**** Producer's Note: The following is a general transcript of LCC Connect's weekly radio program. Contents include but may not be limited to podcasts, program imaging, announcements, and PSAs. More detailed and accurate transcripts of the podcast episodes featured in this broadcast can be found at LCCconnect.com or by following the links provided in the show notes of this episode. ****

It's time for Stars on Sports, a

podcast radio show dedicated to sharing stories about our athletic program at Lansing Community College.

LCC athletics has a strong tradition. 24 national championship wins, over 170 all

Americans, 19 MCCAA all sports trophies.

Stardon Sports will introduce you to individuals that have contributed to our program's success and give you the backstory on what it takes to develop it.

We'll also dive into and break down the topics and issues facing athletic departments across the and right here at lcc,

this is Starz on Sports. Hello and welcome to another episode of Stars on Sports. I'm joined by our assistant athletic director, Stephen Cutter and our producer, Jereny Robinson. Hey. And today, gentlemen, we're going to be talking about traditions and in sports, traditions are a big part of our culture, of our contest events and just life in general. And I'm sure you have a thought that comes to your mind when you think of traditions and it's pretty important part of sports even here at lcc, whether it's things we just do on a regular basis because we've always done in sport, such as the national anthem, as Jerry and I were talking about before. We've talked about the postseason post game handshake on podcasts before and there's some symbolism and that we'll dig into a little bit with even that tradition in sports and how some sports do it differently. Music has become a big part of sports traditions, but you know, it's one of it's, I think it relates because it's how fan it brings the whole team community together, you know, that I think the main importance behind a tradition is that team's identifier, that team, you know, their tradition, their bond. And bond was the key word I saw when I was researching the history of sport traditions. It creates a bond among that team. And now as sports has such a big following, it's not just the team, it's the, the people that follow that team and or the rivalry of that team like or dislike that tradition, mock it or find one of their own to like up it. So any initial thoughts on, you know, I mean in baseball there's a lot of the, you know, take me out to the ball game in the seventh inning trip. Terry Perry. That's one of the top traditions in sports history. If you, according to most.

It was always interesting too because I was able to be a part of a few of those seventh inning stretches and the Cubs a lot of times were not a very solid baseball team. But you saw the whole, you know, Everybody come together. That was at the field for the seventh inning stretch and take me out to the, you know, the ball game. And so I think those traditions are kind of unique. To each their own. But I think in general, we all have traditions and we have family, family traditions like Thanksgiving and, you know, and then there's the sports ties into Thanksgiving because there's always football. Yeah, yeah. Thanksgiving tradition, Thanksgiving football, there's another tradition that kind of ties in. Into that. So I think just in general, as people, we are, we enjoy the traditions. And you're right, it does bring people together, whether it's with family or with sport.

And I think you hit on a key point talking about the Cubs in the sense of they weren't good. And this was one thing that you could come and enjoy and watch and get excited about. You know, that that seventh inning, we're all going to. Whether we're winning or losing, and most of the time losing for a certain period of time, we're going to stand. And I wonder if even that's how traditions start sometimes is to help bring something to the table that might be missing. In the other part of the contest,

the Browns had the dog pound, right?

They do. And they've had.

They still have it.

Yeah. You know, hard to have a Brown's mascot. So the dog. They have a dog as a mascot, but yeah, it's a Cleveland sports fan that's, you know, Brown backer dog club. You know, you just. That's you're related as being a part of that dog pound and, you know, and other teams have followed suit. There's many dog pounds out there now. I wasn't even thinking of my Cleveland sports teams. I think it more. Michigan sports teams are lcc. I think Michigan has one of the ones in college football where they run out and touch the banner. The M Club supports you, which I like. At the M Club is all the student athletes. So they're out there supporting the football team. But that, you know, in researching this, there are a handful of other ones in college football that are significantly more known and celebrated and respected. And in college football, that seems to be a lot of traditions.

So you are a baseball coach. And I was wondering, because I know basketball does it, but I think you guys were doing it first. The handshakes, the baseball handshakes that all the different players. Do you guys still do that?

Are you talking post game handshakes with the other team?

No, like the team hand. Like y', all, like each player, like got a special handshake with that's a long handshake that they do.

You know, being a coach, at some point, I feel felt an inferior, you know, very inferior with, you know, not knowing them all and having to work on them and turn into players and, you know, what's this? What's that? You know, And I think, you know, somewhat joking in that. But it is a thing and it's a tradition. And baseball hat is very tradition rich. And I think probably most of the sports are in general, and most of the traditions like that we've talked about are, you know, great traditions. But there are plenty of traditions that aren't great, you know, that don't make a lot of sense, don't necessarily help anybody, but you still do them.

And that's a great point. Journey watching our softball team, LCC softball team play an opponent last spring, and their coach did a different handshake every inning. Same handshake with each individual, but a different one for all nine individuals as they ran out into the field. So she stood halfway between the first baseline and would do, you know. And you see it in basketball, too. At the introduction, they, you know, the starting five each have something. There's usually one of the players at the end of the line that they.

