Yeah‚ that's a good word.
But we tend to let things go a little bit and allow for the silliness.
I'm interested to know how Dave‚ Tyler and Ted came to be playing with you and Mike. How did that come about?
Well‚ they're Atlanta guys. Ted and Tyler have been playing with Col. Blues Hampton down in Atlanta‚ and they're just kind of on the scene and have been playing with everybody. We met them and started asking if they were interested in doing Scrapomatic and helping us out. So one thing led to another and it just seemed like there was such a great chemistry between all of us. I don't think it could've been better.
What do you think is the biggest difference between Sidewalk Caesars and‚ say‚ your debut or the second album.
I like them all. The first one was produced by Jon Schneider. At that point we were just a duo‚ so we used session players from Lafayette and New Orleans‚ and that was a great experience‚ but it was a different thing. And then the second one‚ I feel like there's definitely that progression to finding a greater focus and whatnot‚ and I think that's a great album‚ too‚ also produced by Jon Schneider‚ but more stripped-back from the first one. It seemed like a little more honest to what we were doing‚ more broken-in.
It almost seemed like you really had an idea of what worked best from the first album and then left out what you didn't really need for the second one. Stripped-down is right.
Yeah‚ we were kinda going for that -- just play the tunes as an ensemble and don't spruce anything up. And then we did Sidewalk. I think it's the most focused one. I mean‚ it's two guitar-rock bands‚ so it definitely has that nice edge to it‚ like the Stones‚ CCR‚ and whatnot.
I heard the Rolling Stones in more than a few places as I listened to Sidewalk Caesars. I thought it was a great reference point 'cause after Beggars Banquet‚ the Stones got further and further away from the blues‚ so it's nice to hear someone find that focal point of where blues meets rock and vice versa. It's nice to hear someone keeping it alive and keeping it focused. Do you guys do many cover versions of other people's material when you play onstage?
Yeah‚ we do our fair share. You know‚ country blues‚ Reverend Jerry David‚ Rick James‚ Otis Band. It depends.
You seem to stay away from obvious choices. I don't know how hard you try to find obscure numbers by those guys‚ but it certainly is nice to hear of stuff like that that's not so familiar to everybody.
We draw from what we listen to‚ so it's not really stuff that fell through the cracks. It's this is what I've been listening to; we should do this song.
Do you guys have any plans to do a live recording of any sort?
I don't know. I'm sure somewhere down the road it'll be talked about‚ but I think the next plan is probably to compile all the songs we're working on or almost done with and talk about getting back in and recording more tunes for another record.
Do you have enough material for another record at this point?
Yeah‚ we could probably put out a double album‚ we have so much material.
Is that right? Wow. How long a period of time did this stuff come from? Is it just a collection of stuff over the years that you haven't used‚ or are you just on a roll?
Some of it's old; some of it's new. We've always been writing‚ so sometimes stuff just gets shelved that might not work at the time. And there's always stuff in the works. So‚ we're sitting pretty with material.


CONVERSATION WITH MIKE MATTISON
I'm interested to know if you change your approach to your singing or your stage presence when you're doing the two bands. Do you feel different when you're onstage with Scrapomatic than with Derek Trucks Band?
Sure. With the DTB‚ it's definitely Derek's band‚ and my approach there is to be much more of an ensemble player and fit in with the group‚ which is a role I love doing‚ actually. With Scrapomatic it's a little more having to be a frontman. I'm not even sure what that means -- but a little more banter‚ trying to be a little more entertaining. It's two different things entirely‚ and I enjoy them both.
I was interested to see that you were credited as being the producer on the new album.
Yeah‚ we recorded it last fall over three two-day sessions‚ so it was kind of a quick thing just because I was doing so much touring with DTB. Our budget was quite limited‚ so we did it in Atlanta‚ and we kind of had no choice but to produce it ourselves‚ doing everything from picking the material to rehearsing it to arranging it‚ putting it all together ourselves. And we learned some great lessons along the way from John Schneider‚ who did our first two and was an inspiration and mentor‚ and we just took some of his rules of thumb and ran with them. And I think it turned out OK.