SPEAKER_01 0:34

Welcome to the Better Two Podcast. I'm your host, Donna. Today's guest is Craig Fort. Craig, you may remember from the band Leaf Blower this summer. Well, now he's back with his new band called Lightning Stills, and the sound is completely different. So we talk about that and we talk about sobriety and well so much more. So tune in. Hi Craig, how are you doing today?

SPEAKER_00 0:55

I'm doing just fine. How are you doing?

SPEAKER_01 0:57

I'm doing good. Besides Danny, uh, we uh this guy? Yeah, that guy. That guy. So we have now completely switched gears. We we're not talking leaf blower, we are talking lightning stills, and it's a completely different vibe, sound, everything. It's more traditional country, I would say. Uh honky tongue. Yeah, um, so why the diversity? Why not? Well, this is good. This is a true question, but uh do both do both types of music speak to you?

SPEAKER_00 1:37

Yeah, all music speaks to me. Um I would play in every there's so many different types of bands that I want to do, and so many different um projects that I already kind of have little things for uh in the future that I'd like to do. Um I it music just speaks to me and it doesn't really I'm not really dead set on you know one genre. Uh and I like playing uh Leaflower is you know it's kind of like uh a therapy night. We get together and we play really loud and really aggressive and uh get some things out, you know, and then um this this whole country project was I grew up on country with my grandpa and my dad, and they always played Whalen Willie and the outlaws around me, and uh you know when I got sober, um I needed something to keep me occupied instead of drinking or going out to the bar or anything like that. And luckily it I got sober right when COVID started, so I was kind of stuck at home, and so I just started writing country songs, and I figured, you know, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time, I guess.

SPEAKER_01 2:52

Well, and and now you have you have music for it, you you have a big sign there. So what what why the name Lightning Stills?

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Um it comes from like when I when I was starting to come up with the idea for this, I was thinking of like a bootlegger or like a moonshiner, and so uh I went with uh white lightning moonshine stills, and so that's how I got the lightning stills name from it. So and originally it was um it was kind of an alter ego, uh it was a character. Uh I had a whole nudie suit that I made, and uh it was a rhinestone cowboy, and um it I used that kind of as an alter ego to help me get sober, I think. And then as the band went on, um I couldn't take credit for all the music that was being made because the other guys are such pros, and so I was I just kind of wanted to move away from being the front person as the lightning stills and have it be more of band called Lightning Stills.

SPEAKER_01 4:01

Understand. And you know, when you're talking about this kind of ultra ego thing, is this kind of where the he's not heavy, he's my dealer comes from?

SPEAKER_00 4:13

Um, that one I mean, that's all these songs are they're all true stories, they're all just me venting, getting things out. That's I lived at a bar for 10 years. Um I worked at a bar for 10 years, uh and you know, all sorts of bar activity goes on.

SPEAKER_01 4:33

This is true. This is I I mean, I I grew up in New Orleans, so I grew up with my grandfather taking me to the local bar. This was the 70s. It wasn't really like appalling at that point, especially in New Orleans. You you bring your kid in the bar, it's fine. Um, and there wasn't the rule of you can't have the kids sit at the the the bar itself, you know. I so I've spent a lot of times in bars as a kid, which I think as an adult made me more leery to spend time in bars.

SPEAKER_00 5:02

When I was a kid, I spent a lot of times in bars too, because I'm from a small town, and so that's whenever we went out to eat, we went out to eat at the bar.

SPEAKER_01 5:11

Yeah. Yeah, the last town and I lived in, that was kind of the way it was. They had a lot of restaurants that had bars, and people would hang out at the bar and and the families would eat at the table, but it was still a bar. Um, and I have to cut I have to actually commend you, and it's gonna sound ridiculous, and you're gonna think it's silly. But because of the interview with you and and Danny, I ended up continuing to do my podcast with no wig because I was going through chemo at the time and I was bald and I was like mortified, and I ended up walking around owning it after that. It was like going anywhere, I was bald, it didn't matter, I was okay with it. So I thank you for bringing on the character because you were over the top. So I was like, Oh, well, you know what? This is the time to do it. So I ended up doing it, and yeah, now my hair is coming back, but yeah, it was it was because of that podcast that I embraced it.

