Groove, Grit, and Growth: Nikolai Reflects on Band Life and Rocklahoma Revelations

0:04 Hey, you're listening to Adventure on W4CY Radio. This is the Pipe Man here on the Adventure's Pipe Man W4CY Radio, and I'm here with. This is Billy from Nikolai. I'm Cory from Nikolai. I'm Cory K from Nikolai. Nice. And you're the odd man out because they're both wearing Nikolai merch and you're not. I didn't get the memo today. Yeah, you're right. That's terrible because people have to buy your merch or they can't listen to my show. And I'll tell you, your merch is pretty badass. Thank you very much.

0:50 We work hard at it and we present designs and everybody shoots it down, so it's got to kind of pass the committee where everybody's got to like it. There you go. So... What brings you to Rock, Lahoma? Well, we got invited, and it's our first time to be here, and it was kind of a bucket list thing for us to get to come and start and play one of the campground stages, and so now we've got a new bucket list, and that's to get on one of the big stages. Nice. That'll be next year, right? Absolutely. I've been emailing them every year for about the last five years. Really? Yeah. Persist until you succeed. Absolutely. And you're doing double duty, because I saw you last night drumming for Bad Allison.

1:35 Yeah, yeah. They asked me to sit in. I guess their drummer couldn't make it, so I tried to hammer down listening to those songs as much as I could. Their other drummer's great, so I just tried to do what he does and, you know, just to Just try to fill the role. So I hope it was all right. You did a bad ass job actually. And like one day's notice, right? One afternoon. Exactly. Like that's pretty bad ass. I got to say. Thank you. You got to be good to do that. We got him drunk. He passed out. We put headphones in his ears and put it on loop. There it is. That's what works. That's subliminal suggestion there.

2:15 So how'd this all come about? How did you guys get together and start this thing? I was in another band with Corey Brown, the guitar player. We were doing a tour, and that's... We played about 84 shows on that tour? Yeah, about 84 shows. Yeah, it was quite a bit. We had a residency at Six Flags in Arlington, Texas. Nice. It was pretty big for us. That's a fun residency, by the way. This was another band, and we got... that band fell apart and we were driving back from Texas and we were in Albuquerque, New Mexico. And we go to a restaurant cause we were like, let's just start our own band.

2:57 Let's start our own thing. And he was like, he's like, yeah, he goes, you know, I'll take over the singing duties. You know, I'll play bass. We had a drummer at the time. So we just do like a three piece type thing. And yeah, so I had this idea about, because one of my favorite shows is Breaking Bad. So I had this idea about the elements. You know how they used to do the credits with the little elements? Yeah, yeah, yeah. We should do something like that or something close to that or something. So that's what Nikolai is. So we took all the elements together. Now that's cool. Yeah, it's the big stages for life, right? Yeah. Yeah. So the theory behind it is that nickel is an alloy, so it's used to create. So we create music.

3:45 Potassium brings balance. That brings balance. Oxygen sustains life. So we create music that brings balance to sustain life. And lithium is a power source. And so we got to write powerful music. So that was kind of how we came up with the name Nikolai. And everybody thinks it's... We watched The Last Kingdom on tour that time. The whole... Every season. So everybody thinks it's kind of like this medieval name. Nikolai, you know, but... I was thinking Russian. A lot of people think that, but it's a bunch of symbols. It's brilliant, though. It's brilliant, though. It's the elements. Rock and roll is a lot of elements that have to come together to make it work.

4:26 Absolutely. You could do a cool contest where people could figure out where your band name comes from. I'm sure you'd get a lot of funny shit. Yeah, that would be awesome. I don't think anybody would guess it, really. That's what's brilliant. Like, I normally don't ask about band names, but the fact that you told me what it was, I'm like, I would have never figured that out in a million years. I'm just finding this out now. They didn't fill you in. You're not going to quit, are you? No, not today. So, why was Rock, La Jolla a bucket list for you? Why was it what?

