independentmidwestmusic.com

Good To Be Backyard Tire Fire Kelsey Street Records 20010 When I first heard The Places We Lived, I was convinced that Backyard Tire Fire were going to take off. The next time I would see them play would be in a stadium somewhere. After hearing Good To Be the new release from Backyard Tire Fire, I am convinced that I was right then and I hold on to that feeling now and I always will. I understand that Grammy winning producer Steve Berlin, who plays in the band Los Lobos, also thinks very highly of the guys. So much so that he produced Good To Be. The disc starts out with Roadsong #39. The song talks about the trials and tribulations of being on the road. It’s tough but it’s also exciting and worth it in the end. “there’s a smell that I know, it’s sweaty and it’s smoky and it’s ripe and it’s rock and roll”. Ready or Not and Learning to Swim are both excellent songs about life in general. Then comes my favorite track on the disc (well right now anyway). Brady is a song about a teenage boy who goes looking for sex. “Brady got a lady down in Amsterdam oh oh oh He saw her in the window”. It turns out he’s a little too nervous. Food for Thought wonders Whatcha gonna do with your stuff when you’re gone?, ‘Cause when you’re through and your time has come, And you think you’ve had your fun, All that really matters is what you’ve done”. Good To Be is a CD full of songs with great writing and wonderful performances. There are fabulous Beach Boy like harmonies, and there are moments that make me think of The Beatles, The Kinks and Tom Petty. It’s full of songs that say life isn’t all that easy. It doesn’t matter what you do, where you live or even what you believe in, if you keep trudging through all the tough stuff, it’s still worth living. This disc reminds me, There’s a sound that I know, and I like it and I love it and it’s Rock ‘n’ Roll. So I would like to say thanks to the Tire Fire boys and to Steve Berlin, the world is a little easier when you have fine music to listen to.

CATFISH KEITH

Billy Rose: Catfish Keith, are you a born and raised Iowan?

Catfish Keith: Well, I was born in East Chicago, Indiana. When I was about six or so we moved to Davenport, Iowa, so that’s where I grew up. I went through school there and by the time I graduated I knew I wanted to make a living as a guitar player. So I journeyed all over the USA just to see what was out there. I lived in California for a while. I lived on the east coast for a while…lived in my car for a while (laughs). I lived in Colorado hitched hiked all over and did all kinds of crazy stuff. By 1984 I got my first record deal. That’s when I decided to become Catfish Keith. I had been going by my given name which is Keith Kozacik. I’m proud of my given name, but nobody could say it or spell it (laughs). When I got that record deal I thought it would be a good time to have a name people could remember. So I officially changed to my stage name and that’s when I started my recording career too. I was about twenty-two. I started out with a record called Catfish Blues. That was on Kicking Mule Records. Kicking Mule was a great little label that all my guitar picking heroes and blues players were on. I was overwhelmed and overjoyed to be on that label for my first record. I learned a little bit about show business…and a few years later I and my wife Penny started our own label for my second record. Fish Tail Records is the label I have recorded on ever since. Ten of my eleven records are out on Fish Tail. There’s a new one we’re gonna put out…that’s gonna be out soon. It’s a live album that was recorded in the UK. It was recorded on the south side of London last fall. It turned out really nice. That will be my first live album. All the other ones have been live in the studio.

Billy Rose: Where were you living when you put out Catfish Blues?

Catfish Keith: California! I was living in Santa Cruz, California. I used a couple different studios out there. That’s also where Kicking Mule Records was based. The guy who owned it…I never actually met the guy. We talked on the phone a whole lot though (laughs). It went out of business a few years ago. It was started by Steffen Grossman and Ed Denson. Ed was the guy I dealt with. That was so cool. It just thrilled me that somebody in the world thought my music was good enough to put out a record. That was a record…an LP…vinyl, before the CD days (laughs).

Billy Rose: Those vinyl records are sometimes in high demand by some people nowadays.

Catfish Keith: Yeah! A guy just brought one to me just today and asked me to sign it. That was cool (laughs).

Billy Rose: How old were you and what was it that got you interested in the blues?

Catfish Keith: Well, my folks like a variety of music and I would hear different kinds of music all of the time. We had a lot of records at home…and my parents both sang in choirs and stuff in church and so forth. My interest in blues I think was fostered by my love for the acoustic guitar. I loved to listen to different acoustic guitar players. It started with people like Bob Dylan…Paul Simon and Leo Kottke. I guess Leo Kottke was my first giant guitar hero. That all started when I was about twelve or thirteen. I started playing heavy duty at about fourteen. By the time I was fifteen I knew I wanted to be a guitar player for the rest of my life. And I knew I wanted to be a solo guitar player that played acoustic guitar. After I started getting into acoustic guitar I wanted to find out where Kottke and Dylan were getting their music and that took me to people like “Mississippi” Fred McDowell and John Hurt, Gary Davis. So I really started digging the treasure trove of old time blues. Ragtime, Gospel and Hillbilly music. There’s such a rich history of roots music we have here in our country. That’s the journey I’ve been on ever since childhood. My vision has never waved from being able to make all the music by myself. Guitar, voice and stompin’ foot. The idea I got from hearing Leo Kottke, Bob Dylan, Doc Watson, Mike Seeger and so many great players that just flipped my wig. But the idea that the guitar is an orchestra on its own. You can make all the sound, the bass, the treble, the melody and counterpoint, harmony There are so many voices in it and so many rich ways to express it. It’s such an individual thing too. It has everything in it…in your own hands you got your own style there if you’re just willing to follow it and let it come out. You can learn from all kinds of people and songs and techniques…ultimately if you’re doing it right you’re learning how to play like yourself. Even though none of the music comes out of nowhere, nobody just gets music out of the sky…it comes from somewhere…there’s a tradition…there’s music that you grew up on. It’s the heart and rhythm and soul that of what all music is based on.

Billy Rose: You started playing guitar as a teenager. Did you play slide right away?

Catfish Keith: Well, pretty soon. I suppose after I started finger pickin’ the guitar. Pretty soon after that I started to play the slide. Son House was an artist that was kind of a breakthrough to me. I got a record of his …and it sort of scared me to death. It was so wild and drunken and weird…direct and so heartfelt…really kinda scary and dark. That song Death Letter was the first thing I ever heard from him. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t say that I love that music. It’s like I couldn’t stop listening to it. I was compelled by it. It was compelling and it sort of bothered me. It was like…wow what the hell it this. Why can’t I get this off of my mind? I guess that’s when the voice of the slide guitar…it occurred to me how beautiful the sound of slide really is. What a vocal voice it is. That led me to people like Blind Willie Johnson, who is probably my absolute favorite slide player of all time, with the most expressive sound. And another really scary sounding singer. He’s got a voice that sounds like it bleeding after he’s finished (laughs). I don’t know how he did it but it was very intense and beautiful. Those were some of the big influences that got me going on my own journey with slide guitar. I like so many different areas in the steel string guitar spectrum. Fingerpickin’ sounds that you can take so many ways. The thing that I find most riveting and compelling comes out of one chord kind of a modal thing that’s almost a hypnotic thing that you hear in Mississippi hill country music…a lot of the best blues…it’s just one chord really. It brings it down to the simplest thing, that becomes the most mysterious and most beautiful.

Billy Rose: You have a very distinct sound. Did that develop on its own or were you looking for a certain sound you wanted to convey?

