"GUMBO BLUES" - Big Al & The Heavyweights Interview

By Cathi Norton

We used to ceaselessly kid our drummer about the special nature it took to be a drummer in a band. "We feed him raw meat and let him out only on weekends," we'd laugh as we described him to reporters. It's true that it takes a special energy to pound on those skins hours in a row and come out of it feeling enthused! And special energy is definitely Big Al's forte. His mama knows him as Albert J. Lauro, Jr., but we're getting to know him as a good portion of the attitude behind "Big Al and the Heavyweights," a Chicago- and Texas-style blues band with a "heavy dose of Cajun spice."

Born on October 12, 1958 in New Orleans, Lauro got his start with two musical uncles who played trumpet and drums, and a babysitter who introduced him to soul and R & B. At age nine he was playing drums and plunged into music big time. After a high school career as a notorious drummer, he landed a job with outlaw country artist David Allen Coe that took him through five years of a musical education on the road. That's when he met Warren Haynes ("Government Mule"). The two put together a blues band to play in when Coe wasn't working. After a split with Coe, their group, "The Unknown Blues Band," really started cookin.'

In 1992, when Haynes got a chance to work with Dickie Betts of the "Allman Brothers" (and later "Government Mule"), Lauro decided a name change for the band would be in order, "because Warren's a hard guy to forget!" Thus began "Big Al & the Heavyweights" with Big Al on drums, a keyboard player named Mick Gerkin, Mickey Hayes on bass, and Roguie Ray Lamontagne on vocals and harmonica. Ray, a French-Canadian, made his musical presence known around Boston in the '60s heading up the house band at the famous blues club, "Joe's Place." Blues musicians often traveled alone and used pickup-, or house-bands for their concerts, so Lamontagne enjoyed a rich sampling of blues history from players like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Hound Dog Taylor, etc.

The first "Heavyweight" CD, "That Ain't Nice" (Rollin' & Tumblin' Records) was featured on Dan Akyroyd's "House of Blues Radio Hour" as "Bluesbreaker of the Week." Their second CD, "Hey, Hey Mardi Gras" (Icehouse Records) will be released in February '99 and features Big Al, Roguie Ray Lamontagne (harp/vocals), John Abruzzo (bass), and Tim Wagoner (guitar/vocals). "Mardi Gras" was independently released this year, but has been picked up by Icehouse Records for a re-release with accompanying distribution. "We're really excited about it," says Lauro. "It's a big step for us." Meanwhile, the CD has been nominated for "Blues Album of the Year" by the Nashville Entertainment Association (N.E.A.). Other nominees for the award include Delbert McClinton, Johnny Jones (former guitarist for Bobby Blue Bland), and Rick Vito (guitarist for Bonnie Raitt). Big Al's feeling pretty fine. He's a partyin' man as his music will testify. "I'm into the primal groove thing. If you can't dance to the blues," he smiles, "you can't live with the hold in your soul."

Since recording "Mardi Gras," John Abruzzo and Roguie Ray have moved on and made room for the entrance of William Scruggs (bass) and wild man Louisiana Red (George Heard). "Red" is from Baton Rouge, LA and has played with Gatemouth Brown, Zachary Richard, Brook Benton, to make a few, and adds more of that Louisiana flavor to the mix. "If we're not singing about women doing us wrong, or us doing women wrong, we're singing about food!" says Al in that thick Louisiana accent. "Women can make you feel blue; eating can make you feel better; and partying can make you feel a whole lot better!" The music really drives and keeps the party going. Dang, I'll probably pay the cover just to see this bunch let out on the weekend!

CATHI: Hey there Al!

AL: What's happenin' Miss Cathi?

CATHI: (Laughs.) Well, I'm confused -- who is who in this picture?

AL: The black guy on the left is William Scruggs, our bass player. The guy with glasses that looks like an alien is Harmonica Red. The guy with the little hat on next to him is me and the other guy with the big forehead is Tim.

CATHI: (Laughter.)

AL: Hey says that! I don't say that!

CATHI: How'd you get started on this musical trip?

AL: Well, I had an uncle that played clarinet and I'd see him at weddings. I wanted to be a trumpet player, but I realized there wasn't a whole lot of opportunity for that with the guys I was hanging out with (laughs). But I had another uncle -- uncle Lodi -- who did this wedding reception on drums. He let me get up there and bang around and I was hooked! That was it. Back then it was Fats Domino and R & B and stuff they played at wedding receptions. Of course they liked French music! Then my mother got a job and I had this black babysitter named Elizabeth. She would listen to the soul and R&B radio and of course I started listening too. Then one day my mom and dad said, "No, you don't listen to that!" And so I immersed myself in it.

