Though you are only planning to play two of the covers on this list will you start learning all seven in advance of the shows?
Yes. We are preparing all of the tunes, which is a pretty big undertaking. I imagine as the voting kicks in and we get closer to the shows, we will have a better sense of what songs will win, but we are going to start learning all the songs. I might even vote.
This winter you will also be touring behind Galactic’s new release Ya Ka May. How many songs off that album do you plan to add into rotation?
So far we are playing two—some of the instrumentals. Cyril Neville is going to come on the road with us this tour to help with some of the vocal tracks as well. I think we will be playing around nine of the songs off Ya Ka May this time around. That hasn’t always been the case—we kind of think of our albums are separate from our live show and don’t always focus on figuring out how to play those songs live. We like our albums to have a different vibe with all these guests.
Are there any songs off Ya Ka May you don’t plan to plan this time around?
I think it might be hard for Cyril to get the vibe of some of the “bounce” songs so, of the 14, those are probably the ones we won’t play this time around. We are also going to have Corey Henry from Rebirth Brass Band with us this time around so it will be a packed stage with Tea Leaf. I’ve never been to Terminal 5 but at least the TLA is a big stage that should fit us all [laughter].
Terminal 5 is a big stage as well so I wouldn’t worry too much. Speaking of your setlist, since From the Corner to the Block is so focused on guest rappers how many of those songs live on in Galactic’s live set?
We still play some of the instrumentals. We are always trying to filter in new material and then draw from our past six albums. I’d say in any of our setlists half the show in what we are excited to play and the other half consists of tunes spread out from over the years.
It can be tough having a lot of different styles within a band but being an instrumental band allows you to do that a little easier. I’ve found that vocalists really dictate a band’s style, while we can sort of be an instrumental rhythm section with a little variety. I am not sure if being a variety pack is always a good thing—I like a band with a sound or a vibe—but we like to incorporate different concepts within our albums or even our tunes.
Speaking of concepts, Ya Ka May is billed as a New Orleans concept album that features a variety of Big Easy sounds. When did you first decide to go with that theme?
It was kind of funny. It was an album we were going to start before From the Corner to the Block. We kind of had the ideas to make a New Orleans album and a hip hop album since we first got together. As I said, we always saw ourselves as a rhythmic section that can collaborate—that’s how he first met Houseman. He played a few songs with us and it worked. In the 1990s, this British instrumental group Brand New Heavies made an album of songs with hip hop guys, and we decided that we should do that too—it just took us ten years [laughter]. So at first we decided to make a New Orleans album and then we thought about it and decided it was a better idea to do the hip hop project first. As soon after we finished touring behind From the Corner to the Block we went right back into the studio. We always are going into the studio—I’m off today but we are going into the studio this week to work on some other projects. We have our own studio so I kind of think of it as our day job or something. We’ll go in and work on songs whenever we are off the road—like for video games or other random ideas.
If I am correct, I think saxophonist Ben Ellman was the driving force behind Ya Ka May?
Ben has really become the studio guy. He learned Pro Tools and all these effects. We all have our own jobs in the band, and he’s become the producer. We’ve worked with outside producers but it is more gratifying to work with someone within the band. I’ve always felt that outside producers leave their own mark on an album and having Ben produce really captures the band as a whole. No one knows us as well as we know ourselves.
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