I first met John when I emailed him about Deerhoof’s initiative to have their fans chose which charity they would donate 10% of their new album’s digital proceeds to. What struck me about our dialogue was John was in the middle of releasing his new album [Offend Maggie] and about to start their world tour, but kept in touch on a regular basis. He gave me one more reason to love Deerhoof.

Dieterich, the self-taught guitarist joined the San Francisco-based band in 1999. He was a perfect fit for the experimental group. Deerhoof does what comes naturally to them no matter how unnatural that is. The highly talented group is always pushing the envelope, which makes them so special. Their music is dynamic, mixing noise and pop melodies, and is appealing because it’s unpredictable. What may seem like a mellow pop song can turn into a Fugazi inspired jam.

Deerhoof’s unique sound combines Ed Rodriquez and John’s heavy guitar riffs with Greg Saunier’s high-energy drum play; he is hands down one of the best drummers out there today. And, it’s all thrown off a little with lead-singer Satomi Matsuzaki’s childlike voice and off-beat lyrics.

During our email exchange we discussed Marilyn Manson trance dancing, inviting his best friend to join the band and his favorite groups.

RG: Where are you guys right now? What type of vehicle are you traveling in?

John: We’re on the east coast, just played DC last night. We travel in a minivan. It’s a little tricky trying to fit the five of us (the band and our soundperson, Ian Pellicci) with all of our gear in here, but it saves gas, and it’s a lot easier to drive than big passenger vans.

RG: Who were your primary influences when you were teaching yourself how to play the guitar?

John: I grew up in the mid-west, so I grew up listening to a lot of classic rock and things like that. My older brother was one of the first people in my hometown to get into punk and hardcore. He introduced me to all kinds of things and took me to my first concerts. He also played in bands which practiced in our basement, so I got to see them experimenting with recordings, and he let me hang around while they were working on things. My parents and grandparents were all musicians, as well, so there was always music around, and there were plenty of instruments to play around with.

RG: I read that Satomi said during your live performances that you sometimes look like Marilyn Manson with your eyes rolled back in your head in a trance-like state. What’s that all about? Do you give her hell about interpretive dancing?

John: Sometimes I come out of these trances, or whatever they are, when I’m playing and when I look over at my band-mates, they’re all looking at me like I’m crazy. But, yeah, I think it’s safe to say we all look like idiots at various times during our concerts. We’re just trying to make something cool happen.

RG: How excited were you about bringing your best friend Ed into the band?

John: To be honest, I was very hesitant about adding another member for a long time. The trio format forced the band to grow, and I think we learned a lot by doing it. I was in Minnesota last December, though, and I woke up one morning completely convinced that asking Ed was the best thing we should do. And we haven’t looked back since! The funny thing is, that when I asked him, he had just gotten laid off the day before, so he was trying to figure out what he was going to do. Good timing.

RG: During the recording of “The Runners Four” the band made an agreement that everybody had to 100% approve and love each song. Does this philosophy still hold true today? If so, has it gotten easier to put songs together?

John: Well, that’s always been the philosophy of the band. The difference with “Runners Four” was that we made the decision that we were all going to try to get as involved as possible in everybody else’s material, and we were going to try and do it every step of the way together. That is, every song was written, recorded, mixed and mastered with everyone in the room together, working out every decision by committee. We sometimes still work that way, though I think in general we learned from that experience that it’s best to give each other a little more latitude. If there’s something anybody doesn’t like, we always fix it, but we don’t have to all sit in the room for every decision. It’s a lot more efficient, as we can all be working on different things at the same time, and then we’ll convene to show things to each other and tweak everything as needed.

RG: You guys have done an excellent job connecting with your fans. You invited your fans to compose music for “Fresh Born” by offering the sheet music to the song. You also asked the fans to pick a non-profit that you would donate 10% of “Offend Maggie’s” digital sales to. Can you discuss Deerhoof’s fan-centric approach?

John: I guess the philosophy of the band has always been that the music isn’t really completed until it reaches other people’s ears. The listeners are a big part of the process. As for the digital sales going to a non-profit, we just thought it made sense for the people who are spending the money on the album to choose which organization their money should go to. And Doctors Without Borders, a great organization, ended up getting the most votes.

RG: Children are even getting involved with the band. The kids of North New Haven Community School put on the “Milk Man Ballet” based on your album “Milk Man.” I imagine that was a surreal experience.

John: Well, that was definitely surreal. Or hyper-real. I’m not sure exactly how to describe it other than to say that it has always been a goal of ours that children would be interested in the music and relate to it. It really turned out to be incredible. Both the kids and the musical director took the music someplace new. They actually finished it in a way that we couldn’t. It was really an amazing experience.

RG: You guys toured with Radiohead. What do you think of their pay-what-you-want for “In Rainbows” experiment?

John: I thought it was an amazing idea. As an artist, your ultimate goal is to get your art out into the world, and you don’t want to exclude people because they are unable to pay for it. It gave people the opportunity to choose for themselves.

RG: Rumor has it that you guys are planning on recording a children’s album. Any truth to that?

John: They’re all children’s albums [laughs]!

RG: There is something to be said for a band staying with the same label for their entire career. What’s Kill Rock Stars secret?

John: I’ll just say that they’ve treated us very fairly over the years, have supported and nurtured the band, didn’t force us in any direction artistically at any point and have just been honest with us. We’ve developed a great rapport with them, which is not something that every band can say about their label. We’re very, very lucky.

RG: What’s your favorite Deerhoof song and why?

John: I don’t have a favorite. When I joined the band in 1999, I will say that the song that really caught my attention was “Queen of the Mole People,” from “The Man, The King, The Girl.” I think it’s really gorgeous. We’ve never played that song live, though.

RG: Pick two to three bands or albums that Rollo & Grady’s readers should know about?

John: Well, we already picked several, and those are the bands that we asked to come on tour with us! And we were lucky that they were able to come. On this tour, we have played with the Happy Hollows, Okay, Experimental Dental School, Coconut, Au, Flying, Fertile Crescent, Nymph, Fat Worm of Error, and KIT. We are fans of every one of these bands!!!

Deerhoof is playing tonight @ The Echo (Sold Out - Check Craigslist)

Download:
MP3: Deerhoof - Twin Killers
MP3: Deerhoof - Milk Man
MP3: Deerhoof - Fresh Born
MP3: Deerhoof - The Perfect Me
MP3: Deerhoof - Queen of the Mole People

Download:
Deerhoof - Offend Maggie (iTunes)
Deerhoof - The Runners Four (iTunes)
Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity (iTunes)
Deerhoof - Milk Man (iTunes)
Deerhoof - Apple O' (iTunes)
Deerhoof - Reveille (iTunes)
Deerhoof - The Man, the King, the Girl (iTunes)

Highly Recommended: Deerhoof “First Born” NPR and KEXP @ CMJ 2008 (Click on Session Pick: “Fresh Born” above the photo gallery)

Black Joe Lewis @ Austin City Limits 2008 (Photo Rollo & Grady)

“My dream is to be on the level of James Brown. I want to be the black Elvis.”

