I figured out how to play the bass line and I was hooked. The Bassist? Donald “Duck” Dunn. His band, Booker T & the MGs, has since been a major influence on Garage Voice. It shows in our song titles – an older song of ours was called “Book It”, a little tip of the hat. It also shows in our music, and especially in our incorporation of the Hammond organ.

A favorite song of mine to perform is our instrumental “Cropper”, named after the MG’s guitarist, Steve Cropper. This morning Steve Cropper, on tour with Donald in Tokyo, awoke to find that his friend and fellow musician of 50+ years had died in his sleep.

Some musicians you just enjoy listening to. Others you hope to meet and thank for the profound influence they’ve had on your life.

I am truly sad to learn of his death.

-Bruce

ABOVE: SOUTH AFRICANS BRUCE PEARSON (LEFT) LOUNGING WITH GARETT VAN DER CRIMP.
PHOTOS BY BEN BLOOD. STYLED BY LAURA VAN DER CRIMP.


LAURA: Bruce, do people ever ask you what the music scene is like in South Africa?

BRUCE: No, I think I’ve had it asked a couple times. But not really.

LAURA: People always ask Garret that.

GARETT: And I always say it’s changed so much in the last five years since I’ve been gone, and I have no idea what it’s like.

BRUCE: How was it when you were there?

GARETT: There were the big mainstream bands that were shit and they loved money and just covered all their bases and were the lowest common denominator and played like, corporate events. And then there were the underground scene was just starting to gain traction and more interesting bands were starting to come out. And now it’s, I think, way better – more venues, more bands, especially in Cape Town.

BRUCE: I left South Africa when I was nine so my musical experience was playing the recorder, you know? Singing in choirs.

PATRICK: Garett, how can you not sing with an accent?

GARETT: I don’t know. The Beatles didn’t sing with an accent either.

BRUCE: They didn’t.

GARETT: American’s taking over the world. Globalization, that’s what’s up. Everyone wants to sound rock and roll and American. I think there’s a rock and roll accent.

LAURA: I feel like everyone got taught dictation by the same person. And so there’s a singing style that’s universal. Don’t they teach you that in vocal lessons?

BRUCE: With classical music, if you’re in a choir you aren’t supposed to sing the Ay’s and Eee’s, you’re supposed to sing the Ah’s and Eh’s. So I remember singing with Americans in choir and the teacher always referred to me and said, “say it like he says it”. It’s weird that with classical it’s more European but with rock and roll it’s more American.

GARETT: But I admire people who sing with their accent.

BRUCE: Me too.

GARETT: I think it’s pretty bold to sing with your accent.

PATRICK: Eddie Vedder, you know?

GARETT: What is his accent? Mountain man?

[laughs]

LAURA: The Kinks too.

BRUCE: They’re the most English band in the world.

LAURA: They’re not hiding it at all.

BRUCE: They’re exaggerating it even, because he does lots of voices.

GARETT: One of my favorite bands, Blur, he sings with a total Cockney accent the entire time. He doesn’t even try to sound American.

BRUCE: It killed me at your Neumo’s show, in between one of the songs, you said, “Is everyone having a good time”, or something and everyone was dead quiet even though they were having a good time. And then you said, “maybe you can’t understand me because of my accent!”

[laughs]

BRUCE: And everyone was still dead quiet and you just started the next song!

GARETT: I took the vocal effect off and I was like, “are you having a good time?”

LAURA: Nothing.

GARETT: And all they heard was, ” adyahadyagoodime?”

[laughs]

BRUCE: So are you doing anything out of the ordinary at our show at the Tractor? Is there something special you’re planning?

GARETT: No, but now that you brought it up, maybe. Are you guys?

BRUCE: We’re playing a bunch of new material. It’s gonna be really fun. I think we have five new songs to debut.

LAURA: Let’s talk about bands we grew up listening to. At the time I was getting into like punk and grunge, Garett was getting into Brit Pop. And so we had kind of different perspectives of the same era.

GARETT: I heard “Wonderwall” today. When was the last time you heard that song? It’s amazing.

[laughs]

GARETT: So good! That was the first song I heard and I was just like – don’t quote me on this – [laughs] I heard that record and I was just like, oh man, so good. And I think it was one of the first albums I bought. It’s still really good. If you listen to the second album, the way it’s recorded is so good. The songs are maybe sound a little dated. The way the drums sound is amazing. It just has this really amazing tape sound. But that song is the shit.

PATRICK: On “November Rain”, the guitar solo at the end. When I was in 8th or 9th grade I heard that and I was like, what the heck?!

GARETT: Slash!

[laughs]

PATRICK: That was one of the first albums I bought.

GARETT: What was that on, Appetite for Destruction?

LAURA: Yeah, I think so. I have very vivid memories of that song, but because of the…

PATRICK: Music video.

LAURA: The music video!

[laughs]

GARETT: The church yard with the helicopter flying around!

LAURA: Uh huh, that’s an epic love story.

BRUCE: The peak of music videos.

PATRICK: It’s that wedding and then the next thing you know it’s a funeral!

[laughs]

GARETT: Oh, forget about what happens – Slash…

BRUCE: He’s playin’ an amazing guitar solo.

LAURA: Bruce, what was your first inspiration that made you want to be a musician?