So there's team stuff, but then you're talking about basketball. There's. I always, I think of like LeBron.

That's another big do the chalk.

Yeah. That's crazy. He knows every handshake of. Different handshake of each of his teammates, and they all do a different one.

But his chalk routine is.

And the individual throwing a chalk in the air.

Yeah. That's class.

Yeah.

It is a classic one. According to sports traditions. How he starts every game.

Steph runs real fast, and then he stops right at the front of the padding thing in front of the basketball room. He does that every day.

I wonder if some of it's superstitious, too, like they've done it. And like you said, there's been some failures out there. I don't know them, but I did write failures down of teams playing songs or doing some traditions with cheers. And then they decide.

Did you ever run into this in football? It was a big thing on the upsets to take the goal post down. Did you run into that at the high school level ever?

No, we did have issues. We had strict rules about not rushing the field after the game. We did have a school plan, a flag on our field after the game. That was a really messy situation that created animosity on the field with everybody. So we Worked real hard at the high school level of not rushing the field, and I'm not sure I support that. And in college now they have that. But under big games, you know, you're a student at that school. The half thumb celebration, it's just how you orchestrate it. And even seen it in college basketball where some schools get the team because the opposing team is in. The officials are probably the team you have to worry about the most. You got to worry about your own players, but they're usually in the celebration, but just orchestrating it so you can get them off the field, field or court safely so that the rest can celebrate. And at Mason, we would bring our. We tried to get everyone to come to our student section instead of our student section going out to everyone else. But we never. I don't remember ever goal post. You know, I've been a part of rushing the field as a college student in that before.

But were you on the goalpost then?

I was.

You were not.

Those are dangerous. They're, you know, they're in the ground a minute in and you know, there was just a team the other day a couple weeks ago in college football.

Did they find one in a river?

They did, but they carried it through. They got it out of the stadium, took it down to the Vanderbilt a couple of weeks ago when they upset Alabama.

Wow.

First time they've ever beat a top five team in school history. And now they're selling things from the goal post and as a fundraiser. So, you know, that'll be a new tradition. Making money off of. Off of traditions.

But Michigan State, they like to make campfires at campus.

Yeah, burning couches was a big one. See, I try to make it.

You can say burning stuff.

Yeah, campfire, right. But even some cheers at some college games, you hear that include swear words and such. I was a big Michigan hockey fan and they had a cheer after.

I thought you said cheer. I was thinking of Bobby Knight.

Well, that's not a good thing. That didn't become a tradition.

That's a moment now that you.

This fourth moment in history. I don't think anyone else has tried to follow suit, although I guess there probably has been, but. Yeah. So you even see it at our level, you know, some of the standard tradition that every sport does, as you mentioned, handshakes and such. But each team, I think has some of their own that they like each new team does to try and build that bond again or that community among their team. Is that something that, you know, more player led, you think? Or do you Think some coaches try to.

I think it's probably a mixture of both. I know that we had a home run tradition.

That's the one I wanted to remember, actually. Yeah.

And basically just canceled it this season. So just one of those things like that you need to rewire stuff at times. And some, and that's what I mean, like, some traditions are fine for a little bit, but I think what makes the great traditions is the longevity piece.

Okay.

You know.

Yeah. And there had been some long ones. I mean, they talk about, you know, like the Ohio State started dotting their I in 1936 and their last home game, their band bells out Ohio and a tuba player gets the dot, the I. And that's like one of the biggest honors and tradition in their band. It was a trumpet player in 1936, but now it's one of their biggest, you know, traditions. That's pretty cool. You know, even Michigan now, which I like, they sing Mr. Brightside at the end of the third quarter and 100,000 people singing a song is pretty cool.

That is a very famous college song.

Is it?

Yeah. When I DJed, they used to love that song.

I didn't know much of it. And Michigan just played it on a whim probably about five, six years ago. And it went over so well. They started playing it every week. Wisconsin has jump around, Virginia Tech has inner sandman.

Oh, wow.

So there's a couple other ones out there where singing a song at the stadium is a big part. You know, it really started even with traditions, you know, how mascots and school colors became part of integrated in sports. We're, you know, building that identity and, you know, getting a tradition going, which is huge for us. I mean, we identify with our royal blue and gray and our mascot of the stars. And that's a, you know, you don't see that. I mean, companies are starting to, or not starting. They do have logos and, and brand colors, but I, I would think that really started in, in athletics over time.

I think traditions are just a natural human behavior thing. And without going like super deep into the psychology piece of it, we enjoy traditions in the same stuff. I'm sitting in my chair today for stars on sports and I'm six inches to the right and it's different for me. We think about other traditions. You know, think about what do you think about for Thanksgiving? What do you eat?

That's our question at the end of the podcast.

