ESMZ percussionist Orpheo McCord will celebrate his first Father’s Day today as a father, and nobody is prouder than “Papa Joe.”

Orpheo and Rachel Kolar (of the band He’s My Brother She’s My Sister) welcomed Mateus McCord on March 14.

“Mateus is a beautiful and strong boy,” says Joe McCord, Orpheo’s father. “Orpheo says he looks like me. I hope not for his sake. He was born on Einstein’s birthday. That is a good sign. Orpheo is a dodding and loving father. I am very proud.”

Papa Joe is the father of seven children – “a life in rock & roll, what can I say,” Papa Joe says – and now four grandchildren.

“We named (Orpheo) after the Greek god of music because I always knew he was going to be a musician,” Joe McCord said. “I told him to be a lawyer of doctor. I said, ‘If you don’t have to be an artist, don’t, because it’s a tough life.’ Whether you’re poor or successful, it’s a hard, hard life.”

In honor of Father’s Day and our love for Papa Joe, we’d like to share with you our six-part video interview with him from Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros’ Big Top in October in downtown Los Angeles. He talks about everything from ESMZ to his friendships with Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin, to the new short film he wrote and directed, now called “The Butterfly, The Harp & The Timepiece.” The film features Alex Ebert, Stewart Cole and Orpheo of ESMZ. The film has been entered into the Palm Springs Short Festival, one of the most prestigious short festivals in the United States and a prerequisite to the Academy awards.