(Editor’s Note: Since this tour wasn’t passing through Tampa I asked long time reader, Adam Fenwick, to cover the North Carolina show. He agreed and here we are.)

The Rock Report: Lucero & Glossary @ The Visulite Theater in Charlotte, N.C. Feb. 23, 2010

Oh. Fuck. Yeah. Those three words kept running through my head last night at Charlotte’s Visulite Theater as I got my first taste of ninebullets.net favorites Lucero and Glossary for the first time.

I’ll be the first to admit that I went into Tuesday’s show a little blind. I knew next to nothing about each band and only knew a few songs from each bands library (I spent Tuesday at work listening to as much Lucero as I could get my hands on via MySpace) but by the end of the night I was highly impressed.

Glossary took the stage earlier than expected, about 15 to 20 minutes before their 9 p.m. start time. At this point the crowd at the Visulite was thin, but that didn’t stop those who were there from getting into the show (much as I did).

I took the show in from a bar stool near the back of the venue as I’ve found standing looking up at the stage tends to make my back ache the following day (yes, I’m a wussy, get over it). On the plus side, I was able to see the stage easily and this allowed me to really enjoy the music (while head banging when appropriate).

While I have to say I was disappointed when Glossary finished their set (I wanted them to play “Save Your Money For The Weekend” again) I was stoked to finally get my first taste of Lucero. By the time the main event hit the stage the venue had filled up nicely (it wasn’t packed to the gills, but there was a pretty decent crowd on hand).

Everything I’d read about Lucero’s live act in the days before the show turned out to be absolutely true. This band of merry men hit the stage and ripped the crowd to shreds. While I wasn’t familiar with a large portion of what was played it wasn’t hard to get into the groove of things. As far as I’m concerned Lucero played rock and roll like it was supposed to be played.

I made sure to pick up copies of Lucero’s “1372 Overton Park” and Glossary’s “Feral Fire” for use in my CD player for the foreseeable future before exiting at around 11:30 p.m. While this may have been my first exposure to both bands, I have no doubt that it won’t be my last.

Glossary – Save Your Money For The Weekend
Glossary – Through The Screen Door

Lucero – Sixes and Sevens
Lucero – Darken My Door

20. Eilen Jewell – Sea of Tears
19. Those Darlins – Those Darlins
18. Strawfoot – How We Prospered
17. Justin Townes Earl – Midnight at The Movies
16. Malcolm Holcombe – For The Mission Baby
15. Jon Snodgrass – Visitor’s Band
14. Ben Nichols – The Last Pale Light In The West
13. Cam Penner – Trouble and Mercy
12. The Fox Hunt – America’s Working So We Don’t Have To
11. William Elliott Whitmore – Animals In The Dark

Top 10 (with mp3s) are under the cut…

10. The Drive-By Truckers – The Fine Print (Oddities and Rarities 2003-2008)

Can you really call a collection of unreleased outtakes, largely from a version of the band that no longer exists, a Top 10 of the year? Fair question. Now go listen to their cover of “Rebels” and “Play It All Night Long” and get back to me. Largely culled from the sessions that gave birth to The Dirty South, The Fine Print reminds DBT fans of why we love them, and hopefully reminded them that it’s still okay to rock. We’ll find out come March.

Drive-By Truckers – When The Well Runs Dry

09. The Builders & The Butchers – Salvation is a Deep Dark Well

Rev. Marcus from Strawfoot recommended these guys to me after catching them at a show one night, and I couldn’t be more grateful. Their bio claims they “don’t pay homage to old America, they channel it through desperate story-songs that latch onto your brain and demand immediate attention.” I couldn’t sum it up any better. A definite “must hear” for fans of O’Death.

The Builders and The Butchers – Raise Up Your Weary Hands

08. Matthew Dean Herman – Blackbird

Look at that, three spots into the top 10 and it’s an Alaskan dominated list so far. I was turned onto Matthew Dean Herman’s music thanks to Evan from The Whipsaws and then had the pleasure of meeting him when I was up in Minneapolis for this year’s Deep Blues Festival. I have played this album for everyone from my parents to my boss to my drinking buddies, and everyone falls in love with it immediately. It’s stayed in constant rotation on my iPod this year and if you’re a fan of The Whipsaws, The Drive-By Truckers, Centro-matic and music of that ilk (which you are or you wouldn’t be here), then I bet it can find heavy rotation on yours, too.

Matthew Dean Herman – Blackbird

07. Truckstop Coffee – For Dear Life

Next we go to the first of three Florida bands to make my list. Am I biased? Maybe. Is the album awesome? Definitely. Moving away from the Lucero-esqe country sounds of their previous album, One Damn Thing To Redeem, and more towards a twang-tinged straightforward rock ‘n’ roll sound of, say, Two Cow Garage, Truckstop managed to avoid the sophomore slump and made a great rock album in the process. It’s available for whatever you feel like paying for it, so go get a copy of it for yourself.

