~Z.T.~ We met this guy, Ed, at Rothbury who has a radio show on 88.3 FM, the Wizard, at Northeastern University. He invited us to come on his Sunday afternoon radio show. Why not?

We expected no listeners. I mean, who listens to college radio, ever, let alone during the Bears game? No one. Thankfully.

Getting there was a field day. Campus security let us into the building and told us to go downstairs. Expecting us to find the station based on those directions is like saying “meet me by the tent” at a festival without specifying what stage you’re at or what tent you mean at all. Read the rest of this entry »

-A.S. I interviewed Jeff Austin at the start of the summer, and never really used much of it aside from a quote or two for the festival season preview and some banter on the Cubs for Festival Crashers. With them playing at ACL, it seemed as good of a time as any to post the rest of the interview.

Andy Shore: Do enjoy the festival scene?

Jeff Austin: Of course, hell yeah. It’s great to get yourselves to people that you might not get to expose yourself to you. I don’t know if that’s the appropriate way to put it. People come up to us and say I’m not usually into that kind of music, but I really dug you guys. In that way it’s really valuable. Another great thing is the experiences with people in your line of work. Sitting in with other musicians or them sitting in with you. It’s also a great way to help a band grow. Read the rest of this entry »

Part two of Zack’s interview with Girl Talk:

ZT:How wild is a Girl Talk show?
GT: I’ve seen people having sex on stage. Doing legitimate drugs on stage. Last fall was the first time someone had sex at a show that I saw.
When the stage gets this packed, it’s easy to not notice dancers going at it. Gregg said he’s seen it happen at least four or five shows this year. “The girl straddling the guy, skirt up. It’s as discreet as it can be.” (note to self… Get. On. Stage. At. Girl Talk.)

Misconception: It’s the same thing live as the album…
GT: When you hear “No Diggity with “Flashing Lights,” the presentation will be different. You might hear the a capella for a second and then the music kicks in. The verse from “No Diggity” will be one loop, the chorus will be another. As you hear one part start and another it’s me triggering it in real time. Live sound processing. Read the rest of this entry »

~Z.T.~ Gregg Gillis (better known as Girl Talk) spoke to me before his first weekend off from performing all year. He just moved into a new apartment in Pittsburgh and has been without internet for two weeks and says he’s loving the freedom. With no internet or shows to distract him, he’s still putting in 5-10 hours a day with his system of trial and error on samples. Even though he’s always working, he “can’t even imagine making another album, but that’s how I felt after Night Ripper too.”Trial and Error: “Most of the mash-ups don’t work. The majority of it doesn’t work. If I sat at computer, I could play ones that surprise you.” Read the rest of this entry »

~Z.T.~ John Butler Trio is an Australian band wowing audiences with their unique, eclectic roots (don’t say jam) music for years. They just swept through Chicago for Lollapalooza on their way to an East coast tour. John Butler talked to me about festivals, who he wants to jam with and whether they’re a jam band.

ZT: What festivals do you recommend to Festival Crashers’ readers?
JB: Bonnaroo seems to be getting better all the time. Its variety in bands. I really enjoyed New Orleans Jazz Fest. I recommend those two. We really enjoyed Lollapalooza. A little crazy, but it’s good. Bluegrass Festival is great.

ZT: How do the European festivals compare?
JB: We played a festival recently in Lisbon- that’s in Portugal. I saw Rage Against the Machine- best show I’ve ever seen in my life. My wife was performing and my daughter came up and sang with us which was really special.

ZT: Who do you want to jam with?
JB: Ani DiFranco would be great. ?uestlove would be great for that kind of stuff. A lot of people out there I guess. Lots of different cats out there. Hard to pick one.

ZT: How is it touring with G.Love?
JB: He’s a very nice person, looking for the best way to get together on stage. He gives us a lot of props, very generous that way.

ZT: Do you guys jam together?
JB: We play a couple songs- “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Blackbird.”

