(upbeat music)
Hey everybody, welcome back to the Phantom Power Artist Hour.
Today is Sunday, May 5th, and this is a listener
supported value cast.
That means there's no ads, there's no commercials,
there's no sponsors.
It's just you and me, and you are listening on podverse,
pod home, blueberry, true fans, podcast guru, fountain.
You are listening on a modern 2.0 podcasting app
that is Bitcoin enabled, and you have the ability
to send little pieces of Bitcoin to me and the guest.
I'm splitting this show with TJ Wong today.
Timothy James is a hell of a guitar player,
great young kid from Portland.
Great music out there in the value verse.
I know you guys have been digging it,
and we're gonna drop a new song in the value verse today.
And that song is called Apple Pie.
So let's play that song,
and then we'll bring him on for the interview.
You ready?
You got your wallet stacked up?
You're gonna tell your friends and family about this show?
Will you wake the kids from the neighbors
as David Letterman used to say?
Excellent.
All right, here we go.
Here's TJ Wong with Apple Pie on the Phantom Power Artist Hour,
and then we will bring him on for the interview.
(upbeat music)
[music]
This apple pie on the phantom power artist power and on the phone on the line on the
horn with me from PDX.
Otherwise known as Portland, Mr. Timothy James, TJ Wong, what's up buddy?
How are you?
Hey, I'm doing great.
It's beautiful here and it's a it's a good day.
It's beautiful that yeah, don't even remind me of how much I missed the PNW right now, man.
I like are the berries starting to pop out of the bushes yet?
They're getting there and it's just the yesterday was rainy and nasty and today is kind
of overcast but it's better than rainy and nasty so.
You got a good view of Mount Hood there from the farm or the complex or where the hell
it is you are over there?
I do not but I know where to drive to get it so.
Well, where are I mean I've always known that you're from Portland but like where specifically
are you?
I'm just south of Portland by about half an hour and it's this little town called Malino
and it's kind of in the middle of nowhere which I like but being in the middle of nowhere
is also halfway between Portland and Salem and so I'm going to get spot I'm right between
everything so.
How far are you way from Maryland Hurston?
Probably only like 20 minutes right?
A little longer.
Well, I'm thrilled that you're in the value verse and I'm glad we get a chance to catch
up.
Me too.
I've been pulling in as many of my buddies as I can into this world and you certainly
fall into that classification and every single week.
Where did we first meet?
We first crossed paths at like NAMM in 2019 right?
Yeah I think somehow I think Ainsley maybe started falling me first or I started falling
in her first on Instagram and then I knew her face and I saw her and NAMM I said are you
Ainsley Costello?
And she goes I just remember her thinking like later we talked about it.
Someone recognized me and so we got a picture together and I still have that picture and
I think she was 14 or 15 or 15 or 15 at the time.
Yeah and I remember that because that was like her first name and I'm like you got to be
kidding me like you're getting spoiled here kid.
People are recognizing you right away.
And then that man and then we've been friends ever since and we saw a couple times at the
NAMM show we've seen each other and then obviously you guys one time you were coming down
through Portland from Seattle and he stopped at the show I saw you there.
You know when we came to Nashville we obviously saw you quite a bit.
Yeah and what was the song?
What was the song that you and Ainsley co-wrote?
Great unknown.
The great unknown yeah.
Yeah and she hasn't put that one up in the value verse yet.
Yeah well it's good to catch up because I mean you and I have had a bunch of conversations
but there really is a boatload of stuff about your background and your musicology that I
have no idea about.
I know you've got two records out you put out love and chaos in 2017 and then little intervals
in 2021 let's just call that your code.
Yeah that's right.
But before we get into that stuff like what's the backstory?
When did you start playing how did you find a guitar in your lap?
So my dad always played guitar when I was a kid so it was always around the house and I
remember I'm specifically before I even started playing I would like drag his expensive
guitars out and like show his friends which are there I don't know why they already knew
he had those guitars.
But eventually you know I was about nine years old and I said dad I want to play a song
this year with you and we do this little family festival every year and so he said okay
well started showing me chords we started playing and he likes to say he taught me everything
in ten minutes I think you took longer than that but basically it just turned into this monster
and it's uncontrollable and I can't put it down right.
But after that I started going to the blues jams and so that's where I really got my I don't
know my start is the blues jams ever since I was 14 or 15 go hang out in the bar all night
you know all afternoon good and got you know really embedded in this thing and yeah hang
it out in bars as a teenager it's as a musician it is something I thoroughly approve of it's
like it's like it's like a ride of passage right.
Yeah come on generations have done it you know they turned out fine well we're like you I'm
at an early age what yet you're in your you're in your early 20s right now yeah right
you I mean dude at like 15 16 like you just had an uncanny touch like where the hell did it
where did it come from oh I don't know you know I mean like there is part of me that's like
that's a gift from God but there's another part of me like you can't you can't say it's all
just a gift because that means I wouldn't have to put in the work in you know I am totally
yeah hours and tens and thousands of hours of work in so I don't know it's somewhere in between
it's hard to pinpoint and and there are some people who are more apt to it to pick it up and more
you know find motor skills maybe but it lies somewhere in between a gift and and
something I worked hard for.
