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Luca Leatherman.
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The Rockford Files
Text by J. Robert Johnson
Photo by David Hawks
Seattle's New Supergroup
The Rockfords are a natural outgrowth of the way music is done here in Seattle. The emphasis, as with all really good bands, is still on having fun and a lack of pretense. Considering the potential for pretense with a band of this kind musical pedigree (the band includes Mike McCready of Pearl Jam and Carrie Akre of Hammerbox/Goodness), their attitude is refreshing. The Rockfords are a reasonably well-adjusted group of individuals, some of whom have been playing together on and off since high school. Carrie Akre sings, the brothers Friel - Rick and Chris - play bass and drums, and the guitars of Mike McCready and Danny Newcomb round things out. I interviewed the band in their office (yes, they have an office) where it was set up kinda like a living room. Coffee was served and conversation and laughter ensued.
Tablet: Will you have a record coming out in the near future?
Carrie Akre: Yes
Mike McCready: We're talking about it, that's the big question. We've got some songs written and there's a show coming up that we're really excited about at Bumbershoot which will be fairly ass-kicking. Rick Friel: We're playing with Visqueen, a great band.
MM: That too...
CA: And we're talking about recording it live.
RF: We're gonna use the audience track from Kiss Alive Two from the whole album from start to finish.
MM: That's really just my inner monologue.
RF: We're gonna call it Akre Comes Alive.
Tablet: So you guys are pretty much writing as a group?
MM: We hooked up about a year ago at the practice space and just jammed out and recorded ideas for about three days. And [we] came up with alot of ideas, about three or four of them turned out to be worth working on.
RF: We're all saying, "And where are those CDs that I made that I was listening to about a year ago?" Now they're buried. [Everyone is laughing.] See, you're smart [pointing to Mike].
MM: I've got mine in the car!
Tablet: Are you gonna take this show on the road?
Danny Newcomb: I wrote a song called "Australia."
CA: [Laughing] No, he wrote a song called "Adelaide" on the first record we did.
RF: We've talked about it, I know that Danny wants to go to Australia. First we play Australia, then we go back to Seattle, and then we go back to Australia.
Chris Friel: Seems like we should do something in the middle there.
Tablet: The other Washington perhaps? Maybe on the plane on the way back?
RF: Like opening for Poco!
CA: Or the sister city thing, play Portland.
RF: We wanna play a gig at the Crocodile in Iraq.
CA: Cro-Iraq-a-dile!!!
RF: I brought you a Jodie Watts CD.
Tablet: Is this a new one?
RF: Well, it looks new to me. No, we only have one out. Mike came up with the album cover concept. He tracked me down in New York, I don't know how you did it; he was getting pants made.
MM: I was getting fitted at the time.
RF: He goes, "I got it! I've got your album cover!" I don't even know how he found me and he goes, "I've got your album cover!"
MM: He says, "You got what?" And I said, "I've got it, I've got staples in my balls."
RF: And we took it from there.
CA: [Laughing and clapping]
Tablet: So what the most fun thing about this project for everyone?
CA: Just us being together and having fun playing rock
MM: I just think it's great 'cause the four of us have been playing together since we were kids in Shadow. And we brought Carrie in and she just fits in so perfectly. Now we just understand each other so well, and where we're going musically, we don't really have to talk about it, it just happens.
Tablet: You have a solo record coming out, don't you Carrie?
RF: She has two.
CA: They already came out, Home and Invitation.
DN: I went to the store and I saw two live albums.
MM: She has two.
DN: I went to the store and it was incredible, I didn't even know.
RF: Akre Comes Alive Two?
CA: I put them out on My Way Records.
Tablet: Do you have any other shows besides this Bumbershoot gig coming up?
RF: We've booked a show December 13 at the Crocodile.
CA: Friday the 13th!
Tablet: Oh, lucky day.
RF: It's a Saturday.
MM: We're thinking of doing some shows with Cheap Trick.
Tablet: Really?
MM: That's an idea we're shooting around.
RF: We're gonna have to ask Rick Neilson if we can play with them, and then it's just gonna be thumbs up or thumbs down.
MM: Yeah, he doesn't talk anymore; it's just thumbs up or thumbs down. Hopefully we'll get to do more in the next year. We hopefully will do more, but we want to see how it comes out after the next two shows and take it from there.
CA: I think we just want to take our time, we're not in a rush, 'cause a lot of this is just making music and enjoying each other's company.
Tablet: Where are you guys with the file sharing and swapping thing?
MM: I'm all for it. I'm all for Napster and file swapping and file sharing.
CF: Well, file sharing has kinda kept this project alive, because we just kind of put the record out without any touring or anything.
MM: That's true.
CF: And what kept it alive was the website. We had this guy Chris Nagano, who kept the website going and he built another one.
MM: People can message, we have bootlegs of all four shows we've done, and people trade the bootlegs and burn the videos of the shows - it's really cool.
CA: And it really helps 'cause if you're new enough as a band, you don't really make money selling CDs. It helps to spread the word about what you're doing.
RF: The people who are objecting are the ones that have all the money.
CA and MM: Yeah!
CA: I really hate that the major record labels are all saying that the little guy is screwing them. All of the sudden the consumer is the enemy and basically they're gonna sue fans, which is not the brightest thing in the world. It's not gonna work and the thing that's wrong is that they have mismanaged their money and now they're gonna blame it on the fans.
On this note, it was time to wrap things up. We chatted for a few more minutes and it was getting obvious that there was a lot of music to be played and a lot of songs to still be sung. I got up and as I said goodbye to everyone, I realized what a long road it's been from hanging out on Broadway years ago to today's shows and interviews. It's part of the lives that all of us as musicians lead. I walked out the door and into the bright August afternoon, just glad to be alive and grateful I live in a place that's filled with fun people and good music like Seattle.
The Rockfords play Bumbershoot Friday, August 29 at 5:45pm at the Ex Hall's What's Up Next Stage.
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