02/03/2010 12:40:11 AM

 

 

"The Mainstream Media Really Isn't A True Representation Of The Majority. The Majority Is Who They Leave Out, Forget About & Overlook."

Splatter Tribe

 

 

Home + Interviews + Writings + News + Contact 

  

 

This Interview Is Brought To You By

 

 

Missed Any Recent SplatterTribe NEWS??Check Here & See!!!

 

 

Originally Posted on 03-07-09

 

J. P. Gaster

THE BAKERTON GROUP

 

Part 1 / 2

Here's Part 2 of a 2 part phone interview I recently conducted with Clutch and The Bakerton Group drummer Jean-Paul Gaster. Check out Part 1 if you haven't already. Flat Out, Clutch Rules, end of story.

 

Now, I announced last week via the SplatterTribe.TV Forum, the SplatterTribe Entertainment MySpace Page and Clutch's Forum, that we had a Clutch-Full Fathom Five CD to give away. The way to enter the contest was simply add SplatterTribe Entertainment as a friend on MySpace and type JP GASTER in the friend request message box. -OR- If you were already a friend of SplatterTribe Entertainment on MySpace then you just had to send us a message with JP GASTER in the subject line. We took the entries, fishbowled'm and now have a winner....

 

If the following is your MySpace page, you are the winner. Just click here to find out!

 

Ok, if that wasn't your email, don't fret, cause I got some more good news. Thanks the Weathermaker Music, we also have a copy of The Bakerton Group-El Rojo CD, the brand new release from Clutch's alter ego. The same rules apply. To enter all you have to do is add SplatterTribe Entertainment as a MySpace friend and be sure to type JP GASTER in message box -or- if you are already a friend, just send us a message with JP GASTER in the subject line. Also, if you applied last week, you ARE still entered. I will announce the winner next Saturday.

 

UPDATE 03/14/09:If this is your MySpace page, then you have just won a copy of The Bakerton Group's El Rojo CD!

 

 Interview By

All Photo's where taken from Clutch's MySpace Pages, for photo credit information, please check there.

 

Part 2 of the Tribe's Transcribed interview with JP Gaster, drummer of Cluth & The Bakerton Group.

PLUS bonus video footage!

 

Clutch - Electric Worry (Video)

DRTEntertainment

Clutch - The Mob Goes Wild (Video)

dennisisonfire

Jean-Paul Gaster - Drum Solo (Live)

digitaIIive

The Bakerton Group - Funky Navajo (Video)

telemov

The Bakerton Group - Last Orbit (Live)

Kabinks

 

 

 

A Phoner with JP Gaster PT 2

 

 

SplatterTribe: Pure Rock Fury

 

Jean-Paul: 'Pure Rock Fury' was a record that we went to Uncle Punchy's to record. We recorded it at his place....We were pretty exited about that. We recorded a lot of songs for that record and took the very best one's. Then we went to New Jersey and mixed it with Jason Corsaro. Jason is an engineer who had mixed Elephant Riders.

  So that was kind of a different thing to have someone go and the record and then go and have a different guy mix it. I'm not sure that's always the best thing to do. It could be a good thing or not. Some of the mixes on 'Pure Rock Fury', I'm really proud of and some of the other ones, I think, are a little off the mark, but that's what makes an album an album, you know?

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Blast Tyrant


 Jean-Paul: (On) 'Blast Tyrant', we worked with a producer called Machine. Machine introduced us into an entirely new way of making a record. We cut the entire record to a click track and he was very analytical with the drum track. He copped alot of tracks together. I might

have played a song say, 3 or 4 times and then he might have me play specific parts of the song to fill maybe a transition between the verse or a chorus...Uh....or maybe just an outro. He might say, "Give me another one...Give me another one." Then he would compile all of these performances into one, sort of, master performance.

  We've never really worked, as they say, "In The Box", like that. That was a new experience for us. Looking back on it...again, I think we learned a lot from that album. That album has a very unique mix to it. I think there's a real punch to it. I think there's really a sort of, 'in your face' quality about that record, that I don't think the other records have.

 

 


SplatterTribe: What about Robot Hive?

