sort of what music gives you in terms of taking you to somewhere else or being in that moment. I just get this guy hyped up in a podcast studio. We're underground right now, bro. Let's go. Let's go. That's why this is so much more than just showing up and DJing.
I'm telling a story. I'm giving people happiness. Where was like the moment that you got like a big break? Like I want to continue to do this from South Bend to Evansville and everywhere in between. This is Get In, the show focused on the Hoosier State and the incredible stories happening here today. I'm Nate Spangle, founder of Get Indiana, and I will be your host for today's conversation.
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An incredible opportunity for race fans. Chase is an awesome NASCAR driver from Mitchell, Indiana. You're going to be learning more about him soon. Follow Flutterman von Ree to explore their stunning collections and join their journey to greatness. Today I'm joined by Sherm, an Indiana Rays DJ who got his start back in Bloomington and is now playing shows all over the country. He's been DJing for the last 12 years, and he's gearing up to headline turntable right here in Broadripple on June 6th.
Today, what we're going to be covering is how one cornfield concert changed his entire music trajectory, the rise of EDM, electronic music, electronic dance music here in Indiana, and how growing up in the Midwest in Indiana has impacted his career. Sherm, welcome to the show. Nate, it is such a pleasure, man. Cheers. Cheers. All right, we do have to give a little uh chili water.
We're uh it is uh the day of recording is Cinco de Mayo. So, happy Cinco de Mayo. Happy Cinco de Mayo. We're having a little chili water brewing company, Lima Ranchera. Uh Cvesa Lima. Yeah.
Or Lima Ranchera. There we go. Lima Rancher. We usually say no free advertising, but Chili Water, welcome. You guys, uh hit me up if you want. No, Loki.
My mom picked this up for us. Hey, just like back in the day. Shout out Mr. Sherm. Appreciate you. Just like back Wait, we don't want to talk.
Um, man. Okay, so you got your start DJing back in Bloomington. Yeah. Uh, which I think is like a common thing that a lot of like I don't know, kids that like to, you know, party, socialize, like I want to be the DJ. For sure. The ox cord.
DJord. That's where it all starts. So, you did you get your start on the ox cord? I did. Dorm rooms. Border.
Uh I can't remember my dorm level or my room, but uh that's where it all started really. I always loved uh burning CDs in high school. That's kind of where like the selector process started. I would say high school would have been like late 2010. Yeah. So like early 2000s.
2008, 9 10 11. Okay. So like right at the end of Burnt CDs. Yes. Right at the end of Burnt CDs. What was the title of like the number one burnt CD you made?
Oh, dude. Had to had to be the one that I burnt for my current wife. I took her to junior prom and I think it was called Matt's greatest hits or something like that. She doesn't call me Sherm, she calls me Matt. She calls me Matt. Okay.
It banger after banger. 17 tracks going hard in the Jeep Liberty. And listen, it was just pure class. We got anything from indie folk to some underground rap music, maybe some Whiz Khalifa, maybe some Coldplay, things of that nature. Back in back at junior prom, the the mixtape. No, it's like I don't even know where you'd find a CD player to play Matt's greatest hit.
I actually you'd have to put it in an Xbox or something. That's exactly how you would do it. Good call. Good call. All right. So, starts there with burning CDs.
Yeah. When burning a CD, when I mean DJing, the whole thing is like a lot of times the best DJs like feel more than just like, oh, this song is going to get people going. It's like you have a connection to music. Like where did this connection to music first raise up for you? Well, it certainly wasn't the French horn being assigned to me in fifth grade. I was as S is later in the alphabet as we all know.
Everyone wants to play the trumpet or the saxophone. I got stuck with the French horn. And actually what happened was I sat with one of my oldest friends from Indiana. His name's Thomas Buchanan. He is a music soant. This is someone who has really listened to all sorts of music his whole life.
He's an incredible pianist as well. Um and he was the one that really exposed me to just tons of different types of artists. I'm always been someone who's looking to hear new music, explore new things, travel, all that sort of stuff, right? So, I'm very open to it. Um, but that's where I really got the bug pretty young. Uh, I'm definitely grateful for my mom and dad, uh, who were big influence in terms of musicality.
Uh, I always wanted to go to concerts. I went to see Jouri Hart and somebody else at what was Verizon Wireless Music Center for anyone listening that's that old. I think there might be even some older listeners that called it Deerfield, I think. Deer Creek. Deer Creek. Deer Creek.
Deer Creek. Come on. Nate knows. Nate knows. Come on. Um, but always love the live experience.
Yeah, cuz it was it was Deer Creek, then Verizon, then Verizon, then Klitchch, Klitchch, then Ruof, then Ruof. There hasn't been anything in between. I think those are the four iterations. It's currently Ru and now it's currently going to be something that's I mean, they're going to get a new title sponsor probably because now they're charging for parking. So, they're going to have just stacks of cash. So, maybe they'll go back to Deer Creek because they had the stacks of cash.
Live Nation, if you see this, I'm not sorry. Yeah, we're not sorry. We're not sorry. Figure out the parking. Figure out the parking. Um, but that's definitely where it started for me.
Just the sort of what music gives you in terms of taking you to somewhere else or being in that moment. And that's what I always wanted to sort of achieve when it came to DJing because one of my first experiences, like you mentioned in the beginning, was seeing Avichi, probably top three most famous electronic music producers, RIP, of all time. And I saw him in 2011, but right after he released his global hit, Levels, which is the track that really blew him up, which is like an ED. It's like on the Mount Rushmore. It just goes off. It just goes off.
What are you going to do? And it's so simple. That's the crazy thing. The the simplicity of that melody. Um, but I remember uh being in college, dance music was really blowing up in 2011. This is when the EDM boom, as we call it.
What was like the first EDM like song like the that I heard? Was it Levels? Like was Levels the one that like put EDM to the top? Levels is what took it I I think really blew it up in the US. But actually the song I remember I think it was like a homecoming afterparty. My friend showed me this track by Steve Aoki and Bloody Beatroots called Warp 1.
9 which is looking back a very intense dance music song. It's like it literally sounds like race cars. I mean, the song is called Warp 1. 9. So, I listened to that. I was like, "Wow, this is insane."
And then I went and listened to Dead Mouse, which was a little bit in the middle, and he's still someone who's an icon today. And then I started, okay, I was like, "Wow, like I like this. I like this." And then you got to college, and then it was sort of everywhere. Yeah. And how did how did Avichi end up playing in a cornfield in Bloomington?
Like, like, give me the whole story behind that. He became so big so quickly that there wasn't a venue in Bloomington, let alone a lot of college towns that were going to be able to sell hard tickets to monitor how many people were coming out. So you literally needed a cornfield. So what better place than southern Indiana who hosted it? Man, I think it was MES Presents actually. Shout out to Mitch Shonaman who used to do that and book a lot of DJs that came through that I actually ended up opening for over the years in Bloomington at a place called Dunkirk.
This was what year was this? 2011. 2011. Yeah. At Bounce Music Festival. Bounce Music Festival.
That was the other one, too. But shout out to MEES Presents as well. Yeah, Bounce Music Festival was huge. That's right. So, they brought in Avichi was first, and there were other big acts on that lineup, too. But then later that year, they brought in uh Alleso.
They brought in Tiestto. Um there was somebody else. I was pledging at the time, so all I did was drive people and drop them off and watch from a distance. That was unfortunate. I mean, this is like a This is nuts. Who's on that lineup?
Okay. Yeah. Oh, wow. Yeah. So, somebody took a video on their phone. This is like literally like Yeah, that was it, dude.
The glow a camcorder or something back. Yeah. Not high quality. This looks like something you would have downloaded off of um like Lime Wire or something. Look at that. That's crazy.
Yeah. It wasn't even that big of a stage and there was just such such high demand. I mean, there must have been a couple thousand people there for sure. And they literally I think it was called Pwick Farms or what was it called? I can't remember. But everything changed for me that day.
