Medleyville

Spin Doctors drummer Aaron Comess recalls the band's debut album

On Aug. 23, 1991, Epic Records released the first Spin Doctors album, Pocket Full of Kryptonite.

Flash forward exactly four years later: Kryptonite’s sales in America had reached 5 million copies.

There's much more to the story of the Spin Doctors and the success of their debut album, which will be reissued Aug. 30 as a two-CD deluxe edition to mark its 20th anniversary.

On a sweltering midsummer night in New York, Spin Doctors drummer Aaron Comess was as cool as can be, sitting in the air-conditioned comfort of his recording studio and talking about the early days of his band and what it took to make — and eventually break —Kryptonite.

Medleyville.us: When and how did you meet your band mates Chris Barron, Mark White and Eric Schenkman?
Aaron Comess: "Well, I had been in town just a couple of months. I came here [from Dallas in the mid-to-late 1980s] specifically to go to The New School. They had just started a new jazz program there. … So I'm there about a month, and I specifically remember I'm in this room practicing some stuff, and I get a knock on the door, and it's Eric Schenkman. I had never met the guy. He said, 'Hey, man, my name is Eric. I'm putting a band together. We got a gig coming up at a fraternity house at Columbia University in a few weeks. I was wondering if you want to play drums with us?' And [I gave him] the typical drummer answer — 'Sure' (laughs).

"It turned out that he and Chris had already known each other for a while. They had played in a band called the Trucking Company with John Popper from Blues Traveler. When they re-met at The New School, Eric approached Chris about putting a band together, so they found me.

"We literally went through about 10 different bass players before Mark joined on. About nine months after I had been in the band, I brought Mark in. I was in another band [with Mark] called Spade — it was a funk band. … I didn't think he would fit necessarily because we were these three white dudes who grew up listening to Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones and The Beatles. We were also really into R&B and funk and blues. Mark was just this total funk bass player black dude from Queens [New York] — a whole different type of dude. But as soon as the four of us got into a room together, the sound was there, and we thought, 'OK, we got it.' "

What was the New York rock scene like in the late 1980s, and how did The Spin Doctors fit into it?
Comess: "There are so many different scenes going on in New York. … But there was a really cool scene around a bunch of different clubs that we kind of fit into. There was this bar called the Nightingale bar, which is on Second Avenue and 13th Street. It's still there … It was a great rock 'n' roll dive bar back then. There was a band called The Worms; they had all these guys who were kind of like mentors to us. They were a few years older, and they played great, funky rock 'n' roll. There were a lot of country elements in there. … Also Blues Traveler, who were friends with Chris from Princeton [New Jersey]. They had been around for a few years, so they kind of had a scene.

"So we kind of fit into that scene and made the Nightingale our home base. … It was a fantastic scene, and it really grew from there. As we started up and built a following, the next three to four years in New York [before Kryptonite was released] were incredible times."

The first Spin Doctors release on Epic was the Up for Grabs … Live EP, then came Pocket Full of Kryptonite in August 1991. What were those recording sessions like? I know you guys recorded the album in two or three different facilities in New York.
Comess: "What we did was originally when we got our deal with Epic, they wanted us to put out an EP. So we went into the studio at the Power Station with a producer named Frank Aversa, and we cut 'Two Princes,' we cut the 'Shinbone Alley/Hard to Exist' segue — those three songs ended up making it on [Kryptonite]. We did about three or four other songs, too. And that was all cool, but then we decided before we put that out, we [thought], 'We're this live band, and we a great reputation as a great live band,' so let's put out a live EP and hold off on [more studio recording].

"So we went into the Wetlands. At this point, we kind of graduated from the Nightingale. We were playing the Wetlands, which was a bigger club [in Manhattan] — you could put about 900 people in there. … So we brought a [mobile recording] truck in there, and we recorded the show and ended up making the live EP out of that.

