Voodoo Fest Day 3
Interveiws and Previews
By Staff Music WritersSunday, Oct. 26
First time at Voodoo for The Vettes
Le Ritual: Voodoo Stage
Sunday 11:00-12:00
By Samantha Morgan
When the New Orleans based dance rock band, The Vettes, focus their energy nothing seems to stop them. In 2007, lead vocalist Rachel Vette declared that 2008 would be the year of The Vettes, dreaming for big things. Since then, The Vettes have released their self titled debut EP, toured extensively, and found their way to major festival stages. They will now take on a first-time appearance at Voodoo.
“I have the biggest hopes for what this band could be and what it’s becoming,” Rachel explained. “That all this has been happening within the last six months was surprising, and it is really exciting.”
The success found by The Vettes is felt by Rachel’s entire family.
“We’re all related. Two of my brothers are adopted, and the rest are all blood related,” Rachel Vette, lead singer and the youngest sibling said. “When we were younger, most of us were into sports and I always played piano. We didn’t start playing music until our late teens, and we weren’t even trying to do a band together. It slowly happened that the whole family became one band.”
Including Rachel, The Vettes consists of members Chad Vette (synthesizer, keyboard), Todd Vette (guitar), John Vette (guitar), Mitch Vette (bass), and Brian Vette (drums). Originally, the family operation was split between two projects.
“We used to be two separate bands, and my brother Todd was the singer of the second band called The Hush,” Rachel explained. “The Hush had all the same members as The Vettes, except me. Then we decided to focus on just one act, and get one band out there. We chose to do that with The Vettes.”
When the decision was made to focus energy, Todd gave up his role as singer and became an additional guitar player for The Vettes. Prior to the merge, The Vettes and The Hush toured together.
“We’d tour together, and we’d basically be opening for ourselves,” Rachel said with a laugh. “I thought it was pretty funny, and sometimes people didn’t even notice because you know how drunk some people can get.”
The Vettes have an 80s throwback sound that entices audiences to dance and have a good time.
“I’ve always been a fan of synthesizers and dance rock, and that’s what I’m trying to do,” she said. “Our sound has evolved into that - into what I always wanted it to be.”
Of their songs, Rachel said that the track “Give Them What They Want” best characterizes the overall sound. Although the track has a feel-good dance quality, the deeper messages within the lyrics exposes what people do for attention to get noticed. To learn more about The Vettes, visit their MySpace page at www.myspace.com/thevettes.
No Bones About It, This Band Rocks
Le Carnival: Bingo! Parlour Stage
Sunday 11:00-11:45
By Samantha Morgan
Last year, the New Orleans BINGO! Show tent seemed to be the surprise hit of Voodoo. Packed from morning to night, the little tent that could drew crowds nearly as large as those at the main stages. Most of the bands booked to perform in the tent were Louisiana based, including the Baton Rouge rock duo Bones, which was founded by Michael Miller nearly ten years ago on the west coast.
“I created Bones years ago almost as a joke,” Miller admitted with a laugh. “It was just something to entertain myself, but it’s been way more successful than I ever thought. I’m just amazed.”
Miller formed the band he was living in California, but after several moves, he made his way back to Baton Rouge alone, which is when Bones took on its final transformation.
“About four years ago, Miller ended up moving across the street from me,” Scott Campbell, drummer for Bones, recalled. “He thought he recognized me as a guy he knew who played the drums in another band. I didn’t play the drums or even own a drum set.”
Prior to his first encounter with Miller, Campbell had always served as the bassist for other projects. Campbell didn’t want to miss the opportunity to work with Miller, so he did what we all seem to do at some point in our lives - he faked it until he made it.
“My brother had a drum set when we were growing up, so I knew enough, and luckily my neighbor had a drum set,” Campbell explained. “I knew with Bones it wasn’t really about being a technical master. It was more about attitude.”
Modesty aside, Campbell picked up the drums quickly, and developed his own style of playing.
