BOBBYCAST: Remembering Brad Arnold of 3 Doors Down

This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human. Everybody, it is Bobby. And I said on my Instagram story, the Brad Arnold, who was the lead singer of 3 doors down. That he had died. And so many people said this is one of the best Bobby cast they had ever heard. So I wanted to put it back up in case you guys had missed it. Maybe you hadn't even subscribed at this time. You didn't know a story. So I'm going to get to that. But Brad passed away age 47 following a battle with cancer that he was very public about. He had stage four kidney cancer. He announced that in 2025, the band shared a statement which announced his death, which was the first I heard of it too. They said with heavy hearts, we shared the news that Brad Arnold found her lead singer and songwriter of 3 doors down passed away on Saturday, February 7th at the age of 47. With his beloved wife, Jennifer and his family by his side, he passed away peacefully. Surrounded by loved ones in his sleep after his courageous battle with cancer. So I'm going to play this for you. I was fortunate enough to get to know Brad over the last six or seven years. And it started with a morning show appearance like so many times it does. And then I think he was going to show a second time. And then I went and hosted a 3 doors down anniversary special for them. So just returning the favor. Also, I just really like Brad. And then Brad played with us on one of our raging idiots, million dollar shows. And again, such a sweet guy. Even with all the songs that they have, he was like, just pick the songs you want to do. And obviously we did kryptonite. Brad wrote most of the first record when he was in high school, which is crazy. And started as the singer and drummer for the band. So we're going to talk about this. And he does talk about getting sober, which I know was a big deal to him. He was always sharing his sobriety journey and sharing his coins. And again, extremely sad. 47 years old. Rest in peace to Brad Arnold. And here's the episode of the Bobby cast with 3 doors down singer Brad Arnold. This is exciting one for me because it's Brad Arnold from 3 doors down. Glad to have you, man. Thank you for having me. And I'm glad to be here. I'm such a fan of 3 doors down because I don't hold up a guy here. I am 40. OK, I'm about to say, I'm about to 39. Yeah. God, you were so, you were the same age, basically, right? You were so big. And I was like an idiot on the radio and hot springs Arkansas. And you were like all over the world. I felt so, so small now. Man, we did start young. I started touring when I was 20. I just turned 21. And it was, you know, they say like youth is wasted on the young. So I was touring. Yeah, because I think I would have enjoyed it so much more now in the mindset that I'm in and my life and just the place that I am than I did then. Because you know, you get out there and you're young and you start touring. And that's a lot to handle a, a 21 year old, you know. And it's basically, you know, just to hear the back. I used to tell people it's like having a backstage past to life and you get out there and I was an idiot. And I didn't do a lot of things, but I was just, I guess my main thing that I got out, I just got out and drank so much and things like that. And I've been without alcohol, I've been alcohol free for a little over three years. And so I wish man, I could just take that and apply it to my whole career. I would have enjoyed it so much more. I think I saw you guys probably five times, you know, all through my years. And so for me, I think the last time I saw you guys was you guys in fuel, you guys were playing together. But I bet a lot of those bands, because you guys kind of cross paths and tour randomly with a lot of those guys kind of in that same class of when, when pop was rock. So how did those tours often come together? Did you switch places sometimes like who had the bigger song would kind of lead the tour? Well, we, by the grace of God, our first record like done really good. And we started touring together with Nickelback was used to be their second record kind of took off for them. And so that was the first tour that we would kind of, they opened for us for, man, a couple first couple of years that both of us were out. And, and then their second record took off and we done a tour together to where we kind of flip flop back and forth, play in. And then we had, we went our separate ways. So like not good blood, not good blood. So what's the deal with Nickelback? Why does everybody hate on Nickelback? I don't know. Why do you think people hate on Nickelback? And I wouldn't have went there, but you, you know, I don't know you guys tour with Nickelback. A lot. There's been a lot of times where we both started on two already Eagles, you know, like the 1980s Eagle buses. And one of them was always broke. So there were a lot of times where there was, I mean, you know, those days it's all band and crew on one bus. On that tour there was both bands and both crews on one bus for a lot of times. Because one of the buses was always tore up and it would break down and we just had to get to the next gig. So everybody just get on one. Which if a bus only holds, well, now a bus will hold 12, legitimately. Like my bus will hold 12, legitimately. So that means there's enough box and legally you can have 12. It sounds like there's more than 12 people on that bus. That's a lot of people on that bus. Somebody would always give me a bunk and so they said the two singers could sleep or whatever. But yeah, we just kind of, we, our old drummer is now their drummer. Daniel used to be our drummer for quite a while and he's great drummer, you know. And they were just, I don't really know honestly how it got to be bad blood. But I think it was a thing into the award show. I don't even remember what a award show it was. And what even between the two bands, it was between some crew guys or something. But I don't know a lot of people, I don't know a lot of people hate on them so much. But well, if you don't like them, I now hate Nickelback too, Mike. I don't know. I don't know. I don't like them anymore, Brad. I don't like them. I don't, I don't dislike them. You know, honestly, I hadn't talked to them in a really long time. Here's a story one of my friends told me because they went to Canada and they're a country band and they said they were playing with Nickelback. And I guess those guys are really rich or I guess Chad Corgers really rich. And apparently they went on a yacht. This is all hearsay, right? They went on a yacht and they were throwing pillows into the air and