Chris Garner on “Next to Me,” genre-bending metal, and building an artist career from the ground up

Rasan Leathers: What's up, rock and metal heads? She Shreds rasan and I am back tonight, and I'm talking with my guest, Mr. Chris Garner, and we're gonna talk about his newest release called Next to Me that he has out. We're gonna just get to know Chris as an artist and see how he got started, where he's going, and all the good stuff in between. So Chris, thanks so much for joining me.

Chris: Hmm. Cool. Yeah, thanks for having me. It's a pleasure.

Rasan Leathers: Absolutely. So tell us, what about Chris Garner do you want us to know?

Chris: So I'm not your typical artist. you know, I feel like a lot of people just wake up and they want to become an artist, you know, like, I want to do this. Well, my case wasn't like that. So I had a good friend, and we were out camping one night. This was a weekend the week before he died, actually. He died on my birthday. but the week before that,

Rasan Leathers: I'm sorry to hear that.

Chris: we were all just like camping and and canoeing and just having a good time. And I'll never forget it. He was eating an apple and he stopped and he was like, This would make a good bong So he maked he made a bong out of the apple. We smoked out of it and like it was just I don't know why it feels so just like this perfect scene, but he was just a big freestyle rapper. And everybody was sitting there and they were like, it's so cool how you can just rap and and rap off the top of your head and he was like, Well, Chris can do it too and I tried and boy, I sucked. I mean, everybody was like, No, that's

Rasan Leathers: Ha ha ha.

Chris: trash, bro, don't quit your day job And he was like, Well, you suck now, but one of these days you'll be the greatest. And I just thought that was so random for him to say something like that. Well, the next weekend my mom would not let me go party. I was still in high school. I was about to graduate. And she wouldn't let me go. She said, You still got a little bit under my roof. So I didn't go. Well, I wake up to a phone call the next morning that he had died. so I set out and I was like, I'm not gonna stop making music until I'm good. So three or four years of freestyle rapping here and there and Finally about f that fifth year people started saying like hey you're starting to that's pretty good, you know what I mean? Like that's a good a good rhyme. Keep going, don't stop. So it went from stop, quit to don't stop, keep going. And then I put out my first

Rasan Leathers: Mm.

Chris: song, my first album in 2019. of course

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: there's a whole lot of stuff that happened in that, the just crazy stuff that you possibly couldn't fit on one show, but that's the gist of it.

Rasan Leathers: Did any of it have to do with COVID?

Chris: No, no. just people screwing you over. promises. I mean, this business is so scary. Especially for someone that was getting a go at this in the early two thousands. You know what I mean? Like it it was just such a scary time. And even though it is a more scarier time now 'cause everybody's out for money, everybody's gonna ask you to pay for this and pay to plays and all these different things and you don't know what's right because you do gotta advertise. it's just a scary time for artists.

Rasan Leathers: So I mean, can you go into a little bit on, what you started with in twenty nineteen and just some lessons I guess that you learned along the way that maybe you could pass along to others that are listening.

Chris: Yeah. So

Rasan Leathers: I find that interesting just because only because around twenty nineteen it usually turns into a conversation about COVID. So this is something definitely that I'd like to dive into if you don't mind.

Chris: Yeah. Well, I was knocking doors during COVID. I was selling vacuums door to door. I'm a kirby vacuum guy, last of a dying breed. Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: one of them Kirby's. no.

Chris: did it for 18 years. I've been all over the United States. And then I ended up selling water vacuum. So when COVID was hot, I was banging on doors. People were looking out. What are you doing here? You know what I'm saying? Hey, free air, you know, clean air. so it didn't really bother me, but The music game was pretty awesome. So I was staying in Mobile and there was a KISS FM radio station, just a sister branch over in LA in Los Angeles. I mean, Louisiana. And because of COVID, they were actually selling radio time for cheap. So like you could come get an interview and they would spin your song all week for like 50 bucks. It was nuts.

Rasan Leathers: really?

