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BAP KENNEDY: portrait of the irishman as a young grit*
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L istening to Bap Kennedy’s debut
album Domestic Blues you’ll hear
a classic country songwriter, a
romantic and sometimes impish wooer,
a self-deprecating joker and, above all, a
fine storyteller. And though Domestic
Blues was co-produced by country mav
erick Steve Earle and released on
Earle’s “Americana’’ label E-Squared,
many of Bap Kennedy’s stories are
about growing up in Belfast.
In a phone conversation from
Baltimore, Kennedy explained how he
wound up on E-Squared. He sang lead
in an Irish band. Energy Orchard, in the
early ‘90s. One of Earle’s former wives
had brought him along to an Energy
Orchard show after she had signed the
band to MCA.
After losing touch with Steve Earle
for a few years in the early ‘90s,
Kennedy eventually came across
Earle’s first release after his prison
sentence, Train a Cornin’. Kennedy knew right then that lie
wanted to make a record like that. Now, a few years later. E-
Squared boasts another winner in a cadre that includes
Athens faves The V-Roys and 6 String Drag.
During our phone conversation I asked Kennedy how he
went from the glossy U2-ish rock sound of Energy Orchard to
his wonderful, bluesy, bar-soaked sound on Domestic Blues.
“Well, I always wrote some country things for the band,
but with six guys the songs weren’t always used mostly
because they were too country," he replied in a heavy but
lilting Belfast brogue. “We had lots of influences... (but] it
was a rock band. A little Rory Gallagher, some Van Morrison,
The Pogues, Thin Lizzy — everybody had their influence.”
Listening to Kennedy’s influences on the new record, one
gets a sense of a circle closing, since so many early American
folk and traditional country songs were based upon Irish and
Scottish folk standards. But Kennedy says the honky tonk
sound isn’t exactly a ripe trend in Ireland. “Ah, 1 started off
as a punk rocker in Belfast. Ya know — start a band one day,
* ^
in two days, 'ave more gigs and on. I
don’t think there’s anyone else in
Ireland [playing country] — don’t
think there’s anyone I know of."
Domestic Blues was recorded in
Nashville with a dream band, many of
whom accompanied Earle on Train a
Cornin’ — Earle on guitar, Larry
Atarmanuik on drums, Peter Rowan on
mandolin, Jerry Douglas on dobro, and
the late Roy Huskey, Jr. on upright
bass. Other contributors include
Nanci Griffith, whose singular voice
graces both “The Ghosts of Belfast"
and “The Shankill and The Falls."
The result is a spellbinding master
piece of simple, sometimes idyllic orig
inals Kennedy describes as “barroom
philosophy with dobros.” The next
record is due in 1999 and may mark
yet another stylistic change. “I’ye been
listening to a lot of Sparklehorse, Beck,
and other things. I have quite eclectic
tastes myself, and this [next] record will be for myself —
maybe a trip-hop country record."
A stoner record for country fans? Kennedy laughs. “Yeah,
there will be a stoner element to it."
It appears you can't take the boy out of the country —
even through a cloud of smoke, and even if the boy’s from a
different country altogether. It’s a phenomenon the artist
doesn’t find odd in the least.
“‘Twas a nr.tural thing," he says of his countrified evolu
tion. “1 thought stuff like Hank Williams was quite Irish
soundin’."
Deb Sommer
WHO: Bap Kennedy with 6 String Drag
WHERE: High Hat Musk Club
WHEN: Friday, June 24
HOW MUCH: Call
in 24 hours you ‘ave a gig. You break up, start another band
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Flagpole: Have you ever been over to a friends house to eat
where the food just ain't no good? I mean, the macaroni’s soggy, the
peas are mushed and the chicken tastes like wood?
Special J: Yeah. Welt once when I was in grade school I went to
my friend's house and his mother made me vegetarian lasagna. And,
I grew up in Nebraska, so I was pretty meat-oriented in those days.
I was heavy towards my carnivore side and my omnivorous exis
tence. So, it really was unappealing to me. And it was disgusting.
We were eating this stuff, and I kept taking gulps of milk to wash it
down, to swallow it. And on the very last bite I puked it all up,
right onto the table in front of her.
FP: For people who haven't
heard your music, or vour new
album Supermercado (Capricorn),
describe your music for them and
what they can expect down at
your Georgia Theatre show.
SJ: Well, Supermercado has
been compared favorably to
some of the great records- like
the Beatles' White Album ...
FP: Uh, sure. We were just
talking about that a few minutes
ago here in the office.
SJ: Yeah, and also the Go-
Go's Vacation tecord. Honestly,
we just try to make music that makes us happy and have fun. So it's
light-hearted, with lyrics that are full of references that are com
pletely meaningless and altogether too clever for human consump
tion. But they bring smiles to our faces.
FP: In your track "The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly" you mention
Dante's Inferno, so I wanted to ask you about the Fifth Canto...
SJ: OK, you're gonna have to refresh me on which one that was;
it's been a long time.
FP: Sure. It's about Francesca and Paob. hrancesca was married;
she cheated on her husband with Paolo...
SJ: Oh boy. *
FP: Francesca's husband sees them and kills them both. Then they
descend to the depths of HelL Because of their act they get stuck
there together forever. But they don’t really love each other, you see.
SJ: Yeah, they just wanted to fuck. The company's gonna get
boring after the first few stages of eternity.
FP: Was their sin worth it? Have you ever loved someone sc
strongly that you would be willing to endure Hell with them?
SJ: I'm gonna have to be honest I could really win girlfriend
points on this one, but I'm
gonna have to say no.
FP: Yeah, it is Hell, man.
SJ: Yeah, it's fucking Hell.
You can't get beyond that. I
don't think you can make love in
Hell. It might make Hell some
what less endurable, but just a
fraction.
FP: OK, last question. What
do you think of the appropriation
of predominantly black culture by
whites?
SJ: My feeling about culture
is that it's there for the taking.
People may be concerned about things like that, but they don't real
ize the contributions people of all races and cultures have made to
different forms of music. Like Kathleen Battle, one of the world's
greatest opera singers — should she not sing opera because it's a
western form of music? I think that's absurd. There's a danger when
people don't share common experiences with things they're trying to
explore. You have to be honest with what you do.
Adam Klein
. JULY 22,
Chef Lamar Thomas
an
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