shooting them with guns and that he was just wild and they just had guns and they still like party in on boats and off the coast. I was like, man, Nickelback's still going hard right now. I guess so, man. I've heard some stories about Chad doing some pretty outlandest things but it was mainly like throwing money around and stuff like that. And for me personally, I mean, I come from a good family of seven kids but my mom that taught me to the value of money. And I still remember the value of money and I just think about it. You know, I guess I was probably like 19 or 20 and you guys and my mind really blew up and that rock sound became the pop sound because I was working on pop radio and every song you guys will put out would just be massive. And when you're in the mix and I can feel this a bit with me now, meaning I'll work so hard. I really don't see the cool things that are happening around me at the level. I should really appreciate and see them. I wonder because you were so successful just one after the other. What felt like like did you really feel it and experience it or are we just running so hard? I think you just run in so hard that you did you feel it and I think I feel it more now looking back. You know, in Jan and I, we'll talk about it sometimes and I mean, we really were truly, truly blessed. And we still are, man. We still go and we still play a lot. We don't tour. When we, you know, those first several years, we played 300 shows a year sometimes. You're on the road that much. You are, man. We would go, we developed kind of the three week rule to where, you know, if we don't want to be gone more than three weeks and come home for a week and go again sometimes. But I remember like going for three or four months and not even coming home. You know, but we always, we've always been a radio band and radio has always been our lifeblood and they've always been very, very good to us. Did you want to be a radio band at first where you just rock band that times happen to fit the sound? I think that it just kind of happened because, you know, we never toured before we got signed. We were from South Mississippi and we're from, we're from Bolluxi, Mississippi or Malsport, Mississippi, but basically Bolluxi, we just like halfway between New Orleans and Mobile. And we couldn't get a gig in New Orleans, we couldn't get gigs in Mobile. Nobody, I mean, we just had to play like right there. It worked at what worked to our benefit was the fact that there was just wasn't a whole lot to do in the area. So we always had a ton of friends at the shows and stuff like that. And so we went and made a local, a little CD at a local studio and had gripped a night on it along with what would become like half of the first record. And so we begged our local radio station to play it and they can't just do that. Right. But they had a local radio show that they would do once a month. And so they've played us on there a lot. And finally, we begged the program director long enough that he was like, okay, I'll add a grip tonight and he tried it and it became the most requested song they'd ever had. And now some of these people might have been our friends or family for a little while. After a while, it became like a hit on that station. And they were a reporting station. And so, you know, the report was going out that this number one song. But there was no record company beside it. So there came the record companies and we weren't even trying to get signed. They just came and it just happened. So we're all you guys, how'd you come together? We were all from the same little town as Katapa, Mississippi and Matt and I, which our original guitar player, he's passed away. He's my cousin and we just always played together and started playing his garage before I even had a drum set. And one of his buddies left a drum set over there from the play and Todd, our original bass player, he asked me and Matt to come over this house one day and play and we just started the band and I was the drummer. I had never sang in front of anybody ever. And I just, I was like, well, I'll try it. And I was so shy that Todd lived in a trailer and I would sit in the, in the, in the front living room with his trailer and I would, a couple of his girlfriend and one of her friends would always be over there. They were always at Todd's house. I was so shy to sit in my face in the corner and sing. Really? Yeah. How hard was it to drum and sing? Not so bad. Really? Really? I always wonder how people play guitar and sing because I, I mean, I just can't get my fingers to do that. But for the drums, I played, and I'm not a great drummer or anything, but I played all my life. And so it was never, I never really thought about it too much. So you never sang and you hop up and you start singing, although you're shy, like, could you feel you were pretty good at it? I, I felt like I was. I think probably the breakthrough for me was when, when they told me, like Todd's girlfriend was like, you sound really good. You know, like, okay. You know, I went, with it from there and that, that definitely helped me come out of my shield. But I remember when we recorded that first record, I like, I took it home. And I played it from my parents and my dad said, who's that singing? I was like, that's me. He's like, no, it ain't. That's who he is. That's funny. And it's such a funny story that your local radio station playing the song is what ended up getting you as a deal because there's a kind of breaking down for our listeners. If stations are big enough, their playlists get reported to basically a database. And they take the database and they go, okay, this, this song had this many plays at reporting stations and that's what builds the chart. So any station that's big enough has a reporting tag and you're on a reporting station and there's this song, the number one song that has no record label beside it because every song every band has a label written right beside it. Like if they're on Mercury or Hollywood, but three doors out had nothing. And so the label did multiple labels approach you guys? They did. Universal and Atlantic. It was the main two that we talked to in a couple of, a couple of others and, and, Monty Lippman came down, who's now the president of Universal. That was when he and his brother, Avery Lippman at first started or not just started, but recently started, Republic, which was a rock very label on inside of Universal. And he came down and talked to us and we just like what Monty had to say and he was honest with us and, and what does he say to you? You know, what stand out about the meeting above what made us ultimately go with them above anybody