Country Fried Rock 1232: Lucero's Brian Venable Unhinged with Horns
Summary
From 2012: Brian Venable of Lucero drops in on Country Fried Rock to dish about the vibrant family vibe that permeates the music scene, especially with his band’s annual Family Picnic event. He dives deep into how this gathering isn’t just a concert; it’s a reunion of eclectic bands, each with their own unique sound yet tied together by a shared spirit of creativity and camaraderie. He reflects on his journey from a punk rock hobo kid to a seasoned musician, attributing much of his musical roots to his dad, who was a musician on Beale Street. As they chat, they explore the evolution of Lucero's sound, touching on their blend of rock and country, and how the addition of new members has sparked fresh creative energy. The conversation is a warm, entertaining dive into the heart of music-making, where experimentation meets tradition, and where every note is a step in a never-ending journey of artistic growth.
Links
- REMINDER: IGNORE ALL LINKS OR EVENTS MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE FROM 2012
- Toss a few in our Tip Jar!
- Lucero
- Lucero on Bandcamp
- You may also enjoy this conversation with Margo Price from 2012
Show Notes
In this episode of Country Fried Rock, we welcome Brian Venable of the beloved band Lucero for a warm, reflective, and deeply human conversation about music, roots, and the ties that bind creative souls together.
Highlights from the conversation:
- Musical roots run deep:
- Brian shares how his dad’s hustle on Beale Street and deep musical background shaped his early exposure, even as Brian leaned more toward punk than blues.
- Teenage rebellion with heart:
- Hear about Brian’s early pushback against his father’s influence, his dive into punk zines and poetry, and how that spirit still fuels his creative life today.
- Lucero’s evolution:
- From garage beginnings to a band with a devoted community, Brian reflects on Lucero's growth and what it means to be more than just a group that plays songs.
- A family picnic of bands:
- Brian paints a vivid picture of the interconnected world of bands—those that may not always hit the charts but share history, stages, and mutual respect.
- Genre is fluid:
- Punk, country, and everything in between—Brian breaks down how Lucero's sound isn't boxed in, but shaped by emotion, experience, and experimentation.
- On building creative community:
- More than fame, Brian values the friendships and shared stages that form a kind of musical family tree, where influence flows freely across acts and time.
- Candid and comforting:
- A conversation filled with honesty, humor, and heart—perfect for anyone who’s ever wrestled with the push and pull of expectations versus passion.
Listen in for a rich blend of storytelling, music history, and the kind of reflection that reminds us why we fall in love with bands like Lucero in the first place.
Chapters
- 00:09 - Introducing Brian Venable of Lucero
- 01:06 - The Journey into Music
- 04:48 - The Evolution of a Band
- 12:07 - The Evolution of Live Performance and New Music Release
- 19:40 - The Intersection of Music and Personal Choices
Takeaways
- The podcast dives deep into the creative process of Brian Venable from Lucero, exploring how his family influences shaped his passion for music, particularly his father's musical roots in Beale Street.
- Brian shares his journey from a punk rock hobo to a band member, emphasizing the evolution of his musical style and the collaborative nature of songwriting in Lucero.
- The discussion highlights the importance of community within the music scene, particularly through events like the Lucero Family Picnic, which fosters connections among various bands and artists.
- Venable's reflections on the challenges and rewards of maintaining a long-lasting band lineup reveal insights into the music industry's dynamics and the evolution of musical identity over time.
Mentioned in this Episode
- Lucero
- Glossary
- Dramatic
- Sub Pop
- Revelation Records
- Nuci's Space
- Hearts of Palm
Recommended If You Like
Country Fried Rock, Lucero band interview, Brian Venable music, independent musicians, songwriting process, punk rock influences, Memphis music scene, Family Picnic festival, creative inspiration, band dynamics, touring experiences, music collaboration, rock and roll evolution, R&B and country fusion, music industry insights, mental health for musicians, Nucci's Space, music samplers, underground music scene, live music performance.
Transcript
Speaker A
Welcome to Country Fried Rock, where we talk with musicians to find out what inspires their creativity. Country Fried Rock music uncovered. My guest today on Country Fried Rock is Brian Venable of the band Lucero. Welcome, Brian.
Speaker B
How you doing?
Speaker A
Doing great. Thanks so much for being with us.
Speaker B
Oh, man. Thank you for having me.
Speaker A
Absolutely. I've always enjoyed your music. And I'll tell you when y' all came up again, interviewing some bands who played the Lucero Family Picnic.
Speaker B
Which bands?
Speaker A
Well, it started, I guess, with Glossary.
Speaker B
Yeah, I thought he played Fellow steel with us.
Speaker A
It was that connection, and then talking with some of the guys from Dramatic, and it was like this whole small family thing.
Speaker B
We stopped doing it for a little bit, but we're bringing it back.
But that's part of the reason why Family Picnic to me was so important, was there's this kind of weird little family of bands that tour constantly that don't sound the same, but are the same ilk. Maybe, for lack of a better word, I wanted a Sub Pop or Revelation Records or. I don't know, I thought it'd be cool to have a yearly get together.
All the bands that tour a whole lot that aren't on the radar necessarily.
Speaker A
Right.
