Feature

Fat Man Squeeze has quickly become a local and regional favorite with their “unintentionally”untraditional take on bluegrass. Their music is definitely bluegrass with an attitude with ballads about everything from bootleggin’ to goin’ to the Wal-Marts.

Andy MacDonald (guitar/vocals), Kevin Harrison (mandolin) and Josh Pridgen (bass) were itching to get their hands on the final copy of their latest release “Bluegrass Trash,” and I’m sure they agree the finished product was well worth the wait. This release is a collection of off-beat bluegrass songs about everything from Johnny Carson to Obi Wan Kenobi.

When I spoke with Andy MacDonald, he was preparing for his weekly appearance at the Picker’s Paradise jam in Stapleton.

SC: How did you guys get together as a band?

AM : The band started off in California with me and another guy playing duets. Then, we moved back to Mobile. Around 2002, we started playing around here. Then, he went into the Air Force. I hooked up with a dobro player, and it was one guy joining here and one guy joining there. Next thing you know, we had a full-on band. Over the years, members have gone on to do different things, and other guys have come in. Basically, everybody who was ever a part of it, I play with on a regular basis. Bluegrass is a real communal thing, and we just meet people all the time. You have people play with you that have never played with you at all or practiced with you or anything. You just find the ones you like and stick with them.

SC: Where did you get the name Fat Man Squeeze?

AM: Ever been to Rock City?

SC: That’s where I thought you got it from!

AM: That’s why we called it that. We knew that nobody in California would have any idea what we were talking about. We moved back in here, and sure enough, everybody knows about Ruby Falls and “See Rock City” and all that crap.

SC: So, when did you feel that it clicked with your core line-up?

AM : Kevin came along to play with the old line-up of Fat Man Squeeze as an addition. Then, he actually replaced my banjo player. My bass player left, and I got my new bass player Josh. Then, my dobro player left, but he still plays with us every now and then. To answer your question was “When?” A year and a half ago was when this became the main idea for the band.

SC: You’ve got your new CD out ‘Bluegrass Trash.’ How is it different from your debut ‘Authentic Frontier Gibberish?’

AM: Well, number one, there’s less banjo, which is a good thing. However, there is banjo on this album. Everybody that was on the first album with the exception of Bruce, the old bass player, actually does play on this album for at least a couple of songs. We also have Tom Morley (Mithril).

This one is a little more serious on the pickin’ side of things. I think the songs are a little more mature, I would say. We really tried to get into putting together some good instrumentals. With the addition of Tom Morley on fiddle, that really helped to bring a lot of it out. That’s not to say that we don’t have our goofy side of things. We do have a couple of goofy songs on there. There’s a song called “Obi Wan Kenobi,” and there’s a filthy song called “Number on the Bathroom Wall.” All in all, as far as the songwriting goes, this particular one was all me in the songwriting department.

SC: I was about to say a crowd favorite is “Wal-Mart Song.” I was checking out some of the titles on CDBaby, and they look great! With the songwriting process, how do you come up with a bluegrass song about “Obi Wan Kenobi?”

AM : I actually wrote that song long before I was ever into bluegrass, but it had that feel. I kinda started trying to place it together into the bluegrass realm when I was in California. The people who heard it from California kinda threatened my life that I had to put it out on the next album. I neglected to put it out on the first album, and they were kinda upset with me. So, I had to put that one out, because they were big “Star Wars” fans. How did it come about? I was always into “Star Wars,” I reckon. There’s something from all three of them in the song, so this is before Episodes I, II and III came out.

SC: With all the Newgrass and Urban Bluegrass, you guys seem to be a little more traditional with your sound. What was it that led you to bluegrass?

AM : When I first got into it after playing guitar for years, I could learn a Van Halen song in a weekend, but I would try to play some of these badass bluegrass guys were playing, and it would take me a month. It was kinda humbling that these guys were ripping up the guitar. So, it’s really the virtuosity of it that drew me to the bluegrass.

I was at a stagnant point in my playing, and I wanted to be a better guitar player and was trying to find something that would help me do better. I haven’t been able to quit it since. To say that we’re traditional, I would say that we’re a little less traditional than most bluegrass bands around here. In the classic traditional sense, I don’t have the good bluegrass voice: the high lonesome sound. I’m really just kinda belting them out for better or worse. We don’t have a banjo in our band at all times, which kinda keeps us from being too traditional. It’s not that we’re trying intentionally not to be traditional; we just like the thick, fast fiddle tunes.

SC: What’s the CD release party going to be like?

AM : First of all, we will be playing that night. It’s not just going to be a party; it will be a performance. Anyone who buys a CD will get a coupon for a free domestic or well drink. We’re just trying to have a big party and expose some people to what we’re trying do and what we enjoy playing. We got a lot of friends around here who play bluegrass and all the other bands around here that we really respect and everything, and we got our one little corner of what’s going on in the Mobile bluegrass scene, and they’ve got theirs. It’s a good thing to have these vastly different bluegrass bands around here. We’re just trying to hold up our end of the bargain, so to speak. As far as the release party, just come out and have a good time.

Stephen Centanni is Lagniappe music editor. Contact him at scentanni@lagniappemobile.com.

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