November 2019 Magazine

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DECEMBER 28 I

Au-Rene Theater

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A New Year’s Eve Psychedelic Party

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DECEMBER 31 TICKETS at ParkerPlayhouse.com • Ticketmaster | 954.462.0222 Group Sales | 954.660.6307 The Parker Playhouse 2019-2020 season is presented by the Broward Performing Arts Foundation.

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Halestorm | Coral Sky Amphitheater Photo: Jay Skolnick

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NOVEMBER 1

NOVEMBER 16

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD

PINK TALKING FISH

NOVEMBER 2

NOVEMBER 18

WITH

SLOW HOLLOWS & CLAUD

NIGHT OF THE DEAD WITH

UNLIMITED DEVOTION & CRAZY FINGERS NOVEMBER 7

WITH

NOVEMBER 8

WATCH WHAT CRAPPENS A BRAVO TV PODCAST NOVEMBER 9

SAVED BY THE 90’S NOVEMBER 10

SCARYPOOLPARTY WITH

SUCRE

NOVEMBER 13

KING PRINCESS WITH

GIRLPOOL

NOVEMBER 15 WITH

STATIC-X

DOPE, WEDNESDAY 13 & RAVEN BLACK

ICE NINE KILLS

WITH MAKE THEM SUFFER, AWAKE AT LAST, FIT FOR A KING & LIGHT THE TORCH

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WITH STIFF LITTLE FINGERS, THE BRONX & THE ATTACK

RUNAWAY GIN

NOVEMBER 22

APPETITE FOR DESTRUCTION

A TRIBUTE TO GUNS N’ ROSES NOVEMBER 23

CONAN GRAY WITH

UMI

NOVEMBER 30

ORDINARY BOYS WITH

ZENDATTA

DECEMBER 1

THE QUEERS DECEMBER 7

NGHTMRE

WITH

SAYMYNAME

DECEMBER 13 + 14

DISCO BISCUITS

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Patti Russo | Fish Depot Photo: Janine Mangini

Jason Newsted | JTown Jupiter Jam Photo: Janine Mangini

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Black Label Society | Revolution Live Photo: Jay Skolnick

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November 2019

Issue #89 PUBLISHERS Jay Skolnick Jay@SFLMusic.com

Gary Skolnick Gary@SFLMusic.com Brad Stevens Brad@SFLMusic.com EDITOR IN CHIEF Sean McCloskey Sean@SFLMusic.com SENIOR EDITOR Todd McFliker Todd@SFLMusic.com DISTRIBUTION MANAGER Gary Skolnick Gary@SFLMusic.com OPERATIONS MAGAGER Jessica Delgadillo Jessica@SFLMusic.com ADVERTISING Info@SFLMusic.com CONTRIBUTORS Ray Anton • Lori Smerilson Carson Tom Craig • Megan Garzone Aaron Gilbert Peter “Blewzzman” Lauro Alex Liscio • Janine Mangini Angel Melendez • Nathan Rose Romy Santos • David Shaw Darla Skolnick COVER PHOTO Andy Keilen / Incubus SFL Music Magazine is a community newspaper that is published monthly in Boca Raton, Florida. All contents are copyright 2019 by the AWG Group, LLC, and may not be reproduced without written permission of the publisher.

4.

HALESTORM 7.

PATTI RUSSO | JASON NEWSTED 10.

JASON BIELER | MASON PACE 12.

TAKING BACK SUNDAY 14.

MEAN OLD FIREMEN 16.

CONCERT DATES 21.

GODSMACK 22.

GARY HOEY 24.

MAGGIE BAUGH 28.

ADAM ANT 29.

ERIC MCFADDEN 30.

INCUBUS 34.

SOUL ASYLUM 38.

STORM LARGE 42.

BERRY OAKLEY 44.

JACKSON STOKES 48.

JIMMY CARPENTER 50.

TSO 54.

CREATE RECORDS

24

30

42

Jason Bieler, Jeff Soto, Stephen Gibb & Howard Goldberg | The Funky Buscuit Photo: Jay Skolnick

The Mason Pace Band | Crazy Uncle Mikes Photo: Jay Skolnick

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Taking Back Sunday | Revolution Live

By Todd McFliker | Photos: Jay Skolnick

Traveling the globe for their 20th anniversary, Taking Back Sunday delivered two lively and sold-out shows at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale on the weekend of October 11 and 12. Named after a B-Side tune by The Smiths, the foursome from Long Island has been on a year-long trek over five continents. Onstage, Taking Back Sunday performs two full albums of commercially successful pop punk onstage. First concertgoers hear their debut, 2002’s Tell All Your Friends. Then one of the guys flips a special coin to decide if they’ll play either Where You Want to Be or Louder Now. The other album is performed after Tell All Your Friends the second night. For instance, South Florida music lovers experienced 2006’s Louder Now on Friday, followed by 2004’s Where You Want to Be the next night.

On Saturday, Taking Back Sunday kicked off with a bang performing “Know How I Do” and “Bike Scene.” “Cute Without the ‘E’ (Cut from the Team)” was an undeniable highlight, and vocalist Adam addressed the crowd for the first time. He spent a few minutes discussing how much the band members appreciate their audience, as well as playing for two decades. “I know it’s hard to believe,” Lazzara said. “It’s a very strong celebration.” Possessing long black hair and dressed in plenty of denim, the man introduced his “best friends in the world,” guitarist John Nolan, drummer Mark O’Connell and bassist Shaun Cooper. “This is the first song we ever wrote together,” Lazzara said before “Great Romances of the 20th Century.” After “Ghost man on Third,” the front-man told another long and funny story about first moving from North Carolina to New York to join the band. He told the tale of sharing a bedroom with John. They had television, but didn’t have cable. All they could see was the preview channel.

The boys made a pact and decided to name every song on the new record off what they saw on that channel between 12am 12 | www.SFLMusic.com

and 3am. They saw a listing for ‘Timberwolves at New Jersey.’ “I thought to myself, in this day and age, somebody needs to take care of this and solve this problem. That’s when I sat down and wrote ‘Timberwolves at New Jersey’ for the wolf problem New Jersey is having.” It was many years later that John finally explained the NBA’s Minnesota Timberwolves and the New Jersey Nets, today’s Brooklyn Nets.

“One of the most striking things to me is looking out to the crowd and seeing people of all different ages,” Lazzara told Rolling Stone’s Suzy Exposito in January. “To have people all at different phases of their life getting lost at the same time, in the same place, to the same thing, together. We have been fortunate enough to grow up together, over the years. That’s very special to me.” -By Todd McFliker, Photo by Jay Skolnick

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real-life “smoke eater”, I don’t even want to go there. Besides the outstanding vocals, this over seven-minute track features several instrumental interludes that highlight killer rhythm from Rick, Joey and Chuck and some fine pickin’ and slidin’ by Ned on the guitars.

In upper New England, a mountain passage is referred to as a “notch”. This original instrumental titled “Through The Notch” is classic Americana music that will mystically transcend you to a peaceful and relaxing drive on a journey through the notch on that beautiful American highway.

At barely over one hundred seconds long, if you danced to “Hogg Wild” you’d have yourself a decent cardio workout. The song pays tribute to the fictional country slide player known as “The Great Joe Bob Hogg” - a figment of the imaginations of the Hogg Brothers - a famous Boston area country, or as they like to say “Cowpunk” band. This is pickin’, strummin’ and drummin’ on steroids.

Mean Old Fireman & The Cruel Engineers Box 1 So if you were to walk into just about any firehouse in the country and say “Hi, I’m here to see the mean old fireman and the cruel engineers,” you’d most likely be booted out on your ass for being disrespectful to a group of brave first responders. However, if you happened to walk into a certain engine company in the Boston, MA area and said the same thing, you just might be greeted with “Sure, c’mon in, they’re in the back jammin’.” You see, the mean old fireman is actually Ned Bolle, a full-time firefighter and a heck of a bluesman and musician, as well.

The band consists of Ned on slide guitar, guitar, banjo, and vocals; Rick Plourde on bass; Joey Pafumi on drums and percussion; Chuck Whiting and John Wadkins on keyboards and Christina Lacoste on accordion.

“Box 1” contains approximately a dozen tracks with many being impeccably done instrumentals and half being Ned Bolle’s originals. The reason I use the word approximately is because the list contains medleys and songs within songs.

Unaware as to the origin of the opening track, with it being the band’s namesake, I just assumed that “Mean Old Fireman” was an original song. Discussing this with Ned, and delving further into it on the Internet, I’m now aware that it was written by Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup and made popular by The Original Fleetwood Mac - some fifty years ago. The song tells the story of a man actually losing his woman to a mean old fireman and cruel engineer.

Having now listened to that rendition, I’ve got to say, I’m liking this one better. Reason being, I’m loving Ned’s gruff and scratchy vocals. Some would call this a smoker’s voice but with him being a 14 | www.SFLMusic.com

“A Second Line Procession: Amazing Grace/Gulf Of Slides” is a medley of a traditional and an original song. On the first part “Amazing Grace” - Ned’s Resonator work needs to be mandatory listening for any guitar student. The original part of the Medley - “Gulf Of Slides” is another reference to New England folklore.

Legend has it that the mountain ravines that fill with clouds are called “Gulfs” and on Mount Washington, the one that is prone to rock slides and avalanches is called the “Gulf of slides”. Of course, the guitar work remains stunning and once again the rhythm - this time fueled by fabulous percussion by Joey - is killer.

So you know how most of the times, no matter how good a rendition of a classic is, it’s mostly said that “the original was better”?

Well had this been the original version of “Sleepwalk”, people would be saying that as good as Santo and Johnny’s version was it wasn’t as good as this one. I’ve literally heard this song done by countless numbers of artists and I’m telling you that if you have as well, you’ve got to hear this one.

This next original track is titled “Miles Per Hour” and although it doesn’t have a number in the front, if it did it would be a high one.

It’s a fast-paced instrumental done in a very fast two minutes and yet there is time enough to feature everyone involved. With Ned and John taking turns sparring on guitars, banjos, and keyboards, even Rick and Joey manage to sneak is a bass and drum solo.

I’m telling you right now, this may not be blues but it is some seriously kick-ass bluegrass.

Other tracks on this very well done project include: “On Your Marc”, an original dedicated to slide guitarist Marc Athlan; a cover of Jimi Hendrix’s “Little Wing”; another original titled “Bogged Down” which features four different movements cleverly titled: “Bye Ewe” (Bayou); “Mount McKinley” (in recognition of McKinley Morganfield); “Beau Nose” (in recognition of Bo Diddley); and “Low Well” (a nod to Lowell George of Little Feat); additionally, the disc ends with Ned’s solo acoustic version of “Mean Old Fireman”.

I’m going on record as saying that inasmuch as this recording is not 100% blues it is indeed 100% enjoyable, 100% entertaining and 100% impressive. From everything to Ned’s New England references to the titling of his songs, the projects just screams creativity.

To find out more about the Mean Old Fireman just go to www. meanoldfireman.com. When you do, please tell him his friend the Blewzzman sent you. - Peter “Blewzzman” Lauro - www.

