Supernatural Music Extravaganza: Volunteering for Mayhem - Mark Sheppard & Richard Speight, Jr.

We're nearing the end of this special collaboration between Denim-wrapped Nightmares and In Defense of Fandom. Devastating, we know, but we're going out with a bang 🥁

The final Supernatural Music Extravaganza Artist-on-Artist episode features Mark Sheppard and Richard Speight, Jr., in an unscripted conversation about accidentally building the best damn concert series in convention history.

Mark's Journey: From touring stadiums with Robyn Hitchcock at 17 and co-founding School of Fish to walking away from music entirely when he got sober in 1990. Two decades later, he's back behind the kit at Supernatural conventions, and now touring with Dick Jr. and the Volunteers because—why not?

Rich's Journey: This dreamboat drifted through dives in Nashville cover bands for free beer, had one record deal at 25 (RIP Fugitive Pope), then hung up his bass for dad life. Fast forward to conventions where he became a chaos agent—moving chairs against orders, turning sad karaoke into ragers, and masterminding the infiltration of Louden Swain disguised as "The Elastic Waistbands."

How Saturday Night Special Happened: The Elastic Waistbands (voted Las Vegas' fourth-best lounge act three years ago 🎭) was Rich's trojan horse to get a real band into conventions. Rob Benedict had a stroke (damn his doe eyes), which somehow led to the first big Saturday night concert. Mark showed up, took one look at the equipment situation, and basically said "if we're doing this, we're doing it RIGHT"—cue the 53-foot trailer, massive PA, and actual production value. Philosophy: "Come back when you don't suck." SNS ain't karaoke.

The Good Stuff: 🎵 Osric learning guitar in two weeks and destroying crowds with "Creep" 🎵 Jensen Ackles giving his stamp of approval and joining the show 🎵 14-minute "Raspberry Beret" featuring an 11-minute Grammy speech 🎵 Mark casually leaving $15K in drums in an unlocked storefront in Enterprise, Oregon 🎵 Billy Moran being an absolute virtuoso who makes everyone sound better

It's about the magic of live performance, the Supernatural family, why making music with your friends beats everything else, and how they accidentally created a convention model that changed the game.

Special thanks to Rich for allowing us to feature some of his band's music. Find tracks and more at https://www.dickjrandthevolunteers.com/.

Catchup on Supernatural Music Extravaganza episodes and find playlists at https://linktr.ee/SPN20

Follow Denim-wrapped Nightmares (if you're not already) and turn on notifications for new episodes. Find and follow In Defense of Fandom at https://www.geekscape.net/in-defense-of-fandom.

Transcript

LA: 0:01

Welcome back to the Denim Wrapped Nightmares and In Defense of Fandom podcast crossover Supernatural Music Extravaganza. In this collaboration series, we're looking at music in the show, music inspired by the show, and music created by actors, cast, and crew. Today is the final artist on artist episode. Inspired by varieties actors on actors format, we've paired supernatural cast members and musicians for unscripted conversations where they interview each other. And we're going out with a bang. Mr. Mark Shepard is an actor known for playing Supernatural's Crowley, the King of Hell. Before his extensive TV and film career, he was a professional drummer, touring with Robin Hitchcock, the Barracudas, and Light a Big Fire, to name a few. He co-founded School of Fish before stepping away from music entirely until supernatural conventions reignited his passion. Richard Spate Jr.

Berly: 0:58

L L L A.

LA: 0:59

Yes, L A.

Berly: 1:01

May I. I suppose. International heartthrob, Richard Spate Jr. masterfully portrayed the trickster slash Gabriel on Supernatural, where he also directed multiple episodes. The convention circuit musically inspired Spate as well. Drawing from his southern roots, he now fronts the band Dick Jr. and the Volunteers, blending country rock with high-energy performances. Dick Jr. has released two albums, The Dance and How to Do It, and Fist Fights and Hugouts, showcasing both covers and original songwriting. Do you feel better now? I do. He's fabulous. Thank you. Thank you.

LA: 1:50

All right, well, buckle up, listeners. Here's Mark and Rich.

Mark Sheppard: 1:57

Hey, Spate.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 1:59

Hello, Marcus. How are you?

Mark Sheppard: 2:01

I'm good, brother. Missing playing with the volunteers.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 2:04

No kidding. Mark's professional music career uh far exceeds my music career pre-dating uh creation and supernatural and conventions. Um, so let's start there because Marcus played for alongside some of the biggest bands ever. And Mark, when was the first when was the first band you were in that caught a toehold in like this the world?

Mark Sheppard: 2:34

Well, I was I was making records on Rough Trade in 1979, 1980, um with a band called And this is in the UK? Yeah, with the TV personalities. It was Rough Trade's original. Um, I think it was like the 30th record or 33rd record they'd put out. And uh I I'd been playing with a buddy of mine from school, and his brother played, and his brother knew this band, and I ended up playing in this band. It's just a long, convoluted story. They've just done a um and I ended up playing this band that influenced so many other bands, which was such a weird thing. It was at the beginning of indie music, the end of punk. Like what's the name of the band? TV personalities. I played with Nikki Sutton, I played with Joe Head, I played with and then I moved into uh when I was 17. I went over and played with Robin Hitchcock, which was fun. He just left the soft boys and he was starting a band. And at 17 I was playing with Robin.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 3:31

Was he was that Robin tracking the Egyptians, or is that something else?

Mark Sheppard: 3:34

It was before the Egyptians, it was literally a Robin Hitchcock orchestra. So I've actually got photographs. What have I got photos? I got photographs of me playing at 17 with him back in the day. So I've been playing a long time. That's what I did. I mean, so I was in, I was based there, I left, I left Robin's band, ended up playing with the Barracudas, ended up playing with I went to Ireland and I played with a band called Light of Big Fire. We opened the Joshua Tree Tour. So that was 86, 87. Um, yeah, and I was in, I was a I played with a lot of people. I'd played with, you know, associated with all sorts of strange people um over the years. But um, I was always I'd always made records. And then what happened was I got sober, and I got sober on the second day of 90. And I had been playing, I had a band in America called School of Fish that was signed to Columbia, and I left um and I I couldn't play anymore, I was physically not in good shape.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 4:30

You were in School of Fish? Were you part of that the an OG member of that band?

Mark Sheppard: 4:34

I started that band with with Josh Clayton Phelps.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 4:37

God, I remember that band.

Mark Sheppard: 4:38

Yeah, good band. Um before Three Strange Days, I left to go do, I went off to go do something, TV show, something. But that was like, you know, that was uh early nine early 90s. But look, the bottom line was is I'd always played and I'd always been around a lot of drugs and alcohol when I was younger, and I was in bands actually more famous for heroin abuse than they were for uh I wasn't London Cowboys and all sorts of strange bands, people associated with with Johnny Thunders and those sort of era of music. So it was fascinating. I was always the kid in those bands, and it was necessary for me to get sober. And I got sober, what ended up happening is I stopped playing drums. So I stopped playing drums around 90.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 5:22

I remember giving is that because you associated drumming with doing drugs and alcohol? Like they were attached.

