Homecoming for a friend... rare Gabe Burdulis show in Madison

We love it over again.

Maxing on Civic Media.

We are local music that is gay,

Bredoulis and louder.

It's from the youth city album back in 2015.

Holy cow, that was as 10 years ago,

just about their rocker put near 10 years ago.

Wow, it is Jimmy.

Gay Bredoulis is a singer songwriter,

producer and multi instrumentalist

based out of Nashville, Tennessee.

And Gabe grew up in Madison and moved to the music city

at the age of 18.

After spending years performing as a solo artist,

he found a passion for working with other artists.

And he has since spent the last 10 years

touring the world with a variety of renowned artists.

And now Gay Bredoulis is coming home to the Gamma Ray Bar

in Madison for a special show on Friday, December 26th.

And is that the 27th?

I think I have a typo here.

Friday, December 27th.

I'm gonna straight be 8 p.m.

On the phone with us from Nashville, Tennessee

as our longtime friend, Gabe Bredoulis.

Gabe, welcome back to Maxing Gradio.

We've missed you.

Hello, my friends.

Oh my gosh, this is such a trip.

Even more trip, you saying anything with 10 years

in my name because I think man,

when I was hanging out with you guys,

I mean, I left Nashville when I was,

or I left Madison when I was 18.

And so like everyone, I think still thinks

that I'm not allowed to drink or do anything of legal ages.

So, man, that is a terrifying.

But, oh, it's so great to hear you guys.

And just tune into the station.

And it's given me all sorts of nostalgia,

even listening to that song because it's been such a long time,

since I've done anything of my own.

You know, Gabe, the best part about

knowing you for so long.

And, you know, we were talking earlier about the memory

down in my basement.

You know, rocker has been knowing you forever as well.

But just watching you progress through your life

of what you have accomplished and what you do,

it's awesome.

And it's a great story.

And I want to congratulate you on it, you know?

Well, that means a lot.

I mean, I've always looked up to all of you guys

at the studio over there because you guys have just been such big

music supporters, advocates, musicians.

I mean, just everything you guys have done is, I think,

in part, the reason why I'm able to do what I'm doing

and why I had the support and the confidence to be able to,

you know, pick this as a terrible but great career choice.

And, you know, I think a lot of the things I learned

from kind of my Madison Pears and people I looked up to,

like, you guys have just, hopefully,

what I try to do with other people.

And, you know, I mean, you're all very good people and good friends

that I don't get to talk to nearly enough,

but I just appreciate it is very mutual.

So, well, you know, Gabe, I think when you're back here

and you moved away, I was looking forward to seeing you here,

but you moved at 18.

What was it like to move at such a young age

at 18 years old out to Nashville to try and make it?

Well, you know, I felt like I'd kind of learned so much in Madison

and I felt like I wasn't pushing myself like I wanted to.

I felt comfortable and that was a big part of why.

And, you know, I needed to move just to kind of push myself

and get outside of my comfort zone because,

man, it's like the comfort of being able to live in Madison

and see friends and musicians and just have that

comfortability. I just knew I wasn't going to be able to grow

if I didn't kind of step out of that for a little bit.

And I think, you know, as any parent of an only kid to 2018,

they're like, you want to be a musician?

So, you know, I like auditioned for Berkeley

and got accepted there and I went to go see a couple of schools

with my folks, but I was all along.

I was pretty determined.

I just, school wasn't for me.

And so, so yeah, I moved to Nashville

and I didn't know anyone.

I had one friend that I sort of met who was a bit older

that was like, you should move to Nashville.

I was like, okay.

But, you know, we, just a different life.

And so I kind of picked up and left

and was just really determined to not get an adult job.

And so it, I mean, for the first couple of years,

I was doing a lot of driving home

and coming back up to the Midwest to play gigs

and kind of getting my feet wet,

but just trying to, you know, I knew

because that's how it wasn't Madison.

It's like I thankfully had this flexibility in life

at the time to just if I got a call last minute, I would go.

Or, you know, if there was an open mic

at midnight, my dad would take me.

And I just, I knew that, you know,

what I was doing already that I needed that flexibility

of not having a job.

