13 QUESTION METHOD: THE MOTHER HIPS

For more than a decade, Tim Bluhm and Greg Loiacono have been performing their unique brand of California Soul in their rock band called The Mother Hips. The band released three albums with Rick Rubin's American Recordings before self-releasing Later Days in 1998, and in 2001 they released Green Hills of Earth which was named by Rolling Stone critic Bill Crandall and the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the year's ten best records. Bluhm's solo work also includes the album Land and Sea Chanteys and his solo acoustic California Way. Loiacono released Listen to My Shapes, a record he recorded with his band called Sensations. The two formed Ball-Point Birds, exemplifying their softer acoustic side and released a self-titled record in 2002 with another one set for release in 2006 entitled Two Discover. The Mother Hips have performed with Wilco, Johnny Cash, the Old 97's, Cake, Cracker, and the Black Crowes. They have released the Red Tandy EP in late 2005 and will be releasing a full-length Mother Hips record, the first in five years, in the Fall of 2006.

1. Which was the first record you bought with your own money?
TIM: Kiss Alive II
GREG: AC/DC’s Highway to Hell

2. Which was the last record you bought with your own money?
TIM: Brian Eno’s Ambient 1: Music for Airports
GREG: Michael McDonald — If That's What It Takes

3. What was the first solo you learned from a record — and can you still play it?
TIM: I sort of learned the one on Neil Young’s "Down by the River," but I always lose track after he leaves the one-note part. The Mother Hips played “Everybody Knows This is Nowhere” at a show a while back, and I played that solo — but definitely not note for note.
GREG: The solo in Paul Hoaglin's "I"ll Have You Know." I can play most of it still.

4. Which recording of your own (or as a sideman) are you most proud of, and why?
TIM: My record Land and Sea Chanteys, because it still sounds far-out to me, like it was made by somebody else. You know how you get bored of just being yourself and just sounding like yourself all the time? That record doesn't do that to me.
GREG: I really like the second song from my album Listen To My Shapes. It's called "Slow to Show.” I didn't play any fancy guitar on it. I am most proud of the feel and the vocal performance on that song. We caught the mood I was trying to catch. Or it caught us.

5. What's the difference between playing live and playing in a studio?
TIM: Hopefully very little. In terms of trying to get an exciting or special performance in the studio, I’m even more critical than on stage, because it has to bear repeated listening. There are so many other things to think about in a studio, whereas on stage I am very focused. Usually.
GREG: The energy live is coming from outside of me — the audience and the other players, whereas it comes from within me when I'm in the studio. Or another way I see it is that when I play live it is more of a bodily experience and when I record it is more of a mental, heady experience.

6. What's the difference between a good gig and a bad gig?
TIM: For the band it is a matter of how the performance went. Did you communicate with the other musicians? Did the band connect with the audience? Did you hit any clams? A lot of
times the band will think a show was terrible and the audience will think it
was great.
GREG: A good gig for me is when I am locked in with the audience and the musicians that I am playing with, no matter how many people are involved. A bad gig is when my mind is somewhere else and I can only focus on bills or the argument I had with a friend instead of focusing on the music.

7. What's the difference between a good guitar and a bad guitar?
TIM: A good guitar feels good to play. A bad guitar discourages you from playing it.
GREG: If it makes sound and stays in pretty good tune, I'll call it good.

8. You play electric and acoustic. Do you approach the two differently?
TIM: Electric guitar can have sustain and reverb, and that surely effects how I play, in terms of note choices and phrasing. My electric tone tends to be a bit middy and fuzzy, so I have to play pretty simple to get stuff across. When I play acoustic live, I just mic the guitar [instead of using a pickup] so I can dig in without worrying about sounding harsh.
GREG: I do. Typically, I attack more on the electric guitar. I like to stab, chop, and pick. On the acoustic I usually play with a more open touch. I like fingerpicking and open tunings. I like to use my wrist a lot.

9. Do you sound more like yourself on acoustic or electric?
TIM: I think it's the same on both.
GREG: Sometimes I am a easy, flowing person, and sometimes I stab, pick, and chop. So I guess it is 50/50.

10. Do you sound like yourself on other people's guitars?
TIM: Acoustic, yes. Electric, no.
GREG: Yes. I think so. Sometimes when I play Tim's guitar I automatically start doing riffs that he would do.

11. Which living artist would you like to collaborate with, and why?
TIM: Neil Young
GREG: I would love to colaborate with the Flaming Lips, Will Oldham, and Merle Haggard. All together!

12. Which dead artist (music, or other arts) would you like to have collaborated with, and why?
TIM: Gene Clark
GREG: John Fahey.

13. What's your latest project about?
TIM: Recording soundscapes and instrumental tracks in my home studio. I have always been so focused on lyrics that it is nice to let notes tell the story for a while.
GREG: I made it with my band Sensations. The album is called Listen To My Shapes, and it is my first "solo album" — where I had all the songs and arrangements for them before we recorded. I am really happy with the way it came out.