Mark Sheppard: 5:29

I played stadiums and done stuff, and and I was just it's a very it's a very stressful or for me with anxiety and all the rest of the other boring crap that goes on with my life. It's um without my medicine, it was very difficult to to continue what I was doing. And it ended up whereas like I started producing stuff and I started mixing stuff and doing other things, but I was I was moving further and further away from music as I started a TV and film career. And you know, it was just an odd thing to do. And the the the slow the the slowest version of this will take 17 hours, the fastest version of this will go, I'm sober a bunch of time, and then you lot are doing um doing the creation gigs, and I get I get pulled into the creation deal, 14, 15, 16, that sort of era. And uh they they had this band, Loud and Swain, and it was just like my god, they were being used as the worst sort of interstitial um wedding band, but without a PA, without any, it was just it was atrocious, it was just absolutely awful, and it was a great band, it was a really good band. They've been going what 15 years at the time or something, and uh I knew the quality of the musicianship, and I was going, why are we doing this? And they had funny hats and wigs, and I remember a straw hat with a blonde wig. Uh and it was like we were catching this wave. Supernatural was catching this massive wave of uh, you know, we're we had 3,000 people plus at conventions, we've had we've had even bigger ones than that, you know. We go do all age and whatever, the thousands and thousands of people, and it was, you know, while you were waiting for your episode of Supernatural, there were things to do, and we we we came around to the idea that there were so many talented musicians around. Why can't we do this properly? And what happened was is Adam was standing by that weird DJ lighting booth he had at the time, and he goes, Yeah, do you want to get up and play drums? And I was on stage. I was like, Not particularly, you know, and Billy was like, Come on, come and do it. And I'm like, Ah, okay, all right. So I got up and I played drums, and Billy said, What do you want to play? I said, I don't know, what do you want to play? And he said, Back in black. I was like, All right, so I played back in black, and they were like, Oh, you play drums? I'm like, Well, yeah, that's what I've been doing since I was 12. But I hadn't picked up a pair of drumsticks in years, and so it became this thing, and then it became necessary to go, well, how do we make this better? And and and thanks to actually to Gary and Adam, um, we just kept pushing and pushing until we ended up with this, you know, 53-foot trailer roadshow, massive PA, great concerts. And it would just, it was about, and then I think at the beginning it was you, me, and Rob essentially siphoned everybody's talents and tried to pick where we could put people and what songs we could do. So we didn't end up with like a karaoke night or a or a uh not such a great version of that. And I had a lot of endorsements with with drums and guitars and and all sorts of things that I had, so it was actually quite fun. We all started getting equipment and we all started getting the fun things, and we built this show, and this show just became wonderfully massive. And it used to be me and Norton, there were two drum kits on stage at uh, you know, as we got into it, and we would we would just play the biggest show we can. And to cut a very long story short, um again, um it was our way of giving something back to the convention goers, so it wasn't just this sort of transactional thing of signing and taking photographs and uh somewhat minimal compact uh contact. We we always tried to have as much contact as we could, but to be able to do a show on a Saturday night was just the greatest thing. And that's and they were like, Do you want to do it? And I was like, at the beginning, it was like, Yeah, but if we're gonna do it, let's do it like the last waltz. And we had the last waltz as a prototype for that. And and and Levon always had his Saturday night hood and annie up in up in uh upstate New York in Woodstock. And um, we just went in that way, and then we found what we liked and we found what we were doing, and it just grew into this magical thing, and then you know, everybody sort of branched off into their little projects and doing their stuff because wonderful, wonderful music. And then it became about hey, do you want to do this? And hey, do you want to do that? And the writing just got better and better, and the playing got better and better. And it's it's it's a it's a fantastically fun thing to do. And if you you know, if you come into a creation con or some of the other cons that we're now doing internationally, the fact that we get to do a concert makes it the high spot, I think, for us of the whole weekend. I think it's our joy to do and and the best concert we can possibly give and give all that energy back in. And it's got it's got sub-versions of that. On the on the Sunday night, they do the acoustic show, which is just fantastic, where everyone just plays and and and I love it. I'm so proud of what we've tried to create in that, you know, and and I think it's uh it's a it's a lovely testament to people's talent. Next.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 10:32

