JESSIE OPOIEN, The Capital Times, Madison, WI
Milwaukee musician Paul Cebar and his band Tomorrow Sound are about to embark on a national tour promoting their new album, “Fine Rude Thing” — an energetic mix of R&B, Caribbean and rock-and-roll sounds. But before they play elsewhere, they’re kicking off with album release shows in Milwaukee and Madison.
Cebar talked to 77 Square about the new record and his Jan. 11 show at the Harmony Bar.
What do you have planned for your show at the Harmony?
We’re gonna debut a few of the tunes that we’ve not been playing live, and be kind of festive with finally getting this thing out.
We love Madison. I love playing there. The Harmony Bar has been a great place for us. We love the people there; we’ve always had a really nice following.
How long did it take to put the album together?
It’s been quite a saga. We recorded it, then kind of shopped it around a bit, then I ended up signing with a manager about a year-and-a-half ago, and he shopped it around a bit. In the summer we decided we would try and release it ourselves. We then mounted this Kickstarter campaign to try and hire publicity and radio promotion — something the last few records I’ve released have not benefited from.
What are you excited about with this album?
I’ve done a lot of co-writing in the last few years. I’m excited about that on this record. Through almost all of my other records, the solo record had a couple of tunes that were co-written, but the last maybe five years, I’ve had a lot of fun learning how to do that and reaping the benefits of the kind of song you write when you’re writing with somebody. You write a different kind of song when you’ve got another head in the game. It’s been a good challenge and really a lot of fun. I’m really proud of the tunes.
There’s one I co-wrote with Cesar Rosas of Los Lobos, one written with Chuck Mead, one with Pat McLaughlin. Willy Porter and I co-wrote “You Owe It To You,” and I’m really proud of that song — and I’m a bit surprised at how sweetly the recording turned out.
Mike Fredrickson, our bassist, came to our band in the middle of the recording of the record … and he’s a great harmony singer, so I think the record benefits from having him sing with us. (Percussionist) Mac Perkins returned to the band for this record. The great 18-year partnership of Reggie Bordeaux, the drummer, and Bob Jennings (multi-instrumentalist), is really warmly reflected here.
What do you like about “You Owe It To You”? How did it come together?
(Willy) came in with a chord sequence that reminded me of Memphis R&B or Philadelphia — a little more elaborate, chord-wise, than things we had written prior. He and I wrote a song called “I Didn’t Bring It Up” that was on my solo record. We’ve had an ongoing thing about five years. This one came up and it just started percolating. We batted it around and it started to turn into something. I like the little character we created there. I think ultimately it comes off as an homage to the Hi Records of Memphis sound. We’ve long had that sort of sound in our wheelhouse. There’s something about it that charms even us.
Why is the record called “Fine Rude Thing”?
I had been doing a lot of home recordings, and there’s an instrumental that Reggie and I hammered out at one point. I called it “Fine Rude Thing.” I thought, “That’s a good title. Let’s figure out who’s a fine rude thing here.” I came up with a set of lyrics and figured out it wasn’t at all related to that other tune.
It was during the heart of the Bush years … Frankly, when I write a song, and the time it takes to get it out so many years later, if I were to start making topical comments, I think they would be long out of date and pretty incomprehensible by the time it came out.
But the lyric, “She’s a ranking rebuttal to their abysmal drag” has to do with me trying to posit this free spirit against this politically correct crucifixion stuff. I guess it’s a bit the idealized love person — but idealized in a different way.
There are a lot of geographical and historical influences represented in your music. Are there any that stand out for you on this record?
I was just down in New Orleans for the holidays, and I’ve taken a lot of influence from the music of that town. This record doesn’t really have an overtly New Orleans tune on it — that might be a first for me. That’s been a real touchstone for me. I think I came to Latin music and Brazilian music through my love of New Orleans music. This record, there are two that are sort of strongly influenced by Jamaican music.
The final track, “Like Loving People Do,” is an overt ska tune. That one shows Pat McLaughlin’s sensibility and mine together. “Might Be Smiling” was sort of my response to post-hip-hop ideas along with a bunch of Tom Waits ideas. I like how that came out. It’s got a real kind of tribute to Sly Stone.
As much as you’re influenced by music and culture from around the world, how is your music shaped by being from and living in Wisconsin?
Way, way back, I had this little slogan that I thought of: ‘out here, you can see all the edges., I think coming up in Milwaukee with the radio, at the time I came up — things were quite eclectic on the radio. Some of them sounded pretty strange, but they were offered in the sense of, here’s the latest.
My grandmother was Slovak and my grandfather was Croatian. We’d have Catholic church festivals, and there were people trying to figure out how to fit their thing into America. I never really felt part of those subgroups. Reggie, my drummer was part of African-American Milwaukee, and his father was the first jazz drummer I saw in a night club. He brings this lovely perspective of what it was like to grow up black in Milwaukee.
I guess we came up with people like the Beatles maintaining that they could do anything. As a musician, I came to music feeling like I could do anything. If it works, run it up the flagpole, I guess.