Xpress MySpace Alert: Custard Pie reveals all

Is local group Custard Pie is more than just a Led Zeppelin tribute act? Their MySpace fans seem to think so. For two weeks running, the quartet of vocalist Rhett McGahee, guitarist Aaron “Woody” Wood, bassist David Connor Jones and drummer Jamie Stirling have won the Xpress Battle of the Bands on our MySpace page, giving their profile and music prime placement. And yet, even before they were “big on MySpace,” the group had already found something of a following in the non-virtual world. With a reputation for putting on memorable shows, and a reliable fanbase that has allowed them to play regularly at a variety of venues in the area, Custard Pie seems to have a bit more depth than your average tribute act.

So, to find out a little more about what makes this unique local outfit so popular, Xpress interviewed bassist/manager David Connor Jones.

Mountain Xpress: How did Custard Pie come into being? How did the band form, and why did it happen with these people?

David Connor Jones: Custard Pie germinated one night when I was over at Rhett Thurman’s (now Rhett McGahee) house. We were playing duets, me on guitar, her singing. I think we started with “Hot Blooded” by Foreigner, and ended up doing a string of Zeppelin tunes. I noticed immediately that her range uncannily mapped Robert Plant’s. She suggested we might work up a set and play it out one night at Westville Pub or somewhere like that, just for kicks, and I said, “Why don’t we find a guitarist and a drummer a do a full tribute?” Woody Wood came to mind immediately, and when I approached him about it and he said he was definitely interested. He was very busy with other projects at the time, namely Hollywood Red, but eventually (like 6 months later) we got together and started playing along with the records in the summer of 2005, just to see what would come of it. Turns out Woody had had a brain tumor in high school, had to have surgery and sit out of classes for several months. All he did was learn the Zeppelin catalogue front to back as he convalesced. So, after a few weeks of figuring out which tunes we could do reasonably well, we called Rhett in and rehearsed as a trio. The next week Woody brought Jamie Stirling over and we realized immediately we were on to something good, that this might really work. A month later we debuted at the French Broad Brewery and it was a really good show, good turn out, good response.

Xpress: Cover bands and tribute acts are often not treated as seriously as bands that play their own original material. Do you consider Custard Pie to be a tribute act? Do you take these songs as seriously as something you wrote yourself?

Jones: I am so glad you asked me this question. First off I want to say that Led Zeppelin was a ‘cover band.’ “I Can’t Quit You,” “You Shook Me,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “Lemon Song,” “Bring It On Home,” “When The Levee Breaks,” “Custard Pie,” “Boogie With Stu,” “In My Time of Dying,” “Nobody’s Fault But Mine”—all covers. The Rolling Stones started as a cover band. First two albums of theirs: all covers.

We don’t think of Custard Pie as a ‘cover band.’ The category of cover band has such a lame stigma attached to it. It is a bad category. Yet, almost every bluegrass band is a cover band. Almost every jazz band starts as a cover band. Blues band, ragtime band, you name it. If they are grooving on one or more popular traditions, chances are good that more than half their material is ‘covers.’ In the jazz world these might be called ‘standards.’ In bluegrass maybe they call them ‘traditionals.’ In rock they are called ‘covers.’

This is not a bad thing. Tradition is key to innovation. And if you don’t know a tradition well you can’t innovate significantly. I listen to a lot of so-called original music today coming across the tube or the radio or even on the internet and not much of it really does anything for me. It seems very bland, voiceless and non-committal.

I think there is a lot of great local original music hear in A’ville, though. But people don’t roll down to Jack of the Wood to hear all original music on any regular basis. They roll down there to hear music they recognize and love and know that they can groove to for a few hours. They either want to dance within a certain style or listen to some really good local musicians interpret a familiar piece of music in a specific tradition. Our tradition is rock ‘n’ roll. Rock ‘n’ roll is a tradition on par with bluegrass, country, gospel, jazz, blues, or hip-hop. It is one of many types of popular music that has been created in the trenches of everyday life. Woody calls it folk music: “Music for the folks.”

The fact is, if you want to make any regular money at a local level playing music—if you want to consider music your full time profession—you stand a far better chance of making ends meet as a band playing/interpreting ‘covers,’ focused within one or more specific traditions, than you do as an all ‘original’ band. Asheville is home to many great original bands that are very talented, but they cannot expect to play around here with any real regularity if they are largely just doing their own music. There may be a few exceptions, but by and large they have to be careful how often they play. But take the Firecracker Jazz Band, or the Sons of Ralph, or The Blue Rags or Custard Pie can draw a good crowd every two weeks because they are resting on a style and a tradition, and not primarily original songwriting.

If all you are doing is original music, unless you have been around a long time or perhaps gotten some kind of deal with tons of radio play, it is very difficult to make it pay. People that want to make music their life’s occupation are not going to bank on the golden deal. They are going to be open to a variety of styles and commit to what is necessary, and hopefully enjoy it in the process. My hat is off to all who make a go of it on original music alone. Me, I just want to learn and play as many styles as possible and see people pleased to be at the show.

