Big Blend Radio
PANGAEA Bassist Ron Poulson - Beowulf Album
This episode of Big Blend Radio features PANGAEA bassist Ron Poulson who shares some of the band's history, and discusses their music and new album, "Beowulf" that's out now and features Robert Berry as producer.
A Texas band with influences ranging across Progressive Rock, Classic Rock, Classical Music, Heavy Metal, and Classic Country, PANGAEA is made up of Ron Poulson, Steve Osborn, Darrell Masingale, Scott Draughon, Corey Schenk and Andi Schenk.
For over thirty-five years PANGAEA has been creating music that intrigues the mind and inspires the soul. Since their formation in 1989 they have garnered interest in over fifty nations across the globe. The band’s tight, melodic ensemble playing, highly proficient level of musicianship and excellent songwriting and singing, is reminiscent of prog rock’s classic era while also showcasing the band’s modern era sensibilities. More: https://pangaea.band
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- Duration:
- 31m
- Broadcast on:
- 30 Jun 2024
- Audio Format:
- mp3
(upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) Hey everybody, today we're excited to talk about the band Pangea. They have a new album out. It is an out now called Beowulf and I love the name too. It's through their own label, HMG Records. And we have the bassist Ron Paulson joining us here to talk about their new album, What's Going On? Because they've been going for over 35 years, they've had a hiatus a little bit in there. But you guys have really been going since 1989, right? Ron, and welcome to the show. - You're very much. Yeah, when we started, it was the four of us, Corey, Andy, Daryl, and me, and we were Pangea. And then turned into, we were Arctic, sorry. And then we did like a little four song, CD EP kind of thing. And then it turned into Pangea pretty much right after that. - Wow. And where did the name Pangea come up for you guys to change the name and go from one to the other? - Corey's head. It was the landmass when all the continents were together, is what Pangea. - Mm-hmm. - I think it shows like Unity, you know, kind of a thing. - Yeah, because listening to Beowulf, right? First thing I was like, this should be on stage as a rock opera. Like this is EPIC, it's, and I know I use the word EPIC a lot, but it's because, I don't know, we get a lot of good music on this show and I get excited about it. And when I was listening to this again, today I was like, it's elevating. And at the same time, it takes you in different places. It's melodic, but it takes you into different cultures. You've got world music in there, you've got Native American influence in there. And then all of a sudden you're going into this ballad of, okay, it's okay now. You know, it feels like, it almost feels like you're listening to different places of, like you're talking about what Pangea is, right? But this felt like the world talking to each other. - Yeah, Wasape is very, like you said, more like Native American influence. That's from our drummer, obviously, about that song, 'cause we're getting a lot of attention off of that song right now. You know, in every one of our CDs, Andy, our drummer, has at least one song and it's much kind of like that. This one was kind of interesting, in the way he had the idea. And we were in his studio in Houston. He was talking to Corey. Corey kind of asked him what exactly is the song about? And so when Andy started explaining it, Corey turned around and looked at him, he was talking about Beowulf. And he pulled up on his computer and he started talking to me and Andy about what Beowulf was. And he was like, you know, Andy and I looked at Corey and I'm like, that's a great idea, you know? So he incorporated that into the song and then he was like, it'd be great if Steve spoke this in the original language. And it was like, wow. And you know, light bulb moment for us. And it's been one of the more talked about songs since we released the album a few weeks ago. - Yeah, because it didn't, it was unexpected, but it was building up to something. When you guys put an album together, it feels like that you have a flow of a story and that's why I brought up the rock opera, Nancy and my mom and co-host on the show says hi, she's always, she's like, we need someone to do a rock opera and as soon as she hears this, she's like, dude, they need to have this a rock opera on stage. We want the whole, you know, this is epic. It's, it's, because it feels like you're flooding from story to story and building. - That's great. I don't, I don't think we set out, you know, to make it like a, like a concept album or like an a rock opera album. And that's just the way it kind of, it came out. - It feels, yeah. - If you look at the people who wrote the songs, you know, like Annie's got a song, Steve's got song, Corey's got song. So it's, it's not like, you know, one person sat down and had the idea of, you know, the whole album or anything like that. So it's just