Davey Knowles

Strap in, gristle tribe, because our latest jam session with blues-rock maestro Davey Knowles is a deep dive into the soulful crossroads where British folk meets Americana. Hailing from the Isle of Man, Davey's heartfelt anecdotes reveal his journey to the heartland of Chicagoland's music scene, and the unvarnished joy of acoustic performances that followed his recent album drop. As we stoke the gristle campfire, you'll feel the vibrancy of English folk legends Bert Janch and Davy Graham through Knowles' strings, and understand why solo acoustic sets are as stirring to him as they are to audiences worldwide.

Then, prepare for a detour down memory lane as we pay homage to the one and only Rory Gallagher. Davey and Greg share our personal connections to Rory's Celtic blues-rock, a sound that rattled thier own musical frameworks to the core. From the electric rush of touring with Rory's former comrades to the challenges of juggling the touring life with family responsibilities, we unearth the raw emotional tapestry that defines the musician's life. And for those who've ever wondered about the alchemy of bands, we dissect the irreplaceable magic that develops within groups who've weathered the road's trials together.

Finally, we crank the amp to eleven as we trade tales of our most treasured axes — including Greg's '66 Telecaster that's more family heirloom than guitar — and reminisce about the raucous heyday of rock and roll attitude. From Hendrix's legendary coolness to the visceral thrill of loud, unapologetic concerts, we explore how the echoes of those live-wire performances still inform our music today. So join us, turn up the volume, and let every chord strike resonate with the storied past and vibrant present of rock, blues, and everything in between.

1:33 - Life in Chicago, Davy’s new acoustic album, and the simplicity of performing by oneself
8:05 - The glory and mystery of Robert Johnson
13:10 - One cannot deny the influential power of Eric Clapton
17:26 - Davy affiliation w/ Rory Gallagher, and similarities to Roy Buchanan
24:58 - Keeping busy in 2024, and the importance of having a solid, cohesive (sober?) band
34:59 - The importance of a great booking agent, a few words on opening bands, and what happens your band is loud AF
51:12 - Davy’s life as a performer
53:18 - The Telecaster, a few vintage guitars, and the real power of Rock ’n Roll

Fishman
Dedicated to helping musicians achieve the truest sound possible whenever they plug-in.

Wildwood Guitars
One of the world’s premier retailers of exceptional electric and acoustic guitars.

Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:09

Lo and behold, ladies and gentlemen, season five of Chewing the Gristle is upon us. It's been a little while, folks, but it's going to be worth the wait. We're going to be featuring a lot of convivial conversations with various musical potentates, most of which you've heard of. Some are going to be some new discoveries. That's why I'm here to bring forth the chewable gristle matter to you via the Information Superhighway, brought to you, of course, by our friends at Wildwood Guitars in beautiful Louisville, colorado, and our friends at Fishman Transducers of beautiful Andover, massachusetts. Both I've had great longstanding relationships with, and continue to do so, and we're very grateful for their continued support in this endeavor of giving you the highest quality and chewable gristle possible. Now, without any further ado, folks, let's get down and dirty with some Chewing the Gristle Season 5. Buckle up.

Speaker 1: 1:04

This week, on Chewing the Gristle, we have the mighty Davey Knowles, blues rock sensation, vocalist and guitar player, extraordinaire, hailing originally from the Isle of man In the UK, now a resident of the Chicagoland area, just a joy to talk to, and he's an outstanding musician and cat. This week, davey Knowles is chewing the damn gristle. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, once again we gather around the gristle campfire for a little chewing the gristle sesh. Gregory Caulk here with the mighty Davey Knowles, guitar player, vocalist, songwriter extraordinaire, hailing originally from the Isle of man. Some people think he's the illegitimate offspring of one happy Jack, but I don't know if that is true or not. Perhaps we will find out right now, davey, how's it going? What's happening?

Speaker 2: 2:06

I am all right. How are you?

Speaker 1: 2:08

I cannot complain. I am back in the warm bosom of my hometown for a week before I go back out again. Now, where are you as we speak?

Speaker 2: 2:18

I am just behind the cheddar curtain from you. I am in Chicago.

Speaker 1: 2:23

You know, I was wondering if you still lived in Chicago, because I knew you were last time we had spoken, spoke, spoken. I think there's spokes involved, but so you've been in Chi-town land for a while now.

Speaker 2: 2:36

Long time, yeah, gosh 14, 15 years. I would have thought at this point.

Speaker 1: 2:40

And whereabouts do you live down there in the great metropolitan area Northwest side? Aha, so not too far away from the Cheddar Curtain itself.

Speaker 2: 2:49

Not at all. It's just a hop skip and a jump.

Speaker 1: 2:51

Yeah, yeah. So when you need some Kringle or if you need to escape in the time of, you know, the great apocalypse, you can come up to the great north woods of Wiscani and we'll just let the good times roll.

Speaker 2: 3:09

There's that. What's it called the mars cheese castle?

Speaker 1: 3:10

yes, I didn't know cheese needed a whole castle, but there's one right there. Well, you know what? Uh, it is such a tasty product that it needs a fortress to protect the great quantity of, uh, whole infested milk products that I don't even know what that means. I guess that's that's. That's speaking of Swiss cheese of a nature, but uh, be that as it means. So what's what's been the latest? What's been happening? I see you've been going out and doing some acoustic stuff.

Speaker 2: 3:36

Yeah yeah. I came out with um, an acoustic album, last year and uh, I went out and uh started playing a whole bunch of a few tours really of acoustic music, which has been amazing for me. I've really enjoyed it. It's something I kind of grew up uh listening to and never really had the chance to to go out and do so it's it feels good yeah, I've seen some clips and it sounds fabulous you're kind, kind. Thank you very much. Yeah, it's been fun.

Speaker 1: 4:06

I dig it and you know the acoustic thing is something as well. There's just something satisfying about being able to sit by yourself and perform and have it sound. You know what I mean? All-inclusive, yeah, sure.

Speaker 2: 4:21

Sure Fallen? Yeah, I don't know my dad was a big folky, uh kind of english folk, people like burt yanch, oh yes, and john rembrandt, yeah, davy graham and uh, that whole kind of pentangle folksy john martin as well. So I grew up listening to to all of that stuff and and idolizing it and uh, kind of it's been quietly bubbling away for a long time for me. So, yeah, it's been, it's been great, very satisfying, like you say, to go out there and just kind of uh do a whole thing on that.

Speaker 1: 4:56

Yeah, yeah, the whole kind of English take on the folk stuff. It's always so interesting because, you know, I got it, went into a deep dive with the Davy Graham stuff years ago, you know, primarily because of, well, where did this, where did white summer actually come from? Well, it was a thing, right. And then Bert Janch was the same thing and but also Richard Thompson and and guys like that and and there's just such an interesting convergence of Americana with that kind of English folk song thing. Yeah, it's just so, so satisfying.

Speaker 2: 5:34

It is, it's lovely it is. It's interesting to say that because a lot of the kind of impression of English folk is it's kind of very, I don't know, long and rambling, and this guy would quite like the English. Really it's a terrible. But there is this amazing injection of that kind of early 60s a lot of Mississippi John Hurt and a lot of Reverend Gary Davis and these kinds of country blues is a huge thing. Oh, bill Broomsey, oh my gosh, yeah, all of that stuff. So yeah, there is this kind of transatlantic thing for sure.

Speaker 1: 6:13

And then also especially with old Davy Graham. He had that more exotic, more of the world music thing. That I think was grand spanking at that particular time.

Speaker 2: 6:25

Yeah, kind of king of the dad God, really wasn't he? And, and, uh, he had this very I think he spent time in Morocco and North North Africa. He did yeah, yeah, so there's, there's a lot of, there's a lot of kind of, uh, arabic sounding uh what he's doing.

Speaker 1: 6:45

It's amazing, absolutely. And again it's going back to that thing of one guy just sitting down and letting that whole melting pot of all those different influences just spontaneously come out. And because you, when you're solo, as you well know, you can do whatever the hell you want.

Speaker 2: 6:56

There's space there's time, all of the things.

Speaker 1: 6:58

Yeah, absolutely, yeah, fabulous, but it's not for the meek, though right, I mean at first. You know, the first time I did a couple solo things.

