Candiria Interview, 12.11.99

This Candiria interview was done on December the 11th, 1999 @ Big Shots in Roseville, CA with Michael Macivor (bassist), John Lamacchia (guitar), and Kenneth Schalk (drums)

Well this is what happened. Kenny, the drummer for Candiria did most of the talking during the “first try” interview. John and Mike did quite a bit of talking too. All three can get pretty deep in their thoughts about music, their music, where they see music going, and where they would like to see their music going. The problem is this. I did not record any of the “first try” interview, because my tape recorder was on pause, the WHOLE TIME, BUT, listen to this. We did it over, but Kenny had to go do some other things to get ready for their set, so John and Mike re-answered the original questions, added some more statements and thoughts then they did before, and when I had to leave the interview to get my girlfriend waiting at the doors, John asked himself the questions and finished the interview for me. Candiria is dope!!! So, here is the 2nd interview. This so far is the best interview I have done. Thanks guys.

A.M.P.- In the cities where you have never played, what are the people’s reactions, and which has been your best and worst shows so far on this tour?

Mike- Well, I would say that our worst show ever, would probably have been experienced on this tour alone. See what happened was, we played in Columbus, Ohio right, and we did play there once before with Clutch, and the audience was pretty cool, but this time around we played with GWAR and the Misfits, and they just completely hated us.

John- They HATED us.

A.M.P.- Damn, that definitely wasn’t a good feeling.

Mike- Oh yeah, no. It was a terrible feeling when you actually have to fight and curse at people in the crowd.

A.M.P.- Are you serious?

John- OH YEAH, they were like, “You suck,” “Get off the stage.” Man, we were so pissed off.

Mike- It was hysterical though, but ill tell you the truth. Even though it was one of the worst shows, I think just because of the weird dynamic that we are not used to things like that, made it one of the most amazing shows in my mind because I was out there giving a thousand percent while these people hated us, and it just fired me up even more.

John- Yeah, it fired me up too.

Mike- Our best show in a city we have never played in is Seattle, Washington. We played, what was the name of that place…..

John- It will probably come to me but it will be five questions from now.

Mike- We had never played there before, and we roll into Seattle and it was like, ya know, as if we were a Seattle band, the way they treated us.

A.M.P.- What are the motivations of the instrumentals on the album?

Mike- Well let see. According to Ken, folklore has it that, ways back when……Everyone was getting into different styles of music and just, incorporating more than just heavy heavy balls out kind of music, and um, Eric (guitar) and Kenny (drums) started experimenting with some other stuff, listening to different styles of fusion, and what not. They decided to try something new and experiment with heavy music, and someone started experimenting with like, fusion, jazzy kind of fusion. It just kind of clicked, ya know. The band was then approached by a label to put out a full length album and the band was not prepared to put out a full length album, so instead of rushing to put more metal songs on it, let’s put out all of the different styles of music that we do, and that’s kind of like where the instrumental music came from.

John- I also think that now, more than anything, it is to satisfy our own musical tastes as well…….

A.M.P.- That’s how it should be.

John- …And to just experiment with all different kind of things because, I mean I guess Candiria will always be doing what we are doing, but ya know, we are going to be branching off and doing other things as well, and ya know, we can’t wait, it’s in our hearts, and we are going to have to play it, and it just so happens that Candiria’s audience is just waiting for us to do something like that, and this is what the band does and I think it is the perfect position to be in.

Mike- It is just the perfect dynamic, especially if you are a real serious musician, serious about what you do. You must have a dynamic, just like life has many dynamics, you cant have light without dark, you cant have something beautiful without something really ugly, if you don’t have anything to compare it to. So that what we feel like we do with our albums, we try to put the most ugly things and most beautiful things together.

A.M.P.- I believe Kenny says he messes up the most during practices?

John- Yeah I believe Kenny messes up the most.

Mike- Ken probably takes the most risks out of everyone of us, and that’s why he messes up the most.

John- There’s that room for that improvisation, and there’s room for him to attempt to make something amazing happen, and like I said before…… (when it was not recorded), that I think id rather him take the risks during the improvisational parts, and try to create something amazing, than just playing something regimented.