kind of, it's kind of the way we work together. And, you know, in, you know, a pretty good unity like that and pre-coated and flow. And even though different people are writing it and it just, in the end, it comes out like that. - Yeah, but that's the, that's a, that would be unity of the world, right? Where everybody actually worked together. (laughs) I'm just saying. (laughs) - No, it's what it is. - Maybe we need to send those danger albums to all the, the, you know, I don't know, to all the political people in the world to understand, to get together a little bit more and be nice, you know. There's, just saying. - Some, some attention overseas. Even today, I talked to Corey this morning we had somebody from New Zealand, like Germany and New York. So we're getting, we're getting pretty good traction again. Like we had before, before we took our hiatus, people, people are starting to remember us. - Well, you guys took a hiatus, but I mean, you've been going for a while and then you take a hiatus and bands do, you know. You get to a point and it's like, okay, we gotta all do the other things, right? - Well, family, jobs. I mean, I've got three daughters. Steve has kids, school, you know, your career, things get in the way and it did for us for a while, but a few years ago, probably about five years ago, Corey and I started texting each other pretty seriously and he had some different lineups of the band, but he knew in his heart that if it wasn't the, at least the five of us, that he didn't wanna do it. So he, he pretty much just called Steve and I, fired the other couple of guys that he had and said we're gonna do it. And that's when we met. When we met with the intention of just relearning the old songs and kind of like trying to play live, we never really thought about doing bail-off until I think we're in, we're playing and Corey said something like, I've got some new songs and Andy was like, we should go about to Roberts again and record 'em and I've got some, you know, I've got songs. Everybody's like, I've got songs and it just turned in this. - That's awesome. 'Cause I've, at the beginning, I thought, I wonder if this was like everybody went into the pandemic and said, hey man, we all gonna reconnect, you know? 'Cause it so much happened over the pandemic musically, you know, so that's what I thought in the beginning. And so that's not what it was. - No, no, that was really good song. - You know, no, 'cause we were, I think we, after we did our first round, you know, we had pretty good, a level of success, even overseas with air play and sold quite a few. And then everything just happened, right? Like work and jobs and kids. But there was always that, you know, deep down, you knew that it had to be these guys, or it wasn't gonna work. You could replace, like I'm not the greatest bass player on the face of the earth, you can replace me, but it's not gonna sound like me, right? And so you do that with any of us, right? You could take somebody out and put somebody else in there, but it's not gonna, we have like a bond and like a-- - It's a marriage, it's a marriage. - And so yeah, it's just, it doesn't feel the same, if you know. - How did you guys all connect in the very beginning actually? - I mean, I've known Corey since like, we play soccer together when we were like-- - No way, cool. - So I knew Andy when he was in junior high, we met at school through soccer, and then Corey met Steve and Darryl here in Tulsa in junior college. So we pretty much schools how we met high school age. - So you guys are going between Tulsa or Oklahoma and Houston, right? That's the band makeup, those two cities? - Yeah, Steve and I live in Tulsa, so we fly to Houston, 'cause everybody else is now, yeah. - Well that, Houston's got a good music area too, I mean both cities. - It's tough because right now, original music is not getting any club, you got to play covers or you got to be a tribute band right now. - Wow. - It's really hard, it's kind of hard to get shows. - Really, like you think with you guys and what you've accomplished, yeah, okay. Yeah, but it's like, yeah, so taking a hiatus is like starting over again in a way. You have a portfolio, so that helps, right? - Yeah, when we got back together at that first rehearsal after we met in Dallas, then it could have gone either way, it could have gone, things went really well or it could have been really, really bad. Fortunately, it went really well and we got through the songs quicker than we thought we were going to and it was kind of like riding a bicycle and just the thing and we just had to knock a little bit of the cobwebs off and so yeah, it could have been like we spent all weekend on like a song but it didn't turn out like that. We got through it and we, you know, they weren't perfect but for not being together with a five of us in a room for 20 years, you know, it was pretty good. - That's, well, because you gotta think about like with bands that were performing and then COVID happened and