citypaper020201

Rock & Roll Star?

On Will Hoge's just-released album Carousel, there's a song called "Rock and Roll Star." The song is largely autobiographical and might even turn out to be prophetic. "It's very much just from a day in the life of a struggling musician," the 26-year-old Nashville native said with a big smile during an interview recently at the offices of The City Paper. Hoge, who will play a CD release party at Exit/In Saturday evening, paused, then added, "You know, this is a very business-oriented town."

He shares some of his thoughts about the music business in the aforementioned "Rock and Roll Star," such as: "Come here, son, and let me help you sell your soul"; "I've got this guitar that I play a little out of tune, but it makes no difference if I get all the right tattoos"; "Smile pretty, be witty, come meet your brand new friends"; and "Now you got a banker and a lawyer on 16th Avenue … . They got big black cars and dollar signs in their eyes, too."

His cynicism notwithstanding, Hoge may not be struggling for long. His honest brand of American rock & roll is winning over fans throughout the eastern half of the United States. "We hit the road really early and tried to establish something - not only in the Southeast but everywhere east of the Missis-sippi," he explained. "Hopefully, that's something that will pay off over the next four or five months of touring. It's going to be exciting to get the record out and then to be actually touring to support a record rather than just touring for the sake of touring."

But the touring for touring's sake proved one thing to Hoge - from Nashville to New York, from Charleston to Chicago, from Birmingham to Boston, his music appeals to a wide range of people. "We've got kids from 15 to 55," Hoge said. "The older people are going, 'I've seen this before; this is a rock & roll band. It's great to see a real rock & roll band again.' Then we're getting younger kids, and even people that are our age in their mid-20s, who've never seen a rock & roll band before."

But they've definitely seen one after they've seen Hoge's band. He plays guitar and sings; Tres Sasser plays bass; Kirk Yoquelet plays drums; and newest member Brian Layson, who replaced former Georgia Satellites front man Dan Baird, plays lead guitar and sings background vocals. "Luckily, I've found, finally, three musicians who really understand," Hoge said. "I think we're all on the same page as far as what we want. We understand that the ultimate goal is trying to write great songs and put on great shows and really win people over to falling in love with what we do."

Speaking by telephone from his offices in Charleston, S.C., Hoge's manager Jerrod Wilkins of Big Top Management commented on the sound of the band. "A lot of people are seeing Will as sort of a throwback to something old, but at the same time it's fresh; it's different," Wilkins said. Regarding his neo-traditional rock sound, Hoge put it this way, "The recipe for gumbo hasn't changed for years, and there's a reason for that."

There's no question that his rock roots run deep. So what's in his CD collection? A lot of the same music he found as a kid in his father's record collection: The Beatles, the Stones, Otis Redding, Van Morrison - especially Otis Redding and Van Morrison, who are the two main influences on his vocal style. "Otis Redding and Van Morrison could literally sing the phone book, and you'd get it; they could sing the alphabet, and you'd be moved to tears," Hoge said with no hint of hyperbole. "Somewhere between those two people is where I hope to find myself … not that I have any right to compare myself to those people, but I hope to have some longevity."

Comparisons aside, Hoge is a soulful singer in his own right, as he proves throughout the 10 tracks included on Carousel. Six of the songs were recorded in a single day at world-famous Ardent Studios in Memphis under the direction of producer Scott Parker.

"[It was] a day off the road basically," as Hoge described it. The other four tracks were recorded in Nashville at Parker's Dead Aunt Thelma's Studio. "[Parker] was the first guy who didn't want to change a whole lot," Hoge recalled, regarding the choice of producer. "He sort of went, 'I like what you do. Good songs, and you sing good, and … you've got a good band. Let's capture it on tape and go.'" The Ardent sessions were engineered by John Hampton, who has worked with Gin Blossoms, Replacements and Mudhoney, among others.

Hoge and Wilkins are releasing Carousel independently through Red Eye distribution. "Ms. Williams" is the first single, and it has already been added to play lists at commercial rock stations in Memphis (WMFS) and Nashville (WRLT, Lightning 100). "I think it's very good. It sounds as good as anything we get from major labels," said Keith Coes, music director/assistant program director for Lightning 100. "As far as the product, he's got it going on. There's a lot of good bands in town right now, and I'm proud to be playing and supporting local music."

In addition to the record release show Saturday night, Hoge and his band will give an in-store performance at 3 p.m. Saturday afternoon at Tower Records. Anyone who buys the CD at the Tower performance gets in free at the Exit/In show. After the Nashville gigs, they embark on the Southeastern leg of their Carousel tour. Over the next few weeks they will perform in Oxford, Miss., Wilmington, N.C., Greenville, N.C., Raleigh, N.C., Spartanburg, S.C., Tuscaloosa, Ala., Augusta, Ga., Charleston, Atlanta, Asheville, N.C., Winston-Salem, N.C., Columbia, S.C., and Birmingham."

Our philosophy is to get the band on the road and play as many dates as possible as long as it makes sense to do the date," Wilkins said, regarding their plans to tour in support of the album. Hoge loves playing live because the audience "might see something that's never been done before," he explained. "There may be some wrong notes, but there's going to be something there that night that's going to make you holler."

Yes, Hoge makes audiences want to holler, and that's caught the attention of major label execs on both coasts. "I've had conversations with several labels who've expressed a lot of interest," Wilkins said. "But, we're not in any hurry to run out right now and grab a deal." That's because Hoge has a business team in place that includes publishing giant Warner-Chappell, booking agency Progressive Global Agency and a L.A.-based rock publicist to help him promote Carousel independently. By the time the band rolls into the South By Southwest music conference in Austin, Texas, in March, Wilkins may have a handful of Soundscan (the company that digitally tracks records sales) reports proving that people will not only holler for Hoge's music, but they also will spend 15 George Washingtons to own a piece of his rock. That's the stuff that makes major labels salivate. So the longer they wait - the more they continue to build the buzz independently - the more leverage they'll have, and the more money they'll get, if and when they negotiate a deal with a major label.

"Everybody thinks that you'll go far. You're gonna be a rock & roll star," Hoge sings on the chorus of "Rock and Roll Star" in reference to the growing industry interest in him. Then on the final chorus, he changes to, "But me, I'm gonna be a rock & roll star. Yes, I am."

Yes, the song just might be prophetic.