Since the late 70s, Canada's Powder Blues Band has
been vibrantly incorporating swing, blues, rock,
and R&B into a sound they proudly call their
own. They have endlessly toured Canada, the United
States and overseas, sharing a music that forces
people to smile and dance. The band has won both
Juno (Canadian Grammy) and Handy Awards. For over
35 years, leader Tom Lavin has been singing and
playing guitar as a living. He is credited for writing
the band's best-known songs. What definitely sets
the band apart from all the others is the joyous
horns of Dave Woodward (tenor sax) and Bill Clark
(trumpet).
Unlike their newest release which includes nothing
but swingin' big band style tunes, their live
set featured a variety of infectious rhythms.
The best way to describe their performance was
very tight and completely professional. They seemed
to naturally sense each others moves. The set
featured a complete retrospective of their career
which began in 1978. His long black hair and beard
from the 80s may long be gone but Tom's vocals
were as strong and clear as ever. His guitar work
was very slick yet kicking. The heavy bass of
Bill Runge, tingling ivories of Willie MacCalder
and solid drumming of Adam Drake were prominent
throughout and especially on "Oh Well Oh
Well". The band has been performing the song
for years and on this particular night, Fulson
was surely with them in spirit.
"Same
Old Blues" was a little slow-paced but the
trumpet, piano and guitar solos were phenomenal.
They returned to their second album and played
the title track, "Thirsty Ears". To
anyone who had listened to Canadian radio through
the 80s, the song was recognized instantaneously.
"He Knows The Rules" was given a boppin'
flavour as on the new disc. Most of the standing
room only crowd were singing, dancing and swaying
along to "Doin It Right". Overall, it
was an incredible display of precise musicianship
with songs played exuberantly by the long-time
performing band. If you are looking for a fun
blues party, catch them when they come to your
town.
Since I had
recently reviewed the band's new CD for Blues
On Stage, after seeing the band perform live,
I contacted Tom Lavin to arrange for an interview.
What follows is unedited and appears in its entirety.
What was
it like growing up in Chicago with the opportunity
to learn from the legends?
As a kid
growing up in Chicago, back in the early 50's,
I was lucky enough to have an aunt who was into
'counter-culture' music. When I was as young as
seven or eight, she used to take me to shows in
a little theatre at the University of Chicago
on the South Side to see the likes of Muddy Waters,
Willie Dixon, Lefty Dizz, Hound Dog Taylor, Southside
Johnnie Young, Otis Spann, James Cotton, Little
Walter and others. In those days blues was regarded
in the intellectual community as a form of 'folk'
music and in fact, it was, having come up with
the black farm workers turned assembly line help
from the Deep South after World War II.
I was also
a frequent visitor of the famed Chicago Maxwell
Street Market, an open-air affair that happened
every Sunday except in the winter on the near
Southwest Side. If you've seen the Blues Brother's
first movie, the scenes with Aretha Franklin and
Ray Charles are all shot right there. They had
everything there from hubcaps and watermelons
to watches and BBQ. Men selling the Black Muslim
magazine 'Elijah Speaks' and next to them men
selling 'Mojo' sacks you wear around your neck
to ward off evil spirits filled with John the
Conqueror root, aka John da Conkeroo. There were
lots of blues players who are considered legends
now that just sat out on the sidewalk with a guitar
case open to throw money into and the music went
on all day.
I remember
the first time I saw Buddy Guy and Junior Wells
at a dirt floor gymnasium concert at a college
up on the North Shore. I was about 15 at the time.
They set up in the middle of the floor and there
were bleachers all around. Junior and Buddy plugged
into two channels of the same guitar amp because
there was no PA and the bass player had his own
little rig. The drummer played with no microphones
and yet there was enough sound to fill the whole
hall. Buddy was wearing a leopard skin blazer
and when he soloed with one hand while he removed
his jacket and then switched to soloing with the
other hand while he took off the other sleeve,
never missing a note; I thought it was the coolest
thing I had ever seen. Right there I knew that's
what I wanted to do.