Truckstop Coffee – Ghost or an Angel

06. The Takers – Taker Easy

Another Florida band, and the third Suburban Home band, to make the list. IMO, The Takers embody the definition of “Florida Country”, which is to say they’re as much rock and roll as they are shit kickers and twang, and Devon (singer) has been known to drink enough to make any Floridian proud. It was a big year for these guys and I hope they can maintain that momentum. They are one of the hood ornaments of the awesomeness coming out of Florida these days.

The Takers – Curse of a Drunk

05. Chuck Ragan – Gold Country

Nobody is more surprised than me to see a Chuck Ragan album on my list, but the quality of this album is impossible to ignore, regardless of your status as a fan or non-fan of Chuck. I can’t find a single fault with Gold Country, and since it’s release it’s been one of my favorite cds on the iPod. Easily his best effort to date, and if this is the direction he continues to go then 9b might turn into a de facto Ragan fan site.

Chuck Ragan – Get ‘Em All Home

04. Lucero – 1372 Overton Park

OMG! Major label! Horns! A tour bus! What’s happening to our beloved little band from Memphis? In a word; nothing. After all the hand wringing and pantie wadding was done, what were we left with with 1372 Overton Park? Another awesome Lucero album with some of the best songs they’ve ever written, that’s what. And typing any more seems like it would be a disservice to the band.

Lucero – Darken My Door

03. Have Gun Will Travel – Postcards From The Friendly City

This is one of those albums I wish I could convince everyone that they needed to hear. It’s so delicate and at times absolutely perfect. It could be said that I am being overly influenced by the hat tips and landmark references to the town(s) I live and play in, and that could be the case, but I’m gonna say it isn’t. Matt and company have truly made a great album in Postcards From The Friendly City. Easily the best local album of the year, but I genuinely feel it is a Top 5 of the year, too, regions be damned.

Have Gun Will Travel – Salad Days

02. Scott H. Biram – Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever

Two years ago I was pretty worried about Scott. It seemed like he was going out in a blaze of glory and then, in his darkest moment, he seemingly rose from the ashes a changed man. His shows went from drunken disasters to some of the best shows I’d ever seen, and on the heels of that came Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever, his best album to date. Something’s Wrong/Lost Forever was, produced and recorded entirely in Scott’s home studio, and his decision to leave some of the mistakes in the mix gives the album the feel of a live SHB show, minus the between-song banter. SW/LF drives home the point that while the one man band might start with Bob Log III, that shit ends with Scott H. Biram and any doubters just might get a whiskey glass thrown at them on the wrong night.

Scott H. Biram – Time Flies

01. Micah Schnabel – When The Stage Lights Go Dim

There it is. Right there. RSV and I have both selected the same album as our favorites of the year without even knowing what the other was choosing, further cementing my decision of asking him to become a regular 9b contributor as a good one. There is an honesty to this album that I find utterly captivating. RSV called it an “acoustic bombshell” and I can’t think of a better way to describe it. Micah’s songwriting abilities are getting to the point of being unfair to the others bands in these genres. And while When The Stage Lights Go Dim probably isn’t an album for all occasions, it is, imo, the album of the year. Bare. Under-produced. As real and honest as Lincoln. You can’t look that kind of shit in the eye and remain unmoved. And if you can, well, you probably don’t belong ’round these here parts.

Micah Schnabel – American Static

And with that. We’re taking the rest of the week off. I like to echo RSV by saying thanks to all of you. The commenters, the lurkers, the bands making the music, the labels releasing it and the people pushing it on us. Hopefully 2k10 will be as prolific as this year was.

Last night’s Lucero show taught me a couple of things. The first thing is that I am apparently an old bastard now and the front row at a show might be a little too much for me. Be kind to me on that one as my ego (read: belief that I am Peter Pan) is a little sore along various other parts of me. The second, and more important. thing is that sometimes changing a thing that you love can make it better…

This tour has been reviewed all over the place and it seems our boys opened the show pretty much the same as they have been with Sounds of the City followed by That Much Further West and it was a damn fine opening. The Jim Spake re-work of That Much Further West to include horns, Todd Beene (Glossary) on the pedal steel, and Rick Steff on keyboards was my first taste of what proved to be a different Lucero show than I am used to. I can’t really describe how it’s different, other than the obvious horns and such, so I will just describe it in the best way I know know: it’s like they managed to cram more Lucero into a Lucero show. They started off with rockers from 1372 Overton Park and tossed in some of the classics that had been reworked to include horns like That Much Further West, Chain Link Fence, and a few more. Then moved on to older stuff while the horn section took a break so it was just the boys, Todd Beene and Rick Steff. In a few songs it was just Ben and Rick on stage and Ben belted out The Last Pale Light In The West, Mom, and The War. The the band came back, all of them, and it was back to hard rockin’ Lucero with some amazing re-works. Ben flat out refused to play Hearts on Fire for us but did throw the Texas crowd a bone with Raisin’ Hell and pulled out If Only You Were Lonely, no horns, with Todd Beene playing pedal steel. The show ended a little early, and if you know our boys that means they only played for two hours, when some frat boy morons started getting too rowdy over by Rick and John C. They were over the top and had slammed into Rick a couple of times and John C. had swept them back with the neck of his bass, his new bass, and motioned for them to cut it out but when one of them put hands on the stage manager John C. was having none of it. He smacked four of the fuckers on the head with his bass and flipped it around and held it like a bat to back them off. It was a pretty amazing show of prowess with the bass if you ask me. So here’s a lesson to frat boy morons, you know who you are, don’t fuck with Lucero’s people. Just don’t. If you do you will have to face John C. Stubblefield, the bass assassin, and in his own words “I will jump in the air and shit in your air. And you can quote me on that“. Ben sang one more song, solo, while the mess got tidied up and managed to abruptly end the show without the crowd complaining too much.