Well who who are your biggest influences when you first started writing like when you put together
the nine songs for love and chaos like who were you leaning on um let's see I was like 15 then I
I've always been a huge David Gilmore fan and so Pink Floyd has been one of my biggest influences
of ever yeah yeah and around that time that was that was probably it so well I'm pleasantly surprised
to hear that um you know I mean you because you definitely like if I listen to songs like
Alice in Wonderland or Zatayou or Cold Face Kids like you you've got a storyteller vibe you got
a little bit of an R&B thing going on and I think just because of the day and age that we're in people
would go oh look it's he's kind of like John Mayer right right right so it's it's refreshing
that you're diving into the dark side of the moon as it were well and so one thing I
will say is when I was in eighth grade so I must have been you know 13-ish 14 um I went through and at
the time I like you know I was in that phase of being a middle schooler and I hated pop music I was
like oh only old oldies are all for me you know what I mean yeah yeah so um I went through my parents
CD and cassette collection I took all the things I thought I might like and that ended up being
Pink Floyd counting crows and all that genre I like Dave Matthews a lot you know and then
that's where I discovered John Mayer and then after that I was just obsessed with John Mayer and
still him to this day but yeah he's pretty astounding well it's interesting you bring up counting
crows too because like who's the big guitar player with them what's that guy's name Zimmer Clark?
I think so yes they've gone through so many yeah but I mean the guy that's been I think he's been
with them the longest but he's like such a raw Americana player now grand at that dude you know I mean he'll
pick up the mandolin and yeah yeah else you know does everything but I don't hear it's always
fascinating to me when we talk about influences with musicians and you like and you say counting
crows I'm like dude I don't hear counting crows and your stuff at all yeah and I think that that's
a good thing and I don't necessarily even hear David Gilmore because he is you know when I think of
like the second solo uncomfortably numb or the spatial tones that darks out of the moon like I
mean he's he's otherworldly and it's it's it's it's it's fascinating and refreshing to hear that
that's an influence for you so any did you ever get into metal any any of the heavier stuff at all
was that your thing you know I think the heaviest thing for me I mean later like you know four or
five years ago I got got in a switch foot I like switch for a lot but before that I think the
heaviest thing was probably Steve Vi and I've never you know I'm not the one I'm a fan I haven't
learned a bunch of his tunes or anything but I've learned a few licks and obviously buckethead I'm
fascinated by bucket oh my god that dude is a virtue woe so yeah and it's like holy cow the whole
persona he's crafted is is amazing it's genius how many yeah he's got I yeah the persona
and hundreds of songs and everybody wants a monos record and he disappears for a while and his
fingers are like this long I mean it's like yeah Steve Vi is is is a fascinating human as well I mean to go
from like Zappa and white snake oh my gosh yeah you know I think like I was just as funny you mentioned
Steve Vi because I was actually like late one night last week I was watching white snake from like
92 in Donington and it's like oh my god that band is so good yeah it's scary and it but at the same
time the whole Zappa thing makes total sense you know I mean you think about it it's like okay so that's
like that's you know he's almost like he's almost like a mini Zappa besides do diesel you know I mean
if do you know it wasn't there Steve would be his total you know for the Jay yeah good point I
actually you know what you know it's funny is that when when my wife and I lived in studio city
there's a golf course it was like at a driving range and it's like it was like two blocks from our house
and unfortunately that golf course I learned earlier this year is finally being sold and turned into
like condos or whatever but I mentioned that because I saw doeasles apple doeasles
Zappa there one day it driving balls and he was very nice he was very kind he was a good guy good
that's that's refreshing unlike other celebrities I saw when I lived in Los Angeles who were complete
assholes yep well how did you go from you know doing singer songwriter R&B with the first two records to
I mean yet you kind of alluded to it with respect to you know playing the blues clubs but now like
it seems like you've really found a vibe you've found a genre here with blues what's what's the journey
you know it was interesting back in 2017 and 2018 I went to the international blues challenge in Memphis
Tennessee and it's basically this big culmination of acts from all over the world literally all
over the world like you know you meet people from Egypt and from France and from wherever I think
South Korea you know and they go and play and it's basically you know it's a competition
I went as a youth the first two times I didn't compete you just go and mingle meet people
and that really set something off you know again I was I was involved in the blues world and uh
and then later on it was kind of like you know what I love doing this but it was hard to separate
the whole Timothy James thing the pop world from the blues stuff so we'd play a gig and it was like
what do they expect us to play blues or pop or what do they want because I do both and I was known for both
and so it got to a point where it was kind of like you know what there needs to be some sort of
separation and so we know within the last couple of years it's been like okay TJ Wong
let's make that the blues thing and it's almost like I try to have fun with it it's almost like a
alter ego kind of thing you know what I mean like like you know I step on stage I just I flip the switch
and it's like I am TJ Wong I'm cool you know what I mean yeah and well you got a great look for it too
dude thank you yeah and so that you know but Timothy James is just the more laid back singer songwriter
thing and and uh yeah that's kind of it's kind of I needed that separation in my in my projects
that makes sense to kind of have an alter ego for lack of a better term to have you know to be able to
channel because once you start writing you can and you really start honing in on your craft you
you you can and you should focus on multiple genres so I think that's pretty smart on your
on your point you know thank you to be able to do that yeah who knows maybe you can even start
doing EDM and go by like DJ or like dance top 40 dance music well when you when you think about the blues
like who who are some of the guys on the blues side that you that you really dive into whose tone
are you just in love with I think okay here's another story so when I was in
oh wow as a freshman in high school my home room teacher he found out I played blues and he's like
oh you like the blues and jazz stuff I'm like yeah yeah and he's like okay well here I got something for you
