A Grizzly Discussion with....

Grizzly Magic Entertainment

Luther Dickinson from North Mississippi All Stars

Jeff Pevar

ULU

Dr Didg

Luther Dickinson of North Mississippi Allstars-

Mike Maresca:

I guess we’ll just start off with a couple questions. What were you like as a kid

LUTHER DICKINSON:

well, my brother and I both grew up playing guitar since, Cody was bout 4 and I was six.. we just grew up playing rock and roll, blues, all kinds of stuff. then when Cody was 10 he got a drum set, and I was playing electric guitar. and we’ve had a band ever since.
MM: NICE
LD:and we've been professional since I was about 17, so, wow that’s going on twelve years now, I’m 29 so, Ya know we've just been steady but surely.
MM:I noticed you actually used to play in a punk band.
LD: YEAH
MM: How was that
LD:Ya know teenagers loud being loud
MM:you still bust out any punk tunes now. well not so you much listen, but you ever play an old tune you like but rearrange it to more your style.
LD: YEAH ya know, sometimes we still sit around and play some black flag song.
MM: Nice you've played with so many people who would you like to play with that’s still around
LD: I would like to collaborate with some of the English artists that are out there these days, like Jason spaceman of spiritualized, I’m a big fan of, and of course the Gallagher brothers, I really like those guys. I would like to work with some of those guys. but ya know in the last couple of years we've made records at home with Jon Spencer, Jim Mathis of squirrel nut zippers. the word and Joe Joe Herman from widespread panic his solo record came out on fat possum.
MM: Nice
LD: we've really had a great time making records with our friends here in the past.
MM: Everybody I have mentioned you to has actually mentions the Jon Spencer Blues explosion. so that seems to have gotten your word around. what about touring, does that spread the bands name around a lot . I mean you did 191 shows in 2000.
LD: Yeah , touring has definitely been the key to the all-stars, cause even before our first record came out. like in, we started really touring in 98. so 98 and 99 we were on the road a lot ya know almost as much without a record out. and I think once the first record came out that really helped .
MM: what was the name of your first record again.
LD: excuse me?
MM:
LD: what was the name of your first record.
LD: Shake hands with Shorty.
MM: all right And the new one is 51 phantom
LD: That’s right.
MM: nice
LD: and yeah definitely touring we're just a grass roots band for the people.
MM: Finally making it up to Canada, how’s that going.
LD: yeah I love it man I love it love Toronto , love Ottawa, I love Montreal, Vancouver’s a great city.
MM: you psyched to be coming up to providence. you guys played through here before
LD: I'm not sure I don't think we made it up there yet.
MM: I think it will be a good show,. saint patty’s day, anything special worked out.
LD: ya ha ha ha, no not yet.
MM: No green hair or nothing.
LD: that’s right.
MM: now you personally produce stuff too right.
LD: Yeah I produced a couple of records on the blues man from Mississippi Othar turner, he plays the cane pipe and his family members play the drums behind him, and he’s really great. and my brother produces also. he produced the band Lucero who's opening up for us on this tour. and together we produced shake hands with shorty our first record
MM: I’ve never even heard of othar turner, do you find that a lot of young kids these days are finding out about the roots of Miss because of your band
LD: oh no, actually to be honest I think most of the young kids, just take it at face value, ya know they don't know or care. But sometimes we definitely meet people that we have turned onto fat possum north Mississippi hill country experience
MM: Now I was reading your web site there how is your church of music different than say jimi hendrix's electric church
LD: Huh,
MM: I read one quote that you kinda compared it to religion, and you obviously have some Hendrix influence in ya. I was wondering if you made the similarity between the two.
LD: Yeah Hendrix and the electric church right
MM: yup
LD: Yeah, that sounds pretty good to me. Especially with the band the word, we def. take the electric church
MM: Live taping, I gotta say I am very grateful that you do allow live taping. My friend let me borrow shake hands with shorty and instead of burning it I went out and downloaded a couple live shows instead. what do you think about etree and napster and stuff like that Does it help the band bring out more people to the shows.
LD: Yeah definitely I think its all good for the band, its just publicity. I think in the years to come the record industry is probably gonna change a whole lot. But ya know we’ll just wait and see about that. we love making records and we love playing shows. so we'll continue to make records for the artistic relief. ya know its a different form ya know of music and I thinks its great that people tape shows and trade them and their interested enough to keep up with our day to day life like that
MM: You produced the first album, I read that you mostly went in and did it one track two track. Is that to try to capture more of the essence of a live show and the raw feel.. I mean a couple tracks your drummer, according to your web site hadn't even played yet.
LD: Excuse me, you talking about shake hands with shorty
MM: I think so, I think that was the one were you went into the studio and the drummer hadn't even heard a couple of the songs and it was like literally first take and it was just smokin.
LD: Oh no that’s the second record
MM: That’s the second one OK
LD: that’s 51 phantom, and our father, Jim Dickinson, was producing and that’s the way he likes to do it sometimes. yeah it was real spontaneous very easy recording.
MM: Now how has commercial radio accepted your music
LD: Man, I’ve been surprised from the very jump. We don't really fit into any modern rock that you see or hear, but its been great man. It helps us out a lot
