(bright music) - [Announcer] This is a production of South Dakota Public Broadcasting.

(music continues) (rock music) - Welcome to Levitt in your Living Room.

I am your host, Apolonia Davalos.

We are so thankful to be together.

So first, a sincere thank you to our sponsors, Dan and Arlene Kirby, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation.

The Levitt Shell Sioux Falls is part of a national network of outdoor Levitt music venues and concert sites dedicated to strengthening the social fabric of communities.

Presenting a broad array of musical genres and cultural programming, Levitt venues bring together families, friends, neighbors of all ages and backgrounds.

Learn more at levitt.org.

Is receiving love 24/7 too much?

How about 24/5?

The Claudettes answer this question and more with the release of their latest album, "High Times in the Dark."

Receiving international acclaim from independent film festivals for their award-winning "The Sun Will Fool You" animated music video, sparking a garage cabaret evolution of American Roots music, we are excited to welcome in the studio Johnny Iguana and Zach Verdoorn of The Claudettes.

(audience cheering) - Hi.

- Hi, guys, welcome!

Welcome, Johnny, welcome, Zach.

- Hello.

- We're so excited to have you here today.

So how did you two come together, how did Claudettes form?

Because you both have interesting backgrounds that led to this moment.

- I would like you to remind...

Remind me by telling her of how we first met when I first came to South Dakota, actually.

(crosstalk) - Okay.

Yeah, I could do that.

Well, I was a concert promoter here in South Dakota, and I was booking this group.

They were a punk rock group from Los Angeles called "The Actual," and Max Bernstein was the guitar player for this group.

And whenever they would come through, they would tour through four...

Sometimes three, four times a year.

And I knew they were playing with a lot of bands all across the United States, so I asked them what the best band was that they'd ever played with.

And they had mentioned his band, Oh My God.

So I did some research, I brought them here, and our bands played together at the Washington Pavilion.

Big show, it was a lot of people.

And just, it was a magical night.

And then we became friends after that, stayed in touch.

And then I was in a group called The Kickback, and we moved to Chicago, and he was like, "hey, you wanna jam sometime?"

And I ended up joining up with his band, Oh My God, and we did a couple tours together, and then went on break with that for a little while.

And then he started The Claudettes, and I went off doing some other things.

And after a while, Claudettes started to shake things up a little bit, and they wanted a guitar presence, so here I am.

- There was a lot of mutual admiration from the beginning, 'cause the members of Oh My God would watch him and Danny Yost, the drummer, play.

And to me, it reminded me of the rhythm section from the "Minutemen," the California group that was my favorite, just like these two guys playing together- - Huge compliment.

- These two guys playing together were just like, that's it.

So I felt like if I could ever poach this guy, and I poached away.

(host laughing) Everyone else, you don't get them anymore.

(host laughing) - So where does the name the Claudettes come from?

- Oh, well outside of Chicago, Michael and I had been playing in a bar and there was a woman named Claudette that ran, it was called Claudette's Bar.

And she took a big fancy to the group.

She was a little out there, this woman, and we just ended up naming ourselves after her.

- Oh wow, what a compliment, indeed.

Talk about honoring a life, the gift that keeps on giving.

And how about the other two members of the band?

You guys have such synergy, so how does this- - Well, Michael, the drummer and I started the band as I wanted it to, I was inspired by these blues recordings by Otis Band and S.P.

Leary that are Chicago legends.

And they made recordings, just piano and drums instrumental and some vocals, and they were so good and so complete.

I said, that's just a challenge.

I would like to see if I could make a compelling show, an album, piano and drums.

That's just it.

And in our case since I guess I warble sometimes, but I don't really sing.

I do necessary background parts.

Maybe I shout a little bit, and if people upset me, I will shout at them.

(host laughing) We started it that way.

And our first record was all piano and drums, and it was meant to be bluesy, but Michael and I have such a shared love of classical and jazz and soul, and blues and all different things that the music just came out that way.

And we used some echo that makes it a little trippy, and it just definitely had our own sound, I think from the beginning.

And it's just evolved over time where we had Yana, who sang in French mostly on an early record.

But then met Barrett and she was singing backup in a country group.

And the drummer in that group told us, told me that he heard her really let loose sometimes, and you gotta hear her sing.

So I had some new songs that I'd written, and she came over and did some demos.

And I just got to just sit after she left and listen and go, "Wow."

'Cause, well, I'll put it this way, The Claudette's manager is Guy Eckstein, and his dad was Billy Eckstein, who was one of just a pioneering African singer, who always had the best bands and the bop era and beyond.

And so his dad was an incredibly famous, spectacularly successful singer.

And he said to me when we played Mountain Stage, he heard her just warming up and singing.

