{"id":25212,"date":"2023-05-10T05:30:42","date_gmt":"2023-05-10T09:30:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=25212"},"modified":"2023-05-10T07:32:12","modified_gmt":"2023-05-10T11:32:12","slug":"old-97s-turn-on-the-tv-part-2-of-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2023\/05\/10\/old-97s-turn-on-the-tv-part-2-of-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Old 97’s: Turn on the TV (Part 2 of 2)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>…<\/i><\/p>\n

Ken Bethea says that he\u2019s lost count of how many times he\u2019s engaged in conversation with a stranger, only for the dialogue to unfold like this: \u201cYou tell them you\u2019re in a band, and they\u2019re excited,\u201d he says. \u201cThen you tell \u2018em the name of the band, and they\u2019ve never heard of us. And that\u2019s here in Dallas!\u201d
\nAfter the laughter subsides, he completes his example. \u201cBut then when you talk to the fourth or fifth person, they say, \u2018Holy shit! I\u2019ve seen you guys so many times<\/i>!\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in the 1970s when Bob Seger broke out as a national success, there was a saying about him: \u201cHe took years and years to become an overnight success.\u201d Though Seger was a well-respected and hard working Detroit rocker since the mid \u201860s, it wasn\u2019t until the release of Live Bullet<\/i> in 1976 that he became a household name.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

And so \u2013 just maybe \u2013 it might be the same with Old 97\u2019s. Superb albums, spirited concerts and a surprising level-headedness \u2013 the original lineup has stayed together all these years without a single personnel change \u2013 are all commendable qualities. But they don\u2019t necessarily push a band into next-level, high-profile success.<\/p>\n

What might just do that is a little motion picture called Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special<\/i>. Released to the Disney+ streaming service last Christmas, the popular action-adventure-comedy film takes the popular Marvel superhero franchise to the next level, and onto TV screens. Alongside beloved characters like Peter \u201cStar-Lord\u201d Quill, Drax the Destroyer and Nebula is an intergalactic rock band, Bzermikitokolok and the Knowheremen. The nearly-unpronounceable band is none other than Old 97\u2019s, making their feature film debut.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s fair to wonder how the band landed such a high-profile spot. Not surprisingly, it has everything to do with the fact that the filmmakers could have been the fourth or fifth person in Bethea\u2019s example.<\/p>\n

\u201cJames Gunn is the director and writer of Guardians of the Galaxy<\/i>, and his brother, Sean, is also in it.\u201d Bethea explains. Back in the early days of Old 97\u2019s, one Gunn brother lived in St. Louis, the other in Chicago. The two would make a point of attending every Old 97\u2019s show in either city.<\/p>\n

Bethea says that he and his band mates only found out about all this six or seven years ago when they met James Gunn for the first time. \u201cAnd James was like, \u2018I’d love to get you involved in our Guardians<\/i> movie, but the music\u2019s all from the \u201870s.\u2019 So we didn\u2019t really fit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the same would be true when Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2<\/i> and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3<\/i> were made. But then came the holiday special, a winking nod at the infamous stinkeroo, 1978\u2019s Star Wars Holiday Special<\/i>.<\/p>\n

Because the Disney+ film would be a change of pace, Gunn felt he had the freedom to go a different direction with the music. He also wanted actor Kevin Bacon \u2013 who had been referenced previously in Guardians<\/i> movies \u2013 to appear. So in the film, Bacon portrays a fictionalized version of himself, and he sings a song with Old 97\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Unlike Bacon, the band members were heavily made up to look like intergalactic creatures; until the music starts, they\u2019re barely recognizable as the four Texans of Old 97\u2019s. Reportedly, wrangling the musicians into their costumes and makeup took several hours. \u201cBut now I\u2019m in the Marvel universe!\u201d exclaims Bethea. \u201cThat so badass! It was really fun shooting the film, and it was amazing when it came out. It was mind-blowing.\u201d And it brought Old 97\u2019s to a whole new audience.<\/p>\n

Not making too much of his brush with movie stardom, Bethea is first and foremost proud of the music he and his band mates make. And even though Old 97\u2019s haven\u2019t raked in millions of dollars or achieved worldwide fame \u2013 not yet anyway \u2013 he says that there\u2019s a simple reason the four of them stick with it.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s our \u2018fishing trip,\u2019\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe get along very well. I like hanging out with the guys [in the band], and I like hanging out with our crew,\u201d Bethea says. \u201cI enjoy the process of going and playing shows, and I think everybody else does, too. It’s still really fun to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

He equates being in Old 97\u2019s to spending nearly all your time doing your favorite thing. \u201cIt\u2019s like if you’re really into fishing,\u201d he explains, \u201cand you get to drive around the country doing it with your best friends. But every time you catch a fish, there would be 1000 people that cheer. It\u2019s amazing!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One… Ken Bethea says that he\u2019s lost count of how many times he\u2019s engaged in conversation with a stranger, only for the dialogue to unfold like this: […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":25220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,41,62],"tags":[5126,1618],"class_list":["post-25212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alt-country","category-interview","category-rawk","tag-ken-bethea","tag-old-97s","cat-4-id","cat-41-id","cat-62-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25212"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25233,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25212\/revisions\/25233"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25220"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}