Your Lore 14: An Interview On The Record with Del Fontaine
ON THE RECORD WITH DEL FONTAINE.
Interview conducted by Del Fontaine of Del Fontaine and the Fontones
On The Del Fontaine Brand of Demonte Fermented Fruit Drinks
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Del Fontaine: Now Reid what can you tells us about this upcoming run of shows and what are the odds that your high powered, cigar smoking, management team have actually gotten the dates and details correct?
Reid Genauer: Well Del let me first start by saying Im a huge fan of The Fontone Orchestra and your solo work. I particularly dig your new Hip Hop Hillbilly Perry Como Remix album. The Del Fontaine branded line of Fermented Del Monte Fruitless Mai Tai’s you sold in the late 90s was like hellfire (and heartburn) in a bottle. You’re the OG Gin and Juice only less juicy, and more rubbing alcohol than Gin. In terms of the accuracy of dates and details I can only offer a somewhat paradoxical answer regarding my management team. If you were me (which you are) and you had to manage me (which you do). And given i’m a mad scientist and you’re always high on hairspray do you reckon you can righty answer the answer to that answering?
Del Fontaine: (insert awkward cough and gulp from a growler of Not-Too- Badly Botched Bootlegger’s Advice) Good point Reid. Long winded but fair. As an aside that hooch is the king of beers. Bud-wiser my butt - Bud-stupider compared to alcoholic advice from Del Fontaine. So tell me Grenevier what’s the deal with your, not exactly new, album anyway?
On The Not Exactly New Angels & Alibis Album and the Nov Tour Date
Reid Genauer: Well Del (insert fruitless burp, random barking and gurgling sounds) The sessions for my not exactly new “Angels & Alibis” album occurred in Late Feb 2020, To your point the album was meant to drop Nov 31st 2021. Facts is facts. And the fact is that the well-intentioned but less than accurate masses in this country do not reconcile themselves against the historic truth of time as we know it. I have a call into the Supreme Court but at the time of publication the Government of this fine nation still fails to acknowledge that the three in 31st of November is silent and thus is often confused with Dec 1st. So that was the root of the issue
That along with a 1/1000 years global pandemic and the 1/20 years rearrangement of the “till dealth do us part” part of the arrangement made releasing the album and routing a tour a complex uncertainty. Anyway it being November again since the last time time it was November (again) I decided to move past the silence of the three in 31st and let there be songs to fill the air (again). The second track “Blissed out Noise” will be available everywhere music is streamed Nov 7 2023
Del Fontaine - Ah.. What the fuck are you talking about Reid?
Reid Genauer: In short with all the uncertainty I was gonna play these upcoming shows solo acoustic and let loose the record in wreckless abandon. But I’m a man with a plan. Things have settled and I along with the other man planners reconsidered, and revised the plan, man. Playing music’s so much more fun with camaraderie in the mix. The Vulcan mind meld inacted as a form of music alchemy, Bleshing as Phil Lesh once called it.. As such we decided Assembly of Dust would roll out as a four piece to capture the allure of alchemy and the intimacy of the record. We were gonna call it Scott Law and the What About Mirandas but it’s hard to spell Law compared to Genauer. We also considered The Great Forever Band (see below) but seeing as this album took forever to release, that felt like salt on a a wounded Big Foot. So we stuck with Reid Genauer and the Assembly of Dust. The band features
Scott Law (Guitars)
John Leccese (Acoustic/Electric Bass),
Dave Diamond (Drums/Percusion)
Me Reid Genauer (Guitar/Words)
Del Fontaine (Belshing/Musical Alchemy)
We’re gonna do a portion of the show “Almost Acoustic” and then let loose with a full-on electric set. The song selection is a mix of tried and true AOD material with a dusting of deep cuts and covers. Lastly to state the obvious there will be a healthy wind of sailing shoes moments for the new material to sail. And also to make up for the 4 days I lost in the 700+ days since the intital album release when I got shipwrecked on the Sacramento River this past 4th of July. Note to self - Shop & Go carts don’t float.