In the immortal words of the Beastie Boys: You think this party’s over but it’s ready to begin. As any friend of the boys knows the real fun at a Lucero gig is often after the show, sometimes before if you get there early enough, and last night was no exception. I got the chance to talk to most of the band about the new album and the tour and really shed some light on how this album and this tour is different. I can tell you this much: it’s not because they signed with a major label. The only money the label put into anything was into marketing. The tour bus, the horn section, the new merch, and everything else is financed by the band. The “interviews” below are from various points in the night and some are paraphrased a little bit as we never got a chance to sit down, bust out a recorder, and do a formal interview session.

I asked Ben about the new album. the tour, and life in general…

INTERVIEWS BELOW THE CUT

Nine Bullets: So, aside from the sound, how is this album different?

Ben Nichols: Well even the way I wrote the songs was different. I handed in the demos for the album and the record company came back and asked for more demos. I told them I usually write most of the finished product in the studio and they told me to go back, write more, and hand in more demos. It made me work on the songs longer and I guess harder than I have to, at least before we were in the studio, than I have in the past.

9B: And the songs aren’t as autobiographical as your older stuff are they?

BN: The Last Pale Light In The West kind of changed the way I write, it was changing before a little bit with songs like Bikeriders but yeah this album was inspired by different things that the some of the others.

9B: So you are in tour bus is it nice to have the label backing you for this tour?

BN: The label didn’t pay for the bus. We did. It just makes sense with twelve people at each show. The Dodge wouldn’t have held us all.

9B: So you aren’t getting support from the label?

BN: We got a marketing budget but they haven’t even paid for the whole record so far.

9B: What is it like touring with the new instruments?

BN: It’s really great. Rick, Todd, and Jim really make the show.

Nine Bullets: So Roy what do you think of the new album?

Roy Berry: The production is just great. The mix is so much better. You can actually hear the drums on this one. On the other ones I sound like I am playing underwater or something.

9B: So what’s it like touring with the full horn section and stuff?

RB: I like it. I mean I have to be more on than I used to be. I can’t be sloppy because you can really tell. It’s really fun having the horns around. There’s one song, and I ain’t gonna tell you which one so it will surprise you, where we all stop playing and it’s just the horns. I think that’s my favorite part of the show and I’m not even playing during it.

9B: So how’s your side project, Overjoid, doing?

RB: I think I’ve, shit, recorded 40 songs or so this year. All of them are up for free on Band Camp except the ones I am trying to put on vinyl. No-one listens to it but I love doing it so I’m gonna keep doing it. There’s this thing where people upload samples and a bunch of people use the same samples to do stuff and I’ve kind of been doing that. It’s a little different because everyone is using the same stuff but it’s pretty cool. I have some old stuff as well from way back when with a lot of samples like preachers and stop smoking stuff. It was fun to do but it sounds like crap because I had to take a CD from the recorder, put in a player and yeah the quality’s not that great.

9B: So how was tonights show for you?

RB: It was time to be done. I may be too drunk to play drums…

Nine Bullets: You are playing a larger venue than you ever have in Houston. How’s that feel?

John C. Stubblefield: Well it’s larger but the ceiling is low and the sound on stage is weird. We’ll have to see how it goes.

9B: What is touring with this full band like?

JCS: It’s about damn time is pretty much how I feel about it. We’ve earned this and it’s nice.

9B: How is the tour going overall?

JCS: Man it’s great. The crowds are cool and it’s fun to play with all the instruments on stage.

9B: So a tour bus?

JCS: Yeah man it just made sense. With a van you are stuck right next to your bandmates all day, sometimes for twelve hours or more, and it’s just not comfortable. All of us are drinking less this tour and I think it’s because we are in the bus. When you’re packed in together like we were in the vans when you get out at the venue all you want to do is drink and get the van off of you. Before we would get a couple of hotel rooms, sleep for literally five hours or less, and drive to the next town. Some days you didn’t want to get back in the van at all. Now we have twelve people so it would four or five hotel rooms for how much fuckin’ money? For only four or five hours of sleep. So we looked at it and for only a little bit more we have a place where we can really sleep and be comfortable.

9B: So the old loft in the back of the van wasn’t the best digs?

JCS: Well, especially back east, you would crawl up in there with your nose an inch from the roof, wrap up in your sleeping bag with only your face showing and it would get so cold the condensation from your breath would freeze on the roof and when the sun came up it would start dripping on your face like chinese water torture. The bus is a lot nicer.

9B: You swing that bass around pretty good when you need to don’t you?