MM: I know a lot of college stations, we've been playing the album for a month now, and some live stuff further beyond. But I think college stations will eat you guys up alive.
LD: Yeah yeah definitely, I mean I grew up on community stations, I mean I love them all.
MM: You guys gonna do any northeast festivals this summer?
LD: I sure hope so.
MM: Nothing planned yet though
LD: No
MM: Since you've obviously been all over into Canada, how do the crowds differ show to show for ya?
LD: Oh man, ya know, ever since like new years, all the shows have been really great man. we've been having a Really great tour, lots of shows selling out Sometimes its too crowded to dance ya know
MM: Some bigger places in the future. Yeah you guys are def. gonna pack the met. Only holds about 200 to 250 people
LD: Right that’s gonna be sick. Its gonna be fun though, I like the intimate shows.
MM: I got a quote hear from your dad that I thought was kinda interesting , he says your brother swings as a drummer How does that help you out.
LD: Oh man, ya know it perpetuates the groove man. Cody and Chris, the bass player, the rhythm section they are so good. Ya know it makes life a, The Ease...man playing with those guys is so much fun. I think its the drums and the bass that gets the girls ass shakin.
MM: That is the key, definitely, I went to govt mule show and their were eight girls there. I was like oh god. Good to know that won't be happening at your show. there’ll be a lot more booty shaking. What would your dad say about your playing?
LD: Oh man I don't know, ... I couldn't tell you.
MM: Now do you play just guitar or what else do you play.
LD: I'm pretty much just a guitar player.and, lets see we have another guitar player with us, Dwayne Burnside, so we're a four piece now. and uh, I pretty much just stick to guitar.
MM: You've been compared to cream, widespread panic, steppenwolf, what makes your sound different.
LD: I don’t know man. I don't think we really sound like any of those bands. We have a really strange sound man.
MM: you guys defiantly have your own sound, like when I listened to the album once, then I heard it again and instantly knew it was the north Mississippi all-stars.
LD: Yeah yeah and ya know, I’m kinda lucky people like it cause it doesn’t really, cause like I said it doesn't really fit into what most people dig, but the sound that we make is just what comes natural to us man, we just play what we wanna play.
MM: How does the energy of the crowd affect you. Like can you tell when the crowds bumping and gets your heart going faster,
LD: Yeah definitely ya know, definitely A packed house gives you energy and definitely when the people are getting down you can feel it. Of course you want to say we're professional and we play just as well every night, but I think its a two way street and the audience, ya know if it wasn't for the audience, there wouldn't even be a show. Ya know if they didn't come and buy the tickets, we'd have to go home. So we really appreciate the audience
MM: Can you describe the differences and similarities between your two albums..
LD: Sure, the first album , shake hands with shorty, are songs that we grew up playing, and songs that we’d been playin on the road for a couple years, they're mainly hill country traditional that we learned from where we grew up. And ya know we kinda have this style where we combine psychedelic rock and hill country blues and a little gospel all thrown. The second record 51 phantom is mainly originals, its kinda extremes. half is more rockin in a way and half of it is more mellow. There are 3 or 4 slower songs and then there’s some heavier riff rock songs
MM: Kinda like the pace of a live show, ya know mix it up a little.
LD: Yeah oh yeah, definitely, we usually end up playing most of both records.
MM: What are you listening to these days??
LD: Man I’ve been listening to spiritualized, a great band from England, I’ve been listening to black rebel motorcycle club, to white stripes, we listened to the strokes all winter long, there a new song California, by that band phantom planet. That’s a hit single there.
MM: Have you guys played over in England yet.
LD: Yeah we've been over seas like 5 or 6 times
MM: Cause you keep mentioning English music, I’m like these guys had to have gone there.
LD: Yeah we love going over seas, the English are really really cool and they really like to party. and we always have fun shows over there. And playing the European festival circuit is really really fun cause all the best bands from all over the world are there, its really a blast.
MM: Why do you think people should go see you saint patty’s day at the met cafe?
LD: Man, cause the all-stars only come through town once in a while and we really know how through a hell of a party, and, if you don't have a lady you might meet one there, there gonna be plenty, and if you do have a lady, bring her on down and she'll definitely get in the mood.
MM: When you guys tour, you drivin around in your little van or moving up to the bigger stuff yet, how’s' life on the road.
LD: Oh man, life on the road is great. We've been in a bus mainly for the last year, but now we're back in the van pulling the trailer, and its good man, the van keeps it real..
MM: Now who’s on the tour, your brother, Chris, you, anyone else?
LD: Dwayne Burnside's playing guitar with us and singing, one of RL Burnside’s sons. And we gut two guys in the crew.
MM: Cool, that’s about all the questions I have. I gotta a couple random questions. Britney spears musician or not?
LD: Excuse me
MM: Britney spears musician or not?
LD: Oh man......she’s a...ya know..a singer and dancer not a musician.
MM: What’s your favorite cartoon Luther?
LD: Man, my favorite cartoon, Fritz the cat, its an old movie from the 70's.
MM: I think that’s about it man
LD: well alright I appreciate it bro.
MM: Not a problem.
LD: Thanks for the help man.
MM: I’m psyched man I can't wait to go Sunday . Thank you very much Luther I'll let you guys get back to the road. I'll see ya Sunday .
LD: I’ll see ya later
MM: alright, thank you
LD: ALright bro

