“Fresh.” That’s the best way to describe the feeling that one gets after being overwhelmed by Chicago-based JC Brooks & The Uptown Sound‘s second album, Want More. Though the band has been around for a few years, their stepping up to the loving plate offered by Bloodshot Records was a wise one; the record feels like an impressive, out-of-nowhere debut album by a band that has stepped out of a time machine. Yet though they may keep company next to Aloe Blacc, Raphael Saadiq, Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears, The Dap Kings, or even Amy Winehouse, it would be wrong to think of them as mere soul imitators. As you will read below, it’s not an easy thing to insist that you are something more than the superficial tags devised by journalists and those who simply look at music from the most basic level. Want More is an exciting record; as I spoke with guitarist and vocalist Billy Bungeroth on the album’s release day, it’s easy to hear the excitement in his voice about what comes next, including press kudos, live shows, and somewhere, I think he knows that he has just released one of the best albums of the year, one that will more than likely clock in on numerous best-of-2011 lists. It’s an exciting time for him, and rightly so; Want More will provide an exciting listening experience for you.
BT: Happy release day! I’m sure this is just the calm before the storm for you. I have a feeling this record is soon going to make your lives very busy.
Billy Bungeroth: Why, thank you! I do hope so. I am hoping that people will get the record and get deeper into the Uptown sound. That’s the hope, of course. We worked really hard on it. It’s a funny thing with a record, you work your butt off on it for six months or a year, you finish it, and it disappears for three or four months, and then it comes out. It’s kind of a weird process. I have a background in working in the theatre, and you know how it goes—you work your ass off for months and months, and once you finish practice, you put it out for the world to see. With a record, though, you have that weird silence where it disappears and you have to think, “Oh, did we do it right?” “Well, I wonder what that next record is going to sound like?” and all sorts of wonderfully frustrating thoughts! Just when you get started on something new and exciting, you have to then stop and talk about something that you did six months to a year before…just at the point when you’ve started to forget about it! (Laughs)
BT Even though this is your second album, for many people—as it was for me—this is going to be viewed as your debut, as most people haven’t heard that first album. But as I was listening to your debut this morning, even though it’s similar stylistically, to me it’s a completely different beast than Want More; it’s nowhere near the powerhouse as to what you’ve just done.
BB: I love the first record, too, because it was a document of where we were. We were totally DIY, didn’t have a lot of pressure on us to do anything, we were just learning our powers, and I think we spent maybe two days in the studio. It was an intense experience—intense, yet fun. It was amazing to discover that all of us could come together so quickly without little interaction with each other beforehand.
BT: When I was writing down my notes, I put that for the two that it’s the difference between the intensity of being a new band and learning what you could do, versus being a group of people who know each other, thus allowing for an intricacy that a new band simply can’t have.
BB: That’s an astute observation. We still tried to keep things sort of simple; there’s still a punk-rock ethos to our soul, for sure. There are two songs with strings on them but we held off on making a record with big Motown-styled arrangements, because it didn’t feel like where we were at as a band just yet. But it is a more involved record.
BT One of the things I’ve noticed you talking about in interviews is this concern about being lumped in with bands that are “retro-soul” and such. You guys counter that with saying that you don’t want to be considered a throwback band.
BB:
Believe me, it’s an incredibly hard thing to sell, that! (Laugh) I mean, don’t get me wrong, obviously soul music is a huge influence on us—on me and on JC especially. My interest in learning how to play and make 60s soul music is where a lot of this band comes from. There are many reasons for someone to put a band together, but for us, man—learning how to do those things really was one of the main reasons we are a band. Like, we’ll hear something on one of those vintage records, think, “wow, this is great! That’s an awesome rhythm,” or what have you, and then go about trying to figure out how we can do that, too. As you start to learn more and more, it becomes secondary to realizing what you can do, and moving from the initial “I want to learn how to make a vintage-sounding song,” to “I know how to do it, now I have something I want to say,” and growing from and beyond that. It’s always going to be a really influence on the band but I don’t think we’re part of a larger musical picture if we’re just sitting around only trying to recreate older music. On the first record we didn’t have the intelligence or the know how to make an old soul record. We go in, we’re new, we’re wet behind the ears, and it’s a very more punk record in that way. But since then we did a lot of stuff, we worked with the Eccentric Soul Review, we had backed up Syl Johnson and a number of older soul musicians, and though we didn’t quite know how to do it yet, we were on a great learning curve.
