Q&A With J Roddy Walston & The Business; Free MP3

Steve from J Roddy Walston & The Business (read a review of their latest, Hail Mega Boys, here) was kind enough to answer some questions for me at the end of their recent tour:

1) You guys are currently out on tour. What's the best/worst thing about road-dogging as a band?

We're fairly new to extended touring, so these may just end up being first impressions. I'm not the kind that gets homesick too easily, so I ended up missing privacy more than anything. You end up trying to grab snatches of quiet when you can. I'll take a walk whenever we have the time - I really like checking out new towns like that, and it gives me time to think or make phone calls or talk to myself or whatever. You'll never miss the ability to sit on your toilet and read a book like after you've been crapping in gas station bathrooms for a month.

But from watching the guys with girlfriends, keeping everything together back home when you're gone for weeks has gotta be one of the hardest thing for a touring musician. It'll put a strain on any relationship and once you're out on the road and hours away from home, all you can do is talk about it - endlessly.

2) It's clear from the new album [Hail Mega Boys, available now] that there is a lot of roots rock and rockabilly influence in the music. How does each of your personalities/creative influence manage to come out on record?

If you'd ever heard the band before Billy and I and joined, it was much quirkier and poppier - kind of like The Band on acid, or maybe Supertramp fronted by Harry Nilsson. Zach's been with Rod longer than anyone, so by now they can practically read each other's mind about where to place harmonies and how they should be sung. Surprisingly (unsurprisingly if you look at him) he's a total metalhead, though he still keeps a soft spot for shit like Imogen Heap. Billy tends to push the songs the hardest - he's the hardest to please, but his instincts are tried and true. He's a pretty hard rocker - lots of Guns and Roses and Motley Crue, but also tons of classic rock, especially Queen. I'm a pretty meat and potatoes guy - I just try to drive the songs as hard as they need to be driven, and keep everything solid and hanging together. I'm definitely from the Grohl school of playing drums, but I'm a huge Ringo fan along with all the drummers on Dylan's mid-60s records. Rod is kind of the ring-leader - he normally has some kind of vision for the song before we all sit down and he keeps everyone on task and optimistic. He's a huge fan of quirky songwriters like Nilsson, McCartney and Newman, but he's a big Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard and Buddy Holly fan, too. If the end result sounds like Bonham backing The Band - or Jerry Lee Lewis fronting The Band - then we're on the right path.

3) While the music is bright and generally raucous, the lyrics are sometimes quite melancholy. Do you guys try to make happy, danceable songs, or is there less a formula than a see-if-it-works mentality?

We just like writing stuff that's fun for us to work on and fun for us to play, and usually if you get that, it lends itself to being fun for the audience. The songs are definitely written with a "let's feel this out and see where it goes" approach. As for Rod's lyrics, I'm not sure what he's aiming for; though I will say that one of the underlying themes of the record is Rod's disillusionment with Baltimore and the rude shock to the system that it hit him with.

4) Hypothetical: You're down to your last twenty bucks amongst you on the road. You've got 1/8 of a tank of gas in the road wagon and 150 miles to the next show, and you're down to your last [insert favorite vice here]. Do you go the responsible route and gas up, or ride on fumes and restock the goodies?

Neither - we're converting our van to be able to run on vegetable oil this Fall, so we'd keep the twenty and put it towards a hotel room so we can avoid sleeping at so many dude crash pads. We're an incredibly boring band when it comes to vices.

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J Roddy Walston & The Business will be playing at Ottobar here in Baltimore on August 17th.

