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At first, could you introduce
yourselves, where do you come
from etc.?
Lance: I’m a
native of the Washington, DC area
and reside in the state of
Maryland.
Wendy: I’m
originally from Texas, but after
having traveled about the world
with my military family, we
finally settled in Maryland where
I met Lance.
What is you musical
background? How did you discover
rockabilly?
Lance: Rockabilly came
to my attention via a very
convoluted path. My parents had a
mixture of old records around the
house, including the likes of
Merle Travis, Chet Atkins, the
Ventures, Elvis, and the Beatles.
My father enjoyed the guitar
records and this is probably what
I was exposed to the most. So
given this mix of music, as one
can imagine, I was lured down
several different paths when
researching the history behind
this music. Much to my surprise I
found all paths ultimately
leading back to the same places;
early 50’s hillbilly and
blues. From here I was scouring
the record stores for anything
that had the evidence of the
background for this music, and
rockabilly was one.
Wendy: I grew up
listening to my parents’
Elvis records, so that sound has
always been close to my heart.
Lance introduced me to
rockabilly, or gave a name to
music I’d liked all along
but didn’t know what to call
it.
Lance’s interest in digging
deeper into the musical history
sparked my interest too, so I
kind of went along for the ride
and really liked what we found.
Wendy, there’s not
so much girls in rockabilly,
fewer who plays doublebass. How
did you come playing it?
Wendy: I had never
played an instrument before in my
life, but the first time I saw a
double bass played in person, I
fell in love with the sound and
the physicality of playing the
instrument. I decided on the spot
that I’d have to learn how
to do that. Lance and my father
bought my bass for my 21st
birthday after I went through a
six-month stint with an electric
bass. The electric was a good
learning tool, but not the
direction I wanted to go. I was
privileged to have many
opportunities to watch Brian
Freeman of Go Cat Go and Kevin
Smith of High Noon in action. I
think I learned quite a bit just
from seeing them play - and
asking them a lot of questions.
On a visit to Memphis, Lance and
I met Stan Kessler. I introduced
myself to him as an aspiring
upright bass player. He told me I
was too small to play the bass,
and that I ought to put it away
for good and learn how to play
electric. I think that encounter
steeled my decision to try even
harder. I guess reverse
psychology works almost every
time! Besides, I’m taller
than he is.
Lance, did you play in
other bands before Go Cat Go?
Lance: I had played a
bit with friends who were into
different types of music but
nothing organized. I mostly spent
time just banging around on the
drums in my parents’
basement.
You’ve recorded some
songs with Go Cat Go at the
legendary Sun studio.
How was it?
Lance: Sun studio is an
amazing place, the vibe in that
room is chilling?; there’s a
definite air to that place. To me
the room felt alive of energy.
From a recording studio
standpoint it is of course not
the studio it used to be. The
room sounds great acoustically
speaking and is very inviting but
without Sam Phillips there to
work his magic it’s just a
decent room in which to record.
During the heyday of Sun there
was so much happenstance that
went into the sound.Let’s
talk about Vinylux, when was it
created?
Lance: Vinylux was born
out of my desire to have a record
label and studio in the fashion
of Sun, King, Chess and Starday
records; everything done in-house.
A sound and a look with a
distinct identity created with
simplicity. Initially Darren and
I were to partner on this venture
but as the tide turned, the
partnership became Wendy, Ronnie
Joyner (Flea Bops singer) and me.
This partnership is actually very
efficient and logical because we
cover all the bases of operation;
Ronnie does the artwork, Wendy
the legwork and I do the
technical recording related work.
When you started Vinylux,
was it to launch a label with new
artists, or the main purpose was
«Go Cat Go»?
Lance: I’m sure
that Vinylux appears at first
glance to be born a vanity label,
but this was the logical way for
us to begin. Go Cat Go had
established somewhat of a
following and needed an avenue to
release music without all the
hassles of negotiating terms, so
why not do it ourselves?
From this small start our
objective was to startup with an
initial monetary offering from
each partner and let the money
snowball from that point forward.
And fortunately we’ve been
able to do just that and today
find ourselves able to expand and
open Vinylux up to other bands,
which was a goal we were aiming
for from the beginning.
Is there any unreleased
stuff from «Go Cat Go»?
Lance: Yes, mostly live
recorded material that would
require very tedious selection
and editing. We will actually be
releasing some material I had
recorded of Darren solo and with
a trio setting, no drums.
What about the Flea Bops?
It looks like a family affair.
Lance: Very much so.
Wendy my lovely, multitalented
wife on bass and my younger
brother Preston on lead guitar,
as well as a close friend we
consider family, Ronnie Joyner,
on lead vocals and acoustic
guitar. Having such a close knit
combo as we do affords a unique
synergy so essential to creating
music.
Can you tell us more
about this album??
Lance: The new CD,
entitled «Git to Gittin’»,
is due out in time for Viva Las
Vegas. It’s stylistically a
continuation of what we did on
our first CD; plenty of Johnny
Burnette/Johnny Horton influenced
rockabilly. The title track, «Git
to Gittin’», is a rework of
an old lesser-known Wynonie
Harris song. And I’ve got to
say; Ronnie’s songwriting
really shines on this new CD.