Speaker B
But that's cool that everybody's talking like that.
Speaker A
Yeah, it was very cool. It's always nice to see how that kind of family tree overlaps. How did you get into music as a kid?
Speaker B
My father. I mean, he's a musician down Beale Street. I mean, we're shoe repairmen by trade. Whatever.
Even when I was little, he was always trying to get us to play music. And then when he got to teenage years, he wanted, you know, let's have a family band. I spent my 20s traveling around, being a punk rock hobo kid.
All I wanted to do was write poetry or zines or, you know, just. I didn't want to play music. But he was like, I don't understand it. You learn a bass and learn three scales.
You can play music, make money, and you can try, you know? Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh, man. Okay, okay. And then it got to the point where one day I was like.
It was like, I wanted to learn to paint, too, but I was like, I want to start a band. Just say I did kind of thing. And I don't know, we.
I don't know if you've seen it on YouTube or not or heard about it, but we played the Fillmore last year, and I flew him out, and we brought him out on stage. It was literally all he ever talked about was playing The Fillmore when I was growing up. So I brought him out to play.
And there's all kinds of influences. My mom listened to music and everything, but my dad live and breathe music. It has been a constant in my life.
Speaker A
When you were doing the zines and stuff, what kind of punk rock was talking to you then?
Speaker B
Oh, man, I was a dirty little Memphis Krusty type kid trying to Rorschach, Black Flag type stuff. Pop out with a local band, his heroes. Gone was a local band. It was life's Blood. It was, it was pretty crazy. Nothing really melodic.
Let's just say it was pretty much my dad, you know, hate your country music type stuff.
A lot of, you know, bands that have put out a seven inch, go on tour for two months, play the 10 people a night and come home and go back to college or get real jobs or.
Speaker A
So then as you move towards finally saying, yeah, I'm gonna start my own band, where did that head for you at first?
Speaker B
One of my best friends, Matt Bradley, who's in tears don't matter much is Matt Bradley with the broken teeth. He moved away and sold me his Basement 115 cabinet and basement head. And my dad gave me some broke down guitar that I still wish I had.
Gil S70D, whatever. Looked like a battle ax. It was amazing. Yeah, two octave next guy and let Slobber Bone play one. Before I even started the band.
I mean, I talked about it for a while, but there was that whole learn to play guitar hurdle. I would go down. This is before the Internet. I mean, it wasn't before the Internet. It was before we had the Internet.
I would go down to the library and get all the song books of songs that I liked. Was like, okay, I like. And I would Xerox them 7 cents each. And I would go home and I wouldn't learn the songs, but I would learn the chords.
Kind of taught me to change like, oh, C day or something. It was just. I still don't know any lyrics to anything really, you know. Luther was the only band I've ever played in.
Started playing guitar to play in it. Then when I found Ben, I mean, that was the funny part was I was like, man, I got all these songs. He was like, cool, so do I.
He came over to practice. He had three full songs with words. And I was just like, yeah, I was just like, I have this part that goes do do do do, you know? And that's about.
That was the song kind of thing. And he stuck with me. But he would leave and I would get books back out like, or the videos, like pentatonic scale.
In the old days, people would laugh and be like, your sense of space is so amazing. And it just realistically was. I don't know where to go next, so I'm just gonna hang here. And it kind of created a style.
Hey, this is Brian Venable from Lucero. You're listening to Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A
That whole music is the space between the notes and all of that.
Speaker B
Yeah, well, I didn't. I was just like, oh, this sounds right. That's like Jim Dickinson would always laugh.
He's like, I stay up night trying to figure out how you start a song. And man, it's interesting how he's playing in A major and you're playing in A minor.
And at the time I had no idea there a distinction, you know, I mean, literally. My dad played music. He tried to teach me growing up. I fought it and that kind of stuff.
He showed me some, you know, the big cowboy chords, kind of the big open ones. But learning to play with Ben, he had his own style of core. I've learned to play guitar to Ben Nichols. Chord structures, right or wrong.
We were married forever, guitar wise. I wanted to start a band and then it was me and Ben and I just started finally roping people in and they'd play a show or two and then quit.
Initially, Roy and John, we jailed.
Speaker A
Like any band with a lot of players, there's been some change over time in terms of band lineup, but the core of you all have stuck together through a lot of other changes as well.
Speaker B
I quit in 2003. That was me just my dad was sick, I was tired. I was, you know, I just didn't know when you start.
That's the other coming from the punk rock, starting a band, you think it's us versus the world and you know we're gonna do this and there's no compromise.
And when you really, what you're doing when you start a band is fun and four other lightly uneducated slackers and you're starting a small business and they're compromised and whatnot.
So for one year I was out of it for a while, but then when I came back, I was like, oh, I wasn't doing anything else and I love doing this and whatever, but it's pretty awesome. I mean, you don't see a lot. You know, you got your U2s and your chili Peppers and whatever.
Maybe Rolling Stones type bands, but a lot of bands, you don't see that there's not you know, the constantly Spinal Tap revolving drummer or bass player situation. So we've been real lucky as you.
Speaker A
All are coming to anything new. What's the process for you as a group?
Speaker B
Song structure. While I've been the lyricist, I think in the beginning you put all four of us in a room.
