The Beatles Marathon

Tim Fulton 0:12Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week, on the occasion of the upcoming 11th Beatles Marathon, now called Sgt. Peppercorn's Marathon, I spoke with my friend Joe Peppercorn. We discussed how the marathon started, what the marathon will be like this year, how Joe prepares for the show, why he does this, and the general need for musicians to have validation, and why if someone asks to play cowbell, you should always let them play cowbell. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Also, the Confluence Cast is on Patreon. Find out how to support this podcast on our website, theconfluencecast.com, or at patreon.com/confluence. The Confluence Cast is sponsored by Art Makes Columbus, Columbus Makes Art, featuring stories about our city's incredible artists, stories full of inspiration, challenge, passion, and success. For videos, articles, an up-to-the-minute calendar of events, and an artist directory, visit columbusmakesart.com, the resource for all things arts and culture in the capital city. Enjoy the interview. Sitting down here virtually with Joe Peppercorn, the leader, originator of formerly known as the Beatles Marathon, currently referred to as Sgt. Peppercorn's Marathon. Joe, how are you?

Joe Peppercorn 1:58I'm well. How are you?

Tim Fulton 1:59I'm doing well. 11 years ago-

Joe Peppercorn 2:0310 years ago. This is the 11th one-

Tim Fulton 2:0410 years ago?

Joe Peppercorn 2:05But it's 10 years ago. This is the 10th anniversary, actually.

Tim Fulton 2:08Go- today is?

Joe Peppercorn 2:09Oh my gosh, it actually is.

Tim Fulton 2:11Hey.

Joe Peppercorn 2:12Hey, look at that. I, I didn't even think about it. Yeah, December 27th of 2010.

Tim Fulton 2:1710 years ago, we were both door guys in some capacity at this little hole-in-the-wall bar right outside of Grandview called Any Man's Treehouse. What did you do on this day 10 years ago?

Joe Peppercorn 2:31Well, I got up, took care of my son. Then I frantically worked on Beatles songs for four hours, went to Music Go Round, and went to Micro Center, and then went to the Treehouse, and played every Beatles song in a single... At that time, I think I got through the whole thing in eight and a half hours because I was just breakneck speed on all the early stuff.

Tim Fulton 2:53Okay.

Joe Peppercorn 2:53'Cause the whole, the whole point was just to play every song. It wasn't necessarily-

Tim Fulton 2:56Were you by yourself, totally?

Joe Peppercorn 2:59I set up instruments and told people, I'm like, "Hey, if you know any of the songs, I'm doing them in chronological order." Um, some pe- so some people showed up and, th- you know, played with mixed results.

Tim Fulton 3:09Right.

Joe Peppercorn 3:09Um, but Chris, who plays bass through the whole show, he played, like, half of it, and he was great. You know, he had, he had his notes in front of him. We'd never rehearsed or anything, but he was able to kind of make it up as he went along, and he definitely brought the whole thing together. And then, you know, there were several drummers in the house, and you know, people knew some of the songs, so they were singing along. It, it was fun.

Tim Fulton 3:31Why did you do it?

Joe Peppercorn 3:32Um, because I felt very inspired. An emotional, uh, a friend of ours had passed away who ran that bar, named Andy m- Andy Davis. He had passed-

Tim Fulton 3:43Yeah

Joe Peppercorn 3:43... away that summer. The, uh, the year before, he and I had sang Abbey Road, um, or attempted to get through Abbey Road. I didn't know how to play all of Abbey Road. I knew bits and pieces, and he's like, "Oh, we're gonna sing the whole thing." So we kinda made it up as we went along, and that definitely inspired me. I, I was thinking, "Oh, what if I did that for every song and maybe got a little bit more prepared?"

Tim Fulton 4:05Mm-hmm.

Joe Peppercorn 4:05And I was a little bit more prepared, but I wasn't very prepared. Um, you know, I, I had... The iPad had just come out, so I could put my notes there and scroll through and... You know, now we do the thing from memory, but at the time it was, you know, that wouldn't... I, I threw the thing together in, like, two weeks, so th- there's no way I could memorize all the... But I knew some of the songs and, and my son was just born, so I was inspired by becoming a parent. And you know, I'd just turned 30, and so it was transitioning to a new period of my life where before, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm recording m- music, making, writing music all the time. You know, playing other people's music as well. But you know, I, I, I was definitely in a place where I was transitioning out of my 20s, and you know, the 20s tend to be a more selfish time. And so I was-

Tim Fulton 4:55Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 4:55... thinking what are things that I could do to make other people happy and not just myself.

Tim Fulton 5:01From there, how long was it at the Treehouse?

Joe Peppercorn 5:04Just one year.

Tim Fulton 5:05Okay. And then where did you go? I forget actually.