So we're very tradition based routine. And it feeds into that routine and makes a large difference. And then when you See more people get behind it and say, hey, this matters to me too. Then there's that piece of unity.

Well, unity is huge. But you also tied on, I think, two other key opponents of traditions and that participation, that people can participate. I mean, tailgating has become a big tradition in sports, and we've even had it at our events. People coming together, and then it's passed down from generation to generation. Back to your point of longevity. Some of the best traditions stand over time. Again, the Steelers and the Terrible Tower or in the English Premier League, they do these chants and sing songs of the whole stadium throughout the game. And that started in 1963. So. But now they do it every game. You know, that's, you know, 60 years later. So. Yeah, so I think it is about participation. I think it is about sending it down from generation. Generation. Even as you talk about on your team is that's one thing that connects the new student athletes with the current ones is teaching them those traditions or bringing them into those traditions. It does unify your team, and it brings excitement. They're fun. They're usually pretty cool to be a part of. And again, back to. We are a business of routine. That is much. I mean, almost not synonymous as tradition, but you could interchange them a little bit.

I believe we've kind of talked about a lot of things that are traditions, but it made me think as we're talking about this a little bit. You know, college football, Keith Jackson, college basketball, Dick Vital.

Those were big ones, too.

So people can really be a large piece of that tradition.

That is true.

It's not necessarily groups, but it's a certain person's tied to a certain thing.

Yep, those were two big ones. And, you know, and it's also carried over into every sport, you know, and let's get ready to rumble in boxing. Drinking milk after the Indianapolis 500. The green jacket for NASCAR.

Oh, yeah, that's a good one.

Start your engines. Was another big one. Yep. And used to be, gentlemen, start your engines. Now that the sport is diversified, just dart your engines. And usually a celebrity from that local area get the honor of saying that. The Green Jacket and the Masters. So the ceremonial first pitch at baseball. Yeah, that's a good one.

Celebrities get to do that.

The Lambeau leap. I mean, there's just so many. Like you said, it could be a famous personality. It could be a person that is a part of that sport, and then it could be someone you bring into and you make them a part of. Of that sport. So I think the Gatorade Shower, you

know, the big Gatorade, dumping on the coach. You like that one?

Most coaches don't now. They look out for it. Cause they don't. And, you know, now you even see the. You know, the locker rooms, how they protect them after big wins because of celebrating there.

So what y' all feel about the human wave? When you think, when did the wave start?

That's a great question. Yeah, great question.

That wasn't on any of my one. But I like it. I like. You know, I like it.

I like it better when there isn't a lot of people and they're still trying to do it

over there. Yeah, I like Michigan Stadium. They usually get pretty good at coordinating it where they. They do it like normal for a couple of laps, and then they go the other way, and then they do it really fast and really slow, and then they get it going both directions. Yeah. So, you know, it's even carried on to more creative. But again, I think it's popular because it's participation. Crowd participating in the event. And you see some people there that don't stand up or just sit. And you're right. It's even funnier when there's only one section doing it and they can't get the other groups to do it. Or it keeps going. Then all of a sudden a big play happens and it just dies right there. But it's part of the event, and that's something we've worked hard to do, is make the event more entertaining and even harder because the entertainment part, some people are staying home and not watching it on tv or I know tailgater that go in tailgate and watch it at the tailgate and don't even go into the game with technology and having big TVs there. So, yeah, I think it's pretty neat because traditions are formed every day. New ones are being formed every day, every year. Some are getting. I'm gonna miss that home run jump by our bench. That was a cool one for lcc.

We have a lot of really cool pictures from the years of doing that.

The dog pile, a huge one for baseball.

Oh, wow.

Yeah.

Again. And I've had injuries have happened from

that tradition, of course.

Oh, yeah, yeah. We had a. In 2017 when they dogpiled. They had one of their players get significantly hurt on the bottom of the pile and was out for the World Series.

Crazy. Wow. Yeah. Not good. Not a good tradition. But we still dogpile. And you just try orchestrate it and make it the best you can. But yeah, so. But it's okay. The maybe transition in other ones and come up with new ones and some failures. You know, as an ad, you worry about some traditions, even some of the chant that are said, you're like, no, we can't do that one. And even music being played. We've talked about music, how you know, if it's not a great song or you know, it can be a flop.

So I like to camp the new like age camera traditions like the dance cam.

Yeah.

And the kissing cam where they go into the different couples and stuff. That stuff is hilarious.

That can go sideways though.

Yeah. The highlights that are out there on social media are usually the ones that did go sideways or. Yeah, you're right. Technology has helped with again back to making the that fun. Getting participation in the event beside just the athletes that are out in the arena doing it. And when you're paying big money for a ticket, I mean there's probably some merit to creating that environment. And it seems like, you know, almost every sport or stadium has some kind of tradition. I mean you even see animals involved like Colorado bringing that buffalo out or Oklahoma with their horses that have gone sideways. You know, and it can be as simple as like, you know, at our cross country team, our coach gets in the huddle and it's a great day to be a royal blue is his saying. You know, and just so it can be as simple as that to get your team together and and again celebrate your mascot or your, your school colors. So what Any favorite traditions from you real quick before we go into. When you think of off the top of your head.