27 year-old Austin musician Black Joe Lewis has been kicking ass and taking names this past year. Relatively unknown a year ago, Joe turned heads and created quite a buzz at South by Southwest, Austin City Limits and Lollapalooza. Not to mention the fact that he was personally invited by Spoon’s front-man, Britt Daniel, to open up for the band’s west coast shows. Having recently signed a recording contract with the Lost Highway Records label, Joe is poised for a breakout year in 2009.

I recently caught up with Joe on the phone in Pittsburgh while he was touring with Okkervil River.

RG: Hey Joe.

Joe: Hello.

RG: What‘s going on with you?

Joe: Not much. How you doing?

RG: I’m doing well. What do your friends call you, J.J., Joe or Black Joe?

Joe: Joe.

RG: Prior to forming the band, you were shucking oysters and driving the delivery truck for Quality Seafood in Austin. Did you give them two-weeks notice?

Joe: I’m still there, actually. I work three days a week now. They let me leave town whenever I need to. They’re so cool. It’s always good to have a job, you know. I can get lazy, and I still need the money.

RG: What’s your relationship like with Britt Daniel [Spoon]?

Joe: I guess we’re friends now. I met him one night while I was playing at The Beauty Bar. He was hanging out in the back and he liked us. He was a pro, dude. He just happened to be there and then when he heard us play we said “Hi” to him. And then later that week I received a call to see if we would like to open up for them. So, if I see him around town, I say, “Wassup?” We’re pretty cool with each other. He came out to see us at Austin City Limits this year.

RG: How many dates did you guys play with Spoon?

Joe: About 9 or 10.

RG: Your music appeals to all ages. Do you see this as a problem while you’re trying to find a musical niche?

Joe: No, man. It’s good. You don’t want to get caught up in one thing and always have to stick to that.

RG: Do you think the indie crowds are going to be your bread and butter?

Joe: For the most part, yes, because that’s the biggest scene right now. And those who are doing well end up spending money to see shows.

RG: You appear calm and confident when you perform live. Do you ever get nervous before shows?

Joe: I used to get really nervous. Every now and then I still do. ACL was bad for me. I got nervous doing a recent show in New York. I was kind of nervous at Lollapalooza, but it doesn’t really bother me anymore because I’ve played so many bad shows. It’s like, whatever, I can handle this shit.

RG: Do you know when you’ve played a bad show rather than a good one?

Joe: Yeah, for the most part. But you never know what the hell the people in the crowd see, you know? The indie crowd doesn’t really dance a lot, but if you play at the Continental Club [in Austin] people are getting down and dancing. But just because people aren’t moving around doesn’t mean they didn’t like it. It’s because they’re too cool to move around, you know? But I can tell if I played like shit or not.

Zach Ernst @ Austin City Limits Festival 2008 (Photo Rollo & Grady)

There would be no Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears without guitarist Zach Ernst. Joe was frustrated, ready to quit music and even thinking about moving to another city. Zach was a huge fan of Joe’s and told him that he could put a band together if he was willing to give it another try. And, the rest is history.

I recently caught up with Zach on the phone in Pittsburgh while the band was touring with Okkervil River.

RG: When did you first meet Joe?

Zach: I was booking the 40 Acres Fest with Little Richard at UT [University of Texas] and we needed an opening act. I had heard his record and read about him, so I tracked him down and got him to do the show for us. There were probably four thousand people there.

RG: What was the name of Joe’s band at that time?

Zach: His band was named Cool Breeze. It was sort of a rotating cast of characters. It was never really a set band. It was just Joe and then whoever else was playing with him that week. He got started doing weekly gigs at the Hole in the Wall, but I never got to see him there because I was too young to get in. You had to be 21. But, Bill, our bass player, would go to the Hole in the Wall and watch Joe play from the outside – there was a window where you could see what was going on onstage from the street.

RG: When did you change the name of the band to Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears?

Zach: The first gig we played together we were still the Cool Breeze Band. Between the time Joe did the Little Richard show with his other group and we did our first gig about a month passed, and Joe was gigging with the Weary Boys – they were a bluegrass band from Austin serving as Cool Breeze. Joe was offered a gig at the Parish, which is a club down there. He didn’t really have a band because he wasn’t playing with the same group of guys all the time. I think he was considering hanging up the music thing. So I said to Joe, “Well, hey, I know these guys, I’ll get a horn section together, I can get a new rhythm section together and we’ll just learn your first record.”

RG: How’s the tour going so far?

Zach: It’s going pretty good, man. We’re actually in Pittsburgh and we have the day off today. We did a fly-out to do a wedding in Santa Barbara, then played in Pittsburgh Thursday, and we’re driving to Chicago tonight. We did the first leg of the tour with Okkervil River. We’ve been doing some big shows. We’re doing a couple more weeks of our own shows and playing CMJ. The reception’s been pretty good, man. This is the first tour we’ve done that’s more than a couple of weeks, so it’s a big step.

RG: Describe the band’s sound?

Zach: Well, Joe came up with “garage soul” and we all liked that. We draw from influences like James Brown and Howlin’ Wolf, and also from ‘70s punk rock, garage rock, the Sonics and the Monks. We’re definitely influenced by all the great, older blues and rock-and-roll artists. Joe plays a really unique style of guitar, like an aggressive lead guitar. Having two loud guitars in the band isn’t really something that any of those soul bands we love so much really ever did. We’re still young, and I can definitely tell that the longer we stay out the more we’re developing and getting better at playing with each other.

Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears Tour Dates (Click Here)

Download:
MP3: Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears - Gunpowder
MP3: Black Joe Lewis and The Honey Bears - Jungle
MP3: Wild Cherry - Play That Funky Music

Download:
Black Joe Lewis - Black Joe Lewis (iTunes)
Black Joe Lewis - Black Joe Lewis and the Honey Bears (iTunes)
Wild Cherry - Wild Cherry (iTunes)

Ryan Karazija and Alicia Campbell

Last month I had the opportunity to meet with Audrye Session’s lead-singer and guitarist, Ryan Karazija’s, before their show at Spaceland in Silverlake. The Bay Area quartet has been stirring up the music scene from their hometown of San Francisco to New York and everywhere in between. The band made their full-length recording debut in 2007 with “Braille”, an independent release that led to a major-label recording contract with the RCA Records subsidiary Black Seal [Albert Hammond Jr.]. This past summer they completed their self-titled debut, which will be released in early 2009. The album was recorded with Andrew Scheps (U2, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash) and Matt Radosevich (The Hives, Two Gallants). They also released a 4-track EP a couple weeks ago.

