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Posts Tagged ‘interview

26
Jan
13

* DeLuna Fest 2012: Day I. 09/21/12

By Take Cover and Shoot! Leave a Comment
Categories: Show Pics, Show Write-Ups and Uncategorized
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Hell, I’m easy to please. Just the sound of a guitar makes me happy. Put that sound on my hometown beach, I’m in Heaven.

Waves, sand and the sun confronting humanity’s greatest gift…rock n’ roll.

Not since Springfest have I felt Pensacola air saturated with this much music. I remember big concerts at the Civic Center and Bayfront, but the annual Springfest topped those by booking multiple big name acts for one weekend in Downtown Pensacola. 2005 was the last year of Springfest.

Outdoor festivals of that scale were officially dead in Pensacola until 2010.

Enter DeLuna Fest.

I’ve covered all three DeLuna events (links below) and while Springfest opened the door to what Pensacola could do with a music festival, DeLuna blew that door wide open.

Improving every year since the first one, DeLuna officials face a tough task if they want to top 2012′s music festival on Pensacola Beach because…

DeLuna Fest 2012 was the biggest music event in Pensacola history.

As I wrote in my music column for the Pensacola News Journal, “For three days in September, Pensacola was the center of the rock ‘n’ roll universe” and Pearl Jam, Foo Fighters, Jimmy Cliff, Joan Jett, Bob Mould and Bad Brains lead a lineup of top shelf acts and local talent for an event that surpassed any concert/festival ever held in Pensacola.

DeLuna Fest, Day One:

PEARL JAM: On a day that included Fishbone, Dwight Yoakam, The Gaslight Anthem, Guided by Voices, Chris Thomas King and local groups Deadly Fists of Kung Fu and Pioneers! O Pioneers!, the highlight concert came from the band that helped Seattle take over the world in the 90’s. The first and only time I’d ever witnessed Pearl Jam live was in 1994.

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-My interview with Chris Thomas King for GoPensacola.com

 

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-My interview with Deadly Fists of Kung Fu for GoPensacola.com

 

The group headlined the “Rock For Choice” concert at the Pensacola Civic Center following the 1993 fatal shooting of Dr. David Gunn by anti-abortionist Michael Griffin.

Eddie Vedder opened Pearl Jam’s Civic Center set with a solo acoustic cover of Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down” to start a set of songs from “Ten” and “Vs.” (the only albums Pearl Jam had released).

I was just as excited to see Pearl Jam at DeLuna as I was seeing them in 94.

Nearly 20 years after my only Pearl Jam concert, time and experience sounded damn good on the group. I never imagined the Peal Jam of my Civic Center memories becoming more intense, but they did.

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With numbers like “Do The Evolution” leading into “Porch”, the band drove us crazy for three hours. Pearl Jam was worth the 18 year wait as they performed what I thought would be THE concert of the festival.

Leaving Day One exhausted, I was confident that nothing else could top Pearl Jam’s concert at DeLuna Fest…

- Michael L. Smith

ADDITIONAL LINKS:

TCAS coverage of DeLuna Fest 2011 (Part III) Interview with The Constellations

TCAS coverage of DeLuna Fest 2011 (Part II) Interview with Stephen Perkins of Jane’s Addiction

TCAS coverage of DeLuna Fest 2011 (Part I) TCAS coverage of DeLuna Fest 2010 (Part II)

TCAS coverage of DeLuna Fest 2010 (Part I)

The biggest controversy of DeLuna Fest occurred on Day One of 2012′s festival and involved the festival’s VIP program.

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Here are two links addressing the VIP program and the events of the first night.

-Article from Pearl Jam fansite “The Porch” detailing their VIP DeLuna Fest experience

-Statement from Festival Organizers Regarding VIP

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26
Dec
12

* OTEP, Butcher Babies @ Vinyl Music Hall + INTERVIEW W/ OTEP SHAMAYA 09/02/12

By Take Cover and Shoot! Leave a Comment
Categories: Interview, Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
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“ It’s easy to feel like the victim instead of a survivor. If you’ve survived it, then that’s exactly what you are, a survivor.” – Otep Shamaya

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It is another step in the mission of Otep Shamaya, artist, activist and leader of OTEP. A mission characterized by impact more than goals.

You would be lost trying to describe OTEP; empowering, crushing, rap, protective, metal, healing. The person, the artist the band are drawn together symbiotically. The best way (I have found) to understand the music and message is to listen and feel.

One week before the OTEP, Butcher Babes, One Eyed Doll and Arcanium tour hit Vinyl Music Hall in September Otep Shamaya discussed her art, life, and more for my weekly music column in the Pensacola News Journal.

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Here is a link to the article “OTEP brings passionate metal to Vinyl Music Hall” and the full interview follows below.

Shamaya wants to inspire those who share her struggle.

MS: With the recording, touring, live shows, and activism, what is the most rewarding part about being Otep?

OS: Having the opportunity to be able to do all those things. My devotion to a work ethic that enables me to be able to do all of the different things that you mentioned. I don’t know…rewarding in the fact that I think that I’ve been able to, through music, find people that were like me before I released an album, before I ever became a performer.

OS:  I didn’t know a lot of people that felt the way that I did or thought the way that I did or had the same interests that I do. Through music, art, and activism, I’ve been able to connect to a very large nation of people that globally have the same intention.

MS: Did you always want to do music or art? Was that something from your childhood or did you develop that later on?

OS: Art, yes. I didn’t know that I was going to get into music until much later. The first thing that I discovered, well I don’t remember discovering it, because it happened well before I could speak, but my mother tells me that I was just obsessed with drawing and anything that made a mark or a color, I wanted my hands around it; I was drawing on the walls, on my shoes, on bills, on tables, on countertops, whatever I could.

MS: Some people are always told, “Being a jack of all trades” you’ve got to be one thing or the other, when did you realize that you could do it all?

OS: I’m not sure that I can. I’m just following my…I think it’s important to know at what point it’s important to aim those energies in which direction is the best way to say it because there are times I need to devote more of my energy to music and there’s time when I need to devote more of my energy to activism, but I don’t mind that it takes too much of my day. What else is there? It takes maybe one percent more energy to care about something than it is to ignore it.

MS: Does this all get overwhelming for you?

OS: Well, I mean sometimes, with everybody, you know, the world seems so unjust and it seems so unfair and sometimes unbelievable, for us right now with what’s going on with the conservative politician, Todd Aiken, who said that a woman’s body can shut down and illegitimate rape, unbelievable that a grown man of that age and position who has children and grandchildren I believe, doesn’t understand how human biology works that a woman’s body can basically abort a baby that is derived from rape. It’s just an unbelievable statement, but some people might believe that he’s just stupid or he’s just dumb, he misspoke, which is…that’s an obvious lie because you don’t misspeak about something like that, it’s because the eventuality of that, if you follow that logic that a woman can shut down, an illegitimate rape, means that if she was pregnant, then her body knew that the rape was legitimate and that she deserved it or that she wanted it and so there’s no need to have an abortion because basically the Republican Party is lying when abortion should be illegal accept in cases of rape or incest. Well now they’ve added on this requirement that, “Well the women’s body has to decide whether the rape was legitimate or not. And if it was legitimate, no abortion can be had because she got pregnant by it. It’s an unbelievable nonsense, but this is how propaganda spreads. The bigger the lie, I suppose or how preposterous it is, makes it more believable to some people.

MS: I was going to ask you about that, Senator Akin too, but you tackled it perfectly. When I heard his statement, I was just, “Wow. Unbelievable.”

OS: It has to be like, everybody, even if you are not…even if you’re conservative, or libertarian or even if you just don’t care about those kinds of things, you have to look at that guy and go…he’s a prime example of why we need to fund health and sciences and biology in schools and make it fun so that kids understand how our bodies, the things that we’re trapped in our entire lives work. It’s unbelievable, but this is a time like this if you need a…there’s no extra energy that needs to be gathered, it’s like someone walking up to you and “The sky is red.”

MS: I saw your last show at Vinyl and I was blown away by the empowerment, who or what inspired your activism and empowerment?

OS: I don’t know. I guess, I grew up really poor and I was surrounded by people that were born to money and they were born into privilege and they were not better than my family, they weren’t smarter than my family, they weren’t smarter than I was, they didn’t have the talents that my family had, that I had. But just because of the luck of their birth, they had more access to the world than we did. They had more access to health care, they didn’t have to sit 18 hours in a community hospital because it’s so underfunded that it’s understaffed and with volunteer doctors who just care about people. I knew that I was stronger physically than a lot of these people. And a lot of them were boys, so that was a lie that was tossed out of my mind that women are socialized to believe that we’re inferior and that we should, that we’re destined to be subservient to men, so I was stronger than they were, I could outrun them, I could outfight them, I could out lift them. Artistically, I was, it would come to me to have them draw pictures for their friends or their mother; they couldn’t do what I could do. Then growing up in this world of poverty and violence in the house, I didn’t want anybody else to grow up to feel the way that I felt, so I really put my mind to it that if I was ever in a position that I could help someone like me, I would and so I’ve dedicated myself to do that.

MS: I have a friend who grew up in an abusive family with his father and he said that hearing your music helps him.