5:06 A bucket list for you guys. Oh, this is awesome. I mean, this is like. I've done the festival thing with the campground stage. Had a blast. But this is just another level of community. Everyone's walking around with a backpack, just giving out trinkets. You just kind of walk up to anybody and say hi. This is just like. I think it's the closest to Woodstock that I've ever came. It is a killer festival. It's awesome. Yeah, this is cool. I've met so many cool people at this festival over the years, and I camp here, and I normally don't camp at the festivals in the U.S., but it's the most killer fucking campground ever out there. I agree. It's so much fun.

5:48 I agree. It's unbelievable. It blows my mind what goes on out there in that campground. You hear that, Earl? You hear that? Deliverance, that's a different state. Our neighbor, we got up to pee this morning at about 6.30, and he's already in the pool in his underwear with a beer saying. Hey, neighbor, I didn't wake you up, did I? What part of yelling. To your wife and the dogs barking thought it was going to wake me up in a tent? That's funny as shit. By the way, can I borrow a cup of sugar? Yeah. Have you been to the Buses, Boobs, and Buttholes campsite?

6:32 I don't think we've been to that one. Where exactly do I find that place? Okay. So there's a school bus out there. Oh, that's... Okay, yeah, we heard about that. That they built a deck on top of it. Stripper poles, right? No, that's a different one. That's a big old red bus. Okay, okay. So. Yeah, so if you walk out the venue, the one you're talking about is right there. Okay. Okay, and they have strip shows going on, but people from the audience, it's mostly the dudes that get up and get on the stripper poles, which is what's funny. But if you go walk a little further down in kind of the middle, you'll see there's a flag going up, but there's this yellow school bus, and they built a deck on top of it. And people go up and down that thing all night. That might be our neighbor.

7:24 And I tell you what, nothing ruins a party like a dude on a strip bar. I know, right? But the buses, boobs, and buttholes, they'll give you jello shots. They'll give you pretty much anything. Even chlamydia. He's loving the jello shots. Yeah, they have a bunch of jello shots. I found that out the other night. There may or may not have been some other substances in the Jell-O shots that we were given, but we had the end. Billy and I also did a shot out of a prosthetic leg or a shotgun to beer out of a prosthetic leg night one.

8:09 Okay. They said it was a $ 20, 000 beer shotgun machine. Wow. Good stuff. I didn't see the prosthetic leg beer shots, so that's pretty good. We had fun. There's a lot of cool shit out there. Yeah, we're having a blast, man. I mean, it's fun. It's cool. It is. Like, this festival is like a community. And to the point of that, like, there's corporate companies that do other festivals I do that try to take Rock La Home over. What? Oklahoma people didn't have nothing for that, man. It happened one year, and then all these local people, they're like, bring it back to us. So that's what's cool about Rock, Oklahoma.

8:56 I think the one thing, too, is just. You're playing in front of a bunch of people and just getting to walk around the campsites. I can't tell you how many people have walked to us just to give encouragement and were happy. To have caught the show. We brought like 50 CDs and we got done with the show. We had so many people running up to us wanting CDs. And even the next night... And so I think that's really cool because it shows that people really listen and they care about trying to take on your music and listen to it and want to become a fan. And that's, I mean, at the end of the day, we're here to have fun, but we're here to also share our art.

9:37 That's really important. I'm going to interrupt your podcast. I don't know what the fuck you're talking about. Fuck Sean Nation. I get it. Oh my God, we're on track. Fuck this guy. What are you doing over here, Sean? Fuck Sean Nation. And look, he's wearing a competitor's shirt. You've got to come interrupt the interview. I've got to say this, though. This is one thing, in my opinion. music is never competition. Because there is always room at the top. And I hate when bands are competitors to other bands. It makes no sense to me. So, we were talking before about you with that. And how you are so into helping other bands and Like, nothing's a secret. If you've done something and it's working, you'll tell it. That's the way this community should be.

