Category Archives: Interviews

Interviews

Questions for Marc Orrell

by Jesse Davidson

 

Wild Roses live at the Moose 3/6/16. JC August (left) Marc Orwell (right)
Wild Roses live at the Moose 3/6/16. JC August (left) Marc Orwell (right)

Marc Orrell is a man of many talents. Not only is he a guitarist, spontaneous pianist, and songwriter but he is also the band leader and vocalist for Wild Roses. Formerly, Marc has played guitar in Dropkick Murphy’s and The Black Pacific. He’s also a rad dude that was rad enough to answer some questions we had for him after seeing Wild Roses at the Lancaster Moose Lodge. We caught up with him via the internets and this is what he had to say.

 

Jesse Davidson: It’s been a few years since Wild Roses was founded. How has the experience of being a front man and leading a band been compared to just playing in a band?

Marc Orrell: I moved to Los Angeles 7 years ago and it’s taken a while to find the perfect bunch of guys that I have now.

You jam with some… and they don’t work out… and you move on to find the next. For me, being a leader means making decisions. I try to be fair and kind in my decisions. I tell myself, “Treat others the way you want to be treated… Also… Will you hurry up, Love? Some of us want to jam today…”

Be fair. Be quick. That’s proper leading to me.

JD:  When I saw the band live, I was only able to experience “Mild Roses” as it was dubbed because you only had JC August on pedal steel with you. How did you, JC and the other three members of the band meet and form the group? (Sean Winchester on drums/percussion, Chris Cheney on electric guitar, and Jeff Roffredo on Upright and Electric Bass)

MO: We all live in LA. We were kinda distant friends of friends in the beginning but I got up the courage to call them. They’re so fucking talented. I’m so lucky. I love them all.

JC and I did a WR tour with a few other members in the earlier days. Then I took a year off playing live and did some recording in Nashville. Jeff has been playing bass with us for about 2 years. Met him on the ’11 Warped Tour. He with The Aggrolites. Me with The Black Pacific. Lunch mates.

Chris and I are old buddies from DKM touring days. Since then, we’ve done some songwriting together and he said he missed playing in a band, being in LA and so far away from TLE in Australia. I said, “Man… you can come jam with us if you want.” He fit like a glove.

Sean rehearses in a room down the hall from my rehearsal space. I convinced him to come jam with us as well. That was over a year ago. Such a solid drummer.

Since then I got the offer to play in the live band of Fat Mike’s (NOFX) musical “Home Street Home” up in San Francisco. Besides the musical director, Mike didn’t have anyone else. I was able to recruit all of Wild Roses (except JC) to move up to SF for a month and play as the live band. Amazing experience.

JD: With Dropkick Murphy’s and now Wild Roses, it seems like you prefer to play in bands that feel like large ensembles with more moving parts than just a straight up rock band. How do you feel about that?

MO: It doesn’t feel large to me. That seems just right to fit our type of songs. Much more interesting too.

JD: Forgive me if you’ve been asked this a million times but how did end up joining Dropkick Murphys? I’m a goober and I like to know that kind of stuff.

MO: DKM were originally a 4 piece. Guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. Then my buddy James Lynch joined as a second guitarist, making them a 5 piece, and my head exploded with joy. Shortly after, the original guitarist, (Rick Barton) left the group and the band wanted to continue with two guitars. James called me up since I had just quit high school at 17. Long story short, through a few tryouts, I got the job and my first gig was in Tokyo, Japan with Dropkick Murphys. I was over the fucking moon.

JD: In doing some research for this, I read an old interview for Epitaph Records in 2003 where you talked about touring and called yourselves, “Pirates sailing the seas of asphalt”. That’s a great expression because being in a band is kind of like that. Has your years touring changed your perspective on life at all?

MO: Haha! That sounds like a Matt Kelly line!

My touring days have slowed down at the moment. WR has done a couple but nothing recent. Ask me again next year!

JD: What are some way you’ve learned about the music business over the years?

MO: I try to stay out of the business side. I’m a musician first. I can show you a G major chord…

JD:  Given what instruments you play and types of groups you’ve played with, you can hear wide variety of influences in your playing and songwriting. Do any of these influences come from a non-musical place?

MO: I love Bob Ross. The PBS landscape painter. I don’t know if that comes out as an influence in my writing but I really dig his outlook on life (minus the god bothering). He has lines like, “We don’t make mistakes… We have happy accidents.” And the peaceful vibes he gives off. Naturally and effortlessly creating in the most harmonious way. I wanna do that. The paint brush and knife sounds scraping the canvas make my heart slow down a few BPMs too.

JD: Is there something you haven’t done as an artist yet you’d like try in the future?

MO: I’m dying to be a cartoon voice! I wanna be a cartoon! A goofy one too! I’d love to be a cartoon as myself freaking out about being a cartoon. Or a monkey. Or a robot. Or a robot monkey.

JD: Any news or info on Wild Roses coming up you’d like people to know about?

MO: We’ve been doing some recording, and playing shows in California. No set releases yet. Follow us @wildrosesrock for shows and updates. Stay tuned!

Wild Roses album

Thanks for your time Marc. For more info on Wild Roses, click the links below

http://www.wildrosesrock.com

Wild Roses: Facebook

Wild Roses: Instagram

 

Interviews

While the Band is Playing: Chris Constable Pt. 1

Unlike other careers people choose, the music industry is one of the strangest anyone does. Although nothing is guaranteed in life, the path to become a doctor, engineer, accountant, etc., has been traveled by many before and is a reasonably safe journey. When you enter the music industry, there is no path. You only have a vague map to your destination, whatever tools you have with you, and off you go. When you talk to others that have entered the music industry, they can only tell you what worked for them. Sometimes that will work for everyone or it will only work for them. Sometimes you have a guide to point you in the right direction or you won’t have anyone. Sometimes you just throw your hands in the air and see where the wind takes you. It takes a certain kind of person to take on a business like this.

So this is an on-going series for those who are working in the music industry and for people trying to break into it.

While the Band is Playing

by Jesse Davidson

Chris Constable

Today’s interview features recording engineer Chris Constable. Along with engineering credits on Kamasi Washington’s debut album The Epic and for Fitz and the Tantrums, Chris has served as the Director of Operations for Slate  Digital and the Associate Director of Career Services at SAE Institute in Los Angeles.

 

JD: How did you get started playing music and then eventually moving into recording?

 

Chris Constable: I started at the age of three or four. My mom started taking me to music classes. I was kind of forced to play piano for a long time but I ended up thanking my mom for it later because the music theory knowledge carried over. The ability to play keyboard in some shape or form really helped when I started taking music theory classes. Started playing guitar when I was thirteen and then the jazz band in high school. The band director graduated from North Texas and was a vibraphone player. He was steeped in music theory knowledge. Went off for a summer and did a Berklee Music summer program. Started really playing at open mic in Atlanta, which is where I was living at the time when I was sixteen. The guy who ran sound for them moved and I ended up running sound for that. I found that I enjoyed that side of things somewhat. Then I graduated…well actually I didn’t graduate I GED’d out. My dad’s job moved back to the Antelope Valley at Lockheed and that’s how I ended up there.

 

From there, I went to Antelope Valley College and started taking classes around the Commercial Music program. Started hanging out with Laura Hemenway, Dennis Russell, Jeff Bretz and all the people who were running the program at the time. I started playing in the jazz band under Lee Matalon and playing in Test Flight with Dennis, Laura and that whole crew. Through that, ended up playing in Morpheus Trip. Through that, I met Nate Dillon and ended up playing in Dead Rats and ended up doing a lot with No Exit Records. All of us had our computers and we were all building our own PC’s and shit like that. We built them and them stuck an Echo Layla card in it, we had some inputs, got some cheap mics and started recording local bands. We worked on bands like Zero Box and The Kris Special. Kris Special and Dead Rats I think are the only two we did that are still going. Dead Rats is technically still a band. Whenever we’ve all got the time and have a reason to do it, we get together and do stuff still.

Through that, I met up with this guy named Hector or “Dr. Ramirez”. Hector ran a studio way out on the East Side(of town). Way out past Avenue I and 90th East or some shit like that. He had an actual MIXPlus rig with three 888’s and a control 24. He had a serious Protools rig and a separate live room. He saw how much Nate, myself, and everyone else at No Exit had done for the music scene that he decided to give back to us and record our album for free. As we were working on that, Hector and I became friends and one day he said, “Look dude, I’m a drummer and I can get pretty good drums sounds but I have no clue when it comes to guitars. If you can come dial in guitar tones for me, I’ll teach you about engineering and Protools. So I started doing that and I fell in love with the process of making records and engineering. It was right around that time Laura brought John French, Captain Beefheart’s drummer, into Test Flight. John came in and listened to some of the songs we did, gave us some feedback, and then did a bit of a clinic. We all went to Denny’s afterward, John and I hit it off, and that’s when he told me he was getting The Magic Band back together. Originally, Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) requested they get back together for a party. Apparently, Matt is a huge Captain Beefheart fan. It makes sense if you think about how slightly twisted The Simpsons was for its time. It went well enough that The Magic Band was signed to Proper Records, an English label and were getting together to go on a tour of the UK. John wanted someone to both run Front of House and do live recording. Going back to your question, I’ve gotten into the industry the same way I’ve gotten into everything else. If you don’t know how to do something, say yes and figure it out. Did I know how to run a recording rig at the time? Not really. He was running a MOTU rig and Digital Performer. I had never seen the software before so I had a week to bone up on it really quickly and let him know what we needed. We used stuff that was all in house at different venues. Sometimes all I got was a stereo bus two-track and sometimes I got full direct out multi tracks. That was also where I learned how to really advance a show. What actually goes into an input list, figuring out how your signal flow is going to be and working with the house sound crew in advance to make sure everything runs smoothly. I did all that before I ended up going to the Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences in Arizona (laughs).

JD: Wow (laughs).

“That’s kind of how the industry is. You learn as you are going and throw yourself into things that are above your skill level. And if you don’t, you’ll never make it”

CC: I was in an odd position at school because I went in knowing more than almost anyone else there. I already had a pretty good knowledge of Protools; I knew my shortcut keys and a fair amount about signal flow. The reason I chose the Conservatory was small class sizes. They wouldn’t have more than twelve students per class. When it came to hands on time, you had twelve people and a board with 60 channels. In engineering, that is so insanely important. You learn so much by actually doing that by anything out of textbooks. Especially now with things opened up through Pensado’s Place, all the Facebook groups and people doing YouTube tutorials. All that stuff is out therefor you to learn from for free nowadays. The thing you miss and the reason I went to school was the studios were open 24 hours a day. I purposely took the afternoon class so I wouldn’t be at school until 3pm to 7pm. go grab dinner, come back, and hang out while other people were in the studio. No one wanted the 3am-9am sessions so I would book those. I’d be in the studio doing whatever; I didn’t care what it was. I’d find someone to record or check out tapes because the first four months of the program was still analog and two-inch tape.

 

JD: Did you learn how to edit on tape?

 

CC: They didn’t get into editing which was the odd thing. This was about 2005. By that point, Protools had taken over enough that no one was editing on tape anymore. You might do minor edits on tape but that’s about it. Everything was going into tape and then being transferred over to Protools. By 2006 or 2007, everyone was on Protools. Tape machines were not getting used much anymore. After I graduated, I started working at Sonora Recorders near Atwater in 2006. At that time, we still had a Studer (tape machine) in house. It was set up and wired in but pretty much was only used when chasing Protools.