JCS: Fuck those assholes. I warned them over and over to cut it out or at least tone it down. Then they started pushing my stage manager. You don’t lay hands on my people. I had already picked out the instigators so I stepped over and whack, whack, whack, whack gave them all a knock then I picked it up like this and would have hit someone if they didn’t back the fuck off. One of them tried to apologize but you don’t get to say sorry after go that far. Fuck them.

9B: You did say something to crowd though…

JCS: Yeah it always sucks when a couple of assholes ruin it for everyone but I couldn’t play anymore after that. So I said I was sorry a couple of bad apples ruined it for everyone.

Nine Bullets: Man that was a great show.

Brian Venerable: Thanks it was a lot of fun.

9B: So how’s that baby doing?

BV: He’s good. 13 months old now. He’s moving around holding on to things but not quite walking yet.

9B: I bet it’s hard being on tour and not seeing him.

BV: Yeah, I flew home for fourteen hours so I could take him trick-or-treating for Halloween.

9B: So how was recording this album different for you?

BV: The producer, Ted Hutt, was hard. He never let us do it just once no matter how good it was. We could be perfect and he’d say “Now I want you to try it this way” and we did. It was rough. I drank in anger.

9B: Well it shows through. The mix on this album is really clean and everything sounds tight.

BV: Well he had five whole albums of the same songs to choose from. It’s the first Lucero record I can listen to not as a Lucero record. I mean I can put it on an listen and not be like “oh that part…ooofff” so it was worth it. It was hard but it was worth it.

9B: Other than the production quality how is it different from your other records?

BV: Well this is a whole album, and we haven’t had a whole album since That Much Further West. We put out collections of twelve or so really good songs but nothing that was a record unto itself. This is a whole record so to speak.

9B; What’s the tour been like for you so far?

BV: It’s been good. With the bus it’s a lot less stressful between shows and it gives us someplace to go and get away if we need to. And the whole band is great. We are touring with a lot of people and they are all fun to be around and fun to play with. The horns really add a lot to the show.

Nine Bullets: So how did you approach re-working the older songs to add in the horns?

Jim Spake: Well horns shouldn’t be a burden in a song and they shouldn’t take a song over so I listened to the songs and just suggested adding a little horn here, some keyboards here, some pedal steel over here and so on. The additions should highlight the original song and not change it. They should make it more of what it is.

9B: That’s pretty cool.

JS: Yeah it’s pretty much the same way I did the songs on the album. Just added something here and there to make the songs more…

9B: What’s it like touring with Lucero?

JS: Man these guys are amazing. They get along so well. It’s still crowded on the and they know how to keep everyone from getting stir crazy. They’ve been doing this a long time and are good at it. I guess you can’t play 200 shows a year in a van if you can’t get along. I’ve toured with some pretty big acts in my day that couldn’t get along like these boys do.

9B: You do have some impressive credentials to your name.

JS: Yeah I’ve played with some cool dudes. I was in Austin at a show and Mojo Nixon recognized me. It’s been so long since I played with him I was really amazed he remembered me. He’s a cool cat.

9B: He just released a good chunk of his catalog for free on Amazon a while back.

JS: Really. That’s cool. I wonder how he dealt with all the different labels he’s been on…

9B: And you played with Alex Chilton?

JS: Yeah but the stuff we did was kind of dodgy.

9B: I had never heard of him until I heard the ‘mats song…

JS: That’s right about when I was playing him. The stuff we were putting out wasn’t that great and The Replacements were singing about him…

There was a lot more to my conversation with Jim but it devolved into a conversation rather than an off the cuff interview. We talked about tenor and bari sax (I played bari in stage band during high school), some big names we wished we’d gotten to see live, Alex Chilton being a bastard, and lot more.

I got to talk to Todd Beene as well but not any length and it’s a shame because Todd is a damn cool guy and his pedal steel skills really make some of the older tracks a little more amazing. There were a couple of times during the show where it was him, Ben, and Rick playing an old track and it was like I was hearing it again for the first time. His work with Glossary is awesome and getting to see him play with Lucero has only increased my respect for him. I wish I had had time to talk to him more but I also learned that aside from the front row not being as fun as it used to be I apparently get tired much earlier. I left the venue around three in the morning and had to tear myself away from talking to Brian to get out that early. I promised Roy I’d do something for him and have to get back with Ben on something that some of you readers might really dig…

In closing this tour is not just another Lucero tour. The boys are diver in a different way than they have been. They are well rested and prepared for the shows. Sure they are still the boys we know and love but there’s a new energy there and a feeling like I got six or seven years ago at their shows. It’s almost if there’s been an internal revival. I don’t care how many times you’ve seen them you need to get off your ass and see them on this tour. Don’t miss it…

These tracks are from this tour but not from last night. Credit for these goes to D.C. Live Tracks. (You oughta pay him a visit)
Lucero – Sounds Of The City (full band live)
Lucero – That Much Further West (full band rework with horns live)
Lucero – Mom (minimal band Ben, Todd Beene, Rick Steff)

