Event
EL OLIO WOLOF
Art from the Central Valley is usually a little off.
Folks that grow up around the high poverty, high teen pregnancy rates, the meth problem, near-worst air quality in the country and the urban sprawl that devastated the real estate market, have a different perspective on life and art.
While the previous statement paints a bleak picture of Valley life, there's a bright side to Merced's location: hop in a car and drive to one of our nation's proudest parks, Yosemite, or one of the culture capitols of the world, San Francisco, in less than two hours.
Smack-dab in the center of California, but with nothing to really do, growing up here was an exercise in creativity and originality.
But certain artists thrive off of this — it makes them work harder. This isn't some big city with a dozen things to do that are all 10 minutes away. Artists here, at least the really good ones, take this challenge head-on, and, literally, create something out of nothing.
While it's sad to see what is probably one of the most diverse, eclectic, touching, and, at-times magical, bands from Merced come to an end, El Olio Wolof has had one helluva run.
This band taught people instruments, showed them various parts of the country and created lifelong bonds. It even started some families.
In the beginning
The bands music is at best hard to classify, though accordion player Brian Strong summed it up best: eclectic, indie, folk-rock.
With a guitar, keyboard, bass, accordion, various percussion instruments, including a gong, bells and xyxyxyx, there's definitely a unique sound. Waltzy at some points, rocking at others and always a bit off-kilter and unexpected, Wolof's songs create soundscapes and stories that accompany those soundscapes.
As if people don't constantly fumble the band's name, the original name was even harder to remember: El Subconscious Celestine Olio Wolof. The original formation was RC Essig on guitar, vocals and principal songwriter, brother Joey Essig on percussion, Amber Kirby on bass guitar and Katie Ree on keyboards and vocals. There was a small catch though: Kirby and Ree had little-to-no previous musical experience. Even RC was fairly new to the guitar.
"When I started I had barely been learning how to do bass blues walks," Kirby recalls of the band's beginning more than a decade ago. She was literally learning what the notes are on the fret board.
One of RC's signatures onstage is no high E string. It was a result from dropping the guitar, breaking the string and never replacing it.
This was a group of misfits, innovators, mavericks.
In 2000, RC and Joey met up at Reinero's Trophy Room in downtown Merced and RC approached Joey, who was trained in jazz drums, and asked if he wanted to play percussion for the new project.
"I played in high school; I played concert band and marching band, but I hadn't played in a long time," Joey said. "I had been playing guitar for the Jabronskis and Cheap Truck, and was writing songs."
Joey was in, but there was yet another problem: He didn't own a drum set.
"When the band started, I had a broken guitar, Amber had some kind of Frankenstein bass that she got from her uncle, Joey had some, like, hodge-podge drum set … and Katie didn't have an instrument, so what she played for the first two or three shows was a lap guitar and an air organ," RC said. "I think it was because we were so hodge-podge and so chumpy that we actually stuck with it and kept writing songs because they were interesting to write and because we didn't follow a formula, not because we didn't want to, but because we didn't know how to,"
"It was a family band," RC said.
"It was like ABBA," Joey added.
Their unique sound wasn't the only thing Wolof had going for them — RC booked shows in Merced and had connections with myriad artists, bookers and tour managers. This, and the band is very charismatic.
"Bands that come to Merced, we end up playing with them and then we don't stop playing with them because we're good friend-makers," said RC.
It worked out quite well for the band, playing home and away shows with artists like David Dondero, Nick Jaina, Calexico, Neko Case, Karate, Jason Lytle, the Radar Bros. and Black Heart Procession, among others.
Wolof also recorded two albums during the past decade: 2004's "El Subconscious Celestine Olio Wolof" and 2008's "A Tedious Task."
Cast of characters
While Joey and RC have played every show with the band, and that's 269 for those of you keeping track, Strong is a close second with 227 and Kirby in third with 219.
But for a variety of reasons, El Olio Wolof went through quite a few musicians.
Besides some clarinet lessons when she was in elementary school, Katie Ree, who was also a founding member, had no musical experience.
"I was not a musican at all before that," she said.
It was more about the attitude of folks playing music at the Farm, where she lived at the time.
"People played lots of music outside … I liked singing with RC, that's what pulled me in," she added.
The two are now married with children.
Ree never saw her lack of experience in music as an obstacle, rather, she saw it as an opportunity to explore a new artform.
