Paul Szmal: As FLX Morning continues it is 65. I'd like to welcome my guest at this time Mike Speranza who is here from the band Shades of Grey. Mike, good morning, how are you this morning?
Mike Speranza: Good morning, I'm great. I am doing well.
Paul Szmal: Good to have you on board here. You and your band Shades of Grey playing tomorrow night by the way at Seneca Lake Resorts as part of the Live at the Vista series, one of the last Live at the Vista series, just two more after this in the month of October. So if you haven't been out to check it out, the weather should be fantastic for tomorrow's event. Tell me a little bit about your musical background Mike, how you got started playing.
Mike Speranza: Yeah, I've been playing on and off. I've taken music lessons for a very long time and I'm still waiting for them to hit because I don't know. But we've been kind of, I started playing out again, you know, once I realized I should be playing out again probably, you know, 10-12 years ago playing some solo stuff. Then got together with some buddies down the street and we started playing some music and then one night I booked a gig at the Cottage Hotel in Mendon. I said, hey guys we got a gig, we got to learn about 30 more songs. Wow. So it just happened. Yeah, so it kind of just came together and it's been going strong since.
Yeah, yeah, on and off and, you know, we've been together for around 10 years. So I say we're trying to become, we've been spending 10 years trying to become an overnight success and, you know, we've changed a few band members over the years just for people kind of doing their own thing and we're having a great time playing together.
Paul Szmal: Well what's the current band lineup right now?
Mike Speranza: Well I'm there of course. So I do, I play rhythm guitar and lead vocals. I've also got Karen Flack who's absolutely incredibly talented who kind of helps me out on some vocals as well. She does so much backup vocals and a few lead vocals of her own. She plays fiddle which is a great addition to the band. She's wonderful. We've got the incredibly talented Charlie Trahan who does backup vocals and is one of the truly fantastic lead guitar players in the area. Dave Williams plays drums and Dan Eberth is our bass player.
Paul Szmal: Okay and what, for people that might not be familiar with Shades of Grey, number one, where'd the name come from?
Mike Speranza: Um, well, you know, as my son says, I get it, you're all old. But it's a silly story that, you know, I was getting ready to go to a party one night and looking for a shirt to wear and realized that, you know, all my shirts are grey of all various colors and because we're rock stars, Dave our drummer and I were at the party, we're just kind of talking, you know, as rock stars do about our clothes and, um, you know, I was telling him about my dilemma with my shirts. I'm like, jeez, I got all these grey shirts and just then a couple of girls walked up to us and said, hey, I heard you guys are in a band and what's the name of the band? And Dave just, we didn't have a name at that time, and Dave just off the, without skipping a beat, just said Shades of Grey. So, and it stuck. It stuck. It stuck. It just worked out. I don't, I don't know.
Paul Szmal: Well, what do you, now for people that are, uh, maybe planning on making the trip tomorrow to Seneca Lake Resorts, what can they expect to hear from Shades of Grey?
Mike Speranza: We, oh my gosh, you can expect to hear pretty much anything. We, when, when bands say that they play everything, we really do play everything. We're everything from classic rock to newer rock, some country stuff, a few originals, some Americana, a bunch of surprises, and we have a great time. So we're playing, um, you know, I, I love Chris Stapleton. We play a few Chris Stapleton songs. I love REO Speedwagon, uh, Bare Naked Ladies. Uh, we do some Pretenders and Miranda Lambert, again, because we've got Karen who can sing the, the, the girl vocal parts. Um, what else? We're, we're everything from Partridge Family to the Beatles to the Monkees to Post Malone.
Paul Szmal: Oh, wow. That's a pretty eclectic mix.
Mike Speranza: Yeah, yeah. We're, uh, I say, I always say we're, uh, we're the short attention span band. If you don't like this song, stick around because you might not like the next song, but you'll probably like the one after that. I don't know. We play everything.
Paul Szmal: Okay, okay. Uh, do you guys have a website or a Facebook page or anything like that?
Mike Speranza: Facebook, we are, we're, we're mostly on Facebook. I need to get a better, um, publicist because, um, you know, I can't seem to manage a website, but Facebook, um, is, um, uh, Shades of Gray, Rochester. Um, and you know, we, we, we post all of our events there and such and just silly things and whatever else, whatever else happens.
Paul Szmal: All right. So you can check out Shades of Gray. That is, uh, tomorrow night at Live at the Vista at Seneca Lake Resorts. It's one of the last ones of the season. The weather is supposed to be picture perfect for, uh, tomorrow and for the weekend. So if you've never been out to play at this or ever never been out to hear somebody play at this venue, by all means, go check it out. It is a great venue to play.
Mike Speranza: It is. We love playing there. This is probably my, I think maybe our fourth year playing there or so. And, uh, it's, it's absolutely a beautiful view of the lake. There's a big tent. So you're out of the weather if there is any, um, it's just a great, great facility. We love it there.
Paul Szmal: Mike, thanks for joining us this morning. I appreciate it greatly. And, uh, check out again, Shades of Gray playing tomorrow night, Seneca Lake Resorts Live at the Vista. You can find out more about what Seneca Lake Resorts has to offer, including the Live at the Vista program by going to SenecaLakeResorts.com. That is SenecaLakeResorts.com. It is 7 59 on FLX morning.
