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ROCKWiRED iNTERViEWS THE QUiCK AND EASY BOYS iN A FUNK Just when you thought that Portland’s music scene was littered with autumnal, introspective, singer-songwriter-type bands such as THE DECEMBERISTS or AMELIA, along come THE QUICK AND EASY BOYS. Just as comfortable showing off their WILLIE NELSON and JOHNNY CASH influences as they are their love for PARLIAMENT and THE FUNKADELICS, this sturdy power trio is wired to get you ass on the floor dancing. At press time, THE QUICK AND EASY BOYS were wrapping up their successful tour of both coasts in support of their album BAD DECISIONS WITH GOOD PEOPLE an drummer MIKE GOETZ couldn’t have imagined a better place to be. “It’s wonderful actually.” says GOETZ of touring with his band mates. “You get an opportunity to move around the country and meet new people every night and hang out in cities that you’ve never been to. The three of us get along really, really well.” MiKE GOETZ OF THE QUiCK AND EASY BOYS TALKS TO ROCKWiRED ABOUT THEiR CD BAD DECiSiONS WiTH GOOD PEOPLE TOURiNG THE EAST AND WEST COASTS AND GETTiNG PEOPLE OUT TO THEiR SHOWS  iNTERViEWED BY BRiAN LUSH ROCKWIRED spoke with MIKE GOETZ of THE QUICK AND EASY BOYS over the phone. Here is how it went. You guys are a trip, I think you guys are awesome. Now that all of the work that went into the making the CD is behind you guys, how you feel about the finished product? I feel pretty good. It was kind of lower budget CD so it wasn’t the most high quality stuff but at the same time, I think it sounds pretty good. We’re definitely really happy with the material that is on there and we’re really pumped about all of the songs. How do you guys stand out in the music scene in Portland? We’ve actually been playing up there for a couple of years now and I feel like we’re finally starting to make a name for ourselves. We’ve been selling out a lot of the bigger venues and continuing to break into new markets and opening up new doors. How easy or difficult is it to transfer the band’s sound onto the stage? It’s a lot of high energy. It’s hard to translate what we do live onto a CD. There is a lot of dancing around. This band is a three piece and it’s just a lot of raw, high energy music. Talk about the genesis of the band. How did everyone involved get on the same page to want to do this project and take it out on the road? We all met in Eugene Oregon and we all played in different bands and each of us sounded a bit different from the next guy. Each of us would go out and watch each other play music and then one day we all sat down and decided to start a band. It all started with us jamming out in the garage. The guitarist and the bass player are both form Portland and after college, they were going to move down there and asked if I wanted to move and I said ‘sure’. We just started practicing a bunch and playing out and people started to react very well to it so we just decided to go with it and it’s been awesome ever since. You’re band has this mixture of Honky-Tonk and Funk music in your sound. Where do you think that comes from? Wow! I think it all comes form the stuff that we were all brought up on. We grew up listening to a wide variety of music. We love WILLIE NELSON and JOHNNY CASH but at the same time we love PARLIAMENT, THE FUNKADELICS and THE MINUTEMEN. What drew you to music in the beginning? I was always a fan of going and seeing live music. I always thought that it was amazing that you could be up on a stage and that people could be in love with it. That is probably going to make me sound like a megalomaniac. A couple of my good friends in eighth grade played drums and every Christmas I would ask for a drum set and I never got one until my senior year of high school. Ever since my senior year of high school I’ve been hitting them as hard as I can. Talk about you band mates and what they bring to the table both musically and personality-wise. JIMMY RUSSELL – the guitar player- is a genius! He reads and remembers everything. He’s like a really, really smart musician. We are all very unique in our own personalities in our own right and we all kind of bring that to the table. That is probably why we all work so well together. It’s a beautiful thing. JIMMY has been plying guitar for a really, really long time. SEAN BADDERS comes from Beaverton, Oregon and he played in a bunch of High School bands growing up. He is more the punk rock kind of guy. He brings a nice rock n roll aspect to the stage while JIMMY is definitely more blues-based. I think all everyone in the band has a rock n roll sensibility. How does the creative process work in this band in terms of songwriting? It varies actually. Sometimes we will just come up with songs during practice and make it up as we go. We’ll just hop in the room and start playing and see what comes. If we like something, we will stop and start expanding on the idea. SEAN and JIMMY are the two main songwriters in the band. Sometimes they will just bring something to the table we all get together and kind of work it all out. That is pretty much the process. From this album, what songs stand out for you the most and why? STEALING GLANCES is one of my personal favorites on the album. It’s got a nice poppy edge to it and a nice driving beat. BOOTS ON has got a nice rock undertone to it with lots of really good vocals. It’s our slow rock ballad. FIELD TRIP is another good one. It’s a got that driving, funky beat. I’d say that those three stand out a bunch. The band was doing a tour all along the West Coast. How did that go? It went good. We actually made it all the way out east this time. We went to New Jersey and all the way down to Texas and right now, were in San Francisco and we’re heading up to Arcata for the final show. The tour went wonderfully. We’ve played with some of our really good friends called THE BRIDGE who are a pretty well-known band out east. We’ve been getting great responses everywhere we’ve been. We haven’t had one bad show to be honest with you so we’ve been really fortunate and just having a lot of fun on the road. How easy or difficult is touring? I assume it’s the three of you sharing a van. I’d have to say that the first three days are the most difficult because you are always thinking about what you forgot and what you left at home, but once you get going it’s great. It’s wonderful actually. You get an opportunity to move around the country and meet new people every night and hang out in cities that you’ve never been to. The three of us get along really, really well. We all have different personalities and even if we aren’t playing, we’re all hanging out together. We’ve even had sound men come up to us and say “I can’t believe you al get along so well.” It’s awesome! We’re very fortunate and we never take for granted what it is we get to do. It’s definitely a beautiful thing. What would you like for someone to come away with after they’ve heard this album? I’d like for them to want to come and see one of our live shows. That’s our goal. That is what we want to do – travel around and play live music. A big smile would be good too. Smiles are always good. |