Speaker 2: 7:05

It's like, yeah, I got no one else here, yeah you feel you feel pretty exposed at that, like I'd like to thank my band. You know exactly it is. It is terrifying, but um, it's also. I found it a really good opportunity. Sometimes, with the band thing, you're so, uh, focused on kind of bam, bam, bam, let's go, let's go, let's go, let's go. You know big fire, you know you forget the kind of context of everything and the acoustic idea. You know the idea with the acoustic thing is to be able to say, well, this is why this song came about, this is how this song came about, and the opportunity to kind of give a bit of context to what you do is is a really lovely thing. I think a bit of context to what you do is is a really lovely thing.

Speaker 1: 7:45

I think a bit of a breath right, and I think to that point I mean, there's a lot of sense to the fact of if you can make a song sound full and complete and have it be effective just in a solo environment chances are it's, it's a good and then in the full context, it's going to even be better.

Speaker 2: 8:03

Absolutely yeah, yeah, for sure it's going to work.

Speaker 1: 8:07

You know I always kind of make the joke about the Robert Johnson stuff Because you know, I think, as people who you know, I grew up listening to Cream Records and, you know, and Hendrix, and then I went back and listened to, you know, bb King and Albert King and I was a big Mighty Waters fan and so on and so forth. But of course I kept on seeing, you know, clapton and the Stones and everyone who I was really into would reference Robert Johnson. It's like, well, I got to hear this shit, you know, especially when it's like, oh, he's sold his soul to the devil for prodigious talent. And then the first time you put that record on, when you're used to listening to you know, contemporary recordings and you hear this, and you hear this guy going, oh, my baby, you're like this guy sold his soul for this.

Speaker 1: 8:50

I mean, what's this seems like kind of a bad deal and then when you really kind of take a deep dive and allow yourself to be in, you know, be in that space where you're just kind of given into the whole thing, then it's a thing of wonder, because you really come to the realization that everything he's doing syncopation, wise, accompanying himself, and so on was really the blueprint for what would be the contemporary blues band and certainly rock and roll band. I mean, you can hear it all going on and and that's a fascinating thing and I think it's it's important to kind of do that deep dive, even though, as I said, I think it's it becomes harder. And I always make this reference too to people is that, you know, with each subsequent generation, who gets exposed to this roots music? Uh, you know, just because of, unless you have a parent or an older sibling or something like that, and if you just stumble upon it, obviously, obviously, who's ever the current, you know, does your blues person or whoever?

Speaker 1: 9:51

That initially gets you the gateway drug, if you will. You're used to that contemporary sound You're used to both on recording and live. And then when you start listening, well, what about this, this Hendrix guy, or what about this Albert King? And the farther you go back, a lot of times they can't make the connection of well, yeah, that's actually verbatim shit from these other guys, because they can't get past the production value you know what I mean, right, right, and it's it's kind of the the wonderful.

Speaker 2: 10:20

I think the wonderful thing about any folk music is is the constant progression of it. And I think that wonderful thing about any folk music is the constant progression of it. And I think that there is always the room and the importance of the preserve and protect brigade where it's. You know, we have to play this exactly like Albert King did it. We have to do that, but ultimately, how any of this music survives is the progression of it. But I think it's also, like you're saying, it's so important to understand the context of when that music was made, how it was made, the limitations that were in place and from a recording aspect, production aspect, all of this, and understand the context of it. But it's hard, yeah, it's hard. The accessibility of it is different, isn't it? It's interesting.

Speaker 2: 11:13

My first kind of gateway, like you're saying, the first host, if you like, was John May on the Blues Breakers, was the Be no album, and if you look at that record, like, the first track is an Otis Rush song, then there's a Freddie King song and then there's a Ray Charles song, there's a Robert Johnson song. It's got so many of the major players. You read the liner notes and you go. I have to get all of this stuff and it is shocking to go back and go what I think I like Eric Clapton's playing a bit more Exactly, and that's just human nature, right it?

Speaker 2: 11:45

is? Of course it is. Of course it is. But preference is a beautiful thing and opinion is a wonderful thing. But then, further to that, you know the Internet, which is such a bastion of all things true and knowledgeable. You know, lord, have mercy of all things true and knowledgeable. You know, lord, have mercy. You see so many comments Whenever there's a picture of Eric Clapton, he's become this very polarizing figure I feel like you know. So many people comment oh he's boring all of this stuff. And I'm going good Lord, if you listen to what happened between 66, which is when the Beano album came out, or even before that with the Yardbirds, yeah, 65, yeah, yeah, yeah. And you listened to what, 1971, which was Derek and the Dominoes, is that right?

Speaker 1: 12:33

Or 72, around that, 70, I think, by late. I'm sorry I'm geeking out here, but by late 71, I think he was already kind of ensconced in his heroin hideaway, absolutely. But if you look at the difference of the music, by late 71, I think he was already kind of ensconced in his heroin hideaway, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 12:45

But if you look at the difference of the music and the development of what's gone on in any direction, how many different things the guy wrote the book on at that point and I'm going you're missing the point you might be bored to tears with this version of Over the Rainbow. That's absolutely fine. You're entitled to your opinion, but don't discount everything the man did.

Speaker 1: 13:11

Well, exactly To that exact point. I mean, imagine God forbid that Clapton would have succumbed to his drug addiction in 1971. He'd be held in the same regard as Hendrix. He'd be like oh, my God, this guy was around for the look at the shit this guy done. No one did it but listen to music before him and then listen to music after. And that's the other thing that drives me crazy is when you know, because people are always there's always got to be this element of competition and you know who is underrated.

Speaker 2: 13:38

God, I hate that word, I hate the word underrated.

Speaker 1: 13:41

It's just like listen, there's simply people you appreciate because you've heard it, and there's people that you don't. But you know what it's not there is. There's no like grand sorcerer keeping score. But when people talk about oh well, Peter Green was really, was really better than Clapton, You're just like, first of all, there is no better. But let's just be clear there would have been no Peter Green if it wasn't for Eric Clapton.

Speaker 2: 14:03

Yeah, and that's what people don't understand.

Speaker 1: 14:10

It's like, first of all, the Les Paul into the Marshall, eric Clapton, the end that sound, that whole attitude which Peter Green was the first to say. The whole reason why I did that was because of Eric Clapton, you know. And then of course, he developed into his own thing and wrote, saw, you know, and did everything which I loved as well. But I mean, I don't know why people have to, you know. And then of course, they get, as you said, they get, you know, uh, jaded by their personal opinions of him and his opinions on various different things and so on and so forth. And then, you know, now it's, it's almost become something. We're online, especially if you go on, you know, twitter X or whatever it's called now, and then the new, uh, the new one threads, you know where, you know, you know, offer their piping hot opinions on this.

Speaker 2: 14:52

That the next thing which I do not engage in.

Speaker 1: 14:54

I mean, I engage physical stuff on in a humorous thing every now and again. I don't engage in opinion slaying, you know, with with other and I, you know that's, that's just my thing. I don't judge others, of course I do, but be that as it may. But how people just you know, they pile drive on on Clapton and you're just like, okay, well, first of all, you got to separate, whatever your opinion about whoever it is, you got to separate the person from the art.

Speaker 2: 15:22

Of course.

Speaker 1: 15:25

Cause I know, most of the the time, if we met a lot of our idols, which I've had some great experiences, and other times I'm just like, oh my god, this guy's a dick with ears, you know. But you know you gotta separate the you know the music from, from the person, and it's just I think it's become fashionable now to just pile drive on on on Clapton and it's just like, first of all, yeah, I mean to your point as well. I mean there was something that happened in those early years where his, his artistic arc was guitar first, um, and the guitar was the song and his vocals were a framework for his guitar playing and then after that it became more about the song and the voice and the guitar. Was it just kind of stayed where it was at?

Speaker 2: 16:13

I happen to love all of it equally. I mean, I think, to be able to do that. A I think it's brave you know to go and follow artistically what you able to do that. A I think it's brave you know to go and follow artistically what you want to do, despite what people might expect of you. And B I think it speaks to his versatility as an artist, right right right.