I think I kind of spilled all the ones that I had on the top of my head.

I got two.

Okay, good.

All right. So the first one I think is one of the craziest traditions, the bull run. When the people like they release the bulls and everybody start running. I think that's the craziest thing ever.

Once again, it's the failure of the

people run over that everybody wants to see.

Yeah. But yeah, second one is when a wrestler ends his career, he leaves his shoes on the middle of the. Really the middle of the. The mat. I was about to. I seen this because watching the olympics and this 42 year old Mygen Lopez won his fifth consecutive gold medal. Fifth consecutive. And he wrestled one last time in this Olympics and won. And then he left his shoes on the mat and then walked away. That's a tradition.

Isn't that pretty cool?

How old would you be if you didn't know when your birthday was?

That's pretty Sweet.

Yeah, yeah. Very cool again. And you can relate to it and you can celebrate them. And I've already shared mine, too, but I'm going to hit a couple other that we didn't touch on. Even in the sport of swimming, they bleached their hair or shaved their heads right before Big Meat. That was a big tradition at my previous job from a strong program, you know, the stripe out you see at some of the games now that are, you know, what they do with fan and shirts and just, you know, creating a cool scene in stadiums that I think a new thing. And I talked about Mr. Brightside. And then the other one is the hockey beards or baseball beards in the postseason, the mullets in the state of Minnesota when their high school hockey tournament and high school hockey in Minnesota is one of their, you know, biggest sports. The hair pictures that come out are crazy in March, but it's fun and exciting. And again, sometimes, again, we deal with traditions going too far and it turns into hazing or something. And we don't want to go there because I think traditions are a big part of sport, and they're a big part of all levels at the high school, lcc, college, and pro sports. And it's one of the ways, as we talk about sports, bring people together. This might be the number one way that does that.

I got one more. All right. This is because this brings me joy every time. He didn't do it this year because he's about to get. His contract is up, so he wanted to be smart. But Jimmy Butler's media day photos.

Okay.

Y' all seen any of his media days?

I don't think I have. I don't remember. I'm sure I have it.

So one year he put fake dreadlocks in his hair.

Okay.

And then the year before that, he straightened his hair and put, like, black eyeliner looking like a punk rocker. Like, so he does something crazy for Media day. So, like, every time, like, they show him on TV and they use the media picture, it looks like this wild dude.

But he broke the tradition. He's not doing that anymore this year,

I think because he had to get serious because his contract about to be up. So he wanted to make sure he shows that he can control.

But you hit on a couple of key points of a tradition. He was doing something every year, and it brought you joy. You know, it is a unifier. And then some people might not like it, but again, I think that's even where the. The rivalries things come in, because that, you know, can create, you know, a tradition or a different kind of tradition. So okay, so great stuff on tradition. We might carry that into some other things in the future, dive into that even further because I think it is such an important part. But I got a question for you. Today we're going away from food a little bit, so I got these questions that like would you kind of. So my question today is would you rather be the best player on a losing team or the worst player on a winning team?

That one's pretty easy from my standpoint. Winning is a lot of fun and is joyful and losing is the exact opposite of it. So I think it's rather be the worst player on a winning team any day of the week.

Okay, what about you, Journey man?

I'll be the coldest towel boy. I'll just be like, hey, let's go.

Yeah. And I figured that was probably an easy one for us because I have other ones that aren't sports specific. And I agree, because being the worst player on a winning team still might mean you're pretty good and you might be the best player, you know, on the other team. But winning, being around winning definitely is a good tradition to It's a great tradition. It makes you better to surrounding yourself with people that are better. Well, that was an easier one. I'll get harder next time or we'll go back to food or something. But until next time, go Stars. Stars on Sports is recorded live at the WLNZ Studios. Engineering and production assistance are provided by the Dallian Lowry and Jereny Robinson. You can listen to this episode and other episodes of Stars on Sports on demand@lccconnect.org to find more information about our athletic program, visit lccstars.com thanks for listening. Go Stars. Oh, I'll have a real good time.

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vibes Vision welcome to Front Row Backstage, the show that takes you behind the velvet ropes of the media world. I'm LCC student Greg Trimmer, and each week we'll explore the stars you see on screen, stage and radio, and the tech and talent making the magic happen behind it. From unsung heroes to spotlight sensations, we've got the stories you won't hear anywhere else. So grab your popcorn and let's dive in.

Welcome guys.