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Jeff Pevar

This interview took place on August 29 at the Living Room in Providence, RI.
Jeff Pevar was playing a show with Scott Murawski from Max Creek and it also featured Greg Vasso from Jiggle on drums and Dave Livosi on bass.
The show was known as "guitarness" for obvious reasons. Present at the interview was Jeff Pevar and myself, Thad, as well as random people breaking down the stage behind us.
This show was part of Grizzly Magic Entertainment's Wednesday night's at the Living Room in Providence, RI.
www.grizzlymagic.com
www.pevar.com
www.maxcreek.com

Thad:

I have noticed that in addition to playing with a variety of performers, you have your own band. Tell me about them and what the future might hold.

Jeff:

Over the years, because I am based in Connecticut, I threw together a number of my talented friends that live in the Hartford area, as well as players who were friends of mine from my years of living in New York. So either place I will bring up players, and I will kind of mix and match, but we are not really a band. I will throw together a night at a club and then I will kind of decide who I am going to call up, so you kind of need people's availability, and I will mix and match with different players. There have been over the years a number of players who have become kind of the regular first class, but there are times when they are not available and when they aren't I see it as a great opportunity to try another combination of people. That's kind of what it has been over the last... ...God....well, as long as I have been doing it. And luckily, the chemistry has been really good and being from Hartford, CT and having a chance to tour the world with different people, like Ray Charles, and Crosby and Nash, and Ricki Lee Jones, Joe Cocker, I think people appreciate it that I kind of come home and throw together local gigs.

Thad: What are some of your favorite moments on stage in recent years?

Jeff: Here's how I feel about that. I feel that everyday I get a chance to play music, is like a gift. So if its playing in front of a 150,000 people, like I do with Joe Cocker, or if its playing in front of twenty people in a little club, or if I am playing in front of anything in between, I just feel so fortunate be able to play music, and do something that I love to do. So its been a million things that have meant alot to me, like playing at Carnegie Hall, or playing behind the Berlin Wall before it came down with Cocker, we'd do that a couple of times. It was one of the first rock and roll concerts they had in East Berlin and in Dresden, while the Wall was still up. And also playing in your hometown in front of people who have kind of seen you from when you were a little dork in high school, and going through your trials and tribulations, and to be of inspiration to any of those people who want to follow their dreams.

Thad: What was it like trying out for Phil and Friends and how did it feel to know that he wanted to include you for a tour?