A couple of years later I was at Pepper's Lounge
on the South Side of Chicago watching the 43rd
Street Snipers, a young R&B outfit when Junior
walked in, dressed in an orchid ruffled shirt
and cummerbund, dragging a double barreled shotgun
by the barrel. It didn't get fired but I spent
the next ten minutes hiding in the John thinking
'what the hell am I doing here'. A couple of beers
and a few songs later I knew. I was there to hear
the blues and I figured it was likely I'd be doing
the same thing for the rest of my life. Things
were pretty rough and tumble back then in that
neighborhood but at least you could still go there.
I think I was about the last generation to be
able to hang out and see it first hand. The guys
doing that just before I was there were, Paul
Butterfield, Michael Bloomfield, Boz Skaggs, Steve
Miller, Corky Siegel, Jim Schwall and a few others.
But after Martin Luther King was shot, the whole
white/black blues thing went underground for over
ten years.
The first
real blues guy I ever played with in a band was
South Side Johnny Young. He was born in Mississippi
in 1918 and he played the blues on a mandolin
and that was pretty rare. He could also sing and
play guitar. He worked with Otis Spann, Big Walter
Horton, Sonny Boy Williamson and Muddy Waters
but he still had to drive cab to support himself.
Johnny was very kind to me and I always felt grateful
that he gave a green horn like I was at the time,
the chance to sit there and try to play with him.
He was a great teacher for phrasing and saying
a lot with a few notes, much like B.B. King. He
always said he was born to be a musician and hoped
that someday he would be able to make enough money
to buy his own house. He died in 1974, at 56 still
driving cab, still playing and still hoping.
What was
it that made you make a career change from filmmaking?
I showed
up at the Vancouver School of Art in September
of 1969 where I had been accepted into the film
school but by the time the program got under way
the government had cut back on funding and turned
it into an animation school; really pixillation,
Norman McClaren, TeleFilm Canada style. I had
no interest whatsoever in animation and I needed
a job so I got one playing drums with a B-3 player
at Isy Walter's Supper Club where they still had
Burlesque Girls, the kind with fans and boas and
tassels on strings that they would swing in circles.
The good ones could get those tassels going in
two directions at once. They had a 'cat-walk'
where the girls would strut out and take off someone's
glasses and breathe on them to get them all steamed
up and put them back on the guy. The shtick was
as old as Vaudeville and you played 'lunch show'
from noon to two then six more sets from eight
until two in the morning, six days a week, no
lunch show on Saturday. For that they paid $75
a man but it was plenty to live on and it gave
you lots of time to practice. I must've played
Satin Doll a thousand times.
How is
the blues music scene different now from when
the band first began playing in Vancouver's Gastown?
I first started
playing in Gastown with the Powder Blues in March
of 1978. It began as a four piece: piano, bass,
drums and me on guitar but I really wanted a horn
section. We kept trying different guys and finally
settled on a couple of tenor players and a baritone
sax man. We started by playing for the door and
as it was an Irish pub that no one went to in
the first place it was a challenge. But one thing
was for sure; whoever came in was definitely there
to hear us. We played six nights a weeks, four
sets a night and as the band got tighter and enlarged
it's repertoire, the crowds got bigger.
Within a
couple of months, we had a cover charge and folks
would line up in the rain. There was just no blues
at all in those days. From there we went half
a block down to the Savoy on the second floor
because it was bigger and could old more people.
Our goal was to work every night and we'd play
anywhere we could. I think it's a little different
now and there's a bunch of reasons. Baby boomers
are growing up so there's not as big a club crowd,
drinking and driving has cut down some on how
loaded folks want to get, there's 500 channels
on TV, a lot of the live venues have gone disco,
it's harder making a living playing so players
have to do something else and don't get as tight
an outfit as fast.