Download "Rock and Roll The Second" from Hail Mega Boys

This Weekend in Review: Jazz at the BMA, J Roddy Walston and The Business at Artscape

This weekend, Kristen and I had a fun (and music)-filled time. Saturday night was jazz in the sculpture garden at the Baltimore Museum of Art. We hadn't been to the BMA since a jazz performance from last year (maybe the year before) that was rained out, so with the wonderful weekend weather, we were able to hang out in the garden and listen to Dave Valentin along with Bill O'Connell and their Latin-flavored jazz project. Kristen's opinion of jazz is far lower than mine, as I love to listen to live jazz. A good performance (what I caught of it, as it was a more casual, conversational affair), with virtuosic flute performance and a smokin' show that would have had people dancing if they weren't so stuffy at the BMA. Not being well-versed in the language of jazz (I know what I like when I hear it, that's about it) I can only say that there was a flute solo that I swear came right out of "Locomotive Breath" by Jethro Tull. It came in following a Coltrane cover, so if anyone else heard that, please tell me so I know I'm not crazy. I'd love to check out the Lafayette Gilchrist performance on August 11.

More in line with my vocabulary, and my ear, was Artscape on Saturday afternoon. We missed Salim's set with The Music Lovers and Wendel Patrick, just catching Team Salim (hey, Salim, there's the name for your street team. . .you heard it here first!) as they were packing up shop and heading out. Maybe I'll have better luck and catch the set this Friday when the group opens up for Talib Kweli at Sonar.

A big highlight of Artscape for me was meeting up with my old friend Nicole (from high school!) and hanging out for the afternoon. I even got a 2-for-1 bonus when another friend, Jaime, called and I got to chat with her for a few minutes. These old friends go back to the halcyon days of Rehoboth as a teenager, and it really is special to catch up. I can only say that I wish (1) I had stayed better in touch, and (2) circumstances hadn't led me to make certain judgment calls that caused me to alienate myself from those friends. Friends of your childhood are the first, and sometimes only, 'real' friends you will ever have. Hopefully it won't be another five years before we all talk again!

So, after the all-important re-introductions, we traipsed around Mount Royal Avenue, finding ourselves in Langsdale Auditorium for a set by Kate Porter & Russel Kotcher, performing "classically tuned improvisations". Pretty interesting, very challenging, but just as I was thinking how awesome the violin (Kotcher) is, Nicole pointed out that she wants to learn to play, which is awesome. I forgot to mention Murder By Death to her, and their awesome electric cellist.

The key part of the afternoon for Kristen and I was the J-Roddy Walston and The Business (read a review of their latest, Hail Mega Boys) set, which kicked off at 5 (just in time for us to catch before the BMA). As scandalous as it is, we hadn't seen the boys live yet, though we've been rocking the album for a while now. Zach's stage presence is absolute insanity. This dude shreds the bass and is more intense in his flailing, headbanging, and singing than any bassist I have ever laid eyes upon. And I go to a lot of metal shows. It was a scene of awe and splendor, really. And no, that doesn't mean I have a crush. He just looked so freakin' cool on stage. In fact, that's what I loved most about the band. Rod, Billy, Steve, Zach, these cats are rock and roll, for real. It is rare that I see someone else who loves original Budweiser as much as I do, and can still rock so hard after what looked like at least six of 'em (and that's just during the set). This late afternoon/early evening crowd was kind of a downer, no dance party in effect, and a modest audience, but the set was on fire. Apparently no one got the joke about "Nineteen Ought Four" being Rod's "love song to Baltimore". Seriously, guys, let's get a podcast together. That set rocked my socks!

Kristen and I left after J-Roddy's set, but Nicole stayed for Lupe Fiasco . . . maybe she'll leave a comment and let us all know how that set was!

And now is a good time to reiterate how awesome Kristen is, and how much I appreciate her support of what I'm doing here on AGT and over at SEN Baltimore. Tonight, I was out doing an interview until about 10, and I'll be doing another interview tomorrow, and it's just so wonderful that she's so supportive in not getting angry when I put so much time into this stuff. She understands and appreciates my love for music, and it's just proof positive that she is the best thing that's ever happened to me! Thanks, Kristen!

