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left to
right : Randy Sabo, Dave Sisson,
Rick Uppling
Rustbelt
Trio not only sees the return of
Three Blue Teardrops on disc, but
it sees the band back with its
original line-up…
Dave -
Like any other band, Three Blue
Teardrops has it’s share of
complicated relationships and
inner band politics involving one
another, girl friends, wives,
monetary difficulties,
conflicting artistic visions and
a ton of stuff that has nothing
to do with music. The original
line up formed in 1991,
consisting of Randy Sabo on
drums, Rick Uppling on Upright
Bass and Dave Sisson (that’s
me folks!) on Electric Guitar,
and we ceased to be a functional
unit around mid/late1994. Randy
was really the band leader and
did the lions share of the
business part while Rick and I
wrote songs and were the creative
“ninnies”. Randy got
pretty tired of doing the lions
share of the unsung work and left
the band and Rick and I were
going to just call it quits until
Kevin Lee Myers came along. He
revived the band and drummed from
1994-1999 while I took over most
of the business end with some
help from Rick. Kevin was along
for the ride and endured our
former label folding (Teen Rebel
Records) and both Rick moving to
Hamburg, Germany in late 1996 and
me moving back to my home in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in early
1997. How much can a man take? He
told us to “shove it”
about 1999 or so when a whole lot
of nothing was going on and there
are no hard feelings. He’s a
brother of the road. Fate brought
Rick and I back to Chicago and
some gig offers came our way and
eventually a reunion gig with
Randy was engineered and came to
pass where that old magic was
rediscovered. Crawling slowly at
first, but then walking and then
trotting the old original trio
was back together. We had all
aged a bit but the original magic
or mojo (je ne sais quoi you say
in French) was the same and it
really was something we didn’t
quite have with Kevin in the same
way. I think you sometimes don’t
realize you have a special
relationship until you lose it
and then IF you are lucky enough
to gain it back you quickly
realize how special it is. I
guess we are just stuck together!
Ha.
One
thing I really like with «
Rustbelt Trio », besides the
music of course, is the whole DIY
feel around it. You wrote the
songs, produced the album,
released it on your own label…
Dave -
Yes we did. Randy, Rick and
myself came of age in the era
before computers, the internet
and cell phones. We’re older
guys now. Back then, the big
record labels were cranking out
self-indulgent overproduced
irrelevant arena rock crap for
the masses while kids all over
America that felt hollow and
unconnected were connecting with
one another in a grass roots way
and digging on self released punk
and indie rock records, and
everyday normal individuals were
putting out fanzines and doing CD
reviews and true friends were
giving each other mixed tapes in
the same way kids burn MP3 files
for one another now. That has not
really changed much. We are
products of a Do It Yourself
scene and when we decided to play
some shows together again we didn’t
want to rest on our past
achievements and be an “oldies”
act doing the songs we put out
back in 1992-93 so we decided we’d
better roll up the sleeves and
get busy writing songs. We also
figured quite realistically that
1) Small labels can’t do
anything for us that we cannot do
for ourselves. 2) Big labels have
no interest in a band of aging
ruffians out of circulation for
so long. 3) With the internet at
our fingers we have the
opportunity to reach into peoples
homes in a way we never could
before with out touring
extensively into each and every
town and scene. Touring still
works great but the internet can
do a hell of a lot of walking for
you too. It’s just a great
new tool that evens the playing
field for everybody to compete
with the major labels.
Independent labels and
independent bands like us can put
our stuff out there for people to
hear. It seemed logical and it
was in our grasp. So we recorded
it on our own and instead of
paying a producer to sit in the
booth and tell us what we already
knew, I took it upon myself to be
the asshole that was convincing
guys when something wasn’t
good enough to be released and
should be redone or retracked or
should be re-recorded another day
when voices and minds were fresh
or to say something was maybe
imperfect but had a raw power
that was undeniable and should be
kept. I actually could have been
more of a ball busting prick but
we are also friends with one
another so I had to walk a fine
line between being bandmate, pal,
producer, etc… I think we
did pretty good under the
circumstances which included
serious lack of time and money.
Now, the big labels have proven
too that time and money also
doesn’t guarantee a great
record either. You just have to
try to do your very best. For
better or worse, we definitely
and defiantly tried.
After
previous problems with
independent records label, that
was important for you to release
it on your own label?
Dave -
That pride was a part of it.
Labels have let us down so far.
