Recently released on November Records in the debut album from
Storyville, featuring vocalist, Malford Milligan. Milligan has
been named Best Male Vocalist of the year, and Storyville received
Best New Band, by the Austin Music Awards.
DM) What kind of style is this new album, Bluest Eyes?
MM) Well, basically the style I et out to do, is to have something
that rocked pretty hard and is very faithful and hopefully the
albums definitely catch those two sides.
DM) I noticed you have a rather famous backing group, including
members of Double Trouble, John Mellencamp's drummer and even
Don Henley. How did you get musicians of that caliber to help
out on your debut?
MM) I have to give that kind of credit to Mr. Stephen Burton,
the album's producer. I've played with Tommy and Chris (from
Double Trouble) and they definitely were eager to do it. Mr.
Burton knows Don Henley. They met during a break from recording
and I met Mr. Henley in a place downtown called the Ironworker.
I saw Mr. Henley there. he came down to listen to the stuff we've
been working on and liked it, so he decided he'd like to sing
on a cut. I was pretty impressed.
DM) What is your favorite song on the album?
MM) I don't really think I have a favorite song. All of the
songs I love to sing. I guess if it cam close to what was my
favorite song, I guess "Water" would be it. It's definitely
one of the deeper tunes on there. It was written by Craig Ross
and it's just an incredible piece of work.
DM) I noticed that you did Peter Gabriel's song, Mercy Street.
Why did you choose to cover that song?
MM) Well, I've been doing that tune, probably since it came
out, sometimes even accapella. Jamie Doole at November Records
basically suggested that I go in and record it again, and so
at the time, I recorded "Mercy Street." I recorded
a "Change is Going to Come" Those were the sort of,
"ballady things." I was happy with how they came out.
DM) Would you consider Peter Gabriel as one of your influences.
MM) Most definitely yes. I remember listening to that album
for almost a year straight. Almost every day. He found himself
vocally, music-wise and songwriting-wise in his forties. I'd
heard a lot of his earlier stuff, but nothing that came together
and fell together like that album of his [So]. It was definitely
a landmark album of his, and it was definitely a sign of a lot
of internal changes for him.
DM) When will you be going on your next tour?
MM) The tour schedule will be going on sometime in June. We're
putting it together right now.
DM) Who do you consider your biggest influences?
MM) Everybody from Joni Mitchel to Stevie Wonder. Vocally
and songwriting wise, I definitely listen to a vast array of
people. I've been lucky enough to do that and Joni Mitchel vocally
is incredible. A very intimate songwriter. Another thing you
don't hear about Stevie Wonder, is his ground breaking vocal
style. He took certain soul rifts and changed them around to
his own style, and took them somewhere else. You can hear his
stuff in New York soul artists. If you listen to New York soul
artists a lot, you can definitely hear that influence of Stevie
Wonder.
DM) I noticed your vocal range and style are very diverse.
MM) Yeah, the two songs like 'Mercy Street' and 'The Bluest
Eyes' make a different demand on you. The song asks for something
from me and I have to give it to the song, no matter what it
is.
