Talking with the 80/35 Music Festival’s MVP— Derek Lambert
One of my all time favorite quotes is from Major League Baseball Hall Of Famer, Ernie Banks. The quote goes, “Let’s Play Two.” Meaning he loved baseball so much he always wanted to play a double header. Not bad for a guy who never made it to a World Series.
Now for an Iowa band, the World Series of Iowa shows has to be the 80/35 Music Festival. Celebrating it’s 5th and most successful year this past weekend in downtown Des Moines. One person had a day that would truly have inspired even a great like Ernie Banks!
Des Moines musician Derek Lambert played 5 shows with 5 different bands on Saturday.
At noon he fronted his intense and melodic band, Derek Lambert and the Prairie Fires.
Then at 1:30 he played bass with the show stopping theater of Christopher the Conquered.
Then at 7pm played drums for the wonder that is Leslie and the Ly’s.
Then at 11pm played more drums for the debut performance of the punk rocking PURE GUT.
Then at Midnight, 12 hours after he strummed the first chord of the day he played bass for the Poison Control Center.
So lets do the math 5 shows, 3 different instruments, 4 different stages, 12 hours, all in a 105 degree heat index! I have never experienced watching anything like it. Now that he has had a day off lets talk with the MVP of 80/35!
Patrick Tape Fleming: Your epic rock n roll day started at noon with your band, Derek Lambert and The Prairie Fires. Was the day less stressful to get the big one out of the way first?
Derek Lambert: Definitely. For me, it is a totally different experience to play a backing instrument in a band than it is to sing and play my own songs. I don’t get nervous at all for most of the bands I’m in, but there is still a sense of vulnerability that I feel when performing my own songs and it can be nerve racking. So yes, it was very relieving to get that one out of the way first.
PTF: The Heat index was 105 degrees. How did you keep cool when you were not playing, moving equipment, or changing outfits for all the performances?
DL: I usually didn’t. But I chugged as much water as I could physically dump into my body and then poured the rest on my head. And at one point in the day, when I’d had too much heat, I left with my friends Dustin and Hannah to take a half hour nap in the air conditioning, which was a huge help.
PTF: How many practices did you put in preparing for 5 different shows, on 3 different instruments for 80/35?
DL: I would say I probably had about 10 band practices over the past few weeks. The peak of it was probably last week when you and I had back-to-back band practices totaling over 5 hours worth of rocking in the heat of my ill-ventilated basement.
PTF: You and Chris Ford are roommates and play in each other’s bands. Is he usually the first person you show new songs and vice versa?
DL: I definitely hear him playing most of his new songs around the house as they develop, so I believe I am usually among the first to hear them (which is awesome). I tend to be a little more private when I write songs, so I like to finish them and then I’ll show them to my band… which includes Chris, so I guess he is one of the first people to hear mine as well.
PTF: Your dad was at all 5 of your shows on Saturday, how big of influence have your parents been on your music career?
DL: My parents are hugely supportive of anything that I want to do, so that is obviously very influential to somebody who wants to opt out of college in order to run sound at a music venue and occasionally travel the country playing music. They come to every one of my shows that they are able to, and they love everything that I do (or at least they tell me they do). I could never overestimate the value of that support.
PTF: If you had one magical dream day where you could play with any 5 bands ever who would they be and why?
DL: 12pm. Fugazi - kick off the day with one of the most intense live bands ever, we’d blast the sleep right out of your eyes
1:30pm. Doc Watson & myself - I’d enjoy the afternoon sun by embellishing my love for the acoustic guitar with one of the greatest players of all time
-lunch and nap break-
7pm. Tom Waits - I would be down for whatever he wants to do, and it would be amazing
11pm. The Monks - one of the most daring, inventive, and fun bands of the 1960s, it would be a blast to perform with them
12am. The Poison Control Center - the greatest band to ever come out of my home state, I wouldn’t trade that reality for fantasy.
-lunch and nap break-
7pm. Tom Waits - I would be down for whatever he wants to do, and it would be amazing
11pm. The Monks - one of the most daring, inventive, and fun bands of the 1960s, it would be a blast to perform with them
12am. The Poison Control Center - the greatest band to ever come out of my home state, I wouldn’t trade that reality for fantasy.
Derek thanks so much for talking to me, playing bass with the Poison Control Center, and for truly inspiring extraordinary performance. You are an MVP in my book.
For more info check out:
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Derek-Lambert-and-the-Prairie-Fires/179604958738221 —Derek Lambert and the Prairie Fires facebook
http://maximumamesrecords.com/ —Maximum Ames Records
Photo credit: by Tony Galloro