We figured we’d do it on our
own to see how that would work
out. It’s been a learning
experience for sure. We learned a
lot about what to do and what not
to do.
It’s
particularly clear when you
listen to “Rustbelt Trio”,
you have wider influences than
the usual rockabilly-psychobilly
thing…
Dave-
We really have always tried to be
eclectic while still maintaining
something in the neighborhood of
rockabilly or psychobilly. We
sometimes have ventured a bit far
a field of that in my estimation
but always with the noble
intention of creating some
interesting music. This band was
started as a modern rockabilly
band (back in 1991) and we
decided to not pretend the 1960’s,
1970’s and 1980’s (at
that point) didn’t happen
like so many bands that we were
surrounded by at that point in
time did. In the USA most
rockabilly bands were strictly
cover bands and oldies acts. We
had heard of something In the UK
called Psychobilly but didn’t
know any bands or acts really
until a few years later. We just
had the original stuff from the
1950s and some 70’s and 80’s
bands like the Stray Cats and the
Scottish band the Shakin’
Pyramids in particular who were a
big influence for their ability
to venture out of the typical
three chord song structure as
well as Crazy Cavan and the
Cramps and the Paladins, the
Blasters and X. We were all
really into early 1970’s
punk rock too (Clash, Stiff
Little Fingers, Buzzcocks etc)
and 1980’s American Hardcore.
We also liked reggae and ska and
blues and hillbilly and we just
tried to throw all that into a
rockabilly styled trio format.
Back then there was no Reverend
Horton Heat here in America to
lead the way or any other punk
rockabilly or psychobilly band we
knew of. That came later.
You
seem to be very attached to the
“rustbelt” concept.
From “Rustbelt Bop” on
“One Part Fist” to
“Rustbelt Trio”…
Dave -
We are proud of where we are from
for sure just like every band
from Texas goes on and on about
being from Texas. We’re not
from Texas…we’re from
the industrial northern corridor
of the USA (Chicago, Pittsburgh,
Detroit). It’s big part of
who we are and unless you come
from a place that had a real
industrial hey day at one time (there
are many places in Europe that
are similar) and you end up
growing up in the AFTERMATH of
something that seemed so
prosperous and wonderful, you
just can’t really describe
the desolation and lack of hope
that lives just below the surface
of everyone and everything around
you, whether it be the successful
old man with black lung or the
rusting iron bridge down the road
or idle mill sitting empty while
hundreds of capable working men
go without work. What a shame. To
know that the good times are OVER!
Fathers were making 12 times the
salary in the 1960s that we had
the opportunity to make 20 or 30
years later because the mills and
mines and the factories had all
shut down. No pension plans…No
medical benefits for you or your
family…no training…”Your
on your own kid!” There were
just no jobs in the Rustbelt in
the 1970s and 1980s and well into
the 1990s and today in some
places. Kids like me had 3
choices and they were the
military, flippin’
cheeseburgers or music. In a way
we really were scarred and maybe
we just wanted people to know
that. We are working class and
proud of it. Sometimes if you
have nothing else you only have
your pride left and sometimes you
don’t even have that. It
doesn't mean we think we're
better than anyone else, it's
just who we are.
I’d
like to go back a few years in
the past. How did an American
band end up on a British label (Nervous)?
Dave -
That was Randy’s doing all
the way. He was the business
mastermind at the time.
Randy -
It was pretty evident to us from
the start that we weren’t
going to be your typical
rockabilly band. Our influences
were just too wide and the song
writing was just too strong to
put that type of restraint on
ourselves. That being said we
also knew that it was going to be
tough for us to find a home as
far as a label goes in America.
We were sitting around the
practice space one night and I
happened upon a rejection letter
from Roy Williams at Nervous
Records that was addressed to the
band we shared the space with. In
the letter Roy was pretty candid
with his opinions about American
rockabilly bands and the fact
that he found them pretty bland
and not very original. When I
read the line where he stated
that he “wasn’t a
purist” and that he was in
fact “detested by most
purists” I knew right away
that this guy was looking for us.
I sent him a press kit with the
six song demo that we had
recorded after being a band for
only six months and a week later
I received a phone call at 8:00
in the morning from Roy offering
us the opportunity to go to
England to play the Big Rumble
and to record a record with Alan
Wilson. The whole scene in Europe
at the time was very new and
refreshing to us and it seemed
like a very good fit for what we
were trying to accomplish as a
band. It was a great scene that
welcomed us with open arms.
