BluesWax Sittin' In With
Carlos Guitarlos
By Dave Good
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Carlos Guitarlos
Photo by Gary Leonard
It was like this: in the mid-80s, everyone who was anyone in
the Los Angeles area went to hear Top Jimmy and the Rhythm Pigs. They
were the house band for nearly three years running at the Cathay de Grande, a
Hollywood pit made memorable for all the wrong reasons. But the club had the
cachet of being L.A.'s underground hot spot, and Top Jimmy (James Koncek)
was the king. Once, Koncek was voted the best Blues singer in all of Los
Angeles by some rag, and for a while it was true. The Pigs drew an audience
that was a who's who of players. John Doe and Billy Zoom from X
were fans, and so were Los Lobos and the Blasters. The Red
Hot Chili Peppers and Van Halen were regulars - David Lee Roth sometimes
sang with the band and Eddie once told a guitar magazine that he learned
things just by watching Carlos Guitarlos play. Eventually, Van Halen
immortalized the band by recording "Top Jimmy" on their album 1984.
Back then, Carlos' fists flew as fast and as often as the
notes from his axe. Blood, spit, and beer were de rigueur on any given
night. But his playing was multi-genre perfection. When the Rhythm Pigs finally
burned out, some made a stab at reclaiming health, others did not. Jimmy
eventually died of liver failure in Las Vegas, and Carlos Guitarlos, diabetic
and with a bad heart, re-located to San Francisco. For years, he earned coin
busking with a borrowed guitar and a battery-powered amp. He lived in hotels
and for a time, hospitals. Then one day, the San Francisco Bay Guardian re-discovered
him. That marked the beginning of a small turnaround for Carlos. He had cleaned
up and stopped doing drugs. And with his nephew Damon in charge of business,
Carlos made a record last year. Straight From the Heart (Hot Records) is
a masterful performance, full of life, with Carlos shouting down the amps and
playing anything he wants. That said, it seemed a good time to check in, so I
called Carlos at his current home. He sounded healthy, even vital; his sense of
humor was intact, and he noodled constantly on an acoustic while we
talked.
Dave Good for BluesWax: When we last spoke, you
mentioned something about your life story being optioned and made into a film.
What's happening with that? Is there a script? Any actors picked out yet?
Carlos Guitarlos: I don't think so. It's not that far
along. [He pulls off a riff on his acoustic.]
BW: Whom do you think they should get to play a young
Carlos Guitarlos?
CG: Oh, some drunken idiot.
BW: Back in the day, I used to come up and see you [with
the Rhythm Pigs] at the Cathay ...
CG: Cathay de Grand? Back when the Paladins used
to open up for us? And Country Dick and Mojo Nixon?
BW: Mojo, Skid Roper, Dick, the Beat Farmers, all those
guys. Why were the Pigs so badass? Were you guys mad about something?
CG: Well ... it was sort of a Punk Rock scene. We
weren't a Punk band, but I guess we had the attitude down just naturally. We
were big enough not to take any crap off anybody, so we didn't. Like if
somebody spit on us because they thought it was cool, like if we were opening
for X or Fear or somebody we'd just stop the show and start pounding
them. And they [the audience] would cheer like if it was a fuckin ... throwin'
the Christians to the lions thing.
BW: Yeah. It got scary for me. I'd often just leave at
that point. You were a much bigger guy back then as I recall.
CG: Yeah. Over 220. It was all solid.
BW: You guys were everybody's favorite band back then.
Everybody came to see the Rhythm Pigs in L.A.
CG: We just had fun. We didn't have a plan. We didn't
think we were gonna record. We didn't care if we had a manager.
BW: Who was your favorite band back then? Who did you go
listen to?
CG: In L.A.? I really liked the Blasters. And when
Los Lobos came around [he calls them the Lobos], I really liked them. And the
Paladins were okay then.
BW: They still are.
CG: We used to call them the baby birds. They were
very good. I also liked X. They were very good. Actually my favorite band back
then from the L.A. scene, and still from the L.A. scene is the Wierdos.
[He starts playing and singing.]
BW: The Pigs could play any genre. Who influenced you?
Who'd you learn guitar from?