and he made this I I guess it's you recall the mixtape I mean nobody does this anymore obviously
but it was on CD it was on the CD right and it was all these Johnny Lang tunes
and uh and I never heard Johnny Lang before and man that got me I that CD played my car forever
and so Johnny Lang has always been one of my big big influences um
refreshing nice yeah I mean obviously um later on you know or probably on the same time John
Mayor Trio was big for me which is just like and I got to see them live in concert um which just
blows my mind yeah who who was it Pino it was Pino and Steve Jordan and it's nuts you know and
because those guys you know I mean we don't often think about it but those guys were everywhere
back when they were in the 80s and 90s when they were top session players um I have this David Gilmore
record that my buddy gave me and I'm like looking I love I love reading liner notes that's one of my
favorite things to do so I got to see like oh who who played this who master this who makes this
and sure enough I'm reading this David Gilmore record and it's like bass Pino Paladino right
and drums Jeff Piccaro I'm like oh that makes sense that makes total sense is that I mean so um
yeah yeah and and so so anyways you know in spot inspiration wise yeah it's been like John
Eling John Mayor Trio and it's just kind of I'm like I kind of like to lean into that like
guitar player frenzy yeah and I mean do you find yourself listening to Albert King or yeah Robert
Johnson are really going going that far back yeah everyone so I'll go you know take a deep dive
and listen to the oldies and stuff and and I really love that stuff and there's something to be said
about the rawness of of that music and and I was watching this Rick Viyato video yesterday and you
saying how our ears especially you know the younger generation art of audio engineers our ears are so
accustomed to hearing things perfectly timeline and tune yeah it's hard for me when I work on a record
I have to like slap myself out of it you know it's like okay I'm going to go to school and like this is
like a you know I'm working on a blues record right now but I'm mixing um and like okay you know what
I'm gonna make it so it's natural and fix the mistakes right we always fix the mistakes but you
leave the little things in um and sometimes we forget about that especially again it going back
to the younger generation I was listening to um gosh I think it was Abbey Road I was driving
somewhere just put the whole record on it was like man oh there's a mistake oh there's a mistake
but you know what it was like that's part of the music so absolutely absolutely you know who I
think is one of the best examples of that is the band yeah like if you listen to their stuff like
you can or even the police in some regard like you can like if you really listen closely to some
of the early police stuff like you can hear Stuart dropping sticks and you know you know all the
you know and and guitar noise and but the Beatles of course you know any of that early stuff
with that is not perfect like it's beautiful it is and I think it's a um I feel very fortunate that
I that when I first started recording everything I did was to tape so I really learned the hard way
and I used to get scared to the the Jesus of recording and something happens to you when um when
you start recording to digital and you're like whatever good enough you know but you still need to have
yeah exactly but you still need to have that hunger um of uh or you know you you
you guys need to have that experience of recording to tape right yeah well tell me about your
your day job because you're like a uh you're like a full-time audio engineer right yeah so so you
know I bounce between a lot of stuff and I'm kind of in that phase of life where you know I I work at
I give you I'll give you the list um I work at the local community college and I run the studio
and I also tech for the studio which is something I really enjoy um and then I you know I work at a
church I lead worship on Sundays and then I give guitar lessons and I gig and then I do mixing and
producing and and all that stuff um so I'm at the spot I tell the students of the college they they ask
like how do I do music full-time how do I how do I do this I just tell them you know when you first
get started you're gonna have to do everything if you want to if you want to make it work you you
do everything but I'm at that point where I'm solely um chipping away and kind of saying you know what
I love lessons but I'm phasing out my students I'm gonna spend more time doing the audio thing and it
takes time to to build up clients and to to um to get to a point where you can do that but I'm really
happy I'm almost there um but yeah that's like my other love you know and I think it really happened
during COVID because up till COVID I was gigging full-time and I had just graduated high school or
was about to in 2020 right and I said you know I'm gonna hit the road full-time and then COVID happened
it was like well what now you know I mean yeah I mean it was the same place we all were in and it was
like well like what now you know and so I learned audio engineering and I built a nice home studio
with my unemployment money and uh and I remember I remember I'm not the only one
no no I remember I looked one day and it was like said how much they had sent me I was like
that can't be right there's there's no way um anyway maybe you're drowning you're like oh yeah
there's that mic and that's a band and that processor and exactly um and so anyway so I do a million
things but I love engineering and after COVID it was kind of like you know what I think I found
that my new love you know what I mean and it was so refreshing for me because I had been playing
music I mean I had been gigging since the time I was 12 and so being at this point I was you know
1918 19 I was kind of like man after COVID it was almost like it was a total mess with my mind
it was like I don't know if I like this anymore like I just like I like mixing and stuff I don't
know if I want to go on the road anymore um but I do I do I came I came back to it but I also love
love producing and mixing and and that's got a big place in my heart just because it's just it's
its own craft you know what I mean and yeah I just I mean I love it I'm producing this record right
now that I'm just like I'm so I feel like it's almost one of my records not that I'm like
controlling producer or anything but I I've worked with these guys so close and I'm like man this is
like oh masterpiece not a master because but you know what I mean I'm exaggerating your course
well you're getting your heart you're heart and your soul into it that's right um
and is this all digital or are you doing any of it to tape I'm not doing any of it to tape just
because tape is so expensive um yeah and you know what I I haven't had anyone to teach me how to
work on tape yet oh really so yeah have you ever tracked to tape I have not wow yeah I know right
and what I want to eventually but you know I'm building experience yeah yeah yeah it's funny
all the studios around town that I work at they're all getting rid of their tape machines
yeah which is you know I think everybody is unfortunately you know I think you're really