Well, the the other thing I can add on to Mark's saying, uh my origin story is not Mark's. Mark has a really cool, like he was in bands playing stadiums. I was in Nashville playing toilets, and you know, just playing in cover bands just for free beer and and enjoying it, loving every minute of it. Came out to LA, had bands in college, had one small record deal when I was 25 with a band called Fugitive Pope. We did uh uh one album, super fun. Um, but I was never really pursuing that as a career, and uh that album didn't take off, and I was kind of cool just not continuing to look for other bands. I was like, I was in a good band with a good friend of mine, and when he moved, he moved on to Oslo, Norway to get married, and I'm like, I'm good at taking a neat, like I'm I'm fine, just not doing that. This is for fun, and then got uh sort of stopped being in bands in my uh late 20s, right around the time I met my wife, dated my wife, got married, had kids. In between getting married and sorry, in between having kids and being married, I played in cover bands on local crews. Like there'd be like a bunch of sound dudes would have a cover band and they'd need a bass player. I'd go in down to San Clemente and play whatever bars down in San Clemente for three hours for no money just to play bass on all the songs that I already knew because I've been playing in cover bands for years. Right. Um and just and loved that that part of it. It was uh pick up basketball for me. Playing music is just like getting together with buddies and goofing around, just completely no pressure, not trying to make a living, not trying to make money. Um and then when we started doing creation conventions, as Mark sort of described, or when the convention started, there was no music whatsoever. There was there would have been somebody hitting play on a CD, maybe, if somebody walked on stage and then hitting pause at the wrong moment. It was not built around the idea of music at all. Um and Rob having a band, having loud and swaying, uh, was not even something I knew about or anybody really knew about. That was Rob's other life doing something else. Um, but eventually his band started, you know, playing shows and inviting fans, inviting us actors to go, and we would go check them out. And at that same time, I had started, you know, Mark mentioned the idea that we that we wanted to earn our keep, so to speak, with the fans. You know, we never none of us ever wanted to feel like we were just walking in, shaking hands, taking a paycheck and leaving. Everybody, for better or for worse, the supernatural actor group is filled with actual performers who like actually performing. So the idea of getting on stage and being boring isn't in the DNA makeup of any of us. And not only that, there's sort of a weird feeling of like, I'm taking your money, I'm I don't know if I'm delivering you a product that's worthy of your entrance fee. Um, you know, I feel a responsibility to be better. And all of us did, but we really hadn't said it out loud to each other. When that started to become an actual conversation was around music because Rob had this band, and at some point, Matt Cohen and I had started karaoke night. Now, we hadn't been the first guys to do a karaoke night at a convention, they've been doing them probably since karaoke was a thing, and I was in knee pants. But when we joined the supernatural convention, they were doing them in a bar, and it was if I was contractually obligated to be there for 15 minutes or however long, I would at 1459 start moving to the exit. It was a miserable, soul-sucking hellscape. I think fans may have had a good time just getting drunk and doing it, but it wasn't, it wasn't anything performative or anything you could even control, so that you felt like you were out of control in a bar full of drunk people, and you're like, this is just gonna make me look like an asshole, or make meaning, like, if you over participate, you're gonna look like a dope. If you don't participate, you're gonna look like a dope, or at least feel like it. So you're like, it just wasn't great. And at some point, Matt and I got assigned, and actually Matt Cohen, Aldous Hodge, and I got assigned to host karaoke, and we're like, shit, it was the worst assignment you could get. And so we were like, Well, if we're gonna do this, let's make it better. And so we moved all the chairs and did all these things you're not supposed to do. And so, and and word got out. So 20 people became 40. You know, still not a big crowd in a in a big convention hall, but nonetheless. But creation said, Hey, please don't do that again. People pay for those seats. You can't do that. I said, No problem, we won't do it again. And we would do it again. And 40 became 80. And they're like, we're gonna have to ask you to not do that. A lot of people pay for these seats. Like, no problem, it'll never happen again. We move the seats. And what they suddenly witnessed is I'm like, look, whatever one lady is bitching, everybody else is having a blast. So I would say, let's let her complain and have and fill this place with 400 people as opposed to 20. And that's basically what happened. I don't know if it was somebody complaining. I'm kind of joking about that. It could have been just creation feeling of responsibility to people who had reserved seats. But the point being, what gave rise was a much more fun, interactive, fun event where the actors were in control of it, but also felt like playing along. So then you had people showing up to karaoke who weren't even assigned to do it. Tim Almondson came to karaoke when Tim Almondson wasn't on Supernatural. Michael Koblitz came on Supernatural to karaoke when he wasn't even on Walking Dead yet. People would just pop by if they were in town doing something because it became the place to be on Friday night. And why do I talk about karaoke? Because I really think that kind of foamed the runway to do a Saturday night thing. I think in in the idea of actors and performers getting involved and freeing themselves from being in this sort of stagnant, I must walk in, I must present, say my thing, answer a question, sign a thing, and leave. This was like, no, I can actually stay, I can goof around, I can loosen up, we can we can make this thing fun. We might even put on a goofy costume and and have a costume theme with the fans and kind of lean into all this all this stuff. Around that time when that became a thing and that that uh whole vibe was um working. I'm gonna move my computer because my internet's spotty where I am. Um creation asked me to host, and that was a Vegas convention. And they asked me to host, and I was like, uh host the convention, like actually be the MC for the weekend. And I was like, oh man, I don't want to do that. That's that feels like a lot of pressure. Um, but then I decided, you know what? I will do that if I can convince them to let me bring in a band because I knew Rob had a band. So I'm like, oh, this would be great. If I can get them to do a good band, then it'll feel like Kimmel. It won't feel like me standing up there by myself um stagnant. And I pictured the creation and they said no. And so uh, and I was like, well, and then I pictured loud and swain, and they said no. So it was going great. Uh it started out really strong. And what it is is Swain are like, we're not a, you know, we're we're we're not, we don't want to come in and play cover songs. We're loud and swain, we we enjoy doing what we do, we play original music. I'm like, okay, Roger that. And creation's argument was we don't want a band playing original songs, nobody knows. It's not a it's not a battle of the bands format here. I it doesn't really work. I'm like, also good point. So I just went to Rob. I didn't know the other guys, but I sold it to Rob. I said, look, dude, come in on this, go with me on this journey. If it dies, it dies. We do one con and that's it. But if it works, this is how we get our foot in the door to start something cooler. And I said, You're not gonna be allowed in the swing because you don't want to be you don't want to brand yourself like that to be a cover band. I get it. I said, You're gonna be the elastic waistband. You're gonna be Las Vegas' fourth best lounge act three years ago. Which is how I picked them up.

Mark Sheppard: 18:47

Two minutes in one day.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 18:48

Yeah, they were they were they were voted Lost Las Vegas' fourth best lounge act three years ago. And so we and so I said, you guys will do costumes, make up your names, do whatever you want. That'll be the bit. And they kind of reluctantly agreed. Uh and then that's what happened. It worked. They got in the door, they played the bit. You had Rob went by Tango, Billy went by Sweet Johnny Hyp High Pockets, uh Norton was hot carl, and and Bora was Sir Richard Furlong. Yeah. And and so that was the band. We got him in the door, and that whole thing was now keep in mind, Jason Manns had been there playing acoustic music. So I don't want to leave him out of the out of the equation. He had been there doing what he was doing already. He was the OG musicians doing that. This is the first time we were able to take an actor from the show. Jason was a friend of the show, but not an actor on it. Now we had somebody involved who was doing it. And Rob and I had already knew we had a pretty good comedic rapport with each other from just hanging out. It's like this will be funny. And and it worked. We did the first convention, we did that, and then they said we. To come back, uh, we're not sure about the band. I'm like, well, no rich, no band, no rich. I mean, it only works for me with the band. And they're like, great. So I was able to force the band, they were able to force their way in by being a cover band. It wasn't watering down the Swain brand because they weren't Swain. They weren't even dressed like Swain. They weren't playing Swain songs. Well, there was no overlap. It was just how to get them in the door and have fun. And it worked. And slowly over time, and you know, I think enter Mark as the guys start to shed the like at the end of the uh costume era.

Mark Sheppard: 20:33

The waistband era. Yeah.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 20:34

Yeah, the end of the electric waistband era. Which, by the way, was a joke band name I had used since college. And I recently was on a text change with my college buddies, and they're like, they made an elastic waistband joke. And I said, Do you know there's actually a band, the elastic waistband? Like, what? And I sent them a promo photo of the guys, you know, that Chris Schmelke took of them jumping with the logo. They're like, What have you done? Um so all that to say, when they and there's sort of a correspond like a lot of things lined up. The band was now entrenched in the world. Uh they were fans loved them, they were part of the universe now. Um Mark wanted to make it cooler, Jason wanted to make it cooler.

Mark Sheppard: 21:18

Creation were eager for something bigger. Let's give them props for that.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 21:23

Yes, 100%. But they were listening to you. But here's the key Rob had a stroke. Yep. And when Rob had a stroke, damn his eyes. We took, yeah, we took, we did a Rob survived sort of Saturday night thing where Saturday night had been speed dating. Saturday night had been fans pay to sit at a table and actors go table to table to spend five minutes with fans. We called it speed dating because that's what it felt like to us. It also was suicide inducing for us. It act every actor hated it. Um, everybody hated it. I talk about like a ripoff to all the fans because there would be a ton of tables and you'd sit down, so having a good time. Five minutes of drawing conversation out of thin air and then leave, and somebody else sits down. So are you having a good time? I mean, you know, it was just it's not good for the soul.

