When Hall & Oates were cranking out blue-eyed soul hits in the ‘70s and ‘80s, few would gave guessed that thirty years later guitarist/singer John Oates would have a second life on the jamband circuit. But thanks to a chance collaboration with moe. and a newfound friendship with the members of Umphrey’s McGee, one half of the most successful duo in pop history is now a recognizable face on the jamband festival circuit (his partner Daryl Hall is doing pretty well himself and continues to record with acts like Chromeo, Grace Potter and Guster for his web series). While aboard Jam Cruise alone, Oates sat in with Umphrey’s McGee, The Omega Moos, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe and a Sly Stone tribute featuring members of Dumpstaphunk, Soulive and other funk-scene staples. A few days into the cruise, the king of Yacht Rock sat down with Jambands.com to discuss his new friends, his blues group and his first experience on the high seas.
You are two days into Jam Cruise. Have you ever been on a cruise before and what is your initial reaction to the whole Jam Cruise experience?
No, I have never been on a cruise ship. The biggest boat I was on was a three-foot catamaran and I got sick as a dog. So I have been doing the Dramamine and it has been fucking with me [Laughter.] So someone gave me something called Bomana and it is much better!
While it may have surprised people that you were onboard Jam Cruise a few years ago, in the past 12 months you have become something of a staple on the scene. You played with both moe. and Umphrey’s McGee at the Belly Up near your hometown of Aspen, CO. You also joined Umphrey’s McGee at Mountain Jam. What was your initial introduction to the scene?
Well, I played with Drew Emmitt and some of the guys from Leftover Salmon—they are Colorado guys like me. And I have always enjoyed the freedom and spontaneity of that [scene]—especially since I come from more of a structured pop and R& B background. But, when I was a kid, I played a lot of folk music and a lot of folk/blues so I am also used to a much more organic kind of playing. That being said, I met moe. because my guitar tech. in the Hall & Oates band is their guitar tech. and he introduced us.
He asked me if I wanted to play with them or sit in with them [at the Belly Up in Aspen, CO] and I said, “Let’s give it a try” and we had a great time. And then, through the grapevine, the same thing happened with Umphrey’s. They came to Aspen, CO to play, and I happened to be in town. They invited me down to play and we really hit it off—my wife is from the Chicago area and they are from Chicago so we have a lot of people we know in common and a lot of things in common. I really just enjoyed playing with them, and I got to play with them again at Mountain Jam and, of course, last night on Jam Cruise. So it happened very organically.
The jamband scene dips into a several different worlds. Did you run into anyone aboard the ship you remember from another life?
I have played with the Nevilles a couple of times, and I have played with The Meters, just jamming with them. So there are couple of relationships. It’s funny…I played with Ivan [Neville] the other night on his Sly Stone tribute and it was really fun. He is incredible.
For someone like you who is from the more traditional pop world, what is it like to walk onstage and improvise? Is it scary?
I will tell you what, it is not scary but it keeps you on your toes. It makes you really be aware and listen closely. Not only are there usually a lot of people playing together onstage but there are a lot of notes. Everyone is really good and all these good players tend to play a lot of notes. And when you are stepping into their world you don’t want to step on the gas always—it is a little bit more about when are you going to take your foot off the gas and figure out where you really fit in and find a place that makes the groove cool. It is kind of a discipline thing. And playing in a good band my entire life with good players, I am used to listening and pride myself in being able to know my spots. It is an important aspect of it all—I am not a super virtuoso guitar ripper, I am more of a rhythm guitar player who accompanies myself on guitar. So I fit in and find my spots and just try to go for it.
Last night, you played the Umphrey’s McGee original “Booth Love” with them on Jam Cruise. Did you rehearse that song with them or on your own?
Luckily for me, that is the third time I played that song. The first time I played that song I had no clue and the second time I was holding on for dear life. And last night I knew the song. It is a whole different thing when you know the song. That is the foundation and then you can go somewhere else. So last night I really knew the song and could really play with Jake [Cinninger] and the guys. We came up with some cool little things that were totally spontaneous. That’s what happens when you actually learn a song [Laughter.]
You recently played a song called “American Man” that you wrote with an outside collaborator about a year ago. Can you tell us a bit about that number and what project it is for?
