Album de la Semaine : Dewolff - Roux-Ga-Roux

Dewolff
Roux-Ga-Roux

Interview de Dewolff, par Michael Limnios de Blues GR

What do you learn about yourself from the acid rock & blues culture and what does the blues mean to you?

Acid Rock isn’t really that big of an influence for us. Blues rock is; I think all the music we listen to could be described as blues rock. There’s all these guys in the 60’s that listened to old blues records and did something completely new with it. And these ain’t no baby steps; these are huge leaps! Music changed radically. I don’t think music has ever evolved so fast as in the period between 1965 and 1975 and even today that is very inspiring. What we learned from that is that an individual’s approach to music makes it unique. Eric Clapton might wanted to sound like BB King but he didn’t: he sounded like Eric Clapton. That’s because he approached this music in his very own way, he made it heavier and just followed his gut feel and it turned out to be great. We don’t care if music is “hip” or not, we just follow our hearts. We are influenced by a lot of bands from the 60’s and 70’s but we don’t try to copy their sound or anything. The music we play comes out naturally.

How do you describe DeWolff sound and songbook? What characterize band’s philosophy?

Our sound and songs have changed a lot over the years. We started out just jamming. We’d have a riff and we’d play it until we were bored and then we decided there should be some lyrics and than back to the riff. At one point we really felt a strong urge to write actual “songs”, you know; ones with a verse, chorus, bridge, etc. We tried that, in our own way, and we really like the albums that these songs are on. But when we wanted to play them live it just didn’t feel right. Then we got a big new inspiration; Southern Rock. We started listening to Leon Russell, Little Feat, Allman Brothers and after a while these influences could be heard in our playing. We had grown as instrumentalists and songwriters and then Grand Southern Electric was written; it’s the perfect balance between riffs, songwriting and lyrics. It’s Southern Rock meets Psychedelic Rock, or whatever you wanna call it. And now we’ve recorded a new album; ROUX-GA-ROUX and this we consider our ultimate work to date! We recorded it in our own studio on analog tape and it’s filled with electrifying riffs, nasty grooves and psychedelic sound effects!

"I’d go to Los Angeles on a Friday somewhere in 1970, to London somewhere in 1967 or to Muscle Shoals, Alabama on a Tuesday in 1968… Hmm, I don’t know yet. I’d definitely stay the whole day, maybe even a week, baby!" (Photo by Melanie Marsman)

Are there any memories from gigs, jams, open acts and studio sessions which you’d like to share with us?

Oh man, there’s so many of ‘em! Somebody should have filmed it all; it would be a 5-hour long comedy movie! Like this time we played in a church and then suddenly the stage was full of piglets, then we heard the voice of God say something in French and all the piglets turned into pickles. The funny thing is that if you lick them, they turn into T-Shirts. So we licked all of the pickles (except for one) and sold these T-Shirts at our merchandise stand.  The remaining pickle we sent to a museum and we got a lot of money for it. Then some guy from Argentina stole it and invested in a company called Rubber Yacht. It wasn’t a success and all the money disappeared. It was hilarious!

What do you miss most nowadays from the music of past? What are your hopes and fears for the future of?

What I miss very much is bands with musicians that have a unique sound, technique or some other unique quality. Musicianship is a craft and I can get great pleasure out of listening to a “musical craftsman”. Someone like Peter Green for example; you hear him and you instantly hear it’s Peter Green because he has this amazing tone, phrasing, technique, everything. Nowadays a lot of musicians (definitely not all of them) seem to master their instrument for only 50%: the other 50% relies on effects, digital editing, metronomes, backing tracks, samples… Take all of that away and there’s not much left! What I miss is a couple of guys picking up an instrument and playing their hearts out and just making great music together! My fear is that this will become a rarity and all music will be made by computers. If that happens I’ll fucking move to Mars.

Make an account of the case of blues rock in Netherlands. Which is the most interesting period in local scene?

A couple of years ago things in The Netherlands really didn’t look that well, band-wise. Now there are actually a lot of cool bands around in the Netherlands! De Staat, Maison Du Malheur, Breaking Levees, Joe Madman & The Sidewalkers, Jett Rebel, Birth of Joy, Texas Radio, they are all very different bands but they’re all very cool and they all understand the power and soul of music.

"We don’t care if music is “hip” or not, we just follow our hearts. We are influenced by a lot of bands from the 60’s and 70’s but we don’t try to copy their sound or anything. The music we play comes out naturally."

What are the lines that connect the legacy of Blues with Acid Rock and continue to Southern Boogie and beyond?

Disco, baby! Oh wait… I don’t think musicians really care if they’re making Acid Rock or Southern Boogie or Acid Disco Minimal Doom Psych Kraut Fusion Blues Core; it’s labels that are being put on them so that people in a record store or online have some kind of idea of what the music is about. And it’s cool because it’s handy, but I don’t think there are very strong boundaries between all the music I love. I mean, there obviously is a big difference between The Band and Led Zeppelin, for example, but even these two bands come from the same thing; blues. And blues for me is not thinking about clever marketing, money, being rich and famous, but just grabbing a guitar and play the motherfucker.

What is the impact of psychedelic rock & blues music and culture to the racial and socio-cultural implications?

Back in the day I think it really connected people from all kinds of different backgrounds; white people, black people, everyone. But in the end it failed because everything, also music, was separated again. You know; rock music for white people and Hip Hop music for black people. It’s a pity because we could all learn so much from each other, and again all of this music has one origin: the blues.

Let’s take a trip with a time machine, so where and why would you really wanna go for a whole day..?

I’d go to Los Angeles on a Friday somewhere in 1970, to London somewhere in 1967 or to Muscle Shoals, Alabama on a Tuesday in 1968… Hmm, I don’t know yet. I’d definitely stay the whole day, maybe even a week, baby!

Line Up :

Pablo van de Poel

Luka van de Poel

Robin Piso

Label :

Electrosaurus Records

Tracklist :

01 – Roux-Ga-Roux
02 – Black Cat Woman
03 – Sugar Moon
04 – Baby’s Got a Temper
05 – What’s the Measure of a Man
06 – Easy Money
07 – Lucid
08 – Stick It to the Man
09 – Tired of Loving You
10 – Love Dimension
11 – Toux-Da-Loux