An Interview with Erik Tasa of The Rockford Mules on 7/16/08
By: David Rachac
Eric Tasa is the guitarist and main songwriter for the powerhouse rock combo The Rockford Mules. In this interview, Tasa talks about the birth of the Mules, merging disparate music influences into one sound, and their CD release party at the Uptown Bar on Saturday, July 19.
Erik Tasa: In ninth grade some friends had a "band" and needed a bass player or whatever that meant. The guitar player’s uncle had a wood-grained Hondo 2 that I bought for 50 bucks. It was all I needed to get the job, apparently no experience necessary. I bought a Gorilla amp from Emerald City Music in Coon Rapids, my home town, circa 1986. Our terrible, talentless trio was messy and exciting. We had ‘80s metal rock dreams. Lethal Sting was going to rule the world, and our revolution would start with our singerless first show at a friends ninth-grade graduation backyard party.
I kissed no girl because of my bass playing that night, and we never had another gig after that, but it didn't stop me from putting together my next band, Monroe Street—another cover band, but this time, with a singer. We were sure the world was just waiting to hear our versions of Faster Pussycat and Poison tunes, and they were, for a while. We were rocking the non-alcoholic strip mall club circuit. About a year or so in, our singer left, citing artistic differences, over cover tunes, mind you, and I volunteered to step up and try. It didn't come natural, but it came.
I played bass and fronted the next two bands I was in. We were writing our own songs now. Nothing I ever care to hear again, but it was a start. In 1993, I started a band called Sadie Foster. This was the band that brought with it a lot of new adventures. I switched from bass to the guitar, we did some touring, our songs got played on the radio, and had a little bit of label flirting from MCA and Atlantic that nothing came of. Still, we had our first taste of the game and we were well into the river.
HWTS: How did the Rockford Mules come about?
ET: The Rockford Mules started out as The Tasa Brothers, with my brother on drums and me on guitar and singing. We wrote songs for about a year out in our folks' basement. I guess they didn't mind us making the noise that we did, seeing as we had finally found time to hang out together. We recorded a quick 10-song demo and sent it off to Ryan Rud(our current lap steel/guitar player) who was wrapping up a five year soul-searching stint out in Seattle. He found a lot, but mostly found he wanted to come home, and I was glad. Ryan and I had played in bands on and off together for 15 years at that time. He always knew what to do with the songs I gave him, and I was very excited to hear what he would be doing with these.
When he got home, we went to work on finding a bass player. I told him we needed someone with a Fender P-bass—that was the sound these songs were asking for. He happened to be out at a concert one night and ran into an old friend of ours, Craig Peck, who used to play guitar in a local band called Druel. Well, he wasn't playing guitar anymore, he was playing bass—a sweet, beat-up tobacco sunburst Fender P-bass of all heavenly things. On top of that, he had a free place for us to jam and a fridge full of libation. We were all set up for one last run at glory. In an attempt to make everyone feel like a part of the band, I told them we'd drop the Tasa Brothers name and I'd come up with something else. We then became The Clayborn Mules, for about two hours, but the name had no spine whatsoever or room for future grit growth. Rock was the sound, Ford was a good truck and Christ rode a mule. Done and done—The Rockford Mules.
A lot of things clicked the first few weeks of playing that had us quite excited, but one key thing had not—that being the rhythm section. This was my brother’s first band. It was the ninth or 10th for the rest of us. I knew my brother had a raw talent that I was hoping would be honed in the right direction by playing with these boys, but it kind of backfired. His inexperience mixed with their years of it made for some uncomfortable practices that eventually lead to me having to let him go. A very, very sad and hard decision to make, but something that unfortunately had to happen. I believe Ryan, Craig and I had too much potential to quit, though that is what I had seriously considered doing instead of letting my brother go. Next day, I got Joel Habedank on the phone. He said he had nothing going. The baby blue Gretches were collecting dust. We jammed the following Thursday. End of the beginning of the story.
HWTS: When the Rockford Mules write songs, what is the process that you all go through to get to the finished product?
ET: We don't so much write songs as we nurture riffs. We keep a four-track handy at all times. We record the original riff so it doesn't get forgotten or altered in our trying to remember, and then we just jam on it, from 20 minutes to two hours. We get a taste and a tickle and the hunt is on. Sometimes, it takes building to get us there, sometimes it takes whittling. Everybody looks for a place in it. One member of the rhythm section will usually hit on something, and the other will follow. Everybody will stop, let them develop their thing, they then retry it with the original riffer. Singing lines usually come up front with the rest of the song, while the lyrics and title are usually always last. Communication and indulging each others whims and ideas is our key.
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From Devil's Spit to Angel Tears
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ET: At first, I thought no, but as I think about it, yes. Soundgarden for obvious reasons, Hank because of how he wrote songs. It’s all pop music. If you want a song played on the radio, keep it under three minutes, make your point, decorate it a bit, repeat it again and get the heck out. Everybody likes a good piece of cake, but no one can stomach eating the whole bakery. Be nice to people. If they want to hear more, they can start the track over themselves.
As for our sound, you know we listen to both Soundgarden and Hank, and Waylon [Jennings] for that matter. We deeply love the songs of both. We just let it come through. We're not trying to break any new ground here. No one can fully get away with not sounding vaguely like something else. We're just doing what we want and not worrying ourselves too deeply on how close we toe the mark to someone else's line. I mean we're talking two guitars, drums and bass here -- not a lot of room for anything new nowadays. We are big into the art of the ‘70s rock guitar these days, trying our best to style Thin Lizzy into something we can use.
ET: Everybody wants to be loved. We are not much to look at and I tend to sweat profusely when I play. We are not pretty by any stretch of the imagination, except for maybe Ryan. 89.3 The Current has been amazing to us. Drive 105 was great to us. City Pages and First Ave could give a rip about us, and that's alright. We are not too concerned with not having been given more. We're just kind of hoeing our own row, and a lot of people have wanted to come with. We're just happy to be here—most days.
ET: The songwriting. We have learned how to write songs together. We've learned how to explore and keep on the chase. We've gotten wiser on what to scrap and what to serve. We have reached a point in our miles where we just love to write songs together. Perhaps more than the songwriting, our songwriting process is the biggest difference.
HWTS: Which song on From Devil's Spit to Angel Tears is the best example of what you were trying to accomplish with this release?
ET: I think the entire album as a whole contained what we were trying to do. We wanted to do a full album of music that was relative to itself in all ways. An album that would start from the start without any needed preface and would end without anything needing to be continued. I think we think we did it.
HWTS: Your CD release party will be Saturday, July 19 at the Uptown Bar. What are we going to see there?
ET: It’s all about the rock. It is blood, sweat and volume, and we have the pictures to prove it. We will play a few songs off Crooked Tooth, pretty much the entire Devil’s Spit album, and a handful of brand new ones. Break a few strings, have a few beers, everyone goes home smiling with ears a-ringing. I don’t know what else anyone could possibly want.
ET: Thank you for giving us the chance to talk about ourselves, it is greatly appreciated.
And Rich, if you are coming down to the show, bring the 30 bucks you owe me....
Artist Info: The Rockford Mules
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