He said, "Her pitch is eerie, it's perfect pitch."

It's eerie what a great singer she is.

- It's special.

- It's like a robot.

(host laughing) - With soul.

- The robot with soul.

That's what she prefers to be called.

- Yeah.

(Apolonia laughing) - She'd love that.

- Can we have the soul part, please?

(host laughing) Robots not doing it for me.

- So where did this term garage cabaret come from?

- It's so hard to name what you do, especially when some acts want to be filed this way or that way.

And it's actually, for business purposes, a good idea to do that.

Because then you get put in a certain bin, whether it's virtual or real, and it's easier.

On Spotify, services like this, you have to check one of eight boxes of what you are.

And I'm like, "We're not blues."

We're also, don't file us under rock.

That's not quite right, either.

Indie rock indie pop, I'm already running out, Americana.

'Cause we get on Americana festivals or things, and there's the Americana Fest in Nashville, and we don't sling banjos and mandolins over our shoulders.

So it's a stretch.

Are we a soul group?

No, it's like we check every no box.

Which, as for people and artists, I think it's great to just be yourself all the way, and that's what you would like to see, and I think we are.

So, I was struggling to come up with just a moniker for the group.

And at some point that just hit me, that there's a cabaret element, because there's that jazz and blues, and Barrett is a cool school singer.

I think of Julie London, when I think of her, but the band has that punky energy.

But a punk isn't quite right, either.

That's usually a guitar a thing, piano.

I don't know.

So that's just a term that arrived at, that I usually sleep on something, and then the next day it's like, "Yeah, I still like, we'll use that."

It's not anything official.

I just marketing term, I guess.

- Yeah, no, I love it.

You can't put your sound in a box, and you're constantly creating.

Again, I use the term evolution.

I feel like music is constantly evolving, as we, as people.

- [Johnny] Yeah.

- You're growing and you have a traditional background.

Do you have a classical background as well?

- I took lessons when I first started playing guitar, and I took classical lessons from an old legend in Sioux Falls.

He is fantastic, old.

I think he was 85 or 90 when I started taking lessons from him.

But other than that, no.

I took a couple of years of guitar lessons and dropped them, but I'd always heard that you can create your own style and if you get too much, too many lessons, and too much of somebody else's style, it might affect you too much.

But that's true with some people, it's not true with others, but I think it worked for me.

(host and artists laughing) I just kept playing, I'd play all the time.

I think as long as you're doing that, it doesn't matter.

- And listening too.

- Yeah.

- You took in so much, so many kinds of music, probably a lot more than your friends did, of wide variety, and played it too.

Since I've known you, when I first, we were just talking about this episode, where Zach's band Sleep Eater, one of the members broke a bone, or broke a wrist- - It's Danny.

- Danny and I didn't know the backstory.

I just knew what I saw, which is when we saw their set when we played a show together in Sioux Falls, the music was different than the previous time I'd seen them, but it was very good.

I was like, "Wow, these guys can just change on a dime."

They went from an intense proggy, unnameable thing, to something that was hypnotic and ambient.

And he told me it was because Danny had broken a bone and they physically couldn't do what they were gonna do.

- Yeah.

- So they just basically wrote and performed new music for this show.

- Yeah, just for the show.

Yeah, it was a lot of fun.

Danny he was triggering beats, with his one hand and then also playing piano and stuff with this hand, and the other hand's broken in a cast.

It was just for that one show.

We had two months to write a whole set, and we did it, it was fun.

- I would've advised him to take that broken hand and occasionally lift it with a tip bucket held out.

Need surgery.

- Yeah.

- No, that's brilliant.

Talk about not being limited by your circumstances, and being flexible to whatever situation that you were in, the show must go on.

- Exactly.

- And they didn't just do it passively, it was also good.

I mean, that's the thing.

They could have just, we're doing polka tonight.

Polka band.

(guest and artist laughing) - So for the first song, "Time Won't Take our Times Away."

What is this number about?

- I mean, its origin was pretty heavy, in that there was some death within the family's family.

When I said the family, I mean the bands' family.

And I just felt the idea come to me, of what remains with you after you lose somebody.

And that time time won;t take our times away, is what it says where, time might take people away.

But I use the expression when I see an old friend I haven't seen in a long time, and we get together and we're out to leave, and I realize they're going this coast, I'm going there, and we just ran out time together.

I just don't know where the time went.

Just ran outta time.

And that's just what we do with people.

But the stories and memories are so vivid, and they stay with you.

So that was solace for him that I wrote this.

And the music just came really quickly.

Sometimes when you have an idea that moves you, and you sit down at your instrument, it just comes quickly, versus something that maybe isn't as wrapped around your heart as far as a lyric goes.

