The Greenhornes: Bound By Friendship

By: Billy Kenefick

Sunday January 15, 2006

From opening for The White Stripes across the world to headlining at venues such as The Empty Bottle in Chicago, The Greenhornes have managed to taste success without becoming gluttons.

Since forming in 1996 in Cincinnati, Ohio, the blues-rooted group has always kept level heads on stage and in the studio. It shows in concert and throughout their recordings, especially on the recently released EP East Grand Blues and the new "retrospective" album Sewed Soles.

During their college years, The Greenhornes were a five piece band consisting of two guitars, drums, bass and keyboards. Since the first two full-length albums, the remaining members of the band are drummer Patrick Keeler, bassist Jack Lawrence, and guitarist Craig Fox.

I recently had a chat with drummer Patrick Keeler on the eve of the European leg of their tour with The White Stripes.

"We just sort of started off as friends and we all had similar interests in music," Keeler said. With influences such as The Kinks, The Byrds, and Hendrix, their sound and five album career could be loosely interpreted as retro rock with an artist's sensibility.

"I like a lot of pop art," Keeler said. "I do all of our album covers. I like lots of different stuff, modern century kind of stuff. I'm into the whole mod movement too; scooters...obviously The Who." Their sound or image has been changing, as evident in the lineup change and songs over the years, but the basic theme has been rock simplicity. "There has never been a preconceived purpose for our band, it just has come together. I think it turned out really cool."

Interestingly enough, my introduction to The Greenhornes was due to my being a skateboarder. I was watching the skate film Mosaic, the first full-length film produced by the East-Coast based skateboard company Habitat. I told Patrick how hearing songs from "Dual Mono" as well as some unique compositions during Mosaic inspired me to start listening to The Greenhornes, and I asked him how that project came about.

"We all kind of skated when we were young. Obviously we didn't get to put as much time toward it because of the music and so forth, but I think it ended up being really cool because we all had that connection toward skating in the end. I knew the guy producing Mosaic, Joe Castrucci. I used to bartend and I knew him from that and hanging out, and he just kind of approached us about doing some songs for him. It ended up being really cool."

In addition to an audience within the realm of street skateboarding, The Greenhornes have gained national and international exposure thanks to their close friend and fellow Midwesterner Jack White.

"We had been friends for a long time. We met in Detroit and we have just been hanging out for eight years," Keeler said. This friendship has since moved into a musical relationship; the band recently finished a US and UK tour with The White Stripes. I can also personally attest that this relationship is not simply business; I saw Jack White in the crowd at The Greenhorne's The Empty Bottle show supporting his buddies.

Keeler commented about the tour, "It has been really good, the crowd has picked up a lot. The whole thing has gotten us a lot more attention. It seems like the people are into us a lot more and obviously more people are hearing us."

Their EP, East Grand Blues, was produced in conjunction with Brendan Benson, another Midwestern producer, musician and close friend of the band's as well as Jack White.

"It was awesome working with him. I've known him for a long time and he is definitely a cool guy to work with. I think he brought a lot to the table as far as the production of it, through his ideas of harmony and song structure. He has a really cool feel to it. I think it turned out really well."

When I asked why Keeler and the band only recorded a five song EP instead of a full album, Keeler noted, "Basically we were kind of cut short from our original idea that we wanted to do with Brendan. We wanted to record a full length and then we had to cut it short. It ended up once he was releasing his record we kind of had to quit what we were doing with him."

Benson wasn't the only other artist The Greenhornes and/or a Greenhorne has worked with musically.

"I liked doing the Loretta Lynn album, Van Lear Rose [with bassist Jack Lawrence], I liked working with Jack White. Jack [Lawrence] and I are in a little band with Brendan. I got to work with Karen O from the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Holly Golightly, and Kim Deal [of the Pixies]," Keeler said.

Finally, I asked Patrick what music he has been listening to lately. This question was designed not just for him to give some up and coming bands a little credit; it was mostly because of my problem of blanking out on what to buy (or even what my musical tastes are) when I get to record stores.

"I like the band The Willowz, I also like the band out of Jersey City called The Black Hollies; they are really good. I like the band Tigers and Monkeys, and I have been listening to a lot of Mush Records releases," Keeler said. All of you in internetland, note the man's wisdom and stray away from Best Buy's end cap selections.

Before hanging up (and subsequently heading off to Paris for the now completed White Stripes European Tour), Keeler told me about what was at that time The Greenhorne's upcoming release, Sewed Soles.

"It's a kind of collection of sorts, a retrospective over the years. A lot of our records were hard to find; we are trying to re-release them. Some of our first records were out of print. It's got some new stuff, some stuff that was never released, and some stuff off the old EPs."

If you are a music fan that can't seem to get away from classic rock (or are simply a fan of the era), I recommend giving The Greenhornes a listen. Unlike the surviving classic rock bands today, they are actually a band you can to afford to see live, and they won't be sponsored by a mutual fund company or appear on VH1 supporting a "comeback." If you don't listen to classic rock, I still recommend checking out this band to support some hard working rockers that play with a solid, simple, and rock and blues style. You can't go wrong.

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The Greenhornes: Bound By Friendship

By: Billy Kenefick

Sunday January 15, 2006

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