I don't really
know for sure what's different about the blues
scene now except that you can point to a number
of artists and say "What do you mean the
blues don't sell? Look at …." And just name
a bunch of blues stars. It wasn't like that back
then. I like to tell the story about in 1981 when
we were on the Capitol label and we'd just returned
from playing a tour in Texas with an unknown guitarist
named Stevie Ray Vaughn. We flew back to Toronto
from Houston to do the Juno awards and I said
to the Vice President of Capitol Canada, "Hey
Dean, I know where Jimmy Hendrix is. His name
is Stevie Ray Vaughn and he's living in Austin,
Texas and you should sign him to a record contract
right away." And Dean said "What does
he play?" And I replied, "He plays the
blues." And Dean answered, "Blues doesn't
sell."
Well John
Hammond Senior signed Stevie Ray to a contract
and the rest is history but my story goes on.
About seven years goes by and I run into Dean
again. I said "Hey Dean. Remember when I
told you about Stevie Ray Vaughn and you didn't
sign him? Well there's another guy that I think
could do the same thing and he's right here in
your town of Toronto." And Dean asked, "What's
his gimmick?" And I replied "He's blind
and he plays his guitar on his lap and he burns
like Jimi Hendrix." And Dean asked, "What
kind of music does he play?" And I said,
"Blues." And Dean said, "Blues
doesn't sell." And I said, "What about
Stevie Ray, what about George Thorogood?"
And Dean said, "Those guys are flukes. Blues
doesn't sell."
So you
tell me. What's changed?
Describe
what it was like to win a WC Handy award
Winning the
Handy was a real honor as far as awards go. We
won for "Band of the Year [Foreign]",
the only time that award has ever been given to
a non-U.S. based band. The year before we won
it, it was given to Albert Collins and the year
after, to Robert Cray. Other recipients include
Buddy Guy, B.B. King, and Luther Allison so I
feel we're in real good company. What could be
better than to be lumped in with a bunch of your
own heroes?
It's been nearly three years since the last
release. What has the band been going through
since then?
Powder Blues
has never played less than 50 shows in any of
the last 23 years, sometimes doing as many as
300+ shows in a year. We've been around long enough
that we don't record until we feel there's something
else we have to say. Being 'free agents' musically
speaking, affords us the freedom to release what
we want, when we want. There's no record company
or 'star making machinery' that's on our case
telling us we have to 'put out more product'.
When we recorded
'Swingin the Blues' our latest release, we also
tracked another ten tunes. These were more blues/jazz
oriented and they will become our next release,
which probably won't come out until early in 2002.
At the moment, we're very motivated to get back
in the studio. It's not because we're have a quota
or a deadline; it's because the band is going
through a phase where all the players are really
jelling and there's a lot of personal musical
growth going on. We're slated to go back in the
studio and cut another ten tracks in late September
and then again at the end of this year so I figure
you'll be seeing Powder Blues new product for
some time to come.
Many instruments
are used on the CD. What challenges does that
pose in the recording studio?
I love the
sound of some of my records from the '50s and
I wanted to get that fat, warm sound for the Powder
Blues 'Swingin the Blues' CD. Most reviewers agree
that we've put out our very best sounding album
ever. The way we managed to do that is interesting.
We reverted to 1950's technology. By this I mean,
we recorded everything on analog tape and cut
the tape speed down to where it was in the '50's,
15 ips. We used old tube microphones, no noise
reduction and kept all other studio gear and processing
to an absolute minimum. Our rule of thumb was
"How little can we do between the instrument
and getting it on tape. In most cases we did nothing;
no EQ, no processing of any kind. The results
are plain to hear. I know it's the best thing
we've ever done, sonically speaking. You make
up your own mind and let me know what you think.
The new
disc is dedicated to world famous jazz pianist
Linton Garner. What kind of impact has he had
on you?
Linton is
the older brother of Errol Garner, the man who
wrote 'Misty'. Linton is not famous like his brother,
per se, but he's a star to me. He plays the opposite
of his brother who was quite technical and used
a great deal of flourish. Linton plays very sparsely
but he always plays the notes I want to hear.
I often sit for hours behind the piano watching
as he plays his gig at the restaurant. I have
him over for dinner every month or so and we listen
to music and he tells me stories about all the
guys he's played with. It really brings heroes
of mine that are long gone to life.
His first
major recording session was in 1946 and featured
then little known trumpeter named Miles Davis.
