Kevin Scott (Gov`t Mule)

Government Mule's current bass guitarist, Kevin Scott, made himself available to answer

a few questions in an e-mail interview with rockfrank.com

He talked about his career, his 'new time' with Gov't Mule, and other topics.

rockfrank: Kevin, I’ve read the following somewhere:

Greetings in paradise: "Welcome to heaven. Here's your harp!"                                            Greetings at hell's gate: "Welcome to the darkness. Here's your bass!"

Did you ever regret choosing the bass?

Kevin Scott: I started playing bass, and have never regretted my decision. I love the instrument!

rockfrank: Okay, first of all, respect on your engagement with jam rock band Gov’t Mule.

You were born in Atlanta, so somehow in the middle of southern, country and jam rock; you played in your dad’s bluegrass band and were able to experience a variety of musical styles in Atlanta. Your collaboration with Gov’t Mule seems to be a natural fit, looking at all these experiences with improvisation you’ve collected in the past. Do you feel a sense of belonging? Arriving at a goal? What was the key point for you to join the southern rock combo?

Kevin Scott: I feel it is a natural fit, because Government Mule is one of the rare bands thats combine great songwriting and great improvising. Over the years, I have worked with some pretty awesome songwriters, and also have toured with some of the greatest improvisers in the world, so it totally makes sense that I joined the band.

rockfrank: You are a great admirer of Bruce Hampton, a musician who combined elements of jazz, southern rock, fusion, and jam rock, hence creating a style of his own. It all started for you when you picked up one of his records at a flea market. Unfortunately, Bruce passed away in 2017. What are his most memorable lessons for you?

Kevin Scott: Colonel Bruce had a massive impact on my life. He had a way of bringing out the best in yourself through all sorts of different trials and tribulations. I feel very fortunate to have worked with Bruce for as long as I did, and I have had such a great personal relationship with him.

The most memorable thing he ever told me was “Take what you do seriously, not yourself”. I apply that to everything I do.

rockfrank: You are a very busy musician. Aside from Gov`t Mule you are part of DARK Quartet, FORQ, you are a member of the “Wednesday Night Titans” Projekt, created your own label; you are dealing with quite a number of other projects, plus having a wife and a dog. How do you juggle all that?

Kevin Scott: Ha, ha, that`s a great question. I have always been the type of musician that can`t stay still. Even if I go on the road for two months, when I come back, I still am trying to get as much playing in as I can because I love it so much. Juggling all my music endeavors and now running a music label is definitely taking up a lot of time when I’m off the road. But I am extremely lucky to have such an amazing wife that also has an amazing career of her own. The key to juggling all of this is to make sure you write everything down and always love it, because if I didn’t love it, I wouldn’t do it.

rockfrank: There’s a pretty wide musical range and amount of song material by Gov’t Mule. To acquire all the different bass parts, at least the ones required for this tour, must have taken up a great deal of time. Were there any supporting tools to help with that?

Kevin Scott: Yeah, it’s been wild having to learn over 200 songs in such a short period of time. But the key is for me to listen to as many a different version of the songs as I possibly can. So, thank you ‘nugs.net’! The key is to always listen first and then start figuring out the parts. I like to have the songs internalized in my being first, that makes things a lot easier.

rockfrank: The bass is sort of the middleman between drums and harmonies. How difficult is this job?

Kevin Scott: I consider bass guitar the psychiatrist of all instruments. We always have to be almost psychic, and always in the moment to make things happen. I want to consider myself - in terms of sports - a member of the offense or defense line of an American football team.

rockfrank: You are also a friend of jazz, correct? In your discography there is a collaboration listed with you on a record of Mindi Abair, an American jazz saxophone player.

Kevin Scott: I have a very long background with jazz. I have toured and recorded with John

McLaughlin, Russell Gunn, Nicolas Payton, Donny McCaslin, Wayne Krantz, Anton Harris,

and FORQ. I also ran an all improvised, jazz jam session in Atlanta, Georgia for 15 years, so I will consider myself more of the improviser than anything else.

rockfrank: Is there a bass line, created by you, that you yourself would define as

ground-breaking? Something like Queen’s – Under Pressure. Or would that be too commercially in your universe of improvising?

Kevin Scott: Do you want to know out of all the sessions, i´ve done? The recent stuff i´ve done for Marcus King, I’m pretty proud of that, and also some of the baselines I did on the ‘Verlorener’ record (Emil Werstler’s metal project) are pretty awesome.

rockfrank: When up on stage, do you work with lead sheets and chord charts? Do you play exactly off the sheet or basically freestyle?

Kevin Scott:  I try not to have any chord charts or lead sheets on stage. I think it could be very distracting in the musical act, at least with that special type of music I play. I still do some gigs, where sometimes I have to read the sheet music because we couldn’t rehearse and it’s pretty challenging, but I prefer just to learn the songs and go up on stage.

Sandra B: Where does good music originate, in your opinion? In the head, the heart, a scenery maybe, an emotion or experience? And what defines it as 'good' in your eyes?

Kevin Scott: I think, greater and great music originates from attention. I think attention is a mixture of all the things you’ve listed. I think good music is a mixture of emotion and direction.

Sandra B: One advice you give in your tutorials / podcasts aimed at aspiring musicians is "to own the song, the music, rather than copy to perfection".

How can you teach that? It sounds kind of unteachable. Can you give an example?

Kevin Scott: I have been very lucky to teach well over 100 students in the past few years, and i’m always telling my students how you must find your own voice. It’s very important to get to a point where you’re not scared of your own voice, into where all your imperfections are on your sleeve. I think that’s a sign of a great musician.

Sandra B: Looking at your musical c.v., also all the projects you do, the average German

listener would put all that probably in a musical niche.

Is there anything in current mainstream music that caught your ears, so to speak, or is that just not on your radar?

Kevin Scott: The most commercial music I enjoy is a band called the ‘Greyhounds’ from Austin Texas. It is my favorite band on the planet and they’re pretty commercial. I would highly recommend checking them out!

rockfrank

Translate: Sandra B.