Alabama 3, or A3 as their known in the US, effortlessly blends together blues, acid house, country, and a multitude of other genres to give us, well A3. Known in the US mostly for their release of “Woke up this Morning”, the theme of the sopranos, which in their own words “bought someone a swimming pool, but it sure wasn't any of us...”
Nobody else out there has really thought of or has dared to reach to the musical depths to which A3 has so consistently plunged. Their unique groove and sound catches the ear from the first note, so to does their equally unique and passionate live shows. Through the years,
A3 have faced various trials and tribulations, of staying real to their music. But stay real to it they have. Their music rings as true and real now, as it did 8 years and two labels ago.
Today, we have the opportunity to talk to the band’s lead guitarist, Rock Freebase (who also happens to be a member of our site - check out his UG Profile).
UG: What would you tell somebody who’s trying to get started in the business?
Rock Freebase: Well now because you can put your stuff up for download on the internet, my advice would be to go for that rather than going for a record deal. I think the record industry in terms of the major companies is kind of a dying breed. Having said that; they still have an enormous amount of power in terms of publicity. But I put my own stuff up for download, on a site called AmieStreet.com. Basically you just upload your songs; it’s a great site for anyone with stuff ready for download. Were just out of a record deal with One Little Indian, which is a major independent, the contract was up and we decided not to resign, so I think were going to release the next record ourselves. So I would say to people trying to get established in the business, just publicize yourself as much as you can on the net, and put yourself up for download.
I heard some of your solo work on that site; it was more straight ahead than some of the stuff you guys play as a band, is that the direction you see yourself going in?
I don’t I’ll be leaving Alabama 3 anytime in the near future, or ever really. It’s kind of like the Hotel California, you can check out anytime you like but you can never leave. But yeah I’ve got a number of solo projects. The stuff that I have up there is quite old really.
You guys are kind of the first wave of your kind of music; the band carries a very unique sound, who is your influences?
Well we are very heavily influenced by delta blues players, guys like Robert Johnson, Booker White, Fred McDowell. Also we are also influenced by Gospel music, we even stick a bit of country music in there. I mean people ask us “what kind of music do you play” it’s kind of a Country, Gospel, Techno, Acid House and Blues. (Laughs) We were very heavily influenced by the Acid House scene right now. Personally I love dance music, I love techno. But I also love old blues stuff, and mixing those two together seems to work.
What kind of obstacles have you had to overcome in your career?
Well you know kind of a mutual hatred within the band. (Laughs) I suppose trying to keep it together. It’s not hard work, being in a touring band, but is in some ways. If you’re not careful you can make yourself fall down a few wrong alleyways, you can fuck yourself up. I’ve been down a few bad alleyways, that luckily I’ve kind of managed to get out of. I’d say just watch out for that kind of thing really. There are some really tempting things out there.
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| "I think were going to release the next record ourselves." |
It seems that touring can really change the whole dynamic of the band.
The thing is at the moment there are nine people on tour, and there is one female. I imagine it must be very difficult for her. Although were very good friends, I mean she looks at us as brothers. I’m very very good friends with her, I try to keep an eye on her, make sure nobody gives her any shit. I mean with that many people in the band there are a lot of issue that arise from time to time.
So many of the artists these days are just so concerned with the image end of the music, it doesn’t even really matter if they can play or not, you guys don’t seem to really be overly concerned with that.
While we wear suits on stage, and in general I think we have a strong image, the music is definitely more important to us. Everyone in the band is a pretty damn fine musician. Our keyboard player for example, is amazing. To me there are two kinds of keyboard players. You either get someone who is classically trained and is technically brilliant, but can’t really improvise that well generally. Or you have someone who hasn’t really been trained, but has a good feel, but can’t really cut it most of the time. He’s a combination of the two. He’s quite extraordinary. He can play blues but with great technique as well. One of the best musicians I’ve ever worked with. Also we use a lot of technology. We use samples and what. Our harmonica player programs a lot of stuff, uses a lot of synths. He’ll might use an old blues sample from something, build a song around it, and then take the sample away. Then you have something that’s based on the sample. For example, we have a song called “Cocaine Killed My Community.” What he did is sampled the solo section in a song called “Fixin’ To Die” by Booker White. We just sampled the little solo, just looped it up, built the song around it and took the sample out. You just have this really groovy song. Booker White was one of the masters of delta blues, he’s in a class of his own. To kind of not steal his stuff, but to get his feel and his rhythm, and build around that, you can’t help but come up with something that’s going to make people dance.
