INTERVIEW WITH AARON JONAH LEWIS (THE FROGGY MOUNTAIN BOYS)
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7 December 2011
The Froggy Mountain Boys Go Arctic
The multinational, German-based band The Froggy Mountain Boys will
headline the Tunturiblues festival in Saariselka, Finnish Lapland, in January.
The band, consisting of US, German and French members, build their music
mainly on Western Swing -- with some country and ragtime for good measure.
The Froggy Mountain Boys are Laurin Habert (clarinet), Laurent Humeau
(guitar), Roland Satterwhite (fiddle, vocals), Johannes Hagenloch (bass, vocals)
and Aaron Jonah Lewis (banjo, fiddle, vocals).
Tunturiblues is a traditional event in Finland's music scene. 2012 will be the 21st
Edition. The legendary (well, in Finnish standards at least) singer Eero Raittinen
has operated as the Art Director for the festival for years. He picked The Froggy
Mountain Boys after hearing them sing and play at a folk festival in Finland last
summer.
- All five handle their instruments virtuously. In addition, their vocal power is
phenomenal. It's great to have such a quality orchestra at our festival, Raittinen
says.
But let's hear it from Aaron Jonah Lewis: multi-instrumentalist, student of
American old-time music, and more. Here we go...
BluesWebzine.com: Your first trip to Finland took place last summer. I take it
your visit to the Kaustinen Folk Music Festival was a memorable one.
Aaron Jonah Lewis: Kaustinen was one of the best musical experiences I've
ever had! It was amazing that we were able to get into the place at all, let alone
perform on the stage but that just goes to show that the people at Kaustinen
put the music first. The festival reminded me of my favorite fiddlers festival in the
US, where everyone is just there to play with each other, swap songs and
stories and be a part of it all rather than sit by as a passive observer.
I remember being out late at night in the rain and hearing a group of people next
to me yodeling in six-part harmony. I remember the enthusiastic welcome we
received from everyone we met. I remember jamming with a mad accordionist
late into the night, and I remember seeing a band that I would have never
expected at a folk festival playing what seemed like free jazz with medieval
instruments.
Your experience of the country and its people?
The people we met in Finland were all, without exception, welcoming and
hospitable and ready to help. We showed up in Finland without any idea of
where to go or what to expect but it seemed like immediately we met people
who knew people who wanted to meet us or wanted us to play at their
bar/restaurant/hotel/festival. I felt a real appreciation for the Froggy Mountain
Boys' music in Finland. I also know that Finns love the sauna, but that makes
sense to me as I don't know how anyone could live without one.
From Old-time to Synth Pop
How did you end up in Europe and how did hook up with the Froggy Mountain
Boys?
I moved to Berlin mainly to follow my love, and also because I had visited before
and I liked the place and made friends with some great musicians there right
away. All the members of the Froggy Mountain Boys are part of the scene I fell
into in Berlin, including bands like Django Lassi, Old Fish Jazz Band, and the
Haferflocken Swingers. I had played with all the guys through sitting in with
their bands or playing pickup gigs or just busking or jamming for fun.
The first time the five of us all played together was on a beautiful sunny day in
May of last year (2010) when we went busking together in the Mauerpark, and
the vibe and the sound was so good we all agreed that we had to do it again
some time. In January 2011 we started to spend a little more time on the project.
Please tell our readers about the other bands and artists you play with.
I perform a lot on my own and with various friends playing traditional American
old time music. This is the type of music that makes up my roots. I've been
playing it longer than anything else and feel really at home with it. I've recently
toured with banjo/guitar player Ed Hicks and with flatfooter Rosalind Masson
and that's the material we're doing -- mainly fiddle and banjo or guitar tunes, old
time and bluegrass breakdowns and square dance tunes, as well as a few
ballads and some country blues and rags. In 2012 I'm planning on doing similar
tours again with some different musicians such as Thomas Bailey (guitar,
mandolin), Joe Troop (banjo, fiddle), Ben Townsend (banjo, fiddle) and Sabra
Guzman (guitar, bass).