Chris: So I was doing that and that one of my rap songs that really took off during that time. They actually played it on the top ten and like Drake was number seven and my song was number six and I literally lost it. Like I I have the video on my Facebook somewhere of my girlfriend at the time was recording me and I was just like, What? What? And it was such a cool experience. So I enjoyed COVID. Everything got cheaper and as long as you wasn't this kind of person that like feared everything and and you you found value in your your time, it worked, you know. So, Was recording, paying a hundred dollars a song, you know, mixed, mastered all the way to the end. I did my first album, which was ten songs. So theoretically spent about thirteen fifty on the first album, dropped it, crickets. it's a great album, great songs, but the algorithm does not care about you at all. And I wish new artists understand that more, that you have to be equipped to for you to be your biggest fan for a while because The music industry is set up to where it there's a lot of people in it. And I feel like that algorithm is just mean and it wants to push against you for a while. but as long as you do everything the right way, you've got a fair chance. So a bunch of different things there.

Rasan Leathers: Okay. So yeah, that's a lot of time. and you know, some high hopes to to just see

Chris: Yeah. Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: the artists I've talked with you know, have ta said that right now it seems to be just like the new standard where you push out one release every 90 days.

Chris: Yeah. Don't don't drop an album yet. Yeah, don't

Rasan Leathers: Instead of doing the whole album. What's that?

Chris: drop it. Don't drop a whole album unless you have somebody that's ready to listen to the whole album. I mean,

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: I just feel like you you you get so much more out of a release. Like, the way you're supposed to do releases is you're supposed to pitch it to Spotify editorial playlist to at least 14 days before it comes out. And when you do that, you get on the Spotify radar, new release radar. and then when you get on there, like you have an early chance of beating the algorithm and then you can get playlisted and I could write a book on it and you know, Chad GPT's your best friend. Like i he you don't use him for things that you can do yourself, you use them for things you can't do knowledge wise. Like set me up a release plan. Like what is my ninety day goal list? What do I need to be doing? You know, who give me some th places that I could call that could Playlist me, or you know what I mean? Like there's just different things

Rasan Leathers: no.

Chris: that you can do and and don't give up. but definitely don't pay somebody $450 for 30 minutes of their time. Just don't do it. It's don't let me

Rasan Leathers: Goodness.

Chris: take away from any guru out there who makes a living consulting. Don't let me do that. But this is the 21st century. There's no gatekeepers anymore. Like it the industry is wide open. You just have to play by the rules.

Rasan Leathers: It is. and say back then when you know when you did get started, did you realize then that you, you know, you were gonna have to do a lot of these things yourself and including putting your name out there and you know kind of marketing yourself as an artist? Is that something you realized back in 2019?

Chris: Yeah. I did. I did. Especially being in the gospel rap genre, 'cause I was in gospel rap for seven to eight years and I was performing all over the place. I mean, I was doing gospel rap when I met a band that you actually know, Shot Crew from Ohio. I flew all the way out there to perform in the bar and I was just on fire for Christ. Of course I still am a born again Christian. I'm on fire for God. I just I'm in a place in my life right now where my music is coming from a a place of going through it currently and the only way I could have healed from my divorce was to to write a song about it. So that song, this song next to me is so deep because when you listen to it, you're gonna hear something that you don't normally hear a side of music of. And that's staying together when it's not the best to stay together. If that if you know what I mean. sometimes you gotta walk away, you know, it's best for everybody. And I kinda feel like this song is talking about when you can't break free from something because you do love each other. and I that's why I like this song. So