OS: Music is universal, I don’t think that it’s genderized and I appreciate that I’m able to reach all people. I think that it’s important that people realize that this it’s a very common thing. It’s easy to feel like the victim instead of a survivor. If you’ve survived it, then that’s exactly what you are, a survivor.

MS: This tour, what can your diehard fans expect from this tour?

OS: They can expect what we always give them. A complete and total mutiny of the senses.

MS: What is the best advice you’ve ever been given?

OS: That’s a good question because I’ve been given a lot of good advice over the years. One of them is “Love myself first.” And that doesn’t mean to be self-centered or egotistic, it means that I deserve to love myself. Another piece of advice was, “Never give up.” And if I were passionate about something, “Go after it.” Life is so very short and there all the things people say, “It’s finite”, “Life is short, be happy” but true, we’re dead-I think Lewis C.K. said that “We’re dead a lot longer than we are alive.” One of my favorite periods of ancient history is the ancient dynasty of ancient Egypt and I can read all about the magnificence of that empire and the people, those wonderfully interesting people that lived during that time; complex and strange and barbaric and beautiful they were and an entire civilization devoted to art. Their language was art, there writing, their language was pictures. But all those people are dust, every single one of them and they’ve been dust a lot longer than they were alive, so I think it’s important that we don’t get to caught up in things that don’t truly matter and focus on being as happy as we can, while we can.

MS: Almost on that same page, what would Otep of today tell a younger Otep just starting out?

OS: Starting out in life or music?

MS: Wow. That’s a good question. I guess music.

OS: In music, I would tell myself to remember that art is art and music is music and the business of art and music is the business of art and music. And to remember that.

MS: What about life?

OS: Life, I would tell myself, I’d give myself a hug and I wouldn’t say anything, I would just listen to me. I really don’t get a lot of that. You don’t get a lot of people who listen to you. They give you advice, they’ll tell you what you should do or shouldn’t do. And so very few people actually listen to what you have to say. I would listen first. I would listen to what was going on with me and what I was feeling and I what I wanted to communicate and I think I’d probably discover my own answer.

MS: This is a crazy question. Do you prefer crunchy or creamy peanut butter?

OS: Neither. I prefer Nutella. Not many people know about Nutella. Its hazelnut, basically it’s like peanut butter, but it’s made out of hazelnuts and it tastes like chocolate and it’s incredible.

MS: I have some friends that eat it alone. Do you put it on bread or just eat it by itself?

OS: Yep. That’s right.

MS: Making me hungry.

OS: I know it, I know it.

MS: Last question. Is there anything you want the fans or the people coming out or the readers of this article to know before you come to Pensacola, Florida next week?

OS: I would just like to thank them for supporting the arts and supporting live music and they’ve made my life’s journey so very gratifying.

- Michael L. Smith

20
Sep
12

* 10 Years, Fair to Midland @ Vinyl Music Hall + INTERVIEW W/ LEWIS COSBY. 07/03/12

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Categories: Interview, Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
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10 Years bassist Lewis Cosby found himself in the same position as the artists he admired as a child. Touring the world and making amazing music, but also fighting for creative control against a major label.

As the band prepared for the release of their latest album “Minus the Machine” and their concert at Vinyl Music Hall, 10 Years founding member/bassist discussed the group’s newfound independence, the pressure of corporate labels, naked crowd surfing and more for my weekly music column in the Pensacola News Journal.

*** Lewis Cosby Interview***

MS: July 30th is the date, “Minus The Machine” is the album. What does this new album mean for the band and more importantly what does it mean for you?

LC: For us, it’s a rebirth of this band, back to the way it was when we were unsigned. We’ve started our own label and it’s been an uphill battle creativity wise for us for probably six, seven years. We got on a major label and there’s just a lot of cooks in the kitchen. And our deal with our structure, we had a higher percent of creative control, and we were able to write what we wanted to write, but at the end of the day, there was still a battle to get those songs actually on the record. We record 20 or so songs and only so many can make the album. And the label has a huge say in it. That’s a tough thing for us because we want to put songs on there that represent us. We want to put singles out there that represent us, but that just doesn’t happen. You can scream until you’re blue in the face, but ultimately, they either have a say in what goes on the album or the album doesn’t come out. It’s just been really frustrating for us for the past few years. We’re not one of the bands that likes to go in with the mentality that we have to write some hits. We’ve got to write some singles “quote, unquote”. We just want to make a great album. If a single happens, it happens, but we’re not going to force anything. There’s a lot of bands that do that these days. We finally are able to do what we want to do. And this whole record, man, top to bottom, from the first track to the twelfth track are, I’m so proud of. There’s nothing on there like-the records before have always been like “Oh God! I love…”There’s some songs that I’m so passionate about and then there’s other ones on there, that I just cringe when I hear. And there’s nothing like that on this album.

MS: I just listened to a copy of it and for example, my favorite track on that whole album is “Forever Fields” and it’s like, I love the heavy fast stuff, but that song right there, it’s like the piano intro, it just blows me away…

LC: It’s cool that we’re able to do that. There is nothing out-of-bounds on this album for us. We built a studio here at home in Knoxville, in (10 Years drummer) Brian Vodihn’s house so anytime when we’re feeling creative, we can go in there and record. It’s also one of those things where we had all the time in the world for a while to do this record. If we recorded drums and then started tracking the other stuff, and they were like, “you know, we just came up with a cooler part and it doesn’t fit with these drums, we got to re-record drums”, we can do that now, where in the past, we were not able to do that. You go in on a major label and you got a budget and you’ve got studio time, you’ve got a month to do it. So you go in and once you track something, you track drums first and once the drums are tracked, you can’t go back and change it. So, this time if we didn’t like something, cause after you’ve been able to hear it recorded and sit with it a little bit, sometimes you just kind of like, “Ah, you know, this doesn’t sound as cool as it could be” and this time we were able to go back in and change stuff. It’s really an exciting process.

MS: With all of the touring, the recording and performing, what is the most amazing part of this entire 10 years experience for you?

LC: Being able to travel the world and play music live. I think that when we started this band, it was really centered around the live show. That’s really all we wanted to do. The recording’s cool. Sure, you get to go in and record new songs that you’ve written, but that stuff gets old really fast. When you’re recording, you hear these songs a thousand times. By the time the records done, you’re pretty much over that. You’re already ready to do another one because you’ve already heard your song so many times. So the fun part for us as playing in a band is actually playing in the band part of playing these songs live. If anybody’s ever seen a 10 Years show, they know that we’re friggin’ looking like we jumped in pools by the end of the show because we get into. We really do love what we’re able to do for a living. For us, all we ever really wanted to do was tour and by getting signed and having a little bit of a backing enabled us to do that. That’s been the coolest part. It’s not been the radio success or selling records and stuff, it’s just been being able to get in front of people and watch our music transform people’s lives. It’s been cool.

MS: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at one of your concerts?

LC: Naked crowd surfer. And she was a female. And I can remember looking and going, “God, I hope she’s not a virgin because she’s not anymore.”

MS: What kind of music did you listen to growing up?

LC: The first albums that I remember getting; I had Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” on tape. My parents really listened to that kind of music a lot. I would hear some James Brown growing up. I don’t know, maybe that’s where I got my interest in stops and stuff like that. I listened to the first real tape that I got a hold of that changed my musical perspective and shaped it to where it is now is Guns N’ Roses’ “Appetite For Destruction”, Metallica “And Justice For All”, really loved all the Pantera stuff, I don’t think they ever did anything bad. And then Deftones’ first record, I really got into that whole scene; I’ve always admired the Deftones cause they’ve, I don’t think they ever put out a bad record. They’ve always maintained an artist’s integrity. None of their music sounds forced. Meaning, that it’s never sounded like it’s been forced to write stuff that they didn’t want to do. They’ve always made just really well-rounded cool records all-together. We’ve made an attempt at doing that, but it’s been tough. But I think we’ve done a better job dealing with the circumstance that we were under, we’ve done a pretty good job of trying to maintain our artists’ integrity.

MS: If you had a time capsule and you could only put one song or album in that time capsule for future generations to hear, what would you put in it to say, “Hey, guys! This is music.”

LC: Oh my God…that’s so tough, man. That’s hard for me to answer that right now because I’m just thinking about the stuff I’ve currently been listening to. I would have to say Led Zeppelin…either “Houses of the Holy” or “Led Zeppelin IV” I believe. I’d say definitely a Zeppelin record. They were one of those bands that combined rhythm and melody and hard rock and soft rock and all those things just absolutely perfectly. They just really nailed it for me. I don’t think any of their stuff has ever gotten old to me. They’re just one of those bands that…Jimmy Page is so good, Robert Plant is so good, I mean the drums, I think John Paul Jones is the most underrated bass player of all time. It’s like he is surrounded by so much talent, but if you listen to that guy, he played all of the piano stuff and all of the bass stuff. And who…they don’t have bands like that that are so well-rounded as far as talent goes anymore. I’d throw some Zeppelin in there.

MS: As far as this year, what else are you looking forward to in this 2012?