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I also play (with Laurin, the clarinet player from Froggys) in a Turkish band called
Latcho Nash Nash. I play banjo in that band, and there are seven of us including
Laurin on clarinet, plus violin, trumpet, bass, and two percussionists. I love
playing with this group because it's a great feeling and because I'm learning so
much. I'm not so familiar with this type of music but I listen carefully and I get a
lot of encouragement from the rest of the band to play whatever I feel, so I'm
always learning and it seems like the band is growing together a lot.
Another artist in Berlin I play with is named Dan Fib. We have already done some
recording and played a good dozen or so shows together. I love Dan's style
because his songs are short and dark and have a distinct sense of humor to
them, and I get to play my baritone fiddle with him.
I should also mention that I just finished a tour with Thomas Dolby, playing in his
band as well as opening for him as a duo with Ed Hicks. It's a great honor and a
learning experience for me to be invited to perform with Thomas and his band, as
I remember him as a famous pop star from the eighties with songs like "She
Blinded Me With Science". I played fiddle, banjo, guitar and harmonica in his band.
"Tasty, Warm Pick-me-up"
You are obviously influenced by various kinds of American music... what is it
in the blues that appeals to you?
The same as what's in any genuine, heartfelt musical expression. The longing to
reach out and connect, to know you're not alone and to get through life together.
I performed in a Bessie Smith tribute band for a little while and got to love all
those songs. As a fiddler I really love Lonnie Johnson and all the jug bands from
the early days like Memphis Jug Band and Gus Cannon. Fiddlin Arthur Smith is
one of my all time favorites and he played some great fiddle blues. One of his
longtime musical partners, Sam McGee is one of my favorite country blues
guitarists. And of course I love all the blues that Bob Wills and his Texas
Playboys performed.
Please describe how European and American traditions interact in the music
of the Froggy Mountain Boys.
These different traditions interact like cream and coffee, making a beautiful mix
that quickly blends into a tasty warm pick-me-up! Everyone in the group comes
from different backgrounds but we all have a real love for warm and genuine
music, especially when it swings. Roland, Laurent and Laurin have been playing
gypsy- and Hot Club-inspired jazz with Django Lassi for a few years, and Laurent
and Johannes have been playing New Orleans-style trad jazz for a couple years
as well, so it's been interesting to get into Western Swing together.
It's still swingin' and jazzy but it's also quite different, with more of a country
feeling, generally simpler changes and a smoother rhythmic feel. Still, we aren't
after a uniformity of sound, meaning everyone in the band has the chance to
express themselves individually and we can still play songs that aren't
necessarily from the Western Swing repertoire. I think the one song that best
shows how our different styles come together is 'Y a Pas Toujours Quelqu'un,'
which was written and sung in French by Johannes, with a smooth lilting ragtime
turnaround, culminating in sixteen bars of double-time madness.
New Album Out Soon
As far as music festivals are concerned, Tunturiblues is always one of the
highlights of the Finnish winter. What can the audience expect from the
Froggy Mountain Boys there?
The audience can certainly expect that we will all be very excited to be there! We
are so thankful for this, it's such an amazing opportunity. We will also have our
new album, "Route 77", which is named for a road in Finland we were on when
the song was written, available for release. At this moment we're still mixing and
putting the artwork together but it will all be ready in time for the festival. We'll
have a few new songs in the repertoire, and I dare say we'll all be very happy to
see each other. I think we're meeting in Berlin a few days before we go to
Finland but it's a long time that we'll have been apart from each other. So
audiences can probably also expect that we'll want to play music with each other
and with everyone else as much as we can. And we're all very excited to check
out the winter scene in northern Lapland.
INTERVIEW BY PASI TUOMINEN
- The Tunturiblues concerts will take place at Santa's Hotel Tunturi's
restaurants on Friday 20th and Saturday 21st of January. Additionally,
there will be a Saturday afternoon concert at Cafe Kaunispaan Huippu, 437
meters (1,433 feet) above sea level!
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