Assembly of Dust Filter
On Steel Toed Flip Flops and Squeezer Tattoos
Del Fontaine: Cool, super California fruit loop cool Reid. Sounds “deeper than deep” dude. I mean it actually sounds like a load of shit to me but who am I to judge you since I am in fact you. Let’s cut the crap, shall we? Why arnt you wearing shoes and where the hell is Adam?
Reid Genauer: Well Del, (insert passive aggressive, holier than thou, I’m an asshole pretending to be an arty Californian gluten free hippy, tone of voice) I am wearing shoes they just happen to be certified Steel Toed Northern California flip flops bestowed upon my feet and worn proudly in place of Danny Eisenberg’s key tickling this run. Regrettably Danny nearly lost a toe due to frostbite somewhere in Western NY while wearing flip flops in subzero temperatures - hence the new steal toed flip top flip flop design.
As for Adam I can’t hardly speak for myself or yourself for that matter. So I dare say it’s hard to speak for Adam. But I can say this. Adam is as well-loved as a man and a musician can be, At least by another group of men and musicians aka AOD and certainly by his fans. In fact I have four tattoos - three are the names of my sons and the fourth, in a remote location of my body simply reads “Squeezer”. That one has gotten me into some awkward positions. But that’s kind of the point. All humor aside I count myself as one of Adams biggest fans. Many is the time I have stood on stage and felt like part of the band AND part of the audience listening to him play. Bleshed indeed. Life has a way of filling up as we move through it. Adam has a lot of wonderful things going on in his personal and professional life and more than likely a tea spoon of “it sucks to be an adult” simple as that. Much like your fruitless Mai Tai it’s not OG AOD without Adam but the show muts go on and with The Law firing on all cylanders it will not only go on but go off!
Del Fontaine: Cool so what you're actually saying is you “might or might not have” stole all Adams money like Robbie Robertson did to Levon Helm in The Band. That he or you or BOTH of you had unsavory conjugal visits that had nothing to do with congeniality or committed some other unspeakable acts with a certain “someone” who was THE someone that the OTHER someone was betrothed to. AND WHO was also a member of the band. Like some super twisted Mic Fleetwood & Stevie Nicks weird ass dynamic? Shoulda just answered my own question myself since I am yourself anyway. What can you tell us about the Angels & Alibis album, what’s taken so long and where the hell have you been?
On the Paradoxical Nature of Angels & Alibis
Reid Genauer: Any kind of art, in fact every kind of self expression reflects the paradoxical perplexity of living . Your Rubbing Alcohol and Juice is a perfect example. No light without dark, short without tall, sweet without salty, Mic Fleetwood without Stevie Nicks, no silence without sound. It’s not tit for tat or anything as mathematical as that. But creativity is the act of creation which can only happen adjacent to some form of deconstruction. So I guess what I’m saying is what broke down here is that whole Military Industrial Complex conspiracy about the silent three in 1st, covid and the new. “till death does us part” arrangements. That cocktail - not unlike your hairspray happy hour - made for one bundle of paradoxical perplexity. Ironically though given my propensity for words I find some kind of larger truth in music that transcends words and perplexing paradoxes be damned When the bubble lifts, life’s pimples vanish. The dancer becomes the dance, the painter the picture the athlete the sport, the music plays the band Del.
In keeping with our theme of paradox Del. It seems to me there is something profoundly found in the delayed release of Angels and Alibis. In addition to the albums name it plays like a two way lens in that it brings me back to a Kismet like moment in the passage of my life. A brief but blissful connection to a group of guys and a sense of musical belonging. It’s also a looking glass into the future. An optimistic if not honest projection of possibility.. The songs remain the same but they mean something new having weathered that transition from the then to the now. They hold a not exactly new musically truth in both directions.
Del Fontaine: Since I am technically not exactly you - and since Im high on hairspray can we skip the personal truth mumbo jumbo? I’ve seen your junk and let’s just say that is a little bit of a hard truth to embrace. I suggest you lead with “Squeezer” tattoo.
