It's our last Rockabilly N Blues Radio Hour (for now) as we take a hiatus to give time to starting up Catching A Wave (starting next week). But, we have a killer hour planned on this episode with a great Howlin' Wolf tune from Beth Riley on her Beth's Blues Break. We'll take a stroll to the Doo-Wop Corner (with songs from Dion and The Dynamics), drop a coin in the Jammin' James Jukebox to hear a rocker from The Blasters AND we get NEW tunes from Kim Wilson and Martini Shakers in our instru-Mental Breakdown. Plus, hear the latest from Darrel Higham, Restless, Twang Gang, Jolie & The Jackalopes, Ry Bradley, Eva Eastwood, Howlin' Ramblers and another rockin' studio take from Elvis Presley. We also have rockers from Gene Vincent, JD McPherson, Jimmy Sutton's Four Charms and Eddie Cochran!!
This special edition of Rockabilly N Blues Radio Hour focuses on artists featured in the great new book, Dig That Beat! Not only do we talk with author Sheree Homer, we also hear tunes from artists like Don Woody, Jimmy Sutton's Four Charms, James Intveld, Rosie Flores, Sleepy LaBeef, Ray Campi, Dale Hawkins, Janis Martin, The Paladins, Royal Rhythmaires and so much more!! Great stories and great music equals great fun!!
Check out JD McPherson on Sun Studio Sessions doing "Abigail Blue". It originally appeared on the Starkweather Boys album with JD and then as a B-side to a 45 Rounder released of "North Side Gal".
April 20th, 2013 is Record Store Day and JD McPherson is releasing a special red colored single of "Fire Bug" with "A Gentle Awakening" on the flip side exclusively for the big day. Also, he just released a new music video of "Scratching Circles" shot recently at Cains Ballroom in his hometown of Tulsa, OK. Enjoy!
2012 brought us a lot of great music that we'll enjoy into the new year as well as anticipating what is to come. We wanted to take a moment to look back at some of our favorite rockabilly, surf, roots, blues and just great vintage sounding releases. They're in alphabetical order as it would be hard to arrange them otherwise.
The Beach Boys- That's Why God Made The Radio
There was a certain amount of mixed anticipation and nervousness in waiting to hear this project. Admittedly, after being a fan for so many years, expectations were high for this one. When you have an album like Pet Sounds in your catalog, there is always high expectations. Literally within the first few seconds of the majestic opener "Think About The Days", all nervous feelings were gone. Brian Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine, Bruce Johnston, David Marks and company have created one fantastic sounding project. The title cut and "Isn't It Time" showed they still can create great pop sounding tunes while the trio of songs ending the project ("From There To Back Again", "Pacific Coast Highway" and "Summer's Gone") show they haven't lost an artistic sense about them. The vocals are lush and the lyrics are as vivid as they've ever been. Listening to Mike Love's "Daybreak Over The Ocean" will transport you immediately to some beach hideaway. Don't make the mistake in thinking their best music is from the past. Pick this one up today!!
Dion- Tank Full Of Blues
You can get more behind the scenes info on Dion and the release from our interview last year HERE. Needless to say, I understand him when he says he feels more relevant now than ever. I watched as hip radio stations added tunes from this project and brought attention to an artist that has never stopped reinventing himself. A favorite from this project is his fictitious account of driving Robert Johnson to the Crossroads in "Ride's Blues". His lyrics are as sharp as his guitar playing throughout the project. Rolling Stone magazine even blushed over his "I Read It (In The Rolling Stone)" causing them to make this one of their weekly picks not to miss.
The Explorers Club- Grand Hotel
How many times have we either said or heard the expression, "they just don't do music like they used to before"? We usually mean we miss the vocal harmonies and interesting music melodies. If you're looking for a fresh approach to the great sounds of the 60's, then The Explorers Club is your answer. Fans of The Beach Boys, Dave Clark 5, Burt Bacharach and so many of the great sounds from the past will love this album! Their tight vocal harmonies shine through on the first single, "Run Run Run". "Anticipatin'", "Go For You" and "I've Been Waiting" are more highlights. I can't recommend them enough!
