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■■■ ^ rnoMmbtr 30, 1994
G Love and Special Sauce Are Talkin' 'Bout The Blues
Let 5 see: Elmore James, Robert Johnson,
Howlin ’ Wolf, John Lee Hooker, G Love and Spe
cial Sauce... What? Yes, you heard me. With a self-
titled debut on the revamped classic OKeh blues
label, G Love and Special Sauce are reinventing the
blues and paving the crossroads with their sound.
Rag mop, Front Porch Rhyming, call it what you
will. Their laid-back rhyming backed with dobro,
harmonica, upright bass ana calfskin drums is a
hybrid of the blues, and G Love (aka Garrett Dutton)
and Special Sauce (Jeffrey Clemens and Jimmy
Prescott) have created a groove to move the masses
off their asses. In a very casual Flagpole interview,
here f s what the G man had to say:
Flagpole: You guys just returned from a European tour.
How was the response from the European audiences?
C Love: Yeah, we’ve been keeping real busy. We did two
European tours and two 11. S. tours. We’ve been on official
tour non-stop since July. Those crowds in Europe were cool.
We sold out shows in Amsterdam, France, Belgium, Ger
many. Everywhere we go, it has been pretty cool.
FP Each of you seems to have a different approach to the
music; how did you get together as a band?
G: I moved from Philadelphia to Boston, where I was play
ing in the streets with occasional solo gigs at coffee houses
and stuff like that While opening a gig for some other
band, I hooked up with my drummer. He saw me playing
solo, and we formed a band of just guitar and drums. Then
we got Jimmy on the bass. Jeff knew Jim cause Jeff ran a
jazz jam. Jim has been playing upright for only a few years,
so he was bringing it to the jazz jam to sit in with some of
the older cats.
FP: So how long were you together before you cut the tracks
for the album?
G: Well, we cut “Blues Music," “Shooting Hoops," “Baby’s
Got Sauce," “Town to Town" and “I Love You" after about
seven months, and we cut the record after about nine
months.
FP: What do you think about other groups that are work
ing in roughly the same arena as you — for example: Digable
Planets, A Tribe Called Quest, Guru?
G: That shit is really hard core hip hop. We’re not really a
hip hop band. That shit is great music, but we do more
blues. Actually, we just do our songs. Some of them are
really bluesy, some are almost like rockabilly, and some
are really funky.
FP: You do have something in common with those groups,
though, and that is the fact that you have stirred the curi
osity of listeners into listening to some of the older jazz
and blues that are fundamental to your music.
G: I think it’s really important I mean, how I play the
music that I do is because through playing guitar, I was
able to open a world of roots music. People like Bob Dylan,
John Hammond, Robert Johnson, Mississippi John Hurt
and John Lee Hooker have been big influences on my
music, even though my music is my own. Yeah, I’d be re
ally happy that if through checking out my music, some
one would be interested in checking out the masters.
FP Does a certain style on the record dominates the others?
G: Our record is more of a funk album than anything else,
but it’s our own blend of the funk. I come from the blues,
Jeff comes from the funk, and Jimmy comes from the jazz
tradition. Hopefully, people will pick up on that and check
out where the shit really came from. Then, everything else
will make sense, from every sample you hear to how James
Brown got started in funk anyway. We have to live for to
day, but we also want to pay homage to some of the people
who move us.
FP: How do you get that sound? I mean, the overall album
sounds rough on the edges, but it is also done freshly.
G: My drummer plays old tubs, old wooden drums, like an
old jazz kit. You can’t get an old sound out of a new kit.
Check this out: What’s your favorite record ever? TTie one
you can always go back and listen to over and over?
FP: John Coltrane’s Sun Ship.
G: Right, see. If you ask anybody that question, they usu
ally say some old record from the ’60s, not some band that
came out last year. TTiat shit is overproduced. We’re trying
to strip our music down. All of my favorite music wasn’t
recorded on digital equipment with all these effects. I have
two points: First, the most important thing about someone’s
music is the performance. 1 think raw music is the best,
because if you sweeten it too much, you lose the feel. Also,
I don’t want to spend money on some super duper guitar
cause it has more wires and shit I paid $ 125 for my guitar,
$200 for my amp, and $50 for the microphone that I used
to record the whole album. To me, that’s the real shit
FP What’s happening after the tour? A new record?
G: I’m planning on doing a solo album soon. I went to a
studio, but I did not have much luck. We’ll record another
album in the spring, too.
FP Are you ready for the Athens crowd?
G: Oh, yeah. We just want the audience to have a good
time; that's all we ever want We just want to give to them...
peace.
Joshua Jackson
G Love and Special Sauce play Wednesday, Nov. 30, at
the 40 WatL
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