The Power of East Coast Surf

 

Band name: Ronnie Lake

 

Genre: Instrumental Rock & Roll, Surf, Hot Rod

 

Geographical Area: Minneapolis MN

 

Interview with: Ronnie Lake by email on 7/26/06

 

1.                  What is the current line-up of your band (in order of appearance in the band):

Ronnie Lake, guitar

Maria Meade, bass

Geoff Corbett, drums

(Scott Howe, alternate drums)

 

    2.                  How and when did you get started with your band?

I started the trio with Maria and Geoff Sept. of 2005. My previous band was called "Ronnie Lake and The Men of Iioto" which I started in March of 2004, which consisted of Bill Pellitier (bass) and Scott Howe (drums).

 

3.                  What bands or music have influenced you most?

My biggest influences today are Los Straitjackets, Eddie Angel, The Surf Coasters, The Ventures, Link Wray and Dick Dale. I learned blues guitar way before I learned what I'm doing now. My influences then were Debbie Davies, Albert King, Freddie King, Buddy Guy, Son Seals and  so many others it would take me hours to name them all.

 

4.                  What is the breakdown of cover vs, original material I your live shows and/or recordings?

We do mostly obscure and well known covers. I have a handful of originals and I have a few originals in the making. When I do covers, I tend to turn them into something of my own creation. For example, I do Pipeline and start it out like the original but then i personalize it and put my signature on it.

 

5.                  What recording have you done?

I have one 7 track CD that I produced myself, which I sell at shows. I plan to have another full length CD sometime in the early part of 2007.

 

6.                  What kind of gear do you use?

Dipinto Galaxie. My back-up guitars are a Yamaha SGV 800 and also a late model Fender Mexican strat that has been hot rodded with Fender Texas Special pick-ups. I disabled one of the tone knobs and reversed the pick-up switch because i kept hitting it with my hand and switching it to the bridge pick-up. I have several other guitars but these are the ones I use for my shows.

My amp is a 72 Vibrolux with Jensen C10n's; sometimes I switch them with JBL K-110's. I also have a 1966 Fender Bassman that I converted into a 2x10 combo that has Oxford speakers, and I use a Fender clone outboard reverb tank with that.

My pedal board consists of a Boss TU-2 Tuner, a cheapo delay pedal, Rocktron Austin Gold Overdrive, and an old Ibanez TS-9 Overdrive pedal. I like the Austin gold because it doesn't seem to distort the sound; it tends to be more of a clean overdrive. The TS-9 is more of a distorted sound that I like to use on a few different songs.

 

7.                  What is your band’s favorite food/beverage?

I don't know about the other guys but my favorite food is Japanese food!! Yummmmmm!

 

8.                  How do you get gigs?

With a lot of blood sweat and tears! It's not easy. A lot is done through advertising and the internet.
 

 

9.        What are the difficulties you find playing your kind of music in your area?

People around here really don't understand what instrumental music is. The most difficult thing is to convince people that the music I do is varied with different moods and feelings. It can be very high energy and it can be very romantic music. It can make you smile it can make you reflect. It's not just this mundane music that sounds all the same. It's music that is happy and music you can dance to. Most people say, "You need vocals!" I tell them, "No, YOU need vocals - I DON'T!"
 

 

10.      What positive attributes does your band have that sets you apart from other bands (of any genre)?

Two Rockin women and a man???? What more can anyone ask for! Don't people usually think that women guitar players are playing acoustic guitars, singing Kumbaya?! We sure
don't fit that stereotype. We play high energy, in-your-face Instrumental ROCK & ROLL. We play non-stop with bits of choreography here and there. We play to entertain and we have a blast doing it!

 

11.             What have you found to be the single most effective promotional tool you’ve used to further your band’s musical path?

The internet.
 

 

12.             What’s the most interesting performance experience you’ve had?

Every performance we do is interesting. It's hard to say which one is more interesting than the other. We've opened for Dick Dale and we've played tiny little venues with a handful of people. Both types of places always had something interesting to offer. Whenever there is a
chance to perform, we do it because we love what we do. I used to watch blues great Buddy Guy in Chicago before he was well known and he would play in front of an audience of maybe half a dozen and act as if he was performing at Carnegie Hall. He would come on stage in a 3 piece suit and say into the mic "SHOWTIME"  and he would play his heart out! I learned a lot from watching him. Dick Dale told me to watch the people's eyes. They are the ones that make the shows and the experiences interesting.
 

 

13.             What do you hope to get out of being a NESMA member?

I hope to be able to network with other musicians and to become friends with them and to be able to help others that are doing the same thing I'm doing.
 

 

14.             Anything else?

Thank you NESMA for being there! Thank you everyone for supporting the music scene! Thank you! DOMO ARIGATO! SURF'S UP!!!