Wanda Jackson- Unfinished Business
Wanda's Jack White produced project last year was a reminder that she is still the Queen Of Rockabilly. This album was produced by Justin Townes Earl (Steve Earl's son). It has a bit more of an alt-country flair which really suites Wanda's style. Her cover of the Freddy King classic "Tore Down" is a wonderful slow blues rocker. The ballad "Am I Even A Memory" is a hauntingly beautiful classic. Other highlights include "The Graveyard Shift", "Pushover", "It's All Over Now" and "California Stars". Wanda still has it...and we're the better for it!
Los Straitjackets- Jet Set
Few (if anybody) can do energetic surf music like Los Straitjackets. If you are a fan already, you're sure to love this latest offering from the boys. If you're not a fan, this is a great place to start! Highlights include the title cut, "Crime Scene", "Brooklyn Slide" and "Space Mosquito". Now that Christmas is over, this will have you thinking of outdoor summer parties that will rock! Crank this one up!!
J.D. McPherson- Signs & Signifiers
This was released originally in 2010 on Hi-Style Records but released to a bigger distribution by Rounder Records this year. Read more with JD here and with producer and bass player Jimmy Sutton here. They have created a sound that is equally fresh and vintage. If you go see them in concert, you'll see a new generation looking hip in retro clothes ready to dance. The band never disappoints either! From the opening strains of "North Side Gal", this project takes you on a high energy journey that doesn't stop until the band hit's the last note of "Scandalous". Conan, Leno and Letterman all had the fellas on their show this year making anticipation grow for new music hopefully in 2013.
Lee Rocker- Night Train To Memphis
The latest project from this Stray Cat really rocks! The disc kicks off with the classic Johnny & Dorsey Burnette number "Rockabilly Boogie". This one has to played loud!! There is a lot of energy in this album. "Slap The Bass", "Wild Child" and "Twenty Flight Rock" are blazing ball of rockabilly bliss! The title cut sounds like a classic as well. You'll find yourself singing this one often. Pick up The Cover Sessions from him as well.
Jack White- Blunderbuss
Lot's of high expectations on projects this year. Jack White created a buzz in releasing his first solo project after many releases with White Stripes, Raconteurs and Dead Weather. I've always loved his not-so-obvious choices for cover songs. "I'm Shakin'" is a great tune originally done by Little Willie John. The Blasters also did a great cover later as well. Jack's version keeps the energy level up and gives it an extra bit of punch. He toured with 2 sets of bands this year. One was all female and the other was all male. This brought a different vibe with each show. This is nominated for "Album Of The Year", "Best Rock Album" and "Best Rock Song" for "Freedom At 21" for the upcoming Grammy Awards.
Mark W. Winchester- Upright
If you missed our recent interview, you can check it out HERE. Mark slaps a bass guitar with passion that few can match. Fans of Planet Rockers and Brian Setzer Orchestra will recognize Mark from being members of both. His "Rooster Rock" first appeared on Setzer's 68 Comeback Special- Ignition album. The version here is a bit more acoustic swing. There is plenty of twang, rockabilly, swing and good ole rock and roll here to keep your speakers blaring! Kenny Vaughan and Jimmy Lester round out the trio on this project. This is roots rock at it's finest!!
ZZ Top- La Futura
This Rick Rubin produced set returns that little ol' band from Texas to their loud blues roots. "I Gotsta Get Paid" is a unique rap cover that gives you all the dirty guitar sounds you've come to expect from this trio. "Over You" is a slow grinding blues number that will remind you why you became a fan in the first place. Many highlights on this album. "Heartache In Blue", "I Don't Wanna Lose, Lose You", "Flyin' High" and more. If you've not listened to them in a while, this one needs to be in your collection. You'll become a fan all over again!
JD McPherson gets set to release his first Christmas track "Twinkle (Little Christmas Lights)" digitally on December 11th. Rolling Stone is letting you preview it HERE. Also, at a recent tour stop in Nashville, JD, Jimmy Sutton and the band did a segment for The Attic Sessions (www.theatticsessions.com). The Attic Sessions feature artists in a cool and eclectic setting from a room at the top of The War Memorial Auditorium in Nashville, TN. Check it out here and don't forget to purchase JD's Christmas tune on December 11th!
