It was about six or seven years ago when an old friend of mine played me a record by a band called Hot Water Music. A lot of time and beers have happened since then, but if I remember correctly, the album was "Fuel for the Hate Game". I instantly fell in love with the band, and made it my mission to go out over the next several weeks and buy every album they released. A couple years later the same friend and I would sit around, drink whiskey and hold drunken sing alongs with the Rumbleseat 7 inch records. Rumbleseat was the folky acoustic project of guitarists/vocalists Chuck Ragan and Chris Wollard of HWM. Now that Hot Water Music is on an indefinite hiatus and Rumbleseat has died, Chuck Ragan is on the verge of releasing a series of his solo 7 inches. After hearing theses songs, and eagerly awaiting the first installment of the Chuck Ragan 7" singles club...I got a chance to ask him a few questions about his musical career. Chris Sweet, September 2006

Diatribe:   First off, I recently got to hear your new songs on your MySpace page and they are simply amazing. Was this solo project a planned thing during Hot Water Music, or was it born from the need to continue to make music after HWM's dissolution?

 

Chuck:   Well for starters, it isn't anything new really in terms of what I've done. For me it's somewhat all the same. I've always messed around with an acoustic and in fact had an acoustic before an electric growing up. Well technically, my folks bought me a little set up with and electric guitar, practice, amp, chord book and whatnot. Took it home wanting to play what my friends called punk rock. Turned all the knobs up full bore, and blasted off around my room knocking things over and doing it right. All but the fact that I had no idea what a chord was. I played my heart out all but about 32 wonderful seconds before my dad busted in, ripped the amp out of the wall, and ripped my new beautiful generic black guitar off of my neck and took it to his room. Last I saw of it. I'm not ashamed to say, I cried and kicked and screamed but it was no use. The next morning, I woke up and had an acoustic guitar sitting in the corner of my room. I love my dad.

 

Diatribe:   What is your song writing process like? Do you actually sit down with the intention of writing songs, or do the ideas just come to you at random times?

 

Chuck:   It varies. I love to be able to sit down and work on stuff but songs come at anytime from hunting stripers on the Castaic to framing up a barreled ceiling. You never can tell!

 

Diatribe:    It seems that up until recently it was almost unheard of for someone from a punk and/or hardcore band to be making an acoustic/solo record. It's become a little more prevalent with Greg Graffins recent solo release, and of course with your work with Rumbleseat. Has this particular style of music always been a passion of yours, or something you became interested in along the way? Who are your influences with this genre of music?

 

Chuck:   I played solo for the first time at a coffee shop called Emphasis I believe in Sarasota, Fl. I think I was 17 or so and scared to death which is why I loved it then and why I love it now. There is definitely something to standing up in front of the world with little to hide behind, and finding yourself shaking in your boots a little. It's when you overcome that and push through that makes it right. At least with me. As far as my influences go. If you're talking acoustically, it's everything from Hazel Dickens to Bruce Springsteen. I can't say that is what influences me in whole though. There's too much to pinpoint whether it be from a wood box or an amp, a book or an event. I guess whatever moves me at the time. At least in the way of making it worth writing about.

 

Diatribe:    Speaking of Greg Graffin... If I read correctly, you recently played a show with him. What was that like? You're both musical legends in your own right, and I could only assume that it was a fantastic meeting of great minds.

 

Chuck:   He's a great man and a very talented musician. The standards and originals that he's performing are songs that I'm way into and grew up with as well. There's definitely some irony there. As far as a meeting of great minds, Greg was front and center. I think I took the night off!

 

Diatribe:    I see that you have some up coming shows planned with Samiam on the west coast. Are there any plans at this time for further touring? Coming to the east coast or Midwest anytime soon?

 

Chuck:   I plan to do a lot with this, just in a way that I have never done before. There were a lot of places we passed along the way over the past decade and a lot of territory unexplored. I think before children, yes. I plan to play wherever anyone would have me. I don't want to kill myself for the road anymore but I'll get there.

 

Diatribe:    I understand that you're an avid fisherman. Are there any other hobbies/employment that consumes your time?

 

Chuck:   Dancing with my wife at 4am all alone in our home, snowboarding, skating, surfing, fire, sand, bait, guns, knives, cooking good food, going to Mexico, my truck, my tools, my canoe, wood, wood, wood. But fishing is a category on it's own.

 

Diatribe:    What are some of your current music interests? Are there any new musical acts that have caught your ear?

 

Chuck:   Most recently, Bedouin Soundclash. It feels good to listen to them.

 

Diatribe:    What are the three records that you are most proud of making?

Chuck:   That would be the Leatherface/Hot Water Music split, HWM "The New What Next." and my own first solo 7". Not out yet, but it's made.