I first heard the band The Elgin’s on 2/23/11 on a radio show out of Irvine, California, hosted by Jeff Scott. The band played three songs live and in the studio. That great radio program is sadly now long gone but The Elgins are still here. Those three tunes, along with thirteen others, ended up appearing on their debut album which came out a few months later. On that February day I became a fan of that band and their guitarist, Mark Mumea. Mark hangs his hat in nearby San Pedro, California. I figured we would cross paths sooner than later. It turned out to be later and finally last Monday October 29^th, Mark and I met face to face. It was at a blues gig featuring Bharath Rajakumar on vocals and harp, Fred Kaplan on keyboards and Junior Watson on guitar. Special guest Al Blake sat in, blew harp and sang one of his original tunes. Blake also took the time and trouble to introduce me to a man, Mark ,I only knew through phone conversations and cyber communiqués.  The following is a discussion I had with Mark Mumea of The Elgins. He talked about the music he loves and the band that makes that music come alive.

David Mac (DM): How did you come to find this music called blues?

Mark Mumea (MM): When I was 17 years old I picked up the guitar. That was back in 1991. I started playing classic rock stuff. I always read the liner notes and that led me eventually to the blues. It was a long filtering process of reading, learning and playing. I found guys like B.B. King, Buddy Guy and all of the main stream blues artists but I kept digging.

DM: Where did this digging lead?

MM: It led to me discovering guys like, Jimmy Rogers,  Louis and Dave Myers, Little Walter, Muddy Waters, Leroy Foster, Sunnyland Slim, John Brim, Robert Nighthawk, John Lee Williamson (Sonny Boy 1), Robert Lockwood Jr., Big Bill Broonzy, Eddie Taylor, Johnny Shines, Joe Willie Wilkins, L.C. McKinley, Tampa Red, Eddie Boyd, Snooky Pryor, Floyd Jones, Lightning Hopkins, Big Maceo, Willie Love, Rice Miller (Sonny Boy 2), Johnny Young, Robert Kelton, Willie Johnson, Memphis Minnie, Othum Brown, St. Louis Jimmy, Ranson Knowling, Blind John Davis, Judge Riley, Jump Jackson, Pete Franklin, Lonnie Johnson. These guys all are significant influences.

DM: It has been my experience very few people find this stuff on their own. Let’s talk about people who helped put you on this road to discovery.

MM: In 1998 I met a guy named Alex. He was very connected to the blues scene in California. He stayed with Louis Myers in the mid 70’s and studied guitar with him.  Louis introduced him to many of the blues greats that were in Chicago at that time. Alex showed me all kinds of things and turned me on to Little Walter and guys like Jimmy Rogers. That changed my life forever. It took a year or so for this stuff to set in. It was a lot different than the string bending styles that I had grown fond of at the time. I got bit big time and was completely hooked on Chicago Blues.

DM: Were you the beneficiary of any other tutelage?

MM: In 2000 I took a few lessons from Rick Holmstrom and Junior Watson.

DM: How did that impact your playing?  

MM:  I was able to see how they approached things such as chords, proper fingering technique and so on. It really saved a lot of wasted time that I would have otherwise spent trying to figure this stuff out on my own. I could have developed some bad habits that would have been difficult to break later on.

Holmstrom showed me the Little Walters classic "Shake Dancer". That song has a lot of the classic fingering and positions involved that really pushed me forward into figuring out other Robert Lockwood Jr. and Louis Myers type licks.

DM: Did you get out and check out the live local scene here in Southern California?

MM: I’d go out and see the big name players out here in Los Angeles. The music I was hearing just didn’t excite me in the same way. It was like something was missing from what I’d been listening to at home. There was a lot of blues-rock out there that was being passed off as blues. That just isn’t blues and not what I wanted to hear.

DM: When did you start playing out in public?

MM:  In 2001 I moved to San Diego and quickly befriended Nathan James. I had been a fan of his playing as I had heard him playing with the James Harman Band. I knew he lived in the San Diego area. I decided to do a little research to see what venues he played. I went out to one of his shows and we got to talking. He was very helpful. He let me sit in with him and introduced me to some of the local musicians.  I started playing with Brad Karow’s band, The Blues Pharaohs. Nathan had played in that band prior to joining Harman’s band. It was a great experience. I got my feet wet and met lots of other musicians.

DM: Let’s talk about some of those musicians.

MM: Through Brad I met Mark Bukich who has since become one of my best friends.  He’s a harp player and a Little Walter fanatic, so we hit it off instantly.

DM: There is someone else who was very important to your development as a musician that we have talked about, Johnny Dyer.

MM: I met Johnny around this time. He would come out to sit in with us at different venues. It’s always a great pleasure to play with Johnny. Around 2003 or so I moved to Upland. Johnny lived in San Dimas which isn’t too far away, so we hung out quite a bit.  He would invite me to his family BBQ’s and to go fishing.

