On Da Road With da Prophet - Lil Mike dateline: Early May, somewhere off Hwy 61
Kicked out of his parent's & eventually his girlfriend's pad for misbehavior, one night he showed up in L.A to beg a guest list spot for a show featuring an Arizona based touring band he'd previously shared a bill with. He ended up that night on stage and in the band. Hitching a ride with this unkempt crew of carnies, the youngest recruit actually ended up on an almost decade long ride. In the process of discovering himself he ended up bringing some semblance of songwriting anchorage to one of America's greatest unknown & under the influence quartets. According to those that were there at the time, of all the pre-eminently unknown and now mostly forgotten 80s garage band hopefuls, Green On Red held as much promise as any in the lot. So begat the journey, that now has taken his flexible fingers and their sonic by products across the seas several times. Chuck Prophet became the influential roots rawk band's 5th member just as the group hit their stride in 1984, with American underground rock in it's finest hour, and college radio in it's salad days. One of the definitive American indie rock road discs of the mid 80s era is Green on Red's "Gas Food & Lodging" from 1985. Prophet, with his instinctive knack for playing brought the group a desirable dose of virtuosity missing from G.O.R's previous releases. Chuck's debut appearance with the band, garnered favorable mentions everywhere from Rolling Stone & USA Today on down to the corner bar. The band began having bigger expectations than the college charts, they were on the road with R.E.M and they soon signed a major label contract. The teenage rapscallion known as "The Kid" was now got caught up in a rock n roll lifestyle, and spent his 21st birthday recording in an English castle , too high to realize it was 21st birthday., He recalls of those daze: " I learned how to drink laying down and how to sleep sitting up" They burned through money, piles of drugs, record deals, band members & relationships. He stole other men's guitars & other men's girls, he escaped the cops, the lawyers, he escaped the near death experiences, the far death experiences... but he also eluded something that has since become more important to him. He also escaped success... It's not that he's afraid of success, it's just that Chuck has set out to do it on his own terms, D.I.Y. He didn't "Go Hollywood" or set out to become a businessman, or a solo artist, but it all sorta happened along the way. Like everything else... There were happy accidents and there were just plain accidents... Despite the slagging from the playa haters and sour grapes from the suckas on the sidelines, any one who really knows musician & songwriter Chuck Prophet can tell you he's no primadonna. The years spent honing his craft & spinning his wheels, while other guys & gals got their breaks, took their bows and had their names in the bright lights. It may have kept the man in hungry town, but he's also more appreciative than the one hit wonder crowd of when the dice roll in his favor. Prophet was practically astounded when one of the tunes he co-wrote landed on the top of the country charts a couple years back and became a huge radio hit for a certain pre-fab Nashville honey child. Even though there's a gold record hanging on the wall at home with his name on it, he's never sung the song on an official release. You'd think he might capitalize on that bit of novelty & notoriety, but he hasn't even added the now well known tune to his live set. Despite the certain note of recognition the tune might bring when playing it for an audience of strangers in some small town, he'd rather not play it live at all, and prefers to earn applause the hard way. He doesn't mind playing as a studio sideman, and has quietly given some fine performances to other's records. Top selling acts like Cake and Jewel have used Prophet as a sideman to fill out their sound. He's worked with some of the best in the business, including his own musical heroes, guys like Dan Penn, Jim Dickinson, and Warren Zevon. However Prophet ain't a legend... yet... (mind you). Chuck, with Green On Red having already used up their 15 minutes, and his multi-national music conglomerate ties seemingly evaporating quicker than you can say "Milli Vanilli", the 24 year old started doing the open mic circuit in San Francisco. "I thought I was outta the music business... I figured I had my shot. I still had some songs in me, I just needed a place to play 'em for my friends" He lived in a wherehouse, & found refuge in a corner bar, with a backroom, a small stage, and an out of tune piano. Each night the seedy dive revealed a twisted talent search of semi-secret serendipity. Plus it didn't hurt that plenty of liquor & various unmentionables flowed to keep all the greats and near greats properly out of focus. Within the Albion, the pressure was off, and the creative spigot was on, collaborations happened easily and plenty part-time party time players passed through. Poi Dog Pondering would play atop the pool table, Anti Folk heroes like Ed's Redeeming Qualities, Lach & Ani DiFranco sold their homemade tapes, while performance artists, tap-dancing grandmas and arty