Catfish Keith: Well you have your heroes and the physical approach of how guitar was played. What became how I play comes from when you hear different players that have a gift and almost a vocal like quality to the way they play a string. It’s a very physical attack to the guitar but it’s also a very subtle nuance thing. You get it from other people but all these things come together and make your own thing. When I make a song arrangement…I’ll listen to a song until I can’t get it out…then I just try to learn it or play it…sometimes that results in me learning that song or it might result in me writing another song that was a springboard off that song. That happens quite often. I guess that’s when it really becomes your own. When you take a song that you really loved and re-invent it. That’s when a song…no matter who’s it is or what it is becomes your own. Some people want to copy things at first…and that’s natural, to learn things that way…ultimately you want to create your own things.

Billy Rose: You started out pretty early setting up you r own label. What was the idea behind that and how is it working out?

Catfish Keith: In our little corner of the music world, even if you have a deal with a label, basically you end up selling all of the records yourself anyway. It’s up to the artist to tour and sell and create your own following. Certainly a label can help with that. Hopefully they will have money and a publicity machine. But it was way more gratifying to do everything the way we wanted to do it. When I put out a record I have a vision of how I want it to sound, how I want the package to look. The way we market it is direct to the people. People see us at a show and they’ll buy a CD or they’ll go on the web site and order it. We get the order right at our house and we stuff it in the envelope and go the Post Office and send it off. It’s very direct. I’m lucky, because Penny my wife does it with me and it’s been able to be our living for nearly twenty years. Neither of us have a nine to five job. Our income comes from my music. We tour all over the world with it. It’s sustains us. We have a nice house and we go to the store and get what we need. I feel really lucky. We call the shorts ourselves and not everyone can do that. We also create luck by working hard. I was determined to do this. People like it and there are places for me to play, like this blues fest, or any other kind of festival. We go to the UK and play and work our butts off and we have a really good following. This will be our thirty fifth tour over there. Another advantage of having your own label is you are able to keep everything in print. When people work with a label and it goes out of business you can’t get your records. You can’t keep them in print. I know people who were on a label who went bankrupt and they couldn’t get there record and it’s like the record never existed. This way we always have the whole catalog available.

Billy Rose: Including your first record?

Catfish Keith: Yep! That became Tadpole Blues. That was originally Catfish Blues and now on Fish Tail as Tadpole Blues it’s the same record.

Billy Rose: Do you tour all of Europe?

Catfish Keith: We have played all over Europe. Holland, Belgium, Slovakia and Germany. There are a lot more places I want to go. We’ve been to Asia. We played Hong Kong and Malaysia. We have a really good following in England and we tour all over the US. We have been doing this for over twenty years now. We are making a living and it’s been great. The guitar has been a great way for us to travel. Most people have to save up enough money to take a little trip. With us it’s a lifestyle and we have been very fortunate to make a living while we travel and have fun.

Billy Rose: So when is the live album coming out?

Catfish Keith: It should be out within a month or so. We have to have it mastered and get the art done. By early October it should be available. We want it available for the UK tour. That starts October 15 and runs through December.

Billy Rose: So will it be mostly original stuff or a mixture?

Catfish Keith: It will be about the same thing you hear when you see a concert. A few originals and some of my well burnished pieces of my repertoire. It was just a really good night at a good venue called The Half Moon in Putney, and we just happened to get a good recording. I’m pretty tickled with it.

Heartbroke City

Ned Van Go

2009

Ned Van Go are roots rockers from East Nashville, Tennessee. They blend rock, folk, bluegrass and all sorts of music so seamlessly it reminds me of Cherry Coke. You’re not sure where one flavor ends and the other begins, but it sure is tasty. Nine originals and two covers, their songs are working man anthems. Ned Hill’s lyrics explore the struggles shared by people who are living the American nightmare. Sharing problems with millions of people across this nation and around the world. These songs are universal.

The cover of Tom T. Hall’s, “Me And Jesus” is a fabulous rockin’ version. “Save Me From This World (A Prison Song)”, is a poignant song about an innocent man serving time in prison. “Mountain Top Removal” is a song that tells about the exploitation of the beautiful Appalachian Mountains. “One More Round” puts the blame of a broken relationship squarely on his own shoulders. These are great songs about everyday life. On those days when you feel bad about your life, listen to “Heartbroke City”. It won’t make you forget about your troubles, but you sure won’t feel alone.

Rain or Shine

Joe Price

Blues Acres Productions

2009

Holy Cow! Rain or Shine, the new release by Joe Price is the best piece of raw country blues I’ve heard in a very long time. Actually it’s not a total surprise; I’ve been listening to Joe Price since the days when his recordings were only available on cassette tape. This CD is however, is an exceptional disc. The disc features ten tunes, alternating between vocal tracks and instrumentals. “Hornet’s Nest” is an excellent choice to start out the disc. “Joe’s Guitar Stomp” follows and is a fabulous gritty instrumental. The whole CD is full of hollerin’, rip roarin’, foot stompin’ good time music. Joe’s lovely wife Vicki Price joins in, providing a second guitar on three tracks and back-up vocals on the rockin’ “Steel Guitar”. Vicki’s son Keni Ewing sits in on drums while Al Naylor blows trumpet on “Rock Slide” to close out the CD. Hey everybody grab your forks and stick ‘em in, this slab of country blues is very well done.

ANDREW LANDERS

I met Andrew Landers at The Redstone Room in Davenport Iowa after his show in July. I have wanted to meet Andrew ever since I heard his first CD Gertrude’s Barn. I loved that CD and I thought the writing was wonderful. It turns out that Andrew Landers is very much like the songs he writes. He is open, friendly and sometimes funny. I very much enjoyed chatting with Andrew Landers; I hope you enjoy reading the article.

Billy Rose: It’s nice to finally meet you Andrew. I’ve wanted to get together with you for some time now, but our paths just never seemed to cross.

Andrew Landers: Oh yeah bro. I love what you do with your radio show and everything man. I really respect you for that. I’ve wanted to meet you too.

Billy Rose: Let’s start talking about the beginning. So you grew up in a musical family, that’s how you got started?

Andrew Landers: Yeah totally! In a lot of ways it started in the church. It was a very gospel oriented church. We listened to that blues shuffle kinda stuff. I just got birthed into a lot of that. My dad was a huge big band fan. So as a little drummer, growing up playing the drums, Tommy Dorsey, Stan Kenton I was exposed to all the big band greats. I grew up on that too. I really got into a lot of classic stuff growing up. In my Junior High and High School years I listened to stuff like Led Zepplin and lots of rock on all levels. My heart though was always close to that kinda grassroots music. The James Taylor’s and Jim Croce’s. The storytellers. People like Bob Dylan. For some reason I couldn’t get away from that. It spoke to me. I felt like the power of the narrative is when somebody sings a song and go wow.

Billy Rose: Your dad was a preacher.

Andrew Landers: He was yes.

Billy Rose: When I was watching you on stage, I thought you’re a preacher too. You are preaching from the stage. I mean that in a totally positive way. Do you feel that?

