Interview with Pokey LaFarge

by Wout de Natris

© 2012 WoNo Magazine and WoNoBloG

While reading the interview you can listen to 'La la blues' here.

Late April I was exposed to the energy and music of Pokey LaFarge and his band the South City Three for the first time. (Read the review here.) Greatly enjoying what I heard, but also full of questions. What makes young guys want to play music that was made for the last time by their grandfathers, way before the time of The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, the two bands that totally upset the face of popular music in the U.S. from 1964 onwards? I had the change to discuss this after the gig and we sort of parted with the intention to do an interview after the EU tour. So here it is.

In my review of the gig I wrote that I could only think of one hit song in the last 40 years sounding like Pokey LaFarge and band. What made you decide this is the music for me?

------ I decided long ago that acoustic music, specifically but not relegated to early American music forms were the most pure and honest. First, it was bluegrass, than older more varied forms of old time music. Including all the different forms of early country and 'hillbilly' music and blues. Then came the many different forms of jazz. Including hokum and jug band music. However I've always listened to many different types of folk music. I just love early Calypso, Eastern European music, African music. Anything that's got a lot of soul.

You all must have started out with different music. What did you listen to when younger? (I had the

chance to discuss this with Adam outside of the Q-Bus.)

I guess when I was real young, say till about thirteen or fourteen  I was listening to classic rock and some hip hop. I still like that stuff but again it's more few and far between compared to the other types of music I listen to and play.

And who influences you most at present?

Lefty Frizzell, Emmett Miller, Lord Invader, Tom Waits, Jack White

Has St. Louis, your home town, inspired the band and/or the music in any way?

Sure, it's like living in a broken down-going out of business museum. Our history is everywhere. It's a very distinctly American city. It has a lot of the goods and a lot of the bads. 

Is South City a part of St. Louis or is it just a name?

Tis the southern part of the city of St. Louis

The sound on your album Riverboat soul is clearly authentic but in stereo. Do you try to record with authentic gear?

Well sure. I think that would be important, don't you?

Foto Wo.

Adam and Pokey play very authentic looking guitars. Are they?

Adam now plays a Gibson 1939 L-12 Archtop and Pokey plays a 1946 Epiphone Spartan Archtop

Lyrically, are you more inspired by stories of old or today?

Mostly today because I'm very inspired by the world today. I choose to tell my story because I am driven to make the most of MY self. The point is to better people lives. So if I have to tell an old story or recreate a story of a person from the past then I'll do it for the sake of the story.

A statement I often read in the last years is that pop music, from the lyrics point of view, does not

have relevancy towards society any more. In the lyrics of your band there is something to be found

on hard times. Is this 2012 or 1935 hard times?

I let you answer that.

If I take my train of thought one step further. If music is sometimes a release from reality, you

musically escape to music of the thirties, the Great Depression, when the present western world is in a depression. What is your view on this?

I don't really think of it like that. Some of my favorite music was made by Americans post depression. The depression part is not completely irrelevant but it's more important not to stigmatize this music with the depression. Let's not forget that a lot of the roots music of America was recorded in the 20's; pre depression, the high time, the roaring 20's. Yes, a lot of the recordings were made by people who were poor and struggling. That has been the case since the beginning of time. Look at Lefty Frizzell-the father of Honky Tonk music. He first recorded in '51. Dirt poor. Man, there's always a depression going on. 

You said on stage that you won a prize for Riverboat soul. How important is winning such a prize for the band?

Well, it is nice as a human being to be rewarded for the hard work you put into what it is you do. Positive reinforcement helps at times to keep you motivated and confident in what you do.

I read somewhere that Pokey played with the Hackensaw Boys. How was your time with one of my

favourite bands? Any recollections?

The fastest music I've ever played. Those boys taught me a lot. They showed me Virginia!

The band recorded for Jack White’s label. How did this come to pass?

He heard us on WSM 650AM in Nashville and called me up. 

Where does the name Pokey come from? I got a bit curious reading the website.