Finally, after all the talk, all the speculation and all the handwringing over majors and horns, Lucero’s sixth studio album, 1372 Overton Park, is released! It almost seems impossible to write about this album without talking about the questions surrounding it from long-time friends. At the same time, it almost feels selfish to rehash them over and over again. Is Lucero required to stay within their fans’ safe zones? If that’s the case, is it fair to the band? Simple fact is, fair or not, the words “major label debut” and “horns” have made a lot of fans more than a little nervous about the future of this beloved rambling crew from Memphis. And when that was topped by Ben’s (and to a lesser sense, the band’s) appearance on the MTV faux-reality series $5 Dollar Cover, many of the original fans started to mumble the words “sell” and “out”, usually in that order. If any of these concerns even registered with the band itself they’ve handled in pretty typical Lucero fashion, by forging straight ahead making their music the way they want it made, and now that the official release date is upon us the only question that matters is whether you like it or not.

Having pre-ordered the album, I got the six song sampler many months ago, and having the internet I’ve had the full-length leak almost as long and I will admit, at first I didn’t like it. Not because of the horns or any of that crap, but for some reason I never seem to like a new album from an artist I enjoy the first couple of times I hear it. It’s a character flaw I’m sure, but after that initial period I was still on the fence about the sampler. Then came the full-length leak and access to “Mom”. “Mom” was the initial track to grab me and open my ears to the rest of the cd. “Mom” is one of those classic show-closing acoustic anthems that Ben’s so good at writing, and I can only imagine that it’s taken the place of “The War” as the last song of the night. As an avid fan of hearing “The War” live it’s a little sad for me, but I must admit that “Mom” is worthy of the slot. After “Mom” the songs just started falling in place, and after a week’s time I realized I loved the album, the production, and I’ll be god damned if I didn’t love the horns too. Another one of the standout tracks on the album for me is “Sixes and Sevens”. It might be one of my favorite tracks ever by the band and would easily fit into the Rebels, Rogues and Sworn Brothers tracklisting without any tweaking, while “Darken My Door” is as sad a song as the guys have ever written.

My natural reaction is to try and write a review defending the horns. Hell, if I’ve typed, “Really, once you stop listening to the horns and listen to the album you’ll find that it’s a Lucero album through and through” once, I’ve typed it fifty, and that’s the truth. 1372 Overton Park isn’t Lucero reinventing itself, and if you line the cd’s up and listen in chronological order I think it becomes pretty obvious that this is the next logical step in their evolution. Will they lose some of their old fans? Probably, but I appreciate that the band is willing to take that risk to follow their musical path. Will this album propel them to super-stardom? Hard to say. It’s got the production and the hooks. If there was a track on the album that I thought could capture the interest of the public, I’d have to say it’s “What Are You Willing To Lose”, and if ever there was a band that’s earned a little star power it’s Lucero…even if it means I end up losing my cool little band that I get to see a couple of times a year with 200 of my closest friends through music.

Without hesitation, I put this album on the ninebullets.net essential listening list, and now that I’m intimately familiar with the cd I have to say it’s a strong contender for album of the year.

Lucero – The Devil and Maggie Chascarillo
Lucero – Darken My Door (live)

Lucero – The War (live)

Lucero’s Official Site, Lucero on myspace, Buy 1372 Overton Park

REMINDER FOR THE TAMPA/ST. PETE FOLKS. THERE IS A LISTENING PARTY TONIGHT @ VINYL FEVER. COME OUT.

After months of talk 1372 Overton Park will finally come out tomorrow. To mark the occasion the Lucero Social Club is holding listening parties across the United States and Tampa’s is gonna be at Vinyl Fever. There will be free beer, free pizza (courtesy of ninebullets) and some like minded folks hanging out and listening to the album. So, come join us and we can talk about major labels and horns.

Lucero – Hey Darlin’, Do You Gamble (live)

Anyhow, when long time 9b reader/commenter Cliff in England asked if I’d be interested in running an interview he conducted with the boys a few weeks back I jumped at it. Hope y’all enjoy it.

~ Autopsy IV

A Night with the Boys from Lucero (an interview by Cliff England):

Formed in Memphis, Tennessee in 1998, Lucero has been tearing through this country with their punk/rock/country (insert about any aesthetic adjective here) outfit for some time now. Lead vocalist, Ben Nichols, has one of the most distinctive voices in music today. It’s unrefined, rough, and exposed, in other words it is the definition of rock n’ roll. Brian Venable, lead guitarist, and co-founding member does the balancing act. His guitar ranges from solid country blues, to raging rock guitar. Bassist, John C. Stubberfield, and drummer, Roy Berry, round out the quartet with solid layering and depth. Lucero goes beyond skin deep though; Nichols writing sets the tone as raw and emotional as his voice. Life on the fringe seems to be the biggest theme in Nichol’s writing. The words seem to pour out of him with honesty and sincerity like someone decades before his time.

The “Lucero Sound” is hard to characterize, at its core it is a medley of everything great in American music of the last fifty years. The teenage punk angst of Black Flag, a 1970’s Kris Kristofferson country folk tune, and the soul of Springsteen’s Born to Run are all pieces of the Lucero puzzle. Slowly, but surely the band is finding each of those pieces. They are undoubtedly a force helping put Memphis, and everything the home of Elvis Presley embodies, back on the map.

