St. Paul & The Broken Bones have been busy riding the wave of hard--earned success that followed their breakout debut, Half the City, in 2014. An early alliance with the Alabama Shakes, heavy rotation on public radio, high-profile appearances on late-night television in addition to relentless touring — including some key festival slots, as well a pair of stadium shows with the Rolling Stones — all helped to give them the boost that got them here. It didn’t hurt that, as they were coming up, their concerts were characterized by a lot of reckless dancing, climbing on tables and so forth. Often described as explosive and brass-heavy, these guys have shown themselves to be the real deal.
Despite the seemingly exhausting flurry of activity, the Birmingham-based band is not taking any time off to celebrate its victories. Instead, the group has recommitted itself to continuing its feverish musical exploration of rock, rhythm & blues, funk and soul. Not surprisingly, there is much anticipation surrounding their sophomore release, Sea Of Noise, which arrives in record stores worldwide this Friday, Sept. 9. A massive string of promotional tour dates (that will land them at Iroquois Amphitheater on Saturday) is already in progress.
We recently caught up with Paul Janeway — the leader of this unassuming outfit — to discuss the state of affairs, during a break in his rehearsal schedule.
The first thing that strikes the listener about you as a singer is that your pauses, inflection and tone of voice sound like they come from a bygone day. When did you realize you had that classic soul sound within you?
Paul Janeway: I’ve always loved singing this kind of music. I guess I grew up kind of knowing I had a gift, but I never really thought that making a career out of it could happen for someone like me.
You thought, for a time, that you had a vocation as a preacher. What happened with that?
It was a falling out of love situation. There are certain aspects of the whole religion thing that I really don’t like. I am not full of the same venom towards it that I had when I first left it behind. But in a strange way, I have a similar role now, you know, performing and attempting to bring people together. These days music can provide me with a very spiritual experience.
The last time you were in Louisville, a female fan jumped the stage and began kissing you. How do you handle moments like that? And do you attribute it all to the power of song?
Ha! Well, it sure ain’t my looks — I can tell you that. That was crazy, but I just went with it. You have to. The stages are getting a little bigger now anyway, so that sort of thing doesn’t happen as much anymore. But I do love performing for a crowd and all the excitement that goes along with it.
Now that the second album is about to be released, it seems unlikely that you will need to finish up that accounting degree, right?
I hope I won’t ever have to do that! But it all depends on whether or not people continue to like what we come up with. Man, I would have a lot of catching up to do, if I were to try and go back to school.
What artists would we be most surprised to discover on your jukebox or iPod right now?
I just started listening to the new Frank Ocean record. I love heavy stuff like Mastodon. I’m a hip--hop guy, too, so there’s probably lots of stuff that might surprise you.
We heard that, not long ago, you guys found yourselves, literally, out to sea with Kris Kristofferson. What was that like?
Oh, yeah. We were out on a big boat together. I actually got to see him do “Sunday Morning Coming Down” in, like, the bowling alley room of a cruise ship. He was really nice.
You are notorious for indulging in such vices as soda pop and BBQ when you’re out on the road. What’s the best place for brisket or pulled pork that you’ve come across in your travels?
Aw, Man! That’s a tough one. I mean, I am obviously fond of and prejudiced towards Saul’s, which is a great restaurant close to my home in Birmingham. They do a white BBQ sauce there that is pretty amazing. In fact, it’s the first place I go whenever I get back from European tours. We’ve had a chance to visit a lot of other great places, though. We’ve had Oklahoma Joe’s in Kansas City, and, when we were in Georgia, we got to tour Otis Redding’s home, and afterwards his family took us over to Otis’ favorite BBQ joint, which was a pretty cool and very sentimental experience that I will never forget.