Mark Sheppard: 22:11

It's not good for the soul.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 22:13

No, and we were better than that. We'd already proved we could be more entertaining. Rob gets sick. Jason Manns had been playing like an acoustic night of music, I think, on Saturday to entertain people. We decided why don't we make that bigger and make it swain and take the costumes off and put Swain on the stage, and everybody will do swain music as part of the sort of like tribute to Rob, feel better, Rob, thank you card to or you know, get well card to Rob. And that was sort of the first Saturday night event that had rock music and production and everything else. And it was then that Stephanie, who was then our pointy into the bayonet with creation, was like, this was amazing. And I'm like, we you know, and she to this something to the tune of we got to do this again. And uh we responded something to the tune of how about every Saturday?

Mark Sheppard: 23:01

Yeah, see you Saturday.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 23:02

Yeah, I mean, basically, and and that that's you know, Mark's influence, which was massive because we were playing like the Beatles in uh transistor speakers, and I mean it was vocal PA.

Mark Sheppard: 23:16

It was literally a vocal PA down the hole.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 23:19

And I don't blame them because you know when you say, hey, the actors are gonna play music, that's usually people start just putting the hold on, let me just get all the bullets in the chamber. No, what room is that so I can make sure not to be there? Um, nobody wants to hear actors sing, nobody wants to, nobody should have to. That's a people should pay money not to have that experience. But what we accidentally discovered is we actually have actual musicians in Supernatural, keep people who can actually sing. At this point, we don't know who those people are, but we know we got Swain, we know we got Benedict, we know we got Manns. And I don't, I hadn't even played with these dudes yet. And but but Shepard had a long history of professional music and knew what it should look and sound like, and he had the ear of creation because bigger, bigger character on the show, bigger money pull for the weekend. And now he, if he if it's if he's gonna get involved, he wants it better. If he gets involved, more seats get filled. It's a quid pro quo that worked really well. So with Mark, suddenly we have a PA system, suddenly we have things that look and sound like an actual band. The lighting changes, the uh to Mark's point, suddenly Thender is sending you know a bass guitar to Mike and guitars to the boys, and it looks and feels like a real show after we after proof of concept. Like Rob came back, felt better, was healthier, started doing those songs, started playing with his band again. And it was great.

Mark Sheppard: 24:46

Everybody welcomes Rob back.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 24:48

It all kind of became an organic experience for fans to come and enjoy. And then they want to do a song. Oh, Mike needs to play keyboard. Does anybody play bass? I'm like, I do. So then I'm playing a little bass with the guys, and Mark's a pro drummer, and he's like, I'll come do a couple numbers to help whip up, you know, frenzy. And it, you know, around that point, Accles was like, Y'all don't suck. How about I uh come in and do a thing? And slowly but surely, deep into the show, Brianna Buckmaster joins the cast and and the uh convinces her that she's got a voice, Kim Rowe's got a voice, Gil McKenney's got a voice. People kind of show up and go, like, hey, I I you know, when things used to be kind of a novelty, say it again.

Mark Sheppard: 25:34

I gotta I gotta give Rich and Rob props for this, and and Billy as well, in the background of it, is that they were very good at managing expectations and managing the actors and going, let's find the perfect song to showcase, say, their lack of stage experience, but this great let's get something really shows good, and they would work their asses off it. And my job was just to conspiratorially sort of make that happen without you know, so I I was dealing in the in the the BS side of it while they were dealing with the with the and it was a wonderful, it was a wonderfully sacred thing, it was always about trying to give the best possible showcase for a for a moment, for a great moment for somebody, right? You know, I remember I remember Osric who never sang a word on stage in his life, but he needs a guy who can learn how to play guitar in two weeks, he's weird. Um, but he went out and did creep. Do you remember when he did creep?

Richard Speight, Jr.: 26:35

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Mark Sheppard: 26:36

Destroyed an entire audience. I mean, it's it's just there was this this brilliant thing of it's it's we have to protect it, we have to nurture it, we have to make it grow, and we have to care about it. And uh that's what I'm so proud of is that you guys would be like, Hey, can you get them to stop doing this? Okay, then my job would be to get them to move move a tree out of the way or change down from 17 keyboards to three on the stage because they had nothing to do with what we're doing, but right to manage that sort of level because I had that that sort of upper upper management ear, right?

Richard Speight, Jr.: 27:13

Yeah, and we didn't want it to be Mark says something that was like spot on. Part of the reason why there was a management of expectations, and I do think a lot of that goes to um if if I'm the go-between, it fell a lot to Rob, Billy, especially those two, and then Norton and Borja, because they would be the ones having to do these songs, like they're the band, right? So somebody's handing them something, they're like, This is not a great match. They would, you know, their the inclination is always to say yes, but you also want to make the show good and make the person look good. It was never a novelty. I mean, we would do goofy things. Matt coming on, Matt Cohen would come on and do goofy things because that's what Matt's brand is, and he's not necessarily a vocalist. He would come in and do things. People love Matt for Matt, so that's that is glorious. But the rest of it wasn't done as a joke. That you know, even that wasn't done as a joke. That was Matt being Matt, and audiences love it. And you didn't want to turn it into live karaoke, which Mark already said. The 100% not live karaoke. It was people who can really sing singing, people who can really play playing, you know. Come back when you don't suck was sort of an under under sort of slogan.

Mark Sheppard: 28:25

People rehearse their asses off.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 28:27

Right. And like, you know, don't if you don't know the if you can't play the tune, we're not don't play the tune. Like, we'll just and and that would happen sometimes with because you have like Billy can play anything. Anything. But like if they had handed me a bass line for something, a new song, and I hadn't gotten a chance to rehearse it, I would just say, like, dude, not this week. It's gonna be, I'm not ready. You don't want me doing this. This is not a wouldn't it be fun if we fuck up on stage kind of experience? It's not that's not what we're going for. The opposite. It should feel like you're bouncing. I want people to go into that Saturday night show and come out going, What? It'd be like I, you know, I was hoping to see Jensen, and now I don't give a shit that he wasn't there. You know, like it because it's an experience, because it everybody's so good.

Mark Sheppard: 29:08

It's not the novelty, it's the surprise. And with this massively new audience that we we've been getting for a myriad of reasons, it's that they wow, did not expect it to be that good, which is the greatest thing that can be said to us.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 29:22

And that's the that's a that's a absolute combination of accidental, accidentally find out we have a deep bench of musical talent and supernatural, plus people who genuinely want to give back to the people who paid the money to get in the room. People who want to show up and deliver so people go. Because these are expensive things. Just to get there, you know, you got the people are traveling, hotel, feeding themselves, you know, the ticket to walk in the room. You know, it's all expensive. I don't want anybody to feel like uh they didn't, they all had an attitude, whatever. That's not our group. We our group is fired up to be there, grateful to have an opportunity to perform, and lives in a cloud of gratitude as we host through the weekend. And Saturday night is our ability to do it as a collective to go, thanks.

