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Tell us
more about you. How did you get
together?
Andy:
Well, we’ve been good
friends for a long while. Then in
2005, the four of us decided to
go on the ultimate music geek
road trip. So we piled into my
’63 Ford Galaxie and drove
to Memphis, since that city is
kind of the hub of the universe
for the music that really moves
us the most. And on the way back
home, it hit us. It was a
realization of, “Hey, I can
play rhythm guitar and sing.
Bill, you’re a fantastic
drummer. Slaw, you can play the
hell out of the guitar. Will, if
you’d just learn to play
bass, we’d have ourselves a
band!”
We drug our feet getting started
because of the distance between
us- Will and I live in Richmond,
and Bill and Slawdaddy live about
100 miles away in Northern VA.
But finally, on New Year’s
Eve of ’06, the three of us
got together (Will hadn’t
started learning bass yet) and
played a few Elvis tunes we all
knew and one or two songs that I
had written, and it was like
magic. The chemistry was instant.
Will had just started getting
into doing music promotion, and a
few weeks later he booked Janis
Martin for a gig here in Richmond.
Janis needed a backing band, so
Will asked if we thought we could
do it if he found us a bass
player. So, we said hell yeah,
got our good buddy Hank Fauerbach
(from The Ultra Kings & The
Dregs) to play bass, and went
from there!
Slawdaddy:
I've known Bill forever, and
through Bill I met Will and Andy.
We discovered we had some common
musical territory on a trip to
Mexico, and this became the
catalyst for the trip to Memphis.
We just had a blast. We started
talking about coming back in a
year and recording some songs at
Sun Recording - sort of the
ultimate souvenir. Things just
kind of happened from there.
Is Hamburger James your
first band?
Slawdaddy:
No, my first band had no name, no
drummer, no vocalist and featured
Danny Hanz (guitar) and Bruce
Daigle (bass). We did one
original ("Danny's Song")
and some Stone's covers - those
were good times. I was eleven
years old. I've played in about a
dozen bands over the years,
including one called Pegasus II.
The last band I was with before
Hamburger James was the Fee Foe 5
which had Bill on Drums.
Andy:
My only other serious band was a
ska band called The Eskalators in
the mid 90’s- yeah, funny
how things change. That band was
also my first foray into
songwriting. After that, I really
didn’t play with anyone
‘till Hamburger James
started.
Will:
This is the first band for me. In
fact I've only been playing an
instrument since March of 2007.
Andy and Slaw are patient as
saints and thank God for Bill
Pettus. I wouldn't be able to do
it unless I was camped out next
to the human metronome. The man
keeps impeccable time.
Bill: I
started paying in bands around
1980. My first was called "Prep
H"- a DC/Hardcore punk group.
I've honestly lost count of the
number of bands that I've been in
since then, but it has to be over
20! I've played everything from
psychedelic rock to swing. I
enjoy the challenge of playing
different styles. For the last
six years, I've also played
weekly with a gospel band.
Did you grow up in a
musical environment?
Andy:
Absolutely. My Dad is a musician-
he sings and plays guitar &
mandolin mostly. He was in
several bands when he was younger-
rock n’ roll, soul,
psychedelic- and was in a great
bluegrass band called the
Bluegrass Clippers when I was
growing up. I remember being a
kid and going to bluegrass
festivals and gigs that Dad was
playing, and I loved it. Dad also
loved country. So being around
all of that definitely helped
instill a lot of my love for
honest, soulful roots music.
Also, my Step-dad worked in
radio, and he’s big into old
rock and roll. He’s a big
Elvis fan, too.
Bill: Everyone
in my family is musical. I grew
up listening to my dad play
trumpet and my sister practicing
piano. We always had music
playing in the house, although it
tended to be my dad's classical
records. I had to discover rock
n' roll on my own which made it
all the more interesting.
Slawdaddy:
My Dad always played good music
on the stereo - dixieland jazz,
big band, pop, musicals and some
classical, but I didn't grow up
in a musical family per se.
How did you discover
rock'n'roll music? Through the
radio, a band, a record?
Andy:
Well, I was exposed to a lot of
it growing up. I remember being a
kid and loving the oldies station
on the radio. Then I listened to
a lot of different stuff as a
teenager and into my 20’s. I
was quite the angst-ridden teen
and got into hardcore, punk, oi,
and then ska. But, as I got
older, I started really getting
back into the stuff that I grew
up with- bluegrass & country,
which lead to rockabilly, which
is of course tied right in to
rock n’ roll.
