They Call Me Mista Yu
“They Call Me Mista Yu” is a Christian podcast whose topics include: family, faith, relationships, gardening, and even sports and pop culture! We're the All Purpose Pod for an All Purpose Life discussing topics that affect the whole person. And we want the whole person to be fully engaged with the creative, collaborative, life-changing presence of the Creator! At the core of all we do is Jesus Christ!
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They Call Me Mista Yu
From Rock Music to Faithful Harmony: Howard Gripp's Inspiring Journey
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Ever wonder how a rock musician becomes a beacon of faith through music? Meet Howard Gripp, a talented musician and IT director, whose journey from traditional rock to Christian rock is as inspiring as it is transformative. Howard shares how a divine calling reshaped his career and life, urging him to use his musical talents for a higher purpose. Despite initial doubts and hesitations, he embraced this change, finding fulfillment in aligning his music with his faith. This episode offers a deep dive into Howard's creative process, the challenges he faced, and the serene Wisconsin landscapes that continue to inspire his artistry.
Join us as we escape to a tranquil lakeside cabin in Wisconsin, a haven where Howard finds peace and creativity. Balancing life as a musician and an IT director at a family potato farm, Howard sheds light on the supportive, faith-oriented atmosphere that fuels his dual passions. The conversation delves into the nuances between corporate and family-owned business environments and highlights the farm's dedication to health and nutrition, working closely with PepsiCo to ensure quality products. As Howard navigates the complexities of his music ministry, he shares invaluable insights on balancing personal life with ministry demands and the importance of setting boundaries.
The episode wraps up with a candid discussion on the struggles and triumphs of pursuing a Christian music career. Howard opens up about the hurdles in gaining traction within the music ministry and the financial realities of streaming platforms. Yet, amid these challenges, Howard's unwavering commitment to his craft and the emotional impact of his music shine through. Encouragement abounds for listeners to pursue their dreams, no matter their age, with Howard's story serving as a testament to the power of faith, perseverance, and the support of loved ones. Whether it's through live performances, merchandise, or local community initiatives, Howard's journey is a s
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welcome back to one-on-one with mr you. I'm in the house, glad to be here. Good buddy of mine's, howard group, is in the house. We Glad to be here. Good buddy of mine, howard Gripp, is in the house. We're going to have an awesome chat, howard. How are you man?
Speaker 2:I'm good. How are you doing?
Speaker 1:Fantastic, glad to have you on, man, before we get started with the show and with our conversation. A lot of crazy winter weather going on throughout the country. How are you guys doing the way you are?
Speaker 1:It's cold but we're good, no fires Okay yeah, well absolutely Be praying for Los Angeles, because they're going through a lot right now. I got some family out there. I don't even know how they're even doing, so I'm just like watching the news. Unfortunately, that's my access right now. So you're from the Midwest, yep, is that right? Yep About 20 degrees 20 degrees.
Speaker 2:Tell us a little bit about your background, howard. I've been a musician most all my life. I'm also an IT director. That's what I do for my day job. Ok, I played drums since I was about six. My mom was into music, my brother was was a musician. She's still a musician so I kind of followed their footsteps and played rock and roll for most of my career and uh, transitioned to christian christian rock, uh, about a year and a half ago.
Speaker 1:okay, quick story, yeah, but I know that's that's, that's really good. I want to get into a little bit of that as well. But also, briefly, tell me what was the impetus for why you made the switch. Some people feel like you know, as a musician, you got to be creative and do different things. You did worse. Why did you decide? You know what my emphasis was rock music.
Speaker 2:I'm moving into the gospel Christian worship realm right now. What kind of called that switch, if you don't mind sharing it? So two years ago I just felt God telling me to do something different with my music and do it for him, to glorify him, and I was like, wow, I'm pretty old to be changing gears here now. But I guess if you're going to tell me to do it, I suppose I should probably do it.
Speaker 2:So it took me about a year to listen. Wow, Okay, About a year and a half ago I recorded my first Christian rock song and that's what I'm fully doing now. I'm still doing my job, but musically I'm still. I'm just all Christian rock right now. So, yeah, it was more of a more of a life change calling, I guess.
Speaker 1:I love this. I love this. Hope to hear more about that. In the course of this episode we got some people listening to us West Coast, when good friend of mine, she's to post all of our work on the on our brand of podcast episodes and she's here Say hi to you when they're joining us. If you have any questions for Howard or myself in the context of what we're talking about, jump in, drop your questions. Anyway, we see this podcast being simulcast. We'd love to hear from you guys. Drop your questions and your comments in. We're glad to respond to those once they come through. All right, so besides the winter weather man, the Green Bay Packers and such, tell us something about the Wisconsin area that we might not know. Maybe even dispel a myth about Wisconsin in that area. Well, it's really pretty up here, or a fun fact, anything's good.
Speaker 2:It's really pretty up here Lots of trees, lots of lakes, lots of cabins. I like getting up and getting away. I actually go, actually in April. I'm going up to a cabin for about four or five days, sounds like by myself and I just go up there and I write Quiet on the lake. It's really sweet, really relaxing I think. Just the scenery and the relaxation that you can get up here.
Speaker 1:Is that considered a vacation getaway at all? Only the locals know about it. Is that how it works?
Speaker 2:It's a little getaway. It's a little hideaway. I found some people that have some cabins on the lake up there and I get a pretty good deal from them, so they know I write there.