I saw sort of the aura that a DJ or or as I always think about them as as entertainers of what he did without even a microphone. He just played music and everyone was so into it and it really just sort of shaped my future as like, wow, this is awesome. I want to be able to DJ and I started DJing really in the dorm rooms. I didn't have a controller. It was something called Virtual DJ. It was Yeah, dude.
Uh I downloaded Virtual DJ cuz I wanted to be a DJ. cuz I thought it was sick. But like then I never like figured out how to do anything with it. All I would do would be like when I add like mix like like Spotify now does this for you automatically. Like Spotify will will take whatever the song is and blend it into the next song. And then I would just like use the air horn like like pump it up.
You got to pump it, you know, like and I just like play those different sounds like it's the best. Um but like what is the art of DJing? Yeah, the art of DJing. I mean, when I think back to virtual DJ, I'm I was pretty much just fading a track from in one to the other. The art of DJing, as I mentioned in the beginning, is really being a selector. So, it's giving the crowd what they didn't know they wanted.
That's sort of what I try and keep in the back of my head, right? You want to give them some familiarity, but I'm not a wedding DJ out here. And no hate to wedding DJs, cuz that's actually sometimes a tougher job than being a performing DJ. I'm trying to give them an experience that they're going to get, but they couldn't quite put their finger on what it's going to be. So, I want to play music that makes them feel nostalgic. I want to play music that actually makes them go to their friend and go, "Oh my gosh, like can you believe this song right now or a song that makes them say, "Oh, like this is incredible."
Or, "This reminds me of this." When it comes to the technical process, it is definitely more complicated than I think people make it out to be. You know, hitting play, I think that was a big thing. Pre-recorded sets for a while. I like that definitely happened, right? It is a thing.
I mean, it still is a thing. I mean, that is a whole it's a whole part of the industry that I think people don't understand. Well, like I feel like uh I went to a few big booty release parties like those and it's like they're not mixing anything crazy, pressing play on like the latest release and then being hype. Well, that's the thing, too. Like, how much do people even care if they're really DJing? Yeah.
And then they bring out a saxophone that has flares coming out of Two Friends puts on an amazing show, dude. It's pretty legit. They put on an amazing show and they're great producers, great guys. I actually met them the first time I DJed at a music festival in 2018. I finagled my way backstage. I was DJing the silent disco.
They don't give you the same wristbands as the regular artist. You know, you're a silent disco DJ. You're like, "Oh yeah, that listen, make friends with the bouncers. Make friends with the ticket holders, the barbacks, all the people that you don't think can help you because they can help you. You never know who they're going to become. I promise you that."
So, I get backstage. I'm talking to them. I'm like having an out-of- body experience because I was just really a few years into Chicago at that point and I'm talking to two friends, such good guys. Um, but when it comes down to like the the art of DJing, the art of performing, there's so many things that you have to nail. There's no room for error, especially in these big stages like Ultra Music Festival, EDC, Coachella. There's visuals that have to be hit.
There's tracks that have to be timed out. You also usually only have an hour. That hour when you're DJing a festival set goes by like this. so fast. Like what's like the average like song length? Like do you keep a song for like hey we only do we do 50 songs for a little over a minute each.
Sometimes I'll build out sets in little sections like I want sort of this energy then I want this energy later. So I will have options for shorter songs for sure but I would say on average two to four minutes. Do you have like emergency like oh gosh like that didn't hit they didn't that didn't hit. I have to like press the dude I've got an edit. Shout out to my boy Isaac Palmer who's opening up for this show. It's a Thousand Miles Vanessa Carlton.
Who doesn't? I don't care who you are. [Music] Okay. Look at Nate. See, he wants Yeah. Come on.
And then it goes into No Scrubs TLC. And it kind of matches it up and you're like, "Oh." So, it throws it back. You know, you don't feel like you're at a DJ set. And then it goes into a remix of Don Toiver's Bandit that Isaac and I made. And it's my go-to.
Honestly, last year. When you say made, Yeah. produced. You took the lyrics of Bandit. Yes. So, we took Dons Oliver Bandit and pretty much just the ac capella, so the vocals, and then recreated our own version.
Okay. That was a piece of virtual DJ that I could never figure out. Like, where do you find just the vocals? So, these days AI is really on another level. You can do it within a lot of the digital audio workspaces. I use Logic.
Um, and within Logic, you can separate the stems, it's called, dude. But there's lots of piece that I never got into because I like, you know, we were talking about this a little bit before we got going. It's like I wanted to take I wanted like now they're doing it. It's MCD40 or whatever, but I wanted to take country I wanted to make the the big booty mix of country music. Yeah. And then they did it and then it was really sick.
And well, listen, I remixed Chicken Fried Zack Brown. Yeah. Because I thought it was one long way overdue. Huge Zack Brown fan. Yeah. Um I also love Kenny Chzn, so I'm working on a Kenny Kenny's.
It's almost untouchable. There's some stuff you don't want to remix cuz you're like, does does it really need to be? But Chicken Fried, I was like, I need to create a moment. The first time I dropped it was actually in LA at this big nightclub called Exchange, which used to be an old stock exchange. Crazy cool club. LA is super diverse scene.
And here I am, this guy from Indiana, wearing a Malort sweater, by the way. And I'm opening up for Wookie, who's this huge artist, good friend of mine, really good guy. He put me on the show. And I'm like, we just finished this song. So, I brought out my friend Spectre, who's actually from Tmacula, California. And for those that don't know, California is pretty rural outside of the big cities.
Yeah. Like Tmacula's country. Like California country. It's California country. California country. So him and I remix this.
He comes on stage with me and it goes down to the breakdown. I was like, "I was ready to see the shade of George Pine." Everyone's looking at me like, "What?" And I'm like up literally like on a box like, "Let's go." And it goes into this great drop. It's so much fun.
Do they know the song? Nah, some did. Like, here's the thing. When it hits, it hits. When it hit, I can't make everybody happy. But as a DJ, I can take little groups that I see in the crowd and let them sort of do the hard work for me, you know?
Because if you ever been in the crowd and like you and your friends love this song, but somebody else does it, and they're just kind of being lame, and you're like, why you being lame? Like, it's a great song. Just like enjoy it. So, the people in the crowd really do the hard work for you. DJs love me. I'm sure, dude.
Oh, I will always give them some energy back. Like, I I see what you're doing there. Thank you on behalf of all DJs. Thank you for your service. Yeah. So, but take me through where we're we're going to go back a little bit.
Yeah. Cuz I wanted to know how you become an actual DJ. Like a lot of people, myself included, loved ripping the Oxford in college. Like it was great. You play a banger and like everyone like screams. Like for me it was like ah the girls come over like it's like 2018 2017 2018 like closer but Chain Smokers of course press play everyone went berserk.
always shout out to the Delt House at Depal. Like you shout out to Depal in general, man. I actually I DJed uh the few atto parties there. It was so much fun. So like that was like So you got to like become an actual DJ. How did that happen?
Yeah, it's a good question. I don't think anyone's ever put it so bluntly. So respect because it really is like not as clear as it might seem, right? Like how do you go from being the Oxcore DJ to sort of like the frat DJ to like taking the career more seriously and then all the way to where I'm at now, which is a touring DJ. Yeah, there are lots of steps in between and I think it depends on how seriously are you taking this. A lot of people get into it for the parties.
A lot of people get into it for quick cash. A lot of people get into it for XYZ reasons. It took me a little bit longer to figure out why I really wanted to continue doing this and become an artist. And it was because growing up in Indiana, there's not a lot of DJs, right? And I found that the culture of the music and the music discovery and not the party aspect like drinking but like being with your friends in that environment with a certain type of music was like the exact place for me. It's almost like I was searching for it my entire life.
