Comments (Art the Dude
From
a grove in
Long-runnin’, hard tourin’ rock legends, Pat Simmons and Tom Johnston of
the Doobie Brothers, took time from their busy tour and lives to chat with Art
the Dude.
ATD: I understand that Pat Simmons Jr.
and Lara Johnston are following in their dads’ musical footsteps.
TOM: Yeah, a little bit.
Is Lara going to be at any shows with
the Doobies?
Tom: She is going to perform at Bruce's (Bruce Cohn/manager). That is
about the only time that has ever happened. Bruce has a yearly event at his
place up in
I saw Pat Jr., quite a few years’ back
on stage during a Doobies finale and the Strat he payed was nearly bigger than
he was.
Pat: (Laughs).
He still playing?
Pat: Yeah, he’s doing good. Playing good.
Is he touring a little with you guys?
Pat: Ahhh, he opens a few shows once in a while. I am not sure what the
situation is going to be like this summer.
Want to talk a little bit about the new
CD. What’s different? Wat’s the same and how many new tunes will be on it?
Tom: 13 or 14 songs will be on this release. It's kind of a departure,
too. And I say that in a real happy, good way, ‘cause I think it’s time that we
moved on down the road. But moving on down the road doesn’t mean that we are
gonna jump up and start rappin’,
I’ve written some things on keyboard this time, so that’s kind of a departure.
One is a completely Latin-sounding thing, but it’s also rock. It’s got a big
funky breakdown that almost gets into some James Brown thing … real funky. I’ve
got another song that kind of goes into the funk area if you will, but it’s a
shuffle, not an all out funk. It kind of has a “Towerish” feel to it.
ATD: Oh, got some horns on that one?
Tom: Big horn section in it. I’ve got a
Oh yes it is.
Tom: And I’ve got him playing on another tune I wrote, it’s kind of a
Jamaican island thing, but it’s kind of a funk version it’s not any way shape
or form a Reggae or Ska or anything like that. It’s an upbeat thing and it’s
about a little kid down there who possesses a second sight.
And there’s a rock and roll tune about people in our age bracket and
it’s called “Young Man’s Game” and basically it’s from the perspective of
somebody who has been in the business, doing it a long time.
Pat’s got five tunes on the CD. One he wrote with Willie (Nelson) and he
and Willie are singing on it.
ATD: Will we be hearing some of those
new tunes in concert?
Pat: We’ve been doing one tune off of the new album live on the tour.
We’ve kind of held back, because we know what people really want to hear when
they get there. Some familiarity. And we always choose stuff that people
wouldn’t normally hear from the band live just because we like to throw in
curve balls along the way.
(SPOIL ALERT) Which one are you doing
from the new album?
Pat: It’s called, “Back to the Chateau.” Which is about one of the first
places we ever played. In fact I think it was our first paying gig. It was
called the Chateau Liberte back then. They had a liquid light show and the
whole ballgame. Psychadelic club.
Tom, you just said that on your new
song “Young Man’s Game” you were looking at the industry through an established
musician’s point of view. And today we’ve got so many choices for music: CDs,
downoads, Myspace, Youtube, the web, AM/FM, Sirius and XM … all this stuff.
From a musician’s point of view, do you think it is a good thing to have some
many choices, or is that distracting?
Tom: Ah boy. I don’t think it matters what I think, because it is what is
it. It’s how you use it.
Pat: I think it works the same for both ends, you know, bands that are
established and bands that are up and coming. It enables you to pinpoint your
audience and your market - the people who you know are going to connect with your
music. You find the audience. And if you educate yourself to any degree you can find it. That makes it really fun.
It’s becoming more grass roots and more people-oriented, because of the ways
you can find the things that you like, and the interests that you have. You can
tap into that immediately. For older bands, for new bands, for any band it is
just a great way to connect with your audience.
How about from the perspective of
someone up and coming?
Tom: For someone up and coming, which has become a real hard thing, I
got to tell you right now. I’m close to it so I know. The whole landscape has
changed. (Whether) you are going to spend the money, which is not likely for
most up and coming people, on your own product, to make it … actually create
it, or if you are going to get involved with a record company which now days
has changed completely. There are only a couple of record companies that are
really strong enough in the market to make a difference. And the way they do
that is that they take a lot more of the stuff that you are going to be doing;
like touring for instance – they never used to touch that. Merchandising,
publishing, … every sector of you making money is touched by that record
company. And they don’t stick with artists anymore. You are either hot or you
are not. Whatever you do, if it doesn’t sell the first time out … here’s the
door. They don’t develop anyone anymore.
ATD: I want to ask you a little bit
about the creative process. Do you have a set routine? Music first? Lyrics?
Tom: Always music first. Lyrics to me are the most troublesome part of
writing. On a few songs once in a while, the light comes through and “bang” the
lyrics write themselves. That’s a happy day (laughs). You gotta figure it out.
Sometimes it’s a struggle and sometimes it’s a little easier. Whatever the
music brings to mind pretty much.
