Interview conducted by Chris Rosenbluth

Rusted Root percussionist Jim Donovan has always had an eclectic musical taste. Although the band is currently in the midst of a two year hiatus, Donovan has kept himself busy touring across the country playing solo shows and leading instructional drum workshops that toe the line between musical expression and meditative exercise. Music High’s Chris Rosenbluth recently spoke to Donovan about his new musical adventures, what inspires him behind the kit and life without Rusted Root.

Music High: Can you talk a little about the drum workshops? How have they been going?

Donovan: The workshop is called the Interactive Drumming Experience. It’s beyond a drum circle in that it’s an actual educational experience where people come in and they learn technique, they learn how to listen to each other, and also how to play music together. I like to give people, especially people who have never done it before, the experience of playing with other people and to really enforce ideas of how to do that through deeper listening.

MH: How much experience is required? Is it a course for beginners or is it something for more experienced players?

Donovan: It requires zero experience. I deal with absolute beginners and I deal with players that have been playing for 20 years. They can all participate in this workshop. It’s really the kind of experience where you can get everything that you need out of it depending on your willingness to try.

MH: I was listening to your solo release Indigo the other day, and I probably haven’t listened to it since it came out in 1998, but the sound of that album is like nothing I’ve heard before. It’s very Eastern. Has that sound always had an influence on you?

Donovan: The concept that I used in that record, and in the next record Pulse, is a concept of entrancement. And it’s really using rhythm and repetition to get into an ultra-relaxed spot in your being. It can really help you get, not just chilled out, but really super relaxed. It’s in that super-relaxed spot where I believe, and a lot of other people believe, the best creativity comes from. And so a lot of that music, it has the function of fun music to listen to, but it’s also music that you can use. It’s functional music that you can take in and use for your own benefit. The sound of that is influenced by a lot of Eastern sounds. That’s a big part of what I’ve been listening to and what I’ve been influenced by, for sure.

MH: What other types of music have influenced the way you play?

Donovan: Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, AC/DC, all that kind of stuff. In college, I got into more jazz fusion stuff: Miles Davis, the Mahavishnu Orchestra, that kind of stuff. That’s when I started playing African drums. That was the thing that really blew my rhythmic-head apart and made me hear music in a completely different way, music that really came from the heart as opposed to analytical music. And that really resonated with me, and I knew it was something I really wanted to do. I wanted to create music from that kind of space. I would imagine that what I’m doing today is still very much influenced from that time period.

MH: Some people have said to me, while I’ve been listening to Indigo, specifically, that you have to be on drugs to understand and appreciate that type of music. How to respond to those critics?

Donovan: It’s really easy to confuse people when there’s not a box that they can identify something with. It’s just how we’re conditioned. We’re conditioned to say “This is country music, and this is rock music, and this is metal.” We’ve got a thousand different genres. With that kind of meditation music that’s on Indigo, that kind of music actually can take you, by itself, to the same place as LSD or a mushroom, without any of the drugs. All you’ve got to do is deep breathe for the entire hour and you’ll have more visions than you can handle.

MH: I’ll definitely have to try that.

Donovan: Yeah, it’s fun.

MH: When you’re not having these visions, how is the process of making meditation and relaxation records, like Indigo and Pulse, different from making records that have a more mainstream sound, like the work you’ve done with Rusted Root?

Donovan: It’s very different. When you’re in collaboration, you’ve got six or seven people to make the song. For my records, I basically served the function of the producer, so it was just me and an engineer, and I would say, “Hey, how’d that sound?” But it’s very different. Both are really fun. Both have their own sets of great things and sets of challenges, so there’s not really a better or worse. It’s just a different experience. I like them both. I tend to work a whole lot faster by myself, that’s for sure.

MH: Do you prefer to play live as opposed to in the studio? Can you create the same energy of a live performance when you’re playing in the studio?

Donovan: It depends on the piece. Some pieces it really doesn’t matter whether there’s an audience there or not. Other times, an audience can definitely have an effect, positively or negatively depending on the audience. With Rusted Root, I definitely feed off the audience’s energy. They affect how I make my energy and how I play. In a studio, it’s more of a personal experience and you feed off of different people in the room, although there can just be a couple people in the room, and you feed off of them in a similar way.

