"Truth is truth. Roll with it." The LEFT LANE CRUiSER VS JAMES LEG Super Sessions: An Interview About Painkillers.

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Left Lane Cruiser and James Leg have released a snarling little cur dog (balls intact) of a party album called Painkillers. Ten wicked cover songs. Mama told Papa...This is the summers rock n' blues wigout, man...got to boogie! 

Painkillers is the soundtrack of a beer and Scotch-sodden county-line joint. It vibrates with dirty, 'stonesy, grinder blues. My classic rock. Hell fire, not only do they cover Seger's Come To Papa, but they have the brass to do  Zep's When The Levee Breaks. Trying to breath new life into half these war horses, let alone a song like Red Rooster would be an undertaking for any band but Team Leg-LLC fatten it up, wring it's neck and kill that chicken like Scott H Biram would kill that chicken. 

These guys start out by throwing down a heavy super-rockin' cover of Junior Kimbrough's Sad Days And Lonely Nights that gets hotter'n a she-wolf in a pepper-patch on fire.  From there it's on to Hound Dog Taylor, Hooker, 'Stones, Taj Mahal, and that Robert Johnson guy.  You know it takes some skills to cover Hendrix and them and not sound like a shitty wanna-be cover band. An imitator. A pretender. But this road-seasoned trio, backed by Painkillers engineer Jim Diamond on bass (Yes! The return of bass!) and Harmonica Shah (on guesswhat) makes a fat and burly yet lean and tough racket that testifies to the almighty raw power of rock and blues. 

In a perfect world, y'all would be rollin' downtown blasting Painkillers from your Camaro's and Kustom vans, bumpin' it at every beach picnic and kegger in the woods around the world.  Rockin' Painkillers as you sit on the bonfire-lit tailgate of your girlfriends stank ol' F150, down by the river surrounded by all your friends, James Leg's organ like a soulful siren, his voice a south Texas hail storm. Joe's slide guitar a backwoods whip saw, Brenn's buttcentric drum grooves hunchin' on Jim Diamond's fat bass throbber as the sound howls through the humid hot night. I could carry on but look, this stuff right here is what your kids'll be diggin' in some Nuggets box set of the future. 

I got ahold of Brenn and Joe aka Dr. Freddy J IV and Dr. Sausage Paw from Left Lane Cruiser and Rightous Reverend Doctor of the organ Mr. James Leg to see how those  Painkillers went down:

How'd this album come about? Did y'all jam on the road and think Hmm...we should do something with this?

James Leg: We've toured together many times over the last several years....and have played together on stage as well as in the studio for Left Lane Cruiser's last release, "Junkyard Speedball"...so it was just a matter of time till we wound up in the studio for a collaboration.


Brenn: Yeah, every time we've jammed with John (aka James Leg - His Government name is John -rs.)  its been great. We fit together great, so it only made sense to do it on tape. Now we just gotta do an original album together.

Joe: We have definitely had some epic jam sessions with John on the road, both in the states and overseas. I have always dug the way John plays the keys, never heard anybody play 'em like that, nasty but soulful.

What was the process of weeding out? How many songs did you start with and how hard was it to cull it down to ten? Did you record other songs that didn't make the cut?

James: We prolly started out with around ten additional possible songs. Before we went to Detroit to lay it all down, we got together in Fort Wayne for a couple days and ran through several tracks to see what felt best. There were a couple that we recorded that didn't make the record. Also, a couple of the tracks on the record were last minute choices in the studio. 

Brenn: Some of them we had planned just didn't seem as fitting after a few whiskeys`.

Joe: We wanted a good mix of blues and classic rock. We also wanted to stay away from tunes we cover live so people could hear something new. There were some songs that didnt make the record but might be released down the road.


Who's idea was it to cover Bob Seger's Come To Poppa? You got taste, dude. Even if people don't care for Seger (my brotherinlaw swears he lives a Seger-free existence) you cannot deny that Come To Poppa is Thee Seger Jam. 

James: I'm a member of The Church of Bob Seger. Especially and specifically the first several records...when he sounded more like Detroit than L.A, though I can get into that shit as well. We toyed with the idea of doing "Ramblin Gamblin Man"...but its been done a few times and done well...in fact recently by Jim Diamond's band, Seger Liberation Army..."Come To Poppa" seemed like a lil bit of a deeper cut...and apropo...pritty sure i've said those words in conversation.

Joe: Seger rules! John picked that one so he deserves the credit. That slowed down version is sick, good call Rick. 
( I like to take forty-fives and slow 'em down to thirty-three rpm -rs)

What's the story behind the Painkillers album title?

James: Hehe...again, apropo of those four days we were tracking....I think we were goin through a litre of Jameson a day as well.. (not sure if that ought to be common knowledge...Brenn?Joe?)

Brenn: Truth is truth. Roll with it.

Joe: Its a party record and we were partying when we recorded it. 

What was the recording process for this like? Where/when and how long did it take to record?

James: Easy...and loads of fun. Like I say, we've all the four of us worked together several times so it was easy to lock-in and groove...made it a lot of fun to just be playin' these songs together in the same room with good sounds. I believe we cut the most of it in four days last December, then Brenn and Joe went back in January for a couple days and polished it off. We tried not to overthink it or make the process so long or meticulous that all the spontinaity and soul was lost. Most of the record was all live and got in one or two takes..

 Brenn: Like John said, little to no preperation to keep it spontaneous, and not mimicking the original versions note for note. You put the four of of us in a room together with plenty of whiskey, and a bottle of pills, grooves are gonna flow easily. I think we were all on the same wavelength with where it was going, so that made it easy.