only going to be left with a handful of cities that will still have it you know and it'll be for
those special occasions where like the purists come in right and they're like I can afford the extra
$100 an hour or whatever it is to take it and to run it yeah yeah it's sad um I would love um
I want to ask you about leading worship bands too but let me let me let let me side step over here
onto the tape thing um because I think that it it just breaks my heart because it's a dying art
and I agree with you whole heartedly when you listen to those old songs how they breathe
against the click how they move a little bit against the click if there's a click if there's a click
if there's if there was a click absolutely great point um because nowadays you don't have to have a
perfect set of musicians everything can be snapped to the grid yeah um and I've got a
boatload of stories of big bands from LA and San Diego in the 90s when I was in LA who could not
play a lick and everything got fixed in the studio Blink 182 yeah yeah but now they're you know now
they're different now they're you know now they've got their 10,000 hours and they could do it
but I was thinking I had a conversation with a with another songwriter who you know
lives upstairs yeah um and we were talking about um Taylor Swift's latest record and I like I listened
to one song and I was bored out of my freaking mind yeah yeah and I say all of that because like I would
love to and my wife listened to the whole thing we had a meeting in Nashville yesterday she listened
to one side coming down to the other side come back she's like it's she's like self indulgent garbage
yeah all the same tack and all the same chord changes and everything but and I said you know if I
were Taylor Swift's manager somebody I would pull her aside and say all right smarty pants
you're a good songwriter you you really want to do something different your next record is going to
be completely live it's going to be completely to tape you're not allowed to use any keyboards
you're not allowed to use anything digital and if you want strings you're gonna hire an orchestra
yeah and like get in there with an R&B band and and show everybody what you're made of because it is a
I mean that would be that I'd gotten by that record I'd be like all right what the L Taylor do yeah but
I think it's such I say all of that because you know technology is fantastic it's been great it makes
it easy you and I can have this conversation and we can jam over the but at the same time it does
diminish the technical skill required to be a hell of a great musician right right you know
and it's this interesting thing no that was a rant more than a question but you know what I mean
that was that was good that reminds me Rick Biotto he says old man yells at clouds
well that's that's a line from the Simpsons yes oh yeah which is yeah that's right yeah
but yeah it's interesting you know because it's in in some ways it's great anyone can make music
in some ways it's terrible because the market is totally oversaturated and and I know we've
had this conversation before about the record companies about how they're putting themselves out of
business because it used to be you got hired by or you got signed with a record label and they would
promote you and they make you into a star and now they expect you to be the star already well
then what's the point of getting a record contract if if they're not going to do any of the legwork
you've already done it yourself it's the age of the indie musician you know yeah why would you
yeah I mean we're shifting from that monoculture of major bands you know into you guys being
completely independent being and not really even needing them you know yeah and we'll talk about
Bitcoin and value for value and all that I mean that certainly helps too but yeah I mean you're
getting away from it's a good thing you're getting away from the monoculture of it all but you
also have a bunch of knuckleheads who are who you know any moron can upload a song right yeah
yeah and sometimes it's really bad and sometimes it turns into a hit anyway you know most of the time
it's really unfortunately it's bad right I mean the the the production quality is not good the songwriting
quality is not good or the performance is not good and it just and I feel for you guys because it
gets in the way but you guys also have more opportunities than you've ever had before right yes um
but let me ask you about leading worship bands and how as a band leader like how you
approach it um vert like what what what your mindset when you go in and you're leading the worship
band versus what your mindset when you go in and you're like all right TJ Wong and we're
turning up the stage right you guys do I would say so TJ Wong wise right it's a show it's a total show
and it's it's I mean it's purely I wouldn't say I would say I guess it's purely entertained right
like they they come they they they pay to see a show it's not just someone some dude's playing music right
whereas with worship it's a lot different because you're trying to lead the congregation into
worship with you and so it's more of a communal thing I guess um and you know what it's kind of like
um I mean from everything between song choice and arrangement you want it to be the least
distracting as possible um because you want it almost in a way it's going to sound terrible and some
people are going to hate this you want it to almost be in a way where the congregation is singing
along to a track like they don't even know you're there right you are right and and people appreciate
the fact that our church has a live band because some don't um but you almost want to be transparent
in the sense that you're just playing and you're just singing along with the congregation or they're
singing along with you um so so that's I would say that's a difference you know and bandwise
that affects arrangement too right like I'm not going to take a crazy crazy guitar solo in the middle
of this slow song because where is regularly I would like slow songs best place for guitar solo
treading for Jesus wow yeah and you know what you know what sometimes it's okay but a lot of the
times it's like you know what I'm just here to serve a purpose and I'm just gonna I'm gonna be
transparent I'm gonna play and I just want them to be able to have a time of contemplation and
and uh meditation and that kind of thing so yeah here's a hot take on it and let me know what you
think about it like I think that you know when you when you have a band a band for church and I
played in in in my church band for years too so 9 a.m. mass for the Catholics with a rock band
yeah fantastic yeah yeah um but it can it can be misleading because you're there to and I think
you articulated this but like you're there to sort of the congregation you're not there to
show off it's not a place for um uh averis I guess you would say it's not a place for showmanship yeah
but I think it can also give a false sense of security too because you get like it's okay to have
really average musicians if not really quite frankly some par musicians in that band because it's
not about the quality of the music it's about the message it's about the congregation right um but