Mom. Not sure what it means in your country but it has a lot of different meanings here. It means slow or lagging behind the crowd.

What are your plans for the near future?

Writing and camping, canoeing and biking with my girlfriend. Basically enjoying home life off the road for a little while.

You can order Riverboat soul here

or here

Elmwood. Drive Like Maria

Listen to 'I'm on a train' here

Another album that sort of crept up on me over the past weeks. At first I had the idea that it was a bit too much QOTSA and related bands, but not unpleasant to listen to. Now I'm quite convinced that Elmwood is a good album in its own right. Despite the fact that this is an "old" album, from 2009 and the band has a new album out this year, WoNoBlog puts Elmwood in the limelight.

Drive Like Maria is a Dutch-Belgian band that is active since 2005. The four piece know how to rock out as well as chug it out. Their first single 'I'm on a train' is a great example of how the band manages to play like QOTSA and have their own accents in the music, by putting an acoustic guitar in the mix and a great seventies like lead guitar sound. A mandolin is also not exactly a snare instrument one expects when listening to a (stoner) rock album. Nevertheless 'Talk to me' starts with a mandolin, before Dave Grohl like dry sounding powerhits flagellate the drums. Drummer (and singer) Bjorn Awouters only barely doesn't kill off his drum kit.

John Congleton produced Elmwood. One of the other bands he's produced is Black Mountain. Everybody who gave their album 'Wilderness heart' a listen, won't be surprised that there is a mainly acoustic Led Zeppelin-like song on this ablum. What is a surprise though, is Janis Ian singing with Bjorn Awouters. Folk/pop singer Ian has a carreer now spanning circa 35 years and is not exactly associated with power pop/stoner rock that Drive Like Maria excels in. The combination works and gives the album a little extra. Ian features on two quieter songs where her voice blends in perfectly. The contrast with other songs is quite high, like the full out rocker (with absurdist lyrics) 'Fist full of bananas'. And then listen to that song's chorus. Great riffing, great singing, great melody and to top it all off, great soloing by Nitzan Hoffman.

It's because of this mix of songs that Elmwood grew on me. I only heard the album circa a month ago for the first time and started liking it more and more, because of the variety, where at first only the QOTSA stuff stuck out. The slow bluesy 'Die a little more' is a gem in which Janis Ian features again. She doesn't have a young voice any more, but fits this song. She may never before have sung on a song as hard as this one. Drive Like Maria knows how dynamics can make a song stick out. 'Die a little more' comes alive, dies off, comes alive, dies off. Well done!

And because I almost always forget the bass player, here a special line dedicated to Robin van Saaze. The foundation of this album is great!

The album maintains this level of dirty rock, that makes me think of driving through the desert in a flatbed with the speakers way high, and a deliciously cooled beer waiting for me at the end of the road. Elmwood doesn't have much to do with the Low Countries, but who cares when music this good is made here and produced in or near the arid country of Texas. Song by song Drive Like Maria captured me and in a convincing way. So, I also just found out that they have a new album called Drive Like Maria and that former Krezip drummer, Bram van den Berg, joined the band. This seems a somewhat unlikely combination, but who knows? Another album to check out some day soon. For now I'm happy with Elmwood.

Wo.