Speaker 1:Sweet, I might have to hit you up offline. Sounds really good to me. I love it. I love it, all right. So is there a real obsession with cheese up there or is it just like stereotype? It's really all about cheese.
Speaker 2:That's real.
Speaker 1:That's real, it's real, that's real. Wow, so are you a cheese snob as well?
Speaker 2:No, I'm a pretty basic guy so I don't really get into all that weird cheese that they like up here. But I'm actually from Iowa, so I'm an implant.
Speaker 1:That's fair. What kind of weird cheese. What are we talking about? Like what?
Speaker 2:Well, weird cheese to me is anything that's not Kobe or Kobe Jack or sharp cheddar Pepper Jack and all that other weird stuff when you got to cut the mold off. No, I'm not into that Pepper Jack and all that other weird stuff where you got to cut the mold off.
Speaker 1:No, I'm not into that. Pepper Jack is weird. How about Wisconsin White Chet? That's my favorite. How?
Speaker 2:about that. I can go with that.
Speaker 1:I use that on a lot of stuff. As a musician I noticed from experience I've seen this they often have to do side work to get by. What kind of work are you doing outside of your music ventures? What are you doing?
Speaker 2:I've been in IT for my whole working career. I'm actually an IT director for Potato Farm, so we go chipping potatoes for Frito-Lay. So that's what I do to help support my musical dream. I guess Great job. Family-owned business is awesome.
Speaker 1:Okay, I didn't even realize that about Frito-Lay. So Frito-Lay is a family owned business.
Speaker 2:No, the farm I work for the family.
Speaker 1:We grow the potatoes for Frito-Lay.
Speaker 1:That makes sense. That makes sense. So what did you see in the corporate world that made you want to transition Into kind of venturing out, because I know from my experience People who have a A cushy job, so to speak. I was in the corporate world so I kind of can relate they don't want to move out of that because you know what. This is a good boat, I don't want to rock it. What do you see in the corporate world that made you want to have something outside of that box, anything in particular?
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, when I worked in the corporate so I've been at this company for 10 years my first job I worked at for 10 years, I was also a family owned business, and then I worked in the corporate world for 17 plus years. It was just so political and you know so many, so much red tape and so many people you'd have to go through just to get a pencil on your desk. I don't know. I just you know, I think God came in and said we're going to get rid of that position, we're going to let you move on to something else. So when I looked for another job, I was looking for a family-owned business again, because, you know, I wasn't doing a whole lot of music at that time. Uh, I was playing here and there, but but not a whole lot, uh, but I wanted to find a good, solid, family-owned business and somehow I ended up at this farm up in the middle of nowhere.
Speaker 2:Uh, that's turned out to be I mean, I truly believe god sent me here. I mean, it's a christian, you know they have, they all have faith and, uh, very family oriented. Yeah, you still have some loops to jump through, but they're they're very small and, uh, it's a, it's a big company. You know, we're about 150 people I mean for a farm. That's yeah, yeah and then uh, but it's like you know, I go to the president's house, we hang out, we got owners.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, President Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm like what.
Speaker 2:Yeah, go to the owner's house and hang out with them, so that it's. It's very cool. They've been really supportive of the journey I'm on right now, so super cool.
Speaker 1:No, that's awesome, as you watch some of my episodes from the past and you see my interviewing style.
Speaker 1:every once in a while I ask a few tough questions yeah I think I should mention about this one before, before we uh schedule the episode. But free delay is a very well-known name. I think everybody knows it. I know I invested probably millions into their, into their business, because I was a a huge shit person and, matter of fact, I still am. I'm I might be addicted not really sure. Yeah, I figured my part out. But in a world where people are reading labels so much more now, what are you seeing through your company, through the farm, your uh, the family-owned business you're working with, that makes it more conscious about health and nutrition. You, you know, because you supply the potatoes, but they have a hands-on approach to what happens after the potatoes are supplied. So is the company conscious about that kind of stuff, about health and nutrition? Are they concerned about their? You know how it's used? Is that something you heard about?
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely Very, very conscious about that. They work so we're one of the leading suppliers to Frito-Lay for their chips, okay, and our company, our president owners. They work directly with the leaders of PepsiCo. I mean, they work like this all the time to make sure that we're getting good quality potatoes to them and they're getting good quality chips out, and how we spare our fields and how we use our water. It's all conscious about health, for sure.
Speaker 1:It's cool to hear people still concerned about that. Most people I talk to they just like what they like we in the label. We label it not on their menu at all. So it's like you know the company is concerned about that. How much room do they have to kind of not dictate but have a say in the process? Do you guys see that as a part of the process at all, or is it something like you know what you supply the potatoes.
Speaker 2:Freelay does what they want to do with it. How's that work? I think the last couple of years have really changed that direction a little bit because our presidents really got involved with PepsiCo themselves and the leaders of PepsiCo and they're working really close together to make a great product that's healthy, follows all the standards that we need to follow. So they were really close together.
Speaker 1:Very good, I like that. All right, cool question Tell me how you met Michelle. I said we talked about it offline and our pre-production meeting, but I said you know what I think our listeners would love to hear this story. So please, if you don't mind, sharing how you met Michelle. This is an awesome story, all right.
Speaker 2:Well, we met online, we met at an online dating site.
Speaker 1:I think it was. How old were you when that?
Speaker 2:happened, howard, I got to do my math right because she's watching.
Speaker 1:That's okay. Take your time. That's important to the story.
Speaker 2:I don't know 56?, wow, 50, 57, something like that.
