Here comes Vintage Trouble
L.A. MUSIC-INDUSTRY VETERANS deliver old-school ‘juke music’ and can count The Rolling Stones and The Who among their fans
“We did 51 dates with The Who on their Quadrophenia tour on two continents,” says Rick Barrio Dill, bassist of Vintage Trouble.
“It was mind-blowing. We ended at the O2 and then did Wembley, and three days later, we picked up the gig with the Stones at Hyde Park, the first time they’d played there in like 44 years. It was massive. That music and those groups are etched in our DNA. There’s no way to overstate how lifechanging it was for us.
“Roger Daltrey said, ‘You guys play the type of music that brought us all together in the first place. If I were younger, I’d put my life on hold to follow you guys on the road.’ ”
Well, all of that would be mindblowing for a gang of dedicated boiler-room Rock’n’Rhythm players. Also, Roger, people already follow the maround, as fans attending the band’s massive free show Tuesday on the TD Stage during the Montreal International Jazz Festival will learn. They’ll also play a benefit show for Equitas, the International Centre for Human Rights Education, on Thursday at the Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre. Their website heralds “Live-wired straight-shootin’ dirty-mounted pelvis-pushin’ juke music.” Wait, does anyone still care about that? Does anyone care about “lifechanging?”
Singer Ty Taylor and guitarist Nalle Colt formed Vintage Trouble in Hollywood in 2010, with Barrio Dill and drummer Richard Danielson soon enlisting. Dill had played in various L.A. bands, and produced everything from hip-hop to death metal.
“Paying the bills. The beautiful thing about this is it was done to satisfy the truest version of ourselves.
“We were definitely not trying to be a retro act. To be honest, we weren’t aiming to sound like anything specific. It was just music that we liked with nothing contrived. We didn’t give a s--t wheth- er anybody liked it.” The sound came from “’50s to mid-’60s, early rhythm & blues before it became R & B, pop, Chuck, the Stones, early Led Zep, raw rock ’n’ roll. It’s the DNA of everything.”
Three weeks after forming, their first gig was a three-hour slot. They subsequently racked up four different residencies in Los Angeles clubs.
“You can’t get people to see your friend’s band four times a week, but you can probably get someone to go to a party …”
No set list, no click tracks, a gig based on the energy in the room.
“The combination of the four of us has a chemistry none of us had experienced previously.”
On the advice of mega-manager Doc McGhee, they got the hell out of L.A. and went to London. Almost immediately, they were booked on Later … With Jools Holland. By this point, they were attracting a renegade army of fans called Troublemakers who would follow the band everywhere.
“It became this thing way bigger than Vintage Trouble.”
The Bomb Shelter Sessions landed in 2011. Blues Hand Me Down is that rare roots rock song with a surprising chorus. Still And Always Will starts out snaky and slippery and then gets Green-Bullet tube-amp hot. Gracefully is slow-burn soul-rock, and Total Strangers is just dirty. You are listening to nostalgia burn up like Kleenex in a blast furnace.
“When you do things for right reason and with the absolute passion, people relate to it,” Dill says. “I remember chatting with Pete Townshend in catering, about how the Stones and Who used to inspire each other. Now, technology and commerce seem to lead the marketplace, and producers rather than players.”
So despite the staggering confirmation of their talent from The Elders, “there is the challenge of carrying the torch. There’s no place for us on radio, and it’s a tough grind to reach kids. But during The Who shows, parents would bring their kids. That’s how we break through.”
And so the stage is the thing.
“We’ve been through every sort of live incubator, I think.”
From opening for Bon Jovi in stadiums to hitting a sweaty club later the same night. From Brian May to a country tour of the U.S. to a death metal bill in the U.K. with Metallica and Sepultura. “And we killed.” They’ve opened for Kiss, toured with Lenny Kravitz.
“People can instinctively identify the musical genetic trail. Even hip-hop guys love it. I mean, we can fold into a tradition from Solomon Burke to Coltrane. I think the jazz audience will see it, too.”
Vintage Trouble plays a free outdoor concert on the TD Stage on Tuesday, July 1, at 9:30 p.m., as part of the 35th edition of the Montreal International Jazz Festival. The band will also perform a benefit show for Equitas, the International Centre for Human Rights Education, on Thursday, July 3, at 8 p.m., in the Virgin Mobile Corona Theatre, 2490 Notre Dame St. W. For more information, visit equitas.org