BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info
Last summer a musical ensemble called Laura Rain and the Caesars released their debut album entitled Electrified. I was floored. It was, as the album title suggests, a high wattage recording of music that falls under the general heading of soul music. It has that early 70’s vibe that is imbued with healthy doses of funk and r&b. The album is made up of all original material written by the band's principals, singer Laura Rain and guitarist George Friend. I caught up with Laura and George last week as they get ready for their first ever Southern California mini tour which will include a stop at Don The Beachcomers in Sunset Beach on Saturday night December 7th. Enjoy a conversation I had with Laura Rain and George Friend.
David Mac (DM): Laura, what are some of your first musical experiences?
Laura Rain (LR): I have been singing as long as I can remember. I wanted to be a singer as early as four years old. In kindergarten and even pre-school my other classmates would come up to me and say, ‘I want to be your manager.’
DM: What were you listening to as a kid growing up?
LR: I was into the Gap Band, Chaka Khan and Rick James when I was five, six, seven years old. By fifteen I found Aretha Franklin. I started singing Aretha stuff non-stop. I discovered Etta James and then Patti Labelle, who was a huge influence. From there I found the blues. In the late seventies I was into funk and soul. I wasn’t into disco which was really popular during that time.
DM: Detroit is known for its soul and gospel music. How much influence did growing up there in that city have on your approach to music?
LR: It is kind of an automatic thing where I don’t think I ever knew how much it affected me. I was always in the middle of what was going on in the city with the music, the DJs, the dancing. I was never separated from that by color or the fact that I actually lived out in the suburbs. I just embraced it all. I am also very thankful that my parents embraced that culture as well.
DM: What were some of your early musical experiences singing in public?
LR: When I was twenty I dropped out of college and started singing around. I hooked up with Howard Glazer for a little while. He is a guitar player based in Detroit. I have had a whole bunch of shelved half finished projects and ideas. Nothing really solidified. I have run into some pitfalls as I tried to get my own thing going. I have been a sideman while I was trying to get my own thing going for years and years. No one could figure out what I was trying to do.
DM: You lived out here in Southern California for awhile.
LR: I did, I lived in the Santa Clarita Valley for awhile. It is north of L.A. near Magic Mountain. What was weird was it was so hot up there and I had all these leather clothes. My Michigan winter clothes didn’t really work in L.A.
DM: (Laughs) The last time I donned leather, it was a first basemen’s mitt. Did you come out here with the idea of being closer to the recording business?
LR: I had money to record, but never pulled the trigger because I just wanted to come home and record with Detroit people.
DM: Why?
LR: There are very talented musicians out there just not the right musicians for what I wanted to do. Nothing really came together musically until I met George.
DM: How did you two meet?
LR: There was a video of me up on YouTube singing Natural Woman in a wine bar out in California. He saw it and reached out to me on Facebook and said he wanted to meet me. He kept saying he was going to come out to one of my gigs, but never showed up. One night right before a gig I got this “b.s.” message from a guy in my band saying his storage unit got flooded and his equipment got ruined. At the exact same time I was I was online talking to George. I said, ‘I will pay you to come to my gig. I need a guitar player tonight.’
DM: So there was something about his playing specifically that gelled with what you wanted to do.
LR: (Laughs) That’s what everybody says.
DM: What do you say?
LR: I really don’t know. It just clicks. We write music together pretty effortlessly. I don’t have to work very hard at sounding good with George there.
DM: The new record has all original material which isn’t all that unusual. What makes this record different is that it is good original material. Let’s talk about that aspect of your music.
LR: Well, I have been writing songs since I was in the second grade. None of them were ever published. I wrote some of the tunes in L.A. before coming back to Detroit that were reworked and put on the album. For years people have been telling me to hire a writer. (laughs) I tell them, ‘What’s the point. I can write something heartfelt. I am a soul singer.’ I just knew I could write something good. George was a big help. He worked with me on some stuff.
DM: Let’s talk about the new album. When was it recorded?
LR: We started working on it right after we met.
DM: You’ll have to forgive me, I don’t read People Magazine. When did you meet?
LR: We met on June 6, 2012. On June 15, 2013, the new record came out.
DM: Let’s get your guitar playing buddy into this conversation. George, let’s talk about your early exposure to music and early musical experiences.
George Friend (GF): My father was an art teacher and he had this enormous record collection. He grew up in Detroit so he had lots of soul and r&b records. He had a bunch of Jimmy Reed records. So I grew up listening to all of this music. I started playing guitar when I was twelve. I soon discovered I could play by ear. I was learning the songs as he was playing the records. He was amazed. I started a band when I was in the eighth grade.
DM: Do you remember the name of the band?
GF: I do. The band was called, “Loco.” We played all sorts of stuff. Just a mix of styles...in the ninth grade I joined the jazz band at school. There was this program in Michigan where not only did we have a teacher, but the school actually hired a jazz musician to help out with private classes. He would teach classes in small combos, jazz theory, improvising and all of these things. I was really fortunate to have this background. This was in a public school mind you. So in the ninth grade I got turned on to everything from Miles Davis to Duke Ellington to John Coltrane. This continued throughout my high school years. I mean we would improvise during the day at school. We played everything from Freddie Hubbard to swing.