And so, how did you get started?

Thank you.

How did you get started playing music?

Oh, I kind of started, man, you know,

my dad, who has always been a big music fan.

I didn't really have a lot of music in my family.

My uncle played in some bands in Madison,

but, you know, we didn't cross over.

And so, my dad would take me to Bluegrass shows

and blues festivals.

And we'd go go to Summerfest every year

and, you know, pick a show to go camp out

and see front row and see their like,

Judas Priest or white snake.

Yeah, you got no thing coming.

Bluegrass, Judas Priest.

Yeah, oh, yeah.

I had a very eclectic musical upbringing,

thanks to him.

But yeah, I think it was around 12, 12 years old,

I was playing soccer and doing normal middle school things.

And my dad had introduced me to not personally,

but introduced me to Alice Cooper's music.

Yeah.

I was like, oh, wow.

It just kind of opened my mind up to like,

okay, there's music and then there's a show.

And there's, you know, and then a normal life within all this.

And I was just so fascinated.

So I started doing all my school reports on Alice Cooper

and then my sixth grade teacher was just a big supporter of mine.

And he kind of encouraged me to play guitar.

And I had a guitar at my dad's house.

So I started playing and just fell in love with it.

And pretty immediately started writing songs.

And I don't even know how I got into that.

But I just, I guess that part was somewhat natural

just putting words and music together.

And then, you know, from there on,

I just, I love the show.

I love the show.

I love jumping around and and it wasn't,

probably wasn't really until I moved to Nashville

that I realized that none of my songs ever made sense.

And it was just a whole lot of rhyming.

Well, and, you know, the Beatles, you know,

but you're cut your teeth.

And don't sell yourself short.

They are good.

Gabor Duelist with us on the phone here on Maxine Credio,

you know, a big part of your youth go into West High School

and a little bit after I believe was working with a good friend,

Dennis Graham, with Launchpad at the time.

And that really, that really exposed you to a lot of new fans.

Oh my gosh, Launchpad was huge for me.

Yeah, I mean, it was, it was that platform

that I was looking for.

I mean, I remember, I remember being really young

and going to see bands at Launchpad.

He was like, man, wouldn't it be so fun to do,

to play on these stages?

And then like, yeah, the ultimate dream at the time

was like summer fast.

It felt like unattainable.

I mean, when I was like, well, me and my friend,

we had this band, we would print out these really terrible CDs

and drop them off at all the cafes.

And we were just outraged that no one would book us.

And now I'm like, oh my gosh, we were so bad.

But, you know, it's like having these big hopes

and then to have an opportunity like Launchpad,

where it's like, okay, you get the stage,

you get the opportunity for everyone's attention on you.

And then I just, I love that so much.

And it brought me into a whole new world of collaboration

and opportunities.

And yeah, I've done it.

And of course, you know, Launchpad and then the mamas.

Of course, we were rocker and I were talking about the mamas,

trying to get everybody to pitch in a few bucks

for the mamas tonight at though mamas.org.

The mamas, equally, you've won a couple of mamas yourself.

You volunteer.

I think you worked with the mamas.

I think you played on stage, didn't you, Gabe?

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

So yeah, I think my high school band

and then I played with the drum line.

And anywhere I could squeeze it, I was always,

I think I wore a wig and played synths for someone one year.

I was just, I was always trying to sneak on stage, so.

Now, I read that one of your heights was

that you played the national anthem

at the NFL draft and performed on the today show.

And you've had your song and the young and restless.

Tell us about these crazy stuff, like playing the NFL draft.

Oh, man, well, there's so many random things

that I've gotten to be a part of, kind of,

as a side player over the last couple of years.

But no, the draft, the draft was funny

because the Arias I was working with at the time,

when he spent so she was kind of blowing up

and she got asked to do the anthem at the draft.

And she'd asked me to play with her

and kind of come up with an arrangement

just for this thing.

I felt the draft was like a really small football game.

I didn't even know it was nationally televised.

I mean, if that doesn't screen musician

that knows nothing about sports, I don't know what it does.

But it wasn't until we showed up and I was like,

oh, this is like a big thing.

This is a big deal, yeah.

