Good Paper has become a fixture in Starkville’s music scene as of late. Formerly known as Don’s Chuck Wagon before changing its name to Moose Pass, the band got its start eight years ago in Greenville, a city most notable for blues-heavy musical heritage. Rob Mortimer plays guitar and sings, Scott Doler plays bass, Kent Poss handles lead guitar and Jeremy Ward, formerly of the band The Ward, plays drums. Ben Skelton grew up in Greenville and was the band’s original drummer but decided to join the Peace Corps last year.
Mortimer was able to sit down and speak about the band’s experiences.
What transformations has the band experienced with its sound, live shows, etc. since its inception?
Mortimer: The band started in Greenville in 1999 as Don’s Chuck Wagon, and consisted of Scott Doler on bass, Ben Skelton on drums and myself on vocals and guitar. I felt that I was not good enough to carry the band as a lead guitarist and vocalist, therefore we added a guitarist, and I sang and played rhythm.
We’ve never been able to keep a lead guitarist. Something always comes up, and they have to leave town or their finger gets cut off in an elevator, rehab, ex-wives, etc.
Finally, after all this lead guitar drama, I decided to just step up and play lead and sing, and that’s really has been what has kept us going for this long. When your starting quarterback goes down you just send Vinny Testeverde in.
In late 2006, Ben Skelton, our original drummer, decided to join the Peace Corps. This was almost the last of Good Paper because all of the songs Scott and I had written had been with Ben. Luckily we had done a few shows with Jeremy Ward and his band, and as a fan of our music he gladly accepted when we offered him the role of being Good Paper’s new drummer.
Jeremy and I met through music and later found out we were both in the funeral business. Jeremy also brought Kent Poss into the band as a second guitarist.
As far as the name goes, we just kept changing it because we couldn’t find one we liked.
What do you do to prepare for such an energetic show, or is that just the band’s personality set to music?
R.M.: Basically, I am a hyper-active person and I love everything about James Brown: His music, dancing, clothes, his cape and just his basic point of view. That being said, in the early days of the band we recorded ourselves playing for a small crowd at Tipitina’s in New Orleans. After the show, we watched the show on VHS. We decided that our stage presence was awful.
When be got back to the Delta, I watched “James Brown: Live at the Apollo.” Next, we learned the song “Sex Machine” and I tried to act just like James Brown. “Sex Machine” is a song that has to be done at the end of a show, because of the amount of intensity it brings.
A band can get boring to watch if stage presence is not there. I’d rather watch a mediocre band with a gimmick and great stage presence than a phenomenal band that sits or stands in one place. 90 percent of it is looking good.
How did the band come up with the name Good Paper?
R.M.: In 2003 we were on our way back home from Wilmington, N.C., and the band decided that we were sick of the name Moose Pass. It meant nothing. Ben Skelton used to collect receipts, candy wrappers, business cards and any kind of paper.
He would take this paper and crumble it repeatedly and rub his skin and face with it; basically, he had a paper fetish. I have A.D.D., so the sound of this paper against skin would drive me up the wall.
I would constantly ask him to stop and his answer was always “Hey, man. This is good paper.”
What direction is Good Paper headed in, specifically regarding tour plans, any major shows and a new record?
R.M.: We’re looking forward to a big Halloween show at Dave’s Dark Horse and a run at the Walnut Street Blues Bar over the Christmas holidays.
We are also working on a Colorado and Carolinas tour for summer of 2008.
We are also working on a new album that will hopefully be out by spring 2008 with 10 to 12 new songs.
Also, I am trying to sell our song “Just the Way You Like It” for commercial use to the Subway sandwiches franchise.
From what I gather, Ben Skelton, the original drummer, was a pretty dynamic character while in the band. How did he contribute to the band and why did he decide to join the Peace Corps?
R.M.: Ben is the best drummer I have ever seen or played with. Ben, Scott and I started this band. We all went to the same high school and all have very different personalities and lifestyles.
There we some people that came to our shows just to watch Ben’s antics.
For example, Ben received an academic scholarship to Auburn with hopes to pursue a career in the medical field and declined it. He would say things in the microphone that had nothing to do with nothing, he cuts his own hair unsymmetrical, he does not accept or give gratuity, he will eat out of a public trash can and every year on Dec. 23 he shaves one side of his beard and leaves the other side hairy.
He once landscaped a downtown night club in the middle of the day with only a weed-eater and a pair of whitey-tighties for no pay.
In 2001, he chose not take a bath for a full year, and lived for three weeks without running water or a bathroom. In 2002, he decided that he would wear the same plaid shirt for a full year.
Now, why does he do any of this stuff? I don’t know, but if he writes an autobiography, I will read it.
How can you describe Good Paper’s sound and live performance to readers that haven’t heard or seen you guys before?
R.M.: We are original pop, rock and soul group, strongly influenced by Delta blues. We were once described in a Colorado newspaper as “Modest Mouse with Ike Turner singing.