When I was a kid,
growing up in a house with Cat Stevens, Neil Diamond and Simon and Garfunkel,
the first time I ever heard Kiss' "Detroit Rock City," it was a
moment of musical epiphany. It was just so vicious, aggressive and mean. It
changed the way I listened to music. I've had a few minor epiphany's since
then, when you come across a band that just brings something new and
revolutionary to your ears.
What have been your
musical epiphany moments?
When I was younger, I grew up as a missionary’s kid in Paraguay, Chile
and then Bangkok, Thailand, so access to music was
very limited. Even the stuff you could get was sort of “off limits” to most my
friends because of the religious parents.
My dad had sort of come out of being a grass-smoking, jazz-playing hippy
into the Jesus freak thing, so he was more hip to the whole deal. He had a
leftover cassette collection, but had omitted a lot of the hard stuff. When I
was 12, they did a 30 year anniversary release of all the Hendrix albums as a
tribute. My dad gave me three dollars when we were at the record store in Bangkok and told me I
could get a cassette. I saw the album cover for Axis Bold As Love and bought it
on a whim. That was my first musical
epiphany. I would sit in the closet under the stairs and flip the tape over and
over in the dark just soaking it in. First time I felt high in my life.
That led me down the road to blues and blues-based rock. I
saw some Vanilla Fudge, The Stones and Cream TV performances on a Thai TV
throwback show around the same time. I was immediately like “This is it.” That
was the main stuff because I was 12 and heavily impressionable, so my mind was
just straight blown. My dad played guitar, so after that I would just steal his
guitar and go try to play with the albums.
Talk to us about the
song-writing process for you. What comes first, the idea? A riff? The lyrics?
How does it all fall into place?
It’s different every time. I started out as a guitar player
and moved more into writing melodies, so most of the time the guitar riff is
the muse. Now that I’ve been melody writing for a long time, they start that
way every once in awhile. The lyrics will just pop in my head. A lot of times
they just hit all at once and leave me scrambling for a guitar and recording
device to get it down.
Who has influenced
you the most?
At an early age, definitely Hendrix as far as musicianship.
Just an all-around musician. A lot of people miss out on how good of a
songwriter he was and just see the flashy guitar stuff. The Rolling Stones have
always been there as far as arrangements and how to work a song.
When I was in high school in the early 2000s there was a lot
of plastic, overblown rock music. It was almost like a parody of what Rock used
to be. I heard the White Stripes’ De Stijl album and it was like fresh air. Just
super simple and raw blues rock. It was like the opposite of the over-produced,
big label, cock-rock of the time.
Later on in life I was super into James Brown and MC5. Lots
of high energy performance based stuff.
I always loved studio records that sound like people are performing in
the studio. When there is an undeniable force on the record.
Where do you look for
continuing inspiration? New ideas, new motivation?
In some ways I still am exploring old music. I try to dig
deep when it comes to records now. I listen to a lot of simplistic blues stuff
like Jimmy Reid and Slim Harpo. I also love the complex song construction and
production on a lot of ‘60s psych stuff like Pretty Things’ S.F. Sorrow.
A lot of my inspiration lately comes from just walking
around in the woods or reading books, strangely enough.
We're all a product
of our environment. Tell us about the band's hometown and how that reflects in
the music?
I think the strongest influence the area has had on our
music is just in the influence of the groove. A lot of music that comes from
this area has a strong swing to it rhythmically. Memphis is
famous for STAX, and you hear a lot of comparing and contrasting against Motown
in Detroit. To
me the biggest difference is that Memphis
grooves were always hard, almost heavy, in a way. That sort of thing still sticks around here
more than other places.
The other influence is just rawness. There are very limited
resources here, but what you don’t have physically, you have to compensate with
spiritually. People here appreciate
authenticity. I feel like we have made a lot of decisions based on that.
Where'd the band name
come from?
It’s hard to remember, because it was so long ago. We had
already jammed a lot before coming up with the name. So we were shooting names
out non-stop trying to see if something stuck. Dirty Streets just seemed to fit
the sound the most at the time. I can’t help but think that it also had to do
with the industrial areas we all had to drive through to get to practice three
times a week.
You have one chance,
what movie are you going to write the soundtrack for?
I would probably want to write an all instrumental
soundtrack for a re-boot of Carlito’s Way and recruit a bunch of friends that
are musicians. Sounds fun.
