In this episode of Spirits and Stories with Donald Dunn, we bring you a powerful storytelling podcast experience rooted in real life stories, inspiring interviews, and the depth of the human experience. We sit down with Peter Gunn—U.S. Air Force veteran, poet, graphic novelist, and musician—whose personal journey bridges military service, near-death experience, and artistic awakening.

Peter’s story begins with a childhood encounter that reshaped his sense of purpose and continues through a life marked by overcoming adversity—from battling childhood obesity to navigating the transition from uniform to creative expression. His military background lends authenticity and gravity to his work, while fatherhood transformed his understanding of heroism, inspiring him to elevate female voices in storytelling.

Through deep conversations, Peter shares how resilience became creativity, and how art became mission. From founding the Sigma Squad graphic novel series to forming the band The Angelics, his path reveals how poetry, music, and narrative can heal, challenge, and inspire. These resilience stories offer meaningful life lessons about identity, purpose, and the courage it takes to follow your calling beyond expectation.

This episode blends veteran stories, creativity, and transformation into a moving portrait of a man who turned experience into expression. Whether you’re drawn to art, service, or stories of reinvention, this conversation reveals how purpose evolves—and how creativity becomes a new form of service.

Takeaways:

1. A life shaped by service can become the foundation for creative transformation.
2. Representation in storytelling matters—especially for the next generation.
3. Veterans often face unique challenges in creative fields.
4. Art can become a mission of healing and impact.
5. Poetry, music, and narrative are tools for personal and societal change.
6. Finding your niche is an act of courage and clarity.

Links Referenced in This Episode:

petergun.net

amazon.com/puke-on-the-amazons

Companies Mentioned in This Episode:

Amazon

VFW

U.S. Air Force

Sigma Squad

The Angelics

Audible

Tonight's guest is a man whose life truly reads like an epic.

Peter Gunn is a U.S. air Force veteran with 20 years of honorable service, an avid bodybuilder, a coffee connoisseur, and the lead guitarist for the upcoming international band the Angelics, now working on their first album.

At seven years old, Peter suffered heatstroke and briefly crossed over where an angel told him he had to return because his mission wasn't finished.

That moment shaped his driving him to serve, create, and give back.

He overcame childhood obesity, found discipline, and committed himself to a life of purpose.

He began writing the Amazon series and created a modern poetic style called llp.

Linked lyrical poetry designed to make epic stories storytelling accessible for Gen Z and Gen Alpha.

From the battlefield to the written page to the stage, Peter Gunn is a warrior, a poet, and a storyteller.

Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Peter Gunn.

Hey, Peter.

Welcome to the show, man.

Thanks, Donald.

It's a pleasure to be here.

I appreciate the intro.

Hey, no problem, man.

No problem.

So let's dive into a little bit about your, your military history, man.

What, what brought you to the Air Force?

Well, I always felt a.

A colleague to serve humanity, you know, and I was, When I was a lot younger, there was actually a time in my life when I was actually seriously considering becoming a priest.

But I saw the failings within the church, so I, I ruled that out and I decided to consider military service.

You know, I sort of dipped my toe into the kiddie pool initially just to check the temperature when I did this, you know, because you don't, you don't necessarily want to jump into active duty blindfolded.

I went to my local VFW and I asked all the old timers, all the veterans, if you had to do it all over again, what would you do?

When they said go in the Air Force, nobody had anything bad to say about the Air Force.

That's what I decided to do.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, that's a lot of advice.

I mean, I'm retired army, and that's the same advice I give a lot of, you know, younger people that are coming in that.

That one has the IQ and the ability to, to understand the tech savvy world of the Air Force and Still needs that place to grow up and learn a little bit about becoming a man or a woman.

So the Air Force is a great place for, for that to be done with a lot less pain and uncomfort that some of the other services provide.

Oh yeah.

I particularly remember the guys in the army.

Like my knees would, would be still working if I call the Air Force.

Yeah, Yep.

Yeah.

Yeah.

70 pound ruck and a 12 mile road march happened to be done in four hours.

It's.

You're not walking.

I can promise that.

So you, how long were you actually in for in the Air Force?

Just short of 21 years.

Okay.

Yeah.

And what was your, what was your, your mos.

Your job?

It would be.

Well, okay, I'll put it in layman's terms.

I'd be considered an aircraft electrician on fighters.

I worked on the electrical systems on fighter jets.

Okay.

Yeah, I think, I think season two, I think I had a guest on that, did the same thing.

Worked on the electronics of the, the weapon systems for, for the jets.

Yeah.

So at what point when you, when you decided to get out, where did all this creativity come from?

I know you had an early childhood situation that happened, but, but it sounds like this came later throughout, throughout the, the military service.

Yeah, well, first off, I, let me say this.

I was forced retired because I refused to take the COVID vaccine.

Okay.

So it wasn't quite planned, but I decided then it was all about me.

You know, once I took the uniform off, I decided to go full throttle then because I had always been creative bios.