else? He said, look, he said, a lot of people come down here and lie to you and tell you this and that and tell you what you want to hear. He said, it's like this. You sell me records, where it's all good. You stop selling records, I stop answering the phone. I said, good enough. And when you get signed, is it like a recoup whenever they give you money for a record, do they give you any sort of money up front like you here? Have money to go buy some clothes? They did. They gave us, they gave us a sign in bonus when we first signed and it wound up that we all got $15,000 a piece to sign. And all four members, before we all went and spin it all on Jetskies. That, in $15,000, again, we're the same agent, basically from the same part of the world because I'm from Arkansas. You give me $15,000 as a 19 or 20 year old? I mean, one, that's more money than I'd ever seen it once, ever. And then two, I'm probably going to make some dumb decisions too. And so you guys all go buy Jetskies. It was gold. And Vordi, do you ride them in the golf? Yeah. Right. We live right on the golf and we grew up on a river, but just ride up the river from the golf. That's funny. You know what I didn't know is that you wrote Kryptonite in high school? Indeed. Which is not, this is, to me, the song that you guys would be known most for. Is it to you? Um, it's what got us started, definitely. I guess maybe, here without you, it's kind of this song that kept it going, but Kryptonite is definitely what got us going. I'm going to play a little Kryptonite. And this was the jam. I remember when I came in. I was like, I don't even know who these guys are, but I love them. So tell me about this. You ride it in high school. How do you, like junior senior in high school? I was a senior. And so you sit down and go, are you watching Superman or? You know, it was, I guess it was just me asking a question of, of like unconditional friendship. It's like, if I'm doing good, will you be there for me? And if I'm down, will you be there for me? And you know, I, I'm not the God. I didn't think a whole lot about it. You know, it sounded good. And the word drowned. It, it meant a lot more to me later. And it still means things to me right now, because later on in my life, I started realizing that question was kind of a pretty good question. If I go crazy, will you still call me Superman or if I'm alive and will you, will you be there holding my hand? And the reason it became more meaningful to me later was the fact that so many times it's like people are willingly, therefore you win you're down. But those same people that's like, oh, yeah, man, you're going to do great. You're going to do great. Well, if you start doing great, those same people kind of turn on you sometimes, you know? And so that question kind of became a valuable question to me and, and, and pretty meaningful for me. It's almost like a marriage vow, you know, for a richer or a poorer. So yeah, so that comes out. And you got to be feeling pretty good, but do you start to feel like, man, I wonder for a one and done band. Oh, man, because that can be the kiss of death, like one huge song can, that can do you in just, would you rather have had one huge song? Let's say like a chumbo, Wamba or a Lou Vega and went away or had no major song at all, but a few that were okay. I think I'd rather have a few that was okay. Yeah, why is that? Because I think it would create more longevity in your career and allow you to go play more shows because, you know, you know, a lot of bands kind of look at it as like, we tour to promote a record, but we put out a record to we could go tour. You know, we always, we just always like to go play live. And you also, I guess, would become kind of a character of yourself if you have one song, like you're always that image of that one song because there's not another one or two to balance it out so much. Exactly. And I say that because I was watching this story about Bobby McFarron who has, don't worry, be happy. He won't play that song anymore because he's like, that was like a goofy song that I never expected to be a hit and that actually doesn't represent me at all. And so he doesn't play that at all. Really? Yeah, he doesn't play at all. Like what, do you get tired of playing the big hits? I don't. I don't because, and we're doing a lot of acoustic shows right now and I like doing the acoustic because it gives me a chance to talk to the crowd and one of the things I was telling the crowd the other night because I just talk whatever on my mind, you know, and I was just telling them, I was like, you know, it never, it never gets old. And then I, because I love hearing them sing it back. And it's weird because for the last 15 years, we wore in-ear monitors. Well, I had a weird situation like two weekends ago. My monitor guy, we were in and out of town and he left our in-ear at home and thank God, we had some wedges. And so that was my first time to sing with wedges in like 15 years. Wow. And so by the way, wedges for people that don't know, the inner ears are the tiny thing that you see the artist wearing their ears. And so basically it's a mix inside the ears and it seals off all the outside sound. And what the monitors are, or the wedges are the on stage, the little box speakers that everybody can kind of hear them but they're pointed at you. And so it was the first time I've 15 years you'd use those. Yeah. And for one of our shows and it allowed me to hear the crowd and I was like, man, I've missing this because sometimes for the in-ear, you only hear what you want to hear. But it can really kind of, it can definitely separate you from everybody out there. I usually have some ambient mics in there a little bit but Uncle incidentally, the first of those two shows was pretty small. And I could hear people like talking while I was singing. I did a whole thing on the air where I was talking about acoustic shows or even when I do stand up. There's a difference because when someone's talking and I'm doing stand up, it kills all of my rhythm. I'm talking and if you go, hey, you're awesome, it stops it, it kills everything. And I'm like, there's a difference in screaming that out when I'm doing stand up or someone is doing an acoustic show versus when there's fire and there's big electric guitars. And no, as you can scream at all you want. Like tell the artist you love them. But if he's depending on the attention of the room, he's got to have the attention of the room. Absolutely. And so your plane, he's acoustic shows and you started to notice that was a thing, huh? You do, it is irritating because for me, Brad, I don't know about you but I feel bad, not