LC: I guess I am looking forward to…I’m really looking forward to seeing the reaction to this album. I don’t really necessarily think this record is easy to digest at first. It’s not something…I’ve heard it on the radio a couple of times like Backlash and it, being played next to a lot of the other stuff out there, it stands out like a sore thumb to me. I think that it’s either going to do really well, or it’s going to be really bad. I’m cool with that. I know that we’ve put ourselves out there on this one. A hundred thousand percent. Our management and stuff was even like that; they manage a lot of bands like Theory of a Deadman and Puddle of Mudd, bands that are pretty stock, stuff is pretty easy to digest and our manager is like, “Guys, I’ve listened to your record three times in a row, I freakin’ love it, but this is either going to work or this is going to tank.” And we told him, “You know, we’re cool with it.” The whole process of writing this as we were turning in songs to management and they were like, “Shit’s really cool, but we’re not hearing any definitive singles.” And we’re like, “You know what? That’s fine. You’re going to have to take what we gave you and you can throw it out there and it either work or it won’t, but there’s bands like System of a Down that put stuff out there that’s crazy weird and I think the reason that it stuck out like a sore thumb is cause it was an individual band amongst a lot of just stock normal shit. It stuck out in a good way. We could have released other songs off of it, there’s some other songs that were safer. And they were trying to get us to release the safer ones first and we’re just like “No. we’re not going to do it. We just don’t want to do it.” That’s why we started our own label so we can do what we want to do. It’ll be interesting to see how the public reacts to this.

MS: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

LC: The best advice I’ve ever been given in this music business is to stay true to yourself because if you don’t ultimately and especially if you fail, you’re going to always wonder, you’re going to go “God! If I hadn’t listened to everybody else’s input and tried to do what I thought everybody else liked, then maybe me being myself would have been that thing to take the band over the edge.” You know to write that song that I wanted to write rather than write that song that everybody else wanted me to write. Because that way, if you fail, you know that you were still true to yourself and you don’t have to live with knowing that you were being fake or whatever reason. So, yeah, I definitely agree with that you got to…in this business, the best advice was “Write great songs” ultimately. Just write a great song. It will unfold on its own. It’ll reach the people on its own. I definitely say “Staying true to ourselves was the best advice” and “Watch your finances”.

MS: Very true. Very true. This is a crazy question, but I’m going to ask it. Do you prefer, crunchy or creamy peanut butter?

LC: I used to always be into the creamy peanut butter, but now I’m more of a crunchy guy in my ripe old age. My palette is changing, I like a little texture these days.

MS: Last question. Is there anything you want the fans at Vinyl Music Hall to know?

LC: Just that, this is our first tour on this album and we’re just really fortunate to have such great fans that have stuck with us through all this. We’ve had our ups and downs but at the same time, even at our lowest points, where we’ve wanted to just give this up, we go and play shows and our fans are so passionate about this band, that when you get up there on stage and you play, whether it’s in front of a hundred people or a hundred thousand people, our fans, we can pick them out of a crowd. They give back to us like we give to them. We want to thank everybody for giving 100 percent every time we play. We notice it. We do a lot of festivals with a lot of bands that are mix-match and we play shows with like 3 Doors Down and you know in these big amphitheatres and all these people that don’t know who we are and probably don’t care who we are, you can always spot the 10 Years fans down in the front that are going ape shit and it motivates us. We really appreciate our fans.

MS: I thought that was my last question, but I just thought of something. This will be my first 10 Years show, I missed you guys the last time you came around. Of course the classics you guys have, but what about the stuff from the new album are you going to throw some of the new songs in there? In your set.

LC: Yes. Definitely. We played two songs off the record for the last little mini-run that we did, so yeah, we’re going to at least play two tracks. I know that people don’t have it yet, so sometimes it’s kind of difficult, you know, we have to teeter back and forth like, “Do we want to play a bunch of shit that people don’t know” but at the same time, people are itching to hear it. I don’t know, we’ll see. We might try the first couple of shows and play maybe more than two, maybe three or four. See how they go over, but as far as I’m concerned, I’d rather play the whole new record. I’m so tired of playing old shit.

- Michael L. Smith

27
Jun
12

* GWAR, Kylesa, Ghoul @ Vinyl Music Hall + INTERVIEW W/ DAVE BROCKIE AKA ODERUS URUNGUS. 04/16/2012

By Take Cover and Shoot! 1 Comment
Categories: Interview, Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
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“This is out of character. This is Dave Brockie speaking and the whole thing has been a f*cking nightmare. But the band and the fans have dealt with it in absolutely the way that sets the standard for the way things like this should be handled.” – Dave Brockie of GWAR

Brockie is the man. Oderus Urungus is the Lord of the Scumdogs. They both share the same brutally comedic heart that’s been tested by the extremes of humanity (Several highpoints and one devastating tragedy) within the last year.

One week before he delivered his metal monsters to Vinyl Music Hall, Brockie (and Oderus) discussed the loss of guitarist Cory Smoot (Flattus Maximus), stardom in a mortal world, the Washington Redskins, Words With Friends and some of the craziest sh*t you’ll ever read from a creature this side of the universe.

Here is a link to my column in the Pensacola News Journal previewing the GWAR concert at Vinyl Music Hall and the full interview follows below. (Warning: Brockie’s Interview contains extremely vivid, foul and funny language. You’ve been warned)

*** Dave Brockie Interview ***

The GWAR frontman was caught off-guard by my call. Very quietly and quickly, he promised to call back in 45 minutes.

Oderus: Yes, yes it’s Oderus, I told you I’d call you back. It’s been awhile, I got lost and wandering around the street, next thing, some cops were shooting at me and they had to die! So you’re calling from lovely Pensacola, Florida…eh! That’s a beautiful place. Florida is such a great state; I love the giant insects and huge dragons living in the swamps.

MS: We have a ton of them.

Oderus: One of the few places that have dragons in the world anymore. They don’t even have wings anymore! Now get on with your questions!

MS: Yes. I will. I just have a couple…actually more than a couple, but a few for you.

Oderus: A few, a couple…I don’t give a flying fuck! (laughs) I’m sorry. I’m a big story now. I was doing The Dan Patrick show, man. Big celebrity over here is going to forget all about the little guy.

MS: With the touring, recording and the entire history, what gets you off the most about the GWAR experience?

Oderus: Well, I have to say honestly, yesterday was one of the greatest experiences in my GWAR career; being on the Dan Patrick show. That was one of the biggest things. I know a lot of people are like, “Oderus, why do you care about human sports?” But for some stupid reason, I am drawn to the idiotic activities of the race I have created. It’s like dad having a retarded child, pretending that he doesn’t love it, but still he’s proud that it learns how to wipe his own ass. That’s kind of what I feel about the human race. And Dan Patrick, he’s a true showbiz professional. They knew full well that they had an intergalactic marauder from outer space who at the bat of an eyelash could trash the entire studio, but no, they just played me like the showbiz professional that I am and it worked out. It saved their lives, we had a great show and it was wonderful. In fact, it does seem that the entire Hollywood community, not that I would say that I’d ever want to put Dan Patrick in with that group, you know, because those people are disgusting, and he is an east coast person and I think that’s very important…speaking of the east coast, it’s the better of the two coasts. Also, another wonderful thing is my new TV show “Holliston”, which is coming out in two weeks, will be debuting on FEAR.NET. Oderus is showing up on Dan Patrick, Oderus is in a supporting role on some ridiculous sitcom on some cable station. How long is it before our own miniature putt putt course or perhaps a television show?

MS: With so much going on with you, do you ever get overwhelmed?

Oderus: Oh hell no! I’m Oderus. When it all gets too much for me and it’ just hitting too hard, I just take a double large fucking jumbo hit and that picks me right up. And at the end of the day after a long day of murder, rape, savage debauchery, burning of public institutions, hospital fires, I curl up in my coffin and get a good night’s sleep. Not sleep so much as just kind of laying there with the lid closed, masturbating furiously, but I have certain ways that I relieve myself of the tension involved with being the uber being that is Oderus Urungas.

MS: You mentioned Dan Patrick; I’ve got to ask you this. One of my buddies is a diehard Redskins fan and I have to ask you-2012, Dan Snyder, Shanahan, maybe Robert Griffin III (the interview took place before the 2012 rookie draft), what’s going to happen with the Redskins this year?

Oderus: It’s Shanahan’s last chance to make this fucking team work. Though, because maybe they got Griffin, they can get a few more years out of this job. The sickening thing about the Shanahan thing is that it all feels like a setup to get his kid a job as the head coach. He’s really phoning it in, he doesn’t give a fuck and he’s all about little Kyle. Sucked his own father’s dick to get a job on the fucking Washington Redskins. Sucked Dan Snyder’s dick too, as a matter of fact. In the parking lot of that bullshit stadium they built for their fans where you can buy season tickets and then get stuck in the section where you can only see half the field.

MS: The Pensacola show will be my first time seeing GWAR live and in the flesh. What should I and the rest of the diehard faithful expect on this tour?

