Revolutionary country band continues tour
Feb. 12, 2008
Split Lip Rayfield has been around for a decade now. Along the way, these self-described 'wack-a-doos' have learned many lessons. For example, you should shovel the snow off your driveway as it's falling.
Split Lip Rayfield’s Wayne Gottstine likes to do things a little differently. Not only does he play the mandolin, but Gottstine prefers to shovel snow as it falls.
“I was up until 4 a.m. shoveling,” he said laughing. “I love snow but not when it’s on my sidewalk.”
His experience living through snowy winters in Wichita, Kan., taught him it’s much easier to shovel the snow as it’s falling.
“I’m kind of a wack-a-doo,” he said.
When Gottstine isn’t shoveling snow at all hours of the night, he can be found playing music. Split Lip Rayfield is also made up of Eric Mardis jamming on banjo and Jeff Eaton plucking away at the gas tank bass. All three contribute to the band’s rustic vocals.
Gottstine has been playing music for 20 years. His resume includes Scroat Belly, which had a hard rock sound much different from the jiving bluegrass sound of Split Lip.
Gottstine added his mandolin playing-self to Split Lip 10 years ago. He got his first start with the band when he ran into Mardis 14 years ago at a bluegrass festival. When former band member Kirk Rundstrom, who died last year, called him up saying, “Come on dude, just get in the band, you dumb ass,” Gottstine took the plunge.
Gottstine was around 29 when he first got started in Split Lip and it didn’t take long for the band to take off.
“We played wherever we could,” he said. “There was a point where we were playing 156 shows a year.”
Split Lip has performed all across the nation from New York to Los Angeles to Alaska. The shows in Alaska were Gottstine’s favorite.
Gottstine, with his love of snow, toured Mount McKinley, the tallest mountain in North America, by plane.
“It was totally awesome, totally,” he said, laughing as he joked that he was also a “valley girl.”
After over a decade of playing together the band has reduced their tours to four or five shows a month. The band gets together even less to practice.
“We might practice three or four times a year,” he said. “We mostly practice on the road.”
Because the band lives about 160 miles from each other, getting together to practice isn’t an easy task, according to Gottstine. Even without the practice the band has remained in synch.
“We’ve played over 1,000 shows together,” Gottstine said. “We’re pretty tight.”
One of band’s biggest trademarks is the gas tank bass. A homemade contraption constructed from a Ford gas tank with a stick strapped to it with one thick string that twangs out the beat.
With five albums, including Never Make it Home (2004) and Should Have Seen it Coming (2004), Thursday’s show at The Blue Note should have a mix of old and new.
More Feb. 12, 2008 Arts Stories
- Evangelicals grace Columbia — The band will perform at Mojo’s following the release of their second album.
- Calibration is an exhilarating experiment — Rodriguez-Lopez’s new album gives listeners a taste of his warped sense of taste in music.
- Fool’s Gold’ a fool’s errand — There are few things in this world of ours that are more marketable than Matthew McConaughey’s shirtless upper torso. “Fool’s ...
- Rebels for an artistic cause — Mikey Wheeler pulled the cigarette out from behind his left ear, stepped outside his office and took a few minutes ...
- Here's to Being Here is a dissapointment — Here’s to Being Here is the third in Jason Collett’s string of solo albums.
Most recent Arts Stories
- Humor in 'Four Christmases' is too stale — "Four Christmases" makes up for tired tricks with a likeable cast.
- Justice's A Cross The Universe is sheer madness — Justice released their remixed, chaotic live album and documentary.
- The Abusers reunite 30 years later — Journalism professor Scott Swafford is a rock legend by night.
- Prince of Persia's risk pays off — Ubisoft expands on Prince of Persia's successful franchise.
- 'Punisher' is punishing to watch — What a disgusting, empty-headed whitesploitation movie this is. "Punisher: War Zone" is an exploitive film that doesn't seem to know ...