for me. I'll be fine. Like I go, I do the best I can and I feel good about it. That's right. But it's the people that are sitting out there that paid for the ticket that have to hear some idiot yelling. I know. And I feel bad for them. I do too. And I get mad for them. And sometimes like I've popped off a crowd at people in the crowd and I'm like, dude, they didn't pay to hear you tell jokes. That's right. They paid to come and experience whatever I'm bringing. That's right. And I wonder, do you feel that way? I do. I do. And at one of the shows, that first show, there was somebody over, over out and one side of the crowd that was just kept on screaming. And I remember I could hear it while I was singing. And I mean, they weren't like screaming obscenities or something hateful or anything. But after a couple of songs, Crety Kim and God, I'm going to take them, took them out and I don't like to see anybody taking out of a show. I was kind of glad. And you know what? And they paid for it too, but they can't run if everybody else. That's right. That's all it's about to me is that you're running it for everybody else that got a sitter that took a night and dedicated to come watch freaking three doors down play. And there's some guy who won't stop screaming as you guys are playing here without you. acoustic, which is cool. We interrupt this interview to bring you a message from our sponsor. And we're back on the Bobby cast. So what was the second single loser? I wrote loser right around that same time, but I actually wrote her about one of my friends. And what next we calling him a loser, but he and I grew up together and I had known him since we were little bitty kids. And he started getting into like jokes pretty bad and stuff. And I wasn't writing it calling him a loser. I watched his attitude change to where I could tell that like he thought he was a loser. And I was I was almost writing it from his perspective looking at himself, you know, you know what I mean? And um, and thankfully dude straightened up and he's a good dude and I had talked to him a long time, but um, that was written really about one of my friends. You wrote those songs in high school, huh? And here they are lasting 15, 20 years later. That's crazy. Oh, the grace of God. So were you in high school? Were you the cool music kid? Were you the doorky music kid? I kind of hang out with everybody. Yeah. And it was really like I was saying earlier, it worked hard. Van has to be from like that little town. And I mean, I kind of knew everybody. I wasn't like the kid that got picked on, but I wasn't the kid that got invited every party either, you know? And because we, we, we practiced all the time. We just, we played all the time and we should have been better. But, but we knew, we got to where we knew everybody because there was one little bar in our town and we played there every weekend. And I was on like 16 and I had to get, I literally had to get a note from a parent saying it was okay for me to be in there. I know. I know. I know that's funny. I know to break the law. That's funny. I know. I know to go into a bar. Yeah. Are you planning the bars? And we just, we always have like three, four hundred people in there. It was never like, but that was all there was to go do. And we charged like three or three or four dollars to come in and we just got to keep the, keep the cover charge. So they made the alcohol money and you guys got the cover. We did. Why bet you guys were doing all right then? Because again, how we grew up, you and I both, that's, that's, that's a lot of money. I worked at McDonald's and I could make more playing in a bar, both nights of the weekend that I could make at McDonald's all week. Did you continue to work at McDonald's? For a little bit. When did you go? All right. I'm just going to dedicate myself to music. Um, I mainly quit there because I wanted to go to a party in my men's room. Let me hope for work. I was like, see, yeah, make more money playing in bars anyway. That's funny. Uh, three doors down, uh, the acoustic versions, uh, from their acoustic back porch jam. Check that out. All right. So how many, how many singles on that first record? Uh, four. So what, what's the last one that comes off? Uh, be like that. So that first single, Kryptonite, you got a couple of rockets. That fourth one goes back to pop and does really well. I remember that playing that one like crazy. So you start with a bang and you end with a bang going into the second record. You got to feel pretty good about yourself. I was, it was amazing. It was amazing. I remember, I literally remember being so mad one night and like at my, at my N R guy. I was like, why don't we all sell 80,000 records last week? That was like, man, that is bull crap. I mean, last week, yeah, a random week. Wow. The times have changed. What? Or maybe it was like 60,000 or something, but it was like ridiculous. It was some ridiculous amount of records and I was like, what? Get so crazy. You feel like killing it. Now, artist would beg. I think like Florida, Georgia, like 50,000 last week and it was like the biggest. I listen to times of change too. Like the way that people get music. Absolutely. But okay. So second record. Was that away from the sun? It was. I don't even have notes on that. Like I'm just going straight from, from memory here away from the sun, like the black cover, the sun kind of a, you can tell me if I'm wrong. Like maybe like the moon's covering a little bit and there's like an outside like edge of the sun. Is that right? I'm so good at this. I'm good at pretty good. And so first song off the record is what? The first single off of away from the sun was when I'm gone. Was there ever resentment that you guys didn't get the coverage and did you ever go? Is it because we're from Super South? Is it because I mean, I resented it. Yeah. And I mean, you know, because you really, you know, they wanted us to kind of separate ourselves from being so Southern. And I mean, you can hear the way I talk. I tried not to for a little while and I just couldn't help it, you know, and, and, and, you know, I guess I associate you with being kind of stupid or whatever then, especially, you know, it's like, cause there were no Southern bands out and the hadn't been for a long time. You know, I think the last Southern bands out before us was, skinned. That was a rock band, you know. How does that conversation go where they go? Is it a conversation where they say, hey, like we need you to be a little more California, a little more, you know, not, cause again, it's another Southern guy right in front of you asking this question. Cause when I started in radio