Oderus: It is a tribute to our departed brother Flattus Maximus. But you can also expect some fucking heavy rock, there’s only one way that we can pay tribute to Flattus; the correct way, and that is extremely loud, serious, moltated, mutated…multated, I like that, that’s a new word. Multated! In fact, mutated and molten at once…moltated, I love it! Freakin’ I pretty much love everything I do though, so. I don’t know…what else was I talking about? Just pretty much prepare to die. We also have some great opening bands. We have Legacy of Disorder, all the way from New Zealand for some godforsaken reason. Then we’ve got Ghoul, graverobbers from the San Francisco Bay area, then we’ve got the mighty Kylesa, then of course, world ruling Gwar. You couldn’t have a fuckin’ better tour. Even if you guys are in for the Gwar show, you would have seen some really good bands that night. And I will also give you the advice of Susi D. Martini, “To survive a Gwar show, it’s simple. Just do what John McGinnley did in Platoon. Hide under the corpses of your dead friend.”

MS: Does Dave ever get jealous of Oderus and does Oderus ever get jealous of Dave?

Oderus: Oh, I beat the shit out of that…you know that guy, if only I could be in the same room as that guy for one fucking second, I would throttle the life out of him. This Dave Brockie character runs around saying that he’s somehow related to me, that’s he’s my personal butt boy. You know all he does for me… sometimes I let him pop my anal pimples. That is the only thing; he’s an anal pimple popper! That’s all he does. He’s not worth the mouthful of puss he sucked out of my pimple-popping. Fuck that Dave Brockie. Fuck him!

MS: What’s the craziest thing you’ve seen at one of your concerts?

Oderus: I would have to say that’s easy. We played in East Berlin not long after they brought the wall down, joining East and West Germany into one country and they thought it would be a great idea to have a heavy metal festival in East Berlin, to bring the city together and GWAR played. And right in the middle of the set, they began to rebuild the wall. Yeah, they were like, we don’t want this in our country. We’d rather be under Soviet rule than have this. Eventually, the metal heads and the punks beat the shit out of those people. It was like a gang of communist brick workers tried to rebuild the Berlin Wall right there in the middle of one of our shows, but the punk rockers beat the shit out of them. Now GWAR is enjoyed in 46 tenths of the world.

MS: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

Oderus: Never negotiate from a position of weakness. And what that means is, when you have got something you want, you’re never going to get it by telling somebody how pathetic you are. And people do that shit all of the time. “I really need, blah, blah, blah, I’ve got this wart on my goiter or I need to miss work because my mom died or my pet got hit by a truck and when I was trying to save it, the ambulance crew raped me and yah. I don’t care! Nobody wants to hear your shit. We don’t. Even if it’s true. Especially if it’s true. If you’re going to complain about your suffering, at least do us the courtesy of making up something pretty spectacular. Never negotiate from a position of weakness; always from a position of strength. Even if you feel weak, pretend you are strong.

MS: What words of wisdom would you give to someone who wants to be where you are?

Oderus: Well, I would enter one advice is that, “It can’t be done.” Nobody else will ever come close to what we’ve accomplished and no one would really want to travel this road if they knew how perilous and dangerous it really was. If you want to be in a band, a successful band, make sure you get a good drummer and find people you don’t hate too much to work with. That would be my piece of advice. So many people, they get people in bands…it’s actually more important how well you get along with the people than it is, how well you play with them. That’ll come later! But if you’re in a band with people you hate…it might take you three or four years before you figure that out, then it will be too late for you. It’s really, really sad. Bands do not have a very long shelf life. They’re not like GWAR, we’re immortal, we can get old and fat and gross and covered in zits and people will still love us. You guys have about 20, 30 years to be in a band. If you waste all that time with an idiotic drummer, then you’re fucked. So find people you enjoy playing with and work your fucking ass off. And then maybe, just maybe you’ll catch a break at some point, though I sincerely doubt it.

MS: Do you prefer crunchy or creamy peanut butter?

DB: Oh crunchy, completely.

MS: Why so?

DB: I like crunchy things. I don’t eat a lot of peanut butter but if I did, I would want crunchy things in it like some iron and bones. I think it would remind more of biting into a human torso and throw in the ribcage, there is a lot of crunching going on. I like that. I like a lot of different textures in my food; everything from slimy to square. Is square a texture? I don’t think so. Anyway, I would like to mention that I’ve been getting my ass kicked at “Words with Friends” a lot lately and I really don’t like it.

MS: I didn’t know you played Words With Friends.

DB: And you’d think I, Lord of Earth, Master of Language, wordsmith unparalleled, fucking GWAR fans are beating me on “Words with Friends”. You know what? I let em’ do it. I do it on purpose. What is it to me to lose at “Words with Friends”? It’s a big thing for them to beat me. I do it on purpose. That’s my story and I’m sticking with it.

MS: But you would own Charlie Sheen and Alec Baldwin. They wouldn’t have a chance against you. You’d own them.

DB: They would not have one fucking chance and if they did, I would stab them in the eye.

MS: How can fans help out with the Smoot family fund? The fundraiser you’ve been working on.

DB: Go to the Facebook page of Smoot Family Fund and there’s a link there to the donation page and just keep up with the page. Cory Smoot was a cherished member of the GWAR family and we have pledged to support and do everything we can for his family in his passing. And actually the fans have stepped up in a way I’ve never seen with any band ever. And honestly, I’m not blowing my own horn here, but I’ve never seen a band deal with the loss of a member like that in such a fucking awesome way. We love him very much. He was our brother, he was our friend and he was Jaime’s husband and little Corie’s Dad. You know he was a member of our family and he gave everything to GWAR and we will never forget him and we will never forsake him and we’ll spend the rest of our lives doing everything we can for his family and I just have to say thank you to all the freaks out there in the GWAR nation that have made this whole effort such an amazing, fucking success. The only complaint that I have about the whole thing is apparently now, it has been revealed that GWAR has feelings! I know, it’s a big disappointment for many. And I know Flattus left Earth and everything, we’re supposed to do all these nice things for the Smoot family, but GWAR…and you know and, we’re like “Fuck you!” We do have feelings, goddammit, if only for our slum…alright I’m saying too much about it…all I’m saying is that you guys have been awesome, the fans…this is out of character. This is Dave Brockie speaking and the whole thing has been a fucking nightmare. But the band and the fans have dealt with it in absolutely the way that sets the standard for the way things like this should be handled. We have set the standard of how it should be done when you, unfortunately lose someone in a situation like that. I think that’s the way you handle it. I’ve seen a lot of bands lose guys and I know it’s the worst situation in the world and somehow you have to get through it and you just have to keep remembering the people out there that love you and they love your music and you have to draw on the strength of your fans to get you through it. And the fact that it happened during the middle of a tour, that made it just so much more horrible, then at the same time, I think it made it, in a way, easier for us to deal with, because we were right in the middle of a tour and we were able to communicate with the fans every single night. Every single show became a tribute to him and that’s what we’re doing with the rest of this tour. We’re still playing as a four piece. We’re not in any hurry to add any new guitar players, so we do appreciate all the audition tapes we’ve been getting. Or more like Youtube files we’ve been getting. We’re going to finish up this tour and we’ve already started working on new song for the new record and then we’re going to get back in the studio and we’re going to take just as long as it takes for us to do our new album. I don’t know how long that’ll be, but when we do get it done, it has to be…I mean Flattus took us to a whole new standard. He really, almost single-handedly at times saved GWAR from the musical scrapheap that we were kind of designating ourselves to. I’m a big fan of satirical, goofball comedy rock, but when Flattus realized that GWAR was kind of losing its metal balls, he led the charge to reclaim them and now that we have gotten them back, we will never lose them again, but we’ve got to do it without Flattus now. So that means we’re going to have to work a little bit harder. No worries! We’re GWAR. We never fail.

MS: Is there anything you want to add for the Pensacola GWAR fans that will be out there in April?

OU: I want to say that we are looking forward to getting to your stinking hot, miserably humid, filth-ridden, nubile alligator wenches and swamp juice or whatever the hell is going on down there. We love playing Florida. It’s got a great tradition for metal and we’re going to get down there and kick your fucking asses for you.

MS: Hell Yes!

- Michael L. Smith

Link to an additional photo gallery of the concert by the PNJ crew

25
May
12

* The Revivalists, Timberhawk @ Vinyl Music Hall. “City of Sound” CD Release Show + INTERVIEW W/ DAVID SHAW. 03/23/2012

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Months before they performed at the 2012 Hangout Music Fest by winning the national Hang Loose Band Competition, The Revivalists made a return visit to Pensacola, Florida.

Celebrating the release of their latest album “City of Sound”, Vinyl Music Hall was the location for the New Orleans’ based band’s CD release party.

While on the road and fighting illness, Revivalists frontman, David Shaw took a few minutes for a phone interview to catch up on the new album and the year ahead for the Pensacola News Journal’s “Music Matters” column.

Here is a link to that article where Shaw talks about the new album and the Pensacola fan who demands that he “Take it off!” at every show. The entire interview follows below.

*** David Shaw Interview ***

DS: Getting over a really bad flu. We all kind of got it. So yeah, I’ve been better health wise. We all seem to be hanging in there. We’re heading to Austin for South by Southwest.

MS: You’ve got the new CD, SXSW and the Jazz & Heritage Festival around the corners, how do you keep it all together?