CATHI: Of course! So you started playing when you were

AL: Nine years old. I had a little Japanese drum kit. I jammed all through high school with different outfits and then in college, when the disco thing hit big--I became a cosmic cowboy. That was the rebellion to disco--Commander Cody stuff. After high school I met a guy in the French Quarter named Brooklyn Roberts. He played piano and loved Professor Longhair. I used to see him at all the Prof. Longhair shows. Piano in Louisiana is a very percussive instrument and I guess I was more influenced by piano players like Prof. Longhair, Huey Piano Smith, and James Booker, than I was by drummers. Anyway, Brooklyn told me about this gig he had in the French Quarter. He was making $8 a set, sometimes working from the afternoon to late at night. And he said, "I'm playing it by myself, but I could use a drummer." So I was like 'WELLLLL!" (Laughs.) So I started playing with him -- just piano and drums. We did that for a year and just kept doing it. I learned a WHOLE lot about blues and music at that time. We played 45 minutes on, 20 off, and got paid for that 45 minutes. Sometimes we'd do 12 sets!

CATHI: Oh God.

AL: Yeah, but you have to realize that at that time it was great money. Then one night Brooklyn's cousin was down from New York. They were walking home and this guy comes up to them and said, "Hey, how 'bout that coat?" Brooklyn had this real long black leather coat, real nice. And he said, "Aw, you gotta be kiddin'?" Just blew him off. Well, when he got off the streetcar, they guy shot him in the back and killed him.

CATHI: No!

AL: Yeah, that soured me on New Orleans and I split. That's when I came to Tennessee.

CATHI: That might do it for me. How'd you hook up with David Allen Coe?

AL: Well, actually I knew his soon-to-be wife, Mimi. I was playing in Baton Rouge around Christmas and she said his band had split in the middle of the night to be home for Christmas and he needed someone on drums. She said they were getting this guy from Asheville, NC to play lead guitar, and that turned out to be Warren Haynes! Right after we joined, David decided he was going to buy a house in Key West (Florida), so I went too. We lived there for awhile and I got to jam with Greg Allman, Jimmy Buffett and all kinds of people that were just hanging out back then. Now that doesn't happen anymore -- it's over. But that was a great time.

CATHI: Why doesn't it happen anymore?

AL: It don't happen no more because Key West ain't nothin' but t-shirt shops.

CATHI: (Laughs.)

AL: It's nothing like it used to be. When I was down there it was smugglers and hippies.

CATHI: Infinitely preferable (laughs).

AL: It was GREAT! A party. Actually, the IRS came down and seized David's house, so we all went to Nashville, Tennessee.

CATHI: That must have been different. I heard it's tough to break in there.

AL: Well, when I first came to Nashville, nobody would let us sit in because you know it was a real straight country town, and we were playing with the guy that country music hated the most! So we were hated too!

CATHI: Did they hate Coe because he didn't play straight country?

AL: Right, pretty much like Willie (Nelson) and them because he wasn't into the Nashville machine. But now, if you look good, you don't have to sing good. If you look good in a pair of jeans and a cowboy hat, you're in! That's the state of country music today. Well, that's good in a way -- they're killin' their own selves, losin' audience very year. Anyway, we ended up playing with David for three to four years. We learned more than I could ever relate -- went all over the world with him, Europe, David was immensely popular over there. Now me and Warren really loved the blues, so we played blues whenever David was off and then, one day David fired everybody because he wanted to be a bluegrasser (laughs).

CATHI: Wow, he dumped the whole crew?

AL: Everybody was DONE. So that forced me to be determined to play blues full time. That's when me and Warren started "The Unknown Blues Band."

CATHI: Why did he go into bluegrass? Just get a wild hair?

AL: Yeah, he's like that. He wanted to have Vassar Clements in his band. And Vassar costs a lot of money to take on the road, so it was cool for awhile. But David's a very fruitful person.

CATHI: (Laughter) You mean "frugal?"

AL: Yeah, FRUgal. You gonna have to keep me straight here Cathi.

CATHI: (Laughter.) I though you were going to teach me something there man.

AL: (Laughs.) So he realized he didn't want to do bluegrass anymore and was ready to put the band back together again.

CATHI: But you had something else goin' on?

AL: Yeah, we were rockin'! We were just getting better and better with this blues thing, travelin', makin' money, and we didn't have no boss.

CATHI: So you and Warren kind of led the band? You got on pretty good I guess?

AL: Yeah, it was great. We didn't have to deal with that biker thing. David was real into that biker deal, and we'd have to worry about if the Angels showed up they might blow the bus up and stuff. That got old.

CATHI: (Laughs.) That's why you left New Orleans in the first place!

AL: Yeah! The whole reason to get away and I'm getting right back into this violence stuff again. So I wasn't into it…so the blues probably saved my life (laughs)!

CATHI: Your music is definitely a combination of New Orleans and blues.

