Excerpted from the
San Francisco Chronicle's
Sunday Datebook, Feb. 5, 1995,
page 41, "Pop Quiz: Q & A With Joe Gore"

by Michael Snyder, Chronicle Staff Writer

In a previous life, Joe Gore must have been a juggler.

At the moment, he's in England with British singer-songwriter Polly Jean (P.J.) Harvey, who picked him for the lead guitar position in her band. That means Gore, 36, had to take a sabbatical from his day job as senior editor of _Guitar Player_, the respected San Mateo-based music magazine.

Gore was also forced to put a couple of other gigs on hold to perform with Harvey on her spring concert tour of Europe and America. An in-demand session player, he has recorded with Tom Waits, Jon Hassell and Meat Beat Manifesto. Gore also is the regular lead guitarist in the band led by "country noir" performer Stephen Yerkey.

The Oranj Mancinis is a Henry Mancini tribute band that allows Gore to flex his chops with other like-minded musicians, including cellist and bassist Matthew Brubeck, multi-instrumentalist Ralph Carney and drummer Scott Amendola of the T.J. Kirk jazz-funk ensemble. It's quite a leap from the mid-'80s, when the guitarist was struggling as a member of the seminal San Francisco world-beat band Big City.

Gore, who lives with his wife in Noe Valley, will return to town in May to perform with Harvey. Right before his flight to England in mid-January, he found an hour of free time and spoke to The Chronicle.

Q. How do you manage to combine a busy career in music and a full-time job in journalism?

A. Until now, I've been able to do the music on weekends and comp time. I've done three albums with Waits -- "Bone Machine," "Night on Earth," and "The Black Rider" -- but he records very quickly. Tom hasn't toured in many years, so I haven't done much live performance with him, other than an appearance on "Arsenio" and a post-L.A. riots benefit. Actually, I haven't done the full-time band thing since the Big City days. Getting time off from the magazine wasn't a problem. We have a staff of six editors, and we tend to operate by consensus. Anyway, I'll be contributing part time from the road. I'll have my laptop and modem with me.

Q. How did you get involved in the local music scene?

A. I'm from West Covina, which is a suburb in Southern California. I had played guitar since I was a kid, but I had put it aside to concentrate on composition. I was so wrapped up in classical music when I was a teenager that I didn't realize Led Zeppelin happened until I was in my 30s. I came to the Bay Area in 1980 for grad school in music at UC. But I had this violent reaction to academic classical music after a couple of years of study. I looked for the biggest about-face I could manage. So I got involved in African guitar styles and dropped out. I went from something very rigid, arcane and difficult to something spontaneous, joyful and communal. I'd say that my style of playing is a result of the two opposites coming together: the strangeness of 20th century classical music and the rhythm consciousness of groove music.

Q. Big City had that infectious African high-life groove. It was one of the most popular club bands in the '80s. What happened?

A. Big City came about because a bunch of us were playing and studying with musicians from Oakland's African community. I had been playing with O.J. Ekemode (the Nigerian saxophonist). Three or four members of Big City had been in his band along with C.K. Ladzekpo, a heavyweight African drummer and drum teacher on the UC faculty. C.K. has taught everyone from the Big City percussionists to Mike Bordin of Faith No More. All of this funneled into Big City, but the band imploded after its initial popularity. We stumbled in that leap from hot club act to great recording act.

Q. Why did you move into journalism instead of going on to the next musical project?

A. I thought I was putting away childish toys and getting a grown-up job. I was looking for work, and an editor at Guitar Player liked my resume. I had done a few pieces for SF Weekly, reviews and interviews. I had done some teaching, and Guitar Player is somewhat technically oriented. I knew the instrument and hoped to develop my skills as a writer. It made sense for me. Guitar Player covers some of the same musicians as Spin and Rolling Stone, but it's more player-to-player.

Q. Did you meet Waits through the magazine job?

A. No. The man who got the ball rolling was my good friend (bass player) Les Claypool, who worked in Big City's crew before he became a big star with Primus. Waits is a Primus fan. He had recorded "Tommy the Cat" with Primus. After Waits moved to Northern California, he told Les that he was looking for local players. Les recommended me. It's exhilarating working with Waits. He's unbelievably brilliant and intense, but he's a very kind, generous person. It's literally a dream gig for me. I have the dream journals to prove I dreamt about playing with him years before I really did it.

Q. How about P.J. Harvey?

A. She's electrifying. I think the credits with Tom had a lot to do with getting the gig with Polly. She's a Waits fan. I interviewed her for Guitar Player, and we hit it off. She contacted me a year later and asked if I wanted to record with her. I did her latest album, and I guess I made a good impression on her.

Q. Because of the magazine job, you've interviewed some of the greatest guitarists in the world. Does that excite you? Does it make you nervous?

A. After you meet Jeff Beck and Bill Frisell, you realize that there are some things that you'll never be able to do on the instrument. It's a great casting-off. It could be "Oh, God! I'm gonna burn my guitar and never play again after meeting these geniuses." But it was the opposite. I realized that I can do some things well that other people can't do. You make those things the centerpiece of your style.

Q. What other projects have you squeezed in?

A. There's an Oranj Mancinis album which we recorded with Pete Scaturro at Mutron Studios for release later this year. Pete produced the Jon Hassell album I played on. I've known him since Big City. We do everything from jingles to major-label sessions at Pete's studio. I've done some music behind sexually graphic spoken-word performances on Lisa Palac's "Cyberorgasm" albums.

Q. How about Yerkey?

A. I'm sure we'll do something when I'm done with Polly's tour. Steve is the William Faulkner of the pop music. He's a verbal genius and a musical eccentric, that collision of the rootsy and arcane. These eccentrics gravitate towards me.