ZT: Do you consider yourself part of the jam scene?
JB: We’re not part of the jam scene. Not part of any scene. I think the whole jam thing is an overused word. I don’t know what it means, but I don’t want to be a part of it.There are many good bands that get coined jam bands that aren’t. They’re just good musicians. It’s kind of derogatory.

ZT: Got a new album in the works?
JB: Songs being written- being partly birthed and fully birthed. New album after this tour. Have a break and record a new album. Late 2009, early 2010. Do less tracks, layers, some harder beats. Some really hard beats. Really into dance hall, reggae, hip hop. Strong groove going.

Check out some of the awesome videos of JBT (there’s a reason this has 3 million plus views) and catch the rest of their tour.

-A.S. Detroit Lakes, MN
Andy Shore: Do you enjoy the festival scene?
JJ Grey: Oh yeah, love it. It’s great. Anytime I go to a festival and see as much music as I can, which I want to do anyways whether I know the acts or not, it’s a good festival.
JJ Grey & Mofro came out a half hour late at 10k, but they drew a decent crowd.

AS: How does your festival show compare to your regular show?
JJ: It only differs in what that moment and day presents. Both can be high energy or mellow. We played one time during the day at Bonnaroo had more energy and craziness and excitement than at a club show and it was just as much fun. A show is like an evening with friends, it can be the crazy drunken bender when everyone got shitfaced or a chill evening.

AS: Is there one summer music festival you guys are playing at this summer that you are most looking forward to?
JJ: I don’t think there’s a festival we’re playing that I’m not looking forward to. Location is everything, the right spot. It can either take away the good feeling and the music and the fans or it can add to it and take it to another level.Throwing back a PBR at 10k, apparently going for more of a drunken bender of a show.

AS: Where did the name MOFRO come from?
JJ: I worked in a lumberyard for 10+ years, and my buddies and me used to say it all the time at work. Like what’s up Mofro? It sounds like southern slang and didn’t mean anything.

AS: If you could pick one person to collaborate with for the new album, who would it be?
JJ: I’d have to go with Derek Trucks. He’s one of my favorite players.

“So this is what it’s like to be backstage,” Josh of Kinetix says. “Wookie Foot has their own trailer back here. They all do.”

The awe of a young band. Still playing the smaller stage at a smaller festival. Camping out. Acting like fans. Looking forward to Medeski and Lotus. Adam thought George Clinton was gonna die last night. We all did.

Zack: Last year you had fans crawling through the window, packing the room. How are you going to replicate that success?
Eric: Make sure everyone coming in with a smile, leaves with one.
Josh: threaten people who don’t come.

Zack: Tell me about the frisbee’s you guys gave out with your name and info on them.
Eric: Usually we hand out live sampler CD’s. This time we gave out 300 Frisbees. It promotes physical fitness.
Jordan: When you throw these out, you open up dialogue with people. They see the Frisbee, be like oh hell yeah.

Andy: Are you guys 1oklF veterans at this point?
Jordan: We will be when they let us play at big stage. No, this is our favorite festival b/c they respect us. We remember the strage crew, feels like home.

Zack: What covers you got for us tonight? Adam: We’re gonna “bust out some Rage Against the Machine’s “Killing in the Name Of.”
Eric: we like songs people can sing or scream along to.

Andy: Do you like playing festivals more than regular gigs?
Jordan- It’s a great opportunity to get to new ears.
Adam: Everyone’s on a trip.
Andy: You included?
Adam: Not today.

Zack: How do you feel the afternoon before a show? Nervous? Sad you can’t be messed up?
Jordan- Every show I see makes me want to grab my own guitar.

Adam: Anxious.

Josh: I’m ready to rock. I want to rock now. All day and night. Ill be feeling real good right before we play.

Adam: happy to play any fucking stage at this festival.

Josh: on a technical note, they got a new, much better PA.

Plans for after summer tour:

Jordan: some short two and three week tours throughout fall. When on road, hard to get good rehearsing down.

Andy: Any plans on when a new album would be ready?
Josh: 14-15 months down the road. Maybe. Ambitious.

Jordan: we felt rushed for our first two. Want to make sure we’re ready for the next one.