We'll all argue about it, but you don't have all four of us, you have me. But in the beginning, Ben would show up with, I have these songs with words and music completed.
And we would just flesh them out, write our parts and everything. So he was definitely the songwriter. No taking that away from him.
But nowadays he'll show up with a riff or a piece of and like him and Roy will work out tempo and we start adding components to it. And for us it's been a 14 year, slow growing process.
I think for the rest of the world, they've seen it in eight albums, so it might be a little bit more abrupt. When we played by ourselves forever, we knew what we could do.
I'm going to play single notes, Ben's going to play chords, John's going to stay underneath it. Roy's going to do some interesting drum patting.
Speaker A
There you go.
Speaker B
Then we get Rick. When Rick started playing with us, it's all of a sudden you're just like, ooh, we can do boogie woogie, you know, or we can do Lighter Shade of Pale.
We can do anything. It just started to get to where whatever we came up with, we were becoming more capable.
Somebody in the band could do it and the rest of us could catch up, you know what I mean? And that's what the advent of the horns or the addition I had then, it's the same thing. It's like somebody.
I was joking nowadays, somebody in Minneapolis on the Doorman told us, or we overheard it. I don't know how it came about, but somebody asked the doorman at First Avenue was like, who's playing tonight? He's like, how some met this R B band.
We were just like, yeah, awesome. Yeah. That's one of those things where we didn't quite realize it. People like, oh, y' all aren't country enough. Or I miss the old sad country songs.
And when we added the horns, I think we unintentionally and unwittingly maybe became or were trying to become an R B band, which is another Memphis thing. You can be country in army, you know, like, it's not so line drawn in the sand.
But I think that's where trying to explain that, oh, we're a Country band with horns. We're just a rock and roll band, you know, which. The rock and roll lets you do anything. That's the freedom of rock and roll.
Whereas if you were to say, hey, I'm a countryman, you wouldn't have perimeters you could not deviate from. Or if you're like, I am a soul band, but just slowly added people, the awareness has dawned on us that we're all getting better as musicians.
I've been doing this 14 years. I can play guitar better now than I could in 1998. You know, you can't help but get better.
And with the addition of these crazy musicians that are have joined us, it gets fun almost. You just start.
You're practicing and you're laughing like, we still might do it, but we tried to cover Space Trucking by Deep Purple, and we couldn't quit laughing, so we never could finish the song. But not in a, like, bad laughing, but just like, this is so awesome.
And just do, do, do, do do space trucking, you know, and you're just like, this is awesome. If we could actually do this, it'd be amazing. I picked the song but didn't get to play on it because the studio was so small.
But when we covered the David Bowie Modern Love, half the reason you were like, man, we got the horns. We can do Modern Love, you know, and it's fun. But that's the thing.
Like, Todd just played tambourine because he couldn't fit the pedal steel in there. I was like, man, half the time they tell us we're recording these things, they don't tell us that they're actually videoing them too.
So I didn't realize they videoed it because I didn't go up there. But I went up there and was like, man, I don't have to cram in here. There's enough instrumentation that we can be Lucero and still record this.
You know, we don't need two tambourine players. So, yeah, I got a lot of phone calls. Like, the day it came out, like, where are you? I was like, I didn't know they videoed it. Yeah, I was asleep.
It was awesome. But being able to pick songs like that to where you can actually be like, we can do a horn song and have horns actually on it.
Speaker A
By defining yourself as a rock and roll band, you have more options. I mean, nobody thinks twice about a gospel choir backing rock and roll.
Speaker B
Yeah, well, I mean, the stones did it 40 to 50 years ago. You know what I mean?
Like, it's it's getting to that point now where people want us to be what they want us to be, but in the end, you...
Transcript
Welcome to Country Fried Rock, where we talk with musicians to find out what inspires their creativity.
Speaker A:Country Fried Rock music uncovered.
Speaker A:My guest today on Country Fried Rock is Brian Venable of the band Lucero.
Speaker A:Welcome, Brian.
Speaker B:How you doing?
Speaker A:Doing great.
Speaker A:Thanks so much for being with us.
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker B:Thank you for having me.
Speaker A:Absolutely.
Speaker A:I've always enjoyed your music.
Speaker A:And I'll tell you when y' all came up again, interviewing some bands who played the Lucero Family Picnic.
Speaker B:Which bands?
Speaker A:Well, it started, I guess, with Glossary.
Speaker B:Yeah, I thought he played Fellow steel with us.
Speaker A:It was that connection, and then talking with some of the guys from Dramatic, and it was like this whole small family thing.
Speaker B:We stopped doing it for a little bit, but we're bringing it back.
Speaker B:But that's part of the reason why Family Picnic to me was so important, was there's this kind of weird little family of bands that tour constantly that don't sound the same, but are the same ilk.
Speaker B:Maybe, for lack of a better word, I wanted a Sub Pop or Revelation Records or.
Speaker B:I don't know, I thought it'd be cool to have a yearly get together.
Speaker B:All the bands that tour a whole lot that aren't on the radar necessarily.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B:But that's cool that everybody's talking like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, it was very cool.
Speaker A:It's always nice to see how that kind of family tree overlaps.
Speaker A:How did you get into music as a kid?
