Storyville Interview

INTERVIEW WITH STORYVILLE FROM TheCelebrityCafe.com ARCHIVES

Recently released on November Records in the debut album from Storyville, featuring vocalist, Malford Milligan. Milligan has been named Best Male Vocalist of the year, and Storyville received Best New Band, by the Austin Music Awards.

DM) What kind of style is this new album, Bluest Eyes?

MM) Well, basically the style I et out to do, is to have something that rocked pretty hard and is very faithful and hopefully the albums definitely catch those two sides.

DM) I noticed you have a rather famous backing group, including members of Double Trouble, John Mellencamp's drummer and even Don Henley. How did you get musicians of that caliber to help out on your debut?

MM) I have to give that kind of credit to Mr. Stephen Burton, the album's producer. I've played with Tommy and Chris (from Double Trouble) and they definitely were eager to do it. Mr. Burton knows Don Henley. They met during a break from recording and I met Mr. Henley in a place downtown called the Ironworker. I saw Mr. Henley there. he came down to listen to the stuff we've been working on and liked it, so he decided he'd like to sing on a cut. I was pretty impressed.

DM) What is your favorite song on the album?

MM) I don't really think I have a favorite song. All of the songs I love to sing. I guess if it cam close to what was my favorite song, I guess "Water" would be it. It's definitely one of the deeper tunes on there. It was written by Craig Ross and it's just an incredible piece of work.

DM) I noticed that you did Peter Gabriel's song, Mercy Street. Why did you choose to cover that song?

MM) Well, I've been doing that tune, probably since it came out, sometimes even accapella. Jamie Doole at November Records basically suggested that I go in and record it again, and so at the time, I recorded "Mercy Street." I recorded a "Change is Going to Come" Those were the sort of, "ballady things." I was happy with how they came out.

DM) Would you consider Peter Gabriel as one of your influences.

MM) Most definitely yes. I remember listening to that album for almost a year straight. Almost every day. He found himself vocally, music-wise and songwriting-wise in his forties. I'd heard a lot of his earlier stuff, but nothing that came together and fell together like that album of his [So]. It was definitely a landmark album of his, and it was definitely a sign of a lot of internal changes for him.

DM) When will you be going on your next tour?

MM) The tour schedule will be going on sometime in June. We're putting it together right now.

DM) Who do you consider your biggest influences?

MM) Everybody from Joni Mitchel to Stevie Wonder. Vocally and songwriting wise, I definitely listen to a vast array of people. I've been lucky enough to do that and Joni Mitchel vocally is incredible. A very intimate songwriter. Another thing you don't hear about Stevie Wonder, is his ground breaking vocal style. He took certain soul rifts and changed them around to his own style, and took them somewhere else. You can hear his stuff in New York soul artists. If you listen to New York soul artists a lot, you can definitely hear that influence of Stevie Wonder.

DM) I noticed your vocal range and style are very diverse.

MM) Yeah, the two songs like 'Mercy Street' and 'The Bluest Eyes' make a different demand on you. The song asks for something from me and I have to give it to the song, no matter what it is.