The Official Adventures in Odyssey Podcast

Jesse: Hi, Odyssey fans. I'm Jesse.

Bob: And I'm Bob. Welcome to the official Adventures in Odyssey podcast. Today on the podcast, we'll be talking to the man and the boy on the cover of April's Clubhouse Magazine. Robby Bruce plays Buck Melstner, and both of them are on the latest issue of Clubhouse.

As important as it is to be on the cover, I think it's fair to say that that's not the biggest thing that's happened to Robby lately.

Jesse: Robby and Buck both have a lot going on in their worlds. You can find out what's changed for them by checking out that cover story in Clubhouse or by listening to our interview. Let's get right to it.

Bob: But only after we issue a spoiler warning. If you haven't heard Buck's story through Value of a Buck, Part 2, you probably want to wait on this podcast until you do.

Jesse: If you hurry, you can still listen to that episode online for free on the radio section of the website. It's also available in the club, on CD, and download, along with the rest of Album 80.

Bob: Okay, is that enough? Is everyone gone who hasn't listened yet? We've been more than fair with our warning labels. Let's jump into our chat with Robby.

Hey, Robby, welcome to the podcast.

Robby Bruce: Hey, glad to be here.

Bob: Of course, you're an old friend of the podcast, and I say old, that's a relative term. We've had you on a few times. Before we get to today's episodes, let's catch up on your life. A lot of young actors stay in film and TV. You've gone in a different direction. Lately, you've been working a lot in the live music world. What drew you to that?

Robby Bruce: I think it was just my love for music in general. I wanted to be a drummer as a kid, as every parent's favorite dream. Nightmare, right? Exactly.

I grew up going to church, and that gave me the itch for music. At some point, someone gifted my sister and me our first microphone and a way to record. I'd always seen friends who could play guitar and all that kind of stuff, and it was very interesting and intriguing to me. That's where all of that came from.

Jesse: You run front of house? I put that in quote marks, too, because I'm not even sure what that means. What do you do on a typical show day for the bands you work with?

Robby Bruce: My role is actually production manager and front of house. For production managing, it's pretty straightforward. I'm managing the show, the band, and their equipment, making sure that it's all running properly and that the show goes off on time at all times. I'm making sure the band is where they're at when they need to be.

Front of house is basically just running sound. I'm sure a lot of church people can understand. They see the guy standing at the back of the room behind this big plastic piece of machinery, and they're pushing what are called faders or buttons and making it hopefully sound really good. I do my best to try to make sure that the audience can come away from the show having experienced something really cool.

Bob: We've done a few Odyssey live shows, which are always eventful. You never know what's going to happen. Can you give us one good "you won't believe this happened" story from a concert that you've worked? Something that went sideways and how you handled it?

Robby Bruce: I think the worst thing that has happened in a concert for me is I lost complete power to my whole entire rig. Rig meaning my console, our monitor setup. No power in the room shut off.

What ended up being the lynchpin to it was a stagehand, unfortunately, stepped on one of our power supplies and we lost complete power to the whole thing. The band was up there playing, and then they realized what had happened. I realized what had happened and I ran to stage from front of house and I went and I fixed it.

The guy was super apologetic and it was fine. It took maybe 30 seconds total of our showtime, but it's obviously something that everyone notices. It definitely is one of my worst nightmares to have that happen.

Jesse: It happened to the Super Bowl once. Remember that? I remember that. Of course, at the Odyssey live event we just had for the one grand party.

Bob: It happens to the best of them, Robby. Like you said, you just roll with it. It's live. What can you do? You just keep going.

Robby Bruce: Exactly. I do remember the one grand party.

Jesse: When you travel with the bands, you're on the road together for a long time. You only have to deal with us for a couple of hours in a studio. Is there a difference because of the amount of time that you spend together on the road?

Robby Bruce: There is a difference because we're literally living with each other. For the last tour I went on, it was six weeks straight. We were in a bus, thankfully. We weren't in a cargo van driving across the US.

We literally live with each other, and I think the biggest topic that always comes up is making sure that you're okay. If anything comes up that's tough or even good, learning to celebrate the good with everyone and just helping each other communicate and just be a little family together. We're all there for each other.

Bob: Speaking of family and being there, not everybody knows this, but you're a dad now. Congratulations.

Robby Bruce: Thank you. It's actually been a year now. She is absolutely beautiful, and her and my wife are amazing together. She's just got such a little personality now.

It's nothing like what I would have ever expected. There are good days and there are bad days, but at the same time, I know that I'm not in control of a lot of things. It makes the bad days become more of a learning lesson. I didn't do that right today. Tomorrow, we'll get it better. It'll be fine.

Jesse: We worry that we're going to scar our kids. More often than not, they roll with it pretty well. What has been the most joyful surprise of fatherhood? Going back to your previous thoughts about being on the road so much, what are you doing to try to maximize your dad time? This is a period in a child's life where a lot of changes are happening. To be gone for extended periods is hard.

