Across the River

Welcome to "Across the River," a new feature in The Spectrum, where we'll catch up with artists and personalities outside the context of an upcoming show or newly released work. The section is named after a song off the album, "Tennessee," by Lucero, so it is only fitting that our first guest is the Memphis, Tenn.-based band's lead singer, Ben Nichols.

Are you from Memphis?

"I grew up in Little Rock, Ark. I love it. My family is all from Altheimer, Ark. That's about an hour southeast of Little Rock, down the river in the middle of cotton, rice, and soybean fields. The mountains aren't too far to the northwest. Lots of history here: Levon Helm, Johnny Cash, Louis Jordan, Sonny Liston, Howlin' Wolf, Junior Walker. Good stuff."

Who do you open for on your dream tour?

"Damn. I'm sure everybody in the band would have a different list. Mine would have to include The Pogues, The Replacements, and The Band, but [former tourmates] Against Me!, Ted Leo and the Weakerthans ain't too shabby so far. Not shabby at all."

What do you do in your time away from touring and recording?

"Hang out in bars back home. Stay up all night at the furniture store in Little Rock and play guitar. Sometimes I draw comic books."

Do you have a job away from music?

"I help my uncle and my dad out at the family business back in Little Rock when I'm around home. I draw up ads for the furniture store and send 'em to the local newspaper."

How did the band get together?

"I knew Brian Venable from playing shows in Memphis with my old band from Little Rock, Redforty. I'd moved to Memphis when I met a girl from there (happens to be the one mentioned in 'Chain Link Fence' off 'Tennessee,' probably a few other songs, too). Anyway, he told me he wanted to start a country band. I figured I could do that. He'd never been in a band before and I'd never written those kind of songs before, but it worked out. Never thought we'd be a real band. It was an experiment. Found Roy Berry and John C. Stubblefield over the next few months after our original drummer and bassist quit."

What have you been listening to, reading or watching?

"Today I've been listening to a new CD from some guys in Little Rock called The American Princes. They played the other night in Memphis and I got a copy. I like it 'cause I can hear all these little pieces of old Little Rock bands in what they are doing. Good rock and roll with a history and a place built into it. Can't beat that.

"I've been reading plenty. My favorite is a book called 'Blood Meridian,' a Western set in Mexico before the Civil War about a kid that joins up with the Glanton Gang, Indian hunters and marauders who are apparently based on actual people. Sums up the nature of evil and war in a completely scary, yet beautiful, way. Goddamn it's tough. Also recently got the hard-back version of all of Jaime Hernandez's 'Maggie and Hopey' stories from the 'Love and Rockets' comic. Can re-read those any time over and over."

"I also got the first season of Magnum PI on DVD. Can't help it."

What's in the future for Lucero?

"New record should be out late spring or early summer, though I'm still not sure what label it'll be on as I write this. We leave for tour early in February and we got some dates with Avail coming up. Love those guys, so that'll be interesting. Basically I think we'll be touring for most of the year. Everything else is up in the air."

Anything different in store on the next record?

"Each record Lucero makes reflects the kind of stuff I'm listening to at the time. Each one is its own thing. I have a feeling the new record will be again more rock and roll but less polish. I can never tell how each batch of songs will turn out until it's all done and too late."

What did you grow up listening to?

"My dad's 45s first: Buddy Holly, Elvis, the Beach Boys, then the radio; Journey, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Guns N' Roses. In junior high, I found out about The Violent Femmes, The Ramones, The Dead Kennedys, The Cure, and R.E.M. High school was more of the same: Husker Du, The Replacements, The Pogues, etc. It wasn't till after high school that I started listening to Willie Nelson, Whiskeytown, Johnny Cash, Uncle Tupelo, Robert Earl Keen and Townes Van Zandt."

Your vocals are truly unique. Did you cultivate it, or did it come naturally?

"Sometime when I was about 19 my voice started doing that. I started singing louder and it just came out like that. Never considered it one of my strong points."

What are your feelings on Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band?

"Love 'em. He'd have to be way up there on that fantasy "who you wanna play with" list. Took a lot of s*** for it a lot of times, but usually folks come around eventually. If they don't come around, I'm not so sure about them. He does things I know I'll never be able to do. Hell, most musicians do."