If
you compare “One Part Fist”
with your other recordings, it’s
different. The sound is very
“British psychobilly”
with the slap bass to the fore
and the guitar very far…
Dave -
Yes, I didn’t know that’s
what British Psychobilly sounded
like. I told you we didn’t
have any Psychobilly over in
America to listen to and when we
came over in good faith o record
we took a bit longer to lay the
tracks than we and the producer
Alan WIlson had hoped for and we
couldn’t stick around to
fight for the mixes we wanted. We
had to leave and Alan Wilson
mixed it with the engineer Graham
under time duress I’m sure.
We really like Alan as a person
and as a songwriter and a
performer and have respect for
his engineering and producing
abilities but I think he knows we
would have fought for some more
guitar for sure. Also part of the
issue of that particular session
was the equipment was borrowed so
we weren’t really recording
with all of our own gear and this
also affected our sound to be
something we maybe weren’t
normally sounding like. All the
performance mistakes we take full
credit for. Alan couldn’t do
a damn thing about that! Ha ha.
It was a learning experience to
be certain and many good things
came out of it eventually. Hell…I
think we were young and cocky too
and didn't know much about
anything. Young punks for sure.
Oh well…
Different
versions of songs from “One
Part Fist” appeared on your
second album. But this one, as
the label folded, is now out of
print, as is the third one. Do
you plan to re-release it or
maybe sell the songs on mp3
format?
Dave -
When we sent our original demo to
Nervous Records, the label wanted
to re-record ALL the original
tunes we had out at the time. We
wanted to record a whole new
album of originals since we
really liked our first recordings
and were selling cassettes (that
was modern technology then!) at
our live shows and we had sold a
bunch of them things. We wanted
new music for our American fans.
Roy Williams wanted us to re-recorded
versions of our old stuff because
the rest of the world had never
heard them. We compromised and re-recorded
half the old and half new. Later
Teen Rebel records released the
original cassette as our second
CD. Our second CD was actually
recorded BEFORE our first CD.
Understand? Yes we are working on
re-releasing these old original
tracks, some of which are really
sort of garage rockabilly
classics. Our engineer in
Chicago, Chuck Uchida had an
attic studio in Wicker Park in
the 1990s and he did some pretty
cool stuff on a 4 track and later
an 8 track with us. It was raw
but he ran the tracks through a
tape delay reel to reel and got
some fairly neat primitive
rockabilly and punk sounds that
seem to have a certain magic
timelessness about them. It’s
like listening to a Sonics song
from the 1960s or a Howlin’
Wolf recording from 1952. It’s
just primal and rhythmic and full
of angst and ages very well. We
were thrilled Chuck captured that
moment in time and even more
thrilled it was US! Who knew?
“Three
Blue Teardrops” was among
the first bands on the American
psychobilly scene with The Quakes
and later The Reverend Horton
Heat and Tiger Army. Now, it
seems this music begins to be
very popular in the US but in the
same time the new bands play
harder and harder and seem to
loose the rockabilly vibe. What
do you think about that?
Dave -
I will agree with that statement.
I am not going to go on one of
those “why these kids today
just don’t get it…”
statements but to ME, the problem
with some bands may be that they
are so wrapped up in the PSYCHO
that they forget the second half
of the word is BILLY. Personally,
I like the guitars to have some
twang and natural tube and
speaker distortion going on. Some
bands are playing with a lot of
overdrive distortion on the
guitars and running them through
Marshall amps with the gain on.
Marshall makes a fine tube amp
product but my personal vision of
what I like to hear with raw
rockabilly stuff involves usually
kinda crappy guitars (old
hollowbodies usually) with single
coil pickups and crappy old tube
amps work horses (Fender,
Gretsch, Gibson, Vox, Maganatone,
Silvertone, Harmony etc..) and
kinda crappy drum kits with
shitty flimsy cheap cymbals and
crappy tone filled hard to play
upright basses. The stuff regular
kids might have way back when. I
don’t think the music should
SOUND crappy nor do I think the
playing should be crappy nor the
lyrics too awfully trite but if
we are talking about rockabilly
or psychobilly, I like it to be
raw in a natural 1950s kind of
low tech garage rock sort of way
and not in a highly expensive
pedal board processed Marshall
half stack with a compressor and
over produced kind of way. That’s
IF we are talking punk rockabilly
or psychobilly. Also, it seems
that more and more bassist have
their strings about a micron
above the fretboard and dial up
their treble to make it click.