So when I started surrounding myself with artists in Chicago who had been doing this, um especially some of the older ones that are just like taste makers, great DJs, um that really showed me the ropes and I took it seriously and I started my podcast and I started a brand and I had a theme and I had my why. Then I really felt like, okay, like this is so much more than just showing up and DJing. I'm telling a story. I'm giving people happiness, whatever it is. Like when you so you started to go to different schools and DJ like whether it be at Depal or somewhere else. Yeah.
Yeah. Yeah. And then you graduate and it's like okay well Matt your parents coming Matt we probably need to talk. Oh my parents were very confused for They're like, "Uh, okay. So, like you had fun playing music for your friends in college in the fraternity basement. Now you need to like get a job and do a thing and but like how did you continue to balance that and grow your career and yeah, like actually get on tour and on shows and do this professionally?"
I wish it was something more complicated than I just worked my ass off. And I actually have had a day job this entire time as well. I'm a director of enterprise sales at a brokerage in Chicago. So, I kind of like I do logistics. Yeah. Like someone like someone is like you're like you're a director like you're someone's boss.
I know it's funny. And then it's like yeah I went and saw my boss last night. Yo dude my customers come out and see me. Literally my customers come out. Just before I was here I was literally this guy at this company. It was a cold call.
I sent him my profile on my profile sheet. I say that I'm a DJ. And he looked me up and he followed me on YouTube, subscribed to my YouTube and then I had a cold call with him. It's amazing what happens when you put yourself out there. You're just authentic and you're truly yourself. Because for a while I was like, "What am I doing?"
I definitely had those questions like, "Am I trying to be a DJ? Am I trying to be a normal person?" It's hard to balance. Well, you're saying DJs aren't normal people. Yeah. No, we're not.
We're absolutely not. No. 100%. You couldn't be. No. So then you graduate.
Obviously, you're working corporate. All that stuff's going on. Where was like the moment that you got like a big break and were like, "Oh, this is like I want to continue to do this." I was working really really hard from I would say like the time I graduated 2015 to 2018 I was playing a lot of open format gigs in Chicago. So what does that mean? Open format meaning all genres.
So like what I would call a sherm set right. So I'm playing songs that most people want to hear. You call it top 40 or whatever. Right. Yeah. Like you just like call up a bar in Chicago and say hey will you book me to DJ?
That's the hard part. So I was going to these places and selling myself. That's part of the reason I started the podcast. I was trying to get gigs and I would go up to the DJ while they're performing at like 12:30 at night and I'd be like, "Hey, I'm sure I'm trying to get gigs here." They're like, "Who are you? Get off the stage because they don't know me, right?"
And I get it. You don't want someone coming up and bothering you. So, I said, "I need to just sort of reset and figure out like where am I going to go?" So, I played all these bars. I put Wait, wait, wait. Yeah.
How? You just said they didn't want to talk to you. How did you get that first gig? I hit them up outside of those environments. I would just literally DM or email or get their information. I would say like the bar owner or the bar manager.
Yeah. Whoever it was, a talent buyer, bar owner. It Do a lot of those bars in Chicago have have talent buyers? Yes. For just like an average Well, I wouldn't call him a talent buyer. A lot of them are run by DJ collectives.
Oh, yeah. So, like a DJ who Yeah. kind of unionized. They're like a little bit. There's DJ unions. There needs to be.
We have no health insurance. FYI, honestly, I could have guessed that one. Could have guessed that one. But like there might be a resident DJ who has DJ friends and they run a colle DJ. Yeah, resident. So it's it's part of his full-time job, right?
So he's playing there maybe every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and he needs people to play before him. And like what kind of place? Um well, for those that have been Chicago, it could be a variety of places, right? It could be more of a hop in bar that plays dance music. It could be I DJed uh in hotel lobbies for W on Lakeshore, right? Like there's tons of different gigs you can get in Chicago.
Yeah. So I an indie comparison what kind of like where are is there like a DJing residence somewhere here in I would say downtown like u brothers brothers like think about places like brothers like don't think about clubs think about like yeah brothers or like even kills stuff like that right like hopping yeah those hopping bars yeah but like you're not the center of attention you know what I mean like you're DJing the music there might be a dance floor but like not all eyes are on you so I was doing a lot of those gigs I got better as a DJ I credit a lot of my skills from that time but I was trying to play more artist style gigs. Yeah. Like you can't play you can't play like the chicken fry remix when you're you're DJing like a hotel lobby. Like they're probably not ready for that. No, they're not ready for that.
I'm playing a lot of, you know, disco remixes and things like that. And it paid those paid pretty well was the thing. Like the worse the gig, the more it gets paid. That's kind of what I say. Yeah, dude. A lot of these artists don't get paid for these festival gigs.
Coachella, it's true. What? I said I played three times in Miami during Miami Music Week. made 100 bucks. So sometimes it's about exposure, right? And they sell you on that.
And that's kind of the thing I'm trying to change. It's it's tough. You got to hope that you rock out and gain some followers. But yeah, dude. That's why it's so hard to make money. So hard to make money as an artist, not just DJing, an artist, any musician in in general, especially now, too.
It's expensive to tour. It's expensive to market yourself. You can't just make music. You have to have all these things. Well, and somewhere you're talking about market yourself. Somewhere along there, you started a podcast.
Started the podcast. Sherman the booth. I just recorded episode 249. So I started that in September of 2016. 2017, sorry. How why did you know you need to like No one was podcasting.
Almost no one in 2016. No, I actually literally was like one of the first I wouldn't say in podcasters period, but for so long there was no one doing what I was doing, which was interviewing my peers in the music industry. Was were they weird of like what the hell is a podcast? No, they loved it. They loved it because they actually finally had a platform to tell their story as complicated or simple as it might be. So that's how I was able to get gigs.
I would I would say, "Hey, DJ, whoever it is, like I want to I want to interview you. I want to get your full story." Like we'd go I'd meet them in person, Nate, right? Like we're talking about right now. In the beginning, dude, I literally had like a Shure microphone. Shout out Shore.
And I would plug it into my iPhone and we would sit maybe like this close together and talk into the microphone. Like one mic. One mic. one mic, dude. And I wasn't doing video until episode 71, dude. 71 is still early.
Like, what year was that? I know. Yeah. This What year was that? So, this was 2019. 2019 video podcast.
Yeah. Yeah, I know. That's okay. Early go back. Early on the trend. Early on the trend.
Or maybe that was 20. It was 2018, 2019. I can't remember exactly. Probably think 2019 because 2020 co happened. And to actually answer your question, when I really knew things were changing, it was it was kind of crazy because the biggest gig, one of the biggest gigs I've That intro is sick. You like that?
Yeah, dude. Sick. I know. I got to get a new one actually. It's a little outdated now. In 2020, March 6th and 7th, the weekend before CO happened, I opened for Galantis two nights in a row at this venue in Chicago called Aragon Ballroom.
I I've been to Aragon Ballroom. Unbelievable place. It kind of uh yeah, it kind of looks like old school inside like Yeah, it's the the starry ceiling and kind of like the Middle Eastern like uh like African sort of style that they have the decor. Have you been to the Indiana roof or Indiana rooftop ballroom? Yeah. Yeah.
It's kind of like that where Yeah. It kind of has like Egyptian room vibes almost too. Something like that, you know? Yeah. Um and I Dude, it was amazing. Like I literally played the first slot, but it was completely sold out.
So, I was playing to a crowd of like 2,000 people and I did two nights in a row and I walked in and worked that week and I was like, man, I think I got to think about like going full-time, you know? That's that's crazy. Co happened. Thank goodness I did not quit my job. That would have been that would have been that would have been and I dude I'm telling you like I was having conversations like thinking about it like with with my now wife. Were you So, were you married at the time?
