The Nalle Colt Interview: Bringing Classic Rhythm and Blues Back To The World’s Biggest Arenas

So does that mean your next album could sound different depending on what you’ve been listening to?

Well we’re still the same band with the same energy, and we’re not adding any members, but we’ve toured the whole world. We played huge stages, every where, and obviously playing with people like The Who, Brian May and The Rolling Stones, you get this different energy and it rubs off on your performance.

I watched The Who play 51 times and seeing Pete Townshend on stage every night does really leave a mark. So I do think there will be some surprises on the new record, because we’ve learnt more and more about how to play with each other as a band. I see new things in my bandmates, Rick and Richard, we have new ideas. For me it’s all about personality, having a distinct personality with my playing, and really expressing myself.

It’s interesting that you brought up The Who, because supporting a band of that stature means playing huge arenas but when I think about Vintage Trouble’s sound, I picture a more intimate, almost smoky setting – if that makes sense. So was it easy playing on those stages, did it suit your sound?

When we got to the UK we played on the Jools Holland Show and we went on a little three-week tour with Brian May – and that was big for us. It was little 2,500 seat venues, but it felt huge. Then we get a call suddenly and Bon Jovi want us to come with them on an entire stadium tour. So we flew up to Edinburgh for our first show and it was incredible.

You’re standing in front of 60,000 people and hitting that big A-chord, ah it’s incredible. I was using these little 15-watt amps, little tweed amps, and I was like “How is this going to work?”

I don’t know. Our set up is very small. We’re like a blues bar band. We had our two tiny amps and a drum set, but it worked out so well, and we’ve been given the opportunity to support these incredible bands: Lenny Kravitz, Brian May, Bon Jovi, The Who, and The Rolling Stones. So we found a way to lock in right away. We stay tight on stage and we set up like we’re in a small blues bar. So everything stays really tight even if you’re on this humungous stage.

We learn quickly. If you are supporting a big act you have 30 minutes to prove yourself and you just have to hit it right away. We’ve been very lucky. We adapted to it really quick. It still feels intimate to us. We’ve found a way to make these big shows our own.

We spoke to Rival Sons last year and they didn’t like the idea that, just because they’re influenced by bands like Led Zeppelin and The Who, they were consistently being labelled “classic rock”.

Now the name Vintage Trouble suggests that you’re more at peace with your connection to music’s past, but how do you feel about being labelled “retro” or “classic” – is that something you embrace and do you think that’s fair?

I totally understand what we are. The name kind of says it itself. I’m proud to say I listen mostly to 50s rhythm and soul music, that’s where we get most of our inspiration. I do listen to new musicians, especially the ones we meet on the road, and I don’t mind it all.

On tour we meet a new generation of kids and a lot of them haven’t heard about Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner, Lightening Hopkins or even Muddy Waters. So it’s cool, we spend a lot of time talking to our fans, the “troublemakers”, on Facebook and Twitter and we love chatting with them about old music. We love introducing our fans to this old music because it’s new to them.

We’re proud of it. There’s a music that disappeared too quickly, especially in the world we’re living in, where everything moves so quickly and everything is digitized, and everything needs to have a beat and a click track. Whereas we love how loose old music was, how jumpy and jiving it was, how rough and easy it was –that live energy.

I don’t consider myself a guitar virtuoso; I’m a straight-ahead player. I have some punk influences, so it can be a little whacky and little out of tune, but that’s okay. It brings me so much joy.

Do I like that we’re being referenced as a “retro band”? Probably not, because it sounds dull for some reason, but we’re definitely not that.

I see, so when you aimed to recreate the 50s soul recording techniques in studio, was it because you wanted to sound authentic or were you trying to avoid an ultra-clean modern production sound?

For me, I’ve been in a lot of recording session and there’s like 16 microphones on the drums and when you listen back to it, it just sounds so flat. I love the 50s recordings where they used one mono mic on the drums and it sounds amazing. We try to keep it simple, because we love that sound, I’ve never enjoyed the ultra-high def sound on music. It’s easier to make the guitar amps breathe and work if you use less, and embrace ambient sound.

We still haven’t found our ideal sound, 100% yet. We’re up for working with great producers and engineers who can master that sound, because it’s difficult to find these days. It’s really hard to find studios who are willing to make these ultra simple recordings. That’s why I love that so many studios are moving and people are making music at home, building their own studios and using their limitations as something positive.

You touched on it earlier, but I was interested to find out how you work as a songwriting unit and if you have a “leader”?

Some of the songs from Bombshelter Sessions were based on us sitting at home with Garage Band and sorting out riffs and a whole load of different ideas. Now we’re playing so much live, sound check time has become songwriting time. That’s when everyone brings out their new ideas. I also bring an acoustic guitar on the tour bus and we have our laptops and iPhones so we can quickly throw it down. Then we bring those ideas to sound check.

Our ideas can come from anywhere. Sometimes we’re doing a sound check and Richard will throw down a beat and I’ll be like “Oh my god, what was that!” and we track it and throw a guitar over it. Sometimes Ty walks into the bus singing a melody and we’ll just record it on iPhone real quick and go from there. We are really good friends and we live with each other on the road, so ideas are always being thrown around.

Actually, I really want to say this to readers and listeners in general: you can have the most simple guitar idea and I know you’ll say: “that’s so simple, I’ll remember that” – and then 10 minutes later you’ve completely forgotten it. It could have been a million dollar riff! Record everything, you might think you’ll remember it, but you often lose that certain feel – that’s why I always walk around with a recording device because you never know when you’re going to forget it.

I can 100% endorse that, whenever I get a writing idea, I immediately jot it down in notes on iPhone – because you lose so many ideas to memory, especially late at night.

Isn’t it true though? These ideas just pass away because you’re so certain you’ll remember them. I end up walking around humming the drum parts hoping I can recreate the mood or state of mind I was in, but it normally doesn’t work. Especially as we’re travelling the world, this has become such a great way to make new music, because we’re breathing in inspiration all the time.

Now there’s one last thing I wanted to discuss and that’s California. In 2013 we tend to think of the state as a hot bed for sunshine indie and So-Cal punk, but what’s it like for a blues and soul band?

That’s an interesting question, because it’s so sad. LA and California were known as the music mecca of the world, but it kind of flattened out. There were so many musicians there, wanting to make great music, but the opportunities had become so slim.

I really, really wanted to play live, but you might only get a gig like once a month. So we started to try and get these residencies in places that might not even have music – like restaurants – hell we actually did play restaurants sometimes. So we’d just set up and play, and it really caught on, because these nights would sell out.

It’s really great because when we come back to LA now we see lots of new bands doing residencies and we’re really happy that we could inspire in this way.

Los Angeles is a really fantastic place. There is so much music there, but everyone just needed to get together and get inspired to create it.