If you were a student at the University of South Carolina back in 1989, there’s no doubt that you danced to the music of Hootie & the Blowfish. Darius Rucker, Mark Bryan, Dean Felber and Jim Sonefeld were the go-to party band. They studied and went to classes all week, and then performed Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, pocketing $300-$400 apiece each weekend.In 1994, they released their debut album, Cracked Rear View. Fifteen million copies, a David Letterman show appearance and way more than $300-$400 apiece later, Hootie was everywhere.
“They were real guys, hanging out and doing what they loved,” recalls longtime fan Kathleen Overlin of Harris + Oliver in Paducah. Overlin was at The Windjammer bar in Charleston the night when the band members signed their first record deal. “They could easily have been the guys living next door who practiced in their parents' garage and drove all the neighbors crazy. I think people related to them.”
On Tuesday night, August 14, people were definitely relating as the band steamed up The Carson Center. Here’s an excerpt of our pre-performance-publicity telephone interview last Thursday with cute, cute, cute lead guitarist Mark Bryan. The transcript is edited for length and because the interviewer’s nervousness impeded her note-taking skills. A few editorial comments are thrown in for good measure.iList Paducah: Mark, you just turned 40 on May 6. How did you celebrate?
Mark Bryan: All my buddies have had this party just about every year since 1985, which was when the Live Aid concerts started. Only we call ours Dead Aid. This year we had it in Charleston at my place on the river. The spirit of the event is all about friends getting together and playing music. We celebrated my birthday and three other people’s birthdays.
IL: Did you have any qualms about turning 40?
MB: I did for a while, and then I gave into it. I’m very thankful that I’m a young 40. I don’t feel 40. So that’s good. There’s nothing you can do about it. I’ve embraced it.
IL: I just turned 43. I definitely feel 43. So be careful these next three years.
MB: We’ll see how this tour goes. I can’t wait to get out there. I toured last summer, but I don’t remember feeling extra tired on stage or extra sore. And I just played three hours the other night with my other band, The Occasional Milkshake, at The Windjammer. It was a blast.
There’s a wonderful warmth of making eye contact with a beautiful girl. I can't help but smile back. It’s reciprocal.IL: Did you always know you wanted to be in a band?
MB: When I was 14, a neighbor showed me this little chord where you could play all the rock songs we were listening to. And then I heard My Generation by The Who, and I felt an energy from it that I didn’t get anywhere else. It lit my fire. I started learning AC/DC songs and never put the guitar down after that.
IL: My husband says that most boys, when they turn 13 or 14, want to be in bands for the girls. Was there any truth in that for you?
MB: Not at all. I was horrified of girls when I was 13 and 14. I was a late bloomer – very slow compared with my friends. With me, it was the energy from the music. I was maybe around 17 or 18 and in college when I became more confident, and that spilled over to girls. I didn’t even kiss girls in junior high school. Now I like it.
IL: Oh, good! I’m glad you like it now! I have just one Darius-related question. I’ve read that you heard him singing in the shower and that you heard him singing down the hall. Which is it?
MB: It was the shower. Actually, he was always singing. We lived in the same hall in college. He’d sing in the shower, out of the shower and back in his room. He had a boombox, and everyone heard him.
I brought a guitar to school. So I’d play the guitar and he’d sing. And we started performing together as the Wolf Brothers. We did Take it Easy by the Eagles, Sultans of Swing by Dire Straits, Feeling Groovy by Simon and Garfunkel and Sail On by The Commodores. All those were in our first show. Then we’d add about five or six others.
Everyone in our hall wanted us to learn some Hank Williams Jr. songs. What’s that song? It goes something like: “Country music singers have always been a real close family…”
Editor’s Note: At this point, Mark Bryan is singing into the cell phone. It takes a few seconds for the interviewer to collect herself.
IL: Um, um….
Editor’s Note: Interviewer still collecting herself.
MB: Dean and I grew up together and were in bands all through high school. He was the obvious choice on bass. And then we found Soni for drums.
Editor’s Note: Interviewer finally able to speak again.
IL: Did you go ahead and graduate? Broadcast journalism, right?
MB: Yes, I graduated in 1989.
IL: What did your parents think when you pursued music instead of journalism?
MB: My dad was always of the opinion that you should find out what you love to do and go after that. Always. My mom was probably sort of skeptical, but she never said don’t do it.
Dean’s parents were a little upset. They’d spent all this money on college and he was not getting a job. Then they came to a show we did in Georgetown. When his dad saw the line around the corner, he said something like, “Oh, yeah, this might work.”
IL: It worked all right! Cracked Rear View was huge! Did that kind of early success put more pressure on you?
MB: Yes. The question was, can you stay on that level? Look at Michael Jackson. He went all the way up. And now where is he? And even Madonna, though she’s done a good job of managing her career. You try to maintain that level of success, but there’s just no way. Especially when we didn’t know how we got there in the first place. So we just did our thing.
IL: Mark, when you all perform, certainly you see the women in the audience making eye contact and falling in love with you. You all are just so cute. Have you ever spotted a gal in the audience and fallen in love back?MB: Yes. Love may not be the right word. Falling in lust, maybe. There’s a wonderful warmth of making eye contact with a beautiful girl. When it happens, it happens. It’s not some programmed thing. It makes you feel good when you get a genuine smile from a beautiful girl. I can’t help but smile back. The same is true with guys. Not on a romantic level. But when I see a guy getting energy from the music, it’s the same warmth. It’s reciprocal.
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Don’t Call Him Hootie Darius Rucker is not Hootie, contrary to still-common-even-today belief. Hootie & the Blowfish were nicknames of two other University of South Carolina friends. Rucker thought the names were funny, and the band needed a name. So that’s how the four performers became Hootie & the Blowfish. Word to the wise: Darius doesn’t like to be called Hootie. |
MB: Divorced.
Editor’s Note: There’s now a slight, sad-sounding pause.
MB: Recently.
IL: Oh, I’m sorry. I didn’t know.
MB: It’s OK.
Editor’s Note: Interviewer now feels like a total heel and hopes that asking about kids will lighten things up again.
IL: Can I mention your kids? How old are they? And do you see any musical talents in them?
MB: Kenny is 7, Maddy is 3 and Marlee is 9. There’s definitely some interest. They all will play little instruments and grab the mike. The 3 year old will sing a Hannah Montana song entirely. There’s a song on my new album called Oh Charlie. It’s to my kids. One of the lines says, “Your world begins where my words end.” It means I can only tell you so much, then you have to figure the rest out for yourselves.
IL: Do you have any special rituals before you go out and perform?
MB: We always do a shot. If someone dies, we toast them. If something cool is happening, we’ll toast that. What should we toast in Paducah?
IL: Um…um…the river. When you’re at The Carson Center, you’ll have a great view of it.
Editor’s Note: Interviewer wishes she could have thought of something more clever than that.
IL: Mark, is there anything else you’d like to say to folks in Paducah?
MB: Just come out and enjoy the show. And can you promote my album?
IL: I absolutely will! I’ll ask DJ Urban Kobbb to review it! Thank you for your time, Mark. We can’t wait to see you!
MB: Thank you.
