The return of Honey Island Swamp Band
When Katrina came and the Mississippi’s waters washed away much of New Orleans, among the city’s greatest losses was the exodus of its musicians, who scattered across America in search of shelter and a paying gig.
One of the places some found refuge was at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco. On a Sunday night five years ago, two of these far-flung musicians were sitting at the bar in the Boom Boom. Aaron Wilkinson and Chris Mulé had been sidemen in several bands, including a run together with a front man Eric Lindell.
But here they were, 2,000 miles from home, adrift and without a band. After a couple of beers, an idea was hatched: Why not just start their own band? No sooner had the notion been broached when the front door of bar opened and in walked two more New Orleans music refugees – a rhythm section, no less — bassist Sam Price and drummer Garland Paul.
“In walked Sam and Garland,” recalled Wilkinson. “Sounds crazy, but that is exactly how it happened. ‘Look, here’s a bassist and drummer.”
One key element was still lacking: a gig. And so they asked Boom Boom owner Alex Andrea if they could play the venue. “Sure,” he replied, and even went one further and offered the band a residency.
The next morning, waking up a little bleary-eyed from celebrating their new band, the phone rang and a promoter was on the other end. The band was still missing one thing – a name. Mulé immediately thought of a swamp just north of New Orleans, and thus the Honey Island Swamp Band was born.
“I think he just felt like I would remind us of home, and sort of at the same time maybe give a little hint of our sound,” Wilkinson said. “We have that kind of swamp thing.”
Within months, their Sunday night shows were attracting a small legion of bayou music lovers. And the more they played, the more songs started coalescing. By 2007 the band had enough songs to take a trip to the legendary Record Plant recording studio in Sausalito.
The Honey Island Swamp Band had quickly become happening thing. Like so many good things from Louisiana, they were a stew – a little bit of bayou country, a heap of rock, and a strong dose of rip-roaring blues.
“Somewhere, there exists a dark, smoky bar with a jukebox that spins George Jones, Gram Parsons, Delbert McClinton, and Little Feat,” wrote a critic for the Broward-Palm Beach New Times. “And if that fantasy honky-tonk lights your Marlboro, you need to know about the Honey Island Swamp Band.”
The band has since added a Hammond B-3 organ and its rhythm section is a snarling thing of beauty, but the songwriting duo of Mulé and Wilkinson really helps set it apart. Mulé – who bears a striking resemblance to the late, great Lowell George of Little Feat – is a blistering lead guitar player. Wilkinson, who played bass prior to forming this band, plays mandolin, fiddle, and guitar. Everybody in the band sings.
Together, the unit moves like a big lurching swamp thing. In fact, if you wanted to describe their sound in a word, that word would indeed be swampy — the band possesses the kind of funk that only a swamp can produce. They sing about foolishness, fishing, country girls, dark deals, creepy characters, sweet love and good old fashioned fornication. It’s the kind of music that can turn a bar upside down.
“That’s the idea — it’s supposed to be fun, man,” Wilkinson said. “We all have our serious moments. But we try to keep it light and keep it fun. This is live music and people want to go see music and get away from whatever the stresses in their lives for a while. It supposed to be a release. Not to say there is not a time or place for serious music, and we certainly have some of that, but we try to present everything in a fun way.”
“If you want to have a good time, you want to bring your friends and enjoy some music that is going to lift you up and not get you down, than this is a good band for that.”
Perhaps their signature song at this juncture is “Natural Born Fool”, which tends to become a swamp anthem performed live. It’s one of those songs that seems like it already existed by the time it emerged out of the deeps, ready to rumble.
“That is a classic example of the sort of song that passes the ultimate test we put our songs to – that is, if people who have never heard you or seen you before are singing along to the chorus by the end of the song, then you’ve written a good song, you know?” Wilkinson said. “That is, for sure, one of those songs. We’ll go places we’ve never played before, total strangers in the audience, and by the end of that song they are singing along. That’s a great feeling.”
The band, which plays Saint Rocke Saturday, has returned home to New Orleans. Wilkinson said that while its good to be back home, the band appreciated the hospitality provided by California – in particular, he noted that former Boogaloo owner Steve Roberts helped keep alive the underground network of New Orleans musicians during their period of exile.
“It was a great thing that came out of a bad thing. It was really incredible how people reached out to support us,” he said. “Everything we needed was provided for us. People in California were really great…It was really inspiring.”
And New Orleans, he said, is doing just fine.
“It’s different, and in a lot of ways it’s better,” he said. “Some things were lost that will never be rebuilt, but that is life. Right now, the music scene down there is stronger than ever…that is something that will always be here, no matter what happens to this place – if someone is blowing on harmonica and banging on a tin cup on piece of high ground, that will never go away. But the city is doing well. It’s always a work in progress, but let’s face it, it was a work in progress before the storm, as well.”
The Honey Island Swamp Band plays Saint Rocke Saturday night. See honeyislandswampband.com or saintrocke.com for more info.