He would play festivals and he would bring me along to be his guitarist.  At the time I felt like I was in over my head but Johnny always gave me the confidence to do my best.

There were numerous occasions that we would come back from a gig and we would sit in the cab of my truck listening to Little Walter and Jimmy Rogers. He would point out different things. I’d grab my guitar and I’d start some Jimmy Rogers intro and he would sing. It was the greatest!  Johnny is so good. I’ve heard him do some unbelievable stuff at low volume that has never been captured on his CDs. 

This one night after a gig, Johnny and I were staying at Buk’s (Mark Bukich) house and I happened to have a small recorder with me.  We recorded Sad, Sad Day, a Muddy tune, with me on guitar, Buk on harp, and Johnny singing through this cheap plastic mic. It was unreal. We listened back to that recording all night, maybe 100 times back. I eventually nodded off and Johnny and Buk stayed up. It must have been three or four in the morning and they were still listening back to this recording. It was fantastic!

DM: Johnny is great. He is the real deal.

MM: Oh yeah, I mean he grew up on Stovall plantation in Mississippi. That was the same place Muddy is from. This is music he knows. This is music he grew up with.

DM: Lets’ talk about The Elgin’s. First off where did the name come from?

MM: Another one of my passions is bikes and the Elgin bike was really popular in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. They’re cruiser type bikes. I was really into those bikes.  My uncle restored some. I also have a watch that was passed down to me from my great grandfather that was an Elgin. Elgin is a city near Chicago. So there are several references that kind of fit.

DM: I think it is interesting as to how you put the band together and why?

MM: Let’s start with the why. I’ve always wanted to record an album with Johnny. I always felt like the recordings I had heard with Johnny were so pumped up and loud, Johnny is straining to get over the band, I wanted to lay something down low and in the pocket and create an environment where Johnny can do his best work.

DM: Loud is not his style. He has a real relaxed mellow quality to his singing.

MM: Exactly! The next question is, ‘Where would I find people who are able to play this kind of music in this way that would complement Johnny’s style?’

DM: How about start on the other side of the world.

MM: (laughs) As you know that’s what I did. In the very early part of 2011, I found a YouTube clip on the internet of a trio from Norway. I was blown away. These guys were playing some real heavy Chicago blues like I’d never heard white guys play before. After getting to know each other a bit, I asked guitarist Fredrik Zahl Marken and pianist and vocalist Oyvind Stolefjell to join myself along with Mark Bukich and Bob “Pacemaker” Newham for our recording project.

I didn’t really think they would come but it didn’t hurt to ask. Surprisingly, they jumped at the opportunity. We started getting a song list together of what we wanted to do.

So these two guys came in from Norway and Bukish flew in from Missouri and two weeks before we were ready to record I got a call from Johnny. He was very ill and wouldn’t be able to join us. This was my worst nightmare come true. There was so much preparation and then suddenly we are left scrambling.

Fredrik and Oyvind were very professional about it and we quickly came up with a plan “B” and started revising the song list with Fredrik and Oyvind now doing most of the vocals.  We left three tracks open and I brought Johnny later and he laid down vocals for those tunes.

DM: Let’s talk about the sound and feel that you have achieved with the album, Back to Chicago.

MM: As far as the sound goes we like to use small portable recording equipment like Alan Lomax used on his field recordings. In those days they recorded in the back of record shops and all kinds of places.

DM: That has got to be a real challenge.

MM: It was a huge challenge to get the sound we wanted. To make things worse we had sixteen songs to do in a seven hour window.  That’s a half an hour per song including set up time. For anyone who has done mono recording knows, it takes time to get the balance right with mic placement.  It’s pretty amazing that we were able to pull off this project with so many things stacked against us. 

DM: What is it about European blues musicians that make them so damn good.

MM:  Here in the United States, we lead such busy lives. We are so busy chasing a buck and just trying to survive.  In Europe they have more time and can focus more because there are fewer distractions. Maybe that’s part of the reason. These guys just have so much attention for detail. They’re just really good at listening to this stuff and picking it apart and breaking the “code” if you will.   They seem to be able to figure out what the parts are and are able to capture the essence quickly.

DM: Just a few months ago you released a CD that has 17 more post war gems. Let’s talk about this follow up project simply entitled, Volume 2.

MM: This time, in addition to Fredrik and Oyvind coming out from Norway, we brought a great harmonica player from Italy, Alberto Vigliarolo and he brought with him a friend, guitarist Matteo Rocco.  Alberto is a Little Walter freak and can play that stuff as well as anyone. We were trying to move the band in a different direction. So many guys these days are going for the Little Walter sound.  Bharath Rajakumar and his band do a great job of it for instance. I have been inspired quite a bit by what he has accomplished both musically and with achieving that vintage sound as well.

DM: On Volume 2 you take the music even further back.