"After that, we went back into the studio with Peter Denenberg and Frankie La Rocka — they were the guys who did the live EP — and did the rest of Pocket Full of Kryptonite at RPM Studios, which is no longer [around] but was just down the road [from here] on 12th Street. At the end of the day, we ended up using those three original cuts from the Power Station and the stuff we did at RPM.

"The sessions were great. We were a young band; we were hungry; we were having a good time. We really had our sound together because we were literally playing 250 shows a year. So by the time we got into the studio, we had been a band for [about] four years and we had played a lot of those songs hundreds of times. A lot of times bands go [into the studio], and maybe they've only played a song a few times, and that's a great way to do it, too. But you can't beat that chemistry that happens when a band plays live in front of people as much as we did. And that’s really how we developed our sound — in front of people.

"We didn't want to go in and make some overproduced record. We wanted it to represent who we were. And you can feel that: The basic tracks are a live band on the floor. We did some overdubs … but we didn't get carried away with it at all. So when you hear the record, it just sounds like a four-piece band."

It took a while for Pocket Full of Kryptonite to really take off. What was the band's relationship with Epic like before the success started to happen with the album?
Comess: "That's a great question. They were cool; we were happy to have a record deal. We were happy to finally have a little money in our pocket to go out and buy some new instruments and this and that.

"It's funny: When we put out the live EP, we got a little tour support. So we went out in a bus for about six weeks, and that ran out real quick. And that’s where, for most bands, it's over: OK, you're done when you run out of money — you go home, you're dropped [from the label].

"In our case … we got back in the good ol' van, you know, and just hustled it on the road. That's really what broke the band was the constant touring in the van. Because what a lot of people don't know about that record is that it came out in August '91, but it didn't really start to break until about a year and a half later. It was just based on our grassroots following and touring.

"By today's standards, it did pretty well. It sold about 60,000 records in the first year and a half. And I'll never forget: The pinnacle moment was we were finished with this tour; we had come back from like a year and half slugging it out on the road. We're doing really well; we're packing clubs all around the country. And we have a big meeting with all of the heads of Epic Records and all of the band members and our management, and we're sitting there at this big table on the top floor of the Sony building or whatever, and the head of Epic [says], 'All right, guys, time to get off the road and make a new record. This record is dead, and there's no hits on this record. … You need to write some hits and make a new record.' And we were like, you know, 'Listen, guys, you're sitting in your office looking at your numbers or whatever. We're out on the road, and we're feeling this buzz that's happening.'

"I remember specifically us saying, 'Why don't you try "Two Princes"? Or "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" or "Jimmy Olsen's Blues"?' And [their response was], 'Nah, those aren't hits. You guys don't have enough tattoos, or it's not grungy enough,' or whatever the crap was.

"So we decided, well, [screw it], we're going to go back out on the road. And that was one of the best decisions we ever made, and our management stuck with us on it. We went back out on the road, and about three or four months later, a station in Vermont called WEQX — this guy named Jim McGuinn, great guy — started playing 'Little Miss.' And it went to No. 1 on the station. And he hand-wrote a letter to the president of Epic, saying, 'You guys should really go after this band. You'd be crazy if you didn't. This is an incredible reaction we're getting here.'

"That's what lit the fire. And then [Epic] put it on rock radio; they made a video; they got behind it. And then everything blew up, and of course they were like, 'We knew it all along' (laughs)."

Now was that guy who spoke in the meeting and said you should go back into the studio — was he the stereotypical guy with the stogie sitting at the end of the table, wearing a three-piece suit?
Comess: "He was a guy named Richard Griffiths. He was a nice guy, an English guy. He was a good guy. … He was the guy who signed the band, and he believed in us. It's just that it was a different time [in music].

"At the time, they were putting all of their money into Pearl Jam. Nirvana had just blown up; Pearl Jam was blowing up. We'd be driving around the country in our little van, and in every record store we'd see, every town we’d roll into, it would be Pearl Jam, Pearl Jam — and nothing on us. And we'd call our manager, ‘What the hell is this Pearl Jam? They're on our label; why aren't we getting any love?’