Speaker 2: 16:35

Being able to do that from one hand, go and do All your Love, or Steppin' Out or something like that, to the wonderful tonight, I think that's. That's absolutely spectacular.

Speaker 1: 16:49

I agree, my only, you know, and again, this is just because I'm a fan, and but but again, people can do whatever they want as artists, and that's the way it is and we should all respect that. But for me it's like, yeah, you can go in all these different directions, it doesn't mean you have to completely not do that other thing though. You know what I mean. Yeah, that's true.

Speaker 2: 17:10

And that's.

Speaker 1: 17:11

That's just that's being nitpicky Again. When you look at the, the expanse of the career and everything that was done, I mean it's you know some, some reverence at the very least is an order.

Speaker 2: 17:23

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely Agreed entirely, but on another subject let's talk about.

Speaker 1: 17:28

I mean, you've done all kinds of different things, but in the recent years you going back to 2017, you did the thing with Jerry McAvoy and the drummer McKenna right, mckenna, yeah and doing the talk a little bit about the Rory Gallagher affiliation and his influence on you originally and what it meant to be a part of that thing.

Speaker 2: 17:50

Oh my gosh. I mean, I grew up on the Isle of man, which is a Celtic nation. It's only about 40 miles off the coast of Ireland. I could, I could see, on a clear day that, the mountains of Mourne in Northern Ireland from the house I grew up in a clear day, the um, the mountains of morn in northern ireland, from the house I grew up in, um, you know it's right there and so, um, I grew up around a lot of folk music, a lot of irish sounding folk music. Manx folk music has got a lot in common with it.

Speaker 2: 18:14

Um, and you know, at the same time I was heavy into this great big you know electric guitar thing. I started playing because of mark knopfler and dire straits and that. And then you know early clapton, you know all electric guitar thing. I started playing because of Mark Knopfler and Dire Straits. And then you know early Clapton, you know all of this stuff, so very American sounding things. And then when I heard Rory for the first time, it blew me away and I would have been about 13, maybe, because to me it sounded like here is a guy who is playing all of this very aggressive American influenced music, but with this lilt to his playing that sounded so familiar to me. That was almost like a jig or a reel in his phrasing.

Speaker 1: 18:58

Yeah, yeah, I don't know if you can.

Speaker 2: 19:01

Maybe I can.

Speaker 2: 19:01

I don't know if you can really hear this, but it was you know, instead of um you know it'd be exactly, yep, those, those kinds of things right, and, and to me, that was I, I don't know that blew me away. I'd never heard that before and, um, I loved his um, lack of I don't know, and there wasn't, there wasn't a hint of pretentiousness about it, it was just go out, go to work, and I loved that, um, and so, yeah, I've been a huge fan. And then it was about 2017.

Speaker 2: 19:35

Ish, I got a message from jerry, who was his bass player for 20 odd years. You know, did every album and and, uh, it was. I saw you do something on facebook, you know, to celebrate his birthday. You want to do something. It was, oh, my god, um, and that turned into, uh, a lot of tours with with jerry and ted, who was rory's drummer in the kind of late 70s, mid to late 70s, and and he was with the sensational Alex Harvey band as well, and sadly, we lost Ted a few years ago, but we Brendan O'Neill, who was Rory's last drummer for the last 10 years. So we've been going out and doing stuff too, and it's just this amazing moment of you become friends with your heroes and then you are on stage and you look around and you shit, how did this happen? This is amazing, you know, and also thinking don't fuck up, but it's absolutely wonderful, they're amazing, absolutely amazing, and it's just been an education and a joy.

Speaker 1: 20:43

Well, what's interesting is I got into Rory kind of late in the game, you know, just because you know you have your initial influences, and then you go on, and most of the stuff I got into initially was all because of my brother's record collection. And then everything else kind of fanned out from there and somehow the threads of whatever I was into didn't leave lead to Rory. And so to me there were all these kind of, you know, blues rock kind of outlier guys that, um, I was like, okay, well, that's that, but I'm, I, you know, I've I've already gone back to the real shit, so I don't need to, I don't need to check these guys out, you know what I mean. And then I would hear stuff and I was like, yeah, that's cool, you know. But I was already kind of, you know, just because we are how we are, isn, it was, uh, we were playing in Germany somewhere.

Speaker 1: 21:35

It wasn't all that long ago I want to say it was maybe 10 years ago and, um, and again, I'd I'd heard various different Rory things. I even think we did a tune of his on. I did this Australian thing with the fender guys and there was the new Rory strat out, so we learned a Rory tune and and I and I I think I referenced something on this, this Strat book that I was a part of doing like little sound bites for, and I listened to a Rory thing real quick and did kind of a slide thing, so I was aware of it, but I never did any kind of deep dive, you know what I mean. And and these two Irish guys came over to this gig that I was doing and, um, in Germany, like when are you going?

Speaker 1: 22:09

to play in Ireland. I was like, well, we don't have an agent there yet, so it's been kind of hard, yada, yada, yada. Like well, you know, we're we're big fans and he goes, we're also big fans of Rory Geller and we wanted to give you this, and so it was just a copy, it was a CD of the 74 Irish and that was it I listened to that thing and I was and and I've been a fan ever since.

Speaker 1: 22:36

Um, just because, as you said, everything you, you stated, you know just the, the non-pretence, um, you know, straight in, let the good times roll, uh, but I dug his tunes and again that there's that, again with the blues, there's that Celtic under underpinning, both in the songs and in the playing. Uh, and plus, there there's there's a weird connectivity to me. Um, almost it almost in the time that he kind of, you know, became more popular and, like his, his first record cover was very similar to roy buchanan's first record there's a connection between those two.

Speaker 1: 23:07

You know what I mean yeah, and I don't know how much of that was actually. It was just serendipitous, or if there was, like you know, the record company going hey, we're Gallagher's out, this guy's kind of an American similar, you know what I mean. I don't know if you ever felt that way.

Speaker 2: 23:34

I don't know, they felt like guitar players. Guitar players in a way. They weren't like the shiny pop stars. There was a grit about both of them which was, I don't know, mysterious. I think to a degree. Yes, indeed.

Speaker 1: 23:47

Yeah, it's interesting just the absolute devotion people have to Rory. I mean there's just, oh yeah, it is definitely Rabid. Yeah, there you go, that's the word I was looking for yeah, and especially in Northern Europe too.

Speaker 2: 23:59

You find it, that was his real kind of stomping ground.

Speaker 1: 24:04

And it's interesting when you watch those videos that are on like Ona Filter or yeah, rock Palace, rock Palace, there you go, rock Palace, what's the Rock Palace? There you go. And how he just comes out and he just is like I am going to scald your brain.

Speaker 2: 24:16

Yeah, absolutely Good luck with this. Yeah, yeah, you know, and I also you know it was something about the gear he used I loved too. You know it was just. It wasn't like a bunch of effects, it was a Strat, an AC-30, sometimes like the old Fender Twin, the Tweed Twin, and it was that just like plug in and it doesn't. I don't know. It was like this idea of it doesn't really matter, it's not about that.

Speaker 1: 24:42

I like that and Roy was the same way. Roy was like straight in, except later on he's like I think I'll use a little delay pedal as well and that would really flush the boat out.

Speaker 2: 24:54

It's a whole new sound.

Speaker 1: 24:55

I think I'll use a little delay pedal as well, so talk a little bit about what, uh, what you're doing these days and and you know you've been I mean, you're a young lad but you've been at it for a while now, touring and so on and so forth, and uh, I was listening to a, uh, a concert you did at Funky Biscuit, where we're going to be down in a couple weeks actually, and they're always good about recording the shows there and putting it out to the great unwashed.

Speaker 1: 25:26

But, it was great, it was rocking, and so talk a little bit about how much of your year you spend on the road and what other stuff you do. As we know, to meet as a musician is not for the meek, certainly not no, no, Well, these days I'm actually a dad of three.

Speaker 2: 25:46

I have three little girls, oh you do, I do, yeah.

Speaker 1: 25:49

How old are these rascals?

