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Kid Rock
TBT Band
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| Twisted Brown Trucker Band |
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| T.B.T. Band & Biographies Uncle Kracker His name is... KRACKER!  Known to friends and family as Matt Shafer, Uncle Kracker is the man behind the turntables in Kid Rock’s Twisted Brown Trucker band. Now this kickin’ DJ is ready to step out from behind the decks to take a well-earned piece of spotlight for himself. Produced by Kid Rock his ownself and engineered by Mike Bradford (known for his work with Madonna, Anita Baker, and New Radicals), DOUBLE WIDE is the first non-Kid Rock record to be released on the American Bad Ass’s own Top Dog/Lava/Atlantic imprint. The laidback Yin to Kid’s thunderous metal Yang, Kracker serves up a tasty serving of funky Detroit rock ‘n roll stew, blended with Motown, country, southern rock, and hip-hop, topped off with the DJ/MC’s own flowing, loose-limbed, story-telling raps. With irresistible tracks like the pop-alicious “Yeah Yeah Yeah” (currently featured in the new Jackie Chan flick, Shanghai Noon) or the anthemic “You Can’t Take Me,” who wouldn’t want to hitch up to this DOUBLE WIDE? A 13-year-old Kracker first hooked up with the young man who would be Kid Rock back in 1987. The two met at a Clawson, Michigan nightspot called Daytona’s, where Rock was spinning in an all-ages DJ competition. “He and my brother were competing against each other,” Kracker recalls. “They became friends after that, but then me and him became best friends. I was just rappin’ back then and he would record me.” When Kid Rock released his debut album, GRITS SANDWICHES FOR BREAKFAST, in 1991, he invited Kracker to join his band as DJ. The only problem was, the fledging rapper had no clue how to work the turntables. “I didn’t know how to scratch records or anything,” Kracker laughs, “but I was cost efficient. I pretty much learned by playing at shows. I never set up in my bedroom and practiced – my parents would freak if I turned it up. We did shows and it was do-or-die. I’d either fuck it up or I would look pretty good.” Needless to say, Kracker learned his trade well and soon became a master at the wheels of steel. Since then, he has served as best friend and musical foil to the Pimp of the Nation, co-writing and performing songs on all of Rock’s records, including the mega-platinum DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE. Indeed, it was the success of that record that enabled Uncle Kracker to fulfill his long-in-the-works solo debut. “I’ve always wanted to do my own thing,” Kracker says, “and being with Kid Rock, that is a great outlet for me. Y’know, two heads are better than one. We write together, we play together. But we’ve always had a plan, to branch out and keep it all in the family. After ‘DEVIL…’ happened, it was the right time for me to do my record.” DOUBLE WIDE was recorded at the back of the tour bus during Rock’s cross-country treks with Limp Bizkit and Metallica. With all the well-documented hijinks and antics of a Kid Rock tour, it’s a wonder that Kracker was able to stay focused on the job of making music. “It was one big distraction, that’s for sure,” he laughs. “Between shows and rehearsals and photo shoots and interviews… not to mention the stuff that goes on the bus! But it kept me sober, because I knew there was something that had to be done. “It’s hard to record while on the road, though, ” Kracker adds. “Especially having Kid Rock as producer, he’s got so much other shit happening. He’s doing remixes and movie soundtrack shit in between photo shoots and gigs and rehearsals, it’s crazy. It probably took only three months to make my record, only it was over the course of a year.” As the bus cruised the highways and byways of America, Kid Rock and the members of Twisted Brown Trucker – including keyboardist Jimmie Bones, guitarists Kenny Olson and Jason Krause, and drummer Stefanie Eulinberg – all paid visits to the makeshift studio in order to contribute music to DOUBLE WIDE. “We didn’t change much,” Kracker says. “We just played in my style instead of Kid Rock’s. It doesn’t have ‘Kid Rock Jr.’ written all over it. I also think that we’ve all grown up a little bit and gotten better, just by being on the road.” In addition, the Kid himself stepped up to the mic for a guest appearance, dropping one of his trademark raps on “Heaven.” “Something inside me said ‘no cameos,’ but it’s kind of unavoidable,” Kracker says of Rock’s rhyming. “To not have him on the record, that’d just be