Mike- Even when Kenny messes up or any one of us messes up, we kind of have this good bond between us musically that we can fix ourselves without ever stopping. Ya know, if someone really messes up, someone else will just cover up that person and we will go right into the next part, and a lot of people sometimes don’t even realize it.

John- I think we call that “Coltrane-ing” it….We call that, “Coltrane-ing” it. As far as just like, it goes somewhere, go with it, take it somewhere else and try to bring it back, to make some beautiful music.

A.M.P.- Well that shows true communication.

Mike- I mean what do you do when you mess up, stop? hell no.

John- Nah, there’s no starting over.

Mike- No way, there’s no such thing as starting over.

A.M.P.- Ya wanna go back to the break?

Mike- Try telling that to the audience, we are gonna stop now and do it over..

A.M.P.- So do you notate your music?

John- No, there have been a few cases where we have written some rhythmic formats and time signatures and accents, or chord progressions or just basic notes, but we have never written out music.

Mike- in the traditional sense of notating music, no.

John- I think the only time we ever did have anything written out was when um, Tim, wrote out “Matter.Anti.Matter” for the album (Process of Self.Development).

Mike- Yeah for the jazz part so the horn players and stuff could sight read it and stuff because we obviously didn’t have time to come down…..

A.M.P.- I could not think of what the name of the album was…

John- It is off the process of self development album.

Mike- It is off process.

John- The jazz song off that.

A.M.P.- Because the one I’m thinking of is…..(I try to mimic the song to them)….. but I think that’s off of………..

John- That’s off of surrealistic madness, and process of self.development as well…its on both records.

A.M.P.- Who do you listen to now?

Mike- With the risk of offending anyone, I will not say that I do not like music that comes out nowadays as I did before, but I will tell you some bands that I do like. I love the hell out of Neurosis, one of my favorite bands, fantastic band.

John- I’ll second that motion.

Mike- I love Isis, out of Massachusetts.

John- I’ll second that.

Mike- Cave in from Massachusetts, Botch, I believe they are out here from Washington state, or Oregon, I’m not sure exactly, they are a fantastic band. Um, I don’t know lets see, what else am I listening to, still like the same old shit, ya know, Bad Brains…Ya know, things like that. Me and john were just talking about, we are really anxious for the new Tool album to come out.

A.M.P.- I heard that some of their songs have been like 20 minutes long so far.

John- WOW.

Mike- I hope that’s true, they are a phenomenal band.

Mike- What else do I listen to…Black Sabbath…I like Indecision…Very few hardcore…I like a lot of old hardcore…The newer stuff, its just….I am into a lot of other things now, so I cant, you can’t like everything you did like when you were 15, because there are so many new things you like when you are 25, or something like that.

A.M.P.- Do you think this type of music or I guess, I wanna sort of see it as freestyle like, because things these days are not free form, its sort of like, you gotta play this type of music because the people like it, for you guys to actually be doing what you like first, and enjoy first, do you think it’s going to become more popular, or it’s going to become marketed, do you think its time for it to become known, or is it just the way it is now, is perfectly fine. If they are gonna like, they are gonna like it…no need to over promote to get more exposure…

John- Well..I think it will always remain unique because I think there a lot of musicians that are just coming out, learning a few chords, forming a band, and making music, just like that, and I think, not that that is good or bad, ya know, I mean some of the best music is the most simple stuff.

Mike- ……To song writing, and writing a decent pop song.

John- But what we are doing takes some musical knowledge. I wont say a lot compared to other musicians, it’s not, we are not as great as some musicians, but we do….

Mike- None of us studied at Berkeley, or anything like that..

John- We do try our best to make the greatest music we can, and we do try to always learn more and more as we go along.

Mike- We are always pushing the limits.

John- We always push each other and we always challenge each other, and that, I think will set us apart from everyone else, and as long as people are out there pushing themselves like that, they are gonna make some great music too.

Mike- I think also that as far as, saying it’s time for things, I mean, if it stays at the underground kind of level where it is, I think it’s fine, but I do also think that, a lot of music fans are looking for something. A lot of people will just stick with “the norm” because ya know, “I know this,” “It’s 4/4,” “I can dance” ya know, it’s cool, and that’s great, but I think a lot of people out there are getting sick of that. They want to see something different, I think, maybe Candiria isn’t what they wanna do, but they do wanna see something different at least, and they’ll be like, “WOW,” this is different….

