Chuck E. Weiss

All Music Guide:

The ultimate scene-maker, Chuck E. Weiss has spent a career hobnobbing with the cool and famous in rock's hierarchy while barely pursuing a career of his own. Born in Denver, Weiss was originally a drummer, touring with bluesman Lightnin' Hopkins. By the late '60s, Weiss had performed and/or recorded with Willie Dixon, Muddy Waters, Dr. John, Roger Miller, and others. While still living in Denver, he struck up a friendship with singer/songwriter Tom Waits, later writing songs like "Spare Parts" with him and moving to Los Angeles. Living at West Hollywood's infamous Tropicana Motel with Waits and singer Rickie Lee Jones, Weiss became the subject of Jones' hit "Chuck E.'s in Love." Weiss' career finally stumbled off the launching pad with the 1981 release of The Other Side of Town, a collection of demo tapes released on Select Records. Rather than follow this up with a proper release, Weiss instead put together a band called the G-d Damn Liars and spent the next 11 years performing a weekly gig at the L.A. nightclub the Central and later partnered with friend Johnny Depp to convert the club into the Viper Room. After a 18-year hiatus from recording, Weiss' second album, Extremely Cool, was released on a Rykodisc subsidiary, Slow River, in 1999. Old Souls & Wolf Tickets appeared in 2001, followed by 23rd & Stout in 2007.

Wikipedia:

Chuck E. Weiss is an American songwriter and vocalist.

History

Chuck E. Weiss grew up in Denver, Colorado, where his parents owned a record store (Record Center). Through his parents, and by spending time at the local blues bar Ebbett's Field, he met Lightnin' Hopkins. Hopkins was impressed with his drum playing and took him on tour, where Weiss had the opportunity to play with Muddy Waters, Howlin' Wolf, Roger Miller, Dr. John, and others.

Music

Weiss was initially featured on the 1990 album L.A. Ya Ya, a compilation of performances by Los Angeles-based blues artists.

Weiss released the album Extremely Cool in 1999, featuring extensive collaboration with Tony Gilkyson and Tom Waits, who co-produced the album for his longtime acquaintance (they met in 1974 at Ebbett's Field, where Weiss played in the house band) and appears on at least two tracks. The style is heavily reminiscent of Waits, both in composition and vocal approach. Either could have influenced the other.

Old Souls and Wolf Tickets was released in early 2002, also produced by Gilkyson, perhaps less reminiscent of Tom Waits and more redolent of Delta blues acts decades older. Weiss's music includes strains of every rhythmic style from nursery rhymes to zydeco.

Weiss was the subject of Rickie Lee Jones's hit song "Chuck E.'s In Love", from her 1979 debut album. At the time Jones was linked romantically to Tom Waits. All three lived in the Tropicana Hotel in Los Angeles, in the middle of a fertile musical scene including Levi and the Rockettes, The Stray Cats, Black Flag, Frank Zappa and others.

Weiss is referred to in Tom Waits titles and lyrics from the album Small Change, as well as passing references on Nighthawks at the Diner.

Weiss has also played with legendary bassist Willie Dixon, who was quoted on the original packaging of Extremely Cool ("Ain't ya got ears son? That little Jew boy with the big old head be one of the best musicians in this town, this country even.") "Down the Road a Piece," from Old Souls & Wolf Tickets, is a 1970 recording of the two playing together.

In 1995, Weiss played washboard on 's self-titled album. The band featured Gibby Haynes of the Butthole Surfers and actor Johnny Depp.

Weiss says his biggest musical idol is Louis Jordan.

In 2006, Weiss released the album 23rd & Stout, an album more reminiscent of Waits's 80s output, featuring an exploration of many blues and rumba styles, as well as a tribute to Sterling Holloway, entitled "Sho' Is Cold". Also featured is long time friend and collaborator Diablo Dimes.

Weiss has been associated with Los Angeles and Southern California for years, saying he does not like to travel by airplane. Weiss played 11 years of Mondays at a club called the Central before it fell on hard times. Weiss and his friend Johnny Depp (who was executive producer on the first track on Extremely Cool) were instrumental in resuscitating it as the Viper Room, which later became notorious when River Phoenix died there in 1993. Extremely Cool makes reference to Canter's Kibitz Room, a small nightclub in a larger diner in Los Angeles's Fairfax District, where Weiss has also played habitually. His regular band is called The G-d Damn Liars.

A cover of "Extremely Cool" by Chuck E. Weiss will be featured on Morgan Hill's debut album, Psychedelic Blues. Currently a version of the cover exists on soundcloud.com/zachsinger.