Chewing the Gristle with Greg Koch

Amani Burnham On Building A Blues Rock Life Online

• Greg Koch

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We hang with guitar phenom Amani Burnham and trace his road from early influences and a drummer-first start to building a working band and releasing music with Blind Pig Records. We go full Hendrix-nerd on live takes, tone, and rhythm feel, then zoom out to what it takes to make real live guitar matter in an algorithm-heavy world.

Welcome And Guest Introduction

SPEAKER_01

Folks, welcome to Chewing the Gristle, the podcast with yours truly, Gregory S. Cock Esquire, also known as Gregory Cockery in some circles. It's brought to you by our friends at Fishman, Fishman Transducers, if you will, and it features just random conversations with various guitar and music friends. Just kind of shooting the breeze or chewing the gristle, if you will. Tune in my road work. We're gonna stay away from seasons, but we're gonna drop these as they become available. We appreciate you tuning in these years. We're gonna keep on doing this as long as we can, folks. If you're enjoying them, we're enjoying them. Can you dig it? Let's chew the gristle. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, we gather around the gristle fire once again. Today's guest, Amani Burnham, a young guitar phenom who's burning up the socials, but also just burning on that guitar. Some frightening Hendrixisms as well as his own material. He's got a new record coming out on Blind Pig Records. Ladies and gentlemen, this week we are chewing the gristle with Amani Burnham. Well, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, once again we gather around the gristle fire for a little chewing the gristle with yours truly, Greg Cock. Today we've got a young man, a fiery guitar demon. And uh his name is Amani Burnham. He's got a new record coming out on Blind Pig Records on May 29th. And Amani, it's great to meet you. I I actually uh came across your stuff on Instagram a while back, and um, I immediately have my radar out for anybody who who really gets the Hendrix thing. Yeah, and uh and I was immediately like, oh yeah, because it's it's all the secret sauce, it's the secret handshake stuff. Yeah, and uh, and you've got it all over the place, and I love it. So give us a little background about yourself and and and um and where you come from, how you got started, that kind of thing.

SPEAKER_00

So uh I'm originally from Ethiopia and I was adopted, uh I was only a few months old, so I don't I don't really remember much. But we I was adopted, I would move to Rhode Island, and just kind of then obviously then now we uh moved to Connecticut like 10 or maybe even 13 years back. But my dad was the one who really introduced me to a lot of like older, a lot of older stuff. I was uh as a kid, I think the the number one band and like kind of my first guitar hero was uh I love the Beatles. I mean I still love the Beatles, it's kind of hard not to now. Right. And then my uh first guitar hero was uh Chuck Barrett. So those are those are my uh I forget. I used to watch this uh this this fit uh it wasn't uh it was like a live concert of his. I forget which one it is, but um yeah, I used to watch that all the time as a kid, and that's when I really started to get like into like a lot of older music and stuff. And then when I was nine years old, I think I started um my first instrument I learned was drums. So I was I was a drummer before I was a guitar player. And then uh I think after uh maybe two years, that's when I started uh getting into uh I started taking guitar lessons, but I didn't uh as a for me as a kid, it was like I didn't I didn't take it as much as seriously as drums because I was progressing more on that. So I would I wouldn't even really practice. But when I was, I won't say like 15, 15 or 16, it was around COVID, so you know, there's nothing else to do anyway. Exactly. So I that's that's when I really like picked up the guitar. I was like, all right, well, now let's let's see what I can do, you know what I mean? So that's where it started. Excellent.

SPEAKER_01

And so with the the whole idea of um, I mean, it is weird because in in this day and age, you know, because the access to the internet, it it's it's not uh unusual for younger people to get into older music, but at the same time, you know, it it's a little weird because you know, a lot of people, your schoolmates and stuff probably aren't on the same page. How was that experience for you? Did you feel like kind of a loner or did you have some some uh some people that were on the same page with you?

SPEAKER_00

Well, it was, I mean, it was I guess technically mostly I was a loner. But like I I didn't necessarily feel like that because I was also listening to, you know, like a lot of like hip-hop and rap music from nowadays. And I still do. If I'm if I'm hanging with my hanging out with my brother or uh uh or like my friend, I'll listen to a lot of that stuff. But sometimes if we're playing like cards in the basement, I'll put on my uh older playlist so we can listen to some of that. But um I never I saw yeah, I never necessarily felt like a loner, but because I had I listened to the music that they did as well. But it was a it was a it was a little bit like that.

From Drums To Guitar In COVID

SPEAKER_01

And did you have um when was the first time you put like a band together?

SPEAKER_00

Uh it was 2024 was when I put together August. Late, I think it was like late August of 2024 is when I put together the uh the band for the first time. And I played with people before, but I had never I never you know experienced like having a band doing like gigs with an actual band and stuff like that. So it was uh it was fun. It was definitely a uh a good learning curve for me. It's funny because I I I formed the band, it was like late uh late August of 2024, and then maybe either late September or sometime of September, um Blind Pig actually reached out. So I thought that was I thought that was interesting. I'm kind of happy that that all worked out.

SPEAKER_01

Excellent. So as far as putting together the material for your record, kind of did you did you start writing tunes right away, or you are you more of an interpreter, or is it a combination of the both?

SPEAKER_00

I uh so some of the songs in the album I've had since I like started really getting into guitar. So some of them I had since I was like 16, and some of them were uh some of them were a little bit more more recent. But basically when when I got the uh when I got the actual official offer and I was signed and everything, and we were talking about songs. I I mean I had I already had a good back catalog of uh stuff I really wanted to get out, just because I've had them for like the last like five years or so. So yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Awesome. And are you constantly writing new material? Is it something you like to do on a on the regular?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, oh yeah, definitely. It's um I nowadays it's it's I don't I don't write as much or I don't come up or write with uh as much blues rock stuff anymore, which I still will. If it comes up, it comes up, you know what I mean? It's not like I'm trying not to. But nowadays, since I've been getting like way more into the Beatles and like a little bit of uh Thin Lizzie stuff, I I just I like writing, you know, sort of ballads and maybe some pop songs that you know people also might enjoy, just because it's uh it's fun, and I kind of want to try to expand my musical like vocabulary, like playing wise and writing-wise. I think that's that's uh that's definitely helpful.

