Cypress Grove
Interview By: Ashlee Elfman

Cypress Grove is an incredible blues guitarist and singer who has influenced many musicians "in the know". It is not that Cypress Grove is from the UK that makes his love of the blues original (the UK has always had a love for the blues, perhaps because it's unique rustic quality so contrasts the UK's refined sophisticated sensibilities) - it is his genuine, unfiltered approach to the genre, if it must be referred to as such, that makes him stand apart from other blues loving Britons. As with his very good friend and musical partner Jeffrey Lee Pierce, Cypress can channel the muddy earth of the Delta, and the fragility of the human condition through his music, in fact it seems to come so naturally to him. While working with Jeffrey he cut the highly regarded, "Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee with Cypress Grove and Willie Love" LP, but he has also put his unique stamp on many old blues songs and has done wonderful versions of many Gun Club classics in his own wounded, soulful vocal style that demands attention from the listener.

Hello Mr. Cypress Grove, it’s a great honor for us to be interviewing you!

I imagine that your blues collection is impressive. What blues musicians have been the most influential on your career as a musician? I imagine that Skip James is one of them given your name. ;)

Actually, I am in the middle of recording “hard time killing floor blues” as we speak. I feel that as Skip was kind enough to name one of his songs after me, the least I can do is to record one of his in return. It’s a song that I keep coming back to. Jeffrey and me did it so many times that I sort of habituated to it. But then you just listen to it afresh and are touched by the frailty and vulnerability of that vocal. Jeffrey actually admitted to me once that he got the riff for “Mother of Earth” from that song. It’s pretty much the same notes, just faster and with a different lilt. I have no problem with that. I once ripped off the melody from “never smile at a crocodile” from Sesame Street. The NME said, “this song flaunts it’s complexity like it were some kind of vulgar badge of honour.” – Go figure! In terms of other blues musicians, I really veer towards the more primitive stuff. I never tire of listening to Son House and Charlie Patton. Then of course there is Blind Willie McTell – less primal, but just as captivating. Anyway, I could go on, but I don’t want to turn this into a list.

You're English, but you are obviously very impacted by Americana music-is America best viewed at a distance?

I feel America is best experienced up close and personal. A few years back, I decide to try and see more of America than merely New York, which I had been to a number of times. Having said that, I started in New York, but stayed at the Chelsea Hotel to make it a little more rock and roll. Then on to Nashville and Memphis, trying to stay away from the touristy stuff, just local bars and venues – although of course I had to see Graceland. From there I took the Greyhound bus to New Orleans. I sat right at the front next to the driver, as I wanted to see everything. We zigzagged right through Mississippi, through all these little towns I had heard of from blues mythology. It was nearly 12 hours of the most captivating experience you could imagine for a blues fan. The bus driver was equally fascinated by England. He had a cousin there (“you may know him, his name is Bob?”), and wanted to know if I had met the Queen. Which kind of makes my point for me. You have to get off the tourist trail to know a place.

Do you feel like your music has a greater reception in America, or in England?

To be honest, I think it is probably best received in Europe – particularly France and Holland. After Jeffrey died, I went to Live in France for three years. Mainly in the North, a little in the south, and for 9 months in Paris. In the provinces, I used to go straight to the local radio station and pull my “I knew Kurt Cobain” routine - I met him for about 20 seconds in a lift in The Rotterdam Hilton – but France seemed to be infatuated with all things Nirvana at that time so it often got me a radio session. That in turn would usually lead to invitations from local venues, which meant gigs and accommodation – and a modest income. In Paris, it was much easier, as they were more often than not familiar with the Ramblin’ album. In fact I was amazed how popular it was there. I was always under the impression that it sold about three copies worldwide.

Can you tell us a bit about your musical background? How did it all begin for you?

Well, my dad was a professional jazz drummer, so I grew up listening to that kind of music on record or having a bunch of people rehearsing it in the house. My dad had an American drum tutor who told him that he could play parradiddles faster than Gene Krupa, and I think he wanted me to follow on in that tradition, so he started teaching me basic exercises from a very early age. Unfortunately I never really took to the drums. But I am grateful for the early lessons, as I think it did knock into me a pretty solid sense of timing. The Jazz stuff didn’t always provide as much work as my mother would have liked, so to make ends meet, my dad reluctantly joined a rock covers band called (I kid you not) “The Quiet Trouser”. He was given a bunch of reel-to-reel tapes of songs to learn, including The Band, Spirit, Jefferson Airplane, and crucially, Canned Heat. I remember this being described as “the blues”. I asked my dad, what is the blues? He patiently explained to me: it is similar to Jazz, but not as sophisticated.

