Rogers Park live on The Z Report with Yossi Zweig

as a I did tell you guys you know the rogers park band guys they've been very busy not just the music but in getting married Morty Kurt's got married not not probably not two or three months ago Yosef Payson got married this past Sunday night I was not available but ladies and gentlemen please welcome for the first time to the program Morty Kurtz and yells at Payson hey good afternoon more Yosef is it afternoon for you yeah I guess I'm in New York I doubt that makes it after did more do you there too I mariachi up here we go so I mean this is like a big thing for you guys not just you know the culmination of I would say two to three years of working on an album but I mean you're joining like a new Brotherhood you know a marriage but I said yes thank you now Morty would you say that being part of a duo help prepare you for marriage in any way a hundred thirty percent actually uh it's learning how to how to cope with another person pretty much all the time because as musicians were working a lot together and friends you know having somebody always there so it's been oh and you know different opinions and figuring out how to compose songs together and work together I think it's definitely out you're safe would you say that the last year and a half traveling around us and canada we know you spent some time in ottawa and you've been spending many many hours with Morty I mean I've you guys got sick of each other or is the bond is getting stronger it gets better and better I'll tell you it's traveling is a whole nother experience especially when it's traveling for music there's it's it's a it's a wonderful feeling knowing that I'm going somewhere in the days there and in that evening i'll be meeting an audience reading a bunch of new people performing singing together and what i'm doing that together again and again with a good friend like morning so it builds the bond because it's a wonderful experience that that we're lucky enough to have so it's it's big it's been great and they get better more do you feel the same way or not uh well he'll become a cure it if I didn't yeah but lovely particular same way and you know it's like it wasn't that we were both musicians that we became friends but it was more that we were friends so we decided to be musicians together as well you know I actually want to go back any cuz that work I actually want to go back to that Morty I don't know how the two of you met how did it two of you meet we met at a wedding we met actually we both grew up in Chicago so we were we were actually school buddies in elementary and then we spent a few years in the Shiva together in in monsey we went out of town for mr. high school yeshiva and I was in London New York and then we spent some time together in Baltimore uh and it was just over the time we actually spent one summer together we were both home for summer in Chicago is dana's mana and we were actually both working together and we were we were working at full instructors for a local camp for the JCC and that is when we spend a lot of time together than and actually that summer it was everything was right at it was right before that summer where yo she fought his first guitar um and we were we spent a lot of time playing music over that summer and from there things will we built up so what was it that people were telling you that you have to record stuff or was it just you guys wanted to do it for yourself so to speak y'all safe I'm all we you know yeah that's right yo save you there but yeah yesterday that's a good question you know this we've we've been to that Morty was talking about that summer that's what eight years ago we started playing together so that when I winner with our first concert it was a small like a comes as a no my fish out of thing and for me the greatest what I enjoy most about above our musicianship and is is that is performing and connecting with an audience for me that's what I get them that's right that's most peeling parted it for me so from there we went on that we started playing some consciousness started traveling and when we would play conduct a lot of what we do is we go to smaller communities that don't have such a strong Jewish community in like number wise so for example we go to place like North Carolina or like lakeland in northern Florida or New Mexico Texas you know small places where there isn't so strong Jewish president so you have in big cities like Chicago Detroit New York so we play songs we meet people and they were people was so interested to see considering Jews that were seeing it they would bring everyone that would all come together and sing Jewish songs and just celebrate our our identity who we are and their say okay so you're here and we had a constant but we want we want to hear more so it's kind of those through the Performing that that that's what led to the recording if you wanted to hear more they wanted to have it when where we were there so there's there's Votto's we enjoy performing so we write the song so we have what and we write we perform them and then that in turn makes you makes makes us wanna record them interesting Morty would you think eight years ago that you would rely on this now I'm assuming you're going to rely on this for prononcer right now the beginning of your marriage right I'm here and there sure yeah so did you think eight years ago that that's how far this would come is going around from small single sitting not one bit not one bit at all actually something we did as a hobby something we enjoyed and then it kind of just escalated and it kept growing and I remember there was I think of last year sixth time when we released our first our first music video I'm not true we recorded our second song and that was we were like okay this this can really be a turning point for us and once we release that we got tons of exposure and it really kicked off and things just kept growing and even even over the summer just with the success of the album so far I mean we are the way we like to work it right Park is that we do everything as if it's our only or our last time to do it we put everything we have into into one thing no matter when we what it is every show we put a hundred percent every song we put a hundred percent every music video and we made you know three or four music videos as if I was going to be our last music video right and and even the album we made this album you know thinking that hey you know this can go either way but we're going to put everything we have into this and with that attitude as well as you know with the help from Michelle