ensemble jazz freaks played weekly in the corner. "Man, it later turned into a sports bar! but we made that place happen out of boredom! ...Housecoat Project, Penelope Houston, Steve Yerkey, Mark Eitzel, Barbara Manning, Bedlam Rovers, it was amazing looking back, a whole cast of misfits were going through there every weekend!" Chuck started jamming with his best friend's girl, miss Stefanie Finch, and they made a simple demo together circa 1990. It became their first release "Brother Aldo" recorded for about $800, garnering them comparisons to Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris. Soon their partnership spawned a love triangle, that was forever resolved when eventually she became his lover, then wife. Stephanie, who is want to roll her eyes at Prophet's more outrageous comments, will be the first to tell you he ain't a saint, and she has seen a few of Chuck's dark days gone by that would shock anyone's mother. But underneath it all, despite his factory sealed faults, she knows he's a generally good natured soul. Together they put together more tunes for release for "Balinese Dancer" but she left Chuck more or less to his own devices for 1995's Steve Berlin produced "Feast of Hearts". Despite the best of intentions, the aforementioned records released under the Chuck Prophet brandname were poorly distributed fare, particularly in the U.S. There were some good tunes hidden within, but they weren't instant winners, and generally got lost in the industry shuffle. By the later 90s, edging closer to 40 than 14, his days of being called "the Kid" were behind him, and a lot of talented, but equally unsuccessful guys he'd run with over the years were simply being hung out to dry. They'd half retired, moved to the country or 'burbs, scored real jobs in sales & software services, had houses & kids, and been led to believe when you are not invited to the party, it's best to give up asking for an invitation... Prophet kept churning out tunes, paying bands out of his pocket to keep the music flowing, and he still managed to get a record out every year or so. Not big fancy records, with instant industry clout, but low key affairs. Produced on the fly in a few days, with copious favors and friends used in lieu of big budgets. Many of these discs now are sadly out of print, especially here in the states, generally out of reach of the new fans that snatch up his current material at shows, clamoring for more. Chuck admits he didn't take all the aspects of his own career seriously and put the pieces in place until "Homemade Blood" came out on Cooking Vinyl in 1997. "Just Gimme Some credit!" Chuck pleads determinedly from the first track on the album, and like the dirty Stones sounding guitar lick that kicks the album into gear, it's apparent he won't be taking no for an answer. It was a record whose guitar saturated songs emerged like a Phoenix after a personal slide, and whose music was a method out of the madness. The previous album "Feast of Hearts" that he'd done with Steve Berlin of Los Lobos as producer, was somewhat of a let down, perhaps over produced, and generally restricted in flavor. Lyrically Prophet mined the heart of the urban core for the stories , and perhaps those stories got lost in the slick big city shine offered by Berlin. In the end, the album had garnered a mere modicum of recognition, but "Homemade Blood" was way cheaper to make & truer to Prophet's more expressive nature. It was an album made after the boy turned man, cleaned up his act and retooled his touring machine. He used a tried and true live band on tried & true live material & the whole thing was recorded quickly. The boards were manned in S.F with Giant Sand producer Eric Westfall and later mixed in Boston by the reknowned tag team of Kolderie & Slade at Fort Apache. The album quickly garnered recognition in Europe and spent a few months on top of Rolling Stone Germany's critics poll. With it's passionate and loose live sound, "Homemade Blood" is one hell of a record, and put Prophet's foot on the path to at least a fuzzy future. It signifies a moment when he truly left his previous personal demons behind. Prophet had, like the Apostle, put his past behind himself and risen out of nowhere to find an audience despite bad times, bad business deals, bad luck and bad blood. When "Hurting Business" emerged in 1999 in Europe, it showed Prophet's continual growth as a songwriter, and his attempts to broaden his sonic perspectives. The album explored a variety of aural landscapes including 60s style farfisa, drum loops & sampled bits of hip hop chicanery. It was his first disc in a few years to get licensed out right by a stateside label. The small blues centric label HighTone based in Oakland decided to take a shot at distributing it. Perhaps unsure how to market it, they mostly let the disc promote itself, and despite lack of a significant retail & radio push, "Hurting Business" still moved a few units, and Prophet found himself with a smattering of new fans. Unfortunately when all was said & done, he felt support from HighTone was lacking. To this day he still is quick to point out that they attempt to charge him a higher wholesale price for his own CDs than if he imports them from elsewhere...
