Chris Payton: What it takes to work with the Best I Ep. 13

Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: But that's that's a while to be up there.
Chris: But two hours to do that much movement is insane.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: but you're at least at home for a couple hours. So what are you doing when you're home? Wanting your little break.
Chris: Yeah. ⁓ I take care of outside of the house. Stuff like picking up dog poop, blowing out the sweep in the back, just washing down, just little stuff like that. Just movements, know what saying? Stuff that needs to be done around the house.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right, life. Ha! Yeah. Right. That's insane. So now you're just catching up on some work.
Chris: just catching up on being a dad, bro. Like, when I'm done with this, I'm going to go pick him up from school.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: How, fatherhood, man, how is that?
Chris: ⁓ It's the most beautiful thing in the world, dude. I enjoy nothing more on this planet than being a dad. And I enjoy a lot.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Really? That's amazing. Did you think that was going to be the transition for you?
Chris: No. Well, yeah, I mean, I knew me and my wife, we met fairly early. We knew we were the ones fairly early. we visualized all of this stuff a long time ago. You know, when it finally happened, it was just, you know, it was just beautiful. You know, it life changing. Obviously, it was life altering. You know, a lot of stuff changed. But it was just a blessing. It was just a blessing.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: for like all my homies who I know like it's so from a while, it's like, as soon as y'all get kids, y'all like, man, I didn't know I was gonna experience this much joy.
Chris: Yeah, bro, it's a different type of happy. Real talk.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. ⁓ That's such a blessing, man. And so that kind of takes me to our first question I want to talk to you about was you're a full time musician and not just a casual musician. You're one of the best in the world at what you do. And I'll say it. You don't got a clue. And you're never home. You know what mean? So how are you managing that dynamic from obviously a professional standpoint, but also more importantly, the personal standpoint? You're a father. You're a husband.
Chris: Yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You know, you're active in your church community, you teaching, you're producing, you're doing a lot of things even when you are home. So how are you balancing that work life and keeping the train tracks, you know, keeping the train on the tracks, if you will.
Chris: Hey man, listen, I tell you a bit, that train, I lie and tell you if the train didn't rock, and like the train gets weary. But no man, it's just, time is precious, time is valuable. So it's like, you try to allocate as much time as to what needs to be cared for and watered as much as possible, which is the kids, which is my wife, which is the household, which is my craft, which is coming in here.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right, right, sure.
Chris: ducking myself off my home little studio and giving myself two hours and coming up with some samples and figuring out some software pro programming whatever you know I'm saying like that's time all that time is allocated and all that time is important you know I'm saying like I try to especially like when I'm at home for example like a regular day when I'm at home and I'm not going
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah.
Chris: During the day is when I'll get all my, I've got some tracking to do, like some two songs to send to somebody. I'll get that done during the day. So by the time they get home, my attention's on them. You know what I'm saying? You know, every day is different. You know, we got, sometimes we'll have a week of rehearsals and be gone for three days. And sometimes we'll have a random Saturday night gig. You know what I'm saying? The time of the week is open, sometimes the week is jam packed. Sometimes the month is jam packed. You know what saying? That's the thing about what we do is.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right, right. Right, right, right, right. For sure.
Chris: It is, I've been blessed to be able to work consistently, but there are dry spells, man. Every musician goes. And to that part, I'm not trying to go off the topic, but to that point, when I'm off, like that's when, you know, the time is allocated towards them. You know what I'm saying? Like that's what it's preparing for the next opportunity. That's when it's changing my strings on my guitar and just shit. You know what I'm saying? Like just making sure my stuff is good. Like we were talking the other day, you were doing inventory.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. No, please. Yeah, bro.
Chris: And like, I got to make sure my brother's good. But when you got it, like you have up team symbols, up team head, whatever product, you know what I'm saying? I got kempers and pedals and guitars and you know what I'm saying? You got to keep track of that stuff. But I bring it back to say all that time, you know, is allocated, you know, specifically, and you know, sometimes stuff can get, I guess, unattended.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Like, who does that? Yeah. a lot of stuff.
Chris: And it can be oversighted, you know, you don't even know, but the beauty about life, man, you figure things out as you grow. You know what saying? Yeah. Has it? Absolutely.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yeah, and keeping that awareness as it unfolds, know, you know, that's I think that's the thing, too, is like giving yourself some grace when things are not ideal to be like, oh, it's all good. I'm going to get it back to, you know, what it needs to be. And you chose to get married and you chose to have kids, and that's a massive commitment, you know, and that's a massive vow to God.
Chris: Absolutely.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: And one of the things I always hear from people who are successful, and I would argue that you're extremely successful, is that their partner is something that is very important on what they choose. You know, and how has that dynamic been with the balance of working with your wife? And I'm sure she also has to sacrifice a lot when, you know, dad is gone, husband is gone, like all those things fall on her. So could you share maybe some communication things that you might have done to help? Because I noticed a lot of musicians that want to be married like myself or are in serious relationships. And, you know, obviously we'll put the disclaimer. He's saying it's not perfect, but they're working at it always.
Chris: It's a work in progress. It's steadily a work in progress. You know what saying? But man, I was blessed to be able to marry a woman and date a woman that is not a stranger to this side of music or just a stranger to this industry at all. You know what saying? And this is not even a name job, but the legendary Michael Neubull, the drum. I married his daughter.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah Okay. Yeah, legend. Okay, got it, yeah.
Chris: Yeah, so like that, you she, his daughter, she grew up, her mom, she saw her mom do it. Three girls, you know what I'm saying? He had three daughters. ⁓ So she saw her mom do it. It's not an easy thing. Obviously it's different when you're in the shoes and it's not being raised and watching your mom do it, but she's no stranger to it. And the fact that she understands that this is how, you know.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Okay.
Chris: This is how I make my money and this is how I provide for the household. This is what comes with that. My traveling is part of that and we work at it. You know, it's not easy. I try to, and you know, to work and even to just to compensate for that time I'm not at home, I try to get them out where I'm at as much as possible.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Sure. Okay.
Chris: Man, like they came out for the first show for the tour with Bruno, they came out to Vegas for the weekend. You know what saying? But my dad was there and my family that lives in Vegas was there. You know what saying? It's a family affair. And that goes back to the other thing, how it works, man. It takes a village, know, we're both fortunate enough to be where our parents are. We're both from LA. So she has her parents. She has my parents at her disposal. You know, we have a community. We have that village around.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Amazing. Yeah. Sure.
Chris: you know, if she can't get the kids, you know, see if grandpa can get them, you know, my dad will take them for the weekend, you know, get her off, even while I'm gone, get them off her hands, you know what I'm saying? Because she needs that time too, you know what I'm saying? But man, it takes a village, bro. That's all I can say, man, is because it's like you said, if you're gone as much as I am, sometimes I can be gone. I mean, you know, when you tour, you tour, but even just when the spot date season.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, yeah. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Gone.