AL: People tell me, "We have a lot of blues bands here, but y'all sound different than any other blues bands." And I'll go, "We ARE different!" We're influenced by a whole different group of things than what people are used to. We play blues with a lotta Louisiana in it. It's a party thing and everybody loves to party. Everybody likes Mardi Gras, so that's why I say nowhere in the band is it called "Big Al & the Heavyweight BLUES Band." Look at the picture! We like to party! We want YOU to party and have a good time. We bring Mardi Gras to the world. We always tell people we're the official ambassadors of Mardi Gras. We bring a little part of our culture and music to everywhere. I don't want people to say, "Big Al & the Heavyweights play this kind of music." I'd much rather they'd go, "They play party music." My two favorite bands are the "T-Birds" (Fabulous Thunderbirds) and the "Nighthawks." A recent review said, "These guys remind me of the Nighthawks with a Louisiana flavor." That's what I strive for. My goal is to always keep moving forward in the music but have that Louisiana sound because that's what sets us apart from a band doing straight Muddy Waters songs. We can do 'em, but it'll sound different.

CATHI: Yeah, I wanted to ask about style, because I see you have 14 originals on this new CD. Who does the writing?

AL: Well, I wrote about half, and Tim wrote, well, Roguie Ray wrote two.

CATHI: Do you write songs on a different instrument than drums?

AL: I play a little bit of guitar but the first thing I think of is the groove. I'll have words in my head, but chords don't mean nothin' to me. Because if it don't groove, you can have the best chords -- all those sharp-major-sevenths (laughs) -- and that doesn't mean anything if you and me can't sit there and clap our hands and tap our feet. Them chords don't have nothin' to do!

CATHI: I heard you got your first CD going because someone heard you were writing Christmas songs!

AL: (Laughs.) Right. For some reason I got into writing Christmas songs. I would get these blues Christmas CDs and they would always be doing Elvis Presley songs that people did a million times over. So I started writing Christmas songs and Scot Mullins (Rollin' & Tumblin' Records), asked me if I'd like to make a CD. And I said, "Hell yes!"

CATHI: So do you still write songs on commission or just for your band?

AL: I'd love for somebody big to cut one of my songs, and Alligator is interested in a couple. It would be a dream come true. I'm gonna keep writing, but I mainly write not to elevate this band.

CATHI: Do you guys write separately or together?

AL: On this particular CD I had a lot of songs written already, and so did Tim, so we just pooled forces. Now, "Bound By Love," me and Tim wrote and so we kind of pooled it together. This next CD will have more stuff we wrote together. Oh man, to be honest that's where the money's at -- songwriting. It ain' t goin' up and down the road.

CATHI: I don't think you can live in Nashville long without figuring that out.

AL: Yeah, but in Nashville I really don't get no songs recorded. All my songs have been recorded in Louisiana or Europe. They're not interested in the stuff I write up here. They got the song-writing machine you know (laughs); they crank 'em out for the cowboys. But I like my farm here. I live in a nice, quiet country area. In Louisiana I was pretty much livin' in town and I was somewhat stayin' in trouble.

CATHI: (Laughs.) That's right -- all those gunfighters -- it's tough.

AL: I wasn't going to do it living there you know? There's a lot of temptation -- a LOT of temptation, and sometimes that's the worst thing.

CATHI: I know you go out on short tours so you can be home with your daughter, but do you mind being on the road?

AL: No, I always think, "Well, I could be sittin' at home with no job, or workin' at the factory and be completely miserable. And I like to entertain people; I'm a ham.

CATHI: NO!

AL: (Laughter.) And I live for the applause. So I truly love what I do and consider myself lucky to do it. When people say, "Man, are we gonna have some time off?" Well, you know, it's just like if you was working somewhere's else. I say, "We take off at Christmas and Thanksgiving!" (Laughs.)

CATHI: Tell me about the band.

AL: Well, I've been through some guitar players -- I'm kinda particular -- and I couldn't find nobody that struck my fancy. But one day I heard a Sherman Robertson album and really liked a guitar player on "Make It Rain." I found out he was living right here in Nashville! So I called Tim (Wagoner) up and he came and played and we really hit it off. So he's been with me now for over a year. Our bass player's (William Scruggs) cool too -- he's from Nashville and has been with us about six months.

CATHI: How about Red?

AL: Red, oh man! Red actually won the Louisiana championship for harmonica. He was studying to be an opera singer at LSU! He's the first harmonica player to ever play in the symphony orchestra at LSU. He can play reggae, classical, and is one of the most versatile harp players I've ever played with in my life. He pushes things to another level.

CATHI: He looks like a demure sort (laughs).

AL: Yeah, He's not shy. He's shy if you went up and talked to him, but on state -- un uh. He's sponsored by Lee Oscar and Hohner, and he's recorded…with everybody.

CATHI: What are the ages of the band members?

AL: Let's see. William is my age -- 39, Red's 42, and Tim's 45.

CATHI: Nice grouping. You guys have been around the block?

AL: Oh yeah, when you see us, you'll know (laughter)!

CATHI: So are YOU endorsed, or do you endorse anybody Al?

AL: No, although I would endorse Abita Beer -- which is a beer from Louisiana (laughter). Not because of the alcohol content but the water it's made out of (laughter).

CATHI: (Laughs.) Swamp?

AL: (Laughter)

CATHI: Well, thanks Al -- hope I run into you soon.

AL: Me too! I'll be the short good-lookin' guy on drums (wild laughter)!