 

There’s something about mixing to tape. It does a cool thing and it’s one of those things I tried to describe to clients and I never could. They’d ask me, “If we go to tape, what’s it gonna do? How is it going to sound different”. It makes it sound like a record. That’s all I can tell you. I’d play a reel for them and they’d go, “Ohhhh…I get it.” It’s indescribable and something you wouldn’t notices unless it’s AB’d. That’s how a lot of things are. Engineers, especially those who have been doing it a long time, were struggling with this entire thing of everyone listening on ear buds, out of tiny iPhone speakers, laptops and then throwing boom on it so it’s loud enough. Then it’s slammed and limited so it’s brought up by 10 db. No one is really sitting down and listening on Hi-Fi systems anymore especially as vinyl went away. Before, it was hard to skip tracks. You had to get up, pick up the needle and find the gap between two tracks. Now, it’s truly all about convenience. That’s all people care about.

 

So, a lot of us struggle with the “Why am I doing all of this?” Why am I obsessing over the phase relationship between my overheads? Going through all these weird little things to get this amazing sound and then going to tape. All these things that 98% of people listening won’t notice.

 

 

JD: That’s kind of how I feel where the whole industry is at now with artists, engineers, and any sort of company involved with it. Everyone has taken a hit because of convenience. People can say, “Why would I want to see a show when I can look up that band’s concert on YouTube for free? I just want to stay home”. Everyone is kind of going through a “Why am I doing all of this?” moment.

 

CC: Right. There’s also a flip side to that. As things get pushed more and more digital and everything becomes more convenient, the thing people are still are willing to pay for and do make a difference are experiences. Which is part of the reason Gaslamp was so smart to do the Gaslamp Killer Experience. With just a DJ spinning, there’s a certain level of creativity to it with the way they mix things and effects they use. But really, you are going for the experience of a ton of people packed into a room and giving off certain energy. He decided to take that to the next level and that’s what the Gaslamp Experience is about. Taking it to the level of a live band where there is three string and horn players, a percussionist, a bassist, guitarist, and an Oud. The guitarist, Amir Yaghmai, plays the weirdest instruments I’ve ever seen. Last show I saw, he played some weird instrument he brought back from Turkey. It looked like a guitar but with four doubled strings. I’m looking at it and I noticed some of the frets were an inch wide, some were a quarter-inch wide, and some were a half-inch wide. I asked, “So whole steps and half steps?” He said, “Whole steps, half steps, and the little ones are quarter tones.” When I asked him how he wrapped his brain around that, he said, “I haven’t yet.” (laughs). That’s kind of how the industry is. You learn as you are going and throw yourself into things that are above your skill level. And if you don’t, you’ll never make it. It’s the only way to do it is going at it full bore. When someone asks, “Can you do this?” You say yes. Then they’ll say, “Great. See you next week.” Then, spend that whole next week studying your ass off and learn how to do it.

JD: Yeah exactly. I haven’t been in the industry that long but everything I’ve gotten is from jumping in and seeing what happened. If it doesn’t work out, it doesn’t but if it does, great.

 

CC: There’s two secrets or keys to getting work in this industry. One is always being available and sticking around. The other is being willing to take on things you don’t quite understand yet. If you can do both of those things and stay around for long enough, everyone I know who is good and has stuck with it is also working. The only people I know who aren’t working didn’t stick it out. It takes a long time and it’s not a quick thing. I’ve been doing it for ten years and I’m still out hustling gigs. My phone doesn’t ring off the hook, you know? I just worked on Kamasi Washington’s album this year (The Epic) and the response on it has been really good. Fantastically so because it’s a great record. He did something that is totally actually making something new out of Jazz.

JD: Totally. He’s making something new but still keeping it edgy and not going in Smooth Jazz direction.

 

CC: Right. He’s not going Smooth Jazz at all but it’s also not Bebop and it’s not Free Jazz either. It’s in this completely different category. He called the record The Epic, which for one reason, it’s a three CD 180 minute thing.

 

JD: That’s pretty ballsy for a first album.

 

CC: It’s extremely ballsy. Now you gotta realize that might be Kamasi’s first album as far as him doing a record. But, he did all the string arrangements for Kendrick Lamar’s To Pimp A Butterfly album and he’s playing all over that record as well. The guys that he grew up with are Tony Austin, Miles Mosley, Thundercat, Ronald and Steven Bruner. He’s been apart of the Flying Lotus crew and Brainfeeder for a long time. Those guys have been playing together since high school or before. They grew up together and went to the same colleges. A lot of them went to UCLA. The ones who didn’t went to CalArts and they were still getting together and playing. Then Kamasi threw the West Coast Getdown, which was basically Kamasi, Ryan Porter on trombone, Miles Mosley on upright, Cameron Graves on piano and Tony Austin on drums. Through that, they did a residency at Piano Bar where they appeared every Wednesday and Friday night.

 

JD: Wow.

 

CC: Literally, every Wednesday and Friday night for two and a half to three years. And the Piano Bar is tiny. It gets packed really easily. The stage area is small and there is already a baby grand up there. These guys were packed in tight and were used to being within two ft. of each other every Wednesday and Friday for three years.

 

JD: You don’t have a plugin for that.

 

CC: No. There is absolutely not. They know what each other are thinking before the other one thinks it. They are this entity that is always on the same page and does some insane stuff. So I’m really glad to see them getting all the credit for it and ait was a really fun record to work on.

 

What they did was the group went into King Sized Studios and they started it off in December of 2013, I think it was. At that time, I was Associate Director of Career Services at SAE Institute, which is an audio school. I had already knew Miles and Tony and brought them in to do clinics at the school and stuff like that. Miles called me up and wanted me to get an intern there because they all had stuff for their albums. By the time all was said and done, they had over 120 songs. They just decided they were going to book out the room at King Sized for a month because any studio is happy to have to have a room being used everyday of the week. From being the Studio Manager at Sonora for while, when someone calls and asks the studio for a month, you’re going to give them a bit of discount because otherwise, you’re trying to fill everyday. They went in the course of a month, still doing Wednesdays and Fridays at Piano Bar, went in every single day, recorded 121 songs and walked away thirty days later with the basic tracks done. On average, they cut about four songs a day.

 

Kamasi then had all the basic tracks, he was still working on the songs, he was working on To Pimp A Butterfly, he went on tour with Chaka Khan, and was doing a bunch of other stuff. In the background, he was working on all the string arrangements and choral arrangements and did all those himself. As it turned out, Tony was a great engineer. He engineered almost all of the basic tracks. Kamasi called me up because Tony wasn’t available to engineer for some of the string sessions. He was able to be there the first day and we ended up cutting a whole other song. We tracked the thing live like…an insane little set up. Three horns, piano and keyboards, upright bass and electric bass, two drummers, Patrice Quinn on vocals and everyone cutting live.

 

 

JD: All in the same room?

 

CC: Not in the same room. Fortunately, the room at King Sized is set up that there is a large enough ISO booth. Piano and horns were in an ISO booth. Patrice, I just put in an Airlock between the studio proper and the control room. The drum kits were set up facing each other at opposite ends of the room. It ended up turning out great. That happens when you have great players. If we didn’t have really great players, that never would have worked. Then, we cut all the string stuff.

 

In talking with Kamasi, Tony and Miles about what we were going to do for the sound of the strings, Kamasi told me he really liked the string sound on all the Marvin Gaye stuff. He said he wasn’t sure that was the sound he wanted for this record but he really loved that sound. I went online and found Bob Olhsson who engineered all that stuff. Bob is 1) an extremely nice guy. 2) Has a memory like no one I’ve ever met. He has a mind like a steel trap. There is this whole post where he goes off and says exactly how he recorded the Marvin Gaye strings. Straight down to, “It was an Octet. We had these pieces and these pieces. I set them up exactly like this. There were KM-86’s on the Cellos two ft. from the sound hole and slightly to the left. No EQ was used on anything except for a 2db bump at 100hz with a shelf…” I don’t know if he just took really good notes on every single session but I kind of doubt that because that wasn’t really done back in the day. You’re talking studio bands that would come in and ram through everything.

 

JD: Yeah. They would only do like one or two takes.

 

CC: Yeah. They set up and were going and going all day. Now I’m sure this was probably used for more than just Marvin Gaye. My guess is part of the reason he remembers that is once you find out what works; you kind of don’t vary from it as long as you’re in the same room. The room at King Sized was a little smaller and configured differently than the room Bob used so I played around with it. Of course, the studio didn’t have eight KM-86’s. I don’t think any studio has eight KM-86’s anymore. So I went with what I could. 86’s are great because they’re side addressed. They stand up and you can aim more easily in some ways. So I went with what we had. There were a pair of 451 B’s, a pair of KM-84’s, and a pair of Josephson E-22’s I’ve never used. They’re omnidirectional and actually ended up as part of a make shift Decca Tree, which I’ll get into in a second. I think the other ones were the Oktava Mods. The MK-12’s

 

So, I set up with that stuff and ran through a Neve console. Not the same console he was running through but whatever. It was a nice vintage Neve. Did the same bump at 100hz he did on the cellos. The room we recorded in was not quite as live as the room all those other strings were recorded in. So, (snaps) click up about 2db at 7.5 or 10khz. Basically, on the top end of the 1081. Again, talking with your client and knowing what’s going on, Kamasi didn’t know if he wanted to be married to that string sound. So, the other thing I did was set up a makeshift Decca Tree. It’s a classic way of recording strings. Every classical recording is done this way. There is always a Decca Tree flown for string stuff on just about any film session.

decca-tree
Photo via http://www.practical-music-production.com

A Decca Tree is three omnidirectional microphones spaced out in an equilateral triangle usually hung above the conductor’s head. I figured out approximately where a conductor would stand and flew the two Josephson E-22’s and a U87. If there had been another small diaphragm condenser there, I probably would have gone with that. But again, you work with what you have. In order for it to be a correct Decca Tree, it would have had to be three of the same mics. The classic thing to use on them is M50’s. Beautiful Neumann omnidirectional mics but we didn’t have the budget to rent them and the studio didn’t have them. The studio didn’t have three of anything because everything is in stereo and generally you go with two microphone techniques. Everything I do happens that way.

 

 

 

Interviews

The JD Wilkes Interview Pt. 2

 

Ever wonder what it was like to grow up playing in bars? Coming up through rough beer joints and honky tonk bars where the foreman who has had a little too much booze starts a brawl with you just for looking at him cross?

 

JD Wilkes knows along with the rest of the Legendary Shack Shakers. They came up in an era where you had to engage a rough crowd and it meant something to come out on top. Now they are about to go out on a two month tour and are making a stop at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, CA along with Unknown Hinson and Reverend Horton Heat. We last left our heroes during an in-depth conversation about music, Kentucky music history, and touring with the Rev and Unknown.

Get your tickets here.

LegendaryShackShakers8

By Jesse Davidson

Davidson: A lot of people I talk to, either interviewing them or casually, seem to be waiting for the next “Sex Pistols” or “Ramones” moment where a band comes along and just turns things on it’s side. Have you seen anything like that recently during your time on the road?

 

Wilkes: Well, not really. The only place I see music going is in a more traditional direction. To break anymore ground, you’d have to go back to the basics. You see that with a few R&B singers trying to go for the 60’s/70’s Al Green thing. I think what would really do that would be an all black rock and roll band doing Little Richard style Jump Blues and selling it hard. That would be the thing because Rockabilly was only around for maybe five years. After that, you had Surf music and Garage and that was a craze for about five or six years. You had the Beatles and they came in about ’62 and disbanded in ’71. So they had a good run of about ten years. There’s these genres that come and go like Arena Rock, Disco, etc. Hip-Hop however, has been around since the 70’s and rapping over samples has been around forever. The only place for black music to go to is back to something organic. Hip-Hop has already done the rappity-rap thing about the bitches and the hos. I think they understand there is this perennial turn over of teenage boys that always want to hear something violent and dirty. That’s whose really propping up that market.

