Previously published in the Washington City Paper.

Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney and guitarist-vocalist Dan Auerbach are currently continuing the experimentation heard on 2008’s Attack and Release through their respective side projects. Before regrouping for this fall’s Blakroc project with Mos Def and RZA, Auerbach is touring in support of his solo album, Keep It Hid, and Carney is playing bass in his new side band, Drummer.

Do the extracurricular projects signal a new direction or broadening of sound? Or could it prompt them to draw back to the purer elements of the Black Keys?

“Dan and I started the Black Keys when we were very young and our first record came out when we were both 22,” says Carney. “In the past seven years we have grown a lot as musicians and have started to feel comfortable changing and doing what we want. Neither of us would ever want to feel like we need to sound a certain way to be pure.”

“I think what is truly pure is being honest and that is what we have been doing since we started playing music together.”

Drummer, a musical cabal formed by drummers from various bands, released the album Feel Good Together on September 29th. “I played the bass and helped write and arrange the songs, but keep in mind the other four guys are some of the best musicians I have ever met,“ Carney says.

Drummer’s debut merges harmonies with something akin to the layered playing of Built to Spill, but Carney is elusive when talking about the origin of the sound.

“The blues are to the Black Keys as hot dogs are to Drummer.”

A direct album title like Feel Good Together combined with the giant sundae cover art projects a positive message that dovetails with the often buoyant tone of the album.  How much thought went into post recording marketing?

“I think we are all positives guys most of the time and we also like coming up with idiotic ideas and then following through,” Carney says. ” We have been talking a lot about opening a Wright Brothers themed sushi restaurant called Kitty Hawk. As I imagine you know 90% of all airplanes are filled with meat and in fact the plane was invented to carry fish meat to Dayton.”

Feel Good Together was released by Carney’s label, Audio Eagle Records.  While on tour, label mates the Royal Bangs are opening for Drummer, though Carney brushes aside questions about schooling them in the ins and outs of touring.

“All my ‘road’ stories involve Marriotts and Arby’s.”

Previously published in the Washington City Paper.

Much of the BLK JKS’s press to date invokes afro-beat tinged comparisons to TV on the Radio, Bad Brains and Living Colour, though guitarist Mpumi Mcata brushes off the comparison game by encouraging “the reader to seek out and envision” rather than relying on, you know, critics.

The four-man group has erupted from South Africa as evangelists of any-influence-goes prog rock. Their latest, After Robots (Secretly Canadian), is a rousing yet challenging post-apartheid free-for-all. Such a frenetic melding of different styles, tempos, and instrumentations, though, can threaten to bury the central idea of a song.

“Funny you should say that,” Mcata said. “We used to have talks about a return to innocence… We hope people follow and see and feel this music as we do; music—and not its mathematical sum, which in any case is just guitars, vocals, bass, brass drums, and piano.”

D.C. residents will get their second chance to hear BLK JKS on Tuesday night at the Black Cat with openers Laughing Man. (After a coast-to-coast tour, BLK JKS will move on to Europe in support of After Robots.

“We are totally into D.C.,” Mcata said. “Really interesting and suprisingly mixed open communities even if it was kind of together but not together together, which is kind of the case in most places, it’s still beautiful to see people making an effort….re-imagining society in everyday mundanities; we’re looking forward to it.”

Prog-rock band Secret Machines frontman Brandon Curtis helped produced After Robots, and Mcata’s said of his contribution, “He was there to mediate—expedite the process so to speak. The brother really helped us get to the sounds we wanted…. He was a little bit of amazing.”

With so much going on, it must be difficult to reproduce After Robots onstage, no?

“The show is its own beast.”

The BLK JKS also project a positive image of post-apartheid South Africa, a role they believe artists have in interpreting the political and social events that transpired in their country.

“Oh it’s a major role…our part  is to be ourselves; no preaching or politiking—at least not yet. [Laughs.] You know, most of the world is unaware that such youths walk the streets of Africa.”

Previously run in the Washington City Paper.

Austin’s Asleep at the Wheel has a lengthy résumé that includes nine Grammys, tours with Bob Dylan, and a recent well-lauded collaboration with Willie Nelson—Willie and the Wheel. The members of Asleep at the Wheel are practitioners of Western Swing, and, according to their Web site, they have “kept a buzz on a genre that might be described as ‘fringe,’” while maintaining musical integrity.