You know, I, I, I kept it under wraps because I had to put my duty first.

But now that it's all about me, I'm, you know, I, I'm going to, you know, do what I need to do and, and fulfill my calling.

So, so when you got out, which that whole situation was really just one of the continuous bad decision makings that the military did, you know, and it just continued on with the way we exited Afghanistan and everything else.

And I credit a lot of that to, to young leadership.

You know, promotions were ramped up during those 20 years and, and people were getting promoted way faster than their life experiences was ready for them to lead for.

So I think a lot of that does come to, to terms with that.

But at the end of the day, when you got out, how did, how did you start, did you decide that that music was going to be the way or did you want to start writing or how did, how did that whole process start out?

Well, I've Always loved poetry.

And I get appreciation, you know, for it from the, like the classics, you know, like the Ill, The Odyssey and Dr. Zaferno, and also, like, more modern poets like Robert Frost, you know, T.S.

eliot, but also then in unlikely places like White Snake.

Okay.

If you ever look at the lyrics to their songs, it's actual poll.

And that's where I got the idea of.

Of not only writing, you're getting more to poetry, got me interested, but then also getting into music from that point of view.

Yeah.

Okay.

So, I mean, again, that's one of the.

Where the nonprofits came from, from us is.

Is giving another outlet for veterans to tell their story.

And.

And that's exactly what a lot of these songs are, are things that they've gone through and lived through and.

And are sharing in their own creative creativity, creative way.

So I. I completely get that.

What did you find fulfilling about the.

The poetry side?

Because that's kind of a rarity.

That's not somebody we get every day that.

That does poems.

Yeah, I know.

It's.

It's sort of scoffed upon.

People like, oh, you're a poet.

You know, but I'm proud to wear that moniker.

I'm proud to wear that moniker because it takes talent.

It takes a sense of rhyme, rhythm, and flow to do it.

You know, a lot of rappers do it.

You know, they don't want to be called poets, but they are.

You know, there's a lot more of us out there, but they don't want to be called the poet.

But I'll.

I'll.

I'll wear that badge, you know, proudly.

I think.

I think a lot of that comes from one of the other problems that us veterans have is.

Is the looking of the weak and being labeled as weak.

And I think a lot of people consider poetry to be that side.

But I'll be honest.

I couldn't do it.

I wrote, you know, I'm on my third or fourth book now, and there's no way I could write a poem that anybody would want to not use as fire kindling, you know?

You know, Well, I mean, it's sort of like a slap in the face, like, hey, good job on that novel.

And then you have the publisher handed back to you.

Okay, now I'm going to need you to make it rhyme.

Like what?

Yeah, yeah, there's no way.

I mean, you got to have a huge vocabulary to be a rapper, to be a poet, to be any of that.

And.

And if you just don't have that, I don't.

Then you're you're going to struggle trying to, trying to do it or at least definitely do it with inequality.

My wife was very into poetry and she went through and did a few books and so forth with her poems at a very young age.

And I think that's common with, with a lot of younger people as they, they start to get into their creative side.

At least it was for my generation, which was, you know, 93, 92, that, that era, I think.

So.

So you get, you get through this first book and, and you're, you're writing it.

What is the, the focus of, of your poems?

What is, what is.

Because I know it had to do with women.

Right.

But I can't, couldn't help but wonder when I was looking at this, like, why would a young girl be interested?

Why would she willingly pick up this book?

And, and you know, they always talking about the Hero's Journey, and I started looking for females in the Hero's Journey, but it's almost non.

Existent.

Yeah, I mean, like Beowulf, the, the female is a demon, a dragon.

And like, there's little mentions, you know, they're like side notes.

Like Helen of Troy, they mentioned how beautiful she is.

The mermaids, the sirens.

It's this little side.

They're not in the lead at all.

So I'm like, well, this needs to be alleviated.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, that makes perfect sense because our female veterans are still dealing with that.

You know, I've had numerous guests that have came on my show and had comments made to them while they were sitting at the va you know, usually by an older elderly lady.

Oh, is your husband in the military too?

And you know, it just kind of chaps their ass because you're discontinuing that there was any thought that they could have ever done it themselves, you know.

Yeah, it's a slap in the face.

Yeah.

And it's innocent on both parts because I'm sure back in, you know, their younger days, that was the norm.

It was not designed for, for women to be in the military.

And it is, it's kind of brutal because how do you put a stop to that other than just waiting for generations to, to, you know, retire and, and new generations to come up and change that.

That Momentum.

It seems like with racism and a lot of things, that's kind of what it takes is just one generation to go away and another generation to come in.

But I think there's a lot of things out there for our female veterans that need to be even researched for ptsd.

It's different than it is for a male.

And if we don't do that research, how do we.

You know, you can't help both and be great at both.

You know, you've got to understand the differences and, and change your strategies to deal with it.

So I, I do understand where you're coming from with, with your book and, and the reasons behind it.

A lot of people would probably say that there's not any discrimination or the wages aren't different for women and that stuff anymore.