and they were like, hey, if you're going to do pop and hip-hop, you have to lose your accent a little bit. So, and that conversation was had to me. And I did a bit. And now I've kind of got back to, you know, I sounded a bit like I sounded growing up. But was that conversation ahead with you? Like, guys, you got to chill out a little bit on the Mississippi. They did. And they sent us to a voice coach for a couple of sessions and just to help us like, like, I mean, which, you know, I knew proper grammar. I just don't like to use it. You know what I'm saying? But I did. I tried to lose it for a little while. And, I mean, it's not as thick as it was when I started. Man, it was, I probably could have managed to shave a little bit of that all for there. Are people surprised sometimes that I think your accent is when you do talk? They are. Cause you don't really hear it in the music. But again, you don't really hear the spice girls being British and most of the stuff they sing either. I know. It blows me away like you've seen this actor in four or five movies and then you see him except for an award or something. It's like, what? The guy on Walking Dead kills me. He's off the show and half of the main guy, Rick Grimes. He would, he's on the show. He's like from Atlanta. And he talks and he's like, I have him, Rick Grimes. And then he's on the award show. He's going, I might, thanks for the award. I'm like, what is happening right now? Like, I don't even want to hear this. You're running everything I know about this guy. I picture him as Rick Grimes from Atlanta. Not this kangaroo guy. So you keep making heads, but you're probably not getting the respect that you just, you feel like you deserve in the mainstream. Like that would irritate me. It was a little irritating. But um, but then, you know, I guess, but then you go home and forget about it, you know, because you're amongst your friends and they're glad that you always just thought it was more important to stay me than it was to be who they wanted me to be. Because, you know, I think I have a mom and daddy. You know, they were always encouraging to me and just let me do my thing. You know, they didn't force me to do it, but they didn't keep me from doing it. But you know, my mom just always reminded me, he's like, Brad, that won't always be there, son. You know, and it's always kept that in my mind that this will, you know, who I am will always be here, but that won't always be there. So I just kind of got to where I just took it with the grain of salt and I just am who I am, you know, and how is the relationship between the band as you guys started to skyrocket with the songs doing so well? Get it better? Get it worse? Err, worse. Really? It did. Because honestly, I mean, we all got out there partying and like one of us was, well, all of us drank a bit, but like one of us was, it wasn't that we didn't get along. Our drugs didn't get along because one person was on this, one person was on this, one person was on this and, and, and by our third record, we all had our own buses. It was four, five guys in the band and four band buses and then all the crew buses. So we were rolling around with seven buses because the four main band guys just hated each other. So how does that dynamic work when you have to work on things and when you have to get on stage and be a collective? It, that, that got to where it was like the only time that we seen each other with sound check and on stage and you know, we were playing amphitheaters and stuff. Keep a pretty consistent sound so we'd get a sound established and we wouldn't even do sound check. I wouldn't see some of those, see the guys until it was, you know, if we played it nine, I'd see him at eight thirty when we were in the dressing room putting years on. And it was just, all right, you guys ready? And then you go out and play and rock a show and everybody thinks that you're the best friends ever because you used to be. And you look like you, I mean, you go out and you, you're, you're a rock band. You're rocking. Well thank you rockin' as, as brothers. When does it get better? Um, or does it? It's, it's sort of didn't, man. I mean, you know, I'm the, it was three of us to start and I'm one that's here, you know, and, and one frankly is in prison and one's dead. And both there's a result of drugs, man. You know, and Chris, Chris was not one of the original guys, but he was in the band when we got signed. And I think I for one because he got clean, you know, he was on top completely different. My thing was just always drinking and I drink profusely. And he did a lot of different other things, but he got clean and my drummer, Greg Upchurch, she's been a drummer for, he, he became, he used to play for Puddle of Mud and when Daniel left and went to Nickelback, that was right after we had done a tour that was Nickelback through doors down in Puddle of Mud and Daniel went to Nickelback, Greg came with us and, and Greg's from Oklahoma and, and Greg drank like a fish too. Um, and it got to where, you know, it Chris, Bob, not so gentle persuasion went to, went to rehab and he got clean. And somehow, and it's a testament to his sobriety, stayed sober with us still partying like mad men. Really? And then a few years later, Greg, Bob, not so gentle persuasion went to rehab and he got clean from just from drinking. And man, I started seeing those guys and I was still, I knew that I knew that I needed to, to change and, but, you know, I started seeing what those guys had and you know, you see them over there and they're happy and I'm still here miserable. And I think I for man, because seeing them like that and through their encouragement, you know, they were, they've never pushed it on me. But I was like, I have to, they got to be where I could trace, I was ruining my life. There was no big tragedy here, no catastrophe or anything, but I was putting my wife through hell. I was putting everybody I knew through hell and putting myself through hell. And I was seen around me and I was like, I have to change. And I went to rehab and it's the best thing I've ever done because I wanted to get sober but I didn't know how. And I went out there and they taught me how, how to deal with my problems because people don't have drug addictions, they have life problems and they, you know, they don't have drug problems. Other day have life problems and they sidestep their, sit afacing their problems, they sidestep them and use drugs and that's what I was doing. And I just had to learn how to, and I had a miscon, gross misconception of what rehab was. I thought that you know, like going to a hospital and they step you down and it's