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Interview: Greg Lake
Greg Lake first made his mark as a founding member of King Crimson, for which he was lead singer and bass player. During Lake’s tenure, King Crimson released their debut album In the Court of the Crimson King, which is regularly hailed as one of the pioneering works of progressive rock, and included “21st Century Schizoid Man” and the title track. When this original line-up broke up, Lake joined with Keith Emerson and Carl Palmer to form the prog rock supergroup Emerson, Lake & Palmer (often abbreviated ELP), which became one of top bands in the genre. ELP’s albums included Tarkus and Brain Salad Surgery, and their best known songs include “Lucky Man”, “From The Beginning”, and “Karn Evil 9″, all of which were written or co-written by Lake. ELP broke up in 1978, but reunited in the 1990′s and beyond, most recently for a one-off 40th anniversary concert in London in 2010.
Lake is currently on a solo tour called “Songs of a Lifetime”, in which he performs songs and tells stories about his life in music. The following interview took place on 4/24/12 as Lake was on his way to a gig in Alexandria, Virginia, and served as the basis for a preview article for his 5/17/12 concert in Ventura, California.
Photo: Lee Millward
Concert Review: Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the SB Bowl
Review of Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at the Santa Barbara Bowl, 5/5/12.
Concert Review: Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen
Review of Chris Hillman and Herb Pedersen at the Maverick Saloon, Santa Ynez, 4/25/12, with guest appearance by David Crosby.
Photos: Betty LaVette
Betty LaVette at Campbell Hall, UCSB, 4/22/12 (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Photos: Steve Aoki Coachella After Party
Steve Aoki and friends (DJ Bones, DJ Dan Oh, DJ Michael Woods, DJ Daniel LeDisko) Coachella After Party, 4/24/12, Dim Mak Studios, Hollywood. (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Photos: Los Lobos
Los Lobos at the Santa Barbara Bowl, 7/10/10. (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Photos: Seun Kuti
Seun Kuti & Egypt 80, Campbell Hall, UCSB, 4/16/12. (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Interview: Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman has been a professional musician for nearly fifty years, starting on bluegrass mandolin before he joined The Byrds, for which he played bass guitar and contributed vocals. You can hear him on hits including “Turn! Turn! Turn!”, “Eight Miles High”, and “So You Want To Be a Rock ‘N’ Roll Star”, which he co-wrote.
Hillman left The Byrds after their landmark album Sweetheart of the Rodeo, joining up with Gram Parson (who also played on that album) to form The Flying Burrito Brothers, whose classic debut album The Gilded Palace of Sin featured many songs that he wrote or co-wrote with Parsons. Hillman was also a key member of the band Manassas with Steven Stills, and had multiple country hits with the Desert Rose Band.
This phone interview took place on 4/11/12, and formed the basis of a preview article for his 4/25/12 show with Herb Pedersen at the Maverick Saloon as part of the Tales From the Tavern series. Incidentally, this interview was transcribed approximately eight miles high, on a flight between St. Louis and San Francisco.
Photos: Jonathan Davis Party
Jonathan Davis (Korn, J Devil) party, Dim Mak Studios, Hollywood, 4/9/12. (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Photos: Vans Warped Tour Pre-Party 2012
Vans Warped Tour Pre-Party, Club Nokia, Los Angeles, 3/29/12. (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Concert Review: Kronos Quartet
Review of Kronos Quartet, playing Music of Steve Reich, UC Santa Barbara, 4/12/12.
Photos: Kronos Quartet
The Kronos Quartet plays the Music of Steve Reich at Campbell Hall, UCSB, 4/12/12. (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Interview: Seun Kuti
Seun Kuti has inherited much from his father, the Afrobeat pioneer Fela Kuti: musical talent, charisma, a commanding stage presence, a burning desire for a better life for his Nigerian countrymen, and even his band Egypt 80. Along with the music of his brother Femi, which Seun heartily recommends, Seun (pronounced Shay-oon) is keeping Afrobeat – a rhythm-heavy, hypnotic mix of James Brown-style funk, jazz, Cuban and traditional West African music, featuring call-and-response vocals which are often about political topics – relevant in the 21st century. Seun’s second album, From Africa With Fury: Rise, was released last year, and he is currently touring the U.S., including an appearance at Coachella.
