JPG: With the one that’s on the new album, “Bass,” is it pronounced ““Kay-dubalicious” like “K-Dub” and then…?
KW: Yeah, “Kay-dubalicious. K-Dub was kind of a nickname given to me a long time ago. Kinda short for KW, K-Dub. Add a little bit of “alicious” on the “K-Dub” to make “Kdubalicious”. And the project is a reggae, dub, funk type of thing too so it’s a fun joking name. There’s band names we come up with all the time, some of which never see the light of day, thankfully, ‘cause they’re so bad.
It’s a great little three-piece that I really love. I love playing with these guys — Jay Starling keys, Mark D on drums. Fantastic dudes to be around. And we think a lot alike and go to interesting places. As a three-piece it’s a lot of fun.
JPG: How did you hook up with these two?
KW: They live close by in the local proximity of Fredericksburg, Virginia. They’re both in my favorite local reggae band called the Transmitters. Jay Starling has been playing with me for years. We did a ‘Grunge grass’ project together, all grunge music done bluegrass (Starling was on dobro). We were in a band together called the Added Bonus, which was an acoustic thing with him on dobro and keys. So, Jay and I have played together a lot. Mark D’s just a fantastic reggae drummer who comes from a punk rock influence. Interesting vibe with his drumming. The three of us together, it’s a fun, airy, spacious project that I really love.
JPG: Usually when you think of reggae acts there’s the guitarist who plays that typical choppy rhythmic strumming. Why no guitarist in this outfit?
KW: Well, we weren’t going for a reggae idea. It just kind of happened that way. The idea of a three-piece with no guitar is something completely different from what I’ve ever done. And as I make records over and over again, I’m constantly looking for some way to change it up. It was a drastic change but at the same time my guitar style really revolves around the bassline. So I feel by listening to this record, even though I’m not playing guitar, you can still tell it’s me because my guitar style is very bassline oriented. So, it’s kinda easy for me to go there.
And the fact that it’s a reggae record and there’s no electric (he imitates the choppy reggae guitar strum) chick-chick-chick-chick, it wasn’t really the idea to do a reggae record plus it’s very rare that you hear reggae without that. And again, I’m trying to go for a whole different vibe. And Jay Starling on keys really does a good job laying down that reggae “chuck” over top of the bass. It’s just a different sounding record, which is what I’m going for.
JPG: Listening to this, where you exclusively play bass, and then thinking of your past material, it reminds me that it’s all extremely rhythmic oriented, even the vocal melodies.
KW: Thank you. It’s totally what I’m going for. I always love to create some kind of dance beat, even if it’s solo acoustic. I’m not intentionally doing it. That just how my style is, I guess. I’m happy to hear you notice that.
JPG: The other thing with Jay and Mark, are the tunes “Thinking Out Loud” and “High” an indication of where the three of you can go in a live situation?
KW: Right. We were in the studio, the three of us together. Even though we’re in different rooms, there’s glass between us so we can see. And a lot of the record, especially “Thinking Out Loud,” is very live. You can tell at the end ‘cause we weren’t really sure where we’re gonna stop. And, ah….what was the question?
JPG: Just that most of Bass sounds like studio tracks, no jamming on them. But those two tracks give an indication of what the three of you can do in a live setting if you choose to stretch out.
KW: Exactly. You’re exactly right. And the covers as well, “Hollywood Freaks” and the Morphine song called “Buena,” I wasn’t really planning on having covers on this record. Those are two songs that we play live. We were messing around in the studio and started playing ‘em and ended up keeping ‘em. We tried to do most of the record in three days, play each song a bunch of times and keep the best one. And that’s how it worked out.
JPG: I’m glad you did “Buena” because I’m a big Morphine fan.
KW: Thank you. Me too.
JPG: Was there any consideration to take it all the way and put together a two-string bass like Morphine’s Mark Sandman?
KW: No. No. Same with the Presidents of the United States of America. I’ve done a couple of their songs live as well and they use a two-string guitar, two-string bass, one-string bass, whatever… (laughs) but we’re just taking the arrangement, especially with “Buena.” That can be stretched out for 20 minutes with a couple of those chords done in a variety of ways. It’s fun to take songs like that and put your own twist on ‘em and turn them into crazy long epics.
JPG: The original version of Beck’s “Hollywood Freaks” sounded like a Parliament-Funkadelic track. Your interpretation of that song and “Buena” went in a polar opposite direction? They’re quite mellow in comparison rather than straight interpretations of songs that aren’t widely known.
KW: Well, I never go and try to do a cover exactly in the same way. It’s not like I sit down and listen to the record and then try to copy it. What happens is these songs get stuck in my head and without going back and listening to the original I just lay it down the way I’m interpreting it in my head. That’s definitely what’s happened. I didn’t have anything particularly in mind but what I get when I listen to it is sexy (slight laugh). It sounds like an open spacious sexy type of groove, not over-the-top in-your-face but relaxed groovy…a lot of places to go with the solos. Jay really loves those songs and talked me into keeping ‘em.
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