20 Questions with Catfish Flats

I thought it would be interesting to send these questions to the guys and see their answers. You'll probably recognize questions 11 -20 as the ones used on the television show Inside the Actors Studio. These questions originally came from a French series, "Bouillon de Culture" hosted by Bernard Pivot.

1. Who were your earliest musical influences?
Beatles definitely, I air drummed their stuff a lot along with the Stones, Zeppelin, Doors and any others on AM radio back then.
2. Describe a moment early in your life that made you realize you wanted to pursue playing music.
I loved music and I wanted to play an instument so I started with the guitar and realized I sucked at it. I had an immeadiate liking to the drumset which at that time was my brother's.
3.What was your first live gig?
Back in 1982 or 1983 when I was in the Coast Guard up in Boston MA, we did a small live show on the back of our small Coast Guard tugboat to the folks on other ships and on shore. It consisted of our Chief engineer on bass, myself on drums, a seaman on guitar and a sax player from an adjacent ship!
4. Who are your main influences on your instrument?
I have many but I tend to like any of them that have a killer soulful groove first, then the technical aspects secondary.Also anyone who takes great pride in the art of drumming and shows in what is achieved by the effect of their accompaniment to the song be it heavy metal or country. Examples are Charlie Watts, Richie Hayward, Ringo , and in blues - Dobie Strange , Chris Layton, Tom Brechtlein and great many bebop and post bop drummers such as Jimmy Cobb, Jack DeJohnette and Peter Erskine to name a just a very few .
5. Who continues to inspire you today?
Joe Morello, Roy Haynes, Louie Bellson -they're in their late seventies and are still at it! Also the drummer for Chicago-Danny Seraphine I like his jazz-influenced rock style.
6. What was your first concert?
Little Feat, Paul Butterfield and Bonnie Rait at George Washington University back in 1973.
7. What was the best concert(s) you’ve attended?
The Allman Brothers Band back in 1974 at The Capitol Centre near Washington DC.
8. What is the last CD that you purchased?
Tower of Power Live
9. What are the differences between playing music in your 20’s and playing in your 50’s?
50's say what? Yeah OK, I'm gettin old. 20's - Trying to get "good" 50's - Wonderin' why I'm not better than I should be! Plus- Hey , I'm enjoying it more now.
10. What makes playing in Catfish Flats unique, special, or just fun for you?
Trio is more challenging -each has to hold their own weight. There is a great deal of emotion and passion to the playing of each song in this band. Very good people to play music with. Expansion of creativity is possible even for me!
11. What is your favorite word?
Love-Sometimes not achieved without--work.
12. What is your least favorite word?
Fear-opposite of LOVE
13. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
Creatively-anything that supports enforces optimism and excitement-wonderment-nostalgia.
Spiritually- The realization that we are NOT our bodies and that we live on-forever!
Emotionally-The feeling I get when my children hug me and say I love you DAD.
14. What turns you off?
Lack of love-lack of understanding
15. What is your favorite curse word?
Dad-gum-it-Who came up with it? tied with SUNNUVA....
16. What sound or noise do you love?
Sound of a stick hitting a good ride cymbal.
17. What sound or noise do you hate?
Way too loud bass in a way too small car and the vibrating parts as a result.
18. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
A sculptor.
19. What profession would you not like to do?
An Amway Salesman.
20. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Welcome Home!
Brian McDonald 6/19/08

