Exclusive: G. Love Interview & Behind-The-Scenes Video

We’re just a few short days away from the release of the new G. Love & Special Sauce album, Love Saves The Day, which comes out this Friday via Brushfire Records. The LP features a return to the classic hip-hop blues sound the Philadelphia trio pioneered in the mid-1990s and is chock full of guest spots from the likes of Citizen Cope, David Hidalgo, Lucinda Williams, Zach Gill and Ozomatli.

We’re pleased to premiere a behind-the-scenes look at the making of Love Saves The Day:

G. Love discussed the new album in a chat with JamBase:

JamBase: How did you determine which guests would record Love Saves The Day with you?

G. Love: With 23 years on the road, most of the people we collaborate with are musicians and bands who we come across at shows, festivals and the like. We had such an inspired session with David Hidalgo of Los Lobos on the Sugar record that he was at the top of our list.

Day One started with Dave and by our first night we had laid down three songs including the title track – so the bar was once again set high.

Our second guests on Day Two were our Special Sauce alum Mark Boyce on Hammond B3 and Adam Topol from Jack Johnson’s band on percussion. This session was insane! We worked on six tunes that day. The organ and percussion created a beautiful funkified texture that was a nice contrast to the heavier dueling blues guitars that Hidalgo and I had already tracked.

Day Three we were joined by my great friend Clarence Greenwood aka Citizen Cope. We had written the single “Muse” in LA and Mexico over an eight month stretch and we did our most production on this piece. A couple weeks after the session, Money Mark of the Beastie Boys overdubbed piano to the track as well.

Day Four we had our old touring friends Ozomatli in and cut “Let’s Have A Good Time” love with the horns, guitar and solo. This session was a straight up jam as it is when old friends get together. That night Uli and Asdru also cut horns on “Muse” and “Baby Why.”

Dave Five we were joined by Lebo of ALO on guitar. We cut a couple tunes and Dan played great, however those tunes did not make the record – but we’re keeping them in cue for the future.

Day Six was our final day in the studio and Lucinda Williams joined us. Lucinda was the only musician on the session we had never met in person. We were all huge fans of her work and had known her husband/manager Tommy from 1994 when he helped our first release get distributed in Best Buy. I thank Tommy for getting Lu into our session and she was absolutely amazing to work with. We sang a new take on Leadbelly’s anthemic “New York City.” Then DJ Logic and Kristy Lee both overdubbed post session on “Baby Why” and “Pick up the Phone.”

We wanted all of our guests to lift up and inspire us. They all were outstanding in their performances.

Listen to a stream of Love Saves The Day which premiered via the Wall Street Journal:

JamBase: Why did you decide to return to the studio so quickly after releasing Sugar?

G. Love: We hadn’t planned on recording this year but when the good folks at Brushfire asked us if we would like to make a record in 2015 we jumped at the opportunity! From the moment we decided to record until now it’s been crunch time – but I think we really benefited from being on the clock. Sometimes when you have deadlines to meet it helps focus in everyone’s creativity and drive. These days we have limited time and budgets to make records but I feel like we are making our best records right now. It makes me wonder what the hell we were doing in the ’90s blowing so much time and money.

JamBase: Can you tell us about your experience working with producer Robert Carranza?

G. Love: I had worked with Robert a bit over the years through my association with Jack Johnson but it wasn’t until 2013’s Sugar session that I was able to make a full record with him. Robert is a very special producer/engineer and he’s the first person I’ve worked with that was really able to capture the sound I’ve had in my head. I remember on the Sugar record he was playing me a mix of the title track and I started getting all teared up. It sounded so low down, dirty and raw – it was just what I had been going for. It was funny because it’s not the kind of song that makes you shed a tear but that day it did.

On Love Saves The Day it was just a killer feeling to walk into the studio that first day knowing we had achieved greatness on the last session. There was a confidence and excitement that we could and would do it again – and do it better. As a producer, Robert is both hands on and hands off. When it comes to engineering he is a sonic wizard; a true master at his craft. When it comes to creativity with production, he lets us work through ideas as a band and then he’ll offer his advice or suggest how to make the track better. When we work together – anything goes. We keep it loose and follow the music and everyone works their asses off. Robert is a humble guy for all the big records and big stars he’s worked with and he brings something profound to the music. I could write a book about it really.

