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It's the catharsis. It's that moment when it completely kind of goes off the rail, whether it ends up landing on the wheels or not, is the moment that I treasure about the show. -P. Hood |
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Photo by: Susan J. Weiand
What does your dad think now?
He loves it. He's thrilled. He's a proud papa now. And the fact that it was hard earned just makes it that much nicer. He totally gets what we're trying to do and what we're doing, and he's thrilled that we're having a good run with it. We're actually gonna get to play together in July [Ed Note: show is Friday night - 7/24]. His band [The Decoys] is opening for my band, so the Truckers are playing back home in Florence at this old theater where I used to go see Walt Disney movies as a kid. And dad's band's gonna open the show, so that'll be a blast. Another first!
You mentioned the Bush years and post-9/11 and I think the effects of bad politics and hard times in America clearly resonate in your music very frequently, but now with Obama and with a little bit of hope and with a daughter, does it affect the way you write?
I'm sure it does. It's too early to tell how but I'm sure it will [affect the songwriting]. I think our music is very political but it's always on a personal level. There's never, hopefully never, any big grand political statements. But politics affect people's life, and much more than people want to admit. I think in the last few years that may be the one positive part of Bush's legacy. It's kind of taught people that it actually does matter who you vote for, and that you don't really want to vote for an idiot. You want to give the keys to someone who can drive, you know? Or else you're wrapped around a telephone pole.
If you step back from your career now and you look at the Truckers - playing bigger rooms and selling more albums, you did this record with Booker T. and with Neil Young on it - things are probably better than ever. Does that sort of alter where you set your sights now? Do you have new goals, bigger goals, different goals, anything like that?
They're not that different. I mean yeah, now I want to be able to keep my house and I want to keep working my job that I love and not have to go work another job, so there's that slant on that end of it. But as far as artistically, it's been the same goal. I want to continue making good records and interesting records, and some may be better than others and some may try things that fail, and that's okay. If we get around to making a really bad one, I just hope it's for that reason, and I hope at some point in time we try something that just fails and therefore the record doesn't work, as opposed to just trying to make a polished, slick version of the same record over and over. That would be the failure to me.
Absolutely. You gotta fail to be great.
 Patterson Hood |
We're so fortunate for our business model because the first real success any of us ever had in our lives came as a result of trying something really ridiculous. I mean the most ridiculous thing I ever did in my entire life is the thing I'll probably be known for when I'm dead, if I'm still remembered at all. I mean what's more ridiculous than Southern Rock Opera? And we knew it at the time, but because of that it's like whenever there's the tendency to play it safe we can always say, "Well, actually playing it safe didn't really work for us." The safest record we ever made's probably A Blessing and a Curse, and that's nine out of ten Truckers fans' least favorite, and it's probably my least favorite. I'm not in any way badmouthing that record because it's got "World of Hurt" and "Space City" on it, and those are two of my very favorite songs of our entire run of all this. But overall, if I had to pick a least favorite album we made, it's A Blessing and a Curse.
You guys make amazing records, but originally it was standing there watching you guys do your thing live that sort of split my head open and made me a believer, so to speak. And to this day, every time I see you guys you all leave it out there every time and there's a real catharsis going on. I see it in the band and I feel it in the crowd, and it affects people's lives in a lot of ways. So what does the live thing do for you, as the performer?
Oh, it's all of that! It's just exactly what you said. That's why we do it. It's the catharsis. To me the measure of a good night versus a bad night isn't how tight we are or how well we play. There might be that night where we really did play good, you know, that's cool. That's always good, but it's the catharsis [we're after]. It's that moment when it completely kind of goes off the rail, whether it ends up landing on the wheels or not, that I treasure about the show. To be honest, that's probably why Cooley and I have played together for so long, because he's out there, he's the one who drives the Trans Am and he's gonna see how fast he can make that curve every time, without fail, and with no regard whatsoever for the outcome. Having that on stage every night, no matter what, is a real thrill to me. I love it, and that encourages the rest of us to do the same and to follow suit. But it's not like he has to twist arms or drag us kicking and screaming. There have definitely been points in time in our history where there's been a more play-it-safe minded faction at work for him to rebel against, and that's probably made for some interesting times, too. But right now is a real extra-good time because it's just clicking. It's just a magical time. And you know, Jay Gonzalez [keys] started playing with us I believe about a year ago now, maybe slightly over a year ago, and it was almost like a piece of a jigsaw puzzle we didn't even realize was missing until he was there. It's been really good.
Is Jay gonna be around for the long haul as a full member of the band?
Yeah. I don't see him going anywhere. He's a huge part of this next record we're working on, and he's co-writing it, too, so it's great.
Are there any details about the album that you can share? Anything at all, whether it's an album title, to what it's sort of about, to where your head is, anything like that?
All I'm saying is, because it's too early to know exactly how it's gonna all end up, but we cut 25 songs in 25 days and now we're trying to figure out how to whittle it down to a more manageable length. It definitely rocks harder than any record we've made since Alabama Ass Whuppin' [2000]. It's pretty rock solid. It's got more of the big rock songs and less of the quieter moment songs than say the last album did, or even the last couple albums have. I think it was time for that. I was ready for that. I was ready to make a record that pretty much came out guns blazing.
Drive-By Truckers tour dates available here.
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