Kurt Sodergren – An Xperience Interview

Kurt Sodergren – An Xperience Interview – by Rob Smittix.

RRX: So how are you doing today?

KS: I’m good. I’m just getting my dog’s breakfast ready right now, we just got back from the beach.

RRX: I wish.

KS: I’ve been spending a lot of time hanging out with them (dogs) and my family. We’ve been off for January and February because we were touring all October, November, and December, so it’s been pretty nice. Getting into a little routine, and I take them to the beach and run them around, come back, and feed them. We’re a little late today, but yeah, things are good.

RRX: Nice. You gotta love your dogs, man. What kind of dogs do you have?

KS: I have a blue heeler and a cattle dog. The cattle dog, we just found running around. It’s white with a brown face. And then the blue heeler are those colors, you know? They’re really good.

RRX: I know from scrolling through social media that everyone is still talking about the Super Bowl halftime show, whether they loved it or hated it. But Big Bad Voodoo Daddy did the Super Bowl halftime show back in 1999.

KS: That’s true. We did 32, and now we’re at what, Super Bowl 50-something?

RRX: Yeah, time flies. But that’s the biggest stage in the world. I mean … I couldn’t even imagine what it felt like being up there, especially with the legends that came out and played with you.

KS: Yeah, it was amazing. A dream come true to play with Stevie Wonder to play “Sir Duke,” too. I mean, it was everything you’d expect. It was, like, the best 13 minutes, you know?

RRX: Right?

KS: It was so much fun. I remember … we do our part, and then Stevie comes out and we play a tune with him, and then we kind of step off the stage and we’re just standing on the field but kind of out of the camera shot. Josh and I are just looking at each other like … can you believe this? It was unbelievable; my parents were at home, and my wife with my newborn son, and it was just a pretty magical time. I got to meet a lot of people. My first concert that my dad took me to when I was 12 in 1976 was KISS and Cheap Trick. Cheap Trick opened the show, and that had a big impression on me. But KISS actually played before the game.

RRX: Oh, really?

KS: Yeah, after that performance, they’re shuttling us to our waiting area for the halftime show, and who comes walking by but all four members of KISS. Paul Stanley sees us and must have been aware of the band because he points at us, and he goes, “Owwwww!”

(Both Laugh)

And then Peter Criss and I went on to have, like, a 15-minute chat because I was playing this Buddy Rich reissue Slingerland kit. I told him I couldn’t make up my mind to get the Gene Krupa model or the Buddy model, and he goes, “I used to take lessons with Gene in New York.” And then I just shut up, and I listened to him talk for, like, 10 minutes about drums and his life. It was amazing! I couldn’t believe it because that was one of my favorite bands when I was a kid and talking to him. It’s crazy!

RRX: Definitely, and shop talk too.

KS: Yeah, like … how does that happen?

RRX: That’s the coolest, man. It’s moments like those that really make you think it was all worthwhile in doing all this. There’s a million musicians out there that never really reach any success to have those kinds of experiences, but I’m sure you’ve had quite a few over the years.

KS: Yeah, I mean … those are great when you get to meet people that really mean a lot to you. But you know, everyone can have a moment like that just walking on the street, if they’re lucky enough to be there when someone walks by. I think the main thing for me, with this profession, is just being able to come and put a smile on somebody’s face. I don’t know what kind of day they’ve had, a good one or a bad one. But if we can put on a really good show, I can sort of tell from my vantage point and from watching the crowd whether we’re connecting or not. It’s pretty great, coming off stage and just … you know? Trying to go to sleep that night after the show is always a struggle because I’m just so amped up with adrenaline and those good feelings you get from connecting with people. It’s a pretty great job. I’d say the only downside is just the traveling.

RRX: Right. Being on the road all of the time. I’m sure it’s not always as glorious as it looks, I imagine.

KS: Oh, you miss out on a lot of stuff, so it’s a tradeoff for sure. But I would never complain about it. I don’t think that would be wise.

RRX: My band never had the success to go on a big tour, you know? We did, like, these little Northeast tours, so we could keep our day jobs. But I actually worked on the New York State Thruway for a while, and I’ve seen bands coming in all the time after the big tours. I’m like, “Oh my God, they’re eating Roy Rogers on the Thruway at 3 a.m. That stuff’s been sitting there all day.”

KS: Yeah, we’ve been to our share of truck stops. But Buc-ees, that’s a pretty good one to stop into. But to your point, though … some of my fondest memories are doing both – working the day job and playing in clubs. The band would come pick me up at my job in the van on Friday, and then we would take off to do one, two, or sometimes three shows if I could get the Monday off from work. It was so fun, so exciting, and playing in a small place … the energy is just phenomenal. There’s all kinds of different feelings playing. You could play big performing arts centers, and sometimes it’s gonna be where everyone’s sitting down and you’re not gonna get the same response.

But yeah, I loved that time, too, and I have on occasion played in other bands around town just so I can get that experience again and play in a small bar for nothing, you know? Play for a sandwich, and it’s still really fun. After the initial … “I play music because I wanna meet girls,” I realized that I love this! This is really fun, and that’s the whole reason I play music. I actually had to make a choice: “Do I wanna do music, or do I want to stay at my job? And so I had to make that decision. Fortunately, they gave me a year’s leave of absence to figure it out, and then I just never came back.

Big Bad Voodoo Daddy

Troy Savings Bank Music Hall

March 26th 7:30pm

For Tickets Visit: tickets.troymusichall.org

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