Galactic and Tea Leaf Green are no strangers to collaboration. The two groups have shared many festival marquees, jammed onstage and even spent a few days touring Florida together. So when the members of Galactic saw that Tea Leaf Green was scheduled to open their shows at Philadelphia’s TLA (2/4) and New York’s Terminal 5 (2/5), they decided to do something special: For the first time fans will be able to vote on which songs the two groups perform together. The Throw-down Request Live campaign features a pool of six classic covers— “Don’t Do It” (The Band), “Starman” (David Bowie), “I Want You Back” (Jackson 5), “So Lonely” (The Police). “Can’t You Hear Me Knockin‘” (The Rolling Stones) and “You Can Make It If You Try” (Sly & The Family Stone). The top two covers will be played live next month (the groups will play one song in Philadelphia and another song in New York). Below, Galactic bassist Robert Mercurio and Tea Leaf Green guitarist Josh Clarke discuss the origin of Throw-down Request Live, their upcoming tour and their latest batches of songs.
PART I: GALACTIC’S ROBERT MERCURIO
Photo by Kim Panzitta
Let’s start by talking about your upcoming shows with Tea Leaf Green. In addition to opening a few dates, all the members of Tea Leaf Green are going to join Galactic onstage for a few fan-selected covers. What initially inspired this idea?
It was really just a fun idea. We’d done a bunch of dates with Tea Leaf Green before, and we knew we wanted them to sit in with us. They also toured Florida with us once after Jam Cruise. So we wanted to turn it into something a little more fun and unpredictable on our part and their part. It will be really interesting to see what they play.
How did you come up with this particular selection of covers?
Both bands came up with some ideas and then we had a conference call to discuss them.
We were a little scared to put something completely random like a Cameo song because then everyone would automatically pick that song. So we tried to think of a mix of covers that would make sense for the two bands to play and that we could both learn. Galactic played most of these songs before—though I think Tea Leaf Green may have played one before.
I’ve always thought it was cool when a band did a spin the wheel show or a complete request show. I think Mike Doughty did a tour once where fans picked the songs they wanted to hear out of a hat. It is just really interesting to see what fans pick—we’ve never done anything like this before. Personally, I hope they vote for Michael Jackson.
Do you remember the first time you heard Tea Leaf Green’s music?
I believe the first time I heard them was on the boat [Jam Cruise]. It was in the room that they called the Zebra lounge this year. But the first time I really saw them was when they opened for us. They are a great band, and I haven’t even seen them with [new bassist] Reed Mathis. Reed and I are good friends, I’m sure he adds a good element to their music. He is just supper talented and blows away the idea of a traditional working bass player—from his time with Jacob Fred Jazz Odyssey he really learned to make himself into a lead instrumentalist, but not in an annoying way
Speaking of collaborations, Jam Cruise has placed a huge emphasis on collaboration—especially amongst New Orleans musicians.
It definitely feels like the cruise is shifting more towards New Orleans and funk bands these days. It feels to me like my high school reunion [laughter]. The Weather was not as good this year, but it was still a great time and great meeting of musicians. We are fortunate that they keep asking us back.
Though you are only planning to play two of the covers on this list will you start learning all seven in advance of the shows?
Yes. We are preparing all of the tunes, which is a pretty big undertaking. I imagine as the voting kicks in and we get closer to the shows, we will have a better sense of what songs will win, but we are going to start learning all the songs. I might even vote.
This winter you will also be touring behind Galactic’s new release Ya Ka May. How many songs off that album do you plan to add into rotation?
So far we are playing two—some of the instrumentals. Cyril Neville is going to come on the road with us this tour to help with some of the vocal tracks as well. I think we will be playing around nine of the songs off Ya Ka May this time around. That hasn’t always been the case—we kind of think of our albums are separate from our live show and don’t always focus on figuring out how to play those songs live. We like our albums to have a different vibe with all these guests.
Are there any songs off Ya Ka May you don’t plan to plan this time around?
I think it might be hard for Cyril to get the vibe of some of the “bounce” songs so, of the 14, those are probably the ones we won’t play this time around. We are also going to have Corey Henry from Rebirth Brass Band with us this time around so it will be a packed stage with Tea Leaf. I’ve never been to Terminal 5 but at least the TLA is a big stage that should fit us all [laughter].
Terminal 5 is a big stage as well so I wouldn’t worry too much. Speaking of your setlist, since From the Corner to the Block is so focused on guest rappers how many of those songs live on in Galactic’s live set?
We still play some of the instrumentals. We are always trying to filter in new material and then draw from our past six albums. I’d say in any of our setlists half the show in what we are excited to play and the other half consists of tunes spread out from over the years.
It can be tough having a lot of different styles within a band but being an instrumental band allows you to do that a little easier. I’ve found that vocalists really dictate a band’s style, while we can sort of be an instrumental rhythm section with a little variety. I am not sure if being a variety pack is always a good thing—I like a band with a sound or a vibe—but we like to incorporate different concepts within our albums or even our tunes.