SPEAKER_01

So, what kind of stuff are you listening to these days in addition to you know the um the stuff that your friends and stuff were listening to as well? Yeah, what are some things that you that at first inspired you that you still listen to and other things that you're discovering now?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, well, yeah. I mean, uh Hendrix was definitely like the first uh the first thing I was really I was way into, and I still am uh way into. Uh nowadays it's it's been it's it's been it's been some Jimmy. It's been a lot of it's been actually a ton of uh Thin Lizzie and stuff like that. And nowadays I try to listen to uh I try to listen to like uh other other people's you know, sort of like blues rock albums or like albums that are coming out nowadays that are in the same sort of genre, just because I'm just I'm kind of interested and curious to see where people's uh like uh like heads are at regarding you know the genre and how it's gonna be able to evolve over time and what it might mean for the future. So that's that's kind of where my head's at now. But uh I'm still listening to a lot of Beatles. I mean that that's probably never gonna change. Um definitely a lot of uh uh Stones, of course. Um uh I'm gonna try to start getting into this like some bad finger. I think that just because uh I I don't know. I just I just I I heard uh I mean Day After Day is like one of my favorite songs. I think I know they got some more hidden gems in there.

The Hendrix Spark And First Songs

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. Well, let's get into the Hendrix thing a little bit because I am I am an old school Hendrix fanatic and yeah uh I love listening to Jimmy all the time, and there's various different things that I've gravitated gravitated to over the years, and um just curious, what what's the first stuff that grabbed you um and the stuff you like to listen to more than others? Because there I mean obviously when he was alive, he only had really the the four records out, uh you include Band of Gypsies, or I suppose you could say five if you have put smash hits in there, but all the stuff has come out since then, which I don't think he would have. I mean, some of the posthumous stuff that came out right afterwards were stuff he was working on for a studio record. Uh but a lot of it is stuff he probably wouldn't have wanted to see the light of day. But as but as a fan, I find it fascinating.

SPEAKER_00

But which stuff that you like. So I think the the song that like first got me into it, I think I remember like as a kid, since I my Chuck Berry was my first guitar hero. Um my dad showed me uh uh uh Hendrix playing uh Johnny B Good. Yeah, at Berkeley. That I think that that show was on my birthday uh May 30th. So I thought that was I thought that was also cool. But yeah, so that was uh that was the first like uh sort of live concert, not the whole concert, just that clip that I saw. And you know, he was playing with his teeth, so as a kid, you know, you're gonna like that. And then when I was like 15, the stuff that I uh the first song I I like remember specifically getting into was uh it was called Valleys of Neptune. Oh yeah. It was on there, it was on the album Valleys of Neptune. I don't know what it was. It wasn't like there was anything like really flashy in that song, but it was just I just thought it was a I just thought it was a good song. And nowadays I try to like listen to uh like a lot of uh a lot of the live stuff, just because it's it's never the same. Right. And each each concert's always different, so it's just like it's just always entertaining to see. Oh, this he's gonna play this maybe this time. So yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, yeah. For me, it's like um you know, it's interesting because my my older brother had all the records. Um because he, you know, he went to high school from 66 to 1970, which is right, which is right when Jimmy's career was.

SPEAKER_00

So that's his career, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. So I I had and I was 14 years younger than my brother, but we had to room together because the you know, there were five girls in between. But so I had access to that stuff, but I remember by the time I got into Hendricks, he was already dead, but I had no idea, you know, because I'm this young kid, you know, I'm like, you know, six, seven years old, and for some reason loved listening to these tunes. And I remember that that uh the cry of love record really got me.

SPEAKER_00

That and Axis Bold is love. That's my favorite on the Axis.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, Axis I is my all-time is my all-time favorite. And uh and what's so weird about it, even after all these years, I'm always finding little things that you didn't hear before. It's just it's just bizarre.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. And I was thinking, like, especially like there's there's plenty of like YouTube accounts that post all like the the bootlegs and stuff like that. And like once in a while you see them, you see the accounts get like taken down and stuff like that because like you know, it's it's technically copyright, I think. So but yeah, yeah, I've I still find nowadays, even now, I still find you know little things here and there. And like certain and certain uh certain live versions that you know are are very different. I look because I love I love the live version of Red House because like some of the Licksie plays are really it's not it's not like the stuff on the album, you know what I mean? It's like it's really interesting to hear and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01

So yeah. You know, I was thinking of um Yeah, as you just meant you just mentioned the live version of Red. It's one of my all-time favorite from the Hendrix in the in the West record. Uh is my favorite. But you know what's interesting about that is that uh um you know, you listen to those bootlegs from like late 68 into early 69. Again, this is getting pretty geeky. It's okay.

SPEAKER_00

And I'll I'm I'm I'm in the same boat as you.

SPEAKER_01

But just his tone was just you know, and as much as those guys weren't kind of getting along and it was getting towards the end, it's like that's my favorite era, is that early 69?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, because it it was it was it was very uh I just like that he would extend a lot of the stuff and it was very free. I mean that's why I like uh uh we do we actually do of his version of Sunshine of Your Love. Oh yeah, just because it it's it's so well my bass player knows it like the back of his hand, and it's just so fun because you could just he they just played, they just played anything they wanted in them in that little at the in that little like uh break session with the bass solo. But it's just like yeah, the the sound, yeah, they all hated each other, but like when they got on stage, it's like it's still good.

Bootlegs And The Hendrix Timeline Channel

SPEAKER_01

Yes, absolutely. And you were talking about other different uh accounts online. I have you stumbled across the belly button window channel? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I still do that. For those of you who don't know, it's this, it's this it's this channel, and they use an AI voice. Yeah, and it's Hendricks's career from the moment he goes to England until like a month after he dies, and it's like a daily diary based on his diary, Mitch's diary, uh articles all the time. It's insane.

SPEAKER_00

It is insane because that's a lot of work to do because there's there's just a ton of stuff, there's a ton of books out there, right? And like it's like it's just kind of crazy, but yeah, yeah, it's cool because some of those it's like I always like to see them like, oh, what was he doing? What was he doing on my birthday? You know what I mean? Because I think on I I don't in in 1970 it was Berkeley, and then I think in I I I think in 69 it it was the San Jose Pop Festival. I could be wrong, and then in 68, I think it was uh he was in Sweden, and then I don't know what it was for 67, but I just I always find that cool like oh I wonder what wonder what was going on in the on uh those days.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, yeah, it's it's the the schedule he maintained was pretty wild.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it because it it's it was I mean back then there was like no there was like no rules. There was no yeah, it's the wild west, they were making it up as they were going along. Exactly, yeah. And it's it's more it's definitely I hope it's not like that now. It's more structured, I'd I'd think. Correct. Yeah, going from going from New York to Canada to Hawaii to you know what I mean. You're just going like everywhere.

