Getting Messy with Kyle Hollingsworth
Our latest New Groove act is Messy Jiverson. The St. Louis-based group features Michael Wehling on guitar, Nate Carpenter on Hammond B3, his brother John Carpenter on bass, Gavin Duffy on guitar, drummer Cannon DeWeese, percussionist Phillip James and Matt Keune on faders. Most everyone contributes on synth as needed as well. This past fall the group gained increased notoriety after opening four days for Kyle Hollingsworth and joining him on stage as well. In the following interview Michael Wehling talks about these experiences and explains that “covers are for the beds, OG music for the heads.”
Can you talk about the development of the group? How did you meet everyone and how did the current line-up solidify?
I met Gavin Duffy and Nate Carpenter around 1995/96 (we were all about 16 years old). All of us were playing in bands around St. Louis steeped in a deep jam/psychedelic tradition. As our paths crossed more at shows, numerous collaboration between our crews took place. Nate then left for Berklee School of Music and I left shortly after to attend the University of North Texas. As we all studied music in college we stayed in touch over the following years always getting together to jam and record when we were all in St. Louis in the same time. After UNT, I moved to Portland, Oregon for a period and Nate and Gavin contacted me about returning to St. Louis to put the “band back together” The group reunited in winter of 2007 and we began writing music at a fevered pitch. Our drummer from the high school days also moved back to St. Louis from Boston at this time we were joined by a college friend of mine, Phil “skinny Phil” James joined on percussion. John “Leroy” Carpenter (Nate’s younger brother) was added on the bass and the lineup was solidified.
In terms of musical backgrounds and interests, what does everyone bring to bear?
Most of us grew up in musical families. The Carpenters come from a long line of talented musicians and their father and uncles played in bands together. Gavin grew up in Scotland and brings a deep appreciation of American northern soul music and Manchester beat sensibilities. All of us have a strong music education background and have studied jazz extensively and performed in orchestral settings.
How would you describe the vitality and support of your local music scene?
St. Louis has a wonderful and supportive local music scene. It’s a very affordable place to live so living a musician lifestyle is easy. There are many great artists doing there thing here in STL. The jam/electro scene is based out of a wonderful venue in town, 2720. Run by the local promoters Loyal Family they do a great job at providing a space for creative musical endeavors and helps keep the musicians in touch and collaborating with each other. St. Louis has probably on of the best unknown music scenes in the country.
This past fall you performed some gigs opening for Kyle Hollingsworth. How did that come about and what did you take away from the experience?
The Kyle shows were awesome. Kyle came to check us out when we played in Boulder for the first time last June. He had been rehearsing with Euforquestra for some shows they were doing together. Euforquestra are great friends of Messy and brought Kyle down to the show after their rehearsal. Our paths crossed again at Camp Euphoria later in the summer and finally when we returned to Boulder in the fall Kyle showed up again to our gig and asked to sit it. He taught us one of his compositions and we learned it on the spot. There was an instant musical connection between our crew and him. He asked us to support him and his band on his Midwest fall tour. The shows were wonderful, the fans were great, and I had the opportunity to sit in with his band almost every night and Kyle joined Messy on stage as well. The culmination was an hour long encore super-jam consisting of all of Messy and his entire band at our show in St. Louis. One of my favorite nights of music ever.
Who writes the band’s music? How it is typically presented to the group and how does it then come together?
The primary seeds of composition for Messy come through myself and Nate Carpenter, in general. These tunes are usually brought in a rough demo form and presented to the group allowing each member to put his spin on it. Once a song is brought into the group we work together to shape the demo into a Messy Jiverson original. Generally then we perform the tunes live and make slight adjustments along the way. Almost all of our songs are subtly evolving each time they are played.
No Comments comments associated with this post