But that song, I feel like when we played it, and then Zach was messing around with ideas and did this minor thing that took it into, a whole different, that added a whole different layer to it that I loved so much.

I feel like the song otherwise is a beat and a groove.

It was one song we were working the other day and I said, "Zach, it sounds like the song is a movie, "and your part is the soundtrack "to that movie, somehow."

And that song's a good example.

I feel like where his part is the color and heart of it.

The rest of it is the underpinnings of it, and even the lyrics.

I think that guitar part on top is what makes it.

It ties together the emotion of the music and the words.

- Oh, wow, wow, wow.

So our friends, take it in.

Think about someone you love, and listen to, and watch "Time Won't Take our Times Away."

(bluesy upbeat music) ♪ Jesus, it was so good to see you ♪ ♪ We just ran out of time ♪ ♪ Really did fly by ♪ ♪ And momma it was so sweet to be with you ♪ ♪ We just ran, we just ran out of time ♪ ♪ But the memories are mine ♪ ♪ Time won't take our times away ♪ ♪ Hearts wouldn't make me lose ♪ ♪ What I get from loving you ♪ ♪ I know I could talk all over you ♪ ♪ We just ran out of time ♪ ♪ Laughing in to the night ♪ ♪ Time won't take our timeS away ♪ ♪ And last, hearts can't make me lose ♪ ♪ What I get from loving you ♪ (upbeat bluesy music) ♪ Time won't take our times away ♪ ♪ And life can't make me lose ♪ ♪ What I get because of you ♪ (bluesy music ends) (audience applauding) - [Performer] Thank you.

- What a beautiful piece.

So in terms of songwriting, do you Johnny normally write the songs and then bring it to the rest of the band for further collaboration?

How does the creation of music work for the Claudettes?

- I mean, half the time I have words in a notebook, or a musical idea that needs words, and start to flesh it out and then make a demo.

I'm really always so happy that Barrett doesn't make fun of me because I send her and her alone, sometimes I send it to them, but a demo with me singing at her range, which means in falsetto.

And I'm anything, I'm infamous for my falsetto.

No, he's not famous this Aguapo, he's infamous.

My falsetto is for her ears only, 'cause it's like, just look at the words, imagine it's your voice instead.

And as soon as possible, we will delete forever, destructive record.

- If you guys ever fire me, I'm selling those.

- I know, those are our sex tapes.

(Zach laughing) - Exactly.

This is the real Claudettes.

(Zach laughing) - But I'll do fake drums on there, and I try to not do too much other than piano and vocals to not poison the well, and give people ideas that not give them the chance to just natively create them themselves.

But I don't share song ideas until I'm really sure I'm like I think this is good.

And I've gotten really good, I think over time at writing for Barrett, realizing what phrasing and range.

That's really particular.

Some singers you can, I read this great interview with Duke Ellington, where he said, they asked a really name question and said, Zach heard me say this many times, 'cause I think it's really important when you have a band, they said, "How did you have all those chart hits?"

Which is the most boring, just disappointing question where you have like a once a century, iconic composer among you, and that's the question you asked?

But he in typical, brilliant fashion, he said, "I just looked around at the players "I had with me in any given moment and I said, "What do they do well?"

So you don't ask a drummer to do a Rumba when that's not the thing that they do.

Even if you're like, "I have an for a Rumba."

Well, put it aside and come up with an idea for these humans you have with you at this time.

And that's how I've gotten to really approach it.

And Michael and Zach, I feel like can do pretty much anything I might ask.

And there might be a certain thing that's like, "That's not quite in sync," I think, with where their strengths lie.

But with Barrett it's like, I know the range on the piano, and there's certain phrases, not really long notes on the root, that thing.

She likes movement in melodies, and just discover that.

So then I'll bring that to them.

And then we start to get in the practice space and try different ideas.

Maybe I think it's great when Zach comes over just him and we work just on the music, the notes- - We spend hours sometimes, just finding the right combination of notes and things like that.

And sometimes he'll just send me a recording and I'll just work on it at home and I'll run through it once.

It'll be perfect!

(Apolonia laughs) So, sometimes it's painstaking, and sometimes it just happen.

- Usually when we all, or when any two us agree that's the part that was good then, but sometimes yeah, it's true, it takes a while.

I had this great book my dad gave me called, "Songwriters on Songwriting."

And it was interviews with Paul Simon, and just a lot of writers for others, but a lot of performers who do their own writing, and Leonard Cohen.

And I remember Leonard Cohen was infamous for here we go again the infamy.

Leonard Cohen was known for taking forever to sign off on a song being done, as far as a composition goes.

Some people write a song in the shower, one shower, but his would, maybe 20 years until he'd be like, "Okay, that song's ready to record now."

