GranolaBox

Morning Coffee with Tom Jones

I caught up with my old friend Tom, singer and guitarist for 40 Rod Lightning.
me: He lives
Sent at 7:29 AM on Sunday
Tom: Howdy
me: dude, I’ve listened to so many of the bands whose songs you play.. it’s a whole world of unexplored music. The Drive-by Truckers rock. And Hank Williams III. That’s the best ever….And I’d forgotten how twisted the Violent Femmes were. Thank you so much dude.
Tom: Very cool. I’m still finding out about a lot of this music. It’s vast and relatively unexplored
me: The really cool part is that I hear it by you first, and so your version of it is what I compare others to, instead of vice versa. You guys set the bar pretty high.

Tom: We were in the studio yesterday setting up to record this afternoon

me: Would you be interested in doing the Naples Grape Fest?

Tom: Yes, I think we would be interested… when is it? I can put our admin on it.
me: Yikes man. That sounds corporate
Tom: We both work for the same corp, so we tend to infuse a bit of the faux corporate… but we’re psyched about recording. We’re set up to basically record live.
me: Sounds fun
Tom: We have 23 songs on our list to record

me: Sweet…highlights?

Tom: All of our hits and a few of the countrified rock songs. We’re looking at releasing a 4-6 song EP by June andfollow up with a full CD by Fall By Winter, we’ll probably have enough new material to record another CD
me: You must be loving life right now man!
Tom: Yeah, it has its moments….more and more of them. But if ever a band had potential…
me: You lit fires last Friday night.

Tom: Sweet
me: I remember when we were little you used to draw pictures of bands you’d be in, like way back in the Kiss [tag]days.

Tom: yeah… Catlash! Wish I had one of those drawings still
me: I can picture them vividly, it was Kiss’s stage, with the drums elevated. But all cats.
Tom: It was totally a derivative of KISS
me: No worse than Motley Crue
Tom: But certainly not as cool as GWAR
me: Never saw them
Tom: Me either, just video
me: A lot of my students, those of Harley’s generation, were really into them when they were tenth graders.
Tom: Insane stupid. Look them up on YouTube sometime Funny stuff. Gross. Inane. Heavy. I think there’s a clip of them being interviewed by Joan Rivers.

me: I love YouTube. Pretty much the entire commercial media censored Pink’s Dear Mr. President video but You Tube has about twenty versions of it, and people keep adding it every time it’s performed live.
Tom: 40 Rod needs to get some stuff on YouTube
me: Yup
Tom: we need to get a couple of video cameras and a decent audio recording of a gig and then edit them together. Nothing fancy.
me: You could do studio footage like “Let it Be” only without Yoko Ono.

Tom: She won’t take my calls anyway
me: Bitch. What about Oprah?

Tom: Waiting until I become a Scientologist

me: I don’t think you’ll have to do that until you do your third record
Tom: Hmm… I’m thinking never
me: Never say never man
Tom: Just thinking
me: Did you have a gig last night?
Tom: No. just set up at the studio until about 8. We recorded the theme song/jingle we did for the Radio Free Wease show. Muther Hucker.

me: I like Wease but NPR is more my speed now. I listen to Wease during pledge drives though.
Tom: Free studio time is free studio time we’re going to need about 60-70 do do all we intend… 23 songs…and that’s fast.
me: Is studio time stressful?
Tom: It can be. But if everyone has their shit together, which for the most part, we all do then it can be a lot of fun. A bad day in the studio, beats a good day at work
me: outstanding work ethic my friend. Do they provide you with an engineer?
Tom: yes. and he’s excellent, Mark Gifford
me: Is like the engineer for Metallica? Did you see their docudrama? It’s like Spinal Tap, only real.
Tom: I’ve seen clips. Millionaire assholes
me: Will you be an asshole when you’re a millionaire? I would.
Tom: Sure. I’m an asshole now. Why would money change that?
me: It would allow you to be an even bigger, more ostentatious asshole.
Tom: True
me: What does a big strong, rock star guy like you have for breakfast before a long day in the studio?
Tom: Coffee… maybe some oatmeal
me: Outstanding. My household is starting to stir loudly. Fatherhood calls.
Tom: Have a fun Sunday