media: interviews by slowbellie...

an interview with: marty jourard

SB: What's exciting for you in music today?

Marty Jourard: Well, today, not a whole lot. The record labels are putting out mostly crap. The two [good] acts that come to mind are Coldplay and The Shins. I mean, for me, the last truly big thing we had that had some originality would be Kurt Cobain.

SB: What is the best thing you find about music in general?

MJ: Well, you have a real collaboration of styles – jazz, world beat, rock, classical. People forget that it is all coming together on the same 12 notes.

SB: Is Leadbelly the reason for Pearl Jam's "Yellow Leadbetter?"

MJ: Yes, Pearl Jam are referring to Leadbelly whose real name was Huddie Ledbetter. He had a song called "Yellow Gal". Kurt Cobain also did a Leadbelly song in his Unplugged show.

SB: Are you ever going to get another band together and release another record?

MJ: I am playing in various musical situations here. I just ran through a bunch of standards and pop songs with a guitarist and bassist today, working with a guy who has a band called Johnny Astro. You know, a bunch of different things. But I'm not interested in creating a band from scratch. The field is crowded, to put it mildly, and I don't have that single-mindedness that you need to get a new band across. But you never know. I didn't expect to be in The Motels at the time...

SB: Would you ever manage a band or run a music promotion company?

MJ: I've been asked to manage bands and solo artists here in Seattle, but I don't have any interest and haven't heard anybody that excited me enough to really consider it. It's a lot of work, too. Same with music promotion. I'm a musician and a songwriter and a writer.

SB: So how are you keeping yourself busy these days?

MJ: Well, I've just put out my second book, The Marty Method, and it can be checked out online at martymethod.com. I teach music... yep, still working on music.

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