We covered a lot of ground from aliens to Thom Yorke, to crashing with fans on the road.

R&G: How did you come up with the band’s name?

Ryan: I was performing solo and had booked myself at a coffee shop close to where I was living [Livermore, California], and they wanted to know if I wanted to be booked under my own name or if I had another name. The TV was on in the background while I was on the phone, and a Sony commercial was on with a blue alien making a mix CD called the Audrye Sessions. So I said, “Just put me down as the Audrye Sessions.” It stuck forever.

R&G: How long have you guys been together?

Ryan: We’ve been together roughly five or six years, but the line-up has gone through some changes. Alicia [Campbell], Mike [Knox] and I have been together for a good five years, though.

R&G: You and Alicia dated at one time. How did you guys manage to keep the band together?

Ryan: I think for the most part people were amazed that we were able to make it work. Both of us are really stubborn. After we broke up it was like, “Well, I’m not going to leave the band,” and she said, “I’m not going to leave the band. Screw you.” Somehow everything worked out, and now we have a great relationship.

R&G: How many songs from “Braille” [self-released] made it onto the new album?

Ryan: There are five of them, I think. I’m not sure. I don’t even know the order of the songs. I haven’t heard the final mastering of it. Everybody else has. I don’t really want to listen to it.

R&G: Why don’t you want to listen to it?

Ryan: It’s just weird for me to listen to my work.

R&G: When do you expect to release the album?

Ryan: January is what they are saying, but it’s been done since June. It’s good touring on it, but I think any time off that we have we’re going to be back in the studio trying to squeeze in new songs just to keep it interesting for ourselves. Otherwise, we’re not going to perform well. We have to be excited, too. I think the excitement comes from being in different places, having people there that are excited to see us. If we were just practicing the songs over and over in the studio and had to do it every night, that would be hell, like having to watch the same movie over and over.

R&G: Are you the primary songwriter?

Ryan: I was the primary songwriter. The group is a pretty funny combination. Alicia had never played bass before and Mike had never played in a band. He had only been playing guitar for about three years when he joined us. I was the only person who had ever actually done any writing, so that’s kind of how it worked for a while. Though, Mike and I have been coming up with a lot of stuff together recently. But for this album, yes, I’m the primary songwriter. That will probably change in the future.

R&G: Does having other songwriters take the pressure off of you?

Ryan: We’ll try anything. I have no problem with anyone bringing something in and being like, “Hey, let’s try doing this,” even if I don’t think it’s going to work. Sometimes I’m wrong, sometimes I’m right. We’re all pretty open-minded. I feel like it only takes ten seconds to try it out, but you can spend the rest of your life regretting not trying something.

R&G: What’s the primary difference between working with a label and going at it alone?

Ryan: We’re still doing exactly what we were doing before. It’s just like we have a little help now. Before, when we did a few trips on the road we didn’t make any money. Everything was coming out of our own pockets, so we’d come back and we’d be broke. We are lucky to have a good support team at the label. They’ll help us with gas and hotels. But one of the exciting parts about touring is asking the audience while you’re on stage, “Hey, does anybody have a place to stay?” We don’t really do that anymore because we know we’re comfortable and we know we can go get a motel.

R&G: I imagine it’s kind of cool to see who’s going to say “yes.”

Ryan: Yeah, sometimes it’s interesting where you wind up staying. It’s like, great, and they’ll have a party. And sometimes it can be weird.

R&G: I’ve read several publications that say your vocals sound like Thom Yorke’s during the “Pablo Honey” and “The Bends” years. I have to agree there are similarities on some of your songs. Have you heard this before?

Ryan: Yeah. I think about that a lot. And I don’t know what I think because it’s fucking Thom Yorke. That’s great. Cool. He’s fucking amazing. But there’s also a thing that stresses me out about it. He‘s so different and that’s why they are who they are. I know there have been comparisons of our songs, that we have the same kind of style, very songy-versus-chorus hooks. It concerns me because you can never get to a bigger level if you’re just “like it.” I also think that I change from song to song depending on what the songs are like. I don’t do it intentionally – kind of subconsciously. My voice caters to how I think the song should feel. I’m not like, “This song kind of sounds folky. I’m going to sing like a folk singer.” It just happens. I actually haven’t been listening to Radiohead very much lately because that stuff kind of went to my head. At the end of the day I would never compare us to them. If somebody says I sound like Thom Yorke, well then, Thank You.

Download (Right-Click Save As):
MP3: Audrye Sessions - Turn Me Off
MP3: Audrye Sessions - Perfect Sometimes [Acoustic]

Download:
Audrye Sessions - Audrye Sessions - EP (iTunes)

AUDRYE SESSIONS TOUR DATES (CLICK HERE)

Parker Gispert (c) @ Lollapalooza 2008 (Photo Rollo & Grady)

The first time I saw The Whigs frontman Parker Gispert was last year prior to a gig at Spaceland. He looked very intense and little bit shy, but that all changed when he hit the stage. He was like a man possessed, jumping up and down, thrashing his guitar and growling out vocals reminiscent of Kurt Cobain and Paul Westerberg.

When I met him last month at Avalon Hollywood, he and his bandmates [Drummer Julian Dorio and bassist Tim Deaux] had been stuck in rush hour traffic on the I-10 and were late for soundcheck (recurring R&G theme). I was expecting a hurried, five-minute interview. To my surprise, it was the exact opposite. Parker was laid-back and generous with his time.

The Whigs are one of the hardest working bands out today. They play with such high-level energy and enthusiasm you would think they were playing either their first or last show, a style similar to the Avett Brothers. They open for the Kooks this Tuesday at The Palladium (Buy Tix), marking their their fourth visit to Los Angeles in less than a year.

R&G: It’s been well-documented that you guys recorded your first album in a fraternity house with equipment that you bought from eBay and then resold for a profit after the recording sessions were over. Tell me about the experience of self-producing your album “Give 'Em All a Big Fat Lip”.

Parker: I think it was the logical thing to do, considering it was our first record and we knew what we wanted the songs to sound like. It gave us the opportunity to create a record without interference from anybody. We actually thought that it was a pretty amazing thing that we could have a dream recording studio for free with any equipment we wanted and we weren’t on the clock.

R&G: Were there any industry people in Athens [Georgia] interested in signing you?

