Bill Elder (The Dynamites) interview: 2011

RESPECT YOUR ELDER

When Nashville-based song writer/guitarist Bill Elder formed The Dynamites in 2005, it spelled the end of a long retirement for the ex-touring band leader, who'd comfortably moved into the producer's chair to remain connected to his love of music. The birth of his group, who are now celebrated world wide for their classic funk/soul reviews, also re-launched the career of one of the '60s hottest soul shouters, Charlie Walker. Walker's credits included opening for James Brown's and Wilson Pickett's concerts, as well as fronting his own band The Sidewinders, who found fame in New York's club circuit back in the day. Walker's near-forgotten status during at The Dynamites' inception was considered somewhat criminal by Elder while all around the then producer, pretenders and plagiarists where being celebrated.



Nashville's contemporary music, Bill suggests on the eve of his band's second Australian visit, is largely riding on the state's name as a way of getting itself heard. The passionate New Orleans native does his best to not mince words about what he sees as 'The Tennessee Plague'. "We're totally outside of the whole Nashville scene. I absolutely hate modern country music so much, and that is what 99 percent of artists from Nashville are playin'." He laughs, "I avoid it at all costs… I mean, The Dynamites came together there, but we didn't play the Nashville game at all." Bill adds, "I will say this though, that place attracts some of the most incredible musicians I've ever had the pleasure of working with. If I wasn't in Nashville I doubt I could have assembled a band of the caliber that these guys in The Dynamites are."



In amongst Tennessee's long tradition of Grand Ole Opry and big hat-wearing stars of blue grass, a steady stream of soul and R&B acts wove its way through, and only in recent years has this secondary history seen a revival. While Atlanta, New Orleans, Chicago and New York, to a much greater degree cultivated their mostly black music heritages, the white country scene in Nashville reigned. However, Bill Elder, while assisting on an exhibit celebrating Nashville's contribution to soul, discovered a still thriving scene and was soon amongst musicians perfectly suited to his old-school writing style and improvisational approach to guitar playing.

 

"The Dynamites, at last count, are a collective of up to 20 people who I can call on at any time to play with." He beams, "So the line-up tends to shift from time to time which lends itself to making our shows evolve quite fast. Plus as a rhythm section that plays together more and more and as we do more and more shows, we've found that it becomes necessary to alter how we perform the songs because we get bored of 'em," he laughs, "Playing with so many gifted musicians, every day you always get fresh ideas coming through on new ways to perform the songs." The Dynamites new Australian release is Kaboom - an album originally recorded in 2007. The group toured a follow-up, Burn It Down, during last year, yet Bill seems quite content to re-launch his debut album onto a new audience.

 

"It's my view that a band should be able to pull from all their repertoire on stage, but then it is an interesting concept to back right up and go out in front of a new audience, or an audience who are only familiar with a small amount of our work and be kind of introducing yourself." He continues, "As we're putting these (new) sets together, we have made the connection that there's a lot of continuity in what we do. I mean they (Kaboom and Burn It Down) could almost have been a double album." Elder adds confidently, "But we go out there and make timeless music, man, so the way I see it, it doesn't matter what album we're playing from, it's all kinda coming from another time and place." If The Dynamites do belong to a particular time, they'd be most at home in the days of civil rights protests during the first wave of changing attitudes in the US. Bill, in his songs, makes a convincing connection between that era and today's equally complex human rights issues.

 

"A lot of everyday people were starting to become very active politically in the 1960's and I see that as an important flame to keep alive today." Elder assures, "That alone isn't something that necessarily dominates our songs, but it is a factor I'm interested in." He adds, "A writer should write with all of his mind, you know and one of the things I've tried to do from the inception of this project is keep one foot in the golden era of soul and stretch the other all the way to the artistry of modern times and keep the common threads intact, including what that music meant for people and how it can still say something important." Whatever the world has been up to for the last 40 years, it has left little impression on The Dynamites musically. That is to say, you'll find no inorganic intrusions on their albums, only a love of playing and a reminder of a time when music seemed intricately connected to great leaps in social evolution. Bill, along with his gifted band are sadly more like the exception than the rule in this age: it's a fact that hasn't passed him by either.

