Focus 580; The Rocky Maffit Group

I first I guess I should say Hi and thanks very much for being here. Good morning it's great to be here. Let's get right into it. Have you guys play something waiting to play. We're going to play the reduced soft version of the first song on the album on the album. It's has all these big Samba drums and all of these things that we would. You know normally have if we had a group of say 100 people with us. But it's just Chad and I in the studio today sort of like a little unplugged thing. So a little reduced version of the first cut is called turning we. Ride in the town I'm here I'm going like to make it up for me long. Term.

The limits of the kill. All the moment everything will all be. In the week to get that. There's not a big thing that it did. Did it happen that bed out of the pit. We got and we both Fugazi a few graves there the road along kind of landing. Like a fish in beer. I'm

planning. To bomb romp like the Delta did. We tend to think that. There could be. A big big. Big. Rock you off it done ladies and gentlemen thank you very much that's the first cut

turning wheel from their CD every town which is now just out available at a record stores near you and of course if you want to call and make a pledge this morning absolutely we got the autographed copies and there was Rocky was it was Rocky who was singing and playing guitar and then Chad playing drums and the salt shaker I don't know what it what is it that you called us. OK it's a little it looks like a little woven kind of a little woven basket and it's got some I don't know what it is. Chad weaves these things in his spare time as if he has spare time. But he does create these this is a basket shaker that has its origins in Brazil. All right. And I know maybe I should tell little bit more about the two guys Chad in addition to being percussionist and instrument maker was the founder of the Brazilian percussion ensemble and also lectures on Brazilian traditional and influenced drumming styles of these two guys been playing together since 1998 and Rocky has been a musician for a long time.

He began playing professionally when he was in high school signed his first recording contract in 1971 he was 19 years old. He's played pretty shocking. He played with other a lot of other means and then was cryogenically frozen. It's remarkably well-preserved thank you very much. He has played with Paul whether Richie Havens David Bromberg he was a member of the R&B group champagne remember them folks in the early 80s. And also I want to mention another book that he was involved in and I think this is a beautiful book and one that for people who are interested in music or percussion or musical instruments it's a book titled rhythm and beauty the art of percussion. And it has photographs a lot of really nice photographs of a wide range of percussion instruments and there's a CD that goes with it so that you can hear what those things sound. Exactly right. We were on the afternoon magazine when that came when it came out was that was my first time here in the new studio. And. And I met Chad just about that time. But the publication and then we went out and we

toured. We did a book tour. But it was kind of unusual book tour because since we were musicians we could perform as well as talk and read from the book and we had such a good time on that tour that we said we've got to make a record of the music that we're doing in the tour which is different than what was on the CD for the book. And that was where this music started. Have you always been interested in percussion. Has that always been a thing that has drawn you. Yes irritatingly so to say. Well the Byrds. OK David a good example of this is I did this performance over in Indianapolis which is where I was born where I went to grade school and I was autographing all these books and this woman comes through the line older woman attractive and she says. I bet you don't remember me and I said No I don't. She said. I'm Mrs. ponce. And I was sort of shocked in my mind because Mrs. Potts had been my third grade teacher and

she said I'm just SO PROUD OF YOU AND THIS BOOK IS SO BEAUTIFUL I'M JUST SO proud of what you've done to me what I used to tell you. I said No I don't she said that all the drumming will get you nowhere. And you know so well I've always had this theory that the vibrations did something to drummers heads. I you know that's true in Chad without I'm sorry I you know I've known a few drummers and they're all nuts and I always figured it was the vibrations it shook something loose and all drummers they ain't right but you know they're they're good guys. Nothing yet of course the thing is that for us longtime listeners to the show we're learning more about it all the time. I recently found out today was a big Led Zeppelin fan. You know you listen and so you know we know about now we know about his real attitude towards drummers so this. So all we need we should do a Led Zeppelin to today I don't know. Can you do stairway to heaven do you know that we yes we could I mean I can't do it not long ago. Chit chat I want

to ask you the same. Were you always attracted to percussion interested in drumming. Yes yes. It just seems like it's something it's hard wired. I have tried other instruments and I continue to go back to drums and percussion. Frustrated with string instruments and everything else and put them in a corner and go back to my sticks in my hands and make it happen and it just seems natural. Well see that's something I think about percussion and drumming that seems deceptively simple because it does seem natural. Everybody can clap and drum on the tabletop but that's not it's not exactly correctly goes way beyond their really as well. So what is the what is the difference between what you're what you're not. Drummer can do. Well there's a lot of finesse and a lot of drumming and a lot of people aren't aware. It's one thing to grab a mallet a stick and beat something. But to do it consistently and to be

able to control that instrument and the device that you have in your hand or if you're just using your hands is hours of practice and dedication and instruments on and think I think probably the people who aren't musicians don't really appreciate this is how complex are rhythmically Klump complex things can be and that how many defined named rhythms there are I'm sure just in Brazilian music how many different I mean different rhythms are there that are set and are named and you can say to somebody who knows that play me a if things that I think they'll say OK yeah yeah exactly. So it's intimidating. It really really is. When you get started on a certain area a certain genre of music whether it's from Brazil or Africa you can spend a lifetime in one village learning you know a certain style or rhythm or a certain you know the genre music from that area. Once you play something else you want to play something for the city to see.