MM: That’s right. On Volume 2 we focused on the music coming out of Chicago that pre-dates Chess records.

DM: What separates those recordings from what Chess was doing just a few years later?

MM: They weren’t contriving to make a hit record. They weren’t influenced by white record company executives like Leonard Chess. They had carte blanche to record whatever they wanted to record. They didn’t feel the pressure to have to compete with the rock and roll market which was the youth market. That’s what we are trying to bring to our audience here sixty plus years later.

There are a lot of guys out there that have the Little Walter sound down. I feel it is becoming almost untouchable and over-done. This time I wanted to focus on more of the pre-Chess sounds of small Chicago labels such as Parkway, Tempo-Tone, and JOB. The record has more of a stripped down, raw, old-timey sound. This time I wanted to record at my place with a reel to reel so we could take our time and have more control of the sound. We also elected to leave out drums which would leave more empty space and let things breathe more. It has more of a relaxed feel. Oyvind did the lion’s share of the vocals on this one and showed off his talents on not only piano, but also guitar and harp. 

DM: Oyvind is really incredible.

MM: He is probably my favorite bluesman today. He really is something. He captures the feel of the old masters so well.

DM: The record is a real collaborative effort though.

MM: Absolutely...Fredrik also did a lot of great vocal work on the album and some fantastic guitar work as well. Alberto plays some killer acoustic and electric harp. I’m so glad and appreciative to have such talented musicians who came out to record this type of blues with me. I just don’t hear guys doing this kind of stuff. I’m very pleased with this album. I think we captured some great blues on this one.

DM: What is it about this style of blues you find so compelling?

MM: It is a lot more complex and more subtle than what has saturated the blues market. It fits together better and there is more of a conversation, if you will, amongst the instruments. It’s a more sophisticated way of playing. I like the way the guitar playing is woven into the music. It holds the music together in a way that is so interesting and so fulfilling as a listener and as a musician.  

DM: Let’s talk about the assertion that inevitably comes with taking this approach to the music that you are simply a revivalist or, God forbid, a purist.

MM: A lot for guys attempt to play this stuff. In most cases they aren’t able to play it, so they knock musicians who can. I think for a lot of guys it’s all about instant gratification. They want to go out and hear some local blues, learn the pentatonic scale and then all of a sudden they’re a blues musician. You’re not going to take that approach and come up with anything that is authentic. It’s just impossible. 

Then they try too hard to get different kind of grooves, add funk and all these different styles to blues. I don’t think it’s necessary to change the music that much to come up with something interesting and creative. I think it’s important to eventually come up with your own sound but I also think that in order to come up with a sound that’s authentic you need to do a lot of homework and listen and play and explore the recording processes. 

DM: In my mind the people who are always blowing their own horn that they are moving this music forward are almost always the worst musicians. What are your thoughts as it relates to this?

MM: Listen Dave, When I see somebody on stage, and they have these bright suits on and they’ve got this whole “show” it’s similar to hearing someone play with excessive volume. It’s just a big turnoff and I instantly think “What are they trying to hide?” A lot of guys are too focused on the visual aspect instead of the music. Music is not something you see.

DM: Let me play devil’s advocate for a minute and point out as I am sure you know that T-Bone Walker, for instance, played the guitar behind his head while he did the splits. So this is nothing new.

MM: The big difference is that with T-Bone the level of musicianship was of such a high caliber that it supported that showmanship. It has to be in proportion. It’s like a piece of cake. If you have a thick piece of cake it can support some frosting. If you have a thin piece of cake, you can’t pile that frosting on there without the whole thing collapsing. Now all you have is a mess.

DM: What’s next for you and the Elgins?

MM: Fredrik is out here in California for a few months. We are already kicking around a few ideas for a third album. I want to flip the page and take the music back more to the roots and if anything, maybe over exaggerate the small combo setting, arrangements and recording processes, take it right to the core of the music. We would also like to have some guests on the records as well.

DM: Do you want to toss any names out there?

MM: Well there are two singers that come to mind that are real authentic blues singers that we would love to work with. Johnny Dyer of course is one and Al Blake is the other. These guys have already expressed an interest. These are real traditional players that I look up to. I would also love to work with Bharath, if he’s up for it.

I think we can come up with something really interesting and that is a little off the standard template. I want to subtly add to the language. I am a creative person, I’ve always been into fine art and I do all kinds of artistic things. I want to be creative when approaching this music but I want to do it with some history behind it so I’m not just jumping out there and throwing out something that doesn’t fit. I’ve done a lot of listening and a lot of studying and I want to move this music forward in an appropriate way that makes sense to me. I believe I’m doing the right thing and hopefully, I can turn some other people on to this kind of music as well.

DM: I know you are doing the right thing Mark. I wish you and the guys continued success.

MM: Thanks Dave. I enjoyed it very much.