San Antonio native Mike Dillon is a musical innovator and provocateur whose punk-jazz hybrid is virtuosic, intense and, most of all, groovy.
As a sideman, the ace vibraphonist has collaborated with Les Claypool, both on Primus releases and the bassist's solo work. He's also worked with Rickie Lee Jones, Ani Difranco and the Dean Ween Group, to name a few. Over the years, Dillon's own bands have ranged from the funk-punk Billy Goat to the jazz-rocking Critters Buggin to the percussive party of Hairy Apes BMX.
His latest combo, Punkadelick, will play the Lonesome Rose on Friday, Jan. 12 on a bill with San Antonio free-blowing jazz outfit The Whale. As the pairing and the band's name suggests, Punkadelick doesn't specialize in mellow cocktail jazz — far from it. The trio plays with an intensity and power as much influenced by Bad Brains as Charlie Parker.
"The music of Mike Dillon combines many sources, yet comes out sounding unto itself," Downbeat Magazine recently wrote of the musician. "Overall, it is punk rock as played by great instrumentalists ... most reminiscent of the Minutemen with its commitment to all styles and ability to play them and of the Dead Kennedys in its attitude and phrasing."
Dillon's bandmates are similarly accomplished. Drummer Nikki Glaspie has backed both Beyonce and Dumpstaphunk, while pianist Brian Haas possesses "a breadth and vision nearly untouched in modern jazz," music site Signal to Noise once effused.
We caught up with Dillon to talk about his musical adventures and his San Antonio ties.
Where are you living these days?
I'm in New Orleans now but split my time between here and Kansas City. I also have a place in Texas. But, really, wherever the road takes me. Spent 270 days on the road last year, been all over: Poland, Germany, Spain, France, the UK.
Have any countries surprised you?
I played Israel with Les Claypool, and I realized that everywhere you go, no matter what their governments are doing, in general the people want peace. That's probably even happening over there now. Most people want to live free, raise their kids, enjoy music. I'm not gonna buy into the narrative that everyone hates each other. Governments and arms manufacturers want us to be at odds with each other, but everywhere I go, people are different, but once the music starts, communication starts at a deeper level.
You have a pretty deep connection to San Antonio, right?
That's where my mom gave birth to me! My parents were teachers, so we moved all over Texas, ended up in Houston. Went to high school there, then went to Denton and attended [the University of] North Texas, very active in frontlines and ensembles in the '80s. Started playing in bands and the first band that had any success, the guitar player was also from San Antonio, born in the same hospital two days before me. Texas, as big as it is, it's a really small place. Whether you're playing Marfa, Terlingua, Austin, Houston or Dallas, people come to shows — people who like music — looking for something deeper. That's the power of music.
Someone else from San Antonio who I have a deep connection with is Bubba Hernandez, who plays with Brave Combo. He introduced me to the great accordion player Steve Jordan — the amazing virtuoso of the accordion. I've been hearing a lot of cumbia and conjunto music since I was a kid. My band now does cumbias. As I've gotten older, I've embraced it.
As Bubba used to say, Texas is just occupied Mexico. (Laughs.) What that means is the culture of Mexico is alive and well in Texas.
But also the music of Bob Wills. My grandfather, he'd be driving us around in his pickup, and we'd listen to that all day. I was into Rush [back then], so I wasn't into it. And now ... I can only listen to one or two Rush songs but can listen to a Bob Wills record all the way through. Jimmie Rodgers connects Texas to the music of New Orleans, to Louie Armstrong. Back in the old days, after the gigs, everyone hung out and played. There wasn't a division, music was the universal connector.
Western Swing is one of Texas' main cultural contributions. Cowboy jazz.
Exactly. I was a North Texas jazz education guy, but then I discovered Bad Brains at a gallery in Deep Ellum in 1986. I'd been asked to play percussion for one of the openers. Literally my first hardcore show, and I was opening for Bad Brains and [Black Flag guitarist] Greg Ginn's band Gone! It was an accident. I wasn't hip, but I had my brains blown wide open. From there, I saw bands like Firehose, opening for those guys — the whole DIY thing. And realizing Mike Watt was heavily influenced by John Coltrane. Or John Lurie from the Lounge Lizards. These guys who saw the connection between the energy of punk rock and the explosive nature of free jazz, people like Peter Brötzmann and Eric Dolphy, the Art Ensemble of Chicago. Kids from my generation who grew up on punk rock ended up moving over to free jazz once the punk rock thing got boring. So, for me, in my music, I call it "punkadelick" — we do punk, there's psychedelic, jazz, cumbia, everything we love. It's a big musical gumbo, to bring it back to the town I'm in.
$10-$12, 8 p.m., Friday, Jan. 12, Lonesome Rose, 2114 N. St. Mary's St., (210) 455-0233, thelonesomerose.com.
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