SPEAKER_01

And plus at the time, you know, it I they would literally put the Marshall Stacks and the heads through regular baggage claim. Yeah, so they're like stumbling off the you know, with like the vinyl, the vinyl covers on them. I mean, it was it was insane. Yeah, and what I love is the I was doing uh I was out at Wildwood doing a video, and some guy stopped in and he's like, Hey, I know you're a big Hendrix fan. And so I I wanted to bring you this, and it was a framed picture of a concert he went to in 1968 in uh in Toledo, Ohio. Yeah, and I and I've got this picture, and I my son who plays drums with me, I said, What do you notice about this picture? And it's a picture of the side, you know, the stage, and Jimmy's got Marshall's, and then it's Mitch's kit, and then it's uh it's Noel with the you know the stack of sun coliseum heads or whatever he had. Yeah. And there's no mics on the drum kit. Yeah. They would just show up, and that's another thing crazy about when you're when you're uh when you're dealing with the uh belly button window thing, they'll just talk about, yeah, they showed up someplace, they couldn't get rid of the buzz, so Jimmy just said, Yeah, we're done. And then he went downtown to jam with people. Right, right.

SPEAKER_00

It's like, dude, wait, what about the show? I I that was always like a I don't know. I mean, that that was just him as a person, but like I I always was like, I don't know, you gotta in me personally, I would always just be like, the show's kind of gotta go on. I mean, once you get to that level and there's like you're playing in front of like 3,000 people, I wouldn't just want to walk off. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01

I'd be I'd be like, I'd be too kind of embarrassed, but uh yeah, I mean especially and then there's other times where it's like Jimmy was like really down, like that that's that Swedish footage where you could just tell he's in a bad mood. Oh yeah, I hate that's yeah, oh my god. It's like you're on top of the world, man. You could just play whatever you want, and then and then the thing was, I mean, I I always got the fact that yeah, you you get sick and tired of having to play the same old stuff, but man, he had so many great songs he could have just reinterpreted, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, or yeah, he he could have played anything on that stage if people would have ate it up anyway, right?

SPEAKER_01

But again, yeah, you you're dealing with uh you know, again, and the amount of drugs people were doing back then. I mean, back then they they thought it was all like uh like we would think about holistic medicine now.

SPEAKER_00

It's like yeah, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01

It's like, hey, you know what? All doing all that stuff all the time is going to be bad.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it it just is, and it's yeah, it's unfortunate, you know, like people had to find out like the hard way. Right. Yeah, so yeah, some of those some of those concerts are like I'm a little I'm a little bit critical on because it's like I'll I'll listen to it and I'm like, I mean I'll I love them to death, but like if it's bad, you know what I mean? It's bad. It's like oh yeah. But yeah. That's why I started getting that's why I try to, but uh, a lot of my early like years of just like listening to like his music, I was I was way into it. And I still am, but now I try to I try to uh I try to get out of it just because I don't wanna I don't wanna I I because I could never be a uh uh what's it called? Like a cover video. You know what I mean? Yeah, there's there's plenty of those, and like there's I I just feel like I have too many songs personally to just not play and only play like Hendrix stuff. I mean I'll I I I've done I think I've only done one show where it was like I had to play his stuff, but it was like they asked for like alright, can you play like a 30-minute set of Clapton, Steve Ray Von and Hendrix? I was like, all right, I can do that. I'm not gonna say no, but I couldn't do that for the rest of my life, I don't think.

Writing Originals In A Cover World

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, that's the interesting thing about um kind of the time that we're in in terms of um because people are so how do I put this? They're they're not exactly overtly willing to uh to devour new music. You know what I mean? It's gotta be codified uh by some. They gotta relate it to something. Exactly. Exactly. And um, you know, like we're doing an opening slot for somebody, it's like I could play a whole set of my own of different songs of mine every night, but at the same token, you're gonna be playing in front of people who don't know who you are from Adam. So you gotta find some way to get across from. But I refuse to play a song. I mean, I'd like to, and I'm sure you're the same way. I've seen you've done the same thing. It's like you reference the original, but you do your own thing with it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I've been watching it. I wouldn't do it. Yeah, I've been doing that like a ton recently. Or like what I'll do is uh I'll I'll play I'll play the rhythm section of Little Wings, but I'll sing Hey Jude over it. Or I'll or today I just came up with one. It's just like it I it wasn't done, it's not a different song, but it was I play like these kind of like easy and like bright, kind of happy chords, and then I'll sing like voodoo child over it. Like I'll just just cause it's fun and it's just uh it's kind of funny to post stuff like that because people are like, oh wait, that's hey jude, but you're playing, you know, little wing. I just it's just it's just always fun, you know what I mean? I'll for Purple Haze, I'll do uh uh I'll play, I'll play like my it's like I'll play Lenny, but I'll sing Purple Haze over it. Just because it's like why not? It's kind of fun. Indeed.

SPEAKER_01

So what other new stuff kind of in the blues rock realm have you been kind of uh listening to these days and interesting?

SPEAKER_00

Um not that I'm trying to listen to the like uh I listened to to Jared James Nichols's uh album. I know you've you've done a pod uh I think podcast with them.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, he actually used to he's from Wisconsin here, so he used to play in a band with my son years ago, actually. Oh, that's cool. They used to rehearse in my basement.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, so that's funny. Right. Uh but him, uh Kenny Wayne Shepard, uh Albert Cummings, uh Eric Gales, um Kingfish, uh Samantha Fish, all the all the fishes, all the all the kings, all the kings and fishes. Right. Perfect. Um uh Joe, Joe Bonamasa, um Joven Webb. I try to listen to some people who are uh like currently on on the label I'm with too. Um I'm sure I'm missing some, but that's that's just a that's just a couple of bunch I can come up with off the off the top of my head.

SPEAKER_01

So what what's the goal now? The record comes out and in your what where do you foresee taking things within the next couple years? What's your kind of idea of what you want to do?

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I I mean I would love to have this be my job, to you know, play music live. I mean, that's the goal, not it not necessarily to get famous, but I would just love I love playing live. That's that's for sure what I want to do with my life. So I I'm I'm hoping like you know, hopefully this album I I hope I hope it does well enough where I'll I'll get a good amount of gigs to support myself for the summer, then hopefully I'll be able to you know do another one and get more recognition from other people that would also want to work with me so I can you know facilitate this and kind of make it a job.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. But uh yeah. And and who's your band right now? Do you got you have uh like a a young crew of individuals that you play with, or is it kind of some established uh rhythm sections of a sort?

SPEAKER_00

No, it's uh it's it's younger guys. Uh one of them is 16. He's 16, my drummer. And then my bass player's 22, and I'm 20. So I try to I told myself like even even with the uh because I have a different band from 2024. So even even with both bands, I tried to uh tell myself like I want to get people, you know, my age who are also interested in not necessarily blues rock, but just uh just you know playing live. and trying to make this their job because I think it's important for uh you know I it's important for for people my age to see uh people my age like play music in in a different in a different sort of way that they're you know I mean not used to just because it's you know live live music is it's it's around but it's it's it's a dying thing you know I mean and it's uh it's just important for it's important for kids my age to see it. I sound like a I sound like an older guy even though I'm like 20 but it it definitely is.