 

"Obviously the music business is a very strange place filled with peaks and valleys, and for a soul band like us to be allowed to do what we do, just because we love it, is kind of a blessing." He says, "Over the last year we've gotten to do many amazing things – a couple of the highlights being our Australian and European tours – sometimes I can hardly believe I'm able to make a living from doing this, you know. I really am blessed."



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The Dynamites' Bill Elder interview (2010)

 

With Nashville Tennessee’s ‘only two kinds of music - Country and Western’ identity firmly in place, it’s easy to forget the cities rich soul and R&B history. Tennessee’s synonymous with The Grand Ole Opry and Hank Williams, yet its black soul music movement in the 1960s was rivaled only by that of Detroit’s. So when writer/guitarist and proud Nashvillian, Bill Elder formed The Dynamites in 2005, he came with an eight piece band in full position of that rare, authentic spirit, befitting the local soul tradition. Their mission: To demonstrate precisely how you can’t beat the real thing.



“I don’t have many contemporary influences to speak of at all.” The straight-talking ex-producer Elder, begins. “There are a handful artists out there still making soul music and obeying the traditional sound of it, but most are just using it as a reference or to embellish their stuff.” Elder’s band are remarkable for the sheer authenticity of their sound. Take the music of civil rights-era America and the scene’s brightest star Marvin Gaye and you can draw a very short line, sound wise to The Dynamites. Bill explains; “As soon as the bug bit me to put together a raw soul band I pretty much dug myself into a hole that begins in 1963 and comes out in 1971.” Bill laughs, continuing. “I guess that was the time when soul music was both important and popular music – it was all over the charts - so all the labels put out a huge amount of real, authentic material to get behind the movement, but sadly it’s not like that anymore.”

 

The lyrics on The Dynamites current album Burn It Down – their second -demonstrates a casual political edge to the band. The title alone has a strong resonance for Bill; ”Actually the original title for the album was Black President and we had written most of the songs before Obama had even declared his candidacy like a weird sort of premonition.” He explains, “The idea of regeneration was there early on in our minds, especially when we were confronted with this crazy woman who couldn’t even name a single national newspaper and was running for vice presidency (Sarah Palin), we definitely felt something drastic had to happen.” Settling on Burn It Down, Bill felt there was an even greater impact to this title. He explains; “What that meant was burning down the old dogmatic ways of thinking and rebuilding a whole new way. The album is about regeneration which is perhaps not obvious by the title - a lot of people see that as a kind of aggressive statement - but really what it’s talking about is destroying old ways of thinking and letting the new come through. That really is the whole message of this album in a nutshell.”

 

The Dynamites come armed with a vocalist who has been compared to the likes of Marvin Gaye and James Brown. Elder talks of how vintage soul giant Charlie Walker came to his attention; “Charles was a part of an exhibit at the Country Music Hall Of Fame. There was a very brilliant curator at the museum in Nashville who wanted to exhibit the soul and R&B history of the local area. They released a record to coincide with that called Night Train To Nashville, as well as staging a concert which Charles - who was one of the original artists from the scene still around and performing - played at.” Bill enthuses, “At the same time I was looking at putting on a couple nights’ soul review and back then, it was never going to be a serious ongoing thing. I was working as a producer full-time and basically was done with playing on the road, so this showcase was just going to be my way of paying tribute to the artists who I loved and who represented Nashville. Charles however was such an incredible performer and he blew everyone else off stage, I just thought ‘well he’s the real thing’. Someone who’s not just cashing-in on the sound or riding their name out, you know. He’s going out there on stage every night like he’s born to do it and I have never seen anyone so on top of his game as this man.”



The Dynamites have recently gained wild appraisal in Europe and are set to play their first ever Australian shows. I ask Bill what it means for his band to be embarking on ‘virgin territory’ after the tried and tested success of Europe; “It’s a place I’ve always wanted to go, nobody in the band has been there before and it’s nice to know we speak the same language” He laughs, “But you know sometimes I think how will music so specific to a place and time go down in another culture, but then I remember that some of the great American jazz artists from back in the day only found success in places like Paris, so you never can tell where people are going to be at digging your music.” In closing Bill ads; “We’re just so lucky that despite the current climate, it’s possible for a nine-piece retro soul band to go out and make a living from doing what they do just because they love it."

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