Peter Case Interview
by Kevin J. Hosey
Mark Winsick, Jim Whitford and Peter Case at the Sportsmen's
It may take more than a back injury to slow down Peter Case, who will perform with a band of Western New York friends and mainly former bandmates at 9:30 p.m. Friday, October 7, at the Sportsmen’s Tavern on Amherst Street in Buffalo.
Case will be performing as part of a two-week East Coast swing, but he originally intended to be on the road for a month before he injured his back while in the studio, an injury that has turned out to be a torn nerve. Riding home from a festival he played in California October 2 with the Young Rascals (“the Old Rascals now, I guess,” he joked) because he is still unable to drive, Case was mostly upbeat on a range of topics after a series of disconnections in our transcontinental call. “This injury has been a situation where I did not want to move; I was in the middle of recording an album when I hurt my back. Some of it will be solo acoustic, some of it spoken word with my six-piece band and some of it will be the full band and me,” Case said.
“To follow the East Coast tour, I am going to England with John Doe and Michael King to play in European cities. We’ll each play 25-minute sets and then together, kind of a triple songwriters’ circle.”
When Case played in Buffalo last year, he first performed an acoustic solo/duet show at Mohawk Place, then joined childhood friends Jim Whitford and Mark Winsick, who were playing as parts of Jim Whitford’s Real Beat Band at the Sportsmen’s Tavern. The band, when joined by Case, played several of Case’s songs, as well as some of Whitford’s, in a full, electric set up with rock and soul/R&B flavor, with Case going between guitar and harmonica as well as singing. Case appeared to be having a great time in the band setting, so a repeat performance is on tap.“This time will be more electric, like at the Sportsmen’s, and less acoustic (Case, Whitford and Winsick will be joined by Rob Lynch on drums). I’ll be playing an electric piano the guys are arranging, harmonica and singing my songs, some blues, Jim’s songs and Marks’ songs,” Case said. “The Sportsmen’s show was really a lot of fun last year, a bunch of guys who go way back, and Jim is a great songwriter. I’ve known Mark since grade 3 and we played together first in grade 7. The guys and (drummer) Mike Bannister played in bands like Whaling Beamish in 1968 and then in Pig Nation.”
Case, known nationally first for his time in the electric power pop band The Plimsouls (yep, “A Million Miles Away”) and later for a frequently acoustic solo career, still feels comfortable playing in either style. “I’ve played both, and now, at the drop of a hat, I can do both of them; I love both of them. I have a six-piece band in Los Angeles, but it is hard to take them on the road and rather expensive. I love playing with my band, but I also love playing solo acoustic. I totally write for a solo setting, and later, I can orchestrate the songs. Bob Dylan, Woodie Guthrie, Robert Johnson; I love these musicians. I feel fortunate and grateful that I’ve been able to do exactly what I want to do. I have my artistic freedom; I work hard and things may sometimes be under the wire, but fortunately, money is not the ruler; people want to play with me.”
Indeed, a Peter Case tribute CD featuring 45 performances of his songs will soon be released by the non-profit Hungry for Music organization, which is just another part of Case’s recent activity. A Plimsouls’ live CD was released earlier this year, and the band played several shows, including one this writer would love to have attended, a double bill with the original X in front of 10,000 people in Orange County (as well as another with ex-Flamin Groovies Cyril Jordan’s new band in San Francisco), and, something his fans have anticipated for years, the reissuing of his second album, “The Man with the Blue Post-Modern Guitar,” by Hip-o Select (originally released by Geffen Records) http://hip-oselect.com/catalogue_case.asp.

To say Case is ambivalent about major record labels would be an understatement. “I can’t stand the major labels, to tell you the truth. The major record companies have so many records that they don’t know what they have. No one returns your phone calls, so it virtually takes a miracle to contact someone there, and then they don’t get back to you when they say they will; it is a very difficult environment to work with. It is really hard; you get guys who try to tell you how to write songs. I’d rather deal with people who are interested in what I’m doing.”
But wait, there’s more; Case is working on two books, one about a musician and another on songwriting, and he conducts guitar and songwriting workshops at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica. “Someone suggested to me in the summer of 2000 that this was a way to make money while not on tour. I tried it out, and I really enjoy it; I didn’t think I would. I do them in Los Angeles, Long Beach, San Diego, Houston and elsewhere, and I’d love to do one in Buffalo if anyone is interested. One thing I would like to do is create my own studio and get into production more.”
Case expounded on his appreciation of his musical accomplishments (which also include Grammy nominations). “When I came out west, the idea that I would play on a record and meet and play with other musicians was a real trip; in Buffalo, you couldn’t get there from here at that time because music was so centralized. Writing songs that people are really into is satisfying, but it’s also like any other job when you’re struggling. And that relates to these times we’re in. I maintain that when the Republicans are in power, it is always good for folk music. I have other things I’d like to write about, but this world is in deep trouble. I wish I could just create ‘La Bamba,” but you have to talk about these things, because our society is becoming a world between those driving to the airport in their limousines and those living at the side of the road in their shacks. There’s no leadership.”
But at least for an evening, there will some fun along with the stories. For more information, people can click on www.petercase.com, and as always, shows at the Sportsmen’s Tavern have free admission.