I think that it can be a double edged sword because um as as you just mentioned it like when you're
playing in those bands you want the congregation to sing along with you you want everything to be
smooth and it and it really flattens out the dynamics of the band so I anybody who has ever
played in a church band or I should say people who majority of their experience has been in the
church band yeah my experience in playing with them especially if they're young is they don't have a
solid sense of dynamics because they've been washed down by the congregation yeah that's
and that's the the way it should be right but there's also a false sense of entitlement that can
come from it because they think that just because they were playing in this congregation band and
they were getting this great feedback from the congregation that that they're good enough to play in
in a professional setting and unfortunately those are two different things they completely are yeah
yeah so and I've had that conversation with a bunch of guys here um and sometimes it comes across
the wrong way they're like what do you slam and no I'm not slamming religions I'm not slamming
Christians I'm not standing but I'm like just look at it from like if if you're hiring like if I'm
hiring people for a band and I've had to do this and they tell me hey I've been you know I'm primarily
a worship player I'm like okay I'm willing to listen but you know no I'm times out of 10
well I'm gonna have to box you in the years a little bit to get your you know yeah I think it I think
am I an asshole for saying that no I think it I think in a lot of situations you're right I'm fortunate
enough you know again I didn't come from the from the worship background I came from blues and
rocked first and so I'm also really tight with my worship team and most of them in fact are my
fiancee's family and so I'm able to I'm able to get what I want but um I want you guys practice in
six hours every night and and they live up the streets I can make sure they're practicing no um
there you go but you know it's it's one of those things I totally get your sand I think it depends
on the team you know I'm fortunate in the spot where my my players are to the point where I can say hey
you know I mean I've worked with my drum over time use my future brother-in-law I'm like hey man
don't be afraid to really like dig into the drums and he's like really and I'm like yeah like like
like the shoulder of the stick and that ride symbol just like make it a crash symbol he's like
all right man and sure enough like he's like you know banging away those are the good days is when
we're playing and I'm like man like Kenan this is named Kenan I'm like man I really love the way you
hit this drums today is like oh thanks you know and he's just like digging into him because again
you know I think dynamics is even a church setting dynamics to me they they bring a lot of emotion
into the music and so I can see where you want it to be like you know like the pastor's praying let's not
let's not do that now but for the most part you know we're yeah yeah we got dynamics that's good but
I see I totally agree with what you're saying a lot of times I always enjoy having that conversation
with people because quite frankly what a lot of people don't know is that when you know leading a
church band or even being a hired musician for a church band is a nice way to make some
side-income yeah no and not that I have any any experience in this but I always hear you know
guys moving Nashville they start playing in church and that's how you meet people too yeah so yeah
and churches like they tend to have really nice gear they do yes they do yeah it's funny I was
it's actually doing some research on on gear for for a project I'm working on here in town
and I was studying up on the barren's your x32 right did you know did you know that there's a
million units of those that have sold can you believe that you know what my church has one so yeah
I can't believe that I know like that's the first thing I thought of I'm like where the hell like
there's not a million clubs ah churches right yeah of course but you know what I will also say having
extensively worked on those boards is there is something about the layout that just makes way
more sense than any other digital board yeah I dig him a lot you know and I haven't worked on
digi-coes or like the you know hundred thousand boards but like the meat and everything like that
compared all the Allen heath stuff I just feel like the next 32 is more intuitive
and it makes more sense to do things on everything is it's almost like it's made for idiots you know
I mean I'm really sorry it's anyone who uses the next 30 days that's full endorsement because I'm
telling you like right now like I am needy been research right like I've got a sound I don't know
if you can see it but I've got a sound craft that I use and I love sound craft I've always loved
them as a desk and but now like for the past couple like for the past couple of weeks I'm like damn it
I should bought a 30 an X 32 five years ago and and I and I didn't because like at the time like
the people that I would that were advising me they were like we don't like the preamps blah blah blah blah
and now I'm like whatever I mean yeah like the thing is it's the technology even as to the point where it's
like are you really gonna know the difference you know if you're if you're sitting back in front
of house guys mixing you're not gonna sit there and go you know what and I wish she was on
this preamp or this board you know you're just gonna say wow it sounds really good
and if you don't like the X 32 there's the M32 which is genius of them to have the same architecture
with better preamps and stuff so yeah there's really I mean in a congregation of 5,000 people
there's like one dude who's gonna go well you know it's it's not 96k and I don't like the fact that
they're using SM 57 yeah why aren't they using sin hyzer you know whatever shut that one
there's always one goober in the crowd there is well hey let let's let's stay on the gear talk and
get geeky like yeah what's your main guitar what's your main man your main amp in the in the blues world
right so right now obviously I'm endorsed by Tijima guitars and they have they have some really cool
guitars yeah they do my favorite I think I jumped between between the t920 which is like a telecaster
thin line telecaster kind of thing I jumped between that and the jet blues which is their own design
it's a semi hollow with humbuckers good so so I was hoping you I was hoping you'd tell me you were
playing a semi hollow or a hollow yes so they're both they're both semi hollow those are really great
my buddy just gave me a less Paul junior special so it's the two pickup junior and I've been really
loving that and and that's kind of got me hooked it's just something about I've never been a P90
guy but just for the blues they're just raw and just face melting I guess and so that what but
but two but two pickups in that less Paul junior yes two pickups and that's it it's a fairly new one
it's a less there's a 2020 which generally I don't equate new guitars of being guitars I really like
but this one was one of the good ones you know so that but that has led me to my uncle who has a
