Soul Rockers Judge Jackson Returns With Chapter One 1995 Thru 2000 Todd McTavish
Valley of Fire Records released "Judge Jackson: Chapter One," marking the 10th anniversary of the passing of guitarist and co-founder Lee Jackson. This release commemorates the beginnings of the band's history and the vibrant stories from the creatively rich compound known as The Junkyard in North Hollywood, CA. Additionally, the lyric video for the song "Knucklehead" was unveiled on the same day.Long before their music featured in a Super Bowl, NASCAR race, and collaborations with an Oscar winner (notably, Billy Bob Thornton), Judge Jackson established themselves as the soundtrack to many people's lives. The origins of Judge Jackson date back to 1995, when vocalist and lyricist Todd McTavish, who had moved from Canada where he once played in a band with Shania Twain as a backup vocalist, partnered with guitarist and songwriter Lee Jackson in Los Angeles. Together with bassist Ryan Rogers and drummer Chris Pendleton, they diligently performed in the local club circuit, gradually cultivating a devoted local following. By 1998, the band released its debut album, followed shortly by a second CD, titled "8068."The initial CD releases have been out of print for years; however, these 18 songs are now being re-released digitally in 2026. The tracks have been remastered by producer Tim Narducci for Valley of Fire Records, with the first release being the fan favorite and bike rally anthem, “Knucklehead,” on January 1, 2026, coinciding with the 5th anniversary of Valley of Fire Records. This remastered collection features 18 songs that are now available on all digital and streaming platforms. We invite you to join us in celebrating the life and music of Lee Jackson.
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-view-from-the-writing-instrument--1023245/support.
Speaker 1: I don't know about you, but when I watch TV,
I've got to have a selection. I'll go all over Hulu, Netflix,
wherever my little fingertiple go, Disney plus Paramount all the
way up to what whatever's been invented this week? Yeah,
that's what I do. So why isn't listening the same way?
That's what ero dot net is all about. It is
a network, a r r OE dot net, twenty different choices.
Just keep on exploring. Hello, and good afternoon. How are
you doing today?
Speaker 2: Good?
Speaker 3: It's Arrow. It's Todd from Judge Jackson Colin and how.
Speaker 1: Are I look at you? Todd? Listen to that energy
you've got too?
Speaker 3: My god, justin it's my first cup of coffee in
the morning. We're ready to go.
Speaker 1: Well, I'll tell you what you And so is this
where you pull that energy from? From all your songs?
And the reason why I say that is because you
guys do have an energy about you. And I've always
wondered where where are they pulling from in order to
make it happen?
Speaker 3: Life?
Speaker 2: Oh, life in general. And I think life is what
you make it. And if you want to make it
energetic and vibrant, that's what you're drawn from every day
as a writer.
Speaker 3: That's what I'm drawn from every day.
Speaker 1: Well, see, that's That's the thing I like about being
a writer is that if you really do sit back,
there's a lot to be entertained by. And it doesn't
mean turning on your flat screen TV. Life has it
like the entertainment right there in front of you.
Speaker 3: Everything's right there in front of you.
Speaker 2: It's all about the individual if they want to jump
on that wave and grab it or not. And as
a writer, you know there's songs, there's melodies in the
air and the wind. You just have to hear it
properly so you can tap into it properly.
Speaker 3: So deep what I've always said.
Speaker 1: Do you hear it as well? Because I'll be sitting
here in this forest and I swear to God I'm
hearing things, and I'll turn everything down. I'm going, what
am I hearing? And then you can still hear it.
But if you go outside you can't hear it. I
don't get it.
Speaker 2: Sometimes silence is deafening, Like sometimes you just need to
tap into that energy.
Speaker 3: I've always said that like songs.
Speaker 2: That I've written, and I've written hundreds, if not thousands
at this point they write themselves. It's just you as
a trans you know, it's there. You're just translated, so
everybody else can actually hear it.
Speaker 3: That's how I've always said. But yeah, it's all out there.
You just got to learn how to tap into it
if you want to.
Speaker 1: So, yeah, when you're translating it, I mean you're also
bringing in to me another member of the band that
is almost invisible. If people are just you know, just
discovering you, and that's the Junkyard. Is that not part
of your energy and your process of growing forward because
it's a character, is what it is.
