L-R: Dave Malone, Camile Baudoin, Reggie Scanlan, Frank Bua and Ed Volker.
On November 4, Ed Volker, the principal songwriter and singer with the Radiators, sent a letter of resignation to his bandmates Dave Malone, Reggie Scanlan, Camile Baudoin and Frank Bua. Two days later, Volker reiterated his intentions to leave the group at a meeting in a Chicago hotel room. The news quickly spread across the group’s fan network. The band released a statement indicating it would honor its commitments through June of 2011. As of now, the remaining four members of the group have not decided whether they will attempt to find a replacement for Volker or simply disband. Their observations on the future took a philosophic turn as they reflected on the nature of impermanence and the difficulty of breaking lifelong ties. One thing is certain. Without Volker, this unique fixture of the New Orleans music scene over the last 33 years will no longer exist as we know it.
Apologies to Camile and Frank. Their comments are valuable, but space limitations prevailed.
What happened?
Ed Volker: My story is that after 9/11, the road started squeezing tighter and tighter. There was the enhanced security, and our fortunes started waning a little bit. We weren’t playing multiple nights when we traveled, so there was a lot more roadwork which meant a lot more riding from town to town. After Katrina, the finances stated getting even tighter. Over the last few years, I’ve been more and more compressed and I’m just exhausted from the squeezebox of the road. I’m looking forward to a quieter, less stressful life.
It started about five years ago, slightly before Katrina. The band has made difficult economic decisions in order to keep on rolling. Compared to other friends I know, we’ve done remarkably well. But the road doesn’t soften up, and I’m certainly getting older and I’m not snapping back like I used to. I’ve been debating it seriously for about two years. It just got to feeling like it’s time.
I love the guys and I love our music. I thought this was the most caring and fair way to make my departure, to give a lot of lead time so if the rest of the guys want to continue on with the Radiators in some fashion or another, it’s with my blessing.
I’ve gone through variations of three large feelings. One is relief to finally get away from it all. Another is complete heartbreak because a large portion of my life has been dedicated to the Radiators and the music. And the other thing is I’m scared. I’ve had a posse to work with for the last 33 years. Actually far before that. I ran with the Rhapsodizers and before that the Dogs. I’ve been running with posses since I was 15. This is a major life change.
Dave Malone: I guess it should be made clear that the band did not decide to stop. A key—and most people would argue the key— guy decided that not only could he not take the road anymore and believe me, I totally get that because the road always wins and eventually we all have a hard time recovering. I’m 58 and I’m the youngest guy in the band. In theory, we could have kept playing local stuff or hand-picked gigs, but he wants to just quit completely. He not only wrote most of the songs, he sings more of them than I do and plays all the keyboards. He’s also made every set list that we’ve played. When somebody that important decides he doesn’t want to do it anymore, what can you say?
I was completely taken by surprise by the announcement. At the band meeting, it was a lot of confusion. People were trying to be understanding, trying to not be assholes. That would just ruin the last seven months. I don’t want him to be doing something he’s hating doing.
I can imagine continuing as the Radiators. It remains to be seen. It means trying out another keyboard player and it would have to be someone who can sing, but sure it could conceivably happen. It’s way too soon for me to say one way or the other about that, but is it conceivable? Yes, it is conceivable.
Ed had agreed to play through Jazz Fest and after a day of sorting through the email, I called him up and reminded him that there were other gigs we had booked beyond that that he wasn’t necessarily aware of because I handle that stuff along with Josh, our road manager. When he found that out, he agreed to go to the last booked gig. Then he called me back an hour later and said, ‘I think the last gig the Radiators play should be at home.’ I had been thinking the same thing. So Tip’s would be great, hopefully we could have farewell shows at Tip’s on the second weekend of June next year. That’s what’s going on.
Reggie Scanlan: The only definite thing is that Ed has given us his letter of resignation. The band now has to decide whether to look for a replacement or fold the tent. Any decision we make now would be a knee jerk reaction. We have to get past the emotional stage. Some people had a big emotional reaction. We have to settle down and get realistic.
