Generation Radio burst out in 2022 with an amazing debut record. Collectively, it’s members have sold millions of records and are responsible for some of the most iconic music in history. Generation Radio is back with a new record out on April 17 called Take 2. Jay DeMarcus (Rascal Flatts) and Jason Scheff (Chicago) recently took some time to talk about the record.
Please press the PLAY icon below for the MisplacedStraws Generation Radio interview –
On the 4-year delay between albums – Jason: We’re taking a page out of the way Boston made records, just take our time. No, I’m only kidding.
Jay: It’s just been one of those things that we’re scheduling and also we’ve been on the road working.
So, just getting everybody corralled because we got one guy that lives in Texas. Steve (Ferrone) and Jason live out in Los Angeles. A couple of us live here in Nashville. Getting us together on a regular basis to create a new album has been a logistical nightmare, but we did it. I’m so happy that we put the effort in because I feel like the album is in even bigger representation this time around of who we are today as a band.
On if Take 2 was recorded in person or remotely – Jay: No, we get in the room and cut old school. I think all of us feed off the energy of that, and it’s really easier in my opinion to capture the energy and the magic of a moment when you’re all sitting in the same room together.
Jason: We all came up that way too. So, it’s really going back to the way we learned how to do this. It’s fun. It really is.
On if they had to reinvent Generation Radio without Deen Castronovo – Jason: We didn’t really consciously do that. When you get new people, it’s going to take on a different shape, and Steve Ferrone is Steve Ferrone. He and Deen Castronovo are about as far apart as you can imagine the way that they interpret music and play music, but they’re equally as great in that capacity. So, Steve Ferrone is a meat and potatoes, not really a lot of fancy, extra stuff. Deen is just, what I love, and I’ve always been like this as a bass player. I like to overplay, but when it’s within the context of honoring songs, he’s honoring songs and vocals and all that stuff. When Steve came with us, obviously it took on a different shape because, we had that openness to how he plays, so we didn’t really sit down and say “Let’s come up with a different thing now”, it just naturally evolves into that.
On deciding what covers and songs from their collective histories to put on the record – Jay: It was a tough decision to make, but those are some of the songs that we’ve been playing on the regular as we go out and do shows, and we wanted to put our own spin on them and our own interpretation of those iconic songs. For me, “You’re The Inspiration” was my vote because I’d grown up listening to that song and worshiping that band for so long. The chance to reimagine that song and play my own parts on it was a dream come true for me. So, I was the guy in the room jumping up and down, raising my hand for “You’re The Inspiration”. I think probably “Here I Go Again” as well, because it’s a guilty pleasure of mine. I love hearing (Tom) Yankton sing that, and Yankton just sings the crap outta that. It’s a fun one to do live it. It usually lights the room up. We just all threw our songs in the ring and we’re like, “Oh, we should do”, I think Jason said, “we should do a new version of “These Days” in the show every night”.
Jason: That was the first song that I got exposed to Rascal Flatts on, and it’s just such an amazing song. Jay does such a great job with it, and like he said, we’ve been playing it live enough where it’s become really part of our DNA.
On why their partnership works – Jay: I think it’s the mutual admiration and respect we have for each other and where we’ve come from musically. I was an eighties kid, so I grew up loving all of the eighties rock bands, Boston, Chicago, Journey. All of those arena rock or power ballad bands was my life’s blood as a kid. So, there’s a lot if you go back and listen to Rascal Flatt’s records and really dissect those in the production, in the songwriting style arrangements, all of that kind of thing. We tried to really sneak all of our influences into country music. There’s a thread that goes through all of those records that very much harken back to the records that they were making, in the eighties with (David) Foster and Peter Wolf and Mutt Lang. We’ve got one of the greatest eighties guitar players in the world producing, seven of our biggest records, which is Dan Huff (Giant). So, there’s a common DNA thread that runs through all of our music. I think that is a natural evolution and part of the progression of what happens when you put the two of us together to make music. I think our similarities, our tendencies are a lot alike, and we’re all drawn to the same things.
Gary in Rascal Flatts is one of the best tenor voices that I think you could find anywhere. I love that and I’m proud to be in that band, not only because Gary is such a world class singer, but he very much is akin to what I loved about Jason’s voice when he took over for Peter Cetera, those guys lived in an era where they’re all trying to out sing each other to see who could sing the highest. That’s what I grew up on. So, it’s naturally what I love and what I’m drawn to. I’m sure that’s a convoluted answer to your simple question, but I think it makes sense though. Just similarities that both of us bring to the table that makes it easy.
Jason: Let me add to the convolution. First of all, I love when he says, and he is so right, because all of us tenors see each other these days. I’ll be 64 in April and we all say, “Boy, did we paint ourselves into a corner, right?” But I’ll tell you what, meeting Jay was that moment for me where I met the next generation.
To be honest, I always thought that I was born a little too late. I always thought the real era, especially joining a band like Chicago, the real era is the seventies that I grew up with.
Jay: That’s crazy. I felt the same way growing up in the eighties.
Jason: Yeah, I think a lot of people relate to this that, the golden era was the seventies and that original configuration of Chicago only to find at a certain point that I meet a guy like Jay who says, “I’ve loved the band and you’re a big part of it, your era”, and realizing, yes, I’m half of the eighties hits and so that’s my part of the legacy. You don’t realize it as it’s going down, but all of a sudden there’s Jay, they bring me out on the road. He said, “We learned, “Will You Still Love Me””, this is like 2002, 2003, like early on. I’m in Chicago, and I’m going, “Man, I don’t know about this. I’m gonna walk out on stage and these young kids are just gonna go, “Who’s this old man?”” They knew all the words. They were singing 16, 17,000 people singing along with us. I get chills even talking about it. They played, “You Shook Me All Night Long” as their encore and I realized they’re not country fans, they’re music fans. This guy made history as a country artist, but this is well-rounded. My excitement is to work with somebody that’s just a combination of all of it. I feed off of it.