ATD: Tom your sound is traditionally
grounded in rock, blues and funk. And Pat you are a rocker, too but with more
acoustic and jazz influences. You have more intricate picking patterns, some
odd tunings and stylings. Yet you marry the two styles together to create your
signature sound. I really hear this on “Long Train ‘Runnin” where Tom has this
chunka-chunka rhythm going on and you have this open tuning, quasi thing going
on from the start…
Pat: Open “G”. I played in G minor, but if you strummed it open it would
have been a “G” major chord.
That type of collaboration is heard
throughout your music. Is that the main way it happens. Someone writes a song
and the other adds to it or vice versa? Or is there some collaboration from
concept?
Pat: Usually not from concept. The writer writes his tune and we go in
as we cut the tune and we work up our parts. On “Long Train Runnin’” a kind of
interesting little story. They were cutting the track and I didn’t have a part.
We worked on the arrangement and mainly my part at that time was just kind of
doing the same thing Tommy was doing. We were at Warner Brothers studios in
I tweaked around until I came up with the part. After they had cut the
track, I went up to Ted (Templeton, long-time Doobies producer), and I said,
“hey Ted I think I have this cool part,’ so I sat down and started playing the
part and he said, “get in there and let’s cut this right now.” I cut it right
on the spot into the track and that’s the part that ended up on the song.
Awesome. Speaking of “Long Train
‘Runnin’”, I play a little harp, and Tom, you did an excellent harp solo on the
“Long Train ‘Runnin’” record. Being a harp player, I have often wondered why
you don’t play that solo live - no disrespect to Mr. Russo who does a fantastic
job on that solo on sax in concert.
Tom: I haven’t played harp, probably since that era. I used to play harp
back then quite a bit, but I never went after it tooth and nail. I just played
on that song and I might have played it a few times.
One for the musicians trying to capture
your sound and feel. Tom I believe you use a Herco Flex 50 gold pick. You
handed me one back before the turn of the century (’98). Do you still play with
them.
Tom: I have been using those since 1970.
Pat?
Pat: What kind of pick? I make my own out of Dunlop picks. A .73 flat
pick that I marry up to a dobro thumb pick that I cut off and then fasten onto
my thumb using gaffer’s tape, you know, rock and roll tape. I have the ability
to flat pick and finger pick and do upstrokes, which is very had to do with a
dobro pick.
My favorite deep cut Tom Johnston song
is: “Dark eyed Cajun woman.” Any chance of hearing that on the 31st
here in
Tom: Not likely. We were playing that just recently too, but we did a
change up. We redid the first song we ever put out at the request of the
producer Ted (Templeton).
“Nobody”?
Tom: Yep! Kind of put a little different slant on it. Kind of a pickin’
part that John’s (McFee) doing over the top. We’re playing that in the set as
well.
(SPOIL
ALERT)
Pat: In fact we rerecorded that for this new project. Teddy suggested
it. It was the first tune that he ever produced and it was the first thing we
ever recorded as a band. Almost 40 years later, we rerecorded it. (laughs)
Kinda fun. The bass really pumps in. Originally you couldn’t even hear the
bass. The drums were kind of buried as well, so this one is more high fidelity.
But other than that, it is basically the same.
Pat, one of my favorite deep cut Pat
Simmons tunes is “Don’t stop to watch the wheels.” Could we hear that in
concert?
Pat: We haven’t done it for a while. We played it when Jeffrey (Baxter)
was in the band, and we played it again with John. John being such an ace, he
was able to cop my part for me so I could sing it. It was just a bear to sing
and play.
Tom: We are playing some
different tunes at the set end. We kind of change it up every now and again for
us as much as for anybody else. The live show is really kickin’, We’ve been out
with the Allmans. We’ll be playing some (shows) with Bad Company…
Pat: We’re pretty much rockin’ back-to-back. About the only tunes that
are mellower are “Blackwater” and “Nobody.” Rockin’ through the whole dang
thing this year.
Pat, I hear your name with a couple of
side projects every now and again. Is there anything you want to talk about
that you are doing?
Pat: I produced some tracks for this friend of mine in
Pat, you mentioned your wife, Cris,
Cristine Sommer Simmons, the author. I want to mention that she has a
children’s book out called “Patrick Wants to Ride,” and has a new,
pictorial/historical coffee table-type book coming out about early women
motorcycle pioneers entitled, "The American Motorcycle Girls,
1900-1950." (Amazon.com)
Pat: Yeah it’s really great. A great, great book.
I don’t know if you realize this or
not, but the Doobies have an
Pat: We did. He played some bass on the last album (too). I talk to him
all the time. John’s always busy doing stuff. I got plans on working with him
on some more. A great person and a super talent.
Well thanks for taking the time today.
I look forward to seeing you at Mesker. Keep on rockin’ down the highway!
Tom: You, too man.
Pat: Good talking to you. You take care. Look forward to seeing you out
there.
Catch the Doobie Brothers at Mesker
Ampitheatre on July 31st. And get ready for their new, as of yet
untitled, release next spring. And for the complete, unabridged version of the
Doobies interview, visit news4uonline.com.
Keep
rockin’, bluesin’ and countryin’
Art
the dude: artthedude.com OR Myspace.com/artthedudemusic