Parker: Not really. There wasn’t a ton of interest. We had a small run-in with a label that turned sour quickly and we were kind of reeling from that. To be honest with you, we weren’t looking.

R&G: You guys formed in 2002. Why did you wait until 2005 to record “Give ‘Em All A Big Fat Lip?”

Parker: Well, for starters we were in school. It was important for all of us to graduate. We didn’t want to put out a record and not tour behind it. We wanted to wait until we could give it the proper treatment. We looked at it as a blessing. It gave us more time to write songs. There easily could have been a couple albums in there.

R&G: In 2006 Rolling Stone magazine named The Whigs the best unsigned band in America. What was your reaction to the news?

Parker: I remember I was about to take a quiz and Josh, our manager, called me and told me about the article. You have to realize, at that time we had recorded and put the album out ourselves. To be in Rolling Stone was strange, but it felt good. It was a nice compliment from the writer. We didn’t let it go to our heads. It was just one article.

R&G: How did you get on their radar?

Parker: We were lucky. We were playing shows up in New York while we were in school. We had Tuesday/Thursday class, so we’d tour Thursday, Friday, and Saturday out of town. The New York shows we would do during the week – drive up and then drive back. During one of our trips there was a Rolling Stone journalist at the show and he was impressed.

R&G: It wasn’t long after the Rolling Stone piece that the labels came knocking on your door. Why did you choose ATO Records [Dave Matthews' Label]?

Parker: The guy who signed us was named Jonathan Eshak. He saw us play at Pianos in New York a couple of times and he liked our music. The other labels we met with were like “We love the band. The band’s great. So let’s re-record the album and change the songs around,” and that didn’t really make sense to us. ATO was the only label that came to us and was like, “Hey, we love what you’re doing, so we just want to re-release the first album and we like all the new songs you’re writing. Let’s talk about making another record.” That was exciting.

R&G: In January you released your second album “Mission Control.” Shortly after the release you guys played on the Letterman show. He loved your performance. He growled “Yeah” and then said, “Nice Going. God, that was cool. Good to see you. Thank you very much. Power trio, Paul?” And Paul responds, “Love it.” How did that make you feel?

Parker: It was awesome. We played in Athens on Saturday night and then had to load up our gear at 5 a.m. Monday. It’s just the three of us, so we got in the van, drove straight there, got in at 2 p.m., and slept for a couple hours. We headed over to the show to load in our gear at 5 p.m. It was all such a blur because we were so tired and you get on the stage and it’s freezing in there. I don’t know if you’ve heard, apparently it keeps the audience lively. Also, the stage was so close to Dave’s desk. I thought it was weird. The lights go down, you’re playing, and there’s a silhouette of a man six feet to your left. He’s sitting at the desk and its like, “Whoa, Dave Letterman is right next to me.” The guys in the band were really cool to us. They played “Gimme Shelter” by the Rolling Stones during the commercial break and that got us all excited.

R&G: Were you nervous before your performance?

Parker: I was scared because I didn’t know how it was going to come off. There are some –intangibles – the guy doing sound for the show, the lights; there’s any number of things that are outside of your control. We actually went back to our hotel to watch it and the cable didn’t work, which sucked, so we sprinted down the street and went into this bar and the guy turned it on for us, which was a little embarrassing. We watched it and we were like, “Oh wow! We did good!”

Chris Hanson (l) and Geoff Hanson (r)

“Scrapple” features what I think is one of the greatest soundtracks ever produced. In their directorial debut, brothers Chris and Geoff Hanson scored a major break when they landed veteran blues legend Taj Mahal, who produced the soundtrack, rerecorded versions of his favorite songs and added some originals. The soundtrack is really the underlying narrative of the movie and also features JJ Cale, John Martyn, Cymande and Widespread Panic.

“Scrapple” follows a summer in the life of ski bums in the fictional town of Ajax, Colorado in the late ’70’s. Geoff Hanson stars as the low-level drug dealer Al Dean. Another star was a pig called Scrapple, named after the pork delicacy, which led The New York Times to coin the film “Babe on Acid.” Geoff and Chris also directed and produced “The Earth Will Swallow You”, which documents the summer 2000 tour of Widespread Panic.

R&G: Congratulations on the ten-year anniversary of “Scrapple.” How much do you think the soundtrack contributed to the longevity of the film?

Geoff: We hear all the time from people it’s the best soundtrack they’ve ever heard. I think the movie kind of circulates as much as a CD, and I think a lot of people come to the movie for the music. We’re just happy that people still watch it ten years later.

R&G: Keller Williams recently recorded a song called “Nepalese Temple Balls” based on a scene from the movie. How did that come about?

Geoff: The lyrics from the song are pulled from the movie pretty much verbatim. It’s the scene in the movie where Al Dean, the character I play, tells his friends about this drug, this thing that he’s got coming in. It starts off, “If you like this stuff, you’re not going to believe what I got coming in”. They are these Nepalese Temple Balls, these crazy things from the shadows of Mount Everest made by monks.

In 2007, I was DJ’ing at a radio station in Wilmington called 106.7. The Penguin and Keller Williams came into my studio and played some songs. I knew Keller would like “Scrapple.” He loved the Grateful Dead, and he’s kind of a hippie at heart. That’s what our movie’s about, and those are our fans, so I gave Keller a copy of the DVD; we were always trying to turn musicians on to our movie. About ten days later I got a call from his manager, and he said Keller really loves the movie.

In May of 2008 his manager emailed me a MP3 file that said “Nepalese Temple Balls.” I was surprised and touched that Keller liked our movie enough to write a song using our lines as lyrics. I’m actually getting a writing credit on the record, which is cool for me because now I get to say I’m a songwriter.

R&G: Any royalties involved?

Geoff: Who knows? I’ll tell you in a year. Maybe I’ll get a check for $80 bucks or something [Laughs].

R&G: [Laughs] You and your brother Chris were first-time independent directors, producers, writers and actors. How did you get Taj Mahal on board to score the movie?

Geoff: I was living in Telluride, Colorado and I was writing a music column for the newspaper Sound Advice. In 1991 they announced that Bill Graham was going to do the Midsummer Music Festival, and that’s what really made me decide to stay in Telluride. The paper asked me to be the editor of the magazine that we were going to do for the Festival. I was just a 22-year-old kid. The artists on the line-up were Joe Cocker, the Allman Brothers, Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, Jackson Brown and Taj Mahal.

