Mick Skidmore
2003-12-29
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The Many Incarnations of Moby Grape
Mick Skidmore 2003-12-29 |
Although Moby Grape was a contemporary of the Jefferson Airplane,
Quicksilver Messenger Service, Big Brother and the Holding Company
and the Grateful Dead, they were different in many ways. They
probably should have changed their name to Bad Luck, because despite
making one of the all-time great debut albums, the eponymous Moby
Grape released on Columbia in 1967, the band never made it beyond
cult status, much of which was based on the eccentric behavior of
the now deceased rhythm guitarist Alexander "Skip" Spence rather
than their exceptional musical prowess.
You name it, and it went wrong. Their manager trademarked their name
which resulted in an ongoing legal battle that lasted nearly
three-decades. They attempted a "super session" album for its
follow-up Wow. Adding Mike Bloomfield and Al Kooper to a second disc
titled Grape Jam. However, Bloomfield one of the greatest white
blues guitarists ever plays piano. On the main album they added
gimmicky psychedelic embellishments and included one track that ran
at not 33 1/3 but at 78rpm. The production overshadowed the music,
although "Can't be So Bad" is a killer blues-rocker not a million
miles from Steely Dan's "Reeling In the Years," released a decade
later.
Spence's drug experimentation was fundamental in the band
fragmenting. Spence made the legendary Oar solo album in 1969. The
Grape made the lackluster Truly Fine Citizen around the same time
and followed up with the much stronger '69. Other albums include 20
Granite Creek, Moby Grape (referred to as the heart album) and Live
Grape. The band has continued in various configurations on and off
ever since, sometimes under odd names, Fine Wine, The Legendary
Grape, Live Grape, Mosley Grape, several of the reunions have seen
the original line-up get back together.
The Grape had – and always had - a powerful sound but unlike their
contemporaries was more into structured songs than free-form
jamming, but with a three guitar line-up (Jerry Miller, lead, Skip
Spence, rhythm and Peter Lewis, finger-picked) and five vocalists
they had a really full and dynamic sound that should have made them
untouchable. They had the power and intensity to be a major act, but
it just fizzled out. The rhythm section of Don Stevenson on drums
and Bob Mosley on bass was also powerful. Musically they merged
folk-rock harmonies with a tenacious rock and roll sensibility. Kind
of heyday Byrds fueled by Rolling Stones rock and roll energy and
bolstered with blue-eyed soul, country and blues energy, especially
notable in Miller's furious playing.
Given the legal hassles that the band has encountered finding their
albums is no easy task, but a truly worthwhile one if you can find
it, the two-disc Columbia/Legacy collection Vintage-The Very Best of
Moby Grape which boast great sound by Bob Urwin. It contains 48
tracks from their first four albums including a number of unreleased
cuts. More recently the folks at San Francisco's DIG music have
released an album under the title of The Legendary Grape. The album
was original released back in 1990 and was a result of one of the
‘reunions' of all five members (Spence's contributions are
relatively minor due to his health conditions). Originally released
as a 500-copy cassette only edition it has now been digitally
restored and is bolstered by eight additional songs recorded around
the same time. The album features much of the bands strong points
with the choir-like harmonies, buoyant country rock and fluid jazz
and blues soloing of Miller, the powerhouse vocals of Mosley and
great songs. But things get better as buoyed by the release of the
album the remaining four members are talking about touring again
(assuming that something else doesn't go wrong) and that there's a
savvy promoter out there that's interested (hint, hint).
Given all that is going on it seemed only appropriate to track down
guitarist Jerry Miller and chat about things past, present and
future. Miller has a number of solo projects going and two albums
that are well-worth checking out, they are Live at Cole's by Jerry
Miller and Co., a very jazzy affair and the more rock-blues of Life
Is Like That by the Jerry Miller Band which features members of
Santana and the Doobie Brothers, Merl Saunders and more, but make no
mistake Moby Grape was and still is one of the great rock bands. If,
as indicated they get to tour again. Check them out it'll be more
than worth it. Perhaps after three decades of bad luck things will
change for them, but regardless, I know the music will be great.
