A Conversation with Gary Clark, Jr. – HuffPost 11.5.12

 

Mike Ragogna: Gary, how the heck are you doing?

Gary Clark, Jr: I’m all right, I’m all right.

MR: Your new album, Blak and Blu debuted at #6 on Billboard‘s album chart, and it follows your Bright Lights EP that got a lot of attention. How did you put this project together?

GCJ: Well, I approached the album in kind of the same way as I approached the EP…I was doing all kinds of things on the album. Basically, I had a bunch of ideas and put them all on one record and I had a good time doing it.

MR: Let’s catch everybody up with your history. You were kind of a twelve year-old prodigy who jumped into guitar, how did that all happen?

GCJ: I’ve always been attracted to instruments since I was a kid when I first heard music, but what really kicked things off was my friend Eve. She lived down the street from me and she played guitar and had a band, so I would go check them out. She had a cool black Stratocaster and a Fender Twin amp, and I thought it was really cool that she was playing rock ‘n’ roll stuff and I wanted to get into it, so I asked my folks to get me a guitar. They got me on there and I just fell in love with it. I pretty much quit doing everything else.

MR: You were really dedicated to your instrument.

GCJ: Yeah, pretty much.

MR: So you’re from Austin and there’s a certain Antone’s connection.

GCJ: Yeah, there is. I was running around Antone’s checking out shows–Jimmie Vaughan, Buddy Guy–and I got introduced to them at Antone’s. They heard my playing on the stage at maybe about fifteen or something. Major blues guys were playing on the Antone’s stage and were kind of hanging around in that town, so I met some great people. It was kind of a stomping ground for me.

MR: You played 2010’s Crossroads guitar festival with B.B. King, Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy and others. What was your impression of how you did?

GCJ: I made it through. That was a pretty intense deal for me. I’ll tell you this, they made a DVD of it and one thing that you can’t tell from that is during the show, the sound went out. The whole stadium sound went out during our last song “Bright Lights.” That was the biggest crowd I’ve ever been in front of and all these people I looked up to were around and, of course, the sound would go out. So that was the freakiest moment for me. I remember being up on stage and a little grandma comes up to me and says something like, “The sound’s out. You’ve got to play the solo again.” I was like, “What?” “Sing the first verse again! Start the song again.” There was so much confusion. I was just like, “What’s going on? This can not be happening.” On the DVD, it just so happens, at the end of my solo, the sound cuts back in so the crowd kind of goes wild and it makes me seem like I’ve just played the most amazing solo in the whole wide world when in actuality that did not happen. So afterwards, I was just like, “Man, I’m so glad I got through it. I cannot believe that happened.” That was my initial reaction, and then afterwards, I settled down and was like, “That was actually kind of cool.”

MR: Dude, you were playing with B.B. King and Eric Clapton and Stevie Windwood and folks like that, so it was kind of like your initiation.

GCJ: I was wondering if someone was maybe like, “Hey, man, he’s the new guy, let’s mess with him and see how he handles it.” I have my suspicions although I haven’t accused anybody directly.

MR: [laughs] But if you find out, they’re dead meat.

GCJ: [laughs]

MR: Do you prefer playing live? Do you prefer the studio? What’s your deal?

GCJ: I like the whole musical creative process, from the ideas bouncing around and people kind of mumbling stuff in the studio, the idea forming, and cutting it like, “This is the track, this is the song,” and playing it live and playing it for people. I love the whole string.

MR: Do you get charged up by the way that the audience responds to your playing?

GCJ: Oh yeah. The live audience makes everything. When I get done with the guys, everyone’s feeding off of each other and then their energy is over the top. We’re kind of levitating and we’re really crazy, but it gets to be really cool. Sometimes it’s not there but whatever it is, it’s magical and otherworldly and beautiful and amazing.

MR: When watching other acts when you were younger, that had to inspire you to want to be on that stage playing, right?

GCJ: Right.

MR: Who were some of your influences?

GCJ: Some of my influences were Jimi Hendrix, the obvious one, Shuggie Otis, Freddie King, B.B. King, Albert King, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny “Guitar” Watson, Lead Belly…acts like that. I could go on and on and on.

MR: Speaking of Hendrix, you include “Third Stone From The Sun” as part of a medley. Is that something you normally play live and then you thought, “Okay, let’s put it on the record?”