Speaker 2: 25:52

Five, two and coming up on six months oh, bless you, you can actually visibly see the gray hairs just sprouting. You can watch them grow. It's amazing. But I try to be really sensible in my touring schedule. I like the kind of two weeks on, two weeks off kind of thing. Is about what I like to do.

Speaker 1: 26:18

That is sanity maintaining.

Speaker 2: 26:21

I think so yeah, well, ultimately I also in my younger days, when I first started this. What? When you were 12? Yeah, which is only a couple of years ago now. No, I, I, you know when.

Speaker 2: 26:36

I well go, we were 1920 when we first came to the states and it was um, uh, I mean it was like 200 odd dates a year. I mean it was absolute um madness really, and I could cope with it, batman, and it was fine. But it didn't take too long for me to realize if I want to do this for the rest of my life, then I've got to pace myself accordingly. You know it is. It is an uncomfortable living sometimes, um, and so you strike that balance between maintaining health and safety regs and and um and um and making a living right. You try and do that. So it's about striking a balance there.

Speaker 2: 27:18

So, along with this acoustic thing, we're just getting ready to record a new band album. We just got off a few shows, kind of trying all that stuff out, whipping the band into shape myself, so we're just about to go and do that, and then really it's kind of that, that whole thing of um right, record tour, right, record tour, and yes, it's, it's a wonderful thing. I I love it. It's kind of a it's nice to get into that pattern of things.

Speaker 1: 27:49

It's fun absolutely the youngins. Yeah, I've got four of those rascals, of course, now. My youngest is in college now, so he's a sophomore in college, and of course, my oldest plays in the band with me.

Speaker 2: 28:04

I see that, yeah, amazing.

Speaker 1: 28:07

What a feeling that must be. It's pretty wild. I mean we get along great and he plays great, and it's just wild. I mean it is uh, you know we get along great and and uh, and he plays great, and it's just, it's just wild. And to have people come up at the end of the night and say, you know, man, your kid, you know, cause it, you know.

Speaker 1: 28:22

I think the supposition is is that it's nepotism. And I'm like, listen, he found the organ player, you know, and I go, and if I wasn't here you'd be saying he's a great drummer whether I'm here or not. So but he, you know, he, more than he, more than excels on his own. So it's been, it's been a lot of fun, but I've always been. I don't know if you're the same way, but to me it's always been. I've always attempted To have the same. I've always wanted just a band, because a band, the longer they play together, it becomes this thing that cannot be replicated and you can always do something where you can hire hot shots. You know what I mean Guys that are the super session guys or that you always see playing with other people, and that's going to be at a level of excellence regardless, because they're that good of players. But does it become this congealed other thing that can't be replicated?

Speaker 2: 29:18

no, yeah, I totally agree.

Speaker 1: 29:19

And so, as a result of doing this thing with my son and with toby and just beating it on the year, it's now it's, it's this beast, right, and I think, as a as me being a fan of, of various bands over the year, whether whether it be, you know, uh, zeppelin, or, or, or the meters, or, or whoever you know um, you just love, even when good times, bad times, you just love the fact that that exists because you know they're going to create something from that initial, uh, embryonic state that's just become this thing that you're not going to hear anywhere else, right, and so that's that's what's fun for me.

Speaker 2: 29:54

I've done the kind of the hired gun thing and, like you say, I mean the musicianship is astounding. But also there's this kind of underlying feeling of no one in the room believes in your project as much as you do. Yes, absolutely, and so you know. So there is a of um, this is a paycheck for them, kind of a, a, a commercial transaction, um, and they might be the sweetest people in the world, but there is that underlying thing there, whereas when you're scoping for another gig.

Speaker 1: 30:28

You know they're always and there's always this level of sycophancy and I just you know what I mean it's you'd rather just have guys one for all. We're all in it together. You don't have to worry about me replacing your ass unless you're do something. You know ridiculous traffic yeah, absolutely, absolutely.

Speaker 2: 30:52

and you know it's really hard to find, and so when you do find that, you hang on tight to it. Yeah, it's a wonderful, beautiful thing.

Speaker 1: 31:03

And what's hard about it is like to me it's like if you can find one other person in the band, let alone two, but more than that, it's like really hard, absolutely, Absolutely. It's like really hard, absolutely Absolutely, Because musicians in general are present, company excluded, of course, are you know, it's just man you never know. Well, plus, the other thing is too, it's like I gave up partying years and years ago. You know, like it's 30 years now, right, so I have very. I have no tolerance for it. I mean, I'm not judgmental, as long as you get your shit done, I don't care. But I got, you know, my son doesn't do anything, he doesn't use anything and Toby, like, will have a beer, and that is so liberating because you don't have to worry about cause.

Speaker 1: 31:45

I remember back in the day, you know and I still see it with other things I might be involved in, where I'll guest star with somebody or play or sit in with somebody, and you know people are at the bar and they're staying until like 3 am and it's like, oh, what time's? The bus? Call hotel, the lobby call, you know, and then you got to deal. They're hungover and all. I mean I get it, but at the same token I.

Speaker 2: 32:05

I don't want it around me totally the three of us, none of us drink. It's amazing, it's absolutely astounding. And, uh, I tell you, I'll tell you a funny story. We, we were up in uh in minneapolis years ago and, uh, we got there loading time. You know, 4 pm and the opening band already. Already there there's a little club and and they'd already set up on this tiny stage, you know the the size of my desk here, you know a wall of Marshall, full stacks and, like the double bass drum, ginger Baker kind of thing, and I remember that the name on the heads of the drums was Cocaine, was the name of the band. This is going great, this is going great.

Speaker 2: 32:56

And they were there in like 80s era Guns N' Roses leather with the bottle of Jim Beam and, you know, the cowboy boots crossed up on the table. It was absolutely hilarious and we were kind of walking in. Two things happened that night. You know, our fan base tend to be kind of middle-aged white guys really that's how it tends to be and we're playing this club and it's half full at this point and they're on stage and the singer's got his shirt off and he's got his foot on the monitor and I remember him going. You guys better watch your girls, because they've been looking at me since I got on stage and from the back of the room I shit you, not from the back of the room all you hear was fuck you man. And he absolutely fell about.

Speaker 2: 33:51

Now, after the show, the guy comes up to us. The singer comes up to us and he says he says hey, man, you guys sounded really good. Likewise, thank you very much. And he said he said he said you know we're going out afterwards. You know we have a few drinks. You know we got a bit of this. You know we got we got a bad bit of this. You know bit of this. And I just remember the drummer going and I've got a good book Off, we went. It was just, oh my God, you know, horrific, just horrific. So yeah, that's I'm. I'm all for slippers on cup of tea in an early night.

Speaker 1: 34:35

We interrupt this regularly scheduled Gristle infested conversation To give a special shout out to our friends At Fishman Transducers, makers of the Greg Koch Signature Fluence Gristle Tone Pickup Set Can you dig that? And our friends at Wildwood Guitars Of Louisville, colorado, bringing the heat In the shadow of the Rocky Mountains. What's been interesting is that, you know, for years I put together this career in the States where you know I always had my bands and I'd put out CDs, but we never had a decent booking agent. So you know, we'd have, like you know, little anchor gigs here and there and we'd put a couple of things around it, but most of, like, the tours I would do were in Europe. You know where it'd be. You know go out for a couple, three weeks or whatever, sometimes a month, whatever the case may be.

Speaker 1: 35:24

But the only time I had any kind of real like agent venue, tour bus go, I mean tour vehicle I should say I'm not going to give you any delusions that we had any kind of bus other than a sprinter. But be that as it may. But now that we're, you know, just like right before COVID, we got this great booking agent and then of course, covid happened, which was unfortunate. We had this ability to do all these live streams from the house, which a lot of people tuned into, which was better, because when we went out I mean, covid wasn't great for anybody by any stretch, but it was at least advantageous for us when we went out and started just hitting the road and doing clubs, people were showing up going hey, you know, we've been watching you online and da, da, da da. So that's, that's led to this, this, this whole thing where we've been able to go out and make make dough. But what's great about it is, I tell people, you know because.