You can order Elmwood here


or here

Hospitality. Hospitality

Je kunt hier naar Hospitality luisteren

Het debuut van het Amerikaanse trio Hospitality lag al een tijdje op de stapel en leek daar niet meer van af te komen, tot een van de lezers van deze BLOG me nog eens op de plaat wees. Hierna is de plaat vrij snel in de cd speler verdwenen en tot dusver is hij daar niet meer uit gekomen. Hospitality maakt op haar debuut honingzoete popmuziek met een scherp randje. Bij de eerste noten lijkt het heel even op The Sundays of Sixpence None The Richer, maar wanneer de gitaren wat feller uit gaan halen hoor ik ook wel wat van The Pixies of Sleater Kinney, terwijl de band in de van flink wat extra zonneschijn voorziene popliedjes opschuift in de richting van bands als Belle And Sebastian en Camera Obscura. Ster van de band is zangeres  Amber Papini, die steeds weer weet te verleiden met wonderschone zwoele vocalen, maar nergens doorslaat in te zoete klanken. De mooie stem van Amber Papini wordt omlijst door een uiterst sober geluid, waarin naast een oerdegelijke ritmesectie vooral de mooie en veelkleurige gitaarlijnen opvallen. Het zijn gitaarlijnen die de lente onmiddellijk laten beginnen, al is Hospitality ook niet bang voor een paar wat donkerdere gitaarwolken. Slechts in een aantal tracks is gekozen voor een net wat voller geluid, waarin onder andere voorzichtige elektronica en blazers de revue passeren. Hospitality schotelt de luisteraar betrekkelijk eenvoudige popliedjes voor, maar ze zijn wel  alle tien raak. Ondanks het feit dat de tien tracks op het titelloze debuut van Hospitality allemaal in grote lijnen hetzelfde recept volgen klinken ze allemaal anders. Dit ligt vooral aan het mooie gitaarwerk dat steeds net wat andere accenten legt; van psychedelisch tot punky en van breed uitwaaierend tot bijna Afrikaans of jazzy. De stem van Amber Papini schurkt hier steeds lekker tegenaan en voorziet de popliedjes van Hospitality uiteindelijk van onderscheidend vermogen. Het debuut van Hospitality is zo’n plaat die maar een paar noten nodig heeft om je te verleiden. Normaal gesproken vervliegen dit soort platen snel, maar de muziek van Hospitality blijft vooralsnog aangenaam kleven. In Nederland heeft deze plaat tot dusver schandalig weinig aandacht gekregen. Nu de plaat voor de zoveelste keer voorbij komt en steeds aangenamer prikkelt, kan ik alleen maar concluderen dat we hebben zitten slapen en heel snel wakker moeten worden. Het debuut van Hospitality is immers één van de grote lenteplaten van 2012.

Erwin Zijleman

Je kunt Hospitality hier bestellen

of hier

 

Viva la vita. Damiano della Torre

You can listen to 'Almost spring' here.

Damiano della Torre is, among many things, the producer of Beth Wimmer's latest cd 'Ghost and man'. The beautiful sound of the album and the intricate playing on the album, mostly by Damiano himself, made me curious to his own work. Although his latest effort 'Viva la vita' stems from 2010, it may be unknown to most readers of WoNoBloG. So here's a review introducing Viva la vita.

If anything sticks out at the first listen, it's two things: that the songs in Italian are sung with more confidence and sparkle more and that his influences range from Hendrix to Zucchero. With the name of Adelmo Fornaciari, nicknamed Zucchero, I gave away most of my knowledge of Italian rock music. Through the decades there has been an odd Italian record that became a hit in The Netherlands, but it's not standard. I haven't even heard anything for years by Eros Ramazotti. In 2001 I picked up an album of the rock outfit Negrita in Rome, which I've played for a while. One of the songs on Viva la vita, 'Cosa sento dentro', reminds of this album quite a lot. Good riffing, sharp guitar soloing and a very pleasant organ in the background. Not to forget good singing, with this rough edge Italian male rock singers all seem to have. To the best of my recollection, I do not own any other Italian album than Negrita's 2001 offer.

Della Torre has several albums to his name with his band Radiosky and has been active as a session musician and producer since the 1990ties. Viva la vita is his first solo offer. Clad in a new age travellers outfit and showing all sorts of coloured smoke in the cover booklet he literally seems to offer his listeners his new music.

Stylistically Viva la vita is all over the place. We race through pop's history. Jimi Hendrix lead lines hidden in the back ground of 'Call me', fairly slick rock-soul songs of the seventies in 'Don't look back'. Full out rocking in 'Facciamo bene l'amore', which ranges towards Neil Young at his hardest with a great organ solo. In 'Sveglio' he sounds close to my Spanish favourite of many a year, Jarabe de Palo. Some up tempo reggae-ish 'Freedom' and seventies jazzrock soloing in 'Guarda'. In general there is some really good guitar playing on this album to enjoy, in very different styles.

