NL
- “I don’t know, right now it’s just kind of thing to light a little bit of a
fire under the gears of the train and get it moving. It’s like all these little
things are starting to happen like the Rukus Radio and with you guys with the
online thing; plus we’re getting ready to release this video and recording some
stuff. It’s like the water is starting to boil just a little bit, it’s not at a
full boil, but it’s really starting to steam”
BMM
– “Does it make you nervous at all?”
NL-“NO,
I don’t really get nervous about stuff, I get like anxiety. It’s not nervous,
but I guess I got butterflies. But for me right now a lot of things that, even
back to recording the album two years ago (the album is called Freak Tab),
which we’re just now able to release and put out there. It’s a lot of these
ideas that we talked about doing and seeds that we have planted a year or two
years ago are just now starting to come back. We are starting to see the return
on some of these ideas and energy that we put out there. So in terms of this
artist of the month type thing, we are starting to get a focused business
plan.”
BMM
- “It had to make you feel good that the fans are the ones who voted for you.”
NL
– “Yeh, you know it’s cool. You know the whole Facebook thing is funny because
we just started that page just recently; we’ve got 300 and some odd people on
there. But a lot of people on that poll were close friends that don’t really
follow the band so much as, you know it was friends that do anything for
whatever band you’re playing in. You know a lot of people from Chicago voted
for us and a bunch of my friends from California voted for us and I think Rukus
has kind of made a good name for itself around here. I think you if are part of
the regional scene around here you’ve heard it. And with the Rukus internet
radio stuff it’s easier for people to keep with what’s going on.”
Magic Jackson - Rukus Radio's June Artist of the Month
BMM–
“Switching gears; one thing I’ve noticed about the regional scene here is that
you guys always seem to support each other.”
NL
– “You know I’m a firm believer especially in a town like this, that if you
isolate yourself or alienate your people that helped you get a little bit of
anything, you’re fucked. Do you know what I mean? I’ve seen it happen to people
and I’m watching it happen to other people that are starting to get a little
bit of something; and the next thing you know, you’re not from Dayton anymore
you’re from Columbus are ya? You’re a band from Columbus? You’re gonna end up
hurting people’s feelings is what you’re gonna do. You know it’s hard enough to
have a little bit of success and remain on terms with people where they don’t
want to undercut you or start talking trash out you because you get something
to happen for you. You make yourself a target sometimes.
I’ve said this to like everybody, I feel like I’m
aware enough of regional scenes throughout the country, that I would seriously
put Dayton music scene up against any other scene in the country. We may not
have the quantity but the quality for what you get is out of this world. And
it’s not just the music you know; it’s the culture in general. We’ve got the
theater and the performing arts; along the lines Austin or Portland, you know
it’s all these towns that people go to be weird. I think Dayton is just as
weird and good at it as any of those places. But I would love to take three or
four bands from Dayton and showcase them and put it out there. You know it’s
kind of like what Jimmy is doing. But you also get people who don’t want to
include themselves because they don’t have to. You know that’s when you get
yourself into a spot where you’re going to burn some bridges with people who
really helped you establish your fan base.”
BMM
– “Speaking of which, Chubby and Kim Howard are probably your guy’s biggest
fans. They are the ones who turned me onto you a few years ago; how has their
support helped you guys?”
NL
– You know you could throw a rock and hit 10 people who would agree with me on
this; I think Chubby and Kim are the biggest roots of the whole region in terms
of this you know? But 10, 15, or 20 years from now, whatever happens to this
scene, if anybody wants to look back on, he is going to be the sole source of
information on all of it. I think about it all the time. It’s a blessing to
have him so close to Dayton, Cincinnati, and Columbus, but specifically
Dayton. I hope he feels the appreciation
that people genuinely have for him. It means so much to me to be able to look
back and see video or hear audio; you know give me another 30 years when I’m an
old dude and all the flood of memories there are going to come back with that
too, totally separate from the music. He’s really given a lot of people a lot
of memories; and what are we without our memories? I feel really fortunate that he has the
perception of us that he does or that he thinks, you know we’re worth a shit
and worth his time to come and check us out. When I’m playing and I know he’s
there, you know it’s like I gotta turn it on you know what I mean? I would love
to get a whole collection of shows and see it all you know? And on a side note,
he and Kim are two of the sweetest, nicest; if they were different people it
would be a different scenario. But everything just seems to fit because they
are such amazing people. Everybody just loves them to death and they love
everybody else to death. It’s a cool thing, as opposed to a guy who just shows up
to tape and you can’t have a personal relationship with also; they are
personable people which makes it that much better.”