like, you're going to sit here and do your sober but I just went out there and they, it was like going to college to learn how to be sober. And it was awesome and it was the best thing I've ever done. And anything like you come out in your life's perfect but it's sure started to get a lot better. And, and, and, being that I was sober and two other guys were sober in the band, the other two guys who didn't really have a problem anyway. They might casually drink a little bit. We all got sober and it was like being in a different band. Really? Man, I always, that's why I say I wish we could have always been like that because we go out there now and we didn't, we didn't really, we, during our last summer tour where we were out and we were coming somewhere, we were going from point A to point B and we were within like five miles of Arches National Park. So we got off the bus and everybody went and walked around the park together. I was like, I cannot believe it. I've been in this band for 20 years and this is the first, one of the first times I can, I could look around and I was standing in the national park with all five band members standing there. And I was like, man, I'm, you took that in. I wish you could have always been like that. You know what's funny is you talk about these guys not being put in with gentle persuasion. Like my, so I give you a quick backstory before I tell you the question I have for them. My mom died in her forties from drinking and drugs because then I put in a rehab a couple times and she never wanted to be in rehab. So rehab never worked for her. If that makes sense. Like when you say they didn't want to go, I go, man, because you have to embrace that. You really do. To hear that they didn't want to go and it's still worked for them is pretty amazing. It really is. It really is. It was a miracle. It was a miracle because Chris will tell you. I mean, it's not, it's not a secret and we're not, and you know, we're not ashamed of where we've been or and how we got to where we are. And he'll tell you that he was bad and I was bad just on a different, on a different kick, you know. And when he had to go, he had to go. I mean, he had to go and and I think when he got there, he like realized it's like, okay, it's, I think he realized it's like, okay, it's this or this. Is that close, huh? It was that much of a problem. It was. Do you do the thing because so I've never had a drink at all call because I like I see my mom died from it. My, I don't know my real dad because in all call like my, I have a lot of family problems with it. So I was early on. I was like, I'm not going to have this happen to me. But what happens is people will treat me different even though I'm, let everybody drink around me like I'm good. Yeah. But I have to fake. I was out a couple nights ago and I was meeting up with a friend, new friend and I have to get there early and order something that looks like a drink or people will treat me completely. They'll go, you know what? If you're not drinking at and I'm like, no, no, just be yourself. I want to do you have those problems where people go, oh, he's sober now we have to act different. Yes. And do you want them to act different? No. Do you need them to act different? No. And do you feel like sometimes you have to kind of go, guys, it's good. Yeah. Yeah. I do all the time. I was read a thing on, it was a post on Instagram not longer. It's it, it said, is that follow a few recovery pages and stuff on there and it was one of them and it said, it said, alcohol is the only drug you have to justify not doing. Oh, yeah, true. You're right, because it's such a social, such a social drug. Yeah. You know, that, yeah, that's wild. You're like, why don't you, why don't you drink? It's like because I do, I get, I'm allergic to it. That's what I just tell. I'm allergic to alcohol, you know? That's crazy. And listen, that's a great story. I didn't even, wasn't going to spear off into that, but I'm comfortable talking about my story and it's great to hear somebody else that is the same. Hang tight. The bobby cast will be right back. Welcome back to the bobby cast. I don't curse my personal life. I definitely don't curse on stage. Like I have my, my show is being completely clean. And I know that's the same thing with you guys now. Do you do, if the bands are opening for you, have songs with curse words, do you have that talk with them like, hey, we don't do that or not? We shy away from a band and if they get out there, you know, it's one thing that's a festival you can't really say. And I don't speak perfectly in my private life, but I do not curse on stage. And that also goes back to my mom. But they'll be better not get out there. She's in the Brad. My mom is other bad just to the bones. She's in the Brad. You got to do a cuss on that stage. I'm going to be ashamed of you. It's not ever did. And, but you know, it's worked out and people value that very, very much. Because I can't tell you, you know, especially what happens to someone's about Superman and this and that. And we still have a lot of kids that are shows. It's like just the next generation of them, which is freaking cool. It's the kids of the kids. Yeah. It is. And, but I, over the years, had so many parents come up to me and say, thank you for putting on the show. I can read my kids too. And, you know, we really have tried over the years to kind of, to, I mean, you know, hey, man, come on. You know, you can't, we hate to, like, try to control an opening band, but they got out there and revolve or something. We definitely say something to them about it. Yeah. I will have that talk with my openers. Like, I'll bring music as, because I'll, when I tour, I'll go and I'll do an hour set of stand up, but I kind of treat it like a variety show. I have someone come and open musically for me. And I'll have the talk like, hey, people, it's not a kid's show, but there may be some kids in the crowd. But people feel like this is a safe space. Like don't get that there and be political. Don't get that there and be dropping F bombs and S bombs. Like just know that people feel like this is a safe spot for them to come and breathe. Yes. And take in a show and there can be some kids. And if it's PG-13, that's all right. Yeah, yeah. Or if it's SpongeBob-esque or you make a joke that's the only adults will get and kids really won't, yeah, that's okay too. But that's a, you know, I do that. And people appreciate that because they don't have to come in and worry and sit and go, all right, it's just going to be a place where one of the ways I'm going to feel uncomfortable. I don't want that. And that's, that's awesome that