Anybody who wasn’t prepared for this is totally naïve. I’ve been preparing myself for this for three years. I don’t have any bad feelings. After 30 years, I’ll support anybody’s decision to leave the band if it’s not doing it for them anymore for whatever reason. For some people, this might be an opportunity to say, ‘Ed’s right, I’m burnt out.’ You have to look way deep inside yourself to figure out what you’re going to do. It’s 30 years of your life. It’s a big decision. You have to make the right decision and once the decision is made, that’s going to be it. If you’re going to carry on, it’s got to be in the spirit of being the Radiators. We have to utilize whatever the new guy brings in. How much re-finessing can it take? I don’t think Radiators music is a set thing. If it was, we couldn’t have Bonerama or Warren Haynes play with us.
I think people get trapped into wanting things to stay the same and that keeps you from moving forward. I think somebody could come in and do the job, make his own mark. It’s about throwing out any kind of idea you got. Somebody might suggest somebody you never thought of.
If we decide we’re going to carry on, that’s probably what we’re going to do. I’m really excited about all this. Let’s see what’s going to happen. Just because Ed’s leaving the band doesn’t mean we have to quit. We’re musicians. We should be looking for new things, new ideas. If you don’t like change, this is the wrong business to be in. You should be an insurance agent. You should embrace this. This could be an exciting era for the band.
It strikes me that this is the end of an era of New Orleans music. The Radiators were the carriers of a particular type of New Orleans culture.
Volker: We embodied the idea of the eclecticism that defined ’60s bands like Little Feat and the Dead and the early Stones, but we did it in our uniquely New Orleans fashion. There was nobody quite like us in the way we mixed things up. In that way, we were unique. While we were a part of New Orleans music, we were something apart from it as well. We didn’t have a set approach or style. We had Dave’s country rock thing, then riffing on the Meters with “Suck the Head” then a Merle Haggard song, a Blind Willie Johnson song. We covered a lot of different song spaces.
You are also a direct link to an era of New Orleans music that no longer exists because you played with Professor Longhair and Earl King.
Volker: That’s so much a part of us that I take it for granted.
Malone: We played with both of those gentlemen, and they were super influential on our musical environment, but we also have ties to all of New Orleans rock ’n’ roll. We do versions of some pretty obscure New Orleans songs. Lots of people don’t even know that they’re not our songs. We were lucky to grow up in an age when we could hear Ernie K-Doe and Benny Spellman and Earl King and the Hawkettes on the radio, and we were thinking everybody in the country was hearing this stuff because at the same time we were also hearing national hits. We have that eclectic taste because back then the radio had free reign to play whatever the disc jockey wanted to play. You could hear Hank Williams Sr. and Otis Redding and (laughs) Gary Puckett and the Union Gap and the Amboy Dukes back to back. We have all these diverse musical influences that were all brought to the table when we created our own songs as well.
The new wave of very interesting, eclectic New Orleans rock bands doesn’t have that connection. That’s been cut. You guys are the last link to that. These new rock bands could just as easily come from San Francisco or Portland, Oregon or Minneapolis or Brooklyn, New York.
Volker: All places with very good Chinese takeaway.
Malone: There are some bands coming up that are connecting themselves to some old brass bands’ way of playing, even reinventing the songs. There needs to be another wave of kids appreciating the golden age of New Orleans rock ’n’ roll.
What is the band’s legacy?
Volker: That’s a tree that has lots of branches. What will it be remembered for? Part of it is the eclecticism of the music, part of it is the good-heartedness of the shows and part of it is an extension of that in that our fans became communities onto themselves, kind of floating communities. There was a lot of community spirit there, sort of like the fans created their own social aid and pleasure clubs wherever they went.
The connections between those people don’t necessarily end even if the band isn’t there to conduct the service. What kind of feedback have you been getting?
Volker: They’re kind of in a state of shock. My idea of social networking is Terranova’s and walking on the bayou and hanging out with friends on my porch. I don’t really go online to see what people are saying. I want to get away from ambition, the way the Radiators lifestyle for me was a driven-ness. I’m not going to translate that headline deadline reality to any other entity. I like playing with Jolly House, but I have no plans or ambitions except to do the occasional gig.
You must be happy about what you achieved.
Volker: Oh yeah, I got to live my dream. When I was a kid first starting to get turned on to music when I was 10 years old, when I first started to write songs I would design my own LP covers and write the whole back cover and list all the songs. So back when I was 10 years old, I was dreaming of having this reality and I got to do it.
Scanlan: I grew up in New Orleans and I know how to participate in the jazz funeral. The sad part’s over. Now it’s time to have some fun.