Speaker 1:That's important.
Speaker 2:That's important to the story, because two old people on I don't know she's younger than I am, but no, you know, part of my story takes me through a divorce and I was looking for somebody else to be with in my life and I was very specific about wanting to find somebody that was strong in their faith, because I wanted somebody to help me get back into my faith and really refine my faith. So I was on this christian site I think it was, I think my. I think I signed up for a month or something, I don't know, and my time was almost up and she had signed up for like a month and her time was almost up. She found my profile somehow and she messaged me and next thing, you know, we're talking. And then we met at a Mexican restaurant on Cinco de Mayo and I don't know, and here we are, married for five years now.
Speaker 1:Congratulations, man. That is an incredible story. I got some friends that are on the dating scene and it's a struggle. I'm not sure that Christian and Dayton have. I honestly have no idea, but they are in the struggle. So for you to find love theoretically on these sites, it's like wow, that should give confidence. Everybody who's out here dating and listening to this episode. It's like he did it in his mid-50s. So, yeah, there's hope for you. Yeah, there's hope. That's amazing. That's amazing. So you're very talented.
Speaker 1:We talked about that a little bit. You know you being a, I guess, a multi-instrumentalist. Have you, in your opinion, located a purpose for this talent? I know a lot of people who, as a matter of fact, we talked a little bit about my past in the music industry and I've seen people who are super, uber talented, you know, but they they never really had a sense of why they had the ability and the gift and what to do with it. It just made music and tried to get paid. Have you located a purpose, in your opinion, for all the gifts that you have, that you've been discovering, that you have?
Speaker 2:I think I have now. I mean, I was one of those people that you know I played to get paid. You know I played to get paid, I paid the bills, you know. You know I played to get paid. You know I played to get paid, I paid the bills, you know. And that was really the only reason I played, because all the stuff I was playing with somebody else's no-transcript right, I don't sing. Way up here they're asking for taylor swift, and you know beyonce and you know Beyonce, and you know it's just crazy. It's just crazy.
Speaker 2:So when I made this change to Christian music, you know, like I said, I really felt God urging me to write music to glorify him. So I have found a purpose with this museum. He gave me all these gifts, right, you know I'm not, I'm not great at. I can play a lot of things. I'm not great at anything, right, I, I can sing. I can play guitar, drums, bass, a little bit of keys, enough to write music. You know I can, and I can good enough. I can go out and I can play live. But you know, god gave me the talents to go out and spread his word, and that's what my mission is now with my music.
Speaker 1:You're giving me my neck of the woods. I got a job assignment for you. I'm in. I got a spot for you Immediate filling.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm in. Let me know when I got to be there.
Speaker 1:It's a permanent gig though. Oh, it's a permanent gig though. Oh yeah, but in general, what do you believe the local church can do better in this approach to music and worship? I I asked this question to myself because it's not a conversation that people want to have all the time, but it feels as though there's opportunity there that is, to some degree, missed. What do you feel like, in your personal opinion? What could local churches do better in regards to fostering the kind of worship and music that provides a benefit to people who are listening to it? What do you think about that, man? Well?
Speaker 2:you know, I haven't gone to a lot of churches since the contemporary music has come out right. I mean, my wife and I became a member of the church right now. We've been there three and a half years. I've gone to a couple other churches trying to find musicians. You know, I've gone to a couple of churches in Nashville I was down there which is way different, way, way different. I think our church does a really good job of matching the music with the sermon and relating the music to the people, so it all kind of gels right together.
Speaker 2:Some other churches I've gone to, it seems like a concert. It didn't feel like worship to me. It felt like it was at a concert. So it didn't really give me this. It didn't give me a church feel. It gave me a concert feel. You know. So when and when the pastor came out and preached, it was a big production and it was like you know this, this to me, isn't what church is about. I, I like you know our, our worship team instructed not to do a lot of moving and, and you know, not to, really it's kind of. It's kind of different, it's kind of hard sometimes, but not a lot of moving.
Speaker 2:Okay, that's and we're not supposed to do a lot of you know, I think the whole, the whole point is you know, we're there to worship God, not don't look at me, worship God, don't look at me, worship God. That's kind of how our I mean we don't just stand there like statues, but don't get me wrong.
Speaker 1:Thank goodness, because that was what I was envisioning. I'm like that's not good.
Speaker 2:We're not flying around the stage and stuff like that. I just think the best thing is to make sure that the music, the worship pastor, is working with the pastor leadership and they make sure that the message matches, the music matches the message. I guess that would be my suggestion.
Speaker 1:OK, that's, that sounds good. I mean, I've seen that done well in a lot of cases. Our ministry does that fairly well. It's good. No, it's not, uh, an anomaly, it's kind of a trend. I shared a personal testimony with you during our pre-production meeting and you know, anytime somebody has talents like you do, obviously they're going to be in high demand. You just name five or six things that you do very well, so that will put you in high demand for sure in almost any arena. But how are you avoiding the danger of saying yes to everybody? You talked about that because it's it's a challenge when you, when you have multiple gifts of any sort I don't care if it's admin, music, whatever it is yeah, high demand, saying yes. It seems very, very uh hard to break the habit, especially in religious and ministry circles. It feels like you almost feel like you're obligated, like you have to do it or else. How do you avoid the danger of saying yes to everybody?