Mary4Music.com

8794 Boynton Beach Blvd. #101 • Boynton Beach, FL November 1st

November 15th

crush

Sweet Blood

November 2nd

November 16th

rush tribute

Hard rock

allied forces of rock & the railz

jeito moleque

November 6th

November 20th

with Scott Ringersen

classic rock

November 7th

November 21st

80’s rock tribute • Ozzy Osbourne tribute

Samba Florida

venu the Elvis experience

Breeze

Salute to Sinatra

The Petty Hearts

November 8th

November 23rd

with Tony Quaranti

Tom Petty tribute

Memory Lane

Al Sapienza & Deborah Rennard

November 9th

November 28th

doo-wop, disco, Motown

Seen on The Sopranos, Dallas, Suits & more

Bahamas relief concert

Thanksgiving

November 13th

November 29th

Crush n’ roses, making faces, 3sixty

JayCee Driesen

$39 gourmet buffet

WHITNEY

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Whitney Houston Tribute

November 14th

November 30th

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The Chili Poppers Red hot chili peppers tribute

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GO SEE IT LIVE! November 1 / Friday Orbison-Holly-Rock-n-Roll Dream – Broward Center The Motels – Martha Davis – Funky Biscuit Adam Ezra Group – Broward Center The Neighborhood – Revolution Live Big City – Double Roads Tavern Killbillies Live – The Brewhouse Crush – Rush Tribute – The Venu

Sting – Seminole Hard Rock Grant Farm – Funky Biscuit The Long Run – Broward Center Adventura Bobby Nathan Band – Double Roads Tavern Mumiy Troll – Culture Room Crush N’ Roses – The Venu JJ Grey – Lyric Theatre **Battle of the Bands /ALS Benefit – LauderAle Brewery**

November 2 / Saturday Day of the Dead - Revolution Live The Boss Project – Springsteen Tribute – Funky Biscuit Across the Universe – Double Roads Tavern The Boondock Sinners – The Brewhouse Allied Forces of Rock – The Venu **Guitars Over Guns Benefit Concert- Univ of Miami/Watsco Center**

November 10 / Sunday The Raconteurs – The Fillmore Miami Last Dinosaurs – Culture Room

November 3 / Sunday Gabe Stillman Band – Arts Garage A Sunday Kinda Blues – The Brewhouse November 4 / Monday Biscuit Jam – Bill Wharton November 5 / Tuesday Oz Noy, Dave Weckl & Hadrien Feraud – Funky Biscuit Black Keys – BB&T November 6 / Wednesday Thievery Corp – The Fillmore Miami Beach The HU – Culture Room November 7 / Thursday Andrea Bocelli – Seminole Hard Rock Elvis Costello – Broward Center Yarn – Funky Biscuit Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls – Culture Room November 8 / Friday Kashmir – Funky Biscuit Audiotramp – Double Roads Tavern Ultimate Michael Jackson Experience – Kelsey Theater Memory Lane Special - The Venu November 9 / Saturday

November 11 / Monday Biscuit Jam – Keeshea Pratt & Kevin Burt November 12 / Tuesday JP Soars Gypsy Blue Revue – Funky Biscuit

– Lyrics Theatre Petty Hearts - The Venu

November 13 / Wednesday Gold Coast Jazz- Nester Torres – Amaturo Theater The Steepwater Band – Funky Biscuit

November 22 / Friday Fantasia – Seminole Hard Rock Nella – Broward Center Sawyer Fredericks – Funky Biscuit Colt Ford – Abacoa Town Center Appetite for Destruction - Revolution Live Queenz / The Drag Experience – Kelsey Theater

November 14 / Thursday Joe Lewis Walker – Funky Biscuit Mac McAnally – Amaturo Theater Mannheim Steamroller – Au Rene Theater The Long Run – The Venu November 15 / Friday Jonas Brothers – BB&T Leningrad – Seminole Hard Rock Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia – Funky Biscuit Storm Large – Broward Center / Abdo Room Static-X – Revolution Live Copperpoint Brewing Co. - The Brewhouse Sweet Blood – The Venu November 16 / Saturday Alicia Keys – Seminole Hard Rock **Bark Back Event – Mathews Brewing Company** Denny Lane Trio – Funky Biscuit November 17 / Sunday Jeff Kashiwa – Funky Biscuit John Paul White – Broward Center Badfish – Culture Room ThanksGiving-back Jamboree – Kelsey Theater A Sunday Kinda Blues – The Brewhouse Jazz in the Pines – Charles Dodge City Center November 18 / Monday Biscuit Jam – Bonefish Johnny November 19 / Tuesday Brockhampton – The Fillmore Frank Ward & The Nucklebusters – Funky Biscuit

NOVEMBER 6 THE HU CULTURE ROOM 16 | www.SFLMusic.com

NOVEMBER 23 & 24 RIPTIDE MUSIC FESTIVAL FTL BEACH

November 20 / Wednesday Breeze – The Venu Dueling Pianos – Double Roads November 21 / Thursday Yacht Rock All Stars / John Ford Coley

November 23 / Saturday Sara Bareilles – BB&T John Oates – The Lyric Theatre Dumpstaphunk _ Funky Biscuit American Floyd – Kelsey Theater Josh Turner – Charles F. Dodge City Center Riptide Music Festival – Ft. Lauderdale November 24 / Sunday The New Deal – Funky Biscuit The Menzingers – Culture Room Riptide Music Festival – Ft. Lauderdale November 25 / Monday Biscuit Jam – Mojo Ike November 26 / Tuesday Terry Hanck Band – Funky Biscuit November 27 / Wednesday Stereotomy – 80s Rock & Pop – Double Roads Cattle Decapitation – Culture Room November 28 / Thursday ********HAPPY THANKSGIVING******** November 29 / Friday Rev. Barry & The Funk – Funky Biscuit Beach Boys Tribute – Double Roads Tavern WHITNEY – The Venu November 30 / Saturday Lynyrd Skynrd – Seminole Hard Rock Crystal Vision-Fleetwood Mac Tribute – Funky Biscuit Rebirth Brass Band – Culture Room The Chili Poppers – The Venu **50th Anniversary Palm Beach Pop Festival – Benefit SoFLa Rock N Roll Museum**

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NOVEMber 14 Au-Rene Theater

TICKETS at BrowardCenter.org Ticketmaster | 954.462.0222 • Broward Center’s AutoNation Box Office • Group Sales | 954.660.6307 The Broward Center 2019-2020 season is presented by the Broward Performing Arts Foundation.

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Godsmack | Coral Sky Amphitheater Photo: Jay Skolnick

Gary Hoey

Veteran blues rock guitar hero Gary Hoey stopped by the Funky Biscuit Thursday night October 24th in support of his latest release ‘Neón Highway Blues’. It’s the rocker’s 21st release. He has come a long way since dropping out of high school and hanging outside of Berkeley Music College in Boston to improve his guitar playing.

He had local blues guitar hero in training ‘Shaw Davis and the Black Ties’ hit the stage at 8:15 as the opening act. The young Shaw Davis wowed the crowd with smoking blues runs we are not used to seeing from a 24 year old. The 45 minute set got us ready for what was to come!

As Gary’s bandmates Aj Pappas (drums) and Matt Scurfield (drums) were setting up the stage, Gary himself was actually next to the stage chatting with fans nearby. I have not seen a musician of his stature hanging out with the crowd BEFORE the show! At 9:30 Gary casually strapped on his silver Strat and started his set off with BB King’s classic ‘The Thrill is Gone’. Over the next hour Gary played a mix of his own tunes and more tribute tunes, for surf rock legend Dick Dale, Carlos Santana, and the Peanuts ‘Linus and Lucy’.

22 | www.SFLMusic.com

It was about 20 minutes until 11pm that Gary brought up on stage good friend and local blues guitar hero Albert Castiglia to join him on ‘The Truth’. Both guitar players traded solos and ended the song playing a solo together in harmony. For the next song, ‘Back up Against the Wall’, Gary called Shaw Davis back up to the stage to form a guitar power trio! The three guitarists trading solos and blistering runs was the highlight of the night! As the two bonus guitarists left the stage to lots of applause, Gary switched guitars to an acoustic Dobro, a real down home blues instrument.

He brought it out for his final songs of his set. He went seamlessly from ‘Amazing Grace’ to ‘Steamroller’, his tribute to Blues legend Johnny Winter. The crowd was not done yet, and wanted to hear one more. Gary came back on responding to several of his fans calling for ‘Hocus Pocus’ by playing said cover of the tune made famous by ‘Focus’. When Gary was done, he invited everyone to hang around after the show for selfies. Another rarity for a musician of his caliber. He is a warm and friendly guy who puts on a great show! I have

known about him since the late 80s. This was my first chance to catch him live and I am happy I was able to be there. My hope is that he will make his way here again! If you are a fan of good blues guitar, be sure to check out Gary Hoey!!! – Ray Anton, Photos Jay Skolnick

Maggie Baugh

By Todd McFliker • Photos Larry Marano & Jay Skolnick 24 | www.SFLMusic.com

SFL Music: Hello Maggie. Thanks for chatting with SFL Music and I. What are you up to?

Maggie Baugh: I am home in Florida. I had a big show yesterday in Boca Raton at The Funky Biscuit. I opened up for Love and Theft and there was an amazing crowd. I am here for a little bit, and I fly back to Nashville tomorrow.

SFL Music: How much do you love playing The Funky Biscuit?

Baugh: Playing at The Funky Biscuit is always a lot of fun. The last time I was in Boca was in July. It’s very special to come home and get love and support from everybody. It is very cool to get the support from my friends, as well as my family. Just the fact that people are still coming out to see me after 8 years is wonderful.

To top it off, there was a bunch of little girls around the age of 10 in the front row that were singing all the words to my songs. I couldn’t have asked for a better night.

SFL Music: Did you enjoy opening for Love and Theft?

Baugh: Oh my gosh, those are the coolest guys ever. I wrote a song with them a few months ago. So when I got the call about the show, I was thrilled to share the stage with them. I hope I get to play with them again in the future because they are such talented guys.

SFL Music: Who else have you shared a stage with?

Baugh: Country legend Neil McCoy, Charlie Daniels and I recently opened for Frankie Ballard. A few weeks ago I opened for Montgomery Gentry in Nashville. That was fun. I love every one of their unique performing methods.

SFL Music: What influences can an audience see and hear in your performances?

Baugh: Charlie Daniels, obviously because how much I love him. I love Dan + Shay (country music duo Dan Smyers and Shay Mooney). I think the way that Shay can move his voice and his vocals is incredible. I also do some classic rock songs. I am influenced by everything from bluegrass to 90s country and anything on country radio today.

SFL Music: Does country speak to you more than any other genre?

Baugh: Yes, it does. I love the way that country music tells a story. That’s why I fell in love with the entire genre.

SFL Music: Has it been that way your whole life?

Baugh: It has been. My dad is from West Texas, so country music has always been around my family.

SFL Music: Please tell me what instruments

you play.

Baugh: Onstage I play acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and violin.

I also play piano and mandolin, just not onstage. That’s because of the songs I play when I am up there. I used to play mandolin, but my new music doesn’t have any mandolin in it. But I am always trying to figure out how to incorporate it into a set. I hope my audiences will get to see it soon.

SFL Music: Which is your favorite?

Baugh: I love playing the violin because nobody else plays it.

But I can express myself in a different way when I play guitar and sing.

SFL Music: Tell me all about the single “Fire Me Up.”

Baugh: “Fire Me Up” compares an emotion to fire. I love the idea of comparing things to inanimate objects, such as fire. Fire can mean either warmth or destruction. So “Fire Me Up” is about the excitement of a relationship, whether it’s the good or the bad.

The song actually came out on my 19th birthday in March. I love that song and I am just glad that my fans are able to hear it.

SFL Music: Where can I hear your “Catch Me” single?

Baugh: You can find “Catch Me” on Spotify.

SFL Music: How many full albums have you put out?

Baugh: I’ve released three full albums. As far as the future is concerned, I am just trying to write the best songs possible. But you can hear brand new music that hasn’t been released at my shows. I even played a few new songs in Boca Raton.