Speaker 2: Oh, without a doubt, the Junkyard had a huge influence
on Judge Jackson and especially in our earlier records that
we did, just the energy that the place had. We
lived there, the guitar player and I actually lived there.
We rehearsed there, we wrote there. The people that you know,
it was one of those places in the neighborhood where
everybody would come and hang out. It was a place
where after we did shows in La everybody would come
to the Junkyard after the show and have an after party.
Speaker 3: It was that place.
Speaker 2: And so yeah, we just learned to tap into it
and write what we were living. A lot of our
work is just right in front of us, what we
were living, what we were experiencing that point in our lives.
And we were lucky that we found each other as
a band and we were able to document it, tap
into it, record it, and all these years later we're
talking about it and able to play those songs and
relive those, you know, beautiful innocent moments in one's past.
Speaker 3: They always look back at and go the good old days.
Speaker 2: So that's really the Junkyard years Really were those good
old days to me and to us that were involved
in the in the situation at the time.
Speaker 3: So it was a beautiful time.
Speaker 1: Well, it proves that Laurel Canyon isn't the only collaboration place.
I mean, that's the thing about it is that you're
unveiling area where people can now go on to Google,
they can go on to any place and realize Laurel Kenyon. Yeah,
they had their moment, but you guys at the Junkyard
had your moment as well.
Speaker 3: We're one of many that had that moment on Laurel Canyon.
Speaker 2: You go back into the sixties with the doors with
a lot of those bands. You'll see the reference to
Laurel Canyon Boulevard. Our address was eighty sixty eight Laurel
Canyon Boulevard. We were there, you know, And so it
was just by Fluke quite honestly, but proud and pre
to say we were part of that era, or not
quite the era. We came along back in ninety five,
so after the sixties and seventies obviously, but still that
energy is there to this day. Whatever that energy is,
you know, it's intoxicating for sure.
Speaker 1: What I've got to ask you if you knew my dad,
and the reason why is because your song is called Knucklehead.
I just thought that was my dad's were knucklehead.
Speaker 3: Yeah. I know a lot of dads that are nicknamed knucklehead. Yeah. Knucklehead.
Speaker 2: It was born from a brother of mine, of a
motorcyclist that he used to ride his Harley Davidson into
his living room where he would.
Speaker 3: Keep it at night.
Speaker 2: And one day I was in his house hanging out
and his upstairs was decked out with trees and plants
and a real big garden he had going on. And
I remember stretched out on the couch and you know,
arms on the back of the couch and he goes,
have you ever met my pet Knucklehead. I'm thinking what,
And I look behind me and there's a four foot
iguana stretched out on a tree limp, and he goes,
that's my iguana named Knucklehead. So, after I got over
the shot of this huge alligator lizard that was actually
just lounging behind me, I asked, that's a pretty interesting name,
and he goes, well, if you know anything about motorcycles,
it's it's and basically from a Harley Davidson. The Knucklehead
block was one of the first engines from Harley Davidson.
And he goes, and if you know anything about Harley
David's the motorcycles, it's more than a motorcycle, it's a
way of life. And that was where the name Knucklehead
came from. The next day, I actually rented a video
called Hell's Angels Forever, a documentary, and I think it
was like the New York based chapter of the Hell's Angels,
and I watched that and Knucklehead came from that. Writing
a song about kind of the brotherhood of the motorcycle community,
you know, the club Knucklehead, And so it's really a
complementary term. It's not looking at someone derogatorily speaking, but
more of a totally looking up and go we are knuckleheads, like,
we are of that nature and we are.
Speaker 3: Of that brotherhood. And if you get it, you get it.
Speaker 2: Wow.
Speaker 3: So that's really where it comes from. Yeah, it's that whole.
Speaker 1: See this proves that you are a writer of all times.
Now are you using an inkpen like I do? Or
are you sitting there and you're putting it inside the smartphone?
