| Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 THE HOSTY DUO: PROVING THAT LESS REALLY IS MORE by Russell Bartholomee The Wreck Room in Fort Worth, Texas, is a typical smoky dive bar. There’s grime on every available surface, the bathroom door has no doorknob, and the four dollar well drinks are mighty watery. The walls are covered with poorly painted versions of album covers and scenes from crime movies: Scarface, Reservoir Dogs, and Jane’s Addiction’s debut all coexist under years of dirt and dim lighting. There’s also a good-sized stage at the back and a nice, loud PA. It’s utterly ordinary in most every respect.On this particular Thursday night in September, however, the sound coming from the stage is anything but ordinary. The raw, raucous grooves from the band keep the moderate-sized crowd on their feet. The singer’s gritty-but-soulful voice is perfectly suited to the band’s unique blend of blues, rock, funk, country, and cowpunk. The sound is full and rich, drenched with densely textured slide guitar, thumping bass lines, the rock solid groove of a three-piece drum kit played with skill and taste, and what sounds at first like a saxophone but isn’t (more on that later). If a typical four-piece band was responsible for the masterful musicianship making the Wreck Room rock that night, they would be worthy of attention. But all that sound is actually coming from two guys, something that you literally have to see to believe.  The band making people’s jaws go slack is called the Hosty Duo. Hailing from Norman, Oklahoma, Mike Hosty and Michael Byars (who goes by the stage name Tic Tac III) have been on the road together for a decade as either a duo or a trio. Hosty even went solo for a few months when Tic Tac broke his leg. But it’s been just the two of them for the last five years, and having seen them live three times I can testify to the fact that if any other musicians tried to play with them they would just be in the way. They have independently produced several excellent and highly recommended recordings, but it’s one of those things that you really have to see to appreciate. While Tic Tac ably lays the rhythmic foundation behind his simple drum kit, Mike Hosty defies belief by singing, playing guitar, and playing bass—all at the same time. Watching him do this is dizzying. While playing incredibly complex guitar parts and singing (challenging enough for most musicians), Hosty plays the bass lines on a set of organ bass pedals with his right foot and works the wah and other effects pedals with his left foot. What’s more, he has a kazoo taped to the side of his microphone which he occasionally plays to add melodic texture to his songs that sounds for all the world like baritone saxophone. Not enough for you? When he’s bored with playing a six-string guitar, he plays slide on an 8-string custom creation he calls a bass-a-tar. It has 3 bass strings he plays with his thumb and five guitar strings he plies with his other four fingers. I can’t begin to imagine how he keeps it all straight in his head.All this could add up to a parlor trick if it weren’t for the strength of the songwriting. Mike Hosty writes his own material, and his songs are completely entertaining. Hosty’s music embraces a wide range of influences, including the Meters, Junior Brown, Johnny Cash, Morphine, G. Love & Special Sauce, Dick Dale, the Roots, and Bo Diddley, to name but a few. The songs are always clever and often side-splittingly funny. “Married Man” (from Hosty Duo) is hilarious number which chronicles one self-deluded but faithful man’s resistance of almost certain temptation. “Applesauce” (from Golden Country Hits) is a tender love song to a woman with no teeth. And “I Will Work for Booty” (from Volume) probably doesn’t require explanation. But it does require repeated listening. Lots and lots of repeated listening. If you get the chance to see this band, do not waste it. After a killer two-hour set at the Wreck Room, Mike Hosty and Tic Tac III were gracious enough to sit down with Being There to talk about playing live, making records, Meg White’s drumming, the fate of a van called ‘Old Blue,’ and how Discover has made their career possible.  Being There: That was a great set. I got tired just watching you. You guys have been working as a duo since 2000? On Volume, which was recorded in 1996, you’re billed as the Mike Hosty Trio, and it features the two of you and a Hammond B3 organ player named Chris Wiser. Whether as a trio or a duo, has it always been Hosty and Tic Tac?Mike Hosty: Yeah. We actually played as a two-piece before that. BT: As the Hosty Duo? Tic Tac III: Just as Mike Hosty. MH: And we’d play places, and people would say, “Hey, you need to have a bass player. No one’s ever going to hire a two-piece band.” BT: No, there aren’t any of those. TT3: Well, there really weren’t then. BT: Not that you need it, but what was the rationale behind just not having a bass player? TT3: I think it was number 13, as in bass players. We decided… BT: Screw it. TT3: Yeah. I think Hosty decided, like, “I’ve had it.” I’m going to play bass with my feet. BT: Why do you think you went through so many bass players? Why didn’t they stick around? MH: Well, half of them would be drunk as hell. And most of the songs require a very simple bass line. Honestly, I think they just got bored playing it. There’s nothing spectacular to it. And we’d just go through them like matchsticks. BT: So they just weren’t interested after a while? MH: They’d just call and say, “I, uh…don’t think I can make it.” But they were probably thinking, “I don’t want to sit there and play that song in E all night.” BT: Was it intimidating to add bass lines to what you were already doing? I mean, your guitar playing is very textured and complex, and you’re singing on top of that. How did you manage to pull off adding bass lines played by your foot? MH: Well, this one bass player quit, and we had a gig. Somebody mailed me some bass pedals from Denver. We set them up, and I looked at them and labeled them…A, B, C, D, E, F, G… And I just stood there and hit the root note of the chord with my right foot, you know, G…boom, boom, boom. BT: You stood? MH: Yeah, I used to stand up on one leg to play. And I think my hip gave out. BT: That would be a lot of work. MH: And I was balancing. I got to balance pretty damn good. Page 1 2 3 4 5 6 |  |
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