Guitarist Lanny Waugh has seen it all when it comes to Taipei’s expat music scene — back in 1982, his band, the Vespas, was Taiwan’s only foreign group with a steady following.
Dancing in public was illegal because of martial law, but the Vespas managed to regularly fill rooms with as many as 200 people. They played everything from the New Wave sounds of the Buzzcocks and Public Image Limited to the Four Tops and Buddy Holly.
Their motto was “surf, soul and rock ’n’ roll” — and people danced anyway.
PHOTO COURTESY OF BLUES VIBRATIONS
More than 25 years and a handful of bands later, Waugh, 54, is keeping up his eclectic musical tastes with his latest band, the Blues Vibrations, which plays tomorrow night at Sappho de Base in Taipei.
His old band’s motto aptly describes the Blues Vibrations’ sound, but without the New Wave. The Vibrations play a mix of “American roots” music: blues standards like I Get Evil, 1950s surf rock (Tequila) and classic country (Johnny Cash’s Big River). For Waugh, all a song needs is “a cool beat, cool riff, and [it has to be] easy to sing.”
The band stamps its “down-home” repertoire with a distinctive funky groove, which Waugh attributes in part to his bandmates: drummer Daz Booker of the UK used to play with Waugh in a funk and soul band, and American bassist John Ring has played with several jazz and rock outfits in Taiwan, and currently plays for Sky Burial.
Waugh plays many styles on the guitar, including jazz, but he gravitates toward a blues and country sound. A jazz musician friend once asked him, “How can you like that music?”
“It has a depth of emotion … the music speaks to you through the lyrics,” Waugh says. “I love jazz, too, but too much stuff makes my head explode.”
Waugh’s attitude toward music was shaped by his musical upbringing as a teenager in the 1960s: “People would listen to Hank Williams, Leadbelly, Coltrane and Hendrix — all on the same record player.” He grew up hearing live music at home, too. His college professor father was an avid music fan, and “folk musicians would come to my home and play and drink beer.”
The 1960s left a lasting impression on Waugh’s musical ethos. His generation wanted to have a life “free of the establishment thing … and music was a real big part of it,” he says.
As far as he is concerned, the Blues Vibrations is an “organic thing,” with each member contributing as they see fit. The Vibrations’ current lineup has been together for over a year, and Waugh is pleased about the opportunity to explore new sounds: Ring has introduced some jam-band material in the spirit of the Grateful Dead, while Booker is excited to sing John Mayer songs.
“The band should be greater than the sum of its parts,” says Waugh. And ultimately, it’s about having a good time. “I like playing music where you get together and just jam.”
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