Chris: If it's a busy month, bro, you go on 21 days out of those 31, you know, and that's include travel days, rehearsals, whatever the case may be, you're acting like those 21 days. And that takes communication, you know what I'm saying? Like just even just little stuff, I'll give all the gems in the world. Like we share our calendars. Like I have an iCal.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: effect. Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, please.
Chris: Every time I got to give this interview, I put it in the calendar. If I got something to do, it's the calendar. So she knows, hey, all right, can you get the kids? You're not doing anything. Or hey, you can't get the kids because you're busy. You know what I'm saying? So it's like, it's just constant communication of, OK, if you can do this, if I can do that, we make it work. You just feel it. No, I'm saying the village fills in the gaps.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: sure. You make it happen. your village. Sorry, go ahead, man. Yeah. So when you are about to pill out for a little bit or even when you may return home at night, you know, are you are you reaching out to your family and being like, yo, I'm out. Or is it one of those things where it's just a constant understanding of Chris might have to dip out for a little bit if wifey calls, you know, your your parents or she calls her. And everybody just kind of picks up the pieces when they can.
Chris: Yes, it's more so like Chris is more than likely going to be gone. So they know always my wife's always check with each other first and make sure you know, so we need to do but more than like, you know, everybody's ready. Everybody's And that's what the blessing is, man. Like everyone is willing. It's not a burden on anyone. Everyone is willing to help. And that's just also it's everyone's first grandchildren, like everyone's first set of grandchildren.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: So Yeah. Okay, yeah.
Chris: Everybody's first so it's like they're spoiled rotten
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: I see. So when they come back home, they don't even, they're like, yo, what's going on?
Chris: No, it's their world. I'm the ATM.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. They gotta be great kids though, man, because you're a solid man. Yeah, that's awesome. And how old are they? If you don't mind saying.
Chris: Welcome to our... ⁓ Man, my oldest is about to be six in like two weeks and the youngest
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Whoa. Two and six. That's incredible, bro. So it kind of takes me to my next question of which you're busy. How did you become so busy? Right. Can you give us like a little what did you do? How? Because you lived here. You're from here. You've always been in these spaces. So do you think that's helped you be in NLA born and raised? OK.
Chris: Yeah, Yeah. Oh, 1000%. You know what saying? And I don't like to think of it as an advantage. I like to think of it as I was just blessed to be born here and this is what my home is. This is where home is for me. Because a lot of people even, and I hate to, I even want to say this, but it's the truth. A lot of people even from LA aren't able to excel.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: shore.
Chris: as far as they want or as far as they can get, whatever case may be, but everyone's not blessed enough, sorry, I'm gonna edit that. But yeah, no, everyone's not fortunate enough and blessed enough to be able to get to a certain level in this industry, whether they have the geographical advantage or not. But I will say that that definitely played a part.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. No, it's all good. Yeah
Chris: because I was able to meet a lot of dope people at an early age. ⁓ I went to a performing arts high school and even how that happened was crazy because my jazz band teacher, his name was Fernando Pullum, this is the name of my jazz band teacher, but he was like over this school district called ISEF in ⁓ LA. And we had this school called View Park and it was a charter school, but this is where...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Join.
Chris: Myself, I went, this is where Delvin Brumfield went, this is where Nick Smith went, this is where ⁓ the homie Terrell Robinson went, this is where we all met and this is how they, I didn't go because I was still at another high school at the time. These fools went to Cuba, they played at, I forgot who's wedding they played at, but ⁓ somebody's wedding in New York, somebody famous, some famous rapper, you're going to Cuba, they went to Barcelona as a jazz band in high school.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Peace. Damn. Yeah, okay. Mm-hmm. Sheesh.
Chris: But these were the opportunities that they were afforded because the program director, the teacher was so well connected. He was like in the industry. was doing gigs with Ricky Minor. know, he was playing trumpet. that was that he was that he was on that level of excellence. And that's what he, you know, he instilled in us in high school. Like that's what we were around. Like we played at we played at Ricky Minor's Grammy party in 2000.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Understood.
Chris: I can't remember the exact year, but I was 15. So we played at his Grammy party. But bro, but this is I met Paul Jackson Jr. that night. I met Teddy Campbell that night. That's where I met Ricky. That's where I met all the guys, all the Ricky. You know what saying? Like at 15 and jazz band. And we were like just supposed to be a little our feature, a little house music, whatever. But ended up opening up, man. Paul played my guitar.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: No pressure, cease. Wow. Yeah, you met the legends that night. Wow.
Chris: at that night, I'm 15 years old, this is blowing my mind at the moment. But these are the type of blessings I was able to afford early on. Like I met Nissan at 17 and maybe 16. And Nissan, have to, I credit him with a lot, man, cause he's a huge part of the reason why I am. Why I am who I am and where I am. You know what I'm saying? Like that's it.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Jeez. Yeah. We need to definitely give him his flowers because I've never personally met him. But every person who has an encounter has a very similar story that you're testifying to right now. And that's if you see this, brother, you need to know that you are very influential and very needed. And I've never met you, but co-signing everything he's saying.
Chris: Yes, Shout out. Man, he's this he's this he's the greatest. He's just the greatest person you will want to meet. He's the person you want to have in your corner. It's my past. You know, your brother is just it's a friendship of over 15, 16 years at this point. But met him at 17, met Jubu and Charlie at 17. Gerald, Lauren, like all these cats I met my senior year.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, y'all still been rocking.
Chris: I honestly, not even my senior year, probably my 11th grade year in high school, my junior year. And ⁓ just trying to be the best that I can be for, you know, being in as many rooms as I can. Mom take me here. I wasn't driving yet. Mom would put me in these places. I was playing around churches, you know, growing up. Growing up as a little boy, playing in LA with my granddad and my uncle, we had a quartet group. So I've been playing guitar. I picked it up when I was four.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, yeah, yeah. So. Mm-hmm. So you came from a musical family of some, okay, got you. Wow, so your standard was high out the gate.
Chris: My grand, my granddad, taught me how to My granddad didn't play and he made sure he was locked in. Yeah, he had a certain way of playing, but I also had like the influences of a lot of cats. Like in city too, they would help me and show me out, but he had a particular way of playing. When I started off, was, nah, doc. First change, second change, third change.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: this time. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's not it. Right, yeah, yeah.
Chris: It wasn't major, it it That's all it Yeah bro, but that was my upbringing man. I was around it. was in church five, six days a week. You know what saying? Listen, like I come from my age group. I'll say our generation where we at in our hats, we got the last of that kind of upbringing, bro. Don't go to church for five days a week.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You learning patterns right now. You're not even learning music. So you came real old school stuff. Yeah. That's crazy though. Nah, it used to be a time.
Chris: We have, man, you know, we used to feed the hungry, we have Bible study, we have rehearsal, we service all day on Sunday, afternoon service.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: And everybody showed up. It wasn't just a few. It was just a normal thing. That was the community.