Speaker 2:Well, like I told you in the pre-production, I pretty much say yes to everybody.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2:You know I have backed off a few things. My wife reminds me that. You know, hey, you're getting a little stressed out. I don't see you much. You're working all the time you need to. You need to calm down and back off some things. You need to start saying no.
Speaker 1:So thank you Michelle. Thank God for me.
Speaker 2:I have listened to her, that's to listen to my wife.
Speaker 1:Now it will be my next comment. I'm glad you should do it. That's really good.
Speaker 2:It's tough to do because you're right, you know, in our ministry, you know if someone's asking us for something, we feel in our ministry we should do it and you don't want to miss an opportunity and you don't want to not help someone, you know. So it's. It's tough to balance that, but that's what I, that's what my wife is doing for me.
Speaker 1:Yeah, there's a gentleman by the name of Stephen Covey. I've been reading his work for many, many years now, and he helps us to differentiate between what's a real emergency, what's urgent, what's not important, what is important, and that book revolutionized my thinking. Why do you think you say yes to everybody At the core? Why do you think that happens? We talked about that a little bit too in our pre-production, but I wanted to kind of push it out more.
Speaker 2:I mean, I like to help people, If somebody needs something.
Speaker 1:I want to help them.
Speaker 2:If they ask something, I want to help them If they ask me to do something. If it's in my power, I want to help them. I also don't want to miss an opportunity. Like I said, you never know what that's going to be. I guess that's why I do it.
Speaker 1:Okay, all right. I mean, I've seen seen that, especially in religious circles, and this is something that you know a lot of people who don't ascribe to the faith like we do. This is one of the reasons why they don't. It's because they feel as though when you say yes to ministry or these religious circles or these opportunities for an organization that you're almost like, you can't say no, you have to say yes, you have to be bound to it forever and your personal life almost doesn't even matter. I mean, honestly, out of my own testimony, my family life would have been a lot better in the early years of my marriage. We've been married 29 years now. It'd have been better had I said yes less in a lot of those areas. I mean, the first 10 years was rough because I couldn't say no to anybody and it caused tension in my household with my wife and my kids and we didn't have the kind of cohesion we should have had because I was always, like you said, going and doing things and not being home much and constantly saying yes to everything that comes my way.
Speaker 1:But you can't put it all on yourself. You can't make all that your responsibility. You're just one person in a sea of many who are trying to do the same thing. Somebody else is going to be able to do it, if not that person who asked me to step up and say you know what? I don't know how to do it, but I'm going to trust God. I'm going to learn how to do this so we can get this done. I put it all on one person. You get burnt out. How does it get done? Then they find somebody else.
Speaker 2:Exactly.
Speaker 1:And you and you know they will. If you say no, they're going to find somebody else and you'd be surprised how fast that happens.
Speaker 2:It's okay to say no, I've learned that it's okay to say no, they would do a great job at it.
Speaker 1:They'd say no for everything. They'd do a great job at it. How'd they learn that? There's something to think about. That's funny, but you mentioned completing an EP release. I'm really excited to hear about this one, uh, so congrats on that. By the way, tell us more about the ep release. Let me hear more about.
Speaker 2:Uh, that was my first christian ep. Uh came out in november. Uh, six songs on it and they're doing really well. I cut a video off of it and the video is doing super well, uh, and it's really it's. Uh, the ep is called rescued, redeemed forgiven and it's really it's. The EP is called rescued, redeemed forgiven and it's really a six songs of testimony. Really. One of them one of them is called he rescued me. It's the acoustic version of that and that's really that is my testimony from when I got saved. And the other songs really revolve around faith and you know, surrendering and just giving your life over to God and rescuing you.
Speaker 1:So I love this. I want to talk about that a little later on in our episode before we close out. But, as a songwriter, here's my question for you and the temptation to have a song that sounds like somebody who's already doing something out there in the industry, which are six songs that you wrote me. I was challenged with myself. I did a six song EP, probably about 18 years ago. How do you avoid this intention of having a song that almost sounds like, or have certain style comparisons to, what's already going on out there right now? How do you avoid that? I know it's not easy.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's not easy, but it's kind of interesting, because some of the stuff I fill out hey, who do you sound like? I don't know who I sound like. People will come up. I'll give you some weird ones. You sound like jeremy camp. You sound like matthew west. You sound like neil diamond. Huh, you sound like alan jackson.
Speaker 1:Okay, so that makes me not sound like anybody yes, apparently like he's gonna hit like three jamas already, I know.
Speaker 2:I'm playing at this place the other day and he's talking just like Neil Diamond. I went what? No, I don't sound like Neil Diamond.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's the song I want to hear Neil Diamond.
Speaker 2:I don't even remember what I was playing.
Speaker 2:I probably should quit playing, but you know I've got the rock roots in me. I don't write your, your, your, standard, ccm, contemporary music. I got the rock roots in me and they're buried in my bones and I'm not going to let them go. So I think I'm writing music that some people that may not ever listen to Christian music because, you know, maybe that's too repetitive or that's too repetitive or this is too hard, it's too heavy I think I'm in the middle of there and I think there's a group of people I can reach with that style of music. I don't try to sound like anybody, I try to sound like me. Apparently, I sound like a whole bunch of different people, that's true.