There's a song called beneath the open sky which. A lot of the city really. It's called every town a lot of it comes from this place that we live in Champaign-Urbana the region that we live in. And for those of us who are here the sky is a big component of the beauty I think of of Champaign-Urbana and its surroundings and so on. Neil Robinson. Who couldn't be with us on the keyboards this morning due to space constraints. He wrote the music and I wrote the lyrics and this is just sort of a pan to our feelings about living in this in this area. OK well let's hear that this is again this called beneath the open sky. It's got number four from the new CD every town by the rocky Moffitt group. It's team.

Sky. Show. The. Big kid in the. Media and remember we didn't. And. Can't. Eat. Eat. Can be. Continue to.

Walk. Can't touch. Sick. To. My. To. The U.S. visa it's warm and cool breeze catch and whom I. Meet is the sky. He says. From the CD every town by the rocky Moffat group that is beneath the open sky. And if you'd like to have a copy of this CD we'd like you to have one and they'll autograph it for you. The hitch is you need to make a pledge and that's what we're here for this week if you make a contribution of $75 or above with our

Thanks we will send you a copy of every town and all you have to do is call 2 4 4 9 4 5 5 that is the number where you actually have a caller and I you know we do take calls on the show and I really I didn't mention that right at the beginning but what you guys are going to have to do is to hear the chorus you can have all that on it to get set ahead. Oh I love that we can do that. And yeah you probably haven't really worn those before. There device that's that's intended to help you to hear stuff. Well you got it. Yeah explain stuff the drummer's And so I don't want to hold off the caller too long but you know I was just afraid that you know I'd be one of those mornings where they thought oh darn I think speech is going to be on. I've got these gutter problems and then these musicians show up you know he's already been here. OK we got that taken care of. But if you if you do have questions about gutters I'm sure these guys would do their best to help you out. You know well the big question is probably siding which do you go with you go with your steel siding go with your aluminum go with your vinyl what I'm going to back it up and I'm just going to go with Hank.

No gutters. You know just dig a ditch right alongside your house you know you heard that right sure you heard that it come when I say we do have a call here let's talk with the man from Belgium over by Danville here. Wine for Hello. Good morning. Thank you for your discussion on this and use it a lot. History is exciting and there's another for you folks. I want always one of the bandits there were back in the 90s. If I'm drawing a blank. But the 90s again that was probably when I was cryogenically frozen or had children or something I wasn't much in the music scene until we were it was champagne was in the 80s and then really I had children and started writing books and and so I you know when that happens you don't get out much at night so I don't I don't know about that meant Jed you know I was born in

91 so I don't remember a whole lot about it. Jack Brighton is just coming into the studio. He's a he's a guitarist and has also been playing music around Champaign-Urbana for a while I don't know jack of you know a band called the mouth bandits. Oh yeah oh yeah yeah. Jack and you know the method and in fact my my friends of Bruce Buckingham and Craig Johnson started the mouth band if they're like the steely dan of Champaign-Urbana they recorded these incredibly high production value songs basically a lot of very funny a lot of very creative and I actually recorded on a couple of their tracks and they're around there you can find their or their material on the Web certainly if you did a search. I'm sure I didn't. Put on a CD on a CD and I've never flown I thought maybe they just only went into the bands or something but I know they're you know they're still around and think they're recording right now in fact they're pretty amazing.

