{"id":317,"date":"2010-08-27T05:14:42","date_gmt":"2010-08-27T10:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=317"},"modified":"2010-08-27T05:14:42","modified_gmt":"2010-08-27T10:14:42","slug":"interview-the-fabulous-thunderbirds-kim-wilson-part-two","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2010\/08\/27\/interview-the-fabulous-thunderbirds-kim-wilson-part-two\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview: The Fabulous Thunderbirds\u2019 Kim Wilson (part two)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One<\/a>, of course…<\/em><\/p>\n

Bill Kopp: <\/strong>How would you describe — what is it that you deliver with the Fabulous Thunderbirds that’s different than what you do with Kim Wilson’s Blues All-stars<\/strong>?<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson: <\/strong>That\u2019s easy. [The Fabulous Thunderbirds<\/strong>] is just a hybrid of a lot of different things. It\u2019s Americana, it\u2019s all of those musics put together.\u00a0 Whereas the solo thing, that is <\/em>straight Chicago stuff. We vary it a little with that thing, but this <\/em>is really a lot of different musical genres.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a concept that I\u2019ve had since I was a kid. It was out of necessity at first, \u2018cause I would have to play a lot of soul beats to get people up and dance. Then I could play some blues.<\/p>\n

If you look at that first James Cotton<\/strong> record on Verve, that really kind of confirmed everything for me. He was really a huge inspiration in a lot of ways to me. Harmonica, of course. But he was a great <\/em>singer. He was doing \u201cBlues in My Sleep,\u201d he was doing \u201cKnock on Wood,\u201d \u201cTurn On Your Lovelight,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t Start Me Talkin\u2019\u201d by Sonny Boy Williamson<\/strong>. All these different musical things. So I said, \u201cYeah!\u201d<\/p>\n

[Our conversation turns to Stax artists; everybody\u2019s talking at once.]<\/em><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson: <\/strong>That\u2019s when they were makin\u2019 records. A lot of texture was comin\u2019 out of these guys. And all they did, really, was turn on the tape recorder and play<\/em>. Instead of something that\u2019s \u201cproduced.\u201d And that\u2019s<\/em> what I want to get back to with the new thing.\u00a0 I\u2019ve got this thing now that you have [a new CD of eleven songs, sold at shows \u2013 ed.] and it\u2019s very close. But it\u2019s gonna change. I may re-cut the whole thing on analog.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> That was my next question. So is or isn\u2019t this your new album?<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson:<\/strong> It\u2019s supposed to be, but we weren\u2019t done with it. And we knew we weren\u2019t. But since we paid for it\u2026<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> Yeah, what the hell. In the meantime, something is better than nothing.<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson:<\/strong> A good example [of a sound I like] is the Black Keys<\/strong>. They\u2019re an interesting bunch, sonically. I saw \u2018em on Leno the other night, and I really enjoyed them. I thought, \u201cThere\u2019s some guys who\u2019ve really picked up the essence of what music is.\u201d I like the guy\u2019s voice, and he was playing this way-cool Supro guitar. They\u2019re another band that\u2019s a hybrid: it\u2019s not blues, but it has the essence of all those things. You\u2019ve got to know blues \u2013 and a lot of other things \u2013 to be able to play the way that they play. There are very few people who can do that and get away with it commercially. That\u2019s the kind of thing we\u2019ve done in the past, and that\u2019s what we\u2019re really <\/em>ready to do now. If this was 1985, we\u2019d be in the Top 20. But there is <\/em>no Top 20 any more.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> I saw you guys \u2013 sort of like that drunk guy in the autograph line was saying to you \u2013 open for Double Trouble<\/strong> at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta. It was the night before Stevie Ray<\/strong> went into rehab. He went into Peachford [Behavioral Health Systems].<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson:<\/strong> Poor kid…<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp: <\/strong>That was sort of the commercial apex for the band, but what you do now continues to be really interesting.<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson:<\/strong> What we\u2019re doing now really has progressed to a point where people really allow me to sing. Which has never really happened until now. I mean, here I am, 59 fuckin\u2019 years old, and I\u2019m just finally learnin\u2019 how.<\/p>\n

This kind of music is all about being a journeyman musician. It takes your whole life to do what you need to do. There are a lot of people who are young, who have a lot of potential. You can see it coming, coming, coming, and then: where did it go? I think it\u2019s great to be at a certain age \u2013 like me \u2013 and get to the point where it\u2019s like a rebirth. Where you can stand yourself, the things that you do.<\/p>\n

You\u2019re always experimenting with different techniques. You\u2019re always listening to the old records, trying to pick up the essence of the things. I\u2019ve been listening to some Ray Charles<\/strong><\/a> lately, and other singers. I enjoy that stuff, and I\u2019m learning. Always <\/em>learning. The object is, maybe at this stage of my life, maybe I\u2019ve busted my head through the basement of that peer group that I want to be in. Guys that I\u2019ve revered all my life and have played with. And if I had done that when I was, maybe, 25, I\u2019d be done.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> But you might not have appreciated it at that age like you would now\u2026<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson: <\/strong>You gotta realize, when I was 25, I was like someone who was sixteen. It was another time. That whole extension of how kids grow up fast these days, it extended into my twenties and thirties. And it worked out okay for me. I\u2019m havin\u2019 fun, I\u2019m very excited about music, and I\u2019m very excited about being good at it.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp: <\/strong>That comes through onstage.<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson:<\/strong> No one can like you if you don\u2019t like yourself. And the bandstand might be the only place where you do <\/em>like yourself!<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> Looking at your tour itinerary, it seems like you have a varied lineup of festivals and types of venues. Do you tweak the set depending on the gig?<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Kim Wilson:<\/strong> Yes. I don\u2019t have a set list. I just call \u2018em off.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> You guys don\u2019t go into a huddle between songs. That would be super-unprofessional: \u201cExcuse us a moment while we discuss what our next song is going to be.\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson:<\/strong> I just holler \u2018em out. But [chuckles] we\u2019ve got a real problem with Johnny Moeller. I holler out the song to him, and he\u2019s goin\u2019, \u201cWhat?!\u201d And I\u2019m thinking, \u201cCan\u2019t this guy read my fuckin\u2019 lips?\u201d<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/strong> \u201cOr my mind\u2026\u201d<\/font><\/p>\n

Johnny Moeller:<\/strong> Everyone else does!<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson:<\/strong> I\u2019m doing all these signs to him [makes wild hand gestures]. And then he finally comes up to me, and I tell him.<\/p>\n

Johnny Moeller:<\/strong> I think it pays to be as deaf as you are!<\/font><\/p>\n

Kim Wilson [to the whole band]:<\/strong> Believe me: you\u2019ll all <\/em>be wearin\u2019 fuckin\u2019 hearing aids by the time you\u2019re my age. I\u2019ve got twenty years on the oldest of these bunch of guys. [laughs all around]<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Follow \u201cthe_musoscribe\u201d on Twitter<\/a> and get notified
\nwhen new features, reviews and essays are published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Continued from Part One, of course… Bill Kopp: How would you describe — what is it that you deliver with the Fabulous Thunderbirds that’s different than what you do with […]<\/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-317","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\/317","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=317"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}