Jeff: Well, certainly I am very honored, there's such a legacy there thats so important to so many people. And I think it was a great opportunity for me to play some impressive music, thats sort of catalogued as American popular music, but also I think Crosby was so tight with Phil, it had alot to do with me getting the gig. There were so many great guitar players, Scott including, who Phil was very interested in working with, and Phil told me that he loved the way that Scott played, and he wanted to work with him. So it was more so the timing, and I think the connection with David. And then when Phil, lost Kimock, which is a story unto itself, and then they tried a couple of other guys, and then all of a sudden they found the combination with Herring and Warren, and they felt like yeah, this is it. And I am happy for them, because it is working. Its working, I mean Warren is an unbelievable singer, and that, I think, helps the sound, and Jimmy's untouchable.

Thad: Describe how Phil will come up with ideas about jams he wants to include in and around certain songs.

Jeff: Well, I think the Grateful Dead as a band came up with concepts have held through Phil and Friends, as well as Phish, as well as alot of other people who play that type of music. Then again, the Grateful Dead didn't come up with improvisation, it has been a part of music, in jazz music ever since its conception of course. But using they types of music the Grateful Dead played with jamming, I think they were frontiers in, and it opened up alot of doors that alot of people were very moved by. I think Phil and Friends carried in that style, and obviously a band is only as flexible and valuable as the members involved. So, Phil has a concept, and then its up to the players to kind of interpret that concept. So, every night its going to be different with the same players, and every band is going to be different, every musical combination is going to be different, so that's what kind of what is happening with that ensemble. I think every combination showed its own ability to kind of morph and do different stuff....

Jeff interupted to say goodbye to a musician he played with that night.

....so I think the concept that Phil changed from when I was in the band, a little bit anyway, to what I have seen now. There is alot more of everybody playing on top of each other which is interesting for me but I'd like to be like a vocalist. The vocalist has the space, I like it when the guitarist is playing a solo and there is not a million things going on. Now thats a style, and I am not putting that down, I am just saying what I would rather play to, so I struggled a little bit with that. But I basically tried the best that I could, but we had alot of fun.

Thad: With regards to Phil and Friends, how much is improvisational and how much was read off of the music stands on stage?

Jeff: With Phil I had to learn over seventy songs, not just how the songs go, but I had to sing backgrounds, as well as lead, I had to sing lead on a bunch of songs. So to learn that many songs in the period of time that I had was basically impossible without some kind of help.

Thad: The Summit Music Festival was based on musical collaborations between musicians. How much planning for onstage musical collaboration was going on backstage?

Jeff: None. I did get asked to sit in with.........

Thad: String Cheese.

Jeff: String Cheese, thank you. So that was a surprise to me. They actually asked me to come back to their tent, and kind of showed me the general idea of the chords for the tunes we were going to play. They were more concerned about it then I was, because my ear is pretty quick, but I was really glad we did spend that time together.

Thad: And they had just heard of your guitar playing and wanted you to sit in?

Jeff: Their drummer.....

Thad: Travis.

Jeff: Travis came up to me and told me that he was a big fan of CPR and he loved our music, and that he wanted to know if I would sit in. And I was absolutely thrilled because I had heard of String Cheese, but I had never seen them play and it was scary at first.

Thad: What is the difference between playing with Phil and playing with Mike? (Jeff played with Scott Murawski and Friends on 4/20 at the Living Room, which included Mike Gordon on bass).

Jeff: Well, everybody tells their own story, its like saying whats it like having a conversation with that person and that person. So everybody has their own mark, has their own way they interpret their essence into their instrument. They're both phenomenal musicians. I know that Mike is probably a little influenced by Phil, but Gordon definately, has his own voice, and has developed his own voice.

If you would like to send feedback on this interview you can email me at thadayazides@hotmail.com. Don't forget to check out Grizzly Magic Entertainment's website at www.grizzlymagic.com, where this interview will also be posted.
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ULU

Before ulu hit the stage at The Living Room in Providence, RI on Wednesday, Aug. 15th,
we stopped for a bite to eat at a local restaurant where I had the chance
to catch up with them and ask them a few questions.
Present at the interview was all of ulu: Scott Chasolen/keyboards,
Justin Wallace/bass, Aaron Gardner/sax, and David Hoffman/drums. Also
present was ulu's road manager Todd Kaback, and myself, Thad.
This show was part of Wednesday Night jambands at The Living Room hosted by
Grizzly Magic Entertainment.
www.grizzlymagic.com
www.ulu.net

Start of interview:

Justin: Could you pass my seltzer please?