Speaker 1:That's good, though, because, honestly, there's some aspects of Christian music that you know they are repetitive. They almost repeat each other, they almost mimic each other. I don't know if it's purposeful or not. A lot of people sound like each other, you know.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 1:To be unique intentionally. That's an outstanding trait. Outstanding trait man can't wait to hear these songs. Man, I'm excited about this. You know, being in a ministry team is very, very challenging. People who are listening, that are on some kind of ministry team where they know somebody who is in their families. I think some of these answers that how is going to give might help enlighten you on what your friends and family go through. How are you adapting to, to handling the pressures of ministry? How are you handling that? Because people think it's easy to just do that, but it really is. It's a lot.
Speaker 2:It's so new, it's still pretty new to me by saying yes. So many times I've buried myself. You know I put a lot of pressure on myself, you know. But there are struggles. I mean when you're in a ministry and you're talking about faith and you're trying to spread the word of God, not everybody believes in God. Some people don't like you at all because you do. You know, I haven't faced a lot of that.
Speaker 2:I've faced some of that online. It's really difficult because I don't want to say I was there once but I was down once, you know, I was down in the darkest place a person could be, you know, and it's hard to come out of that and it's hard to. It's hard for some people to look at people like what we do in our ministries and how we're trying to help people and they've had a rough life and they just don't get it. You know it's tough. That's probably one of the biggest challenges I face is being able to deal with that. I've got hammered pretty good online, you know. In person Not too bad, but I've got hammered pretty good online. You know, in person not too bad, but a lot.
Speaker 2:I've got hammered pretty good online and you know it's just a matter of being able to juggle everything that you want to do. You know you still, I still have goals. You know that I want to reach with my music. You know, and I want to make sure that it always stays for God, right, it doesn't start, you know, it doesn't start becoming me, me, me. You know it's got to stay, god, because when it starts becoming about me, then I'm going to go down a bad, bad road and I'm not going to help anybody. So it's, it's, it's a balancing act, for sure.
Speaker 1:Absolutely, that makes total sense. That makes total sense For you guys that are listening to us and watching us, whether it's episodes being simulcast to you. If you have any kind of questions about online dating, music and the appeal of music regardless of genre, or just questions about faith, drop those in the comments section. You should be able to see them here and we'll jump in those and we'll answer those as soon as they come through. So don't be shy. Ask me a question you have of Howard or myself. We're happy to answer those. I've got a question. I've got a comment from West Coast. Online bullies can hide and be anonymous.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely, yeah sure.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I'm sorry to hear you. That's something I know West Coast wind knows very well. I've seen it a lot of the times. I mean, I have a massive Twitter account and I've seen that more times than I can count, on a daily basis, multiple times a day. It's real easy to say those kinds of things behind a keyboard, but what you're doing is what you're doing is worthwhile. It's valuable. Keep that going for sure. You cited in our pre-production meeting about a lack of collaboration. Where you live, because of what you're trying to accomplish on this musical journey, collaboration is a big deal. People don't realize that so much. They think that they can kind of do it on their own and they kind of stay in their own heads about their gift and their direction with stuff. But collaboration is huge. Sometimes things don't even grow without collaboration. Has there ever been a discussion between you and Michelle about relocating from that area?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, we have talked about it. We are looking at it. I'm not sure when that's going to happen. I still have a 16 year old daughter that's in school, so she's got to graduate. She's a good student, so I don't have to worry about that. But yeah, we've talked about moving closer to Nashville. Have to worry about that, but, yeah, we've talked about moving closer to nashville. Uh, I also have another uh daughter down in augusta, georgia, so everybody's closer to her too. So, yeah, we've talked about that oh sweet, that's sweet.
Speaker 1:So would the daughter be moving to nashville too, you think? Or she'll be going to college someplace, you think?
Speaker 2:I don't know what she's gonna.
Speaker 1:She'll probably tag along I think she likes us okay, you've been talking a lot about the online uh situations. You've had the bullying you've been experiencing. What would you say overall on your whole musical journey, what's the biggest challenge you've experienced?
Speaker 2:the biggest challenge I've experienced personally up here where I'm at, is finding places to play. Okay, christian places, I mean. If I want to play a bar, I could book 10 shows next week if I wanted to, but that's not what I want to do, right? So to find a Christian venue to play at, you're going to go, man, aren't there churches all over the place?
Speaker 2:Yeah, there are churches all over the place, but I've reached out to 10 or 15, and unless they have some kind of an event going on, you know they're they're not really looking for music, which sounds weird, but it's true. Um, my church, let me have an ep release concert back in november, and I don't think they've had a concert in there for 15 years.
Speaker 1:So it was a big deal we had.
Speaker 2:We had a couple hundred people in there. It was. It was great and I'm hoping that expands a little bit up here. But I'm driving two, three, four, five hours just to play gigs for an hour just so I can play. Wow, that's my struggle that's crazy.
Speaker 1:I mean, anybody that's listening that's ever tried to accomplish something that's that started off really, really tough and you experienced conflict and challenge. It's always that feeling that you know what. I'm going to just give up on this. Maybe it's not right for me to do this, maybe it's not the right time. I don't care if you're writing a book, trying to write songs or write an album, like how it's done, whatever it is. Tell me this, because you talked about how you were having such a hard time trying to find places to play that you felt comfortable with. The lure to make money is probably more huge now more than ever, because you recognize that you know what this is, part of what's going to bring financing to my household. How will you garden against that when you're being offered these gigs, how will you garden against the lure for chasing the dollar? That's not something that anybody is susceptible to. How have you avoided that? How are you dealing with that challenge?