 

But that’s not good for everyone else. The stuff that I see that wins all the Grammys and everyone loves is the stuff that sells the records but the people don’t have any taste. They aren’t grown up. It used be that grown ups bought music. They’d take an LP, turn off all the lights, smoke a joint, listen to it and really get involved. This was like a ritual people did. Now it’s turned into this .99-cent happy meal thing. A constant turnover of this Jelly of the Month, Jelly of the Week and Jelly of the Day crap. The only thing I know that could turn it around would be an all black rock and roll band. There used to be a band in the 90’s called the Atomic Fireballs and for whatever reason, they broke up. Oooh, that was so close! That would be a great thing for America to get some classic R&B going. I think the underground would love it. I think it could cross over into the mainstream and pull more people into cool music, kind of like what The Dap Kings do a little bit but a little more primal and something that’s just undeniable. I would love to see that.

 

 

D: Yeah. That’s what I’m looking for out of it myself. Just something that’s more edgy. I love Gary Clark Jr. When he is playing a solo and he’s really reaching for it, you get that feeling out of him. I love Alabama Shakes because it can get really loud and intense but it’s also pretty mellow too. Something really edgy would be great.

W: Yeah just something undeniable for everybody. Your rockabilly kids would love it. Your hipsters would love it. I think it would be good for America. There was a front man for this band. It was Vintage…

 

D: Vintage Trouble?

 

W: Vintage Trouble! He’s a great front man. I think take him out of that band and put him with some of these other folks and that’d be great. Carolina Chocolate Drops were able to sort of hip-up old time music as well.

 

D: Yeah. The good thing about Hip-Hop now is that artists are bringing in an actual band play with them or bringing in Jazz musicians to play behind them while they tell a story about their experiences. It’s interesting because they’re going back to their roots in a way.

 

W: I love that they have the musicians there and I don’t have a problem with the rapping on top of that at all. It’s the time signature and the drumming I have a problem with. We’ve had variations on the same beat for 40 years. We need it to swing. I hate it when they take an old jazz song and remix it with a Hip-Hop beat. The Hip-Hop beat is, to me, cliché now and the only place to go is back to swing. Rap on top of that. You might find something cool. One of my favorite records is Jack Kerouac rapping on top of Steve Allen’s Jazz piano. That’s a great record. Its spoken word but you could consider it rap. It’s free form but it has dynamics to it that are so interesting. To square it all off with a Hip-Hop beat is just numbskulling it to death. The tradition that came out of Jazz drumming that started off in the military with paradiddles and the way they took that and made it swing was just infectious. It gives such a depth and a layer to the music that made you think, “Who would have thought the drums can do that?”

 

D: Definitely. There as a newer rapper Kendrick Lamar that is doing stuff like that. He has a track that he brought in a jazz band on and he just raps over it.

 

W: That’s great. I have no problem with that. At the same time, I don’t think we’ve exhausted every possible melody that can be written. We kind of turned our back on melody back in the 90’s and that’s something that became a passé thing to sing come up with nice compositions. Before this era, we had the amazing era from Tin Pan Alley days of the early 20th Century to I guess the mid-sixties with the Hit Parade. You had this American Songbook of melodies and then it just ended. I think The Beatles continued it on and bands influenced by The Beatles but then it really tapered off. It was dead by the 90’s. If it came back, maybe that would blow people away. But again, are people so dead now that have to have everything spelled out? There’s no more nuance in music. There’s no mystery in what people mean anymore. You listen to a country song, it’s just bad. “I did this. I think this. Then this happened. Then this. This is what I believe”. There’s no subtlety in the lyricism and no melody to go along with it to enhance it. No creative drumming or musicianship to go along with it. And the recording quality is too clean and too perfect. Everything is so literal and high definition, it’s the only way we can understand anything.

 

It’s a shame…but here I am. I’m the guy that rips his shirt off on stage and jumps in the audience. What do I know? (Laughs) I’m definitely a bold cartoon version of myself. Flannery ‘O Connor says, “Sometimes for the hard of hearing you have to shout and for the almost blind, you have to draw large and startling figures.” That’s kind of what I’m doing. Trying to get their attention and lure them in.

LegendaryShackShakers10

 

D: With this tour cycle coming up, you’ll be out with Reverend Horton Heat and Unknown Hinson at the Canyon Club on March 19th. I’ve read online that the Shack Shakers have had an extensive touring history with Reverend Horton Heat. Is that true?

 

W: Yes that’s right. We were his opening band for many runs. We’re good friends with that whole camp.

 

D: That’s great. Were they the first band to take you guys out on the road or did you have experiences with other bands before them?

 

W: We went out with Hank 3 originally and Southern Culture on the Skids. We toured with Robert Plant across Europe. And The Black Keys. We did a run with them early on. We’ve probably done the most dates with The Rev. or Hank 3.

 

D: With that long relationship with R.H.H, have you thought about collaborating on an album together?

 

W: Well, he has played on a Shack Shaker record. About four tunes on our Pandelerium album. I was on a Reverend Horton Heat tribute record where we did “Love Whip” (laughs). He has threated to get me up onstage and play harmonica. Evidently, he’s a big blues harp fan and his first love was Little Walter. I might take him up on it on this next run. We’ll probably play “Love Whip” (laughs).

LegendaryShackShakers7

D: (Laughs) Have you played any shows with Unknown Hinson or will this be a first for you guys?

 

W: Well I was in Hank 3’s band for a month and we…oh yeah, you know what? We did open up for Unknown Hinson in Nashville once. I used to go and see him before he was signed playing at the Sutler in Nashville. This was back when he was selling tapes out of a shoebox. He had the whole shtick down. Boy, I laughed so hard. It was so hilarious. This guy standing on stage like a chauffer that didn’t budge. Staring at the audience through his sunglasses for like an entire hour and a half. Some guy starts heckling him and he pulled out a cap gun and shot the guy (laughs) then he laid on the floor for the rest of the set. Then he got signed  and I think Marty Stewart helped him out with that. He has some of the funniest songs. I’m looking forward to seeing that every night.

 

D: I bet. I saw him at the Arcadia Blues Club a few years ago and got to watch him sound check without his shtick. He’s great.

 

W: And a guitar god on top of that. He’s a shredder.

D: Yep and an interesting tone too. Something you can’t quite put your finger on.

 

W: Yeah I’ll have to check that out. A couple of times I’ve seen him, I couldn’t quite hear him to well because the room was too echoey.

 

But yeah, funny songs. Polly Urethane, Foggy Windows, I Make Faces when I Make Love (laughs).

 

D: Alkyhal Withdrawl too (laughs).

 

With the music community in Nashville/Kentucky area, it seems really close. Everyone seems to know each other and it seems really tight there. Would you say that is true?

 

W: In Nashville, yeah it’s always been kind of that way. Slightly competitive but “keep your enemies closer” so they all party together. There’s kind of a split in Kentucky between the East and the West. There’s kind of this weird rivalry. Regardless, they all celebrate if someone from Kentucky gets big and goes far. Bill Monroe was from Western Kentucky. He created Bluegrass music. Everyone thinks he’s from Eastern Kentucky but he’s really from my neck of the woods. Eastern Kentucky is a very different place from where I live. That’s the mountains and where I live is more like the Mississippi Delta. Very flat and very swampy. Historically speaking, we’ve got influence from New Orleans and Memphis. The river traffic brings a lot of Jazz and that’s why Rockabilly kind of happed around here. In Memphis, you had Blues, Country and all these influences come together. The same with Bluegrass, really. It’s mountain music meets New Orleans Jazz chord changes and progressions. The articulation of the guitar and banjo picking was them trying to sound like Merrill House piano players. That’s a little bit of tid bit of history there. There was a lot of collaboration.

 

D: Yeah that’s what I’ve been seeing and hearing. There’s a Music City documentary with Joe Buck and Hank 3 in it. They both talk about that and Joe has his song “Music City is Dead” in it.

 

W: Well I don’t believe in writing songs and making it a political thing. I know Shelton (Hank 3) and Joe Buck does that. I don’t want to make people feel bad as part of my product. I can talk nonchalantly in an interview about it and bemoan the way things have changed but I don’t want it to be my official output. It might be true but I don’t want to but people out with the songs I write. The things I write are more about folklore, culture and if you’re to the anthropology and history of the South. I’m not gonna do political song about “Fuck Nashville” or anything like that.

 

D: Totally. I think music is like your car. Some people put political bumper stickers on it and other people keep it to themselves. You might be outspoken about it but not have it reflect in the music.

 

W: I guess I just don’t want to distill it down to a bumper sticker slogan. I want to be thoughtful about my criticism. I also want to show how Nashville is a great town too. It’s a great city and close by me. I go there about once a month. I don’t want it to be an anthem for me that “Nashville Sucks”. Even though, it has changed a lot and times have changed. I just have to learn to adapt.

 

D: I get where you’re coming from. Here in the Antelope Valley, we are about an hour outside of L.A. Musicians from here will play down below and have bad experiences and hate it afterward. I’m not necessarily for L.A. but I’m not against it either.

 

W: Yeah, that’s it.

 

D: It’s a cool place but it’s not anything to hold to a high esteem. There are some cool places and not cool places.

 

W: Yeah, it’s complicated.

 

D: Do you have any other Shack Shaker or side project news you’d like people to know about?

 

W: I’m going be working on documentary that will follow up Seven Signs. Similar kinds of characters that will be more of a featurette I hope to have it out by the end of the year and then do a run with it. In the place where an opening band would be, we would have a film show and then the audience would see us play. Sort of like a multimedia event. Then probably going back to Europe this summer in August and probably recording a new album after that. What we are going to do is like a live lo-fi record. Maybe at my own house in a shack out in the woods and have it be a follow-up to Cockadoodledon’t and call it Cockadoodledeux (laughs) maybe not.

 

D: Well I’m a fan of great music and bad puns so I’m hooked already.

 

W: Cockadoodledon’t is kind of pun so it seems only fitting. We want to put the fun back in recording and not sweat it so much. Play it, put it out, and be done with it. Don’t belabor it.

 

D: Absolutely. I really appreciate you taking the time to talk to me today. I always enjoy a conversation with a fellow music lover.

 

W: Yes. I think we solved a lot of problems today. We’ve figured it out.

 

D: (Laughs) Yeah it’s good. We’ve made real progress and we’ll turn our results into the committee.

 

W: Right. Crunch the numbers and see what happens

 

Thanks again JD. Be sure to catch the Legendary Shack Shakers at the Canyon Club on March 19th.

If you’d like more information on the band, click here.

 

JD Wilkes Interview: Part 1

 

Interviews

The JD Wilkes Interview: Pt. 1

Ever wonder what it was like to grow up playing in bars? Coming up through rough beer joints and honky tonk bars where the foreman who has had a little too much booze starts a brawl with you just for looking at him cross?

 

JD Wilkes knows along with the rest of the Legendary Shack Shakers. They came up in an era where you had to engage a rough crowd and it meant something to come out on top. Now they are about to go out on a two month tour and are making a stop at the Canyon Club in Agoura Hills, CA along with Unknown Hinson and Reverend Horton Heat. We’ll be reviewing the show but in the meantime, we had an hour long conversation about music, touring, art, and playing in front of a modern audience.