Andrew Landers: Well on this new disc I think one of the things that I feel most, on the song called Lower Case Prophet, I kinda feel like that. I feel like an advocate for those who have been disillusioned by the church. They have been hurt by the church. They have dealt with the hypocrisy of the church. I grew up in that environment man. There are a lot of messed up things about the church. Still today I don’t know where I stand on a lot of that stuff. But I do know this; there are still a lot of good things about it that I forgot along the way. So yeah I guess I feel that in some ways my job is to challenge people. Not to go to church or to think that my position on God or this or that is right. But more to challenge the humanity around us to say what’s our life for. Is it just about us and building up our little kingdoms. Or do we actually just see the world and say what can I do to help my brother and my sister. We’re all in the same boat man, trying to find a place called home. We can’t do it by dividing. Saying well he thinks this way, and he thinks that way. So I feel like I’m an advocate hoping to bring those two sides together. I’ve never even thought about that bro’. You’re the first person to bring that up. I need to figure that out. That’s a good space. I don’t think I’ve ever defined that in clarity in my own heart. What is it I do? Most of the time I think I do it to experience it myself. I go to my own happy place. I think that’s kinda the power and the draw of some of what we do. ‘Cause maybe we’re not good enough to really entertain. But man we feel it. All of us feel it. When we were singing Sons of Adam. I know right where I was man. When all of that was going on. After seeing that TV evangelist the thing that disturbed me most was that I realized that I was just as judgmental toward the religious. I just thought they were all full of…crap. And I thought how am I any better. Seeing Matt (Podschweit) play the piano. That song was a huge deal for him. A personal experience in life that had nearly broke him.  So we have this camaraderie. At one of the deepest parts of his life. It hurt, and that song just reminds him it’s gonna be okay. That’s what a pal is. When you can enter into what’s happening. There is a time and place for fun and doing stuff.  But when we experience it ourselves, that’s where it’s at.

Billy Rose: I haven’t heard the entire new album yet. Just what you performed tonight.  But when I heard the first CD, Gertrude’s Barn I really liked it. One of my favorite tracks was Muddy Mississippi. Every time I play it I get a positive response. When people asked where they could get it, I said I think if you go to the web site you can get it there.

Andrew Landers: Oh bro’ I really appreciated what you do. It’s cool. We actually just put the new web site up. It’s gonna have all that stuff. It’s gonna be easy access for everything. They can order it from CD Baby and I-Tunes. You know what Muddy Mississippi is one of my favorites too. I was with my youngest boy. The first time I ever taught him to fish. We were sitting there with little bamboo poles on the banks of the Mississippi. I was so frustrated with him. I had just finished a busy day and I was like I really don’t want to do this, yet I did want to do it. I had so much to do at home. But my boy inspired the song. When we got home my wife said to me how was your day with Douglas. I was rushing by and said…it was fine. She asked my son “how was your day”. He said…this is powerful…’it was the best day of my life.’ It just kinda broke my heart and at the same time I realized…I do…I want to take a trip down the mighty Mississippi…and take it slow. Slow down with life. ‘Cause you can get so busy, you’re gonna miss out on the precious moments you got right here. That’s the power of the story. All of my songs are stories. I could tell ya all those interactions…and they’re not embellished they’re not made up clever lines…they’re true.

Billy Rose: Tell me about the new CD. What’s your favorite song on Beautiful Depravity?

Andrew Landers: Oh man. Probably…it’s a tossup between Lowercase Prophet and Not in My Backyard. Bittersweet that’s on there too. There are a lot of them. The one I wrote for my buddy who died. There is something about Not in My Backyard again it’s what I want to become. I used to think I wrote songs to tell something. But they just ambush me man. It’s more of a turnaround. Every time I sing Not in My Backyard I realize man I am one selfish jerk. ‘Cause I just pretty much just think about me and how is this gonna affect me. Instead of the person I walked by…and I darned well knew maybe he just needed a smile. Maybe they just needed somebody to say hey, how are you. That’s why I love those songs. Because those songs remind me of what I want to be.   On Gertrude’s Barn one of my favorites is Broken Hallelujah. We’re all broken man. We’re all broken hallelujah’s just trying to find our way. We all need a new start. We all need a second, third fourth chance.

Billy Rose: I relate to your songs on a personal level. When you sit down to write a song…do you have one thing on your mind or are a thousand things running through your head?

Andrew Landers: Um, you know that’s evolved, over time. I think as I’ve matured and understand that I have to let the music come to me. I used to try to force it. I would think, that’s a great thought, and I would push it. Now I would say there is a central theme. Take the Lowercase Prophet. The thought that started the whole song was that first line. Lying here staring up at the ceiling, trying to unravel my latest mistake. I thought I knew exactly what I was doing. Knew what it was, it was not good stuff. How can I make a difference when I’m such a mess?  Lowercase Prophet it’s the metaphor, so once I get that thought everything else just builds around it. Then I think that I have to write a song that speaks to the fact that we are all messed up. But if you wait to get it all together before you can be effective in doing good things in this life…it will never happen. So that concept has to evolve around the whole song. I try to build to the end of the story. A lot of writers speak and can relate to the pain. They identify with people that way. But they don’t give any hope. I feel it’s important to relate to the pain and humanity and the struggles, the funny and everything else. Like when I sing Blow ‘em Away, everybody can relate to road rage (laughs). Then to bring the story to a place the challenges the way they are thinking. Like on Muddy Mississippi, today’s the day to decide to go through what you’re going through.

Billy Rose: What do like to do better, performing or the recording process?

Andrew Landers: I want to play. I want to be with people. I feel most at home just being with the humanity around me. Sharing my stories. In fact if I could let somebody else do the studio stuff I would. For me I’m too far the other way. It almost feels contrived and pretentious. When I get into the studio, I’m supposed to make it all sound right. I’m very adamant when we record…I want this to sound for real. It still never captures what we do live. I don’t like to listen to my recordings.  It feels weird. It feels like I sold out. That people are being cheated from a better experience. The difference between live and recorded. I know that’s not true deep down. But part of that is because I experience so much.  I want to play live not because I want to be up in front of people…but because I go to a better place…I have a better perspective after experiencing it. It’s almost like being on a long journey and finally getting a drink of water…it’s like alright it’s gonna be okay, let’s take another step.

Billy Rose: I just interviewed Chris Beard about a week ago. He said at times he is barley aware that the audience is there. Is it like that with you? You seem to be so in tune with the audience.

Andrew Landers: Yeah I fall in and out of those places. Especially on some of the slower songs that are very reflective. I think unlike a lot of artists I talk a lot. I’m not ever saying the same things over and over. I’m trying to gage too…what do people need to hear…what do I need to hear.  So I fall in and out of those places. I’m not at all lost up there. In fact I’m trying to be real intuitive to what is going on out there.

Billy Rose: Do you change the feel or the flow of the show?

Andrew Landers: All of the time. If you came tomorrow the song s would all have a different feel. We do so many jams and breakaways. It’s a feel thing. Tonight was a little different because we were doing that live feed. But most of the time there is no set list. We just go with what feels right. I’m not a real programmatic guy. There are like 60 to 80 songs that might pop up. And the guys know that. That’s what is cool about it. I feel most at home when it’s just me with my guitar. For the most part a folksy singer songwriter doesn’t work with a band very well. That’s why it’s very unique to have these guys…and they don’t play a lot…they play very simply but tastefully.

Billy Rose: Tell me about the internet feed.

Andrew Landers: Yeah, we just did that tonight. Live via the internet. We had people in Hawaii, Russia and China watching. It was kinda cool.

Billy Rose: Is this the first time you ever did that?

Andrew Landers: Yeah! We were just kinda screwing around and we decided to do it.

Billy Rose: One thing you mentioned on stage tonight was the Water Fund. Tell us a little more about that program.

