{"id":13872,"date":"2014-05-29T16:51:06","date_gmt":"2014-05-29T21:51:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=13872"},"modified":"2017-07-24T14:39:18","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T20:39:18","slug":"interview-with-tyler-keith-on-his-legendary-garage-rock-band-the-neckbones","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/interview-with-tyler-keith-on-his-legendary-garage-rock-band-the-neckbones\/","title":{"rendered":"Interview with Tyler Keith on his legendary Garage Rock band, The\u00a0Neckbones"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"The<\/a><\/strong><\/h2>\n

Interview and most photographs
\nby Newt Rayburn<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\"Paypal-Buy-Now-button-JPEG_wide\"<\/a><\/span>from\u00a0<\/a>The Local Voice<\/i><\/a>\u00a0#31<\/a>
\n<\/a><\/span>June 28, 2007<\/a><\/h3>\n

Download\u00a0The Local Voice #31 PDF\u00a099\u00a2<\/a><\/span><\/h3>\n

Publisher’s note: On July 20, 2017, The Local Voice<\/em><\/strong> was notified by Google Adsense<\/strong> that this page was in violation of their policies concerning “sexually suggestive or intended to sexually arouse. This includes, but is not limited to: pornographic images, videos, or games and sexually gratifying text, images, audio, or video.” We were told to either remove the content they would no longer serve ads to TheLocalVoice.net<\/a>. Because it is not possible at this time to just remove their ads from just this one page on our site, we have been forced to censor the content of some of The Neckbones<\/strong> record covers, flyers, and videos. We adamantly disagree with Google’s assertion that we were serving pornographic images, but we have no recourse of action to challenge them. We apologize for having to remove The Neckbones original art.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Oxford, Miss. (TLV) \u2013 The first time I ever saw\u00a0The Neckbones<\/strong>, was in early 1993 at\u00a0Lafayette\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0(now\u00a0The Library<\/strong>) opening up for\u00a0Blue Mountain<\/strong>. The band consisted of\u00a0Dave Boyer<\/strong>\u00a0(guitar),\u00a0Forrest Hewes\u00a0<\/strong>(drums), and\u00a0Robbie Alexander<\/strong>\u00a0(bass).*<\/span><\/p>\n

They looked like your typical\u00a0Ole Miss<\/strong>\u00a0students at the time, but these guys were rocking out to a high energy beat. Dave was plucking his guitar\u00a0with his teeth and he held it behind his head to do a solo. It was awesome, but that was just the tip of the iceberg to what was about to happen to the band.<\/span><\/p>\n

When\u00a0Tyler Keith\u00a0<\/strong>joined The Neckbones later that summer on guitar, the band went from being a good entertaining band, to a great rocknroll experience. If you were there, you know what I am talking about.<\/span><\/p>\n

White Stripes<\/strong>,\u00a0The Hives<\/strong>,\u00a0The Oblivians<\/strong>, name whatever garage band you want. I have seen and heard a lot of these bands over the years. I\u2019m here to tell you that The Neckbones blow them all away. They aren\u2019t just one of Oxford\u2019s greatest bands, The Neckbones are one of the greatest bands anywhere. It\u2019s a crying shame that they never achieved the success they rightfully deserved.<\/span><\/p>\n

In June of 2007, I interviewed Tyler Keith for\u00a0The Local Voice<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

* On second thought, the first time I saw The Neckbones\u00a0was actually in 1992 at the\u00a0Hoka Theatre<\/b>\u00a0at a Humane Society Benefit show that also featured\u00a0Tim Lee, John Stirratt, The Backwoods Mississippi Anarchy Orchestra<\/b>, and the\u00a0M0squito Brothers<\/b>.<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>\"The<\/a><\/p>\n

The Neckbones live at The Cooter Estate, 1993. Photographs and Collage by Newt Rayburn.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/a>
Tyler Keith of The\u00a0Neckbones live at\u00a0The\u00a0Cooter Estate in Oxford, Mississippi, 1993. Photography by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I\u2019m personally excited about the Neckbones getting back together and I know a lot of other people are too, so let\u2019s talk about The Neckbones. When did The Neckbones start, when did it end, and tell me who\u2019s in the band?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Neckbones started in 1992 or \u201893 before I joined. It was Dave Boyer, Forrest Hewes, and Robbie Alexander. They were a 3-piece and I joined in 1993. I started to live with Forrest, he had an attic space, I lived up there and we started playing. Dave and Robbie were gone for the summer. <\/span><\/p>\n

It was right across from the Ice House on Van Buren Avenue. That was the old Hilltops house. Five\u00a0people lived there at the time. <\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, so seven or eight years later, we stopped playing because our bass player quit, Robbie, and he quit somewhere around 1999 maybe and then we did another tour in Spring 2000. <\/span><\/p>\n

We went to Europe with T-Model Ford and with Amos Harvey on bass. Then we just kinda didn\u2019t play. It wasn\u2019t like a breakup. We\u2019ve gotten together for the 4 or 5 shows since 2000.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell me about The Neckbones records, the discography.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Neckbones “Pay The Rent” album was the band’s first full length CD, and the only album the band ever self released. Lawrence Wells painted the cover and Newt Rayburn help the band with graphic design and photography. The CD came out in 1994.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I think the first thing that came out was recorded by the Neckbones as 3-piece. They out a cassette called Painting in Trash<\/em>. It was a really good tape but I wasn\u2019t on that. A guy who lived in Oxford back then, Mark Roberts put out about 50 of them on his label, Fishtone Records. It was supposed to be more, but even the smallest record labels rarely come through with whatever their agreement was, even the cassette market. Mark ended up using most of the cassettes to record Clay Jones and Neilson Hubbard\u2019s band, Spoon. That cassette was before I was in the band. I joined after that.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The
The Neckbones “Souls on Fire” was the band’s first Lp on Fat Possum Records.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We did a 7 inch EP and that was released on the Seven Inch Mentality label in Memphis. That\u2019s the one with the doll on it. That was our first 7 inch and a lot of those songs appeared on our first full length album, Pay The Rent<\/em>, which we put out ourself. We recorded some of that in Memphis and some of that with Bruce Watson, I think, at Zombie Birdhouse studio, which was at the time out on Highway 6.<\/span><\/p>\n

That old house that looks like a barn.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a>
The Neckbones – The Lights Are Getting Dim – Fat Possum Records<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yeah, so they must have formed in 1992 or maybe 1991 and then I guess about two or three years later we recorded a bunch of stuff, and Fat Possum wanted to release our records because we were having some big shows and stuff and playing really well. They had a conflict at the time with their partner company, Capricorn Records. We had the material for Souls On Fire<\/em> but it took a few years for it to come out. I don\u2019t think it came out until 1997, after Fat Possum switched to Epitaph Records, in between that time we did put out a single of \u201cHit Me\u201d and \u201cBad Boy\u201d that was on Sympathy For the Record Industry.<\/span><\/p>\n