CG: Well ... when I was 10, I learned this Jimmy
Reed lick from my older brother [he plays it]. That old thing, "Bright
Lights, Big City." Then I learned some Spanish stuff from my Uncle Joe
[plays a perfect flamenco riff], and um, about '63 or '64, when the Beatles started
coming through and bringing back American music to the Americans there was this
station called KBLA ... and on the same station you could hear Zappa, Sinatra,
Odetta, the Kingston Trio, Beatles, Stones, Mantovani
- anything that was good in any style, they would play it. It had to be
good stuff. Anyway, you could learn a lot of things listening to that station.
Now it's all segregated - a Rock station, a heavy Rock station, an oldies Rock
station, a power Rock station - then, it was all on the same station. This KBLA
had a bunch of different sounds, so it was kinda cool. I was able not to learn
just a scale [he plays one], but chords [he demonstrates a few]. I learned my
notes and chords and scales. I taught myself all that stuff.
BW: I've read that you've written something like 3,500 songs since ...
CG: Yeah. Bunch of 'em.
BW: That's a lot to remember.
CG: I remember all of 'em. All I need is a list of
titles.
BW: Last time we spoke you had just moved to L.A.
CG: I moved here April 30th. That was the day the
front-page story [about Carlos] came out in the L.A. Times.
BW: Still doing the hotel thing? Or do you have a place?
CG: No, no I'm in sort of a basement apartment. Right
above me here [in the house] is the place where Beck recorded [sings]
"I'm a loser baby, so why don't you kill me." Upstairs in the
living room. I'm in a real good spot now. Up in the front house are a bunch of
interesting people.
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Straight From The Heart by Carlos Guitarlos
Click Cover For More Info
BW: Do you still play every day?
CG: Yeah.
BW: Do you still go out and play on the street, like you did in San
Francisco?
CG: Can't. You'll get arrested here.
BW: Every corner in San Francisco has someone playing on
it. You used to impromptu change the song you were playing to whomever happened
to be walking by at the time.
CG: Yeah - if it was someone young, I'd play
"Layla" [he pulls off the opening riff]. Or the "Wizard of
Oz." [He noodles out the lyric line.]
BW: What kind of person would you play that for?
CG: Someone dumber than
me. Which is very few people.
BW: Somehow you fed yourself doing that. You pulled it
off.
CG: Oh, yeah. And I tried to play all the parts
myself. Like on "Maybelline," it has Willie Dixon on bass [he
plunks out a bass line on the guitar's bottom string]. And [indecipherable] on
guitar and Willie Dixon. [He continues the bass line and adds chords.] And it
has a drum sound. [He does percussion on the guitar's body.]
BW: That's the old Robert Johnson technique. Did you listen to him much?
CG: Him and Django are my favorites. [Plays a
lead line.] I never tried to learn a Robert Johnson song the way he did it,
though. Interpreted. I know almost all of his songs. I think everybody does.
BW: When you came back and released the record, were
people surprised to find out you were still alive?
CG: Yeah - that's what most of the emails said. Got
five or six emails about that story in the L.A. Times on April 30, last
year. People said, "I was crying because I thought he was dead or he had
killed somebody."
BW: Back in the old days, that didn't seem too unlikely.
CG: Yeah. [Laughs, then jumps back to Robert
Johnson.] I've written songs about him too, like that one on the CD [Straight
>From The Heart] called "Easyrider" [he sings it].
BW: My favorite was "Straight From the Heart."
CG: Yeah. I wrote that on
one of my deathbeds.
BW: You almost cacked a couple of times. You seem like a
guy who feared nothing when he was younger. Do you fear death now?
CG: I'm not worried about it. It'll be fine.
BW: Fine?
CG: Sure.
BW: Any regrets about the way you've spent the last 50 years?
CG: No, because I've been playing music for 44 of
them.
BW: You quit drinking, right?
CG: Yeah. The day after Jimmy's wake. I got there at
two in the afternoon, started drinkin' beer, whiskey, tequila, rum, doin' all
kinds of stuff, you know, up stuff, down stuff, sideways stuff. Twisted around
sideways up and down stuff till like six the next morning. So when I woke up
that afternoon I said, that's it. And, that's it. [He sings a song he wrote for
Koncek called "I've Been Drinking Again."]
BW: Did you go to meetings to help yourself quit drinking?
CG: No, I just quit. I was at [this guy's] house. And
I just so happened to be there when it was three months since I had stopped.
And I just so happened to be at his house when it was six months after I had
stopped. And I just so happened to be at his house when it was one year. So I
went to meetings with him because he had to go, right? Wait - isn't this
supposed to be anonymous? Maybe I shouldn't say his name.
BW: We'll leave his name out of it, okay?