Joe: Recording was a blast. We did it at Jim's studio (Ghetto Recorders) in Detroit, a block away from Tiger Stadium. We just went in there everyday, got tore up and let it rip. 

One last question: 
What's next? Whats on your schedule for the next 3 months?

Brenn: Well, right now Joe and I are fine tuning the songs for the new album. Figure on recording it in the next couple of months. Tonight we are opening for Helmet and The Toadies at big fest up in Michigan. We got Muddy Roots comin up at the end of the month, back to Europe in Sept/Oct, and then we are headed down south for a quick run in Nov. Keepin' busy on the road, but really focusing on getting LLC's new album finished up.

James: Just got off a four month straight tour in June...gonna sit (relatively) still for a few minutes. I'm in the early stages of writing/recording a couple of records right now...not sure at the moment what name will be on 'em, James Leg or Black Diamond Heavies,.... that will depend on the material and schedule. Other than the Muddy Roots Festival at the end of August, I plan to do no shows till around January or so. Even the devil got to put it in park and kick back sometimes.

Now doubt Left Lane Cruiser and/or James Leg will be coming to a town near you at some point. If y'all wanna see a serious live show played by dudes that play like it might be their last show you got to get out the house and go out of your way to see these guys. Give them your money. You know you need the orange vinyl! 
Dig:

JAMES LEG - Have To Get It On! - video

JAMES LEG - SOLiTARY PLEASURE

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I've had the new James Leg cd titled Solitary Pleasure  sitting on my desk for weeks.

Mocking me. 

The tense, yet meditative cover depicting two hands, fingers intertwined. Waiting. Patiently. 

Listening a couple nights ago it finally struck me.  
This is the album I've been waiting for from James Leg since day one.

  As you might know, James Leg co-helms with the drummer Van Campbell, The Black Diamond Heavies (BDH).They rule as East Nashville's dirrrty soul blues boys. Listen, I'm a drummer and I don't much like other drummers. Whatever. That's kind of a dick thing to say but It's not personal. With most other drummers I hear what they should have played. Campbell always plays what should be played. That's why he's arguably my favorite drummer working today and why it took me some time to connect. I missed the sound of Van Campbell. 
I know, right? Pfft. I digress. Sorry James. Let's start:

A warning siren wails through a blast of feedback and James Leg makes it clear that this is his new thing. And it's gonna get loud. Track one is the low-down grinding sandpaper howler Have To Get It On, which slides hard into the Sexxxy stony booty moving moaner Do How You Wanna*, which falls to the old-timey piano balled of Nobody's Fault But Mine. With that three song baptism  James Leg makes a seasoned and strong return. 

Whatever It Takes is a totally delightful surprise. It's like nothing you've heard from James Leg before. An English-infused, horn-augmented, pure pop, bitter-sweet soul nugget. In a better world this song would be a hit somewhere. 
This is music played by an envelope pusher who has terrific musical taste. A man Sinatra would have called,"broad minded." It's really been a pleasure listening to this guy grow as an artist. I've been following him for years now and while each of the BDH albums have been a step forward this album is a long stroll and roll forward. 

Solitary Pleasure is ingrained with James Leg's extensive knowledge of the rock and roll canon and the album displays his passion and originality to full effect. Granted, Leg's gargled-with-goat vocal style could be an acquired taste, but it's also a quality instrument that, like his keyboard work, will prove powerful, yet supple and dextrous over the course of the album.
Imagine Tom Waits doing Bobby "Blue" Bland covers.

There's some wonderful Waits-ian weirdness  spread throughout and Leg takes some good chances. Perhaps some efforts succeed more fully than others, but these are James Leg's ladies and he works them properly.

I'll tell you what: I have no idea where drummer Andrew Jody came from but he rocks, drives, and follows Leg's lead like Leg's ghost. Ace job, sir.

The barrel-rolling gospel piano rave-up No Time To Tarry ends the album. It features Leg on piano accompanied by tambourine. A nod to our man's righteous upbringing, perhaps. It's in him. It's hot and bound to seek release.
One of the things I dig about Solitary Pleasure is that it sounds like freedom. It sounds, from beginning to end, like he was having a great time and would be happy to kick if it serviced the song. He and we are rewarded by that ethic.

Solitary Pleasure is an album that bleeds rock and roll, from dirty garage blues to  potential old skool AM radio hits, to 1969 Detroit (occasionally played at the same time) then filtered and distilled by James Leg. 

We've got this movement of folks around the world who've absorbed punk, metal, electronic music, and all of it's mutations, then walked and wallowed backwards thru hill country hard blues, deep  soul, primitive gospel, and rare early rock and roll. These folks, like James Leg, like it raw, rough, and real.
James Leg's Solitary Pleasure reminds us why he is a Vice-Lord and High Worthy Icon of that movement. 

James Leg - Solitary Pleasure - Drowning In Fire - mp3
 

Listen. James Leg deserves our money. You know it. I know it.  

Alive Records brings us more good music than any of us should be allowed to have. They need and deserve our support. Some folks you back up. 

Go to the shows, buy the merch, support art.

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*Hey- Will somebody please tell me: Who the hell is Dillon Watson?  According to the liner notes the dude plays, "Impromptu Guitar Wizard" on Do How You Wanna. This track is fully frkn epic. The howl of his tone made me walk with a limp. Like i'd fallen while dancing to The Stooges playing P.Funk's Maggot Brain (that never happened so don't freak out). Anyway,on this track Watson plays Thee Best Guitar Solo I have heard in years, then makes no other appearance on the album. Wtf?

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