Will: I
first discovered rock and roll
through my father. I was starting
to show an interest in music and
listening to the radio. I
remember latching on to a certain
Van Halen song. My father clued
in really quick that he needed to
do something. He brought home a
large box set of Buddy Holly with
Chuck Berry soon to follow. I was
hooked on that early rock and
roll sound ever since.
Bill: I
grew up listening to 1970s AM
rock stations. I had an ancient
old tube radio that just got AM.
I heard a lot of oldies and loved
them. Once I started playing
drums, I got into virtuoso
drummers like Keith Moon, Mitch
Mitchell and John Bonham. When I
finally got a good stereo, I was
able to play along with records-
usually 2-3 hours a day. My
parents were saints to put up
with all that racket!
Slawdaddy:
The Beatles- I heard the song
"I'll Get You" on TV
and that was it. I was aware of
rock and roll before then, but
nothing had hit me like they had.
My cousin had played "Meet
the Beatles" about a year
before and I couldn't stand it.
One year later I was watching TV
and that song came on - obviously
something had changed. It was
like being hit by lightening.
Elvis seems to have a
certain influence on the band. Do
you remember the first time you
heard him?
Andy: I
honestly can’t remember the
first time I heard Elvis- he’s
just always been there!
Slawdaddy: I’ve
always loved Elvis. The first
time I was aware of him was via
one of his movies - it might've
been "Jailhouse Rock"
or "Loving You" - it
was definitely one of the early
ones.
Your bio says you even
"stayed in the apartment
where Elvis lived as a teenager"...
Andy:
From ’49 ‘till ’53,
Elvis and his parents lived in
the Lauderdale Courts apartments
in Memphis. It’s still a
regular apartment complex where
people live, but they rent out
the unit that Elvis lived in to
tourists and other assorted Elvis
freaks like us. And lemme tell
you- it was one of the coolest
things I’ve ever done! They
have it decorated with period
furniture, and there’s
photos of the Presley family on
the walls. Elvis’ room is
even done up just like it would
have been in the early ‘50’s.
It was so freakin’ cool to
be able to stay there!
Slawdaddy: Real
good times - neat vibe. It made
me giddy just being there. Bill
discovered that you could rent it
out and we were there!
Who got the idea for the
name of the band by the way?
Andy: James
Caughley, AKA Hamburger James,
was part of Elvis’ Memphis
Mafia in the 70’s. The guy’s
one and only job responsibility
was to get The King burgers
whenever he wanted. And there’s
an absolutely hilarious story
about Hamburger James stealing
Elvis’ “kit” of
money and pills in Vegas and
trying to catch a plane home to
Memphis- but E & the boys
actually stopped the plane on the
runway and pulled the guy off.
Anyway- the Hamburger James story
was one of our favorite funny,
bizarre Elvis stories. So one day
not long after we first decided
to do this yet-to-be-named band,
inspiration hit me and I wrote a
song called “The Legend Of
Hamburger James” that told
the story. Well, I was totally
excited about it, finished it
that night, and then went to go
email the guys the lyrics the
next morning. And- I kid you not-
when I opened up my email, there’s
a message from Will to all of us
saying “Hey- look what I
wrote last night- The Legend Of
Hamburger James!”
Unbelieveable! He had written a
song about the exact same thing,
on the exact same night, and he
and I had NEVER talked about it
before! So that settled it right
then and there to call our band
Hamburger James. We had even both
written a line that said “Last
plane to Memphis”, and that
became the name of the CD. I
combined Will’s lyrics and
mine into one big epic ballad
which became the full “Legend
Of Hamburger James” song. We
jokingly call it our “rockabilliad”.
Will: I
first heard of Hamburger James
Caughley after Slawdaddy told the
legendary story at the dinner
table on Bill's 40th birthday
cruise through the Caribbean.
I remember joking that if we ever
had a band we had to call
ourselves Hamburger James. You
could look and see the immediate
spark in Slaw and Bill's eyes. I
remember that Andy wasn't so hot
on it at first. He didn't want
people to think that HE was
Hamburger James. Kind of the
Hootie and the Blowfish effect.
That guy will be Hootie for the
rest of his life.
You backed the late Janis
Martin, any special memories
you'd like to share with us?
Andy:
Man, that was one of the most
amazing nights- the most fun I’ve
ever had playing music in my life!
Janis was so awesome. It was a
crazy scramble to get ready for
that show. We weren’t even
really a band when we agreed to
do it. We had less than three
months to learn to play together,
put together an opening set of 14
or 15 songs of our own, and learn
the 20 or so songs that Janis
wanted to do. All while working
and living our lives, and having
to drive 100 miles to practice
together. But it was totally
worth the effort. Janis was
amazing! We had no idea what to
expect, and we were completely
blown away! Her voice was as
strong as ever, she was so full
of energy and life- just
incredible.