Robby Bruce: It is hard. Emotionally, it is very hard. What we do while I'm on the road is we FaceTime a lot. My wife is calling me maybe two or three times a day, and we FaceTime with Clara.

I think the biggest surprise to me that has come with fatherhood in general has been just the absolute amount of unconditional love that comes from a baby. It's incredible. It makes me feel like I'm doing something right.

Jesse: There's almost that spiritual parallel, like you were saying, that unconditional love that you have for her and that she has for you. It's almost that same relationship that we have with God. He just loves us so much, and we love him so much that sometimes being a dad just elevates that. You understand it a little bit better than you did.

Has becoming a dad changed the way you connect to Buck? Even particularly in the scenes that explore his big brother protective side in his relationship with Chase?

Robby Bruce: It definitely has. I feel like it's definitely made me be able to see every issue or every situation with a thousand-foot point of view. Being a dad has definitely made me change my perspective on a lot of those kinds of situations within the show.

Jesse: On a lighter side, I have to ask this because we get so many messages about this. Fans are divided on which character should end up together. Some are rooting heavily for Buck and Lexi, while others are on Team Buckles. They want Buck and Jules. Where do you land on the subject, and has your answer changed over time?

Robby Bruce: I don't really know. I think Buck has a lot of exploration to be done before he gets into anything supremely serious. There's a lot of self-exploration.

In simplest terms, I'm very neutral. I think the majority of the fans would like me to say Buckles, given that the Lexie thing is newer. Jules has been around for a long time now. They want that. I think that relationship has definitely grown, and it'd be really cool to see through what that relationship would look like, whether it becomes something more or even if it's just sticking together as friends. I think that relationship is really cool.

Bob: Now it's time for our TRQ, a Totally Random Question sent to us by a fan. Robby, it's the middle of March, which seems like the perfect timing for this question from AIO19DP. This person wants to know, do you have a favorite college basketball team?

Robby Bruce: I don't watch college basketball, but I have always been a big supporter of the University of Texas, the Texas Longhorns. Whether it's football or basketball, I know that they've been really good in the past. I haven't kept up with them as of late, but I would have to say that it's always college-wise, it's always going to be UT in my heart.

Bob: All right, so our fans out there who don't really have a rooting interest but are maybe watching some games this month, if they see Texas playing, they can root for them for your sake.

Jesse: Put on some burnt orange.

Bob: Thank you, AIO19DP, for the question.

Jesse: All right, Robby, there's some very poignant scenes in these episodes. You get another scene with Mr. Skint. Buck's past with Skint is complicated. There's anger, grief, even loyalty on your part because he helped raise you and mentor you. Your first scene ever on Odyssey was acting opposite of the character of Skint. Did you rewind mentally to those sessions from many years ago when you were doing these current scenes?

Robby Bruce: Yeah, I did. It's absolutely wild to think that I've been doing this for 15, 16 years now with you guys. It's crazy. I remember my first day walking in and seeing this really tall older fellow within David and being like, "Is this Mr. Skint?" Then seeing everyone else walk in and getting to find out who is who of the who in the cast. It just brought me back a lot of really cool memories.

Jesse: In the scene, Skint gives you, gives Buck, a kind of twisted sort of affirmation. He says, "The student played the master and won." How did you play the way that Buck feels in that moment? Was he proud? Was it disgust at the conniving part? Heartbreak, frustration? What was going on?

Robby Bruce: I think it's more of Buck feels like he's succeeded, but at the same time, he knows that he didn't succeed the way that Skint thinks he did. I think that's the ultimate win. He's fought a lot to not become that, and he's struggled with that a lot.

He still has that loyalty, like we said, towards him. But at the same time, it's like his dad. I want my dad to know that I'm a good human. It's that same idea, even though he's not actually his dad, and Eugene is now.

There's still that fatherly figure within his heart of that kind of stuff, I would assume. I played it more with that frustration that I wish I could tell you everything, but at the same time, I don't care because we're done. This is it. I'm moving on to greener pastures, so to speak.

Jesse: Better, more meaningful, fulfilling life. Exactly.

Bob: You mentioned Eugene, and Buck also gets a few more scenes with Eugene in Value of a Buck, Part 2. Talk about the experience of recording those scenes with Townsend Coleman playing Eugene. As Robby, how did it feel stepping into a scene that's so connected emotionally and historically to Will Ryan?

Robby Bruce: It's tough. I think it's tough for everyone. I think the first time that we did that, it definitely was the roughest. Katie was crying, and it's just crazy. I remember hearing back what it actually sounds like, and it's Will. It's really cool that the technology's there to be able to do that. It's just so cool to have his memory live on like that.

Jesse: This is such a powerful story. These episodes are so powerful. Which part of the story do you remember that needed the most takes or took the most time to get it right?

