{"id":575,"date":"2011-08-11T05:30:26","date_gmt":"2011-08-11T10:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=575"},"modified":"2011-08-11T05:30:26","modified_gmt":"2011-08-11T10:30:26","slug":"keep-this-band-goin-a-conversation-with-nrbqs-terry-adams","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/08\/11\/keep-this-band-goin-a-conversation-with-nrbqs-terry-adams\/","title":{"rendered":"Keep This Band Goin\u2019: A Conversation with NRBQ\u2019s Terry Adams"},"content":{"rendered":"

NRBQ<\/strong> is an American institution. Since their recorded debut in 1969, the band has delivered its warm and inimitable brand of music, drawing from a variety of American styles but always crafting something original in the process. The band broke up in 2004, leaving behind a catalog of twenty-plus albums. After winning a bout with cancer, founder Terry Adams<\/strong> put together a new band \u2013 originally called the Terry Adams Rock & Roll Quartet<\/strong> \u2013 in 2007. As the band started playing out, they decided \u2013 based on fan reaction and their chemistry onstage and off — that they were indeed NRBQ. So Adams revived the band name, and with his three band mates recorded the group\u2019s latest album, Keep This Love Goin\u2019<\/em>. Here\u2019s my recent conversation with Terry Adams.<\/p>\n

Bill Kopp:<\/span><\/strong> From a production standpoint, you completely avoid anything that pins the record down to a specific time; I think people will look back five, ten years from now and agree that there\u2019s nothing especially \u201c2011\u201d about Keep This Love Goin\u2019<\/em>. A surprising number of artists I interview these days admit that their albums have been constructed, if you will, on a computer, ProTools, parts flown in, guitar solos emailed across the Atlantic\u2026that kind of thing. I get the strong impression that is not how NRBQ does things. What\u2019s the band\u2019s approach in the studio? <\/span><\/p>\n

Terry Adams:<\/strong> You know, there\u2019s a spiritual truth that comes out in this style of recording. You can do that [record with modern techniques], and it works in a certain way. But it\u2019s sort of like\u2026have you ever had a photograph taken of yourself, and even though you try your best to smile, you can tell that you\u2019re worried about something? You\u2019re doing everything you can, but still, people can tell something\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s the same thing with a recording. You can make it seem<\/em> like it\u2019s a band playing together. But there\u2019s that spiritual truth that the listener \u2013 or the listener\u2019s soul \u2013 can detect. And a lot of listeners aren\u2019t even aware<\/em> that they\u2019re detecting it. But something inside them may reject it on some level.<\/p>\n

So what you\u2019re saying is exactly right: the band is<\/em> playing together. That way you can feel the warmth — the actual vibrations \u2013 of this combination of spirits.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> I hear everything from Merseybeat to hints of zydeco and rockabilly on Keep This Love Goin\u2019<\/em>. If there\u2019s been one constant in NRBQ\u2019s music, it\u2019s been that joyous predilection for applying whatever style makes sense within a given song. <\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> It\u2019s about the reality of the culture that we live in, the culture that I grew up in. A long time back before radio stations around the country were all owned by one person, there was<\/em> such a thing as a local [identity], where you could<\/em> say, \u201cI grew up listening to country music; this is who I am.\u201d But today, to be honest, if a musician is really honest, you can\u2019t say, \u201cI grew up listening to such-and-such.\u201d Because you hear everything. We\u2019re citizens of the Earth now. There\u2019s not really much difference between what\u2019s going on in Kansas City and Washington, D.C.<\/p>\n