"So I think they just saw us in a different light. We weren't the hip thing. … It was either you were covered in tattoos, or you were a grunge band at the time — and we weren't either of those. … Ultimately, when [the label] got on board, they did a great job for us."

You touched on grunge and Nirvana. About a month after Pocket Full of Kryptonite came out, that's when Nevermind came out. And as everyone knows by now, that really put a dent in the heavy metal scene, but it opened the doors for whatever was considered alternative rock and underground rock at that time. Did the success of Nevermind and Nirvana and the other grunge bands afterward open any doors for the Spin Doctors that may have been previously closed?
Comess: "We were doing our thing in New York; there was that other scene going on in Seattle. We didn't know anything about them; they didn’t know anything about us. But I think there's no doubt that when Nevermind came out, it definitely broke everything wide open. It opened up a lot of doors, I think — I think it definitely opened up doors for us. All of a sudden, all of the pop stuff and the heavy metal stuff that had been kind of ruling the airwaves was pushed aside. It opened up the door for more real, organic rock 'n' roll — which we are.

"I always found the label things ridiculous. [We were] called neo-hippie or whatever, and then [other bands back then were called] grunge. The truth is, it's all just a bunch of rock 'n' roll, you know what I mean? The grunge stuff might have been a little heavier than us, but our stuff was a little funkier. … There was a little window there, about a three-year window, when it was a really good time for music, for sure."

— Introduction and interview by Chris M. Junior

Pocket Full of Kryptonite facts and figures

* Release date: Aug. 23, 1991

* Recording Industry Association of America gold certification: Sept. 30, 1992

* RIAA platinum certification: Jan. 4, 1993 (Kryptonite reached five-times platinum certification on Aug. 22, 1995)

* Kryptonite's Billboard Hot 100 entries, their peak positions and years they charted: “Little Miss Can’t Be Wrong” (No. 17, 1992), “Two Princes” (No. 7, 1993), “Jimmy Olsen’s Blues” (No. 78, 1993)

* Kryptonite's Billboard Album Rock Tracks entries, their peak positions and years they charted: "Little Miss Can't Be Wrong" No. 2, 1992), "Jimmy Olsen's Blues" (No. 8, 1992), "Two Princes" (No. 2, 1993), "What Time Is It?" (No. 26, 1993), "How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Could Have Me?)" (No. 28, 1993)

The Spin Doctors on tour (schedule subject to change):

* Oct. 7: Visulite Theatre, Charlotte, N.C.

* Oct. 8: The Pour House Music Hall — Raleigh, N.C.

* Oct. 9: Birchmere Bandstand — Alexandria, Va.

* Oct. 11: Rams Head On Stage — Annapolis, Md.

* Oct. 13: Bowery Ballroom — New York

* Oct. 14: World Cafe Live — Philadelphia

* Oct. 15: Brighton Music Hall — Allston, Mass.

* Oct. 16: Higher Ground Ballroom — Burlington, Vt.

* Oct. 18: Port City Music Hall — Portland, Maine

* Oct. 20: The Town Ballroom — Buffalo, N.Y.

* Oct. 21: The Westcott Theater — Syracuse, N.Y.

* Oct. 22: The Ridgefield Playhouse — Ridgefield, Conn.

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Critical darling Shelby Lynne has a new album due Oct. 18 called Revelation Road, and the title track (available now via iTunes) is a taste from what the Grammy winner is calling her most personal album ever. Is it a winner, or does it fail to come close to anything released during her artistic peak more than a decade ago?

Lyrics: Lynne's protagonist reviews her past mistakes, such as "acting on her passion/wearing the latest fashion," to convey how she's rising above in a who-cares sort of manner. She also turns the struggle between who is right — the sinners or the saints — into a shrug-off by essentially saying live your life your own way because no one should judge you. In another verse, though, Lynne sings, "one Hail Mary does the trick/forgived of all your sins." Well, which one is it? Are you living your life by your own rules, or do we pray for forgiveness? Despite the lyrical seesawing, the song is not a Trojan horse carrying false preaching — it's just a positive message.