Yeah, it is.

That was fun.

And we just did an arrangement of that

and it was funny to see all the comments on social media,

a pile, and because it's just like any national,

you know, everyone's got an opinion

of any little moment.

Yeah, that's something.

I guess we were playing in a fountain

and I was playing a guitar, it was wireless.

And so a bunch of people thought

that I was going to get electrocuted

or couldn't actually be doing that.

It was like faking it.

It was just funny to read

that the things people had to say

because I'm not used to being a national platform like this.

That's crazy.

Wow.

And then the young and the restless dude?

Okay, that's a funny one.

And I might have to have someone update that bio

because that's one of those ones where,

yeah, technically my song is in there.

Somehow that show is still going on.

Yeah.

It's all because of you.

It's like you have to listen so hard.

Like you have to turn your TV up to like 80

to hear my song in the background.

So was it, was it, was it cool?

Gabe, was it while Jessica was cheating on Dan?

Yes.

So it's terrible.

Yeah.

I'll try to find that clip for you guys

and just the boost or I'll play my music over it

and just crank it way louder.

So that is funny.

The alter didn't alter didn't exist.

So Gabe, you're coming home for the holidays

and you and some of your friends

are going to play a show at the Gamma Ray Bar here in Madison

on December 27th.

Tell us about your friends

and the Gabe Purdue this homecoming show.

Oh, man, you know, it's still coming together.

This was honestly honestly, I think rocker.

I think you knew that the show was confirmed before I did.

And you know, it was one of those things where I was like, man,

I basically, we had an off day that I was passing through.

I, we woke up on the bus in Madison

and I didn't know we had an off day there.

And so I, I just had like eight hours to kind of drive around the city

and stop by some places and I stopped by which used to be the frequency

and I, I saw Kevin there and he was like,

he was showing me around the place and I was like, man,

this is this I like, I love that you'd kind of preserve this,

this place that I used to play it and so the kid

and he was like, you know, you should, you should come,

come do a show next time you're in town.

And I was like, man, I haven't played a show in a long time

and I'm trying to move to over decide man world.

And you know, the idea of playing a show now even makes me nervous.

So it's like, I, we kind of threw a date dance

and like, I think I'm going to come up and see my grandma

after Christmas.

And the next thing I know, it's on a calendar

and rocker's calling me saying, hey, can we do an interview?

I'm like, okay, we're doing this.

So once, once rocker found out I knew it was over.

So yeah, I locked it in and I was like, okay, well,

I don't want to do this alone.

So I'm probably going to call some friends that I used to play with.

So I, who knows, I might have a wild appearance from my grandma.

She, she is in her mid 90s and she's just,

she's, she's an amazing lady.

But once in a while, I'll drag her up on stage

and I'm going to bring my, my girlfriend up,

Maddie Poppy, who is a true star.

And, and then I think, I think I probably call a couple

of those friends that I used to play with.

Maybe Eric Jellin from Mammoth Theory.

Nice.

Joey Bebang.

Joey Bebang.

Joey Bebang.

So I don't know if anyone's listening that wants to come

and do something and give me a shout.

But it's kind of coming together.

But I, I don't know what it's going to be yet.

And that's part of how open I'm being about this show

that I just, I don't want to put any pressure on it.

I'm not going to come up with some crazy set list.

I, I just want to have fun and see some friends

and try to remember some old songs.

So yeah.

And don't worry, you'll be, it's going to be like coming home.

It'll be awesome.

This is right, like writing a bike.

Gabe Ridulis, it is wonderful to speak with you.

And I hope I can, uh,

speak in a hug sometime while you're here in Madison.

I sure hope so too.

And I'm sure Mrs. Keg sends her love as well.

Once again, the show is happening December 27th here in Madison

at the Gamma Ray bar.

What's that address, rocker?

One something?

It's up on Main Street.

Yeah, East Main.

East Main Street.

There it is.

Gabe, uh, uh, speaking of Joey Bebangs,

we're going to play some Gabe Ridulis Trio.

How about that?

Oh my goodness.

Let's do it.

All right, it's shark attack.

Gabe Ridulis, Maxine Concific Media.