you do that too, man, because there's not a whole lot of that in the world right now. It's cool. I mean, it's better. It's better like that. And also, that's quality. You know, you don't need that. You don't, I mean, I don't feel like I need it. I think yeah. I just feel like, yeah. Because you put on a quality show and you're entertaining guy. You don't need that. I appreciate that. I don't know about that exact operation. I appreciate that. Well, you think about, I was listening to some of these bands talk about like Imagine Dragons. And they're really big. But when you get so big, you start to get a lot of hate. And they're, Imagine Dragons are getting a lot of hate from a lot of these quote unquote, legit rock artists. Like Nickelback gets hate for their music. Why do you feel like Imagine Dragons getting all this hate right now? I didn't know that they were. Yeah. Who are the bands Mike that are like out ripping Imagine Dragons? Slippin' on pretty big on ripping them. Slippin' on, they're like, you're not real rock. What even is real when it comes to art? I mean, do those guys real monsters? Right? That's the real thing. That's true. They're the ones that put on masks on the whole stage. You're right about that. Did you guys ever start feeling that hate because you got so big? We did. From, it was like those little movement bands. And it was from bands like some 41 and then those, I hate to, like, I don't mean to sickle on that. As I say, spilt the tea. Who is it? I mean, it was just all those, like, you know, those movement bands, the punk bands that come through and then this sort of movement comes, you know, and we were, we were never like the cool guys. Um, but at the same time, it's like we've done a lot of the stuff that we've done sort of under the radar. You know, because we were never like big enough that we got a lot of hate. I would say that you guys are one of the most underrated bands in my lifetime because of the amount of hits you have. And people unfairly don't put you in that conversation of the sounds that changed other and influenced other sounds. Because again, we didn't even play all your hits. I just, we have like nine, ten humongous songs here. We're talking about humongous songs that crossed genres. And, you know, I feel like you guys are super underrated. Would you think that 30 or 30 hours an underrated band? Um, it's hard to be humble and say yes, but I wonder what you say. Um, we never got a lot of attention, but it's okay. I'm cool with that. I wouldn't, not me. I'm too competitive. Because I always felt sorry. You know, like, this is just say like it's easy to, easy to say like Britney Spears. I always felt sorry for her, man. I live under that microscope. It would drive me crazy too. I know she had like her little episode and stuff, but I mean, when there's constantly, I can't imagine walking out of every restaurant or every establishment, everywhere that I went, somebody standing there with the camera or something. Always wanting to just live in under that microscope. I never always used to say, man, I love being a radio band because everybody knows their songs. They don't know what I look like. And so I can sell a bunch of records, but I can still go to Walmart. As funny you mentioned, Walmart, because I was talking to a friend of mine who lives in Boston. I was like, growing up, we used to hang out at Walmart. Like you go to Walmart, you know, you're in the parking lot, or you're in Walmart, or Sonic. Like in the South, that's where you hang out. It is. And he was like, Walmart? I was like, yeah. And like we used to go and hang out at the Jetsville Walmart. Like, all right, Friday night, we'll go and quote Cruz, you know, you drive around this little square. And then we'll just end up at the Walmart. And you know, it's funny that you would say that because that's totally a southern thing to do. Like to hang out at Walmart. That's funny, man. So, but they ever do the thing with you guys where they go, hey, you should like, they had another celebrity because if you do that, they can raise the image of the band. They ever do that with you guys? Have you ever did? No. I would have been like, Brad, they're just Christian Aguilera. I'm going to set you up right now. Do you ever think about moving to Los Angeles? Did you move to Los Angeles? Not only while we were making a record, held it there for like a moment. They ever say you need to move and you need to get where the action is and live there to be a part of it. Not so much. I think they kind of wanted us to move to New York for like a little bit. I was like, uh, uh, I didn't. What was up with that? Why do they think that was a good idea? Just to be in being just like amongst the label and just being amongst the business and everything. Um, but I just, I couldn't do it, man. I'm, I'm a country mails. I can't do it. What's home life for you like now? We live on a farm out in the Murphy'sboro. My wife, Barrow racist's horses and we have six horses at our house. We got a 50 acre farm which I never thought I'd have much, that much land. And it's kind of out in the country, but it's at same time, I got a grocery store like six miles from the house and and it's not fancy, but it's, it's my heaven. And I'll get there and if we have stuff to eat and I'll go home and the gate closes behind me and I won't leave for three or four days. Yeah, 50 acres. We do. I assume you have help. Uh, uh, my, my friend comes in a feed sources when we're out of town or something if I'm gone and I have some guys that cut, uh, part of the yard, but just because I don't have enough time to cut it all, they probably cut like, because I had to mo at all because some of it's back in the woods and some of it like the horse pastures really cut a couple times, uh, maybe once a month is the kind of knock them, knock the tops off, um, cause they won't eat it once it gets a certain height. They have their, we have finicky horses, they're spoiled, but they're our kids. Um, but she knows that right. Um, so, uh, they cut probably 10 acres and I cut the pastures and redo it all herself. I, when I leave here, I'm going home to clean horse stalls and you're smiling as you say it. It's like you love it. I like their babies though. Yeah. Cause we don't have kids. Our horses are our kids and, and I, and I say, I'll smile about it here. I'll, we're on about it, but I'm standing here doing it. But you know, there are a lot of times when I'm busy and just kind of going and going and going, that I've, man, I would love to be standing on my barn right now. And it's just, I mean, it's peaceful, you know, and you get to do both. You get to be alone on your