Reid Genauer: That’s a hair to much truth Del but true is true and if you sit with it for a spell the real real is all right alright, I’ve always been fascinated by what connects an artist to a listener. There are so many variables and varied ways to succeed and/or fail. Jerry Garcia is one of my favorite to obsess on. He let the audience see alll of him. Dark and light. Lesser known but also an etching of an ass kicker is jazz pianist Bill Evans. After listening to him for some extended amount of time you feel as if he is a bro. You can find the lifelong friend you never knew in the nuanced touch of his playing. He must have been self-aware about that quality in his music in that he named one of his albums “Everything Happens to Bill”. Bob Marley - boom, light and dark. I could talk for days on the topic but it’s a theme that runs through my musical taste and beyond.
In a more literal way, and on a smaller stage of course, I feel like a musical paradox of sorts myself. A song writer who loves screaming guitar solos. In thinking how to approach an album that was left of center of screaming guitar but still aligned with my sight lines I kept coming back to the beautiful and badass paradox. I was perplexed on how to approach the album in a way that conveyed that feel.
On Process of Creativity & Culinary Moments At The Hands of Greg Hips
Make it stand out
Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Reid Genauer: In conjuring a crisp vision for this thing I rang up Greg Loiacono. He along with Tim Blume have lead The Mother Hips for X-teen years. I have always admired them. Top 100 bands of all time. From our very first conversation about the album, I recall pacing in my back yard and feeling high from the ping pong effect Greg created. We agreed that Greg would produce the record. And during that first conversation we almost immediately agreed to a shared sonic aesthetic. One that would invite the listener into the recording as if they were in the room with us. We brainstormed and landed a band that we both felt would intuitively “get it”
1. Greg Loiacono - Guitars
2. Brian Rashap - Bass
3. Danny Einsenbirg - Keys
4. Jim Bogios – Drums
5. Reid Grenavier - Bleshing
Greg culled a collection of songs i’d written and we spent a day or two arranging the ones he earmarked. I can’t exactly say why but he’s the first musical partner I just inherently trusted to make the right decision. As an example, and foreshadowing to a larger simpatico Greg and I found, he approached a predicament I’ve encountered a zillion times in a way I’ve never witnessed. There was one song we couldn’t quite imagine a feel for. I think Greg said something like “this one feels like two different songs” Many times its easy to imagine how a song might play out - at least directionally. Some one says X and the other guy says “yeah yeah a JJ Cale kinda thing” or “ The Beatles meet Grant Green”. Greg calls it a puppet - a frame of reference. Once in a while though its really hard to imagine how a song should feel rhythmically to find the reference.
We took a break to eat a Greg Hips hacienda lunch and while we sat and ate he asked me a simple but novel question - what’s the song about? I was touched. That’s the first time anyone has asked me that question at that particular step in the creative process. I’m not knocking any of my other musical man loves but It may be the first time any of my bandmates have asked me that, ever.. It meant a lot to me personally and it says a lot about Gregs person as well as his musical approach. Practically it was a really effective way to puzzle out of a creative corner. I told him what I thought it was about and five minutes later he nailed it. It was like machine learning. I input a nugget of data in the form of an abstract lyrical landscape and he found the feel.. What happened from there was a brief Kismet like passage of time in my life. Marked by the inevitable paradoxical contrast of a mini dark ages.
Del Fontaine - Bla blah blah - was there any Cheese Wiz in the Greg Hips culinary moment and is there any rock and roll debauchery in this story or was it mainly tea and cats and processing all intellectual-like.
Reid Genauer: Well Del process wise from there I recorded each of songs on my iPhone. They were crude but consistent demos which helped align the group. As the recipient of song demos prior to a recording session it’s hard to orient when the songs are a jumble of heterogenous hiccups. One song might be a live recording of a band butchering an earlier version of the song. The could be half a song missing the outdo and a bridge. If the next one is a garage band demo with 100 layered tracks and a drumbeat the songwriter is married to. Your sunk before you set sails. Those mixed messages pollute the musicians perspective as they imagine the songs as individual creative “units” and the material as a whole. So these were intentionally equally raw - homogeneously uncharted.
