Clarence Gatemouth Brown
Do you play rock and roll?
Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown: I play rock and roll a lot of times. You see, what they call rock and roll today is not rock and roll, son. It’s a lot of noise. A lot of string bending and not even making a statement. Remember that tune of mine called “Chicken Shift”? That’s rock and roll. “Dolly Got the Blues” —that’s rock and roll. Louisiana zydeco is a mixture of rock and roll and Creole music. Then I play straight-ahead Cajun that has nothing to do with nothing else but Cajun.
What can you say to young rockers?
If a guy’s a heavy drinker or heavy dope user, don’t follow him, because he’s in misery in the first place. That’s why he’s playing that kind of music. And them hard rock players, well, all I can say for those kids is they’re being brainwashed to brainwash others. Why play music that loud and ruin yourself before you hit 20 years old? And what they’re playing is not understood—no way—because everything is so high volume. Why play something so loud where it’s going to tear you up inside? I’ve seen guys that was so loud, my stomach was hurting!
What do you look for in a tone?
Dynamics. Just what I do. And there’s four dynamics, all told: High volume, midrange, soft, and off. See, if you play in a high volume, you’ve got it goin’. Now, at a certain portion you drop it down and leave it to midrange. I go further than that: I go from a high volume to real soft, but just keep that drive going. And every time I do it, you can hear ’em scream all over the place because it feels good. I can rattle my guitar and almost tear out windows, and drop it to where you just barely hear it. Every man in my band knows when to do this. That makes music.
Interview: 1992, by Jas ObrechtPhoto: the legendary David Redfern
Don's Tunes
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