Posted on April 3, 2010 - by Editor

Chuck Ragan: Playing For Fun

Chuck Ragan © Imelda Michalczyk

I was probably a late addition the Hot Mater Music fan base and the subsequent splinter bands from The Draft to Chuck Ragan’s own solo projects and collaborations. With Hot Water Music playing more regularly again and due back in the UK in the summer, Chuck Ragan was on tour to sample his wares from his  increasing catalogue of solo material in support of Frank Turner.

Chuck Ragan is a name touted by many artists Distorted has met over the years in terms of his passion for music and what a genuinely nice guy he is; on both fronts Chuck met our expectations.

From his sincerity and thorough enjoyment for performing while despite all these years not taking anything for granted, we chatted to Chuck before his support slot performance at the Roundhouse in London, to talk about his varied musical roots, the Revival tour and plans to come back to the UK.

Steve: So this is the first time we have spoken to you so excuse us if the questions are ones you have heard a thousand times before. In terms of your background, a lot of people would associate you with Hot Water Music but over the past few years there has been a large output of solo material, collaborations etc. I have read a lot of recent interviews on this topic but how different is the touring experience now, especially compared to HWM  with which you were involved with for such a long time?

Chuck: Right, well to me a lot of it is the same in the sense that HWM did so much over the years in terms of touring and travelling all over the world and we were blessed enough to be invited into so many different communities and met a massive amount of amazing friends that have become lifelong friends, that we still have. When I started doing a lot of solo stuff I stayed on the same road that I was on; work with the same people that were there, everything from other musicians, to promoters to tour manages, you name it. In that sense the family aspect of road life and music in general that we all built together not just with HWM but together with the music has never changed. So that’s not anything different. To me if it was any other way I don’t think I would be doing it, it wouldn’t feel proper; it wouldn’t feel right or real.

Ya know a big difference is the music; lyrically it’s very much the same I feel like my drive and my outlook on writing in general hasn’t changed though.

Chuck speaks from his heart and although the questions are ones he has probably heard several times over the years, he answers each as enthusiastically and passionately as if it was the first time he had heard them. It’s not only a sign of his character but he has an uncanny ability to make people feel at ease which is reflected through his family-feel music. We asked about his maturing experience as a performer.

Chuck: Yeah I mean maybe we are getting older and we cant stop that (chuckles) the thing about writing individually or solo; I guess with what’s different is there are pros and cons so it goes both ways for me. It can be completely liberating cos you don’t have anyone there to shoot anything down but at the same time it can be very intimidating cos you don’t have anybody there to say “hey that’s a really bad song” or “that’s a bad idea!” I really enjoy writing cos it’s just simple expression and like keeping journals or keeping a diary or to write a hit song or something you know what I mean? And I just feel like I owe so many friends and awesome musicians and bands that inspired me and influenced me when I was a young man right up to this point, I owe them for helping me to think that way ya know? Even through all the years of HWM when we would write we would write for ourselves and it was more about simple therapy than trying to impress anybody. I feel I kinda bought that/ take it with me to my grave. If people get into it and it makes them smile or do a two step or enjoy it in any way, shape or form today then that’s amazing. I’m so happy and honoured that a little simple song I write could do that. If it doesn’t and they don’t get into it that’s fine too and I fully respects that as it’s not for everybody. It doesn’t bother me either way

Steve: A couple of things to pick out there, firstly maybe the longevity. Not to remind you of your age but I think a lot of people that don’t last as long in the industry don’t have the right attitude. What you were saying there about doing it for yourself and not trying to please anybody else, does that go a long way to surviving as long as you have?

Chuck: Um, I mean for me yeah absolutely, but this is the music industry and so many different bands, acts or artists have different goals and some are in it to see their names up in lights or to fill their bank accounts and half the time they don’t know what to do with the money, ya know. Or some people do it to make some people smile or make themselves smile and get out of a dark place, and it works differently for everybody. As far as the longevity goes that could go in the same way, who know?, There are so many factors with the why, like why we are sitting in these steps right now sharing this beer or why someone is making a gazillion dollars that could care less to stand on the stage to do anything.  There are so many factors involved with what keeps people going and what keeps them on the move and the up and up. For me I’m a song writer and I figured that out with my good friends a long long time ago and it’s something I enjoy doing and whether I make money or not I’m gonna do it one way or another.

Chuck Ragan © Imelda Michalczyk

Steve: Ok, so would you say this is as happy as you can be, touring the world, playing music you enjoy with people you get to meet on the way. In retrospective when you started listening to the first records you picked up, do you pinch yourself?

Chuck: Oh man I’m always pinching myself, and I’m always totally blown away and amazed with any of this, any of this! As far as thinking of it back in those days it wasn’t even in my mind. What drove me back then when I first started was that no-one wanted me to do it. And that’s why I did it?

Steve: Who didn’t want you to do it?