Chris: Yeah. But that is what, that's why I will back up and say most church musicians have the cultural advantage when it comes to music. know, they were cultivated around it. Like that was, it's all they were. That's all they had around them. you know, Catholic, Catholic, you know, that would have the same upbringing.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Understood. Yeah, that's so even out the gate, you coming up in your OG is really, you know, making sure you're solidified in that space. So were you taking it seriously, though? Or was it OK? So out the gate, you you you were very passionate and loved.
Chris: Absolutely. Yeah, yeah, because in high school, man, I didn't know what I wanted to do. I played guitar, you know, I was somewhat good at it at a young age, so I was doing it. But, you know, I had other interests. I was a kid actor for a little bit, man. I did a couple commercials, yeah, I played football in high school for a little bit. So it's like, I wanted to do other stuff. I was involved in other activities. But when I realized that it was going to be music, I'm like, all right, let's take this serious.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: No way. Okay. Okay, right. What was the deciding factor?
Chris: ⁓ what.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Or do you you have a moment where you can pinpoint like, OK, no more sports. Music is where God is placing me.
Chris: I think it was because I started to get way more opportunities in high school. About that 10th grade year, that's even when I, and that's when I met Delvin and Nick, I met them at the same time. around the time I started meeting them, that's when I started getting more serious opportunities to do stuff around LA, just for me, like not just with my grand, my granddad, my uncle as the group, like as a musician, like Chris. So.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm-hmm. Got it.
Chris: getting those calls, getting, being able to work at a church, you know what saying, getting paid. I'm like, okay, I can, I can do this for a living. I can actually do something with this. Like I, I had other interests, like man, I wanted to be a pilot at one point. You know what I'm saying? Like a Marine biologist. Like I had other interests, man. But when I figured out that this was the gift that obviously that I was given and I can really do something with this and I can, and, and I was also
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yeah. Respect. That's incredible.
Chris: Another thing that did it too, man, you know, I'm a very spiritual person, very religious person. My grandma was, is, you know, but she's still living, but at the time she was a very active evangelist. You know, we were deeply rooted in church and, you know, revivals and all this other stuff, it prophesied, you know, if you believe in prophecy. Multiple times growing up, you know, in my upbringing that I would play guitar and I would do it. all over the world and I would see the world playing guitar and that my gift would make room for me. Growing up, these are prophecies I received multiple times to be real. And you know, when I figured out what it's be sports like, you know, was decent, but I wasn't about to go to the league, you know, and I wasn't really that passionate about acting. So I'm like, all right, let me just put all the eggs in here and I'm gonna take this serious and I'm gonna really.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Wow. off. Sure.
Chris: figure this thing out and that's just started to take it serious. ⁓
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: And go for it, man. Glory be to God, that's that's that's next level to even at a young age to have that awareness. I don't think many kids are dialed in that way, you know, but you you definitely were paying attention. And I think that's important that people do pay attention to those types of moments. So as you pivoted to, let's say, high school space, you're meeting obviously legends.
Chris: of it. You know.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: you know, later in your high school career, but also our friends, you know, are in some of the world's best musicians, by the way, talking about Delvin, you're talking about Nick Smith. And it's I'll gloat for them. I had the privilege of Tekken for you all two times, and I remember watching day one of Gunnar's rehearsals. Right.
Chris: thousand percent. Thank Man, a time. What a time!
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You know, we'll avoid all the chaos of that. But it was refreshing and inspiring to see from note one, y'all played it like y'all wrote it. And I was like, what is going on right now? Because this is this is rare to have five incredible individuals who are phenomenal men, number one, but to be able to execute that easily. That's that's next level. So meeting them at a young age.
Chris: Yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Were y'all kind of pushing each other early on? that, was that the limits there?
Chris: I'll take it back to even how we met, dude. how it all happened because it's kind of crazy because it all happened within like a week of each other, right? Well, I will. was a I'm going down the rabbit hole to this crazy story. But ⁓ I got called for a Christmas program at this random church in L.A. And this was around a time where I'm like, OK, I can do this for money. And I'm, you know, I'm about to start getting paid for this stuff.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Okay. Let's go! Right, right, right.
Chris: Well, I got called for this Christmas thing and it was no money involved. But the musicians that, you know, that were there, you know, person, forgot who called me for it exactly. But this, she was widely respected at the time. And somebody, you know, I saw and you know, respect, especially in LA. So I'm like, you know what? I asked my mom, said, should I do it? asked my grandma, should I do it? She like, you know what? You should just do it. Go ahead, whatever. All right. I do the program. It said we have a Saturday rehearsal and a Sunday night, you know, concert. I show up at rehearsal, cool, I'm learning the music. Turns out Delvin Brumfield was also invited. I guess we were the two young guys that they were trying to, you use out. I never met this cat. And so Delvin is the guy that they call, you know, he's playing keys. This skinny little black dude, skinny little nigga. No, that skinny cat, you know, we 15 bro, so this skinny cat rolling his big
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah, right, right, right, right.
Chris: This big hard SKB case with a with a rolling KC 550 with a moat inside Lord is this 2008 KC 550 if you know you but he rolled in with that struggling, you know, but as cat sat down and If I'm sitting right here, you see right there. I'm looking at him. It's like 45 degree angle I looked at that cat and it was just like
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yup. But the moe was the thing that was live back then That's a fact. Yep.
Chris: I had never met someone my age. That's what it was. I had never met someone my age that could play like that. At least, you know what saying? Bass, I had already knew my homie Terrell drums. I knew some killing drummers already. I hadn't met Nick yet, but I had never seen anybody play like that. Me and him connected immediately. We became brothers. The very next weekend, my homie Terrell, they play Blaze Bass, goes by Juice by the way. But he invited me.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Sure.
Chris: I was playing at his church's concert. Me and him had been friends for some years at this point, maybe a couple, two or three years at this point. So him and I, he invites me to play his concert, I'm sorry. And ⁓ we have a Saturday rehearsal and I'm like, you know what, let me invite Dilvin. Whatever. The first thing this nigga asks me is do they have weighted keys? And he's gonna hate me when he sees this. When we were younger, all he cared about was the keys weighted. Okay, get it, we broke, we get it. You play mains, they get to be weighted keys, so what?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: That's not good. Okay. Yeah, we got it.
Chris: That was the first thing he asked me. And he almost didn't come because I didn't know. But he was like, I'll pull up. It's a joke at 15. So he's been like forever. So he asks that question, whatever. pulls up. So let me back up little bit. We have a Saturday. He doesn't come to rehearsal. But I meet Nick that Saturday. me and Nick hit it off. You know, we all, like I said, I hadn't met cats my age that were doing what I was doing.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: That's such a delving question to this day. It's such a delving question. That's just teenage Nick. Teenage Nick. So he's already been on a scene at this point. Got you. Yep.
Chris: Say what else? Green Age Nick. So he's already been on the scene. it's like Nick is like, I'm low key star struck meeting him because I know who this cat is. You're the guy already. But I was such, thing about me was I was in that quartet space for so long. I didn't know anything. Bro, I didn't know about Ty Tripp's music till like, ⁓ eight. You know what I'm saying? After he'd already been out, but like, you
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You're right, yeah. Wow. Yeah.