At other times he has played with Billy Eckstine,
Count Basie, Lester Young, Aretha Franklin and
others too numerous to mention. I learned a bunch
of stuff from him including how to swing solo
by keeping heavy internal time, how to re-voice
chords in the horn section to alter the color
and he's helped me when it's come to making decisions
on a mix; whether the vocal is too loud or soft.
I trust him because he has a fantastic ear and
because he's been around so much longer than the
rest of us and has an extraordinary amount of
experience to call upon.
Tore Down
features some fantastic guitar work. Describe
your obsession with Freddie King.
The first
Freddie King record I ever got was 'Freddie King
Sings' on King records. I played that thing until
there weren't any grooves left in it. That's where
I first heard 'Tore Down', Takin Care of Business,
If You Believe, Barkin' Up the Wrong Tree and
a bunch of other great tunes. I love Freddie's
playing and singing because he puts so much emotional
content into it. I believe every single note he
plays in his solos. It's as though he were singing
through his guitar. I aspire to that kind of soloing
ever time I pick up mine.
Another thing
I liked about Freddie King was that he moved with
the times without loosing his connection to the
blues. When he started doing some stuff with Leon
Russell and Don Nix around the seventies, recording
songs in a funky style like Goin Down and Big
Legged Woman in a Short, Short Mini Skirt, it
sounded up-to-the-minute but also retained that
legitimate, down-to-the-bone blues feel. Eric
Clapton says "Freddie King taught me how
to make love to my guitar." I think he said
it well.
Its unusual
for an established band like Powder Blues to release
a CD that is primarily made up of covers. How
did this come about and what were you trying to
achieve by this?
Actually,
I don't think it's unusual to release an album
of cover tunes if they're classics. There are
many examples of this but one of the best I can
think of is Eric Clapton's 'From the Cradle' CD
from 1994 which has only covers of the great blues
masters, including stuff by Willie Dixon [who
we played shows with], Lowell Fulson [who we recorded
an album with], and even 'Tore Down, Freddie King
style. Why we did our latest CD this way and,
I suspect, why Clapton did his is this; we've
played some of these tunes on stage for nearly
25 years and they've taken on a life of their
own.
The tunes
have given us so much pleasure, we feel it's only
right to share them with others [to say nothing
of all the requests we've had over the years to
record and release these tunes]. We achieve a
couple goals through this. First, we have the
opportunity to see where a tune has come from
and where we've taken it, in this way gaining
a better idea of where we've been and where we're
headed, musically. Second, as imitation is a sincere
form of flattery, it gives us a chance to pay
homage to those who've inspired us. Although we're
interested in coming up with original tunes, there
will undoubtedly be more 'covers' however obscure,
emerging from Powder Blues sessions in the future.
A few of the songs on Swingin have been hits
for Downchild. Are you not concerned about the
2 bands being compared to each other?
One tune
on our current CD has been a Canadian hit for
Downchild. That was the Big Joe Turner tune, 'Flip,
Flop and Fly' that they had out in 1973. Although
I heard the Downchild version [and I'm a big Downchild
fan to boot, always have been], I came on the
tune twice, honestly. First, no doubt the same
way Donnie and Hock discovered it; on a Big Joe
Turner record. Second, when we were on tour in
NYC in 1981, I saw Big Joe Turner sing it live
in a club just down the street from where we were
playing. That's when I made the decision to add
it to our repertoire.
Since the
song came out 28 years ago in Canada and since
it had never been a hit in the States [since Big
Joe in the 50's on black radio only], or Europe,
where most of our airplay is anyways, I had no
qualms about releasing it. As far as Powder Blues
and Downchild being compared, we used to do shows
together back in the early 80's that were billed
as 'Battle of the Blues Bands'. I even have a
copy of an editorial style cartoon showing Donnie
Walsh and me in a boxing ring with our guitars
strapped on, duking it out. That's just show biz
stuff dreamed up by overzealous management. Powder
Blues and Downchild are very dissimilar bands
as anybody who has heard us play will know. Although
we both use a horn section, Downchild is much
more rudimentary, shuffle style blues and we play
more rock and R and B in addition to swing and
shuffle. They also feature Donnie's harmonica
playing quite heavily and we have never had a
harmonica.