And maybe that part is so.

But it doesn't change the way they're looked at.

There was a young girl a couple years ago when I was still in uniform that I remember it was a particularly rainy night.

It was thunderstorming everywhere.

It was, everyone was soaked.

She came in pushing her, her maintenance box, because I'm in maintenance and just completely drenched and her face covered a grease of dirt.

You know, she had obviously been working and she looks up at me and she said, in order to get the same amount of credit, I'm gonna have to work three times as hard.

That just hurt me inside.

Like, wow.

You know, and she felt, she was honest.

She felt that way about it.

Yeah.

Yeah, it is.

Especially in that, that mos, at least in the army, you know, women are.

I, I'll be honest, I, you know, I think I, I came across one female.

Not that there was a whole lot of female mechanics, but that was what my MOS was.

And I came across one female.

She was probably a better mechanic than I was.

Just watching the way she troubleshot things and test drove the vehicle and could tell, you know, brakes locking up earlier on one side versus the other.

I mean, just little things like that that the average person just doesn't pick up.

And that was impressive.

Yeah.

You know, it's just, But I don't think they're given the same opportunity.

I also seen females come in and the first thing that happens is they get snatched up as the motor sergeant's driver or something like that.

Yes.

Get put in special duties.

Yes.

Yeah.

And, and, and that's just not right because they're not gonna, they're not gonna learn their mos, and you're just, you're just hindering them for later, you know.

Yep.

How they go get promoted.

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

You know, because, you know, as.

As the time goes on, you're gonna start seeing it.

You know, MOS is starting.

The army started combining, you know, which opened up the door that I've seen a lot more pump mechanics for, for women or generator mechanics than I have in the vehicle side.

But those are all now positions that can hold motor sergeants and, and upper echelons ncos.

So if somebody was, you know, catered to or, or sheltered, when they get under, probably another female person, she's going to hold them accountable and then it's going to look like they didn't do anything in their career, but they just weren't given the opportunities.

Yeah.

So.

So you.

You decide to.

Let's talk a little bit.

When did the, the band with Germany start?

Was that after your, your second book or.

Well, you know, obviously this.

I never intended to go into a band necessarily.

It sort of found me in a way.

When you're an entrepreneur, you're always looking for ways to put yourself back out there, reinvent yourself, you know.

And my good friend, I, I decided to have a.

Bring in a good friend of mine, Andrea Giordani.

She's a very talented voice actress.

You could just, you know, type in her name to audio book, any audiobooks, and you should come up like on Audible and she's redoing the whole audiobook.

We hired about 30 voice actors.

You know, it was a big deal.

We're gonna make it sound like a movie for my Amazons.

Okay.

And I said, okay, what, what?

How can I make this bigger and better?

I could get a soundtrack started.

Okay.

So I started looking for singers and I came across a singer that was in Dusseldorf, Germany, named Leo Sather.

And then he's like, oh, yeah, we, we could be.

He'd seem real cool.

We could work together.

And he brought in Max Lang, he's from Munich, and Ellis Richter from Berlin.

So they're all in Germany.

And we decided to see if we can make a go of it.

We did about 10 songs together, five for the Amazons and five for my Sigma Squad.

And then it just went from there.

We decided, we decided afterwards because I was.

They were being paid before, they're not being paid now to keep.

Keep going with it.

Yeah, yeah.

And then form the Angelics.

Okay.

Were you guys, were you, were you living in Germany?

Is this how it came about?

This is all over the Internet.

This is.

Wow.

Over the Internet.

Yes.

Yes.

That is impressive.

Yeah, it's, it's.

It's trying to a point to where you like, you think like I would take one song.

We did Digital Dungeon.

Everything went wrong.

We spent about.

Because it's all of us simultaneously yelling into a microphone over zoom.

And it took about 16 hours, I'd say total of us, you know, trying to get right.

There were four or five different songs we made.

Yeah.

So it's not, it's not easy.

No, it, it, it's hard in person, you know, let alone when you got a sound engineer and, and everything else right there, you know, when you're adding different bandwidths, different Internet speeds and, and every different servers.

I mean, you're talking about overseas now.

So.

Yeah, it is, it is absolutely going to be challenging just because of the delays and, and everything else.

A lot of everyone has their job.

Like I'm the one doing the writing and I'll do a lot of the guitar work.

And then Max, he's the composer, he's.

He's got a PhD in music.

He used to, I think he used to teach at the, the local university there.

And then Ellis, he's like our tech guy.

So he'll do a lot of sound effects and stuff like that.

And then of course Leo is the, the main vocalist and he helps out with guitars with.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, I'm gonna tell you the music is amazing.

You know, it's playing on our radio station on our ranger rock wave and I, I love it.

You know, I was out driving around yesterday and, and, and your song came up and man, it's, it's, it's a, it's an amazing song and, and all you guys have got some amazing talents.

So, you know, my hat's off to everything that you guys are doing because you're definitely headed in the right direction.

