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Stephen Poppell &Music Now Artist/Band Spotlight Weekly Series |
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Stephen Poppell & The Wolfpack Band | ||
It is always a pleasure to speak with someone who originated from our neck of the woods who later goes on to doing big and amazing things. This certainly is what Stephen Poppell & The Wolfpack Band are currently doing at the moment. Stephen Poppell of Stephen Poppell & The Wolfpack Band can best be described as a good ole’ southern Rock-N-Roll boy who has an international appeal. Along with his band, The Wolfpack Band, they are keeping good Rock-N-Roll music alive. In this spotlight with our Webzine, Poppell shares a part of his world with our online readers. Here is the complete interview for your reading pleasure. Enjoy!
Isaac: Let’s get started with this interview. When and how did you first become interested in music? How long have you been playing music?
Stephen: Music has always been in my life; as far back as I can remember. I began singing in the Baptist church choir just outside of Brunswick, Georgia, when I was five years old, and I sang that kind of music when I went into the woods with my dog, a giant German Shepherd named Fluffy. I had a spiritual tie with the music.
I know all kids sing, but it's something I never stopped. It eventually turned into an interest when I was about 10 into playing the guitar. It didn’t work out that well at the time because I didn’t want to play what the teacher was making me play.
I played the drums through junior high and in marching band but, still having the need to make my own melodies, I started travelling around with a harmonica on my belt. As I entered my first year of college I knew I had to go back to the guitar, so I got my first guitar, an old Gibson SG, and taught myself how to play.
Isaac: Who would you say are your biggest musical influences and why?
Stephen: I've been inspired by a variety of songwriters and performers, but the bigger influences that led me to become a musician were Jimi Hendrix, Lynyrd Skynyrd and Muddy Waters.
Jimi Hendrix inspired me with his awesome playing but also his unconventional style, his backwards and upside-down guitar playing. Not only did he have his own style, but he was able to break into the record charts and not be a conventional rock 'n roller and still become a total success as an artist.
Muddy Waters showed me the beauty of the raw, simple but powerful music of the Deep South. He showed that you could have powerful people's music that was still very simple, and that your band could have a great show even if you had a washboard instead of drums and were just playing at some honkytonk. What bluegrass was for the people of Kentucky, this music was for people who lived in the southern riverlands and swamps.
Lynyrd Skynyrd, not only because of the great southern rock style and dual leads, but a special inspiration; because they were local boys like me in Jacksonville, Florida. I can remember sitting on the stairs with Ronnie Van Zant after his band, which was then called One Percent, did a show at a college frat house party and he kept encouraging me to stick with it. That's what he did: he stuck with the music and the rest worked out. Later in my life, I saw these as examples of how I, too, could be an unknown who makes it and how in my past I had been in the right places at the right times, to have these experiences. I knew then that it all meant something.
Stephen Poppell
Isaac: What has been the greatest highpoint in your career so far?
Stephen: Knowing that people love my work and my writing has been the highpoint. My work making it into national radio in Europe as well.
The little joyful experiences of receiving e-mails from countries all over the world, a French school teacher telling me she plays my music whenever she's driving, the time a fan from Germany e-mailed me saying he'd be in the Netherlands and would like to meet me at a tree near the library to buy a CD because he wanted it autographed, and the pleasure I had riding on my 10-speed to meet this man as I thought: "I should make this easier and put my records in stores." The little things like this are the most magical and the most powerful and bring the greatest peace to me as an artist. They're pure certification of the music's success.
Isaac: What has been the greatest disappointment in your career so far? What did you learn from that experience?
Stephen: To tell you the truth, the disappointments I've had as I've gone down this road have only been opportunities to learn the ropes and the ins and outs of things like dealing with different club owners, different promoters, different producers. To say whether one was bigger than the other is impossible. I see them all as just little bumps in the road.
Isaac: What draws you to want to play the type of music that you do?
Stephen: By being inspired by the artists, I already mentioned, that naturally made me -- being an old Georgia boy -- a southern rocker. That's what I am, so that's who I am. The combination of all the people I've met and the places I've been has made me what I am today. It's what comes out of my soul.
Isaac: What do you feel it takes to play this type of music that you play?
Stephen: A nice shark-attack country band, the experience of the pain and the joy of this lifestyle, a full moon howling in your soul, and enjoying people rocking out.
Stephen Poppell
Isaac: What do you think you will create that will make your performances and who you are stand out in the music industry?
Stephen: My writing and my ability to get good down-to-earth rock 'n roll tunes that stick in your head, that help you when you're down, that make you happier when you're happy -- along with adding a better management and production team to make better recordings and more powerful, interactive shows -- these will all combine to make my music stand out in the industry. But the bottom line is that the music will find its own way. I've looked over at my guitar and said: "Lulubell (the name of my guitar and my grandmother) it's just me and you." That makes me realize that the writing and music are what I need to work on, and that it will take its way from there.
Isaac: If you had the opportunity to do one cover, what cover would you do and why? How would you put your own spin on this cover?
Stephen: I love covers and I usually do one or two on each CD. They're typically songs that mean a lot to me and come from a similar place as the soul of my music. I also do bigger arrangements of covers in my live shows.
As far as what cover I would pick now -- I'd do Tony Joe White's "Rainy Night in Georgia" because it's a great song that I love, as millions do. As far as how I would put my spin on it, well, I'd do it the Wolfpack way, which is fast-paced and more funky, which I think would give it a different dimension but at the same keep the melody and the changes original. I like to change the dimension of the song structure by having a different opening and a different ending and in terms of vocals, my unique style.
Isaac: What does it take to be a good songwriter?
Stephen: It takes a person who has the insight to be able to connect his songs and experiences with the people. It takes a lot of living, inspiration drawn from personal life experiences that draw on emotions from joy to pain, from love to fear.
It takes the understanding of realizing that sometimes in music, less is more, and keeping it simple and at the same time making it strong. It takes a bit of insight on the business aspect of marketing and building songs in the studio that can fit the formats of radio stations and that are written in a way to make it sound like what you wrote.
Isaac: How difficult is it to juggle music, family and work obligation, and life in general? Explain.
Stephen: It's probably no different than any other job as far as just doing that, juggling it, working it out and going through it, whether it's my wife travelling as a journalist or me travelling to do gigs. It's just a matter of helping each other and the whole family pulling together.
Isaac: What is your definition of being an Indie artist/band?
Stephen: Head chief, cook and the bottle washer. It just means it's a sign of the times of Internet and all the resources I have now to get things done myself that couldn't be achieved in the industry 10 years ago. It helps me build a platform to have something to put on the table, to maybe attract a label, that kind of backing and power, but at the same time be able to develop all aspects of my music and growth and experience and reach my full potential, just be more prepared.
Isaac: Where can fans access your music online?
Stephen:
http://www.thewolfpackband.com
http://www.jango.com
http://www.myspace.com
Isaac: In five years…….
Stephen: I want to be established back home in the U.S., touring all over the country and playing my music for my people, Americans.
Questions to myself:
1. What the heck is an old Georgia boy doing so far from home?
Answer: funnily enough, trying to get back home.
2. Can you tell me what it was like not to get grits for eight years:
Answer: it was destructive in my life. I've never been able to find a replacement, but did get lucky once and have an American tourist who I met in Rome mail me a box. Polenta just ain't the same thing.
3. What do you think the odds are of being able to find a pedal-steel guitar player in Switzerland or a fiddle player in the Netherlands?
It would be very, very hard, but somehow I achieved it, which proves God's hand must
surely be in this.
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from Sonicbids artists for general review and feature consideration. some exposure in a modern, inventive publication with an established client base. |