Rasan Leathers: Well and I was gonna ask if you're the one that writes all of your lyrics, but I'm guessing that that's a yes. Yeah.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah, it is. Well, nowadays, I have a team now. So since I've started doing this metal stuff, I realize like I'm gonna have to find like a team because like I don't have a band. I don't have a lot of all these things, and and it's cost a lot of money to do full band production, you know. That's at least a five or six hundred dollar minimum So I got in with a a studio in Haleville. the owner his name is Ray Rogers, and of course the producer Is Jeff Parker and he's like, You heard those guitar solos. I mean, he freestyled those off the top of his head. and that was an awesome experience too. But so I wrote half of the song and when before I would I was so excited that I wrote it, like I videoed myself doing it actually without my shirt on, and he sent a zoomed in picture of my tit hanging over the guitar. It was pretty funny. I was like, wow, what is this? But then he just started writing and it was just beautiful how it came together. so I just got in my truck, went straight to the studio, we put it together that night. Now it took me three months, I would say, probably to perfect the song. just because I'm not a singer. You know, I can sing pretty decent now with of lot of work, but vocally it is hard for me to sing the way it needs to be sung. So It's been a lot of

Rasan Leathers: What inspired you to switch from the gospel rap to go to something that's more I see here where you've described your your sound as moving freely between pop punk, hooks, metal core force, hip hop rhythm, and raw edges of new metal.

Chris: Yeah. So I kind of felt like I was in a box. and I felt like everything that I wrote was more to me than to anybody else. and that I was kind of using the music as a healing place where if I ever needed something or I was struggling with something, I could write a song. But I thought to myself, like, what do you really like? And I love metal music. I mean, when I'll put it this way me and my cousin went to the beach in two thousand thirteen. bullet for my Valentine had just come out with the poison. And we bought that album from Walmart and we didn't even go to the beach. We sat in there all week and just listened to every single song and the catchy melodies and the chilling screams and it just I always knew that that was something I wanted to do. Now he had the talent for it. I didn't. I couldn't carry a tune in the bucket at the time. I really couldn't scream. that was a blessing to be able to scream. I mean I've been practicing screaming since Bullet. Since I heard the poison, you know. It's taken me this long

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: to get good at screaming to where it doesn't hurt my throat. I'm doing it comfortable. but I just realized like there's a whole nother market out there for metal music, you know? And I I've I just wanted to make the switch and it was easy, you know, it just it flowed. So it's pretty cool.

Rasan Leathers: Well metal can definitely help heal for sure, but it it's one of those things that you can't kill it, so it's not going anywhere. I

Chris: Mm-mm.

Rasan Leathers: know, Again, just from my experiences, what I've been through and all the the awesome musicians I've talked to, you know, there was a time in the nineties where when grunge came out and

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: it I think it just changed the metal landscape. People thought that it was going to kill metal. I think there's just a pause and there's metal groups that didn't quit that you just heard less of, you know, like your your Glam, your Glam Rock and Motley

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: Crew and all them. But then we came into the nu metal and I feel like it was just a burst of new energy but it was strong and even the the older bands, you know, that started

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: the metal scene, the ones that stuck around, came came in even stronger So

Chris: Yeah. Everybody loves a good Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: That's my plug for metal. You can't fucking kill metal.

Chris: No. And everybody loves a good scream, you know what mean? Everybody loves a good scream. I I love falling in reverse myself. I love them too. They're they're up there with my faves. Yes, I love MGK too, okay? I think MGK is doing a great job at flowing through the different genres, you know. I I kinda like that. I went to warp tour last year. And you know, MGK

Rasan Leathers: you did.

Chris: was on this side, and then right after that, Falling Reverse was on the left, and they were dissing each other hardcore currently, you know? And it was just funny how he was like, we can do it too. And then they they did some kind of country shit, and I was like, Whoa, country metal was born that night. It was so crazy. So

Rasan Leathers: A are you a fan of country metal?

Chris: no, no, Ronnie just did it. You know what I mean? He was just like, you know, he was This in MGK, he was like, you know, he can do this, but we we were really the original people that were bouncing through genres, you know what I mean? And you know, he they had that country, they had their cowboy hats on and they were, you know, it was just you just have to go listen to it. just check out one of Fall in reverse songs.