So why did it take so long, were you on Fat Possum for a while before a record came out?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We were on because they weren\u2019t putting out any records for a while because of legal issues. Then that came out and then after that we put out another single \u201c64 Days\u201d and \u201cWe\u2019re All Winners\u201d on Misprint Records. That one came out right before The Lights Are Getting Dim<\/em>, our last full length with Fat Possum. That came out in 1999. Then we have the 10 inch Gentlemen<\/em> which was a lot of the tracks that didn\u2019t make it on the record for whatever reason. This was our final release, which was one of the better ones. I like it a lot.\"Gentlemen\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I have to agree with that. Tell me about the pre-Neckbones days.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I started playing music just as a kid, my family, my Dad, everybody played. I was forced into piano lessons of course. I played in the orchestra. My dad had a Bluegrass band, he taught me to play guitar and stand-up bass, then I developed from there. Yeah, I came from a music family. It was kind of square, I thought at the time. I discovered The Who when I was 13, got an electric guitar. In the beginning it took a while to grasp, to get confidence.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Forrest<\/a>
Forrest Hewes and Robbie Alexander with The Neckbones live at Ireland’s in 1994. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I played in punk rock bands, but just in bedrooms, we never played any shows. I couldn\u2019t play fast. I was playing with the kind of people that wanted to play fast, I couldn’t. I was just inspired by that.<\/span><\/p>\n

I moved to Oxford and started playing with Paul Tucker in The Sky Pilots. That was Spring 1991. That was the first real band I was in that played shows. He turned me on to a lot of great music. Paul had a bit more experience and stuff. He was a couple of years older than me. We played for a couple of years, two and a half years, maybe. <\/span><\/p>\n

I felt like I\u2019d gotten some rock lessons. Then I joined The Cooters as a drummer, but I wasn’t much of a drummer. But I was the original Cooters drummer!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Robbie<\/a>
Robbie Alexander and Dave Boyer with The Neckbones in 1993 at The Cooter Estate. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How did you meet up with The Neckbones? They were playing around town at the same time as a three piece.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I really liked what they were doing, they had a lot of energy and skills, to me they seemed different than the average band. When you\u2019re young 20, 21, 22, whatever, 23, you live in crappy places. A $120 bucks a month gets whatever. I\u2019d known Forrest from seeing him in the bars around town, and he had a place to live and I moved in his attic. He had a practice room set up for The Neckbones upstairs. Robbie and Dave went out of town for that summer that I was living there and we started practicing and playing some stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

I was starting to write songs and me and Forrest got a band together called The Recession Hookers with Gentry Webb… Raw Cooter… and this other guy named Lester. We went and recorded 4 songs. That was the first time I\u2019d ever recorded a song that I\u2019d written lyrics to, it was called \u201cDeadbeat.\u201d Yeah, that was before I was in The Neckbones. I think they had been talking about having another guitar player and maybe somebody else to sing because Forrest was pulling all the vocals.<\/span><\/p>\n

A lot of those shows back then you know you would play two sets, two long sets a night, 25 songs, I think they wanted another guitar player and singer. I really wanted to play guitar so it worked out perfectly. We got that place out on Highway 334 at the corner of Fudgetown Road. We\u2019d practice a lot. I immediately felt a real musical connection.<\/span><\/p>\n

I think that was the first show I ever played with The Neckbones was at The Cooter Estate on Highway 334. We also started doing some shows in Memphis right off and they were going pretty well, playing with some bands like The Simple Ones. We played with them a lot down here and up there. Jared, the singer of The Simple Ones, had a recording studio in his basement. He was starting a record label called 7 Inch Mentality and he wanted to do a record with us. We went in there, some of the guitars plugged straight into the board. It was real raunchy, great sound. Completely raw.\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

The Neckbones already had quite a few originals before I joined. I just started writing. We had a great practice space out in the country where you could play all hours of the night. We recorded some more songs with Bruce Watson. I was not going to class at Ole Miss. I just played guitar all day! We had quite a bit of songs recorded. It took us a while to find somebody to give us the money to make a CD. I think at about that time they were really expensive compared to today. They\u2019ve gotten cheaper since.<\/span><\/p>\n

So we didn\u2019t have two or three grand so we conned one of Forrest\u2019s, Dave, and Robbie\u2019s friends from the coast into putting out our first CD. I think he ended up going into rehab right after, so we\u2019d kinda got possession of them! We didn\u2019t really know anything about distribution or how to get them to anybody. Somebody probably still has quite a few of them sitting in a box somewhere, I\u2019m sure. I don\u2019t know who, but, so, yeah that was the first few records there. It’s a good album. Its a lot different from some of the other bands at the time.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tyler's<\/a>
Tyler Keith’s first show with The Neckbones, at The Cooter Estate in Oxford, Mississippi in 1993. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Oh yeah! Some of my favorite songs that ya\u2019ll ever did were on the first record.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Forrest<\/a>
Forrest Hewes and Robbie Alexander with The Neckbones live at Ireland’s in 1994. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It has a live quality, I think, because we were really having a great time playing together. It was like an electricity. There still is! A combination of certain people makes you play better. There\u2019s a lot of competition and so forth, it makes things better inside the band. You have to keep up with the people in your band.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, y’all were really unique because you didn’t have just 1 or 2 songwriters, you had 3 in the band, at least 3, and then you had 3 different people singing songs, so none of your songs sounded the same, but they all had that feel.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Right, it was really, it\u2019s hard to top that. If you were playing in a band where one person mainly sings, it\u2019s a lot harder you know? It\u2019s not as much fun really, to be honest. You rarely see 3 people singing. It sounds powerful. Our 7 inch was recorded in Memphis and our first CD was recorded at Bruce Watson\u2019s house on Beanland Avenue. We looked up to Blue Mountain as a model, because they did a lot of stuff themselves, they worked extremely hard you know? I\u2019d go over to their house and they were always playing music all the time, they always had a gig, Laurie always worked the phone. Blue Mountain, they were really a model of as far as working music, they didn’t drink which helped immensely, I\u2019m sure.<\/span><\/p>\n

Blue Mountain used one of Lawrence Wells\u2019s paintings on their first record. He was an artist living in Oxford back then. I liked his paintings. He let us go through his paintings and we picked out this one that had like four insects on there. Lawrence was one of the greatest dancers I\u2019ve ever seen at live shows, and just an all around talented artist.<\/span><\/p>\n

We got\u00a0Pay The Rent<\/em>\u00a0mastered by this guy from Memphis who had mastered amazingly classic records, wow, we\u2019re getting him to do it. After we got all the CDs pressed up and played it for the first time, about the 4th song, it starts up and stops about 10 seconds through and starts over, which was, at the time, really heartbreaking. It\u2019s no big deal now looking back, cause this was our first CD that was good and we were sure that something was going to happen like that. We thought that it would ruin everything, but it is great looking back.\"Tyler<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Not long after\u00a0Pay the Rent<\/em>\u00a0came out, you guys signed to Fat Possum Records. How did you hook up with them and what was it like being on a blues label, positive or negative?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that\u2019s a complicated question. I think we got on the label because they wanted to get a rock band on there. We were playing some shows at the time at Ireland\u2019s, which is now Murff\u2019s (editor’s note: as of 2014, this bar is now Frank & Marlee’s),<\/em> and we were on fire and there was 100 people there every time, so crammed in there the floors would be shaking. We had some really rabid fans in town!<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d known Matthew Johnson, who runs Fat Possum. I had a class with him on campus at Ole Miss. He saw us play, and I think part of it was, he didn\u2019t want someone else to sign us before he did. I\u2019m not saying anybody else would have, but he could tell we had something going here. It was an incredibly exciting idea because Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside are complete heroes. We\u2019d been out to their club a lot, and it was some of the greatest music I\u2019d ever seen… most unique experience I\u2019d ever had.<\/span><\/p>\n