JamBase: How long was the process to create Love Saves The Day from the time you decided to record the album to this Friday’s release? What was your favorite and least favorite parts of that process?

G. Love: I think I was offered (and accepted) the chance to record the album this past February. We planned for a seven-day session with three overdub cleanup days at the end of May. It was a bit of a crunch to come up with a full record of great material so we wrote feverishly. I wrote a lot, and we wrote a lot as a band. Jimi Jazz and I had many writing and jam sessions on the bus. Some days letting it fly and some days reeling it in and honing ideas. I also wrote with Sam Hollander and Cisco Adler, both of whom I write with often. The songwriting part of the journey was very inspiring, so I enjoyed that. The struggle was always bringing ideas to the band and our creative team at the label and management as everyone has a high bar. Sometimes you have to hear that the songs you spent hours, days or years on just aren’t that good. But it’s a necessary part of making records… you just have to keep your head up and keep writing.

JamBase: Why didn’t you plan a tour surrounding the release of the record?

G. Love: We generally tour in the winter, January-April, and honestly our tour was confirmed before we had a release date. We also believe that it’s a positive to let the record soak in for a bit and then hit the road so that our fans know the material and are excited to hear the new songs performed live. As a constantly touring and recording band, and especially in this modern music world, the older traditional schedules of a “record release tour” right on the release date isn’t as imperative as it was back in the day.

JamBase: After six records with Brushfire, do you still have a good relationship with the label?

G. Love: Our relationship with Brushfire is family all the way. We work closely on all aspects of the record. Our product manager Josh Nicotra sat in on every session and was a great sounding board and positive presence. They’ve really stuck by us over the years and I couldn’t be happier with the creative force of Jack Johnson, Emmett Malloy, Josh Nicotra, and my manager Jason Brown, helping me along the way. We have the freedom to make the music we want to make and the guidance to do it well.

JamBase: Did it take a while to get comfortable with Jimmy Jazz and Houseman after reuniting Special Sauce?

G. Love: Jim rejoined the group during the Sugar sessions. We hadn’t really talked in 5 years and it was like coming home. The three of us have a very unique creative process. Jim is the deep soulful root, I’m the principal writer and Jeff Clemens aka The Houseman is our in-house quality control. We push each other to be great. It’s not always easy or pleasant but we get the job done, and because of all our strong ideas, we end up with a strong collaboration.

JamBase: You just finished a run of shows in September and the beginning of October, how did the tour go, did you learn anything from playing the new songs live?

G. Love: We have been playing a number of the tunes for almost a year now. “Pick up the Phone”, “Dis Song” and “Back To Boston” have become strong staples in our repertoire. During our run this fall, we debuted the single “Muse” to great response. And that jam is getting stronger with every performance. As the year progresses, we will add all the songs into our performances. It’s interesting to see which tunes rise to the top, and which songs have a life of their own and continue to develop with performance.

JamBase: Considering the number of guests on the new album, is it hard to recreate the songs in the live setting?

G. Love: I don’t have a problem with it. Obviously there are no horns in our trio so thank god for the harmonica. It’s never been our goal to copy the recorded performance live. Rather, we aim to interpret our songs uniquely every night. Someday it would be amazing to have a tour of Allstars and get to perform with all the people we have collaborated with in studio over the years.

JamBase: What does 2016 hold for G Love & Special Sauce?

G. Love: After the release this Friday, October 30 we’ll have some spot dates and a solo acoustic tour in Hawaii over the holidays. In January we will start our world tour, which should keep us heavy on the road in the USA, Japan, Australia and Europe. We are looking forward to a busy and energized year. The band is firing, my vocals are the strongest they’ve ever been, the record has a good buzz on it, and everything is lining up so we hope to see you all soon.