There is nothing better than a
bass with tone and to get tone
you need hard to play high action
and brute force to overcome that
high action. The brute slapping
force of a good manic bassist
adds another element of macho
manic violence to the music that
dialing in treble and careful
will not reproduce. There’s
just no shortcut for the sound of:
“IT”. I also prefer the
lyrics to be fun, or tongue in
cheek or clever and amusing. I
want to be happy. Life sucks
enough without hearing more
complaints. I also am impressed
with musicality when it shines
through all this. Lastly I think
there is a perfect tempo for each
song and a song can be ruined by
playing it to fast. I know as a
band we have had our share of
recorded tempo disasters and I
hope we learned our lesson. Some
songs have a groove or a swing
that gets ruined by speed. It’s
like fucking: (whether you like
fucking the opposite sex or the
same sex) if you start out too
fast and you end too fast , your
partner will completely
unsatisfied and everybody just
gets cheated. I just know what I
like. I think the music of the
past can be honored and alluded
to without dwelling upon the
minutia and nuances of it. Honor
your influences but don't dwell
upon them. This is MY OPINION
ONLY HERE. I’m no expert.
While
“Three Blue Teardrops”
took a break, Dave, you launched
The Gin Palace Jesters which were
radically different…
Dave -
Yes, I have always listened to
ALL kinds of music including my
favorite: traditional country and
western and western swing and
bluegrass and honkytonk and
various other American roots
music forms. I am into music
history and “musicology”
is the word I guess. I have
written many songs in these other
traditional genres and my
attempts at forcing inappropriate
material into Three Blue
Teardrops had proved to me to be
a gigantic miscalculation of the
musicians available. I decided
that instead of trying to force
songs down band mates throats
that they had no interest in
playing and probably shouldn’t
be playing anyway, I would find
some other folks who really
wanted to start a traditional
sounding, low volume hillbilly
band with fiddle and steel guitar
and lots of harmony and put some
of these other numbers somewhere
to have an outlet for them to be
born. In Three Blue Teardrops
down time I also figured the last
thing any fan of Three Blue
Teardrops wants to see is me
running off and starting another
Punk Rockabilly/Psychobilly band.
I already had one of those types
of bands. Been there…done
that. I also think that fans of
Three Blue Teardrops deserve to
have some uptempo fast drivin’
tunes to make them happy and not
have to deal with a ton of “NICE”
sappy music or sad honkytonk
weepers. It’s not fair to
them and is a betrayal in a way.
In the Gin Palace Jesters, I
wanted to create a totally
different band that played
traditional classic sounding
country and western and hillbilly
BUT do all (or mostly) ORIGINALS.
I also wanted create a band where
I could do something different
musically to prove to myself and
others that I wasn’t a one
trick pony. I am used to people
underestimating me but I’ve
never liked it! I also joke that
playing traditional music is my
retirement plan. The last thing I
want to see is a picture of me at
75 years of age jumping around
trying to be a 19 year old rock
and roller. I am sorry…Rock
and Roll is a young persons’
game and you shouldn’t trust
anyone over 35. I don’t wear
my leather jacket anymore unless
I am riding my motorcycle because
I am too old to be wearing that.
I am not very old yet and I can
still kick some ass but let’s
face it…time catches us all
eventually doesn’t it? I
feel like aging gracefully and
not like a member of the Rolling
Stones. I’m not ready to
hang it up yet but I’d like
to think I’ll have the sense
to know that moment when I reach
it someday. The Gin Palace
Jesters is a dignified way to
create in a place where I will
only get better as I become a
crusty dirty old lecherous
cantankerous hard drinkin’
man.
It
seems the Gin Palace Jesters
slowly evolved from western swing
to honky tonk…
Dave -
That was a manifestation of the
players involved. The song
choices are chosen at any given
time to best utilize the players
involved. If a song cannot be
executed well it goes back in the
folio until it can be performed.
We had a lot of western swing
players at the beginning or
Rockabilly guys that claimed they
wanted to play old time country
music but couldn’t or didn’t
have the discipline to play
sparingly. Due to personality
conflicts or creative differences
folks left or were replaced and I
prefer to play a bit of many
styles (Honkytonk and Hillbilly
AND Western Swing AND Rockabilly
AND some Bluegrass flavored stuff)
and the folks I play with in the
Gin Palace Jesters will testify
to the fact that I try to make
them play in all those styles
which is no small task for them
or me. I try to stress that the
Gin Palace Jesters be well
rounded and unpredictable in the
traditional American Hillbilly
Music field in the same way Three
Blue Teardrops try to be
something more that “just
Rockabilly” or “just
Psychobilly”. I think Rick
and Randy really helped me to
understand this is a good long
term philosophy if not
immediately recognized by the
general populace (and certainly
the music industry) as a positive
short term attribute. Think of
how Marty Robbins played so many
styles so well. He’s a real
inspiration isn’t he? I’d
like to think music fans
appreciate this approach but I
don’t really know anymore.