Mark Sheppard: 30:14

It's a big, it's a big kiss to the audience. It's like people coming up and talking to me at the desk. I'm like, are you coming to the concert? Well, I'm not sure. I'm like, this is our favorite thing to do. This is us trying to give you something. I hope you can come, I hope you can see that we really want to present something for you. And they come to it and they see it and they go, like, oh my word, that was not what I expected. And to, I mean, to be able to perform, I mean, we've done there's some shows I can think of that were just mind-blowing, you know. After Prince had passed, we played in in Milwaukee. Uh and you know, playing Purple Rain in Milwaukee after Prince has has passed is it's like it was awesome. It was beautiful, and it there's just so many things. I mean, the love for Rob is is absolute no matter what, but you're right. His his comeback from his overcoming from his situation was sort of codified by those concerts as well. Not just his other work as an actor, but he was able to go out and and just he was literally just going, thank you. I mean, it was just literally right. I think it's beautiful. I don't there's not, I think Rich is absolutely right about this, but it's a combination of some very sly individuals, him especially, just being patient. I have no patience, they know I have no patience. Uh, but I'm very good at talking, so they just wind me up and point me in that direction, and maybe something's gonna happen. But it is something I am so proud of, and I'm we are so excited when we find something new to do. We're so excited, and then the logical progression from that is Rich is making records, and his records are amazing, and Billy's making records, and they're amazing, and Rob's making records, they're amazing, and Swain's making records, they're amazing, and Mans is making records, and Jensen's doing right, and it's like, oh, would you like you know, Carlson's there? Would you like to do two radio company songs? We do that. Carlson literally looked at Steve playing piano in rehearsals and going, well Steve, oh Steve Norton.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 32:16

Steve Carlson looking at Steve Norton.

Mark Sheppard: 32:17

Carlson looking at Steve Norton and going, Uh, you're playing keyboards on this? Who's gonna play drums? And and Steve goes, Shepard. And he goes, Shepard's a drummer? The man's known me for 30 years. That time when I what I knew him had nothing to do with music for me, and he's like, Okay, and I my favorite part, this is to to codify what what Rich has given to me by setting this up, by making this happen, is that I played, we played um all my living time, and I just saw Jensen and Carlson just turn around and go, Oh, this is good. In the middle, and I'm going, yeah, we've got a group of people you can lean into. We've got a we've got a vibe and a feel that is, and it's always been around the supernatural families because we have a crowd that will go with us and give it a go. And if we deliver, they'll support us all the way, which is I think is the most magical thing. You know, it's it's it's I love playing music. Rich loves playing music. I'll go play music with Rich anywhere on the face of the planet, he knows that. Um, because we have this shared feeling of putting something to an audience and getting that feedback from the audience is the most magical thing. We make television, directs television and acts in television. You know, I act in television and and we never see the result. We don't have an audience. We only see the result at a convention. We don't, we're not there with you when you're watching it for the first time. We've done it. We did it six months ago, we did it four months ago. We go out and play a concert, it's immediate. You've got that breathing, you've got the oohs and the ah's, and all these people just wanting to make this event happen at this moment. And it's it's just the most extraordinary feeling. It's a it's an honor to be able to do it, to be honest.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 34:04

It is, it is, but I gotta I gotta shine one light on one secret weapon. We talked about this person, but I think no Billy Moran, no Saturday Night Special. The guy is so flexible, can play any genre, can play, and the rest of the band then follows suit. They're all gifted, but Billy is so good at like at like helping craft the complicated stuff.

Mark Sheppard: 34:28

So I'm like I'm lucky enough to work with Billy in outside things from this, and and he is beyond special. He has it, there's something about him that is just magical. And if you can tap into that and you can unlock that for him, if you can present something where he's actually loving it and enjoying himself, it's magical stuff. It's just it's fabulous, right? If you love something, it it doesn't matter. You can be better at it, and you can strive to be better at it, and you can strive to want it to be something. It's not a result for me. None of this is you know, you've you've directed me as a as a director. It's never about the result, it's always about the journey, right?

Richard Speight, Jr.: 35:06

The process of it, yeah. I mean, I do think that is kind of the the thing, but I I would do I would have uh an add-on question to that for you, Mark. When you left drumming, it was because you needed to get sober. You came back to drumming sober. How did that affect your disability or anything else?

Mark Sheppard: 35:26

Right. If you're talking about anxiety and you're talking about that stuff, it took a lot to conquer that. Um, but that's I mean, that's one of the gifts of sobriety is finding out for me that I didn't need to be loaded to shut the noise off in my head and the fear off in my head. That's all. It's it's it's a wonderful gift. There's been amazing things that have happened to me in my life. Music has been a very, very big part of it. It doesn't make a difference to me whether it's music or acting or painting, or it doesn't, it doesn't matter to me. Just the idea that I can participate in an artistic manner, in an open and free manner, and I'm given the opportunity to do so is the greatest gift. And that I'm always nervous. You're always nervous, you know.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 36:06

If you're not nervous, you don't give a shit.

Mark Sheppard: 36:08

Yeah, right.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 36:09

But it's you know, there's a certain amount of nerves that like, I mean, we were backstage at Oregon. I'm nervous, but I'm nervous in a good way. To me, that's like it's it's anxiety is either an anchor or an accelerator. I choose to have it be an accelerator, and so it it it puts you up on stage, and the only thing you got to worry about is we're not counting in the songs too fast. Other than that, it's gonna be good because the the that energy like kind of drives you, kind of powers you, powers you forward.

Mark Sheppard: 36:36

It's a sacred thing. Performing is a really sacred thing. It really, but it's the idea you're not doing it on your own, it's the fact that you have people around you and you're you have this loving integration that you want to make something and you you're in it and you're doing it, and then you get an audience and you get people to respond that way.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 36:53

Well, that's what that's what I like about it, Mark. Is it's more like theater than it is TV acting. Absolutely. Because we're because we are playing off the audience. We can tell you can adjust in real time based on the reaction or lack thereof. You can read a room and go, we're gonna switch songs. You can do something you can mess up, mess up and morph it into a non-mess up without anybody knowing the difference. And that's a skill. And that takes trust and like a sort of a freedom and comfort level with each other to go, that's wrong. Okay, here we go. And and you know, laugh through it as opposed to panic through it. You know, you can flop without flop sweating. And I think there's a there's a joy to knowing that you're like, I there is a net here, and we're all holding a corner. So we're gonna be good. You know what I mean? Like we're gonna be fine. And and that is rare. That's when a band is a band. That's when a group of guys and gals playing together, there's a certain level of trust that is a little bit of a, I don't say flow state, because uh, you know, it's almost there. It's that sort of feeling of this is really, really, really fun. We're gonna come off and analyze this 10 ways to Sunday. But in the throes of it, we're all gonna be working towards the same goal, which is not just play where you rehearsed, but play play to the energy we're getting from the floor, yeah, and adjust accordingly.

Mark Sheppard: 38:18

Team sport, right?