CG: Yeah. Don't print his name. So anyway I went and
I didn't hold anybody's hand or read any of the twelve steps. I didn't talk to
anybody, I just drank the coffee and ate the donuts and thought, "Leave me
alone. I'm here 'cause my friend's here." So when it was a year sober time
for me, he said, "Carlos - it's been a year. Get up and say
something." And everybody's looking at me, like, how'd you do it? So I
said, I just made up my mind. They didn't like that. They wanted a sad story or
something. But I didn't have a story. I looked around and said to myself,
"This isn't going anywhere." So I said, "It was easy - I made up
what was left of my mind" - I made a little tiny motion, and that went
over worse. My friend took over. He said, "Tell us what you went
through." And he handed me this chip. It said one year, or something like
that. So I tried to be funny first. I said, uh ... and I pretended to be
nervous, shake a little bit, and I said to the group, "Uh, could I get a
drink with this?"
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Photo by Gary Leonard
BW: You gotta be kidding ...
CG: No, I said that, thinking that somebody would
know that in bars you get drink chips if you play or if you're a regular
customer. They're all alcoholics, so I guessed they would know. But they didn't
like it. They went ice cold and the metal bars went [makes crashing sound]. My
friend just got up and started talking for me. I went over to the donuts and
grabbed a donut.
BW: Well, it's all good now. You've got your health, a new
lease on life, a great record, something to look forward to ...
CG: Oh sure, sure. I'm working with people like Marcy
Levy. You ever heard of her?
He wants to conference call Marcy Levy before I ring off.
He dials her number and gets a recording. She's not home. At this point, it's
clear that he'd rather play new songs than talk anymore, so it goes that way.
For the next half-hour, Carlos treats me to previews of his new material. When
he's done, we say our goodbyes and make plans to meet later in San Diego.
Dave Good is a contributing editor at BluesWax. Dave
may be contacted at [EMAIL PROTECTED].
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This Week in BluesWax:
Carlos Guitarlos
- In the E-zine:
BluesWax is Sittin' In With Carlos Guitarlos. From Top Jimmy and the
Rhythm Pigs to the streets, Carlos has an amazing story to tell. Join Dave Good
and Carlos Guitarlos as they talk about the past, the present, and the new
album, Straight From The Heart.
- On the News
Page: Mr. A Passes; 8th Annual Maple Blues Awards Voting;
Save The Hall Benefit; Italy's Roots'n'Blues Recognized By The Blues Foundation
And Hold Cool Show For Members; James Brown Gives The Bird; This Week On Austin
City Limits; Blues Foundation Offers Deal On Elwood's Book; The Orange Blossom
Blues Society In Born; Rare Elvis Recordings Go To Auction; Toronto Blues
Society's Blues Summitt II; New Son Lewis Release; Frostbite In Montana; The
Blue Band Plays Benefit For River Music Experience; This Week On A Prairie
Home Companion; Bandana Blues News; New Willie King CD; Jon Cleary News;
The Bluesrunners Release CD; Blues On The Tube; And Much More!
- On the Photo
Page: Live shots from the 3 Shades of Blues concert series!
- On the Blues
Bytes page: The holidays are fast approaching and Art Tipaldi takes a
look at six must-own DVDs. Check out these six great DVDs and possibly fill
someone's stocking.
- On the Blues
Beat page: In his first article, new BluesWax Contributing
Editor Reverend Billy C. Wirtz talks about Beach Music. No, not the Beach Boys
.. check out this great documentary on the origins of Beach music from the
coast of the Carolinas.
- Under BluesWax
Picks: Patrice Bartling reviews The Rocky Athas Group's Miracle;
Eric Wrisley reviews Holy Happy Hour by Stockholm Syndrome; James Walker
gives his take on the latest from Paul Rishell and Annie Raines; Gary Miller
reviews True Story by Kurt Crandall; plus reviews of Goin' Home
by Paul Rishell and Annie Raines and Touch of the Bluesman by Craig
Horton.
- One
Year Ago Today In BluesWax: BluesWax was "Sittin' In With
Bobby Rush." Check out what the one and only Bobby Rush was up to one year
ago.
- Don't forget to play the Blues Trivia
Game: Remember, everyone who plays is in the drawing for the prize!
This week's prize: the CD Center Stage by the Ford Brothers, Robben
Ford, Patrick Ford, and Mark Ford, courtesy of Blue Rock'It Records. Play
Today!
