Slow Gherkin

Funny Name, Serious Band

Julio Diaz

Slow Gherkin might sound like a silly name, but to write the Santa Cruz, CA-based ska band off on that basis alone would be a serious mistake. A quick listen to their most recent record, the brilliant Shed Some Skin , should make you understand. Moving beyond the conventions of ska-oriented music, Slow Gherkin manage to combine influences from all over the musical map into a distinctive, original sound that is irresistibly catchy and danceable.

What’s even more interesting about the band, though, is the lyrical content of their songs. Not content to play the stereotypical beer-and-chicks brand of ska music, Slow Gherkin set themselves even further apart from the herd with songs that address issues like date rape (“Turned Off”) and apathy (“How Now Lowbrow”). The stark contrast between the happy music and the serious subject matter is one of the most rewarding and compelling aspects of their songs.

That’s not to say that it’s all serious business – it’s obvious that the band has a lot of fun onstage, and any band that can record an ode to their singer’s cat (“Roger”) obviously doesn’t take itself too seriously. I caught up with frontman James Rickman and new bassist Rick Godnick after another wild and wonderful performance in St. Petersburg (in the midst of their recent tour with Edna’s Goldfish [interviewed elsewhere in this issue] and the Stereo) to discuss the many facets of this talented and intriguing band.

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How did you come up with the name Slow Gherkin?

James Rickman : That is just a nonsense name that our old bass player came up with six years ago when we got started. We were still in high school, [and] he had about six ceramics classes in a row, and a lot of time on his hands, and he was thinking of weird names for bands, and that was one of them. He’s since been replaced by Rick, for exactly that reason [laughs]. But it doesn’t mean anything.

So it’s not a Skankin’ Pickle reference?

James : Not intentionally, but they were our first big influence. I mean, they were it , for a long time, so sure, it’s a cosmic thing, really. We didn’t intend to refer to them, but it works, ‘cause they got it going, for us.

Was it exciting for you to end up on [Skankin’ Pickle frontman] Mike Park’s label [Asian Man], then?

James : Oh, yeah! We went from seeing them when we were in junior high school to…

Rick Godnick : Louden Nelson Center…

James : …Louden Nelson Center in Santa Cruz, and even partying with them afterwards – it was extraordinary, they were the biggest thing – and then a few years later we were opening for them in Santa Cruz, and it was such a thrill. Now we’re even on their label, so… It’s been incredible, all the way through. We still admire them, so much. They’re all doing great things, even though the band is not together anymore.

You’ve gone through a lot of lineup changes lately…

James : Yes, lately.

So, what’s the deal?

James : Let’s see. Since we did Shed Some Skin , we lost our trumpet player, Monty, and decided not to replace him, because we got used to having that extra leg room in the van [laughs], and we lost Zach, our bass player, and added Rick, who’s been around playing music with us in one form or another since junior high. We went to preschool together…

Rick : Well, we didn’t go to preschool together…

James : Not preschool, kindergarten.

Rick : Yeah, kindergarten.

James : So Rick’s always been around.

Rick : Yeah, we actually even went to University together.

James : Oh, yeah! We went to college together, too. We were roommates for a year and a half. So it all worked out. Zach, the old bass player, was a founding member, so when he left, it was really hard. It was a big blow to us, because it was like, “damn, this isn’t just a sort of late-joining horn player, this is one of the first,” but I think Rick fills that space more than enough, by being from way back, and so talented. [To Rick] We’ll stop talking about you now. [laughs]

I understand you did some tracks recently for a Studio One tribute album…

James : Yeah!

Can you tell me a little about that?