Richard Speight, Jr.: 38:20

Very much a team sport, very much a team sport. But do you did a bunch of theater school kids? You basically have to mace them away from the mic. No, it's not hard to get them to do anything at all. At all.

Mark Sheppard: 38:31

So long as as long as they didn't want to sing an Ethel Merman song, we were fine.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 38:34

Yeah, that that that I will tell you, he's only half kidding. The only thing it's hard to get him to do is sing something that's not gonna make the band quit the business. I mean, there's occasionally a couple of suggestions, you're like, uh no.

Mark Sheppard: 38:48

But 10 years, 10 years, I said what song we should end up with. And they fought me for 10 years. They fought me for 10 years. I mean, I had a little bit of influence. So I we we picked uh a newer version to get by a little help of my friends, and that was a wonderful way to end because there was loads of us, and it was a good thing to put out there, and we did that great and good on the Rob Stroke thing, and like you know, it was very vibey for that. It was an interactive, it was a true thing, and then I was like, we need more swain. Remember, we got to that stage of going, we need this to be more swain. We've got too many like covers going on in the middle, and we'll do great. So, what ended up happening is actors started doing swain songs, which was really interesting. And then we got to you guys need to end it medicated. And I remember the band going, like, I don't know if that's cool. I'm like, look at your audience. If you've ever had a song that an audience needs to be singing, I may be crazy, but at least I'm medicated. I have never laughed so hard in my life as when that ended. And then I for years I went, There is a song you should be doing. And they're like, No, no, no, no, we can't do that. We can't do that. Until the wonderful day when Brianna Buckmeister said, You know what song I want to do? And she Called it and Billy called me and goes, took ten years, but here you go. Fat bottom girls.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 40:06

Oh yeah, that took a minute.

Mark Sheppard: 40:08

It took ten years to get that song done.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 40:11

And it's great, by the way. I mean, and by I think they've only done it once or twice at this point. It's still very new, but it's great.

Mark Sheppard: 40:17

It is so but like it's owned. And I mean, just to see an audience, you know, that the types of uh not the types of people, but the types of uh of themes that supernatural covers seems to bond the most amazing groups of people together. You know, it's like it it's a great leveler. And and songs that have that sort of you know, F you anthemic brilliance to it, right sometimes shine in a way that that you're you know well that goes back to the caliber of the band.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 40:51

That band can do a stadium song, it's a good band. Like they can they can plow through that stuff with great drive and and power and passion and actually.

Mark Sheppard: 41:04

I mean, it was we we and then we because we had two drum kits, it was Jensen coming on and doing whipping posts and doing everything. It it was just it's yeah, I cannot impress upon you how much fun it's been.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 41:15

Yeah, and I will say also, because we we've talked about Billy, but I want to throw uh a little spotlight on Borja, Mike Borja and Norton too, because those dudes, you know, when you're coming up to sing, even if you're me and you're good friends with those guys, and you're coming up to play bass or whatever, they've been doing it nonstop for 15 years. For a lot of us, myself included, I hadn't played in front of a crowd in a long time since I started having children.

Mark Sheppard: 41:38

Right, 25 years they've been doing it.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 41:40

Yeah. So it was like a long time to get up there. Those nerves come back, and now they might be an anchor. Maybe maybe they're not so great. Norton, Stephen Norton, and Michael Borja, and Billy Moran and Rob Benedict are so welcoming. But like I'm I'm using since the actors know Rob, I'm using the faces they don't know. Yeah, they know Stephen Norton and Michael Borja from bringing them on and off stage and Billy Moran. But there's those guys bring such a confidence to their work and me that they can make people feel comfortable who need it, you know, they're great.

Mark Sheppard: 42:09

As a professional seasoned musician, the fact that I can lean on Boha and I can lean on Steve, we haven't got two kits up, and he'll go, he'll play piano when I'm playing, or he'll play organ when I'm playing. But he and I are eyes locked 90% of the time. We're in the same boat. And it you're right, I don't think they get as much credit as as expected in that way. I mean, Billy is such a strange virtuoso, but um right.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 42:34

But those guys all make make the make the living room comfortable.

Mark Sheppard: 42:37

Like, you know, I was gonna use I was gonna use the word, they give us the room, they give us the room to shine, which is a fantastic.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 42:54

Is this is not Saturday night, this is all day, every day, sort of in the trenches. Those dudes are great bringing people on and off, but they're funny. Like from the microphone, we can goof around, make stuff up in a weird way. It does feel like maybe somewhere at Ebenshide, they were voted Las Vegas' fourth best lounge three years ago because there is a camaraderie and a spirit and a humor that they all possess. And at any given moment, if I go, what about that, Norton? He'll answer. Borja will answer. Like they're on it for the humor and the comedy and the joke. They're showing they're great performers. You know, they're great at what they do.

Mark Sheppard: 43:33

There is there's there's you everybody, there's no weak spots, there's no people that that that don't love our uh uh our supernatural family. There isn't any more. There isn't anybody. There's been maybe one or two people over the years that had a hard time doing conventions or it just didn't suit them or whatever. And they've kind of fallen by the wayside, as you you could probably tell. But those who love it, you know, it doesn't matter if they've done one episode or two episodes. If you love it and you're willing to put your heart out, you're in the right place, right? You know, we'll we'll take you, we'll take you, use you and abuse you, and put you back wet.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 44:11

Well, Mark Shepard wanting to play with Dick Jr. The Volunteers, which is which is helpful.

Mark Sheppard: 44:15

Not because I'm it's not because I'm any good or I'm actually a reasonable drummer.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 44:18

Not a bad, but he he uh just uh I'm cheap. He sent me some boudoir photos. No, it was a uh it mark. We were recording these things in various, like you know, with with friends of friends of of the group, people people know. Rob uh Humphreys, who was sort of the I mean OG drummer for station breaks and a friend of Jason's who became a friend of Rob's, who became a friend of Billy's. Um, they knew him when he was getting started. Now he you know plays with everybody. See, he was recording with us, per se. Uh, and then and then um there's another drummer that I had that I don't think I recorded with, but that they had on the circuit and the recording circuit for like Jason's albums and stuff. And it came down to one of the things we've enjoyed with the band is the Dick Junior and the Volunteers, is trying to have it be as cohesive as possible. Meaning when we can have Emma Fitzpatrick if something doesn't get in the way, she comes and does and sings because she sings on the record. Obviously, Billy Moran is a guitar player, that's key. Um, but the drumming and the bass play were kind of floating components, um, which is which is by necessity. And it was really Mark was super fun.