huge guitar collection down in LA I was over there checking out some of his guitars and he offered
to sell me 63 melody maker with the P90 in the bridge and so that's next on my my get list
and I was just hooked I just started playing that thing I was like man this is so fun yeah I mean
one pickup double cut I mean it's just like man it's the rock and roll machine you better
put some sunglasses on for that one dude because that thing is so bright I'm telling you I toured
with one for two years that was my that was my main guitar yeah and I kept the tone at like three
yeah the whole time because it was so damn bright yeah and I loved I loved it it broke my heart but
broke my heart when I had to sell it but you know businesses collapse and you get more
more edges are more important than guitars got another not I know right you know but you know
well you're in get you said it you're engaged yeah you're on a path towards home ownership
and having kids and you know you're probably gonna have to you know one of those beautiful
guitars behind you will have to be sold one day yep it happens it's a ride of passage yeah
but but pedal wise let's move on to pedals so I absolutely love I mean I love a lot of pedals
but I absolutely love the original Marshall blues breaker I've had that on my board for five or
six years nice yeah and obviously you know I was really fortunate I got one of those
probably back in 2019 I got it for a hundred eighty bucks and and they were they were already
two fifty three hundred then but this guy was like this guy was like well it's missing he was
late on a mortgage payment probably yeah he probably was and so I remember I just sat down I plugged
he had this strat I plugged the strat into a a fuchs amp I think that's how you say it it might be
fuck said I don't know but I played and I was just like oh yeah that's that's the sound yeah I mean
they I again I love John Merrill is like that's the that's the sound and so bought it for a hundred
eighty bucks and and we'll we'll get to other gear this has happened with that bought but
that was already a good deal and now they've re-issued the the blues breaker and now the original
prices have shot up even more I don't I haven't checked lately probably around five hundred bucks
and I'm just like I'm like it's gonna be time to retire this eventually you know I mean because it
because it now it's no longer I mean it is a piece of gear I use all the time but it's also an
investment piece which you wouldn't save it a little bit yeah yeah and they're cheap they're cheap
they made if every used one the the knobs are like loose on it and it's like it's like cardboard
on the inside I don't know the pots all the time and yeah and sometimes it's like oh it's not
working and you like jiggle the pot and it starts working again like vibrational maintenance yeah exactly
yeah so I love that pedal the other pedal I've really dug into you know the guitars Toby Lee
from England so he came over a couple years ago and we played the waterfront blues festival together
and I threw a pedal board pedal board together for him and it had one of the original full tone full
drive twos and it's got this really interesting feature it's kind of like tube screamerish but you
pull the pot out and it cuts all the compression so it's like it's I can't describe it without you know
I guess you'd have to hear it to know it but it's basically like
I'm trying to describe it I can't it's almost like a tube screamer but you take out all the
distortion and it's just pushing into itself I guess and so that's really cool what what does it do to
the EQ it makes it really neutral and in a way it's almost blues breaker ask but it's the most
transparent you'll get right and so you pull that out and you push the gain up all the way and it's
kind of just barely breaking up like it's almost I would still call it a clean tone you know I mean
but then it's got this boost circuit so then you boost it with the boost circuit and then it turns
into this beautiful like a blues breaker but on steroids um oh okay so much more clarity and
it's just got this beautiful thing to it anyway that's been on my list because because Toby Lee I
said of this pedalboard and I had one and I here you go and I started messing with it and man
he had this less paul and he would just like push everything on the
you know what I mean and just magical tone would come out through a twin reaver of all things through
twin reaver and I'm like and he's so loud but it sounded so good and so I started using that again
after him because I just realized I was on the verge of selling and like you know I'm going to keep
this like this is a really valuable tool and then sorry tangent and then a while ago again I was at
this shopping Portland and they had a TS 10 which is the John Meritoo screamer yeah and I haven't
used this for a few years but it was on my board for at least three or four years back probably 2019
through 2022 or 21 I don't know um but I was in the shopping Portland they had one for 150 bucks
and at the time again they were already up to three hundred dollars and so I asked the guy said
can I look at this is this originally he said yeah so he popped it open it's got the original
Japanese chip in there it's got all the stuff and I'm like I was like I was young man I was like so
is it still the same price you know something you don't ask um yeah but he's like uh yeah yeah
you know um and so they didn't know they didn't know and so I got it for a hundred fifty bucks
and that's one of my other investment pieces um but then you know other than that he's a
striving timeline for all my delays and I have I have all this different stuff but I
that I love I love the aqua push by way huge um I also there's this this pedal let me find it
a pedal drill right here what's your amp - I know like you're going back sorry I'm going into the
no that's all good yes so I know it's a part of the song we'll see it's a digitek
multiplayer pds 2020 how so it's fungared from the 80s or 90s yeah and it's really interesting it
weighs like a brick um but it's got this beautiful camera again because that were like like I'm
serious dude I haven't seen that since like college or high school yeah and my buddy just gave it to
me he's like yeah I got this whole thing it's really cool um yeah and it's got this delay that's like
it's just magical like without without the modulation on the delay it's it's pretty terrible
not terrible it's pretty sterile it's just bing bing bing bing bing bing
like it's the most boring delay you'll ever hear but you put the modulation on it's it turns
into this huge shimmering thing and it's just massive sound like getting like early youtube vibes from it
yeah I would say that yeah and the controls are like really finicky so you move it like a hair and it
just doesn't sound anymore yeah exactly and there's there's an infinite repeat button
which is like why but you know hook that up to your Juno 106 for the tj dance record that's
right that's right that's what you should do put my favorite thing about it that is unusable
is that it's got it's a it's a delay right so it's got a regular echo it's got chorus and flanger
because those are versions of a delay right yeah and so you can put on flanger and and you push
