{"id":3427,"date":"2012-09-04T14:40:26","date_gmt":"2012-09-04T19:40:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=3427"},"modified":"2013-09-11T12:11:11","modified_gmt":"2013-09-11T17:11:11","slug":"silas-reed-n-da-books-live-at-proud-larrys-thu-96-free-by-rebecca-long-from-tlv-163","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/silas-reed-n-da-books-live-at-proud-larrys-thu-96-free-by-rebecca-long-from-tlv-163\/","title":{"rendered":"Silas Reed ‘N’ Da Books Schoolin’ Oxford on Good Sound – Interview with Silas Reed IV"},"content":{"rendered":"

 <\/p>\n

by Rebecca Long<\/span><\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"Silas Reed IV<\/strong> is one of my favorite Mississippi musicians to watch perform. He and his big band are impressive on stage. They\u2019re all excited and moved by the music they play, and that\u2019s due in no small part to Silas\u2019 personality and contagious exuberance. Originally from Knoxville, Tennessee, Silas has been an Oxford resident since May 1998. And at 23 years old, he\u2019s making waves with his music. I recently caught up with him at Proud Larrys,\u2019<\/strong> and he was happy to answer questions about his ever-evolving project, Silas Reed \u2018N\u2019 Da Books.<\/strong><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

Are you considered the bandleader? You\u2019ve gone from keys, guitar, and vocals in 2009 to leading this ragtag group of awesome dudes.<\/strong><\/span>
\nWell shoot, the band\u2019s gone through a bunch of lineup changes. Really, I should mention that core lineup: Payton Steward<\/strong> on guitar, Casey Kidd<\/strong> on keyboards, Joseph Anthony Reed<\/strong> on drums, Brian Hatch<\/strong> on bass, myself on guitar and keys and vocals. Then T.C. Mazingo<\/strong> came in to replace Casey when he went to Boston. And that was a beautiful shift because it made us a guitar-centered group. There are three guitars now. But, more or less, at the beginning, it was more of a democratic kind of thing, cause I didn\u2019t want to be seen as a dictator, but [eventually] the core lineup had to go and do their own things. People move, and I was like, \u201cWell, I\u2019m gonna keep it goin, ya know?\u201d I took the reins even tighter, and now it\u2019s turning into something reminiscent of an Ellington kind of situation, or a Count Basie. And I love those guys.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you write, arrange, and then hand it out, or do you let band mates have free reign?<\/strong> <\/span>
\n\"\"<\/a>A lot of times, it\u2019s this beautiful balance between the two. I\u2019ll give them a skeleton that\u2019s already written out, so as far as the horn parts go, most of that will be birthed out of my keyboard parts or guitar lines. I write them out so they\u2019ll have some idea of what I\u2019m thinking, and then we\u2019ll put different grooves on it. We\u2019ll double-time it, or put it in a reggae groove, or swing it, or put a break beat on it, something dance-y and moving. Really just trying to get a spirit to come through, you know what I mean? Because one thing I\u2019ve found\u2014there\u2019ll be one song that everybody in the band would agree is good, you know what I mean, whether I wrote it or it was a combined effort\u2014and we\u2019ll play it one rehearsal and we\u2019ll get goosebumps, and the next rehearsal, maybe, \u201cNyeh,\u201d you know? <\/span><\/p>\n

If folks don\u2019t show up to practice, they don\u2019t just jump onstage with you. You don\u2019t like mediocrity, it would seem?<\/strong> <\/span>
\nIt\u2019s a case-by-case thing. It is getting to where it\u2019s that strict, but people like Mr. Mc<\/strong>, who\u2019s been a regular, just sitting in on shows…I know that his skill level and his ability to speak to his instrument are very high. So I\u2019ll let him just show up. But the thing is, you don\u2019t get paid if you don\u2019t come to rehearsal. So that\u2019s where the Catch-22<\/em> is. I let, like, a talented musician get on stage with me and get down if he can speak, but he\u2019s not gonna get any money if he doesn\u2019t show up to rehearsal. And I\u2019ll try to work with musicians that have, complex schedules, or schedules that don\u2019t line up with everybody else\u2019s. I make house calls, you know what I mean? If they want to be a part of it, if they want to work. <\/span><\/p>\n