My fav
track is Rockchopper which you co-wrote with Albert
Collins. How did that come about?
Back when
the band had just formed, the first club we played
on a six night a week, four set a night basis
was the Spinning Wheel in the old part of Vancouver.
It gave us a chance to woodshed and get paid for
it and the long hours really tightened things
up. But sometimes we'd run short of material and
resort to jamming the blues. We started playing
this tune as an excuse for everybody in the band
to take a long solo. This served a couple of purposes.
It was fun to stretch out and take a few musical
chances, each guy spurring the other on and it
filled the bill for the lack of rehearsed material.
We used a
little melodic hook that nobody could quite put
his finger on the origin of at the time. I named
it the Rockchopper and put it on our debut album.
After it started selling well, I got a nice note
in the mail with a 45-rpm record from Albert Collins'
publisher. It said in so many words, "what
you guys are playing under the name 'The Rockchopper"
is basically "Frosty" by Albert Collins,
but because it's ninety percent you guys soloing,
we only want fifty percent of the publishing.
Just put Albert Collins' name on as co-writer
and send us the money."
After hearing
the record I realized we had inadvertently appropriated
the main lick and figured we owed Albert so we
listed him as co-writer and sent off the royalties
due. It was about a year later that I was going
through some real old 45's and I found this thing
by Gatemouth Brown that I think was called 'The
Supernatural'. It preceded the release of 'Frosty'
by several years and used the same damn lick.
I figured both Albert and us should be paying
royalties to Gate.
The band's
recent performance at BluesFest International
in London, ON was an incredible display of the
versatility of the band. It was interesting to
note that only a few tracks from the new CD were
part of the set and the sound was not so swing-based
as on the disc. How did you work out what the
band was going to play for the current tour?
We've been
recording since 1979 and we have nine albums out
[see 'Discography'
www.powderblues.net]. Fans that come and see
us all have different favorites so I don't think
it's fair to just play stuff from the new album,
as so many bands these days seem to do. We try
to give each era a bit of representation at a
concert and that way satisfy as many people as
we can. I also like to judge from the type of
crowd and their mood, what they might like to
hear. I vary the set from night to night according
to what I feel is going on out there, because
the bottom line to me is "If you give 'em
a good time and you have a good time then you're
bound to be asked back and that way good times
just keep on rolling."
What can
we expect musically from Powder Blues in the future?
Musically,
from Powder Blues, you can expect more of the
same and more different. As Thelonius Monk once
said, "Sometimes I play things I haven't
heard." The next CD out will have even more
horns than this one [sometimes up to 14 horns
on a track], and will venture a little more into
the jazz sort of thing, without losing the backbeat
that has always made the band so danceable. In
October we plan on cutting an 'all rock beat'
album, reprising some of our older material in
the new, more horns, big fidelity, style of 'Swingin
the Blues', and also introducing some numbers,
both original and cover that we've never recorded.
After that, there's plans for a Powder Blues meets
funky-beat, about which I'll say no more. Finally
next year, with those projects off our plates
we'll go back and write an original album just
in case anyone wants to know what's really on
our minds.
In the meantime
and between time, we plan on doing a whole lot
more touring both in Canada, the U.S. and over
in Europe again, since we haven't toured there
since the mid eighties. If you want us in your
town just get a hold of us. It's easy. Go to
www.powderblues.net and send us an email
or try tlavin@powderblues.net
and I'll answer it myself. I look forward to hearing
from every single one of you. Go ahead, make the
old man work.
For more
information on Powder Blues, contact: website:
www.powderblues.net
e-mail: tlavin@powderblues.net
CLICK
HERE
for recent CD Review.
This review is copyright © 2001 by Tim Holek,
and Blues On
Stage, all rights reserved. Copy, duplication
or download prohibited without written permission.
For permission to use this review please send
an E-mail
to Ray Stiles.
|
