JPG: Since I got a copy of your new album, I’ve only been able to listen to it a couple times…
ES: I forgive you. (laughs)
JPG: I made notes on “Locked In The House All Day” and I’m hearing echoes of Hendrix, Vaughan, Humble Pie and Cream.
ES: Sure! Wow! You really keyed it, man! Humble Pie, I got all those records from my dad when I was a little kid. What was the one I liked? “Rock On,” the triangle of cops and motorcycle cops on the front cover. “Stone Cold Fever”…Yeah, that’s all fair to say. All of those things. Absolutely! That’s all in my tank, yeah.
JPG: What’s nice is that it’s all there. It’s not specific. It’s just transitions from one to another.
ES: That’s right. That’s sort of like my house. “Locked In The House,” it’s a bit of a metaphor in certain ways, too. That’s one of the two co-writes on the record. I’m proud to say, my old songwriting partner Corky Laing, and I wrote that song together. He wrote “Mississippi Queen,” so you’re hearing little shades of Mountain in there, too. Although, he didn’t write any of the music, he wrote some of the lyrics with me.
What was the other one? “Lincoln’s Feat” is a co-write. I love “Locked In The House All Day.” Cody Dickinson plays drums on it. Cody is amazing on it.
JPG: I was going to bring that up. How are you buds with Cody Dickinson?
ES: I met Cody when Spin Doctors did a record with Jim [Dickinson] that never came out. We never finished it. We ended up doing Turn It Upside Down.
So, I’ve known Cody since then and his brother, Luther, too. I’ve always try to go see them when they played. Sometimes, they’ve invited me up in the past. We always said, “Hey, let’s do something.” It finally happened.
JPG: That album with Jim Dickinson. Is that something you guys would like to unearth some day?
ES: I was looking for it the other day, actually. I’m not sure where it is. I’m not sure how much of it exists. We put out a lot of the songs on subsequently different recorded versions of it but it sure would be worth listening to. I think we’re looking for it now. Aaron might have it.
It was an amazing time. We were using the engineer, John Hampton, who among other things mixed the Jimmie Vaughan/Stevie Ray Vaughan record that came out about the same time (“Family Style” by The Vaughan Brothers). We recorded it at Ardent Studios in Memphis.
JPG: I remember Jim worked with The Replacements on Pleased to Meet Me among many other things.
ES: He did that, yeah. That was my introduction into Jim. He did a lot of other stuff, too, like notably Toots in Memphis [by Toots Hibbert], my favorite Jim Dickinson record.
Cody is not different from his dad. He’s an extremely diverse and interesting artist. I love working with him. We work well together. He was out on the road with me.
JPG: Oh really? That’s great. The other thing I was wondering about in regards to your album, your residency at Grossman’s Tavern in Toronto. Did that affect the songs at all to make it live and basic?
ES: Oh, yeah. I’ve just been playing there for the last year-and-a-half and it’s had a large effect on my repertoire. This stuff that I’ve written, too, I’ve been able to work it out there. That happened with the Doctors. We did the exact same thing. We played in a little bar called Nightingale in New York forever. Well, it seemed like forever. It probably wasn’t forever. You played there forever on any night you played there because it was open so freakin’ late. (laughs) That’s a joke.
This place is like that too, man. This place has been around since…I think it’s 70 (Grossman’s Tavern has been open since 1943.) It’s an old place, and I love playing there. It’s had a huge effect. Having a weekly thing…I play with different guys on Wednesday, sometimes Shawn [Kellerman] plays with me. I got to play with some of the best drummers in Toronto that way, different guys every week. Work the crowd. Work the songs out. Expand my repertoire. Cover stuff I like, old blues stuff I like.
The venue is gutbucket enough that it keeps me tuned to…I keep one foot in the roots of the music just because of where I am. It serves a lot of different artistic and musical purposes. It’s been great. I’m still there. I haven’t gotten fired yet. Halleluiah!
JPG: Well, that’s a plus. That reminds me of that parental advice for someone going into the arts, “Have something you can fall back on.”
ES: My mom used to say that to me all the time.
JPG: And look where we’re at now.
ES: It’s what you do. That’s all.
JPG: Back to If the River was Whiskey, the song “Traction Blues” is heavy blues but with a groove and brings both elements of Spin Doctors together nicely. At the same time, the title track of Who Shot John? has a groove going on that made think it could be played by Spin Doctors as well as by you.
ES: We’re doing a new recording in the new year. So, we’ll write a bunch of stuff for that. We write really easily. That concept will, I’m sure, turn up. Sometimes, Chris has rewritten stuff that I already wrote. It just depends on how it works out. But, I’m confident that there’ll be some stuff that feels like that on this thing. It can’t help it.
JPG: Speaking of Chris, when I spoke to him, he mentioned about “maturity.” And obviously, that’s something that comes about over the years; things that seemed important when you’re younger aren’t as important and worth fighting about now or everyone handles matters better now than they did back then.
ES: I hear ya.
JPG: Is that the thing that happened when you reunited in 2001, that you matured and took things at a more casual pace? You’re not on the road for months and not forced to record a new album.
ES: It just got back to what it started as. We just needed it to do that. What started was grassroots, four guys, mostly three of us that write, getting excited about what you’re doing. When you feel good about what you’re doing, you do more, you try to push it.
That’s the nucleus of it. When you find a group that you can play with then there’s really no end to what you can investigate. You can look at stuff when you’re on your own, too, but 30 years playing with somebody on and off, that’s…you can’t just go to a machine and put in a quarter and get that. For me I value that. It’s like this old ensemble. You run an idea through that thing (slight laugh) it’s going to be interesting. It’s kind of a love affair at this point.
JPG: The original release date for Who Shot John? was Oct. 26 but now it’s Jan. 11, correct?
ES: Yes, the release date is Jan. 11. It went through a couple of release dates because, initially, I was going to Cody [Dickinson’s] and Van [Romaine’s} places doing guitar and drum tracks. I wasn’t even thinking about making a record. Then, as the year wore on, it turned into this and I was like, “Wow! I really got some stuff here.” What started as a super indie late October release turned into gathering some good press on the four of us together or as a trio or a combination of…
Then, my buddy Rosy (Richard “Rosy” Rosenblatt, found and President) at VizzTone [label group] and Bob Margolin (blues guitarist, found and Chief A&R at VizzTone) picked it up. So, now it’s coming out on that small blues label from Boston. It’s interesting because I’m from Boston. And they’re associated with Redeye Distribution. Suddenly, it had distribution and there was reason to wait until January. That was the distribution company’s call. They felt more advance time would be better. I can’t really fault that because it seems logical to me that in this new business, whatever it is, the more lead time the better because as soon as the thing happens you’re looking at in the rearview mirror.
I’m psyched for the next couple months. I get to do this thing with the Docs and also ramp up my thing. Book some gigs in early February for record release and get the word out.
JPG: You mentioned recording with the rest of the Spin Doctors, is that going to be in January or at some point after promoting your solo album?
ES: January, February, March, right in there. Look for something out in the summer, I would think.
JPG: Wow! You guys are quick.
ES: We’re quick. I’m telling you, man…Not too quick. (laughs)
JPG: Yeah, the last studio album came out in 2013 so…
ES: Yeah, quick like a turtle. Quick like a fast turtle. (laughs)
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