Joe Peppercorn 5:07Kobo. It was, uh, Oldfields, Kobo, Jacob, Wootton. Uh, we did that for two years. Um, the second year, we, we actually booked a m- the Bluestone, massive venue in 2012. Uh, because we knew that Kobo wasn't big enough, but we pull... I th- I knew we weren't ready for it. So I, we knew there'd be a line around the door, and there was, but it kinda worked out because it built up, you know, mystique and demand for the show. And, and at a time where we weren't really ready, 'cause you know, we, we were s- I was still learning how to try to run a band through 215 songs.

Tim Fulton 5:44Right.

Joe Peppercorn 5:45Not have everyone hate me, and figure out wh- how good do, do the songs have to be. You know, now-

Tim Fulton 5:51Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 5:51... now we can be like, "Oh, they have to be... Th- w- this has to be the best version of this song that anyone's heard, heard anyone play."

Tim Fulton 5:58Right.

Joe Peppercorn 5:58Um, but at the time it's like, "Ah, what's good enough?" And then, and you know, I, I'm, I'm having kids at the time. Like, I had new... Livia was born in 2011. So those first few years were really, really hard. They were really exciting because we were l- I was learning something new all constantly. You know, doing the show meant literally learning the songs.

Tim Fulton 6:18Right.

Joe Peppercorn 6:18And there's a, there's a part of that that I miss, because now I'm still learning the songs, but it's, like, very specific. Like, "Oh, he actually bends to the six, not the seven. Oh, the way he sings this vocal's more nasally, you should try to do that. Oh, let's rearrange this song because nobody needs to hear it exactly the same again." You know, just, so it's, it's still fun, but there w- there's n- there's, like, a purity to those first few years that I, that I still look back on fondly, even though it was, it was insane and it was hard. I mean, just six hours during the day taking care of kids, changing diapers, and, like, trying to learn these songs.

Tim Fulton 6:54Right. And so is your goal with it to recreate as close to the recorded version of the song that it is?

Joe Peppercorn 7:03Sometimes. Sometimes th- that's, like, 'cause that's a fun challenge. You know, if, if you try to make, you know, get all the guitar tones right, get the drum tones right, get the bass tone, and then get all the vocals sounding dial, dial, not just dialed in, but timbre-wise the way that The Beatles sounded. That's fun. Uh, definitely not every song. I think we would go crazy if we tried to do that on every song. I think, uh, t- we, I, I always wanna be able to do that. But then w- I always wanna sing, like, myself and, and have-

Tim Fulton 7:36Right

Joe Peppercorn 7:36... other people sing like themselves. And, and 'cause I, the, there are those Beatles cover bands, and they have a niche, and that's not what we, we are. We're taking the music and presenting it in a way that, that, that we would wanna see. When we play for, for the audience, we feel more like we're p- a part of that audience rather than imitating The Beatles.

Tim Fulton 7:54Right. So at its... We'll talk about this year in a little bit, but at its height in terms of, like, how many musicians are we talking about?

Joe Peppercorn 8:03Like 20-ish. I mean, you got people coming on to play flute for two songs, clarinet for a couple songs. But then you have people who sing on 20 songs or s- but the core group is probably, you know, uh, there's 12 guys, girls that play for maybe half the show, and then you've got the string quartet and... So 20, somewhere between around 20-ish musicians float-

Tim Fulton 8:27Got it

Joe Peppercorn 8:27... in and out.

Tim Fulton 8:28And at one point, or I don't know if it was multiple years, you even had, like, a children's choir come out.

Joe Peppercorn 8:34Not, not a children's choir. We had a high school string quartet. And those kids still play that-

Tim Fulton 8:38Oh, that's great

Joe Peppercorn 8:38... they, they still play the show. They're all in college now.

Tim Fulton 8:41That's awesome.

Joe Peppercorn 8:41Yeah.

Tim Fulton 8:42So again, I don't know if we've actually said it at this point. You once a year, somewhere around, it used to be, uh, like clockwork, the Saturday between Christmas and New Year's.

Joe Peppercorn 8:52Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 8:53And then Christmas and New Year's fell on Saturday, and so you rearranged it one year. This year it's gonna be on New Year's Eve that you're gonna play all, is it 215 or 214?

Joe Peppercorn 9:04Uh, I think it's 212 that, but then there's sl- there's unreleased stuff. If you do all the albums and the singles and Real Love and Free as a Bird, which were re- you know, released later with the Beatles Anthology, if you do all of that-

Tim Fulton 9:20Uh-huh

Joe Peppercorn 9:20... uh, it's 214 songs.

Tim Fulton 9:23Okay.

Joe Peppercorn 9:24But-

Tim Fulton 9:24And-

Joe Peppercorn 9:24But then there's solo songs that we add in, and then there's, like, If You've Got Trouble. There's these, like, outtakes and things you can add in. And we do, we, you know, at, at first I never would've done that. I was like, "Oh, there's a purity to just their catalog." But now it's been fun to try to make every year different, and people, there's-

Tim Fulton 9:41Right

Joe Peppercorn 9:41... pe- people who are fans, like, "Oh, what are they gonna play this year?"

