|
Swinging
into the New Year
with Eddie
Nichols of Royal Crown Revue
Talk It Out with Jodi Leib
featuring Eddie Nichols
January 7, 2005
Special thanks to John Siscel and Pandemic Studios
P.S. That's Eddie on the far right!
Jodi:
Happy New Year to you. What
did you do for the New Year?
Eddie: It was fine.
We worked in Telluride, Colorado.
Jodi: Nice.
Eddie: Froze our butts off.
The guys worked really hard.
Have you ever been up there?
Jodi:
I have been to Vail and to Breckenridge, but not yet Telluride.
Eddie: When you’ve got to
play at nine thousand feet, it’s really difficult, especially when you
have not acclimated. What
are you crying about? Did
you hear that? Did you hear
that?
Jodi:
Who’s that in the background?
Eddie: I have chinchillas
and one of them is crying.
Jodi: Oh my gosh.
Eddie: I don’t know what
he’s crying about.
Jodi: What is life like to
be you, Eddie? What’s
your life like?
Eddie: What’s my life
like? Oh it was chaotic,
and now it’s a lot different. For
years and years, I just tried to make the scene, went everywhere,
partied super-hard, and traveled a lot.
I tried to make things happen, and now it’s more like I gotta
step back from that, it’s going too fast.
You know? And, ah,
now I have to look at concentrated efforts instead of going a#$%#$&
all over the place.
Jodi: Totally.
I totally relate to that. Target
marketing, right?
Eddie: It’s also getting
older.
Jodi: You’re never too
old to play swing music!
Eddie: No, you’re never too old.
I know, it takes a good one too.
American Roots music is good to grow old with, you can always do
it.
Jodi: You are today’s
quintessential swing band. Why
has that genre been such a huge part of your soul and how and why have
you stayed true to the genre regardless of market trends?
Eddie: I'm going to sound
like a big contradiction here, but I love old roots music, and all of
it, mostly. We got
monikered a swing band, because we were running around the country, and
I remember the guy who really did it.
His name was Mike Moss and he started a magazine in San Francisco
called Swing Time. And
that’s where the scene that was one of the biggest scenes besides Los
Angeles was happening. Our
band was mostly playing Rhythm and Blues, which is 40s and 50s R&B,
you know, like Jazz, Jump Blues. Regardless,
I love these roots music. I
have a Doo-op group also. I
stick with it, because I really enjoy the style, the lifestyle.
If I had a time machine, I’d probably jump in it, and head
back. I really love that
era. I romanticize it,
maybe a little too much. As
far as market trends go, my band and a lot of the fellas I know, we’re
pretty much kind of old school musicians, not just because we picked
that style, but the way we work. We
study, and we jam. We do
sessions with other people. We
go out and bust hump on the road, you know?
Not in big busses anymore, just playing gigs, night to night.
Jodi: Yeah.
That’s what you have to do, right?
Eddie: I don’t know if I
really answered your question. The
way music is nowadays, with the flavor-of-the-minute, it seems even
faster than five years ago or six years ago, or seven years ago.
It keeps going faster and faster.
There’s not a lot of substance.
There’s a lot of kids with good ideas out there, but there’s
not a lot of substance to what they’re doing.
You can really have almost no talent and play music or be famous
or whatever.
Jodi: Like high-speed
internet access.
Eddie: I’m not trying to
criticize everyone’s hope, but a lot of this stuff is just bullshit.
Jodi: Is the whole business
bullshit?
Eddie: Yeah.
Jodi: Back to the 40s and
50s, what is it about the 40s that inspires you?
Eddie: Well, I’m
fascinated with WWII, and I’m fascinated with the way America was.
That was like our Camelot, when we speak of the 50s, and 60s –
what a great time. The
clothes – I just love the clothes.
I have old cars. The
clothes, the style, and the music.
The music’s most important.
The music was so widespread.
All the different genres were damn good, from the
Latin-influenced stuff, to the Black-influenced stuff, to the vocal
groups, to the advent of White rock-n-roll.
All that stuff is just the coolest to me.
Jodi: Totally.
And what really inspires me about you, and why when I saw you at
the Pandemic 40s holiday party in early December, what I got from just
being in your presence, is that perhaps there is a similarity between
the wartime politics of today and the wartime politics of the 40s.