the infinite repeat and it goes we we we we and it just does that it's really weird it's strange
oh yeah yeah but so funny like we we start collecting all of these pedals over time
and they and they really only become good like each one becomes good for like one little thing
and you're like there's no way now I can sell that and you never use it right yeah yeah totally
it's like gollum in the ring you know yes yeah and so my strime and timeline is just emulating
that pedal and my aquapus and then I have a couple other ones that I use every once in a while
so yeah that's pedalboard now okay here we go amp there we go okay now what are you using
okay so my main amp is a 61 an original 61 Princeton amp it's a brown face Princeton and
again that's one of those pieces I bought in like 2019 and so I paid like 2250 for it I traded a
vintage was a music master a fender music master guitar one of the single pickup just student models
and I just traded that and then some cash and I got it for like 2250 and then um
coban happened which shot gear prices up as you know and then they reissued the 61 Princeton
in the Chris Stapleton signature model and when that first came out that was shortly after I bought
mine um that first came out and they were selling brand new for 2150 and I had bought my vintage one my
original 61 for 2250 yeah and so that shot the prices up even more and now I see them done for like
three to four grand online and I'm like maybe I should retire this you know it's one of those pieces
but that's my baby that's my main amp I'm a huge Princeton guy that's my favorite amp of all time
probably um and then usually I run in stereo and so I'll run the Princeton and then my buddy is also
learning me this tweed pro so it's a 15 inch speaker um and it's it's highly modified so it's really
quiet so you really crank it um so I'll run stereo between the 61 Princeton and like the 59
do whatever it is tweed pro so that's my stereo really and uh wow and if I'm feeling if I'm feeling
really crazy every once in a while I'll bring my Leslie cabinet out and the Leslie cabinet
for guitar and uh it's so it's all I'm not that I'm not embarrassed easily but it's almost embarrassing
like walking to the gig and like mean my buddy are carrying the Leslie cabinet because there's
that wheels on everything so I love it man I one of the guys I played with in LA he he's like you he
plays full-time down in Palm Springs this name is Todd Hudlick and he's just brilliant and that dude
he he plays with an old twin and a Leslie and like and a stop box and that's it and it's just
just magical like you know for anybody who's not listening like the the or not listening I
shouldn't say that but for anybody who's not a musician because the majority of the world is not
listening to this right um Leslie is a speaker that's associated with a Hammond organ and it gives
the vibrato sound so um and so it's really cool when you see guitarists use it even guys like John
Popper the lead singer of blues traveler runs his harmonica through it less and that's fire too
that's pretty cool it's so cool yeah wow that's a that's a really that's a cool gearless man I mean you
are a you're a nerd I'm a totally and we haven't even talked about recording dear yet that's the
crazy type well and then all right I mean yeah we could nerd out on gear for hours let my last question
about your gear what what gauge strings do you use I use elevens good for you eleven to I think
it's 50 is the balanced tension de Adario set so that's what I use I I use tens for most of really say
most of my career I mean up until I was probably 19 or 20 18 19 to I don't know somewhere in there
and I had always experimented with with bigger gauge strings but I I need something to dig into
yeah especially on the Gibson scale length the 24 and a quarter or whatever it is um I need something
to dig into otherwise the the strings just they're too floppy for me and they just slip out from under
my fingers and I try to dig in and I just put it in the tune yeah I'm a heavy rhythm player like I
I really can't solo for squat like yeah I mean I'll I'll you know whatever like that's not my strength
but even on the rhythm side like I love to dig into and people look at me when I'm nuts and I tell
them I play 13s and they're like you gotta be kidding like no man I beat the shit out of that guitar
yeah I can't but it's funny I tell my friend you know I have friends and they're like what's
what's nice string to use and they're playing my guitar I'm like elevens and they're like what
and they act like I'm crazy you know I mean especially because a lot of guys use knives I don't know
how the hell they do it I don't either man that's nuts to me it's like playing with dental floss
yeah and to an and to an extent it's fun right like oh like I can shred really cool now but when it comes
down to it's like man I'd rather like just dig in and get that I'm gonna go right at the bridge
and you pick right at the bridge especially on like a telly you know it's tone like I think the
the knives are like they're so light on tone I can I I don't dig it yeah that's just me that's
just me it's interesting because Rick be out of the video about strings and basically the smaller
strings the more transient attack there is and so you get this more point attack whereas the big
strings are just like he getting hit with the bus you know I mean it's just a wall of sound so yeah
well speaking of gear in the thousands of dollars you have invested into it you know I mean you're
not you're like now granted you're you're doing your gigs you're doing the worship you're doing
the studio gig and you're teaching so you're fully immersed in it I mean this is your this is your
job this is your this is your life but now you've started making a little bit of Bitcoin on the value
for value says you know and what what's that what what has that experience been like for you
um it's honestly pretty awesome and it's really rewarding because and not just rewarding money
wise it's just rewarding because as an as a musician you know you stream your music and you make
if you're lucky half a cent per stream and it's like it's basically to the point you don't even think
about it I mean unless you're streaming a lot then nobody goes oh yeah I love streaming I make so much
money on streaming I don't I probably make maybe ten bucks a year right um and that's it that's it
you beat that in the first month in value for value well that's the thing is like is again it's regular
streaming like Spotify stuff I basically consider it I don't make any money by the way I think
about it between putting your music up and what you pay and what you make for your I think of it is
I don't make any money but the value for value thing in the whole the Bitcoin thing and and
it's it's really rewarding because you're like oh my gosh you know I made 40 bucks the first month or
whatever something I never make on streaming unless I had thousands upon thousands of streams um
and so it's really rewarding and to see people invest in this and to the way you know I mean
you know how it works obviously maybe there's some people who don't the way people boost your