Tim Fulton 9:45Right. Talk through what the, the planning goes into it in a normal year, and then I wanna talk about what planning goes into it this year.

Joe Peppercorn 9:54Um, well, so it usually in the summer I try to think of a vibe. You know, what, this, this last year that w- in 2019, I had seen, uh, The OCs at Nelsonville Music Fest, and they had two drummers, and I, I was blown away. And I'm like, "Man, we have two great drummers in the group. We need two kits on the stage, and they need to play together." And that kind, and then from there, like, we redid the stage setup, and I told pe- you know, whereas before I had a spreadsheet and it's like, "You do this, you do that," I just told people, "Well, if you wanna come out and play tambourine, like, the stage is open. Come out," and you know, for the, for the people in the group, not to the audience. But, like-

Tim Fulton 10:32Right

Joe Peppercorn 10:33... you know. And, and, and there were all these, like, pathways on the stage, and it created this more inclusive, communal vibe as far as I could tell, that I really liked. And, and so every year I'm trying to do little th- like, "Hey guys, here's, here's a starting point." And then, you know, every year has its own kinda different voice. Last year especially, since, you know, Paul McCartney sent us a video to introduce the show, and so he said-

Tim Fulton 10:55Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 10:56... "I think it's a great idea. I wish you good luck and good stamina, and cont- keep going forever and ever." And it was, it was hu- I found that out in February last year that he had made this video for us. And so I felt like, man, we gotta make this show-

Tim Fulton 11:08You had to keep that under your hat for 10 months?

Joe Peppercorn 11:10Yeah. I mean, there's, I definitely told some people, but yeah, it w- it was-

Tim Fulton 11:15I mean, I, I think I found out in, like, August or something.

Joe Peppercorn 11:19Yeah.

Tim Fulton 11:19Like, something big is happening. And I was like, "What?" And you were like, "I can't tell you."

Joe Peppercorn 11:24Yeah. It-

Tim Fulton 11:24And then, like, the next week you were like, "Oh, Paul McCartney made us a video that we're opening the show with. I can't show it to any..." I w- 'cause I've been helping with some advertising and some, a little bit of PR with the show, and I was like, "We have to tell people." And you're like, "Fuck no. We can't, we literally can't."

Joe Peppercorn 11:41We, no, we, uh... And it, it was, and then the fire alarms went off the first time we showed the video, and people were just confused. They were like, "What? What, it sounds like he's talking about the show." We played the v- I think we played the video five times at the show. I mean, I, I, which is over the top, but I'm like, I, it's like, when Paul McCartney sends you a video- ... and s- like, he said, "Don't share this online. It's for your show."

Tim Fulton 12:04Right.

Joe Peppercorn 12:04So I'm like, well, we're not sharing it online, and we're not gonna tell people, but we're gonna play this a whole lot. And it was a little gratuitous, but it just felt like- I mean, after doing this for years and years, it felt, it d- it, there was parts of it that felt like a victory lap, and part of it just felt like, it just, I don't know, the weird-

Tim Fulton 12:25It's validation.

Joe Peppercorn 12:26Yeah. I mean, y- 'cause I, I, I oftentimes feel like an idiot for doing this. Like, it, people are like, "Why you do this?" I'm like, "I don't know." I mean, what else am I gonna do, you know? So like, I, I feel like an, I, I, like people, I, people are like, "Oh, I'm sure you hear this all the time, and I'm sure you're sick of it." I'm like, "I'm not sick of it. I need that validation because I, oftentimes I just feel like a fool." And, um, and so having Paul McCartney say that, it, it was like, oh, wow. That, that's just on a whole different plane. Like no, you know, it's, it's not that, it's 60 seconds of his life, whatever, but it, just that connection to something that big, you know. This is a gu- this is Paul McCartney. Um, so you know, there's things like that that happen, you know, having kids, having Paul McCartney send a video, that, that influence the way I approach the show. Or, or if I'm at a show and I see s- like I saw Nick Cave in 2017, and he was in the audience half the show. I'm like, "Why am I not in the audience half the show?" Because like, this is how every show should be.

Tim Fulton 13:33Yeah.

Joe Peppercorn 13:33So I, you know, and, and that's what's fun too about doing, you know, not having to dress up and replicate the behavior or, of The Beatles, is that we get to bring ourselves to the table, or bring our influences that are not The Beatles to the table, to their music, and try to put on a show that presents the music in different contexts. You know, I, I want the mu- I want the music to be recontextualized every year, because otherwise it just feels silly to just get up and do the same thing over and over. Al- although I do like the ritual aspect of that. I'm Catholic and all, like the, you know, there is, there is the incense and everything that we do. But I, I also, you know, I want the, I want the sermons to be different every year.

Tim Fulton 14:16Right. How do, what are s- so let's talk about this year. What, um, you know, March, the pandemic came down. By midsummer, I think we all sort of realized this is not gonna be normal. Like, how did you, when did you make that decision?

Joe Peppercorn 14:36Um-

Tim Fulton 14:36'Cause you had booked the Bluestone again, I imagine.

