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Young, Black & Loud!
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears Set To Thrill With R&B, Soul and Blues Amalgam.
Seeing Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears for the first time was an unforgettable experience. Walking across the infield at the 2008 Austin City Limits Festival I could hear Lewis’s growl before I could actually see him; but as soon as I heard that sound, and the band kick in behind him, I knew that this was something special.
A few minutes earlier I had been watching Eli ‘Paper Boy’ Reed & The True Loves, an experience that was entertaining – the crowd loved them - but left me wishing for something a bit more. That ‘something’ came immediately in the form of Black Joe Lewis. It was rough and raw, pulsating and primal – a contrast to everything I had just been watching.
Sure you could spot the influences – James Brown, Sly Stone, even Howlin’ Wolf – but this was not slavish imitation. Lewis had assimilated those influences and spat them back out with his own sound. This was not the smooth soulful sounds of the Trueloves or the Daptones, this was like someone had slipped those bands some LSD and told them they were the JBS. It was one of the most exciting performances I had seen from a new band for years.
Lewis’s debut self-titled album came in a plain cover and cost a mere US$15 at the ACL merch stand. It pretty much reflected the live show and contained some raunchy songs such as the much-misunderstood ‘Bitch, I Love You’ and the crossroads variation story,’ Cousin Randy.’ It also had a killer James Brown cover in ‘I Don’t Mind.’
A little while later, I was chasing Lewis down for an interview and was surprised to find that he was still driving a truck in Austin, delivering seafood and also shucking oysters. He had just signed with Lost Highway and was looking forward to recording a new album. We joked about him being able to give up his job because the music was making him miss so much work and a few months later he was – luckily for us – sacked.
Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is arrived in mid-2009 with a thump almost as loud as his debut. It is in the words of one reviewer, ‘a fierce, rich amalgam of primal blues, soul, R&B and funk feels simply incendiary.’
When we first spoke Lewis was planning on naming the new album Nat Turner, after the slave who led a rebellion in 1831 and was later executed for the revolt. (Obviously, the record company had other plans for the title).
Lewis says that his music might be described as ‘garage soul’ (a term devised by his drummer). It is an apt label – for the time being.
Apart from appearances at ACL Fest and South By Southwest, Lewis - who had been born in Tucson, Arizona but was raised in Austin – was apparently playing traditional blues until he met guitarist Zach Ernst and formed the Honeybears. Before that he hadn’t really thought about a music career, apart from appearing at a few open mic nights, and at school was into rap more than the blues or soul.
“I like a lot of James Brown,” admits Lewis when I ask him what he has been listening to over the years. But he adds, “Elmore James, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Hound Dog Taylor, The Stooges, Rocket From The Crypt. Definitely a lot of that stuff came into play.”
“My neighbours had a band,” he replies, when I ask him what got him into music, “and they didn’t have to work and they had all this money, man. They just traveled around and partied and I was like, ‘I want to do that.’ So I just bought a guitar and just started getting gigs and open mics. That was the whole reason I started doing it.”
“When I started playing live, I was learning how to play the guitar still,” says the 27-year-old Lewis who adds that he has only been playing for the past 7 years. “So it was kind of rough at times but it was always fun.”
Ernst booked Lewis as support to Little Richard and formed a band around the young singer/guitarist.
“It was the most people I had ever played in front of at the time,” recalls Lewis of the support gig. “I didn’t get to meet him but I got really close to Little Richard. His show was okay – he was funnier than he was good. He was in a really bad mood and was complaining about a lot of stuff but that was fun to watch. He’s insane.”
After that show, Ernst suggested getting some school friends together and forming a more permanent combo that went into the studio and knocked out the debut.
“Actually, in a lot of ways I like that better than Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is,” confesses Joe, in an all-too-honest appraisal that would never get past a PR person. “It was less studio involvement and more like live and raw. I like that one a lot. It was kind of me in the beginning.
“It was kind of a whole different approach, it was more like garage recording. Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is is a more professional sounding one.”
Lewis says that the song ‘Bitch, I Love You’ was the result of some comedy sketches he would perform with a friend. He thinks people like it just because of the title!
The blues rap ‘Cousin Randy’ was a spontaneous effort in the studio about his cousin who he says is ‘nuts.’
Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is was produced by Spoon’s Jim Eno, who was a big fan of the band.
“It was cool,” says Lewis, who adds, “but I definitely prefer the independent way better because you don’t have some people trying to tell you what to do and everybody throwing their ideas around. Doing it independently is just going in there for fun with your friends and you just mess with it and have a good time.”
When I suggest that those days are probably gone now, given his recent profile and reviews, Lewis agrees but adds ‘it would be nice, it would be nice, for sure.”
Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is features another strong batch of originals, including the inescapably catchy ‘I’m Broke’ and a Bar-Kays cover, ‘Humpin,’ which Ernst brought to the sessions.
“We are both Stax fans,” admits Lewis, “and I think that song was actually made after the plane accident, with their newer line-up in the ‘70s. Before that the Bar-Kays were more of a smooth soul band. We all like that song a lot.”
Lewis rejects the attempts at pigeon-holing his music and says that he and The Honeybears are ‘more like a rock band with horns’ than a soul group. “We are primal and basic, it’s just based on the groove.”
“I just want to play to all kinds of different people,” he says, “instead of getting into one thing.”
Lewis says he and his band – including the horn section – are looking forward to starting their first Australian tour. Given the power of their recordings and live shows they should blow the roof off a lot of venues!
Thursday January 7
The Espy, Melbourne
Friday January 8
Mona/Fona Festival, Hobart
Saturday January 9
Sydney Festival, Opening Night
Sunday January 10
Sydney Festival, Becks Bar
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