An Interview with Mike Guggino
It’s been quite a ride for the Steep Canyon Rangers.
It must have started pretty innocently, as is the case with most college bands.
But not long after graduation, the men behind the band quickly turned the project into a full-fledged band where “working for a living” became the mantra. The Rangers don’t take their success lightly and have realized that in order for a band to make it in today’s music landscape, the devil’s in the details.
As the band developed its sound over the years, people and record labels began to take notice. And as the years went on, Steep Canyon Rangers found themselves sharing the stage with Steve Martin, known better for his skill as a comedian, but a gifted banjo player and songwriter in his own right, and winning Grammy awards.
The band just started recording its tenth album at Echo Mountain with the legendary Jerry Douglas. They hope to get 12 tracks on the new record, which should be released next summer complete with a full tour and a few festival stops along the way. It’s the anticipated follow up to Tell the Ones I love, a masterpiece of Bluegrass experimentation which was the follow to Nobody Knows You, which took home the Grammy for Best Bluegrass Album in 2013.
The ride continues for the band, and we were able to chat with lead vocalist and mandolin player Mike Guggino about all the ups and downs of a career in music.
Long before Grammies and Entertainer of the Year awards, this Western North Carolina collective was just looking to have a little fun.
BLANK: How did this band come about?
Mike Guggino : We were all in college at the time. Most of the guys went to the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill but I was at UNC-Asheville. They needed a mandolin player and so I would drive to Chapel Hill on the weekends. We were just a college band, you know…just some buddies getting together to play and have some fun.
BLANK: How long were you at that level of seriousness and when did you realize that you had something?
Mike Guggino : About a year after we graduated, we all moved in to a house in Asheville, NC and really started practicing and writing songs. We got signed to a record label and that was pretty encouraging. Then Rebel Records asked us to join their label and it felt good for us, being a bluegrass band, because so many of our heroes were with Rebel.
BLANK: Each member of the band has unique talents and responsibilities. Can you talk about how that helps with the business side of making music?
Mike Guggino : The business side of being in a band is so important. A lot of artists either take it for granted or just aren’t able to do it. We are lucky that some of us are very organized about running the business side as well as the creative side. Unfortunately, that’s the reality of it. This is the way you get your music out there and how you earn a living, so we always focused on that just as much as we focused on the music and it’s helped us stay together. We all try to contribute to that in different ways. We’ve been doing this for so long now so everybody knows what their role is outside of the music.
BLANK: How is the process of recording at Echo Mountain different from recording in Levon’s Barn?
Mike Guggino : Well for one thing it’s close to home. It’s nice to go home at the end of the day. Levon’s was so cool, it just had such a vibe. Working with Larry Campbell as a producer was great too. Larry comes from a rock n roll and folk background (he was Bob Dylan and Levon’s band leader for years) so he has a different approach to the music than Jerry Douglas does. It’s not vastly different, but obviously every producer adds their own way of doing things and so far it’s just been great working with Jerry.
BLANK: Talk about Tell the Ones I Love a bit.
Mike Guggino : It was really kind of a continuation of Nobody Knows You in terms of the song-writing style. But we felt like the songs could use a different approach and by using Larry, someone who was outside of bluegrass for the most part, we thought that would help us capture a new angle on the music. Levon’s place is this big A frame barn where everyone stands in a circle and there are mics on the ceiling. You really get a nice live sound. We were very happy with it.
BLANK: How many times has Steve Martin made you watch The Jerk on the road?
Mike Guggino : He doesn’t even want to talk about it. That was his first movie and he is so over that, it’s ridiculous.
BLANK: I saw you guys perform with Martin at Bonnaroo a couple of years ago and midway through the set, someone pulled a beer out of the stand-up bass. Did those kind of antics occur frequently with him?
Mike Guggino : (laughs) We created a show with Steve, and it definitely evolved over the years, but the beer in the bass was something he came up with. Charles’ bass is one of those folding basses where the back comes off and Steve knew there was a gag there somewhere. A big part of the shows with Steve was including comedy, unlike our regular shows, which have no comedy at all.
BLANK: Do you plan on hitting the road with either Martin or Edie Brickell in the near future?
Mike Guggino : Well we were just playing with he and Edie while they were promoting the record they did together. I know we’ll play more with Steve. It kind of depends on his schedule with movies and I know that he and Edie had been working on a musical that they wrote that is on the west coast and hopefully makes it to Broadway. Edie is one of the most incredible musicians I’ve ever been around and that experience was great.
BLANK: Do you guys plan to hit the festival circuit this coming year?
Mike Guggino : Yeah, we will for sure. We always look forward to that time of year.
We’ll be touring all over the country in support of the new album, too.