So being really, really honest, growing up and listening to music, I couldn\u2019t really say, \u201cI\u2019m gonna be a rockabilly artist.\u201d Or a jazz artist. It all<\/em> makes sense to me. And I love it all. This has been my philosophy since the beginning. This isn\u2019t a showcase of musical styles; this is just regular life now.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> I understand what you mean. I\u2019ve heard some bands that trade in different styles on their albums, and sometimes there\u2019s a whiff of a dilettantish attitude about it: \u201cOkay, on this next song here, we\u2019re gonna take a trip to <\/span>New Orleans<\/span>!\u201d But there\u2019s none of that here; the transitions are all natural, and it all feels authentic.<\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> Well, we\u2019re not even aware [laughs] that we\u2019re going from one thing to the next anymore. We\u2019ve been doing this so long. And plus, I studied composition as a teenager. And one of the main lessons I learned was to not let it get boring. So I don\u2019t allow\u2026I really don\u2019t want the listener to get bored. It\u2019s just a natural process for me and the band.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> With such a wide array of influences, what do you think has been the \u201cglue\u201d that has held the band (in its various lineups) together. Put another way, what is it that all the various members have had in common that has made NRBQ work?<\/span><\/p>\n

TA: <\/strong>Well, you bring up a good subject. Duke Ellington<\/strong> once said \u2013 in a description of jazz \u2013 that jazz is the music of personality. And I\u2019d extend that definition to NRBQ. Getting the right personalities together makes it what it is. Not just talent or the ability to play your instrument; it\u2019s the right personalities. And we\u2019ve managed to have the right personalities to make that music happen.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> The upside for a listener like me is that you do pull a lot of styles together into something that you make your own. In retrospect, from a commercial standpoint — and by commercial<\/em> I mean what we used to call the major labels \u2013 I can see why a label like Mercury probably didn\u2019t know what to do with you guys. To some extent, at least. A marketer\u2019s dream is the kind of band where all the songs sound the same. The music industry likes something they can package. Has there ever been a time in the band\u2019s history where you though, \u201cHey, let\u2019s milk this particular style — this small corner of what we do \u2013 and try to shift some units?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> There may have been a time when a certain member<\/em> of the group might have said that; he would have been laughed out of the car.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

It sort of comes around to having imagination in marketing. For example, how would you market the Lovin\u2019 Spoonful<\/strong>? You know that they made good-time music, but every record sounded different. Same goes for the Beatles<\/strong>. It\u2019s not that big of a stretch. It\u2019s a cop-out on the part of the labels to say they can\u2019t market it.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s something that I<\/em> haven\u2019t ever considered.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Beyond the stylistic variety, I think part of what sustains NRBQ musically is the fact that there\u2019s not a single vocal front man. It\u2019s not like, say, Roger Daltrey<\/strong> in the Who<\/strong>; various members take the vocal spotlight, so the band\u2019s identity is sort of the combined effect of all of it, as opposed to one guy\u2019s voice. Was that part of some sort of plan from the start, or did it just work out that way?<\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> I know that my perspective, I [sometimes] write songs that I can\u2019t sing. I write songs out of my range; I have ideas that I really can\u2019t deliver vocally. So I\u2019ve been lucky to have good singers around me in the band that could take on my ideas and vocals.<\/p>\n

When I met Scott Ligon<\/strong>, the guitarist in the band now \u2013 I just knew he was really right for the band, but I hadn\u2019t really heard him play guitar. I thought, \u201cI\u2019ll do it anyway.\u201d I had only heard him play one song on the piano. I said to him, \u201cWhat\u2019s your main instrument: the piano or guitar?\u201d His response was, \u201cMy singing.\u201d There\u2019s a devotion to singing coming from Scott. And from Pete<\/strong> [Donnelly<\/strong>], who\u2019s got his own brilliant style of singing. And we\u2019re lucky to have a guy in the back — Conrad Choucroun<\/strong>, on the drums \u2013 who can sing the wildest, highest harmony parts.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all part of keeping things interesting, and also of not working somebody too hard\u2026<\/p>\n