Today we're joined by Matt, the lead singer of a band called Plethora. The ultimate party band is known for their high energy, comedic rock performances and unmatched versatility. With a weprotar spanning over 80 original songs and parodies, they bring a concert experience like no other, blending genres, humor and crowd interaction into an unforgettable show. From rock and metal to folk and acoustic, Plethora truly lives up to their name by offering a little something for everyone. Get ready for a wild ride as we dive into their music, creativity and the magic of their performances.

Welcome Matt Ahoy, greetings and salutations. I need my classic eagle screech sound to play.

Just a couple little icebreaker questions. What inspired the concept of Plethora as a concert experience? I think you guys call it a little bit more than a band, almost.

Yeah. So we're like, basically a band of superheroes, so to speak. The idea behind our main gimmick is that we were this group of heroes from the beginning of time. We saved the earth, freeze ourselves in magic ice until the world needs saved once again. And we like to use kazoos in our music and in our zoos.

Yeah.

In our band's lore, kazoos are sort of like celestial melodic weapons, sort of like a trumpet or something, but more powerful and sort of debuffs the enemies or, like, makes us more powerful. And so when we thought out in the year 2010, which is when the band officially formed outside of the lore in real life, that was when the hero characters that we play, you know, we thaw out. We see how the future currently is. And there was all of these, like, America memes, epic meal time, all the. The guns blazing, like, Team America, World Police type stuff going on. So I'm thinking, you know, if these medieval heroes from the beginning of time had thought out in the future, they might be confused or, like, not really aware of how things work. So they saw that, like, superheroes were this big thing. So we kind of rebranded ourselves as these, like, medieval heroes meets Captain America type stuff.

So you have names, right? Everybody has names, Yeah.

I typically go by Captain America, the Freedomator.

Okay.

We've got Major Patriots, Sergeant Star, Screech, Lieutenant Liberatus, to name a few of them. Yeah, cool.

Cool.

All of them. Weird mix of superhero meets medieval characters.

So how did you guys develop such a wide variety of musical styles and themes?

So even, like, before we really got into this current gimmick, I would say that started around 2012. The name itself, it's the word plethora, but we like to put the emphasis on the wrong syllables. So plethora just sounds more epic. But the word itself means a lot of something.

Yeah.

And we all have a lot of different styles and music genres. You like? I grew up originally, like, my parents only listened to country, and then I found, like, a Boston record one day, and I really liked the classic rock, like Prague elements. And then I got into metal and thrash, and then I got into folk from various video game soundtracks and stuff. And so I also played trombone and band. So I have all these different musical backgrounds, and I Didn't really want to confine us to one thing because I really wanted to take rock and metal and then throw in another style based on lyric content. So like our pirate songs, those have the folk accordions and the whistles.

For those of you that don't know, I met Matt and Anthony at Nordic Fire Festival last year and ended up in their music video for y' all Hala. And then got to know them a little bit better at Magical Realm Fantasy Fair in June. Which is like. It's a ren faire, but it's a lot more fairies and mermaids and it kind of anything fantasy goes pretty small. It's. It's smaller, but it's a really cool festival. But they are just really cool people. So one of the big things they do is they play. Some of you may know it by Murph, but it's the Michigan Renaissance Festival is one of their big gigs. And then they also play Nordic Fire Festival and then they play Magical Realm. So they play some of these fantasy and medieval fairs. Like, when I've heard you guys there, a lot of your music very much reminds me of like Dwarven rock.

Ah, yes. Excellent. If that windrows.

But I know you guys have a lot. You have parodies like Drunk at a Walmart and.

Well, not so much parody. It's more of like.

Well, that's not really a parody. That's.

It's like you could say I parody styles.

Maybe it's Drunk at a Walmart is more.

It's like an Irish drinking song.

It's an Irish drinking song that's modern and a bit farcical.

We started off, we were writing more silly songs, more character based. Like these are just made up silly things. You could almost say it was like rock music for children in a way. Not necessarily on purpose, but it just like we made up characters like Lucky the Pirate. He's got two eye patches, two hooks for hands, and two peg legs.

Yep.

And so after that first album, we started writing a little bit more mainstream comedy. So I was like, what's more something funny? I wanted to take your old Irish Celtic, those old type of folk songs and start making them more modern. So we have like Drunk in a Walmart. We've got Yoho, Costco, like Hop on Board my member ship.

Yeah, that was. That's the first time I heard that. I. I couldn't help but laugh.

There's obviously our Captain Crunch song.

Oh, yeah.

Which was that one. People at Renfest just shout crunch. Itize me Captain like all the time.

Is amazing on a consistent basis. I listen to that song.

Good song.

It's a great song.

It gets stuck in your head a little too easy, which is good.

But so speaking of some of your guys music, you guys have a song called Y' all Hala. I mentioned it before. You guys had a music video for that that you guys can find on YouTube. If you guys just search plethora on YouTube. I know we're saying it probably weirder than what you think, but it is the word plethora, so just search plethora. But it is. Plethora is how it's supposed to be pronounced.

And you may want to do plethora music official because there's this. There's another band with our name.

Weird.

That's in the Philippines.