Anyway, at 16 I broke my leg pretty badly in a moto-cross accident and was laid up on the couch for about 6 months. So I picked up that guitar that I had been vaguely messing with and started to try and learn it properly. Most of my friends were by this time in bands of some sort, and at age 17, I was invited to join one such band (The Flames) that had Pat Collier on bass. Pat had been bass player with The Vibrators, and went on to produce Katrina and the Waves “walking on sunshine.” The Flames didn’t last long, but the benefit of having such a seasoned professional in a band of snotty nosed kids was immense, and really left a lasting impression on me. After that was a band called The Reliant Robins. We gigged a lot and built up a pretty good following. We were due to do a T.V appearance on a BBC show called “Big World Café” with Andy Kershaw, which would have been our big break I suppose. But the show was axed before we got to go on it. C’est la vie – as we French say. I could go on, but we are in danger of another not very interesting list!

How did you meet Jeffery Lee Pierce? How would you describe having worked so closely with him?

I met Jeffery at our local pub. It was also a regular haunt of Siouxsie and Budgie, and The Cocteau Twins – a bit of a musician’s hangout place. Jeffrey and me were on nodding terms for about a year before we actually spoke. I was vaguely familiar with his work, but he had a reputation for being weird and unapproachable. Anyway, one night he was sitting talking to someone I knew pretty well, so I just sat down next to them and joined in. We quickly realised that we had a lot in common, so we started to hang out. Jeffrey the musician was very different from Jeffrey the friend. When we were working on stuff, he could be quite cold and distant, and his attention to every little detail could be quite annoying – especially if you just want to get on and play something. But once we put the guitars down, he was back to normal – well, normal for him anyway. A lot of people found him really weird, but I just got used to his ways – didn’t even notice them in fact. He is one of four great friends that I have had in my life. I still get these dreams where he didn’t really die, he just disappeared for a while, and now he has come back, ready to get going again. The world is a considerably poorer place without him.

You guys cut a legendary album together: "Ramblin' Jeffrey Lee & Cypress Grove with Willie Love". What was the motivation behind this album? It's definitely a much more traditional take on the blues than Jeffrey had recorded with the Gun Club.

I knew Jeffrey for about a year before we did any playing together. The local Labour party used to hold it’s annual Christmas bash in the function room at the back of the pub (that pub featured a lot in our relationship). Me and a couple of friends had been asked to play a few tunes in between various raffles and speeches. Jeffrey wanted to come in as it meant after hours drinking, but it was only for Labour party members. So I told him I could get him in as one of the band, but he would have to sing a song. There was no time to rehearse anything so it would have to be one of the songs me and the other guys had already worked on. We settled on Van Morrison’s “Gloria”, because, although Jeffrey claimed to know the song, it would be pretty easy to busk it if it all went wrong.
Anyway, by the time Jeffrey got up to do his number, he was in a state of advanced refreshment, and it turned out that his knowledge of the song was in fact quite elementary, but his performance was mesmerising. He was screaming out the chorus bit like a man possessed. The evening ended quite quickly after that.

Anyway, that was the first time Jeffrey had heard me play, so next day he said to me that he had for a long time wanted to do an album of traditional material. He had pitched the idea to New Rose records, who were now actually hassling him to get on with it. He said that he had never been able to find anyone who could play in that style and would I come in on it with him. He really wanted to make it authentic. He didn’t just want to do a bunch of covers in a Gun Club style as he had done with “preaching the blues”. In fact we nearly did do that one, but it is just too damn hard to play. It started out as mostly country murder ballads, but gradually evolve into an out and out blues album. Basically Jeffrey just loved the blues, and when the Gun Club started out, he wasn’t technically proficient enough to play the songs in an authentic style. But now that he was (he worked harder on his guitar playing than anyone I ever met), he wanted to show that he could do it.

What music ventures are you up to these days? How can our readers get ahold of your music?

Firstly, there is the live album, which has been on the cards for about ten years. It is the last part of the 9 lives reissue series going on at the moment. In 1994, Jeffrey and me toured as a duo, doing stuff from the Ramblin’ album, some Gun Club stuff and other bits and pieces. All the shows were recorded, and some time back, me and Edwin Heath (tour manager/driver/soundman) went through the tapes and picked what we thought were the best takes. About a month ago, I had Gene Temesy stay with me for a few days. Gene is from New York. He used to run the fan club, pretty much put together the “go tell the mountain book”, and has written the definitive Gun Club biography, due to be published later this year. He is a walking encyclopaedia of anything Gun Club – he knows more about me than I do! Anyway, he is pretty much running the whole 9 lives thing. He arrived with all the show recordings on CD’s, so we sat down to finalise the tracks for the album – which is to be called “Spanish Flang Dang.” We went through every take again right from the beginning. It was really interesting hearing some of the takes again after so long. I had forgotten for example that in Slovenia me and Jeffrey challenged each other to a fight right on stage. We were getting pretty grumpy with each other by that point! Some versions we listened to back to back about 50 times before finally settling on one version over another. I know it is kind of obsessive, but I so want this to be right, it was Jeffrey’s last ever tour, and I know that he would want people to hear how well he can play the music he loved. I have also been recording new stuff for disc two, which will include some of the early country demo’s we did.

