An Interview with Joe Giles
A candid conversation with the BB & BBQ Director
I’m proud to say that my friend Gina Parks has not only opened her new Big Chill club in Rogers, but that it’s doing great! I spent an evening at the club with Gina and her daughter Jessica (one of our Nightflying artists) and quite frankly was blown away. I knew Gina had a magic touch when it comes to hospitality – hey, she built and runs the Big Chill in Hot Springs, one of the most happening bars in the entire Altered State and beyond - and quite frankly wondered if that would translate well to NWA. It not only does, but she is fast on her way to having one of the coolest clubs in that part of the state…an area with probably more clubs per capita than anywhere else in Arkansas. Can you say “ambiance?” They got it… Now then, I’ve long believed that the cardinal rule of the bar business is that the crowd follows the crowd. Basically, the people want to be where the other people are – it’s an energy thing and they tend to feed off each other. It’s why folks will go anywhere, in my opinion, and the first feel of the room was just that. It’s comfortable. It has a nice stage, a full bar, a very fine sound system, a comfortable outdoor patio for those of us who still support the tobacco farmers, and the prices are reasonable. It’s practically within a stone’s throw of the Walmart AMP, too, and you can bet it will be a place people stop into on their way to a show and for a nightcap afterwards. What’s more, the crowd there this night was a far more genuine bunch of folks than the yuppiefied bunch you find at many of the other area clubs. Set to appear in the coming weeks are Hwy. 124, Mister Lucky, Ashley McBryde, Bladk Dutch Souix (!), Mike Mayberry & The Slow Hand, Cara Thompson & Brent Frazier, Shurman, and the killer Ghost Town Blues Band from Memphis. To reach the Big Chill for bookings and directions, call (479)271-7011… As some of you may have noticed by our cover, the annual Bikes, Blues & BBQ fest is upon us. Hundreds of thousands of motorcycle enthusiasts will descend on the Ozarks in the coming days for a week-long celebration of all things bike-related…especially lots of great live music and extremely fine food. And let’s face it, these folks know how to party and have deep enough pockets to do it right. The rally is one of the most prominent bike rallies in the country and it’s put on for charity-sake. For more details, look for the feature article elsewhere in this edition. All in all, it’s party time in Northwest Arkansas… www.nightflying.com
George’s checks in this edition with a very fine line-up…but then they always do. In the coming weeks look for Earl & Them, Boom! Kinetic, Bear Hands, Andy Frasco, Mountain Sprout, Samantha Fish, Foley’s Van, Chubby Carrier, Steve Pryor, Isayah’s Allstars, Members Only, J Roddy Walston & The Business, The Josh Abbott Band, Little Chief, RJ Mischo & His Red Hot Blues Band, Tragikly White, JB & The Moonshine Band, Here Come The Mummies, Drive-By Truckers, Paul Thorn and a lot more. We are planning a major blowout at George’s the day after Thanksgiving. To wit, it’s the Nightflying 34-year anniversary Bash (historically one of the biggest parties in Northwest Arkansas.) This year we’ll be featuring The Schwag, Joe Giles & The Homewreckers, Isayah’s Allstars, The 1 Oz. Jig, Jed Clampit, and more. Watch these pages as we get doser to the date for more details. For bookings contact Brian or Harold at (479)527-6618……. The Smoke & Barrel Tavern checks in with a somewhat light calendar this time out, but they are undergoing some renovation so that’s understandable. Just the same, on the bill in the coming weeks are Shawn James, Dumptruck Boyz, Ghost Hollers, The Yokohama Drifters, Stranger Deranger, Jeff Kearney, Basement Brew, The Too’s, Dana Louise, Tauk, Galaxy Tour Guides and more. For bookings contact (479)521-6880……. JJ’s Grill features live music 6 nights a week, and always has some great players. In the coming weeks in Fayetteville are Maud Crawford, Take Cover, Murray Williams, Clint Scrivner, Jeff Fox, Jon Dooly, The Ouachita River Boys, Brian Martin, Darren Ray, ClusterPluck, Dead Strangs, Mrs. Roper’s Pool Boys, Isayah’s Allstars, Ashley McBryde and a lot more. In Rogers are dates with Jones & Leah, Jeff Fox, Murray Williams, Tim Meitzen, Jamie Wolfe & The Wranglers, Fifty Nine South, Scott Eastman, Darren Ray, Maud Crawford, Russ Hutchison and more.. We list 4 JJs locations: Fayetteville, Rogers, Beaver Lake, and Conway. Each has live music nearly every night and they feature nothing but tried and true musical artists. Suffice it to say that you can see what each has in store in our Sound section. For bookings, though, contact Jeff Fox at jjsbooking@gmail.com.......