You talked earlier about guys who are classically trained but can’t improvise and vice versa. I’ve heard a lot of talk about using strictly theory or strictly feel, or a spiritual connection during improvisation, how do you feel about that?
I think there’s nothing wrong with theory as long as you don’t put to much importance on it. When I come up with a tune I tend to not even have a guitar in my lap, it’ll be in my head first. If it does something to me, I’ll work out how it’ll be on a guitar or piano before I’ll even pick up a guitar. In order to be able to do that, you do have to have a certain technical knowledge. Unless you just really want to be able to hammer out chords, and thrash away. There’s nothing wrong with that, there are hundreds of different kinds of musicians and bands. The music world would be pretty tedious if everybody went to college and learned how to play “properly” and learned composition theory and everything. I mean I wrote songs when I was a kid, before I could really play at all, and their shit. But there’s something there, there’s something kind of about them, very naïve. I think that route as legitimate as learning the theory. I wonder how someone like Steve Vai goes about composing. I actually like him, although I normally don’t go for guitarist of that kind of genre. Although I can play a lot of his stuff, I practice a lot of his stuff because he’s very technically proficient, and it’s very helpful to practice. I find that he has a much more of a sense of humor about the whole thing than somebody like Yngwie Malmsteen. I’m not dissing Yngwie, but the things Steve Vai does while he’s onstage or in clinics or what is hilarious. To me that kind of suggests that he kind of feels it more, he just happens to have fucking incredible technique. I think he is another very natural musician. He’s obviously practiced for like fifteens hours a day for years. I used to do six or seven hours a day for years. I don’t use a tenth of that technique onstage. I could, but it wouldn’t fit with our music. Our music is kind of just about really simple, rhythmic, melodic, movement, but it can be quite imperative sometimes. We try to get the feel of dance music, but it does progress in someway.
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| "Our music is about really simple, rhythmic, melodic movement, but it can be quite imperative sometimes." |
You guys have been signed by both major and independent labels?
Initially Geffen picked the band up for America, and then we got picked up by Sony/Onstage, I think they just really didn’t know what to do with us. Who are these guys, what the fuck are they doing. Because were not pretty boys they couldn’t just put us up there, there you go; the music’s good, and they look good. They just didn’t know what to do with us really. After a while they just kind of though well; we’ll release the theme tune from the sopranos, and they just released it they didn’t even put any publicity on it, they didn’t even really announce the release. It got on the charts but nothing high. I think they wanted to throw us against the wall to see if we would stick. We didn’t because they didn’t push us at all. We were with One Little Indian up until the last record. We filled our quota with them, and decided not to resign. I think they might distribute the next record.
Do you feel more freedom recording with an indie label?
Basically we have total control over what’ll come out. That was always the case with the One Little Indian label. We said, “You get what we give you, if you don’t want to release it, that’s up to you, but were not changing anything for you.” That’s the way it’s been, we produce our own albums. We have producers, but it’s been of our choice. In terms of musical arrangements it’s completely done by the band. The producer might suggest something, but essentially the band arranges and produces everything, with maybe say an executive producer. It’s great to have that kind of freedom. To come up with a tune in your bedroom and go, god this is great. The last thing you want is some producer saying, forget it, you have to change this, and this bit is crap, that has to be devastating, to have your baby taken away from you and dressed up in girl’s clothes.
So when you write something do you feel like it is a child, a baby of sorts?
Well no cause I have a son and how I feel about him doesn’t compare to music. I love music but I would die for my son, I wouldn’t die for music. I understand what you mean. You do feel quite precious about it. Having said that; I have no problem with somebody taking one of my songs and messing with it sampling it, fucking it up and doing something different. That’s what it’s all about; you can’t be too precious about it. I really don’t mind if anyone takes my stuff and messing around with it.
What does the band have planned for the near future?
Well we’re working on our next record. On our website were giving away free download song for twelve months. People that visit our website get to vote and ultimately decided which tracks will go on the album. Our fans are ultimately our executive producers, they choose which songs they like or don’t like. Also through the website we’ll have the fans do remixes of our stuff as well. They can send them to us, and if we like them we’ll use their mix on the record.
Interview by Nicholas Cole-Klaes
Ultimate-Guitar.Com © 2008
and i'll check these guys out they sound cool