Only 500 copies of this single from JD McPherson ("North Side Gal" b/w a new recording of "Abigail Blue") were made so get your copy now! Click HERE to order.
JD McPherson is giving away a free download of his "Wolf Teeth" in celebration of Halloween. Get it HERE. You should do yourself a favor and download the rest of the album from iTunes, Amazon or wherever you get your favorite new music.
Check out the new single and music video for JD McPherson's "Fire Bug:
New shows added:
Nov 1 - Brooklyn, NY - Music Hall of Williamsburg
Nov 2 - Philadelphia, PA - Johnny Brenda's
Nov 4 - Falls Church, VA - The State Theater
Nov 5 - Virginia Beach, VA - The Jewish Mother
Nov 7 - Carrboro, NC - The Cat's Cradle
Nov 8 - Atlanta, GA - The Earl
Nov 9 - Birmingham, AL - Workplay Theater
Nov 10 - Maryville, TN - Shed at Smoky Mountain Harley-Davidson
Nov 11 - Louisville, KY - Headliners
Nov 29 - Minneapolis, MN - First Avenue
If you happen to catch JD McPherson (read his interview HERE) on tour, you will no doubt pay attention to the stylish man playing the upright bass. Jimmy Sutton is not only JD's musical collaborator, he also produced the Signs & Signifiers album that originally came out on his own Hi-Style Records before Rounder re-released it a couple of months back. Growing up in Chicago allowed him to dig into the musical roots so firmly planted there. I caught up with Jimmy while he, JD and the band were heading to their next high energy gig.
Are you travelling on the road right now?
We just did a radio sponsored show in Louisville yesterday. It’s a radio station (WFPK) that has been playing us a whole bunch. It’s really interesting to be our first time in a market to have a crowd there and know the words to the songs. It’s something I’ve not really experienced before.
With all of the increased exposure, I imagine the shows are getting bigger.
One of the best instances of this was in Minnesota. There’s a station up there called The Current (KCMP). The first time we played this club called The Fine Line and there were 550 or so people there. First time in the market and they knew all the words to the songs. It was a great time. It was amazing to see that.
That must give you guys some added energy! Yeah, you know we were making some waves before we got released on Rounder. But, the Rounder machine along with the PR machine is great to see that in motion. Before the record was released, back in October we were invited to go in back in Iceland for Iceland Airwaves. Iceland is a population of what...300,000 people? Our single “North Side Gal” was #1 there for like 2 days. We got knocked out by Adele (laughs). Anyway, we played this Iceland Airwaves festival. It was a club packed with 450-500 people. There was not 1 Rockabilly guy in there. It was just all young indie rock people who knew all the words to the songs. They were just partying and having a good time.
I read that The Ramones were a big musical influence
on you.
Yeah, absolutely! The Ramones and late 70’s punk rock, new wave and early 80’s music were definitely a big influence. Count Basie! My father used to listen to big band on old time radio shows around the house…didn’t really play records much, it was always the radio. Maybe those 2 things influenced me heavily.
Doesn’t it seem like it’s not too hard to go from Punk to Rockabilly…or vice versa?
Yeah, they really go hand in hand don’t they? It’s got that energy!
What got you interested in rockabilly and other vintage styles? Going back to the punk rock thing, in the late 70’s and early 80’s all the cat bands were happening…Stray Cats, The Polecats…bands like The Blasters, Robert Gordon…that was the thing at that time. I started a rockabilly band at 15. The guitar player and singer was 13. We were called The Rockin’ Blue Notes. We played a lot of house parties and college parties. I grew up around the University Of Chicago on the south side of Chicago. We did what we could but then that kind of fizzled. Fast forward a little bit, then I had a band called The Rebel Rousers that did all the rockabilly hits. A lot of the guys that would check us out, I would ask them to make us mix cassette tapes. This one guy John Park he put on a lot of Jump Blues on there too…stuff like Louis Prima, Big Joe Turner, Wynonie Harris, Smiley Lewis…and it would flip flop between hardcore rockabilly and rhythm and blues. I noticed a difference and I gravitated towards jump blues and all that rhythm and blues stuff. I started digging some more. At the same time, I had this band called the Moondogs who started getting into more Jump Blues stuff. It was a little sexier to me. Then I started a band called The Mighty Blue Kings. That was my band I really wanted to have a heart for, a jump band and getting my ya-ya’s out. It did really well. We got pretty successful. We ended up selling 100,000 copies of our own self-released CD. We eventually got signed to Sony. Too many internal problems kind of made that band fizzle too. I always gravitated toward blues. Even the blues side of rockabilly. I really dig like Joe Clay, Sonny Fisher and even Elvis. The early Elvis stuff is really heavily blues. It’s real heavy
rhythm. The high school bop stuff doesn’t quite move me as much (laughs).