MH: Is there anyone specific with whom you’ve had one of those deep musical connections, other than your bandmates with Rusted Root, when you’ve really fed off of what they’re doing with their instrument?

Donovan: Oh absolutely. Probably the most well-known would be Carlos Santana. When Rusted Root opened for Carlos on a couple different tours, he had us come up and play music with him every night. And just to play with his band and him, I felt a whole other kind of oneness with those guys that was completely different than the Rusted Root experience. But I’ve felt that on many occasions with many different kinds of people. That’s the beauty of music because that feeling transcends everything, no matter what color they are or what they happen to believe. The power of music is much deeper than that.

MH: Can you describe what that feeling of oneness is like?

Donovan: There is a very deep listening that happens between the musicians. There is a lot of space that occurs where musicians allow each other the space to express. It’s a balance, a very fine balance, of expression and support where you express yourself and then you pull back and hold the space for someone else to step up.

MH: Does all that occur on a conscious level, or is there a subconscious connection going oh there, too?

Donovan: It’s both. Once you have the expression and the support going on, then there can actually be true communication between musicians were you’re hearing each other and reacting to each other in a musical way. And so it’s just like having a conversation only you’re not using your mouth.

MH: Are there any plans for a new Rusted Root album?

Donovan: Actually, yes. We have a double live CD that’s going to come out later on this year.

MH: But nothing in the studio?

Donovan: Nothing in the studio. We’re doing the live record now. This will be our first real live record, so we’re going to concentrate on that right now. But I’ve heard all the basics of it, and it’s pretty stellar. It’s going to be the best thing we’ve ever put out. It will really capture exactly what I know I love about the band, and what I believe people that have come to see us for the last 14 years have come to love.

MH: In the last 10 years, since When I Woke first put Rusted Root on the map, how have you changed both musically and personally?

Donovan: Musically, I know that I listen better. I don’t play as many notes. I try to make the notes that I do play mean more. If I’m playing a song and there’s a fill, I’ll really consider what the fill is and how it’s going to affect what the song is, if I’m playing song-based music. If I’m hand drumming with other people, it’s more interesting for me to hear what everyone else is doing and add to it and make the music better than it is for me to show everyone what I can do. I’m in less of an ego place and more of a music place. Personally, I think I’m definitely more relaxed. I’ve got a family now and it’s made my life richer than I could have ever imagined. It’s better. I’m just a much happier person. And I was happy then, so it just keeps getting better.

Interview conducted by Matthew Fisher

Inside The Palace nightclub in Gainesville, Florida on a beautiful day showing summer is almost too close to be true, I had the chance to sit and talk with the members of the Chris McCarty Band. In the middle of a time when the music industry is being more demanding than ever, they’re building a dedicated fan base through lyrics with true meaning and an energetic drive in their live performances that makes Jason Mraz look like Willie Nelson. The band, composed of Chris (acoustic guitar/singer), Phil (bass guitar), Greg (electric guitar), Gabe (drums), and Julius (bongos), is eagerly awaiting tonight’s show to kickoff the release of their third CD, Dreaming in Stereo.

The Interview

Music High: How did The Chris McCarty Band come to be?

Phil: Who’s that guy from the Backstreet Boys? Lou Perlman, ya well he called me…ha well actually Chris was playing at Hops, and Greg saw him playing and he seemed like a good front man, really liked his songs, so they tried getting a band together. And then we met Julius, he didn’t get paid for the first year but he liked girls so that worked out. Greg knew Gabe from high school, and they didn’t really get along, but if they got the band together they’d be able to…well not all the time of course. So Greg called Gabe and was like “hi I’m in a shitty relationship with a girl in Athens, Georgia” and so he spent a million bucks driving back and forth between here and Athens. And meanwhile Chris was like I get 60% cause I’m Chris and that worked out for a while.