 

Jean-Paul: Robot Hive was our attempt to bridge the two words of working exclusively in the box and trying to make things a little bit more organic and a little bit looser. We got a producer from back home called J. Robbins, who's since went on to work on a lot of other projects, but this was the first project he'd ever done. We used a similar method for a lot of that record. We cut to a click track, but we purposely went for more of a slightly, organic drum sound. A little more open kind of a sound. Definitely less editing on that one. You can hear more performances on that rather than compilations of performances. Although there are definitely some compiling going on, but not near to the extent we did on 'Blast Tyrant'. And then we had the whole record mixed in Hoboken, New Jersey at Water Music and that turned out to be a cool studio there. They've got a beautiful new console and we mixed it there.

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Do you guys go out of your way to make each recording a little different?
 

Jean-Paul: I don't think we ever go out of our way to make every record different, I think it just happens naturally. It's best if it happens naturally, organically rather than try to force something. We never go into it thinking, "Well now we're gonna to make a really heavy record that sounds like Led Zepplin IV." It never goes down like that. It much more to do with the fact of just where we are at the time, the songs that we are making and where our heads are at, at the moment.

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Well let's talk about your most recent release's. First off, Full Fathom Five.

 

Jean-Paul: Full Fathom Five is just a compilation of live footage and recordings we did on the tour we did for 'From Beale Street To Oblivion'. At the time we were traveling with both an organist and a harp. So there was a lot of people on stage at times and it made for a really, really fun year and a half of touring and I'm very glad that we were able to document that inclination of the band. That was a really good time. That was special for us.

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: That was your first official, full scale (Audio/DVD) live release, correct?

 Jean-Paul: Correct. We've done live recordings in the past, but now that we have the outlets that we do, with Weathermaker, we're able to put out a lot of other kinds of projects and it's exciting to do something like that.
 

 


SplatterTribe: One thing about you guys is there are all kinds of live Clutch bootlegs circulating is that something that has ever bothered you?
 

Jean-Paul: No, I don't think so. I think the people who trade the bootlegs are also the people who buy the album and go to the shows and buy merchandise and support the band, so I don't have any grief towards tapers or traders. I think opening yourself up to that, just brings more people to the party. Those folks are gonna share those tapes with their friends and their friends, friends. I think there's a community out there who enjoys having a band that is sympathetic to tapers and we are. I'm one of those guys, I have a bunch of live recordings and stuff that I've really, really enjoyed, you know? I have probably fifteen Meters records, fifteen Meters bootlegs, but that doesn't stop me from going out and buying everything Meters that I can find, you know?
 

 

 

SplatterTribe: So talk alittle about the El Rojo release.

 

Jean-Paul: Well, that's The Bakerton Group's debut on Weathermaker. That's the record we recorded with Jay Robbins. Same guy who recorded 'Robot Hive'. It's songs we started putting together last summer. We were lucky enough to hook up with a good friend of ours named Per Wiberg. Per plays with Opeth and Spiritual Beggars and a bunch of other bands.

   He's an amazing keyboardist and we were able to hook up with him  while we were in Europe. He

traveled with us for a few days and we were able to play the (song) forms out. We did two or three of them a night and then he would set in with the Clutch set too. So the songs kinda came together over the summer and then it just worked out that when we were able to record the record in October with Jay Robbins and Opeth finished up their tour in Baltimore, pretty much the day after we did our last track, so it kind of worked out. Per comes into the studio and knocked out his parts in a couple of days and the rest is history. The album came out yesterday and we are real proud of it.

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Does it seem the Clutch fans have been accepting of The Bakerton Group?

 

Jean-Paul: I think so, I mean, at the end of the day it is the same four guys. It's gonna sound a little bit like Clutch. I think they'll be exited about it. It showcases different feels for us, speaking as a drummer. There's certain things that I can do with the Bakerton Group that I can't do in a live Clutch setting, so it gives me the opportunity to stretch out. That only makes for a better Clutch set.

 

 


SplatterTribe: So who are some of your personal influences drum wise?