Joe Peppercorn 14:39Yeah, I booked it a year and a half ago, so.

Tim Fulton 14:41Okay.

Joe Peppercorn 14:42You know, I'm competing against weddings there and stuff. I mean, it's beautiful.

Tim Fulton 14:45Right.

Joe Peppercorn 14:45It's a beautiful venue. I'm, I, so I, I mean, like, I just booked next year for there for December 18th, and it was, you know, it's like, "Please give me this date, guys." I mean, I think they make some good money at the show, so I, I think they're happy with, about it. But in September, numbers were starting to go down, and so I knew the show was impossible as we do it. However-

Tim Fulton 15:08Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 15:09... I did come up with the idea, and I had a m- Zoom meeting with some of the guys about it, and my idea was to get s- uh, 'cause I'd just been to the Chappelle thing in Yellow Springs. I'm like, oh.

Tim Fulton 15:24Yeah.

Joe Peppercorn 15:25This is awesome. It's super safe. And so I was like, "What if we get six venues, set up at six venues, and do the whole show in, like, two-hour increments throughout the, and just go from venue to venue?" And I'm glad-

Tim Fulton 15:40Oh, and it would still be live.

Joe Peppercorn 15:42Yeah. And then we-

Tim Fulton 15:43Oh, wow

Joe Peppercorn 15:44... would stream the whole thing. But it, but it'd be, like, limited audience. And because we're-

Tim Fulton 15:47Right

Joe Peppercorn 15:48... hopping from venue to venue, like, the, it makes it easier to, like, it'd be kind of a disaster if we had to shuffle people out and clean. And like, so I was like, you know, and this would also support the local music venues, which are, I mean, they're getting decimated right now.

Tim Fulton 16:02Yeah.

Joe Peppercorn 16:02So I was like, I'm convinced after going to Chappelle, I, like, I was kind of on a high, and you know, it was, like, beautiful outside, so, and cases were going down a bit, and I was like, "You know what? What if we could pull this off safe?" And-

Tim Fulton 16:17Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 16:18... a couple of the guys in the group were like, "Absolutely not." They were right, 'cause, you know, inevitably cases, cases were gonna go up, and, and it was kind of a iffy endeavor anyway. So, so once they shot it down, and they were right to do so, and, and-

Tim Fulton 16:33Okay

Joe Peppercorn 16:33... and then I was like, "Okay. Well, we're gonna, let's do this as a live stream." And-

Tim Fulton 16:37'Cause there was never a doubt in your mind that you weren't gonna do it at all.

Joe Peppercorn 16:41Well, uh, people, people had ba- like, people messaged me and, and said, like, "I need this, please." And I was like, "All right. I'm not gonna r- do anything risky and I'm not gonna be unsafe, but I'm gonna t-"

Tim Fulton 16:57Right.

Joe Peppercorn 16:57It, it's a puzzle. How do I, how do I do it? Um-

Tim Fulton 17:00Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 17:00... I did, and I did the thing in March by myself, but I don't wanna do that again. Like, I want to play with my friends. So some of the guys in the group said that they didn't feel safe, and like, so th- they're not doing it. But we're, we've been, we have a small group and, and we're, we did a couple rehearsals at a bar, L- Little Rock Bar here in town. You know-

Tim Fulton 17:21Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 17:21... I work there and my friend owns it, and we, we set up in a giant circle, and we, we like, we had to use mics. Everyone brought their own mic so that w- they could hear e- 'cause we, we're, you know, I mean, we were set up like 20 feet from each other in a giant circle-

Tim Fulton 17:35Right

Joe Peppercorn 17:35... uh, on the perimeter of this bar. But then it's like the studio and then we're like, me and my friend Keith Hanlon runs Secret Studio in Franklinton. Originally, we were gonna do a big shoot and make, make it a big thing, and then people s- in the group caught CO- like, a lot of people around us were getting COVID, and it just became apparent that, like, having a big celebratory, big budget thing at a, um, really, really high-end studio was not going to work. S- so-

Tim Fulton 18:00Okay

Joe Peppercorn 18:00... so we, Keith's studio is a high-end audio studio, but it's not a video studio. So-

Tim Fulton 18:06Right

Joe Peppercorn 18:06... right, right now, like I'm in my basement and I'm practicing using this gear, and my wife's gonna run the switcher, and we're kinda gonna do this DIY show out at, with really, really good sounding audio. Um, and it's... I, I mean, I'm excit- I'm really excited about it. The, the, we- when we play together it sounds great. I'm stressed about all the details. I mean, this show's a nightmare to put together anyway, and th- this year's by far the hardest. Um.

Tim Fulton 18:30Mm-hmm.