Music/arrangement: The song's title instantly conjures up images of bombastic gospel choirs, tambourine flourishes and an over-the-top lead vocal. Admirably — and true to her artistic nature as a Nashville, Tenn., rebel — Lynne keeps everything stripped down and soulful.

Brisk brush drumming and a jangling mandolin are the standout instruments. The sparseness and lack of bombast provide a nice contrast to the mixed messages in the lyrics. A song like this would normally have a big drum break and slide-guitar shower to play up the religious themes, but it's devoid of both. And by keeping it at a slower tempo (as opposed to a church-style rave-up), the song doesn't completely resort to cliché. The outro drops the drums and veers into a call-and-response of "revelation" — not exactly a surprise — but that's a much more tolerable way to fade out.

Production: Cool, calm and clear best describes the sound of this song, which Lynne produced. There isn't a ton of reverb to accentuate the chorus, and there are no extra sound effects to accentuate the song's theme.

Verdict: Crank it. Why not? "Revelation Road" doesn't break new ground, but it does keep Lynne in her comfort zone — and as past efforts have shown, that ain't a bad place to be.

— By Mike Madden

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Ex-Paloalto leader James Grundler returns with Golden State

Exposure through song placements in TV shows, movies and commercials is pretty much the norm these days for both emerging and established rock artists.

What separates Golden State, a relatively new band based in Los Angeles, from the rest of the pack is having a song placement closely connected with British royalty. That's due to Golden State's "Till the End" being featured in multiple promos for the BBC's coverage of Prince William and Kate Middleton's April wedding.

Singer James Grundler recently spoke about the end of his previous band, Paloalto; the making of Golden State's debut album, Division; the aforementioned royal song placement and much more.

Medleyville.us: Was the breakup of Paloalto due to conflicts among its members, frustration with the way American Recordings handled the band — or both of these as well as some other factors?
James Grundler: "I'll tell you, a lot of it had to do with the state of the music industry. It wasn’t even so much hardships with the band members or even with American Recordings because American was doing whatever it could. Rick [Rubin] was doing whatever he could to make it happen. It [had more to do with] the industry itself: They were like, 'Where is everything going? How do we work this band with the way things are going?' So we got the brunt end of the stick. It was a major label [situation] because we were going through Island/Def Jam at the time with that last Paloalto record. … Things were just fluctuating, with piracy, iTunes and downloads — people didn't know what to make of it.

"Rick was so great during that time period. He wanted to keep things moving, but he was in search of a new home as well. He didn’t know where American was going to end up or if it would stay on Island or what. And at that point, the guys in the band were tired of waiting around. Consequently, I was like, 'Hey man, I've gotta make music, and the only way I was going to be able to do that was dissolve this operation and keep on going, somewhere else.' And he completely understood and let me go, or let the band go, and that began the new conquest in new areas."

You've described Division as bigger and more massive-sounding, calling it the album you’ve always wanted to make. Was this a sound and approach that differed from what American or even your former band mates pushed for?
Grundler: "I think what goes on, especially when you're a young band working with a new label and an amazing producer like Rick, is so many visions that come into the fold. … Rick tried to lend a hand in creating the vision that he felt was best for the group. Of course, at the time, I was encouraging that vision because he's The Man. I was just trying to make a record and get it out to the masses — that's what I was concentrating on.

"So when I say that [Division] was a record I always wanted to make, it's because when I was writing these songs, I didn't have the stigma of a label pushing me, saying, 'Well, no, you should do this,' or 'We really want you to go in this direction.' Or the producer: 'We really think it should be this direction.' I got to be the last say on it, and that really empowered me and gave me the confidence to really dig down deep and write the songs that needed to be written for this record."

That's a lot of pressure to put on yourself.
Grundler: "It is. But I’ll tell you, if I was younger, yeah, I think I'd feel a little scared. But from the experience I've had in the past — working with Rick Rubin [and other producers] — I got a lot of know-how and knowledge from them. I got to go to the school of learning how to produce, and I took all that knowledge and put it to use."