You now write for a
music publication (The Ripple Effect?).
You're going to write a 1,000 word essay on one song. Which would it be
and why?
Off the top of my head, probably “Freelance Fiend” by
Leafhound. The straight and direct power
of that song lyrically and musically is something that I could probably explore
for 1,000 words. It’s almost an anthem
to me for generations of people who dedicated their life to the arts. There is
something about the fact that the band broke up shortly after recording it that
brings a weird sort of purity to it. So incredible that in the song he says
“Build all my castles on top of my dreams” with sort of a carelessness for
outcome that comes across as completely authentic.
Come on, share with
us a couple of your great, Spinal Tap, rock and roll moments?
On our last European tour we played a state-sponsored venue
in the Netherlands.
Since it was state sponsored we got paid well and it was fully staffed, but
nobody promoted the show. We got there and it was this gigantic venue with two
light guys and front of house/back of house sound guys. We set up and sound checked and it sounded
incredible. The opening band had to work early, so they left when we played. We
ended up playing this huge show with tons of production to 0 people. The light
guy still went all out. It was super comical.
Tell us about playing
live and the live experience for you and for your fans?
We really started out as a live band. The early focus of the
band was to put on the best live show possible. That is probably why our first
independently released album has nine minute long songs on it. We just were
doing it like we did live. I love the idea of shared experience live. Every
crowd is different, and that used to frustrate me. Then I started to appreciate
that every time you share a show with a crowd, you learn something new or
explore a different nuance of the songs you have played thousands of times and
that’s incredible. It’s like the song you’ve played for years can be a
different song in San Francisco on a Tuesday
then it is in Fargo
on a Friday. That’s one of the only times in my life when I’ve experienced
living truly in the moment.
What makes a great
song?
That’s a hard question for me because my taste runs the
gamut of super accessible pop to weirdo shit nobody likes. For me though, it’s
the same as the live experience. If a song can bring you into the moment where
you live in the song and don’t think about anything else then its good. I like
songs that are experiences within themselves. A lot of music is made to be
background that runs while you live your life. I like the music that you want
to turn up and focus on.
Tell us about the
first song you ever wrote?
I wrote a lot of instrumental stuff as a kid when I started
playing guitar. The first song I wrote lyrics for was when I was when I was in
8th grade and it was called “When You Dumped Me”. Terrible, self-loathing
nightmare of a song. I thought of the song as a joke at the time though, and it
opened me up to the concept of being able to finish a song so I could get on to
more serious stuff.
What piece of your
music are particularly proud of?
If I had to pick one, it would probably be “On the Way” from
our new record that’s coming out. It’s a softer track with just acoustic. It
was something I’ve never done on an album. I’ve never done acoustic guitar with
no accompaniment. Lyrically the song is sort of a biography of my life
simplified. Not sure if it’s accessible for most people, but it felt good.
Who today, writes
great songs? Who just kicks your ass? Why?
In recent years there have been a few that really hit me. I
recently saw Queens of the Stone Age, and it
was undeniably like seeing something or someone Iconic. Josh Homme just has a
very different way of writing. I’m also
a huge Jack White fan, sometimes his stuff doesn’t resonate, but overall I’m
into it. One of the greatest up and coming bands to me is All Them Witches.
Those guys are incredibly dynamic song writers and ridiculous live performers.
One last one would be Charles Bradley who recently passed away. That’s one of
those where it’s just about pure feeling. No bullshit.
Vinyl, CD, or
digital? What's your format of choice?
Vinyl for me all the way. Nothing feels better than
purchasing something that weighs a lot with a gigantic piece of art on the
cover. It also demands your attention because you have to flip the record half
way through.
Whiskey or beer? And defend your choice
Whiskey. It’s like you are cutting the bullshit and getting
straight to the point.
We, at the Ripple
Effect, are constantly looking for new music. What's your home town, and when
we get there, what's the best record store to lose ourselves in?
Shangrila Records. The place is incredible. I have to
stagger my visits because the records that come through are so good and so well
priced that I’ll spend my whole paycheck.
Whats next for the
band?
Touring, more touring and continuous writing. I’m already writing the next one. Pretty
excited about it.
Any final comments or
thoughts you'd like to share with our readers, the waveriders?
Thanks to everyone that read this, and to everyone that buys
our records and comes to our shows. Support The Ripple Effect!
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