I had many guitar teachers and they would always turn me on to things as well. I always hung around older musicians. When I was in high school I would hang around college age musicians. I would go and hear musicians play out in public. I would sit in with them. I always looked up to the older musicians to see how they played professionally. That had a big impact on me.
DM: What brought you out to Los Angeles?
GF: I wanted to meet people who made records every day. I wanted to experience an entertainment metropolis. For instance when I met Stephen Hodges, I learned a lot from him. I would grill him with questions. The record making business was gone by this time in Detroit. I mean they are still making records here in Detroit, but it isn’t an industry the way it is in L.A.
DM: It was at one time. After all you had Motown Records in Motown before they moved out here in the early 70’s.
GF: There are still a few of those folks around who made those records here in the 60’s, but in L.A. you can walk down the street and meet people who make records. What I find interesting is that it translates to how they play live.
DM: How so?
GF: They play with less abandon and a little more conservatively. In Detroit everyone is just burning and trying to mow you over. They don’t think as much in terms of how the different parts fit a song or think in terms of playing stylistically.
DM: That’s interesting. Would you be kind enough to expand on that thought?
GF: In California it seems you have a lot of guys really studying specific players like Jimmy Rogers, Eddie Taylor or Robert Lockwood for instance. Then they go out and play that stuff spot on. You don’t have that in Detroit. I am not saying one approach is necessarily better. It’s just different.
DM: What school of thought does your playing most closely resemble?
GF: Let me put it this way. When I moved to L.A., I thought I was a pretty good blues player. Then I saw Junior Watson, Kirk Fletcher, Kid Ramos and Rick Holmstrom. I was amazed. I knew who these guys were, but I never heard them play live. I was just amazed. I remember when I was auditioning for the gig with Janiva (Magness) she said you really have to study blues guitar.
DM: Do you remember when this was?
GF: It was at that birthday party we were at Dave in Newport Beach.
DM: June 2001...I remember it well.
GF: She had all these guys in her band previously. They were on the gig at that party. I thought, ‘Oh great I get to go on after Watson, Fletcher and Ramos.’ After that I got deeper and deeper into my studies. I studied Albert King, Freddy King all these different players and how they got their own sound even though they all speak in this very specific language. I learned a lot by taking this approach and by being more analytical with my studies.
DM: Was your gig with Janiva your first major job out here?
GF: Yes it was. That was in 2001. We hit the road pretty hard. In those days we flew just about everywhere. It was always fun to get back to L.A. though and play the Café Boogaloo in Hermosa Beach. Those shows were just blow outs. I was with Janiva for about five years until I had my son and couldn’t travel anymore. I became a stay at home dad.
DM: While you were with Janiva you also released a solo album.
GF: I pieced that record together from different sessions with different players in various combinations. I had been writing a lot of songs. I had the same sort of conundrum a lot of players in the blues field experience in that I really wanted to do something different. I have so many different influences that I wanted to explore that. I didn’t want it to be a straight twelve bar blues shuffle style record with guitar.
DM: I always think of your playing as being very eclectic.
GF: Thank you. I never thought of myself as an eclectic player, but I have played in a lot of different musical situations. I toured for years with rockabilly players.
DM: Such as...
GF: I played with Robert Gordon and I toured all over for years with a band called The Twistin' Tarantulas. Before that I played in a big soul and r&b band out of Detroit called The Sun Messengers. So my background playing professionally is pretty wide ranging.
DM: That brings us to your association with Laura Rain and your new album, Electrified. Let’s talk about this musical collaboration and what makes it work.
GF: What works for me is that I am not that good of a singer and Laura is a fantastic singer. She is more of a soul singer than say a blues singer. As you know Dave, there is a difference in the approach to singing soul music than blues. I love playing guitar around a singer. I also love writing in the soul idiom.
DM: Besides working with Laura, what else are you up to these days?
GF: I teach music. I have been doing that for a long time. The whole time I was in L.A. I taught underserved kids for a non-profit. I taught in South Central as well as downtown.
DM: Are you doing the same type of thing in Detroit?
GF: Yes. For a while I had my own music school. I really, really LOVE teaching kids music. It is one of my favorite things in the world.
DM: That’s fantastic George. What would you like people to know about Laura Rain and the Caesars?
GF: For us, it’s about pleasing the crowd and playing from our hearts. Laura is just an amazing singer. When she is performing, it’s like she is out of control. She is a controlled singer. She never sings out of tune or anything, but when she sings her emotions just take over. It is an amazing thing to see.
DM: This is the first time in California for Laura Rain and the Caesars. I am looking forward to catching the shows out here.
GF: We are very excited to be playing out there. For me it will be the first time I have been back to California since I moved back to Detroit a few years ago. I look forward to seeing you at the shows Dave. Thanks for taking an interest in our music.
DM: I’ll see you in California next week. Safe travels...
LR: Thanks Dave.
Copyright 2022 BLUES JUNCTION Productions. All rights reserved.
BLUES JUNCTION Productions
7343 El Camino Real
Suite 327
Atascadero, CA 93422-4697
info