Just fine tuning, just chiseling away at it.

Some of our songs did, actually "24/5", I wrote live on Facebook.

I had just had this idea for a song, and just on Facebook, I just put a line, and then another line that rhymed, and I wrote that live.

- Oh on Facebook, yeah.

- The first place I wrote it, I posted it on social media as I did it, 'cause I felt like I was in a zone and then the music came next.

So it varies.

- That is wild.

- Yeah.

- Pressure's on, maybe not, I don't know, here we go, everyone.

- Everyone stop with the comments, this song is what I say it is, smiley face.

(Apolonia laughs) - So, how about how as a band for your album titles, which I find super fascinating.

You have "Infernal Piano," "Plot Hatches," - [Johnny] Plot Hatched.

- Hatched, excuse me, Hatched.

Thank you for correcting me.

"Dance Scandal at the Gymnasium."

Right now we have High Times in the Dark."

I love these, your albums are like movie titles, which is from the 60s or something.

It's super cool.

How does this, how do we get these titles?

- Sometimes it's just looking at the collection of work within it, and trying to find an apt title.

"Dance Scandal, the Gymnasium," was titled after an instrumental track, mostly instrumental.

Zach, I would say yodels in it.

(Johnny laughs) Very well too.

I still wanna get him whistling on a record.

He's a great whistler, but I think I know for live, it's like, "Okay, you want me to press all these pedals, "dance around, rock-" - Sing a little bit and then go- (Zach laughing) - Pass.

But "Dance Scandal, the Gymnasium," I love titling instrumental compositions, or lyricist compositions in this case, 'cause it's got ooing and yodeling.

And that just is, I don't know, it's somehow... Raymond Scott was a big influence, where he has all these great instrumental compositions.

You'd know his music from Looney Tunes.

They co-opted his stuff for that.

He didn't write for them, but they used his music, those Warner Brothers cartoons.

So he had this, you can get some of his collections, and the titles are just precious of these instrumental compositions.

Most famous one is Powerhouse, but a lot of them are just very vivid, detailed, setting a scene that you might then hear and you go, "That does sound like that."

And that's where, "Dance scandal, the Gymnasium" came from, it just sounded likE chaos about to happen, maybe 60s high school kids, or something.

And then we followed through with the artwork with that.

And "High Times in the Dark," at the time, the band was having a lot of great times.

The country and a lot of people were having a rough time, and it like what that album was.

First of all, we're night people, and all the best times happen.

Nighttime is the right time.

So, every element of it felt right.

And then there's this great photographer in Chicago.

I just Googled best band photographer, best music photographer.

And there was a pretty good list on Timeout or something of the nation's best.

And I don't even remember if I told you.

Tim Hyatt was listed as one of the 10 best in like the country.

- Oh wow.

- For like having, and so I figured he's gonna just charge me $10,000 bucks.

I'm like, I hope he didn't see this article, It's gonna affect the price.

But he was really nice and came, and it was so fun.

And Zach hooked up the location at a place where he'd that was this perfect vintage vibe.

Because the music, I bristle of the term retro, because retro sounds like you're trying to duplicate an old sound.

And my uncle is somebody that very often will say like, "But they already did that, who are you?"

So it's great to take what you've absorbed over time and to re fashion it into something original.

And I think that we do that.

I think there's a touchstones.

That's why people that are used to blues, and jazz and classical, people that know roots, what I'd call roots music, as opposed to indie pop, or dance pop, or something, they might recognize the touchstones in the group.

But also that it's alive, and the Onion Newspaper used to have a section called, "Justify Your Existence."

I use that expression a lot.

You have to justify your existence musically.

If you go out there and you play Americana, and it sounds like the Carter family, but just not as good as the Carter family, and then leave it to the Carter family.

Just as Billy would say, "Let your freak flag fly," and just do your thing.

(Apolonia chuckles) - Well, talk about letting your freak flag fly.

The Irregulars," this song is also on this album.

What inspired this diddy?

- Well, irregulars is actually isn't recorded yet.

So we we've been playing it.

We just started playing it.

I was just picturing how I saw a meme where it said, "Can't we just agree?"

It's like an old couple look overlooking their farm.

Can't we just agree that we just all want things to be the way they used to be?

And I just slowly imperceptibly, shaking my head at this meme going, "That's not right at all."

Like I think what that says to me is, that says to me, you want everyone to be the same.

You want everyone to be like you, you want like, and then I thought of the term, regulars at a restaurant or a bar that you might, "Oh, Joe's here, he's a regular at this place."

You want everyone to be pretty much the same, as the lyric is in the song.

And then I thought of irregulars when I used to get clothes as a teenager at Marshalls, and get a shirt.

This shirt's $9.

