A Conversation with Josh Rouse (continued)

PM: Man, so these first two tunes are little killers, "Quiet Town" and "Summertime," just like the openers of the last record, "It's the Nighttime," and "Winter in the Hamptons."

JR: Oh, yeah?

PM: You really kill them out of the gate, just this absolutely infectious thing you get going. But my favorite groove is "His Majesty Rides."

JR: Yeah, a lot of that has to do with Brad Jones. I mean, I wrote the song, and arranged it. And then he came up with that really funky Fender Rhodes part. Yeah, like Stevie Wonder, man. And he knocked it out like in one take, right when he started playing it, I was like, "Yeah, that, that, that. Just keep going." He just really gets it, and he gets it quick. And then him and Mark put the bass and drum groove together. And it was just like, "Wow, this is like"--it's almost War.

PM: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. It's like War.

JR: Yeah, it reminds me of "Spill the Wine."

PM: "Spill the Wine." Right.

JR: It's kind of got that southern L.A. sound, but we put some Brazilian kind of stuff in there as well. But yeah, he really helped that one. That's a big Brad Jones track.

JR: I've got to do some tracks with Jones one of these days even though I've got my own place. I mean, you got to do something with him because he's just such a funky devil.

PM: Yeah, he is. He's a hell of a piano player, man. He's really good at it. I guess he said there was a record where he plays with Swan Dive. He didn't produce it, he just played Fender Rhodes the whole record.

PM: Really? What record is that? I don't know.

JR: I'm not sure what it was. But he said on the session he was just the Rhodes guy. So he played Rhodes on every song.

PM: Damn! I just saw him playing piano with Bobby Bare at South by Southwest.

JR: Oh, was he?

PM: Yeah, that was trippy. With Bobby Bare Sr., I mean.

JR: Oh, really?

PM: Yeah.

JR: Yeah, he's good, man. I can listen to him play--he actually was like, "If you ever want me do some kind of like--in your songs, if you just want me to do some different piano interpretations of the songs," and I was like, "Hell, yes." I've been thinking about doing that, just say, "Hey, take this song and do some kind of jazz piano interpretation for this song." I'm thinking about doing that.

PM: Wow.

JR: At least an EP of that.

PM: Yeah. And apart from being just the amazing dude that he is, certainly Mark Pisapia is one of my favorite and tuneful drummers.

JR: Yeah, yeah. And it's so fun to work with him. This one was good for him, because there's some bossa nova grooves on there, which is a different time sometimes. So he definitely got a workout on this one. And it was fun. I think he really liked it. It was a nice challenge for him. But he's so quick to get the arrangement. I mean, Brad is throwing directions at him left and right, and changing--"Hey, try this, try that." And Mark always just kind of says, "Okay." And then he does it. It's not like two hours of going, "No, that's not it." He retains information, which, when you're in a studio, is really important. It keeps everyone from getting frustrated, and it just makes the session go so much better.

PM: Right, because if the guy is not getting it, things can get really weird really fast. Is Marc singing on this disc?

JR: I don't think so. I think I wanted to keep this one where it was just kind of me on the vocals.

PM: Yeah.

JR: Because the last couple records have been really harmony heavy, and I think this one was more focused on me and kind of intimate, nylon string, instead of making everything real big with vocals. I think it was just mainly me.

PM: And it's nice to leave space for the listener to sing along, too.

JR: Yeah, exactly.

PM: One time I was talking to Brad about the whole Spanish recording experience, and he said to me, "Frank, you really got to get yourself over to Spain, man. I'm not kidding. Everywhere I went I saw these incredibly statuesque women with, pardon the expression, runts of guys."  [laughs] And I went, "Well, jeez, Brad, no offense taken."

[laughter]

JR: Yeah.

PM: And I mean, is he making that up, or is that how it is?

JR: No, it's like that. It's great.

PM: Why? Is it a nation of short dudes and tall women?

JR: Yeah, that's why I moved there, Frank.

[laughter]

PM: That's really messed up.

JR: I mean, it's almost like Mexico. I'm normal over there. No, it's just because they don't have all the steroids in the beef and in the milk and stuff.

[laughter]

PM: I'm going to check that out.   continue

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