Joe Peppercorn 18:31All, all my routines are out the window. Like, I had rehearsals down, and then it's like, now we have a different s- personnel and it's, it's a challenge. Once we get playing music and every- it's, it's great. But-

Tim Fulton 18:45Okay

Joe Peppercorn 18:45... thinking about everything else, syncing up the audio with the video, making sure all the cameras sync, are synchronized together, you know. It's like the other day, I, two of the cameras weren't synchronized, and then I, like, go down an internet rabbit hole for two hours only to find out that if you do, if you have a GoPro 7 and you do not shut off the, um, uh, the, the, uh, stabiliz- the auto stabilization-

Tim Fulton 19:08Uh-huh

Joe Peppercorn 19:08... then it's gonna be two seconds out of sync. And it's, like, just all these, like, little things I would never think of.

Tim Fulton 19:13Right.

Joe Peppercorn 19:13It's like, normally I'm like, "Oh, it's a G sharp major 7, not a G sharp minor 7." Now it's like, oh, now... Like, of course I know that chord and all. And, and, and so it's trying to find time to, like, get my voice in shape and be in shape, 'cause it's, it's physically demanding.

Tim Fulton 19:30Yeah.

Joe Peppercorn 19:30But, um, I mean, it's fun. I'm not complaining about it. It's just, like, it's 2020. It's like everything is 10 times harder. And-

Tim Fulton 19:38Yeah

Joe Peppercorn 19:38... so.

Tim Fulton 19:39But you're pushing through.

Joe Peppercorn 19:41Pushing through. The Confluence Cast is sponsored this week by Art Makes Columbus, Columbus Makes Art, featuring stories about our city's incredible artists, stories full of inspiration, challenge, passion, and success. For videos, articles, an up-to-the-minute calendar of events, and an artist directory, visit columbusmakesart.com, the resource for all things arts and culture in the capital city.

Tim Fulton 20:12Yeah. What are some questions that people tend to have about the show?

Joe Peppercorn 20:18Well, people ask, "Can I play?" And- And I d- I mean, it's not a hard no, it's just, you know, it's getting... That's hard because th- I have a lot of people who play the show, and they want, they all wanna play more, they don't wanna play less. So it's hard-

Tim Fulton 20:34Yeah

Joe Peppercorn 20:34... it's hard to find room for people. Um, you know, the girl who wrote Paul McCartney, she asked me if she could play tambourine or she could play cowbell. She's like, "I, I miss the cowbell. Like, it's a big part of these s- a couple of these songs, and I noticed it's not there." I'm like, "Well, that's awesome. Like, that's very, that's a great observation. And, like, of course you can play cowbell."

Tim Fulton 20:59Mm-hmm.

Joe Peppercorn 20:59And then she wrote, and then she got Paul McCartney to introduce the show, so. Always, if anyone ever asks you if they can play cowbell, you always say yes. I-

Tim Fulton 21:08Got it.

Joe Peppercorn 21:09Yeah. Um, uh, and, and, and, you know, the- John Winc's a big part of the show. He, he's a friend of ours now, but, you know, he met us through the show. But, you know, I, I mean, it's, it's har- I like to be really inclusive, but that's, that's, and it's, so it's hard for me when people are like, "Oh, I really love the Beatles. Can I play?" And it's like, "Ah, I, I d- I don't know how to work in more people," honestly. Because, uh-

Tim Fulton 21:35Yeah

Joe Peppercorn 21:35... as it is, it's, like, logistics is really hard. "Hey, be at my house at this time. Be at my house at this time." We're re- we're rehearsing 130 songs, and you're on 20 of them, so I have to chunk them all together so you're not in my basement for nine hours. Um-

Tim Fulton 21:49Right

Joe Peppercorn 21:49... so it's... Uh, that's one question. Another one is, uh, who plays Paul? And- ... the answer, the answer is Paul. We all just, we sing the... It, the, it's fun singing all the different s- Beatles stylistically, and I, I wouldn't wanna sing just Paul or just John. Then P- uh, what else do people ask? Like, what's your least favorite song to play? I don't, I mean, the one that I bomb. I mean, inevitably I'll bomb something. Uh, what's your favorite Beatles song to play? I mean, they're all, I... what, the one I'm playing at the moment. Um-

Tim Fulton 22:24Right

Joe Peppercorn 22:24... but then again, like, I, you know. And then, uh, but those are all good quest- there's no bad questions. I'm just, honestly, I'm s- thrilled that people are interested in the show. And then, you know, it... trying to think of other questions people, "Oh, how do you do it?" And it's like, well, you just do. It, it really feels like you're gonna die after playing that show for four hours. Like, every year I f- like, I forget-

Tim Fulton 22:47Just after f- I mean, and let's be clear, it's 13 total.

Joe Peppercorn 22:51Yeah. Yeah. I mean-

Tim Fulton 22:52But after four hours you're like, "I-

Joe Peppercorn 22:55This was-

Tim Fulton 22:55... I'm gonna die."

