John Popper, the iconoclastic frontman of Blues Traveler has once again re-invented himself with The Duskray Troubadours. His month-long recording sessions in the mountains of New Mexico were much less a solo endeavor, and more or less a collaboration anchored by the strong musical bond between Popper and Jono Manson – bandmates from days of yore. Popper put it best as, “A liberating, scrappy roots-rock alter ego of Blues Traveler.” The band consists of guitarist/producer Jono Manson, bassist Steve Lindsay, drummer Mark Clark and guitarists Kevin Trainor and Aaron Beavers.
Since Blues Traveler’s eponymous debut in 1990, Popper has created an extensive playlist, both solo and ensemble, and stirred up quite a scene in the jam band arena. Considered a harmonica virtuoso, he has sold millions of albums, won a Grammy award, and single-handedly conceived the H.O.R.D.E tour as a venue to gain exposure for up-and-coming indie musicians. He has also co-written songs with Trey Anastasio, Warren Haynes, Chris Barron and Jonny Lang and frequently appears as a guest performer with musicians both famous and obscure.
I was lucky enough to catch him at home near Seattle, Washington before kicking off on a lengthy tour. One thing’s for sure – he didn’t gain a reputation as a fast living, gun toting, weed smoking outlier without an interesting past. But let’s get one thing straight — John Popper needs vindication. He may be an avid collector of weaponry, but he wasn’t arrested back in 2007 for gun possession; but simply for a small amount of weed. Hopefully we set the record straight, although according to Popper, that will never happen.
First of all, I’m not sure everyone knows that you’re originally a Jersey boy. How did you end up in Washington?
Yeah, I was born in New Jersey. I moved to Seattle around 2004. I was engaged for a while and we got to about six months before the wedding and we broke up. She moved to California, so I’ve sorta been deposited here. Long story short.
Yeah, we all have a story. And yours needs to be told.
Go for it…
When I think about you as Blues Traveler, your music encompasses so much more than a good sound. It’s a reminder of a whole decade. It takes me back to this pool club we used to belong to. We would blast your music while the kids ran around Sunday nights at the barbeques. And if not for your music, I’m not sure those memories would be so vivid in my mind.
You did some ‘stuff’ at this pool club, didn’t you? (laughs) Well, I’m honored to be part of your memory. That’s the weird thing about success with a song or a band. So many people assign meanings to songs that I’ve written that I didn’t intend and you learn to shut up about what you wrote them about — because they mean as much about what they mean to you as what I wrote them about, you know? Truth harmonizes.
You’ve had quite an interesting journey. Starting with your childhood and how you wanted to be a comedian and your love for The Blues Brothers…
Oh yeah, it was a classic fat-kid-in-school thing. That was my music, right there. You know I recently went to a comedy club in NY and I was leaving and the comedian started to give me crap and I gave him a funny heckle and I kinda carried the room. That was my one moment and I thought, “I gotta get outta here now cuz I’ll never be this good again.” I’m not a consistently funny comedian. I have my moments. That’s what I love about playing music. You can be somber, as well. But as a comedian, you’re stuck in one gear. You have to be funny and that’s hard.
How did you start with the harmonica?
When I was three my parents noticed that I was harmonizing in church when I was singing. I had a true pitch. Someone recommended giving me musical instruments right away. A distant relative of ours was this famous bohemian cellist, David Popper, so they gave me a cello. I wasn’t a great reader and I never practiced, so I gave that up. I went through a whole collection of instruments. Anytime there was a teacher involved, I never enjoyed it. The thing about the harmonica was you didn’t need a teacher. You know, if it sounds good, its right. I had guitar lessons and the teacher tried to teach me to read “Love Me Tender” and I just learned it by ear and had him fooled for weeks. One day I played the rhythm a little different ‘cuz I was feeling a bit saucy and he said, “Where are you reading that from?” He found out I was faking and he threw me out.
He didn’t appreciate that you had a natural talent?
I think in his mind you were supposed to do ‘this’ and there was always a wagging finger involved. I really should be able to handle authority, but apparently that got in the way.
And you convinced your high school music teacher to let you play harmonica instead of the trumpet. Is it true you convinced him with your performance of “She Blinded Me With Science”?
