Blues Traveler: 40 Years of Run-Away Success (Part 2 of 2)

Continued from Part One…

Speaking of which, in recent years some artists have scaled back – or in some cases completely dispensed with the idea of – making albums. Instead, they become strictly a live act. Blues Traveler has not done that. Tell me about the importance of making new recordings.

It’s important. It takes a lot of motivation. It requires a lot of emotional effort to navigate a creative enterprise with – between producers, band members and so on – eight “cooks.” So it’s daunting, especially when you think that it’s probably not going to make any money. It’s just a brand profile thing, almost like an advertisement for the band.

We actually haven’t made an album of original music since 2018; Hurry Up & Hang Around was our last one. Though we did do those really cool covers records [Traveler’s Blues in 2021, and Traveler’s Soul in 2023] which were a lot of fun to make. And we got nominated for a Grammy on the blues record, so I guess we can play blues!

We’re bandying around the idea. But one thought is that we should just do two songs: “Maybe let’s just do some singles and see how that evolves.” Because we’re pretty established now. Young bands need those albums as a calling card, so they have to do albums. But they’re usually in a position where they can take the time. And they have the energy, because they’re young. We’re lazy old farts!

John Popper of Blues Traveler

How has the band’s musical character changed or evolved over the years?

In a lot of ways. In the beginning, we were just hell-bent. We were like hippie punk rock. We were so fast and in-your-face, and as far as musicianship we just got by on a lot of energy. Listening to some of those old things – when we were 20, playing in a little bar in New York – the energy is just crazy. And as young dudes, that works great. But you can’t play like that as you’re growing. I think we’ve gotten a lot better as players; more relaxed, more refined.

I’ll speak for myself: I’m so much better a musician, so much more tasteful and patient and better at listening and all those good things that come with learning to play live and improvise with other people.

For the band specifically, after Bobby passed away, we added Tad [Kinchla]. He’s a little bit of a different bass player, more of a funk player. And we added [Ben Wilson on] keyboards; for me, that was fantastic because I finally had some chords I could play melody over. Whereas in the past a lot of my solos were half chords, half melody.

But we sounded great back then too. It was a very different approach and it was very much punch-you-in-the-face. We’re from New York; whaddya gonna do!?

Other than the passing of Bobby and then Ben and Tad joining, you’ve got the same lineup as you had at the very beginning. That kind of consistency is not typical for bands. What holds Blues Traveler together?

Like I always say, we went to school together, so we kind of grew up together. There are a lot of bonds that go way back. I’d say the that majority of bands [didn’t start out as] high school bands; they met in town a couple of years later, whatever. So [as individuals] they kind of came in fully formed.

And I think that adds to the family element for us. All our parents know each other. We’re all from Princeton, New Jersey. We look at it like we’re family. We can have fights, arguments, disagreements, but we’re going to be back together because we’re family. And I think that’s helped a lot. Just that we grew up together in Princeton helped us weather all that.

Our main thing when were starting out in Brendan [Hill’s] basement was that we just loved playing live, improvising. We always wanted to be a cool live band. Obviously doing the records and writing songs was part of that. But when things got rocky on the business or career side, we’d always just go back to playing. We love playing live, and we can do that. So that kept us moving forward. Playing live has never failed us. So we’ve leaned on that in tougher times; the other stuff can come and go.

You describe Blues Traveler as a family. The family has a 40th anniversary next year. Have you given any thought to how you’re going to observe, commemorate, celebrate that milestone?

Well, we’ve been rocking the whole time. We’re touring every year, so I’m sure someone in our business side of things will use it to sell tickets!

What’s one of the most valuable lessons that you’ve learned in more than four decades of being a touring musician?

Bring cool tapestries for your hotel room, because the lighting sucks! You want a couple cool, sarong-size tapestries; just small ones so you can throw them on those hideous lights that hotel rooms have. It really steps up the vibe. I also bring some Nag Champa incense with me, just in case. And the Sony PS5 is great, because you can basically stream everything through there. So a few tapestries, some Nag Champa and a PS5 and you’re basically bringing home with you. So that’s my advice, from a hard-touring guy who’s 40 years into it.