April 15, 1998

Read a review of the show at the HOB-Orlando

Gov't Mule Interview

Slant - How did the band get its name...it's a little unusual, can you give a quick, dirty review of the band background?

Haynes - Jaimoe, who is one of the drummers for the Allman Brothers, kinda dubbed us Gov't Mule and it just stuck. We thought it applied to us and liked all of the different meanings that it took on and the fact that everybody had a different idea of what it meant so we kinda stuck with it.

Haynes - We formed, the original idea came back in 94. Woody and I were in the Allman Brothers from 89 till April of 97, and in 94 while we were doing an Allman Brothers tour, we were talking about how nobody does the improvisational trio anymore, what a hard format it is to find the right chemistry for, and Woody said, "You know, me and you and the right drummer could do that," and I thought me and you and Matt Abbes could do that". Woody had never played with Matt. I had played with Matt and having played with him and Woody both, I had an idea that they would be a really good rhythm section. So we started making plans to get together the first convenient day, do some jamming, and we did. The first time we played together was beyond even our own expectations, the chemistry just was really good. But then, as with any other band situation, you know the initial chemistry is a really important thing, but what you do with that is probably the most important thing. The longer you can keep it together the more you can build upon it. That's really the true test and here it is four years later and things are going better than ever. We're very excited that the word is starting to spread, the band is getting better and better all the time. We're very excited to be doing this all the time.

Slant - Somebody mentioned that you had played with the Nighthawks at one time.

Haynes - I did for two weeks. They were in a situation where they were going through a lot of guitar players and needed somebody to do a tour with them. It was a two week tour and I went out and did it and we had loads of fun and we became really good friends and played some good music. I had already joined Dicky Bett's band at that point, but we were off tour so I had time to go out and do it. They were doing a lot of cool stuff back then with different guitar players. Before me was Elvin Bishop, no right before me was Stuart Smith and right after me was Elvin Bishop, I think, something like that. There was a lot of different guitar players back then - it was cool.

Slant - I caught them a couple of years ago and they are a real solid group of musicians.

Haynes - Yeah. That was just a little two week tour, but it was a nice opportunity and we had quite a bit of fun.

Slant - You guys are often described as 'Southern Rock'. I assume it's because of the Allman Brothers heritage, and that they throw that out trying to get some name recognition, but you guys are anything but southern rock.

Haynes - I don't think we're totally comfortable with that tag. For that matter, neither are the Allman Brothers. All the guys in the Allman Brothers were allergic to that category anyway. You know I think they came up with the term southern rock about thirty years ago cause they needed someplace to put all the records they thought sounded the same. You know I don't know....Pigeon holing is what they call it.

Slant - There is a real problem with that today, not just with "southern rock". Are you finding it difficult to develop your band image separate from that?

Haynes - Not really, I think most people these days are pretty aware of the sound that we have and which directions we are exploring. Our audience, you know, doesn't really look at it as a southern rock thing. It depends, a lot of people don't get any negative connotations from the term southern rock but some people do. So I just don't like to be pigeon holed that just because we were in the Allman Brothers makes us a southern rock band, I don't believe that. At the same time people also refer to the Black Crowes as a southern rock band and I don't think it applies to them either. Maybe the fact that we're from the south, you know, but I don't think it sounds like the images you conjure up in your head when you think southern rock. A lot of those bands were bands that we like and enjoyed but the kind of music that we listen to runs the whole gamut. Traditional jazz, traditional blues, rock music, folk music, psychedelic music, its all over the place. We're as much influenced by Jimi Hendrix as we are by Miles Davis and John Coltrane or by Howling Wolf, Elmore James and Muddy Waters. And then there's the whole folk side, and you know I think it's American music.

Slant - You guys are pretty diverse. I have an acoustic tape from last year that is quite different. You do a lot of cover songs in your unique style. Do you do these because you just enjoys the songs, or everyone in the band knows the songs, or you know that's what works well in your kind of format?

Haynes - Well we do such long shows, you know we play for two and a half hours or sometimes three hours. It's always nice in a long show like that to do a few covers, not just for our own sake but for the crowd's sake as well. The kind of crowd that we draw enjoys that and a lot of the bands that they go see or in the case of bands like the Grateful Dead, and the Allman Brothers, Widespread Panic, Blues Traveler, The Black Crowes, these kinda bands, they all play cover songs. I think from a band standpoint, from the band's point of view, it's just something to keep you fresh all the time. We have hours and hours and hours of music at this point but it's important to us to change it up every night. To keep each show a little bit different from the night before, and from the next night. We're doing that more and more. The more material we write, the more covers that we work up, the easier it is to...to change the set list every night in a more and more drastic way. It's fun for us and for the audience because a lot of our crowd keeps coming back for multiple shows.

Slant - Once you guys set up a list for the night, do you work from that?

Haynes - We do. We get together before the show, come up with a set, and then whether we stick to it or not is determined by the energy coming from the crowd. Or sometimes, if there's a curfew and we're running out of time, we'll drop a couple of songs, but just because it's written down there doesn't mean that's the way it's going to be.

Slant - You're due here at the House Of Blues on the 16th, I expect there will be a curfew there.

Haynes - Yeah, but hopefully we'll still have plenty of time to play. We contract for usually two and a half hours anyway. We don't like to play much less than that.

Slant - What are your favorite jamming bands, the ones you like to listen to?

Haynes - Well all the ones I mentioned previously are bands that we like to listen to, and also with all our friends. As far as new bands you mean? Bands that are out touring now?

Slant - Just what you listen to old or new.

Haynes - Well Widespread Panic, The Black Crowes, Blues Traveler, Phish, The Allman Brothers, There's bands like the Medesky, Martin, and Woods that we like a whole lot, Charlie Hunter, we dig the whole Charlie Hunter thing, I tend to go in so many directions you know.

Read a review of the show at the HOB-Orlando

Murf Murphy Murf is a registered professional engineer....(i.e. haircut and a real job) who loves to play guitar. Vist Murf's home page. He lives with (1) wife who wishes he would grow up, (1) teenager who wonders how his parents got to this point in their lives without his help, (2) dogs who sleep a lot, (1) ferret who attacks when not looking and (1) cat who is basically useless. Other Articles I've Written