Talk about your personal and musical relationship with bassist Alex Parnell, who goes back to the Paloalto days.
Grundler: "He's definitely a key factor in the soul behind [this] band. He and I met for the first lineup of Paloalto; he was one of the first members I met. He has such passion for music, and it's great to have that wingman who pushes you and keep reassuring you that what you're doing is soulful.

"He's been that guy, but unfortunately [around the time of] the second Paloalto record, he had to move back home [to Seattle] because his father was dying. It was a big moment for all of us. … We remained friends, and when he moved back to Los Angeles, I was already working with another bass player. And as luck would have it, that guy had to move on, and the spot opened up. And [Parnell] said, 'I think I'm ready to do this again.' And I said, 'I'd love to have you.'

"He really brought this thundery, eighth-note bass rock, like Paul Simonon from The Clash, and that was something [the music] was missing. When he came in, during the first couple of rehearsals, I thought, 'Yeah, there it is.' "

I have a feeling that calling the band Golden State has more to do with getting to a certain place spiritually than it does a Los Angeles band borrowing California’s nickname. Can you explain the meaning — or meanings — behind the name?
Grundler: "A lot of people joke about it because we were Paloalto, which is a city in California, and now we're Golden State. So the next band is going to be The Country or U.S.A. (laughs).

"But there definitely are deeper meanings. As a writer, you're constantly trying to find the best song; you're constantly trying to find that state, that place where you feel comfortable and you feel the most confident. And Golden State really is the meaning behind that."

So how does an emerging band from Los Angeles end up with a song in promos for the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton?
Grundler: "[In deadpan voice] Well, you know, we're close friends with the royal family and … No, it was a song I wrote with a friend of mine. The BBC was looking for a track, and I have a great girl who does all of my [song] licensing. She got it to them, they fell in love with the track and wanted to use it, and that’s really how it happened. I think they got the approval from the royal family because they had to for the stuff they used in the promos. They approved it, and we were rockin' and rollin' in the U.K. It really was great exposure, I have to say."

— Introduction and interview by Chris M. Junior

Photo by Janee Meadows

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J. Geils Band/The Chris Robinson Brotherhood
Borgata Event Center — Atlantic City, N.J.
Aug. 12, 2011

It sometimes can be hard to fathom that the J. Geils Band's smoldering blues- and soul-influenced 1970s catalog and its more mainstream pop and rock hits of the 1980s were actually produced by the same musicians. Some 40 years after the Boston group’s debut album, that contrast remains apparent — even onstage.

At this date in the band’s latest string of sporadic reunion concerts, Peter Wolf and Co. made it clear they still get off on throwing a dance party packed with jump-jiving blues and soul-shouting anthems. The group — lead singer Wolf, fellow core members Seth Justman (keyboards), J. Geils (guitar), Danny Klein (bass) and Magic Dick (harmonica), plus new drummer Marty Richards, a second guitarist, backup singers and a horn section — also seemed to prefer celebrating that part of their legacy more than revisiting the high-profile hits that closely preceded Wolf’s strained departure from the group in the early '80s with the band at its commercial peak.

Sure, the 1981 smash "Centerfold" was dutifully included in the encore, but it would be difficult to imagine a flatter, more obligatory performance of a No. 1 hit. Earlier, Wolf introduced another popular song from '81, "Freeze Frame," with a putdown of MTV — "It sucks now and it sucked then" — and referenced the memorable paint-splattering video the band made for the tune, but it could have been an apology for the era from which the bouncy, keyboard-dominated hit came. As it was, on this performance of "Freeze Frame," coincidentally or not, was more about horns than keys.

The J. Geils Band tackled the rest of the set in a decidedly unapologetic fashion, tearing through a bevy their roof-rattling and hip-shaking classics — the supremely funky "Detroit Breakdown," followed by the irrepressible groove of "Give It to Me" marked a high point — plus soulful numbers ("Must've Got Lost," "On Borrowed Time") as well as several favorites they long ago adopted as their own (Otis Rush's "Homework," The Marvelows' "I Do" and The Showstoppers' "Ain't Nothin' But a House Party," to name a few).