Jay: I think it was more like 25,000 people though.
Jason: Okay. 35,000. I think it was more like 20. Probably.
On the other members of the band – Jay: Chris Rodriguez, I’ve known probably close to 35 years now. When I first moved to town, he was one of the guys that you aspired to be. He was a first call session guitar player and a first call background vocalist. The first records I made in town was with a Christian band that I actually signed a record deal coming outta college with a band called East to West. Another connection we had early on was Peter Wolf produced The Stone of Sisyphus record, but he also produced half of that band’s record on our second record. So, we had a common thread there too.
I met Chris Rodriguez years ago and knew that if I had the chance to make music with him, I absolutely wanted to take advantage of that opportunity. What can you say about Chris? He’s done it all. He’s played with everybody from Megadeth to Keith Urban to Amy Grant, to, Peter Cetera, Kenny Loggins. Did I already say Kenny Loggins? I probably did, but he’s just played with everybody. He’s a well-traveled journeyman and he’s a consummate pro.
Tommy Yankton. I met years ago playing in clubs downtown and walked in and heard him screaming his head off. Singing Journey, Boston and all of these, screaming high songs and playing guitar, playing his face off. I was like, “Good Lord”. So we hired him in Rascal Flatt’s band. He actually toured with us for a couple of years. Then went on to do his solo thing and when the pandemic hit, he was one of the first people I called and said, “Hey, I think we could have some fun and make some music together.” He knew Jason. They had a friendship they you’d written together too, I believe. So, it was just one of those things that I called up some people that I always wanted to get in a room with and make music with, and we had so much fun that here we are six years later doing it again.
On if Jason enjoys the freedom of multiple projects as opposed to one band – Jason: I do and spending a little over 30 years with Chicago, which is amazing, and a great part of my life. But that takes up a lot of your life. We were touring 120 plus dates a year. I was doing background vocal sessions with Bill Champlin right away though. So that variety of, and Jay’s the same way. We’re session musicians, we’re producers, session musicians, but not just, “Okay, I’m gonna be the singer in this band”. And I love that.
Starting with Champlin and veering off to, he’d be saying, “We’re singing for the Commodores today, Geno Vanelli tomorrow, Kenny Rogers”. I always loved it. Now having the time to myself. I’m the guy that Alex Lifeson asks to come and be Geddy (Lee) at, some corporate events and Robbie Krieger, “Jason, can you be Jim Morrison with me at this?” Yeah, absolutely. Paul Stanley. Tommy Thayer’s a good buddy. “Hey man, Paul needs somebody to come and do these three songs.” Kiss I’m in the Doors I’m in and Jay’s going, “Yeah, all old bands”. I can just hear his brain going, “Yeah, that’s nice, man”.
Jay: So what he’s trying to say is he’s really 80.
Jason: But I love it. Yeah. So, I love the variety. So does Jay. He’s whoring himself out to all kinds of people out here.
Jay: Will play for food.
On Jay reuniting Rascal Flatts – Jay: I’ve got a whole new appreciation for it. I think a little bit of it I took for granted when I was on the hamster wheel of touring and doing another record and touring and doing another record. We’re having a whole lot of fun right now, and I think what makes it fun is we’re not killing ourselves anymore. We’re doing 25, 30 shows a year, which is the perfect amount to go back, experience it, see the fans, sing that great music. So many people mean so much to them. It’s really great to be back in that environment. I love those guys. They’ll always be one of the biggest parts of my life and my career. Gary (LeVox)’s my second cousin for crying out loud, so they’re family. They’re always gonna be there. I’m always gonna honor and love what we do together as Flatts. But, being able to have another creative outlet where we’re doing a different type of music and a different type of thing with some different musicians. It’s exciting because it just gives you another brush to paint with, it just gives you another canvas that is really fun to blend all of the worlds together. Hopefully being in that band makes me better being in this band and vice versa.
I think that’s why, going back to what Jason said just a few minutes ago, I think that’s why I go into the studio and play on other people’s records and continue to produce other people’s records because I love to play and I don’t wanna do just 25 or 30 shows a year with Rascal Flatts. I wanna play and contribute as much as I can while I’m still able enough to do it and still have fun doing it, and it still means something to me. So, it’s important for me. Idle time does not serve me well. I love to create, I love to keep moving forward, and I think that’s what one of the most fun things about this band is that all of us kind of have that same little tweak in us that have to keep working and have to keep creating and making new music.
Jason: I thought he was gonna say, I don’t want to just go out and just do “25 or 6 to 4”. But actually, you know what, I don’t wanna tell on him. As long as I’ve known this guy since 2001, 2002, whatever.
Dude, he’s always been doing other stuff, man. These guys were taking off and he was, “Here’s Michael English. Come and sing background vocals on this, Jason”.
On when Generation Radio will tour – Jay: We just switched management companies and booking agencies, so we’re really excited. I know that they’re pitching us for some tours right now in the fall and for some dates in the fall trying to put together a little tour. So, we’re leaving that space open in our individual calendars to go out and hopefully do some good work with Generation Radio because we sure have a whole lot of fun when we’re out there doing it. We just haven’t strung together enough shows to really create a tour. I’m excited about doing that eventually…. One of our taglines for what we do is, it came out of a joking session, but people go, “What are you guys, are you like a tribute band?” And it’s kinda yeah, we’re a tribute band, but we’re a tribute to ourselves.