On October 6th Lucero releases their sixth full length record 1372 Overton Park. It marks a change for Lucero, goodbye to their record label and on to the infamous, Universal Republic. Many fans and skeptics are concerned with the jump to a major label. The concern lies in the droves of bands that have made the same leap only to be misguided and left to be a skeleton of their previous selves. The question that lingers now is; on which side of the line will Lucero ultimately land?

That question among many others was asked when I sat down with Brian Venable before their show in Urbana, Illinois at the Pygmalion Music Festival which Lucero was headlining:

________________________________________________________________________

CE: So 1372 Overton Park is the New Record right?
BV: Yes

CE: You guys lived there for quite a while?
BV: Yea, the four of us from like 8 years ago up until recently. That’s how we we’re able to tour so frequently, the rent was cheap. All living in one spot

CE: All you guys living together I’m bet there is some stories you could tell from that?
BV: Umm probably, I think realistically, you go out for six weeks you come home, the warehouse was huge. Everybody would just kind of splinter off, and not be in the same van for awhile. A lot of drinking, a lot of you know, pretty much we could destroy a garbage pile and shoot with bb guns. Pretty much if your twelve year old self got to live in a place with your friends and do anything you want.

CE: You guys just signed with Universal this last year. Has that brought about any change or anything?
BV: There is a lot more red tape sometimes. It sounds better to your parents. We’re pretty much doing the same thing. I think between the label, and the new producer, they forced us. They wanted demos, which we’ve never really done good demos, like they wanted completed demos. And it forced us to actually concentrate on the songs more before we even went into the studio. Which I think help make it a better record.

CE: You guys had to be a little bit more responsible about the whole thing?
BV: Yes, yes, there were deadlines.

CE: So tell me about the record then, it comes out October 6th right?
BV: Yes

CE: There is a lot of talk around the fans and everything about the horns section…
BV: Yea, we’re curious about it. It’s been 50/50 for me looking on the boards. For every person that’s like “ohh this sounds like ska”, which I always assume is some twelve year old kid that likes Rage Against the Machine. That has no concept of what’s going on, like a soul record, or a Bruce Springsteen record, or anyone of them till they get older. Most everybody schools them online, like ‘don’t be dumb’. It’s an exciting progression if you think about it. I went back personally because I had heard bands. I wanted horns on the record not even in a soul way originally. But just in a ‘rock you in the crib’ (sorta way) There was this band from Denver, Hearts of Palm. It’d be exciting to just do this on a one or two songs just mix it up. It ended up working out really well. A friend of mine heard some of the early demos with horns, and he said it sounded real Memphis soul. And you go back all the Lynyrd Skynyrd studio stuff had horns, Alice Cooper’s first three records (had) horns. You know like, you never heard the horns as much until you start concentrating then you’re like ohh wait a minute. It’s like piano, when we introduced piano. People were like, “ehhhhh that’s different,” you know but the saxophone and piano are right there with the birth of rock n roll.

CE: Amen.
CE: So you guys worked with a legendary saxophonist (Jim Spake), from Memphis right?
BV: Yes

CE: How was that?
BV: It was fun, I think he’s Memphis, so I don’t think we don’t necessarily go in thinking “Legendary Saxophonist”. It’s Jim. Which is one of the things about Memphis, stuff happens and nobody gets a big heads or egos about it. Whatever record you’re working on is the most important one at the time.

CE: Speaking of Memphis in that sense, I know there is a big music scene down there. Can you kind of describe what that was about, where you guys came from?
BV: I think it’s always been a real interesting situation. Like, with the 60’s and 70’s you had your Elvis. And then you turn into your, or a lot of times you went to record in Memphis. There wasn’t a lot of artist coming. There were labels, or there was American Records. Wasn’t that what it was called?
RS (Lucero pianist Rick Skeff): Yes.
BV: Like “Dusty Springfield in Memphis” and “Memphis Experience.” You’d have a whole lot of that. And I think the city wants the commerce industry, they were like “OHH ELVIS yeah yeah yeah”, but they’ll miss the entire underground. That was always the joke with Memphis; some of the best bands in the world started, played, and broke up after a year. Maybe put out a seven inch, maybe didn’t even do anything. But we just came out of that huge music scene that is boiling underground that never really goes anywhere.

CE: So any bands out right now around Memphis that you would recommend? Somebody might not get a chance if they’re not in Memphis to check out online.
BV: We’re taking out a few people. Amy LaVere. She plays upright bass. She’s kind of a….I don’t know what a chanteuse is but,
RS: How about a classy woman in a long silk dress, playing sultry tunes.
BV: I always thought it was the color red. But she did that “5$ cover” TV show with Ben and everything. So far from what I’ve heard everybody is really excited about the “Dirty Streets”. They just kind of started. We’re taking them out for a little bit. But I mean they’re so new I haven’t even heard em’. But everyone that has immediately says they sound like the MC5 and they’re amazing. There is like the “City Champs” and they’re kinda like “Booker T & MG’s” soul thing. Then there is always the makeshift people, which is Snowglobe, Jimmy James & the Hall, any kind of number of them. There is just a group of them, like a little community of about 20 people that all play in the same bands.