then as soon as they had to get back on stage, they had to relearn their language, right? Because you have a language when you're performing, you have a language when you're in the studio, you know what I mean? - So to do 20 years, that's a little bit different. So you guys are supposed to be together doing this. - Oh, definitely, it's meant to be. - Yeah, that's awesome. That's awesome, but this album, tell us about some of the songs that you wrote for the album. - I don't really, I don't think I haven't, I'm not any like total songs. I'll tell you that maybe I have parts or risks or ideas but not like brought in the idea. I would say Andy, Corey, and Steve are pretty much the main contributors to these songs on this album, you know? - I think the whole album, even the flow of it, like how that, I think that's what it is when we talked about the rock opera, right? You know, it's about the flow of a journey. You feel like you're being taken on a journey and I think maybe that is the true thing of what prog rock is that you're going on a journey. You know, I don't think you can do prog rock single by single. You know, you can, but prog rock is a journey even if it's not a concept album. - That's all Corey that lays that out like that. He, you know, we have all the songs and he's the one that put him in that order. And he's got a very good vision on that. Corey's got a, like a master's degree in music and he's a professor, he teaches at college. He's got that all lined out and we really rely on him to put the songs in order, if you will, you know what I mean? So that's his baby. - So you guys performing live now for folks to come and see you? - So we played a few months back at an art festival in Beaumont, Texas and that went over. It was like our comeback show kind of a thing. Kind of older high school kids, younger college kids. And it could have really gone really bad for us or it could have gone really, it went really, really well. And then last of released Beowulf, we did that at the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame two or three Thursdays back on play for two hours and it went over really, really well. A lot of people there, a lot of people that didn't know us that were just come because they were members of the Hall of Fame and they really enjoyed it too. So what's up next is because we live in Tulsa, we're gonna try to put like a little mini tour thing together of like two or three shows here, two or three shows in Beaumont. Texas has like swing dance clubs and once college gets back in, kids come back in there and we're gonna put together like a week of shows through those and then two or three weeks of having like these little mini tours, we're gonna try to get into the Prague Festivals next year. - That's interesting, like a swing like that, I wouldn't have thought, but Beaumont is interesting. I love Beaumont for a major reason, okay? Because, okay, I know that Jenna Stocklin was in Beaumont and Port Arthur, right? So we got all that history, Houston's got, you know, Steve Ray Vontu and up into Austin and all that. So we got good Texas music history in Oklahoma, both states. This is what I'm very fascinated about the two states uniting here in music because it's fascinating the music history and roots of this. And I don't know if people would think Prague Rock would come out of Texas and Oklahoma. What do you think? - Probably not. - Yeah, I was just like, wow, you know? - Most American Prague is probably more California and New York, you know? Most people probably like Prague and America with Dream Theater, but they're so much heavier than us. And you know, we kind of took a people ask, when people ask me what we sound like, I always try to say we sound like a little bit of Asia and Pink Floyd and that's kind of right. - Yeah, I go in that because you've got some building steps, like even in the beginning, yeah, the very first track. Oh, yeah, that, I like that one. It opens you up into, and it's kind of dark too in a way. It gets you up and down. It's a little, yeah. - Yeah, that's, you're playing that live in that, out of, on that CD on "Bale of Necromancer" and "Wisapbe" are probably two of my favorite tracks 'cause I like the weird and pargier kind of stuff. - I think you and I are on the same track of "The Salter" but yeah, I mean, it's interesting to me, you know, of how the whole thing works together. But when you think about the prog in Oklahoma and Texas, I love this and Beaumont, Beaumont is a very interesting community because it's got oil, right? But a bunch of oil, I mean, we go there 'cause we document parks and public lands and the times we go to Beaumont, Beaumont is to go to big thick at National Preserve out there. It's swampy and it's cool. And, you know, what I didn't expect was all the giant, fancy houses outside big thick at Preserve. I was like, where are these people giving their money from, my God, oil. - Well, no clear, Scott, he actually lives there. - Yeah, so he knows what I'm