SPEAKER_01

But you know what's strange about it is is that even you know 25 30 years ago when my when my band was coming up you know it it was on the wane then but I but it's it's still you know the the great thing about now is um is that with the internet and with the ability to um kind of foster your own fandom meaning you don't need a m you know millions of people to be into you just need enough people yeah to support what you're doing. So if you have the ability through your different online portals and so on and so forth to be able to reach a crowd so that when you're coming to a a town X amount of people are going to show up. Yeah that's yeah you know it's it's it's kind of irrespect I mean yeah it would be great if there was like it was back in the day where there was a band on every street corner and a club on every street corner yeah exactly you know what I mean and and even back in the day I mean just little things like you know every time you went to a wedding there was a band playing you know what I mean you'd be fascinated you'd be a young kid like oh my god look there's real guitars and there's drums and is it going to be loud you know and now it's like everything you where you go it's it's a DJ uh you know live music and then a lot of times when you go see a live band you know it's silent stage and cover bands but having said that there is the opportunity now more than ever before to yeah to do your own thing and actually make a living doing it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah and being able to like have a have a plat or having like apps like Instagram and like TikTok and Facebook like that that that helps it helps to keep it alive. I mean if if I can't if that didn't I mean if that stuff didn't come out it would be I mean who knows what would happen. But I'm I'm glad it did because I I remember I made my uh guitar account in 2023 specifically because I knew like the market now is like you gotta if you want to you know try to make this your living you gotta have a some sort of online presence it's not it's not it's it's not as much word of mouth you know I mean nowadays but yeah like a lot of a lot of like like the newer music that comes out like like I'm talking like hip hop and like rabbits and stuff like that. Like it's not it's just you if you go see them live it's I mean it's way different. I mean maybe sometimes they might uh like not have like I don't know I've just heard like it's my friend went to I think he went to go see Ann Lee Chapa and he's just playing his he's just playing his song through speakers even with him singing in the background and he's also like like rapping like on it and he's not he's just like kind of running around and dancing. I mean that's that's good that's a form of entertainment I mean that counts but it's it's it's not as like for me it's not as fascinating as seeing somebody like actually play notes and sing at the same time and and be able to you know kind of hold a crowd that way if that makes sense. Absolutely I mean it's it's it's very different.

Zappa Detour And Learning By Ear

SPEAKER_01

Well and and the upside of all that too is that is that people that know how to do that will will always be able to work because no matter how inundated people get with the artificial stuff they always seem to react vis viscerally to the real thing. You know what I mean? Yeah yeah yeah and so yeah you just gotta you just gotta keep at what old Frank Zappa said you know they they said what what advice do you have for people in the music industry?

SPEAKER_00

He said two things uh don't give up and never stop yeah yeah thank you Frank yes uh I'm a big zappa fan as well have you dealt have you delved much into in the Frank world uh a tiny bit yeah I re like what some of the first songs I heard from him was uh uh Muffin Man which I think I'm I'm gonna uh I used to do that um with the other band with my first band I think I'm gonna do that again just because it's such a fun song oh yeah um uh I remember I used to listen to dance uh I think it was like Dancing Fool that was just kind of a that was when I was a kid and then um I listened to uh black napkins yep and pink napkins the both of both of those were really good right I listened to uh and then I remember I have all the uh the shut up and play your guitar ones oh yeah yeah yeah all the all the variations so uh and then I think that might be it well I then I like uh cosmic debris I always thought that song was funny yes but so yeah I've I've dived into it like a little bit not as uh not as much though yeah the kind of the uh when when I was young and the first records I got into my brother had a few of them my sister had a few of them but my favorite ones were kind of all in that early early mid-70s yeah lineup with uh with George Duke and uh Chester Thompson on drums and so on and so forth.

Mitch Mitchell And Drummer Deep Cuts

SPEAKER_01

But there was there's a live at the Roxy and elsewhere is is just a delight. And then um Overnight Sensation is a great record and apostrophe. So those three are are definitely worth the the deep dive. And you know what's so crazy about someone like Zappa is that you know I have got like a dozen Zappa records or I had like a dozen Zappa records and I considered myself a fan. You know what I mean? And then you realize oh he's actually got like almost 40 records out or something like that. Exactly yeah and uh and I remember I was out and I've got to know Dweezel a little bit over the years and I sat in with them one particular night and as I'm waiting to go on they play this song called Sleep Dirt and I'm like what is this song? And I'm like this is an and then I've realized so then I started downloading record after record and I'm like oh my I had no idea he had all this yeah I know yeah I was yeah I I remember I mean I'm I bet most of it isn't even on Spotify but I I tried to find one because there was uh I think it was an album it was uh it was called uh like we're only in it for the money yeah it's like a it looks like sergeant sergeant pepper and I think uh they got uh they got uh Jimbo in the in the like the corner there exactly yeah exactly but like I try to find that in record stores I don't I couldn't even find it on Spotify but yeah there's there's so many albums of his that are just like I've never even heard of you know what I was just thinking about one of my um getting back to old Jimbo I you know the uh I remember when I was a kid I was like a freshman in high school and I was total Hendrix fanatic and this is back in the day when there's no internet right so if you yeah all the all the bootlegs were done on vinyl and you had to shend away for them or go to record swaps and I wasn't into any of that right but there was a guy I went to high school with who was like three years older than me and he had uh a bunch of bootlegs and he he lent them to me and I recorded a bunch on cassette tape like a pirate like a good pirate should there you go but my favorite thing was was the driving south the two versions from from live at the BBC yeah oh yeah yeah yeah because to me especially the the one I can't remember which one over the other one but they're both fantastic but it's like when I heard that I was like that epitomizes everything I love about guitar you know what I mean it's like me too yeah the the the funky rhythm playing the you know the the cleanest soloing and then finally when he yeah when he hits the fuzz and it's just I know it is it is yeah and I and I love um like I like I said before I was I was a drummer before I was a guitar player so and I and I love um my drum teacher was like into like a lot of fusion and like uh a lot of jazz stuff so I I mean I love Mitch Mitchell as a drummer.

SPEAKER_00

I mean I just I he like his a lot of his early playing is like it's very very very swing and I just love that because it's just it's I don't know if it's almost hard to imagine like a lot of those uh early like Hendrix songs without that swing it just wouldn't I feel like it wouldn't it wouldn't hit the same I mean I I obviously Jimmy's a good guitar player and I'm sure it would it would be fine but I just love the that love Mitch's aspect to to to his uh to his work and Noel. I mean I know noel wasn't really like you know the the biggest uh draw in but like he was I he he he laid it down I mean those two worked those two worked yeah it did work I mean and that's in some of the like I'll listen to some of the live stuff it's like I don't even know how he's like keeping up and like not slowing down you know I mean because Mitch Mitch and Jimmy can just go on and on and on and like Noel was just you have to lay it somebody has to lay it down in the band you know I mean exactly so and I'm glad no didn't I think it's just sounded really nice.

