2011 IBC NOMINEE BEST SELF-PRODUCED CD

From time to time The Snakehandlers have the opportunity to make some noise, be it interviews or Headlines. In the Media is the place to look for that.

Artist Interview: 1-on-1 with Snakehandlers Blues Band by Ricky Lee Potts

Ricky Lee Potts is an opinionated realist

Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Not too long ago I sat down with Bryan Hodge for an exclusive artist interview. He later led me to Frank Dean.

Bryan seems to know everyone in the music business so I figured I would give Frank a call and see what would come of it. So a few days later, I gave Frank a ring and we chatted for about fifteen minutes. That led to a second conversation the next day that led to an interview with him and his band. Frank has been all over the place and has shaken a lot of hands in his time. Names like Johnny Cash, Marty Stuart, Mark Knofler, Stevie Ray Vaughan,  come to mind. 

  We sat down for about an hour and chatted about everything from playing the guitar to his favorite cities and more. Frank and I could have chatted for hours, the stories never end. I am glad that Bryan introduced us. Frank has not only talent but also drive and a passion for music. Sit down with me and Frank as I am happy to introduce you to the Snakehandlers Blues Band.

I hope you don’t go around playing with snakes! Where did you guys come up with the name The Snakehandlers?

Actually I came up with it. I am originally from West Virginia and West Virginia is the only state left in America where it’s legal to use snakes for religious services. I remember as a little kid watching those people and how insane that was. You have these prim and proper women and they pull out copper heads and throw them down their dresses. I remember thinking how nuts that was. Any chance that I get to take a shot at wacko religion; I am there.

Tell me a little bit more about Sindacato.

Wow. We were together for sixteen years. People still complain that we are not together any more. O That’s twice as along as the Beatles. Give us a break. We have to do another things. I 've been in only about four bands in my life. It’s not like we drifted from one thing to another. We felt like we covered a lot of ground. We were at the head of the Americana thing in this region. We recieved two albums of the year awards in a row from the Indianapolis Star.  We really dig the albums we made, but at this point if we don’t have something new to say and a new way to do it, let’s just leave it at what we did.  A lot of stuff changes in sixteen years. Sindacato started out as four single guys. Now most of those guys have kids, some even have grand kids. The guys who were willing to go to Portland to play gigs on a moments notice all of a sudden can’t. Lucky for me I am still the world’s oldest nineteen year old. I can go anywhere and do anything. I’m ready. But I can’t expect other people to never want to grow up.

That band has won some pretty prestigious awards. The Indianapolis Star, Nuvo.

I don't know if you can call them awards. More like mentions  and we were  so humbled by it. We thought we were doing something interesting for us, to tell you the truth. It was four guys with a lot of different influences. Our first record came out before Brother Where Art Thou came out. We were placed well cause when that whole trend hit we were already doing it. In fact, we actually got to play a few dates with that tour, the Brother Where Art Thou tour. It was cool playing with Emmylou Harris and Rosanne Cash. Regardless of what people tell you, it’s pretty neat to be popular. For about five years there, any act that came through the Midwest we were the opening act. That was really great. I was able to make a lot of friends that have stayed with me forever. It’s cool to be recognized.

I am bit of a music snob. It’s not that I don’t enjoy fans. I really do. You don't  play live if you don’t enjoy people having a good time. But it also meant a lot to me that the critics got what we were doing.  Mike Redmond, Marc Allan, and Jim Johnson at the Indy Star, and Scott Hall, Jeff Napier, and Steve Hammer at NUVO. To have those guys really dig it was just too much for me. These guys don't give out compliments easily.

Who are some of your biggest influences?

Most of my influences are people who don’t do anything like what I do. I don’t do anything like them I guess I should say. It’s that their music has meant so much to me that it helped me do my own thing. Of course Hank Williams Sr., Bob Dylan, I am a huge Rolling Stones fan. I think Muddy Waters invented rock and roll. There are a million of them. Van Morrison; I am a huge Morrison fan. Lucinda Williams, Marty Stuart, Mark Knopfler; Stephen Stills, Guy Clark,  those are all people that I have a great deal of respect  for.

It’s so cool to walk into the studio, like we are as a blues band, and know that everyone there has kind of the same influences. Guys like Buddy Guy, Muddy Waters; we are all really into those guys. It’s like going in to the studio with one mind. You might disagree with which degree is better.

You own a guitar shop down in Franklin and I know nothing about guitars. What makes one guitar better than another?