talking about then, huh? - Always talks about Beaumont and Port Arthur. That's what he talks about, those areas all the time. - Yeah, I mean, that's, it's an interesting area because you're going from the ocean. Also, you've got inland swampy and then Oklahoma. You guys have some different terrain. So I love this, I know it's, I'm talking about landscape more than the music side, but I think it's more down home. And I think it's gonna be interesting for audiences to kind of reconnect with your music locally. And here like, hey, we've got something different than what everybody expects to always hear. So when you did Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame, that had to be pretty cool. I mean, Oklahoma's had, through that, that musical of fame, so many people have gone through there and are just amazing. And for them to enjoy you, that shows they've got good ears. - The thing that we found is, and what we've kind of talked about, we probably, we feel like because we had a good reception in Beaumont and in Muskogee that, I think people are kind of looking for something, you know, that's not out there right now because you're, people are, you know, they're being forced a certain kind of music on the radio and they're being told what to listen. - The same song's over and over. - So we, we play our own instruments, you know, we don't have back faults. We sing, you know, if we make a mistake, we make a mistake. You know, so it's, it's real. - You are not AI-generated. - Nope, we were talking about this morning, you know, and it's out there and it's cool. - It's here, it's here. They're reproducing everything. You're on our rans and raves rock, rock and roll shows, well as artists, to the arts podcast. We have multiple podcasts and part of, I just keep going, the rant of, for musicians right now and anybody in the creative world right now is AI. I think it's the biggest, other than Spotify is AI. It has to be of what's going on. - Well, the, what I heard this morning is that, you know, that that will replace the musician 'cause they're not needed anymore. Someone can just type it into a computer. What do you need, musicians, so. - I've done it. I've actually done it and I didn't use it. I just did it to see. You can go on Canva Design thing and you just type in, oh, I need this kind of music and it generates it. And I went, holy, you know, whatever. I'm not using it, I refuse. I want the music, I'm not using it, but it's not the same because the reality is, they're stealing from musicians that have made something in the past. So they're going through old catalogs and grabbing that. And that's the bad thing. It's not like a computer set there and made up something purely on its own. It is using a backlog of music from the past, or, you know what I mean? - Like for us, you know, I'm available when we were in and recorded it, we went to SoundTech in San Jose, California, where our producer Robert Berry lives. And so his claim to fame is he played with Keith Emerson and Karl Palmer. - Yes, that's what I kept going. I know this, I know this guy who is this, yes. - So, you know, when we went out there, to my point he, you know, we play, we make a mistake. You know, we might know that we won't mistake or we didn't play it exactly like it was written on the page or something like that. But you, the listener, you know, won't know that unless we told you, you know, so you're getting it and you're listening to something that we actually did. So you're hearing that version. You know, it's not like you're hearing something perfect made by a machine. You're hearing something, you know, that you're enjoying, but like-- - I think everyone's gonna start throwing these mistakes into everything just on purpose now. - Maybe. (laughs) - It's kind of like, you're gonna listen to the album and find the mistake, you know. (laughs) - Yeah. But, you know, to make it more life-like or something, but you know, we did it like you, we would've done it all day. We used pro tools, but you know, there's mistakes in there and there's things that, you know, will bug us, but nobody else will know it, except us, kind of a thing. - Yeah, did you play like the same room? 'Cause the, I mean, or was it separate rooms? Like, what was that? Because the feeling is, the energy is really big on the album. Like, I sat with headset, a headset listening. Because to me, that's pure and clear. And then I did the bass and then once we were kind of done, you know, after like, after like four days, I think Andy and I had the bass and the drums done. And then, and there's a bigger room where Andy's drums are set up. And then I was just in the control room, just pretty much plugged right into the board. And there's, after we're done and out of the way, then Corey and Daryl can start putting keyboards, guitars down, then Steve can start singing leads, then you start doing leads solo. So it's, it's kind of layered like that, in a, you know, you lay down the basic tracks, like the drums in the bass