Page 16 - the NOISE April 2015

LEFTOVER SALMON: THERE ROCKS IN YOUR SLAMGRASS?
INTERVIEW BY
MIKE WILLIAMS
Aband like Leftover Salmon needs no introduction. Iconic since their inception and re- nowned for some of the loudest shows in the bluegrass scene, this writer was lucky enough to catch banjo virtuoso Andy Thorn last month in anticipation of their show at The Orpheum on April 2. This is what he had to say.
The band got its start in 1989, a time when the Grateful Dead were still touring with Jerry Garcia and the festival scene was a distinctly different place. How do you feel about the evolution of the bluegrass/jam scene over the years?
I missed a good chunk of it. It was probably the mid-90’s when I started paying attention. I saw Sam Bush, saw Leftover for the first time, String Cheese Incident ... A lot of those bluegrass/ jam bands were just starting to get big. I loved to see it happen, just as kid starting banjo. It wasn’t really cool when I started out...
How do you feel about the ever-growing inclusion of electronic dance music in the counterculture scene? Both genres’ fans seem to crossover quite a bit, despite the difference in tone.
It is crazy that they crossover as much as they do. I really like the electronic acts that are creating the music right there, like just improv-ing and making it up on the spot. I’m not so into the DJ being on stage and that being the whole set-up, that still turns me off a little bit. But, then again, I haven’t seen it enough to make a real judgment, you know? A lot of electronic bands are really cool.
Are there any artists that jump to mind?
I like Eoto a lot. Those guys are good friends of ours and I’ve actually sat in with them.
Cool!
Yeah! They’re improv-ing all their stuff of the spot. They’re really cool. Sector 9 Soundtribe is cool, String Cheese, too. I just like the guys doing it for real, not replaying pre-recorded music.
Would you define what “slamgrass” means to you? Bluegrass, as an umbrella term for the genre, has expanded into some wildly different expressions, especially in the last few years.
Well, it’s loud, fast, and furious. Ha, ha. You have a lot of bluegrass that is fast and furious, but a lot of it is the volume. Salmon just knows how to crank it up. Just playing with a drummer who’s slamming and picking a tune. It’s just bluegrass amplified, you know? There’s a little more energy and I think that appeals to the younger crowds who like electronica as well and that’s why we get such good crossover.
Your predecessor Noah Pickelny performs with the Punch Brothers, who released an album of Ra- diohead’s done in the bluegrass style. The idea of taking other musician’s songs and executing them in a completely different style has historically yielded some incredible results. If Leftover Salmon could cover an album in the “slamgrass” style, any thoughts on who it would be?
You know, I’ve been doing a lot of the “Picking On” shows. There’s a guy in Denver that ar- ranges them and they’ll call it something like, “Picking on The Grateful Dead” or “Picking on Phish.” I actually did the “Picking on Phish” show last week and it was really fun. We did it with a Phish cover band who usually does it all electric, but we went acoustic. It was really cool. A lot of people who ordinarily don’t like Phish that much loved the show. I think just doing it acous- tic changed the whole vibe of the music, even it’s still all the songs they wrote. I haven’t done that many, but he’s been doing a bunch of other artists, like “Picking on Ween” and “Picking on Paul Simon.” It’s pretty fun!
We heard a rumor that during the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, Vince Herman will wrangle up a group of other musicians and blast people out of their tents in the dead of night. Have you partici- pated in this? And do you have a story that sticks out as the best one?
Totally. Oh yeah ... Ha, ha ... About two years ago, Vince calls it “Anahuac,” it’s also a town in Texas, I think ... But, what we do is, he gathers everybody and sort of takes you on a parade through the campsite trying to wake up people that would otherwise be sleeping peacefully.
16 • APRIL 2015 • the NOISE arts & news • thenoise.us
COURTESY PHOTO
This one guy, I won’t mention his name, he’s a great guy, but was having a tough night. He’s always at the campsite, everybody knows him, and Vince was doing his Anahuac thing. He comes out and we literally got stoned. He was throwing rocks at us.
So, this was getting stoned in the significantly more unpleasant Biblical sense?
It’s something that can happen. Most people just laugh it off. We were making jokes about how we got stoned at the campsite all week. Like totally stoned. Like rocks were thrown at us, ha, ha!
You’ve been a guitar player since 12, but picked up your first banjo from a neighbor’s garage sale. As this has been an instrument that has moved you clear across the country and put you into the national spotlight multiple times, what initially moved you toward the tone of the banjo instead of the guitar?
I just happened to buy one at a yard sale and had both instruments for a long time. I just kind of played both of them here and there, with guitar in a jazz band, then, with the banjo, I got into a bluegrass band on the side. I just sort of had a little more fun with that and then it became easier to get gigs. So, I started just running with that and fell in love with it more and more that way. In the beginning, it was that not that many people were playing it, so I thought I could get more done if I go this route. I really like both instruments, but jazz is a more serious thing while banjo is a little bit more fun.
As Flagstaff is renowned for its outdoor pursuits and you’re a hiker/biker/camper, will you or the band have any time to check out some of the beautiful nature here or is it straight back on the road?
I haven’t had enough to check anything out down there, no. But I really would like to. Let’s go do something!
We’re always down!
Whenever we come down through there, we’re on a tighter schedule. We did get a chance to check out the petrified rocks near there, that was really cool, and we got to drive down a country road through the Saguaro forest. It was spring, there was all the desert flowers bloom- ing, it was really cool.
How do you get your nature fix while touring? Can you just duck out here and there?
I always try to! Skiing is always great, we do that on the road a lot. I try to make our manager plan our tours around that, like wherever I want to go skiing and crap like that ... That’s usu- ally easy, like if you’re playing in a ski town, there’s usually a ski resort right there. Sometimes, there’s just not time, but I’ll also drive my own car so I can just camp out the whole way there. Just try to make the trip as long as possible and go to all the cool spots on the way. Finding hot springs is when you’re really living the dream.
Leftover Salmon recently became the house band for Deadliest Catch: After The Catch. How did this happen and what was it like shooting the show?
It was so much fun! The captains were all really nice and the producers were so easy to work with. You think, “Oh, Deadliest Catch, they hired Leftover Salmon because they have a fish in their band name,” or something, but, literally, we were the second band on their radar, just as being a Colorado local band. Not even the name, they just wanted a band that said Colorado, so they found us in the ring-a-round or by just asking people, and it was crazy. We recorded two shows a day, in the morning hours, and most of the time we were sitting there because they were recording little snippets where they’d come out of commercial, point to us, and we’d play a snippet of music. Then we’d sit down while the captains told stories about their season that year and watched video clips. At the end of that segment, we’d play a little snippet again, and then back to commercial. It was really cool to meet those guys.
Awesome, thank you so much for interview, we can’t wait to see you again!
| Mike Williams is always looking for the catch of the day. mike@thenoise.us INTERVIEW