DS: (laughs) Try to not eat a ton of gas station food, which I regularly do. Try to just eat as healthy as you can. Some do better than others on that one for sure. We’ve kind of gotten used to it, honestly. When you stop moving, you grow old and we haven’t really stopped moving for three years. Kind of stay young in that respect. We’re seasoned road dogs, I guess you could say. That’s what we do, stay on the road. Keep rolling.

MS: What does the new CD City of Sound mean for you and the band? What does it mean for you as an artist?

DS: It was our third. We enlisted producer Ben Ellman (saxophonist for Galactic and producer of Trombone Shorty) to produce the album. That was an awesome thing. We solidified a great friendship with their band and with Ben as well. He was great in the studio. Kind of a mentor as well as a producer to us. It was good, man. It was really good. We really tried to capture a lot of the live energy as well as utilize the stuff in the studio that you can’t do live. So I think we got a pretty good mix of that.

MS: Any chance for like a full length live album.

DS: For sure. We actually already put one out two years ago. You can get it off of our Reverbnation site and bandcamp.com/revivalists.

MS: With the CD release party next week at Vinyl Music Hall, What are some of your best memories of Pensacola, Florida?

DS: Some of the best memories of Pensacola. I think basically, probably for all of us is going to be playing at Bamboo Willies. That was an amazing year. We played their once a month. One of the best things was for me in between sets, sometimes we’d play a day set on a Sunday…we’d do it a couple of times, not very often…in between sets you could just go and run into the ocean. Cool off, you know it’s a hundred degrees up on that stage when the lights go on. That was awesome that was really cool. The people in there, the people in Pensacola have really took us in, it’s great. It was amazing.

MS: Last question. Is there anything you want to add or let the Pensacola fans know about next week and the CD release party or whatever you want us to know.

DS: I just wanted to add basically, that we’re very happy to be coming back. The last show, you could just feel it. Like an electric energy. You couldn’t beat it. It was amazing. And we’re definitely going to bring the same kind of fire that we brought last time. And always expect the unexpected. We’re going to be playing some new stuff. We’re always constantly writing songs. We got enough material now for probably another two albums already. We’re going to be-maybe we’ll have a new cover-I don’t know. We’ll see.

MS: When do you find time to rehearse the new stuff and incorporate it into the show?

DS: Sometimes it happens in soundcheck. We’ll play a little bit and we’ll get a new song out of that. We definitely have to find time these days. We have to make time to rehearse, that’s for sure. I’m always writing songs on my own. Andrew our drummer is always writing songs on his own. Jack’s always writing songs on his own. Everybody’s always writing stuff. When we make time, we bring it all together.

- Michael L. Smith

Link to an additional photo gallery by the PNJ crew

10
May
12

* Of Montreal, Roman Gianarthur, Kishi Bashi @ Alabama Music Box + INTERVIEW W/ KEVIN BARNES. 03/09/2012

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Of Montreal’s latest album, “Paralytic Stalks” departs from the dance-groove creations of the group’s resent past. Instead of recreating an album of rearview mirror sound, frontman Kevin Barnes directs listeners down darker streets of introspection.

For a man who’s most confessional work to date was only weeks away from public unveiling, Barnes was very calm and quite relaxed. Even with the kickoff of their latest tour (featuring Of Montreal member Kishi Bashi and Atlanta-based musician, Roman Gianarthur) days away, Barnes showed no signs of pressure during our discussion of the new album/tour, his favorite plays and more for Take Cover and Shoot.

*** Kevin Barnes Interview ***

TCAS: You’ve got the new album coming out Feb. 7th. What gets you off the most about the Of Montreal experience? Is it the songwriting, the live performances…

KB: They’re different things to me. A lot of the recording processes is done by me alone. I’m just working on things by myself. It’s a more isolating experience in a way. I’m just working alone, piecing things together. But the live performances are communal and more collaborative and I like them both for different reasons, but performing it live is a great challenge and I probably get more fulfillment because I’m working with my friends and working on something as a group.

TCAS: They’re almost opposed to each other. You mentioned performances. I saw you last year in Mobile. Your shows and theatre go hand-in-hand. With the new album out, can you give us insight on what the audience can expect on this tour?

KB: Yeah, well we’re doing now is shying away from the Dada comedy aspect of the previous tours and focusing more on a visual spectacle. It’s going to be like a sensory overload at times, but there’s going to be…(long pause) Hello?

TCAS: You still there, Kevin? I think the phone cut out or something.

KB: Oh, ok.

TCAS: You said more of a “sensory overload.”

KB: Yeah, I was talking about the stage production is going to be visually, really intense and psychedelic. Really powerful. We’ve been working on getting content for it. The stage itself is going to be one giant, projectable space. And we’re going to have all of these areas all over the wall where we’re going to be projecting animation and just really wild lighting schemes. It’s all going to be scripted out to the music. Accompanying the music in a powerful way. We’re very excited about it.

TCAS: Do you direct the live performance. I’m visualizing theatre here. I was curious as to how you come about with these elaborate shows?

KB: It’s definitely a collaboration between all of the people in the band and David, my brother and my wife Nina and Nick Gould who does a video.

TCAS: What’s the craziest thing that’s ever happened to you on stage?

KB: One time I rode a horse on stage and that was probably the most interesting thing I’ve done on stage.

TCAS: What is your favorite play?

KB: Well, there are plays that I’ve read that I’ve never seen performed. I like “Caligula” by Camille a lot (laughs). “No Exit” by Sartre I like. “Rhinoceros” by Ionesco and of course “Waiting for Godot” by Beckett but I haven’t really seen any plays actually performed. I’ve only seen musicals like “My Fair Lady”, “Music Man”, things like that.

TCAS: If Broadway called and knocked on your door and said, “Kevin, we want you to be in a production of “Waiting for Godot” with maybe Steve Martin, would you say, “I’m there.”?

KB: With Steve Martin?

TCAS: Yes.

KB: Yeah, I would definitely do that. That would be really funny and weird. I mean to be like an actor?

TCAS: Yes. For just a run. Maybe just a year of Broadway. Just any play you wanted to do.

KB: Yeah. Definitely, that would be really cool. It would be an interesting challenge.

TCAS: If you could only listen to five albums for the rest of your life, what would they be?

KB: Probably, Beach Boys “Smile”, The first two O-Shen records, John Lennon’s “Plastic Ono Band”, and…maybe the first Velvet Underground record.

TCAS: Best advice you’ve ever been given?

KB: Slight pause…I guess maybe, “Free your mind and your ass will follow.”

TCAS: What advice would you give for someone who wants to be where you are?

KB: You have to really love the process of creating. For us and for me, the reason that I keep doing it is because I get so much fulfillment out of it and if I didn’t, I wouldn’t do it anymore. I don’t think that, as far as, finding an audience, you just have to do what you feel naturally driven to do and follow a sort of organic spirit and just hope that other people can connect with you and identify with you.

TCAS: I love that. From “Your ass will follow”, to “The people will follow.”

KB: Yeah. (laughs)

TCAS: Last question. The grand finale’. Do you prefer crunchy or creamy peanut butter?

KB: Crunchy.

TCAS: Any reason why in particular?

KB: I like a little crunch.

- Michael L. Smith

01
May
12

* The Constellations, Timberhawk @ Vinyl Music Hall. + INTERVIEW W/ WES HOFFMAN. 02/24/2012

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On a night that featured frontman, Elijah Jones sharing stories of his arrest in Philadelphia and the women who inspired his music, The Constellations paid another visit to Vinyl Music Hall and the city that has adopted the Atlanta group as family.

Local favorites, Timberhawk were finishing their set as I walked into Vinyl Music Hall. In short time, The Constellations took the stage. Having played DeLuna Fest and countless shows in Pensacola, Vinyl Music Hall has been the group’s most visited venue.

Just over a week before the concert, bassist Wes Hoffman shared a few minutes during a phone interview for an article in the Pensacola News Journal.

What resulted was a candid discussion on the Grammys, opening for Snoop Dogg and more.

*** Full Interview with Wes Hoffman of The Constellations ***

MS: Happy Valentines Day.

WH: Thanks. Great. National Condom Day.

MS: What’s the best Valentines Day you’ve ever had?

WH: We’re in Charleston, South Carolina today so that’s not too bad. Last year, we were in Greeneville, North Carolina. That kind of sucked. You know, I don’t really believe in celebrating Valentine’s Day, I think it’s kind of a bullsh*t holiday. Me and my girlfriend are like, “whatever”. People ask me, “Did you send her flowers?” and I’m like “F*ck no!” (laughs) She doesn’t need that. But to answer your question, “I don’t know.” But maybe last year, because it was my first year with my actual girlfriend that I’m still with.

MS: The last time I saw you was at Deluna Fest. A lot of things have happened since then. Warped Tour, you’re going to be on Warped Tour this year.

WH: We’re really excited about that. Yeah. Warped Tour is a much different market. A much different audience than what we’ve ever played in front of before. Obviously a huge market, you know they’re trying to rebrand it right now, which is how we kind of got our foot in the door. To where it’s not just strictly punk rock bands anymore like when it first started off. We’re stoked to be a part of that and help push the limits of the kind of music that they have for that festival.

