Stuart Wade/Paul “Shilts” Weimar
July 2005
Interview by Bonnie Schendell

Funky. This is the most common word used when describing the British funk/jazz/soul band, Down to the Bone. Since 1997, when the U.S. was taken by storm with “Brooklyn Heights,” Down to the Bone has kept its format and stayed true to their sound. The band has a unique origin in that its writer/creator, Stuart Wade, is not a musician, but he has teamed up with both a terrific studio band and an unbelievable touring band to create the sound that fans crave. I was able to catch up with Stuart Wade and lead saxman, Paul “Shilts” Weimar, while on tour promoting their latest release, Spread Love Like Wildfire.

SmoothViews (SV): You, Stuart, started this a long time ago with a partner. How did it all begin?
Stuart Wade (SW): Well, Down to the Bone started when I was with another soul band called Think Twice. They were slightly more commercial and I decided to take one of the tracks into the studio and remix it and strip it down to the bone. I had to call the remix something, so I called it the Down to the Bone remix and from that, then took it on to a whole project called Down to the Bone.

SV: Shilts, you are a touring member of the band and sometimes a studio musician. How does that relationship work for you?
Shilts: I originally had become involved with Stuart, on a professional basis of course (laughs), and was invited to play on the second album. That's where this all started, this live part, on the second album. So I have been involved with the writing and recording, but my job has mainly been with the live band.

SV: Stuart, you create the songs, a lot of them by humming into tape recorders! So Shilts…how do you take that and put it to music? How do you two work together?
Shilts: Luck!

SW: Well, Shilts needs to understand what it is I'm influenced in and sort of what I'm into. And I think another way that it works is we're able to communicate with each other really well. I have to be able to get my ideas over to Shilts and Shilts then has to be able to interpret what I'm trying to communicate to him. At the same time, I am trying to have musicians have their own input as well. So it's a lot of give and take.
Shilts: Also, we've been working together now for eight years. I recorded my tracks for this album in my studio in Los Angeles and then sent the stuff back home [to London ] and Stuart takes the stuff he wants. Because I am used to working with Stuart, I can usually get things…it might not be 100% what he wanted, but its pretty close to what he wanted had I been in the studio with him. I think it's based on our experience of working together that makes the distance not too much a problem.

SV: Is it difficult when you then bring in new musicians who aren't used to working that way?
SW: It hasn't been. It was at the beginning because it was fairly new to me and I'm still learning all the time. At the beginning, with all the new musicians, even when I first met Shilts, it was very daunting for me because I was stepping up a gear working with professional musicians…people I'd never met. But the more you do it, the more you learn, the more you get professional, and the more you can get the best out of people a lot quicker so you are not just sitting around in the studio trying to come up with ideas.

SV: Why are there so many New York references in many of the songs?
SW: Mainly because most of my musical influences come from America from the 60s and 70s and what I didn't want to do is start this whole project and pretend that I was coming up with this new style, this new music. What I wanted to show is that my influences come from the 60s and 70s, but what I've tried to slightly do is to put some of the modern day grooves and technology on to merge the two together. So I didn't want to be pretentious and say I discovered this new sound, but wanted it to be a reference to the music that my ideas originated from.

SV: What do you both feel is the attraction to the DTTB sound?
Shilts: From the stage point of view, I think it's the energy. And the fact that clearly we're all enjoying ourselves up there. And the music is great. The music, I mean, has no low moments in the set. It's all up there. Stuart has been running it to be more of an up-tempo set for awhile, and it's built to a point now where I think it really works. The new album…normally we don't get as much of a chance to feature as many new tracks on a set that works within that set, but this one I think works really well. It's a great set.

SV: Stuart, do you evaluate the set and the crowd from the back during the band's performance?
SW: I do. I like to see how it comes across and which tracks work well together. If you think about it, I am in an enviable position. I mean, how many other guys who are in a band actually get to stand in the crowd and experience seeing it first-hand. Not many musicians probably actually get to experience their own music performed live and be amongst the crowd, or hear what people are saying, or which tracks people suddenly stop talking on. So for me and for the band, it is sort of an ideal situation because I can give them a first-hand account of what is going on in the crowd.

SV: So, what have you heard about the new CD, Spread Love Like Wildfire?
Shilts: It's rubbish!!! (laughs)

SW: I think personally from this album – and we've only had a short time here. It's only been one week rehearsing for our gigs, and I wish we had a longer period of time – but I think the music from this album has transposed to the live version a lot better than a lot of the other albums.

