Bluegrass Now - October 2008
Band To Watch
Creating Chaos, Only To Tame It:
THE MAYHEM STRING BAND of Oxford, Mississippi
By Dave Higgs
Mayhem" is a fitting name for the Mayhem String Band—five "wild and crazy guys" dedicated to bringing irreverence, mischief, fun and general insanity back on stage where it rightfully belongs.
"We like to say that ‘MAYHEM' is an acronym for ‘May All Your Hangovers End Miraculously,'" "Captain" J.T. Lack, the band's irrepressible banjoist, laughs heartily. "We want to let the crowd know from the beginning that it's going to be a party."
And indeed, the band does party--with their frenetic playing, colorful banter, good-natured repartee and on-stage shenanigans that sometimes resemble old-time vaudeville. In the early days, the appearance of a leaf blower, manned by the band's intrepid bass player, Ben "Papa" Johnson, was a highlight of every Mayhem performance. "There was an era when Ben would carry various pieces of lawn equipment onstage," J.T. fondly reminisces. "His favorite was the leaf blower, which he loaded with different things each week and then shot out into the crowd. A lot of confetti was involved. And a lot of flour. Maybe some prophylactics."
"Various sorts of crackers and other kitchen items," adds guitarist Chris "Butterfield" Steiner. After a pause, he sighs nostalgically. "We need to bring back the leaf blower."
The band describes its sound as "countrified outlaw bluegrass," which J.T. asserts has its roots in the type of "mayhem" many of the early bluegrass and old-time pioneers dispensed on stage. "There was a bit of edge to their music, and some gravel in it as well. I'm talking about guys like Jimmy Martin, who knew how to burn a candle at both ends, work hard and have a good time, with no apologies whatsoever. We're trying to stick to that old rowdy, have-a-good-time-pickin'-and-grinnin' idea.
"We certainly don't want to give the impression we're more about getting up there and acting crazy than putting out legitimate quality country and bluegrass music," J.T. hastens to add. "But it's all right if everything's not perfect. As long as we get up there and give it our all, turn some heads and make people smile, we've done our job. We focus on making people have a good time, as opposed to standing up there and showing off."
Dancing has become a common phenomenon at most Mayhem concerts, and the band feeds off it. "There's no greater dancing music in the world [than bluegrass]," J.T. suggests. "Before the crowd leaves, if we do our job right, they're all going to be bouncing around a little bit."
"You look out at the dancers and wonder how it's humanly possible for a person to bend like that, but we're glad to see them do it," Chris grins with amazement. "The folks start dancing, and the energy they give us pumps us up more. That makes them dance harder, which, in turn, makes us play harder. It's a beautiful thing."
Members of the band liken their performance style to "creating chaos and then taming it," an interesting description that deserves an explanation. "Musically, that has to do with sheer dynamics," J.T. says. "We play songs like ‘Cherokee Shuffle,' where we'll start slow and build up [speed]. We keep that dynamic wave in effect, where you swell and then die down. It often sounds like we're about to go off the edge, and I think we do a fair job of keeping it right there on the line."
Jamison "Hollerin'" Hollister and Kevin "Detroit Red" Larkin round out the quintet on fiddle and mandolin, respectively. All the colorful nicknames beg for further elucidation and, in themselves, provide insight into the band's one-of-a-kind "personality," as revealed in the following exchange:
BN: Why do you call Ben "Papa?"
CHRIS: There was an incident involving Papa John's Pizza in Starkville, Mississippi, but everything past that gets a little blue.
BN: What about "Hollerin'" Hollister?
J.T.: The boy has got some vocal chords on him. I think I said that one night [onstage] because it sounded like "Hollister." We just covered both ends of the spectrum [in those two answers] with the absolutely disgusting and the mundane.
BN: "Detroit Red" Larkin?
CHRIS:He's from Detroit and he's got a giant red Afro.
BN: "Butterfield" Steiner?
CHRIS: I'm sort of the biggest of the boys and I like to eat a lot.
BN:Finally, why do you call J.T. "The Captain?"
CHRIS:The Captain is a land pirate and you just follow him. Because when he gets into something, it's usually pretty good.
Mayhem's debut disc is fittingly entitled Rapscallions and Ne'erdowells. The album cover sports a wild painting of a seemingly possessed raccoon, writhing snake in its mouth, crossing the road in front of a car amid smoldering fire and brimstone. The artwork is loosely based on real life, something Ben saw when he was on his way to Oxford to pick up the rest of the band for their first road trip. J.T. recounts the aftermath of the surreal episode: "Ben called his dad (whose nickname is The Coon, by the way) and said, ‘Coon, I just saw this phenomenon on the highway.' And The Coon said, ‘Ah... it's an omen.'"
Judging by the success of Rapscallions and Ne'erdowells, which reverberates with the unbridled energy of youth, the band's counterpart in that smoldering highway scene must have been the raccoon rather than the snake. The disc contains some striking original material--like Kevin's song, "Hank," which laments the demise of country music, and Chris' "Long Time Coming," which the boys use near the beginning of each set to stoke the crowd into a frenzy. "Extra Gold," penned by Kevin, is an elongated ride the band usually saves for later in the set when "everybody's up and a little bit rowdy." Jamison saws away on a blistering instrumental, "Porterhorse Breakdown." J.T.'s "Nickels and Dimes" is a song much in the mold of Bill Monroe's "true life" songs.
The Mayhem String Band is living the life: five guys totally in synch, traveling around the country, sometimes living on "nickels and dimes," playing music for the sheer unabashed enjoyment of it, and watching their brand of music weave its magic on bluegrass fans, hippies and bikers alike. "Everybody writes songs," Chris says, marveling at the quintet's unique chemistry. "Everybody helps load and unload. Everybody drives. Everybody books gigs. Everybody does promo stuff."
"No one even entertains the notion of being a leader," J.T. adds. "We're just five guys enjoying the ride and having fun. We count that as a blessing."