This Friday, Truth & Salvage Co. headline Tipitina’s, and as a preview we invited the band’s lead singer and guitarist Scott Kinnebrew to share his thoughts on returning to New Orleans and a touring history which currently tallies 210,000 miles on the odometer.
“It’s always a good feeling when I return to New Orleans. From the day my family moved there when I was five, to the moment I graduated from Franklin and hopped on a Grateful Dead tour, New Orleans had me. I lived Uptown on Sycamore and Leonidas. The Roman Candy Man drove his cart down my street once a week. Our Charles Chips man was sax player Tom Fitzgerald. Charles Neville lived up the street. Davis Rogan was the older kid in the neighborhood. Inspired by the Renaissance Fair he’d beat the shit out of us in sword fights. Jeff Treffinger of the legendary Mermaid Lounge was my Boy Scout Leader.
I’m not trying to make my whole story about music and musicians, but for the most part it has been. As I grew older I’d sneak out nights to see all the best of New Orleans: Walter Wolfman, The Radiators, the regular Tuesday night Rebirth gigs at the Maple Leaf. I lived it up in New Orleans, I’ve got a buck moth caterpillar scar to prove it.
On this return trip, I’ll be playing with my band Truth & Salvage Co. at Tipitinas. First show I saw there was the Circle Jerks with 7 Seconds in ’88. We are not a punk band, rather a harmony-based rock ‘n roll band. We formed in Los Angeles about five years ago. We have four singers in the group, makes for more of a show having multiple front men. We met Chris Robinson of the Black Crowes, he liked what we were doing and signed us to his label, Silver Arrow Records. He also produced our debut record and invited us to support the Crowes throughout ’09. Since then it has been three years of living out of a suitcase and lots of miles spent on the road (our odometer is about to hit 210,000).
We’ve played with some kick ass bands in some kick ass venues. This year has mostly been spent working on our follow up record, which is slated to be released in Winter 2013. We are really psyched about it!
Halloween weekend finds us on a cruise ship bound for Mexico with Lynyrd Skynyrd called the Simple Man Cruise. It will be our second outing with them. I liken it to a biker rally on a boat.”
When we return, we’ll cruise up to New Orleans for the start of an 18-day run sponsored by Firefly Sweet Tea Vodka. The tour is to raise awareness for a non-profit organization called Music 4 More. Their mission is to collect and distribute musical instruments to veterans. In addition to the 18 club dates we will be visiting VA hospitals and playing for our veterans, starting with the Southeast Louisiana War Hospital in Reserve, LA. It will be a very intense and very rewarding tour. We are honored to kick it off in New Orleans.
Get a good nap in after Halloween and come spend the evening of Friday November 2 with Truth & Salvage Co. at Tipitina’s!
Spread the word! Yeah, you right!
Photo: Scott playing in the mud at Jazz Fest, circa 1981.
