Known for taking the realm of podcasting to the next level, Keith, Marv and Tazer, who make up the prolific platform named, 3 Shots of Tequila, have recently joined forces with Puma for the launch of the Suede Music Studio. Five years down the line, the boys have bagged an exclusive deal with Spotify, traveled across the nation on a sold-out tour, and in turn gained a boast-worthy fan base that have seen them garner over 38 million listens across all streaming platforms globally. Taking their everyday conversations to the public, the authenticity and organic feel of the podcast speaks for itself.
We caught up with 3 Shots of Tequila over Zoom and asked them the following questions…
How have you all been? How have you been finding this pandemic period?
Marv: It’s been a weird year!
Keith: It’s been amazing! I like staying home, so for me it’s been amazing because I don’t have to go anywhere!
Marv: Yeah nah, for me it’s been a bit of a weird year, this year has felt like 10 years – it’s the longest year I’ve ever had in my life.
Keith: All 10 years of 2020! *laughs*
For people who aren’t aware of how 3 Shots of Tequila came about, or even the name, could you enlighten us…!
Keith: At the time, we all just wanted to do something different, we had finished up doing radio and we thought let’s give podcasting a try because no one was really doing it like that in the UK. It was popping off more in the US! We wanted a bit more freedom and control, we couldn’t really do that on radio – you can’t go on radio and say whatever you want to say, and we couldn’t be us in the way that we wanted to, so we gave it a try. 5 years later we are still here! When we were thinking of the name, we thought that it would be the most important part of something like this, and Tazer really used to like tequila!
Tazer: I still do by the way!
Keith: At the time, listening to us speak was like taking a shot of tequila – you either like it or you don’t! Tequila is one of those drinks that you either love or hate, so we called ourselves 3 Shots of Tequila and it stuck. It’s one of those really ambiguous names where you have no idea what it is until you listen, and I think that helped us a lot as well.
So, you have recently partnered with Puma for the Suede Music Studio. In knowing how far 3 Shots of Tequila has grown, and what you’ve achieved especially with the Spotify deal and a sold-out tour. How important was it for you to get involved with this campaign?
Marv: I think it’s important because it showcases how far we have come to work with a brand like Puma. The clothes are nice, the studio is nice – I’ve got some joy in it! *laughs* Puma is an iconic brand, I have loads of there trainers at home, I’ve always seen these trainers around and it’s mad because they have the thick laces which are more old-school, and you’ve got the thin laces that are newer school if that makes sense. The partnership made sense!
Keith: Being a part of something that you grew up watching or seeing, it’s something so iconic, so it’s like “Wow! We get to be a part of this!”, you always dream of being a part of something as big as this, it’s amazing when you actually do!
Marv: I wanted a pair of Puma boots in school and my Dad took me to the shop, but I didn’t get the boots that I wanted. I wanted Puma Kings and I don’t know what other trainers he got me – but yeah.
Tazer: What? You didn’t go home and tell him “Look…”
Keith: *laughs*
Marv: I wore my Puma Kings!
You guys have taken the whole podcasting realm to the next level, so many people are starting podcasts now and it’s definitely become a trend to have one! I’ve been told that you’ll be throwing a few ‘Learn With 3 Shots’ episodes which will aim to educate people on the platform. Tell us a bit more about this…
Keith: So, with the ‘Learn With’ episodes, we actually do everything with it! We speak on everything and anything when it comes to this series, we bring in professionals from all fields. We thought it would be great to have something educational because with our content, yeah, it’s funny and it’s entertaining but we also wanted to teach people something and learn something ourselves in the process. We have had everything from –
Marv: Pilot, Dentist, Footballer, Boxer, Eye Health
Tazer: We’ve had people in Finance, peopling in marketing and PR
Marv: People in Property as well!
Keith: Yeah, we’ve had everyone! Everyone wants to be entertained but, in the process, we thought we’d throw some educational stuff in and help people along the way, and it’s been doing pretty well!
What do you think are the fundamentals to have in place when starting out a podcast? Aside of the obvious…
Keith: You have to really want to do it, and I think that’s one thing for a lot of people. You have to commit to wanting to do it, we’ve been doing this nearly 5 years and we have never missed an episode in the 5 years – come rain or snow, whatever happens we have an episode out! That’s one thing a lot of people don’t think about, imagine watching a show like EastEnders and some Tuesday’s it doesn’t pop up or they go 2 weeks without an episode, and then all of a sudden it randomly pops up – people don’t want to listen!
Marv: I think branding and how you market your pod is important as well. The audio quality is really important because if it sounds bad people will just switch off. If you have an interesting piece of artwork or an interesting logo, people will look at it and think “What’s that?”, you need to grab people’s attention in many different ways, other than just the name. A lot of people will have a normal name, ‘3 Guys on a Couch’ – alright bro, we get it – you need to make it more ambiguous!
Tazer: I’d also say, your personality as well and the chemistry you have between you and your co-host is important, just you yourself, are you someone that somebody would want to listen to and gravitate to? That definitely helps with the pod!
Yeah, I think you guys have perfected that, listening to you is like listening to your mates which is what makes it so organic. How has it been for you in regard to cultivating that and bringing it to a stage?