"It was very open and there weren't any expectations of me, so I felt very free to experiment with music," she said.
As a mother of three and college student, she wasn't able to continue as the band's keyboardist, but walked away with fond memories and met a lot of great people and saw a lot of great places she wouldn't have otherwise.
"I got more experience in the music scene. … I didn't do a big nationwide tour, but I did a few small tours up and down the West Coast," she said. And of the most memorable was when she took her 8-year-old son along when he was an infant.
"When we took Bennet on tour with us when he was six months old … that was difficult, but everybody was really supportive. … I love (looking) pictures of the band then there's the baby with us."
Ree will join the current members for the final show and is looking forward to a crowded stage.
"I think it'll be fun and I'm really excited about playing a song or two with as many members and former members as we can," she said.
Greer McGettrick was one of the hired guns.
"I think they had just needed a bass player and a keyboard player for a tour they had booked. … So they asked Malcolm and I (from Rademacher) to go with them," she said.
McGettrick also has a good perspective on why there's a need for stand-in musicians, especially on tours.
"In the Central Valley, where you have a lot of talented musicians who have a lot of other responsibilities, they can't commit to driving to L.A. every other week and national tours," she said.
She's right, people get older, start having kids, are in college, or a job that won't allow them the time to tour. (Sometimes all of them together.)
She's been on several national tours, but remembers how nice and quirky the Wolof folks are.
"All those guys … they treat everyone so well and they're so thankful. They see this real person in everyone they talk to, they're so genuine … and to see this guy (RC) with this huge beard and this tiny little Spanish guitar … and he's singing songs about dragons and shit."
Another former member came from the complete opposite side of music.
Jami Wardlow played keyboards and flute for the band, and started when she was a music major at CSU Stanislaus.
"I graduated from college about half way through my time with the band," she said. "Flute is my primary instrument."
Though not an experienced keyboardist, as a music major, Wardlow knew the basics of playing piano.
"With my background in music was able to pick up a lot of the stuff real quickly," she said.
"It was kind of cool and refreshing … the story and the way things sounded were always more important than music theory or harmony structure," she added, which was in complete contrast to her academic studies.
She recalled one of her favorite shows was in Pendleton, Oregon.
"It was this tiny town in the middle of nowhere … and everybody was so opening and happy to have us there, playing. … In some of those oddball places we fit right in and everybody loved us," she said.
Being part of Wolof is something that changed her perception of music.
"I can now see myself as being able to be a different type of musician … I grew up in the classical tradition," she said. "After I moved to the Valley and I heard El Olio Wolof was looking for someone, I thought 'I can do this, I'm perfect for this.' "
She was really just amazed that she was in a band that went on tour.
"Just having that experience is definitely something that will stay with me forever," she said.
Amber Kirby, one of the original members, left Wolof because of school, but recalls what an impact the band made on her life.
"I spent 7 years of my life in that band. It took up most of my 20s," she said.
Though the beginning was a bit strange for her.
"I started out agreeing with my friend (RC) to play in a band, then walked in and saw the guy I was dating was in the band," she said. That guy was Joey, and they're still together and now have a toddler.
The youngest member of the band when it started, she couldn't believe where it took her.
"The best shows were probably when I was the youngest," she said, playing at The Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco, or at the week-long San Francisco Noisepop festival.
Writing all of the bass lines for the band, she definitely felt a sense of pride and ownership.
"All these songs were our little stories and our little tales … it was always a party and an adventure," she said.
In contrast, she learned the harsh reality of the music business.
"I definitely learned that you don't just get signed … we all worked to get every show," she said. "Recording was a challenge too … it's not easy … it's not just fun party time."
Current member Matt Robinson has been playing keyboards in the band for about two years.
"I'm pretty sure my first rehearsal with them was Black Friday of 2008," he recalled.
After playing in another band, Myriad Encephus, Robinson was approached by RC about playing for Wolof.
Robinson also had experience playing in the Merced Marching 100 at Merced High School, but never really felt it was the right fit for him.
"I learned how to read music, but within the band program, I was a really terrible student," he said.
"Everything is sheet music and everything's a mathematical approach to music. I loved going in and just playing (with Wolof) … I never pursued going to school for music."
Growing up in Merced and seeing El Olio Wolof perform often, he knew what shoes he was going to fill.
"You know what was especially intimidating? My predecessors were such enduring characters," he said.