The first time I ever met Taj was backstage at the Festival. I was instantly blown away by the guy. I was in a room with him and four other writers, but nobody else knew anything about him. They were just going off what the press release said. I was talking to him about rerecording “Giant Step,” so he got that I was hip to what he was all about and we ended up talking for about 45 minutes. That was the beginning. I was so into him and at that point began collecting all of his music. I was an aspiring filmmaker even then and decided that, wow, wouldn’t it be cool to make a movie with Taj. I had a concert promoting business on the side, and in 1992 I got Taj to come to Telluride and play. I got to know him even better and also got to know his manager at the time, Carey Williams. I asked Carey if I make a movie would Taj do the music for it, and he said, “Sure, if you ever get it done, we’ll do the music.”

R&G: When did you finish writing the script?

Geoff: We finished it in ’95. Afterwards, Chris and I went to work at the Sundance Film Festival as volunteers because we were trying to absorb as much of the whole independent film thing as we could. We sent the first draft of the “Scrapple” script, which was at the time called “Spam,” to Carey and he gave it to Taj. It didn’t take them long to say they would do the music. The first scene of the script is a guy riding down the highway on a motorcycle with a pig in a sidecar with Taj Mahal singing “Further On Down The Road.” They thought that was cool so we were on. He was critical to the whole thing and we recorded the music with him after we shot the movie, in January of 1997; it was one of the coolest things about the whole project.

R&G: Were you intimidated working with Taj?

Geoff: I don’t think it was intimidating working with him, it was just really exciting. We had just finished our movie and we were doing the music with Taj Mahal. It was a dream come true.

R&G: Tell me something interesting that the general public doesn’t know about him?

Geoff: Well, here’s my favorite thing about Taj. When I first interviewed him in 1991, he said something that is one of the favorite things I’ve ever heard. He said that people are always so preoccupied with other people and what they do and their jobs. Taj said, “I am a job.” I just love that. He’s also a musicologist. He knows more about music than anyone I’ve ever met, and all kinds of music: polyrhythmic, Caribbean and Hawaiian. He’s just a great guy and agreed to do the music for our movie on a handshake.

R&G: Music played an integral role in the film, and you had a diverse range of musicians from Sam Bush to Toots Hibbert.

Geoff: The music in the movie is the narrator. It’s either commenting directly on what’s happening or it’s hitting on a subtext of what’s going on.

R&G: Were there other movies that inspired you to use music as the narrator?

Geoff: “Fandango” used music in the same way. Quentin Tarantino uses music very dramatically, as well. “Scrapple” was right on the heels of “Reservoir Dogs” and “Pulp Fiction.” Our biggest influence was “Easy Rider.” Men’s Journal paid us a huge compliment when they called our movie “the ski bum’s Easy Rider.”

R&G: Do you have any advice for young filmmakers who are trying to score low-budget films with well-known musicians?

Geoff: The first thing would be to go after the deep cuts. Stay away from the really popular stuff because it’s too expensive. But, if you’ve got tastes that are a little bit offbeat, then go for your favorite stuff because most of these people are approachable. The thing is not to come in the front door. Try to figure out a way in the back door. We never would have been able to work with Taj Mahal if we went through the label.

Download (Right-Click Save As):
MP3: Taj Mahal - Ain’t That a Lot of Love
MP3: Cymande - Bra
MP3: Chris & Rich Robinson - Over The Hill [John Martyn]
MP3: Keller Williams — Nepalese Temple Balls [Live]
MP3: Jane’s Addiction - Pigs In Zen
MP3: Pink Floyd - Pigs On The Wing

Download/Buy
Scrapple - Soundtrack (Buy)
Scrapple - The Movie (Buy) or (Rent)
Widespread Panic - The Earth Will Swallow You (Buy) or (Rent)
Taj Mahal - Maestro (iTunes)
Keller Williams - Laugh (iTunes)
Cymande - Renegades of Funk (iTunes)
The Black Crowes - Warpaint (iTunes)

Los Angeles Concerts:
Taj Mahal & The Phantom Blues Band @ House of Blues Sunset Strip on 10/23 (BUY TIX)
Keller Williams with Mosley, Droll & Sipe @ El Rey Theatre on 11/7 (BUY TIX)

Photo: Guy Eppel

When I was at this year’s Lollapalooza in Chicago I met Jenny Eliscu.

Jenny has been with Rolling Stone for almost 10 years where she’s gone from a young writer to her current role as one of the magazine’s contributing editors. She’s the author of Schools that Rock: The Rolling Stone College Guide. When she is not writing and traveling to festivals, she hosts Left of Center on Sirius Satellite Radio.

We had a great talk and discussed everything from her coverage of the Napster trial, George Harrison, Amy Winehouse, tequila shots and the current state of music business.

R&G: How did you get your start with Rolling Stone?

Jenny: I started off at a consumer magazine called the CMJ New Music Monthly and after 5 years was looking for anything at a real magazine. I interviewed for a job at Details that I didn’t get because I was supposedly “over-qualified”, which is hardly flattering when you’re like, “No. What do you mean? I’ll take it!”. I remained in contact and became friends with the guy who interviewed me. I didn’t know it at the time, but he had worked for rollingstone.com and when a position opened up he recommended me for it.

R&G: What was his name?

Jenny: Rob Levine. He’s a fantastic dude and responsible for a great deal of my career thus far with that one simple gesture.

R&G: When did you start writing for the magazine?

Jenny: I had been at rollingstone.com for maybe two weeks when my current editor, Jason Fine, came down and asked me to go to Woodstock ’99 to do a story for the magazine about this doctor who was setting up a psychiatric triage for kids who were tripping on whatever they tripped on in 1999. So I was like, “What? First of all, I’m going to Woodstock ’99? Second of all, I’m writing a story for Rolling Stone Magazine? What the fuck?”

R&G: That’s a major story for your first article.

Jenny: Yeah! Oh my God, totally! I had no idea. I look back now and I know I felt very humbled by the experience, but I don’t think I knew what the hell I was doing. I could do it so much better now; obviously. This entire summer I’m going to festivals, and now it’s stressful since I’m covering them. But I know what I’m doing now. Whereas Woodstock ’99 was a literally trial by fire.

R&G: I’m interested in how technology is disrupting the music business. You covered the Napster trial. Did you or anyone you interview foresee the impact that Peer to Peer Technology (P2P) would have on the music industry today?

Jenny: Oh no…definitely not. I have to say that when the initial Napster story broke, it had reached a point of being a mainstream issue where everybody was using it. When Metallica and Dr. Dre decided to sue Napster, it was obvious that something big was going to happen that seemed like it would change everything.

R&G: But didn’t it blow your mind at the time? Did you think that the labels, with all the money they had, might be able to get rid of this type of “uprising”?