John- It’s different alright…I believe if people are exposed to something better, they will gravitate towards it. Lead them to freedom, and they will follow.

Mike- You cant force people to eat shit forever. Eventually they are gonna say no “thank you.”

John- (referring to eating shit, ) Can I have my influences in there?………..I don’t listen to to much heavy stuff, but I do like bands like ( A.M.P.- I am not sure on spelling on some of these, if you know the spelling, please let me know, please…) Corelles, Neurosis, Isis, Cave In, I like a band called Failure, I think they are really cool. I also dig some lighter stuff, there is a band called Idaho I really love, I love Radiohead. I like this neo-classical band called Rachels that I think is great, and I think some people that are a little bit more open minded should check that out.

Mike- It is a little sad.

John- Sad band, but they are very cool.

A.M.P.- Who were the extreme influences in the beginning.

Mike- I would say, probably, lets see, who did these guys really like, with the death metal roots, Obituary, Morbid Angel, Slayer, Metallica, Suffocation……

John- Metallica, definitely a big part of it.

Mike- Right off the bat when it started out, these guys were death-metal heads, Eric and Carley………..Eric, Carley, and Chris Puma the original guitarist. They were into DEATH METAL. They also liked hip hop and stuff, but for the most part, they were into DEATH METAL, ya know what I mean. They liked it, and really were into that stuff, and I that’s where I think, Candiria’s intensity was formed, in death metal.

John- As far as the diversity goes I think there were groups like Yellowjackets, King Crimson, also a group, I remembering them listing a group of musicians, Primus, Alice in chains, and stuff like that..

A.M.P.- You guys are from Brooklyn, NY right?

Mike/John- Yes.

A.M.P.- Are you just known in the hardcore community, or are you known any popular hip hop groups, or like the jazz artists, if they have heard of you, what do they think of your guys?

John- It’s mainly a heavy audience, but it is definitely mixed, id say it 65 heavy audience, hardcore audience, metal, and the rest is just mixed with all kinds of people that just come down and enjoy the music.

Mike- It’s a little bit hard for all the scene to intertwine, just for the fact, people are gonna listen or not, but the jazz community is, I would maybe say 75% to 80% maybe higher are snobs who don’t wanna hear anything but jazz. There are a few people like John Zoran, a lot of different other guys who are totally into experimenting and hearing news sounds and they love heavy music, but a lot of the guys are not like that. So I don’t know really about the jazz community in New York if they are aware of us, or if they are into us, if they are cool, if not, alright, whatever.

A.M.P.- I don’t know exactly how big Brooklyn, NY is, but I mean going from the hip hop part of Brooklyn, to the jazz artists of Brooklyn, to the hardcore that are in Brooklyn, NY, going by Carley’s hip hop, aspect, it would seem like, maybe some other people already in the hip hop genre would see him, and sort of be exposed to the rest of the jazz, and fusion, and some of the hardcore that way, and vice versa.

(About now is when I leave to get my girlfriend, Mike is called away to get ready for their set, and John then precedes to ask himself the remainder of the questions I should be asking him.)

John- Alright, I’d like to add on that, I think that um, ya know, this is insane, I’ve never done an interview like this before, but, I’m gonna have some fun with it. The next question is:

How long have you been in Candiria, and are these the original members?

John- No, these are not the original members. I have been in Candiria, for three years in March or February. They called me up and asked me, I was just splitting from my old band, things were not going so well, as a matter of fact Mike, our bass player, who just left the interview, he used to be in my old band, a band called Dead Air, we didn’t really do much, but um, he split to play in Marauder, and then after that, everything kind of went downhill, so when Candiria called me up, I was all for it, and I joined the band. Then we played without a bass player for a while, and then about a year later, or little under a year later, I called up Mike cause he was finished doing what he was doing with Marauder, so that’s how that all came together, and so I wound back up with this guy. So we have been playing together for about almost ten years now. The next question is:

How was the San Francisco, CA show? Were the people appreciative?

John- Well, I can’t tell you that right now because we are gonna play San Francisco, CA tomorrow. So hopefully people appreciate it, and we haven’t even played the Sacramento, CA show yet, so I wont even be able to tell you about that, but, the Seattle, WA show was awesome. So this is the last and final question.