James : Yeah! That was interesting. We did that right after the first of the year, right after we got off tour with the Toasters and Edna’s Goldfish and the Skoidats. It’s just this guy – I don’t know what his deal is, exactly – he seems to have a good amount of money, because he took a whole bunch of bands and put them in this really nice studio in San Francisco to record two or three Studio One reggae songs. So he asked us to do it, [and] some people didn’t want to, just thought “what are we doing playing old reggae songs?” But we saw it as this challenge, to see if we could pull it off. We got our friend David, from the band Blindspot – who are now defunct, but one of the best ska bands from California, absolutely – to sing, so there’s really good singing, and we really got into it! We recorded it live, and the producer had us do like this ten minute long, improvised, dub jam of one of the songs, where we just kept going, and people were soloing, and doing these big breaks. It was really cool, and we thought it turned out great. The album won’t be out for another six months or so, but I can’t wait to see it, [it] should be good.

What songs did you end up doing?

James : There’s one called “Truths and Rights,” by Johnny Osbourne, I think, and then one called “Babylon,” and I don’t remember who that one’s by.

Rick : You’re flailing… [laughs]

It’s been a long day.

James : I’m not familiar with that whole… When the offer came up, we listened to a ton of old Studio One albums, and found these songs that we thought were really interesting musically.

There seems to be a kind of dichotomy in your songs. Your music sounds very peppy and happy and upbeat, and it would be very easy, on the surface, to hear that and think, “oh, these guys are just a bunch of party guys.” However, if you dig a little deeper and listen to the lyrics, you’re actually singing about something more – it’s not just the typical, surface level, beer and girls ska songs.

James : Right.

Is it a conscious decision to do something like that, or does it just come out as you’re writing songs?

James : I wouldn’t say it’s conscious – very few things that we do are conscious decisions – but I think it’s because both of those drives exist very strongly in us. Mainly it’s just to play this really uplifting, energetic music, because that’s how we feel a lot of the time, but when it comes to lyrics, it’s a very different thing, because lyrics are personal. It’s not public, it’s like one person writing, it doesn’t necessarily come from the whole band. I write most of them, and I think I have this kind of guilty drive to always write about something important. You know, I don’t just want to write cryptic love songs that sound good. I’m hoping that I can write about things that people will understand, and will make them think somehow. It’s probably pretentious, but [I] do it anyway and regret it later.

Are most of your songs autobiographical, or are they written from a character’s point of view? For example, is a song like “Turned Off” about someone you know, or is that a character?

James : That song is not from personal experience or from anyone close to me or anything. It started out from a very specific thing that arose in the world, the date rape drug, which really intrigued me, and then I wrote about that to see what would come up. It ended up being a very ambiguous song. The whole thing is, you don’t know what went down, because you were drugged. But that’s not from personal experience.

Most of them, though, I would say are. They tend to be about relationships and how they’re affected by all the things in the world, like growing up, or drugs, or tensions within the band, tensions among your friendships. So mostly they are personal, I would say, but we try to break it up, keep it interesting and diverse.

Did you take any crap for writing a song about your cat?

James : Oh, tons! Tons and tons, within the band and without. We don’t play that song [live], because I think a majority of the band hates it.

Rick : I’ve always wanted to play it, but it never gets played.

Well, my wife and I really liked it…

James : Thank you! I really like it…

…but I can also see where people would give you shit for it.

James : Well, I don’t know. People feel very strongly about that song. It’s like, “NO! We are NOT playing that song,” and I don’t really know why. I wrote it because I’d written some really serious songs lately, and I thought, “I want to write another song that’s just pure joy, so what’s something that makes me purely joyful? My cat!” So I wrote about my cat, and I didn’t think it was going to be so controversial, really [laughs]. That one’s been a problem – a lot of people request it, and then a lot of people hate it. It got some really ugly things said about it in the Santa Cruz newspaper…

Rick : What was said about it in the Santa Cruz newspaper?

James : It was a show review of our album release party, and it said something like “the new songs came across great (except for that damn cat song).” I didn’t eat for three days after that, I’ll tell you. [laughs]

You seem to have a whole lot of diverse musical influences, to my ear, so I was wondering who you would consider your influences, and how you think that shows up in your music.