Speaker 1: 36:11

I think most local musicians in general you know they're used to like. You know you don't go on until 10 o'clock at night. They want you to play until. Or you go on at nine or 10 and you got to play until two in the morning. You get paid shit money and you know multiple sets and at the end of that you're loading your stuff out and it's all about you know the party and the hang and I your stuff out and it's all about you know the party and the hang and I get all that because I did it for. You know my whole youth, my 20s, I don't remember because it was that you know.

Speaker 1: 36:39

Yeah, but now to your point. I mean, when you're playing at these showcase clubs where it's a music club, it's not like a club like oh look, there's a band here. You know what I mean. It's. It's specifically for music and and people show up. You're on at at like eight and you do a half set, maybe with encores. You play two, two hours all your merch. You hang out with folks for a little bit, you pack up your shit, you're back at the Hampton Inn 1030, 11 at the latest. Maybe I'll work out in this delicious workout center here at the Hampton Inn and wake up for that sumptuous breakfast with mystery meats and fake eggs.

Speaker 2: 37:21

You know, I've never had that overwhelming desire to hit the gym, but I know what you're saying. Yeah, it's civilized, isn't it? And I also think from an audience standpoint. I mean, they're different kinds of gigs. Right, the whole play the 4 am bar. You know three sets of an hour, you know all these kinds of things. It's for a different kind of thing. There's a revolving door of you know clientele that come in, but with your own ticketed shows and all of that stuff putting on you know two hours of a show for people. I mean, if you played all night you'd hurt their ears. Yes, it's there. There is a degree of uh, this is best for everyone. If this is not an all night event, come in nice and early. You know it's very civilized, I think it's. It's very civilized, I think it's a nice way of doing things.

Speaker 1: 38:14

And to your point about the openers, it's like I've, I tell people, hey, we got an opener. I'm like nope. And the thing is I don't care if it's like an acoustic duo or something like that, but the whole thing is that we are a lot to take in. We're loud as fuck, and you know and we. There's times where it and you know, and we, we, and there's times where it's just balls to the wall and we like to. You know, we play dynamically and all that kind of stuff, but it's it's a lot to take in. So if we, you know, and of course, being a guitar player, some guitar player guy wants to open up for you, and of course rightly so, they want to do their thing, they want to let their freak flag fly, freak flag fly. But a lot of times, like no good deed goes unpunished, they go up, they, they play too long, they're loud as shit and by the time you get on, the crowd is already like you know, especially, you know, some of the people that were dragged along to the show, that maybe were unwilling supplicants, and uh, and they, they're like jesus wept now. Now I gotta hear these guys. You know what I mean. So I'm always like I'm very nice and I go listen when, when they start reaching out or somebody like the band itself will reach out, I'm like, listen, I totally get it.

Speaker 1: 39:20

When I was a guy, when I was younger, I always wanted to open up for all these people and I did. I was able to open up for a bunch of people at this club in town that always wanted openers. So it was like like they would reach out to me to do it. Uh. But I'm always like listen, I appreciate you, the fact that you want to do this, but it's just too much. It's just, you know, plus plus, you know, we have a beef, a lot. These stages are small and we got, you know, toby's b3 and his bass rig and the leslie and all of a sudden, oh yeah, let's all set up and get a sound check and then move our shit back so yeah, not really m really Mitch McCorkle and the all night pounders can come up and throttle voodoo child for 30, for 30 minutes.

Speaker 1: 39:59

You know what I mean. It's like who's winning here? No one.

Speaker 2: 40:05

It's true. It's true. There is this also kind of habit of promoters to be like um are you guys like a blues rock band? That's kind of habit of promoters to be like um, are you guys like a blues rock band? That's cool. Let's put another two blues rock bands on the bill, right, and by the time it comes to you like you say you're, the audience is totally worn out on the thing. Uh, I, I think it's great to have, um, you know, a little community with, with, with this stuff there's, you know, maybe um, uh, a kid who's kind of um, maybe like a local hero, up and coming, fabulous, brilliant, try and be inclusive and absolutely come along. Yeah, I think that's a wonderful thing. But if it's just a little bit of a mindless, no thought to it let's throw them up there and see what happens, kind of a thing it can be a little frustrating to to the evening because ultimately, you're selling the tickets and you care about the people you're selling the tickets to, right, exactly that's why I like the acoustic thing so much.

Speaker 1: 41:04

When people come in and you know that's, that's awesome, because that it's, it's cool, people dig it, you know, and it's uh, it's easy on the ears and then we can go out and just throttle them into submission.

Speaker 2: 41:15

Yeah, absolutely, absolutely Amazing. Yeah, but it's interesting.

Speaker 1: 41:22

You know, I don't know about you, but I find that, um, what's been refreshing is like forever, because I would. I was able to go over to Europe and actually just tour. I always thought, well, and people would say, well, europe's better, right, and I'm like, well, you know, there's just an infrastructure over there. There's, there's venues where you know, there, it's, it's about the music. They have decent PAs, they they put you up as part of the deal, they feed you as part of the deal, and so you know, you can play every night of the week and after you know three weeks you're tired as shit. But you've made money and you've seen some awesome sites and you know it's been great.

Speaker 1: 42:00

You know, whereas in the States it's like, you know, a lot of times you know your first time into an area it's a door deal, there's nothing provided, and so you're like man, it's kind of a drag. But then you start touring in the States and you realize, oh well, if you you draw X amount of people and if the deal's good, you can actually make dough. And nine times out of 10, the sound man doesn't say shit to you about your volume. You go in there. People are only there to see you. But in Europe you fart and you got Hans up in your face saying this is too loud. Can you turn it down? Can we put the panel on your buttocks? It is too loud. I use this out and you're like listen, you know, it's not about us curtailing everything that we do to fit into your room. It's like, if you know what we do, we're not a poker band, we're not a easy. Didn't you write a song?

Speaker 2: 42:50

about this. Don't you have a German-themed song? I think?

Speaker 1: 42:55

I do I did something online at some point where I bemoaned this whole thing Gunter's Fury, I believe it's called.

Speaker 2: 43:04

That was it. Absolutely magic. It's totally true. I do have a slight aversion. I call them sneeze guards, the little plastic gate in front. I just find that looks so strange, especially if you get one and you surround the whole drummer with it, right, and it just looks like they're in a fish tank. Yes, I have trouble with that. I have trouble with that. But yeah, I think I mean volume-wise, if you're playing this kind of music, there should be a degree of assertiveness to you know, it shouldn't be. You know you can. I remember going to see the Allman Brothers band and the Doobie Brothers had a double bill at the Greek in Los Angeles, in Los Angeles, and I was so excited. This is amazing, this is amazing and the music was astounding. But you could hear people talking from across the amphitheater because there's this mad decibel in it. Right, I don't want that. Right, I want to feel the blood trickling down from my ears. You know, you want to be amongst it. Yeah, absolutely, absolutely Got to be assert it.

Speaker 1: 44:11

You want, yeah, absolutely, absolutely gotta be assertive. And it's an interesting thing because folks, a lot of people these days, um, it would seem I don't want to generalize too much but there's a lot of folks that are like what do you mean? We want to talk. It's like no, this isn't about talking. This is an immersive experience.

Speaker 1: 44:27

Like when I go and see a band, I don't want to talk to the people next to me, I want to hear the band. In between songs I might say, oh, that was really cool, or this, that and the next thing, but I want to be amongst it. You know, I want to be immersed and it's not about music being a soundtrack to your. I mean, certainly there are those situations. Then go to those places where you want to have that experience, where bands are like a background thing, or oh, I like this song, I'll think I'll dance. That's all well and good.

Speaker 1: 44:58

But if you're going to go to a showcase for the band is doing their thing and I mean all the people that I was influenced by they all played loud as shit. I mean, those walls of Marshalls were not playing. They were not. You know, they weren't props back then. That was my favorite thing is is that a gentleman came out to Wildwood out in Colorado and I was doing videos and my buddy, steve, owns a store. He's like hey, would you mind saying hi to this fella? And I'm like sure he's got a present for him. I'm like, oh, as pie, he lives out in Colorado now, but he originally lived in, uh, toledo and he had taken a picture of Hendrix playing in Toledo in 1968 and he blew it up and he gave it to me.