Whartscape 2007: Most of Wham City (including Dan Deacon), Spankrock

WildfireWildfire's Whartscape 2007 (watch out for the City of Baltimore, they might come after you for bogarting Artscape) takes place July 20-22 (and it's on the same weekend as Artscape? Scandalous!). The big national names will be at Artscape along with some other Baltimore winners, including J. Roddy Walston and The Business (read a review of Hail Mega Boys from the band), but the local yokel party is most definitely at Whartscape.

Pretty much overrun by the Wham City! Collective, Whartscape features Dan Deacon, OCDJ, Santa Dads, Butt Stomach, Lizz King, WZT Hearts, and more from the group. Also playing: Spankrock, The Death Set, Beach House, and more.

Tickets are $10 per day, or $15 for Friday (at Floristree) and Saturday (at both Floristree and Load of Fun). Sunday (at The Depot) is $5, at the door only.

Album Review: J. Roddy Walston & The Business - Hail Megaboys

J. Roddy Walston & The Business are a Baltimore band (by way of Tennessee) who released their first full-length, Hail Megaboys (Southern Brethren, distribution through Morphius Records), in early March.

First things first, rock and roll doesn't have enough piano. Maybe you've seen Any Given Tuesday's prior explications on the awesomeness of Jerry Lee Lewis (read a review of The Killer's Last Man Standing), who, whaddya know, is also from Louisiana. Well, J. Rod & The Biz have been listening. Not only that, each member must have been issued Queen's Greatest Hits as required listening upon entry into the group. Hellbilly piano and vocal harmonies rip throughout the record. On the dancehall/barroom cut "Rock and Roll The Second" the keys are the star, Rod's itchy and scratchy voice coming from behind to drive a distinct rock and roll that brews somewhere below the Mason-Dixon. Follow that with "Go For It", favoring guitar attacks over the black-and-whites, "Go For It" is a danceable jam with encouraging lyrics inspiring enough to cause you to dance away your worries and then go out and do something about them!

The real roots rock gets kicked up from the dust on "Sally Bangs", based on a tune Rod's grandmother's family used to share. Twanging guitar (or is that actually a banjo?), drums that harken up a washboard percussion sound, anybody with a little bit of country is going to get a bit reminiscent with this one. Speaking of reminiscing and nostalgia, harmonies just short of "Bohemian Rhapsody" burst from the flames of "Nineteen Ought Four", which is loosely derived from Baltimore's own history: the Great Baltimore Fire of 1904 (or, if not based on the Fire itself, on a metaphorical, malevolent desire to raze the town/life and start anew). Even if the song is more of a statement of stagnance in both geography and mentality, it does name-drop our fair city. That counts for something, doesn't it?

See "Stop, Rip and Roll" for the '70s-rock backing vocals and classic-rock guitar that define Hail Megaboys, just before falling into the dysphoria of "Go Malachi". The closing track takes an album of tunes that at least sound worry-free and untroubled even if the lyrics don't always follow suit and departs on a somber tone, sharing tales of stale marriage and cognizance of one's own lackings in life. While the band's sound is like a teenager with no cognizance of her own mortality, "Go Malachi" and the other less forward-looking tracks like "The Times Are A-Staying" might be a precursor to an evolution in sound and substance for J. Roddy Walston & The Business. Don't let that keep you from enjoying the fast times of Hail Megaboys, there's plenty of time to grow up before the band comes out with another record.

Free MP3 Download: J. Roddy Walston and The Business - "Rock and Roll The Second"

This Weekend at Ottobar: J. Roddy Walston & The Business, The Jennifers, Impossible Hair, Soft

J. Roddy Walston & The Business, currently one of Baltimore's finest and most-loved around the indie nation, are playing The Ottobar in Baltimore on Saturday, June 9, along with The Jennifers (read a review of Colors From The Future, their latest). Also playing: Impossible Hair and Soft.

I recently received J. Roddy Walston & The Business' latest album, Hail Megaboys, and plan to have a review posted here in the next week or two.