stupid.” As you’d expect from two longtime friends, both Kracker and Kid Rock share similar musical tastes, from Run DMC’s old school hip hop and radio rock heroes like Lynyrd Skynyrd and Bob Seger, to classic 70’s funk such as the Commodores, and country-and-western outlaws like George Jones and Hank Williams Jr. DOUBLE WIDE features eleven tracks co-written by Kid and Kracker, including the soulful stomper, “What ’Chu Lookin’ At?” (also included on the soundtrack to Mission Impossible 2), and the spaghetti-western groove of “Aces & 8’s.” “I made it a point to write new songs,” Kracker says. “I didn’t want to dig. That’s always been a thing for me, even recording demos, to never dig up stuff that I had written before. Same with Kid Rock. We’ve always had this motto: if you can write something good today, you can write something good tomorrow.” Considering the circumstances surrounding the making of the record, poignant pop songs such as “You Can’t Take Me” and “Better Days” are fraught with the yearning emotions of life on the road, a world of hotel bars, fast food, and hours spent at a Monopoly board, a world where family and friends get further away with each passing mile. “It’s not RUNNING ON EMPTY,’ y’know,” Kracker grins. “But yeah, it’s a lonesome record. You get on the road and you start listening to songs like ‘Turn The Page’ and stuff like that. You don’t feel sorry for yourself, but at the same time, you can’t wait to get the fuck back home. “We never really had a time to settle down and appreciate it,” he says of Kid Rock & Company’s explosive success. “Everything was gradual. Accommodations gradually got better, the venues gradually got bigger. We never had a time where we went on tour, played the chitlin circuit, went home, and then went out again and did clubs and then went home. We were just constantly on the road, for what, 21 months. My record deal was squeezed in the middle so the only way we could record it was being on the back of a bus. By the time it wound down, I was just glad to be the fuck done with everything I had to get done and go home for a minute and be with my daughter.” Longtime Kid Rock heads have been familiar with Kracker by his singular nickname. Alas, due to some legal issues, the DJ was forced to add the avuncular prefix to his moniker in the midst of cutting DOUBLE WIDE. “I’ve been Kracker for ten years,” he says, “and when we got the word that I couldn’t use it, people suggested ‘DJ Kracker’ or ‘MC Kracker,’ and I just couldn’t do that. One day on the Kid Rock tour, I got sick, I don’t know what the fuck I had, but I went home and missed two or three dates. Then I was going to meet up with the band in New Orleans but I got jacked around with my flights and ended up in Nashville. I had something like three layovers trying to get to New Orleans from Detroit! So I was in the Nashville airport and they’ve got all these posters of country artists: Hank Williams and Chet Atkins and so on. And I see this poster – it was Uncle Dave Macon – and I thought, why not Uncle Kracker? It sounds kind of pervy, or like the kids came home and hey, Mom’s got a new boyfriend…” Current plans call for Uncle Kracker to take Twisted Brown Trucker out on the road – just as soon as Kid Rock’s summer stadium tour with Metallica finishes up. Rather than trying to recreate the mad and manic Kid Rock stageshow, Kracker intends to use his tour to show off the band’s considerable chops. “We’re going to strip everything down,” he says, “bring it back to just the music.” - And it’s the music of Uncle Kracker that’s already turning heads some heads around. DOUBLE WIDE has drawn a number of early raves from the hard-to-please rock media, including Alternative Press, who declared it “a stellar debut disc of campfire blues-groove hip hop.” Revolver’s Andy Langer hailed Uncle Kracker’s “blend of blunted hip-hop and melodic pop,” noting that the album “may be even more immediately radio accessible than DEVIL WITHOUT A CAUSE.” Strong talk, but with Kracker’s stylin’ and profilin’ sound, it won’t be long before everyone is crying Uncle! Jason Krause  Born as Jason Krause in MT. Clemens, MI. Jason is 31 years old. He is a guitarist for the Twisted Brown Trucker Band. Krause has a Washburn Guitar PTK Poptop that costed $2,000. His favorite guitarist is Jimmy Paige. He can also play the drums, bass, and piano. His favorite video game is NHL FaceOff 99 and he loves to play hockey. He was a licensed carpentar who built his own studio. He did not like Kid's music at first. His little brother would listen to it and Jason would comment on it being