I think they talk to you. (Laughs) Everyone is different and the one that talks to me won’t talk to you. For a guitar player, there is a moment you pick up a guitar and say, “This is the one.” Unfortunately that happens way too often for me. People in my house are always tripping over guitars.

You are originally from West Virginia. What brought you here to the Hoosier state?

My dad. He worked in the coal mines and on his forth day on the job there was a cave in. That was enough for him. He said piss on this and left. 

What is the biggest crowd you have ever performed in front of?

There are several big crowds. As far as a sit down concert it was probably the Brother Where Art Thou tour. I would say 30,000 or more came out for that one. Some of the summer festivals we did there were literally a sea of people in all directions. God knows how many people were at those shows.

That’s never really been a thing for me. I am more comfortable playing to thousands of people than five. It just becomes a sea of people. If 1,000s are digging it why should I be nervous?

The smallest?

I tell you what, the craziest thing that ever happened to me, just because everyone needs a big dose of reality sometimes. In Sindacato, one time, there was one gig where we were doing a bunch of shows with a national artist. The crowds were huge. The last gig was on a Thursday night. Then Friday night comes and  we're booked into the Dollar Inn over on the west side. There were three Hispanic guys who couldn’t speak English there and that was it. We went from knocking them dead and getting standing ovations to three guys who had no idea what we were singing about and one of them was pissed because we didn’t know any Michael Jackson.

I had the chance to sit down with Alan Johnson last night. We talked about you a little bit. He said he has worked with you in the past and would love to work with you again in the future. You should give him a call. How do you know Alan?

I was in a band in the early 90’s called Hillbilly Central. They used to book us as the Rolling Stones of country music. We were absolutely wild, crazy; nuts. We made most rock bands look like a bunch of sissies. It was a really great band and Alan actually engineered our one and only demo.

What are you drinking on stage?

(Laughs) My alcohol days are behind me. I drink iced tea. When it comes to alcohol, it’s kind of like a big black out to me, but I’m told that I was a lot of fun.  (Laughs)

You have played in a few bands in your time. Does any one band mean more to you than the next?

The four that were really good were Blue Deville, which was kind of a blues swing band. The lead singer of that actually went on to get a recording deal with Alligator Records, Hillbilly Central, then Sindacato, and now the Snakehandlers. And they were all a completely different thing. To me, playing means something.  I don't think I've ever played a song on stage  that I didn’t like. I just wouldn’t do it.  I mean, if I have to do things I really don't like I should get a job that pays real money.

Who are some of the better acts here in the Indianapolis area? Anyone I need to pay attention to?

Bryan Hodge is one of my favorite songwriters. A guy named Ralph Jeffers is another one of my favorite singer/songwriters. There is a band that plays on the south side called the Thunder Club and they, as far as execution goes, no one can touch.

Bill Lancton, who does the jazz thing, is an amazing talent and a wonderful guy. I know I am just forgetting a ton of people. Who else do I go see when I am in town? John Byrne is a really wonderful guitar player. There are just so many. There is an amazing amount of talented people out there. John Martin and Gary Wasson, both from Sindacato are doing solo stuff. The guys in Stereo Deluxe are great. I really dig it. The Gordon Bonham Blues Band is really good. Gene Deer, who I have known since our early twenties, is an amazing player. Governor Davis; Soul Bus, I always wish I had a record label of just people in Indianapolis I could produce. I love producing anyway, and that would be great to go to work every morning and start working on a record.

 CONTINUED  1-ON-1

What can someone expect when seeing The Snakehandlers live for the first time?

I think they are going to have to love rock and roll. That’s different from rock. Other words, this is the real deal bump and grind, shake your ass, money music. Muddy Waters, The Rolling Stones, Mitch Ryder, we do dirt floor R&B. It is drinking, smoking, women chasing decadence. (Laughs) Alcohol and adultery you can dance to.

What makes it “Chicago” blues?

One, it’s going to be electric. Two, Chicago blues is delta blues, just amplified.  It’s working class Rock & Roll music. Its where the Stones came from, Thourgood, Thunderbirds, Faces, Black Crowes type of thing. It’s real deal, emotional music.

What is the best concert you have ever been to?

I go back a long way. I saw the Beatles at the Colosseum in 1964. That was pretty cool. I saw Jimi Hendricks and I got to high five him as he was walking through the corridor. I met Stevie Ray Vaughn and hung out with him for a while. He was a real gentleman. It was like shaking hands with a vise. I have been really fortunate. I have been able to meet and tour through with some of my idols and I couldn’t have felt any luckier if I had been president. I would rather be me than the president.

