The following is an excerpt from our new book, Refinement Optional: The Best of the SoBros Network, which you can now purchase on Amazon.
I have stared at this incessant blinking cursor for some time now as I try to put the first sentence together to tell my journey with the SoBros Network and most importantly explain how much the experience has meant to me. I first met the SoBros gang through my time in independent wrestling. Stoney, Brandon and some other former members of the crew would pop up at some of various indie shows supporting some of the up-and-coming stars of professional wrestling sponsoring some of the shows and selling some of their own merch. I had no idea what the hell SoBros Network was. It could have been some sort of microbrewery, apparel company, hell it could have even been some sort of right-wing cult for all I knew. Thank my lord Prince Rogers Nelson it was not the latter.
I really came to know some of the guys through our love of professional wrestling and most importantly through our shared admiration for Southern Underground Pro, an independent wrestling promotion in Nashville that I did commentary for and that the SoBros often sponsored.
After my short trip of ignorance I learned exactly what the SoBros Network was, stood for, and wanted to grow in to. After nearly two years since the start of S.U.P. my relationship with Stoney and the rest of the gang had grown to the point where I was comfortable asking if I could submit a piece for the site. Stoney excitedly accepted my offer and I was off to the races. Sobros had plenty of wrestling, football, and movie coverage.
I do love all of those topics as well and believed I could add to them as well but I felt where I would fit in best was to write about my first true real love, music. I have never pretended to be some sort of pretentious music snob as I have openly and lovingly confessed my ongoing love for pop music and boybands in particular for decades so it only made sense that my first story for the SoBros Network would be a review of a New Kids On The Block concert. That story in May of 2019 started a long line of writing about music, movies, wrestling and even buttholes that I will always treasure.
The SoBros Network welcomed me in and gave me a place to share my voice with the world and I will forever be grateful for that. I never in a million years could envision that story about my five favorite Bostonians would have allowed me to cover numerous film and music festivals, interview the director of one of my favorite horror films of all-time as well as cover the Senior Bowl where I was famously hit in the face by an entire box of Moon Pies. SoBros did that and so much more.
It gave me a community that I am so proud to be a part of. My byline doesn’t grace the pages of the site like it used to. Life changes have led my away from Nashville and taken away a lot of the free time I used to have to devout to writing. That sad story is for another day. It’s been 7 crazy years as a part of the SoBros Network and the effect it has had on me isn’t necessarily visible to the naked eye but rather something I can see and feel everyday.
Between the time with SoBros and the work I did in wrestling I found my voice and a confidence that I feel I hadn’t felt since my time in theater and radio. In the last seven years I got to create a short lived show putting professional wrestlers in excruciating pain with my ode to Hot Ones, Ten Count. From there I would pop-up on a variety of podcasts on the website and eventually co-hosted the College Football Roundup with our fearless leader, Stoney Keeley.
The thing I have loved creating with the SoBros the most is hands down Drinking With…, the podcast about movies turning the legal drinking age that is shockingly in its 6th year and quickly approaching its 100th episode. Getting to spend a random Saturday with Stoney and Brandon reminiscing on some of our favorite and not-so-favorite films from 21 years ago is something I truly look forward to every time we meet up.
The SoBros Network has afforded me a place to be unapologetically me and oddly embraced it as well and I will forever be grateful for it. To steal from the greatest wrestling stable of all-time, ‘When you’re SoBros Network, you’re SoBros Network for life.”
Steven McCash is the Lead Music Writer and Utility Man for SoBros Network. Steven is the host of the ‘Drinking With…’ podcast, and the pioneer of New Music Friday, highlighting each week’s new releases in the world of music in addition to the occasional live show review. He also pitches in as a Nashville lifestyle writer and football analyst (hence the ‘Utility Man’ title). Follow on Twitter: @MC_Cash75
Elsewhere on the SoBros Network: Check out Stacking The Inbox for premium coverage of the Tennessee Titans and NFL Draft. Subscribe to Nashville Movie Dispatch for all of our movie content. We get weird on Phone It In, the history podcast that explores legendary tales, important historical figures, and events.