M.S. . I'm trying to get some of the younger fans interested in Moby
Grape especially as you have the new release and I think the music
is still valid and fresh.
J.M. Thank you Mick, you are damn right that it's still valid. I'm
boogieing and still playing all the time. I'm playing in three or
four bands at the moment. I'm playing with Tiran Porter and Dale
Ockerman from the Doobie's in Santa Cruz in October, Fuzzy John from
the Sons of Champlin on drums. It's some good people, Bob Holton.
I've got a band up here in the North West it's called Jerry Miller
and the All Stars. There's just some good people, Jerry Shelton from
Heart and Chris Leighton on drums, and Ed Vance on B3 organ.
M.S. Vance is on that Jerry Miller and Company album that you
released a few years back.
J.M. Right, He is really good. There's also a possibility of Moby
Grape or myself getting over to England this winter. That'd be
killer. I'm just playing all the time, three and four nights a week.
M.S. Why don't you talk a little bit about early Moby Grape? What
happened, there's a lot of legend but what are the facts?
J.M. In any interview I have I always liked to clear up one thing.
We had the reputation for the drugs, yet we had no drugs for that
first album, we were too busy. We didn't get any drugs until way
later. Skippy got drugs. He got everybody's share (laughs). He
basically got everybody's share. Moby Grape wouldn't mind going out
again. I talk to Pete, Don and Bob and they'd like to play again as
a band. If we do anything it has to be all the Grape that is
available.
M.S. Now can you actually use the name Moby Grape now?
J.M. Oh yeah.
M.S. It's a long bizarre story.
J.M. It's the longest music law suit in history and it is silly. I'm
still battling the manager, but that's on publishing. I'm trying to
get some publishing back. But namewise I think we are on the square
and can use it. Once in a while he comes up and bamboozles people
with a stop order. It's small-time thinking.
M.S. The saddest part is that if it had all been squared away you
could have sold thousands and thousands of CDs.
J.M. He stopped Sony from doing the reissue album. That's not around
anymore.
M.S. Talking of the Moby Grape Vintage set, there are a couple of
live tracks on there. I was wondering if there's any more stuff form
that era that could be salvaged given digital technology.
J.M. Yes, there must be. A guy gave me some stuff last night from
1966 at the Avalon.
M.S. That must include that fantastic 16-minute track that's never
been released "Dark Magic."
J.M. I haven't listened to it yet. I have a lot of that stuff. I
know that a lot of that stuff has the energy. "Dark Magic" came out
on a bootleg CD but it was done on a nice package. It's something
that could be put out properly. It was trip and the pinnacle of the
three-guitar approach. At a certain period we did quite a bit of
stuff like this. We'd get to tripping and I think the Grateful Dead
would like at us and say "I see what you guys are up to."
M.S. You were always very different form the other San Francisco
bands. You were high-octane and energetic rather than loose and
free-flowing.
J.M. Well, we rehearsed like wild man. We were over there in Marin
and we rehearsed from six in the evening until ten and then we'd
play together until about six in the morning. That got us to where
we could pop those songs of professionally. Then everybody said "oh
they're not San Francisco-like at all." They are more LA like
because they are polished.
M.S. It's funny you should say that but a friend of mine Mark Andes
from Spirit said Moby Grape was one of the only San Francisco bands
that he liked. He was into the Byrds and Love and all that stuff.
J.M I like the B3 and blues and stuff like Wes Montgomery I didn't
want to play in any band wit another guitar player and then I heard
the Byrds and I said man I want to get into some guitar stuff with
some other guitar players, because man that was good music. That
first Byrds album was killer. Like Moby Grape the Byrds first album
was a gem.
There was something about both of those first albums, maybe it was
the energy. It was pure there was nothing added to it, but I'm not
dissing any of our other albums.
M.S. Well, 20 Granite Creek and the one you did in the 80s on San
Francisco Sound were good too. You mentioned Wes Montgomery as being
an influence what other guitar players have influenced you?
