by Jon Sarre & Viva Las VegasSitting outside of Portland's fabulous Satyricon, scanning the bus mall for sign of an Econoline van with California plates is not exactly the way I like to spend my Friday nights. Granted, killing time with Exotic ingenue Viva Las Vegas made for far better company than the local gaggle of stumbling drunks that usually wanna share their conversations with God, but the near two hour wait had exhausted Ms. Las Vegas' infamously puny reservoir of patience. We were beginning to think that maybe Andre Williams, legendary pal of Ike Turner and Berry Gordy, blues badass, Garage&B pioneer and the man responsible for the best record of 1998, Silky (In the Red Records), may just be stiffing us.
Repeated glances at our wrists (which eventually made us both resolve to buy watches) only prolonged the wait. Hope gradually turned to despair. The other bands on the bill, the Screamin' Furys and the Subsonics, had shown up and loaded in. The show was beginning to get under way. Just when things looked worst, we spotted a white van speeding down the bus mall; it was Mr. Rhythm himself, in the company of his superfuckingreat backing band, the Countdowns! They drove right by the club, but came back a couple minutes later, they were kinda lost, as it turned out.
So how did the 61 year-old Andre Williams look after a nine hour drive up from San Francisco? Suave, dapper and immaculately dressed in a red silk suit, damn sure putting to rest that "Who's the Mack" question. Viva and I buttonholed him and Brian from the Countdowns as fast as that etiquette shit would allow and steered 'em over to a vacant table.
VIVA: We know you just got here, thanks for doin' this, Jesus Christ, this is great!
JON: Yeah, we don't wanna hassle you...
ANDRE: You know, this is a new area and I've been dyin'... like, South Dakota, North Dakota, Oregon are the only three states that I've never been in all my life.
VIVA: What about that song...?
JON: So you really weren't the "Only Black Man in South Dakota"?
ANDRE: I did that cuz I wanna go to South Dakota so bad, so I thought I'd write that... Okay, y'all know Brian Waters... he's from the Countdowns, so we are like a team.
JON: You guys playin' all the shows?
ANDRE: Yeah, for sure.
BRIAN: Yeah...
ANDRE: As of August 1st, it's gonna be a package... we're goin' to Europe... It's been overwhelmin' [so far], I'm just waitin' to wake up and see that this is all a dream.
JON: So how'd ya hook up with Mick and Dan [from the Gories, who backed Williams up on Silky]?
ANDRE: Well, what happened was, I did an album on St. George Records, Greasy, and Greasy was in New York... It was a lot of old blues stuff... I asked Bill of Norton Records and I said "Bill, I wanna come to New York," you know, I said, "Get me a shot at New York." So he... set me up to go to Chicago Blues in New York and Maxwell's in Hoboken and when I got to Hoboken, I met the Demolition Dolls Rods, Margaret and Dan... So when I met them, they introduced themselves to me and told me they were from Ferndale, Michigan, well, I had put in some, like 12, 13 years in Detroit, so I automatically bonded with 'em and after the gig, I flew to Detroit... and Margaret said "there's a guy in LA you oughtta meet, Larry [Hardy of In the Red Records], she said, "Andre... you've got a cult following that's unbelievable... I say, "What the fuck is a cult following?"
BRIAN: You said you thought it might be the Klan...
ANDRE: Yeah [laughing] the Ku Klux Klan! So I call Larry and Larry was just... A-1 to go... Then I went to Detroit and I met Mick and I already had my notebook fulla songs... you know, I had my ideas of different kinda crazy shit I wanted to do... so I asked Larry... I said, "How real can I get with your label?" He said, "Bring it on!" I said, "You know you're right up my alley, cuz I'm gonna kick ass for real!" cuz the rest of 'em say "ooooh, I don't know, Andre... ooowwww!"
VIVA: Songs about fucking aren't allowed on the radio...
BRIAN: The guy from Norton was complaining that he couldn't get Andre to not swear into the microphone when he was doing his vocal tracks..."
JON: What's with Norton, cuz they put out those Charlie Feathers records... Hazil Adkins...?"
ANDRE: ...What it really is is that... when ya mention the word "Andre," you're lookin' for an old dilapidated motherfucker gettin' off the turnip truck in a wheelchair.
JON: Like one of those Fat Possum things.
ANDRE: Yeah, comin' to the end.
VIVA: I want a guy in a red silk suit.
ANDRE: Well, you got it! Cuz that's the way we play it! You know, so anyway, we did the album with Larry. Larry put the album out... I still don't believe it... what's gettin' ready to happen... I'm doin' the blues circuit, I'm doin' fairly well... and Larry kept sayin' "Get ready, you're comin' out to California"... So then Brian calls me... "Andre, you know, we're gonna do this, we've been workin' on your stuff, so it's gonna be fine..."
VIVA: How'd the kids respond down in Cali?
ANDRE: Woooh!!
VIVA: Yeah!
BRIAN: I've never seen a club so packed at 8:45 pm.
