G. Love & Special Sauce have brought ear joy to the world since 1993 with their flavour of blues, groove and funk. Naturally, in the space of 20-plus years, a shitload of things have happened – they’ve released eight albums (not counting the compilations) and played with innumerable greats, including Merry Clayton (yep, the Merry Clayton who sang with Mick Jagger on ‘Gimme Shelter’) and Dr. John. They’ve also had a few lineup changes, although 2014 marked the end of that cycle with bassist Jimi Prescott’s return to the fold.
This interview starts on an inauspicious note – G. Love’s first word is a loud “Ow!” – but the rest of the chat crackles with mirth and good yarns. For instance, there was the time New Orleans legend Dr. John guested on G. Love’s 1997 record, Yeah, It’s That Easy.
“I’ve been such a huge fan of Dr. John since I was a kid,” Love explains. “My mum had just a small record collection, but it really impacted me, and one of the records was Dr. John’s famous record, In The Right Place. That record had a big impact on my whole vocal delivery, especially the stuff that Dr. John would sing about. It was street – he used a lot of slang in his lyrics and street talk, which I really related to as a kid. So when I started writing songs I had a lot of that same kind of flavour in my songwriting.”
Naturally, playing with Dr. John was pretty damn exciting. “He came in for a day – it was funny, because we were recording so many tunes and in the end we got him to play on 11 songs that day. We might have cut two or three live and we had him overdub on nine other tunes. His wife or his girlfriend was with him and she was getting so pissed off, because we were paying him x amount of dollars and he was just having a good time with it and he was ready to play on anything, but his wife was like, ‘Goddammit,’ and when I’d leave the room she’d tell the engineer, ‘Tell that skinny motherfucker I know what he’s doing. We’re getting the fuck out of here.’ Mac [AKA Dr. John] didn’t know and I’d be like, ‘Mac, you wanna do one more?’ and he’d be like, ‘Let’s do another one.’”
More recently, Love is pleased at Prescott’s return to the band. “We had hit a wall creatively and socially five or six years ago,” he admits. “We needed to take a little break, which we did, but when we went in to make the record we decided to give Jim a call. He came into the studio and he was so great – his energy was great, the mix was great and we had a great time.
“You could really see that chemistry – it’s like something that bands have, just like people have in their romantic relationships. There’s always a reason that you chose someone in particular to marry – you might have had a different girlfriend who was hotter, or richer, but you choose the other one to marry because you have something together. Same thing with musicians. You could get a different player, say a sharper dressed player, but maybe you have a certain thing with these other people. Jim, Jeff [Clemens, drums] and I have that. It’s hard to put a finger on it, but the minute Jeff came back in the studio it was like, ‘Oh, there we go.’”
Remembering the early days back in ’93, Love is a little blown away that time has elapsed so quickly. “Looking back it does seem like quite a long time ago, but at the same time, it went by so quick,” he reflects. “If you break it down, so much has happened in that time and we’ve had so many different chapters of our career and our journeys – even if you break it down by your romantic relationships, it starts to feel like a pretty long time. I always feel like time, especially with music, seems to drift by, but then you blink your eyes and it’s 20 years later. Music, well, it’s like anything – if you do what you love, you feel like a kid forever.”
Love is looking forward to bringing Special Sauce back to Australia for Bluesfest this Easter. “There’s always those moments there where you are like, ‘Holy shit, look who I’m hangin’ with backstage,’” he says. As for the specifics of his plans in between shows, he’s already figured it out. “I know I’m gonna surf and I know I’m gonna play music, so I know I’m gonna have a damn good time. I love Australia. I love everything from the beer, the food, the coastal living, the surfing, and I love the fact that Australian people have really embraced our type of music, roots music, I think more so than anywhere else in the world.
“The women are beautiful, the land is beautiful and Road Warrior [Mad Max 2] is one of my favourite movies. You know how you daydream about random stuff? I was thinking about that last night – how the hell did they film all that shit?”
Sugar out now through Brushfire. Catch them atThe BasementonSunday April 5, tickets online. Also appearing alongside The Black Keys, Zac Brown Band, Alabama Shakes, Train and many more at Bluesfest 2015, Tyagarah Tea Tree Farm, Thursday April 2 – Monday April 6.
