Yamagata: Expanding the Memphis Groove
by Chip Schramm

Yamagata is a band that has steadily amassed a reputation as one of the most creative young groups in the jamband scene today. They have successfully made the transition from garage band to local bar band to regional touring band over the course of the past several years. They have shown persistence and developed a professional approach to their music without losing their easy-going attitude or willingness to experiment. Yamagata has become an essential cog in the Memphis Music wheel, hosting the All-Star jam at the Taphouse on alternating Monday nights throughout the year. They have also released an album, "Eveland," on Mempho records that is full of other musicians from around the local scene. Since then they have retooled the lineup and spent more time on the road spreading their music to eager audiences from Oklahoma to North Carolina.

Their lineup features Joe Austin on guitar and vocals, Perry Osborn on lead guitar, Jim Britt on drums, Matt Kirby on bass, and Jeff Waldon on saxophone. Austin and Britt are founding members of the group, while Osborn brings a wealth of style and inspiration to the group from his native Arkansas. Kirby just recently took over on bass, adding a funk sound to the lineup, replacing their older bassist, who was more into punk and hip-hop sounds. Waldon also has taken an interesting path to his position in the band. He came to Memphis because of the naval base in nearby Millington. He plays sax in the military band there and is frequently joined by other brass players at Yamagata gigs.

Yamagata's music is a well-balanced mix of rock and jazz-inspired themes, so they have plenty of room within their material for live jams and improvisation. Britt is a tall and powerful drummer, usually seen playing all over his kit, driving the rhythm of the band. Austin writes much of the music, including several new songs in collaboration with band manager Clay Mattox. They enjoyed packed crowds at club dates over the course of the Beale St. Music Festival weekend in May and have recently collaborated with Gary Gazaway, better known as "El Buho." Gazaway is known for playing trumpet and brass with dozens upon dozens of renowned musicians all over the world. Phish and Victor Wooten are just a few of the many who have jammed with El Buho at one time or another.

I had a chance to sit down and talk with some of the guys in Yamagata recently. Excerpts from that interview follow.

C: Who was in the original lineup of Yamagata?

Joe: When we first started it was Jim and I and Andy [the original bass player].

Jim: It was actually just Joe and me. Then we brought Andy over from Wally World, a cover band around town and started doing stuff with him. They were an 80's cover band we used to play with.

Joe: We had kind of an open jam thing going on over at our house. I was still in school and didn't have a job really, people would just come over. I didn't do anything except for play. Jim would come over and we would write songs, many of which ended up being the songs we play now. On the Album, even though the songs say, "written by Yamagata," it's mostly written by the two of us.

Jim: The lion's share of our record came from a jam we had on Christmas Eve, 1997.

Joe: We taped the whole thing and went back the next couple of weeks and picked out a couple of key moments. "Hey that sounds good, let's make that a song." Then we added a sax player we knew who had just come to Memphis from out of town. His name was Jeff Griffith. He joined the band and that's who we recorded our first album with. He left the band shortly afterward to go and get a regular day job. We also had many other people from around town come into our studio sessions and just play. A couple of the guys from FreeWorld are on the album and Ross Rice as well.

C: What was the recording process like for you on that album?

Joe: We rehearsed for months at a time getting ready. It was all about knowing what songs we wanted to record, and knowing a short, concise version of each song we do. So, we had an arrangement to try and record. Once we got there of course, some things turned out differently than how we planned, but we were pretty well focused on how we wanted things to go. We only had 4 days to get it all done, so that was important.

Jim: That's really the trick to getting in the studio: be prepared. It saved us lots of time, lots of money, and lots of headaches.

Joe: We nailed probably 4 or 5 songs per day. We really didn't track any more than that except for the special guests like Ross and Kelly and Jeff Hulse who came in later and tracked some stuff. The bulk of it was done in about 4 days. Then we just tried to promote it by going out and playing some gigs out around the South.

Jim: We've played with many horn players throughout. We've jammed with probably 10-15 different horn players in the lineup.

C: So the brass was always intended to be part of the mix from the beginning?

Jim: Yeah, it was always a hard part for us to nail down. They're all mercenary musicians for the most part [laughs.] They go where the money is, present company excluded. This guy right here has really done a lot for us [pointing to Waldon.] He's traveled and he's gone above and beyond the call of reasonable expectation.

C: What are some of your influences as far as the music you've listened to in your youth?

Jeff: Hard-core, straight ahead jazz: John Coltrane and Ernie Watts.