Get your tickets here.

Photo by Shutter Punk Photography
Photo by Shutter Punk Photography

By Jesse Davidson

 

Davidson: Thanks for giving me a call today, JD. I really appreciate it.

 

Wilkes: Yeah no problem.

 

D: What are you up to this fine afternoon?

 

W: I’ve been out running errands in my own hometown. Over at my parents right now just visiting and getting in all domestic stuff while I can before I leave. Just being very normal.

 

D: It’s always good to get that in. I was looking at the tour schedule today for the Legendary Shack Shakers today and it looks like it’s pretty extensive over the next two months.

 

W: Yeah.

 

D: Is that something that has picked up recently since coming back from the hiatus or that how it’s been the whole time in the Shack Shakers?

 

W: Well, we got back to touring about a year and a half ago. We were doing about ten days a month but then this record (The Southern Surreal) came out. When we go out west that will be about a month. Then if we go over to Europe, we’re looking at about a month a way. If it’s on our side of the country, we can get away with little ten-day legs and cover a lot of ground. That’s about all I can tolerate anymore but it’s work so you have to go out and do it. If California calls or you gotta go to Europe, it’s part of the job.

 

D: Yeah, absolutely. That was something I was actually curious about. How do the Shack Shakers go over in Europe?

 

W: We do great. We usually pack it out. Like mid-sized clubs and things. Not theatres or anything like that. We’re a working band in the underground. But attendance is really great over there and it’s consistently great. And for a twenty-year-old band, that’s really good. It’s almost like a cliché now to say that American music is more popular over there because it’s exotic to them and they dig it. Especially when you’re a Southern band, there’s a fascination with that, I think. So we benefit from that.

 

D: Definitely. That’s part of why I ask because a lot of American music, traditionally blues artists, have always had a much bigger response there than in the States.

 

W: Right. Here’s, it’s kind of a “been there-done that” thing, which a lot of people take for granted. Over there it’s special to them.

D: Right. I think in more recent years with the rise of artists like Gary Clark Jr. and Alabama Shakes, it seems like Blues and Soul is coming back. And I’ve been hearing more about L.S.S. in the last few months than in previous years. It seems like you guys have a great team behind you right now.

 

W: Yeah. I think going away for a while helped too, you know? You’ve got to make them miss you sometimes. You’ve got to leave them wanting more and then you come back. Then, you give it another run. You kinda tease them little bit, you know? Put out a new record and generate some excitement. It helps. You don’t want to turn into one of those bar bands that just slugs it out and gets tired. So taking a break is a good thing.

 

D: Absolutely. Especially with being around as long as you have, it seems like bands earn a right to take a break when they want and not be worried about losing their audience.

 

W: Uh-huh. As much as I bitch and moan about it, the Internet does help. We’ve got fans now that we picked up during the hiatus. Technology kind of advanced while we were on mothballs. We were able to come out and see new people we haven’t met yet. Things being the way they are on the Internet and word traveling fast, we’ve gained new fans.

 

D: Honestly, even me being a younger person, I’m not sure how to feel about it either. I’ve seen it work to people’s favor and I’ve seen bands that now have to do the jobs of three people or more. They have to be a blogger, a visual person, and active on social media along with being an artist and businessperson.

 

W: Well, I think it’s a good thing to try and be as multi-faceted as you can. I don’t like the Internet side of things we have to deal with so our management does that. It’s kind of their job to gin up interest online. It’s upon me to come up with content. I like the fact I have to put out more. I have to work harder to create art, to create music, to create a mythos around the band. The stakes are higher, which is a good thing and I think it will weed out those that are just the flash in the pan bands. Because, we are trying to earn a living making art and making music. There’s such a glut of new bands now, you have to something that makes you stand out and I think the hard work the renaissance aspects of this band/brand will help us in the long run.

Shack Shakers

D: I think it’s interesting to talk about creating a mythos around the band. Can you talk about that more in detail?

 

W: Yeah. There’s a cultural aspect to everything that I try to do in the band and in the surrounding projects. It has to do with southern culture, regionalism, art, and imagery that go along with these southern gothic and cultural themes that I touch on. Any other band might be all about how cool they dress or how hip they fit in with the new trends and the fashion side of things. Our thing has always been a sort of unique, cultural, southern brand that touches on the aspects of southern that might get over looked by the media. We’re feeding the audience culture more than just our own ego and our own fashion. So I think it’s a more rewarding and enriching product as a result.

 

I’ve written a book about Kentucky Barn Dances. I’ve made a film about southern music and storytelling. I do field recordings of old fiddle and banjo players from Kentucky and I have side projects where I play banjo. I take photographs of these far-flung dance barns and railroad tracks. Things that conjure up a mythology of a strange and awesome South that is disappearing. There’s an almost etymological side to it. It’s vaguely political but not overt. It’s reaffirming of the culture here in a way that is enriching and not divisive. All of those things when you put them all together become a broader brand that people check in with and enjoy exploring. The deeper they get in to the band, the deeper they get into the other side projects and find that it’s more rewarding.

 

D: I think that’s great. One could even say you’re just speaking from the heart on that subject. You’re not trying to pretend that you are from the South. It’s like the best version of your storytelling that you can do.

 

W: Yeah and it’s not preachy either, it’s fun. At the end of the day I’m still a wild front man, I love a good laugh, and people come out and see a crazy show. That’s what hooks ‘em in and as they dig deeper into the lyrics, the literature, and the artwork that surrounds the band, they’ll see that it runs deeper than just the sight gags, the flashing lights and stuff like that.

 

 

D: Absolutely. I haven’t gotten too deep into the side projects but I’ve really liked what I’ve seen so far. I’m hoping that you’ll have a few copies of the Seven Signs DVD available when I see you guys at the Canyon Club in March.

W: Yes indeed and we’ll have a bunch of copies with us. I’ll be sure to bring ‘em. We’re trying to get it distributed. At the time, there was no Netflix, streaming or Amazon. There might have been but it was really early. We’re talking about eight years ago. Now we’re trying to catch up with where technology is so people don’t have to go to a Shack Shakers show to buy it. You can buy it online now but it would be nice to have it streaming to dial up on your TV if possible. It’s one of the many projects that flesh out what were going for here.

 

D: The way you describe your art and your process, it reminds me of someone like an Iggy Pop. The way I equate that is an artist who can get things done. They aren’t very airy about what they do and they have a very working class vibe about them. If they had a flat tire or if you dropped them in the woods, they’d be able to figure things out and still be creative.

 

W: (Laughs) Yeah, I like that.

 

D: Is that how you see you see yourself as an artist?

 

W: Yeah I think that’s important. Coming from a blue-collar background, that’s the difference between the musicians came up playing…rough joints. Playing four-hour sets and packing your own P.A. There was no Internet and no GPS. You piled in the van. It was against your better judgment. The lifestyle was ridiculous.

 

D: (Laughs)

 

W: You know what I mean? To try and do it for a living was radical. I got started in the late eighties playing in church. No one does that anymore as far as roots music goes. Maybe they do but the crop of country musicians, if you want to call it that, in Nashville now are mostly Northern hipsters that have come down to escape the tax burden of New York. They don’t know the packing of the P.A. They don’t know the four-hour gig. They don’t know a world without GPS or Email. They’ve got the fashion sense down. It seems like it’s more important to look cool and be beautiful. This tragic beauty thing with the Yoko Ono hats and having a beard. It’s more important to look right and party with the right people than to slug it out in a bar fight and wind up in jail a couple times (laughs). All the things that we’ve went through to get to where we are. And still, we’ve scratched and clawed our way to the middle, let’s be honest. It’s a strange world when it is so successful and easy to choose a life of music. It shows you leisure time and affluence we have in a country where rich kids can just decide they are country singers all of a sudden, have a career and blow right past us professionally. It’s kind of disconcerting but in the end, I think people know we’ve been doing it for twenty years. I’ve playing bars for twenty-five.

Things are so different now just in the past five years. The industry is totally upside down from when I started. It’s just kind of baffling to see so many artists battle for the same attention. But we occupy our own space. We have our own niche carved out and we’ll keep at it.

 

D: It seems like there have always been those kinds of problems and the more it changes, the more it stays the same.

 

W: Yes, that’s right.

 

D: I think when people watch the Shack Shakers play; they can feel the twenty-year thing. I remember watching you play harmonica and thinking that I could do that. When I sat down to play, it was very humbling very quickly. It’s great testament to the band that you guys make playing looks so effortless that I think people can tell the difference.

 

W: I hope so, yeah. One thing that is kind of a mark against us is the amount of enthusiasm, humor and energy that is in the band. It’s a strike against us in a lot of ways because playing those honky-tonks and sports bars and cruddy beer joints; you couldn’t stand there and look bored. You’d get kicked out, fired or beat up if you liked you were too precious. You were there to entertain people for four or five hours and then maybe you’d get a break. It was somewhat blue-collar, I’d say. It’s not like I’m complaining. Even then, I had it good. But there’s something to be said for bands coming out of this old road. It’s almost a lost art to being an entertainer or a song and dance man. Someone who tries to entertain people beyond just the content of the song, but through the entire performance. And the entire band performing as four front men. Entertainers putting smiles on people’s faces. Now the audience just stands there looking at how cool the band looks. They get fashion advice from seeing how they are dressed and murmur amongst themselves if this is the right gig to be at.

 

D: Yeah.

 

W: Before, it was hard-drinking, blue-collar people that wanted to see a show and dance. And there might be something that breaks out that’s wild. There might be a bar fight because you got ‘em all riled up or something. There was something different to those old days. The Nashville of now is a totally different place. It is a fashion runway with a lot of Johnny come latelies. I sound bitter and I kind of am but at the same time, I’m happy that we get to come out of the old way. That was an era that goes back to the rowdy minstrel show days and the old pubs of England. It’s what people wanted to see something go down. It lasted all the way to the early 2000s and all of a sudden, it switched. People started being self-conscious. We had Duane Denison from the Jesus Lizard in the band for a while. And they were a rowdy band. A rowdy, hard-rockin’ band with a wild front man that came out of Texas. When he joined the Shack Shakers, in the time that had elapsed from the end of the Jesus Lizard to him picking up with us, he just couldn’t believe how audiences were behaving so much differently. They had their hands in their pockets, they stood still, and they looked nervous or uneasy even though the band is having a ball onstage. Everyone just seemed so stiff and self-conscious that he couldn’t believe it and would yell from the stage, “What’s wrong with you people?!”

 

D: (Laughs)

 

W: You know it’s a rock show. Lighten up. Spin Magazine voted him one of the “Top 100 Guitarists of All Time” and he has to perform for a bunch of waxed figures that look perfectly quaffed. They’re supposed to be all rock n’ roll but rock n’ roll is on the inside, man. You’ve got to let it out. There are still a handful of people that like to come out and raise hell.

 

 

D: Yeah. I don’t why that is either. I’ve seen that working sound on shows, going to them or playing them as well. There’s an old music professor of mine, Nate Dillon, in the AV that has gotten his old punk band Dead Rats back together in the past couple years and been doing one off local shows here and they have somewhat of a following. One of the things they used was buy packs of Oatmeal Crème cookies from the dollar store and throw them at people from the stage if they looked tired and say, “You look like you can use some energy, eat!” The last few times I’ve seen them, people just stand there and get hit in the face with these packs of cookies.

W: (Laughs) Your normal human reflex is to dodge them, they are so dead.

 

D: (Laughs) Yeah, I don’t know man.