This interview, which was the basis of a preview article for his concert at UC Santa Barbara, was done by phone on 4/2/12. (photo credit: Kelechi Amadiobi)
Interview: Steve Diggle
Steve Diggle plays guitar, writes songs, and sometimes sings for The Buzzcocks, the hugely influential band from Manchester which produced the blueprint for pop punk. The Buzzcocks also jump-started the punk do-it-yourself ethos with their 1977 self-released Spiral Scratch EP, on which Diggle played bass guitar. The Buzzcocks’ notable songs include “Orgasm Addict”, “Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn’t've)”, “I Don’t Mind”, “Promises”, and “Harmony In The Head”. Their compilation Singles Going Steady is regularly ranked as one of the best punk rock albums of all time.
The Buzzcocks broke up in 1981, but re-united in the late 80′s and have been going strong ever since. Between performances at this year’s Coachella festival, they will be playing a few smaller gigs in California, including one in San Luis Obispo for which this interview served as the material for a preview article. I reached Diggle, who also released a solo album called Air Conditioning last year, at his home in London. The interview took place on 3/23/12. (Ian Rook photo)
Concert Review: Dave Stamey
Review of Dave Stamey, Tales From the Tavern, Maverick Saloon, Santa Ynez, 4/4/12.
Interview: Steve Reich
Steve Reich is a pioneering composer, who along with La Monte Young, Terry Riley, and Philip Glass is viewed as one of the most important figures in minimal music.
Reich’s early compositions “It’s Gonna Rain” (1965) and “Come Out” (1966) made use of tape loops which went out of phase with each other, an idea which he extended to live instrumentation with “Piano Phase” (1967) and “Violin Phase” (1967). He also explored the concept of “music as a gradual process” in pieces such as “Pendulum Music” (1968), in which microphones as pendula swing over a speaker, causing feedback.
His music took a new turn with “Drumming” (1971), inspired by a trip to Ghana. Steady pulse and rhythm became a dominant element of his compositions, including in the acclaimed “Music For 18 Musicians” (1976), widely viewed as one of his most important pieces.
Reich’s pieces began to incorporate themes from history and from his Jewish heritage with “Tehillim” (1981), which is the original Hebrew word for Psalms. Such themes continued with “Different Trains” (1988) which uses voices including those of Holocaust survivors, “The Cave” (1993) based on The Cave of the Patriarchs in Hebron which uses videos developed by his wife Beryl Korot, the opera “Three Tales” (1998-2002) about The Hindenberg, the nuclear tests at Bikini Atoll, and cloning, which also uses visuals by Korot, and “WTC 9/11″ (2010) which uses voices related to the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
Reich’s compositions have been highly influential in the world of classical music, and he has been called “America’s greatest living composer.” In the rock music world, his influence has been cited for artists including Brian Eno, King Crimson, The Residents, and Tortoise. Reich is currently working on a piece based on the music of Radiohead.
This interview was conducted by phone on 3/28/12.
Interview: Penelope Houston
Penelope Houston fronted the San Francisco punk band Avengers, whose “Pink Album”, consisting of recordings made in 1977-8 but not released until 1983, is often hailed as one of the best punk rock albums of all time. Avengers opened for the Sex Pistols at their final show. Houston re-emerged years later as a folk singer-songwriter, still retaining much of her punk attitude. Houston just released a new solo album called On Market Street, and a new Avengers compilation is coming out soon.
This interview was conducted by email, with answers received on 4/1/12. (Photo: Ethan Hill)
Photos: Robben Ford
Robben Ford and Jonathan McEuen at the Carpinteria Plaza Playhouse Theater, 3/17/12. (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Concert Review: Michael Smith and The Refugees
Review of Michael Smith and The Refugees, Tales From the Tavern, Maverick Saloon, Santa Ynez, 3/21/12.
Concert Review: George Clinton
Review of George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic, Majestic Ventura Theater, 3/20/12.
Interview: Bob Bert
Bob Bert was the drummer for two of the most notable bands from the American Underground: Sonic Youth (playing on the albums Confusion Is Sex, Sonic Death, and Bad Moon Rising) and Pussy Galore (playing on their recordings from Exile on Main St onwards). He has also drummed with Bewitched, Knoxville Girls, and The Chrome Cranks, the latter of which just released a cool new swamp/noise/punk/blues album called Ain’t No Lies In Blood. Bert answered the following questions by email, with answers received on 3/20/12.
Concert Review: Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan
Review of Tom Ball and Kenny Sultan at the Song Tree Concert Series, 3/10/12.