SPEAKER_00 6:03

So that's really cool. That makes me feel good. I love that.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Oh, and and I wanted to give you props because yeah, if I if you would have done that, most likely I wouldn't have embraced it. I would have still been trying to do the wig, and the wig is still here on top of the mic stand where the last time I took it off is. So I want to talk a little bit about I know you've had still here too. Um mama wants a love song.

SPEAKER_00 6:24

So did mama really want a love song or uh yeah, it was like I said, these are all true stories. So she called me up, and um, you know, we look we put out uh a five-song EP and then we put out a couple singles before we got to this point. And uh she when when I when I was writing the songs for this album, she called me up and she was like, Enough with the drinking and drugging already, like write a love song for your wife. You've got a sweet wife, like write a love song for her. What are you doing, you know? And uh so as I was thinking of how uncomfortable that made me at the time, uh, to make myself that vulnerable, uh, and I was like, I can't do this, that's a love song. Like, that's not my style, like I've never written anything like that. And then I started thinking, I was like, well, why don't I just write a song about this? You know, and so then I wrote a song about that, and then with the music video, it was like I said, it wasn't intended to be a love song, but then with the music video, I think it kind of turned itself into a love song, not necessarily for my wife, like she originally asked for, but a love song for my mom and all the mobs out there.

SPEAKER_01 7:45

And what'd your mom think?

SPEAKER_00 7:48

Uh when she was dropping off my boys after they were spent the night at her house, um, and I said, Hey, I just got my test press in the mail. I got this song I want to show you. And so I put it on, and about like 30 seconds into it, she came over and gave me a hug and had her arm around me for the rest of the song. Nice, nice, and so and the she loved the video too. She thought it was really sweet.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

Awesome. So, you know, she got her love song, and then now you have, of course, the gas me up song. So, what was the inspiration behind that? I know you say everything's a true story, but you know, gas me up just it's somebody could eat a lot of beans and they could be gassy, but you know, it could be about a car, it could be about numerous things, so it was just more about putting a little pep in my step, I think.

SPEAKER_00 8:38

Uh when I was uh at the bar for those 10 years, um there was lots of trips out to the car uh for various reasons, whether it was uh to get positive or a little lift, or someone was like, you know, hey, I just recorded some songs, I want to put some ears on it. You guys want to go out to my car and hear it, you know. Uh like there's um a bunch of different reasons why we would go out to the car, but it seemed like car trips were like a big thing, um, at least at the bar that I was at. And uh it was kind of fun, you know, like we all we had different reasons for going. And so this song is just kind of about that, like you know, going to the bar, going out to the car, coming back in, getting another round, getting your night going, energized.

SPEAKER_01 9:33

So, how lot how different is your life now that you decided to get, you know, you left the bar life and you decided to be sober. How hard has life been for you? Has it been more of a challenge?

SPEAKER_00 9:45

Um, no, I mean, it's there's definitely challenges constantly uh that I've faced. Um, but I mean, I there's no way I could go back um to it. If I went back to that, I would die for sure. My kids wouldn't have a dad. Um, but like it was it's a total flip-flop because I was I went from you know being up till the sun came up uh every night and uh being at the bar all day. And then uh my son was born and I got a job that paid insurance benefits and everything like that, and that got me up at six in the morning or five in the morning, so I had to be there at six, and so it like completely flipped my schedule around, and then I was still drinking at that point, um, but I would quit going to the bars, so I was just drinking at home, and then it started getting bad, and that's why I ended up having to quit. But uh um it's just what that that getting that job and starting to get up early and flipping that routine, getting out of the being up all night was uh a good start for me, and then five years I've been at that job for 11 years now. Um, and five years into it is when I got sober, and uh like I said, it it wasn't as bad as I expected because it was during COVID. Literally, right when I got out of treatment, they're like locked down, no one goes anywhere. And so I was like, Well, this is gonna keep me out of the bar, that's all right. So just sat in my basement and recorded songs.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