You know, it's, there's a funny story.

We were initially going to call the, the, the album Divination after the last song of the album.

And you know, the artwork was completely different.

But then when, when we decided, okay, we're going to be a band, we're going to be the Angelics.

They were a bit iffy about me because I'm self taught.

They're all professionals.

I'm a self taught magician.

And they're like, okay, we need to see what he's made of if he can make it go of it before we, you know, go into it.

And every, you know, if you listen to the songs, you know, they're all 80s based.

We love 80s music and every 80s band has a heartbreak song.

So they decided to Give me the word sugar tits and said we need to make it into a heartbreak.

So I'm like, what?

You know, that's.

That's me singing the song.

That's me singing the song.

And I. I did majority of the work just to see.

And that's why we decided to call the album Hazing Hades, because there was some heating going on.

I can imagine where a poet would take sugar tits from.

Well, I pulled it off really well.

I'm really happy with the way.

Yeah, it turned out.

Yes, I bet.

I bet.

I mean, it seems like it worked out good, you know, they accepted you, so.

Yes.

Well, let me ask you this then.

When you.

When you changed your.

Your genre, you went from.

From poetry to the.

The graphic novels.

What was that transition like?

Because.

Because that's completely opposite from.

From what you were doing.

And it made me realize the baby wake up.

Like, wait a minute.

Don't you question this?

You know, I mean, I.

Like I said before, I refuse to take vaccine.

They let me out of the military because of it.

To this day, I won't take it.

And everybody was so quick to don a mask and take the vaccine.

I'm like, these people are asleep.

They don't realize what's going on.

So I needed something to try to wake them up.

But, you know, people don't like being preached to.

I mean, that's one of the reasons why they won't walk into a church because they don't want to be preached to.

You know, talk down to.

So I felt the best form of it is in the form of a graphic novel.

I mean, you walk into a bookstore and you see the Magna section that everyone love.

It's the biggest.

Each of the biggest aisle in a bookstore.

Okay.

The library is full of.

It has a large section too, so everyone, It's.

It's more easily digestible to draw a six pack.

Yeah.

You know, and I don't necessarily have to.

I could still mix it science fiction, fantasy, but I could put some kernels of truth in there and it might, you know, I have a slight sparkle.

Wait a minute.

This is.

Is this true?

You know, I love to do that with my novels as well.

Like the Amazons.

There's truth in there too, as well as fantasy.

You know, I call it pulling a damn brown.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I mean, you know, my second book was.

Was wrote similar to that.

It was wrote fictional, but it was really designed for the people out there that can't understand what depression and PTSD is because there's no physical thing that they can lay their eyes on.

And, and you know, so what I did is I took our phrase fighting our demons and, and made it into actual real demons if they followed us back home from, from our war.

And all the same things that these demons do to these homeless veterans are the same things that depression and PTSD does.

I just gave, I just gave the readers a physical item to look at and all the symptoms and everything else is based off of truth.

The rest of it is just fictional to hopefully help get the word out there and people to understand a little bit more, have some empathy for, for some of the people that are dealing with this stuff.

And I think there is a great way to tie truth with fiction.

There really is.

Yes.

And it opens up your abilities to use your own creativity to make your points.

At the same time, it's not a textbook of bullet point PowerPoint type information.

So they're still learning from a fictional book that doesn't go too far away to the right.

You know, and it is important that as, as influencers or authors or whatever you want to call the generation that seems to be doing it now, it's important that, that we use our methods to reach readers in one way or another.

Because that's challenging.

Yeah, it is.

You know, you, you, you take a person, the average person picks up a book, they're not going to make it past the dialogue.

You know, just that three second rule is his move from food to your research.

And, and it's, it's unfortunate it happened in Covid.

You, you just mentioned that about, you know, people were just donned the masks and didn't question it and, and then took the shots and, and made their decision based off of half ass headline news or whatever.

The first two items, no critical thinking.

They didn't question it.

Yeah, none.

None.

You know, I, at that time I was taking care of my, my elderly mom and I did not want to take the shot.

I was out of the military, but I did not want to take the shot.

But I did just because I didn't have, I couldn't disprove that the vaccine didn't work.

And I, I didn't want something to happen to my mom because she was living with me and I was out working in the, the public and, and she gets sick and then turns out that the vaccine did work.

But I'm gonna tell you, I got sick as hell from, from taking it and there's just no way.

I told my, I told my mom, I said, I will never take another one again.

It just is not gonna happen.

No boosters, no.

Have a nice day.

This is stupid.

And I think a lot of us learned that lesson later.

You know, things, things like a lot of people that brought up that are valid points.

You know, Aaron Rodgers and his whole deal, it was all about him wanting to have kids after his football career was over with.

And there's just not enough research to say what does that do to fertility?

You know?

And so it was weird how in that timeframe it was like discouraged to do any kind of on your own investigation.

You know, they did not want you to, to come up with any facts that would deny that vaccine or, or.

How, or if you did, you would.

