I recently sat down to talk with the Promise of the Real, the rock, roots and jam juggernaut fronted by guitarist and songwriter Lukas Nelson, son of country legend Willie Nelson. The band, which also includes drummer Anthony Logerfo, percussionist Tato Melgar and bassist Cory McCormick, have been touring the country extensively over the past two years, blowing away audiences with their fresh, explosive sound; They have opened for B.B. King and the Dave Matthews Band. They have played summer festivals and benefit shows like Mile High and Farm Aid. On this fine evening, they would be playing the Viper Room in West Hollywood, not too far from their home base in Venice Beach. We met up following their sound check to discuss the band’s history, their dynamics and their self titled new album.
OK guys, to start things off, I want to talk about the band’s beginnings. How and when did you guys first get together?
Anthony: Well, Lukas and I met at a Neil Young concert, and we just really hit it off as friends. We started hanging out and wanted to start a band. When we could, we decided to, and then Tato came in. Tato and Lukas had been friends for years and they played in other bands together as well; 40 Points, Harmonic Tribe, so they had kind of started together. And Cory joined the band because Cory and I have known each other for about 10 years now, so we all came together by knowing each other for a long time. And you know, it just really felt good. We started the band in January of 2009, so it’s almost two years now.
Lukas, on top of the Promise of the Real, you are still an active component in your dad’s band. With Papa Willie out there on the road all year long, how do you juggle both acts?
Lukas: Well first and foremost, Promise of the Real is what I do, and I play with my dad whenever we’re not doing this. And sometimes it’s together; we open for him a lot. We try to tour together 3-4 months a year.
So for the people to know, we can confirm this is nobody’s side project.
Lukas: Absolutely, this is our and my music. You know, I’ve had the opportunity to play with some of my heroes and I would just rather play, with respect to those people, would rather do my own music.
It definitely allows you to be more expressive, and go in your direction. While I’m sure your father’s influence is there from having played with him over the years, I would say, when I first heard your music, I thought it was much more electric blues, electric rock, layered in African rhythms.
Lukas: Of Course
This is a question for the band. What are your influences, as a collective?
Tato: I’m very big on African music. I have been playing carnival for, I don’t know how long, but I grew up playing carnivals, and danced in carnivals, and play drums. We mix everything though; the blues, the music of Lukas’ dad, Neil Young.
Anthony: As far as influences go, we are all influenced by different things and also the same things, if you know what I mean. It’s obvious we all grew up with Willie’s music and I’m sure a lot of that has been a huge influence on Lukas. Tato, being from South America, brings the whole afro-Cuban jamming kind of thing.
Cory: Anthony and I, I guess we were studying musicians, we both went to school for it.
Anthony: We started off very raw, growing up playing in garage bands, playing rock n’ roll and grunge, which were big influences on us. Jazz is also a really big influence for the whole band. We try to approach our music in a jazz way too, when we play on stage.
You guys have actually gotten to play with Neil Young and Steven Tyler. What were these experiences like?
Anthony: It was a great experience. The funny thing is, when that kind of thing is happening, you don’t really realize it. It’s just kind of flying past you. I compare it to surfing: After you come off of a big wave, you look at it later and say, “Whoa, that was big!” but while it was happening, it came so fast that you couldn’t take it all in.
Lukas: Getting to see what kind of people our heroes are, and to be completely enamored and delighted that they are how we imagined them to be; down-to-earth, family oriented, love oriented people, it just gives you a lot of hope ya know? It gives you a lot of inspiration, to having the blessings of people like Neil, Eddie Vedder and Pearl Jam and their families. Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Steven Tyler… I think there are a certain type of people in the world… a soul cluster, the same types of people are put on the earth for a similar cause, or similar reason, and I think a lot people fit into that and I think that’s just called being real, and understanding reality, logic. A friend of mine said “wisdom says we’re separate, love says we’re one.” We all have our differences but in love we’re connected. On some atomic level, we’re all connected through a mutual attractiveness between atoms and cells and molecules and everything. Positive is attracted to negative and it comes together so in a minuscule scale it just proves that love is all you need.