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NIGHTFLYING.COM • OUT HOUSE READING • 2014
---Peter Read Joe Giles is a long-time entertainer who lives in Northwest Arkansas. He fronts the band Joe Giles & The Homewreckers and has done so for well over a decade. In addition, for the past four years he has been the director of Bikes, Blues and BBQ, and has essentially helped build it into one of the country’s most prominent and successful annual bike rallies. With Bikes, Blues & BBQ coming up, I was able to sit down and do a phone interview with Joe about life, the universe and everything. As a mercy to our readers I haven’t included the bad jokes and puns we always have in every conversation we have. The following are excerpts of this conversation… Nightflying: Where are you from, Joe? Joe Giles: I came all the way here from Farmington. All the way from Farmington… Yep. All of 6 miles from Fayetteville. And how did you get to where you are from such humble beginnings? I got in the car and drove. All 6 miles? That’s right… You were a principle at a school for a while… I was. I was the principle for 12 years at Prairie Grove. So I’m going to guess you have some kind of degree in education or something? I have a Master’s Degree in Education…almost a doctorate. When did you get off into music, Joe? I started playing music in 1963 or ’64 when I was a freshman in high school. I’ve done it off and on ever since. I put it off for a time when I started teaching. I’ve played with honky tonk bands, rock bands and even done my fair share of country. There was one band called Southwind…one called Hard Times – which was highly appropriate…When I was in high school my band was called The Assassins. In 1989 I formed the Hard Tops and I’ve played basically non-stop since then. How did you come up with this name The Homewreckers? Some time in my past I heard that word and I understood the connotation…for whatever reason the word just appealed to me. There’s really not a good story behind that. I just thought what a cool word that is. Now…my mother didn’t feel the same way… My first band was called Joint Expressions. We thought it was cool because the parents had no idea what we were really meaning by that. Of course they thought we were jointly ‘expressing ourselves’, but we knew what it really meant of course. That was back at the age that we, ultimately, invented everything, you know… Sure…it amazes me how much more we knew than our parents. Astoundingly so. It amazed me how much smarter they got when I hit about 20 or so. Yeah, they learned a lot… How long have you kept The Homewreckers together? The Homewreckers…this is our 16th year. So what are the highlights? It’s like all bands…lots of gigs for lots of occasions, who you’ve opened for and all that… Joe, we call that “shared stages with” these days. It sounds so much better, you know… We got to share a stage over in Tahlequah with Mitch Ryder & The Detroit Wheels. We played first, Mitch Ryder played last and in between Denny Laine played. He did a one-man thing and was quite amazing…You know, he played with Paul McCartney and the Moody Blues and lots of really big names. Oh yeah…I have watched him for years, actually. We spent a couple hours in the Green Room with him just listening to his stories and tales of the rock ‘n’ roll business. It was like being in rock ‘n’ roll Heaven for me. Hanging out with him was the real highlight of my music career. We traded phone numbers and addresses and all that and I was really high on the whole thing. He lives in Las Vegas and still plays out a lot. And he even told me to look him up whenever I go to Las Vegas…It was really good. Have you ever done rock ‘n’ roll stunts? You know, like tearing up motel rooms, driving the Mercedes in the hotel pool and that sort of thing? No. With lots of bands it’s the old Sex, Drugs and rock ‘n’ roll thing. For us it was it was basically have some snickers and go out and play… How often are you playing these days? It just varies from week to week. Some weeks we might play 3 gigs, and then some weeks we don’t play at all and just sit home and play with ourselves…er…strike that…some people might get the wrong idea… Truth is we’re at a point where we just kind of pick and choose. We really only play places now that we really enjoy. Such as? I love playing both Jose’s – in Fayetteville and Springdale…especially for the Bike Nights. Those are great fun. And I love playing at George’s…that’s always a fun gig. And we play every so often at Downstream Casino and I love playing there because we get a real good response there. Casinos are good gigs. Really they are. They pay well and are really low stress gigs…with the exception of the load-ins, because let’s face it, they weren’t designed by musicians. There are customers all over the place and you have to dance around the slot machines with all your heavy gear and all. Do you write songs? I used to. There was a period of about 10 years I tried to devolop my songwriting. I really enjoy the Texas Singer-songwriter things…people like Guy Clark and such really inspire me. And I’m just a country boy at heart so I was trying to do some of that. It never really took, I guess, but I had a lot of fun trying my hand at it. Tell me who all is in your band… Okay. My guitar player is Russ Hutchison. And there’s Johnny Arredondo on drums and Mike Niccum plays bass. These guys have all been on the road, they’ve all had long-time house gigs, and they are all absolute professionals and I’m just so ridiculously lucky to have them. Doesn’t Russ play a solo gig sometimes? He does a solo gig…he and Mike have a duo gig from time to time. And Russ sits in with lots of people. They’re all true pros and again I am so lucky to work with them… If you had to give advice to some young person wanting to go into music what would you tell them? I would say don’t expect to be big stuff at first. Get with players far more advanced than you and study everything they do…then you might learn the tools you really need to go for the big time. Plus, they make you look good. What is the next big thing for you, Joe? I don’t know. I’m about to leave Bikes, Blues & BBQ…this is my last year for that. I’ve had this job for 4 years and I’ve never considered it as a career or anything. I know I’m going to keep on playing music for as long as I can. There’ll be another next big thing, but I don’t have a clue what it is. Is there anything else you’d like to include here? I mean, Joe, you have the stage here… I’d just like to add that I love entertaining. Anyone who knows me knows I personally have no discernable talent. I have made my entire music career on the fact that I’ve been blesssed to be surrounded by some very excellent musicians I’ve been around for years. They can actually play and are good. I’ve simply been lucky to be backed by them and I’ve been out front just showing off and having fun. Actually Joe, you’re a hell of an entertainer. I’ve watched you in many capacities. In my opinion the value of what we do here is giving stress relief to people…and someone like you that can get up in front of a bunch of drunk strangers and essentially take their stress away is probably the most important job there is… I do like the way you think. Let’s face it, if you relieve somebody of stress it makes everything about their lives better. They do their jobs better. They treat their kids better. They feel better about everything they do and in that it improves the entire world… That’s so true. And that’s precisely why I really like being an entertainer. I have the time of my life and get paid for it too. What could be better! If you think of anything you’d like to add here just give me a call. I’ll do it…thanks for doing this, too. It’s been fun… ---PR