10:30 It's way cooler if everyone in the elevator gets a beer. Yeah. You know, not one guy gets six beers. Exactly. You are that one guy. No, I'm just kidding. You're having a good time. It reminds me of, I was in Denmark having a conversation with some chick, and she's like, You know, Americans think that our system doesn't work because we pay such high taxes. My viewpoint is I don't give a shit if I pay the high taxes because I want to share with my countrymen. And why should my neighbor have two cars or I have two cars and my neighbor have none? I'm like, what a refreshing attitude, you know?

11:12 I still think, though, that doesn't mean that we need to hold them accountable to spend it wisely. That's true. And we should love everybody and not hate everybody for their differences. Because deep down, I generally think that 90% Now, I'm not saying there's not the sum. I generally think that 90% want the same outcome. Yeah. We get tied up in how to get there. We get also tied up in people trying to divide us and put labels on us. And really, we should just be supporting each other. and helping each other and putting the hand up, you know, to everybody. And the difference is, I love what you said about that because I think we learn more from people different from us and people the same. Like you're talking to people that are the same, you already probably know most of what they're saying. But learn from somebody different and maybe you'll kind of have a more, I say balanced viewpoint, you know?

12:13 And I think that's the way it should be. Listen, you know, it's funny. I travel the world and humans are just humans no matter where you go. It doesn't matter. And a lot of things I've seen in other countries, I was like, what the hell were they telling me all my life? Because a lot of times, like the powers that be, they'll tell you stuff. Oh, it's scary out there. And blah, blah, blah. I just find it's the same most places and people are just, there's one race, the human race. And just all love each other. And again, with the music, the gatekeeping that's always been in music is ridiculous. I remember being a teenager, long hair, and I couldn't go to punk shows because I had long hair. Like, that's stupid. So I'm glad that we have bands like you that think the same way.

13:05 We actually have a brand new single that just came out for Rock, Oklahoma called The Gatekeeper. Yep. And it's really about balancing the things that you allow in your life to hurt you, to wound you. And that's kind of the whole concept of our album that calls the outcome is the album title. And the whole album is written based from a perspective of that we own our destinies. And then a lot of times that we have to make sometimes tough decisions with things that have hurt us, things that are bringing us down. But we all have the power to change that outcome and to see the positive in things. And when you start seeing the positives instead of the negatives, things really turn around. I agree because I'm also a motivational speaker, so I'm big into the positive side. People spend too much time worrying about shit that may or may not ever happen or doesn't affect their life in any way, shape, or form. I don't care what anybody else does. If they're not trying to hurt people and they're being a better person, it doesn't affect my life.

14:08 Why do I care what they do with theirs? Very true. So what got you guys started in music to begin with? Like you all have different stories. What was that one moment that you were like, you knew this is where you had to be? So I got a good story. So when I was in high school, I'd say about my junior year, we had this guy that used to set up his little lamp in the gymnasium. When everybody told him and the teachers all told him not to do it, he used to just play in the gymnasium and just was a killer guitar player. So everybody used to go watch him, and I used to be like, I'm like, I got to learn how to do that. This is like the coolest stuff ever. I got to learn how to do that. So, I mean, I started playing guitar, but I switched over to bass. But that's what got me started. That was like a moment for me. It was like a light bulb moment, being like, oh, my God, I got to do this. It's like so cool.

15:00 Nice. Now, before we go on to the next one, I have a trivia question for you now based on what you said. Okay. Okay. And Bad Allison didn't get this answer, so don't feel bad if you don't. Who is the most famous bassist out there that was originally a guitarist, but the band already had two guitars, so they drew the short straw to become the bassist? There's a lot of bands like that in there. Who's like one of the most famous bassists like that? Famous bass players? Wow, I've got to think, that's... That's a question you really got to think about.

