+ NL DAVE BERRY: BLUESMAN
Dave Berry released "Memphis...In the Meantime" , his first real blues album ever. A total surprise, so it would seem. We phoned Dave Berry who kindly supplied all the answers to our questions
DAVE BERRY: “The record was received very well. Over here in the UK, I have been involved in r&b blues prjects with Van Morrissson. Mmany people here do remember I was involved with very great payers like Big Jim Sulliven en Jimmy Page, so more people in the Uk would remember my blues roots than in Belgium or Holland. My first releases here were blues. I also did the Memorial for the father of the British blues, Alexis Korner. So it’s not so unusual here. Also I've done some blues type concerts over here for the last five years. During the years, I have always included at least 3 or 4 unusual songs, even in my sixties shows, like 'Mercedes Benz' (Janis Joplin) or 'Just a Little Bit' (Roscoe Gordon), things like that, and I’ve chosen the songs for this cd carefully so that people over here would look forward to my shows because they know I won’t only been doing my sixties songs. They allow me to do different songs here. So, R&b never went away, but the last four-five years, I have included more of it in my set.
What made you go back to r&b, it’s not the most popular type of music?
DAVE BERRY: I was first interested in jazz, later came Elvis and Chuck Berry. When we toured with the Stones, we listened to where it all came from. It was always interlinked with pop music over here and as you get older you can’t continue with just pop songs you know, you need to stretch a little and include more interesting marerial
Are you doing shows built on this new CD?
DAVE BERRY: Quite a few, for the last 2 years I’ve been involved in touring shows though I’m a bit restricted there.
Do yo do blues only shows?
DAVE BERRY: No, not at the moment. But I’ll do some blues festivals over here. People need to listen to the cd first, because many people still associate me with the sixties. They have to open up and listen to what Dave Berry B is doing now.
You chose you songs carefully, but you chose several artists (John Hiatt, Tone Joe White, J.J. Cale) that were not even around at the time. They don't represent the blues tradition. Only Arthur Crudup is still around.
DAVE BERRY: That’s why I did them, I did not want an album with all the classics like Crossroads, Hoochie Coochie Man, Mojo Working; No John Lee Hooker, no Muddy – though they were my heroes, I listend to them first. When I decided to do a blues album I knew the quality of the songs would be all important. I’ve always been a huge fan of Hiatt en J.J. Cale and I wanted to do my interpretations of contemporary rhythm and blues, that’s basically why I did it.
You rerecorded Crudup's "My Baby Left Me".Why?
DAVE BERRY: No particular reason, but I always get requests for my chart numbers and I’ve always included it in my set, so I wanted to include in on the album.
The band on this cd is called Tthe Junkyard Angels. I'd never heard of them before, but they're great. Where are they from?
DAVE BERRY: I chatted with an old friend about this project and said I wanted to do a specific album. He knows my interests in music, and he knew Julian Piper. Piper was enthusiastic to work with someone like myself, from the sixties, and agreed to produce the album. The Junkyard Angels are Piper's band. We did a show together, he with his and I with my band, separarely, it worked very well. Since it is a new project, I didn’t want my usual musicians, I wanted a completely fresh approach to it. I always did that; I've always had session musicians and a road band. They are good players and a very versatile band.
I was surprised by “heavy” sound on openkng track Mercury Blues. Was it your idea to speed it up and make it heavy, because I don’t associate you with heavy
DAVE BERRY: I’ve always liked that wall of sound music, like ZZ Top, I just wanted that great full sound of guitars and lap steel, I’ve always enjoyed that sound. Also I wanted to give the band freedom to play, not just 2 verses - guitar solo - two verses - finish.
Can you compare your present shows with those of the sixties?
DAVE BERRY: Oh, that's two completely different attitudes. John Lennon said their best music was done before they recorded. We used to do two or three sets of 45 mins, but when the sixties came in we were only doing like 25 to 35 minutes, something like 8 tot 10 songs. There wasn’t a great input of music and there was that screaming - the uadience weren't listening to the music. A very exciting time, but I find it more rewarding now. A normal show I do now is one hour and fifteen minutes, so we can balance the show. Now we do shows for older audiences and they enjoy it better because there’s more depth to the show.
How do your present shows sound like?
DAVE BERRY: A few days ago we opened with 'Route 66' to showcase the band.Then we’d balance it with things like 'Knockin On Heaven’s Door', a contemporary version of 'Baby Now That I've Found You', then 'Cajun Moon' (J.J. Cale), some old blues. We do lap steel on 'Honky Tonk Women' end 'Let’s Work Together'.
That's pretty uptempo
DAVE BERRY: Yes, it’s still veryrock and roll, my shows were always like that. For some strange eason, my chart records were all ballads (laughs). I remember coming to Belgium and Holland and I was still doing Jessie Fullers 'San Francisco Bay Blues', that was in my show then. I know people are surprised that I do a powerful show.
What’s next?
DAVE BERRY: I have a deal for 3 albums and I’m looking forward to working with people like Mike Sanchez (see tracks on the Korner Memorial cds) on keyboards. I’d also like to bring in some guests, not just Dave Berry, I hope Chris Farlowe will contribute.
© Eddy Bonte. FIrst publication in English.
MORE INFO: Dave Berry: "Memphis…in the Meantime", Blues Matters! BMRCD 20037.
Official website: www.cryinggame.co.uk .