Mark Sheppard: 45:39

Say it again, and by nature as well, just because I mean you gotta move drum kits around and are you in the same town. It's it's not you can't just show up with a guitar and play, you've got to have some sort of yeah, it's a thing.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 45:50

Um, and obviously Mark's a phenomenal drummer. We've been playing with him at Saturday Night Special for as long as we've been doing Saturday Night Special. And he and I played tunes together on stage, whether it be a song whipping post that we that's you know, Alman Brothers song where I'm bass playing with him or something that I'm singing that he's playing on. And it and it really was one of those, it's a little bit like why did why didn't the hot girl go to prom? Only because nobody asked her, and it because everybody assumed she had a date. And it was one of those conversations where until Mark was like, Oh, it'd be fun to play with you guys, you're like, it would be? Oh, well, then then we should have that conversation because he's busy doing a bunch of things, all filming this, all filming that, going to conventions, doing what all the things he's doing, raising a family. You just don't think in terms of this would make sense because yeah, and as I mentioned before, it's for the love of the game. It's not a moneymaker, you know what I mean? It is a our goal, our financial model is let's at least get to zero so we're not losing money. And if we're at zero, everybody's happy.

Mark Sheppard: 46:55

Um how good how good a show can we present while trying to make it 100%.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 47:03

I mean, that that uh and Mark's Mark's mindset is this mindset of me, of Billy, of Emma, which is let's just put the foot on the gas pedal. Let's just go and sh and shake some shit up and have fun in the process. And with that spirit, I mean, this is the story. Well, Mark and I, you know, Mark said, let's play some gigs. I'm like, great, let's play some gigs. We played New Jersey, uh, we played Nashville, and we're just crushing it. The shows are going great. I call Mark, I'm like, I like, look, man, here's the deal. I'm gonna put this on your I'm gonna put this on your radar, but you have zero uh pressure here. I I in fact, I expect this to be a no, but I'm gonna tell you about this anyway, so you uh are included if you just just so you know. We're playing in Oregon, yes. I'm like, what? It's like yeah, I'm like, hold on, you didn't hear me finish. It's an Oregon, yes. Gun. Oregon, it's in the middle of no yes. He didn't let me finish, it's in the middle of nowhere. And literally while we're talking, and I'm explaining explaining okay fest, he books a hotel while we're having the conversation. And so I'm like, okay, great. And Mark had to like fly to Portland on his own nickel, get the sponsored drum kit into the van that he rented on his own nickel, drive his ass five hours from there. Um you know, it was again for the love of the game. Like it just was, but it was awesome. We had a blast, but that that's kind of like he he gets what we're doing, likes being a part of it. We like we being the royal we, the the Billy and me, basically, love having him there and doing it with us, and it feels more uh more community than just flying in a guy. You know what I mean?

Mark Sheppard: 48:52

So basically, what I said is because I'm cheap.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 48:54

Oh, very. I mean, if you're actually you're losing my my financial model doesn't apply to you. You're losing your shirt.

Mark Sheppard: 48:59

I lose my shirt on there. You know what I'm saying? There is something so special about this. Um, you know, you could you can't lose, lose, lose on it. It's not it's not financially responsible. We have things to do, but there are ways and means of us putting things together where we can present the best possible outcome while kind of breaking even, you know, it's a wonderful thing, it's a it's a joy. And Rich, by the way, you texted me, and I still have the text. It's the funniest thing I've ever read in my life. There's no money. Um, yeah, I'm totally expecting. I'm like, yeah, I'm in. Good. Yeah. I left I left about $15,000 worth of drums and electronics in a storefront window with a non-working door.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 49:52

In Enterprise Oregon.

Mark Sheppard: 49:53

In Enterprise, Oregon. And I made the mistake of turning around and saying, Is it gonna be safe here? And then I just laughed at myself and went, whatever. I came back the next day, nothing was touched. Of course it wasn't. This is Enterprise Oregon.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 50:07

Exactly. I actually asked And by the way, if it if it, you know, there was a there was a a robbery there years ago at at Tyler Hayes' M Crow store. Yeah, my brother-in-law, Michael Junkins, they stole some candy bars and toilet paper and a hat or something, and they looked at security footage and they couldn't make out the face because it was dark. But when the the perpetrator was walking across the store and one of the girls, like, oh yeah, that's Kurt. The way he walked. Like, yeah, like, yeah, you can't do that. Like, I don't know. Like, I don't want to say any places Mayberry because it's not, but if there is an equivalent, Northeast Oregon is is vying for it in charm.

Mark Sheppard: 50:58

I think the first question I asked you is like, uh do I have to lock my car? He goes, No, they'll be offended if you lock your car. Yeah.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 51:06

Oh, my father in all get so mad at me, damn it, who locked that car? Because I just do it by habit. Um, yeah.

Mark Sheppard: 51:13

It's a special place, man. You know what's so I'll tell you what was joyous about it. Because I brought a kit. The kit that was there, it's a lovely old kit, but it's not that sturdy. And there were drummers coming to play with other bands. And just the fact that I could go help yourself. You know what I mean? It was just a wonderful feeling to go like, great, no, no, take whatever you need. Everybody was just there to make it happen. I can't wait to do it again.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 51:37

Yeah, same. There was just, you know, the second album, which came out, you know, a while ago. Um those are great to playing live songs. They're fun, they're upbeat, they're jammy, and we've had a good time playing those tunes. I haven't felt that sort of I don't sit myself down and make myself right. I that's just not again, it's it's fun for me. So if it's becomes a job, I don't, I don't know. Um, but then I sort of got hit with this wave of I want to do this, I want to do this, I want to do I'm inspired by this, I'm in this headspace. And so I I am liking what I'm discovering um in this process.

Mark Sheppard: 52:16

You know, we think a lot of play, I think because we've been playing creatively, not covers like. I think because Billy, myself, you and Rob just been playing a lot with each other that it comes necessary to go, oh, where where am I going with this? What do I what oh this what's a new what's a new thing? What's the new feeling? You know? Billy and I have done a bunch.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 52:39

You've heard some of the stuff, Billy and yeah, and I know that I was gonna say, like, I know that Mark is part of the Billy conversation with his new solo stuff. I think right now, suddenly out of the blue in the last few months, everybody's feeling creative. And I don't know what, I don't know why. To me, 2025 was a bit of an effed year. Not like no, nobody, you know, I'm I'm blessed with a healthy family. It's not that, but it was just the the the vibe on the planet was weird. Like, so you know, maybe this is a sign that that kite string is being loosened a little bit. I don't know, but it I feel like Billy's generating more stuff. Yeah. Uh I think the I think station breaks are talking about doing some stuff. Bill, uh Jason, you know, getting Jason up in front of an audience with a band backing him, I think has been great for him. And I and the and performances are have been phenomenal. I think that's kind of putting a nickel in his slot machine to make him think like, hey, maybe we'll I just love the look on his face when we were playing his three, three of his songs, four of his songs when we did when we were in where were we?

Mark Sheppard: 53:46

Was it New York? What was it? What was the time first time we did that? It was Mercury Lance, yeah. It was Mercury Lance, um butterfly, and and um and he just this he turned around and looked at me and the grin on his face. And Richard said this to him before he goes, You sound really good with a band, man. That's what you should do.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 54:04

So I'm waiting to see whether he's gonna I I I take Jason Mann's has been a massive influence on everybody because he brought music to supernatural before anybody else did. But I take credit on being an influence on Jason Mann's for making him play with the band live because after the first Dick Jr. show, I said, Great, we're gonna do another Dick Jr. show, but nobody acoustic is opening for me. I I'm I'm not I don't want to be a coffee house and then a rock band. It's either a rock show or a no show. So and and Jason's like, all right, come in. So like I I I liked the fact that we sort of the rising tide raises all boats in that situation.