Thad: ulu is starting to become regulars at major festivals such as Berkfest,
and they were also invited to Gathering of the Vibes for the first time
this summer, and will be playing the moe.down soon. How has playing these
festivals influenced you guys as a band, or the band's music?

Justin: Our road manager gets to go to the festivals for free.

Dave: I think that the exposure from fans of other bands has been great, it totally
exposes us fully.(laughter) Being on the same bill as great musicians is always
great. The backstage camaraderie, meeting all the people, getting all the connections.
When we go out on tour, people always say they first saw us at Berkfest, they first
saw us at Gathering of the Vibes, that's just the best thing for us right now.

Justin: One of my favorite things is when we are playing, and there is maybe a thousand
people, or eight hundred people, how familiar so many faces are. I look over there
and there is the Madison posse, theres the Champagne posse, and theres the Tallahassee
posse. And you look at them and you kind of give them a nod, and it makes you feel
good because you know they came there to see you. It makes them feel good because they
are like wow, they actually remember us.

Scott: ulu, this is your life.

Justin: yeah, that's what the All Good festival was like.

Scott: It's really cool to play outdoors in the wide open, it changes the way we play for
sure. It changes the way things sound, it changes the way things feel. So its
definitely different than playing in a prison of a club.

Thad: How has your sound developed from when the band first started out, to where it is today?

Justin: I have a distortion pedal now.

Dave: First of all we had Luca when we first started, and so we had a guitarist when
we first started. So when we stripped down, we learned how to use space more, and
I think we have grown more comfortable with each other's playing, and our communication
has become much stronger, as a result of playing many hundred's of gigs together. I
think our influences are constantly changing.

Justin: I think we have certainly all grown as musicians and the level of communication
is that much higher now because we all have better facility on our instruments
when we started, or at least I know that's true for me. Um, I was much younger then.

Scott: Now he is old and wise.

Thad: Anything else?

Scott: I think we have developed a musical trust in one another that couldn't possibly be
there at the beginning stages of playing together, so thats really been building
throughout the past four years.

At this point Uncle Sammy guitarist Max Delaney walks into the restaurant.

Justin(loud): When we play with sucky bands like Uncle Sammy it screws everything up!!

The waitress at the restaurant comes by bearing an armful of salads.

Waitress: No dressing?

Scott: No dressing.

Thad: If you had to choose between opening up for Ozzy Osbourne or Barbara Streisand, who
would it be and why?

ulu in unison: Ozzy!!!!

Justin: Barbara Streisand can lick my nuts, Ozzy would chew my nuts.

(laughter)

Scott: No further comment.

Thad: This question is for each of the band members. Name your biggest musical influences
and how they have shaped the way that you play.

Justin: Max Delaney.

The waitress enter again with more salads.

Waitress: Bleu Cheese?

Dave(quick): Bleu Cheese right here. Bleu Cheese right here.

The waitress was about to hand me a salad

Thad: I didn't order a salad.

Waitress: You didn't have a salad?

Thad: No.

Scott: Herbie Hancock really exposed me to the sounds of analog keyboards. Thats the main
thing, but his playing is really well, so he was a huge influence on my keyboard playing.
On a songwriting, and compositional level, I was really influenced by Steely Dan, which
would be Walter Becker and Donald Fagan who are (in a British accent) the brains behind
the madness. Then on more of a group improvisational level, it would be the electric
bands of the late 60's.

Aaron: Tim Burns.

Justin: I'm gonna say that right now at this moment in time, I think I'm the most heavily
influenced by Radiohead. Which doesn't necessarily fit the style of music that we play,
but I can draw influence from their songwriting, from their energy, from their whole
sonic conceptions. Its also great to take something thats kind of completely
different from what you do on a regular basis and bring it to that, it kind of keeps
it fresh. So although a lot of the time we are playing crazy funk, in my mind, I'm
trying to make it a little more rock and roll....
...and I have a distortion pedal.

Dave: I'd say right now, who I have been listening to the most has been Amir "Questlove"
Thompson, and Leon Parker. Questlove teaches pocket. Parker teaches musicality.

Thad: Your last tour went down south, and also out to the midwest. How was the experience
of playing some new places than the ones you are used to?

Justin: I think it always does really good things to the morale of the band when we show up
to a new town. Before each gig we always kind of go around, we guess how many
people are going to show up, and when the number gets blown out of the water, and there
are all these people, and were like, "How the hell do they know about us? This thing
must be runnin out of control!!!!"......it kind of makes you feel good.

