Rucker, Darius - of Hootie and the Blowfish

By: Dominick A. Miserandino

Hootie and the Blowfish is known for quite a few hits, but in this interview we explore what makes the band work, not just musically, but with each other. How does this band function so well together for such a long time?

DM) When the band's second album, Fairweather Johnson didn't sell as many copies as your debut release, Cracked Rear View, you received a lot of extreme, and in my opinion, unfair criticism. Did that effect the band's working together and how does that effect your latest releases?

DR) It sounds like bullshit, but for us, it's really about being able to play. We do what we love for a living and that's amazing. We're not like most bands, for other bands, the music is all that they have together. We're pretty close guys. It's like a mafia. We're in it for life. When you're in it, you're in.

DM) Besides music, it seems like you're into the golf and other charity events together too. So it's not just music?

DR) All of the stuff outside of music, we try to do together. It's better to do it that way. This is our tenth year for the golf tournament, for example.

DM) It sounds like you're fortunate to do what you enjoy doing in your career. What has been the happiest point in your career?

DR) Probably, the happiest point was playing in the clubs. That was right before we got signed. From New York down to Florida we were the shit. We could play any club we wanted and sell out. I loved it. That was rock and roll every night. Sweating in the same jeans that you wore for two weeks in a row. That was fun.

DM) Are you saying that the commercial success and emotional success didn't always go up in the same way at the same time?

DR) It's not that we didn't want to succeed to playing at the Garden and stuff. Every band wants that. It's just that those days of playing at the Mad Monk until 3:00 am and driving to Greenville, South Carolina were fun days. I think what made it so fun was that it was just us. Now when you go on tour, you have a crew that needs to make your show go on. I guess it's become more of a job then it was back then, when it was the four of us and a couple of guys in a van. It was rock and roll, I don't know why I keep saying that, but it was.

DM) Speaking of Rock and Roll, last year you released a solo record that wasn't exactly Rock and Roll.

DR) Oh that was just a fun thing. I was waiting to go back to Hootie. Al Green, being so important to me as a musician. That's who I thought I would be as a kid, an R&B singer until I met Mark and Dean. I just wanted to make that record and it was really fun to make. I still get gigs from that. I'm going out with the Funk Brothers in a few weeks.

DM) Does the rest of the band ever get jealous when you go out on the road doing the R&B?

DR) No, I think that's why I made the record that I made. I thought about making other records like an acoustic record, but then I thought those were things I could do with the band. That's why I thought it was so easy for them to accept the record. It's because it doesn't sound anything like what we do.

DM) Was the album, "Scattered, Smothered and Covered" along those lines?

DR) Those are songs that we had in the archives. Usually when we record a record, we grab some beers, and some [Jim] Bean and sit around and start playing songs that we know. Those are songs that we know because somebody liked the CD so much, we brought it to the band and started learning them doing the soundtrack. We were just like, lets do something with these then.

DM) Does everybody have similar interests then?

DR) We've been in the band a long time and we have a few bands that we like a lot. But also, our background is so different and the stuff we listen to now is so different. You could be listening to the Notorious Big one minute and the next minute listen to Brother, Where Art Though?

DM) You've been together for quite some time, has the relationship changed over the years?

DR) Several times. There have been several evolutions of how the guys would react to each other. There were times when Mark [Bryan] and I didn't speak. There were times when we did not say a word to each other. There were times when Soni [Jim Sonefield] and I did not physically say hello to each other. The first time we would speak was when I would step on stage and we'd figure out what song we were playing. Seventeen years is a long time.

DM) How did you guys get the music out when you weren't speaking?

DR) It sounds like a bullshit line, but it was always about playing. If you saw us on stage you wouldn't even know there was a problem. When the show was over, not a word was said. That's all behind us now. We were kids and that was growth shit.

DM) Do you find that you know each other and that you can resolve things quicker?

DR) Those times could never happen again. We know each other too well. We know what's important and also, people know how far they can go. They know how far they can push and what to say. It never gets there anymore, ever.

DM) Even though you're the lead vocalist, are you also the leader, socially, in the group?

DR) We're really democratic about that stuff. The decisions that are made, might be made the way one of us didn't want it to go, but everybody believes that what we decide is best for the band because it's a majority decision. It's always been that way. We sat down a long time ago and decided we were going to do it this way. Fortunately it's worked pretty well.

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