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"CLONE"
MIKE GORDON AND LEO KOTTKE
Its title notwithstanding, CLONE is a wholly
original collaboration between acoustic guitar
legend Leo Kottke and bassist Mike Gordon of Phish.
For Kottke, it is the 25th album (excluding
compilations) in a career that dates back to 1968.
From the beginning, the Minneapolis-based guitarist
has dazzled fans and fellow musicians with his
uniquely propulsive fingerpicking and deep,
resonant voice. Since 1983, Gordon has established
himself as a virtuoso in his own right as bass
guitarist and founding member of Phish, the
quintessential jam band from Burlington,
Vermont.
This recording marks a departure for both
musicians. CLONE is the first "band" album Kottke
has ever made, in the sense of being a true, fully
credited collaboration with another musician. It is
also Gordon's first musical project outside of
Phish. Shot through with skewed, surreal humor and
casually brilliant interplay, Clone is a
captivating collaboration between two master
musicians.
And to think it all began with the word
"eleemosynary."
Eleemosynary is essentially a highfalutin synonym
for "charitable." Mike Gordon dropped the word into
an essay from his book Mike's Corner, a collection
of whimsical short pieces he'd written for Phish's
newsletter. Leo Kottke, after being given a copy by
longtime fan Gordon, made note of eleemosynary's
appearance. The only other time he'd seen it used
was in John Fowles' novel The French Lieutenant's
Woman. At that moment, before they'd ever played a
note together, guitarist Kottke realized that
bassist Gordon - who possesses the same sort of
disarmingly playful intellect - might make a
fruitful collaborator.
"That's what really got my attention," chuckles
Kottke. "That and the fact he's easy to talk to.
He's one of those people, unlike me, who can walk
up and say hello to anybody on earth and be
perfectly at ease with it. So I got curious about
what he was doing."
Gordon already knew plenty about Kottke, having
seen him in concert as far back as 1983. Mike and
bandmate Trey Anastasio considered him their
favorite acoustic guitarist. So when Kottke came to
play Burlington, Vermont, in 1999, Gordon was
ready. He had taken one of Kottke's earliest solo
instrumentals, "The Driving of the Year Nail," and
overdubbed an original bass line. Backstage, he
presented Kottke with a tape of the revamped song,
as well as a copy of his book and Phish's latest
release, The Story of the Ghost.
"I had always been a fan," Gordon recalls, "and it
just dawned on me like a flash that I would click
with him, both personality-wise and musically."
Some months later, Kottke contacted Gordon to say
he liked the bass part Mike had added to "Year
Nail." Eager to explore the potential chemistry,
they got together a few times to jam. At the end of
a daylong session at Trey's Barn studio in
Burlington, they improvised a pattern that got them
excited. Just as "eleemosynary" had broken the ice,
this one riff - which can be heard at the beginning
of "June" - cemented their union. "It made us think
we should try to write music together," says
Gordon.
"I've had the experience of playing with people
where things fit really well, you have a lot of fun
and pretty much get what you want," says Kottke.
"But I've never had the experience of locking in
before the notes are happening and finding out that
you can do things literally in unison. It really
was a shock to me.
"We only had a lick," Kottke continues, "but based
on that we committed ourselves to do a record. We
jumped in over our heads without a second thought.
It could've been disastrous, but it really worked.
We found out we could write together, which is
really what happened."
Another session, this one in Kottke's hometown of
Minneapolis, found them finding a groove on the
Kottke-composed "Disco." "I started playing along,
and he described it as 'having foot,'" Gordon says
with a chuckle. "He said that one would be good for
us, 'cause people could stomp their feet to it." At
that point, Clone began taking shape.
Between January and June 2002, Kottke and Gordon
convened three times at the Burbank, California,
garage studio of producer Paul DuGré. A
freewheeling spirit of "anything goes" pervaded the
sessions, as they challenged each other in ways
that were novel for both of them. "Playing with him
was pushing my style to a new limit," acknowledges
Gordon, "and he claimed it was doing the same thing
for him. So it just felt great, and it had
foot."
They drew upon a choice set of uniquely slanted
songs, among them "Car Carrier Blues," whose
narrator worries about driving behind those
car-carrying trucks for fear that the rear
automobile will fall off, and "From Pizza Towers to
Defeat," a surrealistic ditty (written by cult hero
Bob "Frizz" Fuller) that makes lyrical references
to a train robbery and Richard Nixon in drag.