The whole night is a great
memory, but there is one thing
that always sticks out and makes
me smile. Janis had sent us a
tape of the songs she wanted to
do. I’m not sure when or
where it was recorded, but it was
very different than the original
RCA recordings from the 50’s.
When we were learning all the
songs, we usually referred to it
as the “bar band tape”.
So we learned to play the songs
like the “bar band tape”,
but we also learned to play the
songs like the original 50’s
recordings, too. On the afternoon
of the gig when we met Janis for
the first time for rehearsal, I
asked her if she wanted to do the
songs like the tape she had sent,
of if she wanted to do them more
like the originals since we had
learned both. Well, she said,
“Oh honey- those old one’s
are so boring!” We were all
so surprised, and there was this
weird moment of silence. Then, I
sheepishly spoke up and said,
“But… but, Mrs. Martin-
we LOVE those old recordings. You
had such great session players on
‘em. I mean, Chet Atkins…”
She just laughed and said, “Aww…
Chet was great, but he wanted to
make everything sound like
Christmas music! I really just
want y’all to rock it! Just
ROCK IT!” So, that’s
what we did!
Right after that gig, Janis went
to Austin and recorded an amazing
album. It hasn’t been
released yet, but it is
absolutely incredible! Rosie
Flores produced it, and Janis had
an all star lineup of the best
musicians play- Dave Biller, Beau
Sample, Bobby Trimble, T Jarrod
Bonta. Well, shortly after
getting back home, Janis was
diagnosed with terminal cancer.
And before long, she was gone. It
was so sad. But we’re real
proud to have been a part of her
last show, and we’re happy
that we helped make it a good one
for her. It was the first time
that some of her family and
friends had gotten to see her
perform, including her
granddaughter. It’s where we
got our start, and Janis is
someone we’ll always hold
very dear to our hearts.
Will: I
was the promoter for that show
and every time I spoke with her
she wanted to make sure I got her
a band that "really rocked".
The night of the gig, I was
standing to the side of the stage
during "Bang, Bang".
When Bill attacked the drums
after the first 'Bang Bang' in
the chorus, I remember the look
on her face as she spun around to
watch him. When she turned back
around to sing she shot me this
look with a huge smile on her
face and just shook her head -
like - DAMN. At one point later
on she walked over to Slaw who
was in the middle of another
ripping solo, dragged her finger
down his face and licked the
sweat off. The play of her and
Andy when he would sing back up
brought a lot of life to the
night. It was really fun to watch.
"You told me you get me a
band that rocked!" she told
me later. I've never been more
proud of my friends.
Slawdaddy: She was
just a real special person and a
true professional. About halfway
through that show, it just hit me
that I was sharing the stage with
the Janis Martin; I just got
goosebumps. That gig was a real
privilege. I'm so glad Will set
that one up.
Is backing artists
something you regularly do?
Andy:
No, the only one we’ve ever
backed was Janis. We’d be up
for doing it again sometime, but
it would have to be the right
person. We have talked about it,
though. It’s worth it, but
it’s a lot of work!
Slawdaddy:
That was one of our first gigs
together as a band. I just went
back and listened to her records
and tried my best to cop the feel
and groove - I wanted to my
performance real and true to the
genre.
Will: I
got involved in promoting music
because the bands that I liked
weren't getting booked in
Richmond. The first show I did
brought Deke Dickerson to
Virginia. It was a decent success.
I honestly didn't know at that
point that Janis Martin was even
still performing until our friend
Lisa let me know. Lisa kept after
me to book Janis Martin. She even
got me her number - so, I called
her up. Turns out that all I
needed to do was match her fee
and get her a backing band and
she would come do the show with
her piano man Willie Hayes. I
told her we could do it before I
had even talked to the boys about
backing her up.
Slawdaddy is a professional
guitar instructor, Bill's amazing
at any number of different
drumming styles, Andy is a great
song writer and singer. They had
always teased me that if I
learned the bass we would
automatically be a band.
I was pretty naive as to the
amount of work that it would take
to get a band up and ready to
back up a legend like Janis
Martin. Not only that, but I
wanted Hamburger James to open
for her too. That meant learning
an entire set of original music,
plus Janis Martin's set in less
than 3 months. This band has
always been about the trials by
fire.
Turns out it was too ambitious of
me to promote the show and learn
bass in that amount of time - so
our good friend Hank Fauerbach
filled in for me until I was
ready later that summer. We owe
him a huge debt of gratitude. The
band wouldn't have happened
without Hank.
