Warren Haynes Interview
By Nikki O'Neill
Warren Haynes is a guitarist, singer, songwriter and bandleader. Besides leading his own band, Gov't Mule, he also plays with the Allman Brothers and Greatful Dead - sometimes being on the road with all of these bands at the same time!
I had the pleasure to interview Warren over the phone on June 23, 2005, for a Swedish guitar magazine I write for, called FUZZ. He's a very sweet man, with a lot of depth to his spirit and music. This is the raw, unedited question-and-answer version of my article - and it's in English, not Swedish, so everybody can read all the great things he says about singing, guitar playing, songwriting and how to develop as a musician.
Enjoy!
Q: Every aspiring musician starts out learning from other players. At what point did you start to discover your own voice and individuality?
A: I was writing poetry before playing guitar, and I started singing at a really early age - I was seven or eight. My oldest brother had a guitar, but it wasn't until I was twelve that I got my own. It was when I was 14 or 15 that I tried to find my own voice when I was playing out continually in front of an audience... even if it was for free sometimes. It happened in my late teens, really. But I was on a mission to find my own voice.
Q: Whenever I read articles about your gear, it seems like you're always in pursuit of a more full-bodied tone. Amps get modified and pickups changed - all to get more bottom-end. Are you happy with your sound nowadays?
A: Tone is an evasive, illusive thing. I'm pretty happy with it now, but then, some nights feel good and some less good.
Q: On the Gov't Mule disc, "Deja Voodoo", several of your songs talk about moving on in life: "Out with the old, in with the new" (Little Toy Brain), and "Time to repaint the lines" (Perfect Shelter). Your music is very diverse too. You seem to be a progressive type of person.
A: The lyrics reflect the band after we lost our bassplayer Allen Woody. When you lose someone close to you, only the large things in life matter. You don't sweat the small stuff.
Q: Many of the songs also portray the shallower pursuits people can make. You sing about fame-seekers and groupies, and you surely encounter a lot of them on the road. How do you protect yourself from those kind of traps?
A: I always have something to focus on, usually music. Or it's my personal life or business matters. Things like the other stuff don't become my focus.
Q: What motivates you to write? Some artists need emotional intensity in order to create, or intense relationships, in order to "dig in" and write from a deeper place. How about you?
A: You definitely need emotional stimulation. I often have to wait until I'm lyrically inspired, but recently I've tried the opposite thing - to write the music first - to keep myself from getting in a rut. But 80% of the time, I write the lyrics first. In uptempo tunes, it's easier for me to do the music first. But my ballads always start out with lyrics.
Q: Are lyrics harder for you to write than the music?
A: They are harder, because you have to search for the truth. It's a lot easier for me to come up with bits and pieces of music, I can do it anytime. You need the emotional attachement in both - ideally you want the same vibe in the music and lyrics, that they come from the same place.
Q: Michael Barbiero (who produced "Deja Voodoo") has said that you're the most focused artist he's ever worked with. That your vision is very clear, unlike many other artists, where recording involves a lot of searching for them. Do you have everything mapped out before you introduce your music to your band and a producer?
A: I do have a certain preconception. I encourage experiments, because the music usually comes out better when there are more brains involved than mine. I'm open-minded to any ideas, but I know when it's the right idea, the right choice.
Q: As with many guitarists brought up on blues, you have a very vocal guitar tone. And of course, you sing as well. I heard Carlos Santana say that he tries to emulate Aretha Franklin's singing on his guitar. How does singing influence your playing?
A: Well, I grew up listening to singers like James Brown, Otis Redding, Four Tops, The Temptations and Stevie Wonder. Then I heard Sly Stone - and Sly was actually the one who lead me to rock. Then I heard the power trios and Jimi Hendrix, and so forth. I've always been inspired either by guitarists who sing, or who sound like they're singing with their guitar. But I also listened to hornplayers a lot. I wanted my guitar to sound like Sonny Rollin's tenor sax. But then, hornplayers emulate singers too. The human voice is the greatest instrument.
Q: Would you encourage guitar players to sing, to get a new approach to their playing?
A: I think every musician should sing and play drums. It's good to know how to think like a drummer.
Q: Do you practise drums or play often?
A: I play drums occasionally. I've done it with other people, but never had a band where I was the drummer. I can play some pretty good stuff, but I'd never hire me as a drummer.
Q: You live in New York City, on the Lower East Side. What makes you want to live there?
A: I like that everything is available here. All cultures are represented, and all genres of music are available consistently - more than any other city in the world. I come from a small town (Ashville, NC), and some people crave the opposite of what they grew up with.
Q: What kind of music do you listen to when you're in New York?
A: Anything - I can go to The Blue Note and see Wayne Shorter and Freddy Hubbard, or check out a singer-songwriter at a small club.
Q: The Lower East Side is full of punk, indierockers and new wave bands. Does any of that appeal to you too?
A: I can like some of it, but I'm interested in music on an individual basis, not categories or genres.
Q: Derek Trucks (who plays guitar with Warren in the Allman Brothers) is really into Indian music. With New York being so cosmopolitan and full of world music artists, are there any non-Western styles of music you're exploring?
A: I've always liked and listened to music from other cultures, even if I haven't taken it as far as some. In New York, you have Spanish and Cuban music, for instance. I love Celtic music, which became bluegrass and country in the United States, but if you listen closely, you can hear how Celtic and Eastern music overlap each other. I remember being floored by Ravi Shankar and "Bangladesh Movie" when it came out. But many musicians tend to second-guess themselves, wishing they had studied this and that. I wished I could have studied jazz more than I did. But you can't do it all. The melting pot of influences still makes you who you are.
Q: Are you going to do a studio follow-up to your acoustic album, "Live at Bonnaroo"?
A: I would love to do it, it's a future project. But I'd like to involve other acoustic players in it as well this time, not do it solo.
Q: I heard that you and Carlos Santana have talked about recording together.
A: We've had a few talks on the phone. We're still trying to make it happen.
Q: What kind of album does he want to do?
A: According to Carlos, it would be in the style of what he did with Alice Coltrane, like "jumping off the Grand Canyon and floating in mid-air"...
Q: That doesn't sound like the album format he's been doing with Clive Davis lately.
A: No, I'm getting the impression that Clive wouldn't be involved in this one.
Q: I know we have to wrap up this interview. My last question for you: What's your relationship to Brian Farmer (his guitar tech) like? You seem like brothers.
A: It's very intuitive, I would say. We connect and know each other much more than people realize. We don't need to talk about the everyday stuff. But Brian's also very experienced and gets things done - not like some other people who make things more complicated than they need to be. Plus, he's fun to be around. I also think sharing the same birthday (April 6) has something to do with it.
Q: Thanks so much for your time, Warren. Hope to catch you on the road soon!