 Jean-Paul: Well, I wouldn't even know because there's so many drummers out there that I get inspiration from, but I always go back to Elvin Jones. He's by far my favorite drummer in the world. He had a good natured spirit, huge swing, amazing creativity and amazing ability to listen to the soloist...comp with the soloist and really keep the energy of the band where it needed to be, whether it was a real fiery kind of thing or if it was one of those things where he played really, really quiet. It was his way of playing, almost like a different pot of stew, you know? (It was like) burnin', burnin' hot, but just barely under the radar. I still think about him everyday when I play. But there's all kinds of guys too. I listen to alot of stuff. There's alot of New Orleans guys too, Johnny Vidacovich, Stanton Moore, Buddy Miles, Ginger Baker, John Bonham and all those guys.

 

 


SplatterTribe: How do you feel about political Partisanship in music?

 Jean-Paul: Political Partisanship in music? Personally I don't think politics and music go together. There are some bands that can do that and do it very well. We don't do that. At the end of the day when people come to see a rock n roll show, they want to have some beers and Rock out. I don't think they really want to hear about the bullshit that goes on in those halls.
 

 

 

SplatterTribe: I know you guys were on an infamous episode of Viva La Bam, when it was on, how spontaneous was it actually, for you guys to be on that episode? Was it as spontaneous as it appeared?

 

Jean-Paul: Yeah, it was. I think it was a Wednesday afternoon and they told us to be up on the ski slope on Friday. So we just kind of drove up there. We didn't really know what we were getting into. Bam's a big fan. He's been coming out to the shows for many, many years, before he had his own TV show, when he was just a skater kid. He and his friends would come out and come to alot of Clutch shows, so we'd hang out with them. He's a genuine fan and I've got nothing but respect for that guy. He's done alot for us and Bam's alright in my book.


 

 


SplatterTribe: What was the experience of performing on a ski slope with a bunch of craziness going on around you?

 

Jean-Paul: They put us in snow mobiles and drove us to the hill. They put a little stage up there and we played on the side of a ski slope while they ran couches down the fucking thing. We were pretty safe where we were at. We were up on that stage. I think those guys were in much more danger than we were. They had ski's nailed to a rocking chair. It looked like a good way to break your neck.

 

 


SplatterTribe: Being a veteran tour band as you guys are, I couldn't even imagine the countless amount of bands you have toured with, witch one's stand out to you?
 

Jean-Paul: Over the years we've been able to play with alot of my favorite bands. Early on we played with Monster Magnet, Sepultura, Prong. Then most recently in the last few years we've toured with High On Fire, Mastodon, maybe some local guys like Lionize. (They're) some buddies of ours. Great band. Good guys to hang out with. William Elliott Whitmore, that guys awesome....He's quite a force. It always makes it alot more fun when there's a band out there that you enjoy watching.

 

 


SplatterTribe: Have you ran into any that you didn't enjoy the trip with?
 

Jean-Paul: If that was the case, those bands usually get locked out and they never get on the bill again.

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Who's somebody you haven't toured with yet that you'd like to add to the list?

 

Jean-Paul: We would love to tour with Heaven And Hell. That would be pretty awesome. Maybe that will happen one day.

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: So how hands on is the band with the website?

 

Jean-Paul: We don't really run the website so much. We have a webmaster that's done that for us for probably the last 15 years. He's a good friend of the band and he's great. He makes our life easier.

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Ok, we have a thing where every interview I do I ask the person for a random question to ask the next person I interview. It can be anything. This question comes from Chris Morehouse of the band Silent From The Struggle and his question is......Whorehouse or Strip club?

 

Jean-Paul: Uh.........Whorehouse or strip club.........Yeah, I don't do either of those....Back Lounge. Yeah, back lounge.

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Do you have a good random question to ask the next person I interview?

 

Jean-Paul: Yeah, what's your favorite Iron Maiden record?

 

 

 

SplatterTribe: Thanks for the interview man. Any closing comments?

 

Jean-Paul: Naw, I think that's about it you know? Go check out 'El Rojo', look for 'Slow Hole To China' (rerelease) and look for a Clutch record in July. Take care.

 

Part 1 / 2

 

 

 

 

www.pro-rock.com

 

www.myspace.com/clutchband

 

www.myspace.com/thebakertongroup

 

www.myspace.com/weathermakermusic

 

  
   
   

 

 

 

©2010 SplatterTribe Entertainment.  All Rights Reserved..
For problems or questions regarding this Web site contact Tribe@splattertribe.tv.
Last updated: 02/03/10.