Follow along in the music and concert adventures of Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch, as fans, managers, back-stage access and friends of bands. In this podcast they tell adventurous, inspirational, comical and at times emotional stories from live performance experiences shared together. Combined they have seen well over 2,000 shows, and many together. Re-live specific shows with stories and sometimes sound bites as they describe their experiences at these concerts, though often from the best seats in the house as they both believe there is no point in ever sitting in a bad seat; usually. Whether they were in the front row of some of the most iconic shows over the past decade, or rubbing elbows with the likes of Jack Black while dressed like idiots at a black tie affair, their stories get asked to be repeated over and over. They’re finally bringing these tales to the tape, with witty and comical banter as these two best friends also argue over almost everything, including their favorite baseball teams as rivals Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees. The stories will likely also venture off into stories of their rather checkered pasts as well, so you’ll want to listen along for these details! They’ll explain that the combination of the two of them together at these shows often brings about a magic that simply doesn’t happen when they’re apart at shows. And because of that, together they have gotten to experience moments that most concert goers only dream of. “Those rules don’t apply to me” has been a slogan for Andy for years, hence the naming of this podcast: “Those Rules Don’t Apply To Us.” While typical concert goers usually have average concert experiences, Andy and Mackenzie never settle for that and often push the boundary limits of standards in order to share stories like these. Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch Edited by Mackenzie McAninch Music by Beyond the Lamplight Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson Links: https://linktr.ee/thoserulesdontapplytous
Episodes
Friday Apr 18, 2025
Friday Apr 18, 2025
Here is Part 2 of 2 from what we call THE DAY. In the last episode, the guys took you up to about 7pm on January 4th, 2020 having met their hero in Robby Krieger from The Doors, hung out with Leif Garrett and all kinds of other things.
The night was just beginning as they then scampered off to a Hollywood black-tie affair to see a Nirvana reunion, Cheap Trick and many more acts. You'll never believe how they ended up hob-nobbing with A-List celebrities who were actually jealous of THEIR outfits! Listen along for these stories and much more that happened even after THAT show!
If you missed Part 1: The Day of The Doors, listen to that here
Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch
Edited by Mackenzie McAninch
Music by Beyond the Lamplight
Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson
Find their social media and more here
Wednesday Mar 26, 2025
Wednesday Mar 26, 2025
This was it. THE DAY. It's been their most talked about day of shows together for years and your hosts both unanimously agree that January 4th, 2020 is the greatest day for shows either of them have ever experienced.
The first part of this day starts with them attending a "Day of The Doors" event in Los Angeles. Being that The Doors are both of their all-time favorites, they were on adrenalin overload at this event: They got to get their photo in the re-created window for Morrison Hotel, met guitarist Robby Krieger and of course were in the front row for a performance of his. Plus they got to do much, much more, including having an odd run-in with a former teenage heart throb.
Have a listen to this episode and hear them fan-boy out about their heroes, PLUS hear EXCLUSIVE audio of Krieger and Co. from a private performance that day!! Because you know, those rules don't apply to them....
This is Part 1 of a 2 part episode.
Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch
Edited by Mackenzie McAninch
Music by Beyond the Lamplight
Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson
Find their social media and more here
Friday Jan 31, 2025
Friday Jan 31, 2025
For years, we have said that The Seamonster Lounge in Wallingford is the best music venue for live, original music in all of Seattle. And we still stand by that statement. So much so that this entire episode will be dedicated to the venue, the people there and our experiences there.
Funky 2 Death. Joe Doria. Marmalade. Blood Moon Orchestra. If you don't already know about these names, grab a pen and paper because we have a LONG list of musicians around Seattle that you need to know about. Class is in session.
Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch
Edited by Mackenzie McAninch
Music by Beyond the Lamplight
Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson
Find their social media and more here
Wednesday Jan 01, 2025
Wednesday Jan 01, 2025
We know you might be listening to this podcast and be amazed at the wonders of the perfection in audio and content quality, assuming we're basically flawless in the creation of these episodes.
Wrong.
As we've mentioned many times, we're just a couple of clowns, horsing around and have no idea what we're doing. However we are having fun and you'll hear plenty of that in this special episode.
This is the bloopers episode; a full episode of the mistakes that we cut out of each episode throughout the past year, but we saved them. Laughter, word fumbles, things that don't make sense, foul language, and of course arguing about baseball.
Have a listen back at the silliest moments we've had over the past year and listen to how the magic DOESN'T happen, lol.
Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch
Edited by Mackenzie McAninch
Music by Beyond the Lamplight
Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson
Find their social media and more here
Friday Dec 06, 2024
Friday Dec 06, 2024
Circus. That's what pops up when you look up Super Geek League. While this technically a concert that the guys went to in 2016, it's far from only being about the music. Clowns riding surfboards on top of the crowd, contortionists, acrobats, and a gagillion tons of confetti. Andy and Mackenzie will do their best to explain what this experience was like, but viewing the photos they will post on the socials is probably best.
From there the show does a complete 180 when they discuss seeing guitar legend Jeff Beck that same year, and hanging out with him backstage. How in the world did they pull this off and what was Jeff Beck like? They'll tell you all about it. Listen to our latest episode, which also includes exclusive audio!
Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch
Edited by Mackenzie McAninch
Music by Beyond the Lamplight
Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson
Find their social media and more here
Tuesday Oct 15, 2024
Tuesday Oct 15, 2024
Energy. Rock and Roll. That sums up this episode in four words. In this episode, Andy and Mackenzie re-visit 2017 twice as they talk about separate performances of both Black Pistol Fire and The Schizophonics in Seattle that year. They both really want you to go see both bands, and they're both really mad that their friends aren't helping to sell out every show of these bands. Hear them talk all about it and try to convince you why in this latest episode!
Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch
Edited by Mackenzie McAninch
Music by Beyond the Lamplight
Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson
Find their social media and more here
Tuesday Aug 13, 2024
Tuesday Aug 13, 2024
Andy and Mackenzie mention in this episode that they believe that Chris Cornell was perhaps the best rock male vocalist of his generation. The guys were incredibly lucky to not only experience seeing Cornell solo at the prestigious Benaroya Hall in Seattle in 2015, but of course they had good seats. Listen along as they recount this performance with energetic and at time emotional stories, plus listen to audio from the show at arguably the best sounding room in all of Seattle. Seriously, you'll feel like you're in the room if you listen to these clips and close your eyes.....
They'll also talk a bit about other Cornell performances and also his untimely passing, how that effected them, and where they were the day they heard the news.
Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch
Edited by Mackenzie McAninch
Music by Beyond the Lamplight
Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson
Find their social media and more here
Thursday Jul 11, 2024
Thursday Jul 11, 2024
Listen to Part 2 of our "The Art of Ticket Buying" tips. In this episode we'll talk about buying from scalpers and how to be safe doing that. Did you miss Part 1? Listen to it here or wherever you get your podcasts.
But before we get to that, the guys talk about hanging out backstage (and even ON stage during a dare) with artists like Michael Franti, The Violent Femmes and more in Las Vegas.
Do you have tips or experiences in ticket buying that we haven't mentioned that you'd like to share with others? Please comment on one of our social media pages here or send us an email to thoserulesdontapplytous@gmail.com and we might read your comments in a future episode!
Created, Written, Engineered and Produced by Andy Gates and Mackenzie McAninch
Edited by Mackenzie McAninch
Music by Beyond the Lamplight
Artwork by B. Anthony Nelson
Find their social media and more here