Andrew Landers: What’s cool there is my wife is gonna be on Lifetime. She and a bunch of normal moms decided…when they heard that almost five thousand kids die every single day around to world because of unclean water.  They just got together and said that’s not okay with us. But what can a bunch of Midwest moms …what can we do? So she started working with an up and coming…now they’re the largest in the world…organization called Charity Water. 100% of what is donated to this group goes to the wells themselves. Nobody’s getting paid. That all come from charitable organizations that pay their staff.  All of the money that people send to Charity Water goes into the wells. When they drill a well…which costs five thousand dollars…to give an entire tribe a lifetime of clean water…we know how Africa and America can be corrupt, there’s no middle man…the Charity Water people will go to Africa and be there six months…they will not only drill the well, but they will teach them hygiene, they will teach them how to put their plates up, teach them how to wash their hands. They spend six months helping these people change their culture. Clean water doesn’t mean much if you don’t know how to take care of the rest. Charity Water really does a good job trying to help people succeed. 97% of the wells that they have put in have changed almost 100 % of the death rate in those communities. My wife and her friends have raised… in the last year through viral campaigns and the internet and other things…over twenty wells. They are shooting for the whole country of Liberia. 

Billy Rose: How can people get in touch with Charity Water?

Andrew Landers: The best way is to hop on my wife’s blog, Jodyrlanders.com

 

Chris Beard

When I heard that Chris Beard was going to be at DJ’s Blues Club in Clinton Iowa, I knew I would have to go see him play. I also of course wanted to get an interview. Chris agreed to do an interview after the show. Watching the man put everything he had into his performance I knew he would be tired. When the band was finished playing Chris strolled through the crowd talking, signing autographs and selling CD’s. Chris finally made his way over to my table and plopped down in the chair next to me. He said man I am really tired. Is there any way we can do this tomorrow morning. We agreed on a time and place.

The next morning I met Chris at the motel. He was bright eyed and bushy tailed as we sat down to talk.

Billy Rose: So did you get some sleep?

Chris Beard: Oh, man. I did. I slept really good.

Billy Rose: You looked wiped out last night when you were done.

Chris Beard: I was man. Going on the road can make you tired. But I always try to give it my all. You know those people in the audience paid thier money to see a show. So I do my best to give them something special.

Billy Rose: Well judging from the crowd, I would say they were satisfied. I know your father introduced you to the blues and influenced you. Besides your father, who or what were your main musical influences when you were growing up? Who influenced your guitar playing?

Chris Beard: Luther Allison, Albert King, Albert Collins, Buddy Guy, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Otis Rush, Freddy King I had so many influences man. I can’t just say this guy or that guy. My father introduced me to the blues, but I just took it and ran with it. My father being in the music and associating with all those people I just mentioned. I knew those people. they were in the house when I was growing up. Matt “Guitar” Murphy was a great influence on me. He was like a brother to my father. They grew up together down south in Mississippi. I remember years ago when I was a kid. Guitar Murphy used to stay at our house. He would play the guitar all hours of the night. He would fall asleep with the guitar in his hand. I said to him once “why you going to sleep with your guitar”. He said “the guitar becomes an extension of your body”. Things like that, that he said stay with me. People like Buddy Guy, who I remember before I had my first record deal. I was going to Chicago hanging out trying to find out more about the business. Buddy was at his club, this was about fifteen years ago. I said to him “Buddy you’re rated the best blues guitar player in the world. How come you sit around this club all day, watching us all play? You make 8 million dollars a year. What are you doing sitting around here”. He said “how am I ever gonna get better if I don’t watch young cats like you”. That also stuck with me. What that meant to me was you never stop learning. For someone like Buddy Guy to make a statement like that I thought, wow I need to be humble and keep my eyes and my ears open. I need to watch, you know. There is always something to learn. It’s become a way of life for me. Every situation or event in my life could possibly become a song. Relationships (laughs) pay a good toll on that. Good and bad, you know.

Billy Rose: So when you were growing up, you played with your dad in his band. Who else did you play with?

Chris Beard: Yeah, I played with my father a little bit when I was growing up. I also played with some R&B bands. My father first introduced me to the blues when I was playing with him. But I was going out on my own a learning R&B and stuff like that. I was in this R&B group called CAMEO. Before they were CAMEO they were The New York Players. Their guitar player broke his arm and I was playing with them. And they wanted me to go on tour with them. My mom wouldn’t let me. I had to finish school. I was kinda pissed about that. But it worked out for the best. She knew what was best. Growing up in the era that I grew up in and having the foundation of the blues in the beginning. Helps to make the style of blues that I play today. I got that traditional touch and I got the modern feel to it. With funk and rock and all that stuff mixed together. My father plays electric guitar but he’s more of a singer. He goes on stage with one guitar and I go on with five (laughs). People see me coming in and they see all the guitars (laughs). They think hey this is a guitar player (laughs).

 Billy Rose: Are you glad that your mom made you finish school?

Chris Beard: Oh yeah! What happened was I did finish school. I went to trade school; I finished college, Business Administration, Data Processing and all of that stuff. Like most kids, I got involved with drugs. That was a battle for me. On and off, on and off, on and off. One of the reasons I say that mom knows best, is going on the road at fifteen years old, I would have been a lot more into drugs and a whole lot of other stuff. Today I’m a recovering addict, eighteen years now. My life has never been better. The experiences I’ve had in and out of the music business have made me the person I am today. Thank God for that. Playing music early and doing drugs and all of that.  When I decided to take my music nationally and internationally I had already been through all of that. So it wasn’t a surprise or it wasn’t exciting for me because I had already been through it. Today people offer me stuff (laughs) and saying no is a regular thing for me (laughs). It’s not me; you know it’s just not me. So everything worked out.

Billy Rose:  I interviewed Walter Trout. He said there are people who think that going out and playing stoned and/or drunk, that they play better. Walter said that’s just bullshit. He said the first time he played completely straight and sober was one of the most emotionally satisfying things he has ever experienced.

Chris Beard: Walter is right! It’s total bullshit a total myth. In my teen years I was really attracted to Jimi Hendrix. I wanted to play like him; I wanted to wear a band around my head like him. I wanted to take the microdot acid (laughs) like him. I wanted to smoke the weed drink the booze and do everything just like him. But look what happened to him. Just like Walter said, I used to think I played better when I was high. I know better today. My inspiration flows smoother and better. Playing is my high! It really is. I’m zoned out when I’m playing. I know you guys are out there. But this is for me (laughs), it’s for you but it’s for me. I still feel I have a long way to go. I’m not where I want to be, but I ain’t where I used to be.

Billy Rose: Who out there playing today do you think is a blues star on the rise?