So is this your first time in Sacramento, CA? When was your last time on the West Coast?

John- We have never been on the West Coast, this is our first time, and this is our first time in Sacramento, CA like I said, and we are about to play a gig in about twenty minutes or so, so we will see how that goes. So far the West Coast, Portland, OR, Seattle, WA, have been really kind to the band, Utah has been really great, Denver, CO, getting close to the West Coast has been really great, Albuquerque, NM has been really great too. So, this will be the end of now, and here comes the man who should be asking me questions, but had to run and get his girlfriend, so…take care.

A.M.P.- Ah man, thank you so much.

John- No Problem.

Victor Wooten Interview 2000

Victor Wooten Interview

This interview took place on February 3rd, 2000 @ Big Shots in Roseville, CA

I was exposed to Mr. Wooten on my local PBS television station during a type of live music show. David Byrne, I think that is his name, the guy from Talking Heads, he interviews the bands or the artists on this show. The night I caught this show was when Bela Fleck and the Flecktones were playing. I heard the bass, and was just freakin blown away to my seat. No doubt that this band is great, but Victor, my gosh, the way he grooved, the sounds he commanded from his bass, the way he complimented the other creative sounds being presented by the rest of the band…………Just left me in “awe.” A few weeks ago, I was looking through my local news magazine where I read about all of the upcoming shows in my area, and I saw the show listing for Victor Wooten’s tour coming to Sacramento, CA.

Victor Wooten is a Grammy winning bassist for the group, Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. He has been voted Bass Player of the Year by Bass Player Magazine 3 times, and his latest solo album “Yin-Yang” is up for a Grammy in the best Jazz Performance Category. So, ya know I had to see and talk to this guy, right?

In this interview I was able to expose Mr. Wooten to some of the music I listen to. A couple of hardcore/metal bands known as Candiria, and the Dillinger Escape Plan. After the interview inside the venue, Victor and I moved the remaining part of the interview to my car where we listened to a little bit of each band. You will read his thoughts of them in this interview.

I, a little more or less, started off the interview telling Mr. Wooten basically what I told you guys in the first paragraph, and how much more I appreciated the creation of music after capturing their performance on TV. Here is his response, and the rest of the interview.

Thanks to Sheri at Compass Records, for making this happen.

Victor Wooten – It’s funny because, the people who are not really familiar with Bluegrass, as soon as they hear the banjo, they say “Wow it’s Bluegrass,” but the people who are familiar with Bluegrass and Country, they say “No, it’s nothing like Bluegrass.” I think it is just the instrument of the banjo that makes people hear the Bluegrass, and I think that is great. Traditional “bluegrassers” say “No, that’s Jazz,” and the “jazzers” say that’s something different, but it’s neat, and I like it.

A.M.P. – From reading two or three different stories from the local papers upon you coming here, I read that you have some history in Sacramento, CA, particularly Rancho Cordova, CA. What stands out the most about this city, and what stands out the most on what you were doing while living here?

Victor Wooten – Well I had a lot of friends here. I started elementary school here, going to Cordova Villa Elementary. I remember the school as a round school, and it looked like a spaceship, and I lived just three houses from the school. So I’d go there everyday and play on the playground, you know. Those were some good years for me, care free years, but at the same time we were playing gigs, my brothers and I, the five of us, were playing gigs, and I was five, six, and seven at the time, and that’s where my musical career really started. It was here.

A.M.P. – Can you read music?

Victor Wooten – Yes.

A.M.P. – From you playing bass for so long, and being good at it, I would think that you are pretty good at thinking notes in your head, and playing the notes, and presenting them on bass, the same way you thought them.

Victor Wooten – Pretty much, but it’s kinda like talking. Talking is, the words are a description of what you really feel, and sometimes the words are just not capturing it, it’s not enough. The feeling is the true meaning, and music is the same way. You have a feeling so you describe it with these musical notes, and I use the instrument, the bass, to describe what I am trying to say, just the way we would use words, and most of the time when things are going well, I am having a pretty good day at trying to describe what I’m feeling, but sometimes it’s hard. You hear the notes in your head, but just like talking, sometimes you just can’t get it in the way you want, and music to me in just another language, and I approach it the same way.