Gabe: They convinced me to come down and then we got with Premiere Parties and that didn’t work out, and that was in summer of 2002 when the 5 of us got together. Then this other guy Romero who worked for Premiere Parties or something, well he was evil, you can quote me on that.


MH: Where’s all this evil coming from?

Greg: It’s the yin to the yang.

Gabe: With Premiere we were trying to figure out our music, but we were really trying to figure out each other. So that went on like that for a while.

Chris: So why’d we name this Chris McCarty Band?

Gabe: We were already sort of playing as that name, and we thought we’d ride it out until we thought of something better. And we figured all the comparisons with Dave Matthews Band would never get old. It’s funny how Phil’s version of the story always seems to bring a little more truth.

Chris: Did we really do 60/40?

Julius: I dunno I never got paid.

MH: What kind of background in music did you guys have?

Phil: Julius played percussion and Chris was in another band a few years back.

Gabe: And I played with Greg earlier, he was in the school jazz band.

Greg: I had been in a couple other bands, some garage bands stuff like that. And then I gigged out with someone who was like my dad’s age doin jazz shows stuff like that in shitty dive bars.

MH: Was there anyone or any groups who inspired you guys to wanna play or get this group together?

Greg: Rob Thomas from Matchbox20, hah.

Phil: I’d say Ben Harper, I was in a situation where I got to interview for a school paper and got to sit down with him for like 2 hours. He’s just a very cool guy.

MH: Seeing you guys live, I think you’ve got some kind of cross of Dave Matthews Band with the personal lyrics and jams, mixed with someone like David Gray or Ben Harper, something a little more soulful. How do you see yourselves as a group?

Gabe: I think we fit on people’s CD shelves right in there with all those people, like Jack Johnson, Dave Matthews, David Gray, I think a lot of that stuff is solid. We’re all aware of all those bands, some of its about love, some is just whiny. Some of the guys don’t like Gray as much though.

Chris: I just think that song Babylon is good.

Greg: I feel like I would buy a sweater while listening to David Gray.

Gabe: I think a lot of those guys had a big influence right during a crucial time when we were deciding what we were gonna do without lives. I’m not sure they had as much effect musically, as they did as people. What’s cool about their music, like the Dave Matthews Band, it was like wow that’s really cool, I don’t see people doing that kind of thing. They could do what they wanna do and play their music and be successful.

MH: In your past 2 CD’s, there seems to be a lot of emotion and experience from the past, how does the new CD compare?

Gabe: Basically the same kind of songs, experiences, with girls though some more than others, Jules…but the music is about life, that’s what they write about.

MH: Who writes your songs?

Phil: Chris and me do.

MH: On your studio CD’s, as with most groups, the songs aren’t recorded with the types of long jams that will be played at live shows. What do you feel is special about playing for the live audience and the whole experience?

Greg: For me, it’s great to see a live performance recorded and passed around and there’s something unique about that. It’s really hard to capture that magic though in a studio. You don’t have the audience to feed you, lights going all around. So to put something more jammy on a studio recording just wouldn’t have that drive we get from the live show.

MH: You’ve been touring for quite a while now. With the new CD out, are you planning a little break or gonna be going at it even harder?

Gabe: Well we really wanna push this CD, so for the next 2 months we’re gonna be playing around, but then we will probably break for a bit. We’ve all got songs we’ve written and wanna learn for later on.

MH: Where’d the idea for your Diary of a Band on your website come from?

Phil: Well I had seen some other bands do the same kind of thing, I know Guster does one. Ideally I want to be a writer, so it’s a good outlet. People ask us you know ‘what’s it like to be in a band?’ so it gives us a chance to be real and just talk about what we’re going through.

MH: Thanks for your time, any last words?

Phil: Ya I have figured out the guidelines for MP3 burning. Bands that have sold over 100,000 CD’s, you can burn the hell out of. Any less you can’t.

Greg: Unless they haven’t sold 10,000 CD’s, then they probably want you to burn it and pass it around. So below 10,000, and above 100,000.

Phil: Ya it’s like math, you got the alligator mouth pointing to 10,000 and 100,000 and the x in the middle. If you’re in between the 2, you can’t burn it.