Yes, I’m in the beginner jazz class and the music teacher heard me playing harmonica in the parking lot and she told the band teacher I was really good at it. He said to me, “Well, we don’t have harmonica players, it’s a big band, so what do you wanna play?” I figured I’d try trumpet. So I’m playing “She Blinded Me With Science” but as always, I had a secret stash of harmonicas in my trumpet case. Now we’re going around the room doing solos and I hold up the harmonica. Luckily it was the right key and the teacher said, “Go for it”. The next day I’m in the first string band and the principal is checking me out and everybody knew my name. It was really weird…all of the sudden I was like the quarterback on the football team. I just loved that guy (principal) ‘cuz he saw something in me. He let me wire up to the amplifier and I took an old tape recorder mike and put a plunger on the end of it so the harmonica could fit in there. He used to say, “I don’t care if you play in the refrigerator, you can play in this band!” Good ol’ Mr. B….I’ll never forget him.
Tell me about your rise to stardom in the ‘90’s. Did you expect Four to hit the charts the way it did?
It was our fourth album and we were working for about 8 years at the time, so in a way we expected everything to go huge. When we got our first record and they made a video off of it, they would show it at minor league hockey games. We thought it was the coolest thing ever, but it was just terrible, actually (laughs). So at every little increment, you think you’ve made it. But when Four really took off that’s when we realized, “Wow this is what ‘making it’ feels like.” It had been a really long climb, but the record company told us they were gonna break Blues Traveler that year and suddenly we were playing for all these Z Rock radio stations. They would have you come in and play for their DJ’s because they knew after they put you in heavy rotation, they wouldn’t be able to even contact you anymore. It was like, “Tomorrow we’re gonna make you HUGE!!”…and suddenly 12 year olds wanted to buy our record.
Press ‘play’ and boom!
Exactly. They hit a button and the entire network of “this is the top 20” kicked in. And all you need is one reaction like that and if a market responds, they have the story to tell: “We are now pushing Blues Traveler”. Next thing you know you’re opening for David Hasselhoff, crazy radio shows and stuff like that. You had us and Boyz II Men touring everywhere.
What a horrible match-up…
Yeah, it was a very surreal year. There were our normal fans who were a bunch of hippies and then 50 million 12 year olds who hate every other song we play except “Hook” and “Runaround”. And when you play those two hits, it’s like a Beatles concert. Meanwhile, all our regular fans are ‘Dead’ dancing to all our other songs and then they have to stand there disgusted while we play those hits. It was very hard to keep the two factions from killing each other. I think someone at the record company put it best: “We managed to be on the top of the charts just long enough without pissing everybody off”.
And if this kind of success happened now?
And if I had Dave Matthews’s ass when “Runaround” was huge… (laughs) I’ll tell you this much–there’s a lot of fame that I’m not prepared to work for or go after now. This is an old example but back in the day, whether or not Brittany Spears was a virgin was a major moneymaker for her. It kept her in the papers and sold her records. I think it was a terrible thing to do. Taking her virginity and using it as a selling point. At the time something like that would have really messed me up. And look at Justin Bieber. I’m glad he’s having success, but you know that’s not gonna end well. The odds are that it’s going to make getting older a real difficult haul. One day he’ll be 30, and hopefully it won’t be a major letdown. If he’s doing other things that he cares about at that point, he can look back and say, “Yeah, that was a crazy time for me.” But if this is all he’s marketing and clinging to, how sad will that be? Success has a heavy price tag.
What was your definition of success back then?
We were thinking more about an organic kind of fame. More like The Grateful Dead. And I have to say, even though it sounds like a cliché, that the success on Four certainly helped us, but we just really wanted to be good musicians. It proved to be the one thing that paid our bills more than anything else. The success of Four guaranteed us work, which is really what it’s about because I love playing in front of an audience.
What was the incentive to form Duskray Troubadours?
We always wanted to keep the songwriting in house with Blues Traveler and you run the risk of getting redundant. We were denying ourselves something most bands get to do, which is collaborating with people. I wanted to explore that and I immediately thought of Jono Manson.
You go way back with Jono?
Yeah, when we came to New York in our 20’s (early ‘80’s) he was the house band at the place where we started our gigs. He took us under his wing and I felt really comfortable with him. I just knew we could work together. I also co-wrote with people from those days, such as George Breakfast, who is a great songwriter and contributed to this CD, Kevin Trainor from The Real McCoys who back then, was like a God to us. He’s a great guitarist and he got to play on this and he wrote, as well. Chris Barron from the Spin Doctors co-wrote one with Jono and me. Aaron Beavers is also in a band called Shurman and he opens for us. These were people I trusted, so co-writing with them wasn’t so strange. There was a good earnest feeling to it.