SFL Music: Please tell me about your experience visiting a creative writing class.

Baugh: Without saying any names, I performed at a local elementary school down in Florida. I was a special guest for the 5th grade creative writing class. I went in and played songs. Then I discussed my personal song writing process, including how and why I write particular numbers. How it all comes about, with the melody first and/or words. I give my personal insight on writing music.

SFL Music: You’ve been recognized a few times for your insightful lyrics. Have you always been a writer?

Baugh: No, I actually started out as a violinist before songwriting ever crossed my mind. I played classical music on violin and it wasn’t until I was 12-years-old that I starting songwriting.

SFL Music: Where did all your musical talent stem from? Are your parents artists?

26 | www.SFLMusic.com

Baugh: Nope. My parents have no musical talent whatsoever.

I started playing the violin because of the TV show “Little Einsteins” (the preschool cartoon that introduces kids to the arts).

When you think of classical music, you think of a violin as the dominant instrument. So I fell in love with the way that show portrayed the violin. And I asked for a violin when I was 2-years-old.

My parents said I was a saint. I began taking violin lessons at age 6.

SFL Music: After graduating from Boca High in 2018, you moved to Nashville to jumpstart your career in country music. How has that worked out for you?

Baugh: All I want to do is be around music, and it seems that everyone in Nashville is a musician. So being surrounded by all the artists has been inspiring. Nashville is a magical place.

SFL Music: If you could play with any musician, dead or alive, who would it be?

Baugh: Obviously I idolize Charlie Daniels. But I did play with him when I was 13. So I go with Lindsey Stirling. Also, I’ve always wanted to jam with Darius Rucker too.

SFL Music: What else do you want to tell South Florida music lovers?

Baugh: Look out because I am super excited to be back in Boca Raton, and I hope everyone makes it out to see me the next time I am home. Check my website, www.maggiebaugh.com, for any future shows

cal fixture of the 80s.

Fast forward to 2019 and I am asked if I would like to review Adam Ant’s upcoming show. I mentally time warped back to my friends MTV and those fascinating videos, and I said, heck yeah!

Tuesday evening October 1 rolls around, and I am entering the Fillmore theater in Miami Beach. Upon entering I see dozens of fans sporting the Hussar jackets and face paint. I am quite amazed to see the dedication of the Adam Ant Fanbase some 30 plus years after the height of his popularity! The ‘Glam Skanks’, the all-female opening act, came on shortly after 8 PM and did a nice job of warming up the crowd with their brand of punk music for 45 minutes.

The lights dimmed at 9 o’clock sharp, the theme music from the classic Tv show ’The Saint’ started playing as the band walked on and cranked into ‘Friend or Foe’. Adam Ant played the entire hit album ‘Friend or Foe’ from start to finish, which included the three smash hits off that album, the title track as well as arguably his most famous hit ’Goody Two Shoes‘ and ‘Desperate but not Serious’. While he greeted and thanked the crowd for attending, he kept his talking to a minimum. The only story he told was that he didn’t like it when the press would ask him repeatedly what his lyrics meant. After the twelve songs of the album were done, the band then continued to play the rest of Adam’s hit list.

Adam Ant | The Fillmore Miami Beach It was the early 80s and after school I would head over to a friends house that had cable to watch a new channel called MTV. My friends and I were immediately drawn to being able to see the very artists we were hearing on the radio. Better yet, we saw artists that we didn’t hear on the radio, which made the new channel all that more fascinating! While I was a fan of the heavy rock bands like Judas Priest and Van Halen, I was also intrigued by Music that was different and off the ‘beaten path.’ When I first heard ‘Antmusic’, I did a double take. What was that, I wondered?

I learned later that two drummers created the Burundi beat that was the foundation 28 | www.SFLMusic.com

of the Adam and the Ants sound. That beat was not something I had heard in pop or rock music before. Then there was the visual!!! A band with tribal face painting led by a vocalist wearing a Napoleonic Hussar jacket singing about the flavorless pop music. The exotic beat underlying the rocking punk guitar sound had me captivated.

Adam Ant soon after set out on his own and over the next few years, songs like ‘stand and deliver’, ‘goody two shoes‘, ‘Strip’ and ‘Desperate but not Serious’, helped him sell over 40 million albums, launching Adam into stardom as a musi-

The rest of the six piece band consisted of AP Leach on rhythm guitar, Joel Holweger on bass guitar, Will Credson on lead guitar, Andy Woodard on right drums and an exotic looking female on the left drums known as Jola, whose platinum blond hair and dark sunglasses coordinated perfectly with her black and white striped outfit while the rest of the guys wore Adam Ant t-shirts. The energy Adam rocked the set with belied his age of 64 as he did not stop!

The band closed the set with the hit ‘Stand and Deliver.’ After several moments of the crowd chanting for more, they came back on and did a three song encore which included ‘Press Darlings’, ‘Red scab’, and ‘Physical’.

Adam Ant had just entertained us for two hours of his high energy punk rock like he was a rocker 30 years younger, and I was a kid again!!! - Ray Anton of Ray’s Guitars • Photo Tom Craig

Eric McFadden | Crazy Uncle Mike’s Photo: Janine Mangini

By Lori Smerilson Carson Photos: Andy Keilen /Incubus Ever since Incubus came onto the music scene with hits like “Drive” they’ve been on the road to success and they haven’t slowed down.

South Florida fans will be able to experience this phenomenally talented band when they play at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach on December 1st. Their tour also brings them to Orlando November 29th at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts and St. Petersburg November 30th at The Mahaffey Theatre.

Catching up with Turntablist/Keyboardist Chris Kilmore (Kil) in the midst of this tour, he explained how he and bandmates Lead Vocalist Brandon Boyd, Guitarist Mike Einziger, Bassist Ben Kenney and Drummer Jose Pasillas are going to perform their shows, how truly multi-talented they are and what has kept them going so strong over the past two decades.

SFL Music: Tell me about the Twenty Years Make Yourself Tour.

Chris Kilmore: Yeah, we’re currently on tour supporting a record that’s twenty years old. A record called Make Yourself. We have older material, but it’s the first time we’re actually doing like a commemorative tour for a record which is great because we get to play the record from the front to the back. The whole record, and never really done that before, and this whole tour is about that. So, it’s actually really fun. Make Yourself is the first full length record that I wrote with the band twenty years ago, and back then I was you know, just a young, bright eyed kid with two turntables, (he laughed). So, every night it takes you back to that spot, to that moment, to that time period and its nostalgic, but at the same time, it’s really refreshing.

SFL Music: Was that album written for your foundation (Make Yourself Foundation)?

Kilmore: No, no. We did the foundation later. We decided to make a foundation in 2003. We wrote Make Yourself in 1998 and so we called 30 | www.SFLMusic.com

our foundation Make Yourself because it kind of goes along with our philosophy of you are your own image. It’s what you can create your own self.

SFL Music: What charities does it support? Is it a variety of charities?

Kilmore: It’s all over the place. It’s a variety of charities. It’s charities that are close to us. If you go on the website Makeyourselffoundation. org. There’s a list of all the charities. It’s a plethora. Donated millions of dollars to the charities. In a nutshell, you know, we’re working on charities. We like to help out if there’s a disaster, so hurricanes or earthquakes, fires. We have that side of it where we try to give to disaster relief. Most of the guys in the band grew up in LA and are surfers so, we try to clean up the ocean, the beaches. Give money to Breast Cancer, research. Kids with Autism. You know, anything that comes across our path that we think we can help out with; we try to.

SFL Music: That’s awesome. I know that there’s an organization for beach cleanup. Did you team up with them?

Kilmore: We did that through the Surfrider Foundation. They have programs where they clean up beaches in LA. I’m sure they do it everywhere. We do it in LA obviously. Then Heal the Bay is also a big one we support and they’re kind of the same thing. So, there’s a bunch of different organizations doing different things. The way we kind of filter through them all is we have a person that is the head of our charity organization, kind of filters the grant requests and then she brings it to us and we go through them and then also if, for example Breast Cancer is one. I had a friend that had passed away from Breast Cancer so my main goal at the time was to try to help out other people that go through that. So, it’s really an open platform for us and things that are personal to us.

SFL Music: Since we are in October, are you doing any spotlighting

for Breast Cancer Awareness this month?

Kilmore: To my knowledge we aren’t. We don’t go around promoting any one of our organizations unless it’s like something that we’re in town or we’re doing it that day.

SFL Music: Like at your shows?

Kilmore: Yeah, yeah. Every day we auction off VIP like Meet and Greets and you know, seats, backstage stuff for that charity. So, every day we do have some Cancer drives. Things like that, that are local as well.

SFL Music: Oh, that’s nice. Now you’re part of the writing team.

What inspires you to write your music?

Kilmore: Whoa. That’s a complicated question. Everything, (he laughed).

SFL Music: oh ok.

Kilmore: Um, for me, it is life. It is things I come across that inspire me. It could be anything. You’ve got to feel something good. You know.

Inspiration, it’s hard to say where that comes from. I know I’m kind of being vague, but it’s everywhere around you as long as you look for it.

It’s other music. It’s other DJ’s that are just doing some crazy stuff and I look at them like, I can’t do that. How are they doing that? I’m trying to figure that out. It’s a process of learning and as you learn you get more and more inspired. You know, obviously books. It’s everywhere.

SFL Music: That is very cool. You guys are talented in various ways.

Brandon also does artwork?

Kilmore: Yep.

SFL Music: What drew you into music as your career?

SFL Music: It can be purchased? What inspired him to do that.

Kilmore: I’ve always loved music. When I was a little kid my dad listened to a lot of music, but my mom doesn’t listen to any music. She still doesn’t listen to any music. She keeps her radio silent in the car every day, (he chuckled). My dad would take us out, my brother and I on like Sunday afternoon drives, and we would just drive around the countryside where I lived, and he’d be playing Pink Floyd or the Eagles, The Moody Blues, Chicago. That was kind of his style of music, and I loved it, and I was always pretty technically savvy so I was always taking apart electronic things growing up and stuff like that, and I think once I figured out DJ’s and producers are kind of doing what I’ve already been doing, I just ran with it and I started DJing school dances and anywhere, for anybody that would listen to me. I started getting better, so I kind of just ran with it and then to end up in this band was just being at the right place at the right time, with a lot of luck and obviously the skills to back it up as well.

You know when a door opens for you, you have to decide if you want to walk through that door or not, but you better be able to musically handle what you’re about to get into. So, I think I had all of those. It was a lot of luck why I got in this band to be honest with you. I think every musician has luck on their side. You know, there’s always better musicians than you are, and there’s a lot of them that have not as fun jobs and don’t get to travel around. I always remember that, but any musician that you would talk to, of course, they’re talented, but there’s also a lot of luck that goes a long with that.

Kilmore: Well. That’s kind of what he does on the side. Jose our drummer is actually a pretty good artist too and he does stuff on the side as well. They’ve known each other since; I think since elementary school.

They’ve known each other the longest in the band and they both are artists, and they’re amazing artists. A lot of our artwork on most of our albums are a combination of Jose and Brandon’s artwork. Whenever we’re on tour both of them are drawing and painting as a release. There’s a lot of downtime when we’re on tour. Like for example today, we showed up at a venue this morning and as far as the guys in the band, we don’t do anything other than interview or someone to talk to until 4 o’clock.

We don’t see our instruments until 4 in the afternoon. So, there’s a lot of downtime. So, then they’re doing a lot of art stuff. Mike, he’s really technical savvy and he’s kind of starting his own company and Ben makes his own music as well on the side. You know, I do my dig and it’s just something to keep you busy and keep the head sharp while you’ve got all this downtime on the road.