They put it, they put.

Covered it up.

They, they quiet you real quickly.

Yeah.

Yeah.

It really, it was really a turning point for, you know, free speech and, and, and our media.

You know, it affected social media all the way to our, our regular media.

And it is, it's unfortunate because a lot of unhealthy things, habits came out of that and, and one of them is just, you know, came from all of the tick tocks and, and everything else where, you know, if you don't like what you're seeing in two seconds, scroll.

And it makes it hard for podcasters, it makes it hard for authors.

It's just, it's just really tough out there.

So my heart, my, my hat goes off to everybody that's still out there trying to reach people because.

Well, I mean, that's part of the reason of this.

All the songs too, if you listen to the songs, is trying to wake people up.

Really.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And it's, it's interesting too.

You know, did Germany see the same problems?

I know a lot of other countries were even more strict than we were, but did Germany.

Are they.

Yeah.

The feeling I get from other guys is they're scared.

Like they love.

Some of them are talking about coming to the United States because it's more restrictive there.

Yeah, it's more restrictive there.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I just had a guest that had moved to Australia for some personal reasons and they ended up coming back to the States because Australia was just.

I mean.

Yeah.

I mean, talking about going in and, and shutting places down just to see if everybody that's in that building checked in on their little apps, you know, and slapping 500 fines and arresting people and I mean, that's just insane.

Yeah.

So, and, and the, the First Amendment and all your American Rights are completely thrown out the door when you go there.

Yeah, yeah.

I mean, and that was his point.

He's like, I, I'm not Australia, I'm American.

We don't do this stuff.

Well, then you better go to a country that doesn't do this stuff because you're not in America, buddy.

So let me ask you this.

The.

Who did you do the graphics and everything for, for your novel?

What I do is because I have so many, I'm spinning so many plates at once is a lot of times I'll have to, I'll write it out and then I'll get rough sketches started.

Okay.

So.

And I have a team of artists that I hired out that they work for me and they're, they're, they're doing the final artwork on the novel.

That's awesome, man.

You know?

Yeah, that was, that was when my, my non profit first started.

I really wanted to expand it and I learned real quick that I was biting off more than I could handle.

But I wanted to open this up to authors and, and just everybody and, and just help them in any way possible to get their information out there to people.

And one of the, the topics that we talked about was helping people that are interested in art and everything.

And one of the people that helped me with my website, she's a graphic designer.

She served with me in third id and man, she's so talented.

And that was kind of one of her goals.

And we just were never able to make it happen because it's just challenging.

It takes a lot of time.

Just the music part of it takes a lot of time.

Oh, yeah, yeah, it's, it's, it's topic, but it's a labor of love, you know, you ever have that, that moment when you lost track of time because you're doing something because it's, you're passionate about it?

Yeah, that's a sign.

Like that's what you're supposed to be doing.

And that's happened to me so many times with the music.

Like, okay, I understand because I lost track of time all of a sudden, you know, the entire day is gone.

But yeah, it's.

Yeah, it is, it is.

But you know, again, like I tell people, you know, part of this isn't my decision.

I do, I don't credit myself with any of the stuff that, that I'm doing.

All of this was, was some higher focus, put me on a path.

And, and I, I can say that because growing up, all I wanted to be was an entrepreneur.

I wanted to own a Business and I didn't care what it was.

I just wanted to be my own boss.

And, and I had a lot of unrealistic expectations of what I thought an entrepreneur was.

And, and so when I got out of the military, I didn't have a choice.

I picked a great place to retire, just a shitty place to find a job.

And so I had to create a job.

So I opened up a trucking company and, and started driving truck.

And I can tell you I made a lot of money doing it, but I was never happy happy.

And you know, now I'm retired and I podcast full time and I work my non profit full time and I make a lot less money, but I'm a lot happier.

I really am.

Find your passion.

And that's just it, man.

When once you find that path that you're meant to be on, you'll, you'll start feeling what peace really is.

And yeah, some of that, the small will just kind of fall off you like a duck off water, you know?

Yeah, there was a, there was a young girl on Instagram and you know, of course she's, she's a painter, you know, very talented.

But unfortunately Peters are at Diamond Dozen.

No one really values them, you know.

Yeah.

And what she started doing was putting, not only putting her stuff on Instagram, but then she started going to people's houses and petting their dogs and you know, people will pay anything for, you know, their dogs, they love them so much.

All of a sudden she blew up and she's making great money doing what she loves now.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I, I think that's the key for artists anymore is, is you got to find your niche and that you can explore.

It may not be your passion, but, but financially, you know, the, the days of, of writing, you know, drawing masterpieces are just really hard.

I, I guess unless you're, you're Biden's son, then you can an artist and, and sell paintings for whatever price you want.

Well, you can just tape a banana to the wall and then sell it.

Yeah, that's it, man.

That's it.

You know, art is, is very, it is weird because like you said, it's not appreciated, but the moment you put something out there, everybody wants to critique it.

Oh yeah.

