Night Out: In the Mood
April 12, 2002
Unless you're a time traveler or have a vivid imagination, then Stevie Ray Vaughan's live shows have been over since 1990. Then again, there's Rude Mood, a Stevie Ray tribute band led by Scott Carlson, who does that Texas blues thang with real religious fervor. He'll be the shredding guitarist under the big black hat tonight and tomorrow at Alexander's in Ventura.
In addition to Carlson, who sings and lets his fast fingers work that beat-up Stratocaster, the band features Maggi Hall on bass and vocals and Ruben Delarosa on drums.
By day, Carlson is a lobbyist lawyer representing the nursing home industry. But at night, he's Stevie Ray. The jobs aren't quite as disparate as you might think. He deals with legal briefs at the office, and he deals with a different kind of briefs on stage: He and the band, you see, have an unusual marketing campaign -- they pass out thong underwear to any females who may be in a (rude) mood or just on a budget. Carlson talked about all this and more recently.
So how's the Rude Mood biz these days?
We started off as a Stevie Ray Vaughan tribute band, but since we've only wanted to play locally, we've had to become more diverse in our music. The band is what I guess you would call a serious hobby band. We just play to have fun. The bass player is a mother with two kids -- she's very talented. And I have a family and career, so we only perform at venues where we can have fun.
Were you always a Stevie Ray fan?
No. When I first started playing guitar, I was more into being a heavy metal shredder. I worshipped guitar gods like Eddie Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and Jimmy Page. I was always in bands like that through college gigging around Boston.
So when did Rude Mood get started?
I moved to Los Angeles in 1986 when my then-girlfriend and now wife got into U.S.C. medical school. Then I got serious about life, started a full-time job, got married and started a family. Then in 1994 we moved to Ventura and I started thinking that I really missed playing the guitar. I was still a closet guitar player, but I never made the commitment to play with a band since I never checked out the local music scene. Then a friend wanted to have a big New Year's Eve party for the new millennium and asked me if I would put a band together. I had a great time and remembered back to all the fun I had in all the prior bands. So I asked my wife if I could set aside a little time for a hobby-band and she agreed.
So why Stevie Ray and not Lawrence Welk or someone else?
By the time of that New Year's party in 2000, I had moved on from all the heavy metal and was listening to more blues-rock and Stevie Ray Vaughan's music. I decided that I wanted to do a tribute band, but the problem was I had all my guitars set up to play heavy metal lead guitar -- all that two-hand tapping and really fast playing. The main thing with Stevie Ray Vaughan is that it's all about the tone and the feeling. Most guitar players use very light-gauge strings, but the only way to come close to Stevie's tone is to use strings about the thickness of piano wire. I spent a few months practicing for hours and hours, building up my hand strength so that I could play his songs. I bought a new Fender SRV Strat and paid Tracy Longo to replicate it like SRV's #1 guitar. It has every dent and scratch that Stevie's famous Strat has and that's what I play when I do the tribute. It looks great.
So obviously you do the Stevie thing, but other stuff too?
Yeah. We used to do the tribute stuff exclusively at places like the Ban-Dar when it was still open, but I quickly realized that unless I wanted to travel to Vegas and parts unknown, I was going to have to play songs that the general club audiences wanted as well, so that's what we've settled into now. Half of our songs are Stevie Ray songs, and we play three long sets each night. About 15 minutes of each set is our best Stevie Ray stuff and the rest is blues-rock cover songs, classic rock and funk music.
So when the drunks shout for "Free Bird," you can pull it off?
Well, we've tried to stay away from "Free Bird" but we sometimes tack it onto the end of "Sweet Home Alabama." We've probably played the entire song twice. I remember it back from my high school days. But more than that, I really like Billy Gibbons, the guitar player from ZZ Top. We do a lot of Pretenders -- Maggi sings that stuff. She has a really great range, so she can sing songs by AC/DC, Guns & Roses and Led Zeppelin, and it sounds great because it almost takes a woman to sing that high.
What do you think is the attraction of Stevie music?
Obviously, I love his music and I can listen to it for days and days. I've tried to get into other blues artists, and I must admit that I get tired of them after a short time. And there's the way Stevie plays -- he plays off the beat very often -- and if you are a guitar player, you'll recognize a lot of the licks he's been playing, but it's certainly not executed in the same manner as everyone else. He put a fresh spin on everything with the Hendrix influence and being a slave to creating a great guitar tone.
Did you ever see him play?
I did. I saw him play live in 1983, but then I was still in my Van Halen- AC/DC phase and a friend practically had to drag me to the show. The one memory I have is that the guy played with such intensity, with his face looking liking he was sucking on a lemon and his body contorting with every deep blues bend. Then he closed the show by playing the guitar behind his back and then holding it only by the whammy bar and just bouncing it all over the stage while it wailed with feedback. What a great ending to Voodoo Chile!
So you took the final step when you got The Hat?
Yeah, that's right. I have a replica of Stevie's famous black hat. I actually did spend a lot of time putting together his whole costume -- the same necklaces he used to wear and guitar straps. If someone's really into Stevie Ray Vaughan, then they're able to recognize some of things that I wear for the Tribute.
So the Master Plan is what?
We've actually started writing some original material, but we don't have any pretensions of trying to make it. We're just trying to have a good time. Our big master plan is just to have fun. One of the things we've done recently is have some women's black thong underwear made with the words "I'm in a Rude Mood" printed on the front, so very often at our shows we hand those out, and they have been real popular.
What do you think of the local music scene?
I do feel sorry for the bands that are trying to get a record deal. But you have to ask yourself, honestly, if you were really trying to make it in the music industry, you wouldn't be playing here, you know? As for a band like ours, which is just a serious hobby, as long as we can find places like O'Leary's Side Bar or Alexander's, where the people are really into the music, we are actually very happy with things. We just play to the crowd, but generally, we play our harder rock stuff later.
What was your strangest gig?
Once while I was still in college at Tufts University, we played this frat party that was right out of a scene from the movie Animal House. We did our thing for a set and as it turned out, we were opening for the Violent Femmes, which was the weirdest band I've ever seen. They had an acoustic guitar, standup bass and the drummer stood up while playing a sparse kit. Their songs seemed really wierd at the time, but now I'm familiar with them as classic alternative songs of the 80s. Goes to show you that you never can tell what the people will like next.
RUDE MOOD
The tribute band plays Stevie Ray Vaughan hits and classic cover tunes from 8 p.m. to midnight today and Saturday at Alexander's, 1080 Navigator Drive, Ventura. Call 658-2000 for information.
Copyright 2002, Ventura County Star. All Rights Reserved.
Bill Locey - Ventura County Star News (Apr 12, 2002)