Rasan Leathers: Well, I've seen I feel like there's a couple artists that are coming out and branding themselves as country metal. And I just

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: can't get myself to turn that on. I just

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: I I don't think I can buy into that.

Chris: No, I mean do what you want, you know what I mean? Like the play what's in your heart and some people are gonna like it, you know what I mean? and that might be your way of bridging over the metal, you know. You just like,

Rasan Leathers: Mm-hmm.

Chris: you know, I don't know if you could put distortion on a banjo, but maybe you can, I don't

Rasan Leathers: Right.

Chris: know.

Rasan Leathers: So you're currently in based in muscle Shoals, Alabama, but you came from Sheffield, correct?

Chris: well I'm born and raised on Cobert Heights Mountain, which is in tuscumbia I'm mountain boy. but we're this we got the quad city. So we got Sheffield, Muscle shoals tuscumbia and florence All right here in North Alabama. So we got the quad cities. So you may say you're here, but you're really all four of them, you know. Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: Okay, gotcha. So what are your plans for the rest of twenty twenty six? Believe it or not, we're headed towards the end of the year. What's gonna be going on for

Chris: Crazy.

Rasan Leathers: for you?

Chris: Well, first up, slow down time because it has just been nuts this year. I feel like it was just yesterday I came out with my last op slash country song. and it did really well too, and it just like slowed down. but I just started writing again a couple weeks ago a song called I'll Be Fine. It's kind of like my I'm getting out of this toxic, sad music that I've been doing. I'm trying to get to a positive place. So this next one's called I'll Be Fine. And it's just really that anthem, that that get up out the dirt, like don't talk about it no more. Like new chapter, new life. And we should be able to get this song done in November. I'm really hoping it's a duet. I've got somebody real close to me. Like I've I'm hoping that she'll join in on the song. I've got her halfway committed but I've got to, you know, put something on her first and let her hear it. And when that happens like it's it's gonna be nuts. 'cause she deserves to be in the spotlight. So that should be coming out somewhere around November, hopefully.

Rasan Leathers: All right, sweet. And you're on all streaming platforms, so I think pretty much everybody is these days. What is something that you want somebody to take away from your music? Let's say starting with your song next to me.

Chris: Just I mean, I guess there's a couple of different ways, you know. I guess you could listen to the music and it can help you for what you're going through. And then maybe you listen to it and you're like, Okay, I'm never gonna get go through that, you know. I I might go through this, but I'll never put myself in that kind of stuff and you know, maybe you listen to the song and you've already been there and you're like, Man, sh hats up to you, you know what I mean? Like, congratulations, you know. because it was real simple and the whole thing some people go through a lot worse process. I think it was a lot worse for me previously, but God always takes care of everything, man. If you just if you just just give it to him, you know, and don't stress here, especially if you're an artist, don't stress music because that's not gonna help. you just have to remember that your day's going to come as long as you stay consistent. It's all about consistency, man. You got artists out here that don't make the best music that grow and blow up, you know what I mean? And then you

Rasan Leathers: Yeah.

Chris: got artists that are so underrated it's ridiculous that they're out here and you're like, How are you not you know, big and famous yet? And I just think that the people who make it are the ones that are consistent and the people who don't are the ones that don't.

Rasan Leathers: I can see it being hard, you know, for an artist because you have to do pretty much everything yourself these days, you know. So you're marketing yourself, you're, your charge of your socials,

Chris: Father Dame. Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: posting, staying on top of that. The, you know, C word consistency is huge these days. And

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: I feel that sometimes, you know, you can if you're not consistent, then you're losing out in one way or another, but you might not know, And then on top of you know trying to just keep up with putting your music out and what goes on behind that. So that's it's pretty hard. There's a lot of expectations now that you know you as an artist are expected to do if you want to make an impact. What kind of an impact are you looking to make as an artist?