1. Who were your earliest musical influences?
Like most people my age, The Beatles and The Stones. And I always liked the Kinks. On the R&B side, the Motown and Stax records.
2. Describe a moment early in your life that made you realize you wanted to pursue playing music.
I guess like everybody else seeing The Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show. I was already playing guitar at the time, but after seeing that show playing music was all I wanted to do. In the early '70's I was in a band with some guys that were into the blues. We played stuff like Taj Mahal, Butterfield Blues Band, Muddy Waters. I remember being at rehearsal and taking a solo in a slow blues. It was the first time that I improvised a solo in the blues style and actually pulled it off. It was straight from the heart and it sounded like me. A light went off in my mind. Ahhh, this is what it is really all about.
3.What was your first live gig?
A teen dance in Daphne, probably around '66 or '67. Me and my friend Walter had a two piece band called 'The Toure".. (that's right, Tour with an e. How very '60's of us) We had two amps, each with a guitar and a microphone plugged into them. I played my one pickup Norma electric and he had a Kingston with 4 pickups. (I still want one of those). We played Beatles, early BeeGees, Creedence. It was great fun and I think we even got an encore.
4. Who are your main influences on your instrument?
Guitarists: Duane Allman, George Harrison, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, David Lindley, Billy Gibbons, BB, Albert and Freddie King.
Vocalists:Jimmy Hall has always been my favorite singer. John Lennon, Otis Redding, Greg Allman (his vocals on the early Allmans stuff are amazing. And to think he was in his early 20's. And I think he sounds better than ever now) James Taylor.
Songwriters: Lennon and McCartney, Springsteen, Jackson Browne and Joni Mitchell.
5. Who continues to inspire you today?
Bands that have been around for the last few decades who continue to produce new and vital music. The Stones, the Allmans, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Aerosmith, Springsteen and the E Street Band, ZZ Top, Cheap Trick (I love Cheap Trick. I think I appreciate them more with each passing year). These are bands who have had them same core group of guys together for 30 years or more and continue to put out great new material and do live shows with the intensity they had starting out as teenagers. Truly inspiring. While they haven't been around as long as the others, Counting Crows continue to knock me out. I get all of their stuff and I think they are one of the great American bands. Songwriters like John Hiatt, Neil Young, James Taylor, John Prine and Steve Earle.
For guitarists, Clapton and Beck continue to inspire me. Derek Trucks is playing just amazing stuff. Sonny Landreth and Warren Haynes.
6. What was your first concert?
The Monkees
7. What was the best concert(s) you’ve attended?
Hands down, Bruce Springsteen in Mobile in the early '70's around the time 'Born to Run' was released. I was not all that familiar with his music, but that show changed the way I looked at performing music. I left the show a changed man.
Led Zeppelin in Mobile in '73. It was the only time I saw Zep and 30 years later I got a recording of the show. It was as good as I remembered. Jethro Tull on the 'Thick as a Brick' and 'Passion Play' tours.
8. What is the last CD that you purchased?
The Dixie Chicks new one "Taking the Long Way" It is a great, very interesting album. Beautifully recorded.
9. What are the differences between playing music in your 20’s and playing in your 50’s?
It is so much easier now (laughs). You get all the extraneous BS out of your mind and just get down to playing as good as you can. I heard an interview with Miami Steve Van Zandt and he was asked the same question. His answer was "Oh man it is so much better and so much easier. At this age you just don't care. You just play as good as you can. You don't have to worry about all the other stuff, acting cool, wondering what people think, etc. Just get up and play." That is the way I feel these days. Plus, all of us in our band are sober and that makes things a WHOLE lot easier.
10. What makes playing in Catfish Flats unique, special, or just fun for you?
First and foremost, we are all old friends. Everyone really gives their all on every show and that is very important to me. No one is walking through the gig. We are all sober and everyone has their head in a good place. No out of control egos or attitudes. Musically, working in the trio format is wonderful. As a guitarist it gives me an incredible freedom to improvise and to keep things fresh. Everyone in the band really listens as we're playing and we're able to spontaneously change things up. Plus I love the material we are doing and the guys give me a great vehicle for my tunes. It is big time fun.
11. What is your favorite word?
Serenity. I like the way it sounds and I like what it means.
12. What is your least favorite word?
The racial slur for a black person. You know, the N word. Probably because I grew up in the South in the '60's. I don't like the word and I don't like hearing others use it no matter what the context.
13. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
A kind, selfless act. Humor. Performing and creating music. Music means more to me today than it ever has. I love it, I crave it and I'm always waiting for the next opportunity to play. I feel very fortunate that somehow I was given this gift when I was young and that 44 years later it still excites me like it does.
14. What turns you off?
Rude, impolite, inconsiderate people. It infuriates me.
15. What is your favorite curse word?
Fucking. But not as a verb as an adjective or adverb. as in "That was fucking great" "That sounded fucking amazing." "You are fucking kidding me". It just adds so much WEIGHT to a statement.
16. What sound or noise do you love?
It sounds sappy, but my wife saying "I love you Darling". The sound of the water, waves coming on shore.
A rhythm section playing a locked in, swinging groove.
17. What sound or noise do you hate?
Anyone screaming in anger. I hate it.
An out of tune guitar, particularly if it is me playing it.
18. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
This is a hard one. My standard answer would probably be 'retirement' So I could spend my days working in my yard and playing guitar.
One of the guitarists in the Allman Brothers wouldn't be a bad gig. That way I could attend every show. But that's not likely to happen. R&D for a musical software company or a company making products for guitar.
19. What profession would you not like to do?
An undertaker or anything to do with the funeral business. I could not stand being around that type of grief on a daily basis. I've seen the show 'Six Feet Under'. That line of work ain't for me.
20. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Ya done alright. Come on in. There are some people who have been asking about you.