So you guys have your first full length album coming out, the self titled Promise of the Real, can you tell us a little bit about the making of that album? Was there a concept to it?
Anthony: We recorded it very organically. We went into the studio and we laid down a song three times in a row, and we’d take the best take. Usually it was the first, and we tried to be very real about the album and how we did it. We didn’t use a lot of special effects and all that kind of stuff. We kind of took the example of how our heroes did it, and we did it that way too. There wasn’t really a concept behind it, but a concept came out of it. It’s a neo-hippie western as Lukas has called, but that came out of it after we had put it together. Lukas wrote the songs and we just kind of arranged them and put our energy into them.
So you wrote all the songs Lukas?
Lukas: Or Neil Young did.
Anthony: We have a Hendrix song on there too.
Lukas: And then my dad wrote a song too.
Can you tell me about the songwriting process?
Lukas: Well, as I said to the last person who had asked me this, I don’t know, I have no idea, I just think it’s something that comes to you when it does. I read a lot, which helps. There’s a bunch of different techniques to writing a song. Sometimes I’ll have a song title in my head, and I’ll just have to write lyrics to do that title justice. Bruce Springsteen was quoted as saying that’s what he looks for in a song. I also saw in a passage that Bob Dylan wrote, that he tries to write every lyric like it could be a title to another song, so every lyric has that much importance. I think simple is better, but also, with simplicity, you also have to have gravity; you have to have weight to the song. You have to write about things that are important if you’re going to be simple. You can be as complicated as you want, but a lot of times less is more, I think. When I write a song, I want people to relate to it. I want people to say “hey I felt that way before.”
Can you tell me a little bit about your development as a guitar player?
Lukas: I started developing it on road, listening to people like Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimi Hendrix, and my dad, people like that. I learned from playing with different people. I’d like to think of myself as a good listener as well, and pick things up from listening to my heroes. I also took a few lessons from a guy in Maui named Tommy Conway.
This question is for the percussionists. I wanted to know about your voyages, how you guys came to be where you are at?
Anthony: I’m from southern California, I grew up playing in bands, I started playing when I was ten. I played in a few garage bands. I played the Roxy, I played this whole circuit that we are in now, this whole Hollywood circuit and then I went to school. I went to Citrus College, which is where I met Cory, that’s where we became friends. That’s when I started learning jazz and I started getting educated about music, because before I was playing from a raw standpoint and ya know I started doing the college thing and I toured doing studio stuff, and then I met Lukas, and then I say “Hey, I’m done with all that” and we decided to do this thing and it was really refreshing
Tato: I grew up playing carnival in Uruguay, between Argentina and Brazil. I grew up in Argentina, and every summer I went to carnivals to play and I’ve play with latin jazz bands, Michael Franti, and different bands. I played in Maui, and I go back with Lukas a long way, and with his brother Mikah, ya know we liked to play music for fun and be together. After all these years, we are here.
Cory, I understand you’re new to the band, can you tell me about your background?
Cory: Well, I went to school for music and I have a background in jazz and rock, but before I joined up with these guys, I had been playing with Chris Cornell. Anthony and I have been friends for awhile and that’s how I got involved with these guys.
What does 2011 bring for you guys?
Anthony: Well, we will be touring with Willie the first two months, we will be on David Letterman and then we are gonna do a bunch of tours man, we’re just gonna tour all year long, and promote the album and probably end up recording another album next year as well. Just gonna keep the whole process going.
The band would go on to deliver a fantastic set featuring originals, as well as reimagined versions of Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and Neil Young songs. The night also featured guest appearances by actor Woody Harrelson and no other than Lukas’ pop, Willie Nelson himself, to the delight of all those in attendance. While the impressive company made for a pleasant surprise, there was no doubt that this young group could stand on their own.
You can order the self titled new album, “Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real” at www.promiseofthereal.com