Chris: hit the church scene by storm, but that's not what we was doing at my church. That's not the I was around. I was around quartet. So when I met Delvin and I met Nick and all these guys, I started getting exposed to that side of the church music, I guess, you know what I'm Like those types of gigs, the choir gigs, choir songs, the choir. It had always been Ted. ⁓ But back to the story, that night, ⁓ Delvin shows up and he's just there and we're playing the concert.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Chris: and a bump starts. And it's crazy how it happened. We told Devlin to come sit down, come play. And Nick is on drums, and I'm actually on bass at this point. We all sit down at the same time and we start playing this bump. And when I tell you we did everything without even communicating, everything the same without communication. From that point, we've been locked in as friends, as music, like.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: This is about to get bad.
Chris: Those have been my brothers. We had our champagne party together. The groomsmen in my wedding, you know, they are the godfathers to my children. You know what I'm saying? Those are my boys. You know what saying? Joe Cleveland too. And shortly, okay, so here's how that even happened. I met Nick and Delvin at 15. I met Joe at 17. How we met was even crazy. Remember the live arrangement wave that DCOP, Rihann Javance set the standard for?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah. Wow. Right. Yeah. Yeah, that's the standard 100%. Yep. Which is insane, by the way.
Chris: for the industry. It's insane if you think about it, that, they were just messing around and that kind of became what almost, when college at Berkeley, just messing around, just doing stuff. But it was so intentional. It was so, and they, that's what every artist wanted since then. Like they kind of set the bar when it came to that type of arrangement for live shows. But.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Freshmen in college. Nasty work. 100 % they're just different.
Chris: How Joe comes into the fold is our senior year in high school, we were about to go to Berkeley. I didn't actually get into Berkeley. Delvin and Nick did. I auditioned. I didn't get into Berkeley. auditioned did not get in. It was the grace of God that I did not get in.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: No way. a mistake. I mean, great for your life, but mistake on their end.
Chris: Well, had I gotten to Berkeley, I wouldn't have got the Rap and Thick gig and started as early as I did. Cause I got the Rap and Thick gig my freshman year of college. But, and leading up to that, so going back how we met Joe is Derek Cobbs puts all of us in a Facebook message group. Me, Delvin, Joe and Nick and Derek Cobbs. y'all know, yo what up?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Wow.
Chris: introducing y'all y'all need to know each other and then just leaves yep that's what he did dog and from then on then it bro such a decals move but bro y'all need to know each other and dip and we've been locked in ever since why not decals bro 2010 is when that happened
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: That sounds like Derek. That 100 % sounds like Derek. That's such a cobs move. Shout out to Cobbs, man. Wow. So OK, so then now we got more of the modern day adventures. All are whatever. I'll. Y'all can't say it, so I will say it that way. Nobody's saying that Chris is a go. We can whatever I'll say it. I have seen it. I know what it's like. I felt I felt it in the room pause. I just know what it is. So seeing I just know anyway. So now it's this is you guys look for.
Chris: I'm a blah blah No. I'm not doing that.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: so that I wanna get to how did Q get into the mix?
Chris: Q gets into the mix because of 1500. And I got into the mix of 1500, and this is even crazier story, because a lot of people don't know this, and this is why I speak about him so much. Uncle Chuck, that's the piece. Uncle Chuck actually used to be my uncle at one point. He dated my aunt. It's not even an exaggeration. I've known Chuck, I've literally known Chuck since I was like 10 years old, man.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Got you. Wow. It's real. OK, got it.
Chris: Nine, eight, nine years old, like no exaggeration. And seeing him around the quartet scene too, because he had a group called the Gossip Warriors. And especially at a young age, man, like I've been playing guitar since, like I said, I was four, but my uncle would go to all these quartet programs, he would sing, he play. But I was always a kid that was front row, center, in front of whatever hot group was happening at the time. Chuck was always in the dopest groups, you know what I'm saying? Singing, you know how cold he was, man?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. That's a fact.
Chris: vocally, like, and he could play guitar. that was, I idolized him at an early age, man. And a lot of people know that, man, Chuck was like one of my first inspirations as a kid, like at an early age, man. And around the age of 13, no, 12, 13, yeah, I'm middle school at this point. This is when him and my auntie are dating. And he walks me into LeBron, which is 1500 Studio on Centinella in La Brea.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right.
Chris: And he walks me in, actually I just realized I said where that was. Don't edit that out. I just realized I said where that was. So back up. So yeah, when I'm 13, this is how, I'm 13, Chuck walks me in to LeBron 1500 Studio in Inglewood. ⁓ I meet Rance, I meet Brody, I meet.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: edit that out. Okay. I'm worked it.
Chris: I met Mars, you know what saying? I meet Jay Black. I meet all these cats at this session because they just got a session, but we need to be in the room. So I met all these cats then. You know, nothing really happened back then, but this is how I got introduced to them. Shortly after I graduated high school, you know, I started moving around and ⁓ me and Chuck are always still working together. I was in Chuck's court tech group when we were in high school, senior high school called the Zion Messengers. Delvin was too.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, yeah. Sure.
Chris: Chuck won both of us. But it's funny how this LA church seemed, man, so small. Everybody kind of knows everybody. But I was, you know, that's how I was working with Chuck around that time. And then, you know, once I graduated high school, he's obviously the 1500 guitar player at this point. You know, this is 1500 days is when these are the Lupe Fiasco days. This is the Snoop Dogg days. know, I'm playing bass and not just.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. sure. Yeah. Right.
Chris: So this is when I met those cats and know, Chuck started bringing me around some more and I got connected with Rance. I got connected with Mars. And so I started doing 1500 and stuff. did the TI tour 2013 because of Mars, know, Mars called me up for that. Started playing with Tip then, you know, just little stuff that they would just call me for. And then I don't know what happened. But I was, I'm, I'm, I'm,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Little stuff is crazy. Little stuff they call me for. What you mean?
Chris: I'm filling in for Chuck. So was like, I'm not one of the main guys yet. I'm still the young cat that's just, I'm hungry for the opportunity. that's, we all have that point in our careers, especially if we want to go somewhere. You have to have that drive. You have to want it. You have to want to be that next guy. So I really wanted it. I really wanted to do what those cats were doing. And Chuck called me in for some opportunities. So I will play with him.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure.
Chris: met James and stuff like that. So around all this time, this has happened, 2013, 14-ish, know, around that time, Q moves out to LA from Milwaukee and he does an audition, 1500 had open auditions, like an open casting call, open audition. So he comes in and he pays the audition for 1500 and he play auditions on, I think he said keys and drums. So he auditioned twice.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: ⁓ no, okay.
Chris: And then of course it's Q. So it's like, we killed everybody, know? Sorry, y'all. But that's how we got in the mix with 15. And then that's how I met him. And we would start doing gigs together and been like this ever since. well, it's, if I don't want to compare ourselves to their notoriety, but I will compare ourselves to their friendship and their workmanship. We call ourselves Jimmy Jam and Terry.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, he smacks both of them, of course. Yeah, yep. Yep. Right. Right.
