“Your show has a very interactive feel. Besides your not wanting there to be any barriers between you and the audience, what else informed that style of performing?”
Fred: I got my first job when I was 11 years old working in a used record store. Not one of these shiny places where all of the kids are hip. I worked in the upstairs of this ratty building in New Orleans that was filled with about 250,000 vinyl records. 33s, 45s, 78s. It was my job to alphabetize them. And I got paid $10 a day and I could take home $10 worth of vinyl records. For me … I was like 11 years old … this was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. And I just found myself drawn to very primal music that expressed an emotional intensity and at the same time also an emotional vulnerability. Stuff like the old blues music. Howlin’ Wolf. Bo Diddley. Things like that. And I’ve always been kind of an emotional guy. I always express emotions and thoughts and feelings. It’s easier for me to sing them or to write them in song or to play them than to say, “Hello, person. I am feeling this way. I am having this issue.” It’s easier for me to just go “Ahhhhhhh!” It’s just my nature. "How have you personally changed as a guitar player?"
Matt: I think I'm more show oriented now than I used to be. I used to be feet planted and everything had to be perfect. And that to me was a good show. And being in Cowboy Mouth has shown me that the shows where I play perfectly have actually been the ones where Fred walks off stage and says, "What the hell was that, man? You weren't in it." I said, "I was. I was right in the pocket." Fred said, "I don't care how you played. It was boring." If you are making a mistake but you are doing it at 200 miles an hour, Fred doesn't mind. (photo: Alicia Reed) We unlocked the vault and found another demo. You can listen to it on our Patreon page at https://www.patreon.com/cowboymouth. Pledging even as little as $1 a month gets you access to everything we have uploaded and helps to keep this band touring. Thank you!
I honestly wasn't sure this band would last more than a month when it started.
But it's been over 25 years and I still really enjoy this. I enjoy it more now than I ever have, simply because of the experience that I'm able to bring to it. We have a certain amount of life experience that we all bring to the table that makes everything richer. I think that's important. - Fred Get your tickets now for this amazing New Year's Eve party: Big Night New Orleans!
https://big-night-new-orleans-new-years-eve-2018-19.eventbrite.com/?discount=cowboymouth2018 It's about celebrating this moment that we have here. Tomorrow might be rough but this moment right now is great simply because we decide it is. - Fred
(photo: Tre Brannum) Cause I might love you, yeah But I love me more (from a show a couple of years ago in North Carolina) I realized a long time ago that it would have been very easy for me to move my drums to the back and play behind some pretty boy with long hair, or pretty girl with long hair, singing about his or her angst, or whatever, and I could have had a lucrative life doing that, but that's not what I wanted to do. I really felt the need to express something different. - Fred
For me songwriting goes in seasons. I'll go an entire year without writing anything. I learned that you can't force it. If you do, it's not really worth it. - Matt
(photo: Alicia Reed) We just posted a fun, unreleased live track to our Patreon page (the photo is a hint about the song)! Link is in the comments below. Pledging even as little as $1 a month gets you access to this song and others and helps to keep this band touring. Thank you!
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