You can’t get the A without asking the Q. That’s the first rule of arts journalism.
The St. Pete Catalyst formats and publishes Q&As when the musician (or, in some cases, the actor, writer or comedian) is particularly noteworthy, or has something important to say. They can’t all be great, of course, but after 12 months, the really good ones stick in the memory.
In all instances, the interviews were conducted and published in advance of a bay area performance.
Here’s a curated list of our 10 favorite Catalyst arts Q&A interviews for the year (nearly) gone by.
Mike Campbell (August)
Tom Petty had been his best buddy and musical partner for decades, and once guitarist Campbell had sufficiently grieved his lost colleague, who died in 2017, and the dissolution of the Heartbreakers, he went back to work. Campbell performed with his own band, the Dirty Knobs. “I’m a musician, I’ll keep playing till I die. That’s all I know how to do. It’s all I love. And I don’t want to do anything else. I’m not gonna retire, or whatever, sit around and wonder what I’m gonna do with my time. I can always record and write, but I’m gonna keep playing. I’m aiming for 100, Bill!”
Micky Dolenz (April)
With all three of his TV castmates (and “bandmates”) dead and gone, Micky Dolenz found himself carrying the Monkees torch alone, touring with a nostalgic “music and memories” show. Nearly 60 years after the two-season TV series was canceled, the Monkees still mean a lot to lots of people, and Dolenz was only too happy to still be talking about it. St. Pete Catalyst: “It’s got to be bittersweet, if that’s the word, to be the last man standing.” Dolenz: “That’s the perfect way to put it. It is. I’m still a little bit bewildered, a little bit like “What the hell happened?,” you know? Because they’re around me all the time. I’m sitting here in my office, going through old stuff and photos and things, and everywhere I look, it’s the other three guys. Everywhere.”
Mac McAnally (April)
Loss was also on singer/songwriter McAnally’s mind as he talked about his late friend Jimmy Buffett, and his years as a key member of Buffett’s Coral Reefer Band. Along with his prolific solo career, McAnnally tours as part of a reconstituted Coral Reefers (he’s “a little bit of a Buffett missionary, I guess”) and as a two-guitar show with bandmate Scotty Emerick. “Even when he was going through the cancer treatment, he played beyond when the doctors told him he should be playing. He just loved it more than anything. The show was his favorite thing in the world. And I got a feeling he’s still around when we play, too.”
Adam Duritz (July)
Counting Crows’ longtime singing, songwriting frontman reflected candidly on a career that started with a bang, then endured numerous ups and downs only to last 30 years and … counting. “Life doesn’t allow most people to do whatever they want 24 hours a day. It’s just not realistic. I’m just happy that it’s still going on! Because this could have been over a long time ago. The truth is, these things just last five minutes for most people. If they happen at all. And we’re still playing to multiple thousands of people every night. Which is pretty great. So it’s hard to be too pissed off about that.”
Ela Melo (June)
The fulcrum (onstage and in the recording studio) of the North Carolina indie band Rainbow Kitten Surprise is Ela Melo, an animated performer who happens to be trans. She was very open about the band – she identified as male in the early days – and how both bandmates and fans dealt with her decision (just fine, as it turned out). This was one of our most-read stories of the year. “I had a hard time my whole life, connecting with people. I never felt very seen. I didn’t know what to call it. I looked around and thought ‘Man, it looks like everybody’s got something I just don’t have.’ I felt like I was a machine before I transitioned, and I don’t know if that was me running from something, Like, just not knowing how life could get on the other side of it. And it’s so worth it.”
Burton Cummings (January)
Whatever your views on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it’s a pretty serious oversight that the Guess Who, the biggest rock band to come from Canada, is not in, and has never even been nominated. Songwriter Burton Cummings, who sang every single one of the Guess Who’s great hits (from “These Eyes” to “American Woman” to “Albert Flasher”), was pleased, in our interview, to explain that he and co-founding guitarist Randy Bachman had just won their lawsuit against a “fake” band using the Guess Who name (and recordings). “Legally, I couldn’t even mention the fact that I was ever in the Guess Who. They tried to really scoop the legacy, steal the legacy. They had all the streaming platforms covered. If you went to the Guess Who on social media you got the fake band. All that’s over with! That young blonde, whoever, who thought he was me, it’s over! Those guys have got to go find something else to do!”