Chris: Just because of that's my guy, he's my guy, we doing this together. We know that, you know what saying? You see me, you probably gonna see him. You see him, you probably gonna see me kind of thing. You know I'm saying? Like that's how we molded. That's how our friendship and our relationship developed over the years. So that's how Q came to the picture.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, right, yep. Yeah. Sheesh, I mean what a time.
Chris: Yeah, man, like that. over the, know, we all became friends over time and then it just happened. Got ordained and it happened.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: ⁓ don't it? Well, this makes sense why no one sounded like I wrote the dang record. Yo, I swear that was the most insane experience. But shout out to all those those guys, man. They are in my opinion, y'all are going to go down in history of some of the some of the greatest musicians of all time. And this is in whatever mark my words today in history, I'm saying it.
Chris: Man. Appreciate that, bro. Right, appreciation, man. What I'm gonna say is, and then just to close all that out, to your point why you said note one sounds like that, yes, the credentials or the accolades or whatever come, whatever. What makes us sound the way we sound and what makes us show the way we show is we are friends outside of our instruments. And that's just kind of a point I want to point out and the point I want to stress.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Wow, okay.
Chris: because a lot of cats, you know, they'll come together for these gigs. You'll call in different guys to bands. right, get this guitar player, get this guy, whatever. Yeah, that sounds great. They'll sound polished. Everybody's, great at what they do. You know, they'll kill the show. They'll do whatever. But it's something about when people that are friends outside of music come together and play and lock in, of course, but play music is just a different type of dynamic. Because sometimes I know where you're to go. Or sometimes I know that, all right, we gonna feel like this, or you did this, I'm gonna pick this up next time. We almost think the same, you know what I'm saying? We playing together for so long, but we break bread outside of me. We hang out, they come up, and you gotta come over one day too, once I start hosting. My bro, they come over to our house to barbecue. We have game nights at my crib, you know what I'm saying? Like we do normal stuff, because our lives can't solely be focused on music.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yeah. 100 percent. Love that. Yeah. ⁓
Chris: I solely believe, man, that you gotta have some type of, you ever have diverse portfolio, bro? You gotta have a balanced life, because if my life was all music, I would go and say, I just can't focus on that 1,000, 24 hours in a day.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. Yeah. Sure. That's a lot. It is a lot to consume all the time. Like, that's a lot.
Chris: Yeah, But I would just to that point, I'll say we are friends outside of music, man. So we know how much each other cares about what we do and we care about each other.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, y'all are saying the same language on and off the court. And that that matters, it really matters. And I think that's something that even artists nowadays, and this is in a knock to artists because they don't owe us this loyalty, right? They don't they do not owe us that. But the bands that have been together for a year to five, ten, they just astronomically sound better and more polished than even your.
Chris: Absolutely. Period.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: your favorite hired gun musicians. just sound better. know, Ricky Miner's band has been rocking for decades and you put them in a room right now and they're gonna wax this record.
Chris: 1000%. 1000%. in saying
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: It's nuts. I don't understand it. And I remember even when RJ was doing you've done this gig. So you understand American Idol. Season one, when they were on it versus now, they sound like a completely different band. Same men women on the on the camp, but they just know each other. They know the workflow. They know the understanding. It's like, to your point, think people should really try to invest a little bit more in that quality time with each other. And you can't dictate.
Chris: 1000%.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You know, if management wants to pivot to a different direction, that stuff, but have real conversations, have honest conversations, go to lunch, see how they are with their families, like checking on their kids. You know what? That that stuff matters.
Chris: Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, it does, bro. People don't understand that. It really does in this industry.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: It really matters. So how are you cultivating those environments when you're not necessarily working with your friends because you you're a hired gun primarily, right? You do have a certain group that you're always with, but you're a hired gun. So how are you cultivating those types of environments for yourself to get to that? ⁓ this is fun. This is able to hang out versus. All right, I got to play these changes. You know, there's a difference.
Chris: Well, you know, it all starts with reading the room. You got to read the room first, you know. You always come in with respect. You always come in, I always come in as me, regardless. So I'm going to talk to you. I'm going to say what's up. I'm going to make sure you say what's up to me. I'm going to speak. You know what saying? That's just kind of how I was brought up. You speak to everybody that walks in the room. You walk in the room, you speak to everybody. That's how I was brought up. So of course you read the room, but you know, I just try to be as personal as possible, man. You know, like we work in the industry.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: So
Chris: of people. This is a people industry, like this is a relational industry. It's what it is. Like we're ⁓ not people on a piece of paper that, you know, people are looking up resumes for and, I'm going to call this guy. No, we got to have relationships with these people. And that's how some of the most beautiful things at birth. But I just try to navigate a man with being as cool as possible. I'm going to be me everywhere I go, regardless.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure, sure. Yeah.
Chris: If that means, you know, on break time for whatever, her, so, know, kicking it, you know, I'll stay around. Y'all want to go grab lunch. We got center station. Let's go to fish dish. You know what saying? Like that kind of, you know what I'm saying? So it's like, it's little stuff like that that matters. And when you're on the road, same thing. All right. Yeah. I want to go off for drinks tonight. Have a drink. We can get to the hotel lunch next day, whatever, you know what I'm saying? Find your opportunities. And there's a flip side to that. If you around cats that really don't want to be bothered or that aren't as social.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right, right. Classic spot.
Chris: you adapt to that too. then keep to yourself if you have to, you know what saying? Always personable and cordial. But if that's the vibe of the room, if no one's really on that type of time, all right, that's just what the situation is. And unfortunately it's like that sometimes. know, it doesn't always have to be, but sometimes it is as militant. you know, the-
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: soon. Right, right, just punch on the clock. It is. Yeah, I think that's a that's a very healthy perspective. You know, reading the room first so you don't impart too much of it's not even you because you're always going to impart you in time, but more of your ideology of what your ideal situation might be. You know.
Chris: Right. And let's just say you don't want to be comfortable, too comfortable too early on. That's really what it is. You don't want to come across as too
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Absolutely. You're one of those ones, I think that does a phenomenal job at that, you know, and and let's say I didn't know you personally. If you look at your resume, you've worked with a wide variety of music directors in a wide variety of genres, all at the highest level. That takes a very special personality type as well as player to be able to adapt to those environments, but also keep getting the call. keep having the trust, you know, and still you're knocking it out the park, man. Like it's it's it's one of those things that I'm honored to call you my friend, but it's just watching it happen. I'm like, this is so dope. You know, and I think that's a testimony to who you are as a person, but people should really process that. And it's kind of the underlining thing of I've noticed that a lot of people that have been on the show are saying it's like, ⁓ you got to relax. Like, chill out.