“He’s one of those people if you give him a chance, he’ll put down something brilliant,” Miller said. “I’m very lucky that Scott and I have the same taste. I’ve been involved with the making of ten albums now, and I’ve never let anyone mix an album without me being there. With Scott, on the last album Sound of Id (Released in July 2008) I let him mix it alone. It has more to do with the trust that I have in him. I’ve gotten as close to Scott as you can get to a person.”
The other albums Miller referenced belong in the catalogue of bands such as Liquidrone, The Myrtles and the New Orleans BINGO! Show – all bands with a lofty number of members. For Miller, performing in a duo is a new experience, but it’s one he’s found rather comforting.
“With the other bands I’ve been in, it was great because it was like a big family, but Scott and I spent two weeks in California and it was more like a vacation than a tour. It’s a very easy band to work. We formed our own record label, distribute ourselves, and we do all the work ourselves,” said Miller.
Voodoo Gospel Brunch
Le Flambeau: Preservation Hall Stage & WWOZ/SoCo Stage
Sunday 11:30 AM-2:10 P.M.
(King Britt’s Tribute to Sister Gertrude Morgan is Friday at 9:15 P.M.)
By Danyiell Oviedo
Since its inception in 1999, the Voodoo Music Experience has become one of the premier music festivals in the world. Pollstar, the largest resource of concert touring information, even nominated the internationally known event twice to receive their coveted “Music Festival of the Year.” Now in its tenth year, the Experience has also become one of the most respected venues for various artists representing different genres of music. In fact, the festival is most notably recognized for successfully bringing together diverse forms of music, such as rock, rap, hip-hop, brass, reggae, and jazz.
Over the years, this brainchild of mega producer Steven Rehage, has undergone a few changes. However, these modifications only enhanced the Voodoo’s overall tone. In 2006, Rehage, a former LSU football player, made the excellent decision to create three different musical communities within the event: Le Ritual, Le Flambeau, and Le Carnival. Each area is designed to provide three very distinct moods.
However, the most exciting change is this year’s addition of the Gospel Brunch. Masterminded by Preservation Hall’s director Ben Jaffe and Rehage, the Brunch will be a non-denominational spiritual celebration of gospel music. Preservation Hall, the Blind Boys of Alabama, the Melody Clouds, and DJ King Britt’s Tribute to Sister Gertrude Morgan are among the scheduled performers of the Brunch and will appear on the WWOZ stage and in the Preservation Hall tent. Jaffe spoke with me about the Brunch, which will be held Sunday, October 26.
WYAT: Is the celebration just on the stage, or is there really going to be a brunch?
Ben: It’s not going to be your traditional New Orleans brunch, per se, in the sense that there’s going to be a buffet. It’s really geared towards getting people out to celebrate. It’s an opportunity for people to come out that maybe wouldn’t normally participate in something like this and to have this type of musical and spiritual experience for the first time.
WYAT: Why did you want to start this Brunch?
Ben: What I like about it is that this is a predominately rock and roll event that is actually opening its day with gospel music, and you’re not going to find that anywhere else in the world except New Orleans. And that’s what’s beautiful about it to me…this acknowledgement of New Orleans’ music and traditional music. The fact that the Blind Boys of Alabama are going to be performing at the same event that Nine Inch Nails is performing at, or that Preservation Hall Jazz Band is performing at the same event as Erykah Badu and Death Cab for Cutie…I find that to be a beautiful gesture and one that makes complete sense to me because my own personal musical tastes run the entire gamut, from New Orleans music and traditional music all the way to hip-hop and beyond.
WYAT: I was very shocked to here about this Gospel Brunch at the Voodoo Experience. I mean Nine Inch Nails and the Blind Boys of Alabama? Wait a minute!
Ben: Exactly! It makes perfect sense to me, because their records sit side by side each other in my record collection, literally. Really, all of the bands you’ll find performing at Voodoo have their roots in either R&B or some sort of traditional music. Even though you can’t possibly imagine there being any connection between Nine Inch Nails and New Orleans jazz, there is…you just have to keep going back far enough to find that connection. The Gospel Brunch is Voodoo’s way of saying that there really is only one music.