It'd usually be $35 and it's $9, because the stitching's off a little bit, it has irregular written on it.

And somebody might use the term illegals, to describe people, and in our case, irregulars is what I thought was an analogous to that as like I'm for the irregulars.

I think everyone in the band right away was like, this is written for these four people's point of view.

- Oh, I love that.

I think we all are irregular.

And so let's be irregular together, let's watch.

- [Drummer] One, two, three, four.

(dark melodic music) ♪ What do you mean I can't have everything I want ♪ ♪ Who let you in here anyway ♪ ♪ I'm used to a certain standard of service ♪ ♪ What have they done to this place ♪ ♪ I used to be a regular here ♪ ♪ Everybody pretty much the same ♪ ♪ Now they let irregulars waltz right in ♪ ♪ Yeah, I scream it's a crying shame ♪ (dark melodic music) ♪ Wait hold on, back up a bit ♪ ♪ What's all this about kindness ♪ ♪ I don't have time for that kind of thing ♪ ♪ What do you take me for spineless ♪ ♪ All my people are regulars here ♪ ♪ We have our regular tables ♪ ♪ Now they let irregulars sashay through the door ♪ ♪ I don't believe in labels ♪ ♪ But I don't hate anyone ♪ ♪ I don't have hatred in my heart ♪ ♪ With all the irregularity here ♪ ♪ This whole place is falling apart ♪ ♪ This good old fashioned place is falling apart ♪ (dark melodic music continued) ♪ Regulars are in my prayers ♪ ♪ I feel they'll disappear ♪ ♪ Please fill out this questionnaire ♪ ♪ Do you want irregulars here ♪ ♪ Their galvanizing everywhere ♪ ♪ Do you want irregulars here ♪ (audience applauding) - This band is amazing.

Check out their website, theclaudettes.com.

We'd also like to thank our sponsors, Dan and Arlene Kirby, the South Dakota Arts Council, and the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation.

Thank you.

So guys, welcome back to Sioux Falls, also.

How, you're in Chicago.

How do we compare, I mean, it's Chicago, we all, music scenes, musicians come from everywhere.

What advice do you have to the local musicians here in Sioux Falls who wanna pursue a career, and be living their dream, excuse me, living their dream as you do?

- I would just say play all the time.

always try to move forward.

Don't settle yourself into one genre, or style.

Everybody's different, but just keep working at whatever it is that you do like, and try to break out of any box that you might be in.

And also as someone who's trying be a musician, be as diverse as you can.

So, for instance in Chicago, I played with a cover band for a little while and I learned a lot from that.

Ultimately, it's not for me, but I have a lot of respect for those people because they learn a million songs.

You ask 'em to play, "Hey, play this song," and they got it.

I also DJ in Chicago and I do a little bit of production work and things like that.

So learn all those different facets of the music industry, as much as you can, and you can make a career in it.

It's hard.

It's not an easy business to be in.

But if you really love it, and it's what you, if it's in your blood, just remember to just keep working at it.

- Yeah.

So Johnny, you're originally from Philadelphia, correct?

- Born in New Jersey, grew up in Philadelphia.

Yeah.

- How did Chicago lure you in?

- Well, when I was 15, my biggest musical heroes were Junior Wells, who was a harmonica player singer from Chicago in blues, and Mike Watt of Minute Men and Firehose, and Joe Strummer of the Clash.

I liked, to Zach's point, I listened to a lot of different things.

And so when I moved to New York City after college, I went out and one thing led to another.

And I ended up joining the Junior Wells band because I met his former keyboard player, who wasn't with him anymore.

And Junior came to New York the next day by coincidence, and they didn't have one yet.

So I got to audition live in Boston, and get that gig when I was 23.

And it was big thrill because there might have been a couple acts, John Lee Hooker, BB King, that were yet bigger names, but this was the guy that when I had a repertoire, when I was 17, half of it was off of his records.

So it was really meaningful.

And that's why I got the gig, 'cause my fingers weren't really ready.

I was young and over excited and playing too fast and too many notes.

And some of the guys in the band would say, "Hey man, play some beds."

Beds, tell me more about, like sleeping bed.

Do this sometimes instead of... (Zach laughing) Just like let us play, too.

- I could see that happening with you.

So I quickly learned.

I mean, these people in the band had played with Magic Sam and BB King.

The trombone player was BB King's band leader for years.

And I've just recently seen footage in the early 70s, of there's young Joe on stage playing trombone with BB in his absolute "Thrill is Gone" prime.

So these were the people that taught me a lot, when I came in and joined the band, but that's what brought me to Chicago.

And I did get better over time by, again, as Zach painted a picture, we're gonna call it wood shedding, just practicing.

I was like, whoa.