James : Well, like I said, Skankin’ Pickle really started it off, by playing this really energetic and positive music. We’ve always been more inspired by punk and rock n’ roll bands than by ska bands. I don’t know why that is, we love the Specials, the Selecter, Skankin’ Pickle, and many others, but it’s mostly like… Fugazi has always been a huge influence on us, again, the energy that they have, and the way they write songs, and the way they do business, which we haven’t followed at all, but really appreciate [laughs]. I don’t know, lately, we’re definitely very influenced by rock n’ roll, like a lot of old stuff like the Clash, and the Rolling Stones, this great band from England called Supergrass is one of our favorites…

Rick : I’d definitely say Elvis Costello is in there, in terms of the songwriting structure.

James : Oh, yeah. And also lyrics, he just amazes me, lyrically, how he can have these really powerful ideas expressed perfectly, insightfully.

I think even the ska bands you’re mentioning fall into a more rock n’ roll vein…

James : Yes, definitely.

Even going back to Skankin’ Pickle, they also had a lot of more serious content in their music, as well as the fun, silly songs.

James : It definitely appeals to us.

Do you think all these diverse influences come across in your music?

James : Yeah, well, it’s hard to write the songs and say how much it sounds like anyone else, how derivative it is. I’m sure an outsider could watch us play and pick out some very direct influences.

Rick : People always mention Fugazi, particularly in our breakdowns.

James : Yeah, we have a lot of instrumental parts that are very Fugazi-influenced. It’s hard to distinguish bands that influence us from bands that we just listen to because they’re so great. It’s weird, because on this tour we’ve been listening to a lot of old country, like Waylon Jennings and Johnny Cash, and some rap, like Digital Underground, some Tom Waits, Weezer, some of the more obvious, current stuff, Pavement, Built To Spill… but I don’t know how much of it shows up [in our music]. There’s so much good music out there, and we try to listen to it as much as we can, but that’s a tough question to answer.

Your performances are very energetic, almost bordering on apocalyptic, with things flying all over the stage, mic stands getting knocked over, and I see a lot of Iggy Pop or Jim Morrison in the way you move onstage, James. Is there anyone that’s you in terms of stage presence?

James : That’s never been anything conscious. I used to play drums in this band. I was going to school in Berkeley and I thought I was going to have to quit the band, so we were going to phase me out and get a new drummer. So we got Ollie, and I just started singing up front, and I realized I didn’t want to quit the band. So that came up, and I don’t know, this music is so moving, I think, that it just got to me that way. I never rattled my hips around before that, that I can remember [laughs]. But as a band, I know we’ve overreached our Fugazi-reference quota, but I think as far as stage show, and that almost chaotic thing, where things almost fall apart and then, ideally, snap back into place, that’s definitely Fugazi, I’d say. They put on the best show, ever.

Spontaneity is something we definitely try to maintain, to make each show different, even on tour, when we’re hundreds of miles away from the last night, every night. Trying to keep everyone on their toes is a big priority for all of us, to make it special every night, so that’s where a lot of that comes from.

What do you have planned for the future?

James : We never really have plans for the future. Last year we tried to get all serious, and make some goals and reach those goals and blah, blah, blah… and nothing really happened, so we don’t know what we’re doing. A lot of us are going back to school in the fall, and work, and things like that. No one knows how long this band is going to last. I hope we can get another album, so I can have it for the rest of my life, but we don’t have any plans, we’re just playing it by ear.

This has been a very successful tour. We might have taken ourselves a little too seriously last year, when we took a whole year off and were doing nothing but the band. There was a lot of stress. This tour has been really good. Everyone’s getting along, we love the bands that we’re touring with, all the shows have been good – whether they’ve been like this, where there’s six people out there, or really big, the feel is always there, and the energy, so that’s good. I think we’re in a better state of mind now that we’ve possibly ever been.

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For more information: http://www.slowgherkin.com ◼