Jenny: It’s hard to say. I really wish I could look back on that with 20/20 vision. I’m not skirting the issue by being journalistic, but you can’t be too convinced you know what’s going to happen next, or you lose your engagement with the topic. The other thing is that nobody fucking knew what was happening. Every issue, I would do a story on Napster and I would interview experts and various execs in the music business. I was talking to Jimmy Iovine about what this Napster thing was going to do and asking Dr. Dre why he’s suing Napster. Everybody had different ideas. For a while, it was, “It’s going to be the universal jukebox where you can stream any song you ever wanted to hear online in an instant, high quality audio, so why would anyone need to download anything.” Then other people would say, “Oh, it’s all going to be downloaded. Nobody wants to stream. They want it on their hard drive.Then the iPod came out. Nobody saw that coming. Nobody fuckin’ saw that. It came up from behind. All the shit that people postulated would happen, none of it happened, and now Apple rules the music business.

R&G: Do you think Steve Jobs is good for the music industry?

Jenny: Definitely. Steve Jobs is great. Even if he does what he does for purely mercenary reasons, he is just a good capitalist. Shaking things up is better for music. Anybody who comes in and fucks shit up is great for the industry.

R&G: Where do you see the music industry in the next five years?

Jenny: Well, if I’ve learned anything in covering this stuff, it’s not to make any predictions.

R&G: But make one.

Jenny: Five years ago, the landscape for digital distribution and music was really not that different from what it’s like now, but obviously, five years prior to that it was very different. I think the personal electronic side of things is really in its biggest boom right now. Some “smart” opinions are that wireless companies might start buying/investing in record labels.

R&G: With all these potential business models the consumer ends up losing out on music at some point. It’s going to be tough to get all of your music in one place.

Jenny: I totally agree with you. That’s bad for music, and when it’s bad for music, consumers respond by not buying as much of what you’re putting out there. It’s almost impossible to transition into any of these potentially viable models until the publishers of songs start loosening their hold on the purse strings a little bit. You can’t have this competition where only this label’s songs are available here on this download site. Give the customers what they want.

R&G: What do you think of music blogs breaking stories “real time” before the magazines can report on them?

Jenny: When well executed, they are a great thing. I do think that, as a writer, clearly the first two things that suffer are writing and reporting in those instances. So you have a lot of false information that people take as true because it’s presumably a news source when it’s not; it’s a blog, and so that is unfortunate. From a Rolling Stone standpoint, that’s not what we do. We offer a more expert and thoroughly written look at the stories we report and think our readers care about most.

R&G: So you guys have to move faster on your deadlines to get the magazine out?

Jenny: We come out every two weeks, so we have very short lead times. In response to the popularity of blogs and even YouTube and stuff like that, we have to reconsider how we cover things like the Video Music Awards because where it falls in our production cycle, it could be old news with all the good jokes made and the insights insighted.

Continue Jenny Eliscu Interview After The Jump

I recently met with Rob Barbato, Darker My Love’s bassist & vocalist, at the Oinkster “Slow Fast Food” in Eagle Rock, CA. To get there, I had to take 101 South to the 110 North to the I-5 North to the CA-2 North Glendale. With LA traffic, it can be a 45 minute drive or 2 hour 45 minute drive. I arrived at the restaurant 30 minutes early and a little anxious because my cell was broken (it was being fixed by a guy name Hooman on Sunset) and I had no way to get in touch with him. I thought he might have bailed, but when Rob arrived 30 minutes late he was very apologetic; he had lost track of time practicing with his friend Cass McCombs.

Rob is a likable guy that his friends describe as an “old soul”; humble, but confident in his ability as a musician. During our interview we discussed a wide range of topics: the release of DML’s new album,“2″, (Out today 8/5-iTunes), touring with The Fall, Life and Death and Lumberjacks.

R&G: It’s been almost two years since the release of your self-titled album. You finished mixing your sophomore record, “2”, in February. Is the anticipation of the release killing you?

Rob: Yeah…there were a few months there– end of May, early June – I was really starting to go crazy. Now, things are starting to pick up. I’m pretty excited.

R&G: What about the MP3 challenge you set for yourself in May (write and record new song every day until the album comes out).

Rob: It was during that period when I was kind of going insane from waiting for the record to come out. Everyone was doing other stuff and I felt really isolated and unproductive; I was kind of having a bit of writer’s block, over thinking stuff, so I tried to make rules so that it was more like a game and less like writing music. Wake up; you’ve got to get it done. It doesn’t matter what happens. That’s what it is.

R&G: You’d already put out the songs that were on 2. Were you writing material for the next album or just practicing?

Rob: Practicing writing. To totally not hone the skill but get a better idea of what you’re doing unconsciously when you’re writing a song because if you consciously try to write a song, a lot of the time it doesn’t work out. So if you set these parameters, you shut off your mind to the more petty aspects of writing and do it for the fun of writing; basically trying to spark something up. You never know… some of those things could turn into songs later on when you start refining, editing and producing them.

R&G: Speaking of producing, how was working with producer Dave Cooley [Silversun Pickups, J Dilla]?

Rob: Dave’s a really cool guy. He’s really good at guiding you in the right direction; where to go. He worked with us a lot before we got into the studio.

R&G: Didn’t he recommend you guys to Dangerbird [DML Label)?

Rob: Yeah. He and Brian [Aubert] from Silversun Pickups were kind of the reason we got signed there. We didn’t really know either of them, but Dave, bless his soul, he got us on the label. He’s a great producer. Really, I think in the next few years, people are going to see him come out as a really big producer. He’s great at letting you be yourself but he also challenges you to challenge yourself in ways you wouldn’t normally.

R&G: How did you feel when he disagreed with your writing or direction?

Rob: Of course anyone would have their ego kind of bruised. When you write a song and think it’s the greatest song in the world and someone comes in and says, “Well, have you thought about trying it like this?” you’re ego is kind of crushed. But, what’s great about Dave is, with him, you can try it in his direction and if it doesn’t work, and you don’t like it, it’s no sweat. It’s not like he says, “Well, it’s gotta be that way.” It’s like, “Cool. It didn’t work.”

R&G: Do you look at him as a mentor?

Rob: Yeah, you know…he’s like a buddy now and he has great advice. It’s great because he’s got the perspective of not being in the band but knowing us really well now. He knows how to deal with each of our personalities and dynamics, so he has no problem saying “You should try doing this.”

R&G: The album was mixed by Tony Hoffer [Beck, Kooks]. Tell me about him.

Rob: He’s a really funny guy; great sense of humor. He did a great job mixing us, but after we were there, after I met him, I wanted to hang out with him. He’s a cool dude. He’s a part of the Dangerbird family; Jeff [Castelaz] manages him. It’s like a dynamic duo between Dave and Tony.

