Gas, food, lodging

Ah, the perks that come with being a rock star on the road—hotels, limos, groupies, deli trays with those little pieces of bread that are the wrong size for the lunchmeat. In reality, that lifestyle is only experienced by the upper echelon of performers. According to Gwamba, lead singer and guitarist for the Okra Pickles, most local bands that hit the road find out they won’t be living the glamorous life in short order.

“Our last tour was like six or seven months ago,” he says. “We did like three years straight on the road, going three months on, one month off. It was brutal!”

“We” is Gwamba and the rest of the band—Clovis on bass and Ryan on drums. Together, they discovered that long stretches away from home—coupled with cramped conditions in a van, sleazy motels and greasy fast food—can indeed make one long for the comforting confines of Sacramento.

“It was more than we could handle. We finally realized that we don’t have to kill ourselves,” Gwamba says with a laugh.

Thus, the Pickles opted to take some time off from relentless touring and release their new CD, Blue Green. Hugelabel, the independent record company the Pickles record for, gave them what Gwamba calls “the almighty ingredient—money!” and let them have at it. The recording is self-produced, and was recorded for the most part at Pus Cavern, a local studio.

Blue Green is a step up in quality from the band’s debut, No Lifeguard On Duty in the Gene Pool. Along with many new tracks, the new album features a couple of songs re-recorded from the first release.

“We re-recorded some songs because, when we played the first record for radio program directors, they said they liked songs like ‘Grooves a Smoovie’ and ‘Play It Every Day,’ but they weren’t recorded well enough,” Gwamba explains. “So we redid those two and actually got some airplay.”

Not necessarily local airplay, though.

“I think the only place we get played here in town is on Friday Frenzy on 98 Rock,” Gwamba says, laughing.

Although the CD started out to be a harder-rocking effort, Blue Green ended up featuring a softer, more acoustically oriented side of the Pickles, along with the usual smoking swamp rockers. Gwamba says that came about as the band came home from the road.

“When we got home, we kind of mellowed out and wrote some more acoustic stuff,” he says. “So, the new album is more acoustic and earthy [than the first one]. It feels good to us—I love it!”

The release of Blue Green has triggered some interest from various major labels, but Gwamba is skeptical about going that route.

“At this point, I don’t know if I really want to get a major-label deal. I mean, you might get signed, then shelved or something,” he says. “And I guess I’m paranoid about my artistic freedom. We’d like more people to hear our music, but do we want to sell our souls?”

With time off from touring, the band now feels refreshed enough to head back out. Although they’ve criss-crossed the western United States, the Okra Pickles would like to make it all the way across the country to Florida. Still, Gwamba harbors no illusions about what that means.

“When you’re out on the road, it’s rough, bro',” he says, laughing. “I know there are people who think touring is exciting, but they should see how exciting it was for me to have an extra $10 so I could go to the thrift store and get a shirt. Or we’d pull into a motel and go, ‘Whoa! It has a soda machine and a pool. Kick ass!’

“It feels so good when you finally come home," he adds. "I guess that’s just the way I am now. I just dig smoking my pipe in my crib."