You know, um, my dad would never admit to being an alcoholic. My dad um had a garage since I was a kid, and it was named a social club. It was his garage and social club, which pretty much says, especially in New Orleans, what that means. So at five o'clock, people would come pick up their cars and then the party would commence, and this was his life. He would get up, then he'd go come home pretty well tanked, and then get up at five o'clock and go to the shop and continue to work and then same cycle over and over again. And he was in his late 60s and he went down to the corner coffee shop and had a massive heart attack and stroke. And that well, but the thing is he survived both and he didn't have any real imp impairments, um, except for his hearing. But for the most part, my dad's sober now. He was always functioning, though. My dad could stop drinking for days and then just go back right to it. So he was a functioning alcoholic, and he will never say, and including his girlfriend, will never say he was an alcoholic. But I grew up a long, I grew up with him. He went from no alcohol at all to being the party guy. So your kids, whether you realize it or not, will notice that, and I'm sure they have.

SPEAKER_00 12:48

Right. And that's that's the other thing is I I ended up getting sober when my kids were young enough. Um, and before I met my wife, uh, and I have two more stepkids. Um, and it's uh, you know, it's it's a big change going from playing in four bands and being at the bar every night to having four kids, four goats, four cats, a dog. Mm-hmm. Five, uh um you know, a job you've been at for 11 years, two bands, you know, like it's it's uh it's a lot different, but I keep myself busy and I keep myself out of trouble, and that's what I need.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

So well, and it gives you a different perspective about life. I mean, when before when I was single and then I had two stepkids all of a sudden, and then I was single again. My life perspective when I had the kids was totally different than me as a single woman.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

Oh, yeah, it completely changes.

SPEAKER_01 13:47

And I don't think most people realize how much kids can alter you.

SPEAKER_00 13:51

It's just night and day, like as soon as I had my first kid. I mean, and it's it's uh it's like you just said too, it's not just uh you know, maternal kids, it's like stepkids too, like completely flip your life upside down, but in the best way.

SPEAKER_01 14:10

Oh yeah, yeah. I mean, I had a ready-made family of a four and a six-year-old girl. I mean, one was four, one was six. I mean, that I missed the bad diaper part, but I had the fun part, the creative part, the the inspirational part. And then yeah, I left before they hit teenage years. So I didn't have the angsty teen. Well, I did for a brief weekend, but yeah, because my my ex says, Hey, can you come on down and have a real talk with her? Okay, sure, I can do that. But I mean, it's one of those things where it's like kids change your perspective on how you look. I mean, uh Beavis and Butthead was out at the time, and I we didn't have cable because we lived in Indiana in a small town, and my sister-in-law sends me this Beavis and Butthead thing, and I'm like mortified because my kid, oh my gosh. And then after I I was no longer a mom and I'm watching it, it was funny as anything, but it was one of those things where it's like as a parent, you're looking at well, they couldn't watch that, but anyway, we're getting sidetracked. I'm sorry. Um, so when you talk about spirits, was that about the alcohol spirits or was that about ghosts?

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Um, it was uh about the it was kind of it was a player on words for both, I guess. That's what it was. It was the alcohol spirits. Um, but it was also uh that song is kind of about like when there would be times where uh my drinking would cause uh just a such heavy depression that I would just like hide out in my room and not answer the door, not answer my phone, just stay in my room and drink and watch TV and you know be by myself. And uh I just would for no reason, like I would make things up in my head thinking that people were mad at me, so then I would hide, you know, like it was addiction is a crazy thing, and um so that's this spirit song is kind of about that. It's kind of just being haunted uh in your room and being stuck there with not being able to get away, break free from uh this bottle, you know, the the evil spirits that are inside of it.