I wrote that song with Marcus Hummon. Marcus Hummon is a really interesting guy. He is a very spiritual, very smart man from South Africa who is living down in Nashville, TN. He has a great sense of rhythm and a lot of interesting time signatures. It’s just a really interesting song about a man looking back on all the stages of his life. We were trying to write a song about a man who lived to be 100. I resurrected it recently and started playing it again.
You are also working on a project with Jim Lauderdale. Can you talk about that album and what your role its concept?
The Jim Lauderdale project is his album, which he is recording in England with Nick Lowe’s band. Jim likes do different things: he will go from a gospel album to an R&B album to a blues album to a bluegrass album—and everything in-between. That’s just Jim, and I love that about him. He and I wrote two songs together, and I think we are just scratching the surface. I really enjoy him as a person, that’s the first step, and I really enjoying writing with him too.
As you mentioned before, you live in Aspen and have deep ties to the Colorado music community. What originally brought you out West?
Lifestyle and desperation. I was living back East and got divorced in the late ‘80s. I had a small condo in Colorado, which I had since the ‘70s. I grew up in Pennsylvania and I skied when I was a little kid. I loved skiing but it was really just a vacation thing. But when I got divorced, I decided I was going to change my life around so I sold everything I had, moved into my little condo and started over. I lived a full year without a car—I rode my bike and took the bus and re-structured and rebuilt my life. I said, “If I am going to start over I want to do it from scratch.” I met my current wife…we had a kid and built a house and there you go.
Despite all your projects, Hall & Oates still tours a fair bit each year. How much time do you try to devote to the band verses your solo outfits?
Daryl and I do 30-35 shows a year. This past year I did 100 shows though. I did 30-35 with Daryl and about 60-65 on my own—either solo or with my blues band. So I have been promoting an album called Mississippi Mile, that’s the album that came out last April, and I have a live album with my blues band coming out. We recorded it at the XM_Sirius studio in Washington, DC and that’s called The Bluesville Sessions. We are going to release it this February. It is a band within a band. I have been playing with the drummer and bass player for 12 or 13 years. The guitar player is new but used to play with those guys back in the day—we have an incestuous family—and the keyboard player is new to this band but played on the Mississippi Mile album. So there is a unit within a unit
In a recent issue of Relix, Daryl Hall made a strong case that Hall & Oates were one of the first independent-minded bands. For a pop artist like you, how important are radio and the major labels these days?
As you know, radio is much less important than it once was back in the day when we were cranking out our hits—and I am really happy about that. I don’t think any medium should dictate success for people, and that’s what I like about the jam-family. I like the fact that it exists totally outside the mainstream music world but yet you can be extremely successful, you can have a great life and a great career and you can do exactly what you love—and you can have an incredible fanbase that supports it. I don’t think there is any other musical genre that has it, honestly. The blues crowd is a little but like that but this is unique. I also love the cross-pollination, where everyone works with each other and does projects together.
One hallmark of the jamband scene that has helped all sorts of bands reach new audiences is the festival circuit. Has Hall & Oates thought of playing some of the bigger rock and jam fests this summer?
Daryl and I did Bumbershoot last year. Daryl did Bonnaroo with Chromeo two years ago, and I will be doing some of that with our solo band but I think we will be doing most of those festivals with our solo bands.
Now that children of the ‘70s and ‘80s have successful bands of their own, a whole new generation of musicians cite Hall & Oates as an influence. Did you ever expect that a young jamband would be playing your songs?
Ryan [Stasik] has a Hall and Oates koozie, which is funny in itself, but they were obviously fans—what surprised them about me is that I wanted to play other songs and they wanted to play the Hall & Oates stuff [Laughter.] When we are doing the [UM/New Deal ‘80s side project] Omega Moos stuff we are going to play some Hall & Oates songs but we aren’t just doing them exactly the same way. We are doing some different stuff too. I kind of feel like if I am going to play Hall & Oates songs, I want to play them with Daryl.
When Hall & Oates does play, do you consciously attempt to rework the songs or stick to the arrangements?
With Hall & Oates, we mostly stick to the arrangements—the catholic structures, in the most traditional use of the word. Occasionally we will stretch out an intro to a song or play with a few things but I think people want to hear the songs the way they remember them.