Chris: Yeah. Yeah. like, that's, that's an unfortunate man. And I've seen it so many times. I've seen like young cats come into situations and they're just running their mouths too much. It just, doing the most, you know, I'm ask it could be inappropriate or it could just be, you know, just borderline, you know, crossing the line in a sense, you know, what's being said, but just sometimes it's not that type of rule. And I've seen people, I've seen young kids especially, but I've seen
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: sure. Mm.
Chris: people get fired just because of... the energy that they exude. And it kind of sucks at the same time, especially if you didn't do anything wrong, but also on the other car, on the flip side, if you're up there doing the most, you know, probably should shut up and probably don't belong here. You know what saying? Depending on the dynamic and depending on the dynamic of the camp and how the room is read. You know what saying? About the culture of the band, the culture of the camp, all that matters. You know what I'm saying?
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Sure. Yeah. That's an art form.
Chris: It is man, and you have to be able to adjust. I'll be transparent bro. We on a 1500 gig with, let's just say we got a hit with, who else, who did we play? Gunna, let's say it Gunna for example. We did that 1500 gig bro, we in rehearsal learning music, smoking, doing what we're supposed to But out the gate, before we went out the second day, pretty sure there was a bottle somewhere around the room, but that is...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm-hmm. Yep. Out the gate. Y'all rolled in with it. Absolutely.
Chris: In that environment, that's okay. I can't go to a Ricky Minor gig, ⁓ a ⁓ Clive Davis Grammy party that I have to perform and play for and sight read music and read charts and stuff like that for, with that type of vibe on me. That's just not what that camp is. We are there to work. We are there clocking. We're higher guns, like you said. So it's like, those are two different...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: I'm Yeah.
Chris: dynamics, right? But finding where you can do that stuff is what matters the most. Like I can't do that there and I don't have to be as strict over here. I'm saying.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. I think people need to understand really what you're saying. It's not that you couldn't have sight reading and not those charts out under the influence. That's not what he's saying. He's saying the environment doesn't lean for these types of actions to occur. And that's a valuable lesson, man, because we've seen it and it's not people's talent. Most of most of the time, it's not that they're not good players. It's the other stuff. You know, it's it's the
Chris: That's not what I'm saying. That's not what P.M.O. Mm-hmm.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, why did you say it that way? You know, there's two is too combative. It's it's not fun. It's not enjoyable when your being is around. Not that you can't play, not that you can't take it wherever you need to go. It's like the essence of you is causing a problem in this room.
Chris: And that's why a lot of cats are at home. A lot of your favorite musicians won't get called for a lot of stuff. That's why you see a lot of the same musicians on a lot of these gigs because they either have relationship or they're consistent and they are, you know, they're probably A-list at what they do. And I'm sure they are, they usually are on these types of situations. But that's why you see the same cats on the same gigs because they're reliable, they're trustworthy.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Wow. Yeah. Absolutely.
Chris: And some of the most amazing cats you'll see, I'm going down this rabbit hole too, these cats that hide behind these Instagram takes, putting these videos out, that's why when they get on gigs, they don't last. One, because they're hiding behind the takes, not because they can't play the gig, or maybe depends on the situation, to the point of character of what we're speaking of. Some people don't want to be around you.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm. Mm-hmm. Wow. Sure. Yeah.
Chris: You know, I said in an interview I did with PRS recently, like a little Q &A thing I did. And this is something that I was instilled in me at an early age by Nissan Stewart. I said, people gotta want to be around you, Like, that's what's going to keep getting you the calls back. Like, talk about the weather. How's your family doing? You see the game last night.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Right.
Chris: That stuff matters, you know, I'm gonna, we only on stage for two to four hours a day. That's it, max, the shows hour and a half, hour, two hours, whatever, soundcheck, hour and a half, two hours, whatever. Four hours out of 24 hours, bro, that I gotta be around you. If I'm not enjoying that or if someone doesn't want your company or you're just not a personal, pleasable person to be around, you're not gonna get called.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah.
Chris: You know, it doesn't matter how incredible you are. Somebody else is probably almost as good, but they're a great person to be around. They're such a good hang.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Or they don't need to be as good for this music. You know, that's that's a thing too.
Chris: Or that. Or that. Or that. That is very much a thing, bro. You don't require all that, man.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: It just doesn't. You know, I could find somebody who's a lot more pleasing and can still get the job done. I think there's people miss this and like, oh, you just have to be a fun hang. Nah. Right. It's Sean. Yeah, you know, Sean Horton. OK, legendary shot. So Sean has episode and he said it in a way that it really registered to me. He's like, I'm a fun hang because I'm prepared.
Chris: Well, bro, still gotta execute. We've all been all put together. Yes, of course, I know, Shnapp. Hmm.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: And I never really analyzed it that way because but it's true. Imagine when you walk into a room and you're like, I don't know what's going to happen. I don't know my parts. didn't practice. I don't. You ain't a fun hang you. You nervous as hell.
Chris: ⁓ bro. Right, and you like kind of bringing us down, like...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, it's like, ⁓ you good. But he said he's like, I'm a fun hang because I'm prepared. So people got to realize that hang part is only enjoyable when you are prepared, when you've properly planned and done all your preparation, then it's enjoyable. But you got to be fun to be around.
Chris: Right, like I'm not with that. Absolutely. It all like I said, bro, it all comes together, bro. It all ties in together rather.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, so there's going to be a lot of guitarists that listen to this, and I know they're going to hate me if I don't start asking guitar questions. So excuse me for being a little bit of a nerd for a second. As a guitarist, and I've been in band leading spot in these spaces and across the board, one of the things I find with guitars is a couple of different things, and I would love to know how you navigate it, because to me, you execute it perfectly in albums. There's not always guitar in there, so you got to find
Chris: Yeah, I don't care bro, let's go
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: some space to play something and then tone is something else I feel they're struggling with. So I would love to hear what you think guitarist are struggling with because you are the best of the best right now and maybe how to navigate some of these these dilemmas that they're experiencing because we always want them to do well like this. It's not fun if the homies aren't really out there having fun with us. So what do you think?
Chris: Um, man, to the first part, to where there's no guitar sometimes, what I specifically do, I, because I don't like speaking in generalities either, like I will be real with you, this is what I think. What I try to do, man, is I'll find, you know, being a producer also helps. I don't say that because you have, my...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: So are you. Yeah.
Chris: thought process and my way of thinking is always space. What gives a song space, what allows it to breathe, but what can I contribute to that's not crowding up the space? So like sometimes I'll just, double a key part. I'll make some type of ethereal sound like with a bunch of delay and reverb and just color, you know what saying? Atmospheric stuff that's not in the way. It's not a big part of the song, but you feel it. It's felt and it's not.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Hmm.
Chris: is not stepping on anybody's part, even if there's nothing there. Or I'll double the key part, like I said, like it's just, it just depends on the situation. And as far as tone, man, like I got my ass whooped with tone for a long time before I figured, won't, know, the thing about tone is you're always searching for the next best tone. Before I really figured it out, like my tone was absolutely shit. It was terrible.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Really. Sure, yeah. Really? Okay.
