Landing an interview with Nardwuar is a sure sign you're making it in today's musical landscape. Yesterday, Tampa-refined big deal Benjamin Booker hit that milestone when the Human Serviette himself welcomed him — along with bandmates Max Norton and Alex Spoto — to British Columbia by pulling off another characteristically awesome chat complete with gifts (a 45 RPM single by cross-dressing Canadian soul singer Jackie Shane) and more than a few really random facts.
The nine-minute video clip even digs up a 2012 email Booker sent to Nardwuar asking for an internship. Nardwuar suggested he head to his local college or community radio station, and even asked Booker about his Sunday show on Gainesville's community internet radio station —Grow Radio.
What's really great about the interview is the way Booker — who did end up doing some intern work at beloved local music rag REAX— talks about using journalism as a way to talk to bands he liked (Miami folk-pop princess Rachel Goodrich even gets a shout out). Norton and Spoto — who once anchored long-gone beloved local act Roppongi's Ace — even get to chime in and mention seeing The Henchmen play Skipper's Smokehouse back in 2005.
"We were teenagers," said Spoto. "Skipper's is very fine establishment off the I-275 corridor in Tampa — they have fantastic alligator chili."
There's also talk about Chicago bluesman Tampa Red, whose slide guitar-laden output was partly inspired by the streets of Ybor City, and why blues purists don't gravitate to Booker's brand of brash, bluesy rock.
Watch and enjoy the whole thing below. You can catch Booker & co. when they come come to play the Coral Skies Music Festival in October. More information on that show is available here, and you can read Leilani's review of Benjamin Booker's debut LP here.