Scott: Its also great to be able to chart the growth, you see the same people, but different
people.

Justin: You see how many friends they brought.

Scott: I always remember what we played as soon as we walk through the door. The whole show
flashes back right through my head.

Aaron pokes Scott

Scott: What do you want?!?!

Aaron: You took my fork.

Thad: Is there anyplace you would like to visit again or for the first time?

Justin(loud and with a mouthful of food): The west coast!

Scott and Dave: Europe.

Dave: Brazil.

Scott: Madagascar.

Justin(after Scott's comment): Realistically, we all want to go to the west coast, we talk
about it all the time.

Thad: If you had to choose between covering "Ice Ice Baby" or "Like a Virgin", which one would
you choose and why?

ulu in unison: Like a Virgin!!

Dave: Even though we probably have covered "Ice Ice Baby".

Justin: I've actually, in Rochester, during "The Grape".....

Scott: That's not "Ice Ice Baby", that was actually "Under Pressure".

Justin: Yeah, but I played it like it was "Ice Ice Baby". And once upon a time in Syracuse, we
covered "Holiday"

Dave: We should cover "Like a Virgin" because Madonna will lick my nuts, but Vanilla Ice would
chew my nuts.

(laughter)

Scott: We are all virgins.

Justin: Yes, I've actually never had sex so "Like a Virgin" is a wonderful proposition.

Scott: She is also a boy toy.

Justin: I wear a chastity belt.

Thad: Tell me about new songs or projects that are happening in the near future.

Dave: We have an album coming out, which we just heard the final mixes of today as a matter of
fact. We are definitely proud of it. It is going to be released sometime soon on
Catapult records. It is going to contain a lot of songs that people are going to
recognize because we have been playing them live for quite sometime. All of the songs
were recorded live at a show we did at Lily's in Boston. We are really excited about it.

Scott: One of the songs on the record, is actually on our last record. I think it is really
interesting to see how that song has evolved. Another one of the tunes was recorded
on our first album, and that's completely different. So I think its cool to....

Thad: ....show the public how the sound has developed.

Scott: Yeah.

Justin: And we also haven't had a representative piece of music in a really long time. Luca
left the band at the turn of the century, and we haven't had a record since, and
that was well over a year and a half ago. So were happy.

Thad: Is there any other goals you would like to accomplish as a band in the near future?

Scott: I'd like to exploit our homosexuality.

Justin: Did you ever see "Soul Kiss" the Jane's Addiction movie? There's this one scene
where the band is all making out. I want to do that in this band.

Dave: I would like to see our music featured on a film.

Scott: I'd like to write arrangements of ulu songs for a full orchestra.

Justin: I think we still need to grow a lot, both musically, and we need to develop different
markets all over the country. Although, we have been doing this for four years, we
are still very young and we have a long way to go. And its nice to know that we
are all dedicated to attaining that goal.

Thad: Where does ulu get the most attention, and where would you like to get more exposure?

Scott: We get the most attention in Millidgeville, Georgia. And we would like to get
more exposure in New Orleans.

(This last question was meant as a joke and a poke at my friend Todd)

Thad: Your new road manager's performance has been shaky at best. What can you do to
whip him into shape?

Justin: Try to fight all of the girls off. He should be concentrating more on taking care of
the business and less on the chicks.

Dave: We actually started a calisthenics regiment for "tk health".

Todd: I actually have something to say.

Thad: The road manager would like to add to this interview.

Todd: I think that ulu has been doing a great job at keeping their heads in the right place,
and the music is just aiding whats been happening. It's bringing the people together,
and judging by all of the festivals, and everything else, there is movement happening,
and its very beautiful.