Do you feel like you\u2019ve had a solid lineup for a while now? It seems like that is an ever-evolving thing.<\/strong> <\/span>
\nTo be honest, at the end of high school [May 2007], I was already having the bug of putting something together. That Spring semester, [I got] that senioritis and was like, \u201cWell, I can shred, and it\u2019s time for me to put something together with some homeboys that can shred, too. And there\u2019s some places around town we can play, and let\u2019s do this. Why not?\u201d From that moment up until now has been growth in maturity, figuring out what music appeals to me, how to interact with the crowd here, and how to get down\u2014you know\u2014just finding myself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you ask your horn players to dance, or what?<\/strong> <\/span>
\n(laughing) What? No, I don\u2019t ask them to dance. That\u2019s a good indication that the spirit is there, though, if they\u2019re dancing around. I ain\u2019t ask them to do that. We try to keep it a very fluid thing on stage, because we used to have our shows very structured. And then, we\u2019d rehearse a structured show\u2014setlist, exact songs, and then we\u2019d get up on stage and we\u2019d hear the crowd, and I\u2019d start calling audibles. You know, like a quarterback or something, I\u2019d change the play. Like, \u201cThis song, because they\u2019re up, they\u2019re moving, let\u2019s do this, we\u2019ve got \u2018em!\u201d And so, that turned into a phase of us being very loose, just no set list, liquid, a let\u2019s-experiment-on-them sort of thing. And now I think we figured out something. So, the horn parts and the rhythm section are like the backbone. We\u2019ll lay that down as the background, but we\u2019ll leave holes for people to improv and get down. \u201cLeave some room for God to come in,\u201d you know? That\u2019s really what it is. I heard Maxwell<\/strong> say that in an interview. And I thought that was brilliant cause that really makes a lot of sense. Shoot.<\/span><\/p>\n

Do you play out of town often?<\/strong> <\/span>
\nYeah, we\u2019ve done some Hattiesburg, Starkville, Nashville\u2014we did a radio spot at Vanderbilt. We\u2019ve done a good bit of Memphis. Most of the time it\u2019s been multiple stints at the New Daisy and private parties. I like the people in Tupelo, they respond to us nicely. It\u2019s a lot of fun. Cause there\u2019s a big metal scene there. And early on, we would do a lot of these Battle of the Bands competitions. That was just a way to get in front of other people\u2019s fans. It\u2019s like, they see us getting down and they\u2019re gonna like what they like, so it works out.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"And a lot of it\u2019s getting it out there. You\u2019ve just got to be able to expose them to your music and they\u2019ll realize that they really like it.<\/strong> <\/span>
\nI feel like that\u2019s the way it is with anything. There are metal bands on tour that are doing some of the hardest screaming and riffs, and they are finding their fan base. We do that at some venues in town, you\u2019ll clean a room out, you know, there won\u2019t be anybody in there. You go to some other parts of the town or the country or the state or wherever it may be, and you\u2019ll have the crowd like, \u201cThat\u2019s what we wanted! Jump in our hands! Crowd surf!\u201d And I\u2019ve only crowd surfed one time. It was in Tupelo at Good Time Charlie\u2019s. At this Battle, we wanted to get into MinervaFest. It was at the end of the set, the cymbals were still rumbling, the bass was still going. The crowd was like, \u201cYeah, yeah, yeah, come on, jump on us!\u201d And I was like, \u201cNah…what?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What would you like to see change about the Oxford music scene?<\/strong> <\/span>
\nI think the scene\u2019s doing good. It\u2019s gotta stay open. It\u2019s gonna be tougher for local musicians. But the thing is, it\u2019s going to be this tough anywhere. That\u2019s how hard it is to make it happen. Not just \u201cmake it,\u201d but to be a blip on the screen. Some people selling millions of albums, they don\u2019t know who I am. And it doesn\u2019t bother me any. I\u2019m going to get there eventually. That\u2019s what I want all the other local musicians in town to have that mindset because if you maintain it, it\u2019s only a manner of time before it manifests. There are venues around here to play, there are people here, freshmen coming into town, all you\u2019ve got to do is rock their effing world, you know? Brainwash them, drop some knowledge on them, and they\u2019re gonna love you. Be true with it.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This article originally appeared in TLV #163 – August, 2012.<\/em><\/p>\n

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