BRUCE: It was 7th grade, when it clicked, where I was like, I have to be a musician. And I was listening to Blood Sweat and Tears and I think they’ve been my favorite band ever since. Their first six albums are just incredible. Their ability to blend jazz and classical and rock and roll and blues and folk music was just something I had never heard before. Bass is my first instrument and the bassist [Jim Fielder] on that, I had never heard a bassist who could play such intricate lines that weren’t overbearing. If there’s any artist I’ve mimicked the most, not even intentionally, but just because it made so much sense. When you hear someone do something else and you think, yes, that’s something inside me as well.

GARETT: Michael Jackson, Thriller. That was huge. I was so into that. My oldest cousin had it on tape and only 2 years older than me. So she knew what was up. And I was like six. And then the Beatles, obviously. That’s kind of boring, but I got really obsession with the Beatles.

BRUCE: What’s your favorite Beatles album?

GARETT: Rubber Soul.

BRUCE: Rubber Soul?! I think that makes you a real Beatles fan.

LAURA: I also love Rubber Soul. We’ve never talked about this before.

PATRICK: Unfortunately, before I started listening to music, my brothers exposed me to Weird Al. You know, I heard his songs even before the originals.

[laughs]

BRUCE: When I first showed him “Lola”, he knew it as “Yoda”.

[laughs]

BRUCE: Okay, at what point did you two decide to play music together? Was it like, “hey we’re married, let’s make music”?

LAURA: Garett always played music since we met. And then I guess I expressed interested in playing in a band, because I played music before but just in school, never in like a rock and roll band. I started on flute. I played bassoon for a year, and I played trombone for three years, and I played piano all the while.

GARETT: You took guitar lessons, didn’t you?

LAURA: And I took guitar lessons. So, I didn’t have any inhibitions about picking up the drums.

GARETT: I was playing solo and everyone kept telling me I needed a drummer.

LAURA: Then my best friend had this drum kit and she went away to college and left it in her parents’ garage. We asked her if we could borrow it.

GARETT: My friend from South Africa was coming up and we had played as a band back home. He’s a bass player, but the two of us to be guitar and bass at the Comet, it wasn’t going to be good. We need to get drums, but I need to teach you the songs in one day. So we borrowed the kit and Laura played tambourine, he played a snare and floor tom and played guitar. And then Laura was like I can definitely do that if you want to come to me to do that.

BRUCE: Is that how it spun out to be a stand up drum kit?

LAURA: Yeah.

BRUCE: Do you get an incongruent amount of comparisons to The White Stripes?

LAURA: We used to, yeah.

BRUCE: How do you feel about that?

LAURA: I love that. I mean, it’s a compliment. But at the same time it does get old. I mean, c’mon, we don’t really sound anything like them.

BRUCE:You both kind of have that visceral edge, but it’s not the same sound. If you didn’t listen to that kind of music, it would be the same sound, I guess. Like if you listen to Limp Bizkit…

LAURA: We would sound like The White Stripes.

PATRICK: Final comments.

GARETT: How was your pizza?

BRUCE: Oh, it was good.

LAURA: My salad was great. I love a good Cesar.

BRUCE: My last comment – you guys are amazing and really excited to play with you.

GARETT: Likewise.

LAURA: Yeah, and the show on Wednesday is going to be awesome! The real deal, both of our bands – rock and roll.

GARAGE VOICE AND KOKO AND THE SWEETMEATS WILL PLAY AT THE TRACTOR TAVERN ON WEDNESDAY, APRIL 25. FOR MORE, VISIT THE FACEBOOK EVENT PAGE.

GARAGE VOICE IS KICKSTARTING AN ALBUM. BACK THE PROJECT TODAY.

A week before Thanksgiving I suffered a heart attack. Paramedics & Firemen carried me out of my home, blazed a path down I-5, did lifesaving actions in the ER, and stabled me out. The next four weeks are a bit of a blur as I recovered and had multiple tests to figure why a kid my age was even having a heart attack. I had absolutely no energy, house bound, and emotionally shook up. It was important to me to keep this time contained as I wasn’t strong enough to withstand the flood of support and concern that would come with such an event. Even in that privacy I’ve never felt so loved and cared for. It was an extreme time of humility to receive such care. People dropped off food every day for 3 weeks, helped me with mundane things around the house, kept me in their prayers, sent me encouragement in various forms, kept me distracted, helped me pay bills since I wasn’t working. It was inevitable that through the care of my inner circle that this news would be shared with others that care for me and Garage Voice. Now that I’m on the mending road and able to handle the attention we’ve agreed that now is the time to share.

Currently, I’m still taking it a day at a time. My heart is in great condition, though still mending; my energy is growing every day, and I still have some limitations. Through every test possible there are strong indications that it’s not heart based but actually auto-immune related. I’m a couple tests away from diagnosis.

Garage Voice is only effected by this in regards to calendar. Some of our plans have been postponed and are now reshaped in accordance. We can’t wait to be back playing for you, we are working harder then ever. Please give us a shout in response anytime. We/I will respond. Thank you again for your concern and support. It’s building us up to do what we are created to do even better!

SO grateful,

Tommy
[if you wish to give Tommy a shout, tweet @gvoice, or email: garagevoice [at] garagevoice [dot] com]

A review from our recent San Francisco show:

“Openers Garage Voice from Seattle are touring with a hulking antique wood organ, complete with bass pedals and Leslie cabinet. Their pairing of swampy, driving rock and spiritual lyrics works to great effect, calling to mind similiar souls like Gordon Gano of Violent Femmes and The Mercy Seat. They set the evening’s tone of goodwill and inclusiveness with sincere paeans to our city.”

- The Bay Bridged, San Francisco