Chris: So I wanna bring back that two thousands punk rock, but I want I want a lot more screaming in it. You know, I want a lot more s bone chilling screams and one thing I can promise you, if you hear a scream come out of me, like it's for emphasis. y all caps on whatever I'm screaming, you know what I mean? Like it take

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: it to the take it to the core and But at the say, I still want to be like that punk rock feel. Like I love it. I love the Blink 182 days, all those different bands. That was really awesome. Another tip for artists, like, don't be scared of meta ads. you just gotta utilize them the right way. I mean, you a five dollar a day budget will take you so much further than you think. five times that's $150 a month. Like, that will take you so much further than a playlist. So much further than anything that you think you can accomplish just by running five dollars a day on a short video. I call it fan reach. You know, like, hey, my name's Chris Garner. This is what kind of artist I am, this is where I'm from. I'm looking for this kind of fan to stream my music. If that's you, hit the link below. Whatever. And then put five dollars on it and and keep that budget. Every business has a budget. And if you don't have an advertising budget, you're not gonna make it, you know. So don't be scared of Facebook ads.

Rasan Leathers: Do you feel like so it sounds like that's done really well for you? Have you have

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: you been able to keep a pretty good presence yourself on your socials for

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: your artist page?

Chris: Yeah. So we I just made an artist page because my Facebook I've been working on since two thousand nine. I've got over fifteen thousand followers. now mind you, a

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: bulk of those followers I got in six months. you have to follow or get in all these groups that are viral groups, you know, like that have a million plus people in them and post memes. That's it. And then those memes are gonna go viral and you just hit the little reactions right there and you invite people to your page all day. Every day you just keep hitting invite and you'll blow up. I mean, it it's kind of crazy if you don't. And so I just built an artist page.

Rasan Leathers: Easy, easy work, but yeah, a lot of repetition.

Chris: Yeah. So we made the artist page literally almost three weeks ago and it's now over twelve hundred followers on it. it's just consistency, you know, getting the word out there and and running ads on yourself, really caring for your business. if you just throw it out there like a fish, you just throw it out there and you don't check the hook and see if the bait's working, then the fish are gonna eat your bait and your rod's just gonna sit there in the water. But If you keep trying and changing the bait, eventually something's gonna stick.

Rasan Leathers: And those are keywords too that you mentioned, you know, you just treat it as your business because it's just how things are set up these days. Yeah, in order to be successful and it might take trying different things until you figure out what works, you know, for you, the individual. So it's crazy. There is no set template to, you know, going viral or getting all these followers or you know, having the reach that you end up getting because it's there's just too many variations. How do you do on TikTok? Do you like that? Do you like that platform?

Chris: I do a little bit. I've got a Yeah, so I made one I've been I've been doing music so long, I've had different stage names. The my last one was CG the Reverend and I built a TikTok during that time and it did pretty good. I think I'm close to nineteen hundred followers. I mean that's not bad, but it's you know, it's not that great. But I did that by pushing ads and that's a great following I got on there. Like I I posted the other day and it it got a bunch of reactions on it and I hadn't posted on there in like a year or two. So I I'm pretty

Rasan Leathers: Really?

Chris: Yeah, it was it was awesome to see that. And but it was made specifically for music. I mean you should never lose what you've built in this business. Whether it be a song you released, you should always get paid from that song. you know, the Facebook or the the the TikTok, you should always be able to keep that. So nothing then nothing that you do is wasted in this business, you know? it's a pretty cool

Rasan Leathers: Yeah.

Chris: business to know that Everything you do will always be there, you know? So I like that part.

Rasan Leathers: So something before I forget and we're done, and this is what I like to mention for my audience is for parents and guardians, if you've got young kids and they show an interest in music and whether they're singing around the house or they show an interest in playing an instrument, they tell you that they want to, they want to join the band, the choir, whatever it is, help them with that and be the leader, get them what they need so that they can, you know, pursue that passion because Music changes lives and it just does so many things for us that we can't ever as humans count all the the opportunities and just the wonderful things that music does for

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: us. So that's something that's really near and dear to me and I always wanna put that out there for my audience.