I'm in it now because I'm in with these great musicians, this was during a blues boom in the nineties, too.

So I just thought when I was that age, I just thought shows were sold out.

That's what they are, they're sold out.

'Cause everywhere I went, the shows were sold out, and signing autographs and stuff.

And I'm just like, "I'm not good enough for this.

"Here's your autograph."

I'm a faker.

Everyone's gonna discover me.

And so I just practiced a lot and did get better over time, played with a lot of different musicians, and got to play with other greats in Chicago in the blue scene.

Otis Rash and Carrie Bell, and got to be on a lot of records that way.

But I always kept with me, I played in punk bands, all different bands when I was young, and I wasn't gonna just become a blues piano player.

Not that's not a great thing to be but- - That's what I love about him.

He's got the blues down, but at the same time he's got this punk energy, and psychedelic creativity and things like that.

It's so much fun to play with you.

It's great.

- Together, hen he comes up with a line, I was thinking like, the stuff for "Irregulars," the parts that he came up with were just the song needed those.

Otherwise, it's just like, I don't know, if you bought a car and it's just a motor, and it doesn't have all the bells and whistles, all the nice things to look at, it's not that attractive, it just goes.

And Zach, he comes up with great melodies.

When I first met him, I thought of him as a bass player, and being more like the engine like that.

But he really, I think has a flare and a love of melody.

So that's a good combination of people, and as you can tell, it's a very precious thing.

That's just the truth.

- And also a great voice, right?

Yes.

So how did, when you started to sing for the band as well, when did that start?

- Well, I've always been a singer, sort of.

Mostly, I think of myself as a backup singer, but so for years I've been singing backups and bands and stuff, so... - Did you have vocal lessons?

I don't even remember that part.

- No, well, for a little bit in high school, just high school stuff.

I was in choir for a year, but other than that, no, I just singing along the 90s grunge.

Pearl Jam, stuff like that.

Prince, I'm a huge Prince fan, obviously.

- [Apolonia] Prince.

- Yeah.

- [Apolonia] Yes.

- You guys all have to have a separate discussion about that.

That could be its own whole segment.

- Whole show dedicated to a love of Prince.

- Were your parents Prince fan by the way?

- Yes.

- Yeah, kind of figured.

Love the name.

- [Apolonia] Thank you very much.

We're all living the dream.

So for our next song, "The Show Must Go On, "And the Show Must End."

And I wanna make sure I said that correctly.

The show must go on, and the show must end.

What a title.

How and do you end with this song in your act as well, too?

- Sometimes, sometimes it's just, I don't know.

I picture a certain setting for a show, and that strikes me as the best last song or not.

It doesn't need to be, but it it's a natural for it, with a message, which is just, that song is also not recorded yet.

We thought about recording that for our last album and- - It just didn't fit.

- It's also slightly daunting because that song, 110% of that song is hard.

And to say rolling, and play that in the studio.

That's gonna be a tough one, but we are gonna get it.

'Cause that song must become a track.

So we will record that one but- - Yeah.

I think we had done all the other songs, and then we tried that one and we were like, "MM, not this time around."

- Also, Ted the producer called it Prog.

He's like, "That's like Prog rock."

In terms of fitting with the other songs, I don't know.

It could have fit, but it's always nice to have it, unrecorded so we can look forward to recording it.

- Yeah.

- But it's really just, in my case it was about having a band.

It wears its heart on it's sleeve from the very beginning.

The first lines, "I can't believe I got to do this with you, "the days we had and all the nights, too."

And it's really about just not fearing change.

And the fact that everybody in life are ships in the night crossing, and you got a certain amount on of time together.

And so that's why it's like, every show is sacred, and you want to just put...

When you walk down the stairs at Buddy Guys' Legends, he's got this poster there that could be perceived as cheesy, but it's something about just put 100% of your heart into this performance you're about to do, and that's, we talk about that in the band that it's like, everyone's gonna make some mistakes.

I mean, in the course of a show to not make any mistakes, you'd have to be almost a freak, because there's so many notes, and what we're doing is fairly challenging, I think physically for each of us.

But those don't matter.

Those don't matter at all.

It's like if we are moved by what we're doing and about what each other are doing, that's going to move people.

If I go out and Zach says, "How's that band you saw last night?"

The most damning thing I could say is, "It's musicians music."

It's good musicians.

It's a good band.

The songs didn't reach me, or they don't really have songs.

It's just really about, look what I can do on this.

And I think the chops in this band, as musicians call it are good.

The players are good, and the singing is good, but it's really about the heart.

And we've gotten very focused in on what is Barrett singing about here.

And if people can't understand that because of her articulation, or mostly because of us stomping all over it with our excitability on our instruments, then it's what Billy from the band, Oh My God used to call just being up there as trained monkeys, just wind us up, and we'll just dance for you.