 

W: I know. You don’t even think a sugar fix would wake them out of their stupor. They’re not present. People walk around now and they aren’t present. They’re thinking about where they are going to be or what someone else is thinking. They’re present on Facebook. I had to scold an audience the other night. We were in Arkansas. I had to tell them, “If you like a song, you can clap. If you’re going to hang around, give us a little applause because in real life, that’s how you do the Like button.” And I have to explain the difference between reality and Facebook. Then, the next song ended and people started clapping. Ahh, okay, they do like it.

 

D: Depending on how many people are in the audience, that’s how many “likes” you got.

 

W: (Laughs) Yeah, exactly. People aren’t human beings anymore, they’re consumers. Internet consumers, cyborgs or something, I don’t know. People don’t really have blue-collar lives anymore. They do in certain joints. The joints we’re playing are like punk rock clubs with hip people that have good paying jobs. There are not really the agrarian, coal-mining people that there used to be. People who are machinists and whatnot. They’re not the ones coming to these kinds of rock clubs. It’s the kids that work at the Spaghetti Factory or wherever. It’s not like they have this growing, physically debilitating job that just want to get away from, to go drink and raise hell to blow off some steam from their shitty work week. People have a pretty cushy living now so sometimes a blue-collar band like us can fall on deaf ears. There’s so much leisure time now that people are getting soft and weird.

 

D: That’s interesting. I can’t really speak for people my age because I’ve never really related that much. I’ve never had that hard blue-collar life but I still go out and have a good time.

 

W: Yeah some people got it and some people don’t, you know? And I’ve always tried to avoid work.

 

D: (Laughs)

 

 

W: But the type of places I play are blue-collar so growing up playing them, I knew what a good time was in a rough club. I’m kind of spoiled in a weird way. I’m spoiled in a different way now because instead of a four hour set, I only do about an hour and I don’t have to pack my own P.A. There’s snacks they give us and beer tickets, which never happened fifteen years ago. In a way I’m spoiled by the old stuff too because people seemed more real. It was really bizarre. But I’m with ya. I’m not like a blacksmith or anything (laughs).

 

JD Wilkes Interview: Part 2

Interviews

The Grinning Man: Questions for JD Wilkes

By Jesse Davidson

 

If I’ve ever met a renaissance man, it has been JD Wilkes. After seeing a performance that brought an Iggy Pop like presence to the stage. Later I would learn of the many accomplishments of Mr. Wilkes such as his drawing, painting, and filmmaking abilities. Also, to my knowledge, he is the first real live Kentucky Colonel I’ve met. So with out further ado, here is some questions we had for Col. JD Wilkes.

 

Jesse: How has this tour and album cycle been going for the band so far?

 

Wilkes: So far so good! Lotsa great shows and press. Nine days away from home. Seems an eternity.

 

Jesse: After getting to experience the Shack Shackers live for the first time, I’ve been learning about the various artistic projects you have going and the list of artists you’ve played with as a musician. Has this work ethic always been with you or has it developed over time?

Wilkes: I go in spurts. It’s not a steady stream of constant work, but I will never turn down an opportunity that comes along. I’ve been at it twenty years or more, so anyone’s accomplishments would add up over that much time.

But yes, I’ve always been ambitious, yet super distracted by other interests and flights of fancy. I’d be a lot further along if I was just good at one thing and one thing only.

 

Jesse: Do you have a specific practice routine for all of your talents?

 

Wilkes: I don’t practice as a discipline, I just play a lot because it’s fun. Anything I’m into at the time I tend to go overboard with. I have these little obsessions that come and go. So when I “practice” it’s really just me sinking hours into something I’m really excited about. It never feels like work.

 

Drawing by JD Wilkes
Drawing by JD Wilkes

 

Jesse: Among your many accomplishments, you’re a Kentucky Colonel. Can you tell us about how that came to be?

 

 

Wilkes: I was nominated in secret by another Colonel who told the governor about my contributions to Kentucky’s arts. Specifically, harmonica music I recorded for a public radio piece on Stephen Foster, of all things.

 

 

Jesse: Can you take us through the process of writing “Barn Dances and Jamborees Across Kentucky“?

 

 

Wilkes: I took off on several excursions around and across Kentucky, taking along a notebook, a computer and some harmonicas. I tried to locate as many of the old barn dances that were still going on, sit in with the musicians, jot down my notes and type it out later. There are so many spots out there I have yet to document. Luckily I can update my book with each reprint!

 

Jesse: In what ways has growing up and living in the south influenced your artistic vision that you couldn’t receive from anyplace else?

 

Wilkes: The south is uniquely rustic, traditional, obstinate and yet multi-racial/cultural. There was a natural “hot house” flourishing of culture that went on there despite what Hollywood tells us. Bluegrass, Rockabilly, Old-time, Piedmont Blues, and New Orleans jazz are all examples of cultural interplay. Our cuisine is an example of that too. All of this makes us the secret envy of the world, which is why they disdain us.

I also like the isolation the Appalachians once provided. It acted as a deep freeze of old Scots Irish and English sayings, accents, folklore and ballads. Even the mountains boasted a strange hodge-podge of races: English, Scots/Irish, German, African blacks, Cherokee Indians, Melungeons (Turk/Portuguese), and even the Fugate “blue people”!

What’s not to love and be utterly fascinated by?!

 

Photo by Jared Manzo
Photo by Jared Manzo

Jesse: Has being an artist changed your view on society and humanity?

 

 

Wilkes: No, I don’t think art has done that. Life tends to do that no matter what you do. Perhaps being in “the arts” exposes me to other ideas, but TV and the internet do that too. I think I am confirmed in the fundamentals of my original assumptions more and more each day.

 

 

Jesse: Is there anything creatively you’d like to try that you haven’t yet?

 

 

Wilkes: I want to get my novel published, perhaps illustrate it as a full graphic novel one day. I’d like to get back into painting. I’d also like to complete the sequel to my film “Seven Signs”. That’s my To-Do list.

 

Jesse: Any upcoming news or information on the Shack Shakers you’d like us to know about?

 

Wilkes: Touring Europe next month! Back down south early 2016. Dirt Daubers tour in June.

 

 

Jesse: Lastly, do you have any advice for upcoming artists and musicians?

 

Wilkes: Don’t do it unless you’re already rich and beautiful. I got into the racket before the Millennials came of age and started demanding all artists be supermodels.

You will get paid more to be just a “DJ”, squiggling your finger across the screen of an iPad at a rave.

Get out while you can!

 

Jesse: Thank you so much for taking time to talk to us and for playing the Antelope Valley!

 

Wilkes: My pleasure!

 

If you haven’t checked out the Legendary Shack Shakers or JD Wilkes, do it right now.

Their new album, The Southern Surreal is out on Alternative Tentacles now

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Interviews

The Figures of Funk: Victor Orlando

“If you don’t work, you can’t eat”-James Brown

And the people who have keeping the funk alive have been doing just that.  Working tirelessly in bars, dance halls, and venues all around the country to make a living. This new series is about documenting and paying tribute to those who have pioneered it and are keeping it alive. These are The Figures of Funk.

By Jesse Davidson

 

In this edition, we caught up with percussionist Victor Orlando between sets at the Xen Lounge in Studio City.

Victor Orlando
Victor and I post interview

JD: Can you give us a bit of background on how you got into the music industry?

 

VO: Hey! My name is Victor Orlando. I’m a percussion player. I started about 42 years ago from high school. Went from there to playing in local bands. Got good at what I was doing at home in Dallas, Texas. Then I came out to California and moved to Canada. I started playing with a band and stayed there for a year. Came back to L.A. and got with Buddy Miles, Billy Preston, and some real heavy weights. My name started getting around so I kept doing it and doing it. Ended up playing in Yarborough and Peoples and the Gap Band for about fifteen years or so. Basically, I’ve got the title now of “Percussionist to the Stars”. I’ve played with Chaka Khan, Bobby Womack, LL Cool J. Quite a few people.

 

 

JD: That’s awesome. I noticed in the club after the show, you were right on it with meeting people and saying hi to the crowd. Is that a skill you’ve honed over the years? Has that played a role in how you’ve got introduced to so many bands?

 

 

VO: Well I try to do something different from the stage and from me as a person that other bands do so that the audience, big, small or medium, can remember where they were and who they were with. So I try to shake everybody’s hand, meet ‘em, make sure they are taken care of, sell CDs or T-Shirts if I have to., and make sure they are happy with what we just did. And as the lady (a show attendee) said inside, “You guys are amazing. You do stuff no one else does.” That was the point I was trying to make. We don’t just play eight songs then sit in a corner and eat, then re-appear for the second set.

 

JD: Absolutely. That really comes across. When you’re playing live dates, how does that approach differ for you from the recording studio?

 

VO: As long as I have a date, I’m pumped and I’m happy and pushing toward that date for performing live. Whether it is tomorrow or the 8th of November. That’s the big date. We are here every Sunday but that’s my birthday party so I’m pushing toward that. For every Sunday, I’m pushing to make sure we do as good as we did last week. But when I go into the studio, just call me up and send me an MP3 of the song. I have 42 year old ears. They can hear whatever you are trying to do. I’ve been called a “one take Orlando” and nothing is changed or I’ll go in and put a ton of stuff down and now you can cut, splice, and edit what you want. But I’ll play as many different things as I’ve heard and it works that way.

 

JD: As far as recording, I’ve read in interviews that you didn’t get credit on different albums or songs you’ve recorded. What are you some ways you’ve learned to avoid those pitfalls in the industry?

 

VO: It’s hard to follow up on people that can’t follow up on themselves. So, I’ve lost a credit with Billy Preston because they didn’t follow up and get it right and I didn’t either. I lost a credit with Gap Band and they didn’t follow up. But then I look up on IMDB and other sites and go, “I did that album?” because I’ve done so many over the years. Unless it’s big, I don’t really care. I just put my music and playing out there. But the one weird thing is, I know my playing anywhere. If I hear it somewhere, I’ll say, “Whoa, that sounds like me. That sounds my lick.” And it was. I know my stuff.

 

JD: Yeah. That’s interesting getting into drums and percussion because it takes a more trained ear to hear a specific sound on those instruments instead of guitarists or vocalists, which is easier to hear.

 

VO: Exactly. I’m on one of Tupac’s albums and I didn’t get a credit for that one. I went back and listened to it and found which tracks I was on. When I told tem they said, “Oh something happened, we’ll get it on the next shipment” Really? You’re going to make a whole other shipment just because you left my name off? I’m not stupid. (The song “Ain’t No Stopping Us Now” comes on in the background). Thank you for the experience. I know it’s me and that’s all that matters. I got my little pay for it and I know I’m on that album. But that happens.

 

JD: Yep. Ain’t no stopping you now.

 

VO: That’s right. That’s not going to stop me from where I’m going.

 

JD: I’ve had the good fortune of playing with you on a gig and I’ve seen you let loose when you get into your zone and you’re not thinking about playing. Can you describe what you’re feeling or thinking during that process.

 

VO: If the drummer is laying what he needs to lay, I can get on my spaceship and go. Be it funk or latin or whatever. I am in that zone. But if he’s back there, I call it, building a condominium on his drumset and I can’t do anything. People don’t know it but I can’t enjoy playing because other things are not in sync and not happening. Over the years, I learned how to go on and shut everybody down and do it myself and I’ll get more fun out of it that way. I’m gonna give everybody there due. But if I’m doing it, I don’t want you all in my lane. But if they are, I’ll just close everyone’s lanes and play by myself. I may even ask you to leave the stage because I’m going in the zone on my own, which I rarely do. But I can be more creative that way. I can do other things and not have worry about anyone come in and mess it up because I’m painting a picture. Be it a small one (an eight bar solo), a big one (a 32 bar solo), or be it a portrait where nobody is playing where I’m just doing the whole frame, outline, the picture, the colors, and then I present it to you.