Della Torre nearly plays all instruments himself. So listening to Viva la vita makes me feel a little in awe, that these songs were built layer for layer by one man. He has kept a good overview of where he was and where he wanted to go, as the album is sounding meticulously. There is playing by Della Torre's friend and colleague Max Gini on saxes and other copper and woodwork, who is sadly remembered by songs on Beth Wimmer's 'Ghost and man' album.

All in all the album is not 100% to my taste, as not all the styles are my cup of tea. Still there are several songs which I think are really good, so that the album is on the good side of my scale and will be played again in the future. For those loving Italian rock singers, they should check Damiano della Torre's album out straight away and all other's can give it a try too.

If I'm allowed a personal advise, I would say to Damiano to sing in Italian only. It sounds an awful lot cooler and suits his tongue better. That I haven't a clue what he is singing about, is of less consequence. I know a great rock song when I hear one. Allow me here to mention 'Facciamo ...' again. For now let's make do with the message Della Torre gives us that I do understand: Celebrate life!

Wo.

You can order Viva la vita via www.damianodellatorre.com

Not your kind of people. Garbage

You can listen to 'Not your kind of people' here.

When Butch Vig all of a sudden turned up in the limelight as a musician in the mid nineties this was news. By then famous for producing 'Nevermind' and 'Siamese dream' (and with hind sight 'Gish') he turned out to be the drummer of a new band called Garbage. Three middle aged men and a young Scottish singer called Shirley Manson. The band proved not overly productive. To be honest I'd expected not to hear from them again after the not so successful, nor particularly special album 'Bleed like me' from 2005. Of course the band had had some success before. Even a few hitsingles, but not much which kept me up at night, not being able to sleep from sheer excitement.

In 2012 this part has not changed as I tend to be a good sleeper. What has changed, is that I've played Not your kind of people more than all previous albums together. There's a snare played inside of me resonating from 'Automatic Systematic habit' all the way to the bit tacky ballad 'Beloved freak'. The album has a little bit of everything, ranging from electrified, spiced up rock to some great pop songs.

Garbage is around for almost 19 years in 2012, but Butch Vig, Duke Erikson and Steve Marker have been making music together for much longer. It was only when they started making music that led to Garbage, they had the idea to look for a female vocalist. This became Manson after one of the guys saw a video of her band Angelfish on MTV.

'Control' is one of the songs that show the prowess of Not your kind of people. It starts off sounding like a ballad. It could be Madonna or Adele, the song could go any way. At 0.38 all hell bursts loose. Garbage lets it rip into a great rock song, with a mean, almost dissonant harmonica and Manson changing from an angel to a snarling bitch. The band has always worked hard to be more than a simple rock band. Electronics have no mysteries to the band members and all sorts of effects are woven into or on top of the music and vocals. To great effect too.

Another asset is the diversity in the songs. More so than I remember from previous albums. The title song is a tacky song deep down, but the sound treatment makes it down right interesting. Added to the mix is some great vocal harmonising. The way simple oohs and aahs can be placed/sang, still amazes me every time this is done in just the right way. Manson does the trick here. I also definitely like the guitar in the left ear corner. The driven 'Felt' is another great example of the different songs that are on the album. Plain catchy.

What may be the biggest difference is that I have the idea that Manson is singing better (or that the songs are more suited to her voice). On previous albums I always had the idea she was straining her voice, while here she's singing great. Using the different shades of her voice to perfection. As if the band and its singer have finally really found each other. All this has led Garbage to their best album to date. It will not be a commercial success like its first two albums, Garbage and Version 2.0, but nothing is nowadays. Not your kind of people is a great rock album with different shades and colours, a true addition to my record collection. It made me change my opinion of them. My kind of people after all?

Wo.

You can order No your kind of people here


and here