In Conversation

09 January 2009 20:59 BST

G Love: The Camden vibe easily beats Woodstock

Taking time out of their arena massive tour supporting Jack Johnson, Philadelphia-based laid-back hip-hop and blues pioneers G Love and Special Sauce took time out to play Camden's Electric Ballroom.

Fronted by some-time solo artist G Love (real name Garrett Dutton) and backed up by upright bassist Jimi 'The Jazz' Prescott and drummer Jeff 'The Houseman Clemens', the group have been gigging for 15 years, during which time they have released ten albums and seen many 'next big things' come and go.

Now signed to Jack Johnson's Brushfire label, G Love have put their difficult times behind them and are back on the top of their game.

inthenews.co.uk's David Hewitt spoke to G Love himself ahead of the show.

You called a recent album The Hustle because of the effort involved getting it together and putting it out and promoting it. What was it like this time round?

That was when we were looking for a deal and then we put out a record with Brushfire, so yeah, we said that that was a bit of a hustle. The record industry has changed so much. It's a whole different game to play and we had to navigate through it and find a good home and now we've put out Superhero Brother and that's easier as we don't have to worry about the business side of things so much.

Did it come together quite naturally?

Yeah, this record was cool. The last record did really well for us, but in hindsight, looking at how we made it, I don't think we were very prepared as a band and we ended up putting a lot of it together in the post. There were a lot of jams and things in the studio that were vibey but not complete songs, so we took these parts and made them into made them all into songs.

And then on this record we did more pre-production and rehearsals and really had our game together and I felt prepared for this recording and I felt I had it all together and was doing good.

Is the new album a bit more serious that the older stuff?

Erm, yeah, I think it has a little bit of a darker side. Peace, Love and Happiness, which I think is a very uplifting song, was kind of influenced by seeing underprivileged kids in Rio. And there's definitely a couple of dark moments on the record but I think, all in all, it's certainly an up-tempo record, with half of the subject matter my take on the world and politics and stuff like that and then the other half is just about women and love and family and partying. When I'm doing a record I think it's important to have a mix.

Like The Freewheeling Bob Dylan. I think that's the perfect combination of poignant politically inspired songs like Masters of War and Blowing in the Wind and then some social stuff like Oxford Ten about the killings in Oxford, Mississippi, and then some love songs, like the most beautiful love song by Bob Dylan for me, The Girl from the North Country and Corrina, Corrina and then some laugh-out-loud stuff like Talkin' World III Blues and some other ones - that record for me is the perfect mix and I try to have all those things on all my records. You can't just have a record of all fun songs and you can't have a record of all serious songs.

You want to do that live as well?

Definitely, yeah...

You're signed to Jack Johnson's record label. He's a good friend of yours so, how does your professional relationship work?

Well, Jack and I have always been musical friends and musical collaborators and the whole catalyst for our friendship has always been based around us getting together and playing music and it still is to this day. The whole time I've known Jack, I've been busy doing my thing and he's a big rock star, so he's busy doing his thing, though every once in a while we get to go out surfing. But there's so many commitments, like touring and he's got his family out with him and I've got mine. For the first record [on Brushfire], The Hustle, Jack was really hands-on with that. The last year it's been more me and his manager Emmett Malloy, who I've really grown to respect and value his creative opinion and direction.

And socially, do you get out much? You usually do 250-date tours, right?

Well, we used to do about 250 dates back in the day, but now it's more like 100 to 150 dates a year. We were in Belgium last night and the day before we got the day off in Antwerp and we got to see that pretty good and all throughout the years I've been touring round Europe and you always get days off in different places, so I've had plenty of great times in London where I've had plenty of time to kill.

And you've played lots of big places with Jack Johnson and the Dave Matthews Band. Do you prefer those or smaller venues like here?

Well, honestly, the Electric Ballroom has always been one of my favourite places to play. It's always been a great place for us. Yeah, I like rooms this size, but I like any stage or street corner, just as long as the vibe is there. I mean, I played at Woodstock in '99 and that was like 150,000 people and I've played here and there was way more of a vibe here. It's always a combination between a certain amount of good sound, good health, good vibe, good crowd, good lights and an atmosphere and it can happen where you least expect it.

And you've been gigging for 15 years without any massive commercial hit. What's the reason behind your continued success?

The fans have definitely kept us going. We got a lot of people who care a lot about the music that we make. And it's been a grass roots thing a lot of the way and I think now if you ask people 'Do you know G Love and Special Sauce?' they'd be like 'no' or 'yeah, I love those guys' - it's either one or the other.

Do you think you well expand on this diehard base?

Obviously I want to take it to the next level. Over here it's been quite stagnant for the whole time, while in the US, we play to a lot bigger crowds and this summer we'll do our biggest tour, headlining and playing to rooms that are 2,000 or 10,000 capacity, so it's a little bit of a different story in the US. That's where we put the most time in.

And Japan?

Yeah, Japan too, but then about ten years ago I was thinking the world's too big to do grass roots. So if you're going to come over to Europe and lose money for six weeks of the year and be miserable on the bad tour buses they have over here, then let's not come over here as we're making a load of money over in the US. Like I said before, I don't want to alienate our fans who are real hardcore, but the music industry in the UK is so trendy in what they support and what they hype up and a lot of Europe follows suit. The same goes for the festivals during the summer. Glastonbury's the one festival that has stood by us through thick and thin and had us back repeatedly throughout the years. A lot of the other festivals, they'll only book what's happening that moment, like Amy Winehouse this year or The Strokes seven years ago.

I've been around the whole time and I've seen them come and I've seen them go. I think it's harder for us over here because - I'm not saying the people but the industry - it's always about discovering the newest thing that no one's heard of. And they were like that when we first came out, but no more. That's just how this thing works, I'm not saying I'm mad about it, it's just a fact.

Whereas in the US, people like bands from the grass roots that keep at it over the years, bands like the Grateful Dead, Dave Matthews and Jimmy Buffett, all these bands that never really had a lot of critical or commercial success necessarily, but there was a connection with the people. And that's like people's music and that's what we are, so as much as I'd like to be on the cover of NME and be the hottest new thing, it ain't going to happen.

Have you still got some stuff you'd like to do solo?

Sure, I love to play acoustic. That's a big part of what I'm all about, but then nothing beats playing your song and then having this great band come up behind you. That's an awesome feeling.

David Hewitt

To watch the video for Peace, Love & Happiness, click here