Speaker 2:Yeah, when I played my acoustic duo, we made some pretty good money. We played together for a long time and we made some good money. But this is different. While I agree that there, you know it's got to be able to, there's got to be money coming in at some point Apparently not yet, but at some point, you know. Yeah, I'm okay with breaking even or, you know, being able to make a couple of bucks right now because in this pool I'm new, right? I mean, I paid my dues in the rock world. That's all different. You know I'm new in this, I'm new in this genre and I'm not young, so I do have my foot down on the pedal pretty hard. But you know, I'm willing to pay my dues, just like anyone else would have to going through this, but and and this is not about money until my money runs out. But you know what I mean.
Speaker 2:We're not we're not doing this to become rich. You know, we're doing this just to spread the word of God. I'm doing it to help people. I want to help people. I want to help people that are hurting. I want to help people that just feel like they have no hope. You know, I want to give them hope because I've been there, I've been through it, I've been down, I've been down the dark road. You know, the money will come whenever God thinks the money should come, hopefully sooner rather than later.
Speaker 1:That's a wonderful attitude, man. I I rarely ever hear that kind of humility when it comes to this level of journey, so really commendable man. You mentioned michelle multiple times in our pre-production meeting. What's her role in the musical journey?
Speaker 2:she's my biggest supporter and and she comes, she goes on those four hour journeys, those gigs with me and I'm going to Nashville and we can half cut another EP. She's going with me and she sits in the studio with me. I mean, she is, she's right there the whole time. You know she has a passion too for fighting human trafficking. We've kind of woven that together a little bit with some music and and her speaking. Like when I did my concert, I actually came up and spoke for about 15, 20 minutes on human trafficking and we raised. We raised $1,500 or something like that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. So that was my next question. So how have you and Michelle kind of figured out how to support each other's ministries and still maintain focus on the I guess, on the individual vision that you both have? How you got to work Was that hard, Was that easy? How'd that work out?
Speaker 2:Her mission's a little tougher because you know I play music so I just have to find someplace to play music. You know there's not a whole lot of help in the human trafficking area in the States around here. She's found some. I think she's actually starting to build something. So hers is hers is a little different because she's kind of building, helping build something from scratch. Where I'm, I'm going out and I'm finding places to play. So any opportunities that I get where I can play and we can bring her up to talk, you know that's a play. So any opportunities that I get where I can play and we can bring her up to talk, that's a bonus.
Speaker 1:I love that. I want to ask that at the end of our show, that you could share some information on how to support her in that endeavor too, along with your musical journey. Let me show you how to address both of those Now. It might be a tough question, but if you weren't doing music, what would you be doing?
Speaker 2:Music, I don't know, man, I don't know, maybe I'd be retired, I don't know. I don't know what I'd do Really. I like sports, but I don't think the NBA is going to sign a 60-year-old dude to their basketball team. No, they will not, not even over in Europe. I don't think.
Speaker 1:No, not even there.
Speaker 2:I guess it would be something to do with sports, you think so?
Speaker 1:Yeah, why is that? Is it like you have a desire to be a sports analyst or something?
Speaker 2:No, I just like watching sports.
Speaker 1:Maybe a commentator or something like no, I just like watching sports, maybe a commentator or something, something like that, I don't know. Okay, you like watching sports flipping through a career? Okay, that makes sense, all right. So you share some frustrations about how you felt your ministry was received? Kind of flesh that out for me, because a lot of times if we don't identify what we're dealing with, it's kind of hard to get some answers or some breakthroughs. So share some of those frustrations you were talking about and what you've been seeing lately that may have changed a little bit or some, uh, understandings. You got about the frustrations.
Speaker 2:You mean music in general.
Speaker 1:No, your ministry overall.
Speaker 2:Well, you know, I didn't expect, you know, if I emailed 15, contacted 15 churches, I didn't expect all 15 churches to not have any. Some of them didn't even get back to me and I don't know how to get around that, you know. So I I'm working closer with some of the places that I have further away to try to you know kind of work my way back this way, through connections they may have closer at churches, may work their way back here. You know, I just you know the music industry itself is frustrating. I mean, spotify is super frustrating but you got to do it, right, you got to do it because if you don't do it no one will see your stuff and I don't know that. That part of the business, the business part, is pretty frustrating for pretty frustrating and I'm pretty deep into it.
Speaker 1:What do you see on the Spotify side, because I think I've been hearing this, but I want to kind of make sure it's the same thing I've been hearing. What are you seeing as a frustration with Spotify?
Speaker 2:Well, I hope nobody from Spotify is watching this. Actually I don't know Nothing I'm aware of. So it takes a million streams to make like three grand A million. Yeah, so you're getting like .0003 cents a stream. So you're not going to make a living off of streaming music. You know it takes. I just read something the other day it takes like a billion streams to become X, number of billion streams to become gold or platinum on Billboard. I mean I got 200,000 streams and I never thought I'd have that in a million years, but it's like $450. I'm not going to pay for my car that way. So I got to get out and play and you got to sell merchandise. I mean that's really where it's all at Playing, sell merchandise. I mean that's really where it's all at Playing, selling merchandise. If you want to make money, make a living, you know to be able to support a family.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the attempt to monetize is oh my gosh, it's a different animal. I'm seeing it in non-music areas. I'm like, wow, so I hit my Spotify. I didn't know that, but it gives me a whole lot more respect for you and what you're trying to accomplish, cause that's an incredible task. Many times. You talked about, you know, pre-production. You talked about, you know, the reception of the ministry in the area where you are having to travel and stuff. What is it about what you're doing that won't allow you to create opportunities? Where you don't have to travel, people can come to you. You kind of can create your own opportunity to have music, is it?