music and send you sats that's a really rewarding thing every once in a while get an email
butting they boosted you x amount of sats and you know they always say something like man this
rocks or you know something really rewarding again it's not all that money it's about people
really invest in this and they want you to succeed and they're investing in you in not just again
not just money but in um moral support I get to you know yeah yeah to me you're right it's not all
about the money I mean that's that's a nice thing but to me I think the biggest part of it
and I've seen you do this over on fountain and and and you're starting to propagate yourself in
Nostra good for you but the cool thing is like you actually see the freaking name of the person
who's sending you money it's not like a heart and a like which are pointless or you know if you
get 20,000 streams on the song on Spotify you have no clue who that person is Spotify
owns that data but the sure as hell do not own it like fountain tells you hey it was it was Bob in
Memphis yeah yeah or a nostril tell you the same thing it was you know search ad it was you know
Sir T.J. the Rathful or whomever right and you can have that personal relationship with them
so good man I'm happy for you yet you're off to a good start you know I mean apple pie is we
dropped that one new in in today for the for the show and we're gonna wrap it up with the with
Kingdom come but yeah it's it's it's great to have you in here and as it just it's so cool that it
you know being that it's so early I think this is gonna be a great way for you to make a name for
yourself too so hey I'm happy to be here and I appreciate you Jim so yeah dude my pleasure I think
you were one of I you've always blown me away with your with your talent you little stinker
and that was you know you and I got to do another gig together because the last one
yes was a little rough oh man I'd like to you know I couldn't help it dude it's like all right you
want to play like this will be easy like forgive me but you know and we won't go into it for the
general public but I actually have another opportunity for you off and we'll talk about this offline
there you go but you got look all right so you got two big things coming up tell everybody about
the waterfront blues yes so I'm playing the waterfront blues festival in Portland Oregon this
year it's the biggest blues festival on this side of the Mississippi and I'm really fortunate I get to
play it pretty much every year and I just love meeting people I love I love getting to meet all the
people that I play in front of because we play generally on a stage and then I'll go walk around
and I'll get to they'll get to say hey were you up there you know yeah good to meet you you know
all that stuff there's that and then I'm working on my next Timothy James record right another
pop record oh okay and I'm working with this producer out of Dallas, Texas who's a really cool guy
good friend of mine and I'm really excited to release it into the world so nice now when so when's
that record coming out you know I keep putting a date on it and then I'm like you know what no
because I retract that I'm gonna well it's not even that it's just like you know what I'm just
gonna take my time and release some singles and I don't know I would think maybe fall the record comes
out but we're really close I mean I have I have to track some vocals and then we're done pretty much
and we're gonna we're gonna track some some string parts too some real strings so nice yeah you can
use a buddy mine in LA like hired this orchestra out of Hungary for like 200 bucks there yeah it was
beautiful I'm like I'm showing my age I didn't know you could do that now all right so water the water
front blues festival win win is okay I'm playing I believe it's July 4th it's it's it's July 4th weekend
nice yeah but I think I'm playing July 4th at like nine o'clock at night so I've got a good I've got
a good slot yeah main stage no this year we're on we're on the crossroad stage which is one of the
side stages last couple of years we've been on the main stage but you know what I I love the
smaller stage just as much because it's so intimate yeah and people cram in there and it's just
the sea of people and I love being right in front of the person you know I mean like I get to
connect with people like that so and that's a great time slot because for people who don't know like
July 4th in the Pacific Northwest it's still gonna be light out at nine yeah it's beautiful you know
like they're not gonna be shooting fireworks off until like 10 15 10 30 yeah you know yeah great
yeah and the thing is a lot of the time not so much July 4th but the other days like if you were on
July 1st or 2nd or whatever the weekdays are of the festival if you're there at night
there's gonna be more people at night because people work during the day and come at night you know
I mean so yeah come over there let's get a slide right on man I'm happy for you well
Ted we're gonna we're gonna wrap up the show with Kingdom Come Ted tell us about the track and
and what the inspiration was and where you recorded it okay this is all tracked in my living room
and away yeah away um and so this track is is really just inspired by um I don't know it's just
about loving each other and not fighting you know there's so much war in the world and people
bicker over silly things like politics and all that stuff not that it's not important but it's
no reason to to dehumanize each other and hate on each other um and so that's this track is just
about loving on each other and and being one people basically you know so and you tracked it in your
living room in my living room that's right everything in my living room and though all the vocals is
whole record sm7 really yep so I love the sm7's like one of my favorite mics I literally and get
this I track the whole record the vocals sm7 in the control room with the monitors on
you gotta be kidding me no no that's really that's really because I wanted to turn it up and I wanted
to just like yelling live band okay I get it I mean you're not gonna do yet you're not gonna really
do any damage you know no and you know what track yeah I dare you to listen and be like well I can
hear this you know whatever yeah yeah I'll be that goober who's yeah well you didn't use you didn't
use an Allen and heath board yeah you should have used a better XLR pick whatever
and nine times I'd attend those guys can't play as well as you know they can't you know any good all right
well tj thank you thank you man thank you for coming on stick around because I got to talk to
about something coming up here yeah but this is kingdom come on the phantom power artist hour and
you have been listening to the favorite son of Portland Oregon tj Wong
[Music]
brother and sister
missus and mister
don't you know who for you
don't you know that my heart is true
[Music]
no matter what you've done no matter where you been
[Music]
welcome to the kingdom come this is when the live begins
people from all places
no matter what you racist
don't you know that love is so
I'll be my best not to let you go
no matter what you've done no matter where you've been
welcome to the kingdom come this is when the live begins
(gentle music)
(upbeat music)
[BLANK_AUDIO]