Tokyo Police Club
Le Ritual: PlayStation/Billboard.com Stage
Sunday 12:00-12:50
By Thomas G. Rush
Parents worldwide dread to hear that their sweet little child, with all of their potential, has decided to drop out of school and start a rock and roll band. The usual conversation ensues and more often than not, the band is started with or without the blessings of dear old mom and dad. And very few, or perhaps even none of those parents ever expect to see that same child on an international tour alongside some of the biggest names in music—all within just a few years of that conversation.
With garden-fresh lyrics that are everything from ambiguous nostalgia to fast-paced advice and instrumentalism that seems to be founded on solid steel bass lines, popcorn drumming, high-end guitar riffs and an overlay of raspy-melodic keyboarding, TPC has reason to be beyond the basement quartet they started out as.
Their debut EP A Lesson In Crime is frustratingly too short. At around 16 minutes long it’s gone and over with just as the listener gets into the swing of TPC’s modern punch-rock sounds and dystopian lyrics. The dystopia, however, is not so much a negative tone as much as it is a questioning one. They are a band that seems more focused on the broad and global what-might-bes instead of the typical youthful playthings. Their lyrics concern everything from artificial intelligence to a child’s point of view, riding a line that basks in the metaphysical rather than the usual love-addled boy-meets-girl motif that runs strongly through so much of indie music today.
Currently, they are out there revving the international crowd that is located across the pond, specifically the U.K. Soon after the European dates, TPC is slated to be back in the States for a long run of tour dates, one of which is, of course, our very own Voodoo Experience. Their second album, Elephant Shell has done them well, receiving top-notch reviews and propelling them to next-level status. And fans only want more.
Cold War Kids
Le Ritual: Voodoo Stage
Sunday 12:50-1:50
Drawing from diverse influences such as Billie Holiday, Bob Dylan, Radiohead, and the Velvet Underground, the Cold War Kids have created quite a buzz in the indie music realm for their soulful, blues-drenched indie rock. After forming in Fullerton, California nearly four years ago, the quartet (Nathan Willett vocals; Jonnie Russell, guitar; Matt Maust, bass; and Matt Aveiro, drums), the group moved to Los Angeles upon signing with Monarchy Music in 2004, and in 2005 celebrated the release of their demo, Mulberry St. Ristorante. Following the release of Mulberry, the group embarked on an extensive tour with indie rockers Tapes n’ Tapes in 2006. As the group played more and more shows, they began to create quite a buzz within the indie blogosphere and signed a deal with Downtown Records, home to Art Brut and Gnarls Barkley, less than a year later. Although some music bloggers may have seen the group’s 2006 debut, Robbers & Cowards, as somewhat akin to the Second Coming of Christ, this is most certainly not true. While their music is undeniably infectious, it is not the best the indie rock world has to offer. To decide for yourself, check them out at this year’s Voodoo Music Festival. Currently, the band is preparing for the September 2008 release of their sophomore album, Loyalty To Loyalty. –Dominique Minor
Quintron and Miss Pussycat
Le Carnival: BINGO! Parlour Stage
Sunday 1:15-2:15
For over a decade, Mr. Quintron and his wife/muse Miss Panacea Pussycat have represented the “marriage” of two masters with seemingly unrelated crafts. Oddly enough, this combination has had equal bearing and success across the board in indie rock circles, university gigs, grungy nightclubs, and of course, this year’s Voodoo stage.
An impressive multi-instrumental one man band, Quintron can be seen playing his custom Hammond organ/Fender Rhodes synth combo, built to resemble the body of a car, complete with working headlights and a “Mr. Q” license plate. While the car/synth serves as his primary instrument, Quintron can also be seen simultaneously keeping time on a hi-hat with one foot and switching between a wah pedal and the volume controls with the other. To top it all off, his final accompaniment is one of his many original inventions: the Drum Buddy, a rotating, light-activated analog synthesizer. An impressive instrumental setup already, Quintron is completed by Miss Pussycat on backup vocals and maracas to create a bizarre noise-synth aesthetic he refers to as swamp-tech.