MS: I went to the one in Atlanta last year and it was mostly metal and postcore.

WH: Yeah. I mean we’ll definitely stick out like a sore thumb. That’s for sure. (laughs)

MS: Speaking of crazy things. I saw your twitter page… “solo knife fights with Trevor.” “Girls making out in the green room.”

WH: All in a day’s work.

MS: What’s the craziest thing you’ve ever seen or done at one of your concerts?

WH: There was one show that we played, we had the luxury and honor of opening up for Snoop Dogg one of our first tours back in 2010. And we played a show in Cleveland, Ohio and DJ Ice who is Bone Thugs N’ Harmony’s DJ. He owns a strip club up there and a bunch of girls got up on stage. That was kind of interesting. We played a lot of shows that year so I’m sure there’s other stuff if you dig a little bit deeper.

MS: What did you think about the Grammys?

WH: We had them on in the green room when we were in Jacksonville the other night. I think it’s cool that our bud Graham Marsh (producer and engineer) won a couple awards for his work with Cee-Lo. I don’t really understand the Grammys to be honest with you because on one hand, it’s just a popularity contest and then they try and like correct themselves by giving awards to keeping their indie cred by throwing an award…like last year it was Arcade Fire and this year it was Bon Iver. And I’m fans of both of those artists, but I don’t think the Grammys hold that much weight to be honest with you. My favorite part of it was Dave Grohl’s (Foo Fighter’s frontman) speech. His acceptance speech, I thought that was pretty spot on, what he said. I guess, pay attention to it and give it a little bit of credit, but I don’t think it really means that much to me or any of us.

MS: You’re playing Pensacola again, what can the diehard Constellations fans expect on this leg of the tour?

WH: New songs. We’ve got a bunch of new songs. We recorded a brand new full-length record, pretty much, we went in the studio right after DeLuna in mid October and spent a month recording and came out with 11 brand new tracks and we might end up doing one more but we’re not sure what’s up with that. Freshening up the set, so we’re excited to play and give our people down there some new material and songs.

MS: How soon will this album drop?

WH: It’s hard to say. We don’t have a date quite yet. We’re kind of going back and forth with a couple of labels. It’s really too soon to make any judgments on that. Hopefully, sooner than later. We’re shooting for the beginning of summer, before the Warped Tour so we can kind of have that under our belt before Warped.

MS: I asked you guys this last time at Deluna Fest and I want to ask you again. Is there any chance of a tour or collaboration with Andrew W.K?

WH: (laughs) That would be Jamie’s wet dream. I think it would be cool. He’s touring on his 10th anniversary of “I Get Wet” right now. Which is pretty awesome. We actually share the same management so anything is possible. I actually think it would be a lot of fun. His show is super high energy and super positive vibe.

MS: Now, you’re still rocking the fro?

WH: Absolutely!

- Michael L. Smith

Link to an additional photo gallery of the concert by the PNJ crew

16
Apr
12

* Colour Revolt @ The Handlebar + INTERVIEW W/ JESSE COPPENBARGER AND SEAN KIRKPATRICK. 02/11/2012

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“They’re an incredible underground indie-rock band, and they play to the point of being dangerous to their own lives.” – Jonathan Parish. Concert promoter for Glory Days*

Describing one of his favorite concerts, in the city where he was born, Jonathan Parish defined what makes Colour Revolt concerts so memorable.

Their set, on this night, in this town, was no different. Playing for another house full of fans, Colour Revolt finished with Simon & Garfunkel’s “Sound of Silence” as their encore.

One week before the Oxford, Mississippi band returned to the city where they have played every venue from The Handlebar, to Vinyl Music Hall and to the beaches of DeLuna Fest, Jesse Coppenbarger (vocals, guitar, keyboard) and Sean Kirkpatrick (vocals, guitar, keyboard) answered a few questions about their music, favorite albums, advice for aspiring musicians and loincloth wearing cowbell players.

The interview was conducted for an article in the Pensacola News Journal’s weekly Music Matters column. The Handlebar’s History Gets Another Splash of Colour 02/20/2012 PNJ article.

The full interview follows below.

*** COLOUR REVOLT INTERVIEW***

MS: What is the story behind the vinyl release on Feb. 7th?
Kirkpatrick: The vinyl re-release of our first EP was totally inspired by our fans. Most of them came to know us through our EP and it felt right to do this release for the one’s that have followed us from the beginning. Many people have an emotional attachment to the EP, including the band. What better way to bring in 2012 than with the re-release of what started our career!

MS: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever seen at one of your shows?
Kirkpatrick: I’m glad to report that nothing too crazy has ever happened at one of our shows, but I do seem to recall our friend Jimmy Cajoleas playing a cow bell in what was basically a loin cloth. While this was going on our friend Len Clark was eating a full watermelon on stage. I would like to say all of our shows ended like this but it’s only once in a full moon that these things happen.

MS: What keeps you going?
Coppenbarger: A lot of our friends, fans and family have been really great to us over the years and have asked us to keep going, and that they really love the music. That’s probably been the best inspiration in continuing writing and touring.

MS: What advice would you give to aspiring artists?
Coppenbarger: Do what makes you happy. If you’re passionate about something your life forms around that and the difficulties become more manageable.

MS: What are your Top Five Favorite Albums?
Coppenbarger: In no order, these are just my must haves, “Dark Night of the Soul” David Lynch/Mark Linkous/Dangermouse,”Kid A” Radiohead, Bob Dylan and The Band “Before the Flood”, “Old Ramon” Red House Painters and probably “On the Beach” by Neil young.

- Michael L. Smith

*Jonathan Parish quote. (Pensacola News Journal. Music Matters column. December 23, 2011)

22
Mar
12

* Grayson Capps @ Vinyl Music Hall + INTERVIEW W/ GRAYSON CAPPS. 01/28/12

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“It’s what I like about music. It doesn’t even exist. It can go through space and time. You can’t grab it. A live performance of songs is different every time. A song can be the same, but then the time and space when it’s performed, is different. And I hope to be growing and becoming more able to command time and space.” – Grayson Capps

The Twitter invitation from Vinyl Music Hall to Grayson Capps followers read “Tonight at Vinyl Music Hall! Come out for a night of southern soul, roadhouse blues and country stomp!” Grayson Capps honored the promise.

Days prior to his concert, the Alabama born artist and I talked about his life, his art, the birth of his children, his favorite album, his leg-raising concert at Pirates Cove and more…

*** Grayson Capps Interview ***

MS: I’m looking forward to your performance this Saturday (January 28th of 2012)in Pensacola, What are you looking forward to in 2012?

GC: To see if the world is going to end toward the end of the year. To see what the whole Myan thing was about (breaks out into a laugh that gets me laughing almost as hard)

MS: Being the son of a Ronald Everett Capps, going off to Tulane for theatre…art seems to have been around you all of your life, what made you decide the path of songwriting and music?

GS: It was fun. I like writing, but at the same time I studied theatre too, so writing and performing tied together just really appealed to me. I feel that music is the highest form of communication because it uses words and then sometimes words don’t express other things and music takes over at that point. So I think it’s the highest form of expression that I can do, so that’s why I do.

MS: For you as an artist, as far as songwriting, how much did theatre play a part in that or…versus your life. Storytelling I guess. How much of your songwriting is influenced by your life vs. theatre. How do you put it all together?

GC: I guess it’s just the sum of where I’m at when I write the song, including everything I’ve done up until that point, everything I’ve witnessed. So yeah, it would be my whole life involved. But then as I get older, then I change, grow or digress, go whatever. Everything in my whole life leads up to whatever song I’d written. I can’t help but do that, I guess.

MS: You’ve seen a lot, you’ve been through a lot, with all of your experience, what would Grayson Capps of today tell a younger Grayson Capps? (This question was inspired by journalist/author Neil Strauss who used the question oftern in interviews.)

GC: (pauses) Just keep going. (low, but hearty laugh) Just keep going. It’ll change, it’ll grow.

MS: Was it ever scary for you? Was there ever a moment where you were like, “Man, I want to do something else.” Did you ever have that kind of feeling?

GC: No. I kind of came to music a little bit different, where I haven’t been making a living at music my whole life. I did landscaping, we had a crew, kind of went in and out of different bands, touring but then I’d come back and that gave me the freedom to write what I felt, more than trying to write songs and learn songs strictly to make a living.

For me, Friday and Saturday playing was an outlet that came to a point where music took over and I’m still doing what I feel like doing, trying to get better to but, I came into music always wanting to do this. To be at this point where I’m at and keep it going.

MS: The writing process, does it come out of you or do you have to fight to do it, the way you write? Is it…

GC: No, hell. The only thing I ever fight for is a space to sit and let stuff flow through. I don’t have a problem writing songs, it’s just having the time because I have kids and touring and building a house this year. Been working on the house for seven months. Stuff like that will get in the way, it’s not out of a lack of inspiration.

MS: How do you juggle it all; family, touring, writing? Do you ever get overwhelmed?

