NRBQ

KIND OF A DRAG-NET

After 50 Plus Years, NRBQ Never Plays it Safe

BY LEE VALENTINE SMITH

NRBQ’S FIRST NEW ALBUM IN eight years is a welcome respite from the daily grind of today’s predictable pop. The New Rhythm and Blues Quartet (originally a quintet with a capital Q) released their first album back in 1969. They continued to tour and record until their 35th anniversary in 2004. Back from a much-needed hiatus, in 2011 the group decided to Keep This Love Goin’ as core personnel changed. But the band’s one constant element is effusive keyboardist Terry Adams. Today, with guitarist Scott Ligon, bassist Casey McDonough, and drummer John Perrin in tow, Adams is helming a brand-new release from the amazingly resilient band. After a number of compilations, EPs and reissues, NRBQ finally returns this month with Dragnet - their first fulllength studio release since 2014. In addition to their new version of the classic TV theme, the album contains 10 original tunes, all of which were either written or co-written by the current edition of the group. As they prepare for a triumphant return to the road for a series of shows in honor of the new collection, band founder Terry Adams spoke with INsite by phone from upstate New York.

How is the band dynamic for NRBQ, circa 2021? From the sound of the new record, you guys are firing on every cylinder, but when you change members, obviously it somehow alters the character of the band. Yeah. Every time somebody leaves or decides to go, it really saddens me. I try to hold on. But just like with anything else, when you let go of it and something else comes along, or is even more inspiring, it’s always a good thing.

At the same time though, it changes the feel of the group. Yeah and it should. I’ve had people say, ‘Oh, it’s just not the same since this guy left.’ I always say, ‘Well, it’s not supposed to be the same. Why should it be?’ If it was, there’d be something wrong with it.

It seems change has always been a part of the band. I guess it’s a work in progress. People stay as long as they can and put all they can into it while they’re here. But it’s still going and I still feel good about it.

Well, you should. This is a solid record. With a ton of bands, their second or third record is not as good as the first. But this is way into the catalog and you’re sounding just as good, if not better, than your first decade of work. Thank you! What’s your favorite track so far?

Oh, so far it’s gotta be “L-O-N-E, Lone-ly” (laughs) Well then, you must be a weird person. That’s either a very sad song or a really funny one, depending on your mood. That’s got everybody playing on it, too. It’s a live performance and everybody’s on something. John is playing two wood blocks to sound like a clock. Scott was playing an electronic celeste, Casey is on marimba and I’m doing the vocal and piano. That was a live, in-the-studio performance.

Was that recorded during the pandemic? It’s reminiscent of the pandemic paranoia. No, it was before that. Maybe I was psychic or something. ‘Hey, this is going to be coming up,’ I don’t know.

“Dragnet,” of course, is an unusual choice for a title track, but I would expect nothing less from NRBQ, or you in general. Yeah. Well, it’s just a good song. I came up with that arrangement for it and we just knocked it out. Actually, I didn’t think we even had much, when we first did it. I’d kinda forgotten about it. We did it twice and then that was it. Then we called up the engineer and I said, ‘Can you send some of that stuff we’ve never even heard yet?’ He sent me a rough mix of it and we all thought, ‘Hey this is actually better than we thought it was.’ It wasn’t going to be a part of this album but it came out pretty good. It’s got a punch to it and now it’s the title track, so ya never know.

Do the times kind of creep into your stuff? I mean, it seems like every NRBQ record sort of exists in its own world - without any sort of outside influences, pretty much. But do modern times ever seep into your compositions? Well, actually I don’t think it does, it just sort of happens. Like “Lone-ly” sounded like it was from the pandemic, but it was from before it. I don’t remember exactly when I wrote the song called, “You Can’t Change People.” But now I’ve had some friends say, ‘Oh, it sounds just like today.’ It just worked out that way.

You’re right, you can’t change people because they don’t change. Well, I mean, you can’t change people by confronting them. I guess that’s what it literally means. I don’t really know what it means but no one wins an argument that way. You just have to let it go and people will change in their own time, if they ever will. But lyrics come out and sometimes they seem pretty good. Mostly, I’m just a composer. I think more about music than I do the lyrics.

NRBQ’s new album Dragnet is available on November 12 from your favorite music outlets and direct from the label via omnivorerecordings.com.