Behind The Music-"We "Bout 2 Do Dis Thang"

DWB writes music in a variety of ways. A song can come from a concept, lyric, riff of full blown, completed demo. Whatever the form of the initial inspiration is, DWB will always rehearse and jam on something until everyone gets comfy with it and it slowly melts into this beautiful cosmic conglomerate that sounds like no one but DWB. The song we are featuring this week is "We ‘Bout to Do Dis Thang" and we thought we’d give U a little insight into what we were thinking as we wrote it.

We were jamming in Robby’s basement and Cozmo just started on this riff in Aminor. It was BAD from the funky downbeat. I remember I had just bought this really cheap megaphone from Radio Shack and I kept on saying "We Bout To Do Dis Thang" over and over again. Ok, maybe there needs to be a little background story as to why I would even say something like that in the 1st place, so here goes.

We had just gotten back from playing a gig in Cincinatti called "Funkdown for Food" It was kind of a showcase and community benefit concert all wrapped up into one event. The evenings host was none other than funk legend Bootsy Collins. We were all star struck by Bootsy and his entourage. It wasn’t like this was some MTV awards show or anything but Bootsy showed up in his FULL funky garb. His leopard print leather outfit complete with cowboy hat and trademark star shaped glasses matched the colors of the Cincinatti Bengals football team. He looked like the head some interplanetary biker gang, a funky biker gang.

DWB played an adrenalin filled show that nite and Bootsy seemed to dig it. He sent his protégé "Freekbass" to get up and jam with us on a Sly and the Family Stone medley. As the evenings festivities came to a close there I was face to face with one of my funk heros. Bootsy was working with an independent label/promoter who had said they wanted to sign us and have Bootsy produce us. I was so pumped! Dishwater Blonde produced by Bootsy Collins, I had stars in my eyes. I said my goodbyes to Bootsy and we exchanged numbers and his last words to me were "Hey Davis, We ‘Bout to Do Dis Thang"...I was like woah(best Joey voice)

Ok, so back to my story. We left Cincy and were creatively inspired. We were about to hit the big time, so we thought. I began to dream of a DWB album that featured Bootsy Collins on a track. Well, long story short it never happened, or at least hasn’t happened yet BUT it lit a creative spark. While we were putting together "One Tribe" and rehearsing tunes for what was soon to be DWB’s 3rd CD we stumbled upon this riff that Cozmo came up with that just sound like an album intro. As we planned for the album my intention was to have Bootsy saying "We ‘Bout to do Dis Thang" with his cartoonishly funky voice. So as U listen to that track U might here me slightly imitating Bootsy as we weren’t able to get him in the studio.

The lyrics were written to be like the forward of a book. They were supposed to portray an intentionality in our music, a mission statement of sorts. I wanted to let the audience know that we weren’t just playing cool riffs with meaningless words, no, we wanted the lyrics to be loaded with good stuff, encouraging stuff that helped make lives better. With the addition of TurntablWrecka’s samples I think we achieved something really cool. Even if Bootsy didn’t produce it:)

