Neal Hooks & the Pocomoke Sound Are Writing Folk Songs Like Southern Epics
Punk Head: When you’re out on the Pocomoke River, fishing or crabbing, do melodies just come to you like the tide, or do you find yourself carrying the river’s rhythm back into the studio?
Neal Hooks & the Pocomoke Sound: The rhythm of the Pocomoke River is in the blood. It never leaves. Melodies are all around us all of the time, but it takes certain circumstances lining up in a moment for a melody to present itself as a vessel for our emotions, or to tell the story that begs to be told at that time. In truth, most of our time on the river is spent in laughter and jubilee... the songs form later, upon reflection usually.
Punk Head: You’ve mentioned each song is a patch on life’s quilt. Is there a particular patch on The Lure that still makes you laugh, cry, or shake your head every time you play it?
Neal Hooks & the Pocomoke Sound: Yes, for me it's "Waiting for Amelia". It hits me in my feels whenever I hear it. This song was the result of a real honest look at my relationships in many different capacities and how they have informed my understanding of Llove. Pocomoke is a small town where everyone knows everyone, hence the line in the chorus "...my heart breaks so loud in this town..." which speaks to how it can feel like even your most personal moments are public domain in such a small tight community. In this song I use the four seasons of our region to show some of the different ways I remember experiencing Llove, while also dreaming of finding a partner who is not from this tiny corner of the world. Amelia is not someone I knew, but rather an idea inspired by Amelia Bassano, who was the first woman to have her own book of poetry published in the English language (in 1610). She was a muse to Shakespeare, who often referenced her in his sonnets (pub. 1609). I fancied the idea of someone like her drifting down the river to find me waiting there on the bank. I reckoned she'd ignite the creative parts of my heart and mind. Lastly, and very importantly, the lead guitar work, performed by Gabe Resto, really moves me on this recording. He so perfectly captures the emotion of this moment and it often gets me choked up on that double bend note near the end of the second solo.
Punk Head: Loretta warns both fish and people. Has there ever been a moment in your own life where a “lure” almost got you hooked—musically, romantically, or otherwise?
Neal Hooks & the Pocomoke Sound: Oh lawwwd have mercy, great question! If I tell the full truth here this interview will turn in to a full on memoir, which might read something like the Iliad and The Odyssey, so let's not, wink wink. In short, yes to all of the above, especially "otherwise" lol. Romantically, Llove always gets its hooks into you, I reckon that's why it can make a weak man feel mighty and a mighty man feel weak! Musically, one example would be the hook on Ben E. King's "Stand By Me". I mean just WOW... if that doesn't move you it might be time to check for a pulse. It hooked me to know that music could bring out that raw nerve of knowing something so beautiful could simultaneously bear the weight of so much underlying pain. I am hooked on trying to find that in music over and over again. It's an obsession for me really. The "otherwise" portion will be left unattended in this interview (I'm gonna save that for a memoir I will likely never write- but thanks for the idea pal).
Punk Head: “Baby Face” dives into the psyche of a historical figure. Were there any surprising discoveries or connections you felt while researching him that made you rethink how you tell stories through music?
Neal Hooks & the Pocomoke Sound: Yes, actually there was a discovery of sorts that had a profound impact on me as I learned about Baby Face Nelson. I was surprised to learn that several historians have suggestion that Baby Face suffered from undiagnosed bi-polar disorder, which may be able to explain his only feeling truly alive when he was engaged in his highfalutin, high risk behavior and criminality. The man existed in a time when these types of disorders were not understood at all and he could never get any relief from those struggles with his own mind. While this by no means excuses his murderous, abusive behavior... it did give me a more nuanced lens from which to view his story, giving voice to the way I chose to go about telling it. I now look for these kinds of alternate perspectives whenever I am writing a storyteller type of song. Nice question.
Punk Head: Recording live seems almost like capturing lightning in a bottle. Was there a moment in the studio where everything just clicked and you felt the river’s energy flowing through the room?
Neal Hooks & the Pocomoke Sound: There are several moments like this every time we hit the studio. We all grew up along the banks of the Pocomoke River, so there is that shared energy between Jeremy, Jon, Gabe and myself. This is our third album together (the first two were under the name "Neal Hooks", which we are in the process of changing to "Neal Hooks & the Pocomoke Sound" as well. It's a pain in our asses, y'all!). Back to the question, and probably many bands can relate- when we practice in the garage it's much louder and muddier, but in the studio everyone in the band saddles up there headphones and dives into tracking with a sense of "wow, I can hear EVERYTHING so clearly now!!!", almost like the Jimmy Cliff of audio sensory experience. When that feeling hits us it really makes the live tracking so much more fun for us. We truly feel at home in the studio with Drew Mazurek, who is simply a world class engineer! On this album, the song was "Baton Rouge", just a killer moment for us as a band. I literally showed Jeremy Mason (drums) and Jon Ennis (bass guitar) the song the night before we went in to the studio. Gabe Resto (lead guitar) had heard the tune prior. We went through it a few times the very night before the studio and then basically rolled out of bed the next day, wiped the sleep from our eyes, and nailed it on the second take. Jon says it's his favorite song on the album. Nice!
Punk Head: Growing up along the Chesapeake, the seasons clearly shape your music. Can you describe a moment—a sunrise, a storm, a quiet winter morning—that became a song or a lyric on the album?
Neal Hooks & the Pocomoke Sound: Hell to the absolute yesssss! Back to "Waiting for Amelia"! The song's first chorus-typey-ishy part (I don't write a lot of choruses, it's a thing that has been brought to my attention :/ ) starts "...Honeysuckle in spring, red apples in autumn, remind me of your kiss...". When I was a kid, with my brother, cousins, and friends- we woud walk along the railroad tracks from our elementary school all the way to the river's edge. It was a fair hike for all those little legs. In spring we would stop along this patch of chain link fence that had honeysuckles and we'd all stand there just a pluckin' em' from the vine and sucking on the sweet nectar. Looking back, I feel like those were some of the purest moments of Llove I have ever known. There was no agenda other than being grateful to be there with each other and trying to squeeze the most out of the moment. What a beautiful thought. Then, and to this day, you can go out to Vessey Orchards in the fall to pick apples and even take part in traditional cider-pressing. Maybe the lips of a less innocent type of Llover would be the color of say, a Washington apple. I am very much in Llove with the little corner of the world where I was born and reared. I could recount myriad manifold memories that directly correlate to moments that occur within certain seasons, specifically... but I need to save some of htem for that memoir, remember? Anyhoot, thanks for your time and for your thoughtful questions. So long...
