Jeff Angell of Walking Papers (INTERVIEW)

Jeff Angell is on a mission. The frontman/guitar player for the Walking Papers is in Lubbock, Texas, and looking for a swimming pool. It’s a day off for the band, who are tearing up their headlining slot on the Ernie Ball Powered Zippo Encore Stage on the Rockstar Energy Uproar tour, and relaxing in the sun is a top priority. Currently riding a wave of rave reviews for their self-titled debut album, the band – which also includes bass player Duff McKagan, former Mad Season/Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin and keys player Ben Anderson – are enjoying a tornadic second wind with the CD, which was actually released last October, after hooking up with Loud & Proud Records earlier this year. With a mouthwatering collection of songs, and a live kinetic energy, tunes like the British blues smokin’ “Whole World’s Watching” and “Capital T,” the scabby grunge of “Two Tickets & A Room,” the almost Jazzy slink of “A Place Like This” and the hypnotic “Your Secret’s Safe With Me,” Walking Papers are the highlight of a traveling festival already toppling over with fantastic bands.

Having known McKagan and Martin from his younger days running around watching and playing with bands in Seattle, Angell also released an album last year with his band The Missionary Position. Known for his joviality, and serious lyrics, the singer with the versatile voice has been winning over festival goers since the Uproar tour started in September.

I hear you have a great sense of humor.

(laughs) Well, that’s good, as long as you like bad jokes.

Does that help keep you grounded in this crazy business?

What do they say, take the music seriously but don’t take yourself too seriously. And what’s the other one, a comedy is a tragedy with a little time. So I kind of look at it all like that. It’s good medicine for all this kind of stuff, you know. I like to have a good laugh and so does everybody in our band. It’s hard to get things done because we’re so not serious most of the time (laughs)

When you were a kid dreaming about being a rock star, how similar was that fantasy back then to the actual reality that you’re going through now?

Oh man, not even close. That’s a good question, though, because I’m on a tour bus for the first time and that’s pretty exciting for me. But I think if that’s what people are fantasizing about, either maybe that happens to them really young but it isn’t enough to sustain your interest in it, I don’t think. When you’re really passionate about the music, all that other stuff kind of falls by the wayside. But I never had a swimming pool or a sportscar or all those kinds of things so it’s like the validation is by playing with some people I really looked up to as well as having a few of my heroes come out and watch me play. That’s been the best part of it, which I never really thought about that.

And I don’t know, some of the bands that I listened to as a kid, I always thought, man, I’d like to be in a band that was at least that cool or something. But then I feel like I’m happier with the music that I listen to that we’ve created than the music I listened to when I was twelve. So I’m pretty satisfied with the whole thing. I’m a sober dude so I’ve already dabbled with all my rock & roll excess and all that. So I’m purely here just for the music.

I mean, nursing hangovers and all that stuff gets to be a drag. I’ve definitely had some great times in my excesses, my nutty periods, but I don’t know if I was really having a great time or if it was the chemicals that made me feel like I was. That eventually wore off and got pretty dark over time and I really don’t partake in any of all that. I try to stay healthy and exercise if I can to have the energy to put on a good show. I don’t know, I can see the guys hanging-over the next day and that doesn’t seem to me they’re giving the most they could have at a show, in my opinion.

Well, you’re in an amazing band with one of the hottest rhythm sections with Duff and Barrett.

Yeah, they’re about as good a rhythm section a guy can get. I’m blown away all the time. It’s so reliable, you know what I mean. They sound great no matter what. It’s really a blessing and I’m super grateful to have those guys to play with. The fact that they would consider me does wonders for my self-esteem, the fact that they would consider me worthy of sharing their time with (laughs). That’s the drummer joke. The timekeeper shares his time with me (laughs)

The songs on the CD, they’re all different, they all have different flavors to them. Was that intentional?

It’s the ADD (laughs). I think that the dynamics and the diversity is so important to give the different things their color and light. If you don’t have something dark or you don’t have something lighter, something loud then something soft, I mean, even in the sequence of the record we’re considering that. What follows what, what makes that other song sound good. The tempo and stuff are so important in that way too. Hearing other stuff sometimes the song that you think is great but then you hear it at four in the morning and maybe you don’t like it so much. Or if it’s too early for that song or it’s too late for that song. Songs are like that. They’re going to have different appearances and colors depending on which environment you’re listening to them in. And the opposite. I mean, I like a record that goes and takes somebody for a ride and has some ups and downs in it.

“The Butcher” is one of the most powerful songs on the record. What can you tell us about that particular one?

Well, on “The Butcher” that’s me playing piano. I’m not really a piano player but if there’s one around I sure get a thrill playing it. But that particular song is pretty autobiographical for me as a kid. My mom was a single mom and she was a nurse and we lived in a townhouse that had a downstairs apartment and that helped us kind of cover the rent there. So these guys lived down there and one of their friends had gotten out of prison and I guess my mom thought he was a decent suitor, probably because he was handsome from working out in prison for the last ten years. The guy never wore a shirt. He was totally ripped and looked like Bruce Lee or something (laughs).