CE: So it’s like a little community?
BV: Yea, just like that.

CE: You guys have a few more dates around here then you’re heading back to Memphis?
BV: We do Detroit, really Ferndale, which I think is a suburb or something. Then we’ll do Columbus, OH, and then we’re home for two-weeks. Hopefully we’ll spend most of those days practicing.

CE: Big Tour right?
BV: Trying to get the.… We’ll we’ve recorded with the horns but we’ve never actually played live before with them.

CE: So you’re breaking them out for the tour?
BV: Yea, we’re taking the horns out for the fall tour. So it’s going to be a gigantic crazy deal.

CE: How long is that going to go on then?
BV: Six weeks, October 8th to November 21st

–

The scene was nearly four hours after the interview. Lucero finally walked on stage at nearly one o’clock. By that time the robust crowd at the Canopy Club had dispersed to a dreary, but steadfast hundred or so people. Concern was obvious that the people left were either too drunk to find their way home, or trying to get to that point. All the while it was clear they did not care about the band coming on stage. Doubts and reservations quickly left when the first chords to Lucero’s set started. “Sound of the City”, a new track, quickly got the crowd out of its lull of drunkenness.

Ben humored the crowed by taking multiple shots from concert goers and taking request after request. Lucero essentials like “Nights Like These”, “All Sewn Up”, and “Chain Link Fence” were all played. As well, new Lucero songs “Hey Darlin’ Do You Gamble”, “Darken My Door” and “The Devil and Maggie Charcarillo” were played. The songs set the mood as if it was an early era punk show, then slowed it to a halt with sincerity like a Merle Haggard acoustic set, just as any Lucero studio record can do.

The show was not without its faults. It was evident from the start drummer, Roy Berry, was having problems with his drum kit. Chaos and antics ensued mid way through the set when Roy decided to quit drumming and sat down out of frustration. Then he stood up and sprayed beer all over the stage. After some encouragement from Ben, and rest of the band, Roy decided to saddle up and finish the show. The incident did little to hinder the enjoyment of the show; if anything it affirmed the notion that the band lives up to its’ rock n’ roll persona.

The night was capped off with moving solo performance by Ben of the new song “Mom,” a poignant tale for mothers everywhere. Nichols thanked the audience for staying up so late with the band, and asked what time the bar closed. Pouring their hearts and souls out up on stage, like the most genuine bands before them, the answer was simple; No, Lucero had played past closing time.

For reasons unknown to me, Ardent sent out a PR email pimping their Lucero session from over a year ago (I wrote about it in June of 08). I’m guessing it’s cause 1372 Overton Park is about to come out.

Anyhow, old as hell or not, like I said the first time I posted about it, “Lucero graced Breathru radio with their presence while celebrating their 10th Anniversary, and though they were playing much earlier (and more sober) than they are used to, they still managed to lay down a stupidly awesome set for our listening pleasure. If this had been released on cd I’d be dubbing it Essential Listening, but I don’t believe it is so I’ll just title it as essential downloading.”

So, presenting Lucero’s Ardent session….again:

1. All the Same to Me
2. Summer Song
3. What Else Would You Have Me Be
4. Nights Like These
5. I Can Get Us Out Of Here Tonight
6. Wasted
7. Hold Me Close
8. Ain’t So Lonely
9. Drink ‘Til We’re Gone
10. She’s Just That Kind of Girl
11. Nobody’s Darlins
12. She Wakes When She Dreams
13. When You Decided to Leave
14. All Sewn Up
15. It Gets the Worst at Night
16. Fistful of Tears

Disclaimer: I’ve done a shit ton of asking and looking around, I’m not entirely sure if I should be posting this. I’ve asked both parties and got no answer from either, so that and the fact that it was shot across the internets and that I pulled it off sendspace makes me think it is public domain. So, if there is a reason this should be pulled down, in lieu of firing off legal emails to everyone just drop me an email. I’ll pull it down and apologize profusely.

Any time a band whose reputation and philosophy were grounded firmly in DiY ideals makes a jump to a major label, there are bound to be concerns about selling out, dumbing down, cleaning up and all of those other concessions that aren’t tolerated among rabid fans and purists. Lucero’s transition from under-the-radar darling to major label act is no different, and while the band’s fans are dedicated enough to be tolerant of departures, they’re also passionate enough not to tolerate any slick bullshit in the name of appealing to a broader demographic (couFiveDollarCovergh). For the first time in their career, Lucero will have more than just raving critics and word of mouth behind them. They’ll have the lumbering – often fumbling – major label machine shoving their record down the listening public’s throat. This is great if the record’s as good as the material Ben Nichols and co. have been cranking out for the last decade, but what if the record sucks?