How are you saving your lyrics or your ideas even
if it's scatt.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good question. I mean I always write with a pen,
you know what I mean. At the end of the day,
I'm always writing a notebook. I got dozens of notebooks,
you know, just full of ideas, lyrics. Sometimes now with
the use of these iPhones and whatnot, I'll have a recording,
you know, app on there. And so if I'm trucking
down the road and I come up with a melody,
I'll document that melody real quickly. Bo I always referred
to it and then fill in the words so as
I write them at home and then you know, somehow
memorize them into the head. But yeah, I'm old school, buddy.
I'm old school when it comes to the writing as
far as that goes.
Speaker 1: Well. See, I always sit there and wonder what would
Mark Twain do or what would Hank William Senior do
in a situation like this if they had our technology today,
how would it have changed their plan?
Speaker 2: I think they still would have been them. I think
you're still coming from that place of you. You know
only you, are you right, So I think you're going
to do it. But I also think that if they
were exposed to the technology we have today, they would
certainly explore it.
Speaker 3: They would certainly be curious enough to go hold.
Speaker 2: I mean, I think anybody you have to be open
to what's going on. So even though I'm old school,
I certainly still look at the new technology and explore
it and go what can this well, how can.
Speaker 3: I utilist utilize this positively? Without seeding to a certain degree.
Speaker 2: But you know, you're certainly wanting to stay up on
you know, up on it and see what's going on.
And I mean, you know, I can talk shit about
technology all day long, but at the same time it's
amazing at the same time what it has brought and
the accessibility that it creates.
Speaker 3: For any you know, any writer, or anybody in any
kind of profession. Quite honestly, so it is. It is
interesting technology.
Speaker 2: But I think at the end of the day, those
core ideas come from you, come from your soul, come
from your take on whatever you're seeing, whatever you're experiencing,
and how you documented it comfortably is all up to you,
the individual.
Speaker 3: There's no real wrong way to do it. I think
the only wrong way to do it is not to
do it.
Speaker 1: Hey, please don't move. We'll be right back with Todd mccabash.
Coming up next with Judge Jackson. Judge Jackson is releasing
their music. The first one is Chapter One, nineteen ninety
five to two thousand. We are back with the one
and only Todd McTavish. You said soul right away, I'm going,
oh my god. He's talking about the opening intro of
that song Knucklehead, because it's got so much soul in it.
Oh my god. And then you jump into some serious
kicking ass on it and it's like, my god, he
shifted gears and boom, he was gone.
Speaker 3: Once we get out of the driveway down the road,
let's get it, you know what I mean? So yeah,
that's what it was always about for us.
Speaker 2: I mean I always kind of looked at it, like
when people asked me what Judge Jackson was or is
at the time, I always said, it's like taking led
Zeppelin guns in the attitude of guns n' rolls is
the soul of a Leonard skinnerd If they were all
on their tour buses and crashed at an intersection, Judge Jason.
Speaker 3: Rolled out of the rubble. That's kind of how when
I looked at it.
Speaker 2: But all three of those kind of kickass acts that
certainly tap into the soul at the same time, but
a little chip on your shoulder at the same time.
But honesty as well, and that was what was always
important to document that honesty with our lives and with
what's going on.
Speaker 1: Well, this current project has got to be an open
door for future generations when it comes to sound, because
I mean, what you're doing, even though they're going to
be discovering it for the very first time, it's new
music to them. But there are people that have been
around with you guys. Nineteen ninety five to two thousand
is what chapter one is. But it's still it's if
I go out there and I buy that brand new album.
It's new music to me. I may know it, but
it's brand new music to me.
Speaker 3: Oh absolutely.
Speaker 2: And I get a kick out of the people that
were with us at the time. I've always been That's
one thing about fans, as you know, once a fan,
always a fan.
Speaker 3: They're always with you.
Speaker 2: They're always when I run into they're always asking me
what am I up to? Hopefully you're still doing something,
and I am. I've you know, took a little time
off there after the guitar player passed away unfortunately, and
just kind of clamped the palette. But I realized something
wasn't right, and what wasn't right about me was stopped
playing music. And once I started tapping back into that again,
the soul started coming to life again. And I'm off
and running as far as that goes, and working on
two new albums in two different situations. That are you know,
if you love Judge Jackson, you're gonna love this stuff
by Todd McTavish and my other band called Tunstall's Ranch,
which are going to be both putting out albums towards
the end of the year.
Speaker 3: But yeah, I.