- Yeah.

- When we play these songs, we all know what the song's about.

And we're trying to wrap the music around the vocals to deliver the heart of that song to people.

And it's like a special delivery.

So that song is really just about knowing that what you're doing that you love is gonna be a period of time.

And so it makes it easy to, if you really think that way to not look back and say I didn't put everything in.

Bands you call jobbing bands, that it's work.

And if you take that approach to the show, people will start to look at their watches if they're wearing watches.

- So this is amazing.

Everyone, we are a part of a very rare, treasure of an experience, a song not yet released, but brings so much heart to the band themselves, and all of us who have this gift to listen.

So, stop what you're doing.

If you are distracted and listen, watch and receive this song, "The Show Must Go On, And Then the Show Must End."

(bluesy piano music) ♪ I can't believe I got do this with you ♪ ♪ The days we had, and all the nights too ♪ ♪ All the while we knew ♪ ♪ It wasn't like we had no clue ♪ ♪ We knew what was coming around the bin ♪ ♪ The show must go on, and then the show must end ♪ (uptempo rock music) ♪ It won't amount to tragedy ♪ ♪ I recommended actually ♪ ♪ No there not this proven end ♪ ♪ To everything you can't promise ♪ ♪ Embrace it as a real Godsend ♪ ♪ The show must go on, then the show must end ♪ (soft uptempo piano) (upbeat rock music) ♪ The last song has to be your best ♪ ♪ The closers guide beat the rest ♪ ♪ Close your eyes it's the very last song ♪ ♪ Open your eyes you find everybody gone ♪ ♪ I hope that when it's over we'll be friends ♪ ♪ The show must go on, and then the show must end ♪ ♪ Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha, ha ♪ ♪ Then we saw the blur, alas we came ♪ ♪ You won't see it coming when the show will end ♪ (audience cheering) - Guys, I wanna thank you.

I feel so blessed that we get to be a part of these songs that are also not yet released.

What a treasure and an amazing experience!

How do you, as individuals, as musicians, and then as a band, what gets you out of bed each day to continue to create and share, and be vulnerable with all of us who are listening and hearing what you are producing?

- [Johnny] Our cats.

We love our cats.

- Gotta feed them.

Gotta feed 'em.

- We just want them to be our furry little friends.

We do love our cats.

(Apolonia laughing) And we miss our cats now on the road.

How's your kitty doing?

Did you get word yet?

- Yeah, I get word, he's doing okay.

- You guys are awesome, thank you.

Yeah, we've got mouths to feed.

(Apolonia laughing) - He's almost scratched his way out now, but... - He'll just welcome you all claws, when you get home.

Oh, don't leave me ever again!

How do you keep the energy when you're on the road?

You're going to different cities, and that creates, it's a marathon, right?

It's a certain stamina.

- [Johnny] We don't wanna incriminate ourselves.

I used to watch Seinfeld years ago, and he used to open up every episode with a bit of standup and one of them where he talked about, why am I at this party?

And it's 2:00 AM, and I'll say, "Yeah, I'll have one more drink, knowing full well, I have a 6:30 flight to another show tomorrow and I'm gonna pay for this.

And he goes, "The reason I say yes to that drink "is that's tomorrow Jerry's problem.

"It has nothing to do with me.

"That's a different person altogether."

And I used to sit there at my computer and say, we'll find a place to stay here.

11 hours from Salt Lake City to San Francisco and a gig?

Well, it's not gonna be great, but we'll get it done.

Instead you just would, I'd shoot myself in the foot and my band mates over and over and over again.

So, I think I've settled into, "Okay, we have to have lodging "that we know is gonna be comfortable."

Because if we don't get sleep, it starts to become really hard to do 10 shows in 11 days, If the shows have seven hour drives, eight hour drive, and a show that day on a certain day, that's gonna be a rough one.

'Cause imagine, when you have an all day travel day, imagine also then trying to sum all your adrenaline for something you care so much about, and look good and play well.

And so I've just tried, the routing has to be merciful.

The lodging has to be plenty good.

And then it's still, I don't know how we did those.

I don't know if we could do the tours that we went, he and I have been to, West coast, East coast, again and again in a van.

And usually we don't know where we're gonna stay.

It's just not in the budget.

Most, a lot of musicians, if you total up what the rooms for everybody are, it exceeds the gig, or at least turns the gig into a penance.

- Hey, you look cool, you got a couch?

- That's really.

We did that hundreds of times and become really good- - Of five couches?

(Apolonia laughing) - I always that Interpol song, ♪ We've got a hundred ♪ they sing about a hundred couches.

I was like, "Oh, that sounds so great."

But is he singing about a crash pad?