What up people & Dishwater Funkateers
Here’s the Robalicious Groove, so lend me your ears
It’s my duty, besides to shake the booty
To entertain and tell the real story
Of Mo Nizel’s fame & Rock Star glory
I met Mo when I was a guitar playin’ man
His ponytail was so long it would rival Jimmy Jams’
Influenced from the sounds of Queen, Van Halen, even the Eagles
He became the Head Roadie for our old band Regal Beagle
Mo Nizel came aboard & was my soundman and my roadie
Just like the kind from Warrant, Journey, Styx or Jon Bon Jovi
He said "Hey guys ..if you don’t mind.....I used to play some keys"
I said "Yeah right......My new roadie...The Nizel?...fellas.....please
He was a hard rocker, a kitchen cook shocker
But he hadn’t touched the keys since his middle school locker
He said he used to play WAY back in the day
so we started in a jam....I think the key was in A
LA Woman by the Doors and he soon found the chords
Made it all come together and sounded even better
But the time had come to switch gears to theFunk
Could this guy hang with the other Dishwater punks?
He leaped feet first with a winning attitude
Lots of new material and some new dance moves
But he pushed himself hard when we asked please
Winging it, singing, and sometimes playing 3 sets of keys
He sat in with the band and we rehearsed over & over
His dedication & effort was like a 4 leaf clover
Easy, laid back along with a perfect pitch ear
He complimented our band like the 3rd muskateer
Bonnaroo, Cincinnati and let’s don’t forget the Booth in Bama
A groove so thick and greasy it would make you slap yo mama
He drove thru the nights and slept very little
Fueled by his RockStar, Red Bull, or sometimes even Skittles
But he never complained within his 5 years
A TRUE team player among his funky peers
But as all good things must come to an end
Mo Nizel retired but he’s still our great friend
So thank you for all of the effort
Thank you for your abilities
We say peace to Mo Nizel for being our glue man
And always sound checking with the Big 80s

Spotlight on: "Chocolate Sprinkles"

This is the 1st in a series of blogs that will feature past and present DWB members. If. U have been following us for even a short while u will know that we are blessed to have alot of musicians pass thru the DWB family. Once u join, it's like a musical mafia, U can never leave, U may not play gigs but U are still a member. This is the case with our good friend Eddie Diamond, a.k.a "Chocolate Sprinkles". Eddie Diamond is a stand alone rockstar name if I've ever heard one:) In fact we seriously considered at one point changing our name to "Eddie Diamond and the Caucasian Persuasaion"! Robby met Eddie at Kroger of all places where Eddie worked as a butcher. A mutual friend introduced Eddie and Robby in line at the bank. As she knew we were always looking for new musicians, she said 2 Robby, "Eddie plays keys". Robby inquired of Eddie, "how long u been playing?" Eddie replied nonchalantly "about 30 years". Wow, 30 years, we've barely been alive that long! Robby said he "just knew he would be good". At the time, many of Eddies current gigs were at his church but as it turns out he'd had a lifetime of experience playin' around. It was the coolest thing, when Eddie came over to jam it was like we'd been life long friends with a shared record collection. From The Ohio Players to Sly and the family Stone Eddie could play it. He brought his 1982 yamaha keyboard over a ripped it to pieces! He did one of the most blistering versions of "Flashlight" by Parliament that I've heard to this day. Bernie Worrell would be proud. The thing I can recall most about Eddie was his ability to play ANY Hall and Oates song u could think of. He had a sound on his keyboard that was identical to the ones they'd used in the 80's. Eddie was and is always as much fun away from the keyboards as he is on them. He's always laughing and joking with a little laugh we still mimic to this day. It sounds like a cross of Enis from Duke of Hazard and a pig snort! We gave Eddie the nickname "Chocolate Sprinkles" because he always added flavor to our songs. There was always a huge difference when Eddie chimed in on DWB jams. If u listen back to our first self titled record Eddie can be heard confidently layin' down the funk on "Beautiful People" with a little clavinet sound from his keyboard run thru a crybaby wah pedal. It's still one of the best tones we've ever gotten from any keyboard to this day! U still might catch Eddie with us one day soon! When u do, be sure to call him "Chocolate Sprinkles" and wait for the laugh.

Spotlight on:Cozmo "The Fire"