Chris Beard: Bernard Allison, Ronnie Baker Brooks. Walter Trout is more of a rock blues. I think that’s were blues is going. I had a conversation with Bruce Iglauer. The conversation was that the blues has repeated itself so much over the years. And it hasn’t really changed. It has repeated itself too much. The thing me and Ronnie Baker Brooks laughed about.  Was Bruce you’re the one that repeated it so much (laughs). Bruce is the man. Alligator Records is the number one blues label in the world.  So he carried the torch, the way blues would go. It’s time for a change. Buddy Guy has a song on one of his CD’s “Who’s Gonna Fill These Shoes”. I like to believe that I’m up and coming. My father didn’t get the recognition that he deserves. But part of that is him too. The choices that he made. He did some international stuff but not a lot. For me unlike my counterparts Ronnie and Bernard their roads were paved just a little bit more for them when they came out. They paying dues, but not on the level that I’m paying dues. But that’s Okay. I do what I have to do. It’s what I love. Times get hard but that’s another situation to write a song about (laughs).  After we go Ronnie, Bernard and myself there’s not a whole lot. These kids today aren’t pickin’ up the guitar. They are into the mic, not the guitar. There are a lot of guys who have a hit record and they’re a flash in the pan. Johnny Lang, Luther Allison was his idol. He’s a great guy and a great player. He came out doing what he wanted to do.  Somewhere along the line the record company, management they wanted to change what he was doing. I feel that what I do attracts young and old. I’m right on the edge. The old blues and the modern blues. I can keep ‘em up dancing or I can sing a humorous tune and make ‘em laugh. Or I can play the slow blues that just knocks ‘em out.

Billy Rose: That was evident last night. The place was packed with young and old alike. And they were all having a good time.

Chris Beard: Yeah there were a lot of young ones there. The young ones were diggin’ it too. That’s the thing. The blues has such a wide range that young people go oh that’s the blues. I like that. The blues is the roots of most music. For young blacks the blues is the roots of our music. For them not to know about it and be interested in it puzzles the hell out of me. If it wasn’t for the blues there would have been no James Brown. There would have been no Michael Jackson. There would have been none of those great artists. They take a James Brown song and use it, sample it for their rap song. They don’t know where it came from. I used to bill us as The Chris Beard Blues Band, but now I just say The Chris Beard Band. There’s some perception that the blues is some old man in the rockin’ chair with an acoustic guitar. If you go back and listen to old blues Louis Joiner and guys before B.B. King, guys were talking in their songs.

Billy Rose: Okay that’s enough about the new music. How about old music. Do you listen to any of that?

Chris Beard: I’m a guitar fanatic, So I listen to T. Bone Walker, Guitar Slim early electric guitar players. I listen to Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters because I grew up on that and I dig it. But I try to listen to electric guitar players because I’m always trying to learn something new. Albert King was the best in my book. He could play so beautiful and could funk it up. He could hit a string and it would sound like a rocket taking off man. Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughn they learned from Albert. A lot of people don’t know that. I know Stevie but who’s this Albert King? Well you read up on Stevie and he’ll tell you were he got it. Buddy Guy said he had heard about Jimi Hendrix. So he went to New York to see him play. Buddy was standing down in front of the stage watching every move Jimi made. When the break came Jimi said hey I know who you are, you’re Buddy Guy I could listen to you forever. But Buddy had just heard him play. Jimi had been listening to Buddy and copping his notes (laughs).

Billy Rose: So do you have any plans to go into the studio soon?

Chris Beard: I just finished one. Just finished a CD. I can’t give you anything. But you stop that recorder and I let you hear it. Just a minute I got to get it out of the van.

For the next twenty minutes I got a personal preview of the new Chris Beard CD. Although I can’t go into details I can tell you it sounds excellent. It has all of the great blues, soul and rock sounds you expect from Chris Beard. It has some blistering guitar work. I can’t wait to hear the whole thing. Chris told me that the disc is finished except for mastering. He also said he is shopping it around to find a label that will be a good fit. Chris I hope you find a label that does your new disc justice. Look for The Chris Beard Band to be playing somewhere near you. Catch them live and I know you will buy the new CD.

The Beat Seekers are a young up and coming band from Omaha Nebraska. They play a new sounding old brand of pop rock music. These guys are very good musicains and take their music seriously. If you ever get a chance to see The Beat Seekers play live make sure you take advantage of it. Theri live show has a bit of a rough edge. Their debut CD Dead Air Radio is full of great hooks and lyrics. This is one band you should look out for in the near future.

THE BEAT SEEKERS

 

Billy Rose: Hey guys, it’s nice to meet you. Are you all from Omaha?

Ryan Garza: I’m from Sterling (Illinois) actually. I was born here. Everybody else is from Omaha.

Billy Rose: Okay, now it makes sense. I saw your tour schedule. It was like Des Moines, Chicago, Minneapolis, Cleveland and Sterling (laughs).  Let’s start out with what other bands you have played with.

Kyle Fertwagner: We were all in bands before this one. I was in The Fonzarelli’s, Sweet Action Hero from Kansas City, Magpie Faction, and The Runarounds.

Ryan Garza: Benji and I were in the Miscasts. Two thirds of us were in The Fonzarelli’s, an Omaha band that was around for years. With the same front man, Keith. He writes all of our material for this band.

Keith Fertwagner :  The first band I was in was a punk band called Magpie Faction is was awful and cool at the same time. The Fonzarelli’s, Ammunition Affair in LA, The Shocker with Jennifer Finch the bass player from L7.

Billy Rose: How about influences for this band.

Keith Fertwagner: The Beatles and the Stones. I’m into both, you’ve got your conundrum Stones fans and Beatles fans, I’m into both. The Kinks, The Who, The Clash, The Stooges, The Ramones. There are so many. I like Motown. It’s hard to say because anything that I like influences me. And I like a lot of music. If I listen to a certain song and I like it. I’m not gonna rip that record off. But I write something that’s kinda that vibe. If something is good it’s good. I like some new bands, but none of them inspire me. The older generations before me are way more inspirational than what’s going on now.  

Kyle Fertwagner: The Beatles, The Who, The Clash. Some of that R&B Motown stuff.

Ryan Garza: The Replacements.

Kyle Fertwagner: The Beach Boys, you can hear it all over the album. We call it the Brian Wilson parts (laughs). It’s really high, parts that sound great when you’re singing to yourself in the shower but when you try to do it live it just doesn’t work as well (laughs). We’re all over the place but at the same time I think Keith has been able to make it ours. We’re not just recycling what others have already done. We’re continuing that Rock ‘n’ Roll inventiveness.

Ryan Garza: For a new generation.

Kyle Fertwagner : We’re just trying to make good music. We’re trying to fill that pop music void. Instead of trying to recycling Creed and Nickleback (laughs). Daughtry and all that stuff. It’s not good, but people flock to it. I’d rather play in front of fifty people that understand what we’re doing and are really into it, than play to a thousand people that are just sheep. You know, they like you because that’s what they’re supposed to like.

Billy Rose: Because that’s what you hear on the radio.

Kyle Fertwagner: Exactly!

Ryan Garza: Hence the name of the record (laughs).

Billy Rose: Where did the band name come from?

Kyle Fertwagner : We were just kinda brainstorming different names and Keith came up with it based off of heat seeker missiles. But, the main reason he wanted it was so we’d be near The Beatles in the record bins (laughs). 

Ryan Garza: It fits, it really does, it fits. When he suggested it we all liked it immediately.

Billy Rose: When you play in front of an audience do find that they accept you or do look at you a say what are these guys doing?

Kyle Fertwagner : I think we get a positive response. We’re a band that people can dance to and let loose. Usually we play in front of drunks and that helps (laughs). Even in Omaha we bitch about the indie scene and this and that. But the core of the indie scene likes us. They understand what we’re doing and they are into the same kind of music that we are. And we’re into what they’re doing too.

Ryan Garza: When people don’t know what to expect hear us, they think we’re gonna be a punk band or something. We all used to be in punk bands and we carry some of that with us. We have some of those punk elements. When they hear us it defies whatever they thought we would sound like. It tends to be a good surprise. It’s like oh, okay! We usually get a good reaction.