SV: Why do you think that is?
SW: Energy, I think.
Shilts: I found it easier to do the live arrangements on this particular tour than I have in the past. I found that there was more to work with, more energy, and I had more ideas. The moment I got the CD and put it on, the ideas started flowing as to what I wanted the live side to be like, because obviously Stuart does the studio thing. He's always sort of said to me, “I really want the live side. I don't want it to be exactly the same as this. I want to give a little bit more of a twist on the stuff.” And it does. You've got the basis of great music there, but then we can still turn it around and send it in other directions that are still within the framework of the plan.
SW: And you usually end up with a lot of the tracks, for the live writer, usually faster than they are on the CDs, and you try to make it slightly different, otherwise you might just as well play the CD on stage. I think it is always important that when you do the live side, you are able to take the music a step up, because the last thing you want is for people to come up to you and say, “I bought your CD and I've seen the band and I prefer the CD.” If that's the case, there's not much point in doing it live.

SV: This CD definitely has a different feel to it. Funky horn section. A lot more retro horns. Why the change? Why go in a different direction this time?
SW: I did that deliberately. I'm trying with each album, especially since Crazy Vibes and Things, to step it up a bit…make it funkier, make it more in the direction I want to go. With this album, I sort of completely ignored any suggestions I may have gotten from the record label or from radio stations. With this particular album, I'm actually going in the direction that I personally wanted to go. And Narada, at this stage, are totally behind me, so I am in a good situation.
Shilts: They are behind him…right now! (both laughing) Don't you see them?!
SW: So far, as long as it works, the record label will stay behind me.

SV: Stuart, do you play any instruments at all?
Shilts: He plays PlayStation! (both laugh)
SW: No. Well…if the Dictaphone is classified as an instrument…!! I do play air guitar, does that count?
Shilts: Wicked air guitar!
SW: Sometimes it is very frustrating that I don't play, but at the same time if I did I might end up paying more attention to what I was doing as an individual rather than the track as a whole. So, I think because I don't play, I can actually listen to the track as a whole and be a little bit more ruthless about what works and doesn't work. If I had specifically played it, whether it worked or not, I might be more enthusiastic to keep it.
Shilts: I don't play PlayStation! I play flute, keyboards, and all saxophones. As a boy, I used to play hooky at school!

SV: Shilts, any new solo projects for you?
Shilts: Yes. I am currently working on something top secret. That's all I can say.

SV: Someone I was recently talking to referred to an interview long ago with Miles Davis. Miles had said he constantly has music in his head. Is that how it is with both of you?
SW: Hopefully, Shilts would say the same thing, but is very difficult to switch off from music.
Shilts: It's your life. It's what we do. I wouldn't go so far as to say that there are things constantly in my head!!!!! (laughing) But being a parent, it's usually things like the wheels on the bus go round and round…!! But the music is a big part of your life. There are other distractions, but this is it. For myself… trying to work at home and write at home…it would be lovely if I could treat it like a day job, you know. But there are distractions, like children, and you do the best you can. It would nice to be able to focus on a project for a period of time.
SW: You have to be disciplined to be able to separate the two things. I have just moved my studio back into my house. I was always able to separate it, leave the house and treat it as work. When I would come home, if I had an idea and didn't have my Dictaphone with me, I would phone work at 2:00 a.m. and hum this idea so that when I got back to work I would play the idea back to me from my answer phone.

SV: Shilts, does he ever call you in the middle of the night and hum to you over the phone?
SW: I'd be too embarrassed to do that!!!
Shilts: If he did that, it would be a very, very short phone call!
SW: And probably not a very polite one, either! I am always worried that at two in the morning, I'm ringing someone else's answering machine and they're thinking who the hell is this idiot?! And then they hear LA LA LA LA being hummed! Actually, I don't know if Shilts is like me, but when I get home, I try not to listen to too much music. I hardly listen to the radio. I have a massive record collection, but you have to try mentally to switch off sometimes.

SV: So, where do you see Down to the Bone going from here?
SW: For me the next most important thing is to get more gigs. I think that's essential and I keep putting my manager and my agent under pressure because, I think live-wise, we haven't scratched the surface yet. There are so many more cities that we need to get to. At practically every city I have people saying, “Oh, why haven't you come to Denver or Seattle?” So that's why I think that is absolutely essential. It is very difficult to get the gigs.
Shilts: You would think that after reactions like we received tonight [at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA], we would have more gigs. You wouldn't think it would be so difficult. In the eight years that we've been playing live, I don't think we've ever gotten a bad reaction or bad review. It's just disappointing that what we do is held back by other things out of our control. We're always trying to get things going for the band and it would be really nice if we could take a step upwards. For now our gigs have been steady. It's been quite steady, not upward.
SW: Originally when we formed the band, we would come out sporadically through the year, but it has stayed the same sort of number of gigs. We feel that DTTB, especially live-wise, has a huge crossover potential because we do a lot of city festivals where people from all backgrounds come out. And they have never heard of the band but all absolutely love it. Unfortunately you can't do everything yourself, so I have to leave certain things in the trust of others. So I have to leave the live side and trust my management and my agent that they are trying to get more gigs.

SV: Well, I want to thank you both for taking the time to sit down and chat about the band, the music, and the humming!
SW: Thank you.
Shilts: It's been a pleasure.

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