The Boston band showed off its considerable musical arsenal on originals and covers alike, and the dynamic that made it a renowned live act in its heyday. Wolf, at 65, whirled and twirled around the stage like someone half his age, and proved to be in fine voice whether singing or working the crowd with his fast-talking ramblings. Magic Dick's roadhouse wailing was spotlighted on such cuts as "Sanctuary," and elsewhere he'd fire off short blues-harp riffs that frequently built up to him unleashing powerful solos. J. Geils picked his spots with well-timed bluesy interludes, and a handful of tunes climaxed with Justman's loud, whizzing blasts of organ.

It all added up to a thoroughly enjoyable two hour-show that seemed like it might wrap up with the uneasy "Centerfold," before the band scrapped the big “na-na-na” ending and instead sprinted through the Wilson Pickett hit "Land of 1,000 Dances," shifting back into its comfort zone.

Opening act The Chris Robinson Brotherhood offered ample evidence that its namesake still must not mind being criticized for leaning too hard on his obvious musical influences. Whereas Robinson's on-hold-again band of two-plus decades, The Black Crowes, was slagged by critics in its early years for borrowing too heavily from The Faces and The Rolling Stones, he and his backing players came off as not much more than Grateful Dead devotees.

The quintet — which includes the Crowes' latest keyboard player, Adam MacDougall, and guitarist Neal Casal, recently of Ryan Adams' backing band — stuck to fairly formulaic, breezy jams that found Robinson, normally an energetic frontman, strangely devoid of any stage presence. Perhaps too preoccupied with his new duty as rhythm guitarist, he uttered not a word to the audience over his 50-minute slot except a perfunctory thank-you-and-good-night.

— By George Henn

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Ireland's Saw Doctors mark 20 straight years of U.S. tours

This is a milestone year for The Saw Doctors in more ways than one.

Not only is the band celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2011, but it is also raising a collective glass to 20 consecutive years of touring in the United States.

Saw Doctors singer/guitarist Leo Moran, a founding member of the hard-working band from the West of Ireland, recently reflected on two decades of tours on American shores.

Medleyville.us: What do you remember most from the first time The Saw Doctors toured the United States?
Leo Moran: "I actually remember quite a bit — our first show on the American continent with Tommy McGann in his bar in Easton [Massachusetts]; our show in The Channel in Boston after a late get-in after a teenage metal afternoon; The Iron Horse in Northampton [Massachusetts], a town that has become a home [away] from home for us over the years; Tramps on West 21st in Manhattan [with] people literally hanging from the rafters; trying to find The Chestnut Caberet in Philly and getting confused with I-95 and I-195; Sly and Robbie calling in to the dressing room; Turps [former member John Burke] drinking Wild Turkey the night we arrived before the first gig, not realizing it was a shot of whiskey they ordered in the movies with the beer, not a whiskey whiskey."

Describe American audiences in five words or less.
Moran: "Loyal, early, particularly interested."

In terms of issues unrelated to performing, what have been the most challenging for the band over the last 20 years of touring the United States?
Moran: "It's important for us to reach out to the music community at large — not to be seen as just an Irish band. Rather, we want to be seen as a ‘band from Ireland’ — a subtle difference, but it's important to us. We would ambitiously like to see ourselves — and nobody else might see us — as being in the area of Steve Earle or Ron Sexsmith, sharing our ideas and idioms with the rest of the world as they do, so we constantly try and balance the Irish draw toward the audience with a general music fans' appeal."

In "Indian Summer," the latest Saw Doctors single, there's the line "We'll find a quiet spot where few footsteps fall." Does the band have any favorite "quiet spots" — in this case, bars or restaurants — around the U.S.?
Moran: "There's a slang word for drink over here — it’s 'gargle,' or, more locally, 'gaagle.' We have many, many favorite watering holes and restaurants; we've even considered starting a Web site called www.gaagleearth.com — though, of course, we probably never will.