A.M.P. – How much of what you play on bass is actually composed and driven through emotion. As opposed to “jamming,” or thought out creations of notes, how often or how much of what you create yourself is brought out from a feeling, and which song, and on what albums have you done that with the least amount of alterations and changes?

Victor Wooten – Most of it, is pretty free. It is sort of like, again, I always relate music to talking, or language. When you are talking, unless you are reading verbatim what you want to say, you are improvising. You have an idea of what you want to say, but it’s because you know the language so well, and your vocabulary is so big, you can freely pick and choose the words you want, without having to think too much about it, and it is pure expression. So for me, music most of the time is the same way. Even though I may have songs, that have a structure, I am going express and describe that structure different every time I play it. So, probably, eighty to ninety percent of what I am playing is pure expression, you know, it’s going to be different each time. It’s rare that I will play something exactly the same as I played it the night before.

A.M.P. – That’s the same way for me when I play drums, I just cannot play things the same way everytime.

Victor Wooten – But it’s hard to. It’s really hard. I mean, if you were to ask me that question again, it would be hard to say it the same way.

A.M.P. – Oh my gosh! This is weird! That is the exact way I think, I mean, I literally cannot play things on drums the same way the second time. Different things motivate it.

Victor Wooten – Exactly.

A.M.P. – Different things will just drive me to do different things, and if I answer questions, if you ask me again they are going to be different because I would have thought of something else.

Victor Wooten – That is life, that’s life. There are no two snowflakes alike, there are no two people, there is nothing in the universe that is totally alike. There are things that appear similar, but nothing is exactly a like.

A.M.P. – You are the only other person that has said something so similar to what I’ve said before. That’s just strange.

Victor Wooten – That’s just truth, that’s just the way it is. You really can’t express yourself the same way as you did once before. That is why every experience, is a blessing, it’s a jewel, because it’s the only experience ever.

A.M.P. – You can’t get it back.

Victor Wooten – Right, so you know, you just enjoy, and love everybody, everything because it’s an individual, and that brings me to another thing. A lot of people always ask me “Well who is your favorite this, who is the best, or are you better then this guy.” Everybody is an individual, everybody is the best. There is not another you. Even if I took a new born baby, and let them crawl on the bass guitar, they are going to get individual sounds that I will never be able to produce, and if I can’t produce what a new born baby can produce on an instrument, who is better? You see, so really, everybody is just, who they are, and that’s just exactly the way I see it, so everybody is the best, in my eyes.

A.M.P. – What artists of today, like hip-hop, blues, metal, rock, etc. have you been paying attention to, and what do you still consisitantly listen to?

Victor Wooten – Lately I have been listening to some, it’s a stuff called throat singing, which is, these guys from a country called Tuva, or either Mongolia, and they do this throat thing where they, it’s like a ( he gives his example ) groaning thing and they start hitting these harmonics with their voices, and they can get two and three notes with their voice. I have been checking that out quite a bit, and I have been into some music from the country India where they are using Tambla drums, and different time signatures. I still love a lot of the rap music, pop music, and jazz. I consider myself to be pretty open when it comes to music. I just like listening to all of it.

A.M.P. – Ok good because I have something for you after the interview.

Victor Wooten – Good.

A.M.P. – Ok, I play drums, and I was happy to see that you the work you did with Carter Beauford on your newest album “Yin-Yang,” which is up for a Grammy, I believe…

Victor Wooten – Yeah.

A.M.P. – That’s great!

Victor Wooten – Thanks.

A.M.P. – …will be on video, and can you tell me what it was like to work with him, and when will that video be available?

Victor Wooten- The video is available right now, actually we have them tonight. Carter is amazing, I have known Carter for many years. After we left Sacramento we moved to Virginia, and Carter lived in Virginia.

A.M.P.- That’s pretty much where all of Dave Matthews is.

Victor Wooten – Exactly, a lot of the guys from Dave Matthews lived in Virginia. So we met Carter, quite soon after we moved to Virginia. A lot of the great musicians, you just kind of gravitate towards each other, people that are thinking a like, you know. So I have known him for a long time, but had not done a lot of playing together. So this was a treat, to get him in the studio, and to see how he works after all these years. He is great. He just came in and had to learn these songs, and they are not typical songs, and you know, it was fun, and I was glad that the people were there to film it, and actually make into a video, because he is an amazing drummer, he’s got his own voice. As soon as he sits behind the drums, you know it’s him.