Adam: Last night I kept running into Mario. But he didn’t have a moustache. He was really skinny. He was freeballing. Actually, I don’t know if he was free balling.

Pictured from top to bottom: Eric Blumenfeld, Adam Lufkin, Josh Fairman, Jordan Linit and Jack Gargan.

Festival Crashers got a chance to catch up with John Bell, the lead singer of Widespread Panic.

Andy Shore: I wanted to talk to you a bit about the festival scene.

John Bell: I didn’t think you were asking me to prom… It’s a little different, a little hectic. It gives us a chance to see some other bands. That’s the best part of it. There’s also usually some great food around. If rock n roll’s about one thing, it’s great food.
AS: Do you feel the need to turn it up an extra notch as a headliner?

JB: Any time you hit the stage you’ve got a responsibility to play and play as well as you can and listen to each other and go on the musical journey with 100% earnestness. I’d have to say no in particular. No matter what slot you’re in, you try to do that.

AS: Dave Matthews Band and John Mayer aren’t really typical festival headliners, what do you think of them?

JB: Well we’ve known Dave and those guys for a long time. They’re as good as it gets, and that’s been proven in air play and record sales. And they’re really good guys. I think they’re the perfect headliner. John Mayer is the new guy, silver tongued guitar playing guy. I figure there’s gonna be a lot of girls there.

AS: How has adding Jimmy Herring changed the band?

JB: I’d say in all the best ways we really like playing together. We’ve also kicked it into the song writing mode. We’re writing songs together, not just Jimmy catching up on the catalog. He sets a good example. It’s easy to get a little cynical, and he’s really hard working and very knowledgeable about music. It kicks you up another notch in your intellectual music journey.

~Z.T.~ After much worrying about whether I’d see him at all, I ended up scoring a fantastic interview with Kyle Gass.

The yin to Jack Black’s yang in Tenacious D was wearing his casual festival attire of cut-off sweat pants with his boxers sticking out the bottom, high white tube socks folded over sloppily like a 12 year old and a scraggly beard.
I came in on another interviewer asking him what he would have rated Snoop out of 10. KG gave him the 10. He then rated himself a 25 out of 10. When asked why, he said. “Ladies- let it be known I will take care of your babies.” Read the rest of this entry »

~Z.T.~ Friday I had the privilege of interviewing Rainn “Dwight” Wilson. We focused on his upcoming film “The Rocker,” where he plays the Pete Best part: a drummer kicked out of a band before they go quadruple platinum. Rainn began the early morning interview by singing to us:

“As they sing in my son’s preschool class. (In little kid voice) “Good morning to you. Good morning to you. We’re all in our places with bright smiling faces.”

ZT: “The Rocker” is a heavy metal movie. Did you watch “This Is Spinal Tap” for inspiration, and is it making fun of the genre or is it glorifying it?

RW: I’ve never seen “Spinal Tap,” and it’s making fun of the genre. No, I’m kidding. I’ve seen “Spinal Tap” too many times to count. It’s one of my favorite movies of all time.

ZT: Whose drumming style did you try to emulate, and who are some of your favorite rock drummers of that period?

RW: Well, I started studying drumming as soon as I got cast. And I had a great drum coach. Played along with a lot of metal tunes. I couldn’t even name the ACDC drummer, but we do a lot of ACDC because that’s great, basic, easy-to-digest heavy metal drumming.

ZT: What band would you like to go on tour with?

RW: I would like to go on tour with Radiohead. I would walk away from all of it if Radiohead would have me. But that guy could drum, probably, with his big toe. I drum with all my limbs.

ZT: Led Zepelin has a spot open.

RW: Really?! I’m there, man. Rainn Bonham.

Rainn said he grew up with classic metal- Black Sabbath, ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Guns N Roses, Metallica, etc. but beyond that he has “eclectic taste.” He’s not a huge metal fan beyond that and he’s really into The Raconteurs, The National and Josh Ritter.

Check out The Rocker August 1st. OK, Lollapalooza starts August 1st. See it August 4th.