Download: Mississippi Man “Ricochet”

(from The Snake Oil Salesman available now from Mississippi Man)

Mississippi Man is well on their way to releasing their second EP but first they’re testing out new tunes every Monday at their November residency at the Silverlake Lounge. In between writing songs and writing residency diaries, singer and guitarist David Knight speaks about how fast the band is moving and what he misses most about the deep South. This interview by Britt Witt.

How long have you been playing the harmonica?
David Knight (guitar/vocals): I’ve been playing the harmonica since I was 10 but I didn’t really figure out how to play until I was 17 or 18. So four or five years. I definitely don’t sit down and practice—I’m not that great of a harmonica player but I can get around alright!
Who writes your residency diaries?
David Knight: I wrote the first one. We’re actually doing a residency diary thing for webinfront.net. We write once a week. I’ll probably write most of them. It’s supposed to be a diary about the residency each night. I like to write—nothing professional but I do enjoy writing. I guess its one of my strong points. It’s just something I guess I’m good at that I don’t really use.
What kind of new songs are you playing?
David Knight: Actually, it’s kinda funny—most of the songs we are playing now aren’t actually on the Snake Oil Salesman EP. We write songs really quickly and that EP came out like six months ago, so most of our stuff is all new. I think we’re working on getting money to go in and record a new EP in January at Red Rocket’s Glare—that’s where we recorded the first one. We have two vocalists—me and Luke—and we usually write together. I think something kind of unique about our band is that we have two songwriters. Most bands will have one songwriter that will tell everyone what to do—which is cool too!—but I like the way that Luke and I can just get together. Right now we’re just selling the EP that we released earlier, and then we’re planning on having a limited run of vinyl for our next EP. A lot of bands now are kind of shunning CDs now because all CDs are good for nowadays is for people to take home and put on their computers and have it on their iPod. We know a bunch of people that just buy vinyl nowadays—including myself. I think if you like collecting music, vinyl is way cooler than having a little CD, you know?
Have you ever traveled to the deep South?
David Knight: Not a bunch of times but I’d say five or six times. I’ve been to pretty much all the states—Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, Georgia. Out of all the states, I think Georgia is probably my favorite—Georgia and Tennessee. I can’t really put my finger on why I like them. I went to school in Kentucky, which isn’t really the South—people that live there don’t say it’s the South but I say it’s the South because it’s South! I just wanted to get out of California for a bit. The people there are much different, I think—everything is much slower-paced. Here everything is going on at the same time—it’s crazy. But I love it here—I’ve lived in California for my whole life.
How did it happen that five guys from Orange County all like country blues? Who is your favorite blues musician?
David Knight: This is a hard one! If I had to pick one, it would probably be Skip James. But there are so many that I love—Howlin’ Wolf and Muddy Waters. And there’s a lot of different types of blues too, like there’s the Chicago blues which is the more electric stuff and then there’s the deep south stuff which is more acoustic. I like it all though. If I had to pick, I’d probably pick the Chicago. But that’s just because its more electric, I like that. As far as the feel of the music, I’d probably pick the southern blues. We have a lot of different influences, though. Blues is just one of our influences and then me and Luke listen to a lot of sixties like British pop—the Zombies and the Kinks. So it gives our music kind of a cool sound but sometimes it can be difficult to pick out what we want the song to be—what the finished product should be like. But I think it’s cool.

MISSISSIPPI MAN IN RESIDENCY EVERY MONDAY IN NOVEMBER AT THE SILVERLAKE LOUNGE, 2906 SUNSET BLVD., SILVERLAKE. FREE / 9 PM / 21+. TONIGHT MISSISSIPPI MAN PERFORM WITH THE FLING, MAKE MOON AND THE SILENT COMEDY. FOLDSILVERLAKE.COM. MISSISSIPPI MAN’S THE SNAKE OIL SALESMAN IS AVAILABLE NOW FROM THE BAND. MYSPACE.COM/MISSISSIPPIMANMUSIC.