Joe Peppercorn 22:57Yeah. Like, it's every year I forget exactly what it feels like. It's like I hit this point about four hours in. Usually it's like we're playing Beatles For Sale-

Tim Fulton 23:08Uh-huh

Joe Peppercorn 23:09... and we're doing, like, eight days a week, and it's like, "Ooh, I need your love," girl. And it's like, okay. And then, uh, and then it's like, but eight days a week it's like the vocals are there the whole time, and you're, you're riding up there at that D, and it's just like, that's, that's the moment. It's like, oh, this song is breaking me. Like, and, like, my throat feels like it's on fire. And I'm like, I look at the set list and there's, like, 140 songs left, and they're, they're really hard.

Tim Fulton 23:37Right.

Joe Peppercorn 23:37And it's like, I'm, why, you know, the, uh, Joe Bluth, I've made a huge mistake. Um. And then you just, you know, you take a little bit of bourbon, a little bit of beer, a little bit of honey, throw some Olbas oil on your throat, and then, like, you see some kid dancing, like, with his giant ear muff headphones on, like, looking up at you, like. You're like, "Oh, it's his first concert." And then you're like, "Oh, I'm fine. You know, this is awesome."

Tim Fulton 24:02Right. What do you do to physically prepare?

Joe Peppercorn 24:05Run a lot. Um, m- you know, usually I'll do stuff like try to run, like, you know, I tr- I, I think running a half marathon is the perfect distance, so I usually, I, I'll try to run 13 miles once a week leading up to the show in addition to, like, smaller... And try to sing the whole way, too. Just get used to-

Tim Fulton 24:25Oh, wow

Joe Peppercorn 24:26Um, so like last, in, and like try to do it under circumstances where I feel like dead. So like go work a seven-hour bartending shift and then, then come home and run 13 miles at like 10:30 at night after taking care of the kids. Like just putting my-- trying to put myself in circumstances where like, uh, pushing past those-

Tim Fulton 24:46Endurance basically.

Joe Peppercorn 24:47Yeah.

Tim Fulton 24:47You're endurance training.

Joe Peppercorn 24:49It's, it's mental endurance too though. It's that, it's that when you're like dead, like when you come home from work and you just feel dead and then like, okay, go out and do-- You know, trying to find those mo- 'cause, um, just trying to find those moments in the day where I can push, like get used to just pushing beyond boundaries. Not in like in a super unhealthy way, I hope. But, you know.

Tim Fulton 25:11Yeah.

Joe Peppercorn 25:11And, you know, I try to eat right and, you know, drink less leading up to the show and just try to be mentally as together. Which is hard because it's, it's, you know, now that there's thousands of people that look forward to the show, it, it f- so it feels like a lot of pressure and I have a really-- You know, it's really hard. I think everybody in the group is hard to sleep the night before.

Tim Fulton 25:30Yeah.

Joe Peppercorn 25:30Um, and but yeah, just it, it, 'cause you do have to be in pretty decent... If you're not in shape, that I-- There have been years where I didn't take care of myself and in the last, you know, few hours of the show, I, I was dragging.

Tim Fulton 25:45Yeah. What's the, what's the recovery like then?

Joe Peppercorn 25:49Uh, it's hard. I mean, it just, the next day-

Tim Fulton 25:52I mean, I recall you pretty much just e- every year it's like, "Oh, Joe is now sleeping for the entire day."

Joe Peppercorn 25:59Well, y- the adrenaline's so high that day that normally I can't fall back asleep. It's like I wake up at 6:00 after falling asleep at 5:00 and, you know, it's just in and out of sleep a lot of the day. I'll try to go to, you know, get a nice m-meal or something, uh, with Juliet. Um, it's, it's a, it's, it's definitely a huge comedown. I think everybody in the group experiences it. We started doing like get-togethers day after the show at bars because, you know, we all just were like, "Oh man, we need to be out and see people," because being h-home alone the day after is, it's, it's very, it's jarring.

Tim Fulton 26:36Yeah, absolutely.

Joe Peppercorn 26:37Mm.

Tim Fulton 26:38So it'll stream online this year.

Joe Peppercorn 26:40Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 26:41It's not ticketed.

Joe Peppercorn 26:42Not ticketed.

Tim Fulton 26:43You are accepting donations.

Joe Peppercorn 26:45100%. I'm, I'm pretty- I mean, I got all my lighting gear. I got... I'm pretty deep-

Tim Fulton 26:51Well, you gotta pay your musicians as well.

Joe Peppercorn 26:53Yeah, man. Uh-

Tim Fulton 26:54This is a job. I think that that, I was hoping you would get to it yourself. I think every year there's people that are like, "You're just doing this to make money." And it's like, "Well, I'm working and I'm providing a service for people. Why wouldn't I wanna make money on it?"

Joe Peppercorn 27:11Well, it-- I mean, I tr- I've, I've given a lot of money to charity that I've made on the show. There's a lot of thing, there's a lot of layers to that. First off, the show costs a whole lot to put on. So it's like-

Tim Fulton 27:23Right

Joe Peppercorn 27:23... and second, I have, I'm asking a lot of the people that play the show. Like-

Tim Fulton 27:29Right

Joe Peppercorn 27:29... rehearsals are 12 hours. Like that's, that's an entire Sunday where-

Tim Fulton 27:38Yep

Joe Peppercorn 27:38... and so, so you know, I have several teachers in the group. They're grading all Saturday, they're here all Sunday, they're wiped out, and then they wake up Monday morning feeling dead from rehearsal and they have to do a whole week of work.