We sent them to the rest of the band. Yet another collection of fabulous fellas. Exceptionally so. I have an endearing fondness for that ragtag momentary mantric. I have fondly come to call them The Great Forever Band. Side note; aside from those sessions we have yet to perform together. Im optimistic we’ll have a chance to reembody that body of music live and in the flesh (sans Squeezer Tattoos). We certainly intended too do so until the Fake news hurling Government failed to acknowledge the three is silent in 31st of Nov.
Each band member listened to the rough sketchesf or a few weeks. Then one sunny afternoon we all gathered, loaded in gear and set up to rehearse. I had never actually met Jim Bogios in the flesh. He’s a sweet guy, ridonkulous player and a fellow soccer dad. We all spent two days in Craig “Casual Coalition” MacAuthers bungalow studio in Novato CA and chiseled away until we could make it through each song from beginning to end in earnest. During those rehearsals, or what industry types call “Pre-production” Greg and I made another set of iPhone recordings of the group playing each song, found the best of the worst and sent them round.
While sonically they were a mess - the songs were not. You could hear the parts and discern their intersections. Most inspiring you could hear the band “sing” as one. Everyone listened to those simple recordings, made notes, charts and most importantly informed a way to feel their way forward. We gathered one more time a day before the sessions to cement the McAuther method of Casual Coalition building. Not to be confused with the Suzuki method of teaching 4 year old children to play Violin. But not entirely divergent in its effect. Casual Coalition methodology deserves a nod in this tale. Every musician, I have ever known especially the drummers always SAY, I just play what’s best for the song. NOT. We all tend to over express. Mostly it stems from enthusiasm, especially live. If you study the read outs of the How Many Motes Can I Play Per Minute Machine, and/or The Look At Me in Every Measure Meter, you find less song and more notes. Almost every time. This session was different. The songs played the band with quiet confidence that said it all with out try to say anything at all. During that one single evening we played each song one time - and without exception they sang temping for true. Plus we had an absolute blast.
On The Freedom Del Found In Botching The National Anthem - Backwards
Reid Genauer -National Anthem Shea Stadium.
Del Fontaine Speaking of singing I once sang the Star-Spangled Banner backwards at Shea Stadium. Ain’t no fan of Yankees but I left them Mets no fan a mine. The New York Times headlines the next day read “Recreational Marijuana Legal In California” and then proceeded to fashion me on some kinda page 7 Modern Day Monterey Pop Festival Jimi Hendrix figure. It was a five word review that read ”Backwoods Bohemian Burns National Anthem”. A somewhat threadbare publication I’d never not always heard of, called The Relic. Only spelled with an X. Relix for devil worshipping , said somin’ like “Drug Addicted Disco Muffin Mutilates Music As An Art From in its Entirety” Now I didn’t understand the next bit but they went on to describe me as a “doughy” lead singer and referenced me to some sort of chocolate chip cookie or Brownie like baked good. I fashion myself more of a pink glazed Dunkin Donut with sprinkles but any press is good press I suppose. I’m not sure why they covered I found an online Country Store called JamBase. Speaking of backwoods that store sells an odd mix of what they call Leftover Salmon, String Cheese, Ping Pong balls, Pidgeons, Crackers, Jellies and Jams.. Al they had to say was “Fontaine Drained The Fountain - Taboo Taboot” Shit even Rolling Stone covered it. They called it “Smells Like Teen Spirit Without The Teen Spirit”. Now if you do the math Grenevier that’s just leaves “Smells” They went on to talk about my man musk in detail. Mostly the article talked about some some fella named Burt Cocaine.
The truth of it is I was so darn nervous I was not thinking about vittles of any sort. I kicked back approximately 14 too many of my own backwood-brew-ha-has. Thankfully that rendered the intended effect of befuzzlated absence of feeling. Nervous no more says me. Regrettably said intoxication left me somewhat absent in my ability to stand let alone sing. Yes sir, I fell to one knee but it wasn’t no social statement of any kind. I simply couldn’t stand. Yes sir, I sang our beloved Anthem backwards but it wasn’t no artistic statement of any kind. Sure as shit on a shinglel Grenavier, I didn’t even know what State I was in. Coulda been Delware for all I knew. I don’t know if that’s a State or a City come to think of it. Anyway somewhere between my temporarily debilitated pondering, my mouth socket and the 50,000 booing pie holes they call fans - things got a little weird. I tell you what though Grenavier, it was authentic as all hell!