15:41 Right. Right. So they're a famous band. Yep. And he got switched to the bass. Do they know? Do they have any clue? No, no, it wouldn't be Geddy Lee. Nope. No, no, no. I'm going to go Lemmy Hill. Nope. My only other one that I would say, because based on his playing, would be Sheehan. I would say Sheehan, Billy Sheehan. Okay, so think further back. Virgil Mack? Further back. The guy from Thin Lizzy, right? No? Further back. Oh, wow. I thought I had it. Paul McCartney. Bingo. So now if you listen. Nelly Kessler for the bingo card.

16:25 What did I win? A new Ferrari? You won to have more interviews. Nice. No, but you know what? Now, if you listen, because I was a big Beatles fan. I never knew that. And now that I listen to him, I'm like, oh, my God, he is playing it like a guitar. He's busy, yeah. Here's probably something that you didn't know. Gene Simmons, the same thing. He started on guitar, switched to bass. See, I didn't know that. Like Paul Stanley, they switched. Really? Gene Simmons, phenomenal bass player. I think Nikki Sixx, too. Yeah, Nikki Sixx, I think, was a guitar player. Look at that. My other guess, you said somebody really famous. I was going to guess like Timothy B. Schmidt from the Eagles. Okay. I'm not sure. I could be wrong on that, but I know they were going through a big guitar player thing.

17:10 In fairness, though, he said one of the best guitar players, so Nicky and Gene may like me out on that one. We're talking people that switch. Sorry, Nicky. So I got my start in playing music. He started a recorder and switched to the flute. Now he plays clarinet on the side. No, I played sports growing up, and I don't know, it's something just watching a drummer drum. you know, just kind of something afterwards, I could see it in my head, I could visualize it, and I think there's, you can approach drums the same way you approach sports, and that's what got me started, that's what drew me in, I loved it.

18:02 You know, what's funny about that is I played drums for nine years as a kid, and I played sports, but I have to, I ain't a drummer, I have to get hats off to them, like, That shit's like rubbing your belly and rubbing your head at the same time. And you do have to be a serious athlete to play drums, especially in this weather. Look, see, there he goes. He's pretty good at that. I probably wouldn't be doing that. I'm dumb as hell, but I'm pretty good at carrying heavy shit. It's a big part of playing drums. How about your story? Well, I actually started in the drums and I played all through high school. I got to college and played drums in bands through college. And at the end of college, I just got married and I got asked to go on a world tour starting in Japan. And I remember I was so excited because, you know, the bands weren't huge, but they were going to Japan to play. you know, do like 20 shows and then we're going to stop in Europe for like 10 shows.

19:02 And so it was going to be. Called a world tour. I was so excited. I remember walking through the door. I'll never forget this. And I go, oh my gosh, I got asked to play drums on a world tour. And I remember my. Wife at the time looked at me and she goes, I married a businessman, not a musician. And it was kind of, you know tongue-in-cheek but it was also really serious like this will never be tolerated and that i i sold all my drums i never played drums again and i noodled on guitar but i got divorced in. 2008 i was gonna ask you when you got divorced yeah i wasn't even gonna ask if. 16 years later i got divorced and i said you know what i bought a full stack i went into guitar center to buy a full marshall stack and somehow i walked out of there with a vox stack but i could play like three chord on a guitar and in 2011 I just decided hey I'm gonna get serious with this and 2013 I released my first single then I released a couple albums and then when I moved to Vegas I met these guys and.

20:02 It's kind of Now he can play six chords. I can play six chords and one note. And one note. And, you know, I know where the D is on the guitar. Wow, that could have gone really wrong on that answer. But anyways, and I've never looked back. And I think, to be honest, I think COVID was the big break for me because I had improved over the years. But, you know, when you play for five years, inevitably there's going to be two or three years where where you're not progressing unless you're really putting. In the work. And COVID made me put in the work to take the next level. And, you know, I started late in my 40s, so I feel like I've got a lifetime to go. That's very cool. So you like guitar much better than drums now? I don't know that I, like.