Speaker B:My father.
Speaker B:I mean, he's a musician down Beale Street.
Speaker B:I mean, we're shoe repairmen by trade.
Speaker B:Whatever.
Speaker B:Even when I was little, he was always trying to get us to play music.
Speaker B:And then when he got to teenage years, he wanted, you know, let's have a family band.
Speaker B:I spent my 20s traveling around, being a punk rock hobo kid.
Speaker B:All I wanted to do was write poetry or zines or, you know, just.
Speaker B:I didn't want to play music.
Speaker B:But he was like, I don't understand it.
Speaker B:You learn a bass and learn three scales.
Speaker B:You can play music, make money, and you can try, you know?
Speaker B:Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker B:Oh, man.
Speaker B:Okay, okay.
Speaker B:And then it got to the point where one day I was like.
Speaker B:It was like, I wanted to learn to paint, too, but I was like, I want to start a band.
Speaker B:Just say I did kind of thing.
Speaker B:And I don't know, we.
Speaker B:I don't know if you've seen it on YouTube or not or heard about it, but we played the Fillmore last year, and I flew him out, and we brought him out on stage.
Speaker B:It was literally all he ever talked about was playing The Fillmore when I was growing up.
Speaker B:So I brought him out to play.
Speaker B:And there's all kinds of influences.
Speaker B:My mom listened to music and everything, but my dad live and breathe music.
Speaker B:It has been a constant in my life.
Speaker A:When you were doing the zines and stuff, what kind of punk rock was talking to you then?
Speaker B:Oh, man, I was a dirty little Memphis Krusty type kid trying to Rorschach, Black Flag type stuff.
Speaker B:Pop out with a local band, his heroes.
Speaker B:Gone was a local band.
Speaker B:It was life's Blood.
Speaker B:It was, it was pretty crazy.
Speaker B:Nothing really melodic.
Speaker B:Let's just say it was pretty much my dad, you know, hate your country music type stuff.
Speaker B:A lot of, you know, bands that have put out a seven inch, go on tour for two months, play the 10 people a night and come home and go back to college or get real jobs or.
Speaker A:So then as you move towards finally saying, yeah, I'm gonna start my own band, where did that head for you at first?
Speaker B:One of my best friends, Matt Bradley, who's in tears don't matter much is Matt Bradley with the broken teeth.
Speaker B:He moved away and sold me his Basement 115 cabinet and basement head.
Speaker B:And my dad gave me some broke down guitar that I still wish I had.
Speaker B:Gil S70D, whatever.
Speaker B:Looked like a battle ax.
Speaker B:It was amazing.
Speaker B:Yeah, two octave next guy and let Slobber Bone play one.
Speaker B:Before I even started the band.
Speaker B:I mean, I talked about it for a while, but there was that whole learn to play guitar hurdle.
Speaker B:I would go down.
Speaker B:This is before the Internet.
Speaker B:I mean, it wasn't before the Internet.
Speaker B:It was before we had the Internet.
Speaker B:I would go down to the library and get all the song books of songs that I liked.
Speaker B:Was like, okay, I like.
Speaker B:And I would Xerox them 7 cents each.
Speaker B:And I would go home and I wouldn't learn the songs, but I would learn the chords.
Speaker B:Kind of taught me to change like, oh, C day or something.
Speaker B:It was just.
Speaker B:I still don't know any lyrics to anything really, you know.
Speaker B:Luther was the only band I've ever played in.
Speaker B:Started playing guitar to play in it.
Speaker B:Then when I found Ben, I mean, that was the funny part was I was like, man, I got all these songs.
Speaker B:He was like, cool, so do I.
Speaker B:He came over to practice.
Speaker B:He had three full songs with words.
Speaker B:And I was just like, yeah, I was just like, I have this part that goes do do do do, you know?
Speaker B:And that's about.
Speaker B:That was the song kind of thing.
Speaker B:And he stuck with me.
Speaker B:But he would leave and I would get books back out like, or the videos, like pentatonic scale.
Speaker B:In the old days, people would laugh and be like, your sense of space is so amazing.
Speaker B:And it just realistically was.
Speaker B:I don't know where to go next, so I'm just gonna hang here.
Speaker B:And it kind of created a style.
Speaker B:Hey, this is Brian Venable from Lucero.
Speaker B:You're listening to Country Fried Rock.
Speaker A:That whole music is the space between the notes and all of that.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, I didn't.
Speaker B:I was just like, oh, this sounds right.
Speaker B:That's like Jim Dickinson would always laugh.
Speaker B:He's like, I stay up night trying to figure out how you start a song.
Speaker B:And man, it's interesting how he's playing in A major and you're playing in A minor.
Speaker B:And at the time I had no idea there a distinction, you know, I mean, literally.
Speaker B:My dad played music.
Speaker B:He tried to teach me growing up.
Speaker B:I fought it and that kind of stuff.
Speaker B:He showed me some, you know, the big cowboy chords, kind of the big open ones.
Speaker B:But learning to play with Ben, he had his own style of core.
Speaker B:I've learned to play guitar to Ben Nichols.
Speaker B:Chord structures, right or wrong.
Speaker B:We were married forever, guitar wise.