As far as being a tribute we really don’t think of ourselves as a tribute per se. We’re not a wax museum. We don’t dress or act like the originals. I guess technically we are a tribute, though. Tribute is a much better term than cover band, but not entirely accurate either. We play Sabbath, Stones, AC/DC, Bowie … we have even done “Mississippi Queen” a time or too. We might add a Kansas tune here soon. Who knows, we might even we feel moved to “make a statement” of our own one day. Right now we are just digging learning all the Zeppelin and then some and watching everybody party to it from the stage.

Xpress:Why the name Custard Pie? It’s not one of the “big” Led Zeppelin songs, and the reference is likely to be missed by a lot of casual Led Zep fans.

Jones: The song “Custard Pie” is a type of Led Zeppelin “cover” … they are just combining riffs and lyrics from the American blues tradition… “Drop Down Mama” by Mississippi Fred McDowell, “I Want Some Of Your Pie” by Blind Boy Fuller and “Custard Pie Blues” by Brownie McGhee. Jamie suggested the name after a few rehearsals. It works well for our particular unit.

Xpress: How faithful do you consider yourselves to be to the original material? Do you ever reinterpret or rework the songs?

Jones: Some songs are pretty faithful. And then some songs are reinterpreted slightly—largely because we don’t have a keyboard—“In The Light,” for example. And then some tunes get changed because we want to extend a section so Woody can go off. There are a few tunes that lean towards the “jam”—yet another tradition, loved (and reviled) by many folks in our neck of the woods. We are fine with extending a few tunes into longer form jams, if the spirit is right for it in that moment. We take “Good Times, Bad Times” which is like a two-minute song on the record, and we make it six minute song.

Xpress:What experience would you like the crowd to have at your shows? How would you like to make them feel?

Jones: To quote Viv Savage, from Spinal Tap, we just want people “to have a good time all the time.” We feel that the music that Led Zeppelin created in their 11-year existence is really suited to this philosophy. We certainly have a good time all the time playing it. We have had several people email us or tell us during breaks at shows that they went out and bought a Zeppelin album after one of our shows, either because they had not listened to one in ages, or they never had one in the first place. So if all we do is turn people on to it for the first time or simply remind them of how magically good that band was, we’re happy with that.

Xpress:It seems like Custard Pie has been fairly successful, and that you’ve had a fairly steady stream of shows in the last year. Has booking this band been easier than other groups you’ve been in?

Jones: Well, booking around Asheville has been pretty easy. Probably because a lot of the clubs here know three of the band members—everyone but me—from previous bands that were established in the local scene prior to Custard Pie. I think that helped us get booked initially. The fact that we can put on a three-hour show, no opening act required, that people drink like fish at the shows, and that a wide variety of people know and love the music of Zeppelin, those factors have made getting re-booked around here pretty easy. Now, booking outside of Asheville—totally different story. A lot of clubs just say “talk to the hand, cover band,” and that is really their loss. Promoted properly, we could probably make any club in the U.S. good money on a regular basis. But, I also sort of see where they are coming from. I think there are like 65 Zeppelin tributes in the U.S. alone. We happen to think our gig is pretty different from those—I mean, I actually think we are the best Zeppelin tribute in the world, based on what I have heard on the internet—but of course, I am biased. If we only get to play once a month here in Asheville, we can live with that. We got a good thing going in Chattanooga. and we’re starting to move out into the region. I think it will pick up elsewhere eventually, if we persist.

Xpress: Custard Pie is made up of a number of notable local musicians. What do you think of the term “Asheville Super-group,” and do you think it applies to this band?

Jones: I think we’re all pretty good musicians that came together here in Asheville to express our absolute love for this music, but I don’t think the term “super-group” applies. If by “super group” you mean that everyone in a particular band is flying at supra level of musicianship, then I think Led Zeppelin was a super-group, if ever there was one. But I think songwriting supercedes technical prowess in the end. (I mean who remembers any of Paganini’s compositions?) The amazing thing for me about Zeppelin is that the songwriting talent matched the accelerated musical talent. I think of each album and really almost every song is a hit. I think the term “super group” is more used as a form of hype than a real category.

Xpress: What’s been the most memorable or personally meaningful Custard Pie performance for you thus far? Tell me a little about that show.

Jones: Maybe the first show, which was Nov. 4, 2005 at the Brewery. Or perhaps the last show, Feb. 10 2007—our performance of Physical Graffiti—it was the first time we tried to do an album back to back – and we picked the doozey – and it worked. But actually, the April 14, 2006 show at The Grey Eagle was an especially great show. We got it on video—and audio—thanks to Jeff Whitworth. That was a really special night—very few mistakes—the vibe was great. That was also our first night on one of the bigger local stages. Some of our best shows have been at the Grey Eagle or Stella Blue.

Xpress: You’ve won the Xpress MySpace contest twice in a row. Why do you think this is? Do you have any advice for next week’s hopefuls?

Jones: We have a big MySpace following. I think that is what that is.

Xpress: If Custard Pie hadn’t won this week, what local band would you have been pulling for?

Jones: Wooden Tit. They’re one of my favorite local original band.

The Mountain Xpress Battle of the Bands takes place weekly through our MySpace.com profile page. For more information, click here.