 Credit: Marisa Klug Morataya
On their head-spinning third full-length, Dance Scandal at the Gymnasium!, The Claudettes - Johnny Iguana (piano), Berit Ulseth (vocals), Zach Verdoorn (bass, vocals), Matt Torre (drums) - summon vaudeville blues, ’60s soul, jazz, and psychobilly via Ulseth's ethereal vocals, and a blast of piano, drums, and “Bass VI” guitar. In advance of the album's March 23rd release, Iguana took some time to talk about the album, including the story behind its title, the song "Pull Closer to Me," where he does his best songwriting, and much more.
Did you have a musical mentor? If so, who was it and how did they influence you? I had three piano teachers. The first was my favorite, and she was responsible for teaching me technique and building my confidence. This was when I was eight through 10 years old. My uncle Steve also introduced me to two records that altered my course forever: Junior Wells' "Hoodoo Man Blues" and Jimmy Smith's "Organ Grinder Swing." With any particular song, was there an “a-ha” moment when you knew the song was completed and perfect? I approached writing "Pull Closer to Me" with reverence, because I'd written what I felt were really beautiful, honest, romantic lyrics, but they needed music to go with them. I think I had those words in my notebook for three or four years. When I decided to write the song, I spent many days just descending and descending the bass notes of the simple chords until I found the right progression and the drowning music finally mirrored the drowning words. Is there a story behind your album’s title? I had written the instrumental title track (well, it has yodeling and "oooh"-ing, but no words), and gave it that title. I love naming instrumentals. I felt the song had a throwback, vintage bluesy feel, but also had kind of a panic to it. The image of a dance at the school gymnasium had a nice wholesome early -'60s vibe to me, which I think goes well with these songs and the sound of the recording (though, as the cover image and the music suggests, there was some chaos at this particular fete). Why did you chose to anchor the album with the songs you did? I'm always writing, and this album is the set of 12 songs I had written most recently. I got inspired by my bandmates and their voices and personalities, and this is the result.
Where do you draw inspiration from when writing?
The news, particular phrases I hear and mishear; sometimes I write the music first and just start trying out words that rhythmically and sonically work, then figure out what it might be about as phrases take shape. When/where do you do your best writing? Airplanes! I've written many of my favorites in little spiral notebooks on airplanes. Must keep those with me. Do you write about personal experience, the experience of others, observations, made-up stories, something else or a combination? Every one of those, yes. Tragedies that occur, personal experiences, my own unfulfilled wishes, and sometimes stories that arise from just the sound of a phrase or two. What’s the best advice you have ever gotten from another musician? The Nat Hentoff book "Listen to the Stories" had two great lessons: 1) By the time you're, say, 28 years old, if people walking past a club hearing you play your instrument can't identify that it's you just by hearing you (and not seeing you), then you've lost your way. Find your own voice, and you'll stand out. Too many imitators out there. We're all weird--be your own proper weirdo. 2) An inane question was put to Duke Ellington: "How do you score all those chart hits?" He answered, "I just looked around me at the musicians I had at any given time, and I asked myself, 'What do THESE people do well?'" Don't decide to have a bossa-nova band or a bluegrass group or a post-punk band and then tell your fellow musicians what to play. Find out what they sing and play well, and do that--you'll be hard to beat that way. Now, I did have a concept for the Claudettes, but I must respect that not every drummer will be great at swinging, or fast fills, or a tango beat. So I might need to change the repertoire if new people come in and out of the band, or let them play and sing certain sections the way that's comfortable for them, not the way it was previously done by a different human being. What’s the best advice to give to a musician just starting out? Practice a lot and never stop practicing. I make new musical discoveries every couple months at least, whether it's a chord progression, a blues turnaround, a walking bass line. If you get bored of those discoveries or are too busy to make 'em, you should probably get out of music. Website/Facebook/Twitter/Purchase
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