I recently interviewed Michael Lardie of Great White and Mark Slaughter of Slaughter for a piece in the
Dayton City Paper. The bands are playing near me in a couple weeks, so I was advancing the show. I never use all my interview questions when writing a story. Usually my outtakes just end up in the trash bin. That said, the quotes below by Michael Lardie are just too good to not use. As context, Michael and I were talking about music today versus the 80s and how it seems like modern musicians just don't need to know how to play an instrument to have a hit single anymore. Pity. Here's what Michael had to say about it:
"The thing about being a musician growing up, part of the joy was learning the instrument, becoming proficient on it, learning songs and be good enough to have success with those songs. There is a pride that those of us share that really do play our instruments. Music is so cyclical. Hopefully it will come back around to that thing but I’m not sure. If I had to place some sort of opinion on it, I think it takes less talent to sample sounds from a computer."
And later, Michael told me how he still loved to learn new instruments, especially if he can fit the new sounds into Great White songs.
"Most often if I do have the chance to learn a new instrument, it’s because I’ve thought it might work in the framework of a song we’re doing. That’s part of the challenge – using our music as a forum for trying new things. It keeps it interesting for us and for the fans as well. We are pretty much a classic blues rock band, but within that framework, a lot of blues and country were mixed together to create rock n’ roll. There’s a great long lineage of so many instruments that have found their way into rock n’ roll. I like to push the envelope and try new things. If it works, great and if not, well, the worst case scenario is that I learned a new instrument!"
I'll be sure to post my full interview when the newspaper comes out later this month. Happy Friday!
Monday, November 9, 2015 at 12:01AM ;)
