Last Crack guitarist Paul Schluter on legendary Madison band’s history and upcoming show

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Last crack, they hit the streets of Madison on September 6, 1987, as memorialized in their

epic song Blood Brothers of the Big Black Bear, which we just heard. By 1989, the song was released

on their debut sinister Funk House number 17, and by 1990, Last Crack was recording an El Dorado

Studios with superstar producer Dave Jordan, producing their critically claimed sophomore

album Burning Time for Roadrunner Records. A live album Burning House Live was recorded in

at a reunion in 2002, and the band's latest release, The Uprising, was released in 2019,

then came the lockdowns, and the band has been on hiatus ever since. Until now, Last Crack

will be headlining the rocker jamboree at the Bur oak in Madison on Sundays to May 4th,

and here in the studio tonight is Paul Struder, guitarist from Last Crack. Paul, welcome to

MagSync Radio. Thanks for having us. It's good to be here. You know, we're supposed to have

your buddy singer butto in the studio, but it turns out he's just driving around the building.

You had no idea? That's what I was doing. One of the bands that he's

playing with at the jamboree mind-docs, their practice kind of got pushed and they're getting

up to the deadline. So he had to remain and kind of practice with that band in order to be

prepared for next Sunday. And so now, what does it mean actually to be a blood brother of the

big black bear? That's just been such a long time thing. It's funny when you said September 6,

1987, we were walking these streets in Madison, and I remember that. I really well, and that's

where that song came from, and it's been just this crazy wild, wild journey with this band.

And yet again, you know, something comes up like this, this jamboree that we're going to play,

and we're all kind of brought back together. Because like you said, during COVID,

that was kind of, you know, we had just released our latest album after years and years and years,

and so we haven't done a lot since then, and this is kind of a thing to bring it back. My question,

though, what does it mean to be a blood brother? Yeah, he was trying to get out of the question.

Last year, he was trying to get out of it. I mean, you know, I guess I would qualify as one of

those people who hung out at the black bear bar, right? And it turned acid. That was down. That was

down time. Madison. And it was just all those people that hung on at the bar was really like

Madison's metal bar at the time. Oh, absolutely. It was a community. And we practiced nearby there.

So we frequented there all the time. It was a rock and roll bar with a rock and roll jukebox,

and we had everybody there. The first time I saw our video on MTV, it was on the black

pairs TV. Oh, wow. I remember the first time I heard blood brothers and black bear, it was on

that rock jukebox because they did have the rock and roll jukebox. Of Madison, you know,

Judas Priest and you know, metal bands, but then all of a sudden, they had a local band on

there, which was kind of unheard of really at the time. Like a local band appearing on a jukebox

where you could put a quarter in and play the song. The local band escaping, you know,

the bubble of Madison. Right. That was an amusing time. Well, take me back to 1987. Tell me

about starting last crack in the Madison music scene. Well, it was really interesting. We

Donbock and the guitar player and I had left the band that we were playing in. We wanted to write

our own music. And we found Phil and Todd who were a drummer and bass duo. And instantly click

with those guys and we tried out a bunch of different singers for over a year. And it's really

funny. There was a music store here called Good and Loud Music. Yes. And that's where we found

Phil and Todd. We had put up an ad and said two guitar players looking for a bass player drummer

and singer. And then about a year later, we saw Butto's ad for a vocalist looking for a band.

And it was a very weird fit. He was totally coming from like this punk. The snot rock is right.

This punk sort of thing. And but I think he recognized that we were like this really tight band.

And we just made it work. And that's part of what makes it so unique is the, you know,

it's not like we all were like really big in Metallica. And so we sounded like Metallica. We were

a stew of all kinds of influences. Right. I mean, it was pretty amazing how they came together. And

that black bear crowd, you developed a huge loyal fan base. Tell us about, you know, how that

that fan base work to kind of propel you guys past Madison. It was really kind of this hometown

crowd that that lifted you up. Well, I think like metal, you know, which we sort of, you know,

leaned a lot metal. Metal is a loyal loyal crowd. Especially when we went to Europe, we,

I know I've always said like if the people in Europe, the fans there loved your first album,

they'll buy your 13th crappy album, just because they're loyal, you know. So kind of the same

around here. I just came from a show. I was kind of lost my voice. They're talking over the

music, but there's a bunch of East side Madison people, the old crowd, lots of last crack,

people, and there's still fans, you know, what, uh, 30 something years later, you know, that's

incredible. Now last crack gets signed to Roadrunner Records and you were all really young at that time.

Maybe some just out of high school, not too long. What did it feel like to kind of get that kind

of recognition for your art, you know, being signed to a major record label?

It was absolutely amazing. I mean, ever since I was seven years old and saw my dad play with his band,

thank you. I dreamed of that. We all did. All of us has musicians. You dream of getting signed. Yeah.