Miss Pussycat has her own half of this enormous, atypical production: extraordinarily crafted puppet shows. She conveys messages of humor and satire using classic vent-mouth rod puppets which are dressed, thanks to her funky seamstress expertise, in an outrageous motley of colors, shapes and surprises, clearly articulating a puppet’s journey from a child’s theatre playhouse to a Krewe de Vieux Mardi Gras Ball to the Quintron/Pussycat set. A truly original cross of artistic genres and ingenious stage show at best, Quintron and Miss Pussycat are one of the most unique productions at Voodoo. –Carolyn Heneghan
The Blind Boys of Alabama
Le Flambeau: WWOZ/SoCo Stage
Sunday 1:20-2:10
With four consecutive Grammy awards for Best Traditional Soul Gospel album, The Blind Boys of Alabama have been building a strong global following since the 80s. Originally formed in 1939 at the Talladega Institute for the Deaf and Blind, the band has seen several lineup changes and is currently a sextet featuring Jimmy Carter, Bishop Billy Bowers and Ben Moore (who’s stepped in for an ailing Clarence Fountain) on vocals, Eric McKinnie on drums, Joey Williams on lead guitar, and Tracy Pierce on bass. They are known for both traditional and contemporary gospel as well as “gospel-ized” secular music.
In January of this year, The Blind Boys released Down in New Orleans, recorded at Piety Street Studios to much critical acclaim. This represents their first recording featuring some of the Crescent City’s finest, including Allen Toussaint, the Preservation Hall Jazz Band, and the Hot 8 Brass Band. They are also anchored by a New Orleans trio featuring pianist David Tarkanowsky, bassist Roland Guerin, and drummer Shannon Powell. The magic of this collaboration has resulted in the Down by the Riverside, a tour co-billed with The Preservation Hall Jazz Band that included a show at the John F. Kennedy Center this past September, and wraps up in March 2009. Known for strong transformative live performances with nearly six decades of experience, The Blind Boys of Alabama are sure to wash your soul clean with their music. –Brent Badeaux
Dashboard Confessional
Le Ritual: Voodoo Stage
Sunday 2:50-4:00
Dashboard Confessional seems to be almost single-handedly responsible for the current resurgence in popularity of alternative emo rock. Much of this success is due to the bandleader and singer-songwriter, Chris Carraba’s intense yet truthful lyrics that have struck a chord with a dedicated audience. The combination of honest lyrics and soft, acoustic guitar sound have become more and more appealing to a growing number of fans, allowing Dashboard Confessional to remain at the top of the newly revived modern rock and emo genre.
The band’s large fan base also raves about Dashboard Confessional’s live shows that allow for a lot of audience participation. In fact, on the 2002 MTV Unplugged CD, the audience can be heard on much of the CD, singing the lyrics aloud, led by Chris Carraba’s encouragement.
