Transcript
Speaker: on zencastr Hello and welcome to Rest and Recreation, the work-life balance podcast from Abysida. I'm your host, Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abysida.
Speaker: Today, I am finding out what rock and roll musician and composer CJ Sharman does for rest and recreation. As the jingle at the start of this podcast says, rest and recreation is made on Zencastr.
Speaker: Zencastr is the all-in-one podcasting platform that really does make every stage of the podcast production process so easy. If you would like to try podcasting using Zencastr, use the link in the description.
Speaker: It has a built-in discount. Now that I have told you how wonderful Zencaster is for making podcasts, we should make one. One that will be well worth listening to, liking, downloading and subscribing to.
Speaker: We won't be telling you what to think, but we are hoping to make you think. Today's rest and recreation guest is CJ Sharman. In July 2025, CJ was described by the Wall Street Times as the rock outlaw ready to ignite the music scene.
Speaker: The journalist Nick Abbe-Leon described CJ as being from the windswept deserts of Arizona to the neon lights of Las Vegas. CJ Sharman has carved a path as a dynamic rock artist.
Speaker: He fuses the raw energy of country rhythms with the electrifying pulse of rock and roll. I have listened and I agree with young Nick. I have never actually travelled to Arizona or to Las Vegas though.
Speaker: But if I do get to go, i will make my travel arrangements with the Ultimate Travel Club. because that is where I can get trade prices on flights, hotels, trains, holidays, and all sorts of other travel-related purchases.
Speaker: You can also access those trade prices by joining the Ultimate Travel Club. There is a link with a discount built in in the description. Now that I have paid some bills, it is time to make an episode of Rest and Recreation, and I am really excited to be able to say, Hello, CJ Sharman.
Speaker: Well, hello, Michael. Greetings, everybody. How are you today? It's my pleasure to be here with you. I'm doing fabulous. It's really great to have you here. ah wanted to start our conversation, please, by just to explore what has been your musical journey that ended up with newspapers being able to describe you as the the rock outlaw on the verge of the big time.
Speaker: Well, my story starts in a little town called Chino Valley, Arizona, where I grew up in a and a family of seven children on a little hobby farm with horses and cows and pigs and goats and ducks and chickens and dogs. So I grew up ah pretty wild and free, barefoot, playing around. Every day we had a large property.
Speaker: My imagination ran pretty wild as a child. My mother and father were very much into music, especially country music and like, old classic rock from like the 50s and 60s. But the first influences in my life musically were ah Elvis Presley and Johnny Cash and especially Elvis Presley. So from a very young age, I was very much into Elvis and emulating him and slicking my hair back and trying to grow out sideburns and riding my bike around pretending I was on a horse or a motorcycle like I was Elvis, you know, acting out movie roles and all those kinds of things. So
Speaker: That's pretty much how I got my start into wanting to become a musician and wanting to be someone that the world could see and be inspired by. So that definitely started with me from a very young age. So definitely I've always got the feeling throughout my life that it was my destiny to do these types of things for sure.
Speaker: And how did you finesse your style and the influences? Because listening to the music, there's an awful lot of influences in the music beyond Elvis and Johnny Cash and and country music. There's all sorts of things like The Clash and Billy Idol and ZZ Top and Heart and all sorts of various different types. How did all of that come about when you're on a farm and most of the music is country music?
Speaker: Absolutely. it's That's a very good question. And ah so the town I'm from is ah very unique, interesting town. Like there's a there's a lot of history there and a lot of depth and a lot of, I guess, spiritual, mysterious energy, I would say something in the water, maybe is how you would describe it. So though it was a a very small rural town. Being on the West Coast in Arizona, you're always going to have the influence of being close to LA. And in the 80s, when I was growing up as a as a young child, the the skateboarding scene was very popular. And I had an older brother and he was very into skateboarding and punk rock.