That is the end of the interview. ulu went on to play a highly inspired set at The Living Room.
If you would like to give feedback to this interview and let me know any comments you have
feel more then welcome to contact me at thadayazides@hotmail.com. Also check out
Grizzly Magic Entertainment's site which hosts Wednesday nights at The Living Room in Providence,
RI at www.grizzlymagic.com where this interview will also be posted.
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DR DIDG
Interview with Graham Wiggins (Dr. Didg) by Thad (correspondent for Grizzly Magic Entertainment)
Approximately ten to fifteen minutes before Dr. Didg hit the stage at the Living Room in Providence, RI on Wed. 2/21/01, I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to sit down with him and ask him a few questions. I must say I was very impressed at what a gentleman he was, and he really loved the idea of supporting the jamband scene here in Providence. Here is what came about from the interview:
TA: When you saw the demonstration of the didgeridoo techniques at the small world music concert in 1982, why do you think it caught your attention so much?
Dr. Didg: Mainly because I had actually heard the didgeridoo in some movie soundtracks, where it was more of a a real traditional stuff. I hadn't known what it was, it was just a crazy sound, a really spine tingling sound and it kind of went past me when I saw it in the movie. And then I saw this guy explaining and realized that all you need to make that sound is a tube. You can do it on a drainpipe, a vacuum cleaner hose, a parking meter pipe. So I put two and two together and I realized that's the thing that makes that sound I heard in the movie, because his (the demonstrator) playing was fairly basic.
TA: May I ask what movie it was?
Dr. Didg: Walkabout, and also The Last Wave, both had some didgeridoo in them and both cool movies too.
TA: What did you learn from the aboriginal masters and how has it changed your own personal sound?
Dr. Didg: A variety of things. I had to learn a whole different way of holding my mouth and producing the sound on the instrument in order to imitate their style. And in the end, I've gone back to playing in the style that I've developed myself. But I can more or less move towards the more traditional approach at different times which has given me a greater spectrum of sounds that I can make. But also it was philosophically important just on a musical level because I discovered that for them the circular breathing is not something that's primarily to do with keeping a note going for a long time. Their songs are only thirty seconds long, and so you can almost play that long with one breath. For them circular breathing is how you create the rhythm, the basic in and out cycle of the breath, the circular breathing cycle creates the rhythmic phrasing of the music, and thats opened things up for me too. Seeing the phrasing as a form of articulation rather than as a bagpipe to keep the sound moving.
TA: Besides the all night jam session at Glastonbury in 1993 when you ran out of material and decided to just improvise was there anything or anyone else that influenced you to use the didgeridoo in a more improvised manner?
Dr. Didg: I don't know, it was mainly that night that brought it out, because the general music culture in England is fairly negatively oriented towards improvisation, and most of the bands I know there they all write their own stuff, they don't play covers, they don't take long solos, they don't jam. They are high on originality, and having your own style and having your own thing, but they don't jam. So I was really afraid to do that because I thought that they would say, ahhhh he's wanking, as they would say in England. So we ran out stuff to play and we started jamming and we discovered that it slipped under their radar because I was improvising loops that ended up sounding like dance music, and they didn't mind that it went on and on with the same riff forever because a lot of transy dance music goes on for fifteen, twenty minutes without a huge amount of...
TA: They couldn't tell the difference.
Dr. Didg: Yeah
TA: Who would you say influenced you the most in western hemisphere music?
Dr. Didg: Jerry Garcia, and after that John Coltrane.
TA: How did you ever come about meeting Mickey Hart and being invited to play with the Dead in 1993?
Dr. Didg: Mostly that came about through the fact that Mickey Hart was releasing his solo stuff on Ryko disc, who were also releasing my albums so I had some connections through the record company. Although there's a funny story because before Ryko bought my old label, I was trying to get in touch with Mickey and tell him what I was doing with the didgeridoo because I thought he would be interested. And I went to see the Grateful Dead in London and brought a CD of my first band Outback with a letter and put it in an envelope and during the setbreak I went down front and chucked it on stage. It was written on it Mickey. And the thing went arcing, spinning, spinning, spinning, and then went WHAM!, straight into Jerry's speaker cone. I'm sitting there going OH SHIT!! It's got my name and address on it and it just hit his speakers, the only speaker on stage that didn't have a grill over it, and I just whammed right into it. And then some roadie comes out and picks it up and puts it up on Mickey's drum riser and Jerry comes out to play and I'm waiting for some kind of...
TA: This was before the unabomber day's.
Dr. Didg: Yeah.
(laughter) Dr. Didg: And it was alright it must be a fucking strong speaker because nobody noticed, but I was sweating. But I don't think realistically that chucking the CD on stage got through to Mickey, it was when the record company told him about me, which actually got things rolling.
TA: Tell me about who you are currently playing with?