Being in Chicago, did you feel inspired by the classic Chess stuff recorded there?
Well, maybe not so much Chess Records but I tell you what was an influence on me was going to the Checkerboard Lounge all the time because they wouldn’t card us. I lived like a block from where Bronzeville started. We would always pile into a Volkswagen Bug or something. It was about 12 of us. We would go to the Checkerboard Lounge and see Junior Wells or Lefty Dizz playing. I really dug it but at the time I didn’t really know how much it was influencing me. I guess it did. The attitude and the style rubbed off on me.
Willie Dixon was another influence of yours.
Yeah, his bass playing…just listening to his style. Unfortunately, I never saw him once which is a shame. He was right in my back yard. I grew up in the same neighborhood. It’s crazy I never saw him when I was younger. He was and still is a big influence on my playing.
Tell me about how Hi-Style came about.
You know what Hi-Style was, it was a fanzine that my ex-wife had started with another Chicago couple back in ’94. It was a fanzine but they did it legitimately under a company name. They came up with Hi-Style as something to kind of describe furniture, architecture and music. It was the whole culture. The name of the company was Hi-Style Enterprises. When it came time for my band, Jimmy
Sutton’s Four Charms to put out a CD, the entity was there. Her fanzine was not around anymore but we owned the company. We just said, “why don’t we just do it as Hi-Style”. It wasn’t a serious thing. It was just a name to release the CD under. I did 2 of them. I did another one with the Del Moroccos. As soon as I started building a studio in my attic, it was always in my mind that I would put more emphasis in the label when I finished the studio. It was kind of being inspired by a one man operation in the 50’s like Chess, Sun, Excello. I wanted the studio almost as if it was 1960 or 1961 and I was going to build a studio in my garage and release 45’s. It’s what the studio was modeled after.
It was the type of equipment I had acquired back then.
The projects you’ve done really have a vintage warm sound similar to how those labels you mentioned had a uniform “feel” to them.
When I listen to them as a whole, I can definitely see a progression and learning what I wanted out of music and to produce and how to get certain things out of musicians, and how to articulate and put things into a package. I think with JD McPherson, I finally reached it. We’re still not satisfied but we’re pretty proud of that album.
I do radio promotions and one of my favorite things to do is just talk with programmers about music they love. It was programmer friend that emailed me about JD in the first place and I was hooked but a little bummed that was just NOW finding out about it.
It was still a bit underground. The United States is a big country and not everybody is going to find out about it. When the “North Side Gal” video came out October 18, 2010 that video flew around to a lot of desks in the industry. A lot of people were sending it to each other saying “man, have you checked this out?” That was a pretty big surprise and we’re pretty proud of that.
The response to the “North Side Gal” video has been huge!
Both JD and I wanted to create a record that was about everything we dig about old rhythm & blues and black rock & roll but we wanted to create something that was timeless. We weren’t trying to hard especially lyrically too. We just didn’t want to lie. It’s why the video turned out the way it did. It might have been Hubert Sumlin that said that to me…”just don’t lie”. I don’t remember what it was in reference to but it stuck with me when he said that.
So you are a touring bass player, record producer and record label guy. Is it hard wearing all those hats?
I tell you the toughest part is the record label guy. That’s a lot of work. That’s why you’re not seeing too much on that end. My eyes are floating around for a partner. That’s a big hat to wear. Playing and performing is my #1 love. I have to be true to that. I had to wear many hats. I had to relinquish and gave away many of those which I was happy (laughs). Now maybe I can get back into putting on those hats once and a while. I would love to produce some more and put stuff out on Hi-Style.
