The Fabulous Wailers play the Met this weekend. I said, the Fabulous Wailers
play the Met this weekend. That might not mean much to some of you. In fact,
lotsa you are probably thinking Bob Marley right about now. In fact, the
Wailers rocked the Pacific Northwest before Hendrix, before the Sonics, even
before the Kingsmen -- you know, the band that turned "Louie Louie" into a
hit.
If you know the Wailers, you've already scurried back to your record
collection, huffed off the dust of one of your favorite old LPs, and begun
playing air guitar to "Livewire." If not, well, the best way to get
indoctrinated to the fabulous world of the Wailers is to hit the show this
weekend -- brought to you by the fab fellows in the Itchies and company -- and
work backwards. This is an incredibly rare opportunity to see one of the most
influential bands in the history of US rock, certainly of the '60s, a band
whose ramifications sent ripples through every garage in the country between
1965 and 1969.
The Wailers first emerged on the national scene back in 1959. At the time,
they were a bunch of high school kids in the Northwest. Their hit, "Tall Cool
One," sent the band to the top of a growing pyre of fiery bands, a group which
would later include garage kings, the Sonics and Paul Revere and the Raiders.
There are a couple reasons why the Wailers were a Northwest Coast phenomenon
and haven't had a more obvious impact here in the East. The first is that the
band never played here. With the exception of Dick Clark's American
Bandstand TV show and another appearance on radio revolutionary Alan
Freed's own program, the Wailers never bothered much traveling east to gig.
The second reason was because they were swallowed up by psychedelia and the
San Francisco rock scene before they had a chance to stretch out. Their
punk/R&B/garage barrage was an obvious antithesis to that city's fey Flower
Power vibe. "Music was changing," says bassist Ormsby of the band's demise in
the liners to one of the Wailers' awesome Norton label reissues. "San Francisco
music like `White Rabbit,' crap like the Grateful Dead. We wanted nothin' to do
with that shit!" Lastly, the Wailers were quintessentially DIY. They'd been
unimpressed with their major label experiences and decided to start their own
imprint, Etiquette Records. Self-recorded and self-promoted, the Wailers were
content to be in control, if seriously limited in their endeavors.
The band's sound began as slammin', party-on R&B and morphed into a
heavier, power chord-slick garage chug, foreshadowing punk by a decade. Today,
with three of their original members in tow (Buck Ormsby, Kent Morrill, and
Rich Dangel), the band is finally headed our way, in support of a brand new
record, Cadillac to Mexico. Of course, the guys are 60ish now, so
perhaps they won't lean as hard into their heaviest stuff ("Hang Up," "Out of
Our Tree") like they used to. But don't be surprised if the Wailers sound like
the kind of band the Hives only wish they could be. The Fabulous Itchies, who
tipped their hat to the Wailers in their own appelation, caught them at the
Vegas Grind a few years back and saw such a great show that they wanted to
bring them to Providence to show them off.
Saturday night is a rare opportunity to see the music legends' music legend.
You've heard about the Rolling Stones' tour starting in September? Here's a
chance to watch 60somethings rock harder. Don't miss it.
The Fabulous Wailers hit the Met for their first New England appearance
since the '60s on Saturday at 9 p.m. with the Fabulous Itchies and Mr. Airplane
Man sharing the bill. The Wild Card DJs spin, too.
Duke Robillard
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TRUE-BLUES DUKE. Duke Robillard makes this space once in a while for a
lot of reasons, but mostly because he's one of the best blues-swing-jazz
guitarists in the country and he lives among us. I mean, Dylan himself asked
the guy to play on his Time Out of Mind sessions. None other than jazz
icon Herb Ellis teamed up with Duke for an album of duets. He helped Ruth Brown
win a Grammy of her own when he recently guested on her sessions. Lately,
Columbia honored him with the opportunity to contribute some liner notes to
their hotly anticipated upcoming box set enshrining jazz forbear Charlie
Christian. Hell, it doesn't get much more meaningful than all that. And
guitarists don't get much more ambitious and inspired than Mr. Duke
Robillard.
Most relevantly, Duke just scored huge with a triumphant return to form with
Living With the Blues (Stony Plain), his first true-blues outing since
1994 and a release he'll celebrate at the Call on Saturday. In addition to
originals, Duke covers many of his favorite blues guitarists, from slide genius
Tampa Red to soul-blues demon Little Milton, Freddie King, Willie Dixon, and
Bobby Bland.
With so many achievements already notched, so many milestones already reached,
what motivates Duke to push forward? "I'm always trying to move ahead," he
says. "I grow and learn more about the guitar each time I pick it up. But I
think it shows up in my writing more than my playing. I write a lot of
different types of material -- blues, jump, and swing. That variety gives me a
chance to express guitar playing in new ways through songs."
With Duke, there's the axe-factor. His sound depends not only on the genre he
writes in, but on the axe he plays. "Different guitars give me a chance to try
out different kinds of sound. I use a lot of different instruments on stage,
usually a Strat, a Gibson or Epiphone archtop, Les Pauls, or whatever tool it
is I need to reproduce the sound I'm going for."
Of course, Duke is also a purist as far as sound goes. "I sometimes use odd
amplification to get it, but the sound comes out of your fingers. The clearer
the sound, the easier it is to reproduce." For amps, Duke uses a Sov-Tek or a
Fender Deluxe Reverb or a Gibson Lab Series L7, depending on the mood and the
tone. Whether it's rock, jazz, blues, or R&B, Duke's real inspiration comes
from the old masters. "Sure, I hear modern players I enjoy but I don't sit
around trying to become a part of the modern world in the sense of guitar
style. The early guys make more sense to me."
In fact, Duke just came back from Georgia, where he participated in the Blind
Willie McTell Festival. The music was rich, something that Duke finds is
missing today. "We've gone from Duke Ellington, with all of his beautiful
harmony and chords and superb arrangements, and traveled backwards to one-chord
songs. Maybe that's cool, maybe it's good. I'm just hoping that it's the
beginning of a new cycle."
Duke plays his record release party at the Call on Saturday, June 1, with
Mark Texeira on drums, Jesse Williams on bass, Matt McCabe on keys, and Doug
James on sax.
E-mail me with music news at big.daddy1@cox.net.
E-mail me with music news at big.daddy1@cox.net.
Issue Date: May 31 - June 6, 2002