China Forbes (January)
Lead singer for the smart, sophisticated “cocktail jazz” orchestra Pink Martini, Forbes is also a singer/songwriter whose music is practically 180 degrees from that of her longtime band, an international phenomenon. She is fluent in three languages, and sings – sometimes phonetically – in more than 25 others. “I think one unifying trait of our audiences is that they are open and they’re appreciative that we make the effort to sing in all these languages, and maybe their language, too. Even if it’s not perfect, people are really grateful that you tried to sing in their language. And did your best. That took a lot of the pressure off, for me, early on.”
Billy Bob Thornton (August)
I had interviewed Thornton on three occasions in the ‘00s, each time when he was putting out a solo album. We talked, always, about music, in great detail and with the shared enthusiasm of a couple of record nerds. He and J.D. Andrew, who joined us for this interview, started the Boxmasters not long after that – and Thornton, the lead singer, enthused about having a band in which he can be “just one of the guys,” and not some movie star chasing another kind of spotlight. “It’s dissipated over the years. So now, if somebody comes to the show expecting that, they’re either Helen Keller or they just never read anything.”
Danny Hutton (December)
Three Dog Night, the band Hutton formed in Southern California circa 1968, put 21 consecutive singles into the Top 40, broke all kinds of sales and attendance records, and left a legacy of top-drawer songs like “One,” “Mama Told Me Not to Come,” “Shambala” and the ubiquitous “Joy to the World.” He’s 83, and the only original member left in Three Dog Night, which still tours the country. Hutton was disarmingly honest about the drinking and drugging that destroyed the classic version of the group (beware what you wish for) and about his strained – to put it politely – relationship with former TDN co-vocalist Chuck Negron. “I had no interest at all in the sessions; I really stopped participating. To get up in the morning, I would have to drink a large glass of gin. One or two Seconals. And a couple of big snorts of coke. Just to get up and not be normal, or high, but kind of be sideways. That’s what I used to call it.”
Art Alexakis (October)
Everclear’s guiding light has weathered 30 hard years since his band hit it big with “Santa Monica,” “Wonderful,” “Heroin Girl,” “Everything to Everyone” and others, but he is in every sense a survivor, had been since the pre-Everclear days. He came out the other side, still writing and still singing, only to be diagnosed with relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis in 2019. Will that stop (or slow) his restless creative drive? Not a chance. He talked about 21st century Everclear concert audiences: “These kids look like those people did 30 years ago. They’re got the fire in their eyes. Because the thing is, music, when you hear it, doesn’t matter if it came out 30 days ago or 30 years ago. It’s new to you, and if it connects with you and resonates with you, and you’re a teenager, you’re gonna be on fire.”
The rest of the best
Shaun Cassidy (December)
Liberty DeVitto (October)
Orianthi (October)
Russell Moore of Union Station (September)
Nick Hexum (September)
Morgan Freeman (September)
Lee Brice (September)
Nick Heyward of Haircut One Hundred (August)
Steve Lukather (June)
Jon Anderson (June)
Rick Springfield (May)
Howie Mandel (May)
Michael Franti (May)
Hauser (April)
Robin Zander (May)
Todd Rundgren (April)
Lee Loughnane of Chicago (April)
Matthew Nelson (April)
Ketch Secor of Old Crow Medicine Show (April)
Jon Lovitz (March)
Bill Medley March)
Bill Payne of Little Feat (February)
John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants (February)
Judy Collins (February)
Arturo Sandoval (January)
Randall Bramblett (January)
James ‘JY’ Young of Styx (January)