"I love the food in the U.S. — the seafood in particular, [and] the steaks and loads more. It's funny: When you arrive back in a familiar, or half-familiar town, the memories come flowing back."

— Introduction and interview by Chris M. Junior

The Saw Doctors on tour (schedule subject to change):

* Aug. 11 and 12: Cape Cop Melody Tent — Hyannis, Mass.

* Aug. 13: The Stone Pony — Asbury Park, N.J.

* Aug. 14: NYCB Theatre — Westbury, N.Y.

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A Booker T. and the MG's gig — without keyboardist Booker T. Jones? Yes, it happened at least once during the group's prime, remembers guitarist Steve Cropper, who has vivid memories of such a show taking place in his birth state of Missouri.

Steve Cropper: "This was when Booker T. had gone off to college; this had to be sometime in 1963. Ray Brown, who was a booking agent out of Memphis who used to book us, called and said, 'Man, I've got this great gig coming up.' It was for pretty good money in Kansas City, Missouri.

"So we called Booker, and he said, 'Aw, man. I can't do that. I'm already booked with this other band up here in Indiana.' I said, 'Man, you gotta do this gig.' And he said, 'I can't. I'm already committed.'

"So [we realized], 'Well, nobody really knows what Booker looks like, so let's take Isaac Hayes.' We went and asked Isaac, "Would you go this weekend to Kansas City and play Booker T. stuff?' And he said, 'Yeah, man.'

"We get up there, and we're playing in this auditorium in downtown Kansas City. And we're [playing] the second or third song — we're going, we're playing, everybody's having a great time — and there was a gal who stood up in the second row and said, 'You're not Booker T.!' Isaac ducked behind the organ [and stayed there for a long time].

"You never know who's going to be around (laughs). They'll call you out in a minute, man."

— As told to Chris M. Junior

* Dedicated, Steve Cropper's new album, is out now on 429 Records. The star-studded salute to the music of The 5 Royales features guest appearances by B.B. King, Steve Winwood, Sharon Jones, Delbert McClinton, Lucinda Williams and others.

On Aug. 14 at Lincoln Center in New York, Cropper will perform as part of a free 5 Royales-themed show starring Bettye LaVette, who also appears on Dedicated.

Photo by Chris M. Junior

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Cash Cash gains exposure through hit MTV series

The cast members of Jersey Shore may have vague ties to the Garden State, but the same cannot be said of Cash Cash.

The four-man band hails from Roseland and keeps a recording studio there. Roseland is a good 75 miles or so north of fist-pumpin' Seaside Heights, but it's well within the state's borders.

Cash Cash's music is well within the realm of what's been heard in past seasons of Jersey Shore. So it's easy to understand why MTV featured not one but two Cash Cash tunes — "Naughty or Nice" and "Jersey Girl" — in the official trailer for Shore's fourth season, which begins Aug. 4.

Singer Jean Paul Makhlouf recently checked in to talk about how Cash Cash hooked up with Jersey Shore; his band's second album, Love or Lust; and what the future holds.

Medleyville.us: Were "Naughty or Nice" and "Jersey Girl" written specifically for Jersey Shore, or did you already have those songs in the works before MTV came into the picture?
Jean Paul Makhlouf: "We had the songs written and released on our new full-length album Love or Lust months before MTV contacted us to license the record. We always wanted to write a song about Jersey, and after we recorded it, I said to the guys, 'Imagine if the song was used on Jersey Shore?' It's such a crazy coincidence that it actually happened, and we're so stoked it did!

"MTV licensed our full record, but we had no idea what shows they would use it for or what songs might be used. It was such an awesome surprise to find out the day the trailer got released that we had two songs in it."

