Do you have a wish list for the 25th anniversary shows or even the years ahead, for special guests?
Well one dream for me has been Pat Metheny. He’s always been my favorite artist. He’s a jazz guitarist and has been around for many, many years. He’s really done some amazing stuff.
That’s the only one that comes to mind right now. He’s been on the wish list for a long time but I don’t think we’re really worthy. I don’t think he’d do it because he’d hear us and be like, “Um…” [Laughs.]
I know you guys just collaborated with Rayland Baxter. He co-wrote one of your new tunes, “Gone Crooked,” and he jammed it with you guys during Hulaween. What was working with Rayland like?
Oh it was great. That song we did with him was just an incredibly perfect song. He’s a genius songwriter and I had been turned onto his album because Keith was writing with him. I just fell in love with that song, so it was so fun to get to play it with him.
One of the last things I kind of wanted to touch on is the band’s new song “Illegal,” which you spearheaded. Can you talk a little bit about the background of that one?
Well, I tend to get conspiracy-minded and I’ve long had this sensibility the middle-class is totally crushed these days. There’s just super rich people and super poor people and it all feels like it’s coming from the same point. The military industrial complex and the pharmaceutical industry is the same thing as the anti-weed campaign, is the same thing as keep everyone poor and so I kind of had this thought, “Will they make us illegal?”.
That’s the final statement, they just make it illegal to be straight up, normal people. And so then in the verses I outline all the different ways, or some of the different versions of how they make it hard to get along in daily life and how they keep us repressed. It’s kind of a light-hearted tune in itself. I try to keep the light-hearted feel of the song to keep that juxtaposition, except for the bridge where I get angry [Laughs].
You’re also singing lead vocals on it. Was that a different muscle for you to flex?
It unfortunately is a different muscle. There’s just too many songwriters in String Cheese Incident to get any time in. I have three other songs on String Cheese albums that I sing and I sing occasional covers, but it’s hard to initiate myself into the rotation when everyone wants to sing their songs. It gets tougher to get an outlet for my singing and songwriting but the band stays open-minded.
In a perfect world are you singing a few songs every night with Cheese?
I definitely noticed that when I’m supposed to sing my song, or a cover song, or “Illegal,” it definitely puts me more in the game and I know it’s how those guys feel. I would like to sing a song a night, maybe, but I don’t think that’s likely to happen and that’s my role.
I want to be a team player, I want what’s best for what we are without trying to necessarily rewire it because I want to make some statement. It’s been 25 years and I think it’s best that everyone does their thing they’re good at.
Lastly, any big plans for EOTO in the future?
Um, no big, shifting plans, I’m really enjoying the EOTO and Friends sets. We just did one with Marco Benevento and that was super fun and that’s really exciting for me. That’s always my goal: to be considered a musician by my peers. Because as a drummer… Often drummers can’t play other instruments so much, and now these incredible players are sitting in and I’m the guy making the rest of the music, and everyone’s enjoying themselves. It’s very satisfying.
2 Comments comments associated with this post
David
January 15, 2019 at 10:14 amPrivileged White Boy who is an anti semitic douche.
Michael Travis' Bigotry
January 15, 2019 at 7:31 amAn anti-semite in bed with the Koch brothers. This dude just comes across like a dunce.