R&G: You wrote the current single “Two Ways Out” while you were in a Los Angeles hospital with a 105? temperature. Ironically, it’s the most optimistic and bright Darker My Love song to date.

Rob: It was 2006 and I had just gotten back from tour and was wearing moccasins the whole time I was in England. They had holes in the bottom and I got staph infection. I had gone to two other doctors who said it was ringworm. It built up and got in my blood and I got a really bad fever. We were on tour for the first record and we were coming down from Seattle, and I was sick. I just didn’t feel good. I played Portland, got to San Francisco and then went to the hospital there. They misdiagnosed it, and when I got to LA, I went to Cedar Sinai after we played the Troubadour. They were like, “You can’t leave“.

R&G: Was it a life or death situation?

Rob: (Pause)…Kind of. I didn’t realize the gravity of the moment when I was in it. You don’t think about how the people who are fixing you are just like you (laughs); they’re just human. They might not know what’s up. When you’re little you think doctors know everything, but they can make mistakes. It’s pretty scary.

R&G: The song and your upcoming album are creating quite a buzz. How does the band feel about the success?

Rob: It’s not really happening because we’re not going around playing shows. Really what we want is to be able to go out and headline shows and have people come out and have a good time and then come back and make good records, or the best records we can make. I’m just hoping that… we’ll see what happens as we tour through the rest of this year. I wanna see more people come out to the shows and stuff.

R&G: Both you and Tim Presley [Guitar, Vocals-Darker My Love] were in Mark E. Smith’s legendary band “The Fall”. Were you stressed or did he make you feel at ease?

Rob: No. At times it’s stressful. Anything is stressful. Working relationship, you know?

R&G: When did you realize that he accepted you as peers?

Rob: When he asked us to come over for the Fall’s 30th anniversary show in Manchester, which was the first time I’d ever been to the UK. That was when I realized he really liked us and liked the band and just liked us as people and enjoyed having us around. He’s a really funny guy… really has a great sense of humor.

R&G: Did you and Tim both mature as musicians?

Rob: Oh yeah. Some of my greatest experiences have been while I had the opportunity to play with Mark. He helped us by touring and dealing with the music business in general. I had never played in front of more than a thousand people. That had been like the most. And then I played in front of thirty thousand, forty thousand, now…

R&G: What were your biggest/best Fall Shows?

Rob: We played the last night at the Hammersmith Palais; this famous place in London where Bob Marley and the Clash played. They closed it down. It was like The Good, The Bad, The Queen played the night before and then we played the last night on April Fools’ Day; it was insane. Also the last show we played in Barcelona when we were there last year. We played our show and our show went really well; we had the next day off and Orpheo (McCord) and I just sat on the Mediterranean watching Sonic Youth play Daydream Nation with the Band of Horses dudes and some of the guys from Built To Spill. (Smiles) It doesn’t get much better than that.

R&G: When Andy Granelli [Drummer-Darker My Love] and Tim were the band Nerve Agents, Tim was known as “Timmy Stardust” and Andy was known as “Andy Outbreak”. Your guitarist Jared’s [Everett] handle is “The Sandwich”. What’s yours?

Rob: I suppose I’m, I don’t know…

R&G: Lumberjack?

Rob: (Laughs) Yeah, I guess the lumberjack.

Rob: Andy and I were somewhere and Andy had a beard at the time and we both had on flannel shirts and they’re like, “Oh my god, look at those lumberjacks.” (Laughs) I think we might have been in New York and they thought it was crazy that we’d go out dressed that way.

R&G: Your hometown Boston is your favorite place to play. In the MTVU interview, you said New York was your second favorite city. But you recently told me that Charleston is one of your favorite cities. Where does it rank against New York? Alright, rank LA, New York, Charleston, Boston, and San Francisco?

Rob: I would go Boston, San Francisco, Charleston, New York, LA.

R&G: You played several shows in Charleston, South Carolina last year. Did you guys stay out at the beach?

Rob: We actually stayed out by the airport… way the hell out there (laughs). So, we were taking cabs into town, but it was real fun.

R&G: You played at the Music Farm.

Rob: Yeah. We played there twice with Cass Mccombs and Band of Horses.

R&G: The (Band of Horses) put out a great album last year (Cease to Begin). The additions of Tyler Ramsey, Bill Reynolds and Ryan Monroe have taken those guys to the next level.

Rob: I think they’re really starting to come into their own. Comfortable… because with any band, you have to become comfortable with who you are, find who you are, and we’re still doing that, you know?

R&G: Where are you now?

Rob: We took a giant step with this new record. I think playing this next year and touring will be the other big step. Once you do that, you become comfortable with who you are and it just projects out to the audience and fans and people can really connect with that. I’m so critical of myself; I want to do great stuff.

R&G: Can you hear it if it’s not great stuff?

Rob: I do, but it all sounds different out front than it does from the stage.

R&G: Can you tell from the audience if they’re feeling it or does it even matter?

Rob: It doesn’t really matter. I mean, I don’t think necessarily it helps you when the audience is going off, but I don’t think that means you’re having a good or bad show, whether people… because when people go to shows, all their insecurities are there too. Your insecurities onstage are apparent and their insecurities are apparent because they’re in this place with a bunch of people, you’re supposedly trying to be cool, there’s alcohol and stuff going on, and maybe when you’re younger – I remember going to shows when I was younger – and it’s like being scared of older people, people like my age now.

R&G: Best beard in the business: Rob Barbato, Ben Bridwell (Band of Horses), or Sam Beam (Iron and Wine).

Rob: (Laughs) I’ll have to go with Sam Beam on that. I’ve had mine probably as long as I’ve known about him, so it wasn’t like a conscious effort, but he’s got a pretty hefty…

***Catch DML tonight in San Francisco or Thursday in Los Angeles (details below) where the $9.99 price of the ticket includes a copy of the album. Or download it here:

Aug 5 San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
Aug 7 Los Angeles, CA @ Troubadour

From “2″ (Dangerbird) Download (Right-Click Save As):
MP3: Darker My Love - Northern Soul
MP3: Darker My Love - Two Ways Out

From “Darker My Love” (Dangerbird) Download (Right-Click Save As):
MP3: Darker My Love - Summer Is Here
MP3: Darker My Love - Claws & Paws

Darker My Love is opening for The Dandy Warhols this fall:

Sept. 9 . Minneapolis . First Avenue . 9 pm
Sept. 10 . Madison, WI . Barrymore Theatre . 8 pm
Sept. 12 . Chicago . Vic Theatre . 8 pm
Sept. 13 . Toronto . Kool Haus . 9 pm
Sept. 14 . Montreal . Club Soda . 8 pm
Sept. 16 . Boston . Wilbur Theatre . 7:30 pm
Sept. 17 . NYC . Terminal 5 . 8 pm
Sept. 20 . Philadelphia . Theater of Living Arts . 9 pm
Sept. 22 . Washington, DC . 9:30 Club . 8 pm
Sept. 23 . Atlanta . Center Stage Atlanta . 8 pm
Sept. 26 . Lawrence, KS . Liberty Hall . 8 pm
Sept. 27 . Denver . Gothic Theatre . 9 pm
Sept. 28 . Aspen, CO . Belly Up Aspen . 9 pm

(L-R) Craig Dougald (Drums); Aaron Evans (Guitar, Vocals);
Chris White (Guitar, Vocals); Doug Wanamaker (Keyboards);
David Ibbeken (Guitar, Vocals); Shawn McCrystal (Bass).