 

JD: When you are painting a picture, do you find that you pull variety of influences into it that are both musical and non musical?

 

VO: Unconsciously, I am. It’s all embedded in me. So if I’m going somewhere, I may be playing 50 rhythms and don’t really know where I’m pulling them from. But if you separated them, you could ask how I did that. I don’t know. I just know they went together and they felt good. You can split them up and categorize them but I just played them.

 

JD: Just to wrap up with one last question, Do you have any advice for younger musicians or artists getting into the music industry?

 

VO: Best way to have longevity is to listen to everything because you never know who is going to call you up to play. You never know what gig you’re going to get. I’ve got Chinese gigs, Asian gigs, Indian gigs, Bollywood gigs and Persian gigs because I listen to all sorts of music. Once you listen to everything, you can play anything. It doesn’t have to just be percussion, it can be on any instrument. It’s great to be a funk musician but since funk is not riding the wave it rode in the 80’s, you need to get a paddleboat that can ride some other waves and be good at that. So younger cats, listen to everybody, create your own style, play with everybody, and form a passion for everything you are doing. That’s going to get you more than money, gigs, recording, touring etc. The passion for what you do is what gets you a lot farther than being stuck up and selfish. That’s the best thing to do. Just keep playing and don’t have any barriers.

Thanks Victor for spending time with us!

If you’d like more info, check out http://www.victororlandomusic.com or the videos belowVictor Orlando

 

Interviews

My Ambition: The Blue Flame Mega interview PT. 1

Blue Flame Mega

 

In a two part interview, we sat down with rapper and entrepreneur Blue Flame Mega about his career in the music business, his various projects, and his views on society.

Along with his music and business, Blue Flame has also worked for many different companies including Priority Records and has worked as a runnner/engineer in Dr. Dre’s studio. He currently runs C.O.KE. Magazine (Creating Official Kings Entertainment), has a public access TV show, and his label GuerillaMoneyGangRecords.

Here’s his story:

 

JD: What is your background and how did you get into rapping?

 

BFM: Okay. My name is Blue Flame Mega. That’s what they call me in the rap world. Initially, I started doing music because I worked for a company called Priority Records. They put out rappers like Ice-Cube, Heltah Skeltah, Mack10, and Master P, etc. Basically, a range of different artists that made their brand prominent through the hip-hop industry. Through people like Dave Weiner who runs Strange Music West and Brian Shafton who runs RBC records. These people were whom I looked up to at the time. I was working there delivering mail to everyone’s office and it grew from that to seeing that they had a marketing position open.  I was about 17 at the time and Marvin Watkins (former A&R VP for Priority Records) asked me if I was interested in the job. I said, “Nahh, I don’t have any type of background in marketing.” He said I wouldn’t have to do much and showed me what the job was. I said, “That’s easy. I can do that.” Being seventeen, I had a lot of energy.

Just by seeing the artists and their street team selling records, back then they were actually selling records, it sparked something in me where I felt I could do this. Part of it may have been the alpha male syndrome where I felt that I could be the big dog too. I was promoting artists like the Westside Connection and a variety of others. Listening to their records, I realized it’s not that hard to do. Basically, you’re just telling a story. Then when I would see them in the office, they were different then the record made them sound. The record made them sound like these super hard dudes fighting against the police and all that shit. In the office, they were humble, nice, and the total opposite of what I heard on the record.

 

 

JD: They are playing a character

 

BFM: Exactly. That’s when I learned, there’s a business to this. It’s not really rap per se. Yes there are rappers and they are rapping about a story. But the story is not necessarily theirs. It’s probably the story of someone who is locked up right now and they’re using his story to proclaim themselves to a title. That’s why at the time I said I could do that. It’s like acting. I can act. (Laughs) So that’s how it all started and from there, I did all kinds of things. Worked for a number of different record labels. Seeing how the inner workings went because I was noticing that the rappers were broke. Their label heads and all the marketing people had money. The rap made the company money but the rappers themselves were broke. Then I started seeing the fakeness of it. Rappers were going to people to have their raps written, buy fake chains, and having wardrobe people tell them what to wear. I said, “This is too easy!” That was around 1996 and I said to myself, “I’m going to make a business out of this.”

 

Blue Flame

 

JD: I was recently watching an interview with Warren G about the music business and he talked about the same type of thing with rappers being broke. Not getting royalties on some of his biggest hits. It’s amazing seeing how many ways you can get taken advantage of.

 

 

BFM: For sure! For a while, that was the business of music to get ripped off. But today, it’s changed a little bit. That’s why I like the Internet. I notice the old rappers; they hate the Internet because they don’t understand it. But you have to understand getting 100% of your royalties (laughs). There is no way you can’t understand that. For example, recently I was with the Dove Shack and they had a major hit in the late 90’s called “Summertime in the LBC” and they had me doing websites, EPK (electronic press kit), and things of that nature for them. They were asking me how much I was expecting to get paid. I hold a high value on my time and I guess it didn’t meet up with their budget. I said to them, “You guys had a hit record. You should be able to afford my services. Even with me lowering my services to accompany your budget. What’s the hold up?” It came down to the fact that they told me they’re not millionaires. They didn’t have anyone getting royalties for them and didn’t understand publishing. So I told them to call their lawyer. They didn’t have one. Then I asked who was doing their publishing through the company that put your record out. They didn’t have that anymore. I said, “Wait, I’m confused. To me, this doesn’t make sense.” That could be because I wasn’t out in the era of when it was okay to be taken advantage. In today’s times, we don’t need record labels. If we do the hard work and…I wouldn’t say make good records because a lot of the music that’s being played aren’t the best but they’re the most popular per se. So as long as you are independent, have a good popular record, and semi-business minded, your going to walk away with 100% of everything. Versus someone who signs with a major and leaves with a fraction of a dollar.

 

BFM: They both have their advantages and disadvantages. A major label can establish you as a major artist. Even if you get dropped, you still have a major name. Unless they purchased your name (laughs). As long as you’re about your business then I don’t see why you wouldn’t make even if you were dropped from a major label today. Post 90’s, I can’t see being broke today. Even 360 deals, I still can’t see it. Yeah the record label made 360 degrees of your money. But, they put you on a platform to make more money then you did as an independent.

 

 

JD: Yeah that’s interesting thinking about being independent and trying to stick out or possibly making a fraction of a dollar per record but trading that for exposure.

 

 

BFM: That’s the business we’re in. We’re playing the game so play to win. That’s what I tell artists today. Just play the game to win. For whichever side of the coin you’re on.

 

BlueFlameMega

 

Stay tuned for PT 2. of our interview tomorrow

If you’d like to check out Blue Flame Mega and his endeavors, check out the links below

Blue Flame Mega

Luminaghti Records

C.O.K.E Magazine (Creating Official Kings Entertainment)

 

 

Interviews

The Figures of Funk: Larry Kimpel

“If you don’t work, you can’t eat”-James Brown

And the people who have keeping the funk alive have been doing just that.  Working tirelessly in bars, dance halls, and venues all around the country to make a living. This new series is about documenting and paying tribute to those who have pioneered it and are keeping it alive. These are The Figures of Funk.

By Jesse Davidson

On our first interview, we talked with GVR Records and Maze featuring Frankie Beverly bassist, Larry Kimpel.

 

LarryKimpel

 

Here’s a short bio:

Larry Kimpel is the Founder of GVR Records and its President/CEO. His songwriting, arranging, and production skills have proven invaluable to the label from a creative output standpoint. Larry started his musical career on piano at the tender age of five years old and from there he turned to the bass guitar as his weapon of choice. He has worked with countless Major artists such as Frankie Beverly & Maze, Anita Baker, Boney James, Rachelle Ferrelle, Alanis Morisette, George Duke and Steve Perry of Journey fame just name a few. (taken from GVR Records)

 

 

JD: Can you give us some info about getting your start in the industry?

 

LK: If you want to go all the way back to the very beginning, my first professional job, if you will, was with my high school band director’s big band. Which was quite a learning experience early on. He recognized that I had talent and he wanted to cultivate that. The band consisted of all his friends who were all doctors, lawyers, etc. My director’s name was George Hunter and they were called George Hunter and the Moonlighters because of their jobs during the day. That one was the first. It really was a learning experience, not only in music but also about how to carry myself as a man.

The next was my introduction to the studio scene in Chicago and that was also through him. Along with his big band, he was also a studio session musician as a saxophone player. He could play all of them baritone, tenor, alto, and soprano. He called me in for sessions with Gene Chandler, Jerry Butler, and Shirley Bassie, who was the lady that sang the Goldfinger theme. I was eighteen and around all that which was pretty cool. I kind of got in on the tail end of the Chicago recording scene. You saw the movie Cadillac Records?

 

JD: Yeah

 

LK: That was based on Brunswick Records and I got to see first hand some of that part of the industry before that went away. After that, I got into a group called Aura. We played at a club in Chicago called The Burning Spear opening up for The Staple Singers. A couple months later, Pops Staples tracked me down and called me. At first, I thought it was a joke but it was him and he asked me to audition for the group. I got the job and worked with them for about five years. That was my first outside the country and national stuff I did. It was a very cool introduction. I never had problems getting paid and dealing with people who were unscrupulous. I saw it happening but wasn’t involved with it. Pops was a very shrewd businessman and very good to his musicians. We were young guys so he was our mentor or patriarch if you will. Keeping us in line and teaching us how we needed to handle ourselves on the road. Even in the studio I was mentored.

 

JD: What was the audition process like for The Staple Singers?

 

LK: They had a band studio that they invited me to come to and told me to bring a drummer. The first guy I called his name was Ed Gosa and he didn’t answer the phone! (Laughs) So I called my buddy Dana Goodman, who was at home, and he went down with me. When we got to the studio, there were some other guys playing before us. I can’t remember the bass player’s name. One thing that I remember about him was that he was very good but it looked like he didn’t care about being there. He was slouching in his chair. Then we came in and played. I’m still good friends with the drummer as well as the keyboard player (Michael Logan) who were there and they told me later on that when we sat down with our instruments they thought, “Oh, well these guys are gonna get it.” (Laughs). We wanted to be there and we were hungry. So we got the jobs. I think we were the only other people auditioning that day, as far as I know.

 

 

JD: That’s great. It’s really cool that Pops Staples took you both in and mentored you. Especially being such young guys, there are so many unscrupulous things about the business; it’s good that he taught you how handle yourself.

 

LK: That’s very true. One thing that he showed us was that we never left town unless we had the money (laughs) For touring, we would rent a station wagon and put all the instruments in the back. Pops wouldn’t leave the city of Chicago until he got a call saying, “The money is in the account. You can go.” (Laughs)

 

 

JD: Along with finding good mentors, how have you learned to navigate the business and communicate with various business people?

 

LK: That’s a good question. A lot of things I’ve learned through the years, number one, is to be as prepared for the job in advance. I always say you get out of whatever job that you put into it. So always be prepared, have your equipment straight, and also have what you get out of the gig in mind. If you need to communicate with someone, do it in a professional manor. Business is business regardless if it’s music or anything else. How you handle people is the same across the board. You need to be assertive and say what you need. Also, know what you need when you’re negotiating a gig. You want it to be a win-win for everyone concerned. You don’t want to take advantage of anybody but you don’t want to be taken advantage of. It’s a tightrope you have to walk. If people try to take advantage, you have to decide for yourself, “Well, this is not being cooperative with me. But I do really need this gig.” Chances are that if it happens once with someone, it’s going to happen again. It’s like that Kenny Rodgers song; you got to know “when to walk away and when to run” (laughs).