We also wanted to make sure we were saying exactly what it was we wanted to say about soul music, and to make sure it was respectfully done. Soul music has changed from an influence to a means to say things.
BT: You get into the question of style versus substance. I was watching a video clip of Black Joe Lewis playing live. His horn section were dressed up, his singers were, and he was just wearing ratty tee-shirt and jeans. I have to admit that I was somewhat disappointed when I saw that! (Laughs) Because with the kind of music he makes it’s the kind of style that when you perform live, you dress up, you look sharp, you put on a show—and this guy most definitely wasn’t. I know it’s somewhat shallow of me to dislike it because of that, but it just seemed like the performance was lacking because of it.
BB: And yet, I don’t think you’re totally wrong to think that. If you went to the Stones, and they were under-dressed, you’d be surprised, or if you went to see a period piece at the theater and they were dressed in contemporary outfits, you’d be absolutely right in finding it disappointing, and criticizing them for their attire would be entirely justified, because there’s a certain role that has to be played when you play a very specified, defined part. I think Amy Winehouse played a big part in the modern soul revival. That wasn’t straight soul; it had great playing and songwriting, but it wasn’t exactly throwback. I think that The Dap Kings do great throwback soul and they have the market cornered on it. Any other band that’s interested in this style of music, there are certain elements that have to be touched upon. If a thousand and one suburban teenagers decided to start blues-rock bands, well, that’s great…but it’s already been done, so what are you going to do with it? That’s the make-or-break question that has to be asked.
BT: Obviously, as we’ve discussed, you’re going to get tagged with that “throwback soul” label. So was that the reason why you covered Wilco‘s “I Am Trying to Break Your Heart,” in order to break away from that?
BB: Hmm..it was, but it wasn’t. It wasn’t really intended to at the time. We were just joking around, and see, we’re all big, big fans of Wilco. We were kind of doing a joke version of it at practice, talking about, “Ya know, wouldn’t it be just totally funny to record an outlandish, over-the-top, straight-up Temptations style cover of it?” And then…we sort of found ourselves having to do it! (Laughs) We played it in rehearsal, found it was kind of fun to do, the next thing we know, we wind up playing it at a festival, and thanks to the internet, video of it went up online. Wilco saw it and we heard that they really loved it, and then shortly after that a few of the guys came to see us and told us they really dug the cover and they asked if we were going to record it! So, in a roundabout way, we found ourselves having to do it, all because of Wilco! (Laughs) It’s kind of funny how it all came out, because I’d say that for a number of us—and I know it’s definitely true for me—there was a time where if we weren’t obsessively listening to old soul 45s, we were listening to nothing but Wilco! (Laughs)
BT: I hear since then Jeff Tweedy has appeared onstage with you.
BB: Yeah, he’s great! I met him through the Second City theater group. Every year he does this great charity thing with them called Letters for Santa, that my friend Heather runs. I’ve met him a couple of times. I gave him the record, and we were backstage at Second City hanging out, and he just turned to me and said, “Man, you know what? I really want to sing this with you. I really, really do, but, man, I gotta go home and put the kids to bed. Maybe another day, though!” He then left. But I was just happy to be hanging out and talking with him, and hearing that he liked our record, it was just the biggest thrill for me—and for the rest of us, too. So that was enough for me. Somehow, mysteriously, I got an email from him—not even to the band account, to mine, not even sure how he got it—and he asked us if we wanted to play a Rahm Emanuel benefit. We were excited at the invitation and hopped at the chance. Soon as we walked in, he literally ran up to us and was all little-kid like, going, “Hey! Hey! Man, guess what I did! I worked out the lyrics, I worked out the arrangements, can I play with you guys!?!??” He was just so excited, to him, it was like something totally new. Someone said, “Jeff you sing this all the time,” and he was like, “Yeah, yeah! I know! But that version is soooo slow, this is fast and fun, I want to give it a shot! I had to work hard to remember how to do it, I worked hard on it, so let’s go!” And we did.
BT: So since then, have they picked up your arrangement for their live performance?
BB: (Laughing) No, no, sadly not! Though, man, I think that would be totally an awesome thing to see. I think I would freak out in an unfathomable way if they were to do that. (Laughs) But as a fan, I’m perfectly happy with the way they play it live, I like their arrangement of it. So if it happens, it happens! If not, I’m still enamored. I get to know that one of my favorite bands’ leaders likes my music. That’s enough for me!