Chubby Howard and Friends
BMM
– With the departure of guitarist Jeff May and drummer Justin Moore, two
amazing musicians, I wanted to know why the change in the band. “Let’s turn the
focus to the band. The first time I saw you guys was a little over a year ago
at Tree Farm. (At this time the band line-up was; Nathan, Guitar/Vocals; Jeff
May, Guitar/Vocals; Justin Moore, Drums; Mike McKewen, Bass). I asked Nathan,
why the change in the band?”
NL
– “Actually that was one of the last show we played with that line-up. The
line-up change was not by choice on our part. Honestly we try really hard to
keep both of those guys in the band from a long time. I guess it comes down to
what you want out of your life you know. Jeff May is a teacher in Yellow
Springs. You know he was our dude, we had something really special. Justin
Moore the drummer and I had been playing with since I was 18. We played in all
sorts of bands together; he was the only drummer I had played with in Dayton.
The thing is you’ve got to be in a band with guys that want to do it
professionally. Jeff is a teacher; he’s a success at what he set out to do.
He’s got a great job with awesome benefits; he’s married, bought a house, you
know he’s a success in his life and he has X amount of time in his life to play
music; once a week, whether it’s practice or a gig.”
BMM
– “It’s hard to build a band like that.”
NL
– “Yeh, so we had this whole back and forth thing. We want to do something with
this; we’ve already accomplished all this stuff with this band name, we
recorded a CD that we released under this band name, and I know you’re a part
of this thing, but how does that work? There was this big back and forth; I
can’t play how you guys want to play but I don’t feel like I should have to
leave this band, you know. It was a lot of politics and tough conversations you
know. You try to keep it as un-dramatic as you can and you got to hope you
don’t hurt anybodies feelings to bad or that your feelings don’t get hurt too
badly. The one thing I say, and I’ve had this thrown back at me too plenty of
times, is that music is one of the most personal things that you can be a part
of or put out there. You put a lot of your person out there, but at the end of
the day you can’t take it personally.”
“Those guys quit the band, so we never really got to
put out the CD. I never really got to send it out the way I wanted to because I
knew we wouldn’t be able to do the gigs to follow it up.”
BMM
– “So how has the addition of Gentry and Brockman changed all that?”
NL
– “Well Rob slipped right in; toward the end of playing with Justin, he had
kind of been, can you see if Rob can play this gig you know. Rob knew all the
material; he learned it real quick and we played with us once or twice. Plus we
are all friends anyway, so when Justin left officially, Rob just right there
because he had been playing some gigs anyway. And then came the issue of
finding a guitar player and Chris Coalt from Romeo Champagne, you know Danny is
one of my closest friend. So you talk about people working together, us and
Romeo Champagne for the very start of Magic Jackson have been playing with
those guys; we are real close, Danny’s like a sole brother to me (Danny Sauers
is the sax player for Romeo). Chris is just a stand up dude, you know all those
guys in that band.”
Magic Jackson with Danny Sauers of Romeo Champagne
BMM–
They are hell of musician too.”
NL
– “And as solid as musicians as you’ll find anywhere; they are professional,
nice guys, and no bullshit you know. So Chris learned all the material and
volunteered to fill in for us until we found our guy. Danny had played with
John (John Gentry Jr.) years ago in a band called Heavy Weather. He got a call
from John and was like ‘hey man do you know any bands looking; I’m putting
myself on the market.’ You know, I’m single and ready to mingle. So Danny hit
me up about it; this was just when we were starting to develop things with
Chris. Chris was actually the one that said if it’s no difference, I don’t feel
like I’ve had a fair shot at learning all the material yet but if you give me a
chance to learn it and own it then I can be your back-up whenever. So we kind
of played with him another four months, six months and we did this benefit
thing, he just fucking annihilated all the material. It was after that that we
said alright dude you got it, I’m going to give John Gentry a call a call now.”