SPEAKER_01

Well now that you've opened up this this line of uh of uh conversation I I find that it's weird that no one really talks about this but obviously between Woodstock I mean again this is deep dive Hendrix geekdom but between uh between Woodstock and when the experienced emerged again in the spring of 1970 with Billy Cox on bass and Mitch Mitchell something happened to Mitch because it was gone I and you know what I talk I talk about this I mean I don't talk about this with anybody because nobody even really and I got nobody to talk about it with but yeah it it does like he I think uh my I think not my drum teacher but like the other teacher that was in the same building that said it was because he he he switched a match grip he used to play traditional all the time and he switched a match so it's like it it's for him he I mean I'm assuming he I mean I mean people from that era who would play like there were like jazzers and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_00

So I couldn't imagine him playing match that much. That's that's my theory or that's that's something that that could be possible. But yeah no you're right it it it didn't it didn't hit the same it really didn't and it was kind of it was kind of upsetting that's why I don't listen to as much of uh as much Hendrix stuff from like 1970 just because the the drums don't really hit the same but yeah they don't and and and because it's bizarre because when you listen to the Woodstock thing Mitch is still Mitch he's got the snap yeah you know what I mean he's got the swing he's got the bounce and then when he returns it's just his temples I mean I I think it was some kind of chemical thing.

SPEAKER_01

And I don't know I don't know what it was if he like yeah drank too much and had a little bit of wet brain or something I I don't know.

SPEAKER_00

All I remember is that years ago someone uh there used to be a drummer by the name of I think his name was Myram Grumbacher that used to play with Pat Benetar and he told this other mutual acquaintance of ours or a guy that he knew that um Mitch had approached him at some point in the 90s uh and said hey can you show me that stuff I used to do so I I think it's very possible that he had some kind of chemical induced you know brain situation I mean and again yeah I don't know all I know is that and you've noticed it as well I mean yeah just temples were weird I mean it's like there's so many for me it was the fill like the fills were a lot more like a lot more straight it also could have been like because I he was you know Jimmy started playing with Buddy a lot more like after a lot more like after Woodstock and even a little bit before but like maybe he just thought you know it was I don't know maybe something with Buddy because he because it the the the the difference between Mitch and Buddy are like like literally like night and day. Right. Like Buddy was more like he was straight and like he was par rocking and he wouldn't I mean he would vary but he wouldn't vary off in as much as Mitch did whereas Mitch was he was very loose and it was very like you never knew what was going to happen but you knew he would end up where he needed to be. Right. So maybe maybe it was just something like that. But yeah I know I've noticed that and it was that's kind of upsetting it's like oh my god because so many of those newer tunes were so cool you know what I mean I know I know yeah and I still I mean I'm I don't that's I just I really just don't listen to the live stuff from 1970.

SPEAKER_01

I'll I'll listen to like the um was it the the cry of love album yeah sometimes I like I like some of the songs in there but yeah I see what you mean I I've always got a uh a a thing for the uh hey baby um new rise of sun tune i yeah yeah any version of that I I love but the studio one that's on uh on the Rainbow Bridge soundtrack that's kind of that's kind of the one even though you know that was a throwaway because like is the mic on yeah exactly yeah I yeah I mean I I don't I mean I don't blame him for releasing like a lot of the stuff that they have I mean he only had such a short career and people loved him so much.

SPEAKER_00

It's like and I'm still finding things today and I gotta go on like I gotta go on like pirated websites and stuff like that just to just to find there's still some stuff that like I don't even think I've I've just haven't even heard so I heard I hadn't heard and I I was like what is this?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah it was just some random jam but it had the coolest riff in it and I forgot where I've heard it online somewhere but uh yeah yeah it's it's wild I mean literally the tape was always was always running that's yeah and that's what I love yeah which is wild.

SPEAKER_00

Let's talk a little bit about like how this all influenced what the gear that you play and are you a gear you know uh expeditionary as it were I mean what's what what's what's what's your take on all that stuff I mean not as much I wouldn't say I don't mean I don't have a I don't have a pedal board I'm not I'm not one of those really but I have the I've got a um for pedals I got uh a fuzz I do have a fuzz face and a wa I've got a pedal called the waterfall it sort of sounds like yeah that's a jam pedal yep I yeah I've got yeah yep um and then for you know for amps and stuff I I just have a uh what is it fender champion like 100 I think okay and then right here I've got a I've got a small sort of like fender front men that I just I just play when I'm for like the videos and stuff like that. For guitar I just got a I got just like a regular Mexican made uh strat. I've got a I got gifted uh from PRS uh like a a four fjord I don't even know how to say it.

SPEAKER_01

A fjord yeah um yeah Mark Lethieri guitar.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah yeah yeah so I got that which is I love that guitar to death. Uh PRS gave me that thankfully I love them for that. Fender gave me a uh a jazz master which I never had before so I have that um I've got uh I've got a 12 string that costed like$25 for my guitar teacher and it's like broken but that's okay. I've got a my first like electric guitar was a um I still have it uh uh Gibson a Gibson Les Paul okay uh uh no uh epiphone Epiphone Epiphone Les Paul yeah epiphone les paul and then I've got a um I think it's called a G L G and L yeah I've got I've got one of those but then I have a uh on the album cover that blue guitar that I have is uh one I I made myself that's I've got that one I think uh I think that's it I'm kind of happy I I got some of these guitars just from people being like I don't even I don't want this anymore here you go there you go I thank God for that take the guitars and run as much that's exactly what I do I'll take as much as I can oh yeah and I have one that's like I found in the garbage outside of my music store. So nice right I think my friend uh my where my drummer uh he said he like you know sort of fixes and builds not necessarily builds them but like kind of reworks them so I might see if he just wants to putz around with it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah yeah awesome well yeah the gear thing never ends I mean it's uh yeah I've I've learned that and what's what's what's crazy to me is that uh well it's not crazy I suppose but it's just it's just part and parcel of of of the thing these days is that is that so many if you're into guitar music you know a lot of the people are players right yeah so they uh they perceive music um in some ways not saying everybody but I in a a a large swath of swatch swath yeah of people well um you know if you have the vintage gear and you have the right stuff and you have that lends credibility to the music. And at some point I mean I obviously there's enough people that can listen to music just for its its music's sake but there is a thing where it's like that adds mystique to the music especially this type of music which is you know it just is what it is but it's definitely a thing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah I don't I don't I don't think I have anything vintage I mean I just I I mean I got the the guitar I play the most the strat the Mexican light is well there you go it works guitar center so you know I mean well if it if it works it works. Right that's that's how I always kind of like uh how I kind of always operate I mean it would be it would be cool to have like a like a you know a vintage strat but I don't think I would that's not like my kind of aspiration is to get one of those. Right you never know it comes like a thief in the night it does yeah if if the opportunity arises yeah if that like I'm not gonna go seek for it like but if the opportunity arises you know I mean I mean I'm gonna I'm gonna go for that.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. So do you go out and see other people play very often do you like to go see music?