SFL Music: What would you recommend to up and coming musicians?

Kilmore: I could talk about that forever as well too, but I would say you have to have a lot of passion for music obviously. The hard part when you become successful and make music your career, is to hang onto that passion. So, I would say, keep that passion. Remember that, that’s why you have your job and if it means you have to say no to something but you have to take a break, or you to have separate it any way you know how, just keep that flame going.

SFL Music: Are you looking to do anything special in Florida or any of the states you will play in?

Kilmore: Yeah, we’re going all over the country. This tour is Twenty Years of Make Yourself. That album put out in 1999 turns Twenty I think October 26th, was its birthday, yeah. So, it’s coming up its Twenty years old, so we’re playing the record from front to back and it’s not something that we’ve ever done in a concert before. This whole tour is basically commemorating that album. That’s what we’re doing, and the albums only 45 minutes, so we’ll do that, and then technically the name of the tour Twenty Years of Make Yourself and Beyond, and then what we’ll do after we play the record is thank everybody for their support and then we play some of our new stuff.

SFL Music: Is there a new album and video?

Kilmore: Yeah, we have a new song out it’s called “Into The Summer.”

There’s a video for it. It’s a total Lost Boys ripoff. The song sounds kind of 80’s. It’s really cool. It doesn’t sound like anything we’ve written before. We have also new music coming out right after Christmas.

We have a couple more tracks coming, but you know we wrote a record a year and a half ago. I think it was a year and a half ago now, and that was our eighth full length album. We have enough material to play for days. I think we have 138, 140 songs to play.

SFL Music: Wow! Kilmore: (laughed) Obviously nobody wants to hear all of them. It would take forever to play that, so we try to play somewhere close to 20 songs.

SFL Music: What would you say is the bands secret to longevity?

Kilmore: Oh, that’s a good question. I think friendship. We all are friends. We respect each other. Try not to scream or yell at each other in emotional states. We talk through our arguments, and I think friendship is the key to our longevity.

32 | www.SFLMusic.com

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SOUL ASYLUM

By: Lori Smerilson Carson

Reflecting back over the past 30 years, it may stand to reason that Soul Asylum’s success is due to their music being created with true emotion, thought and basically, soul. To date they have 11 studio albums, one of which went triple Platinum (Grave Dancers Union released in 1992) and sparked their Grammy Award winning song “Runaway Train.” South Florida fans can experience and enjoy this extremely talented band at the Riptide Music Festival on Sunday November 24th. They will also play at the St. Pete Beach Bike Fest on Wednesday November 20th.

Catching up with Lead Vocalist, Guitarist, Songwriter Dave Pirner just prior to this current tour, he explained how he and his bandmates (Lead Guitarist Ryan Smith, Bassist Winston Roye and Drummer Michael Bland), were wrapping up their latest album, what went into making this LP and what fans can look forward to.

SFL Music: Tell me about the show. (The Florida shows will feature Pirner, Smith, Jeremy Tappero on bass and Ian Prince on drums).

Dave Pirner: Well, we expect to bring all our special friends and all our special songs and we expect a very special event as we always try to create. Right?

SFL Music: Right, and you do. Will there be anything new? Anything different that fans can look forward to?

Pirner: Yeah, we’re doing new material and material that were outtakes from records, and we’re mixing up the set quite a bit these days. I’m about to go to practice here pretty soon, and I could tell you exactly what we’re going to play that we didn’t play last time we were in south Florida, but that takes a little bit of research.

SFL Music: Is there anything in particular you are looking forward 34 | www.SFLMusic.com

By Lori Carson Photos Sean McCloskey

to coming to Florida to play the Riptide Festival (and the St. Pete Bike Fest)?

Pirner: Well, I love playing Florida. We recorded a record in Florida, in Miami. You know, we always have fun when we go to Florida, and we’re in the midst of, I mean, I’m back in Minneapolis after being in New Orleans for quite some time, and I think I could speak for all of us and say that we are dreading the winter that’s coming, and we’re going to Texas next week, but no one needs any bonus days of freezing weather. So, it’s always good to get out of the cold, and if you’re going to go somewhere, why not go to Florida!

SFL Music: We appreciate that. You said you are working on a new album. Will there be any new videos or any singles?

Pirner: Well yeah. We’re just sitting around trying to sort out the album cover and the album title, and we have narrowed it down from 23 songs to maybe 16, so I still have to cut a couple more. Trying to find the balance of material is always kind of a troubling thing for me because once the record is finished which it is, I always end up with extra songs that I need the band to sort of help guide me as far as what they enjoy playing the most really, and what’s going to be fun to play. Some people stay reserved, but it’s usually pretty obvious to me.

I mean, I introduce a song to the band and somebody comes up with a really cool guitar part or something, and then that’s sort of how it grows into something or not by people’s enthusiasm. I’m going to bring some album titles to practice tonight and bounce them off the guys and see how they react, and it will be the same thing with the artwork, and I’m working on a book. So, we’ve got some stuff in the pipeline which I’m getting the record finished and out as soon as possible, and I’ll do the same with the book, and it should be interesting. It’s been quite a few records that I’ve put out at this point, and it’s not like it used to be as far

as what you expect. I mean, I don’t really know what to expect. People tell me how many hits I get on Spotify or something now. It’s just different. It’s different than, oh, the goal is to sell this many records, or oh, your goal is to make a video and do this, that and the other thing. It’s a different climate. Its very internet oriented now.

I still buy vinyl records and I listen to records on my record player. I actually enjoy it more than ever because when I have to listen to music on MP3’s coming out of peoples phones, its, I think the word is cringeworthy, to me. So, you know it’s difficult to keep up with the quality of the technology. At the same time, a lot of things are faster and easier.

So, there’s a tradeoff in there, but when I listen to even my own stuff, I got to put it on a CD and play it through my stereo at least, otherwise I don’t have any quality control. Listening to my new record on an MP3, on a phone, it just doesn’t tell me anything. It doesn’t give me any pertinent information that I can relate to what I was trying to record in the studio. So, there is a certain amount of sound quality that I expect and strive for, and hate to see sort of squished or sacrificed or thrown out with the bath water, you know, There is that struggle, but I know what we’re capable of, and I know what my standards are. I have to sort of nitpick at myself and the band to get us up to the standard that I’ve created over all these years. So yeah, I mean, we don’t do anything half assed. We’re not trying to do anything other than the best we can. You know, just keep trying I suppose.

SFL Music: What influences you when you write your music?

Pirner: Well, over the years I suppose it’s changed. I started writing songs in high school. You hear new things, and you discover old things, and they hopefully will inspire a good direction. I mean, living in New Orleans, Louisiana for fifteen, sixteen years, it just really reinforced and re-informed some of the more important aspects of music. I just needed to immerse myself in it and that’s certainly an experience I didn’t have

when I started out. Usually it comes back to the great songwriters for me. Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen and you name it. So, from a writing stand point, music is just more I think, affected by everything I hear around me, be it jazz or pop or whatever kind of music. It doesn’t matter. Its just sounds and rhythms. I had to keep growing as a musician and I get bored if I keep playing the same song over and over again. I mean, it’s kind of a double-sided thing where I gotta make it the vision that I have that has grown quite a bit over the years, but it’s still the same set of, I don’t even know what the word is. It has to be interesting to me and it has to be worth going through the trouble of recording and getting it right, and making the band learn it, and having them excited about playing the music, and once we get that, it goes out into the world, and that’s when we find out what we’re going to be playing, more or less. I mean, once the record comes out, people will react to different things, and I’m at the point now where I’m sort of just finished it.

So, I don’t know what to think of it. I don’t know what people are going to gravitate towards and what’s going to work in a live setting, and I don’t really read the internet. Other people in the band may do that and go, oh this particular song like “Social Butterfly” for instance, is a song from the new record, and just between the management and the people in the band and stuff, I can tell that people are digging it. So, that excites me, and that I think, it’ll be in the live set sooner than some of the other material on the record I’m guessing.

Once we get the sound right. So, a lot of this record was sort of created in the studio as far as the music is concerned, (he chuckled). So, we had to finish the record, and now we had to sort of go back and relearn how to play it because I’ll have maybe two or three guitar parts on any particular song, so I have to sort of melt those into one guitar part. Me and Ryan, we’ll go back and forth and trade off the parts and figure out who’s going to handle what, and the singing parts always fun. It’s fun

for me to finally hear backup vocals and harmonies and you know, we sound pretty good at it. I really look forward to what the songs are going to sound like after we’ve been playing them for a little while on the road and seeing what works. What takes.

SFL Music: Is there a theme to the album?

Pirner: I don’t know if you’d call it a theme, but when I look back on things, its always oh, this was happening in my life at this time. There’s always a fair amount of sort of, I don’t know, autobiographical stuff going on, but I can’t honestly say that ten years from now I’m going to look at this record and go oh, that was my divorce record or whatever it may be. When I listen to stuff from twenty years ago, I can tell how old I was and what was going on in my life, and the interesting thing about it for me is it evokes these little bits of pieces of things that haven’t been going on in my life since the last time I made a record. It’s just reacting to things around you. Time passing, I suppose.

SFL Music: What got you into music? You mentioned Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen were greats. Were they inspirations for you to sing and play guitar?

Pirner: Yeah, I mean, I think from a songwriting point of view and from a lyrical point of view, I do tend to look to the great songwriters, but from a musical point of view, I started out playing jazz music. I started out playing the trumpet and I had had a couple guitar lessons when I was a kid, but I played the trumpet through high school. Then I don’t know what happened. I just wasn’t good enough at the trumpet and I was so into rock music, and the whole punk rock thing was happening at the time, and that gave me the confidence to express myself through this other thing. I mean, jazz music was complicated. Punk rock was fun and simple and aggressive which was pretty much all the things I was looking for at the time. Over time it dips into all different sort of aspects of whatever you can do emotionally with music where it draws from anything and everything that I’ve ever heard really.

SFL Music: When the band started, you guys had a different name?

Pirner: Loud, Fast Rules.

SFL Music: Why did you guys change the name to Soul Asylum?

Pirner: It’s not that great of a name. When the band started out, for us it was. Hard core punk rock was happening. So, it was really blitzeringly fast and really, really loud, and the name seemed fitting at the time, and that was the game. Who could be louder and who could be faster than the next band. So, we were all in. As a little more time past, I realized that that was not the only thing I wanted to do with music and it seemed more limiting I suppose than cool (he chuckled), because at the time we were young crazy kids.

SFL Music: Soul Asylum was more fitting to what you wanted to do musically?

Pirner: Yeah, I mean it definitely does. Certainly today. I’m sure I saw that coming. I didn’t want to be pinned down to have everything be, you know, a hard-core punk song. I had a lot of more diverse musical interests even though that’s kind of the scene that was happening and kind of the scene that we come out of. It was never that exclusive to me musically, and there are bands that I have tons of respect for that will put 20 songs on a record that are a million miles an hour. It’s an art form in itself for sure. I just, I like to move around. I like to experiment and stuff.

SFL Music: Is that why you did your solo record in 1998, Faces & Names?

36 | www.SFLMusic.com

Pirner: Well yeah. That’s a solo record, so that’s the first time I made a record without the band, and I definitely even tried to go more outside my comfort zone, and be in New Orleans and influenced by this jazz music, and see what I could do with a bunch of other musicians. It was a great learning experience for me and part of it was not have this giant wall of sound which the electric guitars create, which I love. Which I pursue and will be pursuing this evening. I like to sort of experiment in whatever direction I can. It just keeps my brain fresh.