Mark Sheppard: 54:37

Thanks. And he and he got a drama to play for two and a half hours, and he didn't have to pay him. So he didn't.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 54:41

Yeah, I know, dude. Again, bargain at twice the price.

Mark Sheppard: 54:46

I loved every minute of that. I loved the 11-minute Grammy speech.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 54:50

Was that the 11-minute Grammy speech? Oh, yeah. Oh, that would have been a shorter speech if I actually won a Grammy.

Mark Sheppard: 54:56

What was it Raspberry Beret that we played for 14 and a half minutes?

Richard Speight, Jr.: 54:59

Yeah, because it was my closing.

Mark Sheppard: 55:01

It was your closing, and um oh, that was so much fun. Well, because it was everyone took a solo. But we have we were graced with some wonderful players in Mercury Lands as well. It was just yeah, Meredith and and uh the big tall fellow she's married. Forrest. Love Forrest. That's yeah, that's the 11-minute Grammy speech. Poor man, he wanted to leave the stage.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 55:24

Yeah, bullshit. He came back to Nashville, and he obviously he loved it.

Mark Sheppard: 55:29

But it's just there's a thing about we're all sort of changing, we're all evolving, and that's a lovely thing. And and the the the passion, the fire is ignited, and people start with this wonderful slow burn, and it will turn into probably four solo albums and and uh probably a swain record by the time it's finished.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 55:48

Which is great because it's been like a a everybody's been on pause for a while. So if this tumbles out into four or five albums in our social group, yay, that's just more stuff to play live and play on the road, you know.

Mark Sheppard: 56:00

But new, new, new ways, new things, new ways of writing, new ways of recording. You not not the we have to do it, it has to be done. There's a there's a little bit more care. People have they're trying to find digging a little deeper. That's my that's my impression of watching what Rich is doing and what what Billy is doing and what what Rob's been doing, essentially. Uh, and man's as well. It's like, ooh, maybe it's time to dig a little deeper. Let's see what's really in there, you know, which I think is fantastic. That's exciting for me to listen to, you know.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 56:32

The things that excite me are not work-related. Yeah, I I enjoy my time between jobs, means I'm I'm driving my kids to and from. I'm here doing what I should be doing as a parent. And I enjoy that tremendously because I feel blessed to not just love my children, but I also like them. So I like spending time with my kids a lot. And so work is it's always fun to travel with these guys. It's always fun to direct something, it's always fun to pop in something on screen. But 20 years ago, that's what tripped my wires, and it's not anymore.

Mark Sheppard: 57:10

Um, everybody's looking in.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 57:15

Yeah, so I mean, that's that's as my kids age towards college and into college, I recognize the the limits of my time with them. So that's what that's what I look forward to.

Mark Sheppard: 57:26

It's magic, man. I mean, so it's it's nice to see. I mean, I'm I forget, you know, how old were you were you and how old was I when we met, and the stuff that I've gone through and the medical stuff I've gone through. And none of that is as important as everybody's okay, and that's really what it means. Like getting to see your family, getting to see everybody, everything that's been going on with everybody, and and just like, wow, everybody's doing all right, everybody's really putting their energy into moving forward into their next chapters, which I think is really, really cool. That's the difference between last year and this year. I mean, some things were forced and some things are are chosen, and those things that are chosen have been very, very sweet. And my kid just got, you know, Max just got another Grammy nomination.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 58:11

But yeah, you uh he's he's bogarding the Grammy nominations.

Mark Sheppard: 58:16

Three now. My my middle child, my mysterious middle child is is working in an amazing restaurant downtown, and my nine-year-old's just wasting her life.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 58:28

Yeah, I I you you said last time that she's trying to quit smoking, and I think that's great. You know, she kick it by 10.

Mark Sheppard: 58:36

Yeah, it maybe, maybe, but it'll it'll be cheap. She'll save 20 bucks a day. But it's it's a joyous thing. I mean, I'm just always so shocked. Uh, you know, while we're doing what we're doing, surviving the things that we're surviving, and and walking through the things we're walking through, sometimes together and sometimes separately. What blows my mind is oh, and here's supernatural again.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 58:59

Yeah.

Mark Sheppard: 58:59

The gift that keeps giving. Yeah, it's a beautiful thing, and we're so proud of it, and we're we're very protective of it. I think we really are. We're all I think that's the common bond is that we're actually protective of it.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 59:12

You know what I like? I like that the model that we built for conventions is now the standard. Now that you know you go and there are bands. I don't think they're the caliber of Loud and Swain, but there are bands. There is music, there are things that are uh helping the fan experience at these events. And I believe the blast radius of what we created in Supernatural can be felt across those other conventions, and I think that's pretty cool. And I don't think people will know that in the same way that I have no idea who invented the windshield wiper, but I'm sure she's glad he did when it rains. You know? So I think there's a gift that we had sort of given other people who don't know who we are and don't know that we did it, and that's pretty awesome.

Mark Sheppard: 59:55

You and I both have been in different fandoms, as they're called, and there's nothing Like the supernatural family, that's why it's called a family. It's it's just the way that people treat each other in this in this sort of thing. It still has the same feel. It's always bad. Proud of it. So proud of it. I mean I've got great friends. I mean, always, you know, if you're you find out your friends are like if you die, you definitely find out of your friends. Um try that, it doesn't work. But it's been a remarkable journey. I wouldn't I wouldn't be married to my wife. My you know, my life would be very different if I'd never done that. Experiences that I've shared with my with my comrades. It's just magical, man. It's all we can icing on the cake. I think on the cake. It's a beautiful thing. All of our families, we've all got we've all got amazing wives. We all actually have amazing wives who tolerate the torture. Let's go do that stuff in the laugh at us with it. I mean, seriously, it's that we've got family is a very solid thing for this. But it's a joyous thing for us, and we're so happy and so proud to be able to share it. And uh yeah, what's next? Who knows what's next, right? An elastic waistband shirt with the back.

Richard Speight, Jr.: 1:01:46

We should do a game call.

Mark Sheppard: 1:03:12

He's one of my favorite human beings on the planet.

Berly: 1:03:15

Have you listened to his man?

Sadie Witkowski: 1:03:18

Oh my god, I love it. He's got a record finally. He's like trying to figure out the pressing and all of that.

Mark Sheppard: 1:03:25

That's good. That's good.

Berly: 1:03:30

And he wrote the denim wrap to nightmares line that our podcast is from, so I didn't know that. Oh, that's one of your yeah. We say that you and Ben Edmund are our podcast's two dads. Have you listened to his band? Oh my god, I love it. I'm obsessed. Yeah.