by Adelie Salagnac
photos by Brandon Finney
Love & Special Sauce are back in Philly on Saturday, March 26th, for a show to remember. I was lucky enough to speak with Garrett Dutton, aka G. Love, right before their show in Boston, to talk about the band roaming the world a good 70% of the year.
“We can’t do it without great fans!” Dutton says. “We have been blessed with an amazing fanbase. Certainly, if people were not coming to the shows every night, we wouldn’t be going on tour. We are thankful, and we know that this is a big part of our success, the people that support us.”
More than 20 years into the music industry, Dutton has been around long enough to be considered a seasoned musician – an extremely talented and humble one, on top of that. He adds: “The other thing is music. It sounds kind of obvious, but really, if you put love and work into music, then you get that back on stage every night.”
So, passion, uh? Would that be the ultimate secret to longevity in the music industry? Dutton quickly adds to the list things such as continuously coming up with new material and making new records, pushing yourself musically, to staying relevant. He says: “To us, as a band, it’s all about moving forward and doing something different, while still embracing the records and the music that we’ve made in the past.”
However, as many of you know, G. Love & Special Sauce’s history has not been as smooth as a flowing river, and just as any relationship, it has not been one of undisturbed peace and harmony, the different members parting ways many years ago. “I think that when we took a break, we needed it,” Dutton admits. “We were creatively a little stagnant, and it was starting to get a little toxic. It was good to take a step apart. Sometimes, a pause is a refresher, they say.” Much to the fans’ pleasure, the band decided to bring back the original line-up, after six years apart.
“Everybody can play any part, you can go get the best players in town to make a record or whatever, but there is something about really being a band, you know? We kind of realized ‘Man, there is such a special chemistry when we play music together!’ I think we all recognized that right away when we got back together. You can’t put a value on something so theoretical, like chemistry, but for us, we knew we had it, and we know we still have it. We took some time apart, we went and did other things, but when we came back, we realized that we really had something special.”
At first only reunited for the recording of the band’s album Sugar, everyone had such a strong feeling about this new album that they just felt they needed to get this thing on the road, together. Just like old times.
Fast-forward to today. G. Love & Special Sauce is stronger than ever and riding a creative high, currently touring the United States to promote their latest record, the 10th to date, Love Saves The Day, as part of an international run.
“Certainly, different regions and different countries have different kind of culture response to music,” Dutton says about touring the world. “But in the end, it’s all about getting people happy, and getting people excited, inspired. We just put everything that we have into every show.”
Seeing every single show as a brand new and wonderful opportunity, Dutton makes a point of keeping the performance as amazing as possible, not matter the place, the time, or the things that might be going on in his personal life at that time.
“I have a room full of people, and a microphone, my guitar, and a great band,” Dutton says. “I can make whatever I want out of that, so I try to make it the most amazing performance possible, to step up and be the best version of myself that I can be, and the best player I can be. You really are giving your whole self to the music and to the show.”
And the best thing is – Dutton is not planning on stopping playing music any time soon. He’s one of those road dogs, “touring the world until I fall off the earth”.
Two decades into being a musician, I couldn’t help but ask G. Love advice for any up-and-coming artist looking up to him and his career. With no hesitation, Dutton immediately mentioned originality as the single most important thing to have. “Anybody can practice an instrument over and over again, so you get really good,” he admits, “but originality is the single most important thing. You have to have an original thing that makes you stand out from the rest of the crowd, from the rest of the noise going on.” No surprise his motto has always been “be original and be true to what you do”.
He adds: “That’s not enough in itself, because you have to have a work ethic, and thrive to get yourself out there. A lot of people can’t figure out how to promote themselves, how to hustle themselves into a gig. There are lots of people that are tremendous artists and musicians, but no one really ever hears about them, because they can’t figure out how to get themselves in front of people and deliver what they are in front of people.”
That’s something that G. Love would know, starting off playing every venue and bar in Philadelphia, back in the day. Known for his live performances and for touring around the world, Dutton remembers his beloved Philly: “I played every place,” he says “from the smallest places to the biggest ones. This time we’re playing the Fillmore, which is a place I’ve never played before, so I’m really excited about seeing this beautiful new venue. We’ve played so many great shows at the TLA, the Electric Factory… I’m really looking forward to the show, and we’ll have a great crowd coming out.”
