You mentioned this weirdness about the WOO Warriors once opening for Deep Banana Blackout. They’re doing that Nov. 22. Will that be weird?
Durkin: We’re looking at it more like Deep Banana Blackout is closing for the WOO Warriors (laughs). My husband, Eric (Kalb) is still in Deep Banana Blackout, and he came out with us the last two shows and we were joking about that. What’s really cool is there is a lot of understanding from Bernie’s and Judie’s standpoint. Here’s this band that’s been traveling all over the country for the last three years, playing five nights a week and just humping 200 gigs per year-plus. I mean, Deep Banana Blackout is now selling out Irving Plaza so it’s a bit different than back then. We’re viewing this thing with Woo Warriors as special guests. The next two nights at Irving Plaza, Deep Banana will be with George Porter Jr., another legendary influence. The Meters were a gigantic influence on the band. It looks like it’s easier to understand now whereas a few years ago, it was strange. Now that they’re selling out Irving Plaza, it makes more sense.
It’s interesting that now I’m in the WOO Warriors and I was always the member of Deep Banana Blackout that was really all about the respect, always wanted to have people come and sit in with us, like (P-Funk/James Brown trombonist) Fred Wesley and (James Brown drummer) Clyde Stubblefield. I was always the one in the band that wanted 13-14 members, contrary to a good business plan.
This experience with Bernie is great in so many ways. His style, his humbleness. He doesn’t realize many times that people around him are going ga-ga that he’s there. People come up to him at gigs and want to take pictures with him and meet him. He’s like, ‘Don’t worship me,’ which I relate to. Sometimes the kids -backstage — and I say ‘kids’ because I’m probably 10 years older than most of the people who come out to Deep Banana shows — would look at me like I’m Chaka Khan or something. It’s heavy when they feel that way. But Bernie is the same as me. We’re both Aires, so I think it’s really totally kismet that we came together. It was supposed to happen for me, and it’s pretty unbelievable that I’m getting to do some of the music that influenced me. Bernie handpicked out of the huge library of P-Funk music tunes that are among my favorites. It’s very cosmic.
They do ‘Red Hot Mama.’ Do you know who wrote the lyrics to that song?
Durkin: I know. Judie. I dedicate that song to her now.
How do you get along with her? She’s a trip, isn’t she?
Durkin: She’s great. I really enjoy her. She goes to bat for all these people in the group and Bernie. She does the best to make sure they’re taken care of. They’re very lucky. Deep Banana Blackout has a road manager like that, E. He is the guy who gets everything done, ran the sound, drove the van, made the hotel reservations, got everybody their money for dinner, got the water for the band onstage. He does everything. To have someone like Judie in place is one of the most important things to make it on the road because it’s really tough. Imagine being in a nightclub five nights a week and most of the time everything you’re doing all day long is for that two-hour performance that night. You sleep in the van, wait onstage for soundcheck, load in, eat bar food in a cold, damp place that smells like shit when you walk in because the bar is empty from the night before when it was full of people smoking and drinking. It’s a hard life so to have someone like Judie organizing everything is of the ultimate importance. I appreciate aggressive women. She’s very forthright and I get along great with her.
How are the WOO Warriors different from and similar to Deep Banana Blackout?
Durkin: They’re different in that they’re not really horn-oriented, not solo-oriented. It’s very much oriented around what Bernie’s doing. He’s the leader and he’s so eclectic. He might whip into some crazy medley of tunes from ‘My Fair Lady,’ then go into a classical piece, then lay down some really funky, bluesy gospel kind of thing and then when he comes out of it, we’ve got to be ready to hit that next tune on the setlist. ‘Moon’ Reuben, the guitarist and musical director, is a really melodic and soulful guitarist. He plays beautiful stuff then turns around and does a rhythmically driving piece. Donna McPherson, the bassist, is one of the best bass players. She’s the unsung hero of the bass among all those New York kids, like Soulive. She’s incredibly good. Then Gary is just funky and groovin’. Those two are just heavy. Then there’s Greg Fitz who’s singing and playing a lot of horn parts and keyboard parts, beautifully weaving around stuff that’s just incredible and lot different from Deep Banana Blackout.