Secondly, the Gun Club movie is going to be shown in London around May time, and I have been invited to play. Romi Mori is going to do a set on piano, and it is hoped that Kid can make it over to do a set. I am also hoping that we can persuade Nick Sanderson out of retirement, and who knows, we may all do a “we are the world” type thing at the end! There was some talk of The Horrors being involved as well, but I don’t know if that will happen. As you know, there is no music in the film, so it is really important that there is some live stuff. It’s going to be held at The Coronet Cinema in Notting Hill, it is one of London’s oldest cinemas, and a great venue. It is actually the cinema Julia Roberts and Hugh Grant go to in the film “Notting Hill.” I have been asked if I would play stuff from the Ramblin’ album and Gun Club material. It is quite hard picking the Gun Club stuff, as not a lot of it lends itself easily to acoustic treatment. There is Lucky Jim, Mother of Earth (which actually I have been doing for some years anyway), Breaking Hands, Promise me, from temptation to you. I am having to change the vocal melodies a bit as I just can’t sing these songs the way Jeffrey did. He sings notes that strictly speaking don’t exist. So I am gradually recording them and putting them onto my myspace page. If anyone cares to listen and thinks I am butchering these great songs, then please let me know, because that is the last thing I want to do. Anyway, after all that is over, I am going to get back to doing some of my own stuff.

What are your thoughts on the state of music these days? It seems that people always look back on things (especially music) with an air of sentimentality, but have things really changed all that much? Is the good stuff always hidden from view, waiting to be discovered?

A few years ago, the music scene seemed really dire and I sort of took my eye off the ball for a while. But there are some really great bands around at the moment. The Internet has made such a difference as well. You can just record your own stuff and put it out there. I have heard some great stuff that would never have got an airing in the normal way, and with great publications like yours bringing great acts to peoples attention, things can only get better.

Are there any current musicians that you think are worth a damn? Are there some present-day musicians you wouldn’t mind working with?

There are quite a few people I have been getting into recently. But of particular note is Jeff Zentner. He is an exceptionally gifted artist, and has that same ability as Townes Van Zandt to reduce you to tears with a whisper. I nearly sent him my version of Lucky Jim the other day, as I could really hear him doing his stuff on it, but then I thought he is probably pretty busy with his own stuff. That is another great thing about the Internet though, you can collaborate by e-mail.

Cypress Grove(left)

Your vocals are said to be admired by quite a few influential and renowned musicians. I personally love the way you sing, your voice is extremely moving. How did you first realize you could sing like that?

That’s really kind of you to say so. In fact it is only in the last few years that I have convinced myself to stop shouting so much and to just sing the damn song. I think that was a legacy of a singing teacher I went to years ago. I was in a band where the lead guitarist kept writing these songs in keys that were out of my vocal range, but made his guitar solo’s sound better. So the band sent me off to this vocal coach who claimed he could add another half octave to your range. He was classically trained but very into the whole death metal sound. He said your highest note should be your loudest note, and he actually had me bend over a piano stool and sat on me to get me to use my diaphragm more effectively – at least that’s what he said it was for! These days I don’t bend over piano stools for anyone, and I think that high notes sound better sung quietly, it sounds more vulnerable, more affecting.

I know that you are currently trying to put together some unreleased songs that you and Jeffery Lee Pierce performed together. As I understand many of them are old country murder ballads. When can we expect to get our hands on that treasure?

Yes, the “Spanish Flang Dang album” of which we spoke earlier, Disc two will contain some of the early demo stuff, including “Omi Wise”, and “Handsome Molly”, and a rather over the top version of “Old Reuben” with me on vocals. I think we just wanted to see what a wall of guitar noise would sound like. It’s what we eventually ended up doing on ”Moanin’ in the moonlight” anyway. The Album was supposed to be out in February but the whole series has been delayed and we are now probably looking at May or June.

Is there anything you’d like to tell our readers? Any words of inspiration or wisdom?

Never mix the grape and the grain after your 30th birthday – trust me!

Thank you very much!

Cypress Grove & Jeffrey Lee Pierce - (Demo) Ruby 1

Cypress Grove & Jeffrey Lee Pierce - (Demo) Country Type 1

Cypress Grove & Jeffrey Lee Pierce - (Demo) Country Type 3

 

 

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