Episode 19 with Tommy Malone (Subdudes)
My guest today is Mr. Tommy Malone. You know there is just something about hearing someone from South Louisiana belt out a vocal or play a guitar solo- they just seem to have a certain "thing" to the way they phrase and deliver a line and my guest Tommy Malone certainly epitomizes that.
Tommy is a New Orleans based singer/songwriter and guitarist who, in my opinion is criminally overlooked as one of the best of the New Orleans scene. (His brother Dave Malone is one of the founding members of another one of the great New Orleans party bands- The Radiators.)
Tommy is probably best known as one of the founders and lead singer of The Subdudes, one of the best known bands to emerge out of the New Orleans scene in the late 1980’s early 1990’s. Using a unique instrumentation by replacing the traditional drum kit with percussion and tamborine, and oftentimes accordion along with guitar and bass, they created their own version of funky New Orleans flavored roots/rock with an acoustic edge.
Having made 11 records with the Subdudes as well as 3 solo records- one of which I had the pleasure of working on called “Natural Born Days”- which we’ll talk about here. We also talk about Tiny Town, a short lived band that made one record that is one of my faves.
In this interview, recorded on beautiful a fall-like day in early September at my home in New Orleans, Tommy tells me about his influences, guitars (and as usual when we hang out, we laugh like 5th graders and tell jokes, constantly goofing off.) Even though we do clown around a good bit in this one, there is some great info and for fans of Tommy and the Subdudes maybe a few stories you haven’t heard. Hope you like this one!
Recorded- New Orleans Sept 2017