Newspaper Page Text
March 18, 1992
Flagpole Magazine. •
that. I can t believe New Order wrote it! It’s
completely different from anything else
they've ever done, you know. So, that’s what
makes me totally believe in the notion of the
muse. I bet he just woke up in the middle of
the night, leaned over the bedtable and
wrote the words and went back to sleep. We
were covering it and had been playing it for
a long time. We were getting ready to record
it and we heard the Oyster Band version of
it, we were like, "well, fuck they covered it,"
you know? Then we thought, "well, shit, let’s
breathe life into it anyway." It’s been a
Staple on the road for us all the time so we’re
going to do it anyways.
FP: Clive Langer and Allen Winstanley pro
duced your record...
FO: Yeah, they [produced] six songs on
[Volo Volo] and then Jerry Harrison did
three songs on it. This guy from Hawaii
came over and produced one track and this
local Austin hiphop DJ Cassanova produced
one, “Take Care of Your Thing," on the Jack
Ass Ginger EP and then the band produced
the rest of them. I dig it because Austin
would like to think it’s so liberal, like the
“Austin would like to
think it’s so liberal, like
the Berkeley of Texas,
but once you live here for
a while, you realize this
place is as segregated
as anything
Berkeley of Texas, but once you live here for
a while you realize this place is as segre
gated as anything. It’s so weird, it’s sort of
like a peaceful segregation. I definitely, I
really, it’s why I love going back to New
York, it’s like everybody’s mingling together
a lot more, I’m willing to mix it up a lot more,
vou know? There’s a lot more integration
between the Tex-Mex culture than there is
between the black and white culture.
FP: Tell me about the song from the Roky
Erickson Tribute...
FO: Yeah, that’s one Bruce ["Shoofly"
Hughes] brought in. It was one of his favor
ites and he really likes Roky Erickson.
FP: He’s still in Austin, isn't he?
FO:Yeah he is. He’s sleeping on his mother’s
couch. His mother is like his biggest heralder.
After that record came out his mother was
calling all the local bands and thanking
them for doing it, "It really means a lot to
Roky, but no one ever talked to Roky," and
Roky was like, out on the couch recuperat
ing from life.
Hillary Meister
What Jeff Heard, What Jeff Saw...
Double Vision: A Portrait of Two Bands
The Roadhouse. Late afternoon; Tuesday, March 3rd.
Don is a grizzled veteran in his forties; and as he leans in to give
me the low-down on The Blues — his longish face and intense,
animated eyes the perfect accompaniment to a gravely
whiskey-and-cigarettes voice worthy of Tom Waits — I can’t help
but feel like I’ve been there...seen it all, done it all....
Like traveled through the Midwest playing shows and jamming
with the likes of Hound Dog Taylor and Lazy Lester. Hearing the first
Stones record when it comes out, after two years of playing guitar,
and being inspired to take up The Blues as the style of calling.
Realizing —Shit! These guys ain’t doin’ nothin’ but drawin’ on
the old masters! Rock-n-roll comes straight from The Blues, man,
all of it!
(The Blues is the only true indigenous form of American music,
John pipes in. Jazz and whatnot were carried over from the
European styles; they’re pat
terned after classical. But The
Blues comes from the old workin’
man songs out of slavery days in
the South. ’Member — this is a
young country compared to The
Old World...!)
Hell, the originals from the
Mississippi Delta started driftin’
up Chicago way, and then these
younger guys like Stevie Ray
Vaughn practically reinvented
the form with (he Texas-style
blues. The double shuffle and
these other — what’s the name
of that other pattern?—you got
to have the double shuffle and
the like on drums to get into the
real blues.
Club Fred. Late evening; Friday,
February 28th.
Mandee and I and two other
couples are sitting in a back
booth listening to a show being put on by Wet.
Later in the set, after taking a little walk to get some fresh air,
Michele invites the rest of us back to her place after the show to
hang out for awhile with she and Russ.
At the apartment, over food, music, and Trivial Pursuit, Russ
says he can get a drummer. Does Jason know this guy Rob? Yeah,
they go way back. Used to jam together some about three years
ago. Cool. Rob is a friend of Russ’ brother Jeff. They can get
together for a jam session there at Michele’s, give Rob a call and
meet Wednesday afternoon for awhile
So that Wednesday plans are chanfKf at the last minute back
at the apartment as Jason hooks up with Michele and Russ and I
and we all relocate to Jason’s garage.
Soon Rob arrives, and we help him get set up.
Russ and Jason have already tested the waters a bib and now
it’s time for Jason and Rcb to pick up right where they left off.
It’s as if no time has passed—and there turns out to be a good
chemistry between Rob and Russ as the three start to jam improvs
and covers and try out some of Russ’ original stuff.
They click as a trio, in fact.
What has started out as a jam session quickly gels into a
budding new band.
Enthusiastic and serious-minded, the guys trade off instruments
at several random, spontaneous calls of "Switch!" from one mem
ber or another, feeling each other out.
Then, as they settle back into their primary roles finally — Jason
playing bass; Russ doing lead and rhythm honors — this fresh,
as-yet-unnamed group takes another stab at Russ’ original material
with a strong mid tempo folksy rocker called “All I Can Stand".
With little more than a couple quick run-throughs on the basic
chords with Russ singing his words, a brand-new Athens band
doing originals has its first clear song.
Jason and Rob agree that it’s a great song, and after a few more
tries with a little tightening, the commitment between the three as a
band is sealed.
They improv some more, do a few additional covers, and after
one last initial rehearsal of "All I
Can Stand", everyone agrees
to meet back in the garage at
6:30 on the following Monday
evening.
There is excitement and sat
isfaction in the offing as the
only-just-bound members dis
perse, leaving half the instru
ments and a solid
two-and-a-half-hour-plus first
practice session behind them.
And this flush of success
carries over into the next week,
because the guys are really "on"
the night of March 9th.
Falling right back into the
mesh of the week before, they
jam some more; hash out cov
ers again; and, in addition to
working on “All I Can Stand" a
few times here and there, try out
extra material from Russ, which
also goes over well.
By this time, Russ has clearly emerged a« the leader of the
group. Jason, for his part, is the spoiler of the group — the
youngest, at seventeen; and a fast learner who cuts in with mostly
humorous yet insightful comments intermittent!y...playing the role
of a sort of fulcrum between his two cohorts. Involved in several
other band projects (Rob is also in another group), Fowler shines
especially on the more punkish tunes which are closer to his and
Rob’s hearts — but proves amply able to fit in well on music more
akin to the Neil Young compositions that he and Russ both love.
And then at last, as practice session number two winds to a
close and the three partners begin milling about in preparation for
leaving, the subject of a band name is finally addressed with
resolution...
Russ pitches the idea: A word which will achieve his goal of
conveying the accurate impression that this is a group which takes
its music in the same way it would like to be taken — that is to say,
seriously — by its potential audience checking to see what shows
are on for that particular hypothetical night....
They will call themselves Timborland.
Jeff Payne
As he Seans in to give me
the low-down on The Blues, I can’t help
but feel like Tve been there...
Page 13
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Thursday, Mar. 19
Billy Club Fest
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Friday, Mar. 20
Disco
$1.00 Shooter
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Sat. 21 - Sat. 28
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Monday, Mar. 30
The Young Bucks
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Tuesday, Mar. 31
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at tlie old train station
404.549.5052