Speaker B:I wanted to start a band and then it was me and Ben and I just started finally roping people in and they'd play a show or two and then quit.
Speaker B:Initially, Roy and John, we jailed.
Speaker A:Like any band with a lot of players, there's been some change over time in terms of band lineup, but the core of you all have stuck together through a lot of other changes as well.
Speaker B: I quit in: Speaker B:That was me just my dad was sick, I was tired.
Speaker B:I was, you know, I just didn't know when you start.
Speaker B:That's the other coming from the punk rock, starting a band, you think it's us versus the world and you know we're gonna do this and there's no compromise.
Speaker B:And when you really, what you're doing when you start a band is fun and four other lightly uneducated slackers and you're starting a small business and they're compromised and whatnot.
Speaker B:So for one year I was out of it for a while, but then when I came back, I was like, oh, I wasn't doing anything else and I love doing this and whatever, but it's pretty awesome.
Speaker B:I mean, you don't see a lot.
Speaker B:You know, you got your U2s and your chili Peppers and whatever.
Speaker B:Maybe Rolling Stones type bands, but a lot of bands, you don't see that there's not you know, the constantly Spinal Tap revolving drummer or bass player situation.
Speaker B:So we've been real lucky as you.
Speaker A:All are coming to anything new.
Speaker A:What's the process for you as a group?
Speaker B:Song structure.
Speaker B:While I've been the lyricist, I think in the beginning you put all four of us in a room.
Speaker B:We'll all argue about it, but you don't have all four of us, you have me.
Speaker B:But in the beginning, Ben would show up with, I have these songs with words and music completed.
Speaker B:And we would just flesh them out, write our parts and everything.
Speaker B:So he was definitely the songwriter.
Speaker B:No taking that away from him.
Speaker B:But nowadays he'll show up with a riff or a piece of and like him and Roy will work out tempo and we start adding components to it.
Speaker B:And for us it's been a 14 year, slow growing process.
Speaker B:I think for the rest of the world, they've seen it in eight albums, so it might be a little bit more abrupt.
Speaker B:When we played by ourselves forever, we knew what we could do.
Speaker B:I'm going to play single notes, Ben's going to play chords, John's going to stay underneath it.
Speaker B:Roy's going to do some interesting drum patting.
Speaker A:There you go.
Speaker B:Then we get Rick.
Speaker B:When Rick started playing with us, it's all of a sudden you're just like, ooh, we can do boogie woogie, you know, or we can do Lighter Shade of Pale.
Speaker B:We can do anything.
Speaker B:It just started to get to where whatever we came up with, we were becoming more capable.
Speaker B:Somebody in the band could do it and the rest of us could catch up, you know what I mean?
Speaker B:And that's what the advent of the horns or the addition I had then, it's the same thing.
Speaker B:It's like somebody.
Speaker B:I was joking nowadays, somebody in Minneapolis on the Doorman told us, or we overheard it.
Speaker B:I don't know how it came about, but somebody asked the doorman at First Avenue was like, who's playing tonight?
Speaker B:He's like, how some met this R B band.
Speaker B:We were just like, yeah, awesome.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:That's one of those things where we didn't quite realize it.
Speaker B:People like, oh, y' all aren't country enough.
Speaker B:Or I miss the old sad country songs.
Speaker B:And when we added the horns, I think we unintentionally and unwittingly maybe became or were trying to become an R B band, which is another Memphis thing.
Speaker B:You can be country in army, you know, like, it's not so line drawn in the sand.
Speaker B:But I think that's where trying to explain that, oh, we're a Country band with horns.
Speaker B:We're just a rock and roll band, you know, which.
Speaker B:The rock and roll lets you do anything.
Speaker B:That's the freedom of rock and roll.
Speaker B:Whereas if you were to say, hey, I'm a countryman, you wouldn't have perimeters you could not deviate from.
Speaker B:Or if you're like, I am a soul band, but just slowly added people, the awareness has dawned on us that we're all getting better as musicians.
Speaker B:I've been doing this 14 years.
Speaker B: ar better now than I could in: Speaker B:You know, you can't help but get better.
Speaker B:And with the addition of these crazy musicians that are have joined us, it gets fun almost.
Speaker B:You just start.
Speaker B:You're practicing and you're laughing like, we still might do it, but we tried to cover Space Trucking by Deep Purple, and we couldn't quit laughing, so we never could finish the song.
Speaker B:But not in a, like, bad laughing, but just like, this is so awesome.
Speaker B:And just do, do, do, do do space trucking, you know, and you're just like, this is awesome.
Speaker B:If we could actually do this, it'd be amazing.
Speaker B:I picked the song but didn't get to play on it because the studio was so small.
Speaker B:But when we covered the David Bowie Modern Love, half the reason you were like, man, we got the horns.
Speaker B:We can do Modern Love, you know, and it's fun.
Speaker B:But that's the thing.
Speaker B:Like, Todd just played tambourine because he couldn't fit the pedal steel in there.
Speaker B:I was like, man, half the time they tell us we're recording these things, they don't tell us that they're actually videoing them too.
Speaker B:So I didn't realize they videoed it because I didn't go up there.
Speaker B:But I went up there and was like, man, I don't have to cram in here.