ANDRE: We've just been rapin' them! I'm serious, I've never been so satisfied with my show as I am at this point... The people, the band, the money, the owners, everybody is just right in synch with Andre Williams... gettin' sweaty and then they treat me great and we work... we're on stage two hours, you know, we don't take the money and run...
VIVA: The songs you've got, when've you been writing these songs... how far back?
ANDRE: Four of those songs I wrote ten years ago.
VIVA: Which ones?
ANDRE: "Let Me Put It In," cuz they said it couldn't get played... so I put it on the back burner... and "Bonin'", I had that for a long time, so now I'm just pumpin' 'em out, Brian and me have been writin'...
BRIAN: We got a new song called "Slam That Thing"...
ANDRE: That's goin' on my next album, we're gonna open the show with that...
VIVA: We got your record... and I've been stripping to it. [Brian and Andre clap] The guys love it!
ANDRE: Here's how I feel, it's the most honest record this year... I look at you and I look at you and I get to talkin' 'bout the dick and the pussy and you know what it is... so we ain't talkin' 'bout nothin' new... let's get real here! Mormons do it too, or there wouldn't be no little baby Mormons! Damn right! So the whole thing is just tell the truth... BAM! Right across the board...I had to start doin' Rhythm and Blues if I wanted to eat... but I never claimed to be a singer...
VIVA: What do you claim to be?
ANDRE: Well, I'm just an entertainer... once you see the show tonight... and I'm not braggin' I'm not puttin' you on no ego trip here... 18 months from now, we will play downtown... cuz these kids [the Countdowns] are workin'... I can't say you're gonna love me to death, but I can say you're not gonna get disappointed... in the time that we are gonna put in... and plus I'm a freak for color, so we dress... we dress well... we set a standard... and that's the way we live...
VIVA: What about Viagra, you gonna dip into that?
ANDRE: I don't need it...
VIVA: I heard if you don't got a problem, you got less of a problem...
ANDRE: I think Viagra's good for guys who snort cocaine and can't get hard... I don't need it, baby, especially with our schedule, we ain't gettin' none already... I mean these guys are gonna be so happy... when they head home... when they see their girls and shit...
VIVA: So what do you think of girls in rock?
ANDRE: What the world needs is a female Andre Williams, the market is so ready...
VIVA: A female blues singer!
ANDRE: Yeah, I mean, she would kick Madonna in the ass in one year! If you could get a raw, female, blonde that could rip that shit down... I'm talkin' 'bout a megastar... I'm talkin' 'bout where they're gonna be around both corners in both places at the Silverdome, y'understand? Man, look, the market is sooo ready for that lady... whoever she is...
JON: Sorta like a female Jon Spencer...
ANDRE: There you go! You hit it on the head, if she arrives, she's gonna be sooo rich! I was amazed at [the women] with their credit cards who were just dyin' to see Andre Williams... they coulda done anything else, they coulda flown to Monte Carlo...
VIVA: You know, it's honesty! Honesty's at such a premium these days...
ANDRE: Everyone's dreamin', namedroppin', all that bullshit... Fuck that! I am goin' to tell the truth all the way to jail! ... This whole life thing, it hasn't been easy... I gave up a lot of booty, but then I got a lot of booty too... then I come to find out that I got one of the fattest publisher's catalogues of any black man in the arts...
JON: What song did the Cramps do of yours?
ANDRE: "Jailbait."
JON: Did you know that, when they did it?
ANDRE: No... first time I met Lux [Interior, Cramps singer] was two weeks ago... He came to my show... They're gonna be on a compilation with me.
JON: They must be fans from way back...
ANDRE: Way, waaay back, see, when you're real, it ain't hard to get along with people... the whole thing is about building... I'm available for whatever... I'm prepared for whatever comes along, if you treat me like you love me, I'll treat you like I love you... the whole thing is about this, you're gonna be real and you're gonna have fun until you become unreal and then you're gonna have problems... Let's call a spade a spade, call a club a club and let's get on with life... it's so simple, we make it complicated, we complicate shit all up, puttin' this in play and that in play... Don't do nothin' yesterday and you ain't got problems today...
JON: I think I was gonna ask you "what is the Andre Williams philosophy of life?" I think you just answered that.
ANDRE: My philosophy on life? Stay in the studio, sooner or later one of those songs is gonna come together... okay?
JON: Okay, let's go see the Subsonics.
With that, the interview ended. We caught the last half of a scorching set by the Subsonics, then watched in awe as Andre strutted his stuff, backed by the fabulous Countdowns who were dressed for the occasion in red choir robes. Andre did not one but two costume changes–surely a first for the world-famous Satyricon. Such raw, honest music about fucking has not graced Portland in ages, I'll wager... There was not a dry panty in the house, and the generally unexcitable Satyricon crowd was talkin' 'bout Andre for days after the show!! But I bet I'm the only gal got to kiss him that night. Three times! Plus I got his home phone number for a promised tour of NYC by Mr. Rhythm himself. Eat yer hearts out, babes. –Viva