Tequila Mockingbird's sound reflects its history
The band was originally known as Hoochmobile.
Oct. 6, 2008
(Click graphic to enlarge)
With a small amount of sawdust still visible on his pants, Sean Erickson took a seat and apologized for his tardiness.
"Hey - sorry. I'm used to reporters being late," he said.
If Erickson, a cabinetmaker by profession, sounded like a seasoned veteran of the Columbia music scene as he sat down for lunch at Jimmy John's on Monday, that's because he is one.
Erickson has been drumming in rock groups since his high school years.
"I could call up Richard," he said, referring to Richard King, owner of The Blue Note and Mojo's, "and go, 'Hey Richard, it's Sean,' and he'll go 'Hi, Sean' - once I get past his secretaries. But he will take my calls."
Erickson drums for Columbia classic-rock cover band Tequila Mockingbird, originally known as Hoochmobile. The group is made up of musicians like Erickson - Columbia music-scene veterans. Querying Erickson about Tequila Mockingbird's formation yields a brief Columbia music history lesson.
"I've played in a couple of bands with Byron (Baker, guitarist and vocalist) through the years," he said, listing a few. "I've known Brian (Kemp, bassist and vocalist) for a long time. Never played with him in a band, but jammed with him at a few parties and all that. Tom (Lindsay, guitarist and vocalist) and Brian used to play in a band called Satchel Daddy. They were rock 'n' roll, they used to play at a club called Mixers - which I guess is now News Lounge."
He paused.
"Sorry, I'm drifting back to the early '90s," he said.
The group's self-written biography alludes to its nostalgic outlook: "Spend an evening with the 'Bird,'" they urge, "for the finest rock from back when music was free and cars guzzled 40-cent-a-gallon gas."
Today, Tequila Mockingbird's sound reflects its history. As with the group's biography, Erickson is careful to note the "painstaking accuracy" of the group's covers.
"We rehearse two times a week," Erickson said, refuting the notion that because the band will be playing a four-hour set this Friday, they "just get up there and jam."
His jam-band confession quickly became a profession of another feature upon which the guys pride themselves - that they are, in a sense, the hipster kid of classic rock cover bands.
"When we started doing this, we made a conscious effort to play songs that it seems like every band doesn't play," Erickson said. "I can stand to play Lynyrd Skynyrd, but I'm not gonna play 'Gimme Three Steps' or 'Free Bird' or 'Sweet Home Alabama.' That's why I took a year off of music. That was about the time the price of gas was going up and the price of gigs wasn't."
Tequila Mockingbird might have succeeded in coaxing Erickson back, but the present economy is in similarly dire straights. Why then, does Erickson - a carpenter by day - continue to commit the time and effort?
"I enjoy entertaining," Erickson said. "I like watching people get a smile on their face."
As the conversation came to a close, Erickson compared Tequila Mockingbird's music to the Billy Club sandwich he ordered.
"It'd be tasty and hardy with a satisfying end. You walk away feeling un-hungry," he said, before pausing to consider the perfect comparison. "And we'll beat you over the head with it, too."
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