Speaker 1: 45:41

It's his frame picture and it's awesome because he's literally like in the third row. And you see, uh, jimmy, nolan, mitch, and what's wild about it is. I showed it to my son. I go, what do you notice about this picture? He's like there's no mic on the drums. I go, that is correct. So it's two walls of Marshalls for Jimmy, a wall of sun for Noel, and Mitch is just pounding the drums. Oh my God, and you know, a lot of times back then there was no, there was no pa, I mean, other than the vocal pa. I mean I remember hearing stories, and again, you don't know how much is urban myth and what's true or not, but I've had people like, yeah, I saw cream at madison square garden and they lowered the boxing mic of mad into the stage and that's how you heard it throughout the place just the stage volume, so that was their way to be heard.

Speaker 1: 46:32

So I don't imagine if you're close to the and frank zappa told the story about how. You know, when he played that house gig at the garrick theater up, it was upstairs from the cafe wa and and hendrix uh, when he first came back over from england with the experience they played the cafe wa and frank came down to see him but he said there were so many people there that he kind of got sandwiched in this area. That was right in front of Jimmy and he couldn't move and they started he goes. It was so unbelievably loud because I had no idea how anyone could afflicted upon themselves other than somebody else. But you know that's the way it was back then. It's like you didn't go up to Hendrix and say, hey, can you turn that down?

Speaker 2: 47:13

I mean maybe some people did, and he said, yeah, that's not happening. I remember getting told to turn down once Before I'd even gotten my amp out the van. We pulled up to a venue and it was hey, nice to meet you. It's Saren Angeli. Nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Hey, should we start loading in? She goes nice to meet you. Nice to meet you. Hey, should we start loading in? Just yeah, yeah, you know this room it's pretty, uh, you know it's pretty lively. You want to watch the stage volume and I looked at it. But I went. Mate, can you hear anything? Right? I? It's still in the van, it's still in its case, right before before you pass judgment, can, can we? Can we set up and then we can talk about it maybe, but you know, it's interesting to that point.

Speaker 1: 47:54

I mean, it's like you know what bands are going to do. So treat your room accordingly. I don't know if you've ever played that little place outside of new york city that the turning point in people? Yeah, I have. I love that place, that's. That's a. I first walked into that place and I'm looking around like, oh my god, we are going to annihilate people in this room, but it's a room that can take it.

Speaker 1: 48:13

There are rooms that are built, that are these funky rooms that are built for music and they can take it as opposed to oh, I think we'll have bands and they'll have no treatment whatsoever anywhere. And then they're looking at you like can you, can you guys turn down?

Speaker 2: 48:28

It's like well, thanks for putting me in a place where, again, a well-placed fart will be deafening. It's absolutely there is, there is um. Sometimes you get, you know the engineers that are, more often than not, wonderful, fabulous, brilliant, we understand what you're doing. And then you get the um. You're in my house now, kind of kind of engineer that is like, uh, you know, suddenly you'll be, you'll be playing, and you've you. You hear front of house and he's got like this mad phasing delay going on. You know halfway through. What are you? So you're totally inappropriate. You've never heard of us before, you've never heard our music. What the fuck are you doing? It's, it's um, it can be.

Speaker 1: 49:13

Yeah, you're, you're at the mercy a little bit until you travel with your own, I guess, but exactly, yeah, you know we did this weird gig in in in san diego and we had a bunch of different west coast things and my agent's like, listen, it's a wednesday night, I got it open. But there's this place that's adjacent to, apparently, the Musicians Union Hall. That's like a jazz room of a sort, but you can rent it out and at least it's a gig and if people show up you make money. If you don't, you don't. I'm like, okay, well, I'd rather play than not, right? So we got there and we had to wait for the yoga class to get over with before we could go in. And we went in and there was a slight smell of butt foot in the air. You know, as as exercise spaces will sometimes manifest. But you know it had.

Speaker 1: 50:05

It had this nice, nice stage and and cool like giant kind of prints of, you know, wes Montgomery and Charlie Parker. I was like, oh, that's kind of a vibey little joint. So we get in there and we set up our stuff and they literally just have a vocal PA. We're like, okay, well, it's no problem. And people are like you guys sounded unbelievably good in here. It's like that's because we know how to mix ourselves and that's what a lot of these guys don't understand. Guys and gals, whatever you want to say, sound reinforcement professionals, of which most are great, but what? But? What a lot don't understand is is that when you have a band that knows how to play, it knows how to mix themselves, just do the minimal and add just what needs to be added.

Speaker 2: 50:47

Yes, and then leave it alone, exactly yeah, be added yes, and then leave it alone, exactly yeah, don't fuss with it. You know doing all of this Exactly yeah, yeah, totally yeah, but I think that's also just. You know good musicians, right? They know how to blend, make the stage sound good, right, that's yeah, you'd like to hope that's the case. Yeah, Easy said and done right.

Speaker 1: 51:15

So what are your? Some of your face favorite places to play do you have like a? Do you have like a set schedule of the year of like well, at this time of year I usually go out west and this time of year I do this, or is it? It just changes from year to year depending on what's happening?

Speaker 2: 51:28

it just changes really. I mean we do a lot of our work kind of at the East Coast and I think just it's easier to tour the East Coast right, there's a ton of humans there. There are a ton of humans there. Yeah, it's just easier travel. But no, it's just kind of year to year really. I mean, as far as favorite venues, we just got back from a little run that was fabulous we did the Acorn Theatre in Three Oaks, Michigan, which is certainly an hour and a half or so from here, and it's beautiful small theatre, Arts Council kind of kind of season thing oh, it's fabulous and lovely people and we had a great night.

Speaker 2: 52:13

And then, um, fort wayne, indiana, we played there, the baker street center. That's always, uh, a fun gig. And then a new venue for us out in um near detroit called the roxy in rochester. Oh, I haven't been there. Oh, do you remember callahan's out in Auburn Hills? I do remember I played there once. Yep, yeah, I mean, that was a great kind of funky, just the right amount of your feet stick to the floor kind of a place. This is a brand spanking new venue and we had a great night there. Oh, excellent, we did really well there. But I don't know, the Iridium in New York is always a fun one, right? Oh, always a joy, yeah, and Sellersville theater is beautiful. God, there are. There are some fabulous venues out there, really are, yeah, that's good times.

Speaker 1: 53:04

It's good times to go out and just and just rock people's brains. I always have a good time, yeah.

Speaker 2: 53:11

Good Lord. Yeah, why would you have a complaint about it? What a privilege it is to get to do it.

Speaker 1: 53:16

Absolutely. Let's talk a little bit about some guitar geekery. So you're a telliesman yeah, you're not afraid of the power of the Telecaster.

Speaker 2: 53:26

No, it's my favorite. That's what I grew up playing, really. So my first real electric guitar was a Mexican-made Telecaster that I still have and still use. It's a great guitar. I remember my dad. He was a folky and played acoustic. He knew nothing about electric guitars.

Speaker 2: 53:54

I remember when I was 11 or 12, first getting into it, I said, dad, what's the best guitar and electric guitar in the world? And he said well, son, there are two, but they're both rare as hen's teeth you'll never get. You know, they're really expensive, really rare. Uh, totally talking out of his ass. Um, it's the fender stratocaster, but the best one is the telecaster, he said. But they only made a few of them a long time ago, not realizing that they pump out millions of them a day, and so that always stuck with me that the Telecaster was kind of this, yeah, and so I played Telecaster forever, got that Mexican-made one and loved it, and then went into Strats for a bit.

Speaker 2: 54:34

I just kind of naturally gravitated towards fender and then he, uh, he passed away about eight, nine years, eight years, probably nine years ago this year, and, um, after he got, I, I uh, I saw this old one in a shop near me here in chic and I thought that's about, that's just about affordable as far as these things go. Everything that had been done to it had been done from a player's aspect, you know like keep the whole thing ticking over. And I thought, well, maybe there's something to this. And I went and played it and I was just that's it for me, and it's this, it's a 66. Ah, the year of my birth. All right, yeah, so 66 Telecaster. It's been refinished, pickups in and out and refretted, but it was kind of like my after I lost my dad. It was just kind of like look, dad, I got a real one. You know, it was this kind of like my after I lost my dad.