crap. In 1997 he got a call from DJ Kracker and his interest was piqued. Kid Rock wanted another guitarist for his burgeoning band and was interested in hearing Krause's stuff. Krause then scored the easiest audition he'd ever enjoyed: He didn't have to play a lick. With a concert date looming two days later, the green light came quickly from Kid Rock. Jimmy Bones  Jimmy Bones was born as Jimmy Trombly in Roseville, MI. He is 41 years old. Bones does the keyboard, organ, & backing vocals. Jimmy says never underestimeate the power of the left hand. Certainly not in Twisted Brown Trucker. Note the lineup: guitars, drums, turntable, keyboard. No bass guitar. That duty is left to Bones, perhaps the busiest TBT member onstage. In a genre where bass and drums steer the sonic attack, Bones' bass lines -- played on a synth with his left hand -- are crucial elements. Bones, born Jimmy Trombly, got his first organ lesson when he was 10, taught by jazz organists tuned in to the Jimmy McGriff mode of improv. By the late '80s, Bones had become a Detroit scene veteran, leading his Jimmy Bones & the Graverobbers and working with such acts as Bootsy X and the New Barbiturates. After a stint in 1997 with Detroit band Robert Bradley's Blackwater Surprise, he got the call from Kid Rock: "You're in this band, like it or not." Bones jumped in. Joe C  Joe C born as Joesph Calleja. Joe C Is 3 Feet 9 Inches Tall with a 10 foot dick. Joe is part of the Twisted Brown Tucker Band and is currently 24 years old. Joe has a celiac disease, a chronic digestive disorder which makes him take 72 pills a day. At night he is hooked up to an I.V. machine. Joe C. Joe C. use to come to all the shows and he’d be standing on the table in the front singing all the lyrics. Then after one of the shows Joe asked Kid if he wanted to smoke a joint. Kid Rock was like how old are you. Joe then replied by saying he was 21. Then at another show Joe was dancing off to the side as Kid was singing and he couldn't keep his eyes off him. After that show Kid offered Joe a job and that was that. Kenny Olson  Born as Kenny Olson in Royal Oak, MI & grew up in Birmingham, MI. He is 31 years old. Olson is the Lead Guitarist. Kenny Olson is one of those guys seemingly designed by God to be a guitar player. Olson got serious with the six-string when he was 10; during his formative teen years, he was 100 percent pure Detroit rocker. It was all about driving around Woodward in muscle cars, listening to the Stooges, Bob Seger and Black Sabbath. Olson went on to a stint on the LA rock scene. After the '94 earthquake destroyed his apartment -- Olson was on the road when it hit -- he headed back to Michigan, working with his own Kenny Olson Band and such scene veterans as Scott Asheton. He ran into Kid Rock at a local club two years later; their parents were good friends. The rapper had begun tinkering with his sound -- experimenting with new song structures and rock sonics -- and he wanted to sample some of Olson's work. That growing interest in the rock-rap blend turned into a live band. And Olson was in. Stefanie Eulinberg  Born as Stefanie Eulinberg in Clevland, OH. She is 31 years old. Stefanie is the drummer, backing vocals for the Twisted Brown Trucker Band. She grew up in Clevland, Ohio. She is now 31 years old. Stefanie Eulinberg labored for years in a variety of outfits, playing hotel bars, cruise ships, prisons -- wherever the demand came for a pop cover band. She was floating in Milwaukee last year when the call came from her pal DJ Swamp, who was out on the road spinning for Beck: This Kid Rock guy in Detroit has a record on Atlantic, and he needed a drummer. Like, now. After a flurry of answering-machine phone tag, Eulinberg connected with Kid Rock. They narrowed it down to three and she was one of them. She shipped a tape overnight. Within days, she was in town, the latest -- and final -- piece of Kid Rock's TBT puzzle. Quite an artistic leap, it might seem, from playing pop covers to bulwarking the bottom end of a gritty rock ensemble. But Eulinberg insists the musicaltransition was a cinch. "The only thing I had to get used to was living with 15 guys in an RV," she says. Life's gotten a little easier now that the Kid Rock caravan includes three snazzy tour buses. Like her TBT comrades, she's getting used to being recognized out. "It's always the same three questions," she says. "One: 'You're with Kid Rock, right?' Two: 'Where is he?' And three: 'Do you have any extra tickets?' " Other members include Mike, Shirlye Hayden, & Misty Love |
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