Of course, Kottke played guitar and Gordon played
bass, and both sang. But they also delved into a
whole other realm of "found" noises and instruments
to spice up the mix. Mike played a "resophonic
bass" - a custom-made instrument with the body of a
dobro and the neck of a bass - on "Arko" and
"With." Kottke played "the Condor," a prototype
guitar synthesizer made decades ago. It was so bad,
it was good - especially on the bizarrely humorous
title track.
"The strings were really rusty and it was dangerous
to play," laughs Kottke. "It had this controller
with these huge vanilla, barstool-red and turquoise
panel buttons on it that said things like 'choo
choo train' and 'surf.' It was awful! Half of it
didn't work and it made all this noise, but it had
something, so the Condor is all over 'Clone.'"
Kottke and Gordon also played percussion on pots
and pans from DuGré's kitchen and flew in
noises from something called a "lollipop vibrator."
In "The Collins Missile," Gordon plays "skull
flute" - a plaintive, high-pitched sound made by
cupping one's hands and blowing through the
thumbs.
"Laughter was important," says Gordon of the
sessions, which even had their own mascot: a
neighborhood cat.
"Ralph was her name," says Kottke. "This cat was
really peculiar. It would run across the street
whenever we showed up. And when we brought it in
the studio, it played everything: walked on the
guitar, on the bass, on the piano, on Paul's
control board."
This feline spirit of daring carried over to Kottke
and Gordon, who happily followed their collective
muse wherever it led them. "There was no strain,"
says Kottke. "It was the easiest record I've ever
made. It was completely unstructured and
spontaneous. There wasn't any idea we were trying
to express some message or anything. We were just
looking for that click."
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PRIVATE MUSIC READIES ONE-OF-A-KIND "CLONE";
DEBUT ALBUM FROM FAMED GUITARIST LEO KOTTKE AND
PHISH'S MIKE GORDON SET FOR OCTOBER 8TH RELEASE
FIRST-EVER DUO NATIONAL TOUR SET TO KICK-OFF ON
NOVEMBER 4
Private Music has announced the October 8th release
of CLONE, the debut album from acoustic guitar
legend Leo Kottke and Phish bassist Mike Gordon.
Characterized by an inviting, intimate tone, the
collection is propelled by a deft mix of spirited
guitar-and-bass instrumental tracks and warm,
flavorful vocal performances by Kottke and Gordon -
markedly presented within a full menu of lead and
harmony combinations. Produced by the duo with Paul
duGré (X, Pontiac Brothers, Down By Law),
the 14-track album finds Kottke adding "kitchen"
percussion parts along with guitar while, in
addition to bass, Gordon plays piano, electric
guitar, and percussion. Recorded at duGré's
Burbank, California studio, CLONE is further
highlighted by a stirring version of "I Am A
Lonesome Fugitive," notably recorded by blues-rock
pioneer Roy Buchanan over 30 years ago.
In addition, Kottke and Gordon have announced
the dates for their first tour ever together
beginning November 4. They will also perform on
October 2 at the Jammy Awards held at New York
City's Roseland Ballroom.
The CLONE story traces back some three years,
when Gordon - a longtime admirer of Kottke -
introduced himself during one of the guitarist's
recent concert tours.
He also took the opportunity to present Kottke,
who reportedly has yet to witness a Phish
performance, with a cassette of Gordon's bass
overdubs on a number of favorite Kottke originals.
Soon thereafter, the two musicians became fast
friends and an active correspondence developed.
During breaks in their busy individual schedules,
the pair arranged a series of meetings in order to
experiment with a variety of musical ideas. As the
exchanges became more frequent and involved, plans
for a formal recording session took shape. Earlier
this year, Kottke and Gordon enlisted duGré
into the project, eventually giving rise to the
completed album - the first from Kottke since the
1999 Private Music release of One Guitar, No
Vocals.
TOUR DATES
The dates for the tour are as follows:
OCTOBER
10/2 The Jammys (Roseland), New York, NY
NOVEMBER
11/4 Club Helsinki, Great Barrington, MA
11/5 Ira Allen Chapel (UVM), Burlington, VT
11/6 Sanders Theatre, Cambridge, MA
11/8 Bowery Ballroom, New York, NY
11/9 Theatre of Living Arts, Philadelphia, PA
11/10 9:30 Club, Washington, DC
11/12 Variety Playhouse, Atlanta, GA
11/13 Park West, Chicago, IL
11/15 Mississippi Nights, St. Louis, MO
11/16 The Roxy, Los Angeles, CA
11/17 The Fillmore, San Francisco, CA
11/19 Boulder Theater, Boulder, CO
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