I got married in July 2022. Okay. So, not married but serious. Definitely serious with a with a I mean that was has to be a really good burnt CD. That's all I'm saying. That's a good call back.
Yeah. Uh yeah. So I had that great gig happened. How did you get in with Galantis? These talent buyers that I now work with today. Shout out to Collective.
Uh they're amazing. They put on North. This is a different DJ Collective, but they're called Collective. Yeah. Funny enough with no E. Yeah.
Uh just making sure. Yeah. Very very good. Uh Collective, no E. Um, but they put on North Coast and they do a lot of town buying across the country and uh they're really good people. Uh, good Chicago guys.
And then they were just like, they booked me for that. Hey dude, you wanna you want to Well, what was cool about it was my hat got thrown in the ring with a lot of other acts. You know, you submit for approval a lot of times for those that wonder how people get gigs. It's not just knowing someone. You have to have a brand that's good enough for the manager or the artist to say, "Yeah, like this person looks like they're qualified enough to open for me." Because people come to the show.
If you have a bad opening act, it can really change the tone of the headliner, like the crowd's not into it, the crowd's thrown off, or the crowd's too hype, right? Something like that. The crowd's too hype. Yeah. Like if the crow if like you go too hard as an opener, it's it's like considered to be a deadly sin. I would say it's changed a lot now because so many people are artists and they don't there's not a lot of pride in being the resident DJ or a really good opener anymore because everyone wants to be an artist, which is a good thing.
We'll get into it in a little bit. They gave me a lot of great opportunities uh leading up to that and finally I got approved. Galantis I was literally on like their tour video was like sherm and I was like what the what I was like damn I couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe it. Peanut butter and jelly. That's peanut butter and jelly dude.
Spread it like Yes, dude. And I I became a huge Galantis fan after that. I would too. They're great performers. Come on. Quick pause in the action.
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Head over to Instagram, Nate Spangle, and subscribe. Now, let's get back to the episode. and co happened and I was just like what do I do? So I doubled down on Sherman the booth. I did so many interviews and this is when I really blew it up I would say in terms of like the following the guests that I had on cuz all these world class touring DJs were available. So I was DMing anyone and everyone being like hey do you want to come on my podcast give us a give us an example of like what Instagram following was uh right before the Galantis show.
Maybe 3,000. Oh yeah yeah. So, like I've made it up to 15K now, which is awesome. Obviously, I still want to continue to grow, but solid really good community from then when you started grinding on the pod. Yeah, everything really in culmination. I got better at content.
I got better at uh just the podcast sort of conversation. It was natural. Learning about all like one you it's one thing to learn your skill, your craft of DJing, another to learn about how to be like a marketer and an agent and like all the other pieces of it. like how were you learning about it? It's really tough and you do have to sort of put yourself out there and be vulnerable because not every piece of content is going to be good. These days I actually believe in quantity over quality and a lot of times I was worried about the quality.
If it's not doesn't look good enough and it's not going to be wellreceived, people aren't going to engage with it, whatever it is. So what I did was I just said screw it. I'm going to put out as much content as I possibly can. And I realized that Sherman the booth this podcast is a content machine. you know this we could have clipped 20 clips already of this interview right so that's why I started doing remote interviews with video as well and having bigger DJs on and talking about current events talking about old stories all this sort of stuff who who is the biggest DJ you got right after co the one that's probably the biggest now is Max Styler um he's a really really big DJ now like he's blowing up he's been in the game a long time though um became a good friend after that even too he's he's such a good guy um but That was the cool part about Sherman in the booth as well is like, yeah, I'm like talking to them about their story, but I'm also like just sort of hanging out with them, you know, and getting to know them and we're telling stories and Yeah.
It's kind of like the ultimate little like it's a networking tool. It's a friendship tool. Yeah. Like to hang out like one-on-one connection back in 2020. Like no one's being like, "Yeah, how many people listen to your podcast?" They're like, "Oh, somebody wants to have me on their podcast.
Let's go. Like I'm in." And I've found that sort of regardless of the level that people are at, they're humbled by that because I like I'm so honored to be here being on someone else's podcast because one, I see how awesome it is and how great of a job that you do, but like I've been I've been in your position 249 times, right? Like it's tough. You have a lot of expectations. You're putting yourself out there and you have to be consistent.
So through that consistency, I started putting out more content consistently. Yeah. Yeah. And it helped me sort of just create like my routine. And that's when I started to do a lot of different types of content. And when I realized that I needed to start putting myself out there a little bit more like who is Sherm?
People want to follow Sherm. So I started doing things about uh why I like to cook. I was doing these things called Sherm's word. It was ridiculous, dude. I was just coming up with anything. I'm just stuck in my apartment.
I was cooking. It was like why I love cooking. It was uh like why I love basketball. It was just like more about me. And I get I got became very good at sort of doing performative on camera stuff just me. In fact, there's like an art to that.
There is an art to that. It's really tough. I will tell you though what you should do one time and I challenge you to do this is interview yourself because if you sat here and you acted like somebody else, I came up with this character. His name was Ramon. I don't know. It was a terrible accent.
And I interviewed myself and it was like, "Okay, sure." Like, you know, sort of like this, you know, just basic questions. And I would be like, "Who is this guy?" Like, "How do you know all these things about me?" And I did it recently and it's I did it again and it's so much fun, but you realize like, "Oh my god, like you're not there and I'm trying to act like you are there." That's wild.
So, I did stuff like that and I like went way outside my comfort zone. Yeah. Like when they do like a lot of people do the solo sketches and they'll change outfits. So, they'll be like they'll ask like 10 questions in a row right here and then they'll go over, remember what they asked, maybe play it and then be like, "Oh, yeah. Great, great question. Yeah, exactly, dude.
Yeah, it's it's a lot of fun. But that's when I feel like, and I would give that advice to anyone out there that's trying to be a content creator, just start putting stuff out there. I think when people say content creator, they think like, "Oh, I'm not." And it's like, if you want to do Wait, you want to be a DJ? You want to be a country music artist? You want to be podcaster?
Podcaster. What about you? I mean, when did you say like, "I have all these things I'm passionate about. I want to start putting it on camera." Like, what made you want to start a podcast? Uh, well, it actually was started at my old company and I got tagged to be a co-host of it.
Uh, back in 23. I was like super lucky. I got to be, it was like a a VC, a CEO, and me interviewing like a local CEO once a week. It was awesome. But after like we had a few iterations of, you know, like how many like Indianapolis tech founder there's not that many of them. So, we had them all on and the podcast didn't hadn't really grown, but I was starting to put out this extra content to get people to watch the show.
guy was like, "My top three this or like learn about this in Indiana like blah blah blah blah." And I ended up just like that took off and people loved the videos and like and I I just get really excited because I actually care. Yeah. And they could they could sense that, you know. So I ended up last year, literally a year ago with the Indy500, I was like still working at my company. The podcast was still owned by them.
We were putting out episodes, but they were like getting to the point with that they were like, I don't really know. Our main sponsor had just dropped off. So yeah, it was like and it was like what I loved about my job. Like everything else was not bad, but I loved this. And I was like, "Oh, if that gets cut, I'm going to be really sad." Yeah.
And I made went on this mission, this quest to be the first truck in the infield, the Indy500, and I gained like 10 or 15,000 followers. Amazing. I went from like 10 or 15K. I went from like 10K to over 20K in 6 weeks. Yeah, it can happen that quickly. And it was it was just like banger after banger talking about this truck that we flipped.
And I ended up like getting paid 10 grand to tailgate at the Indy500. And I was like, if I can make 10 grand, that is an Indiana dream right there, man. Make 10 grand tailgating. And so then I took the 10, like I ended up um quitting my job and acquiring the podcast from my old company to come in, take it in, make it my own, and make it more just about Indiana in general or like who's doing cool things. Absolutely. and people that and again you live in Chicago but like you were born here raised here like Indiana raised a Midwest man.
