[Laughs sharply]

And yeah. That album was about Preach’s time in Louisiana to how he’d been led astray by Lyla and it was dark. Angry. Bookended by “Give Then Take” and “Night Lies.” Preach’s journey from being seriously fucked over by his parents to being fucked over by a sweet, quiet, seventeen-year-old girl who he spent one night with and didn’t touch except to hold who was more woman than the countless women he’d fucked.

Yeah, it was dark.

And Lyla didn’t miss it.

[Shakes head]

No, Lyla didn’t miss it.

No one fuckin’ missed it.

Now, I know you know this, but it’s important to say it.

This was after Guns ’n Roses hit.

But before anything big came out of the Seattle scene.

Our sound wasn’t an LA sound.

And it wasn’t Mellencamp.

We’re from Indiana, and Louisiana, and there’s anger and anguish in this album, yeah?

Before Nirvana.

Pearl Jam. Soundgarden. Alice in Chains.

This was the sweet spot of the death throes of the hair band.

This was beyond “Welcome to the Jungle.” And it was nothing like “Sweet Child o’ Mine.”

It wasn’t “Smells Like Teen Spirit” or “Alive” either.

It stood alone.

In that world, it was important to stand alone.

You found that place, you had the talent to back it up, that place was your place.

Forever.

We found that place.

Now, I don’t know how Tom maneuvered that gig so a scout could come out and see us in our element, even if we were new to that particular scene.

And we’d been on the road years, workin’ our asses off.

But that shit there.

[Taps arm of chair with one finger]

Yeah.

That was straight-up serendipity.

Daniel played that album for the label with the band there, and I’ll never forget their fuckin’ faces.

[Smiles broadly]

Oh no, I’ll never forget that.

The big dude, three-piece suit, sitting back in his chair behind his big desk, smoking a cigarette that was rolled in black paper, I’d never seen anything like that.

“Night Lies” finishes, he reaches out, wears a goddamn pinkie ring with a big-ass diamond in it.

Hits a button on his phone.

Then he says, “Linda,” or whatever the fuck his secretary’s name was, “get the Roadmasters on open for Bobby Sheridan and the Mustangs.”

Bobby Sheridan.

Big name back then.

We heard that, we thought we’d hit the mother lode.

[Chuckles]

Bobby, decent guy, at first.

Didn’t know what was about to hit him.

[Off tape]

There’s quite a bit of animosity between the Mustangs and the Roadmasters.

The Mustangs, yeah.

The Roadmasters, we’re above that.

[Laughs]

You outplayed them.