Rocking Memphis-style
About 135 miles lie between Little Rock, Ark., and Memphis, Tenn., and Luceroâs singer Ben Nichols knows them well. âI drove a lot, back and forth between Little Rock and Memphis when I was young,â said the 37-year-old Arkansas native over a Jameson and club soda at the Cove, one of his favorite Memphis bars.
âI loved the idea of being from this part of the country and driving through the cotton fields and the rice fields between the two cities and just kind of knowing that yeah, that is where Johnny Cash is from,â says Nichols. âAnd B.B. King, Howlinâ Wolf and Levon Helm and the Band and Ronnie Hawkins all played these little towns throughout the Arkansas delta. Memphis was kind of the capital of all of that. Memphis is the epicenter.â
Memphisâ presence is palpable on Luceroâs new album, âWomen & Work.â The city is, after all, the birthplace of rock and roll (think Elvis, Sun Studio and Jerry Lee Lewis).
Barroom bombast, shot glass swagger and abject rowdiness drive the Southern alt-rock bandâs CD, as well as heavy doses of Memphis soul from a horn section comprised of locals Jim Spake and Scott Thompson. Returning producer Ted Hutt (The Gaslight Anthem) augmented the bandâs sound by pulling soul and gospel elements to the forefront.
Lyrically, Nicholsâ songs are often about women heâs loved and lost. But his longest-lasting relationship has been with the tattooed, scruffy men in his band.
The members of Lucero, who play the Fonda Theatre (formerly Music Box) on Wednesday, have been together 13 years. From their early indie label days to major label implosions (they were dropped by Universal Republic), theyâve stuck with it and each other. Aside from a year when guitarist Brian Venable left, the core group is still drummer Roy Berry, bassist John C. Stubblefield, pianist/accordion player Rick Steff and pedal steel player Todd Beene.
The bandâs unusually long union is forged out of a love for rock, country, soul, whiskey and their city. But Luceroâs sound has evolved from scrappy punk-country to the Southern rock hybrid it is today. Venable says that while they were recording Luceroâs eighth and newest album (released last week), they were influenced by early Bob Seger System (in Segerâs âpre Dad-rock era,â Venable clarifies, meaning before the Silver Bullet Band) and the Faces.
Venable, 40, has the Southern gift of gab. He will tell you that he didnât know how to play guitar when he joined the band, just as quickly as he will about the time he tried to remove a brown recluse spider bite with an X-Acto knife, or that sometimes heâll work in his dadâs shoe repair shop to make a few bucks.
Riding social media to fame, going viral on YouTube or hitting it big on âThe X Factorâ is not their scene, he says. Instead, Lucero is a model of the way bands used to build an audience. âWe got in the van when gas was $1.50 a gallon,â Venable says.
Lucero still tours constantly, playing nearly 200 shows a year. They have no delusions -- or desire -- of becoming the next Coldplay, and their style certainly speaks to that. âIf youâre looking for very slick production and a tight set and you want to be blown away with a light show and amazing choreography... nah, youâre not going to find that at a Lucero show,â Nichols says. âAnd thatâs not what our crowdâs looking for. We have our things we do and weâre comfortable with.â
As a result, the band has amassed a fervid fan base, some with tattoos of Lucero lyrics on their bodies. âWe like to amble out on stage, make some noise, say, âHow yâall doing? Letâs play some songs,â â says Nichols, taking a gulp of his drink. âYou canât do that in front of 75,000 people. I mean, you can... and hell, we might one day, but itâs a very informal environment for a Lucero show.â
Itâs after 2 a.m. and the Cove bar is emptying out. Itâs a wonder Nichols is still awake because for the past four days, heâs been working overtime at Memphisâ Ardent studios, tightening up songs for his younger brother, director and screenwriter Jeff Nicholsâ next film, âMud,â starring Reese Witherspoon and Matthew McConaughey.
But Nichols is also wired. Heâs got a big date the next day -- and at least 40 or more of them after that -- as the band members continue their headlining tour with a flight out in the morning to play Alaska. Theirs is one love story he didnât have to write, because he and the rest of Lucero are living it.
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