Pearcy, Paul 2012-11-30
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General Interview Information
Interviewee Name: Paul Pearcy
Additional Parties Recorded:
Date: November 30, 2012
Location: Austin, Texas
Interviewer: Andy Wilkinson
Length: 01:44:51
Abstract
Life, Born 6/25/1954, Born in Temple, Moved to Austin when he was 9 years old, Father was an attorney and politician, Father graduated from Baylor, All of siblings pretty much graduated from UT, Father kind of helped him to become a musician, Grew up in south and west Austin, Attended a lot of UIL when he was in high school, Music career, During his first year of college he went on a tour in Europe, Started out as a drummer, He loves drumming, He plays guitar also, Mentally slower kid always hit ants on the sidewalk with a stick, His older brother plays guitar, In high school and middle school he really got into the drums, The rhythm really helped him, His brothers and sisters played more 50’s music, Played at the Austin country club house, Played at a church by campus also, After he graduated from high school he kind of retired, He played in a band called Starcrost, He loves jazz, Played at a place called club caravan, They’d play 6 or 7 nights for a pay check, Mike Mordicai, John mills was the sax player in their group, They had a little jazz rock band going on, They would play music all the time, Their house was by the old airport in Austin, Jazz music is the best music to express you on, Starcrost broke up when he was with a girl in about 1975, He took off and went west with a drum set and guitar, His first stop was Santa Fe and was gone for over a year, Played the drums up in aspen for a lot of money, Makes it all the way to San Francisco and stays on his friends couch, He was living on his friends couch and then lived in a bar, Started running out of money so he came home for a gig, He came back and played a gig with the people from his old band in 1977, Played with another band called the Ganzoes, They had a major label and where in the studio, Didn’t have a lot going on at the time, The band was going in a different direction and he liked it, He liked to sing but he never really did, It was more Texas music, This band was a lot heavier, All the guys were playing fender deluxe, His favorite person to work with was Lloyd Mays, He produces his own stuff now, He was with the Ganzos and still is, He joined them in their dying days, He was playing some gigs and was in the studio with them for about 2 months, He toured on the east coast, Gary P. Nunn let him know that he wasn’t going to be in the band for much longer, Soon after they split up, He played with Ray for about 4 or 5 years after that, Jon and Bob were really good at harmonies, They showed him how it was done, Bob Livingston never forgot a song lyric, Ray Willie Hubbard, He married Amy who was from New York City, She had a brain tumor and died in 1984, He quit the band when he went up there, Guys at the lone star café let him play there, They were called Bad Dog, They had a lot of people playing there at the time, They were more of a rock band, He liked playing with Tome Russell, He lived in NYC for about 2 years, After Amy died he came back home, He free lanced for a while and made his own band called the Skeletones, He met Garden Smith and Hal Ketchum, They had a deal with CBS that turned in Sony records, They started playing with some really good bands, He started doing percussion and not much drumming, He sang did percussions and other things, He toured with Tony Hendricks for a while, He had been on the road for about 20 years by this time, Recorded with Mud Honey, That’s where he met Chris Gage, Started as a 2 month tour and kept getting reduced, He was tired of being on the road, He was making pretty decent money at the time then, Most of the people making the money were the directors and producers, He is glad that he did it, He quit drinking, It was hard for him to maintain a relationship, He went through a towns phase, His dog got hit, he lost his house, his wife had cancer & he was being audited by the IRS, The Towns song was his theme song when he was younger, Always made more money producing, He writes to keep himself from going crazy, He is on the song business, He loves to read, It’s hard for him to figure out what he wants to say when he writes songs, The lyrics are the hardest part for him to write, He hates to listen to his old stuff, He knows the meter of the words and the meter of the music very well, Being a drummer helps with that, If you turn down the volume on a song you’ll hear the voice and the drums, Harder to be percussionist and director, Kids aren’t very well metered, People don’t trust drummers to produce them as much, When you’re a guitarist you are following a rhythm not leading it, The drummer is actually leading the beat, Percussion can drive the dynamics of the song, Drummers look at it from the bottom up, If you have a good drummer but a mediocre singer and guitarist you’re still ok, Very popular dance club with a band, Whats next, He wants to get as old as possible as gracefully as possible, He likes helping artist get jobs, Not all bands are great but you take it and try to make it work, Plays with younger people now and is respected by them and learns from them, Able to do most of his works in studios now, He has a daughter in grad school, He wants to branch out and do other things, Spends a lot of time on his boat to relax, Does a lot of river trips now, Done white rafting in the Grand Canyon twice now, All because he plays guitar, Friend ran a camp called the Taj Mahal, He taught a music class there, He still teaches now about 13 kids, Most of the kids are military and black, When you’re young you’ll follow your dick, He started to really like that guy and his music, Jack Elliots, David helped him get a start with people up in New York
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