Speaker 2:I'll be working more on that. That's it. I'm not going to do it today because it's 20 degrees outside, but you know, I mean once, once the spring rolls around, I think we'll have opportunities to go play in parks. I've got a couple other friends up here that said, yeah, yeah, let's just go sit down by the river. I got a battery operated PA. We'll just go down until they kick us out. So we're going to do some things like that. I mean, right, If you know, if you can't go to them, bring them to you. So that's kind of what I'm going to try to do.
Speaker 1:I mean, I don't know right now if some of the names escape me, but I've seen several folks that have started festivals and they started one time and before you know it, it became a yearly thing and they featured. In fact, I do have one buddy I know that, who started the same, but he's a musician too, loves music with all his heart, just like you. That's what he did out here locally Started a festival, and the festival has been going on every year for, I think, the past 10, 12 years.
Speaker 2:That's awesome.
Speaker 1:He was traveling and doing stuff too with bands. He created an opportunity. So if he can do it, I know you can. So it's something to think about. But you talked a lot about when to help people and I really respect that. What kind of testimonies have you seen because of your music? You shared a couple in our conversation. I wanted you to share those with our listeners. What kind of testimonies have you seen to come out of the ministry of your music?
Speaker 2:Sure, we played this coffee shop about an hour away. We did create that. We did a writer's round there. We created that through our NSAI connection. We did a writer's round for five, five months in a row up there at a coffee house and I was the only christian musician. Um, I didn't know how the coffee shop was gonna accept that. But they, oh no, come on in, that's all good. And they and I said, well, I usually share a little bit when I play. You know, know, do whatever you want, it's all good. Okay, all right, thanks.
Speaker 2:So you know, you get, everybody gets three songs do a little testimony, puny song. And I have a song that I wrote for my son. He's a balance addiction and it's called when I Pray and I gave a little background on that song and then I played that. That was my last song that I played. I mean, there's people in tears. It was pretty powerful. I had people come up and talking to me. It was probably 70 people in this little coffee shop. It was awesome. But I had people coming up talking about you know, hey, I just lost my daughter a year ago to addiction and you know you helped me remember her and you know that song a year ago to Addiction and you helped me remember her.
Speaker 2:The song Touch Me is super powerful. The first Christian gig I played was at it's called the Gathering Place in Norman, illinois. They do Christian music every Friday night. There might be 20, 30, 40 people there. It's not a huge crowd, but it's getting bigger.
Speaker 2:On my way to Nashville to record, I stopped there. I found this place on Facebook and I never talked to these guys or anything, but they said Christian music. Well, that's maybe 15 minutes out of the way to Nashville, it's just, honey, can we stop there? And she said, yeah, we'll go over there. It's just if I can try out or something I hadn't played anywhere yet, right?
Speaker 2:So we stop in this place and a couple of girls are playing on stage and they take a break and I talk to the guy that runs the stuff and I said, yeah, I'd like to come on trial sometime. He goes. Well, do you play on a worship team or anything? I said, yeah, I play on a worship team. He goes. You got music out on the internet. I said, yeah, I got music out. You go. All right, well, write your name down here and we'll talk. It was an intermission, so we'll talk when it's over. So I write my name down on this piece of paper and I give it to him and he goes Howard grip. And I said yeah, first I'm looking at him going, yeah, and then he goes. You got a song on Spotify called when I pray. I've never talked to any of them. He goes. I listen to that song every day.
Speaker 2:He says I've played it for three or four pastors in here and four or five people that are sitting in the entree and I've played it for them all the time because I'm a recovering addict 25 years. So the song's really about a parent's perspective of a child going through addiction. Right, and he goes. I never knew what my parents went through until I heard that song, so they went back up to play it and he came over and talked to me about two songs into their set and he goes. Hey, I asked the girls if they'd quit early, would you play that song for me? I said, sure, I'll play that song for you, it's all good. So before I played the song, he went up and gave his testimony. It was so powerful. I told them last time I went down there. I played there three or four times. No matter how big or small I ever get, I will always come back and play this place. It's unbelievable, it's the power of music, man.
Speaker 1:Yeah, people underestimate it. It really is powerful. You mentioned two goals. This is my first time hearing about your son. Was he able to hear your music, the song?
Speaker 2:you were singing, he heard it. There's a couple lines in there where I blame myself for what happened to him. He said it's not your fault. It's not your fault, it's my fault. I made these choices. It's not your fault, Dad. I don't want you to think it's your fault. It's my fault. I made these choices. It's not your fault, Dad. I don't should. I don't should think it's your fault. He's still struggling, but he's doing pretty good right now. A lot of people praying for him.
Speaker 1:I don't mind joining that group. What's his name again? Austin.
Speaker 2:Is he up there with you? No, he's actually in California. He went out there to rehab.
Speaker 1:Not where the fires are right.
Speaker 2:No.
Speaker 1:Okay, that's good to know, man, I'll be definitely thinking about Austin. Just a couple more, a few more questions and then we'll go ahead and close out for today. But you met some artists that were kind of influences of your style of music, past and present. Who are some of those artists that kind of influenced your style and the kind of music that you enjoyed?