Despite his vast and potentially depressing knowledge of the penny pinching realities of the music industry, Chuck tries to keep the business from seeping into his music. He writes songs, and hopefully somewhere down the line... that song will make sense and mean something to the people that eventually hear them. One man who heard the songs coming live & raw in a little Irish bar with a two foot high stage, and actually believed in them, was Peter Jesperson. Like Chuck, he's also got a past , as the dude who previously discovered & signed influential bands like The Replacements, Soul Asylum and even road managed R.E.M in their early days. Now working A&R for New West records, Jesperson's done the previously unthinkable & backed Chuck for a long-term 7 album contract. So far, the hunch he had, has things going pretty well. The marriage is still new, but so far "no Other Love", Chuck's latest release is till building after nearly a year in the racks,,, Chuck keeps working, and cannot stand to simply stagnate through the vicious album cycles, of record, wait, tour, and wait some more though...So instead of past pursuits like parking cars or smoking crack, he does a lot of co-writing, sometimes with local San Francisco poets, more lately in Nashville, where he sits down with seasoned pros, and fresh faced unknowns batting around ideas that may or may nor make it onto records. Talented almost to a fault, he's still got a sense of childlike wonder in him. Filled with a kind of hopeful spirit, Prophet admits he's not the smartest guy in the world, and he's glad. He still gets joy from simple things, like a cup of coffee, or a piece of pie at a roadside diner, or a chance remembering of the lyrics to an old Foreigner or Betty Wright song he hasn't heard in years. He still has an unquenchable thirst for hearing music, whether it's Jay Z or Jimmy Witherspoon, Kelley Stoltz or Kelly Willis, Prophet still buys new records every week, and he keeps hundreds of tunes at his fingertips on his laptop. While weaving down the highway, he dangerously balances cigarette, coffee cup holding and laptop manipulating, with his eyes casually darting back and forth to the road, to find exactly what he wants to hear within his hard drive. Equipped with a tiny earphone jack FM transmitter he broadcasts the tunes on his playlists into the car stereo, and keeps the lonely road party rocking... On this particular day of tour, having made nary a dime yet, with at least a 1000 miles before the first gig, he walks into a local music store, and seeing no used guitars worth snatching up, buys a portable turntable on impulse. As they pack up his purchase, he gets the attentive staff to look at a problem he's had with a fret on his guitar. It's the same $150 Telecaster that he bought when he started with Green on Red in 1984. It does require a bit of tender loving care now & then though. "I had some guy work on this guitar... you know he does all the big stars back in California... but it still doesn't sound right..." The old-timers gather, mumble, nod in agreement, and one pulls out a perfectly fitted file from a back room and within seconds, get it to sound right. Chuck is doubly pleased, he's got a new portable toy, and he got those good ol boys to work on his guitar...as a bonus. There's no doubt the guy is entitled to a simple moment of satisfaction, amidst all the dustdevils & mental static of the unrelenting asphalt ribbon still stretched before him. "They might not have done that if I didn't buy something... But I'd like to think they would've" So what if the price of this small victory ended up being a plastic record player that cost as much as he originally paid for the guitar 19 years back. As he pulls off I-10, There is no gig waiting in Tucson for Chuck, only a drumset at the home of Tommy Larkins. An ol' pal of Prophet's and one of Tucson's infamous desert rock rats, Larkins' is a fixture out west when not on the road. Formerly of Naked Prey, Giant Sand and even Green on Red for a spell, he is now most famous and enriched as Jonathon Richman's minimalist drumming sidekick (as seen by millions on the silver screen in "Something About Mary" and at over 500 tour shows ...) Tommy has a two story cinderblock studio/ workspace at the end of a dusty desert lane, that Chuck navigates the van towards by the light of a full moon. Upon arrival a thin half coyote / half mutt stalks nearby in the shadows, scared and curious at the same time, quickly scampering behind a tall saguaro cacti when spotted. Inside