so I think it's a message I always want to make sure that uh I leave that with the audience as well. You know, when you mentioned the guys that you're out there busking with, uh, give us a breakdown of the the makeup of the band. You know, let I mean, obviously we can talk about, you know, what what you guys are behind uh Nick and everything, but as far as when you guys are coming out on the tour, you're hitting the stage, you know, you got the the fellows on there. Walk me through what you guys are playing, what instruments are coming and going from the stage, and pick it from the side and and kind of give me a breakdown of the sound there.

SPEAKER_00 18:16

Yeah, dude, good question. Uh well, Water Tower, we have two banjos. That's one of our first punk rock things because in Bluegrass, two banjos

Band Lineup And The Two Banjos

SPEAKER_00 18:24

is kind of an abomination. And so, um, so yeah, we we got we got the two the two banjos, we got uh mandolin, uh bass, and guitar, and then sometimes I put the guitar down and do fiddle, and so that's that's that. Now, when when Nick comes up with us, Tommy, our second banjo player, goes and plays uh lap steel and dobro, and he'll switch between Dobro and Lapsteel to give it that nice slide cosmic country feel, you know. So that's kind of how the group changes with Nick, and there's a whole shift on the show where it's like when Watertower comes out, we have our punk rock bluegrass thing that we do, and uh you know, that that's carved in the streets and and has the sound of the streets is in us because we play loud, fast, and hard to reach over the traffic. But when Nick comes up, there's a like a more there's almost a more solemn vibe that comes up, just he that he brings this experience, you know, um and this whole other energy to it, and it changes us, and we morph and we change together, and and there's like it's almost like there's more dynamics and and things become sensitive in a new way to his personality and his music musicality coming in into the scene. Um I don't even remember what the question was, bro. I'm like way out here.

SPEAKER_01 19:42

Well, no, I think that was kind of the makeup. I was wondering as far as like that, you know, that idea of the sound and what

Meeting Nick Through Dulcimer And Jams

SPEAKER_01 19:47

it's like in that transition, too, from when you guys are you know coming out in that first set and then Nick coming out, obviously, in this change and that makeup of the band as far as like instrumentation and such, because you have a lot of different instruments you play, and I think you know when I I want to kick back onto that conversation that you and I had too uh before where you were talking. I was like, Well, how did you end up meeting with Nick and and working with him? And you know, you were in a room with him and didn't realize it was that Nick from 311. And he ended up it all kind of started through a connection with the Dulcimer. And then it ended up being five songs written and the first jam. So kind of walk me through that idea too of of how that uh you know transpired and came to be, and how you know this tour is now in full flux in the the next stage of it. Because I know you guys started in 2025 with the tour, but uh yeah, just kind of lay that out on me too. I thought it was a fun story.

SPEAKER_00 20:35

Yeah, man, yeah, totally. Nick Nick saw the Dulcimer that I had, and he goes, What Dulcimer? And I was surprised that he even knew what that was. Most people don't know what that is. And he's like, Well, yeah, I'm from Omaha, and I got roots, and and people in my family play bluegrass. And I was like, dude, what? I play bluegrass. Do you even know what bluegrass is? It's so awesome to me. And he's like, dude, I love Americana and all these artists, Sierra Farrell, who I got to introduce him to on stage one time. It was really cool. I was like, Nick, come play a square dance with us, bro. And so I showed him how to do it, and then he came, and then Sierra happened to come to that square dance at a show in Hollywood, and uh she came up and was singing with us, and then I was like, Hey Sierra, I want to introduce you to my friend Nick Hexum from 311. Come on up here, Nick. And Nick's all there's a video of it on TikTok. He's like all shy, it's so adorable. He's just such a humble guy, and he loves Sierra's music, as we all do. And uh she sang Amber right there for him, and it was just such a great moment to see her singing amber and just Nick smiling, and just beautiful moment, but uh yeah, uh um, yeah, it's just it's just cool to connect through this music. And he invited me basically, also then before that, after he knew that I was playing bluegrass, he he he was got a mandolin and he was like, I'm a mandolin, I teach music. So I I started teaching a mandolin lessons and we were vibing, and he's like, You should come over and jam, and let's just jam, you know, no attachment to it, like you know, let's jam. And and so we started jamming, and he's like, dude,

From Seeds Of Songs To A Tour

SPEAKER_00 22:00

that sounds like a song. So we we started that became lonely existence, you know, and then we wrote Cosmic Connection and uh and then and then wrote uh Lost Counting and just sort of started writing these songs and and had all these seeds of songs. I was like, dude, I I should bring Tommy in and the rest of the dudes, and just we should vibe. And then it became it's you know, I was like, what are you what what is your vision? He's like, I don't know, man. This is just fun to jam. And I was like, Cool, yeah, same here. No attachment to anything. I was just kind of curious, like, what are you thinking here? And I don't think either of us had a plan, but all of a sudden one day he's like, dude, let's let's do an album and take this thing on the road. And I'm like, all right, let's do it. It was such a dream come true for me because dude, I love his music, I love uh 90s music, all music, but to be able to work with one of my heroes is so special uh for me. So uh, you know, just getting to share music with him. He's such a great, humble person and so talented, great songwriter, nice person, great father, you know, the whole thing.

