ALABAMA THUNDERPUSSY
Middle Finger Salute
By: Aaron Small
What was old is new again. Originally released in 1999 on the now defunct Man's Ruin Records, Alabama Thunderpussy's third album, Constellation, has just been reissued on Relapse with new artwork and two additional bonus tracks. ATP rhythm guitarist Erik Larson is really pleased with the way the re-release has turned out. "No offence to Frank (Kozik, former Man's Ruin President) but I think the new artwork is way more representative of that album and the band as a whole."
No studio touch ups were done to any of the songs on Constellation; it's a direct re-release. "I wouldn't want to do that. To have the members we have now go back in and track over people's parts, the only reason to do it would to be a dick, and I don't want to be a dick to those guys, there's no reason for it."
Exclusive to the Constellation reissue is a cover of Lynyrd Skynyrd's “All I Can Do Is Write About It.” "We did that when we were recording Constellation with the intention of it going on the Skynyrd tribute that was supposed to come out," explains Larson. "So we're talking summer '99. When you listen to Skynyrd, obviously the first two records have all the hits, not necessarily the best records, in my opinion. I have the box set and I just think that song is awesome. It speaks to a lot of different issues; it's very ingrained in the southern culture way of looking at things. It was just perfect. We tried to replicate the demo version of it as opposed to the one that ended up coming out on Gimme Back My Bullets. The chord progressions are really simple which is essential for me cause I'm not exactly a kick ass guitar player. Actually Bog (Asechiah Bogden, the other ATP guitarist on Constellation) didn't play guitar on that. He had some timing issues and that would really show with acoustic guitar, so he didn't play any acoustic stuff on that whole album. It's a really simple song as far as guitar lines, there's four chords in it. What makes that song for the most part is the dynamics with the drums and keyboards."
Erik has never hid the fact that he is not the world's greatest guitarist, but he knows enough, as the four ATP albums under his belt are proof of. In fact, he was learning the six string as Alabama Thunderpussy was forming in 1996. Efforts to improve are constantly made, although formal lessons are not included in those efforts at this point. "Obviously I always want to better myself on guitar and naturally the more I play, the better I get. I pick up tricks playing with different people but I've never had lessons. We play in drop tuning; we did that initially because it was easier to play like that. My feeling on lessons is you get to a point where it's going to help you and I feel like I'm at that point but I don't have the time or money to do it but I wouldn't have wanted to take lessons earlier on because I would have ended up learning somebody else's style. Whereas this way I just had to make up my own shit. Even Johnny (Throckmorton - vocals) has said some of the ways we write songs does not make any sense as far as theory but it works for some reason. I don't think that would have been possible if we had all been schooled and all that shit. It's just fun man, coming up together, everybody not really knowing what they're doing. You play more and more and learn new things, it makes you feel like you earned it."
The other new track is a live version of “Ambition.” Recorded in Atlanta, GA in 2002 at the Star Community Bar while on tour with Mastodon. "We had this show on tape and we don't have a lot of extra songs that have never been released lying around. When it came to bonus tracks, that one sounded pretty good as far as performance and Ryan (Lake) does a kick ass guitar solo on it. It shows where we were and where we are now as far as players in the band, so it just kind of made sense to put it on there. It's different enough live, it's quicker and you've got the guitar solo instead of the keyboard."
Piano figures prominently in several ATP songs but keyboards never come onstage with the band when they play live. "No, I really wish man. Ideally, when me and Brian (Cox - drums) first put the band together, our original idea was to fashion it after '77 era Skynyrd with three guitar players, back-up singers, piano. But of course not knowing how to play our instruments, that wasn't exactly the best idea. We'd love to be able to have a keyboardist at some point. It's just one more body in the band, one more thing to load in and out every night."
Fans can look forward to future ATP re-releases through Relapse, as River City Revival and Rise Again are both slated to receive makeovers. "Yep, and they'll all have bonus tracks and new artwork and liner notes. The idea for Rise Again is to have it more like a booklet with flyers and pictures because the bass player who is on that (Bill Storms) died two years ago. He was doing heroin, nodded out, cracked his skull open and bled to death. That re-release will probably be dedicated to him, I want to make it something really cool." Release dates have yet to be finalized although, "Relapse wants to stagger them. I would imagine that the next reissue wouldn't be any sooner than towards the end of this year. It's cool of them to do, I know that was part of why they wanted us, because we had a back catalog that they could reissue, but it's not as much of a priority as the new record that we're getting ready to do for them."
A new Alabama Thunderpussy album is always cause for celebration, Erik lets us in on the progress of record number five. "We have nine songs written, we're shooting to record 16, whether we use them all for the album or not I don't know. The vibe I'm getting from the new songs... it'll be just as intense but a little bit more laid back, if that makes sense. Not as in your face abrasive as it will be impacted and heavy. There's some different shit going on with some acoustic stuff. We always seem to write albums like looking forward but taking a bit from where we've been. Maybe this will reach back a little bit into Constellation? We don't have any song titles yet; we've just been calling them silly things to differentiate. One working album title we had was Fulton, which is the name of the town that we all live in. We're hoping to go into the studio in June and have it released in September, that's the plan anyway, we'll see."
Prior to the recording of the new ATP album, Erik has traveled to Minnesota where he is "Getting ready to record with The Mighty Nimbus." A band consisting of "The guys from Sixty Watt Shaman -- Pete (Campbell) on guitar, Dan (Kerzwick) sings, Pete's brother Andy (Campbell) is playing drums and this guy Denny playing bass. I'm learning nine songs in two days and then we start tracking." Erik was not involved in writing any of these songs. "No, I helped a little bit with some guitarmonies. We did a tour with Sixty Watt Shaman last year and Pete mentioned it to me, 'Do you want to come out and play on my record?' I thought it was tour talk but then he called me up a couple months ago saying he was serious, so I got a plane ticket and here I am. We're going to shop it around. Contractually I have to send a copy of it to Relapse -- which wouldn't be a bad thing if they wanted it. Small Stone has shown some interest, along with Southern Lord." The Mighty Nimbus has been described as doom metal, Larson elaborates on the band's sound. "It reminds me a lot of early Eyehategod and early Sleep with a little more sludginess thrown in. They're doing standard tuning and it's the first time I've ever played in standard tuning so it's kind of throwing me for a loop right now."
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