GC: Oh yeah! I think everybody does if you have kids. Everybody gets overwhelmed. That’s part of writing too, I use it sometimes as an outlet to get myself out of the dark spot. It’s just always my salvation.

MS: Your shows are pretty legendary, what is the craziest thing you’ve ever seen at one of your shows?

GC: Well, first time we played Pirate’s Cove it was a cold weather night and we were inside this place, a bunch of crazy people inside and it was just rockin’, just cookin’! It was steaming in there and the next thing I know, this guy pulls his leg off and waving his leg in the air. I guess it’s not that wild but you know, it first threw me back, there’s a guy…he just took his leg off and (mimicks the guy) “Woo!” I’ve seen all kinds of naked people and that kind of stuff. I think that was the one that was my favorite weird thing.

MS: That really is a standing ovation.

GS:Yeah! Guy took his leg off.

MS: What is the craziest thing you’ve ever seen in life?

GC: Wow. (pause) Probably seeing both of my kids being squirted out into the world. Popping out of a woman’s body.

MS: Did you pass out. Where you overwhelmed?

GC: No. It was probably the most profound thing I ever witnessed. I’ve seen lots of weird things, but yeah…wow.

MS: Of this list of artists, who moves you the most…Hank Williams, Tennessee Williams, William Shakespeare, Woody Guthrie, Chuck Berry, Tom Waits, Sam Shepherd or Grayson Capps.

GC: Well it would be Grayson Capps definitely. That has to be the case or otherwise, I’d be living the life of imitation. Second to me, I get a lot of inspiration from Woody Guthrie. That list is an incredible list of all huge influences in my life. But Woddy Guthrie, as far as what I’m doing and remaining simple and true. I have to figure out what I am and what’s true to me first and foremost.

MS: That truth, does it stay constant for you? Does it change?

GC: Of course it changes. Yeah. What do you mean? Staying true to yourself?

MS: Truth in your art and what you’re expressing.

GC: It’s elusive. It’s what I like about music. It doesn’t even exist. It can go by through space and time. You can’t grab it. A live performance of songs is different every time. A song can be the same, but then the time and space when it’s performed is different and I hope to be growing and becoming more able to command time and space. (chuckles) But you can’t pretend to do it.

MS: Thank you. That’s a beautiful answer. There’s a quote by Picasso about “Art is a lie, that reveals truth.” I’m paraphrasing, it’s weird.

GC: Nature is truth, art is an expression which you hope…usually becomes at its most powerful…when…you get it. (chuckles) just because you’re painting something that’s just complete bullshit too and just perpetuates bullshit. It doesn’t help anybody. It might be a picture of a titty or something. “That’s beautiful.” Can you put Andy Warhol up to Rembrandt? Who is more talented? Rembrandt I think.

MS: Who has been the biggest influence on your life?

GC: My father.

MS: Modern storytellers.

GC: On the indie circuit, it’s pretty good. I played a show with Malcom Holcombe the other day. He’s quite a character. Todd Snider is a great storyteller, almost more than a musician. There’s a lot of people who were raised on Tom T. Hall, John Prine out and playing today.

MS: What is the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?

GC: In theatre, when you are performing, if you are true to yourself and true to your story, you tell the truth. People might not get your specific truth, but they will get a truth that rings true for themselves. Don’t expect people to get your truth, but be truthful because it radiates. Life repeats itself. Simply, if you tell the truth, people might not get your truth, but they get a truth and that’s helpful for the universe.

MS: Just hearing you say that, I think of the Shakespeare quote from “Troilus and Cressida” and Troilus says “What truth can speak truest not truer than Troilus?” and you just, “What truth can speak truest not truer than Grayson?”

GC: Yeah, it’s the same thing. Just a lot of people have to keep saying it to remind themselves what you already know (chuckles).

MS: What advice would you give to an artists who wants to be where you are?

GC: The advice I’ve given to my younger son, “Keep goin’” (chuckles). Just do! “Act and don’t react.” That’s what I would say.

MS: What is your favorite album of all time?

GC: It would probably be Leon Russell’s “Carney”. Yeah. That was when he was on top of the world in 1972 and it was just a magical record. Short and sweet, great.

MS: Last question; this is kind of a crazy one. What do you prefer, Crunchy or Creamy Peanut Butter?

GC: (Hearty Grayson Capps laugh) Neither one. I prefer crunchy sun butter, sunflower butter. That’s not fair, is it? (chuckles)

MS: No, no, no. Whatever you want. However you want, peanut butter or not. I’ve never had it… how does it taste?

GC: Yeah, Sunbutter. You can get it…it’s so good, man. Got a lot more stuff in it that’s good…

MS: You’re making me hungry.

GC: Yeah, man. Get some Sunbutter. Some honey (chuckles) definitely crunchy.

- Michael L. Smith

13
Mar
12

* Chris Thomas King, Hollowman/Badwater @ Vinyl Music Hall + INTERVIEW W/ CHRIS THOMAS KING. 01/21/12

By Take Cover and Shoot! Leave a Comment
Categories: Interview, Show Pics and Show Write-Ups
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“Some people want to be a star…Some people want to be bling-bling rich and have all the hip-hop type of luxuries, but if you want to make a living from your art…, make sure that you’re in love with it, make sure that you and your music are soul mates…It’s good advice to tell people to have something to fall back on, like go to college and get your degree…but getting a degree is not going to get you booked at the local club. They’re not going to ask for your papers.” - Chris Thomas King

Papers and degrees burn by the roadside when Chris Thomas King is on stage. His education has been a lifelong journey that has rewarded him accolades befitting (for lack of a better word) a King.

Joining King at Vinyl Music Hall for this stretch of road were Hollowman/Badwater. In a year that produced new songs and performances from Betsy Badwater and Lang Hollowman, the duo also experienced the passing of friend and bassist Joey Harrison. Harrison died soon after being diagnosed with stage four terminal bone and lung cancer. With dedications to Harrison and their friends and family in attendance, Badwater and Hollowman gave their hearts to the crowd circled around them.

One week before the concert, I interviewed King for a brief article in the Pensacola News Journal. Revealing his renewed passion to music and performing, King takes challenge with himself and creating new music, while rarely looking back on his achievements. Artists with such determination must have a hellhound on their trail.

Link to the Chris Thomas King article appearing in the January 20th, 2012 edition of the Pensacola News Journal “Music Matters”

…the full interview follows below.

*** Chris Thomas King Interview ***

MS: This will be the third time that I’ve seen you perform at Vinyl Music Hall in Pensacola, Florida and every time I’ve seen you play, you’ve blown me away. But what I want to know is-what gets you off the most about performing live?

CTK: I’ve rededicated myself to live performing over the last two and a half to three years and before that, spending most of my time on movie sets and meetings and doing the Hollywood actor thing. Which was a lot of fun and very enjoyable, but I think the essence of my talent or the essence of what I think I am is a musician. So I really wanted to get back and solely focus on touring with my band and over the last couple of years I’ve been doing it. I’ll tell you, before my acting career took off, I only played theaters. I didn’t play all of the time, I didn’t play a lot of small clubs, but I had a different kind of show. A show where you’re traveling with a tour manager, you’re traveling with a light technician and a guitar technician and you got this big production and you’re doing this show that is an effects show and all of the movements of the show are well rehearsed and the blue light is going to hit you when you walk to stage left and take your solo. It was a real structured show.

What I’m enjoying now is how loose it is, how it feels like I’m improving my playing. So when you see me one year and I come back through a few months later, At least, I’m feeling like I’m improving as a musician, that my show is not so rigidly put together, it’s a lot looser, like a jazz band approach to performing. Where you know the basic structure of what you’re going to do, but you let the emotions and feelings, you try to get lost in the music and follow where it wants to take you. That’s a long answer to your question, but that’s what I’m enjoying. I feel that the spontaneity and letting the music lead me each night is what I’m enjoying the most.

MS: On that same note, how much do you improv or like you said, “Let yourself loose. Lose yourself in the music.” Do you regulate yourself or do you let yourself go whenever you want to go?

CTK: It’s not like something I carry around bottled up in a package. Meaning that I can’t just turn it on or turn it off whenever. And it doesn’t happen every night, but most times, it happens more often than not, I would say.

MS: What I love about your music is how you embrace the tradition of the blues while also taking that leap into other genres of music. You’re known as the godfather and creator of mixing blues and rap. In your opinion, what is the next evolution of blues for you?

CTK: The whole music business is in a transition period. Transitioning from the analog world to the digital world that we live in now and it’s really unpredictable. In the late 90’s when I was out performing, doing hip hop blues and a lot of times I was performing with a DJ, which really makes your show rigid because there’s not a lot of improvisation that you can do when you’re working with a DJ, but I think what’s happening with the blues specifically is that the blues genre is really trying to find it’s way. It’s like the blues genre is like being in a room where all of the lights have gone black. Where the room has gone dark and you don’t know your way around. Because the blues is one of the genres that was least prepared for the digital revolution; a lot of blues fans weren’t used to networking online or downloading music. They frowned upon that kind of stuff. They never gave up their vinyl. Which is cool, but it’s an older audience. An audience that found the blues after following people like Eric Clapton and the Rolling Stones. They found the blues through rock n’ roll. An older, mature audience.