Chris: That was the worst. And I'll say it, man. I didn't know too much about pedals. I didn't know too much about pedal chains. I didn't know too much about what amps really did, what they were for. Man, the difference of needing a humbucker or a single coil. I didn't know this stuff that early on. I'll say...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right.
Chris: around like the Nick Jonas days, I started to kind of get it. They built me a little board that, you know, I was able to like pick out what I wanted. So I'm like, all right, this this this this upgrade, let's try to figure this thing out. So with the Nick Jonas camp, they bought me some stuff. They were able to build me a board. So I got some cool stuff out of that. Started messing with Roland and boss around that time. So it hooked me up with something to, know, I got a big boy board at this point. All right. We've got to figure this thing out and
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Okay. sure. Mm-hmm. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris: Steel trash, you know, I had the pedal, had everything I thought I needed and you know, didn't really get it. You know what saying? But that's when I start. All right, let me figure this thing out. And then I met Chris Pooley. The ⁓ legendary Chris Pooley and man, that is how we talk around the homies. But man, I went to the school of Chris Pooley when I got my tone together. went, I am a graduate.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yup. the legend, the legend himself.
Chris: of the school of like, ⁓ man, but no, got that, I got the Katy Perry gig in 2017 and it was just a month of just band rehearsal. And that was my first time ever being in a situation like that. So this is very much detail oriented. Like he's very, all right, they made like, he'll tell you, all right, this needs to be a plate verb with three second decay and about 60 milliseconds of pre-delay.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Ha Wow. Peace.
Chris: No, like that's how thorough he is, man. But that level of excellence that he required had me step it up. That had me, all right, let me figure out, okay, this is what I really started to dive into how marshals react and what I can do with them. started dialing, all right, this is what this app can do. This is how this takes that. Like I just started experimenting amongst the stuff. And then once I got to Kemper, it was game over.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. It was game on, right, right, right.
Chris: I 18, found, it's crazy as I was already hip to Kemper's in 2000, I was living in Long Beach. So 2016, we did a redo of the TV movie, we did a TV movie redo of the Whiz. Remember that? I played on that soundtrack. was Paul Jackson and I played on that soundtrack together. little right flip. But no.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm-hmm. Okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, I do, absolutely. Seize. Seize.
Chris: All right, but he was the first person I ever saw with a Kemper. This is 2015, so these things have been out for a while, but I was the first guy I'd ever seen do anything with this box. And I was like, all right, what is this? I need one of these. Because he still had the regular analog pedal board with the jump, but he was going with that, the Kemper. And I was just enamored, and I just, didn't know what was going on. So figured out later on.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Wow, okay. See.
Chris: All right, that's really when I wanted to build my board, built my board, found out what amps were a year later than that. After that, mean, or a couple of years rather. And then I started going down to Rabbit Hole, man. Kemper has this thing called Rig Manager, where it's all these different profiles of amps and type in different amps, seeing what they do and learning what different effects do it. Back to the school of Pooley thing. When you're working with Pooley and you have certain parts, he does what I think every MD in the world should do.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Mm-hmm.
Chris: is he sends out what he calls an up mix. You know about up mixes, bro. It's very helpful. So he sends out up mixes of your part and you can know exactly what you're playing. You can find the tone of what you're playing because you can hear it so clearly. So with that tool and that advantage, I was able to learn about a lot of guitar sounds and what they do. And ⁓ that helped me for every future gig.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yes. Yeah, absolutely. It's very helpful. It's very helpful. Yeah.
Chris: did from there. I figured I had I found a bass like I found out all right these cleans work these ethereal sounds work these distortion works these overdrives work like all of that and I just started going from there and I just built and just tried to keep fine tuning and fine tuning and just keep looking for that perfect tone every time I plug in.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Wow. So you spend a lot of time. This wasn't just you turn the camper on and magically it worked.
Chris: No. Out. Oh, no, man. Not at all. This took time. And it even took a while before I even started playing Kemper's out. Like, I wasn't using Kemper's on gigs. I may have started, I may have got my first one in 2018. I probably didn't start using it until that next year, like for gigs.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Okay. Okay. Wow, so full year almost of real preparation.
Chris: I would say about a good eight months. Yeah, for sure. A good eight months of just me messing with it.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Peace. That's valuable, though. Like, I think people should not put things on their ride or they don't know. You know, if you just don't believe that, you know, stop putting stuff. I don't understand it. I'm like, you know, what what happens if someone goes wrong? What do you do?
Chris: Don't say man, say that again. Say that again brother, why do you use modesty if you don't know how to use? You're not gonna always have a tech. You're not gonna always have a tech. know, certain gigs, you're blessed to be able to have some of the best techs that know about every piece of gear you're using better than you sometimes. But sometimes you don't. It's like, be sweet, know your stuff.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. The facts. Right. You got to know it, but you're carving out real time. And even when Poole is working with you and he's like, yo, this delay, this is what happened. That took time. What was that like for you? Because you're obviously a phenomenal player. If you're on Chris Poole's radar, you're no slouch. Right. That's a fact. So playing wise, you're going into this thing saying I'm killing or I'm confident, least I'm solid. Now, Poole is like, hey, I don't like that. How do you receive that feedback? Are you?
Chris: Yeah. Yeah.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Are you taking it as if you would do now? Because I know you now you see some feedback and is like, all right, cool, let's get it. You know, you're moving on. It's an afterthought. But in that moment, it wasn't an afterthought for you. Are you like, OK, I don't know what I'm about to do. He's about to fire me. What's your thought process?
Chris: No, it honestly, it never got to that point because I made it a point to try to know as much as I can. And even when I didn't know, I'm going to figure that shit out in real time. Like, all right, like, okay, it's too, like he'll say something like, all right, the delay is too bright. All right, what do I need to do to play it too bright? Put a low pass on it. Low pass it to 2000 or something like that to where it's not.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: I see.
Chris: You know what saying? take it off. Stuff like that. It's like little stuff like that, but you have to adjust. that's when knowing your gear comes in handy because you can make those quick adjustments on the fly and not be like, okay, how do I do this? Or he wants a tape delay instead of an analog or digital delay. You know what saying? You can make those changes in real time because you know your equipment. I never felt overwhelmed because I least knew where to find it.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Right. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Chris: Like we will get there, you know, we're gonna figure it out, but at least I know how to get there.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: That's fire, man. That's great that you had that drive, number one, in obviously not getting discouraged because I think that can happen. You know, there's a lot of music.
Chris: Well, it can, yeah, 1000%. But man, I just tried to never think like that, man, because we are always our worst critic. And I beat myself up all the time on this tour. I even think my last show was probably one of the worst shows I've ever had on this tour. And only because I'm in my head so much, man. Only because, all right, I played a wrong note here, or I didn't articulate this as much, or I wanted to do something different. It's stuff like that.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: No way. Fair.
