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On musical decisions, Judge and I collaborate on everything. We're kind of like two heads on one body. -Lauren Murphy |
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Photo by: Bob Minkin
As vocalists, do you have a preference when it comes to microphones?
Judge: In the studio, the Neumann U47 beats them all hands down. It's a tube mic made back in the 1930s. They have a rich tonal quality; the kind you used to hear on the Nat Cole and Sinatra tunes. For performances, Lauren normally uses an old Sure 55 Grill mic, ala Elvis/Jerry Lee, and I use an Audio Technica ATM41E. My voice is so low it gives me a little extra heat. Most singers feed back on such a mic, but I dig 'em.
During the recording and production process are all important musical decisions made by mutual agreement between the two of you or does one of you act as the producer?
 Lauren Murphy by Bob Minkin |
Lauren: On musical decisions, Judge and I collaborate on everything. We're kind of like two heads on one body. When we record we use our individual ears, then talk to each other, and then play it back together with the engineer. For this CD, we sometimes drove the engineer nuts, but he was a sweetheart and humored our every whim until we got just the right fidelity.
Judge: Enrique and Timin both have a young and fresh take on music, and were very objective throughout the recording process
How did the song selection come about?
Judge: Lauren had just written a couple of very cool tunes and the band was inspired. Some songs just jumped out as the strongest of the lot. Mostly, the selection came as a direct result of being the most popular tunes with the crowds. The audience knows.
Lauren, can you discuss the four songs you penned on the CD?
Lauren: "Family Asylum" was specifically arranged around Judge's vocal. Lyrically, I think a lot of people can identify with the subject matter. Everybody's got a crazy family member hiding somewhere on the tree.
"Blue" was written over ten years ago, but wasn't complete until we chopped it and rebuilt it around our co-vocals. For me, Judge's voice brings a balance to my writing. It's a yin-yang thang.
"Here We Go" came to me in rush hour traffic with my five-year-old throwing a shoe at me. Appropriate, as this song is a warning to where our country and the world is heading if we don't get it together.
Of all the compositions on this CD, "Houselevelers" is the closet to my beginnings. It's about my coming of age as an artist in New Orleans. I was hanging out with my friend singer-songwriter Grayson Capps [a longtime JamBase favorite that chatted with us in 2007], who lived within walking distance of Tipitina's Uptown. The neighborhood was pretty much poverty-stricken shotgun houses. We were all young and broke, but happy. Grayson played in a local band, The House Levelers, and lots of artists and musicians ended up dropping by. It wouldn't be uncommon to wake up to find someone like John Mooney sitting on the stoop with him, playing slide guitar and singing.
I originally wrote the song in 1996 as a tribute to this time in my life, but it needed something else. When we arranged it around Judge's voice, the characters of that street came to life. Folks have described it as having the feel of early Jefferson Airplane. "Houselevelers" is getting a lot of attention on the radio and that really warms my heart.
How did the other three tunes get included?
 Lansdale Station by Bob Minkin |
Lauren: "Come all Ye" came to us as a surprise. We were playing a show with a band that was working with Grateful Dead publicist Dennis McNally. He came up to me afterwards and said, "You remind me of a young Sandy Denny [Fairport Convention]." I was not then familiar with her work, but knew it was a huge compliment. A few weeks later, I heard "Come all Ye" by Fairport Convention. It was weird, almost like hearing a twin from a past life. We began to incorporate it into our live shows and the reaction to the song was huge. There was no way we could not record it.
Judge: I played "Hired Hand" in my own band as far back as 1989. I always loved the tune because of its energy. We included it on the CD because my friend and former bandmate John Cipollina [the song's author] said he thought I'd do a great job with it. I was honored that he thought so. At the Hyde Street session, guitarist Danny Uzilevsky manifested the spirit of John and blew the doors off the place with his solo.
Lauren: When I first heard Grayson's song "Mercy" I said, "Man, Judge would sing the shit it out of this!" It's such a fun blues rollicker to perform. It always gets the crowd going.
What should your fans expect in a live performance?
Lauren: The CD encompasses most of the styles of music that we play; although live, we really like to stretch it. Having some jam band roots keeps it interesting. We love to improvise.
Every now and then we get someone really special to sit in like Doug Harman [Rowan Brothers, Béla Fleck] on cello and piano, or the fabulous Dave Zirbel [Commander Cody, Always Patsy Cline] on pedal steel, or our dear friend, the late Martin Fierro on saxophone. That's where the real fun is - playing live shows.
Do any Zero tunes surface at the live shows? How about "Mona"?
Judge: We actually do two or three Zero tunes. We perform them live because frankly, we enjoy the Zero/Robert Hunter material and the fans really like hearing it. We play "Mona" just about every show. It's kinda the song that kick-started rock & roll.
What are your plans for 2009 and will we see you at any of the summer festivals?
Lauren: So far, we're confirmed for June appearances at the Summer Arts and Music Festival [Lake Benbow, CA] and the 32nd Annual Fairfax Festival [Fairfax, CA], and in July at the Trinity Tribal Stomp Festival [Weaverville, CA]. We're working on booking a few more. The rest of the year we plan on touring behind the CD and continuing to drum up attention around this work of art that we're so proud of.
"Family Asylum" @ the Sweetwater 11/2008 from Lansdale Station's new CD
JamBase | Northern California
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