Yes sir. Oh my gosh. The guy who from Cooko like he's from the Cooko area. He ran around the entire perimeter of the United States. Did he? That was like my first episode I recorded in the studio.
Cameron Ballser. He went up to Cleveland and literally ran to Maine then down to Key West then over to like the southern part of California on foot. Self self-supported with a baby carrier. This dude, he Cameron is a guy. 200 days, 11,000 miles. 200 and something days.
Don't quote me on how many days. Nuts. But I was like, I want to talk to that guy. He has nothing to do with tech, nothing to do with entrepreneurship. It's like, but that guy needs to And then I got like Randy Luwendowski, the the president CEO of the Indianapolis Indians. I got some like really cool ones lined up after the guy who started Hope Plumbing, by the way.
Yeah, that was awesome, dude. Good dudes. If you're a Pacers fan and you're and you're subscribed, you've seen the Hope Plumbing commercial. Oh, yeah. you get it. Oh, I get it.
Um, okay. That's awesome. But like that's that's how we end up here. And then but you do have to just like put content out there, get it out and if it's if it's good, everyone will see it. And if it's bad, the algorithm will kill it. Yeah.
And it won't matter. Like that's the piece. It's like people get so worried and it's like, dude, no one sees it. Yeah. And I think that's the part that people have trouble getting over. Yeah.
Is the feeling of being judged. But guess what? The people are judging that aren't they aren't putting themselves out there. No. And like I I always say this, no one who's doing better than me is ever like turning back to criticize me. Facts, you know, like facts.
Aspiring like so many aspiring like podcasters or people that are like maybe a little bit behind me. Like it always comes whenever anyone criticizes you comes from a place of like scare scarcity or like of they're insecure. It comes from a place in they're like, "Oh, why would you do that?" Like they're so insecure or whatever. Or it's like your family and friends that are worried for you and they don't want you to like look like fail. They're worried.
I know. Yeah. Because you're like a public figure. Yeah. You know, I don't know. What What did your family say?
Like I mean it's one thing when you're young, you're 22, 25, you're not 22 25 anymore. Uh I was fortunate that my parents thought it was great. Really thought it was great. I mean my dad was a very successful doctor born in New York City. Uh always loved disco. So he loved that I would play like the BeeGees and stuff and he worked hard his entire life and really never got to sort of celebrate that until actually my brother turned 21.
Then he started he came to college when I was DJing came to these shows and it was so funny because everyone would be like Dr. Sherman can we get a Vegas bomb and he'd be like yeah I I prescribe one of those per hour. Absolutely. Yeah. So, um, they were very supportive. And then when I went to Chicago, you know, I had a job.
I was working hard and I think they just kind of thought I was having fun. And as the years went on and I had more success, they came to a lot of shows. Um, and they love it. And before my dad passed away in 23, he told me, he said, "You got to keep going with this. You make so many people happy." He used to listen to every single episode of the podcast and give me a grade.
He asked for a glossery. And I was like, "I'm not, you're not my target market. Like I'm not making a glossery for you to have terms. When the last time you talk thought about a glossery? Uh well, first off, man, I'm sorry to hear about that with you. Yeah, it's all good, man.
It's it's been really a great thing for me to continue it because he instilled that sort of pride that I had about it because I'm making people happy. And he became a doctor because he wanted to help people and I'm helping people in my own way, too. So, I don't think he even cared whether I was a doctor or I wasn't as long as I was doing something that was helping others. Yeah. And I think a lot of times when you're younger, you know, like how old were you in 23? About to be 33.
So I was 31. 31. Like that's that's that's young to lose a parent. Yeah. And a lot of times when people lose a parent at a young age, it like lights this fire. It does.
It has, you know, to like this stuff is precious. Yeah. It it it's interesting you said that because a few days before he passed, he gave me and my brother this bag. this bag lit literally like an old wasn't a trash bag but like a shopping bag of paper with these photos that were stuck together from a flood. And he said, "I haven't shown you guys these before. It's before I ever met your mother.
I haven't really talked about it. These photos are for you." And I started looking through these photos. I'm like, "They're super old photos of my dad when he was in college. It was pictures of my cousin as a baby who's a few years older than me and like uh like envelopes to their address in Los Angeles. I was born in Los Angeles actually where my parents met at UCLA.
They were both uh doctors. Uh how' they end up in Indiana? You should ask my mom. She would give you a whole podcast worth of that. Yeah, fair. Um she loves Indiana so much though.
Actually, she coaches uh the park tutor uh women's lacrosse team here has won few state championships with Zansville coach of the year. Shout out to Leslie. Um but he gave me these photos and after he passed I separated them with distilled water and I looked at all these and I realized, oh my god, he was the same age that I am right now. And it made me think, wow, okay, let me think back to how much my dad accomplished even passing away at 68 years old. I still have the rest of my life ahead of me. And when you turn 30, everyone says, "Oh, it's all downhill from here."
No, it's not. It's uphill from here. Now, I finally have my passion figured out. I have an amazing life partner and my wife, Maya. I have a beautiful golden retriever dog named Perry. And I have just a beautiful base of friends and and people like you that I'm connecting with.
And so, I have this clarity. And it's funny, I feel like, yeah, like as unfortunate as it is, when a parent passes, you get this clarity in life about what is my purpose? What am I here to do? So now I have a fire right under me, man, that's just like keep going, work hard, help people, do good, and it will come back for you. And I've never been more fulfilled, dude. That's a that's amazing.
That's like a it's an inspiring story. Uh I So I lost my mom in 2017. Okay. And it was like one of those life-changing moments. You were young then, too? Yeah.
It was a sophomore year of college. It was kind of one of those moments where I was like the the typical fraternity guy at Depal, you know, like it was Yeah. It I was like not failing out of school, but I wasn't like being the best that I possibly could be. And then you like see this go down and like see the battles of people fight. And I came back and was like, dude, I want to make something like I want to like be build a life that she would be proud of. And you know, every day we kind of work towards that.
And it's like they end up chasing this passion down and here we are and we we don't look back and we just keep rocking. Cheers to that, man. Cheers to that, brother. That's awesome, man. Very cool. Look at you now.
I'm sure she'd be proud of you. Uh yeah, she would listen. She would also need a glossery, right? Like I bet our parents are watching this right now being like these two idiots. Like come on, dude. Uh I do want to talk about EDM in Indiana.
Yeah. So like I don't think that I mean Chicago that scene people think about it there. People don't really think about EDM in Indiana. I think that there's a lot of truth to that. I think maybe the consensus is it's a lot of country here just it being from Indiana, but I grew up on rap music. I didn't like country music for a long time actually.
And now these days there's a lot of overlap with rap music and even country. Morgan Wallen, right, is not a true country guy. Like it's pop and a lot of times there's crossovers. There's an artist named Diplo who I'm sure you've heard of. Yeah. He has released I think he's going to release his third country album called Thomas Wesley.
And it has a lot of flare of electronic music in it. And I just don't think that people know what they're listening to sometimes. Right. Well, and it's like you have Diplo x Morgan Wall and Heartless. You have that song is so good. Big X the plug.
Big X the plug. And Bailey Zimmerman drop a song. Exactly, dude. Like there is a lot of crossover there. Actually, I I just listened to Morgan Wall on Theo Von's podcast. He said he has a song out to uh out to Big X, but he hasn't gotten back on it yet.
Morgan Wallen and Big X. I was like, "Dude, if I'm Big X Plug and Morgan Wallen sends me a song, I'm getting that thing done that night, dude. Real quick, how good is the Ovon?" Dude, it's so funny that he is good. So good. Like, at first you're kind of like, "Oh, why would I listen to this?"
And now I like I enjoy listening to Cuz it's like it's random, but he's also inquisitive. He's so genuinely curious and authentic and normal. He's normal. Well, he's crazy. He's relatable, but he's relatable in the sense of like uh he kind of asks the questions and people are like, "You know what? I was kind of thinking that, too."