SFL Music: What would you say is the secret for having this longevity in the music industry?

Pirner: I don’t know. I’ve always said that it’s patience and passion and persistence. That’s kind of the three p’s I can sort of narrow it down to. I mean, you know, It is those things where you just have to keep plugging along. It certainly can be a discouraging situation. It’s a very strange way to make a living. As funny as the joke is, it is really good work if you can get it. I mean, I love it. I love doing it and I feel lucky that I’m able to not go back to that job I used to have because that wasn’t much fun for me. So, it’s worth it. All the heartache and all the B.S. that you have to go through just to be in a rock band. The fun part always outweighs the pain in the ass part.

SFL Music: Do you want to mention what your prior job was?

Pirner: Well, I was a short order cook at a bar and grill. At the same time, I was working at a liquor store stocking shelves and I mowed lawns also. I mowed lawns for years which was actually the best of the jobs I had before. I was able to call my boss from Milwaukee and tell him, I’m not coming into work tomorrow because I’m in Milwaukee. I got a gig, and he said, don’t bother coming in, and that was the last time I had a job. That was Tracy’s Saloon when I was cooking fried food and steaks and fries. I wasn’t a good cook, (he laughed).

Luckily for Soul Asylum fans he is a great musician, fronting a band that knows how to put on an amazing rock show. SFL readers, definitely get your festival hats on and go check them out at the Riptide Music Festival.

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STORM

Many entertainers blow through Florida, but Storm Large will be bringing a monsoon of talent and experience to Ft. Lauderdale at the Broward Center for the Performing Arts, Friday, November 15th, and in Largo at the Central Park Performing Arts Center, Saturday, November 16th. Starting with her first band The Balls in 2002, then moving into becoming a finalist on Rock Star: Supernova (CBS) in 2006, then starring with Wade McCollum in Cabaret (Portland Center Stage production) in 2007, moving into writing a book Crazy Enough (musical memoir) in 2009, debuted with the Oregon Symphony in 2010, Carnegie Hall in 2013 singing Seven Deadly Sins (by Kurt Weill) with the Detroit Symphony, as well as performing with the Philly Pops, the New York Pops, the BBC Symphonies (to name a few) and the Louisville Orchestra in 2017 to record her album All In. Since 2011 she has co-sang with Pink Martini and brings her extraordinary vocals for all to enjoy with her current band Le Bonheur.

SFL Music: Tell me about your upcoming shows?

Storm Large: Well, we’re doing close to the holiday season so, usually the stuff from the album is stuff from whatever hit me, whatever inspired me that day. There are some songs that we do, but it’s pretty free form usually. It depends on what I feel in the room, what happened that day, that week. The ones that are kind of freewheeling that way (she laughed). Unless we’ve been working on something, like writing something. We decided to learn something.

You know, Ric Ocasek just died from the Cars and they’re from Boston. So, I go, let’s do a cars song. Let’s do a tribute. So, we’ve been tinkering with a couple of Cars songs. So, I might do something like that.

SFL: Your band is Le Bonheur?

Large: Yeah, Le Bonheur. Le Bonheur, it means “The Happiness” in French, but I wanted to call my band The Boners, because my old band was called The Balls. I loved that band name. I thought it was a great band name, but my business partner James who plays piano, he said. you know we’re playing with symphonies now and we’re playing these big, really nice theaters with a lot of viewers and older audience members. Maybe we should change the name, and it was a huge disappointment because I loved the name The Balls. Then I thought well, what about The Boners and he said, no, probably not a good idea. So, I thought about it and thought about it and meanwhile I’m touring in France with Pink Martini and I’m learning French, and learning French music and French language and I was like, oh le bonheur. I kept hearing that phrase and I was like, ha ha they’re saying boner, le bonheur, and I go what does that mean? They said, it means happiness. I go wow, ha-penus, happiness ha ha. It was like I get to call my band dicks twice. So, even though it’s still not funny, like a funny ripple of this five-yearold humor. It’s still very accurate because it is my joy to perform, it is my joy and my calling and my service to perform and to sing, and my job is to create happiness and joy and feelings and emotional landscapes with just energy and sound, which is a crazy job, but if I can create joy in that crazy job, than I have a huge success.

By Lori Smerilson Carson 38 | www.SFLMusic.com

SFL Music: What made you chose music for a career? Did you grow up in a musical family or you just gravitated toward it.

How did this career choice come about?

Large: I didn’t have a musical family, and I remember hearing my mom sing, and I remember hearing my dad sing a little bit, but

LARGE

nobody was musical, and certainly no girl in my family was encouraged to ever do anything that would attract attention, because that’s not what good girls do. My mom was mentally ill and ended up in a mental institution, which also added to the whole um, if you’re trying to get attention which, you know, my mom was accused of trying to get attention by trying to kill herself, throw herself out of a car, cut herself, OD, and a lot of people would whisper while she was being bandaged up. Well, she just really wants attention.

We’re talking a lot more about mental illness nowadays which is, thank God, and it’s a lot more prevalent than people originally thought. Like, when someone like me who grew up with that as my experience, it was a shameful secret. You weren’t supposed to talk about it, you just, you know, where’s mom? She’s resting. That’s the story. She’s resting in the hospital. So nowadays, it’s a lot less taboo and a lot more famous and powerful and well noted people, and military, strong burley men. God bless the men who face the flames and arrows of judgement against their masculinity for saying yeah, I have PTSD. Yeah, I am depressed. I have anxiety, you know, I’ve been a leader in the world. I’ve been a soldier. I’ve been a hero, but I want to die. I’m terrified. So, it’s gotten thankfully, a lot more open to talk about it, but in terms of music, really singing was the only thing that I thought I was good at. Singing and getting into fights (she chuckled).

So, boxing wasn’t really an option. I like boxing as an exercise, but I don’t like getting in fights, even though I used to all the time.

When I would sing, when I wasn’t told to shut up, I could see in people’s faces that they would look at me with astonishment. Even when I was really, really, really little, I had a very mature control of my voice, not because I was a natural musician, but because I was a really good mimic. I started by imitating animal noises, car noises, accents, people on TV. Just training my ear, because I was always alone, lonely, weird. So, to entertain myself, soothe myself, I would imitate my favorite scenes from Monty Python movies, Mel Brooks movies, Hogan’s Heroes, cartoons, and then that started to translate into music, and I could imitate sounds I heard. Guitar sounds from Pink Floyd, harmonies on The Beatles, screams from The Who. I could sound like them and so that’s how I sort of started training my voice, not knowing that that’s what I was doing.

So, when someone asked me to sing something, I would just pick a song in my head and I would sing it just like note for note exactly how they had sung it. I could see people’s faces just like, Oh my God, and they would look at each other and they would look at me with a look on their face like, that is something special, and because I was so lonely and so like alienated and felt so weird and isolated, and I grew up in a house full of boys and men and anything female was associated with my mom who wanted to die.

Everybody ignored her and everybody was like, ah she’s so much trouble. She’s so much drama. So, I was like, I will not be drama.

I will not be trouble. I will be loud and I’ll get attention, that way. I was like, this is the only way I’m ever going to have people happy to see me, is if I can sing or be funny. Then years and years and years and years of doing that, I became a much better singer and studying some music, studying a little bit of theory, unofficially. It’s the world that I absolutely belong in as sort of an emotional creature. It just works for me.

SFL Music: Did you eventually take music lessons to play

any instruments. In one of your videos (documentary style) it looks like you’re playing the drums?

Large: I play a little bit. I think the drums is my favorite instrument that I’m terrible at. I’m not super terrible at drums. I’m pretty terrible, but I love it. I love playing drums. If I ever lost my voice, I probably would want to be a drummer, but I’m more of a storyteller. It is my favorite. I’ve never really been trained. I took a couple of lessons in high school just sort of as an elective, but then my teacher got fired, and she was awesome. Her name was Ruth Cooper and I think she was an Army Sergeant. I only got to take a lesson or two from her for not very long, and just memories that she was tough and nobody liked her because she did not like anybody, but she loved me. She said, she was like, you know sometimes I give you a hard time here. You know why? I said Why? She said, because you’re talented and you scare people. That’s a good thing. She goes, that’s a good thing! She was a bad ass, but she didn’t fit in with that prep school environment just as I didn’t fit in the prep school environment. I was only there because my father taught there.

SFL Music: Your father taught at your prep school?

Large: My father taught at the prep school and was a coach, and very, very respected. Princeton (University) grad, All American Football from Princeton.

SFL Music: Some of your inspirations were from some of your favorite movies, but which musical groups would you say influenced you?

Large: The Kinks, The Beatles, Sex Pistols, Suicidal Tendencies, Nina Hagen, Van Halen, Public Enemy, N.W.A., Freestyle Fellowship. It was punk. It was like, The Beatles and The Kinks and this African artist named Miriam Makeba who I thought was a magic person. When I was a kid, I would just hear her sing and she was magical I thought, and Harry Belafonte, John Denver and those were just like the records that were around the house when I was a kid. Then as I started to get older, I got into punk rock and then

into heavy metal and then hip hop, because ultimately, I found that hip hop was more punk than punk. These artists are really talking about America. They’re seeing an America that we don’t see and it was like the punk rock thing was the kids describing their, mostly white kids, describing their experience of America.

The anger and the frustration matched my inside, and in Hip Hop, I could recognize the story telling and the urgency and the anger and rage and passion of people singing and talking and rapping about a war that we had no idea. We had no idea, anything about, and so hip hop, a lot of people turned away from it as misogynist and racist and oh, I don’t like that music. It makes me uncomfortable. I’m like well, because it exists, its real. These aren’t made up stories. These are just like John Denver, Rocky Mountain High.

He’s singing with a beautiful chill and an acoustic guitar and is all calm and quiet and easy, and Fear of a Black Planet is telling a story that you don’t want to hear because it’s inconvenient and it’s uncomfortable and you don’t understand it, so you want to dismiss it, because you hope it doesn’t exist. You hope that’s not true. So, you’re just going to decide that it isn’t true. Whereas we know now very well that there is a lot of life out there that people don’t understand and haven’t tried to understand, and so we have just this huge divide along so many different lines of socio economic, racial, gender and religion, and just a lack of understanding, and I think if people paid more attention to music and the stories being told and stop feeling accused when someone is describing a situation that you don’t understand. Just because you’ve never experienced it doesn’t mean it isn’t really someone’s experience. I think everyone’s empathy, everyone, everyone’s empathy could really stand to experience, literally walking in someone’s shoes. So, since that’s kind of an impossibility, music is the messenger of someone else’s’ experience.

SFL Music: Talking about storytelling, is that what interested you to get into some of the Cabarets and musicals that you’ve done?

Large: I think so. I’m probably called the cabaret artist because I can’t shut up. Music was my path out of abject, loneliness and literal death. I was going to die a heroin addict, and I remember very well making that decision of if I stay here, I know exactly how I’ll die. I know how I’m gonna die if I stay right here, and there is some comfort in that. There is some comfort in kind of having your hand on the wheel. Not that I was going to kill myself but, I’m like, no way I can survive. This isn’t sustainable. There’s no way I’m going to survive this, if I stay. Staying in drugs and really bad sexual situations and homeless and not working and working only to feed the drugs into my system, and people were looking at me with pity, with disgust. I was like, I could stay right here and die like this and you know, maybe there’s another chance somewhere in the universe for me, but if I stay here, this is how I’ll die. There was a comfort in knowing, sort of predicting that end, but my pride and my vanity, because I was like, you know what? I think I have something good in me that no one has ever said or seen, not even myself, and I’m going to fuckin, I’m going to be uncomfortable and I’m going to get sick and I’m going to be hurt and I’m going to be rejected, and I’m going to get screamed at, yelled at , ignored; but I’m at least going to try, because heroin will be here. Heroin and death will be here always. Sitting right here waiting for me to come back if I ever so choose. It’s not going anywhere, so why not jump out of this burning boat and into the black sea and hope maybe that there’s a boat somewhere. I’m a good swimmer. I can get somewhere, or not, but it’s being in the burning boat is a little too easy.

