at Chris Thile, he is a master of the mandolin. interested in it? It’s kind of a fun challenge. that’s Mark from Snarky Puppy. Great, I’m
When you watch him play the mandolin it’s Maybe that’s just the business side of me, but gonna send him an email!”
like, “Wow, that guy understands a mandolin!” it’s a fun riddle to solve, and it’s fun to solve year When you hear Brad Mehldau play the piano… after year, or try to!
We had a mutual friend, so I sent him an email,
wow, that guy knows his piano in and out,
told him about the vision for the project…
he can make it just do what he wants to do. [WM] As I was prepping for this interview “We’ve got a vision for this record Jack wants
Jack Stratton? The Internet is his mandolin. He I pulled up “Strawberry Letter #23” by the to do, the first official Vulfpeck side project.
knows what works, he gets the Internet. With Brothers Johnson and heard the harmony Recording for these three days, in and out, two
him being one of my best friends and being in guitar part as well as what I’d guess was a songs a day, are you in?” Mark was like, “Let
a band with him, I reap the benefits of seeing, Small Stone phaser… me see, I’m going to Ireland and I’ve gotta learn
and talking through stuff with him. He’s been
able to really work it out with a lot of studying,
all this music…” and I was like, “No, no, don’t
[Cory] (starts singing guitar solo note for note)
it’s not just that it’s natural, he’s worked really
hard.
worry about it. All you have to do is show up for
the three days, you don’t have to learn anything
[WM] …which reminded more of Mark ahead of time…” and he was like, “Alright,
Lettieri’s love of the Phase 90. Can you tell yeah, I’m in!” So, we met in Los Angeles the
And also playing with Ben Rector. Ben Rector us the back-story of how you and Mark got night before the first Fearless Flyers session
is one of the most successful Indie artists of connected? and that was that. We talked over the phone a
our time. It’s insane what he’s been able to
couple of times before the session, I sent him
accomplish without a label. He pays attention, [Cory] Jack had a vision for the Fearless some demos, and we organized logistics, but
and he’s always shifting, and changing, and Flyers – a band based on the three sonic yeah, we met through the Fearless Flyers. It
thinking about how to stay up to date even ranges of guitar, bass, baritone, and electric was great!
just on the process. Fortunately, being around guitar, all centered around Nate Smith. We those kinds of people I have been able to pick talked through the vision for a while, and he [WM] I’ve seen you using a range of clean
up a lot of tips and tricks, and also just be a said, “Nate Smith, Joe Dart, you… we need amps and various pedals. What is your go to
part of a lot of conversations and we will spitball a baritone guitar player!” We were just looking gear and/or what are you using and why?
ideas and come up with creative ideas, and it’s online at different baritone guitar players and fun. In some ways just as much fun as playing Mark was doing this Baritone Funk Thursdays [Cory] We’re all on a journey here with gear,
the music, like now how do we get people thing on Instagram, and it was like, “Oh yeah, every one of us, everybody is always looking.
photo by Nick Langlois
February 2019
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