Speaker 1: 55:31

it was just kind of like look, dad, I got a real one, you know it was this kind of moment and that's been.

Speaker 2: 55:36

I haven't been able to put that down. That's been my main guitar now for eight, nine years.

Speaker 1: 55:43

And how are the? Are they the original pickups in there, Do you?

Speaker 2: 55:47

find that they. I actually got rid of the original. I'm not, I'm not. I try to be really practical with my gear. I had the original bridge pickup in it and I thought it was rubbish. I didn't like it at all. So I found someone who wanted it for a project and they had it and they got it. I sold that and I've got these pickups. That Joel Wilkins JW Guitar Restoration. He made those pickups for me and magic, Absolutely magic.

Speaker 1: 56:27

Yeah, I've got this beast For years and years and years. I wanted a, you know, a black guard, as they say, and of course they're unobtainium because they're so freaking expensive. So this one came in Wildwood and I remember playing it and it had the little frets and I'm like, and it's a spray over, so it's not as expensive as it would be if it was all a Ridge and there's like a little hole under here that's. I don't even know why someone did that, but there's. So there's a little hole in it, but it's the original electronics.

Speaker 2: 57:02

Yeah.

Speaker 1: 57:02

I think it's been refretted, but there are smaller frets Right, and it's the most amazing sounding guitar, clean. But if I add any gain at all it howls like a pig. Sure, so I use it for clean stuff If I'm in the studio and I keep it at home because I love it and I'm kind of of the mindset of, well, it just kind of is what it is. You know, I've thought about maybe having the pickups rewound, but you know, I have my reverends with my signature pickups in it that are kind of that's more of like the battle axe. It's completely sussed and ready for battle, Whereas this is just kind of an art piece. You know what I mean as much as I play it all the time.

Speaker 2: 57:41

And almost you know the dream manifest right that this is. You've finally gotten it.

Speaker 1: 57:54

And what the thing is that the neck pickup is so wimpy. But god, it sounds so good and it's really howly. If I add any gain to it at all, it is it's. It's so gorgeous, I just don't want to mess with it. So it's just one of those things where, again, beautiful, beautiful an art piece per se and kind of a kind of a guilty pleasure, as it were I did oh no, yeah, a lot of stuff to get it, uh, but, um, that's kind of like the only old thing I have in terms of of guitars.

Speaker 1: 58:20

I've got like a, um, a 74 strat that I got a couple years ago, which is not something I would have gravitated to, but I it was kind of in the it was in the midst of of COVID-19 and things were kind of waning a little bit and you could kind of go out in public and stores were open again and and it was kind of you know, father's day and my birthday are like days apart. So my wife used the term you need some self-care. Why don't you go out to the guitar shop? Can I get this written down? So I went out to the shop and I remember I saw the big headstock Strat. Now I've always just had an affinity for big headstock Strat because of Hendrix.

Speaker 2: 59:02

Yeah, you know.

Speaker 1: 59:03

Rockmore, yeah, trauer and all our 70s buddies. And I kind of looked up and I was like what is that? And I said to the guy, what is the deal with the Strat? And he goes, oh, it's a 74. And I remember I reached up because I was tall enough I was able to grab it and I picked it up with one hand. I was like my God, this weighs nothing.

Speaker 1: 59:26

I go, what is the deal with this thing? And the guy's like, well, it's a single owner, guy from texas, it was, and it's immaculate. And I go, this must weigh like maybe seven and a half pounds. Like yeah, it's totally weird. And it still had the three-way toggle switch in it, which I've, I've kept. Yeah, and man, it's just a delight. It's just so weird how you play differently on smaller frets, because that's the guitar. I mean, my tele origin story was and I don't know if it's the same for you, if you were. It was not the people I was listening to, although there were some that were the tele guys. I wasn't like I need a tele because these guys played it.

Speaker 1: 1:00:05

It was the fender guitar that was available to me, you know right and then when I got it, it's just ergonomically speaking I was like, oh my God, this does everything I needed to do. It's like you know, and I really had that thing of like, well, neck pickup is kind of how I build things, you know, middle pickup's kind of my rhythm thing, and then when I go for the jugular I go to the back and that's kind of my lead shot and yeah, but I always wanted a strat.

Speaker 1: 1:00:30

And then when I got a strat it sounded weird to me because I was used to kind of that wimpy, your neck pickup and the balls, your bridge pickup, sure yeah, I always found those um with a strat.

Speaker 2: 1:00:41

I I mean all of my heroes were strat players, really, you know but um, I found like, uh, well, that mark knopfler kind of in between sound, the two pickup sound. I absolutely adore it, I love it, but that's his. As soon as I was playing that I was going, that's his sound, that's his. I don't feel like I've got any of me in this. I couldn't do that. And then I always hit the middle pick-up. I always found that I would you know graze the middle pickup. I always found that I would you know graze the middle pickup with the pick, constantly. Oh, there you go. Yep, I'm not very good with wobble sticks. I love people who can do it, but for me I always Mr Wiggles, as I like to call it.

Speaker 2: 1:01:27

It sounds like a nervous twitch to me. When I do it, you know I hear you. And then too many knobs, like there's all of the. I just want one to make it off or on Right, and the one to make it dark or bright, and that's it, any more than that, and I'm going to get confused, you know. So the Telecaster for me is just, it's just very, uh, very practical everything is right there. I know where everything is nothing gets in the way and you can hit the bugger you can play.

Speaker 1: 1:02:02

It sounds great, clean, it's good for yeah, you can, it's good for anything. You know, there was a point where I I forced myself to play strat and and then that was like my main guitar for you know, probably a good decade, although I always had a telly and I always had some kind of you know, either 335, les paul sg, something like that. Um, and then at one point I just said, you know what, I'm tired of dealing with just the, the tuning issues on a strat. Um, you know, and I'm tired of dealing with just the, the tuning issues on a Strat. You know, and I'm I'm not Captain Hansy when it comes to working on my stuff. You know what I mean.

Speaker 1: 1:02:39

I've always had somebody set my guitars up for me and it's like with Strats, I always felt you, you kind of had to have that MacGyver thing. You know what I mean. You're always cause. I like Mr Wiggles, I don't, you know, I like to be able to do certain things with it. I like a floating bridge so I can just palm it and add a little vibrato here and there.

Speaker 2: 1:02:56

Oh yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:02:57

But I find that you know all of a sudden the guitar. You know the seasons change or whatever. And next thing you know you can't get it to stay in tune for love nor gold. And so then I just like, forced myself, I'm going back to a telly regardless, you know. And then you're always feel, when you go back to the telly or with a guitar without all that stuff, you're like, well, now I've just like completely eschewed this entire trick bag of all this extra sonic arsenal that I have at my disposal and I'm like, yeah, I don't give a shit, I'm just going to do this for a for a long period time, and then I would have a strap. But strats, in comparison to tell is just sound intrinsically wimpier. You know what I mean it's not for me.

Speaker 2: 1:03:38

It's not for me. And again, I, I don't know I felt like, um, my, my whole kind of mission, if you like, my little kind of ego mission. Uh, throughout all of the since day one really was, I would like to be able to pick up a guitar and sound like me. I, I have all of these heroes, but what I recognize in them and what I love about them is that they're all so distinct, right, uh, and I felt like I could never do that with a strap, it was always going to be me, and you know, attempting to emulate someone else, whereas with a telecaster, I felt just so comfortable with this. This sounds and feels like me.

Speaker 1: 1:04:24

I can achieve everything I want on it, right, exactly yeah, perfectly said, because it's more of a blank canvas, I think so yeah, absolutely, you can hit the bugger. Whereas the Strat's more of like you're coloring in, it's more of a coloring book.

Speaker 2: 1:04:43

Paid by numbers.

Speaker 1: 1:04:46

Although, that being said, I do have another guitar coming out with our friends at Reverend. It's kind of on the hush-hush, but maybe by the time this—well, actually, it'll probably— and I also worked on some pickups with Fishman that are more like S-like, shall we say, but really dealt with all the things that bothered me about strats over the years. So I think I've rectified, at least for me personally, the things that always, you know, um well, not bemoaned using a strap, but just were always uh, trigger points, shall we say. So it'd be kind of fun to have that out again, cause I I'm just such a huge Hendrix fan and I just, you know, um, I love list.

