| From a Hard luck boy to living legend: DAN BAIRD |
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Dan Baird is a southern boy making Rock and Roll. He aint making Southern Rock. All good music started in the American South, in case you didnt know. Some folks just aint rural enough to get southern soul. It aint a white thang. It aint a black thang. Its southern thang. And everyone should have Dan Baird in their music collection. So, now the reader understands the interviewers lofty Southern a priori musical assumptions (I am from Kentucky). The interviewers father brought him up with Bluegrass music, Jerry Lee Lewis, George Jones, Ray Price, Creedence Clearwater Revival, Elvis, Roy Orbison, The Beatles, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, and a host of other 60s and 70s rock or country artists. Most of those artists in some way tapped the visceral depths of the southern soul. These artists are only a natural progression to singer/songwriter/philosopher/producer Dan Baird. Flashback: I was somewhere in age around 16 or 17. I saw the Georgia Satellites play Eastern Kentucky Universitys Brock auditorium. It was a small venue and it was loud. After the show, I met Sat bassist Rick Price. Rick signed my ticket stub, but I kept looking around for Dan Baird. And as fate would have it- Dan had already got back on the tour bus. So I missed my chance way back when to holler at Dan. Flash-forward: One of the nice things about working for Tinfoil is that I get to go after interviews with folks I want to interview. Joe lets me do my own thing. And Dan Baird was on my initial hit-list. Why Dan Baird? Is it because I missed out on meeting him some years ago? Nope- not really- Dan is a link in the great chain. A Southern Rock-n-Roll scholar, a living legend- he just doesnt know it yet. He would probably laugh off that suggestion and tell me to get outta Hyperbole-ville. He was on MTV when the channel actually played music videos. Youve heard his voice in Tom Cruises movie Cocktail. He is a living link in the glorious musical chain, forged exclusively in the South. Pull up a chair while Dan takes five to jaw with us.... 1. Tell us about what you are doing now musically- plug away. Right now I'm in the north west of Spain producing a band called "Sugar Mountain". Touring Europe this summer with my outfit, finishing a Yayhoos record this spring, playing around with different folks. etc. etc. 2. Tell us where you come from- what your musical influences are? I was raised in Atlanta and got the benefit of having a "black" radio station that was influential in the scope of my education, although at the time it was too funky for a 13 year old cracker, but I got it later. The Stones/Faces thing is there (duh) Little Feat (with Lowell George) Chuck Berry, Mark Twain, hell- I don't know, mostly people with a sense of humor and soul. 3. And you are producing.... Well, as I said I'm in Spain producing "Sugar Mountain". Great blend of 1974 rock stuff. I just finished a band from Wisconsin called "The Crashers". You can check out www.bairddan.com for the rest of the stuff that's out. 4. You do a lot in Europe? You did a live album in Switzerland. Europe digs Southern soul? Well I think it's more like Europe has a memory. In the '60's a lot of jazz greats went to Europe because they went "out of style" in the us and found a receptive fan base there. It's kind of the same way for aging rock and rollers. You still have to deliver, but they still dig it. The live CD was kind of an accident. We were recording some of the gigs for a hoot, and one night in Bern, Switzerland it just kinda came out right. We realized that it would only take a little to recoup any costs and said what the hell. It's got fine covers of Sin City by AC-DC and Daydream Believer by The Monkees, what's not to like? 5. How did the Satellites overcome the dreaded "regional" label and forge a commercial success? Hell if I know.... 6. How about that Georgia Satellites movie project? I'm pleading the 5th! Actually it was for a John Stamos vehicle called "born to ride". It wasn't great, shall we say. The music was a bit better. It was fun to do, but I don't think I made a good impression on the movie folks. Maybe I need to work on my "Hollywood Dan. "Oh babe, that was so it!! You're so hot. Love it, babe, love it!" Hmmm maybe not. 7. As a producer, what do you think about today's American music scene? There is always some good music and a lot of bad or needless music in every decade. Always has been, always will be. If you've ever watched the Sopranos you'll remember Hesh telling Christopher about the awful band he and Adriana were working with, "there's good and not good, this is not good". I wish it were more complex than that, but it's not. You know the song you hear on the radio that you should HATE, but you secretly love to death. Mine was "Everybody Wants to Rule the World". Great song- awful vocals, band etc., man I loved that tune which is a long way around saying there is always something good out there. You just gotta find it. 8. Tell us about the musical gear that you use on stage. That all depends where I am playing and with whom. In Europe, I use 2 Fender Pro JRs. 1 driving both 10s, the other driving a 4 X 12 cab, a total of 30 watts over 6 speakers. Sounds like an AC30 you can take out on the road. In the states when with the Yayhoos, we use Eric Ambel's DR. Z's 18-watters with 2 X 12 Bassman cabs. Sound great. I'll use my old reworked '53 deluxe (purple!) and a Pro JR, or for bigger places I'll use a brown deluxe driving 2X12 Marshall P.A. cab with the purple one. Couple of stomp boxes. The one I like the best is the Fulldrive by Fulltone. A real "more me" box. 1957 Esquire that has nothing original but the wood and back plate left. I broke everything else and replaced it, so it could go back to work. Couple of kit Teles, 55 Les Paul JR with a bar magnet reissue pick up that sounds great, but I can't play that and sing at the same time. Tuning. All JR players know they are never in tune, and compensate, and that means you have to think. Thinking and singing do not work together, at all. 9. You are song-writing machine. What inspires the bard named Baird? Life? Love? The songwriting this is a lot slower now that I'm older and will tell people off to their faces instead of writing about it. But love and life and funny stories, it all depends. Usually something that makes me laugh or gets a rise out of me. Can't explain it better than that. 10. Any tips for aspiring musicians/songwriters? Nope. Or just the usual - you're more likely to fail than succeed in this biz, so take your shot at it, not what you think will make it. That crap never works, and if it does you're gonna hate it and yourself later. Simple is always better. It will be interesting if you have emotion behind it. Do not try to make (a) cover of modern guitarist, drummer, bassist, keyboardist, or any of that crap. Stop it right now, stop!! Think about what you listen to when you are riding around listening to the radio, and you hear a song for the first time. Groove, singer, song. Then you hear the other stuff. Quit worrying about the other stuff. Groove, singing, song. That's what we hear. Clever wears thin quickly in songwriting. Honesty doesn't. That's about it.... I offer my thanks to Dan Baird for taking time out from producing Sugar Mountain to answer these questions. If you want to hear Dans latest efforts, go here: http://www.bloodshotrecords.com/bands.php3?bandid=29 Make sure you take a listen to What Are We Waiting For? Again, for more on Dan, check out his website: http://www.bairddan.com/index.html Add this page to your favorite Social Bookmarking websites          Add your comment
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