Since starting out with The Satin Peaches, Jesse Shepard Bates has worked with scores of acts in Detroit, sitting in on sets and helping book shows.
When not shooting music videos for such mainstays as George Morris and The Johnny Ill Band, he’s tearing up the stage in various bands, most recently with The HandGrenades.
How many bands have you been in?
Post high school, those don’t count, Satin Peaches, D’orchestra, Jesse and the Gnome, The Hounds Below, The HandGrenades, JSBsquad and then solo stuff. I don’t think I’ve been officially in any other bands. I’ve collaborated and played with a lot.
How long have you been in The HandGrenades?
I don’t know, I initially started playing with them as an alternate, um, I don’t remember when that was. I was going to play a show with them and see what is up, but I’ve been playing every show with them since and it’s worked out really well and now we’re recording.
It’s actually the most fun I’ve had in a band in a while, cause I’m not the front man. I don’t have to tell people where to be or sing all the time. I can play guitar all the time and sing pretty harmonies. It’s perfect.
How many music video have you done so far?
Yeah, I’ve got three under my belt, and just finished shooting the fourth one. And I’ve always wanted to do that kind of thing, but I’ve never had a camera before. Now that I had a good camera I’m really enjoying editing and doing trick photography and stuff.
I’ve done videos for Gerorge Morris, my first and fourth videos, the one I’m doing now is for him. I did one for Ryan Tibs and the 305s, The Johnny Ill Band, and I’m working on ones for Almost Free and Loretta Lucas and The Sound Logic, possibly Mister. If we pull that one off it’ll be the best one, so I hope that we do it. The fourth video is going to be awesome.
Let’s talk Fallout Fest. Where did the idea come from?
I did not come up with the idea. That was John Morgan, from Raptura. I put his band on Blowout, so when he got this idea to do a festival celebrating fall, and local bands, and the end of the festival season. Because after that it’s all Halloween shows. And the weather gets shitty so you can’t really have these massive, multi-band festivals. So he asked if I could book the bands for him. I mad my wish list, and started contacting bands and like, 90% of the first bunch of bands said yes. So it’s this awesome line up of my favorite bands that don’t play every festival but they’re worth hearing and their really eclectic.
We decided to do two stages and feature some art vendors. It’s at the New Dodge in Hamtramck, which has kinda become a hip spot out of nowhere. It’s Saturday Oct 12 from 5pm to 2am. Half hour sets, two stages means there’s no break in music. That’s the best part. You’re pretty much going to be bombarded with sound for up to nine hours.
Who are you really excited about showing up?
Everybody! Well, George Morris, the home team. Laura Finley, I’m actually going to be filling in on bass for her. I like Flash Clash. The lead singer’s name is Yorg, he used to be in Bump. And he’s just like, the greatest front man ever. I’m not sure if they’re still doing this, but when I first saw them they were from the future. I think they’re still from the future.
Mexican Knives, Radio Burns, I’m really excited about. Radio Burns, totally, dirty awesome rock. And they haven’t played much, they’ve played maybe a couple of times. Little Animals is neat. I’m just going to say every band. The HandGrenades are playing. Raptura is playing, um, Wasabi Dream I’m really excited for. They’re the freakiest band playing. They have a gong in their set. Silent Lions is coming up from Toledo. They’re awesome. They’re playing. That’s most of them.
What do you like and dislike about being a Detroit performer?
When you start touring as a band you tour these cities and college towns and talk to people there and there are very few places that have a music scene like we do.
Lot’s of people hate the word ‘scene’ and I don’t know why. It has some weird stigma to it, I don’t know where it came from. It is a music scene. Brooklyn is the only scene with comparable diversity of music that we have. If you want to go see a rock show, a metal show, a blue grass show, a jazz show or Celtic show, anything! It’s such a vibrant diverse town. It’s so special.
On the flip side, you have bands who hired the right publicist. You have to work for 20 or 30 years to really get attention or you have to hire the right publicist. The main challenge is nobody has any money, so you can’t hire the right publicist.
The thing that pisses me off most is the only place for people to play and be heard, by a crowd, is bars. That’s it. There’s no low level music hall that people attend. They’ll either go to a bar and get drunk and check in with a band for a minute or they’ll pay $45 to go see a band at the Fillmore via Live Nation. There’s this whole drinking culture that goes along with it.
If you could play with any musician, living or dead, who would it be?
I’d open for The Beatles, and any other answer is ridiculous. Because then you’d get to open in front of hundreds of millions of people and I’d get to play with the greatest band. . . and I’m talking all the Beatles. All of them alive.
Fallout Fest happens Oct. 12 at the New Dodge Lounge in Hamtramck.