Robby Bruce: Definitely, if memory serves, there was a very long line that I kept messing up. I try to read the scripts ahead of time, I really do. Buck gives a big speech, right? I believe that speech itself was probably the hardest. The thought of Buck's salvation was just so cool in my head, and it was hard to concentrate at some points. That was probably the biggest difficulty in that. I was so excited.

Jesse: These episodes revisit the theme of identity. Who Buck is, who people think he is, and then, of course, who God says he is. Did any moments in this story hit you personally as a believer?

Robby Bruce: Yeah, I think the first thing I said to Kathy when we got to this point was, "We're here. We're finally here. Buck is finally making the decision to get it done and to actually put himself and his faith first," which is really cool.

It's one of those things I feel like with this character, I came in as a bad guy, so to speak. The complete turnaround that he's made is incredible. The stories we've gone through to get there are absolutely wild and hilarious and heartwarming and sad. There's just the whole spectrum of emotions that we've gone through to get to this point, and it's so awesome to just finally be here.

Jesse: The scene is beautiful, really. There's so much evidence of God in the world and in people's lives. How do you know God is real? One of the biggest evidences is life change.

Like you said, Buck comes in there kind of as a bad guy. He's cunning. He's always trying to get an edge, always trying to get ahead. He's following in Mr. Skint's footsteps in some ways. But then learning about God, getting those influences from Mr. Whittaker and Eugene and Katrina, of course, and just seeing how his life has turned around to something that's so much more filled with hope and peace and everything that goes along with following Christ.

What do you hope listeners take away from Buck's salvation story? Especially the kids and maybe even the parents who had to deal with some guilt in their past and the second chances or feeling like they can't escape their past.

Robby Bruce: It's never too late. Even when you think all hope is lost for you, it's never too late. You could be 10 or you could be 80 years old, and God would accept you exactly the way you are.

I feel like that's probably the biggest thing that I feel with Buck as well. There were so many times where he just felt worthless and not acceptable to the people around him. I think the thing that helped him through this that stands true with God is the fact that they never gave up.

They never gave up on him. They helped him through everything, even when he didn't want help or he didn't like them. He still got help and they still gave it freely and willingly. I think that that's very much what's led him to this point, just seeing that unconditional love and want to just be there. Whether he believed or not, they still loved him and they still cared about him. That I think tells the massive story of just it's never too late.

Jesse: God's arms are always open, right? Just like with you with your daughter, Clara. She turns to hug you, boom, just embracing. That's what God, that's the picture of God in heaven just waiting to embrace his children when they turn to him. Well said, Robby. This was a great conversation. Thanks for your time today.

Bob: Thanks for being with us.

Robby Bruce: Yeah, it was great talking to you guys.

Jesse: I've loved getting to know Robby over these years. So much has changed for him since that first Green Ring recording back in 2010.

Bob: He and Buck have been on some amazing adventures, and there's more to come for both of them.

Jesse: Speaking of more to come, Album 80 continues to release on the radio and online. The first of a three-part series about Connie and Renee comes out this weekend. It's called Face the Future.

Bob: When this album is over, we'll have our usual call-in Q&A with audio questions from fans. This time, we're switching it up. Instead of talking to the writers, we'll hear from the sound designers.

Jesse: If you have a burning question about the production of Album 80, or anything production-related in our storied history, give us a call. The number is 1-855-784-WHIT. Always make sure to have your parents' permission before you call. Then stay tuned to a future podcast to hear your questions and their answers.

But before we go, Bob, what's happening in the club now?

Bob: We've got a new episode coming out tomorrow. It's the second half of a Wooten adventure titled The Prodigal Twin. Part one of this episode had some big Bassett bombshells. Part two has more, right, Chris?

Chris: Now on the Adventures in Odyssey Club, the search for Wellington Bassett continues.

Guest (Male): I'm in some trouble.

Guest (Male): Wellington, where are you?

Guest (Male): I have to go.

Chris: Difficult questions are raised.

Guest (Male): Was he having money problems? Any debts he couldn't pay?

Guest (Male): The Bassetts don't borrow money, Detective. We make it.

Chris: And painful memories resurface.

Guest (Male): So he was afraid to talk to me and considered running away?

Guest (Male): He did more than consider.

Chris: Secrets come to light and the stakes are raised. As The Prodigal Twin concludes on the Adventures in Odyssey Club.

Bob: That's tomorrow, March 19th, only in the club.

Jesse: And that's all for this edition of the official Adventures in Odyssey podcast, a presentation of Focus on the Family.

Bob: Visit adventuresinodyssey.com to join the club. If you want to leave a question for the production team, the number is 1-855-784-WHIT.

Jesse: If you need to talk to someone in person, call 1-800-A-FAMILY. I'm Jesse.

Bob: And I'm Bob. Reminding you that with God in your life, every day's an adventure.