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We avoid Sylvia Plath like the plague. Understand? We are ashamed of Nashville, embarrassed for Billboard Top 40 - so much crap churned out by the money creeps. A wall of mediocrity and emotional shallowness is washed down on the heads of people who just want a song to listen or dance to. -Kevin Russell |
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Haymaker, particularly on cuts like "New Dues," reminds me of another Texas great, Doug Sahm and the Sir Douglas Quintet. Are those guys any kind of touchstone for The Gourds?
 The Gourds |
Doug, of course, became a big inspiration to us. Hearing what he had done years before we ever thought of it was really mind blowing. Before moving to Austin and forming The Gourds we had never heard of him. He was someone we started hearing about once we were playing around. Other folks heard the similarity and would ask if we knew of him. There was also somewhat of a Sir Doug renaissance after he sang with Uncle Tupelo on their cover of his song "Give Back The Key To My Heart." Lots of dudes around South Austin got hip to him after this, myself included. I went out and bought as many records as I could by him. Some years later, we actually got to play with him and hang out with him, which was a highpoint for all of us - great man with a unique vision of his world. He loved my voice and told me to take care of it, value it. He told Jimmy that he had never seen anyone play bass like him other than Rick Danko [The Band], which is basically the greatest thing anyone could say about Jimmy's bass playing. He always called Claude, Flaco, so much so that we were never sure if he knew Claude's name.
Your band's handling of faith and spirituality as it's lived on the ground, in real day-to-day terms, has always impressed me. "All The Way To Jericho" is a philosophical rambler in this vein. What appeals to you about this subject matter? How do you deal with God and faith and belief in ways that don't tip into schmaltz and saccharine sentiment?
I have a faith rooted in Christianity that incorporates what I have gleaned from other religions and myths - Buddhism, Zen, Sufi, Islam, Hindu, Biology, Psychology, Art, Poetry, Music. I have distilled this all into a personal belief system that seems to serve my needs pretty well. I struggle like everyone with the problem of living in the bourgeois state, where we have grown soft and lazy. Man is the most aggressive, self-aware and creative creature on the planet. We have basically created an unexpected problem: Our fabulous civilization makes us less human. Bourgeois society reduces us to a pitiful sloth. There is no sense of the heroic life to speak of. Through the ages, the church and militarism have been used by many to attain the discipline needed for heroic transcendence, but the problem still exists. And I believe this is the biggest spiritual problem we face today, both personally and collectively as a society.
 The Gourds |
I have a personal system that serves me well, but this is probably not going to help the greater gathering of increasingly lost and corrupt humanity wading through the murk of capitalism engulfing the globe. The obvious march toward one world, one currency, one government is disheartening to me. My instinct is towards myth and art to make some sense of it all, and this is reflected often in my songs. There is still much to learn from our Western Christian myth. I try to use it in a way that disarms the listener. Jung said religion is a way of avoiding a religious experience. I think if we can forget all the hang ups and prejudice we might have against our myths, we can maybe make it more likely that we will have deeper spiritual experiences. "Jericho" specifically is really about being alienated from something or someplace, but finding one's own spiritual happiness regardless. Jericho was destroyed by the Jews in their march towards a promised land. I am on my way there, but in the end I miss it. I do not take part in the great sacking of the city. Then, I decide to go to Bethlehem or the New Testament - the re-birth. It remains to be seen if I get there either, but in the chorus I drive all night and sleep all day. This is a way of describing the dark parts of the personality or the psyche, yes? Lots of stuff going on in that song, in the end though, it is just a nice tune.
"Country Gal" is the kind of tune Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show would have had a hit with in '70s on AM radio. If today's country radio had any sense they'd long ago taken a big ol' shine to The Gourds. Have you guys ever really courted modern Nashville or contemporary country radio?
One does not court Nashville. One is chosen, eaten, then regurgitated by that soul crushing machine that lives in the black heart of the city. I am speaking, of course, of the "Country Music" industry there. There has always been a questionable intent running through that industry. From the time Chet Atkins molded the slick Nashville sound in an attempt to "cross-over" to the urban whites, there has been tons of questionable material spewing out. It has grown worse and worse, year-by-year. This happened because it is controlled by money creeps. Greed will never create great art. Never has and it never will.
There is only the will to create that makes such works. When the will is absorbed by greed it seeks only that end, by whatever means. Now we have fashion models that sing with the accent of a rube. "Country Music" now owes more to Billy Joel than to Hank Williams, and that is a fact, Jack. They would rather piss on us than actually do business with us. They are not in the least concerned with the cultural heritage of American musical traditions. Oh, they pay lip service to it because it gives them something to base their brand and business model on. But, it is all bullshit. We are much too real for their fantasy formula, and we do not ever do what we are told to do. We are men with a vision and a belief in what we do. The Tim McGraws of the world are told what to do and what to wear and how much make-up to put on and what to say. They are coached and groomed and prodded like poodles on parade.
"The Way You Can Get" off the new album from Gruene Hall, Gruene, Texas, 1/10/09
And "Luddite Juice," also on new album from the same gig
The Gourds are on tour now; dates available here.
JamBase | Slouching Towards The Shining City
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