Carraba originally started out as a front man for Further Seems Forever, but left that band in order to focus on simpler, more introspective music. Dashboard Confessional started out as a solo show, but by the time the first CD was released (The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most, 2001), Carraba had assembled a full band. Now, seven years and several hits later (most notably the MTV Unplugged album that went platinum and the song “Vindication” from the Spiderman movie), the band is becoming legendary and adds an interesting dimension to the Voodoo Fest lineup. –Jordan Shay
Deacon John
Le Flambeau: Preservation Hall Stage
Sunday 4:00-5:00
“Deacon John” Moore is, hands down, one of New Orleans’ most phenomenally talented guitarists. The man behind the smiling round face under the trademark porkpie hat with the nickname that comes from an old Roy Brown song has performed with a who’s who of New Orleans musician roster that made it big in the 50s and 60s. It includes Ernie K-Doe, Lee Dorsey, Irma Thomas, Chris Kenner, Robert Parker, Fats Domino, Dr. John, Aaron Neville, Allen Toussaint, Johnny Adams, and Dave Bartholomew. He has also worked with Little Richard and legendary studio backup artists like Herbert Hardesty, Lee Allen, and Earl Palmer, in addition to renowned composer and arranger Wardell Quezergue. Strangely enough, he never had a hit record of his own until mid-2003 when the release of the live DVD/PBS special and CD release of Deacon John’s Jump Blues enabled him to emerge as a star in his own well-deserved right. He appeared at prestigious outside-of-New Orleans festivals and in the national media, including a one-hour installment on the ABC network’s Prime Time. But despite receiving nationwide recognition, Deacon John stayed true to his New Orleans home and roots, continuing to perform locally – though lately more often for private events than in the city’s clubs. Primarily identified with blues, he is nonetheless equally comfortable and adroit in other genres. Today, as president of the New Orleans Local of the American Federation of Musicians, he is fighting hard for the rights of his fellow musical artists. –Dean M. Shapiro
Wardell Quezergue
Le Flambeau: Preservation Hall Stage
Sunday 4:00-5:00
The name may be hard to spell and even harder to pronounce, but there’s nothing hard about recognizing the contributions Wardell Quezergue (pronounced Ka-zair) made to New Orleans music over the past half century. Just look around at the label credits and you’re likely to see his name. Affectionately known as “The Creole Beethoven,” Quezergue is the scion of a prominent local musical family. Along with Cosimo Matassa and Harold Battiste, he has been one of the city’s premier producers of now-classic R&R and R&B recordings. Like his distinguished counterparts, Quezergue has been primarily a behind-the-scenes persona, producing the musical arrangements for classic songs from Fats Domino, Dr. John, Robert Parker, the Dixie Cups, Professor Longhair, King Floyd, Earl King, Jean Knight, Smokey Johnson, and many others. His Malaco Studios in the early 70s produced hits for the Pointer Sisters, Gatemouth Brown, Rufus Thomas, Paul Simon, Willie Nelson, the Supremes, B.B. King, and Aaron Neville, just to name a few. Quezergue’s groundbreaking A Creole Mass CD, released in 2001, won widespread critical acclaim for its New Orleans-influenced orchestrations and its fusion of gospel/R&B/blues/jazz traditions. During Hurricane Katrina, he lost most of his personal belongings and had to evacuate, but true to his New Orleans spirit, he is back and still going strong at the age of 78, still performing, composing, arranging, and doing benefits for Katrina victims. –Dean M. Shapiro
Morning 40 Federation Bring the Party to Voodoo
Le Carnival: BINGO! Parlour Stage
Sunday 6:00-7:00
By Samantha Morgan
When you’re a band who likes to party so much so that your name is based off of drinking a 40-oz. of beer in the morning, how do you keep the good times rolling after 10 years? Well, that’s exactly what the New Orleans-based Morning 40 Federation has been doing.
“10 years for the Morning 40 Federation is like 50 years for any other band,” Ryan Scully, guitar player for Morning 40 Federation said with a chuckle. “We’re real close and have seen each other through a lot of stuff. Every one of us has been in a fight with each other, but we manage to get through it. It’s hard to keep a band together when you’re main thing is drinking, late nights, and rock and roll.”
But stay together they have, and including Scully, the band is completed by members Mike Andrepont (drums), Josh Cohen (saxophone), Steve Calandra (bass), Space Rickshaw (tuba, trombone), and Bailey Smith (guitar).
“We have a New Orleans style and try to keep our New Orleans roots in our music,” Scully said when discussing the progression of their sound over the years. “There’s not much difference in the music from when we first started. We’re better musicians, of course, so we can do the songs better and cleaner, which some people don’t like. They want it dirty and all drunk. We’re pretty satisfied with our style. It’s what we are.”
Although satisfied, the members have branched off with two interesting side projects. The first is another band that falls more into the realm of hip-hop.
“It’s real dirty and can be really sexual and X-rated,” Scully said about Genius and Retarded. “Morning 40 Federation is more like R-rated.”
The other project was recording an album with Andre Williams.