BK: Right; if somebody\u2019s doing all the vocals at a gig, it might be tough.<\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> and if you\u2019re doing a four-day run, you could be in trouble.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> I was at a garage sale this weekend and found a vinyl copy of At Yankee Stadium<\/em>. I was struck by the similarities between that record and the new one. Arguably there\u2019s no reason to expect a big similarity: you wrote about half of that album\u2019s songs, and you\u2019re the only player who\u2019s on both of the records. What it suggests to me \u2013 and I\u2019m hoping that you can speak to this — is that you exert a subtle influence upon the music and the band\u2019s direction. Not an overt one, I\u2019d argue, but kind of a Wizard of Oz behind the curtain sort of thing. Would you agree with that assessment?<\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> I\u2019m sort of the Designer in Charge of Activities and Vibes. That philosophy sort of came together way back in my basement, back in \u201966 or something. It\u2019s my overview, my take on music and the world. But it does not mean in any way that other songs from other members of the band are diminished in any way. Their composing and songwriting is important in so many ways. It all comes together. Somebody said, \u201cThis new one sounds an awful lot like an NRBQ record.\u201d And I thought, y\u2019know, I\u2019d have a really hard time making a record that didn\u2019t<\/em> sound like an NRBQ record. I don\u2019t know how<\/em>; this is what I do.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> This isn\u2019t a question so much as an observation: I can\u2019t put my finger on exactly why this is so, but your songwriting \u2013 especially the chord voicings and subtle technical things like that — reminds me of Paul McCartney<\/strong>. Can you help me figure out why that\u2019s the case? The only thing I can come up with is that you write your songs on piano.<\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> Nobody\u2019s said that before, but it\u2019s a high compliment. I appreciate it. It\u2019s about being not just a songwriter but a composer. I\u2019m a composer, and I think McCartney is, too. To compose as well as write songs, you\u2019re going to hear something different in a song. I\u2019m not knocking songwriters who don\u2019t think in compositional forms; it\u2019s just a different approach, I would say.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> The song \u201cTalk\u201d sounds to me like your version of a pastiche or homage to Brian Wilson<\/strong>. \u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> Whenever you decide to use a high falsetto part — which is what Scott did \u2013 it instantly brings to mind Brian Wilson. People can\u2019t help it. So that much you could say was influenced by him. But the song itself has nothing to do with him. In fact I don\u2019t think I\u2019ve ever written a song consciously influenced by Brian; in fact I might even try to avoid it if I saw it coming. Yeah, I would, because if someone said, \u201cOh, this is a Brian Wilson-type thing,\u201d although it\u2019s a compliment, it\u2019s an easy categorization\u2026 [pauses] \u2026but I also understand that it goes into a different tempo, so, that song, yeah. I\u2019m not gonna deny that; I can see where someone might say that.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> Since I had never heard At Yankee Stadium<\/em> until a few days ago \u2013 I used to see it on shelves when I worked in a record store in the early 80s \u2013 I didn\u2019t know until recently that \u201cI Want You Bad\u201d was an NRBQ tune. I knew it from the Long Ryders<\/strong><\/a> cover. When one of your songs gets covered, is it much of a windfall in terms of financial terms? Or is it more \u201chey, that\u2019s nice, but it doesn\u2019t change my life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> Well, y\u2019know, it depends on who covers it. It\u2019s the pop music publishing business; that\u2019s how that<\/em> works. It\u2019s always nice to know that another artist covers one of my songs. There\u2019s been a couple of tribute albums, with all kinds of artists doing NRBQ songs.<\/p>\n

BK:<\/span><\/strong> At the moment you\u2019re doing a handful of stateside gigs — sadly, nothing close to me here in <\/span>Asheville<\/span> — and then it\u2019s off to <\/span>Scandinavia<\/span>. Why there? Is it \u2013 as is so often the case — that this American band gets a better reception overseas than at home?<\/span><\/p>\n

TA:<\/strong> I assume that in the next half-a-year or so we\u2019ll probably be coming in your direction. It just happens that\u2019s the way the bookings fell in the fall. Every city\u2019s different, and the fans are different in every city. And that causes the band to play<\/em> differently, because we\u2019re tuned into the vibrations of the rooms and the people. You\u2019ve got to be to make it work. Otherwise it\u2019s a cold, hard, rehearsed Broadway musical that puts out the same thing every time you go.<\/p>\n

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