Tim Fulton 27:51Yeah.

Joe Peppercorn 27:51I'm-- Th- they need to be able to come home to their spouse and children and be like, "Hey, I made a little bit of money doing this."

Tim Fulton 27:59Right.

Joe Peppercorn 27:59And if they, if they're in a, if they have the means to then take the money, which a lot of people in the group have done. They're like, "Oh, this is just extra. I'm gonna give it..." You know, someone-- I just, I've, I know guys in the group have d-donated to, uh, Habitat for Humanity, have donated to the Mid-Ohio Food Bank. That's their prerogative. But I, you know, I, who am I to say like, "Oh, this is my charity and you guys are doing all this for my charity" and-

Tim Fulton 28:25Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 28:25... you know, so we cooperate with charities and, but the idea-- I, I don't know. I think people get weird about paying musicians. It's weird, man. Like, and we pay, like we pay the artists who do the work for the show with Thomas Gluck, um, animated Nicholas Nasera's posters and, you know, uh, I, I want to make sure people are taken care of and, and I try to make it fair too. Like n- kids are free at the show. We could charge more for tickets. We don't. Um-

Tim Fulton 28:53Mm

Joe Peppercorn 28:53... I'm not trying to make money on the show. I'm just trying to make sure that I never lose my shirt, you know, 'cause there are years I've lost money on the show and that-

Tim Fulton 29:04Right

Joe Peppercorn 29:04... makes my wife really mad. Like-

Tim Fulton 29:08Yeah. Well, and, uh, I mean, we're not-- Y-you talked about, you know, like teachers in your band, for example, but the amount of time that you personally dedicate to this thing and the physical strain and the, I imagine a certain amount of like emotional and mental strain that you're bringing home.

Joe Peppercorn 29:31Oh, yeah.

Tim Fulton 29:32And like you have to validate it in some way.

Joe Peppercorn 29:34Well, yeah. I mean, a-and, you know, I'm taking the, taking off a lot of work during the Christmas season so, you know. It, it definitely feels like everybody who isn't like cheering for me at the show is pretty frustrated with me by the end of December. Like- ... it's, it-- 'Cause the whole point of the show is to push things to the absolute limit of like what's possible.

Tim Fulton 29:59Mm-hmm.

Joe Peppercorn 29:59You know, the first time I did this show, I remember being at Music Go Round and they were like, "What, what are you getting these..." They're, you know, they're nice and they're making conversation, "What's up?" And I'm like, "Oh, um, later today I'm..." He was the first one. "Later today I'm doing every Beatles song." And they were just like, "That's really dumb." And, you know, like I think it makes sense now, but when I first started telling people about it, there were a-- Most of the people who said it was a good idea are the people that play the show or Jacob Wooten. Uh, c- most people were like- A lot, not most people, but a lot of people are like, "This is really stupid." And I mean, it is really stupid, and I'm not saying this is a genius idea. Paul McCartney said it's a great idea, but, um

Tim Fulton 30:40There's your validation.

Joe Peppercorn 30:42Yeah. But, um, but yeah, like-

Tim Fulton 30:44No, I think some people on the outside look at it and say, "That's a stupid human trick."

Joe Peppercorn 30:49And it was. It-

Tim Fulton 30:49Like, all you're doing is accomplishing an endurance challenge.

Joe Peppercorn 30:52Yeah. And to be fair to them, that's how it kinda started. And then it was, like, four years in that I was like, "Oh, what if it's not just, like, these guys, like, sitting around drinking beer and, like, yelling Beatles songs? What if, like, we play Abbey Road and it's actually the best version of Abbey Road people have heard-

Tim Fulton 31:12Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 31:12... and that's after we've been playing for 12 and a half hours?"

Tim Fulton 31:15Yeah.

Joe Peppercorn 31:15So that's the goal. That's the goal. And it, and I, I'm inspired by the people I play with playing it, so I, I mean, I just hope pe- other people feel inspired by that. And I, and people have told me they are, they are. Like, 'cause I love that, I love the physical extremes of it, where, like, you do feel... And, like, people, people in the audience pick it up. Like, "Oh, wow, they are tired." And then, like, we're like, "But we're going all in here," and they're just like, "Yes!" I mean, I love that stuff. Like, and people, you know, I've, I've had people say, "Well, why don't you just do half of the show one week and ha- the other half the next week?" Which is a good id- I mean, it just, that defeats the pur- and same thing with this. Someone suggested, "Why don't you record half of it and then do the other half live?" I'm like, the whole point is that, like, we're going out there and we're doing this. And, you know, it, it's, it's terrifying. Like, you, you get, you get to, like, hour seven, and you're like, you haven't used an instrument yet, and you try it out, and you're like, "Oh, it doesn't work." Like- ... you have to plan for thir- like, for every song in, in the morning. And then, like-

Tim Fulton 32:19Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 32:19... you're not playing that song for 12 hours. And then you get there, and you're like, "Oh, okay." And it's terrifying because it's, like, four hou- one year th- f- like, uh, we get to eight days a week, my voice is gone. And it's like, I have so many more... And this was before I had a giant crew of people who could sing this, this, the sh- songs.