I didn't think that would be a thing, that another band would be called

that, but it doesn't make any sense because, like, when we were getting our name originally, there was no inkling of another band with our name on the Internet. And then, like, five more popped up, like, a few years after. And of course, that band.

You started a movement.

That band blew up huge over there and has, like, 250,000 followers. But they're like, weird boy band Christian rock. But it's all in, like, Filipino boy band Christian rock. And I don't know why they have.

I didn't know a boy band could do Christian rock. That's interesting. But, yeah. So speaking about their song, y' all holla a little bit. We're gonna go ahead and just give you guys a little taste. You guys can go find it for yourself later. But I wanted to give you guys a little taste so you can kind of hear for yourselves a little bit as you're listening to this. Exactly. Kind of what we're talking about with this experience.

The redneck Viking anthem. I climb your feral hogs head to the southern coast we're redneck Vikings crossed into the place that I crave most

who needs it long?

But when you've got a fleet of derby cars Just the meat all that I need are horns of PBR A question I'll take us to a fortress still in mighty halls there's one that falls Bloodline pouring out every wall there's

no real way to find it no

map can show around we'll have to die in battle our ve no doubt One request Through the hurricane winds Forward to glory the fight we can win no need to defend we must meet our end into the brave all we shall ascend y.

And that was y' All Hala. Honestly, it's one of my favorite songs by you guys. I might be a little biased because I got to me in the music video, which was super dope, but I think it's just so well composed. It's got elements of comedy, but it's also got elements of seriousness. And I think it's a great all around song and I think it's one of the best representations of you guys as a whole in your repertoire.

I agree there because we have the whole America superhero thing going on, which was never meant to ever be political or anything. It was sort of just like we're taking this hilarious Persona of the memes about America. We like to write songs about food. Not all of our songs are even like folky. Like we've got like a song about drinking gravy. It's kind of.

I don't know if I've heard that one yet. I'll have to check it out.

I wouldn't say it's rap rock, but it's. It's got a lot of groovier elements. And we got a song called Planet Fatness, which. That one's sort of in the style of your dude bro metal type bands like Five Finger Death Punch or something Nice. Because, you know, what other band would you listen to while you punch Drywall Fair. We kind of take the styles and kind of like, you know, just if we take the lyrics and we try to make the. The other style that goes along with rock or metal, we try to make them all kind of cohesively fit together. Like we have a song I've been working on called Cat Party. It's about your cats just like destroying your house in the middle of the night. And love that. That one's kind of. It's metal meets like dance music is party. Like so there's going to be like dubstep elements in the breakdown.

I love that so much.

We have a song called Flavortown which is also sort of in the works for recording. I mean we have a lot of stuff recorded, but.

Oh, I think you guys. I think you guys mentioned that because you made a post about hey, what should we write about next? And somebody was like, you should write about Guy Fieri or whatever.

So that post was not actually us looking for. It was more of a like, yeah, it was like, this is all the stuff that we constantly write about. And when 90% of it was food. So it was like, what are they going to do this time? Probably more food. Like we've actually been playing the Flavortown Song for like five years.

Okay, that's cool.

Basically what happened is our first album came out in 2013. We started recording our second one in 2015 and then we kind of got screwed over by our producer. Not necessarily. It was, it wasn't like his fault. It was like just bad life stuff kept happening.

Right.

So we couldn't get into the studio to finish it. And seven years later we still don't have an album and we were just like starting to get pissed off because we have, like you said earlier, 80 original songs about around there and currently only about 40 of them are recorded. So we're kind of playing catch up. Right. I ended up getting the album from the guy, like he basically downloaded the Pro Tools, recording all the sessions, all the sessions, gave them to me, I learned how to finish it. Then I started taking it to my buddy's studio, Paco Higdon. He's got a place called Tuxedo Avenue.

I'm very familiar with Pro Tools. We use audition here at WL&Z. But I'm very familiar with Pro Tools. I've mentioned it on this podcast before. The DMACC program, Digital Media, Audio and Cinema here at lcc. Amazing program for anybody that wants to go into that stuff. But they, they primarily learn on Pro Tools.

Yeah, I basically just now will track drums at Paco Studio and then he'll give everything to me. I'll record everything at my house, you know, have the other guys over to get their parts. It just streamlines everything so much faster. Like since 2020 we've dropped three albums and we're planning to drop another one hopefully end of this summer or fall.

Yeah, you recorded one during COVID called Quarantunes, right?

Yeah.

That's where Drunk at Walmart comes from, right?

Yeah. So that's an acoustic album. Basically what happened there is the album that took seven years was called Liberate and that was supposed to be our second album. And then when Covid shut everything down, we were about 95% done recording that album. And then like there was no way we were gonna be able to get it out in time for our 10 year anniversary at that time, which is when we wanted to co release it. So once lockdown happened, I basically locked myself away for three months.

We all did. And it's fine.