property and then you get to go and play shows and still have that lifestyle too and sing your songs. It's, it's a blessing. And how often are you guys on the road right now? Um, we go, um, right now, like every other weekend and I have shows this weekend and next weekend. And we have a little more coming up later on in the summer. And then next year will be the 20th anniversary of the better life. And we're going to do like a full world tour on that one. Is that right? Is that a be fun and I look forward to it? Man. I'm not 21. You don't want to do more. You ever think about it? Cause, you know, the big thing with, and not for me, but the big thing with a lot of people, they go and country music. They're like, well, that any country, like yours country is a gets. You ever think about doing a country song and country record? I've been writing some lately and I wrote about half of a country record one time, but honestly, I took it in, in, uh, I was talking to some record guys about it and they say, I get, well, say, oh, why? They said, because it's, because it's like a really country country. I was like, well, I can't help it. What'd you listen to growing up? Um, I was, I, I'm the youngest seven kids. So I grew up listening to whatever my, my brother's sister's listened to, but when I was a kid, my favorite band growing up was, by and Joby. And I grew up on 80s rock and I loved it and loved it. And, and honestly, when, when Nirvana and stuff came out, I kind of fell off of it. I, I wasn't ready for it. I was too young for it, I think, or something. And I, I listened to probably more country growing up than, like my all time favorite songs to dance. Oh, yeah. I love it. You ever meet Garth? I never had. That's the best. You love him. His, what was up here two days ago? Yeah. And I got a chance, I got to know Garth a little bit. Garth played, you know, the show you played with this this year? Mm-hmm. Thank you played it with us this year before. There's awesome. I love Garth Brooks. I would love to meet him. He's, and he's a, he's a guy too that, you know, I've, I've learned a bit from when, like, with people, like Garth Brooks walks into a room and every single person, it doesn't matter who you are, it gets the same attention. And Garth looks you in the eye and he spends time and when Garth leaves, you go, that was amazing. Thank you. And I think Taylor Swift learned from Garth and I'm just trying to like get his crumbles and like, I just want to learn, you know, did anyone take kind of take you under the wing a bit or at least go Brad? This is what's going to have like other artists who would be like, this is what you got to do. Or was that kind of not cool then? I never knew a whole lot of them. I never knew like a ton of, of artists. But I guess the people that you meet along the way do, do kind of let you, let you, let you have some info. And we had the opportunity of, of, they're early in our career to, to work with Alex Lison. He produced a couple of B size for us. And he could tell player for Rosh and, and he had some pretty interesting conversations with him and he's a great, great guy. And you know, think what meant more to me than anything was I was very fortunate to meet, like you say that Garth comes into a room and he's like, everybody gets attention and he's like a real person. And I was very fortunate to be around some, just for moments here and there, like really famous people like that. And see that, just get a chance to see that, wow, it's just, he's just a dude. Just a dude. Yeah. Just a freaking dude. Fans make us who we are. I mean, I'm just a, before, my, my, when I got signed, I drove a Fort lift and before that, I drove a Bush-Hull tractor. I'd mode tank fields and I am so thankful I get to play in a rock band for living. Just humans. Exactly. Yeah. And it's crazy that it's other people that make other people. Like Garth is just a good dude who has a skill at being, somebody else may have a skill at like a brain surgery, you know, at learning how, how math works. They don't get that because people don't make them that. Imagine a math in America, if people that did good math were celebrities, our country would be way ahead of China. Okay, I can run a bus right now. Exactly. That's what we need. We need to start a movement to make mathematicians cool. So you get us out and get us up and out of there. Wait, so you drove Fort Lepp, where'd you do that? Uh, at Downham Passagula, Mississippi, at Electric Motor Shop, I've cleaned like Electric Motor, we rebuilt Electric Motors and things like that and, and, uh, so I cleaned parts and, and, uh, be blasted them and stuff like that. But mainly probably drove the Fort, if more than anything. Could you hop back on one right now and, it felt like a bike? Yeah. You could. I, I have two jackets at home that I stay on all the time. Let me ask you a simple one. Where did the name come from? Three doors down. Um, it came off of, uh, an old boarded up building, honestly, actually, um, we, uh, we used to go down to golf shores a lot and which is, uh, like the beach down in Alabama, but pretty close to where we grew up and driving down there, you went through, uh, a little town that was just full of fruit stands and there would be several of those of fruit stands in one building and we had a gig like our first show that night coming back and we didn't have a name and we had like a notebook full of names. And one of those buildings had closed up and moved just a couple of parcels down and there was like tack on wooden letters. It said, you know, business moves like so many doors down and so much falling off at whatever and there was three of us at the time and, and Todd said, well, what about three doors down and we're like, all right. And it just kind of stuck. So like the first real name you came up with, you kept? Mm-hmm. Well, that's odd. Most bands are like, well, our first name was, uh, the, the, the Wiener Jumpers. We didn't like that. So then we decided to go with the toenail kids and we didn't like that. Next thing you know, here we are, you too. We're like, well, that was weird. How it all, but that's the first name you guys had, huh? First name. And it's the only band I've ever been in. I've never been in another band. And you wrote those songs in high school and look at you. You look happy. Man, I'm telling you, I'm bliss because I am, I have not that talented. I feel so inferior with the same age and you've had a rock star live. Oh, man. Look at you. Uh, good to see you, my friend. Thank you, too. All right, that's it. Thank you very much. This has been a Bobby Cast production. This is an I Heart Podcast. Guaranteed Human.