Baub: Well, thats a good question. Geoff actually has written all of the Tunes on the "Coconut Coasters" Geoff originally approached me and asked me to play on 5 songs. Which we recorded at a friends studio in a church. Well, the songs were sounding good so it kind of turned into a whole CD. I've been doing digital recording for years so Geoff decided maybe we should just buy the equipment ourselves and I could do the engineering. So then the CD kind of started taking off on Myspace, so we decieded to put a road band together. Actually what started it was that Hootie and the Blowfish were going to play at the Lake, and their tour was called the "Homegrown" tour. Well I have a radio show which features local Missouri bands called the Homegrown show. So the radio station thought it would be great if I opened. My band had broken up about 6 months earlier so I decieded to use GSP instead. Well, Hootie canceled the show, or the radio station couldn't work out the details or something, but to make a long story longer, we didn't play the show. But that started the seed of getting the road band put together. So it really is more than Geoff Stein, ie Baub Eis too, so we have been using the abbreviation of GSP instead of the full band name.
Me: Here's a question you have probably been asked a lot of times... how did you Baub and Geoff get together first playing music?
Baub: I think that was mostly answered in the previous question. But Geoff offered to buy me a guitar if I would record 5 songs with him. We had been friends through mutual business endevors. Geoff is a condominium developer and I am a computer IT guy, so I had helped Geoff on several previous condo projects.
Me: I first saw the band on Myspace and went straight away and purchased the 'Coconut Coasters' CD from Itunes. It's very Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney influnced. Is that a true statement, or are you guys just in love with the beach?
Baub: Geoff is really Beach Boys, Jimmy Buffett and Kenny Chesney influenced. He had some songs that were too country in my opinion. So I tried to pull them other directions. By adding Chubby Carrier on Accordian we were able to pull the songs more towards the Cajun side. Its really more of the love of the ocean than anything. People often say that when they hear our songs that they want to go to the ocean. And thats the affect we are looking for. Thats all we want to do too! But we're trapped here in Missouri. Geoff is really the gung ho surf guy. Thats all he wants to do in life. So they question is why don't we/Geoff move to the ocean. Geoff's ex-wife lives here in Missouri along with his kids. And he wants to be close to them as he is a good father. Otherwise, he would probably be at the beach. We are hoping to have a hit one day and that will afford us to get close to the ocean. But for now we get about 1 ocean trip a year....
I have big rock/blues/jam band influences. I'm a huge Grateful Dead fan. You can totally hear the Jerry influence on Donnovan's Reef. And you can hear the Ramones influence on Surf's Up.
Me: The band is from Lake Ozark, Missouri... are there any beaches in Missouri? I guess on the lake, right?
Baub: Yeah, if you're not familiar with the Lake of the Ozarks, we have over 1400 miles of shoreline, which is more than the state of California. Geoff lives in Lake Ozark, but I actually live in Osage Beach. So I guess technically I live at a beach, ha ha. I live about 20 yards from the lake. I'm not actually on the lake, but what they call second tier, so I have lake access to the dock.
Me: How far is Lake Ozark from St. Louis. St. Louis has a really big music scene. It is the home of Chuck Berry, after all.
Baub: St Louis is about 2.5 hours from here, as is Kansas City Also. We get a lot of great bands here as the lake is a great mid-way point to other venues. St. Louis Rocks. I love playing down there. I always have good fan turn out in KC and STL. People come to see us in the summer from out of town, and then they will come out to see us in the winter when we are in their town.
Me: Baub, in the years you opened for REO Speedwagon, Starship, Willie Nelson, Molly Hatchet, Uncle Kracker, Head East and Air Supply. What an impressive line-up. What was your favorite concert or band you opened up for? My father, who was the lead singer of Foghat, has pretty muc h played with all except for Willie Nelson and Uncle Kracker. I didn't know Air Supply were still going. Anyway, how were they all like? I bet Willie had some good stories, and good weed.
Baub: Yeah, it was a good time opening for those bands. And my favorite was definetly Willie. Usually we play two sets before the national acts. The first set is usually kind of slow cause people are just getting there, and then second set rocks and people are going crazy. But when we opened for Willie, we had people pushed up against the barricades before we even played one note. So that was pretty awesome. I was like king for a day. Everyone was calling and trying to get the "in". I didn't get to meet Willie though. That kind of sucked. He bascially came in on the bus, played the gig and left. No hanging out. I did get to hang out with the singer from Starship a bunch. And actually Air Supply was really great. I couldn't remember any of their songs, and then I heard them and I knew every song they played. And Uncle Kracker really rocked too. I hadn't really heard them before so that was cool to meet those guys.