* Bonus Question
21. What were the high points of the recording sessions for the Catfish Flats album?
Cutting live with the band. For our basic tracks we just set up and blasted. Most of the songs were captured on the first or second take and a lot of the guitar tracks are from our live takes. The main guitar and solos on "South of Highway 31", "Slide on By" and "Down at the Flats" were all done live with the initial takes.
On "The Mayday Stomp" it was just me on my National guitar and Henry Jolley on the drums. I had the basics of the tune written but I improvised about half of it. What you hear on the record is what it sounded like in the room. I overdubbed the bass track but everything else is live.
"Living with Regrets" was born as Henry and I were messing around between takes. I can't remember if he was playing a groove or if I had a riff and asked him to play along. Anyway, he had switched out snare drums and we were jamming. Rick was behind the console and yelled at us to stop so he could hit the 'record' button. I came up with a couple of changes on the spot and what you hear on the record is the first and only take. After the fact I wrote lyrics and came up with the other guitar parts. I will forever be grateful to Rick for capturing that on tape. If not for him the song would have never happened.
Ed Gore from the Andy Smith Band played on "The Fever" and "Slide on By". I gave him a CD of the tracks and he did his parts at his studio in Lafayette. We collaborated via email and telephone. He recorded his parts and sent them to me via the Internet. I then pulled them into our project. Technology at work!
George Eberlein 6/11/06

1. Who were your earliest musical influences?
Little Richard, Elvis,Fats Domino,Jerry lee,Captain Kangaroo,Beatles, Rolling Stones, Lovin Spoonful, Dylan, Hendrix, Grateful Dead, Airplane,Allman Brothers, Pop Music Everything from, Leiber and Stoller,Goffin-King,Herb Alpert to the Zombies.
2. Describe a moment early in your life that made you realize you wanted to pursue playing music.
Seeing Elvis and Jerry Lee lewis on Television, Bobby Darin looked cool snapping his fingers. I missed the first appearance from New York, but caught the second performance by the Beatles on the Ed Sullivan show from Miami, When they played, "From Me To You", I thought Lennon was Japanese.
3.What was your first live gig?
Ninth grade, A girls birthday in her detached garage.we played Midnight Hour, and Keep On Chooglin.
4. Who are your main influences on your instrument?
Wayne Helton,Phil Lesh,Paul McCartney,Berry Oakley,Bill Wyman,Jack Casady,Joe Osborne, James Jameson, Willie Dixon,Jack Hall, Carol Kaye,Brian Wilson, Bill Black, Guybo, Steve Boone, Harold Floyd, The first time electric bass had a real impact on me was seeing Dave Brown in front of me, his feet at the level of my head,playing big notes on a Fender bass with Santana, seeing him in Skull cap playing those simple, powerful lines, was a mind blowing culture shock. Whoever played bass live or achieved good tones on records. I can't play or sound like any of them but have been moved by them all.
5. Who continues to inspire you today?
See Question 4.
6. What was your first concert?
My brother Danny took me to see the Kingston Trio.
7. What was the best concert(s) you’ve attended?
Too many to pick just one, but in the spirit of 20 questions, it will have to be Grateful Dead in Tuscaloosa 1977.
8. What is the last CD that you purchased?
"Other People's Lives" Ray Davies
9. What are the differences between playing music in your 20’s and playing in your 50’s?
20's: crappy bass rigs, youthful enthusiasm, boundless energy
50's: decent bass rigs, better musicianship, Lucky to be here.
10. What makes playing in Catfish Flats unique, special, or just fun for you?
Playing in a three piece is challenging to keep the drive and energy consistent, while making it harmonically intersesting.The upbeat,high energy,enthusiastic approach from George and Henry is very contagious. George keeps coming up with original tunes to explore.
11. What is your favorite word?
Gladness
12. What is your least favorite word?
Sadness
13. What turns you on creatively, spiritually or emotionally?
curiosity
14. What turns you off?
Harsh judgementalism.
15. What is your favorite curse word?
Assbite
16. What sound or noise do you love?
Belly laughs
17. What sound or noise do you hate?
Leaf blowers
18. What profession other than your own would you like to attempt?
International man of mystery
19. What profession would you not like to do?
Jailer
20. If Heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the Pearly Gates?
Boy that was close.

* Bonus Question
21. What were the high points of the recording sessions for the Catfish Flats album?
Recording "Down in the Flats" with Henry and George fulfilled my goal of getting my friends into the studio I built and equipped in my backyard to record my friends with the meter running at a much lower rate than at someone else's commercial facility. With everyone so busy, being able to get them out here was great. Being able to record the rhythm tracks to all of the songs, with real drums and guitars playing together was satisfying. When George brought a collection of guitars and amps to mix and match with a variety of cabinets for some of the overdubs was a blast. The challenge of trading sessions between Protools and George's Sonar rig worked well after a little trial and error, with pleasant results. There were a few special sections where I felt we hit the note live in one take. The experience points to possibilities of better things to come. Lets do it again real soon.
Rick Long 9/25/06

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