What about Wendy LeBeau
and her Beaus? It shares a lot
with the Flea Bops but the lead
vocal is held by Wendy. Do you
try to sound different?
Lance: We don’t
make a conscientious effort to
sound different. Having a female
singer with a different song
selection makes it different, but
we still like to play straight-ahead
rockabilly.
Who writes the material
for Wendy LeBeau and her Beaus?
Lance: Wendy has written
some songs. We have a song from
Darren Spears that Go Cat Go was
never had an opportunity to
record. We also use material
written by our acoustic guitar
player, Dave Moore, who’s
got some great original songs.
Do you do more
songwriting Lance? Your song «Hey
Little Honey» was very good!
Lance: Thank you for the
compliment. There’s actually
an interesting story behind this
song. The song was originally
written for a recording session
we had planned with Arthur Lee
May. Ronnie, who is a historical
baseball enthusiast, had contact
with Arthur for his baseball
career and eventually talked
music with Arthur as well. One
thing led to another and we found
ourselves entertaining the
prospect of getting together for
a session here at Vinylux studio
with Arthur. Well the date didn’t
work out and soon thereafter
Arthur passed away. So Flea Bops
then included it, along with a
song Ronnie wrote for Arthur’s
session, «Believe in Me» on the
first CD.
On the liner notes of the
Go cat Go CD, it says you had a
band called The Twillite Ramblers.
Did they release anything? Does
this band still exist?
Lance: Twilite Ramblers
became Wendy LeBeau and Her Beaus.
We were doing a lot more
hillbilly-influenced material in
that band, which again were
Lance, Preston and Wendy with
various acoustic guitar players.
We felt that the name restricted
our song selection, so we dropped
some of the slower tunes, added
more rockabilly and became Wendy
LeBeau and her Beaus. We never
released anything as Twilite
Ramblers except for one track («The
Coffee Addict») on a Vinylux
Sampler cassette that Wendy
passed out to attendees at a Viva
Las Vegas weekender a few years
ago.
Lance,
you made a session with «Roc»
La Rue Can you tell us more about
that?
Lance: This session was
organized by our friend Dave
Moore at his studio New Hope
Recording in West Virginia. Dave
is very good at contacting
original artists from the 50’s;
it’s quite the passion for
him. He tracked down Roc somehow
and arranged a recording session,
which resulted in a four song EP
on Dave’s label Wild Hare
records. The session included
Thommy Burns (of Atomics and
Saddle Pals fame) on bass, Dave
on lead guitar, Roc on acoustic
guitar, me on drums, and a co-conspirator
Chris Filbert (also of Atomics
and Saddle Pals) at the recording
controls. We had such a great
time and wound up with some very
good performances. Roc sounds
great! And is a great person as
well.
Do
you work alot as a session
drummer?
Lance: I occasionally do
sit-in work for other bands in
the studio and for live
performance.
Can you
describe your drumkit, your
influences...
Lance: I play an old set
of Ludwigs, nice open, woody
sound. Pretty Spartan approach, I
mostly only play with a bass
drum, snare, rack tom, hi hat, 8»
splash, and a 20» crash/ride
cymbal. I prefer the old style
thin, dark sounding cymbals
without much crisp edge. To me
the dark, swooshing sound really
swings.Influences for me mostly
are the old school be bop
drummers like Kenny Clark, Sid
Catlett, and Max Roach, Dave
Tough and Gene Krupa are
favorites as well. Small combo
jazz is very appealing to me.
With the right gathering of
musicians this is the most
exciting.
My personal approach to playing
drums is to be supportive of the
musical situation while adding
color and texture without over-playing.
So much can be done with just
even a snare drum!
You
also toured with Dave Stuckey...
Lance: Dave was
organizing his first tour to
support his new CD on Hightone,
«Get a Load of This», and
needed a drummer. His normal
roundup was not available so he
gave me a call and I was able to
work my schedule to support him.
We had such a great lineup that
included Billy Horton on bass,
Jeremy Wakefield on steel, and
Dave Biller on lead guitar. We
toured through the Midwest,
Austin, Texas up through Chicago,
Illinois. I actually recorded
every night we performed. Who
knows, maybe it’ll make a
nice CD someday.
What are the plans for
Vinylux?? I guess there’s a
album with Dave Biller and Billy
Horton in the near future (Of
course it is now released and
it's great - Virgil)
Lance: Vinylux continues
to grow and we have many plans in
place for new CD releases,
including a compilation. This
comp will bring together various
singers we work with as the
Vinylux Variety Show. The Biller
and Horton release is available
now, entitled «Texotica.» This
is a great instrumental CD with
everything from the stylings of
Jimmy Bryant/Speedy West to Les
Paul and even a bit of Martin
Denny.
To finish a word about
this «Go Cat Go» reunion and
Eddie Clendening?
Lance: For now Go Cat Go
is only getting together to
perform at two festivals. Eddie
is a young, exciting new talent
that I feel will help us, as Go
Cat Go, capture the spirit of the
music we made with Darren.
Vinylux
on the web : http://www.vinylux.com/
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