Speaker 2: Mean it's new to all these new people that are
hearing it going, this is kick ass you. When they
find out we put it out in the nineties, they're
always like, what the fuck where was I? And it
was like, hey man, things come around. You hear it
when you hear it, you know. And the fact that
we're talking about this right now in twenty twenty six,
it puts a smile on my face. It makes me
chuckle about that chapter of my life. It was a
lifetime and goal for us older guys, it was like
that happened, but yeah, it did happen. And that's the
beauty about having these songs.
Speaker 3: They're still there. You know that I'm in our life.
Speaker 2: That timestamp is there on the record and it somehow survived,
and that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1: I just wish listeners understood that there was a lot
of music out there during that time period that radio
wasn't playing. That's to me, that's when radio got really
super political, and then being a jock on the air,
we got to go digging for it, but we couldn't
play it. But now that you guys are releasing this
and radio is starving for more attention for stuff like this,
I'm not going to be shocked if they don't pull
themselves a lot closer to you this time around.
Speaker 2: I mean, you know, you're a as a writer, as
a musician, you're always hoping. So yeah, but I think
a lot of the time, like the time frame we
came out, as you know, the technological side of things
was happening, there was this shift I think in music
to timing is everything with a band, Like I look
at the Beatles when they came out. I've heard Paul
mccartny say that timing was everything. Elvis Presley when he
came out, time I came out was everything. It was
a perfect time. I think when we came out with
what we were doing was not a perfect time. And
even though we did it and had our own success
on our own measuring stick of scale, you know, we
did it, but I think timing was certainly against us
looking back in retrospect.
Speaker 3: But still again, you're going to be yourself.
Speaker 2: We were never the kind of guys to try and
jump on a trend or change what we were doing.
We were going to do who we were and that's
what we were, make it or break it or not.
We weren't going to change who we were, and that's
kind of I take pride in that, maybe that stubbornness,
but at the same time, that's the honesty of writing.
Speaker 3: We were never writing for anybody. We were writing for ourselves.
Speaker 2: If anybody liked it, great, but if they didn't, We're
still going to write it.
Speaker 3: You know. We were still being ourselves.
Speaker 1: So well, I thought you can do with that Canadian
blood inside your guys' rooting system. I mean, the thing
about it is Zilla said, you know, I was up
in Montana and I know how much we wanted to
play the Canadian music. I just feel like that you
guys were just it was like I wanted more like
like the group Sheriff. When I'm with you. It was
released at the wrong time, and I feel the same
way about you guys. It was released at the wrong time.
It's because we were ignoring that that style at that
time and we shouldn't be. And that's what I love
about this is that you guys are moving into a whole, whole,
entire area that's been there, but we haven't seen it
until now.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we're fortunate that it is coming around again in
a capacity and you know, here to like rock it
out here, to like get out there and do some shows.
I mean, it's it's still breeding. That monster never went away,
so to speak. It's still alive. We tried to bury it,
but we couldn't and we wouldn't, so we didn't. And
here we are.
Speaker 1: I mean, eighteen songs that reintroduce everybody in there.
Speaker 2: Me.
Speaker 1: So what was that journey like for you to step
back in there? Because there are times I'll go into
my own little catalog and I go, I don't know,
you know, and then you become the perfectionists because you
want to go in there and you want to add
something to it or you want to take it away.
How do you keep your hands off stuff like that?
Speaker 2: That's certainly human nature with any artist, you know, you're
always gonna want to tinker with things. But I think
in this capacity, JJ Garcia had a lot to do
with spearheading this project for us. It was the drummer
for Judge Jackson, and you know, he kind of just
would talk to me about what was happening or whatnot,
and to a certain degree, I stayed out of it.
I let them remaster it, I let them like kind
of brighten it up a little bit, because at the
same time, yeah, my attitude was we did that. It
is what it is. Let it be like, put it
out there, brighten it up. But I'm not going to
reinvent the way. I'm not going to retinker with it.
Let's keep it the way it was. That's what made
it special. That's what it is. And let's just put
it out there and let it shine.
Speaker 3: Let's do a thing. You know. Whatever it does, it does.
Speaker 1: So are you going to take it out on the road?
Are you gonna have to because you're gonna have to
reteach yourself, are you not?
