Page 62 - Classic Rock (January 2020)

How will this past decade in rock’n’roll be
remembered?
Well, I hope people remember bands like The
Wood Brothers, and Doyle Bramhall II, and our
band, and Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings. But who
knows? Are they gonna think of Taylor Swift and
Lana Del Rey? It kinda baffles me what is popular.

The Tedeschi Trucks Band started out in 2010.
What was your mission?
Well, it was more Derek’s vision. He was the one
that was like, ‘Hey, I’m putting this band together,
and scrapping my band, and you should scrap
your band and come with me’. It was a big jump,
but I was like, ‘Well, I’m not gonna pass up this
opportunity, because he’s one of the best musicians
I’ve ever known’. And we could have done a smaller
band and made more money, but we thought it
would be cooler to say, ‘What is your dream?’ And it
was to play with a big band with horns and singers.

Derek started the decade clean-shaven – now he’s
“WE’RE ANTI-LAPTOP. got a huge beard. Which do you prefer?

I like the beard. I think the beard is great. He looks
I THINK IT’S IMPORTANT kinda like a professor.

There’s been lots of new music software released in
TO PLAY REAL MUSIC” 2019. Will we ever see a laptop on your stage?

No. We’re anti-laptop. I think it’s important to play
real music. People can feel the difference. I’ve seen
people with laptops, and they can’t really stretch
Tedeschi Trucks singer and guitarist Susan takes on the out and improv as long as they want, because then
apocalypse, laptops and her husband’s ever-changing facial hair. they run out of tracks. That actually happened
once, when Derek went to sit in with, like, The
Interview: Henry Yates Doobie Brothers, and they ran out of tracks and
they didn’t know what to do.
blivious to clock and calendar, of kids – like Greta Thunberg – that are really
immune to fashion and technology, on it and are trying to educate the adults, who Do you think the guitar will survive for another
the Tedeschi Trucks Band are are stubborn and greedy. It’s the kids leading the ten years?
blissfully adrift in their own era. anti-gun movement here. They have to. Can you Of course. Guitar has always been the weapon of
O Released in February, fourth album imagine going to school and having to worry choice. You can pick it up, carry it with you. You
Signs found vocalist/guitarist Susan Tedeschi, about a shooter? We didn’t grow up like that. We can’t do that with a laptop. You can’t always get
guitarist Derek Trucks and the couple’s virtuoso didn’t even grow up with cell phones. service. You can’t always have electricity. You can sit
11-piece band hopping aboard the soul-blues time round a campfire in the woods and play a guitar.
machine. But with the last year bringing political It’s about to get even weirder, with the US elections
upheaval – and a tragic loss within their lineup – next year… What are your hopes and fears for 2020?
Tedeschi can’t shut out the here-and-now entirely. It’s terrifying, honestly. I think I’m just baffled at The best thing would be that we would get a new
how you could show support for somebody who president that cares about the climate, gun safety,
How did you feel about the reaction to Signs? doesn’t even really care about our country. healthcare, and all these things that we’re trying to
People seemed to really enjoy it. And fix. And the worst thing is that the planet
it was extra-special, because Kofi is just gonna blow up and spit us out and
[Burbridge], who was in our band, we’re all gonna be extinct [laughs].
passed away the day it came out, but he “It’s a crazy time right now.
did such brilliant work on the strings It’s the kids leading the anti-gun As music connoisseurs, do you listen to
and everything. We were actually the usual corny Christmas songs – or are
playing a show, and we found out a few movement here. They have to.” they banned in your house?
hours ahead of time that he’d passed Oh yeah, we play ’em at home. I mean,
away, but we had to go on. It was really intense. What are the best bands and records you’ve it’s more like Vince Guaraldi’s A Charlie Brown
Because Kofi had made it through the hard part heard this year? Christmas, that kind of stuff. And there’s some great
of the surgery, and we thought he was gonna be Well, we recently saw The Wood Brothers, Christmas records by people like Mahalia Jackson,
on the up and up. So it was a big shock, and extra- and they were incredible. Our kids are both Donny Hathaway, Freddie King. And who’s the
hard for Derek, because they were so close. He’d pretty hip and turn me and Derek on to other girl I’m thinking of, who you always hear,
been playing with Kofi for basically twenty years. a lot of stuff. My daughter likes Greta Van who’s got that classic Christmas song…?
Fleet a lot, so I end up listening to them in
Did you find yourself writing about the world the car, because she’s usually the one I’m guessing you don’t mean Mariah Carey’s All
around you on Signs? taking over the controls. She’s turned me onto I Want For Christmas Is You?
Well, if you look at a song like Shame – there’s a lot The Jacks, and Billie Eilish, who I actually No, we don’t listen to that [laughs]!
of that going on in the world, particularly amongst really like. She recently discovered Ozzy
political leaders, and not just in our country. It’s Osbourne and Led Zeppelin, and she’s quite The Tedeschi Trucks Band play SSE Wembley
a crazy time right now. It seems like there’s a lot a fan of Jim Morrison. Arena on February 1.

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