Is there a parallel there, and can you give me some sort of an
insight as to what you think the parallel is?
Eddie: I would say the only
parallel to that is a climate of fear.
If we’re talking politics, our government is not the government
we had forty years ago. It
is not, in my opinion, fighting the righteous fight that was fought in
WWII - by no means. So, I
can say that with life going faster, and like I said, with the climate
of fear, that also has something to do with people enjoying older,
comfort music, comfort things, you know what I mean?
Something they can associate with.
Jodi: Retro.
Eddie:
Yeah, Retro.
Jodi:
Soul food. Something
familiar.
Eddie: Something that I
wanted to touch upon, regarding the music, we really dislike being
labeled a broadbrush like Retro – every song on my albums has been
different. There are so
many different styles in there. What
I’m really looking to do on the next record is break that barrier we
get stamped with over here. We
have been more successful doing that out of the country, over in Spain.
It reminds me of when we started here, in Australia we have kids
with mohawks, we have Punk rockers, we have older folks, we have Ska
kids, we have Rock-A-Billy kids. Their
audiences are very diverse, you know, because they weren’t introduced
as “this is an over-hyped scene”, they all feel comfortable coming
to see it. And that’s
kind of what I want to appeal to with everybody.
Jodi:
Hmm. What is it
about being over-hyped or being, you know you look at, like, Ashlee
Simpson, what is it about being over-hyped that Americans or that the
people aren’t really attracted to?
Eddie:
Well, that may be a good point in some sense.
I think that old adage is “they love to see you go up, I mean,
they cheer you on the way up”, what is it?
I can’t even remember what it is - they like to see you come
down too. They applaud you
on the way up and once you’re up there – ah-
Jodi: It’s like the Oprah
saying, “You arrive in a limo, and you go home in a cab.”
Eddie: Yep.
Jodi:
Terrible.
Eddie: That is a good thing
that a lot of Americans don’t like over-hype, but a lot of them still
suck it down. The music
industry to me is like soda pop the last couple years, you have Coke and
Pepsi, and that’s it.
Jodi: Yeah.
Eddie: It’s a big music
industry. It’s a real
shame, because there are so many cool bands of all styles that just
don’t get their due.
Jodi: And what would it
take for people to be heard?
Eddie: To be heard?
Jodi: Yeah, like what
you’re saying. For those
voices to rise?
Eddie: The record companies
are not developing acts like they used to.
We were on Warner Brothers for two, three years maybe four, I
don’t remember how many years. We
did two albums so it was more than that, but we came right at the end.
They used to get an act, back in the good-old-days , whatever
70s, or 80s, 60s, 50s, and they developed them.
They’d let them put out the first album, second album, third
album, now they want something instantly and if you don’t follow up
with it, they cancel your contract.
It doesn’t give a chance for bands to develop into really good
bands.
Jodi:
There are no more life terms.
Eddie: Wham Bam.
They want something right away.
And I understand, it is a business, but it’s not as fair or
supportive to the artists. It’s
not the same it used to be or what we grew up expecting it to be.
Jodi: That’s an
interesting point about expectation.
It really is up to the band to carve out their own niche and make
their own music regardless of who’s buying or selling or listening or
what. It still comes back
to the artist and having something to say and saying it to anybody, by
any means possible. That’s
one reason for Talk It Out, is just to get people like you actually
reaching your fans and hoping to communicate a part of who you are as an
extension of your music. So
people can get to know you in a new light and really hear what you have
to say, and also at the same time, they will be able to understand your
lyrics better. So, you were
touching on travel. I would
love to hear about the most interesting places you’ve traveled to in
the world and what drives you about being outside of America.
I know the huge topic is the Tsunami.
What do you think America’s role should be in aiding?
Like Hiroshima in the 40s, I mean, one was the universe’s creation,
and the other was the human creation, but kind of looking at the mass
destruction of those two events, because they have been related to in
the media at the level of destructive damage, what should our role be?
What should Americans be thinking? Everyone has their own opinions
of course, but what do you think about everything that’s happened?
What are your thoughts as to what we should do as Americans to
participate in the rebuilding of Asia?
What should we do to lend a hand or help support?
Should we be involved?
Eddie: That’s a good
question. Our government
just has to follow through with the money we pledge.
While it looks small to the rest of the world, it is small
probably what we’re donating. We
just have to follow through with it, but our current government is more
concerned with bombs, as far as I’m concerned.