Me: Like I said, my dad's band was Foghat, and I ask this with every question... what is your favorite Foghat song?
Baub: Fool for the City.
Me: I loved the "Coconut Coasters" album, and I am looking forward to the follow up. Are you working on one, and if so, what can you tell the readers about it?
Baub: We are currently working on the follow up CD GSP II, the working title is "Palm Trees in Winter" The CD is mostly written. Goeff has 12 new songs. We were a little further along, but had a hard drive crash on us, so we are currently trying to fund raise to get it repaired by a series of Santa's Elves that have to use fairy dust to repair it. But other than that we just re-record. The original CD was pretty much set in stone as far as the songs arrangements were concerned. But now we have the road band to rehearse with, so the songs get a little more worked out before we record them so they kind of start to take on a different flavor as the other musicans add their flavors too. We are hoping for an early spring to early summer release.
Me: Tell me about your fan base, do all ages go to your shows and get into the music and do you have a pretty good following? My son Logan is nine and he likes your CD.
Baub: We really have a large Myspace fan base, which consists of surfers, ocean lovers, parrot heads, dead heads ranging from all ages.
Me: If one wanted to see the GSP in concert, do they have to go to Missouri, or do you play out of state as well? I live in Central Florida, so I guess you won't come this far down.
Baub: Well at the moment you would have to come to Missouri but we are working on a tour of some sort. Our plan is North and South Carolina and Florida too hopefully. Its seems like we really get a lot of people from those areas that like us. We also seem to get some airplay too in those areas. So we plan on media blitzing those areas and trying to get people to book us there. So if you know of a place that wants us, we're there. Or if you know of a radio station that might want to play us, we would be more than happy to send them a CD!
Me: Is your song "Crazy People" about anybody in particular? Like Britney Spears, for example.
Baub: No its not about anyone in particular, the Britney picture on our Myspace was just a current "Crazy Person". We didn't mean any offense by it, I just thought it was a funny picture. It seems like she might be getting her life back together but at the time, I think all we agree that is a "Crazy Person" picture!
Me: "Saddle Up Your Broomstick" (one of my favorite songs from he album) is on a compilation album put out in the UK? How did that come about and does that mean you'll be playing over seas soon?
Baub: We were approached by Matchbox Recordings out of the UK to be featured on a CD called "Tour De Force", it has I think 40 bands on it? Its a two CD compilation. They found us on Myspace. We get a lot of media attention from Myspace. So last I heard the CD was set to release December 8th, 2008, so we'll see what happens with that. I would love to play in Europe. Seems like the fans there are more intense there than they are here. I've been to Europe several times but I haven't ever been to England, so that would be cool. Its all just a matter of finding someone willing to pay us enough money. We'll go anywhere! Here is their website if you want to check it out. http://www.matchboxrecordings.co.uk/index.htm
Me: Are there any websites you would like to plug here? And for the Phile Phans that have not heard your music yet, what can you tell them that will make them rush to iTunes to download the album?
Baub: Well, the CD is actually really cool. The cover design is pretty awesome. So if you go to CDbaby.com/cd/geoffsteinproject you can actually purchase the CD and they will deliver to your door, just in time for Christmas! But if you are a downloader iTunes is the way to go. We put a lot of time into considering the order of the songs, so if you do download make sure they are in the correct order as the cd. Our website is www.geoffsteinproject.com and our myspace is www.myspace.com/geoffsteinproject. We also had a little glitch where we forgot to mention someone on the CD that was very influential in how our cd sounded which was Bob Speer from CD Mastering Services, so if you are in a band and are looking for a mastering engineer please check out Bob at www.cdmasteringservices.com. As far as rushing out to itunes... If you love guitar, check out Donnovan's Reef, thats my favorite guitar work on the cd. All of the solos were done in one take. There was one note I had to fix but other than that, the solos were one take which I am kind of proud of. And also Geoff's Eukele solo on the end of Coconut is pretty cool too!
Me: I want to thank you for agreeing to do this interview and hope to meet the band in person soon. Good luck, and keep playing.
Baub: Peace out!
Go buy the CD, "Coconut Coasters" from iTunes or CDBaby, Phile phans. Thanks again to Baub for taking time out to do this interview. Check back tomorrow for the interview with the band Pro Audio and then on Tuesday, the very talented and witty musician Jeff Cameron. So, until then, spread the word, not the turd.
Baub, GSP, and Homegrown all rock the Lake like no one else. Keep the beat, we're ready for the summer heat!
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