 

JD: (Laughs) Exactly. When I was taking a class about the music industry in my Commercial Music Program at Antelope Valley College, we had a guest speaker named Benjamin Wright (arranger for Motown, Justin Timberlake, etc.). When asked about how to approach the music industry he basically said to approach it like you need to pay your rent with it. By approaching it that way, you will probably play and sing more soulfully as a result. Would you say that’s true?

 

LK: That’s interesting. I know Benjamin and have worked with him periodically through the years. He’s pretty much spot on with that. You have to be hungry. What is your clear-cut goal? Are you doing this for a living? Are you doing this for a hobby? Most people who go to school for music, want to do this for life. Like the young man who auditioned before me, he could really play but looked he didn’t want to be there and didn’t care. That’s a problem. You have to figure out what motivates you or as they say nowadays, “What’s your why?” Why am I here? Why am I doing this? I’ve talked at LA Music Academy and a couple other schools and asked other bassists, “Why do you want to be a bass player?” Most of them sit there and are quiet. They don’t really have a clear-cut concrete reason. They’ll say, “I love the bass”. Well that’s something. But you have to take it a step farther. What are you trying to accomplish with music?

With anything you do that’s worthwhile, ask yourself why you are doing it. When you have a reason behind it, you can march toward that goal. Otherwise, it’s just not there. Backtracking, when you do an audition, you’ve got to give it 110%. You have to make yourself memorable in a good way. Not slouching in your chair (laughs).

 

JD: Since you’ve been in the industry a long time, what do you think has helped you stay in good health, working and maintained a good reputation?

 

LK: It sounds trite and cliché but I just do my very best. After a while your reputation precedes you and people know what to expect. The band I tour with right now is Maze featuring Frankie Beverly. He’s built up his reputation for his live shows. Early on he was doing two shows a night for six nights a week. He developed a very strong live show. Now, years later, there’s still an intensity that is unparalleled, bar none, in R&B music. So he’s built up this reputation to when people by a ticket to see Maze, they expect that. If you do things the right way, people expect it of you and rightfully so. That’s how it gets built. It’s mostly word of mouth. People begin to talk about you. They’ll talk about you negatively and positively. For me, fortunately, it was mostly positive. When I get called, people expect a certain level of professionalism, musical prowess, intensity, integrity, and intensity and I provide that every time I go out. There will be times where you have a bad night or a bad show but the audiences don’t need to know that.

 

JD: With your label GVR Records, what are the differences between running your own business and being an independent musician?

 

LK: Owing your business is a completely different animal. I never knew all the things you had to go through and have in place to own a real, live record label. Being in the business as long as I have and being around record company people, you have no clue the amount of work it takes to go into it. It really is another animal. I’m the A&R person for my label so I deal with the artists. It’s a good place for me because I like to help people achieve what they need to achieve. But, it’s very time consuming and challenging to keep everyone happy. The challenges of the industry now are such, especially being a Soul/R&B label, are getting that music out there to the people looking for it. But it’s been a rewarding transition for me. I’m still producing, playing, and recording. But also, having the desire to bring other artists to the forefront that need to be heard, that’s rewarding for me. It really is.

Artists on the GVR roster include:

Nico Ross, BrokenToiz, Gene Van Buren, THE C.I.T.Y. The Soul Hustlers, The Anti-Job, Markay and Daneigh, Rodney Taylor, Kimaya and Larry Kimpel.

 

 

If you would like a full bio on Larry, click here or visit GVR Records

Interviews

A life of Punk: The Bob Oedy Interview

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If you’ve grown up in the SoCal punk scene, you’ve encountered either The Grim or Glue Gun (or perhaps Glü Gun in their early days) in one form or another.  They are a classic staple in the scene and we’ve sat down with one of the main forces behind these bands, Bob Oedy to discuss his time with these groups and also his book, The Punk Rock Las Vegas Survival Guide.

 

 

Q: How did you get into playing music?

Bob: Music has been an obsession of mine since I was a kid. My friend Eric and I would listen to the same albums over and over. We would stare at the album covers and contemplate every word of the lyrics. One day his mom told me I should take up guitar and have my own band someday. She convinced me. A friend had a sister who gave guitar lessons. Another friend loaned me a guitar. That’s how it all started. A few years later The Grim played the Hootenany at Crespi High School.

 

BobSecretAffair

Q: What event steered you into the punk scene?

A: My older brother saw the Sex Pistols play at Winterland in San Francisco. When he came home from college he had all these wild stories. I retold those stories for years. Then like everyone else in Los Angeles at the time I started listening to Rodney Bingenheimer play punk on KROQ. Albums were expensive so I would record the show and try to learn the songs on guitar. Some of the earliest bands I saw were The Ramones, Dead Kennedys, China White, Middle Class, Circle Jerks, Fear, etc.

Q: Can you give us some background info on how The Grim came together?

A: Tim McDuffee (Singer) and I became friends in high school. I was playing guitar in a punk band called Secret Affairs (Not the English mod group). The drummer quit because he was seeing this girl whose parents didn’t want her being associated with a punk. Tim liked our music so he went to school a few days later and found us a drummer. Then the singer lost interest so we made Tim singer and changed the name of the band to The Grim. G.R.I.M. stood for – Getting Revenge In ‘Merica.

Q: Was there an original concept for the formation of Glue Gun or did it evolve naturally?

A: Two roadies of The Grim asked if I would like to sing in another project. They said there was only one caveat. I was not allowed to put my hair up. At that time I had a haircut like Billy Idol so I had to shave my head. We did a photo shoot in front of a cabin in Topanga Canyon. We wanted to look like a punk cult. Sort of like Heart’s – Little Queen album cover only punk rock. We were too clean cut and quickly grew bored of the idea.

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Q: I got to experience the tail end of Glue Gun’s set at Slacker Fest at The Moose and it was amazing. How did the theatrics in your performance on stage come about?

A: Early on we began to experiment with props; home-made pyrotechnics, .38 caliber blank gun, sledge hammer, lights, cow heads, and sound-effects. It was wonderful to have that freedom to express myself. We hollowed out an old television so it would fit on my head. That gave us the idea for the song Television Man. We’ve toned down the use of props a bit since and now are focusing more on the music.

 

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Q: How did you get involved with The Moose?

A: The Moose sponsor underprivileged kids and support the elderly. It’s a great organization! I’m proud to be a member. They have a reputation for being a place to get cheap booze, but that’s not why I joined. There was a competing club promoter trying to get the lodge shut down for putting on low-cost hardcore punk shows in Lancaster. It’s a working class neighborhood. Kids can’t afford to go to some overpriced club and shell out a small fortune. We thought if we became actual dues paying members it might help to keep the lodge open and convince the membership to continue to allow punk shows. It worked! People don’t realize how many great bands have cut their teeth at Moose Lodges, VFW Halls, Elks Lodges, etc. Black Flag is one that comes to mind.

Q: Over the years, what has your experience been like playing live in Southern California or beyond? In particular, what was your experience like in the 80’s?

A: The band had a nice following right out the gate. Tim McDuffee is a natural promoter. He knew how to set up shows and get people interested. We started out playing house parties. Back then it was not uncommon to have 200-300 people show up. We played a lot of shows no one wanted. Anything so we could have an excuse to hand out flyers. We played $1 night at The Cathay de Grande for months. Don Bolles of The Germs was the soundman and one of our earliest supporters. Eventually they gave us a Saturday show opening for G.B.H. Once the orange album came out and appeared in the background of the movie Pretty in Pink we started to get noticed. Gary Tovar put us on a few Goldenvoice shows at the Olympic Auditorium. Those were always the best! It was fun touring the U.S. but it was a lot of work and we were always glad to get back to California.

Q: Did I hear right you’re next album is being released on Mystic Records by Doug Moody?

A: Yeah, Doug and Candace D’ Andrea have been very supportive of The Grim. They rereleased our old material on CD and we like working with them; always have. The Grim never fit the “corporate punk” model of other labels anyway. We say what we want to say. We believe what we want to believe and we’re not interested in making our music sound like anyone else’s. We’ll leave the politics of the whole corporate punk movement to other bands. It’s a death spiral. They can have it!

Q: As a union organizer, do you feel punk has helped your job performance by giving you a perspective you otherwise wouldn’t have had?

A: That’s a great question! Sure. As far as relating with workers I’ve been at the bottom, done the dirty work and been schooled by some of the best. Also my car is the office so I’m always in the field where the work is actually being done. There are some parallels between punk rock and union organizing. For example; you need to know how to make great flyers and distribute them quickly without drawing attention. You need to be able to grab people’s attention. You have to put yourself in danger at times too.

Q: As obvious as it is to ask, what was the inspiration behind The Punk Rock Las Vegas Survival Guide?

A: There was a need and in writing the book I was able to help people get more out of their Holiday weekend. They come from all over the world to Las Vegas over Memorial Day weekend. It’s allowed me to make some great friends. They love the tips and money saving advice offered in the book. Vegas is tricky city. Either you know where the cool places are or you risk wasting the weekend at some jive hotel getting eaten by bedbugs and chased around by security. Why bother? Having played the festival and competed in the tournament who would be better to write about it? The book comes with 12 stickers from various punk bands. It’s made in America and is printed union. I would sure appreciate your readers taking a moment to go on Amazon and leave a quick review.

 

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Q: Any upcoming news or shows for either The Grim or Glue Gun?

The Grim is scheduled to play NardFest at the Majestic Ventura Theater, August 30th with Rikk Agnew, Jughead’s Revenge, Agression, Stalag 13 and Ill Repute. We’ll be giving away special limited- edition guitar picks at our merch table so come by and say hello.

 

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The Grim is also playing with The Misfits, She Demons, Neblina and My Modern Valentine Thursday, November 12th at Majestic Ventura Theater.

 

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There’s also a free show with Pulley and The Grim Saturday, October 17th at Pete’s Place in Reseda.

Both bands are in the studio working on new recordings. The Grim have recorded 10 songs and have 3 to go. Glue Gun is recording two for a split 7” for D-Tour Records. One of the songs is called “Plastic Gun”. It’s about a killer who makes his own weapon with a 3-D printer.

Thanks Bob. If you’d like to check out any of his bands or the book, visit these links

 

The Grim on Facebook

 

The Grim on Twitter
@thegrimband

 

Glue Gun on Facebook

 

Glue Gun on Twitter
@gluegunpunk

 

Book on Facebook

Book on Twitter
@punkrocklv

Interviews

Sick Ass Foos: An Evening with Thoughtcrime and the Muddy Browns

Thoughtcrime MuddyBrowns

 

by Jesse Davidson

Have you ever wanted to hangout with a beer swilling, gun toting intellectual who can have an in depth conversation about life and then sing you a song about various activities you can do with your penis? Well, that’s pretty much what hanging around Thoughtcrime and the Muddy Browns is like. Although both bands are comprised of the same members, Jose Carrillo on drums, Gabe Gonzales on bass, Oscar Pleitez on guitar, both bands reflect two different personalities of the band. Muddy Browns represent the side the drinks a case of PBR at house party and gives your daughter eyes while covering a Muddy Waters song. Thoughtcrime represents the late night conversation by the pool after the party that you won’t forget. Conveniently enough, this where I had my conversation with the members of the band. When Master Gabe contacted me about conducting an interview with him, he invited me to come over to the house, drink whiskey, and listen to records. Hardly being able to say no, I headed over to Muddy Brown Manor to see what the night had in store for me.