"And Joey especially never lets me forget that I'm so much younger."
But he never took it for granted.
"There were times that we played shows and I felt like I was part of something really glorious and grand," he said. "I don't imagine people feel that much, in everyday life. I don't know if I'll ever feel that way again."
On the Road Again
Touring with a small indie band probably isn't what you imagine.
There isn't much glamour and the pay is break-even at best.
You sleep on a lot of floors. Couches if you're lucky.
But the bond that forms between the band is for a lifetime, especially during a six-week national tour. Wolof did this twice.
And how far is a national tour? "Providence, Rhode Island, baby," said RC, who admitted his time on the road with Wolof led to a love of touring. Well, maybe more than a love.
"What I got out of touring is an extreme addiction to touring," he said.
With more than a dozen West Coast tours that would sometimes go from Seattle to San Diego, Wolof had two national tours — in 2006 and 2008.
"Camping was something we realized really early on was a really good bet," Joey said about planning out their lodging. There were hot showers and it only cost about $8.
"There were nights we'd pull out Supermap and we would see the little tent icon and drive to it," said Strong.
Supermap was an extremely outdated map that showed camp sites throughout the country. That the band was using this instead of a smartphone, really puts a timestamp on its touring.
"That's how long ago we were doing it, the Internet wasn't really prevalent," Joey said.
Always adhering to a strict budget, Wolof learned to be creative about nearly everything that costs money.
"We made a firm decision we were gonna drive 65 the whole time, or, that we'd never go above 65," RC said. The band constantly calculated gas mileage and directions.
"How chumpy is that? A rock band … let's not go above 65 for gas mileage," said Joey.
Back to the lodging, when there weren't any campsites around or Supermap was so outdated it was just plain wrong, Wolof's friendship-making skills came into play.
The goal was to find folks at the show that could provide some floor space and/or couches for the night. If the band had to stay in a motel room, the game had been lost.
"It's always kinda like failure, because you failed the hustle … you didn't find anywhere to stay," said Joey.
Despite some shows that had lackluster attendance and at best breaking even after a tour, the friendships tightened and the reason they did all of this became even more apparent.
"I don't feel one ill thing about never making any money off it because the payback was so much better," said Joey. "The number of times I've played some of these songs — it's gotta be in the thousands."
RC will always remember it as one of the highlights of his life.
"It's the biggest …. and maybe will be the biggest, decade of my life," RC said. "I have complete and total faith in Brian that I can do anything with him, that we work well together, and we will get it done and we will get it done the best way. And if Joey wasn't my brother already, because of this band, it would be like we're brothers."
Strong realized the amount of time and energy put into making it all happen.
"You worked harder than anybody should ever reasonably work to get your art out to a small group of people," said Brian.
But more than anything, it was about the art.
"We got to live art … we got to wake up many, many days in a row and the only thing we had to do that day was play a show," said Joey.
The End
Most El Olio Wolof songs are based on stories laced with a Shel Silverstein style of playful poetics and grandiose themes. The imagery in these songs includes earthworms, dinosaurs, dragons and host of other scenes and characters.
But as with every story, there comes a time for its conclusion.
"Every story has a beginning, and a middle. We wrote a story that took place over a 10-year period with many chapters. Some chapters were full of sex, drugs, and rock n' roll. Some chapters were about traveling the country and seeing beautiful landscapes. Chapters about meeting interesting characters that came and went, and characters that stuck around from front to back. Chapters about creating, be it records or babies. And a slew of other chapters that were written so beautifully and unique," RC said. "Every story has a beginning and a middle, but every story also has an end ... I wish this story could go on forever, but then it wouldn't be a story"
And his plans once this story comes to a close?
"I'm going to start a new story."
Check out El Olio Wolof's final show for $5 at The Partisan on Jan. 8 with current and former members, including Amber Kirby, Katie Ree, Jamie Wardlow and Malcolm Sosa of Rademacher, in addition to RC and Joey Essig, Brian Strong, Matt Robinson and Adrian Soliz. At certain points there will be nine people onstage and the band will perform all songs from both albums.
It will serve as the end of El Olio Wolof's story.
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LocationThe Partisan
432 West Main Street
Merced, CA 95340
United States
Categories
| Minimum Age: 21 |
| Kid Friendly: No |
| Dog Friendly: No |
| Non-Smoking: No |
| Wheelchair Accessible: No |
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