(Zach laughing) It's probably something really way, profound.

And I'm just thinking of it as a place I could sleep.

So just trying to plan the tour in a way that you think you'll stay healthy and happy, because we love being with each other, but you need some sleep and then- - Yeah.

- I think the plan for this one looks pretty good.

So far, we've only done...

There's also this phenomenon that happens in your tour.

We're talking about, I was talking about it with Barrett last night.

It's like Barrett, we left yesterday for this tour.

It feels like we've been out for days.

- It does already.

- It's your life, it's not like a fountain of youth, but it's something, it's a gift where when we come home after being gone for 12 days, it's gonna feel like we were gone for three and a half weeks.

- Yeah.

- There's something about it.

And I don't don't know what it is.

I don't, you know?

- There's one other thing too about, keeping the energy up for the shows.

We're in a van all day, and then we're in rolling prairies, and there's not much going on for us.

And once we get on that stage, we have 90 minutes.

That's the whole reason we're there.

So we got, anywhere from 45 to three hours of material to play on any given night.

And it's like, "Okay, this is why we're here.

"So let's like, turn it on."

- That's why we're probably like tortoises the rest of the day.

'Cause we're saying to get up for that.

- Yeah, for sure.

(Zach laughing) - Yeah.

People, someone last night wanted to like go out, let's go out for shots and we're just like, "We're gonna be pretty disappointing."

Well... (Zach laughing) - No,, just kidding.

- Somebody's yeah.

I mean, we're gonna be pretty disappointing 'cause we are really gonna go and just rest now.

We're not gonna go.

I mean, if we're in New York City, and there's some great thing to do or something like that, that we knew about or something.

But odds are afterwards, we're gonna go put our heads on pillows, or maybe talk for a few and do that.

- Well, right now with the whole COVID thing and everything, we're trying to keep ourselves safe, and people around us safe.

So, it's better safe than sorry, you know what I mean?

- Absolutely, you gotta keep that tour going.

Live music is back!

- The last day of this tour is, I'm playing on two other bills with other musicians, and the Claudette's have a headlining show at a great, well known festival that's been going for decades in Colorado, and we gotta make it to that day.

So we're just, the partying part is probably not as romantic as someone might imagine.

I assured the front desk at the hotel here that like no TVs would be thrown out of our windows.

It wasn't gonna be that situation.

- Yeah.

(Zach laughing) - I wish it was, but it isn't.

- Is there anything that we have not already talked about today that you like to share who are watching?

- Well, I mean, Nancy had talked about what the Levitt does and we've benefited and enjoyed, benefited from and enjoyed those experiences already, 'cause we've played in at Levitt shows from Tennessee to Upstate New York, and it's always great people that run them.

- Yeah.

- You can tell that it comes from- - It's a professional ordeal, for sure.

- And the mission is intact.

because the people that run it clearly- - They care.

- There's not a Levitt amp show for example, in LA.

There's gonna be one in Albany, there's gonna be one in towns that might not have as many great bands come through as LA, New York, and Chicago.

But it's curated really well.

And you look at the calendar, you're like, "I know this band, "know this band sounds interesting."

And it's not just like the local band that everyone will write know, and give them a chance to play.

They might also get on the bill and play, and get to play with a touring national band.

But there's great programming at these things, and their free shows.

And so I wanna play more of those next year.

I want get behind the ball and make sure that we're in the mix for those 'cause they're- - Levitt Tour.

- [Apolonia] Yes, the Levitt Tour!

Exclusive Levitt tour.

Well, I'm excited too.

And I'm so grateful to Nancy, our executive director, because when we people ask, what is your favorite artist, or what is your favorite song?

I feel like I have a new favorite every single night.

Every performance.

- [Johnny] Yeah.

- So somewhere were to ask me today, I'm gonna say the Claudette's, for what you offer the soul, the heart, musicianship, skill it is, you really cannot put words and describe or put into a box, what you create and bring to the table.

And I feel like it's something for every moment of the day, every day.

So thank you for that.

And being a part of this journey, and our mission to build community through music.

You guys are amazing!

Your whole band, your whole band!

So live today to your fullest, put your worries off till tomorrow.

Be present.

If you're an aspiring musician, aspiring artist, be as diverse as possible, per the wisdom that we have heard today.

Check them out at theclaudettes.com.

Give them a follow on all their social media platforms, and be sure not to miss a single performance, because you could be hearing something new, and it just may change your life.

We'd like to thank our sponsors, Dan and Arlene Kirby, the South Dakota Arts Council and the Mortimer & Mimi Levitt Foundation.

Thank you for being with us.

I am your host Apolonia Davalos and I love you.

(blowing kisses) (upbeat rock music) (audience cheering)