Where do you see the record business in the next five to ten years?

The old school major labels are going to go down if they don't change. Greed will bring them down. I hope it goes back to the small labels. The Internet allows people to do that. You don’t have to just accept whatever they play on the radio. Ten, fifteen years ago that wasn’t the case. If it wasn’t on the radio you didn’t hear it.

I want a Frank Dean t-shirt. Where can I get one of those?

Give me $20.

My mom loves Marty Start. How do you know him?

Marty is one of the most talented human beings I have ever met in my life. He was Lester Flatt’s mandolin player at twelve years old. He has played with Doc Watson and Johnny Cash, and as a solo artist its always music first. He is one of the most critically acclaimed singer/songwriters in recent memory. And one of the sweetest guys in the world. His new album "Ghost Train is getting rave reviews.

Who is the greatest guitar player of all time in your opinion?

There are a lot of different genres. What moves me is Roy Buchanan, Albert Lee, Hendrix, Buddy Miller. As far as using the guitar with songwriting, it's Keith Richards because that guy has written some of the greatest Rock songs ever. Jimmie Vaughn, Stevie’s older brother knocks me out.

Where would you like to see yourself in five years?

Receiving room service.

What do you want to be remembered for when this is all said and done?

The guy that Kate Beckinsale never got over.

I always let the artist get the last word. Go.

Look at music as an art form. The karaoke, the DJ thing, it might be a fun thing to go drinking to and to party with your friends and everything but that’s not art and that’s not what moves souls. Don’t be drawn in. Take the time to do the research and to know the difference. And of course, come see the Snakehandlers. Tight skirts, high heels, and questionable behavior are encouraged. 

Look for The Snakehandlers Ad in BluesBlast Magazine @

http://www.thebluesblast.com/

Frank Dean: Fun to make people dance

http://search.indystar.com/sp?aff=1100&skin=&keywords=Frank Dean

10:16 AM, Nov 26, 2010  

Written by

David Lindquist

• Filed Under
• Entertainment

Frank Dean

Frank Dean: Fun to make people dance

10:16 AM, Nov 26, 2010 Frank Dean is the founder of the Snakehandlers Blues Band and owns a guitar shop in Franklin

. "There are nights when I'm really tired," he said. "But I look over, and the other guitarist in the Snakehandlers is 21. He's just as tired as I am." / Alan Petersime / The Star

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·  Career longevity is music to ears of baby boom-era entertainers

After playing variations of country, blues and folk music in popular bands Blue DeVille and Sindacato, Frank Dean says it's fun to spark dance- floor action with the Snakehandlers.

The title of the band's upcoming debut album, "Rock Plus Roll," implies a celebration of rhythm and motion. (Dean cites a mid-1990s quote attributed to Keith Richards, "These days, I hear a lot of rock . . . but where's the roll?").

"That's the reason I started playing guitar, to see girls dance," Dean said.

But he was bleary-eyed at the end of Sindacato's critically acclaimed 15-year run. Dean spent more than a year playing low-profile gigs as an acoustic singer-songwriter before founding the Snakehandlers in 2009.

"I think a lot of people don't really realize what it's like to play for more than 30 years and only have a couple weekends off a year," Dean said.

Fully rejuvenated and channeling the musical spirit of Muddy Waters and Chuck Berry, Dean already has scheduled more than 30 Snakehandlers performances for 2011.

The Rolling Stones are another key influence, partly because Richards is still going strong at age 66.

"You can cut the fingers off a painter or a sculptor, but they're still a painter or a sculptor," Dean said. "It's still who they are."

Dean said his life in music began when he was a toddler in West Virginia, infatuated by an uncle's guitar.

In 2004, he wrote and recorded "You Walked Tall" -- a tribute to Johnny Cash. Longtime Cash sidemen W.S. Holland and Bob Wootton covered the song for their Tennessee Three album, "The Sound Must Go On."

"I take music probably a lot more seriously than I should," said Dean, proprietor of Frank's Guitars in downtown Franklin

. "I think people like Joan Baez and Pete Seeger have been as important to society's changes as any politician has."

There's a bit of social commentary heard on "Rock Plus Roll," plus a wealth of house-rocking tunes.

"There are nights when I'm really tired," Dean said. "But I look over, and the other guitarist in the Snakehandlers is 21. He's just as tired as I am."

Watch for the album review soon to come.