Chris: It's the stuff like that that has you thinking or has you in your head that, you didn't have a good show, but to someone else, they'll never say that, they'll never notice. But it's it's things like that to where you just can't be in your head so much. And I try to be in my head so much to where if something like that happens, I'm just gonna try to execute and get the job done.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: brain. Sure. Were you always able to do that or had that taken time for you to have that ability? OK.
Chris: It took time, it took time for sure. Cause I mean, I wasn't always able to do it. You know, I could always want to do it, but you know, not always able, you know, so it takes time. takes getting your ass kicked. takes, you know, getting through that bootcamp. All right, that's not what that is. Go learn what this is and come back stronger the next day. Figure it out. It's like, it's like, like football, man. Like, it's like working out, you know, you do something and you correct it. You, you try to, you try to do the best.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Yeah. Ew.
Chris: form you possibly can. And if you don't have it right, you learn what it is, figure it out, and you try it again next time. Period.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: There you go. And never getting discouraged about it.
Chris: Never get into a scourge about it, bro. It's always a process. This is process.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: That's amazing. So now you're stepped into and we're skipping so much because I'm on limited time right now and I know you're home. So what we're definitely going to have to do a part eight for sure, because there's so many things I want to talk to you about and you're such a wealth of knowledge, man. But now that you're pivoting to current, you stepped into Bruno space. You know, now you are playing guitar for one of the biggest artists in the world.
Chris: I'm good. Yeah. Let's do it.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: and y'all are killing it right now. And I mean, through the phone, y'all sound incredible, which is that's very difficult to do. So, yeah, whoever that person is, well done.
Chris: Appreciate you. Have a good. His name is Sully, one of the coders in...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Really? So shout out to Sully, man. You're killing it. No, we hear you, baby. You you do it. I know over there. What was that process like as much as you can share? Because now you're not just playing anymore. You are the show, which is very different than most of the gigs that we're taking on right now. A lot of times we're just like an added special. No, you guys are the show. You're doing all the choreo. There is no dancers. This is you all.
Chris: Yeah. What's that? effect.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You know, these are the moments where you guys are stepping forward. If he's not on stage, you guys actually have to carry this. So what was that like for you? Because that's a that's a pretty big learning curve, I would think.
Chris: dollar percent. I'll say I've never had to, obviously, even if you've never done a gig like this, you haven't, but I have never experienced this amount or this workload, this amount of workload on a gig, you know what saying? Because I'll say this, I had the advantage because the music that we're learning, I played on the album. So it's like, I'm not learning, I'm not learning music, I'm learning.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Okay.
Chris: dance moves in rehearsal. so some of the hard parts done. I know the show. I know the music. I'm music, coming in, learning, coming in. I'm over here trying to figure out a step while I'm playing the part. It's an adjustment, man. it's, your mental has to be right. Your physical got to be right. Like, I got to have to get back in the gym, like, consistently. I'd stop. But I had to get back consistently because, that's two hours of
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. sure. Yeah. Yeah. Sure. Yeah.
Chris: constant moving. I said, we're the show, man. We have choreo. have places we have to be. There's moments in the show. It's a production. It's a two hour production. It's not two hours of me playing guitar behind an artist with some dancers. I'm in front. You know what saying? I'm doing two step doc. So it's like, but...
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, we got some moves. Yeah, we got a...
Chris: It's a learning curve, man, but you know what though? Thank God for the ability to be able to take it off. I mean, because I don't think a lot of cats could, you know, in any position. There are a lot of cats that can, I'm sure, for sure, but I don't think a lot of people could either.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right. Mm-mm. It's a specialty gig, man. And I'll say it because you have to be modest. I don't. You don't want to. It's. It's like an award show. You take an American Idol being you take the voice show as much as people might be able to play the song you're hearing the workload. Everybody can't handle that. Handling, you know, 36 songs, 42 songs a day, which is not uncommon. That's difficult.
Chris: I'm When I did Hollywood Week with one of the, I was sitting in for American Idol for a little bit last year. And I think we did one of the weeks, I can't remember what week it was exactly, but it was 102 songs in two days. 102 songs in two days.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: What? No, not everybody can do that. I know that that's the thing is like, that's not a joke. That's so it had to be early on when there's a lot of contestants. That's a lot. That's a lot of songs. Yes, early on, so it's like that's to my point, to your point of not everybody can do that. And you're doing full on choreo. You're engaged the whole time. You are responsible for the crowd's experience.
Chris: I'm exaggerating dog. Yeah, it was Hollywood week. So yeah, it was Hollywood week. percent.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: You know, obviously Bruno is doing his thing, but you can't just be a slouch up there. You got to support this brother as he's doing what he's doing.
Chris: And It holds you to that standard.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: as he should, you know, and that's something that, bro, that's a testament to how excellent you are as a player and as a person to be able to navigate these waters. And also respect the beat on the album. Come on, bro, like.
Chris: Bless you, brother. Bless you,
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Would you play something different? Know that you had a dance to it.
Chris: ⁓ Yes? New parts ain't even hard! That was crazy! Let me make it more simple.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Right, right. Sure. Bro, respect, man. And Q's with you now too, right? If I remember correctly.
Chris: We have Nick Cuez out there and he's, if anybody's working hard on that gig, it's him. He ain't dancing, but that dude is playing box. He's playing organ. He's playing percussion. He's singing background. He's playing talk box. He is working hard up there. He's the hardest working person on that stage next to bro. Like to be real, he's killing it dog. Like we are having so much fun on this gig.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: I mean, P'Ku's a hard worker in general. Yeah, I'm proud of y'all.
Chris: I'm pretty sure when comes out somewhere, whenever this comes out, we still gonna be going, because this tour is about to be forever, but come see us. Well, only got the dates for the year, but man, they're predicting like about three, four years. Because we still gotta do Asia, we still gotta do Australia, we probably gonna do Europe twice, probably gonna do the US twice. I ⁓ my God, we still gotta go to South America. That's when they love him down there.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, how long are you allowed for, man? Yeah.
Chris: We're gonna be, never move. Move the family in South America.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: guess. Good. And I'm so glad because y'all deserve the accolades of what what that gig brings. Y'all have pioneered a lot of stuff for for people like myself, even though we're the same age, y'all really carved a lot of space out for us, man. So thank you. For real. Like y'all are really just dope.
Chris: ⁓ bro. You know, it's there first. We cool first.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: Yeah, we and that was the dope part about being in that experience. You know, I walked into I didn't I didn't really know you. knew Nick kind of, you know, but y'all welcome me into your fold instantly. was like, yo, what's up? Hi. You know, I mean, let's get to it. But that's love, man, and thank you all for that. You know, thank you for that, because you're a massive part of of that entity, bro. So thank you for being on the show, man. We will have to do a part two.
Chris: Yes, sir. Right. That's what it is.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: whenever you get some some time. But Chris Payne, man, thank you, bro.
Chris: Bro, good brother Jarvis, love you bro, appreciate you.
Jarvis 'Jeb' Barnes: And love. Thanks, everybody, for being here. We appreciate you.
Chris: Yes, Till next time.