Jim: I can probably name 3 influences: The Police, King Crimson, and Yes.

Joe: David Gilmour, Angus Young, Eric Clapton.

C: Does the word "Yamagata" have any specific meaning?

Joe: In Japanese it literally means "mountain shape." It is also a city and state in Japan. It's named after a general and there's even a college called that. It's also the title of a picture similar to that one [pointing to the wall] by the same guy.

C: What about "Eveland," the name of your album. Is there a story behind that, too?

Joe: Well, it's the name of our street that is also what we call the house and the land. It's kind of a play on words, you know Eve-LAND.

Jim: It's a refuge. It's a place for troubled minds.

Joe: There are some lost minds out in our backyard still.

C: Changing bassists obviously changed the sound a good bit.

Joe: Definitely. Andy left because he wanted to go do other things. He had some things in his life he needed to go take care of. He's really good with computers and he got a great job offer in another city, so he took it. Matt I know from Yarborough Music where I work. He's had been coming to some gigs and sitting in with us. I called him and asked if he wanted to play with us full time, so here he is. He learned all our songs and we've written some new ones with him. We're all very happy with each other.

C: Has the time you've spent on the road changed your approach to music any when you are bringing it to a new audience?

Jim: I wouldn't say it really changes anything. We're always looking for new audiences to play for and always recruiting people for the cause. As far as our approach to playing, really it takes a little time out to go and tour like that, so we can't spend as much time working out on our own. The trade-off there is that we do get to make some connections with people. It's a necessary process in order to grow.

Joe: Memphis audiences can only be receptive to so much. It's getting better though. We're branching into a new sound, so to speak. People are going to really start to identify that with us as opposed to our more instrumental work. That doesn't always give people something to hold on to unless they are really in tune to the music.

Jeff: We're making it more accessible to everyone while still remaining true to ourselves.

Jim: It's definitely something we're keeping in mind in our songwriting.

C: Do you think that things like the Taphouse All-Star jams have helped you expand things a little bit?

Joe: That's helped everybody. It's helped everyone communicate between different styles. It's great to see Jim up there playing with guys from Big Ass Truck, FreeWorld, Jones, and Ross Rice. So many bands come up there now that you never know what to expect. Each Monday is totally different form the one before. I've never seen two jams that were anything alike. That's really different for some people, especially on a drink special night.

C: You have been playing with Ross Rice a lot lately. Has he been like a mentor to you as far as inspiration and guidance goes?

Jim: Definitely. Ross is an inspirational guy. He just oozes creativity and music.

Joe: He's been there before, no matter what situation you're talking about.

C: How about El Buho? Tell me about how that worked out.

Jim: It's still working out. We opened a gig for him in Nashville after the Phish show there in June. The Memphis in May show was also really a fun gig. We're playing together with him again here at Newby's soon. His music is slightly different from ours. We tend to go out more on a limb. He's all about a consistent groove and getting people up and dancing. Joe: He provides a lot of space in a stretch or instrumental song and that's taught us how to do that on our own songs. Some of his songs might have a very simple statement musically, but they'll last for ten minutes because of the dynamics and space around those ideas. Buho's space is very hypnotic and atmospheric. It's added quite a bit to our arsenal.

Jim: It's helping us in our songwriting because we're paying more attention to form. That's not to say we're using an exact formula, but we're figuring out what kind of song we want to make and quantifying the different elements of it. We could write them out on a piece of paper.

C: I know you spent some time at his mountain house and jammed didn't you?

Jim: Yeah, that was great. We were up at the Eleven Point river, just north of Pocohontas, Arkansas.

Joe: We had some gigs canceled, so instead of being bummed about it, tucking our tails, and going home, we had a great weekend and just relaxed and wrote a couple of songs. We polished up a few things we needed to work on. It was great because we had been on the go so much that we really needed to take a break and step back from things for a second. His place was very good. It was private and isolated, so we could stay very focused.

C: With all the new song writing you have done and the vocals you have added, what would you tell somebody who hadn't heard you play in a long time?

Jim: Good jams. Good improvisation. Good groove. I still wouldn't consider our vocals to be our primary focus. We're still about our instruments and we're all about making great music with those instruments. I don't think that's ever going to change. We may incorporate more lyrics and new songs into the mix, but we're still going to have the longer, broader jams we're going to play. We really communicate a lot better, too. It's definitely not light-drink conversation music, if you know what I mean.

C: What are your future plans?