Page 13 - the NOISE July 2014

Jerry
riopelle:
hard drivin’
laser lovin’ ‘net savvy
& headin’ north
intervieW by mike Williams
Jerry Riopelle is an Arizona artist through and through. De- spite his roots in Detroit and Tampa, and his beginnings in the music industry in Los Angeles, it was the spirit of the Southwest that took him as its own over 30 years ago. It has yet to let him go. His music embodies the feeling and charac- ter of the region as much as any sawdust-covered floor, rope- framed picture, or neon sign on a dark highway bar. This in- terviewer caught up with Jerry before his July 5 performance at Flagstaff’s Orpheum Theater and July 6 performance Jerome’s Spirit Room to talk Phil Spectre, inspiration, haunt- ings, and how he created a synthesizer with lasers.
You describe your music as “hard–drivin’ rock n roll,” and have managed to capture a sound that evokes the essential American experience of the roadside honky tonk. What is your process for creating this? You definitely sound like a guy whose taken a mo- torcycle trip on Route 66 a time or two ...
Well, it’s really an eclectic mix. I like many kinds of music and play many kinds of music. I try to tell people, and it’s hard to describe when it’s original music, but my audience is the same audience as Bonnie Raitt. If I play with her, the audience gets me instantly.
Where do you draw your inspiration?
I write very lusty songs and I’m very into the lyrics. Even though a lot of it is hard driving rock, it’s all very lyrical. My biggest influence growing up, though, was Ray Charles. Ray Charles was everything to me. The essence of soul music is in everything I do.
You’ve played Flagstaff multiple times over the course of sev- eral decades. When was your first show here and how have you seen the town the change over the years?
It might have been at NAU. I did a couple concerts with Asleep At The Wheel, then I did an outdoor show with Doug Kershaw ... Seems like that was also at NAU, but it’s a little hard to remember. Many, many shows at the Museum Club though. I really love to just go up there just to go, you know? I just like Flag. I like the weather, I like everything about it, ac- tually.
While playing at the Museum Club, did you have a paranor- mal experiences with any of the many ghosts that inhabit the building?
Ha! Oh, no. I haven’t seen any ghosts there, no ... I did go to a wedding recently up the hill there in Jerome at an old hotel there they say was supposed to be haunted but didn’t see any ghosts there either. I would look forward to it though.
Back when you were just starting out, you worked as a staff writer for the recent-unfortunate-headline-prone Phil Spectre, do you have any tales of violent insanity?
Well ... Phil was really difficult to be around, frankly. Ha! But I worked with him quite a lot for a while. I sang on some of the Righteous Brothers stuff, Tina Turner, and I did the backup vocals on his records. He was very formulaic and I got his for- mula. I’ll tell you one story about him ... He had an English couple, the husband was his driver and the wife was his cook, and he would treat them so badly that I couldn’t stand to be around him. Just making fun of them, you know? He was just mean, but he wasn’t into the guns when I was around him. Definitely into confrontation, though. He had karate guys that were in his house, breaking boards and shit all the time, and go places to pick fights. Then, if it got serious, he’d have them handle it. Huge ego ... Just huge. I’ve never met anyone that full of himself.
Everything that came up with as far researching him pointed strongly toward a lot of heavy cocaine use.
You know, there was no drugs or anything like that around at the time I worked with him. Not even pot. He became somewhat of a drinker later. A lot of the times, it just seemed like he was looking for a pal. He would call me up sometimes, late at night, and want to go to an all-night hot dog stand in LA that was 24 hours. So we’d go down and buy hot dogs in a chauffeur driven limo then sit by the side of the road eating them.
Can you tell me a little about the inspiration behind the laser synthesizer you created called Beamz? Did you set out to create the perfect instrument for a mad scientist with a love of the key- board sound or were you specifically gearing it towards occupa- tional therapy when you designed it?
Well, no, but that thought came in rather quickly though when we realized this would be great for people that have limited mobility. But the inspiration for it came from this lake place we’d go to when I was kid for vacations. This is in Michi- gan. We called it the ice cream store, but it was a little mom n’ pop general store that had a door announcer that had a light beam across the door. It’d trigger a bell that would alert the guy, who’s usually over in the corner sleeping, that he had a customer.
It just occurred to me that we used to just sneak over it to steal ice cream — ha, ha! — and that if I could use that light beam to trigger an electronic result, why couldn’t I use that to trigger a synthesizer? Then, I just realized you could play music in the air! With light beams! You could even use infra- red light beams that nobody could see. It was just mystical.
So, I was trying to retire in Hawaii and could do these kind of things, so I just went down to Radio Shack and bought some door announcers. They didn’t make the kind with the incandescent lights like we played with when I was a kid, so I had to take whatever they made. Then I realized that laser beams would be much sexier than infrared beams that you can’t see.
You’re the first person I’ve ever interviewed who has had an entire city designate a day of honor to him. With the sheer he- donism that I engage in on my own birthday in mind, I ask what does December 31, Jerry Riopelle Day, in Phoenix consist of? Is there a decadent breakfast? How insane do you get?
I don’t eat hardly anything during the day. And if I’m per- forming, I don’t eat anything for at least three hours before showtime because I need the room. That was very nice of the mayor to proclaim it Jerry Riopelle Day ... We got a plaque but I don’t really do anything special. I just eat early on the days I’m going to perform.
You started out as an independent artist, worked your way through the ranks of the now-defunct recording industry, and somehow emerged on the other side again as an independent artist. How do you feel about your career now in the age of the internet versus the days of Big Records?
Well, it’s not as easy as it was back when you could re- cord for a couple hundred dollars. They would promote it and, now, you have to figure out your own promotion. But, I will tell you: Facebook is remarkable. We have a fansite that does better with selling concert tickets than any radio ad- vertising. If you build up a following that they’ll look at, it’s incredible. We sold out the Talking Sticks show in just a few days. That’s the trick.
If they like you, they just need to know that you’re going to play. The internet just works fantastically for me, but it’s not like doing the record business in the streets like it was back in the 60s and 70s. You’re doing it all online, which is definitely more effective, but not quite as much fun. It is a different world. In some ways, it’s more honest. It’s not about hype or bullsh*t, it’s about letting the people who are into your kind of music know what’s going on.
Do you have anything you want the people of Flag to know before you play?
We love Flagstaff. We have a lot of great memories and, while it’s been quite a while, I’m really excited about it. The Orpheum is a great theater and it should be excellent. I’ll be bringing a seven piece band and we’ll be doing, geez, about two hours of music covering a lot of territory. Quite a few songs they know and a few they don’t. Ha, ha!
And you’re playing the Spirit Room in Jerome the next night as well?
Oh yeah, it’s a little tiny place, but there’s something great about playing shoulder to shoulder. It’s the strangest thing, but it’s really fun. I can reach behind me and touch the bass drum. We hear each other so well and there’s just something fun about that.
| Mike Williams likes his ghost stories.
mike@thenoise.us
INTERvieW
thenoise.us • the NOISE arts & news • JULY 2014 • 13