Asleep at the Wheel also has long standing ties with the Washington D.C., area: The group formed in 1970 in West Virginia and started gigging in D.C. They’ve been frequent inaugural ball performers since George H.W. Bush took office, and were scheduled to play the White House on September 11th, 2001.

Washington City Paper spoke with Asleep at the Wheel founder and sole remaining original member Ray Benson ahead of Wednesday’s show at the Birchmere.

Washington City Paper: Though Austin is Asleep at the Wheel’s home base, you do have strong connections to the D.C. area. You’ve played inaugural balls for several presidents and were scheduled to play the White House on 9/11. Aside from the Texas connection with the Bush family, why do you think you’re popular with the Washington crowd?

Ray Benson: Well, we started in D.C. We formed in West Virginia and the first gig we played was at L’Enfant Plaza during the Medicine Ball Tour opening for Hot Tuna and Alice Cooper of all people in 1970. We’ve also been playing in the area for 40 years.

WCP: You had some brushes with President Obama on the campaign trail. Any plans or invites to play the Obama White House? What do you think of their commitment to the performing arts?

RB: We’ve certainly planned playing the White House–they just haven’t invited us yet. [Laughs]. I’m very optimistic about their commitment to the arts. I’m hopeful that the federal government makes a bigger investment in the NEA and arts education. I’ve done work with arts education in the state of Texas, and its not just for performing artists–its for scientists, engineers…its for people that use the creative part of their brains to accomplish great things.

WCP: Willie and the Wheel is quite successful, even generating an on-air shout-out from former Clinton staffer and CNN commentator Paul Begala as the best record of the year. What was your reaction to that?

RB: It was great. I don’t know Paul personally, but he’s from Austin and as far as politics we just want to bring everyone together under one Asleep at the Wheel umbrella [laughs].

WCP: So Asleep at the Wheel are the the real unifiers from Texas?

RB: We really hope the divisiveness that has been so poisonous to our country, we hope that everyone can start thinking about working together. Cooperation is a hallmark of America. Now I sound like a goddamn political candidate.

WCP: A lot of musicians don’t like to label or categorize themselves, yet the Wheel is proud to own the Western Swing label. Have you found that label automatically conjures a context for new listeners coming to your music? Big hats and country piping on the shirts?

RB: The mantle of Western Swing is an all-inclusive one. We can play blues, jazz…fiddle music, anything that we want to play. The definition of Western Swing is more focused on instrumentation and style. In other words, I can play a Count Basie song, I can play a Dylan song, a Willie Nelson song, and I can play a Ray Benson song. The common thread is that we use fiddles, steel guitar [not pedal], piano, bass, drums, and a horn or two and that’s the instrumentation that defines a Western Swing band. What we can play is wide and varied as long as it fits into that instrumentation.

WCP: Who are the other practitioners of Western Swing that you consider peers or contemporaries?

RB: Well, first there is a difference between country swing and western swing. When George Strait does his version of swing music it is country swing. It’s not as jazz and blues orientated as the western swing Asleep at the Wheel plays. As far as contemporaries, there’s dozens of ‘em—the Cow Town, a trio sort of thing, Big Sandy and the Fly Right Boys, the Wiyos Band from New York—its very much like bluegrass was in that there’s a lot of folks playing it.

And Merle Haggard, when he decides to play western swing, he has an incredible band.

WCP: Van Morrison helped the Wheel with its first record deal by mentioning you in a Rolling Stone interview—have you ever been able to return the favor?

RB: Yes, in fact when Van did his country record he borrowed my fiddle player and steel guitar player, and took them on the road. Van and I talked two years ago when he came and visited me in Austin about me producing an album for him but he’s still got a lot on his plate.

WCP: I’m looking at the picture of your studio and there are three portraits on the wall—who are they and what significance do they hold?

RB: Those are three velvet Elvis portraits.There’s the young Elvis, the Hawaiian Elvis, and the 70’s Elvis. One of the main reasons they hang there is that we have a vintage API board in the studio, one of the very same boards Elvis sang through in the RCA studios in Nashville.