Tim Fulton 32:37Mm-hmm.

Joe Peppercorn 32:37Now I would just be like, "Hey, can someone sing this? I, I sound like I'm, I'm dying here, and-

Tim Fulton 32:42Yeah

Joe Peppercorn 32:42... nobody needs to hear this." It's terrifying. Like, four hours in, like, you know, it's like, "Oh, I've got eight hours left," and there's all these people here, and they're staring at me like, "Please tell me this is not the rest of the show."

Tim Fulton 32:52And you are the only person that plays every song.

Joe Peppercorn 32:55No, my brother, and Chris, and Phil Cogley played the whole show last year, too.

Tim Fulton 32:59Okay.

Joe Peppercorn 32:59And this year, th- everybody in the group's playing the whole... Including Paul Headley's gonna play drums on the entire show.

Tim Fulton 33:05Oh, wow.

Joe Peppercorn 33:05I was like, I was like, "You are crazy." He's like, "I've r- it's, I've wa- something I've always wanted to do." I'm like, "All right."

Tim Fulton 33:14That's awesome.

Joe Peppercorn 33:15Yeah.

Tim Fulton 33:15Anything else you want people to know about the show? Obviously we'll link to the stream. It's at peppercornmarathon.com. Anything else you want people to know?

Joe Peppercorn 33:26Just that, you know, to please do tune in. And I mean, it's free, and, and, you know, we're, we're not gonna be cussing or anything, so you can let the kids watch it.

Tim Fulton 33:36Mm-hmm.

Joe Peppercorn 33:36Um, and you know, we're, it's, it's something different and new for us, so there might be some hiccups along the way, but I, I mean, I find that kind of fun. It's gonna be a journey, and it's gonna be completely live, so please comment, like, interact. Uh, like, I wanna feel like we're connecting to you in the moment. I didn't wanna record this and then sit back and be like, "Ah, here you go."

Tim Fulton 34:01Mm-hmm.

Joe Peppercorn 34:01"Lob this out there." I want this to f- be something where it's like we're gonna experience the last day of this very strange year with something that we know is gonna be uplifting for us, and something that inspires us, and, and something that, that reminds us of the things that we can cling to in the upcoming three months, which could be a very desolate and bleak three months. I mean-

Tim Fulton 34:23Mm-hmm

Joe Peppercorn 34:24... a- and I've been thinking a lot about, like, man, winter, and I wanted to leave this for people so hopefully they can feel inspired, or positive, or whatever it is you need to feel, I, I'm gonna try to make you feel that way playing this show. Um-

Tim Fulton 34:39Yeah

Joe Peppercorn 34:39... I don't mean to be, have hubris with that, but, like, I really, I really value the connection that I've felt with people. And I'm definitely pl- a big part of it is I'm playing it for myself, too. Like, just music is, is every- like, you know, everything. Music, and family, and love, and those are all, like, the things that I, I'm gonna need to get through the rest of this, and I, and probably for a lot of people, too. Um, and so I'll, I'm just playing with my friends. I mean, we, we decided th- and we were trying to think, "Should we do this show or not?" And we, we had one little rehearsal, and we were nervous because it's like, "Oh, can we do this safe?" And we were super spread out, and we're like, "Okay."

Tim Fulton 35:17Right.

Joe Peppercorn 35:17Everyone's wearing masks and everything. And, and we finished the rehearsal and, and I was like, "Well, what do you guys think?" And, and, and Phil in the group, he's like, "You know, honestly, if we just got in a room and played the whole show like that and didn't broadcast it, I'd be happy with that." He's like, "You know."

Tim Fulton 35:32Hmm.

Joe Peppercorn 35:32So it's like, you know, worst case scenario, the stream gets taken down, we're still doing that. And I, I think, too, you know, I, I, I know there's things where I just place value in the fact that people are doing them, and, and hopefully people can value that we're doing, we're finding a way to do this, trying to make, make it our statement that life continues on e- even amidst this, and, and, and we will get through it. And December 18th next year, it's gonna be, it's gonna be fun, man.

Tim Fulton 35:58Yeah. Absolutely.

Joe Peppercorn 35:59President Joe Biden will come to the show. It will, it'll be great.

Tim Fulton 36:02He's already RSVPed.

Joe Peppercorn 36:05Yeah.

Tim Fulton 36:05All right, Joe. Thank you so much for your time.

Joe Peppercorn 36:08Thank you, Tim.

Tim Fulton 36:16Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite Beatle. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. Our producer is Philip Cogley. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great new year.