and then we get out of the way and the other guys come in and do all the color on top of it. - Wow. Wow. So do you get to sit there and listen as people are adding on and, you know-- - Sometimes you don't, it just depends. Sometimes you don't want to be in there 'cause if too many people are in there, you know, you can get kind of confusing, but, but yeah, but you do hear some of it. And sometimes you just go sit outside, you need to break, you know, you just need to break, you know? - Yeah, so you can hear as it comes through. So, you know, you do the recording in San Jose. Okay, so you go over there, come back, which I, you know, that's, that's the world of it. I love that you're doing a recording studio. I think that's, that's cool to have that come out. And it's on your own label, right? So you guys are doing your own label instead of somebody else taking everything. - Yeah, we, you know, we thought about it, and we talked about it and we kicked it around, but at the end of the day, we just, when did it ourselves, like we did with some of the others. So, when you guys, before you took, you guys took your hiatus, which like we're saying, this is a natural thing that can happen, did you all keep playing in some fashion during that hiatus to be able to just get back together like you did and make it work so well? I mean, even just playing in your bedroom kind of thing. - I mean, personally for me, there was a time, I didn't even have an instrument in my house. And at all, I was a, I refried soccer at very high levels, even professionally, in color, very high women and stuff. And so I, I was really immersed in that, that world. And not until like five years ago or something like that, when Corey and I kind of started, we kind of get started getting a little more serious. I was like, started sending me the sheet music and stuff. And I was like, maybe I should get the CDs out and listen to them, you know, and I hadn't listened to them, but not, not like a lot. And I think some of the other guys probably have a similar story. They played maybe not PNG in music, maybe not all the time, maybe, you know, like just as fun in a bedroom, you know? I can't speak for everybody what they did exactly, but I know for me, there was a good, there was a good period of time there. I didn't, I didn't pick anything up. I didn't even, I didn't have any house. So yeah. - And it happens, man. - You have to. - But I mean, does it feel good now to be doing it again? - It feels incredible. - Yeah, right, right. I know, I know, I mean, 'cause I did it too and currently not. And it's like, every time I talk to a musician, I'm like, damn it, you know what I mean? It's like, and I know the, there's like this amazing feeling of doing what it's supposed to do. - That's exactly it. And somebody asked, somebody asked Scott, one of our guitar players the other day, you know, why are you doing this? And he said, and he said, just kind of basically what you just said there, it's because it's what I'm supposed to be doing. And that's, you know, when he said that, it really kind of hit me and it's like, yeah, that's it. All the other things I've done or I am doing right now, what I'm supposed to be doing is playing bass and Pangaea every day. That's what I should be doing. And I think we all stand, you know. - Yeah, I think it always comes back around, if it's supposed to. You know, they say that thing where you set something free if it comes back to you, it's yours. - Well, we set it free, didn't we? - Yeah, yeah. And I love, I love Beowulf. I mean, this album is so cool. I, it just will take you on different levels. And I think every time you listen to it, you're going to find something new. And that's a beauty of a good album, is that you don't hear it all in the first time, you know? - You do very much. I think if you listen to our other albums, you'll find pretty much the same kind of a journey, you know? - Well, it's my first time knowing about you guys, which I get excited to learn about a new band. So I know, sorry, I mean, when you were on your hiatus, I was, where was I? Yeah, I was probably in Africa when you guys started. So, you know, I'm a little late on the scene sometimes. And that's okay, I'm allowed to be. And that's the beauty of life. You can learn new things and dig back in, you know? And you guys, I think, I mean, as soon as I got your album in the press release and everything, all the media stuff, I started listening. And I'm like, "Hell yes, ring on the show." Hell yes, you know? And then I was like, listened and I sat and listened. And then I've listened again. And then, you know, you know how it is when you like a really good album. I mean, that's a solid album. That's a solid badass album that I just, I, it's gotta go, it's gotta go far. It's got to. It's one of those that I don't care what's going on in the world. It's gonna, you're gonna find something that resonates, but it is progressive as you listen. And it just takes you like a little emotional