I just like shut myself away and just recorded a whole album by myself in my room. And I kind of figured, you know, I want something to drop on our 10 year anniversary. But I also want, if you think about the quarantine and all that stuff. I was like, okay, if this was an apocalyptic type setting, there'd be no power, so we'd have to rely on acoustic instruments. That's part of the reason why that album was acoustic too. It was also way easier to do on my own.

It matched the vibe check of 2020.

It did, yes. And then a lot of the songs were all sort of, like, loosely related. Like, there's a song called Corona Blues. That's the more obvious one. But, like, back, there's lots of references and songs like Costco about toilet paper because people were, like, hoarding that and stuff. It's a song called Vaccinate your kids, which isn't even about COVID It's just about general vaccinations. Tide Pod Picnic was on there. That. That was back when the kids were eating Tide Pods.

Lord.

So there's a.

That was. That was a whole thing I was like. When they were doing that, I was just like, what are wrong with these kids?

There's a. There's a lot of hilarious, just like, things from the times getting made fun of on that album. And then, yeah, a year after that, we dropped Liberate finally. And then right after that, we ended up getting the Renfest gig finally, after years of trying to get in there.

Well, what year was that that you. I was actually gonna bring that up because you guys started with Mer first, which is weird because, like, usually when bands are getting into performing at Ren Fairs, they're not starting at the top with places like Murph. They're usually starting with places like Magical Realm and then working their way up and ending up at places like Murph. But you guys just went to the top.

I mean, we've been around for a long time. The band, it kind of exists in two different versions. We have our full electric rock metal thing where we play a variation of all of our songs in the big warrior hero costumes. And then we have our acoustic version that plays at the Renaissance and Nordic Fire. And we actually auditioned to be at the Renaissance Festival, I think, in, like, 2016. 17.

Okay.

And for some reason, even though we were like, we auditioned, they said, we're good. We're in. We never got contracts or something. Something fell through the cracks. Emails stopped getting responded to, so we didn't end up playing. Well, in 2019, I joined this other band that used to be at the Renaissance Festival called the Dizzy Drifters, and their illenpipe player did a feature on one of our songs. So I ended up joining those guys. But the year I was Supposed to start playing at the Renaissance Festival with them was 2020. So everything shut down. And then their Ellen pipe player was already having too many health problems. He had like really bad carpal tunnel Lyme disease, memory issues. They ended up having to kind of retire and like his immune system was too compromised every time he got unfortunate

inside because I know he'd been there a long time.

Yeah, something like somewhere between 10 and 15 years. I don't remember the exact time frame. It was at least 10. But he kind of helped put in another good word for us to get us back there because we were going to apply again. But he kind of gave them the final push to get us in there. And then of course, as soon as we got in there, they. The people started hearing our Captain Crunch song and they were just going crazy. We only did five dates as like a fill in act on the Guinness Pub stage when they were missing a band. And so after that first season, they definitely brought us back for the next one. So we've done three seasons so far. We plan to be there again this year. Nordic Fire is coming up, so that should be fun.

Yeah, Nordic Fire is a blast. Guys. If you ever get a chance to

go in Charlotte got some new y' all holla T shirts coming. We got these new hoodies.

Hey now. So you started going to Murph and you've always been kind of doing this like Murica like party band kind of thing. So where. Where did the connection come to go from there? And then you got the gig with Nordic Fire for the first time last year, right?

Yeah.

How'd you guys hear about Nordic Fire and get involved there?

I think their promoter is a regular at Renfest because he. I think he talked to Anthony, but he was, he was there like three times to see us. I think this last Renfest season, maybe more. He was probably like five or six, honestly. But I think just a lot of people have offered us shows that's cool from seeing us there. And you know, at the end of the night there's the Pub sing.

Yeah.

Too. So a lot of people even from Fair who might be working all day if they. Some of them end up at the Pub Sing and all the other people and bands are there. So you kind of get some good exposure.

Yeah.

To the right people you need to talk to for a lot of stuff. Because that's how we got the Medieval Fantasy Fair too, I think is they just saw us at Renfest and yeah, people seem to like it. We're probably the rowdiest band There.

And to be clear about a comment I made earlier about like, usually bands are starting at somewhere like Magical Realm. That is not to discount. Magical Realm. Magical Realm is one of my favorite fairs ever. I don't care how small or big it is. It's about the people and it's about the event. That's not to discount anybody that plays what you would call smaller fairs, I guess.

But I mean it's not much different from like playing the. Your rock scene. You go from bars to clubs to theaters to arenas.

Yeah, I just want people to be clear. Magical Realm. Fantastic. Go check it out. Will be first weekend in June. Full for weekend in June this year. But back to Plethora. We don't have a lot of time left, but we're gonna do some quick rapid fire questions here. What is your favorite song to perform live?