after packing the gear, despite Larkin's wishes to jam, talk story and share a few moments of musical camaraderie, Chuck is pressed for time. As much as he'd like to kick back and reflect on the commonalities & friends shared by these long acquainted musical road dogs, Chuck has too little time to spin yarns. He doesn't own a humble concrete castle at the end of any lane, and he won't be swigging any of that half empty bottle of Tequila sitting by the fax machine, and he still has to stop by his manager's. It would of course make sense that Chuck, being somewhat of show business outsider, would have management that hardly fits the unHoly Trinity of Hollywood/ New York / Nashville music industry mold. Having dealt with showbiz for awhile, and the shysters and fast talkers, Prophet has slowly building his operation for comfort, not speed. Chuck's current manager has no lunches at The Palm, and isn't spotted entertaining clients with show girls at the Deja Vu strip clubs, he instead hits the cafeteria down the hall. A quiet unassuming Christian family man, Dan works in Tucson as a math teacher with under privileged and troubled youth, his desk has a pile of test papers to be corrected on it. He keeps in touch with Chuck via cellphone & email, his wife occasionally making a notation in the margins of the tour itinerary. After picking up some additional European work documents, Chuck is escorted by an orange vested security guard back down the hall and out the door of the Project M.O.R.E campus and is soon hurtling back down the highway across the continental divide. Hundreds of thankless miles pass beneath the well worn wheels of the Caravan, while Chuck listens to recent rehearsal tapes. He fills the time with frequent verbal notations made into a portable cassette deck. Dozens of personal audio notes are made regarding timing, breaks, that haunt his appreciation of the current set list. He is doing his homework and can leave nary a second of a set to error, and will waste not another minute getting to Austin in time to meet his band. His cell phone is out of range, his mind somewhere else, the road straight, hot and never ending. Somehow he'll work out all his thoughts, while somewhere else his onstage sidekicks have all copped the easy duty of boarding convenient Southwest Air flights with carry on luggage ... Emerging from "the communications black hole of the road", as he terms it, he stops by the New West label offices in the heat of a Wednesday afternoon to pick up a few more CDs for the tour. He finds the label air conditioned & friendly, but unprepared to offer up any more CDs, except a stray box in back and a few promo posters. He shrugs and plugs in his laptop to check his email, and finds over 30 messages have been sent his way over the last few days of road dogging. Meanwhile a green around the ears record company hand leans over his desk to quietly tell an aside to another employee, "man, when he talks, his voice... it sounds just like "No Other Love"... With still a bit more time before the flights are due, Chuck peruses the Waterloo music store selections in Austin at 6th & Lamar...grabbing a copy of the Roots first album, he reorganizes the equipment a little better to make room for the coming musicians, throws away a pair of road weary socks and fetches yet another cup of coffee at the Whole Foods Store across the street. Coffee and Cigarettes are practically his only vices these days, cable tv & copious soda pop consumption coming in a distant third & forth. In line at the store, he runs into local singer songwriter Troy Campbell, formerly of Loose Diamonds, another songwriter that has come back from the edge of self destruction. After catching up with Chuck, Troy offers to help a now severely caffeinated Prophet find his missing keys, which after some frantic research are now apparently being held at the customer service desk. After a lil' jaywalking & tales of Austin sidemen with names like Cornfed & Bacon Bit, Troy sweetly offers up a prize, the new David Cross dbl CD. A Two disc blast of blisteringly funny & caustic observations on the state of America today. Cross, a wicked whining southern boy who doesn't much like flag waving, S.U.V drivers and pontificating pedophile preachers, is a jaded but welcome break. After picking up the band at the airport, The first gig of the tour is up Highway 61, at a unique spot in St.Francisville Louisiana, called the Magnolia Cafe. Profiled in the latest <http://www.nodepression.net>No Depression mag, the band