| The Gourds mix a little ‘Gin and Juice’ with country sound |
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| Wednesday, 23 May 2007 | |||
It's not often that an alternative country band makes a name for itself by covering a rap song, but that's what the Gourds managed to do in 2000.
The band is playing at Floore's Country Store in Helotes on Saturday, May 26. Before the Gourds play that show, lead singer Kevin Russell engaged in a little back-and-forth with 210SA. You guys seem to tour quite a bit. Does it get tiresome after awhile? It does get to you after awhile, but we try not to stay out for more than two or three weeks at a time. We all have kids and stuff, so we've got to be home. We end up playing almost every night, and it wears you down. But I don't drink or smoke, and I try to eat as healthy as I can. It's really the only way I can deal with it. A musician who doesn't drink or smoke? I only quit smoking about two or three years ago, but I never was much of a drinker. I like liquor, but I don't like beer much. That's kind of strange because I'm surrounded by beer everywhere I go. I have one every now and then, but compared to some of the other guys in the band, those guys can drink some beer. I just can't do that. I'm more of a whiskey drinker, or tequila, but you've got to be careful with that. For a country band, you sure do appeal to a lot of noncountry fans. Country music as we know it now is a corporate endeavor. It's a product more than anything, not so much based in the culture anymore, at least I don't think music has cultural significance anymore. There's still a cultural part of country music that comes from peoples' beliefs, but it's about image now more than beliefs. Musically, we incorporate elements of country and folk, and since Texas is so diverse musically, we try to pull from all of those influences that Texas has. Including rap songs? I liked that song (“Gin and Juice”). My sister played it for me, and at the time, I was troubled by the whole N.W.A. scene, the “Cop Killer” stuff. I was like, “I don't know about these guys, man. I think they'd kill me perhaps.” But once I listened to the record, I saw that it was just a big cartoon really, a big joke for those guys. That song was awesome, but it was a challenge for me — a puzzle — to figure out how to play it. It took awhile, and there was no way to know what would happen. Nobody saw Napster coming, but that's what's crazy about (the “Gin and Juice” cover). It still keeps going, and it has a life of its own. Are The Gourds going to continue touring nonstop and making records? Pretty much because that's what we do. I mean, of course, if we had some kind of success or some kind of hit, that could alter our landscape, but I don't see that happening. That's just the way the business is, and we don't have a lot of financial muscle to put toward the radio world. I don't even know how that's dictated. I think you have to do commercials now to have a hit. We're at the point now where we just get in the van, make records and play shows. Clint Hale | 210SA |
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