The thought of getting to play with these people was a dream come true, but by the time our first Fat Possum record,\u00a0Souls on Fire<\/em>, came out there had been so much time gone by. And there were a lot of weird mind games going on where certain people were pitted against each other. It was really a stupid thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dave
Dave Boyer in 1994. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the time\u00a0Souls on Fire<\/em>\u00a0actually came out there was already certain resentments by certain band members and certain label people just because it\u2019s a small town and I don\u2019t think anybody in our band is particularly comfortable with authority. A lot of misunderstandings by what some people thought we should do. It was just complicated. There was a lot of push and pull, and there was an incident the day our record came out.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, lets talk about that. The night Souls on Fire<\/em> was released, you guys had a party at Proud Larry\u2019s and that night\u2019s infamously known as one of the \u201cMost Shocking Moments in Oxford Music History.\u201d What happened?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It was a stupid drunken incident basically. There were some things behind it. It was a real triumph for us finally to have this record coming out. Some people… Matthew likes to push people\u2019s buttons, that night he pushed the wrong person\u2019s buttons at an inappropriate time, and was bitch slapped for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

We payed for it in a lot of ways, but it was worth it. They were putting in their catalogs \u201cThe Neckbones are pussies but we love them anyway,\u201d \u201cThe Neckbones sound like .38 Special.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

None of those tours with R.L. or Junior or any of those people came out of it. Sort of backbiting behind each other\u2019s backs, but we were guilty of it. But you know, artists don\u2019t really want to have an authority figure with the people you\u2019re supposed to be working with, a clash, basically where you don\u2019t have to tell me what to do.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was kind of stupid, macho crap. The incident did happen, the only reason it was a big deal was because some people around town might have enjoyed the story.\"\"<\/span><\/p>\n

It was definitely talked about, it was the night your first record with Fat Possum came out, it was a huge talked about incident at the time. Do you think that it really hurt your career with Fat Possum? It seems that they didn’t ever really push you guys like they were pushing other artists on the label, in my opinion.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, it did hurt us but then it happened again a couple of times because I think that what we felt whether it was right or not, we felt a lack of respect. So yeah, i think it hurt, it\u2019s one of those things that I wouldn’t take any of it back, cause I\u2019m not going to back down from any of that. I think it hurt everybody involved. It hurt, we could have sold more records… it could have been more enjoyable, but I don\u2019t regret it, but yeah, it did hurt. It was dumb… rock\u2019n roll is dumb, that\u2019s just the nature of it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about Souls on Fire<\/em>. A lot of people consider that the quintessential Neckbones album, tell me about recording that.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We recorded this one at Bruce\u2019s studio. We did record 1 or 2 songs with Jeffrey Reed at the Hog\u2019s Nest in Little Rock owned by Dale Hawkins, writer of \u201cSuzy Q.\u201d He\u2019 as legendary rockabilly star. We recorded some stuff with Jeffrey Reed over there and that was really good. But mainly I think this was recorded in that warehouse on South 16th. It took a long time to make this record because of various business things. We had a lot of songs to choose from, a lot more time, we\u2019d play quite a few shows, it was more of a mature effort. I think it is probably all the way through our best record, but not by a lot. I think the other ones are really good, close to, I think it\u2019s just because we were at the top of our playing.\"The
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell me about the cover of Souls on Fire<\/em>, who is this girl?!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s Emily Marshall, a girlfriend of Dale Beavers. She sent him this picture for Valentine\u2019s Day. She actually sent him a whole roll of these pictures for her Valentine\u2019s Day. Dale was a friend of mine. I just picked this one out to use for the cover. It seemed to capture something. I\u2019m not sure what the heck is going on there! We ended up having to pay her for it.<\/span><\/p>\n

How did she feel about it after it came out?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I think after she got paid for it she felt alright about it, I think she might have liked to have had a choice in which photo we picked.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s move on to\u00a0The Lights Are Getting Dim<\/em>. This record was recorded by Bruce Watson again, but John Stirratt of Wilco mixed this album?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, he did, he mixed it after we recorded it, we got him to mix it. He was from Oxford, and we kind of felt we needed a fresh set of ears on it. We knew he wouldn\u2019t really charge much or anything. He has a really good ear, really wanted to get somebody that knew us and knew what we did, some fresh ears on it. That album was recorded at Bruce\u2019s house off Highway 6 going towards Pontotoc. There used to be a karate dojo in back and we recorded in there. It was really fun sessions, we had a lot of people play on it!\"\"
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, tell me about that, you got JoJo from Widespread Panic, Jack from The Oblivians, pedal steelist Bob Egan, Cary Hudson and Laurie Stirratt of Blue Mountain. That\u2019s a room full of people right there!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

They all came out at different times. Bob Egan was living in Oxford and we wanted him to come to the studio. JoJo lived here at the time and was a partner in Fat Possum and he\u2019d always liked our band. Jack Oblivian was a friend and we were definitely very big fans of his music. I think we were just trying to do a little more with more instrumentation. There was a lot of, gotten to the point where a lot of bands were just sounding just the same old garagey sort of sound. I think we were trying to, trying to… I don\u2019t know if it worked or not… trying to have a little bit more layers, a few… the saxophone, piano, to make it a little more nuanced.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s pretty natural for any band writing their 3rd album definitely. You think about what else can you do in the studio besides just playing straight up rocknroll, sometimes its fun to experiment and you guys do that on this album.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah the whole part about being in a rocknroll band is pretending like you\u2019re whatever you read about your hero or whatever, hey, I can go into the studio do something interesting! That\u2019s part of the fantasy, that\u2019s part of the fun. I think it turned out really well.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another thing about this record,\u00a0The Lights Are Getting Dim<\/em>. This record barely came out because another incident occurred. I basically had to beg them. Fat Possum was charging us for studio time, against our royalties. They said they would put it out but not do anything. I borrowed money from my sister to hire a publicist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Amos Harvey was touring with and booking R.L. I think he got us on a couple of weeks there right when the record came out he ended up booking us in the spring in Europe clandestinely, without the label\u2019s knowledge. I basically hired a publicist for 1500 bucks a month to help, but it started to die around that time. It was such a struggle to keep it going, all that business trying to afford to tour, just trying to live a slightly clean life.\"neckbonesIrelands-3-450\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

We had a lot of left over songs so that\u2019s why we put out\u00a0Gentlemen<\/em>, our 10-inch. We\u2019d actually done a lot of sessions for\u00a0The Lights Are Getting Dim<\/em>\u00a0and some is from\u00a0Souls on Fire<\/em>, a lot of stuff left over, both those records had 16 songs each. I don\u2019t like a record that\u2019s 70 minutes long, you should be 35-40 minutes, after that people get bored. Just because you can put 85 minutes on a CD doesn’t mean that you should. We had a lot of good tracks left over and I know a lot of people are like, \u201cwhy didn’t that get on,\u201d it\u2019s just when you start looking at the sequencing, trying to put an album together, some things just don\u2019t make it on there.<\/span><\/p>\n