How has this experience affected Blues Traveler?
Well, interesting enough, we just had a writing session in January for an album next year and because I was more comfortable with this whole process, we got to work with people we never met before like Alejandro Escovedo, Carrie Rodriguez and Ron Sexsmith. The band reacted very positively. They took to it very differently than The Duskray Troubadours experience, but with equal enthusiasm. They just ran with it and its like a door has been opened.
So it’s been liberating…
Very much so. It’s fun to have a song I didn’t write and just be the vocalist. I guess I feel like Billy Holiday. (laughs)
I love your performance of “No Woman No Cry” with Ziggy Marley.
That was very nerve-wracking for me because that is the son of the source of that song. My favorite moment is a point when I got way back on the beat and went super reggae. On the second verse, “In the government yard in Trenchtown” I sort of stretched it out and Ziggy smiled and cracked up and I was tickling all over. I felt like I made it. If I made him smile, then I’m home. That was a pinnacle moment.
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Speaking of which…The Allman Brothers?
Oh yeah, that was like going to school. Bill Graham started managing us pretty early and he had us opening for them right away. And I know what he was thinking. He was like, “You guys have to look at the possibilities of what you can be.” And for us, it was way eye opening to see how they put on a show every night and how BIG it could get. We got to play with them a lot.
Got any stories to tell out of school?
One night Dickey Betts punched a cop and Jimmy Herring and myself (who at the time were very young, very green kids) got to actually fill in at an Allman Brothers show for Dickey Betts! Dickey Betts!
So Gregg Allman really showed you the ropes. Is he your mentor?
Yeah, he’s absolutely great. I just love his outlook. There’s something about his voice that I do put akin to Billy Holiday. No matter what he’s been through, there’s something that rings true, something iron in his voice.
Who are some of your other influences?
I think a lot of bands I’ve performed with have influenced me. For instance, Ziggy and The Wailers…just to see how they set up their percussion and how they approach an audience. Of course I love Widespread Panic and Phish. I love Dave Matthew’s approach to a vocal. I try and rip off whatever I can from him. (laughs)
You have such a bluesy, soulful voice. I wasn’t sure what I’d expect to hear when I spoke to you.
You know to this day, I still hate the way my speaking voice sounds. You sort of learn a professional veneer and say, “Well, that’s how I sound…oh well.” Nobody likes how they sound. (laughs)
Yeah, I can’t stand listening to my interviews either.
It never really goes away, you see what I mean? You get so used to hearing yourself that you just accept it, but we all hate our reflection just a little bit.
I hope you quit smoking…
No! I’m still drinking and smoking.
C’mon, you had a heart attack 10 years ago!
I know, I know. I’m bad, but it technically wasn’t a heart attack. A truth I cling to very desperately. (laughs) I was 95% blocked in every artery. They put a stent in, so I’m prone to it. Last year they found out my triglycerides were ridiculously high again. But I managed to keep the weight off for about a decade now.
That’s amazing. So the gastric bypass was a total success?
Yes, even though my weight started getting up high again, it was to be expected. They gave me a medication to help with the binge eating and I’m down to 283 but I’d like to be about 270. I got as low as 238 and my head looked inordinately large. As far as a physical human being goes, I could be thinner than that, but I didn’t feel right. I was dizzy all the time. What they say is you gain some of it back over the first three years and then you plateau, which has pretty much been the case.
The good news is you’re exercising…
Which I absolutely hate. I love being a couch potato. I’m starting to embrace the gyms at hotels and that’s annoying. If I could just be a glob and float in the air I would…if that were somehow sexually attractive I would do it. But just to function as a human, I have to exercise. It’s a grim reality.
You mentioned that this album felt like a real departure, yet an extension of Blues Traveler.
I think it’s a reaction to Blues Traveler. It’s another side of me… the more melodic, subtler side.
Favorite songs on the album?
