Country rocker David Serby brings his unique brand of cowpunk to the Cinema Bar this weekend, so he told the News about everything he has in store for Culver City…
When did you start playing and performing?
I started playing music in high school with some friends who played music. I wasn’t much of a guitar player, but I loved writing and I was pretty good at making stuff up and creating rhymes, so I became the lyricist and the singer. I continued to do that into my early 20’s, but then quit playing music. I was a film major at CSUF and LMU, and for the next 10 years I focused on writing screenplays. Sometime in my early 30’s I picked up a guitar again and started writing songs and hanging out at open mics. That’s where I met guitarist/producer Ed Tree.
Ed and I started working on demos, the demos became a record, the record necessitated a band to promote it, and here we are 20+ years and six records deep into it, and with a great friendship to boot. The band has always been Ed and me, and I’ve been lucky to have a core group of great bass players and drummers. For this show, we’ve got the fantastic Kevin Jarvis on drums. Kevin is a fantastic musician and producer who has played with Brian Wilson, Elvis Costello, Lucinda Williams, Iggy Pop, Grant Lee Phillips. On bass, we’ve got Greg Boaz. Greg is currently in Mavis Staples’ band, and was also the long time bass player for Dave Alvin in his band The Guilty Men, as well as in Los Angeles punk rock legends Tex and The Horseheads. These fellas are all great pals, and together they’re a high speed honky tonk freight train. I love making music with them.
Describe your sound…
I write and play music that is basically traditional country with a huge dose of 50’ rock-n-roll, ‘60s pop, and late ‘70s early ‘80s cowpunk. Largely influenced by country and rock musicians who made music in Bakersfield and Los Angeles (Buck Owens, Merle Haggard, Wynn Stewart, Dwight Yoakam, Dave Alvin), I’m calling it Western rock from the Hillbilly Fringe.
What are your career highlights so far?
I played the Stagecoach country music festival out in Coachella a couple of times on the Palomino Stage. The first time on the same stage and day as Willie Nelson, Lucinda Williams, The Old 97’s and others. The second time with Rodney Crowell, Lukas Nelson, Wanda Jackson, and others. I’d have to work long and hard to beat those two days.
What recorded music do you have available?
I started putting out records (all produced by Ed Tree) back in 2006 with I Just Don’t Go Home. I followed that with Another Sleepless Night (2007), Honkytonk and Vine (2009), Poor Man’s Poem (2011), and The Latest Scam (2013). A lot has happened personally in the last decade and those ten years kind of slipped away from me a little, but I’ve finally got a new record out, released about a month ago on the very cool and super supportive Blackbird Record Label called Low Hanging Stars. We had a great time recording the ten songs on the record, and we’re having a dynamite time playing them live.
Have you performed at the Cinema Bar before? Any memories?
I started going to and playing at the Cinema Bar almost 20 years ago, so I’ve been on that little stage with my band (or in the crowd watching really talented friends) dozens of times. I can honestly say, I’ve never had a bad time at the Cinema Bar. We try to keep it loose and put on a fun show. Every time I’m there I get to hang out with friends, meet new people, and something different always happens during the show because there are always new people ducking in off the street. Rod the owner is always great to us, the bartenders treat everyone like family, the jukebox is loaded with up with killer music, the bands are always great…What’s not to love?
What can the audience expect from the set this time?
We’re going to play a couple of sets starting at 11:00 pm. The first set will likely be mostly songs off the new record, Low Hanging Star. The second set will consist of tunes off the older records and probably a brand new one or two. Like I said, we like to keep it fast and loose, so the sets are going to move.
What else do you have coming up?
On July 27, I’m playing at DiPiazza’s in Long Beach on the monthly Twang City bill, hosted by John Surge and the Haymakers. John and his band is also on that bill, along with the great Rob Waller (I See Hawks in LA) and Friends. That’s a record release show for me, and it’s going to be a fun one. On August 21, I’ll be at Maui Sugar Mills playing with the great Rick Shea and his band the Losin’ End.
David Serby performs at 9 p.m. on Friday, July 26 at the Cinema Bar. Go to thecinemabar.com for more information about the show.
Elsewhere this week
The Culver Hotel will be hosting the likes of Sylvia & the Rhythm Boys, and Scotty Bramer. Go to culverhotel.com for more info.
The next show at Boulevard Music is Kimo West and Ken Emerson – Slackers in Paradise, on Saturday, July 27. Go to boulevardmusic.com for more info.