Buckshot Bradley Saturday March 24th, 2012
San Angelo sits right on the edge of the west Texas oil fields where you can almost hear the crude bubbling up from deep under. With it comes music influenced by the economic realities of the area.
One such group singing about oil in west Texas is San Angelo’s very own four-man band called Buckshot Bradley. Their debut album Pumpjack, is a project the band will begin recording soon. The title of the new CD says it all for the members of the band and their music.
The title track, “Pumpjack” describes the scenery in west Texas. “What’s that smell? Well it’s money,” the song’s first verse tells us about all those pump jacks sucking black gold out of the ground. The lyrics then take us to ameeting with a girl "down at a pump jack," throwing back Shiner beer (“when I’m broke, it’s Keystone Light”), all the while “sitting too close to someone’s daughter.”
The original songs lead singer Clete Carillo writes describe the angst of a young man dreaming of making it in the music business on the Texas country circuit while remaining close to his roots in west Texas. He uses chord progressions that keep each song moving along, like a train, as he tells a good story sprinkled with local humor.
The name Buckshot Bradley has buzz in and around San Angelo: Positive grumblings and name-dropping that indicated that we are missing something. But every time the band played, something got in the way and we were not able to get out to the show.
But the buzz got the best of us. Even if we had to bring the mountain to Mohammad, we needed to find out more about Buckshot. So LIVE! called up Clete Carillo and asked him where and when his next practice was. We invited ourselves to the party.
Carillo, who writes most Buckshot Bradley’s material, also plays rhythm and acoustic guitar. Other members of the band are Robert Raney (bass), Adrian Blanco (lead) and John Gill (drums).
LIVE!: I understand there is a bigger story behind the recording of your new CD?
Clete: We basically have had to build the studio first. It’s in the building where the old Honey Nut Restaurant used to be in Robert Lee. But we’ve done that and now have got our sound tech, David Sheldon, so we’re pretty much ready to go.
LIVE!: Most bands rent a studio. I guess building one is a way to get studio time!
Clete: Yeah, most people think we’ve been recording in the studio for the past two months, and we have been in the studio, just not recording… we been building it. But all the equipment is now organized—it’s been a long road just to do that.
Adrian: We need to get this CD out so we’ll have something that radio stations can play and then we can think about touring.
Clete: We’re already known around here and in Midland. So we’re doing okay on a parttime basis, but the main thing is that we all just have a blast doing this. Robert lives in Robert Lee and commutes here to practice. And a week before we have a gig, we practice everyday. It’s like finals week and I don’t think Robert sleeps then.
LIVE!: So, how did all of you guys meet up?
Clete: John, Robert and I have been playing for about three years. I met John sitting next to him at the Oasis, watching a band. The drummer was missing a lot of stuff, and this guy next to me starts commenting and I said to him, “You think you can do better?’ and he took on the challenge.
Robert: I was playing a three-piece out of Robert Lee at about the same time. Our drum player and lead guitar flaked off and I heard about Clete. I came down, met him and got the job.
Clete: Our lead guitarist is where we’ve been having a lot of problems. We’ve been through about six different guitar players; either they get too wasted and don’t show for practice or they’re too cocky, but Adrian has worked out real well. He’s been with the band since May, 07, three days before we played the Texas Coffee Company gig, he had to learn 12 originals, did the gig, and we hired him.
LIVE!: Influences?
Clete: Jason Boland for one, mainly because the way he writes songs, Robert Earl Keen, Wade Bowen and my favorite band is Reckless Kelly.
Adrian: (about Clete) He’s got Texas country music in him all the way to the bone.
Clete: Outside of Texas country, I’d have to say it’s Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Doors. (And Clete lives the life of a Texas country boy with a 47-inch widescreen TV in his living room and a Kegerrator –a fridge that holds a keg- on the side.)
Clete: None of us are going to be the next Keith Fowler. We mix it up with country and the blues and we’ve got the guys to play it. I mean the blues is just slowed-down country.
LIVE!: You used to be known as a cover band but now you play a lot of originals.
Clete: I’ve written enough songs for three CDs. But we try to do one cover from all the big artists in case someone requests something. We might not be able to play that tune, but we’ll probably have something by that artist.
LIVE!: How long have you all been playing music? (LIVE had to ask because technically they sound advanced beyond their years.) Robert: I was 11 when I picked up the bass and that’s where I messed-up. If you learn to play the bass before you learn the guitar, it just ain’t happening. Adrian has been playing since his pre-teens for a total of eight years. John, the oldest member of the group (32-years-old) has been performing drum rolls for 15 years. Carillo, the second oldest at 29-years-old, began learning the guitar only five years ago.
According to Adrian, Clete’s ability is not in his guitar playing but more in his songwriting and his heart.
Picture credit to Kimberlea Montgomery