A Conversation with Jim Photoglo (continued)

JP: The beautiful thing about it is that these guys are all my pals. And I have found, whether you're writing or performing, that if you've got that kind of a deep bond with people, it comes out in the music. It just shows.

PM: Yeah.

JP: Circumstances will make it so that we maybe can't play for a long while. And then we'll get up on stage, and all of a sudden, man, everybody remembers why we're doing that thing. It just feels so good. And like I said, we've got all these varied histories with one another that go in and out of this band.

PM: It's a very joyful thing. I mean, there's not a lot of heat on the band. There's no stress factor in the band. It's what guys who have stressful lives--doing other things like songwriting, or raising families, or producing records, or doing other aspects of the music business--do to get away from all that, and just play music.

JP: The audience is always full of record company people, because it's the one opportunity they have to go out and hear music that, for one thing, they don't have to judge. They can't say, "Well, you know, the band is okay, but I don't like the songs."

PM: [laughs]

JP: But the other thing is, we're playing the music that inspired these people to get in the music business in the first place.

PM: They feel the same way about it you do.

JP: Exactly. So everybody comes out and has a good time. And that's what it's all about. It's a very healing experience. Because, let's face it, in this town, we get a little jaded. I mean, it's music day in and day out, music as a job. And a lot of the times, whether you're a session player or a producer or a singer or whatever, you're doing something that you maybe don't dig so much. You know, maybe the song is not your cup of tea, or maybe you're working for somebody that you don't dig or something. These things happen, let's face it. It's business.

PM: Right, that's why they call it the music business.

JP: Absolutely. But the Vinyl Kings are about something else, and that's why it's been so much fun for us, and so much fun for our audience.  

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