Yeah. He doesn't he doesn't feel like he's smarter than you necessarily, which I feel like a lot of these like the podcast like the 60 minutes like that's the opposite vibe that people want these days. You know, they want relatable content. I think it's why podcasts are so popular now. But to to answer your question more directly, let's look at the Snake Pit for example. So, I went to the Snake Pit in I think it was 2012 or 13 and this is when AfroJack and Diplo played actually.
And I want to give one one more person a shout out. His name is uh King Toeer. Now, we used to go by King Arthur. He's from Zansville. He's one of my mentors. He's 10 years older than me.
He has become an incredibly successful DJ. Uh has been for a while and now he's actually doing something really cool with Christian dance music called Rave Jesus. He's selling out shows across the country right now at Rave Jesus. It's called Rave Jesus. Okay. So, it's like it's he's making really spiritual music that honestly is it's just core house music just with a little bit different of variety on the vocals.
And there's huge acts that are getting in on this dude. Yo, so I want to give him a shout out. But he rave. So it's like it's like like they would remix like and he walks with maybe not that but like it's the idea that Christians don't want to go to the club, right? Or like they feel like that's not where they want to be. But the experience of Dance Music Live is truly spiritual.
So he's giving people a space for that across the country and it is blowing up. I just imagine like pulling up to cuz like you know every like if you go to depending on what church you go to if you go to one of these more modern churches they already have like a full rock band. Dude, you're almost there. Imagine pulling up and it's like let the beat the blood of Christ. Yeah, exactly dude. It's true.
And and guess what? Those those sober Christian fans most of the time are going way harder than any other diehard dance music. That is true. Some of the most like sober religious people that I know go the hardest like just dancing because they're just they don't need anything else man and I I that didn't make sense to me for a long time but I I want to give Toeer his respect. He's such a good guy. Rave Jesus is sick.
Yeah. But so he he played Tomorrowland Main Stage. He's had he's got a song with 30 million plays or is it he's got billion actually. I'm sorry. He's got a few billion ones. What's his name?
Look up King Topher on Spotify. So, he's got a few songs on there that I think he's 167,000 monthly listeners. Yeah. Yeah. 62 million on Insomnia. Insomnia.
That's right. He's done big big remixes. He made the He's made this shift to do Rave Jesus. Still under King Toeer, but it's doing really well. He opened for that show, right? This is a long time ago, 2012.
So, I just want to give people some perspective on the trajectory of a music career and how many times it can feel like it's slowing down, but plateauing is not slowing down. It's staying true to who you are and then eventually making a shift if it comes to you whether it be spiritual or not like it was for for toe. Yeah. So snake pit has been around for a long time, right? This was around the EDM boom a few years after. You know, Afrojack is still a really big artist, but that was huge.
Diplo, stuff like that. So dance music has been right under Indiana's feet this entire time. And we just consider Snake Pit to be the one big party thing. You know, that's dance music. I've seen Hardwell there. I've seen all these other uh amazing acts.
But I feel like dance music Indiana is a lot bigger than people think. I mean, you look at um where the trends are going these days. When I grew up, it was rap music. It was 50 Cent. It was Eminem. It was Whiz Khalifa.
Well, guess what you guys were listening to when you were in college? You're listening to Chami and Mala. My brother is the one who showed me Mala, the masked guy, right? This underground house music. He was like, "Have you heard of this guy Mala?" I was like, "Who's Mala?"
And he showed me that, right? So, I think it keeps getting younger because now the trends are Gen Z and even Gen Alpha as it continues to grow. What's popular on social media is electronic music and it's coming back to Soundcloud as well where you can listen to live sets where people are releasing what couldn't be official released music so they can put it up on Soundcloud for people to stream. And I think in Indianapolis, there's a huge fan base here that loves dance music that maybe just doesn't want to live in Chicago or doesn't want to live in New York or doesn't want to live in LA. But I'm telling you, dance music is everywhere and it's blowing up in the United States. Like big.
It is the talk of the town internationally. What's going on with dance music in the United States? Indiana, crossers of America, the heart of the Midwest. There's the best people here, the best energy. And that's why I'm so excited to come back and play this weekend for my headline show because I know growing up my friends, my friends that still live here, they want it. They just don't know where to go.
I think it's underserved here is all. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Like if you're in Indiana and you want to listen to EDM, where do you go? Exactly.
There's not many places to go. I've performed at the Patron Saint, but you know that's like a downtown club, right? Like people don't even really Indianapolis. When was the last time you performed at the Patron Saint? Three or four years. Yeah.
It's been a while. Exactly. You got the Vogue. You got the Vogue. You have That's where you're Yeah. Well, you're opening at the Vogue and then shipwreck.
Yeah, that's sick. Excited about that. That's pretty dope. I'm like that's like actually weirdly enough, not even weirdly enough, but like it's full circle moment for me because I'm finally playing where I'm from. It's been hard to get gigs here just because there's not as many places to play and that's kind of the part that's underserved. Yeah.
Like what's the average size of like an an EM concert in in Chicago that you're like playing? 500 to a thousand. Yeah, I say they're kind of smaller, more Yeah. And there's even tons more intimate between 100 and 250. I think I followed this guy uh House Calls. House Calls is a great example.
I know them very well. Plays big concerts in small spaces or something like that. Yeah. Yeah. So, they're they're a collective. I just say collective is kind of what we can consider them, but they're really a community builder.
So, they've given opportunities. They do something called area code where they bring in somebody from a different part of the world, another area code, and they bring them to Chicago. They barely announce the lineup. A lot of times you haven't even heard of these acts. And they do it in these secret places. They just did one at this massive Indian restaurant in the West Loop in Chicago that you've been past a million times.
And it looked so sick. And their events, they've done airplane hangers and they took people on helicopter tours around Chicago. It's a one-of-a-kind experience. And I think that's what Indianapolis is looking for. They kind of start in the bigger metros like what's going like I'm sure that that like popup shows have been happening in LA for a long long time. Oh yeah, of course.
New York, LA, all those places. Yeah. San Francisco. And I think when you think about it, when you break it down, Nate, the scene is made up of communities. The community in Indianapolis is just a little bit not disbanded, but they're just not together because there's not a space for it. And I think it's because it's an intimidating place to try and throw events, which is why there's not many people that do because it's looked at as a non-dance music hub.
I'm just saying there are lots of people here who love dance music. Yeah, that is a fact. That is just a fact. It just needs some like an organizer. Yeah. So, who's going to head up the local organizing committee?
I will say this, if Indianapolis or dance music in general was where it is at now and I was graduating IU, I think I would feel a little bit differently about moving to Chicago. Really, I really would. I do think that it's almost like you could have been a leader. Exactly. And that's why it's been tough to make it because there's so much competition out there. But what I've realized, especially recently, is there's nobody doing this that's from Indiana really except me and Toeer.
So, by wearing my heart on my sleeve and repping the Pacers and talking about the Colts and telling my story and doing all these things, I'm the area code 317 guy in these group chats. Everything else is New York and LA. I'm the 317 and I'm proud of that. And I think yes, I would feel differently. And that and listen, man, I'm happy to continue to build a community here. And I'm hoping that people that come to these shows that I'm playing will meet and say, "Hey, like I've been following Sherm or I'm from this place, I'm from that place or I know, you know, just you got to get together.
That's what it's all about." Yeah, I love it, man. Uh, it's been fun to hear your story. I will say you are a Pacers guy. We have to talk about the Pacers. How we feeling?
Listen, man. I got my Tyrese Albertton shoes on right now. Those are sick. That so sick. So comfortable, by the way, for anyone wondering. Um, he's not This is not Tyrese did not pay us to give him free ads here, but he did not.