WCP: Asleep at the Wheel is approaching its 40th anniversary. What secrets to career longevity have you learned from the iconic performers you’ve played with, like Willie Nelson or Bob Dylan?

RB: Both have very different ways, Bob is always changing and Willie always stays the same [laughs]. I learned to do a little bit of both. Also, while Willie is always Willie, he’s also much like Dylan in that he’ll take on a challenge and that’s what keeps you fresh.

WCP: You’re proud of your Texas base and Austin, even being named the Texas state musician. Willie famously left Nashville and convinced you to move to Austin. What place does Nashville still hold for country music? What do you think of Austin’s ascendancy into a musical powerhouse?

RB: Nashville has some of the finest musicians, songwriters, and engineers in the world, but unfortunately it’s controlled by pop radio and record companies that want to make a gazillion dollars and really could care less about making good music.

Austin’s success has a lot to do with its variety. From Jerry Jeff Walker to Spoon, Ministry, Stevie Ray Vaughn, the Thunderbirds, Fastball, Sean Colvin and dozens more I’m remiss in not mentioning. The whole scene is based on creativity.

WCP: Are there new bands or artists that you’ve been playing with that you’d like to see get more exposure? Last time I was in Austin I was blown away by Carolyn Wonderland.

RB: I produced Carolyn’s record and she’s great. She’s working on her second record now. I just finished working on the James Hand record. He’s an amazing hillbilly singer. I don’t work with her but there’s a young lady you’re going to hear a lot about called Kat Edmonson, a fantastic jazz singer.

WCP: Any plans to write or produce more plays [Benson, along with Anne Rapp, wrote A Ride With Bob, the first-ever play about the life and music of Bob Wills] or other non Wheel or music related projects?

RB: A Ride With Bob is our main one, with the plan being we’re going to film it one of these days. We just finished a five date run of sold out shows so it keeps on going.

WCP: Asleep at the Wheel is also known for having a lot of members over the span of your career—who wins in a bar fight, Asleep at the Wheel or Lyle Lovett’s Large Band?

RB: Oh we kick their ass [laughs]. Lyle’s my good pal and one of the greatest of all time, and we used to back him up, but in a World Federation Wrestling match we got them beat.

Royal Bangs "Poison Control" from Sundown in the City on Vimeo.

Royal Bangs “Poison Control”

Ran previously at the Washington City Paper

In advance of the September 15 release of their sophomore effort, Let It Beep, Knoxville, Tennessee’s the Royal Bangs are playing the Black Cat’s backstage tonight. The well-crafted Let It Beep rises above typical indie fare: Production is high, a must for a band that brings a multitude of sounds and styles, and the disc’s up tempo songs should translate well to a live setting.

The driving double shot of openers “War Bells” and “Poison Control” lay out an ambitious agenda for Let It Beep, an agenda slightly undercut by later lurches into synth territory. The Royal Bangs, however, are not shy about their intentions to fuse “two concepts: the electronic (thick synths and dance-y drum programming) and the pop/rock of the 1970s.”

While there are direct nods to ELO in “Maniverse“, I also heard echos of Tonight: Franz Ferdinand in the synth parts and Field Music’s knack for difficult time changes. The Royal Bangs make several sharp turns through styles and influences, veering from straight indie rock with a dash of jamband, to synth heavy 80’s callbacks. Although it’s occasionally jarring, that’s also one of the pleasures of listening to a promising band’s second album–hearing them find their footing while still staying true to their experimental indie roots. Additionally, Let It Beep delivers clever lyrical turns like the line “In the age of lasers we lost our shit” from “My Car is Haunted.”

Let It Beep was recorded for Audio Eagle Records, the label started by Patrick Carney of the Black Keys. The Royal Bangs plan to tour in support of the new album while opening for Carney’s side project Drummer this fall. The group has already opened for the Keys on their previous tours and acquired road scars from stints at Bonaroo and SXSW.

The album also has some seriously good art:

Here’s a clip of an interview I did with Al Franken, now a US Senator from Minnesota, back in 2006. The interview was for a South Dakota Democratic Party podcast I produced and hosted called Dakota Blues.