were welcomed with warm southern hospitality by the proprietors. The town is sleepy rural outpost, where a chalkboard & small index card sized sign next to the cash register is about all that promotes the gig, telling patrons "Chuck Prophet is the Magnolia Cafe Staff's favorite entertainer, don't miss this show". Indeed a career calculating entertainer might have a conniption fit finding such slack advertising techniques at work. However here, in a bayou backwater town, after a long haul across the endless deserts of California, Arizona & New Mexico, and the relentless toil of Texas, Chuck is relieved to find a quiet comfortable oasis just north of Baton Rouge. He drove over 2222 miles to open his tour here tonight, and everything is perfect, from the small PA to the tall glasses of unsweetened ice tea, and properly configured portions of southern food. A comfortingly concocted blend of Cajun & American favorites, the menu reflects the preferences of a small town where nearly everyone in town is a regular. Pizzas and Po Boys are of course available. The night of the show, everyone in the band orders "the special" and are blessed with a hefty portion of blackened Drumfish served atop angelhair pasta, topped with a rich creamy red sauce containing crawdads, hunks of fresh crabmeat and a sumptuous blend of spicy sumpin' else. After soundcheck everyone is bloated and retires to the quaint B&B cottages behind the cafe to rest up for the main event. Prophet & crew heartily endorse <www.themagnoliacafe.com>The Magnolia Cafe if yer in the region. They don't book a lot of shows, just some really down home good ones and other recent guests there have played recently include Alejandro Escovedo, Dave Alvin, Billy Joe Shaver, The Sadies & more... After hauling butt down the highway from the bayou country, the band hit Tampa for "The Tropical Heatwave " ( http://www.tropicalheatwave.org ). This huge outdoor & indoor club & street festival gets bigger each year and is hosted by community run radio station WMNF... First the band did a few tunes acoustically in the studio on air, the rhythm section sneaking off to fetch a few Cuban sandwiches in the lobby. Then at nightfall they made it to Ybor City, the old cigar rollin' district, where their outdoor stage awaited. Chuck's "No Other Love" disc was the #1 record on that station locally last year and a big crowd rocked out well past midnight as the band played an hour + set. Also on the bill in Tampa were Australia's Waif's , fresh from opening for Dylan, as well as various local hip hop acts, and southern rock faves like Paul Thorn, and Austin's hickbilly blue grass geeks The Gourds who had dubious closing set duties. The Mission Express retired to catch a night's rest with "no surprises" at the local Holiday Inn, vetoed an all day run over to see drummer Winston's old boss, Bob Dylan down in Palm Beach and headed to Rob's mom's pad in Atlanta. As the multi-hour drive commenced, Chuck was confronted with the fact that almost a week later, he still hasn't bought any records for his portable turntable, but he just shrugs and ads..."I'd wanted one for awhile and they were sold out on Haight St in S.F". He won't be back on Haight St for awhile, with stops in Greenville, South Carolina with Doyle Bramhall, then onto Annapolis MD, Arlington VA & points beyond awaiting. If only there were a few more Magnolia Cafe's on the itinerary. Highlights of his upcoming U.S shows will instead include an appearance by Ruth Brown at the Mountain Stage in Charlestown WV on May 11th. The City Stages festival on May 18th in Birmingham has the band playing
the same day as Spearhead, The Roots , Funky Meters & North Mississippi
All-Stars. Chuck goes way back with the All-stars, having jammed with
Luther & Cody's pop Jim Dickinson since those kids were dropping acid
in high school. Other cool gigs coming up: Chuck will appear at the California Music Awards on May 25th at Frank Ogawa Plaza in Oakland CA, where he has been nominated in two categories. Besides the award show, he makes two other local appearances in the Northern
California Bay Area Chuck sneaks onto the bill at The Glastonbury Festival in the UK On August 9th the band will be deep in the Catskills of N.Y opening for Benin's Angélique Kidjo as part of the Belleayre Summer Music Festival. and in late August watch for the band at Seattle's Bumbershoot... Who Knows! stay tuned... Chuck & The Mighty Mission Express will be headed your way soon...
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