A.M.P. – Who else is featured on this album?

Victor Wooten – All of the members of Bela Fleck and the Flecktones. A sax player named Kirk Whalum, he’s playing sax on a couple of songs. The guys who are my brothers, Regi on guitar, Joseph on keyboards, JD Blair on drums. I have another friend of mine, a lady named Jennie Hoeft. She plays drums on a song, and there’s people, different people helping out with the vocals, cause I’m not much of a singer at all, you know. So I have different people, friends of mine, lots of friends of mine. Some of my friends who have never been on a CD or have recorded before I get them up there, just for the fun and the experience. My daughter is actually doing vocals on two songs. On one song she was sixteen months old, on another song, she was thirteen months. On one of the songs, she was talking, and I just recorded her talking for a long time, and then I orchestrated the music to the pitches of her voice, to make it sound like she was singing. It’s pretty neat.

A.M.P. – How long did it take you from the first and oldest played note that is on the album, to the last played note, how long did it take you?

Victor Wooten – That album probably was done, I would guess three months. The band, the Flecktones, we were on tour at the time, for a lot of the time that we were working on the album. So we would come off the road and I would have maybe five or six days to get into the studio with everybody. Then we (Flecktones) would go out on the road and I would work on stuff while we were out on the road. So, I would say maybe three months. I don’t even really know because I don’t really think of it in that sense.

A.M.P. – I appreciate you taking the time to tell us what to look for on certain songs on the album. I have not heard the album yet, I have only heard the Real Audio parts of it on the site, but, how things came about, and what you were thinking while you were in the studio, I have not seen that much on any other artists site including whats on the album or anything like that. They just put the album out, and you only hear things like that while reading an interview like right now, but you actually have that on the site, like “look for this…,” and “look for that on…” So that it pretty cool.

Victor Wooten – Thank you. I just think about what I would want to see. I see records from Miles Davis, and all these artists. A good example is this. There was a CD just released by the Mahavishu Orchestra. Which is this fusion band with John McLaughlin on guitar, Billy Cobham on drums, Jan Hammer on keyboards, Jerry Goodman on Violins. It’s a great album, but this was an album that they had forgotten about, and someone just found it in the vault, you know, and so they have just released it. On the album they talked to the different musicians. Somebody interviews the musicians about what was going back then.

A.M.P. – Is this actually on the cd?

Victor Wooten – Not on the CD, but in the credits, and so it was so neat reading about what was going on at the time, you know. The band was kinda feuding a little bit, and all that kind of stuff, and the different musicians wanted more of their music on the albums, and more credit. Just all of this inside stuff. It makes you kind of feel like you are getting a little more than your money’s worth, like you are inside there, and I love that kind of stuff. So I want to put it out there for people and let them know what is going on. To me it makes the music more special when you have something to look for, something to go on. You know when you are listening to Kaila and you know she was only 13 months old, and you know how it was recorded.

A.M.P. – You appreciate it more.

Victor Wooten – Of course, I believe so.

A.M.P. – Before joining Bela Fleck and the Flecktones, how well was the rock band that you were in before that, how was that band doing?

Victor Wooten – I was doing a bunch of different things. Like I said I grew up mostly playing with my brothers as a five peice band in Sacramento, CA, and San Francisco, CA we would play all over, and in Virginia we did that more. Then I was doing a bunch of things. Working at an amusement park, playing in a country show, you know, at Busch Gardens in Virginia, and right before I came to Nashville, I was playing with this group, this guy who you used sing with the Platters, who was living in Virginia, and I was playing in his band going around and playing the 60’s, Platters music. So that’s what I was doing right before I actually came to Nashville, and it was doing well but I knew that was not going to be the thing I did for the rest of my life, but I enjoyed it.

A.M.P. – How has the tour been going?

Victor Wooten – The tour is great. It’s been fun. We never know when coming out to the West Coast, especially on my own because for whatever reason it is always a little harder out on the West Coast. You never know who is going to show up, but we have been having a lot of sell outs, and big crowds, and we’re just having fun.

A.M.P. – Where has your best show been so far, on this tour?