Billy Rose: I grew up listening to punk in the seventies. And today music classified as punk is a whole different thing.

Kyle Fertwagner: Punk ain’t punk today. You listen to The Ramones and then listen to Blink 182 you’re not listening to the same genre of music. The record labels need to sell something and Travis Barker has a fucking Mohawk so let’s call it punk.

Billy Rose: Green Day sounds more like a pop band than punk. That’s where I place you guys. I don’t think of you as punk or pop, but you fall under the umbrella of rock. So I just wondered what you categorize yourself as.

Kyle Fertwagner: You’re required to categorize yourself. We just play music and if people like it they like it.

Ryan Garza: Green Day is one of those bands that we get compared too. It’s not a bad thing. They write great music.

Billy Rose: Where do your ideas for songs come from?

Kyle Fertwagner: That’s yours Keith!

Keith Fertwagner: Ideas for songs. Where do I get ideas for songs? I just sit down and if I have an inspiration of some sort I write. I don’t really write about specifics. I write about a lot of things and throw them into another thing and it ends up being a whole other thing. And that turns into a song, ya know. It starts with a chord progression or a guitar lick and I write lyrics to it. I try not to think about a specific moment. Sometimes I do. But usually it’s a whole lot of moments turned into one thing.

Billy Rose: Have you ever tried to come up with a song about a certain thing?

Keith Fertwagner: I have.

Billy Rose: Easy or hard?

Keith Fertwagner: Easy! It’s always easy. When it happens it just happens. The songs write themselves. If I start thinking too much the song doesn’t get written. It’s almost like you have a brain that pops out an antenna and it picks up a signal and that signal goes through you and ends up on a piece of paper and into your guitar and it just kind of happens. It has to happen naturally or it doesn’t happen at all. If I try to force anything, nothing happens. Hopefully that makes sense. It’s kind of cryptic.

Billy Rose: So where do you want to take this band? Do you want national and international exposure?

Keith Fertwagner: Of course! I’ve done nothing else since I was thirteen years old. That’s all I’ve ever wanted to do. From the time I was about four years old. I was a huge Michael Jackson fan when I was a little kid. When he did the Moonwalk. From that moment I thought this is what I want to do. I want to be a Rock Star. He wasn’t a rock ‘n’ roller but he led the way to bands like Guns ‘N’ Roses, Motley Crue and that kind of stuff. When I was eight years old that was happening then. It all was a progression from there.

Billy Rose: The title track. Tell me about the title track.

Keith Fertwagner: It’s a frustration track. There is a big problem with radio today. A lot of it is with…like Clear Channel…I hope you’re not on a Clear Channel station…there are these diseases in radio. Basically it’s about my frustration when I turn on the radio and hear the same ten songs every hour. And those ten songs are crap. These radio stations shove crap down people’s throat. People digest it; it’s easy to digest that crap.

Billy Rose: I just finished up several interview with a group of guys who are in their fifties. They all started playing when they were teenagers. Do you see yourself playing into your fifties and later?

Keith Fertwagner: Absolutely! It’s a religion. People are way into their religion and music is my religion (laughs).

Billy Rose: How about you Kyle?

Kyle Fertwagner: Oh yeah! I’ve tried the nine to five thing. I‘ve tried to make real money, it’s not gonna happen. I’m here. This is what I am.

Billy Rose: Did you grow up in a musical family?

Keith Fertwagner: We did actually. My dad plays guitar, both sisters play instruments. My mom tries to sing (laughs).

Kyle Fertwagner: Our family is musical, but my brother (Keith) is probably one of the best songwriters around right now. I say that with no reservations. He is severely underrated. That is the reason I’m out here. I don’t care how long it takes. Five years, ten years. People will hear this stuff.

 

 

 

Radoslav Lorkovic

Radoslav Lorkovic is a world class musician and one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. I had a chance to talk with Rad at the Mississippi Valley Blues Festival in Davenport Iowa.

 

Billy Rose: Rad great to see you again! Thanks for sitting down and talking to me.

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: Yeah, no problem. Good to see you too.

 

Billy Rose: So you were born in Croatia, correct?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: I was, yes.

 

Billy Rose: So how old were you when you moved to the United States?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: I was six.

 

Billy Rose: Were you into music at that time?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: Well I had this tiny little transistor radio. When I was seven I was poolside at our apartment in Saint Paul, Minnesota. There was this pop radio station WDGY, I would listen to the station all day, all summer. I was just little then, but I started buying records when I moved to Iowa City. I started figuring stuff out and started singing and playing.

 

Billy Rose: So as I understand it you were into classical music as a kid is that right?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: Well it was expected of me to be a classical pianist. I was surrounded by it. My grandmother was the premier pianist in our country for a number of years. About three decades. She toured all over the world, had quite a recording career. She was a professor of piano as well. So that was a huge influence. The more hands on grandma was on my mom’s side. Her father was a conductor of the opera in Slovenia. She was a singer; she taught me how to sing. I was surrounded by serious music from birth.

My hands first hit the piano when I was about seven years old. But I was sorta happening. The music wheels were turning. I hit the ground running. I started out playing classical. In the tenth grade this buddy of mine had this blues scale. I took in this blues scale, this little left hand bass pattern. Well there went four or five hours a day after that. I couldn’t stay out of it. Then another buddy of mine took me to a Grateful Dead concert. After that we put a band together and we worked up pretty much every tune on Europe ’72 (laughs). Off we went to the races. A while after that I started playing around town and Bo Ramsey came by and said he was putting a band together. There went about fourteen years right there (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: How did you meet Bo Ramsey?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: That was a serious, serious evening. I was doing a gig at The Sanctuary having a good time. All of a sudden this really serious looking cat comes in. He had a shark skin suit on, looked like a mob guy. He was hanging at the bar. The odd thing is that like a week or two before I heard the whole story about Mother Blues Band breaking up. I heard it was really heavy and got real intense. I heard all the different versions of it and everything. So here’s this guy and he says (in a soft deep voice) “My names Bob Ramsey and I’m putting a band together”. I said oh you’re that guy from Mother Blues. “Yeah, yeah right. Listen man I want you to come to a rehearsal in Washington (Iowa) tomorrow”, I said I can’t tomorrow man I got a date (laughs). He got a little pissed off and said “well alright come the next night” (laughs). It was heavy and it was serious (laughs). But I knew it was the best music I’d ever play. Then for a long time after that I was out on the road in a Dodge van, in the middle of winter going to all these clubs. The first gig was right here in the Quad Cities.

 

Billy Rose: Was that at the RKO Theatre?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: That was our second gig (laughs). Now you’re talking a legendary gig there (laughs). That was a trip. We were opening for Head East.

 

Billy Rose: I was there. Pat Travers had cancelled.

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: Oh yeah it was…the whole thing was like out of Spinal Tap or something (laughs). Pat Travers cancels and Dwight Dario, our drummer, a Jersey guy, crazy little dude, gets the gig. Ramsey is a little skeptical, but we’re gonna go for it, It’s the RKO! Anyway Head East comes in and they got six semis. These union stage hands come in and say okay let’s bring in the opening act. They’re ready for like another six semi’s. We come in with one old ’68 white Dodge van. We unload about three twin reverbs and a couple Gibson guitars, a bass and there’s an old piano already there. This roadie says is that all you got (laughs). We set up and they couldn’t believe it (laughs).