Interview: Kim Manning
Kim Manning is an electrifying, red-hot performer who has been singing vocals with George Clinton and Parliament / Funkadelic / The P-Funk All Stars for ten years. She has also worked with artists including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Snoop Dogg, and Sly Stone, and was “Peaches” on the first season of the reality TV show Flavor of Love. Manning just released a new album called Good People. She answered the following questions by email, with answers received on 3/12/12.
Concert Review: Michael McDonald
Review of Michael McDonald at the Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, 3/3/12.
Review: Hale Milgrim’s Quips and Clips Vol. 3
Review of Hale Milgrim’s Quips and Clips at the Lobero Theatre, Santa Barbara, 3/2/12.
Concert Review: Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks
Review of Stephen Malkmus and The Jicks at SOhO, Santa Barbara, 2/27/12.
Photos: Jake Shimabukuro
Jake Shimabukuro at the Carpinteria Plaza Playhouse Theater, 2/13/12. (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Concert Review: Robben Ford and the Yellowjackets
Review of Robben Ford and the Yellowjackets at the Lobero Theater, 2/17/12.
Interview: Robben Ford
Robben Ford has been playing guitar professionally for over four decades, and was ranked one of the Greatest 100 Guitarists of the 20th Century by Musician magazine. He has released multiple solo albums, helped launch the jazz fusion band Yellowjackets, and has worked with artists ranging from Joni Mitchell to Jimmy Witherspoon to Kiss to George Harrison to Miles Davis.
This phone interview took place on 2/15/12, and was the basis of a preview article for the Robben Ford and the Yellowjackets concert at the Lobero Theatre on 2/17/12.
Review: Music Documentaries at SBIFF
Review of several music documentaries at the 2012 Santa Barbara International Film Festival: Under African Skies, Family Band: The Cowsills Story, Music Man Murray, Rhino Resurrected, Tales From the Tavern, Cure For Pain: The Mark Sandman Story, plus an appreciation of the soundtrack to A Clockwork Orange
Concert Review: Richie Furay
Review of The Richie Furay Band at the Maverick Saloon, Santa Ynez, California, 2/1/12. This was part of the series Tales From the Tavern.
Photos: The Cowsills
Bob Cowsill and director Louise Palanker at the screening of Family Band: The Cowsills Story on 2/3/12 at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, plus the concert afterwards with Bob and John Cowsill at SOhO (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Photos: Steve Aoki
Steve Aoki at the Earl Warren Showgrounds, Santa Barbara, 1/20/12 (L. Paul Mann photos, copyrighted and all rights reserved)
Interview: Larkin Grimm
Larkin Grimm is a well-traveled, eclectic singer-songwriter in the “freak folk” genre. The Swans’ Michael Gira has described her as “the sound of the eternal mother and the wrath of all women”, and also said “her voice is like the passionate cry of a beast heard echoing across the mountains just after a tremendous thunder storm, when the air is alive with electricity.” Grimm’s fourth album Soul Retrieval, which was recorded with the help of famed T. Rex and David Bowie record producer Tony Visconti, will be released in February 2012.
Interview: Richie Furay
Richie Furay is best known for co-founding two notable bands: Buffalo Springfield, which is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and for which Furay was one of the primary songwriters along with Neil Young and Stephen Stills, and Poco, which is regarded as one of the pioneering bands of the country-rock genre. After leaving Poco in the early 1970′s, Furay was in the short-lived supergroup Souther-Hillman-Furay, and has since released several solo records. His song credits include “Kind Woman”, “A Child’s Claim To Fame”, “Hurry Up”, “Keep On Believin’”, “You Are The One”, and “Let’s Dance Tonight”. Furay answered these questions by email on 1/5/12, and this interview formed the basis of a preview article for his 2/1/12 performance at the Maverick Saloon in Santa Ynez, California.
Interview: Richard and Van Dyke Parks
Murray Gershenz, aka Music Man Murray, is passionate about music, and has spent over 70 years collecting, buying, and selling records. But the time has come to sell his collection, which numbers in the hundreds of thousands. The catch – he wants his collection to stay intact. It sounds like he’d settle for half a million dollars, a bargain for a collection valued in the millions.
Murray’s story is captured in the documentary film Music Man Murray, which premieres at this year’s Santa Barbara International Film Festival. This film was produced and directed by Richard Parks, with music by his father Van Dyke Parks, who has had his hand in many notable music releases over the last five decades. Richard and Van Dyke responded to the following questions by email on January 20 and 21, 2012.
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