Speaker: That's probably where the the rock and the rebellion influence first hit me was because of him. And then ah the big town nearest Prescott had, you know, had a mall and all those kinds of things with the music store. So you could go to the mall and you could see, you know, growing up in the eighties, the cool, unique style that everyone wore in the eighties. And our, our town though, it was kind of a,
Speaker: rural and backwards and out of the way, there was we were pretty cool. There was some cool people in our area that I definitely got to see as a small child that that influenced me and and wanted me to to emulate that and dress up and in styles and fashion that were more like influenced by the West Coast and California than than just being stuck in a little in a little country town. So my brother was very much into Metallica and ZZ Top and Pantera and ACDC and those kind of bands. So he was 10 years older than me, so he could already drive.
Speaker: I would ride around with him and listen to that music and just just thought it was so cool. And it almost like gave you that feeling that you're being bad or naughty or that you're going to get in trouble if mom and dad find out that you're listening to this kind of music. So it was exciting. You know what I mean? Made that the hair on your arm stand up. So I i really like that. and the The band, though, that really like just blew me away and knocked me on my ass and made my chin drop to the floor was The Doors.
Speaker: When I first heard Jim Morrison and The Doors, it changed my life so much. Wow, like this is my music right here. This speaks to my soul. This speaks to my heart, to my whole being. and So Jim Morrison was someone that I definitely took a big influence from when I was in high school. You know, i tried to walk, talk and act like him and in his persona and following his footsteps of, you know, experimenting with drugs and psychedelics and poetry and all those things. And, know,
Speaker: I have to say that I definitely was not very good when I first started out at music and poetry and writing and those things. It took me a while to really unlock those gifts that I had. they' always in I definitely was born with them, but I feel like I was cloaked with a lot of adversity.
Speaker: God really wanted me to have to dig deep to find my gifts. And in that battle of digging deep made me really strong and And better than I would have been if it just came really easy to me. So in the moments where it seemed hard and difficult, I definitely didn't appreciate it. But now that I'm at this point, I definitely appreciate my long, grueling journey to get to where I'm at.
Speaker: yeah If you haven't had some sort of hardship, some sort of setbacks, then you don't actually develop the the inner grit in order to be able to express things in in music. Thinking about lots of people like Bruce Springsteen, they're talking about the problems in life, Bob Dylan, The Doors, Jim Davis, all those.
Speaker: It's all talking about overcoming the adversaries that you have in life. Absolutely, I agree. I don't think you can be an artist with much depth or something really to say unless you've really lived a life of experience. Like when you think of like Woody Guthrie, the ah famous American folk musician, like, you know, he left home and hopped on a train and the depression area era went to all these like yeah fruit picking and work camps on the West coast and through the Midwest and saw the hardships and the hard work that people were going through. And it inspired him to write all these, these great meaningful songs of the heart of,
Speaker: of America. And, uh, I definitely grew up in a nice home with a good caring family, but you know, I butted heads with them a lot cause I was very rebellious and had a fire inside of me that,
Speaker: It was unrecognizable to them, so they didn't really know how to handle me at times, but they were definitely good people that were always trying to do the right thing. So I come from from good roots.
Speaker: yeah I would describe myself as a ah someone who would always be called kind of like a pretty boy or whatever. You know, I like to dress nice. I like to have my hair cool. fashion and style and those things have always been important to me like I said from a very young age trying to emulate Elvis so at school I would get picked on a lot and called you know gay or dumb or whatever and get people would just want to fight me for no reason or push me down or rip my clothes or step on my new shoes and those kind of things to try to get get to me so i dealt with a lot of bowling when I was younger but uh when I got into high school all of that really changed and I sort of
Speaker: became, ah guess you would say, kind of the the the most famous guy at my high school, like the the most intriguing guy, like every I definitely rustled people's feathers, like, you know, me and my friend friends ran in the rebellious punk rock crowd. But, you know, some of the the girls that were like the popular girls and the and the cheerleader girls, you know, those girls all kind of had crushes on me in this way, which they weren't supposed to. Like, you know, in our little town, you had to stay in your groups.