And getting lifted up and being on MTV and all that. And that all was actually happening.

And I signed my record contract at age 19. Wow. Yeah.

You know, uh, I once was speaking with, uh, Randy, who was the producer for your first album.

We'll talk about that in a second, but he looked at me. He said, you know, how did these guys

at 19 years old? How did they know how to write this music? Because it was all, it was amazing

from the demo tape. Now your album, uh, the debut album, sinister fun cause number 17 was recorded.

It prints his Paisley Park studio on Minneapolis with late local legendary producer, Randy Green.

Tell us about working with Randy to produce your demo tape that got you signed and got you your first

album. So very interesting. Um, we used to practice in this storage unit for $50 a month,

just outside of McFarlane outside of Madison. Nice. That's, uh, no, he, no air, just power.

And, uh, that's all you need. So that's where we first jammed with butto and, um,

shortly after we decided like, we want to record after we had a couple of songs and we went

recorded with Randy and Randy used to put this reverb over everything. Everybody that recorded

with Randy, they used to call him reverb, Randy. Yeah. And, uh, it was magical. It kind of had

this sound and, um, Monty of Roadrunner Records heard it and hated it at first from whatever

heard and somehow listened to it again and loved it. Wow. And then, uh, they had put us with

this guy, this producer in Minneapolis and he changed our stuff all up all weird,

changed our song structures and, um, then they immediately fired this guy after the demo we did

in the demo studio Paisley and they said, what about the guy that did your demo? Yeah. Um, so we

pulled him in and we recorded the album at Paisley Park. Now, I've had the privilege of listening to

that demo and I'd have to say that the arrangements on the demo are almost the same as what's on

the album. They are like, Randy didn't mess with us. Yeah. I'm a producer too now and, uh,

I'm the type of producer. I think partially because of that experience with this other guy,

I don't mess with band stuff. Yeah. I rarely do mess with their thing. If it's cool,

I'm just not going to screw it up and change it to put my mark on it, you know. That's really

important. That's some wise, some wise, uh, knowledge there, some experience. Um, now let's see,

this was, uh, this was a question for Botto, but we're going to give it to you. What's the process

that you guys go through with writing those songs? Was it, was it the music first or, you know,

did the riff come first or did the word come first? Music almost always. Yes.

And, uh, I just, I was like a writing machine back then. I would

flop my hands on the guitar, literally flop my hands on the guitar and start writing parts.

And I told myself to like, if I wrote one part, I'd better write two more because it was,

you know, always hard to come up with something else. Yeah. Um, so I would bring that stuff

in that practice or just come up with it on the spot. And then it was a collective of

everybody contributing. And even Botto as a vocalist might, you know, punch on his punching bag

or write on the walls or whatever, but he'd maybe go like, wait, right there go,

blah, blah, blah, blah. And so some of the weirdest punctuations musically are actually come

from him. Yeah. Well, he's a drummer too, right? Yeah. So, so that means a little distance. Well,

for your sophomore album, Burning Time, you worked with another legendary producer,

nationally, Dave Jordan, who is famous for Alice and Chains and Kiss and just a plethora of other

bands. The band sound goes from gritty local metal band to oral masterpiece. Even the songwriting

is refined to a new level. Tell us about that evolution. It was a huge, um, maturing between

the albums. We all lived in a house together in Minneapolis. And we were away from everybody

in Madison. And we just would go downstairs and practice. And we had to live with each other. We,

you know, had to tolerate each other. And I think that helped to speed up the process.

Also one of our guitar techs showed me some scales and showed down some scales. And we knew

nothing really. You know, we knew we were just winging it be previous, you know, learning that

stuff and learning just this little tidbit of like music theory really helped my writing a lot.

And, um, uh, changed everything. Wow. Hard to believe. And Dave Jordan, he, he was just, uh,

I mean, he made the album sound like big time. Yeah. He just, he did create this great sound.

Kind of like Randy did with the reverb of our magical demo. Yeah. You know, um, and we're also

not very big fans of the, the sound of the album that we did at Paisley Park. Great experience.

I mean, we sat there and watched Princey dinner and she Lee Cook stir fry in the kitchen. And he

was recording in the B studio and gave us the A studio. Wow. And then we flipped studios. And

when we flipped studios, the album never sounded the same. No. Yeah. And we just never got it back.

Sounded amazing in A. We moved to B. And I don't know. I would love to get those master tapes and

remix that album. Wow. Uh, last crack is coming out of hiatus to perform a set at the rocker

jamboree at the burrow in Madison on Sunday, me for it. It's a benefit for Mama Cares. And

yours truly rocker for my mental medical expenses after suffering a heart attack on stage with

my band iron plow. Now, um, you guys are pulling this together. You're playing with last crack.

You're also playing with magic seven. Um, tell us about, you know, kind of coming together

and bringing all these people and friends and everything together for this great cause.