They’ve become this jam band. We used to have tight arrangements of songs and then we’d blast off into long, crazy, way-out solos, then slam back into the arrangement of the song. The WOO Warriors are putting across songs and letting Bernie be free to do what he wants to do. They’ll change up arrangements but they’re watching him all the time, whereas Deep Banana Blackout, the focus was on different people at different points of the night. Whoever’s soloing is driving the thing. With us, we’re always coming back to Bernie. It’s very different every night, but yet it’s tight.
The songs that you’ve been writing for your follow-up project to Deep Banana, will you record them with WOO Warriors or do you have another project in mind?
Durkin: I’m not bringing them music that’s finished. I might bring some lyrical ideas. The project I would use my own tunes would be the Jen Durkin Band. That will come along slowly because it’s not as much as a priority as the WOO Warriors right now. I’m not really that ready to record and really need to do more work in the writing process. I’ll put that stuff on hold for a couple of months and do a little work here and there with my husband. We’re working on stuff of our own for future use that I’m not really pushing right now because I want to see how things go with the WOO Warriors. I’m putting all my energy into the WOO Warriors. I’m excited about getting an education and experience as a composer and to be able to do this work with Bernie. I think anything I do in the future will be enriched because of that.
Comment on your relationship with Deep Banana Blackout. I understand you’ll sit with them at Irving.
Durkin: Yeah, I’m really excited about that. I have to tell you that I love Hope Clayburn. When I left the group, I thought it would be the perfect opportunity for someone to enrich their lives so much. She’s 25, never toured nationally before, is phenomenally talented and, like me, she’s a humble and respectful person. At the same time, she shines. She’s fantastic and has brought so much to the group. She has the kind of energy I had, really aggressive and pushing it, but at the same time, she’s got all this talent exploding on top of it. She plays the flute and sax. I’m looking forward to working with her onstage at Irving and in the future. I think she’s dynamite.
And, of course, I’m very close to my brother, Johnny, who’s the percussionist, and my husband, Eric. He’s been so supportive of me through this whole thing. He didn’t want me to leave the group, but he realized that I needed to grow. He’s been very supportive just as I’ve been supportive of him working with (John) Scofield.
Deep Banana also is enjoying the addition of Brian Smith, a trombone player who’s a phenomenally talented arranger and composer. He’s been playing in several different orchestras and has traveled Europe doing a lot of orchestral work. His ear and style are incredible. So I’m really looking forward to sitting in with Deep Banana Blackout. I’ve always loved playing with those guys and having a really good time. They’ve been very understanding and respectful and supportive of me doing what I need to do. They realized that they’re a tight enough unit to make it without me so kudos to them. They’re really hanging in there to make the best of this, and I’m so glad Hope has joined because she helps a lot. She’s a real attractive, positive person who’s going to bring even more people to the shows.
How often will you sit in with Deep Banana?
Durkin: It depends on whether they have gigs with the WOO Warriors. My priority right now is the WOO Warriors. I’m going to make the best out of this experience that I can.
It’ll be nice for me to gig a lot less because they have a lot less road time than Deep Banana. Being on the road is not all that conducive to writing new material. That’s the only negative comment I have about Deep Banana Blackout is that it was very hard to get off doing the covers and to get into writing more originals because we were on the road all the time. When we got home, nobody wanted to rehearse because they were exhausted. But now with the WOO Warriors, I’ll have more opportunity to write music. Bernie is very into writing new music.
You and Eric got married just as you were leaving Deep Banana this summer. How are things going with Eric now that you’re not Deep Banana?
Durkin: It’s been actually a good thing because it was causing problems constantly being together. We had no time to be individuals and to really sort of have a little space in the relationship. Now we feel wonderful because when we do come together, we appreciate the time we have together so much more. It’s a good combination of freedom, yet at the same time committing to each other. And there’s so many cool things that we can do together musically. We have a life-long chance to do great things musically. (Deep Banana guitarist) Fuzzy’s doing a side project made us realize that we can step out of this thing and do another project. It’s very liberating.
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Bob Makin is an entertainment writer with Gannett New Jersey.
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