But good shoe, but yes, good shoe. Great player. Uh, we are up 10 on Cleveland right now. I'm feeling very good about that. I have been to a lot of away Pacers playoff games. I went to game seven at Madison Square Garden last year where they won and broke an NBA shooting record.
It was unbelievable. I only stood up once to clap and my wife made me sit down because I got yelled at by many New York Knicks fans. They're very intense there. But actually, I sat next to a nice family. So, don't be so intimidated. I was The security guards were the meanest, actually.
They were like, "You can't go in this entrance." I was like, "It says this entrance." They go, "No, you can't go in this entrance. Maybe go to another entrance." They sent me back. They were like, I don't know if they were communicating to each other, but like couldn't get an MSG.
this this dumb Indiana guy. Yeah, literally send him around the block. Dude, you know, the funniest part of that was we were leaving that Sunday night and they played on a Sunday. So, we put your suitcases in one of those suitcase stores. I don't know if people had to do this. It's the sketchiest thing ever.
You're like, I'm just leaving all my valuables in a random bodega, but whatever. That this app says it's safe. Yeah, the app says it's safe. Suitcases. com or whatever it is. And so I'm carrying around in a bag a Reggie Miller jersey and a Tyresese Hallebertton jersey cuz I can't go walking around downtown New York with a Indiana Pacers jersey.
They are not liked there for many reasons. And I'm going back all past all these New York Knicks bars. I see a Pacers fan. Put my jersey on. We like see each other from a distance. We're like, "Oh my god."
Like we hugged each other. It was like literally like you're out in the desert like you have water. Yeah. My It's dangerous out here. It was amazing. It was amazing.
They won. Anyway, I've been to so many away play playoff games. I'm really excited. I'm going to I think I went to one when I was young, much younger, but I haven't been to a Pacers playoff game in a long time. And I'm going with my mom on Mother's Day. So, I'm very excited about home.
Home game. Yes. Next Sunday. Yeah. I just think, you know, being a lifelong Pacers fan, an Indiana sports fan, we go through it together, man. I think that's the beauty of small market teams.
Okay. I mean, I agree. Uh and the Pacers are hot right now. Yeah, they are. Which why I'm bragging? Absolutely.
Absolutely. Um, when you're up in Chicago and people ask about where you're from. Yeah. Like what is Chicago's perspective of Indiana? They definitely don't really respect it. No, not really.
I definitely know a lot of true Chicago people. The Malort drinkers, the, you know, Chicago Bears fans. They're gritty. They're stubborn. They're good people, but man, they don't really respect Indiana. And you know what's funny?
People from the region, Northwest Indiana, they don't say they're from Indiana. They say they're like Chicago land. I'm like, you are over the border. Nville. Are you kidding me? Monster.
Listen, Monster is Indiana people. Yeah, like you could try to claim Chicago region, but you're from Indiana. I will say they respect that I'm proud of where I'm from, just like them. People from Wisconsin respect Indiana. I will say that. Yeah.
Oh, for sure. They do not like the Pacers, but they do respect people from Indiana. We have a lot of commonalities, I would say, for sure. Yeah. Same thing with Minnesota, too. Wisconsin definitely doesn't like the Pacers.
Definitely doesn't like Indiana. They definitely don't like to but they respect it because they're like we're similar like same but different at I was at the game three Milwaukee Bucks game just recently right and this you know when like little kids do interviews or whatever and they're walking around with a camera it's like a Milwaukee Bucks team I'm standing there I'm waiting in line for a spotted cow which is a great beer from Wisconsin for those that don't know. It's amazing respect right I'm standing there in my Tyrese jersey I'm not bothering anybody comes up he pokes me goes hey how many times is Giannis going to duck on a pacer today and I look at him I go probably at least 10. And I mean, he's one of the greatest players in the NBA. And I kind of flipped the switch on this kid, right? Like, and I was like, "Yeah, dude.
Like, congratulations to you guys for winning a championship in 2021. Like, it's so cool. Small market teams got to stick together." And even the media lady was like, "Yeah, that's right. That's right." After they were all booing me.
And I say this to all small market teams. The most Indiana thing. I know, right? You try You try to you try to talk smack to me. Don't worry, I'll talk about myself. Yeah.
No, I I agree. Listen, the patients have a lot of faults. It's like when it's like when I that's a really really nice coat. And you're like, "Yeah, thanks. It was $2." Yeah, exactly.
Pick it up out of a trash can outside. Like you like you can't have nice things, dude. I can't have nice things. I can't say no. I held the door open for way too long. Like you could be half a mile away and I see you coming.
I'm holding that door. Do people in Chicago think that you're weird for that? And they're like, "Sure." Off. Come on. Stop it.
I'm overly nice, but I can't help it. I mean, that's just the that's the way. It's the way. That's the way, baby. I definitely feel what you're saying. U every time like like I think I've lost a lot of my college friends that are from Chicago, they as soon as you start posting on the internet, they're like, "Nah, I'm out, dude.
No chance." Yeah. I I don't know why they're they're hateful in that way. I love a lot of people. Yeah. There's just something about Chicago that doesn't do it for me.
I get it, brother. I think it's I think it's the book ends. I think it's the book ends for sure. I think that it's the book ends when I drive into town, the traffic's bad and I'm angry. And when I drive out of town, the traffic's bad and I'm angry. So in the middle, I park in Wrigleyville.
I go to Old Crow. I'm having a good time. Like that part. If I could just like teleport. But the book ends the book ends of a Chicago trip are always brutal. Yeah.
So that's my that's my take on it. I know what you mean. And I And I know a lot of people that come to visit Chicago and and always remind me of why they love living in Indiana. And I I literally do what I did to that kid. I go, "Listen, if I lived in Indianapolis, I'd be a season ticket holder for the Pacers. half season for the Colts.
I probably own a home. I would have a backyard and I'd mow my lawn. Amen. And I look forward to that one day. But doesn't happen in Chicago. So, it's diff It's different though.
Pros and cons, trade-offs. It's not too far. I come here all the time. I'm here at least six times a year. Um, at least six times a year for tax purposes. And I rep Indiana outside of Indiana for Indiana.
Okay. I always I see. I rep Indiana inside Indiana for Indiana. That must be nice. You're repping it outside. That must be nice.
You walk into Miami and you got a Tyres and they're like, "Who is this guy?" No. You know what's funny? You go that far away and people have no idea what Indie is. That would be funny. I should go to like some I should go to New York and like have a blank map and say point out Indiana.
Yeah. No, they don't know. I could educate some They don't California people. They're like, I was watching game three of the playoffs last year against the Bucks like on the beach in a Tyresese jersey and nobody I was like cheering in the corner like it was the crazy game where Tyrese had that game game winner and I'm cheering. They went into overtime and people like what are you watching? I'm like basketball.
They're like basketball. I'm like what? I'm like what do you guys do here? Yeah. Like they're like oh like where's the water? Where's from your state man?
Like basketball is in my jeans. It's in my blood. I saw the watch shot at first Kentucky, man. Come on. You were that that was like Was that uh your freshman year? Yeah.
I had student section tickets. Just so happened to have them. Probably the best sports experience of my life. It was unbelievable. I I got trampled and then didn't end up going down, so I took videos of everything. But it was amazing.
Respect. Uh Sherman, dude, it's been awesome having you on the show. Nate, thanks so much for having me, man. We have the same three questions that we ask everyone that comes on the show. Yeah. Uh and you're gonna love this because it's all about Indiana.
All right. Um you already kind of sh I was gonna ask what the song like if you need to get a crowd going. Actually, we're going to take it out of the DJ realm. Okay. If you're on the ox cord on a party bus, you find yourself holding a phone attached to the music. Wow.