The 10 inch,\u00a0Gentlemen<\/em>. I don\u2019t know how many people heard that record compared to\u00a0Souls on Fire<\/em>\u00a0or\u00a0The Lights Are Getting Dim<\/em>, but it is really, in a way, your best release.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I think so, it\u2019s a solid, it\u2019s a really great thing.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cover art, everything, the whole package is there.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I think it was. The weird thing about it was the songs got left off those other records, but when you put them together, they seemed like they fit just right.\"GentlemenBackcover-450\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I didn’t know that record had been released. I was with The Cooters in Nashville, and we were at a record store and I was like, \u201cHey, look at this, I’ve never seen this before\u201d and turned it over and saw the back cover and everybody was on the floor laughing! That\u2019s one of the greatest back covers ever!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I love vintage records, they look cool. Yeah, so that was the last thing that we put out and then Robbie kind of moved on, he was tired. What happened basically the end we had a show in Memphis and we\u2019d been struggling for years, we have like a handful of people who really like us that came every time, really good people, wasn’t that many, and we were really starting to make a little headway up there, the shows were starting to get a lot of people there.<\/span><\/p>\n

We had one show that was our own show. We had a lot of people. That was probably our biggest show ever, our own show, not opening up for anybody. Robbie just did not show up, and he just refused to come. George Sheldon was there so we were like \u201cGeorge, jump on bass, you\u2019ll have to hang on!\u201d So he jumped up there and it turned out to be a really great show.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the thought of getting somebody else permanently to replace Robbie… I think we were all just kind of like, we\u2019d done a lot of good things in our time, getting somebody else may not really be worth this. We didn’t have a label then either. Basically, we were back at the beginning, I don\u2019t think anybody really wanted to try and do that kind of work, you just get tired of it, but we got together for a tour of Europe with T-Model Ford in Spring 2000. That was a really great experience. The Neckbones didn’t break up, we just decided not to play for a while, kind of take a break.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"T-Model<\/a>
T-Model Ford and Tyler Keith. Photo still taken from Tyler Keith’s interview “On The Porch with T-Model Ford” http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=7669<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You did the European tour with T-Model Ford in 2000 with Amos Harvey on bass, tell me about that because that\u2019s obviously not something that a lot of bands get to do.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Amos orchestrated that tour because he liked our band a lot, he could play bass, so he could play bass with us and take us around with T-Model Ford, I think he felt some empathy towards us because he booked this tour behind Fat Possum\u2019s back, kind of stuck his neck out there doing it, which we really appreciate.<\/span><\/p>\n

Fat Possum just wanted to write us off and forget about it but we didn’t get to do that because one of the best experiences ever was had to play all these shows with T-Model Ford who is very inspiring person. I think he has more love for music than any person I’ve ever seen. I’ve never seen anybody play as much.<\/span><\/p>\n

He comes to the club at 3 o\u2019clock in the afternoon, he starts playing at 3 o\u2019clock in the afternoon, you have to take the guitar away from him that night, he\u2019ll play a good 10 hours with a smile, he had an incredibly hard life, he\u2019s not bitter at all, he\u2019s tough. We were drinking and partying up in his room after shows and he\u2019d have his shirt off and he pulled up his pants, he\u2019s got this ball and chain scar on his ankle from being on a chain in 1948. This guy stabbed him in the back. He\u2019s like, \u201cLook at my back. I had to whip my knife out and grabbed him by the neck and killed him after he stabbed me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Just telling stories, it was funny, he got a lot more action with the women than any of us! He would totally show off. He would hook up with these odd European women and make out in front of us, he\u2019d be like, \u201chey, watch this.\u201d It was pretty amazing, an 80 year old man is getting more action than you, and you\u2019re like 27, that\u2019s pretty humbling, you know who\u2019s got the goods.\"NeckbonesIrelands-450\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

You guys covered a T-Model Ford song, which album was that on?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Lights Are Getting Dim<\/em>, \u201cNobody Gets Me Down.\u201d We used to play that every night, he liked to hear it, he\u2019d get excited. It was really a great experience being around him. We did another 2 1\/2 weeks with R. L. Burnside. That was as equally another really great experience. These people are very giving.<\/span><\/p>\n

We were staying on R.L.\u2019s floor, he\u2019s like, \u201cGet up in the bed with me.\u201d He was just really genuine. That just made it all worth it for me, to have some interaction with those people, that made everything we went through worth it. We went to the East Coast and Mid-West with R.L. He was playing with Kenny Brown and Cedric Burnside, it was 3 piece, two guitars and drums. We traded jokes with R.L. and drank a lot of whiskey. So much of it is an alcoholic haze. We did drink quite a bit.<\/span><\/p>\n

You guys would out-drink every band in town!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We did, you get a reputation for it, which was sometimes harmful. We rarely did bad shows despite how much we drank, there were a few, but not many, there was definitely a lot of drinking. One time in Europe, we played where marijuana was legal. We smoked so much of that, I couldn’t play, completely incapable of doing anything, just standing on stage going uh, uhh,uh, I can\u2019t… I don\u2019t know… a lot of the memories are not clear.<\/span><\/p>\n

You didn’t know what to expect at a Neckbones show. There was a lot of chaos going on; you didn’t know if a fight was gonna break out, or somebody was gonna get smashed or what! There was a show you guys did on Halloween of 1995 at Ireland\u2019s. You bought a Ventura guitar that day and I guess you couldn’t keep it in tune or something. The room was packed, but you got pissed off at that guitar, so much so that you started swinging it and you smashed it in the middle of a song! I couldn’t get out of the way fast enough, and you ended up breaking\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I broke your toe!<\/span><\/p>\n

You broke my toe! I’ve still got what\u2019s left of that guitar, too!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s awesome! I\u2019m sorry about that!<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It was a great memory. I got my toe broken by a Neckbone.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Robbie used to play with a broken arm for a while. He had a cast and he would smash his cast open every show, he\u2019d have to go get another cast every time we played. I’ve never felt that kind of energy focused since. But I hurt myself pretty bad in the end, just jumping off stuff, my knees. I\u2019m kind of frightened to do that stuff, I mean, maybe I’ve gotten too old.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember that show, in Memphis, I was talking about that George Sheldon played? I climbed up on a stack of speakers and it was way too high. But once you\u2019re up there you can\u2019t just climb back down, you have to jump; I made it, but the shock \u2013 it hurt. The music was real physical and I really enjoyed that. Because people would get, the crowd would get whipped up in this strange, chaotic circle. Someone could get punched or something could get broken, it was great.\"NeckbonesBlueMountain-450\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

So, towards the end of The Neckbones\u2026 I don\u2019t know if \u201cbroken up\u201d is the way to put it, but sometime around that time was when you started The Preacher\u2019s Kids and did the Romeo Hood<\/em> album. Was The Neckbones still going on during that time?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No, that was after we went to Europe and we really didn’t have a bass player and I was still kind of eager to go on the road. I think I was the only one at that point. I had some songs at that point, and it was, again, taking a long time for the record to come out. We weren’t the best practicing band, but I was doing a lot of home recordings and stuff.<\/span><\/p>\n

So, I just went down and recorded a record of these songs I had with basically Blue Mountain backing me up down at Chris Hudson\u2019s. And it was kinda just gonna be a solo record, and I just called it Tyler Keith and The Preacher\u2019s Kids cause I didn’t have a band. So it wasn’t supposed to be anything like\u2026I just wanted to make a record, really\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

