Band - Lost Possum 4.2.08 Interview with Brock G.
Lost Possum live at The Camp (Cape Girardeau, MO)
BP: My homeboy Brock, what's up man?
BG: Not much dude... I've just been hanging out, chasing a 2 year old
boy (who plays my drumset every chance he gets, and sings along to
my records), spending time with my woman (the greatest violinist I
know), trying to find time to see some live music, the occasional fun-
illed trip to Nashville to hang with my cousin, and sometimes I go to work.
BP: Ha, well first off, welcome aboard! You're the newest
contributor to BannedPromotions.com, and we appreciate
your interest. Hopefully this interview will introduce you to
some of our viewers, as well as attract some interest
about your band...
BG: Yeah, it should be fun. If nothing else, the occasional writing will keep
my brain alive. And if it turns people on to Lost Possum then cool. More than likely, people will just hate me after they read what I think... HA HA
BP: So it's been a while since the group's last effort. What prompted the hiatus?
BG: Well, we put out that first record right after we became a band. We wrote those songs in a few weeks, and went right in and recorded it, we hadn't played out very much as Possum at that point. So we shot out of the gate and played as much as we could for a while... At some point, we all just got busy, and stopped playing for a while. And a while ended up being 2 years. Bryan's been playing drums for Mike Renick, Bob's currently in The Theory, and Steve and I haven't done much at all, other than the usual day-to-day life stuff. Brandon's been playing bass in The False Affair.
About a year ago, we had written enough new songs to go record again. So we went down to Echo Echo and laid down Juggernaut. Then we all got busy, and it's taken this long to finish it... But I think it was well worth the wait!
BP: Is Lost Possum back 100% and ready to take over the world now or what?
BG: I'd say that right now we are at about 5% ready.... HA HA... I am lucky to be in a band with a group of musicians who could easily NOT play these songs for 2 years, and we'd have our set perfected in one night... They are that good... So when we do play out soon, I have no worries. I sing for the BEST rock band around, and I am not shy to say that, because it's nothing but a compliment to Bob, Steve, and Bryan.
Our biggest obstacle in playing is that most of the guys are in other bands, and that obviously comes first. And our bass player Matt, lives in Nashville, and he's in at least 2 bands.... So the circumstances will have to be right to catch us live.
BP: Now, I usually try to stay away from the "how did you come up with your name" questions, but this one begs to be asked.....who the hell came up with "Lost Possum" and why?
BG: I don't know what the hell it means. My uncle started making me music compilations many years ago. And he calls the "Lost Possum Rock". I have 35 CD's of this stuff... And I loved the silliness of the name, and it's my tribute to my uncle Dan, the coolest rock and roll mofo I know.
My girlfriend thinks we should have called ourselves Blind Marsupial, but that just sounds gay to me... HA HA.. I guess someone could start a Possum cover band and use that name... HA.
BP: Tell us more about your latest cd you recorded at Echo Echo Studios.
BG: We were fairly pissed at the local scene. We put a lot of work into our first record, busted our ass trying to promote it, and we felt like we kinda got the shaft in a way. There's just such a "whatever" attitude towards "local" bands. None of the bars wanted to let anyone play unless they played blues or hippy crap. And then Bob Camp opened his place, and that all changed. He let ANYONE play. Soon, the other bars in town started booking more rock, metal, whatever... Then Bob's place closed, and so went the cool music scene at the bars, for the most part.
It's not that we are pissed at anyone in particular, we just got really disillusioned with the scene. We went out of our way, and me especially, to let lots of bands play with us, and give the younger guys the opportunity to get out there, and then we realized that hardly NO ONE ever asked us to play a show with them. I could count the bands that did on one hand. Drivin Rain, Ninth Life, Rock Solid, Tone Def, maybe one or two more... Sorry If I forgot someone, I am getting older...
So anyway, our attitude going into the second record was, "Screw everyone, we're doing this for us, we don't care if anyone hears it." We tracked it live in the studio, with Steve's son Scott playing bass. We did the whole record in one evening. We sent the tracks to Nashville, and my cousin Matt Reno (of Velvet Friend fame) recorded us the most KILLER bass tracks of all time. I went back down and re-cut two vocals due to some lyric changes, and played an acoustic on "Can't You See". Aside from one or two solos added that first night, the whole record is live. And it sounds like we sound live...Yet it doesn't sound like a "live" record at all. I love it.