I mean I, I often think about Leonardo da Vinci.

Probably had someone tapping him on his shoulder, was pitting the Mona Lisa like, hey, no, I wouldn't do that, you know.

Yeah, yeah.

Oh yeah, yeah.

100, man.

I, I had a guest and, and I'm trying to get him to Come back on to update everybody.

But he's in a huge lawsuit with the Smithsonian.

And, you know, when Trump ran for the first time, he painted this 7 foot by 12 foot mural of Trump and the world and, and everything else.

And after the, you know, he, he went to every rally or place that Trump went to and he took this, you know, massive painting with it.

And after it was over with, he's like, what am I going to do with this?

So he tried to, to give it to the Smithsonian and they denied it because they said it was too patriotic.

You know, in my research for the Amazons, it's funny you mentioned that, that, because the Smithsonian came in as well when I was doing research about giants because I wanted to add some fact, you know, into the book, and they actually uncovered giants in South America, you know, and, but the Smithsonian keeps covering it up.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, it is, you know, where the lawsuits come in.

Because if they're a private entity, then they have the right to refuse or do whatever they want.

Right.

If they're controlled by the government, well, then that changes things.

And, and that's where the, the lawsuits that he's got against the Smithsonian is.

Because all the judges said that they have nothing to do with the Smithsonian, that they're not government.

And then when this latest, with the, the lady that got fired, Trump tried to fire her and, and everything else, well, then they, they, they brought in that, well, we're part of the government and you, we're not under your authority.

You do not have the right to control that.

And, and that opened that door back up again that, okay, so you are part of the government.

So it is whatever suits them.

Whatever suits them at the time.

Yeah, it depends on the lawsuit.

But at the same time, artists and, and, and people that, you know, poured out their, their creativity, their passion for whatever are being hurt you, you know, because they're, they're being, they're they're literally being gagged and told to shut up.

And, and that's, that is the sad part about it, because I think a lot of good stuff came from those days, back in the days when, when, before TV and everything else, when, when a painting meant something because you didn't have 1.5 million images a day coming at you.

That's kind of numbed everything out there.

So when's the last time you heard A Beautiful Love Song?

You know, like from the 80s.

Yeah, no, it's.

I, Yeah, I haven't.

Yeah, exactly.

Yeah.

I mean, but I, I think that's one reason Why I love the, the veteran music that we're having, because what I didn't think about when, when doing all of that, our artists of today are the songs are wrote by somebody else, and then somebody that fits that image on a stage sings that song.

You know, that's true.

Maybe other than, than Jelly Roll, you know, I can't think of anybody that's really pouring their heart about themselves out there.

And, and I know he didn't write all of his songs either, but a lot of them are his stories that, that another writer wrote.

But when you look, you listen to our radio stations, man, it's artists after artists that's not singing about something they wish they could do or, or they'd like to do.

It's stuff that they did do, you know, and there's a few songs that are stereotypical, especially on the countryside.

You know, there's some dead horse, my dog died type songs out there that doesn't necessarily have anything to do with their career, but if you go through their albums, you're going to find you can learn a lot about the artists by listening to the lyrics and the songs, you know?

Yes.

On both sides.

Rock and country.

Yeah, absolutely.

And so I think that means something when, when somebody's putting their, literally their heart on.

In it, you know, I think that means more than, than anything else out there.

It's just who's looking for that, you know, that's where.

That's where it becomes tough.

But again, that just means we have to fight harder to, to continue to keep doing it and, and eventually changing it, because we may be influencing 30 years from now somebody else that.

Yeah, we don't even know.

So I always feel like I'm looking for a person that has that spark to, to ignite that spark inside of them, you know, to, to not comply and to carry forward and follow their passion, their dreams.

Yeah.

Yep.

Yeah.

And that's what I tell people, young podcasters and everything.

I said, don't even look at stats.

Don't look at numbers.

Don't look at anything.

Right.

What are you passionate about?

Because that's going to be your foundation when things get tough.

And you, you do start looking at your stats and you see it's been a week since anybody's downloaded anything.

You know, you're going to get frustrated and you're going to get bored, but if you're passionate about what you're writing or what you're talking about or you're doing, you'll keep doing it and you won't care.

And that's, that's literally how this show had started with.

It's been around for four years.

But it started out as basically everybody I brought on was my counselor because it was mostly me telling my stories because it was making me feel better.

And since then, now I've opened it up to everybody's to tell their stories because everybody's got one.

You know, some's about trauma, some's about success, whatever.

But what scares me is the people out there that say a lot.

No, I don't have anything that's interesting.

You know how many billions of people are on this planet?

You can't tell me that there's not one person out of a billion that can't relate to what you're about to say.

And we're all unique in our own way.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

You know, there's some weird podcasts out there, but guess what?

They got a following there.

There's people that like it.

They do, yes.

You know, I had a question brought up from a young person the other day and it stuck with me because they're like, why should I go into art?

Because I could just type it into AI.

I'm like, well, usually it's.