SPEAKER_00

Um I do um yeah more so I mean obviously more so now because we just we either open for people or we you know go to festivals but well I guess sometimes I'll go see uh locally there's a place on I'm actually I have a show there at uh the Holy Trinity stage in um Middletown uh Connecticut they have like they just have like a uh it's called music on Maine they just host a various uh kind of just acts and not necessarily bruise rock acts I mean I think I'm the I'm gonna be the I'm gonna be the youngest person who's gonna play there and I'm gonna be the the loudest I noticed most like the first few the first few are like folk and then the one that's uh that's uh this month I forget when he's he's the blues guy but I think he's he's more like kind of toned down and like we're just like uh I don't know we're a loud rock act so it should be interesting but yeah I I don't uh occasionally I'll I'll go out and uh I'll go out and see people. I I remember one of my first shows I ever uh I ever went to was uh Tedesky trucks oh yeah but but I was too I was too young to appreciate it at the time so me and my brother just kind of complained that we were there the whole time but I'm kind of kicking myself now because it's like dude you you were you were Derek trucks was just so there was right there yes yeah I've seen uh yeah see Tedesky Trucks I saw uh I saw the which was uh for me my bass player this was like a dream we got to see the uh the Yardbirds at the Lancaster Blues Festival because we played there and it's you know it's not the original members but the drummer was the original member. Yeah Jim McCarty yeah so we we were we were kind of geeking out over that uh I saw um Gary Clark Jr. for my birthday uh saw Paul McCartney which is also that's another one I was like I'm never gonna forget that at Fenway. Um but yeah I might be I might be missing missing one but yeah I I try to go out like occasionally just because it's the same reason why I like try to listen to albums nowadays to see where people's heads are at regarding you know any sort of genre. Right.

SPEAKER_01

So of the gigs that you've done so far is it you how long of the sets you've been playing have you done a bunch of stuff where it's like I gotta play three hour sets or you just play an hour set what what's your experience been up to this point?

SPEAKER_00

Um I mean so when I when I with my first band it was uh I remember sometimes we would have to fill like a three hour uh you know three hour slot so we just play you know like 20 minute songs or like 45 minutes of basically nothing for you know what I mean. We'd get breaks which was good so we would just be like all right maybe we can let's see how fast we can learn this song. But um and then now uh more like kind of more recently it's it's been uh like an hour and a half I want to say uh but yeah I think the longest we had to play for was maybe like not straight was maybe maybe like four hours four and a half hours okay but um yeah it was fine yeah but nowadays it's it's more uh you know just kind of uh an hour and a half but we got a we got a good good some song like I think we got two good songs we could uh extend or maybe even uh three we got three we could extend so we've got plenty of we got plenty of songs for our set list awesome so you got no problem going up there and marshalling a crowd for as long as as long as necessary yeah no because it's because I love it I mean if if if I didn't like it if I didn't love it then I would I would I wouldn't do it and I since I love playing live I don't I don't mind you know being up there for some amount of time. Awesome.

SPEAKER_01

So whereabouts have you all played at this point? Have you done some touring yet around the country or what's what's your experience been in that regard?

SPEAKER_00

Really I mean with the old band like the most we ever really traveled was we drove to Alabama. That was uh that was like my first time in like the South so that was fun. Um and then but with this with this new band we will be we'll uh we'll be not necessarily touring but we'll we have a lot of dates where we've got a we've got a A gig in Seattle. We're opening for uh 38 special in Oklahoma. And then what's the one I just bought? And then we've got a uh a gig in South Dakota, so we have to fly to that. But the rest, you know, we just have to drive. The we've only had we've only had three gigs so far with the new band, and it's it's gone pretty well. I mean, the first one was just kind of like this bar that was near my old college, asked me if I wanted to, you know, play. I was like, I got this new band, so this is kind of perfect. So we did that. And the second gig we had was the Lancaster Festival. And then the third one was we played another uh we played the Lancaster Festival again. We had two two shows. But yeah, so we're we're all looking forward to it because you know it's kind of been our it's kind of been our dream since we were since we were kids. But yeah, it should be good.

College Percussion And Self Teaching

SPEAKER_01

So you mentioned some college activity. What what would your what were you studying in college?

SPEAKER_00

Um jazz percussion. Because I was I didn't because I don't know how to read uh music on guitar. Or I do, but I just um I'm too lazy to try to kind of sit down and learn it. But um, yeah, it was it was fun. Um I hate school, honestly. I hate school even if even if I'm like kind of learning music and stuff like that. I just I don't I just I have a hard time focusing. So I just it's never it's never been fun for me. But I got you. What are you gonna do?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I understand. Yeah. Yeah, music school is an interesting, it's an interesting scenario, especially now with you know the internet being what it is, you have access to so much information. Yeah. That if you're a self-starter, and most people who are I'm you know are doing the musician thing for performance sake and want to be performers, they're self-starting by nature. You're always learning stuff, and now you have access to the world um right on your damn computer. So I like to say in this day and age, there's no reason to suck because you've got access to it. You got access to everything.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I I like I find like sometimes I'll I'll learn things like uh my subconscious will just pick it up. Or like as I'm playing it, I'm like, I'm remembering, oh, this is what that lick sounded like, and I'll like I'll just play it. So that's kind of how I that's how I've been learning. Sometimes I'll sit down and I'll I'll like I'll try to learn this little bit. Or sometimes I just uh I don't necessarily I just kind of putz around and kind of see what sounds cool. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01

Yeah. I mean, one of my favorite things uh you know about how Hendrix played is that he was not schooled, he just muts around and found a bunch of cool shit. And because he loved it so much, yeah, he just always came up, and I think that there's something to be said for that when you're when you're not um and again, that's not to say that studying isn't valid, of course it is, but there's a different perspective of assembling and being fascinated by certain things just for the joy of it and discovering it almost just kind of randomly as opposed to a part of a curriculum, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00

Exactly, yeah. Chris, yeah, yeah. It's just the act of going to school for me has always just been like just makes me shake my head. But yeah, exactly. They're some of the best players, just they they just it's not like they they went to any institution. I mean, sometimes you know they do, but you know, they just learn from just listening to what they heard on the radio or just from sitting down and just playing for hours and non-stop, you know what I mean? So right, totally.

SPEAKER_01

So what's the gig you're doing out in Seattle? Is it uh is it uh a Hendrix-centered thing where they experience Hendrix folks at all, or no, not really?