So she ended up marrying the guy but then everything went to hell in a hand basket. It didn’t take him long to return to the same things that got him into prison in the first place. Sooner or later his antics, some other people got the best of him. To be verbatim, he torched our house to get the insurance money and then took the insurance money and tried to do a big drug deal and got his throat slit in the deal. As a kid, I felt like it was, like the weight was lifted from my shoulders. In hindsight, I feel bad for my mom because it was her lover and this and that and she was really depressed after that for a long time. Then me and my brother kind of ran wild, did whatever we wanted after that cause no one was really looking after us. Thank God for music cause it kind of got me through everything. Music looked after me when my mom wasn’t able to because of her depression on that. But you know, when he passed and everything, it was kind of like a release. I mean, I hate to see anything bad happen to anybody but at the same time, I needed that chapter of my life closed.

But I also felt like a lot of those things to me, like what I was saying, comedy is tragedy with a little time, and I believe that. Also, I know a lot of people with some really dark childhoods and nobody seems to cry about it. It’s like, there are certain people that might dwell about it and think the world owes them a handout, which I probably wouldn’t get along with those people too well. But most of the people that I know that have lived through that, it defines their character and has made them stronger and gave them a resilience to move through the world and they don’t seem to have a problem looking back and kind of laugh at the ridiculousness of what the irresponsible adults in their lives have put them through.

You’ve mentioned people like Tom Waits and Bob Dylan that have influenced you as a songwriter and both of those guys are brutally honest and hold nothing back. Are you comfortable letting it all hang out in your songwriting?

Yeah, I’ve gotten comfortable with it. I think that that makes the difference, what makes you valid is allowing certain vulnerabilities in the art or whatever. Or at the same time, I’m not sure certain writers, like if it’s Tom Waits or Bruce Springsteen, how autobiographical they are or if it’s more they allow their minds to wander into a dark place, know what I mean. But I’m sure they’re drawing from some of their experiences or something somewhere. Leonard Cohen has said some pretty brutal and embarrassing things as well as like Nick Cave has. So sometimes I think about those songs, something like “The Butcher” or “Two Tickets” or something, and I think that that’s what makes it valid, that’s what makes it art and not just a rock song; the fact that there’s some vulnerability and some things being said in the song that are humbling and maybe a little embarrassing.

Is there anything taboo to you?

I don’t know, I want to look out for people I care about at a certain point but no, I kind of feel like if you know me, you best be on your best behavior because it might turn up in a song sometime (laughs). Look out.

I’ve had trouble in my relationships and stuff as well too because not everything is autobiographical. I definitely know that my girlfriend, who is probably the best human being I know on the planet, I know a couple of times I’ve written some songs and it’s like she found it upsetting because maybe it was in the past and maybe sometimes it wasn’t even actually real. And I think she might have like a feeling or it wasn’t a narrative or something and it made her kind of, “You know that song is not even about you and that never really happened.” (laughs) It’s just I thought it was interesting and I liked something in the anger of it. So I guess in those ways, you know you want to protect people but in your art, I think, you kind of got of let it all fly or otherwise you’re going to be fighting underwater. It’s like you won’t be able to have the impact to do what you need to do.

What about “Capital T?”

There’s that one and there’s “I’ll Stick Around.” I got kind of entertained by a few of my friends, a few of my older friends, that are having a life crisis maybe, so they screw their whole life up when they go date a girl that is half their age and then the shenanigans and comedy and mainly torture that seems to come from trying to hold onto something that wants to be wild. You know, the first two weeks they’re like, “This is great, I got this new girlfriend and she’s hot and she’s twenty years old.” Then after the first three weeks it’s like, “She never comes home and all she wants to do is party with her friends.” (laughs) “She can’t ever seem to clean up after herself. Oh my goodness, her phone is going to get shut off if I don’t pay for it.” And I just think that is so hilarious because, of course, they need to be young and run wild and do what they want to do and find themselves; then some guy trying to put a lid on that and hold that lightning in a bottle and I just think it’s kind of hilarious to see how the torture of someone who has sacrificed a meaningful relationship because they were obsessed with youth and beauty. I hope to be someday sitting in a rocking chair with someone that I experienced life with, not keep trying to replace them with the newer model. I think that’s kind of pathetic, in my opinion.

On the Uproar tour, are you playing predominately the album or throwing in some songs from all of your pasts?

Yeah, we don’t do that. We play all our own songs. We have more new songs too but Loud & Proud has picked up our record and taken it all the way and they’re investing their time and energy in our band. So it would be disrespectful of us to not just focus on the album and play those songs. We have new songs that we’re excited about playing but what we’re really trying to do here is let people know about that record and to honor that relationship that we have with them. I don’t really do the whole “I hate the label” thing, that they’re trying to boss me around. I think it’s the best thing that ever happened and they are so committed to our band. I feel even more obligated to try and be the best partner to them as possible. So we stick to the record.