Dr. Didg: Well I got a new band since I moved to America. We got Scott Eisenberg on drums, and Todd Wright on guitar and they've been playing with me since a year ago now, last January of 2000. And just a couple of weeks ago we added Brad Chirmin on the bass and its quite an exciting time now. A lot of last year we were just trying to get out on the road, and do gigs, and spread the word. The guys were playing a lot of repoitoire that I used to play in England, basically trying to do the thing I do, and since the end of last year we've started moving on to what the next thing is going to be with this band, and particularly since we brought in the bass, because its opened up all kinds of new possibilities in terms of how I use the sound in different approaches to improvising. And its quite an exciting time now, because each gig we do there's new ideas developing. and we tape it, and drive to the next gig, listen to last gig, and talk about new ideas.
TA: Where is Dr. Didg most popular?
Dr. Didg: As far as I can tell, on the west coast, California. We sold alot of records there and when we play out there we get a big response.
TA: How about Australia? What would they or do they think of your band's music down there?
Dr. Didg: Well my first band Outback I had some very good reviews from Australia, even to the extent of saying why can't make music like this here. With Dr. Didg I havn't specifically heard any reactions, only that sales have been fairly small. I had an interesting experience with the aborigines because when I went to live with them, I was introduced around town and this antropologist who was there would say, "Oh this is Graham, he has come over from England and he plays the didgeridoo." And they would look at me like yeah right, and I would get out my didgeridoo and I would play my hottest licks for them. And then they would be like yeah, well you can play but what are you doing? They didn't get it, musically. What am I getting at, and why am I making these sounds, and for them they never used the didgeridoo alone, the only reason they play it is to accompany singers, and if they play it alone they are playing the accompaniment to a song, and everybody who was there would understand it in that context. They know what the song is, and say oh yeah, you did the right part. And then I played them a tape I made with Outback, and they loved it. They're suddenly hearing me do my thing with guitar and drums...
TA: They understood it a little bit better.
Dr. Didg: Yeah they saw it in context. And in fact demanded copies of it because I ended up having a bootleg of my album handed out around this village. Because I hadn't thought, I didn't go to Australia with stacks of my tape to sell to the aborigines, it was the last thing I would think of. I had like one or two copies to play for people if they're interested.
TA: The Horning's Hideout show with String Cheese last summer is gaining quite a bit of notoriety around here as having been a really special event. For those of us who were not there, could you tell us what that was like.
Dr. Didg: That was pretty wild. They had invited us to play at their festival and they said specifically we want you to come with your didgeridoo and we're gonna have this third set where we're gonna do this whole big production deal with giant flaming portals of fire, and all kinds of costumes, and giant mushrooms. And I figured they we're gonna have me play for maybe twenty minutes, as this thing started and then they would do their set. But instead they kept playing, and they kept wanting me to be there, and its the only time where I had been playing a set and I had to get up and go to the bathroom twice in the set. Everytime I got up to go, they're like "No, No don't go, play some more" And they had Todd our guitarist was invited to come up and he was having a fantastic time. And then the magic thing that happened during all this great jamming, but then they brought up D.J. Harry who started taking samples of the band and playing them back. And Tye North, the bassplayer from Leftover Salmon took over on the bass, and Jamie Janover started playing percussion. And then String Cheese, without me noticing, gradually left. And left me, and Todd, and Tye North, and Jamie, and D.J. Harry just going for it, and we looked around and said, "What happened to the band? It's just us now." And we looked to see the guys from String Cheese were out in the front rows of the audience dancing and shaking hands with people. Never expected that. Like I said I thought we would do a little introduction to things and they actually let us, by the end, take the show over for twenty minutes, so it was magical.
TA: Finally, what would you like to see as the future of the didgeridoo as far as becoming more involved in western hemisphere music?
Dr. Didg: Well my whole thing with the didgeridoo is I see it as a rhythm instrument, and thats certainly what I push in my own music. Theres a whole lot to be developed there in terms of playing techniques, and making it an equal partner with all of the other instruments in the band. And the tendancy for a lot of people who start to use the didgeridoo is treat it kind of as a sound effect, and you like to give a big drone in the background and be a bench on which everybody else plays on top of. I would like to see the didgeridoo as being like a funk based, that its right in there with the guitar, drums, and horn section, funkin it, as a fully equal partner. And thats what happens when you hear us play I hope, and I think there are other ways to do that, that people could develop. I feel a little worried that this is becoming this cliche that western people come with the didgeridoo and want to transe out to it. Just have long notes, and slowly evolving things which actually has nothing to do with what the aborigines do with it, but thats what a lot of people find in it, and its become kind of like a cliche. I'd like to hear more people funking out on it.
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