“Hi my name
is Cory Wong. I play music.”
If you got to Cory Wong’s website and click on his “about” section, that's all you get.
While not
real helpful for someone looking to write about him for their blog, it really
does cover it. Cory is a musician. A really damn good one. That’s what matters
and what is important to him and it’s about all you need to know.
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| Cory Wong kicks off his tour in Des Moines on Jan. 10 |
But we’ll
humor you with a few more details.
The
Minneapolis-based guitar player is perhaps best known for his work with
Vulfpeck, the funk group founded in 2011 by Jack Stratton in an effort channel
the work of the Funk Brothers, the Wrecking Crew, and the Swampers of Muscle
Shoals fame. Just some of the most famous and well-respected session musicians
of all time. No big deal.
Cory
contributed to Vulfpeck’s second album, The Beautiful Game, in 2016, and joined
the band again last year on the band’s fourth album, Hill Climber. He also
released an EP in 2018 with the Fearless Flyers quartet on Vulf Records and
works tirelessly with, believe it or not, the Cory Wong Band.
Onstage, Cory
is animated, fun, and exuberantly infectious, not so much a shredder as a
groove master, though there’s little doubt he can throw some licks down if needed. According to the internet, he’s played
alongside Ben Rector, Gene Simmons, the Blind Boys of Alabama, and Bootsy
Collins. He’s worked with The Hornheads, Prince’s legendary horn section, who
also appear on his recently released album, The Optimist.
The Optimist
is an aptly named album. Cory suffered a head injury at the age of 16 that
caused his arm to go numb and which doctors said might lead to his death within
two weeks. Or maybe not. Cory sucked it up, determined to work through it and
make the most of what time he had left. Good news—he didn’t die! But he’s kept
the positive attitude and approach to living life.
So he dealt with
a crippling injury that would end most people’s dreams of playing guitar and went
on to master the craft. Who else has done that? Yngwie Malmsteem, Jerry Garcia, Django
Reinhardt, and Tony Iommi come to mind. Not bad company to keep.
Cory is
launching his tour in support of The Optimist in Des Moines on Jan. 10 at the
Vaudeville Mews. He kindly took some time to answer a few questions for the Bigfoot
Diairies.
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| Those are fucking lightning bolts, folks! |
“I’m just excited to be coming
out to a bunch of new cities that I haven’t played before! It’s super exciting
to be so well received in new places so Des Moines will be a fun and special
show since it’ll be my first time there!”
For those of you who haven’t see
you live, what can they expect?
“I put on a high-energy, FUN
show. It’s a lot of musical gymnastics, but all groove-based. Funk fans will
love it, and jam fans will feel right at home as well.”
How did you learn to play— did
you have formal training? Self-taught? Aliens?
“Well, it’s a little of all
those, haha! I was self-taught for years and then went to music school at
McNally Smith in St. Paul (Minnesota). I would say that the majority of my
training was ‘on-the-job’ training. I got my butt KICKED by playing in bands
where everyone was better than me. It really forced me to step up my game and
use my ears in a new way.”
You played in a drum line in high
school and college. Did your experience as a percussionist influence your
approach to guitar?
“It was a HUGE influence on me.
My drumline and percussion training really got me to a new place with my feeling
for time and my ability to keep consistent time. I spent hours honing the
ability to sit right on the click track, but also trained to play behind it or
in front of it depending on the rhythmic momentum I was trying to achieve.”
We’ve seen your mad moonwalking
skills online. Have you mastered flossing yet?“Haha — yeah, I have a fun time
dancing and had a lot of friends that I grew up with who were great dancers. I
had no choice but to learn a little along the way.”
If you could play one show with any artist – living, dead, or yet to be born, who would it be?
“Yet to be born is interesting
because that leaves it pretttty wide open, but I think I’d have to say Jaco
Pastorius. I’m a big Jaco fan and I think it would be fun to lock in some 16ths
with him.”
Have you had any Spinal Tap
moments you can share?
“I just had one on my last tour
with Vulpeck. We do this thing where I run up to the balcony and do a wireless
guitar ‘phantom of the opera’ style moment during the song ‘Funky Duck.” Most
theatres have a route that I can just run way back and up. Keep in mind that I
move very fast, so the trick is surprising to most people, because before they
realize I’ve let the stage, I’m up in the balcony. We did a show in Paris that
didn’t have a route to the balcony from the backstage areas unless I went up an
elevator. It turned out the ONE time we needed the elevator, there was someone
already in it. The security guard was supposed to hold it for me but by the
time it got down to me I should have already been in the balcony… then… the
guard pressed the wrong button and I RAN out of the elevator straight into the
main lobby of the venue. He ran out after me saying sorry and the band just
stalled until I got up to the top of the venue. It worked out but it was a
really awkward slow-moving elevator. The security guard and I just laughed on
the way down because we both knew it was the perfect Spinal Tap moment.”
Your approach to rhythm guitar
reminds me a bit of Bob Weir of the Grateful Dead. Not necessarily style-wise,
but the way you do more than just keep the house in order while the lead player
takes a stroll, and how you add your own distinctive elements that color what
the other players are doing and respond to and build on. Am I way off base or
do you see yourself like that?
Ah man. Thanks! Yes, that’s 100
percent the job. I think that comes from my pop music background. I subscribe
to the idea that everybody in the band should understand not just what they are
playing at any given time, but also how it functions within the whole of what’s
happening, and even further. If you pay attention to the role that every other
musician/individual is playing on stage and how it contributes, it’ll give you
a much broader understanding of why and how to keep the role you’ve got. Some
musicians get bored playing ‘rhythm’ parts or whatever, I think it’s because
they are too caught up in the one thing they’re doing and don’t understand how
it functions in the bigger picture.
Jan. 10
7:30 PM
$20
With Emily C.Browning
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