One thing is certain and that is
record labels hate diversity
because it’s easier to sell
one flavor to one small niche
market than it is to market
something well rounded and
actually…INTERESTING? If
Marty Robbins were alive today he’d
probably have his own label.
I believe you almost have
a new album out too. A word about
that?
Dave -
Yes, the newest Gin Palace
Jesters CD is recorded and
mastered. The artwork is finally
done and although it’s been
a LONG LONG road full of many
hurdles I am looking forward to
putting out a CD that I think has
a lot to offer fans of that
classic country sound. It has 12
original songs and 2 country
classics. Please be aware that
when I say “Country” I
mean that stuff Buck Owens, Ray
Price, Johnny Cash, Hank
Williams, Lefty Frizzell, Carl
Smith, Marty Robbins, Don Gibson,
Johnny Horton, the Louvin
Brothers, Pee Wee King and others
played. Not that modern hot young
country stuff. BUT it is NEW
country songs only it’s
traditional sounding and in some
ways not new at all but rather
familiar somehow. Does that make
any sense?
What about the
songwriting? I mean do you make a
separation between the two bands
or you just write and then you
choose where it goes?
Dave -
Mostly I just write and it
clearly falls with one band or
the other or sometimes not in
either. Sometimes I can bend them
to fit in one or the other
depending on who is recording
next and where do I need a song.
Sometimes I am writing them for a
specific band before I even start
because of the title or music I
have before I write the words.
Sometimes I go months and am
never inspired to pick up a pen.
I don’t know when a song
will come. I don’t know how
it happens and I don’t want
to know. I just hope it keeps
coming. I could write 1 song in
12 months and then write 12 songs
in 1 month. I don’t like to
force songs out but sometimes do.
I am getting better and making
forced songs sound natural but it’s
not easy because the best songs
only take 5 minutes to write.
Sometimes I write a gigantic dud
and it goes back in the folio of
dirty little secrets. Sometimes I
share my songs with a little
community of songwriters or band
mates I have developed and they
finish them with me or get the
ball rolling again in the right
direction. No song is ever the
same. You just make them up.
And you Randy and Rick,
do you have other bands besides
Three Blue Teardrops?
Dave- I
don’t think Rick plays in
any other bands but he plays in
church each week. He is a
faithful church goer since 1997.
I wish he would record and
release some of his original
songs which don’t fit into
my vision of what Three Blue
Teardrops is about. I think
however, perhaps they completely
fit into HIS vision of Three Blue
Teardrops. Ha ha…Time alone
shall tell.
Randy -
I try to hire myself out to
studio work as often as possible.
I am currently in the studio with
two different songwriters and
forming a side project with some
childhood friends of mine with
the intentions of recording and
playing live.
Dave -
Most of my time is busy with the
Gin Palace Jesters and Three Blue
Teardrops but I still am always
actively trying to learn to play
better lead guitar and will gig
with just about anyone who will
give me some dough to gig with
them. Even though I have to
attempt to be a solid front man
most of the time I really enjoy
doing sideman work and just
playing my instrument and have
gigged in the past as a rhythm
guitarist and singer with the
Hoyle Brothers, a lead guitarist
with Narvel Felts, crazy man
Andre Williams, crazy hillbilly
man Slick Andrews, as a Sundodger
with Bones Maki, Kent Rose and a
few other acts in my part of the
world and beyond. I hope to have
the opportunity to play and
perform and record with about a
million other musicians before it’s
all over. I really don’t
carry any inflated ego around and
just like playing good music. I
hope to get a gig as an acoustic
flat top picker in a bluegrass
band some day maybe. I’m in
this music thing for the long
haul!
A last word?
Dave-
Thanks for giving us the
opportunity to tell folks about
our music and thanks for being so
informed and insightful in your
questions and understanding of
what has historically happened
with us. That’s real nice
and refreshing. Thanks to all you
who support us and if you are
just learning about us and if you
want to hear some music, look us
up in the old computer “Interstate.”
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