SPEAKER_01 22:57

Well, I think, Kenny, that there is a parody too that's there with your your humanness, your musicianship as well, because this isn't the first time that you've like, hey man, that's a guy I really like and respect, and you've seen him on stage, or you've jammed it, or you've like rocked the mohawk, whatever it is. But you there's other people too, and there's Tim Armstrong, uh, you know, members of the germs. There's people that have you've kind of started to, you know, play with, you've performed with, and you know, written songs with, and and so this is like you're you're at that level too, where you know it's like sometimes they're like, oh, don't meet heroes or whatever it is, you know, musical heroes, right? Um, but you're you're right there, there's a parody there. Your your craft that you've honed and your skills are at you know this level, so that must be a fun um place to kind of be at. I'm sure there's times too, you're kind of like impinching yourself, right? Where how how did it get here? But I'd love to to hear about how you also worked with some of these other collaborations with these artists that may have been some of those people that were on your playlist before in your CD collection back in the day, or you know, shows you've seen, patches you've got on. Yeah, kind of you know, talk to me about some of these other collaborations that you've done as well, if you wouldn't mind.

SPEAKER_00 24:08

Yeah, yeah, totally. No, a good question. You know, um, first big collaboration, because I've always been trying to bring punk rock and bluegrass

Collaborations Across Punk And Bluegrass

SPEAKER_00 24:16

together. That's been my mission because they're my two favorite styles of music, but they didn't, they just didn't really connect. Like for whatever the cultures, there's just they they they're they almost feel what when I came into the whole thing, it felt like they were opposite ends of a magnet, and and I was like, this is not how it should be because the musics are so similar, they're fast, they're singing about bummers a lot of the time, and and they're virtuosic musically. And so uh I I my first opportunity was in 09. My career from MXPX was doing a side project called Tumbledown, which was a country kind of punk thing. And so I went up to Mike after a show and I was like, dude, I play in a bluegrass band. Do you want to produce our record? And he was like, Cool, dude, yeah, send it over. And I sent it to him. He's like, Cool. We went over to his studio in Monkey Trench Studios in Bremerton. We stayed at the house at his at his studio for a couple nights, made the whole record. And uh, you know, that was Watertower Bucket Boys back in 2009 and 10. And that was like our first foray, but like I said, Watertower, the real mission was was like you started to see it with the the last record of the Bucket Boys, but Watertower's mission is punk rock bluegrass. So I I contacted Don Bowles from the Germs, the drummer, when I was living in Portland, and he was living in LA to produce the record, and and he was like, Yeah, he's like, I don't know anything about bluegrass. I'm like, that's why I want you because you know, you come from punk rock. I love the germs record and everything GI like is so good. And so I just wanted him to bring his musicality to it. So he played drums, produced the whole record, and uh, you know, it's it's a record I gave to Nick, and that you know, I think Nick helped to understand start to understand like who we are musically through that, and then later got to like I love Rancid so much. So I got a call one time from a friend who was making a record, and she goes, Hey, uh, have you heard of Tim Armstrong? And I was like, Yeah. She's like, Well, would you co-produce my record with him and play all the instruments on it? And I I thought she was joking, but I had never told her how much I loved Rancid and Tim and stuff, and I was like, Yeah, yeah, sure. And she's like, Okay, cool. It's gonna start tomorrow. She was totally serious. I literally thought she was joking. So the next day I go meet Tim and we spend days in the studio. We really hit it off, and uh, that was Rosie Nolan. So Tim and I got to co-produce this record for Rosie Nolan, which is more of a country record, uh bluegrassy, and um, you know, just really cool stuff that I've just been able to meet my heroes in punk rock and still while doing bluegrass, you know, because that's been kind of the mission.

SPEAKER_01 26:44

That's amazing, man. I I love that you're able to thread the needle with that kind of stuff and be able to and be the thread that ties in some of those, you know, stylistic uh you know, musicalities together and being able to see that. Um, you know, you you did mention earlier too, as far as like teaching music for those who may be

Teaching, Producing, And New Projects

SPEAKER_01 27:01

interested in learning some of these instruments or theory or whatever it is that you're uh you know teaching, why don't you go ahead and walk me through that that process? What does that look like? Um, where is that happening? And how do people kind of if if they're interested in learning more about that, do you have something where you they can kind of go and take a look at at what that uh entails?