That type of person isn't going to go into art.

It's the person with the spark to create that goes into music, goes into art, goes into poetry, goes into these creative endeavors.

That spark is never going to be.

You're going to have a drive, a need to put it out.

Yeah.

And there's nothing's gonna stop him.

Yeah.

You know, I use AI for quite a lot of stuff, just mostly to time wise, you know, but when you, you using AI to, to create all your art and passing it off as, as I'm an artist.

Well, maybe in 40 years from now, you know, when, when everything out there relies on your, your skill level with prompts and, and stuff like that.

But in today's world, we haven't got there yet.

So I, I do agree it's not the same thing if, if you're, you're, you're using it because you can't draw.

Okay, I get that.

Right.

That doesn't make me an artist because I use something else to make it.

Same with, you know, if you're not a writer and you have AI write a whole book for you, well, guess what?

You're still not a writer.

You're.

You, you, you learn.

You're a copy and paster.

You know, you just.

You.

We found a machine now that can, can make the creativity part that Is.

Is sad because that's already kind of going away with the way tick tock and everything is, you know.

Yeah, yeah, it's.

It is.

It is cool that we have those tools.

And I'll never take that away because I do believe in being inventive.

Right.

Whoever created AI originally had to have some creativity to vision this.

So even that stuff does require that ability for imagination.

Some of the best CEOs in the world, how they.

How they become great entrepreneurs is because of just that they're able to pivot and create different methods or avenues to.

To stay afloat and.

And deal with the hands that were dealt to them.

Well, back in the day, you would.

You would have your team with you, you know.

You know, before AI could do a lot of you, you would have your teamwork behind you.

So I need you to read this book.

I need to do this research.

I need you to do this and that, and then your team would get back to you.

You, you know.

Yeah.

And.

And AI has replaced a lot of that.

You know, I don't know how, you know, trustworthy, you know, for.

For big companies and stuff that you'd put into it, but, you know, there is still a lot of mistakes with it.

And it's just early, but at some point.

Absolutely.

It may even be good enough to run a company.

Who knows?

But.

But there is a lot of cool stuff out there, you know, like Suno.

The AI that does music.

Right.

And.

And all that stuff is really cool if you want to use it for background music or.

Or whatever.

I've had people come to me and, and that's what they do is they're AI musicians is what they.

I guess they call themselves, and they.

They use prompts and.

And mixing and everything else to make their own songs, and they sound really cool.

I mean, I've.

I've heard some really, really cool stuff, but it was brought to me to try to create another radio station that.

That plays that.

And I just.

I don't think we're ready for that yet.

It's.

It's.

It's not the same thing as a person like yourself that's writing the songs.

They're.

You're adding your own music to it.

This is literally your baby, you know, to.

Well, now I think the.

The software that Ellis used that helped my voice sound better.

I think it had AI in it, you know?

Right.

Because.

Absolutely.

If I'm asked to sing Acapella.

Yeah, don't ask.

Yeah.

No, the AI There's a place for AI in music editing and, and all that type of stuff.

Absolutely.

Even brainstorming, you know, if, if you just come to that spot where I just can't, I can't figure out how to tie this together.

AI is great for that stuff too, but just to hit download and, and upload it to a radio station and call it yours, I don't know if, if we're ready for that.

I'm not.

I'm not.

Anyways, so, so let me ask you this.

When you, when you started writing, I struggled with, with my books, the editing process.

I just, I didn't fully understand what it takes to write a book.

It's a lot harder than what people think.

Think.

I, I, I'm not even sure how you would do it.

Did you use a publisher for, for your book or did you do all your own editing and everything for the Amazon?

Everything myself.

Because when you start looking at the contracts they want.

Oh, yeah, yeah.

You know, so, like, you know, it's, it's like giving up a child, Especially if you spent a lot, you know, years on it, you know, oh, here, here's my child.

Just, just take it.

You know, a lot of authors aren't.

So I, I wasn't willing to do that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

There's a, that's the same thing in the music industry.

You know, I, there's a lot of artists now with how technology has changed, has decided I don't want to be signed.

I want to stay independent.

And I didn't realize how bad some of those contracts, I mean, some of those contracts are like 95.

5.

They're awful.

Oh, my.

I couldn't believe it.

Like, like, if you have, like, like, I want to say, like Motley Crue, I heard, I think it was, don't quote me on that.

But they got, after everybody was paid, they got 12, and it had to be split among all the band members.

So it was, it wasn't really that much.

No, no, no.

Yeah.

95 5.

I mean, you think about that.

That's, you know, out of, out of a hundred dollars, you're getting five and you're doing all the work.

Wow.

That's.

That is, it is insane.

You know.

Yeah, but, but the writing world has, has became like that too.

I mean, when you, when you write a book now, it's like you have to balance that.

Do I take this crappy contract that's.

I'm still going to end up spending thousands of dollars out of my own pocket, but I'm gonna get this massive amount of reach now and, and, and Publicity or do I save that money?