But that ended up being your next band.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Robbie<\/a>
Robbie Alexander at Irelands 1994. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Yeah, cause Dave basically started The Cool Jerks right around then, but Dave was playing in The Preacher\u2019s Kids at first, too. So, it wasn’t really that serious at first. Black Dog, the label wanted to put out the record, so it got a little more serious, I wanted to go out and put a band together or something. But at the time it was just to make a record, really. I had a collection of songs. Sometimes you just write songs in clumps and it\u2019s hard to go on to the next clump if you don\u2019t do something with this, you know what I mean? So that\u2019s kind of why, I just had some songs that I wanted to get out. Cause if you don\u2019t, you lose interest and then you even forget about some songs. Somebody\u2019s like, \u201cYou remember that song?\u201d and you\u2019re like \u201cOh yeah\u2026\u201d For me anyway, unless you put it together it can just go all over the place.<\/span><\/p>\n

You said that after Robbie quit the band, you weren’t really wanting to replace Robbie, but I understand he\u2019s not playing at these Neckbones reunion shows?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

He\u2019s not. But we played a couple of years ago and he played. We played like two years ago and he played on that, but we haven\u2019t really been able to get in touch with him and I just have the feeling he probably doesn’t\u2026 I don\u2019t know, he\u2019s kind of a reclusive guy. I think he\u2019s in Florida somewhere, but we decided to play anyway with Van Thompson. I haven\u2019t seen Robbie since 2004.<\/span><\/p>\n

Talk about some of the shows you guys played.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The Cooter Estate was really the first venue that I played. We played there quite a bit at first, and there was not really a place where touring bands could play, punk rock bands, at that time except The Cooter Estate<\/em>. So, we started playing there and those shows were always great. It was best to be the first couple bands, so you could get in before the cops came or the keg floated or somebody broke into your car or something, but yeah, those were great.\"Neckbones<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Then the Hoka was always fun cause you could play films behind you and that was always fun. You could bring your own beer. We played with The Oblivions, Load, Man or Astro-Man, The Woggles, so many band… Like I said, a lot of brain cells are gone since then. But I saw Beat Happening, and some other stuff, Grisham\u2019s Army \u2013 I don\u2019t think we played with them, but I saw them.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s see, Ireland\u2019s\u2026 that was\u2026 Forrest had a lot of friends from the coast and there was a lot of wildness. So at the time there were a lot of Mexican pills. So some people were wild and some people could barely stand up. That\u2019s when we got a full set of basically originals, a long hour and a half of music and it was jam-packed in there. When you played upstairs, the floor would just be bouncing.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the weird thing about playing in a college town \u2013 after three or four years, half your crowd or more has graduated and moved on and you kind of gotta keep starting over. But that was our first big crowd; it\u2019s really good for your confidence. There was always this feeling of you gotta be cool, but it was good to have your own thing, good to have that Ireland\u2019s thing early on so you could be more self-reliant and be more secure.\"NeckbonesGrifters-450\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah. You guys definitely had a loyal following.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, but it was not really a scene, per se, here, because all the bands were of different genres, but that was always good, I thought. Because you totally develop independently of other things which is really important for trying to have some originality as an artist.<\/span><\/p>\n

That time period 1993, 1994, was a very exciting time in Oxford.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It was. Everything was still cheap to live, too, and the drinks were cheap. I don\u2019t think the money you pay to see a band has changed since the 1960\u2019s, you know bands now get paid nothing. Back in the \u201860\u2019s they were getting 2 or 3 bucks at the door. Now, forty years later, we\u2019re still getting 5 bucks at the door. People will complain about a door charge, and then they\u2019ll go in and buy one shot for like seven bucks and throw it down their throat. That\u2019s just sad. I think that\u2019s a problem, why bands can\u2019t charge\u2026 people go in there and pay 3 dollars for a cup of draft beer and then no one will wanna pay you. That\u2019s the whole problem, why bands can\u2019t afford to keep doing it. Inflation\u2019s gone up, and things are more expensive, but I don\u2019t think the pay for bands has really changed much. I don\u2019t know, maybe that\u2019s just bitterness\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

No, you\u2019re exactly right.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And the promoters aren’t willing to do their job. The promoters, they book you, they don\u2019t promote you. There\u2019s no promotion involved. I’ve booked your show in here, that\u2019s about it. Here\u2019s your two drink tickets, have fun with that. I think it has something to do with Baby Boomers, the people that run these bars, the most tight people that have ever lived. I think it has something to do with Baby Boomers, the people that run these bars, the most tight people that have ever lived. I think the state we\u2019re in in general is because of this.\"NeckbonesForresters-450\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, now that we\u2019re on this subject, Oxford in \u201993 \u2013 \u201994 compared to now, I mean it\u2019s a big difference. Talk about that a little bit.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a big difference, community-wise\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think The Neckbones could, if it had never happened, do you think the same thing could happen now in Oxford?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I think it\u2019s possible, yeah. I think there\u2019s some good younger bands in town here that are coming up. The worse it gets, the more of that is gonna come out, cause kids are the first people to hate the homogenizing of their own town. We’ve got a lot of good bands coming down the track here just because\u2026there\u2019s a lot of real stupid kids around, but there\u2019s a lot of really sharp kids that are digging the stuff, maybe not as big a crowd of people.I think, yeah, the college kids have changed a lot. They all look exactly the same, but some of the other kids that aren’t like that\u2026I don\u2019t know. There\u2019s less, but the kids that are into good things are more into than I was because they have more access.<\/span><\/p>\n

1993 there was no internet. It\u2019s easier for bands to make connections now. But they can also find out more about the roots of things. You can go on there and find out about the MC-5 really quick. I remember trying to find those records before they were out on CD. It would take years to even find one of their records.So, I think it could happen here and it probably will because you can\u2019t really try to make something, make this town into something that its not.<\/span><\/p>\n

This town is not a resort, whether you want to make it one or not. And if, God forbid, if there\u2019s ever any kind of economic crisis in this country or stock market crash, these places are gonna be empty. I mean, these people have so much money that they\u2019re allowed to buy these extra houses, but eventually, if something happens, I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s getting off on a tangent. This is a nice town, and there\u2019s a college here and there\u2019s football and baseball and stuff, but it\u2019s not a resort town. There\u2019s nothing to do here except drink.<\/span><\/p>\n

I have to say you\u2019re one of the lucky musicians who has an apartment that\u2019s almost on The Square. I know a lot of other people that can\u2019t even afford to live near\u00a0Oxford. Do you see that kind of stuff hurting the music scene here? Is it running people off?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, it does run people off. You get the impression that there\u2019s some people in the town that would like to see some of the riff-raff gone. I think it\u2019s just natural anyway when people realize, I can\u2019t live like a college kid anymore and then they move. That\u2019s a natural progression and it happens. And I regret not leaving here a lot. I had opportunities and I didn’t. Sometimes I regret it, but I don\u2019t know.\"Neckbones<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m personally glad you didn’t because Oxford\u2019s been a lot better because you’ve lived here.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I regret it and don\u2019t regret it. You sacrifice a lot of personal relationships by trying to stick around and keep a band together and be a musician. The other thing about this town is there\u2019s not industry here. You can\u2019t go get a job anywhere except at the University or at a restaurant, or the hospital. You get a certain age, I don\u2019t wanna live like a scumbag and live, work in a restaurant anymore. I guess I just hung on longer than most people, I just have a high tolerance for it. I don\u2019t know. I like this place, but I think about leaving almost every day. But I do like it here.<\/span><\/p>\n