Victor Wooten – On this tour… Wow… I don’t know. The first night we did was good. It was a long day because we had some new equipment and we spent all day trying to get it to work right, but it was in Boulder Colarado, at the Fox Theatre, and we always have a great time there. There was just a ton of people, and it’s a big venue, and it was just nice starting up again, and just getting to play, after that long bus ride from Nashville Tennessee.

A.M.P. – I noticed that when people get a certain level of touring experience from playing so many shows through the years, they really never mention bad shows when asked about them, they just say they love playing to however amount of people are there, but, have you had a bad show on this tour?

Victor Wooten – I would not say that I have had a bad show. I have had nights where I did not think I played that well, there are nights where I feel better, but a lot of time it’s really hard to tell because sometimes, like usually we judge our nights by how we felt, and sometimes you go back and listen to the tapes and you realize, wow, that sounded pretty good, you know, no matter how bad I felt. The opposite can be true too. Last nights show, we were in Tahoe, Lake Tahoe, a small place, and my bass to me didn’t sound that good, and when it’s not sounding that great through my rig, I’m having a hard time playing. It’s hard to just let it go and just play, which is what we try to do anyway, and Regi was saying that his guitar wasn’t sounding right, but, Kurt, our soundman, and Anthony who is doing our monitors, who aren’t really part of the show, they can sit back and just watch it, they said it was the best show so far. So it’s like wow, you just never know. The thing is to just play through your feelings you know, and if you are hating it, just play through, and just try to have a good time and just do what you do.

A.M.P. – Where do you see the love, appreciation, and importance of music among the future people headed? Not where you want it to be, or think it should be, but where do you see it going from the way you see it going now?

Victor Wooten – Well to me, it seems like the focus is being put back on music. I guess originality I guess is a good word, but not really people who are out just to be original, but it seems like people are just being themselves a little bit more, like bands like the Dave Matthews band. It’s amazing to me that they are as successful as they are, because they are not really fitting a successful formula, you know. They don’t have the hearthrob who is the good dancer or takes their clothes off or whatever, and when you go and see them play they don’t have a bunch of dancers up there or they are not playing to tracks, they are just up there like a bar band, but they are amazing musicians. They are playing music in odd time signatures with lots of long solos and all of this stuff that is not suppose to sell, but they are the biggest band going right now, and to me, that’s really amazing that it’s really getting back to that, and people are enjoying it, and even more than that, the people who own the business, the record labels, and things like that, they are starting to recognize that stuff can work. It doesn’t have to be a three and a half minute song with no solos. The lead singer doesn’t have to have orange hair, you know, that type of thing. It can just be good music, and people will listen to it and love it. So it seems like it is headed in a good direction.

A.M.P. – alright, so you got four minutes?

Victor Wooten – Sure, yeah.

Right now, Victor is walking with me to my car, so we can expose him to some new tunes and hear his thoughts. I played “Year One” by Candiria, off of their Beyong Reasonable Doubt album. I also played some Dillinger Escape Plan songs, but that was after the interview. Here is what Victor had to say.

A.M.P. – You just heard Candiria, what do you think?

Victor Wooten – It’s cool, it’s cool. It’s not the type of music that I go out and buy, but I enjoy listening to it whenever I get a chance because, a lot of people would probably consider that, not to be, I don’t even know what the word is…Well I’ll just say what it is. It takes musicianship to really be able to pull that kind of stuff off because they are changing time signatures, the meters are changing, I mean all kinds of stuff is going on, and they are doing it together. So there is a lot of musicianship going on there, even though some people, other musicians that are listening to it unless they are familiar with that type of music they may not recognize it as being good musicianship, but to me it DEFINATELY is. I could not understand the lyrics, but I like the style that it was sung in. It’s sort of like that throat singing I was talking about, you know, again it’s not the classical way that we are used to hearing, but I like it. I like the fact that they are just doing whatever it is that they do. It seems like they are doing what they want to do, not what the market or whatever is telling them to do, and I like anybody that is doing that.

A.M.P. – I would like to thank you for, letting me get a little bit of your time to ask you these questions, and it is an honor to have you in my car.

Victor Wooten – Hehe, sure!

A.M.P. – Because I never thought that this would happen, but THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

Victor Wooten – You are welcome.

