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A mother of a good thing: Mother Blues

By Staff | Jun 27, 2012

The mother funkiest band in West Virginia, by all accounts, is Mother Blues out of Charleston.

The band, a fusion of the former Diablo Blues and Mothers Nature bands, was overwhelmingly chosen by Graffiti readers to be this month’s featured artist because of their willingness to help with benefits and fundraising events, but mostly because they play blatant, in-your-face blues, funk and good ol’ R ‘n’ R. The band includes Lola Spencer-lead vocals and harmonica, Keith “Keef Mac” McMillion-Lead Guitar, Vocals and harmonica, Maxx Elliott-Bass and vocals, Tommy Fountaine-Drums and vocals, and Johnny “Hurricane” Compton-Lead guitar and vocals.

So without further ado, guitarist Johnny Compton and vocalist Lola Spencer get down to business.

Graffiti: Why did Diablo Blues and Mothers Nature decide to join forces?

Compton: The merging came about when a couple of members in Diablo started having some health problems and didn’t want to perform as much. Keith, Tommy and I decided to do something new and I had known Lola for a while so we thought we’d get together and jam. The end result surprised even us. In a matter of months, we had a full set of covers and had begun working on our own music.

Graffiti: Describe for the readers a typical Mother Blues show.

Compton: A Mother Blues show is about fun. We try to make people forget about whatever troubles they have for a while and just relax and party with us. At the end of the night, we want the crowd to be as worn out as we are.

Graffiti: The band plays a lot of funk and blues tunes and covers some great songs, from Chaka and Rufus to the Stones. What it is about these bands that appeals to you? How much original music does the band perform?

Spencer: Growing up all of these groups were neighbors in our record collections. We love their style and originality. The covers we do you will only hear at our show. Our personalities are very much alike with one goal – being different. We do not have a hard time selecting songs to do. We all enjoy doing just about anything and everything, especially blues, funk and down and dirty rock and roll. We do several original songs now and will soon include more that we have written together as a group. We have been very busy since we collaborated and have not had the time to write. We are so much alike and very excited to hear what we come up with. We have a lot to say. Our experiences together have already been nothing short of one big party and much more to come.

Graffiti: West Virginia has produced some great bands, from country to rap to metal: Where does Mother Blues fit into the WV music scene? What are the plans for the future?

Spencer: Our strongest songs are our blues tunes. We like to think that we don’t fit in anywhere, we like being different. We do songs no one will do or attempt to try and we like it. We love a challenge. Our goal is to make you feel our music, our plan is to keep you wanting more.

Graffiti: A big reason why Mother Blues is being featured this month is because of an outpouring of affection from the fans. That’s pretty cool, right? What do you want to say to your fans?

Spencer: Awesome! Just awesome! Our fans become our friends. After all, our fans are the reason we play. They believe in us and want us to succeed. To our fans, we truly have the most amazing support from you guys and we love entertaining you! You love us and we love you! Thank You!