“What Can I Do For You” was the one I wanted to lead off the album because that was exactly the song I was after as a contrast to Blues Traveler. I couldn’t get BT to do because it wasn’t their style, but it was my style. And that was the difference between what I like to do and what Blues Traveler likes to do. I also really like “All The Way Down”, which was the first song Jono and I wrote. We were in Italy and I had a chorus and a verse and he created the bridge. We were aiming at that for the single, and I think it’s funny that it wasn’t even considered.
What part of your musical career represents you the best?
I don’t know…that’s tough. They’re all me. The stuff I did with DJ Logic was me, as well. I also did that Zygote album, which was something I wanted to do back in ’99. I think all of those were me learning how to do solo projects.
Was DJ Logic an unexpected success?
Yeah, it was something we did for beer money and the record company said, “Here’s 100 grand—go make an album”. I think with DJ Logic I had two weeks as far as touring went. On the other hand, Duskray Troubadours was much more thought out, as far as finding time to devote to it. And I put my own money into it. I wanted do this for me to see what I was capable of and within a year we’re ready to tour.
That’s great and you’re in the festivals?
Yeah, we’re doing SXSW and Austin City Limits.
How about Coachella?
They never had us. Maybe we weren’t electronic enough or maybe because we represent that hippie vibe. I run into this constantly where when you stand for one thing, you’re not allowed to stand for another cuz you’re blowing their brand. It sucked when Lilith Fair came out cuz it meant I could never work with Sheryl Crow. Because she was “the woman tour”. Which left me with white hetero-men, which is like the most done-to-death group. (laughs)
So maybe you should be doing Burning Man …
I can go do that, but I won’t get paid for it. That sounds like the most fun of all. I’ll do that when I’m NOT working.
Run around naked in the desert!
Yeah, I need a good toilet though (laughs) or at least a good trailer.
I see there’s a picture of you guys holding the guns on the CD. Are these the infamous guns from your arrest?
Yes, those are the guns that were in the car. But let’s clear this up – even though it never clears up. I was never arrested for guns.
You were arrested for weed, right?
Yeah, I was sitting in the front of the car smoking some weed, while somebody else was driving. I wasn’t even driving. The car was doing 111 mph, and I had a secret “James Bond” compartment with my guns in it.
But isn’t that legal if the guns are locked up?
Yes, exactly! But what got us in trouble in the first place was we were driving 111 miles per hour, which felt a lot slower than the 150 we were doing in Idaho. (laughs) We looked and saw a cop running to his car and that was when we felt bad cuz that cop must have been thinking, “For all I know, these guys are lunatics. I’m never gonna see my family again.” So we immediately pulled over and waited for him. I put my weed in my secret compartment, and once you do that you have officially smuggled drugs — no matter the amount. So that enabled them to seize my car, which cost me about 16 grand to get back. But see again, I understand the justice in that because I own the car that was doing 111mph through their community and that’s really reckless. So the local community gets to “bilk” you. You have to hire their lawyer and they know the D.A. and you throw lots of money at it. But I guess we had it coming.
And what was the deal with all the guns?
It was moving day and I was coming from Texas. All the guns were safely stored and legally owned, but meanwhile that’s what made the news. People still say, “I heard you got arrested for guns” and that was legal. I say, “No, it was pot” and that’s the part they don’t care about! They’re like, “That’s cool, who cares!” I made VH1’s most shocking moments in rock and roll. I beat Elvis meeting Nixon and he had a gun on him in the White House. I beat Leif Garrett running over a guy (who ends up in a wheelchair for life) and HE was driving. All I did was smoke pot in a car next to my friend who was driving.
The cops wanted to know why you had a police radio…
Yeah, well I wanted to build a Batmobile in my car. (laughs) And the real answer I tell people is if there’s an earthquake, people are getting the fuck outta my way. But I didn’t want to say that to a cop.
I think we cleared it up. What do you think?
It’ll never clear up but as long as its been adjudicated, I can talk about it. Wanna know the funny part? The next day I get in a limo to go to the airport and there’s a 44 magnum in the backseat ‘cuz the limo driver wants to sell it to me. So I get to the airport and everyone is looking at me like I’m masturbating …like they caught me doing something very wrong. So here I am famous for something that I wasn’t even trying to be famous for. Bottom line — you don’t do 111mph. You just don’t do it.
Joanne Schenker lives in New York and is a contributing writer for Glide and freelance writes about music and the arts for other websites. She can be reached at jogirl621@aol.com
