LADYFEST was resurrected as ESTROJAM Aug. 7-10 at the Park West, Historic Vic Theatre, the Metro, Subterranean and Bottom Lounge. Among the bands was Concrete Blonde.
In the following interview, Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde shares an intimate performance and dialogue with Martie Marro (studio producer of Windy City Radio) at Estrojam 2003.
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WCMG: I really enjoyed the show!
JN: Oh, I'm glad.
WCMG: Thanks for playing the song 'Caroline.' I lost my voice screaming for you to play it!
JN: Oh, we do that now (take requests). We've always had a strange career in that wherever we go in the world they know different songs. Like when we go to Brazil maybe they've never heard a particular song before, and if we go to Europe they might know a different record. We have to do research before we go anywhere to figure out what they know, so when we play we're not at a loss …
WCMG: Yeah, like when you pull out an old song and you're like, 'What are those chords again'?
JN: Oh, lots of that, ya, lots of that!
WCMG: So, what's you're favorite song?
JN: My favorite song to play now, hmmm … I love playing 'Take Me to the River.' I love playing that song!
WCMG: It was awesome!
JN: I've been around the world playing that song, I just love playing it, and I love THIS band playing it. Ya know I just love jamming it, ya know? It turns it into a tough tune. It's a bad-ass song, it's an Al Green song, it's R&B, I really like that, I like to do more of that. We're working hard. We rehearsed last night. Mighty big of us before we come to do a show. We haven't even seen each other in a month But ah ... we're working on this new record, out in the desert, which is where we live now. Jim lives about five miles away from me
WCMG: You love that hot desert, don't you?
JN: Yeah, well the heat doesn't bother me so much being from LA. Jim lives in a different territory than I do. Geographically it's amazing, the territory for miles ... drive 10 miles and the whole terrain changes.
It's a very interesting area. It's near Joshua Tree and I really have a great place. I'm really happy to be there, and my living expenses are really nothing.
WCMG: That's great.
JN: That's the most important thing to me because I want to be able to be free and creative. We're working on this new Mojave record which is a very Carlos Casteneda desert record and it's taking a little time, ya know, it's taking a little time. Gabriel comes out, and he's actually moving closer out there to us. So we want to finish this. And I think that after a certain amount of time we have a different idea about what our relationship is to each other. We don't have to do anything at all, but, if we do it's only because musically we want to, that's just it. Otherwise there is no reason to do it, we don't have to. SO, it's a pretty good place, but man you have to realize you're in a place to get there I think.
WCMG: Being a spiritual desert person, have you been to Machu Picchu?
JN: We didn't have a chance to do Machu Picchu, cuz that's like a two-week gig and so we only had like two shows there, we had about a week there. We were able to go to Pacha Camac which is about 40 minutes outside Lima and we were also able to go to the National Museum for a private tour. So we had one day off and we made very good use of it. We went off to Pacha Camac, and there are ruins there too. There are 16 sun temples there so it's like a miniature Machu Picchu if you don't have that much time.
WCMG: Does it still feel ancient? Spiritual?
JN: Very much, very much. We had a really good time. We went to the museum and we took a very short, quick tour, but it was a really good tour. So we tried with the day off that we had, we did all the research we could, so we weren't like a stupid band ... . I try to research before we go somewhere and I try to have some respect for where we go and some understanding for tradition and decorum and all that.
I
t was just wonderful, it's great. We go back to Brazil in October and are trying to always forge new places to go. That's my goal.
I've talked to a lot of bands about it and I feel that we are very fortunate that we are a three-piece band and that we don't need a lot of gear. If someone called and said we need you to open tomorrow we could be there ourselves with no crew or nothing, we could actually be there. It would be hard, but we could do it. So it's different now, I have a whole different appreciation for our niche. It's good to have a niche, that's all you need. You don't need to be the king of the world. All you need is just to be able to play. That's all a musician's goal should be.
WCMG: And not to have to worry whether people love your shit or not.
JN: Yeah and whether it's 5 or 10 or 20 people, just to play, if you love your shit … . What if someone doesn't love your shit until 20 years later?
WCMG: Or they don't love your art until you're dead like Van Gogh.
JN: Yeah, that's why I play, I love my shit, that's what I think is the deal. But there are songs like, Leonard Cohen wrote the song, 'Everybody Knows,' over 30 years ago. That's some amazing stuff, that a song could be 30 years old. Ya know, it's good.
WCMG: There is a rumor that you'll be traveling again soon, going 'down under.'
JN: I'm gonna try to go by December, I have a god daughter down there, and I really want to see her. Australia is the first country we toured outside of the U.S. so it's a very special place to us.
WCMG: Was that your first trip out of Hollywood?
JN: Yeah, that was it. Australia. Next to Mexico, which was the only place I'd ever been, but Australia was the first place we'd ever been outside of Hollywood, it was really great. It was wonderful, we like Australians a lot.
WCMG: Do you find there is a better audience in Brazil for music?