What was your opinion of Jersey Shore before your band’s music was associated with it, and has your opinion of the show changed since?
Makhlouf: "Being from Jersey makes us a little biased. We might not be juicers or have blow-out fades, but damn right do we have some Jersey guido in our blood. Three of us are Italian, and we're brought up in very Jersey, modern Italian homes. A lot of Italians freak out over stuff like Jersey Shore or The Sopranos, but we embrace it. I think those kind of shows are awesome and can't be taken too seriously. Obviously everything is an exaggeration of character, from Tony Soprano to The Situation, but there is a lot of truth to both characters and the lifestyles that are depicted. I can honestly say I'm proud of both in a lot of ways, and they are a huge part in who I am, as crazy as it might sound."

Talk about the band's decision to self-produce Love or Lust. Was that the plan all along, or were some big names considered and contacted first?
Makhlouf: "It was our choice to self-record and produce the record. A lot of people might not know, but we've always been self-producing and mixing our albums since we started the group. We get to do exactly what we want, and it’s helping us make a name for ourselves as producers and engineers. We've gotten a lot of side work from it, and it's been great. We do a lot of remixes on the side, as well as tons of other studio work. We're currently setting up a music production company under Cash Cash Music that will be launched this August. We're very lucky to be able to have an artist career as well as a producer one at the same time."

What are Cash Cash's U.S. tour plans for 2011 and beyond?
Makhlouf: "We're doing a small East Coast tour in August called The Summer of Lust Tour with Breathe Electric and For the Foxes. We'll probably be doing some random off shows in the fall as well. But other than that, we don't have any full U.S. tours lined up. We're going back to Brazil in November, and we're already making plans for another Japan tour sometime next year. We're going to be releasing an acoustic EP this winter and then definitely plan on releasing another full length album in the spring."

— Introduction and interview by Chris M. Junior

Posted by Medleyville at 11:32 AM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)

Sharif emerges from breakup phase with new outlook, music

In the span of two consecutive projects, Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Sharif went from chronicling a somber, serious chapter in his life (the 2008 album Kisses and Lies) to documenting his more positive, I'm-glad-to-be-back-in-the-dating-game phase (his upcoming five-song EP, Almost There).

So, if the 2011 Sharif could travel back in time, what words of advice would he share with his '08 self?

" 'Hey, Sharif: Sad songs are OK here and there, but nobody wants to be sad all the time,' " he says. " 'Try writing some pissed-off songs, or start dating again and write about all of your crushes.' "

With Almost There, Sharif says he wasn't concerned about whether he'd wandered too far afield, either lyrically or musically, from past efforts.

"I just try to write about what's happening in my life, and what I'm feeling at the time," he says. "If it turns into a country song, cool. A pop song, great.

"Lots of artists I really respect have done the same: Bob Dylan, Ryan Adams, Ray Charles, Jeff Lynne," Sharif adds. "I feel if the song is honest and true, it will resonate in any form."

Almost There (due Sept. 6) also features a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Femme Fatale," plus a version of The Beatles' "Honey Pie" as a bonus sixth song. The EP, which is noticeably more straightforward pop than the alt-country-flavored Kisses and Lies, was recorded during the spring with Tim Bradshaw in Manchester, England.

"It was exciting recording overseas, especially in a country with so much music history," Sharif says. "On one of my days off, I took a trip to visit Nick Drake's grave in Tanworth-in-Arden. There was so much culture to absorb and great music around every corner."

Sharif's interest in the history and craft of his profession also extends to formal training: He's been taking online courses through the Berklee College of Music, and in the next few years, he expects to receive a master's in songwriting.

"Music is one of those subjects where you can never really know everything," he says. "There's always another style to study, an exotic scale to learn, alternate voicings to practice, etc. It's tough to find time to practice as much as I'd like to, so taking online classes puts me into a routine and even lets me go to class while lounging at a Howard Johnson's in South Carolina."

— By Chris M. Junior

Sharif on tour (schedule subject to change):

* Aug. 2: The Saint — Asbury Park, N.J.

* Aug. 6: Mudhouse — Crozet, Va.

* Aug. 8: Outer Banks Brewing Station — Kill Devil Hills, N.C.

* Aug. 10: Ragtime — Arlington, Va.

Posted by Medleyville at 05:50 PM | Permalink | TrackBacks (0)