10 Questions With Pedro Arevalo Articles / All Topics Posted by Lana on Dec 07, 2006 - 05:00 AM By:Josh Mintz For: Honest Tune [1] Josh Mintz: Pedro, thanks for taking the time to speak with us. Tell us a little about your background - when did you first pick up an instrument? Pedro Arevalo: When i was about five or six my mother taught me how to play some Christmas songs on a small electric organ that we had in the house. A couple years later I bought a keyboard, but I started playing string instruments when I was around 10 years old. I wanted to play bass, but we had several guitars around the house so my father made me learn to play a few tunes on guitar before he could justify purchasing an electric bass. I believe it was my tenth birthday when I got my first Fender bass. JM: And if you had to choose one, bass or guitar, which would it be? PA: I like playin' different instruments, not just guitar and bass, but those are the two I get paid the most to play. Is that bad? I would never want to have to choose, it's the variety that makes it enjoyable to me. What I really love is when I'm off the road and I have a number of gigs lined up each night, playing a different instrument here on Siesta Key. When I get to rotate like that I feel that I really have my chops together on each instrument. When I'm on the road for a month or so and only get to play one instrument it seems like my playing really falls apart on whatever I'm not practicing. When I pick up an instrument that I've been neglecting it's very frustrating to me and I feel like I'm starting from scratch. I really feel like I'm just tryin' to pull it together sometimes. JM: What did you grow up listening to? What are your influences? PA: My dad was always playing classic rock and all the psychedelic folk when he wasn't playin' the blues. I guess I was always surrounded by stuff like that. I remember that it was gettin' to know Hendrix's music that made me really wanna play. I was also playin' all the stuff that was popular at the time, the mid-eighties - I care not to rattle off what that might have been. It was that stuff and my friends that were playin' funk and reggae that had the biggest impact on me in the early days. JM: How did playing bass for Dickey come about? PA: I was working at Suite A Studios here in Sarasota (Florida), recording a latin album and I knew that Dickey was recording there as well. I've always known that this was his hometown. I had definite plans to track him down and make him listen to me play some resonator guitar. I got in tight with Chris Musgrave, the owner of the studio, and he started inviting me to hang around during Dickey's sessions. I brought my National tri-cone and within the first hour or so of meetin' Dickey we got to rappin' about the old delta and country blues stuff. He liked the way I played the Robert Johnson stuff, and started invitin' me to sit in with the band during rehearsals and shows. I was sittin' in with Great Southern in Atlanta when during the intermission Dickey called me into the back of the bus. He said, "I hear bass is your real instrument." He asked me if I felt that I could learn his tunes. I told him that I already had. About two weeks later he had everybody come down for an audition where we played three songs, and he said "welcome aboard." The next week I was on the road. JM: What's it like playing with him? PA: Playin' with Dickey, as a bass player, is a unique gig. He demands that I chase the melody all the time. If I were to play as busy as I do with Dickey in any other band, I would quickly get fired. It's a very active gig for a bass player. The arrangements and general layout of the tunes changes nightly. We're always improvisin'. If Dickey ever heard any one of us playing the same thing two nights in a row, we would probably hear about it. It's a very liberating gig. There aren't many groups left out there in rock'n'roll improvising in front of large audiences in that Grateful Dead sort of way. JM: You also play with Honeytribe, Devon Allman's band, when you have a moment. However, you're on guitar there, not bass. PA: Playin' with Devon is a totally different thing. It's also very free but since I'm playin' guitar I can always drift in and out. It's nice to be able to rest every once in a while. As a bass player you seldom get that opportunity to take a break. In the case of Honeytribe, the songs are already written and I'm just lendin' my two cents. But it's great not to have the pressure of always being a part of the machine that holds the groove together. JM: Are there any gigs that have stood out for you over the years? PA: I did a circus gig in 2003 that was the hardest reading gig I've ever done. There was barely enought time between tunes to flip the page in the book and then wipe the sweat off my brow between tunes. It was under the direction of one of my band mates from the Vine Street Rumba Band. Keith was the lead trumpeter, arranger, and conductor of the Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Bailey Circus for nearly 30 years. He's quite a character. We stayed in Vegas for one month and only had to perform three times. It was the best paying gig per hour I've ever had. Those circus cats are nuts. They make the rock n' rollers seem like Sunday school teachers. I had a blast doin' the gig and even thought about pursuing the circus thing. Keith said he would hook me up if I was interested but the idea of playing the same thing every night kind of sat uneasy with me. The Rock'n'Roll Hall of Fame gig (with Dickey Betts & Great Southern) was cool. The Beacon Theatre was definitely a highlight. The Memphis blues festival (ed: Beale Street Music Festival, with Honeytribe) was an honor to be a part of. But openin' up for Willie Nelson was a religious experience for me. Playin' in Dickey's band and smokin' a joint with Willie on his bus put me right in between two of my idols. I've never been one to be starstruck, but in Willie's presence I was a fan way before I was a player. JM: You released an album, Pedro Arevalo & Friends, back in February. When recording the album, what was your vision? What did you hope to accomplish? PA: When I started recording the album, I wanted to release a very stripped down country blues and bluegrass project. As time went by it became more of a vehicle for cameos of my friends and peers. I remember that I didn't really want drums on most of the album, but time goes by and things become more complicated. Paul Cartwright (the drummer) did an excellent job, and as each guest made an appearance the album became more and more interesting. I guess I have a grand scheme based on a series of albums where I gradually introduce more exotic influences. I wouldn't want to mix too many styles on my first couple albums or people might think that I'm all over the place and I have no direction. Likewise, if you play too much blues people get mad when you stray away from them. Over time I hope to introduce more of the African and Latin influences that have been such an important part of my career. JM: Speaking of musical styles, what do you think of the music industry as a whole, in its current state? PA: The music industry is stacked against the artist who wants to create art. It favors those looking for profit. There's no big money in improvisin' or embracing the finer elements of Americana. I can never really hope to break into the mainstream, but rather carve a tiny tributary and hope that enough people catch on so that I can make a career. In the meantime i just try to record on as many projects as possible, and hope that somethin' takes off. The beautiful thing about the Internet is that it allows small labels and independant artists to reach a global audience. I have a lot of trouble getting any airplay for my music here in the States but thanks to the Internet, radio stations in Europe and Australia have taken some interest and have spurred record sales in places I wouldn't have imagined. JM: Lastly, where do you want to "take off" to? Where do you want go as a musician? PA: Everywhere I can. Music has always been my excuse to travel and travelin' has been an excuse for me to play music. The most enjoyable thing for me in the whole world is to hear some type of music that is completely foreign to my ears. I love to try to find out what other people find sonically appealin'. Discoveries like these allow you to pioneer new elements in familiar forms of music. As time goes on and my tastes change I hope there's always somethin' that I'm gettin' into that I might not have even known existed a few years before. This article is from Pedro Arévalo   http://www.pedroarevalo.com/ The URL for this story is:   http://www.pedroarevalo.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=6 Links in this article   [1] http://www.honesttune.com