{"id":271,"date":"2010-06-25T04:56:37","date_gmt":"2010-06-25T09:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=271"},"modified":"2010-06-25T04:56:37","modified_gmt":"2010-06-25T09:56:37","slug":"a-conversation-with-felix-cavaliere-and-steve-cropper-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/06\/25\/a-conversation-with-felix-cavaliere-and-steve-cropper-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"A Conversation with Felix Cavaliere and Steve Cropper (part two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Continued from Part One<\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n

Bill Kopp \/ Musoscribe:<\/strong> There\u2019s a lick on the title track that sounds a lot like the break on Sam & Dave<\/strong>‘s \u201cSoul Man.\u201d Was that a subtle nod to Steve\u2019s past, or am I just hearing things?<\/font><\/p>\n

Felix Cavaliere:<\/strong> [laughs heartily] You\u2019ll have to ask Steve about that! It\u2019s kinda like, \u201cwhoops — you can\u2019t miss that one, can you?\u201d But at least he <\/em>did it. It\u2019s really interesting working with another artist. It\u2019s like walking between towers: you have to walk gently.<\/p>\n

Steve Cropper:<\/strong> It was intentional; you\u2019re right about that. It was meant to remind people. Even though that song is played on the radio twenty times every day, it\u2019s been a looong <\/em>time since that song was out. So it\u2019s just bringing people\u2019s attention to the fact that that\u2019s what I\u2019m known for, that\u2019s what I do. So why not do it now.<\/p>\n

Bill:<\/strong> Both of you have long, illustrious and critically-acclaimed careers. How \u2013 if at all — does having that behind you affect this project? What I mean is, do you perceive any pressure to create something extra special because people know they can expect taste and quality from you? Or do those sorts of outside concerns not really factor in?<\/font><\/p>\n

Felix:<\/strong> I welcome <\/em>the pressure. Because it kind of gives you a quality level to try and achieve. As a matter of fact, I don\u2019t feel like I really achieved that level on the first album. Everything you do goes into your legacy. And it\u2019s easy to make junk. Anybody can do that. It\u2019s the difference between a sketch and a painting. We worked really hard; I spent a lot of hours on this album, and enjoyed every moment of it. We both feel like we\u2019re really lucky, really fortunate to be able to make music at this time in our lives.<\/p>\n

Steve: <\/strong>It\u2019s always on my mind. We don\u2019t want to put out a bunch of junk. There\u2019s two thought-waves on this. First, obviously you don\u2019t want to get egg on your face for doing something that\u2019s less than par. But it\u2019s also in the back of our minds that, hey, age is what it is, but we still have a youthful attitude toward music. We both perform with energy; we\u2019re not a couple guys sitting up there in chairs, y\u2019know. If you listen to this record, Felix still sounds like he\u2019s coming out of his teens!<\/p>\n

Bill: <\/strong>Felix, you\u2019re 65. But your vocals sound every bit as strong as ever. Seriously, I don\u2019t hear that sort of darkening of tone that vocals often take on after fifty at all in your voice. Do you do any sort of \u201cworking out\u201d (so to speak) for your vocals, or do the live dates do enough to keep you in form?<\/font><\/p>\n

Felix: <\/strong>The live dates really do make a difference. You can\u2019t stop, and then try to start again. That\u2019s the thing; that\u2019s when time takes over. And there\u2019s also a tremendous amount of good luck involved; I\u2019ll be honest with you. You\u2019ve got to take care of it, nurture it.<\/p>\n

Bill:<\/strong> Steve, you left the original Stax back in 1970, I believe. Now with Concord\u2019s ownership of the Stax catalog, that body of work \u2013 including you, Otis Redding<\/strong><\/a>, Isaac Hayes<\/strong><\/a> and many others — seems to be getting handled in a pretty thoughtful, respectful and market-oriented manner. And you\u2019re back on Stax. So are you pleased with Concord\u2019s handling of the older Stax material? How involved are you in any of those reissues \u2013 things like Stax Does the Beatles<\/a><\/em> and such?<\/font><\/p>\n

Steve:<\/strong> Concord was already viable, and they did the best thing that they could, which was to buy the Stax catalog. They bought it from Fantasy, who had bought it from Atlantic and kept it alive for years and years and years. For Concord to pick it up was a good thing. When they called me up and said, \u201cConcord wants to reactivate the Stax label\u201d \u2013 meaning that instead of just releasing old catalog stuff, they wanted to bring in new artists, and do production, and put out new albums \u2013 I said \u201cIf they go about it with the same integrity that we did, about quality, and try to get the music to the listening ear, regardless of the age of the fan base, they might be successful at it.\u201d They\u2019ve still got to prove it, but it\u2019s got a chance.<\/p>\n