Do you have any highlights of playing with other artists the past couple of years? We’ve been asked to do many tours but unfortunately our schedules have never allowed us to. We’ve been mostly headlining. We’ve been at festivals with Los Lobos, The Black Crowes and Jimmy Vaughan. We played right before Jimmy Vaughan in Belgium. That was pretty fantastic. Oh, we played right before the Paladins the spring before last at a blues festival in Belgium. I had a head start there in the Benelux area…Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg. When I put out the record, I only had so much of a budget. I hired a promotions company to work it out there. I also
released “North Side Gal” with a flip side of “Wolf Teeth” on a small German label on 45. They’ve their teeth in deep with the rockabilly scene. It’s kind of underground but it’s still very big and organized. That was kind of my marketing plan (laughs). It worked.
Jimmy and I outside of Nashville, TN's
3rd & Lindsley after the band played
to a sold out crowd!
What’s coming up?
We just gave Rounder a B-side that we just recorded and they’re going to put that on with “North Side Gal”. They’re going to be releasing a 45 of it. I think it will be an online thing.
Great time with JD McPherson, Jimmy Sutton, Jason Smay and the whole band in Nashville July 29, 2012. They first did an afternoon session at Grimey's record store. You could see the band packed into a tight space but the energy was felt throughout the store! It was a great preview of the set to come later that evening at 3rd & Lindsley. It's really a fun thing to watch an artist that is starting to take off from increased radio and television airplay and touring. The crowd sang along as the band played every song from JD's debut project, Signs & Signifiers. They also included cover tunes like Ike Turner's "You've Got To Lose", Bo Diddley's "You Don't Love Me", Charlie Feathers' "Stutterin' Cindy" (with Jimmy Sutton taking over the lead on both Bo and Charlie's tunes) and Ritchie Valens' "Ooh My Head" among others. Fans of JD's previous band The Starkweather Boys recognized "Abigail Blue" from that album but this time the band slowed it down to a more blues feel. Check his calendar often to see if he's coming to your town soon-http://www.jdmcpherson.com/tour.html. Read more about JD from our recent interview HERE.
"North Side Gal" live from Parlour & Juke December 2011
Broken Arrow, OK native JD McPherson has certainly been on a wild ride since the original release of his brilliant Signs & Signifiers. McPherson, a former art teacher, is bringing his unique sound that is filtered through vintage rock and r&b stylings to the masses. I love watching the reaction of those discovering his music for the first time. Usually, the word "finally" comes out as they describe something that will surely become a new favorite. The thing that sticks out the most when talking to JD is just how friendly and down-to-earth he is. So many friends that have had the opportunity to spend time with him already had told me about that before I did the interview.
Thanks for taking a moment to chat. Ok, important question out of the way early…how do you pronounce your last name? I’ve heard both. Is it Mc-”fear”-son or Mc-“fur”-son?
It’s Mc-“fur”-son but almost no one gets that right. My whole life it’s like that (laughs). My Aunt Genie (McPherson-Durden) says, “there’s no ‘fear’ in McPherson”.
You’ve got a crazy touring schedule right now!! I guess it’s both a blessing and a curse.
It is. It’s paying off but it is really tough. It’s a really tough schedule. It’s tough for anybody but for a fella with a wife and kids it’s really tough that way. Logistically, being in Baltimore one night, London the next night, Dublin the next night, Massachusetts the next night is ridiculous. I don’t know how I pulled that off.
I hear you went to a pretty small high school in Oklahoma. I understand you only had 10 in your graduating class?
11. Yeah, really, really small. The same school my mom went to. I think they started the school in the late ‘30’s. From that time until about 2008, they said there was 500 students total that had been through that school (laughs).
Was it in high school that you picked up a taste for punk music?
Yeah, I was a weird kid and I did not fit in with the cowpokes around me (laughs). I did not like that music which at the time it was Billy Ray Cyrus’ first album and Garth Brooks and the big pop country stuff. I did not get that at all. I didn’t care for it. I think that I just really wanted something else. I wanted something as far outside of that as I could possibly get. Of course, now I love country music. I even like Garth Brooks now. My primary interests in high school were music, playing guitar, drawing…all of that stuff.