Thank you very much and I say well thank you for the call well. Here in studio with us Rocky Moffat and Chad Dunn and they're playing some of the music that's on their CD every town which is just out. OK I always like playing them. Well I would like you this is this is radio. It's such a magical medium for the imagination. I would like you to describe what I've done right this is true he has his acoustic guitar his steel string six string Martin sitting here on his lap and he's taken a piece of paper a piece of ordinary paper ladies and gentlemen and torn a strip Oh approximately I don't know 12 inches by two and a half and threaded it through the strings of the guitar. That's right. Beautifully said. Chad of course is known as a drummer and a percussionist and I am primarily known as a drummer and a percussionist but occasionally we like to introduce something in our music called chords and. So that's why I brought this today and I've

also been accused of turning everything I play into a drum And so this will be a good example of this when you're actually going to hear the guitar sounding a little bit like an instrument called an MBNA which is something that you pluck and it buzzes. But my inspiration not only for doing this to the guitar but for the song we're going to do is. In the 1957 Johnny Cash went into the studios of some studios down in Memphis and he was going to record a batch of songs and they had so little money that they couldn't afford to have a drummer on the session and he wanted this kind of back BD kind of feel on the song that they are going to do. So he took I think a matchbook and threaded it between the strings of the guitar and created that type of thing you associate with with Johnny Cash and and so we're going to do our sort of

West Africa take on that. And it's called I Walk The Line. I keep a close watch because I feel it's because I walk the line to make people to look nice. Can I have removed all the thing because it was us. I was young.

Well you get that Rocky buffet unprepared to guitarist right. And Chad done playing an empty phantom bottle. Does the does the brand of soda affect the sound. Most definitely as long as the Blondel has ridges that. Does that. That's the important thing is that I can see that it has a ridges that you could scrape that fit whatever you think he was playing with a thimble that was playing with them ball and part of a wire brush so the backside of a wire brush not the kind you clean with but the kind you played is where

I kind of wired. I have to interject leave it to David Inge to know to make the connection between John Cage and Johnny Cash. No sang prepared guitar. You saying that's what's great about this show. That's what's great about public radio. I would not of expected that from John Cage John Cash Johnson you know that works. But it's great. OK. Do you do you have the tendency to try and make an instrument out of anything. You know every time you see something you think can I make music with it. Oh most definitely most definitely. Always looking and listening to new objects and wow that you know. I want to what that sounds like. Oh or you scrape it and brush it. You know the garage is filling up. I'm running out of room. Somebody called in and wants to know about an event that you're going to do on New Year's Eve at the Virginia theater.

We will be in concert with a group called the corral and this will be a concert at the Virginia theater which is a gorgeous theater and they'll have the organ organ will rise up before the concert and they'll be just nice sing along. And then we're going to perform both as a group and then with the choir itself and that is going to be a ball. Yeah. That's right. So it's a great space I hope that people will either they've been there or to a movie or recently with the series they've been there. It's a great old theater the kind of which we don't have very many. Yes more. And it's also a great excuse me a great acoustical space to play in. It's a great theater as we will utilize the acoustic space with the group with some drumming that will do where it will be an amplified that will be plenty loud and plenty. It will be wonderful and you can say that you played the same stage as the Marx Brothers already done it. Oh you know it's been I've already been there you know. But I yeah. And we do have certain things in common actually more Chad does from an

air standpoint you know that. People undoubtedly were thinking the thinking cerebral qualities. Oh no no no. Just a hair thing. No it's just that you know got lots and lots and lots of hair. Yes a lot more here than than Harpo and much more attractive. I would say. Q So very well you know again I stress. Radio is magical imaginative medium where we can we can say what. For example David's here and he's wearing what he traditionally wears on the show which I believe is a white dinner jacket and I think I think that helps set a formal tone exactly to casual where you just get to lose and I think it's right you know in the old days in radio the guys wore tuxedoes and that with they thought that was very important to set a dignified tone. Yeah so when you do and you look great and I'm kind of a cross between say Ed Harris and Kevin Costner you know. It's that kind of luck. Chad is here and he were he seems to be wearing something that looks like animal pelts.

It's kind of a Ralph Lauren meets George of the jungle kind of well it's a pretty good drumming is a very primitive thing roaming thing. You know that's just and that's the magic of radio. It's a play played out upon the stage in the mind of the listener. That's right. We take advantage of that a lot. People imagine we actually have a show here. I imagine that every day I get it. Well it's a little looser than the normal you know stretching a little bit but I'm having a ball right. Well got OEM for two hours here. Because Twila skipped out early. Well we're actually not so sure about Twilight. You know when you might want to hang we will all wait would you. Shall we play something else so we play something from the CD. I would love that. What I would love for the listeners out there in public radio and to experience our version of I've Just Seen A Face. For those of you who know the song of course it's a Beatle song and it's done in a sort of bluegrass kind of style for them off the Rubber Soul record. But we've

kind of transformed that we do some Beatle covers in concert and on and on recordings. But I don't see any reason to do it like the Beatles because they do it so brilliantly you know why. So this is done in a kind of a Brazilian style. With all the drumming provided by Chad. What we did through the magic of overdubbing we could create something that would be like somebody Escuela a big group of samba drummers. But he's doing all of the drumming and it Sara I've Just Seen A Face. Let's hear. Some. Cities. To get. More listeners. Isn't she. Just. Along all the way. Up to. The. Devil. As a. Sudden.

