Where Seattlest Interviews Rev. Peyton's Big Damn Band

Last summer (ah, summer!) we drove down to Portland for their annual Pickathon Roots Music Festival, where we found ourselves exposed to all manner of folkies from Portland and beyond. One of the bands that stole the weekend for us was from Indiana, of all godforsaken places. On Saturday night, Reverend Peyton's Big Damn Band played a show in the barn that seriously blew our mind. Joined by Seattleite Jason Webley, they just played a flat-out barn burner of a show.

The Reverend is a big, burly guy with a big, burly voice. His wife beats the crap out of her washboard, and his brother holds downt the rhythm. Beer was spilt, elbows were mistakenly pushed into ribs, and the crowd was just nuts.

Then, this Saturday, they reprised that scene at the Tractor. Preceded by Mr. Webley, who got everyone in the place to put their finger in the air, look up, and spin around 12 times. If you weren't there, you mised out.

We gave the Reverend a call last week just to pick his brain about their new gospel album and Saturday's Tractor show. Here's an excerpt from that conversation:

So, what are you up to? What's this album you put out?

Well Big Damn Nation was our full-length that was released early last year, since it’s the new year now. But BDN is all about my dad, my family, people I know and people I’ve grown up with, come across. We just released a new EP a couple of months ago that’s traditional spiritual songs, including some stuff I wrote, too, that’s on there. It’s a limited edition record. I think there’s gonna be some left when we get to Seattle [laughs].

If not, where can people get it? Will it be available on your Web site?

We’re gonna re-press it. Right now it comes out in a limited edition tin.

In a tin, you said?

Like a tin, it’s like a metal tin. It’s pretty cool.

That’s awesome. You know what else is awesome, I was reading your press release, it said something about your music being used on Jerry Springer? How did that happen?

Well, we played on the Jerry Springer show. On his pay-per-view special. For some of their specials they have sort of a house band. You know Conan O’Brien has a house band and David Letterman has Paul Schaeffer. We were just sort of in the corner on a different stage and we played in and out of the breaks and during the fights. They had this woman come out with nothing on but a cowboy hat and chaps. And she was with this little person, I guess, a midget. He was wearing a pig nose and pig ears, was sort of dressed up like a pig. She preceded to wrestle him and hog-tie him, and that was the end of the scene. So we played during all that. IT was fun, it was surreal [laughs], to say the least.

[laughs] How do you top a gig like that?

I don’t know, but we’re gonna try in Seattle.

photo courtesy Flickr user beeslesr