obviously there's we've really we've seen a major turning point over the last six months just where it's really been taking off well I can tell you the fact that you know you have organizations such as soul to soul hostas avi that are interested in bringing it for a concert alongside eight-day navin rosenblum you know that that's got to be you know a great pat on the back saying hey we must be doing something right yeah yeah yeah fellas you know this opportunity that we have are just coming in a bit a bit over a month on march six will be playing in brooklyn school of music with with a thing like you mentioned often rosenblum so this is going to be for us ate a big opportunity where it's worse we're saying that a this is really going places we're really moving you know with the album has been put out we would people often buying and people have been you know giving us feedback and then this is kind of a confirmation saying your face Morty you guys I like what you're doing something is going right so I see it as yeah keep it up that's so that's what I'm hearing now let me ask you more to you because I know you're more on the writing side Morty how does one go about writing a rogers park song virus product phone okay I look at ellicott writing as there's a few different ways to look at it um you know for that there's one side where there's one way of going about it where I'll see something that I'm really inspired by I'll jot it down piece of paper and then I'll actually pick it you know whether it's something I learned are interested or something I just learned on the car shop usually it's usually a section partial related and I i am i blend it with something other than facilities I'll write it down I'll just start jotting it down I'll think about it and I'll put it aside for a few months and then it'll happen when I'm just taking up my guitar and I'll start I'll start playing inside ok i wanna i want to write a new song and i start working with the melody and then i'll pick up that piece of paper again I'll see that inspiration and put it together with the song and then you know then that's the the birth of the song and then I start forming you know the layout and continue the lyrics and everything that is one way I go about it is just you know there is an inspiration there's to wait so the first way is there would be an inspiration where it starts and i'll get about fifty percent there and that's where yo suit comes in to kick me in the toughest to finish the rest you know and then on the other way is this is when you know sometimes where song really comes from a deep place of expression i think it's even the subconscious and when you can really see that as Shems barajas really with an artist it's when I will have no intention whatsoever of writing a song and then I'll just pick up the guitar and then something just hits me and it's I totally think it has nothing to do with the artist it's just a Shen completely makes the person a ceili for whatever needs to be expressed and it just comes out so you know forgive you mean kid was right kim kid was a complete it just came to me in one day you're about the motivator than I've ever get bored yeah i was i was in between shirlington classes i was teaching in wilkes-barre shiva and I mean that song is actually related to the idea of you know going through struggles and going through life and I learned something that morning but it was just I had no intention of anything I picked up a guitar and the song just came to me lyrics full everything I would i was there was that something like that and then let's say for example the the Holy One or Margot those are two songs and or fisherman those are even three songs that have really taken time to develop and you know I started with a few chords here and if you lyrics here and I decided what I want the song to be about and really progress over time no nothing that's a very good way it's not your average way of working you know some composers will say the melody comes first or or like you said inspiration comes first but just to get hit on the head with everything is definitely very deep at we saw on your facebook page 0 or was it two or three weeks ago that the new music video coming what's what's that all about yo save well the new music videos for the is for the first for the title track of our of our album that's out in stores now the magan so there it's a story I mean there's an old there's old Hasidic story of two person that wanted to travel to the river and but there was one of them that the name of the bar that no one would want to take him because every time that they would go try to be on the way he was stopped at da Vinci chakras for a long long time and they would never get together before before shabbos so no one would take him until uh until 11 wagon driver who felt bad for him and said look I'll fake you order we're going to go we're going to leave we're going to leave a couple days before shabbos if you tell if you promise you won't dolphin for too long in the morning so we'll get there before shabbos oh I'll take you a riverboat Greece and they go on their way and I'm sure enough comes the first morning they wake up in the inn and Bertha starving and domine and going a long time and the wagon drivers of SATA says I thought he said you wouldn't Davin he says let me tell you like this he says my kids ever you're a businessman right he says how do you on your business you go and you you buy your wares and you sell them in a fear in a town called Leipzig so let me ask you if you're on you're on the way to the fear on the way to Leipzig and so on says I'll buy come i'll buy everything you have now you don't even have to go to the market would you sell them the merchandise he says of course right it's about making making the money right serve us tells them like this if we're traveling to the rabbit are two gained inspiration to help our connection with our son then on the way if I'm vomiting and I'm have the connection with a Shem I'm not drop it now and send you to go to the market and it said that's that's the story behind the song saying sometimes we're we're traveling will be looking for you know where we going to find inspiration where are we going to find meaning and sometimes it's right there along the way so that's that's what the song to the market is about and at the music video will will show that's it will kind of be a visual representation of of that story so when do we get to see this video Morty uh well we're on we're looking to you know we finished the filming stage we're in post-production now we're looking to have it out in the