People that like punk often find it easy to understand and appreciate rockabilly, artists like the Burnette brothers, Gene Vincent, etc., which of course was the punk rock of it’s time.
Well, it’s just great music. I got that rockabilly stuff before I got into rhythm & blues and black rock & roll. The first time I heard that Johnny Burnette Trio, that was almost too good to be true.
I read that it was hearing early Buddy Holly tracks that got you down the path of seeking out early rock and r&b.
It was a double disc compilation and had a lot of the Decca stuff on it…the rockabilly stuff….like “Rock Around With Ollie Vee”, “Annie’s workin’ on the Midnight Shift” and that kind of material. The second disc had some of his pop stuff. I love that now maybe even more than that earlier stuff but at that time all I wanted to hear was the rockabilly. Everything I wanted to hear was there because it was really enthusiastic music. It was very youthful and exuberant music but at the same time it kind of a country edge to it. I thought this makes sense. I can identify with this a little more than I can with The Ramones coming out of New York City. I hadn’t even been to New York City. The first time was last year so it was a little easier to identify with Buddy (laughs).
I wanted to send your CD to someone that had some first-hand knowledge of Buddy Holly and that would also love this style. Dion DiMucci was on that Winter Dance Party tour with Buddy, Ritchie Valens and The Big Bopper. He emailed back, “Yo! Thanks! This JD McPherson CD is great. Man, this kid has got the goods. I love “North Side Gal”. The whole band sounds great. Very, very cool!”
Wow! That’s so cool. I love Dion’s music. My wife does too. My wife is a HUGE Dion DiMucci fan. In fact, we only had 2 CD’s in the car. One was a 3 CD set.
I also read about your dad being a big influence on you with jazz and blues music that he was trying to get you to listen to. Tell me about that.
I did not care for jazz at first. He was trying to at least listen to Dave Brubeck. He really liked (John) Coltrane and (Thelonious) Monk and stuff that was a little farther out but he didn’t think I would like that as much. Eventually, that’s’ what I really liked. He’s from Linden, AL. He grew up in the late 50’s and early 60’s and it was a big “no-no” to like that kind of music in his household. It became almost a badge of honor to like that stuff. He was really into John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, and rhythm & blues that they were playing on Randy’s Record Shop on the radio there that he could hear. I really did like that a lot. He would give me Muddy Waters tapes for Christmas and I would give him Jazz CD’s. I remember wearing out “Catfish Blues”. He didn’t care for rock & roll. He didn’t like Elvis, Bill Haley, Jerry Lee and that kind of stuff. He really just liked blues and maybe some rhythm and blues. So yeah, dad was a big influence on me for exposing me to that stuff early on.
The band you were in before going solo was The Starkweather Boys. First off, you guys had the coolest concert posters. Did you make one for each gig?
That was our buddy, Thom Self. We only played a couple of places in Tulsa.
One was the Mercury Lounge. Thom was kind of the house poster guy. He still is. He would always make a new poster for every single show. He gave each of us one every time we played. I’ve got a closet full of posters. I learned so much in that band. We didn’t play much around but there was a couple of guys in that band that were as close to professional as I had ever worked with like Kevin Wright, the lead guitar player/steel player/harmonica player. He had been in a neo-rockabilly outfit in the 80’s called The Kingpins. They were fairly well known. They were sponsored by Coors and were on Star Search. They had a tour bus and that all that kind of thing. He had gotten out of The Kingpins and went to school and ended up getting his doctorate in Communication. He had moved to Oklahoma and we snatched him up. First of all, he was a great lead player but he could play a lot of things. He could play the pedal steel and he could sing. The other guy I learned a lot from was Billy Earl Padgett who was the drummer for band called Brian Parton & The Nashville Rebels. Those guys were my idols coming out of high school. They were a Tulsa band. They were absolutely unique. They were the coolest. They were playing a lot of rockabilly standards but they wrote a lot of original material too. They were doing a different kind of slant to it. The guitar player played through really thick reverb instead of delay. They all wore these 70’s western clothes. They were just really cool. I found later that one of the big influences on Billy was NRBQ. Talk about thinking outside the box. Billy was like “treat it like a business and be mindful of it and don’t ever get a job that will prevent from hitting the road and playing rock & roll”. I didn’t follow that advice until later (laughs). But, he was an amazing drummer. He was a cross between Ringo Starr and Tommy Ardolino of NRBQ. Those were his 2 favorite bands…The Beatles and NRBQ. The Starkweather Boys’ goal was to play every kind of roots music that we could
possibly squeeze into one band. We didn’t mesh anything together. We would play as traditional of a western swing song as we could right next to a blues shouter. It confused a lot of people. A lot of people bought that CD and said “I don’t really understand. It sounds like a different band on every track”. Well, it was just being capricious and trying to do this thing (laughs). But yeah, it was a lot of fun playing in this band.