Where do you see yourself in 10 or 20 years? Do you think you\u2019ll still be here?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know. There\u2019s a good chance I\u2019ll still be here, or be back here from somewhere. I guess I keep saying about Oxford, it\u2019s not an amusement park, but it\u2019s not the real world necessarily either. I hope to be just playing some music, hopefully have 6 or 8 or 10 more records out and hopefully will have made some money on them somehow.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think The Neckbones could ever record again?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, I\u2019m sure we will. Cause Dave\u2019s got a really nice studio in his basement, so we kind of have some tentative plans to do that. We\u2019re talking about playing in Nashville, cause they live up there, but we haven\u2019t booked anything at the moment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So this may not be like a one time thing, it could be a semi-regular\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I hope not, I mean maybe biannually and then maybe a few more if we put out a record or something. I\u2019m keeping The Preacher\u2019s Kids going and I\u2019m playing some solo stuff, Kid Twist, yeah.\"NeckbonesFugazi-450\"<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

OK, back to some Neckbones stuff\u2026 You guys did a show back in the day with Fugazi at Lafayette\u2019s, and that show ended up being part of Fugazi\u2019s movie, Instrument<\/em>, and there\u2019s a section in that movie where they\u2019re backstage at Lafayette\u2019s and you can hear you guys playing in the movie. Tell me a little bit about that experience of playing with such a big band.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I didn’t really know that they were filming that. I guess I maybe remember there being some cameras or something, but we liked Fugazi a lot and it was good to play an all ages show with a lot of people. They were fairly friendly. I think I saw a couple of them drinking a beer or two, and that was kind of a shock, you know\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

A scandal!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That was great, yeah, and I remember watching that movie and going, Hey wait! They\u2019re playing \u201cSouls On Fire\u201d\u2026 you can hear it in the background playing! So, we\u2019re pretty much on our way now. We had another song on some Christina Ricci movie. It was \u201cScronky Tonk\u201d, but I can\u2019t remember the name of the movie.<\/span><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s talk about some of The Neckbones songs. What was the typical writing process like? You joined a band that was already together and they already had a style.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It was usually just kind of like bringing a song in, and bringing music in, and Forrest would just write some lyrics, and then Robbie was always good about putting in some bridges, but mainly it was just like bringing in your song. We initially practiced a lot more, so there was more interaction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Towards the end, we rarely, if ever practiced, so it was extremely hard to collaborate. Usually we would practice the day or so before a recording session. So a lot of the stuff that came off hadn’t really been played much, which was good and bad, in some ways it was more spontaneous ideas, but in other ways, there could\u2019ve been some better parts that we came up with that we did end up coming up with later live, on them. And sometimes I wish we would’ve played this on the recording.<\/span><\/p>\n

It got to be kind of an issue for me, the lack of practice, and I was just as guilty as anybody else of not getting it together, but it became a real problem towards the end was not practicing. Everybody just had to work, and had weird schedules at different times, and basically none of us, including me, made the effort to make a specific time every week, Sunday afternoon or whatever. Seriously, we didn’t practice for a couple years, and the same with The Preacher\u2019s Kids, we haven\u2019t practiced with The Preacher\u2019s Kids\u2026 and it\u2019s bad when that happens.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Still
Still Life Montage at Neckbones Nursery, 1994. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Do you think that\u2019s why you’ve been doing more solo shows?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s part of it. But part of it is that I never had the confidence to do it, but now you don\u2019t have to practice with a band to do a song. You can write it one afternoon and then that play it that night live, if you want.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Neckbones were notorious for never including any lyrics in anything that you ever released, why was that?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t know, I guess we probably weren\u2019t that confident in it. Maybe it was just, I don\u2019t know I guess we didn\u2019t really think about it in that way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I\u2019m gonna mention a song, and I want you to talk about it. \u201cTeenage Rock Idol?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dave's<\/a>
Dave Boyer’s foot switch. 1994. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Okay, that was just a fun track. I guess at the time there was a lot of\u2026 I guess it\u2019s kind of a fun mock of a straight-edge band or something. At the time I had serious issues with music that was preachy, cause there was some of that around. And basically it was just the riff, and then I just put something to it. I thought it sounded good; it was kind of comical. It was sort of about this indie-rock elitism that bothered me, just this pretension that I’ve always despised in music of any type.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCrack Whore Blues?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCrack Whore Blues\u201d\u00a0is basically an empathetic song towards a crack whore. I wrote that the night before the night we had a recording session. I decided I was gonna write the most simple song I could do, and I had the lyrical ideas. It\u2019s about realizing that a crack whore is\u2026 you\u2019re only really a few steps away from that, or I feel like I am sometimes\u2026 Anybody can end up that way. Sure, and the beginning of that is the same as a john that goes to a crack whore, you just wanna get some kicks or whatever, but then there\u2019s certain rules, like, dealing with whores\u2026 (laughs)\u2026 you just know this is about the money, has nothing else to do with it, you just gotta watch the transaction\u2026 I don\u2019t know. That\u2019s enough about that\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Neckbones<\/a>
Neckbones Boxes, 1994. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

You wrote that the night before you recorded it?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Yeah, and I’ve kind of gotten to a place where I’ve done that quite a bit where it\u2019s just like, you can over think things too much. And just say, I\u2019m gonna write a simple riff, the simplest thing, and just put it together and not think about it and not over-analyze it and just see what happens. And a lot of times it works, your first instincts are the best.<\/span><\/p>\n

That song, I remember seeing Matthew Smith cover that on acoustic guitar\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah he did a great version of it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, it was kinda cool. What\u2019s that like, seeing someone else playing your song?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Excellent. It\u2019s the best feeling. Because I didn’t know him when he moved to town he was doing it, and somebody told me and I went in there, and it was awesome. Yeah, it\u2019s great.<\/span><\/p>\n

What was The Neckbones\u2019 approach to songwriting, keep it simple?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I think that each song was different. There was an effort, maybe not talked about, to have a wide range of types, or whatever just came out. It was naturally loose, no matter what, which is always good. But it was tight; it was this weird dichotomy of tight and loose that the best rock and roll bands have, I think. And we just had that natural, we would never be rushed, there was no way to be that tight for us, because, me personally, in the beginning I was just not that good of a musician, so there was always gonna be that rough element. Dave was always great; he could always play. It wasn’t really a conscious effort of that. But there was a lot\u2026 the studio involved a lot of drinking and partying and it was always really fun. We\u2019d have go record, and then get up and go to work the next morning and still be drunk.<\/span><\/p>\n

Was that ever an issue in the studio, drinking too much, or you just did it and didn’t worry about it?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