SPEAKER_00

No, no, it's uh uh well, it's so we have uh the gig in Seattle, it's we're at the playing at the triple door. Oh yeah, the triple door is a good place. Yeah, it's cool. Yeah, that's good. All right, that should be good then. Uh and then from there we're going to the salmon uh arm blues festival. We're just gonna hoof it up there. But um, yeah, I've been to Seattle before. Obviously, prior to listening to Hendrix, I kind of fully now, but yeah, it should be good.

SPEAKER_01

Triple Door is a good joint. And they got it's a great room and the food's good. That's good. That's always good to hear, too. So yeah, Seattle, Seattle has and there's a good guitar shop out there, Emerald City Music. Okay, yeah. They have uh they've got some good guitars lurking in there. I had to uh I visited there and I needed to leave immediately because there was there was the possibility of some of some problems with yeah, taking some home.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah. Yeah. Um for me, money wise, I'm like, I I I I try to I'm trying to save my money. So that's why I've been like kind of thankful. I've got all the guitars I got. Right. But I know I know for a fact like later, I'm definitely gonna definitely gonna get my I'm definitely gonna have fun more than I I ever planned.

SPEAKER_01

Well, you know what I like to say, you know what the best guitars are free ones.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly, right? I mean it just something about it. Something about the way they sound, it just sounds so free. There are delays so free. Right? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Then you can always parlay the free ones into other ones. Exactly. That's the other thing.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, I I think I I was kind of planning on doing that for uh for one of for one of the ones I have, I think. But yeah, right. You could always do that.

Why He Tunes Down To E Flat

SPEAKER_01

Now I I I didn't ask you this, but are you one of those that tunes down to E flat, or you don't, or you just standard tuning?

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, uh well I try to yeah, for for live, we've just been we've just been E flat. But I've got you know I've I got a guitar in standard, I've got the PRS is in standard, the strat that I have is in E flat, the jazz master I have is in D, and then the acoustic I have is I don't know. I just the acoustic I just tune by ear, so I just make it, I just make it really low and just because it kind of sounds cool. But yeah. But yeah, for live we've only played in an E flat. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

And describe to folks why why you like playing an E flat.

SPEAKER_00

Well, I'm not I'm not the greatest singer. I've got I my voice doesn't sound deep, but like obviously for I think for guys, like singing in a lower register always helps. So E flat has definitely helped me with you know getting notes that I can't in standard tuning. And especially with uh uh with uh being a whole step down in D, that also there's like a whole for me now, there's like a whole range that I can really I can really work with, so it helps.

SPEAKER_01

Which is wild because that's what that's why Jimmy did it. So it was a little easier to sing stuff. But with I feel like I was like that's why it works. It sounds so good. It just Yeah It just has a thing.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it does. And I I I just I always appreciate just how the you know the kind of tone each uh uh tuning brings off.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, exactly. I had no doubt about it. And and Eddie Van Halen would tune to E Flat. And of course, people will talk about how, well, you know, A440 isn't the true resonance of things, things should actually be tuned down because then it's more, you know, they get a little more uh you know, mystical about the uh the affiliation. But you know, if it sounds good, it sounds good, and that's the bottom line.

SPEAKER_00

I always say like people are always gonna appreciate good music, whether or not you know, nobody's gonna pay attention to you know what tuning they're really in or stuff like that.

SPEAKER_01

Exactly. But yeah, it's definitely got it's e-flat is as a thing. I don't have any guitars in E-Flat. Uh when I go out and touring, I do have um you know, baritones and stuff that I'll use for specific things. But yeah, every time I of course I want to play along with Jim, I uh gotta tune the guitar down, and it's just yeah, every time I plug in and play guitar in E-Flat, it's like, well, there it is. There's that guitar.

SPEAKER_00

Exactly. That's that's kind of why I keep I keep guitars and and different tunings. Just because if I want to learn, because sometimes like if I want to learn something that's not Jimmy, most of the time it's in standard. So I got I like I don't want to have to tune up my stress. I just pick up the PRS. Or if I want to listen to or learn something uh an E-flat, I got the guitar for E-Flat. So absolutely.

SPEAKER_01

My favorite thing about you know, we were talking about those bootlegs and stuff. I love how there was no there was no tuners back then. They'd go up on stage and you would literally we're gonna just tune for a minute and you know, go give me an A.

SPEAKER_00

You know what I mean? Yeah, exactly. Yeah, it was very yeah, exactly. It was it I always thought that part was funny because it's like sometimes like the breaks, I mean you don't see it. I mean, because if they if they were like release a live album, you don't hear it as much, but like and then the bootlegs, you can see like the the giant space in between some of the songs. It's like all right. It was very it was all very carefree, which which was kind of what made the music uh so good, I thought.

SPEAKER_01

Absolutely. And I love the fact that a lot of times you see him walking through the crowd and he's he's carrying the guitar and the wah and the fuzz. You know, it's yeah, it was very just that's and that was happening.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, and that I think that's why I mean I have those pedals too, but I just love the fact that it was so it was so simple and it it still sounded so good. You know what I mean? You don't I mean it's cool having you know a whole pedal board because it's a it's you can make any sound you want, but I just think it's it's just it's just something about it, it's just kind of cool to come up there with just two pedals, maybe even three, and just you know, play the best sort of music you could possibly make. So right.

SPEAKER_01

And what's so weird about it back then, too, is that little did we know that the stuff they just ended up using would be the best stuff. I mean, of course, part of the reason why we think it's the best stuff is because all those guys used it. Yeah, but you know, the bottom line, when you're when you got a a Marshall cranked, yeah, that that whole realm of the volume knob of the guitar are the greatest clean and dirty sounds on the planet.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, it it goes, it goes a long way turning uh you know, like if you have the amp crank, like I do this now. If you have the amp cranked out and you turn the guitar volume down, I mean it's still that's even with the fuzz face on, it'll it'll still sound like really, really nice.

Hendrix Road Stories And Robin Trower

SPEAKER_01

Especially with the fuzz face on. That was the other thing. It's like fuzz faces, whatever you could have them on, turn the volume down, you get this hi-fi glorious sound. Yeah, then you turn it up and it's just pure unmitigated filth. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Well, you'll like this story. A buddy of mine uh used to play in Leonard Skinner, uh, Ed King. He was in a band called uh the Strawberry Alarm Clock, and they toured with Hendricks in '68, I believe. And he told me this story, which I just find fascinating because I love Snickers bars so much. But it was he said he was backstage and they whisked Jimmy in right before he went on stage and he was frantically restringing his guitar. And his while he was restringing his guitar, his roadie brought in like one of those um vending boxes like you see at a movie theater of Snickers bars. And because Jimmy was rushing to get on stage and hadn't eight, he's he's restringing his guitar while this guy is unwrapping large full-size Snickers bars and just shoving them in Jimmy's mouth. You know, and then he grab another one and do a thought. That is the coolest thing I've ever heard. That's pretty funny. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00

You know, that's what roadies are for. You know what I mean? They they feed me. Exactly.

