An Interview with Mississippi Stranglers' Own Kurt Carlson By: Coren E. McLeod
An Interview with Mississippi Stranglers’ Own Kurt
Carlson
By: Coren E.
McLeod
The
Mississippi Stranglers hit the main vein of American Music. From folk to
progressive rock they cover a spectrum that spans from front porch hoe-downs to
traditional garage rock offering something for everyone.
The
Mississippi Stranglers truly are an original "American band."
If anyone out
there knows, I am really good friends of the Sonic Americana band Mississippi
Stranglers. Lately, the band has been
playing a lot of shows around the McHenry County area and beyond.
I got to catch
up with the singer and guitar player, Kurt Carlson, to ask what is happening
for the rest of the year with The Stranglers.
Here is what
he had to say:
UnRated Coren: I heard there is a big festival you guys will be playing
soon... Tell me about that...
Kurt: Yes. There are two in fact:
the first one is in Dixon Illinois called Gardenstock Art & Music
Festival. The Annual Gardenstock Art & Music Festival is Saturday
August 20, 2016 on the grounds of Distinctive Gardens, 2020
Lowell Park Road. Gardenstock is a really laid back event featuring the area’s
best live music and art on beautifully landscaped grounds. We are very excited
to play with some great bands and for the great people that put this event on: They really do it right!! The Stranglers will
play at 2:45pm. Ya'll can get more info at www.diggersdelight.com
The second festival is The Gram Parsons 70th Birthday Bash Heartland
Series on Saturday, August 27 at the legendary Milwaukee venue, Linneman's
Riverwest Inn, 1001 E Locust St, Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Everyone feel free to invite all your
friends! Gram Parsons InterNational comes to Milwaukee for its Heartland
show as this year marks what would have been Gram Parsons' 70th Birthday.
They are putting together a traveling
festival presenting his 70th Birthday Bash in Nashville, Milwaukee, L.A. and
Dublin. And we were lucky enough to get on the bill for the Milwaukee show. It
felt right when we talked with the festivals great promoter Will James about
show as we are big into Gram Parsons and all his work. So, it’s an honor for us to be part of it. The
Stranglers set is at 9:30pm with many other great bands on the bill.
UnRated Coren: What are the other plans for the summer?
Kurt: Well, as for plans, we are working on new material for the
upcoming E.P. that we will be recording this fall. (We don't have a title yet)
We hope to have it out this winter but I'm sure some of the new songs will make
their way into the sets coming up. We have had a busy summer and want to thank
all that came out to the shows. We hope
ya'll had as much fun as we did.
We are closing out the summer with the two festival sets and
just getting ready for the fall and winter shows as we move closer towards
summers end. Neal will be going under the knife to fix some problems with his
back finally!! He has really been sticking it out through all the shows this
summer and has really given his all through the pain. Neal is a real trooper
and deserves a big round of applause!!!
I, personally, will be playing with some guys from the band and
some other local musicians that we have played with. We will be working on some
songs from my old band from California The Spots to try and resurrect an old
ghost. I just don't want to see some of those older songs go to waste. But more
about that later...I will have more news about that as the project evolves. We
will see....... But The Mississippi Stranglers will be better than ever this
fall and winter with new material.
UnRated Coren: It seems like all of you have been very busy this
summer. What have you enjoyed so far?
Kurt: Well, just playing the shows and getting to hang with all
of our Strangler Family. I think for a few of us getting the chance to play for
our children at the festivals has been a great experience. We don't get a
chance that often to do that when we are playing at night in the bars and
clubs.
The show at Glacial Park was really cool. Scorched Earth Day Festival was great. The
Rosbrook Studio show with good friend Jay Vonn was another great night. As always, playing on our home turf this
summer at The Chain O' Lakes Brewery always gets us keyed up. The Stranglers opened up the live music
season over there (Chain O’Lakes Brewery) with good friends Zeppelin Unplugged. It was a great show. I think all the brothers and sisters (fans)
enjoyed that one a great deal. And, of
course, the Fiesta Days Block Party at The Chain O' Lakes Brewery with great
locals Greywall and Mark Hobbs was a blast as always.
The last show we played at KC’s Cabin was really fun. Greywall
put on a great original rock & roll festival. There were a lot of amazing bands. I have
been working with Curt Ames from the Chain O' Lakes Brewery this summer booking
bands as well so check them out!! Come enjoy some great beer and great live
local talent at Mchenry’s Great Brewery.
UnRated Coren: Are there any new songs on the horizon? What have the
Mississippi Stranglers been working on?
Kurt: Why yes indeed there are. We are working as I mentioned earlier
on a new E.P. this fall that we hope to get out this winter. (Just in time for the holidays.) Some of the
new tracks have made their way to the live sets and we plan to add more as we
get them' road ready.
This fall we have some shows and we will be showcasing a lot of
new material. We feel as a band, before we start the recording process we like
to play all the new stuff live and keep them fresh. Then we jump in the studio and lay them down.
We have been working on the new songs at our home studio in between shows and
all I can tell you is they are really coming alive. We are defining us more and more with every
lyric and every note...Its going to be good...real good!!!
UnRated Coren: You just played a festival at KC's Cabin on Saturday,
August 6th. How was that? How did you get involved with that?
Kurt: Well, Garrett (Stranglers’ guitar player) was in a great band called The Other Us (still
going strong). So, we did some shows
with all those good brothers at School House Rocks and got to know each other
pretty well over the past few years.
Garrett and Matt (Stranglers' drummer) still
have a great hang with The Other Us guys and they jam out in Antioch, Illinois. So, we are all familiar with each other’s
music. We had just had Greywall out to play the Chain O' Lakes Brewery Fiesta
Days Block Party with us. So, when David
Michael and Dave Baker from Greywall and The Other Us asked if we wanted to be
part of an All Original Rock Festival they were putting together, we jumped at
the opportunity to play with our rock & roll brothers.
David Michael put together some great original rock & roll
bands to share the stage at the festival with Greywall headlining. It was
basically a no brainier!! We got to share the stage with Werewolves an Hour
Thirty (WAH30), The First Rule, The Z Chord, Ashes from Stone, and Greywall all
in one night!!! Well, shit ,Coren, you were there...you know it kicked ass!!! I
hope those brothers will want to do it again next year and invite us back.
UnRated Coren: Anything you would like to tell your fans.....
Kurt: Well, as always we love all of our Strangler Brothers and
Sisters and want to thank them for the support!!! This has been a great year
for us and we couldn't do it without ya'll!!! Thank you so much for buying our
last E.P. “The Great Revival”...we can’t believe the great response we have
received from ya'll after giving it a few spins. The shows have been great and
we have enjoyed the hang with all ya'll.... new and old fans!!! We hope you
have enjoyed it as much as we have!!
The Mississippi Strangler Family is only growing bigger and
bigger and we are enjoying every minute of it with each and every one of ya'll.
We have lost some and gained some, but we loved them all. In these very strange
and confusing times remember one thing....Love your fellow brothers and sisters
and everything will work out just fine.
Thank you Coren!!
No, no… Thank you,
Kurt!!!! And the rest of the Mississippi
Stranglers!!!!!
https://www.facebook.com/MississippiStranglers/home
- Read the full story at UnRatedMagazine.com
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