SPEAKER_01 16:24

And that's why I asked, because I mean last time we talked, we did talk about spirit hauntings a little bit last time. So I mean that's one of the reasons why I wanted a clarification because I figured yes, it was about the alcohol. And yeah, I I did catch the fact that you were talking about basically bed planting where you weren't getting out of bed. And that can happen for many reasons. And addiction is one of those things, and depression is definitely one of those things where it's like you feel trapped, you don't know how to get out of your own way or get out of your own head. And I, you know, this weekend I I lost, okay, so beginning of January, I lost my cat. This weekend I lost one of my dogs, and I and with everything going on in the world, I was so, as I lack of a better way to put it, was emotionally constipated. I couldn't cry. Even though I wanted to cry, I couldn't cry. And I know most people are like, how is that possible? So what I did is the most ridiculous thing in the world. I went, there's a movie when I was a kid called Brian's Song about uh Gail Sayers um in the Chicago Bears. And I wasn't a my football kid or anything, but my parents made me watch it, which they shouldn't have now looking back. But I cried at the movie. I I cried at the end of that movie, so I found it online and I watched it, and sure enough, still made me cry. But that that's the thing. Sometimes when we're so dis depressed, despondent, however you want to describe it, we lock ourselves away because somebody else may be judging us or they may think it's wrong, or and it's hard. Even if they're not. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 17:54

Even if they're not in our heads, we are and speaking of my mom, uh, I feel horrible for her because that was I had moved when I turned 18, I got the heck out of the small town that I was in and moved to Omaha. And uh, you know, then for the next 10 years or 15 years or whatever, uh, there would be patches in there where I wouldn't answer my phone, and she would be one of them, and then it would get to the point where I would be like, Oh, it's been so it's been too long since I haven't talked to her, and she's called so many times, and then I would get like anxiety about that, and then it would make me really not want to answer the phone, and so then it was like I had to like just break through and call her and be like, I'm sorry, I'm just in a funk.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

And that's well, it's funny because when my husband was alive and we he used to go through these about because he knew he was dying, we had this little thing called a blue panda. So if he didn't want to talk about what was bothering him, or I didn't want to talk, the blue panda would be placed on the table, and we would not discuss it until we were ready. And I think that's the one thing if you especially when you're in a relationship, if you can give yourself that grace of having something to say, I'm not, I can't right now.

SPEAKER_00 19:18

Yeah, and and some time, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:23

And I'm sure your mom understood once you f you started talking to her again. I'm sure, but but our mind will not allow us, it makes us feel like a failure. And how do we get past this? And we how do we break that cycle and how do we step into that?

SPEAKER_00 19:35

Mm-hmm. And then well, of course, you know, her being a mother and not being able to get a hold of her kid in a different town, she's worrying and thinking the worst thoughts, and you know.

SPEAKER_01 19:47

I I went through that with my grandmother and my mom because my mom near her death, she called my grandmother and she called me, and she told me she was going to do it, and she didn't answer the phone. And she played this game with us from six months before for a whole month. And when she finally did it, I because we my grandmother had a heart condition, we couldn't tell her on the phone. So I had to get on the phone with her and lie. I lied to my grandmother, and I am telling her, Oh, I'm sure she's fine, even though I knew my mom was dead until we could get down to New Orleans, and it's tough, and but it's one of those things where she would she was worried, and she and we don't think about those things. We don't think about even if you're you're estranged from somebody, we don't think about how they may be checking in to see if you're okay.

SPEAKER_00 20:33

Right, exactly. You think the world's against you, but there's actually people reaching out and trying to get a hold of you.

SPEAKER_01 20:40

Yeah. And so you you have to try to engage again, and I know it's hard, and if anybody's listening that's having a hard time, you know, try to try to reach out to somebody because you're gonna be surprised that they're actually gonna be like, wait a second.

SPEAKER_00 20:54

And if if someone's reaching out to you, maybe listen to them and let them help, you know, because that's definitely something that or I had people that would reach out to me and try and have a talk with me about what I was doing, and I would, you know, blow them off and go try to drink, you know, and so so it's it's a vicious cycle um that is just continued um by alcohol. You know, you think and I'm not telling anyone to stop drinking, you know, that's not anything what I'm about. I think people can drink um and not have a problem with it, but uh I can't. Um I know that I can't, and uh it's just you know once once it starts, then it's just a cycle of, you know, this is bad. Well, why is it so bad? I'm gonna drink because it's bad, and then it's keeps going. It's bad because you're drinking, and then I'm gonna drink because it's bad, it's bad because you're drinking.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

Well, and I'll and for a lot of people. They feel good when they're drinking. They don't they don't think about the crash that comes with it. They feel good.