“The first time I saw Andre was when he was opening for The Blues Explosion,” Scully recalled. “He has a great connection with New Orleans, and we saw him out at an after party one night, and we just started talking and drinking and partying. The thing about him is that he always has songs in his head.
“About three years ago, he came to our New Year’s Eve party,” he added. “After the show, we had this party at our drummer’s house, and there were only a few people there and he and I got wasted. I got a tape recorder out of my car, and I listened to it a few days later. There were four or five songs on there, and we made the music for it.
“It all happened pretty quick,” he said. “The Morning 40 Federation and Andre have gotten along well cause he likes to party real late, too. It was a perfect match!”
The album was released on July 29 on Bloodshot Records, based out of Chicago. Although not technically a part of the Morning 40 Federation discography, it is something the band hopes to try again with other musicians.
As for their music, fans can expect to see Morning 40 Federation at Voodoo Fest, and the band is currently working on a new album.
“We’re going to start recording again soon,” Scully said. “We have a bunch of songs, and we just have to get them honed down and recorded. We’re not in any real rush.”
You can learn more about Morning 40 Federation by visiting www.myspace.com/morning40federation.
Sharon Jones and The Dap-Kings
Le Flambeau: WWOZ/SoCo Stage
Sunday 5:35-6:35
Sharon Jones is an imported local of New York, hailing from James Brown’s hometown, Augusta, Georgia, where she began singing in her church choir at a young age. As the years went by, she sang anonymous backup vocals for dance records and kept a series of odd jobs that included working as a prison guard at Riker’s Island Penitentiary in New York. In 2005, Sharon Jones finally broke out on the scene with her second album, Naturally.
Sharon Jones is not a throwback to the soul of the 60s and 70s, but a living embodiment of soul in the present day. With the consistent support of The Dap-Kings as her backing band, her albums are a must-have and her live performances are jolting. She has the sass and attitude of a strong, decisive female as she sings “How Do I Let a Good Man Down,” sweet tenderness in the powerfully soaring “All Over Again,” and a vulnerable reluctance to giving in to old love in the spoken word duet with 70s soul legend Lee Fields, “Stranded in Love.” Sharon Jones will make you fall in love with soul music all over again. –Ryan Hanley
Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews
Le Flambeau: WWOZ/SoCo Stage
Sunday 6:50-8:00
No longer “short” or the 8-year-old wunderkind who wowed the music world with his prodigious talents at a young age, Troy “Trombone Shorty” is all grown up now. At age 22, he is better than ever, playing trombone, trumpet, and other instruments while singing with his band, Orleans Avenue. He is yet another scion of one of the city’s many highly talented musical families – brother James Andrews is a renowned trumpeter, as is his uncle Glen David Andrews, and his grandfather was the late Jessie Hill of “Ooh Poo Pah Doo” fame. The acorn that fell not far from the tree sprouted early when young Troy picked up the trombone at four years old and already began leading bands by the age of six – before his arms were even long enough to reach all the positions on his namesake instrument’s slide (he used his foot to reach the slide’s outermost positions). Over the years, his fame just kept on growing as he kept on blowing, landing him a slot in the horn section backing Lenny Kravitz, and performances with U2 and Green Day. Andrews steadily hones his skills with regular gigs around town and on tour. Lately, he has been barnstorming the country, including the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO and at Lincoln Center in New York. –Dean M. Shapiro
Interview with Manwitch
Le Carnival: NOOMOON Stage
Sunday 4:00-4:30
By Carolyn Heneghan
Who knew the melodious grit of an all-female rock group could come out of a couple Mardi Gras parades? Originally Pink Slip, annual performers on the floats of Muses, Tucks, and Thoth, Manwitch has expanded beyond the krewes, beyond the city limits, and is out to show the world what good old-fashioned rock and roll sounds like… with a woman’s touch. This feisty feminine foursome has graced the stages of local clubs for the past few years and is ready to take on the Voodoo stage for the first time this year. Bassist Rachelle O’Brien took a moment to share what a real Manwitch tastes like.
