Lucero have long been one of my favorite bands. Ben Nichols’ voice and song-writing tug at my heart strings like no other, and the band’s willingness to deviate from “the path” (both musically and career-wise) have earned them my deepest respect and loyalty. I’ve had the pleasure of attending many a Lucero show over the years, and I can’t say I’ve ever been disappointed. If you can get to one on their current tour, go. You won’t regret it. Till then, welcome to TVD’s Lucero Takeover Week.
I’m not gonna lie: I have a love-hate relationship with Ben Nichols’ voice and song-writing. I hate to cry but I love to feel, hence the conundrum. Emotions aside, I do not think many people would argue with me were I to say that Ben is one of the best song-writers of our time with a voice that lends weight and grit to his words. I’ve been anything from soothed to forced to rock-bottom to energized by them, and sometimes all in the time span of a typical Lucero show. Ben talks about (among other things) their new record, touring with Frank Turner, and our [come to find] mutual love of Tom Petty.
One of my favorite shows was when Frank Turner opened for Lucero. What are the chances of you performing again with him?
I have a feeling we’ll definitely cross paths with Frank again. I first met him on The Revival Tour with Chuck Ragan back in 2008 or so. Played with him in Australia as well and also on the Social Distortion tour. I have a feeling next time we play with him, though, we will be opening for him instead of the other way around. He’s really good and getting very popular very fast. He works his ass off. Hopefully we can go over to the U.K. and open for him on his home turf.
A lot of your fans admire you and your “work hard/play hard” lifestyle and consider you a hero. Many of them, like me, are able to keep their cool long enough to meet you and say a few words of appreciation but then lose their shit shortly thereafter. What are some artists who you think you’d lose your shit over should you ever meet them, and why?
It’s not the healthiest of lifestyles…heroes, huh? There’s a huge list of comic book artists I’d like to meet. Jaime Hernandez, Joe Sacco, Mike Mignola. Filmmakers, too. Terrence Malick, Michael Mann, John Carpenter. I’d be scared as hell if I ever had to meet the author Cormac McCarthy. As far as songwriters go, Tom Waits is pretty much at the top of my list. Tom Petty, too.
One of the things I love most about going to a Lucero show is checking out the opening bands. I’ve discovered American Princes, Amy LaVere, Catfish Haven, Cory Branan, Frank Turner, Glossary, Jen Buxton/Like… Alaska, Roadside Graves, These Unites States…. The list goes on… Are there any up-and-comers you’ve seen out there you’d love to have tour with you someday, or at the very least, recommend people start listening to?
You named a lot of good bands there. One of the best things about playing a headlining tour is getting to pick really good bands to take with you so that you have good music to listen to every night. Not sure who we will be taking out with us when the new record comes out. But I can tell you we’ve been having a blast hanging out on the Warped Tour with three bands specifically: The Street Dogs, The Aggrolites, and Lionize. All completely different sounding, completely great bands. Wouldn’t be surprised if we did some touring with all three of those bands at some point in time.
Lucero recently signed to ATO Records, which also has the likes of Dawes, Drive-by Truckers, and My Morning Jacket signed to them. How’d that come to be, and are you optimistic about working with them?
We’re all very much looking forward to this new record with ATO. Hopefully it will finally be the right fit for us label-wise. We’ve had rough luck with that in the past but we all have a very good feeling going into this record. We talked to a number of different labels after we were released from our Universal deal. All of the labels would have been good choices, but ATO just seemed like the right fit. We’ve been working on demos and I gotta tell ya the next record is going to be pretty fucking good.
Lucero – Here At The Starlite
Last but not least, one of the things I find most endearing and inspiring about Lucero is the sacrifices you have made along the way in order to keep doing what you love in the way you want to do it. Do you have any advice for those who may be trying to do the same thing in their careers?
Live cheap. Pay as little rent as possible but don’t skimp on van maintenance. Don’t quit. Hell, I figure if you really want it bad enough you know all this already.