Speaker 3: Ah?
Speaker 2: You know what, probably not, because as far as reteaching myself,
I can hear these tunes to this day and I
find myself singing along going I never forgot the lyrics,
like I never like it. It'll come back to me
in two seconds, going, oh yeah. And I think a
lot of it is. When I hear some of these
songs we did so long ago, it always brings a
smile to my face. It's it's every song had its
own unique memory in a time that takes me back
to that time.
Speaker 3: And I don't have any regrets, you know, so I
don't look, I can go I wish we never did
that and The only regret I've ever had arrow is
the things that I didn't do.
Speaker 2: Yes, you know, as long as I did them, whether
it passed or failed, that was kind of always secondary
to me.
Speaker 3: It's just follow it through, you know.
Speaker 2: But the biggest regret is having these ideas and then
not doing anything about them. That's a regret. So I
don't have any regrets about any of these songs. It
makes me happy to sing along. And there is a
serious possibility we might put something together and take it
on the road. I mean, we haven't gotten too far
into that at this point, but like I said, I'm
working with a couple of projects.
Speaker 3: Another member of Judge Jackson is.
Speaker 2: Involved in one of them, Wow, And we're open to anything,
any opportunities that come out. You know, if we're going
to obviously explore them, and you know, someone says we'd
like you to do a show, I would say, don't
you threaten me with a good time? Power where and when?
So that's generally my attitude when it comes to playing music.
Speaker 1: Well, it's very inspiring to me to see that you
that you've got two other projects growing with this, and
the reason why is because I believe that creativity is
every day and that if you are not paying attention
to it, it'll turn on you, it'll go screw you.
I'm out of here.
Speaker 3: Yep.
Speaker 2: No creativity always is there in front of you. And
I feel like I'm a happier camper when I'm tapping
into that. And for me, I found myself writing songs
like that made me happy. Whatever that outlet was.
Speaker 3: I mean, I probably saved thousands of dollars in therapy sessions,
but I just wanted to how to write songs.
Speaker 2: So you know, you just always are I writer writes,
but that's how I look at it. So I mean
I just continue to write, and all of a sudden
I had hundreds more new songs and I said, man,
I gotta start recording again.
Speaker 3: Let's let's get back to work here. Well, it's just
a whole process makes me happy.
Speaker 1: Don't you believe that you're rising to the top. I
mean they always say that cream rises to the top.
And it's one of those situations that we're going into
this this chat GPT grow kind of thing where everybody
is going to them for song lyrics and I just
think it's candy coded and and so to hear your
music coming out here. Even though it came out in
ninety five, it's still it's present, it's real, it's going
on now, and you can feel the humanism about it.
Speaker 3: And yeah, no doubt.
Speaker 2: And I hear some of that artificial intelligence created music.
I mean, it's amazing what AI can do in the
recording process, there's no doubt about it. But when you
just let it create it, you hear the lyrics and
it's just so cliche. It's you recognize, that's not real.
That's not a human writing that.
Speaker 3: And I heard this guy say this years ago, and
I always liked it.
Speaker 2: He goes, you know, we talked about like drum machines,
and he goes, the one thing about a drum machine.
It's good, it's perfect, but it doesn't have soul as
a human would have. And I like the soul of people,
and I like the soul. If you're going to write something,
you write it. Don't let a computer write it. I mean,
that's that's cheating in my opinion, Like you need to
write it, you need to figure out what the riff is.
You can utilize it in a recording capability for sure,
as a tool, But I think still the heart of it,
and the soul of it needs to come from you,
whoever you are.
Speaker 1: Yeah see, I'm that old guy that grew up with
the tape and when we get those pancakes and stuff
in there, and then all of a sudden we went
into that digital world and it was pro tools, and
and I thought, oh my god, we're cheating. We're cheating.
This is not real. You do what you got to
plug in on that? Oh my god, now we're really cheating.
Oh this is we're lying to our people. Did you
go through that too, me, because I mean you're right
there in the center of that era.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, I mean our third record, this producer came
to us and said, we're not going to record on tape.
We're not going to do an analog. We're going to
use this thing called pro tools. I'll never forget. And
I was like, well, what's that. Well, you know, when
he starts getting into it, we all kind of looked
at each other like a I don't know, I remember
him saying, Chris Cornell or Soundgarden just did a record
on profools.
