Music > Interviews

Interview with Bob Log III

02/05/12

Some say he was born under bad sign, to a mother who was half-wolf and rolled cigars for a living and a daddy who dressed in lace; some say he found rhythm after a particularly jumpy night in a Tequila-induced sleep, resting atop a red anthill; others claim they’ve seen beneath his helmet and attest that they witnessed the snarling face of Hades, King of the Underworld. Are we talking about the Stig? Not even close – we are here to tell you about the ever-more exciting Bog Log the Third, the raucous slide blues guitarist whose best-loved tracks are ‘Clap Your Tits’ and ‘I Want Your Shit on My Leg’… His wolf-mother would be so proud.

You hail from a warm pit of music - Tucson, Arizona. Did your hometown put the rhythm in your loins?Tucson put a lot of things in my loins. But I would say the main thing Tucson gave me was BOREDOM. As a teenager I didn't really like boredom, but now I have to admit, boredom is absolutely gold. Without it, I would not have been forced to do something interesting for and with myself, like learn to play the guitar in the chunky way I do.  Use your boredom, people; make something good. 

Can you explain the lineage of Bog Log I and II?My Grandpa had sex with my grandma, and that made my Dad.  He had sex with my Mom and made me. Isn’t that how it works? I am the 3rd because we all have the same name. Just like King George. 

What would you say to those people who might suggest you need to see someone’s face in order to connect with them in a live environment? HA! I would play my guitar at them, then teach them about a band called the Residents.

Your previous band was a twosome, Doo Rag – has the success of your solo life spoiled you for any future collaborations?Spoiled? I don’t feel spoiled at all. Sometimes I play with other people, but what I have discovered about being a one-man band will forever make me want to keep doing it. As a one-man band, you are the complete master of TIME. You can take time out to dinner, feed it soup, throw a pie in its face, clean it off and buy it a new jacket. The freedom of completely controlling time for an hour and a half a night is an exquisite power that very few musicians get to enjoy, and I plan on doing it till I die.

What do you think the life of the thrift store helmet was before you gave it its second incarnation?Good Question! I would like to think it was for a teenage girl on her snow mobile.

You’re a precise, and labored songwriter, but your words are often obscured by the helmet– are the lyrics your catharsis, and the music ours?I actually think most of my lyrics are understandable, if you listen carefully.  Just like Mick Jagger, James Brown, Bon Scott... They are there and if you listen you will hear them, and understand. I spend more time on the lyrics than anything else. But that being said... I am a guitar player first, and I want the guitar playing to be what is communicating what I am trying to say more than the lyrics do. The whole world speaks guitar, and I speak it back. That is my specialty.

You’ve been accused of objectifying women – could you say in defense that you more than enjoy being objectified yourself? Have you ever been treated like a prime piece of meat by a lady?HA! There are people, and there always will be, who just don’t get it. Some people might read Jonathon Swift and think he was actually telling the Irish to eat their children. They don’t get it. The song ‘Clap Your Tits’ for example, is actually about making fun of the things that objectify women. So many things try to tell ladies to look their best all the time, TV commercials use ladies’ bodies to try to sell me spaghetti, or carpet, and I got sick of it.  I wanted women AND MEN to have a song that was NOT about looking your best. It’s about being ridiculous, not caring if your hair gets messed up, it’s about having so much fun your face hurts in the morning from too much smiling. If anything that song is making fun of people who try too hard to look good.

We’ve seen how ‘I Want Your Shit on My Leg’ translates to a live audience, but what about ‘Clap Your Tits’?Very rarely do people actually clap their tits on stage, but I get many messages from people who went home and did it later. Once a fat man in a wheelchair clapped his tits on stage with me in New Orleans; it was a night we will all remember.

You’ll be playing the Spiegeltent for NNF; it’s a magical womb of a venue, a mirrored tent – does your environment inform and change your performance?I have played in the Spiegeltent a few times in Australia. Yes, it is a fantastic tent. I am sure I will play amazingly well, and everyone will be jittery with enthusiasm.

How many more albums do you have in you, and if you can cart yourself off the road, what’s next?Can’t stop ever, so I don’t know how to answer this. But when I take a break I love to read books about and by the early explorers. Going strange places and meeting strange people. It’s very similar to what I do, except in my case by the end of the night I am trying to make them jump around and go ape shit. Woot! See you soon, Norwich. 

Emma Garwood

Bob Log III comes to the Spiegeltent in Chapelfield Gardens on Monday 21st May. For tickets, go to www.nnfestival.org.uk, or call the Theatre Royal Box Office on 01603 766400.