The problem today is airplay: How are you going to get this stuff played? We get hours and hours of airplay every day on the Stax catalog. But in that genre of oldies-but-goodies — we\u2019re on the Weather Channel; you name it, we\u2019re on it \u2013 they don\u2019t play the new stuff. Several years back, Booker T & the MGs<\/strong> did our last record that was on Columbia (1994\u2019s That\u2019s the Way It Should Be<\/em>), and we found it at Tower Records in the oldies-but-goodies section! I said, \u201cGuys, we\u2019re not winnin\u2019 anything here. We\u2019re supposed to be on a billboard out front that says \u2018Hear the latest from Booker T & the MGs, the guys with hits like \u201cGreen Onions\u201d\u2019 and stuff like that. And instead they put us in the back of the room, in the oldies section!\u201d We didn\u2019t win.<\/p>\n

Bill: <\/strong>There\u2019s less up-front Hammond organ on this album that people might expect — at least people who are familiar with you guys primarily through the Rascals <\/strong><\/a>or Booker T & the MGs. Was it a conscious decision to craft a sound that wasn\u2019t overly reminiscent of your 60s-era groups, or is the vibe of the album sort of organically a product of where you are musically these days?<\/font><\/p>\n

Felix:<\/strong> When you play a keyboard today — as opposed to when you played a keyboard back in the 60s \u2013 there\u2019s a tremendous difference in what\u2019s available to you. The electronics today are magic. In the old days, for example, just to bend a note was impossible. You could not bend a note, unless you did some sort of electronic tape manipulation. Nowadays you can bend notes, you can go in between the tones to fatten up your sound. It\u2019s incredible. So with all due respect to the Hammond Organ company — which is owned by a Japanese company now anyway \u2013 I\u2019ve kind of moved on.<\/p>\n

Bill:<\/strong> So when you play live, that\u2019s not a B3?<\/font><\/p>\n

Felix:<\/strong> Onstage I use a B3 and a modern Korg to produce other sounds. The Hammond has a basis in a pad: it blends very well with vocals, with horns. And it has sort of a rhythmic aspect to it with the Leslie spinning. But it\u2019s limited as to other things it can do. I\u2019d much rather play a synthesizer in a studio, and then a Hammond live.
\n
\nBill:<\/font><\/strong> I\u2019ve never played any keyboard that got the \u201cwaterfall\u201d action right like on a Hammond. You try and do a glissando, you\u2019ll cut your hand on anything else.<\/font><\/p>\n

Felix:\u00a0<\/strong> No question. The action on a Hammond is magic. But you know, that company had no clue what they had. They came out of Chicago, and they had no idea this thing was going to be one of the most soulful instruments in the world. And then this other company \u2013 Leslie \u2013 came along. And without a Leslie, a Hammond sounds horrible! But the Hammond people initially objected to the Leslie. Hammond would take the franchise license away from dealers who sold the Leslie. Eventually they bought Leslie. But I\u2019d say to the Hammond people, \u201cOkay, you made a great instrument, but you had no idea what you were doing.\u201d And of course they stopped making them in 1972. Talk about an oldie-but-goodie! If you don\u2019t find one that\u2019s in good shape, they can be pretty bad.<\/p>\n

But I never really felt like Hammond did anything for me beyond giving me an instrument to play. A lot of guitar companies, for example, really nurture their contacts, their players. So I don\u2019t really have any love lost with the Hammond company. I love the instrument, but y\u2019know what? I have a better relationship with Korg. They\u2019ve helped me out over the years; they\u2019ve let me try new stuff. So I\u2019m really an exponent of the more modern stuff, with due respect to all the organ aficionados out there.
\n
\nBill:<\/strong> The impression I get is that Midnight Flyer<\/em> was a relaxed, nothing-to-prove project for you guys. There\u2019s plenty of spotlight given to backing vocalists, the bass parts, sax, etc. What I mean is that you guys aren\u2019t all over the record with your own solos and stuff. Again, was that by design?<\/font><\/p>\n

Steve:<\/strong> We didn\u2019t approach it as \u201cLet\u2019s show \u2018em what we can do,\u201d or \u201cThis is an education in music.\u201d We were just having a good time. Lyrically and hookwise, I think there\u2019s more to this album than there was with the last one.<\/p>\n

