JS: A recent press release said that you were planning on releasing a studio album. Can you tell me more about that?

RM: Most likely it’ll be recorded at the Galactic studio in New Orleans, we all live here so it’ll be an easy thing to accomplish. Hopefully we’re going to do it in the little pockets we have between the upcoming Galactic run.

JS: Are you guys each going to be contributing a song or so for the album?

RM: Yeah I could imagine that. Eric is a really prolific songwriter and there’s probably going to be a couple of covers and some Eric songs, so we’ll probably all collaborate on some stuff.

JS: So how often do you guys practice, or is it more of a “go up there and play” kind of thing?

RM: We got together one day last week before the Tipitina’s show on Friday night, we practiced for a few hours just so we knew what was going on. If you’re just winging it then it limits the ability to play some tunes. Some songs take a little more involvement and some more discussion and practicing. It was really great, people were saying “Man you guys sound like a band, like you play all the time!” It’s a good feeling to feel confident like that.

JS: A lot of the recent Galactic shows have been heavy on bringing out special guests. Are there any special guests you can see joining Dragon Smoke on these California and New Orleans shows?

RM: There always is, the other night we had people at Tipitina’s. I think it’s just the nature of a New Orleans band I think. People always seem to bring their instruments with them to New Orleans, and that’s a great thing. I think that transcends to New Orleans bands even on the road. I don’t really know any confirmed guests coming up, but like I said, there probably will be.

JS: It seems like Galactic has a pretty extensive tour ahead of you. Are there any shows you’re looking forward to in particular?

RM: Well, the Mardi Gras shows which we haven’t announced yet, those will be around the release of the album. I’m looking forward to the two nights at The Fillmore at the end, we’re also doing some dates with Steel Pulse in New York and Boston, which is going to be killer. When you’re on a big album tour like that it’s really exhilarating. It’s fun to have all that new material and new stuff going on, on a tour like that each night is really awesome.

JS: So sticking with Galactic, can you tell me about the songwriting process for Carnivale Electricos ? How was recording this album compared to previous ones?

RM: I mean it was pretty similar of a process in regards to the songwriting, we do a majority of the writing in the studio. We’ll record Stanton usually when he’s in town over a few day period, get a ton of him and we’ll write to his stuff. We all kind of contribute our parts and then we usually figure out the final direction of the song, whether we want to go instrumental or if anyone has a vocal part that will fit. Usually Stanton will come back and play along with it and we’ll add a more live element to it. That’s been kind of the process, it’s a little different then when we started but it’s facilitated to the point that we can compose a lot more and don’t all have to be in the studio together, which has become harder with everyone’s schedules and whatnot.

JS: Are there any tracks on the album that stand out the most to you? It seems like you guys have a lot of special guests sitting in, I didn’t even realize Mystikal was still making music.

RM: [laughter] Yeah, well he just got out of jail, he was there for five years or something. I really dig the Mystikal track, as well as the single “Hey Na Na” that we just put out. There’s also this Brazilian song called “Magalenha” which I think came out cool. I like the tracks with War Chief Juan Pardo, and then we wrote a final track called “Ash Wednesday Sunrise” which is kind of a more ballady song for us, it’s in the vein of a track we wrote years ago called “Quiet Please” it’s cool to revisit that vibe, we don’t do it very often. I thought that was a cool way to end the album.

JS: So tell me about your New Years Eve plans, it’s cool that you’re bringing out both Corey Glover and Corey Henry again.

RM: Yeah I love those guys. We just announced on the 30th that we’re playing as well, two nights at Tipitina’s. It’ll be great, I just played there on Friday night with Dragon Smoke and I just love playing that place. It’s so home to me, I feel so welcome and I know what to expect from everything, it’s definitely one of my favorite places to play. Being there on New Years Eve like we’ve done the past few years is such excellent. It’s a great set up, all our friends are there and we get to go home at night to see our families. It’s funny, Eric Lindell is actually opening up for us on New Years Eve, so I’m sure there will be some “Dragon Smoke-esque” moments that night.

JS: Do you guys have any special plans for the setlist that night? I saw Anders Osborne is going to be sitting in as well.

RM: Oh yeah, he’s going to be there too so there’s going to be some additions with tunes that he’s going to play with us. Corey Glover is coming in a day before so we’re doing a day of rehearsals so we’re going to whip up some new tunes and some intros that we’ve been working on. There’s going to be some new tunes for sure, and some special surprises.

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