Some say he was born under bad sign, to a mother who was half-wolf and rolled cigars for a living and a daddy who dressed in lace; some say he found rhythm after a particularly jumpy night in a Tequila-induced sleep, resting atop a red anthill; others claim they’ve seen beneath his helmet and attest that they witnessed the snarling face of Hades, King of the Underworld. Are we talking about the Stig? Not even close – we are here to tell you about the ever-more exciting Bog Log the Third, the raucous slide blues guitarist whose best-loved tracks are ‘Clap Your Tits’ and ‘I Want Your Shit on My Leg’… His wolf-mother would be so proud.

You hail from a warm pit of music - Tucson, Arizona. Did your hometown put the rhythm in your loins?Tucson put a lot of things in my loins. But I would say the main thing Tucson gave me was BOREDOM. As a teenager I didn't really like boredom, but now I have to admit, boredom is absolutely gold. Without it, I would not have been forced to do something interesting for and with myself, like learn to play the guitar in the chunky way I do.  Use your boredom, people; make something good. 

Can you explain the lineage of Bog Log I and II?My Grandpa had sex with my grandma, and that made my Dad.  He had sex with my Mom and made me. Isn’t that how it works? I am the 3rd because we all have the same name. Just like King George. 

What would you say to those people who might suggest you need to see someone’s face in order to connect with them in a live environment? HA! I would play my guitar at them, then teach them about a band called the Residents.

Your previous band was a twosome, Doo Rag – has the success of your solo life spoiled you for any future collaborations?Spoiled? I don’t feel spoiled at all. Sometimes I play with other people, but what I have discovered about being a one-man band will forever make me want to keep doing it. As a one-man band, you are the complete master of TIME. You can take time out to dinner, feed it soup, throw a pie in its face, clean it off and buy it a new jacket. The freedom of completely controlling time for an hour and a half a night is an exquisite power that very few musicians get to enjoy, and I plan on doing it till I die.

What do you think the life of the thrift store helmet was before you gave it its second incarnation?Good Question! I would like to think it was for a teenage girl on her snow mobile.

You’re a precise, and labored songwriter, but your words are often obscured by the helmet– are the lyrics your catharsis, and the music ours?I actually think most of my lyrics are understandable, if you listen carefully.  Just like Mick Jagger, James Brown, Bon Scott... They are there and if you listen you will hear them, and understand. I spend more time on the lyrics than anything else. But that being said... I am a guitar player first, and I want the guitar playing to be what is communicating what I am trying to say more than the lyrics do. The whole world speaks guitar, and I speak it back. That is my specialty.

You’ve been accused of objectifying women – could you say in defense that you more than enjoy being objectified yourself? Have you ever been treated like a prime piece of meat by a lady?HA! There are people, and there always will be, who just don’t get it. Some people might read Jonathon Swift and think he was actually telling the Irish to eat their children. They don’t get it. The song ‘Clap Your Tits’ for example, is actually about making fun of the things that objectify women. So many things try to tell ladies to look their best all the time, TV commercials use ladies’ bodies to try to sell me spaghetti, or carpet, and I got sick of it.  I wanted women AND MEN to have a song that was NOT about looking your best. It’s about being ridiculous, not caring if your hair gets messed up, it’s about having so much fun your face hurts in the morning from too much smiling. If anything that song is making fun of people who try too hard to look good.

We’ve seen how ‘I Want Your Shit on My Leg’ translates to a live audience, but what about ‘Clap Your Tits’?Very rarely do people actually clap their tits on stage, but I get many messages from people who went home and did it later. Once a fat man in a wheelchair clapped his tits on stage with me in New Orleans; it was a night we will all remember.

You’ll be playing the Spiegeltent for NNF; it’s a magical womb of a venue, a mirrored tent – does your environment inform and change your performance?I have played in the Spiegeltent a few times in Australia. Yes, it is a fantastic tent. I am sure I will play amazingly well, and everyone will be jittery with enthusiasm.

How many more albums do you have in you, and if you can cart yourself off the road, what’s next?Can’t stop ever, so I don’t know how to answer this. But when I take a break I love to read books about and by the early explorers. Going strange places and meeting strange people. It’s very similar to what I do, except in my case by the end of the night I am trying to make them jump around and go ape shit. Woot! See you soon, Norwich. 

Emma Garwood

Bob Log III comes to the Spiegeltent in Chapelfield Gardens on Monday 21st May. For tickets, go to www.nnfestival.org.uk, or call the Theatre Royal Box Office on 01603 766400.