The crowd was like…bloodlust…they wanted some metal. They wanted some movement in the air. We come in and da doomp da doomp da doomp da doomp (laughs). They are just confused…it’s like three thousand confused people. The front row was kinda groovin’. The back row is pissed off; they want to get their ass kicked. We were shufflin’ and groovin’. We survived but the back row were pissed off and throwing stuff at us. The front row was kinda like embarrassed to let the back row know that they dug us (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: It’s funny that you say that. I went with some friends and they were pissed that Pat Travers wasn’t there. They wanted to see Pat Travers more than they wanted to see Head East. That night I became a Bo Ramsey fan, and I still am today. As far as I’m concerned you guys kicked ass that night.

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: Right, right. Blues was relatively new on the scene at the time. Blues was something that was happening on the south side of Chicago. The Mississippi Valley Blues Fest was a long way from being started back then. It was much more of a regional thing.

 

Billy Rose: It was Bo Ramsey and the Third Street Slider’s right?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: It was just The Third Street Slider’s at that time. We ran with that for a couple years. We took a little break and came back as Bo Ramsey and the Sliders. We did that for about three or four years and we were makin’ records.

That first record was an amazing experience for me. Basically I was just a kid in college. Bo Ramsey at every recording session he would bring me in and I’d just kind of hang back. Bo would look to me as a reference. I say yeah (gives thumbs up) or I’d say uh not so sure. We recorded Brand New Love in a really beautiful studio outside of Champaign Illinois. We were there off and on for the better part of a year working on that. We went on to record Feeling’s Getting Stronger and Northwind. Those last two title cuts were mine. Bo just pitched them as title cuts. I was pretty fortunate to have him do that. Feeling’s Getting Stronger was recorded in a very beautiful studio in Northwest Iowa. This band, they called themselves The Hawks. They got a big record deal. They got about a half a million bucks. They got invited to a major label and they built this studio. Then Northwind, we recorded in Cedar Falls. That studio went on to Slipknot fame.

 

Billy Rose: The Unidynes recorded both of their CD’s at Junior’s Motel up in Otho.

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: Oh did they! Yeah, Otho, Iowa. Then at night we went to Fort Dodge to hang out. We had some times (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: How did you hook up with Dave Moore?

 

Radolsav Lorkovic: Dave Moore…I think we became good friends when I borrowed some of his Flaco and Tex-Mex albums. I borrowed them and promptly lost them (laughs). For some reason we became buddies after that (laughs). We’d hang out. I was always checking out Greg Brown when I was a kid. He even had The Greg Brown Band. That was Greg Brown, Dave Moore, Chuck Hendersen and Mike Morris played drums. Greg asked me to sit in with them at a KUNI session. So I kinda sat in with the Greg Brown Band every now and then. So Dave Moore and I got to be friends and our friendship was really sealed when I was doing some gigs with Greg Brown in Austin and Dallas Texas. Dave Moore was on the bill at the Cactus Café in Austin. We ended up going over to Mexico. Those guys were all winding down and went to bed. Dave Moore and I went to Boys Town. That was the most surreal night of my life. It all started with this leather pearl accordion. These guys played accordion for a buck. You gave them a buck and they’d play a song. Dave Moore asked if he could play, ‘because he played that kind of accordion. He still had to pay him a buck even though Dave was doing the playing (laughs). Dave played and we kinda got in and they thought we were cool. So we started drinking this very interesting Tequila (laughs). And it just got stranger and stranger. Then not to long after that Dave invited me to play a gig with him on his Italian tour. His record Over My Shoulder on Red House Records was really doing well in Europe. I sat in on one gig and the promoter went crazy and added me to every gig.

When Dave was recording Over My Shoulder, he had these hot Minneapolis guys and he was kinda freaking out. He called me and said “Rad what ya doin’ “. I said I don’t know, watching basketball. “Get up here man; I need some of that Iowa City soul brother blood” (laughs). I drove up there and we finished out the record (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: Tell me about some of the other artists you’ve played with.

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: When I was over in Italy I started playing with a guy named Richard Shindell. He’s gone on the make a pretty big name for himself on the folk scene. Anyway he got me to pack up the Uhaul and go to New York City. My sister had a rent control apartment I shared with her. So, I’m in New York and I started doing gigs with Shindell, and I kind of connected with the whole east coast folk scene. I was playing some of the festivals up there.

 Then I met this Texas guy, named Jimmy LaFave. He brought me down to Austin. I started working a lot out of Austin. I was with Jimmy LaFave’s band about four years. We did Hardly Strictly Bluegrass Festival in San Francisco and right after that we did a record (Cimarron Manifesto).

Then I joined the Ribbon of Highway Endless Skyway, a really amazing tribute to Woody Guthrie. That occasionally comes together and we play generally theaters.

It wasn’t long after that I got an e-mail and an offer to be Odetta’s pianist. That was a big step. It was a hell of an experience. I got to be her road piano player. I did most of her touring gigs for the last three years of her career. The last gig we did was in Toronto Canada. When she died it was a bummer. I was just starting to get the material (laughs) the pressure was starting to ease (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: I was talking to Vicki Price about Odetta. She was a huge Odetta fan.

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: It’s really cool talking to Vicki about Odetta. I’ve heard all these people say they started music after seeing The Beatles on Ed Sullivan. With Vicki it was after seeing Odetta on Ed Sullivan (laughs). That’s a great and wonderful thing. To get to have an experience like that.

I’ll tell ya, those shows I played with her…I can’t imagine any human being singing more powerful and any better than she did. I think that age improved her voice. Every show completely freaked me out. Not out of fear but out of wonder! I could never forget that grace, that elegance, how she looked on stage. She would look over at me extend her hand to mine and bow. It was just heavy, heavy stuff.

 

Billy Rose: You have played the Quad Cities, Iowa City, New York, Austin, Toronto and many points between. I even remember you playing in Clinton.

 

Radoslav Lorkovic:  (laughs) Oh I’m gonna go out on a limb here. I might get in trouble, but it’s a cool Clinton moment (laughs). This very good and very kinda shrouded manager guy in Iowa City. When Clinton put on their first Jazz Festival. I was living in New York City. This guy in Iowa City billed me as this major New York City jazz guy (laughs). You know jazz/blues guy. It paid really well and I was in New York City (laughs). I played the gig and they had another band from Des Moines I think. I just tore it up, everybody loved me and they were hooting and hollering they figured I was a New York guy. I get done with the gig the people who put on the show where standing there and some guy yells hey Rad; you still up in Bellevue (laughs). They look at me and say “are you local” (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: That’s funny! People from around these parts always think the grass is greener on the other side of the fence. They always look for musicians to bring in from outside this region.

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: I know it’s like that everywhere. That’s funny though.

 

Billy Rose: Right now you are based in Austin. You pop up here and there all around this area. Do you come back to Iowa often?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: Well yeah. My girlfriend Sandy Dyas lives here. So I get back as much as I can. It was a real treat to be invited to appear at The Mississippi Valley Blues Fest this year. I’ve always loved and supported this fest. I was here last year in support of The Holmes Brothers. I wound up working with them for a couple weeks, through Odetta. I spent the most amazing two weeks of my life with them in Hawaii. The Holmes Brothers, Odetta and Marie Knight, a tribute to Sister Rosetta. It was an amazing revue show. Of course I became a Holmes Brother (laughs) after about twenty minutes. I became brother Radoslav Holmes (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: How about your newest CD, Blue Parade. How is that doing?