GCJ: Yeah, that’s kind of how it came about. The whole medley happened by accident. We just started jamming around Austin doing our gigs, everyone was just standing around looking at each other like, “What are we going to play?” “I don’t know, what do you want to play?” “I don’t know, I can’t think of anything.” So we’d start off something and that kind of happened and it turned into that medley. We figured we might as well put that on tape.

MR: Cool. Now, Rolling Stone declared you the “Best Young Gun” in its April 2011 issue, Best of Rock. What do you make of all that?

GCJ: I don’t know what to make of all that. It’s kind of overwhelming when I think about it. It’s cool though. We just come to play our music…I’m not going to get used to it, but it’s cool though.

MR: You’re also on the Alicia Keys latest album.

GCJ: Yeah, she called me in and asked me to play some guitar on her album. I was like, “Yes, of course.” She’s a really cool cat. We just went in there and let loose. I walked in and she said, “You just do you.” I was really excited to do that. She was really great to work with. Sweet.

MR: And you guested with Dave Matthews. You’re getting out there and playing with a lot of people. Are you getting influenced by them? Are they getting influenced by you?

GCJ: Influenced?

MR: Picking up a little something here and there.

GCJ: Yeah, I think they’re always interested to jam with somebody, to exchange that energy. There’s definitely an exchange. That’s been fun, just kind of getting up there and being in somebody else’s world for a minute and trying something. It’s been good.

MR: How do you approach your songwriting? Do you go to the guitar to write or do you write the song and then go to the guitar?

GCJ: Hmm, songwriting. There’s no process. It’s kind of a mess. I usually just play all kinds of instruments at the house–drums to bass to guitars, keys, horns. I’ll just pick up something or just be sitting around singing and an idea will come and then I’ll run from that instrument to another and try and pick up a bass line while humming a line, trying to remember that and put it all together. It’s not an organized process at all. Some things come quicker than other. Sometimes, I’ll knock out a song in thirty minutes, sometimes it takes three months.

MR: One of the songs is titled “Next Door Neighbor Blues.” Were they a little “rambunctious” one night?

GCJ: It’s just a little blues thing I’ve been messing around with, playing in open G, trying to get into country-folk stuff and random lyrics came out about a dude and a woman and next door neighbor, and then a relationship.

MR: Austin has a Gary Clark, Jr. Day. What’s that about?

GCJ: Yeah, I don’t know. I don’t know what to say. I was about seventeen years old when I heard that the mayor wanted to claim this day as Gary Clark, Jr. Day. I was like, “Really?” That surprise was pleasant. The city was recognizing me for being out there and playing music at a young age and kind of making a buzz, which was cool. I didn’t get it at the time, I was so young, and to be quite honest with you, I was more excited because I got to skip the last portion of school to go to this ceremony. I didn’t get it, but now, it’s like a real honor.

MR: And you had to battle away all the girls after that.

GCJ: No, no, no, nothing like that. In my mind I wished, maybe.

MR: [laughs] Did they give you a giant key?

GCJ: No, I was wondering about that. No key. Didn’t happen.

MR: Maybe when you go back, you could ask for it.

GCJ: I might. I’ll be back there. I’ll ask around.

MR: They might’ve just forgotten to give it to you that day. It’s probably in a closet or something.

GCJ: Maybe. I hadn’t thought of that in a long time. Thank you for bringing that up.

MR: Hey, it looks like you’re a movie star too.

GCJ: [laughs] Oh man, yeah. I got to do a John Sayles film a few years ago calledHoneydripper. It’s basically the story about the transition from blues to rock ‘n’ roll on the guitar, stepping out in the time, in south Alabama, and just what was going on then, musically. It was a great experience for me.

MR: Gary, what is your advice for new artists?

GCJ: My advice to new artists, I don’t know. I could just say that the advice that I’ve been getting is be you, and be true to yourself. Don’t hold back. All you’ve got is what you’ve got, so do something big with it.

MR: You’ll be touring for this record?

GCJ: Yeah, we’re going to do the tour next year for the album.

MR: I very much appreciate your time, Gary, and definitely come back. All the best.

GCJ: Awesome. Thank you so much.

Transcribed by Galen Hawthorne