“So then I called John up so we spent some time
working on some stuff out; we’re just now kind of getting to the point where
he’s starting to play some stuff without looking at his notes. You know last
night when we played, it’s weird but each time it’s better than the last. And
last night we were doing some stuff where we were just messing with space a
little bit and the word that kept popping into my head was deep. Last night we
got into some DEEP shit; deep, deep grooves. John is just such an incredible
player, the first thing I said to him when we walked off was that, dude you
take this band to a WHOLE different level. It’s just such a thrill to play with
him. We all recognize what he brings to this group; we’re not trying to kiss
each other’s asses or anything, it’s like look, you’re a great player, you make
me a better player. It’s cool right now the way the dynamic of the whole group
is. Mike (Mike “McNasty” McKewen) and I are really solid, he and I are kind of
like musical soul mates and that’s all I’ve ever wanted in a solid Bass player.
And Rob is such a great listener as a Drummer, he can throw down and he’s touching
on things that John is doing rhythmically within his melody you know. So Rob is
putting this thing out to John, John is kind of driving the whole thing; Mike
is playing Rob and I’m Playing Mike. It’s like a teepee, everybody is kind of
stacked up on each other; but it makes this cyclical thing where we are by
default in on what each other are doing. Last night was the first time, not
that I’m not conscious of what he’s playing, but last night he would do
something and as he was doing it I was just right there with him.”
Magic Jackson - From left to right: Nathan Lewis, Rob Brockman, Mike "McNasty" McKewen, John Gentry Jr.
This
is the point in the interview when a worship leader from a church in
Centerville came up to us and asked if we were talking about John Gentry Jr. At
that point it was just two musicians giving mad love to another. It was pretty
cool.
BMM
– “Well I guess we have to wrap this up eventually. Is there anybody you would
like to thank?”
NL
– Well, Chubby for sure, Chubby and Kim, you guys. I need to say something
about ICB (International College of Broadcasting). ICB just started a label and
they bought our first disk off of us and we’re starting to get rid of it. They
just sent it out and we are getting play on about 30 college radio stations. We
just did a video with them for a song off the CD; it’s not just a live footage,
but a real video.”
BMM
– When are you releasing that?
NL
– We hopefully will have it edited in the next week or two; I’ve been saying
that for the last two weeks. But yeh, we’re starting to lay down tracks for a
new studio album. We are just trying to get an online presence. We should thank
Todd Huffman engineered and helped produce the first album kind of out a labor
of love. He’s going to be doing the second one as well. Thanks to all of our
supportive partners you know our wives and girlfriends.”
Meetfinger Video Shoot - Photos by Magic Jackson
BMM–
“I can’t imagine doing this without your wife’s support.”
NL
– “Look, I’m so fortunate we are about to have this baby; it’s like I’ve had
enough failed relationships because of the music thing, when we met, and I
think it’s this way for anybody that wants to be a pro, you just throw it all
out on the table. Look this is what I do, I make NO money, I’m out till five in
the morning, and I’m gonna be coming home drunk. It’s just that I can’t give
you all this attention all the time. You take music away from me and I’m not
me. I’m a sad, angry person you know. So it benefits both of us for me to play
music as much as possible. I’m really up front about, this is what I want to
accomplish and it’s also rooted in how we can help each other so we can become
more fulfilled doing what we do. It’s like Chubby and Kim, if I didn’t play
music, I would still think that they are the sweetest people who love their
company. And they do that for a lot of people. I hope that they feel as loved
as they are. So, I love you Chubby.”
BMM
– Man I want to thank you for coming out and spending time with us. Let us know
where you’ll be next and we’ll be there.”
NL
– Next week we are in Columbus but in June you know we are having this baby, so
June we don’t have a lot going on. But we will be doing a lot in the studio,
doing a lot of recording. We are recording in the basement too get things a
little more fine tuned. Then in July we start hitting it hard again with
festivals and some local stuff. We are doing some free stuff too, that mud
volleyball thing, now that is a party. Every summer, it’s one of the highlights
of the summer. Nothing like watching 1000 people walk around all muddy,
drinking lots of beer, it’s a good time.”
BMM
– “We can’t wait for that one! Thanks again for taking the time to meet with
us. Keep us posted on the baby.”
Canal Street Tavern
Dayton , Ohio
Opened for The Bridge
Taped By Chubby
Ekoostik Hookah - May Artist of the Month 