 

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: I don’t know, you just put these things out and they sell (laughs). When you go and play and turn the crowd on a little bit, they buy a CD. You know it’s always nice when you gotta re-order (laughs). The whole industry seems to be going that way. Put out a CD and sell it at your gigs.

 

Billy Rose: Are your earlier CD’s still available?

 

Radoslav Lorkovic: They are! Yep, they are available again. You can check that out at www.radoslavlorkovic.com.

 

 

 

 

This is the final part of a series of interviews with several Eastern Iowa musicians who have been playing music in this area for about 40 years. They have put together an exciting new band called The BarnRockers. These interviews have explored the pre-BarnRockers experience of these fine musicians. This is number 6 of six. I hope you enjoy the interviews with this talented bunch of guys. If you ever get a chance to see The BarnRockers play make sure you tell them you read their interview on Independent Midwest Music.com

Dave Schneider

 

Billy Rose: Okay! Dave let’s start out finding out how old you were when you first started playing guitar?

 

Dave Schneider: Right after I saw The Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show. I must have been twelve give or take a year. Then I played my first band job…do you remember back in the old days up in Lyons they had Frontier Days?

 

Billy Rose: Yeah I remember that.

 

Dave Schneider: Well that was our first paying job. Seven of us, I think. That would have been in 1966 or ’67. No it was before that. I was fourteen. Anyway it was at the Band Shell on Main Avenue. I believe at that time we had a seven piece band, safety in numbers (laughs). We made thirty-five dollars.

 

Billy Rose: Was it guys you went to school with?

 

Dave Schneider: Yep! There were a couple guys who were a little older than me. We bought a carton of cigarettes, and we split the rest. We all learned to smoke together (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: What was the name of that band?

 

Dave Schneider: The Lovin’ Souls!

 

Billy Rose: So you were in junior high?

 

Dave Schneider: Well it would have been the summer out of eight grade. However old you are then…about fourteen.

 

Billy Rose: The Lovin’ Souls played what?

 

Dave Schneider: Believe it or not there was a guy named John Renchler in that band who was writing songs. We did a couple original songs. Other than that we did the sounds of the day, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones.

 

Billy Rose: Did you take guitar lessons?

 

Dave Schneider: When my dad bought me my first guitar, for Christmas, it came with about a half a dozen free lessons from L & L Music. Old Harold Loeffeholz, there was a class of about ten of us and basically they told us how to take care of our guitars. It was an acoustic guitar, impossible to play (laughs). Everybody needs to start out on something impossible to play. It makes you strong (laughs). Of course I never did get any better (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: So did you continue playing in bands in high school?

 

Dave Schneider: Yep, I pretty much didn’t stop.

 

Billy Rose: So is there any one band from high school that sticks out in your mind?

 

Dave Schneider: Stonehenge was a band that my buddy Hap, Mark Hafebeir and I put together. It was the summer between ninth grade and high school. That took us all the way through high school and then some. We played every mixer, dance, after game thing that we could. We never went to Prom or Homecoming or anything because we were playing. I didn’t do much dating.

 

Billy Rose: After high school, what happened then?

 

Dave Schneider: After high school I was in a band called…I think it was Hard Luck and Trouble, that band was very short lived. Then when Ken Clarke, Mark Rollins and Bill Henley came back from Canada after doing a stretch up there with Bruce McCabe…after about a year and a half. When they moved back we started the Ric Pike Band. That was in the days of the Rascal tavern. We were all discovering alcohol about that time. They dropped the drinking age to eighteen I think it was. That band went on ‘til…oh gosh about 1979 or somewhere around there.

Then it was on to Dave and The Rave. That was a cover band. We were fairly popular, played a lot. That band was done about 1985 or so. Then along comes Jack Spunk! (Jack Schmalfeldt) That would have been about ’86 or so, I hadn’t played for about six months or a year. Jack had been living up in Milwaukee for a few years. He put together a band in Milwaukee. Jack and I had started playing about the same time. When I saw John Lennon, I said that’s the job for me.

 

Billy Rose: So you and Jack went to school together right?

 

Dave Schneider: Oh yeah! We went to kindergarten together. I still have our kindergarten picture as a matter of fact. I went to St Boniface and he went up the hill to St. Irenaeus. We always lived a stones throw away from each other.

 

Billy Rose: I was talking to Bill Schmalfeldt one time and he said his earliest memory of you was when he was about five years old. He said you were standing outside their house and yelling at Jack. You were saying if you didn’t get your tambourine back you were going to kick his ass.

 

Dave Schneider: (laughs) That’s probably right on track. Oh, we fought like brothers and we made up like brothers (laughs). I was always one step behind Jack in those days, ‘because they lined us up alphabetically (laughs).

So that was the birth of The Unidynes. We started that in late ’87. At that time Jack didn’t really have a band assembled. He knew he wanted to work with Kevin Kash. Ken Clarke used to drive to Milwaukee on weekends to play with Jack up there. When Jack moved back to town Ken wasn’t really interested in playing. So he set his sights on Kevin Kash. Those two sat in the bedroom for months before they contacted me. We played out the first time in ’89. It was at The Longhorn Saloon. That band went on for almost eighteen years. Then Jack died and that changed everything.

 

Billy Rose: So you guys all went to school together?

 

Dave Schneider: Yep! Jack moved away…I think it was his junior year. So I hadn’t seen Jack for a couple years. Ken Clarke was a year ahead of me and I think Bruce McCabe was in my class.

 

Billy Rose: So did you ever play in a band with Bruce McCabe?

 

Dave Schneider: No I never did play with Bruce. No Bruce was always much more serious as a musician than most of us were. He’s done quite well for himself. Bruce knew early on in life what he was going to do.

 

Billy Rose: When did you first get serious about music?

 

Dave Schneider: When Jack and I started writing songs together.

 

Billy Rose: So did you write any music before you and Jack did?

 

Dave Schneider: No, not really. I had some ideas, but never had the balls to put it out front. If you introduce an original song to a room full of guys it’s like dropping your drawers (laughs). But we got over that. Jack and I wrote probably forty or fifty songs. Some you’ve never heard and never will.

 

Billy Rose: Why because they’re bad?

 

Dave Schneider: There’s a little bit of that (laughs). The other part is not being able to remember them (laughs).

 

Billy Rose: You’ve been playing music for forty years or more. Could you have foreseen thirty years ago, the music business going the way it has?

 

Dave Schneider: No, not at all. Everybody is independent. We have a web site. But I have no idea how to do any of that. I’m just along for the ride on that part. That’s the new way of organizing though. You have to get into it or be left behind.

 

Billy Rose: Are you going to do some recording?

 

Dave Schneider: Yep, that’s all part of it. It’s a lot of work, but after we reach our comfort level we’ll dive right in to that. We have almost enough original songs with this band The BarnRockers, to make a CD.

 

Bill Rose: What do you think of this group of guys? Talent wise.

 

Dave Schneider: Well, I don’t know. What’s not to love about Bing? (laughs) We’ve all had our ups and downs. But that’s all part of it. We have a great core. Bud Benson sometimes drives me nuts (laughs). But he’s there and he does what you want from a drummer. He’s very steady, right now. He hasn’t always been, but Bud is a rock solid drummer. Ken is a world class guitar player and Kevin is right up there too. JC is great to work with and a good writer. These guys are not just my band mates they’re my friends.