The Troubador Interview: Surf Punk, Santeria, and a Shirtless Guy (for RadioValencia.fm)

Cheap Hooch is the show in the 4-6pm spot on Radio Valencia every Sunday. Your hosts, Holly Hooch and DJ D$ carefully select the best of Surf Punk, Garage, Trash, Soul, Rockabilly and occasionally Hall& Oats. These ladies are passionate about local bands and live music so they’ll also tell you about upcoming shows and when they can, they bring bands into the studio for a live, radio performance.

“We’ve been doing this for five years” D$ replied when asked about the chemistry and almost telepathic short-hand she and Holly have.

Last week on the Cheap Hooch show, the band Troubador out of Livermore, California came in to talk to Holly and D$, and to play a couple of their songs.

The band is made up of Matt, Pat, and their “class clown,” Paul. The ladies played “Ramona” by Troubador, and some of their other songs, along with the usual selection of stuff you can only hear on independent radio. A couple great ones from the first half of the show were “Le Banana Split” by Clorox Girls and “Wait Your Turn” by Big Ups.

Then Troubador performed a couple of their songs live in the studio. They played the “Year of the Rat,” a cool, imaginary tale of the end of the world. And then the guys played “West Texas,” a remarkably moving song that captivated the Cheap Hooch DJs.

There are countless moving parts in a radio show, and a DJ has to above all be able to multi-task. But when the boys played “West Texas,” they had the full attention of everyone in the room. It seemed like even the street noise from outside the windows was silenced. The lyrics were powerful to say the least. “You have to write about it, I guess. Or it will eat you alive. So you have to get it out. Somehow.” Matt said as sincerely as I’ve ever heard a man speak.

Matt writes the music and lyrics, at least initially. “Everything. Music…lyrics…it’s all Matt.” says Paul. But Matt described the collaboration actually involved. He was clear about the role Paul and Pat play. “I would be some poor solo act that nobody wanted to watch if it weren’t for these guys.”

The discussion continued about lyrics and music, and like a big, gay fly on the wall, I listened. But the conversation gradually shifted, not for the first time, to Voodoo. A topic I know all too well. So I began to speak. (I was kind of speaking throughout the show, but this is when I really started to feel it, if you know what I mean.)

The mood changed. The dynamic shifted. Traditional gender roles were eschewed. There was talk of magic, and love spells. Holly faded the track in the background to “Turn Off The Lights” by Teddy Pendergrass. We got Paul to take his shirt off. D$ was just about to tell the on-air listeners how they could contact the guys from Troubador and when they would be playing next. But she phrased it “Now we’re gonna plug these boys ‘till the cows come home!” That was my cue to add “Like we did that one time in college!” Holly, D$ and I cackled and gulped our drinks like a trio of Pacific Heights cougars.

Paul froze as he suddenly remembered all the PSAs and After School Specials he had seen as a child in Livermore about “Stranger Danger.”

“Wait. W…what?”

Unknown to the guys from Troubador, that was just the secret phrase for our on-air drinking game that day.

You can check out the new Troubador album “”Beat Les Troubador” for free at http://troubador.bandcamp.com/
Or search for “The Troubador!” on Facebook.

Tune in to Holly and D$ on Cheap Hooch Radio at Radio Valencia, Sundays, 4-6pm