Tabasco & Sweet Tea Commentary

This is Big Machine Radio. I am Becca, and I am so excited because We have something really, really cool for you today. The Cadillac Three just released a brand-new album Called Tabasco and Sweet Tea. Now, if you know anything about TC3, obviously they Have their country fuzz sound. It's a little bit rock, a little bit country. This album kind of adds a few extra elements. It's got a lot, a lot of funk, a Lot of soul, kind of a '70s feel to It. And so I am excited to play this Entire album for you. This is the Tabasco and Sweet Tea album release Special. I recently had a chance to sit down With Jaren, Neil, and Kelby, and we dove in Deep to every song. I got the stories behind the songs. We talk about the album, how it all came To be, and we're gonna share all of that With you today. And so I just wanna start, For anybody who has not had a chance yet To listen to Tabasco and Sweet Tea, it is A little different. So explain this album to people and what they Can expect when they listen. Yeah. It's a accidental record. It was just, like, started writing these songs, Had a little extra time on our hands. And, um, It started kind of at the end of last Year, this idea of jamming back into some old Influences, and kind of started back with the Country Fuzz record where We started coming up with the idea of the Tabasco and Sweet Tea record to where What if we just kind of jump down this Wormhole of, like, crazy awesome, You know, and not worrying about what anybody thinks About it and putting these hillbilly lyrics. And to be honest with you, in my mind It started out with this record that I could Write all these funk songs, and we could sit Down and do all this cool. And then every song would have a different country Star on it. And then Hardy goes and drops Hicks Tape. And so I'm like-"Well, I'm not gonna do that now." And so it pretty much just morphed into the New Cadillac record. And it happened to be something That we were all needing, I think. And quarantine happened, and it really sunk that in Because we were all like, "Man." We dove into it, and it was just a Lot of fun, you know. And it's a completely Different side of us I don't think that anybody's Ever seen. And it's gonna be a lot of Fun to, to do this in front of crowd And see the way they react. Like, you know, Cadillac fans and normal people. You know, 'cause those people aren't the same. There's Cadillac fans-and then there's normal People. All right. Well, I gotta tell you, I was Listening to this album in my car, which is Very, very dangerous. I just felt like I was gonna get a Speeding ticket at any minute because this album is So amazing and it's so funky, and it just Makes me wanna drive fast. That sounds dangerous. Yeah. You should be careful. You should slow slow down, Becca, 'cause I don't want that-my conscience. Well, if I get pulled over I'm just gonna Tell the officer TC3 made me do it. T-shirt. Right? I want a cut. But seriously, I wanna know, were you listening to Any particular artists or just into any kind of Music that was influencing the direction of this Album? Because, I mean, it is a little bit Of a departure from what we normally hear from You. And I mean, it's just funky. So was there an inspiration that kind of helped Feed some of this? Yeah. It's, it's all old meters. Stuff, that we grew up listening to. Meters, Tower of Power. And we actually had a song that didn't make The record, only because when we wrote the song And sampled a Tower of Power song, I think It was Squib Cakes, and I couldn't replicate that Beat and we couldn't figure out how to make That be something that we could all do as A band. And we try to make everything that We record something that we could do live. And it was such a crazy drum beat. And we built the whole song around it, so We didn't do that one. But so we listened To a lot of I mean, I personally, my Dad threw Tower of Power at me at, at A very early age, and Stevie Wonder, And also being steeped in crazy old country and Stuff, you know, and then the ni-90s country That happened. So if you listen to this record- Stuff that we listened to, like, in college when- Yeah you and me were roommates. It was like Modest Mouse and Wood and-John Scofield we used To see in Murfreesboro and-I mean even as Far as, as big as Phish and Dave Matthews Band, which is funny to say that, but it's Like you hear that all over this record. And I think that what's interesting about this Record is the Tabasco and Sweet Tea record, We've never done a record that, except for maybe The first record, but that thing was still all Over the place and we didn't know what we Were doing. This is the first record we've ever Done where there's a theme. And from top to bottom, if you listen to The record down, it sounds like a DJ set From us throwing a party and it never stops. And it's, it's one thing to the next, and It's all one thing. And w-we didn't move. We didn't go try to find a hit. You know, we didn't do the Nashville thing where You're like, "Ah, this is really cool, but we Should go try to find Legacy," or, "We should Try to find Dang If We Didn't," or one Of these drunk on a plane or whatever. One of the things that I do love about This album is the lyrics are sometimes even Extremely country or overly country, And yet you've paired them with this incredibly Soulful funky sound. So was that always the idea when you were Writing these songs to have sort of that Juxtaposition? Like I said, the beginning thought of this record Was gonna write all these cool funk crazy things And write crazy extremely country boy lyrics, You know, like country lyrics that I love that I grew up on, but also the funk music That I grew up on. And then we jumped into when we were in College you get the Phish thing, The jam thing. So that's why all the intros are kind of Long. That's why the record streams together. The Beastie Boys records were big influence on this Record. And the Cadillac Three stuff is really heavy Or little extremely Southern or stompy or whatever. But the lyric is always a story. It's always a country songwriting situation. The more we got into it, we found this Thing, like the first record when we found our Sound. We found this cool thing that was like, "Man, this is cool. Let's just keep writing things." And, like, all this stuff was written within, like, A very short period of time. It all fits together really well. But that's why it was all country lyric on Top of that, because the original idea was I Was gonna try to invite some friends. But I'm glad we didn't, because all those guys Are doing just fine. And we, we needed a Little something different, so it, it ended up Working out