Speaker 1: 1:05:28

I still listen to um bootlegs at night, especially now that seems like Janie Hendrix and and the Hendricks uh experienced Hendricks crew have been a little um lenient on people posting various different uh live things now, cause they used to be all over it and take it down, and now they're everywhere. You can hear all kinds of different stuff and, um, and hearing that guy from night to night, it could just be like Jimmy's not into it tonight, and then I was like, oh, jimmy's into it tonight, and then you just hear this most amazing shit, and that's what I just love about that whole era. Just so, cowboy, you know showing up, you know again just with the whole uncertainty of the PA and the setup, and you know, a lot of times you see pictures of him going through the crowd, you know, with his fuzz face and his wah, with a guitar and the other guys holding it and they just put stuff against the amp. You know there's no, there's no roadies per se, I mean in terms of like guitar.

Speaker 2: 1:06:27

Just someone holding the amplifier at the back.

Speaker 1: 1:06:32

Exactly. And then it's like, sorry folks, we need a minute here to tune up. It's like you couldn't have done that before you hit the stage again rory.

Speaker 2: 1:06:39

Rory was the same way for me, just this kind of like you know it battered ac30 strat, leaning up against it, it's, you know it's up on a chair, yes, and then playing the royal albert hall like that, right, and I think that's fabulous.

Speaker 1: 1:06:54

Totally Fabulous. Yeah, it was all just genuine, you know, like flying by the seat of your pants. And then, of course, all the money got involved. And then it became I mean, not that money always hasn't been involved, obviously those guys wouldn't they wouldn't be out doing something if somebody wasn't making money but it just seemed to be a lot more about the art, as it were, more so, I mean, again, there's always commercial things at play. But then it became totally about commodification as far as the bigger show you know what I mean and making sure that there's no uncertainty.

Speaker 1: 1:07:30

I mean, I remember the first time I went out on any kind of a tour and we were opening up for somebody and and I saw all these printed out things like catering this way and this. That I was like this is about as anti-rock and roll as you get. I want to see chicken scratch, you know, someone just writing with a Sharpie, you know. And then set lists would always be, you know, printed out and everything. Oh, switch guitar here. It's like I don't like set lists, I go out and it's going to be. I mean, there might be some similar things from night to night, but I call the shit as I go, because that's the way it should be.

Speaker 2: 1:08:03

Well, also, it's a great. You read the audience. Hey, this is where I think. This is where I think the evening should go, and everyone, every audience, is different. Every night is different. You should be able to adjust to that. Exactly. I'm with you. Oh, 100%, yeah, just again, it's this kind of um attitude in though. I mean, I didn't get to see shows in that era, but much of what I adore and much of what has influenced me is from that era, and this idea of it's not about any of this stuff. It's not about this prestigious room that we're in Fuck, all of that. This, it's about me Look at what I can do, you know and it's about the attitude of going out and doing it, and I think that's what made it so effective. Right, I love that's what made it so effective Right.

Speaker 2: 1:08:52

Absolutely. I love that yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:08:54

I was just thinking about. Hendrix's last gig was at that Fairmont Festival in Germany which there was some talk about we might do. There's going to be an anniversary thing coming, which I'm hoping happens, but anyway, my favorite thing is that there was, you know, there was a bunch of inclement weather and people were grumpy as shit and by the time Hendrix hit the stage it was way late or, you know, delayed or whatever, and there was a bunch of like weird, you know, troubled people in the crowd that were protesting this, that the next thing, so when he gets on stage they're all booing booing and he just goes up and he's he could have cared less.

Speaker 1: 1:09:30

He comes up there looking resplendent and you know whatever garb he had, you know he comes out and he goes. I don't give a fuck if you boo, as long as you boo and key. And I thought, and it was just like, and he's like boo, boo. He's like I don't give a fuck if you boo, as long as you boo and key he goes. I'm going to need to tune up here. I'll be right with you. And it was just like this is the coolest guy on the planet. And then he was too cool and then he had to go over to some other realm of existence.

Speaker 2: 1:09:58

Yeah, wow man, a guy that lived in the village I grew up in, one of my dad's friends. When I started getting into guitar he said uh, you know, I I went to the isle of wight festival in 1970. I'm like no way amazing, you know, wow. So you saw, hendrix, he goes well. I said I, I traveled the length and breadth of britain to get down to to the isle of wight. He's right. Uh, northern ireland. He said I got down to the isle of wight, he's from Northern Ireland. He said I got down to the Isle of Wight. He said I took far too many drugs, Fell asleep in the tent and woke up just as he was ending.

Speaker 1: 1:10:42

Oh God, nightmare, nightmare, that was not one of Jimmy's better outings, although there were moments, but what's interesting is that he went right from there.

Speaker 1: 1:10:52

it's like 24 hours later he was playing, I think in sweden, so his schedule was just brutal and of the tour 1970 of europe, right before he died, there were like there's some gigs that were really rough, but there were other gigs where man, I mean, he still had it. I mean there's just no doubt about it, it's just that they were just so ground down and when you were talking earlier about um, you know, accessibility and generations coming back it may.

Speaker 2: 1:11:19

It took me a long time to get into hendrix. It wasn't an immediate thing for me is that? You know, I was listening to martin offler. It's very neat, very precise and very, you know, uh, melodic thought out. Not saying hendrix isn't melodic by any stretch, but you know, very, very tidy, uh, when I first heard Hendrix I thought it's really messy. This is, you know, all over the place and and wow, where is he going with this? You know, and it took me it took me a while.

Speaker 2: 1:11:45

Um and obviously once, once it clicked, it was like astounding.

Speaker 1: 1:11:50

Well, that's one of the things that I think that you know younger folks probably don't realize, just because, I mean, Hendrix was a total perfectionist, so anything that saw the light of day while he was alive was pristine and the whole thing of him playing gigs it was that he was all into exploration but he was also very protective of of anything he put out.

Speaker 1: 1:12:16

That's why it's so funny he talks about band of gypsies like, yeah, it wasn't the greatest and there's some stuff that's out of tune. And we listen to band of gypsies and we're like I mean, yeah, you can hear little things here and there, but for the most part it's fucking awesome. But if you listen to those concerts in their totality, there's some squirrely shit going on. But Jimmy knew to edit all that stuff out so that the product that got out for common consumption was perfecto. And then he dies and people are making money and of course I am a fan of whatever I can hear for Jimmy.

Speaker 1: 1:12:47

So I don't mind hearing all the stuff, wrinkles and all. But I think for a lot of folks you know they might hear something like well, you got to hear this Hendrix thing. And then it's like Jimmy, on a not a good night, where temples are fluctuating and and um and and intonation is speculative and you know it's it, it becomes harder to contextualize. And then also, I think a huge thing about it too too, is that people of course have now heard dive bombs and fuzz craziness.

Speaker 2: 1:13:17

Right, right, they forget.

Speaker 1: 1:13:19

It had never been done yeah. People listen to that stuff for the first time, we're like oh my God, what is going on here? This is insanity.

Speaker 2: 1:13:28

Yeah, context to the time it was made, for sure.

Speaker 1: 1:13:31

Well, listen, I think we're running out of time here. I know my zoom is going to come to a screeching halt here for a minute, but thanks so much for taking time. It was an absolute pleasure talking with you, Davey.

Speaker 2: 1:13:40

It's good to see you again. It's been a while.

Speaker 1: 1:13:43

And you.

Speaker 2: 1:13:44

Yeah, it's been an absolute pleasure. Thank you so much.

Speaker 1: 1:13:47

My pleasure and I'll let you know when this comes out, and on Thursdays they usually debut. But we've got a few in the queue. I try to get as many done before I have to hit the road again, so I'll keep you apprised. Sounds good. All right, my friend. Have a good one. Take it easy. Bye now, see you later, folks. Thanks so much for tuning in. We certainly do appreciate you stopping by and partaking in the most savory chewable gristle this side of Cucamonga. Gregory Caulk, looking forward to seeing you again next week, even though I won't actually see you, but I'll sense your presence, thank you.