SPEAKER_00 27:18

Yeah, totally. I mean, uh I love to teach, you know, just reach out to me on Instagram and uh, you know, I've teach whatever it is. I teach vocals, music, I do life coaching, uh, produce a lot of artists, and uh, you know, recently got to produce a cool artist called Feather Pocket, and then we did Acacia Forgot, who was on the RuPaul's Drag Race. She's the first real bluegrass drag queen, and um just love producing music and teaching. So, you know, reach out if you want to do anything like that. It's one of my favorite things to do. Um, also just wrote a book that Nick actually wrote the foreword to um that'll that should be coming out soon. And uh, you know, we we also have like a marketing agency with my friend Jessica, and we help festivals, artists, brands, venues uh get their marketing right and their ads right. And so that that's what my book is about. Um, and the agency is Worksmarter Music Marketing.com, if anyone's interested in taking their career to the next level.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

So did when does this book uh come out and uh when did you start kind of working on that? I work with a lot of authors. I'm always curious about kind of the behind the scenes, like hey, I got this idea because taking it from zero to one and then all the way to the finish line is a uh it's a pretty big task. So walk me through that that uh that idea, that process, and and how when that may be in people's hands or uh electronic devices as it is now.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Yeah, yeah. Like eight months ago, I was in the airport, I was in the Denver airport listening to a book about um you know marketing, and it just hit me that uh it it said like all the all the biggest movements have a book at the center of them, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks, and I was like, Well, I I have some understanding

Writing The Marketing Playbook

SPEAKER_00 29:01

about all this, and the movement I'm trying to create is through you know creating less suffering in people, but also empowering musicians and artists and people to be able to market themselves so because it's the age of the personal brand right now, and so how to how to get out of our own way and market our personal brand and and make that an easy thing. So it just kind of hit me in the in the airport line when I was listening to this book by Dan Kennedy, and um I went home and I just started writing, and I wrote the whole thing in a in about two weeks. It's it's it's it's like 170 pages, um, but it's really about it's it's a it's a seven-step process. It's it's seven steps to amass the brand and attain the fans. And the idea is you do these these steps, one of the steps is busk, you know. So, but and one of the steps is invest in yourself through lessons, invest in the product, get better, and uh it's it's in it's in order for a reason. And uh really, yeah, it it so the whole the whole process I wrote the book in a couple weeks. You know, doing everything on the back end is what's been taking me a while. So I just finally finished the audio book, you know, making sure I get

Book Tour Plans And Artist Empowerment

SPEAKER_00 30:14

all that ready. So pretty so I'm hoping to do a book tour on the West Coast in the next probably definitely this year. I'm gonna do a book tour, do the West Coast, go speak at bookstores and record stores and do a little performance, sign the book and just meet musicians and talk to them about how they can empower themselves through marketing, because it's never been a better time to be an artist or a musician. It's never been easier with the tools, iPhone and social media. Anybody with good music or even with not so good music could could make a living off of it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 30:44

No, I I fully agree, man. This is the the time for that, time for the personal brand. And yeah, we got the tools and toolbox, we need to use them. I love that uh that's coming out. I can't wait to, you know, maybe we can have you back on to talk more about that in specific whenever that comes out the drop. And you need to get your butt down to Houston. Uh I would love, I know some bookstores. We can do a uh live kind of uh podcast QA type thing there too and performance. And oh, let's do it. We know some other folks around the Houston, uh, I mean uh Austin area in Dallas. So, you know, let we'll we'll chat about that further, but it'd be fun to kind of have that and uh be it be a front row seat at that eventually. Let's do it. I would love to. Yes, man. Well, uh Kenny, I I'm so excited to you know see the continued success, uh, to see all the love that you put into your music, to see you and Nick making music out there on stage, going and performing that, uh, and being able to continue, you know, just continually get out there and and do what it is that uh you know

Where To Find Watertower And New Single

SPEAKER_01 31:40

your callings. And so uh I'd love for you know for people who aren't familiar with the Watertower and they want to kind of you know jump in and listen to kind of the discography of of all the different uh amazing recordings you've done. Why don't you kind of send them in in that direction and tell them about your socials where people can kind of follow you and the band and kind of go from there?

SPEAKER_00 31:59

Thank you. Everything is Watertower Band, one word, and my personal stuff is Kenny Feinstein. Um, you know, I'd love to talk to y'all out there. Let me know what's up on Watertower Band at watertowerband.com. And we're pretty excited in a month from now, or I don't know when the podcast is coming out, but on uh March 20th, right? Are we in are we in February 20th? No, February 20th, yeah. February, thank you. February 20th, which is Friday, dim summer. Our new song with Nick Hexham is coming out. So um this is Water Tower with Nick Hexham, and we're so honored and excited to see what y'all think of that.

SPEAKER_01 32:38

That's great. And make sure you guys are going and checking out the tour dates. It starts January 30th, goes to April 5th, 19 different cities that it's going to be going at, a lot of intimate uh you know, shows as well as you know, a chance to meet you know Kenny and some of the other guys in the band and Nick after the show and talk and conversate, man. Get some merch and just be a part of that. Make sure when you're there, I kind of mentioned this on the next thing too. Put your phone down, just be in the moment, and just be there and and enjoy the uh camaraderie of great people, uh, great times and great music. Kenny, I cannot wait to uh see you live out there and to get you back for the book tour here in Houston, man.

SPEAKER_00 33:14

Thank you so you thank you so much, George. Appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 33:17

Appreciate you. You take care. Thanks for joining me today.

SPEAKER_00 33:19

Thanks, buddy. You too.