My Interview with Roger Blevins Jr. of Mingo Fishtrap

This Saturday, August 8, The Opera House played host to Mingo Fishtrap, a N’awlins gut bucket soul & funk band. If you missed it you missed an amazing show that literally had our audience dancing in the aisle.

This amazing and tight knit group is made up of former college buddies that hail from all over the country and the world. They are; Greg, from the Carolinas on Bari Sax, Alto & Tenor Sax and Flute; Dan from Thousand Oaks , CA on Tenor Sax and Clarinet; Roger Blevins Sr (Pops) from Illinois & Louisiana on Fender P-Bass and scrub board ; Steve Butts from New Zealand on Trumpets, Flugelhorn and FX; . They’re led by front man Roger Blevin’s Jr., a true southern Mississippi boy with a voice that is both smooth as butter yet sharp as a knife that cuts right to your soul. Their original music tells a story set to a beautiful musical landscape that you just can’t help but move to and be moved by. They are truly engaging and their love for the music is so obvious in the joy they take on stage.

I was fortunate enough to get a chance to interview Roger prior to the show and to ask a few questions about the band, their tour, and the music business in general.

Q: What music do you have in your IPod besides your own?

A: Actually I don’t have much of ours. The only thing I have is if I recorded a show recently to check arrangements. Kind of like football tapes you watch back. I have some
old soul music, Stax and Motown stuff. The New Maxwell… I’ve been listening to that and it’s pretty cool. Just a lot of old soul stuff . James Hunter. We don’t get a chance to listen to music much when we’re on the road. We do watch a lot of movies.

Q: So, you’re a movie buff?

A: I don’t know if I’m’ a buff but it passes the time when you have an 8 hour trip. It certainly goes a lot faster when you ‘re watching a film.

Q What’s your all time favorite Movie?

A: Oh man , that’s tough I don’t know you know I’d probably geek out and it would be Star Wars Empire Strikes Back, the whole series. But I like a lot of stuff. I’m pretty easily entertained. I just watched ‘Standing in the Shadows of Motown’ a great documentary. And I love Indiana Jones, Fifth Element, etc.

Q: Do you read a lot on the road?

A: I don’t’ cause I’m driving but the guys will bring up a whole stash of books and go back and forth with them. I read a lot of signs and maps and directions.

Q: Don’t you have a GPS?

A: Oh yeah. Now that I have the Iphone it probably takes care of just about everything. Our GPS’s keep getting stolen. Our last one was stolen in Seattle.

Q: How did you get into music?

A: My Dad. He plays with the group and I listened to him playing in bands, mostly soul standards, and I grew up with it as part of my life . As I grew up and realized this was something I could do with my life and make a living of it, it intrigued me and then I just went from there. I grew up singing in Church. It’s an interesting business. Every step is a challenge but I do believe there are more avenues for people to make a living doing what they want to do if you work hard at it. And, you know, hopefully you have some talent and something people want to hear. I think probably since I have been alive I’ve been aware of music and the music industry.

Q: I think the industry is evolving and the internet and social networking has totally changed the scene.

A: It’s funny you should say that. We were talking about that yesterday and I think you can look at it from a bunch of different angles. I choose to see it from the perspective that I think it’s going back to like maybe how it was a little more in the 50’s and 60’s, really, because you had local radio back then and it really mattered, it really mattered. I mean that… that is what launched the careers of so many great solo artists and rock and roll artist for that matter. It was local radio and they would be superstars in their region and they were able to make a living and branch out from there vs. having to basically be a multi million dollar selling artist or your doomed. It doesn’t have to be that way anymore. So, I think that’s why you have the jam circuits now and you have folks not selling multi million records and still maintain a career in that setting more than if they were huge. It’s a very interesting time to be doing music. We’ve been doing this a long time now and we’ve seen the direct impact that the internet has had on music for us as well as other bands.

Q: How long has your band been together?

A: We started playing together in 1994 or maybe a year before that . A lot of us were in college together and met as underclassmen.

Q: How old are you? I know I’m not supposed to ask that but I thought I would anyway.

A; Oooo h.. I can’t tell that.

Q: I almost didn’t want to ask that because I know you’re not supposed to tell, the business has always been leery of announcing age.

A: No , I’m only kidding. I’m 35 years old. In the genre that we play I don’t know if the age really matters. People who like soul music tend to not care very much, if anything they are leery of people that are too young, you know if you haven’t had the life experience.

Q: Well it’s hard to sing soul if you don’t have that experiences to sing about.

A: Not that you can’t have had experiences to sing about when you are young, but maybe you have had a better chance when you get a little older. Personally I believe that I have a little more to say now than I did when I was 18. But, you know , I know plenty of people that are 18 or when they were 18 they had plenty of talent and plenty of stuff to say.

Q: Where is the most interesting or unusual place have been to while touring with your band?

A: Our favorite place has been Norway. It was a complete culture shock in a good way. We got there and these music fans would come up to us and start a conversation about soul and they would … basically they were teaching me stuff that I didn’t know. They were so into American music and the history of American music and how it kind of changed the world. I don’t know, there was a lot about that country that was really, really cool. Eye opening, you know. So, that was definitely one of the most interesting places we’ve been as a group and we’ve been there a few times. We try to schedule fun things to do in between shows and that place is just full of amazing things to do and hikes and boat rides. It was a very cool experience.

Q: So what is something that maybe your fans don’t know about you or you and the band. Some quirky things you do? (at this point Dan, the band’s tenor sax and clarinet player walked into the room)
A; I don’t know Dan what do you think?

Dan: We’re pretty much full of quirk. We love to play, when were on the East Coast and are staying at our drummers parents’ house because we’re broke and trying to save money; we like to play Broquet. It’s croquet with a bunch of guys and a bunch of beer and, not that has anything to do with the music necessarily, but it is part of the camaraderie and where it comes from (the music) and it’s one of our escapes.

Q: Is it kind of like Beer Pong only with Croquet?

A; We actually use the right equipment until the beers flow and then we start using empty beer cans. Yes, it’s a good time.

Roger: Everybody in the band is great and we get along so well. This week we had Dane Farnsworth join us for a few dates on our tour, he just graduated from Berkley this year. He’s an amazing player so good he pisses you off, you know. Not just technically. He has a lot of subtlety in how he plays. He just joined us and he fits right in.

If we didn’t have the friendship I don’t think we’d be what we are.

Q: I see you are married. How is it being married and being on the road? Do you have kids?

No, but some of the guys do.
For me really honestly I think it helps our relationship. You have to have a trusting relationship to begin with and we do .But, you know, you have a little time apart and you get to reunite. Some couples see each other every day for 50 years and that’s great, but if I’m gone for a couple weeks, a month , 6 weeks or whatever it is, I get to reunite with my wife. It keeps it fresh.

Q: So your home base is where?

A: Austin Texas. We’ve been based in Austin now since 2000. We kind of waited around for everyone to finish the jazz program at North Texas University before we settled there. It’s a great place to be based. It is a little tough because it is in the middle of the country and far from the coast but we do what we can to get out here when we can and hopefully that will be a little more frequently over the course of the next year when we release the new album.


With that, we thanked each other for taking the time and the band went out and played and amazing show. I remember thinking where else could you get awesome live music , free beer and just an overall good time for less money than you’d pay for a movie and popcorn!

The band is currently working on their new album with a planned release date sometime at the end of this year or beginning of 2010 . Their previous albums can be found on Itunes including their most recent release ‘Yesterday’ and ‘EP 3’.