Speaker: So when I would cross those boundaries that definitely would confuse people and rustle their feathers. So it was fun, but also like, you know, trying when you're young, you're very sensitive. So you don't always have the right coping mechanisms to get through things.
Speaker: Yes. It takes a lot of experience to learn that the problems you had years ago aren't really that big a problem. It's just you didn't have the experience to deal with it. But crossing boundaries is something that I think in the music is you do really well because there is this rock and roll, the Elvis, the Johnny Cash, the new wave and the punk and the heavy metal type of influence, but you're from Arizona and that's country music and that country music influence also comes through because your melodies are really strong and the lyrics, you know, there's a ah good combination of of the different genres to make, create something that is, is recognizably rock and roll, but also and very much you. Absolutely. Thank you so much. And that's what I really set out to do, honestly, just without,
Speaker: Is there a way to say that it just comes naturally? And I was trying for that at the same time, I guess, is what you could say, because I you know, this is just who I am and I want to be authentic to myself. And that's why, you know, I choose to be a solo artist.
Speaker: I've been in several bands and when you're in a band, you have to work with other people and you all have to sort of like have a common denominator. And I'm so different and my influences are so vast and I want to bring all of those influences to the table and make something really unique that is actually will make be a little something for everyone. Like I want to entertain everyone. I don't want to just like appease heavy metal fans. I don't want to just appease hard rock fans. I don't want to just appease country fans. I want to appease everybody and make a music that literally like all across the board, like you just can't deny that you like it and that it's good and that you can listen to it regardless of what your favorite genre is. You're going to like CJ Shaman because he literally blends it all. But but in a very authentic way, that's like, you know,
Speaker: You'll see artists sometimes try to switch genres almost to like hop on a bandwagon or something. And, you know, this is just who I am. Like, I love country music. I love rock and roll. I love punk rock. I love new wave. I love all the silly, quirky, fun, electronic stuff from the 80s and stuff like that. I just I love music and I love it all and I vibe with it all. So, you know, nothing's to stop me from doing it all if that's what I want to do. You know what i mean?
Speaker: Yes, I do. And I've seen as well, you have to say that although you're a solo artist, you've been clever enough to surround yourself with some really good musicians as well.
Speaker: That comes across in just like hearing them play. And some of the um so like things on youtube where you're just impromptu on a tour bus or at home playing music that talent comes across from the the guitarists that you've got for example and one of those and that i love i love it so much it's such a great version but you do ricky martin's living la vida loca It's fantastic version. I've always loved that song when it first came out, whatever that was, 20, 25 years ago. I can't even remember now, but it's just such a great song. And even though it's like, you know, has the stigma of being like a like a pop song or whatever, like, man, it's just such a good song. And the way I break it down is is pure rock and roll. You know what I mean?
Speaker: Almost has like a dark. like a dark rockabilly western vibe to it in this one way, like with, you know, the Spanish sounding guitars, it definitely conjures up ah trip to a trip to Mexico to ah some cantina with ah something maybe various going on in the back.
Speaker: Yeah, the emotion of the way in which you sing it, the way in which you perform it, live it really, takes the poppiness out of the lyrics in lots of ways and actually puts the emotion of this is this man born in love with this woman, but like this woman is going to make you crazy, really comes across in the way that you deliver it. that you and one guitar, the emotion of the lyrics comes across really well. I think it's great.