If I find myself holding the phone trying to get people amped up, do you have a top three? gave like a mount like a little like the top three songs we got to play that's going to turn any any function up a notch. Yeah. I mean I think you can't go along with uh headlines by Drake. I think people start to hear that and they go I haven't heard this one in a while. Then they realize like oh I know every single word strung out on confidence on compliments started not to give up and stop fearing the consequence drink every because we drink too much.
I'm just getting this guy hyped up in a podcast studio. We're underground right now bro. Let's go. Let's go. That's one. That's one for sure.
That one works. That one works. That's one. We got two more. We got two more spots. Oh, I mean, dude, you cannot go wrong with Taylor Swift New Romantics.
I think that one really gets people going. Hold on. That might be a Chicago poll, dude. N Romantics. Yeah. If I can put on a remix of it, even too.
Are you like, you're telling me in any three locations, this is going to be one of them? Yeah. If I can put on the Joel Fck remix, actually, I think it's called. Yeah. It's good. Cuz baby, I could build a castle.
It's so good. I mean, Cruel Summer works, too, but I'm a little more boutique than that. Yeah, get the people clapping. Come on. Yeah. Thanks, Taylor.
[Laughter] It's good, dude. Builds up. All right, he gets it. You can see that working. Cruel Summer was I like Cruel Summer. Cru Summer absolutely works.
That one That one slaps. I try and what like I said earlier, give the people what they didn't know they wanted. They're like no one ever knows like a like they don't they don't know that they want Cruel Summer, but then they hit like for sure. It how did he know? It absolutely is it kind of like a guilty pleasure music. It it really is like I like as like a guy like as a 28-year-old young man I don't want people I mean like sometimes you're I don't want them to know that I love Taylor Swift but I kind of love Taylor Swift.
All right. All right. And the final song, uh, I mean, you go with Jimmy Buff at Margaritavville. If you're on the Oxford in any scenario that plays like you get a party bus with your friends to any concert, wasted away cuz everyone's looking to sing salt, salt, salt. Yep. That's a good one.
RP to a legend, man. Dude, I had his manager on. Did you? Yeah. Tom Batista. Is he from Indiana?
Yes, sir. He is the co-owner of Blue Beard. What? Yeah. his son. Oh, well, his son is Tom and Eddie worked together.
Yeah. Tom was Jimmy Buffett's manager for 25 years. Stage manager, stage manager. That's very important role. Yeah. Not like the business manager, but the stage manager of like No, Tom, no Jimmy.
Make sure it works, dude. Shout out to the tour and stage managers, man. Right. That's so cool. And we could do like a whole another episode about We got We have a few episodes we could do based on this one. Well, then when you come back in town in June, we'll make it happen.
Uh, final three questions. Sorry, we had to get the we had to get the top three when you I hope people appreciate those answers. By the way, I would say like you can't go wrong in Indiana with Thunder Struck, you know, like people are gonna like Dude, that reminds me of staying around a bonfire late nights and playing Thunder Struck and it just turns into a crazy energy at a bonfire. That one that one that one plays pretty well. Yeah, that'll do. Um yeah, that'll do.
That'll do. I mean, I still But for all ages, I'm thinking cuz like if you went to college sometime in the late 2010s, like anything like old school Chain Smokers gets you going for sure. I mean, closer would hit. Oh. Oh, it never doesn't hit. Roses.
I think Roses, that was like the OG one. Like, that was my freshman year of college and I thought that was the coolest stuff ever. That's a lot of people's That's a lot of millennials wedding song. Dude, we This has literally just become like the Nate Sings AC Capella show. Uh, yeah. Let's rebrand.
Yeah, absolutely. Come on. Get in. Get Get in and get on the mic, [ __ ] Get on the mic. Here we go. All right, final three questions.
Question one. What's something the world needs to know about Indiana? How many different types and versions of Indiana you can get? Indianapolis is the melting pot of Indiana. Indiana obviously, but you go all the way up to northwest or northeast Indiana like Angola, right? Great lake country up there.
Good people. That's lake country, man. Southern Indiana, Bloomington, good people, good food. You go West Lafayette, Purdue, that sort of culture is so much different. You go all the way down to Madison, Indiana, get the riata experience. Evansville is ridiculous.
What got you tied into the riata? That's a good question. My best friend Dominic is from Zansville as well, and his dad is from Madison, Indiana. So, he was going to the riata his entire life. So, I've been to the regata like six times. It is so much fun.
lit. You just sit on a river bank and drink for like 3 days and watch these high-speed boats go around and it's a great time. I feel like the regata I actually haven't been, but I've just seen a bunch about it and I want to go. It's so much fun, dude. I love it. This is where you get to shed some light on something that people need to know about.
So, what's a hidden gem in Indiana? The friendly in Zansville has the best wings in Indiana with the buffalo sauce. Okay. And if it's a little too much for you, you can get the buffalo wrap. All right. Just to down it a little bit.
Ranch, no blue cheese. Just my opinion. Yeah. I think that's a hidden gem. Very old place, too. I don't think they've updated it since they opened.
Type place. Friendly. It's on the bricks, right? It's on the bricks. On the bricks. Let's go, baby.
I think that's a great one. And then maybe you hit up there and then you uh you head up to Rush on Maine for a little beer afterwards. I was just there doing karaoke not so long ago. Oh, Friday night karaoke. Rush on Maine. Never a bad time.
I sang California Girls, which is what I sang as part of a three-part medley in Mr. Zansville where I actually performed and sang and danced. Oh, did you win? I got Mr. Spirit. Sorry.
Not officially. Not the judges didn't vote for me, but the people did. Yeah. That's There's so many times in my life where like I've won the Mr. Spirit thing, dude. I know.
We give that energy, don't we? You're not actually the best, but like, man, you brought some energy. The show can't go on without us. Yeah. Like, you got to have it. But they're like, "Well, cheers to Mr.
Spirits." Uh, sure. You know, GPA was a part of this, too. Like, oh, yeah. That's not my that's not my core competency. Yeah.
Like, but come on. My energy. Like, I remember we we did like a talent show my senior year. Yeah. And I did the um the Foot Loose dancing scene. Did you?
Yeah. Like the warehouse dancing scene, you know, like Oh, dude. I ended my by jumping like off the stage into where the judges were. It was pretty lit. Uh, they said, "Wow, that was something." I love that.
Uh, final question. You get to share the love with another Hoosier. This is uh a time where we can learn about new people doing really cool stuff. Who's a Hoosier that we need to keep on our radar? Uh, someone who's doing big things. Dude, I want to give a shout out to Ben King actually who's one of the talent buyers at 45.
He's awesome. He's from Indiana. He's lived in Denver for quite some time and I've connected with him. Um, he's the one who helped me book this headline show. He's bringing in really cool acts to Indiana. Um, and he's very, very proud Hoosier and uh, it's been great.
I haven't even met him yet. And that's how you know he's a good Hoosier because I'm like this guy just like owns it and he's doing just great things for the dance music scene here and I think that's so cool. Heck yeah. I love it. Sherm, thanks for coming on. We're we're going to see you June 6th with the headline show.
Yeah. Get your tickets now. It is going to be a one-of a kind experience. I really mean that. I'm putting together something special. It's not just going to be another DJ set.
It's going to be a real show. And um I've got a few surprises in store. Oh, maybe maybe we we learn about some of these surprises and help Yeah. make some some interesting stuff happen there. Yeah, it'll be fun. I love it, dude.
Well, hey, thanks for coming on and we'll talk to you soon. All right. Thanks, Nate. Thank you for listening to this episode of Get In. If you like what you heard, make sure you leave us a review wherever you listen to podcast. This show is made possible by our friends up at Sweetwater.
Whether you're looking to start a podcast or take your content to the next level, click the link in the description to see all my gear recommendations atwater. com. If you want a behind-the-scenes look at everything we're doing across the state, make sure you follow me on Instagram and Tik Tok, Nate Spangle. Thank you so much for listening and being part of what makes the Who's Your Stake great.