Speaker B:There's enough instrumentation that we can be Lucero and still record this.
Speaker B:You know, we don't need two tambourine players.
Speaker B:So, yeah, I got a lot of phone calls.
Speaker B:Like, the day it came out, like, where are you?
Speaker B:I was like, I didn't know they videoed it.
Speaker B:Yeah, I was asleep.
Speaker B:It was awesome.
Speaker B:But being able to pick songs like that to where you can actually be like, we can do a horn song and have horns actually on it.
Speaker A:By defining yourself as a rock and roll band, you have more options.
Speaker A:I mean, nobody thinks twice about a gospel choir backing rock and roll.
Speaker B:Yeah, well, I mean, the stones did it 40 to 50 years ago.
Speaker B:You know what I mean?
Speaker B:Like, it's it's getting to that point now where people want us to be what they want us to be, but in the end, you can only be what you want to be.
Speaker B:That sounds real heavy and weird, but we like making music.
Speaker B:We like driving ourselves to make something different.
Speaker B:I don't want to make Tennessee eight times.
Speaker B:I think that's the thing is being able to grow and learn as a musician and as a person, subject matter wise, musically, shows and everything.
Speaker B:Fourteen years ago, I wasn't the biggest R and B fan.
Speaker B:Hell, I wasn't the biggest country country fan.
Speaker B:But you get older, you get kids, you got a truck, you're upside down in your house, or, you know, two or three girlfriends leave you, and you're just kind of like, whew.
Speaker B:I got this to write about.
Speaker B:I got this to draw upon, you know?
Speaker A:Several great musician friends of country fried rock generously donated songs for a free music sampler.
Speaker A:Download it@noisetrade.com CountryFriudrock 19 songs to help raise awareness and money for Nucci's Space, a nonprofit serving the mental health needs of musicians in the Athens, Georgia area.
Speaker A:Find out more about Nucci's at n u c I.org same way to make.
Speaker B:It exciting, I'm playing a touring rock and roll band.
Speaker B:My life can never be as bad as all that.
Speaker B:In the end, I play music for a living that bleeds into a two, where you're writing these big route, rebel routes and fun songs.
Speaker A:So for y', all, when you are trying new songs, do you try them out live first or do you wait and hold them till you're heading into record?
Speaker B:This is the other fun thing.
Speaker B:This is how this used to work.
Speaker B:We now have a practice space downtown.
Speaker A:Sweet.
Speaker B:Awesome.
Speaker B:We load in, we practice again.
Speaker B:What's upstairs is our friend Chris Scott has a studio.
Speaker B:So we get to go downstairs, work up a song, or work on it for about a week.
Speaker B:We'll work on some stuff, and then we'll go upstairs and record it, do demos immediately.
Speaker B:That way you can be like, that bridge is too long.
Speaker B:This doesn't work.
Speaker B:Or I need to learn a part for this.
Speaker B:Can I take this home?
Speaker B:Because in the old days, it used to be we'd almost.
Speaker B:There's a couple of records that we didn't actually know how to play.
Speaker B:We had to.
Speaker B:We would record them and then go home and be like, okay, we have to learn how to play the new records because we know half of it, but the other half we wrote in the studio, Right?
Speaker B:But now with being able to go in.
Speaker B:We can now start playing songs.
Speaker B:Like, on this last record, we were able to play six or seven of the new songs before the record even came out, which in the same kind of situation was awesome, simply because people were recording those songs video wise and putting them on YouTube.
Speaker B:So it was kind of cool that people were learning.
Speaker B:Like, we would play somewhere.
Speaker B:We played, oh, hey, we're playing learning work, new song.
Speaker B:Sometimes if you go back and look at those old YouTube clips, those songs are different than recorded because we hadn't even really got them solidified.
Speaker B:We were just trying them out.
Speaker B:But you go somewhere two weeks later, and people are singing along to four of the new songs, and it's awesome.
Speaker B:So when the record finally comes out, people are like, I want to hear the real version of this.
Speaker B:Or I'm excited.
Speaker B:You know, we forever didn't play new songs before they came out.
Speaker B:Maybe one if we knew it.
Speaker B:Nowadays, we're able to introduce them before the record comes out on the record release tour.
Speaker B:Actually be able to play all the.
Speaker A:Songs on that tour, not just from instrumentation.
Speaker A:So, I mean, obviously you can't take a full gospel choir with you on the road for every show.
Speaker B:Well, you know, Rick sings a little bit on that gospel choir part.
Speaker B:He does a nice high harmony.
Speaker B:It kind of shows the choir should be.
Speaker B:And the choir is really only really talented ladies that we doubled up.
Speaker A:Other than production and instrumentation, what stylistically has changed for you all since women and work has come out?
Speaker B:Man, honestly, we hadn't even had a chance to breathe.
Speaker B:Record came out, like, March 13th.
Speaker B:We left March 9th.
Speaker B:We did eight weeks.
Speaker B:We came home.
Speaker B:We did the show with the Mr. Symphony Orchestra.
Speaker B:We did a high tone, which is a smaller club here.
Speaker B:Record released.
Speaker B:We did the family picnic.
Speaker B:We've done tons of stuff.
Speaker B:We were supposed to do a video, but Roy's grandmother passed last week.