 

The following is transcribed and pieced together from recording of that night.

 

As with any situation, you’re never quite sure of what to expect. This was my feeling on arriving at Muddy Brown Manor. Waiting at the door, I heard not just Gabe but the rest of the Thoughtcrime crew with a few other voices. Oscar answered the door and I entered the house. I couldn’t find any whiskey or vinyl but I did find a twelve pack of beer and an almost eaten chocolate sheet cake. Not a weak grocery store bakery cake but a Costco sized mammoth of a cake that was almost extinct by the time I arrived, and to which Oscar graciously offered me both.

 

I passed a Ping-Pong table on the way to the pool where I found not just Gabe but Jose, Michelle Navarette from Cedar Open Mic and two fellows I had not met yet. Later I discovered these two were called Cousin Junior and Mousekey. “Davidson!” Gabe yells. “You didn’t bring your trunks?!” I knew I was in for an interesting evening. As I get situated with my beer and phone ready to record, it appears the Thoughtcrime collective is not quite ready for the interview. The edge of the pool is littered with clusters of beer bottles and cans like little villages on the waterfront complete with a lone scented candle burning on the brick wall dividing the Jacuzzi and the pool. Still, something was missing. “Hey, is there any cake left?” Jose asked. A discussion ensured about the best way to eat cake in the pool without getting it wet. “How about the boogie board?” as I point toward the other end of the pool. A round of cheers sprang up from everyone and without missing a beat, Oscar springs out of his lawn chair next to me, like a kid on Christmas morning, and goes running into the house to find the leftovers of the cake. He placed on the board and it worked perfectly. Creating floating dessert to all who wanted it.

 

We had the cake and started recording. There was no real start to the interview. I mean, where’s the best place to start recording when everyone is trying to figure out who is the most hung in the band? You have no choice but to let it roll and fill in the rest later (no pun intended).

 

I begin to ask a question but Oscar pulls out an acoustic guitar from thin air, Gabe begins singing a David Allan Coe song, and I start pretending I’m the voice-over guy for a Time Life CD commercial selling Gabe’s Sensual Hits.

 

 

Gabe: “You know, I was in Vegas for Punk Rock Bowling and we were in a hotel room watching Time Life Songwriter shit. That is the coolest fucking commercial ever. You get snippets of songs and you cry, you laugh, you weep (laughs). And then they have the greatest hits of the 60’s…Hey Mouskey, get over here…you good at ping-pong Davidson?”

 

Me: “I’m alright. Not too great at it.”

 

Gabe: “Hey this interview is about you. What would you say is your greatest attribute? Like if you had to look at yourself in the mirror and write an obituary what would you say?”

 

As I think about this, Mouskey walks over shining a flashlight in the pool.

 

Gabe: “Hey Mousekey, are those fuckin’ UGGs?”

 

Everyone looks down to find this large, over six foot tall man dressed like Hunter S Thompson is ready for the apocalypse with a pair of bright brown UGG boots and everyone burst out laughing

 

Gabe: “Hey you know what, if this interview was about Mousekey, it would be the sickest shit ever. You think of it he’s done it.”

 

Me: “Yeah?”

 

Gabe: “Yeah! He hasn’t gone to space yet. Well, his mind has been to space a couple times.” (laughs)

 

Mousekey: “Anyone want a hotdog?”

 

Gabe: “Hey get Davidson one with mustard only. He don’t fuck with ketchup”

 

Me: (laughs)

 

Mousekey: “Actually bro, there’s only one bun left”

 

(laughter)

 

Gabe: “Well put the two cocks into one bun. Give the little piece of bread with some mayo on it.”

 

 

At this point, my sides hurt and we tried to start a formal interview.

 

 

Me: “So how did the three amigos get together and start a…”

 

Jose: “Hey why are we amigos? I find that kind of racist.” (Laughter)

 

Gabe: “I’ll be honest here. Oscar met Josey (Jose’s nickname) before I did. He thought Josey was a cockblocker because Oscar was trying to have sex with some young lady but Josey was trying to have sex with her too. So Oscar told me, ‘I was hanging out these dudes and there was some fat guy there’.

 

“No offense foo’ ” Gabe says to Jose.

 

“And then I said to Oscar, ‘Fuck that fool’. So initially, I kind of wanted to whoop Josey’s ass because he was cockblock-ing Oscar. “

 

Jose: “But then he saw me and he was scared.”

 

Gabe: “Nah I wasn’t scared because that’s nothing to me (laughs). But then I met him and thought he was pretty cool.”

 

Oscar: “Let me tell you the story. I met him at the first Dogs of War come back show (A local hardcore band from the AV).”

 

Jose: “How many times has Dogs of War come back?”

 

Gabe: “About 17 times.” (laughter)

 

At this point, the English bulldog in the house Haji, starts walking by the pool area and almost steps on my phone.

 

Gabe: “Watch your phone. He’s gonna send dick pics to all the people you know. “(Everyone laughs)

 

Oscar: “So then you brought this chick around (Writer’s note: to protect her identity, the woman being mentioned will be referred to as “lady” from here on out). I hit him up and asked what’s up with Lady?” And Jose said, ‘Don’t fuck with her. She has the clap.’ She didn’t but that was his way of cockblocking me. (laughter) That’s how we met.”

Then Gabe started talking about how long he’s known Oscar but quickly ventured off on his love of weaponry, history of his break-dancing, and kicked out a quick rap about our interview with Mousekey beat boxing.

 

Gabe: “Hey when you guys get in the pool, do you leave your boxers on?”

 

Cousin Junior: “No.”

 

Gabe: Me either. “That shit is weird.”

 

Mousekey: “Anyone want the barbeque beans heated up? They’re pretty dank.”

 

Jose: “Put them on the boogie board. “(laughs)

 

Gabe: “The boogie board is the shit. I kind of want to be a boogie boarder when I grow up.” (laughter)

 

Me: “I’ve seen your pictures on Facebook and you have a passion for weaponry. Can you go into that more?”

 

Gabe: Yeah. I’ve only killed about four people in my life (laughter). See, everyone laughs at that. Actually, I’ve always had (inaudible Jose and Gabe talking).

 

Mousekey: (from across the yard) You’ve always had webbed feet?

 

Gabe: Yeah I have webbed feet and a webbed dick (Everyone laughs). You know that piece of skin that connects the tip of your dick to the rest of it? Well you’re probably circumcised but I’m not. It’s called a frenulum. It’s pretty much the same shit that’s under you’re tongue, so everyone has a dick in their mouth. (Everyone laughs).

 

Gabe then told us about tarring his frenulum in a tragic accident and warned everyone to be careful.

 

Me: Do they have support groups for that kind of thing?

 

 

Gabe: Nah I don’t need it. I live comfortably with my torn frenulum…but yeah, I love guns and shooting. Hey Mousekey, bring the gauge foo’! Bring the ’40 too.”

 

 

Mousekey emerged (still wearing the UGGs) with a 12 gauge that looked like you could take down an army of angry bears with and a small .40 caliber pistol. At this point, I thought this was hands down the strangest interview I’d ever done and how fast the fifteen minutes had gone by since I started recording. It would be foolish not to bring this up.

 

Me: It seems like to be apart of Thoughtcrime or Muddy Browns, you need to be a badass or a real man of action. What are the qualifications to be in the band?

 

 

Gabe: I don’t want to say that I take credit for being a badass. I just like doing certain shit. I’d say one of the downest motherfuckers is Josey.

 

Jose: Why?

 

Gabe: Foo’, do I really gotta…

 

Oscar: Nah, we don’t have to get into details. (everyone laughs)

 

Gabe: It’s not about being a badass. It’s just about doing whatever you want to do and to be a real motherfucker. In the band, Oscar is safe and is kind of the anchor.

 

Jose: He’s the mom.

 

Gabe: Anchor foo’, don’t call him a mom.

 

Me: Would you say that’s true Oscar?

 

Oscar: I think tour proved that, yeah. By the third day, they were calling me mom on tour (laughter).

 

Gabe: But you know what, he kept shit on schedule.

Jose: You need someone like that in the band.

 

Gabe: Yeah. You need stability. And Josey is the rebel. I’m like the wizard. The grand wizard (everyone laughs). I’m more like the big brother who gives sound advice.

 

Oscar: He’s like the cool uncle that gives kids wine coolers at parties (laughs). But ultimately, I think the requirement for being in the band is honesty. That’s my philosophy. Gabe is probably one of the most honest people I know. And makes no effort to conceal certain truths (laughs)

 

Gabe: Yeah. I walk around naked when nobody’s home. If we’re gonna continue this interview I’m taking off my trunks (takes off trunks and places them on the side of the pool).

 

Me: And you’re not wearing another set of boxers underneath that?

 

Gabe: Nope. Check this out.

Gabe then rises to the surface to prove to everyone that he is indeed not wearing any boxers whatsoever. Then turns his back and dives down below the water with his ass sticking out.

 

Gabe: I’m not wearing anything. Just glasses (laughter). But yeah, you have to be a real motherfucker and have good gear.

 

Me: What would you say are the biggest misconceptions about being on tour?

 

Jose: You get laid every night.

 

Oscar: Yeah (laughs)

 

Gabe: Everyone thinks that when you play out of town, you’ll have a huge crowd. Honestly, no one gives a fuck about you. That’s something you have to work out. It’s kind of cute being from out of town and being from L.A. But we don’t do that we claim Lancaster. And the people on tour treated us very well.

 

 

Oscar: Another misconception is that you come back famous. After we came back, we had about 8 or 9 likes on Facebook. I think there are two kinds of tours these days are DIY and fully funded tours. We had a DIY tour and we all pitched in and rented a van. We met nice enough people that housed us for the night. We only had to pay for one hotel and we also crashed Eddie and the Moo Crew’s hotel room in Vegas. (The guitarist from Enemy Proof)

 

 

 

Me: So there’s a lot of beer around and Gabe, you work for “beer”. Does that give you any advantages playing music?

 

 

Gabe: I think beer holds the biggest influence over both bands because Oscar and I work for beer companies. He works at a brewery and me at a distributor.

 

Oscar: We have the three stages of production, producer (points at himself), distributor (points to Gabe), and consumer (points to Josey) (Laughter).

 

Gabe: Beer definitely holds the biggest influence. I probably drink my weight in PBR a week (laughs). As far as the music goes, it influences Muddy Browns a bit more. It’s for like getting your dick sucked and kicking back on a Saturday. Whereas Thoughtcrime is more for the scholar, you know? For that band, you’d drink a framboise while Muddy Browns is more Mississippi Mud.

 

 

Me: Is there anything else you want people to know about Thoughtcrime and Muddy Browns?

 

Oscar: Just listen to the music and the words. A lot of bands write music for the masses and music for people to mosh to. This is more from the heart and to get people to think about things. Muddy Browns is just trying to get women to shake their bottoms.

 

Gabe: It just so happens that’s what happens when the music plays. I’m not trying to do that. I just play blues and, in a mid-level establishment, that’s what happens.

 

Me: That’s what happened back in the day.

 

Gabe: It was! You think Muddy Waters had Facebook? If he did, he wouldn’t give a fuck about it. He’d be out there playing music and trying to make money. Which is what we’re trying to do.

 

Muddy Browns are looking to hit the road in October and both bands have recorded new music to be released soon. If you want more info check out Muddy Browns or Thoughtcrime on Facebook