Photo credit: Jason Thrasher
Tell us about your tour vehicle. Any notable breakdown stories?
BEN REYNOLDS: We don’t do this full time anymore. Last time I went out, I rented a car so that I didn’t trash my truck. I trashed two vehicles when touring full-time. Would rather operate at a loss than lose the breadwinner. We ran over a driveshaft on the Chickasaw Bridge; two flat tires and a band name came from that experience.
BRANT SLAY: It was once a very 70’s looking Econoliner van (can’t remember the name). Very posh!! Ben named his second band after that van I think? I could’ve just dreamed that. Today, my touring ride is my truck. Very glamorous Nissan Frontier and camper shell, with a mattress in the back just in case I need to sleep in a parking lot.
ALAN LUMPY WEED COWART: Our tour vehicle these days is a personal vehicle, and believe me, every time I purchase a vehicle I go into it thinking “can I fit my drumkit in it?”
Maybe soon – a trailer? Hmmm… There was a funny van story (not funny at the time) when I was touring with the Pups back in the day. We were in Fresno and it involved a van break-in and local gang members. The best line to come out that incident came from one of the gangsters: “Ah man, they stole your keyboards and shit?”
Cops never came…
How do you eat cheaply and/or healthy while on tour?
REYNOLDS: Is pizza healthy? Seriously, fast food doesn’t taste as good as it used to. I eat a lot of nuts. I also hit the grocery/health food stores as much as I can. Just looked at a $109 receipt from Whole Foods in Austin. It’s not easy.
SLAY: Healthy mostly, unhealthy when we pass the classic “meat and threes” moms and pops owned joints. I’m certainly not a vegetarian but lose four pounds each show simply from water loss. Currently, as seen in any recent photograph, we aren’t playing enough.
COWART: I’ve been a vegetarian for some time now, so eating healthy is usually not a problem, even if it’s just side dishes at a BBQ joint in the middle of nowhere.
I do have a lot of funny salad stories though…
How many strings do you break in a typical year? How much does it cost to replace them?
REYNOLDS: We aren’t doing that many live shows but I change strings every show. If I don’t, one’s going to break during a song I can’t limp through. I have 3 guitars that require this …so roughly $15/20 per show plus labor!
SLAY: I think it would not be a lie to say that I have likely broken both Ben’s guitar strings and Alan’s drum sticks from stage chaos although I don’t play those instruments. However, I do go through several harmonicas. The issue there is that Hohner Special 20 harmonicas that used to sell for $11 are now closer to $40 plus per harp. They also make a Marine Band Crossover that I was hoping would hold up a little longer but I play real hard and they have a similar shelf life in my experience. The Cross Over harps are closer to $70 per harmonica so the moral of the story is it has gotten very expensive to play harmonica.
COWART: I play super hard so I go through a lot of sticks. I usually get ‘em in bulk, but I’ve recently been trying a new brand made of a different wood (sugar maple). They’re lighter but the jury’s still out on if they’re tougher or last longer for me than hickory.
Where do you rehearse?
REYNOLDS: These days we practice at the New West Records rehearsal space in Athens. It’s haunted but I think the ghosts enjoy what we’re doing for the most part.
SLAY: The coolest little band space on the planet at New West Strolling Bones Records Normaltown Hall. We cannot thank the two George’s and Strolling Bones for allowing us to practice in that space. It’s a real club-feel space.
COWART: Our rehearsal space these days is the Strolling Bones / New West Records office in Athens, known as Normaltown Hall, and it’s just the absolute best! The best story there is the cocktail hour jams that come out of a rehearsal and become a hootenanny!
What was the title and a sample lyric from the first song that you wrote?
REYNOLDS: Ouch! I don’t remember the title but “Glass sparkles on the pavement just like stars at night.” I still have the guitar I wrote that masterpiece on.
SLAY: I cannot remember which song was our first song, but this one would be one of the earliest “Mcintosh”. “Sea turtle sitting on a right whale. Blew in from the north on a cold and windy gale. Well upside down pterodactyl hoist. Everything is small like a seahorse. Everything is small like a rattlesnake.”
COWART: As a drummer, I don’t write many songs, but the first one I wrote with the Beggar Weeds was about a dream I had that I picked up Jesus in the company provided El Camino that I drove as I delivered company mail. He told me the correct road to follow in life but I told him I couldn’t leave the band and follow it. Smart? Maybe, maybe not.
Describe your first gig.
REYNOLDS: First gig was at Church. An older asshole bully kid secretly untuned my guitar before I was going to get my big break at the First United Methodist Church in Waynesboro, GA. I didn’t know how to retune so I just strummed once and sat back down. What hooked me though was a show I played a few years later at the Burke County Fair. I remember watching this guy suddenly stop dancing, pick up a cricket, and eat it. There was no turning back after that!
SLAY: We threw our two Mighty Mouse battery amps in my rocking chair along with my living room stand up lamp and hauled everything down to the local Grit restaurant in Athens GA in its original location near the train depot. We knew the owners so we asked if we could set up and play. They said yes, so we set up and proceeded to play our five original songs. People seemed to dig it so we played our five songs like five times and then packed up.
COWART: The first gig was at the legendary Grit, an iconic spot in Athens. I’ll let Ben and Brant elaborate on that.
What was your last day job? What was your favorite day job?
REYNOLDS: I currently teach photography at the University of Georgia. They let me teach a sound class and one on the American South. It’s a pretty good gig.
SLAY: I currently do conservation real estate for the Georgia Chapter of The Nature Conservancy at the Chattahoochee Fall Line Program in Columbus Georgia. Conservation work would definitely be my favorite day job. We need another Walmart Supercenter like we need a hole in our head.
COWART: Currently I work as a lighting and grip technician on movies and television productions, but mostly commercials. Been doing that for past 28 years. Interesting work I guess. I’ve met quite a few cool folks, and work with many even cooler folks.
How has your music-related income changed over the past 5-10 years? What do you expect it to look like 5-10 years from now?
REYNOLDS: We make more money selling t-shirts we get from the door. We also get a little more mailbox money from licensing these days. Not sure what’s in store for the industry. I had hoped when major labels Imploded that new platforms would arise that allowed more musicians to make a living wage. I definitely don’t lament their demise but, in my opinion, it’s only widened the income gap. My hope is that in the near future, a system arises that better supports the multitude of talented musicians out who are out there struggling.
SLAY: Income? What’s that? Money is icing on the cake! If we make enough money to buy my kid some extra clothes then I’m good. In the future… Well, music is in me and it’s got to come out so I would hope that the industry would continue to make it easier for the artist to make music financially sustainable.
COWART: Music-related income right now is a non-issue. Maybe that will change in the next 5 – 10 years.
What one thing do you know now that you had wished you knew when you started your career in music?
REYNOLDS: Hmm. I figured this out pretty quickly but…don’t be seduced by compliments, favors, and promises from people you barely know. Your real friends are ones who will come jump your dead battery or help you paint your house when you have nothing to offer in return but your gratitude.
SLAY: Don’t take yourself or the band so seriously. If you enjoy making music, make it for yourself and don’t worry what other people think. If you are making music with people you love and doing it for all the right reasons, it’s good medicine.
COWART: It’s the proverbial ‘wish I knew then what I know now’. At 25, you’re thinking “man, I don’t need to act cool, I am cool,” when you know good and well you’re trying REAL hard to be cool. In your 50s, let’s just say, that’s not a thing.