As far as the young audience for the blues, its difficult for a lot of blues artists to tap into a fan base. For me, I’m a little bit different because I’m an actor as well and a lot of people have seen my movies so I’m known outside of just the blues genre, but for the average blues artist, it’s a tough thing right now when (for) the older audience there’s no music stores to go and buy your records at and the younger audience has an iTunes account.

MS: I’m a guitarist and I’m nowhere near your level. I grew up listening to the blues and jazz and it was hard. I later went on to metal. Is there any chance that we can see you break out a metal or fusion progressive jazz album in the future?

CTK: (pause) No. I don’t think so. And it doesn’t mean that I won’t be rocking. It doesn’t mean that I won’t crank the Marshall up to 10 and go wailing on it. It doesn’t mean that . My new album “Antebellum Postcard” which I’d love to plug a little bit here, it has a song on it called “Rehab: Winehouse Blues” and that’s a pretty heavy number and that usually closes shows when we play festivals and stuff. It’s a heavy number, but when you say metal, the word metal to me…I’m kind of old-school with my music…metal to me got started with bands like Cream and Jimi Hendrix and stuff like that and taken to a new place with Black Sabbath and where it is now with speed metal and all of these different genres of metal. And garbled vocals, you’ll never hear me doing that kind of metal, but if you mean some heavy music, you mean some heavy fuzzed out music, you know fuzz-tone on my guitar, pretty loud and powerful with a lot of energy, yes, you can definitely hear me doing that in the future, but it would be more of a rock blues as opposed to metal, even though it is a distant cousin.

MS: What has been your most memorable concert ever?

CTK: Wow. (chuckles) Well the first thing that pops into my mind is that I was at a club in England and this was during the time when we were using a lot of sets on stage and the fog machine just went out of control and it wouldn’t cut off. It was supposed to have some fog on the stage but it fogged up the whole club and people at the bar couldn’t even see the cash registers. It was a real Spinal Tap moment. That’s the first thing that comes to mind. There’s a few other things where something crazy happened on stage, but musically it’s really hard to say musically what was an inspiring night or great night because…like I said…I get lost in the music at the moment; if it’s really good, I’m not there. I can’t remember what I played 15 minutes after the concert. People come up and say, “I love that you played such and such a tune” and I don’t even remember doing the song sometimes. When I get lost in my music, believe me I’m in a zone and I can’t retain it afterward unless somebody recorded it or filmed it or something. I can remember some bizarre nights when things didn’t go that well. Those are very memorable.So I think that the next time you see me perform you’ll see, hopefully, a better guitar player each time that you see me come through. And as far as success, it’s kind of relative, but as a musician, I’m still trying to get there. But on a success level, even though I do have some awards and things like that, I think that those things really distinguish me as a blues musician, it does say that I’ve had been the most successful blues musician of my generation. At the same time, I’m a blues musician (chuckles) I’m not a country star. If I was a country star, I’d be showing up into town with about 18 18-wheelers, you know, playing at the football stadium, but I’m in a different genre of music and in my genre I’ve done well so far, but in the overall scheme of things, I’m pretty humble.

MS: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

CTK: Well, I don’t know if I want to print it in the newspaper. I could give you some BS answer, but the best advice I’ve been given…I don’t think it needs to be in the article.

MS: That’s fine. So many people look up to you, what advice would you give to someone who wants to be where you are?

CTK: Somebody that wants to make their lifestyle and livelihood around music and art?

MS: Yes.

CTK: I would tell them…I would define that first before I answer. Because there are some people that want to be a star and that’s a whole different thing. Some people want to be bling-bling rich and have all the hip-hop type of luxuries and that’s something different too, but if you want to make a living from your art, living from your music, I would say first of all, make sure that you’re in love with it, make sure that you and your music are soul mates and the biggest thing about it is you have to stick with it. It’s good advice to tell people to have something to fall back on like go to college and get your degree and all of these kinds of things like that, but getting a degree is not going to get you booked at the local club. They’re not going to ask for your papers. You know what I mean?

MS: Yes, sir.

CTK: All they want you to have done is make some good music that people enjoy and you’re on your way. I would say first, have your art be your soul mate and stick with it. Don’t expect anything to happen overnight, you just have to stick with it and be dedicated to it. And when I say it’s your soul mate, you can’t cheat on it. (chuckles) You can’t take it for granted. You have to take care of it. You have to love it. You have to dedicate yourself to it, put everything you have into it and that love and attention that you give it, other people…it will become contagious. And It’s not instant. Sometimes there’s an act or singer or music that comes out or movie that comes out and everybody just agrees that it’s the greatest movie ever seen…and then it fades away. And then there’s this little movie or this little band and it just takes on this life of its own over time and it becomes legendary. I would say, since you can’t control all of these other things. The only thing you can control is your art and your dedication to it and your love for it and your respect for it. You can control those things and if you do those things well, I think the other things will follow.

MS: What are you top 5 favorite albums of all time?

CTK: (silence) Well, I mentioned one, “Kind of Blue” by Miles Davis would be one of those. Coltrane’s “Love Supreme” is beautiful. A little too short. That’s hard, man. It comes down to…the kind of albums that I like to listen to are the kind of albums where you sit down and the whole album is like a play. It’s one whole thing. I would say Pink Floyd’s “The Wall” is something that I find myself listening to continuously. I have to put on “Oh, Brother. Where Art Thou” on that list. And right now, I would say “Antebellum Postcards.”

MS: I think that is the first CD that I’ve had of yours in a while.

CTK: “Antebellum Postcards” The theme for that album was the Antebellum period, pre-Civil War period. I wanted to take my music back farther than just the Delta Blues. I was trying to find where the stuff originated and gave inspiration. When I found what I really wanted to express and one song is from the early Civil War times, “Michael Row Your Boat Ashore” it’s become like a folk song, but it’s one of the first songs that African-Americans that was published, that was written down into sheet music. Because people didn’t know how to…European music people, either they didn’t care about the African-American music or they didn’t know how to write it down or put it on notation paper. Because in European classical music you go from one interval to the next interval and the African-American song was a slur from one to the other or bend from one to the other. And they didn’t really know how to notate it. The first guy to come along and notate it properly was W.C. Handy and he published the first sheet music of blues songs around 1912. And that’s why it’s called…you’ve heard the label Blue Note?

MS: Yes, sir.

CTK: Well blue note is that note that African-Americans brought to European music…to the scale. The blue note was the note in-between the two major notes. And when you play that scale, they call it the blue scale; it gives you that tone that this music was built upon. But anyway, I wanted to get back the early beginning of the music and that’s where I got the inspiration for most of the songs and not every song came from that period. Like “Rehab”, I told you the inspiration for that, but some of the other songs that’s pretty much where it’s coming from. On the album I play mandolin, the acoustic guitar, acoustic bass. I played basically all of the string instruments that my band plays bass and drums in the studio. To me, I think it’s my finest record in many, many years. It’s one of my best collections that I’ve done. I feel very proud about it. I’m very satisfied with the way it turned out.

MS: With the new record out, what do you have on your horizon for 2012? Anything else coming up?

CTK: Besides trying to make some time to try and improve on my playing, I do have a good bit of music that I haven’t released over the years. I have some outtakes from some recordings. I have some live recordings and some…In other words, when I did “Antebellum Postcards”, there are at least 12 or 13 songs that I recorded at the same time, but decided not to put them on the album. I narrowed it down to 10 out of maybe 23 songs. So over the last few years, I have a stockpile of songs in my, I guess I would call it my vault that haven’t been released. And this year I’m trying to about every other month, I’m trying to do an internet release of some songs that previously have not been out. So I think in 2012, people will get a lot more music from me because every other month, they’ll see a new collection, a new album being released. I’ll update the website of some things that will become available. As far as my next real studio release that will probably be later in the fall. And I’m excited about going to Bangkok for a tour. A couple of weeks after we leave The Vinyl (Music Hall in Pensacola, Florida) we head over to Asia for a tour and those kind of things are exciting when you get to go to the other side of the world and play your music.

MS: This is a food related question. Do you like crunchy or creamy peanut butter?

CTK: (chuckles and answers in the coolest way humanly possible) I like my peanut butter smooth. I like the peanuts and then I like the smooth peanut butter. But when you kind of mix them together; nutty and smooth, to me, that don’t work as well.

MS: Is there anything else you’d like to add or have everybody in Pensacola know in preparation for the show?

CTK: I would just say that, if you like the new album, you’re going to hear a lot of it on the new tour that we’re doing this year. We’ve incorporated a lot of new songs, but we still definitely…some of the favorites from “Oh Brother” and “Ray” and some of the movies and things, those things will definitely always be part of the set, but we made room for a lot of new songs from “Antebellum Postcards” and it’s one of my favorite places to play. I have a good relationship with the audience and they seem to really get what it is that we do and I always look forward to coming back.

MS: Are you going to have the same bassist and drummer backing you up this time too that you had last year?

CTK: Yeah. My drummer’s name is Jeff Mills and the bassist is Danny Infinte. They’ll be there.

- Michael L. Smith

Link to additional photo gallery of the concert by PNJ photographer Jody Link

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