BLURTING WITH… Black Joe Lewis
Sep 11, 2009
"Bitch, I love you": Gettin' off on the good foot with the Honeybears' frontman.
By RANDY HARWARD
Maybe you were feelin' Sharon Jones-ed to death, full to edge of puking on the glut of new or previously unheralded soul artists? It wasn't just Jones and her Dap-Kings - there's Bettye LaVette, the Dynamites, the Budos Band, Wiley and the Checkmates, Nicole Willis, Keite Young, Ryan Shaw... the list is as interminable as an opera. As good as they are, all crazes must come to an end-bring on the new albums, but tone down the revival talk, please. Make room for something else.
Then, of course, here comes Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears. Their arrival was sudden - like the irresistible groove that explodes from out of a Chuck Berry lick in the intro to "Gunpowder" from the band's debut album Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is! (Lost Highway) - and immediately welcome, despite how snugly they fit the bitch-session paragraph above. It's because there's something different about them, a rock n' roll sensibility that gives their joyous, funky soul music one hell of a kick. That, and a sense of humor that finds characters like "Cousin Randy" wiggling into the tunes, and makes a line like, "Bitch, I love you," both hilarious and romantic.
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BLURT: On MySpace someone commented, "Good fucking God, I love this band." A lot of other folks concur.
LEWIS: It's great to hear that kind of thing. My favorite part of the job is playing the live shows. We love trying to win over a crowd. We're definitely always working on the live show and trying to get better.
You have some hilarious songs. What's the secret to using humor to convey serious themes without being pegged as a novelty act?
That's a tough question. I don't really think about that. We have a couple of funny songs but I also try to write songs about real people so the people who buy the album and come to the show can relate to it.
Tell me about your relationship with "Cousin Randy."
You gotta ask Randy about that one. Don't trust him though, the devil took him so he's always telling lies.
Come on, what's he really like? Do you trot him out at shows like Iron Maiden does with Eddie?
I gotta keep him away from the shows. Him and Bobby Booshay too. They like to start a bunch of trouble.
The Dread Question of Influences: If your MySpace top friends mean anything, you dig James Brown, Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Bunker Hill, Howlin' Wolf, and... Michael McDonald? There's also a punchier rock aspect to your music. What else do you listen to?
We always listen to yacht rock in the van. It relaxes me. My favorite stuff is old punk rock and dirty soul and blues. I grew up on hip hop.
Jim Eno from Spoon produced the record, which is interesting - maybe even surprising.
We met Jim when we were on tour with Spoon. He has a really nice studio and had a lot of ideas about how to make the songs interesting. He also played some drums and percussion on the album.
Like a lot of other recording/touring musicians lately, you have a day job. What do you do? Is your boss cool, or is "Master Sold My Baby Away" a true story?
I used to work at a fish market, shucking oysters and delivering fish wholesale. I wrote "Gunpowder" about my boss before I got fired. I've been so busy with the band lately I haven't been back.
[Photo Credit: Cambria Harkey]
Black Joe Lewis' "Tell ‘Em What Your Name Is" was previously reviewed at BLURT.
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