Insult. Paul. Oh I. See. You. AS. A. Players.

Playing a. Game forget the drama. She's just the girlfriend. Almost all the words the litany. Of the good. I'm not in the in the economy never move to. A. Smaller. That. Is call me that I am I am the. Bank. Clean.

Slate. Clean. Up his. KIT. Please. KIT. Please. From the CD every town the rocky Moffat group with I've Just Seen A Face by those Lennon McCartney guys Sir sir sir sir Paul I don't know if they can heap any more orders upon him. I think that might be yet.

Unless they want to make him king. That's true that's true. And he'd be a great king. I think he would be a benevolent ruler he'd be a benevolent and he's got all the dough he needs. So money's not a problem so he couldn't be bought. You know that's what they said about Arnold. Well that's something else I know that's that's that's different. But enough about politics. I wanted to mention it because you just did and I read about it in reading about this is that you actually recorded this album in your house which I guess is a testament to now you know you can do. You can easily do high quality recording just about any place. Right yes. I spent way too much time in my life in the dark professional recording studios and so when the technology became available I wanted to record in different kinds of environments. So we bought a hard disk recorder multitracked recorder that makes great sounding recordings and we were able to record wherever we wanted to and we had a lot of fun recording in my house. Then my wife

longsuffering. We had a recording studio in our living room for longer than I want to imagine or think about. But but it ended up sounding you know like a record you know it sounds good in a studio. How many people I mean musicians at one time did you have there in your living what was the biggest number three or four. Oh ok as always I thought except for vocalists like on that last song we had me and Chad and Kate and all of our kids and anybody that was walking down the street we just brought them in. Is that they the rhythm of that song. Does it have a name samba. Oh OK. And how it's how does that how like how do you define Samba samba. The foundation for Samba is playing on these large drums called pseudos and the definition of samba is kind of a generic term that primarily means dance. It's a style of dance but people associate samba with big carnivals I have been down in Brazil so the rhythm on this track was just a basic samba and then

we add over the top of some some rhythms that are associated with samba music in a multitude of different percussion instruments that provide these rhythms and in layers. And they have interlocking patterns so I think we was just under 20 tracks of the drumming. Yeah you had to get it to sound like a big group of people rather than just a couple rather than three people in the Rockies living room. I think sad exactly Roy does it does as he says he's good he's good at that stuff. Thank you very much. If you have a hard time sitting still now when you're wearing your white dinner jacket you can't get up and you know just you can do it. But. Oh you're wearing your animal health live at home but when you know you know when you take your copy home David and you know when I'm not listening to Led Zeppelin answer. Nobody would be listening to the Rocky Mountain group believe me. One of my one of the one thing we do want to mention. You can be doing a thing appearance at pages for all

ages That's right will be there. I could do a signing in a concert and it'll be a larger group hopefully. And we always have a good time there. We have been there for a long time we did a signing when my book came out. But it's a great store and that'll be on Friday November 14th at 7:30. It's free and we'll bring all of these drums and keyboards and all matter of things and then we'll do all the songs and all of your all of your concert favorites and. And remember you take requests if they are John and why Johnny. Yes you know the Beatles. Yeah we actually do take requests and in fact we just did a performance at Borders and we have a new website up that I should hawk a little bit for a moment here. Go to Debbie Debbie Debbie adult Rocky Moffitt dot com that's Moffitt with an A and you can find out more than you ever wanted to know about us and you can also buy the CD right on the website but. You'll find out about our appearances. But as soon as the website went

out I guess people have too much time on their hands because they just want right there and just started sending messages to us and we had a lot of requests for songs that they wanted us to play because we don't play in Champaign-Urbana very much. We play a lot of other places but that's kind of a typical sort of thing you know a stranger in his own own mind profits with or not on are doing their own thing country but that's not true here I don't know. So I don't want to give that impression. Well we're about the point where I have to finish up here I'm sorry to say we could go on and we do. But for people who are interested in hearing more of this music. First of all you can you can seek out the CD every town by the rocking offa group which is just out. You can stop by pages for all ages. Again what when is that. November 14th that's the Friday 7:30. You can check out their website also you might want to look at the book that I mentioned back at the beginning of the program. If you're interested in music or in percussion or in instruments or you know in world music or any of the good things the book is rhythm and beauty the art of

percussion which has a lot of really nice photographs on photographs of instruments and also a CD that goes with that so that you can hear what those things sound like. Thank you Rocky and Rocky muffin shutdown thank you very much. Thank you. It was our pleasure it was a lot of.