Since May 9 was Cozmos birthday I thought I'd take a minute and just write a little history on how Coz and DWB got hooked up. Almost 10 years ago I was playing a gig with a band called "Gravy", it was the remnants of several defunct bands from Knoxville. It was a pretty rough time in my life and I was probably not in the best condition. Coz says we met that night, I honestly can't remember. He was friends with the drummer from "Gravy", JP. He had not acutally started playing guitar yet, he said back then everyone thought he could play but he didn't really know how, can u even imagine? Fast forward a few years and I'm watching "The Spades" band open up for Arrested Development in 2003 or '04. Coz is up there rockin' it out and seemed to be a bit nervous. I couldn't quite figure out at the time if he was white or black or what. It didn't really matter, but me being a guitar player, I just wondered who this dude with an Afro and headband was, wearing it out! He played with authority especially considering he'd only played a couple of years at that point. He was among seasoned musicians and didn't seem at all out of place. One evening in the same year DWB was playing at The Downtown Grill and Brewery in downtown Knoxville. It was sonic chaos, 12 people crammed in the corner of this restaraunt playing at ear damaging volume and as I looked out over the crowd I see Cozmo right in front of us groovin' and head bobbin' to the funk. I don't remember what song it was because I was so distracted by a guy in velvet pants grinding on the stairwell! Anywayz, I remember thinking to myself, u should ask this guy to sit in.(Coz, not velvet pants) So mid-song I called CoZ to come down and he seemed a bit surprised when I took my strat off and gave it to him. Nevertheless he jumped right in and started killing it. I honestly didn't want to take the guitar back when he as finished. He had "the fire"! We asked him to come out and practice and later join DWB, He had something we lacked at the time too, a youthful, infectious optimism. Later that year we went on to open up for Victor Wooten and even play Bonnaroo. Cozmo came in and added a much needed element for DWB, he had "The Fire". The rest is history in the making. CoZ has grown as a person and musician over the past few years and he has never lost his fire! Coz now leads his own band when he's not hittin' the stage with DWB or The Dirty Guvs or any number of local artists! He is also one of Robert Randolphs "go to" guys when he does Knoxville concerts. Anywayz, Happy Birthday Coz, DWB loves ya and we are honored to have U in the band! Keep bringing "The Fire" wherever U go.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

DWB hit the stage this past weekend in Maryville, Tn. at an awesome venue known to locals as "The Shed". From it's name you might be led tothink that it's a hole in the wall club/ bar with a dirt floor and an old Peavey PA system. "the Shed" is anything but that. It's probably one of my favorite venues to play. It's a covered outdoor venue with top notch production! Mark and the crew do an amazing job. It's a difficult feat to overpower the roar of 15 Harley Motorcycles reving their engines but they do it well! It was kinda, well really, rainy all day on Saturday but we had a faithful crew of DWB fans and new faces that made the journey to Maryville. Some fans driving in from as far as Atlanta! (much love 2 them). Thanks to them, I learned a new dance called "the stanky leg" which I did attempt later in the evening! This was also an interesting gig cuz it was 1 of only 2 gigs in our 6+ years that bassist Robby Mathis couldn't make it! But Tyler "Big Noise" Boldin stepped in and learned the ENTIRE DWB repetior in 1 week, well at least 16 songs:) Big Noise did an amazing job! We were also joined by long time friend and saxaphonist Jason Thompson, whom if known since the Gran Torino days. Jason stepped in and played like he'd played the songs his whole life! Look for more appearences from Jason in the near future. Out friends from Jescoe warmed everyone up with a blend of raw Southern Rock that held everyones attention. DWB hit the stage around 9. The stage shrouded in fog, the applause roared, the 1st notes of "we bout 2 do dis thang" hit with a funky fury and to quote the lady to the right as she threw her hands up "I can't listen to this sh$*, Im outta here!" Oh well, different strokes for different folks, I guess:)