Speaker: The Spanish influence, because you're from like ah one of the Spanish states, Arizona, and you know in a world that is becoming more and more separated in lots of ways, the the way in which you bring that that Latino influence into your music as well is... is it's it's part of you so like you're from ah place with they latino community and that influence is integrated into your music as well and uh thank you for saying that you actually gave me goosebumps yeah like uh you know the main thing i'm trying to do with my music is is unite people under under that we're all human beings underneath whatever skin our skin color it is however we dress whatever our hair looks like whatever music we listen to like
Speaker: Deep down, we're all just wandering children of God, like kind of wondering what we're doing here. And I think my purpose is to let everyone know that what we're doing here is is to connect and just simply exist and and be free and enjoy each moment the best that we can. Yeah, growing up in Arizona with a very large Hispanic community, I got to know those people in their culture on ah on a very deep level. And they're just family oriented, so giving, so generous. And...
Speaker: just have always been very good to me. Like I grew up, we didn't say Hispanic or Latino or whatever, you know, we said Mexican and there was like lots of Mexican people that lived in our town, lots of Mexican restaurants and ah they were just such lovely people and always very kind to me. The the Hispanic, Mexican, Latino community has always been very kind to me and treated me like family, like right off the bat. So i've i vibe with that culture very much. I vibe with their energy, their food, like,
Speaker: They're very hardworking, but willing to, you know, these men in these communities will will get off work from working a 12 hour day and then go play with their child at the park, you know, in their dirty work clothes and then head off.
Speaker: You know, they'll take the family out to dinner to a nice restaurant, but they'll just be in those dirty work clothes and and they don't even care. You know, that's not something that's important to them. They just They just want to be hanging out with their family. And I really respect that.
Speaker: And it really touches me. And I consider myself to be a good father. So anytime I see people out there being good parents or good fathers, it really touches me. And I think the world definitely needs more fathers.
Speaker: Rock and roll is changing. And the people who are part of rock and roll are nowadays much more, ah suppose, ordinary in many ways. They're family people, they're parents, they're raising children, they're living homes, but they still have all of those pressures of performance and promotion. And it takes a lot of time, but that then gets us into the realm of like, okay, that Mexican father that you saw, your neighbor in your hometown,
Speaker: is going to work and then the first priority is spending time with their kids and entertaining their children and feeding their family and taking them out. And that sort of brings me on to, like what do you do to level the playing field of life and and spend your free time? How do you, first all, create the free time and what do do? actually, you know, I don't have a lot of free time, but when I do have free time, I definitely...
Speaker: want to spend it with my daughter. You know what I mean? She's very much a big inspiration to me. She's 16 years old, going on 17 very soon. And man, she is definitely the light of my life. And she's actually a very big inspiration to me. She's very smart. She's very into music. She's very much an old soul.
Speaker: And she has awakened me to many, she loves eighty s music, 80s rock is her jam. And so she will discover bands that I never even heard of, like a Canadian band called Trooper, another band called Zebra. She'll she'll discover these bands that aren't very big, but just but have a few really great songs.
Speaker: And then I'll just hear something that she shows me and I'm just like blown away. I'm just like, wow, how did you even find this? And oh, yeah, that also reminds me, like, check out this band and check out this band. And then like she's awakened.
Speaker: It's like to me, I don't listen to a lot of newer music. Most even the new music that I discover is already really old. And that's literally because of her. So she's been. a big influence on me and helping me shape my sound, especially on this new album, El Diablo de Ocho that I just released. Like,
Speaker: a lot of that album and how it sounds is a direct correlation to the inspiration that my daughter gives me with helping me to remember that all of the music from my childhood that is so much a part of me that maybe got kind of buried in, in the years that i lived in was growing and becoming a man that like, there's so much music from my youth that I wanted to put into my sound to just make it fun. You know, I'm a very deep person. I'm,
Speaker: I would say I'm a troubled soul like most rock artists are. And that's where we get our creativity from. But I don't want to portray that i'm in that in my music. i want Even if my music is kind of dark or mysterious, I still want it to be something that is exciting and fun. I don't want it to depress you. I want it to uplift you. you know Yeah, I can see the excitement.
Speaker: I can see the genuine, authentic messages that of the lyrics. But I agree with you. It's not about being sorry for yourself. Yeah, absolutely. it i don't I don't want to portray that.
