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I approach guitar in a WAY different way than most folks do. I think of it as creating shapes and movement and punctuation. That's my role. The traditional term for it is rhythm guitar player. -John Bell |
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Photo of JB by Joanna Kleine
I'd guess there's some pressure or inclination, subconscious even, to play the songs the way Houser played them. What songs, if any, have changed for the band since Jimmy came in?
We've always been champions of letting the tunes change, and that's what keeps us sane. We're not out there playing the same song night after night. The song is a memorable place, like a spot in Central Park, but when you visit it there's going to be some familiar memories and some new occurrences. I can tell you what I see with Jimmy is he recognizes things easily, without explanation or anyone telling him what to do. Most of these tunes have signature, thematic parts that are inherent to the tune. So, he grabs onto that, learns it, incorporates it. Then there's the other places we're known for, especially in the live situation, where off the cuff communication takes place, and Jimmy's always ready to do that. The thing that's really neat – and I'm sure Mikey's smiling about it – is Jimmy listens so carefully. He's visited albums that I haven't listened to in a decade. He's sitting there being so passionate, like in a discovery mode where he's taken by a wild tone or a melodic idea that makes him say, "I wonder where he got that?" It's almost the revelation of an observer listening to some of our old stuff. He's basically trying to learn the songs but he's also getting in there and catching a huge appreciation for them. It's good energy to be around.
I got to watch you up close at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland last year. There's real instrumental sparks between you and Jimmy. Has playing guitar changed for you having this new person to the right of you?
I approach guitar in a WAY different way than most folks do. I think of it as creating shapes and movement and punctuation. That's my role. The traditional term for it is rhythm guitar player.
But I don't think that's really what YOU do with the instrument.
 JB by Joanna Kleine |
For me, it's fitting into the conversation in a way that I've basically taught myself to play guitar. There's some percussiveness involved, and this goes against the grain with 80-90 percent of the rock 'n' roll guitar players I observe, but I definitely don't think it's my role to sit back while somebody else just plays a solo [laughs]. I've never imagined that being the way music goes. I see so many bands do it that I'll admit I probably wouldn't be the top vote getter with this philosophy [laughs].
This attitude speaks to the general dynamics in Widespread Panic, where there's a really lively conversation going on. I'm always impressed that you have that many people going at once but you don't talk over each other. It doesn't descend into chatter. It's a conversation, a roundtable discussion happening onstage.
That's what I appreciate about it. I want to be careful not to say one way is good and another way isn't. But, I do notice this way is the one we discovered early on satisfied everybody's musical tastes and hunger. So, if I'm looking to listen to music I pretty much have to go into the jazz realm to hear that kind of spontaneous communication, where folks are listening and playing off each other and having a musical conversation. We're working in a little more primitive area with rock 'n' roll but...
...but nothing. I think it's a fallacy to say rock is innately a lesser art form than jazz or any other genre.
[Laughs] Well, all right.
One of the things that drew me into Panic is your singing, which I liken much more to a jazz vocalist. It's in your phrasing, tone and the way you actively engage the music using your voice as another instrument as well as a tool to get the words across.
Thank you. Hmmm, I do think I approach it differently, like with the music. I will compulsively keep searching for ways to either express myself differently in the same song just to be different than the way we played it the night or month before, or because a song is feeling different at that moment and I need to be ready to adjust and express it the way it feels most accurately expressible [laughs].
As a listener, I find myself engaging with your take on singing, and I think the way the band interacts with you is somewhat different than the norm. You're not a traditional frontman with the rest of the guys moving behind you. There's more overlap in Widespread Panic, and they play off of where you are emotionally on a given night. If you're really feeling it as a singer then I'll see Dave [Schools] really put his shoulder into it, which in turn sparks off Todd [Nance].
 JB by Michael Saba |
At times it can start with one person's inspiration but you usually don't get to that place – and we feel really grateful when we find a place for take-off – unless everybody is feeling it. You're picking up on a communal vibe. It's easier to get there together. There are nights when one or two of us are more excited than the others, have less on our minds or something.
Doing this as often as you do it's just natural to have some ebb and flow.
Hey, even Tiger Woods misses a cut once in a while! Not much though!
You've got a pretty good track record yourself, John. You've been doing this for a long time. Hell, you've broken the two-decade mark at this point!
Yeah, it's pretty freaky. That is the product of a one-day-at-a-time attitude. When we started we were barely feeding ourselves. Every day we thought, "Wow, this is cool," even though it was make believe. Pretty soon, we got a little organized. We had a schedule and a few regular gigs coming through and we were able to sustain.
It's built into something you could never premeditate. You can't invent a fan base like you have.
Fans invent themselves. I think they're drawn to what they dig, and I don't think it's just the band. I'm glad they include the band in the music but a lot of it is they enjoy the scene in general, hanging out with their friends, enjoying the same type of music. [Pauses] I worry about the word "fan." If you get in there and talk to the people – I don't get to go out in the crowd anymore but during the controlled meet-and-greets – you've got some freaky cool people out there doing great things in their own personal endeavors, in their families, careers and creatively. So, I'm more comfortable saying I'm a fan of what they got going on.
Continue reading for more with John Bell...
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