SFL Music: Where do you draw your inspirations for your music that you write?

40 | www.SFLMusic.com

Large: It’s really hard actually. I would rather write for other people.

I have no problem performing in front of anyone, but writing for myself is terrifying because it’s a very vulnerable process, and I don’t like making things that are super exposing, even though I’m so transparent as a personality. Putting it to song is like having a baby and like putting it in front of people, representing everything you are on the inside and having everybody decide what kind of a kid that is. Having everybody decide if that’s a good kid or a bad kid or it’s a pretty kid or an ugly kid. You can’t do a fuckin’ thing about it. I mean I’m being super dramatic about it because people write songs all the time. I write songs all the time, but I’m very, very self-conscious about writing songs for myself. My band gets really annoyed with me because they think I’m really a good songwriter, and I’ve been called a really good songwriter, but I don’t think I am.

I’m too scared most of the time to put pen to paper and see it all the way to its culmination, but if I write for someone else, I can write ten songs a day. So weird (She laughed).

SFL Music: Like “Ladylike” and “Call Me Crazy?”

Large: Oh yeah, I wrote all that.

SFL Music: Those are good songs and the influences you named are heard. Your voice, you have a wide range. Was there any advice that you’d give to up and coming artists?

Large: Yeah. Especially to the girls out there who want to sing or want to make music. Literally everyday you’re out there someone’s going to tell you how to be successful. How to get to the next level or get discovered or make it. They’re going to tell you how to make it. There is no making it. There’s just constant making and constant growing, and if you’re in this business to become famous and be adored and to make money, you’re going to be super bummed.

Even if you get what you think is super fame and super sparkle and super excitement and everyone loving you for a minute that could be literally like an 18th or a 33rd of a milliplank of your whole career. You know, there’s a lot a lot of waiting, there’s a lot, a lot of being broke, a lot, a lot of singing in front of people that don’t give a fuck about you or hate you. Think you suck and they’re waiting for the headliner to come on. People will boo you. People will tell you you’re stupid, you’re fat, you’re ugly, your music sucks.

You’ve got to do it because it’s who you are. It’s what you do. It’s all you want. It’s all you can think about. It’s who you are regardless of what other people think, and it’s kind of conflicting because as a musician who wants to make a living performing and selling stuff to people, you kind of do need their approval. You kind of do need people to love you, but they won’t if you don’t love and believe in yourself. At least most of the time. Because I mean, you can also fake it ‘til you make it, but man, I can’t even tell you how many times I faked. Having panic attacks backstage trying to get my breathing under control so I could go out there knowing that I was in a room with people that did not want to see me. They wanted to see someone else, but I had to get up and sing my bullshit songs that I was so scared of and people were like rolling their eyes standing there, but you have to do it or you won’t get gas money for the next gig.

You have to do it or you won’t get better. It’s terrifying a lot of the time. It’s literally most of the time, but you do it because you love it.

Because there are those exclamation points along the way. There are those things that make you feel like you did make it. You did something great, and those times get more and more frequent if you stick with it. Do it because it speaks to you. Don’t do it for anyone else. Do it for you.

SFL readers be ready for an amazing show with music well known and music that stays with you well after the show.

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living in the area, he got in touch with me on the West Coast of Florida. So I came over here and played at the Biscuit a few times. This room is where we birthed the Freight Train Band before it got to its final lineup. That and playing here on my own have always been great.

SFL Music: You have been blessed to play with the best of the best musicians. Who are your favorites?

Berry: That’s a tough one because I have been so blessed to play with many great artists. Anytime I got to jam with Gregg Allman or Dickey Betts was special. In fact, just sitting in with the Allman Brothers Band was something that I absolutely loved.

SFL Music: What about Derek Trucks?

Berry: I haven’t jammed with Derek recently. The last time we played together was when he was shorter than me. (Laughs).

That was decades ago when we were kids. There are many artists who I am stunned to play with. I can go down the list; Jack Pearson, Luther Dickinson, Johnny Neel, Marc Ford, Matt Abts.

There are so many great artists that I have been lucky to play with.

SFL Music: Like Jason Bonham, Derek and Devon, has your family name opened doors for you, or has it been a weight on your shoulders?

Berry Oakley’s Indigenous Suspects

SFL Music: What makes a Berry Oakley’s Indigenous Suspects performance unique?

Berry: It’s a whole new take on jam bands. I definitely appreciate that old-school jam band culture, like the Dead and the Allman Brothers. The difference with the Indigenous Suspects is we’re just a little rawer around the edges. We do jam band stuff, but there’s a little more rock to it. We change up the tempos or the chords in a very strange way.

SFL Music: Does the band have a set-list every night or do you get up there and just play?

Berry: It all depends on the gig. A lot of times, like when we play Sarasota, we just wing it. It all depends on who is there, and we feel out the crowd. If they’re really digging one style, we’ll lean into it. As far as tonight, we have a general idea with a list of songs to work off of. I’ll have to feel out the room before I deiced if I’ll play one long set or two shorter ones.

SFL Music: Tell me about playing The Funky Biscuit. I know you’ve been here many times over the past few years.

Berry: The Biscuit is a very special place. This is where Butch Trucks and I started the Freight Train Band. When the Allman Brothers retired, Butch was looking for something new to do. And 42 | www.SFLMusic.com

Berry: It’s definitely a double-edged sword. When you come out with a legendary name, like you mentioned, people expect greatness right off the bat. Being the son of my father, everyone expects “Whipping Post” right off the bat. (Laughs). Okay, I get it.

But I am doing my own thing. So it’s tough. The name helps open doors, but you have to know what you’re doing. I’ve seen the door slam in a lot of people’s faces. So you can’t just rely on the name. You have to actually know what you’re doing. (Laughs).

SFL Music: Switching up from bass to guitar makes it cool for the audience to see as well. Besides your upcoming album, what else do we have to look forward to from Berry Oakley?

Berry: We will see where the Allman Betts Band goes. We are getting ready to hit the road again very soon. We’ll go all over the country. In December, we’ll head back to the studio to make a second record as the Allman Betts Band. Then we’ll tour off-andon through at least May. I don’t know the name of it yet. We have plenty of material. We have to get in there and make it, then we’ll figure out the title. On our first one, we weren’t going to have a title. But we decided on Down to the River just because it made sense.

SFL Music: Now you live in Sarasota. Why did you move to Florida from Los Angeles?

Berry: I just needed a change of pace. I spent most of my life out in L.A. and the west coast. So when an opportunity came up to head over here, I jumped on it. Now I live in Sarasota.

SFL Music: Do you still have a weekly gig at neighboring Siesta Key, Florida?

Berry: I play Siesta Key every couple of weeks. Of course, that

changes when I am touring. There’s also a bar in Osprey, Florida that I usually play a Big Blues Sunday thing with a lot of different names from around town. There’ll be a couple of guys from Dickey Betts’ band, along with some local heroes and myself. It’s a lot of fun.

SFL Music: Can we look forward to a Barry Oakley album any time soon?

Berry: I am actually working on a solo one that should come out in 2020. There’s lots of material that I’ve been collecting for the last few decades. Most of it is my writing. Sometimes I wrote the material with another artist. I am still working on a name.

SFL Music: Do you consider your father, the bass player of the Allman Brothers Band, your hero?

Berry: In a way, yes. When I was younger, I didn’t really get it. It wasn’t until I was older and discovering music and what it was all about that I realized how special my dad is. Unfortunately, I never got to play with him.

SFL Music: Tell me about your bass.

Berry: I mainly play an old Fender Jazz Bass. The one I am playing tonight was actually my dad’s ‘65 Fender Jazz Bass. The neck on it is actually a ’62 that came off his Tractor bass.

SFL Music: Weren’t you also part of a Pink Floyd cover band?

Berry: Blue Floyd was a lot of fun. I was very young when that started back in 2000. It was actually the brainchild of Allen Woody (Bass guitarist) of the Allman Brothers and Gov’t Mule.

He got together with an agent and other people who wanted to do this concept of performing Pink Floyd music with a blues roots style. So Allen searched all around for the right people.

He eventually got Marc Ford (The Black Crowes guitarist) and Johnny Neel (The Allman Brothers Band vocalist and keyboard player) involved. There was also Matt Abts of Gov’t Mule and Dickey Betts Band. Once the lineup was complete, we all got together and decided to do more than just cover Pink Floyd. The idea was to bring it all back to its blues roots. For instance, we performed “Money,” but we did it to a shuffle groove. Adding the blues vibe to Floyd music allowed me to get loose with a lot of bass playing and singing.

SFL Music: Why did that come to an end?

Berry: Once Woody passed away, it was really hard on everyone. We went on for a little while as a four-piece band, but everybody started getting busy. Matt got busy with the Mule again.

Marc Ford got busy with other stuff. I did too. So it just began trickling down until it became

silly. Every tour was filled with different people.

SFL Music: Now some fun questions. What advice would you give your younger self?

Berry: I don’t have any regrets, but I would have definitely learned more if I had paid more attention. Don’t be 20 years old and think you are bulletproof. Listen to the band and pay attention to what the experienced people are telling you. Watch too, even if you think you know it all. It’s all about eyes and ears.

Luckily, I was very fortunate to be around all the people, but I always wish that I had paid more attention to everything that was going on.

SFL Music: If you could go back in time and see any concert, what show would it be?

Berry: I would be very interested to go back in time to see the (Allman Brothers’) Fillmore East shows. And not just the famous recording (in New York City that were turned into the renowned 1971 live album). Any of the fans know that there were actually three shows. It would be cool to be a fly on the wall at any of them and see what really went down. I don’t necessarily want to be a part of it. I just want to watch it all unfold. The Beatles rooftop would be cool too.

SFL Music: If you could jam with any musician, dead or alive, who would it be?

Berry: That’s a great question. I’d love to jam with my dad. That would be pretty cool. Then there’s Jerry Garcia. And I always thought it would be cool to jam with Miles Davis. He would take me to some weird places.

SFL Music: What else do you want to tell South Florida music lovers?

Berry: Just keep supporting live music. Go out and see shows.

Even if you don’t buy records anymore, get out and experience the music live. - By Todd McFliker, Photos Jay Skolnick

Stokes: Exactly. Rocking it. No, I love it though, but Funky Biscuit in particular is one of my faves because I’ve even just been there to see a show, and they still take care of us and know who you are or remember who you are when I played there and stuff, and so that’s always a special place for me too for real.

n o s k c Ja s e k o t S SFL Music had the pleasure to speak with Jackson Stokes about his new self titled album as well as his start as a musician.

SFL Music: South. I think I’ve seen you before with Devon [Allman] at the Funky Biscuit in Boca.

Stokes: Oh, for sure, man. I love the Funky Biscuit.

SFL Music: It’s a great little room. I’m about 10 miles from it.

Stokes: Oh, awesome. Oh, perfect, like Hollywood or something like that?

SFL Music: North. Boynton Beach.

Stokes: North. Cool. Awesome. I’m better at it since I’ve toured there a couple times. I know a lot of the cities, but I’m still working on the Florida geography. It’s a whole thing, you know what I mean?