After Victor’s amazing almost three hour long set, I got to thank him again after the show, and he thanked me for turning him on to the music I played for him. If you have the chance, check him out. jAy

Incubus Interview 98-99-ish.

This interview was around 99, or late 98. I am not too sure. This was behind the Colonial Theater, in Oak Park. Anyone from Sac should know about Oak Park. This venue back then was having some sick shows. The last one I saw there was The Red Chord, like two years ago, and before that was Killswitch Engage. Soulfly has played there, Neurosis, Papa Roach, Ghostface Killah a month ago, really, a lot of bands. The next album they recorded was Make Yourself. Around this time, Papa Roach was getting a lot of attention from labels, and went to LA for some meetings, and to check out NRG where they recorded their demo. I was out with them, and in the studio was Incubus recording that album. I believe Jurassic 5 was in the other studio there as well. Well here ya go.

AMP: Alright, new album, soon, do you have a date when you are going into the studio?

Jose: Umm, mid-April

AMP: How many songs do you have finished now?

Jose: Completely, well none completely finished, but we have done a little bit of recording, like some demos, we did five songs with vocals, and then there is one we haven’t done vocals for yet, and then we got a few more that are pretty much worked out, as far as the music goes. We really have not worked the vocals into them yet. We still got about two and a half weeks to write, so we got some time.

AMP: You guys toured with Black Sabbath a bit, how did the crowd like you?

Jose: I was scared, at first, I thought we were gonna get a lot of things thrown at us, but we had snipers on stage. (he’s kidding), but it was cool. It wasn’t really, our crowd, but we don’t, discriminate (hehe). We were received pretty well, all of us were kind of worried about that, but we really didn’t have single show where we had a bad response. It was awesome to watch Black Sabbath every night, that was amazing.

AMP: Ok, well Mike, last time you guys were here, you played a Sitar (an electric guitar, sounds kind of Middle Eastern), will we be hearing more of that on the next album?

Mike and Jose: YES

AMP: In S.C.I.E.N.C.E we heard tons of different styles on that whole album, in which I heard that you got the electronic, Mr. Bungle type of stuff when you were on tour with KoRn and the Urge over in Europe? Is there any other style that will definitely have an influence on this next album?

Mike: Well most of the stuff that we have been working on, is not as all over the place like S.C.I.E.N.C.E. was, like Jose said, it’s been 2 and a half years since we wrote that album. Two and a half years is a long time to evolve, so I think a lot of the newer stuff just sounds a lot more focused, it is much better arranged, and parts are better put together. There is going to be a lot of ambiance on this record, like maybe not so much going on all the time, a little more room to breathe, we are going to definitely have really really cool DJ parts, and those type of things. It’s a definite leap from S.C.I.E.N.C.E. It will be obvious.

AMP: Umm, what do you think of Jordan Knight and Joey McEntyre’s musical comebacks?

Mike and Jose: Hello?

AMP: The New Kids!!!

Jose: I think it’s insane!

Mike: Yeah, its been a huge influence on us, and we tend to rip them off thouroughly.

Jose: We would like to tour with them soon.

AMP: SO what have you been listening in your free time?

Mike: A lot of stuff Bjork, as always.

Jose: I have been listening to a lot of, I got some new Radiohead CD’s, yeah I’ve just discovered them myself, I think they are insane, um, still some drum & bass stuff, I just got this new CD “FOR a HERO,” it’s kinda like live drum & bass, it has a whole lot of other players that play on the track, like strings and horns, and flutes, it’s just insane.

AMP: Anything new happen to you guys, as a band, personal, anything?

Jose: Just the opportunity to write new songs, you know, which is pretty rare. We have been playing those same songs for 2 and a half year now, and it’s like really refreshing to be off the road and be able to just concentrate on writing music. When we started rehersing for these shows playing our old song I realized that I was sick of it.

AMP: Thats a real important revelation.

Mike: Yeah, we love our old stuff, but it is time to move on.

AMP: Last question, you guys ever done any covers?

Jose: We have not yet, we might in the future.

Mike: We have done fragments, but have never made it through a whole song.

Jose: I don’t know, it’s a tricky thing. We don’t want to build our integrity off of someone else’s music, but, you never know.

AMP: Alright, thank you very much.

Jose: Welcome!