There were some issues. Some people got, like, peed on and stuff just from being too drunk. Luckily the tapes never got peed on. It wasn’t ever an issue in the studio. It was an issue sometimes live, but not that often.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCardiac Suture?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah that was kind of, I don\u2019t know, I was trying to step it up a little bit as far a step away from \u201cCrack Whore,\u201d more of\u2026 I hesitate to say serious, but more of like a real, emotional, I don\u2019t know, a creative type of thing. I\u2019d found the title in this place, and I guess it was more of an attempt at crafting something a little bit more interesting than before, a little bit more depth. It\u2019s just about a person, it\u2019s the image of a surgeon who has a certain ability. At the time I was dating someone. Have you ever met someone who basically just saved your ass, saved your life. You know what I mean, it sounds over dramatic, but it\u2019s just about somebody you meet that knocks you out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSick Twist?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSick Twist\u201d was kind of like a \u201cCrack Whore Blues,\u201d quick type. It think I was conscious of having songs that \u2013 I personally like music that people dance to, and I wanted to make a song that people could easily dance to and I think the lyrics are meaningless and it\u2019s just a fun, dance type number. I\u2019d rather have girls dancing at the front than a bunch of shirtless dudes punching each other. That\u2019s me, call me crazy. I like the riff for it, but the lyrics are totally stupid. But yeah, it was conscious to make a dance song.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, since you\u2019re an expert at it, what makes a good dance song that girls really get into?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, if it\u2019s too fast, a girl can\u2019t dance to it, and if it\u2019s too slow, they can\u2019t. If it has too many stops it throws people off. You have to have a good beat, it has to have a hook and it\u2019s a classic formula.\"Neckbones<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVice Lord?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cVice Lord.\u201d That was my attempt at writing a rap song, but not rapping, just trying to, I don\u2019t know what you call that\u2026 the Vice Lords\u2026 just this pretending to be\u2026 I don\u2019t care for rap, but it was almost like, at the time I was not exactly living a clean life. There was lot of drinking and partying and stuff, so I just felt like this, I don\u2019t know. I just always liked it\u2026 when I lived in Jackson in the 1980\u2019s the Vice Lords were big and I always thought that was the greatest name. At the time I kind of felt like a Vice Lord, cause I was living in an extreme manner. It\u2019s kind of like the blues songs, like \u201cWho Do You Love,\u201d you know, cobra snake for a necktie, just bragging.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRed Wagon,\u201d which I have heard you do solo.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I just had a song, Forrest wrote a verse of it and I thought he would sing it really well and\u2026 Bob Egan put the pedal steel on it and I think it sounds great. I grew up with a lot of country music. We were trying to do some more textured stuff, that maybe a lot of other bands weren\u2019t capable of doing at the time.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEyeful?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

That was one of the first songs I wrote with The Neckbones. It was just about looking at people and being disgusted by the things that they enjoy. If you really look at something, just by noticing\u2026I don\u2019t know, I can\u2019t really analyze it too much, it basically was one of the first ones I did with them, it was real fun to play.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPursy Lips?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I had heard that phrase from something, I think some kind of Jack Kerouac poem or something. I thought it would make a funny\u2026you could say that and people would misinterpret you, and you could say, \u201cNo, I didn\u2019t say anything bad.\u201d And I just wanted to do like a stripper type song, and just do it in the studio, and just, hey let\u2019s try this. Basically just made it up on the spot. We got Jeff Calloway on trombone there, just trying to be spontaneous. It was stupid, sleazy.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cArt School Dropout?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, that\u2019s about when I quit school I wrote that song.\"Neckbones<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It was about quitting Ole Miss?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I was basically an English major, but it\u2019s the same thing, I guess. We started playing a lot and I would just rather have done that. I was just in no rush to get an English degree and go out in the world and teach High School or something like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I understand you\u2019re finally going back to Ole Miss to finish your degree?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It feels like I lost, you know. I feel like I failed in a way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well you shouldn’t feel that way, cause you\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, all I ever wanted was to be able to do was be a musician just for a few years without having to work another job. And I never succeeded in that; I always had to work. Just a couple of years to be a musician, but I didn’t do the work it takes to make that happen. It was always something. If you have something to fall back on, you know, if all else fails I\u2019ll do that.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/a>
Tyler Keith with The Neckbones at the reunion at The Jubilee in 2007. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So I guess all else failed and so I\u2019m back to it, so part of me is completely, just, I feel like I lost in a way. But another part of me just looks at it, like, I don\u2019t have much and it\u2019s just an accomplishment. Plus my dad said he\u2019d buy me a guitar if I graduated from college. I don\u2019t know if he remembers it, but\u2026 Yeah it would make my parents really happy. I have like 12 hours, I have 2 French courses which is gonna be hard. 200-level French courses.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, I can understand how you feel that way, but I don\u2019t think you should because you have all these great Neckbones albums and all these great Preacher\u2019s Kids albums\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

And I\u2019m proud of that. I know. I\u2019m lucky in a lot of ways. I think we did get a streak of luck with Fat Possum in that we got something right off which gave us a lot of exposure despite whatever problems arose from it. A lot of people would’ve killed for just that but we did put in a lot of work.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDead End Kids?\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cDead End Kids\u201d was sort of about myself and a bunch of other people at a certain time at Ireland\u2019s, right at the peak of that Ireland\u2019s thing. There was an instance where some kids set fire to their frat house or something and split town and I just thought that was great, cause I was feeling like that.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, what is your favorite Neckbones song?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/a>
Dave Boyer reunited with The Neckbones in 2007. Photograph by Newt Rayburn.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

I don\u2019t know. I don\u2019t really have a specific favorite. I like playing \u201cSuperstar Chevrolet\u201d \u2013 is really fun to play. I like \u201cOcean of Blues,\u201d really fun to play. I like playing \u201cCardiac Suture\u201d a lot. I really enjoy playing the stupid covers we play, like \u201cCrackpipe\u201d and \u201cBad Boy\u201d and stuff. I really enjoy playing a whole set because it goes in a lot of different directions. So much can happen, and it\u2019s really hard to say one thing, but just doing these practices has been great, it\u2019s just awesome. It just goes so many different places.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, that brings up something else. Obviously you’ve done a lot with The Preacher\u2019s Kids, too, both bands have been really great. You’ve got awesome albums with both bands, but what\u2019s the difference between playing with The Preacher\u2019s Kids versus playing with The Neckbones?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

The difference is that so much of The Neckbones for me is, that it\u2019s like my DNA, because so much of my development, so much that I learned just form the act of playing, its something that\u2019s ingrained. There\u2019s a certain dynamic and energy that comes from The Neckbones because we came together at such a critical time in each of our developments and we became really close. There\u2019s that kind of unconscious connection.<\/span><\/p>\n

And then the Preacher\u2019s Kids, frankly, some of the songwriting I think I\u2019m doing better and it\u2019s easier to focus on that part. We\u2019ve had a lot of band members, that\u2019s one different thing. Playing with Jon and Frank and Van for the last two or three years has got a different kind of dynamic. It\u2019s still powerful, but it\u2019s more interesting because it\u2019s more insular. It\u2019s more going inside, it\u2019s more like imploding.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then like The Neckbones is like going out. And the older you get as a musician, the more you can do that. It\u2019s a more intense feeling than the other thing. Even though that\u2019s great — going out — but the more intense artistic feeling is The Preacher\u2019s Kid\u2019s with going more inside yourself than bringing inside out. That\u2019s the difference, I think. It\u2019s just two different things.<\/span><\/p>\n