I ain’t got no worries; Ah baby it’s going to be a sunny day
(Indecision, Just A Little Bit)

Stream Only:
Indecision - Just A Little Bit

“Just a Little Bit”, sums up the vibe that Indecision has been passing on to their fans since the mid-to-late 80’s, before Widespread Panic, Dave Matthews Band and Phish became fixtures on the jam-band scene. They were the biggest and best with all three of the previously mentioned bands opening for them at one time or another. Before the band retired from touring full-time in 1993, they released three albums; the self titled Indecision, Ponder Yonder, and Reservoir, and since then have subsequently released Live at the Chameleon Club, The Great Road, Black Water Sunday, and Live Volume One.

It’s an honor and a pleasure to have Indecision’s, David Ibbeken, for our 1st interview.

R&G: Hi David. So what are you guys up to these days?

David Ibbeken: Since we are not touring full time any more, all of us have day jobs, all but one are married, and 4 out of 6 have kids. That said, all of us have stayed active in music in one form or another and will continue to do so hopefully until we drop.

R&G: How are the shows going so far?

David Ibbeken: We stopped full time in 1993, and about a year later started playing a couple shows a year and that steadily grew to playing about once or twice a month which is just enough to stay in the scene without having to be on the road all the time. Most of our shows are still in that southeast coast corridor from DC to Florida, with an occasional run up to NYC.

R&G: Yeah, a lot of friends on the east coast tell me they go to see you whenever you’re playing the Carolinas. How do your current shows compare with those from the 80’s and 90’s?

David Ibbeken: Generally speaking, the shows themselves are still about the same as what we’ve done for the last 24 years, though I think our ability to create on the go has gotten better.

R&G: What is your audience like these days?

David Ibbeken: Our crowd has gotten a bit older….and we have not been great about reaching out to younger audiences.

R&G: Do you guys still get together during the year to practice or do things just come together for you instinctively?

David Ibbeken: Practice with the full band happens a couple times a year because Shawn McCrystal [bass player] lives in Atlanta and everyone else lives in the Charlottesville area, however those of us in Virginia will get together with a little more frequency especially if we are learning new tunes. As far as our interplay with each other during shows, that is pretty much like riding a bike, and playing gigs only one weekend a month keeps it fresh.

R&G: You guys built a grassroots following from your live shows. What do you attribute this to?

David Ibbeken: In the late 80’s and early 90’s, the live jam was a great thing and college aged folks seemed to really dig live music perhaps a bit more than they do these days. I think the grassroots movement starts at home and grows by having original music that has something unique about it. We had and still have 2 things going for us: solid songwriting, and the ability to make an open jam [either within a song or otherwise] a thing unto itself, accessible to listeners even if one is not necessarily a jam-band fan.

R&G: Over the years I have heard many people refer to Indecision as a jam band. Personally, I wouldn’t put you in that category even though there were definitely some jams during your shows. How would you describe your music?

David Ibbeken: Describing our music was always something of a difficult question, and I guess it still is. Whenever you start adding anything improvisational or “jam” you get labeled as a Grateful Dead style band. We used to get that label quite a bit, usually from people that weren’t into that sort of thing.

Download (Right-Click Save As):
MP3: Indecision - Take It All In (Live)

R&G: Can you take me back to the days when you guys were playing with WSP, DMB and Phish? How was it working with them before they had made their bones?

David Ibbeken: We were very fortunate to play with those bands and even more fortunate to be able to say each of those groups opened up for us at one point. Can’t really say that any of us are tight with any of those guys but, they are all great people and great musicians and hopefully one day we could share the stage again.

R&G: I imagine you didn’t envision that all three bands would sellout Madison Square Garden. That blows my mind.

David Ibbeken: In the early 90’s, selling out MSG was hard to envision, but that is what perseverance and talent will get you.

R&G: You played Bonnaroo in 2003. How did that come about?

David Ibbeken: We just finished our last studio recording with David Lowery of Cracker/Camper Van Beethoven fame, and had some buzz going at the time, but I believe it was Coran Capshaw [manager of DMB and one of the principal organizers of Bonnaroo] who gave us the nod for this one. Coran has always been a supporter of Indecision and was generous to offer a spot at what I think is the best festival going.

R&G: Have there been any discussions about going on an extended tour?

David Ibbeken: Day jobs and family obligations are probably the biggest hurdle to any extended touring. If financially we could make it work, it might be a different story, but that would probably take breaking into a higher bracket of audience size. If we could get some opening slots for some of these bands we used to play with, I feel pretty good we could turn on a whole new group of fans which in turn might allow us to quit our day jobs…who knows, maybe one day.

R&G: If you had to choose, what’s your favorite Indecision album and why?

David: Ibbeken: Well, I like Ponder Yonder, Great Road and Live Volume One for different reasons and depending on what day of the week it is. PY was recorded at a great time for us, when we were playing with Phish, WSP, DMB and many others and it has good tunes on it, most of which we still play.

R&G: I love Ponder Yonder. It’s definitely my favorite. Reservoir is a close 2nd.

R&G: Which one of your Charleston, South Carolina performances was your favorite?

David Ibbeken: Charleston was always a fun place to play, and we played there quite a bit… people seem to have their own way of enjoying themselves there which is infectious. I would have to say either playing with Blues Traveler at the Ports Authority or one of the old Music Farm gigs was the best. But anyway you look at it we gathered many fans and good times in C-town.

R&G: I was at the Blues Traveler show and a few of the old Farm gigs. They were always a blast. That being said, what prompted you to retire from touring full time in 1993?

David Ibbeken: Stopping was not an easy decision, but may have been necessary at that point. We had been touring pretty hard for about 3 years and even though we seemed to be on par with the other bands we were playing wi