Bill: <\/strong>The album closer \u201cDo It Like This\u201d really rips it up, pulls out all the stops. For me, it could have gone on a lot longer. You seem to sort of know that people would want that, and the clip of Felix saying \u201cthat\u2019s it\u201d at the end is almost a playful sticking-your-tongue out\u00a0 at the listeners, sort of like ending a concert on a high note so that people will really want to come back and see you next time. <\/font><\/p>\n

Felix:<\/strong> You remember the record \u201cWatusi?\u201d It had talking behind it. That was my intent. But that song had a really weird creation. It started off as a vocal number. Jon Tiven<\/strong> was involved \u2013 in fact that\u2019s the only song he was involved in \u2013 they put a vocal on it, and I hated it. So I said, \u201cLet\u2019s turn this thing into an instrumental.\u201d Because it\u2019s a cool instrumental. It has so much life to it. And the song wasn\u2019t really a planned thing. It was more of a last-minute thing.<\/p>\n

Steve:<\/strong> The original edit was a lot <\/em>longer. Felix got in there with Tom Hambridge<\/strong> and edited it down, and I said fine. It\u2019s sort of like the old days when songs weren\u2019t over three minutes long. And I\u2019ll tell you something \u2013 it ain\u2019t a secret \u2013 in the old days if anyone got onto us that the song was too long, we\u2019d just erase the time and put \u201c2:59\u201d on the label. Then we never had a problem getting played.<\/p>\n

In the sixties, I was around radio. That\u2019s all I did in my waking hours. And I noticed that disc jockeys always talked over a record until the singer started singing. And I decided, \u201cI\u2019m gonna try my damnedest to do something about that.\u201d So I started making intros as powerful \u2013 more powerful — than the first verse. Like \u201cIn the Midnight Hour,\u201d \u201cSoul Man.\u201d You can\u2019t talk over it! It\u2019s louder than you are! The disc jockeys would come to me and say, \u201cMan, that intro of yours, it\u2019s almost as good as the song.\u201d I didn\u2019t tell them that they were my inspiration! Those intros usually had nothing to do with the rest of the song. They were music outside of music.<\/p>\n

Bill:<\/strong> So should we look forward to more Steve Cropper \/ Felix Cavaliere collaborative albums?<\/font><\/p>\n

Felix:<\/strong> When Concord asked us to do a second album, I was absolutely thrilled. For somebody that wants to make music in 2010, it\u2019s such an honor. So I would certainly welcome it. There are so many people in Nashville, and across the country, and around the world that would be thrilled to know that somebody actually wants to hear their music.<\/p>\n

Steve: <\/strong>I took it very personally that Concord felt after the last one that they wanted another one. I got excited about it. And we\u2019ll probably do another one anyway; we won\u2019t wait for any kind of demand or anything. We just enjoy working together.<\/p>\n

Bill:<\/strong> Steve, Felix has contrasted the subject matter of many songwriters with the more upbeat material the two of you wrote for these albums.<\/font><\/p>\n

Steve:<\/strong>\u00a0 A lot of deep songwriters \u2013 obviously they\u2019re very good \u2013 in their lyrics, they\u2019re projecting what\u2019s going on with them. Local events, or things in their lives. I\u2019ve been through that so many times, working with artists that just broke up with their girlfriend or their wife. They\u2019re down and out, and they just want to write these sad things. And it\u2019s like, \u201cOh, my lord. These are some pitiful <\/em>songs!\u201d And I have to sit through that. I want to say, \u201cMan, can you write something that will get everybody up and dancing?\u201d They\u2019re just not in the mood for that, and I understand that. If you\u2019re not feeling good, it\u2019s kinda hard to throw that aside and pretend that everything else is great.<\/p>\n

But I don\u2019t think Felix and I have a problem like that. We look at each other, and we smile, and we just go for it. When somebody starts a groove, we just sort of contribute to it, rather than saying, \u201cI don\u2019t like that. I don\u2019t feel like that groove today.\u201d If that\u2019s what the groove is, we just try to write something around it. Making everybody feel good is what it\u2019s all about. The first album did that, and I hope the new one does that as well. The music makes us feel good, and we hope it makes other people feel good.<\/p>\n


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(Continued from Part One) Bill Kopp \/ Musoscribe: There\u2019s a lick on the title track that sounds a lot like the break on Sam & Dave‘s \u201cSoul Man.\u201d Was that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interview","cat-41-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}