WYAT: So you’re recording an album right now?
Rachelle: It’s our debut album. It’s called Manwitch: The Great Taste of Rock n’ Roll. It’s a full-length we hope to have out for the fall, by Voodoo Fest. So basically we’ve been finishing up some tracks, and we’re really excited about it. We’re definitely going to put out a CD and we’ve talked about putting out a 7-inch vinyl; we’re all really into that. We’ll release something online as well.
WYAT: What can listeners expect to hear from your debut?
RO: It’s straight-up garage rock with a hard edge. Lots of vocals—Sue’s the lead singer, but we all sing layered backup. Of course lots of guitar, very heavy percussion.
WYAT: How do you think the downloading trend of late will affect your record?
RO: I’m an old-school music fan. I worked at a record store a long time, the Mushroom, and worked for Sony Music as well as independent record labels, so I’m a big fan of the full-length. We’ll do some singles, I’m sure, but we definitely want to just put forth the whole record in its entirety on CD and go from there.
WYAT: What kind of shows will you be playing this year?
RO: We’re gonna be playing Freret Market on Saturday, November 4. We’re playing a Big Easy Rollergirls event in the fall as well. We’re playing a lot of local shows right now and are just really excited about continuing to help rebuild the city. We all came back right after the storm, so that’s very important to us. Hoping to do some shows around the southwest, Memphis, Austin, and around the state, Baton Rouge, Lafayette, all in support of the album. And then of course Pink Slip will be riding high again for this year’s Carnival.
WYAT: What are your thoughts about playing at Voodoo?
RO: This is our first big festival. We’re very excited. We’re playing the Carnival area on the NOOMOON stage. It’s a great way to work with other regional bands. And Voodoo Fest is just awesome; I’m psyched! We’re all born promoters and marketers, and this will just really be a great opportunity to expand our fan base, get the music out there, and promote the new record. I work with Miller [beer sponsor], so I’ve been out there every year, and I know what an opportunity it is.
WYAT: So what’s the next step? What does Manwitch see in their future?
RO: The master plan is to go to Europe. We have a lot of friends over there, and a lot of friends in bands, so that’s definitely part of the plan—something we’d like to do next year, maybe next summer sometime. We wanna get over there, and play England, France, Switzerland, and Germany. There’s a great scene for rock and roll, especially for all female, I think they would really appreciate women who can rock. We’ll go there perhaps with another local band, Terranova. It has some Manwitch members and is a bunch of friends of ours, three women playing straight-up punk rock. We plan to do some shows in Europe with them, so hopefully next summer that can happen.
Dirty Dozen Brass Band
Le Flambeau: WWOZ/SOCO Stage
Sunday 4:15-5:15
Before making their first appearance at Voodoo Fest, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band took the New Orleans brass band sound a few other places, including the Finger Lakes region of New York, the mountain country of Colorado, the sunny beaches of California, the Pacific Northwest, Milan, Italy, and France. As one of the hardest-working bands in the area, Gregory Davis (trumpet and vocals), Roger Lewis (baritone and soprano sax), Kevin Harris (tenor sax), Terence Higgins (drums), Jamie McLean (guitar), Efrem Towns (trumpet and flugelhorn), Kirk Joseph (sousaphone), and Revert Andrews (trombone) have taken the old-time New Orleans sound and kicked it up a few notches by incorporating trace elements of funk, gospel, R&B, and bebop into the gumbo mix. Their touring lineup includes all of the above, except for Jake Eckert replacing McLean on guitar and Julius McKee replacing Joseph on sousaphone.