Keith: We have to be ourselves as much as we can and that’s what makes it so easy for us. It’s genuinely just a conversation with a mic in the room, it’s what we would be doing every other day except there is a mic in the room. It makes life so much easier for us because it’s never a thing of us having to be in character or us thinking about what we are doing because it’s who and how we are with each other.
Marv: With that being said, the first live show I did moths in my stomach – not even butterflies! It was like “This is real now, there are 250 people in this room, I’ve never done this before so how is it going to go?”, within the first 5 minutes, everyone was laughing, those people were actually there for us and that’s when it became easier from then onwards. The first 5 minutes and before that, I was panicking and I didn’t let you lot know – Did you lot not panic as well?
Tazer: I was very keen on the idea…
Marv: Ohh, what’s going on here now? What you are talking about bro?!
Tazer: It’s nice to know you felt some emotion…
Marv: Sorry about this! *laughs*
You’ve all obviously come from different backgrounds career wise – Tazer you throw your ‘Faded’ events etc. Do you think having these previous skills has helped to build the brand in certain ways?
Tazer: Yeah, in regard to being around people, working with customers and building relationships! That has definitely helped! These pair also do events as well!
Marv: Being around people helps? Brudda, do you live in a cottage in the Cotswolds?
Tazer: Nah, I mean if you are not a personable person, you can’t do events! You know why!
Marv: Nah I’m just saying, people are always around people bro from school!
Tazer: What, so when you went to school there was no one that was shy and stayed in the corridors?
Marv: But they were still around people… *laughs*
Keith: *laughs* I think what you left out, is that is has definitely helped us in terms of touring, when we started doing shows, we did it all on our own! We didn’t have a promoter, or a touring company working with us, all of the skills we had from doing events and bought them over onto this side of things and it helped us a lot. The first couple years of our shows, Marv was at the door, we were working through the event whilst performing at the event – it did help!
Obviously, you guys have done a lot of episodes now, have there been any chats in particular that have stuck with you?
Keith: For me, it’s mostly with the ‘Learn With 3 Shots’ episodes that we’ve been doing, we have so many conversations and there are things that I genuinely didn’t know, that for me is where I take a lot more away. When we have normal conversations, with the episodes with just us, I find them more entertaining, a lot does get said but I do take a lot more away from the ‘Learn With’ stuff.
Tazer: If I had to choose one, I would choose the one with Jaz, where we spoke about money and our relationship with money – that was one of the episodes that stuck out for me!
Marv: The Pilot one as well, I didn’t know how much it all cost and how long it can take – so little things like that!
Going back to the tour, did you guys have any mad experiences or encounters with supporters?!
Keith: We kept missing our train…
Marv: When did we miss the train? What happened?
Keith: You made us miss the train like twice!
Marv: Who, me?! Man said twice?!
Keith: You don’t remember him having to go speak to the man?
Marv: Nah, you got on the wrong train though!
Tazer: No, you were late!
Marv: These lot are lying! Why are you waiting for me if you have your own tickets? You two don’t wait for me anyway!
Tazer: Is this what we are doing?! *laughs*
Keith: I think another funny moment was when we did get to one hotel, we convinced Marv that everyone’s else room was bigger. So, he was on the phone for like 15 minutes, trying to get a bigger room! *laughs*
Marv: These lot bully me you know!
Tazer: One time, we went into Marv’s room and he has a 1 litre bottle of Heineken!
Marv: Nah, the funny thing is I remember going to the gym and I remember seeing a Heineken bottle in the corridor on the floor, but I didn’t pay attention! I came into my room now; the Heineken bottle is there! Tazer’s like “Ah, you drinking Heineken in the morning now yeah?” and I was like “What are you talking about? It’s not my bottle”, I’m pleading my innocence and these times they’ve planted the bottle in my room, and were laughing –
Tazer & Keith: *laughs*
Keith: Didn’t they change the number on your door?
Marv: Yeah!! They changed the number on my door, luckily, I was so tired I still went to the right room because I remember the location! I didn’t even look at the number!
Tazer: Another interesting one would be when we got flown out to Croatia, and we got caught in a fire!
Marv: Oh yeahh!
Keith: We had to trek through the woods to get out!
Marv: Later, we heard that there were wolves in those woods
Keith: That was hilarious! You guys had to trek through random woods without thinking that there might be something in there?!
Tazer: Yeah, but our only option was to stay on the other side of the fire for like 12 hours
Keith: Or get eaten by a wolf?!
Going forward, where do you see 3 Shots of Tequila going? Any room for maybe branching out into something else at all or?
Keith: We have definitely got a lot of things in the pipeline, because we’ve been doing this for so long, we do want to do bigger things – there’s not much we can speak on just yet but there is a lot in terms of growing podcasting as a whole in the UK and doing more, not just for ourselves but for other people as well. We want to do bigger shows as well, we have a show at the Royal Albert Hall, which was supposed to be in May, but we are going to be doing that May next year – hopefully! We haven’t actually done a show in over a year now, right?
Marv: Yeah!
Keith: Yeah, this is the longest we have gone without doing a show, so we are excited to get back on stage and just do big things!
What can we expect to see from you guys in 2021?
Marv: Just try to diversify the brand a bit more, add more feathers to the cap, so to speak! Do you like that one? *laughs* Collaborate with a few more brands and put ourselves more in the shop window!
Keep up to date with the 3 Shots of Tequila via their Instagram here.
