Screamin' Cheetah Wheelies
Gigz with Mike Farris the lead singer from SCW
Rock N' Roll Reporter Febuary,'95
GG: We got to catch you guys twice last year, once with
Ian Moore, and more notably, at the H.O.R.D.E.
festival.
Mike: Yeah, that was a real good experience for us man,
we enjoyed that a lot.
GG: In our year end issue, the SCW's were mentioned a
few times by some of our writers as a best of pick
for 94'. So you're performance was memorable to
quite a few people.
Mike: Really.
GG: That isn't bad for only playing 30 or 40 minutes
that you guys were alloted on the second stage.
Mike: It was 30 minutes. But it worked better for us
to take the smaller stage. It was kind of potluck
on the facilities, where they placed that other
stage... peole just rolled over that
hill man, and it turned out to be
a really good thing.
GG: Now for the obvious, how did you guys
hook up?
Mike: Pretty much, everyone is from around
here, around Nashville. Except for
Steve(Burgess), he's from West
Virginia. I guess he's been here for
about 5 years now, and I've been here
for 4 years. We kind of met-up, hit off
the very first night we got
together. We wrote "Shakin' the Blues"
that night. We all knew... it felt
right. There's a certain feeling that
just tells you when things are right.
GG: You're vocals have many different
dynamics and ranges. Is that all
natural, or did you require training?
Mike: As I grew up it was just something that I did. It
wasn't anything that anybody really knew about. I
was closet singing, and it was something I never
really pursued. I just woke up one day and said,
'I think I'm gonna join a band.'
GG: What type of music were you into as you grew up?
Mike: Rock n' roll, gospel, bluegrass, and real country
stuff like Willie (Nelson), Waylon (Jennings), and
Merle (Haggard).
GG: Willie was just on Howard Stern's show the other
night, talking about some real
crazy stuff.
Mike: Talking about the H.O.R.D.E. and
Willie, it's funny, because the
Allmans were inducted into (The
Rock and Roll) Hall of Fame. And
Willie inducted them.
GG: Who else was inducted that you like?
Mike: I really dig Al Green. I was real
happy to see that he made it! He's
one of the great soul singers of
all time.
GG: Being from down the Memphis way, did
you dig Elvis?
Mike: The early Elvis stuff. Elvis dug a
lot of gospel too. You can't escape
it down here, it's all around you. And then, if
you're forced like I was to have older brothers
-who were bringing in all this outside rock n'
roll- and it was really cool.
GG: In your linear notes on the first album, are all of
the names mentioned, brothers?
Mike: Yeah, five brothers.
GG: Big family! Where were you in the litter?
Mike: Right in the middle.
GG: Now I read somewhere that the SCW's used
to sell their plasma just to make
ends meet?
Mike: That's why we did it. We sold
plasma down at this plasma line
down the street. We'ld walk
down there twice a week, a
couple miles across town.
Fifteen dollars a pop and off
we'ld go.
GG: Well hopefully things are a
little better now.
Mike: Yeah, we toured and toured
real heavy on the first album.
When we came off the H.O.R.D.E.
tour, we cut it out, and
now we're working on the second
album.
GG: What we're some of the highlights of the tour for
you?
Mike: Jalmo (Allman Bros.)took up with our drummer
Terry, so he started jamming almost nightly with
them. Before it was over everyone got to jam with
the Allmans. The H.O.R.D.E. had some real big
hittin' acts this year, Big Head Todd-which is a
band I recomend you listen to... and Sheryl Crow...
GG: That girl has got some charisma.
Mike: Yeah, real cool girl too, man. She told me she was
teaching in St. Louis, and she just said, "f*** it,
I'm gonna do it,' and she did it. She's doing it
and I'm happy for her.
GG: Who else did you like?
Mike: Dave Mathew's Band was really happenin'. Rusted
Root was awesome.
GG: They're one of our locals.
Mike: I saw them on TV the other night, everybody dug
those guys a whole lot. The H.O.R.D.E. turned out
some great musicians this year. I don't think there
was a band I just hated.
GG: Where did you recieve your best response from?
Mike: Our biggest market, I'ld have to say, is the whole
Northeast. It's really happenin', and then Florida,
Florida's crazy man.
GG: I guess you grew quite close to the Allman's on the
tour.
Mike: They're really good family, they're good people,
and they were the ones to request us to be on the
tour. And in fact, we were almost not on the tour.
Man, check this out, Dickey (Betts), he's got a son
named Duane, and matter of fact he was on the tour
with us. (He played with his dad in Pittsburgh.)
Dickey told me this story when I was on the (tour)
bus with him one night. He goes, 'you know you
almost didn't make it on here,' and I said, 'What
are you talking about?' And he says,'my son was
downstairs listening to a stack of tapes, and he
comes up and says 'dad I don't think you want this
band, Screamin Cheetah Wheelies, on the tour.' And
Dickey goes, 'what is it?' Duane says, 'they're
like heavy metal, like death metal.'
GG: How did he reach this quite wrong assessment?
Mike: He (Duane)got the tapes mixed up. Their manager
called our manager, and they told the story. But
they took us under their wing, and they really took
care of us. And that's a really comforting feeling.
GG: You guys are currently wrapped up in the next
project. How's it coming?
Mike: We're working on the new songs, which, are coming
together in a productive manner. We're having a
good time doing it. This is a real broad, vague
statement, but it's sounding more 'mature'. It's
sounding really good , and I'm pleased with it.
GG: How does the band get into 'the zone,' or that
state of mind to record?
Mike: Well.... lot's.... of.... hallucinogens. (laughter)
GG: Is that natural hallucinogens?
Mike: Yeah and sometimes you tap into things. Different
means, different things with different people.
I treat it (tripping)with a lot of respect, and
I use it to create , and that's what I use it for.
Creating for me personally, takes a whole
separate life-style. You got to be true to
yourself, before you can ever speak of any truth.
Keep your karma clean. I have a theory-at that
very moment, when, that one person is sitting in
that room by themselves-like I used to do-and
they listen to our album and go, 'Oh! That's it.'
That's when it all clicks for me. And I just
kind of explode and combust.
GG: On your first release, There is a track entitled
"Moses Brown." Is Moses a parody to someone?
Mike: Yeah, It is... I have no idea where it came from.
I just strummed the guitar and sang and played the
first three lines... after that I had to search
for it. I think Moses was a person who came here
from another world, he saw these kids-this is how
I picture is in my head-underneath a tree. He just
came and said, 'Look, I've got to tell you about
this toy you've forgotten about...one that you
haven't played with for very long time.'
GG: What kind of toy?
Mike: To be specific, it's love.
GG: One last question. How was The Screamin' Cheetah
Wheelies name conjured? It seems to sum up the
image of the band well.
Mike: There was a (FarSide)cartoon of these cheetah's on
the flats,and there was a couple of them up above
looking down on these cheetah's in the flats. The
cheetah's in the flats, were up on on their back
legs and they were spinning out. They were heading
down this (specific)route and they were doing
wheelies. I thought, damn, that would be a pretty
cool name.
GG: What was the name going to be before you saw the
comic?
Mike: Big F**ckin Beltbuckle.(laughter)
GG: I don't think Atlantic (Records)would of liked that.
Mike: I don't ethier man.(more laughter)
For More Info Go To
www.wheelies.com
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