great. I actually had a chance to Read the liner notes for this album, And on every single song, the thing I kept Seeing was all sounds by The Cadillac Three. And so I didn't know if that meant that You had, you know, like Foley artists, you're in There making all kinds of different sound effects And things, or if it was just the voice, The instruments. So tell me about, I mean, Pretty much it seems like you guys did the Lion's share of the work for this entire album. I'll tell you right now, man, this whole record Is like a science project to figure out how To make records in a time when you can't Be around each other, you know? And this was at the beginning of quarantine, and So everybody was really scared. You know, like yesterday I was in the studio With masks all day long with somebody, another Artist, and it's exhausting. I'm so glad we did it this way because It it was fun. I don't know, we did it the only way We could do it. Listening to this record, I Listened back to the first record, the second Record, the third record, the Country Fuzz record, And I'm like, "These are cool sounding, right? These are This is a sound." I listen to this, I'm like, "Man, this is Different. It's cool." So I, I think it kinda Adds on to our legacy. For lack of a better word. We're constantly moving in different directions, And there's not a lot of other country bands Doing that. They stick to their guns doing whatever They do, and it always kinda sounds the same. I feel like whatever we're doing, we're keeping the Fans, like what are they gonna do next, and What's the next step? Who knows? You know? That excites me, being the singer, You know what I mean? I'm like, I don't Know either, but I guarantee you it's gonna be Fun. Well, and it's kinda cool because just as Soon as people think they've got you figured out And that maybe you're this one-dimensional band, You take a right turn and give them something Else and prove them wrong. Yeah. We have all the influences is the thing. It's like the Country Fuzz album, like they were Saying, it kinda stemmed where we ended up going With this was, you know, one of the arms Of the Country Fuzz record. That's why we called that Country Fuzz, 'cause it's We have so many different faces that we can Wear in different styles. Parties. And yeah, you know, different types of Music that we love and that we grew up On and we're influenced by, and, you know, that We can play the w-as the three of Us, so. By the end of this band-Yeah They will all come out. And they will all Come out, yeah. To party. So yeah, 'cause we Like to party. That is true. Well, let's go ahead and just Start talking about the songs on the album. We're gonna play the entire album. And the first song on the album is the Title track, Tabasco and Sweet Tea. In my opinion, this is a pretty sexy song, So tell everybody about Tabasco and Sweet Tea. What is Tabasco and sweet tea, Jared? I don't know. I was, in a room with Ben Burgess, who's A wild man. He used to tour with us quite a bit. You just never know what that guy's gonna do. And then Alisa Vanderheim, and we were just tossing Around ideas like you do in Nashville, and I Was like, "Man, I had this idea to like Write something that's weird, like Cocaine and Waffles from the Ricky Bobby movie or whatever. You know, something like that that would be cool That you could put a country song that would Be nice." And I had no idea that we Were gonna do this funky record, but for some Reason Tabasco and Sweet Tea came up. So we kinda toss it around in the room, And like Ben Burgess is just like, That whole second verse is, "She's spicy like that Jerky you get from Buc-ee's down in Texas. Now it's so delightful like my..." And I'm just like, "Yes!" "That's what we need." So it's like that, and Then we started working backwards from that. And the original demo was very, like Nashville-oriented, like you'd pitch to Jake Owen or Whoever. You know I mean? And I took that demo to the bus, And I knew there was something there that was A little cooler, and so I put that more Scofield-y, Modjeski kind of riff on it and messed With it for like three days, and that was The birth of this record. And that's half the reason we called the record Tabasco and Sweet Tea, but it's also kind of, I think describing a, a woman being that hot But also sweet is very neat. My wife, you know, I get that. Sweet but spicy. Because like, man, some days it's Scary, scary hot. Spicy. You know what I mean? Like that kinda Hot where you gotta-you're, you're going through Some stranger's house and you're looking for milk Because you're think you're gonna have to go to The hospital-Dude it's so hot. And then there's other times where you wake up And she's like kissing you on the cheek, "Hey, Babe. Good morning. How you doing? Is everything okay?" You know, you come home, she's really sweet. It's like the devil here and Jesus here on Their shoulders. Yeah. And I think that was kind Of the idea behind this song, and it's interesting. It's, it's a love song, man. One of the things I also loved about this Song were some of the metaphors, like Blue Bell Hot fudge and jerkies from Buc-ee's, And like that coconut smell hanging in your car, Like the air freshener. Got that new car smell Of Tropicana. Exactly. So I mean, did you guys have to Put some thought into that, or was that just Very spur of the moment off the top of Your head? When Burgess and I get going, uh, Songwriting is an interesting thing. You throw a different guy in the mix, a Different girl in the mix, things change completely. Like, you're not gonna write the same song every Day if you do that kind of thing. You switch it up. And that's why I've burgess-ed You to travel with us quite a bit, 'cause We, we love bringing him on the road. Because one morning, you know, you wake up, And we're in some random city, Indiana or whatever, And I walk out in the morning and it's 9:00 AM whatever, and I'm walking in front of The bus and Burgess is standing there with no Shirt on and his Darrell Hart glasses and 60 Donuts. Not the normal like 12 donuts that normal People get. And they're all different donuts. Each one. It's not like 12 glazed, 12 this. It's like, man, they had so much to offer. I was like, "Bro, you gotta... I need one of all of them." You know, it's like what the... So anyways, so When we g-when we get to going, those Kind of things. And he's from Texas, so he, He threw in that Buc-ee's thing and all that. You know, he's great, man. So yeah, we had A lot of fun writing that song. Well, I Think it is the perfect way to kick off This album. It's the title track from The Cadillac Three's new project, Tabasco and Sweet Tea, On Big Machine Radio.