▼ Music NON- GLAM ROCK O pangs of arranging childcare for a toddler with two full-time working parents. “We just lost our babysitter for the next couple of A months,” he says. He and his band are scheduled for a European tour in June. “It’s like, ‘Oh, God,’” he says, audibly stressed but seem- ingly positive nonetheless. As with all parents in similar mo- ments, the show must go on. “We’ll figure it out,” he says. He talks with us on a rare day off between a month on the road and another gig the next night followed by the band’s East Coast tour the next week. (Despite the physical strain of his job, Fleming is quick to say he hasn’t traded his Chuck Taylors for a pair of clean, comfortable white ‘“dad sneak- ers” just yet, but does use sole inserts.) “[Converse] weren’t made for people who want to go to the gym but still want to be punk,” he says. Fleming’s success with Vandoliers has earned him the ability to check off some bucket list items, like opening for Flogging Molly in March and Turnpike Troubadours earlier BY DIAMOND RODRIGUE n a sunny Sunday afternoon in April, Grady Don Sandlin walks toward the patio of Dan’s Silver- leaf in Denton, forgetting he’s due on stage with country cover band Straight Tequila Night at that exact moment. His kids, 2-year-old Rita and 7-year-old Willie, have kept him and his wife, Jessica, more than a little busy for the first part of the concert. “It’s chaotic being at a show with your kids,” he says. He hears his name called out over the mic and rushes to the stage with a cold Topo Chico in hand to help play two country hits — John Anderson’s “Swingin’” and Dwight Yoakam’s “Guitars, Cadillacs.” In the audience he sees Rita dancing and twirling in front of the venue’s antique jukebox, and Willie, a big fan of his musical father, look- ing on. A stay-at-home dad by day, Sandlin is one of North Texas’ top drummers, having success with both of his bands, Raised Right Men and RTB2, in the country and ga- rage rock circuits for the past several years. But it’s not al- ways easy breezy afternoon shows with the kids at one of his favorite local venues. Playing about 10 to 15 gigs a month these days, he’s had to make sacrifices for his cre- ative career after starting a family. And he’s certainly not the only one. Plenty of local parent musicians attest to the struggles of making their demanding careers possible when Baby makes three (or four, or…). KEEPING TIME few minutes before speaking with us about his own experience as a musician father, Vandoliers front- man Josh Fleming experiences one of the many Kathy Tran this month. But with all the excitement of this long-awaited stardom — about seven years in the making — comes the re- ality that calling in sick, so to speak, isn’t an option (well, be- sides a positive COVID-19 test, he says). So he soaks up all the time he can when he’s home with his 17-month-old daughter Ruby and wife Lindsey. “I think between the band and the team there’s, like, 20 people relying on me for income. So [canceling a show] isn’t an option anymore.” But anyone who’s passionate about what they’re doing doesn’t always need a big team of people around them to stay disciplined and on schedule. After three pregnancies in six years (one being a surrogacy) Angel Weaver has started and stopped pursuing her musical ambitions multiple times because of the restraints of motherhood, so she knows the hardships of trying to create a musical career with very little free time. While caring for her daughters, 6-year-old Vera and 3-year-old Faye, she’s faced unique challenges in a field Grady Don Sandlin juggles being a dad with being a drummer in North Texas. that often dismisses her particular situation. “It was hard to have a band as a woman, as a mom, be- cause when we had practices, I’d have to wear the baby or I’d have to get a babysitter,” Weaver says. “If [my husband] had band practice, I’d just be at home with the kids.” Weaver’s husband, Dave, is also a musician. Weaver decided to start the indie soul pop band Bereah about 7 years ago, when she was pregnant with Vera. And a few years later, when Faye was about 3 months old, the band was finally able to start working in the studio. Weaver recalls breastfeeding Faye during practices while singing, and had to meticulously carve out time over the past two years to re- cord the upcoming album, This Joy Is Hard to Hold, due out June 24 — Weaver’s 35th birthday, a milestone she purpose- fully set to keep her on track. That meant including >> p18 Parents in music share the joy and struggle of raising kids — and hell onstage. 17 17 dallasobserver.comdallasobserver.com | CONTENTS | UNFAIR PARK | SCHUT |ZE | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | MOVIES | DISH | MUSIC | CLASSIFIED | CLASSIFIED | MUSIC DISH | CULTURE | UNFAIR PARK | CONTENTS DALLAS OBSERVER DALLAS OBSERVER MONTH XX–MONTH XX, 2014 APRIL 28–MAY 4, 2022
