G. Love & Special Sauce: Sloppy Blues Band or Superhero Brothers?

Known for their “sloppy-blues” style, G. Love describes their sound as “trying to get that magic… I don’t try and play it sloppy, I try and play it clean… but we get that down and dirty kinda sound, especially in our live show.  We don’t try to clean stuff up too much and myself as a person I like to keep everyone guessing, from myself to my band to the audience to let things happen organically whether its the sets that I call or the way I play a song and I like to lead my band as if we were just taking a walk through a city that we didn’t know.  Just get on stage and have an adventure, so I think that’s why we get that kind of label for being loose, loose and tight, you know what I mean?”
Like all good touring bands, G. Love and Special Sauce have their diehard fans, the ones that come back time after time.  However, according to G. Love, “We’ve had some big years and we’ve had some not so big years but we’ve been really lucky because we’ve been able to connect with these people that understand where we’re coming from musically and just have this core audience that have really been supportive over the years. 

“Even at the lowest time when the industry is getting you down or the numbers are off or everything feels like it’s going to shit… it’s always been those times that I felt this surge of love from these fans that came up and said ‘You’re music has really helped me through some tough times… you know this and this happened… I don’t know what I would have done if I hadn’t had your music… just promise you’ll never stop doing what you’re doing…’ 

“You realize it’s the energy through the music and through the human spirit that connects people and it’s almost like your duty in a way… and when the people pick you, when they want to get through those bad times, it’s almost like you have a responsibility to keep bringing it to them and what better way to live your life than being the guy that gets to bring that energy to them all around the world.  I get on stage and am inspired and help people just forget about all this shit that’s bringing them down and help people celebrate the shit that’s making them happy.”
Well known for spotting up-and-coming artists, the band collaborated early on with Jack Johnson and Donovan Frankenreiter.  The band’s association with Johnson led to their last two albums, “Lemonade” and “Superhero Brother,” as well as G. Love’s solo album, “The Hustle,” being released on Johnson’s label, Brushfire Records. 

Johnson appeared on G. Love & Special Sauce’s album “Philadelphonic” in 1998, and in return G. Love appeared on Johnson’s single “Rodeo Clowns.” 

“I watched this kid, who was like a college kid with a guitar who came out of the surf and said ‘Do you want to jam?’” G. Love said. “And I’ve watched him turn into one of the biggest musicians in the world and it’s just been a crazy trip to watch.  When he got his thing going he brought his friend Donovan along and since then Donovan has become one of my best friends so it’s a real close knit family and it’s a lot of fun to make music with those guys.”
The band spent their first year together playing the Irish pub circuit in Boston.  From there, said G. Love, the band became a “great bar band and all the songs that I had written at the time really developed…. It was a magical time… and that was 16 years ago… but when you’re a local band it’s different because you’re only playing one or two shows a week and you’re waiting all week for that one show so you get on stage and just explode. 

“Now when you’re on the road you’re playing four or five nights in a row… you have to really be able to bring it night after night… bring it when your girlfriend dumps you… when your dog dies… you miss your mom… but there’s a chemistry with the band and power in the repetition and a lot of depth to what you do so you get to a level where after 15 years I know that I don’t have time out here to have a bad show.  I want to make every night count and from the minute I wake up on a show morning everything I do is geared toward that hour and a half on stage and that’s where it’s at.”
If you are a fan of loose-tight blues and funky hip-hop rock ‘n roll performed by a group of superhero brothers who believe in peace, love and happiness, show up at the Fargo Theatre on Sunday, August 30 at 8:30 p.m.  You will not be disappointed.

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INFO:

Who: G. Love & Special Sauce
When: Sun, Aug 30, 8:30pm
Where: Fargo Theatre
Cost: $20 in advance, $25 day of - all ages