journey. It's awesome. And it's gonna be what you want it to be as a listener too. And that's the, you have space in your music for the listener to co-create. And I always love bands that do that. - Thank you. And that's the hope. And Cori and I have talked about that before, you know? You put it out there and hopefully, you know? And, you know, a song like Wasape may mean something to you and it may mean something different to someone else and different something to someone else or necromancer or any song on that CD. And that's kind of why, it's kind of why we do it. I guess, you know, let, well, judge for themselves and make it what they want it to be, you know? - Well, you're out of Tulsa and you got JJ Kale, right? It was part of your roots. - Man, everybody's here, are you kidding me? - I was just thinking that. I was like talking about Bob Dylan's, you know, museum and before we came on the show, but you got JJ. - There are so many good musicians here, it's scary. It's pretty scary sometimes. - JJ Kale's one of the best in the world to me. - No, I mean, Leon Russell's from here. - No, no kidding, really? I didn't know that. - Um, if you need to go to the church studio because that was Leon's home for so many years, that's where he made all his music. And yeah, Leon's from here, everybody's from here. Eric Clapton lived here for a while. He went to high school right down the street from where I live. - Right, yeah, there's so many people from Oklahoma. It's not even famous. - We gotta do more. We need to come through and hang out. Yeah. - It means that people are from Oklahoma and from Tulsa. - And so people should go like as a destination for music lovers to go to Tulsa. - I mean, just, yeah, everybody's from here. Not to mention the country people, you know, but you could go with Garth and Reba and, you know, all the students. - Yeah, yeah, that's true. Reba's got a new place, right? A new place opening up. - Yeah, you know, I'm Blake Shelton and all those kind of people, but there's so many other people here that are just so many talented musicians that you wouldn't, you know, know about unless you like spent some time here. - Yeah. - Did you play bass in school? Like were you a bass player in school? - We'd trumpet. - Wow. Okay, but that makes sense in a way. If you know how a solid note's going to back up the others, or, yeah, my parents, if I wanted to play guitar, my parents made me learn how to play the piano. So I had to take piano lessons. So trumpet, bar, bass, you know, I'm not very, I wouldn't say I'm, you know, really graded any of them, but, but I was, I was, you know, they made me, 'cause my dad was a trumpet player. So that's how we got to Tulsa. It was my dad's from Jersey. And he came to Tulsa to go to the University of Tulsa to play trumpet in the band. And so that's how we got here. - Wow, yeah. Wow, so this is a musical journey. My God. - Yup, dad was a trumpet player, yup. - Wow. And to go to college there, go all the way from Jersey to Oklahoma for the trumpet. - You lose his parents a little bit. - Oh, maybe, yeah, that happens too, right? We all have to do that at some point, but that's amazing. What a story. What a story that you guys have. I mean, well, I'm so glad you're not in hiatus anymore. More on the horizon, right? Go touring and shows that people can connect me with. So I want to give everyone your website. So everyone go to Pangea.band and that's P-A-N-G-A-E-A.band. There's a website, go follow them there and Facebook. Reconnect if you've been a fan over the years and knew about them before me, which I know a lot of people know about you before me. I'm just like, you know, I was in the backwards of Africa somewhere, I think. But, you know, it's okay. I found you now. But that's the thing. You're going to have a lot of new listeners and going to colleges, isn't that the thing? - That is, and we found that a lot of people remember us. And I guess we didn't expect that, but people are like, I've been waiting for this for 20 years, you know? And they're incredibly, they're probably more excited than we are, you know? And it's kind of making us more excited, you know? So, it's been a really, it's been a huge blessing, you know? - That is awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Ron. I'm so excited about the music and that you're touring as well. And hopefully we'll get to see you guys in person on the road somewhere as we travel back through Oklahoma, Texas, or wherever you're traveling, hopefully Europe, right? I'm thinking you guys need to go back to Europe. Just saying. (laughing) And I think so, I know they're gonna like you over there. And yeah, you know, for sure. But everyone, go to the website, pangia.band. Thank you so much, Ron, and say hi to everyone for us. - Thank you very much. (upbeat music) ♪ Lion waits for sleep ♪ ♪ It comes like a light ♪ ♪ Comfort in my dreams ♪ ♪ As I awake ♪ ♪ It's still free ♪ ♪ And cause ♪ ♪ Ship reality ♪ ♪ Leaving or rising through ♪ ♪ Back to Europe ♪