From the opening piano notes of “Smoke,” which kicks off the free six-song sampler available now with a pre-order of 1372 Overton Park, one thing is clear: Nichols’ affinity for anthemic classic rock is not going to be buried here; it’s right up front. “Smoke” sounds like Tom Petty aping Bruce Springsteen and, which Nichols’ rasp cutting through the pulsating piano, organ and guitars, it works. Springsteen is echoed in the second track, “Sounds of the City,” as well, with the swirling boardwalk organ and Memphis horns propelling Nichols’ tale of bad boys who “know when to push [their] luck.” Somebody’s been listening to Marah records. The addition of a horn section to Lucero’s sound shouldn’t be unexpected or unwelcome by anyone who’s witness the band’s maturation over their last few albums, as piano and organ were added in layers to flesh out Nichols’ bruised and bleak vacant lot anthems. However the band’s sound may have shifted, Nichols’ narrative remains constant, maybe even to a fault.

As “The Devil and Maggie Chascarillo” chugs along, sounding for all the world like a Thin Lizzy B-side, Nichols calls out for Love and Rockets and wrings his hands over punk rock girls and lonely saints. It’s a good tune but how long is Lucero’s audience going to be subjected to – and tolerate – Nichols’ bludgeoning of the “rock ‘n’ roll outcast” horse that was beaten dead about the time Green Day embarked on their first foray into rock operadom. Touching on familiar thematic elements is part of maintaining a dialogue with one’s audience – just ask Springsteen himself, nobody does it better – but that’s a far cry from writing the same song in six different keys, which is damn near what Nichols has done here. Luckily, he’s a good enough writer and compelling enough vocalist that the act isn’t tired — yet. But if, upon release, 1372 Overton Park turns out to be little more than a dozen recitations of “boy meets girl, boy fucks up, boy loses girl, boy and girl find salvation in rock ‘n’ roll and live scrappily ever after,” Nichols is going to have a lot more to answer for than why Lucero incorporated horns into their tunes.

Until the full album is released, I’m more than willing to suspend judgment – God knows Lucero has earned it. And don’t mistake me, these are not bad songs, quite the opposite. 1372 Overton Park may well end up being the rare example of how to cross over without selling out but it may also show us a band struggling to find new ground while walking in place. For now, new Lucero tunes are better than no Lucero tunes, and these sings songs are good enough to keep expectations for 1372 Overton Park extremely high.

Lucero – Sounds of the City

Lucero’s Official Site, Lucero on myspace, Pre-Order 1372 Overton Park

One of my favorite twitter friends, Romeosidvicous, posted a really nice 4 mix-tape introduction to Lucero yesterday and was kind enough to allow me to repost it here on ninebullets. I’ll let him explain the idea behind the tapes:

“I have made many Lucero CDs over the years to turn people on to their music. Today I decided that I would be lazy and simply make three one hour playlists and post them here. Now I can simply give people a URL instead of spending time making plastic discs that people just rip and file away somewhere. Three one hour playlists turned into four playlists as I decided to toss in some of Ben Nichols’ solo work as well as some tracks from his prior band Red 40. I enjoyed putting these together and I hope you will enjoy listening to them. You can get all of the music here, on the original discs, from the Lucero Store.”

Below are the first two. If you enjoy them and want to check out the other two, head over to Romeo’s blog.

Tape 1:

I chose “Cowboy Emo” as the name of this compilation due to a rumor of the conversation between Ben and Brian that laid the groundwork for Lucero. I won’t bore you with the whole story but rumor has it that Brian described the music he wanted to play as “Cowboy Emo” during that conversation. I don’t think there’s much emo and not much cowboy in the music but it’s a fitting title nonetheless. The track archives have proper id3 tags and even some horrible cover art I threw together so they should drop nicely into iTunes or whatever you use.

• Tracks 1-3 are from the Attic Tapes which was recorded prior to the release of their first album. I have heard this was around 1999 but that could be wrong.
• Tracks 4-7 are from the boys self-titled release on Madjack from 2001.
• Tracks 8-13 are from Tennessee released in 2002. Coincidently the first Lucero song I ever heard “Sweet Little Thing” was from this album.
• Tracks 14-17 hail from That Much Further West which was described by Rolling Stone as “The country album Paul Westerberg never wrote…”. This album was released in 2004.

Tape 1 Track Archive

Tape 2:

Tape 2 shows the growth of this band. Only having a line-up change once and going back to the original line-up has proved to be a strong point for the boys. They have grown together musically and listening to Ben’s lyrics mature from fleeting romances to deep desires has been a pleasure over the years. Of course he hasn’t stopped writing songs about drinking either but even those have a touch more maturity to them. Any band that’s been together as long as they have either sounds the same as they did at first or they grow. Lucero took the second route and each album is a little different but after a while you can still tell when there’s a Lucero song on even if you hadn’t heard it before. The first time I got to see them play live it was on the tour supporting Nobody’s Darlings and I have seen them every chance since.

• Tracks 1-5 are from Nobody’s Darlings released in 2005.
• Tracks 6-11 are from Rebels, Rogues, and Sworn Brothers released in 2006
• Tracks 11-14 are from the yet to be released 1372 Overton Park which is due out in October ‘09

Tape 2 Track Archive

As I said earlier, there are two more tapes over on romeosidvicious’s blog. They feature live Lucero, Ben solo as well as some material from Ben’s band before Lucero, Red 40, so go check it out.