Reid Genauer: Del, you don’t often make a ton of sense but I think you hit on a couple relevant points there. The recording sessions for Angels and Alibis were the most fun I have ever had in the studio. No one was really drinking at all sans a couple of beer snob brews we knocked back. There was a blatant lack of pink donuts but it was like Christmas morning kinda fun free for all. The Grateful Dead always talk about how they constricted they felt in the studio. I have always found the same. The expectations run high and the execution runs long and painful. Again this was different. Those sessions exceeded everyone of our expectations. The authenticity of unencumbered inspiration.
I think those sessions played out so swimmingly in part because we were NOT a band. It gave us freedom to just be in the studio. We became the lack of expectation, the familiar unfamiliarity and that reinforced the the high of being better just for having been. The recording process took on a life of its own. I’m not exaggerating when I say there was a palpable sense that all was as it should be during those sessions. We scheduled three days to nail the basic tracks to 10-12 songs and we were done in two. Jim Bogios didn’t even have to come in on the third day but he did just to be a part of that particular buzz,
The other element that supported the Angels and Alibis sessions was our intentional aim for old school. Scott Hirsch engineered the album and with his thumbs up on the gear we chose Tiny Telephone Studio in Oakland. It had all the hip retro gear. John Vanderslice, who happens to be a well loved indie rocker, owned the studio at the time. His art transcends music, in addition to some fine fine gear it was by far the most creative interior design i’d ever laid eyes on in a recording studio.. It had to have an effect on us. Scott had a firm command of the gear and a gentle command of the band. Guided by that cool cat command we played each song 3 times and choose the oness with the best feel. The basics for each of these tunes including drums the vocals, bass, keys and guitar we all single takes played together as a band. During that third day and for days on end remotely during covid we added harmonies, layers of organ and percussion. A guitar solos, cleaner acoustic guitar but that was pretty much it. The album is a live band, having a laid back blast bolstered by Scott Hirsches brilliance. Hes a thinker and a tinkerer and he nailed the “live feel” in the production of the record. I’ve gone for that before. The Honest Hour was literally designed to be a Studio Record performed live. But it is more like a well played and well produced live recording. This was something different. Scott captured the intimacy of the sessions. The playing is sparse but the 3D special nature of the layers make the recording is orchestral.
On Tour: Melting in the Moments You Adore
Del Fontaine: I feel yah Grenevier. Me and my orchestra The Fontones, have tried for that as well. However given my propensity for Rubbing Alcohol Cocktails, Hairspray Huffing Happy Hours and my progressive age, The Fontones figure I was just lucky to be alive - so we went easy on the going for live recordings. Im actually only 29. Just stopped aging after 28. Speaking of retro Grenevier my liver thumps like an 82 year old kick drum. I should start charging extra just for hanging out with me? By my way of thinking my hoock is like the Reverse Redneck Riviera’s finest of red wines. It’s good for you. More importantly for me. Which Is why they sometimes call me The Picked Peter Pan of the Unpunctual. Got a loose sense of time Grenevier but a tight grasp on that hooch. I think its fair to say my records might not sound live but at least their “alive” even but barely.
Reid Genauer At the end of the day Del’s finally found the plot. We’re high steppin’ honey with a running gun running with The Law. We’ve got boldness and goldness and a dash of do nothing at all. So pause from bills and spend some time, melting in the moments you adore. Music is all right, alright. Lift up your superman suspenders high and tight. Keep that Squeezer tattoo out of sight. Tilt on your axis while you jiggle them asses. Del is distilling some rot gut bootleggers advice and for the right price he might share his wiser than Bud-wiser stupidity. Either way Me and Del and the rest of the fellas are making our way from out of the thicket to come land the leap of faith you made in the shine of your golden ticket . We’re rolling into your town both as needers and believers in the “be good or be goo at it” belief system. Only without the any system at all.
Del Fontaine: Bra bra bra – be good to each other and be good to me by brining the Cheese Wiz Kids.