Oh man. I mean, Yahal is a good one. Buy us a drink's fun. Cap' N Crunch is a. Is a banger. Like it's a tough gravy. Jams. Flavortown's a good jam. We have one called Space Force. It's like a space metal synthy 80s.

That's cool.

There's too many. They're all fun. They're all a good time.

What's one of your funniest moments you've experienced during a show?

So we throw food into the crowd a lot, especially at our rock shows. There was. We have this love song about cheese that we played a long time ago. Like we were tossing Kraft singles into the crowd. There was this one show we did at the Blind Pig in Ann Arbor where during our song called Mashed Potatoes, it's a heavy metal song about a potato recipe. And we always hand out potatoes with our band stickers on and people will fight in the crowd for them. And there was this kid sitting on his dad's shoulders and one of our stunt guys throws a potato to him because the kid wanted it. But he went right through his hands, hit the kid right in the face. This rock hard potato. And so at the end of. Right after the set, we went to the kid and we're like, hey, I have a T shirt, you know, or I don't remember. I think we gave him a shirt and a CD or something. But the kid was loving it. And his dad, he's this real Australian guy and he's like, this is my. My son's first like rock concert. Very apt. He gets hit in the face with a potato. So yeah, we just. Lots of, lots of stuff like that. We used to have this thing called a war toaster that would shoot, like, bagels into the crowd.

That's fun. That's fun.

Okay. Dream collaboration for Plethora.

Oh, man. Gwar. Probably I want to do Guar. We actually are members of the comedy punk rock band Green Jello. We wrote a song, the Drinking Song. We play that one a lot at Renfest. That one, we wrote it with Bill Manspeaker, their front man, and that's on an album called the Garbage Band. Kids and the Trailer Park Boys are on there. Weird Al's on that album. Wow. I think Suicidal Tendencies.

That's so Fishbone.

So it's kind of crazy having my name with, like, those guys.

That's so.

Because there was a lot of features.

Yeah.

Because the Green Jello thing is kind of crazy because the way they tour is they used to just. Bill would fly out to regional areas and hire local bands to be his backing band. So then when their last album came out, he's like, let's get all the bands that have been playing for me. Like, you could submit a song if you want, and if it gets accepted by the record label, you get it on the album. And we had one of the 15 songs that made it on the album.

That's so cool. Favorite crowd to play for.

The Machine Shop in Flint is a. Is a big one. We've played there with Psycho Stick a lot. We just did Hammerfall last May. I think that place is, like. It's always got a good crowd. The owner, Kevin Zink, is amazing. He just, like. He really supports local bands opening up for, like, national touring. So we play there with Psycho Stick a lot. With a Green Jello show there where we played. We opened as ourselves and then we played in Green Jello. Renaissance Festival is the other good one. Like, that's just. You can't be the Guinness Pub stage and playing like, the pub sing every night.

Yeah. Before we go, where all can listeners find your guys's music? Find out about you may.

We are. We are everywhere. You can get us on Spotify. We're on YouTube. Plethora Music official. You can find us@phthora music.com if you want to read up on our lore. Because I write there's an entire giant backstory that you can read about.

All the pretty wild guys, all the

stuff that I've been talking about. Every album release, I update the lore to the next thing. Our next album, which will be our fifth full release, is called Kazoo Metal. It's going to be featuring a lot of our heavier songs because right now we've gotten to the point where we have so many songs, they all fit on themed albums. So we're looking forward to doing our metal album, then doing another folk one called Ragnarok. And then we're gonna have an album that's full of most of our big rock and roll banger songs. Then we got our Space Force album because we want to do a bunch of space metal songs. We got, we got so many projects lined up, it's, it's nuts.

All right, well, thank you so much, Matt, for joining us today on Front row backstage. As he said, you guys can find him anywhere. You guys listen to music and they have a website@phthora musicofficial.com just plethora music.com okay.

The official one is for YouTube, but yeah, we're on Facebook, Instagram, Spotify, Apple music. Anywhere you can find music, we're there. New album coming in 2025.

Thank you guys for joining and thank you for listening in to hear about Plethora. Until next time, Thanks for tuning in. Tuning in to Front row backstage. We hope you enjoyed this week behind the curtains of the media world. Don't forget to like us on Facebook and follow us on Instagram for more information and join us next week for more stories from the front lines of entertainment. Until then, stay tuned because whether it's on stage, behind the scenes or over the airwaves, the real action is everywhere,

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LCC Connect Voices vibes Vision. Lansing Community College Performing Arts is proud to present Summer Stage under the stars featuring a 10 minute play festival directed by Paige Dunkle and Shelley Peterson. A wonderful variety of styles and concepts for this evening of theater including Fred side Story by Fred Engelgau. What's in a name? Sometimes it can make you or break you. Fred tries to fit in and find true love. Featured at LCC's outdoor amphitheater July 23rd through the 27th at 7pm in the event of rain or extreme heat, performances will move into Dart Auditorium. For more information, visit LCC EDU ShowInfo. All performances are free to attend.

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