The DDBB established themselves in 1977 by bass drummer Benny Jones; the band originally grew out of a church group started by the late Danny Barker. Jones left for a stellar solo career shortly after forming the band, but it took off under its current leadership and has been on a roll ever since. Through its ranks such luminaries as Lionel Batiste on snare drum, trombonists Charles Joseph and “Big Sam” Williams, as well as Jones, have traveled, and with label credits that include such industry giants as Rounder, Columbia, and Sony, the band has established quite a legacy and has done its home city proud. –Dean M. Shapiro
Cowboy Mouth Sings Praise of New Orleans
Le Ritual: PlayStation/Billboard.com Stage
Sunday 6:10-7:10
By Samantha Morgan
The last time Cowboy Mouth performed at Voodoo Fest was in 2006. On the last day, about 30 minutes after Duran Duran hit the main stage, Cowboy Mouth hit the stage and did what it does best by closing out the weekend with a bang.
They ended the set with their hit song “Jenny Says,” off of the 1996 release Are You With Me?
“The audience was really enthusiastic,” Fred LeBlanc, lead vocalist, drummer and founding member of Cowboy Mouth, recalled. “I ended up pulling about 150 people on stage. I do that sometimes.”
Cowboy Mouth also performed the year before at the Katrina-forced relocation of the festival to Memphis.
“That was a special moment for me,” LeBlanc said. “It was one of the best things I ever did in this band. It was like putting your arm around the city musically. The next year when the city had come back and the festival was such a big success, it was like we were showing the world that we were down, but we’re not out.”
Cowboy Mouth performing that fateful year seemed more than appropriate, considering the band’s more than 15-year quest to expose the world to New Orleans culture. LaBlanc said they begin every show by saying, “We’re Cowboy Mouth, from New Orleans, Louisiana!”
“We’re very much a celebration of Louisiana. All aspects of it,” LeBlance said. “This thing just gets inside of you, and you have to fight it or celebrate it. I chose a long time ago to celebrate it.”
Part of what LeBlanc noted about the Louisiana way of living is the fun-loving nature of the people, which he tries to reinforce through the music.
“I guess for me, I’ve always had a very conscious understanding, as long as this life lasts, it’s very finite, and you have to enjoy it. You don’t want to end your life looking back and saying I woulda, shoulda,” he said. “I think that you have to appreciate the moment. Yesterday’s gone and tomorrow isn’t here yet. You might as well enjoy the hell out of it.”
LeBlanc said he will continue to enjoy every minute of his time performing as Cowboy Mouth. His intensity never falters, and the band released its tenth album Fearless in September. Their performance at Voodoo Fest this year will serve as the CD release show for New Orleans.
“You have to allow yourself to be inspired and allow yourself to grow, not only as a band, but as a musician, in order to keep it interesting,” LeBlanc said when asked how he maintains enthusiasm for writing new albums. “We had a pile of really good songs, and everyone approached it like a dog attacking good meat. At the end of the day, you have to please yourself and make yourself happy. The main thing for us is to have fun with our music.”
You can learn more about Cowboy Mouth by visiting www.myspace.com/cowboymouth.
Big Al Carson
Le Flambeau: Preservation Hall Stage
Sunday 2:30-3:30
Holding court nightly on Bourbon Street at the Funky Pirate is one of the most recognizable entertainers, Alton Carson, better known as “Big Al” – all 587 or so pounds of him. A former tuba player born in the Crescent City, Carson performed with several of the city’s top brass bands before deciding to fly solo with his own backup band, The Bluesmasters. Over the years he has been an ambassador for New Orleans music, touring Europe with Aaron Neville, the late Ernie K-Doe in the mid-90s, performing for the Dutch royal family, and has appeared in at least half a dozen locally shot films, music videos, and several commercials.
Big Al belts out blues and R&B standards like Little Milton’s “The Blues is All Right” and Wilson Pickett classics, but is best known for what could be the official Bourbon Street anthem, “Take Your Drunken Ass Home” – the title track of Carson’s 2002 CD. The song was actually inspired by an experience in Flynn’s Den, a club on Downman Road where he played. An inebriated patron didn’t want to leave at closing time, so Carson and his bass player started making up lyrics and riffs about the situation. Since that time the song has become the theme for bartenders everywhere when dealing with drunks who just won’t leave. Only in New Orleans could such a song and its cheerfully ribald creator have blossomed forth. –Dean M. Shapiro