I’d like to pivot a little bit and talk about Widespread. You guys just passed the twenty-year anniversary of Panic in the Streets. What do you remember most from that day?

I’ll never forget, I think we were right outside the 40 Watt Club. I just remember sitting on the street and the weather holding out—I remember that was a big deal. It was like 100% chance of rain, thunderstorms and everything and it just held on, it didn’t rain or anything. That was kind of serendipitous. And I just remember all the guys and Mikey and all the gang sitting around. It was just a big day for those guys, you know? They were literally a block away from where they played for only like twenty people in 1985 or whatever, and to see them literally standing on that same street, I felt really happy for them and I definitely remember the whole weather thing. I was like how lucky it was that it didn’t thunderstorm the whole day.

When I interviewed Schools about it, he said he never listens back to that show. Have you ever listened back on it?

I have not, no. I think we brought in a lot of new songs that day if I remember correctly, but I just don’t remember. But I think there were like a lot of songs that we debuted at that gig.

I know you guys played “One Arm Steve” for the first time at that show, which is an interesting song for you…

Yes, we debuted “One Arm Steve” and I think maybe “All Time Low” and a couple others. “One Arm Steve” was the doorman at the Georgia Theater, which is right down the street and it was my first gig. So the “picture on the wall,” the poster, didn’t have me in it and when I went to get in the gig, Steve wouldn’t let me in the door and he threw me out of the gig. You know, we didn’t have cell phones or nothing; I had no way to get in. So that’s what that song’s about. So yes, it all tied together and was a good place to debut that song.

I’d also like to ask about WSP’s new touring format: less days on the road, more multiple night runs. Are you happy with the way things are right now? Do you think it’s a really good format for you guys?

Yeah you know, when I look at the calendar now, I just kind of see one big square, so everything just kind of fits into that. I look at the schedule now and we just did Wanee, which is such a great festival; it’s just everything a festival should be. And then we got Lockn’ coming up, which— same thing, I just love that festival and we started a new one called Trondossa. The schedule just gets me so excited, I’m just psyched for every gig. It’s just great.

Can you talk a bit about how Trondossa came about?

I think one of the guys just kind of suggested the name on an email and everybody was just like, “That’s great.” There’s something about the word. It just makes you feel good to say it. For me, it just conjures up that there’s more out there than meets the senses and that’s what Col. Bruce tapped into. I don’t think anybody ever made a stronger case that I know. But there’s just more out there than we see or can touch. There’s something beyond our senses. I’ve never met anyone who’s tapped into that more than Bruce.

Can you share your thoughts on his legacy or a memorable personal moment with him?

Well, there’s so many, of course he guessed my birthday. About a million people could probably tell that story. Oh, there’s so many. I remember his recordings with CeDell Davis, I think that stands out more than anything. We came to Fat Possum Records in Mississippi and did a record with CeDell Davis and I think Oteil Burbridge and Jeff Sipe came over for that. Seeing Bruce and CeDell together, yeah that definitely took me to another world.

The thing about Bruce is especially, down here in Georgia and stuff is there’s just a big hole, things just aren’t the same, for me. Everything’s just different. And we’ll just have to see how it plays out. Things are definitely different; the world will never be the same. It’s a huge loss. I just loved the guy so much, it’s hard to answer that— what the future holds, I don’t know.

He’s like John Perry Barlow. He’s on a higher plane now.

Well yeah, it’s a universal kind of thing. He’s connected and we’re all connected to each other, we’re connected to the music and I think Bruce is just a huge part of that connection. There’s just more out there than we know or can see.

The last thing I wanted to talk to you about is I saw some pictures of you guys in the studio with John Keane, which kind of points to a new Widespread release. Is there anything you can say about upcoming studio work from you guys?

Well, if there’re pictures of us with John Keane then we were definitely with John Keane. [Laughter.] Yeah, we went in but there are no plans for a release or anything that I know of. But we’re writing and then, just last weekend ideas were flung like, “Hey I got this song” or “I got this idea.” You know, just free-flowing ideas and it’s been really great, but ideas are definitely flowing around, I can tell you that.

Pages:« Previous Page