Nashville was Diggin' Tha Funk

During what was supposed to be a "break/hiatus" for Dishwater Blonde we got a call from our friends The Fundamental Elements of St. Louis asking us if we’d be interested in doing a Nashville date. It was at 12th and Porter which is a really cool venue, not to mention we rarely get to Nashville but THE big selling point is that it was with FE, so we had to take it. These guys are like brothers to us, we have so much fun every time we play with them. For this particular gig DWB was down one crucial member, Cozmo Holloway who was recording an album with Knoxville’s best band "The Dirty Guv’nahs". So we debated but decided it was too good an opportunity to let pass. When we walked into 12th and Porter we quickly noticed the amazing sound system and lighting rig. It was something of festival proportions but in a fairly small room. One of the great things about playing w/ FE is that we pretty much share ALL the backline gear so there is minimal setup and changeover time. For our set DWB cranked out a mostly original set with a couple of throwback covers including the Isley Brother/Jackson 5 version of "It’s Yo Thang" complete with the "Doin’ that Butt" tease from E.U. that had out friends from Nashville/Murfreesboro and Columbia shakin’ dem big ole butts! DWB closed out the set with a rocking version of "The Lifting" with special guest Luke Dejaynes on lead guitar. Luke, FE’s drummer, surprised the crowd with his incendiary guitar work and helped end DWB’s set with an exclaimation point. FE took the stage right after 10 and began what would turn out to be a funk marathon lasting almost 2 hours. FE’s set had the crowd dancin’ from the beginning of "Don’t Say" all the way thru the grand finale that included both FE and DWB rockin’ out funk classics from Sly and The Family Stone, George Clinton and P-Funk as well as Stevie Wonder. It was an incredible evening of music that most certainly brought perma-grins to all of 12th and Porter. Travel back home was a bit scary as we got word that I-40 was becoming very dangerous b/c of icy conditions. What normally would’ve been a 3 hour trip ended up taking about 5 hours but everyone made it safely. A road weary DWB then went onto to perform at Knoxlife Church in Knoxville’s Old City at 10 am...on ZERO sleep. It was an awesome weekend of music capped off by Davis getting to share his testimony and brag on where God has brought him from. So is DWB on a break, a hiatus? Not really, it’s just kinda slow right now but be looking for more dates with FE in the near future! We’re concentrating on writing for album #4, yep, that’s right, look for more grooves in ‘09 from DWB.

2008 In Review

As we look back over 2008 for DWB it was a hard year but a very fruitful one. We kicked the New Year off by releasing an incredible new album called "One Tribe" and followed up quickly with a DVD that captured the CD release party(DWB Live NYE 2008). Our friends from Streamline Pictures then helped us film "Dishwater Blonde Unplugged at World Grotto" which we just released. It was a whirlwind of editing and cutting and splicing and mixing and remixing. We spent many hours in Nightsong Studios mixing the audio and many more hours with Nick and Joey at Streamline editing the video, all within the 1st half of the hear. The shows didn’t slow down, life and music didn’t stop as we marched forward, sometime very weary but always feeling blessed to be able to do this. What an amazing accomplishment that God allowed us to do. We released a CD and 2 DVD’s in less than a year, WOW! Hopefully we can sell a million of them now. There have been so many blessings we don’t even know where to begin but in the face of an uncertain economy Dishwater Blonde was blessed in ways that didn’t make sense to most folks. Lots of shows, lots of music, lots of good memories. During the year a couple of things to note are the side projects that have popped up. The New Power Trio was formed with Robby, Davis and Big Noise and then Cozmo’s new side project was formed and is really picking up momentum, "Cruise Control". Davis is working on a new project with Jesse Jones and should be out sometime maybe late spring. All this to say it has been a very good year and we still LOVE playing music as DWB and will continue on in 2009. Some of the major highlights of the year for DWB include the recent trip to St. Louis with our friends The Fundamental Elements. We had an incredible time laughing and rocking out with a bunch of really good folks who made us remember WHY we do this! We will do it again in ‘09. Robby got married this year, WOW! Davis stepped out in faith and has begun doing full time ministry this year. Cozmo got 2 play with Robert Randolph 2 different times this year! Diva got a new job and Gerald got a new custom drumkit from Medicine Man drums who now endorse GW. Every single time we played Barley’s in our hometown this year, we played to a packed house, what an awesome year. We will close out this year by playing the Peach Drop in Atlanta and we’re excited because Atlanta is like our 2nd home. 2008 was a Blessed year and we look forward to what God is gonna do in 2009. Hold on, I think it’s gonna be a wild ride!