20:48 Billy said, I don't like, that's why I said I'm going to play guitar, because I didn't want to carry all the equipment to every gig. And now I still do it because I got the trailer and I do the, All the heavy gear, the PA and all the amps and stuff. But so at the end of the day, when you're in a band, you're going to have to do your part and contribute to hauling everything. And you're almost Dave Grohl. Because, you know, you went from drums to guitar. I'll tell a cool story about Dave Grohl. We were playing the whiskey once. And the night before, we went to the Rainbow. And Dave Grohl's sitting right across from us. And our drummer at the time was like, oh, my God, that's my Elvis Presley. And I was like, that's Dave Grohl. So we sent him around to drinks and he looks back at us at the table and he says, shook his finger at us, said, I buy the drinks here.

21:35 And he invited us over and we ended up shooting the shit with him for about an hour. We didn't have to ask for a single story or anything. He just kind of volunteered. The whole story, you know. Nice. And it was funny because we said, you should come see us play at the Whiskey tomorrow. It's our first time, and we were a little nervous. And he goes, man, let me tell you, last night I had to play the Hall of Fame induction, and that was really nerve-wracking. But it was in a very cool way. Yeah, it wasn't in an egotistical way. It was kind of like, hey. Yeah, it was really cool. And I didn't know the. Foo Fighters music that well, but after that I became a fan because that man is a showman. Well, I will tell you, he's known in the industry as one of the nicest guys in rock and roll.

22:20 And I've witnessed it firsthand. It's cool. I've done Dimebag, Dip Bash, and he's sitting there barbecuing for everybody. He's just so down-to-earth cool like that. And I have mad respect for him doing what he did after what happened to Kurt. Because he went in a totally different direction. He went anonymously to make it. Yeah, exactly. Instead of trying to feed off of Nirvana and off of Kurt, he just decided to do it his way, the right way, and look at where he's at now. We might not know him today if Kurt was still living. That's true.

23:03 But Dave, if you're listening to this, we've got a brand new album, and I think you should take us on the road with you, baby. We will not disappoint. There you go. There you go. So what else do you have coming up, uh, throughout the year here? What do we have coming up? I think as far as I know, we're in break mode for a minute, pushing this album, but we're not road dogging anymore, right? Yeah. We've got a couple of things in late October and then we're pretty much off from the middle of November till new year's. So, and, uh, We're already starting to write. We've already got like three or four songs for the next album kind of in the kitty. Nice. And that's really what we want to do since we're releasing singles once a month. And even though the album is fully available on the website, since we're releasing singles, we want to basically.

23:49 Never have a break. And the next album, after we've released all the singles on this one, we want to make sure that we immediately jump into the next album because... That seems to be the model these days to stay relevant because we really notice a big difference in our streaming when we're announcing something every month versus letting it sit stale for a few months, you know? Yeah, nobody wants to wait for a full album anymore. Yeah, and that's a shame because the effort that goes into a full album is just a lot of work and a lot of money, a lot of time, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears. You know what else is a shame is from the listener's standpoint is these These younger generations today that are into the track, track, track mentality. First of all, some of my favorite songs I would never listen to if I had that. Because the first 10 seconds, 20 seconds, you would have never made it past to the good part.

24:38 Second of all, you know, like you would immerse yourself in the albums. And it was like a whole experience. And, you know, like my kids will ask me, Dad, how do you know the words to every song? Well, that's because every album. And the order of the song arrangements made sense. And it was calculated what songs came in which order. And now we've thrown that and we've lost that art. Imagine Dark Side of the Moon without having that order or 2112 without having that order. Wouldn't make sense. I know sometimes if I hear Floyd come on the radio, it's weird to me because if it's like from Dark Side, you know, because the song's ending and I'm expected to merge right into the next one. It's like this sharp cutoff.