BP: Killer... How does it differ from the last recording Possum made?
BG: It's much more alive to me. It has the groove of us in a room doing what we do. The first album was done very carefully. We spent a lot of time on it. We doubletracked all the guitars. Hell, some of those songs have eight or ten guitars on them. And it sounds huge. And then three guitar players mixed it. So you can see how that goes. It's definitely a guitar record...
On this record, we left a lot more room for Bryan and Matt. They are both amazing players, and I wanted to showcase that. People know we have the greatest guitar playing brothers in the world, except maybe Nelson. HA HA! But I wanted to let Bryan and Matt come out and bring the rhythm! And I think they do and then some!
BP: Where can we pick up a copy?
BG: Right now, I have both records for sale on our Myspace page, www.myspace.com/lostpossum. You can download them both for less than a trip to the movies. And very soon, Juggernaut will be available on CDBaby, Itunes, Emusic, and on and on... The first record is already there. I have copies, as I can make them. I am doing this all guerilla style, burn and print my own covers... If we get to a point where we need to have some printed, then we may do that. Most people don't buy CD's anymore, so I don't see a need in ordering 1,000 of them. So if you want the real CD, with the artwork and all that, just come find me... Or send me an email on myspace. I'd put a few in Hastings and Pmac but I don't have a barcode.... Yet.
BP: Plans for a tour or a line of shows to promote the album?
BG: We want to get out and play some festivals maybe. RCMF and Bonestock if they'll have us, and who knows what else... Who knows. If someone wants us to play a show, email me, and we'll see if we can work it out. Then in the fall, we're opening for Zeppelin... Oh wait, I'm not supposed to say that yet... Sorry.
BP: Well I guess you let the cat out of the bag, lol. Brock, you were touted for putting together the Rites of Spring shows (an annual Spring rock fest designed to promote bands in the area). Any plans for a 2008 show?
BG: Who was touting me??? HA HA... I have no plans to do that this year. I did it a couple years, and I think I accomplished what I wanted to. I had GREAT lineups for those shows... think about it... Drivin Rain, Velvet Friend, Catatonic, Steerjockey, Rock Solid, Otto Modest, Anam Cara, This,Is a Virtue, In The Clear, and on and on.... And I realized during the last one I did, that even with great bands, four or five a night for five bucks, you can only get 100 to 150 people to show up.... Why bother?.... I just didn't have the desire to do it anymore.
BP: What are some of the best venues around the area to play?
BG: In my own experiences, Breakaways, The Camp, and Port are really fun places to play. We did one night at Ragsdales, and that was a blast. We have had fun everywhere we played, but those places were the best, at least on that particular night. I love all the bars around here... They're all good people...
BP: Some of the worst?
BG: The only thing I can think of was the night of City of Roses a few years ago, when it started raining. But we tore that whole stage down and were set up in Ragsdales in 45 minutes. And that was the most fun we've ever had playing. So it started bad, but ended great. We seem to excell in crappy situations.
BP: Who are some of your favorite bands in the area?
BG: Personally, I always enjoyed Rock Solid.. They were great. Drivin Rain is always a good time! I appreciate what Mike Renick is doing. I'm not normally into that kind of music, but he and his band do it well! My favorite band from the "area" is The Bottle Rockets from Festus. If you don't know who they are, I feel sorry for you... HA HA.
BP: Least favorite?
BG: The Tone Def Allstars... They sucked dude.... But in that great, white guy in a diaper way! HA HA.
BP: Alright, you're off the hook, lol! Any thing else you want to mention before we go?
BG: I have a line of adult products bearing the Lost Possum name if anyone is interested... You know how all the girls talk about that "rabbit", well they have never taken a ride on the "Possum". HA HA....
BP: Ok I'm not even going there, haha, but thanks so much for the interview Brock! Can't wait to see the new and improved Lost Possum!
BG: Thanks Randy, hopefully we'll be destroying folks very soon!