Speaker A:Oh, I'm sorry.
Speaker B:We went down there.
Speaker B:So.
Speaker B:But we're gonna do a video in July.
Speaker B:We leave Monday for tour, which is also my 41st birthday.
Speaker A:Oh, congrats.
Speaker B:We're gonna be gone.
Speaker B:We're gonna be doing Metallica festival, T Nanny in La Forecastle in Louisville, a couple other festivals.
Speaker B:Stylistically, nothing has changed because we're working our butts off.
Speaker B:I mean, I'm trying to enjoy this week and get my house worked on and play with my kids before I leave again.
Speaker B:Then went on vacation.
Speaker B:Like I said, Roy's grandmother passed, which is not a good thing, but he went back down.
Speaker B:He got to go home for a second to Florida.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:But finally, what's exciting about this record is different than all of them was.
Speaker B:Waking up one day and having 20 emails and your tour manager going, hey, y' all are number 13 on the iTunes chart.
Speaker B:And you're like, what does that even mean?
Speaker B:Your record is the 13th top selling record on itunes today or this week or something.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And you're just like, what?
Speaker B:You know, you're on the main.
Speaker B:You're in the top 20.
Speaker B:You're just like, that's dumb.
Speaker B:That's got to be a mistake.
Speaker B:You know, and he's laughing because he's been our tour manager, works with like All American Reject and some other bigger bands who are used to having not just on the charts, the charts itself, and getting to watch a bunch of guys that have never been on the charts before.
Speaker B:You can just be like, what?
Speaker B:Give me that computer.
Speaker B:That's been some neat stuff.
Speaker A:How is that changing the crowds that come see you?
Speaker B:I've noticed personally that the new songs are going over bigger than the old songs.
Speaker B:And that's simply because having been eight records, 14 years, having not been able to get our first and second record at all, you know, I think they're about to get reissued and everything.
Speaker B: e's people that starting with: Speaker B:That's two classes of high school or college in the rock world.
Speaker B:That's all they really know.
Speaker B:They don't matter much as the older fans.
Speaker B:They're freaking out when they hear Bike Riders are Downtown.
Speaker B:That's their version of it.
Speaker B:So that's anything.
Speaker B:You put an influx of new fans and then your new blood into anything, it's going to be bigger, but it's going to dilute your older fan base and introduce new favorite songs for people.
Speaker A:You briefly mentioned that it's been a while since y' all had headlined.
Speaker A:Prior to this record.
Speaker A:Coming out on your tours, were you all able to have choices in who was either opening for you or who you were playing with?
Speaker B:Yeah, I think that's one of the things too, that didn't hold us back, but it made better touring, but not as popular or for years.
Speaker B:It'd be like, okay, y' all can pick main support.
Speaker B:We know we need somebody to pull them tickets, but we're bringing a third act from home like the Glass or Corey Brannon or John Paul Keith or whatever, and we're going to take them out.
Speaker B:We want them to get to go to work a little bit, play in front of some other people.
Speaker B:Traumatic or Deer Tick or Willie Melly Whitmore.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:I mean, it's a conversation.
Speaker B:We like to tour with people that are.
Speaker B:We like, not necessarily what you sound like, but if we're gonna have to hang out backstage and spend six weeks, you know, and days off and drinking and running around with.
Speaker B:You can have the greatest band in the world if you're a bag.
Speaker B:Nobody wants to hang out with you.
Speaker B:We have new management that sometimes is a bigger discussion.
Speaker B:You know, they're like, we get it, we get it.
Speaker B:But if you find an opening band that pushes you into a sellout, nobody forces anybody on us.
Speaker B:And that's the other thing is we went out on our own for so long, it got hard to open up for people because money wise, we just.
Speaker B:You know, you spend 10 years making your own money.
Speaker B:You know, we're not 25.
Speaker B:We can play for $250 a night.
Speaker B:So it's harder to take a hit.
Speaker B:Like, it was awesome doing Social Distortion.
Speaker B:It was a good match.
Speaker B:They were older, they were.
Speaker B:It was legendary.
Speaker B:It was a good combination.
Speaker B:You know, you substitute money for publicity, basically.
Speaker B:And so the same with Warp tour, I think.
Speaker B:The 15 weeks of SocialD and the 10 weeks of warp tour.
Speaker B:And when it came time to go out on our headlining torp for Women at Work, it pushed us into, you know, extra 200, 300 people.
Speaker B:It was awesome.
Speaker B:Getting to see that work is fun.
Speaker B:Hey, guys, it's Brian from Lucero.
Speaker B:If you want to get our new record, you should go to our website, luceromusic.com.
Speaker B:check it out.
Speaker B:I'd love to go out with Tom Petty or I'd love to open up for Bruce Springsteen.
Speaker B:And I know it is less supporting Bruce as much as just getting seen by that crowd.
Speaker B:Just to be able to check it off your bucket list.
Speaker B:We're too ornery and Southern and old to get pushed around by anybody too much told that we have to do what we don't want to do.
Speaker A:Has there been an opportunity to catch a band that was maybe a little bit more under the radar?
Speaker A:That really y' all were like, yeah, yeah, we dig these guys.
Speaker B:Festivals.
