KC Booker is also the singer/songwriter of European success story Big Soul. He is the musical engine of this blues/punk/dance power trio and has led the group through a successful recording and touring career.

Interview for LA CARTELERA, Spain

-  One of the main characteristics of this new project is the shape that it takes. Just one guy with an acoustic guitar and some beats making rock´n roll and blues mixed with hip hop. Why did you come up with that?
I've always been a big blues fan, so I thought it would be cool to mix old blues with hip hop beats and scratching.  On the rock 'n' roll side, I've been really into Elvis recently, because he played R&B and rock 'n' roll with an acoustic guitar.  Not many people have done that since, and I really like the texture of rock 'n' roll played on an acoustic guitar.

- What kind of results do you get from the mix of Muddy Waters and Run DMC?
Some people say it's brilliant and other people say it's the worst music they've ever heard.  So I guess it's subjective.

-      Where does this new project look at?
I really wanted to mix old blues and hip hop beats, to do something that sounds fresh.  Music can be so boring today.  I don't see any point in making music if it sounds like everybody else.

-      The cover its you with your guitar and a casette. What does this mean?
This is how I started KC Booker.  I went out to the streets and cafes in Berkeley with an acoustic guitar and a boombox playing beats.  

-      I remember reading that when you were young you made some kind of multi-track with a couple of casettes. Tell us about that. Does this has something to do with this new project and that cover?
When I was ten years old, I had two cassette recorders.  I would record myself with guitar and vocals on one cassette, and then play the cassette and record another performance with the other.  So this was a very primitive multi-track recording.  I never thought about it, but I guess you could say there is a connection to this album.  I recorded everything on this album myself, in my home.

-      I’ve read Big soul have made a couple of concerts. Why did it end? How do you see now that times?
I wanted to do something primitive and simple, without the band.  I liked the concept of the troubadour -- the traveling solo musician.  I still love Big Soul, and my new music is a continuation of Big Soul, but I wanted to do something more basic, more blues.

-      Why did you want to dedicate to music?
I just felt like I had to.  My parents are both university professors and and one point I thought about doing the same thing.  But in the end I didn't want to be an academic person.

-      Which are for you the ten albums that have most influenced your sound? And ten songs?
Albums
1.  Run-DMC - Raising Hell
2.  Muddy Waters - The Best of Muddy Waters
3.  The Rolling Stones - The Rolling Stones
4.  Led Zeppelin -- Led Zeppelin II
5.  John Lee Hooker -- That's Where It's At!
6.  The Ramones -- The Ramones
7.  The Who -- The Kids are Alright
8.  De La Soul -- 3 Feet Hight and Rising
9.  Beck -- Mellow Gold
10.  T Rex - Electric Warrior

Songs
1.  Mississippi Fred McDowell -- Shake 'Em On Down
2.  Run-DMC -- Peter Piper
3.  John Lee Hooker -- Boogie Chillun
4.  The Rolling Stones -- Jumping Jack Flash
5.  Carl Perkins -- Blue Suede Shoes
6.  James Brown -- Super Bad
7.  The Who -- Magic Bus
8.  Beck -- Loser
9.  Muddy Waters -- She Moves Me
10.  Elvis Presley -- Hound Dog

-      Could you tell me a little bit about how you recorded each song of the album and what’s about?
    o    Crackerjack --  I made a rule for this album -- only acoustic guitar, no electric.  This song has the only "electric" sounding guitar on the album, but it's still an acoustic guitar. 
    o    White Lightning  -- I was sick and my voice was completely broken, I sounded like an old bluesman.  So I wrote a song for this voice.  This is part the blues/hip hop hybrid concept.
    o    Lulu  -- This is like some of the punk/funk songs of Big Soul, but with acoustic guitar.
    o    Mojo Wind --  Influenced by Muddy Waters -- and Run-DMC.
    o    Butterberry  -- A musical tribute to early R&B and rock and roll of the 1950's.  Lyrically it's about the US addiction to junk food.
    o    Sweet Maribel  -- This is a song really influenced by the Who during the Magic Bus period.
    o    Seesaw--  There is a Rolling Stones, Beggars Banquet influence in this song.
    o    Im specially interested in this. Named “Jimmy Carter” and scratching with the sentence “F**k music”. Tell me about that -- Well, I thought that the phrase was "funky music", but maybe you're right!  Maybe I am subconsciously hostile to all music!  I actually named the song after Jimmy Carter, our 39th president.
    o    Baby Sister -- I have two daughters,  I wrote this song for my older daughter, Sophie, about her baby sister.  This was the first KC Booker song.
    o    Let me be your pillow -- This song was influenced by Bob Dylan and T Rex.

-      Ive heard a lot of comparisons with Beck, and for me the closest song to it is “Baby Sister”. What do you think about that?
If you mean early Beck, like Mellow Gold and Odelay, that sounds right to me.  I'm a big fan of these albums.  I think Beck will be remembered as one of the great rock artists.  

-      How are gonna be KC concerts?
Part of the show is acoustic blues with beats, and part is stripped down, high-energy rock and roll.