Speaker: Yeah, it's about, you know, okay, life may be bad, but it's going to get better. We can all make it better. What do you do when you do actually get the the the downtime? it sounds like you're very busy father. How do you get involved? When she was younger, she was very much into the the comic book character, Harley Quinn,
Speaker: And so because Harley Quinn herself is, you know, she's an antihero. She's a martial artist and ah and a fighter. That's her thing. She loves martial arts and she's kind of a tomboy. You know, she loves rock and roll music. She loves martial arts. She loves like cool 80s movies. She loves the Karate Kid. She loves the Lost Boys, like Back to the Future. She's very nostalgic for for the 70s and the 80s and the early 90s. Like I feel bad for her sometimes that she didn't get to be born and back in that era, but I, so I try to recreate that energy for her as, as much as possible. So I remember the lost boys. It's fantastic. a good movie.
Speaker: Honestly, one of the best ever. Yeah, definitely. And then, so you're helping her ah get to sort of competitions, events around all those sorts of things. And then The time that you're by yourself, how do you spend that? When by myself, I probably will will smoke a little bit of cannabis and ah sit outside in my backyard underneath a tree and Our community is filled with a lot of wildlife. I live kind of close to the mountains in Las Vegas and this part of Las Vegas called Summerlin, which is kind of a separate community away from the strip, kind of nestled close to the to the desert in the mountains. And so we get a lot of hawks and ravens and crows and
Speaker: hummingbirds and quail and little bobcats and little mice and rabbits everywhere. And so I really love just sitting in my backyard and watching all the birds. And we actually have a pet duck that's about 12 years old. So she's pretty old, but she's still kicking strong. And she's kind of more like a like a cat or ah like a little cat or a dog you kind of got a baby babysitter sometimes outside or because she doesn't like to be alone her uh her partner passed away a few years ago her little sister duck that she grew up with so
Speaker: She kind of requires companionship. So someone in the family is always out there kind of hanging out with her. So I really like to just sit out there with her and watch her do her thing and, and just relax into the energy of just kind of being, being one with nature and taking in the fresh air and,
Speaker: In the tree, you know, I noticed that if you speak to trees, they'll they'll speak back to you. So I really I really enjoy being next to trees. And I'm kind of a lone wolf guy in the world. I don't have a lot of friends. I have a pretty small circle. So I really vibe with animals a lot. So I like to spend as much time with animals as I can to unwind and to feel at center with myself.
Speaker: Yeah, it's it's like the complete opposite of the rock and roll lifestyle. I totally agree with you about trees. I will walk around my garden. we got lots of fruit trees.
Speaker: And I will ask them not to drop too much fruit before it's ripe. And I i do, though it sounds daft, but I do believe that they listen. Just creating that atmosphere within a natural space does send to you, those trees will be there a lot longer than I will.
Speaker: And it does bring life into perspective in lots of ways. You realize that when you're connecting with nature, that the world doesn't rotate around human beings. Absolutely. it's It's ah a lot of moving parts, like a clock, that all make it go around, that's for sure.
Speaker: it would carry on without us and probably be an awful lot better. But do agree that that sort of connection to nature is is a great way to, to relax and to recenter yourself.
Speaker: two And I think world, the world and existence is honestly started out is, is like a perfect painting on a, on a piece of glass, so to speak, like a mirror. And I feel like that mirror has been shattered.
Speaker: And so But all the pieces are still there. I mean, as human beings, since the beginning of our existence on this world, leading up until now, we've been highly traumatized, you know, with war and famine and things directed at us and influenced by dark forces that have caused a lot of trauma that human beings have to deal with. But all the pieces are still there. And even though we live in a broken world, it's still beautiful and all the pieces are there. And I feel like our job as human beings, when we find our purpose, is to help put those pieces back together to make us all see much more clearly instead of through the the distorted broken pieces.
