Jimmy Messa is the bassist for the Subdudes . Jimmy began his music career playing on Bourbon Street. He joined the Subdudes in 2002. Jimmy recently wrote in to discuss playing with Levon Helm, the songwriting process within the Subdudes, and his favorite venues to play in NOLA.
McClain Johnson: How old were you when you first started playing bass?
Jimmy Messa on stage with Steve Amadee. (Photo Credit: Subdudes.com)
Jimmy Messa: I started playing bass when I was about 13 or 14 years old. I had been playing drums since I was 11, then my drums were stolen from our garage-band practice pad, so I got my parents to buy me a Gibson EB-0 bass so I could try something new. I guess it worked out pretty well, I’m still doin’ it!
MJ: Who are some of your favorite bassists?
JM: My favorite bassists are the main guys, the few guys who started it all…
James Jamerson, of course, the engine of all the Motown classics, McCartney , of course, Dee Murray from the early Elton stuff, Stephen Stills when he plays bass on that early C.S.N. stuff, & of course the mighty George Porter! I like those ’60′s players.
MJ: You are from Chalmette. What did you enjoy most about growing up there?
JM: Growing up in Chalmette was absolutely great. When I was a kid it was still very wild, lots of canals & bayous & ponds….lots of wildlife, we’d always have a turtle under the house or a snake in one of our trees…and I was just 3 blocks from the river levee, it was fun…Then, when I got a little older, I realized we lived exactly 8 miles from the corner of Bourbon & Toulouse! A 15-minute ride & I was in the heart of the French Quarter…which is where I wanted to be, playing music.
MJ: Did you come from a musical family? Were your parents musical?
JM: I guess my family was pretty musical. I have 2 sisters who are older than me, they both always had records playing, Ray Charles, Beatles, Platters, folk music, a pretty eclectic mix, but all quality stuff. Plus, they’re both pretty good singers. My dad liked Jim Reeves type country music…My mom taught herself to read music & to play a Hammond organ when she was in her mid ’50′s, which I thought was quite an accomplishment!
MJ: Are you still based in NOLA?
JM: Yep, I still live in New Orleans. Well, Slidell, actually. My wife, Beth, and I bought a house on the water in Slidell about one year before Katrina. Before that we lived in Old Metairie. But like a lot of New Orleanians, I have lived in practically every single section of the city: Mid-City, Old Metairie, Chalmette, Kenner, Poydras, the Quarter, etc, etc…& I have never lived in another city. I’m here to stay.
MJ: Where did you play your first gig in NOLA?
JM: The first gig I played in New Orleans was actually out in Avondale at a place called the Stagecoach Lounge, which later became Old Man River’s. Old Man River’s got pretty famous later for having bands like the Police & Savoy Brown play there…anyway, I was 15 years old on that first gig…playing Santana & Wilson Pickett & the hits of the day…
MJ: You played for many years on Bourbon Street. What were the best and worst experiences of working on Bourbon?
JM: Yes, I have played on Bourbon Street for quite a while now! My first gig down there was at Big Daddy’s strip club in 1972…and believe it or not I still have a gig about half a block away from there. I play on the corner of Bourbon & Toulouse about 4 times a week when I’m in town & not on the road with the Subdudes. The best & worst things about the Quarter? Impossible to say! You can have the time of your life and the worst night imaginable in the same night, any night you’re there…One thing I’d love to see is more respect for the many fine musicians who play down there. Not every single one is a hack, there are a lot of fine players and they get a bad rap because they’re dismissed as ‘just Quarter musicians…’
MJ: You’re worked with many NOLA musicians (Anders Osborne, Johnny Adams ). What New Orleans musicians would you like to work with that you haven’t yet?
JM: I’d really like to get to know the players I’ve seen for years but never really connected with…some I’ve met briefly, but it sure would be nice to play with: Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas, my hero Mac Rebbenack…
If any of you guys are reading this & you need a bass player….gimme a call!
John Magnie, Jimmy Messa and Tommy Malone of the Subdudes. (Photo Credit: Subdudes.com)
MJ: You’ve played with Levon Helm. As a bassist, how do you approach classic songs that aren’t your own?
JM: Well, you just play ‘em! Classic, soulful, solid music like Levon played was just my cup of tea. That was a real treat. I just tried to emulate what was on the recordings of the tunes and also try to put my little monogram on it a bit too.
There’s another guy I sure wouldn’t mind playin’ with some more (Levon, are you reading this…?)
MJ: How has your style as a bassist evolved over the years?
JM: Well, that’s a good question! I guess it (hopefully) gets a little smoother & a little more ‘economical’ as time goes by. As your style unfolds, you just try to leave out what doesn’t work as much as you can. What’s left works!
MJ: How did you first become a part of the Subdudes?
JM: I first started playing with Tommy & John in a band called the Continental Drifters, along with Johnny Alan and various drummers, mainly Carlo Nuccio & Barry Flippen. That was the core of the Subdudes, just under a different name. That musta been about ’83 or ’84-ish. Then they hooked up with another Bourbon Street regular, Steve Amedee and it really clicked. They moved to Colorado, changed the name to the Subdudes, had some great success…& like a dunce, I stayed in Metairie, and I didn’t start playin’ with them again ‘til 2002.
MJ: How does the songwriting process work in the Subdudes?
JM: It works in mysterious ways. Sometimes Tommy will have a pretty compl
eted song, sometimes John will. Sometimes they’ll collaborate. Sometimes they’ll have just a sketchy idea and the whole band ‘fills in the blanks’. Sometimes it just comes up out of thin air and there’s no explaining it. So…it can happen with us any which way…
MJ: Do you try to change up the setlist every time you play?
JM: We change it a little bit but some of the tunes are our ‘standards’ that the people just want to hear…All The Time In The World, Late At Night, etc, so would do those consistently, but we’ll throw in the odd surprise now & then…’Stranger’, or ‘Wide Load’, something like that…
MJ: Do you have a favorite Subdudes song to play live?
JM: I love them all, seriously. We have, in my humble opinion, some great tunes…They’re all my favorites.
MJ: What are some of your favorite venues to play in NOLA?
JM: I like to play Jazz Fest, of course, that to me is about the best gig in the world. Tip’s is fun, H.O.B. is very nice, the Maple Leaf, Southport has a great vibe…I like ‘em all!
MJ: You tour a ton. What have been some of your favorite moments onstage?
JM: I guess my favorite moment can be at any gig, any time, anywhere in this big round world, as long as the band is really together, in sync, on the same page…and luckily it does seem to happen for us pretty often. We have some adventurous ‘moments’. To be more specific, I really like performing at a lot of the festivals we do, a nice summer day, a gigantic P.A. system, some other great acts on the bill, those are a lot of fun…
MJ: The Subdudes are primarily known as an acoustic band. Do you prefer playing acoustic or electric?
JM: Apples & oranges. There are wonderful aspects of doing it either way. When we play acoustically, we use ‘in-ear’ monitors, the sound is very pristine, it’s very easy to hear everything, it’s kind of like recording…and it feels great, but playing with a nice, big, growling bass rig is pretty thrilling too! I’d have to say, I like both ways of doin’ it….
MJ: What advice would you give to up-and-coming musicians?
JM: Advice? From me?? Do the opposite of whatever I do…
For more info on the Subdudes, check out http://www.subdudes.com/
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