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Welcome back to my second-hand interview with Jon Lucca from The Schmoejoes! The remainder of the interview has to do mostly with Waseca’s music scene. Since this was all recorded during the end of the interview, and a few drinks had been consumed, I had to sift from a lot of half-thoughts to get some full answers. I think you’ll enjoy what I have here, and I’ll follow it up with what’s going on this weekend, including a book exchange on Sunday at the request of the constant Waseca County News website commenter, onevoice. You’re welcome, onevoice!
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So, to continue. My next question to Jon Lucca was to describe the fan base of The Schmoejoes, and their ideal fan base.
“The people who apparently best connect with us are teenage girls, and over 50 year old guys. That's kind of, really odd,” he laughed. He attributed their successful appeal to a variety of people by the fact that they don’t write songs that fit a single genre, but span their songs in a variety of styles. “The ideal fan base would be anyone who is tired of hearing the same old stuff all of the time,” Jon replied.
I asked him (my husband actually asked on my behalf, as I was sick, if you’ll recall) about what sort of feedback or criticism The Schmoejoes have gotten.
“People have not really criticized us that much. Oddly enough, it is my old band mates from The Lovejoys that are the first to dive on me about anything. That is actually why that band broke up, because we were three songwriters, three guys that could support a single band. My friend Pat is probably the most honest music-wise,” explained Jon intently. He continued, “I listen to every criticism. My wife — there are a few songs that she doesn’t like. I take her opinion very seriously. I always listen to her, but do I do what she tells me to do? No, not all the time.”
Then the topic turned to Southern Minnesota, and Waseca specifically. I wanted to know the difficulties that are presented to local acts, particularly those that write and play original music. My next question was about how local bands can go about promoting their music, and what The Schmoejoes do for promotion.
“As far as promo goes, I'm pretty lazy. I do as much internet promotion as possible. Twitter actually is probably the most useful one as far as the far-reaching promo,” he admitted. He went into how difficult band promotion is, with, “I’m not going to poster the town. There’s not that many places to put posters. Putting up fliers is exhausting, and there’s ordinances that prevent you from legally doing it. Doing promotion in Southern Minnesota is pretty terrible. There’s the Buzz, and they put the ads in, but as far as finding out what to do around town, there’s nothing.”
I wasn’t sure if I should resent that statement, but since my blog is rarely complete as far as covering everything that is going on, I decided that I couldn’t really take it as an insult.
The interview finally wrapped up with a question on how Waseca can help its local musicians.
“I feel like I’m part of the Waseca underground, and the Waseca overground are a bunch of people from out of town,” Jon lamented. “There’s a ton of music down here, but it’s so under appreciated.”
He described a powerful, musical bonding experience, saying, “I went over to Jerome Braten's house and payed an impromptu family jam, and it was the most beautiful thing that I've done musically in my life. I wanted to share it with everybody. There should be an outlet for that. But bar owners know that bands are not going to sell alcohol. Sometimes bar owners need to just look at what's in front of them and see what's here in town. Not all of it’s good, but some of it’s awesome.”
Jon finished with a moment of pride for his band, and their inherent originality and appeal.
“I’d put The Schmoejoes up against any cover band. I believe in the power of the ‘joes!”
So that’s it for Jon Lucca and our third-party interview. I hope you enjoyed it! Now, on to the weekend.
PJ’s Tavern is having a DJ both Friday, November 13th and Saturday the 14th. There will also be a dart tournament at PJ’s on Saturday, with sign-up at noon. The cost is $10 to join. At Club 57, Arrows at Dawn will be playing Friday night. Arrows at Dawn is an all-original band from Blooming Prairie. A quick listen brought me to the conclusion that they have a nice late 90’s sound, but little diversity in their chord progressions. Also at Club 57, Billy and the Bangers will play on Saturday. The most information I could find about them is that they play “classic blues with an edge.” Finally, on Saturday, The Fabulous Love Handles are going to play at Katie O’Leary’s. This band is gigantic (guitar, keyboard, saxophone, several harmony vocals, plus more) and they play covers from the 60’s onward. On their songlist there were not a whole lot of songs that I recognized, but I’d be interested to hear their version of “Whiter Shade of Pale.”
And to conclude, I am hosting a book exchange in the meeting room at Crossings Inn and Suites on Sunday, November 15th from 1:00p.m. - 3:00p.m. If you’ve never been to one before, they are a lot of fun. All you have to do is bring in books that you no longer want to keep, and trade them for books that interest you. I have a big box that I’ll be contributing personally, so you’ll be sure to find something. As I had to cover the ad in the Buzz on my own, I am not able to provide refreshments this time around, beyond the already-available coffee. Still, this is a great opportunity to get to know other book lovers in town and to recycle books, because if you’re like me, you can’t bring yourself to throw them away. All ages are welcome, and I’ll be bringing in a few children’s books. Tell your friends! I look forward to seeing you!
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