Was it around this time that you met your producer (and owner of HiStyle Records) and bass player, Jimmy Sutton?
Jimmy Sutton
Yeah, in fact that’s why we met Jimmy. We were trying to play outside of town a little bit. We had a CD and we had sold everyone that would come out to a Tulsa show a CD. So let’s get out of town and play. We wanted to get up St. Louis, Kansas City and Chicago. I knew Jimmy had his finger on the pulse of Chicago so I introduced myself via MySpace. I said “hey I really like all your bands and projects so can you listen to this and see if there’s a shot we could get a gig up there”. Luckily, he listened and got us a gig at Martyrs. That’s
when we started talking just he and I about future projects.
The Signs & Signifiers album originally came out in 2010 on HiStyle and then just recently rereleased on Rounder. Are you itching to record something new? Well, I mean yes absolutely I’m very excited to make a new record. But, I tell ya what. Our band right now is so unbelievable. We’ve got this guy Ray Jecildo on keys. We bought an acoustic piano for the road and we have him on a Hammond M3 with a Leslie. These songs are turning into something else. Every night we play every song off the record. It’s so much fun to play these songs with these guys. Our new drummer is Jason Smay formerly of Los
Straitjackets. He is just a monster. He’s incredible. We’re getting really, really tight. I don’t mind playing these songs over and over again as long as folks are going to come out and want to hear them and I can keep playing with these guys.
I’m sure the increased radio airplay, YouTube buzz and TV appearances like Conan have really added a lot of new excitement to everything as well.
Yeah, it really does. It’s exciting to go out and see a larger and more diverse crowd every time. I love performing those songs for people that know the songs and want to hear them.
So one of the marks of a great rock band is when people get the lyrics wrong. We’ve heard people mistake a CCR lyric to be “there’s a bathroom on the right” or the Hendrix line “excuse me while I kiss this guy”. Now, it appears that “North Side Gal” has joined that ranks. The official line in the song is “old beat up guitars and old sleazy dives”. However, if you look online, several places have it as “old beat up guitars and old ZZ Top”. At first, I thought you were just giving a shout out to a great Texas band but then I realized those lyrics just didn’t make sense.
Oh my goodness. I haven’t heard that before. Well, I love ZZ Top. (laughs)
Speaking of “North Side Gal”, your music video for that really spread like crazy on YouTube. Did you have any idea it would cause that excitement?
That has been our greatest boon to everything. We had no idea. We just wanted to make a video. We just thought it would be a hoot to do it. We had no idea what was going to happen with that thing. It almost immediately got passed around to record labels and industry folks. You’d be surprised who we talked to. We talked to some major, major, MAJOR record labels. A lot of those folks did not get it at all what we were doing. They were excited but they didn’t know what to do with it. We knew that they were going to try to change things. We talked to a lot of labels that would have been cool but when Rounder stepped up we were just like “jackpot”! This is the perfect label to put this record out on. It has been the absolute best experience. Rounder is a safe haven for artists. They want you to make records you want to make. They are career builders. They consider bands to be a long term investment. They’re all music fans. All of them know music in and out. It’s been great working with those folks.
You have to tell me about the wallet on the snare drum as seen in the “North Side Gal” video. They had those big WFL drums. Alex (Hall) wanted to deaden that and it’s just his trick. That’s a lot of drummers that have that trick. Throw your leather wallet on the snare to deaden it a little bit to get a tighter sound.
Another thing he did was he didn’t have a sizzle ride so he put a bunch of keys on the ride to give it a sizzle. It’s a nice detail in the video that people want to know about.