SFL Music: East coast, west coast, because you’re from St. Louis, correct?

Stokes: Yeah, I always say I’m smack dab in the middle. It’s kind of funny because ironically, I was one of the only people growing up who hadn’t been to Florida a lot for most of my life, and then when I started touring, I’ve luckily been there lots now. It’s become really familiar, and I love it a lot.

SFL Music: And usually, folks from your neck of the woods usually go to the west coast, like Tampa, Sarasota. It’s like 75 goes to the west coast, and 95 goes to the east coast.

Stokes: Well, I mean, I’m trying to make it as south as possible.

Give me some nice white pants and a linen suit or something like that.

SFL Music: There you go. A nice fedora.

44 | www.SFLMusic.com

SFL Music: No, not at all. Not at all. I’ve got a few questions, and I’m kind of going to go in a chronological order. My first one is how did you find out at 11 that Devon was your neighbor?

Stokes: It’s kind of funny. My dad, and this will kind of clear up something too is I started playing guitar independently just on my own, which makes the story kind of weirder that a lot of people don’t know because some people will be like, “Oh, well you knew Devon was there, and you started playing guitar.” And it’s like no, I was already playing to Allman Brothers records and Skynyrd and Zeppelin and stuff like that because my dad was a big lover, or is a big lover, of music, and he’s a kind of “I know all the neighbors” guy. He knows everyone and was always helpful around the neighborhood, and he honestly just said, “Hey, Devon across the street, he’s a musician, and he’s playing. You should really go talk to him and look for some tips and advice.” And my dad knew, but he doesn’t make a big deal about celebrity or things like that, so lo and behold, I just went over there as an excited 11-year-old and just knocked on the door. And now looking back on it, it’s really funny because from Devon’s point of view, however old he was, 27, he just opened the door, and there’s this 11-year-old child with a guitar unprompted. And I just remember he was like, “Why don’t you play me a little bit?” and kind of saw I was someone that was into it a little more than just your regular person who has a guitar, and I was ready to learn, and so it was pretty much my dad’s suggestion.

SFL Music: But he kind of presented it like, “He’s a musician.” He didn’t really go into him being Gregg’s son.

Stokes: Yeah, not really. He was just like, “He’s playing around town,” or whatever. And he might’ve mentioned it, but I remember that wasn’t the big deal about it. It was just, “He plays around town and stuff in his band,” and things like that because I remember going over there even before that when I was really young.

And Devon and I guess some of his band mates were out on the front porch. And my dad came over and was like, “Here, I’ll give you guys a couple of beers if you want to play a song or something.” And that was actually my first memory of Devon that I haven’t thought about in forever until just now. That was probably when I was seven or eight even before music or anything, so that to me it was just like, “Oh, there’s a guy who plays guitar next door,” but then kind of came full circle and keeps coming fuller circle, I guess I could say, throughout my life. But it was mainly my dad.

SFL Music: That must have taken some nerve at 11 years old to just grab your guitar and walk across the street and knock on the door.

Stokes: It’s blissful ignorance, I guess. That’s how I would put it on, which is funny because now that it’s 2019, and I’m older, no one would ever do that. No one would ever do that but when it’s, I guess, 2003, and you’re young, and you’re excited, I guess it made sense, but I think I was more nervous to show him songs and stuff later. I definitely got nervous about that for sure, but I remember just the first time just being bright-eyed and bushytailed.

SFL Music: That’s awesome. I read that you said that Lynyrd Skynyrd was the first concert you went to.

Stokes: Yeah. I mean, I went to stuff kind of growing up, but I

Storm Large

Musician, actor, playwright, and author Storm Large, shot to national prominence as a contestant on the CBS show Rock Star: Supernova, where she built a fan base that continues to follow her around the world. Storm debuted with the band Pink Martini in 2011, singing four sold-out concerts with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center and continues to tour internationally with the band and was featured on their album Get Happy.

Storm’s musical memoir, Crazy Enough, played to packed houses in an unprecedented 21-week sold-out run and the book was named Oprah’s Book of the Week.

NOVEMBER 15 Abdo New River Room

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Tony & Miles of Fastball

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like to say the first concert I consciously went to, was like, “Man, I want to go to this concert. Can we go?” And I got really, really into Lynyrd Skynyrd and kind of classic rock and used to listen to it on the way home from school.

And I would ask my mom, “Who is this? Who’s playing this?”

She’d always be like, “Oh my God, who is it? It’s Foreigner from ... “ whatever, Foreigner, Zeppelin, or whatever. And so I would do that all the time, and I just got really obsessed with Lynyrd Skynyrd was the first sound that I really, really fell in love with.

And they were coming to St. Charles, and I wasn’t playing guitar yet. And I said, “Hey, mom and dad, I would love, love to go to this concert.” And we went, and the next day, no joke, I came home, and I was like, “I’m going to play guitar for real.” Because we had guitars. My brothers kind of played in punk rock bands and stuff, and then I just haven’t put it down yet. I’ve been very blessed that it’s taken me a lot of different places.

SFL Music: Wow. You had older siblings that were already playing guitar then?

Stokes: Yeah. I mean, I would say loosely. My brother sang in a ska band in high school and kind of strummed guitar for a couple songs, but I feel like the arts was very influential in my life growing up. My mom did costumes. My brother’s a professional filmmaker. We did theater, all that stuff, but there wasn’t a defined musician in the house, which is kind of funny too. And like I said, my brother could kind of sing or whatever, but it wasn’t anything that was crazily serious by any means. He quickly got into film in his high school years, and that kind of took it from there, but I had art and all that stuff around all the time. I was making sets or doing theater or doing band or something all my life.

SFL Music: Some part of the creative process.

Jackson Stokes: Yes, exactly.

SFL Music: Besides Skynyrd, who would you say, either just musically or as a guitarist, were some of your early influences?

Stokes: Early influences? I mean, I can’t not put Zeppelin in that. Zeppelin is probably my favorite rock band, so definitely Led Zeppelin and Jimmy Page, specifically guitar. And I remember being really encapsulated and still am with Muddy Waters.

That was like first all-around blues person that I was just like ... I mean, I love a lot of them, but as a songwriter and singer, Muddy Waters. And then I think guitar-wise early on, B.B. King was a big one for me. I’m trying to think of early on because later on, my answer is completely different in a good way, but definitely B.B. Albert King was really big. That was kind of one that was like, “Oh, that stuck out,” and obviously Hendrix. And so I mean, not crazily exciting answers. The usual goodness. Hendrix, B.B. King, Albert King.

I remember I really loved Al Di Meola. That was kind of the first technically virtuosic person that I was like, “I don’t know how he is doing this.” And I still don’t, really, but why try? I think kind of those, and then later on, I don’t know if this is too much to know, but later on, I really got into jazz. So my five favorite guitarists all around are Django Reinhardt, Albert King, Chet Atkins, Wes Montgomery, and then I mean, I don’t think any guitar player could not have Jimi Hendrix. You know what I mean? It’s just his, and so those are kind of my five now, but early on, big influences for me were definitely Zeppelin and Muddy Waters. And I think the first singer that I was absolutely entranced by was Marvin Gaye, and he still is my favorite singer of all time. Undoubtedly, I was just like, “If I could have anyone’s voice, I’d have his.”

46 | www.SFLMusic.com

SFL Music: He did have a phenomenal voice for sure.

Jackson Stokes: And he does everything with such ease, and it’s incredible.

SFL Music: And I read that you got your degree in music therapy.

Stokes: Yeah.

SFL Music: That must’ve been an interesting path, rather than just a straight up music degree. Tell me a little about that.

Stokes: Looking back on it, it’s the serendipitous kind of ... My parents wanted a backup career because like I said, one of my brothers went into politics. One of my brothers went into music, so it was all kind of fake-y careers, and I wanted to go into music. And I also really enjoyed helping people, and so we kind of decided on music therapy, and it was incredibly interesting. And I think, like you just pointed out, it shaped me in a lot of different ways that I didn’t expect, meaning, and I’m not dogging on music schools by any means, but if you’d go to a music school, you’re going to play in a practice room and play scales and really meet people.

There’s definitely stuff I probably could have learned more if I went there, but the coolest part about music therapy for me was I was still able to work on my music and do all kinds of things, have really professional jazz lessons and really stretch myself musically. But I also kind of had a more higher purpose and was able to gain life experience. I worked in hospice, which was totally my choice, and it just obviously gave me a lot to look at on what is life, and what do we live for, and how we do this all. And it also gave me good things to realize that because when you’re in college, and you’re young, you think the whole world revolves around this university and what class you’re going to next.

There is much more to this interview.

Keep reading online at www.SFLMusic.com

Doctor also features special guest appearances by guitarist Nick Schnebelen on the track Soul Doctor, The Bender Brass: Doug Woolverton (trumpet), and Mark Earley (baritone sax), and Al Ek on harmonica on Wrong Turn. Musician and Gulf Coast Records co-founder, Mike Zito also contributed guitar & slide on Wild Streak.

GULF COAST RECORDS RELEASES ‘SOUL DOCTOR’ BY SAXMAN JIMMY CARPENTER “I have been a Jimmy Carpenter fan for 20 years, from the first time I heard him play with Jimmy Thackery. He’s always been one of the premier sax players around. But Jimmy is also a stellar songwriter and singer. His voice is at its best on ‘Soul Doctor’, Jimmy’s best record to date. This album oozes cool and rocks hard with a classic sound that only Jimmy Carpenter can bring to the table.” — Mike Zito Gulf Coast Records has released Soul Doctor, the new studio album from saxophonist/singer-songwriter Jimmy Carpenter.

Jimmy was excited to be invited to record on Gulf Coast Records, founded by his long- time friend and frequent collaborator, Mike Zito, and new friend Guy Hale. Soul Doctor is Jimmy Carpenter’s fourth solo project, produced by Jimmy and recorded in Las Vegas at Nonebody Studio 1. Jimmy assembled a first-class group of musicians on Soul Doctor which features Jimmy Carpenter on saxophone and vocals, along with Cameron Tyler (drums/percussion/background vocals), Jason Langley (bass), Trevor Johnson (guitar), Chris Tofield (guitar/ background vocals), Red Young (keys), Carrie Stowers (background vocals), and Queen Aries (background vocals). Soul 48 | www.SFLMusic.com

Soul Doctor contains 10 songs, 7 of which are original compositions that Jimmy wrote or co-wrote. He successfully collaborated for the first time with Guy Hale (co-founder of Gulf Coast Records) on the tunes Soul Doctor and Wrong Turn.

Setting the tone for the album, the title track, Soul Doctor, is a straight-up blues with a soul twist on the chorus. Special guest Nick Schnebelen just happened to be in Las Vegas, and joined Jimmy in the studio for this tune, adding his guitar expertise to the track. When I Met You, originally written as a country bluegrass song, was revamped with a Memphis groove, complete with horns, soul guitar, and beautiful harmonies sung by Carrie Stowers, the inspiration for the song. Carrie also inspired Wild Streak, a blues shuffle which highlights Red Young on piano and Trevor Johnson and Mike Zito on contrasting rhythm guitars, and a great slide solo by Zito. Love It So Much, with it’s Bender Brass horns, funky guitar and organ, driving bass line and New Orleans 2nd line groove, is the perfect song to describe Jimmy’s love for Crescent City, and his continued internal conflict between being a road dog musician and having a “normal” home life. Need Your Love So Bad, by one of Jimmy’s favorite singers, Little Willie John, features Chris Tofield on guitar, and a beautiful, sultry tenor sax solo by Jimmy. Mike Zito once said to Jimmy, “Do you want to be right, or do you want to be happy?”