SPEAKER_00 22:05

Right. It's it's just that that uh instant gratification, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:10

Well, they're saying now statistically that actually alcohol sales are now down.

SPEAKER_00 22:16

Yeah, I think the the newer generation just isn't really drinking as much. And I've been drinking uh and that's I I hear that from um like bar owners and uh venues and clubs that we play at and stuff like that. They say the kids will come out to the shows, but they're not drinking, you know, so the bar's not making as much money as it used to with our generation who would come out and just get shit faced.

SPEAKER_01 22:44

Rarely, I I I had because of my dad and my grandfather, and I had an uncle die of being hit by a drunk driver. I was always the person that would show up before cover and um drink water. Sometimes I would have a coke. If there was a two-drink minimum, I'd buy it. But I was really staunch against drinking and driving because of that. But that was just me. And I I knew people that would go to the bar, like you said, and get shit faced. They would totally get annihilated. And we had a real we had a really strange friend who was uh an engineer, a mechanical engineer, and he got shit faced one night and we're like, You can't drive. He's like, Yeah, I can. We're like, No, you can't, and so he's like, Ask me a square root. He was spot on with square roots of numbers and everything, but he was drunker than anything. Yeah, like no dude, you're we're driving you home, you'll be fine. So, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:40

No, it's I mean, I think that's almost a better I mean, it's it is what it is. Um, but the I definitely have had my fair share of drinking and driving, and I'm very lucky that I didn't have anything um bad happen because of it. I was arrested because of it, but I didn't have any like crashes or accidents or anything like that. So I uh that's it's just kind of a selfish thing to do, like looking back at it, because there's so many people that you're putting in danger, not just yourself.

SPEAKER_01 24:14

Oh, well, there it's people that affects well, like my dad, he would have these big parties he lived on in Slide L, which is about an hour away from the West Bank where we lived at. And he would have these parties and then he'd drive me home drunk. And I look back at this and think, well, dad, that was I don't I've never called him on it, I've never said anything to him about it.

SPEAKER_00 24:36

It was a different time, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

But I'm just like, how dangerous was that?

SPEAKER_00 24:41

Right. It was definitely a different time, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:44

And he was a he was a retired fireman, so if he would have got pulled over, professional courtesy.

SPEAKER_00 24:50

It's so oh, yeah, of course, for that. Um, it's it's funny that you say the you said the thing earlier about the movie they shouldn't have showed you because uh we've been running across that with our four kids, you know. We've got like seven, ten, uh, thirteen, fifteen, um, sixteen now. And so getting to the age where I'm like, hey, I want to start showing them some of these movies that I watched when I was a kid, you know, and so then I put them on, and then I'm like, whoa, this is definitely not what I mean, uh, but I remembered it being well.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

That was the thing. I have seen Brian's song sometime in the 90s, and yet it still seemed like a completely different movie. And here it is. The reason why I say they shouldn't have let I would have been about five, five or six. So the man has cancer, the man has lung cancer, the man is dying, the man's wife is there and she's bawling her eyes. So there's like heavy emotional things. Great, there's a there's a great friendship between Brian Piccolo and Gail Sayers, but you know, everything else. Yeah, it's like Benji. Binge was an ultimate kids movie. Everybody wanted to go see Benji. When Benji's little companion dog gets kicked down the stairs, everybody's mortified, but we're showing this to kids because hey.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Right. All the kids saw that movie when it came out.

SPEAKER_01 26:14

Yeah, I balled my eyes out when I thought that little dog died, you know?

SPEAKER_00 26:18

Yeah, that was great.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

But hey, give it to your kids to watch. But that's the thing, we don't especially looking back, we forget those movies, even though we have them so ingrained in our mind, like Apple Dumpling Gang. That was the best movie. I tried watching it again as an adult. Yeah, it's it's not, but at the time, at the time it was. So, do you have any plans to do some gigs for this the the Lightning Stells group?