JN: Huge, the biggest in the world so far I didn't know, and I think they are there for a lot of people though. A lot of people I talk to, because of their exchange rate, and because of the language barriers, think managerial people and agent people, they don't like to deal with it because they don't really know what's going on and there's not enough money in it for them. And a lot of bands that are maybe working on a larger scale, Brazil venues can't do the production they need to do. That's why I like the freedom of the minimalism we have. There is a certain amount of freedom there, ya know, that we can just go do whatever. If we just need to get paid then so what, I don't need to bring an entourage or a manager or anything and they (managers) don't want to send us down there anyway. So when we got to Brazil, we were very surprised. There were just thousands of people there, it was just amazing. There's a whole world like that. We haven't even been back to Europe in three or four years. So the good thing about going back there now is that we'll have Live in Brazil, and hopefully we'll have Mojave, which is what the new record is called, and we'll have that done by the time we get back there. By the end of the summer I hope to have that out. It's really well conceived, the tracks are mostly done. It's just a matter of mixing and basic words and fine-tuning.
WCMG: Who's producing your CD?
JN: We're doing it ourselves.
WCMG: That's great!
JN: Jim has a windows system at his house, we're all computer driven and I have a Mac. I'm a ProTools freak! We have a way that works where we mix and we transfer tracks back and forth and it actually works so we do all the work at home. Some of the tracking we do at Jim's house, at mine we put it all together. I'm thinking of going maybe into the studio for a couple of things, but not necessarily. We have all the shit the big guys do, so big deal. So if someone advances you a few thousand dollars, buy your own gear. It's all-good if you know what you're doing. If you don't, you're screwed. If you know what you're doing, then you are just gonna go and flush it down the toilet with somebody else, and you might end up with just a couple of tracks. Tracks that you might not even use. So that was the most empowering thing in my life (buying my own studio equipment). So really you just take your own muse and you say screw it you know you take your music into your own hands.
WCMG: That's a way to help other artists and give them the same opportunities as well.
JN: That's true but be careful that that doesn't detract you from your own work. I very rarely do that any more. I have to be really nuts about something, and really see it, but I won't do that again, because it just took up too much time. The intent is noble, but you've really got to work on your own stuff.
What I don't like to hear is the record companies being portrayed across the board as big evil blanket of death. It's not right. You know it's not true. I have been a label and it was a nightmare. I don't want to deal with the people, I don't want to deal with the artists and all their whims and shit and all that crap.
So I can sympathize with someone dealing with me, so I see it from both sides, and there are two sides.
So it's not all black and white, so you learn that as you get into what you're getting into.
WCMG: I loved your tour video in '94 or '95; do you have any movie prospects for the future?
JN: Yes as a matter of fact, I already have some things shot. We just worked this out this weekend; I want this to be DVD. And I want there to be visuals to every track on the record. So it's really nice because where I live is so amazing, oh my god it's beautiful, just looking around every day. So I just have to have that on a record so you can play the actual environment where it was made, while you're listening to it. That appeals to me a lot, I like that idea.
WCMG: DVD is the future of the music industry.
JN: Yeah, I like that idea, I mean people buy videos of fires burning and aquariums right, so you play something along with the record, I just really like that idea. Obviously a lot of people do cuz people like music videos right, but it's not the concept of a music video where you have a band playing, it's just a visual. It's just a visual, just a film, just something that fits that music, that's all. That's all I want to do cuz actually my camera was stolen after our last tour. I had to spring for another one, I hate spending money and so I just got one and so I'm hoping that one doesn't get stolen too.
WCMG: You've been called a videographer, a sculptor, a poet, a painter, a musician and even a prophet. Which title suits you the best?
JN: I don't know who would bestow these titles upon me?
WCMG: It seems that you can create anything artistic you get your hands on.
JN: It all is one thing; all the different art is all one thing. Don't you see this leads to that?
To me it's all very easy, this can't happen without that and that can't happen without this. And it makes total sense just exploring the possibilities. Life is just exploring possibilities. I want to learn to do something new. I was staying at a friend's house for a couple of days, and there were these roses that were neglected, and I don't give a fuck about roses but there was a book so I picked it up and I sat and read about roses. And I went out and I was like so into roses, grafting and shit and it was like wow, here is another thing that I know. And that's cool there is another thing that I know. There is another thing about our living planet that I know. And it's really good. And I just think it's there for you so why not. It's there for you. That's what all contributes to evolution, it doesn't take as much time as you think. As a matter of fact I was at a friend's house and there were wild strawberries growing there. And I was like; did you know that these were growing there? And they were like, 'where'? And there were like three people there ... and none of them saw these things growing there on the front walk. That's what worries me about human, they're very myopic. But that's typical of a certain age, that's another great thing about getting older is that you really say 'I don't give a fuck, I'll do what ever I want this is my life.' I wake up and find something that gives me joy and do it. That old cliche about how life really begins when you get older is really true. That's why cliches are cliches because they are absolutely true. I really do enjoy things more than I did before. I never want anything back, but I enjoy playing even now. I mean that the gig (tonight) would have been really hard for me five or 10 years ago.
WCMG: Good luck to you this year in all your endeavors.
JN: Thanks to 'WENDY' City Media Group for making tonight possible! (Large Grin)
More Info About Johnette Napolitano of Concrete Blonde can be found at: www.concreteblondeofficialwebsite.com