J.M. I have always loved Freddie King. I used play this place down
here in Olympia, Washington, the Evergreen Ballroom and we had this
steady gig on Saturday night, and every Sunday would be a soul
review, you'd get Billy Butler who was with Bill Doggett, they'd
come in . Bobby Bland, B.B. King would be there all the time and
Freddie King. I lived with Albert Collins for a while and I really
dug his stuff. Sly Stone turned me on to his 45 on Hall Records way
back when; I think it was back in '67 when nobody had heard of him.
I told Bill Graham, you got to get these guys Albert King and Albert
Collins up here and he didn't even know who they were at the time,
and I told him that T-Bone Walker would be good too, and so I passed
a few names on. We played with Albert King in New York and I got to
play his guitar Lucy that was sweet, all you had to do was turn> he
had it upside down and backwards.
M.S. Are there any guitarists that you would like to play with?
J.M. I don't think I've played with Mick Taylor and I like him a lot
his subtlety and is good, but a lot of times people don't rave about
subtlety and taste. These days people get more excited about
shredding.
M.S. That's like seeing CSN& Y. Neil Young gets all the attention
and Stills plays all the subtle licks.
J.M. Yeah. There you go but its right and they seem to give more
credit to the loudest and the style. Sometimes that certain style, a
blues rock style captures more action than somebody kicking back
providing a beautiful rhythm or those tasty little extras like
Stills does.
M.S. Why don't you tell is a little about the Legendary Grape album?
I think they've done a good job with the sound. I think it sounds
really good.
J.M. DIG did do a pretty good job cleaning up the tapes. One of the
first drafts they sent had a little too much echo but eventually it
came out good. I like the music; I think it came out well. I think
it is one of Moby Grape's most essential recordings. It's got a lot
of variety. It was good to hear some of those things that I haven't
heard in a long time. In fact, I didn't' remember some of those
sounding so good. It was really cool. I remember that some of the
sessions were really good but that the end copies were not as good
as what are on DIG.
M.S. When you recorded that first Moby Grape album what kind of
equipment was it recorded on?
J.M. It was a right track. A lot of the guitar parts were done at
the same time. On "Hey Grandma" we just did that real basic and then
Pete came in and put some picking on, but Skippy drove that rhythm
real good. Him and Bob and Don and myself we'd get in there and
chomp away and get the jam session feel and lay down the track.
M.S. The idea of the three guitar parts was unusual?
J.M. Although we had three guitar players, the three were not
infringing on each others space so that really made it easy. I
played lead, Skippy did rhythm, and if I could think of a 13th chord
that sweetened things up and Pete did that real nice finger picking.
If we'd had myself and two other guitar players heading for the same
direction we would have trouble. It was real easy to play with those
guys except every once in a while the tuning. 22-strings and maybe a
little too much smoke of something.....it's a miracle that we did
end up in tune quite a bit, but all you had them was a tuning fork
and maybe a piano nearby, and if you had a piano nearby you were
lucky because most everything was guitars back then.
M.S. Yes, these day's people are spoiled with digital and electronic
tuners, although it's the only way I can tune a guitar!
J.M. Right, I couldn't get by without them today. I always wish that
they had those in the ‘60s. It would have made things so much
easier. We did have some strobe tuners, but they were kind of rare
and Skippy would refuse to use one anyway. He had a pretty good.
M.S. So, you still see the rest of the guys from the Grape?
J.M. Oh yeah, Don plays and writes and he has a couple of open
months in the year when he can go out. I talk to Bob all the time.
We do some gigs together. We did some in Carson City, Pete I talk to
when I can stand it...he rambles on so, but I love him. He is a
great guy. All of us are ready to do something and now that we are
able to with the name and stuff, anybody that wants to give us a
ring, man we are ready.
M.S. Has it been a frustrating career. You made such a great album
and then it all fizzled out?
J.M. Yes. When I go and see Crosby Stills and Nash and my Doobie
friends and they ate all out there and doing it, I am, and we have
the doors open now for us. I'm healthy, Bob's healthy, Don, shit he
does a 100 push-ups a day. It would be fun to go out with the Grape.
M.S. If you do you should tape it all.
J.M. I'm absolutely up for that. I encourage taping everywhere I go.
We are looking to go out as Moby Grape so if you know anyone, let me
know.