Chris: You know, you never know. It's so easy to blow up in this music game. It really is. You know what I mean? Like if you're really, really good, like from an early age, keep in it. Get singing lessons. You know, my son, he's five. we just sang at church the other day. Like he I'm I play guitar and sing at church and he got up there and sang his little heart out. He's only five. So what do you think I'm gonna do? When he's seven or eight, I'm gonna have him

Rasan Leathers: that's awesome.

Chris: in there. Going through singing lessons, going through the hard stuff now. I mean, I went through singing lessons so many times in the past two years, and it's hard when you're an adult. I mean, imagine starting to learn a ride a bicycle at 30. Could you imagine trying to learn

Rasan Leathers: Right.

Chris: a bicycle at 30? Like, it's just insane. So don't wait. Because music

Rasan Leathers: I was gonna ask you if you play any instruments. So you play guitar. Do you

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: play anything else?

Chris: Yeah, I play guitar. I I played the trumpet in high school. that's why I'm so

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: good with singing, that's why I was able to pick it back up because you know, I know how to stay in tune now, you know, since the band and yeah. So I play guitar. I could play really any bass guitar, anything electric, but I kinda just stick to acoustic.

Rasan Leathers: Okay. Is there anything that you would like to play that you would like to learn how

Chris: Piano so bad. I can't even do that at the same time though. You know, that's why I can't play drums 'cause I can't do the feet and the hands and like

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: you know, so piano just that would be so awesome to learn.

Rasan Leathers: Yeah. Yeah, that is one instrument that if I had the opportunity, that's what I would want to play.

Chris: Yeah. I feel like it's easier to write music on a piano too, you know, 'cause so easy to pick up a little melody and it'll be awesome.

Rasan Leathers: Yeah, and just experiment and yeah, see what works. I am trying to find, I have a document. Keep just keep talking. I'm looking for a document real quick. before we wrap up, and I'll ask you just some odd questions.

Chris: So if anybody wants to know, my website is Chris G dot Ltd. and then you can find everything from there. I've got articles and all kinds of stuff. So it's Chris C H R I S G dot L T D.

Rasan Leathers: okay, so some crazy questions I'm gonna ask you and let's see how you answer them. So if you were going to do a karaoke metal tune, which one would you do? What would you want to sing karaoke too?

Chris: Hearts burst into fire. Hearts burst into fire by a bullet from my Valentine, for sure.

Rasan Leathers: Okay. Are yeah. Yeah.

Chris: Have you ever heard of Bullet? Okay.

Rasan Leathers: I didn't get into them a whole lot though. No.

Chris: You didn't? I love that melody. I'm a big melody guy.

Rasan Leathers: Okay, all right. Is Bullet for Valentine your favorite band?

Chris: Yeah, they really are. I love to death. Just just because like I could sit there and get chill bumps for hours and hours listening to their music and I just feel like they're and their mastering is so good you just feel like you're in the sound or if the sound's giving you a giant hug, you know what I mean? It's just great, great music.

Rasan Leathers: Well it sounds like, yeah, definitely a good vibe. if you were going to be playing a horror movie, I guess what horror movie would you want to be a character

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: in?

Chris: man. Like which side? Am I the scary character or the one fighting the the bad guys?

Rasan Leathers: Either either one.

Chris: Either one. Huh. probably a zombie movie. I like to kill some zombies. That'd be pretty cool.

Rasan Leathers: Okay, so you would want to be the person killing zombies?

Chris: Yeah, that'd be pretty cool. Smashing some zombies. I wanted to do a music video like that for real, like zombies attacking you. I feel like that'd be a good music video.

Rasan Leathers: Yeah. were you a fan of The Walking Dead?

Chris: I've watched it a little bit. I just feel like everything after a while gets old, you know. I feel like they they took it on a long time, you know. So I kinda fell off a couple of seasons. I'm not a real TV person.

Rasan Leathers: my God, you're the first person I've heard say that. So I feel the same way. I feel like that just went on and on and on. I was just like,

Chris: On and on.