When you\u2019re younger, that\u2019s more important for you, but then when you get older\u2026 see with The Neckbones, sometimes I just like to jump around and explode. Sometimes with The Preacher\u2019s Kids I\u2019ll make a point to see how still I can be and just deliver and project and get into the emotion of it more instead. I think that\u2019s the difference.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Tyler<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019ll be interesting to see what the new Neckbones songs are like, cause you guys are a lot older and a lot wiser and more experienced.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019ll definitely be different. There might not be as much goofy, \u201cSick Twist\u201d type stuff, for better or for worse. Probably for worse, but I don\u2019t know.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019m sure it\u2019s gonna be great. I\u2019m excited you guys are playing again. Alright I got just a few more questions. Are there any Neckbones albums that are still available?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah, you can still get\u00a0Souls on Fire<\/em>\u00a0for sure from Fat Possum. I know they printed up like 10,000 copies cause what Epitath was doing at the time, so yeah, there\u2019s plenty of those. I imagine there\u2019s plenty of\u00a0Lights Are Getting Dim<\/em>\u00a0available on order from Fat Possum. As far as the rest, the singles are probably fairly rare. The LP\u2019s might be rare, but the 10\u201d is still available through the record company, through Misprint Records. But probably a lot of these records are not in stores.\u00a0Pay the Rent<\/em>\u00a0isn\u2019t available.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you think you\u2019ll ever put it out again, cause it\u2019s an awesome record.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to put them out and put the 10\u201d on a CD or something.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you guys have the rights to your albums? How does that work?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

We do to\u00a0Pay the Rent<\/em>, and\u00a0Dim<\/em>. I think we had some leftover stuff, some B-sides and stuff that we might put out on some things, too. I know that there\u2019s some things from before I joined, too, that will probably come out sometime.\"The<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, just going back to the Fat Possum thing, you talked about all that happened and all the chaos that surrounded back in the day, but what is it like now? Is that all water under the bridge, or is it all smoothed out or is there still some of that\u2026<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You know, I don\u2019t worry about that stuff anymore. Whenever I see those guys it\u2019s just water under the bridge for me. I\u2019m not saying that I\u2019m completely fine with everything, but I just have a lot of other stuff to worry about. For such a long time it seriously bothered me when I was in the band. It sort of went\u2026when we stopped I was able to not let it bring me down, I just let it go. Cause then you have other labels and you have a new set of resentments with new people you\u2019re working with.<\/span><\/p>\n

All these labels, and the small ones are the same as any big ones. My advice to anyone out there is put out your own records. Especially now with the internet and all that, you don\u2019t need anyone to do anything for you. And you\u2019ll own it, and you\u2019ll be happy with it and you\u2019ll have no one to blame but yourself and it\u2019s just better to do that. Unless you get a large amount of money up front from a label, you should never\u2026a small label just gets you for less money. It\u2019s complicated to make something and then do a lot of touring and then owe people money.<\/span><\/p>\n

Is that what\u2019s going on with Fat Possum now?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

No, we don\u2019t owe them money, but just after a while it\u2019s just useless, it\u2019s kind of pointless. You just gotta let it go until you get some kind of opportunity to do something about it which would be just try get your records back, buy them or something.<\/span><\/p>\n

So Fat Possum still has all the rights to those two records, then?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Yeah. But it was a group effort in fucking it up, on both sides. It\u2019s hard to look back and say\u2026right now I just really don\u2019t care. But there are some funny stories, especially once you start drinking and stuff it just gets funnier.<\/span><\/p>\n

Well, should I go get us a six pack or what?<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Well, they just get embellished a little more, is what I\u2019m saying. Have you ever seen that movie The Longest Yard<\/em>, with Burt Reynolds where he asks that old timer who got like 20 extra years for punching a guard, and he asks him if it was worth it? And he\u2019s like, \u201cIt was worth every day I served,\u201d you know that\u2019s kinda the way I feel. Whatever we did, whatever Dave did, just whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n

copyright \u00a9 2007, 2014 The Local Voice \u2013 Rayburn Publishing<\/span><\/p>\n

\"The<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interview and most photographs by Newt Rayburn from\u00a0The Local Voice\u00a0#31 June 28, 2007 Download\u00a0The Local Voice #31 PDF\u00a099\u00a2<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13826,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"video","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[52],"tags":[1418,3542,3536,936,3529,191,3502,944,3531,3534,3549,3497,3524,3521,3492,3523,3504,3557,3495,3491,583,3547,3508,3136,335,3545,3543,3520,3538,3517,3559,3528,2464,3522,3525,3527,2274,435,943,3516,3539,3540,3518,3506,3561,3558,3498,15,3494,3509,3500,909,3512,3493,3556,3503,3499,3505,1551,3554,3535,3513,167,3532,3552,3507,64,2683,251,3511,3514,3510,3560,3541,3553,249,3537,3551,2793,3526,3501],"class_list":["post-13872","post","type-post","status-publish","format-video","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music-shows","tag-amos-harvey","tag-beat-happening","tag-black-dog-records","tag-blue-mountain","tag-bob-egan","tag-bruce-watson","tag-capricorn-records","tag-cary-hudson","tag-cedric-burnside","tag-chris-hudson","tag-christina-ricci","tag-clay-jones","tag-dale-beavers","tag-dale-hawkins","tag-dave-boyer","tag-emily-marshall","tag-epitaph-records","tag-fat-possum-records","tag-fishtone-records","tag-forrest-hewes","tag-frank-marlees","tag-fugazi","tag-gentlemen","tag-gentry-webb","tag-george-sheldon","tag-goodmorning-powerheart","tag-grishams-army","tag-hogs-nest","tag-hoka-theatre","tag-irelands","tag-jack-kerouac","tag-jack-oblivian","tag-jeff-calloway","tag-jeffrey-reed","tag-john-stirratt","tag-jojo-herman","tag-junior-kimbrough","tag-kenny-brown","tag-laurie-stirratt","tag-lawrence-wells","tag-load","tag-man-or-astro-man","tag-matthew-johnson","tag-misprint-records","tag-mosquito-brothers","tag-murffs","tag-neilson-hubbard","tag-newt-rayburn","tag-painting-in-trash","tag-paul-tucker","tag-pay-the-rent","tag-r-l-burnside","tag-raw-cooter","tag-robbie-alexander","tag-seven-inch-mentality","tag-souls-on-fire","tag-spoon","tag-sympathy-for-the-record-industry","tag-t-model-ford","tag-the-backwoods-mississippi-anarchy-orchestra","tag-the-cool-jerks","tag-the-cooter-estate","tag-the-cooters","tag-the-grifters","tag-the-hives","tag-the-lights-are-getting-dim","tag-the-neckbones","tag-the-oblivians","tag-the-preachers-kids","tag-the-recession-hookers","tag-the-simple-ones","tag-the-sky-pilots","tag-the-windbreakers","tag-the-woggles","tag-tim-lee","tag-tyler-keith","tag-van-thompson","tag-white-stripes","tag-widespread-panic","tag-wilco","tag-zombie-birdhouse","post_format-post-format-video"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/NeckBpromo2-605.jpg?fit=605%2C635&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13872","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13872"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13872\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13826"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13872"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13872"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13872"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}