Janis Martin's piano man Willie
Hayes became a good friend of
ours through that gig, too. We
were lucky enough to get him to
play a couple of tracks on our
record. That's him on Hammond B3
on 'Are You the One' and honky
tonk piano on "12 Ounces at
a Time".
Though your album can be
described as rockabilly/rock'n'roll,
you're by no mean a retro act,
tell us a bit more about your
influences...
Andy:
We have a pretty wide pool of
influences. Of course there’s
the obvious influence of Elvis,
Carl Perkins, Johnny Cash, and
pretty much anyone else that
walked through the doors of Sun
to Sam Phillips. Chuck Berry is
very high on the list, too. Buddy
Holly & Gene Vincent
definitely. But, yeah, we aren’t
trying to sound like 1955. There’s
so much more that we all listen
to and incorporate into our music.
There’s soul stuff,
particularly the Stax records
stuff from the 60’s- man
that’s awesome stuff. Blues
too- especially the real gritty
Southern stuff. Howlin’ Wolf
is just the coolest. I’m a
very big fan of country music-
honky tonk and outlaw country are
probably closer to my heart than
anything else. Buck Owens, Merle
Haggard, and I love Waylon
Jennings. Bill & Slaw are
both crazy for Beatles stuff. And
Will’s probably the biggest
Stones fan I’ve ever met. As
far as contemporary influences,
there’s Dwight Yoakam, Chris
Isaak, Big Sandy, Deke Dickerson,
Dale Watson- the list goes on.
Pretty much nothing’s off
limits. Whatever we write, we
bring it in and see what happens.
It’s going to shape up and
come out as some form of roots
music, ‘cause that’s
what we do. But we don’t
necessarily set out to make songs
that sound a particular way.
There’s a lot of fantastic
bands out there that are straight
retro/roots rockabilly bands- and
I love ‘em! And when we
first started Hamburger James,
that’s what we thought we
were going to be. But that’s
not really what we ended up doing.
There’s a whole lot of
rockabilly in there, but there’s
a whole lot of other stuff too.
We just write and play songs from
the heart, however they come out.
Bill:
My friend's dad turned me on to
Gene Krupa in high school. I was
able to see the legendary jazz
drummer Buddy Rich several times
in high school and college. The
first time I saw him play a solo,
I couldn't believe my eyes. He
had super-human speed. I've been
studying his style and technique
ever since. In fact, one of my
favorite parts of playing music
is studying and then
reinterpreting things that I've
learned over the years.
Rockabilly drumming is
particularly fun. I love the
collision of styles that you hear
in the older records. Many of
Rock n' Roll's early hits were
played with a swing or shuffle
beat, rather than the straight
rock beat that became standard
during the sixties. I love adding
in the crazy elements like random
rim shots and crashes. Bill
Haley's drummer was especially
adept at that. I try to put
everything I've learned over the
years into what Hamburger James
is doing.
Slawdaddy: There
are so many- I love good music
from across the board. I listened
to everything as a kid, thanks to
radio. I’m a big fan of good
songwriting. I like music that
has soul.
It's just curiosity but
what's in your record player
right now?
Andy:
Deke Dickerson’s new one,
“King of the Whole Wide
World”. Man, what a great
album!
Will: My
first child is only 2 weeks old.
I've been keeping the record
player pretty mellow lately. She
settles down to Django Reinhardt
and Getz and Gilberto. I can
always get her to stop crying
when I sing her "Mother's
Little Helper" by the Stones.
Bill:
Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings.
Talk about a soul groove that you
could hang your hat on!
Slawdaddy: James
Hunter’s “Believe What
I Say”. I saw him last night
(with Chris Isaak) and he just
blew me away. The brother’s
got soul.
What are your projects?
Andy:
As far as recording, we want to
hit the studio again in January
to start laying down our next
album. We’ve been doing a
lot of songwriting recently, and
I’m really excited about all
the new stuff! We have some other
goals of doing a 6 or 7 song EP
at Sun Studios of all our very
rockabilly-est stuff, and we’ve
also talked about doing a “heroes”
album- but those are the next
projects…
Bill:
Well, keeping a band going with
100 miles between us is quite a
challenge. I'm also raising a
wonderful son.
Slawdaddy:
I teach guitar and bass for a
living. My big personal goals are
to constantly improve my playing
and songwriting. I’m trying
to write as many (good) songs as
I can just to keep up with Andy!
A last word?
Andy:
Just “thanks!” I
appreciate you taking the time to
help promote good music! And, not
just from us as a band, but from
us as fans of all the roots music
that you help spread the word
about at Jumpin’ From 6 to 6!
Bill: "Laissez
les bon temps rouler!"
Slawdaddy: Rock
and Roll is here to stay.
Thanks
a lot guys...
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