Rasan Leathers: my, how many times how many fucking fields are we gonna walk through? And how many crickets

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: and bugs are you gonna hear before a zombie comes out? Yeah. It does. Right.

Chris: Yeah. Yeah. How many people are you gonna kill off and bring back? Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: Yeah, and desolated hospitals and stuff are we gonna break into?

Chris: Uh-huh.

Rasan Leathers: Yeah, things like that.

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: Do you have any favorite horror films?

Chris: I love Dead. The newer one.

Rasan Leathers: Which one?

Chris: the evil dead.

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: Yeah, I was back in the day I was a tripper guy. You know, I like to do trippy things, if you know what I mean. And the first time I watched that show I was tripping a little bit too much and that show come on and my butt the the girl I was talking to, she's like, We're fixing to watch this movie and I think it's gonna be scary. And that opening scene where he ripped the book out of the table like that just whew. I put it this way, I've never been able I've never been scared of a scary movie ever again since since doing that watching that movie tripping like that.

Rasan Leathers: No, have you watched it since?

Chris: I ha it's nothing like it was. I kinda ruined my taste.

Rasan Leathers: Okay.

Chris: You know what I mean? Like just that but that one time I watched that movie, it was just like great. I was in it, you know, and yeah. But I'm not a real big T V guy for real. Like I'm always out. Like my job I've I've been in sales for eighteen years and I'm always out on these streets working. I'm hardly ever watching T V.

Rasan Leathers: All right, so you're a hustling, you're a hustler. All right.

Chris: Yeah. Then I get home, it's music time, you know, you gotta have time for music. Cause if you don't, you will get rusty quick. Let seven days pass and you don't touch your guitar or practice your music and see what happens on that next Monday. You're gonna feel like you ain't done music at all. You're gonna be like, I gotta learn it all again.

Rasan Leathers: Not a good feeling.

Chris: Mm mm.

Rasan Leathers: All right. Well, Chris, thanks so much for joining me. It was nice

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: to get to talk to you. You're the first musician that I have had on my show from Alabama.

Chris: Okay. And we have a coincidence, so that's crazy.

Rasan Leathers: And it's crazy. I know that is crazy. You were here just like an hour away from me and would

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: have had no idea. You just

Chris: Mm-hmm.

Rasan Leathers: never know who you're gonna meet. That's what's so cool about this. And this is

Chris: Yeah.

Rasan Leathers: you know one of the main reasons why I do this podcast because I love hearing the stories and you know, just get kind of getting to know the the person behind the music, but you never know how you're gonna connect with one another along the way.

Chris: Yeah. And I have a big following out

Rasan Leathers: Just things you can't make up.

Chris: there too. So when I post this, like people it's probably gonna be people who know you for my following because of my time that I spent in Ohio and in Kentucky. So

Rasan Leathers: Yeah. Yep. And how long ago was that?

Chris: I would I would have to say twenty end of twenty like twenty four, twenty twenty three, twenty twenty four. Give

Rasan Leathers: Okay, so that wasn't too long ago.

Chris: or take. No, what it's kinda been like two years by now, huh? See

Rasan Leathers: Yeah.

Chris: if this yeah, about two years.

Rasan Leathers: All right, sweet. All

Chris: Nope.

Rasan Leathers: right. Well, maybe one of these days you'll be up here in Ohio 'cause you'll be on tour.

Chris: That'd be awesome. I'm looking forward to it.

Rasan Leathers: Yeah. All right. Well, everybody, you heard it here from Chris Garner, or you can find him as Chris G.lt and also his song Next to Me that is out on all streaming platforms. And I'm sure we're going to hear more from you as you've got something else in the works too, a new EP that'll be coming out pretty soon. So Chris

Chris: Yep. Sounds good.

Rasan Leathers: from Alabama, thanks so much for coming on. And everybody, as you know, I always say, keep it loud.

Chris: Thank you.