SPEAKER_00 26:46

Yeah, we got um our release show is gonna be uh February 20th at the Slowdown in Omaha, Nebraska, and it's gonna be with our buddies Face. Um, and the singer of Face played drums on this record. He was our old drummer, and he uh got busy with his profession and with his other bands, and so he moved on, and we got our new buddy Matt Baum playing drums with us now, and uh, so we invited Javid's other band to come play with us, and then we got our buddy Fletch, uh Mike Schlesinger opening up the gig. So um it should be a really, really good time, and then we got another uh gosh, I don't have the date on me, but we got another show coming up with Clarence Tilton and Black Cat Rodeo uh at the same place. Slow down about two months later.

SPEAKER_01 27:44

So you're gonna be busy. And and are you doing any more with Leaf Blower? I know this isn't about Leaf Blower, but you know, it's still part of your band.

SPEAKER_00 27:51

So we're we're writing right now. We just had practice last night and we're uh in the middle of writing a uh couple new songs, so um, we don't have any shows for that one yet, but we're not opposed to them. So I'm sure if someone asks us, we'll get hopped on a show here pretty soon.

SPEAKER_01 28:12

Well, and everything is just kind of in flux right now. Everything seems a little off in the world right now, so you know.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:19

Take it day by day.

SPEAKER_00 28:21

Right, exactly. You just kind of gotta see where everything is gonna end up.

SPEAKER_01 28:27

So what is your favorite track on Lightning Stells?

SPEAKER_00 28:32

Oh, you know.

SPEAKER_01 28:34

I know you can't pick one. I understand. It's tough. I know.

SPEAKER_00 28:37

Um it's I would I would say um it's between Mama and Close Down the Bar are my two favorites, probably. Mama Wants a Love Song and Close Down the Bar are I just there's Close Down the Bar is super fun for me, and uh I I think that's just of it. That song came to me. Uh we were at a movie theater watching a George Jones um uh like celebration of life type thing. There was a bunch of people up there doing covers of his songs, and it was a one-night only thing at a movie theater, and they were doing interviews between the gigs, and uh they one of the performers was talking about how George used to close down this bar, and in my head I started to thinking, I was like, oh well, I closed down the bar, would I go drinking? And then I was like, it was like a Dewey Cox light bulb moment came on, like I was like and then I was loving the movie that was going on. I was there with my wife, and but I could not wait to get home and put pen to paper and get going on that. And as I had just the ideas were just flying through my head, I was putting little stuff in my notes on my phone, like secretly, like in the movie theater.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Unfortunately, the connection dropped between Craig and I and he didn't come back, so and that could have been because I said I had a limited amount of time. So unfortunately, the episode was cut short, and I do apologize. I enjoyed talking to Craig. We had a great conversation. And if you want classic country music, I would definitely say check out Lightning Stills because it does have that Willie Nelson, Wayland Jennings feel. It has that old formula of country, it's not so much country pop. So you definitely should check it out. As far as his sobriety, I commend him for following through and keeping it up. And and that's the thing, when you are going through depression, as we were talking about, sometimes you do just want to stay in bed and you don't want to talk to anybody, you don't want to reach out to anybody. I kind of, for me personally, I kind of make it a practice to reach out to people because I know that it is a cycle and you can get stuck in it. And the last thing I want because of having what my mom, you know, having my friends worry about me because of what I went through with my mom, I don't want to put anybody through that. I don't want anybody to sit there and wonder, well, what happened? So I try to take that action, but sometimes it's just too hard for other people, and you have to accept that and you have to come at them with compassion and grace and allow them to have their moments of being in solitude, and you have to allow yourself to be compassionate and to have empathy for them because sometimes when we're going through something, we don't want to let everybody else know. And going through my own journey last year with cancer, there were those moments of I thought of why am I doing this? Why am I continuing on? What is, you know, what is the point of all this? But I made it through and I will continue to make it through, and I think Craig will too. So find what keeps you going, find what inspires you. And I so wanted to ask him and talk to him about that inspiration moment. So maybe next time, because I'm sure he'll come back. Anyway, I want to thank you guys for tuning in as always. I'd like to thank Fast Susie for the intro and outro music. I'd like to thank you guys for tuning in whenever you're listening, morning, noon, or night. I greatly appreciate it. And well, I'll catch you next time, guys. Bye.