So, money is being diverted.
I wish there was more to say in what our taxes are spent on,
because we could help out a lot. We
could help a lot of things in this world if we weren’t blowing the
crap out of everybody. The
only thing we can do right now is hope our government follows through
with the pledges. And
it’s our money.
Jodi: Definitely.
I think the non-profit organizations, which are not governmental
organizations, the ones that you can donate to, hopefully, I think they
are all doing their best to provide aid and stuff.
Eddie: Oh yeah, they are! There
are problems right here. I
give money to a place locally that help takes care of things.
Jodi: Do you have any
concerns with, because I’ve heard this when I listen to people, that
we have so many problems here in the United States that we are not
addressing, that we should be, in addition, of course, to helping the
rest of the world? Are
there issues in America that we are overlooking, and if so, what are
they? What do we need to
really focus on? What do
you think we should do internally to help ourselves?
Because I think it’s so important when our own house is in
order, then we have so much more to offer the rest of the world.
Do you think America is dysfunctional at the core?
And if so, how? And
what can we do to repair the damage internally?
Eddie: Yes, it’s
dysfunctional at the core! I’m
a pretty left-wing guy, but our basic morality is all over the place.
There’s a lot to this question.
What would help is at the top, with our government, we have
agendas, this rhetoric that we spew out to the rest of the world and
mostly to Americans, “We’re the greatest, we’re going to help,
I’m for you”. It’s
all bullshit. Most of these
cats up in Washington - self-interest big businessmen.
That’s why most of the world doesn’t trust us because we say
one thing and we sure as hell are doing another.
They have their secret organizations and their corporate
interests figuring out how to take advantage, when we say, “Oh we’re
here to help out the regular guy.”
So, from the top down has got to change.
We have to have interest in this country.
We have to have interest in our environment, in having people
work, in having people work together.
We have the resources, it’s really stupid.
You paid your taxes last year, didn’t you, and the year before,
and the year before, and the year before.
How come California is billions in debt?
Remember the electricity thing?
We paid all our bills.
Jodi:
I think that was a Republican scam.
It came from Texas to unplug California.
It happened right after the election of 2000, when Gore lost the
election. It was a power
move to silence the huge liberal state of California and get a
Republican in office. It
was a big scam!
Eddie: That’s one of our
biggest dysfunctionality problems that we’re talking about.
It’s lies and the accepted lies that everybody knows, but
everybody just turns the other cheek.
Everybody knows that Jessica, or Ashlee Simpson, whatever her
name is, was lip syncing and everybody goes, “Oh, she’s okay
anyway.” It’s that kind
of mentality. All the way
up and down the line. That’s
a big problem in the United States.
Jodi:
Very interesting. So
what is the purpose of the Tsunami and the new year coming?
Is there a higher purpose in terms of what you’re doing, in
what your goals are for this year?
Eddie: It’s for
people’s enjoyment. Enjoyment
is good, good stuff. You
know? Making music, and
making people happy is a great thing.
It’s a nice career. If
you can make a living at it, which I do.
I ain’t rich, but I really enjoy my life.
Jodi: That’s a beautiful
thing. I really do agree
with you that the purpose of this year is to make other people happy, to
share happiness, to spread happiness from the core to everyone that we
know. And your music does
that, and you do that, and you’ve done that.
And keep doing it. Thank
you for what you do. It’s
a real blessing being an artist. I’m
an artist also, and I know it’s a real blessing to be an artist.
I am just really honored to be able to share your message and
carry this conversation to your fans, and to new fans out there, and to
my fans, and to our fans, and to really create positive energy in the
world for 2005. I have a
good feeling it’s going to be a really good year.
Eddie: I do too.
I hope so, just got to keep positive.
Jodi: Yeah.
Bringing people together.
Eddie: All right then.
Jodi: Thank you, Eddie.
Eddie: Thank you for your time.
Check out Royal Crown Revue's website www.RCR.com.
Thanks to Pandemic Studios at www.pandemicstudios.com.
Back to www.jodileib.com
Jodi Leib's Talk It Out Interview with Eddie
Nichols of Royal Crown Review was taped on January 7, 2005.
Talk It Out (c) Jodi Leib, 2005. Reprint by Permission at talkitout@jodileib.com
Printer Friendly
Version |
