Jimmy Herring: Don't Say No

Widespread is a band in the truest sense. They're a band in the way Led Zeppelin was a band. I don't compare them to Led Zeppelin musically but in terms of dynamics, compatibility, etc. They have a different way of doing things. Look at what happened when John Bonham died. Sure, they could have gotten anybody – somebody who played just like John Bonham or somebody different but a great drummer. But they knew they couldn't replace Bonzo. And my point is only this: It's a touchy thing to replace an original member of a band.

-Jimmy Herring

And there are few more beloved musicians than Michael Houser.

Poor George, he had to go in right after Mikey died. I was able to walk in four years later. That made it a LOT easier, and meant a lot less pressure on me than there was for George. Plus, I had the added advantage of knowing those guys since '89 and we've played a lot of shows together. I didn't have all their records but I'd heard them a lot. And those guys came to see Aquarium Rescue Unit in some bar with no cover charge and 99-cent beers. They just stumbled in one night and heard the band play, and stuck around for a long time. None of us knew them but they were already selling out three nights at the Center Stage Theatre in Atlanta. And they said, "You guys gotta come play with us! Are you on tour?" And we just laughed and said, "No, Bruce won't let us tour. He says we can't handle it." So, they put us in a position where we could go out and open for them.

Jimmy Herring by Ian Rawn

What was the atmosphere like behind Lifeboat? Was a lot of it done live-in-the-studio?

Yeah, though there were a fair amount of overdubs primarily because everybody couldn't be there at the same time. And there's also some overdubbing I just wanted to do.

Hey if Jimmy Page can play eight guitars on a track why can't Jimmy Herring?

Ha, ha, right! I've always been told "no" and this was my "I'm not going to be told no by anyone" record. I just wanted to see what would happen, and I didn't have to answer to anyone. There's still some things I wish I could have done differently, but this is what it is. We did the basic tracks at Jeff Bakos' studio in Atlanta. Me, Sipe, Oteil and Kofi played live, and Matt Slocum [keys] played live on a few tracks. Of course, Osby wasn't there, Derek wasn't there, and I had to do some overdubs because the studio wouldn't let me use my favorite amp because we already had drums and bass and piano in the same room. Oteil's amp was in a different room and Kofi's piano was going directly into the board, but we still couldn't have a loud guitar amp in the same room. So, I had to borrow one from the studio that was a beautiful little amp but it's got cone cry in the speaker. It destroyed almost all my live tracks. We'd be there listening, thinking, "This is pretty damn good. We might be able to release some of this shit," and then all of the sudden that horrible sound would come and I'd be like, "Damn cone cry!" Tone Tubby speakers don't do that.

Well, Jeff Beck overdubbed a lot of his guitar work on Blow By Blow and Wired, so no harm, no foul in my book.

Most people make records that way. In rock & roll, people may play live [in the studio] but don't intend to keep it beyond getting the drum track. Once they have that, they redo the bass and then keyboards and guitars. But, all those Jazz Is Dead records are live and hell, most of the records I've done have been live. So, I wanted to do some different things, experiment and learn to use the studio.

You're the producer on this record and it's different being in charge of twirling the knobs.

Jimmy Herring by Aaron Williams

I wanted to make a record where no one was going to say, "No." It was going to be up to me, and it was the first time ever. So, when you ask why it took so long maybe it's because this is the first time I've had that opportunity.

There's some real sweetness to this record that people may not have heard in your playing before, and certainly a sophisticated compositional side that's coming forward for the first time. "Lifeboat Serenade" is gorgeous with a Beatles quality to it.

We definitely talked about The Beatles in the chord progression. I wasn't thinking of a particular Beatles tune but more the feel. I've been very blessed and gotten to hang around a lot of great songwriters, and maybe some of their greatness rubbed off on me [laughs]. I had some discoveries that helped me find new ways of looking at music and help me write more music. One day I'm going to do an album where I write everything. I was trying to do that with this but I just didn't have enough [laughs]. I had two more tunes but I threw 'em away because they didn't measure up.

Those two songs from Kofi ["Only When It's Light" and "Splash"] on the album he wrote in the 10th grade! Kofi was a prodigy, a composer and a great flute player from a very young age. I met him in 1986, and two weeks later Kofi and Oteil moved into Jeff's [Sipe] house as roommates. So, those tunes have been laying around a long time. I remember playing "Only When It's Light" in 1986 but not feeling completely capable of it. I'm still in awe of the harmonies and chord progression in it.

The challenge in instrumental music is telling a story but without the benefit of words. Otherwise, it's just a variation on bebop, where you state the theme, move through a series of solos and then restate the head. It's such well-worn territory.

There's some of that on the record in honor of tradition like the Wayne Shorter tune ["Lost"], but not a lot. He's my favorite jazz composer, if I had to pick one. He just has a way with writing, and his playing is at the top. He seems to be open to all music. He was in Weather Report and some people viewed that as a rock band. We know it as jazz but they reached a rock audience.

Tell us a little bit about the Lifeboat Tour.

Who's touring is Jeff and Oteil but we couldn't get Kofi because he's on the road with Derek's band. We got Scott Kinsey, who mastered the record and played in Tribal Tech. He's like, for lack of a better way of describing him if you haven't heard him, a modern day Joe Zawinul. He's incredible. And then we have Greg Osby coming out. That's the first leg, and the second leg Oteil can't do because he's got his trio with Bill Kreutzmann doing some gigs in June. So, we got Matt Garrison, and he's brilliant.

The Jimmy Herring Band begin their next round of shows with this Thursday, April 24, in Greenville, SC. Find full tour dates here.