Rising from the ashes of the Zombie Ghost Train (ZGT), bassist Captain Reckless and percussionist Azzy T formed Captain Reckless And The Lost Souls in 2010. We chat to the Captain.
The Captain Reckless And The Lost Souls story... This band came about because ZGT was ending and I did not think that it should be the end of these characters, so I chose to make a larger show with the music I was writing. I took a long time to put this band together, but I knew that from the start I wanted trombones and Azzy T, and then we set about finding the right people who where not only fun but really got the vibe of what we are trying to do! And I can tell you we went through plenty of trombones!
The Zombie Ghost Train years... how much do they influence what you do with the Lost Souls? ZGT was its own thing and could never be continued with out the three of us, so the Lost Souls is more an extension if you will. The influence ZGT has is more about the things we learnt about how to make albums and just doing the whole band thing.
The name Reckless... has it been a well-earned moniker? Yes, I say it really fits me ‘cause I've had a liver transplant (2000) and a lung transplant (2013).
The debut album is headed our way in the second half of 2014, right? What can we expect sonically? Well you can expect some fast psychobilly with of course some tasty trombone fatness, but there are some interesting stuff like a ‘60s soul/ funk crossover featuring the double bass.
How much sweat and tears has gone into this album? Sweat, tears, blood and lungs. I was hoping to only take two years to record and put the new band together, but it just didn't happen that way.
Do you imagine what it'd be like to have an unlimited budget to record? Yes! Yes! YES! It would just make everything so easy, but the downside would be that you have to be very disciplined ‘cause you have to know when to stop creating and know when a song/ project is just right and leave it alone.
Zombies have been a big part of your musical career... who are your two, three favourite zombie films/ shows of all time? True, but we tend to use zombies as a lose term for anything dark and underworldly so my picks are ‘The Creature From The Black Lagoon’ and ‘Little Shop Of Horrors’; as for zombies, ‘Army Of Darkness’.
You have the Voodoo Crypt show upcoming at the New Globe in Brisbane... what can we expect from you guys? Lots of theatrics? With the show at the [New] Globe, we will be able to bring the full show. We have shot a few short clips that go with the live music, it's sort of origin type story of the band that will play in-between some songs; there’s also very stylish band uniforms!
Are any members of the band active voodoo practitioners? Not right now, but people change all the time and I guess I can't be responsible for what happens if we get to tour New Orleans or Haiti!
After the album is out, what's the next plan for Captain Reckless? Tour, tour, tour is the plan! I would like to get back to the USA and Europe, and for the first time Japan.
You can be captain of any band in the world... who are you choosing and why? Ooooo, I can't say that I'd want to be another band’s captain ‘cause then it wouldn't be the same band. But I would have loved to be in The Blues Brothers Band ‘cause it would have been super fun to be part of that with all the legends that where alive at the time.
Captain Reckless And The Lost Souls play the Voodoo Crypt at the New Globe Theatre Friday June 13.