Speaker 3: Like he kind of sold us with that idea.
Speaker 2: But that was the beginning that where we're going back to,
like two thousand and two, two thousand and three here.
But I just remember thinking, Ah, but then that's you know,
as things evolved, it's the new way. I mean, people
do use tape to this degree, but it's such a
smaller percentage because it's just not around. It's not as
accessible as the computer, the pro tools, the garage bands,
whatever you know, happy you're using, or whatever technology branch
you're jumping off of.
Speaker 3: That's just where it's at. So again, I think that
is what it is.
Speaker 2: I think the creativity needs to come from your soul,
but I think the recording aspect has evolved to what
it is that it's just so predominantly there that you're
going to tap into a one way or the other
to help move it along.
Speaker 1: God, I remember this. I remember going up to Reliable
Music here in Charlotte and getting pancake, and the thing
about it is they had to put a limit on
me because they said, you got to share it. This
is not just for you. And and I remember that
conversation I had with him because I was buying everything,
because I was putting my radio shows on it, I
was doing all these different things because I believe that
that was the answer.
Speaker 3: Right, Yeah, I mean, and I'm with you. I believe
it is the answer.
Speaker 2: But at the same time, there's got to be some limitations,
you know, And if you can't put those limitations on
it to a certain degree, it's good to have other
people that lean over your shoulder and say that's.
Speaker 1: Enough, doing too much, doing too much? Where can people
go to find out more about everything you're doing from
Knucklehead all the way up to your other two projects.
Speaker 3: Yeah, certainly punch in Judge Jackson.
Speaker 2: YouTube going to have a lot of stuff that pops
up Judge Jackson. The band my name is Todd McTavish,
and I'm starting to get all that development foundation with
what's going to come out or whatnot. The other band
I'm in is called Tunstall's Ranch and real soon towards
the end of the year debut album we'll be knocking down.
Speaker 3: And if you like anything to do with Judge.
Speaker 2: You're gonna love anything to do with Todd McTavish or
Tunstall's Ranch.
Speaker 3: Stay tuned. But in the meantime you had Judge Jackson.
Speaker 1: So what is it about tunstalll that's really rocking my
world right now? Because I almost feel like that I
know that word, but I don't know that word. And
where did you pull that from? Because I should row it?
Speaker 3: Good question. You probably do. You just don't. You're just
not aware of it. But I will refresh you.
Speaker 2: I was the one that named the band, and I
wanted to give it a kind of a Southern Americana feel.
And there was this story, true story that happened back
in the late eighteen seventies in New Mexico, and there
was a guy named John Tunstall and he had a
ranch and he was working it, and there was other
ranches in the area that did not like John Tonstall
because they felt like he was too competitive. They're taking
away from what they had going on. In retrospect, that
was not the case at all. But one day, with
his cowboys, with his employees, he was rolling in town
and those other ranches kind of came up on him
and murdered him. So a couple of cowboys that were
with him saw what had happened, went to the justice
in the area, told them what had happened. The justice
really never did anything, and so they started taking matters
into their own hands because they loved John. He gave
them a place of employment. She was a great man,
as it turns out, a great employer, a brother, a
father figure, and they wanted justice for their boss, so
they kind of went about getting it. One of those
kids that was there that day was a guy named
William Bonnie and the world knows him as Billy the Kid, and.
Speaker 3: They all worked that ranch. So there's there's a connection.
Speaker 1: That's it. God, dude, You've got to come back to
this show anytime in the future. The door is always
going to be open for you.
Speaker 2: I appreciate talking to you today, and I appreciate she
ate us talking about music with Yarrow.
Speaker 1: Will you be brilliant today?
Speaker 2: Okay, Okay, you as well, my friends, you as well.
Speaker 3: I can't wait to meet you in person one of
these days down the road, I hope.
Speaker 1: Okay, come on down to Carolina. It's wide open down here, dude.
We do music in grocery stores down here. That's in
God's honest truth.
Speaker 2: I love it out there, and we'll make a point
of getting out there, hopefully sooner than later.
Speaker 1: My friend Hexhallan, thank you so much.