Speaking of concepts, Ya Ka May is billed as a New Orleans concept album that features a variety of Big Easy sounds. When did you first decide to go with that theme?
It was kind of funny. It was an album we were going to start before From the Corner to the Block. We kind of had the ideas to make a New Orleans album and a hip hop album since we first got together. As I said, we always saw ourselves as a rhythmic section that can collaborate—that’s how he first met Houseman. He played a few songs with us and it worked. In the 1990s, this British instrumental group Brand New Heavies made an album of songs with hip hop guys, and we decided that we should do that too—it just took us ten years [laughter]. So at first we decided to make a New Orleans album and then we thought about it and decided it was a better idea to do the hip hop project first. As soon after we finished touring behind From the Corner to the Block we went right back into the studio. We always are going into the studio—I’m off today but we are going into the studio this week to work on some other projects. We have our own studio so I kind of think of it as our day job or something. We’ll go in and work on songs whenever we are off the road—like for video games or other random ideas.
If I am correct, I think saxophonist Ben Ellman was the driving force behind Ya Ka May?
Ben has really become the studio guy. He learned Pro Tools and all these effects. We all have our own jobs in the band, and he’s become the producer. We’ve worked with outside producers but it is more gratifying to work with someone within the band. I’ve always felt that outside producers leave their own mark on an album and having Ben produce really captures the band as a whole. No one knows us as well as we know ourselves.
PART II: TEA LEAF GREEN’S JOSH CLARK
Photo by Brad Kuntz
In a previous conversation Rob mentioned that you discussed possible cover selections on a conference call. When did you first discuss the possibility of collaborating?
About a mouth ago, Rob gave us a call and asked us if we were interested in doing this contest. We’ve toured with them and played with them a few times, but we’ve never done a planned sit-in on a tour before.
Rob also mentioned that the covers were chosen by the band members themselves. Do you remember which songs Tea Leaf Green specifically brought to the table?
David Bowie’s “Starman” and the Jackson 5’s “I Want You Back” were the big songs we brought to the table. We all love David Bowie, and [keyboardist Trevor Garrod] has a huge Ziggy Stardust obsession. That was actually the theme of our Halloween show. So we decided to indulge him by selecting that cover. I don’t want to sway the vote, but I hope the Jackson 5 song wins [laughter].
You mentioned that Tea Leaf Green has played with Galactic a number of times. Do you remember the first time you saw Galactic live?
The first time I saw Galactic was about 5 or 6 years ago. Tea Leaf Green was touring, and we drove down to New Orleans for Mardi Gras. We had this RV at the time and parked it a few blocks from Tipitina’s and camped out for a few days. Thankfully no one called the cops [laughter]. We were just all hanging out, and I cruised over to Tipitina’s and walked in. Galactic was playing its annual Mardi Gras show—which went to 5 or 6 in the morning.
The first time we played together was during this little tour of Florida we did a few years ago. We played in St. Petersburg and at the Revolution in Ft. Lauderdale, as well as a few other places. One night they asked me to sit in during set break. All my gear was already in our truck, so I went and grabbed it. Somehow my setting got knocked up to 10 on my amp, which is painfully loud. So when I plugged in and started playing you heard this huge noise. I looked over at [Galactic drummer Stanton Moore} and he was loving it [laughter].
How much time do you plan to spend rehearing these cover choices before your gigs in New York and Philadelphia?
We will learn them all while we are on the road—backstage or during soundcheck. Working on covers is actually pretty fun when you are on the road and keeps you energized. It is a nice project.
Speaking of learning new songs, Tea Leaf Green has been laying low the past few months. I trust you have some new material we will hear on the road?
We have a bunch of new songs we will play. We actually did a set of all new material in Santa Cruz, CA this past November. Some might be recorded and some might just exist in our live set. We are hoping to work some of them out this tour and give them some shape.
Given that you are a jamband that tours so much of the year, but are also known for your studio albums, have you found your new songs are better received after they appear on an album?
It definitely helps when our songs are on an album first. I think it mostly has to do with the lyrics, which people can hear more clearly on the album. Our songs are stories so it helps when people can follow them first and then they can dance and react immediately when they hear them live. It is hard to get into a song you don’t when you hear it live for the first time.
From a songwriting perspective, how have you found your recent series of acoustic Coffee Bean Brown shows have influenced the band’s songwriting process?
It helps with our dynamics and it also helps us live when we open for ourselves acoustically. When we start out soft we can immediately find our bottom and then we can increase the volume. That definitely helps when we get excited and let the energy lead you.
Finally, brining the conversation back to covers, of all the bands Tea Leaf Green has covered over the years which band has left the largest imprint on Tea Leaf Green’s songwriting?
Definitely the Beatles. They did more to shape rock than any band in history and are also the best songwriters. They’ve taught us about spacing and pacing in our songwriting and also taught us about solid storytelling. The Band also taught us about storytelling, and their songs are still loose and danceable—so maybe we will be covering one of their songs with Galactic.