Speaker 2:I'm going to go way back. Van Halen and Styx were my. They were my. I liked Earth, Wind, Fire too, but that's kind of like. That's kind of like separate. That's probably why my music don't sound like anybody. I grew up on those two bands. I saw every iteration of Van Halen Live, except for the one with the Sharon guy in there. And then now it's like Jeremy Camp, Matthew West, Ben Fuller. Ben Fuller was really the one that kind of kicked me in the rear and got me going.
Speaker 1:So that's yeah, that's my influence, all right. So you transitioned from what could have been a lucrative path with just your business and your work to something kind of more fulfilling for you personally with your music. A lot of folks don't always want to take that leap. They're afraid of not having a place to land if things don't go well. How would you encourage somebody who might be listening today that may be faced with the same kind of struggle? They have something that's steady and they can rely on inside of them. They have something they want to do, like your music, something they want to accomplish, and they have to step out on faith and it's like there's no, there's no easy way to do. They got to, they got to just hit the leap, as they call it, leap of faith. Yeah, how would you encourage somebody who has the same kind of decision that you have to make with yours?
Speaker 2:well, all musicians have to have a second job, no matter what it is. Except for the big ones, they don't need a second job, you know. So I am blessed to be with a company that believes in what I'm doing and they support me a hundred percent. This Heartland Farms, by the way. I want to say that I love it, thank you. But you know this Heartland Farms, by the way. I want to say that I love it, thank you. But you know they support what I'm doing and they believe what I'm doing. And you know I told my boss at one point hey, I'm trying this music thing.
Speaker 2:I said but don't worry, I'm not going to get all worried about it. He goes if you're not going to do it 100%, what are you doing it for? I said all right, I'm doing 100%. So you know it's tough because you don't know what you're going to run into. You know, like I said, I'm 60 years old. Whoever would have thought in a million years that I'd be taking a shot at 60? I mean, that's insane.
Speaker 2:But the things that God has done in my life musically in the last year and a half are more than I probably would have expected out of a career in the rock world, you know. So I just let him open the doors, man, I run through him, my wife and I grabbed my wife's hand and away. We go, you know, and he shut some doors too and we, we leave them closed and we walk away. Uh, you got to believe in what you're doing, got to really believe in what you're doing. Got to really believe in what you're doing, especially, especially when doing something like this, where it's not about the money. You know, you're not going to make a lot of money unless something happens, unless somebody walks through the door and goes you're going to be the next big thing just because I'm bored today, you know. So you got to really believe in what you're doing, believe in the reason you're doing it.
Speaker 1:That makes total sense, man. And of course, just to encourage you, there's a biblical precedent for older people starting new things. As a matter of fact, at 60, you're way younger Most of the progenitors in the Bible that started at that age 80, 90 years old. You're doing great. I'm proud to have met you and to hear some of your testimony about you and Michelle and your kids and stuff. This has been awesome, man, how can anybody who's listening to the show today locate some of your work or your new EP?
Speaker 2:All my stuff's under Howard Grit Music. That's all my handles everywhere and my website's howardgritmusiccom. And I'm reading this one yeah.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, amen. Yeah, sorry, we're reading. Everybody can see that, right? Yeah, reading everybody can see that, right, everybody can see that. So, yeah, it's been about 16, 17 years of my son too, and he's been good for about been sober, I think for about 3 or 4 months now. So you know, it's just one step at a time. Yeah, so I'm Howard Grip Music everywhere Twitter. Twitter is H Grip Music because Howard GripMusic goes too long, but other than that, I got to find you on Twitter. And I'm on Spotify, yeah.
Speaker 1:I'll find you on Twitter today. Just a quick note about West Coast Wynn she's been a big supporter of every single show that we have out here. We got four different shows and she supports every single one of them. I don't know how she finds the time to do that, but I'm so grateful for it and, honestly, this story just reminds me of how powerful this podcast brand opportunity is, because I never would have known that had we not had this episode today with you, howard, and West Coast shared that because we've talked multiple times and this has never come up, so I learned more about her just because of you, man. So I just want to say thank you to West Coast for being transparent and sharing that story, and thank you for coming on and sharing yours. That impacted West Coast and many other listening, obviously, in an incredible way, so thank you for doing that.
Speaker 1:What I also want to ask is that at the end of our show, when we're done and we sign off, if you, howard, don't mind, go into our YouTube channel, where the episode is in the comments section, and drop all the links that you have. People can find you on Spotify, find your music on Twitter, if you have it there or any links to Heartland Farm, and we can support you. You definitely want to be able to do that stuff, so please share stuff there. I know that Michelle has some causes regarding human trafficking. It's important to her. If you have access to that information, whether you write away or, in a day or so, drop it in that same place so people who are listening to the show can go back and hear it, because I'm going to promote this episode consistently for the next seven days for sure. So I want you to be able to find that information.
Speaker 1:Support Michelle's mission and yours as well, man. Besides that man, anything?
Speaker 2:else you want to share with the people. Man, while we're still here, man, my only thing I ever say at the end is you're never too old and you're never too young to do anything, and I mean anything.
Speaker 1:You're living proof of that, man. It's been an honor to meet you. I hope it's not the last time we talk I hope not, and we can talk to you and Michelle specifically as well, because I'd love to hear more of your story, man, but this has been awesome. But wherever you guys are and however you're listening to what I want to miss to you and Howard Grip, thank you for making us part of your week. Hope you enjoy your time wherever you are and please support Howard in his efforts and Michelle's mission. Thank you for all that you do and Howard, fantastic meeting you again. We're out of here, man. Have a great day, man.