There are 2 cover songs on the album but really fit in the groove of what you’re doing. First off, you have to love an artist named Big Tiny Kennedy. How did this song come about for you?
Well, I had been a fan of Ruth Brown’s “Mama He Treats Your Daughter Mean”. I love the beat in that. I wanted to rip that beat off someday with the tambourine. I heard Tiny Kennedy’s “Country Boy” that had the same beat. I thought, “Wow. Cool. This is a guy singing this one”. I liked the lyrics. There was a lot of space in it. There’s a lot you could do with it. You could strip a lot of stuff out of it and do something with it. I brought that to Jimmy and said I’d like to cover this one. We completely deconstructed that and redid it. I ended up not even using the same beat thing I wanted to do in the first place. I’m proud of that one. I really like the arrangement on that. I really like the space in the song. I think the bass and drums sound amazing. There’s some weird little hooks in that song.
You also cover “Your Love (All That I’m Missing)” by The BellFuries.
BellFuries is to me one of the best bands that ever was. They’re out of Austin, TX and made a record called Just Plain Lonesome and I wore that record out. The roots community, our scene where we came out of, just worshipped and revered these guys. Joey Simeone, the lead singer, is the first guy who really was a songwriter. It was like “ok, we’ve got a writer here!” He also was unafraid to show other kind of influences. On that first record you knew he liked The Smiths, The Ramones and Nick Lowe and he had all kinds
of influences but they were doing it as a hillbilly trio. They had the instrumentation of a hillbilly or rockabilly trio. That was my favorite song by them. I thought it would be really cool to “R&B” that song up a little bit and pay tribute to those guys because they were so good. Now, I don’t know if I’m supposed to let the cat out of the bag but I think they’re going to end up working with Jimmy (Sutton). Their new guitar player, Mike Molnar, should be on the cover of every guitar magazine in the world. He’s like a guitar hero. He’s a cross between James Burton and Johnny Marr of The Smiths. He’s got these really crazy techniques and a really musical guy. They’re fantastic. I just wanted to do a Bellfuries song because I worship them.
One of my favorite tracks from the album is “Fire Bug”. Aren’t you working on a video for that one?
Yeah, that’s what we’re working on. It’s been pulling teeth to get that done. There’s just no time to do it. We shot footage for it the day after we shot “North Side Gal”. That reminds me I have to call the editor (laughs).
In concert, you guys have been covering the Ike Turner track that had Jackie Brenston on vocals called “You’ve Got To Lose”. Where did you discover that one?
Well, it's just a classic track. I think Jimmy used to cover that in one of his old bands. He suggested it as a cover because we all knew it. That’s become a permanent marker in the set. It’s changing over time. It keeps getting longer and more drawn out (laughs). It’s a favorite one.
I found a video of you and Jimmy playing live on the BBC. One of the tracks you did was “Mystery Train”. You seemed to be channeling a bit of that Elvis, Scotty Moore, Bill Black vibe.
That was a weird circumstance. The first thing we did on the BBC was a morning show. They told me afterwards that it was 7 million listeners and I was just petrified. Originally, we were supposed to be the guests of Richard Hawley. He was in this alternative band in the 90’s called Pulp. He’s really huge over there. He still does alternative kind of music but he’s a huge rockabilly fan. He was supposed to be doing this morning show where he was going to DJ and play a bunch of rockabilly stuff. He asked us to be the guests because we were going to be over there. At the last minute it changed and he wasn’t there. They asked if we could do some songs with Huey Morgan from Fun Lovin Criminals. He lives over there now and has a show on BBC 6. We were like “yeah, what are we going to do?” They said to do something of yours and then something everyone in England would know. They suggested “Mystery Train”. We were like “Ok, but could we do a cross between the Elvis one and the Junior Parker one”. It worked out ok. I still wished I hadn’t been up for 17 hours and my voice was pretty run through the mill. But it was certainly a cool experience.
So I imagine you still have plenty of touring in the near future. What else is coming up?
Yeah, touring and we just recorded a single track for some B-side material coming out. We’re excited about having something new out in the world. There’s some radio and TV stuff that’s cooking that we’re looking forward to. Still just running on this record and looking forward to making a new one.