Well, speaking of friends, I'm very, very happy you're alive, my friend. Oh, thank you. You and I

have, I mean, yeah, since 1993, right? Yeah, we have. So, uh, yeah, I'm very grateful that

you're here to talk to me. Um, and we're all friends. The magic seven guys we haven't played

with in years. And, uh, the last crack guys, it's been quite a few years. It's going to be a family

reunion. And I hope maybe we'll continue on. It'll inspire us to do more. That's what I was going

to ask that question. So that's a great answer. Now, Paul, you have been praised by the likes of

Dinebag Darryl for guitar playing. And now you're playing a country band with your wife, Elizabeth

Mary. Uh, do you still get to pull off those crazy leads? Um, yeah, you know, I enjoyed being

really tasteful too. I leave the fast plank to my son now from Power Take Off. We had him in

the studio. That was great. I listened to that. Um, but he's doing all those fast, crazy things

that I used to do. And I just feel like I've matured and, and I want to write melodic leads.

And when I have people in my studio, um, I push them towards writing melodic David Gilmore

type of leads. And I actually have some of that stuff I'm burning time to. Yeah. It's not all fast,

crazy, you know, yeah. I remember when he said, you know, don't don't don't get rid of those

squeals. But Dinebag, when we met him in in Texas, he was like, Amen. Keep doing those squawks.

Oh, yeah. That was so great. I miss him. Yeah. And he specifically showed up to see last crack

that time. That was, uh, I remember that was a great show. Um, you know, now, uh, but oh,

I heard that he's playing drums for the vanishing kids. I was going to ask him about that. But

that's pretty cool. He's out there jamming as well. Uh, Paul, thank you so much for taking the time

to chat with us on Maxine Gradio tonight. We really appreciate it. Thanks for having me. Uh,

I always love being here. Now we're going to listen to one of the oral masterpieces from burning

time. And it's called mini toboggan. And I mean, as far as I'm concerned, that features a world class

slide guitar solo in the end of that. That's going to, that's really brilliant. But it's a,

it's a song about about butter and a sister, right? Coming down to, coming home to, to,

yes, tell us about that song because I mean, there's so much going on in the song. Like I was

talking about your guitar playing, tell us about the, the oral tapestry that Jordan was able to,

to create with that song. So a couple of things that come to mind with that that, uh, are last

thing. Um, we used to call that song chocolate church. And it was, I, I want to religion. I can

gobble up. Uh, I remember we played it at, okay, he's a couple of times. And, uh, the lyrics were

really not formed. Half of his lyrics were not formed. Uh, when we went out to LA to go record with

his huge producer. And, uh, Jordan was very cool about it. He had put up a lot of notebooks. And

that song was originally in the studio called Jen and tons. Jen and Todd made it toboggan. Wow.

Brother and sister. And, um, I didn't like that at all. There was, in hindsight at 2020 now,

I love it. But I didn't like it. I, I just didn't, I didn't want it to be that. Wow.

But Jordan loved it and nurtured that idea. And it came out to be what it is now. And, uh,

it's perfect. The guitar playing is icy. It's, it's exactly. Oh, yeah. Uh, it's, it gives you

the picture of that. And then one other thing about the solo too. Um, our engineer was there.

And he said, Hey, do you mind if I go step out for lunch? Here's how you can punch yourself in.

And I'm in this million dollar studio. It's Marvin Hayes old studio. Yeah. And, uh, I was

already nervous. I didn't know what I was going to do. And he was there. And I just felt

intimidated. And when he left, I lit some incense in there, dimmed down the lights. And I felt

like, um, I was in my own million dollar studio. And I would have never done slide. I was like

trying all kinds of crazy stuff. Pulled out the slide. And that's like one of the first

things. Now I've seen you play that song a lot. And I've seen you play it with a lighter.

I've seen you play with a beer bottle. I've seen you. I've seen people come out of the audience

and hand them a lighter. Cause you know, you forgot to me because I forgot the way up right.

Or Todd Winger knocked my glass slide off of the amp. You know, a minute broke. Wow. That is

so awesome. Well, thanks so much again for coming in. Last crack is playing the rocker

jamboree coming up Sunday, May 4th at the burrow here in Madison. And now let's listen to mini

toboggan. This is off 1991's Burning Time on Roadrunner Records. You're listening to Maxing

Radio. We are local music.

I'm

on house.

House.

Jammas.

When the old church

raised.

Three thirty.

Jen and I went out.

Right after school.

In the city.

Above the wall.

Out to our hill.

To build the truth.

With nails of hay.

And I see water.

Todd is ready.

With mini toboggan.

A fearless little man.

With a mini toboggan.

He pops to his belly.

But in the snow.

And he goes.

Oh, and he goes.

Brought Brandy cow chips.

In great local music.

This is Maxing Radio.

We are local music.