Speaker B:That's for me, is like, we played Denver festival one time.
Speaker B:There's a band that opened up the whole thing.
Speaker B:Local band called Nathan and Steven, and they changed the name to Hearts of Palm later.
Speaker B:I think they've broken up since, but they're another reason why I wanted to try horns is Nathan and Steven.
Speaker B:You think you're getting a duo, but it was Like a nine piece guitar singers, a full horn section.
Speaker B:Just.
Speaker B:They were amazing looking.
Speaker B:With Hearts upon man, they are cool.
Speaker B:They were still on my face like it was just.
Speaker B:This is the greatest band ever.
Speaker B:I literally went and found all the records and got all excited and that kind of stuff.
Speaker B:Unfortunately, we don't get to see very many.
Speaker B:You hear about a band and then you try to get them to come open for you.
Speaker B:That's how that usually works.
Speaker A:When y' all are on the road together.
Speaker A:Do you listen to music together or separately?
Speaker B:We used to in the van.
Speaker B:It'd be whatever, whoever was in control of the stereo.
Speaker B:And eventually everybody started getting ipods.
Speaker B:Every once in a while on the bus, somebody will put something on it.
Speaker B:But it's just such a varying degree of opinions.
Speaker B:Maybe would be the word I'm looking for.
Speaker B:We listen to a lot of old soul and R and B and country stuff on Warped Tour, you know, in our tent world.
Speaker A:What do y' all like from soul and R and B?
Speaker B:I mean, you got your standards.
Speaker B:Everybody loves those rating.
Speaker B:I almost can't list those rating anymore.
Speaker B:Kind of just like really killing me.
Speaker B:Like the Stacks box set, you know, the high box set.
Speaker B:Joe Tech, sir.
Speaker B:I like that kind of crunchy late 60s, like 67, not 63, where it's still a little bit.
Speaker B:A little bit doo woppy.
Speaker B:Yeah, but not before the 70s when it gets super political and super fuzzed out.
Speaker B:There's that fine little line to where you're like, man, Otis Clay.
Speaker B:All right.
Speaker B:You know, or still touch a gospel to it.
Speaker B:The problem is with the soul is it's not an album or artist driven thing.
Speaker B:That's where sometimes you'll end up listening to something.
Speaker B:And those guys had one hit.
Speaker B:So you're just like, yeah, I like the Marquis and you're the best.
Speaker B:Like who?
Speaker B:What I've been this guy like Albert King.
Speaker B:There's a record there might be.
Speaker B:As a guitar player, it's awesome.
Speaker B:But just as a whole called Jam Together.
Speaker B:I don't know if you've heard of it.
Speaker B:It's Albert King, Steve Cropper and Pop Staples.
Speaker B:Basically.
Speaker B:They each get one instrumental.
Speaker B:They all play on it.
Speaker B:They all take turns.
Speaker B:But each guy, the band gets an instrumental and a vocal.
Speaker B:So you're hearing like she Gave Me Water, Not Gasoline.
Speaker B:And then you hear the COVID Ray Charles Fawn or whatever.
Speaker B:But each guy gets to do a song, but.
Speaker B:And then just picking.
Speaker B:So it's three dudes, just the rhythm section staying out of the way.
Speaker B:And there's One instrumental where it's just like.
Speaker B:It's almost like a soul how to play soul record, you know, every lick in the world is in there.
Speaker B:But they file it under Albert King on itunes.
Speaker B:But it's called Jammed Together.
Speaker B:I don't know if it's just because his name's first or something.
Speaker B:That's the kind of thing I like guitar lines.
Speaker B:I like a little bit of horn, kind of Howlin Wolf but it's more soulful.
Speaker B:Hey, this is Brian from Lucero youo should check out our new record women and work on our website luceromusic.com here.
Speaker A:In South Carolina they have a bacon ice cream sundae.
Speaker B:Wow.
Speaker B:I'm vegetarian.
Speaker B:Been vegetarian 22, 23 years really.
Speaker B:And.
Speaker B:But I couldn't for the kids.
Speaker B:Like, I mean I could bake it every morning for them.
Speaker B:I just don't eat it.
Speaker B:I don't care to.
Speaker B:Part of my punk rock roots is my dad's like, you're the fattest vegetarian I've ever seen.
Speaker B:Because I do 100 push ups a day, you know, whatever.
Speaker B:I'm a little heavy, but I eat core food but I don't eat meat.
Speaker B:But people are just like, how are you so big and a vegetarian?
Speaker B:Whatever.
Speaker A:Listen, Brian, I really appreciate your time on your rare day off at home.
Speaker A:Thank you so so much for chatting with us.
Speaker A:Thank you so much.
Speaker A:Safe travels to you all on the road.
Speaker A:Appreciate it so much.
Speaker B:Oh, thank you so much.
Speaker A:Take it easy.
Speaker A:Bye.
Speaker A:Bye.
Speaker B:Okay, bye.
Speaker A:Country Fried Rock Find the full playlist from this episode on countryfridrock.org check us out on itunes.
Speaker A:No music, just talk.
Speaker A:Our theme music is from the Full Tones.
Speaker A:Our Country Fried Rock stinger is from Steve Soto in the Twisted Hearts country fried rock.
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