25:29 I'm like, that's weird, you know? And music takes you on a journey. That's what albums used to do. It used to just put your headphones on, escape into this journey of the music. Yeah, I was going to say that during COVID, when we were all shut down, I started up the vinyl collection again. That's probably one of the best things I've done in the last, like, five years as far as, like, a hobby. Like, another hobby other than music. Because I just... I mean, there's days where even my wife's into it. So, like, she has a bad day, I have a bad day. You just go home, you put an album on. And I won't buy an album unless you listen to it, like, side one, side two, you know, or side three, whatever. We got two records or whatever. Yeah, it's... It's an experience.

26:12 I think the younger generation doesn't get that. No, they don't. It's not that I buy old albums. I mean, you could still do it with a lot of new albums. But I listen to everything from Neil Diamond to Metallica. It's just the experience, right? Yeah. It's just the whole vinyl thing. We're definitely doing vinyl in this band. And to your point, my head engineer at the station, he passed away a few years ago, but he was a musician, had an 80s metal band. Then he did this country rock duo. And he used to also sing Neil Diamond. And you swore it was Neil Diamond. And he always used to say, I like metal, I like country, and I like Neil Diamond. I know, right?

26:55 I'm kind of like that with these guys. Neil Diamond is, oh my God, it's just a catchy song. It's like catchy. You can't go to a bar anywhere in the world. I've seen it. Where they have Sweet Caroline come on and the whole bar's. Not singing it. I guarantee you right now, if Sweet Caroline came on this PA with all these people here at this festival, they would sing it back. They'd all be sick. Hey, we sang it during the World Cup this year, every stadium after every soccer game that the U.S. Play. I think, though, what you're talking about, the album, we really try to bring that and play this album. We wrote this album and arranged the songs pretty much exactly the way we play it live, where. We string the songs together. And we all kind of had a say in that to make sure that when we play this album live, that you get that same feel that you're going to get on the album.

27:44 Nice. I dig that. We like it to be an experience. We want to give people a full, immersive experience. That's what it should be. Listen. Music is the best therapy there is. Both for you, the artist, me, the listener. And I am fully convinced if we had one big music festival like Rock, Oklahoma for the whole world to attend except for the political leaders, we could all work out our bullshit problems, have a nice little mosh pit, work it out, hug each other afterwards, and fuck those leaders trying to divide us. That's a good point. I like that. I really like that because you know why... So, yeah, you're right. If every city is Rock, Oklahoma, right? If you really think about it, wrap your head around it. Because some of the nicest people I've ever met in a long time have been at this campground in the last few days.

28:34 Oh, yeah. 100%. I mean, we walked around, like, trying to get people to the stage when we played, and everybody showed up. It was so great. And we meet people all from different cities and different genres and. Different families, and it was just awesome. Even our own perceptions from where we grow up, like I'm from New York and New Jersey. The idea of coming to Oklahoma really the first time I came to this was like, oh, my God, why do I have to go to Oklahoma? Or I did a festival up in Wisconsin. I'm like, what the fuck's in Wisconsin besides cheese? And then you go to these places and you realize that who put that bullshit in our head? Because, yeah, it's a different culture. But, man, like you said, first year I came here, I made tons of friends that are like lifelong friends now. I would never imagine that in a million years.

29:27 People are cool, man. Around the world, people are cool. People are interesting. Exactly. No matter where you go. People are cool. I just did Wacken in Germany, and I made so many friends there. you know, and like, so it just proves it doesn't matter where you go. Like to your point, you know, it doesn't matter. Keep an open mind. I think some of the third world countries I've gone to have the nicest people in the world because they're you, they don't give a shit about all the other shit. Like I've been in Indonesia and everybody's like, hi, how you doing? They're so friendly. I go to Costa Rica all the time because I surf. They're the nicest fucking people on earth. So to your point, people need to start just going around and meeting people around the world and form their opinions from that instead of the bullshit we're fed.

