Just Joshin’: Seven Questions With Captain Midnight

Photo Copyright 2012 J. Scott Shrader. www.facebook.com/JScottShraderPhotography

Freaky friends CMB hit Two Stick Friday night.

Raised in Oxford and evolved in New Orleans and Nashville, Captain Midnight (Josh Cooker) melds smooth R&B, hard riffs, and devilish tales into a tight package you can dance to. He is known as much for his onstage presence, with glowing eyes, pointy hat, and pointier guitars as for his deep, dirty duffle bag of guitar chops and storytelling lyrics as pointed as the hat and guitars. If the Captain Midnight Band were a movie about to come on HBO in the early 1980s, the content warnings would include Adult Situations.

Midnight will perform at Two Stick this Friday, October 18, with Oxford’s Moon Pie Curtis & Will Smith opening the show.

HottyToddy.com caught up with our cosmic hopscotching friend, the good shrimp Captain.

HT: From where do you draw the power to make your eyes glow?

My eyes glow every time Michelle Bachmann says something idiotic.

HT: Tell us about the lineup of the band and each member.

Well, most importantly, it’s me on guitar and vocals. It’s all about me, see. Its my name that’s spray-painted on the bed sheet we hang up behind the band.

Soul glow. Photo by Larry Crowell.

On keyboards and vocals, from New Orleans is the lovely Lil’ Rae Rae. Don’t worry, she has no love for the LSU Tigers. She’s the leader of the Cosmic Trollops and has been a member since 2009.

Turbo Diesel 3000 is our drummer. She’s one of Rae Rae’s Trollop buddies. She beamed down from Planet Trollopia and landed in a small village in Germany. She’s a great singer, too.

Andy Freakin’ Mabe is our bass player. He’s a real character, like the rest of us. Perfect fit for this band. He’s from Winston-Salem and went to high school with Joe Camel.

HT: What’s the story on your new purple B. C. Rich Mockingbird guitar?

B. C. Rich has the distinction of making some of the world’s best and worst guitars. The purple one is an amazing ’81 handmade with all space-station controls. The story is that it was a gift to me from Jimmy Herring of Widespread Panic, after he called me the world’s greatest living guitarist. Also, the Jimmy Herring story is not completely true.

HT: Can you tell us about any new songs to expect at the Two Stick show?

Our song list is so vast these days that I can’t really be sure of what will be played. I’m sure we’ll play our newest song, “Shady Box” and we’ve been having a lot of fun with some Steely Dan and Traffic covers. “Position: Impossible” is also back in the rotation after a two-year hiatus.

HT: As a big Star Wars fan, what are your thoughts about Disney buying Star Wars and making three new movies without George Lucas?

Honestly, I’m glad that the saga will continue. Lucas owes us nothing. He gave us three awesome movies, so everything else is gravy. Its never gonna be as cool as the original to people who experienced Star Wars in its actual heyday. I hope Disney will spend the money to hire the right people to do this. If they pander to the kiddies, its all over.

The prequels were rough, and Disney would be wise to take it in another direction. All of us Star Wars nerds know what happens anyways: Han knocks up Leia and she has Jedi twins, Chewie develops a meth addiction, and Luke opens a flower shop on Yavin 4. Now it just comes down to casting and special effects. I just pray to Allah that there is no singing and dancing. And no more G-D Jerky Beef.

HT: What music are you listening to lately?

I’m listening to the last Furthur shows I went to. Phil and Jeff’s interplay is just amazing. If you had a rock band with heavy jazz skills playing Dead tunes, you’d get close to describing it, but its just the tip of the iceberg. It’s my kind of thing.

Boz Scaggs has a great new record out called Memphis, and I keep going back to that a good bit. As for new bands, I kind of like Eddy Grant and Duran Duran. The Cars are pretty interesting, too.

HT: What advice would you give the Rebels against LSU?

Try putting liquid heat in their jockstraps. Seemed to do the trick for Lewis and Gilbert. Oh, and throw in a few homophobic jabs. There’s a good chance it will go overlooked by the officials. Can y’all get to that?

— Tad Wilkes, tad.wilkes@hottytoddy.com