Petunia & The Vipers
Petunia and the Vipers
Chances are if you have lived in Bellingham for at least a year, than you are familiar with the moniker Petunia & the Vipers as they play once a month at the Green Frog Acoustic Tavern. At first it may seem like a familiar sound but I assure you, there is nothing quite like the music of Petunia & the Vipers and judging from our brief interaction, there is no one in music quite like Petunia.
Petunia himself has been bringing ‘em into bars, churches, theatres, festivals and street corners for over 10 years professionally. There have been over 10 different band members in the last seven years that have made up a variety of incarnations of Petunia & the Vipers but it has only been during the last two years that they have officially been playing as a band with the same members and future considerations of touring the world. They hail from Vancouver, B.C. and play a wide variety of musical styles that meld into ‘their own thing’, although they draw heavy influence from rockabilly and western swing with splashes of yodeling for good measure.
Their live sets are a smattering of classic and original tunes that, combined with the dapper dress and off-the-radar stage presence, will turn you into an instant fan if you aren’t one already.
What’s Up!: Where does your broad spectrum of musical interest stem from?
Petunia: I can’t ever decide when presented with the menu. So many things in my mind seem like they could taste and look fantastic if I were to order them. I have been blessed with a stubbornness that keeps me going with the blinders on most of the time, never stopping to see where the other horses may be going, confident that where I am going is the right way. It’s fun to get lost.
WU: What got you started playing this type of music?
P: Once upon a night, a late, late night, I met a lady. She was so sophisticated in the arts of communication, possessed such fiery wit and displayed all the charm of a satin clad fakir that I was dumbfounded and enamored of her. I, was none of these – social outcast that I was at the time, and not accustomed to much conversation. I threw coffee beans all over the room to begin with, beating my drum and pounding on my chest in my own way, and shouted mostly about no things at all while we drank the rest of the night away. True romance. Sparks flew. Rather annoying it might seem to most although we two seemed to be in accordance that things had set off on the right foot(s). Three days later, she opened the Reader’s Digest country songbook to “Jambalaya” and sang and played guitar. She taught and inspired me to play and sing country music.
WU: How do you describe your sound?
P: It’s a sound, if you will, that is difficult to sum up in a few words. Recently I heard “Tom Waits meets Elvis at Woody Guthrie’s hobo junction”. That sounded cool. In any case, this description is accessible to a wide audience.
WU: Have you ever been anything other than a performer?
P: I used to make 16mm film. Before that I dabbled mildly with painting and before that I mixed youthful verse with travel – then swore off books and writing altogether as falsities! I felt for a time that books and reading sullied, malformed, and in the end, destroyed true thought. I felt, arrogantly, that my own thought was important, that it was more important for one to think on their own and improvise the ‘new idea’ rather than read about the ‘new idea’ in a book and have the path to it laid out before you on someone else’s terms. It wasn’t until much later that I heard how Socrates had come to a similar conclusion in his time. Something to the effect that – eventually, with the onset of books and reading, common sense would soon disappear.
WU: Do you ever still play on the streets just for the experience of it?
P: You are right – playing on the street is always an experience. One that I am accustomed to and that I enjoy, even though the evil flavors of my thoughts and emotions sometimes take control out there. This is hard to explain in a sentence or two unless you’ve been there.
WU: How do you feel about the ever present reference to David Lynch considering he is a director and you a musician?
P: I think it an apt link. In many of his films, I sense that another era is swimming in the background, that there is more than meets the eye. Plainly viewed, one is struck with the idea that there is a strange sophistication attached to his films. A sophistication about the unknown to us. That if we walk hand in hand with what is unknown instead of analyzing it, then we can come to an honest understanding of it. Like poetry.
WU: Why is Bellingham so lucky to have you grace our stage every month?
P: Three reasons – James Hardesty and Robert Sarazin Blake are the men to thank who first made it possible for, and then encouraged us to cross the border. We thank you Robert and James. The third reason is that we feel loved in Bellingham. We thank the folks in Bellingham who come to see us play. The Green Frog Acoustic Tavern is a great sounding venue and the perfect size for a real atmosphere. The Subdued Stringband Jamboree is on my list of places, yearly, that I should be at and it’s only going to get bigger and bigger. Watch out.
I myself have a copy of their Live at the Cafe Montmartre in Vancouver CD from this year and let me tell you, it is already fairly scratched up from all the wear and tear. You simply must hear their treatments of the Americana classics “God’s Gonna Cut You Down,” “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” “The Big Rock Candy Mountain” and “Wayfaring Stranger.” But make no mistake, the crowds cry out for the Petunia originals just as often if not more.
Also check out their website to get a taste of their sound or a taste of some Chocolate Zucchini Cake. It’s true, there are a few delicious recipes on their site so you can whip up some tasty treats while you listen. I’d like to know one other band that offers you so much.
Petunia & the Vipers just put out a 9-song recording called I Live in the Past and is also fresh off of their first tour to L.A. While in the city of angels they recorded in the world famous Sunset Sound Studios where Tom Waits, Led Zeppelin, Rolling Stones (among many others) have made records. It is due out in a few months and we can all expect big things to come out of it.
Catch Petunia & the Vipers next on Feb. 20 at the Green Frog.
For more information about the band, visit www.petuniamusic.com.