That question stuck with Jimmy, and was the inspiration behind the song Wanna Be Right. A Coasters classic, One Mint Julep, which Jimmy enjoyed performing for years with Walter Wolfman Washington and The Roadmasters, was re-worked as a funky instrumental. Based on a guitar lick that Jimmy wrote, Gulf Coast Records co-founder Guy Hale provided the lyrics for Wrong Turn, on which Jimmy plays guitar, with Trevor Johnson on slide throughout, and a wild harp solo by Mr. Al Ek. Next on Soul Doctor comes LoFi Roulette, a noir-ish vibe the band took as “lo-fi” as they could, with Chris Tofield contributing a

blistering guitar solo and spooky organ by Red Young. Finally, Includes: Todd Rundgren, Jason Scheff (Chicago), Jimmy has been a long-time fan of Muscle Shoals guitarist/ Micky (Monkees), Joey (Badfinger) & Christopher singer/songwriter EddieDolenz Hinton since they met in the early Mollard ’80s.

Hinton’s Yeah Man, with its positive, encouraging message, seemed to Jimmy to be the perfect way to end his upbeat and (mostly) happy album, Soul Doctor.

Jimmy Carpenter, saxophonist, singer-songwriter, and arranger, began his musical journey over 35 years ago. In the ‘80s, he toured the east coast with the renegade blues band, The Alka-Phonics, in the ’90s with the blues-rock band The Believers, with whom he learned about the music business. Over the years, Jimmy has toured internationally with Tinsley Ellis, Jimmy Thackery, Walter Wolfman Washington, Eric Lindell, and others. In 2012 Jimmy joined Mike Zito, his long-time friend and musical cohort, and recorded and toured as a member of Mike Zito and the Wheel. In addition to touring nationally & internationally, Jimmy has written, arranged and recorded the horns for many artists, and has gained a reputation as a master Blues, Rock-n-Roll and R&B saxophonist. Jimmy has also released three solo albums: Toiling in Obscurity, (2008); Walk Away (Vizztone 2014), and Jimmy Carpenter Plays the Blues (Vizztone 2017). After many years in New Orleans, he currently lives in Las Vegas with his partner in crime and musical inspiration, Ms. Carrie Stowers. In addition to leading his own band and playing with numerous others, he is the Musical Director for the Big Blues Bender, and leader of the Bender Brass, The Bender’s house band. He is the current president of the Las Vegas Blues Society, and in 2019 was nominated for a Blues Music Award, his fourth for Best Instrumentalist.

Cross

As you mentioned, Jeff, things have been, the last couple years, it’s been adjusting to a new world order. And, whether Al or Jeff could answer this, there were a number of projects that were left in various degrees of... none of them completed, of course, but in various degrees of progress. What’s going on with what in terms of looking at some of these things that Paul left behind.

Trans-Siberian Orchestra will be making their way across the country again this winter with the all new Christmas Eve and Other Stories. We had the pleasure to take part in a round table interview with TSO’s Al Pitrelli and Jeff Plate to talk about TSO’s upcoming winter tour. They will be coming to the BB&T Center on December 13th, Orlando’s Amway Center on December 14th, and Amalie Arena in Tampa on December 15th.

Bringing back Christmas Eve and Other Stories to do again, what was behind that decision? And what’s it going to be like to play it?

Jeff Plate: This is Jeff Plate answering this. Well, this is something that Paul had actually been talking about doing before we lost Paul a couple years ago. He realized that this story was probably the most significant one in our catalog. You know, Christmas Eve and Other Stories 50 | www.SFLMusic.com

was released in 1996, and that is really the CD that put us on the map. It has sold the best. We toured that story for the first 12 years of our touring existence, so this is what really made a mark with the fans all across the country. And it has always been a fan favorite, and a band favorite, I can personally say it’s my favorite story that we’ve done.

But, like I said, Paul had talked about doing this before we lost him and, over the past couple years, things have been tough. But, management, and Paul and their family decided that this was a very good time to bring this show back out. I think the popularity of the show in the first place is one thing, but over the past several years, our production has just grown tremendously and improved tremendously. So, this time when you see Christmas Eve and Other Stories, it’s going to be a completely different show.

Al Pitrelli: I think the first thing was like everybody, starting with Paul’s wife and his daughter, a loss like that so unexpected, they had to catch their breath and just deal with that. All of the projects that were kind of being talked about, and being looked at, and being demoed up and worked towards, over the last six to eight months or so, the family has definitely started the machine back up and running. We’ve been spending a lot of time back down in Tampa in the studio. And we’re looking at all these things and we’ve been recording a bunch of stuff, you know?

When you deal with a tragedy such as this, I mean you got to take care of the immediate business at hand, but the creative side of it, everybody just feels like there’s a huge hole still in our hearts.

And his family said, “Okay, well you know what? Paul wanted this to live forever, it’s going to live forever. Let’s continue working on the ideas for that to exist and just move forward.”

So, I don’t have a date, I don’t know exactly when anything will be released, but I’m just thrilled to death to be recording and to be working, and then just seeing

cians. We’re kind of creatures of habit. I mean, you get a chemistry like we have, you don’t really want to mess with it too much. So everybody who’s on that stage has been in the band for quite a while.

They all know what’s expected of them.

When the set lists went out a while back, everybody’s home diligently working on their parts to come in and represent the records exactly how they were.

like these news pieces come to life little by little.

Yeah, now you guys actually been talking about that you have all new production. It sounds like you’ve done a lot, you know, as far as updating the show from where it was when you last did Christmas Eve and Other Stories. I’m curious, you know, just how much of the stage and the lighting, the special effects, and how it’s all presented as different, and what went into designing the new show for Christmas Eve and Other Stories?

Jeff Plate: I would say Christmas Eve and Other Stories, this show was probably in the works sometime last year as every one of these tours. The planning for these and the designs are started way in advance. But, I think the last time we did Christmas Eve and Other Stories was in 2011, and we had a massive production at that point. But, now it’s certainly... it literally fills up the whole arena. You know, we have a stage that expands the width of the arena, plus there’s production all the way out past the front of the house.

The main differences, I would say, are the video. The video content that we’ve been using the past several years is really just it’s become so brilliant and fantastic, it just completely changes the dynamic of the show. Plus, the team that designs the...

Bryan Hartley, Elliot Saltzman, you know, all the people in video; have really just stepped it up over the past couple years.

And I think, literally, two years ago when we were doing The Ghosts of Christmas Eve, the design that Bryan Hartley came out with was just fantastic, and it took several steps beyond the year before and it’s kind of improved in those increments ever 52 | www.SFLMusic.com

since.

So this year, like I said, with the improvement of everything and plus the staff just really realizes we have to be as good as ever on this tour, and everybody’s just really stepped up their game.

Sounds good. That’s like the other thought I’m curious about. Knowing it’s been, like you say, eight years since Christmas Eve and Other Stories was brought out, I’m curious how the rehearsal process with the musicians and putting the music together, how that’s different from when you have a show that you’ve done the previous year, you know? It seemed like there’d be a changeover in some of the musicians and a good deal of re-learning going on.

Al Pitrelli: Hey, this is Al. Well, there hasn’t really been any change in musi-

The singers, they work with Danielle Sample and Paul’s family, his wife and his daughter, when it comes to the vocals.

Because they’re not just singing songs, they’re bringing these characters to life.

And one of the things that Paul always said was, if you do your job, the audience will hear the song and understand the story; but, if you really excel at your job, the audience will look at you as the character in the story, and that’s what’s paramount to these shows that we do.

We’re not just a rock band or a classical orchestra or a theatrical presentation of Paul’s work, we’re bringing these characters to life. So, everybody’s been digging in for a while, you know, doing their homework, learning the parts and examining the characters involved. We work, I don’t know, a couple months individually and in small ensemble groups musically. Like Jeff had said earlier, the crew has been working on this with the family for probably the better part of a year and a half.

Now, we’ll all get together I think in about three weeks or so with production rehearsals, and that’s when it really comes to life.

We’ll run the show about 40 or 50 times before the down beat of our first show.

Devon Allman kicks off Create Records with Jackson Stokes.

SFL Music: Please tell me all about your new label Create Records.

Devon Allman: It’s something that I’ve wanted to do for a long, long time. I’ve always been into the business aspect of the industry. Obviously, music is always the most important. But I saw a need for a label to nurture artists like they used to. Labels used to sign artists, back them, and stick with them for two, three, or four albums until they broke (into the mainstream). The label would believe in them and cheerlead them. They right producers and writers would be found. Now it seems that labels are only interested in how much money they can make off an artist right now.

But there are so many talented artists that aren’t ready today.

They need help. So the whole MO of the label is to help artists.

SFL Music: How long has Create Records been around?

Allman: It’s funny that you should ask me that because today we just released out first album. So the label was born today.

SFL Music: And today is October 25th, 2019. Congratulations.

Allman: Thank you. Our first artist is Jackson Stokes. He is awesome. He’s a great singer, songwriter, and guitar player. He’s a young cat and he was my neighbor for many years.

SFL Music: Yeah, isn’t there a funny story about him knock-

ing on your door to meet you?

Allman: I had a band at the time called Honeytribe based in St. Louis and we used to rehearse at my house before we had a record deal or an agent. We were still a local band. Jackson was just an 11-year-old kid that would come over and ask if he could watch us rehearse. He was just a kid and we thought he was adorable. Yeah, of course you can watch.

SFL Music: If it was a full grown man who just showed up, would you have treated him the same?

Allman: If Jackson was a full grown man, he would’ve had to be super cool and have the right kind of beer. (Laughs). But because it was a kid, we liked seeing him show an interest in music.

You just don’t say no to that. So he started coming in and watching the band. I gave him a guitar at one point. Over time, he kept getting better and better. Then he started playing in a band and sitting in with national artists when they came through St. Louis.

He would just put himself out there and it was great. Eventually, Jackson started writing songs and putting bands together. Finally, I decided we should try writing songs together. So our business relationship got fortified in 2016. Jackson co-wrote my Ride or Die album with me. That record came out Number One on the Billboard Blues chart. Then he joined my band. I took Jackson around the world and showed him the ropes.

SFL Music: Is Jackson still in the band?

Allman: No. Now I have Allman Betts Band with Dickey Betts son (Duane Betts). That’s my main thing right now. If we ever take time off of Allman Betts Band and I want to do some work with my own solo band, Jackson still has the gig. But for now we are focusing on Allman Betts Band and Jackson’s solo career.

We are extremely excited about Jackson’s record. It took us a couple years to get it all flushed out and done. I was very busy with my own career. I am thrilled that it’s out today. We love Jackson and we’re all rooting for him.

SFL Music: Besides Jackson, what other artists can we look forward to hearing from your label?

Allman: The second release will be out in January. It’s called The Slays. That’s me and Cody Dickinson from North Mississippi Allstars. It’s a really cool record where I get to do some different things, like more hard rock and an Eighties kind of vibe. I play synthesizer on that record. That’ll never be something that will go on tour. It’s just fun.

SFL Music: Yeah, I don’t expect to see a synthesizer with Allman Betts.

Allman: Oh, hell no.

SFL Music: Please tell me about the future of Create Records.

Allman: We are going to do an international search for our next signing. We’re going to have a lot of fun with it. We will encourage people to send in their best song or two. We’ll pick somebody and I’ll produce the record. Then I’ll take them on tour with us, so they can play for a thousand people a night. We’re gonna give them a shot. That is the whole idea behind Create Records.

South Florida music lovers can learn more at www.allmanbettsband.com and www.jacksonstokes.com.

54 | www.SFLMusic.com

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