next three weeks we're good looking forward well we'll definitely keep you guys posted okay follow us on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter and we'll be keeping you updated one hundred percent on the phone with me Morty Kurtz and you'll save Payson of Rogers Park we talk about the release of the debut album available in stores now from a Derek music available almost music.com itunes CD Baby basically anywhere and everywhere you can get music one of the one of the questions I've been getting over the weeks Morty was why are they called rogers park and when my answer is probably probably because there's a jewish area or there's an area where Jews live in Chicago called Rogers Park the answer back the question back is also they live the new in Peterson park would they have been called West it was beaters a bug y'all see it look at you right on Rogers Park in Hebrew you look at the gay mafia it's the same as a chef now now there we go thanks yoseef now now I don't make sense i guess i can tell you spectators and park is another thing i just i can set i can tell you still in shamrock mode you like getting ready to speak every night we drive two hours anyways don't reveal all the secrets yeah yeah i do want to tell you guys what our the rogers park website is now up Morty correct what a piranha Rogers Park been calm you can see about the shabbos package about them to contact them and of course lyrics music and videos rogers park bank amo were you saying before morning oh so i want to add it to for all of our listeners out there to clarify our name rogers park we've been getting that question probably from the the day that we started the band but it's actually it is the neighborhood that we grew up in but we always had a feeling you know that we would all go away to different sounds for you she was promised to school but we'd always beat back up as you know as you Shiva students and we would always meet back up in rogers park and we get together and always have it comes it'll have a marker and playing music together it was a neighborhood that i personally connected with very much growing up and my whole idea was there was a certain idea to it where I wanted to make this you know it doesn't sound off of that as a very Jewish name of all but I wanted to show how you can take this was something like almost a mission statement of our van and I wanted to put that in the name how you can take something that may not look that Jewish you may not sound that Jewish but really transform it with how you use it you know so just the name of our band itself kind of shows and what we we stand for in that sense how we can take a name that doesn't really sound very Jewish but it happens to you know there's you can turn it either way there happens to me it was a Jewish neighborhood it still is and in a sense using that you know something that's very normal in mundane but using it for the spiritual using it for a kedusha oh my god so that was like though I I remember that one we were well we decided I had that thought and I said you know I want to stick to this name in a sense to remind myself of that message to keep something that may sound and you know look regular but really have a true inspiration within a true meaning behind it well you guys are deeper than I thought oh can I say Morty yo safe I want to wish both of you Mazel Tov much hatzlacha before we let you go I you guys can decide between yourself who's going to answer this I want to play you out with the fisherman is there anything specifically you can tell me about creating or recording the fisherman anecdote or something that we can let you go it ok i will do it yeah sure um no so if you know i'm gonna say the first few lines yeltsin will finish it finish it up for me but the fisherman is actually one of those songs where it did take time to write out and I decided one point to go through the the men of the previous Rebbe the previous already and he relays different stories of different characters of the old settles in in Russia and one of them was over on the fisherman very unique very unique story there's not too much there's only about a page written about him but so inspired from the from the way he went about things for yachts and you can finish that up there's a in the book to previous ravi's memoirs he's tracing the origins of citizen and essentially it's what he is is illustrating characters that the the principle that pitiful founded on of simplicity of sincerity of honesty in this one page that his name was a rental the lip because he was a fisherman from the task a town in Ukraine right and he wasn't particularly bright or anything but he was sincere and he was honest and what's said about him that I'm friday if there are people in the town that couldn't afford my fish for shabbos he would give them fish for free and refuse any payment one time someone paid him and gave a small bit too much change and a rebel the fisherman he went traveling from town to town to find this person to give him back meaning that he exemplified these traits to a fault you could say meaning so sincere so honest and you look at the words that the part of the chorus I'm just a simple man bringing heaven in that's that's the that's the whole that's what that's what it's about at each and every one of us that we may not think that we could be so powerful making such an impact simply by sincerely serving a Shem we have such power to impact the world that's that's that's where the song comes from well that's a great song and gray message yo safe Morty again you'll save mouth stuff to you Morty I guess post Mazel Tov to you why don't you guys get lucky' raba and i hope to see many great things from you if i don't see you before march six i guess i'll see you march six see they are okay there you go ladies and gentlemen rogers park off their debut album here is the song entitled the fisherman the album's called the manga their rogers park in you tune in to the z report live lunch on the knock-on single network my mules seven days a week feed more fares for the burden of a key Oh keep on working no I let's see if you wait right here I next to me the waves they cross like top work under me a bit of pattern music of the z-man never empty no my head if you wait right here next to me our salt the rim us we ll support not door ajar the bride official get off even gonna try orgy with these people man I'll bring it bring it I bet you will buy now pay back all is he got all this time if I need to until y'all found I'll be back I'll pay back all that you are late I'll bring it bring it me you're on Oh 70 bring in hell