Chuck: Well my parents, my school and the church. To be frank with ya they didn’t. I was good at sports and my parents wanted me to stick with that and the school didn’t like it cos I painted my fingernails black and wore weird things, I don’t know and obviously the church didn’t want me to have anything to with it cos well I didn’t believe in the church. As a young kid, like most kids, you tell them not to do something they are more likely to do it. So in the early days it wasn’t a thought in my mind, like touring wasn’t even a concept. Even when HWM started and we started after we had played in other bands as kids but we became this real band and practised and go into the studio and record a couple songs. And then it was like “let’s bring that recording down to the bar and maybe No Idea would want to put out a 7” or Toybox might want to put out a 7”. And like that’s as far as our goals went, and I feel us beginning like that helped build a foundation for us to always set and stick with short term goals. I don’t know maybe that’s why we are still here now, we didn’t think about the bigger picture till years and years down the road; like “Yeah that bands great lets see if they want to do a tour with us” or whatever.

Steve:  So in terms of gateway bands what turned you on to punk rock, was there a pivotal record that landed up on your lap?

Chuck: Yeah well when I grew up I wasn’t allowed to have records or listen to stuff. There was always something going on. I got into skateboarding which got me into punk rock, I was hearing all this music that just scared the hell out of me coming from a conservative religious background. There was a lot of gospel, country and bluegrass and Cajun as well and you know I mean, I grew up with that and I loved the energy of it but by the time I got to a age when I was thinking for myself I got to a age where I didn’t agree with where a lot of it was coming from or the direction it was going more so. I would have a walkman and a headset and my friends would make me these tapes with all this music it just drove me! I didn’t even know half the words they were saying but I just thought that’s how I feel! And I probably listened to that a good couple years where half the bands I was listening to and I didn’t even know who they were, just these mixed blank tapes.

Later on we would be in the car and someone would put on a tape and I was like “oh wait I know this!” and someone would be like “oh that’s the Bad Brains and that’s The Germs or GBH” or whatever and at a young age I listened to a lot of The Misfits and when Minor Threat came about that was big. Just a ton of stuff that threw me in a whole other direction and realm.

Steve: Ok but a lot of the soul and folk and gospel you were exposed to, would you say that’s only come out in your solo work where it’s more obvious or throughout your career?

Chuck: I think throughout. A lot of people if they are just getting into the stuff I’m doing now, well a lot of people who have been into it for a while and know I’m not doing anything new I have been doing a lot of acoustic stuff for years and even the early HWM stuff was written on acoustic. Its just I think the influence will always one way or another bleed though.

Steve: Joey Cape and Tony Sly were alluding to the same thing and people’s appreciation of music; with their solo shows people shouting out a lot of songs that can’t be played acoustic. In terms of recent years I suppose, there has been a lot of artists, and I don’t mean disrespect by this but a number of artists have been playing solo stuff and touring that way, but like you mentioned a lot of bands started their songs that way and many of them probably have worked for the right to do that. How much has this influenced the Revival Tour which you started in 2008? How did that come about?

Chuck: Honestly what sparked it was when we started doing a lot of solo stuff, and I’m a musician and I feel any other musician if they are doing it form the heart they want to play with their friends and collaborate and have a good time, I noticed on a lot of runs I would notice that no matter who I was playing with by the end we were doing songs together and it always happened towards the end! And my wife and I we would go to a bluegrass festival or some old time music festival where there is more of this family and community feel with people coming on and off stage, the whole concept of it is nothing new. We didn’t recreate the wheel, it’s been happening for years and years but just not in the circle I have been travelling. So the idea was why cant we organise a tour where that’s the goal; to play together, break down the barriers of who should be the headliner, who should be the opener and share music and have a good time, and make it nonstop. We all start together; we all just start off, play together, and end together, why not?

Chuck Ragan © Imelda Michalczyk

Steve: So what are/were the biggest problems you have to overcome with that format?

Chuck: Well the biggest problem is, and all the artists and good friends we contacted were like “hell yeah let’s do it, it’s great!”, “sounds like a blast” but when you get to the business side and promoters, they couldn’t understand the concept of it –they were like “what do you mean there is no headliner?” Well how does it work? How do you sell it to them? We had invested all this money and there are only so many ways to get 12 people around the country in 57 days, throw them in a big bus or get three different vans, fill them and 6-7 hotel rooms or find somewhere to stay and all this invested. Promoters just didn’t get it even though we Tom Gabel of Against Me! and Tim Barry from avail or Austin Lucas? These are names people know.

Sadly at this point we had some technical problems with the recording but Chuck spoke a bit further about his plans of extending the Revival Tour idea. This April it heads to Australia for the first time with another great line-up and current high riser Frank Turner included. We did ask him about plans to bring it to UK and Europe and that’s something Chuck definitely wants to do within the next year. On top of HWM playing again, he balances his solo tours, the Revival tour and a small record label he has started with his wife, a small “mom and pops label” as he describes it.

He talks lovingly and endearingly about his wife, who regularly joins him on his solo tours but more importantly is his rock in life. Chuck settled down in Northern California over the past few years and for the first time in his two decades living the musician’s lifestyle has a place he can call home; family dog and all.

The performance that night and the smaller more intimate show in Kingston the following evening, which I enjoyed far more due to the small bar room feel, were truly inspiring. Chuck travels on the road with good friends in this case Digger and John, two accomplished musicians and close friends of Chucks and he spoke of plans to come back to London and use the capital as a base for a short residency, playing different shows in intimate bar room venues in and around the capital; that’s something for fans new and old to savour. Finally his touring plans are also working loosely around wrapping up a new collaborative record with Brian Fallon of the The Gaslight Anthem which we are eagerly anticipating.