Speaker: Yes. That's a really good, good description of this, of the state of the world. I really liked that. It sounds almost as if that could be the inspiration for more music. Uh, what does the future hold for CJ? I've got, uh, I've got a lot of exciting things going on. um like I said, I I'm kind of cloaked right now and, uh,
Speaker: ready to be revealed to the world in ah in a very huge way. So I'm very excited for that. I'm the type of person that I'm kind of shy and reserved in this one way, just as ah as a human being. But when I go on stage or when it's time to be CJ Shaman, like, you know, nothing scares me. not I fear nothing. Like, I I could go play the halftime show of the Super Bowl tomorrow and and I'd be right in my in my wheelhouse. like I love the attention. I love the energy of the crowd staring at me. It it makes something come alive in me where I really, i can't even explain it. It's supernatural and it's better than sex. It's better than any drug. It's better than anything I've ever experienced. so
Speaker: I definitely can't wait to spread my purpose in the world. And right now, like I so just released my new album, El Diablo de Ocho, which translates to The Devil of Eight.
Speaker: I released that on July 8th, played a very successful cd or album release party here in Las Vegas. Right now I'm focused on recording a more music. I'm going to Nashville in September to...
Speaker: work with some new people that I've never worked with before, which honestly the pinnacle of my career so far to be able to work with the producer and the musicians that I'm about to work with in Nashville is very much um something that's very exclusive. So I'm very honored to have that opportunity. And I'm connected to a label called Bentley Records, and I'm doing some some hip hop collaborations with them as well, where obviously I'm not a rapper, but I mean, like I said, I love all music and I love hip hop and I'm doing some guests singing on some hip hop tracks.
Speaker: that are sort of reminiscent of kind of like a Ray Charles vibe or a sublime James Brown kind of vibe where I'm singing some cool stuff to some more urban hip hop beats, which is really fun. And there's some collabs with some celebrities that I have coming up that I got to keep top secret right now, but that's very exciting. And yeah, just as a creative, I'm constantly working in the studio and creating more songs and always trying to align myself with the right people to put together the right band to go on a tour and spread this whole CJ Shaman message to the world.
Speaker: It sounds really exciting. And it's been not just a pleasure, but a privilege to be able to have this conversation with you today. I'm looking forward to hearing more about your success.
Speaker: But thank you very much for your time today. It's great. Thank you, Michael. It was absolutely ah my pleasure. And you were very kind. ah This was definitely very fun for me. Thank you. My pleasure.
Speaker: I am Michael Millward, the Managing Director of Abbasida, and in this episode of Rest and Recreation, I have been having a conversation with the rock outlaw, CJ Sharman.
Speaker: It has been great fun. You can find out more about both of us at abbasida.co.uk. There is a link in the description, along with links to CJ's websites and places where you can listen to his music, and that music, believe me, it's damn good.
Speaker: At Rest and Recreation, we believe in living healthy lives. An important part of staying healthy is knowing the risks early. That is why we recommend the health tests from York Test, especially the annual health test.
Speaker: The annual health test from York Test provides an assessment of 39 different health markers, including cholesterol, diabetes, various vitamin levels, organ functions, iron deficiency, the list goes on.
Speaker: The annual health test is conducted by an experienced phlebotomist who will complete a full blood draw at your home or workplace. Hospital standard tests are carried out in a UK AS accredited and CQC compliant laboratory.
Speaker: You can access your easy to understand results and guidance to help you make effective lifestyle changes anytime via your secure personal wellness hub account. There is a link and a discount code in the description.
Speaker: I'm sure that you will have enjoyed listening to this episode of Rest and Recreation as much as CJ and I have enjoyed making it. So please give it a like and download it so you can listen anytime, anywhere.
Speaker: To make sure you don't miss out on future episodes, please subscribe. Remember, the aim of all the podcasts produced by Abusida is not to tell you what to think, but we do hope to have made you think.
Speaker: Until the next episode of Rest and Recreation, thank you for listening and goodbye.