30:18 That will definitely change your opinion on how you view the world. It definitely does. Because growing up in America, myself, my generation... You know, I'm Gen X. We grew up, oh, don't go anywhere out there. Like the boomers would say to us, don't go anywhere scary out there. And like, this is the only free country and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. I remember the first time I went to Europe, I'm like, what the fuck were they talking about? Like, I feel actually more free here than I do at home. You know, so I definitely say explore the world, explore all the people, and explore all the music. Are you saying that in Europe you never got. You boys ain't from around here, are you?

31:03 No, but in Florida I have that shit. In Florida I have that shit. Oh my God, like, that reminds me of a funny story. I'm a New York, New Jersey Italian Jew who married a redneck hillbilly. I don't know what the fuck drugs I was on, okay? But the first time I went to her family's house for dinner... Like, my parents, they were very big on table manners and, you know, like that whole northeast way of how your table manners are. And fucking, I turned to her, I go, where's the napkins? She goes, oh, no, we have a community towel. I was like, oh my fucking God.

31:49 So you're saying with that combination that your kids are Arkansas? From Arkansas? Or West Virginia or some shit. Billy's from West Virginia. He's got more good West Virginia jokes and stories than you can shake a stick at. I used to be in the investment business and I had this kid that worked for me that was from West Virginia. Well, he went to school there. And he... told me he looked at his girlfriend's yearbook and he's like they all look the same. No offense they all kiss different though. Well you wouldn't. Know 23 and me is a family reunion right.

32:31 I was gonna make a family reunion joke but he pulled the rug underneath. It you lost it well don't you have another. True story i'm gonna let this one out of the bag uh Long story short, I made out with this girl the next summer. I saw her at my family reunion, and my mom was introduced. Like, oh, this is my cousin, Baba, and her daughter, Jamie. And me and her just looked at each other. We gave each other the look like, just don't say anything. Nice to meet you. So that actually happened. That actually happened. West Virginia. Wherever you are, Jamie, I'm still thinking about you. The question is, if you get married, are you still brother and sister?

33:11 Whatever mom and dad wants us to do. Let mom and dad decide. Nice. So is there anything else you want to tell the listeners about your band or anything you got going on? Tell them who we are. Our album just got released. What are we looking at? The Bunny Rabbit. There's a bunny rabbit trying to get in on the interview. You guys are freaking me out here. What are we looking at? So there's a bunny, all you people out there, there's a bunny rabbit out here. Who really likes Nikolai. He came out to check out the new album. Yeah, exactly. So you go to our website, www.nikolai-band.com. We have our full albums out. Just came out this week. We have merchandise.

33:59 Corey Brown does all the graphics, the website. He's got this band dialed in. So please go check it out. We would love the support. We're getting tremendous feedback from what we're doing so far. Unfortunately, our singer couldn't be here. He had some work-related stuff going on. But that's pretty much what's going on. We're just rocking and rolling, enjoying life and enjoying each other and meeting new people and having a good time. The enjoying each other is key. Because if you're not enjoying each other, you're not going to be a band for long. Exactly, yeah. You know? And I have to say, as somebody that does web development, good job on the website there. Because I did. That's the first thing I do when I look at a website.

34:44 I'm like, oh, that's shit. What the fuck? Did their kids do that thing? But I looked at your website. I was like, that's a pretty good website right there. Gold star, Corey. It's still young, though. There's a lot to do left on it. You know, it's like. There's always something. Website is like writing a new song. It's never truly complete. It's just when you decide to pull the plug and release it. Or any art, right? My dad used to paint shit. He would get stoned and paint for 48 hours straight. And it would start as one thing, and the end was never anything like what it started. He would always have to, sometimes I would say to him, just leave it. He'd always have to change it. So that's music. That's any art. That's the way it is. And you guys are badass.

35:32 Well, thank you. I'm glad you were here at Rock, Oklahoma. Dude, it was nice to meet you. Hey, nice meeting you, and thanks for being on the Adventures of Pipe Man. Thanks, brother. My pleasure. Thank you, guys. Thank you for listening to the Adventures of Pipe Man on W4CY Radio.