I create, I keep all my ownership and I self publish, but I lose that reach, you know, and the marketing becomes much harder.

And, and I, I agree that, that I preferred, I did the self publishing.

I didn't want to pay the thousands one just because I couldn't tell who was legit anymore.

There's so many scammy, crappy companies out there, especially overseas.

You know, you start researching that, next thing you know you're getting spam phone calls and, and everything else about your book.

What did, how do.

When you did the editing process, did you struggle with that process?

I mean, having to reread your book over and over and over again, that was what got me.

LLP is, is Poetry okay, so define an editor for Poetry is difficult because a lot of, a lot of editors are, shall we say, left brained.

They're very, you know, they make good accountants, you know, and they're very critical.

They, you know, they see details and it's very right brain to be a poet, to be, you know, creative and stuff like that.

So we sort of clashed and a lot of times I had a hard time finding an editor.

There was an argument I got into with one of them about the word pursed.

You know, I, if you tell, you know, someone, you pursed something, you understand what they mean.

But I had to use the word unpersed in the novel.

And he said, that's not a word.

He can't use it.

So we got an argument.

I'm like, okay, you know what?

No, it's, this is, the relationship is end.

You know, thank you for your hard work.

You know, I keep going over person after person.

Finally I found someone locally that could help me.

But it's, it's a process of, of there again, like I said, finding your team, finding people that work with you.

Well, yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely, man.

You know, we're getting close to the, the top of the hour and I want to make sure I give you your opportunity to tell everybody where they can find you somebody that is in the military now and, and is looking to, to get out for whatever reason.

And they kind of want to protect, pursue.

They want, they want to pursue that sense of serving still.

Right.

How would, how would, what advice would you give them if they were looking to go down your, your career path as well?

Well, I would say one thing is for a safety blanket, if you have a marketable skill you earned in the military, you know, keep doing it until you're well established.

So don't be afraid to go do the same job in a civilian capacity.

And until you finally figure out and got things going where you could just jump on board the.

The train that's already, you know, set up for you.

Yeah.

Because a lot of people will jump out like, oh, I can't stand it anymore.

I can't do this anymore.

But then they go into something they hate even more.

Even is a.

It's difficult for some people to.

To go into an office and sit when they haven't done it in their entire career.

Yeah, yeah, no, I, I agree 100%.

I'm.

I am that guy.

You know, when.

When I got out, I was not looking for office jobs.

I preferred, you know, one.

Not realizing I had ptsd.

I wanted a job where I didn't have to deal with people and I couldn't find a job.

And the job offers I was getting was like, I've been a mechanic for 20 years and you're going to start me out changing oil.

It just, you know, it was like a slap in my face.

And a little bit of that was my pride.

And, and the other part of it was.

Was just not fully understanding the difference between the military and the civilian world.

And.

Yeah.

So I chose the trucking industry out of necessity and, and abilities, but it fit my.

My niche.

You know, it wasn't the healthiest.

I learned that later that being put in a truck for six weeks at a time, driving for 11 hours at a time does nothing but allow you to get in your head.

And my father did it for 40 years.

Yeah, yeah, man.

You get nothing but time to think.

That's for sure.

Yeah.

You know, and it's not always, always positive.

So I, I fully understand now, after doing it for six years, why truck drivers are grouchy.

Yeah.

And then the weird tear in your back jumping up, up and down, up and down, up and down.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

I mean, I flatbed the last couple years, so throwing tarps and.

And everything else, man, it's the poor food.

Yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

And covet made that even worse.

Oh, my God.

Yeah, yeah, it was.

It was brutal.

Well, brother, I'm gonna bring you forward, man.

Let you tell everybody where they can find your music.

I know they can find it on our radio station, but where can they download it and.

And buy it and all that good stuff?

Well, it's out on all the musical apps, so just type in the album title.

Hazing Hades H A C I N G H. It's the name of the band's Angelics.

And you could also go to my website, www.petergun.net.

if you want to see any projects I'm working on and go to Amazon Kindle, type in puke on the Amazons.

You want to download my book?

All right.

Yeah.

And we'll make sure we get all those links for everybody.

You guys seen a copy at the intro of what his book looks like, but we'll make sure we paste it throughout the show to remind everybody, along with links to Amazon to where they could purchase it as well.

Well, Peter, I had a great time, man.

I learned quite a bit.

And my hat's off to the stuff that you're doing because you were.

You were definitely unique.

I haven't had any other guests that have ventured out this far and is really making a go of it, man.

You guys band and you're all's music is just absolutely amazing.

So I'm looking forward to adding more songs to our.

Our station and.

And letting the.

The listeners hear it.

That's great.

We're hard at work on it right now.

Yeah, absolutely, man.

So I hope all of you guys got something out of this.

Make sure you find his music.

Take it from me, you won't.

You can thank me later.

I'll just put it that way because it's amazing.

Y' all take care.

Don't forget.

Don't let the day kick your ass.

Kick the day's ass, Sam.