SPEAKER_01

Where's my Snickers? I'm hungry. Where's my Snickers bar?

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But uh that's the way it is. I I just always have time for the Hendrix stories. I'm all about it.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, me too. I mean, I and I've never I don't think I've ever known anybody who's like I mean, I know my my drum teacher saw him in concert and stuff like that. I know it's sort of like that, but yeah, I don't I don't I don't get to talk about it with really anybody. So yeah, it's uh it's nice.

SPEAKER_01

It's nothing but good times. I and what's what's funny is that when he when he played in Milwaukee here in 68, he played at this club uh called The Scene and he did two sets. And the second set he began with Axis Bolt. It's the only time I think he played Axis Live.

SPEAKER_00

Uh yeah, Bold is Love, yeah. I yeah, I've heard that too. I love that's a I love that show, both of them. But um, yeah, and I think he's he's also tuned down in that to to maybe maybe D. So it's also it's sound it's that's so sick. Such a such a cool intro.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, it's glorious. I did have an opportunity to do a few gigs with Buddy Miles back in the day. That's cool. And uh, and I just remember trying to pick his brain, you know. It's like uh when you're on stage, I mean, what was the stage volume? I mean, I was trying to get and it was almost as it was the weirdest thing about it to me was it was just like it was another gig for him. You know what I mean? And you're just like when he and he didn't really have any remembrances of all the stuff that you'd think if you were a part of that, you'd be like, it was yeah.

SPEAKER_00

I mean, it was I'm sure it was I'm sure it was fun for him, but yeah, it was just you know, they're just going about their it was just a job, you know what I mean? So exactly. It's it's just hilarious how like because you know they're not gonna yeah, they're not gonna try to remember it being like this is gonna be something legendary someday. They're just going about it like, nope, here we go.

SPEAKER_01

That happened, yeah. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00

I always like the I always liked Buddy and Billy and Jimmy. That was always a I always like that combo. Because I think, you know, I mean when when when Buddy would play like Foxy Lady with um Jimmy, it's not gonna sound it's not gonna sound the it's not gonna sound that good, really. But when he plays on Mess when Buddy plays Message of Love and Mitch tries to do it, it sounds better when Bully uh Buddy does it. So totally you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_01

It's it's just or Easy Rider, the Easy Rider studio thing. And then when they would try to do it live with Mitch, it was like eh. Yeah, it doesn't hit the same. But what are you gonna do? What are you gonna do? Yeah, but I I do I I love those uh you know, one of my favorite there was a record out when I was a kid, and it was one of these posthumously released records, it was an import, and it was called Loose Ends. And it was a um and it had like uh Coochie Coochie, man. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it had the Burning Desire on it, that version of Burning Desire on there.

SPEAKER_00

That's that's like such a I I remember first hearing that song, and I was like, dude, that's it's such a there's so many little bits that I don't even I don't even know how how how Billy even caught up with all that because there's so many like little bits that you had to remember, and like it was it was just braving. It's just a crazy.

SPEAKER_01

And they do it, they do it live a couple times on that full, you know, band of gypsies, all the concerts, but but that studio version on loose ends was like the closest they got to actually playing it right.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah, I would I wish that was released because that's it's such a really good song. Yeah, it's such a cool opening riff. There's so many, and there's so many cool riffs in that. The little uh the little breakdown section is really cool. Like the gospel thing. Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01

But yeah, it never gets it never gets old.

SPEAKER_00

That stuff never gets old. Yeah, I'll never, yeah, I'll definitely never stop listening to it. But nowadays I'm more I'm trying to listen to more like other things. Even you know, like I said, even stuff from like nowadays, it's always like it's always cool to hear uh you know, certain licks that you hear now that I also learned from, you know what I mean, Jimmy and stuff like that. Right. And Sam, uh obviously Steve Ray Von was a big impact on that, on on the the the blues scene. So I hear I hear a lot of Stevie and and a lot of blues rock players nowadays, more than Jimmy, I think.

SPEAKER_01

But have you done the Robin Trower deep drive at all?

SPEAKER_00

Not yet. I'm I'm I'm I might do that though. Because I a lot of people say I play a lot of like in my uh like lives that I do, a lot of people say uh that I play like him.

Farewell And Sponsor Thanks

SPEAKER_01

But well, what's interesting is is that I mean, uh obviously when I use a univide, I'm thinking Hendrix. But most people of a certain age, because Trower stuff was so was absolutely drenched in univibe, they'll automatically go, oh that sounds like Robin Trouer. And I'm like, well, actually it was Jimmy that used unived. But you know, there was a time when I remember um uh kind of all the the you know the guitar playing buddies would be like, yeah, it's a little too derivative of Hendrix, and he kind of got poo-pooed. And then years later, I'm I started re-listening to him, and I'm like, well, what's cool about Robin Trower was is that he saw the story is is that he saw when he was playing with Procl Harum, the Hendrix show in Berlin in 1970, one of his last shows. I think it may have been the last show. Well, I think the last show was Farmon. But anyway, it was right before the end. And he heard what Jimmy's new music kind of the direction it was going to, and it absolutely gobsmacked him so much that he just you know, he got rid of his 335 or whatever he's playing, started playing a strat. And, you know, and a lot of his song, I mean, obviously he's going after it's kind of like he imagined himself, okay, what if Jimmy have lived and wrote some songs using that template of that strat through Marshalls with univibes and and wall? Yeah, yeah, you know, and uh, but there's some really good tunes and that yeah, that Jimmy Dewar singing, who was, you know, just a great singer and bass player, and there's some really cool songs, and then even to this day, it's like what I like about Robin is that he's um he doesn't really play licks, he kind of plays just utterances. You know what I mean? That's what it is. Like he just kind of feels things in the moment, and uh, and yes, there's some familiarity to some of the stuff that he plays, but it's a lot of just kind of random true improvisation. Yeah, and I dig it. So he and his new record's pretty damn good. So yeah, if you haven't checked out any of that stuff, of course, Bridge of Size, that record is uh I've heard about that, yeah. Is pretty epic. But uh there's some really just good songs in addition to the playing. But anyways, well, listen, thanks for spending some time with us today. Great to meet you. I look forward to crossing paths one of these days, and uh good luck with the new record and uh enjoy ourselves. Thank you. Have a good one. You too. Got it. Bye-bye. Bye. Thanks once again to our friends at Fishman and to all you for checking out our show, which we call Chewing the Gristle. We're gonna keep on, keeping on. See you soon.

Head Shot

Greg Koch

Host