​Grace Potter’s ‘Magical Midnight Roadshow’

Rock singer reveals tour and album details

Vermont rock ‘n’ roller Grace Potter is going solo. Sort of.

“Midnight,” which will release Aug. 14, will be Grace Potter’s first record sans “And The Nocturnals.” However, there will of course be drums, bass and an assortment of other noisemakers on stage with her on tour. It’s just that her sound is evolving into something a bit more powerful and even more rockin’ – something that an outdoor audience at Moorhead’s Bluestem will probably find electrifying come Sunday, July 19.

Grace Potter, herself, gave us the scoop on what to expect.

HPR: You’re promoting this new album as a solo record, but I assume that you’ll have the band on tour --

Grace Potter: Oh, yes. Big time. It would be safe to assume that unless it’s called Sad Woman Sitting at The Piano by Herself Tour (laughs) – I’m going to have a band. I mean I’d love to do a solo thing but I am such an energetic person, I just have to get my rocks off and it’s pretty hard to do that and dance and play every instrument all by myself.

HPR: And that’s what I assumed, because you’re such a heavy rockin’ chick, but I don’t know, I think I saw someone posted some comment “What about The Nocturnals?”

GP: Honestly, it’s interesting. I took the name away because this album is a solo record and it sounds like a solo record and it’s just simply not The Nocturnals. But actually there are Nocturnals still in the band. And there’s an additional six people so it’s a way bigger band, and it also includes The Nocturnals, so it’s all encompassing.

So I’m kind of calling it my Magical Midnight Roadshow, because that’s what it feels like. It’s definitely a new, vibrant experience, but it’s very much – that mystery and people asking those questions isn’t a mistake. I actually want people to wonder… and I think that experience of not knowing what you are going to get is exactly what I like about rock ‘n’ roll.

HPR: I’m so stoked for this new record. I was a huge, huge fan of “The Lion The Beast The Beat.” I just thought it was a fantastic record from beginning to end. What can we expect from this new record?

GP: I think the new record is really an experiment. It’s my opportunity to delve into some of the influences that have turned me on from way back in the day when I was four or five years old. My mom playing The Pointer Sisters, and Al Green and Donna Summer and Curtis Mayfield, Harry Nilsson, Echo and The Bunnymen, The Electric Light Orchestra, Tina Turner, The Bangles … all the shit that awesome people were partying to when I was born, basically ...

But the experimentation of playing with those sounds and incorporating them into my songwriting and the style of songwriting that I always had was a really fun opportunity to lay my sound and my voice on to something fresh. And again I think that The Nocturnals’ sound and the fact that I spent over 10 years building that legacy -- there was a really important question mark that was being asked of me. You know, the universe was throwing me a curveball and being like, “Is this really The Nocturnals? Are you really going to call this The Nocturnals?” Because in my heart of hearts I knew that I wasn’t, but I also was in denial. And I also love my band and they are my best friends, and so I didn’t want to lose anything. I wanted to have my cake and eat it too, goddammit, and so that’s sort of what I did (laughs).

HPR: Although the full album has not released, I feel like we get a great taste of that with your new singles “Alive Tonight” and “Look What We’ve Become.”

GP: I love exploring the new sounds as they come out slowly, and I think that’s one good thing about streaming music and the way that the music industry has gone, even though there’s definitely some pitfalls for musicians like me. It is this great way of sort of being introduced to a record gradually instead of just getting a pile of 13 songs, picking your two favorites and forgetting about the rest. So I’m really into that. So we’re going to be releasing one song a month, or one song every month and a half, for the next few months before the record.

You’ll get a preview (of the record at the show) … I think I’ve been restricting myself. It’s funny because all I ever want to do is the new shit. You know, it’s like any musician. I’m a tempestuous person and I always want to do the new thing.

But I also love, and have been falling back in love, with my catalogue of music that I’ve had forever, and relearning these songs with this new band lineup, and kind of retreading over some of the old studio recordings, and kind of going back to what it sounded like when it was first written, you know. I love some of this new exploration we’re making, and I love some of the new sonic leaps that are being taken, and it’s all within the context of a really dynamic live rock show, because that is what I do. And like, what you said, I can’t not do that.

So it’s really going to be interesting, because as much as I was excited about the new music and still continue to be, it’s almost like everything is new, and I’ve got this clean slate that we get to work from with all of my songs from the last 10 years …

I think that if you are asking me what can we expect from this show, if people come, it’s gonna be a pile of musicians that are just super stoked to get back on the road. We are so hungry for it, we’re so ready. It’s been way too long and we’re just so thrilled.

HPR: You’ve explored so many different facets of music over the years. Is there one characteristic that really defines you and that’s just something you hear in every record?

GP: I jump in with both feet. I’m never trepidatious. If I agree to do it, then I’m in. Part of the reason why I don’t take a lot of beatings is because in meetings, when you are being offered an opportunity or maybe you want to audition for something or thinking about hiring someone or someone thinking about hiring you, you sit down in a room and you talk about it and then you say well thank you very much, I’ll think about it, I’ll let you know. I don’t do that. You’re hired or I don’t meet you. I really do not take meetings, and I do not spend time with people or try to collaborate with someone unless I fully intend to make it work in every way.

And I’m just this serial monogamist in terms of my musical experiences, my personal experiences, my songwriting. It’s all or nothing. I definitely have a very hard time living in the gray area, and so that’s definitely on full display on this album. You can hear it with “Midnight,” and I think that’s what I’m going to carry forward with me.

HPR: I’m sure some of the folks going to your Moorhead show became a fan after seeing you open for The Rolling Stones in Minneapolis. Can you talk about that experience? It must have been incredible.

GP: Dude, oh my god. It was amazing. It’s funny -- so at the beginning of these interviews, the first person who interviewed me was asking me about the TMZ thing, because I did get TMZ’ed at the airport the other day and that was the first time I ever had that. So I’m seeing that the results of this experience -- of singing with Mick Jagger -- is already instantaneously turning me into somebody who gets approached at the airport by a guy with a camera, which is just bizarre ...

But you know what it was, in the TMZ interview he asked what was it like and what was something that – did anybody give you any advice before you went on stage? This is really what happened, Mick and one of his dear friends, Dave Stewart, who’s a friend of mine, had wanted to do a song. They wrote a song and Dave thought it would be cool to have me sing on it. And then that project went and got shelved, I think when The Stones did their last tour maybe a year and a half ago. And life happens and things happen and careers change and then I wasn’t available anymore and went away.

So when I got the opportunity to open these dates for The Stones, I think the wheels were already in motion for me to potentially sing with them. But when I got out there, when I got out on stage and there were The Rolling Stones, I felt it was a movie – the movie of my life, and it was where I was supposed to be, and everything that has happened to me in my life and as a musician and as a human being was leading up to that moment because I’m the biggest Rolling Stones fan. I absolutely adore them. I’ve grown up with every single one of their records, and this was the Sticky Fingers Tour, which I didn’t actually realize they were really getting into the Sticky Fingers era anyways. But as a friend of mine said, a science geek friend said, you were actually genetically engineered to sing that song (laughs). So I don’t know if my parents knew that when they were making me, but you know I’m thankful for that.

IF YOU GO:

Grace Potter w/ Jessica Lea Mayfield

Sun, July 19, 7 p.m.

Bluestem, 801 50th Ave SW, Moorhead

jadepresents.com