Is it easy to sing and play guitar and connect with the audience all at the same time? Because musicians make it look so easy up there.

Well, there’s actually a book called This Is Your Brain On Music and since like the early thousands, they’ve been able to map and follow brain activity and there’re so very few activities that actually use all four sides of your brain at the same time. And one of those would be if you’re playing an instrument and you’re keeping time and you’re remembering lyrics and you’re finding pitch; that’s using three parts of your brain all at the same time. So if you were actually improvising the lyrics and making them up as you go, which we do sometimes in the bus and it’s hilarious, that is like one of the very few activities that use all four parts of your brain. It’s very euphoric and meditative when you get into that zone. It’s like any other problems of the world can’t touch you. It almost becomes like everything else is involuntary reflex and I think that’s what I find most thrilling and that’s my favorite thing to do is write songs and work on songs that way. So playing live, it becomes automatic. The minute you stop and start to kind of think about things, something starts to fall. Either you’re going to fumble a chord; you’re spinning plates up there. It’s like you get to a certain place where you sort of give yourself to it, you’re like standing in the middle of a tornado or something. If I think about it, it screws it all up.

We just get up there and play and it seems like time didn’t exist. For the first few seconds, it’s like, “Here’s the takeoff,” and then by the time it’s done, it’s like, Man, you just played for an hour and a half. But the scary part is you get super powers and the next you know you got some guy climbing on top of a stack of amps that thinks he’s going to jump into the crowd and doesn’t realize it’s going to hurt (laughs). Or, “Here I’m going for the big kick” and he ends up on his butt, because you can’t really feel any pain or anything up there cause you’re in such an adrenalin kind of mode.

Speaking of, what is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you on stage?

Oh man, there’s been definitely some humiliating experiences. I’ve been smacked in the face a few times with the microphone. Swung it around in circles and had it come back and catch you in the chin. Funny. (laughs) It’s like I said, you kind of get in this weird zone when you’re up there. There has definitely been some characters out in the audience but a lot of the funny stuff that I think is funny is when you’re up there and your guitar won’t work and you’re like panicking and you’re running all around and you’re like, “Oh, the volume isn’t turned up on the guitar.” (laughs) And you’re like, “Oh, this must be broken, Oh my God the cord” and you’re looking for everything and it’s just the most stupid, obvious thing. You might want to try to plug it in (laughs)

You’ve never done that, right

Oh many a time (laughs)

Who was the first real rock star that you ever met?

The first one I ever met I think it was Gene Simmons. I don’t know if I got to meet him or I was standing with my friend who met him, so I think it might actually have been Angus Young from AC/DC. He was great, all of those guys in AC/DC were really great, but I was fortunate enough that a friend of mine, when I was a little kid, his mom had cleaned houses or something for some super manager or something like that, a super agent, and he had a bunch of older brothers and sisters, so they would drag us into concerts cause she had all access. Since they saw all us little tiny kids, much like I do when I see a young kid coming to a concert, you kind of spot them out and you want to make sure they’re enjoying themselves, you know what I mean. And Angus Young definitely did that for me and was like, “You little punk, are you having a good time?” (laughs) That was my Australian accent (laughs). “You little punk.” I sound like a wiseguy.

What happens when Uproar is finished?

I know we have a confirmed tour in Australia but that’s a few months away and we’re certainly hoping that our agent gets some other dates in the meantime. But I know we’re home for at least a month there so what happens for me is that I’ll probably return to swinging a hammer a little bit, building some houses and stuff like that. I think we’re building a restaurant or something when I get home. The label gives us money to sustain tour support but I don’t want to blow it all sitting on my butt at home. So I’ll try to make a couple bucks and try to be creative and work on some songs while I’m waiting for my next ticket out.

And everybody’s writing on the road?

This tour we haven’t been able to write anything on the road cause we don’t get any soundchecks and the days are so long on the festival tour. But we have on our other tours. We usually jam a lot at soundchecks and stuff like that so we definitely have a pile of material that it’s my job to find the lyrics to and stuff. So I’ve been hiding in my bunk writing on some lyrics and stuff like that. But as a band we haven’t been able to get together much on this run. But we have so much stuff that’s piled up it’s like probably a good thing. You know, you get too much going on it’s hard to find your focus. In music, sometimes you’re looking at the forest and other times you’re looking at the trees but if you want it to be good you’ve got to stare at the bark once in a while.

Remaining Rockstar Energy Uproar Festival Dates:

Wed 11-Sept   Mountain View, CA      Shoreline Amphitheatre

Fri 13-Sept      Irvine, CA                     Verizon Wireless Amphitheater

Sat 14-Sept     Phoenix, AZ                 Ak-Chin Pavilion (Desert Uprising)

Sun 15-Sept    Chula Vista, CA           Sleep Train Amphitheatre (Operation Kick Ass)