wild1forever
04-12-2008, 12:05 PM
'70s Band's Reunion Tour Has Stops in Santa Cruz, S.F.
http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_8901670
By Shay Quillen
Mercury News
Like a lot of kids in Gainesville, Fla., in the early 1970s, Benmont Tench was a big Mudcrutch fan. The aspiring keyboardist would head to Dub's bar to watch drummer Randall Marsh, guitarist Mike Campbell, singer-guitarist Tom Leadon and singer-bassist Tom Petty crank out an enticing blend of British Invasion rock 'n' roll and American country and bluegrass. Sometimes they would even let the teenage Tench sit in.
So when Petty last year floated the idea of re-forming the band, which never recorded an album back in the day, Tench was excited on two levels. "I thought, 'That's a great idea,' " Tench says by phone from Los Angeles, where the band is rehearsing for a reunion tour that hits Santa Cruz and San Francisco next week. " 'God, I hope that happens, and I hope they let me play.' " It did, and they did.
"Well, we've got to have Benmont," chimes in Campbell, Tench's bandmate in the latter days of Mudcrutch and, for the past 30 years, in Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. The old band's self-titled debut recording will come out April 29 on Reprise.
When the five musicians gathered in August at Petty's place in Malibu, it was the first time they had played together since Leadon left the band in 1972. No one knew what to expect. "We had no record deal at all," Campbell says. "We just wanted to see how it felt."
They pulled their instruments out, with Petty returning to bass, and the sparks flew right away. Tench says two of the songs that made the cut - "Crystal River" and an electric version of the old Appalachian folk song "Shady Grove" - were recorded that first afternoon. "We just kind of started playing," Campbell says, "and by the end of the day we were kind of astonished - wow, this is really something good!"
For Campbell, 58, it was a chance to resume one of the most significant musical relationships of his career. "He knew a lot of bluegrass stuff that I was keen to learn, and I knew a lot of blues stuff that he wanted to learn," he recalls of his formative years with Leadon.
"So we just sat around and played all the time, and we got pretty good at complementing each other. Really, playing with him is kind of more special than playing with anyone else I know."
As the 10-day session continued, an inspired Petty struggled to keep up with the deft band's hunger for new material. "Tom would come in with these great songs, but we got things so quickly that he'd run out," says Tench, 54. "On some of the takes, you can hear him finishing the song right before the tape rolls."
Although three-fifths of Mudcrutch are Heartbreakers, both Campbell and Tench emphasize that Mudcrutch is its own entity, with a distinct rhythmic feel and a pronounced country influence - thanks in large part to the presence of Leadon, brother of Bernie Leadon of Eagles fame. The band won't be playing any Heartbreakers material on tour - not even songs like "Don't Do Me Like That" that started as Mudcrutch tunes. The guys will be focused on the 14 songs from the album - including eight new Petty songs - and a few choice covers. (Campbell says they're having fun with an old Stones tune and Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School Confidential.")
But after 13 shows up and down the state, Petty, Campbell and Tench will have to get ready for the Heartbreakers' big summer tour, which includes a headlining slot at the inaugural Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco this August. But both Tench and Campbell hope this isn't the final chapter for Mudcrutch.
"Things seem to have been flowing the way they're supposed to," Tench says. "I hope that we really do carry this on. It's not just some little side route. It's a really great band."
http://www.mercurynews.com/music/ci_8901670
By Shay Quillen
Mercury News
Like a lot of kids in Gainesville, Fla., in the early 1970s, Benmont Tench was a big Mudcrutch fan. The aspiring keyboardist would head to Dub's bar to watch drummer Randall Marsh, guitarist Mike Campbell, singer-guitarist Tom Leadon and singer-bassist Tom Petty crank out an enticing blend of British Invasion rock 'n' roll and American country and bluegrass. Sometimes they would even let the teenage Tench sit in.
So when Petty last year floated the idea of re-forming the band, which never recorded an album back in the day, Tench was excited on two levels. "I thought, 'That's a great idea,' " Tench says by phone from Los Angeles, where the band is rehearsing for a reunion tour that hits Santa Cruz and San Francisco next week. " 'God, I hope that happens, and I hope they let me play.' " It did, and they did.
"Well, we've got to have Benmont," chimes in Campbell, Tench's bandmate in the latter days of Mudcrutch and, for the past 30 years, in Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers. The old band's self-titled debut recording will come out April 29 on Reprise.
When the five musicians gathered in August at Petty's place in Malibu, it was the first time they had played together since Leadon left the band in 1972. No one knew what to expect. "We had no record deal at all," Campbell says. "We just wanted to see how it felt."
They pulled their instruments out, with Petty returning to bass, and the sparks flew right away. Tench says two of the songs that made the cut - "Crystal River" and an electric version of the old Appalachian folk song "Shady Grove" - were recorded that first afternoon. "We just kind of started playing," Campbell says, "and by the end of the day we were kind of astonished - wow, this is really something good!"
For Campbell, 58, it was a chance to resume one of the most significant musical relationships of his career. "He knew a lot of bluegrass stuff that I was keen to learn, and I knew a lot of blues stuff that he wanted to learn," he recalls of his formative years with Leadon.
"So we just sat around and played all the time, and we got pretty good at complementing each other. Really, playing with him is kind of more special than playing with anyone else I know."
As the 10-day session continued, an inspired Petty struggled to keep up with the deft band's hunger for new material. "Tom would come in with these great songs, but we got things so quickly that he'd run out," says Tench, 54. "On some of the takes, you can hear him finishing the song right before the tape rolls."
Although three-fifths of Mudcrutch are Heartbreakers, both Campbell and Tench emphasize that Mudcrutch is its own entity, with a distinct rhythmic feel and a pronounced country influence - thanks in large part to the presence of Leadon, brother of Bernie Leadon of Eagles fame. The band won't be playing any Heartbreakers material on tour - not even songs like "Don't Do Me Like That" that started as Mudcrutch tunes. The guys will be focused on the 14 songs from the album - including eight new Petty songs - and a few choice covers. (Campbell says they're having fun with an old Stones tune and Jerry Lee Lewis' "High School Confidential.")
But after 13 shows up and down the state, Petty, Campbell and Tench will have to get ready for the Heartbreakers' big summer tour, which includes a headlining slot at the inaugural Outside Lands Festival in San Francisco this August. But both Tench and Campbell hope this isn't the final chapter for Mudcrutch.
"Things seem to have been flowing the way they're supposed to," Tench says. "I hope that we really do carry this on. It's not just some little side route. It's a really great band."